Elder Sean Gilmore- Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission

Elder Gilmore Returns With Honor

2010-06-22T20:44:00.003-06:00

We are anxiously awaiting Sean's arrival at the Billings, Montana airport

Can you see that Mom didn't forget the maple bars?

Sean finally arrives, coming down the escalators

Sean flew all night from Buenos Aires to Atlanta, then to Salt Lake and arrived in Billings at 12:30 p.m. He had a long night and day of travel, but looked great. After lunch in Billings we headed home to Powell, where he was released by the Stake President.

Well done, Elder !

Parque Leloir- Email #103

2010-06-14T09:45:00.001-06:00

The Last Epistle

TAKE A DEEP BREATH!!!!!!!

I will start with your questions. I am not panicked, although it is a little surreal sitting here writing my last email in the mission. Next week I won’t receive your emails, because I will be in transfer meeting all day, then go straight to the mission home for my exit interview with President, and then to the airport. This week I won’t be in my area very much, but I plan on working hard until the end. On Wednesday I go on the tour of Capitál with all my group. After that President has given Elder Sabey and I permission to go visit all of our converts in Ramos Mejia together, so I am WAY excited about that. We will spend Wednesday night doing that, we will be seeing Bryan, Fiorella, Carmen and Luis, all of them. Remember them? I do. Then on Thursday, Elder Sabey and I are going to be hitting up Villegas together, so I can see the Fernandez family, and he can see all of his converts from when he was there. He was there at the start of our missions when I was in Merlo. Then on Friday, Elder Hinton and I will be with the Henderson family (senior couple) looking for a new apartment for Parque Leloir. Just a few hours in the morning. So it is going to be a packed week, but there will be time for the work. Yes, we go to the Boca (colorful village place) where supposedly tango was born. World Cup fever has spread and infested the country. People can’t understand how we don’t watch the USA games. It is like a sin for them. “How can you not watch your own country in the Cup?” Even the members who know we don’t watch TV question us. “Yeah, but you can’t even watch your countries world cup game?” People were not satisfied with the Argentina game, they thought they should have won 5-0, and everyone can’t believe how lucky the US got with the goalie error. But life goes on. I probably won’t call in the airport…that would kind of be anti-climactic…if I had to request a food waiting for me in the airport…I think we all remember my nickname from my childhood…1 dozen donuts please…I will have already bought the root-beer in Atlanta. I have no preference for first meal back.

This past week has been probably one of the most eventful of my mission. It started with interviews with President on Tuesday. Great stuff but no time to tell right now. I did some divisions in Rivadavia with a new missionary who I predict will be AP someday. We had been trying to have the baptism of Maxi but the whole Dad situation was impeding him. Well, after he fought with me that one night I wrote about last week, he started to see black demon spirits in his house that were driving him crazy…Elder Hinton offered to bless his home so we kneeled in prayer and dedicated the home. After that he was our best friend… until the next time we went over…haha I am sure he is bipolar or something. So we were trying to get him to sign the slip giving permission to Maxi to be baptized. Elder Hinton battled with him for a good 40 minutes, was unsuccessful, and basically condemned him saying that he didn’t love his son and the sins would fall on his head…so we were walking out and he said to me, “You seem to understand me better than the other guy.” At this point I just wanted to get out of there, so I just rubbed his shoulder and said everything was fine and not to worry about it. He said he wanted to show me something, and brought out all of Maxi’s birth certificates and stuff. I told him they looked great…and then he said, “Can he get baptized if you have all of these documents?” “Yeah…” “Oh ok, well, I will sign your paper then…” I was confused, but didn’t ask more questions. So we showed up yesterday to pick Maxi up and his Dad was crazy again, and said that they were moving that day and he wouldn’t be getting baptized. It is just a sad situation, because Maxi is completely normal and loves the gospel, but his dad is a loony bird.

Which brings me to the climax of the week. I just want it known that without a doubt the greatest souvenirs that I will be bringing home are the relationships that I have with my converts. I love each and every one of them like my own family, and with some of them I feel like we are best friends. Remember Raquel Lobo that just got baptized in April. She is like my best friend in Parque Leloir. In the words of Anne Shirley, we would be “kindred spirits”. She is 73 but it really feels like we are both 5 years old when we are together because we make each other laugh so much. I will probably miss her most of anyone here in this area. She always gives us food when we go over there. We ate lunch with her on Friday, and she invited us over for an “asado” on Saturday, so we were pumped. The buzz was in the air for the Argentina game as we headed to her house. It was so crazy. Fireworks were going off, gunshots; people were running past us to get to their houses before the game started. It was kind of exciting. So we got to her house and the gate was open as usual so her dogs could run in and out, and we clapped. She didn’t answer so we clapped again. With all the fireworks she probably didn’t hear us, so I walked in the gate and knocked on the door. It was pitch black inside, but I could see that the back door was open. It was obvious that she had run to the corner to buy bread or something getting ready for us to come over. We went back out into the street to see if she was coming, but didn’t see her. Then it dawned on me that her grill is in the back yard, so she was probably out there cooking the meat still. So we went around back laughing about something, and got to the back door that was open. The smile on my lips slowly faded as I saw her feet, and then her hands, and then the blood…SHE WAS DEAD ON HER KITCHEN FLOOR!!!!!!! I felt my heart sink into my stomach and I almost started screaming just out of shock. It was the most eerie thing that has happened to me in a long time. She was just lying there. My hands were clasped over my mouth and I couldn’t believe what was happening. I yelled to the neighbor and he came running over and slowly all the neighbors made their way over. The ambulance and police were called. She was dead…but a neighbor had just seen in buying some food a few hours before. We had just eaten with her the day before. We found her body! We had to give a statement to the police and they took down our information. It was a natural death so we aren’t suspects. She had a heart-attack. It must have been right when she got back from buying the food and she walked into the door. I still am in shock a little bit. So we called President, and he told us to tell our bishop and offer our help with the funeral and stuff. It reminded me a lot of my experience with Garland Fairchild, and Elder Hinton and I became once again “the church boys”. All the neighbors and family members were talking about how much she talked about us, and the church, and how happy she was these past two months she has been going. They said she has been a fanatic, and she invited everyone to come over with the “muchachos” were over to listen to the message she had found peace in. Just a few weeks ago I gave her some pictures we had taken together, and the niece said that they were her most valuable possessions, and that every time they visited her she showed them our pictures. They were looking for them like crazy to put into the casket with her. She kept them hidden I guess so they wouldn’t get ruined haha, but the picture of her baptism was on her nightstand. In Argentina they don’t do the whole embalming process so they bury the people right away before they start to decompose. Before Church started yesterday, she was buried. That is less than 24 hours! Her grave was dedicated by the bishop. I can’t really believe it. We are kind of the celebrities of the neighborhood now because we found a dead body. In church the members kept praising us saying how we were guided by the Spirit to find her…I had no idea what they were talking about, why would the Spirit guide us to find a dead person? To say the least, it was an interesting way to end the week. It just happened two days ago! I just saw her and she was fine! What a blessing it is to know that she accepted the gospel in her life and found joy in the church these past two months. I can’t wait to see her again. I know we will see her again, and the plan of salvation was created so that we can have this hope. So in answer to the question, how are my emotions holding up? All over the place…haha. Well, I will see you all soon! Remember the donuts; my favorite is maple bars…

Love, Elder Gilmore

Parque Leloir- Week #102

2010-06-07T13:51:00.001-06:00

The Aidukaitis Effect

Hey there family,

Well, this week was certainly an interesting one. It started with the Elder Aidukaitis conference. Let's just say that he took the mission by surprise with a complete cane dropping on everyone. Back story: Since President Benton came two years ago the mission has seen a huge spike upward in the datos, obedience, diligence, baptisms, and really just everything. He really has been inspired by the Lord to take the mission to a new level. So in the mission we have felt pretty good about ourselves as the most successful mission in Argentina. We were all kind of expecting a pat on the back from the member of the Seventy visiting us. It was more like a slap on the back of the head...haha, but in a good way. The theme of the conference was, "God is happy with your work, but He is not satisfied!" It was intense! He is way energetic, raises his voice a lot, and is very direct. Another direct quote translated into English: "Can I speak with you clearly and directly? Yes? Ok, just know that I am not mad, but I will speak frankly. If the sisters start to cry, I will start to put some more sugar on my words." I really wasn't sure if that was a moment to laugh or not but I did, and then the repentance process began. Elder Hinton and I were called on to give our presentation of the zone's datos first of the three zones there. So we got up and started to give our datos. We said that our baptismal goal for the zone is 30, and that we ha...we were interrupted..."Elders, how many areas are there in your zone?" We answered ten. "Ten? Do you believe that God can work miracles in your missions?" Of course! He then directed himself to the whole audience. "Do you believe that you can baptize every week in this mission?" A unified "Yes!" sounded from the crowd. He then looked straight at me and asked me, "Elder, do you believe that you can baptize every week?" "Yes." "You believe that?" "Yes." "You really believe?" (And then he used some piercing gaze that left me disabled for a few seconds) "Yes?" "Elder, you don't believe that, and neither does anyone in this room." "Oh..." hahaha Let's just say that I think I saw everyone's jaw hit the ground, including President's, the Assistants', the missionaries', and my companion's. "If you really believed that, you goal would be 60, meaning each area would have at least 1 baptism a week. But with a goal like 30, there are weeks when the goal must be zero, and tell me Elder, why would God give you more than you desire?" I think Elder Hinton and I were just the guinea pigs. It wasn't personal. I could feel his love, and his desire for us to improve.
So he gave us a ton of great ways to improve, which I cannot write in this email because they are too numerous. However, I have copious notes in my study journal which I can share with you later. Anyway, so we got a call on Saturday that there was a secret urgent emergency meeting with all the zone leaders in the office Sunday night. So we showed up in Ramos Mejia Sunday night and President and the Assistants revealed the new vision of the mission. Everything has been revamped! I am kind of bummed that I am going to miss this new era of the mission. The new focus is baptizing every week. Everything is changed now. I am still trying to process it all, but I will follow the counsel of my leaders and put it all into practice these last two weeks.

So with that little meeting, we figured we needed to baptize someone this weekend. We had everything ready to go with Maxi to get baptized, and I went in divisions with one of our District Leaders, Elder Callejas, from Chile, to do the interview. We show up and the member in front told us an awful story. Earlier in the day she had gone back to Maxi's house to get the rent money or something, and there was music playing really loudly. She knocked on the door and it swung open and she saw Maxi on the floor with his Dad beating him senseless. He had the music blasting so that no one would hear Maxi screaming. So the member ran back to her house and called the police, the whole while Maxi's dad trying to break her door down to stop her. He said they were just "playing". It made me sick. So we went back there to talk to him, and he opened the door and was really nervous. He can easily beat up a 13 year old, but he was pretty small standing next to us. He was out of his mind talking about how we were obligating Maxi to go to church, and how they are going to baptize him in the Catholic church whether he likes it or not. We told him that would be obligating him, but there was no reasoning with this man. So Maxi didn't get baptized, and we aren't really sure what is going to happen. I think it is in the hands of the legal authorities. Hopefully they can help Maxi out of the nightmare he is living. I thought Elder Callejas was about to wail on the guy...I saw his arm flinch once, so I moved in front of him because we didn't want the throw ourselves into the mix. But it was a really sad ending to the week.

It is starting to ding at my heart that I am leaving. I don't like it. I am afraid to go back into the world. It is too easy to fall, but at the same time, I thank my Father every night for this mission that has prepared me to take on the challenges that will come to me in the future. I would have surely fallen long ago if I hadn't decided to serve this mission. It is no coincidence that Heavenly Father has his 19-21 year old sons spiritually remove themselves from the world and dedicate two years to the studying and preaching of the gospel. I love Him for the uncountable times He has stretched forth His hand in these two years to encourage me, to correct me, to lift me, and to heal me. I know He lives. I know that I am His son, and I know that the precious blood of His Only Begotten Son was spilled for me, so that I could have these experiences, and help my earthly family, as well as my spiritual one, in our progression back to Him. As a child of God I know this truth: A family is forever! I am going back into a dark world, but as President Monson said, "The future is as bright as [my] faith." I think that was President Monson anyway. Well, I am going to close this one up...until next week when I will be writing my LAST EMAIL ON MY MISSION OH MY GOODNESS I CANT BELIEVE IT CAN YOU? I AM NOT TRUNKY THOUGH IT JUST KIND OF DAWNED ON ME RIGHT NOW I HAVE TO THINK OF SOMETHING PROFOUND TO WRITE NEXT WEEK 14 DAYS AHH....dad gum caps lock got stuck. I can't wait to type on real keyboards.

