Week 28: You Can Call Me the Pied Piper

Hey Everyone!

So it was a good week, and we worked hard in the time that we had to work, but we had a lot of meetings and different things happen this week that made it kind of hard to work.  

First, I had a huge blessing last Monday, in which I was able to help another missionary.  

I had a really, really hard time for like the first 8 weeks in the field.  I think I cried almost every day cause it was so hard for me, but now I'm all good, and the Lord has helped me immensely.  

I met a new Elder who is having a really hard time too.  He has asked for help and advice from many people, but hasn't found the comfort he is looking for.  The Lord blessed me to be able to talk to him for a while about the things that I did and that helped me to overcome.  The Lord really does give us trials so we can grow and so we can help other people.

This week we also were able to continue teaching the Alvarez family, who is SO AWESOME!  The father of the family, Dario always is reading the Book of Mormon, and has read each pamphlet like 4 times.  It is often too hard to teach a lesson because he has so many questions!  

Also, the Alvarez family came to church for the first time yesterday!  They stayed for all three hours, and it was awesome!  They asked questions, participated, and it was just so amazing, and the ward is a miracle for me.  From the moment that they arrived, they were swarmed with members befriending them and showing love.  I LOVE THIS WARD!

This week, we also had the opportunity to find 5 new investigators!

Two of them, Rosa and Miguel, told us we could talk to them for 15 minutes.  We started to teach The Plan of Salvation, and they told us to continue and they told us how much they loved it at the end, and they asked for our help to get them to stop smoking, so we have an appt. with them again on Thursday.  

Finally, Saturday, we had a great experience happen.  We tried to contact a door knock contact, and we clapped outside.  A woman came over and gave us a ¨No hay nadie¨ or in other words ¨I have no interest whatsoever¨ 

But then, like 13 kids came running over asking us who we were.  We told them missionaries, and we spoke in English to impress the little kids.  I asked the woman for permission to do a magic trick for them, and she accepted.  I did the classic coin disappearing trick, and blew their minds!  They begged us to come in and play with them, so I slyly told them to ask their parents to open the door.  The woman came over again, and told us that we could come in another day in the next week!  The kids then chased us on the other side of the the fence as we rode away begging us to come back again.  IT WAS AWESOME!

Funny:

I saw a guy on the freeway with a windshield that was so shattered that he couldn't see through it, so he just stuck his head out the window and drove like that......it was way impressive.

We contacted some old investigators, and when we clapped outside, a teenage girl came out.  We asked her about the family, and she told us she doesn't know them (Lie 1)  then, we explained that 2 weeks ago we talked to the family, and she said they weren't home (Lie 2) and then we asked when they would come home, and she told us that she doesn't know the family that lives their (she had just walked out of the house) (Lie 3).  

Needless to say, it was quite funny and we had to fight really hard to not start cracking up. 

By the way, i got a terrible haircut too.....so you can all laugh at me. 

The Lord has blessed me so much to be in this area.  I love this area and the people are amazing!

With Love,

Elder Conover

Burning the tie at the 6 month mark!

Asado

Week 27: Food Poisoning and a Golden Family

Hello Everyone!

So week two in Colonia Bombal, and we definitely made progress, but some different things happened this week.  

First off, we had an awesome four zone pday last week in Mendoza Central, and we had a huge asado and played soccer and what not which was way awesome.  

Next, we got a new investigator this week, named Franco.  We had two lessons with him, and the first one went really well.  However, the second one went terribly.  He is an Evangelico, so he really did not want to accept the Book of Mormon at all.  The Spirit wasnt there, and he basically wanted us to show him a scripture in the bible that specifically says that Jesus Christ came to the Americas.  It wasnt the best lesson in the world, but he ended up accepting the committment to read 3 Nephi 11, so we will see how that goes.  

We also got to teach another woman this week, Andrea.  She is an Evangelica, and she told us when we showed up to teach her again that she didn't want to hear anything more.  However, with the help of the Spirit, we talked about her son, who she knows is well off the path, and we promised that we can help him, so she told us to come in!  The lesson was good, but he didn't come in, he refused. In the lessons before I got there, she refused to even accept a Book of Mormon, but we promised her that it'll help her with her son, and after come spiritual coaxing, she accepted!

My favorite part:  Last week, we said that we found a young family and we taught them the restoration, and they told us to come back.  Well, we went back, and they actually did their reading assignment, AND MORE.  The husband especially keeps on reading more than we assign, and we are always there for way too much time because they ask so many questions and are so interested.  Last night, we taught them, and it was awesome.  They promised to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith together as a family, and they want to come to church!  We are so stinking stoked.  The Lord really blessed the lesson, and the spirit was strong.  

