Catriel

This week was a really good week here. We have some really good investigators that we are currently teaching. And it all went well this week. And then on Saturday we had a baptism. The kids name is Andres. And it was realy well. he was prepared for this. 

Last night we went out to look for a reference from a guy we talked to this week and we found the house but he didn't want to come out. We ended up talking to his mom and teaching her. And she accepted a baptismal date for the 31 of October! It was a really awesome lesson. We just had a good week with teaching people and finding some new people. It was all really well. I am looking forward to another great week. 

And yesterday we had a conference in 25 de mayo. President Casariego came up and he ended up speaking. He spoke about the restoration and the power that it has to bring the spirit. And its true. I know that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet of God and he restored the gospel and church of Jesus Christ.

And this next weekend is General Conference! I am really excited that we have the chance to listen to the Prophet this weekend. I love General Conference. I want to invite you all to watch it. Watch it and pay attention to what is said. 

i hope y'all have a great week! 

con amor 

Elder Opfar

hey mom! this week was good! I did not see the moon... and I'm just now writing because we moved pensions this week to the hermanas old pension

but yeah dad told me about the Utes! Dang that's awesome! 

1.  How was your first week in Catriel?

really good! We found a lady last night and put a baptismal date with her for the 31 of Oct and she accepted it. she was super receptive! And this week was really good! 

2.  How do you get along with your companion?  Is he a hard worker?

pretty well! Yeah he works hard. its been good. 

3.  What was the best thing that happened this week?

well the baptism was really good. the kid is prepared. I can see him serving a mission! 

4.  What is the hardest thing that happened?

uhm I don't know. we had an overall good week 

5.  What is the ward like?  Are they friendly?

yeah they are good. yesterday we had a conference in 25 de mayo. but yeah the members are good. 

6.  Did you have your baptism?

yes we did! Elder Pineda did the baptism and I confirmed him

7.  What kind of food did you eat this week?

pasta, rice, chicken, the normal

8.  What is the town like?

small. dirt and concrete in the center. 

9.  How often do you get together with your district?  How about your zone?

uhm I don't know... 

yes I have pictures. they are loading right now. I am just using the camera and cable of Elder Pineda with my sd card

Transfers...goodbye to Bariloche, Hello to Catriel

Well so we had transfers yesterday and I spent the entire day traveling. Right now I am in a little city about 2 and a half hours north of Neuquen called Catriel! It is just a small little city with not much going on. Well it has been raining and the streets are all dirt so now it is just straight mud. Fun stuff ya know. But my companion is Elder Pineda. He is from Mexico. And I am finishing his training so that's fun! I'm excited to be here and work with him! 

But anyway this last week in Bariloche was pretty good. We started teaching a lot more people and it was just overall a good week. We were able to be out and just teach more lessons although we did have a lot lessons that fell through again... But oh well not much we can do if the people arent home. 

On Sunday we brought an investigator to church and he loved it! It was super awesome! And then Sunday we went around to the members and said bye to them. I'm going to miss Bariloche but I am excited to be here in Catriel to move the work forward! 

This week I thought about my testimony about the Book of Mormon. I know it is the word of God. It is without any doubt another testament of Jesus Christ. I know that without any doubt in my mind. I am so grateful for the opportunity that i have to be a missionary and share this with others! 

Have a great week! 

con amor

Elder Opfar

Hey mom! Yeah I'm doing good. yes I got transferred. I'm in a small city north on Neuquen called Catriel. And I am finishing the training of my comp. his name is Elder Pinera. He is from mexico. 

I'm glad that y'all had a good time and the time out for women! that is fun! 

1.  I was looking at Hermana Larmouth and Hermana Bailey's blogs, and both of them have talked about investigators and baptisms.  Do people seem more open to listen to the Hermana missionaries than the elders sometimes?

yeah sometimes. 

2.  Have you been able to find Matias?

we found him and set an appointment with him but when we went he wasn't there... 

3.  Were you able to reach your teaching goal this week?

no. we taught 6 lessons this week, but that is better than the week before... 

4.  Besides the pants that tore, how are your other clothes holding up?  How are your feet?

they are good. everything is good dont worry. my feet are good. 

5.  Were you able to do any service this week?

this week no. we were going to do service for the bishop but he never called us to confirm it. 

6.  How did you see your prayers answered this week?

we were able to find some people in their houses and teach them a little. and we had an investigator in church on Sunday!

