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Officially Argentine

 January 30, 2023

Hey, what's up, you guys? It's Elder Mergenthaler back at it again!

After last p-day I took a bus at 12:30 at night all the way to Bahía Blanca to do my paperwork to become legal in the system. I got there about 6:30 in the morning, which means I was on a bus all night, but let me tell you, those seats on the bus were so nice and comfy, so I got to sleep basically all the way except for like the last five minutes. Some missionaries picked me up but told me to keep my stuff with me because I wouldn't be staying at their house, but with another set of missionaries. So, I pretty much carried my stuff around while we started the paperwork, then we dropped stuff off at the missionaries' apartment and got to work. We worked and worked until our legs felt like they would fall off 😅. After that, we kind of just chilled out, cooked onion rings, and went to bed. The next day wasn't nearly as hard. I went back to get my picture taken for my ID and took the bus back to my area right after. Again, the sleep was amazing! 

After that crazy start to the week, my companion and I were back to work in our area. By then, it was Thursday, and we had to do some planning for the next week, which always takes a while, but we still managed to cram some miracles into the day. While we are busy planning, we get a text from one of our friends, and she's like, "Elders, where you at?" so we respond with, "We can be over to your house in 10," and she's like, "OK bet." So we get over there, and it's a gloomy day, so it already feels sad, and the worst part is our friend never smiles, like never, but we dive into a lesson about the Plan of Salvation. My companion gets the thought to ask her if she has prayed about The Book of Mormon, and she goes, "Ya, about a year ago, I got this fire in my soul, and I felt really peaceful about it." Well, we explain to her that those feelings were the Spirit confirming the truth of The Book of Mormon to her. We ask her what she thinks of praying again just for confirmation of those feelings she had before. Me and my comp already know she will know it's true. After about 10 minutes, my comp asks how she feels. She's like, "The same as I did that other time I prayed." So my comp asks her if she can trust that feeling and follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized. She said yes. Like I said before, it was a gloomy day, and our friend is not the smiling type. Well, as soon as her "yes" came out of her mouth, there was a big light in the room, and our friend had the biggest smile on her face.

Another cool thing that happened is that I got to see a young man open his mission call in Spanish. It was really powerful to see a kid who wasn't sure if he wanted to go on a mission change his life and have the excitement and joy about serving and sharing his love of God with others. Another miracle this week was that we had four friends in church, and one of our friends we found while in sacrament meeting, haha, so that's incredible. The work is going well. 

Anyway, I love you all and hope you all have a good week!!

I'm sending you the biggest Ricky, I mean Elder Mergenthaler hug I can.

Mucho Amor, 

Elder Mergenthaler 







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