Finally, last night we biked over half an hour in the middle of no where, and the appointment fell through.....classic......so we started the long journey home.  

On the way home, I popped my tire, and we were two hours walking distance from the pension, and had about 30 minutes to make curfew.

Mom. I'm sorry in advance.

We decided to stand on the side of the road and try to hitch hike a ride back to the main road.....And it worked!  hahahaha Someone stopped and let us ride in the bed of his truck with our bikes and he saved us like an hour of walking haha

FUNNY:

So in the moment, it wasnt funny, but now it is.  We got food poisoning this week from some gross meat that we bought from a not-so-sanitary place.  We had fevers, throwing up, we were in the bathroom for a couple days, and I almost passed out a few times.  It was terrible haha

We were riding home and a semi truck drove by, which was filled with come kind of sediment.  It hit our faces, and I could hear elder Lundquist: ¨ahhhh it´s in my teeth!.....ahh it smells bad.....ahhhhhh its manure!¨ hahaha

This week we had a few dog experiences.  Of course.  

One, a dog came after me, so i swung off to one side, and made a kick at the dog, and i finally made my first connection.  Got it right in the Shnoz, which stunned it so it didn't bother me anymore haha

Earlier in the week, Elder Lundquist popped his tired, so we tried to hurry home before it deflated.  On the way, a dog came after him, so i tried to defend my comp, and i charged the dog, just to intimidate it, and it worked.  But then, when i passed it, another huge dog, his friend, and the first dog charged me, and I just had to put the pedal to the metal flying down this dirt road so i wouldn't get torn apart hahaha

I love you guys so much!

Elder Conover

Week 26: A Whole New World

Hey Everyone!

So first week in Colonia Bombal, and things have been pretty crazy, challenging, but awesome!

On Monday night, we got to go to the houses of the investigators, and the members to say goodbye.  Sadly, the Vera Family and Facundo werent home, but we got to say goodbye to Barbosa and Sergio and Ines, which was sad, but a good experience, and it has been a blessing to be able to get to know them.  

On Tuesday, we changed areas.  My area is Colonia Bombal, in the Maipu zone.  WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE hahahaha. 

It takes us  about 2 hrs by bus to get anywhere, and we are on bikes.  The entire area is just a bunch of farms, so the houses are super far apart from each other. 

My companion is Elder Lundquist from Temecula, California, and he has almost 7 months in the mission.  He is a stud, and he works super hard, so I am so excited for this transfer.  

The past few days have probably been some of the hardest days of my life that ive hadd physically haha.  The bikes that we have are super bad, but so stinking awesome at the same time.  They are kinda falling apart, but it makes it more fun.  There are a lot less trees so there is a lot of sun and we ride super far.  Saturday morning we got out of bed at 6:30 and we couldnt move since we were so sore hahaha.  

Anyways, this week we have been focusing a lot on finding new people.  We have contacted a few families, but unfortunately, all of the appointments fell, but we had a great experience on Thursday.  We tried contacting a woman, and she wasnt there, and her neighbor came out to tell us that.  So, we asked him if we could teach him.  He gave us 15 minutes, and we could take longer if it was interesting haha.  

We went to teach him, and his wife was there, and they have two little girls.  The man ended up asking a ton of perfect questions, so we were there for at least an hour and a half haha.  They said that they will read the Book of Mormon and pray about it so we are super excited about that!

Church was awesome, and the members are amazing.  This ward is a miracle.  Middle of nowhere, but there are a ton of people there, and I would say that it is better organized than the majority of the wards in the States.  It is PERFECT.  And, the ward mission leader is amazing, so that is awesome haha.  

So yesterday, as we were biking, we felt destroyed physically.  I just started praying so hard over and over again for physical strength and support to finish the day`s work, and every time, I felt a boost of energy and it was easier to ride the bike.  SUCH A BLESSING from the Lord.

Funny: (There is a lot this week)

We went to a fast food place to eat the other day, and I spilled a big cup of sprite into my lap.  People were all laughing, and I just was sitting in a puddle of sprite haha.  

We were talking to a woman, and I was trying to gain her confidence.  I saw that she had some kids in the yard, so I wanted to ask her how many kids she had.  Without thinking, I asked ¨Cuantos años tiene¨ instead of ¨cuantos hijos tiene¨ or, ¨how old are you¨ I accidently said years instead of kids, so she answered 32.  I was pretty surprised to hear that, and then i realized what I did.  It was a funny experience haha.

