Semana 3, 8/22/16

Hola Familia!

My week has been really good! We made some good progress this week! Glad to hear you enjoyed hearing about the food Mom! I have some more updates for you on this matter today! Haha.

That´s really cool that Dad was able to have The Evanescence of Hope in a film festival in New York! I hope he enjoyed his time there and that they had the correct cut with the new musical score!

That´s also certainly exciting to hear about school starting back up for you and Landon! It´s so weird to me! The days of school seem so far away! Keep helping the kids Mom! Even if they are still choosing to be disobedient, you can make patient daily progress with them! You rock!

As for the updates on food, etc. We have gotten a lot more viandas and almuerzos! They´ve been seeing to it that we have one each day (except for p-days). So after not having Chicken Milanesa yet on my mission I had it for three straight days last week! Haha. It was really good though. I was very grateful for that blessing. It is seriously extremely kind of the members to prepare food for us. I hope I can give back to them for their generosity by being the best missionary I can be!

As for the work, we are moving forward and trying to help more people prepare for baptism! As for Violeta, we are hoping to find out tonight if she spoke with her Dad about baptism again. She has been reading and praying with her mother and step father. She came to stake conference as well which was awesome! 

With that being said, Stake Conference was the big event for us this past week. The Stake President here, President Canga of the Ramos Mejìa stake, set a goal that each companionship of the stake bring 5 investigators and 5 less active members. He promised that if each of them came to the conference with a question that they would receive an answer to their question.

With our goal of 5 investigators and 5 less active members we plowed on forward! We had a crazy schedule this week because after p-day last monday, our Tuesday was taken up by a mission trip to the temple! To add to the mania of a shortened week to work in our area we had "divisiones" for the first time of my mission! Therefore, I would be working with Elder Motta (an elder from Brazil that doesn´t speak a lick of English) in my area while Elder Wendt worked with his companion in their area for the whole day friday.

Talk about crazy! Last Monday was a holiday here and we enjoyed a good meal at the chapel with members for lunch. Then Tuesday was a beautiful day at the temple! We did a session, ate lunch, had training with Pres. Robertson and then took a group picture before heading back out to work. Wednesday we hit it hard again and we had some very cool experiences between Wednesday and the first session of stake conference Saturday night. I don´t know if I can fit all the news in but I will try!

First off we got in to teach an investigator named Micaela. She has received essentially all the lessons, but hadn´t received missionaries for a couple of months. We got in talked with her, and we could tell she had a sincere testimony of the gosel and our teachings. Just like that we have another baptismal date! We are working hard to help her prepare for baptism this weekend! I hope we can do it! Either way, we trust that the Lord´s will can be done, and we will be able to reschedule her baptism for when she is prepared!

Next, after a long day of work we were crossing some railroad tracks when I heard voices faintly and looked back to see people calling for us! We went back and discovered it was two investigators from a part member family that we had been looking for, but couldn´t find their address! Just after that we were walking and I saw a woman looking at us funny, I turned to greet her and we discovered it was another investigator that we had been trying to set an appointment with!

After all of the above milagros, I had splits with Elder Motta. It was a great day, and we were able to have a powerful lesson with Cintia, the woman that Elder Wendt and I had run into the night before. She is facing some very tough circumstances right now, but I felt like we were really able to invite the love that the Savior has for her. After that, our last lesson of the night was with a part member family. Elder Motta was boss, and we worked with two of the children that aren´t members, Gaston y Brenda (the same family that has Violeta). We had a great lesson and Gaston y Brenda committed to write a question that they were going to bring to the conference the next day!

I´m getting pretty lengthy here so I will conclude by saying that Stake Conference was great! We had 5 investigators there (Violeta, Gaston, Brenda, Lucas, and Micaela) and I´m not positive on the less-actives number yet but I hope we were able to get five of them there! We were really blessed to hear from Elder Heber Teixera, a member of the Seventy, and Elder Wendt and I got to participate in the stake choir!

I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that we are all imperfect, but that God knows us perfectly. He is loving and patient. We can trust in all moments that he has prepared a way for us to do what he asks of us! Take action and follow your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Love,

Elder Lambert

P.S. attached you will find a picture of my district from the CCM with one of my teachers (Hna Cristeche) and a picture of my group that did a session at the temple last Tuesday with Pte y Hna Robertson!

De Diez, 8/15/16

Hola Familia!

