Missionary Life

Hey fam,

Sorry for not writing yesterday, it was a national holiday in Argentina (again) and everything was closed.  I would be lying if I said I knew what the holiday was for.  This week was good.  I did one last exchange with Elder Golding from Idaho up in the Capital on Tuesday, we found a couple more people for them.  We also got to help them move pensions, which was fun.  Gotta love moving! And there are no "moving trucks" here.  We got a rickety old pick up truck and just loaded everything up on in it.  It was an adventure.  There were several times where the truck died going up hill and we had to get out and push til it started back up.  Wednesday was district meeting, and I got to write the wonderful Transfer Reports on my district.  I got to go to lunch in the fancy restaurant with Elder Tanner, the senior missionary, and another district leader beforehand and have a really good steak, so I can't complain too much!  Bife de chorizo, there is nothing quite like it!  The rest of the week was just working here in the area, trying to find new people and reactivating everybody.

Sunday we had 9 people show up to church.  A definite drop from the 23 we were having, but it was somewhat expected after the 2 week hiatus in the area.  An old investigator, Elisa came, which was really good.  She had been sick and in and out of the hospital the past month, so it was good to see her back up on her feet again.  We talked a little bit about baptism, and we have one tentatively scheduled for not this weekend, but the next.  Now with transfers being this weekend, there is a very high probability of me not being here for the baptism, which is a little hard to think about seeing as we have been through a lot together.  Last night we snagged another night in the hotel because the water in the house completely broke on Saturday, and it had been 3 days since we had showered, so I called up the office and my buddies hooked me up.  So I got a couple of really good showers and breakfasts yesterday and today.  Supposedly today they are going to fix the water so that should be good.  All in all a good week. I gave a talk on Lesson 3 in PMG, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, AKA Article of Faith 4 plus endure to the end.  Looking forward to this weekend to see if I stay in the area or if after 6 months I head on off to a new adventure!

The pension, as you can tell, is still a disaster.  We have looked for a new place, but it seems that there is nothing here in Aimogasta.  So we will just have to contract people to repair everything.  Hopefully they will give us another month in the hotel while they work on the reparations ;)  I doubt that.  The best teaching experience this week was during the exchange, teaching some recent converts the plan of salvation in a little bit more detail than the first time they learned it with the missionaries.  It was good, we clarified a few things and everybody left the lesson edified.  The best part of the week was entering the hotel and seeing all my old buddies haha that was really cool.  "Mangum, como andas amigo? Tanto tiempo!"  I started studying D&C in a bit more depth last week, I am in section 40 something now.  But what stuck out was Section 5 verses 23 to 25.  Not necessarily something I will be teaching to the investigators or recent converts, but something to apply and test the promise to strengthen my own testimony. Nothing too crazy this week, just the last week of the transfer!

Glad to hear that everybody is doing well, we all knew it was Bishop Theurer’s turn!    Sounds like y’all had a great week, and my prayers will definitely be headed y’alls way a little bit longer and harder Tuesday and Wednesday!  Hopefully y’all got to enjoy some BBucks for me!  

Love you all!

Elder Mangum