DON´T LOOK UNDER THE STOVE.......03/26/2012 Week 59

Familia¡!!!¡¡¡¡¡!!!!¡¡¡¡¡!!!!

This week was a fun one. Starting off on Monday, a crazy thunderstorm came . It started just after we arrived at the pench. But wow, it was strong. I decided to hurry and change my clothes to shorts and a short sleeve shirt and get out there. It was the closest thing to swimming that I´ve experienced in the last 13 months. Combined with thunder and lightning, hailstones and rain bullets, i decided to risk my life by climbing on the roof and singing "The Spirit of God Like A Fire Is Burning". and that´s literally what i did. Just thrilling.

Also this week, a Part-Member family got Married!!!!!!!!! Daina and David are their names. Daina has been a member for a number of years, and has been living with David for 4 years i believe. David has been listening to the missionaries for the last 4 years, but getting married has always been the obstacle. Until now. They have 3 children, but are only 21 and 20 years old. The family is great and we love them to death....and they love us too. they better. Anyway, they were married on Friday, after the special couple showed up classicly almost 1 hour late. but married they were. David has his baptismal date for the 14 of April.

Also this week, in the "war at home" that we are literally having in the apartment, the enemy has changed from cockroaches and mosquito's to rats....lots of rats. We have been able to kill a few throughout the week, but you won´t believe what we found yesterday.....the NEST.....ooo hoo woo, the nest. in our house. As we were trying to kill a couple of rats throughout the week, we noticed that they were trying to hide under the stove, so we took cups and cups of boiling water and threw it underneath. it worked. But last night, we decided to move the stove to do a little bit of cleaning and......we found the remnants of at least 60 rats i believe.......incredible :) We won. I won´t send pictures because they are horrific.....but i did take pictures.

Ok, I think it´s time for a spiritual experience. I´ll tell you of the one that i had here on the way to the computer lab place. We were sitting on the bus, as we have done a million times, and i found myself sitting next to a tound man of about my same age, with a sweet beard, earrings, tattoos, the whole works. I was sitting there and decided to pull out my book of mormon to do a little bit of reading for the next 20 minute ride. As I began to read where i had left off, i had the thought/prompting to give the man next to me the book. I found myself finding excuses not to do it, saying that "its p-day" and stuff like that, and just kept reading. The prompting came again. weird. I decided to write a little message in the cover of the book, a simple testimony, and then i just sat there looking out the window. After a few minutes, I decided to say a little prayer to ask God if I needed to give the book to the man next to me. I decided to do the classic strategy of opening my book of mormon and reading the first verse i saw. I was astonished. It was 3 Nefi 11:33 (i know it´s in spanish here, so go grab your english scriptures and look.) "Y cualquiera que crea en mí, y sea ^abautizado, éste será ^bsalvo; y son ellos los que ^cheredarán el reino de Dios."

Soon after i read this scripture, the man got up to leave. I tapped him on the shoulder and said "hey, i want to give you this book" (i stuttered as i said it, because i found myself as surprised as he was, and the ten other people around us) He replied "no, no, it´s alright." (At this moment i´m thinking, hey sir, i´ve been doing this for quite some time now, and i don´t take no for an answer so easily ). I said, "please accept this book, it has changed my life." He said, "ok thanks." and went on his way. It was a good learning experience for me, doing what i feel i should do when i should do it.....and yeah, i simply said "hi" to all the other people that were awkwardly staring at me haha.

Anyway, that was my experience of the day. I love being a missionary for the Lord. It has changed my life. Walking everyday, meeting tons of new people, i have come to learn that there are MANY ways to live this life, but there is only 1 way to live it happily, and that´s by living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It´s the way of happiness because it´s the way back home, back to our Father in Heaven. What a glorious message we have. And we should NEVER be scared, or hesitant, or nervous to share it with everyone and anyone. That´s what the Lord taught me today during a bus ride in Argentina.

I love you all, thank you so much for your prayers and support. I´m glad to hear that your birthday was amazing Mom. I love you so much, sorry i missed it. I also got a letter from Grandma and Luiza that I LOVED!!!!!!! Haha, if you could remind me of their email addresses, i´d love to send a little mensajito to them. Thanks.

Keep Safe. Keep the Faith.

Con Cariño, (y muchos besos)

Elder Winger

Baptism by water and FIRE in the house 03/19/2012 Week 58

Hey Everyone!