That´s awesome news about all of the visits with family, Nicole Baldwin, and Jordon! Jordon is an awesome guy! He emailed me just the other week. Sounds like you could have some really positive progress at Millcreek this coming year! Keep up the good work Mom! You have always been such a positive influence on my life, and I know you impact all of those kids for the better! You rock! As for the olympics- I´ve heard close to nada. If people have tried to tell me that the US is doing well I must have not been able to understand what they were saying haha. We do see lots of TVs that are turned on though.

The southern hemisphere has been great this week. If winter is always this warm here than summer may just be blazing! To answer you question- my companion speaks really good english. He studied in school and he has been studying on the mission (He´s 13 months out on the mission.) His english is almost picture perfect- not much of an accent. Although it is funny to contrast how he sounds in Castellano in comparison to English. He only occasionally pronounces the v in english as a w haha. The members have not fed us much as of yet- we´ve had one almuerzo with a less active family and two "viandas" where they give us the food and we take it to our apartment to eat. However, we just got a new ward mission leader who feels it is a sin that the members haven´t arranged almuerzo with us so he has sought to it that we have almuerzos the whole coming week! haha. I will say though- when you get fed, you get FED. Today for a ward activity they loaded us up! They eat TONS of pasta and bread, with an almuerzo every day I may be in danger of diabetes. We always keep healthy produce, etc around the apartment though.

As for the work of the Lord! We worked dilligently to find new investigators and keep our current ones progressing this past week! We have an investigator with a baptismal date for the 27th of this month! I extended the invitation this past week to Violeta, and she accepted. She is 10 years old and lives with her Mom and Step-dad who are both recent converts. Their family is awesome! I haven´t known them very long but I can see that in the short time I have known them that they are continuing to make amazing strides in their lives! The trouble is that Violeta´s mom wants to be sure she has permission from her birth father, which we respect. He wants her to wait until she´s older to decide what religion she would like to join, which is understandable. We invited Violeta to really read, and pray so that she can firmly say for herself that she knows the gospel is true! I hope that Violeta will have the opportunity to be baptized this month! I know that God´s will is going to be accomplished as we continue to labor in his work! We´re excited to do what we can and trust that all work in the way God needs it to!

We have several other investigators- I believe I mentioned Yonatan the past week. Unfortunately, it has been difficult and they haven´t been progressing (not keeping commitments, missing church, etc.) We have stake conference this coming weekend and the Stake President, President Canga, has set a goal for each companionship to bring 5 investigators and 5 less active members over the course of the weekend! We are working towards it and hope that we can have Yonatan, Agustina, Micaela, Violeta, and other of our investigtors currently known and unknown with us there too!

I know that my redeemer lives! Every time I excercise faith and trust that what I believe to be true is true I receive more light, more joy, and more comfort! I am grateful to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ! I have so much happiness in my life, and am so blessed of the Lord! I hope I can share that and be the means of "saving some soul"!

I love you all! I wish all the best! Thank so much for all of your love and support! ¡Besitos!

-Elder Lambert

Primera Semana en el camp misiona, 8/8/16

Hola Madre y famila!

I´m excited to email you all today and give you the report for the past ten days! To get up to date, after my last email I still had four and a part of a day remaining in the CCM in Argentina. The last four days were very cool, but a little difficult in some ways as well. The biggest difficult was that as the time to leave was approaching, the missionaries in my district got less interested in studying and more interested in just hanging around. Chalk one up for human nature- I did my best to help us stay focused, and did my own study but naturally people were concerned with getting each other´s contact info, etc. before they left for the mission field.

Our last Saturday proselyting was another joy! Working with Elder Ludlow was very fun, and I was glad we had the chance to work together. We went back to our two appointments and were able to talk with Nicolas briefly. Unfortunately, he didn´t want to talk very much, and I wasn´t able to understand enough of his castellano to be able to understand why. Our other appointment Juan wasn´t there either but we were able to talk with his cuñado again, and contact their neighbor! Overall, it was a great experience! We placed both of our Book of Mormon´s again, and received 5 more references for the area!

Fast forward to the following Tuesday and it was campo day! In the morning we had breakfast and then had to make sure all of our stuff was ready to go before 8 AM! We took some time and did some service, because our mission president didn´t make it to pick us up until around 11 AM.

We headed out, had several short meetings over our finances, staying safe, caring for our apartments (pensiones), etc. Then we got our assignments and headed out to work! My companion is...(drum roll please)...Elder Wendt! Elder Wendt is 22 years old and is from Germany! His mother is argentine so he already spoke Castellano before coming to the mission in addition to German! He is the district leader for our district, and is training me right now! Lots to do!

