zion

To begin, SOOOMMOOOS SIOOOON! We are Zion here in Rio Cuarto for three months, which means that everyone baptized in the month, and now the goal is to get everyone to baptize a family every month. Some of the other areas really had a struggle, but somehow the Lord helped us pull through. Guillermo´s baptism was one of the most special that I have seen. He invited a ton of his family, and now they are all super excited about the gospel, too. He wants us to convert all of them and is already organizing family home evenings with the neighborhood to get things going. We are so happy. I have began to realize that no matter how well you can logically lay out the gospel in a presentation, it works much better if you ask questions. The Spirit can teach when we use questions, and the people give more heartfelt commitments if we work that way. Instead of saying "God wants you to go to His church every Sunday", though that is true, and for some it will reach their hearts, we have begun to rephrase it "Does God want you to attend His church on a weekly basis" and like questions, and the people understand better when they themselves talk themselves into following Him and His teachings. We also found a golden family. Golden, like the pre-translation Book of Mormon, and just as truly great. Griselda is a Jehovah´s Witness, and Alejandro is a "student of the Bible", as he puts it. We have been developing a way to figure out if investigators have real intent, and in every way shape and form they have shown us that they do. We extend commitments, small at first, and gradually larger until we can see where the points are that we will have to mold their learning spirits with the touch of the MAster´s hand. For them, we found something that made our eyes pop wide open, and we will be passing by next monday to teach them again. We stopped by in the siesta, or the holy nap time that never, ever can be violated without causing nuclear warfare or similar results, and he had just come home from work. Although he was eating a nice, homecooked meal, he answered the door and talked to us for an hour, apologizing that he couldn´t properly attend to us. He wants to know everything, and loves to read this kind of stuff. He hasn´t found a church that can close all of his doubts yet, and we didn´t answer any of his doubts that need to be prefaced with a prayer on his part to know if what we share is true. They should be praying fervently to know if this great message is what they seek, and I can testify that it is. We miraculously had four investigators in church on Sunday. We knew two of them, and the other two showed up on their own. Yeah, the Lord wants us to learn that He is preparing people and that we need to concentrate on those who have the desires right now, this very moment, so that we can take advantage of the His time. Guillermo got confirmed, and the Lord has already changed his soul. I LOVE this work, and the Church is definitely true, no matter what language we speak. I´m happy, I am working, I am enjoying myself, and I am done with today´s message. Just go and do, don´t sit and stew. Elder Lindsey

It's Clark

First of all things important, my sources inform me that my dearly beloved cousin has recently been offered a mission, should he choose to accept it, to Malaga, Spain, from where one of the Pedersen boys recently returned from a similar mission. I cannot express my inner joy for this moment of great anticipation for the awesome experience that you´re gonna have, Braden. Keep up the good work! Both of us will speak will a Spanish accent when we´re done with the whole shebang. Well, this week was a good one, though Guillermo didn´t quite get baptized yet. To begin, it was a great deal of effort to get him and his now wife married, and the wedding was fantastic, though much different from the weddings in the States. The Zone Leaders did his baptismal interview, and they invited him to be baptized on Saturday, which he accepted until work called in to tell him that he had to work Friday night until Saturday morning, again Saturday afternoon and Saturday night until church on Sunday. He didn´t quite have the craving of not having any rest for the events scheduled for Sunday, such as the Linger-Longer/Wedding Reception planned partially by us and partially by the ward to aid in ward unity and give a great chance for the non-member family and friends of the couple to get to know the members. It went super well, though the members could have done a much better job at fellowshipping the non members. Always look for people you don´t recognize at ward events as a rule of thumb in order to aid the Lord in blessing their lives. Anyways, Guillermo announced his baptism this upcoming Friday to all of his guests, and the next week they´ll have a chance to come to the actual Sacrament Meeting to see his confirmation. If they all come we will have about 15-20 investigators in church, and the ward is really pumped. Luis, Marta, Luiz and our other promising investigators still haven´t come to church, though their doubts are slowly being resolved. Marta thought that Joseph Smith was on the same level as the Savior, and she really had a hard time believing that, but with that out of the way, she is a lot more comfortable. Our phone is out of credit a week before we get more. This occurrence tends to end in much visiting the members, using other methods of communication to set up appointments and other frantic methods to get the work done well. Maybe the mission will let us buy more credit, which would be great... To clear up the cloudiness, I am still in Rio Cuarto, which is a city located in the Southern part of the province of Córdoba. It has been cold, lately, which is strange for midsummer climates. Here are some photos of the wedding, district meeting before transfers, and a really cool one that I took of our pension in the morning. This past week has caused me to think a lot. It is only right to teach people the importance of the message, and to look for those already prepared to receive the gospel. We did some visits with a brother in our ward, and had zero success in our contacting and all of our five appointments for the two hours that we had fell through. He explained that one really must learn to impact each and every person we meet. They have to know that we are here to teach the word of God in His way, and not by throwing cards and being fancy in our presentation, but by being open, truthful and unafraid to commit them to do things right there. This has helped us to filter out those who aren´t bad, but not quite willing to repent just yet or don´t understand their half of the message. It has caused me to confide more in the Savior and His power, and less in my own explaining abilities. I felt a change in our mindset that has proven very effective and good for the work, as far as I can tell. This gospel is true. Do y´all know that? I do, and the Lord shows it to me every day. I love y´all a ton. Cuando leás este mensaje, Heather, ya estarás en la casa. Portate bien, y felicitaciones en la misión honrada cumplida ya! In Christ, Elder Lindsey

Valentines from the Lord!

