La Calera: Rapidly Adapting to Argentina
Hi everyone! This is the first email that I have written as a group email. Sorry If you´ve been waiting to hear from me and haven´t yet! I don´t usually have very much time to write, but I´ll try to give short updates in the future. I think I´m almost used to living in Argentina haha. I can understand almost all of what the people are saying around me most of the time and I am close to being able to teach the lessons in Preach My Gospel. The people are generally very friendly and it´s not too hard to contact in the street or on the bus or wherever haha. Something important that I learned about missionary work in the last week is that I can share my testimony with our investigators, but I can´t give them the testimony that I have; my objective is to invite them to begin to develop faith unto repentance and baptism--to come unto Christ. This is important because before I realized this, I felt as though we were hustling these people toward baptism without fully helping them to convert to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I now realize that when they are attending church and reading the Book of Mormon and praying they are demonstrating their own personal conversion. It´s possible that they won´t have the same convinction about the same doctrines of the Gospel that I have, but I realized that this is okay. I´ve had 18+ years to develop a testimony of many different aspects of this Gospel.We are all in different places in our personal conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It´s possible to have a spiritual experience as a result of the testimony of another, but we truly develop a testimony of our own when we put forth the effort in diligence and determination to learn, change, and show Heavenly Father that we are ready to receive further light. I´ve experienced a lot of personal spiritual growth as well since starting the mission as a result of the difficulties that missionary life presents. I invite all of you, no matter where you are in your personal conversion, to put forth the extra effort to strengthen your relationship with Heavenly Father and your testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ. Read the Book of Mormon every day, pray with all of the energy of your heart and mind, and truly believe that Heavenly Father is listening and will help you. Always remember to turn outwards in service and charity of others. I promise that forgetting yourself is the best way to experience true joy despite the trials and difficulties that each of us has. I invite you to read Helaman 5:12, ponder on the message it contains, and pray with all your heart to feel the support that Heavenly Father is giving you in your daily life. This Gospel is the way that Heavenly Father has told us with which we can obtain peace and joy in this life and in eternity, but we have to personally choose to believe and live each and every part of the Gospel before we can receive that spiritual knowledge that it is true. Thanks so much for the support you all give me! There should be some photos attatched from our visit to Carlos Paz. Sorry if I can´t write personally to all of you this week, we had less time than usual. Love you guys! I´ll write more next week!Elder Walker
Hi everyone! This is the first email that I have written as a group email. Sorry If you´ve been waiting to hear from me and haven´t yet! I don´t usually have very much time to write, but I´ll try to give short updates in the future. I think I´m almost used to living in Argentina haha. I can understand almost all of what the people are saying around me most of the time and I am close to being able to teach the lessons in Preach My Gospel. The people are generally very friendly and it´s not too hard to contact in the street or on the bus or wherever haha. Something important that I learned about missionary work in the last week is that I can share my testimony with our investigators, but I can´t give them the testimony that I have; my objective is to invite them to begin to develop faith unto repentance and baptism--to come unto Christ. This is important because before I realized this, I felt as though we were hustling these people toward baptism without fully helping them to convert to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I now realize that when they are attending church and reading the Book of Mormon and praying they are demonstrating their own personal conversion. It´s possible that they won´t have the same convinction about the same doctrines of the Gospel that I have, but I realized that this is okay. I´ve had 18+ years to develop a testimony of many different aspects of this Gospel.We are all in different places in our personal conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It´s possible to have a spiritual experience as a result of the testimony of another, but we truly develop a testimony of our own when we put forth the effort in diligence and determination to learn, change, and show Heavenly Father that we are ready to receive further light. I´ve experienced a lot of personal spiritual growth as well since starting the mission as a result of the difficulties that missionary life presents. I invite all of you, no matter where you are in your personal conversion, to put forth the extra effort to strengthen your relationship with Heavenly Father and your testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ. Read the Book of Mormon every day, pray with all of the energy of your heart and mind, and truly believe that Heavenly Father is listening and will help you. Always remember to turn outwards in service and charity of others. I promise that forgetting yourself is the best way to experience true joy despite the trials and difficulties that each of us has. I invite you to read Helaman 5:12, ponder on the message it contains, and pray with all your heart to feel the support that Heavenly Father is giving you in your daily life. This Gospel is the way that Heavenly Father has told us with which we can obtain peace and joy in this life and in eternity, but we have to personally choose to believe and live each and every part of the Gospel before we can receive that spiritual knowledge that it is true. Thanks so much for the support you all give me! There should be some photos attatched from our visit to Carlos Paz. Sorry if I can´t write personally to all of you this week, we had less time than usual. Love you guys! I´ll write more next week!Elder Walker
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