¿Qué pasa? Feliz Navidad es lo que pasa. 12/20/2011 Week 45

WHOOPIDEEDOODOP!

Here it is, the christmas season is upon us. We had transfers today and i will staying in the same old place, same old comp, same old everything, but it´s going to be great! Thanks so much for all of your happy birthday wishes! it was a fun one, and i was able to receive some presents from my companion, which included a cool Rosario Central (the major soccer team here) cup, and a toy gun that shoots foam balls. you can imagine how much fun i´ve had with that. The Christmas spirit isn´t quite as alive as it is in the good ol U.S. but it is definitely here. Christmas trees, christmas lights (on some houses), party "supplies" and a bright, cheery, argentine people. My companion and I are going to spend Christmas evening at a members house named the Farley family
So, Villa Goberndor Gávlez and Elder Waid will need to do some buckling up to handle me this transfer. We are going to hit the pavement hard....there´s also that new rejuvenation that comes from a new transfer! i´m stoked!
We also have the christmas conference on Saturday. should be legit.
Fun stories of the week: I found out one of my special talents is knocking lemons out of trees. Random tip: never try cooking a cake by putting it in the very bottom of the oven, below the flame.....doesn't work.
Some sad news i found out today was that my dear old MTC district buddy Elder Towns went home to Georgia last week due to back problems. We are hoping he´s going to be able to make it back out here.
Anyway, i want to share a quote with you from the prophet Joseph Fielding Smith. Christmas is the time of year when we can especially focus on our Savior Jesus Christ and share his spirit with others.
Joseph Fielding Smith said:
"There is no cure for the ills of the world except the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope for peace, for temporal and spiritual prosperity, and for an eventual inheritance in the Kingdom of God is found only in and through the restored gospel. There is no work that any of us can engage in that is as important as preaching the gospel and building up the Church and Kingdom of God on earth.

In the words of Uncle Sam : "I WANT YOU to share the gospel with someone this christmas"........ something like that.

Talk to you on Sunday! i emailed dad with all the info. FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Winger
  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! ‏ 12/12/2011 Week 44

EY TERE FAMLY!!

How is everyone doing! thank you so much for the Happy Birthday wishes!!!! it´´s been a fun one! we had p-day today and had a zone Christmas get together. We met at a church house and played soccer and cooked some mean asado (the best meat in the country!) and had a great meal, all while watching the Christmas spectacular that we went to featuring David Archuleta..........that was.....ok, but everything else today was great :)

Special news......for the first time this week in 10 months......i drank a nice warm cup of hot chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was SO GOOD. nothing like a steaming cup of hot chocolate in 10 million degree weather. it was to die for.

The work is continuing to go well here in Argentina....it seems as if there is some kind of plague happening to me and Elder Waid here in Villa Gobernador Gálvez.....we have found a lot of great people that have a lot of interest in our message, many that accepted baptismal dates....but the thing is....we can never find them again!!!! one of our investigators named Diego...i think i told you about him last week.....began working a few days ago after we had two lessons with him and he works EVERY day from 630 am until 10 pm.....its been a barrier for us. But we are continuing to work hard and the Lord continues to bless us and his people!!! i´ve had a a great week overall....the mission continues to get better and better as time goes forward. No other place i would rather be.

As far as some of the food here (because i keep forgetting to mention it) is good...but a lot of it is fairly bland haha. The argentines are not fans of spicy for nothin. A lot of things we eat include pasta, rice, empanadas (so good!), tartas, a lot of meat, and the fruit and vegetables are really fresh and delicious...and cheap! i have been especially addicted to apples lately.....i also LOVE the pears...but they are a little expensive....hopefully they will go on sale sometime maybe soon! Also, to drink, we drink lots and lots and lots of TANG. oh, and mayonese goes on EVERYTHING........alfajores are to die for....and dulce de leche is very common as well.

We have transfers coming up soon on the 22nd or the 23rd so we will see what happens......i´m thinking i will be staying here in this area, but who knows! it´s always a surprise.

I can´t wait to talk to you all on the 25th! as we get closer i will let you know what we are going to do and how.

The weather here: continues to heat up as the summer begins. It´ll be a toasty one.......i should be putting on sunscreen every now and then....but somehow i just haven´t learned my lesson of getting burned......maybe i´ll fit in with the argentines with darker skin by the end of the holiday season.

Love you all, i am super glad to hear that things are going well. Have an amazing holiday season, and i´ll talk to you all on the 25th! woohoo! No better time of the year than now! what a great opportunity to remember the Savior and all he´s done for us.