Love Elder Gilmore

Parque Leloir- Week #101

2010-05-31T14:54:00.001-06:00

Well family,

This week went really well for us here in Parque Leloir. The bicentennial thing was crazy. There was no one in the street on Tuesday. We walked into one house and they wouldn't let us talk because in downtown Capital they were putting on a huge artistic parade of the whole argentine history. I learned a lot at least. Also I watched Maradona live say that he was going to the obelisk naked if Argentina wins. Except he used some vulgar slang and everybody just thinks it is funny, and the doctor’s advice to the team is all in the news as well. Everyone is pumped about the Canada thrashing that occurred. I totally know who Gary Coleman is and we used to watch Different Strokes on Nick at Nite...also there is an Elder Gary Coleman in the Seventy. I already got some magnets. I got the Pringles. I bought Ebin and Rhainanainainain Messi jerseys for the Cup, but I don't have any idea if they are going to fit. I am actually not trunky, despite last week's email. A sister missionary at zone conference told me that it is a girl car, and she drove it before the mission, I told her she was just jealous that she doesn't go home until 2011. She apologized, and I accepted.

So, today Elder Hinton and I went golfing. It was really fun. We had to go onto an Air Force Base. It was intense, and we were going to take pictures, but were afraid that they would shoot us with their big guns. It looked almost exactly like Barksdale, except it is a lot easier to get into...haha...we just walked up and the 20 guards looked us up and down and asked what we were doing there. I said that we had heard there was a golf course nearby and asked if they knew where it was. They said, yeah it is on base...oh...it is open to the public? He was like, yeah just go down a few blocks and to the right. It was weird. Basically anybody could just say they wanted to play golf and get onto a national air force base. Luckily we really did just want to play golf, so we did, and I had a lot of fun. The course wasn't very good and it just rained a ton last week, so it was interesting, but served our purposes.

Tomorrow we are having our meeting with Elder Aidukaitis. I am kind of nervous, but it is going to be great. Right after the normal meeting, we are having a meeting with just him and the zone leaders. So this should be a really good week. Yesterday I was also pleased to baptize Leticia Rojas. It was a great service, and she looked so happy all day in church. We are hoping to baptize her parents as well before I leave, which would be great. We also have another date with a kid named Maxi who we just found two weeks ago, but already has come to church twice and wants to get baptized. He is 13, and understands everything! He should be getting baptized as well before I go home, so we are looking at some success to end my mission. I am kind of living in a surreal moment. It doesn't feel like I am leaving in 3 weeks, so I am not sad yet, but I guess it has to hit me sooner or later. I would prefer later than sooner, but it’s all good. I don't even know what to write anymore...I am doing great and will have more to say next week about the Elder Aidukaitis visit!!!

Love you bye

Happy 21st Birthday, Sean

2010-05-24T15:55:00.003-06:00

This is the reason Sean is so excited in his letter today. He will get to drive it in 29 more days!

Parque Leloir- Week #100

2010-05-24T15:24:00.002-06:00

My birthday is a national holiday!!!!

Hey family!

I think Elder Hinton's arm is bruised pretty badly from how many times I hit him in the arm from the pure excitement that was running through my body as I looked at the pics of my birthday present. Now just put some beautiful spiritual girl in the front seat that is willing to marry me, and I think I will be set for eternity. You outdid yourselves parents! Thank you! Also, I took some money out of my 1st national bank account. I don't think I will be taking any more out. Also, FELIZ DIA DE LA PATRIA!!! It is the 200 year anniversary tomorrow of the start of the revolution here in Argentina. Let’s just say it is a really big deal right now. So that mixed with world cup excitement is making the end of my mission pretty interesting. We just got back from the ward party they were throwing and it was pretty fun. I love this ward. I am blessed that it is my last ward. The members are just great. We had permission to play soccer with the members so I jumped in and showed them how I won a trip to Disneyland from my Dad. They also had an improv talent show where they pressured people to get up and sing something acapella. They obviously twisted our arms so we gave them a little show on the spot. They wanted to hear songs in English, so we sang My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion to show them our range, and then Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles for some novelty. They were screaming for an encore. Everyone knew it was my birthday, and I got a ton of birthday wishes, so that was nice. President Benton called me to wish me a happy birthday, as well as the assistants, and then the secretaries called me and told me that Elder Sabey called them to call me and tell me happy birthday as well. So it has been a good day.

Yesterday wasn't the best day of my mission, but life goes on. The baptism didn't happen, but it will happen this week or the next. Everything was going perfectly. She passed her interview and everything, but on Sunday Andres showed up and said that the mom, Alicia, got mad at Leticia and so for punishment they went to a friend’s house instead of church so she couldn't get baptized. Juvenile? Yes, but what can you do? So we will be trying to work everything out so that Alicia calms down and realizes that this isn't a game. IT IS ETERNAL SALVATION!!!! Plus, Leticia is bomb! She already has started Personal Progress in Young Womens, and wrote a 5 minute talk on Faith without help that she is going to give. I think she is ready for baptism. So that is how that went. Other than that, the week went well.

We have 3 dates right now, so we are looking good for this last month. Oh yeah, really important news. Remember that story Dad always tells about his mission and the Member of the Seventy that visited his mission a couple weeks before he went home? Well, guess who is coming to our mission on June 1st? Elder Marcos A. Aidukaitis! Unlike Dad I will be sure to shave and put an extra glob of gel into my hair. I am really excited. What a great way to end my mission. Elder Hinton and I will have to give a small presentation for him on the zone and how we are doing. Uh...things are looking up? haha no just kidding we are doing well right now, so I am excited. I got all of Grandma's letters, and they made me smile because I could totally hear her voice as I read it. Tell Grandma Sherry not to worry. I am not judging her, and she is missed and loved and see you in a month and I love you and bye. All of that. Also, how big are Ebin and Rihahanahonohn, because if they are going to spend quality time with me it will be watching the World Cup and they will need Argentina jerseys. I am loving every minute of this time that I have in Argentina. I kind of wish I could start my mission over with the attitude I have at the end of it, because I have learned so much and come so far, but now it is ending, and I have to say goodbye. Ok well this is the most random email ever, but I couldn't help it. you ruined me with those pictures haha. but I am still working hard. Love you bye

Elder Sean Mazda 3 Gilmore

Parque Leloir- Week #99

2010-05-17T12:48:00.002-06:00

Don't get trunky...

Hey Mom and Dad,

I got your package! Thank-you, and I already ate all the mango licorice…don’t send more…or the addiction might get worse. Well, today I am pretty trunky…we made the mistake of going to Jumbo today and there is a movie theater inside, where I saw the posters for all the cool movies coming out…next month…when I will be home…anyway, I also went to a sweet store and dropped some major cash on souvenirs. Elder Mackay wrote me and said he is engaged. I think he gets married in Newport in July. He wanted me to go, but we will see what is going on. Dad, my jersey has Messi on the back, and everyone is very displeased with “Diego”. They say he should go back to playing and give up the coaching bit. Elder Hinton and I had a great week. He is a pretty relaxed guy, and a big Beatles and Bob Dylan fan, which kind of sums him up in a nutshell. We are going to have a great transfer. I don’t see anything that will be a problem as far as getting along goes. Also, my grandson is Elder Shepherd from Las Vegas, who is from the same ward as Elder Gneiting (in my group), which is a ward Elder Naylor served in during Christmas of 2008…small world…also “Shepherd” is “Pastor” in Spanish…which is what we call all the missionaries going home, but with Brett, I’ll digest.

We had the zone leader’s conference on Friday, which was interesting, and my last one. Everything this transfer is going to be “my last one”. Sometimes that is exciting, but most times I don’t like it. Everything in the area is going well. I was honored to confirm Beatrice on Sunday, which she really enjoyed. It is really so amazing to have converts. Well, they are the Lord’s converts, but you know what I mean. After her baptism last week as she was walking out of the chapel she turned around just before leaving and said thank you again to Elder Hinckley and I, and said, “You two really are my angels sent from God.” No better feeling!!!! So we went by this week from Elder Hinton, and she was telling him about her conversion, and she said, “I didn’t want anything to do with religion a few months ago, and then he (points at me) just started to talk to me one day about religion in the street, and it all started making sense. So many times I wanted to argue or prove them wrong, but he is more convincing than a Nike salesman!” (That is an Argentine thing. Everyone sells fake nike socks here and they just keep bugging you until you buy them, so they say that like you can sell anything if you are better than the nike guys. Also I bought the nike socks once, they are nice.) I was just laughing the whole time, thinking of her weird random doubts she always had that we always answered with the Book of Mormon. So she got confirmed, and I felt really good after the confirmation, like I had really said what the Lord wanted me to say.

The Rojas family came as well, and they are still trying to get their papers together for their marriage. It is coming down to the wire. However, drumroll….their daughter Leticia is going to be baptized this Sunday!!! We walked in this week, and the first thing she said was, “This is going to be my third Sunday, so I am getting baptized, right?” RIGHT! I have a theory that the Lord makes it easier for the missionaries going home, or else we might say that this is too hard and we are going home soon anyway so we will just give up now. So my fear of not having a baptism my last transfer could be soothed by next week. It would be like a birthday baptism. My last day of being 20, I could be down in the water performing a saving ordinance, or Elder Hinton could. Alicia was completely fine, and she gets better every time we go see them. I think the influence of the Spirit is really chipping away at the bad influences in that family. Also, they feel really bad because we went by last week and while we were clapping at the gate, someone threw a huge rock at my head, and it whizzed past my ear…close one. I guess the neighbors make fun of them and stuff for going to church, but they are intent on staying in the Church. So a few more rocks to the head shouldn’t do too much damage in the long run. Well, that is it for this week. Elder Hinton and I are making some great birthday plans for next week, besides the baptism. I love you all!

Elder Gilmore

Parque Leloir- Week #98

2010-05-10T13:57:00.004-06:00

Demon Kidney Stones and I'm a Grandpa !!!!!!!

Hey Family,

Well, I just got back from transfer meeting with my new companion,
Elder Carlton Royce Hinton. He is pretty cool, and my fears of having
an awful companion to end my mission have been put to rest. He has
lived in a few places: Utah, Idaho, California, Indiana…but his
parents are currently back in Lehi, Utah. This is his first transfer
as zone leader, and he goes home one transfer after me, so we are a
pretty old companionship. He went to BYU before the mission as well,
so we were there at the same time. Also, I just love his name.
Anyway, it was a great meeting! I am now officially a “pastor” which
is what we call the missionaries going home. Elder Sabey came in from his area as well because his companion got changed, so it was really fun catching up with him. Today is our last first day of the transfer…TRUNKY!!!!! Anyway, President, during his message had all of us in our last transfer stand up, and exhorted us to give it all we have. We are 16 in our group, and we have 1 AP, 1 Branch President,
10 ZLs, and 4 DLs. So everyone is a leader, and pretty much the whole
face of the mission is going to change when we go home. There hasn’t ever been such a loaded group. The mission is really young right now, too. So President had us stand up, and said that we are the best of the best, and that the mission needs us right now to teach the missionaries and prepare them for leadership positions. I can’t really express it well in writing, but in short it was like an
inspiring war speech. Kind of like in the Lord of the Rings when
Aragorn gives his pep talk to the small army of men about to take on
the orc forces of Mordor, and in essence, all the forces of evil. It
sent chills up my spine. I am a leader in this mission. People are
counting on me to act, and to succeed. I have never really felt the
pressure like that until after the meeting. This is my last transfer
to leave it all on the table, leave it all in the street, and give it
my all for my missionaries and for the Lord. It has definitely
heightened my sense of dependence on the Lord. President really
inspired me to sprint to the finish and work until my last minute in
the field.

So in other news, I also got my flight plans. How do they expect me
to be a focused machine when they throw trunky stuff like that around
in front of my face? So I get into Billings on the 22nd at 12:37 or
something like that. I go from Buenos Aires to Atlanta to Salt Lake
to Billings….fun fun fun. But I guess I will suffer it if I have to.
Obviously the best news I have to give is that my hijo, Elder Latorre,
is training this transfer!!!!! My posterity continues in magnificent
glory!!!! I am a grandpa!!!!! So the Gilmore curse really HAS been
broken, Dad, and I will meet my grandson before I die. That was about it for transfer meeting.

So I already told you the story about Beatrice. For the rest of the
family I will quickly tell what happened. Beatrice was baptized on
Sunday, but not in our chapel. We got to the chapel in the morning
for PEC meeting and Bishop said that there was no water, because the
pipe was cut or something like that…for the record it is hard to have
a baptism without water. So we kind of sit there dumbfounded and ask what we could do. He just looked at us and said, “Call another
building! Tell them to fill the font! We are going to baptize
somebody today!” It was kind of dramatic. So we knew that the
Hermanas in Ituzaingó 4 had baptisms so we called Hna. López and Hna. Hobbs to see if we could crash their service and baptize someone as well. Obviously it was fine, so after sacrament meeting a fleet of members took us all over to the other chapel to perform the baptism and everything turned out great.

