Week #78: Las verdades del Evangelio

Hola hola!! Another week flown by here in the mission. It was a great week! We were out of our area from sunday to wednesday night, doing Pday, splits, and interviews with president in another city of our zone here in Argentina! It was a great trip and had some super spiritual experiences honestly. Our interviews with President Dunford are always the highlight of the week! I always say that his ability to show and express his love for anyone is incredible!! Not too many people have that gift as great as he does. But this week we did a fair amount of just contacting (clapping doors, talking to people in the street and in parks), and on Tuesday we found some really cool people with awesome desire to just follow Jesus Christ. While we were clapping at a house (thats house you knock here in South America), a man was about to pass us on the sidewalk, and we just stopped him and started to talk a little bit and he was super nice. After talking for about 10-15 minutes, we asked if he needed anything. He told us he had always had a question about God that he asked lots of people, but he never found an answer that pleased him. His question was Why does someone sin and do wrong, even when they know what theyre doing is wrong? We were able to introduce the Book of Mormon quickly, and then we shared with him the scripture that talks about the natural man is an enemy to God. He seemed fairly satisfied with the scripture, and he told us to pass by his house another day to talk more about his question. 

Later this same day, we talk to a mom with her little daughter in a plaza, and after talking for a while my companion just asked her if there was something she always wanted to know about God or life that she had never found the answer too. It surprised me with how bold and upfront he was with the question, but it was the perfect question to get this woman to open up to us about her beliefs and doubts about God. Her doubt had to do with why theres so much evil in the world and why God lets it all happen. We explained agency and how God respects our agency even when it hurts other people. 

Both these experiences helped me realize something, that truly everyone has their doubts and questions about God and life. We live in a world with so many different beliefes, opinons, and backgrounds, that its very difficult to find the truth and know that it is from God. God has sent his young missionaries all over the world to teach His simple truths to His children so that they might find peace and comfort while in this life!  (See Romans 10:13-14). This gospel is true and is flawless! Every question has an answer, we just have to look for it(:

Braxton meeting Elder Uchtdorf & his wife at the
conference in Montevideo a couple of weeks ago! 

Some P-Day fun the last couple of weeks! 

Week #77: ELDER UCHTDORF

Yoooo everybody!! Wow this week was extra spiritual. We had a leadership conference down in Montevideo on Tuesday, then we headed right back for Montevideo on Saturday for a conference with Elder Uchtdorf! It was an extremely spiritual moment that I honestly wish everyone could've experienced. 

Elder Uchtdorf is a special witness of Jesus Christ and he carries with him a spirit that you can just feel as you hear him speak and be around him. We had the chance to shake his hand and it will be a moment I wont forget for a very long time! I've been so lucky and blessed to have heard from President Nelson, Elder Stevenson, Elder Gong, and now Elder Uchtdorf while Ive been on my mission. We are really hoping one more comes before I leave (: ...but I wanted to share a few things I learned from Elder Uchtdorf with you all.

 He talked about several things honestly. He didn't come with a written talk or anything, it was more of just a conversation he had with us concerning missionary work and the gospel. He talked about having a real deep connection with the people we teach. To truly desire to teach them the gospel, just for the love we feel for the gospel and for them. He talked a lot about having heart-to-heart conversations with them about how the gospel will bless and strengthen their lives, if they choose to follow God's commandments.

 He later talked about the ability to repent, that no sacrifice made to repent goes unoticed by God. He will accept any sacrifice we make to become more like His Son, so we can be sure that He forgives us and wont remember our sins. He helped us understand that God promised He wont remember our sins if we repent, but He never promised that WE wouldn't remember them. Often times that remembrance of a sin that we have is used as a warning sign for us. To remind us of how awful it feels to go down a path contrary to Gods. God does this because He loves us and only wants us to remember the consequences of sin. 

Elder Uchtdorf talked about several other things, but those were two of the things that I loved most. I know by the confirmation of the Spirit that I during that conference that Elder Uchtdorf is an apostle of God! He has been called by Christ himself to represent Him and be His special wittness to the world of the reality of the Gospel and our Savior. I know this church is true! I love you all and hope we can all prepare ourselves for the General Conference we are going to have in a few months!!  

Braxton with a friends daughter, Annie Christofferson, who is serving in the Montevideo Mission.  Annie 's mom told her to go find Braxton and introduce herself!;) So glad she did, because these were the only pics we got this week! ;) 

Week #77: ¡Los actos chiquitos de servicio!

Hola Hola!! What's up whats up! Man it was a good week! First week with my new companion, Elder Holder, and he is one heck of a guy. One of a kind actually!! Hahah!! The people love him here and I love him too hahah!! 

I don't have much time today actually, because we are traveling down to the capital tonight for a conference, but I wanted to write about an experience I had about an hour ago. So we just came from our Argentina area, and we just made it to a city in Uruguay, and in a few hours we will be traveling to Montevideo. While we were buying our bus tickets in Argentina, we were behind an older couple and I heard them trying to speak English to the lady behind the window. Maybe it doesn't sound too crazy to you guys, but I think thats only like the 3rd time I've heard that on my mission. The couple clearly didn't speak very much spanish and they were having a tough time with the lady, so my companion and I piped up behind them and said "do you guys speak english?"...Man I've never seen anyone so excited to see me before!! :) They couldn't believe there was someone else there that spoke english hahaha!! We were able to help them buy their tickets to Uruguay as well and then we got to talk to them for a minute. They are from Michigan and are here backpacking all over South America! They were so nice and grateful we were able to help them. The husband said he had talked to missionaries like us one time in Michigan, but clearly he didn't continue talking to them. They were curious what we were doing here and we quickly explained that we are missionaries and we're here for 2 years to talk to people about Christ. 

We didn't get a chance to talk to them very much at all, but it was an awesome experience to help some people and maybe even plant a seed for them, so that one day in the future they might hear the gospel. I like to think that one day 2 missionaries will knock on their door back in Michigan and the couple will tell them about the time two missionaries in Uruguay saved their lives!! Maybe it'll help the couple be more receptive to the missionaries, but with whatever happens, we were super happy we could help them and get to explain to them who we are! 

There are people all around us that we can help. If we take a minute out of our day to help them, we can soften hearts and change the course of their lives. It always seems like something so small and insignificant, but our acts of service always bless other peoples lives more than we will ever know! Love everyone and love those that despise you even that much more! Have a great week!

Brax was pretty excited they found a bowling alley today on Pday!