Hola de Constitución

Hello everyone,

Elder Trayner here, writing from Buenos Aires. Hope everyone is doing
well, and from what I hear everyone is doing well. This week was
another good week here. This week we have a kind of interesting
baptism. Yarine Cordova is going to be baptized because somehow her
membership record got lost and there aren't witnesses. Then the
following week we have at least 2 more and we are hoping for 7. On
the 27th we have the baptisms of Nicole Caimi (a really old lady who
has had a really rough life, but feels really happy with the church),
Gaston Miranda (the 9 year old who just moved here a couple months
ago), and we are also working really hard so that the Medrano family
(with the 2 young twin girls) can get baptized. They just struggle to
understand and they don't trust in what they know they have felt. It
is kind of frustrating, but we are expecting them to be able to be
baptized the 29th as well. These are our baptismal prospects at this
point.

Ok. So my whole mission just changed yesterday... They released
Bishop Villalba!! He is leaving to live in his other house in Azeiza
(where the temple is here). Now we have Bishop Casariego who was the
counselor. So crazy. I can't believe him and his wife are leaving.
We are going to miss them a lot. Also, a returned missionary who did
an epic job as the young men's president, Fabian Cardozo is leaving.
Lame. But we are working hard with a lot of people and the Lord is
blessing us to meet people that are really prepared and also people
that are members that fell away a long time ago. We are trying to
bring them back, but as it explains in the Book of Mormon, once they
have had the light and rejected it once, it is really hard to bring
them back, but we are trying really hard, but we understand it is up
to them to make their own decision. It is really hard to see when
people realize what they are missing out on and how they don't have
the happiness that they need in their family and then they don't come
to church to be able to change their lives. So dumb. It happened
this week with a few people. We went to some former investigators and
they told us how they were even worse off now than they were before
and how they realized they needed to find the help of God, and how
they had seen how the Gospel and our church helps people change, but
none of them came. Also, we found a man the other week who has 8 kids
and he isn't happy and he told us he really wanted to go and he didn't
come. And the worst was the dad of Gaston Miranda (the 9 year old who
is gonna get baptized the 29th) didn't come. It is so frustrating
sometimes. I just want the people to just fulfill what they say and
finally change their lives, but in the end it is their choice. Lame.
But I understand we are doing a good job here and the ward really has
changed, and that makes me really happy. I hope that this year can be
a year even better and I know that the Lord called our new bishop and
it must be for some reason, so we are excited to get working with him
and the new bishopric now.

Anyways, I just want to invite you guys to change the things that you
know that you need to change right now. Don't put it off, because it
will never happen. That is something I have learned here. I have
also learned the importance of being true to your word. I am so happy
for the opportunity I have to be here in the mission and I really have
seen a lot of miracles that the Lord has performed here in the ward
and this area. It's tough when there are changes, but I know the Lord
is looking over us and He always has His hand in our lives, even when
we don't realize it. Anyways, I want you all to know that I know the
Book of Mormon is true, and that by reading the book, by pondering
what it says, and by praying to God we can all know it is true. I
know that Joseph Smith was a prophet chosen by the Lord to restore His
church on the earth. I am so greatful to know this church and to be a
part of it, and it really has changed my life. I hope we can all
recognize the influence of the Lord in our lives and see how much He
really does bless us. I love all of you guys and I want you to know
that each one of you has changed my life, and for the better. I have
learned something special from each one of you. I love you all.
Don't forget that it is us who leave the Lord, not the Lord who leaves
us. Keep safe and look forward to hearing from you all next week!

The Baptism of Herminia Alicia Martinez!!

