Hola de Resistencia - April 2nd

Hey family,
Well I would be lying if I didn’t say I have been feeling down in the last few days, starting probably right about transfer time. I have really been thinking a lot about what it is that I am doing. It is hard to believe that I leave every day to do the same thing, and for what? I know what I am out here to do, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes it is really easy to lose sight of that. It seems that we work and work and work, and for what? To get rejected and lied to? To get so tired I don’t feel like I can do anything? To have people listen and say that we share something special, but then no one has the determination to act on what we are sharing with them? Anyway, that is kind of how I have been feeling lately. It is so hard because every week I get my hopes so up and then all my hopes are shot down. I love the people of Argentina. I love our investigators. Why can’t they quite grasp on to what it is that we are teaching them? That is the one thing hard about our mission. We can teach a whole lesson and it is difficult to tell if the people actually understood what we taught them.
Anyway, right now I am in Resistencia for the council meeting with all the zone leaders in the mission. We traveled all night last night to spend pday here (otherwise we would have traveled all pday). The buses are way comfy and we slept pretty well, although there were a lot of disturbances throughout the night. I received the two packages you guys sent which I have admittedly been looking forward to. I also read several of the letters that you all have sent in the last several weeks and now I am reading the emails that I got. It seems that everyone always sends me just the right words at just the right time that I need them, especially you mom and dad. So thanks. I really enjoyed the story on ‘Ammon.’ He has always been one of my favorite Book of Mormon heros (of course his brother Aaron as well…I mean come on.) So I am feeling a lot better right now about everything. Of course I know that what I am doing is important. I just heard for example that Elder Cranford has baptized a few people in Jardín America. I believe it was the two kids we were teaching in Corpus. Also we talked with the family Gassmann last night and they are doing great. But to explain I need to go back a bit…
On Monday we had a family home evening planned with the family Gassmann and the family Brey (a family of really active members). We passed by the Gassmann’s and the hna. came up to us and said she couldn’t attend us at the time. Her pastor from the Evangelic church that they also attend and listen to told them that they had to choose between them and us. The Evangelic church sent people over to ‘take care of’ the Gassmann family. So we left them alone so as not to cause trouble, but we made time to pass by the next day. Somewhat to our surprise the hna. Gassmann apologized to us. She mentioned that her family was saying all sorts of bad things about us and she felt horrible. She said she wanted to just punch her sister, but instead she went out back to escape her family. She had a really great spiritual experience that night as she prayed and prayed to know if we were servants of God sent to teach his gospel. Her answer came in a burning in her heart and a dream in which her entire family was eating dinner together with me and Elder Peterson on either end of the table. She felt that she had learned more with us than with her own pastor. She explained that her life has been changed as a result of what we have taught her and that she has the desires to follow God and continue conforming her life to Christ’s teaching and being a servant in the hands of God. We shared Doctrine and Covenants 6:22-23; 9:7-9 to fortify the testimony she had received from the spirit. She recognized that that was exactly what had happened to her. I felt good as we left this lesson last night. We can’t set a baptismal date yet with them, but we thing that this was some major progress.
I am looking forward to consejo tomorrow with the zone leaders, assistants and president Shakespear, also to the general conference this weekend. I know I will continue to receive the personal inspiration I need and the spiritual assurances of this marvelous work I am involved in right now.
So if you all do stop by the Santa Monica hospital to visit Lee Ansan’s sister, go prepared with a spiritual message about the plan of salvation. I guess she is a bit worried about the whole death process. Unfortunately, I don’t know what her name would be, but she has been living in California for 30 years and I think worked as a nurse. Now she wants to go back to the Caribbean to die. Lee doesn’t really know what to do. I think that he wants to go back to the Caribbean personally, but he has started a life here in Argentina and he can’t just leave it all behind. He said he would come to general conference this weekend, so did the family Gassmann.
Well that is about all I have for you this week. Once again thanks for your love and support, especially in this somewhat difficult time for me. I know that the Lord is working in me as I strive to do what is right.
Love
Elder Aaron McDonald
P.S. Thanks again for the packages!