Wow, I can´t believe our house in West Point burned down!!  I was
shocked when I saw the pictures, but at least no one was hurt....but
dang, that´s my house!
This week was pretty action packed.  A few days ago we headed out at
7:15 to help some other Elder´s paint the house/fences out back.  We
ended up being there until 3 o´clock in the afternoon painting.  Super
Service completed.  I sent you some lovely photos of the experience,
as well as us painting some old rusty chairs and tables.....now good
as new.
Yesterday the Sisters in my district had a baptism!  Elder Greco and I
headed out to their area yesterday afternoon and I had the privilege
of baptizing Antonio Sabau into the church.  Wee Ha.
Elder Greco and I have been using the Taxi system to our advantage on
Sundays.  Yesterday we were planning on having 9 investigators in
church, so we began our quest of bringing them in taxi.  What a
luxury...being picked up in a taxi to go to the house of God.  We
ended up having a total of 2 come, and we´ll take it.  éxito :)
The days keep flying by, but I´m loving the work out here and the
people that I meet everyday.  We have a few investigators that are
progressing and we are hoping to have at least 3 baptisms within the
next 2-3 weeks.
I got a letter this past week from Marilee Marshall which included a
list of some of my friends that are either engaged or married.  At the
rate that i´ve been seeing, in 11 months when i could return I could
be the only "single" under the age of 23 haha.  But yeah, it´s crazy
to hear about all the changes that continue to happen.
Fun Fact of the Week:  BIBLE EDITION.  Did you know....?  All of the
epistles after the book of acts are not in order
chronologically.......neither alphabetically.....but from the longest
to the shortest (except Hebrews because some say it wasn´t written by
Paul so they put it in last.)  Cool.
Welp, gotta go, they are shutting down the computer lab on me.  LOVE YOU CHAU!

Elder Winger

I looked out the window and what did i see? It was the owl again, staring at me 03/12/2012 Week 57

Family and Friends!

Wee Hoo Hah, here I am once again writing another email, i can´t believe it. The time just seems to go faster and faster and I´m loving every moment out here.
I want to start out by share an inspiring quote that I heard on a church video this week:
It was a short documentary dealio of a girl that surfs in Hawaii that´s a member of the church. oh yeah, and she´s a professional surfer. But she shared her testimony of the gospel and how it´s the most important thing in her life. One thing that she said was, "I like to surf, but I´m not a surfer. I´m a daughter of God." When I heard that, it impacted me hard. It´s so TRUE! I spent time thinking about all the things that I like to do in life, and especially before the mission. Play the guitar, soccer, golf....etc. But this quote can really apply to all of us. "I like to play guitar, but i´m not a guitarist. I´m a son of God." The Gospel gives us the truth about our purpose in our life and helps us focus on our eternal potentcial. Just wanted to share that with you.
This week we had success in finding some more investigators, and an especially strengthened testimony that God guides us to those that will hearken to his voice. I don´t have time to tell you the story about finding Juan right now, but it was a cool experience :) sorry for leaving you hangin.
Well, I´ve already got to go, but have a great week!

Love you all, and take care of yourselves,

Elder Winger

p.s. The owl still takes care of us everyday, every night, and every second. It´s creepy, especially when you wake up at 3 in the morning to see him staring directly at you from outside.....

p.s.s. And with the photos....can you explain how that´s possible to me? :0

Workin it from the inside out ‏ 03/05/2012 Week 56

Hey family!

 

So i´m sitting here at the computer...staring blankly at all the white space i´m about to try and fill all this space....i can´t believe how fast the weeks are beginning to fly by, having that also combined with my horrible memory and we´ve got a big problem. 

This past Saturday we had a mission activity in the church for the ward and branch.  We invited President Giuliani to come speak and we presented our new ward mission plan to the members....not as many members came as we would´ve liked, but it has been an impactful change for us and the way that we are going to work with the members.  I´ve realized that in order to have success in the missionary work, you must work from the inside out.  If the ward isn´t strong, then how are the new members of the church going to survive?  It´s a big adjustment becoming a latter-day saint and without a 110% support, it´s a lot easier for people to fall back into the habits of their old life where they felt more comfortable.  So that´s been our focus for the last week, Elder Greco and I, "working from the inside out, strengthening the members, and then bringing in more."

