Bienvenido a la vida de la bici, August 22, 2017

Hola Mamá y familia!

It´s been a great week here in Francisco Alvarez. It´s not really countryside, but it´s not city like my other areas either. There´s a lot of dirt roads, and a lot more space but at the same time there is a lot of people here. My new companion is Elder Sparks from Alberta, Canada. He has been in the mission for 7 months and we had an awesome first week together!

This week was filled with a lot of crazy events. I got to Alvarez this past Tuesday and a had a couple of hours to get my first taste of the life on bicycle. We´re practically mountain biking out here because there are few paved roads, and all of the dirt roads aren´t well maintained. It was super fun to get on a bike though after over a year.

After only a few hours to get to know my new area Tuesday we already had to return to the mission offices early Wednesday for a mission conference led by a member of our Area Presidency- Elder Bragg. It was really cool to hear from him and his thoughts about our need to be humble and remember that we are exactly where God wants us to be at all times in the mission!

With the trainings Wednesday I had a big priviledge to be interviewed by Elder Bragg! He had selected two missionaries personally to talk with and I was one of the two! He just asked about the mission and my thoughts on several things, and gave me the chance to ask him questions. It was a great priviledge to be able to talk with him for several minutes.

We are already seeing many miracles here in Alvarez. I´m loving working with Elder Sparks and we have been blessed to start teaching several people that I hope keep cultivating their faith in Jesus Christ. I know that God will work through us in each moment as we live worthy and seek to be instruments in his hands.

I love you all! Let me know if I can help you out in any way!

Much love,

Elder Lambert

Photos: 1. Elder Bragg and I, 2. Elder Sparks and I after arriving in Francisco Alvarez, 3. the missionaries in my apartment (Elder Lohrmann- Santa Cruz, Argentina; Elder Sparks- Alberta, Canada; Elder Shepherd- Boise, ID)

Chau ciudad...hola campo, August 14, 2017

Hola mamá y familia!!!

My time in Castelar has come to an end. After over a year in pure city, I will be heading out to the countryside for the first time- Francisco Alvarez. Elder Ruiz and I had an awesome time together and we saw some great miracles over the course of our time together and this past week.

To answer your questions, Mom- we are still meeting with one of the couples. The other couple told us that for now they don´t want to meet with us. That´s a part of life and the mission though- every person has to make their own decisions. 

Our biggest miracles this week were with our investigator, Ezequiel. Ezequiel is 12-years-old and his mom is a less-active member. She found work Sundays and said that her son couldn´t go anywhere without her, as such, Ezequiel still hadn´t gone to church. 

However, this last week we taught Ezequiel and explained the sabbath day- inviting Ezequiel to the church. His Mom denied us in the beginning, but as we waited Ezequiel began to persist with his Mom- expressing his desire to go to the church. She agreed that he could come for a part of sunday school and all of sacrament meeting if we would come get him with a member and bring him back right after church. 

With Sonia´s permission, we picked up Ezequiel with the Young Men´s president and introduced him to several of the other deacons upon arriving to church. One of the deacons, Juan, sat with Ezequiel, talking with him and explaining to him the sacrament with another member, Gabriel (priest). It was amazing to see the friendship that Ezequiel developed with the other young men almost instantly. I´m excited to hear from Elder Ruiz how Ezequiel progresses to come to know for himself that Jesus is the Christ and he has established his church upon the earth.

Overall, I´m extremely grateful for the time that I had in Castelar. I will never forget the wonderful people that we could meet. I have no power but I know that the Spirit of my Lord can work in the hearts of the children of men in all of the world. 

Much love,

Elder Lambert

Photos:

1. Elder Ruiz and I with the bishop and his family; Elder Ruiz and I with the Benavidez family (Felipe, Gerardo, Sofia, Bianca, Valentina, Ivan, Juan, and Yael); the Benavidez kids (Juan, Sofia, Ivan, Bianca, and Valentina)

Matrimonios en casa - y que se comprometan en Argentina, August 7, 2017

Hola Mama y familia!

That´s so crazy that you have an Ecuadorian and a German foreign exchange students. I have had companions from both countries- my companion right now, Elder Ruiz, is from Ecuador! He´s from a place called Porto Viejo- pretty far from Quito, but it´s Ecuador! My first companion, Elder Wendt, is from Germany- he lived right on the border between Germany and Sweden.

Elder Ruiz and I had some great moments this week. We were able to teach several couples for the first time. The first couple was Elizabeth and Rodrigo, and the second was Esteban and Mariel. We taught Elizabeth and Rodrigo for the first time this past Tuesday during divisions with Elder Vieyra (one of my old companions from Santos Lugares). 

