Saturday, March 15, 2014

We got a referral from who???

Hello all!

Well we had another great week here in Juncal! Just to start off I´ll let you all know that I did not get transfered nor did my companion! We are gonna be together here in Juncal for another transfer! We are both pumped and ready for another great transfer here and we are ready to get out and get some work done! This is the first transfer that I have had that I do not have to change companions. I must say that of all the companions I have had I think Elder Molina is the one I would most want to have more than 1 transfer with, so it worked out really well. Besides I really do love this area so it is a double plus! Also, with only 9 months in the mission, my comp was also called to be a district leader! I am way excited for him and also a little excited cause now I don´t have to call my district leader at night to give him numbers, since now he is my companion haha! He is excited but really nervous but he his more than ready for the job. I am pumped cause now I will get to do splits with the zone leaders and with the Elders in our district so I will get the chance to work with and learn from some really good missionaries this transfer!
Well this past week was absolutely amazing! First and foremost, we had a baptism this week! We baptized Maria! She is great and we were able to do it after stake conference in the stake center along with 3 other baptisms from other companionships in the zone. It was great and especially cool cause President Ayre and his wife were there for the stake conference and they stayed to watch the baptisms. I was able to baptize her and of course it was awesome! I love taking part in things like that and she is such a great girl and will be very strong in the church. We will keep working with her this week as we work towards her confirmation in church on Sunday! We are also going to be working with her family now to try and get her brothers and parents into the church along with her. They are a bit more dificult but I am sure with her help we will see some progress there!
Another cool thing that happened this week was that on Friday we received a call from President Ayre asking us what our lunch plans were. We replied that we basically had nothing planned for lunch and he offered to take myself and my comp as well as the other two elders we live with out to lunch to talk about opening up another area in our ward. Needless to say we happily accepted! He took us along with his wife and the assistants to an all you can eat restaurant in the middle of the richest part of Buenos Aires... It was incredible!!! I am so blessed to be here serving under him and his wife. They are such great people and I really am blessed to have a personal relationship with my mission president.
Yet another incredibly awesome thing that happened this week is that yesterday when my comp and myself were walking in our area to an appointment we received yet another call from President Ayre. He told us that he had something interesting to tell us that was going to help us know why he decided to keep us together another transfer. Needless to say we were interested! He told us that he had a referral for us, which by the way are the best things ever, especially from your mission pres, but he told us that this referral was not coming from him. A few weeks ago Elder Ballard of the Quorum of the 12 was here in Buenos Aires giving a special fireside. Well apparently he stayed at a Sheraton Hotel IN MY AREA... more than that while he was eating in the restaurant there he began talking with a man who lives in our area and he told President Ayre that he had a very strong impression that the man was going to accept the Gospel and be baptized.........................
So here we are talking with the President in my area and needless to say our jaws hit the ground when we hear that we were receiving a referral from an Apostle. Basically we just got a referall from the Lord himself.... HAHA! More than that President Ayre told us that he was going to send this man an email and that he was going to set up a dinner appointment in the Sheraton so that Elder Molina and myself along with President Ayre can go and contact the man together over a meal. I still don´t think that I have quite realized what is going on with this haha. I will definitely keep you all updated with how this one goes hahaha. That is about all the information I have right now. Just to sum it up we received a referral from Elder Ballard who stayed in a hotel in my proselyting area and I am going to go contact him with my Mission President over dinner in a Sheraton Hotel... WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! It is so cool to see that even the 12 Apostles of the Lord are still out doing missionary work talking with everybody!
Well now that that story is through I don´t know if I will ever be able to have another week quite so cool as this one haha
. I guess something else cool happened though! We found this dude from Paraguay that cuts hair for 30 pesos (which is incredibly cheap) and he is absolutely legit! He cut the hair of the 4 Elders in our ward and he also wants to listen to us, but he lives in the area of the other Elders. So basically we get really really sick haircuts for really really cheap! And the other Elders are teaching him and his family! Haha it is great to see the hand of the Lord in the work and I am so blessed to be but a small part of it. I am so excited to keep on working this transfer and both my comp and I have made some good goals to work on so that we can be the best servants of the Lord that we can be. I would not give up the chance to be a missionary right now for the world!
Other than that stuff there isn´t much else going on around here to speak of. The weather is really starting to cool off now. It is definitely NOT cold but rather really comfortable. I wish it would stay like this all year but it´s going to continue cooling off now as the weather up there keeps warming up. This week I will also finish up the processing to get myself a visa for Argentina! Haha basically up till now I have been here without much of anything, just my passport. The process has been pretty long but that is just how it works here I guess. 
 Also Elder Stout (my buddy from West Point) is doing great as well. He went up to Senior comp last transfer and aparently is having over double the number of lessons and baptisms as the standard of excellence for the mission. I am way proud of him but not suprised, he has always been wayyy to good at everything he does haha. 
Anyway I just want to thank you all for all your prayers, love, and support for me. I love all of you and I keep you all in my prayers each and every day. It is great to see the blessings that come from serving the Lord and I hope that we can all continue to do it together for the rest of our lives and into the eternities. Just remember, the Gospel should not just be a part of our life, it should BE our life, cause without it there would be NO life to live! Thanks again for all that you do and I look forward to hearing from some of you again next week! Adios!

Con mucho amor,
Élder Zollinger

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