Rocio was baptized Saturday, February 22!

Vilma, Jenny (a cousin), and Rocio

 

Super slow week again, but it doesn't matter ...because we had a baptism!!!

Rocio was baptized Saturday, February 22! :D It was a very spiritual experience as always. :) And the Lord chose to give us a tender mercy as well. There was a terrible storm both in the morning and midday on Saturday. Just raging weather. Everyone was asking us if we were still going to have it. And obviously (with some serious prayers) we said that we were. And the Lord blessed us ...just about an hour before the baptism everything finally calmed down. And we had a beautiful baptism without any problems. :) Tender Mercy!

We don't have a font in the chapel where we attend, so we have to take a taxi to a neighboring ward. We went to Rocio´s house and from there called up a taxi; but it took over 50 minutes to arrive ...which made us start the baptismal service at least 30 minutes later than planned. :p (I hate being late!)

I had the privilege of being a witness for Rocio´s baptism. She has always been extremely quiet and shy during our several discussions, and she was really nervous to be baptized in front of everyone. But I got the impression she felt a sense of peace and tranquility as she descended into the water. And she came up out of the water just thrilled. She had a beautiful smile, and her face was just radiating. Truly a wonderful, cleansing, bright experience.

After the ordinance we had a little luncheon. Lots of pop, empenandas, y torta. Everyone was happy and talking. Rocio was taking pictures and videos of everyone. It was nice to see her enjoying it so much. It always warms your heart to know that your labors might have brought joy to someone else. :)

So a few random things:

I know why I am fat. Everything they make here is covered in oil. I have never eaten so little in my entire life, but everything I eat is completely covered in oil. Even the salad they make is drowning in oil! :p ewww! So my guess is that's why.

Also (for those of you who know the reference) we've once again resorted to "using plastic bags." Can I just say that I really don't like our apartment!!  But there are literally no other apartments in Fontana, and we've been trying for quite some time to find one.

On a positive note, I have gotten pretty good at making pizza though.

 

And from the vantage point of a glass half full, I'd have to say I love my mission a lot. Every day there are setbacks, we have ups and downs.  At times we're rejected; other times, accepted. Sometimes people show us considerable kindness; sometimes considerable disrespect. But it is nevertheless a tremendous blessing to be permitted to serve the Lord as a missionary in Resistencia, Argentina.

 

I know the church is true. Talking with thousands of people has only strengthened my own faith. I testify that this is the true church of Christ. That we are very literally God's children. That we are loved beyond comprehension. And that God is walking by our side waiting for us to seek His help. Christ suffered, trembled, and bled for us out of pure love. Joseph Smith was His prophet in this dispensation and sealed his testimony with his blood. I know it all to be true.

Elder Clemons

 

 

Confession, I have been robbed a few times...

Confession, I have been robbed a few times during my mission.
(Nothing bad happened, so don´t worry).
Elder Pickle and I received this little award for being robbed the most. ;) hahaha

Hola!

So once again this has been a super hard week. The people just aren't accepting us right now; we  found only 6 new investigators this week. But that doesn't really matter, we'll just need to work harder.  Oh, and we are going to have a baptism this week!! :D We will be baptizing Rocio and hopefully her mom as well.

I really don't have all that much to tell you, so I will just give you a rundown of my typical day:

My daily shower ;)

7:00	We get up, do exercises, and eat breakfast.
8:30	We start personal study.
9:30	We go out and start proselyting.
12:00	We break for lunch for 1 hour, and have 30 minutes for travel time.
1:30	We start companionship study. During this time, we also make plans for the tarde, and learn more about and practice our lessons.
3:00	We start language study. Here's what I like to do: I have the BoM in Spanish on DVD. So while listening to the DVD, I repeat it back talking with a pencil in my mouth. Obviously very annoying, but it really helps me keep my mouth open. So my accent is slowing coming along.
4:00	Everyone's siesta is now probably over, so we go back to work.
9:30	We return to our home and plan for the next day.
10:30	We get ready for bed.

So that's my normal day basically. It's really weird to have companion study in the middle of the day, but absolutely no one is outside (they're all having their siesta) and it is blistering hot. So at least we get to go inside and sit and sweat instead of walk and sweat outside. ;)

Everyone here drives moto's ...basically, little motorcycles, como vespas. They are so annoying and super loud (and obviously not very environmentally friendly). And the people always like to drive as close as they possibly can to you. And yes, sometimes they like to hit you as they drive by. :p That always hurts ...so I don't like moto's very much.

Pistol Whipped

Pistol Whipped

 

 

I finally got a hold of this little Evangelica biblia.
And look, as of today I have accepted my savior
and I am now saved. :)

Oh, we are teaching Pero, a Jehovah's Witness. Very interesting doctrine. And like most Jehovah's Witnesses, he knows his version of the Bible very well. He gave us a book entitled "What does the Bible really teach." Very interesting. It's rather fun teaching him. But it's also very hard to teach someone who has to have every point proved to them using the Bible. Of course, besides the instruction, we try testifying of the truth, and I do think with time, it'll work. But we might have to use some force. :p

Well, as I may have said a time or two in the past, I do love it out here. I just love my mission! :D And living and serving in Resistencia is incredible! I love the people and the culture.

...but I do want a Café Rio burrito. I miss that. Oh well.

