Bigger News! 6/24/13

Dear family,

Well, I've been blasted with quite a bit of a shocker. Last Monday after writing to you we went back to the pension and I started cleaning a little bit. Then we get a call from Elder Tippets, the mission secretary. His words, "Hola, Elder Dewsnup. You're coming back up north. I'm calling to give you your flight information. Do you have something to write on?"

.......

I waited, thinking he was joking. We had been told that if we didn't hear anything by the 15th we were good to go in the new mission. This was the 17th. Needless to say, I though he was messing with me

.......

I was wrong. "Yeah," I said, "hold on." Flight AR 1846 leaving from Rio Grande at 16:50.

aw dang

At the airport, before boarding, I then get my funcioning camera stolen out of my carry-on. Poo. Luckily, I'd already backed up all the pictures on that memory card up to three weeks before, so I didn't lose too many pictures, maybe about 30, but the most important ones I can ask from other people who took them as well.

Then I get to the offices (Tuesday night at about 9:00ish) and see where I'm going and who my new companion is going to be. Grand Bourg with Elder López. The information I see on the special organizer marks me as a senior companion, nothing new there. I also find that I have an entire other duffle of stuff waiting for me that I left behind in the north when I went south. So I went through all that that night and the following morning trying to decide what things I was really going to need and the things I wanted to pack rat, getting rid of a bunch of other things.

Now, another surprise came. Wednesday afternoon at about 4:00 I get to my new area, bags and all, and get partially settled (pull out my proselyting materials) and we hit the streets. When we get home at night, I send a message to our district leader letting them know we are home. Ten minutes later I get a call from the Zone Leaders, asking, "Is your district all in their houses?"

"...._____]!!!! (empty space in the conversation as what they said hit me) What? What district?"

"They didn't tell you?"

"Um, no."

"Oh," a slightly uncomfortable laugh, mixed with surprise, "Well, you're a district leader."

... ... ... ... ... ...

Oh great, goes through my head. That was a lot of change all at once. I get a surprise call that I go back north, meaning no change to a new mission. Then I get a surprise call saying I'm a district leader. A lot of new things to deal with now, and yet, not so new all at once. The only slightly annoying thing about it now is that my district (of one other companionship) lives almost a full hour away by bus.

Ah, well. Goes to show ya that the Lord's ways are not our ways, neither are His thoughts our thoughts.

The new area is pretty cool. I met the Branch President the night I got here and enjoyed a pleasant discussion with him about his vision for the branch. It is so very close to that same vision that President Gulbrandsen has been teaching me for two years. I also missed half of the conference yesterday. That's how we found out how long it took to get to the area of the other elders in my district. We missed one bus, got on the other one after the training meeting started, then got there halfway through Elder Nelson's message. We'll hopefully be able to find the rest of it online, and the Branch President said that if we could, he'd show it to us in his house. The things that were said perhaps are old messages to us, but are not all the things that we hear about in General Conference also? There must be something that we just aren't getting. And here, it still hasn't been applied as much as it could be.

Perhaps we can do all of those things with the less active members. There are more than 350 names on the records of our branch here. Yesterday there were only about 50 in attendance. And the 300? Where were they? We have been working with the Branch President closely about that and we are putting into action a new ward mission plan to be able to find new people through visiting the less actives, not just us as missionaries, but also several couples from the branch and also a few companionships of the young single adults. We are hoping to see a great increase in the attendance and participation in the ordinance of the Sacrament.

Well, that about sums up the week. I got to know a whole bunch of the members and the few current investigators that we have. The work moves forward.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!!!!

Love,

Matthew

^-^ 6/17/13

 

 

Dear Family,

Well, here we go again.

Mom asked about Luis and his family in her letter to me, so I'll let you know a little about that situation to start with. Luis hasn't been coming very regularly for a while to church. He's only been once in the last 6 weeks, and the majority of the reason he hasn't come has been for work in one way or another. His son hasn't come even once in that time. Nor have his nephews. But we're working on that. It's hard to get in to see them now because it seems that Luis has more work now than he had in the Summer!