7.  What is the music like in your ward?  Does everyone sing?

yeah but no one sings loud... so yeah. it isn't like the states

8.  Have you had a lot of people at church the last few weeks?

we have been above 50 people for the past couple weeks,.. that was really good. 

9.  What are you looking forward to this week?

well we have a baptism here on Saturday here in Catriel! should be good! I'm excited to be here and work! 

Working in snow isn't as fun as you'd think...

Well where to start this week... So I thought the weather was finally started to warm up and looking good all week. That was until we got snow this week. 2 times actually. I thought I wouldn't see snow until next year but nope I was wrong... Have I


mentioned it isn't as fun to work in snow as you would think? This time was as bad as before though. But that was exciting... Snow.

But this week was a little rougher than last week. We had a lot of appointments that ended up falling though. And the baptismal date that we had also fell. But we were able to do some service this week! we helped a couple people clean up their yards! That was really good. My comp has been wanting to do some service and we finally got to do it this week!! 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/bible-videos/parable-of-the-good-samaritan-2

One thing I have thought about this week in the Parable of the good Samaritan. This is the Bible Video of the story. It is about service. Serving those that even are our enemies. Would we do this same thing and serve someone as we see them or would we just walk by and not do anything? A lot of times there are people everyday who could use our help. Even if it is something small.

Have a great week! 

con amor

Elder Opfar

Hey mom!  This week was good. Not as good as last week. Our baptism date with Matias fell and we couldn't find him this week... 

That's good that Grandma is coming down! Y'all will have fun! Poor Jax... 

1.  When Elder Teixeira came to speak to you, how small was your group?  

it was all the missionaries in Bariloche, Esquel and San Martin. like 50 people in total. 

2.  Did you get to visit with him one on one?  

No. But I sat on the front row and it was pretty cool. He just came down and was walking in front of us. I didn't talk with him one on one

3.  What did he talk about and what did you learn? 

He talked about preach my gospel and applying it more. And he challenges us to start teaching 21 lessons every week. 

4.  What did you end up doing last week on Pday?  

We just played some basketball and soccer. Nothing super exciting. 

5.  What is the most interesting thing you learned this week?

Uhm I don't know. I have been reading in the war chapters of Alma. I should finish Alma tomorrow! 

6.  How is Matias dong?  He has been fervently prayed for in our home and his name is on the prayer roll at the temple!

his baptism date fell... and we weren't able to find him this week... we tried calling his number but a woman answered and said we had a wrong number... 

7.  What was your favorite thing that happened this week?

I don't know. we were able to do some service this week and that was really good!

8.  What are you studying right now?

I have been studying from the Book of Mormon and from Preach my Gospel. 

Cerro Campanario

Well this week was good. We had some great success! It is good to see our labors being fruitful even though it is just a little right now. We found some good new people to teach this week! And we were able to put a baptismal date with a guy we found. His name is Matias and he accepted to be baptized for the 26th of this month. WE found him walking. He was outside his house and we talked with him and had a really good lesson with him! 

Also this week we had a big conference with Elder Texeira from the Seventy. It was 1 of 2 conferences he did in the mission. He did one in Neuquen and one down here. We had all the missionaries from San Martin and Esquel here too. That was super great! It was greta to see everyone and even better to have the conferece. He talked a lot about Preach my Gospel and about the amount of lessons we teach each week. 

This week one thing i have thought about a lot was prayer. How are our prayers? are they personal or do we just repeat the same things? One thing we can do it think before we pray. Think about what we want, why we want it and what we are willing to do to recieve this thing. It is a good excercise to do before prayer. And then present it to the Lord in your prayers. 

In the Book of Mormon in Alma 37:36-37 it talks about couseling the Lord in what we do. And also in the Bible in Matthew 7:7-11 it talks about that the Lord WILL answer our prayers. And He will bless us. I really like both these scriptures. There are a lot more that talk about prayer! And i challenge yall to think about how are your prayers and change it if you need. 

con amor

Elder Opfar

1.  How was Pday last week?  Did you get to go to go to Cerro Campanario? And...did you take some awesome pictures?

yes! We went to Campanario! it was super awesome! 

2.  What did you buy this week (I saw you took some money out of your account)?  Something fun?

well nothing yet. i just took some money out. actually i did buy some lunch for my comp and one day because or lunch got cancelled. so just a little food. 

3.  What are some of your responsibilities as a trainer?  

helping the new missionary shape his whole mission. haha. 

