Belén se bautiza

Never know what to put here so

This week was really good. Super crazy because of consejo, but good. Don´t remember most of it and I'm reaaaallly tired, but it was good.

On Thursday, we had consejo (I think that's MLC in English) with all the zone leaders and everybody in Neuquén. Which means naother 6 hour bus ride in the middle of the night to Neuquén, a meeting all day, and then waiting until midnight to take another 6 hour bus back to Bariloche. So that was great. It was a really good consejo though, we talked a lot about focuesing on charity and developing love for our investigators, for missionaries, and for our companions. I liked it a lot, and there was a lot of good stuff we're going to be applying here en Bariloche. And my companion served in Neuquén about 6 months ago, and so he got in contact with one of his old investigators that was his neighbor, and we had some choripan (sausagebread, look it up the picture will describe it better than I can) with him. It was super good and fun. But we are still very tired from the trip.

The rest of the week we couldn't really find a lot of our investigators home, and we were gone for a while, so basically it was kind of rough in terms of numbers, but we did the zone training yesterday and it went really well, everybody's excited for the new plan we have in the mission.

We did have a really awesome experience, or mejor dicho- she had an amazing experience that she shared with us, last night. She's doing great as always, accepting everything, reading a ton, she even was talking to her mom about what she had been learning, and her mom was talking about she was going through a rough time, and Belén said, well it's because you're not praying right, here I'll teach you how to do it correctly. And then she explained her how to pray, and sent her a talk by Thomas S. Monson. She's a better missionary than us, and she's not even baptized! But anyways, last night we were talking, and she said she wanted to tell us about something that happened. And so she starts telling us that Pablo (the boyfriend) was showing her some mormon messages, and the last thing they watched was the bible video of Jesus talking to Nicodemus about why he needed to be baptized. He leaves to his house, and she stayed up a little longer and decided to start reading the bible. She opens up to a random page, and it just so happens to be the story of Nicodemus with Jesus, and she starts reading it without even realizing it was the same story. So she had started thinking about that and everything. Reads a little of the Book of Mormon, and then kneels down to pray. Near the end of her prayer, she starts asking for continued understanding in the things she's learning and to know what she should do, and she told us that as she was closing the prayer, she just felt a heat all over her body, and that it scared her, but she also felt good and happy. The next day she told Pable about it, and he being the capo return missionary that he is, read her from DyC 9:8 and explained to her it was an answer, a testimony of the truth. She was so excited and you could just tell that she had been convinced of the truthfulness of the gospel. She's super excited to get baptized this week! (If all works out with her work schedule) We're super happy too.

Basically, that's about all that's happened this week. Love you all soo much!!

Elder Grondel

Pics
1. Consejo old comp current comp

2. The best lasagna I've eaten in my entire life.

El nuevo miembro del barrio alto 1

Hello there everyone, how's it going?

This week was super good, full of some awesome surprises, so we're going to get right into the thick of it.

So last week, the day after our investigator said she never wanted to talk to us again, we got a call form a member named Pablo Guevara. He called us and said he had a referral for us, and that the referral was his girlfriend, and that he was going to come to church that Sunday with her to introduce us to her! So basically, she came, and she's awesome. She was raised Catholic but never went, and he is a return missionary, and had already explained a lot of stuff to her about the church, and she decided she wanted to start listening. We've gone by 4 times this week, she understands everything, and has a baptismal date for the 3rd of September! She's super great and excited and we're really pumped. She also makes an amazing lemon bread that is delicious. He is a really cool guy, and he speaks english so we always have fun saying random words in english in the lessons or just messing around. He also goes snowboarding aaaalll the time (it's still winter here in case you forgot) and we all get along well, so it's awesome.

We also have another investigator, who is the girlfriend of Pablo's nephew Sebastian. She came to church for the first time about 2 weeks ago, was a super practicing baptist, and studies the Book of Mormon better than I do. We told her to start from the beginning, and the next time we went by she had read the first four chapters, marked the book, written notes summarizing the general theme of each chapter, and then did an overall reflection of what it teaches and how she can apply it in her life. She's amazing. She also gave us some sweet Christian Rock music in english, because she's an english teacher, so that's sweet. But she lives with her boyfriend, and so we have to take care of that problemita.

So in the middle of all of this, we had to el bolsón to do a baptismal interview, and my comp and I both ate an entire pizza. It was snowing the day that we went and the road on the way was covered in snow completely, it was ridiculous how much snow there was.