Andrés is progressing slowly. He still finds it hard to believe in Joseph Smith, which is a big stumbling block for most people. We're trying to reinforce the necesity for reading and prayer in obtaining any answer, but he's still reluctant to even do that. I think it's because he values a whole lot the teachings his mom gave him as a child, raising him as a Catholic. We're trying to share with him that we are not trying to trample or even set aside his beliefs, but rather to build them up, but I don't know if he really sees it that way. We realized in our companionship study today that perhaps one of his biggest doubts is that a belief in Joseph Smith is denying everything that his mother taught him. I also think that he still thinks that we worship Joseph Smith. Obviously, we know that's not true. He's been telling us that he doesn't think we need someone to tell us God's will if we have the scriptures (which he still doesn't like to read much of anyway). We'll be trying this week to focus on the Restoration and the need for a prophet, as in old times.

Also, once again, we were the Sacrament program. We're working on getting the men and priesthood holders that we have here more active and participating, but we're still having a few problems with that. Most of it revolves around work, but there are some other existing problems.

I will tell you this, if I finish my mission here in Tolhuin, I'm going to have a culture shock when I come back home going to a ward of almost two hundred people. I'm used to about 13 right about now, including us.

Ah, well. Things will be getting better.

This week, we'll be finishing the mission challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 90 days. I read the second half of Mormon and the first three chapters of Ether this morning. I find it strengthening to me to read that even in his moments of deepest grief for the slain of his people, Mormon feels to reach out to us and emphasize the need for us to follow the Gospel of Christ in order to be saved. That and Moroni's testimony at the end of Mormon, explaining to us that al of his people have been destroyed because of their pride and their wickedness. They continue to exhort us to diligence in keeping the commandments of God and to remember Him in all that we do. It's something that we need as a constant reminder because it is also something that we don't do with all that much consistancy as human beings. But we are promised a multitude of blessings for obeying and keeping the commandments of God.

I thought it was interesting that from 3 Nephi 18 to the end of 3 nephi, we are told fifteen times in one form or another that we need to pray unto the Father in the name of Christ. Just an interesting point that I noticed, especially with all the people who say that we need to say memorized prayers in order to be heard, or recite the same things over and over. Something to think about.

Tonight we have a full night, working with a few less active members and a few new investigators. Hopefully there will be bigger and better news next week as we increase our efforts to find new people to teach.

I love you all!

Happy Father's Day to Dad, Brandon, and Marvin!!!

Love,

Matthew

Let It Snow! 6/10/13

Dear Family,

The heavens are being a little bipolar today. Almost literally. It's been indecisive about rain/sun/snow all day. It hasn't really snowed uch, but we saw some flakes. It's the first time we've seen snow in about three weeks.

Ok, Mom mentioned that I haven't sent pictures in a while. Well, here's our zone last transfer two hours before three of them boarded a flight headed north...

No one laugh, I know I've gained weight. I'm working on it....

This is a picture of my current companion--the one in the middle--and one of the assistants who was with us for a few days. This is in the house of Andrés and Liz...

Speaking of Andrés and Liz, they are a wonderful couple. Liz is a less active woman who greeted us in the street one day. Now her husband Andrés has a baptismal date for this Sunday. Things will depend on if he returns to smoking, but he is working on quitting. Maybe I should work with him on quitting some of the things that I eat.... Maybe I'd drop a few pounds.

Mom said I once mentioned a young teenage recent convert, but not any more information than that. Her name's Nancy, 17, and super cool. She's got a great testimony, and I think I mentioned before that she read the Book of Mormon twice in one year. She's working on inviting a friend of hers to church and the friend has gone once. Now we're just trying to meet the girl outside of church and get to know the family so we can share with them the message of the Gospel.

In three weeks from today, the chances are very high that I will still be here. The reason that is somewhat important news is that the mission is splitting. In three weeks I will belong to the Argentina Comodoro Rivadavia mission, consisting of the three southern provinces of Argentina; Chubut, Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego.

More news next week! More questions!

