Milagros and Micaela's Baptism

Hey fam,

Another solid week, Milagros and Micaela got baptized on Saturday. We finished the month of May with four baptisms as a companionship, not too shabby seeing as the average in the mission is less than a baptism per companionship. We have 5 more investigators who could easily arrive to baptism before I head home, 2 of those being the son of Esther and his wife (Ricardo y Ana).  The best part of recent converts, is that they are the biggest source of future converts! 

This week I was on exchanges in Arguello with Elder Calderon, from Chile, and I was able to go and do a baptisma interview there.  I was hardly in my area, and when I was, my comp was sick, so there wasn't too much going on in Villa Allende workwise, but we were still able to have the font full when the weekend came around.  Sunday no investigators showed up which is always a bummer.  

Yesterday we had Mission Council (which is why I didn't write y’all yesterday). We talked about the problems in the mission and how to solve them.  The topic just about every month is how do we get our missionaries to realize that "all we care about" isn't numbers, but numbers is how we measure the work and progress we are doing.  There are missionaries who won't baptize, because they feel like they're calling was to "retain" or "reactivate."  Truth be told, while those are important aspects of the work, only the mission president, and via delegation, we have the priesthood keys of baptizing converts.  If we don't do it, nobody else can, that is our primordial calling. Personally it took me a while to understand that, but once I made the "click" the mission really picked up rhythm and I started having a lot more success.

Right now I am on another exchange, this time in my own area, with Elder Ramirez from Colombia.  Wednesday we have a zone meeting, where we will train on the Doctrine of Christ and Augmenting our Faith as missionaries. The food has been pretty mas o menos lately, we have had a lot of cow stomach stew and stuff like that.  Studies right now are Charity and the Atonement. And a little bit of Eternal Marriage ;)

Love y’all!

Elder Mangum

Esther's Baptism

Hey fam,

Another great week full of stuff, such as exchanges, zone conferences, and capped off with the baptism of Esther! Starting off with Monday, I headed up to Rio Ceballos with Elder Card and was able to work until Wednesday up there.

Monday night we had an FHE with the stake president's family and Catalina my convert, ending the night eating pancakes and waffles with real maple syrup, and knock off brand Dr. Pepper.  It was a good Family Home Evening to say the least.  Wednesday we had a zone conference, with half of the mission, with a huge emphasis on Chapter 10 of PMG.  I gave my "Testimonio Fiel" which is what all of the missionaries in their last transfer do.  Thursday was another day in the office, Friday was the baptism of Esther, and Saturday I had to accompany an Elder to a different area to work a little bit. 

The week flew by, and when I opened up my email this morning, guess what was waiting for me?  My flight plans for the way home...pretty hard to believe!  I don't want to leave, I love the mission.  But they say that all good things must end.  2 more baptisms set up for Saturday, Micaela y Milagros, the mom already gave th A-OK for the baptism. 

Love you guys!

Elder Mangum

Mother's Day & Last Transfer

Hey fam,

Another transfer in the books!  No crazy changes for my last transfer, me and my comp stayed the same, so it will be 6 more weeks of sweat, blood, and tears.  Bueno, tears no tanto.  As far as the week went, we taught a bunch of lessons, found some people, threw down a couple more baptismal dates here for the end of the month, and had Stake Conference.  Stake Conference was fun, got to see a bunch of people from my old area that I hadn't been able to when I would go there to work.  Funny story, while I was talking to the fam my comp had left with the other assistant to do a baptismal interview, then they came back when I finished and still hadn't done the interview, so I went to go do it.  I was once again offered the keys to drive the car, but I humbly declined, we were in a hurry and I'm not THAT confident in my stick shift driving abilities to go on an Argentine freeway!  

The investigators that we are hoping get baptized this weekend are Leo, Stefania, Micaela, Milagros, Ester, and Ignacio.  We will be working very closely with them this week to help them be ready for their baptism, my comp and I are super excited.  Just about every day we are finding new people and committing them to baptism, which is awesome.  

Today for Pday we played a little soccer, and now it is nap time.  The temple is closed for maintenance until next week, but I have been going as regularly as President allows us to.  My recommend expired last month, but President already knows.  This week we will have a zone meeting, and talk about our baptismal goal for the month (30) and encourage everybody to give it their all.  Sounds like y’all had a great week! 

Love y’all!

Elder Mangum

Put Your Faith to the Test

Hey fam,

It was a good week.  No more driving experiences, but we did throw down a couple more future baptismal dates, we have 7 lined up for May 14th.  I was able to do 3 intercambios during the course of the week, which was a lot of fun.  The most eventful of which happened with my buddy Elder Troncos, I went to his area one night and told him "OK bro, take me to an investigator who has attended church several times, but hasn't accepted baptism yet."  We went, asked the mom (less active member) if she wanted her daughter to get baptized.  She said yes, I sat down with the daughter, had a nice chat, and did the interview then and there.  That was on Wednesday, she was baptized on Saturday.  We have a big push of urgency in the mission, and in making things happen.  Like in the Old Testament when they had to carry the Ark of the Covenant across the River Jordan, and the water didn't part until after they had gotten their feet wet.  We have to put our faith to the test y hacer que las cosas sucedan. 

I was also able to do an intercambio in Rio Ceballos on Friday/Saturday, found one of my old investigators, and put a baptismal date with her as well.  We had lunch with my old buddy the Stake President, which is always fun. Sunday the Gospel Principles teacher didn't show up, so I talk lesson 3 with a big focus on faith leads to action, that action being repentance, and that the first fruits of repentance is Baptism.  It was what we needed, because we had 6 investigators there.  

Yesterday was Mission Council, which was good.  As a mission we baptized the most that we have in over 2 years, so we are progressing.  We talked about D&C 101 & a few things that we need to improve, and then we all played soccer with President as always to end the day.  All in all a solid week.

Sounds like y’all had a pretty crazy week!  This next weekend is Stake Conference, so it will be great to see everybody from Rio Ceballos at once again.  I might call on Sunday, if I do it will be between 1 and 3 your time :)

Love y’all!

Elder Mangum

Driving in Argentina

Bowling on P-Day last week