"Have yourself a merry little Christmas..."

Well, I will definitely miss listening to Frank Sinatra singing silent night, until next Christmas!

and now....

I'M A FATHER IN THE MISSION!  I'm training my companion Elder Santos from Brazil.  He came in the box, assembled and ready to go, it's incredible!  I honestly don't even feel like Im training.  He has a ton of fire and already speaks the language pretty well.

We had some miracles...

• People at church
• New people that are GOLD
• People that want to get married (did I hear that right??)

On Christmas Eve, we brought 3 girls from the Soria family to church!  We also ate dinner with the Vilchez family as President gave us permission to stay out till 11:30!

We weren't planning on working the morning of Christmas, but I talked with another Elder and he inspired me to just go out.  I am so glad that I listened to the spirit and didn't go with what the members said (no one will be awake).  We ran into the Bishop's nephew and he gave us a name to visit.  It was a part member family.  We get there and I remember that Elder Wiseman, my previous companion, had brought me to their house one time.  We begin talking and the sister says "well, my boyfriend and I have been talking about the church a lot and we would like to be married so that he can be baptized and then we would love to be sealed as a family."  WHAT!?!?!  AM I DREAMING???  A Christmas miracle!  Please pray that they continue with this fire!

Also, I got to talk to my family on Christmas and it was GREAT!  It was a little hard being away from the fam on Christmas, but I've never felt closer.  The mission really has made a change in me. 

After my Skype call with my family, Elder Santos talked with his family and invited me to talk with them!  Yeah, I don't speak Portuguese dude hahaha.  After my companion's call with his family, we got to just relax and chat with the Allasia family (the Bishop's Family).  They are just the best!

In closing, I want to share with y'all my last words to my family before turning off Skype and extend the same challenge...

Read the Book of Mormon and say your prayers everyday.  They are little things that show our humility to God and as a result, it allows Him to bless us so much with His spirit and give us the guidance we each need to make good choices that will bless us for our entire life.

I love this gospel, I love Jesus Christ and the time we have to really focus on Him! 

Love,

Elder Pomar​

"It's a happenen"

Well, I am writing early this week because our preparation day, JUST FOR THIS WEEK, is today due to companionship transfers.

Well, it's happened again, I am not safe from transfers as Elder Wiseman left for Rio Cuarto this morning.  I haven't met my new companion yet, but I'm going to be training a brand new missionary!  I will be receiving him tomorrow and I'll make sure to send y'all pictures next 

week! :)  I'm excited for this new challenge and hopefully I can raise him right so he can be a "maquina elite" (elite machine) in the future as a missionary.

I was super sad to see Elder Wiseman go as we just learned how to work well together and became really good friends.  Although It's been frustrating receiving a new companion every transfer, perhaps 8 will be the lucky number for me!

Some crazy and fun yet experiences this past week...

So, we went to downtown Cordoba to go caroling and pass out "Light the World" cards.  When doing so, I ran into an Anti-Mormon.  Hahahahaha, we talked for about 30 minutes and it's so sad to see how some people just try to accuse the Church of being false.  These people aren't even willing to read and study what we know to be true so how could they make judgement?  Anyway, she went on about how the Book of Mormon was from the devil.  I proceeded to share a scriptural reference with her (3 Nefi 14:15-20).

15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20 Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them.

I then asked her "have you read the book of mormon?  She said "no."  I said, "how can you know if a book is of the devil if you have never read it!?"  We talked a little more, but she didn't want to listen.  So, I said bye and we moved on.  We can't teach the goodness of the gospel and repentance to people if they don't want to listen.  I cooled off a little bit while we went singing as it was such a blessing to see all the smiles of the people who were singing.  Even though it was a tough situation, I still know this church is true.  I have read the Book of Mormon for myself, I have prayed about it and I cannot deny that it is scripture from God.  This life changing book was translated by Joseph Smith through the power of the Holy Spirit and I testify that Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God.  With these 2 books, The Bible and The Book of Mormon, we have clarity and all of the teachings that we need to return to live with God again.  Thanks to this gospel of Jesus Christ and its saving ordinances, we know that we can have our families for the eternities.  What a gift!!!      

"By their fruits ye shall know them,"  this gospel is the fruit of God. The teachings are perfect.  I hope that as members of the church we will look to defend The Church of Jesus Christ, but not fight with other religions.  We should have no need to fear or be embarrassed of the gospel of Jesus Christ as we know these things to be true.

Love,

Elder Pomar

"Just come to church!"

Oh my gosh, we just don't know what to do!!!!  It seems impossible!!!!

The saddest part of this week was losing a golden family!  The Carrizo Garcia family do not want to listen to us anymore.  Their nephew, who is very involved in the evangelista church, saw us talking with them and told them "you can't switch churches, because that shows you're playing with God."  We testified that looking for the truth and seeking God is not a sin, but a belief created by man.  We left them homework to read, pray, and even fast.  The Carrizo's accepted to do it!  So we return only to find that they didn't read, pray, or fast.  They just said "It's like we're playing with God if we change religions."  In one ear and out the other.  I feel like we're trying to make water come from a stone, it's just not going to work.  So we have to leave them.  I was sad, but I know that there are people that are willing to listen, and BE HUMBLE before God.  Fear God, not any man.  It is never a sin to look for God.  It doesn't matter if being part of one religion has been followed only out of tradition in your family.  I testify that if we ask God to lead us his to his church, He will.  At some point we must be willing to ask God which church is truly his and once we have our answer, we must be willing to obey God's will and do what he asks of each of us in order to receive all the blessings that he has for us.  I am trying to be patient.  I am leaning great lessons in honoring people's agency, no matter how frustrating at times it feels.  

