Week in the Pension

Elder Moser and Elder Opfar

Well this week we were in the pension all week because my comp is sick. He is feeling a lot better right now. But this week I did get to go out and work with the zone leaders a little so that was good. 

the Hermanas also had a baptism this week! that was really good! 

We also had conference with president. That was great. One of the things we talked about is the trials of our faith. Why do we have trials of faith? 

One thing I really like is that the Lord will never tempt us, but He will try us. He will try us again and again until we know that we are willing to serve Him at all costs. I love that. The Lord gives us some of the trials we have so that we know we will serve Him no matter what happens in life. Life is not easy. It is a test. It is our great trial of faith. But everyday we have the little trials of our faith. After the trial of our faith, our faith grows. Our faith in the Lord. We learn to trust more and more in the Lord at all times of our lives. That is something really important and something that we help carry us through good times and bad. Faith is power. Faith is important. Faith leads us to action. Faith without works is dead. How do we show our faith? One thing to show our faith in our actions is repentance. Repentance and baptism are some of our works. More works are enduring to the end. The decisions we make everyday show our faith as to whether we fully trust in the Lord, or if we trust more in man. The right things is trust is the Lord more than man. 

This is a talk i was reading the other day. I love this talk. It is super good. 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/come-and-see?lang=eng 

I hope you all get a chance to read this talk. 

and ask yourself this week, How can I rely more on the Lord? How can I show my faith today? 

con amor

Elder Opfar

1.  What is your favorite scripture from your mission so far?

uhm I don't know. I have a couple that I really like

2.  How many times have you read the BOM in Spanish?  English?

in Spanish just 1 time but I am reading it again right now. In English I think 4 times

3.  How has reading the BOM blessed you on your mission?  Do you feel that reading it in Spanish has helped you with Spanish?

well I know the BOM better. It is good to use and teach with it along with the Bible. yeah it has helped me see like some of the grammar in a different way

4.  How good is your Spanish?

still no like fluent but pretty good. people understand me and I understand them. there are a few words here and there that I don't understand

7.  What is something that you have learned about yourself on your mission?

I am a lot more patient than i thought. and I can control my anger really well. 

9.  What goals do you want to accomplish before you come home?

I want to talk with more people, just go out and open my mouth and invite all to come unto Christ. read all the Scriptures. 

11.  Can you write down your testimony for me?

I know without any doubt in my mind that I am on the Lords errand. This is His church. I don't doubt that. I know that Joseph Smith saw what he says he saw and that he was called of God to restore the church of Christ. This is the only church on all the face of the earth that can bring everlasting joy and happiness. I know that we have a prophet on the earth today, who leads and guides the church in the world that is ever changing. I know without any doubt that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. God answers our prayers. He has answered my prayers about all these things and that is why i know. God wont leave us alone. He loves us and wants the very best for us. He wants us to succeed and be able to live with Him again one day. I know there is power in prayers. I know there is power in the priesthood. I know that Christ is the Son of God. He is our Savior and Redeemer. He loves us and is always there for us. He will never leave us on our own. It may seem like it at times but He is always there. 

12.  If you have time, tell me about your week.  

well I kind of did at the beginning. We also had conference with president this week. That was really good. And the hermanas had a baptism on Saturday!

More Snow..."Working in the snow. I thought it would be fun but nope, I was wrong."

Mon- it was pday and it snowed A LOT. just came down. That was super exciting. We just played some soccer and some basketball. And my comp didn't feel good so he just rested.

Tue- WE had some success contacting today. We tried to find some people but they weren't home. We walked a lot today. We ended up visiting a member and that was good.

Wed- We tried to visit some people but they weren't home. That wasn't good. we were able to visit a member.

Thur- my comp once again wasn't feeling super good. We had district meeting and that was good. We started exchanges. I was with Elder Moser in our area. We tried a lot of people but that weren't home. We visited a member and had an awesome lesson with them. 

