Hey!

I finally got photos to send out! This is an opportune time to send them as well, considering that we have just had a slew of baptisms and some great spiritual times. Sadly, however, the computer took forever to load them, and I only will be able to send one or two. Our numbers haven´t been that great this week, but we had two days of work cut out for Zone Conference and another day with a sick compy, so truly it was out of our control. Our area has baptisms planned for the rest of the transfer every Saturday. Great things are in store for us, and all that we have to do is work hard enough and live worthily. Music is fantastic. My new favorite hymn was translated poorly into Spanish, but in English it really hits home. #185 Reverently and Meekly Now. For those of you who are music theory geeks like me, there is some great stuff written into the score, and for you Christians, there is some delicious food for the soul in the text. Verse one reads: Reverently and meekly now, let thy head most humbly bow. Think on me, thou ransomed one; think what I for thee have done. With my blood that dripped like rain, Sweat in agony of pain. With my body on the tree, I have suffered death for thee. Figure out what it means for your own personal relationship with Him, and read the rest of the text to get an even more powerful message. Singing this song for me, from the perspective of the Savior, always wrenches my heart, and gives me strong desires to follow His counsels and example. The official way to commit someone to keeping a commandment or making a covenant is along the lines of "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and...?" So, I extend this challenge to you. Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and ? It is a yes or no question, and the answer is yes or no. Do, or do not. There is no try. However, should you slip up, reread the text and try again the next living breath you take to be better and like Him. God be with you till we meet again. Elder Lindsey

big letter

I apologize for having written so few letters by hand, but it turns out that it costs eleven pesos everytime, which is the equivalent of about three bucks, or an entire meal if you know how to spend it right. Yeah, letters will be a very seldom done deed. The work is great. We have saved five people through providing them the ordainance of baptism in Arenales, and there is another one this weekend with more to come in the near future. Our goal is to baptize every week, to put a baptismal date every day, and to feel happy inside for the joy of helping others. So far so good on the last two parts, but the first one will just have to include this last half of the transfer. Life is simple. Eat, obey the Lord, pray, obey the Lord some more, listen to the really gravely voice of the man right next to me that sounds something evil from smoking too much, and enjoy the mission. I really don´t know what to say more, nor do I have the time do say it. Take Luck! Elder Lindsey

But Elder, It's Cold Outside!

It has cooled down quite a bit around these parts. The pension clocked in at 42 degrees inside this week, and we have one dinky little heater for the four of us. This winter is going to be a party. Elder Spencer Hughes, from Alpine, Utah is in my zone right now, and he really has grown into a great man. We talked a ton about how things are since he left home, and have now refocused on the work. Also, Miguel Villalobos has a cousin here in the mission that lives nearby in the Highland area. Good times. Our area set more than ten baptismal dates this week! And then two people showed up to church. We are really working hard, and have a baptism this week at seven, if any of you have some free time to swing by the church. There will be cookies afterward for sure. He stopped smoking almost cold turkey. Apparently he didn´t understand that it was a commandment, and he quit in three or four days from smoking sixty cigarettes a day since he was eight years old. The family is admittably strange, but their faith and fidelity to the Lord and each other are incredible. His wife called me her grandson this week, and I have never felt so loved in my whole mission. Another lady told me that when I talk to her it moves something inside of her, as if I speak directly to her spirit. I don´t know what to say to that, other than that the gospel is true and the spirit bears witness of that to everyone that is willing to hear. Truly, the Lord has shown us many miracles this week, and furthermore, we have become His mouthpieces for instigating them. His power is real, and cannot be negated nor denied, no matter what logic attempts to feebly prove otherwise. That each and every one of us can be forever sure of that is my prayer. Isaiah rocks. Find out for yourself. Be good, now, y´all, Elder Lindsey

Shake My Faith!

