August 13, 2012: Week 43

Ok this time I won't write in Spanish. There is google translate you know ;) This week was great as you can tell by the pics, Marcos got baptized! The pics didn't turn out to great, someone had their finger in front of the lens. (Can't trust a 11 year old to take a picture, lol). It was so great that his parents finally gave him permission to make this step. All the group of friends came to the baptism and were there to support him which was great.  Soon we'll have that whole group of friends baptized ;) Also in a couple of weeks Marcos will recieve the Aaronic Priesthood. Now we have 2 jovenes (young men) instead of 1. The Young Womens still doesn't exist, but we'll fix that :) That was the miracle this week.

Also we had a good turn out in church, and we got Marcela Rodriguez (Menos activa of around 2 years) and Hna Crespo to come back to church and they both have said they are back for good. We'll see. I'm hoping so and we are definitely working with them to keep them going strong.

Investigadores:
Janet-  Left again for Buenos Aires so we didn't have much contact with her, really not at all. Still doing good and Ezequiel is helping a lot.

Kevin- We found his sister and his cousin who both live with him and we are helping him work towards the 19th, this next Sunday. His cousin and sister would be in a few weeks like the end of August, beginning of September.

Marcos- (see photos for more information, lol) BAPTIZED!

Daiana- She is doing good. She was really sick this past week and couldn't come to church but she is progressing well. Still a little stuck on the traditions of the Catholic Church, but she is starting to notice how many contradictions there are in the Catholic Church. (Really not hard to do that, just look at the first 2 commandmentsof the 10.)

Alejandra and Matias- They're doing alright. Alejandra is still looking for a job because she quit the one at Los Balla. We're trying to help her with that and as well to help her finally quit smoking. She's right there, she only smokes like 5-6 a day. I think by the end of August they'll be in white.

Claudia- She just dissapeared, still hasn't showed up from her trip. I don't know. She doesn't respond to our messages either..

Also this week we found a young couple who are Jehovah's Witnesses and a man named Julio. He's a little more open as you can imagine. The young couple is very nice but I wonder whether they just want to fight over who has the truth, or if they are willing to listen.  We'll see.

Also speaking of Jehova's Witnesses, we met another one who told us we can't be the true church because we help in the army when our country is at war, and we are breaking the commandment "thou shall not kill." We tried to explain to her how it means innocent blood, and that someone with a gun trying to kill you isn't really that innocent. As well that the Chosen people of God went to battle hundreds of times. She told us that was back then and that now is diferent. After a few minutes of talking we just told her that we don't want to fight with her. We nicely invited her to read in Matthew 18:11 and to have a nice day. (The Bible of the Jehovah's Witnesses doesn't have that scripture, it just says 11.---- with a line after the number. ;) )

So a few things I need to say:
First- There is an international stoppage of mail, so no one is receiving nor have we recieved any kind of mail in a little over a month, but they decided to just tell us so we all thought that our families had forgotten about us ;) but I knew you guys hadn't. So just so you know I haven't gotten any letters or anything for about 5 weeks now. Hopefully they'll tell us when they stoppage is over. The "Bolsas" are going to be HUGE when they do.

Second- I went on divisiones (splits) with Elder Ponce from Perù. His area is Nueva Helvecia. It's all decendents from Germany and Switzerland and other places over in Europe. Everyone there has weird names and are all whiter than me! Ok, not all are whiter than me.... but it was weird! It's a super pretty place though. I didn't get pics because I forgot my camera.

Lastly- HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:) 15 NO? Hope it was great and full of Fun and Cake!

I love you guys and hope all is going well over there.  Know that I love you guys and that my favorite part of this is showing people pics of my family and explaining to them how I know that I will be with them not just in this life but forever and how they are the best and biggest blessing I've ever received! I love you all and I hope you all will stay strong and never waver from the staight and narrow.

Love, Elder Jordan Duke