Jardines tiene buenos miembros

30 Nov 2009

Dear Family,

I did have a lot of worries going into Jardines, but after a week of being there, I think I will have a good time there. This past week went to visit a lot of the members that we know of and they are all really good. The members in Jardines are much better than most of the members I have known on the mission. There are many ex-missionaries in this ward and they are very willing to help out. We met the new bishop on tuesday and when we went in to talk with him, he said that he felt that we were the missionaries that needed to be there.

You don´t have to worry that we are receiving anything to eat. We have lunch with a member every day and they all have been great. The owner of our pench (the Yankee version of the word “pensión” or apartment) is a member that lives next door. Our stove doesn´t work, so she has brought food over to us in the night several times. She is really nice.

One of our difficulties about this week was that it was Stake Conference in the center of Moreno. So, when we went, we still didn´t know who was from Jardines and people from Moreno 2 wanted to talk with me the entire time. We weren´t able to stay, but it was a joy to see Patricia preparing for her baptized, which occurred about an hour after the conference. It felt good to know that I left the area with something for Elder Runolfson and his mini-misionary (a 19 yr. old kid that hasn´t received his calling yet that came from a different Stake to work for a transfer). It was good to see them all again, but hard to say bye.

The conference with Elder Bednar was amazing. There was a stronger spirit there than I think I have ever felt before in a church meeting. He is a master at teaching by the Spirit and helping learn by faith. That was the theme of the meeting (I can´t say talk because it really wasn´t a talk). He taught by example more than anything. His goal was to teach us how to listen, observe, and discern to allow the Spirit to tell us what we need to say. He taught so and demonstrated it masterfully. It´s hard to describe.

What probably touched me the most were his teachings about putting off the natural man. One elder asked “What can we do to put off the natural man to be able to give 100% of ourselves to the work?” He taught about how the atonement of Christ not only cleans us but helps to perfect and strengthen us. The moments that we think we have missionary work down are the most dangerous moments of our mission. Only by relying on the Lord can we receive of his power. He gave a challenge to this missionary to get a new Book of Mormon and mark all of the parts where it says “by the power of the Lord” or something like that, and that he would more fully understand how to receive of the power of the Lord and would teach better his investigators to rely on the strength of the Lord. I´ve decided to take that challenge because I need so much more of the Lord´s help. I still have no clue what I´m doing.

He left us with the apostolic blessing of a greater measure of faith. He pleaded that we be true to that faith. And I hope to be. And I hope to be able to follow his example of teaching. I hope that my investigators can feel that strong spirit that he brought.

Oh, and you asked about my companion? Elder Cuberos is from Berranquilla, Colombia, the same city where Shakyra the singer is from (I don´t know how to spell her name). He has 6 months on the mission. (I realized that today I complete 2/3 of my mission. Faa. (The Argentine expression for Wow). I keept telling myself and everyone that I´m still young on the mission. I´m still young.)

I know that this is the Lord´s work and that He is with us when we do what we can to obey and follow Him. He is the worker of all miracles. By none other are the miracles of salvation manifest.

With love,
Elder Drake Ranquist