Our area is called Atalya! The area is fairly poor, but there are some nicer houses interspersed between some of the more worn down areas. Our ward is very nice. We had probably 100 people in attendance this past Sunday, and we have been trying to really work with the members here!

Our area is being reopened for the Elders after a short time being closed so both Elder Wendt and I were starting from ground zero basically. There are also some Hermanas in the ward who were here before though, so we have certainly had some help in getting things going!

We have had some cool experiences including having my first lesson with an old contact in the area, Yonatan! We stopped by and caught him Wednesday night. He invited us in and we taught the first lesson. I had the opportunity to extend the baptismal invitation to him and he accepted! It was pretty awesome! The spirit was definitely strong in the lesson. We have a lot of work to do with Yonatan for an August 27th baptismal date, but I plan on helping him in any and every way I can! He is a very good guy, 27 years old, and lives with his father. He smokes, and has had problems with drug use that we are hoping to help him with.

We also had our first baptism! Haha. We kind of had it handed to us, because we picked up some of the investigators that the Hermanas hear had been teaching previously. It was still a privelege though to meet Antonia for a couple of lessons, and help her with her baptism and confirmation! She is awesome- a mother of 4 girls and a boy. She has been attending church for 4 years now! She chose to separate from her boyfriend she had lived with for 17 years to be baptized! She is demonstrating incredible faith and I am so glad I get to see a part of her conversion!

Besides that things are stellar! Had an awesome lunch with a less active family yesterday! I´m having to adjust to my budget here because I don´t know how much things will cost, and at home it was very easy for me to manage my money knowing my income and my expenses.

I love you all! Yo sè que mi Señor vive, estoy agradecido por la misericordia, el merito, y la gracia de Jesucristo. Le doy gracias para siempre.

-Elder Lambert

Last Week in the CCM! 7/28/16

Mother Dear and fam bam:

Greetings from the Southern Hemisphere! Thanks so much for the details of the trip to Glacier National Park and the pictures! Those pictures look awesome!! Thank you so much for taking us on adventures our whole lives growing up! It took me a long time to appreciate all of the fun of getting lost in the woods being lead by Dad, but I would take those memories over sitting at home any day! I will always cherish the appreciation you and Dad have given me for nature, and that we need to be mindful of how our actions impact the beautiful world we have been given! As dorky as maybe I chose to feel sometimes I was always glad when Dad had us pick up trash that we saw as we were on a walk, etc!

With another week gone by, Elder Ludlow and I have had many more opportunities to improve our Spanish, improve our teaching, and strive to be better representatives of our Lord Jesus Christ! I´ll hit you with some highlights:

1. Tracting this past Saturday was awesome! I was feeling fearful this past Saturday on our way out for some reason, and I could tell on our first few contacts that I was feeling a little shaky and my Spanish wasn´t coming as easily. Then after a few doors, we knocked in to a young man named Nicolas. I couldn´t quite tell if Nicolas was a teenager or a Dad, but I saw a little boy poke his head out the door so I assumed it was his son. I greeted Nicolas and told him that we had a message about Jesus Christ and how families can be together forever! The next miracle was that I could tell what he said next! He asked me, "In what way (can families be together forever)?" I explained that we believe that if we follow Jesus Christ in this life that we have the opportunity to live with our families in Eternal life! Even more to my surprise, he said that he would like to meet with us again to hear more about our beliefs and we set up a return appointment for this Saturday! From that point on, Elder Ludlow and I were on fire! We placed both of our Book of Mormons, plus a third that I had brought myself, and had the opportunity to talk with some teenage boys, and teach them about our beliefs in the Word of Wisdom! When all was said and done, we had collected five references for the missionaries who were actually serving in that area, and had scheduled two appointments for this coming Saturday of people to meet with! I´m very excited for the chance to meet with Nicolas, and the other potential investigator, Juan this coming week. They seem like really good men, and I hope we can help them to come closer to Jesus Christ!

2. All of the missionaries that are in the CCM right now and will be serving in one of the Buenos Aires missions had the chance to meet their mission president and the mission president´s family! It was very cool to have the chance to hear from Presidente and Hermana Robertson briefly. We also got to meet their two sons that are here- Dallas (?), and Dallin. It was so cool to speak with them, and to hear from them as we are finishing our preparations to leave the CCM in the coming week. I hope that I can prepare myself as best I can to contribute as I leave for the field this coming week. They said that this was the first time they have ever been able to meet some of their missionaries before they have actually arrived to the mission, so it was a very cool opportunity. They talked about the amazing opportunity that we´ll have to see people change their lives through the gospel of Jesus Christ. They said to study up on the atonement, and to come out ready to work! I´m excited and anxious- but I know I can only live one day at a time so I´m just gonna do today!! :-)

I don´t have any other major updates from this week. This coming Tuesday I´ll be reporting to the mission field! Unfortunately, that means that I´ll miss p-day for the coming week so you won´t hear from me again until the 8th of August!