Con amor,

Elder Winger

p.s. scripture of the week: Mark 8:35

hello family ‏ 12/05/2011 Week 43

Hello my eternal family:

I have received some emails today containing information that has been really hard for me. Hearing about Spencer´s Dad, Gary, is a complete shock for me. But I know that the Gospel that we have is so true, and it´s for times that these that the Lord´s arms are able to comfort us the most. I have just finished writing Elder Burt an email, so if this email is a little shorter, my apologies. ha. If you see Mrs. Burt and fam, tell them I love them and they are in my prayers.

This week was a little rough for us on the work. My companion Elder Waid got sick, and it was a huge bummer. We were able to go out and work for 3 days though, so we definitely treasured those times between "being stuck in the apartment with nothing to do but read, listen to mormon tab, and try to stay sane - and working."
Last Sunday my ex-companion Elder Tague gave me a call and informed me that one of our investigators that we found in Ameghino (Lorena) got baptized last Saturday!!!!!!!!!! I was so happy. Having the Lord´s blessing of seeing the fruits of your labors is a huge motivator to give it my all everyday. I have had a little bit of a hard time keeping completely optimistic and enthusiastic all the time because i maybe haven´t had a baptism in a while, or it feels like i´m not making a big difference in the work, but I know that the Lord knows his vineyard better than I do. It´s been a time of humbling for me haha, a time that i can really put into practice more patience and charity so that I may become a more effective instrument in the hands of the Lord.
I found out a little more about the Christmas phone call (¡QUE ANIMO QUE TENGO!) and i believe that we are going to SKYPE....but i´ve heard rumors that we won´t be able to use the cameras :( but we will see. It´s going to be so nice to hear from all of you!!
We are working hard here in Villa Gobernador Gálvez and are really working hard to have some baptisms this month! We have a 16 year old girl that has been listening to the missionaries for 3 years with her family who finally feels ready to be baptized. Unfortunately, her mom is not able to join her due to the fact that she has to get divorced and remarried before, but it´ll be a great thing when Galia is bapitzed. Also, we found a man named Diego this past weekend.....when we knocked on his door, he was getting ready to go to the baptism of his daughter in the catholic church.....by the end of our lesson, he accepted a baptismal date for the 31st of this month haha. I called him on Saturday night to see if he could go to church the next day, and he said he couldn´t, but he told me "i´m going to read......and ponder.....and read that book of mormon you gave me." i said "ok." So yeah, we are hoping to continue helping him progress and make it to his baptismal date!

The Lord is constantly blessing us. Something that I take for granted sometimes, but i´m so grateful to be out here serving a mission. Sometimes i find myself focusing on how hard it is or whatever blah blah, but to share the message of the restoration with others....i have found myself lately taking a step back and telling myself "you think it´s (this life) hard for you? take a look at all these people that don't have the gospel."

I know this Gospel is true. I know that families can and will be together forever. I know the Savior lives.

To close (as if this were a talk haha) i´d like to post a poem that I received today in the weekly newsletter to the mission. I really enjoyed it.

Don’t Quit

Don’t Quit when
The tide is lowest,
For it’s just about
To turn;
Don’t quit over doubts
and questions,
For there’s something
You may learn.

Don’t quit when
The night is darkest,
For it’s just a while
‘til dawn;
Don’t quit when you’ve
run the farthest,
For the race is almost
won.

Don’t quit when
The hill is steepest,
For your goal
Is almost nigh;
Don’t quit, for you’re
Not a failure
Until you fail to try.

-Jill Wolf


Talk to you soon!!!!

Elder Winger

Also, mom, if you could tell Sav and Sierra thanks so much for their imput in the letters! i loved it all haha. i will be writing emails to them ASAP. thanks :D

hey everyone! 11/28/2011 Week 42

hey!

Hey i have a question......is my middle name spelled LarsOn or LarsEn??? I´ve always thought it was with an O, but after some recent events I am beginning to doubt myself.....

So this morning a little bit of extermination was done in our apartment to get rid of the millions and millions of cockroaches :( We did everything from step on them, slapping them with shoes, to spraying them with some random spray that we found hiding in the apartment....it didn´t have a label on it, but we decided it would "probably kill bugs?" It did stink, so i´m guessing that's a good sign that it worked haha.

We had some success in the work this week, including helping 4 from the "15 families" list come back to church and some other less-actives have been coming back and staying consistent. I love the members of the ward here and they have been a really big help for us, more than my other areas i believe. We did divisions last week with a couple of priesthood holders in the ward and visited some less-active families.....and i may or may not have ridden on the back of a motorcycle......long story that's not so long but i won´t tell it. We´ve just been pushing forward in the work and there´s nothing more satisfying for me than being able to share the gospel everyday. This week was a roller-coaster type week....good days.....not so fruitful days.....but i learned that even though we don´t have control over things that happen to us sometimes or having success in life/work, we can always control our attitude :) Being happy´s a choice!