The Rojas family came as well, but unfortunately Alicia, the mom, is
crazy…haha. We think she might be possessed, because something is not right with her. In the middle of Sacrament meeting she got up
screaming, “God help me!!!! It hurts!!!!! It hurts!!!!!” over and
over again. Then she started crying, and trying to make her way to
the door. A hermana tried to help her and was supporting her to the
door when all of a sudden she just passed out and hit the floor face
first! It was crazy!!!! I don’t know why I didn’t remember to tell
you on the phone. This was all when the deacons were passing the
water around during the Sacrament. So she obviously gets swarmed by
members wanting to help, but she is out cold! I thought she literally
died. After about 30 seconds she came to and they helped her out
where an ambulance came to check her out. The cause? Elder Hinckley
and I say a demon…the medics said kidney stones. Either way, it was
an interesting experience.

Well, that is all the time I have for this week! Here goes nothing!
6 weeks left…

Elder Gilmore

Parque Leloir- Week #97

2010-05-03T22:15:00.002-06:00

Go Team Win !

Hey Team,

I just got back from another fun zone activity. We played volleyball
and soccer. I have a love-hate relationship with competition. In
some of those matches my heart was beating so hard, and I think I was
a little too into it. It was definitely a surreal experience as well,
because I was watching everybody play, and I came to the realization
that this is all about to end for me. I am not trying to be sappy or
poetic or anything, but it was a weird feeling. With the cool
breeze blowing wistfully through my crusted gelled hair, I realized
that I have one zone activity left. Obviously I am so excited to be
with my buddies again in BYU, but I have some good friends here as
well, and it might be hard leaving. Oh well, I have time still before
I have to fully come to terms with the whole thing. Speaking of BYU
buddies, I have gotten letters from Brett, Joseph, Zach Smith, and
Brenden Abbot, and I just wanted to say that I love them, but I will
not be writing back…haha…I don’t see the point. I’ll see them soon.
I never was good at keeping in touch. As for Kyle, he has only
written me once my whole mission like a year ago…but then again I have
only written him once, so it’s all good. We are lucky that we can
email, or else I probably would never write home. Transfers are next
week, and I will probably be getting my last companion of my mission.
It could be anybody.

So I have also learned to not have any idea what to expect when I
open my emails. Send pictures of the wedding I guess? I just have no
idea what is happening at home, or with anyone in the family. Talk to
you on Sunday! That went by quick. Don’t worry, Dad, I wrote down
the number haha. Anyway, enough of that kind of talk.

So my interview with President was SO GOOD!!!! First of all, he gave
me the trunky questions to think about for my last interview. He
talked a lot about my first year back from my mission, and how to set
good goals for my life so I can progress. I can tell you more about
it on the phone. What else…….

I can’t think of anything to write about…oh…the investigators…we are
doing really well right now in Parque Leloir. We have a few potential
baptisms for next transfer. La Familia Rojas that I wrote about last
week all came to church this week, even the “satanic” ones. They went
today to go get a date for their marriage at the…civil register? I
have no idea how to say that in English. Courthouse? Anyway, I just
hope that the calendar is open and the county gives them a day before
I go home. Bryan’s parents got their date for a month and a half
later…so if the Rojas family got one for a month and a half later it
would be my last week. That would be awesome. They are progressing a
lot right now, and the ward has just totally surrounded them and made
them feel welcome. Andres, the dad, loves it, and now refers to the
ward as “our family”, or “our church”, instead of “your church”. He
includes himself in it. It is great to hear. We also have a
potential baptism for this weekend. Beatrice! I don’t know if I ever
told you about her, but she went to General Conference by herself, and
was smoking 40 cigs a day. She is the one that we have seen so much
progress with using the Book of Mormon. Last Monday she smoked her
last one, and she hasn’t touched them since. So she has one week down
and one to go. I think she can make it. The only downside was that
the addiction is unleashing fury on her body. She has a horrible
cough, and she had to leave church early, because her blood pressure
shot up at a rapid rate? And she couldn’t walk without almost falling
over. That is at least what the Hermana Vera said, and she is a
nurse. So hopefully it wasn’t like a bad experience for her that
causes her to have doubts about her baptism. Carlos has completely
disappeared! They had to check his wife into the hospital and he
hasn’t been in his house for a week, so we have no idea what is going
on with him. Other than that, we are pressing forward. I just want
to do my best, and show the Lord that I am not letting up, and
whatever else happens doesn’t matter much. He will take care of
everything.

So that is about it for this week. If I forgot something ask me on
Sunday. Elder Hinckley will be calling around 5-6 my time and I will
go after him, so yeah just be by the phone I guess. Love ya bye

Elder Gilmore

Zone Leader Conference Photo

2010-05-01T21:04:00.004-06:00

Here is a picture of the Zone Leaders at a recent Zone Leader Conference in Buenos Aires West. Sean is in the second row, third from the right (just at Sister Benton's left) with blue suit and burgundy, blue and black striped tie. You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

Parque Leloir- Week #96

2010-04-26T15:36:00.003-06:00

A Bazaar Turn of Events

Hey Family,

Random things happen at home when you are on a mission. Aunt Kim is getting married…I mean that is awesome though. At least we are kind of still in wedding mode this summer? Let’s go to Disneyland when we are there! I am seriously happy for her though. Also, that is great that Chris got a job. I don’t have travel plans yet, Dad. The offices already have them, but they don’t give them to me until Transfer Meeting on the 10th of May. Don’t worry Mom; I wouldn’t waste the room in my suitcase on a girl, when I could fill it with cheap soccer jerseys, alfajores, and random wooden trinkets that all say “Tango” or “Argentina”. I thought about it though…tomorrow we have interviews with President, so I will ask him what I should do. Also, he still has yet to answer my question about what to do with my life.

So this week was pretty interesting. We had divisions with the Assistants, and I stayed in my area with Elder Sheldon Evans from Wyoming. He is the only other person I have ever met in my life that lives in Wyoming. We talked for hours about all the things we love about our home state. Haha ok maybe that last part was a little sarcastic. The divisions went really well, and I learned a lot from him. You know, you can feel kind of guilty when you realize you haven’t been doing some things in the most efficient way, but you find out at the very end of your mission. Oh well, there is always room to improve, and I will definitely be improving these last two months.

So there was definitely a miracle that occurred this week worth telling. On Wednesday, Elder Hinckley and I took our ward list around with us and were visiting random families to see if they had any kids that weren’t baptized or something, and we ended up at one house. We clapped at the gate and waited, and out walked an older chap, who sometimes can be cranky when you try and talk to them about religion. We introduced ourselves and he presented himself as Carlos. We chit-chatted for a little bit and he invited us in to share our message. He wasn’t cranky at all, probably because he had already taken his siesta. We sat down and noticed his wedding pictures that were taken over 40 years ago. Carlos is Catholic like a lot of people in Argentina, and was a good hard-working man that is now retired. He seemed like any other old man in Argentina while we were teaching the first lesson. He was kind of listening, and told us a few stories of his youth, his perfect love with Lydia his wife, (Most Argentines are overly dramatic romantics…I love it) who was sick in bed, and what life used to be like before all the filth and drugs infested the society. Good stuff. So we teach the lesson and Carlos asked a question that transformed him from being a nice old gentleman to a golden investigator. We talked about everything and he asked, “Terrific boys! How many times do I have to go to church before I can be baptized?” …what? Nobody ever asks that! Who are you!?! Ha, it was pretty shocking. So I went by again with Elder Evans, and he was STILL GOLDEN! It wasn’t a fluke. We walked in the second time, and before we said anything he said, “So I can get baptized in three weeks, right?” RIGHT!!! He asked all about how baptism is and what he has to bring and everything. Then he asked, “What do we wear? Are we naked when we get baptized? I mean, I don’t have a problem, but I thought I would ask.” HAHAHAHAHA WHAT? That is faith people! We thoroughly explained that we wear white clothing and are fully covered the whole time. He still would have done it if he had to do it in the nude! Oh Carlos…

So I don’t have time to write about another investigator we have, but here is an excerpt from Elder Hinckley’s email home about Andres Rojas: “There is another family that we had found named the Rojas family. The dad is named Andres and E' Gilmore and E' Evans also took out a baptismal date with him in divisions. He promised he would come to church and he did come all the way to the church on his bike alone. He has a wife and a daughter (although they are not married....dang it!) too that were going to come with him so when he walked in the door I asked him where they were and he said they didn't come b/c they are "satanic." haha. It was funny too. It doesn't seem like he has the best relationship with his "wife." But he is awesome. We gave him a Book of Mormon in church and he started crying and saying how he just felt so good being there and how he could just feel so much peace. When you hear that from an investigator's mouth it makes the whole week's work worth it. So yeah he is a BALLeR but he is just not married so we have so see if they can get married, but I don't know if he is going to want to marry someone that he calls "satanic." So anyways we'll see what happens with that too.”

Also, today for P-day we went to a swap-meet / fair type place that sells all kinds of stuff for almost nothing, and I was violated. Elder Hinckley and I were walking and these two ladies were walking A GOOD DISTANCE behind us. Then we stopped to look at something, and one of the ladies ran right into me from behind and was like, “Oh sorry, excuse me, sorry, sorry, excuse me!” and as she “brushed” by me she grabbed a handful of my backside! She just walked away laughing. She must have been like 30 or so. I couldn’t believe it. I was in shock. It was the most random thing that has ever happened to me. I had been taken advantage of in a foreign country in a little bazaar that sells fake Nike shoes, and bootleg DVDs. Also, I saw that iron man 2 is coming out…anyway, back to the story. Well, that was the end of the story. Good thing I have an interview with President tomorrow, because I need to talk to someone to help me get over that traumatic experience. Well, love you all!!!!!

Elder Gilmore

Fotos

2010-04-25T23:12:00.002-06:00

Baptism of Raquel

White Chocolate Easter Egg

Eating at Chinese Restaurant after Zone Leaders Conference

Elders Bunn, Gilmore, Hinckley, Klein and Lee

Sean, the Argentine

Parque Leloir- Week #95

2010-04-19T13:47:00.006-06:00

The Traffic Wolf !!!!!!!!

Hey mom and dad and lacey and grandma and grandma,

No I did not know that the 18th of April was such a significant date in family history, but I did know that it was my 22 month mark! I only have one MTC stay left…heavy stuff dude. Just kidding I don’t say things like “dude” anymore…just sometimes. Haha, actually I was thinking the other day, after being with Elder Sabey for so long in the office, I now have the habit of saying “Elder” after every sentence. I will probably be calling all of you elder when I get home. Also, Mom that was a pretty awesome story you told me in the email, and I vaguely remembered it from when Grandma Sherry would tell us all about “Big Mama”, but it was a great refresher for the memory. That is a great family story we should write down or something. Glad to hear that things aren’t as rocky at home. I’m sure things will be fine.

Well, this week started kind of shaky, but ended on SUCH A HIGH NOTE!!!!!! First off, we had zone conference and our presentation of the Book of Mormon went well. Then I had divisions with Elder Heims from Reno, NV in his area, Ituzaingó 1. He is going to be such a good missionary. He is in his second transfer and already speaks really well. That reminds me that one time in divisions with Elder Gneiting from Las Vegas I was looking at his pictures and saw one of his family at Christmas time with the missionaries at their home, and wouldn’t you know it, Elder Naylor was smiling up at me in the picture. I think it was Christmas 2008, though. So anyway, another great moment this week was the 15th birthday party of the bishop’s daughter at the church. Here in Argentina, a girl’s 15th birthday is like sweet 16 in the States, so it was a pretty big deal. They invited us, but we had to leave almost right when it started because it was late. However, we did get to see a little bit of the culture and traditions of Argentina. So I guess it is like the girl’s social “coming out”/”becoming a woman” event. It was interesting. All the young men formed a line at the door, and each had a white rose in their hand…or teeth…haha but only the jokesters…and were waiting for her. Then the lights went dim when she arrived and a song she previously selected started to play. I was loving it. She picked “My Heart Will Go On.” PERFECT!!!! I love Celine. So Celine is just belting it and the girl walks into the room in her formal dress, escorted by her father. He lets go of her hand (symbolic?) and she walks down the line, accepts the rose from each muchacho and gives him a kiss…on the cheek. Then one of the boys dances her “First Waltz” with her, and then we had to leave so I don’t know any more of the traditions. I was just loving the titanic song though. Some of the young women made fun of me for knowing the words. They were just jealous they don’t understand Canadian.

