I’ve never walked so much in my life. I can count on my fingers how many times we sat down this week to share a message or scripture with someone. Between festivals and parties leading up to Carnaval and the Argentine college semester starting next week, most people are not home or just don’t want to talk with us about Jesus. Despite the struggles, awesome things are still happening and the Lord’s work is moving forward! Our friend Maria was baptized by her son Jesus who got the priesthood just a couple of weeks ago. Their family first met the missionionaries 4 months ago, and now 5 members of the family have joined the Church. […]
Finding Joy in the Experience
Carnaval is easily the largest cultural event here in Cafayate. It doesn’t actaully happen until the end of February, but there are lots of small parties and events leading up to it. For example, this week ground was broken to start unburying the life-size devil statue that becomes the centerpiece of Carnaval. Needless to say, it was not super easy to talk to people about Jesus and keeping the commandments of God this week. We spent most of the week walking on hot and dusty roads that turned into mud-bogs as it rained heavily every afternoon. Despite the hardship, we were still able to find joy in the experience. We had a small turnout at […]
Adventures and the Gospel
We were taking it easy this week while Elder Miller’s foot recovered from getting his ingrown toenail cut out. Despite that, we still had some awesome experiences this week. Our friend Maria has 4 adult kids who have been baptized recently. She has gone to church almost every week for months, but never wanted to talk with the missionaries. On Monday, we gave her a Book of Mormon. She read part of it and then wanted to meet with us. We were able to help her learn more about Jesus Christ during the week and now she is planning to get baptized this weekend. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is real and it changes lives! […]
Forward Progress & More Argentine Hospitals
We’re making a lot of progress here in Cafayate! Yesterday, some members received the priesthood, meaning that they can now help run certain aspects of the church. This is the first time that members here have received the priesthood in 5 years. It might not seem like much, but it is a big step forward in helping the church in Cafayate be self sufficient. We had a fun adventure this week when Elder Miller realized he had an infected ingrown toenail. After trying to find a clinic that would accept our insurance all weekend, we bit the bullet and paid $45 out of pocket to get it cut out this morning. Unfortunately, I’m getting very […]
Dreaming of a White Christmas
Getting to experience a second Christmas in Argentina was awesome. On Christmas Eve everyone gets with family to celebrate the “Good Night.” Most families have nativity sets. Some are just small figures on a table inside, while other families have huge models of Bethlehem that cover their whole front patio. At midnight on the “Good Night”, the baby Jesus gets put in the manger of the nativity and food is served. We spent the “Good Night” with the Diaz family. Our friend Josue got baptized on Saturday. There isn’t a baptismal font here in Cafayate, so we do baptisms here in a small irrigation water control pool. While it is cool to have baptized someone […]
Almost Christmas
This week we got to travel to Salta for a Christmas conference. After a devotional focused on Jesus Christ’s birth, we had lunch and a small gift exchange. It was fun to chat with people I hadn’t seen in 5 months. Due to bus schedules, we left Cafayate at 4am to arrive in Salta on time. We had some extra time, so we got breakfast and took some pictures in the main plaza in downtown Salta. In a lesson with our friend Marcos, he told us he works 2 full-time jobs and is working on earning a teaching degree so that he can better provide for his family. After what I felt to be a […]
Cafayate, But For Real This Time
After 3 days of traveling by plane and bus, I finally got to my area, Cafayate. Cafayate is a small tourist town in the province of Salta a 4-hour bus ride to the southwest of the capital city. I actually came out here in July as the missionaries were first getting started to bring chairs and other supplies for their Sunday meetings. My companion is Elder Miller. He first arrived in Salta after I had gone home, but he is already great at teaching in Spanish. The other companionship here is Elder Shelley and Elder Kinghorn. Elder Shelley and I served right next to each other in Tartagal, so we are already good friends. Elder […]
What Had Happened Was…
I’ve not been on my mission for a while. Back when the Tuberculosis outbreak was happening in August, I tested positive for it on a skin-prick test. With my parents and mission leaders, I decided to return home to the US for what we thought could be the end of my mission. Once I got back to Idaho, we were all stunned when bloodwork came back negative and it was deemed that I did not have TB. The CDC required that I wait until November for follow-up testing. While I waited, I was able to work for my uncle’s home construction company. I also volunteered weekly in the Meridian Temple, helping run sacred worship services and […]
Adventures in Epidemiology
This week we were supposed to have a series of meetings throughout the mission with a visiting General Authority Seventy (my mission President’s boss). However, both the high-profile visit and our weeks of careful planning went out the window when several non-American missionaries tested positive for Tuberculosis. There were a couple of frantic days as we scrambled to cancel travel plans and reservations while simultaneously isolating and testing the missionaries who had potentially been exposed. So far we are looking good as most everyone has very fortunately been testing negative. It has been very stressful and frankly a little bit scary this past week, but the Lord’s counsel to the prophet Joseph Smith has been […]
Not Really Sleeping
This week has left me exhausted. We’ve had a lot going on this week early in the morning and late at night, which unfortunately means that we just lose sleep because we have to work in the office during the day. On Tuesday, we waited at the bus terminal until after midnight for a couple of missionaries because the bus they were traveling on was 2+ hours delayed. Then we got up at 4:30am to take them to the airport🫠 We also have a missionary who is in the hospital right now. We have all been taking turns accompanying him so that he doesn’t have to be alone. For a variety of reasons, we were […]