Paz, calmense, March 19, 2018

Hola Mamá y familia!!!

That´s so sweet that Connor could head up to Canada to visit the campus! I´m also very glad to hear that Alair could be endowed and that Landon and Alashtay could go do some cleaning at the Jordan River temple. It sounds like everyone had some amazing things to keep them busy this past week!

This week we faced two storms: a physical storm, and a spiritual storm. The physical storm happened Sunday morning. The storm clouds rolled in during the night and began to soak everything all morning until about 10 AM during the church meetings. Elder Winward and I put our rain coats on, grabbed our bikes, and went out to help our investigators get to church! Even though we didn´t have one of them that was prepared to face the storm and attend, I felt really happy to be able to go by each house and help them have another opportunity to attend. 

The spiritual storm came upon Florencia. We had been teaching her and she was scheduled to be baptized this past Saturday. Our area was divided this past week at transfers so Tuesday afternoon we greeted two sister missionaries to the branch, and turned over the teaching of Florencia to them. Fear and doubt entered in and Florencia decided to say that she won´t be baptized. It was a blow to hear that because she was showing so much faith and having so many miracles happen.

With all of the storms- Jesus Christ calmed the storms, and blessed like just like he always has done. Even though we didn´t have an investigator there in church we were able to help an 11-year-old member, Matías, that is the only member in his immediate family return to church for the first time in probably a year.

Also, when it seemed like the things just weren´t going our way God lead us to Fernanda, and Magalí. They area  a mother and daughter who had been preparing before to be baptized when the mother of Fernanda died, and they lost contact with the missionaries. Elder Winward and I were able to speak with them and we are going by back today to visit with them. We hope to help them finally take this important step in their lives.

I know that Christ lives and loves us. Amidst the storms there is a master with power to calm any storm and solve any problem. He is our Savior Jesus Christ. I know he lives and directs this work.

-Elder Lambert 

Photos:

1. Elder Winward out Sunday morning with me looking for investigators.

2.  The first time I have seen and eaten an actual donut in Argentina.

El mejor regalo, March 12, 2018

Hola Mamá y familia!

Thanks for the birthday wishes! It certainly is strange to think that I´m 27. I certainly don´t feel like it. Not that I know how it should feel to be 27. I did get to celebrate a bit- we had an amazing lunch with a couple of members and our investigator Florencia. Also, just to answer your question Mom- no daylight savings does not exist in Argentina.

Seems like it was a good week for everyone! Landon sent me pictures with Alashtay and Justin Nozuka! That was super cool to see! Seems like Dad and Landon have been meeting semi-famous bands pretty regularly lately! 

God gave me some incredible birthday gifts this past weeks. I was blessed to see one of the biggest miracles of my mission this past week. As we started our visit with Florencia this past Tuesday she told us how she had been having stomache pains Monday night. The pain was keeping her awake and she was praying to be able to sleep.

In that state, Florencia said that she began to dream and had a vision that I told her to open the Book of Mormon and read 1 Nephi 3:1-3, 7. Florencia still doesn´t know the Book of Mormon well, and didn´t know who Nephi is, nor where you can find it. However, she grabbed her Book of Mormon, read, her pains left, and she drifted to sleep. 

All of this happened at 2 AM. That same night, Elder Winward and I both woke up at 2 AM, and we couldn´t go back to sleep for a time. We didn´t have any reason why, but we both woke up.

While the whole situation seems strange, I know that God was able to answer Florencia´s prayer. I know that he guided her, and continues to guide her. He lives and has his church. I´m grateful that Elder Winward and I could be instruments in God´s hands to help Florencia know that what she is seeking is God´s true church on earth. We are very excited for her baptism this coming weekend.

Besides the lessons with Florencia we also had a great baptismal service of Emanuel. His Mom attended to her first church function ever, and we hope that she could feel the spirit. Emanuel has the potential to be a great member and a great missionary. It has been great to teach him, and I am excited to see how he continues to grow. He has already been inviting a couple of friends to go to church activities and I know that he can be a great tool in God´s hands. 

