Tuesday, August 20, 2013

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO DAD (#49) AND CORINNE (#16)!! I HOPE THAT YOU HAVE THE BEST BIRTHDAY YOU HAVE EVER HAD! I wish I could be there to celebrate it with you. I hope you guys have a blast!!

So this week has been so awesome!!! Last p-day I ate carpincho!! After i wrote my email we went over to the apartment of the elders that work in Centro to have a little asado. Ha-ha. Carpincho is known as the largest rodent in the world. It is illegal to kill here in Uruguay but somehow a member got a hold of one and gave us some meat. It was soo good! The most flavorful meat I have ever eaten in my life. Not bad for a gigantic rat. Carpinchos have little to no fat in the meat so it was awesome. We just went to town! SSSOOOO GOOD!!

This week we had zone conference! It was buenazo!! Zone conference is always a spiritual boost as well as an animo boost. You come out of zone conference ready to conquer the world!! You talk to every person you see even if they don’t want to talk to you. It was soo good!! They talked about a ton of stuff. I forgot my notebook at the house today so I don’t have all of my notes! Aaaahh. But I will try to remember some stuff. They just teach you how to be a good missionary. Its full of practices and spiritual messages. Our new motto for our mission is "HOY ES EL DÍA!" (TODAY IS THE DAY!)We have new goals as a mission as well. 1. Double the church attendance (in 6 months). 2. 100 baptisms every month as a mission, and 3, 100 percent retention of new converts (men to be confirmed to the office of priest within two weeks). We have been working really hard with these goals and have been seeing the increase in church already. We have been working more with church leaders to excite the ward and it has been paying off. The work is taking off! It is such a blessing to be out on the mission in the day where the Lord is hastening His work!!!

We had an awesome find this week through the spirit. We were walking in between lessons and almost running because we were late. Ha-ha. But as we passed this guy I kind of felt like we should talk to him but we had no time so we just kept going. But then my comp stops and looks at me and says "Elder, We need to talk to that guy we just passed" "Let’s do it!" so we ran back and started talking to him. His name is José Luis and he is 80 years old but looks like he only has 50. It is crazy. Anyways we started talking to him just normal and he invited us to his house to talk the following day. We left him with a book of mormon and a section to read. He said that he was going to read. The following day we went to his house and had an awesome lesson with him and he committed to go to church at 9, which rarely happens because it is so early. Saturday we went back again for a lesson and committed him to a baptismal date in September. He was super pumped about it and willingly accepted. He came to church on Sunday and was there for all 3 hours. He is progressing greatly. I cant wait to continue working with him. I am embarrassed that I would have missed that chance to talk to him because I didn’t act on the prompting I received. I learned to act on the smallest prompting that you get, it doesn’t matter if we are late. Just do it. Don’t hesitate. I am grateful for my companion stopping us and for us going back. 

My spiritual thought this past week comes from Mosiah 18:9. It is a well known scripture that we use often but it is powerful and I want you to take some time and really analyze it and see how you can apply it to your life. I have been doing this a lot lately with scriptures and have seen the blessing in my life. se dice: 

sí, y estáis dispuestos a llorar con los que lloran; sí, y a consolar a los que necesitan de consuelo, y ser atestigos de Dios en todo tiempo, y en todas las cosas y en todo lugar en que estuvieseis, aun hasta la muerte, para que seáis redimidos por Dios, y seáis contados con los de la bprimera resurrección, para que tengáis cvida eterna; (Yea, and are awilling to mourn with those that bmourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand ascwitnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the dfirst resurrection, that ye may have eternal life)



This as we all know is talking about the covenant we made at baptism to support all of our brothers and sisters and stand as a witness in all times, in all things, and in all places until we pass through to the next life. What things can we do so that when people look at us or how we are acting they can say that we are disciples of Christ. How can we do better? How can we reach out to help those around us? What can we do to be sure we are numbered with those of the first resurrection? How can we serve to our best ability? Who can we share our testimony with? Who is in need around us? 



I know that if we prayerfully ask and look for opportunities to serve and share our testimony, if we pray for opportunities to develop Christ like attributes, we will be given opportunities to do so. We have to be active in developing these things in our lives. I know that we can do it. At times it won’t be easy, but IT WILL BE WORTH IT!! 



I love you all. I know the church is true. I have never been so happy in my entire life. There is no greater work than missionary work. We all can partake of the happiness that comes from sharing your testimony with a neighbor, friend, coworker, family member, stranger, just anyone!



KEEP THE FAITH AND A SMILE ON YOUR FACE!!!



lets all try a little bit harder to be a little bit better. 



i love you all. 



Con cariño, 

Elder Staffieri
PICTURES BELOW 




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