I´m sorry i don´t have too much to write this week, it just seemed to fly by really fast. it´s crazy to think i´m almost 20.....it´s about time ;) jaja broma. anyway, i know this church is so true!!!! I love you all so much and i´m glad you had a great thanksgiving :) Tis the season.

Fun fact: finished reading the book of mormon in spanish this past week!. one of my few achievements of anything in this life haha.

Escritura de la semana: D&C 59:7

Con amor,

Elder Winger

It´s almost Thanksgiving! 11/21/2011 Week 41

Hey fam!

Well, today was a p-day was very special for us here, and i would like to name it officially as "American Day" Our district, which consists of 5 americans...and a chileno haha, went BOWLING!! There is a super nice hotel/casino/bowling alley/mall/etc that is in Rosario, so we decided to visit it. I must say it was probably one of the nicest places i´ve seen here in Argentina haha, it was pretty fun. Anyway, i did terrible at bowling, as should be expected. Out of everyone, i got last place. But everyone got a mcdonalds big mac after, so everyone was a winner :) ...yeah, i´ll just keep telling myself that.

This week Elder Waid did a lot of good work, and i´ve never thirsted more than now to serve the Lord with all I´ve got, at in continues to increase as my testimony and love for the gospel grow every day. I was very blessed to be a part of a couple really powerful lessons this week and we currently have 6 people with baptismal dates, 4 of which i think will be baptized.

The family of the week that I want to share with you is the Arana family. It consists of a father, daughter, and her three kids. When we "clapped at their doorway" instead of knocking, they allowed us to come in....which i would soon come to realize was a huge blessing. Oscar (the dad) has never allowed any of the "millions of missionaries that are always passing by" to come in, but we got lucky i guess huh. This family all believes in God, but never have really gone to church, read the bible, or anything like that. Anyways, to make a long story short, we´ve had an amazing couple of lessons with them and they came to church yesterday. Now, you know how it´s hard to keep children reverent in a place for more than 5 minutes or so? yep, we had quite the battle during sacrament meeting on Sunday haha. Lorena (the mom) has 3 kids who are 10, 4, and 2 years old. In order to try and control the yelling, playing tag, playing hide and seek on the stand, doing somersaults in the aisles, and crying......i tried incorporating drawing with them, doing origami (which all i know how to do is fold a piece of paper like a napkin....like i would do at Coppermill haha) and doing anything else to keep them "quietly entertained). But it was a fun adventure, even though i personally didn´t get to "relax and enjoy during sacrament"....maybe a little taste of what´s to come in the future ;). But this family is really nice and i think the gospel so far as really been changing them. We will have a few hurdles with the word of wisdom i believe, but the Lord is the one performing the work. I always feel so blessed to find those people who the Lord´s prepared to hear our message , and Elder Waid and I are continuing to work hard to find them. It has been a little bit discouraging lately not having baptized for 3.5 transfers....but i am still enthusiastic for the work and i know that no effort is wasted. Hey, someone´s gotta do the planting if another is to do the harvest :). I love the Lord and am so grateful for his sacrifice. I know the work of preaching the gospel is the most important thing that any of us can ever do in mortality. it´s everything. the gospel is everything.

So is everyone very excited for thanksgiving this week?? i still expect a place setting for me at grandmas ;) It looks like a bunch of us Elders are going to have a thanksgiving together next Monday, so we will see how that goes......but i know that no other thanksgiving can beat the FEAST at G Carma´s and G Richard´s! I love you all so much. thanks for your support, your prayers, and your faith. Keep strong, these are the last days.

Elder Winger

Weird transfer changes! 11/14/2011 Week 39 & 40

hey family!

Well, I made it safe and sound to my area here in Villa Gobernador Galvez! It´s been quite an adventurous first week and I¨m excited to do some work here. My companion Elder Waid is a cool cat. He´s from Arkansas. I keep getting companions from all the weird states (New Hampshire, Arkansas, etc....) haha just kidding, but we get along well. When I got here, I soon came to realize that the area was somewhat "dead" aka, 0 investigators haha. But, we quickly got to work, and we have a lady named Belén, that is a reference from one of the recent converts in our area, that we gave a baptismal date for the third of December, so we are hoping that all works out. On another note, the ward is quite large here! There were 80 people there yesterday! But, the number that need help to be reactivated is quite astonishing....there are 450 members in my ward. 80 attending. bring it on. I'm overly joyous (weird mood) to serve the people here, and we´ve been continually blessed by the Lord.

Right now i´m living in a four-man apartment with Elders Hernandez from St. George and Elder Nuñez from Chile, and we´ve had just a blast so far.