So that was kind of fun. However, the best experiences of the week are always BAPTISMS!!!! Raquel del Transito Lobo entered into the healing waters of baptism and had her sins washed away. First off, her name is Rachel of the Traffic Wolf…I am not sure how someone gets so lucky to have such a sweet name, but she has the character to go with the name. She is awesome. I had the privilege of baptizing her. It was as always a great experience. We had practiced a few times before in her house, showing her how her hands should go, and practicing plugging her nose and everything. Haha, so we get into the water, and I say the prayer, and start to lower her down in the water. She plugged her nose like a champ, but then got really tense, and kind of resisted. She was fine though and went under, then I pulled her up and she kind of choked a little bit. She was laughing though, and said, “I was so focused on plugging my nose; I forgot to close my mouth.” HAHAHA it was so funny. Everybody laughed. She is going to make a great addition to the ward. She is really social, and makes everybody laugh. We have dinner with her on Wednesday, too. She is going to invite a friend as well, so she has already got the fever for the work! Elder Hinckley confirmed her the next day in Sacrament meeting, and she officially became a member of the Church. For the closing hymn we sang, “Called to Serve”, and she loved it! She couldn’t read it fast enough, but she got the chorus down by the fourth verse (there are four in Spanish) and was singing at the top of her lungs, which still wasn’t very loud haha. She is great! I love these people. I love that we connect so well regardless of language or nationality. I love my converts!

Well, that is all for this week. Also, for my birthday I think it would be best if you don’t send me anything and just save the money for when I get home. What would you send anyway that I would use for three weeks? Also, now that you don’t have other large expenses to pay for during the summer, I guess you can come pick me up, or have a Porsche waiting for me at the airport. Also, I have learned here on my mission that the material things aren’t what matter MOST in life. Haha ok just kidding. But I am serious about the birthday thing. I don’t really see a reason in sending me something three weeks before I get home. Love you all, have a great week, don’t buy stuff on Sunday.
Elder Gilmore

Parque Leloir- Week #94

2010-04-12T12:50:00.003-06:00

Into the depths of eternal doctrine !!!!

Well,

Wow…ok that was interesting. Don’t worry; things will work out like they are supposed to. Stay faithful, and HONOR THE COVENANTS you have made, and see the promises of God fulfilled. He doesn’t promise something and then say, “Just kidding!” “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” Pretty simple if you ask me. Remember that the consequences of two principles are taught there: Obedience and Disobedience.

Sounds like you are doing well keeping me socially active on Facebook, Dad. Good job! No, I haven’t heard from anyone from my past life for months, but then again, when someone does write me, I am pretty bad at responding, so I’m not complaining. I figure I can answer them back in a couple of months. Also, did anyone realize that I call home again in less than a month? I am not sure how that happened. Other than that…I am not sure what else to write.

This week was pretty good. Elder Hinckley and I got a lot done, and we are pretty pumped for all the success we are seeing in our own area and the zone as a whole. Raquel is still doing great. She came to church this week and they had her stand up as her baptism was announced for this weekend, and she just started laughing and waved at everyone and said, “I’ll be there, and I’ll see you there.” The funny thing was she said it under her breath and no one could even hear her say it, so I started laughing. When we got to the chapel in the morning the power was out, so all the classes were in the dark, and there was no microphone during Sacrament Meeting…so that was interesting, but it was a good meeting anyway. Raquel really is a great lady. If we ever go over to her house around lunch or dinner time she automatically starts cooking for us. Sometimes we have to get creative to get out of it when we already have lunch appointments…or we just eat two lunches…mostly I am just always full. So everything is looking good for this weekend. Tomorrow we have zone conference in Ramos Mejia, and Elder Hinckley and I have to give our whateveryoucallitinEnglish on the Book of Mormon, and how to use it more effectively in the work. It should be good.

So Beatrice now has a baptismal date for May 1st, as well. I don’t know if I already told you that. She is more prepared that almost anyone I have met in Argentina. The only problem is that she smokes 40 cigarettes a day…haha but other than that she is good to go. This week I was on divisions in my area with Elder Marshall from Vernal, Utah, who is in his second transfer here, and we went by to teach Beatrice. Elder Hinckley and I had taught her Word of Wisdom two days before and she walked out and immediately told us that the day before she had only smoked 20, and she hadn’t even smoked her 10th that day. It was the late afternoon…so that is progress. It was a really funny/spiritual lesson for me though. (spiritual things are usually funny for me in the sense that they give me joy…and I laugh when I feel joy) We could see her understanding increase right before our eyes. She explained how she has looked for the true Church all her life, and that she has been to various, but never has found what she was looking for. She explained to us how her head is filled with a ton of different theories, and we need to break through it. So I got out my sledgehammer (Book of Mormon) and got to work. She had a bunch of questions about random doctrines and for every one we read a passage from The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ together. It really does answer every question. Beatrice proved it. So finally after one question she just looked at me and squinted at me…like saying in her look, “how in the world does this 20 year old kid know so much about religion?” I said to Elder Hinckley the other day, “You know, when you think about it, we really are some religious freaks. How many twenty year olds would choose to do this?” Anyway that is beside the point, back to the story. She then brought out the big guns. She said, “Ok, one more question?”

Me- “Sure.”

Beatrice- “This is the most messed up question of all that I have asked. I am sorry if it is too profound, and I don’t ask it to shake your faith, or make you doubt what you believe, but…what happens after death?” She then sighs and covers her face in her hands.

Me-First I chuckled, then I said, “Uh…we actually have a whole pamphlet that talks about that. Here it is.” I then handed her the pamphlet of the plan of salvation and read Alma 40 with her. I have never seen anybody’s eyes get so big. She loved it! I don’t think she thought we would have an answer. I learned that in primary…it was really interesting. So it was a great lesson, and she is progressing really well. Viviana is about the same. She is a great lady, but likes to pick and choose commandments that apply to her. So that is the update on my week here.

I love you all.

Elder Gilmore

Parque Leloir- Week #93

2010-04-05T17:24:00.004-06:00

Conference Weekend makes me trunky....

Hey Family!!!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW THE BIG 6-0!!!!!! Ha…ha…just kidding, I haven’t been in the mission THAT long. I hope your day tomorrow is a blast. Any plans? Work? No work? Alright my gift to you is…MY CLASS SCHEDULE!!!! It might be good for you to do it, since I can’t be getting on all the time. So here it is. Also, this is just a rough outline that I will probably be changing later when I have time, but for now these are what I am looking at. Some of them will be full already, but you just have to play the poaching game and check in randomly to see if someone has dropped it. Go ahead and sign up for the twins religion class, but not American heritage because I already took it. Why are we doing it at 9 in the morning, because the same guy does it at 10 as well…and then we could use that extra hour…more effectively…but whatever, 9 is ok with me I guess if they will wake me up? I already had a religion class planned but if is probably full already. We will see what I do. REL C 324 Instructor: Bott (supposedly like byu legend celebrity guy, it is already full because everyone signs up for him, but maybe if you keep checking you will find an opening somewhere) SPAN 321, ECON 110, MUSIC 113…and that is it. Obviously I will take something else, but I haven’t decided on a few classes so just try and get those ones for now, and I will figure the rest out. Tell Brett to sign up for the same Spanish class if he can and wants to. Maybe his schedule will conflict or something, you never know with those engineers. If you notice Dad, I have artfully created a schedule so that I don’t have to go to school on Friday. So never fear, even though I have been through two years of Refiner’s fire, there is still some kind of juvenile teenager in there somewhere. The pictures of the wedding were cool. Ebin looks like a stud in his shirt and tie!

So…CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Was that sweet or what!?! I loved all of it. Maybe a little harder to relate to considering that almost all of it was about teaching your children in the home. They were still great talks though. I am not sure how Elder Holland does it, but he always just GETS THE PEOPLE GOING!!!! I love it! Every six months I don’t get my hopes up because I think that he won’t be as fired up as last time, and then, BAM! It was funny and inspiring. I loved Priesthood session as well, especially Elder Rasband who told that great experience of how missionaries are called. President Monson of course was great. Did you hear that story he told about the girl in the Buenos Aires West mission whose brother passed away? She was in the MTC with me, was on the same plane as me to Argentina, and went home a few months ago. We were all in the room watching in English, and Hermana Benton (President and Hermana were there for some reason) was like, “He is talking about Hermana Gurr! That is her brother! That is our mission!” It was kind of surreal…kind of like I didn’t realize President Monson knew about our little mission down here. Obviously he does, but that was kind of the realization of it for me. It was also interesting for me because I was in the office when her brother passed away, and was the one who picked up the phone when her dad called with the news. That is so great that President Monson mentioned them in Conference. I loved President Uchtdorf’s on “can-food Mormons”, too.

There is a problem with that here, too. People look down on others too much. Most things don’t even matter when you think about it. Who cares if someone needs some help. There were so many good talks, I can’t remember all of them, but we had five investigators there so it was great. Viviana could only come to Saturday Morning, so at least she saw all the great mother daughter talks going on. Then we had Raquel there as well on Sunday Morning, and she absolutely LOVED it! When she walked out she shouted “¡¡¡¡¡¡hermosisimo!!!!!!” which is like saying “beautiful” but with a lot of emphasis. Then she looked at me, GRABBED my hand, squeezed hard and said, “THANK YOU FOR INVITING ME!!!!!!! IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!!” I almost couldn’t stifle the laughter erupting from inside of me. It was great. So that was a plus, and we are on track for her baptism the 17th of April. That is all the time I have this week, sorry it is short this week. Have a good birthday, Dad! Love you all!

Elder Gilmore

Parque Leloir- Week #92

2010-03-29T16:37:00.003-06:00

Transfers!!!

Hey Family,

Well, we had a long day at transfer meeting. After it ended it took us like 2 hours to get home, because of mixed up train schedules. I got my package, and I have to say that Elder Hinckley and I are content. We are staying together here in Parque Leloir for another six weeks together. I am looking forward to it. We have been talking about a lot of good goals we want to reach this transfer, and we are excited to get started on achieving them. We got some good changes in the zone. Two elders will be training, which makes the zone pretty young. I am now the oldest in the zone… Elder Aceituno and Varela both went home today, which was sad, but kind of a wakeup call as well. The zone leaders sit up in the choir loft thing and I was looking out on everyone and saw a ton of faces I didn’t recognize. It was just a huge crowd of young Americans that have gotten here recently. As I would walk around after the meeting people would say “Hey how is it going, Elder Gilmore?” I didn’t even know who they were…but then I thought about it and when I was new in the mission I knew all the older missionaries from stories other elders would tell. It was a strange feeling. Two transfers left. Elder Sabey didn’t come in from 9 de Julio, because he didn’t have a change in his companionship, which was a bummer. I had a ton of stories to tell him, but life goes on. It was a great transfer meeting anyway, and I had a really good time seeing all my buddies, especially Elder Thomas, my last companion, because he gave me the update on Villegas and everything. Elder Klein, my buddy who was a district leader in our zone this past transfer went to be zone leader in Merlo. My son, Elder Latorre is coming up on a year in the mission, which is crazy to me, because I still see him as a hyper little toddler running around in the streets. He still is pretty hyper, but I love him. I told him that next transfer he better dad-gum train, or else I will never know my grandson. People kept coming up to Elder Hinckley and me saying how awesome we were together…haha we were laughing about it in the train. Hermana Daniels asked us if we were going to miss each other when we were separated. In perfect unison we answered, “I miss him already.” Haha she just laughed at us and we walked away. I figured more explanation wasn’t necessary. So all in all, good transfer meeting.

We didn’t have our baptism this week. She almost dropped us and didn’t want to keep receiving us, but we were able to talk to her and she understands and recognizes that we have been helping her. She thanked Heavenly Father in a prayer she offered for us and that we have helped her so much in such a short period of time. It was really nice to hear, but she is going to take some more time to accept the entire gospel in her life and put it in practice. We did make progress with her though, because she has admitted that it is important, and a commandment of God, and that she just doesn’t want to live in harmony with it. We have some other people progressing towards baptism as well, including Raquel Lobo, who has a date for the 17th of April. She is way funny, and has been listening to us for about a month. She is about 60 years old and was one of the people Hermano Juarez (Amulek) took us by when he introduced us to all of his friends. We will be helping her a lot to reach her goal. I can’t really think of anything else to say…

I am way excited for General Conference this weekend. Other than that, hope everything is going great at home. Dad, the Semana Santa and Palm Sunday and all of that jazz is in full swing here. Nobody is allowed to eat meat or something like that, but only the truly devoted Catolico Apostolico Romanos do it, because Argentines don’t go without meat for any reason. They sell huge chocolate eggs here too that are really popular. Well, that is all I can think of for this week. Kyle, don’t be trunky…Brett, good job…haha just kidding, I only said that because I was reading that Kyle always gets teased for being old, don’t worry Kyle, I don’t think you are trunky. They are just jealous that they don’t work like you do, and that they don’t have hair like you either. Keep it up. Love you bye

Elder Gilmore

Parque Leloir- Week #91

2010-03-22T16:27:00.004-06:00

Stake Conference!

Well Family,

This week’s emails were pretty good parents…keep up the good work. Also, after living in Argentina for 21 months I have seen why socialized healthcare is the worst idea ever. People sneeze and rush to the emergency room…and while they attend to him, the man with the exploding appendix dies in the waiting room. Also there was some freaky story in the news here the other day of some girl, who went into the hospital because she had a headache, and there was some kind of confusion, she got moved into some other room, and they amputated her right arm!!!!!! Haha I can only laugh, but then when I realize it is not a joke I feel bad. Socialized healthcare? No gracias. Oh well, what are we going to do? I figure I will keep paying tithing, keeping the word of wisdom, and not worry about money or health. Yeah, Mom, I did feel weird getting onto the BYU website, but I can’t sign up until April 1st. I need someone, though, to call BYU and see what Spanish class allows you to take a test at the end to give you more credits. President said it was a 4 credit class, but the catalog doesn’t specify.