Well, I am officially not a "greenie" anymore, as of about sixteen hours. Elder Petersen, mi Papito, left for La Rioja again, and Elder Van Loo left for Santa Rosa. I snuck one of my ties into Elder Petersen´s stuff before he got off, and he got me back whilst I slept and the sojourners packed up for the journey. My new compañero (Elder Almirón) is bien Latino, from Buenos Aires, and we seem to get along really well. We have convinced him, and Elder Gimenez´s new comp from Canada that this area is the Celestial Kingdom made manifest on earth (slightly due to the mention of five lunches a week, minus planning session days and p days, plus two dinners a week, all set in stone and without fail, and also slightly due to the fact that our recent converts are active, (not to mention the fact we are baptizing pretty well), and they are really pumped to get out and do the Lord´s work. The four of us hooligans in great looking apparel went and played soccer at the church to kick off our awesome transfer with some friendly sport action. On that note, I beat a super inactive son of our ward mission leader in one on one streetball 5-2, which truly was a miracle. Another great thing about our companionship that already is in progress is a service war, or a competition to see who can serve the other person more. Nobody really loses anything, because you get so much in return if both people go in for it, which I can already tell he will. The first thing is that we are going to get Grido ice-cream, the best stuff known to missionary kind, other than a deep, sweet personal study to start the day. The deal was that since a kilo of ice-cream is only a little less than five American bucks five days a week, and since the new companñeros need to adjust to the area, the incumbents are going to buy one kilo per compañerismo, but my "compy" quickly asserted that I wouldn´t pay simply because I am his compañero. Gotta love the ideology behind that. Elder Gimenez and I have a deal this transfer. If I speak English (not including helping my companion learn the language or like cases), at the end of the day I owe him an alfajor. However, if he eats more than one serving at any given point in time, with the exception of empanadas, he owes me a giant banana at the end of the day. I failed today because Elder Henry (the Canadian) isn´t in on the deal, and speaks English whenever, so I will have to make a huge effort to overcome. For those of you who know the story (mostly my family), you will be pleased to hear that I have acquired a copy of the Teachings of Wilford Woodruff, in Castellano, and have been reading it every chance that I have alongside my pocket Book of Mormon and set of study scriptures. For those of you who don´t know the story I quote one of the greatest movie scenes ever: the sword fight between Wesley and Inigo Montoya. "Get used to disappointment," said Wesley. How my confidence that the Lord knows each and every one of His children and that His authority to reveal things to them has augmented in this time spent in the mission! How great is our God! I feel very much like Nephi and his Psalm located in 2 Nephi Chapter 4. "What a wretched man am I! But that you may know, I am saved in Christ Jesus, who lives, and loves us to the end." My new favorite hymn this week is number 102, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul", which has a soothing, lilting melody that conveys true trust in Him and implores His help in all that I might do. I offer a challenge to the world: SHAKE MY FAITH. Go ahead. It isn´t because I am some almighty being, or that I am perfect, but God in His soft mercy has blessed me to the point of sealing me His. He has shown me so many miracles, the fact that I´m still kickin' not being the least of them, that I cannot ever imagine myself doubting that this Gospel is true. I never wish to compromise His laws for the petty things of the flesh, nor do I wish to cause others to do the same. Instead, my eye is set on the prize. What better thing can there be than living with our families and loved ones forever in the presence of an Omnipotent and Omnibenevolent Father? May the Lord provide each and every one of y´all, His beloved children, with such experiences and love as he has for me, for you truly will know with a surety that He is God and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is His glorious deed. Nos Vemos, Elder Lindsey

Big Letter!

This week´s letter will be short, though the Elder writing this letter will return home at least a good centimeter and a half taller. The food is great, and I am starting to see potential to grow sideways as well, though I seem to have lost a bit from my waist due to being on my last hole on my belt when I wear my thickest pants... Also, my epic plan to use one razor every month died valiantly this week when the little green strip that turns white when the razor dulls broke in half after ten days. In retrospect, this plan is the equivalent of rubbing the razor across 75 grain sand paper for ten minutes everyday for a whole month. Now to the important stuff. This week we did a million contacts, and taught a tone of lessons, which was fantastic. I never cease to be amazed with the fact, I repeat, fact that every time we feel inclined to go somewhere we at least get an appointment, if not a full lesson, with prayer and baptismal date to boot. There is a scripture that says that the Lord will bless us immediately when we obey his commandments. Some times that comes from feeling warm and fuzzy, sometimes it comes from walking into the perfect family or person, followed by feeling warm and fuzzy. We have a boatload of appointments this week, especially tomorrow, and I am super animated to see how it all goes. READ the scriptures, and then pray again, and read some more. It helps. In a time scrunch, Elder Lindsey

Gooooooolazooooooo!