I know that God lives and loves us. He knows how he wants to accomplish his designs. If we follow Him, he can do the miracles.

much love,

Elder Lambert 

Photos:

1. Birthday gifts from the members (mate listo, mate, and two bike lights)

2. the baptism of Emanuel! (I look crazy as usual)

3. Elder´s quorum president (Marcelino Meza) cutting the birthday lunch

4. The birthday meat (carne rellena)

Chau febrero, vamos al compleanos! March 5, 20108

Hola Mamá y familia!

I guess I did not explain very well. I am NOT with Elder Elliott anymore. We are NOT in a trio. It´s just me and Elder Winward. I will do my best to explain things. 

Transfers happen every 6 weeks. At the end of a six-week transfer period every single companionship in the mission gets informed if they will have a change in their companionship. However, sometimes during these six-week periods they have to do emergency changes because missionaries have to go home because of health problems, finishing their time of service, etc. When that happens you can have a change in your companion even while you are still in the middle of a six-week transfer period. 

That is what happened with me and Elder Elliott. A missionary finished his mission, so they sent Elder Elliott to replace him. Elder Winward was a secretary in the mission offices and was working in a trio of Elders. They took him out of the offices, and one of the other secretaries received double responsibility (his responsibilities + the responsibilities that Elder Winward had). 

Long story short- my companion now is Elder Winward and not Elder Elliot. ¿Todo quedó claro? Bueno, seguimos.

What a wonderful week Elder Winward and I had! God blessed us  a lot!! We missed 1.5 normal working days this past week because we did a special activity in the mission office for having baptized 93 people in February as a mission! So this past Wednesday we were able to get together as a mission and we did some team-building activities. I also got to play basketball for the first time in about 6 months! 

After the activity, God blessed us with some wonderful miracles. First, Emanuel continues to take the initiative in his family to come to Christ and attended church this past Sunday! He´s going to be baptized this coming Saturday and we´re super excited! 

The second miracle was with one of our investigators from the family history workshop- Florencia. We went to her house and helped her with her family tree. Before leaving I opened the gospel conversation with an invitation to church, and she opened up to us. She had been feeling like she has sought God sincerely but didn´t understand why bad things have happened to her and other people in general. We shared the Book of Mormon with her, invited her to read, and attend to church.

After a great experience in the church meetings, our ward mission leader/counselor in the branch presidency said that when she arrived that morning she had said to him and another member that she was planning to get baptized in our church! We had not even taught baptism yet with her and she had already felt it for herself! We are beyond excited to help Florencia arrive to this incredibly important step.

I know that God lives and loves us! He has plans grander than what we can imagine for our lives! He will continue to work for good in our lives- we must simply accept his help through humbly following him. 

I love you all!

-Elder Lambert

Photo:

The District of Junín and Chacabuco

Top Row: Elder Winward (Mapleton, UT), Elder Pietz (Louisiana), Me

Bottom Row: Elder Candela (Spain), Elder Colindres (Honduras), Elder Acuña (Spain)

Los que estan esperando su obra con ansiedad, February 26, 2018

Hola Mamá y familia!!

It wasn´t transfer time. Every now and then they have changes mid-transfer because people have to leave the mission for health reasons, etc. There was an elder that had finished his mission partway through the transfer and so they felt like they should send Elder Winward out here with me and Elder Elliott to Ituzaingó!

Glad to hear that you could have some fun on President´s day and enjoy some good talks this past week. It´s also crazy for me to think that Landon´s going to be 24! It´s even weirder that I´m going to be 27! I feel like I haven´t aged during the mission.

This week was filled with even more milestones here in Chacabuco. We continued to prepare for our Family History workshop and that included two television interviews with news stations here in Chacabuco! In otherwords- I made it on tv for the first time in my life! We got to share a little bit about the family history workshop and also our purpose as missionaries! 

God really blessed us and the members for all of the work that we´ve put in to prepare for the workshop. Sunday night we had the miracle to have 31 non-members inside the church to learn about family history, and to add to our joy 20 of them said that they would like to hear more about our message! Elder Winward and I are beyond excited to help these people to understand more about the importance of the family.

Amidst the hullabaloo of the workshop Elder Winward and I also had the tender mercy that our investigator Emanuel could be interviewed for baptism. He is only 13-years-old but he is very prepared. He didn´t attend church this past week and thus will have to wait a bit longer before he can be baptized, but we are working with him for the 10th of March. 