The other night, I had a dream that someone walked into the room and put a giant spider on Elder Lundquist in his bed.  I woke up, half asleep, and called over to him to wake him up, and let him know he had a giant bug on him.  I was convinced that there was a spider, and I had to make sure he knew hahaha.  He turned on the light, looked, and then went back to bed.  I didnt remember that until he told me in the morning haha.  

Finally, the best part.  

Now that we are on bikes, dogs want to KILL us.  

We were riding down the street, and we saw a dog start coming after us.  A HUGE DOG.  Luckily, i was riding in front, so Elder Lundquist would be the first one to go.  The dog slowed down, so Elder Lundquist did too.  But then, the dog just went in for the kill.  I could just hear Elder Lundquist yell ¨Oh freak!  AHHHHH!!¨ I couldnt stop laughing, and luckily we got away. 

However, we realized right after that we had to turn around. which meant facing the Dog again.  

Disclaimer:  I love dogs, and i dont want to hurt them.....but i also dont want to be attacked by one.  

So, we picked up some rocks, and made the journey back.  It was super dark, and the dog had crossed the street into the bushes, so we couldnt see it.  So, we started whistling to get it out, so it couldnt surprise attack us.  Suddenly, the dog came barelling out of the bushes about 100 ft in front of us at full speed.  Since, I was in the front, I took the first shot with the rock, which I think made contact.  We kicked up the speed a notch and just hauled.  The dog made chase and I could hear Elder Lundquist screaming for his life hahaha.  It was awesome.  

I love this area, and the ward.  We have a lot of Bolivian people.  I am so excited to see what the Lord has in store for us here!  

Elder Conover

Me in the middle of no where!!

Our House

My Compie

My Watch Tan

​This is the other language they speak in my area.

My Area

Week 25: Miracle End of An Area

Buen Dia Todos,

So yes, as implied in the subject, I am leaving San Miguel, and I will be transfered to a place called Colonia Bombal, Maipu.  I will be with Elder Lundquist, from California!

Anyways....the week.  

We started off the week well with a lesson with Liliana.  We taught her about the Book of Mormon, and it really was a powerful lesson.  One of those leave you in tears kind of lessons.  At the end of the lesson, we felt like we should invite her to baptism.  She accepted to be baptized of the 5th of March, as long as she gets her answer in prayer.  It was awesome!

We also taught Barbosa again, and we were preparing for war walking into his house, because we were going to teach him about the Sabbath Day.  

It went terribly.  

We tried using every tactic possible, and we used the scriptures to try to explain that going to church and praying on Sunday is not breaking the Sabbath.  He didn't take it all, and told us that he is going to talk to the bishop, and if the bishop doesn't agree with Barbosa, he won't talk to us anymore.  He then basically denied that the scriptures are the word of God.  

We went to teach him a couple of days later, and he was really sad because of all of his problems.  He told us that he is losing his faith in God, and he appreciates what we have done for him, but he doesnt understand why God would give him these problems.  I felt like I should share D&C 121 when Joseph Smith was in Liberty Jail.  I said the word ¨prophet,¨ and Barbosa exploded.  He said ¨Dont tell me about a prophet, Tell me about God!¨  I then explained very directly, but with love that we can learn from this expierence of God helping a prophet, and I wasnt saying that he should worship a prophet.  We got to testify of the story, and the Spirit was super strong, however, he rejected everything, and it was quite disappointing, but we felt at peace afterwards because we knew we had done our part.  

On Thursday, we finished a lesson, and it started raining.  And it was DUMPING.  we tried to wait it out, but after a few minutes, we realized it wasnt going to stop, so we just braved it.  By the end of the street, it was like we had just jumped in a pool.  Elder Ribeiro stomped in a puddle next to me, and that started a war.  Kicking water at each other and running through the street.....it was so fun hahaha.

Finally, we had an awesome time at church yesterday.  There was more people than ive ever seen in the building, and the Vera Family, Carabajal Family, Ines, and Soriano Family came.  It was so amazing and we felt so happy.  At the end, Ines went up to the front, and bore her testimony, and it was SO BEAUTIFUL.  She honestly is my favorite person ever, and we just felt so joyful to see her bear her testimony and the friendships she already has in the church.  SUCH A BLESSING.

Funny

In the rain, I kicked a big dirty puddle at Elder Ribeiro.....straight in his face, hahaha that ended the war, and I won haha.