Love Elder Clemons

Vilma y Rocio

Howdy!

The work here in Fontana is really dying, we have been in a 4 week dip. Our acceptance rate is close to none. We walk a lot ;) But every area has its ups and downs, and I'm sure with more time and some genuine effort we'll be teaching again. ;)

My district from last transfer

So I told you a little bit about Vilma y Rocio la ultimo semaña. Since then we have had 3 charlas. Haha. But I'll tell you about the first one. We started by tackling all of their doubts, such as family, "a second baptism," and Joseph Smith. We then watched the Restoration video with them, and it was super powerful. I remember watching the video before my mission, but it's so much more powerful when you're a missionary. After-all, it explains the beginnings, the basis, of our religion. After the movie there was a huge pause, none of us said anything. Then we just flowed into a testimony meeting. We bore testimony -- including the members we had with us -- it was one of the most powerful moments I've had in my mission. Every single person in that room bore a penetrating testimony that was undeniable. I was so overwhelmed, but happy. It was undeniable that Rocio y Vilma felt the truthfulness of the church.

After the testimonies we asked Rocio how she felt about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She just looked up and said that she knows it's true. We then asked Vilma, she said the same ...but then added that she doesn't know about baptism yet. So we testified about prayer and the Holy Ghost, and then invited Vilma and Rocio to have a kneeling prayer with us and to ask God about baptism. The Spirit was strong and powerful, but she still said no :-( which totally destroyed the Spirit ...and made Rocio want to push back her baptism as well. Vilma seems to always say she needs more time; she believes in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but just needs more time is all. But we committed them to go to church.

A couple days later, we passed by their home again and focused solely on Rocio. We talked to her about her questions, testified of the truthfulness of our teachings, read some scritpures out of the BoM, and then asked her how she feels when she reads them. She paused and said "Segura" or sure. :D We then asked if she is so sure, why wait. And with that, we now have her baptism scheduled for the 22nd. :) I think she'll make it. :) And I believe Vilma will follow algunas semañas luego. :)

So baptisms are coming up!  ...but we still have literally only 2 investigators right now :-(

I do love the mission! And I'm working hard and won't give up!  I'm out here because I have a strong testimony of the truthfullness of the church. I'm out here because Christ suffered for me. I'm out here because Joseph Smith was martyred praising our God. I'm not out here for any selfish reasons. I'm not out here for personal gain, nor to please anyone. I'm only here to honor my God.

Love you all!! :D

Elder Clemons

Nope

Hello Everyone!

 

So with transfers last week, I was pretty sure either Elder Pickle or I would be shipped out.  Nope, nothing changed, I am still here in Fontana with Elder Pickle. (Which is super strange because usually the trainer and the greenie always separate.) I believe it is because we were having a lot of success for Chaco. ;)  We did get rejected a ton though. NO ONE wanted to talk with us this week. But I did probably walk about 15 miles each day. So I'm dead tired ...I'll probably take a siesta after this email. :D

 

So there is this program for new missionaries called "12 Semanas" ("12 Weeks") -- pretty self-explanatory -- and I don't like it at all. And I've done it twice now because I've been in 2 missions. But I'm proud to say that after 7 months, ...I've finally finished the 12 weeks. ;)

 

I know I've said this before, but Resistencia is really hot. Really, really, really hot.  So of all the Lord's tender mercies, wouldn't you know it, but while randomly contacting ...we found a pool! Like a really big pool! Oh boy was that tempting. Since we were already soaked head to toe in sweat, really what difference would it make? But alas, we walked on. :(

 

As nothing really happened this week, I guess I will tell you about a family we are teaching. Although the family is huge, we are really only teaching 2 of them: the mom (Vilma) and the daughter (Rocio). Vilma tiene 45 años y Rocio 17 (editor's note: give it a try, I'm sure you can figure it out). They are Evangelica, and Vilma knows quite a lot about the doctrines of the gospel. They are awesome and come to church every week on their own and love the classes ...and they love their two gringo missionaries :-) They were both super happy that we stayed and weren't transferred.

 

Their baptisms are scheduled for this week, but we'll see if that goes through. Although there's a chance, we do have a little bit of doubt for Vilma since she's a bit scared to get "rebaptized." Also, she feels like she hasn't received a strong answer yet about Joseph Smith or the LDM (BoM). So the last time we visited them, we had an awesome charla (lesson) about the Holy Ghost and how it will feel to receive an answer. I've been studying that topic for like a month now, so I was able to use a ton of scriptures to help her. I think it helped them realize what the Holy Ghost's whispering might feel like.

 

I realize my next letter won't be for a week (so I won't be able to give you any progress 'till then), but we have a make-it-or-break-it lesson scheduled with them tomorrow, and we want them to get baptized this Saturday. So by next week's letter, they will hopefully already be baptized :D

 

Our plan is to watch the Restoration movie with them. We hope this will help identify her "true" doubts about the church (if she has any).  We're going to ask her to go into the movie with a specific question, and then look for her answer during the movie.  Of course, we'll bear strong testimonies, and invite her to be ready for baptism this Saturday. :) Wish us luck! :D

 

I am super excited to testify my soul out! :D

 

I love it here and I am super happy.  Love you all!

