So this week was basicly BOMB! it was a super super hard week but all in the end (sunday) everything payed off. This week i went on divisions with fabian, and we were able to share some super cool/spiritual experiences together and work to help some less actives out. On sunday it was amazing because during the week we had invited an hermano that hasnt been to church in years to come to church. Hmno Gallardo. His family goes but he doesnt. He had some problems in the church that were the result of his inactivity. BUT, i love that guy so much and their family so when we went over to the house for the hermanas birthday, i invited the hermano to church this sunday and the next sunday. They even told me that he was participating in FHE and reading and praying alone, which is something he didnt do before. I remember when i first went to the house with elder escobar, i promised the mom and her daughters that if they read the scriptures and prayed together EVERY DAY, their dad would come back to church. They started and were super strong and their dad is now coming back to church!!!!!!!!!! :)

Then the other miracles were that an hermana came to church that we were visiting this week AND a family that we found that are inactive as of 2 years ago or so, came to church this week. IT was just a sunday FULL of blessings and miracles. We have come super close to alot of these people. THEN......the blessing of all blessings.......WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A BAPTISM MY LAST SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But.....its a baptism of the ward. BUT......we did all the work to get the kid there. Fernando Martinez is going to get baptized this week. ;);));););););););)
We met with the family later in the day on sunday and had a super bomb lesson with them and put the goal as a family to make it to the temple when the ward goes in January. and they all accepted :)

the lord is just putting amazing things in my way. My last 3 weeks have been super hard BUT....on sunday it always makes up for what we did during the week and the time we spent in the street. :)

LOVE YOU ALL, SEE YA NEXT WEEK !!!!!!!!!! :)

ELDER ROSS

It's July!!!

This week was a really hard week, we worked A TON but nothing worked out for us. We had about 6 new investigators planned to visit but not a single one was there as they said they would be but i thought at the
end of the week i thought, maybe this is what the lord has planned for me, to work hard but i learned alot of lessons this week about being a better missionary. We also had a meeting with our ward mission leader
and he told me "elder maybe your a planting missionary, planting seeds" and when we had the last prayer it was a like a revelation, I am a planting seed missionary. and im ok with that :) As long as i get back to the pench every night feeling good about what im doing, thats my job.
Then everything was worth it on sunday when the ward had a special testimony meeting for the members that went to the temple. When we were walking in the street on saturday we saw three members that had gone to the temple and everyone of them looked completly different. happier. So on sunday the members gave their testimonies and it was super special. The spirit was suuuuuuuuuper strong. A couple that i am super close to got sealed this week. Familia Flores. IT was super amazing to hear their testimonies about being sealed.
Then one of the members talked about my convert Alfredo from senillosa that went with them, How he was one of the people that worked the hardest in the temple. First one to wake up and last one out of the temple. He had a love for the work that no one had ever seen before. ITs funny cause he went to the temple without telling anyone and so everyone was looking for him thinking that he went to buy bread in buenos aires but turns out that he was looking for the "bread of life" inside the temple. I couldnt help but cry during that time when i heard that, i thanked my heavenly father for blessing me with a convert that was able to go
to the temple to recieve eternal convenants before i left. I am really looking forward to going to the temple in Buenos Aires on my way home. I havent been in a long time and i know its going to be really special.

ELDER ROSS

Time is getting short

FAMILY!!!!!!!!

so this week was crazy!!!!!! I had my last interview as part of my missionary work with president this week. (cause every other transfer is interviews and this transfer is interviews. haha) Hey before i forget......when is my farewell and what is my topic? President told me in the interview "well elder, how is the family?" then i told him and he says "well elder, work hard, see ya in three weeks" hahahahahahah nooooooooOOO!!!!!!!!! i about cried. hahah i cant believe its coming to a short end. The people here have been sooo good to me. 5 families have promised me Asados (which is like a bbq but not even close hahahahah ) ill explain when i get home with pictures. haha. Alot of people told me they want to do a party before i leave. haha its so cool. I can just feel the love of the people its amazing. Last night before the sweet devotional that they had (which by the way i was suuuuper upset cause Everything they talked about last night i have been stressing to the members for 2 years and they just dont listen hahaha) I was talking to a member that we are super good friends and he asked me what i was thinking about cause i was a little spacey and he said "elder, everything is going to work out just fine" haha i told him that i was pretty scared cause i have nothing planned and i have no idea what i am going to do or how its going to be hahahaha and he told me "just make some personal goals of things you need to keep doing and things you need to start aftert the mission" so i am going to work on that this week. That family went to the temple to be sealed this week. About half of the ward assistance went to the temple this week (35 people). Its super cool to see the members really seeing now why the temple is important. Yeah that was this week. haha. Super good. We will be seeing ya next week when i have 2 weeks left. haha LOVE YA ELDER ROSS

Missionary success

This week was full of miracles. Especially this sunday when i was able to really see the fruits of my labors. it literally was a miracle and


a tender mercy of the lord.We started off the week going to Flia Diaz`s house to organize a FHE with them and their family. When the hermana told me "elder, for years i was looking for help about how i could bring my family back to church, the liders of the church always told me that i needed to pray more and thats it. But i realized that i needed help, someone else to help me. When you gave your testimony your first sunday here, the spirit told me "thats him, thats the elder thats going to help your family go back to church" you boys came over and since that day my husband hasnt missed a sunday" The hermano in this story hasnt been to church in years and now, he hasnt missed a sunday in 5 weeks, this week i was able to see him bless the sacrament :) Then I was able to do divisions with fabian and work out the problems we had. it was incredible. In the divisions we were able to give a blessing to a girl that her mom commited suicide and the spirit was suuuuuper strong. We had never met the girl before, its a friend of a member. The on sunday summed it all up when we were able to see 19 people that we have been working with (less active and recent converts) in church. La famila Martinez, La familia Herrera, La familia Diaz, Benicio, Juan, David. IT was like a miracle as i was laying in my bed last night and realized what had happened that day. ITs amazing what the lord does for us. God is real :)

