The days are definately cooling down. Today is actually pretty chilly
and im already sick. This week defiantely flew by very quick. We had a
very good week this week as far as numbers went and a couple days.
Other days were rough and alot of rejection and walking.
Monday it rained all afternoon and night. It was kind of funny,
walking to a lesson we had this massive black cloud started coming our
way rumbling and lightning. My comp is actually really scared of
lightning when he is in the street. Well we had a couple good lessons
except one really bad one. Member family that is innactive. Father
used to be in the high council but due to all the `corruption` he saw,
he left the church. For the last year the missionaries have been
teaching the family to baptize their son. The father always said that
he was working things out to where he could baptize his son but it
never pulled through. Well we found out the reason that night. We
couldnt even say a prayer but we bore our testimonies and told them
whenever they need something to call us, but as for now we will let
time do its magic. Youd be amazed what time can do for some people.
Wednesday I also faced another question that actually got me in a
little trouble... Well we are with an innactive family and we watch a
boof of mormon dibujito about Nephi and building the ship. Afterwards
the dad pulls a question out of no where! How do we know God and Jesus
isnt black? I immediately started laughing which i dont think he liked
at that moment, but ya... Well he wanted an answer in the bible and he
wanted it then, so this is what i did. :) First I looked in the bible
which it doesnt say anywhere. Turns out it answers it in Moses but not
in the bible. Well i ended up asking him a couple questions. Do you
believe in this church? the book of mormon? ok, cool. So why cant the
answer be there? Really, i could care less if Jesus is white, black,
blue, or red but ya.
This week we found 6 new people that we have baptismal dates for which
should be very good. We got a man to give us his tobacco plant, I got
spit on, we built the roof of a house(half-way), we walked a whole
lot, and and some amazing lessons that made up for it all.
The most exciting thing is this week. Tuesday we have interviews with
president and Saturday and Sunday conference.
Challenge for each one of you. It is the same challenge I am making
with many people here. For the last couple years I have always thought
of a quesion I had in my life. The week before conference I constantly
think about it and study in the scriptures for it, then when
conference comes I take notes on everything, but i especially listen
for an answer. I have found every time I can find an answer to the
question. Whether its the answer i like or not i can find it.
Love, Elder Martino
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Walking the Villa!
Let me tell you. I finally have a straight up villa in my area. The
hood in the states is like a gated community compared to this. Its
called the Ceibo. We cant be there past 6. We are always accompanied
by a member for safety. It is pretty sweet but interesting. Notice, I
have not been robbed yet. Maybe due to the fact because my companion.
Because my companion is only 5 ft everyone thinks im a lot bigger then
i am. Its rather helpful at times when pibes start walking up to us
yelling. First off my companion, Elder Aquino. I do regret something.
I started this transfer off with the wrong mindset. I thought this was
going to be a super hard transfer and difficult and id hate it. Wrong
attitude! Ya my comp is a 5ft butterball-fastwalking-argentine, but he
is great. The kid is 26 and has a real desire to be here. He works
hard and just needs guidance. I am going to learn alot this transfer
but it is going to be a good one. He is a good guy with his heart in
the right place.
Monday was a good but quick night. I got settled into our new pench
then we left to go see a couple people. It rained all night(i have
learned to love walking in the rain). Oh, ha best part. So we are
taking a bus back to our area and Aquino decides he wants an umbrella
for the rain so he buys one from a guy down there. We walk out and
opens it and it breaks in the wind. I was laughing pretty hard and got
him laughing too.
Now Tuesday. Today we went to Ceibo for a bit. I met an old couple who
have been members for 36 years. Really caught me off guard but the man
comes up to me and tells me to sit down in fron of him. He then sits
down on the ground and proceeds to shine my shoes for me. He says it
is what he does for his job and it is what he does for all the
missionaries to pay back a little bit for what they did for him. I
will say it was the best shine i have had ever. It truely that i was
definately going to get robbed after that and have to walk home
without shoes. We went through the villa looking for a couple members
and investigators and a guy stops us. We proceed to talk for a bit in
the middle of the whole place. He proceeds to tell us we are good kids
but doing the devils work. He tries for a while to get us to say a
prayer with him in the middle of the place where we hold hands and
repeat what he says...Well we got him to let us into his house and say
a prayer. We made a deal that we will repeat his prayer about us doing
the devils work if we can say a prayer first. Itwent well i guess...