 

Elder Clemons

 

 

4 Baptisms!! :D

Hermano Veron, Me, Sergio, ?, Caren, Rosa, ?, Julie, Elder Pickle

 

Rosa, Caren, and Julie

It was just incredible to see the joy on their faces as they came up out of the water. Sergio was finally at peace.  Rosa was super happy; her face was just shining. Caren is really quiet and rarely smiles, but when she came up out of the water, she did ...just for a moment :) and that just warmed my heart. :)  Julie is just this bubbly little girl; and she was so excited after she was baptized. :)

 

This was the happiest day I have had on my mission so far. Bringing people to greater truth and light, and seeing the happiness it brings them, is truly an indescribable experience. And obviously, their joy and happiness also rubs off on me. It is a sublime feeling I just can't fully express. It's just something you feel from them right after their baptism. In a way, their conversion strengthens mine.

Sergio

While I was born into the church, and have had the rare and special opportunity of being around this greater truth all my life, these new converts made the decision to change their whole lives and join the Church. I am daily amazed at the faith of these good brothers and sisters. Their faith far exceeds mine. It is truly something heavenly to be a part of someone's conversion, to see the light grow and emanate from their being. :) It is truly incredible. :)

 

I know this is the Lord's true Church. I know it, I live it. I am happy and honored to be a missionary right now. It is a privilege to serve the Lord throughout all of our daily struggles. I am a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

...and to bring just a few souls unto Him is priceless happiness.

 

 

Love you all! :D

 

Elder Clemons

 

 

Sergio was baptized by Hermano Veron

I baptized Rosa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caren smiled just before this was taken :D

Julie's a cutie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me and my best new little friend Julie :)

 

 

SO THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!!!

Hola!

SO THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!!!

First off, we had 6 investigators at church yesterday!! 6!!! That is the standard of excellence, and it's super rare to hit it! It was incredible! Sergio came by himself, Rosa and her 2 daughters came (Karin que tiene 13 años y Julie con 8), Veilma (a new investigator) and Rosa brought along her sister!!! They all loved it!

On the other hand, I personally thought the church service itself was kinda' horrible. No one could sing, it was very unorganized, I had to give an impromptu talk on faith that I wasn´t told about, and the clases weren´t that grand.  And yet ALL the investigators felt the spirit strongly. It's nice to know the Lord will testify about the truthfullness of His church regardless of how the members participate ;-) The investigatores were in the true church of Christ, and therefore felt His spirit, and it was pretty cool to hear them talk about their experience after Church. :) So looks like this week we will baptize Sergio, Rosa y sus Hijas!! 4!!!! :D

So I finally broke the "be in on time rule." Sergio doesn´t have a working phone right now, so we have to set up citas and just hope he'll come. Well one day last week he didn´t. So we went to his house to find him, but instead found a drunk friend of his and were forced to stay and chat :p. Sergio eventually showed up!! :D But then he started making a pizza!!! -- and we only had 10 minutes to get home! But we couldn't easily leave, so we waited it out and got back 30 minutes late. :p  But the pizza was good. ;)

So I have been out a little over 6 months, and Elder Pickle's been out for a year now ...so we decided to celebrate!!!  He bought 1 kilo of ice cream, and I bought a 1/2 kilo. It was so yummy. :)

We've also found a super nice new apartment; it's a 6-room house! Soooo nice!!! :D But it won´t be ready until about a month from now :p  So we will just wait it out. :p  And I'll probably miss out on it altogether :-(

Sweet wrist-watch tan!!

OK, so, it is really super hot down here. I hate huminity. I refuse to live in a place that has huminity. It just makes everything so much worse. But I'm lov'n the rain! I LOVE IT! I love being soaked, because then the heat is bearable. And it is quite fun traversing through rivers and such. I feel like a boss.

Well, my time is up. I love it here, and I am super pumped about the baptisms. The work in our area is finally picking up. I´m happy. And that is all that matters. :)

I know the Church is true. :)

Love Elder Clemons

23 Days Without Water !!!!!!!!!!

My rain getup :-)

-------------------------------------
Hello Family!

So a ton of stuff has happened this week ...like a ton.

First off, we had 5 people in church this week!!! :D and all came on their own!!! Sergio, Rosa and sus hijas, and Silvia's cousin Alle. They all only came for the first hour, which was sacrament meeting. But it was still incredible. I have never felt a more spiritual fast and testimony meeting before. It was edifying. The spirit was strong during that meeting and the members' testimonies were heart-felt and comforting. I also bore my testimony and read my favorite scripture (Helaman 5:8-9):

 8 And now my sons, behold I have somewhat more to desire of you, which desire is, that ye may not do these things that ye may boast, but that ye may do these things to lay up for yourselves a ^atreasure in heaven, yea, which is eternal, and which fadeth not away; yea, that ye may have that ^bprecious gift of eternal life, which we have reason to suppose hath been given to our fathers.

 9 O remember, remember, my sons, the ^awords which king Benjamin spake unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the ^batoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to ^credeem the ^dworld.

I told them that the things I treasured most in life were my family and the church. I then testified that Christ, who suffered and trembled for us because He loves us, is the only way we can achieve our eternal treasures. It was a short testimony, but powerful. And I'm glad I was able to participate. 