As far as my area goes, I love it. Plenty of dirt roads and people to talk to, my prime conditions :) . As far as the work continues, we´ve had some really powerful lessons this week with Belén and a couple of other people as well. We are teaching a man named David, who´s living with a lady who is a member but less active, and he really has the desire to be baptized and be with his family forever, so we are currently working on trying to get them married hopefully within the next month or so.

Experience of the Day: Where we currently are is really close to the Monumento de la bandera (Argentina Flag monument) so we decided to go visit it today for p-day, and also do some street shopping . As we were walking, suddenly this monstrous parade of people starting coming down the street, screaming, playing instruments, the real deal. But they were all dressed up in crazy costumed! Everything from egyptians to wizards, dragonball z characters to fluffy orange pillows (i think?) but it was pretty wild, there were like 200 people probably. Anyway, after narrowly escaping their stampede, we continued our journey to the monument. The monument was really cool! All of the things are being to "wear away" but it was a cool site, i´ll try to send some pictures.

Anyway, the work is going well, and i´m glad to hear that everyone is doing excellent back home. Have an amazing week, i love you!

Elder Winger

Happy Halloween! 10/31/2011 Week 38

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hello everyone! Happy Halloween!!!! Here in Argentina if i didn´t know the date, i probably wouldn´t really notice that it was Halloween....some people have some decorations and stuff for it, so it´s at least acknowledged haha.......but i guess i´ll wait until tonight to see if it´s actually celebrated in the same way as in the states...just to give it a fair chance ;). I was at a members house yesterday for lunch and the daughter of the family was asking me how Halloween was in the United States....I told her "just like the movies." She responded with, "do you really go door to door asking for candy?" I said yes, and she just went off about how lucky we were haha. So yes, the Halloween cheer may not be as vibrant here, but then again.....maybe i´ll have to find a way to change that....

This past week we have been having quite a bit of success in the ward! Remember the first week that I got here in this area and we had 13 people in church? Well, yesterday we had 44! It was quite exciting and i´m hoping we can continue bringing people back to church. There are a lot of members that were going regularly a few years ago (some of them former bishops, counselors, and others with callings) that stopped going for reasons that they don´t know and us tampoco. But we currently have investigators that have baptismal dates so that´s pretty exciting! Also this week is going to be a little wacky....we have p-day today, p-day again on Friday and transfers on a Saturday (due to that the president has a meeting to go to for all the mission presidents) I´m not really sure what´s going to happen as far as transfers go, but i´ll keep ya posted.

As far as holidays go here, it seems like there´s a holiday every 2 weeks or so....but i never really know what it is haha....people just say "it´s a holiday today" just to take an extra day of work off...my personal opinion. Haha, but we did have mother´s day a couple of weeks ago which was really nicely celebrated. All of the mother´s received flowers at church, just like home, which i thought was really special. One sad observance that i´m not looking too much forward too is the absence of THANKSGIVING :( obviously not celebrated down here, but i may or not be celebrating it alone with my companion spending a ridiculous amount of pesos on food that could possibly go in the "it´s-not-turkey-but-its-still-meat-and-other-food-to-improvise-thanksgiving-tradition" category. yay.

Now turning the time over to weather: the sun is hot, now preparing for extreme heat conditions. The climate is still bearable but slowly drifting downhill. I´m still really white, unprepared, and i will most likely be scorched according to local weather enthusiasts. I was thinking of maybe using sunscreen or a nice sunshade of some sorts....but i think i´ll just go "man status" and brave the heat straight on. should be a fun ride.

Anyways, i want to thank everyone from the family who sent me pictures this week!! of the newborns and the wedding of Savannah as well! thank you!

Also this past Sunday, my companion has a real knack for singing in Sunday......so we got up in front of everyone during sacrament meeting, not having practiced before and just relying completely on "winging it"....anyway, we were singing the Spirit of God and when we got to the chorus of the second verse, Elder Tague decides all of a sudden to give me a "grand solo" so i just sang the chorus solo style and it wasn´t exactly pleasing to my ears so i can´t imagine it wasn´t anything greater than terrible for the congregation. Singing FAIL. :)

My testimony has been growing so much out here and i´m loving every week that i have to serve the Lord. I can´t believe how fast time continues to go by, and it´s hard to grasp onto, but i´m trying to make the most out of it and rely completely on the Savior to do what he would have me do. I´ve really been continually having to be humbled in order to be a faithful servant of the Lord, something that has been so hard, but the blessings always come if we continue to do what we are supposed to, even when times get rough. God knows us better than we know ourselves.

I hope that everything continues to go well for you all. I love you all so much and it seems like everything is consistently changing from when i left! Haha but i guess ´change´ is the only constant thing about life right? Thank you for your prayers and support. I know that this is the Lords work and have gained the sincere testimony that i never chose to serve a mission, but have been called by him to serve him (3 nefi 5:13)

UN ABRAZO y BESO!

Elder Winger