Week 58: Posadas, Argentina

Well, the time here in the office definitely goes by a lot faster than it does in the field. I guess cause there is always a lot to do and there is a never ending list of tasks and projects to finish. For example, Elder Parks who is leaving the office soon, found a problem from before that was on the credit card of President LaPierre that is super big, so we have been putting a lot of time into that trying to fix it and coming in and staying up late to try to get everything done.  But it's pretty fun, when there's stuff to do constantly the time just kinda flies by. But we also had some good experiences this week.

I dont think the ward had had a ward council for a while, but we decided to have one and presented our ward with the mission plan that we made in between the 6 of us missionaries that are here in the ward. We got there and it went super well. All the members got pretty excited about doing it, but also started to talk about some of the problems they were having and it was a pretty productive meeting.  But then the bishop gave a talk as well in sacrament meeting about putting into practice the ward mission plan. So that was pretty cool.   

I'm excited for General Conference this weekend to see what the leaders tell us about what we should be doing.

Conference will be good, I feel like the whole church is kinda pushing a lot for the work of salvation and it's pretty cool to see it all unfolding.

It was always really interesting because it seemed like the missionaries were always called to give blessing to the sick because the members always knew the missioanries were like 24 hours available.  Sometimes the members weren't as available and they were scared to call each other and interrupt their day and ask them for a blessing. But one of the men in the quorum kinda brought it up and now we are having the members give blessings.  Now we always call members and if there are no members to do it we do it.  There are a lot of men that have the Priesthood here, they just don't really know how to use it, or haven't used it in a long time, so that was interesting.

We are always trying to help the members do a little bit a service. Whenever we ask the members, or anyone, if we can do anything to help them, they always say no.  But then we started explaining that by them giving us service to do, we can invite other members to come help from the quorum.  That way they can come and participate and feel good and get more involved.  We did a project the other day-we painted a house of a less active family and had 4 members show up to help as well, one being less active as well.  They all loved it and had a great time and then in the quorum meeting at church the next day the people that went shared a little bit of their experience.  Also, the less active that's coming back got up and gave a super cool testimony of his experience-that was pretty sweet.  And even better, the whole family came to church.  Since that day they have stopped smoking and committed to start getting ready to go to the temple.  While we did the service, the first counselor of the ward, who is super cool, started talking to them about their family and how they could improve their relationship as family.  The counselor found there were a lot of problems, so he sent some goals with them and they've been doing super well. 

We also went and did divisiones with the Bishop and another kid that is 19; he doesn't really want to go on a  mission, but we went and did visits with him and have had a few lessons with him.  He was like, yeah well, the missionaries never really invited me before.  So he went with us and really liked it, and also gave his testimony the next day about working in the church and how good he felt after he went with us, so that was pretty awesome. 

We are also teaching this guy, Jorge, that is a brother of a member.  He wants to get baptized next week and is receiving all the lessons really well and is a really cool gu
y. He said he worked in construction and he was always with his buddies from construction.  They were always doing drugs and drinking and doing stuff like that.   He said he stopped working there and really felt bad about all the stuff he did and saw.  He wants to change, so we started teaching him and he really likes the church so far.  We shall this week what happens with him. 

Things at the office are going pretty well, next week there is a conference with all the zone leaders and sister training leaders.  We are actually invited as well, but we have to set up and buy all the stuff for it and it gets pretty crazy. 

Then next week there is an activity for the youth where all the youth are going to leave with the missionaries to go teach for a day.  All of them in the stake are invited and we are trying to get set up and organized for that as well.   One of the assisstants and I are in charge of training the missionaries here in Posadas as to what exactly they are going to have to do and what they should do with the youth when they do the activity. So that should be pretty fun. 

My assignment here in the office is going pretty well, I'll have a Peruvian companion next week when Elder Parks leaves. But yeah, I basically just have to make sure everyone has money. But I think the toughest part is that I actually have to make some deciones sometimes on how to spend money. Like there aren't really set payments sometimes and I have to tell missionaries, "Well I think there is a better option," or "that's really not something that I can reimburse…," or stuff like that. So I'm pretty much the most loved missionary for giving people their money, but also the most hated when sometimes the money isn't always there.... haha, but it's not too bad. 

Our ward is about 100 people, we have a goal to get the attendance up to 110 and keep it there solid and then keep growing. But there are some really cool members, I like it a lot. 

It was a pretty good week all in all. We found an apartment, but President LaPierre thought it was too big… haha, but I think we are going to get it and have all the leaders and people that come for conferences sleep on cots in our house just to make things easier and not have to pay for hotels.  

Thanks for everything and have a great weeek!!!!!!

Love, Elder Roberts

Week 57: Posadas, Argentina

Hellllo! I think I'll end up staying here in the office till about March and then leave my last two transfers to go out into the field, that is what we are hoping, and basically what President told me-but we shall see.    