Fri- It snowed all night and during the day it was snowing and then raining and snowing again. I thought it would be fun to work in the snow. i was wrong. It isn't as fun as you would think. especially when you have wet cold feet. But oh well. WE had some good time contacting and talking to people. I went up to Pioneros with Elder Moser for a baptism interview

Sat- We had mission correlation and we did weekly planning. Not a lot happened today. 

Sun- we had church and that was good. We had 43 people there. We were able to visit a less active and an investigator and had an awesome lesson with them. My comp didn't feel super good. We ended up going to the hospital last night in the middle of the night. But all is good now. 

just some thoughts. This is from the talk I sent last week. Faith is really important in our lives. The Lord always blesses us according to our faith and our desires. I know that is true. Faith really is power. 

What Faith Is

What is faith? What does the word convey? The following are thirteen descriptive statements to help us define faith:

1. Faith makes men sure and steadfast.

2. After the trial of your faith comes the witness.

3. Faith is evidence of things not seen.

4. Faith is related to hope.

5. Faith is related to belief.

6. Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

7. Faith is not a perfect knowledge.

8. Faith is not associated with doubt and fear.

9. Faith is not physical exertion. It is utilizing words.

10. Faith does not come by signs.

11. Faith is a principle of action in all intelligent beings.

12. Faith is maintained by personal righteousness; and lastly,

13. Faith is power.

Have a great week!

con amor

Elder Opfar

1.  Last night there was a huge cockroach in our bedroom here in Galveston, completely freaked me out...do you have bugs in your pension?  I guess since it's winter you probably don't...did you when it was warmer??

here nope. I have just seen like a spider or two but not much at all. in Cipolletti we had cockroaches in our pension... just small ones but yeah

2.  Do they celebrate with Fireworks on holidays like we do?  

on Christmas and New Years yes.

3.  What is the best food you ate this week?  Was there a bad one?

I don't even remember. a lot has happened. haha. 

4.  What has been the most challenging thing that happened this week?

working in the snow. I thought it would be fun but nope I was wrong

5.  What has bee the best thing that happened this week?

we had a super good lesson with a less active and his nonmember wife yesterday. It was super great. she said she knows the Book of Mormon is true. so the nest time we go we are going to invite her to be baptized. 

6.  How are your new goals coming?  We are praying for your success.

we don't have any people with baptism dates yet. and I think the first baptism of the 89 as a goal of our zone is this next Saturday. it was going to be Saturday but the man got sick

7.  Does the new mission president change your slogan and make new goals and guidelines?

no he didn't make changes like that

8.  What have been the biggest changes since you got your new president?

we can now drink mate cocido and cocacola. also we can now write on 2 different computers. instead of waiting for the other to finish

9.  Did it snow all week?  How much did you end up getting?

not all week. we did get snow though, on Thursday night into Friday it snowed. got a got couple inches. my feet got wet in my boots. i have no idea how the water got in. because on Friday it snowed and rained and snowed and rained. it was slush and my feet got wet

Snow in Bariloche

This week was seriously so awesome!

Mon- we had pday! We ate some McDonalds. Nothing like some super expensive burgers here in Bariloche. But it was good. We walked around Centro a little. And My comp and I were able to visit an investigator. 

Tue- We stayed in the pension all day today. My comp didn't feel good at all. So i just studied and rested a little. 

Wed- We went out and contacted. We had some success with that. We moved the rest of the stuff out of the hermanas old pension. Also some elder from El Bolson came and stayed with us for zone training. 

Thur- WE had a lesson but it fell through. We had Zone training and it was so awesome. Seriously it was incredible. We had a few more elders stay with us. So we had a total of 9 elders in our Pension...

Fri- We met our new president. President Casariego is so awesome! I'm excited that he is the new president! He is the missionary from the story in this talk 

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/gene-r-cook_faith-lord-jesus-christ/ 

We also did our weekly planning. We tried to visit a few people but they werent home. 