Quick side note, the members i mentioned above have two dogs.
Interesting but these two dogs follow us everywhere we go inside the
villa. If we go inside a house they wait outside then continue with
us. They bark at anybody we dont know or any dog that tries to
approach us. Kind of cool.
The rest of the week passed by way quick. Everyday we somehow ended up
to come back to the pench with more food that we didnt buy. Im trying
hard not to get fat mom.
Saturday. Well we did 2 service projects that took all day. In the
morning we were building ahouse and in the afternoon we helped a
family move. It took forever!! Their old house was a small passage way
that passed 4 other houses all the way to their house in thevery back.
The passage is just barely wide enough to fit their kitchen table
through. That took a while but nothing compared to what happened next.
Aquino and I rode in the back of the moving truck in pitch dark
singing hymns for about 30 mins with everything bouncing all over the
place. We get to the new house and it is the same situation but
skinnier AND the neighbor had built a skaffelding(sp) to build up on
his house. The stories high and very very shaky. Its a good thing you
werent there mom cuz i started from the top standing on 4 by 12 pieces
of wood and lowering them down slowly. That took an hour to get down
so we could get everything in. In took two loads to get it all in and
we fixed their electricity and carried there kitchen table across the
roofs of all the neighbors houses. lol. It was a very long day.
Church was very good. We actually have priesthood now in the ward
which is nice but i learned something. Many members dont trust the
elders. I have no clue why but it looks like something we will be
changing here. Aquino and I plan to have lots of success and that wont
be happening without the members. Therefor this will change!
Quick funny story. Yesterday we were teaching a new investigator about
baptism and i learned something new. When Jesus floated down the river
and the pharohs wife found him, she had john the baptist come over and
dunk baby jesus 3 times in the water. Yes he said Jesus and not moses.
I have no clue where he learned this but it was intersting. We will
see what we can do next time.
To finish this up a little tidbit. The last week of my last transfer i
spent a lot of time thinking a couple days. I didnt want to leave my
area but i knew i needed a change. I had lost all desire to do
contacts. It sucks alot of the time. I remeber thinking to myself that
i need a companion that likes contacting so that i can rebuild the
desire to contact. Turns out another confirmation that God does know
our thoughts. I got the perfect companion for this. We contact alot
and we have found a few people through it which i think will help
alot. Once again God has blessed me in my life and i know he will do
the same for you if you just ask and believe.
Love,
Elder Martino
hood in the states is like a gated community compared to this. Its
called the Ceibo. We cant be there past 6. We are always accompanied
by a member for safety. It is pretty sweet but interesting. Notice, I
have not been robbed yet. Maybe due to the fact because my companion.
Because my companion is only 5 ft everyone thinks im a lot bigger then
i am. Its rather helpful at times when pibes start walking up to us
yelling. First off my companion, Elder Aquino. I do regret something.
I started this transfer off with the wrong mindset. I thought this was
going to be a super hard transfer and difficult and id hate it. Wrong
attitude! Ya my comp is a 5ft butterball-fastwalking-argentine, but he
is great. The kid is 26 and has a real desire to be here. He works
hard and just needs guidance. I am going to learn alot this transfer
but it is going to be a good one. He is a good guy with his heart in
the right place.
Monday was a good but quick night. I got settled into our new pench
then we left to go see a couple people. It rained all night(i have
learned to love walking in the rain). Oh, ha best part. So we are
taking a bus back to our area and Aquino decides he wants an umbrella
for the rain so he buys one from a guy down there. We walk out and
opens it and it breaks in the wind. I was laughing pretty hard and got
him laughing too.
Now Tuesday. Today we went to Ceibo for a bit. I met an old couple who
have been members for 36 years. Really caught me off guard but the man
comes up to me and tells me to sit down in fron of him. He then sits
down on the ground and proceeds to shine my shoes for me. He says it
is what he does for his job and it is what he does for all the
missionaries to pay back a little bit for what they did for him. I
will say it was the best shine i have had ever. It truely that i was
definately going to get robbed after that and have to walk home
without shoes. We went through the villa looking for a couple members
and investigators and a guy stops us. We proceed to talk for a bit in
the middle of the whole place. He proceeds to tell us we are good kids
but doing the devils work. He tries for a while to get us to say a
prayer with him in the middle of the place where we hold hands and
repeat what he says...Well we got him to let us into his house and say
a prayer. We made a deal that we will repeat his prayer about us doing
the devils work if we can say a prayer first. Itwent well i guess...