So most likely we will be having 5 baptisms this 18th. :D  Pray for all of them! :D 

A lot has happened in Fontana lately.
First off, our water came back on! POR FIN!! 23 days without water! It seems like our landlord is ignoring us, so we're going to her house in the next few days to ....errr... have a nice conversation about how we can't have this problem again. So my actual number of legitimate showers has now gone up:  since I've been in Argentina, I've had 7 real showers. ;)

Second, it seems like we might have had some disobediant missionaries, as we just had an emergency transfer which affected the other Fontana Elders. Elder Guajardo (one of the other Fontana Elders who I am good friends with) got a new companion that was disobediant and wanted to go home. So long story short, both Elder Guajardo and this other Elder were taken out of Fontana and their area was shut down. So our area just got HUGE!! Guajardo is now in Formosa, and this other Elder is staying in the mission office until he decides what he wants to do (as of now he wants to stay). I hope he does, and I wouldn't mind being his companion, we got a long great for the short time we knew each other.

I had a interview with President this week. That was cool. He asked me to bear my testimony about the BoM. My mind went to a quote from Elder Holland which essentially says "that in our own individual ways, God takes us to the grove or the mountain or the temple and there shows us the wonder of what His plan is for us." I testified that although I hadn't physically been in the Garden, and haven't seen God, that He's brought me mentally to my own "sacred garden" and there revealed Himself to me and showed me His love. I don't have to see God to believe in Him. I feel Him through the scriptures and through prayer and through the good works of others. While I haven't had an angel manifest to me that the Church is true, I know it already because I've had my own experiences in my personal "garden."

Joseph Smith was correct when he said that "the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." I know this statement is true for it has happened to me.

I know God loves us. I know Christ suffered for us. I know that through Holy Scriptures as the Bible and Book of Mormon we can be guided to our individual gardens and have the truths of eternity manifested to us. We simply have to seek for Him.

I know the Church is true. And that is my testimony.

I Love you all!

Elder Clemons

My version of cookie dough ice cream. It is frozen yogurt with a ton of dulce de leche and crushed up cookies. Yum!

Christmas

This post includes several small letters we've received from Travis over the last 10 days.  It's mostly pictures ...enjoy :-)

=========================================
12/23/13 - Day before Christmas Eve

We haven't had water in our apartment now for 7 days, so that's been fun. Not!

The riots have essentially stopped now, but we still have to come home early each night.

Yet again, no investigators in church. :(

And I am still in Fontana with Elder Pickle.

 

Today we had a mission-wide party; all the missionaries came! It was so fun! I got to see all my friends and take pictures with them -- which I'll send whenever I find a nice computer to send pictures.

One of my Hijos - I had him for a couple days

So we've had a couple of "day" companions.  New missionaries are arriving daily now, and since we live so close to the mission home, we are always paired with them. I have had so much fun with them. I have learned so much from them, and I'm pumped to use these new skills in my teaching.

So falto tiempo, pero yo quiro dejarles con mi pensamientos de el nacimiento de Jesucristo (editor: "not much time left, so I'll leave you with my thoughts about the birth of Christ"). What a wonderful time it is right now. Although it's blistering hot and humid, you can still feel the Christmas spirit :)  People have little trees everyone and lights decorating their homes. It just brings a smile to my face. But let's not forget the reason why we celebrate Christmas. It is not about presents, snow, trees, or even missionary work. It is only about Christ. His birth, His sacrifice, and His love for us. His is a work of love. I am not the messenger of a modern-day prophet, or of Joseph Smith, or indeed of any man. I an authorized servant of Jesus Christ Himself. I have been called by Him to preach His love. Christmas is about Christ. Let us all remember that Great Sacrifice He endured for us. He loves us; I love Him, and I love this work.

Love Elder Clemons

==================================

12/25/2013 - Christmas

Travis called on Christmas day at 3:00 Utah time.  We had a very difficult time maintaining a Skype connection.  Travis addressed the problem by simply saying "Well, this is Argentina" ;)

We were able to call phone to phone, but even that wasn't great -- connection I mean --  talking to Travis was great :)

The family around the computer. It was nice to see Travis for a few seconds !!!

Travis blushed when we told him he was gaining weight

=================================
12/30/2013
Hello family.

Ok, so it is hot here; I sweat constantly. During studies, showering, even sleeping! I wake up to see my body's sweat imprint in my bed. It's ridiculous how hot it is. I've never experienced so much heat and humidity!!!!!!

Oh, also, we've now gone 14 days without water in our bathroom, and the last 3 days without water for anything. So unfortunately, we've had to go back to using, um, plastic bags :(  Right now, we're living on the emergency reserves of water president asked us to set up about 3 weeks ago prior to the riots. :p It seems to be a city wide problem, but nonetheless, we are moving. We can't live in these conditions any longer.

So we had 4 investigators in church Sunday!! :D  Sergio, and Rosa with her daughters. Sergio is about 60, and actually lived in the states for 10 years, so he speaks English. He is incredibly prepared to hear the Gospel and loves us.  Rosa is a single mom with 3 daughters that really wants to feel peace and create unity in her family. She knows these qualities are found within the church. :) They both loved it! :) I was tan feliz!

Christmas was nice ...and VERY hot. We worked all day except for the time where I got to call home. :)

Oh, and thanks for the Christmas package! I loved everything in it, and especially the peanut butter! Also really love the stickers!  And as always, Kimi's gift was thoughtful......

