October 21, 2014

Familia:

WOW!! I cannot believe that another week has ffllooowwwnnnnn by again. Spring is officially in full swing here in Argentina as the heat begins to climb with some pretty heavy humidity. We are enjoying these beautiful days and waiting for summer to get here to remind us how much we can really sweat. Ha-ha. 

Well there isn’t a whole lot to tell this week other than we are working HARD and being BLESSED!! Everyday here in Argentina we are seeing miracles. We have found a ton of people to teach this past week and have found even more less active families to work with. One great experience we had this past week was with the familia Sosa. We were looking for a reference that we had received from a member and we clapped outside their house. A man came out, looked at us, and invited us to come in. We got in and asked him who he was and if he knew the reference that we had received. Hno Sosa explained that it was his daughter that we were looking for but that she no longer lived there. So we started talking more and turns out that he was a member that hasn’t gone to church in over 8 years. He didn’t show too much interest in coming back tampoco. But we decided to teach the Doctrine of Christ. We testified (and testify) that a member of the church that understands the Doctrine of Christ, that come back to church that very sunday to partake of the sacrament will continue to do it for the rest of their lives. And that is the truth! We had such a special experience in that lesson and in the end, he committed to renew his covenants every Sunday and humbly asked the Lord to help him in fervent prayer. I wish I could describe the strength of the Spirit in that lesson but it would not do it justice. I have gained a testimony that the more direct we teach and the simpler it is, teaching directly from the scriptures, having charity for the person we are teaching, the Spirit 100% of the time testifies with power. There have been a lot of other experiences that we have had teaching this past week with the Spirit. I think this has come from the fact that we are studying a lot better and focusing more on preparing ourselves to teach instead of preparing lessons. I love it so much. 

Also this week, pte smith came up to visit Argentina. It was a good experience getting to meet with him and talk about what we can do to better help our branch and our areas.

This past Sunday was awesome because JANET came to church!! Whoop whoop!! Janet is a reference that the ptes wife gave us. She is one of her best friends and I guess that they have been working with her for a while (we met this past week) but has never gone to church. Well on Sunday, she finally came!!! Everyone was super excited and came up to her and welcomed her and gave her a really good experience. On Sunday I also gave a talk in church. It was one of those times where you see the bishop come off the stand and tap you on the shoulder to let you know that he needs another talk in 15 minutes because the hermana had to go. Ha-ha. I love being a missionary. So i got the chance to speak on Sunday and it was awesome. Being mother’s day here in Argentina, I taught about one of the most important lessons I have learned form my amazing mother, to confide totally in the Atonement. 

Today we all came into Paysandú for the talent show of the zone. It was a blast! 

So my plan today was to send home a ton of pictures because I haven’t done that in a long time but there isn’t a USB port available on this computer. So I apologize! Next week I will do it! 

Here is an awesome talk that I have been studying this past week and I would like to invite you all to do the same! http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=251

It is called "in the strength of the Lord." it talks a lot about the enabling power of the atonement, a side of the atonement that a lot of the time we don’t consider as much as we should! 

I love you all! Thank you all for your prayers and for all of your support! 

Lets all try a little bit harder to be a little bit better this week!! 

SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY!!!

UN abrazo, 

Elder Staffieri