Hola chicos!
I didn't send an email last week because nothing really happened, and also I didn't want to. But ahora! Stuff has happened! It's freaking nuts. I've been a missionary for 3 months now. Also nuts that I've now been in the field longer than I was in mtc, because mtc still feels like the majority of my mission. We had transfers last week and Elder Anway left which was sad, but now Elder Nash is training this guy Elder Stevenson and he's chill, his Spanish is already better than mine but esta bien.
I got my first baptism! This guy Horacio was actually the first friend that I talked to in Argentina. For the last like 3 weeks we were trying to get him to read the Book of Mormon and get a testimony, but he just wouldn't read. We decided to stop teaching him but passed by one more time and he read! He said he felt peace and calm when he read so we put him on date for baptism that Sunday. And we have another one of our friends on date for next Sunday. I'm praying everything works out.
For new years eve we went to dinner at the house of these members, (from Thanksgiving) and they wanted to pull a prank on the new missionary in the ward. We were eating lamb and Elder Nash halfway through the meal said, " there used to be 5 dogs right? What happened to the fifth?" And the members told him you're eating it. The look on Elder Stevenson's face was priceless! But he took it like a champ and kept eating, we told him like 10 minutes later. One of the family didn't know it was a joke though and started crying.
After new years we went to the city part of our Zone and it was like the apocalypse. There was no one in the streets, everything was closed, even McDonald's and McDonald's is never closed. It was nuts everyone partied so hard, that the country shut down for a day.
We found this family where the parents were baptized like 20 years ago and some of the kids but they went inactive. We've been talking with them and they have super strong testimonies. We gave a blessing to one of the sons who had problems with his legs, and he said he could feel some sort of power run through his body, so that's kinda nuts.
A pastor guy on the street started talking to us about how we were doing a good job, and he kept praying for us and holding our hands(it was a little weird but super nice.) I gave him a book of Mormon, and he didn't reject it so that's good.
Oh also we taught this guy who is mostly deaf. He's been to church like 8 times all by himself and we finally got to teach him. I'm not sure how much he understood but we left him a Book of Mormon so hopefully he can read and we can talk more about the gospel.
Yeah that's pretty much what's been going on these last 2 weeks, at least the most interesting stuff. The mission is really difficult sometimes but always when we push through there are miracles on the other side. I'm really so grateful that I have the opportunity to be here teaching the gospel. It's really nuts the things you see and appreciate when every moment of every day is focused on the Savior. It's really awesome and I love every minute, even the minutes that suck! I miss you guys a ton! Let me know how you're doing, and what you've been up to!
-Elder Christensen
