9/27/10 - Letter to the World

New Glasses???
¨Just Married¨
Angelica Gomez de Sanchez, Heriberto Sanchez, Elder Denton

¨Baptism Pictures¨
Elder Labra, Heriberto Sanchez, Angelica Gomez de Sanchez, Elder Denton

Hello World - dangit- my exclamation mark key doesn´t work...that´s gonna be a problem.i´ll have to use this instead - ¡

Ok, how´re ya´ll doin´ today? I´m doing very well¡
This week we made the final preperations for the wedding and baptism of The Sanchez/Gomez family. It all went really well¡ The wedding was on Friday at 10am, and then we had the baptism at 7pm. After the baptism, everybody had brought food, so we ate, we had a DJ come, and we had a wedding cake made - the party started after the Elders left - we had to be home at 9.30, and they hadn´t even cut the cake when we left - but the ward missionaries saved a piece for my companion¡¡¡

I don´t know if ya´ll remember Jonathan and Ariel Gimenez, but we´ve been having lessons with their mom, and she has decided to be baptized¡¡ She already has all of the lessons, and church attendance, so, we´re just gonna go over the lessons again, and she´s gonna be baptized on friday¡¡¡

Sorry for the short letter this week, but there isn´t too much new going on here.

I love ya´ll

Love,

Elder Denton

9/20/10 - Letter to the World

Elder Labra, Melody, Maxi and Elder Denton
The 18th was Chili's 200th birthday and we ate BBQ with the familia Egúez – Provoste, a Chilean familiy in the ward!
Eugenia, Jenny, Elder Denton, Dahi, Sister Provoste, Edwin

Banana Bread that Elder Denton prepared for F.H.E.

A Banana Cream Pie Elder Denton whipped up for a baptism.

HELLO WORLD!
Today is a beautiful sunny day here in BA! Elder Labra and i started running in the morning last week, and ran again this morning! WE did our studies, and then headed to meet up with the zone to play soccer! Last time we played, i made the first 2 goals that i had ever made (i´ve never played soccer, those of you that know me know why!) in my life, and today i made 4 goals! Either everybody else is getting worse, or i´m getting better! (I´m gonna go ahead and go with the second!)

This wasn´t the most productive week, but we had a lot to do. On Wed. morning, Elder Labra and i went to the church to use the TV to watch a DVD called ¨The District 2¨ which has a bunch of examples of how to teach using different teaching skills like resolving doubts, teaching about the book of mormon, etc. We were preparing for what we were going to teach the zone on thursday in the zone conference about teaching people, not lessons. While we were there, one of the other zone leaders called and asked how much they needed to bring for lunch the next day (we combined 2 zones for the zone conference.)...I had no idea, and they told us that we were supposed to be in charge of lunch....uh - 43 people to feed, and less than a day to throw it all together.
It had been about 5 months since the zone leaders had been in charge of doing lunches for the conferences, the last few times, the mission president´s wife did it, and the assistants forgot to tell us. that was convenient!...anyways, we ordered a ton of empanadas, some pastrys for desert (facturas), and thursday morning we had to go to where we were going to have the conference early to be able to go find a place to buy water for everybody, and find a fruit stand to buy mandarins and bananas! After all was said and done, the lunch turned out great, and the Zone conference in all was amazing also! I always enjoy listening to president, and learning what he has to teach! We are being trained on 8 lessons, and he talked to us a lot about the first one, which is the doctrine of christ. Oh - and i forgot, Elder Labra and I with 2 other elders were asked about 5 min before the conference started to sing Nearer my God to Thee in parts - that was fun!

This last week we had the baptisms of Melody Radolovic, and her brother, Maximiliano Salazar - they are both Cristina´s kids, and Macarena´s siblings. We thought that the baptism was going to turn out sort of lame, because everybody in the ward was planning on going to the stake center for a YSA activity that they had been planning for a long time, but, it turned out great! We had about 40 people there, and there were alot of non members that live near the Radolovic family that we are going to go try to visit today!

