December 29, 2014
Merry Christmas and Happy New
Year!! This week was a weird one but it was great!
Christmas here is really
different. They don’t decorate too much and instead of getting up early on the
25th, they stay up late the 24th and celebrate at midnight. Super weird but way
fun! We had dinner with some members and with all the other missionaries in our
ward (we are 4 sets - two elders and two sisters). It was delicious. We ate
Asado which is basically just Argentine BBQ but like a TON of meat and salads
of all types and stuffed chicken and YUM: I was so fun I thought I was going to
die. But so worth it. We got permission to stay up until midnight and we got to
watch/listen to all the fireworks. They do a LOT of fireworks. It’s fun. And I
guess for Año Nuevo they do even more. I’m pumped.
We had some AMAZING ward
activities this week too. You have to understand that here in Argentina, it
takes a miracle for the ward leaders to work together to pull off a single
activity and even more miracles to get people to the activity. It’s sad. But we
had 2!! That’s right, count 'em, TWO! Amazing ward activities this week! One
was a live nativity done by the primary! Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera
to the activity so I don’t have pictures. But the YM built a manger scene
outside and the kids were all dressed up and it was so cool!! I can’t even
explain. Like it was a good activity for the States and the fact that it got
done in Argentina was a miracle, en serio. Then, later in the week we had our
Fin de Año Cena (End of Year Dinner). It was also really good. People were
dancing and there was a fotobooth type thing. Really well done. I love this
ward so much!
Funny Story of the week:
Church. So the other Elders have an investigator and her brother always comes
with her to church even though they aren’t teaching him. Why is this funny?
Because this guy is ALWAYS higher than a kite. So this Sunday he came and he
got into a fight with one of the members and stormed off basically. They were
arguing about some silly thing. It may not seem funny but you’ve got to know
this guy. It’s funny. He is the same one that a couple weeks ago, when we did
an activity and had to draw our favorite gifts we have ever received, drew a
bong, which for those of you who don’t know, is a thing used to smoke tobacco
or marijuana. This guys a crazy haha.
Spiritual Highs of the
Week: 1) We had a really cool lesson with some of our investigators that are
progressing a lot! The kid that we are teaching who has like 15 years old
really opened up and was really interested and had all sorts of questions. It
was wonderful! They are progressing and meeting their goals and everything!
Really excited! 2) We visited a less active family. They became less active
when the husband/father passed away. One of them shared with us that she just doesn’t
really have faith anymore and that it is just hard to participate because she
feels like it’s just all in vain. It’s really sad but we had the opportunity to
testify to her that God Exists and that he has a plan. She suffers from a
sleeping problem and that has played a role in her lack of faith as well. We
testified about Gods plan and as we build our trust in Him and follow what He
wants instead of what we want, we can find more joy and peace in this life.
I testify to all of you
as well that that is true. In this life, we make plans about what we want to
accomplish and how we see things playing out, but almost always, our plan is
not even close to what God has in store for us. As we humble ourselves and
accept ourselves and the life that God wants for us, we can enjoy this life
even more, knowing that it is His will. We may not understand why right now,
but I promise you that down the road, years from now, and maybe not even in
this life, we will be able to look back and say "Ok, know I understand and
I couldn´t be more grateful that that is how it played out." Keep on
moving forward. Trust in the Lord and his Atonement. I love you all and pray
that you are well.
Elder Clifford
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