So if there is any way that I can get some beef jerky that would be incredible.  I might even be able to get a baptism out of it ;)  Also, I guess I have used my BoM too much because the leather binding has now fallen off. If you could, please send some REALLY powerful glue. :) Thanks.

I love you all.  The present I have for you is that I'll work really hard to bring souls to Christ! :)

Love you!

Elder Clemons 


Some more pics:

I finally bought a machete.  I'm so cool!

My District Leader just went home :(

Everyone has their Dish!

No

Editor's note:
So, one of the emails we sent Travis last week asked if he had received his permanent visa yet.
Travis sent us his weekly letter as he normally would on his regular p-day, but it contained only one word:

"No"

That's all we received from him, no other letters, no mission progress report, no "I love it here"  ...nada.

Monday waned on, and we ultimately went to sleep with no additional information ...wondering if this was another one of his antics (see here and here for details).

=================================================
Here's what we unexpectedly got on Tuesday:

Hello, sorry for the delay, the power shut down in the whole city ...the riot is still partially going on.

I have called this week Zombie Apocalypse week just because everyone is scared and preparing. We have been on lockdown for nearly a week. For 2 days we couldn't even leave the apartment, and the rest of the week we had to be in at 7, or before nightfall. This week, we've been allowed to come in at 8, but word is going around that another riot is going to take place on the 20th, so we might be forced into our pensions again. But nothing has happened to any missoinaries so far. :)

So thank you all so much for praying for our investigators; we have also been fervently praying for them to come, and even had a fast for them. But sadly, no one came. :( Which means we won't have a "White Christmas" (baptism in December) after all. That really crushed me. I have never worked for and prayed so hard for my investigators before, but still no fruit came of it. It is hard, but hopefully with the transfer tomorrow, I can restart and pick myself up again. :)

So Elder Pickle and I had our first legitimate scripture bashing lesson a couple days ago. We went to visit our investigator Rosaña, and her evengelico friend was there. She started attacking many points of the Church, and we had supportive verses from both the Bible and Latter-Day Saint scriptures to prove each and every one. It was quite empowering. We were literally able to respond to every doubt. I must admit I felt quite proud defending our Church.

Of course, "proving" things from the scriptures is not the Lord's way.  But this incident actually worked out in our favor because as we passed by Rosaña's home the following day, we had opportunity to tell her we don't like scripture bashing, and that the Lord teaches through the Spirit. This experience showed her that the missionaries really do know the scriptures, but that we prefer to teach the truthfulness of the Gospel by the Spirit.  We testified to her that our Father in Heaven really does answer prayers, and leads and guides His children if they seek His help.  Rosaña's now has increased confidence in the missionaries, and she feels it's true ;)

Bahahahaha, so the hija de Hermana Barrio's (Damarís) bought me Christmas presents! She got me all these chocolates and the Book of Mormon on CD in Castillano. I thought it was super nice of her, I guess she likes me a bit ;)

As a funny side note, por cause de la riot, we've had to wear mostly non-mission clothes all week, so Hermana Barrios said that we've finally fulfilled one of her dreams ...to see an American missionary in jeans ...how funny is that!

In case you're wondering why we visit the Barrios family so much, it's because we don´t have our own phone. And because the Barrios live closest to us, our mission leaders call their phone each night to communicate with us.  So each night we're at their house for a short while.

Oh, I gave a talk in church last week (my 2nd). I felt honored to be able to share my testimony and preach the Gospel and hope to inspire the local members. The Lord really blessed me in this talk to be able to articulate and touch the people's hearts. I love bringing hope, joy, and truth to people, and to see it in their eyes really filled my soul with joy.

The Lord's gospel is a gospel of happiness. And the church is true :)  I am really humbled to be a member of the Lord's true Church, and consider it a privilege to bring people to this knowledge. :)

Love you all,
Elder Clemons

Argentina is in revolt! ...so we've had to stay inside for a few days

So first off Hi,

Sorry it took so long to right this week, Argentina is essentially in revolt; it's kinda thrilling. 


Safety
For our safety, we had to stay inside for a couple of days ...so boring!

Anyway, the police here have gone on strike since they make too little, and so the country has taken advantage of the lack of a police force. Stores are being robbed and multiple killings have occurred. Everyone is preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse. Each day during the day the store owners build up their defenses and try to barricade their goods inside, and once the sun sets, everything goes chaotic. The city has been thrashed.

President told us to have 60 liters of water in storage to last us, and we had to wear normal clothes (YES!) so we blended in. It was an exciting week, but spent mostly indoors. :p

So I'm safe, but pretty upset at the revolt going on.  We are losing valuable time teaching our investigators! And we had all of our important lessons scheduled for Monday and Tuesday nights... the days we had to stay inside. :( We still haven't been able to make contact with them. I really hope we can still teach them and that nothing bad happened. Gah, these were really critical lessons we had planned. If our investigators don't go to church this week, then we can't baptize them in the month of December ...and I really want to have a "White Christmas" in Argentina! 


Lavies Family
So we are teaching this one family named the Lavies.  They are super cool and receptive of Gospel discussion. However, he is hardcore Evangelico. At the end of our first lesson, we asked him to say the prayer. He excitedly accepted. He started out normal, but then started chanting and screeching, with random normal words in between ...a poor counterfeit of the Gift of Tongues. ;)  Sure it was the same "phrase" in repetition, but it was cool. The mad thing was very interesting. bahaha But he has a good heart and a sincere desire to learn, and he is actually friends with some members, so it's perfect!