ELDER ROSS

Good things happening

This week was a week of miracles. At the start of the week it was good to be able to talk to some elders about the mission, alot of them realized that i had little time so I was able to share some advice with them. When My comp got here, everyone said he was "the mission handbook with legs" so i thought......oh boy......here we go again.........but things changed. We were able to help eachother out as we talked about our differences, a member, Fabian was about to help me out with my stress and was able to lift some of my stress. Then at the end of the week we saw the miracles. Saturday we did a fast for fast sunday that we had this week. God answered my fast on sunday as i was able to thing in sunday school the things i had to change. The spirit iluminated my mind and i was able to humble myself and get revelation on what i need to change. Then during sacrament meeting i was able to here so many good testimonies from members that are going to be going to the temple this next week. I was able to count of 9 people (less active memebers) that came to church this sunday because of the help we have offered them this week and the invitation to go to church. My spirit was full to know of the sacrifice i made that helped the people. Then sunday we had a amazing lesson with a less active family that have the goal to get to the temple as a familiy the next temple trip here in the ward. The spirit was super strong as we talked about the importance of celestial marriage and the goals we help them put to make it there. Then the contacts we did in the street were absolutly inspired. EVERYONE was ready to hear the gospel. incredible contacts. then we had an amazing lesson with a couple that are new converts that are disanimated cause the ward isnt working how is should and i was able to share a personal story with them that changed how they thought and changed COMPELTLY their attitude. Then we were able to give a blessing earlier in the wek to a less active thats trying to stop doing drugs. The spirit was also super strong. This week has been an answer to my prayers. The lord knows who we are and what we need. We just need to be instuments in his hands. :)

ELDER ROSS

New Companion...

MOTHER!!!!!!!!!
  So......yeah my comp left hahah. it was super weird cause i took him to the mission home and it was like i was just getting to the mission. Memories flowed into my head. i remember the same bed i slept in the same night. it was super crazy. I was a sad goodbye. super fast but sad. my comp taught me alot of things. he is the only member in his family. i hope everything goes well for him. He told me he doesnt know how he is going to get home from the airport. he live 6 hours from the airport in guatemala. i offered to give him money but he said no hahaha. punk. My new companion is Elder Hunt. He is from arizona. He has like 9 months in the mission but 3 months here in argentina. I hear he is super funny and super super short. like kayla!!!!! haha no joke. Our conference with elder cook got canceled.........so on sunday Elder Zeballos gave a talk at the stake conference that we had. it was a big bummer for all of the mission. Preston is going to be great. I can just imagine him working hard. what a studd!!!!!!!! he is going to make a great addition to the missionary family. Im sure grandma and grandpa are super proud of us. that almost all of us have served missions. Thats gotta be a great accomplisment. CONGRATS GRANDPARENTS! YOU DID A GOOD JOB IN RAISING YOUR KIDS!!!!!!! Maybe they dont want to take the credit but i have seen a real testimony of that here in argentina. The parents have a BIG BIG effect on the kids. I promise. I have seen it time and time again that the parents dont have FHE or read scriptures as a family or pray and then they wonder what happens with their kids. Obiviosly their is exceptions when kids have their own agency but i ts true. THANKS MOM AND DAD!!!!!!!!!! and grandparents and all of the family!!!!!!!! things are good here in the mission. Just finishing up my last 6 WEEKS OF THE MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!! holy moly!!!!! its passed by way too fast. hahahaha. so yeah. just finishing up the mish haha. its been good to me.
 LOVE YALL ELDER ROSS

Howdy Folks!

HEy family!!!! MOTHER!!! :)

Things here are very good. We just recieved some really big news in the past few minutes here. President has decided to take the sister missionaries out of our area and if i understand right, i will have the two areas for my last transfer. AND....the assistant to the president called me to ask if i could sing in the musical number that missionaries are going to be doing for our conference this weekend with elder Cook. :)

The holiday activity went super good. We made empanadas with the members and then i played outside with the kids behind the church. maybe about 25-30 people came. not a whole lot.

My birthday here was the best birthday i have had in the mission. It was suuuuper cool. In the morning we went to get my hair cut and then all the afternoon we were with Fabian and we made empanadas and had a party just between us and his dad. :) he made me a suuuuuuuuuuper cool cake that should be on facebook. the pictures should be on facebook. check on my profile. It was super cool. And he bought me a CD of one the the music artists here that i really like!!! Fabian is a super cool guy. They did throw flower on my, not eggs luckly but flour yes.

On friday we taught english classes, Sister Lyman and I were able to teach lesson 1 in english. it was super special, we were able to feel a super strong spirit as we taught these kids and the teacher. They loved it, to finish we even did a kneeling prayer together and sister lyman prayed in english. super special. We are super good friends with all the kids in the english classes. they love it when we come.

Im also helping a kid in our ward learn english apart from what we do. He is the son of a sister in the ward and he isnt a member. Maxi. He is super cool, we play guitar together and what not. we are trying to start teaching him the lessons. Little by little.

These last few weeks with my companion have been good. he goes home next week. I think on sunday he goes home. So yeah haha. Just trying to take advantage of our last days together. He is a really good guy. he is the only member of his family that is member of the church. Super cool guy. We have fun together.