But yeah, I actually bought clippers to cut hiar, it'll save me money in the long run and its really about the same, there are missionaries that know how to cut hair so it's cool. 

And I did get the email from Josh, well the one from last week. I guess he's in the field now and didn't write a letter this week, but it was pretty funny-his letter from last week. 

It's cool being in a trio, I get along really well with the elder that is training me, Elder Parks, but we almost never work in a trio. We usually do divisiones or one of stays behind in the office to keep taking care of stuff. But no, there's no one that really gets left out in the trio, I had already known both of them before I got here so it's fun. 

But this week was super good, the bishop is really excited to work with us and we baptized the 2 daughters of a less active lady, they are now doing really well and really like church.  We are actually finding really cool people to teach and finding some less actives that actually really want to come back to church. The other day the bishop did divisones with us, I went with Elder Parks and Elder Meniz went with the bishop and he gave us four families to visit in an hour.  So we were like hmm, what can we do in one hour? So we decided to go caroling and all the people we visited loved our singing, haha, which was surprising.  They invited us to lunch and cried a little as well, an older widow lady I think. So that was pretty cool. I think the mission is really fun if you make it fun and if you make it interesting and really make effort to make it a good experience it happens. SO I'm doing well.

Thanks for the letter and have a great weeeek!!!!!!!!! Elder Roberts

Week 56: Posadas, Argentina

Yeah, it's been pretty good this week. There is a lot to do and a lot to learn, but i think I'm finally getting the hang of it. It's just a lot of remembering stuff and counting and making sure that you get all the receipts of all the stuff that the mission does and buys. And it gets complicated with the Pesos and Guarnie and different currencies, but not too bad. 

And Elder Parks who is training me, who I think his uncle might have served with dad in Colombia at the same time, will leave in like two weeks. He's been in the office like 10 months and has some older stuff that he has to do so I can start on a clean sheet and don't end up finding that he lost 100 dollars or has a 100 dollars extra in the bank or something. 

But church was good, there are a lot of members here in Lavalle, and they are pretty excited about missionary work. Being in Posadas helps a lot and i think the wards and branches are finally starting to get things moving. There are 5 baptisms in the ward this week. There are three companionships that are in the same ward here and we are all going to baptize someone, so i think that will be cool. There is a less active lady that is now coming back and really likes church and has two daughters that she really wants to go to church and learn and have values, and they are getting baptized and they really like it.  There are pretty good youth programs here so it makes it easier. The area is really good as well, there are a lot of people and lots to do, lots of members that can be reactived as well, so we shall see what happens. 

The apartment is pretty nice, we live with two other elders, but i think we are moving soon because it's kinda far from the office and its super hot in the summer. We don't really eat with members that much because our area is 15 minutes away and we would have to drive there and back and would lose a lot of time driving. So we usually cook, or we find a pretty cheap restaurant close by during the week.  On the weekends we eat with members. 

But yeah it's been really nice weather this past month, a little rain but it's not too hot yet, but it's getting close-  October and November the heat starts rolling in.  The windows are broken so the air gets out and the mosquitos get in. 

But Pday isn't really too much of a pday, we are usually stuck doing office stuff in the morning and then we eat lunch and watch a church movie or just kinda rest and clean the house. But it's pretty good so far, its kinda tiring, but it's fun. It's nice being around lots of people all the time, it kinda helps you keep the excitement going and not fall into discouragement because there're always other missionaries around you. But thanks for the letter and have a great weeek!!!!!!

Elder Roberts

Week 55: Posadas, Argentina

Hola!!!

Hope everything is going well up there. So this week has been pretty exciting, it's a lot of fun being in the office. It was kind of different though because there were transfers and new people coming in and we had to help with all of that so it ran smoothly, but it's cool to be able to help all the missioanries with their temporal stuff. It's kind of a stressful job because it's all the money and there is a whole lot of it, and you have to keep track of allll of it with receits and money and there's alotttt to remember. But its pretty cool, it's like the mission behind the scenes and I get to see how everything happens, work with the other office elders and the assistants and president a lot. So I'm enjoying it so far, I think next week will be a little more chill with transfers done and I'll be starting to learn more of my responsibilties. But I'm in a trio right now, with Elder Parks who is from California, and Elder Meniz from Peru. The other office elders are for Chile, Peru, and Colombia. But it's a lot of fun, we all get along really well, I knew most of them before I came here. 

This morning I learned how to drive stick shift, so now I can go out and drive the truck around and do errands and stuff and pay bills, haha but it's pretty cool to be able to drive again. 

But sounds like everyone is doing well up there and school is going well. And that's awesome that Josh is at the MTC (Missionary Training Center) right now.   

