My birthday is next sunday! And by that time ill have been on my mission for 12 weeks.
So last pday after emailing, I bought Ice age 1,2,3, and the christmas one for $1. (we are allowed to watch animated movies on pday with our mission prez.) I feel like that was a deal that would make my mom proud. A steal at twice the price.
You would not believe how many people cancel/forget about appointments. 3 investigator appointments canceled this week, and 4 times members who volunteered to give us food forgot about it. There has been much involuntary fasting in ituzaingo. Another thing thats hard to deal with is the siesta. People here sleep 24/7. No one gets up until 9 or 10, then they work from around 10 to 1. Then, everybody goes home and takes a nap until around 5. All the shops are closed, nobody is in the streets and nobody answers their door. Its really annoying. By 6, everything is open again until around 10. Then they go back and sleep for a few hours, but a lot of them get up in the middle of the night to go party at the club, then just sleep in really late. I truly believe that argentina could be a world power if they didn't take a 4 hour nap everyday.
We spend about 2 days in the hospital this week for my companions leg therapy. Its about an hour away and the wait is always long. So i just read or write the whole time. I started reading "Jesus the Christ" and its pretty good. Im sad though cause its the last book missionaries are allowed to read that i haven't read yet, and i still have 21 months left. What am i gonna do.
I was able to drop off the other elder christensens package at the office finally, after having it for 3 months haha. They said hes been asking for it forever!
Some good things happened on the 20th. We went ot have a lesson with this kid Rodrigo, But he wasn't there. However, his neighbour, this lady Teresa was outside and she invited us into her house. She said she had heard about how we blessed a lady with a brain disease (this was on my second day in the country, i don't know if i mentioned it) and she told us that she was doing so much better now. She wanted to hear what we had to say. She listened to everything, i gave her a pamphlet, and we are going to meet with her again on wednesday. I don't think it was a coincidence that Rodrigo wasn't home. Teresa was who we were really supposed to talk to.
During my studies this week i got though the story of Abinadi. In one generation the nephites had gone from being very righteous to very wicked with king noah. So God sends Abinadi to call them to repentance. God is always giving people second chances. I went through and highlighted everytime abinadi says "except this people repent" or variations of it, and it was a lot. Abinadi teaches them the whole gospel in these chapters (mosiah 11-17): the 10 commandments, plan of salvation, atonement, resurrection, how little children have eternal life, and prophesied the coming of christ and the time when "the salvation of the lord shall be declared to every nation, kindred, tongue and people". (Our day). Many many times he promises blessing to those who repent, and warns of destruction for those who don't. But still they didn't listen. My favorite is chapter 13, when Abinadi is filled with the power of God so that no one can touch him. Verse 4: "because i have told you the truth you are angry with me." The wicked take the truth to be hard. I think thats so true. The only people who are offened by church teachings are people who aren't living it and don't want to change. Verse 9: "But i finish my message:and then it matters not whither I go, if it so be that i am saved." We all know what happened next. Abinadi was put to death because he would not take back his words, sealing the truth of his words with his death. Abinadi is one of the greatest examples of faith in the scriptures. I think abinadi knew he was gonna die before he went out to teach, but he was okay with that because he had become truly converted, so that his will was in line with Gods. Sound familiar? Luke 22:42: "Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done." Think also of Joseph Smith, Giving himself up to go to Carthage. When someone is truly converted, what they want doesn't matter anymore.
Another thing to take from the story of abinadi is to not be discouraged with rejection. Abinadi probably died not knowing if anyone had listened to him. But 1 person did, Alma, and a whole nation of righteous people came from him. Missionaries get rejected A LOT. But, even if someone rejects the gospel at first, it could lead to them being baptized later. All we can do is our part, the rest is up to them.
The next time I write, Yo tendré 19 años!
Adios,
Love Elder Christensen
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