Ramos Mejia- Week #63

What a magnificent family

Hey Family and whoever still reads this thing,

First off, I want it to be a HLJ ring, like last time; don’t you have a picture I sent home at Christmas with it on or something? If not, I guess it isn’t a big deal. Also, President Benton is a huge BYU fan, so he let us know the outcome yesterday as soon as he found out. It was kind of a trunky moment, mainly because it just made me think of BYU and everyone celebrating the big win…without me…haha. Also, I wouldn’t mind reading Mom, Dad, and Lacey’s patriarchal blessings if you don’t mind. If we are going to get to the Celestial Kingdom together, I wouldn’t mind knowing how we can all help each other with the difficulties that are facing us. There is a great talk on Patriarchal blessings by President Packer from a while ago that talks about sharing them with your immediate family. Hope Dad feels better soon, and that the trip to California didn’t take too much out of you. Find any sweet cars? Also, Mom I just love you even more for when you asked me in your email what “baller” meant, and I quote,

“First off...what does "baller" mean? I hear the expression sometimes and then you used it in your last letter and I don't get it. Does it mean awesome?”

Hahaha yes it means awesome or cool, but I don’t really use it that much, it is like describing a really good basketball player, saying he is a baller, but it kind of evolved to use it to describe other things. So if I ever say that again, it just means cool. Thanks for those nice things you said about me mom, it is nice to hear things like that every once in a while.

So the work continues to flourish and blossom like the rose among the Lamanites, according to the prophecies in Doctrine and Covenants. Actually Argentines aren’t Lamanites, but whatever; you get what I am trying to say. Elvira and Gabriel are scheduled to get baptized this weekend, and we took out another baptismal date for Margarita for the 19th of September, so we should have three baptisms in the next three weeks. Also, do you remember Fiorella that got baptized here about two months ago? Well, her parents, Luis and Carmen, also want to be baptized, but they aren’t married and had to go through a divorce and it was a big mess, well it is finally over, and they can get married now! They should get married within 30-40 days and then can be baptized. We are hoping that it will be before the end of the transfer on the 11th of October or something. Elder Sabey’s sister-in-law is pregnant, so that is big news here right now. So, let’s just say, that I don’t really know what else to write this week. Everything is going well, and I am kind of getting the hang of juggling so many things, which means that something more will probably be thrown onto my plate soon, or else I would stop progressing.

So the last cool story of the week comes from my Capitál mail run. We went down into Buenos Aires to pick up mail on Thursday, and we met some sweet Irish family! We were in the building just waiting and we saw them walk in. Now, for the most part you can’t really tell if someone is an English speaker here, because there are so many people of European descent. So if someone from Ireland walks through the door and doesn’t open their mouth, I just assume they are Argentine, because a lot of Argentines look like Europeans. Anyway, they walk in and the little boy says, “Are you sure this is the right place?” With just the perfect Irish accent you have ever heard to go along with the fact that he just asked something in English. Anyway, long story short, they waited for their turn, and we didn’t say anything, but we noticed they were having some trouble at the desk with the worker…who speaks Spanish…so we introduced ourselves and played the translating game for them. Then we helped them along in the process of getting their packages out of the claws of grumpy mail room workers. They told us a little bit about what they were doing in Buenos Aires. Let’s just say that it was the mom and the dad and three boys, the oldest about 14, and they decided to go on a SIX MONTH family vacation around the world! They had been gone about three months! Three more to go! They had already been over to the states and down through the American continent, and now are headed over to New Zealand and Australia and up through Asia, then back through Europe and back to Ireland. Talk about a family vacation. We talked to them about the church and they said that they see Elders all the time where they live. They had just great accents and always said things like, “extraordinary” and “magnificent”, instead of just “great” and “good”. It was extraordinary; they obviously picked up on my Irish ancestry from my name-tag. I told them that I was mostly Irish, but there was a miniscule part of me that comes from England and Wales. Just that Gilmore pride I guess. Anyway, it was something interesting that happened.

Well, better wrap this thing up. I hope everyone is doing well. Keep finding ways to be better, and the Lord will bless you with opportunities to grow. I know that it isn’t always easy, in fact sometimes it is just downright hard, but never lose focus. Remember that the consequences of this life are eternal, and if trials and hardships are the way back to my Father, I will willingly go through them. I would do anything for Him, and my family, so I will endure the disappointments and tests of faith without complaint, so that I can enjoy the eternal rewards. Nothing can break my faith in my Father’s plan, or in His promises. What He has promised us is more than we deserve, and if all He asks of us is to keep our heads up during the hard times, I feel like that isn’t too bad of a deal. I would go so far as to call it magnificent. I know He has everything under control, and is rooting for us along the way. So when the burden gets heavy, and the pathway dark, keep your head up, look towards Him, and remember that our blessings are many, and His promises-great.

Don’t stop pushing,

Your Elder