8/28/17 Be Happy and Go to the Temple:)

Hola,

Well another week as gone by and we have been working hard down here in San Benito. Our friend Mariano was baptized!!! The service was amazing and most importantly he felt happy and clean. I have got to know my companion a little more, and we are still friends. We get along really well, and it helps when we teach. The other day we were contacting and Leo let us in his house. As we were ending the lesson he asked us if we practiced teaching together and we told him that we only knew each other for two weeks. He was surprised but looks like we are doing something right!

The people here seem to love to talk because everywhere we go we are finding new people to teach. The number one place we have found new people to teach is in the bus. To get to the main part of town or Rio Gallegos you have to take a bus that takes about 30 minutes. As we have waited for the bus we have found over 10 people!!!!!! Its crazy and I have never seen this before in my mission. Go Buses!!!:))

Again I want to talk about temples. After being here for 20 months I have missed the temple. I long to go and have started to really understand the importance of Temples. Why do we go to the temple? Why do we even have them? What should we do as we prepare to go to the temple? How much should we sacrifice to go? I invite you to ask these question to yourself and then answer them through study and prayer. You may already know why and what and when but dont go or show your knowledge. Go to the temple!! Go for me, and all the members here that wish they could see three temples from their bedroom window!

I know that temples are truly the house of the Lord. They are dedicated for that reason. Inside these temples we make covenants with our Father in Heaven. We must make these or we will not return to His presence. After making them, we must keep them. We must always strive to be worthy to have a recommend, and if you dont have one lets get one. Lets put the steps in process to become worthy. I promise you that as you strive to understand and go to the temple, you will be blessed one Spiritually, and two in your day to day life... like work, school, family, friends, sports,etc. God loves youi and wants you to succeed in all you do. Not just on Sunday when you go to church. He wants you to be happy all week long.

I love you all so much. I miss you, and hope that as we go to the temple we can recongnize and feel the blessings. I love being happy. Its why I am here. Be happy, and grateful for what you have! Les Quiero.

Elder Saunders del fin del mundo:)

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See it. Feel it. Trust it.

8/21/17 Share it, Love it, Life it!:)

Hola mis amigos,

Well, I am now in Rio Gallegos. After a 18 hour bus ride through the night and a taxi to my area I have made it to San Benito. Its a little city off of the bigger city Rio Gallegos. This is for sure my poorest area that I have been in. Good and bad things can come from this. I am really excited to work here. The area has a lot of potential and my companion Elder Aviles is amazing. Elder Aviles is from Mexico, has only three months in the mission, has a family that are members, loves to work, loves to be obedient, and helps me a lot. We are already good friends. Our area is huge so we have BIKES! My first area with bikes, but I havnent used them yet. So we will see if I still can ride a bike.

We have a baptism this Saturday and his name is Mariano. My one and only lesson with him, I cried. I could just see the changes that he had made in his life to make it to the place he is in right now. True repentence is amazing. As the days began we started to see miracles, people accepted dates to be baptized, started listening to us, found a couple of young adults to teach, and some random guy from our area showed up to English ¨Class only from seeing the paper we put in a little store. Miracles!

Each and every one of you have miracles in your life. Its your choice to recgonize them or not. Look, Listen, and feel with your spiritual senses. Try to really use the gifts that your Heavenly Father has given you to see, feel, hear all the miracles in your life. Pray for help to see them. Pray to be happy. Pray to do all that you wish to do and our loving Father in Heaven will answer your prayers.

I have a few friends in the zone and it was nice to catch up with them. Friends are amazing. Use them. Ask for help and help them. Be happy and show them that the gospel is fun, and joyful. Then they will want to find out why you are sooo happy. Through you they can begin to make convenants with our Father in Heaven. As we know that only through those covenants we can gain eteranal life.

I know that this is the true church. We have the power and authority of God. We make and keep sacred covenants. You can help others make these convenants. Share the gospel. Do it. why not? You know the importance so go and do. As Nephi says God has already prepared the way, now show HIm that you want to use it! Les Quiero mucho.

Elder Saunders del fin del mundo;)

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See it. Feel it. Trust it.

8/14/17 Transfers

Hola Todos,

Well this last week brought a few surprises. The first one is that I am being transfered after only six weeks in my area here. For the first time in my mission I am not going have six months in my area. Puerto Madryn taught me a lot. I learned about my potential and what kind of missionary and man I want to be and become. I have made a lot of changes in how I act, teach, and talk to people. I have made so many friends here and even though I wont see there baptism they will all be baptized. My companions Elder Michel and Elder Ward changed my mission. They had the patience and love to help make the changes we needed to make.

This was the last week of Elder Michels mission and we worked to the end. We didnt let him go out lazy. Elder Ward and I thought we were going to have another transfer together but with the news late saturday night, we were shocked. I however know that I am needed in my new area. I will be going down south to Rio Gallegos. I am going to Elder Wards first area. A cool connection I already have to my new investigators and members. I will be in the same branch as the Seventy down here and that will be nice to have a little connection to the states.

Our top investigator that is going to be baptized on the 26th is named Marcos. He came to us because his ex invited him to change and take the lessons in her house. He started listening to us just try to win her back and now ended up finding out the truth. Any reason is a good reason to listen to the missionaries. He has come to church the past three weeks in a row and has changed his attitude and actions. Doesnt drink, or break the law of chastity anymore. Go Marcos. What we can learn from him is that Christ changes us when we are willing to let Him. I invite you to let our Savior mold and change you according to His will and not yours. Sometimes thats the hardest part. Listening to the Spirit to know what He wants from us.

I want to with my testimony on the Atonement. As missionaries we have rules or commandments to be true representatives of Christ. Before this last transfers I didnt understand that too well. I was stuborn and didnt care about a lot of the litte simple commandments that help us grow and become disciples of Christ. However through painful but freeing repentance I have been able to really change or repent. I have felt our Fathers and Saviors hands changing me. Did it hurt? yes. was it hard? yes. was it worth it? more than you can imagine. I now know who I am. I know what I want to become and I know how Im going get there. Remember it doesnt matter who you are, what you are doing, what you have down, who you have hurt, through Jesus Christs Atonement you can be cleansed. You can feel worthy. You can become who you have always wished to be. Christ loves you! Your Heavenly Father loves you. Change, trust in Him, and show yourself you can do it. I know you can and promise you that you can do it. I promise you can do all you want to and whatever it may be. If it golf, cross country, swimming, dance, your calling, school, forgive someone, or forgive yourself. You can do it. I promise you that if you try and pray for help, our Father in Heaven our true Father WILL help you accomplish your goals. Les Quiero Mucho!!!

Elder Saunders del fin del mundo:)

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See it. Feel it. Trust it.