4.  Do you set your alarm to get up or do you just wake up on your own?  

no i get up to the alarm. not yet at the point of just waking right up on my own. 

5.  Do you ever proselyte in the square or the public places of Bariloche or do you mostly knock doors?  Do you get referrals from the members?  

we dont get a lot of referrals from members... we talk to people in the street. because they are already outside and cant just look out the window and shake their finger at us. 

6.  Are you still doing a lot of family history work with the ward members?

A little. not a lot. but a member we helped is doing indexing all the time now. he loves it! 

7.  How long do you have for lunch?  Do you nap after lunch or study?

like an hour. we do language study afterwards. 

8.  What are you doing for exercise currently?  Does your comp like to exercise?

lots of abs and pushups and squats. 

9.  Did your responsibilities change when you became the senior companion?

yeah. like now i am in charge of paying our rent. the money gets put on my card and i have to take it out to pay. 

10.  What was your most spiritual experience this week?  What was your hardest moment?

we had a conference with elder Texeira from the seventy. That was really good. It was great! 

i think when our appointments fall through...

11.  Is there anyone or anything you would like for us to pray for this week?

we found a new kid and he accepted a baptismal date for the 26th of September. His name is Matias

Birthday Chocolates

Well we got a lot of rain this week... I am pretty sure it rained EVERY SINGLE DAY. It is not as fun as you would think to be outside all time with the rain. Especially when you get someplace and you are soaked. But oh well. I'm loving it. 

This week went well. For the most part. A lot of people didnt acceptus and open their doors tous this week. That was rough. Especially with my companion being new. But we are just pushing along and doing what we can. 

We had inerviews with President this week. That was really great! Before, he talked with all us about Desires and faith. And how through our faith and desires we are going to start seeing the mircales. He used a metaphor of there are people who want to learn to play piano all their life but never do it. They just have the desire. There are other people who want to learn and they put in the time and practice and can play well. Then there are the people who have such a strong desire that even when they are seeing the success they keep pushing and keep learning and work twice as ahrd as the secnd type of person. And he used that to show that we can be the third type of person to put in the work and have the desires and we will baptize. WE have a goal in the mission for now that every missionary brings one soul into the waters of baptism so they can have this joy and be in the Church of Jesus Christ.  I know that is possible. And that as we all work hard that we will see the miracles and bring many souls unto Christ. 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/the-hope-of-gods-light

I don't know if I have shared this video before but it is one that I really love. The Light of God is real. We can find it in our lives. We can see the hand of God in our Lives every single day. We just have to look for it, but I know it is there. I invite you all to look for the ways God is working in your life. If needed, ask him to help show you His hand. We can all pray and our prayers are always answered. We have to call out to Him and ask before he just gives it to us. If we have any question we can ask Him. I know that is true. I have tried it. I know without any doubt that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church. I know that because I have asked and I have received an answer to my prayers. and each and every one of y'all can do the same. 

Have a great week! 

con amor

Elder Opfar

1.  How was your week?

this week was good. but not a lot of people opened up the door to us or accepted us this week... 

2.  How is training going?

it is going pretty good! 

3.  How is the family you are teaching progressing?  We have been praying for them and you all week.

well we couldn't visit them this week. they were really busy. The father is a policeman and he doesn't have a set schedule. so it was hard to find a time that worked for him and his wife. 

4.  What are you doing to prepare for Conference?  

well I'm reading the Book of Mormon and I study the talks from last conference! I am in Alma in the BoM! I'll finish it before conference! 

5.  Do you still have Nutella left?  I'm going to send you pretzels, and just wondered if you needed more Nutella.  :)

yeah I still have a little. not a lot...

Bowling

Well this week was pretty good! Towards the beginning of the week we weren't having a lot of success or anything. Lots of people weren't home or our appointments fell through. But towards the end of the week we started with more success! We are now teaching a family and we have a good like 4 potential investigators! I'm super excited! I know the Lord is blessing us according to our faith! And that helps me strengthen my faith more and more. 

We also had zone training this week. That went super well. We all left with even more desires to go out and invite everyone to come unto Christ. That is why we are hear. To invite others to come unto Christ. That is our purpose. We help others to be prepared to make the covenants with God through baptism. And we INVITE.

I don't know if I have shared this video already but it is one that I really like. Bearing our burdens with hope. Because of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us we can bear our burdens. It will still be hard sometimes but it is possible. Christ makes that possible. Alma 7:11-12. He suffered all the things He did, for us. So that He would know exactly how to comfort us. He loves us and wants the very best for us. and I know that is true. I have a testimony of that and I don't doubt it. I know that Christ lives.   

http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/bearing-our-burdens-with-hope

Have a great week! 

