Monday, December 11, 2023 11:40am
Hello my people!! How yall doing?
Welp, this week has been pretty awesome! Seen the hand of the Lord in the work a ton, got out of my comfort zone, and had a lot of fun! Lemme go ahead and get into it.
So, first off, I'd like to just shout out budgeting, meal planning, and cooking! This last transfer Elder Bain and I did a ton of that, and because of it, I still have about 35% of last month's payment, which is pretty legit and let's me live pretty comfortably now, maybe even splurge a bit?? Lol, it's a great skill that I'm very thankful my amazing mother taught me. And cooking as well, learned a lot from her by example I guess.
Elder Sykes has helped me impove my Castellano a ton! He knows a lot about grammar and Argentine slang, which we don't use a lot but it's helpful to understand when people use them. He's also read a lot of the same books as me and gets a lot of my dumb references, so yeah, he's pretty cool.
Another thing Elder Sykes has done is pushed me to contact more people in the street! He helped me find a good opening to a street contact and how to go about inviting them to church or whatever we're trying to do that day. Street contacting has definitely been something difficult for me, but with the help of my comp and a lot of confidence in the Lord and the message, it's gotten a lot easier.
Because of all the contacts we've been trying to do, we have been able to find a ton of new people and a lot of them seem like they're going to progress! Specifically, there's a family that Elder Bain and I had tried to contact a lot, we were never able to have a lesson with them, but somehow, the first time Elder Sykes and I pass by them, the mom comes out of the house super happy to see us, invites us in, and we teach them an amazing lesson! It's not only them either, so many points that I thought didn't have anyone all of a sudden have someone who's actually excited to talk to us! Again, it's definitely the Lord blessing us for our efforts. Super awesome.
Right now we are struggling with getting our amigos in sacrament meetings, but at least they do have a desire to go lol. A lot of them just have a lot of complications in the morning or literally do not get up because they're so deep asleep. Lazy Sunday vibes I guess.
We did have a lesson that amazed me a little bit ago! It was with Agustin and Jennifer and we were originally just going to talk about fasting, (which we did) but Jennifer's younger brother, named Ivo, was there and he started asking us about the church, which was awesome, but what was even MORE awesome was that Agustin basically taught him the Restoration while we sat back and watched! We were able to explain and give a Book of Mormon to Ivo so hopefully he reads it! I was just very proud of Agustin for how well he explained the Restoration, I love those two very much.
There wasn't too much else this week, so time for TotS!
This week's talk is He Has Risen With Healing In His Wings by Elder Patrick Kearon, our new apostle!
I love how he starts this tall, speaking about Ernest Shackleton and his expedition. Shackleton and his crew were put into a very difficult survival situation during this expedition and survived. Elder Kearon says that we may think that we couldn't live through a survival situation, but he tells us many of us have. Many members of the church have lived through abuse, violence, oppression, bullying, and many other difficulties placed on them by other people. In those situations, it's very easy to feel alone, like no one sees the situation and even if they could, they could never understand. But Elder Kearon says this is not true. Jesus Christ knows exactly what anyone has felt and knows the exact way to help them through these terrible situations. When we turn to Him, He will heal us. He helps us see our divine identity and helps us see that we are not defined by the things others have done to us. As a child of God, He has given us a way to leave this pain behind and move on, becoming better through the Atonement. This isn't just extended for victims of these actions, but for the truly repentant commiters of these actions as well. It is always possible to leave sin behind and come back to God and receive forgiveness in Him.
I don't really have an invitation for you all today, but I do want you all to know that I love you very much and so does our older brother and Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that as we turn to Him, He can take away our pain, anguish, and sin and help us become new, better people, better siblings, parents, spouses and friends. Always remember that He's waiting for you to turn to Him, no matter your situation.
Love you all a ton, really. I'm so glad I have so many amazing people that care and have helped me become this missionary I am today.
Talk to you all next week, go forth in faith!!
Elder Montgomery
(Some pics from the album this week)
Rain with Elder Siques
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