Week #74: está brava la cosa

Yo everybody! Hope it was a good week for everyone. My week went well as I finally had surgery on two of my toes to take out the in grown toe nails hahaha! Surgery went fine and was quick and easy and now Im fine and working like normal again! 

I went down to the capital on Thursday to get the surgery done with another missionary (elder Parry) from my zone who was having the same thing done as well. After the surgery, we weren't able to walk much until Sunday. Elder Parry and I had a lot of time to just sit around and talk and not do much for a few days. No missionary really likes that haha...we just about went insane from boredom! But, after talking with Elder Parry for a while, I feel like I came to understand something a lot better. 

We both were getting a little frustrated with the past few weeks in the mission because we've been traveling so much and doing so many miscellaneous things, that weve lost tons of time in our areas. For those who don't know, Im serving in Argentina right now, and while thats awesome, we have to travel a lot and it takes lots of time, just because buses only go so often. So the past 2-3 weeks, we haven't had a full day to work in our own area. We got frustrated and we felt as if we were being restricted from doing Gods will because we weren't able to just focus on the people we are teaching and going out and serving people. After some complaining, I realized that it was pretty dumb of us to be saying those things because it was all completely out of our control...and in fact we still were doing Gods will. 

Sometimes we beat ourselves up over our circumstances and outside forces that mess things up, but we forget that God just wants us to do the best we can and He will take care of the rest! I think we often times complicate things that are out of our control, and it ends up just messing up things even more. We dont need to worry so much about the results of all of our actions. Instead, we should worry more about the effort and drive we are putting into becoming a better, more Christ-like person. God will give us what He sees fit, and we're not in the place to complain about it! If we do our part, we will be blessed. Whether it be in this life, or the one to come! 

Week #73: New Year, New Me

Yoooo everybody! I cannot believe that tomorrow we start the year 2020. I feel like it was yesterday and I was like 12 and I swore that when I was 20 years old I was gonna be a grown man. Well time just keeps on going, it never stops! We are here in Argentina celebrating and getting ready for the New Year. 

This past week was an eventful one. Christmas was going good...until I randomly got super sick and ended up sleeping for about 36 hours straight hahaha. Still not sure what happened, but after I got out of bed and got moving around, I was good as new. It's been extremely hot here this past week as well. Working was tough honestly, as we were literally just dripping with sweat and marching along in the streets. Lots of people yell at us from the streets telling us to drink tons of water or else we will literally just pass out and die hahah!! 

I don't have a specific experience to share with you guys from this week, but Id like to just share something Ive been learning about. I was reading in Matthew I believe it was, and I read a verse that said something like "Christ could not perform miracles unto the people for their unbelief". I felt like it was a normal basic concept that this couldn't happen because of their unbelief, but I thought about it for a minute and I started to think it was actually very interesting that the Savior of the world, the Son of God, literally was not able to perform miracles unto the people because of their lack of belief. It wasn't dependent on Him at all, rather only the people around him. Likewise, modern day priesthood holders wouldn't be able to preform a miracle among people who had no faith in the power of God. It's not dependent on the person performing the miracle/blessing, it is those who are present and watching. God will not just give the faithless an "easy way out" by seeing something as great as a miracle. He will only allow it to happen among the most faithful. It is why when Christ raised Jarius daughter from the dead, He pushed out the crowds and all the people, and only brought with Him Peter, James and John. His 3 most faithful apostles. When Christ had blocked out all the unbelief and the doubt, He raised the girl from the dead and she lived again. 

The conclusion that I came to with all of this, is that we will see blessings and miracles as Latter Day Saints if we are faithful, and those around us are faithful. Obviously we must serve and help and love those who are of little faith, but our tightest, most inner circle, must be of people who are strong in the gospel and will increase our own faith. We find people who build us up, and we build them up. We will block ourselves from potential miracles in our lives, if we are too caught up with those that don't care for the gospel or God's commandments. 

Lets all start this year by evaluating who are closest friends are, who we spend the most time with, and who has the biggest influence on our lives. We are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with. ¡Que tengamos buenos amigos para que veamos los milagros de Dios!

Week #72: CHAU URUGUAY, HOLA ARGENTINA

Yoooooo!!! Wow so much happened this week I can't believe it. First things first...we got transfers!!! I received a somewhat surprising transfer and I'm extremely excited. For those who dont know, my mission is awesome because you can potentially serve in 3 different countries while youre here. We have a brazilian city that you can serve in (and youd be forced to learn portuguese) and there is also 3 argentine cities that you can potentially serve in. Well...I cashed in and I'm getting sent to Argentina!!! It's still very close to Uruguay, just crossing the big river between the two countries, but it is a lot different. I honestly couldn't be more excited.

There are only 12 missionaries in the Argentina part of our mission, but we are going to be working our tails off to teach the argentine people!! Gonna miss Uruguay, but Ill be back soon enough!

But with every new area, there is the saying goodbye to the people that youve come to love so much and have changed your life. Thankfully, they were all happy goodbyes, but it is still sad! Ill be leaving the people who have changed me so much over these past 6 months.

I read my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon, Alma 26, and theres a verse there that I love as a missionary. I didnt baptize thousands of people like Ammon did, but I did get to teach and baptize a few, and Id say I have tasted of this same joy that Ammon teaches about in this chapter. But in verse 7, Ammon speaks about the lamanites that he had taught and baptized and says, "But behold, they are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest, and they are his; and he will raise them up at the last day."

I will continue to communicate with these people for the rest of my life, but I have done my part to teach them the doctrine of the gospel, and I now know, as Ammon knew, that they are in the Lords hands, and they are His! God has his plan for these people, just like He does for all of His children! This message is true and it was go forth unto all people! I cant wait to share it with the people of Argentina!!(:

Braxton saying goodbye to all the members and friends in Salto! 

