Salvation cometh through Christ

To start off, I want to tell a story that made me really think on my job as a missionary. The other week we were in taxi, heading for the pension and I started to talk to the driver about the U.S. and why I´m here in Argentina. He told me right off that God didn´t send His Son to this earth. I was really shocked that I kind of just stayed quiet as he explained more about Christ being a good man with a good purpose, but He couldn´t be the Son of God because a father would never do that to his son. I tried to think about what I could say to him but then a calm came over me and I just bore my testimony that I know that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. Sometimes as missionaries all we can do is tell people what we know because, though they can deny my logic, they can´t deny my testimony. They can say no, no, but they can´t say that my testimony isn´t sincere. Sometimes Satan has the power to twist thoughts into disbelief but one thing I know to be true is that salvation comes through one being, and one being only: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I love sharing the Plan of Salvation with my investigators because it helps one to see the purpose of life, but more importantly, it helps people to see that without Christ, salvation is impossible. God created a perfect plan with the perfect design, sending a perfect Son, to die that all may be perfected in Him. Through Jesus Christ, we can be cleansed from sin. Since no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God, this accomplishment is extremely vital. Through the resurrection of Christ we may appear before God with an equally perfect body, another accomplishment absolutely vital as God has a body of perfect flesh and bones. What I do as a missionary only helps people to come to the knowledge of salvation through Christ and helps them take the necessary steps to receive the gift of the Atonement, or eternal life in the presence of our Heavenly Father and our families. I want to be with my family forever. Through living prophets, God has revealed that ability again to the world. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. Jesus is the Christ. Salvation only cometh through His sacred name. I know it, I live it, I love it.

Yolanda is doing awesome and looks forward to her new baptism date, the 11th of October. She smokes but has decided that she stops now so that her family can receive the blessings of living according to God´s commandments. We encountered a new family, the Borquez family. The grandma told us in the second lesson that she couldn´t come to our church because her pastor said no... After saying the prayer and reading from the Book of Mormon she decided that she would come to church with us even if the pastor said no. She did. She also skipped her church on Friday and even told them to leave when they came looking for her. Haha I don´t have my camera today but I´ll send some photos next week!

Elder Philpot

Chi, Chi, Chi, le, le, le... Viva Chile!

Well, today´s not Monday... Haha I could not write on Monday because I was on my way to Chile! Yep, Chile. So turns out that a bunch of missionaries only have their tourist visa so we had to leave the country and re-enter so that the police couldn´t take us to the carcel. I got a call on Saturday night and they told me that I´d be headed to Chile with a bunch of other missionaries and that I had to leave in the morning. When we headed out Sunday morning (by the way, it was pretty early) I found out that my good pals Elder Erickson and Elder Hampton from the MTC would be hanging out with me the whole time! So we headed out in the colectivo or bus and arrived in the mission Cordoba, and the mission home is right next to the new temple that is being built! It looks way good already. During dinner there in the mission home of Cordoba, a kid asked me where I was from and I told him that I was from Arizona. He told me that he didn´t believe me because he thought I knew Spanish already before the mission. So I played along and said I was from Buenos Aires because I have an accent from my old companion Elder Salvioli. Hahaha but I still have a lot to learn. Trust me. Just a funny story. Haha anyways we had to pick up more missionaries from Mendoza mission afterwards. At that time, we had been traveling for like 24 hours straight in bus. Then we headed straight for Chile to cross the border, eat, and then head back the way we came. The border was in the Andes!!!! We had a snowball fight in the Andes Mountains! Not many missionaries can say that they have done that. Haha but it was a great spiritual experience for me as well. I was doing companionship study with Elder Hampton and I started to talk about what I´d learned in the Book of Mormon. I have never had a love so strong for that book because it has everything that anyone could need inside it´s blue cover. The mission president is giving us all a box of Books of Mormon each so that we can give out a ton. I am PUMPED! Haha there are baptisms coming too. My investigator Yolanda is preparing to be baptized the 27th of September. When we visited she told me and my new companion that she was going to keep thinking about it. She told my new companion that if she gets baptized, she wants us to know that it was because of this boy, pointing at me, and the one that left just a while ago. What a great feeling. But even better, I called her the next day and asked if we could come the next day to teach her. She said that she couldn´t but that she was just about to call me! She said,¨I have made a decision.¨ After about five thousand years of waiting, she said,¨ I´m going to get baptized!¨ It was the best feeling I have ever felt in my whole life. I look forward to her baptism because I know that she will be a really really big help in the church. Her testimony is crazy strong and already knows soooo much. She read half the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith book in a couple of nights. Haha she is the best! Anyways, I am really happy! Thanks for all the support and the prayers. I am seeing them help my mission a ton. The Book of Mormon is true. God prepares people every day to enter in at the gate. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot

I forgot my camera. Next week, I´ll send a bunch!

Borrachos and Escogidos

You´re probably wondering what Borrachos and Escogidos means. Well google it... Haha just kidding, Borracho is the word for drunkard or crazy dude and escogido means chosen, to which I refer to Heavenly Father´s chosen investigators. Well, this week we´ve been doing divisions a lot to try to teach as many people as we can in different areas. Well, yesterday, I headed out with this member, Davíd Caspary, to teach of few people that live in a poorer zone of our area. Well, funny enough, right as we cross the street, we run into an investigator who knows the Bible extremely well but also likes to drink and doesn´t believe in a specific church being the church of Christ, there´s only salvation through good deeds. Well, since he knows the Bible well, he´s always speaking in a very Old Testament kind of way and David didn´t understand anything that he was trying to get at. Hahaha it just got funnier from there. David started to ask questions about what the guy was saying and so the drunk guy started to get irritated and asked him questions about why he didn´t understand. Haha finally we were able to testify a little and then he asked his famous question to David: Cual es tu gracia? Which translates to What is your grace? What he meant by the question is, What is your name, but David didn´t understand and started asking what that meant. You have to be very specific with this guy by saying what, does that word mean, or something similar but David was just making the situation worse. Haha what is your grace, what is your grace. Haha finally he said his name and things settled down. As we left, he said to me, Te quiero, and then looked at David and said, y a Vos, no te quiero, and then spat on the ground. Hahaha what a interesting guy. Now, as for God´s chosen ones. We met this girl named Yolanda and basically she has just been progressing like you wouldn´t believe! Not only does she find everything to make sense but accepts the Gospel very well. She told us last night that this had to be a sign from God because this was the third time that the ¨Mormons¨ had passed and it was as if God was telling her what to do already. She then told us that she´s the back-bone of the family and would like to be baptized and bring the rest of her family with her. What a joy I felt hearing that! God is definitely the head of this work and we´re just a couple of young guys watching Him do it all. There is no doubt in my mind that this is the work and glory of God, to bring all unto Christ through a couple of simple missionaries. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot

No pics, I forgot my camera chord. Next week for sure my friends!