The activity went fairly well and we´ve set some great plans for the next 3 months....maybe i´ll send the plan to you so you can check it out....even though it´s in spanish :)

Well....i have no time right now to write more......i just spent 25 minutes recuperating all of my files on my pen drive.....this computer just successfully deleted every picture from my mission...but i think i got it all back :)  estamos en guerra.

 

¡Hasta la próxima!

 

Elder Winger

¡El colador es mi herramienta preferida! ‏ 02/27/2012 Week 55

Hey Family!

How´s everyone doing this week?? I hope it´s been a great one, and it seems like it has been minus the fact that Tiffani lost her Driver´s License. Don´t worry, it´s now being included in my prayers.

This week has been quite interesting, lots of ups and downs. We had our once-every-three-months zone conference and it was awesome. Getting to hear from the President, the assistants, and all the other missionaries who are laboring in the work just brings a new boost to my personal efforts. One bad thing happened though.....i left my study journal at the stake center and i still haven´t been able to get ahold of it. Don´t worry Tiffani, on some scale i´m on the same boat as you are.

I also received your package!!!! I loved everything in it. The garments, beef jerky, fire cheetohs, and especially the japanese candy. All the other Elders in my apartment enjoyed everything just as much....

And for Brother Gomez, he´s out of the hospital after a successful operation and is recuperating in his home. We haven´t had a chance to pass by and see him yet.

And to answer your question in regards to the baptism, a member of the Bishopric performed the confirmation, but us Elders were able to participate. Pretty cool.

Today, on this day of preparation, we just finished eating with a part-member family from the ward. I decided to bring the snickerdoodle cookies as a fun treat to share and create with them. To make a long story short, the ovens here have 2 options: OFF or HOT. I chose the second option to bake the cookies, and the first 15 cookies burned like a crisp...charcoal black. I gave "the good part" of one of the pieces to the son of the family, who is 4 or so, and he looked at me and said "rey feo." or "Very nasty."

But we did witness tender mercies when the last 6 of the batch turned out well :) Lesson learned: I´m not a cook.

Special note to Tiffani: I got your letter! I loved all of it, until i got to the part where you made the grand assumption that i´m "pudgy". Correction: I WAS pudgy.....i´ve thinned ok? But i´m starting to experience another problem......receding hairline.....

Special note to Casey and Kari: HAPPY BIRTHDAYSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! Kari, I hope you had an amazing birthday, and Casey, I hope you have a great one today....and to think that I actually thought I´m old at 20..... :) haha just kidding. Felicitaciones.

This past Saturday i had the opportunity to do 3 baptismal interviews for a family that´s going to be baptized in Villa Diego, another area in my district. It´ll be a great experience to see this Saturday. Also this Saturday, we are introducing our Ward Mission Plan....which Elder Greco and I haven´t written yet, but President Giuliani is going to come and share some words on Missionary Work to help us boost the animo here in the ward. Don´t worry, I´ll take pictures mom.

Today also commemorates the 200th anniversary of the Argentine Flag. Everyone is at the monument of the bandera, which is fairly close to where i am, including the President of the Country.....i unfortunately have to work in an hour and a half and will not be able to attend.

Welp, have a great week! I need to start working on that mission plan......

Con Amor,

Elder Winger ¡Tuve un calambre doloroso hoy!

Alma 5:26-27 - I love the talk that Alma gives to the members of the church in this chapter. FIRE.

DyC 24:7-8 - A scripture for those days that are rough.

I stand all amazed ‏ 02/20/2012 Week 54

¡I stand all amazed!