Braxton braves an Epic rainstorm in Salto! 

Week #71: El arrepentimiento diaria

Yooooo what is going on everybody! It was a memorable week out here in Salto!!! Great things continue to happen in the Lords vineyard like always!  This week we had our interviews with President Dunford and they were great. I honestly wish everyone in this world could meet Pres. Dunford and just feel the love he has for every person he comes into contact with. He makes you feel like a million bucks and gives you the motivation to just be better everyday. He has taught me so much about the gospel in a very short amount of time, and I will attempt to match his love for the rest of my life. 

In my interview with him this past week, he challenged me to do something, like I'm sure he did to many missionaries. It's daily repentance. I've heard that phrase many times, and taught it to many people, and I thought I understood what it was. Well, Pres. Dunford taught me in under 5 minutes what Daily Repentance REALLY is. Daily repentance is waking up every morning with something in mind that we can do better in, and then, pleading with God to give us the strength that day to complete our goal to be better. Throughout the day our specific goal should be on our minds, and we should constantly  be attempting to be better in that aspect of our day. As the day ends, we should be doing some reflection thinking about what we did different that day to be better and complete our goal...and then before going to bed, we offer a prayer to God and do some follow-up with Him, by telling him how we did. Whether we feel accomplished or not, we need to communicate with our Father in Heaven and let Him know what we feel. As we accomplish our specific goals to be better everyday, we go to bed feeling accomplished and we feel the love of God in our lives more, because we are really trying to be better. 

God never asked us to be perfect in this life, He only asked us to give a daily effort to be more like His son. I have started to do this just this week, and I can promise everyone that the blessings are real from daily repentance. Our Heavenly Father has pleaded with us many times through His Prophet Russel M Nelson, that we might repent every single day so that He can heal us and bless us more abundantly. Testifico del amor de Dios, que es real por cada uno de nosotros. Lo sentimos al arrepentirnos cada dia para esforzarnos a ser mas como nuestro salvador, pero nunca llegaremos a sentir este amor tan grande si no vivimos la ley del arrepentimiento.  

Great week with the mission AP's and President Dunford visiting Salto. 

President Dunford with the missionaries in Salto.

Pday Adventures! 

A great Pday fishing! 

Some members invited Braxton over for his BIRTHDAY! 

Birthday package!!! 

Week #70: Bautismo de Maicol

Happy late Thanksgiving everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed a giant turkey with some great football. Sadly the great day of Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Uruguay.. Pero es lo que hay. It's okay though because Maicol got baptized and that was a whole lot better! 

I don't feel like Ive told you guys enough about Maicol. This guy is literally just like one those guys in high school that everyone loves because he's just so cool and friendly and is just a stud. Maicol was introduced to the gospel when his girlfriend started to send him simple texts with scriptures, quotes, and phrases about God. Before that, Maicol had zero belief in God. He simply didn't believe He existed. I still remember the first lesson we had with him...we shared Alma 32, that we must plant the seed of belief in our hearts and with time and a lot of work, it grows into a huge tree that can't be knocked down by outside forces. 

He planted the seed about 2 months ago, and he is already getting his own tree. He has a testimony and understanding of the gospel better than most, and he knows that God exists and loves us. Maicol I honestly would say has taught me more than we ever taught him. He shared his testimony after being baptized, and I couldn't stop smiling for the whole night. He knows the church is true, because he did the work necessary to receive the answer from God!

This morning in a district meeting, our district leader shared with us Alma 31. The last verse really struck a chord with me because it said that Ammon and his brothers were so blessed by the Lord that "they had no affliction that wasn't consumed in the joy of Christ". They for sure had their afflictions, but they weren't felt because of the joy of the gospel. I shared a comment with our district that we have this same promise...as missionaries, we probably have a lot more afflictions on the mission, than we ever did before. But we're also a whole lot happier than we ever were before as well. I thought about how that was even possible. To any logical mind that doesn't make sense at all, that we would have more problems, but we would also be a lot happier. It is because as we have a focus on Christ in our lives, He takes those pains away from us and they are not so hard to bear. Our trials are consumed in Christs Joy as we center our lives around Him!

Maicol Baptism!! 

Brax and his companion Elder Johnson

Week #69: Todos somos enviados por Dios para ayudar y bendecir

Howdy howdy! This week was super awesome and filled with some mini miracles. Saturday morning, Elder Johnson and I were just contacting a little bit and knocking some doors. I think it was the first door we knocked actually, a woman came out and began to talk to us. She was super nice and quickly told us that she had actually been baptized in this church but she was a little girl and doesn't remember much about the church. She then invited us to pass by her front gate and sit down outside to chat a little. She had tons of questions about why there are a lot of churches, and how she could ever possibly know which one she should go to. Obviously this is the greatest question you could ask two missionaries...we helped her know that through praying and reading we can know. 

She also told us that she and her husband suffer from tough depression and have both been suicidal. They have three little kids together and it was clear that they have been effected by their parents health problems. Mary (the woman) ended up telling us that she felt as if God himself had sent Elder Johnson and I to help her be happy and find God's true path. 

She and one of her daughters went to church the next day and loved it. Mary shared with a few of the members what she had shared with us about her problems and that two missionaries had shown up to her door to talk about God with her. The members were so amazing and just immediately became friends with her and invited her to an activity this week and Mary just had a smile on her face and seemed to be so happy in that moment. It was a special moment for me as a missionary to have helped this woman begin to find a path of a greater happiness. 

She knew that God had sent us, and we knew it as well. There are people all around us everyday that God has prepared that we can help in our own special ways, we just have to look and be ready to serve and love anyone at a moments notice.