Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Busy busy 10/29/12 Week 89

Hey Fam!

Well it always seems like things get the busiest towards the end of the month haha, so i might not have to much time to write today. But it was a great week! A couple of highlights were that Germán and his wife margarita (who´s in a wheelchair) came to church on Sunday!! They have come A LONG WAYS since we first met them a few months ago. Also this week , we knocked the door of a house and a lady came out with her son. She asked where we were from, and when i told her i was from the united states she said , "Oh wow! We absolutely love movies from the united states!" then she looked at her son and said "look son, he´s from the united states. Look how normal he is. Can´t you see now that they are NORMAL PEOPLE ?" hahaha it was way funny. I also showed them the family pictures i have, and they thought that Casey in his graduation photo was taken at Hogwarts.

Thanks for your thoughts and your prayers, i love you all so much!!

Scripture of the week: Proverbs 4:7. Always have scripture study first on your daily to-do list!

Elder Winger

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Mother´s Day Encore‏ 10/22/12 Week 88

HI!

As I think of this week, this classic primary hit comes to mind "primary children sang as they walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, aaandddd wwwaaalllkkeedd." Haha, but truly, it was a marvelous week.

On Friday I had the opportunity of doing "divisiones" with the assistents to the president (change companions for a day), and i learned a bunch! Unfortuantely, me and my companion began working in the pooring rain...without an umbrella. Fortunately we found mercy with a member from the ward there and were able to enter the house, share a message, receive referencias, and even eat birthday cake leftovers :). Followed by a wonderful asado (argentine barbecue) at the mission home under sunny skies. the weather is. psycho. always. But it´s always fun to go to new areas, see new streets, meet new people. and i even got to ride co-pilot in the mssion van. stylin.
I learned a lot as well about the importance of working with members. We´ve been really focused on gaining an even stronger relationship this week with the members and fortunately we received 29 referencias of people that live in the area! Yay! But, more than just gaining a better relationship with the members, i learned about how important it really is that everyone shares the gospel. there´s a scripture in Dyc 38:40-42 that says:
40 And again, I say unto you, I give unto you a commandment, that every man, both elder, priest, teacher, and also member, go to with his might, with the alabor of his bhands, to prepare and accomplish the things which I have commanded.
41 And let your apreaching be the bwarning voice, every man to his neighbor, in mildness and in cmeekness.
42 And go ye aout from among the bwicked. Save yourselves. Be ye cclean that bear the vessels of the Lord. Even so. Amen.
What a blessing it is to live on the earth with the fullness of the gospel. Day after Day, trying to share this glorious message with God´s children, i´ve come to realize that 2 years just isn´t enough. Being a missionary is a lifetime pursuit! I am so grateful for your examples and testimonies, and don´t forget to give a copy of the book of mormon out to a non-member every once in a while eh? ;) Ok.
Enough of me, Fantastic news i´ve heard! First of all, fall weather in utah! definitely something to be missed. Glad to hear that the family has been able to get together and hang out! Sounds like a great trip is planned in the coming week as well to ALABAMA. I had a missionary in my zone last transfer that had served for 6 weeks in Alabama before coming here to Argentina. When I asked him about Alabama he replied, "I love black people:" hahaha. just sayin. Hope you have a great trip!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE. I totally forgot i even liked huckleberries. It was a tasty treat. Today I found myself once again in the kitchen whippin up some pancakes. A few of us Elders got together to watch 17 miracles (again) and eat pancakes. An enjoyable p-day indeed.
Also tell Grandma Carma y Richard THANKS FOR THE DEAR ELDER PACKAGE! Me and my companion ate all of the cookies inside in 24 hours minus 23 hours. mmmmmmm thanks!
We have been blessed this past week with finding some new people to teach, so keep your fingers crossed that we can help them receive the gospel! I´m really enjoying being here, and am sad at how fast time is flying by! As dad wrote me in his email, it is certain that there are still plenty of things to do here.
Thanks mom for your testimony and for the quote. You´ve always been an inspiration for me. as well as dad. as well as the whole family. I´m so blessed! Hope you enjoy this week, and have a fun halloween! Until next week! LOVE YOU.
Elder Winger
Quote of the week! : When life gives you more than you can stand, kneel.
p.s. Yesterday was Mother´s Day in Argentina......it´s the only country that has mother´s day on a different date than in may......so Happy Mother´s Day Mom!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