Hey family, it´s crazy that it´s already Monday once again, pero que va a hacer. We had some interesting experiences this week, and all in all Rosalia was baptized a confirmed as a member of the church! It was pretty crazy though that it worked out.....it isn´t a new surprise when something crazy happens on baptism day, but i´ve learned to expect it. every time. To me....it´s Satan trying to take one last blow to stop us, but God always prevails.
On Saturday, the baptism was scheduled for 6 o´clock, and Elder Greco and I decided to head over to the church to begin filling up the font. We began filling at around 2:45 and everything was looking good to go. Just to keep an eye on the font, we decided to finish our studies in the church house. At about 4 o´clock, when the font had about 2 feet of water max, it stopped filling. The church ran out of water.......drats. The main water tank was drained as well as two back up tanks. We needed a plan, and fast. We ended up taking a taxi to the fire department and pleaded that they could come fill up the font for us. Our prayer was answered. The big ol firetruck came and helped us fill up the font. "Our problems are solved!" I cried. But those are always famous last word. Brother Gomez, a 70 year old man in my ward, decided to handle the reins with the firehose. he said "I´ve got it under control." But the powerful water blast over took his fragile body. At this moment, I was standing at the back of the room, just about to press my finger down on my camera to take a picture, when all of a sudden i got slapped in the face by a wall of water. The hose had escaped it´s master and was whipping around the room. it was incredible. After seconds of frantic screaming, we got the hose under control, but it had taken it´s toll. Brother Gomez was sprawled on the ground after taking a devastating fall. We got him into a chair, he was bleeding from his palm, having a nice gash, and later was taken to the hospital.
Cleaning up the wet room, we prepared for the baptism...coming to find out the firefighters didn´t give us enough water..oh great. We moved forward with the service anyway, and Rosalia ended up being baptized laying down, reclined into the water, and pulled back up by a kneeling Elder Greco. Classic. success.
Rosalia was confirmed the following day, and Brother Gomez ended up breaking his arm in three places and will be having surgery this wednesday.....he took a hard one for the team, but we´re hoping to go and visit him.
That was the adventure of baptism. I truly stand all amazed at the love and blessings God offers us.
Also at our apartment, 2 owls have decided to move in with us. They live all around our house and the neighbors, and we find them staring at us at least 10 hours a day. We believe they have eaten the rat that has been infesting our living quarters, so they are warmly welcome.
It was a fun week, and a quick one. Looking forward to hitting some more pavement...i mean dirt roads this week. Make that mud, it´s raining steadily today.

Love you all! Glad to hear everyone is doing well and that you had a great trip in California. Have a great week and stay safe!

Scripture: Mosiah 5: 6-15. Taking upon ourselves the name of Christ, serving him, coming to know him, becoming like him.

Elder Winger

Attitude is a choice 02/13/2012 Week 53

Dearest Family and Friends,

As I have officially reached my one year mark this week, my mind has been raging with thoughts, feelings, and memories of all that i´ve learned throughout this past year. I´ve realized that there are two ways to look at this next year, with the time that remains. Many missionaries would find themselves saying "i still have a whole year left," but I have chosen and feel that, "I only have 1 year left." It has added a lot of urgency and focus into how short of a time span that we have to serve the Lord as a full-time missionary. The blessings I have received throughout this year have been miraculous, overwhelming, and all i desire to do this year is the Lord´s will and to serve the people here. No greater joy is found than in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This week was quite interesting. We were looking forward to a wonderful baptism on Friday, and everyone seemed really excited, when I got a phone call Thursday night. It was our investigator and she called to tell me that she did not want to be baptized the following day. We were speechless. I attempted to calm her nerves and bear my personal testimony of the need and blessings of baptism, but her choice would be the final one. The Lord knows best and we will keep working with her so that she can make this important step in her life.
This Saturday, our investigator Rosalia passed her baptismal interview and is looking forward to baptism this coming Saturday. It will be a treat, and I´m excited that my companion will have the experience of his first baptism.
Other news for the week: I once again went to the zone leaders apartment on divisions.....the same place where the truck blew up outside.....and we had another "wonderful" experience. It´s quite the story, but let´s just say that I became an officially documented witness to a drug bust. it was the real deal.
Every week, we receive a question from the Presdient´s assistants to answer every night. This past week it was "What revelation did I receive today?" As I began pondering on this question throughout everyday, I came to realize just how much guidance we are blessed with everyday. Revelation is the communication between God and his Children. There´s no other way to accomplish the communication and reach the heavens each and everyday but through sincere prayer and a personal study of the scriptures. I have strengthened my testimony that God will guide us in every aspect of our lives and give us the tools necessary to complete with our responsibilities.
Scripture: 2Nephi 25:26. I know that our Savior lives. He loves us. He is my strength and my refuge. In these latter-days i cannot and will not deny the fact that revelations and miracles are vibrant, with living prophets to guide us. Glory to God in the highest.

It has been a week of much reflection. Family and friends, thank you for your much support and prayers, they are heard.

Until week 53, con amor

Elder Winger