Week #82: que lo tiró

Yooooo!! Well yesterday we received pretty crazy news that well be getting sent home within 2 weeks and were all kinda shook right now with that! So many emotions and thoughts and feelings running through all of our minds and it kinda doesnt feel too real yet. But every single missionary will get sent home in my mission and those with less than 18 months will be reassigned to state-side missions after a few weeks, but since I now have about 20 months, Ill be released when I get home! So crazy to think all of a sudden my mission will just be over. Its a bitter sweet feeling, as we are all super excited to be home and see our families and everything, but we also won't have a lot of the experiences that most missionaries have when they end their missions. But we all know that God has His plan for each of us and we just gotta trust that He knows better than all of us! Love you all and excited to see everybody real soon! Stay safe! Chau. 

-elder shoemaker

Week #81: EL FIN DEL MUNDO

Yooo everybody! Wow what a crazy week with everything! Last week there was some chatter about the Corona Virus, but it wasn't a big deal at all, but now it's like the world is gonna end any day now!!

It's so cool to see, at the same time, all the members work together to make sure everyone was able to partake of the sacrament and receive the spiritual nourishment that they need. We were able to participate in a few "home sacrament meetings" and it was honestly a very comforting feeling. Even if we can't congregate in our churches, we will continue to progress and renew our covenants with God.

 This has reminded me how important the Priesthood really is in our day. Our Prophet holds this Priesthood and has the keys to guide and direct the Church of Christ in these Latter Days! Our prophet and apostles have been preparing us for these days for many years! Thankfully we've all been prepared and instructed on how to be self sufficient in these times, with a worthy priesthood holder in the house, we can continue taking the sacrament and have the true authority of God right inside our homes.  

Im not over reacting to this outbreak of the Corona Virus haha...Im sure it will pass by with time, but it really is just another sign of the times that should motivate us to repent and prepare ourselves and our families for what is to come. I hope everyone stays safe! Please pray for the missionaries, that we can still find people to teach with how complicated it is going to be! Love you all!

Week #80: ¡ME VOY!

Wowww what is up everybody!? It has been such an awesome week! On Saturday we received our transfers from President Dunford and it looks like I'll be leaving Argentina. It was so awesome to work in this part of our mission and serve in another country for 3 months. I had two awesome companions, and got to meet tons of people. Honestly I learned so much while Ive been here! 

Tonight Ill be heading for my new area down in the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo!! I'm super excited for this transfer because its very likely my last area of my mission, and I have never served in the capital and that was my dream! Ill be companions with an Elder Daley! He's leaving the Argentina zone with me right now, so Ive been able to get to know him the past 3 months and were gonna have a blast as comps! Really, I couldn't have asked for a better transfer! But, with every transfer, you always have to tell a lot of people goodbye! 

My whole time here in ARG, we had been visiting a less active family, helping them get back into the church, and their two kids have a baptismal service planned for this coming Saturday. Leo and Sheila are some of the biggest studs Ive met! They are 9 and 11 years old. They have loved going to church with their parents and reading the Book of Mormon! I have especially become buddies with Leo, and it wasn't easy explaining to him I had to leave and couldn't stay for his baptism. Leo is a little bit of a cry baby, so that made it even worse haha...but his baptism is gonna go great and Im so excited for him and his family! The mom was also very sad that I wasn't gonna be there for the baptisms. She said she hates getting close to the missionaries because they come and change your life and just become some of your best friends...and then before you know it, they have to leave and its rare to ever see them again honestly. 

I told her as missionaries we feel the exact same way. We are asked to give all our time and attention to these people and do everything in our power to help them in their lives, and then we have to leave them so soon! Sometimes people feel like its not fair, but I guess thats just how God wanted it to be! The mission is the greatest thing that could ever happen to a young person! This gospel is true and its the healing power of Christ's Atonement that changes these peoples lives! I'd invite everyone to access this power to receive more joy in their lives! CHAU!

Braxton and his buddy Leo! 

Braxton saying goodbye to many of his good friends in Argentina! 

 A little Paintball fun on his last Pday in Argentina! 

Week #79: Thee Elder Moreira

Yo yo yo yo everybody! Whats crackalackin?! Man it was a good week! We were able to just work and not stress about other miscellaneous stuff! Here in Argentina we haven't had much time to go out and just find new people to teach, but this week helped us get back on our feet a little! 

Elder Holder and I did some splits with some of the elders in our zone and it was a blast, like always. We also finally got an AC unit in our house!! Its the first time Ive had AC in my mission! (: So yall already know it was a memorable week...:) 

This week during some of our splits, I was working with and Elder Moreria from Ecuador. He just barley got to the mission about a month ago, but already is a super mature and awesome missionary. He's a little older than me, and has gone through a lot in his life. We were just clapping at some doors and trying to contact for awhile, and we had a woman come out of one of the houses and she was super receptive and told us about a lot of the trials she's had in her life. Her husband died 3 years ago, and just 4 months ago her daughter died. She said she believed in God, but that she didn't "have faith like us". She said many missionaries from various churches had talked to her and told her she needed to have more faith and just trust God that all would work out for her good, and that she always had tried to develop more faith, but she just had too many unanswered questions and doubts about it all 

Elder Moreira told her it wasn't a question of her faith, rather it was a question of her understanding and knowledge of Gods plan for her. He started going off teaching her and I felt like for a minute he was teaching me too! I think we often beat ourselves up for not having enough faith because we don't understand everything perfectly, but often times, it doesn't have much to do with just our pure belief in God, but rather our understanding of Him and His character. As we study the scriptures more and seek the answers to our questions, our faith will improve because we understand who God really is and we get to know Him better!!

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!