Week 57- Speaking Spanish

Im sitting here in the mission office writing and super excited because I can finally understand the music that they are playing outside for a ward activity! The spanish is finally coming along, I think!

Friday we started pday by going to a hospital to give a blessing to a baby. We weren't able to enter the room where the baby was but I know the prayer that was said on behalf of the baby will be answered! After Pday there was a ward activity that we went to where we learned about our talents and how important it is to use and grow our talents.

Saturday we had another meeting with President in the morning. In the afternoon we hit the road again this time to go to a city called Sáenz Peña (said "sans painya") which is about 2 hours from Resistencia. We got there about 3:30 in the afternoon and went out on divisions with the zone leaders of Sáenz Peña and Elder Ruatta and I taught some of the most amazing lessons of my mission! At night the wind started blowing in and then that night it got cold!! 

Sunday morning we got up and met President early at 7:30 to leave and go to a branch an hour away from Sáenz Peña called Las Breñas. President Patanía gave a great talk on how sometimes if we pray and pray and nothing happens we sometimes have to do it for ourselves and then God will help us. 

Monday was Meetings Monday with President and then in the afternoon we got everything ready for multizona in Corrientes! 

Tuesday was multizona in Corrientes! It was cold... we don't have stuff for the cold here... haha but everything went well. In the afternoon we went looking for some references that we received. 

Wednesday we took elder Lloyd to the office early because there was someone who had to do some legalization work. That night as we went looking for references too. We are also starting to go to all of the funeral homes and hospitals and leaving pamphlets for people to take.

Thursday we had interviews with President! He´s awesome. While I was having the interview a thought of how weird it was that i was having this fluid conversation and interview in Spanish. Spanish is such an awesome language! 

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Mason Tuttle

Bridge to Corrientes

Crossing the Bridge

Daniel, the Mission President's Son

 Downtown Saenz Pena

 Elder Ruatta and I

 Hammock Time

 On the Way to Saenz Pena

 Passing Campo Largo

 Sunday Morning Going to Las Brenas

Viva Argentina

Week 56- Week 2 With President Patania

¿Cómo están?

Another super busy week here in Resistencia!

Friday we played padel and Elder Lloyd and Allan acted like robots for a whole game. It was super funny (check the video out). At night we had a dinner with President Patanía and his wife and son. He´s an awesome President and has great ideas and goals for the mission. 

Saturday we had meetings with President in the morning and then in the afternoon we went and set up and participated in a Capilla Abierta. Elder Olmos and I did the baptism and Holy Ghost. Its always a blessing to do that part because in my opinion it is the most powerful part of the Capilla Abierta and you get to invite people to be baptized! It was a successful night and we got lots of references.

Sunday we had church with Elder Lloyd´s ward. We learned about service, which I loved because I love service! President Patanía likes service as well so I´m super excited that we will be doing more service. Halfway through priesthood meeting we got a call to go and give a blessing to a woman who was dying in the hospital. It was a really special experience to go and give that to her.

Monday we had meetings in the morning and then in the afternoon left for Formosa. We got there and President had interviews with one of the zones. Then we went to sleep with the zone leaders. We had some really good hamburgers.

Tuesday was a Multizona of Formosa I and Clorinda. President Patanía gave a great capacitation on how we need to serve with all our corazon, alma, meant, y fuerza, or for those of you who don't speak spanish, heart, soul, mind, and strength. His love for the work and the missionaries is so great! 

Wednesday we had Multizona with Formosa II and Ibarreta. One of the things that we did in our training was a "virtual missionary" where we walked through a contact and first lesson with powerpoint. It was fun and taught how we should be teaching. It´s an amazing experience to be able to help teach all of our brothers and sisters here in this world how to return back to our heavenly home. After multizona we headed back to Resi.

Thursday we worked in the office in the morning and then in the afternoon we went to contact all of our references that are on referral manager because we set a goal in the mission to contact all of the references that are on referral manager. One of them we couldn´t find and the other Elder Olmos had already contacted. But, we ran into some people that Elder Lloyd had seen in the morning in Corrientes while he was doing some legal work. They were walking on the opposite side of the street and we passed them. Elder Lloyd says"hey! I know them! I saw them this morning.... Wait, thats not a coincidence, we have to go and talk to them!" we were on a super busy part of Resi and had to go about 3 blocks to a round about to do a u-turn and then we went to hunt them down. They were way far away but we saw them walking and finally passed them again to do another u-turn, park the car, and then hop out of the car and say, "hey! how are you guys!" like that isn't a weird thing for someone who had only seen you once before to do. haha. It was awesome though because they were lost and needed help so we were able to help them once in Corrientes, once in Resi, and they live in Saenz Peña and the missionaries there will help them there! We also went to an old folks home to see if there were hours when we could go and volunteer and an old man finished talking on the phone and then walked past us. As he walked past he says, "El único que llamo es Dios, Todos los demás que llamo son mentirosos!" hahaha it was so funny! (The only one I call is God, Everyone else I call are liers!")

 Well, Have a great week!

