Another Week Down!

Another Week Down!

 

I have had a crazy adventure during my first month here in Pergamino, Argentina. Here is some quick info about our two main investigators.

 

Mirta. About 40 years old, she already has a stable family with three kids and lives on a ranch.  About half of the population here in Pergamino has a ranch. Miguel, Mirta´s husband, takes care of their horses, chickens, and dogs. They have tons of land, forming a few acres, I think, just to give you guys a rough estimate. Miguel has served as a counselor in the Bishopric, and he has gone to church for many years. Due to job and money complications, they all stopped attending on Sunday for a decent chunk of time. For the last month or so, they have come every Sunday. We started passing by because we wanted to get to know Miguel better, especially since he is one of hte best members right now. With time, we became good friends with Mirta and all the kids. We pass by about twice a week to teach one of the missionary discussions or to have a family home evening with them. Something we said sparked Mirta´s interest, and right now she is reading the bible and book of Mormon regularly, a huge plus for us! She has a baptismal date for November 24th, so we will have to see how everything plays out! I¨ll keep you updated.

 

Juan. He worked on a farm for his entire life before retiring at the age of 65. He always ran tractors and worked with cattle and horses. He is kinda like a cowboy, and his Spanish has a slightly different accent. We passed by his house our second week here in the city, and he listens well and actually does in depth studying during his free time. He has already come to church twice, where he became good friends with Miguel and Mirta! We have a lesson with all of them together this week, when we will watch a church movie together and hopefully eat dinner together. Having Miguel as a friend and fellow member works great for both Mirta and Juan. After working for many years, Juan has developed a successful lifestyle and has a really nice house, especially for our little town here in Pergamino. Its bright bricks nad wooden roof really stick out when compared to the other cement or metal huts in our area. Also, he only received and elementary education, so we have to teach every thing on a basic level. He loves going ot church and still reads well enough to study on his own, so we will just have to see how everything goes here in the next few weeks. He accepted a baptismal date for the last week of November, as well!

 

Elder Valenzuala and I are really excited with our success. We have passed by the houses of many less-active families, and this past Sunday we had 42 in church. This is a huge improvement from a mere attendance of 16 our first week here. Work hard, fly right haha. It is kinda a joke here. If you work hard here for your two years, the flight back home should be really rewarding.

 

I have to go since we have little time this week to write home. We all got together and played American football today, which was a total blast. The zone leaders finally got mail, so i will have to read it throughout this week. I will have comments next Monday, no worries.

 

Thanks for everything. Many of you are in my prayers.

 

Elder Rojo.