Thanks for all your support. Give preston a big hug for me and a smack in the toosh and say "get to work boy!" hahahahaha. LOVE YA PRESTON!!!!!!

ELDER ROSS

News from the B-day Boy

hey mamà!!!!!!!

te amo ma!!!!!!!!! Things are just chipper here in argentina! this week was super good. on monday we went to neuquen with a member to a buffet and then we went and bought some music to take home. then on friday we started english classes and it went suuuuuuuper good!!!!!!!!!!! they loved it! their are 8 people but only 5 were there. they love it. this next week i told them i would play the guitar and sing them some songs. :) they are super good. we are going to start teaching some of the lessons in english, the lessons that we teach as missionaries. i gave the teacher live 5 pamplets to read in english. Then we didnt end up doing the talent show, we did an activity on the spirit where we set up chairs and they had to listen to my companion hitting a key and go to the noise. they were blindfolded. only a few members came but we hope this next week that it will be better. 

This weekend is going to be a holiday here. 25 de mayo. they are going to have an activity here in the church and me and fabian are going to play guitar for the members. 

and this week is my birthday........   :) im getting old. 21. wow. mom can you believe that? your son that is your youngest son is 21. que tal. hahaha WOAH! fabian said he has something planned for us to do that day. the common thing here when someone has a birthday is throw eggs and flour at them haha so next week you will see how it came out. 

thats going to be our week. haha. i will let you know how it went next week. LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!

ELDER ROSS

Skyped with the Elder!!!

it was soooo good to talk to you guys!!!!!!!! that was soooo much fun being able to see that you guys are doing good and what not. I didnt realize that i had like a mexican accent when i talked hahaha. my buddies in the mission havent even told me that. haha.

Well our week was good. I didnt really get a chance to tell you about our week. My companion had to go to bariloche on friday and I did divisions with the member that let me use his computer for skype. Fabian. He is a single ex missionary, he is like 40. super bomb. we do alot of things with him. but divisions was really good, we had alot of success. one of the things we have planned for this ward is to visit alot of the less active families and bring them back to church and we are going to be doing alot of divisions with the memebers, in specific fabian and the ward mission leader who is also pretty young, like 28, he is an ex missionary too. During divisions we felt the spirit super strong as we were able to teach some families.

My first sunday here i told the memebers one of my goals is to bring more people to church and thats what has been happening, this week we had about 70 people in church. its been a record for me. we had three investigators in church. that was super cool. we are working with an investigator family, flia salazar, they are progressing a little bit but not too much. we need to visit them. 

we are trying to look for new investigators but its kinda hard. but we are going to keep working, we need to get the memebers to church before the investigators. 

This next week we have a talent show with the ward and me and this member fabian are going to play a few songs on the guitar. and next sunday i am going to help do a musical number in church with the hmna lyman from delta and a girl in the primary. they are going to sing i know my heavenly father loves me.....i think. thats what we practiced yesterday. 

A lady stopped us in the street during divisions and asked me if i could go to her english institute to teach her students english. So maybe this friday we might start with english classes and might get some new investigators. that should be good. Im super excited. 

So yeah, it was a good week. Thanks for everything family. LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

ELDER ROSS

In the new area

Ah im finally here in my area. I hate bus rides. haha it was like 18 hours in a bus to get here. haha. I love it here. My comp is super bomb. Elder Escobar. He is from Guatemala. He is super cool. We also share the ward with some sister missionaries. Hermana Villagra y Hermana Lyman. Hermana Villagra is from Buenos Aires. Hermna Lyman is from Delta Utah. They are super cool. Also we have elders from Illinois and Mexico in our district. They seem pretty cool. Everyone is super young haha. My comp leaves at the end of this transfer. He only has 5 weeks left ont eh mission. haha. crazy. 

I play piano on sundays now haha. I met a kid here in our ward that served in utah. He is super cool. We talked english together. He has a funny accent but he has been home for 4 years and doesnt have any way to talk in english with the people. 

We just met members this week. Had a cool lesson with some less activs that are going to go to church this sunday as a family. Flia diaz. We also have a few investigators. Cristian, he lives next to us. Litterally. haha. He is cool. Then flia salazar. they are super cool. saturday night we had pizza with them. super cool. the families here are super cool. The ward is bomb. we had like 20 people on sunday which i guess is normal haha. dang it. but its going to be good. Good week haha. love ya guys!!!!!!!!! 

LES AMO FAMILIA!!!!!!

ELDER ROSS

Going back to Neuquen!!!

well kids! haha

Elder Ross has been called to serve in the Neuquen Oeste zone in the Centenario A area!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM GETTING TRANSFERED!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha holy junk!!!!!!!!! haha im going to neuquen to finish my mission!!!!!!!!!!!! :) So yeah. We got transfers haha. My companion is going to be here with elder Julcahuanca. Remember him? he was my comp. One of my comps is coming to replace me haha. he and i got along really well.

So yeah haha. Im going to neuquen tonight. I did my goodbyes with the ward last night. It was super hard. I almost cried like a billion times. They are super amazing people here. I really have become close with alot of them. I was hoping to finish here or at least be here one more transfer. But the lord has called me to serve in Neuquen. Its going to be super good. My companion is going to be Elder Escobar. He is from Guatemala? I think so. He seems pretty chill. I guess we will see. Im super excited to be with a latin again haha. Its been a while hahah (one transfer)

WE didnt have a good week this week. Alot of people canceled on us but im super happy for elder larsen here. He is going to tear it up. Its a good area.
I dont know anything about mothers day haha. I will let you know next week. I think we will be doing skype.
Yeah im district leader. Have been for a while haha. Glad everyones doing good. LOVE YA KIDS!!!!!!! SEE YA IN NEUQUEN!!!!!

