The Week I Needed!

This was a week i have been needing for a while now. From my interview with a President Stapley a couple weeks ago i had asked him what i could do in the ward i am at. This ward was absolutely dead and wasnt sure what to do. More then 600 innactive members. He told me find new people. We have really started to just look for new people. This week we found 16 in total which is double the standard. Thursday i was actually pretty nervous because we were going to do divisions with our ward mission leader and the truth is we didnt have any set lesson for two hours. I decided to make some plans for old investigators and it was amazing. Earlier that day i found a sticky note with a ladies name and her address but nothing else. We passed by and it was great. We didnt get to teach her but we just talked with her for about 10 minutes outside and it went great!! We then found an elderly lady and her 40 year old son who showed up from work and listened to us. He turned out to really like it and decided to read the book of mormon. We then found a very catholic man has some type of leadership in the church. I started talking to him and it went very well up until my mission leader started to argue with him about the bible. I tried to shut him up and the guy agreed to come to the church this wednesday and watch a video with us. (Pray this lesson goes well) He is a very good man. After words we taught the cousin of a member family that we are baptizing soon and we brought his other cousin to listen to us. So yall have seen the movie August Rush right? I dont remember too much about the movie but a little. We found a family who has a son that is 11 years old. He has read the entire bible alone. He pulled out an acordian and guitar and started to play all sorts of farely difficult songs. He also plays the violin and piano and a couple other instruments. Its crazy teaching the kid. He understands things so quickly. He is super weird or different but he is such a cool talented kid. This week we also had a fireside with Elder De Giovanni and another day a meeting with him only as missionaries. It was really good but not what i was expecting. Last year Elder Aidukaitis dropped the cane on us and it turned out changing our entire mission. In the meeting this year, there was no sort of cane dropping and very short. This week turned out to help out alot. The best part is that we have 2 great baptisms this sunday coming up that should be GREAT!! The most amazing thing is that answers to prayers do come. Not exactly when we want but they do come. The mission really is a great experience. I never imagined how hard it would be and how lazy i could possibly feel at times but it is all worth it. I wouldnt trade it for a thing!! Love, Elder Martino p.s. Grandma and grandpa, yall are the best. Yall are the only letter writers i have and i really apreciate it!

Summer is Coming

It was a quick week but a definite difficult one. We have pretty much decided to drop almost all of our investigators we have and find new ones. We spent almost all day everyday looking up old investigators and clapping houses. We found some farely interested people but all of them need to get married... Thursday was specifically a really tough day. I have never before waken up in the morning here and literally not desired to be here at all. I honestly did not want to leave at all and above all i felt like crap and it was raining. I am proud to say we dragged ourselves out the door and went to work. No success and lots of contacts all day long. Comes to 7 oclock and we are looking for an old investigator. We finally find the house and they let us in. AMAZING. Mother and 2 kids. The mother is member from a long time ago and the moment we stopped by was perfect. They needed a change and both kids want to get baptized. They came with us to stake conference on Sunday which was great. I sat with them while my comp sat with another family. Wife is member aand husband no. He has heard from the missioanries for many years and recently with us put his own baptismal date for the 9 of december. He is progressing amazing. Saturday we went and did a service with them and afterwards went and did another service. Probobly not the best for my hands but definatley fun and worth it. This week we were gooing to have a couple meetings with Elder Arnold the president of south america south but we just found out he isnt coming but someone else is. This last week we had aa bunch of riots in the whole area. Everyhting shut down trying to prove something to the government. Bad news is we have to very careful in where we go. Goodnews of the week is my plumbing came in handy. The new sister missionaries finally moved into there new apartment with our help. (Goodness. I have no clue how the sisters get around with all the crap they had.) Their water heater was leaking and i was able to fix it. Woo! Love, Elder Martino

