¡Bienvenidos mis amigos! I am pleased to announce that this week was infinitely better than last week, quite possibly the best week of my mission. I will be sharing multiple extremely happy experiences as well as other thoughts. Please join me as we go through this absolutely beautiful week.
This week we spent a lot of time with my favorite people in Cordón, Carmen and Josue. They were quite busy all week with all the things they had going on.
In Argentina the majority of floors are tile floors. Carmen and Josue's house is quite new (they built it themselves a little over a year ago) so their floor was made of concrete. However this week they decided to get the help of Josue's cousin to tile the floor. So they had to move most of the things out of the house or in a different part so the tiles could be placed. Their house is also about the size of an average relief society room. Anyway with all that in mind they were getting married on Friday so of course of course many preparations were to be made for the wedding.
On Monday we went by and found Josue to be preparing to pour some concrete over a gap in between to drive ways because his uncle fell in it and hurt his ankle. We then helped make the centerpieces for the tables at the wedding, they then fed us dinner.
On Wednesday we went to their house in the morning and when Carmen saw us she said they were about to call us to come over. They decided that since all of their things were outside it would be a good time to clean out and get rid of garbage (my dad's favorite thing ever) so we spent part of the morning cleaning with them. Josue then told us he was going to extend the patio and pour some concrete so we went to Tunuyán to switch companions (Because we had intercambios) me and Elder Alcaraz then went from 4-7:30 to help them with the new patio before we left they invited us to eat dinner but we said it was ok and we were going to visit some people but thanks! After we left we visited a few people and then we passed them buying some food to make dinner, Josue again invited us to come eat dinner with them later so we visited a few more people, and at like 8:45 we returned and they fed us dinner.
On Thursday we went and we peeled potatoes for the wedding for like an hour. Then we had a asado with the elderes quorum as a bachelor party for Josue.
Friday, we go to Tupungato and watch our dearest Carmen and Josue get married. It is quite difficult to describe the joy I felt as I watched them make that commitment to each other. We take a bunch of pictures and that good stuff and then we go back to Cordón and help them set up for the wedding. Unfortunately it started very late so we couldn't join the party. But we went to help them in their house and were able to talk for a little bit. (Quite shocking because they were insanely busy all day) We talked about the first covenant she was to make the following day and she asked if I would baptize her.
Saturday, we headed to the church at 6:45 to start to fill the baptismal font. We had to jerry rig the hot water to stay on because when we stopped pressing it with our hands it turned off. We get the hot water working and leave it on while we go back to the house to get ready. We then go back to the church, turn off the water and go to Tunuyán to have a district council. We returned to Cordón and ran around trying to get everything ready with the help of our amigo Matías. We get everything going and everyone arrives, including Carmen who arrived 30 minutes late, due to many complications. We had a wonderful baptismal service where Valentina Mollo and Carmen Partes were baptized into the Lord's true and restored church of the earth today.
Sunday was the most peaceful day I have ever had. It was really crazy, and really beautiful. Saturday night we received news that Carmen was in the hospital for crazy stomach pain. The most sincere prayers were offered that night. We called Carmen in the morning, she said she felt a lot better and was healthy enough to go to church. We went to their house before the meeting and gave her a priesthood blessing. Although the house was quite rowdy, with her family there from the wedding and getting everyone ready for church there was such a peace. Carmen and Valentina were confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We gave a fifth Sunday lesson on covenants, which was perfect. We ate lunch with the Diaz family. Visited a couple of people and had dinner with Carmen and Josue. I'll say that it was hard to hide the immense joy and love for them.
These 2 wonderful people have truly changed my life, they are such amazing examples for everyone. This email is already super long and if I wrote all the difficulties and trials these guys went through it would probably be double the length. They endured through every single thing that tried to stop them and got themselves on the covenant path. The faith and desire they have to choose the right is unmatched. We were talking with Carmen and said they satan makes it really hard for new members to stay active and that he's not gonna stop trying to get you away from the Lord and Carmen said "Sí ya los espero" or I'm already expecting them. The faith of this woman!!! I love her. I can tell you all with surety that service truly is the key to love. I have spent the last 5 months serving Carmen and Josue and the last week about everyday and my love for them is immense. I can't stop thinking about them, they are some of the most amazing faithful people ever. They truly love the lord and want to follow the path that he has ordained for them. With all the problems that they had and trials that surfaced it would have been easy to drop it all and say this is too hard. But they didn't, they kept going trusting in the lord and his promises.
Many times this week including right now I felt as my Savior Jesus Christ did "And now behold, my joy is full." The gospel is true, not only is it true but it's the best, most beautiful thing to ever exist.