Emanuel´s parents have listened us to but unfortunately are not quite as prepared to be baptized yet which makes the situation more difficult for Emanuel. However, we are working to be able to help the family take these important steps of repentance and baptism by the authority of God.

Thank you all for reading every boring letter without pictures! I am very grateful for the love and prayers that you always send me! If I can help anyone in anyway please let me know!

Much love,

Elder Lambert

Una semana de hitos, February 19, 2018

Hola Mamá y familia!

I´m glad to hear that things continue to progress at home! I really like that story of the young man who took a small step to help him make bigger steps in his life. By small and simple things are great things brought to pass! 

This week was a week filled with surprises and milestones. Elder Elliott and I were having an incredible day this past Tuesday and were able to meet several new families that accepted to visit with us for the first time. As has happened many times in my mission- just as we were hitting new milestones as a companionship a change came. Tuesday night we received a call that Wednesday we would be going to the offices and that Elder Elliott would be leaving to another area, Ituzaingó, and that I would be receiving a new companion, Elder Winward. 

After a lot of traveleing to go to and from Buenos Aires to Chacabuco Elder Winward and I were able to get back to work. Elder Winward is from Mapleton, UT and has about a year and a half on the mission. He´s incredibly smart and has a great memory. When he was in high school he would read an entire book about every two days and has a goal since he was a young kid to read 1 million pages ( He is currently at 300,000 on his count). 

Back in Chacabuco Elder Winward and I were able to have a one-of-a-kind experience. With our ward mission leader we went to a local radio station and were able to promote our upcoming family history workshop that we will be doing Sunday. At the end of our visit the host asked me to offer a prayer. I never thought in my life I would be praying on a radio station, especially in spanish. But it felt really cool to be able to pray for the people of Chacabuco. 

We are continuing to work with Cristian, Karen, Rodolfo, and Antonio. Unfortunately none of them made it to church this past week and thus will not be able to make it to baptism this coming weekend. However, God blessed us to be able to meet an awesome young man named Emanuel who attended church for the first time! He is 13-years-old and has a lot of desires to be baptized! 

I know that God lives and is blessing us in abundance here in Chacabuco. It is a beautiful place and I feel that God is pouring out his Spirit over his children so that they can be baptized by his proper authority. I am excited to continue to share with you the miracles that are happening here. Thanks for being examples of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Much love,

Elder Lambert

Tierra desconocida en Chacabuco, February 12, 2018

Hola Mamá y familia!

So glad to hear you from you all!! Elder Elliott and I had an amazing week in Chacabuco! We got some awesome member help, we had zone conference in another small town (Bragado), and God blessed us with 3 investigators in church!! Let´s go!!!

Thanks for the challenge Mom! That´s something that I´m constantly trying to do- change what I say to myself from negative to positive! Some of my friends before the mission helped me with that I lot. I liked your example Mom of the stake preparedness program. I many times have had the thought, "What´s the point in going to this- I probably know everything already." However, when I have these thoughts I´m only thinking in what I can get out of something. I have to change that to "What can I contribute to this? Who can I help? How can I support?" As much as I want it to be sometimes- it´s not about ME!

This week God blessed us with three miracles- Antonio, Karen, and Rodolfo. They are all distinct people with distinct lives and experiences but God blessed us to be able to meet and invite each of them to come unto Christ.

Antonio is a man who start learning about the gospel in 2012. He never took the step of being baptized in the church, but God lead us to reestablish contact with him this week. Wednesday night we were preparing to show the church to an investigator and her son, but the member who was going to accompany us canceled (We cannot be a lone with a member of the opposite sex). Elder Elliott and I racked are brains for what to do, and the idea came to invite Antonio who we had seen in the list of former investigators. He accepted- resolving our dilemma and also getting him to come back to the fold of Christ and work towards baptism!

Karen is the neighbor of our other progressing investigator, Cristian, and we met her as we went to teach him this past week. She is a young mother (about 25-years-old) of a 2-year-old girl. She has faced some difficult things in her life, and has been looking for relief. She began to cry in the second hour of church as she expressed how she had been feeling like she needed to come closer to Christ and attend church. 

