Elder Elijah Vincent: 2018-08-01 Busy Week at the CCM

Standing Left to Right:
    1. Elder Taylor from Utah (going to Peru)
    2. Elder Taylor from Idaho (Bahia Blanca Mission)
    3. Elder Christiansen comp of Idaho Taylor (Bahia Blanca Mission)
    4. Elder Mickelson (roommate) (Bahia Blanca Mission)
    5. Me - Elder Vincent
    6. Elder Sneddon (my roommates) (Bahia Blanca Mission)
    7. Elder Davis (my comp) (Bahia Blanca Mission)
    8. Elder Van Tassel (going to Peru)
   9. Elder Wilcox (going to Peru)
10. Elder Salway (going to Peru)

Kneeling
  11. Hermana Litchfield (going to Bolivia)
12. Hermana Curtis (going to Bolivia)

7/26/18 Thursday

We had a normal day. We went through classes and learned Spanish. The other Latinos in our district are super cool and fun to talk to! I can talk with them but sometimes I trip up and say the wrong sentence jaja! We did Technology Assisted Language Learning (TALL). It is an interactive computer program used to learn foreign language and help you work on your vocabulary and grammar. It is helping me learn Spanish and I know the spirit will help me learn it easier.

Today is the last day teaching Sebastián. Me and my companion are having a supposed transfer so we can not teach him anymore. We taught him about enduring to the end and how he needs to keep repenting, praying, going to church and doing all the things he needs to do. We also told him he should continue to take lessons from the missionaries that will be coming in place of us. I was so sad to leave him and I know it wasn’t real but when we bore our testimony and told him we loved him, I teared up! I know it will be harder in the mission field. Man if only he were a real investigator that would have been so cool! His persona was the ideal investigator and I know it may never be like that in the field but it was a good way to start and get my confidence up. I am really excited to get out on the field, I already love the people of Argentina and I do not even know them yet! jaja, I can feel the love Heavenly Father has for them and I just cannot wait!

7/27/18 Friday

We met a new "investigator" and it was our teacher from the first half of our class days. The situation was to use a membership record sheet to find and contact less active members. We got to her house and asked for a 108 year old man named Juan Perez but she said no one by that name lived there except her. We went along with the situation and taught her instead, we talked and got to know her and then set up an appointment for tomorrow. The scenario is that she has 3 kids, 2 passed away and 1 lives in another state. She had 3 husbands but 2 passed away and divorced one. We are going to teach her about the Plan of Salvation tomorrow and teach her how familia puede junto para siempre or "families can be together forever" She is catholico pero she should be receptive to what we need to say about living with her children forever. She seemed really worried about them and I know that if we have the spirit with us, we can teach her and help her to know of the truth and feel of the spirit also.

A whole bunch of people are getting letters and packages. Me and a couple others are not getting any letters pero I can see it taking a toll on them and they seem sad at times but I do not mind. I am focused and know why I am here. I hope none of them in my distrito gets homesick or goes home, it’s sad to see someone miserable or sad and the last thing I want is someone from the Lord’s army going home.

John 6:38 “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” It is a great scripture and it reminds me that I should not get distracted and continue to work hard.

When I accepted the call along with the other 600 or 700 missionaries here, we promised that while we are here, we leave behind all personal affairs and go to work. I promised to devote todo tiempo a el Señor and that is what I will do. I am doing his will and not mine own. I am here to do the Lords work porque I am his hands and an instrument for his work.

7/28/18 Saturday

Today we had normal classes and not much to write about. We had class and just studied a lot of the language. In class we play a game called “Who is the Latino” and it’s super fun. You are out if you speak English!

Now there's a good looking missionary, just a few finishing touches.

7/29/18 Sunday

Every Sunday we have choir practice which is very good and the song we practice we get to sing it at our Tuesday devotionals. At church we sit there and we wait to be called up to give a talk. Every week, we are given a topic and we randomly get called up to give the talk in Español. I have not been called up yet but I feel like it will happen soon jaja! After sagrado de cena, we have priesthood and usually it is a lesson from Preach My Gospel. This past week, it was on using members to further and make the work easier. It makes sense and it also takes good missionaries as well as willing members. The missionary has to first provide the proof that the members can trust them. They need to show they are willing to help the Lord as well as the ward in all their efforts.

