Week 103 - Light the World!!

Buenos Dias!!!

This has been an awesome week here in Buenos Aires. This week we had our ward mission night which was a huge success. Here in Peru Thanksgiving is not celebrated so we decided to organize a missionary night where everyone could come and share something spectacular... Desserts. Who does not love a good dessert. Well the activity was called friendly desserts where any friend, member, or whatever person from the street was welcome to come and enjoy some good arroz con leche, mazamorra, flan, gelatina or a number of other free desserts. Along with the desserts we played a get to know each other game/scavenger hunt where the first people to finish the game/get to know everyone would be entered in a raffle to win christmas themed prizes. It was a great blast. At the end we switched it up and turned the chapel into a movie theater to show the new church videos for the "Light the World" December Christmas project. It was an awesome way to end the night and invite everyone to serve this holiday season.

This week Elder Anchiraico and I were also able to have interchanges with the Elder from Central. Both of them came here to Buenos Aires to help us with the ward mission night which was a good fun. This time around I was with Elder Romney who is from Spokane Washington. He recently has 4 weeks in the mission field so it was a good time. 

On Tuesday we had companionship exchanges with the assistants here in the mission. Elder Peterson came here to Buenos Aires while my companion Elder Anchiraico went out to Tumi. Elder Peterson started his mission here in Buenos Aires almost two years ago and so it was fun to spend a day with my good bud where he started everything off. 

Saturday night Elder Anchiraico and I had a super cool experience. It was about 830pm and we were out looking for a referral that we received. We were having a hard time finding the address when we pass by a man and his wife who seem to be unloading porceline tile and bags of cement from a Taxi. We passed by without thinking much but my companion had the strong impression that we needed to go back and offer our help to move all of the material inside their house. The man gladly accepted and I can understand why. Each bag weighed 25kg ( 55lbs) and each box of tiles weighed 30 kg (66lbs). We spent a good 15 minutes moving all of these inside his home. A little bit of work but I do not know how the man could have done it without us. After finishing the service and after I ripped my pants Lionel invited us in for juice and cookies as a form of giving thanks. As we began talking to him we presented ourselves as missionaries and said "you know what? The other day I met some sister missionaries who were just the coolest. They came to my house and we talked in the doorway for over 30 minutes. They were super cool. I told them I would go to your church and they even left me with a pamphlet. He then went and brought out his pamphlet. Sure enough there on the back of the pamphlet were the names of the two sister missionaries from our ward "Sister Chatwin and Sister Baldiviezo". What an awesome coincidence. Not wanting to steal the sisters investigator we then began to ask if Lionel had any rentees that would be interested in listening to our message (he rented a few apartments). He responded by saying that there was a venezuelan family that lived in one of the apartments that he would love to present us to. As he led us to the apartment when the venezuelan family was we heard a knock at the door and sure enough it was the sister missionaries. They arrived just in that very moment. Well we left Lionel, now very content and impressed, with the sisters and we began to teach the venezuelan family that lived out back. Carlos and his wife Del Valle. They are the best. They are a very humble family from Venezuela and they not only were super excited to receive us but they also came to church with us yesterday accompanied by their daughter Robeudys. It was such an awesome miracle how a little act of service opened the door for us to teach this super cool venezuelan family as well as helping the sister missionaries gain the trust of their investigator. It was amazing and it was most definetly a situation guided by the spirit. 

This has been an awesome week here in Buenos Aires and this coming week we have our zone conferences. The mission is awesome. 

Love,

Elder Vassau

Week 102 - Dog Attack!!! and a Visit to The Temple

Buenos Dias!!

This has been an awesome week here in Buenos Aires. Many amazing miracles and fun happenings. This week we had companionship exchanges with some Elders from an area called California. I was with an Elder named Elder Foutz. A great tall Elder from Boise Idaho who has about 2 months in the mission. Well we were having a great time while walking through the street contacting at night when all of a sudden Elder Foutz says "Elder Vassau, it is weird, so far I have yet to be attacked by a dog in my whole mission..." Literally as Elder Foutz finished speaking 3 dogs came out of nowhere and attacked. Luckily they were small yappers so it was a funny moment. 

This week we saw some great progress in Nicolle Cueva. On friday we were able to have a lesson with her parents. They arrived as we were about to say the opening prayer and they accompanied us for the short visit. On Saturday Nicolle went to the Temple with Isaias and Rosalinda, two members of the ward that have been visiting her to read the Book of Mormon. She loved the temple! When someone attends the temple it is hard not to feel the spirit. After the temple she attended the young women's activity and on Sunday morning she even brought a friend to church. Awesome. Yesterday we met with her mother who will also start coming to church with us in 2 weeks when she stops working. This week we will be doing service in their home to paint some chairs. It is awesome. 

Here in Buenos Aires there are lots of young men who are heading off to the mission and others who are recently arriving. It is lots of fun to spend time with these young men who are passing through a very similar experience as to what I am enjoying. The mission is awesome. 

The mission is going great and time is going by way too fast. 

