Week #14

Hola Familia,

 

What a week this week. It was definitely a hard one but it ended great. Carolina was baptized in our ward. She was an investigator of the hermanas. Elder White baptized her and the Spirit was incredible. The four missionaries sang at her baptism. I have pictures but I forgot my camera with me so I´ll send them next week if I remember. 

 

We didn´t end up having our baptisms, and for that reason, it was a tough week. Olga and Jorge told us that they didn´t want to keep following this path so we had to drop them. Domingo was supposed to be baptized but they day we were supposed to have his baptismal interview, he was sick and he was at the doctors so he didn´t come to church either. Frederico, the son, didn´t come to church either. And that was really tough for me because the day before we had a great lesson with him and the spirit was so strong. 

 

But what made my week better was having the opportunity to give Hermana Tovar a blessing. She speaks English so I gave it in English. I don´t remember exactly what I said, but I remember thinking just how blessed I am to have the power of God on the earth. And no matter how many times we get rejected as missionaries, we have the truth. And it´s sad to see other people reject it.

 

We had a cool experience this week that was crazy. Elder White and I contacted a house and two 20 year old boys answered the door and they were interested. We went back the next day and they were gone but their little brother who is 18 was there. His name is Martin. He told us that his brothers were working but he was interested in the church. He read the intro to the Book of Mormon and seven chapters because his brothers left it on the TV. He told us that he had been searching for the truth and that he felt that he had found it. It was truly a miracle. We taught him and he told us that he wanted to be baptized. We invited him to seminary the next day and he accepted. We were so excited. We went back the next  day and he came out and told us that he doésn´t think the church is true. He  told us that he wants to live life, he doesn´t agree with the stuff that Mormon´s believe in (stuff with the law of chastity-he found it on the internet) and he doesn´t want to be a missionary. We talked to him and then his mom came out and got really mad at us and told us to not to ever call Martin again. Wow. That moment was incredibly hard for me. It was so unexpected. I prayed hard for Martin that night. 

 

The next day, Elder Merenluoto (he´s Finnish) and I were waiting for a bus, it was full so we waited for the next one. We got on, and two stops later, Martin got on. That was incredible because we weren´t even by his house. I didn´t want  to bug him about the church, but I had a feeling to say something. I talked to him and he told me what happened. He said that what he told us the second day was all a lie and that his mom made him say those things. He still believes in the BoM. His mom made him delete our number from his phone so we couldn´t contact him. So I gave him our number and he put a different contact name for it. Then I told him to read and pray every night. He told me not to call him in fear of his family finding out. So I told him to call us when he feels comfortable. It was truly a miracle that we saw him again. A blessing from the Lord. I still haven´t heard from him and I´m not sure what is going to happen, but I realized that day that the Lord´s hand is all over this work and he will provide a way for us to be in the right place at the right time if we have faith. It was a great experience for me and I hope that one day Martin can receive the fullness of the gospel.

 

I was happy to hear about home and Disneyland. Good luck to Dad. He´s prepared for these callings. He´s been an incredible example to me. Thanks for all the love and support. Love you all!

 

Love Elder Bosco II

Week #13

Hola Familia en Disneylandia!

I hope you guys have a blast in Disneyland- especially with Ella. Haha oh man I can just picture her having a blast! Thanks for sending the card. I´m not going to know what to do with so much money once I get that card. hahaha. Hopefully I get it this next week. And GOOOO Cougars!!!!

I think that if you send packages through Dear Elder they are pretty safe. And I also heard that if you put a picture of a Saint with a cross or something, people won´t still stuff. It worked for Elder White haha.

And a small question for mom.. Is oatmeal healthy? Cause we eat that every morning haha I was just curious.

Several things happened this week. First of all, our entire District is the exact same. So I´m staying in Pompeya for at least one more transfer with Elder White! I´m so grateful for that! Between us two and the sisters in our ward, we had 7 investigators at church and two of them just didn´t come because they were sick but they said they would come next week. Those two were Olga and Jorge. They are progressing in the gospel but they said they feel a little rushed to be baptized. They need to come to church one more time and then they just need to accept a date. UUGGGHHH.. it´s frustrating, but I know that through prayers and answers from our Heavenly Father, they will enter the waters of baptism. Frederico (the son) came to church again. He´s incredible but he says he hasn´t received his answer either. I shared with him Ether 12:6 and how it takes faith in order for us to receive our answers some time. If all goes well, he´ll be baptized next Sunday. Domingo came. He´s 84 years old and he agrees with Everything we say to him. I don´t know if it´s a good thing but he keeps coming to church. He says "está bien chicos" to everything. He says he believes in the Book of Mormon. If all goes well, he´ll be baptized on Sunday as well. Cejas came. I´ll explain more about Cejas in another letter. He´s a character hahah and a miracle. We´ll see how it goes with him. But it was great seeing all of the investigators in church and seeing the amount of people in the ward of Pompeya grow.

