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 ;)

Agua Agua Agua!!!  Just in my old area....(part 2)

Well, Agustin and Bruno got baptized in my old area!!  It sucks that I couldn't be there, but at least I got to make a phone call to them and I got photos of the baptism (see photos) :)

It's frustrating that It just keeps happening to me.  When I leave an area is when the baptisms come in.  I know that God has people waiting for us here in Ituzaingo so that is where I will direct my focus.  We've been working like animals, but just not a ton of people progressing. Thankfully, we did get a golden reference from the Elders of the neighboring ward of an awesome family.  The grandma got baptized and the whole rest of the family is interested.  We were supposed to have like 10 people in church, but not even one of our investigators came.  I was super mad because I've never worked so hard on the mission. I've never tried so hard to be so obedient and it just feels like the people just don't want to make a lasting change that would bless them forever.  Just trying to find someone that doesn't want to only go partying on the weekends...but I am working to be patient and respect others agency and freedom to choose.  If they only knew how much better there lives would be.

And it finally happened!!!  I finally went to the beautiful Cordoba Temple!!!  It was such an incredible experience as I could feel the spirit so strong in the House of the Lord.  It really was a spiritual boost and now we have a lot of fire to do the work. 

I know this church is true.  I love this gospel with all of my heart as it gives me so much hope.  I hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving :)

Con mucho amor,

Elder Pomar​

A whole new world...

Yep, this is definitely a different place!  It was so hard to say goodbye in La Rioja.  I love that place so much as it is now holy ground for me.  I can't wait to return back one day.

Being a trainer breaker (a new missionary's second companion) for a gringo is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be haha.  Thankfully, God has blessed my ears and I understand almost everything when it comes to Spanish, but trying to work, teach, and set the example for my new companion is incredibly hard.  Elder Wiseman is from San Bernardino, California and he's pretty awesome.  He's just gotta learn the language though!  Elder Wiseman and his "dad" (his trainer or first companion) in the mission didn't practice speaking any Spanish, they just like worked for two transfers blindly.

When we attended sacrament meeting for the first time in our new area, the members were extremely happy as they said I spoke "perfect Spanish."  Lets just say that God has really helped me a lot.  The ward is incredible.  They all love me because I have been companions previously with Elder Summers and Bray (they both served there a time back) and they loved those missionaries which has made my transition here a blessing.  We are getting a ton of references here because we've already gained the trust of the members.  I will just need to get ready for the harvest here since I had to leave all of my previous harvest in La Rioja!  Also, it helps that  I have a ton of buddies on the mission that have served here in my new area, so they are all giving me people to visit.  We are gettin' real busy, that's all I know!

We also had a mission conference as Elder Craig C Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke to us all.  The spirit was so strong.  I know he is a man of God, called directly by Him.  He's not just any other person talking about Christ, he is really a man called by God to testify of the truth and power of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He told us how important the Book of Mormon is and how it's crucial for us to come unto Christ, and to learn of Him.  It's the only way we can be fully converted. The bible is to convince, the Book of Mormon is to convert.  What a powerful statement!

 

I know this church is true.  Hoping things are good at home for each of you.  Love you all soooo much :)

Love,

Elder Pomar

Ps.  I got to see Elder Clark so that was great ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

La Rioja...

 My old comp Elder Napoleao

Elder Clark!!

1

 My new comp Elder Wiseman

My new area Ituzanigo & district

Escaping the Heat of La Rioja

Well, another change.....

5 areas

7 companions 

8 months in the mission field in Argentina

I'm leaving to Ituzaingo in the capital of Córdoba!  It's my first time in the capital so it will be a good time!  I'm gonna be a trainer breaker of a gringo from California (let's go).  It's exciting because my new area has a ton of potential as it's a more humble area with 120 attending members, the biggest ward I've been in during my time in Argentina. 

I'm really sad to leave La Rioja so soon, but I guess God just wants me to get to know a ton of people and a ton of places haha.  I have to say goodbye to a ton of people because I've made so many friendships here.  It's really hard to say goodbye.  My goal is to save money and visit after the mission of course.

We leave Wednesday night to Córdoba at 12 am (It's a 6 hour bus ride).  We are going to have a conference with Elder Craig C Christensen, part of the Presidency of the 70.  He visited Thousand Oaks, California a while ago, and I remember that it was an awesome fireside.  I know it will be super awesome to see him again now being a missionary with more knowledge and more questions!

I love this gospel.  I love the mission.  Excited for a new opportunity in the Capitol.  Super excited too because I'll finally be able to go to the temple! :)

Love you all. Be safe!

Love,

Elder Pomar​