Wednesday, June 27, 2012

cooking for a stranger.....06/25/12 Week 71

Hellllllllllllllllooooooooo there!

So this week was pretty nuts, and i´m pretty dead beat tired.  We had
plenty of "divisions" to do with the other missionaries, so we´ve been
doing quite a bit of traveling.
  We have a baptism this Saturday for Valeria and Matias!!! We´ve only
been teaching them for 3 weeks and they will be entering the waters of
baptism this saturday :)  They are absolutely amazing and were
definitely "searching for the truth"  Valeria is the mom of matias,
she is 32 years old and matias is 12.  We have also taught the dad,
david, a couple of times, but it´s been hard to continue teaching him
because of his work schedule.....but, lucky for him (or maybe unlucky
in a sense)  he won´t be able to escape my grasp.  We are going to
track him down, and he will be baptized.  (According to his
will.......or maybe i´ll just force him.)
   This week, something really funny happened, and i believe the Lord
has been teaching me how i can teach the gospel through service.
  I was on divisions with Elder Bazquez, and as we were walking back
to the apartment to eat, we ran into a man named Eugenio of around 60
years and we began talking to him in the street.  He began showing me
random photos of his family of when he lived in Germany and Italy as a
kid, and then he invited us to his house to drink a soda.  I said,
"ok, yeah sure!"  So we went with Eugenio to the supermarket where he
bought a sprite and bread, and i decided to buy noodles and salsa for
me and my comps lunch later.  We then walked with Eugenio to his
house, and we began to chat and drink soda.  I noticed on his walls
that he had a few pictures from the church, pamphlets and things like
that.....he told us that his mom knew a lot about the church.....but
anyway, i was sitting there talking to him, and then i looked at my
watch and noticed that it was lunch-time.  "oh what the heck, " i
thought, "We are going to eat here."  I then asked Eugenio if i could
cook lunch, and he said "uuuhhh ok."  So i ran to the vegetable stand
with my comp, bought some peppers, tomatoes, peas, onion, potatoes,
etc, and then to make a long story a little shorter, i cooked lunch in
Eugenios house.  It was way funny because Eugenio´s son Sergio lives
next door, and he walked in as i was cooking and gave me a look of
"who the....what?"  and then he left.....but a few minutes later after
we finished eating, he came back and asked about who we were and what
we do........and yeah, he says he´s going to come to church with his
family...unfortunately he didn´t show up yesterday, but as we were at
the church yesterday, i saw the infamous Eugenio walk through the
doors haha......sorry if none of this makes sense, i´m trying to write
faster than i can think.
   Anyway, it was super random.  Cooking for someone i met on the
street, in their own house.
This week i´m including a few photos that we took from the classic
site of the flag monument...yeah, we went again haha.
Oh, and mom, as far as you coming down here to pick me up, i know that
i said no before, but i want to hear your thoughts about it and what
the plan would be.....maybe we should take advantage of the
opportunity no?

Anyway, gotta run......more paperwork to do :(

Love you all so much!

Elder Winger

Hey Hey Hey 06/18/12 Week 70

Hey family!!
Glad to hear that everyone is good. Unfortunately i´ve been spending my whole time here on the computer making a word document of announcements for the zone.......i just barely finished and i have to leave in 5 minutes. Sorry that i won´t have time to say much!
This week was really fun! We had 2 baptisms in the zone this weekend, and i had the privilege of directing one of the services. It was a pretty cool first experience ha.
We are going to be having 2 baptisms on the 30th of this month here in Azcuenaga for Valería (mom) and Matías (son).
We are still really busy in the week, and as time begins to wind down, the desire to preach escalates.
Sorry i don´t have more to say, i did get the package and LOVED IT! Thanks mom for sending it. I love the watch too.....and so does one of my investigators. If you get the chance to send a package within the next couple months, it would be cool to stick in another watch (the same one) for him ha. Thanks for sending dollars too to give to people in need. I love your charity, and i´ll use that money wisely.
Thanks for your prayers and constant support. I love you all so much.
Elder Winger

"They are definitely American" 06/11/12 Week 69

Hello hello hello.
So last Monday we went to the Flag Monument (again) to take some pictures from the top. You can take an elevator ride for 3 pesos to the top and take pictures of all of Rosario. It was pretty cool. As I was standing in line, I noticed that the two guys in front of me were speaking english. and they weren´t missionaries. Ha, I started talking to them and came to find out that they are from Washington D.C. and are here "just to visit." Of course, being a missionary instead of a normal human being, after asking two questions such as "What´s your name? Where are you from?" I had the automatic instinct to being getting to know their religious backgrounds and share our message. Unfortunately they weren´t to interested and our conversation ended a little awkwardly....but at least they know "the mormons" a little better :)
Yesterday we had Stake Conference. Elder Arnold from the first quorum of the seventy and his wife came and spoke to us. It was just peachy. As well as President Giuliani and his wife. Bad news: Yesterday was my mission presidents birthday and i didn´t mention anything to him.......i´m pretty sure that´ll get me a thorn in the toe (is that a phrase?) when next transfers come ha.
Today was a good week in the work. One of our investigators brought her friend to the conference yesterday and we are going to teach her this week. We gave a baptismal date for the mom of a recent convert, and last night i found a man named Gustavo who lives 4 blocks from the church, never has heard the missionaries from our church (but yes of the jehovas witnesses, adventists, etc), super excited to read the BOM, yeah! thats all
Hope everyone is doing well! I hope to hear from everyone soon! Keep safe, and I love you
Fun Fact: The book of Philemon: A letter about Onesimus, a slave that robbed his master Philemon and ran away....Paul finds him in Rome and tells him to go back, asking Philemon to forgive him and accept him as a fellow christian. wow.
Elder Winger
p.s. I´ve been wanting to send pictures, but i´m still having difficulties.......until next time!