Dear Everyone,

This week was a most excellent week. This last week we had the
priviledge of baptizing Herminia Martinez, the mother of a less active
who came here from Mendoza to be baptized. It was awesome, and she
was so grateful for us and for the members and her family. It was
awesome to see how the family has become so much more active and
excited in the past 2 weeks. Anyways, this week we got word from the
mission that Yarine Cordova (remember my first converts??) doesn't
have a membership record, so we are likely to have to baptize her this
week because there aren't any witnesses or anything from her baptism
10 years ago in Bolivia. It's gonna be pretty weird, but oh well.
Also, we found a new family who moved here not too long ago that was
going to another chapel and their 9 year old son wants to be baptized
and so the Elders of San Cristobal said they would baptize him... The
Elders over there have made such a fiasco for us. Anyways, they are
excited to start coming to our ward and we are going to talk with
their son on Wednesday, so he should be baptized soon. We are still
working with the flia. Medrano, but they are being really slow and the
women of the family won't accept our commitments other than reading so
it's been kinda tough... Yup. Anyways. I love you all, thank you
for all returning to writing me this past week. Haha. Keep safe and
I'll try to send the photos in a separate email if I can. Love!

Is anybody out there?

Greetings all,

This week it seems my words will be limited because I have no emails
to respond to (other than the fabulous pictures that Megan sent...).
Don't worry, I still love you all, but c'mon... haha.

Anyways, this week went really well. We ended up having 7 people in
church and we were able to get two inactive families who have never
come to our ward to come too. The ward was really happy and Elder
Mohulamu is really excited because he sees how much the ward helps us
now. Well last week we were hoping to go and fill out papers so one
of our investigators could get married, but they ended up not having
argentine documents so we have to wait until they have those... so it
is going to be a while and I think it cooled their excitement some
because they didn't come to church... :( But we commited another
couple to do the papers when they receive their argentine documents
next month (so they will get married a month from then) so that was
neat... then we had 5 from flia. Medrano which is the family with the
two twin girls who are really confused about getting baptized because
the other elders told them that they really shouldn't get baptized
here. Anyways, their whole family came for the first time with all of
them (3 kids and both the parents) so that was neat too. They liked
it a lot. Then we also had Hna. (sister) Moron, who is the mother of
an inactive who came to church with her as well. She is getting
baptized on Saturday because she had all the teachings and everything
in Mendoza Argentina. She really is a blessing from the Lord. So
those people are pretty much our main investigators right now. We
were disappointed because we taught 6 family members (cousins and a
brother and his wife) of a sister in our ward and none of them came to
church. That was pretty rough, but we are going to keep trying to
work with them this week and with a lot of praying and insisting they
are sure to show up. Haha.

Yup. Well hope you all had a very happy new year, looks like you all
partied too hard to write me. Haha. We had to be back in our
apartments at 9 on new years eve, but we still heard lots of
fireworks. Uh... Elder Mohulamu and I get along really well and oh!
Haha. We did the Haka at the ward new years party. That was pretty
sweet. I'll try to attach my holiday pics and a video of the haka in
a separate email because I know some of you can't receive attachments.
Well love ya all. Make sure you write me next week or in the next 15
minutes! Happy new year!

Transfers

Beloved friends, family, and other random people,

This week went well. It was nice to see the fam on the webcam, even
though it was a rather slow connection. My nieces and nephews are
getting huge!! Crazy. This week was the week of transfers... and I
have some crazy news.... Not. I'm still in Constitucion! Hahaha.
Surprise. Elder Ramey left though. He was made zone leader somewhere
else. My new comp's name is Elder Mohulamu. Yup. He is Tongan.
Hahaha. He is going to teach me how to speak Tongan. Haha.
Epicness. Love it. He seems to be a baller (right Josh??) and I am
looking forward to keep helping the ward here. President Gulbrandsen
called us last night to tell Elder Ramey he was leaving and he said
something like, "I know Elder Trayner has been there for 6 months, but
he is baptizing more than anyone else in the mission, so there is no
point in taking him out." It was a nice compliment and I think it is
a good thing to get a new comp to have some new blood and energy in
the area. I'm excited to make the best out of this transfer. I love
all you guys and hope you had a great Christmas and that you have a
happy new year! Oh. P.S. I got packages from Nana and Grandma
today!!! Thank you so much!!! It means a lot to me. I also received
a letter from Charity and from the ward. Tell them thank you if you
see them and that I love them and hope the best for them and their
families! Love you all!