Sat- Well it SNOWED. We woke up and it had snowed that night. We did some contacts in the street. We then had a ward activity. We ate some Locro. It was pretty good. We went out to Dine Huapi to visit some people but they werent home. 

Sun- WE went to church. WE had 40 people there today. But we also had 3 less actives come to church. We went and tried a few people but they were busy. And we came back to the pension because my comp started feeling really sick. 

And it is snowing right now. 

This week was really great! Hope all y'all have great weeks

Con amor

Elder Opfar

1.  How did interviews go?  Did Both Presidente and Hermana Casariego travel to Bariloche?  Was that the first time you have met them?  I wish I could've gone to the Lovell's homecoming today.

it was good. it was more of get to know president more than interviews. we did get a few minutes to go up and talk with them both. they are super awesome! I really like them. it was the first time i met them. 

we had zone training this week also. and we studied the talk Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, again. President Casariego is the missionary from the story. And we as a zone put a goal and committed ourselves that we will baptize 89 people by the end of the transfer. and elder Maluenda and I will baptize 5 people by the end of the transfer. I don't know how we are going to do it. But I have faith it is possible. We can do it. We have to do our part and the Lord will do the rest. 

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/gene-r-cook_faith-lord-jesus-christ/ 

2.  Did you ever get the Conference Ensign I sent?  I can't remember if you had told me or not.

yeah I did get it! Thanks!

3.  How was Argentina's Independence Day?  What do they do to celebrate?  What did you guys do?

well our lunch got cancelled. but we ended up getting lunch with the zone leaders in their area. The hermana made us some chicken and goat and sausage with potatoes and rice. It was really good. And on Saturday we had a ward activity for 9 de Julio and we ate locro. It is like a traditional stew.

4.  What time does the sun come up in the winter there?  What time does it get dark?  Are you back on the 11p-7a schedule?

wow. here the sun is like up at 9;30ish and goes down about 6:30-7

5.  What are the most common questions you get from people about the church?

are you Jehovah's Witnesses? you have that other bible right? just stuff like that

6.  Are there any parts of your area that you are not allowed to go into?  

in our area no. its fairly safe here

7.  Did you get snow this week?  I am hoping you have it by your birthday!!  It might be the only birthday you ever have with snow!

yeah we got some snow the other day! we woke up saturday with snow! and it is snowing right now! 

8.  What was your most spiritual experience this week?

zone conference and meeting president. Zone conference was seriously so amazing

9.  What has been your biggest challenge?

we need our investigators to come to church

10.  Did you eat any new food this week?  What was your favorite meal?

well locro. my first time trying it. it was good. But probably my favorite was the lunch we had on the 9th. it was seriously so good! 

When missionaries go to an "all you can eat" pizza place...

7/6/2015

Mon- We had pday and we went down to an ´´all you can eat´´ pizza place. We ate like 10 or 11 pizzas in total and the lady was I think getting frustrated... You had to order the pizza then wait for it to come out. but oh well, it was pretty good. We helped some other elders with a Noche de Hogar with some people.

Tue- We had district meeting and then after we did a tsunami in our area to help us find more people. We tried a few people but they weren home, so we were able to visit a member. 

Wed- We visited a guy and had an interesting lesson with him. he was drunk during the lesson and doesnt want to quit... so theres that. We had a Noche de hogar with some members and watched Meet the Mormons!

Thur- We did Weekly planning. We walked a lot trying to visit people but they werent home. 

Fri- We went over to the pension of the Hermanas area that was closed last transfer and we started packing all the stuff up. We were able to visit a less active. and also an investigator!

Sat- Happy Fourth of July! #Merica We tried contacting a little Then we had mission correlation. In the afternoon we had to be inside because it was the championship game of the Copa America and it was Argentina vs Chile. We ate some food and watched 17 Mircales. After the game we didnt leave because Chile won. And my comp is from Chile. But the streets were silent. there was NOBODY out on the street. and even during the game there was nobody. 