One of my greatest weaknesses: Running 10/15/12 Week 87

HEY FAM!
 
Here here here i am, just enjoying life!  I´m feeling a little bit on
the droopy-eyes-muscle-aching-body-degenerating side of things, but
all is well! all is well.  Today we enjoyed a p-day running our socks
off in a 90 minute soccer match.  Alright, you´d think that i would be
in more-or-less decent shape at least by walking everyday, but 5
minutes on a soccer field or any form of manual labor.  toasted.  It
was fun playing, especially since we played on turf again like last
week, but this time on another field that´s indoor because it´s
raining today.  And just to add to that, we also were chased by a
ferocious 5 pound dog today (running required.)
  Unforunately my zone didn´t have such a hot week this week as far as
the work goes, but everyone´s happy and out working hard...what more
to be asked?  I have been having a great time and have received an
incredible ammount of help here in this area from the Lord.  When it
seems that the work isn´t moving forward as fast as i would like, at
least i know that the work is moving forward! Oh, what a marvelous
work it truly is.
   Oh, before i forget, General Conference was fabulous.  We had the
blessing of having 4 investigators attend.  What greater spiritual
experience can one have then to hear the Prophet and Apostles of God.
Love love loved it.  I also can´t wait until it comes out in the
Liahona so that i can read them again.  It really was an inspired
conference.  And yes, pretty crazy with the whole age change thing!
I´m going to get home and everyone between 18-21 are going to be on
missions haha, male and female.
    So, i´m becoming quite the cook.  I was able to whip out "Ñoquis"
today as a special treat.  What is a ñoqui you may ask?  Well, it is
basically dough rolled out in mini bean-shaped forms, boiled, and
served with salsa.  and don´t forget to throw a pitcher of "TANG" on
the side.  I know, it sounds delicious.  and it was delicious.
     Everything is going well with our investigators.  We are still
working with Germán because he likes the church he´s attending and our
church at the same time.  he reads the book of mormon a lot, came to
the conference, and always loves our lessons....but he stills feels
obligated to go to his evangelist church for now.  But he has come a
long ways and the spirit is definitely working miracles in him, so I
have the sure faith that he´s going to pull through for the winning
team soon.
  Estela, our other investigator, had quite the rollercoaster week
last week.  We had an amazing lesson with her about the atonement and
repentance, she went to general conference, is preparing for baptism,
when all of a sudden she lost her jam.  Wham-bummer.  But, that was
last week.  She has been telling us all week that she knows that
happened to her because the Lord has better plans in store for her.
And sure enough, she texted us last night to say that she has a job
interview tomorrow.  HOORAY!  So yeah, Her faith is incredible and the
Lord is taking care of her for us.
   Well, now that I robbed a bunch of time from you, i´ll now let you
go.  Thank you so much for your prayers and for sharing your
experiences from the other side of the world.  I´m so grateful that
our family will be eternal.  I miss you so so so much, and i look at
your photos probably a little too often.  Just know that you got
someone pulling for ya in Argentina.
 
WITH LOVE!
 
Elder Winger

Thursday, October 11, 2012

A wet one ‏10/09/12 Week 86

Hey family!