ELDER ROSS

Good week & date to come home

FAMILY!!!!!!!!!

 

so i FINALLY got my papers that have my official date!!!!!!!! THE 15TH OF JULY i will be on my way home. wow.......its passed by fast. I really have enjoyed the mission. It has changed my as you said mom, and it keeps doing changes that i really like. Maybe before in the mission i was scared to make the changes but now i am really lovin it. haha.

 

So here pretty soon you should be getting emails from the office about my papers to come home. WOAH. this is weird talking about this. hahah. it doesnt feel real. haha. i was telling my comp the other day, i dont think its going to hit me til i am on the bus ride to the office. WHICH, i would be finishing in the new mission. WEIRD!!!!!!!

 

This week was super good. WE had a super good week. Alot of sucess. big time. But, this week (this week that we are in) one of the less active families i helped activate is moving up north! Flia Leal :( but its all good cause they are going to keep going with the church. He gave me a tie yesterday :) They have plans here shortly to go to the temple as a family to get sealed! AND, we found out that one of our investigators has a marriage date (which he needs cause he is just living with a member girl) and so after their wedding he can get baptized!!!!!!!!! :) so it was a good week. We did divisions with the zone leaders this week, that helped us out alot with our numbers. We worked super hard. We also found a part member family that has a son that isnt member and the parents want us to baptize him. :)

 

The mission is just getting better. This transfer is about to end. Next week is transfers. Woah. haha passing quick. Thanks for all your support. Im doing great. couldnt be better. :) LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!

ELDER ROSS

Conference Weekend

Well kids.... haha.

Conference was sick....no big. AMAZING. one word, amazing

 

THis was my last conference here on the mission. It was a bitter sweet moment. I really was able to enjoy as the spirit was able to testify the reality of the gospel

Right now we are reading the book of mormon before june 1st and i was able to finish 2nd nephi this morning, and i was able to read the amazing words that it talks about in chapter 31 about how the doctrine of christ is Faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and endure to the end. These things are true. I testify to that. I know that without a doubt. Its part of our purpose as missionaries. We repeat every tuesday

"invite others to come unto christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel, throught faith in jesus christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, recieving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end" That is our purpose.

 

I really have enjoyed the experience of being on a mission. I havent had alot of baptisms but i have had alot of sucess. Thats what matters, the people i have helped. Memebers or not. That to me is more than anything. this week we had a really good lesson with a former investigator that we were able to contact again, the spirit was super strong as we were able to testify him and tell him that god has chosen him to follow him and to change his life to be able to be a diciple of him. That was our only lesson this week but it made my week.

 

We are so blessed to be able to be members of the church. Thanks for all your support.

 

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!

 

ELDER ROSS

 

So, not only was conference BOMB!!!!!!!!!!! but....i did have a really cool experience coming home from conference. We got on the bus and i just didnt feel good, it was an uneasy feeling, maybe it was coming from a super spiritual place to such a wordly atmosophere. But i thought to myself "have faith elder, everything is going to be ok, remember what they talked about in conference, have faith in God". Then as soon as i could think, two kids got on the bus that were super drunk, that made me more uneasy, i thought "have faith elder, everything is going to be ok". The other elders got off the bus and it was just us two greengos (me and my companion) and the two drunk kids started making jokes at us. I smiled and thought "have faith elder" then they started whistling at us and calling our attention, they wanted to talk to us, reluctantly, i went over and made the contact. I introduced myself and found out their names, Iziquiel and Marcos (two names from the bible haha) they asked my what i did, i told them i was a missionary and that we talk about god with the people. They started asking questions about the church. I was able to realize that they believe very strongly in god. They told me "we are sons of god" which really struck me because thats what they talked about in conference, then soon they said that to them christ was their redentor, which another apostle had mentioned in conference. I was able to give them my testimony of the restored gospel and i was able to hear theirs. We have alot of beliefs in common and i wrote down their address, they accepted a visit from us.

I learned from that experience not only had i just witnessed the lords hand in my life but that he was able to give me a tender mercy. He knows us. Have faith in him. Dont doubt. Faith is something that i have always struggled with on my mission, or atleast to know what faith is and how it works. Now i know. Dont doubt, have faith. :)

 

ELDER ROSS

Happy Easter!

no big!!!!!!!!!! haha

 

the people just go on trips for easter. just go to the cordillera (andes). it was kinda a sucky week cause like everyone left for vacations haha. so like no one was home.

This week my comp got pretty sick. we stayed in the pench one day. he had a super bad headache from working so hard. like we are out all day and then like we are so focused on making the leaders happy and getting numbers so we forget to eat and drink water. so my comp got suuuuuuuper dehidrated. so yeah.

Emiliano is good. the family came to church again this sunday. WE have Ariels baptism planned for this sunday. its giong to be good. we hope he makes it. we have been praying and fasting alot for him. It will be general conference weekend. hope we make it in the confernce issue of the ensign. we dont have any other investigators.

nothin else has been going on. we worked all week and just no one was home haha. it was super stressful. chruch was good. i played for the first time here. The piano is suuuuuper out of tune but i played anyway and it sounded horrible. not only that but i messed up haha. poor people.

