Growing Up Fast

 Officially 3 months living in Argentina! No clue where the time went, but I am thankful for this journey. Lots of changes have been happening lately. Elder Ramos finished his mission, I got assigned as District leader, and now I am a trainer. It has been a rollercoaster to say the least. I have never felt so weak and inadequate in all of my life, but I am honestly thankful. There is nothing quite like a humble pie of reality. My new companion has the faith to move mountains. He might not have the experience, but I am equally as grateful for him as Elder Ramos. He is a great person. He has the will to serve the lord and I have seen quite clearly that that is just good enough for the lord.

 I have been working all of my mission here in Armenia to try and get our friend Maxi to church. 3 months. He was the very first investigator I met here in Argentina and man has he come a long way. He was addicted to cocaine, living a life in the streets getting in fights, running from police, stealing, drinking, you name it he has probably done it. My first day on the mission we were walking to a dinner appointment and he came running to us telling us he needed help. I will never forget his face. He had eyes of pure desperation. He just wanted to change. For months we have been visiting him, watching him fall back into addiction, accept baptismal dates, having to pull them again, falling through on commitments, completing commitments again, but not showing up when we came to walk with him to church. Elder Ramos told me one day that we need to just give up on him for now. I just couldn't do it. He had come too far and I felt that we just needed to change up what we were doing. For weeks we had been visiting him nonstop to check on him and help him with temptations, I would literally run to his house every single Saturday night to tell him to go to bed on time so that the next day he would be ready for church, and then every night he would not be home. We would run to the church hours early to set up for the meeting and then sprint to his house once again for him not to be home. Me and Elder Camacho just felt that the lord would reward our efforts. So this Saturday was the first of two miracles. We ran to his house which is about a 25 minute walk from our pension, and he was there. I just about cried with joy. Then Sunday morning we ran to his house again and he was there ready to go to church. I seriously was about to cry. To see 3 months of absolute heartache when he wouldn't come to church, fall back into old habits, and just see desire in his eyes to change and to see the Lord bring forth the fruits of our labors just made everything worth it. We seriously ran in suits in the middle of the Argentine summer about 1.5 miles every single Saturday and Sunday with nothing but faith in the Lord that he would help change Maxi. This Sunday was the best of my mission. I couldn't help but smile the entire meeting. The mission is hard. So mentally challenging. But God is so real. And his love is amazing.