We had cake as well because there were a couple birthdays this past week in our branch.

The homes on the hill are so colorful.

We later had the weekly Sunday devotional and it was Pres. & Sis. Bennett who were conducting. They talked about building up of Zion. It was very good and there was a quote that they shared. It was "The building up of Zion is a cause that has interested the people of God in every age; it is a theme upon which prophets, priests and kings have dwelt with peculiar delight; they have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live; and fired with heavenly and joyful anticipations they have sung and written and prophesied of this our day; but they died without the sight; we are the favored people that God has made choice of to bring about the Latter-day glory"

This just shows how much Heavenly father loves us and it is all thanks to those that came before us that we are able to enjoy and love the gospel we have today. It is true that many people have died waiting and rejoicing for the day in which we live in so do not waste a second of it. We need to live our lives so that every second is used to the full extent. We should use our time to establish Zion and not worry about petty things like social media or other things of this world.

In the youth broadcast that President Russell M. Nelson gave, he said that establishing of Zion is the greatest work of all, nothing is more important than this work. He has invited all of us both young and old, bond and free so that we may enlist in the army of the Lord and take our ranks. We are in war with Lucifer and we are dealing with the salvation of souls. The most important work of all is to bring all our our lost brothers and sisters back into the fold.

On the way to the Temple

The Bennetts also talked about using the members and being the kind of missionary no one wants them leaving the area. I found it interesting how in some areas had missionaries when they get transferred out, the bishop or whoever calls the mission office and ask why they are being transferred.

7/30/18 Monday

Today was a normal day, went through class as usual. We had a great day but a couple thoughts came to me while I was listening in class. The teacher talked about how the Lord has invested so much in all of us so when we learn the language, we should not only learn it for the mission but for the rest of our lives. It was made apparent to me that he has invested so much in us as missionaries. The books, the teachers, the food and everything has been provided for us, all we need to do is study all we can and to take in as much as we can. The Lord is so merciful and loving and he knows us and what we need.

I love this quote from President Gordon B Hinkley and it says " I invite every one of you, wherever you may be as members of this church, to stand on your feet and with a song in your heart, move forward, living the gospel, loving the Lord, and building the Kingdom. Together we shall stay the course and keep to the faith, the almighty being our strength" This quote really motivates me and gets me through the day when it gets long, boring and hard in class. I also sing a lot of hymns out loud or in my head and it really help to calm me down.

7/31/18 Tuesday

First off, dad thank you for the advice on studying the New Testament, it has really helped and I have studied it everyday. I find that when we are role playing and the investigator is Catholic, it seems easier when I need to turn to a scripture or find a verse that is familiar to the investigator and help in our lesson.

We usually have devotionals on Sundays and Tuesdays. The devotional today was about how we as missionaries need to step it up especially for the Elders. They called up 5 hermanas to talk to everyone about how the elders should be worthy of the priesthood they use. It was very good and humbling because it really helped us to do a self check and see if we are doing what we need to do and if we are not, we need to step it up.

There were a few quotes some of them said. (1)"If you knew who you were in the pre-mortal life, you would try harder" and (2) "No empty chairs.” The first one hit me especially because it is true! If we knew who we were, we would do so much better. We are on the earth at this very moment for a reason and we are among the Lord´s chosen and the strongest so we need to act like it. The second quote was that we all want to live with our family together forever both with out families now and our future families, the people on the mission you meet, the investigators you touch, and your future wife or husband and your kids along with it. We all want to have them there with us in eternal life so we should not want or have empty chairs. There is a chair there for everyone in your family!

08/01/18 Wednesday

We went to the temple again because the rest of our zone is leaving this week. It was cool. There is a little tienda on the temple grounds. It’s called the Zarahemla store. I bought a ring and a sock tie. All in total was 440 pesos so about 20 dollars for everything!