 

Elder Ross

Good Week

Now in our area we are helping four families to get back active and its working :) We found two new investigators this week. Ana-bella and Gorge, they are the kids of Hmna Gonzales. She is a inactive member of our ward that just moved in. Her son Emiliano has been in the hospital for a really long time. He is like 3 years old. A doctor messed up on a surgury and messed up his throut and now he has one of those things in his neck to breath, like a hole with a tube. He is a miracle story cause they said he wasnt going to be able to come out of the hospital. And I had a really cool experience with him, not only was a making him laugh all day but he cant talk, because of the tube he has, he cant talk. and i remember when we entered into the gate to the house where he was staying, he was outside and i said hi to him. I remember hearing him say hi back, but as clear as ever, he said "Hola". If you remember, he cant talk. It was a complete miracle. I knew he was someone sent from God. My comp and I were able to give him a blessing along with his other two brothers and sisters and his mom.  We ended up giving two more blessings to another two sisters from the ward. Thats 6 blessings. We gave six blessings that day and when we left, I had no stregnth at all.

We also were able to put a fetcha with Ariel. He put the fetcha. For conference weekend :) So we are really seeing some miracles.
This weekend we were able to watch a conference brodcast from Buenos Aires for the area. Elder Russell M. Nelson taked. He i would imagine, had planned to talk in english cause when he got up he sadi (obviously in spanish) "Sorry, im going to talk in spanish today", I was able to witness a Servent of the lord talk with the gift of tounges. The members said they understood him PERFECTLY! He talked his WHOLE talk in spanish. it was amazing

THE LORD LIVES!!!!!!!

ELDER ROSS

Not much time....short news

Hey dont have a lot of time but i will share with you my miracles

Flia Benitez came to church, they are a less active family we have been working with for a week. They came for the first time in a year to the church yesterday and the mom told me that she is going to come every week and her daughters LOVED going to church.

Then Flia Leal came to church again!!!!!!! :) They got a interview and the bishop said they could easily go to the temple in six months!!!!!!!!!! :) THIS WORK IS THE WORK OF GOD


ELDER ROSS

Another week of Miracles

This week as was last week, a week of miracles.

This week started with a really amazing opportunity that we had to make empanadas with hmno Leal. When we got to the house and entered we imidiatly felt a change that had happened in his home. Their was a different spirit. a good spirit. He was a different person. We Talked as we made the empanadas and then as we ate we were able to have a spiritual talk. Were able to talk about how he was progressing, and he told us that as of two weeks ago, which is when we started visiting him, he stopped smoking. Which was something that we didnt even know, that he was smoking. Then the biggest of all miracles with them was on sunday, when they came to church :) Tears came to my eyes as i was able to see them walk into those doors so happy as a family. Not to mention the spirit we were able to feel as my companion was able to share his final testimony that he would give in the Palazzo ward. My companion got transfer calls and is going to open an area in Rawson. IT was a super bitter sweet experience as we were able to do our last visits together and feel the spirit super strong together for the last time in the mission. But i know the lord has a why to everything.

My companion waited for his papers before his mission for 8 months and almost didnt go because of the wait. But he had faith in God and he tells me that as i have been with him this transfer, he felt and now knows why he waited that time. To be able to go through everything we went through together. I have learned alot from my companion. He is an amazing guy.

Then we were able to witness two other miracles.

Flia Valdez came to church, they are some menos activos that havent been to church in a while.

A family that is part member showed up in church yesterday. Suzana was a girl that stopped us in the street in her car about 5 weeks ago and asked for the address of the church, we gave her the address and didnt think much of it after. She and her husband and her two daughters came to church yesterday, without an invitiation. She felt that she needed to go. She is a member as of 20 years ago but hasnt came since. Her husband and her daughter that is 8 arent members. We were able to teach an amazing lesson in gospel principals class with our teacher. The spirit was super strong.

 

I know that the lord knows everyone of us. Thanks dad for the talk you sent me. ITs all true what it says. The lord hears our prayers. He loves everyone of you and wants to help you, all we need is faith in him. :)

 

Elder ROss

Keith's amazing week

This week has marked one of the most amazing weeks in my mission. I have seen the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ in my life. I know that he lives and that he knows EXACTLY what we are going to, and is the ONLY person that we can go to to get the help that everyone of us needs. He knows us personally. Let me share why.

 

This week has been an amazing week for alot of reasons. I share this email with the people i most care about and want them to be a part in the change that i am doing in my life.

This week, we helped ALOT of people. A few of these names i can mention are: Raul, Flia Leal, Flia Laurenz, Hmno Castillo, Flia Bisgarra.

We helped Raul to find his answer if the Book of mormon is true, and to be able to give his wife a blessing.

We helped Flia Laurenz by being answers to their prayers and showing up to thier house when they needed us. Helping the Hmno and Hmna with comfort for their son that is passing a difficult stage in his life. To be able to share tears with them and testify that God knows us and knows what we are passing through.

We helped Hmno Castillo come back to church. A few weeks back, he told us he wasnt going back to church. We tried and tried with him, having some of the most spiritual lessons of my whole mission with him. we invited him to talk with God and ask him what he thought about his desision. He a told last week that he wasnt going to settle for anything less than a temple marriage, that he had talked with God and that he knows he should come back to church. He hasnt missed a week for the past three weeks. He brought his daughter and 4 grandaughters to church which arent memebers. A complete change of 360 degrees.

We helped Flia Bisgarra find how they can make it to the temple and be sealed as a family together for Time and all Eternity. Helping them with animo and helping them realize that we are willing to do ANYTHING to help them get there.