Rodolfo is a Paraguayan man that we met Saturday night. He moved to Chacabuco Thursday for work, and is only here temporarily. His family actually lives in San Miguel (closer to Buenos Aires). We felt like we should stop and contact the house where he´s staying at the end of the day Saturday and he accepted to go to church with us the following day. We got there at 7:30 AM and he was up and ready to go! He loved the meetings and we are more than excited to keep visiting with him.

I know that Christ lives! I know that He who is mighty to save is who gave Elder Elliott and I our goal to baptize 12 people this month of February. It is he who is sending us the miracles, and it is he who will achieve these goals. We cannot do it without Him, but we are excited to continue to be instruments in His hands!

I love you all!!

-Elder Lambert

Sorry about not having pictures! It´s hard to find time to go and buy a new memory card, but I´ll try to do it this Thursday.

Abran las puertas, February 6, 2018

Hola Mamá y familia!!

I love your enthusiasm about the super bowl mom haha. We do make a lot of hoop-la about things that really aren´t that big of a deal. As for Mabel and Gabriel we have been unable to connect with them again but we did start to visit with the daughter of Mabel- Celeste who it turns out had visited with the sister missionaries before.

We did have transfers this past week, and the verdict was....drum roll.....Elder Elliott and I are staying together for one more transfer! Woo hoo!! Elder Elliott is a super great kid, a very hard worker, and a very good cook. I couldn´t ask for a better companion for this transfer in Chacabuco. 

This week I mostly wanted to talk about some small and simple things that happened this past week, that I feel like are going to make a big difference going forward. This past week I had my interview with my mission president and we talked about the branch of Chacabuco. Something that he told me is that for a small branch or ward if you want to survive you have to have activities in his words, "If you don´t have activities you are dead."

Just on cue, two small and simple activities appeared this past week that I really believe will help the branch. The first was Thursday soccer night. We had three investigators show up Thursday night to play soccer and build friendships with the members. The second activity was an Elder´s Quorum food night this past Friday. In a branch where we normally have 20 people each week in sacrament, we had 18 men at the Elder´s Quorum acitivity. Three of those were investigators. 

When I sit and write about those things it seems kind of silly. An activity like that seems like a silly thing, and like it doesn´t have much to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, I have felt that really, the chapel is a holy place. Every moment that we are there we are on holy ground. And every minute we are engaged in something positive with other children of God is a minute where Satan does not have power over the hearts over the children of men. 

I have never felt like I have been good at organizing and executing activities, but I am grateful for God who knows that we are here to work together, and wants us to gather together in a spirit of harmony. After having these great activities we had a beautiful lesson with our investigator, Cristian who went to church these past two weeks and is quitting smoking. A member was able to testify how he was able to quit smoking after 20 years. The small and simple things bring great things to pass.

I love you all. Keep doing the small and simple things.

-Elder Lambert

Nadie esta solo, January 29, 2018

Hola Mamá y familia!

I can´t believe that Dale´s 18! My goodness! That´s great that some of the family was able to get together and celebrate. Glad to hear you could go to the meetings of stake conference too. 

God blessed Elder Elliott and I immensely this past week. I really feel that God is hastening his work, and we have been blessed that we can be tools in his hands. I specifically wanted to tell about two people that we were able to meet this week: Gabriel and Mabel. We met both of them in critical moments, and I know that God sent us to them. Both of them were at points in their lives that they felt abandoned by God.

In the path between appointments this past Thursday we felt to stop at a house, as we went to approach the house a man came out and before we could say anything he told us, "I don´t have time to talk with you guys right now, but I would very much love to meet with you. When can you come by?" We learned that his Mom had been through 3 strokes and that he was living alone caring for his dying mother. 

We returned Saturday to bless Gabriel and during the blessing I felt like I should give him thanks for the care he has given to his mother. I really felt that I was directed by the Spirit as I pronounced the blessing of Gabriel´s head, and knew that God was working in his life to bring him peace.

In like manner, Mabel was a house that we felt prompted to stop and contact in between appointments. Mabel came out and had a sad look upon her face. We asked her what she was experiencing and she proceeded to express her sadness. Her daughter that lives with her is bipolar and more recently has been dating a man that is a drug addict. 