As we taught Elizabeth, she shared her experiences going to churches growing up and how she was bothered by the arguments that took place between the adults that attended the church. These arguments utlimately caused the dividing of the congregation into two separate churches. We were able to relate her experience to Joseph Smith and how he was lead to pray and ask God what church to join. I really hope that they will progress and recognize the blessings that they will receive by getting married and forming their family in the way that God has ordained.

The second couple that we taught was Esteban and Mariel. Esteban is an atheist and his girlfriend, Mariel is Catholic. As we shared the Restoration with them, Esteban said that he had heard the message before but he wasn´t sure where. It will be exciting to see how the Book of Mormon will help them change their lives and move forward!

Besides being able to find some great investigators- Elder Ruiz and I really pushed ourselves with our contacts. We had been in the habit of starting off contacts by offering a pass-along card to people. So we set a rule that we could not start a contact in that way- forcing us to come up with a way to start a real conversation. As we did this, we really saw miracles. We were able to have much higher quality of contacts and we could feel the difference in the way the Spirit guided us as we really listened to the people. I was really amazed by the difference God made as we trusted more in his Spirit and feared less.

Thank you all for you love and support. I know that God lives. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. He has given his power to man, and we find that power in the Church of Jesus Christ. No matter how much a person wants to get around it- it is the only church with the saving power of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I love you guys!

Elder Lambert

Photos: 1. The primary kids that helped us go out to teach the gospel with their parents Saturday! (Amira, Juan Ignacio, Ivan, and Franco), 2. Elder Ruiz and I with the primary kids, 3. Elder Ruiz and I with the Mussi family (the bishop and his family- Bishop Mussi, Ezequiel, Hna Mussi, Matias, and Bruno)- yes I know I look crazy in the picture

Ahi en la lucha, July 31, 2017

Hola Mamá y familia!

Thanks for all of the exciting news! That´s awesome that you could finish your Master´s project Mom! I´m really happy for you! That´s going to be exciting to hear about all of the crazy changes with teenagers in the house again! I´m sure you guys will enjoy it! 

As for Buenos Aires, we had some weird warm weather followed by cold and rain yesterday! It doesn´t snow here- although it did snow a few years back and nobody knew what to do. That´s the only time from what people have told me that it´s snowed here in Buenos Aires. 

I think the spiritual highs of the week were this past Wednesday and Sunday. Wednesday Elder Ruiz and I were able to teach a man named Roberto (66-years-old) and he told us that his daughter had stopped by his house and read in the Book of Mormon for two hours! We are super excited to get to know his daughter so that she can prepare for baptism along with Roberto.

Ending the awesome day Wednesday we saw a trial come up. We have been visiting with Romina and her three sons- Emanuel, Brian, and Mateo. Emanuel is preparing for baptism, but when we called Wednesday night we discovered that they had been kicked out of their house. There had been problems between the owner and the man that was letting them stay in the house. As a result, they didn´t have a place to stay. We talked with the bishop, and worked with the ward members to find a place that she could keep several of their things while she looked for a new place to live.

After fasting prayer and work on the end of Romina, Romina ended up being able to repair the relationship with her actual husband, and this past Sunday the whole family came! Romina, Daniel (her husband), Emanuel, Brian, and Mateo all came to church! It was awesome to see the family making the effort to come closer to their Savior Jesus Christ. I hope we can help them persevere and see the baptisms of Emanuel and Brian (and then Daniel further on).

I know that God lives! The problems that seem big to us are small in the eyes of God! Trust in the small and simple things! They fix the big problems! I love you all! 

-Elder Lambert

Photos: 1. Elder Ruiz with the only hill I've seen in the mission, 2. the breakfast of an ecuadorian (hot dogs, apple, and kiwi), 3. out in the street at sunset, 4. Elder Ruiz in the streets of Argentina

La senda del pionero, July 24, 2017

Hola Mamá y familia!

That´s great to hear about your summer. It´s always great to be able to enjoy times together with friends and family. I´ll be honest that my journal keeping isn´t super great. It is easily my biggest weakest- I don´t know why it´s so hard for me but it is. I know that I need to improve in that area.

The weather was actually surprisingly warm this week- it was really strange after a week of cold and rain. Elder Ruiz improved a lot and we got out and worked, worked, worked! We also had a few milestones this week because we had our first interviews with Presidente Resek and we had our first zone conference with him!

To prepare ourselves for our zone conference this week we read a talk by Tad R. Callister, "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary". It´s a talk that I have read several times, but I always feel the spirit as I read it and think about how I can be more consecrated. This week in our zone conference I was thinking about sacrifice and how we become more like Christ each time we sacrifice in order to do the will of God.

Presidente Resek made a comment with regard to sacrifice. He told us how he had learned in a stake conference as a youth that the word sacrifice comes from the word sacred. When we make sacrifices to be able to do God´s will really we are doing sacred things. We aren´t suffering, we are sanctifying ourselves. 