Finally and more close to my heart was with Flia Leal. We have been meeting with them for about three weeks or so. My companion and I always felt something special for them but the first 4 weeks of my time here we never could find them in their house. We kept passing by anyway. We were able, with the help of the spirit, pierce the heart of the hmno and help him find his testimony that he never had. He is a member of 10 years and just YESTERDAY we were able to help him find out that these things are true. A MIRACLE. The most sprititual lessons i have had in my mission were with this man and his family. I have never felt better in my life. We walked out of that lesson in aw of what the savior does. The miracles he has perfomed. This man did a 360 degree change. Something i have never seen in my mission until now. I litteraly saw the hand of the lord not only in my life to show my and testify to me that these things are true, but in the life of this man. After while waiting for the bus, i thought "Elder Ross, your fufilling your calling, you may not have 80 baptisms but you do have one thing, a heart, a heart that loves these people for who they are and that doesnt look at them of who they are right now but who they can become and what god thinks they can become. and THAT is what makes an elder fufill his calling. I was able to hug my companion after companionship prayer and feel the "celestial Joy" that all the missionaries talk about. I have seen the had of the lord in my life. I know that the lord knows me personally and knows the people he should put in my life. LIke you people, and like the people here. I know that God lives and loves us. :)

 

Elder Ross

Change in the Mission

mom, sorry i didint email you last week. i have a reason and its not my fault.

I got to emial everyone else but right when i was going to email you (save the best for last) the internet in the internet place died. haha. so i saved it on a pin drive. dont worry
.

 

BUT HUGE NEWS!!!!!!!! THEY ARE DIVIDING MY MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :):):):):):):):)

 

LA MISION ARGENTINA COMODORO RIVIDAVIA

 

Which includes from where i started in my mission. Trelew. down to tierra de fuego!!!!!!! the3 end of the earth!!!!!!!!! where i always wanted to go!!!!!!!!!!!!! but i doubt i will finish in the new mission cause they are going to start the new mission two weeks before i leave! :(

 

So yeah haha

big news.

My week. AMAZING. this week we had a super good spiritual weekend. with the spriti that just guided us everywhere.

Saturday, we had a super good lesson with a recent convert. Micol. Gave him a blessing so that he could stay strong and stay away from temptation. then we visited with flia berdum. they are members. we helped them alot with some personal things they are going through. Then on sunday we found a familY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) flia Robledo :) Then we taught a super good lesson with flia leal.They are less active but we had a super good lesson with them. he is super hard headed and he things that we as white people run the church. he even told me that he knows he could never break my testimony because of my backround. Being from a family of generations members of the church. But the spirit helped us break into him and help him find what he needs to do to change his life. AMAZING: Lesson. one of the best on my mission. Then we just had alot of success with the memebers cause this week alot of the investigators dont wnat to progress but the memebers told us that we were answers to their prayers. it was a super good week. LOVE YALL

 

elder ayala says hi to everyone and that he loves you all

 

Elder Ross

 

 

Que Chanta

que chanta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

MOM YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE IN THE STAKE PRIMARY PRESIDENCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha what the heck. i was reading and i thought. "what? moms in the stake primary presidency? hmmmmm" you never told me ahahahahaha. wow. thats cool.

KAyla yes did informe me with the big news. i am gonig to write him after i write you.

wow sweden. thats super cool .i am super excited. super excited. its going to be an amazing experience. but its kinda a bummer i wont get to see him for 4 years. dang......how does aunt linda feel????? haha i bet she is just nerve racked. but i can give her some council. If my mom could do it, she can do it. i mean....she had two kids go out of the country. haha. CONGRATS AUNT LINDA!!!!!!! YOUR FIRST MISSIONARY!!!!!!! im sure preston is going to have all boys so i dont think it will be her last missionary.

 

This week was super good. we did ALOT, ALOT of service. we helped ariel with building his house and alot of other services. Then at the end of the week we just kicked trash with the lessons. We taught a super good lesson with Juan. the brother of a recient convert. about the plan of salvation. then with hmno muzzio we taught Karina about basicly all the lessons haha. then we had a super good lesson with ariel and we did a fast for him on sunday so he could get his answer if joseph smith really was a prophet but we couldnt see him sunday after church. Then on sunday we were walking down the street and a kinda drunk guy called us over and we started talking to him and now we have a new investigator. also we are teaching two friends of a member here that are super cool. Then on sunday the stake president asked all the members to give us references and we ended church with 12 references which is like a record so we have alot of work to do this week. its going to be good.

 

But yeah thats our week. Last week we played basketball in an area of the professional team here and we kicked trash, had a couple people from the team come watch me hahahahah :) maybe they might draft me. haha

 

LOVE YA KIDS!!!!!!!

 

ELDER ROSS

Hello to you

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!1 preston is for sure going to leave before i get home!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO dang it.

but, its for a good cause. haha.
We did have a good week. We did :) My companion yes is a native. He is From buenos Aires. Super bomb. haha.
Im doing alot better. alot. This week was a good week. I have had a cool/interesting experience here with my compaion in comodoro. We decided to focus in showing love to everyone that we teach. As we did this, we were able to see a change. A change in the investigators. A change that he didnt see with his other companion. The investigtors REALLY making the changes to be baptised. For an example, with Carlos. He just needs to get married to be baptised. But we talked with him and showed him that love. He told us later in the week that he had a dream. He had a super heavy load on his back but a man in white told him to keep going and he was going to take off the load. We knew that it was an answer from god. He said it was an answer.

I really do love the mission cause its really given me the opportunity to learn. To be able to be closer to my heavenly father and to help others do the same. We did that as we helped Ariel, another investigator who didnt believe in Joseph Smith. We helped him by understanding the why of the book of moromon but not only that but the happiness that will bring his family as he finds his answer. and why we were helping him get his answer. It was amazing.

I get stuff from sarah every once and a while. haha. but its all good. Ill wait til i get home.

Thanks for all your prayers. I really do feel them :) I will send pics.

LOVE YOU ALL

ELDER ROSS

How is the new place?