This week, we were planning on having 5 baptisms, but we ran into a problem with the Radolovic´s next-door-neighbors. The kids are progressing great, but the mom´s going a bit slower, and she doesn´t like to see that her kids are progressing, and doesn´t see anything happening in herself, so she gets a bit egoistic, and didn´t let them come to church yesterday. We are going to go today to see what´s up there, and see if we can´t get Sofia back on for a baptismal date for the first of October.

I hope that everybody is doing well, and hope that ya´ll have a great day.

oh....and if i didn´t mention - i made 4 goals today! haha! Love ya´ll

Love, Elder Denton

9/16/10 Zone Conference

Another excerpt (or two) from the Kroffs blog regarding their zone conference they attended with Elder Denton:

Four missionaries sang a hymn without accompaniment and their voices blended beautifully. They were Elders Lowry, Peterson, Denton, and Labra. It was great and brought the spirit into the meeting. Then the President showed the DVD, the First Vision, and following had selected missionaries come forward and tell when was the first time they realized that Joseph Smith was a prophet. He, then, talked about the role of the Savior in the Plan of Salvation, and the importance of receiving revelation during their planning meetings with their companions.

We didn't go, however, until we were entertained by Elder Mohulamu doing the Haka. The President asked if all the missionaries wanted to join him, but there were no takers. Everyone wanted to just observe with cameras in hand. He was a member of the U.S. Rugby team and this version of it was done before their games. Later in the day, I asked him about the one the BYU football team does and he said it depends on what island a person is from as to what they learn and demonstrate. His tongue was flapping wildly in this version. He is from Tonga, but was called on his mission from the United States. It was fun to watch.

The zones met for a combined group picture. This is the first one of many that the missionaries will have with the Gulbrandsens.

9/13/10 - Letter to the World

HELLO WORLD!

Wow, so this week we had a LOT to do, and we got a lot done!
From Tuesday to Thursday, we were in Leadership Training for the new program that we have to teach in district meetings. The training was VERY good, and edifying, and the travel was, well, travel. We caught the bus in the morning, and took it to the traing station, and then took the train about 4 stations, and then walked a few blocks the the church, and the same to get back each night. Getting there wasn´t a big deal, but after being trained all day, and THEN have the travel back home, well, it´s a long trip. We, like i said, have had a LOT to do, and the 2 of the days that we went we didn´t have time to go back to the house and change, so we walked around all day in our suits, and with our study journals and everything that we took with us.
On Tuesday night, we had a lesson with the neighbors of Macarena and Cristina Radolovic. 2 of their kids went to church last sunday, and in the baptismal service we had set up an appointment with them for tuesday. We got their, and had a GREAT lesson, and found 4 new investigators - The mom, Adriana, her 16year old daughter, Sofia, and her two sons Franco (11) and Marcelo (10). This last week we´ve had varios lessons with them, and Adriana and Sofia came to church yesterday! The dad came on saturday and took the 2 boys for the weekend. Sofía has a baptismal date for teh 24th, and Adriana for October 1st.

Besides them, we´re basically working with the same people as before. If you remember the Sanchez/Gomez family, the wedding is FINALLY coming up! They are going to be married on the 24th, and their baptism will be that same day.

This weekend, we have 2 baptisms - Maxi, and Melody, two of Macarena´s siblings. Her other brother, Nauhel, will be baptized on the 24th with Heriberto and Angelica Sanchez, and Sofía (macarena´s neighbor!).

We´re really excited to keep working here, and I´M very excited for general conferance that´ll be coming up in a few weeks! Wahoo!

I hope that you all have a great week!

I love you,

Love,

Elder Denton

Leadership Training - Monday Sept 7th

The following excerpt was taken from the Kroff's mission blog (http://kroffmission.blogspot.com/2010/09/leadership-training-monday-september-7.html). They are an office couple who have extended their calling for another three months recently. With daily updates, and Elder Denton so close to the office, it is fun to occasionally see pictures of him and his companion (Elder Labra) on their site. Thank you Brother & Sister Kroff!

Elder Labra (Chile), and Elder Denton (Utah - So. Jordan) are Zone Leaders and have been together for four transfers. The President told them he wanted to split them up, but was prompted to leave them together one more transfer. There must be something they need to accomplish while together this time. Elder Denton is quite the cook and I was the lucky one to receive some of his delicious banana bread recently.