The violent nature of her son-in-law has lead to many problems in the life of her daughter and her personal life. Mabel was experiencing this situation after already living a difficult life. She was physically abused by her parents and sent to work at the age of 6. At 15, she married but was left by her husband to raise his children after about 12 years of marriage. 

I know that God sent us to Mabel when he needed us there. We went by yesterday with a member and are passing by today to visit with her again. I know that God sent us where he needed us. God lives, loves us, and is guiding our footsteps. We just need to look up and see who he has put around us. 

I love you all! Keep searching out for those who God has sent you to help in each moment!

Much love,

Elder Lambert

"...Si Dios me hubieses mandado hacer todas las cosas, yo podria hacerlas..." January 23, 2018

Hola Mamá  y familia!

1 Nephi 17:50 is the scripture that I put in the subject. I had it on my mind and wanted to share it with you all. Nephi is an example of someone who had the faith to achieve. His faith didn´t remain dormant, he acted until he accomplished what the Lord had commanded him.

The goal of 48 baptisms for each companionship is for the year of 2018. What it means is that every Elder of Sister in the mission should have 48 converts by the end of the year which comes out to be 4 converts each month. 

With that goal in mind, Elder Elliott and I have been working with our hearts open to the spirit. As we did so we received a lot of guidance, and God blessed us with one of the things we have been working for dilligently- an investigator in church. Our investigator, Fredy, a young Bolivian man, attended with his 6-year-old daughter, Solange. 

It was great to have Fredy in church to feel of the spirit, and we also have high hopes that several other families we have been visiting will have the faith to attend as well. One of the families is a family we met in a small village near to the city where we are (Chacabuco). The village is called Cucha Cucha. Our area is made up of what would be considered the whole county of Chacabuco. That contains not just the main city of Chacabuco but also several small villages in the outskirts- Cucha Cucha, O´Higgins, etc. 

Elder Elliott and I had felt like we should go out to Cucha Cucha to find investigators, and we were able to contact several people that had come into the city to shop and made appointments to go visit them. So the other week we went out to Cucha Cucha for the first time.

The village is beautiful and the people are awesome. There are parts where there are just farm fields for miles and miles. While we were out there working this past week we met this last week the family of Laura. Laura and her husband Claudio have four children- Jacqueline, Benjamín, Kiara, and Teo. They also live with the father of Claudio, Aldo. 

We visited Laura and her family with a couple of the members of our branch this past Saturday and had an amazing lesson. Laura was able to pray for the first time in her life. She had gone to churches before but said that for whatever reason she never get the words to come out to be able to pray. After praying, she started crying from joy. It was a really special moment that I will not soon forget.

I know that God lives and loves you. He will guide you in your lives and strengthen you through the power of our Savior Jesus Christ. May we all humble ourselves and be guided by his might hand.

Love,

Elder Lambert 

P.S. sorry for the long letter

La lucha hacia el cielo, January 15, 2018

Hola Mamá y familia!

Sorry to hear that Landon and Noelle have been a bit stressed but it´s great to hear about some of the fun things that you were all able to do. I remember seeing the book "Wonder"- I heard that it´s an amazing book.

I wanted to do my letter a little different today. I know that a lot of people talk about how the mission is an amazing experience but also a difficult experience. I feel like really the biggest difference in my life has been my perspective. When I trust in God and choose to see his hand- I am at peace and happy. However sometimes I allow myself to listen to the voice of the brother downstairs- Satan.

This week Presidente Resek has asked us to raise our faith and really committ us to the goal of the mission- 48 baptisms in each companionship. It´s a very high goal, and as such, upon hearing this goal there are a  lot of perspectives I can take. 

To help us towards this goal, Presidente and Hermana Resek asked several sisters and elders that were blessed with a high number of baptisms this past December to share thoughts on how they were able to achieve those results.