WELL..... comdoro is super windy. hahah thats what it is known for haha. pretty intense. But......drumrolll.........WE LIVE RIGHT NEXT TO AN AIRPORT!!!!!!!! hahahahah super crazy. I dont know if you guys knew this but i was a fanatic about planes my whole life. well....still am. haha so its super cool to see all the big planes come in and out. AND....we live like 15 minutes bus ride from the atlantic ocean. yup....we went yesterday haha. we just walked to the shore and then went back haha. super cool. just ocean forever. The memebers are suuuuuper cool here. WE did a joke with them this week that everytime i visited a new memeber we would act like i couldnt talk a lick of spanish. haha and then i busted out saying "hermana! i have like a year and a half here, i know how to talk!!!!!!!" and we just laughed together. My and my new comp laugh alot. HE says im super argentine. His last companion was his trainer, so i have had alot of comps that i was their second comp,, HE is from Buenos Aires. LAtin comp. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! number 8. He is super super cool. HE is a convert of 2 years. super bomb. SO yeah. thats our week. just getting to know our area and the members. We have two areas here. Palazzo and Standard. Two areas. I have had two areas alot of my mission. Other news.......uh.........beccas getting married haha. um........AH.. hmna uyua from el bolson wanted to write you guys a letter to tell you thanks for raising a good son and sending him on a mission. That i was an answer to her prayers. I think she is going to do that when i get home. Investigators, we have a few but they are just kinda their for right now haha. i will informe you more next week. THANKS FAM!!!! elder ross

pics

my stupid tan line

elder ross

me with familia dominguez

me with familia lopez

who´s shoes are them?

Sorry they werent alot but i thought i might send ya something. 

me with my bike helmet.

me and elder clark with our area behind us. haha

Transfer to Comodoro

Hey fam!

No success this week, Im going to be leaving El Bolson now. cause.......

IM GETTING TRANSFERED!!!!!!!!!!!! I am going to..............COMODORO!!!!!!!!!!! Prospero Palacio (Prosperous Palace in english)

So yeah....haha thats the news haha. thats all that happened. WE did find a new investigator this week. Nilda. She is super cool. Her husband passed away like a week ago and we are teaching her now.

The other investigators just kinda went down hill. all of them. They arent progressing but i think elder clark is giong to be kickin some trash here soon with his new comp.

So yeah that was our week. haha. nothing too exciting. Ill be writing next week.

LOVE YALL

ELDER ROSS

What's new?

hey fam!!!!!!!!

OH just another internesting week here in argi land. haha

The miracles kinda stopped. haha we thought that everything was going good and then all of our investigators just stopped being interested. We still have a few but its just kinda there still haha. what can ya do. thats how its been all my mish haha.
Freddy didnt make it to his date. He like backed out on us on the last minuite. he just isnt sure about it.

This week, nothing else super big happened. We found a new investigator this week. On friday we went to Bariloche for a zone meeting. I saw elder davis again, he said he wants me to go to BYU idaho with him haha. we´ll see. haha.

YEah its been super hot here. Just getting my tan on. No biggie. I just have one of the dumbest tan lines every. Ask hayden to show you. Its right on the neck line. Its super ugly hahha.

Speaking of Michael Le. I found that picture of him when he is getting baptised here in the church that we have here hahahaha.

Got dads thanksgiving letter/card last week.I liked the family picture. Everyone is getting so big. its super weird. Im just suuuuper skinny.

Hey sure do love ya kids. Take care.

Elder ROss

What's UP?

FAM!!!!! :) so, this week was suuuper stressful BUT, we saw some mjiracles come out of it to make it good.

So we were going to have a baptism on sunday but the investigator backed out on the last moment :( but its all good. I know we will be able to help him get to his baptism another day.
 Transfers we dont have for another two weeks.
But this week, aside from the many difficult things we had some miracles. Let me explain.


We had the bishop give us a reference that was INCREDIBLE but when we made a cita with him he had to cancel. He actually went to the church to look for a church and ended up talking to the bishop.

Another miracle we had this week was Ira, she is a friend of a memeber. Super old and not doing too well with her health, so we passed by her house the other day and just at that moment she was having a pannic attack, so we gave her a bendicion de consuelo and sang her some hymns and she calmed right down. She said to us at the end with tears in her eyes "thank you chicos for passing by, I know that God sent you two, I was praying for you two to pass by my house right in this moment" I really know that God sent us there. We basicly saved her life.

Another was the Hmna Gloria Uyua. She is a member. She said that we as missionaries were an answer of her prayers. Her and I are really tight. She is like 60 years old or so but we go over to her house every week and this week her and i were talking about the scriptures and she told me that when i was explaining what i had thought about the scriptures, she said i was explaining the answer she has been looking for since her baptism. It was super cool to see the tears in her eyes as she said that the prophet was inspired to send me here cause no other elder has been able to answer those questions for her. (which that might even suprise dad, seeing that i never wanted to read scriputes as a family before the mish and now they are my treasure. The thing i hold (obviously next to my family and god) closest to my heart)  

The lord lives and knows everyone of us. I know he loves us and wants to bless us if we are keeping the commandments.

ELDER ROSS

Miracles this week

FAMILIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright, first off, sorry for not calling back like i said i would. I thought the church office was going to be open, but i was wrong. We tried to look for a place to call but as you know, it was christmas. haha kinda hard.
Second off, im the only missionary out now!!!!!!!!!! haydens home!!!!!!!!!!!!!! holy moley. i bet things are weird.
Third off, my trainer got married this week. Congrats Hayden Newey. Boom.

