Well the good news is that we had a baptism this weekend. The bad news is that there was only one. Gonzalo still hasn't gotten married yet. I guess if you think about it there were 2 baptisms cause another kid from the ward got baptized but our baptism was Gustavo Vilte. And boy do I have a story to tell you. So we had a meeting in the church around noon and started filling up the font. Then we went to pick up lunch and brought it back to the church. Everything was going well and all of the sudden the church ran out of water. Who´d have thought that that would happen right? So we run out of water and we decide to go out and knock some doors and see if we can make good use of the time that we had. When we got back to the church we had water which was a blessing. The baptism was scheduled to start around 6:00 and around 5:30 everyone started arriving. Everything was on track until someone made the comment "doesn´t the font need more water?" We were like "what" and we went to look at it. Apparently one of the little kids that was running around had pressed the button to start the pump to drain all the water out of the font. So now we have about six inches of water and a baptism in five minutes. What to do? We asked the families and left it up to them and they said to go on and so we had to stall for time. We did everything in reverse order, ate refreshments first, did the talks and all that and when it came time for us to enter the water there was still only about a foot and a half of water. So needless to say it was interesting trying to get the kid completely submerged. The first time his feet floated up so I had to kneel on the ground with him sitting with my leg covering his legs to keep them under and hold him under for a couple seconds to make sure everything was all right. That was fun. The story of a week! I don´t know if I will have a baptism that crazy ever again in my life. It was good though. He was confirmed on Sunday. Needless to say I had a huge headache from all the stress and it still hasn´t quite gone away. I think I need to be drinking more water. So it was a blessed thing that p-day was today.
This past week has been super crazy. It is getting hotter here, the crazy religious festivities are at their prime and it seems like the adversary is working harder than ever against us. The work moves along as long as we are doing the things that we are called to do. If there is one thing to learn or rather re-learn from all of these experiences is that the harder you work, the harder it seems that everything else is working against you. We have tons of great experiences that I would love to share with you but honestly there just is not the time. I have started writing in my journal more frequently in order to have the stories to tell when I return home. I would love to hear what is going on at home and know how all of you are doing. The best things to hear as a missionary are those things that keep you inspired and remind you of home but at the same time they don´t make you think about home or wish that you were in a place that you cannot be. I am so thankful to all of you for the things that you constantly do for me. If I can be extremely sincere for just a second I would like to tell all of you that each and every one of you has had an influence in me being here, getting here, staying here, and all that. I want to thank you for all that you do and the constant love that I feel through your emails and letters. Keep doing what you are doing and showing your love. All the missionaries really need it. We have all come to the conclusion at some point in time during our missionary service that more than numbers, more than fun times, more than anything else, really the only thing that we need is a friend to feel that someone cares and on top of that that our God is there for us and that he will always be with is. Mira que te mando que te esfurces y seas valiente; no temas ni desmayes, porque Jehová tu Dios estará contigo en dondequiera que vayas. Josua 1:9 remember that guys. I love you all. Take care and be smart in what you do and say.
Elder Jeff Rose
P.S. - While I am waiting for all the pictures to attach I’ll let you all know a little something. There is something that is really cool that happens in the mission. You get to see a lot of people that you have worked with in the past progress more than they did while you were with them and sometimes even get baptized. That has happened to me twice so far. Maybe I have already told you about these experiences but they are super special for me. There was one man named Ramón who Elder Nichols and I taught in Pocitos who got baptized a while back. Then there was a lady that lived in Bolivia but was coming here for bone cancer treatments. Elder Jara and I taught her all the lessons but she had to get baptized in Bolivia because she lived there. I say lived because one week after her baptism she passed away. The little miracles of God´s work are so cool. I hope sincerely that at least once in your lives you can experience the joy of knowing that at least one soul has returned back to our Father in Heaven due to some small effort on your part. Love you all. Take care.
Other little notes: I’m still no good (absolutely no good) at playing soccer; at least not compared to here in Argentina. We have been playing a lot lately on p-days and we have plans to go to the church next door to play soccer for exercise in the mornings. We keep running into gypsies who want to rob us. Ever seen a gypsy before? If not you´re lucky.
Oh yeah, and for this weekend, hopefully Gonzalo will get married, baptized and confirmed.
Argentina Sunset
Elder Rose, Sister Vilte, Gustavo Vilte, and Elder Marsden
Elder Rose and Gustavo Vilte preparing for the baptism
Solis Pizarro Zone
Lucas Miño and family prior to baptism
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