The only other fun facts from the week are:

-I´m going to miss some of the employees here at the CCM! We are so blessed/ spoiled! It´s such a privilege to have someone cooking for you and helping clean three meals a day! We do have responsibilities for cleaning, but it is nothing compared to the work that is done for us. There are a few cooks that I have especially loved- one named Hermano Benitez cracks me up every time I come to dinner, and another one named Hermana Serrano is super nice and has an awesome family with three kids out on missions right now!

-My knee insists on keeping me captive. I need to stop working out on it- I can tell it will get strained if I´m not careful. I talked with Presidente Benton today, and he´s helping me get a brace and some other supplies to help me with the healing process.

Remember- "For the truth t-Elder Lamberto be known, it must be stated..."- B.H. Roberts. God has promised us that our mouths will be filled as we go about doing his work! I have been blessed with an opportunity to open my mouth as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that I can serve him with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. I wish I had done a better job of opening my mouth more earlier in my life, but I´m grateful for a God who knows me perfectly and has created a plan that has allowed for my imperfection. I love you all!

Much love!

Elder Lambert

Elder Ludlow, Elder Gonzalez and Food, 7/21/16

Mamá and Familia!

I wanted to give a quick update with regards to the food that I forgot to mention last week! We had some AWESOME food in the CCM last week! There were a couple of days here where there were just two american districts here and the cooks spoiled us! We got pizza, ice cream and oreos one night, and best of all- they made us some fresh empanadas! They were awesome!!! It´s too much work for them when the place is at capacity, so it was a big blessing!

An update from the past week:

1. Proselyting this past Saturday was super fun! Elder Ludlow and I hit the streets hard and I was really trying to practice my conversation ability! I was able to start up a lot more conversations and we placed both of our Book of Mormons and several pamphlets! We also correctly deciphered instructions to get to a health clinic where they had a bathroom we could use! I went back and visited Ramona Blanco again briefly, the missionaries serving in the area hadn´t been able to stop by, but we were really blessed to be able to catch her and talk with her. Her health still hadn´t been good, because it has been raining, and her roof is torn up so her house has been soaked. I was able to help her a little bit and we taught that God is our Father in Heaven and that he loves her! We won´t be able to get back to that area this coming week so I hope the missionaries get to her! Additionaly, we met a woman named Elsa Britos, who was actually working at the house of a couple in the area where we were tracting. She was very receptive to what we had to say, and we read a small portion in the Intro to the Book of Mormon. She accepted a copy of the book, we committed her to read, and we showed her the address and time for Church this past Sunday! Who knows what came of that, but I hope that Elsa is doing well! (Elsa Britos- I´m sure the Disney character Elsa is doing just fine)

2. Elder Ludlow and I have been improving in our ability to work together and speak Spanish. There was one funny moment in a lesson though. Elder Ludlow has heard me talking to the Latinos here and has heard me say that I am from la fábrica when they ask where I am from. Many of the elderes y hermanas here call Utah/Salt Lake City la fábrica because it means "factory" and they say it is a factory that pumps out Mormons! So in our lesson he was trying to relate a story about the Christus statue in Salt Lake and he said "en la fábrica"! I had to keep myself from laughing for a second, and explained to him after the lesson that only members here will know that "la fábrica" is referring to Salt Lake City!

3. We had a visit from an area seventy Elder González this past week. He spoke about copying and pasting the example of Christ into our lives! We need to speak and testify of the Book of Mormon at all times, and remember that for a missionary the weather is always good! It was very fun to hear from him. I have been practicing listening in spanish whenever we have devotionals like this (I don´t like using the translators they give us because usually the translator is too far behind what the person is actually saying). It has been really good! Even though I don´t usually understand everything, God always helps me to understand that which I need! Presidente Benton surprised by letting us know about the visit from Elder González the day before and asked us to prepare a musical number! So our district that night and the next morning before the performance whipped up a number! It turned out really well!

I love you all! I know that Jesus is the Christ! I want to praise his name forever!

Love,

Elder Lambert

p.s. I have the account set to automatically transfer money every Saturday. You need to turn that off.