Wow talk about tons of news!  Yeah, we couldn´t believe the change in
age for serving a mission either. It´s pretty crazy! I´m not sure if
i´ll still be out here to see 18 and 19 year olds, but we´ll see.
And Yes, I would love to go to the Hill Cumorah Pageant with Tiffani.
I´m definitely looking forward to plenty of family time haha.  So
yeah, book me a seat!!
It sounds like you have all had an adventurous couple of weeks!
Traveling the globe haha.  I´m excited to see all the pictures and
hear the stories!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!! Save me a slice of cake alright....or you can
just buy me one in four months haha.  and Nixon as well!  He´s already
turning one, that´s incredible!  happy birthday bud!  I miss you, and
i don´t even know you yet haha.
This week was a fun one!!  The Lord has definitely making changes in
my life and has helped me see his miracles take place in the lives of
others.  I´ve seen little miracles this week that have proved to me
that for every commandment and law obeyed, a blessing is given.  For
example, we were able to go to the saturday session of conference if
we brought investigators.  My companion and I went to the session,
expecting 2-3 investigators to meet us there.  As the conference
began, neither of the 3 had shown up.  After staying through 3 talks,
with 0 investigators there, I was faced with a choice.  "Well, I AM in
General Conference for pete´s sake, and we are going to show up at the
2nd session with investigators......it´s not bad if we just stay
through the rest of this session, we are far from our area anyways.
As that thought in my mind finished, the prompting came that that
wasn´t the right decision.  Having had that same now recognizable
prompting of the holy ghost touch me, and having acted upon it at
times and other times not, i knew what i needed to do.  I told my
companion, and we left to our area.  We didn´t have many plans, so we
decided to knock a few doors.  After knocking 2-3-4 and not seeing
success, we knocked another.  A lady came out and we presented
ourselves.  She replied by saying "i was just talking with a man about
you 2 boys yesterday, what a coincidence that you´re here.  I was
intrigued as the man was telling me about a book of yours, but you 2
have never passed by my house.  What are you sharing?  (In my mind I
was like: Oh- My- Gosh).  We gave her a copy of the book of mormon and
we are going to pass by this week.  That´s the story of the week.  As
we obey, we are blessed.

Everything is going well!  Today for p-day we played soccer on
sythentic turf (first time in 20 months!), and i bought yet another
pair of shoes........i guess it was worth it ;).

Anyways, glad to hear that everyone is doing fantastic.  Enjoy your week!

Scripture: Doctrine and covenants 130:20-21

Elder Winger

I held an owl 10/01/12 Week 85

Hey Family!

So we´ve been pretty swamped this week! We´ve done a lot of traveling to other areas to do "divisiones" and plenty of zone leader stuff has definitely made yet another week pass by. I´m lovin the work, but p-day always arrives just. in. time.

So Emanuel came to church this Sunday! He has a baptismal date for the 20th of this month and everything is going smooth. We are hungry to baptize :)
A miracle that happened this week was with a less-active man named Andres. I´m not sure if i already told you about him, but he´s been less-active for a really really long time. When i met him a fwhile ago (by the way, he is one of the funniest people i´ve met haha) he was drinking a lot, was mad at god for things that had happened in his life, and didn´t want to listen to us preach, nothing. A few weeks ago we shared with him what the book of mormon is and why it´s important. To make a long story short, he´s attended church the last 3 sundays, is reading in 2nd nephi, and he´s been drinking juice everytime we have passed by. He even wore a buttoned up shirt on sunday. The book of mormon changes lives.

Another funny story: I went to a city named Casilda this week, and while we were working, we stopped by the house of a member who was going to accompany us to a visit. When i walked in, there sitting on a post was an owl. a pet owl. But this time i got to hold it and pet it and everything haha, it was awesome.....definitely looking for one in the future. As we were traveling in the members car, i was pretty startled. It´s a dramatic change from going 3 miles per hour walking speed to 130 kilometers per hour in a car. at night. It was quite the adventure haha, me and my companion had a good laugh/stress relief chat afterwards.

Anyways, i hope that everyone is doing well! We are coming in on 4 months left, can´t believe it!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you all and miss you more everyday!.....but i´m working, no worries.

