Transferred to Mendoza al sur. And, being good can become a habit.

I'm in Corrientes. I got transferred to Mendoza Al Sur, no, not the province, but the area and the branch... I am now writing you in a house that is converted into an internet cafe. The sign outside says 'knock on the window' and when you knock the man just opens the door (that only opens half way) without even looking who it is. So, it's kinda a new experience!  My companion is Elder Smith from Washington.  He knows my cousins in Washington.  Cool, huh? 

I also left behind the wards and stakes and am in a branch and district now, we will see what happens in church.  

So, last week we worked hard. We couldn't find Agustin for about half the week, but we found him finally on Sunday afternoon. He said he has been reading and is about half way through 2nd Nephi. we are excited for him.  

We also visited Susana Monday night. We walked up to her house and her son, Frederico was in front fixing his motorcycle. He saw us. We said "hey how's it going," and he didn't even look at us too much. He went inside and walked to the back. We started to talk to Susana through the door and then he came out and shut it and then turned the lights off. We asked a member friend to pass by in normal clothes to see what was up. I didn't get the report back before I left.

I hope the new missionaries in the area continue to work with the investigators I'm leaving behind.  They'd be crazy not to.  We had to contact 50 nice people (people that don't reject us right away) to find them. 

So far here I have wandered around a little bit lost but we know some members. There are some investigators and contacting is easier although the people are a little bit lost sometimes. One woman spoke to us in tongues. She was very calm about it (luckily) and just casually slipped into what she called something close to hebrew at times. she said she sometimes speaks english, but she didn't understand my companion when he spoke in english so I guess just speaking.

They also tell me the area is pretty dangerous. My companion was robbed last transfer so we are going to have to be very careful. I think there are only Elders in our district because it is dangerous. I'll be safe.

Also remember that doing good can become a habit. We can make being obedient and choosing the right habitual things. Why do you always put the seat belt on when you first get in the car or start rolling out of the driveway. You probably don't even have to think every time, "this will make me safer" is it worth the energy to put it on, maybe not.... you just do it. The same with keeping the commandments. You can start to just do it normally. then look for something else to improve.

Love, 

Elder Dallin Skouson

Goodbye Elder De La Pena and Resistencia--- I'll miss him and that place.  

A family who was just sealed in the temple.

She's catholic and He doesn't have nice clothes

This week was interesting. We have been working with Agustin (16 years old) his brother Michael (9 years old) and a different lady named Suzana (in a wheelchair)

Michael and Agustin's mom was sitting in the bus stop as we walked by so we went to talk to her. She told us Agustin won't be going to church any more until he has nicer clothes. We tried to explain that the clothes don't matter but she didn't want to hear it. We talked to Agustin later who told us he wants to go but that his mom said no until he has better clothes. He said it didn't make sense so we aren't sure the real reason why she says no.

Suzana has told us a few times that Frederico, her son that lives with her doesn't like that she listens to us too much.

So, Sunday we went out with the member Hermano Gomez. to give them all a ride to church, and we stopped by Agustin first. His brother told us he was out working. Then we just decided to go straight to Suzana.

When we got to her house it was all shut up, which is weird. We knocked and she opened the window and told us that Frederico had locked her in and was not about to let her leave. He shouted from the back, "she's catholic." She was very sad looking (the catholic church is right in front of her house and she doesn't even go there).

So, in the end they both want to come but they have got some obstacles with their families. We are praying for them and if everyone can get to church this Sunday they will be able to get baptized in the afternoon Sunday. So, next Monday I will let you guys know what happens.

This week has really made me think about how little some people understand of what we do. We are mesengers of Christ and his gospel. We are there to help people shake off the chains of sin and feel the power of Christ's atonement in their lives. Often times it is those that need it most that are not there in church meetings. Often times it is those that need Christ most that don't want to get close to it or that will even fight against his servants.

We also had interviews with president this week. It was good having an interview with him. He helped us remember that we really are Christ's representatives in this area.

