Parable of the Sower

Dear Familia,                                                                                                                          

Well, about conference. The announcement went out and that was all the talk so that´s what I thought, that we wouldn’t be able to see it because the law is against congregating on that day. However, it isn´t congregating if the office elders get together to watch conference on a projector in president´s office, so we watched all 5 sessions in there in our office chairs. I loved it, and this weekend my goal was to watch it in English, but that didn´t work out too well today. I think maybe tomorrow I´ll watch them in English though.

This week we did a ton of work visits, trying to visit someone in each of the zones that had room revisions and interviews to try and see how they are doing in their area. This week it was Magnolias´ turn on Wednesday and I got to do a work visit to Buenos Aires. Wow. Things had changed but really not all that much. There are a few more paved roads than before, but the people are the same. It was an absolute joy to be able to visit them and see how they have progressed. The G family had been more or less active for the last couple of months so we visited them and we talked about the importance of going to church and being grateful for the blessings that they have received in the last year and a half of being members. They have progressed a lot both spiritually and temporally and they just needed a little push to remember to be grateful for the temporal blessings. The G family (S y C) have been married now for almost a year and their daughter L is already walking and babbling...she was born just before I left the area! They passed through some trials like S losing his job in the past year but C was grateful to have the perspective of the church and the eternal familia because she said before something like that would have been enough to separate for a couple of months. 

The bishop´s familia is doing great. I think I told you about Hermana V. Well she´s something like 65 but her dad was murdered in Cusco and they really don´t know what happened. She was in Cusco for the last three months or so taking care of her mom. She is an amazing woman. The whole family has moved forward. Bishop lost probably 20 kg and he and his wife are both in accounting school so that he doesn´t have to work as a taxista anymore. He has been a bishop for going on 9 years, but they just keep going at it. The L family is doing really well. They have been pensioning for the missionaries still and the youngest of the babies are now walking and talking.

I think one of the most impacting things that has happened in the last year and a half in Buenos Aires is seeing that the parable of the sower is being fulfilled. Sometimes we are those that plant, others we water, others we harvest, but what is important is that we are working. A lot of the people we had worked with in my time there that hadn´t accepted at the time have been baptized or are set to be baptized in the next month or so. Some of them were barely just a one time lesson that we didn´t continue teaching because we couldn´t find them again. Others were long time investigators that finally overcame their difficulties and were able to repent and be baptized. I absolutely loved seeing all of the progress. I know that there’s a time for everyone to receive the gospel, and sometimes it´s when I have been able to participate in the end product and other times no. I am so grateful for the opportunity to help them along even!

I love you all, congrats to Darci and Joe on their soon to be son (a nephew!!!) I hope you are all able to see the spiritual progress you are passing through and what the Maker is molding you into!

Love,

Elder Nelson