Elder Winger

HEYYYYY! 09/24/12 Week 84

1 Thessalonians 5: 21 aProve all things; hold fast that which is good.

My testimony of the book of mormon is now one that i "hold fast" to and will never let go, neither shall i allow it to diminish. As I study it daily, i continue to strengthen my testimony and "hold fast" to it. I know it is the word of God, and it has brought me closer to him and Jesus Christ. But, only by properly "proving it" are we able to come to know, just as any other. The promise given by Moroni (Moroni 10:3-5) is one that can be frequently renewed and retested in order to strengthen that spiritual testimony and help us "hold fast" to all that which is good, which is God. We don´t need to prove to the world that the Book of Mormon is true...it´s its own proof!

This week was fantastic! We had a meeting with President Giuliani and our Stake Presdient in order to talk about the status of the stake. We have a grand goal to complete by working more with the members of the wards, and Elder Paredes and I have seen success thus far! We gave a baptismal date to a man named Emmanuel this week, who is the neighbor of a member- family, we are going to be teaching the neighbor of our bishop this week, and we are teaching Estela, who is the friend of a few of the members of the ward. I have definitely learned that the best way to do missionary work is to not do it alone....but with members! Also, another powerful experience that I had during the meeting was just as we were about to leave, the Stake President grabbed my shoulder, looked me in the eyes and among one of the things he said was "What you have in your hands is the truth." As I have reflected for the past few days on that comment, I have become more and more grateful for all those who have given and raised me in this gospel. We have the truth, and unfortunately we are few. I know that their are many many people searching for the truth, but simply don´t know where to find it. It´s a privilege to search for those people, and I know that we can all make the effort to share the gospel with those around us who don´t have it, or who have simply wandered from the path.

I´m glad to here that everyone is doing so well! I´m so grateful that the Lord has watched over us so much. I hope you all have an amazing week! Let your light shine

Oh, and mom, I received my credit card so you can activate it.....and i could also use a few pairs of socks :) :) Love you!

Elder Winger 

Top o` the mornin' 09/17/12 Week 83

Top o` the mornin,
So, everything from sweet dogs herding sheep and chillin at the boise broncos stadium to antique cars and North Carolina. Sounds like the best week anyone could have! So the work is going along just fantastic. Love my area, my comp, the people, the gospel, it´s a fun time. We are scratchin and clawing for new investigators (figuratively) but the blessings always outweigh the troubles (which are also blessings, as Elder Eyring taught). Germán came to church on Sunday and attended Sacrament Meeting. He was looking pretty studly in his white shirt, slicked hair, and pressed pants. Luckily that day we had Ward Conference, so the Stake Presidente and his Counselors addressed us.......I´m pretty sure that Germán was super lossed with everything, since the topic of the day was "temples" something that we haven´t even mentioned yet. So, he probably didn´t understand anything, but he really enjoyed the meeting, (aka, felt the spirit, yeah!) so we will be visiting him throughout this week.
Have you seen the movie "17 miracles??" IT¨S INCREDIBLE. Today my comp and I bought like 4 kilos of fruit and a pizza, sat on our beds, and watched it. Nothing like p-day and a movie. Over 5 inches of low definition with surround sound. Classic.
My scriptural insight of the week can be found in Mormon 8:1-4. It´s incredible seeing the grand testimony that Moroni has of the Lord and of the record that he´s finishing.
1 Behold I, aMoroni, do finish the brecord of my father, Mormon. Behold, I have but few things to write, which things I have been commanded by my father.
2 And now it came to pass that after the agreat and tremendous battle at Cumorah, behold, the Nephites who had escaped into the country southward were hunted by the bLamanites, until they were all destroyed.
3 And my father also was killed by them, and I even aremain baloneto write the sad tale of the destruction of my people. But behold, they are gone, and I fulfil the commandment of my father. And whether they will slay me, I know not.
4 Therefore I will write and ahide up the records in the earth; and whither I go it mattereth not.
Asking ourselves the question "What would Moroni want us to do with the Book of Mormon today?" Putting the record as more important than his own life. Uncertain of his future, he demonstrates faithfulness to the commandments of God. I know that he would want each of us to share this book with others. Our friends, neighbors, and acquaintences, for all have need to come unto Christ. I´m so grateful for the Prophets of the Book of Mormon and all faithful saint that has shared this marvelous gospel. I know the book is true, and I know that it is evidence of so much more, including the restoration of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Mom, you could just put maple syrup and whatever else in the box, i´m a fan of surprises :)
I still haven´t recieved my card.....but i´ll be looking into that.
Elder Seger is still in the mission until November.....but is waiting anxiously for March haha.
Thanks so much for everything and be safe this week!! I love my family so much!! I miss you tons tons tons and can´t wait to see you. Until then, the work moves forward.
Elder Winger
p.s. The pictures are from today when we watched 17 miracles and our bathroom.....we have a problem with having like a million flies. We used a whole can of Raid to kill them....but they obviously aren´t dead.....pff, why does it always have to be THE BATHROOM????