Love,

Matthew

This Week.... 6/3/13

Dear Family,

Once again another week gone.

Does life ever quite slow down?

At moments it seems to drag on and on,

but at others flicks by...

and I can't think of word to rhyme with down that'd fit. Dreams of being a poet, slashed to pieces... ;)

Anyway, golly jee whirllickers batman! WE'RE IN JUNE! Where have the last two years gone?! They disappeared! I protest! But I guess it won't do any good.

This week has been a very interesting one. We had much less time to actually do work in our area this week and ended up not teaching much. We did a lot more walking than talking.

Yesterday at "church" we only had 8 people (including us) show up, and one of them left early. We ended up only doing sacrament meeting, and that shorter than normal, just because everyone who wanted to bear their testimony went and it was done. Short meeting, but it was worth it. The sacrament is so important. One of the recent converts, a teenage girl, bore her testimony about prayer, sharing the story of her sick little brother who got better after she prayed for him all the time. She's super strong in her testimony and will definitely be a great leader among the women in the church here very shortly.

Another piece of great news... The one investigator that went to church yesterday has accepted a baptismal date!!!! He has been reluctant for a long time to accept a date, but yesterday we explained and taught him about the priesthood. This entire last week has been a very spirit filled week in teaching him. He's enjoyed it all and yesterday accepted a date for the 16th of June. Of course, we still have a few things left to do to help him prepare, and we especially want him to feel the change within himself, but he has taken another step towards baptism and eventually eternal life!

I've been thinking a lot recently about things that have happened over the course of my mission and I can see that I have progressed a lot, but still have a long ways to go. I feel apprehensive about the future after the mission, and it keeps looming closer on the horizon.

Well, I have to be going now, we have a few other things to do before we close off the day. I love you all!!!

Love,

Matthew

Weekly Update 5/27/13

How are things down south? How's your new companion? We're you able to fill up any more seats on Sunday? Is it getting cold? How are the new priesthood holders doing?

My dearest family,

I've already been on the computer for over an hour, reading letters, writing President, updating mission files, and now writing you, and I still have a lot to do. So this letter will sadly be a little shorter than normal.

This last week has actually been much better. My new companion is Elder McNab, from the Seattle, Washington area. He's the second of five, loves rock music, and hates the cold and ice here while at the same time enjoying immensly "skating" on the streets in his shoes.

We also are hosting the newly assigned Assistant to the president, Elder Martinez, who is the travelling assistant for the south. He's visiting all the areas here so that he can give a report about each one to the new mission president when he arrives. He was also in the same house with me when I first arrived to Argentina in Pilar, so it has been neat to catch up with him a bit.

I have not been officially moved to the new mission yet, but I'm almost sure that it's going to happen. I also have no idea what will be happening with all of the changes. I suspect that this new transfer could very easily be only until the 15 of June, which is when President Gulbrandsen said that there would be no more changes made in the organization of the southern areas bafore the end of the transfer. I have no clue, but it is a suspicion of mine. (I killed the spelling on that word I'm sure of it.)

Things down here in the south are going well. We had a great Sunday yesterday. After a whole week of trying to find a place to meet, the community let us use one of the cultural buildings. We improvised the pulpit out of a trashcan, a bucket, and an empty produce box, covered with a thick blue curtain. It was the missionary show, since none of the leaders from Rio Grande could show up, so it was kind of interesting in that sense. I presided and directed the meeting. Elder Martinez and I blessed the sacrament while Elder McNab passed. Elder Martinez said the opening prayer and lead the music and gave the opening remarks in testimony. Elder McNab spoke on the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then I spoke on Agency and how to recognize the Holy Ghost, expounding Galations 5:22-23. It had one of the five investigators present tearing up a little towards the end. It was the first time in 5 weeks that we had investigators in church and there were FIVE! with a total attendance of 15. Every single one of them from Tolhuin, because no one from Rio Grande could come! SUCCESS!! We're planning on working a lot more with them this week and hope to see all of them baptized within the next three to four weeks. This of course very much depends on their agency and dedication to fulfil the commitments we will be extending to them.

