The Marvellous Mormon Mario Missionaries

Hey everyone!

It has been a pretty long week. Lots of walking and lots of rain but still AWESOME as always! To start, we got our changes. Elder Raimundo and I are staying together for another 6 weeks :). I am excited because spanish has gotten a lot easier to speak and understand without thinking too much this past change, and I hope it can improve a lot this change too. It is kind of nice not having to translate every word that flies out of the mouth of a Latino, but just being able to understand. 

Doing What He Loves

Anyways, it has been super rainy the past couple of days. Yesterday, not many people were able to make it to church, and it started flooding a lot. But it turned out to be a great day. 

Elder Raimundo and I were out in the edge of our area and went to go visit an investigator and a couple of good contacts we had made on other days. Of course, nobody was home, or they were taking an extended siesta (nap time) due to the weather, and so we really had nothing to do. We were about to start walking back to go contact more in the city, when the rain finally stopped for the first time in about 24 hours. So that was nice. And then I heard someone trying to get our attention a little ways down, and we went to go talk to him. 

Yes, he's the Gringo

His name is [...] and is only 13 years old, but is so curious about religion. He at first thought we were Jehovah's Witness´, and has never met missionaries, but we got talking to him and he is a really neat kid! He said he is just so fascinated by different beliefs, and is always looking for more truth! We wanted to go in his house and teach him, but he said his mom was sleeping, and would get mad if he brought strangers in. 

We started looking around for a place to sit outside, but there was really no where way out there and everything was soaked anyways, so we just decided to teach him the restoration there standing in front of his house. And it was super awesome! He understood the message really well  and even before we taught about the first vision, and were talking about the great apostasy, he said he would think that if God wants to guide us he would call a prophet again like he did in ancient times. That led perfectly into the first vision and restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he said it all made sense to him. We testified of The Book or Mormon, and when we gave him one he was so happy! He said that he wanted to read it all in one day, and was so grateful! Also that we can come back any day. 

Elder Raimundo Doing His Best Mario Impersonation

Not even five minutes after we left our new friend, the rain started up again, this time even harder! I think it was a miracle, after all the rain we had been consistently getting, it stopped for just 30 minutes, allowed us to find him, and then continued when we left. I am really excited to go back to teach him! 

Anyways, as Elder Raimundo and I were walking in the wind and rain, it was so bad that our umbrellas literally did nothing. So then we just kind of embraced it, and stopped trying to avoid the more flooded parts of the street. It is funny, we were completely soaked, trudging through calf high water, and getting rejected by every person that wasn't sleeping, but I just felt so happy, I can't even explain it. I love being here on the mission. I know that the Lord comforts us, when times are hard. Even when we feel like turning back, like in Alma 26:27, the Lord somehow raises our spirits. We were so soaked, cold, and kinda tired, yet felt so happy. So awesome. 

 I know the church is true. I am grateful to be a missionary. The power of The Book of Mormon is so very real because it is from God and for us. I know that. I will never neglect the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon and of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am so grateful to have the Gospel in my life and to have the opportunity to share it with all of my brothers and sisters here in Argentina/ Uruguay. I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Layton