Sun- WE had church and that was good. Only 47 people came this week. We were able to visit a less active and his wife who isnt a member and we are now teacheing her.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-00-1420-because-of-him?lang=eng 

This is the video of Because of Him. I love this video. I invite all of you to watch it! 

have a great week! 

con amor

Elder Opfar

hey mom! this week was pretty good! we meet the new mission president on Friday! He is coming here for interviews. 

1.  Is the Women's World Cup a big deal in Argentina?  Or not so much since they didn't have a dog in the fight?  PS. USA won, beat Japan 5-2.

i didnt hear anything about it. Yeah dad told me USA won! #Merica

2.  What is the youth program like in your ward?  Do they have a lot of youth?  What do they do for activities?

uhm in our ward we dont have any young men program. there is 1 young man. there are 2 young women. so yeah

3.  What is the ward like?  Are the people super friendly to you, or indifferent?  Are they helpful and welcoming?  Is it big or small, in relation to other wards in Bariloche?

it is good. They are friendly to us missionaries. Yes. I think it is the smallest one here in Bariloche. I think, I don't know. 

4.  What kind of food have you eaten this week?

milanesa, meat, rice, mashed potatoes. For the fourth of july we were in the pension in the afternoon because opf the Copa America. It was the championship game, Chile vs Argentina. So Us and the zone leaders made some food and had a little 4th of July celebration. We made Completos, they are hotdogs with tomato and guacamole on them. Pretty delicious. We also made flan and jello.

5.  Did you see anything unusual this week?

Well during a lesson I was 1 foot away from a guy rolling a blunt...

6.  Do they celebrate Father's Day in Argentina?  Was there a holiday this weekend?  I saw a post on the Rincon de los Sauces city Instagram account that looked like a holiday post.

yes they celebrate Fathers Day, but that was a few weeks ago. This weekend was Argentina vs Chile in the final. (which Chile won) There is a holiday on the 9th though

7.  What kinds of fruits and vegetables do you eat there?  Are there less available now that it is winter?  What fruits and veggies do you miss most?

with lunches we eat mashed potatoes, salads of lettuce, tomato, and oil, and I have been buying bananas and mandarin oranges. I miss mango. They have them here but they are expensive. also strawberries are expensive. and yesterday we have a dessert with blueberries and it was delicious! 

8.  What was the best visit or appointment you had this week?  

We visited an inactive and we talked with him a little. He drinks and smokes but he has a desire to quit so we are helping him. 

9.  What was your biggest challenge this week?  What was your biggest blessing?

We need investigators to come to church and progress. 

10.  Did you meet anyone new this week?

every week. 

here are some pictures... I cut my hair

Peanut Butter...

6/29/2015

I found some peanut butter this week, so I bought some...

Mon- We had a good pday. We played some soccer thats was good. We tried a few people but they werent home. We found a family though and that was really good!

Tue- We had district meeting and that was good! once again the people we went to visit werent home. We had some success while contacting though. We found a guy who has desire to learn! 

Wed- WE were doing exchanges today. I was with Elder Anguiano. He is from Bakersfield California. He is an awesome missionary! We had some good success talking with people in the streets. And we had a good lesson with a less active. 

Thur- We did our weekly planning. The people we went to once again werent home. WE went and were able to visit a member and have a good lesson with them. 

Fri- we were able to have a lesson with a less active. And we are also able to visit an investigator. That was good. Also Argentina was playing in the night in the Copa America. It is hard to work when they are playing because no one wants to open the door...

Sat- We did a tsunami in another area and helped them find some potential investigators. We also had mission correlation meeting. WE went out to Dina Huapi but the people we went to visit werent home... 

Sun- Church was good. We had 57 people at church. We also had a good ward council. We were able to talk about missionary work. We tried to visit and find some less actives. But we couldnt find some of the houses... 

This week was pretty good! I want to invite each of you to look for the Lords hand in everyday. How is the Lord helping you? What are those tender mercies that you are seeing? 