So I am writing so late because we just got back from zone activity. We played dodge ball, and soccer. I did well in dodge ball, but then not in soccer haha. Didn’t I learn anything in Pee-wee soccer? I actually was kind of getting better at the end. I scored some goals (will you take me to Disneyland?) at the end, but mostly because of my teammates setting me up really well. However, I will say that while I was playing goalie, I was only scored on once…and helped score probably the most beautiful goal I have ever seen. I had it in the goalie box and saw Hermana López down on the other side of the field, so I booted it towards her and it flew perfectly towards her, and she kicked it while still in the air into the goal. It was sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! It was like a movie or something. Well, mostly she just was good, but I’ll take the assist. She is a legit European soccer player who has probably played all her life, and I always was more excited for the orange slices and Capri sun at halftime during my career. But, for a few hours on P-day in Argentina, I’ll hone my skills and have some fun.

This past weekend was stake-conference. Hermana and President Benton were there and spoke about how the Church is our second home, and how the spirit felt and principles taught in the Church should mirror the spirit felt and principles taught in our homes. Viviana, Lucila, and Viviana’s youngest daughter Valentina (3 yrs.) all came. It was so great. She told us that her boyfriend is alright with her going now, but we will see how everything else goes. We were so glad that they could make it to stake conference. They really enjoyed it. Elder Hinckley and I got some good "daddy" practice in, because we were worried about Viviana being able to listen the whole time. We were trying to keep the two girls entertained the whole two hours, and were surprisingly very successful. Right before walking out of the pench on Sunday Morning, we thought, maybe we should bring some stuff for the girls to do. So we grabbed everything we thought might interest a little girl. We grabbed our gospel art book with all the pictures of the church, a pad of paper and my scripture markers so they color, and the only snack food we had: my coveted Australian mango licorice. I decided it was for the greater good. Luckily, though, I was blessed for my sacrifice and it didn't reach the point of having to open the bag. They were content with coloring the whole time. Finally those scripture markers were good for something. Just kidding, Mom.

Now all we are focusing on is getting them baptized. We still have to verify if she is actually living the law of chastity. She loves going to church and feels peace, and wants to continue, but she doesn't plan on leaving her boyfriend. They don't live together, so this week we are going to be getting a firm commitment out of her to live the law of chastity and then decide if she wants to marry this guy or not.
So transfers are here again. Has it been six weeks already? They are going a little too fast for me now. Well, the zone didn't do too hot this transfer, but there were a lot of good things that have happened anyway. Three of the areas are in the top 10 of the mission on average. We will see what happens. Next Monday is transfer meeting…to be continued next P-day!

Love, Elder Gilmore

Photos from Parque Leloir

2010-03-15T12:36:00.004-06:00

Baptism of Sebastian and Daniel

The Castelar Zone

Parque Leloir, Argentina

Lucila came to the baptism and brought Elder Gilmore and Elder Hinckley some cheese puff/pretzel men

Parque Leloir- Week #90

2010-03-15T12:03:00.004-06:00

Hey hey hey

Hey Family,

Well, this week was a pretty good one again. We had some ups and downs, but all in all we made it through alright. I don’t really need more peanut butter, but if there is room in the package send it along. Also, to add to the list of strange physical problems that I have been plagued with, this week as I was walking some bug flew into my eye and died up there or something because I couldn’t get it out, and it hurt every time I blinked. Then the next morning it was swollen and nasty...like pink eye...but it is better now. I called Hermana Benton and she told me to go buy some eye drops, which helped it out in about a day. It was more annoying that anything. I got one of the packages with the memory card in it, but the other one hasn’t gotten here yet. However, I did get Grandma Sherry’s Christmas/New Years/St. Paddy’s Day package, which was nice. Also, when I took out money this morning the inquiry said that I had 7,848 pesos in it...which is like $ 1,800 so I don’t know what was going on with that, but I just took out what I thought I needed, because those leather scripture cases I bought are going to be about 1000 pesos. Sorry about that. Anyway, I think I answered all your questions.

This week we had interviews with President Benton, but right before we had a little meeting with him as the zone leaders to talk about the zone and its needs. About 3 of the ten areas in the zone are doing great. We are all in the top five of the mission right now, but the rest are like at the bottom of the mission...so it is kind of a struggle. So we plan on doing some lifting this week. My personal interview went really well, too. It was trunky...we talked about BYU the whole time. After I write you, President gave me permission to get onto byu.edu to look at classes and everything. Then he gave me some tips on what classes to take and how to fully take advantage of my first semester back. Then I popped the question to him: “President....what should I do with my life?” He just kind of laughed at me, and said, “Well, I always have ideas, but we will have time to talk about that later. For now just worry about your classes.” It got me really excited for BYU...which isn’t really how I want to feel right now. But ok.

So Viviana and Lucila are doing pretty well. This week I probably had the most interesting lesson I have ever taught in my whole mission. We had the Chastity talk with Viviana...for 2 hours...no exaggeration...I didn’t know you talk for two hours about chastity. She had some very complex, specific questions, and we were treading in uncharted waters. I wrote it all in my journal, so you can read it later, because it is absolutely not appropriate for this email. She kind of accepted it. She has a boyfriend that doesn’t live with her, and she was going on and on about how you can’t marry someone without knowing if you love them...so in an answer that came straight from the Spirit I said that those relations only enhance love after the love has been established. It was kind of a frustrating lesson, not because of her, but because what the world has taught her. The world teaches that you can do whatever you want, but it is really teaching you how to be a good slave, because it has been seen time and time again that today’s freedom is tomorrow’s captivity. Obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ is the wings that lift us above that captivity. So we will be continuing to work with Viviana. Also, we are with Elder Klein and his comp and we wasted a good chunk of time watching his screen saver today, because we couldn’t think of anything to write about. So time is up...love you, bye.

Elder Gilmore

Parque Leloir- Week #89

2010-03-08T11:10:00.003-07:00

The Church is true...

Hey there gang!
This week has been sweet! First of all, congratulations on everybody for their great missionary experiences this week, or planned missionary experiences for the following week. Mom! Your visiting teaching is resulting in 4 baptisms! That is legit…you are officially a useful member in the eyes of the elders. Also, I am guessing that the Academy Award went to “El Secreto en Tus Ojos”, because it is like huge here, and the only movie made in Argentina that I have ever heard of. All the rest are from the States with Spanish dubbed over it. I have not gotten my package yet, but we get mail tomorrow so I am sure it will get here. I get mail every Tuesday now, just like everybody else…so no more office privileges of opening mail on the spot. Elder Hinckley and I live by ourselves in the smallest apartment I have ever seen, but it is sufficient for our needs. Elder Hinckley cut my hair today…and my head is basically shaved. Also, what are the pin numbers to my personal credit cards? I have never used them and don’t remember in the slightest. Today I bought a Mate that is pretty sweet! It was in a nice souvenir store. I also bought postcards to send you. So be on the lookout. Elder Hinckley is a River fan, but I have never really declared a favorite team. Just know that The River-Boca rivalry is like Yankees-Red Sox, or USC-Notre Dame in the Gilmore family.

Zone Conference went really well. We were supposed to take 45-50 minutes, but we were running way late all day so they told us to do it in 25, and we took around 30. So it was actually really good, because we could cut out all the parts that were kind of boring, like reading Preach My Gospel and stuff. Ha…that was a joke, don’t worry. It was fun though, we started out using a trompo, which is a toy that for some reason every Chilean elder knew how to use. It is kind of like an old fashioned top with a string on it and you throw it down with some special flick of the wrist and it spins for years. We had an American do it first, who couldn’t do it, because he had no idea how to use it, and then we had a Chilean do it and it was cool and he did tricks and stuff. So we related that do companionship study. If you know how to study effectively with your companion, it is fun. But if you don’t know how, it isn’t fun. So most people don’t have a good comp study so they give up and don’t want to do it anymore, hence they waste time every morning from 9-10. Then we talked about how to enjoy comp study. It was funny that in Preach My Gospel chapter 2 it talks about studying and on the first page it says, “Most missionaries don’t know how to study effectively.” Ouch…ok. So it went well, and we are glad it is over so we can start focusing in on the investigators.

After the zone conference we went with the assistants and President Benton to go check out a potential new mission home. It was…massive…it looked like the White House. Not really, but I was trying to help you get an idea of what it was like in your minds. Anyway, after that we went to the meeting with the Stake President. It went really well. Stake Conference is in two weeks, and President Muni (stake pres.) asked President Benton to speak about how the Church is our second home. Great topic! President accepted, and so now we really need to get people to stake conference to hear what he has to say. I can’t think of a better topic for investigators to hear about. Also General Conference is in 3 weeks…that was the fastest six months of my life. I have to start getting questions ready! They will all probably be trunky questions.

So the baptisms went great!!!! Sebastian and Daniel are so awesome! They are going to be leaders one day. Sebastian had to be baptized 4 times…haha it was kind of awkward, because his Dad messed up the prayer, and then his foot came up, and then his wrist didn’t go under, and then his dad basically drowned him making sure he was completely under. We had investigators there watching so it was kind of interesting having to explain that. But everything went off without a hitch besides that. They both gave their testimonies after and it was soooooo funny. Sebastian went first and started crying before he could get a word out and just said two things and sat back down, so it was a really quiet spiritual moment. Then Daniel gets up to the microphone and just stands there looking at everybody, and then I think he realized he didn’t know what he was supposed to say, and looked over at the Bishop. So Bishop asks him how he feels, to which he responded, “Bien” and then stepped down and walked back to where his family was sitting. Ha the funniest part was that on the way down he looked at his mom, stuck his hands out and shrugged his shoulders like, “I have no idea why I was up there.” Haha it was great. So they are now members of the church.

Last story before I go. Our investigators at the baptism made it to church as well. Viviana and her 7 year old daughter Lucila, or Lucy for short. Lucy turns 8 next week, which I don’t know if you realize…is the age of accountability…anyway the first time we taught them they were really good. They like actually paid attention. Then the second time we taught them Viviana had a lot of really good questions, and she had actually read what we left her with. At the end of the lesson she looked at us and said, “God must have sent you here to help us.” We each then bore testimony how we are personal representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then she started crying. It was a really good lesson, and ever since then she has been willing to do everything we invite her to do. They came to the baptism and loved it, and then came to church yesterday as well. Lucy is the new love of my life…I mean…she is a cool little girl. She made us little action figure things out of the refreshments at the baptism. So we are going to keep working with them. Viviana has a boyfriend, but he lives in Capitál, so at least they don’t live together, which happens all the time here in Argentina. I hope they keep progressing. I kind of came to the realization this week that I have 3 ½ more months to find all the rest of the people I promised I would find and help. I have never felt so much pressure and urgency, but it is a good feeling. It is going to be exciting to see who the Lord will put in our path these last months in Argentina. Ok bye, I have to get out and WORK!

Elder Gilmore

Parque Leloir- Week #88

2010-03-01T14:32:00.002-07:00

Earthquake free...

Hey Family!!!
Well, this week has been a pretty good one. Obviously, we have been bombarded by news of the earthquake in Chile. Everybody is talking about it. Everybody…and we were visiting a recent convert when he decided to turn on the news to prove to us that Hawaii was under Tsunami watch, so we saw some footage of that, but it wasn’t that exciting. They looked like normal waves. I didn’t feel any kind of aftershock or anything, too far away. There are a ton of Chilean missionaries in the mission though and so naturally we were worried about their families. President Benton authorized all Chilean missionaries to call home to see if their families were even alive. Most missionaries I have talked to got through and their families are doing well. Elder Rivas is the only Chilean in the zone, but he couldn’t get through. I guess where he lives is where it hit strongest. He finally got a hold of the family last night. Elder Palacios my old companion was talking to me on the phone and told me that his parents didn’t know where his sister was for two days, because cell phones weren’t working and the road to their town was blocked. I guess she went out on a date to another city and was trying to get back but couldn’t for two days. That would be scary. So all in all, we are doing well here as far as natural disasters are concerned.