Quick side note, the members i mentioned above have two dogs.
Interesting but these two dogs follow us everywhere we go inside the
villa. If we go inside a house they wait outside then continue with
us. They bark at anybody we dont know or any dog that tries to
approach us. Kind of cool.
The rest of the week passed by way quick. Everyday we somehow ended up
to come back to the pench with more food that we didnt buy. Im trying
hard not to get fat mom.
Saturday. Well we did 2 service projects that took all day. In the
morning we were building ahouse and in the afternoon we helped a
family move. It took forever!! Their old house was a small passage way
that passed 4 other houses all the way to their house in thevery back.
The passage is just barely wide enough to fit their kitchen table
through. That took a while but nothing compared to what happened next.
Aquino and I rode in the back of the moving truck in pitch dark
singing hymns for about 30 mins with everything bouncing all over the
place. We get to the new house and it is the same situation but
skinnier AND the neighbor had built a skaffelding(sp) to build up on
his house. The stories high and very very shaky. Its a good thing you
werent there mom cuz i started from the top standing on 4 by 12 pieces
of wood and lowering them down slowly. That took an hour to get down
so we could get everything in. In took two loads to get it all in and
we fixed their electricity and carried there kitchen table across the
roofs of all the neighbors houses. lol. It was a very long day.
Church was very good. We actually have priesthood now in the ward
which is nice but i learned something. Many members dont trust the
elders. I have no clue why but it looks like something we will be
changing here. Aquino and I plan to have lots of success and that wont
be happening without the members. Therefor this will change!
Quick funny story. Yesterday we were teaching a new investigator about
baptism and i learned something new. When Jesus floated down the river
and the pharohs wife found him, she had john the baptist come over and
dunk baby jesus 3 times in the water. Yes he said Jesus and not moses.
I have no clue where he learned this but it was intersting. We will
see what we can do next time.
To finish this up a little tidbit. The last week of my last transfer i
spent a lot of time thinking a couple days. I didnt want to leave my
area but i knew i needed a change. I had lost all desire to do
contacts. It sucks alot of the time. I remeber thinking to myself that
i need a companion that likes contacting so that i can rebuild the
desire to contact. Turns out another confirmation that God does know
our thoughts. I got the perfect companion for this. We contact alot
and we have found a few people through it which i think will help
alot. Once again God has blessed me in my life and i know he will do
the same for you if you just ask and believe.
Love,
Elder Martino
Monday, March 12, 2012
A Fast Week!
This week flew by way too fast. Every single day we were running from
appointment to appointment.
One funny little story. So we were in our meeting thursday night with
our mission leader in the church. We finished up talking about most
everything but i had a question about a member. Turns out i know what
happend. He died, right in the same room where we were. Thats always
fun when you have been trying to find this person forever and then you
find out they died right where you are sitting.
Well this very same day right before hand we were out in El Pato
teaching a couple lessons. Our baptism we had that lived out there,
the grandpa who is member told us ont worry about coming over to
finish up the last lesson because the 9 year old girl doestn want to
get baptized. Well he told us not to come over becasue that and what
not. So what did I decide we do? We went over there and talked to her
and the family. Well turns out we couldnt get her to change her mind
but we know it was the father who isnt member. super sweet huh.
Well we did lose a baptism but good thing is we had 2 others that went
very well. Saturday night we had our baptismal service and it was
great. It was the children of the women I baptized a month ago. Let me
tell you, She is golden. Since her baptism she has been in the church
i think almost everyday. Instiiute class, Relief Society, Cleaning,
Whatever other activity. She seems to be a baller at this whole church
thing and will make a great leader!! She even spoke at the baptism of
her kids. Oh, and yes i made brownies and everybody loved them.