Con amor

Elder Opfar

1.  How is the family history going?  How are your members and investigators?

Family history is good. WE helped a member a little yesterday. And one member LOVES indexing. He has a goal to index 100 names every week. 

2.  Who has been your favorite person this week and why?

uhm I don't know. Elder Maluenda and I get along really well. He has helped me this week. And he is awesome! I'm glad that we are comps

3.  How is the weather?  Are you staying warm in your coat and boots?

It is chilly. a few days this week it wasn't super cold. but it is getting colder. Yes my coat is good. I haven't really worn my boots yet... 

4.  Do you have a specific goal set for this coming week?

uhm I don't know. 

5.  What has been your biggest success this week?

we found some good people that can progress. 

6.  What has been your biggest tender mercy?

We found the family: We went to visit M** and he told us he was busy, so we started to leave. and his sons came running out to us and said our mom wants you to come back, she wants to talk with you. so we went back. and we ended up teaching all 4 of them a little. It was great.

Two weeks, one post

6-16-2015

Well I didn't write yesterday because I was in the terminal all day with the zone leaders. Just waiting all day as missionaries came in and out and while waiting for my comp. It was literally all day there. But oh well. My new comp is Elder Maluenda. He is from Chile! 

This week was pretty good! We had a great week as a zone here in Bariloche! We did exchanges with the zone leaders last week and they went really well. We had some success talking to people and really just opening our mouths and talking with people in the street. That has been a real focus for us to help us find new people to teach. And we have been seeing a little success with it. i look forward to more success this week!

WE were also able to help some more families do family history work. We helped them get their accounts reset and helped them get started. With one family we started helping them get themselves all connected together in FamilySearch and get their family trees connected. We are going to continue to keep the excitement up that the members have right now. 

It has been getting pretty cold here. but everyone just tells us that it hasn't been getting cold. that it just gets colder. So that should be fun. Maybe I'll have some snow on my birthday. 

I am looking forward to a good week with our investigators and less actives. And looking forward to working with my new companion! I think we will work well together and have success! 

I hope each of you have a good week. Take a second to think about everything that our Heavenly Father has blessed you with and give Him thanks. We need to be thankful for everything. Even for all of the trials that we might have and might be going through. 

Con amor

Elder Opfar

1.  How is the family history work coming along with that family?  That is so awesome, I hope they are able to get a lot of temple work done.  <3

We have been able to help a few families with their family history. It has been good to see their excitement when we help them.

2.  Transfers are today?  I wish you and Elder Turek could stay together forever, you guys are a good match.  Let me know how they go.

He got trasnfered to Neuquen. Elder Maluenda is now here with me. 

3.  What has been your biggest challenge this week?

We need new people to teach.

4.  What are you looking forward to most this week?

Talking to more people and inviting them to listen and be baptized.

5.  What has been your biggest success?

As a zone this past week we put 20 baptismal dates. We are all super excited and want to invite more people and talk to everyone. i am looking forward to that this week too. 

6.  What has been the best thing you have read?

I read a talk by Alvin Dyer called the challenging and testifying missionary. It was a really good talk! That was kind of what got all of our excitement up in the zone

6-22-2015

Well this was a pretty good week! It is always nice when you get along with your companion. 

Mon- Well I was down at the terminal all day with the zone leaders. My companion arrived at 9 pm. 

Tues- We did our ciber time to email. And we also had district meeting. That was really good. We had a couple appointments but they fell through. We were able to visit a couple members. 

Wed- We went out to contact and had a little success. For lunch we had like a stew that had madongo in it. It is cow stomach. Not the best thing... We went to a couple investigators but they weren't home. We visited a member. 

Thurs-We did our contacting in the morning and found a couple potential investigators. We did our weekly planning and then we tried to visit some old investigators but they weren't home. We did visit a less active though and had a good lesson with him. 

Fri- We once again tried some more old investigators but they weren't home. We had a couple appointments but they fell through.