In this situation I find that Satan tells me things like the following- "You work just as hard if not harder than all of these people that baptized four or more. What´s your problem? Obviously there´s something seriously wrong with you." "Clearly you´re not good enough- it doesn´t matter how hard you work. You won´t achieve the goals." "President and Hermana Resek and all of the other missionaries think that you´re a poor missionary because you haven´t been able to achieve four baptisms in a month." "If you would baptize more you would have had more positions of leadership." "You´re a failure- even with your best efforts to apply everything that you have been learning you haven´t achieved the results of these other missionaries." "It´s just their areas- that´s why they baptized more- they wouldn´t baptize as much if things weren´t arranged so they would baptize that much."

Every single one of these thoughts doesn´t help me. However, I know that the truth is that God is a loving God that blesses all of his children as they follow Him. I am his child. I have been called by a prophet of God and set apart. I have been given the Holy Ghost to guide me and sanctify me. I have been given the priesthood of God and been endowed with power from on high. I have been sent to succeed. These are the thoughts of truth that sustain me. 

God does not criticize me for what I have not accomplished- he loves me and encourages me to reach higher. I know that He loves all of you and is calling for you to become more than you imagine that you can be. The process is not always easy, but it is possible through the High Priest of Good Things to Come, our Savior Jesus Christ.

I love you all!

Elder Lambert

Asi se comienza, January 8, 2018

Hola Mamá y familia!

That´s really exciting to hear that Connor has some potential PhD opportunities! I´m very excited to hear how things keep going forward. I´m also glad to hear that Noelle, Landon, and Alashtay are all doing well.

This past week in Chacabuco was more good old fashioned hard-work and a lot of inspiration from God. As me and my companion were doing our studies this past week, I felt like we should take our teaching records to the houses of the members at lunch. 

A teaching record is what every missionary uses to record the progress of their investigators towards baptism and full active membership in the church. It contains not only the report of what teachings were given and when, but in how the people responded to the invitations to live the gospel, and how they understood what was taught. 

In the mission when missionaries leave behind good records it makes it easy for us to seek inspiration and know how to help individuals to come unto Christ. Something that my companion reminded me is this past week is that every member is a missionary. As such we decided to give members their own teaching records so they can start keeping track of the progress of their own investigators (children, family, friends, etc.).

Up to now we have had a very positive reaction from the members, and we are excited to help them understand the principles of the gospel and share them with those that they know and love. I know that we have all been called by God to share the saving power of our Savior Jesus Christ. I hope that we can all accept that responsibility with love in our hearts.

I love you all! I hope that you achieve your goals of 2018.

Much love,

Elder Lambert

Feliz ano nuevo! January 2, 2018

Hola Mamá y familia!!!

It was a fun-filled week of work and holidays here in Chacabuco! Sounds like you were all able to have an awesome Christmas break. That all sounds really fun! I wish I could send you some pictures of the goings-on here- sorry about that!

This week presented some surprises and some great successes! I´ll start with the surprises: during the week we received a call telling us that our district had been changed! With the change, we realized that we were going to have to travel Sunday night to be able to get to the area where the rest of our district is: Junín. So New Year´s Eve we spent eating dinner with the Elders and Sisters of Junín with an awesome young couple from the branch there- the Silveira family. It was a great dinner and included a pizza that instead of having pizza dough was done over chicken!

As for the successes- Elder Elliott and I were very blessed to find a lot more investigators this past week! God really blessed us to be able to talk with and teach many people. One of the coolest miracles we saw was when we went to visit an investigator named Martin that we had found. He had been worried about having a good job to be able to support his family, and Elder Elliott offered him a blessing of comfort. 

In the blessing Elder Elliott promised him that he would find work. When we passed by Wednesday, Martin told us that he found work, and had read what we left him in the Book of Mormon. I felt especially impressed in that moment, because after the blessing Elder Elliott had continually prayed for Martin to find work and God answered his prayer. 

In addition to Martin, we started teaching a very humble but open-hearted Bolivian man named Jaime and his family. While he doesn`t have much of an education it was a big blessing to teach him and see his openness to our teaching. We hope that we can help them progress and go to church.

We still haven`t had any of our investigators attend church, but we are very hopeful to help them take the step and attend church here in Chacabuco. I´m very grateful that I was taught the importance of the Sabbath day since I have been young. It has been a big blessing in my life to go to church each week and get away from the stresses of life. I know that God blesses us as we live his commandments.

I love you all! 

-Elder Lambert