Well here we are again in another
Pday in beautiful Buenos Aires Argentina! This week was great! We were
blessed to have the confirmations of Lorena and David who were baptized
last week during general conference. As always it went great and I love
them and their whole family to death! Now we are working with the last
brother in the family to be baptized as well. We are also working with
Nahuel, who was baptized a few weeks ago, so that he can get the Aaronic
Priesthood and baptize his little sister who will be turning 8 in a few
weeks. She will be a ward baptism but to us it is all the same work so
we are working on it and plan for it just as if it was a convert
baptism. We have also been working hard with some other families and
hopefully we will be able to have 2 more baptisms this weekend. They
will be two brothers ages 10 and 11 who really want to get baptized, but
their parents have yet to sign off on the idea. We have worked with
their parents as well but they are not married and the mom is actually
married to another man in Bolivia... sadly enough that situation is not
uncommon. We are hoping that if the kids get baptized and remain active
with the help of some members that live nearby they will be able to help
their parents through the process of repentance and entering into that
covenant with God as well. There are also other families we are working
with but most of them really like to sleep... especially on Sundays!
Haha but it is ok we will try as hard as we can to help them realize the
importance of the message we bring.
Well I actually just got back from the President´s house as I am
writing. He invited 2 zones over to his house for a BBQ for Pday. It was
great! Somehow I got put in charge of cooking all the burgers though...
haha I think that it went well and nobody complained! I just hope that I
don´t hear of anybody going to the hospital for food poisoning in the
next few days! Anyways it was great to see some of my friends from the
mission and talk to the President along with his wife for a while. We
also looked at some photos of when we got here on his absolutely
gigantic flat screen tv haha. It was overall a really good time and I am
so lucky to have President Ayre as my mission president. Him, Sister
Ayre, and all his family are such a great blessing to this mission. I
honestly couldn´t see me serving in any other place in the world!
The past couple of days it actually got really cold. I actually
love it though because it is the first time I have been cold in such a
long time! I basically went through my whole summer there at West Point
as a squad leader for beast barracks and then the MTC and then when I
got here it was going into summer on this side of the world. So while
the world was frozen over up north I was walking in the 100+ degree
heat! Needless to say I was so happy to break out the sweaters! I am not
sure how long that excitement will last though as I have heard that it
actually gets very cold here during the winter... I guess that we will
find out!
Well this week is the last week of this transfer. I will be
finishing my second transfer here in Juncal. My companion is finishing
his third transfer here but it is not uncommon to stay in an area for
four transfers so we have no idea which one of us might leave. For some
reason I have the feeling that I will be leaving even though the more
likely outlook is that my companion will leave. I guess we will be
finding out soon enough though!
Also my second trainer, Elder Kuetell,
goes home at the end of this transfer. He was a great trainer so I will
be going to his farewell at the mission offices this next Sunday. I was
with him when he went into his last 6 months in the mission so it is
kind of weird to see him heading home. As I say a lot time flys by way
too fast. There were a lot of people from my group at the President´s
house today and one of them mentioned that today we complete 8 months in
the mission. I didn´t even notice but I guess it is true! Not too
mention I feel like the weeks have shrunk by at least 2 days since I got
here. The saying is so true that days may be long but weeks are short
in missionary work!
Well I guess I thought that I might make it back in time to see my
friends´ weddings but that just failed as Marshall Bassett just got
engaged haha. I am really happy for him though and I wish him and his
fiancé the best of luck. I guess it is what I get for going to West
Point for two years though!
Anyways I guess that is about all I have for this week. I have just
really been trying to push myself harder to be the best servant of God
that I can be. I know that this chance to serve Him full time is not
going to last forever, and I know that I need to use it to the fullest. I
am so blessed to be able to serve here in Buenos Aires North right now.
I am so gratefull to my Father in Heaven that I have this
responsibility and blessing to go forth and preach His Gospel. There is
no greater duty nor blessing in the world. I have learned and
experienced so much in just the 8 months I have thus far and I am
looking forward to the even greater things I have yet still to learn in
the time that I have left. As always I am also very gratefull for all
the great family and friends that I have back home and also the few that
are left in their missions supporting me and praying for me! I love you
all so much and thank you for everything! Have a great week and keep
the faith!
Love always,
Elder Zollinger
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