November Pictures

Oct. 29th

I honestly dont know what to say about last week. We had a service with an innactive member and we put in a new concrete floor for him which was fun work. He thought it would be easier to mix it all at once instead of parts at a time, so on a large piece of tin we had about 30 buckets of rocks, 40 of sand, 10 of cement, and water. I was tired afterwards. Im not sure if its because it was actually tough or that im just a baby since ive been here. On Saturday we went to go contact a reference we got of a man and 10 kids who want to listen. Bad news is we went on our bikes, about15 miles on a very skinny highway where people aim for you, and we wasnt there. The good news is we are going to go back one of these days. This last week we found some great people. Really amazing. The problem is its so sad sometimes to hear some of the trials people go through. I know my job is to teach them the truth that can bring them a new hope but its hard. The message i share I believe with all my heart, but sometimes I even wonder if some poeple can make it through these trials. I have wondered and am doing alot of that wondering right now about myself but thats just when he step back and let my faith take control. I love the people in this branch but while i am here there is alot of work to be done. I´m willing to do it except for the fact i just dont know what to do. We met one guy Miguel, turns out he was baptized when he was little, 50 years ago, but never been back. We leaves alone with his mom. We went the other day tohis house and he was completely different this time. At first he was a happy big man. We listened to him this time and he just looked like he was fighting with all he had with no affect. We cant leave his mom who is blind home alone or many things could and most likely would happen to her, but because of that he cant work. He is fighting between the love for his mom and the need to work to have money to live. He is a great guy and i really know something good will happen to him and he will be able to get out of this ditch. Everything is going well for me. Its getting nice and warm here, except for today. Last night it rained and everything is flooded so it cooled down quiet a bit. Well have a good week. Dangit, it just started pouring outside and i didnt bring my rain coat... Love, Elder Martino

22nd and Muddy

Exciting news, we got new bikes on Friday. Bad news, they dont work to well in the mud and i already got it super dirty. This week was a tough one. It flew by most of it and i didnt even feel like i was in my area at all. I spent one day on exchanges in Longchamps and another 2 days on splits with a youth in my ward working Brandsen. The good news is we have 8 baptismal dates out in Brandsen so at least the work out there is going alright. On saturday i had a wonderful surprise. Ruben, Jacqui, Hno. Berta, and Carlito (all members from Acevedo) showed up at our church building with a cake to celebrate my birthday! :) That was actually a nice surprise and they told me many people wanted to come but couldnt. Yesterday was a rough day and exhausted me. At church none of our investigators showed up which was rough. We left and ate lunch in the pinch that the hna. Nina gave to us. (she lives in front of us and is amazing). Speaking of her, i met her mom the other day who is 102 and still kicking. Well when it came time to leave and work it started pouring and we pushed through the fiaka and left. We went down a one-way dirt path about a mile and a half but when we turned around we couldnt get back... the rain made the mud so thick that the mud built up on the bikes and we couldnt ride back. well we finally got back (mud everywhere) and as we were biking to take the sacrament to an elderly woman we saw a guy in his car that slid into a ditch. Well, it was kind of fun and took a while but we got it out. When we showed up at the house to give the Hermana, who is 98, the sacrament they just laughed but felt bad because it was raining, cold, and we were covered in mud head to toe. Well i got the mud out of my hair and face the best i could and we gave her the santa cena. we got back and washed the bikes off a little and then i took a nice warm shower. It was definately and interesting day and im waiting for the blessings to come from this one.... Really we are working but this area has a lot of work to go. This is one of the challenges in the mission that you have to love. If you dont that just sucks because your still gonna be here. You might as well be optimistic and it will help everything. Love yall! Elder Martino