Let us all press on 09/10/12 Week 82

Hey Everyone!

So this week was just awesome. First of all, on Wednesday we had mission council and Elder Viñas from the area seventy came to speak to us. It´s amazing the spirit that the authorities of the church have. He pretty much filled my spiritual gas tank all the way full and now we have some newly renovated motivation to go out and work. This week, unforunately, was one of those weeks where, well, many unfortunate things happen (appointments which aren´t kept, emergency transferes, mosquitoes....) but we keep going forward. joyfully :) One thing Elder Viñas told us is that in times of trial you can either "suffer with joy" or just "suffer" -which is just awful, he added haha. Life is full of trials, but what joy and hope we have that Christ has overcome the world.
Also this week we had the privilege of viewing the rededication of the Buenos Aires Temple after 3 years of being closed. Twas incredible. Elder Eyring came to perform the rededication and he was accompanied by Elders M. Russell Ballard and D. Todd Christofferson. I´m so happy for the people here of argentina who have been hungering desperately for this day. It was an emotional day for everyone, and i know that the work will push forth even more fervently.
One of our investigators, Germán, is doing well! He read 10 chapters from the book of mormon between our 1st and 2nd visit, so we are excited to keep helping him move forward!
The weather here is also starting to warm up. We had a few rainy days this last week, overall it´s been beautiful weather.

Mom, if you send a package....don´t forget maple syrup :) and im still waiting for my debit card. I´ll let you know when it arrives.

Sorry im not that great of an email writer, but thanks so much for your prayers and support. Family, I love you so much. thanks for raising me in this gospel and for allowing me to serve the Lord.

Elder Winger

Scripture:John 15:10

What a Week ‏ 09/03/12 Week 81

Hey Fam!

So this week has been super psycho!!!!  My new companion is Elder
Miguel Paredes from Concepción, Chile.  He´s a stud and we get along
really well.  He is a way hard worker and strives to be super
obedient, and so we are going to be killing it this transfer!!!  We
have had tons of papers to fill out and we are just basically putting
things in order in the area in order to work more effectively, so
we´ve been a little stressed......but a good "work hard" kind ha.
Anyway, this sunday we will be going to the stake center to watch the
rededication of the buenos aires temple!  We are all way excited!
Also, this wednesday we have our monthly Mission Council with all the
zone leaders and Elder Viñas from the 70 will be in
attendance....We´ll see if i walk out in one piece!! Haha, anyway,
glad to hear everyone is doing well...things should be a little more
calm next week so i´ll make sure to write a more fulfilling email ;)
Love you so much and thanks for your prayers and support!

Love, Elder Winger

Scripture:  3 Nefi 27:21