Elder Opfar

1.  How is the training going??  Do you like it?  How is your companion?  Still excited to be there?

it is good! i like it! I am learning a lot haha. he is doing good. he is adjusting well. Still super excited! 

2.  It should be spring soon!! Is the weather warming up a bit?  It looks like it is still raining a lot...are your boots still leaking?  I hate to think of you walking around with wet feet.

the weather has been fairly decent. there was like a day or 2 this week when i went out in just a sweater and not my coat. I have been wearing my normal shoes. they are holding up. my feet usually don't get wet in them unless I walk through big puddles. 

3.  I keep forgetting to ask you about the birthday balloons.  Were they fun to read??

yeah! some of the ink like rubbed off though so I couldn't read a couple balloons. but yeah they were good! 

4.  When it starts to turn to summer, do the days get a lot longer?  Do people stay up late or get up early?

yeah the sun is out longer. and here in our mission we get to wake up at 7 am and go to bed at 11pm. get to be outside until max of 10 pm. because there is more light and everything

5.  How was church attendance this week?  Are the people sharing with their friends and inviting them to church?  Are you teaching anyone seriously right now?

so we dropped in attendance. we only had 42. for the past like 4 or 5 week we have been above 50. like 55ish. but this week we dropped. 

6.  What are your pday plans today?

uhm well it is raining. I think we might go to central a little and then just play some basketball or soccer

7.  Did you eat anything different this week?  Anything super good or super bad?

no. we ate a lot of meat this week. like I think everyday we had something with meat. it is usually a good mix of meat and chicken but this week was more meat. 

these are some pictures from last week. we ended up going bowling and yeah

Training in Bariloche

Tyler's new companion, Elder Aguilera.

At transfers, Tyler got to see Elder Gallegos and the elder he is training.

Well this week was pretty good. I was with the Zone leaders until Wednesday. I left to go to Neuquén on Wednesday afternoon. It is a long 6 hour bus ride but we finally got up there. But no it was really good. It is great up in Neuquén on Thursday. We met all the new missionaries and we went out and did some contacts with them. President talk with us for a little and we met out comps. There were only 12 people that came down this Transfer. and there were all Elders. 8 Latinos and 4 Gringos. and my comp is Elder Aguilera! He is from Chile! Yes another comp from Chile! 2 in a row! But he is really great! He has a lot of desires to go out and work! He just wants to serve the Lord! It is super awesome to have this new excitement here motivating me to do my best every single day. I think we will have a great transfer! 

We were able to visit some members this week and we helped them a little more. We tried to visit some other people but they weren't home when we went to visit them or they were busy... 

But this week one thing i thought about is with Christ and the Young Rich Ruler. I cant remember exactly where it is at right now. But read it! 

And think to yourself, is there something in my life that is holding me back from following the Lord more everyday? Each of us sometimes have the things in our lives that keep us from having a better relationship with our Savior. Think about it, what is holding you back? And change it! Do what you need to do and change what is holding you back. Follow the Savior. He loves each and every one of us and he wants the very best for us! 

Have a great week! 

con amor

Elder Opfar

1.  Did a lot of your zone and district change?  Who stayed and who left?

no not a lot changed... only a couple people left. a couple people went home and a few came in. like a total of 5 changes. not a lot at all. 

2.  How is the new comp?  What is his name, where is he from, what is he like?  

hes good. Elder Aguilera. He is from Chile. but like 2 hours from Concepcion. He has a lot of desires to just go out and work. It is great. He is super excited for the mission. 

3.  How do you like training?

I like it. It is fun 

4.  Are you glad you stayed in Bariloche?

yeah. I like it here. I love the members 

5.  What was the best part of the week?

um I don't know. it was good. it was cool to get to go up and see people who are training. like Elder Gallegos was also training! 

6.  PICTURES, dude.  Of your birthday.  I want to hear all about your birthday...did you get all of my packages?  4?  The BOX??  Was is good??

yeah sorry I couldn't send pictures last week. yes all 4 packages. pretty great. the cheese sauce from the box is a little weird... but I was glad to get some Nutella. It is super expensive here. 

For my birthday. well my comp was sick. but for lunch a member made me some cake. and also a member made me some cupcakes that night. super good!