Well, this church is true. I will always stand before you and repeat that should it be put into question. God is real and loves His children. This became rather evident to me as for the past 20 years He has constantly answered my selfish prayers and taught me how to be more like Christ. This past year y pico is not excluded. The scriptures are becoming part of who I am, and it becomes natural to share them when I speak. How I wish that that doesn´t change in my life! Nobody came to church this weekend, but I feel that it was to make my soul search itself a bit and to let me know of the Lord´s way of teaching me. I felt so much peace yesterday that I can´t even begin to think of trying to know how to express what it felt like, and it lasted for hours and hours, despite utter, embarrassing rejection behind rejection. We found two chosen investigators just yesterday as well. Fani listened to the Restoration and thanked us as we offered her a Book of Mormon. Thank you, she said, I will read this chapter. I want to know if I can live with my mother again. One of these days I am going to invite y´all over to teach me more. I am available any day in the afternoon. When can y´all pass by? And then we found the brother (Luiz) of the member wife (Eva) of our most progressing investigator (Guillermo). Eva and Guillermo get married on Valentines Day and Guillermo will shortly thereafter get baptized. Luiz has listened in the past but never understood the importance of the message, nor that he can receive an answer to his efforts, not just his prayers alone. He will also begin to read, pray and come to church if we continue to help him. Also, the Reyes family should get married and baptized here soon, to help us complete with the goal of one family a month for the rest of the mission! Centro Ward is going to have a Linger Longer this weekend, and we are ecstatic! We, being Elder Bethers and I for six more weeks (SCOOOOORE!!!!). I love Elder Bethers as a brother. Speaking of brothers, Elder Zaracho, my brother in the mission, is going to live with the assistants five blocks from the mission home with one of the Zone Leaders who moved up to being an assistant. Elder Zaracho will do great things in life. Elder Thompson will take his place in the pension, and I love Elder Thompson. He keeps following me around though. In all three Zones that I have been in he has followed me. Norte, Catamarca and now Rio Cuarto. I think that the Lord wishes that we learn a ton from each other. The people here love and respect the calling of a missionary, but not half as much as they do the missionaries. When I am down, and oh my soul is weary, as the song says, They raise me up, following the example of Christ. Keep your eyes out for those who need, and raise them up a bit. I love y´all, per en serio! In Christ, Elder Lindsey P.S. If anyone has the emails of someone else in the family or friends that want to listen in, I´d love to add them in the CC.

Ouch!

You know that you are happy when your face hurts. There comes a point in one´s conversion to the preaching of the Lord´s Gospel that you just can´t stop smiling, and you get tired of it pretty quick, though the Spirit is great. As Alma says, it begins to become delicious to us. Goodness, how I love to sit and ponder on what the Lord has in mind for each of us in the eternities! How simply complex is His great Plan of Happiness! Well, we got contacted by JW´s while I was writing a letter to some friends back home, and it was a real treat to talk with them. Many other faiths seem to attack upon meeting with us, but these two elderly ladies seemed to just want to share what they had for us. We exchanged dialogue, and even exchanged websites, though we are forbidden as missionaries to visit anything other than the Churches approved websites and email system in this time whilst preaching the good news. I think that they left with a few doubts, though with a solid friendship and professional understanding. Well, no one came to church this last Sunday, and we were kind of bummed, but we organized spilts with about ten priesthood holders this week and will be teaching with the members like mad. Claudia Galitari, the single mother with four kids who wants to share the gospel with everything that moves, is just pounding it. She expressed to us such desires as are found in Mosiah 28:3, to teach to every living soul, but that she didn´t know how to do it well. We gave her a few suggestions and pray constantly for her success. After a while, she is really going to be a spiritual giant and a great help to the ward as well as her family. We have a few people who get married really soon, and have to review a few things before they get baptized. The mission has raised the standard from one baptism a month to one family a month, and in order for the whole mission to complete with this goal we will all have to be worthy, consecrated and dedicated to the work. We are getting there, though no one is perfect other than Elder Bethers. Isn´t it great to be part of such a marvelous work and a wonder? The other day, as I sat thinking about my mission, I began to feel the sorrow that Alma, Mormon and Moroni express in regards to the iniquity of the people. I literally began to just cry for a few seconds for the pain of seeing so many people so close to the truth but rejecting the glorious offer. It gave me stronger desires to improve my way of sharing this message and I fell into much prayer and fasting. This morning, I read Chapter 5 of Preach My Gospel, and it became apparent to me that the most important question in the whole world goes as follows: is the Book of Mormon the Word of God? All other questions answer themselves in this great truth. Yes, this book is the Lord´s word, it answers the questions of the soul and brings great peace to the reader. There is so much doctrine packed into the book that one could study it for the entirety of the Millenium and still find new things on a daily basis. I agree with what Elder Gene Cook says, that we really don´t always appreciate the greatness of the scriptures. They are the literal teachings of our only way to happiness, and we will be judged according to the precepts taught therein. They testify of Christ and reveal to us why we do what we do. What a gift! The work goes on, as usual. Let´s put our shoulders to the wheel and get this show on the road! Be Good! Elder Lindsey P.S. Congrats Ian, Jordan and Skyler on completing with the Lord´s commandment to serve a worthy full time mission! Don´t get married too fast! Hang in there, Heather!