So just random things I guess
It's super hot, like super hot; the humidity is satanic. Horrible. gah. I feel disgusting.

Everyone loves Americans. I don't understand why my friend thought he was hated; they worship Americans down here, especially the women ...I'm pretty sure the daughter of Hermana Loli has a thing for me, bahaha 

Fotana has lots of little Catholic "folk shrines" with random saints in them. Unfortunately, they are usually locked to protect from vandals. They are literally on every block. My favorite is Saint Gaucho Gil.  Apparently he was an Argentine Cowboy from the 1840's who was killed.  He's really popular in Argentina.

My favorite candies here so far are Pepas ...I literally bought 14 bags a couple days ago.  Should last me a couple weeks ;-)

Hunter the Frog still lives with us in our bathroom.  Bahaha.  He is very loyal and loving. Always willing to give me comfort in times of need.

Oh, the Argentine "100 pesos" bill has a ton of counterfeits! The ATM here even gave us two fake bills!!!  It's crazy identical! So good their own government can't even spot the difference! Bahaha But luckily, the people haven't caught on yet, so we got rid of them.

I'll send pics next week when I get to the library .....if it's operating ...I think it may have been destroyed.

So that's it :)

I love it here, and please pray that our investigators attend church. :)

Love you all!

Elder Clemons

...and could I have all the information on the doctrines of the Evangelico church, like scriptures and all? :)  Thanks!

Sylvia got baptized!

Hello all,

Sylvia

So if you are wondering, the baptism did happen. SILVIA GOT BAPTIZED!!! So incredible. The branch essentially did everything for us, so all we had to do is make sure she was there. The support for her was also super incredible, the branch had about 30 people!! :) Her family doesn't really like us, but her daughter, cousins, and extremely close brother came to support her. :) And now the cousin wants to start taking the lessons! :)

Everything was just so touching. I didn't actually get to see her be baptized (too many people were in the room). But after she came up out of the water and the baptismal doors shut, you could hear her crying. That was touching. :) When she came out she was just so happy. :)

First baptism feels incredible. Everything was just incredible. The branch was so supportive, Sylvia was happy, just perfect. :)

Yesterday in church, despues she was confirmed, she bore her testimony. That was such a cool experience. She told us of her goals in life, how she never wants to go astray, and how she wants to bring her family into the church. :) Now that's a convert. :) Now all that is left is to teach her the other lessons, and to keep in contact with her forever ;)




The most amazing thing is that this coming 12th of December, Silvia is going to the temple!! :D Woot! The branch happens to be going, and she decided that she wanted to go to. Obviously just for baptisms for the dead, but still, she´s going to the temple, something she decided to do on her own. :)

The branch here is incredible; they have really absorbed her into the church. She is definitely in good hand.



The Big Sky
I miss the mountains. The world here is too big. The sky seems so much larger here without mountains. It's so weird to feel so open, but it makes the sunsets here incredible. When there are clouds, it's just jaw dropping.

Evita Peron

The current president of Argentina, a woman, recently changed the 100 pesos bill to Evita Peron!

Other Investigators

We have like no investigators. But we do have a couple of potentials: the Montanas y the Rojas. The Montanas have some Law of Chasity problems, meaning he is currently married to another women but living with her. And the Rojas have very deep faith in the Evengelio Church. But both have real potential, so pray for them. :)

And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

-- Doctrine and Covenants 18:15

How great is my joy to have brought one soul unto Christ. The feeling will forever go unmatched.

This baptism was such a testimony builder for me, the joy I felt just testified to me of the greatness and truthfulness of this work. :) This is His work and His glory. I love it out here. I know the church is true.

Elder Clemons



Some extra photos...

Some after baptism festivities :)

I think this little guy sleeps in our toilet...

 

 

We can always get in, teach, bond ...and then they don't commit :-(

What's it like "knocking on doors"?

It is a lot less scary. We actually clap, so I have developed a really loud clap. The people´s culture here is so much more accepting and friendly. Even if they don´t convert, they still invite you in and feed you. It is awesome.

Tell us about the culture or what people live like.

The people live with the nesecidades ...but happily. Everyone is always sitting outside chatting with others, except during the siesta from 1-4, everyone just sleeps. But the people here are incredible. So nice. I´m shocked daily about how nice people are here. So willing to give to others and just downright friendly. In the states its all about oneself, but here, if you are not talking with some random stranger you are weird. Everyone is a brother.

Tell us more about how you and your companion are doing

We are doing good, we work well together and we teach well.

Elder Pickle's grandma made us these awesome little Christmas stockings :-)

Dang, I always heard about Latinos and their dreams, but this is ridiculous. I have had 3 people now admit to me that they dreamed of my coming before I arrived. One being Silvia, and the other 2 members: Hermana Loli and her daughter. It's kinda weird. But you know, what ever, I´ll take it. haha.

So you should let Justin know that the magic trick he gave me has increased the rate that we get accepted by at least 67%. Everyone loves it -- and not just kids -- the adults are shocked by it too. They love it, so thanks to Justin, we teach a lot now. hahaha.