And the ward here in Posadas is really nice, I haven't met too many of them yet, but it sounds like a really nice ward, and the area is really great as well.  There are some cool people that the other elders before had been teaching that I am now teaching. Basically we are in the office every day till 4:30 and then we leave to go work in the field.  If we still have some urgent things to do we go back at 8:00 and finish things up. I think it will be nice to not be a zone leader, eight months of it was really tiring, so it's nice to have a change I think. So I'll have to tell you more about my job later when I actually know what I'm doing, haha.  But thanks for the email, I'll be writing Thursdays, well most Thursdays I think from now on. But have a great week!!!

Week 54: Eldorado, Argentina

Hey mom, I'm now an office elder, secretary of finances. I'll write you Thursday or Friday cause that's when our preparation day is, and this week is kinda crazy cause I gotta learn all my responsibilities and there are transfers and I have to help all the new people get in. But thanks!!!!! I'll write Friday!!!

Love, Ben 

Week 53: Eldorado, Argentina

But yeah, the Mormon world is super small. There's a sister in this mission that knew Josh and Hannah (Ben's cousins) when they lived in Dubai.  

A lot of people here are pretty ignorant when it comes to religion, basically they just beleive that the Mormons are like a weird church and that we get paid by the goverment and the church to come here and baptize people. But they don't really know very much, 

The time just goes by way too fast. It's crazy that it's already September.   

And my shoes are fine for now, I think I'll be good for like at least 6 more months. And then I'll see if i just buy a pair here. 

But but yeah, I think I already reached my package limit, you really don't have to send me packages mom, I'm really fine, but thanks!!

But wow, that's great that Helen is getting married (Ben's cousin), and in the DC temple, thats cool! You'll have to send me some pics, and you'll have to send me some pics of what's going on at home as well! 

But yeah, my companion and I get along really well and we are doing really well, we have a lot of peple that are progressing, it just rained super hard Sunday morning and like there were 85 people in church 2 weeks ago and yesterday there were like 6 when we got there and 2 of our investigators. We had a super good lesson with Zulma and I think she is going to get baptized here soon, I'm not sure but she's finally kinda pulling towards us and realizing what the best decision is.  And we have a few other people that are doing really well, had some good experiences, finding a few nice people, exploring some new areas, and actually getting a few references from the members, which is super nice, so this week shall be a good week. 

We had a leader conference today in Posadas which was really good, talked about building the church and making sure the new converts progress. I've found from lots of experiences here that is super easy to fall away from the gospel if you are not careful. It's just weird here it happens so frequentely that its kinda scary and sometimes you just don't know what to do to help the people. But there is only so much you can do and then its kinda of their part as well.  I think the people that you hang around are definitely the biggest influence and make the biggest difference.

This change with my companion went by super fast, it's pretty crazy. It goes by fast I think when you have a  good companion. But some of the pictures I sent are from a really nice hotel we stayed in. I'm not sure why we got to stay in a hotel cause we usually sleep like 10 to a room on the floor when we come for the leader conferences but this time it was suppppper nice, took the best shower of my life and enjoyed walking barefoot on carpet for like the first time in 14 months, haha but it went really well.  I'm still in Posadas cause I'm doing some paperwork here and then in the evening we are back on the grind.  But thanks for everything mom, have a great week and tell everyone I said helllo.!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Roberts

Week 52: Eldorado, Argentina

I think it's pretty good to take notes in Sacrament meeting. I gave a talk yesterday and taught Sunday School for the young men and women. I talked about procrastination and using our time wisely. I shared an example of making brownies, which is pretty easy and cheap but not healthy, making tacos which is a little harder and more expensive but maybe a little more healthy, and then scalloped potatoes which is longer and more expensive but the best.... haha and that we have to make decisions on how to use our time, good better and best. And there's always a good option, better option and best option. I think Elder Oaks gave a talk about it a while ago that was pretty good. But I tried to make it interesting because the talks here usually aren't the most exciting talks to listen to, and I think there were only like two people sleeping during mine so hopefully it wasn't too bad hahaha.

But it sounds like the US is in the news a lot. There are people that tell us that there are like big wars and stuff we are involved in. I'm sure they kind exaggerate, but there must be some things going on. Some guy told us the other day that we need to go preach to Obama because he is the one that needs to change. 

But we are doing pretty well. We have some people that are progressing and some people that we need to kind of let go for now. But Zulma is doing... pretty good I guess. I think she's scared to make a decision. But the zone is doing really well. July was a rougher month and we are trying to recover because it rained for like 3 weeks straight but now everyone in the zone is finding a few people to teach and baptizing a little bit so that's good. But yeah, everything is fine, nothing too exciting happening but I'll be sure to keep you updated. How is school going for everyone?? How's work for you and dad? How is the ward doing? How is the retention of all the converts that were baptized these past few months?  Thanks for the letter and have a great week!!!!!!!!  Happy Birthday Dad.

My shoes only made it a year.

Love, Ben