Ninety Two Weeks

Hello Everyone!

This has been a really good week!

First of all, on Wednesday my companion had to go do his documentation paperwork in the capital, and so during the morning I got to go with another missionary that is training to Atalaya - my second area that I haven't been back to since June of last year. It was a really cool experience because I got to some converts that I have there who got married and baptized 2 weeks after I left (that was a sad time to go...) but that I haven't seen since. It was Aliana Suarez and two of her daughters (her husband was working so he wasn't there), but it was really really cool. We also got to visit a member family that we had made really good friends with but that I also hadn't seen or heard from since.

That afternoon too then we were able to teach a new investigator named Antonela that is super awesome. She was a referral from a member and he and his wife were both there for the first lesson. It went really well because they were able to testify to her too and be the ones that were able to extend all the invitations.

On Friday then I got a nice 1st degree burn from having some boiling water fall on my arm. Here they like to drink mate, which requires having a thermos (normally insulated with double layered glass with a plastic outer shell) full of hot water to pour in the drinking recipient. Well, I was visiting a member and one such thermos started to fall and I reached out to catch it, but had it break in my hand, which blew all the broken glass and hot water out onto my arm. Luckily I didn't get any cuts, but it means that I get to put on burn cream and gauze every morning and night and walk around with a cool sleeve during the day that I made out of a blue sock by cutting the toe off haha. (It really is okay, just a little inflamed the skin so no need for anyone to worry).

All of Saturday morning then we got to help our ward mission leader with service. He bought a new house (that had been practically abandoned) and so we got to help him clean out his entire patio. It was a lot of fun because it involved moving all kinds of heavy stuff out, cutting down trees and branches with a hatchet and then shoving around a little Fiat 600 to get it ready to be hauled out of there. 

Elder Mooneyham has been doing great too then; he has a spiritual power that I don't even think that he is aware of. The other day we visited a less active member that is really great but has only been to church a handful of times since he was 16 and went inactive (he is now in his mid 20s). In just talking, it came out that Elder Mooneyham was a convert of just over a year and that his parents weren't really supportive of him in the church. I didn't realize it in the moment, but it really touched him (the less active). We were then sitting in sacrament meeting in church on Sunday, and out of nowhere that less active walked in and sat down (in jeans and a t-shirt). I was stunned because it was someone who has had almost constant contact with missionaries even while he has been less active, but he said afterward that what really touched him was Elder Mooneyham's testimony. He also said that he was so choked up with emotion being back in the chapel that he could barely even speak (and it showed), and was already talking about when his 2 year old daughter serves a mission too, etc. It was a super awesome experience, and though I'm not sure Elder Mooneyham grasped the depth of it, he really can make a big impact in people's lives.

Other than that though, I don't think that there is all that much new to share for this week, so I hope that you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder McCollum

Photos:

2227 - Aliana, Violeta, and Stephy Suarez and I

2237 - Toad was trying to copy a contacting card from easter last year...

2238 - Bandaged up arm (During the day I put a sleeve over it too)

2242 - The burn - fun!

2245 - A toad rescued during service

2252 - Me inside of one of my favorite Argentine cars (Fiat 600)

2256 - They see me rolling...

2259 - The patio that we cleaned up. It's actually cleaner than it looks, we just shoved the car around to get it out some and it is taking up most of the space that we had just cleaned...

1010361 - Elder Mooneyham and I with Elder Mooneyham's MTC teacher, who just so happens to live in our area! (We had lunch with their family following the service).