Dear Family,
How are you? I am well—this week we had Zone Conferences with Elder
Foster of the Seventy—he spoke a bit about how to improve missionary
work, about the things that we need to do to improve our skills (e.g.
teaching effectively, planning well, studying well, etc), and what we
need to be spiritually. He noted that many members are doing well on
the spiritual side, but don't share the gospel much because of a lack
of effectiveness on the 'skills' side. Thus, as missionaries, we can
help capacitate them. I also thought a bit about faith, how it is
exercised by acting in righteousness. The manifestation of faith is
the nutrient of faith—the more we act the more we grow.
I was also involved in the administrative part of the conference.
Adventures included driving what should have been about an hour out of
town, and back, to rescue two missionaries who's bus from Merlo (a
city close to Villa Dolores) had broken down! We made the journey in
much less time, and then, after the conference, the assistants to
president needed to be downtown on a bus… in 15 minutes! Thus, we
aggressively made our way through downtown Córdoba and managed to get
to the bus right before it pulled out!
This past week I resolved most of the cell phone problems in the
mission, so this coming week I'm going to work on visas. Sometimes the
process is difficult to understand, but happily we have a recent
convert, Hno. Vilche, who has worked for the government of Córdoba for
untold years and thus understands well all processes involved, and has
a network of contacts to facilitate all work. He came by this week and
helped me to understand the process!
Hno. Vilche also brought us to the Air Force Academy in Córdoba today,
for a tour, as Elder Ellsworth was in the US Air Force, and Elder
Melerio wants to be a pilot. We got to wander about the classes and
halls, and hop into the airplanes. Hno. Vilche was in the air force in
the Falkland Islands war, and so were most of the senior officers at
the academy.
It's been a busy week. In two weeks we receive almost twenty new
missionaries, so I'm working to get everything ready for them. When we
do get out to work we are constantly blessed with miracles. For
example, on Saturday night Elders Pérez and Melerio passed by the
clinic where the former is taking physiotherapy, and brought the
doctor to church the next morning.
I love all of you a lot! I hope that you are well!
Love,
Elder Schlachter photos