Sadly, only one of the recent converts from the past year was in attentance yesterday. Not one of the people who has joined the church since I came to Tolhuin was present, and we will be verifying why this week. The new priesthood holders didn't show up either, which was wierd to me because we were with one of them an hour before church started. In fact, he was helping us go look for the investigators to remind them about church and to wake them up if they were sleeping. (You wouldn't believe how late people sleep in here!! Some of them until 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon!! Keeping in mind that the sun goes down at 6:00...)

It's getting super cold down here. I've even been thinking about buying a new pair of warmer gloves and a replacement hat for the one I just lost. I feel like an idiot for losing a hat I had just bought, but I can't find it anywhere and have no clue where I could have left it. While most of the snow we had two weeks ago has melted, all the water has since frozen, making the roads relatively slick. We've all fallen quite a few times. Luckily, nothing more serious than a few bruises, but we had a close call with Elder Martinez today. As he slipped, he almost hit his head on the curb. If he hadn't put out his hands and weren't wearing his backpack, he'd have had a super bad accident. Lucky for him (or due to guardian angels) he just left with a bruise on his leg and a sore ligament behind his knee. I'm keeping care of my self and avoid patches where I know I will fall, though there are places where I'm surprised and fall just the same.

Anyhow. That's about where we're at down here at the moment. I love you all and hope to hear from you all soon!

Love,

Elder Dewsnup

--

Elder Matthew H. Dewsnup

Misión Buenos Aires Norte

Gral. Lavalle 1828

1646 San Fernando

Buenos Aires, Argentina

New Transfer 5/21/13

Dear Family,

Well, this week the letter will be shorter. The internet café where I am right now closes in about 15 minutes. I'll be printing out your letters to read later.

¡Man! How time flies. At the start of this transfer, I will once again be staying in Tolhuin!! Elder Johnson, however is heading for Buenos Aires on a plane in four hours. Due to that, we're at the moment in Rio Grande in a small cyber cafe waiting before he has to go to the airport. The only thing I know about my new companion is that his name is Elder Macnab or Elder McNab (both of whom are Elders in this mission). We've got a lot of work to do in Tolhuin.

We've been finding a lot of people but the hardest thing for all of them is making the sacrifice on Sunday to go to church. We've now had four weeks in a row without a single investigator in church. That and soon we will be moving locations. The hope is that the new location is more towards the center of the town, but we'll just have to see what happens.

I got my package from the office on Sunday, five weeks after it was sent. It sat in a warehouse in Buenos Aires for two weeks, then took two weeks to get down here, then another week before we finally asked someone to get it from the shipping copmpany because it was taking forever for them to get it to us. I called and complained a few times to no apparent avail. After several promises of "oh, it'll be there in... (a few days, tomorrow, later today, etc.)," I'd had enough. So, Thanks Mom, I've received what you sent three months ago and I'm enjoying every second of them! I never thought I'd be so grateful for new underwear! ;) Nor had I ever thought that I'd be asking for them for birthday or Christmas either. Interesting how interests change over the years...

We've got several new people to teach this week and we're going to be working hard to get them to understand the importance of coming to church, so that they chose for themselves to come this Sudnay. Last week, I wrote a bit about that and I'm sticking to what I said. The Sacrament is the most important part of the week. It is in those moments of reverance and reflection that we often can and will receive the revelation we need from God to be able to get through the week.

I'm looking forward to reading what you have written to me and I want you all to know how much I love you!!! There is not enough room in Cyberspace to count the number.

Love,

Matthew

p.s. Mom I saw the picture of the flowers as I went to copy and paste to Word. They're lovely!!!

--

Elder Matthew H. Dewsnup

Misión Buenos Aires Norte

Gral. Lavalle 1828

1646 San Fernando

Buenos Aires, Argentina

So.... 5/13/13

Dear Family,

Well, another week is gone. The last phone call has passed. So little time remains, 'til I'll be home at last.

Ok, so maybe not at last... but it was a good rhyme.