The people and investigators here love us to death. We can always get into houses, have a spectacularly fun time, really bond, teach, and then they don´t commit. People love us, but not enough to commit. But then they always invite us back. It´s crazy. Yesterday for example, this Catholic lady and her family (who recently rejected the Gospel) invited us over for a party. They fed us Asado (giant awesome meat barbecue), gave us 2 cakes, 2 things of  ice cream, and tons of pop. I don´t understand why we are so beloved, but not accepted. So strange.

The work here is kinda hard. Since our area is new, we have no former investigators to visit. The area book is just the people that we have found. And we drop many daily. So we are usually just contacting all day. Of course we have investigators, but within a couple days we will most likely drop them. It is just how the work goes here. We sift the wheat.

The coolest/scariest thing happened a couple days ago. Silvia was kinda feeling sick, so after a lesson she asked us to give her a blessing of health. So we did. Immediately after we gave her the blessing, she stood up, and then fainted. Uhhhh ...that is not what we were expecting. She awoke and fainted multiple times after that. It was crazy. One usually wouldn´t think that should happen after a blessing of health. But who are we to judge how God is going to heal, or even if He will? But when she did awake, she was fine, completely better. I suppose she needed to faint, and if she hadn't fainted in the presence of members, she would have done it walking home by herself. So although it seemed bad, that the blessing didn´t work, with faith and patience, the healing did occur, in the way God intended it to.

Her baptism is this Saturday! :D She'll make it. :)  Elder Pickle will be doing the actual baptizing. It is so exciting! :D We have everything already planned. This is going to be such a great baptism! :D I´m so excited!!! :D GAH! 

Also, happy Thanksgiving.

We are planning (along with the other Fontanna Elders) to do a Navidad activity in the center of Fontana. We are going to have Christmas music playing, a bunch of Christ and Christmas pictures, and we will be handing out lots of materials, meaning BoMs etc. We're hoping to be able to invite people to see what Mormons believe about Christmas, our Rama (editor's note: Branch) is totally in on it and willing to help us out. We're going to try hard to make this both informative and very uplifting. Of course, we hope to find a lot of new investigators :)

I have really learned a lot about the connection between prayer, faith, desire, work, and success. There is a direct correlation. We pray for success, have faith that it will happen. We have desire to work for it, and then we work for it. Success isn't something easily given, its earned. It looks like success will ONLY come as I patiently strive daily, working 'til the last minute. I must show God I want success through my work ethic.

Humbly, I know the church is true, I know it with all my being. I love it out here. And besides being the true church (which is huge), it's also a good church ...by their works you shall know them. Look at the Church; look at what it does, what it stands for, how it conducts itself. No one can deny the goodness of the church. And although it's small, the authority of God resides in the Church. This good church. I know it.

Elder Clemons

We finally got out toilet working!!  But don't put TP in it!!

Clearly, the Lord NEVER gives up on his children :-)

Hello Everyone! :D

So before I forget, there are tons of Evangelicos here....please send me EVERYTHING about them ...and some cool Bible scriptures too.

So how is Lori doing? How´s work? How's Kimi?


Working harder...
As I mentioned in my previous letters, the work here is so much easier than it was in Carlsbad, but I know I can work harder, and my companion and I are doing all we can. Amazingly, the missionaries here don´t really contact!! They don't! In Cali, that was pretty much all we did. But here we just walk around until we "feel" that we need to talk to someone. Yes of course I agree following your impressions is obviously needed when preaching the gospel. But I believe we show God our earnest desire to preach by contacting everyone we meet! So regardless of what others say, I contact nearly everyone I meet ...and so far we've set 15 baptisms because of it. ;)  As always, now we just have to make sure that they stay firm in the faith. :P


Sylvia...
So I want to tell you about an investigator we have named Silvia. One afternoon last week, we were walking by an area near our neighborhood when we saw over 10 companionships of Jehovah's Witnesses contacting down a particular street. It was ironic because that same morning we had just studied a bunch of Bible-bashing scriptures we could potentially use against them (but we both know that's not how we convert). So we continued to walk on, not wanting to get into any kind of religious confrontation. But we both felt that we should go back to bash. Yet we kept walking away because of how awful that seems. Then the feeling of bashing came back. So we turned around and went down the street where all the Witnesses were.

Now here's what's strange: we didn't contact anybody; rather someone contacted us (Silvia). Out of all the Witnesses that were there (for we were in the midst of them) she selected us out of the bunch. We went to her front yard and began to teach her. We taught her the Restoration. It was fairly normal until we got to the BoM. We handed her one, and she started to flip through the pages. She turned to the picture of Moroni putting the plates in the ground ...and then went silent.

She then told us of a dream she'd had over 20 years ago as a child. She dreamed of a Man putting golden plates into the ground and praying. None of her family believed her, and were frequently condescending to her about the dream. But for her whole life, she'd remembered this picture, and had been searching for any church that could answer her question about the dream. When we walked by, she felt as if we could answer, and we gave her the answer she'd been looking for all her life: The Book of Mormon.

Even now, her family is still very harsh to her about joining the church. But Silvia's faith is unshakable. Despite the lies her family tells her about us and the church, she stays firm in her faith. And she's giving everything for this church ...she is literally loosing her family (but gaining something even more precious).