First Week in Korn

Where i am at isnt only about 1 hour train ride but it is the last train stop that exists. Its all fields out here and the area is gigantic. Not only is the area gigantic, but we as Zone leaders just recently got assigned to take care of another area too. We are the closest ones to it (about 30 miles and thank goodness there is a bus). It is about an hour bus ride and right now we are only going out there once a week. Oh, its called Brandsen. Now let me tell you about my wonderful bike...First, is if you go to fast the chain comes off. Second, The seat is broken so instead of a soft cushon seat its a seat of two steel rods in an arrow shape. Let me tell you, i am super sore some days and am very excited to get new bikes this Friday. Oh, and im getting good practice for my trip from Alaska. As zone leader i dont have to do much except right now we are trying hard to reach our goal, animate the other elders, and do intercambios once a week. My comp is a great missionary and its really good to work with him. Im excited for this transfer and possible others to have some good success. We only have about 30 people in sacrament and many people have gotten offended with an elder that was here a little while before. Its going to be a difficult one but i am excited. We are going to help as much as we can. Well let me tell you about my welcoming party here. We entered into a house and 3 men came in from the other room. One with a revolver, the other a machete, and the other a knife the size of a machete. The didnt rob me or shoot me so we are all good :). This week i had lots of random thoughts, for lack of good english. In this area im not sure if i am going to baptize too much but with 700 members and 30 active, we have our work cut out for us. The other thing is im pretty sure i´ll be here til the end of my mission...which will be a long time. I really am excited about being here. Being a missionary has never been better and i wouldnt trade it for a thing. If I new the mission was going to be like this before-hand would I have still came? HECK YA! Im pretty sure i would have came out much quicker. Its hard, very hard. Heck, my bici kills me everyday and my thighs are super tired when we have to bike down the freeway against the wind for 5 miles. I wouldnt trade it for anything. Not a ferrari, not the super-model of my dreams(although if your reading this wait a couple months), and not anyhting else. Nothing in my life up to know matches up to it. Love, Elder Martino

I've moved to Korn!

Well I left! I got a call Saturday right before the second session of conference and im moving. Oh, and Dad no i wont be able to train a new 18 year old kid. I got moved as Zone leader to a smaller area called Alejandro Korn. Look it up on google. We have bikes and its all campo out here. It is by far the biggest area i have had yet. My companion is Elder Inostroza from Chile and it seems like a great missionary. I have a feeling that we are going to have lots of success together. Our mission baptized 137 last month. It was the most since 2005 and we are steadily growing in all of the areas! Im excited to be here in this area and even more excited in general to be in the mission. Last week i was almost positive i was going so we had lots of people that wanted to say goodbye to me, but we still got in some good work. It wasnt as sad to leave the area. I really feel i did some farely good work in helping that ward to grow and made some really good eternal friends. The good thing is i believe i will see everyone of them again. The most sad part of the week was i lent my camera to a little girl to take some photos for me and she deleted all of the photos i had from the MTC. I have got to start backing up my photos... Saturday we had everything set up perfect. It was a mission rule we couldnt go see conference this day if we didnt have an investigator with us. We had a family that wanted to go with us and when we showed up they couldnt go. We called everybody we know but nothing. The good thing is we were able to get half the family for the second session. Sunday morning i packed a little and then i had to hurry to the stake center to do an interview. It was rather interesting. Turns out we couldnt let him get baptized yet. Still had some things to clear up and im not sure he actually knew what he was doing. We watched the first session and right after between sessions had a baptism. A member, Hno Pedraza baptized the 12 year old girl for us, Marlen. She is a great young woman and is the first to get baptized in her whole family, and almost all of them came and they all want to get baptized. It was a great baptism and a great way to finish up in that area. I really grew to love the people and i hope they did too. I know tons of missionaries pass by over the years but i really try to make a lasting difference on as many people as i can. Interesting story. We had an innactive member of about 30 years that we went in and talked to. She started to blow up on me how i am libra and how bad of a person i will be...It wasnt to fun to hear but i kept trying to bare my testimony but she wouldnt stop. Well it kind of made me a little upset and later on that night she sent us several texts apologizing. She told me how bad she felt and how she felt the spirit but kept trying to over power it. I had only met with her 3 times over 6 months but said she was so happy to have been able to know me. Im not saying it was me because it wasnt. Im just saying one moment of showing someone what the spirit feels like can change someone entirely. Well i love yall and i hope all is well! Dont worry, i still havent left on my horse yet to escape from the mission but im getting ready!! Elder Martino