Hi Dearest Family!
Thank you so much for your
emails, I loved reading about all the fun things going on in Southern Utah and
Michigan. It has been an amazing week here in San Justo for a trillion
reasons. Reason number one being the baptism of our two dear little
abuelas! It was truly amazing to watch them step down into the font and
come out again as fresh and clean as newborn babies. Pretty cool stuff.
I was especially happy about Amalia because we have been working with her for
six hard weeks, trying to help her answer the overarching question, “Why do I
have to baptized again?” And it was the most amazing moment when I asked
her the day before her baptism, “Amalia, if someone were to ask you why you
were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what would
you say?” My heart sang when I heard her response. “Obviously because it’s
Jesus Christ’s church.” How simple and beautiful is that? Amalia loves
the Book of Mormon and she loves the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and she is going
to be a fantastic strength to this little San Justo ward.
Also on Sunday we had one
of the most incredible experiences that I have had on the mission so far.
One of our investigators, Analia, is the wife of a less-active young R.M. in
the ward. His parents are incredibly strong members, but he is a little
crazy and I’ve always been a little scared of him because he’s big and tough
and kinda rebellious. Anyways we invited Ana and Manuel (the rebellious
member husband) to church on Saturday, and then on Sunday they actually
came! For the Gospel Principles class we decided to change things up a
little and watched the Restoration video of Joseph Smith’s first vision.
In the class was just Amalia, Analia and Manuel, our ward mission leader
Efrain, and our Stake High councilman who is the most incredible member
missionary. We watched the video, and as I sat there, I felt the Spirit
enter into the room more powerfully than I ever have when watching this
movie. As the movie ended, I think we all felt it and we asked Amalia to
share her experience of how she knows that this is true. In one
beautiful, humble sentence, the soon-to-be-member said, “It’s something I just
felt inside.” Then it turned into a mini testimony meeting as we asked Efrain
and Hermano Cordero to share their conversion experiences. Efrain was a
rebellious tattoo artist when he found the Gospel, and Hno. Cordero was a hard
core atheist. Their testimonies were powerful and the Spirit was just
penetrating .
Then we turned to Manuel
and asked him to share his testimony. I have to admit that I was a little
nervous he might ruin the Spirit that was there, but it was exactly the
opposite. Manuel began to testify of how he knew that Joseph Smith was a
prophet of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth. He talked
of the power of repentance and his renewed desire to return to the
church. And then with tears in his eyes, he turned to his wife and said,
“This gospel means everything to me, and it is going to bless the life of our
little family more than anything else. I know that we can be a family
forever, and my most fervent prayer is that your giant heart can accept the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. I want you to feel what I have felt as a member
of the Church of Jesus Christ.” This big, scary man just broke down and sobbed,
and if the Spirit had been strong before in that tiny little room, now it
practically knocked us off our feet. I’m so excited to teach Analia more.
There’s a lot to work through before she can get baptized, mainly marriage
stuff and legal papers, but I’m so excited for them to one day be an eternal
family.
In other news, we had
transfers this past week, and I shouted for joy when I heard over the telephone
that Hna. Castillo and I are staying together in San Justo! We had a little
adventure on Wednesday when Hna. Castillo went to brush her hair and then broke
down in tears to discover giant bald patches. We called President and he
had us go to a dermatologist outside the mission in Buenos Aires central.
So we packed a little lunch of crackers and fruit and got to take a taxi to
travel about an hour into the capitol city. It was exciting for us little
missionaries, and all is well with Hna. Castillo’s hair. They said it was
due to extreme stress at one point in the past two months, to which I responded
that I arrived to Argentina and she got me as her companion exactly a month and
a half ago. J We like to joke about it with everyone because we’re
like the happiest companionship on earth, and she is NEVER stressed. Who
knows, the mission does crazy things to you.
Other random things from
the week? Like a month ago Fransisco (the little old husband of Gladys) invited
us to his birthday party which finally happened on Saturday. It was the
most legit Argentine party ever and also the most stressful experience of my
life as about 20 dear abuelos tried to greet us with a kiss on the cheek
(everyone greets everyone with a kiss on the cheek here. Even the men greet
each other that way) As missionaries we obviously can’t kiss men, but it is
such a fixed custom and soooo extremely hard to avoid because sometimes they
just pounce before you know what’s happening. So I’ve unavoidably sinned a few
times in the past months, but usually we’re pretty good at sticking out a stiff
arm to shake their hands. This birthday party was just unusually
difficult and awkward.
We also had the police
called on us a few days ago as we were tracting around. We clapped on
this one house and this nice looking lady came out to talk. She wasn’t
interested, so we politely told her that she’s always invited to the chapel on
Sundays and started to walk away. Then I don’t know what happened but she
suddenly turned into the devil, called us back and started accusing us of
investigating her neighborhood so that we could rob them all. Then she
picked up her phone and started calling the police! I didn’t know if I should
laugh or cry, so I obviously started laughing since I always laugh in the worst
moments. She started yelling at us as Hna. Castillo just pulled me away from
the house, and of course no policemen came investigating or anything of the
sort, but it was exciting all the same.
Anyways, that’s a crazy
slosh of some of our moments in the mission in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
It’s wonderful and exhausting and I love being a missionary! I love you all,
and I hope your week is amazing in the fallish world up north.
Love,
Hermana Leavitt
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