9/6/10 - Letter to the World

Elder Labra, Matías Montenegro, Elder Denton Back - (Friend), Kevin (Baby), Cristina Radolovic, Macarena, Elder Labra, Melody, Juaquin, Elder Denton
Down in Front – Maxi, Diago, Nauhel, (Cousin)

Cristina Radolovic, Elder Denton

Hello Everybody!

This was a pretty busy week - or that´s how it seemed anyways. We had a lot of nasty weather, which always makes things a bit harder, but all in all things went well!

We had lessons EVERY DAY with Matías Montenegro, and he was baptized along with Cristina Radolovic on saturday! The baptism was a little bit hectic, but everything went well. With all of the bad weather in the week, we didn´t know how saturday evening was going to turn out, but miraculously, saturday afternoon everything started to clear up, and by 3pm, the skies were completely cleared up, and it was a beautiful day!

[Here is the reason it cleared up on Saturday. Elder Denton sent this tidbit to me: It´s been really rainy, and nasty weather, but on Friday to Saturday Elder Labra and I had a fast so that the Weather would clear up, and all of the people that Cristina Radolovic invited would be able to show up! We we left our lunch appointment on Saturday, it was clearing up, and within an hour or 2, it had turned into a BEAUTIFUL day!//gd]

We had a VERY hard time finding new investigators this week, but i had a great experience last night! I was with a member, and my companion was with another member. We went to the house of an investigator who we found last week, and we percieved that he has some trouble learning, so we knew we would have to go a little bit slower, but he had interest. After the first lesson, we didn´t leave him a Book of Mormon, because we were never able to present it, he wasn´t understanding what we were teaching, but we left him with the invitation to pray, and ask Heavenly Father if what we taught him was true....ok...that was all the first visit.

We got to his house, and he was there along with his wife. She was washing the dishes, and he sat down at the table with us. I invited the wife, and she asked what religion we were. I told her - ¨The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints¨, but we´re known a lot by the title ¨Mormons¨ because of a book that we have. She said that she was evangelical, and that she would stay where she was and just listen. We said a prayer, and then i invited her from where she was to pay close attention, and ask whatever question she had. About half way through the lesson, i realized that the water wasn´t running, and that there was no more noise from her washing the dishes (about 10 feet away). I thought that she had left, and as i taught, i felt the spirit really strongly, and taught very clearly about the apostacy, and the restauración, and then, as i was reciting the 1st vision, i saw her watching off to the side out of the corner of my eye. I realized why i had felt so strongly to say what i said, becuase the guy we were teaching wouldn´t have understood... As i presented the Book of Mormon, his wife, Elsa, came to the table, and started fingering through the book of mormon as i continued to talk to her about how it came about (its story). And then she asked where she could get herself a copy. I told her that it was free, and if she was willing to read it, and pray about it, we would love to give her a copy as a gift.
The spirit was extremely strong in the lesson, and then they asked before i could tell them when the meetings were. I told them, but we were short on time, and i forgot to invite them to church (i figured we would do that in the week the next time we saw them), but as we left, they said that they would love to go to church. I told them, of course, that they were VERY welcome, and that if they wanted, we could pass by to go together next sunday morning. They liked the idea!

I know that this is the only true Church on the earth. God loves every one of his children, and has a special plan for them. He wants them to be happy (2 Nefi 2:25), and there is no way that you can have 100% joy if you don´t keep the comandments, and if you are not fulfilling the covenants that you have made. I know that Jesus Christ made it possible that we can break free from Satan´s chains, as long as we have faith in him, repent, are baptized, recieve the holy ghost, and endure to the end. To have hope of a better life after this one, in the presence of God, we MUST have faith that God exists, otherwise there will never be hope to be with him. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that we, who live now, can know what God wants us to do.

These last two weeks, there if a phrase that i´ve had in my head a lot, and that really helps me in more ways that one.

Where does God want me to be?

This phrase runs through my head every night as we are planning, looking at the map, trying to figure out who we are going to visit. I know that i am His servant, and what I do is a direct reflection of what He would do if he were here in my Area.

God loves you!

I Love you!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Denton