We knocked on a door of an investigator, and a Five year old girl on the other side said ¨Are you the mormons that came the other day?¨ 

Us: ¨yes!¨ 

Her: ¨oh good, come on in!¨ hahahaha it was quite cute

Yesterday we were in a lesson with a family with a TON of cats.  because of all the cats, the whole time i was battling the hair floating around, getting in my mouth, face, hands, etc.   It was disgusting.  

Have an awesome week!

Elder Conover

The District

Elder Ribeiro ran into this branch...haha

One family in the ward has baby kittens.

I found a large pile of trash next to the train tracks...and of course i had to climb it!

Facundo, the boy we baptized...he's a stud.

ASADO!

The Mancuso Family (see week 9 on the blog)

Mauricio

The Ward Mission Leader, Hermano Celan...and no,  he's not taller than me...he was on a wall haha

The Schandin Family

Celan Family

The Soriano Family

Bishop Pages

Miranda

The Chafala Family

Week 24: I´m Looking For a Young Wife, If Not, A Big One

Hello!

Another week down in Argentina, and it was quite a strange week.  We had a lot of different things to do, like hospital visits and other things, so the work was a little slow, but we still had a lot of experiences non-the-less.

First off, on Pday, we went to the Mendoza stake center to play soccer, and cause I'm white and can't play for my life, I heard a lot of ¨Ahhhh freaking gringo!¨ from the Latino elders haha

However, at the stake center, some Elders told us that they talked to the sister of our Ex-Investigator who had all the pain.  Come to find out that the day he dropped us, they went to the doctor, and they found out that he has terminal cancer.  When we heard that, we rushed to his house to try to figure out what we could do.  When we got to their house, everyone seemed normal. 

Come to find out, the Mom didn't know, because the kids didn't want to tell her.  We almost said something about it, but luckily we didn't say anything.  Because it is pancreas cancer, they said that he can't break the law of chastity, so we have to baptize him, which doesn't work, but they sent us to his house to talk to him.  

When we got into his house, he seemed really normal too, and wasn't saying anything.  We kept pushing, asking him how the tests went, and how we could help, and he wasn't saying anything.  Finally, I just stopped, and said ¨Jorge, we don't want to hide anything from you, we talked to your sister¨ and I almost said ¨and she said you have cancer, and we want to help¨ but I know the spirit restrained me, and instead I said ¨and we know you are going through a hard time.¨ Come to find out, nobody told him he had cancer, and nobody told us that he didn't know.  So grateful for the spirit because I can't even imagine what would have happened if we had exploded that bomb.

Now, of course, Barbosa.  This week, we went to his house, and he was in SO MUCH PAIN.  He almost fell a few times, and I felt terrified seeing him like that.  We shared a scripture to try to help him, but he felt terrible.  We gave him a priesthood blessing, and although there were no immediate effects, we went by in the morning, and he was a lot better!

Another thing with Barbosa: We finally hit a problem with his progression.  His baptismal date is going to fall, but we tried teaching the Sabbath Day.  Ever since that, he has had a problem with the Sabbath.  Not that he doesn't want to keep it, but he thinks that praying, and going to church is against the Sabbath because the Lord said we have to rest, and by that....EVERYTHING, including God.  He got mad at us yesterday and chastized us because we were teaching on the Sabbath, so I'm kinda nervous about fixing that.  

Finally, we got a new investigator this week, Liliana.  IT WENT SO WELL.  Something really hard here is that people often just don't understand the gospel at all.  Like in one ear and out the other, but Liliana understood so well, and the Spirit was way strong, and I just started bawling.  It was such a blessing and really helped boost my missionary battery power haha.

Funny Section:

We were teaching Ines, and her friend Pepita, who is Evangelica....came.  We were talking about baptism, so i thought, ¨Why don't we just invite Pepita to be baptized?¨ so i asked her about why she has faith in Christ.  She talked for like 15 mins after, and told us that she has the gift of praises.  She then busted out in Song for a few minutes.  It was quite strange hahahaha

In a lesson, a 6 year old boy told me that I am a ¨Pajarraco¨ I didnt know what that meant, so i searched it up on the translator on the phone, and it just said ¨big ugly bird¨........lame

Finally, for the title.....we were in Church yesterday, and the last person was finishing up their talk.  At the end, a man stood up, who is kinda crazy, and he went straight for the pulpit.  The bishop looked quite uncomfortable.  He got up to the microphone, and just said ¨I'm looking for a young wife, or a big one, or someone to help me with the obsession I have with Maria Fernanadez....(soccer player)¨ hahahahahahaha

Love ya guys!

Elder Conover

​This is Diego! He is the guy who told us about his visions.

Cleaning the bathroom.