On Monday, we supervised the interviews of the retornos, which was pretty much just sitting around, doing nothing, and telling people to leave the office. That night, we had a dinner for them. We ate asado and I'm pretty sure it was the best asado that I've eaten in my mission!
The truth is that Tuesday, I actually have no idea what we did. I try and try to remember it, but I just can't.
Wednesday, the refuerzos arrived. I'm pretty sure that training the refuerzos was the funnest part of last week. They come in from the MTC with a ton of animo, and they're so new and pure, and it was awesome to give them the bienvenida. We ate another big meal that night with the refuerzos, also in la casa de la mision. If there's one thing I learned this week it's that I'm going to be gaining a bit of weight. We don't walk a lot, and we eat. A LOT. But I'm going to try and manage it haha!
On Thursday, sadly, we had to send some people home. I don't think I should give lots of details, but safe to say that it was really ugly. The night before, they stayed in our pension, and it was just sad to see them. They totally brought it upon themselves, but igual, it was sad. As I was praying Wednesday night, I felt like God let me have a little bit of compassion for them. So after praying, I got up, went to the other room where they were, and told them how they're still good people and need to stay active in the church when they get home. I hope it helped them a bit.
Friday morning, we trained the new district leaders, and it was one of the best trainings that I've ever given. It just flowed really well. After the training, we grabbed the companion of one of the guys who got sent home, Elder Goltz (the companion's name) and we took a ROAD TRIP! He had left his bags in Las Heras, and the elders of Perito Moreno needed a baptisimal font, so we road tripped it out to them.
We went from Comodoro, through Caleta Olivia, and stopped in Pico Truncado to pass by some of the old investigators of Elder Popa. After passing about 20 minutes there, we continued to Las Heras. In Las Heras, we picked up the font, and helped Elder Goltz to pack his bags. He finished super quick, and we continued to Perito Moreno. We were driving, and it was already super dark (10:20 por alli) and we saw a sign telling us to turn to get to Perito. So we turned. Then we drove, and drove, and drove. After 15 minutes on that road, I decided that a lot of time had passed to cover the last 12 kilometros that we supposedly had. So I offered a prayer in my heart, asking the Lord to help me know if we were headed in the right direction. The other problem was that we didnt have any service out in the route, so if we got lost, we were fried. After the prayer, I didnt really feel anything. 5 more minutes passed, and I offered another prayer, asking the Lord to give me a sign as to where we should go. About 20 seconds later, I saw a sign going in the other direction. I told Elder Popa to pause, give a u-turn, just so we could look at the sign. When he turned around, the sign said "Perito Moreno 39". We had been driving in the wrong direction! So we drove all the way back to the turn, continued in the right direction, and arrived safely in the town. It was really cool to see how the Lord answered my prayer. I know that he really does listen to us, and loves us a ton. If we pray to him, He WILL guide us.
We passed the night in the 3rd hotel we found, because the first one that we had a reservation with, was CLOSED. We ended up saving 100 pesos and had breakfast though, so it ended up being a blessing :) In the morning, we went to the pension of the elders and had a nice study with them, imploring them to be obedient although they are in a city that is very apart from everything else. We left them the font, and then it was back to the road.
Before leaving Perito, we passed by this really sweet tower that I'm pretty sure is the same tower that King Benjamin used to give his speech. We also passed by Lago Buenos Aires, which was really pretty. Then it was back to work. When we passed through Las Heras, we briefed the Branch President on the situation of the elders, then we grabbed lunch (A huge sandwich called "Pata de Elefante" that we shared between the three of us. It was ginormous!) and then continued to Pico Truncado. In Pico, we checked up on the elders and sisters, which was mas o menos, then we returned to Comodoro. All in all, it was a trip of about 2 days. We got a lot done, and had a good time as well :)
Sunday was awesome because I got to see Daniel y Jose, two of my previous investigators. They're both doing well. The second half of the day, we did divisiones with the elders in Centro. Elder Mendez, the junior comp, thanked Elder Popa a ton. He told him that the first time he got really down, I came to do divisiones with his as his zone leader, and this time he had also gotten down, and we came, and Elder popa did a division with him the really helped him. It was sweet!
To finish off the day, we drew up new maps for the areas in Los Kilometros. Previously, they had taken away the area of the asistentes, because they were always travelling, and when they were in Comodoro, they never managed their time well, but after a chat with Elder Popa, we decided that were going to be the first asistants that actually work in their area. so we drew ourselves an area. We have a goal to be the first asistentes that baptize, because we feel that if we can baptize, it will give the whole mission a ton of animo. So that's the mission. Lead by example.
I'm really glad to be with Elder Popa, because we think very similarly, and luckily, he also is an ox when it comes to working hard. Now, we've just got to put manos a la obra. So yep, that was this week. It was nuts, I slept very little, and managed a hotel in my pension, but overall I'm surviving :)
FAMILY! I love you guys! I'm excited for Dad to finally get past this audit, for Mom to start teaching, and for Sofia to begin the great end to high school!
Just so y'all know, Dawn Ramsey (Austins mom) is running for mayor of South Jordan, and is actually in the last round, so go her!
MOM! You're still the most awesome mom though ;)
I LOVE YOU! - Elder Jimenez
Saying goodbye to Elder Farabee
Check out the bags under my eyes from not sleeping - EVER!
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