Best P-Day Ever!

This week was insane - like every week.  :)

We moved to a brand new pench since the 4 of us were crammed into that little one.  It's BRAND NEW with tile (just like all of Argentina) and honestly super nice!  We're blessed.  And we live in the center of the city so we enjoy the sounds of motos and cars all night long.  :)  We don't have AC, but it's alright because we're never in the pench anyway.  :)

The branch here is de diez!!  Seriously, it's so good!  We have plans to do divisions with each missionary on Saturdays (there are 8 missionaries that serve in this branch).  The priesthood here is super supportive of missionary work!

We have one family that recently went to the temple to be sealed and they're pumped as can be for missionary work!   They throw references and invite all of their neighbors to church and they bring to church in the bed of his truck!  They are also having super spiritual FHE's with the 2 best missionaries here in Goya - Elder Harris and Elder Suarez!  We're loving it, having a great time and doing a lot of work!

Our area is full of idol worshipers.  Its' super funny because some people have flags for which idol they worship. There are some houses with red flags for Guachito Gil and others with lights for Maria.  It's hilarious!  Corrientes is known for idol worshiping and I honestly don't understand it.  When we ask people if they believe in Christ everyone says, "Oh!  Of course!"  But then they have an idol flag, sanctuary or pictures of Gauchito Gil. San la Muerte, or Maria.

So last night we had this lesson with this guy who didn't understand idol worshiping and said, "Well heck!  You (pointing to me) seem like a great guy!  Let's just kill you now and we can all worship Elder Arrrreeesss.  (He was kidding.  He wasn't really going to kill me Mom, so don't worry.)  But just to prove a point!

We did find a lot of people this week.  We had 32 new investigators but only a handful have potential to progress.  We do have a few others that are just about ready for baptism.  We have this one boy named Johnny - he's about 14 and is friends with the family that just went to the temple - and will probably be baptized here in the next couple of weeks.

It sounds like you are all doing great!  I assume that you're pretty excited about the last President's Day baseball trip!  My question is what are you going to do next year?  Sit around and let me talk your ear off?  :)

I'm grateful for the mission, especially the time I've spent here in the Argentina Resistencia Mission.  I've learned more about myself and my personal potential in the past 3 months than I have in my entire life.  I kow now who I can become and the path to get there.

As I approach this milestone, I realize how fast this past year has come and gone.  I can't believe that a year is already done.  It feels like it was just a month ago that I entered the MTC with Elder Beach and now we're both Zone Leaders here in Argentina.

This week was really great and especially today because it was probably one of the best p-days of my mission.  So our new pench is probably a block away from this HUGE supermarket.  We spent the morning working on our new place cleaning, putting together the closets and what not.  Around 1:00 we decided that we were feeling pretty hungry and decided we would head on over to the market to get some stuff.  We were working in our normal clothes and I totally forgot to put my tag on before we left (ya - terrible I know!)

Anyways, we were at the market shopping and all of a sudden, I hear some random guy yelling at us "Elders!"  And it was in ENGLISH!!!  So he came over and started talking to us in English and I asked him how he could tell that we were Elders when we weren't wearing our clothes and tags.  He said, "Well, let's see - two young guys together, clean cut, one wearing an Angels t-shirt, a super awkward sun tan line on your neck, short and alpargatas (my Zuriick shoes) with socks - it's pretty easy to spot."

So we laughed and then introduced himself and his wife.  His name is Collin Whitehead and he served as a Zone Leader here in Goya 12 years ago.  He was on a return trip visiting all of Argentina.  He offered to buy us lunch and we ate at this super nice restaurant and then we spent some time helping him find some of his converts.  It was an awesome day!

But now we have to do some work!
Work, work, work!  I love it!
We're gonna go save some souls!  Yipee!

Love you all!
Keep loving the Lord, because HE LOVES YOU!

Elder Harris