Sat-We had mission correlation meeting and that was good. WE were able to visit a a couple less actives and had some good lesson with them. On the bus back to Bariloche we talked to an old investigator and she told us that she wants us to visit her. It was awesome!

Sun- We had church and that was good. We had 47 people there today. We ate a delicious lunch of matambre relleno. We tried a few people then visited a member. 

This week i have focused a lot of my studies on desires. My comp always says ´´El Señor siempre cumple con nuestros deseos¨ Its true. if we have faith and have good desires the Lord will help them be fulfilled. I read this talk and it is great! 

  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/desire?lang=eng

Have a great week

Con amor

Elder Opfar

2.  If you could do one thing over this week, what would it be?

maybe talk with a few more people in the street. There were a few times someone walked by and i should have talked to them but I didn't. 

3.  What has had the biggest impact on you this week?

My comp is awesome. he has helped me a lot this week. 

4.  Have you gotten any of my packages this week?

not yet. We should get the bolsa today. 

5.  What has been your biggest challenge?

Investigators that are progressing...

6.  How are your investigators doing?  

We don't have any progressing right now. But we have a couple potential investigators from this week so that's good! 

7.  How has the weather been?  Does the cold and rain impacted your work at all?  Has it snowed yet?

It has been cold. We still just go out and work, it is cold but oh well. It snowed like 2 weeks ago but it didn't stick. There is just snow in the mountains

8.  What has been the coolest thing you have read this week?

I heard a talk by Elder Don R Clarke called Pure Religion! It was GREAT!

Seeing the Lord's Hand in The Work...

Enjoying some basketball...

 Me and Elder Ahumada from Colombia. He got emergency transfered this week because he has been sick. But he was my zone leader! he is an awesome guy!

Well this week was pretty good. It has been raining a lot. It rained everyday this week. But right now it isn't raining, just a little chilly outside! 

But this was a good week. SOme highlights from the week. 

We had zone training this week. And that was realy good. We are focusing more on some on the old investigators and trying to visit them. 

WE went to the terminal this week to pick up a new elder. We would told he would get here at 5:30 am. So we woke up early and went down to the terminal. The bus hadnt showed up. So we talked with a couple guys who were down there waiting for a bus. With on of the guys we had an awesome little lesson with him. He is from El Bolson but he told us that he wants to change his live. He has had some things happen that he wants answers. We were able to answer his questions and he invited him to be baptized. We got the reference to give to the Elders in Bolson. It is great to see that since the bus showed up late we were there for a reason. So awesome to see the hand of the Lord in his work. 

With one of our investigators we are starting to progress more with him. He is starting to accept a little more of our message! So that is really awesome!

We also were able to help some members this week do some family history. and also helped them start to index. The members love our help for them. We have had some really good success with finding their ancestors. It is so cool to help them and see how happy they get! 

I hope all of you have a good week! 

con amor

Elder Opfar

2.  I sent you the weather, looks cold.  And SNOW soon!!!!  Can't wait to see pictures, you haven't lived somewhere snowy for 8 years!!!

Yeah it is starting to get chilly! it rained like all this week and there is now snow all over the mountains! 

3.  What are you looking forward to the most this week?

Seeing more success helping the members do family history!  

4.  What have you studied that has has an impact on you?

Well I am almost done with the Book of Mormon in Spanish. Ill probably be finishing it today! that's awesome!  

5.  Have you had any wonderful or unusual food this week?

We had some pretty some pretty good pizza this week! And a desert called flan. I usually haven't really liked it but this was homemade and it was GOOD! 

6.  Are you still getting lunches every day?

yeah. we have it 5-6 days a week. 

7.  What has been your biggest challenge? 
finding new investigators. and investigators that progress. We are going to ask for more references and try to put 1 baptismal date every day. 1 invitation every day

8.  What has been your biggest success?

Working with the members! They love that we are helping them. We are helping them do family history and do some indexing!