So this week was a mas o menos week. It was a little difficult but it was an amazing week. Why? CAUSE WE HAVE A BAPTISM NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i will explain

We had a miracle happen this week, Freddy, in our lesson with him got his answer. I was reading a liahona the other day and one of the stories of a memeber in Ushuaya got his answer in the lesson with the missionaries and i thought i might use that same way to help him out. The spirit told me i needed to use that way to help him. So we wrote down the prayer freddy needed to say, specificly and he read what i had wrote down and then we just waited.  he told us after we had read d y c 9 that he had felt something super warm in his head. he told us that that way to pray was different from all the other times he had prayed. He had gotten his answer. After crying for a while he asked us if that had ever happed to us before. We said yes. We are preparing him to be baptized on the 6th of January.  :)

Diego is super close to getting his answer. He just needs to do a prayer and come to church. He has all the reasons to be baptizedc and everything. He understands exactly why he needs to be baptised. Super capo.

Irene is having a bit of trouple with some problems with her health. But she promised us when she was doing dialysis that she would call us and that we could go talk to her to help her with her answer.

So yeah. that was our week. we have planned to spend new years with yoni and nancy, a newly married couple here in our ward. Its going to be tight. I love the mission.

LOVE YALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Ross

Starting to look like Christmas....in Vernal

FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE had a CRAZYYYYYYYY week!!!!!!!! but one of the best weeks i have had in my mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Me and elder clark (obviously with gods help) are kickin trash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The adjustment with elder clark is good. It just felt like we were on divsions haha. but its all good. Its suuper good. We put a new fetcha this week. With irene, she is the mom of a recent convert. Freddy didnt make it to his fetcha but he is workin on getting his answer. BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE GOING TO BE ABLE TO HAVE BIKES IN OUR AREA!!!!!!!!!!!!. so we are in that process of looking for memebers who will let us borrow their bikes.
MY FOOT IS GOOD MOM!!!!!!!!!!!! ;) I promise. its super good.

SO.....sorry to break the news to you guys but the thing is Elder Clark cant call his family on skype and i dont think they have it here. So....im not going to be able to skype.......BUT i am still going to call you guys. We are thinking about calling at like 2 in the afternoon here. so im not sure what time that is for you guys. I have written down i think like two of the numbers. Cell phone numbers. I hope thats ok for you guys, just email me the numbers to be sure. Sorry to let you guys down but i gotta go with my comp.

So yeah. i am suuuuuper excited to talk to you guys. I doesnt feel like christmas. but it will be good to talk to you guys and talk a little in spanish. haha. yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder ROss

Conferencia de Líderes de zona y distrito

Transfers and new Companion

hey!!!!!!!!
news. big news. haha transfers!!!!!!!!!!! So...pay attencion. So their was two areas in El bolson. Now their is only one. with the missionaries being. Your son, Elder Ross and his companion Elder.......CLARK!!!!!!!!!!!!! The other elder that was in the other area. My mini and elder frost left and they made the two areas one. HOLY AREA!!!!!!!!! its HUGE!!!!!!!! so yeah. me and elder clark are now comps. He is from Ririe, Idaho. He is suuuuuuuuuuper cool. he makes me laugh all the time. He is a farm boy from Idaho. He worked in a Potato plant before his mission. How ironic. hahahahaha. So i will be his second comp in the mish. we are going to rock it up

This week started as a good week. We have alot of investigators now that we have both areas. So it will be nice. we have a couple people getting ready for baptism that arent completely ready but almost. Freddy who is a bolivian and his girlfriend is a member. He has his date for the 15th of december. or this next week. Then we have jonathan who we havent taught him in a long while. but he should be getting baptised soon. I really am looking forward to working with elder clark. He is a super good elder and super obedient.

Their is a saying in a video we have as missionaries called Preach my Gospel by a missionary called Elder Bott. He says "the last six months of a missionaries mission is his time to really shine" I am really looking forward to shining. Really getting to put into practice what i have learned this past year and a half and putting it into practice. All of it.

LEt me know what the deal is for christmas. Elder Clark is going to call on the phone i think cause his family doesnt have skype. but we will see. let me know what you guys can do and give me the numbers i would need to call.

LOVE YA KIDS!!!!!!!!!!

Elder ROss

Monday's E-mail

HELLO CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!1

 

just another AMAZING week here in argentina. I love it here. haha i really do. Its so cool to just feel like you are at home speaking another language and everthing is just normal. wake up and talk to people like its nothing. haha. Well this week was GREAT!!!!!!! we had a suuuper good week. Taught alot and had alot of succes. ONe of the things was that we were able to see a miracle with vanessa. We taught her the sabath day and the importance of coming to church and i promised her if she would talk to her boss, he would give her the day off or that someone would give her another job. She got another job offer this week. :) she has a job interview today.

 

I have learned alot this week about the spirit. ITs been suuuuper cool to see how the spirit works. I never understood suuper well stuff about the spirit. I love it. I LOVE THE MISSION!!!!!!!!!!

 

The family nahuelpan are doing good. didnt come to church this week but we couldnt go visit them either. BUT jonathan has a baptismal date for this month!!!

 

This week we found 5 new investigators. A family. Familia Landaida. They are super cool. Then we taught a cool bolivian kid named freddi. he is super chill. He loves it.

 

The truth is.....the mission is changing my life "line upon line, precept upon precept" its like a talk i read today by elder bednar. the change in my life is like a rising and setting sun. it´ll take two years but i will be able to see the difference. I love the mission. These people make me so happy. these times are when the mish is just amazing. Its not easy all the time but it so worth it. I have learned more in this 17 months than i ever did in seminary and stuff. It helped but i have been able to learn on my own as i help others. I love IT:) LOVE YA KIDS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Elder Ross