Until next week

Pictures from the baptisms of Milagros and Lautaro

¡Feliz Navidad! The Baptisms of Milagros and Lautaro San José

¡Hola Todos!

¡Feliz Navidad! Err... Merry Christmas! Haha. Hope you all are
doing quite well this fine day and this fantastic week. This week I
have a very special update that I have forgotten to give every other
time before. Since I started the mission I have been keeping track of
how many red heads and how many nuns I have seen. This week I will
reveal the numbers and who is winning. And the results of this year-
24 red heads and 11 nuns!!! The red heads win!!! Haha. They
actually aren't too rare here because a lot of the people here are of
European decent and are white. As for the nuns, they were hanging in
there, but then it got hot and I've only seen one since then. Crazy.
Well, hope you all enjoyed that bit of randomness...

This past week we ended up having 2 baptisms in 2 baptismal services!
Milagros Povea (her name means miracles, it really was a miracle...)
and then we had to have another service right after for Lautaro San
José because he couldn't make it earlier. It was pretty crazy, and we
were really happy with all the support the ward gave us and those that
were baptized. Milagros was baptized by her husband Amaru and Lautaro
by his friend's dad, Abel. It was awesome. Milagros shared her
testimony and it was so powerful. She said how she had finally found
happiness in her life and in her family and how happy she was to
finally complete her family. It was awesome. It was also really good
with Lautaro and his Mom. His mom said she didn't really understand
why her son wanted to do it, but she said he was happy and so she
would support it. She came to the baptism and it looks like she
really felt the spirit and so we will have to follow up with that.

In other news, we had a zone conference yesterday and it was awesome.
We went to the mission home and they talked a lot about working with
members and it was really something that we feel we can put into
practice and get results. We also did a white elephant and I ended up
with a new tie. Bonus. Other bonuses of the week- we scheduled our
Christmas lunch with Hugo and Miriam Robledo and their family (love
it). And our other lunches are with other ballers in the ward, so we
are pretty pumped about our lunch situation this week. Other news-
transfers are next week, but President really really emphasized how
there aren't going to be changes this time so who knows, maybe I'll
just be in Constitucion my whole mission. Haha. Bonus. In other
random news... we get to do our Christmas phone call by Skype (web
cam) and so that ought to be somethin neat. Oh- We'll see if I can
get the pictures from the baptism uploaded but it's not looking like
it, cuz the computer is being dumb, but if I can I'll put them this
week, but if I don't, remind me next week. What else... I hear Nicole
is back?? Nuts, swear we both just left. Haha. Also... our
apartment is now at an average temperature of 84... suffering...
Haha. Oh well. As for this week's baptismal prospects- we have to
make sure Yarine Cordova really doesn't have a church record and then
we'll have just a private and small baptismal service because she
really is a member, but somehow her record is lost. But we are going
to make sure it really is lost first so we'll see if she gets baptized
again this week. Weird, right? Oh well, it's just like the
Sacrament, but more. Haha... I guess I didnt put what happened with
Maria and Katy. Dumb. So we prepared them really well for everything
and then they went to their interviews in the church on Thursday and
passed. So we're filling out the records and then they started saying
how they changed their mind and that they either wanted more time to
get to know the ward here (because they had gone to another ward
before) or they wanted to get baptized in that ward.... DUMB. We
couldn't resolve the doubt, and they wouldn't commit to coming to
church on Sunday, it was a disaster. But they did come to the baptism
(the whole family minus the brother) and thoroughly enjoyed them both.
So surely they will be baptized, but we'll see when.

Well that is all for this week! Looks like the pictures won't send so
I'll try to send them next week. I love you all very much and I hope
you all have a very merry Christmas! Do some good in the world!!
Haha. Eat enough casserole to cover me and looks like I'll see you
guys (the fam) on Christmas! Merry Christmas!

Pictures from the baptism of Jose Robledo and some random ones from
the Bishop's family. Enjoy!