Dear Family,
How are you? I am well—this week we had transfers, and in our district
we're having a change of companion in a neighbouring city (one hour
away!), and also Elder Melerio is off to the city of Cordoba, and thus
my new companion is Elder Goggins, from Georgia.
Our area is doing well—we had three baptisms on Saturday: Andres,
Roaxanna, and Carlos. Andres was the man who found us at the chapel
last week, and Roaxanna was another miracle! She was almost baptised a
year ago, was ready in baptismal clothing at the service, until, well,
there were some problems with the family and she wasn't baptised. We
found her teaching record in the Area Book, and dropped by one day. A
few days later we offered a prayer to know where to go, and felt to
visit her, and thus had a very good lesson in which she accepted every
commitment, including baptism, and I felt the Spirit as I was prompted
to promise her various specific blessings. However, after this she
wasn't progressing quite so well, and moved thus to a lower priority
in the teaching pool.
The miracle was that on Friday, Elders Lopez and Castillo visited her,
and she started expressing many doubts. Elder Lopez had a distinct
prompting that they needed to have a kneeling prayer, which they
proceeded to do. Arising, Roaxanna said something like, 'It's a bit
strange, and inexplicable, but I feel like I really need to be
baptised.' Thus, she had her interview and baptism the next day.
Heavenly Father is working here in Villa Dolores, and I have
confidence that He is preparing the hearts of many people in Ottawa to
receive Him.
This week I've been thinking about the role of members in conversion.
When a person joins the church, the responsibility that the
missionaries formerly had is transferred to the members. I feel that
if these investigators needed daily contact before baptism in order to
prepare them and give them the necessary strength, then after baptism
similar support is needed! Thus, I'm quite determined to be a very
good hometeacher after the mission—as we read in PMG, hometeaching is
missionary work to those who are members, and missionary work is
hometeaching to those who are not!
This week we had a training session with the mission president. I was
glad to hear his counsel, which focused on what missionaries need to
do in order to be happy. There are, of course, the obvious 'big
things,' such as working, having a testimony, being a good companion,
etc, but his counsel focused on the 'little things,' such as waking up
and going to bed on time and starting study on time. I liked to
consider that these 'little things' are like the nails that hold the
larger together (imagining the things that missionaries do to be like
a house).
Otherwise, we're planning to open a branch in a nearby city (Mina
Clavero), and I want to work with recent converts this week.
The week has felt a bit busy and quick, given that the zone training
took away a couple days of our time here. I'm feeling more love for
the people here, and special concern for our recent converts.
Thank you for writing to me! I also received Matthew's letter this
week—a reply is on the way. I look forwards to receiving Alex and
Levi's letters! :-)
I love you all and am glad to hear that you are well!
Love,
Elder Schlachter Photos and Argentine Insects