I am grateful for all of the sacred things that the pioneers have done before me (pioneers in the world, in my family, and in the church). I hope that I can be a pioneer in my life and in my family. I know that as I do sacred things, I will be doing just that- pioneering the way so that other people can receive the blessings that God has for them.

I love you all! Keep doing sacred things daily! Sorry that I don´t have photos this week! I forgot my flash drive!

-Elder Lambert

La estacion de gripe, July 17, 2017

Hola Mamá y familia!

Elder Ruiz and I are keeping on really well here in Castelar! Thaks for the great update Mom! I love hearing about the little things that you´re all able to do each week! To answer your questions, I have been to la avenida 9 de julio only in a car when we had to do paperwork for our visas- other than that no. We were not able to pass by to give Adriana a blessing, the elderly family didn´t come to church (they have been in the house of the other sister that had an emergency still), yes I did clean my shirt sleeves, and yes I do like mate. Haha. 

As for the work here we had some great experiences. We were limited in our ability to get out and work because Elder Ruiz caught a flu, but God really blessed us in the moments that we could be out working!

Probably the greatest moment of the week was yesterday after church. Earlier in the week we had been blessed to find Romina, a woman that was baptized in Paraguay, but then stopped attending church when she broke up with her husband and came to Argentina. After years without attending, Romina came to church with her three sons- Emanuel (9-years-old), Brian (8-years-old), and Mateo (4-years-old). 

Romina has gone through some difficult things. She has three daughters older than her sons, that she now is not allowed to see legally. Her oldest son, Emanuel is very hurt that he can´t see his sisters or his dad. In our very first visit this past Thursday, he expressed to us how he misses his sisters. 

As we visited with Emanuel after church Sunday, we explained prayer and baptism. He asked us, "When am I going to be able to see my sisters?" We responded that we didn´t know when exactly he would see his sisters again, but if he lived the commandments he would see his sisters again someday. With that, we encouraged him to pray and ask God for himself. Emanuel folded his arms, bowed his head, and offered a sincere prayer to God. Asking God to send his sisters to him.

As Emanuel finished his prayer, we asked how he felt. He said he felt better and that God answered his prayer. We asked him what was the answer that God gave him and he responded, "He said that maybe I´m not going to see them right now, but that one day I´m going to see my sisters again." It was an incredible moment, and we really felt the spirit as Emanuel spoke with God in prayer for one of the first times in his life.

I know that we live God´s commandments we will be together as eternal families. We are not here by happen-stance. We have a father in heaven that loves us and provided us a Savior, Jesus Christ. I´m grateful to be here inviting other families to come closer to their Savior.

I love you all! Thanks for all of your support!

-Elder Lambert

Libertad! Patria in el pueblo argentino, 7/10/17

Hola Mamá y familia!

I love grandpa´s american flag shorts. I need to get myself a pair one day. Sounds like you guys had a great week filled with lots of events though!

As for Elder Ruiz and I, we saw some great progress here in Castelar this week, but Satan put his stumbling blocks in the road as well. We went by to visit Adriana this week, but she said that she couldn´t speak with us. We found out from a neighbor that she struggles with some mental problems, which was helpful for us to understand her situation a bit better. We will probably pass by this week to give her a priesthood blessing.

I spent the fourth of July this past week with another american, Elder Townsend, in an area called Villa Amelia. Of course, that exact day we got to teach an english class! After fourth of July in the US we spent the week finding and teaching people to have in church for the independence day of Argentina- 9 de Julio.

We were able to teach a family of three brothers and sisters- Haydee 86 years-old, Nely 84 years-old, and Ernesto 75 years-old. It was really refreshing to meet the three them and teach them about Christ. They were very receptive and very excited to go to church this past Sunday. From the very first moments that we began to talk, they asked us, "When can we go to the church?"

Of course, Satan had his own plans. When we stopped by to find them with a member Sunday, Nely had left us a note saying that her sister that lives in a different city had to be taken to the hospital for an emergency. We were sad that we were not able to help go to church, but we love the commitment that they have in their family. I´m excited to see how the continue to grow in their unity as they live and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I´m very grateful to be here in Argentina. I know that God knows where I am and is helping in ways known and unknown. We don´t normally recognize or understand the full impact of our service when we choose to serve as disciples of Jesus Christ. Keep doing your best to serve in your callings- you are instruments in the hands of God as you do so.

With all my love,

Elder Lambert

Photos:  1. Me with Mate!; 2. The mate, and the yerba; 3. Elder Ruiz and our arroz chaufa (a peruvian dish); 4. dirty sleeves from cleaning up leaves in the mud; 5. cooking pancakes before bed.