10/25/10 - Letter to the World

Hello World!

Well, we had a pretty good week! Like i think i said last week, Alexis had his baptismal date set for the 23rd, and we had a LOT of work to do to get him prepared to his interview on the 22nd. The last week, we couldn´t find him at all, and we only had like one lesson with him, so this week, we had a lesson with him EVERY DAY! Mon, Tues, Wed, AND Thurs. On thursday, we finished up teaching all of the commandments, and we did a ´mock´ interview, and he passed with flying colors! Alexis is a REALLY smart kid, and he learns really fast! His interview was on Friday, and he was supposed to be there at 4.30...i think we ended up getting to the church with him at around 5, and he has a quick interview, and then elder smith and i had to run to meet up with some other missionaries to do an interview for them! That´s kind of the story of our week - there was a lot of running around trying to get things in order. Elder Smith and I were hopping that after the first week things would start to slow down, and calm down as we got into the groove of things, but that still hasn´t happned. Oh well!
The baptism on Saturday was GREAT! We share our chapple with another ward, and the elders in that ward also had a baptism. Elder Rayme and Elder Trayner (From SoJo Utah!! Woot! He´s good friends with Steven Davis) We wanted to combine the 2 baptisms, but the bishop of the other ward wasn´t too fond of the idea. At the end, he gave in, and we combined the 2, and it wsa amazing! The spirit was really strong! It was also a great opportunity for Alexis´s parents to get to know some of the members - even though they already know the family that brought Alexis to church every week!

We are working really hard with the members here. President Gulbrandsen and his wife came out with us on saturday to have a family home evening. He wanted to show us a way to get a lot of references, and it worked really well! It is something that has been in effect for a couple of years now here in Arg, but it´s like super updated, and more in tune with the spirit! Instead of just asking for the names of the people that they know, we also make SPECIFIC plans with each of the people that they know that live in the ward boundries so that the stuff isn´t all just left up in the air.

I can´t really think of anything else to say...thanks to everybody that´s writting me lately - Josh Poteet, Jaimee, the Peterson Family, The Wahlquists, the Jorgensens, (and my immediate family of course!) ...letters will be coming your way shortley!

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Denton

10/11/10 - Letter to the World

Hello World!

Ok, so, sorry about the short little letter that i sent you last week, but, i really didn´t have time. This week, well...i´m feeling a novel coming on.

I LOVE my area! Like i said, i´m in ´La Boca´. It´s a really down-town place, and there are a ton of big buildings. We are really close to a really popular soccer field/stadium that belongs to the team that´s called CABJ (Club Atletico Boca Junior) - Athletic Club - Junior Mouth. Ok, so...it doesn´t sound so cool in english, but they´re one of the 2 most popular teams here in Argentina. if somebody askes what team you root for, it´s either Boca, or River.
My companion is Awesome! We worked somewhat close in my last Zone - he was one of the District Leaders, and he´s a stud! He´s a hard worker, and we´re getting ready to put the pedal to the metal and put things in full gear this week! Last week was sort of slow for us, or, i don´t know - not as slow as it was full of stuff to do. Being Zone Leaders means that we have to take care of running all the errands, paying the bills, paying the rent, making sure that everything is ok....There was a new area added to our zone, and another companionship is getting ready to move, and there was/is a lot to do.
This last week was a blur - but here are some highlights
Lucas Diarte - This is the 15 year old kid that was gonna be baptized on Saturday, but, he gave us some bad news. He asked his mom when we could go by so that she could sign the baptizmal record, and she had changed her mind and doesn´t want to give permission anymore. He was devistated, and us too. We are going to keep working with him, and hopefully his mom will come around soon.
Benjamin y Daisy - Ok, so i don´t realy know them much still, but they came to church with a family in the ward. It was their first time, and it seemed that they both had a great time! They have 2 kids, Maxamiliano and Celeste, (10 and 7). I hadn´t met them before sunday, so, it was great to be able to go to church, and have them just show up!
Alexis - He´s 14 years old, and was a reference from a family in the ward. He, like Benjamin and Daisy showed up with a family from the ward without us having to do anything excepts remind the family. We had a first lesson with Alexis last night at about 8pm, and it went great! He doesn´t have any sort of religios background, and didn´t even know how to pray. It was awesome teaching him!
Those are the main people that i remember...
Aside from them, we had an AMAZING Sunday. I don´t know what happened, but it was one of the most spiritual experiances that i´ve had.

I´ve always heard about other people having a ´burning in their bosom´. I´ve felt the spirit before, but it´s never been anything like that, i know that he´s with me when i feel calm, tranquil, and when it´s very strong, it´s like i get the chills all up and down my spine.
At church on sunday morning the spirit was VERY strong. I was sitting there, and even before the first person got up to share their testimony, i started to feel that burning in my bosom. I felt like my chest was full, and it seemed like the spirit was screeming to me that i needed to get up and share my testimony. I then started that little battle that we (or at leat i) always have when i´ve decided that i´m going to share my testimony. Before, i´ve decided to do it, and if, at the end, i don´t get up, it´s no big deal...but i felt that if i didn´t get up, well, that couldn´t happen. But - the battle commenced. I told myself - ok, i´m gonna get up when this person finishes....and then somebody else got up. And then i said - ok, i´m gonna get up when this person finishes...and then somebody decided to one-up me and go and sit up on the stand to wait. So...i finally made the decision, got up, and went up to the front to wait...When i was able to get up to bare my testimony, it was amazing. I felt like i was on fire. The spirit was so strong.

I Love ya´ll, and hope ya have a great week!

Love,

Elder Denton

10/4/10 - Letter to the World

Elder Denton and new companion Elder Smith
Baptism of Raquel Gimenez

Hello World,

Ok...i don´t have a lot of time, but this is what went down this last week.

Raquel, the Mom of Johnny and Ariel Gimenez was baptized on friday. It was a small baptismal service, but it went well. It was great!

General Conference was AMAZING. I LOVED The first talk by Jeffrey Holland, and the talk by Pte. Uchtdorf also. They were both amazing.

There was one talk by a 70, elder arnold. he is the area president of the area south america south, and he is going to be in our mission this comming weekend from like friday to tuesday training and stuff. he ALSO is going to be doing apt. inspections....

I´m in a new area in the heart of capital Bs. As. My zone is called ´´Congreso¨ and my area is ´La Boca´ (the mouth). My new companion is elder Smith - my first yankee companion. He´s from Texas. He´s way cool - i´ve known him for a while....when i was in Litoral, he was one of my district leaders...

We have a baptism this weekend...i still havn´t met the kid. His name is Lucas, and he´s 15. I´m sure we´re gonna see him today!

I Love you all!

Love,

Elder Denton