During the week, I took a 7.5 hour bus ride to Bahía Blanca to do "Trámites". It´s something to do with my visa. There are missionaries that have been here for over a year that hasn´t done it yet, so it looks good for me. I think my visa is here or will arrive shortly. So that was a blessing for sure! Then I took a 7.5 hour bus ride back to Mar del Plata by myself. I was solo both ways and it was a little scary but I got to sleep a lot and the seats on those big buses are comfortable.

Another thing that happened this week was that our sink was fixed! I haven´t told you guys yet, but we´ve been cleaning all of our dishes in the bathroom and dumping the food down the toilet because our sink was clogged and it smelled horrible! haha But thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the blessings of the missionary, we were blessed with strengths to be able to handle these things on our mission. I´ve already changed a lot on my mission. I´ve realized that you don´t need a lot to be happy. And I´ve realized how blessed we are to have the things we have. And one day, I´ll repay mom by cleaning the house everyday for her. Mom, that´s a promise :) haha. But finally, the sink was fixed and all is well!

The Atonement is amazing and no matter what you´re going through, the Atonement has the power to strengthen you beyond your means and to make you into someone better. The Atonement is there for us to change. To change into someone more like Jesus Christ. It´s incredible.

Have Fun in Disneyland this week and good luck with Homecoming Collin!! Thanks for all the love and all the prayers. They mean the world to me.

Love Elder Bosco II

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WEEK #12

Mar del Plata

Saying good bye to Hermana Godoya

During our service day on Saturday. We scraped posters off of all the poles and trash cans and stuff

Chorizo and pollo... sausage and chicken

Making pizza with Elder White

Hola Familia,

A lot of great things happened this week. We had four people come to church and all four have baptismal dates so we´ll see how they progress in the gospel. 

We´ve been teaching this man named Frederico and he wants to be baptized but we can´t get him to church. Anyways, we taught him the word of wisdom on Thursday and he said that he would stop smoking and drinking completely. On Saturday, we passed by his house to see how he was doing and he wasn´t there but his son, Frederico, was there. We just simply invited him to church. And Frederico (the son) came, but Frederico (the dad) didn´t. haha I sat by Frederico during all of church and he gave some great answers during the classes. He told me how he had been reading parts of the Book of Mormon of his father´s and how whatever he would read that day would bless his life specifically for that day. I bore my testimony to him of the Book of Mormon and after the class I asked him if he wanted to be baptized. He said he didn´t feel like he needed to because he was already baptized in the Catholic Church. So I shared with him a story in the Book of Mormon about authority when Alma was the only one with authority and so Ammon and the people of Limhi waited patiently to be baptized so that they could be baptized by proper authority. I told him the importance of reading and praying and finding out for himself the way I had and the way everyone does.. by simply asking Heavenly Father and being willing to act. After Sacrament Meeting I felt impressed to ask him again. And he said that if he received an answer to his questions, that he would be baptized in a few weeks. I´m so excited about that because he´s incredible humble and he told me how important it is that we become more like Jesus Christ and how important it is to always be learning and improving. 

This experience was incredible for me and it strengthened my testimony of the gospel and especially the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon answers the questions of the soul and anyone that is willing to act on the questions they have WILL receive an answer.

Olga and Jorge came to church today and they accepted the baptismal date for Sept. 27, but it might be a little later. And the other at church was a man named Domingo. And he lives by himself and he was willing to come to church and accept a baptismal date so he came! We´ll see how the future goes with Domingo. He´s the greatest!

Okay so now for the funny story of the week. At 8 at night we found ourselves on the sand on the beach because two people that we found on the street live there in a little shack. It was weird haha. We passed by the next day and there were even more bums and one had a bottle of cologne and was spraying our scriptures as some sign that he liked us? (Don´t worry, we´re not returning) But I smelled like a teenager for the next few days because my scriptures smelled like cologne. I HATED it. but I know you guys will find it funny. All is back to normal now and I smell more like a missionary hahaha.

Thanks for all the prayers and love and support. And good luck to all my friends that are about to go off on the journey of a mission. It´s incredible. Love you!

 Love, Elder Bosco II

Week #11

Hola familia!

Holy cow! Football in Provo is rocking! That´s what I´m talking about. It´s weird to think that there is still life in Provo haha. I´ll be fine without the card until then. And I have some stories to tell this week. I´m sure they´re going to make some of you laugh a lot. 

 

To answer the questions mom, we do a lot of contacting. It´s very hard to get referrals out of the ward members. A lot of our work is working with less actives and getting the ward excited and involved in missionary work. Baptisms will come, but I´ve realized just how blessed we are to have the ward and stake that we have. Many people magnify their callings and that´s exactly what the Lord needs. Even dad is singing in a choir! (Oh and I forgot to tell you last week that Elder White and I and the Hermanas sang in Sacrament Meeting-The Baptism song. You can share that with the primary kids. The Hermanas and Elder White have killer voices. I was probably the weak link, but it was great!) We´re also in a choir that was approved by Hermana Parreño because it´s about missionary work and it´s focused on it. But like I was saying, MAGNIFY your calling. The Lord needs each one of us to reach out and help people. I had no idea how much of a difference it would make. 