So we were supposed to have 6 people in church and NO ONE CAME!  Oh my gosh these people are sooooo lazy I can't stand it haha!  Thankfully, we still got chill vibes and are just trying to love these people.  We got up early and walked 30 minutes to go pick up a guy named Miguel Quiroga, whose 80 years old, and I'm pretty sure that he didn't wake up on time because he didn't answer the door.  Next, we went to the church and a great member family that was supposed to pick up our other investigators went, but found that our investigators were all sleeping too!  We got desperate and in between classes we went to go look for a guy named Diego.  He was there, but he said "Ooooooh, I have to......go to my......aunt's house!"  We just laughed after because it was so funny as he's terrible at lying!  In our last attempt, we tried to pick up a drunk guy on the street and he just said he'd come later.  I know we did our part and God will bless us with someone in some moment.

I'm not going to lie that the work of salvation is not easy.  It can be really hard and frustrating.  I'm learning to let each week just come one week at a time.  Sometimes there are highs and sometimes there are lows.    

So what was the blessing this week?  We ate asado with the Lopez family for lunch and made tacos for dinner!

 

Also, a huge blessing at church was a super special message that the senior missionaries serving in the temple (all are from the states!) shared with us.  They talked about the importance of the temple and how we need to attend as often as possible as there are no excuses because we have temples so close to us (especially in the states).  After church, we got to chat with them.  They are all from Utah, but guess what?  One of them, Elder Nielsen, was the mission president for the Ventura mission!  It was so fun to have a connection from home.  I was so sad as he told me that everything is getting burned up with the fires in Ventura County!  I can't believe no one told me!

With all of the sad world events happening, I know this world is going down as foretold by the prophets and that's why we can have so much hope through Jesus Christ and His restored gospel.  Everyone says that we are all going to die, but "through Christ we shall all be made alive."  The Book of Mormon is true!!  I love it as it gives me answers for everything!!  

Sorry for the lack of photos this week.  Next week I'm gonna have a ton!  Also, I might have a new companion...we'll see!

Con amor,
Elder Pomar​

"I love the mission.....oh my gosh I can't wait till the end.....I never want it to end!"

Mix of emotions, yes!!

So, it was the first week in the transfer and we had NO one come to church.  Since it was Fast Sunday, we decided to fast to have a baptism.  We have been working so hard and have been doing our absolute best.  We were frustrated after church, but things suddenly began to turn around after our fast.  We leave the pension to go to an appointment and it fell through.  While we were walking back, a man named José, stopped us and said....

"I've talked with the missionaries before. I didn't want to change before ( because of smoking), but I want to change now.  I would like to attend church with you.  Can I come this Sunday?"

I honestly just felt like crying, a miracle!  Finally, things are starting to get brighter here.

Also, we had our mission Christmas conference and it was awesome!  We had the spiritual part in the beginning and then a talent show to finish.  It was super awesome!  Elder Clark and I were gonna sing "Sunday Candy" by Chance the Rapper, but we miscommunicated and neither of got the music!  Hahahah, we'll get em next year!

One of the things I learned from the spiritual side of the conference was this...

If we can't do the little things, we will never be able to accomplish the big things.  If we don't study the scriptures and say our prayers every day, we will NEVER progress spiritually.  So, I invite you to do the little things so you can do big things ;)  

So after the conference, we had an appointment with the Soria family, a reference from the other Elders in our district.  It was our 2nd visit and this time the dad was busy doing his own thing, so we got to focus on his daughters Lucila and Flor.  Previously, we had left the intro of the Book of Mormon as the homework for them to read and they read it....and all the way to the 3rd Chapter of 1 Nefi!!  We put a baptismal date for the 23rd of December with them and they are super excited to attend church!  It's really a huge miracle.

 

We also went to Carlos Paz today, a huge touristic town (see photos).  I loved it as it felt just like when I would go to Carpinteria in Southern California with my family and buddies.  It was a sweet experience.

I love Jesus Christ, I love His teachings and I love that He loves you and me.  I know these things are true!

Love,

Elder Pomar :)​

Up and down....and up!

The temple was a huge spiritual boost....and I needed it.  This week got extremely hard trying to teach, but when everyone is so lazy it can be so hard!  To be honest, Saturday was one of my hardest days in the entire mission.  We went inviting ALL of our investigators to church and every single one had an excuse...

"There's a birthday party....I'm visiting Carlos Paz....I'm going to be drinking mate"

Our potential was to have 18 people in church, and to hear that no one could come killed me.  I was so frustrated.  

Then, we get home and the owner of the store below us (we live in an apartment above) got super heated with me because we haven't gotten a leak fixed that is dripping into his store.  We've tried to get things fixed, but the owner of our apartment does literally NOTHING.  After getting yelled at and told how terrible the Mormons are, I got to my room and just lost it.  I was just about ready "to flip the table" as my Bro Caleb says.

The next day came and although none of our hopeful 18 investigators agreed to come to church, we went to visit and hopefully pick up some people for church that we don't visit too often.  One of them was Diego...and he came!  A Christmas (or Thanksgiving) miracle!!  He loved church and now we are going to talk with his whole family.  I think Diego is very very very slightly mentally handicapped, so we are going to need to talk with his family to see if he can continue investigating the church.

After what seemed to be so bad the previous day, we have just found a ton of HUGE families and I mean gigantic families.  What is the lesson...God has been and will always be merciful with us if we remain faithful to Him.  I just know that we are getting closer to helping someone enter the waters of baptism.

I love you all so much.  Thank you for the prayers. 

Love,

Elder Pomar

Ps. I went to McDonald's in Argentina for the first time!​  ​And yeah...,I know I look chubby hehehe ;)