Thank you so much for the recap and all the photos from the funeral service for Grandpa Simmons. I have thought about him many days this week and how I´m sure he´s rooting for Noelle and I right now. I love you all and am glad that the family was able to get together and celebrate the life of Grandpa.
One more week has gone by in Issidro Casanova, Argentina and the barrio Atalaya is still kicking. Elder Salmon and I had a great week. One of the biggest highlights this week has been working with Luis, a 73-year-old gentleman that I contacted during exchanges with another Elder. He has been absolutely awesome and I feel like I´m visiting an old friend every time we stop by to teach him. He has really put his reading in the Book of Mormon as a priority and is ready to be baptized this Saturday.
As we were talking with Luis the other day, we asked him about his preparation for his baptism and how he has felt as he has read in the Book of Mormon. Luis expressed how he has been much more calm and has experienced more joy as he has read, visited with us, and attended Church. He expressed that feels like his sons are coming to visit him whenever we pass by and talk, and I feel really priveleged to have had this time to know Luis. I´m excited to see all 73-years of Luis enter into the baptismal font this Saturday. I know he´s going to have a smile on his face.
This past week, I also had the privelege to spend most of the day Wednesday in the house of Presidente and Hermana Robertson. The missionaries that arrived with my group never received various trainings that most groups receive the day that they arrive to the mission, and as such, Pte and Hna invited us to their home Wednesday.
The day was a little bit surreal as all of the missionaries from my group reunited and we traveled to the house of Presidente Robertson. The day started off with news from our district leader that Donald Trump will be the new president of the United Sates (I´m assuming that I´m not misinformed), and then we traveled to the house of Presidente which was like entering a neighborhood in the United States all over again.
The trainings were absolutely awesome and I especially loved a poem called "The Race" that Presidente Robertson recited from memory. The poem relates the story of a kid in a race and how he fell three times, but each time he fell he heard his Dad say, "Get back up and win the race". In the end he crosses the finish line in last place, but his Dad tells him that he won because he got up every time that he fall.
Sometimes I have an aversion to tell stories like this, because I don´t want to say that it´s okay to sin. However, the reality is that we have a father in heaven who is not so much preoccupied about what we have already done, but what we will do next. We cannot dwell on our mistakes that we have already made, we can only "get back up and win the race." I pray that we can all get back up in our race in life and do the next right thing. The atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ is infinite and eternal. At times it is hard to see how we can change, but Jesus Christ is the high priest of good things to come, and there is always more good to come as we follow him.
Love,
Elder Lambert
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