Called to Serve: General Conference

Hey fam,

This week was pretty good, it flew by. Still don’t have electricity, it’s been nearly 3 weeks now, and I have gotten used to showering from a bucket. Not sure if that’s a good thing. The new missionary in our pension had to head home, so he got replaced with a mini missionary from the next stake over. We gave Alejandra a blessing on Tuesday to help her stop smoking, and she hasn’t smoked a cigarette yet! She has a baptismal interview scheduled for tomorrow. We got to watch all of conference in Spanish, except for one session, and that session just happened to be the one where Elder Holland talked, so that was definitely a blessing! I would have to say that conference is far more enjoyable to watch in English, when you get to hear their actual voices and the emotion, you can’t really get that with the translators. Didn´t have a problem understanding it in Spanish, and it was cool to listen to people speak in their native tongues, it was neat to see how much Portuguese I could understand, more than I thought I would! All of the members brought food on Sunday to eat in between the sessions, because they are at 1 and 5 in the afternoon here.

Couple of thoughts that I really enjoyed from conference.

Elder Callister- The role of a parent is sacred, it is an enormous responsibility to be able to raise and teach children.

Elder Holland- It is a duty to bless and help the poor. Do what you can, its about love, not statistics.

Elder Bednar- Disciples of Christ should ALWAYS be valiant missionaries.

President Monson- Christ´s path will always lead us safely home.

And my personal favorite, from Elder Perry- Who can put a price tag on the influence of a mother on their children? I loved that one, makes me extremely grateful for the mother I have and all that my parents taught me!

No extra security from what I have heard, I had heard about what went down in Buenos Aires though. Our mission home already had a 24/7 guard because of the construction on the Temple that is on the same property. I have plenty of ties, but something that I have not been able to find here is contact solution. Not sure if I am not looking in the right places or what, but that is something that would definitely come in handy. What do I miss most from home...probably either my bed or the restroom. Particularly the shower. And of course, mi familia as well!

Hope everybody is doing well, praying for everybody day and night.

Love,

Elder Mangum