March 19 from Argentina

I recently read a quote by Alexander Papaderos that says, “I am not the source of light, but I can reflect that light into dark places.” It reminded me of what my purpose is and how I fulfill it, how success in the mission should be measured. The missionary purpose is to invite others (in this mission, everyone) to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel. Our success is not measured in the number of baptisms, though that is how these people will receive the restored Gospel, but is measured by our invitation to come unto Christ. We can have success every day as missionaries if we help cultivate faith in the Savior and invite others to come unto Him. I´m trying to keep this in mind every day. After every lesson I ask myself, "Were we able to build their faith and help them come closer to Christ?" If we teach with the Spirit we will be successful teachers because the Spirit is the real teacher. In this mission we have 5 ingredients that make up the "best mission in the world." One of them says, "We are meticulously obedient and filled with the Spirit." I know that we can be filled more with the Spirit as we strive to be meticulously obedient to every commandment and every rule.

That´s something I love about my new companion, Hermana Schneider. She has a desire to be exactly obedient. I have a feeling that we´ll be able to have a lot of success here because of the desire we share to "obey every word of command with exactness." Hermana Schneider is from American Fork, UT. She´s a good missionary and only has 3 months left. Spanish is still really difficult for her and I´m determined to help her with it. The first thing she told me is that we´re not allowed to speak in English, for her sake, but I´m sure it will bless me, too. Our area is Caseros I. I really like it here. The ward is really great, but a little old. We have a lot of pioneers here. The chapel in Caseros was the very first chapel to be built in all of South America and we ate lunch yesterday with the first bishop. It was so cool to listen to all of the stories they shared with us.

We have very few investigators as of right now. We´re working on doing a lot of street contacting and knocking on doors. We did 168 contacts this last week and found a handful of hopefuls. I don´t mind tracting, I find it fun now, but it´s really exhausting to be in the street all day and only sit down for lunch. I guess the plus side is that I´m sleeping a lot better now as a result of it all. It´s a different dynamic here than in Libertad. I miss my old area and the people there, but I´m excited for this new adventure. It´s helping me grow a lot as a missionary. The circumstances are just enough out of my comfort zone to push me and help me improve. I love that.

I´m excited to see where this next year takes me and what it has to teach me. I´m so excited for General Conference. I´m excited for the people we´ll invite, for the opportunity they´ll have to listen to a prophet of God and His apostles. It´s going to be great and I´m sure when it ends I´ll be a better person and instrument in the Lord´s work. I pray that each of you will prepare your hearts and minds to receive revelation and learn what it is that God wants you to know personally through His chosen servants. Thank you for everything. I love you all and pray for you always. God bless.

Love,

Erin