President Heyman gave a talk at our Stake conference yesterday, one that seemed very guided by the Spirit! Silvia was attending with us when President got up and started talking about... wait for it... Moroni burying the plates!! :D It was so touching to see President guided by the Spirit to provide that needed comfort and affirmation to Silvia. His talk was exactly what she needed. :) She WILL be baptized on the 30th. :)

This has been a touching experience for me. I am witnessing a women give up everything, and for just a book. Her faith builds mine. I know the Lord works in ways that we can´t understand. He has been preparing this women for this day for literally over 20 years. Clearly, the Lord NEVER gives up on his children, and He gives everyone multiple chances to return back to him.

The Lord´s hand is in our lives. I testify of this.

All is well, I love you all. :)

Love Elder Clemons


Some quick Q&As

1) Tell us more about your comp...
     He is good. He went to UofU for a year. He's been training nearly his entire mission here.

2) Does your toilet work yet?

     Yes

3) How are you adjusting to the food?

     Food? what food? The choices here are pasta...and bread.

4) Did you get your Priesthood Line of Authority?
    How do you intend to use it?

     Yes, but I really only needed it in Carlsbad

5) What are the homes like / how do the people you teach live?

     The people here live in very humble conditions
     ...usually all have floors,
     but there are bugs and spiders everywhere :D

6) What's your ward / branch like?

     We have a branch of about 70 active members with
     18 Melchizedek Priesthood holders.

     We don´t have a chapel ...just a building that we meet in :)

We set 8 baptismal dates this day. 8!!

Travis with President and Sister Heyman and Elder Pickle

I can tell you already that you are getting like no letter this week. Only having 1 hour to write, and with this connection, it's nearly impossible, sorry. :(

 

Things are good, we built our beds and got a fridge and oven, so we have some things now. 

 

The work here is incredible, so much potential; and everyone is open to gospel discussions. We have 12 fechas set. But lets just hope they stay firm. ;)

 

Funny story, so our toilet decided to stop working for like the past week ...so let's just say we´ve made good use of little plastic bags :p ahahahahaha

 

The language here is so different, it's faster but at the same time clearer. I can´t explain it. I just got used to Mexican, and now I have to adjust to this. But it'll come with time of course :)

So it's hot here, ridiculously hot. I´m like black now. sweet watch tan line too. I have never sweated so much in my life. Within just a few minutes you're just drenched. It´s so disgusting. But it's the work :)

So my companion Elder Pickle actually served in Carslbad as well, pero hace mucho meses (editor: for several months). He is a good companion.

So of the 20 new investigators we picked up, only 1 came to church ...the one that we had just dropped, so we were pretty surprised at that. It´s super easy to get baptisms here, but commitment is the hard part.

We did get beds and we've erected them.  So now we have a fridge and an oven - which means we can actually start to cook. But we are still without utensils' so we can't quite cook yet :p  But the apartment is looking up. It'll just take a little bit of time is all. :)

I love the branch, the members here are just incredible. They are all so kind and loving and so willing to give. It's really quite inspiring and heart-warming. I love the branch so much! :D It is a little bit dramatic amoungst the leaders though ...bahaha, they are all really controlling. :p

It rains hard core here, it's so cool. And when it rains, it goes for days. I´m going to buy my boots today. Everything floods down here, our streets turn into foot-deep rivers. So I get dirty really fast.

Everyone down here is either Catholic or Evangelical. They do these castings out every night, pretty tight. 

Everyone owns a motor-scooter.

So I would like to share with you an experience I had this week. I believe on Wed I woke up for the day, and I just felt dark. I didn't want to do anything. I was sick of failure each day, sick of walking around hoping for success, but getting none. I just felt down.

But I also know that blessings come after the trial of faith. I knew that all missionaries have to go through stuff like this multiple times throughout their missions. I knew I couldn't give up. So for my personal study I studied patience. I then read about the Sons of Mosiah, and how the Lord PROMISED that they would have success if they endured their afflictions with patience and faith. And look what happened to them? Thousands were converted.

My first Pension / Apartment

So I likened the promise to myself and I promised God that I would work harder than I ever have, that I would contact all the people I could, regardless of the circumstances. Even though I REALLY didn't want to, I promised God I would.

 

We set 8 baptismal dates this day. 8!! And they all came from people that I went way out of my way to contact. In fact, with 4 of them, we literally walked right past them. But I remembered my promise and went back to contact them. I know God honored my promise. God just wanted me to practice my patience and faith. And when I showed God my willingness to sacrifice myself to bring others to Him, He blessed me. I know it.

 

While the mission has been really hard for me, I'm not homesick. The living conditions are fine, the language is great. I just want success, I really just want to convert people. And it's not happening. Despite how hard I've been working, or how powerfully I testify, conversions just aren't happening for me. :( It really just brings me down. I want success.

 

But I feel this is just what God wants me to learn. Patience. Lots of Patience. Regardless of my work, God won't give me success until I'm at my breaking point ...which I haven't reached.

I cry to the Lord every day for success, for these people to accept us, to read, pray, attend church. But still nothing is happening. I don't know what more I can do, maybe it's just to endure and persevere. Like the scripture says, "bear your afflictions with patience."

 

But I know this is God's work. And His ways are higher than mine. God has a plan for me, and I know that success will come. I know it. I promise to you, as I have to our Heavenly Father, that I won't ever give up. I will constantly work, endlessly strive and sacrifice myself to serve Him. I won't give up.

 

Love you all,

 

Elder Travis Clemons