 

But our ward is incredible. We had three investigators at church this week! But the sad part is we should have had 5. The two that didn´t show up were the ones most progressed. But it´s okay. At least others came. Marcelo came and we only talked to him over the phone. He has problems with the law of chastity and addictions and he told us that he wants to change. The other two, Olga and Jorge are a 60 year old couple that were investigators in the past. I love Olga to death. She has red hair and she doesn´t stop talking. I asked her if there was anything that we could help her with, and the next day, she asked us if we could help her children get visas. (Exactly, because we´re from the U.S. we should be able to get visas for Argentines. As if we have Pres. Obama on speed dial haha). But we taught them the restoration and they came to church so I can´t wait to see what happens with them.

Okay so this week we went on divisions or splits. I went with Elder Santos and it was a great learning experience. He´s from Brazil and Elder White said that some of the words he taught me were Portugese hahaha. Oh well... Later on in the week, we went on divisions again, but this time with members in the ward so that we could fulfill two appointments at the same time. And I went with Miguel, the blind man. I don´t want to ever leave Miguel because he is incredible. He blesses the sacrament, he baptized a recent convert, and he told us that his experience at the temple was incredible. 

 

Anyways, Miguel and I went to teach Rolando. (Family- Remember the magic man? With no teeth... And you couldn´t understand anything they say so they have to put the subtitles on in english. Dad should remember.) Well anyways, Rolando has two teeth. And his mouth was incredibly dry so all of his words were slurred. Oh and there weren´t subtitles.. oh yeah, and he only speaks spanish. I took a moment from my mission, I stepped back, and I looked at my situation. I was walking in the streets of Argentina with a blind man that only speaks spanish and we were going to teach a man that I could barely understand in English. hahahaha. But let me tell you this, that experience was INCREDIBLE. I understood enough to answer Rolando´s questions and to testify. And Rolando rejected the story of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. But I sure did testify. I remember praying that night and feeling an overwhelming feeling of my testimony growing. 

 

Whoever is reading this letter, I want you to know this: The power of God is real. The gift of tongues is real. Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is true. It´s simple. But I know it. I did what Dallin asked us to do last week. And I´m going to ask you to do it this week. Pray to know if Joseph Smith is a prophet and if the Book of Mormon is true. I promise you that you´ll receive an answer and I promise you that it´s true.

Thank you for the love, support and prayers. I love you all so much.

Love, Elder Bosco II

Week #10

las calles de Pompeya [the streets of Pompeya]

​Mar Del Plata is incredible! The coast is so pretty!

Las hermanas! [the sister missionaries]

A milenesa Sandwich. They´re so good!

Hola familia,
If there is one thing that I learned this week is agency. Agency is the greatest thing in the world, but one of the worst for missionaries haha. We taught Cora and her husband Francisco and the Spirit was incredible. They´ve had many troubles with their marriage and they said they wanted that peace that was in their house forever. They agreed to be baptized... but they never came to church. We went to their house several times, we called.. nada. Hopefully they had a good reason and we can continue to teach them. I have a pretty funny story when we taught them the first time. Elder White put a cat meowing as his ringtone for a missed call and while we were teaching, somebody called and it was a missed call so the cat started meowing During the most spiritual part. But all was okay because Cora has a cat and Elder White looked at it with a weird look to blame the sound on the cat and Cora had no idea. I almost started laughing, but I didn´t.. thank goodness hahaha.

We also taught Julio. Julio is ready for baptism! He reads the Book of Mormon and he wants to be baptized... but he didn´t come to church. He had a good reason.. well kinda.. but it was tough not seeing him at church. We´re teaching him on Tuesday and I´m excited for that.

We had several opportunities to give Priesthood blessings this week and it´s incredible. The Spirit is always super strong and it´s incredible to see the difference in people´s lives. One of the people that we gave a blessing to has many health problems. He had a problem with a hernia (spelling??) and well... he showed us. He probably showed us a little too much. He just kept pulling his pants down a little more. It was really funny and again I almost started laughing. But I didn´t hahaha.

Anyways, we had no investigators at church this week, but hopefully some next week. We ate at some houses and people want to know where Grandpa Bosco is from. Where in Italy. North, South, What island, how he came over. So if you can let me know, that would be great!

Thanks for all the love and support and I hope all is well at home with school and football starting. Love you all !!!

Love Elder Bosco II


Notes to and about friends (and answers to some questions):

• Tell Chase congrats and happy Birthday last week! Chase is such a stud and I hope he has an incredible year. Go Bulldogs! 
• Tell my friends that are leaving good luck. 
• The mission is different but it´s incredible. Next, I don´t need a bike, we walk everywhere. I mean everywhere haha. And we sometimes take buses. 
• When I saw Russ for the first time, a missionary came in with cameras and started videotaping and it was really weird, and then Russ ran in, saw me, and gave me a huge hug. Haha it was awesome. We talked to each other for a while but once we left to our areas, we said goodbye again. There´s a chance I could see him again, but I doubt it. We´re pretty far away. Send a picture of us to Michelle and tell her about it. Thanks. 
• And we had a zone conference two weeks ago. It was great but I didn´t understand much. Russ isn´t in my zone but it was still a great meeting. Go Cougars!