Dios tiene un sentido de humor

5 Jul 2010

Dear Family,

Mom, don´t worry if you think that your letter was a bit silly because this past week, we felt that God taught us again that He too has a sense of humor. It happened yesterday on the 4th of July. We were so happy that we had a surprise investigator at church. We had gone in search of all of the people that said they´d come with us and none of them answered or were there. We got back slightly discouraged. But, as we were in Gospel Principles, the second counselor called us out and an investigator had arrived. We had had hope in him a while back, but we could never find him and he always said he´d come to church, but never did. So, we had basically given up on him and hadn´t taught him in a while. So we were happy to see him. The funny thing about him arriving on the 4th of July is that his name is Americo.

Saturday was a difficult day for Argentina because it was the day they got eliminated from the World Cup. They had so much hope that they might win, but they were beat by Germany 4-0. That morning we had received permission to go see the game if we did so in the house of an investigator and we ate lunch with them. We wanted to see it, but we decided to stay in the pench to get several things done and to go to lunch with the member we had planned. In a way, I´m glad that I didn´t see them lose that way. We were afraid we were going to have some problems during the day because everyone was mad at Germany and we look and talk like Germans, but we didn´t have too many. Only a few people yelling at us from across the street. We were careful anyways.

Another reason why it was important that we decided to go to lunch with Hermana Zelarayan was for a little small miracle that we had at the end. The mission had a program a while back to be able to receive referrals where we write down 100 names that the person knows and then they pray and select one or two to take action to visit with us and invite. Well, Elder Aidukaitis (he´s still in all of our minds) showed us a better way. We make a list of all of the names of the people we can (not worrying about where they live for the moment) and then all of those become referrals. 100 referrals in 30 min. We leave the sheet in our area book and future missionaries can over time ask for the addresses and go visit them or send them to other areas.

So, we decided to make the big list with Hma. Zelarayan and her son Adrian Aguilera. We started talking about their family members and they talked about some that lived far away in Mar de Plata. We took down their names anyways. And as we continued with the list, the door bell rang. The very family of whom we were talking about walked in! Adrian hadn´t seen her cousin in 14 years! They had no clue that Hma. Zelarayan and Adrian were members (they were baptized within the past 3 years). So, we taught about the restoration and her sister-in-law really liked it. It truely was a miracle and we hope that we can get the address soon so that the missionaries can go by out there. And we decided to that we´ll finish the list with them another day.

Oh, and a member here, Hmo. Guzman wants us to ask you something. He collects coins and money from different places. And he wants two things. First of all, a new 5 dollar bill. Any old (well new) crisp five dollar bill. And the other thing he wants is a silver dollar. I´m not sure if they make those. I know they have the silver half-dollar, but he already has that. He want a silver (not gold) coin with the value of one dollar. He says that there is probably a silver commemoration dollar. If there is one from 1976, he´d absolutely love that. So, I don´t know if you can find it for him or not (maybe on ebay or something). He said he is willing to pay the amount it costs for it. So, that is his request.

We have been spending a lot more time recently with Hmo. Guzman, which is a good thing and a bad thing. He is the 2nd counselor in the Elders Quorum he is really excited about that. He is a convert from 3 years back and he works in the government and used to be in the Air Force officer. So he loves organizations and things like that. He loves reporting about the visits that he does and he was received the assignment of working with the missionary work of the quorum. We are trying to take advantage of this exhuberance the best we can to contact all of his friends and to do visits with him. And we were able to find a good family to teach through one such visit yesterday. But, one of my problems is that he talks a lot about things that really interest me. He knows a lot about missiles, space, Air Force, history, and a little bit about everything. I really haven´t known anyone like that her in Argentina. Everytime we try to leave the house he says, "I have something I want to show you." I admit that I´ve probably wasted too much of my time with him. I´d really enjoy my time with him after my mission when I can use it a little more leisurely.

I know that this work is true and I am going to push myself to the limits these last few weeks. I know that we can see miracles as we move forward into the unknown with faith.

With Love,
Elder Drake Ranquist