Balcarce Sacrament Ft. President (Week 82)

Monday, February 24, 2025   8:44pm

Hey, what's up, back again with another email. 

Big theme this week was getting in contact with people we've already contacted, be it amigos or members. There was a lot of people that we had fallen out of contact with a couple weeks ago and by some miracle mowt of them responded to our messages or were in their houses when we passed by. A lot of them seem like they have pretty great potential, I think the next step is just getting them comfortable around the members, i.e. lessons with them, but with time I suppose. 

We did find some new folks this week, like an older couple with some health/vision problems that are apparently miraculously getting better after our visit, so that's a good sign. We've of course found people by knocking doors and talking in the streets, and I'm always amazed how often we find people that have never heard of the church or seen missionaries. Makes me seem like I'm not doing my job! It's a blessing in my eyes though, it gives people a good first impression of the church and missionaries in general that they probably wouldn't get in other places. The Lord's work always moves forward, ya know? 

A member from Mar Del Plata and some of his family members showed up at our pension on Friday to do a deep clean of the place and also help get the other new pension ready for Elder Noall and Elder Rivera to move into. Had I already mentioned they were moving? I can't remember, but they are, this Wednesday, and we are triste, but it's fine, we'll just have to do some sleepovers or something. 

Sunday was a bit special, because President Antuña showed up and gave the second hour class for us there. It was a great class, he talked a lot about the importance repentance, coming to church every week, and buoying up others who don't do so as much with our examples/influences. Good stuff, we all need to hear it. He mostly came to do interviews with us though, and to check out the aforementioned new pension. Apparently, now that there's two separate houses, they might be putting Hermanas in Balcarce at some point soon. Wild stuff, I know! 

Been reading in the Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon as of late, and I love how the missionaries (especially Abinadi right now) fulfill with the commandments the Lord gave to His apostles and missionaries in the early days of the church, especially when it comes to 'preaching nothing but repentance.' And with the perspective of repentance given to us by our modern prophets, we know that repentance really means a change in our heart, soul, and nature, which really makes our preaching seem less harsh and punishing, but charitable and kind, more Christlike, if you will.

Well, per sometimes usual when my emails are this late, I am on a bus headed back to Balcarce from Mar Del Plata after a pretty fun pday (I had chicken mcnuggets for the first time in years T_T). So yeah, I'll leave yall here because I am ready to sleep and you must be too.

Have a great night, great day, great week! Remember and thank the Lord in all you do! 

-Elder Montgomery 

Dis haus ees brekkin

We got a stamp with our church address on it

Así que vengan a la capilla

Didn't rain, but there was a rainbow I guess

Arrrrrrriba

Con el futuro misionero

I'm not sure what to say about this one

 

Pioneros y Presidentes (Week 81)

Monday, February 17, 2025   7:57pm

Wassup gente, how yall doing? Happy late Valentine's Day to all you people, hope you were able to spend it with the people you love! 

Anyways, this week was a lot of fun. One of the first things we did was take a trip with all four of us and our Bishop out to a tiny pueblo of about three hundred habitants called Los Pinos to try and contact some people and see what kind of interest there might be there. With five evangelical churches in the pueblo, of course we found people that believe in Jesus and His teachings, and a few of them were interested in hearing from us. Los Pinos seems like it has potential honestly, this was the first time that missionaries have tried to visit it in quite a while, Bishop was calling us 'pioneros' (pioneers) because of it, made it seem like exciting work! He also took us to a mountain range/quarry that there was nearby which was gorgeous and we took a lot of pictures before heading home.

On Friday, we had an awesome zone conference in Mar Del Plata with the President of the Area Joaquin E. Costa. For anyone who might not know, he's basically in charge of making sure the church runs smoothly down here in the southern part of South America. He's actually given a couple of talks in General Conference before, and they're pretty good, I'd reccomend them if you get a chance to read them. 

But anyways, he, his wife, and President and Hermana Antuña all talked a lot about our missionary purpose and how we can more fully complete with it and be more effective/successful as missionaries, and it all has to do with the invitations we make to other people. It honestly changed my mindset a bit on how I can be making contacts throughout the day and how I should really be inviting people to come unto Christ. They also talked a lot about how we can and should be working with the members in our wards to focus more on helping them in their callings rather than just them helping us in ours. But yeah, great conference, I'm always glad to get advice and revelation from the servants of the Lord here in the 'Tina. 

On Sunday we attempted a chalkboard activity again, it went a bit better this time. We asked the question, 'what question would you ask God?' and had people respond to it. We got quite a bit of interaction from the people around the centro we set up in and even got a few numbers from some of them. 

This morning, we got up early to go hike up one of the mountain/large hills in the corners of Balcarce to see the sunrise, and it was a lot of fun. I got a bit winded stepping up all the rocks in the pathway up, but it was absolutely worth it to see the sun cresting over the cloudy horizon. We also took a ton of pictures there haha. 

Well, I have high hopes for this upcoming week, much like most weeks! I hope you all have a very blessed week and can find the bright side in all you do!

Bye for now!

-Elder Mountaingomery

Trabajamos duro o duramos el trabajo

Working in Los Pinos

I wonder if I've eaten a cow I've seen yet

Oi Elder Rivera🥰

That building was a quarry, I think

Bien lindo, no?

Una obra maravillosa está a punto de aparecer entre los hijos de los hombres

Si tenéis deseos de servir a Dios, sois llamados a la obra

Pedid, y recibiréis, llamad, y se os abrirá

Obispo nos llevó acá

Me parece que está escuchando bien

The sea is always so pretty when it's stormy

Balcarce a las cinco de la mañana

Bien grande, no?

Freakin finally made it up here

El capo Vladimir nos llevó acá

Misty mountains

There's also a formula one racetrack back here