This week has definitely been more difficult than
the first. We got 20 new investigators this week so that takes our
teaching pool over 30 with a lot of families!! I am so excited!! The
hand of the Lord has been very evident in our work this week. We did
get dropped by a couple families which is sad, but hey now the seed is
planted! Right after we would get dropped I swear there was another
family next door!!! It is awesome!! Our apartment still sucks and I
kind of have to pick my poison. Either I sleep without my mosquito net
and get eaten alive, or I use it and the fan blows it on my face which
tickles me and wakes me up constantly. Nights here are brutal! The
mattresses are 5 feet long I swear and I end up in the fetal position
most nights haha. We are still eating good!! My body is having a hard
time adjusting to the Argentine eating schedule, HUGE lunch, no dinner.
I always end up eating bowls and bowls of cereal with yogurt instead of
milk here. All the walking has benefited me though!! I have lost a
couple pounds haha yippee!! The language is still kicking my butt, but I
am learning fast and hope that I will soon be fluent haha (Pray for
me). We had a miracle happen this week. On Saturday we were expecting
up to 12 investigators at church. Sunday morning came around and it was
raining pretty solid here. The entire city shuts down here when it
rains and we began to get txt after txt saying people weren't coming
because of the rain!! We were so upset. Everyone of our investigators
had fallen through!!! Then we got a txt saying, "We are waiting to go
to church" One of our investigators had decided to brave the weather
and bring his family to church. We put him and his family on a bus and
then caught a taxi to another investigators house. We put both of them
in the taxi and ended up having 5 investigators in Church!! It was
great!!! We had a really neat experience this week- We were teaching 2
sisters (14, 9) Selene and Milagros. One day we went to teach them and
Selene said that she had some friends who wanted to talk to us to.
Elder Merrill asked her if they were drinking. She said no so we
walked over. The boys were 23,18, and 15. All of them had at least 5
tattoos, they were all drinking wine and smoking cigarettes. EVEN THE·
15 YEAR OLD!! We gave them a Word of Wisdom pamphlet and bore testimony
then left. We were also teaching a women named Cristina but she has
been lying to us through her kids about whether or not she is home. We
decided to give her 1 last chance so we walked to her house and clapped
at the gate (Here you clap instead of knock). Out walked Jorge (the 18
year old in the park). He had a big smile on his face and I just
thought to my self "you have got to be kidding me!!" He was smoking a
cigarette and when he saw us he put in out and walked to the gate. We
asked him if his mom was there and he told us she was sleeping. We
asked when would be a better time to come back and he let us in and
grabbed 3 chairs for us!!! We sat down and began to teach him!!! He
told us he had begun smoking at the age of 8!!! He told us he really
wants to change but it is so hard since he has been smoking and drinking
for the past 10 years!!! He is my age and is already addicted to
Alcohol and Cigarettes. I felt so bad for him!!!! He got kind of
emotional when we were talking about overcoming addictions and he ended
our visit by saying "You promise to come by more often and teach me?"
We said we would and walked away still in shock at what had happened.
I learned that you never know when God will present you with an
opportunity to teach and you never know who he has prepared!! I was
stunned!! The Work is truly moving forward here and the Church is
true!! I am still upset I haven't heard from all of you yet, especially
my MTC teachers!!! HAHA I love you all and I hope you had a great
Thanksgiving! Stay safe and you are all in my prayers always!!
LOVE
ALWAYS
Elder Ollerton
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