Saturday night we got the call i wasnt expecting. It was my turn to be
transfered. Sunday was spent going around and seeing everyone and
saying my goodbyes. Im going to be honest with you. It was not too
hard to leave a single one of you back home to come on the mission. I
dont know why. I knew i would be leaving here sometime but i guess it
never clicked with me. I just thought of El Parque as my home. It was
a lot harder then i expected to say goodbye. One of my families here
made a DVD for me of my time in that area. It holds alot of good
memories. My biggest fear isnt to move on to a new place but it is
that i wont like my new place like El Parque.
My new area is Acevedo (I think thats how its spelled). It is right
close to Banfield. My new companion is Elder Aquino. He is from Chaco,
Argentina and 26. Everyone in the mission knows him...From what i
heard nothing was good. Im going to go with everything they said was
wrong. Hopefully this transfer will be great. Im excited to start in a
new area and get to know some more people.
Love Elder Martino
appointment to appointment.
One funny little story. So we were in our meeting thursday night with
our mission leader in the church. We finished up talking about most
everything but i had a question about a member. Turns out i know what
happend. He died, right in the same room where we were. Thats always
fun when you have been trying to find this person forever and then you
find out they died right where you are sitting.
Well this very same day right before hand we were out in El Pato
teaching a couple lessons. Our baptism we had that lived out there,
the grandpa who is member told us ont worry about coming over to
finish up the last lesson because the 9 year old girl doestn want to
get baptized. Well he told us not to come over becasue that and what
not. So what did I decide we do? We went over there and talked to her
and the family. Well turns out we couldnt get her to change her mind
but we know it was the father who isnt member. super sweet huh.
Well we did lose a baptism but good thing is we had 2 others that went
very well. Saturday night we had our baptismal service and it was
great. It was the children of the women I baptized a month ago. Let me
tell you, She is golden. Since her baptism she has been in the church
i think almost everyday. Instiiute class, Relief Society, Cleaning,
Whatever other activity. She seems to be a baller at this whole church
thing and will make a great leader!! She even spoke at the baptism of
her kids. Oh, and yes i made brownies and everybody loved them.
Saturday night we got the call i wasnt expecting. It was my turn to be
transfered. Sunday was spent going around and seeing everyone and
saying my goodbyes. Im going to be honest with you. It was not too
hard to leave a single one of you back home to come on the mission. I
dont know why. I knew i would be leaving here sometime but i guess it
never clicked with me. I just thought of El Parque as my home. It was
a lot harder then i expected to say goodbye. One of my families here
made a DVD for me of my time in that area. It holds alot of good
memories. My biggest fear isnt to move on to a new place but it is
that i wont like my new place like El Parque.
My new area is Acevedo (I think thats how its spelled). It is right
close to Banfield. My new companion is Elder Aquino. He is from Chaco,
Argentina and 26. Everyone in the mission knows him...From what i
heard nothing was good. Im going to go with everything they said was
wrong. Hopefully this transfer will be great. Im excited to start in a
new area and get to know some more people.
Love Elder Martino
Monday, March 5, 2012
HERE WE GO!
Well I am a little nervous this week. This is the last week of the transfers and I wont lie, im a little scared to go. Not that im scared to be in a new area or scared for a change, but im scared i wont like my next area like this one. This area im in, ya there are over 400 innactive members and a lot of other things, but i have grown to love this area and the people alot. (I have even been adopted into some families)
I realized how amazing this area was yesterday. We had stake conference yesterday and my branch rented a bus to take every one there. We crammed everyone in and as we were going i just looked around. My 6 kids that we baptized 4 of were all in there. My baptism from a couple weeks ago (the photo) was there with her 2 kids. The best part was that our primary got to sing at stake conference and they did great!! Stake conference of course was great. We filled just about every room in the entire church with people standing up. Easily over 600 people.
Well this week we had zone conference. Let me tell you it was long, about 7 hours...But, it was very very good. We got to hear from President and Sister Stapley and the things they had to teach us. Its amazing the guidance and inspiration he recieves for us because he is a leader for us. Many things came to my mind and many ideas came to mind of what i can do better.
We have 3 baptisms planned for this Saturday that i am very excited for. This week should go by very quickly which im not sure i like but im excited.
Love,
Elder Martino
By the way please to Scott and Kristi Johns thank you for the letter!
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