I don’t know if that old man’s car was a Toyota, Mom. I don’t think it had anything to do with the type of car it was, though. I think he couldn’t brake just because the car looked like it was made in the 20’s. I remember looking down and seeing the street through the holes in the floor of the car. The zone is doing better. We still need to improve in some aspects, but there will always be something to improve, so you can’t be disappointed. Tomorrow is zone conference, so Elder Hinckley and I will be trying to give the most motivating training we can on…companionship study. No, last week’s email was not a joke; we actually have to talk about companionship study for 50 minutes. Haha, no it should be fun. After the zone conference, Elder Hinckley and I have a meeting with the Stake President of Castelar and President Benton to talk about the work in the stake. They are thinking of splitting Parque Leloir into two wards, which would be interesting. Yes I remember growing pains, and I loved that show. I loved even more how Kirk Cameron (troublemaker, Mike Seaver) became some kind of spokesman of Christianity, and Alan Thicke (the responsible dad, Jason Seaver) did commercials for couple only resorts in Vegas or something like that. See Parents? Your children really were influenced by television. Watch less TV kids. Read a book…or write one…do something that requires you to exercise more than your thumb to change the channel. Our baptisms are still on for this weekend! Sebastian and Daniel Esteche will be baptized by their father (recent convert who just got the priesthood yesterday) at 7:30 Saturday night. I love baptisms.

So I did divisions with Elder Klein this week, from my MTC district. It was pretty fun, because we both know how to work, so we could just go out and learn from each other. He is training right now, so Elder Hinckley continued the training of Elder Heims, while Elder Klein and I went to his area Ituzaingó 1. This one lady rejected us hardcore, but we could only laugh and love her for it. We walked up to her to ask her how her day was going, and as always offered our hand for her to shake. “I will not shake your hand.” That is pretty serious. Argentines rarely use “will” or “will not” because their word binds them into a commitment that they might not keep, and they don’t like for their image to be tainted by broken promises. So the fact that she said that she WILL NOT do it, was the first hint that she meant business. We are more used to “I am not going to shake your hand”, or “I don’t want to shake your hand”, or “No.”, all of which seem to be softer ways to reject someone. So Elder Klein naturally asked why she would not shake our hands. What came out of her mouth next was a series of not so nice words and false accusations that we came here to steal everything Argentina has and take it back to the States, leaving the people here homeless and hungry. She capped it off with a fierce, “ANDATE A TU PAIS!” (in essence, “go back to your country”) More Spanish lessons can be learned from this haha. The fact that she was speaking in “Tu” form, implies that she was only speaking to one person, because “Tú” or “Vos” means you singular. So I thought maybe she just didn’t like Elder Klein…hence I tried to contact her…the result was similar. Elder Klein couldn’t stop laughing, after being an appropriate distance from her of course. It was kind of funny, in the sense that it has been a long time since someone has ripped into me like that, and last time it happened I didn’t really understand what was being said. I am going to miss Argentina anyway. Maybe she was just having a bad day. Elder Hinckley and I are having a great time together. I think he might go be AP next transfer because Elder Aceituno is leaving and Elder Hinckley has the perfect time to replace him. We will see though. That is probably it for this week. I realized I have like 3 video cards filled up that I have never sent home, dating back from when I was in the offices with Elder Sabey, so I will send those home I guess. Love you guys!

p.s. forgot to tell you this story this week:

We found our Amulek in the ward, which lead to almost all of the success we had. On Wednesday after lunch we had planned to visit a member we didn't know that well. We knocked on the door of Hermano Juan Juarez. Best decision we ever made. He answered and we asked a little about him to try and get to know him. He lives alone, and has been a widower for 23 years. I think he is about 65 years old. So we "shot the breeze" for a few minutes and then asked if he knew someone around him that would be interested in knowing more about we believe. He said that he had been praying that someone would come visit him, because he had been feeling alone, and then said, "I have lived in the neighborhood for 40 years. I know everybody! I'll change my pants and then come with you." Jackpot! He lead us around for the next couple of hours presenting us to all of his friends and conocidos in the barrio. He was just what we needed to get into some houses that usually we probably wouldn't have gotten into. The best part was that he was just happy to be out of his house and serving the Lord. He started doing contacts, and then would get nervous and tell us to talk to the person. It was really fun, kind of like training again, except our refuerzo was 65 years old. He went out 3 times with us this week, and we were able to find a lot of good people to teach. At first he was really blunt with people, but then would start copying what we said with contacts, so he was learning and applying what he learned really well. The very first person he was just like, "We have the word of the Lord!" Haha, we had to kind of smooth the contact over because of the strange look the lady gave us. It was pretty great.

Pictures from Villegas

2010-02-22T14:37:00.003-07:00

Sean, Fernandez family (Villegas) and mate

more mate !!!!

Fernandez family baptism

Baptism

More Pictures

2010-02-22T14:27:00.005-07:00

Sean and Cristian

Sean and Ilumina

Sean and Elder Fox

Rain

Reason why Sean was still getting wet

Parque Leloir- Week #87

2010-02-22T11:37:00.002-07:00

Season's Greetings from Parque Leloir

Hey Family!!!

Well, my first week as zone leader was an interesting one. It rained a lot, and keeps on raining. It is weird, because last year it was just hot all summer, but it has rained a lot this year. Everyone is surprised by it, and places are flooding pretty badly on some days. I loved the pictures of your Utah trip, and thanks Dad for the parking spot, so I don’t have to deal with iced windshields. Elder Hinckley is a baller. He is from Knoxville, Tennessee. He is in a band with his brothers, and they have like a legit CD and everything. He has permission to listen to it on the mission, so we listen to it...and they are pretty good. I was impressed. Parque Leloir is a great ward as well. It was RICH!!!!! There are some huge mansions here that I didn’t know existed in Argentina. In the middle of the area are just straight quintas (huge lots of land with huge mansions, swimming pools, guest houses, soccer stadiums, roller coasters, and airport runways) but on the outskirts of that there are normal neighborhoods, which is where we mostly work. Everybody in the ward has a car, which is nice because they can help us go get investigators. Yesterday, we went with some old man, picked up Anahí (investigator) and started driving back, when the old man started to scream that his brakes went out. NO PUEDO FRENAR!! NO PUEDO FRENAR!!! I thought to myself, “Frenar...frenar...I know what that means...oh yeah...brakes...WHAT? ¿NO PUEDE FRENAR? We started taking turns at 30 miles an hour onto slick muddy roads, with an old argentine man frantically trying to change gears and keep control of the car, and I couldn’t help but start laughing. We made it safely to church though don´t worry. He used his brakes to stop in the parking lot so that confused me, but I didn’t ask questions. It was a pretty fun Sunday morning. We worked about 4 of the 7 days of the week I would say, because of meetings, zone leader conference, baptismal interviews, and so forth, but that is fine with me, we still had a lot of time to reach our goals. We have zone conference in two weeks and we have to give a taller (workshop/training thing) on companionship study...what in the world are we supposed to talk about for an hour? Ideas anyone? How are you supposed to make that interesting?

The zone is doing alright...thanks to the hermanas...haha we gave the challenge to everyone to complete with their 140 contacts for the week, and only the hermanas, us, and one other area completed with it. There is definitely some room for some motivational work here. Elder Hinckley and I have been thinking a lot about what we can do to get everyone going. Hopefully this week will be better. We are going to be doing divisions to try and get some people excited.

We have two baptismal dates as of now. Sebastian and Daniel Esteche. Their dad was baptized last transfer and will be getting the priesthood this week to be able to baptize his sons the following Saturday. So the first Saturday in March we should be having two baptisms. Also, there is a kid named Matias that has come to church this week who is golden! He is going to get baptized! He just has to realize that first. We gave him a gospel principles manual and after ward council we came out and he was still there and had read to chapter nine. He is a reference from the Bishop’s daughter...they said they aren’t dating...but I bear testimony that something is going on. She wanted to know when we could start giving the discussions because Matias told her he is going to come every week from now on. In...the...water... So we will be working with him as well. Anahí also came, and is the niece of a member. She is twenty years old, but when we tried to take out a baptismal date, she said she wanted to but it was impossible. She is a godmother in the Catholic Church to 4 children, and if she gets baptized she will “lose them”. We had like an hour long discussion trying to convince her that she can have her god-children, and still be a member of the Church. It gave me a headache. It basically all came down to, she doesn’t believe in the Catholic Church, except for the godmother part, and believes everything about this church but isn’t willing to give up her “children”. I wrote more details down in my journal, it was just a long conversation, but for now she would rather deny the answer God gave her...oooo...ouch. She will come around, because she is really cool. Well, I will be talking to you next week, and let’s see if I can get some pictures sent here. I love you all, nos vemos.

Elder Gilmore

Ps. Also I need to know what airport I am flying into, the abbreviation and if you are picking me up you have to contact church travel offices now...it says so in my trunky papers, my day of arrival is the 21st of June...that Monday. It changed. So write me back.

Parque Leloir- Week #86

2010-02-15T19:40:00.005-07:00

Wasn't expecting this one...

Hey Everybody!!!!

Well, my mission has definitely taken an interesting turn of events. Last week was probably the most stressful week of my entire life. I am not sure, but I think I got into a fist fight with Satan. Our baptisms went down to the wire! We spent all week trying to prepare everyone we had to enter the waters of baptism. We knew that Javier, the dad of the Fernandez family, wasn’t going to be able to be baptized because he still has troubles with smoking, so we started focusing in on the kids. I at first wasn’t the biggest fan of baptizing the kids without the dad, especially since he is so excited about living the gospel, but I did some divisions with Elder Varela and he told them the story of his family and how they all were baptized at different times, and how it helped the family, because having at least one member with the Gift of the Holy Ghost in the home can really effect the rest of the family. So we did the interviews with Ilumina, (yeah, her name is illuminate….it is baller) Cristian, and Alejandro. They all passed with flying colors and were really excited to get baptized. The only problem was they weren’t going to be able to get baptized on Saturday, so we planned the baptism for after Sacrament Meeting. Everything was kind of on the verge of turning into chaos but we kept our cool. We even had to wash the baptismal clothes for them on Saturday night because it was dirty, so we were going down to the wire. Sunday morning rolls around and Ilumina says she feels nervous and doesn’t want to get baptized…dang it…so we try and talk to her but she was set that she wouldn’t do it. We were doing a mission fast at the time and I started praying like I had never prayed before. During Sacrament Meeting I leave to go check the font…and it has overflowed into the hallway and into the bathrooms…SHOOT!!!!!!! I frantically start cleaning it up. Luckily none of the chapels have carpet here, so I just had to push the water towards the drains. Still praying. Sacrament ends and I don’t know what happens but Ilumina is perfect, ready to go. I didn’t question, just thanked Heavenly Father, and started preparing everything. Ilumina and Cristian picked me to baptize them and Alejandro wanted Elder Thomas. So we were ready to go, and I checked the font one more time. SOMEONE HAD TURNED THE DRAIN ON BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT IT WAS OVERFLOWING!!!!!!!!!!! It was only like knee high! I couldn’t believe it…I actually contemplated going down into the water and drowning myself, except there wasn’t enough water. So we turn it back on to fill while the service is going on. When we actually did the baptisms I had to like force their bodies down so that they would all go under…but the point is that they got baptized, and they were way happy! So two years in a row I baptized a family on Valentine’s Day. I love baptisms anyway, even though they are way stressful. So we ended the transfer with 4 baptisms, and the zone ended with 40!!!!!!!! WE BROKE THE RECORD! The record was 29, so we were pretty excited about that. In the mission for the past couple of transfers we have tried to hit 200 baptisms, and a few transfers we got 192 which is the record…or I should say was the record…until today. We had 195!!!! Dang it…so close, but still way good! I barely spent time in Villegas this past week though because I was doing divisions so much, even with Hermana Lopez and Hermana Daniels in their area trying to get there investigators to be baptized. I almost had one kid, but the mom was kind of unstable in the mind and ruined everything, we sang her happy birthday anyway.

So that leads up to transfer meeting today…which was just as crazy. First, I got to see Sabey-baby, and I gave him a Christmas present I bought him in December but forgot to give him. We sat together the whole meeting. It was kind of exciting to not know any transfer that was going to happen before-hand like I did in the office. I got to do my T-Day bracket and everything. A lot of important people went home. Elder Arriola my companion from exactly one year ago went home, as well as Elder Fox…noooooo. It was pretty emotional. He is emotional anyway haha I love him for it. I hugged him and he was like shaking crying, and then fights to say through his tears, “I freakin love you man.” Hahahahahahahaha it was sooooo funny! Then we started like some crying laughing mix chortle thing that made me laugh harder. He probably influenced my mission more than anyone. So transfers…you would think that after only being in Villegas for 6 weeks, there is a pretty big chance I am not leaving. But just because there was a pretty big chance that I was not leaving, doesn’t mean there wasn’t a small chance that I would be leaving. So I left…I did not want to leave at all…in fact I told President that…which probably wasn’t appropriate and now I repent, but I told him in a letter before we knew transfers. So I am currently sitting in Parque Leloir with my companion Elder Hinckley from Tennessee. We are the zone leaders of the Castelar zone. He has about 16 months, so I am senior comp, even though I have never been a zone leader before, but I have realized that senior-junior comp titles don’t mean much. I am excited, because Castelar has some taboo that it is a hard zone that doesn’t baptize, but Elder Hinckley was in Villegas right before I was, I replaced him, and so we are looking to get the zone going. Hermana Lopez also came over from Aldo Bonzi to Castelar which is sweet because she gets work done, and Elder Klein and Mills from my MTC district are the district leaders and are both training, so we will see what the Lord has in store for us. I was really sad to leave Villegas, but I have entered into my last area, and look forward to this new assignment and area. Last transfer I experienced more trials than ever before, but I saw more miracles as well. I saw the Lord pour out His blessings on me as I fasted and prayed. I know Heavenly Father lives, and that He hears us as we diligently seek Him. Fasting works! Show your faith, sacrifice a little, and see the Hand of God lift you up higher than you have ever been and sustain you there as you fulfil the purposes He has set forth for you. I love you all, and hope that you are doing well. Keep your heads up and your eyes fixed on the goal, and then take whatever life throws at you, because it will be but a small moment. Chao!