Elder Mason Tuttle

 Bikes for the Only Biking Area in the Mission

 Formosa Airport

 Happy Elder Olmos

 How Multizones of Formosa Work

 Is That a Dwarf in the Store Window?

 Just Realized it is Missing a V in the Sign

 Leaving For Formosa

 On the Road

 President Road and Fields

 Padel as Robots

 Taking Elders to the Formosa Airport

 Talk About Alignment Issues (he is driving straight)

You Can't See it but He is Smoking, Has Dip in and on His Low Rider Bike

Classic Formoseno

Week 55- Goodbye to President Franco- Hello to President Patania

¿Cómo le va?

This week we had the biggest change a mission can have; a change of the mission president!

Friday we played padel (cause its awesome) and also took an elder to the doctor´s office to get his toenail taken out because it had gotten infected. They took a video of the surgery and I barely, barely made it through the 2 minute, 30 second video. ughhh. I will never be a doctor haha.

Saturday we washed the cars and finished up the final touches in the office for the new president to come. We brought President Franco´s bags to the office. Elder Olmos and I also gave a blessing to a sister who was struggling and it was a great experience. The spirit was super strong. I´m so glad I have the priesthood of God that I can use to bless others. It was also interesting because as missionaries in spanish we use a certain conjugation that is more formal but when you give blessings you use a different form of speech. So it was really weird to speak spanish that way.

Sunday morning us, the office, and President and Hermana Franco went to the office to pick up our new mission president, Presidente Patanía. He and his wife arrived on their anniversary! The Presidents went to talk and the office, Elder Olmos, and I went to eat! That night we took President and Hermana Franco to the airport and sent them on their way. It was sad seeing them go but also exciting with President Patanía here.

Monday we had our first day with the new president and were in meetings with him basically all day. He has great ideas of what he wants for the mission and has a great spiritual energy.

Tuesday we did a lot of paperwork that President wanted done and also had a 4th of July lunch of hot dogs, potato salad, and re-fried beans(?). In the afternoon it was back to meetings with President. At night we had a correlation meeting with our ward and then went to bed.

Wednesday we got everything ready for consejo and went and bought all the drinks, bananas, and alfajores. Then we did consejo planning and got everything set up.

Thursday we had consejo. I directed and gave the spiritual thought and Elder Olmos gave the point of preach my gospel. We both talked about service. I really like how when we are in the service of our fellow man, we are in the service of our God. What better service can we give to someone else than to give them the knowledge of how to receive eternal life! 

I read a great talk I really like: I attached it at the bottom.

Hope your week is amazing and you take a few seconds to see how God is there for you in your life!

Elder Mason Tuttle

Week 54- Book of Mormon

Hey Everyone,

What a week we have had here in the office this last week! 

Friday we played padel and relaxed. Elder Allan was pretty sick and slept all day. Last week I forgot to tell ya´ll that Elder Lloyd is temporarily our companion so we are in a trio with him.

Saturday we went to a baptism in the morning and that was super awesome! Then we went to go and teach in the afternoon and didn´t teach anyone but we had a really cool experience with one of the people we talked with. It brings such a peace to know that we have the truth. That everything we believe as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is of God, that it makes sense, and that it contains everything we need to be able to return to live with Him in complete happiness one day!

Sunday we went to E´Lloyd´s ward and learned all about the Book of Mormon and its importance. The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion which means that it holds everything together. Without the Book of Mormon our religion would have no validity. That´s why our testimony of it is so essential. I love a quote from Elder Holland´s talk "Safety for the Soul" where he says, 

"For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history—perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died—from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, “No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.”

Monday started the last week with President Franco, which is exciting and sad at the same time! We had the office meeting and bought food for multizona. 

Tuesday was the last multizona of President and Hermana Franco. We did the same game as the other two times. This time I shared that without the Book of Mormon I wouldn't have the opportunity to testify of the Book of Mormon and feel the confirmation of the Holy Ghost testifying of its' truthfulness. It's probably one of the most powerful experiences that I've had with the Book of Mormon when I am able to tell them that I know that the Book of Mormon is true!

Wednesday we went to the office and took furniture from a pension and distributed it all over Resistencia. For lunch we had a picnic and then we went to La Leonesa which is a small town about an hour away to paint a pension so we could give it back to the landlord. 

Thursday we organized the office because they finally replaced all of the desks and we have drawers again! In the afternoon we had to go to the terminal to give an hermana a phone because they were being transfered areas. Then we fell asleep exhausted!

That´s the week! Next week is going to be crazy because it´s goodbye President Franco and Hello President Patanía! Lots of adventures to come!

The church is true! Go to church, read the Book of Mormon everyday, say your prayers, Be Happy!

--

Saludos!

Elder Mason Tuttle

 Burnt Bus on the Side of the Ruta

 7 Floors is a Lot More Than You Think

 Burgers for Elder Allen's Birthday

 How He Can Sleep Like That I Have No Idea...

 On the Way to Paint the Pention

 Picnic

 Soaking Up the Sun

 Statue of the Massacre of Margarita Belen

 Super Small Gas Station When We Almost Ran Out of Gas

 Welcome to the Sisters Pension

That Burger!!!