Left Campo Largo for Clorinda

Everyone,

I had transfers this Wednesday and found out Tuesday night that I was being transferred. I packed my bags and we went to Resistencia then to Clorinda. It was about 6 or 7 hours in a bus all on Wednesday but now I am here. My new companion is Elder Simmons. He has exactly the same amount of time as I do in the mission. We actually were in the same room in a hotel the first night we got here. I didn't know him in the MTC although we were there together. We were in different districts. 

This place is very different from Campo Largo and I am very grateful for my boots. It rains a lot here, and the roads are much worse than in Campo Largo. There is one paved street in my area. We are still only on foot and only live about 3 blocks out side of our area. I am also not in the branch presidency. That is probably one of the nicest parts. I went to church sat by our investigators and didn't have to sit on the stand or give a talk.

I'm in Clorinda in the Province of Formosa.  I'm right by Asuncion, Paraguay.  Cool huh!

Of course, we have a little bit of a hard time with Spanish. I think we can both speak about the same amount but I have felt like we have had to rely on the Lord more and have been blessed. We have found some good new investigators and we have been able to invite the spirit into our lessons.

One of the less active members in our area cleaned up his life and received the priesthood this last Sunday. Oscar told us last night at 7:30 pm that this is when he would usually wake up. Then he would drink and stay up until about 6:30 am and do it again. He now has come to church 5 times in a row and said that one of his favorite parts of our church was how it invited him to change.

We also have his nephew Elian and his sister Luciana who are super excited to be baptized. They like to be in our lessons and listen to what we have to say and are counting down the days to their baptisms. It's super exciting to see them excited.

The work is progressing here!

Elder Dallin Skouson

Elder Skouson and Elder Simmons eating cheese puffs at a member's home

It is important that we try to be happy.

Everyone,

I found some very interesting English right before I threw away the box to our headphones. "Sound effects, especially in regard to heavy bass feel very shocked," and "even indulge in music a long time will not feel unnatural." It makes me wonder about my spanish. I hope I can speak better than that.

This was the last week of my last transfer of being trained. We had an exchange and I went with Elder Murphy my zone leader, he was so excited almost always. There is one member who had some very bad experiences with the other members and we were walking by and he waved and said, "How are you?" She said, "mal" so he just walked straight to her saying, "sister, why are you bad?" As she explained the problems she has with other members and how she feels that they look at her in the church... she said she was baptized because she wanted to see her grandpa again and live with him after this life. Elder Murphy simply asked her if she wanted to give the other members that power to take away that blessing. It was so powerful and she could not argue back to that. Sadly she did not make it to church this Sunday. But, Elder Murphy was able to still be happy after that chat. I was a little bit surprised. It is important that we try to be happy. Afterwards, we had some great lessons that same day and I'm sure we wouldn't have if we had been angry or sad.

The rest of our exchange was a very good learning experience. I learned a lot about how to bring excitement to a contact or lesson and how to help draw people's attention to the lesson, and how to make my investigators feel that I care about them.

The names in the picuture of the zone are from back to front left to right Hermanas Sihuay, Davis, Gordillo, Riquelme, Elders Flick, Yaicate, Remund, Kisner, Collins, Hammer, Murphy, Skouson

My companion in the bus (there was quite a bit of rain outside and just a little less inside)

We also worked really hard and ended up with lots of new investigators this week! Some days it is really hard to find a new investigator. One day we had one man as we asked if we could leave him a Book of Mormon say "no." He just said, "I don't want the book." I just told him that I know that it's true, and that I know that it has the words of God. He still didn't want a copy but the next time the missionaries come by at least he will know that that one guy that couldn't speak spanish very well knows it's true.

Someone also asked me how we get around. We are in a little city. We cover the entire City and it is about a 30 minute walk from one corner to the other. So, we just walk everywhere. We take a bus to our meetings and everything with other missionaries.

I don't remember if I sent this or not. We had an investigator, Blanca, who went on a trip and returned and had been talking to her pastor and now was less excited about our church.  My companion was not very excited to talk to her.  So, I had to teach almost all of the lesson. We started with the Book of Mormon, and read the last paragraph of the introduction. I then asked, "What does this mean to you?" she said, "I like where it said the second coming of Christ," and then I responded with, "I can tell that you are trying to prepare for the second coming of Christ. I know that this book and the church we represent will prepare you better for the second coming of Christ." I didn't have to think about my words, and I know the spirit was telling me what to say. I am certain that they understood too. She still doesn't come to church or anything but after that it is her choice. We can't force them.

By the way Mom,  I got some boots.  Elder Collins was going home and he gave me his and they'll work out.  

Love, 

Elder Dallin Skouson

Multi-zone conference (Elder Skouson is on the middle row 6th one in from the right--he's still tall)

A letter from Elder Yaicate: 

Hace unas semanas mi compañero y yo fuimos a Resistencia para hacer trámites por su visa, lo triste de este día fue que el bus que nos traería de regreso a nuestra área al medio día nos dejó, así que tuvimos que esperar el próximo bus que salia a las 18:00 horas. De modo que pasamos una tarde entera en la terminal de resistencia.......

