May 2, 2015

Rice and mondongo! (cow stomache) 

Meal with the Florian Family

Dear fam and friends!

What a great week it has been here in the mission! We have been super busy this week it has been so awesome. We had some special trainings, and then on Friday we had the monthly leadership council, both went reallly well and and I always feel so blessed to learn from all the incredible missionaries here! President as well. I am amazed by his knowledge and his testimony, it probably is the best perk of being here, learning from him.

Today has been awesome! This morning we went to help out a couple missionaries and then this afternoon we went and did service with a member family who is moving! We went and helped them paint their new apartment.. was awesome! The familia Florian. Below I attached some pictures of them, they are great! They cooked us some rice and mondongo! (cow stomache) it was actually super good, sounds appetizing right? She made it with some potatoes and some kind of sauce. Then after we did the service, was a good afternoon.. but now i only have like 10 minutes to write but this week was good.. a little update on the area...

As far as the work in our area things are going so great! We have been super blessed lately and it is so humbling to see the Lord's hand in the work. Osvaldo is going to get baptized next weekend, he has his interview today. He was a contact we did on the bus 3 weeks ago. It has been so incredible to see how prepared he is! During transfer week we lost contact with him for about a week and we were a little concerned. The first time we saw him after that he told us that he had a couple doubts and had thought about changes his baptismal date, but when it came down to it he said he couldn't because he knew he had made a commitment with God to be baptized on that day. It was such a huge blessing! It showed me the power of commitments and how important they are. Also this week we taught him about fasting and tithing.. and he asked us if he is allowed to participate in them before his baptism! He said he is going to fast today with us for the temple in Cordoba and then tomorrow he wants to pay his tithing. What is so special to me is he comes from such humble circumstances and he said "I never have been very well off economically, and I feel like it might be because I never have paid my tithing". It was one of the most powerful things I have heard anyone say, he really does have such strong faith.

For this month we are also working with Alejandra, she is Ruben's wife and she is doing great. She has a really strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration which is incredible. Ruben has been a great help, they read together lots. Her only challenge is church attendance, lots of time on the weekends she has to go see her kid who lives in capital.. but she is working out a plan so she can do both things. It has been great to be able to see Ruben participate as well in the lessons and to see his testimony continue to grow.

We also are working with Marcos and Brisa. They are both kids of less active members that we are helping come back to church. There are so many little miracles the Lord has given us. All of these people have really great chances of being baptized this month.

We also found an awesome family the other day, they have a son who is 17 who is super awesome and then another "half son" who is living there with them. They all want to go to church tomorrow and they seriously have so much potential. The first 2 lessons we focused a ton on the restoration and the book of mormon and they understand so well. We have seen as we focus on these 2 topics our investigators have more purpose, they understand what their part is in finding an answer about the "one and only true church over the face of the earth".

Well things are going fantastic here, everyday seems to go by faster and faster and we are just trying to make the best of it! Still training in the morning with Hermano Echeverria, it's super fun. The other day we went and ran stairs, and I could hardly walk after. Crazy next week is mother's day! Can't believe how fast it came.. ill try to let you know some details next Saturday.. but I imagine Sunday afternoon .. like 2 or 3 your time. The Stake President invited us over to do it there, so ill have to give him a call and then let you know.

Thanks for all you, love you all a ton. How blessed we are to have the truth in our lives, and how privileged we are to be able to share it with others! Praying for you always! 

With love, Elder Hansen