February 24, 2015

Familia:

This week has been amazing!! It has probably been one of the busiest weeks we have had in a while but it was all worth it! This week we had 3 days of conferences with Elder Viñas. I have never learned soo much in 3 days! It was so awesome! I have never met someone like him like. This man is basically living scripture. It was crazy! It all started in Montevideo with a concilio with all the leaders from half the mission. Then on Friday we had the conference with 6 of the 11 zones we have in the mission here in Montevideo. It was pretty cool. I had the chance to direct and it was pretty fun. Then that day Elder Trucolo and I got in the car to drive up to Tacuarembó (4 hours) to do the same up there. We had an awesome conference. After the conference, we got news that we had to go over to Colonia to go help resolve some things, so we got in the car and drove 5 hours from Tacuarembó to Colonia, and picked up a few missionaries, and then drove back to Montevideo that night. I think we got in at like 3:30 in the morning. haha. It was kind of a marathon but it was good.

On Thursday, after the concilio with elder Viñas, I got the chance to go out and work with Elder Hansen for the night in our area. We had such an awesome lesson with a woman named Laura. I can’t remember if I told you guys about her or not. But basically a few weeks ago, I saw one of the sisters from my old ward here in oeste in the temple one day. She told me that she had someone for us to visit and gave us the reference but we couldn’t find the house. Then a week or two after, I saw here again in the offices. She passed me the reference again with the street corner. One day, everything we had planned fell through so we went to our agenda, and we felt that we needed to visit Laura (the reference). We still had a hard time finding it so we called sister perugorria and she just happened to be at Laura’s house and said that she would come out and wait for us on the street. We got there and the hermana perugorria brought us right in to meet Laura and Julio. We had a really powerful lesson about the restoration and the power of prayer. We set up to go back 2 days later and she called us and canceled because there were some problems in the house with the neighbors and her pareja ended up in the hospital. It’s a long story....but anyways, we went back 2 days after that with elder Hansen. She told us that she had separated from her pareja because she didn’t feel good about being with him and that she was really upset. We asked her about how her prayers went and she told us that that was the only time she had felt peace over the past few days! It was so awesome. She began to explain that she had felt things she had never felt before and she had a reassuring feeling that everything was going to be okay. The familia perugorria went to this (the second lesson) with us and the members made all the difference!!! They testified like I had never seen before. The sister expressed how much she loved Laura and how she desired to share all the happiness that she had found with the Gospel with her and hermano perugorria testified how much it changed him and how it saved his family and everything. It was really intense. Elder Hansen shared this awesome scripture from the Book of Mormon and we meditated on how it applied directly to her and everything. The Spirit definitely sealed the testimony. It was so awesome. At the end of the lesson, Laura told us that she was going to invite her friend, Melisa, to come and listen to us today! :) She asked us to pass by for her yesterday so that she could go to church with her whole family. She is soo prepared! She has accepted the invitation to be baptized the 28th of March. 

This Sunday, Maria, the woman we taught and who got baptized in December gave her first talk in sacrament meeting! It was soo awesome!! She invited her daughter to come and she came too! Maria killed it! She spoke on fasting! Normally the people get really nervous and give like 5 minute talks, but she was so calm, spoke with confidence, and even quoted the first bishop! It was soo awesome! And her daughter loved it too. We have been teaching her for a while and it was the first time she came to church! 

Well my whole group goes home this week. It’s kind of weird that I am not going with them...but I am way stoked that I have another 5 weeks to work! I am feeling so blessed! 

Something I learned this week from Elder Viñas was that as missionaries we don’t really do anything. I thought I already understood that but he helped us see it on a whole other level. It is the Spirit who does all the work. He taught how we are just instruments to help the people arrive to the truthfulness of the message. Nobody can really become converted to the gospel through reasoning. He taught about the failure of a missionary. He taught that the real failure of a missionary is when he stops teaching by the spirit and begins to teach by reasoning. The Spirit reveals and confirms the truth. If they can receive a testimony of the Gospel through the Spirit, nothing else matters. He then addressed the importance of the Book of Mormon. He said that "if the roots or their testimony aren’t based in the Book of Mormon, their testimony will dry like a branch." We need to help them have their own experiences. A lot of the time we want to "transfer" the faith we have to them but it doesn’t work that way. It is impossible for the faith to transfer itself, they need to have their own faith, gained through their own spiritual experiences. Idk. These are just some of the things that stuck out to me about teaching, there is a ton more about leadership that he shared but that will be for another day. 

I am out of time but I want you all to know how much I love you! Thank you for all you do to support me out here on my mission! I have never been so happy in my entire life. I wish all could come out here and experience this! There is nothing better!

Anyways I am all out of time! 

Let’s all try a little bit harder to be a little bit better this week! 

UN abrazo fuerte!!

Elder Staffieri