Happy New Year, Elder Pretti has gone home, and great things going on in Resistencia

I was so relieved to hear that Luke is feeling better and that they had a much better week! They got to ring in the New Year by having a couple of elders from another area stay over (because New Years day was Sunday the buses weren't running and so they wouldn't have a way to get to church, so they stayed with Luke and his companion).

Also this week they worked their tails off and visited over 60 houses trying to search for all the members on their huge ward list. He said they have 720 names on their ward list. Also they decided to drop their friends that weren't progressing, which was a trial of their faith because that pretty much left them with no one. So they went to work finding people this week. He said their hard work paid off and they saw miracles happen!

The first miracle was when they were at Walmart. They were standing in line and all of a sudden someone spoke to them in English! They talked with him, his name is Brian, and then made an appointment to meet with him. They taught him a lesson on the Restoration at the church and they said it went great. In fact he came to church on Sunday! He was only going to be able to stay for the first half but ended up staying for the whole thing! That was a miracle in and of itself because hardly anyone was at church because they were up the night before ringing in the New Year! So Brian looks like he will be a great friend to teach!

Then they were in a discussion with a recent convert and a friend of them came over. Her name is Zoe and she is 10 years old. Her mom passed away a couple of months ago and so she lives with her Grandparents. Zoe wanted to learn more about the church and so they went and talked to her grandparents and they are allowing her to learn more!

They found about 8 other people to teach this week so that is a huge miracle!

Then Luke shared such a neat experience with us that touched our hearts. There were some members that had them over that Luke has been a little turned off by. They are nice but a little brutally honest. They have a daughter on her mission and they were sharing how successful she is and telling them if they would just do things the way she did then they would be successful. That really turned Luke off. Well during their visit the brother complimented Luke. He told him how amazing he has done with learning the language and that he was impressed. Luke was impressed that he needed to return a compliment. This brother's wife is deaf and so this brother knows sign language to communicate with her. So Luke complimented him and told him how awesome it is that he knows sign language so well. Well this changed everything. Hearts were changed! Suddenly this brother started teaching Luke and Elder Pretti sign language. The Spirit was so strong as Luke's heart was softened and as this sweet sister saw their desire to learn and communicate with her. She was just beaming! Luke learned the signs for Jesus, Spirit, God, etc. The Spirit poured over him and Luke felt so much love for this family, which originally he had had hard feelings toward. What an amazing experience to have such a change of heart! I loved how Luke teared up as he was sharing. He laughed and said he didn't expect to cry as he told us, but it was so neat to see him feel the Spirit changing him. I LOVE the way the Spirit works!

One funny side note...Luke was telling this brother and his wife that he once lived in China and he asked them how to say China in sign language. They proceeded to make slanted eyes with their hands! Kind of racist!!!! And then the funniest thing was when he asked them how to say rice they said it was the same sign! ha ha ha!!!! They are a little racist there and tell things how they see them with no filter! They don't like Brazilians (even though their country is literally 20 minutes away) and they call them monkeys! And say things like they throw poop! How terrible! And then once there was a guy who introduced his grandson, who is a little overweight, to them as chubby pig. OH MY!!!!!

So it was a great week. They had a call with missionaries past and present with President and Sister Reber. He said it was so cool to see old missionaries again! And they shared that they surpassed their mission baptism goal of 520 baptisms for the year and made it to 536!!! AMAZING!!! And with all the new missionaries and new areas they have a goal of 830 baptisms for 2023!!!! Luke also learned that the new mission president that will be replacing the Rebers in July is President and Sister Barlow from Fruitland, ID.

Another exciting thing is that Elder Pretti returned home this week!!!! It was funny because he spoke in church on Sunday and then right as he finished the mission taxi driver was there and told him they needed to leave right then. So he spoke and walked off the stand and out the door! The members after were asking Luke "Did he just leave????" YEP! They didn't even get to say goodbye! Soo funny! So I can't wait to hear about Luke's new companion Elder Packer next week!

It was neat to hear Luke reflecting on his mission and all the things he has learned and the ways he thinks he has changed. We asked him what his goals are this year and he said:

To be more humble
To be more focused on his purpose as a missionary
To love more
To be more focused during his prayers.

I love those goals and I'm so proud of Elder Rose and the amazing missionary he is! Man missions teach and change you in ways nothing else could!!!!

The bishop and his family and new converts Ellie and Leo

The Veron family. Poor Brother Veron lost his job and just got a new one that required him to work on Sundays :( So we are praying for them to find something else