Well, we had the first snow fall today. Nothing big enough to really stikck to the ground but a couple of flakes. The problem is more in the ice on the dirt roads and the frozen mud. Once the snow really hits and starts to melt and freeze, we'll be putting on our ice walkers. I loved seeing all your faces yesterday!!! I was a little bummed about the lack of a good amount of time, but that's life and things move on.

We've seen a hard week. After meeting a whole bunch of people and two new families, we had a record low of attendence in my time here. Nine in total, four being leadership from Rio Grande and two being us. Not the ideal, especially since not a single one of the investigators or future investigators showed up. Despite best efforts, not a big turn out. But we've got another week to really try and stress the importance of the sacrament and church meetings. Something that I recently wrote to Joseph is still on my mind. And it also happened to be the topic I was asked to speak on yesterday, since almost no one showed up.

The topic was really the blessings that I have seen in my life from living the Gospel and the effect it had on my and my siblings. I sorta morphed it a little bit, because I came up with two of the most important things and focused on those. Daily family scripture study and daily family prayer.

We all have memories of the successful and not so successful moments of daily scripture study, and I'm sure Mom and Dad remember more than I or any of the rest of us kids do about those. But I do remember and will value forever the consistancy and lessons learned from those moments. I will also always remember the love felt in those moments. We had our rushed days when we would just read to read, and we had our time days when Dad and Mom would ask us understanding questions and would understand our questions respond to them. I also remember when learning to read the love and patience that all had with my halting language. I also still remember and will never forget that once when it was my turn I misread the word bond for blonde, making the phrase "both blonde and free, both male and female," or something like that. That phrase is said a lot in the Book of Mormon, and every time I come to that point I smile and remember the laughs we had at that! :)

With our family prayers, I shared with the congregation about the twenty to thirty minute prayers that we had and with a mix of tears and chuckles told them of the love I felt and the Spirit that was present. It's something that Dad about a month and a half ago commented to me about as well. Dad, if you ever thought those moments were irreverent, I cherish those moments as some of the closest moments we had as a family. The joy I still feel at the memory is filling. I also shared an experience in which I learned from Mom and Dad, from the two of you, the importance of prayer and the love and blessings that it can provide for your children.

I remember once I had some dort of question and I was coming to you later on in the evening and still being younger I just opened the door without knocking. I saw you two kneeling side by side at your bed in prayer. I closed the door most of the way, but remained standing there and listened as you prayed for each of us in turn and I felt your love for me. I still don't remember what it was that I needed in that moment, but I have a memory of receiving something better; the testimony of love from my parents and the knowledge that they lifted their voices to God for me. The Book of Mormon testifies that children are blessed by the righteous prayers of their parents, as shown by the story of Alma the prophet and his errant son Alma.

I shared those experiences and a few scriptures and ended with a testimony of the importance of the sacrament, which I want to emphasize here a little more. As Elder Oaks taught us several years ago (don't remember how many) the sacrament is the most important part of any of our meetings. It is the time in which we have to renew our baptismal covenants with God, and a time to receive a new forgiveness for our sins. It is in the moments of the sacrament that we can perhaps feel the Spirit the strongest outside of the Temple, as we contemplate the atoning gift of our Saviour and partake of the emblems of His flesh and blood. We take into ourselves, figuratively and spiritually, His flesh and blood, symbolizing a becoming one with Him. The promises of the sacrament I still remember from a Family Home Evening when we lived in Hudsen as AKT-always remember Him, keep His commandments, and take upon us His name. We are promised in turn His Spirit, that Holy Guide and Comforter, as a constant companion, as in the words of the prayer, "that they may always have his spirit to be with them" (Moroni 4:3, italics added for emphasis).

When we do each of these things with diligence and consistency (as in constant, not as in the cooking term for how liquidy it is, not sure of the spelling), we are promised the Blessings of God. "And when we obtain any blessing from God it is by obedience..." for, "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." When we obey God's commandments to study the scriptures, pray, and renew our covenants, we will receive the blessings held in store for us. I know it.

I love you all and will talk to you again next week!

Love,

Matthew