Love,

Elder Dallin Skouson

1 YEAR. Good comes from God. Bad comes from the devil.

On the 16th it will be the 1 year mark from the time I stepped foot in the MTC. The time really does go so fast. This week our investigator in a wheelchair Suzana came to church for the second time and she seems really excited to be baptized. She is stopping smoking as well and is making progress.

 

We are also working hard to help Agustin and Michael to be a little more excited for their baptism their mom was sick again this week and was not able to come to church.

 

There is also a lady who we went to her house and offered to help her make bread. She has a little oven and a cool machine to roll the dough out and we helped her roll it into breadsticks. helping her out in the back room of her house made me realize why it's probably a better idea to buy bread from a bread store than from someone that sells it in the street for cheap.

 

Also we had a ward activity for the nueve de Julio. It was supposed to start at 12 we were going to eat at 1230. We also didn't have very good plans but wanted to bring Suzana to the activity. We were in the church already for a zone meeting from 9 to 12 we tried to take some pictures and then we helped set up the activity. We got a member to drive us out to where Suzana lives to help her get to church and we left to help get her at about 1. we got back at 130 and ate for an hour (yep it started an hour late) and then we had to leave. We then had our normal afternoon studies and then we went out and worked. We were so glad to be out of the church building and were super tired when we went out to work that night.

Huge triple combination 

Sunday I gave another talk in church. I've given plenty of talks on my mission, but this one was rather special. President Franco was there. I talked on the Faith and I think it was okay. President didn't interview me afterward to give me tips so it must have passed.

 

In the end it was a good week.

 

I have been reading in the book Jesus the Christ also. I have read a little bit every day for a while now and am getting toward the end. I read today about the last supper, Christ's suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and also the very illegal trial that Christ had with the Jews and the innocence finding trial before the Romans. This has really helped me to grow my faith in Christ and also remember some of the basic things that we all know. Good comes from God. Bad comes from the devil. The devil seeks to destroy us and Christ suffered all the pains the devil seeks to inflict so that we can choose to repent and not suffer that punishment. Such a great sacrifice that He made. How important it is to make these things known to everyone.

 

Elder Dallin Skouson

Our zone, or part of it, my camera went off a little early.

 

I am grateful to be here in Argentina as a missionary

This week was a good one. We have been teaching a lot. We keep trying to do divisions but this week it was a little bit harder to do it. We do have some members that are excited to help us out.

We also have been visiting with Agustin (16 years old) and his brother Michael (spelled and said just like in English, 9 years old). They are both awesome. They have a single mom. They also have 3 other siblings. 2 brothers and 1 sister all between 16 and 7 years old, and they all have very different personalities.

Agustin is excited and Michael is counting down days to his baptism this 18th. We were able to have a family night with one of the members here in the ward and they enjoyed it. We built boats out of paper and saw which one held the most coins. The boats that look the weirdest sometimes hold more and we tell them that sometimes it looks weird to follow the prophet or hard but in the end it is better and you will be able to stay afloat in a world with lots of stuff that happens.

We also were able to do the same activity with some members the other day for a family night. They invited some friends and some less active members over and everyone enjoyed it a lot. One of the less active members named Dario was there. He didn't really talk to us before, but after that he opened up and now he is going to be going out with us tonight. It made a huge difference that he could see that we are normal people as well and not just robots sent to tell him to go to church.

The fourth of July passed by as a normal day. No fireworks except for a few because Argentina was playing soccer against Chile. We even had our lunch canceled but that gave us an opportunity to make 5 potatoes worth of french fries and buy hamburgers from our favorite place a few blocks away. It was pretty good.

I have also been looking a lot at the atonement this week. Christ sacrificed for us so that we could not only be clean but that we could be elevated and helped. It's not only to get us out of the punishment that we would otherwise have but it can help us to really transform our own nature.

I am grateful to be here in Argentina as a missionary and I know that our savior sacrificed as a necessary part of the plan of God to help us become more like Him. We can be cleaned and changed by applying the atonement in our lives and I would invite everyone to come to Christ and feel the difference when we become clean through Christ and the power of repentance. The invitation is extended all of our lives we just have to take it.

Elder Dallin Skouson

it rained and the streets filled up