June is one of my favorite months' 06/05/12 Week 68

TRANSFERS!!!
And nothings changing. I´ll be sticking around here in Azcuenaga with my dear Elder Bravo for the next 6 weeks. We did have a lot of changes in our zone though, it´s sad to see people leave, but it´s always refreshing and exciting to begin working with new people.
This week has been pretty psycho. One of the companionships in our zone have had problems with robbers attempting to enter their apartment, so they have moved in with us until a new apartment is found. We have also had an Elder finish the mission, etc......anyway, the whole point of the matter is, is that we´ve been living with 5-6 elders in the same apartment this week....and to conserve heat, we all sleep in the same teeny tiny room haha.
The work continues to move along. We have had some trouble finding new investigators, but searching is the grand part of the mission right? We are helping one of our investigators named Angela get prepared for her baptism here in the next couple weeks. She only needs to stop smoking to be eligible for baptism, and she hasn´t smoked in the last 5 days! It´s lookin good.
Exciting news: We have book of mormons!! After all of the importation problems, the Lord has blessed us with more of our mighty weapons. We back in business.
We´ve started the weekly english classes here in the ward, so we´ll see how that goes with finding new investigators, as well as Family Home Evenings - Ward Edition.
Alright, now to respond to your email that you sent me, it sounds like Disneyland is the place to be! Haha keep safe on another sure-to-be fun adventure. Oh, and mom, congratulations of your new calling! Oh and make sure to tell grandma carma ¡¡¡¡¡¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!!!!! Tell Brother Gunnell and the whole ward hi for me and thanks for their support.
Anyway, I Love You and thanks keeping updated with me. Sorry for not sending many pictures, my memory card has like 32 viruses from using all the public computers....i´m hoping to save my pictures!
¡Tengan una linda semana!
Elder Winger
Scripture of the Week: D&C 1. Answering the question: Why do we need prophets? -Kinda Cool.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Chinchulin........yum ‏ 05/28/12 Week 67

Hey fam!

So this week, I have only about 30 seconds to write because i´ve been doing some good ol paperwork....blah blah blah.
This week went by super fast! One of the highlights is that we taught a super powerful lesson to a less-active named Daniel and he ended up coming to church yesterday for the first time in months! I also ate Chinchulin with a family yesterday....what´s that you may ask? Cow intestines. Filled. yummmmmmmmmmm
Anyway, scripture of the week: Fillipians 4: 11-13

Sorry to be so short, but i´ll write more next week! Love you and hope everyone is well and safe.

Elder Winger

First step in the rain...and my foot´s already soaked :( 05/21/12 Week 66

howdy!

So, as the title mentions, we´ve had a few days of rain this week. As I showed you last Sunday, my shoes have weathered, aren´t exactly capable of handling such weather. But today, I bought myself a new pair and everythings fine and dandy...and i´m thinkin that they´ll last the 8.5 months... so, it´s fantastic to know now that I can walk without the fear of stepping on a mis-placed nail or doggy dung that won´t touch my bare skin :)
This week went well, but we are a little low on our quantity of investigators. We´re basically in hunting mode at the moment, but hopefully this coming Saturday we will have a baptism for our investigator Angela. We´re praying fervently!
So I´ve gotten to know a lot more of the members throughout the week, and there´s one family with 2 girls who are twins and also 20 years of age. I had about a million questions to answer when they found out that i had a twin as well ha. They send their greetings to the fam. Also, yesterday my companion was telling me about a restaurant that he heard about where only twins can enter...kinda weird, but i thought i would tell you that. So yeah tiff, maybe one day we´ll go there...if i find out where it is....and if it even exists.
I read a scripture this week that really showed me just how important it is for us to share the gospel with EVERYONE that we know and what our Father in Heaven expects of us as members of his church. It´s in Romans 10: 13-15 which says:

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
My testimony has grown in realizing that some of the greatest blessings and joys of the gospel come in the sharing of it. This scripture really helped me to realize my place in this work and what a privilege it is to help people to believe in Christ and be saved by him. No person es able to receive the gospel without first hearing it from another.
I guess I don´t have too much to write this week, but thanks for all your support and prayers. I hope that we can each find an opportunity to preach this gospel of peace that we have in our lives. I love you all!
Elder Winger

Winter?? 05/14/12 Week 65

Hey everyone!

It was way nice to see everyone yesterday and to spend a few minutes catching up on things. Mom, i hope that you had the best Mothers day ever. You've done everything for me, and I can never give you enough thanks. Thank you so much for what you've given me and our family.
Today we played some soccer and I could really use a nice nap, but i still don't understand the weather here......it seems like we are all preparing for a beautiful summer.
I hope that everyone is doing well and keeping safe. Your are always in my prayers and thoughts.
Here's a quote that I enjoyed. Hope you like it.

"Have faith. Breakdowns create breakthroughs. Things fall apart so that things can fall together." - Dan Zedra

Until next week!!! ¡Con Amor!

Elder Winger