Elder Gilmore

p.s. holy cow i forgot to tell you i got my package and loved it!!!!!!!! especially the video card hahahahaha that last one when dad just stares until mom turns it off was hilarious! and i got grandma sherrys package with her perfume cotton swab in it, and it smelt so good!!! like grandma...thanks!!!!!!!!!!! now i have some good food too to last a while!

Zone Activity

2010-02-09T14:25:00.002-07:00

I hope Hermana Lopez's family doesn't mind that I copied this photo from her blog. The Aldo Bonzi Zone had an activity on Pday this week. Elder Arriola is on the top row on the left, wearing black and is from El Salvador. He was Sean's companion in Altos de Merlo. Second row far left is Elder Varela who is a Zone Leader and worked in the offices with Sean. And Sean is in the second row all the way to the right in his Boca shirt. I don't know which Elder is Elder Thomas (Sean's companion) since I haven't seen a picture of him yet. Good to see the missionaires getting out and having some fun once in awhile. '

Villegas- Week #85

2010-02-08T12:49:00.002-07:00

Hey Hey Hey

Hey Family,

Well, just so everyone knows, my foot has completely healed and I was out working again on Tuesday without any problems. So I had the whole week to work and we got a lot done. My few days in the pench were…interesting. After 19 months of being on a mission it is a little mind boggling to sit and do nothing for three days. I tried reading and studying but after 4 hours of that I wasn’t learning anything. So yeah, I am glad to be back out working in the field. We just got back from zone activity, where we played volleyball and soccer. It was pretty fun. My old comp. Elder Arriola is in the zone as well, and we celebrated his upcoming departure to his house in a week by covering him in silly-string. So that was pretty fun. The Tormenta Blanca was already planned, and it actually happened the weekend before my spider bite. The weather actually has completely changed. This week we had rain rain rain, all week long. I hate the rain for one reason…no one comes to church when it rains. Nobody has a car in the ward and all the streets turn into a huge muddy lake swamp pit so nobody can even make it. So we have been wearing huge boots all week to get through the area. Being District Leader is pretty fun, too, because today I formed secret alliances with my district and we dominated in everything. The Hermanas should be having 5 baptisms this weekend, so they are doing great, and hopefully we will as well.

So the Fernandez Family is doing great. Despite the rain, they showed their faith and came to church. It was awesome to see them come by themselves! The whole family of five came and loved it. So they have all been to church enough times to be baptized this weekend. We did a fast during the week to help them get to church, because up until that time they had never come as a whole family, only the parents by themselves, or the kids, but this week they all came. There is only one problem…Javier, the dad, smokes…boooooooooo…. Not good. We gave him some Orbit gum and told him to chew it whenever he had really bad cravings to smoke and he is going down. We want them to get baptized this weekend so badly, but I don’t know what to do, because he can’t get baptized while smoking. We will be talking to him very frankly tomorrow to make sure he quits once and for all. They are so awesome though! They signed up to give us lunch tomorrow! They aren’t even members. They are all really excited about the gospel as well. They tell us all the time about the stuff they are learning, and they are like best friends with the Martinez family now (ward mission leader). So we will see what happens this weekend.

So that is about all that happened this week. I am kind of tired from zone activity so I am not really up for typing that much. I know, don’t you hate when that happens? How inconsiderate of me. The housing sounds fine. I was talking with Hermana Daniels and Elder Cooper today at the zone activity today about BYU housing and there are various opinions and rumors about every place within 10 miles of campus from what I could gather, but neither of them knew much about University Park, so the mystery continues. Whatever. I hope the trip with Grandma goes well, and that you have some fun down in Utah. So…the fact that you are getting me a parking spot at BYU would imply me having a vehicle…do we know what the options are for such vehicle…or is it still kind of a distant future decision to be made? I am glad you both like rock band…never thought I would see the day that my parents would be so proficient at a cutting edge video game. The things that happen on a mission…well, I hope you all stay well this week and that you can see the blessings of the Lord in your lives. Pray for the Fernandez Family!

Elder Gilmore

Spider Bite

2010-02-01T11:18:00.003-07:00

Sean got bit by a spider. He had to go to the hospital, received a blessing, and seems to be on the mend, but his foot sure looks nasty. That is one FAT foot!

Villegas- Week #84

2010-02-01T11:16:00.002-07:00

The Spider Empire Strikes Back !

Hey Family,

Well, just sit back and listen to this one because it was a crazy week. My backspace is broken as well and I already am annoyed with it. P is broken too. So this week went pretty well up until Wednesday. You know how last week I braved the elements and totally slapped Mother Nature in the face by coming out victorious, right? Well if I had to name this week it would be, “Villegas Wars Episode V: The Animal Kingdom Strikes Back!” Or I would call it “Spider-Elder: The Story of when Elder Gilmore was bit by a radioactive spider.” Yes…I now have added to my bag of cool mission stories the time a spider almost took my life. When Peter Parker got bit he acquired cool powers. I did too kind of…basically I could shape shift my foot so that it grew to the size of a watermelon. So like I said, life was good until Wednesday. Tuesday I woke up with what looked like a mosquito bite…what else is new…and I went about my day. When I went to sleep it was a little red, but I figured it was just because of my sock rubbing against it all day. It is on my ankle. Wednesday I wake up and it is an open wound…like bleeding…I figured I scratched it in my sleep or something. I put a band-aid on it, and kept working…you know doing the whole show your faith thing…but something happened at about 3 in the afternoon. It was about a billion degrees outside, and my ankle was throbbing with the pulse of someone who just finished an Iron man competition. I was dying, but we were behind in the work so I kept trucking along without much thought to how serious the situation actually might be. Elder Thomas had no idea because I kept quiet. Well, we make it through the day, and I take my sock of to some horrific extra-terrestrial war zone going on down there. I could no longer see my ankle because of some large reddish puss filled mass that was eating it, or at least covering it up really well. So I called Hermana Benton and explained the situation…she said that I had to go to the hospital…haha. I guess there is some kind of brown recluse spider or something like that, whose venom eats away at the flesh…sounded kind of accurate.

So Thursday morning I headed to the hospital and the doctor gives me a few hmms and hahs and gives me some antibiotics to take, says I can’t walk for two days, and put ice on it. The whole process took about ten minutes. I asked if maybe we should do a skin test or something, because he barely even looked at it. Argentines have socialized healthcare by the way. Some guy came in and said he had a fever…and they took him into the emergency room…take some advil…anyway, right as he was writing out the prescription he asked me if it hurt. Don’t you ask that at the beginning of your evaluation? I said it hurts when I walk, so he also wrote down some pain-killers on the prescription. Haha, what? What kind of painkillers they are I don’t know, but I haven’t taken them because I have heard stories of people who get addicted. So I took the prescription and was about to leave when he says, “Take those for five days, but if it doesn’t get better tomorrow come back.” I just stared at him, wondering if the gift of tongues was playing tricks on me…nope I heard him right. Wouldn’t it get better in a few days after taking the medication? Whatever.

Friday morning President Benton called me and forbid me to leave the apartment when I told him that I was just going to go to the important appointments that day. He thought it was pretty serious. So I ended up staying in the apartment all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday, except for church. President came and visited me personally. He gave me a blessing, which was such a great experience. It was almost a patriarchal blessing, except he didn’t declare lineage. He blessed me to fully recover and that the bite would have no lasting effect on me in my life. I am sending pictures by the way, so don’t call the mission because they already know my condition.

Anyway, as far as the missionary work goes. The Fernandez family is doing really well, but we haven’t been able to do much this week. Our ward mission leader is saving us! He goes around teaching the investigators! It has been a rough week for the work, but we still got quite a bit done while I was out working. We weren’t last in the zone anyway. Not that that matters anyway, but we are going to have to book it with our investigators to get them in the water. We are going to need some miracles. Anyway, I will wrap it up now. I go back to the hospital tomorrow for a checkup, but it is almost healed so I should get the green light to walk again. Alright, love you all!

Spider Elder

Villegas- Week #83

2010-01-25T11:36:00.003-07:00

Miracles

Hey devoted fans and occasional readers,

That’s fine Dad about the housing…at first it kind of ruffled my feathers…you know how us Gilmores can get. You are taking away my pool, gym, and co-ed atmosphere! Plus, what does “not as fancy, but clean” actually mean? But then I calmed down and remembered that the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been since the fall of Adam…so I’m chill with the new plan. And I am also fine with living upstairs when I get home. Use your best judgment about who you add as my facebook friends.

Ok, this week was MIRACLE FILLED!!!!! So as you might have gathered last week I was a little worried about this transfer but was trying to keep the faith about it. We have a lot of people, who listen to us, but we were struggling getting people to church, and you can’t get baptized if you don’t come to church. So this past week we were working like mad-men trying to prepare people to attend Sacrament Meeting. Also as I tell this story it is important to note that we have experienced every type of weather this week. On Tuesday night we were just walking around and all of a sudden a huge gust of wind whipped by us. Our whole area is dirt roads…very loose dirt. If any of you remember the sandstorm part of the movie Hidalgo…that is about as accurate as I can get to what happened to us. It was time to head home anyway, so we started running back to the apartment (15 minute run). I was just praying that Elder Thomas kept running because I couldn’t even see 2 feet in front of me, I am serious. So we are running in the dust tornado hurricane typhoon vortex when all of a sudden it stops. Like in one second the wind was gone, and then…VOOSH!!!!!!! Monsoon season in Villegas. It just started pouring down rain and we were still like 10 minutes away from the apartment…after about 30 seconds I just started walking because I was drenched…it was pretty fun. Then for the rest of the week it was blistering hot. So we were working hard anyway, having a pretty good week and the zone leaders called us and told us we were going to have a zone fast, because the whole zone is exploding with success and we wanted to fast for all the investigators to keep progressing. Here are some numbers: The Aldo Bonzi Zone record for baptisms in a transfer is 29. The mission wide record for baptisms in a transfer by one zone is 44, put up by Catàn last year. After two weeks in the transfer we had 10 baptisms, and 49 baptismal dates. So if everyone got baptized, we would break the record with 59…and we are all really pumped up to do it, but we really need the Lord’s help. So we fasted on Saturday to Sunday.

I put everything I had into this fast because we wanted so badly to help with this record, but we didn’t have any dates for baptism. So we fasted and put our faith in the Lord. We had a ton of plans for people to come and for members to pick up some investigators, and we went out to get people in the morning as well. I was sooooo thirsty I thought I was going to pass out. Anyway, we got two people to come with us, and two were already at the church when we got there so we had four. That is great, but I was a little disappointed because a family of five, the Fernandez family, we are teaching didn’t show up. Our ward mission leader was supposed to bring them but only the dad came because they got into a fight the night before and the mom and kids refused to come. When we heard that I told Elder Thomas, Lets go. He looked at me like I was a lunatic haha. Sacrament Meeting is last in our schedule so we left our ward mission leader with the investigators and we started to long trek back to our area. Our chapel isn’t in our ward limits. So we almost died of heat stroke, but we made it to the Fernandez’ house and were invited in by the family. We told them there was still time to come to church and that we were all waiting for them. Virginia, the mom, said she didn’t want to because she was tired and can’t walk for long periods of time in the heat (she is pregnant). That is when I whipped out the cold liter of water that I brought with me specifically for her…she couldn’t refuse. So we took them all to church, and found out that someone else showed up while we were out looking, so we had 9 people in church. It was a miracle. I really tried to do what President said and show my faith. Heavenly Father honored our fast and blessed us with so much success. So the Fernandez family has a date for the 13th of February to enter the waters of baptism. Also we were number one in the zone this week and number two in the whole mission. I couldn’t believe it. It was just another testimony of the power of fasting, and I think it really helped Elder Thomas. While we were walking in the heat he asked me a lot about fasting and its purpose, so we had a great talk about showing the Lord our priorities and focusing on the spiritual. Great week. Now we have the large task of keeping the coals hot under the Fernandez family so that they make it to their baptisms. We will be working a lot with the other four people too that made it. We will see what happens this week! Love you all, keep up the good work!!!

