Soy de Los Estados.....

¿En Serio? ¡Hablás re bien chavón!

That's how it literally goes every time we meet someone haha!  It's nice to have everyone think I'm a native, but it sucks because they think it gives them the right to speak as poorly and slurred as they want!!!!  I'd rather be in this position though, then to be a super gringo haha!

Well, God has blessed me incredibly with my communication with the people.  Elder Reynolds is so amazing, but he still has a lot of problems with the language.  Basically, I'm the better speaker and listener and I only have been in Argentina for 3 months!  It's really given me the opportunity to grow a ton and learn just how to connect and talk with the people. Thankfully the people love me.  It's really been a humbling experience to see how much the Lord has helped me to grow here.  I love just talking in Spanish when I absolutely used to hate it!  God's really been working on me so I can just have a soft heart.

We had a special visit from a guy named Mark....he's one of the mission directors for the entire church.  Well, in our pension, we live in a small area behind a widow's house, and that's where Mark stayed!  Talk about pressure haha!  We got to talk to Him like every night and It was awesome.  I absolutely love him and he gave me so much good advice.  He has access to a ton of the media that hasn't come out yet so we got to watch a lot of good "classified" videos!  Be on the watch! One of the best experiences was coming home Thursday night and seeing Mark.  Mark is in one of the branch presidents in the MTC, and he was Skyping.  He invited us to just come watch and catch a little of what he was watching.  I watched 10 super new fresh and fresh missionaries in the MTC bear their testimonies.  I remember how terrifying that day was haha, but I just bore my testimony and trusted in the Lord.  My entire mission I wanted to look for shortcuts to adjust to the mission life and language, but what I have come to learn is that there are no shortcuts. God purposefully has every missionary go through this humbling process.  I'm so grateful that I'm out here and not so terrified, but actually very comfortable.  God has helped me an immense amount and I cannot deny it.

Well, I love this Gospel and I hope that y'all are saying your prayers and being good sons and daughters of our loving Heavenly Father.  Follow Christ and join His Church!

Love,
Elder Pomar

Ps. We got a new gringo (the one that replaced me in General Paz) and he's super dope! He doesn't speak a lick of Spanish, but HE KNOWS THE SHOE GAME!!!  Ahhh it's been refreshing haha!

Ward Hopper....I hardly know her!!!

Well, transfers came.....

I'm staying in Villa Maria, but I'm moving over to the neighboring ward La Madrid!  What's awesome is that I'm now with Elder Reynolds (my workout buddy lol)!  He's way dope, but we got a little problem.  He has 5 transfers in Argentina and I have 2 transfers, which means we're both still green!  This is gonna be fun, being a couple of gringos running a huge area!  It's gonna be way loco haha!

So we did have a baptism!  Mayra chose to be baptized this last Sunday, which was awesome!  On top of that, Douglas and Kevin who were baptized the week before came and were confirmed. 

We had some disappointments this past week too.  Clever and Elias who were baptized with Douglas and Kevin did not come to church to be confirmed.  We are not sure what has happened, but it hurts.  We were absolute buddies with them. They were so freaking excited to see us every time we showed up!  Now they don't pick up their phones when we call and if we do catch them they just don't have that fire anymore.  We have literally no idea what happened.  Satan has been really working hard on them, and it sucks that I'm no longer in the ward now, so I will be praying and hoping things get better and that Elder Summers will continue to work with them.  Also, it was really sad to lose one of our investigators, Katerina, who says that she is not going to be coming to church anymore and that she doesn't want to be baptized.

Finally, I'm done with my training!  Truthfully, I'm also freaking scared to know that both Elder Reynolds and I have such little experience in the field, this is going to be interesting. Thankfully, we both love to work hard, go to the gym and take care of ourselves in general.  We're best buddies, so I know that at least I'll have a fun transfer haha!

Oh, and I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish!  If I can do it in Spanish, I know you all can do it pretty easily in English.  Please go read it so that you can feel Gods love for you.  Thank you for the love. Thank you for the prayers. God bless.

Love,

Elder Pomar

Ps. Got to say goodbye to Elder Johnson :(

Pps. On top of that, I'll send pics of the baptism next week! 

"This ain't no slip n slide folks...wet...splash zone...baptisms!"

Before I get to this last week's update, it was AWESOME to skype home to the fam.  Looks like my ma is doing good and had an awesome Mother's Day, but

please take care of her while I'm gone aight? :)

We had 4 baptisms this weekend, an absolutely huge blessing!  There was a little drama the night before, but they pulled through as Elias, Clever, Douglas, and Kevin were in all white Sunday afternoon.  It was an incredible experience.  I have really felt the love of Christ as I have grown with them through this time.  They are some of the most amazing young men in all of Argentina.  The sad thing is that they all come from hard backgrounds.  They have no general support from their parents to do anything good in their lives.  I've taken this as a lesson.

No excuses.  Absolutely none.  No matter how bad our circumstances are, that doesn't mean that we have to live a sad life.  These kids have so much joy in their lives and they have nothing compared to kids in the states.  It’s really been humbling to feel their love for me as I am nothing.  God has carried these kids through everything in their lives and converted them to His gospel.  On top of that, their cousins are getting baptized this next week! 

It's amazing to see the fruits of our labor.  I love this gospel so much and I know that Jesus loves every one of His brothers and sisters.  That is why he performed the atonement, making it possible for all of us to live happier lives and return to the presence of God after this life.

I hope that you listen to His message.  Be baptized in His church as it is the ONLY way to return to His presence after this life.

Love,

Elder Pomar

Ps. It was nice to finally buy some good shoes down here as I miss all my beautiful shoes at home haha ;)

PPs. Watch out for Elder Reynolds and Elder Pomar hahahaha ;)