De regreso a campo largo, ya por la noche, yo venía apreciando por la ventana del bus,  a las hermosas luciérnagas en medio del campo oscuro de la ruta nacional de chaco. Mientras así lo hacia me di cuenta que las luciérnagas me encantan! por su magnifico ejemplo de irradiar luz en medio tanta oscuridad de la noche con tan solo abrir sus frágiles alitas .

Entonces pensé en lo parecido que somos a esas luciérnagas . El salvador dijo en ocasión: " Vosotros sois la luz del mundo......" Mateo 5:14. 

Mis queridos amigos, ustedes y yo tenemos esa luz, la luz del evangelio en nuestras vidas. Esta luz brilla cuando compartimos con nuestros amigos, parientes, compañeros lo que sabemos que es verdad. Esa luz brilla más cuando defendemos la verdad con nuestras acciones mas que con simplemente palabras. Ustedes y yo podemos ser como aquellas pequeñas luciérnagas que irradian un poco de luz en medio de tanta oscuridad, si tan solo abrimos nuestro corazón y lo llenamos del amor puro de cristo para declarar  y defender lo que sabemos que es verdad por medio de un testimonio puro, acciones sinceras y servicio abnegado......

Compartamos el evangelio con todos!!!!!

Elder Yaicate
Argentina Resistencia Mission

Meaner dogs in the bigger city. I think everyone understood my Spanish. Christ paid for our sins.

Everyone,

This week was interesting. We started with a trip Tuesday afternoon to Villa Angela and we worked there with Elder Remund (yes, my MTC companion) and Elder Kisner.  I was with Elder Kisner all afternoon and felt like it was a little harder to get into houses, the dogs were a little meaner, and I learned a lot in the bigger city.

We then slept there and had a zone conference the next day. We talked about some good stuff on how we can have a vision for the mission for ourselves and our companionship how we can be more obedient to the rules and what we need to improve. I got to conduct the meeting and that was a lot of fun. I think everyone understood my Spanish and we all learned a lot.

We then got back home the next day and got to work just a little bit. We accidentally had 2 dinner appointments (weird because we usually only have lunch) and one of them canceled so we ended up with only one.

Thursday was interesting as well. My companion (trainer) had been acting a little weird for the past while, easily agitated, didn't like to plan as much, acting bored during companionship study, and he told me Thursday he was doing that on purpose to see what I would do. I think it was an interesting idea to try to train me but I am not going to do it if I train.

Friday we followed up with a referral to a less active member from an active member in Las Breñas. He lives behind and owns a building that says "American English Institute" so we were nervous that he just wanted to speak English with us but he had some really good questions about the plan of salvation. We shared with him where his mother in law is now in the spirit world sitting in desks in his Institute. We shared scriptures with him and shared our testimony.

Saturday we taught english to 3 students and one of them and his mom came to church yesterday--that was a success. We also had one other less active sister come to church. We had a better attendance than most weeks.

Yesterday I gave another talk in church about the Book of Mormon. We held a training for visiting teachers in the evening and then had a family home evening with a member. I shared this parable in Mathew 18 that I will paraphrase here:

There was a king with a servant with a debt of a ton of money. The king asked for his money and the servant couldn't pay. The king forgave his servant. The servant then went to his fellow servant grabbed him by the throat and asked for the money he owed him. The fellow servant couldn't pay and was not forgiven but was delivered to be tortured until he could pay. The king then asked the first servant again for the money and did not forgive this time because the servant didn't show mercy.

How great is the debt we have to God?  Christ paid for our sins and all we have to do is plead with him for forgivness. It is so simple but how often do we not forgive others who have sinned against us?

Elder Dallin Skouson

At times he will teach us more than we are trying to learn.

Everyone,

So, this week started out pretty hot. We only have a window style air conditioning unit in our apartment but it does help. We run it all night every night, and we stay comfortable so far. The walls though are made out of brick or concrete so when the sun has been on the wall all day it radiates out heat in the night, but at least it doesn't get hot as fast. It is just behind what it is outside in the apartment.

We then had some rain and a few spots in our apartment leak a little. I was suprised to wake up with some water next to my feet one morning. Then I moved my bed. It isn't too bad and now that we know where it is I think we have moved everything out of the way for now.

We had a not so good attendance at church we had 11 people show up due to some rain in the morning. Singing the hymns was interesting. Especially the sacrament hymn that they didn't know super well, but I felt the spirit and got to conduct the meeting so I bore my testimony first. It was a good meeting and we had a less active member get up and share a testimony. A sad thing is that we are having problems with reporting the spending and donations in the branch again. The district presidency is helping us work things out but it is a slow process.

We had 2 investigators, Belki and Rocio, we were hoping would come to church but they both were not able to make it. I hope it was just the rain and they will be able to come next week. We also had a less active member, Emanuel who I called right before church but couldn't understand over the phone (he doesn't finish his words so he's hard to understand even in person). It was funny a little but he in the end wasn't able to make it.

He did however say he and his wife want to get sealed so that is really exciting. We want to get another appointment with him to explain that living the gospel and coming to church can help him prepare to go the the temple. We are excited for that.

The Lord will teach us what we need to know as we strive to learn. At times he will teach us more than we are trying to learn at the time. We need to just have the patience to keep praying and waiting and then we will learn the lessons we need to and we will become more of the people we want to.

Elder Dallin Skouson

El photo es Elder Yaicate y Yo en nuestro oficina