Also like I said last time, this week we had transfers. I've already been in Bariloche, so I thought for sure I was leaving, I just wanted to know where I would be going. I also didn't want to leave because of the awesome new investigators that we found. So we open up the mail on Friday night, and I'm staying in Bariloche for another transfer! 6 months in the Alto 1 ward! Elder Madsen and I are super excited to work for 6 more weeks here, and see what we can do.

Love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!!!

Elder Grondel

Pics
1. Ice cream

2. Cold

3 y 4 (on the way to) El Bolsón

Bolsón

Hello there everybody, how are you guys doing??

Everything's great here. Our week was crazy and went by super quick, but things are going well.Basically, two main things happened this week.

First of all, we had to go to El Bolsón for a baptismal interview on thursday. When we got there, the investigator´s nephew had passed away that morning, and the entire time we were out there, she was in the funeral and doing other things, and so we couldnt do the interview. We figured that she was having a hard time and would probably want to b baptized the next week, so we didn't worry about it and came back to Bariloche. That night, the Elders called us and told us that they talked to her and she said that she still wants to get baptized! So thenext day we took another 2 hour bus out to el Bolsón, did the interview, and got on another bus back and went back to Bariloche. And just out luck, the bus back broke down, so we had to wait another bus to make it back. So that was great. But she got baptized and everything is good now.

While we were in El Bolsón the first time, we get a text in the middle of the night from Ortencia (our investigator that was going to get baptized this week) saying that she´s not going to get baptized, and doesn't want to know anything. We were freaking out, went to talk to her the next day, and she just gave us the silent treatment. We don't not what happened, so that kind of stinks. But we're hoping that everything can work out for her.

Everything else is going great! This week we have transfers, so we're going to see what happens there, probably going to leave Bariloche, but I don't want to so that's great!
Love you all

Elder Grondel

hello there

Good morning. Or afternoon. Or whatever time it is when you actually read this.

This week was really good! To be honest it was one of the fastest weeks of my mission, and I'm not quite sure why because we didn't do anything specialy, it just went by fast. Weird.

Our main focus this week was helping Katarina get baptized, and well, it wasn't the easiest of tasks.

On Tuesday we passed over some of the last minute things are made sure she was all ready for her baptism, she said she felt good and was excited. Thursday, we had an appointment at the church, and Elder Bush came to do her baptismal interview, but about 10 minutes before, she told us something came up last minute, and wouldn't be able to make it. We were freaking out a little bit, but she said she could the next day and got everything ready. Elder Bush came again, and well first she said she would be an hour late, but actually ended up showing up around 8pm. When she had arrived we explained that Elder Bush was going to ask her a couple questions just to make sure that she was ready for her baptism and everything, and she said "oh good, because I've been thinking that maybe I'm not that ready." Let the major freak-out commence. Elder Bush took her to do the interview, and my comp and I tried to calm down by playing some ping-pong. After the longest interview I've ever been a part (hour and a half) she came out smiling and said she was ready and excited. Freak-out level back to normal. The next day we were getting everything ready most of the day, go and start filling up the font, and she calls saying she feels sick, but that she's going to come 30 minutes late. Freak-out levels quickly return to high level. FINALLY she showed up at 8 for her baptism that was supposed to start at 7 (tardiness is an issure that she struggles with). But, she showed up, was excited, and brough her sister to see it as well! It was a very small baptism, she didn't want a lot of people, and she came late so there was about 10-15 people including us. But everything turned out great! The next day she came to church, brough tartas (cake/pie things that I don't know how to explain), participated in all the classes, and even bore her testimony! It was an amazing experience. Overall, my comp and I have already noticed a huge difference in her. She always knew a lot and wanted to follow Christ, but since her baptism, she has been a lot more smiley, a lot happier and kinder with everybody! The gospel is a gospel of joy de verdad. I love this work and the opportunity I have to be able to see people completely change their lives. It's incredible.

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Elder Grondel

Pics

1-2 We found a black and white setting on my comp's camera and started taking way too many white girl selfies

3. Waiting and waiting and waiting

4. #bautizona

6 en la codillera

Bueeennnn día

This week was super crazy but awesome! Our zone baptized 6 people this weekend, and it was amazing! That's the most they've baptized up here in Bariloche for a long time, and we're all super happy about it! I explained all the madness in this recording, and I don't really want to write it all out again, so here you go! My comp and I have a baptism this week, the investigator came to church late, but paid her tithing! So we're excited! Love you all sooo much!!!

Elder Grondel

Fotos of a little bit of everything