Love,

Elder Vassau 

Week 101 - The Power of Prayer

Buenos Dias!!!

This has been another awesome week here in Buenos Aires. The weather is starting to heat up just a little bit, so it will soon be time to lose the suite coats on Sundays. This week we had companionship exchanges and I had the privilege of proselyting with Elder Rojas. He is from Santiago Chile. He speaks near perfect English and loves music, especially Jack Johnson. He reminds me a lot of my former companion Elder Nuñez. We had a great time contacting lots of people in the street and it was a great experience to feed off of Elder Rojas' enthusiasm speaking to people. One could say ''strangers'' but if we are all just children of the same Heavenly Father no one is really a stranger. 

This week we saw a lot of spiritual progress in the Nicolle Cueva who we have been teaching for a little over a month now. Yesterday she attended church once again and this week we have been visiting her with some ward members Isaias and Rosalinda. They are both great friends from the ward and have been visiting Nicolle to read the Book of Mormon together. They have developed a great friendship and are helping her to have spiritual experiences. This week we were visiting Nicolle with one of her neighbors and we had a little bit of a humbling experience that taught us about the importance of verifying commitments we have extended. We arrived and Nicolle told us that she had only read a part of the pamphlet that we had left with her. We decided to begin to read a page in the pamphlet when all of a sudden, she stopped us and said "wait, I want to tell you something". We were so anxious to teach that we had forgotten to give her time to tell us about any spiritual experience that she had had. Well she began to tell us that after reading her pamphlet she went and looked for a quiet place where she could kneel down and pray. She found a nice place in her room, she knelt down and prayed, asking our Heavenly Father if what we teach is true. She said that as she finished praying, she became overwhelmed with a sense of peace and comfort. She said it was as if someone had come over and given her a huge hug. She said she took that as a sign of the Spirit and that she knows that what we teach is true. Although she is not yet sure about baptism, at least she knows that what we teach is blessing her life and helping her to change. Awesome right?!?

This week we also had a super fun family home evening with our Relief society president and her renters. We have begun to teach a family that is renting part of a member’s home. Well with a little bit of luck we were able to find this family with a little bit of free time this last week and we were able to begin to teach them. The Family Home Evening was an awesome way to help this family to feel the spirit and to enjoy time with positive influences. Sometimes we get so down on ourselves and we just need small simple things to lift our spirits. The family home evening was great, and it especially fun to be able to finish with a game that was a sort of mad libs game. We all had a good laugh. 

Everything is going so great here in Buenos Aires with Elder Anchiraico. Stay tuned for some fun Elder Vassau planned Missionary Christmas activities here in Buenos Aires. 

Love,

Elder Vassau 

Week 100 - Juan's Baptism and The Gift of The Holy Ghost

Buenos Dias!!!!

This has been a great week here in Buenos Aires. This past Sunday Juan Morillas had his confirmation where he was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was awesome to be a part of it, but he almost did not make it to this point. All week long he had challenges. Last Saturday he had been baptized, but because of a Stake Conference he was unable to be confirmed the following day. Last Sunday he was sick throwing up from something they ate after their baptismal service. Monday he had high blood pressure and headaches. Tuesday his car wheel blew up while driving through the mountains to a remote town. Wednesday he found out he had high cholesterol levels. Thursday he was in a car accident when he was T-boned. Friday he spent in the police station and Saturday once again he was sick. Despite all of the challenges he still made it to church on Sunday, sick as a dog, but he still made it. He was confirmed and it was awesome! 

On Thursday we met up with Juan and talked with him. He was telling us about all of the challenges he was having but then paused and said '' But Elders, do not worry about it, I knew this was coming. Elder Vassau had told me after my baptism to prepare for some crazy obstacles, so I prepared myself for the worst.'' God gives us the gift and right to have his Holy Spirit with us at all times after baptism, it is an extra strength to help us keep trudging along after making a covenant with Him. When someone is baptized but not confirmed it is someone who has made a covenant with God but does not have that protection of the Holy Ghost. It is a crazy time where one is very vulnerable if they do not have a strong testimony. Juan Morillas was able to power through and he made it. How awesome. 

This week we had the opportunity to start teaching a new family. The father's name is Edwin, the mother Marleny, and their two sons Edwin and Jefferson. They rent some rooms in the Relief Society President's house. We stopped by to visit her the other day and we found Edwin the father. We started to chat with him and a simple conversation quickly turned into a lesson about the Restoration. Yesterday we visited them and arrived at a perfect time as they were passing through many family problems. It was crazy to see the difference in their faces between the start of the appointment and afterwards. There was a new light in their eyes. Today we are going to have a family home evening with them so we will see how it goes. 

In other news today we organized a zone Pday (preparation day) and it went great. We had a water balloon toss and some other great activities to get to know each other better. It was a super fun time and I think the sister missionaries really loved the opportunity we gave them at the end to peg all of the elders with water balloons in a firing line style. 

Well everything is great here in Buenos Aires. The mission goes on and His work continues! 

Love,

Elder Vassau