Week 048 - Lessons With Young Couples That Actually Give A Crap

Whoa. It’s totally Christmas time! Time to bring out the Frank Sinatra! At least we have, my leader de zone came over and he is from Paraguay and he couldn’t get enough of that stuff.

So I’ve heard Katie’s taken over my room now, nice bed huh, it’s the secret that none of you knew about, that I always had the most comfortable bed in the house.

We are going to have the hap hap happiest Christmas - Clark Griswold.

This week was fantastic, packed with tons of new investigators. It was awesome because we’ve been having so many lessons with young couples that actually give a crap. You know! Super awesome young families, who are all interested in the lessons and asks questions, and you can have a great conversation with. So I’ve been really thankful for that, because we’ve been having so many flojo investigators that I feel like I’m just talking to a brick wall. So it’s been a good week.

We had divisions this week with the zone leaders and I might have had the most awkward and funniest time of my mission, during this split with my zone leader. I guess he was on splits with some of the Assistants and with one of their investigators sang a hymn at the end, which is actually normal and really brings in the spirit. But my zone leader was so hyped about it that he no joke wanted to sing with every person we came in contact with. In one afternoon I sang hymns to 14 people. And first off I don’t have a good accent (I pull off a nice American accent cha ching), second this kid is really not known for his singing, and of course he knows that. We sang to my 17 year-old investigator Rodrigo, in front of his house, and Rodrigo was so funny because he just kept looking off into the road to see if anyone was coming.

Fun fact, Argentinians don’t know how to say no. It’s just not in their gene system. So when you ask a guy who is cutting his grass if you can sing him a song, he will always say yes, “but make it quick, my wife could come out of the house any second now". He totally said that. Anyways, it was good ole fun times. Good memories for the books.

So I think I’ve told you a lot of stories about drunk guys in my mission. It’s quite common, on the daily, and they usually come in twos. And I have made the conclusion that there is a fine relationship between two drunk guys in Argentina, and the two Canadian moose in the movie "brother bear". For example, “Hey, hey, how’s it going gringos. Ey you guys headin out to the town...ey, you bout killed that dog there you were walking so fast... ey. Bought myself a brewsky....ey. How bout ya come over here and give me a bible...ey.  Ey go on and get outta here you messenger gringo Yankees..............ey”. It’s practically the same.

I have also concluded my top Argentine excuses for not coming to church: 1. Birthday  2. Yesterday’s birthday  3. Family coming into town......at five. Got to love these kids right.

Have I ever told you guys about Bebe Gonzales? This guys is the champ of the ages. Right. this guy is a member, is practically homeless, loves the missionaries, doesn’t stop talking, and wears the same Canadian tuxedo every day. On the topic of Canadian tuxedo, was there a time when McDonalds workers were all pulling off the jean jacket, jeans hat, and jean look? Because I just went to McDonalds today, totally great, and they all pull it off here, and I can’t tell if it’s a new thing or the Argentines didn’t get the memo about the McCafe look. Who knows, thought I should put that one out there. Anyways Bebe Gonzales rents out a tiny garage to live in, and all it has is a bed. Totally nuts, but he just keeps kicking it and comes to church almost every Sunday. In the past 4 months he has had 8 heart attacks, and about 4 heart attacks ago they said he should be dead. Every time we pass by his place he is either at the hospital or coming back, but he still makes it to church. Dedication right there for all you slackers out there.

Yesterday we had one of the greatest testimony meetings I think I have ever been to. One of the great things about being in a ward out here in Argentina is that almost every person in the ward is a convert to the church, and each have a story. So yesterday Alturo Pui gave his testimony on missionary work because he leaves on a mission in two days. Awesome testimony about how important he thinks it is to answer the call to serve, even though his family is barely getting by. Anyways, after he gave his testimony it kind of sparked every member to bear their testimony and stories of how the missionaries came to their home, and how appreciative they are for the missionaries to give that message. And I really realized the importance of the message we bring to each of these family’s home. And there are so many that don’t accept it, but the ones who do, and act on it, receive the greatest reward, and it’s shown in these families, and it’s shown in their love for the gospel.

I especially appreciated Hermana Lincina’s testimony, because she gave a story that really touched me. About a three weeks ago the mission opened a new area in Entre Rios, and Hermana Lincina has a sister that lives there. The sister and her family a few years ago went to church with Hermana Lincina, and the sister and her family were touched, but they never had a church building closer than 3 hours away from their house, or something like that. And so the mission opened up in that town where the sister lives just a few weeks ago. Anyway, this family didn’t know that the mission opened up in their town, but just a few days ago Hermana Lincina’s sister saw the missionaries in the street and ran to them getting them to stop, falling into tears she asked them to come over to their house to teach them. She told this story and I just thought of the hope the gospel brings to people, and it also strengthened my testimony of what we do as missionaries. It is to gather the faithful and those prepared by the lord.

I so love the work that goes on, I love our heavenly father and the strength he gives in times of difficulty. He always seems to remind me why we are really here. And I’m thankful for that.

It’s such a great time of the year to be here, it should be fantastic summer, at least for me, my golden glow is coming along nicely.

Elder Greene