¡Goooooooolazooooo! I love football. Staying in good shape and having a good time really make up a solid part of a healthy, spiritual life. The good book says "who will ascend to the hill of the Lord?" Only those that wash their hands and eat things that are good for the heart." This analogy really hits home for me, because in truth, too many of the Lord´s kingdom obey the Word of Wisdom in light of the omissive commands, and not the commands concerning eating veggies and delectable hunks of meat. Living well for a short time and then living in horrid health circumstances doesn´t even come close to matching the glory and great accomplishment of forcing down those raw eggs every morning and chomping on that broccoli to end up looking like me, or better yet, me in twenty months when I walk across the airport after having instituted my great health plan that I have yet to discover. But seriously, be good, and eat well. Don´t be lovin´ it all day everyday. In the event of a baptism, try to have some back up investigators to teach afterwards, or to bring along to the baptism and to see how silly it is to be scared of it. A wise man learns from his mistake, a super wise man learns from the mistakes of others, and Arenales I and II just plow on. We did a whole day of contacting, and surprisingly taught more lessons than when we tried to set up appointments. So much goes for retention, but things are improving, it seems. Concerning my daily scripture studies: oh, how I miss the pens from the States! My good BYU pen from the beloved Elder Trevor Pierce, may he preach in peace, has run out of black ink, and my weak, purple pen that aspires to be black will just have to make do. All other colors work just fine. Currently, I am in the war chapters of Alma, and it shocked me how much actually gets underlined in red, meaning that it applies to the mercy of God. Not that it´s a bad thing, but just that amongst all the blood and scalping and military strategem, I didn´t expect so much. It just goes to show that the Lord works during all times of life, including when we are in great danger physically, like when this lady decided to sic her crazy dogs on us even though she gave us her address and said to pass by. No bites, just a sore ego for being rejected and deep sadness for another lost lamb amongst the wolves of evil workers. The Lord is good, but going over time is not. ¡ciao! Elder Lindsey

Clark in Argentina

Baptism weekend for Cindy and Daniel. The two have now officially been confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and truly the light in their eyes has changed their countenances in a very real and detectable manner. This was my first time actually getting wet while dressed in white on my mission (we got pounded with rain a few weeks ago, hence the qualifier). I guess the change in pressure between the water and the air caused Daniel to have a bloody nose, which he impressively sealed and consealed so that nobody noticed as he went back to the changing room, and that none of the three sets of white clothing he had in close proximity magically became eternally stained with red splotches. Props. This week, I finally got fed up with Satan's efforts against the Lord through false doctrine and outside influence on our investigators and members. I guess that I kind of view myself as Captain Moroni in a symbolic but oh so active war on sin. I have expressed this in the past, but it wasn´t until this week that I truly felt the drive to correct this evil. I think that of all doctrines we deal with that negate the true majesty of the Lord´s gospel belongs to the J-Dubs. The notion that God exists, but that Jesus isn´t the Christ can only be derived from the father of lies. Prophecies and the doctrine of Christ saturate the scriptures, and the Spirit carries it home to our hearts, which is not as traceable, but infinitely more potent. However, His way of teaching includes building faith from what people already know, and not tearing down what has been edified in the past, and in general people that are set in other ways don´t listen to us, so we don´t really argue anyhow. Calling home was great, though short, as it should be. The family is doing great, and the phone companies across the world just love Mother´s Day for sure. 55,000+ missionaries calling home means a ton of phone bills. Also, the world would really be much happier if businesses would just make every brand compatible with each other. Elder Gimenez didn´t get to call for quite some time because the landline was of one company and the calling card of another. That´s just messed up. Oh, it all worked out in the end. We are slightly out of investigators. There is a couple who just witnessed the baptism of his mother, and now have started to work out marriage so that they can get baptized soon. Ah, the power of a good family member. Abuelo Lemos. I don´t know if I have mentioned him before, but we all love him to no end. He is hilarious, kind, rather forgetful, and has a heck of a good life under his belt. He played football professionally, worked as a bird scientist and has started a wonderful tree of a gospel oriented posterity through joining the church way back when. He will be deeply missed when we leave this area. Maybe I´ll just stay here my whole mission and just get really in to the loop in Arenales and Malvinas. Apparently, according to the sources of Elder Petersen´s dear mother, it´s one of the poorest areas in Córdoba. Huh. Never thought of it that way, but now it has become pretty obvious. That´s probably why I love it so much. The people give, and are very humble, as well as receptive to the gospel. Godspeed, all. Write me dear elders, por favor! Elder Lindsey