Elder Gilmore

Villegas- Week #82

2010-01-18T11:49:00.002-07:00

Bossier Bretheren

Hey Family!!!

Well another week gone by and I am still not used to these keyboards. This week was great! We did even better than last week, but despite my valiant efforts the hermanas absolutely killed us. I thought we were doing well the whole week, and we were winning until Sunday night rolled around and they report they had 8 baptismal dates and 10 investigators in Sacrament meeting…blast. Haha, just kidding that is great! My district is tearing it up! We are on average 500 efficiency points above the mission average, which to everyone reading this doesn’t mean anything I just realized. Oh well, just know that the Lord is really blessing us with success. So this week was kind of an eye-opener for me. All of a sudden I am getting old in the mission. I came to the stark realization that I am the oldest (in mission terms) in the apartment, which has never happened to me before. Now all of a sudden I am the target of a bunch of trunky jokes, and then last night the zone leaders called me and wished me a happy 19 months…wait…what? I just turned 18…what happened?

So this week we had interviews with President Benton. He said he wants one of Lacey’s wedding invitations. It has only been like two weeks since the last interview I had with him so not much changed, but it was still a great interview. He talked to me a lot about faith, and the strength of having a positive outlook on every situation. He counseled me to look at the area as a fountain of success that only grows and adds upon itself, because a lot of missionaries look at areas as wells that dry up after a lot of success. I think I mentioned this before but Villegas has had 6 baptisms for the last 5 transfers straight, and this past weekend we baptized one of our last progressing investigators, so there have been a few skeptics as to whether or not we can do it again. So I am trying to follow President’s counsel, although I will admit that we are in search mode hard core right now. We will see what the Lord has in store for Villegas this transfer. We currently have zero baptismal dates unfortunately. I hate when that happens, but like President told me in my interview. “Move toward your faith. Ask the Lord for help. He won’t deny you.” So I am handing the reigns over to the Lord. I am going to try my hardest to do my part, so that we are worthy to ask the Lord to make up the rest.

Anyway, Alvina was baptized! I will talk about that in a second. Lucas will not get baptized this weekend. We went by his house to teach him and he hit us with the news…pee-wee soccer starts next Sunday, and as a result he says he is never coming to church again. Are you kidding? Haha we got beat out by pee-wee soccer! Except we have to take into account that, all jokes aside, and no pun intended, soccer is a religion here. We tried reaching his small dream stricken nine year old heart by testifying, promising specific blessings, and sharing personal experiences (when I played little league baseball and I couldn’t play an important game on Sunday…go tigers…) but he wasn’t having it, so we are back to ground zero.

Ok the baptismal service. It was a little frustrating, but now has just turned comical in my vast reservoir of mission memories. First, Elder Thomas told her that I would be doing the baptism and she was all for it. I am not sure why since I met her 2 weeks ago, but whatever I was down for it. So I was privileged to perform the baptism. Of course my camera was dead and I didn’t realize it, so I will be borrowing some pictures from Elder Thomas later and I will send them home. Anyway, we were going to start at 7 o’clock in the evening, but hit a few snags. It turns out Ward Council was also being held at 6. Whoops, but ok that is fine we will just have plan well. Unfortunately, it didn’t go that smoothly. We waited until 8 at night, because their meeting was taking a long time. So we asked if a member of the bishopric could come preside, not one single person had a tie on in the whole ward counsel. Our ward mission leader then said, “Don’t worry about it Christ ministered in sandals and a tunic.” Long story short, the second counselor came and the baptism went through, and was really spiritual actually. Alvina was happy and it turned out to be a really nice meeting. So that is all for this week, maybe we should go back to what you used to do and put all your questions at the beginning of your email, because I don’t have time to go back and remember all the questions you have. Bossier Brethren sounds great. Also everyone is talking about Haiti here; I bought a big mac today because 2 pesos of it got donated to Haiti…so that was my kind act of service for the day I guess. I don’t really like big macs.

Well, until next week, pray that we can find some good people, and that we can get them to church!

Love, Elder Gilmore

Villegas- Week #81

2010-01-11T09:54:00.002-07:00

Return to the Field

Hey everybody!

Well it is back to writing on lame keyboards…I was really spoiled in the office. This week has been GREAT! Although it has felt like I left the offices months ago. I love Villegas! It is the Promised Land! The land of milk and honey! I thought I had seen some humble places…but it has been kind of interesting teaching someone whose house is made out of cardboard and there is only room inside for a bed. Her name is Monica by the way…she came to church, but says that she doesn’t want to be baptized for another 2 years…so we will be working with her. Also, almost everyone here is from Paraguay. Like they all moved here for work and are building their houses still, so it is a really humble area. Really humble. In Paraguay they have an indigenous language called Guarani…I don’t know how to spell it but yeah it is funny because all Paraguayans know how to speak it pretty much. Well, back in Merlo I picked up a few phrases from some members and I have been practicing them here haha. I use the same exact joke for everyone I meet and every single person laughs when I say it, and Elder Thomas laughs every time too because it works every time. All I know how to say is, “I am a boy with a lot of money”, and “I love you, pretty girl.” So I always start out asking if they know how to speak it, and they say yes, then I tell them I speak it as well and say, “I am a boy with a lot of money and I love you, pretty girl.” It gets them every time. I love saying it most to the little old ladies because they usually say something after like, “Finally, I’ve been waiting for you to come find me. Take me to the States.” The old men usually laugh when I say it because they didn’t think I actually knew how to say something. It sounds more like English than Spanish to me, so it is easy to pick up. One hermana told me that gringos always speak Guarani better than other Latinos. So we will see what other phrases I can pick up. It is a great way to get into houses to teach.

It definitely has been interesting going back into the field. Monday we stayed in the office and went to the mission home for a going away dinner for Elder Fox and me, so Tuesday was the first day of work for us. Then on Friday I had to go back to Ramos for a District/Zone leader meeting, so we lost all day Friday as well. I have been feeling pressure like crazy to work hard. Seriously the mission has changed since I went into the office. What used to be a great week is now below average, and even without those two days of work we still taught more this week than I used to before my office time. It has definitely been an emotional roller-coaster, especially when the sister missionaries in your district are kicking your trash. I just say to myself I had two less days to work haha.

So Elder Thomas is doing great! He only has about 7 months in the mission, but he is doing great. The biggest hang-up this week was his confidence level. He had to lead the area since I didn’t know anybody, and he was nervous I think. He did great, but he gets down on himself sometimes. When I got to the area he told me this transfer was going to be hard and that we weren’t going to have as much success as past transfers because there were no prospects for baptism. All I could say was, “We are in Villegas….there are always baptisms.” So we started the week out meeting the members and investigators and I can now say that there are a TON of people that could get baptized this transfer. We had five people come to church with us on Sunday and two of them now have baptismal dates. The first is Alvina. I guess it is like the feminine form of Alvin. She has been going to church for a while, and was about to get baptized but didn’t show up for her interview. So we are trying again for this weekend! I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard. All you need is your interview? Ok we will have it on Thursday and you can be baptized on Saturday, how is that? Great! So we already have a baptism planned for this weekend. Our other date is Lucas, who is 9 years old, who has come to church twice already, but they had only taught him once and never challenged him to baptism. His mom is a member and his aunt just got baptized last transfer, and his family supports him, from what we can see. So we also set a date with him for the 23rd. So we have two dates right now, and are trying to find some more people who are going to be ready this transfer.

Something pretty interesting happened to us yesterday as we were walking in the street. We walked by some man reading a book, and upon looking closer I realized that it was the teachings of David O. McKay…interesting, so I thought it was a member…false…just some guy reading it. So I asked what he was reading about. His answer: “How families can be sealed together forever through the sacred ordinances of the Holy Temple.” I looked at him for a second and said, “will you be baptized?” ahaha just kidding, we taught him and turns out he has been going to church in Paraguay for 2 years but moved here and lost contact with the missionaries. Now he wants to come to church with us. Go figure. The Lord is working miracles here. Wow that hour flew by; I guess I better wrap this up. I love this work, and I love you!

Elder Gilmore

p.s. We had a confirmation this week and in Sacrament meeting the Bishop got up and announced that I would be doing the confirmation...what? I didn't even know the person...but whatever it was definitely a missionary moment. so I confirmed someone!

Villegas- Week #80

2010-01-04T13:46:00.002-07:00

dun dun dun

Hey there,

Well this week has been absolutely crazy! The training with Elder Page is coming to an end, and the final preparations have been made for transfer meeting. I am sure that I won’t finish this letter before the meeting starts, but I am going to be soooo busy today I figured I better write while I can. So this week was interesting with transfers being made by President. Yes, you heard right Dad; Elder Fox is leaving his last transfer to open up a new area training. He is pretty excited. My new area is…..drumroll….VILLEGAS!!! yes!!! It is in the Aldo Bonzi Stake and is unarguably the best area in the mission. It is definitely the poorest in the mission, so it is the complete opposite from Ramos Mejia. Not to mention almost everyone I know in the mission has been there except for me. Elder Fox, Mackay, Sabey, Harper, and Woodmansee all served there and they all loved it. I have always kind of looked at it as an exclusive club I was never a part of…until now! I will be District Leader, and I am pretty excited about that, too. My new companion is Elder Coty Lee Thomas from Washington. He is a baller! He baptizes like a champion. He only has been in the mission four transfers and has 24 baptisms…that is averaging one baptism a week…so he is still working on his language, but I think he is doing better than he thinks. I am really excited about my district. We have the best missionaries. It is just a bunch of young gunners…and then me… So Elder Thomas and I will be working in Villegas, and then Elder Godoy from Chile, who has about 10 months in the mission, will be training a new missionary in Ciudad Evita 2, and Sister Godfrey from Pennsylvania, and Sister López from Missouri/Spain, who both have less than six months. So everyone is really young in the mission, which is perfect because it is the perfect time to really get lost in the work. I am excited. I had my interview with President this past week, too, and I asked what I should do to help the district, because if we think about this…I have never been district leader. He gave me a bunch of great advice and I walked out of it really excited to start working again. So there you go, the secret is out.

We just finished transfer meeting and everything went off without a hitch. My last time doing it…I had a little moment. So I still need to go pack everything up. There isn’t really anything else to say. This is probably the shortest letter I have ever written home…so sorry about that, but it is time to put the blinders on and get focused in the mission. Six months left!!!!! Here goes nothing!!!!!

Elder Gilmore

Tennis: last P-day in Ramos Mejia

2009-12-30T18:31:00.003-07:00

Arthur Ashe Stadium

Paddle Ball

Sean making his Roger Federrer moves

Oasis Tennis Club

Christmas Eve Fireworks

2009-12-30T18:25:00.002-07:00

Christmas Eve watching fireworks

I think the look on my face is answer enough for the joy/fear the festivities gave me.

P-Day Navideño

2009-12-30T18:13:00.005-07:00

Missionaries of BAW

(Sean is sitting in the first row, right in the middle in the green tie- in front of President and Hermana Benton) click on pic to make it bigger!

Elder Sabey and Elder Gilmore, mastering the sound system for the skits

Guarding the goody bags

President and Hermana Benton with the office Elders

All current and past office Elders still in the mission

Ramos Mejia- Week #79

2009-12-29T21:50:00.002-07:00

I promise this is the last week I am sending an email late....

Hey there clan,

We just got back from my last P-day activity. I finally made it to some of the clay courts of Buenos Aires to hit a few tennis balls, and I had a great time. I had Patrick McEnroe’s voice in my head the whole time like he was commentating on my French Open debut in Arthur Ashe Stadium. I kind of had a little moment…anyway…they also had some little miniature courts to play “paddle tennis” which was actually really fun as well. It is basically like racquet ball, but on a small tennis court. You can use the walls and your racquets are small and fat. Do we have that in the States? We should because it would be a hit!

So the call home was great! I really enjoyed it and it really helped to make my Christmas special! (That was for you Mom) It went by way fast, but it always does. I experienced similar feelings as you did, Mom and Dad. The last two calls I was really trunky after and it took a few hours to get back into gear, but this year I hung up and wasn’t down at all. I felt nothing…haha what I mean is that it didn’t make me trunky. Maybe it was because I feel at home now or something, especially in the mission home. Christmas Day was really good. I think I mentioned last year that everyone lights off fireworks at midnight on Christmas Eve, and this year was no disappointment. I am surprised there aren’t more injuries or fires. Maybe there are and I just don’t know, but in any case, it sounded like a war was going on outside. It is kind of an interesting way to celebrate, and now comes a week of cease fire until New Year’s Eve!

Anyway, this week is transfers, so we will find out where I will be continuing my missionary service. My replacement comes in tomorrow. We just found out who it was last night. His name is Elder Page from Idaho, and he is currently companions with…Elder Tyler Burns Sabey. So Elder Page is going to come in tomorrow and I will head out to 9 de Julio with Elder Sabey…just kidding, haha when we called last night to tell them I told Elder Sabey we were going to be companions again and all he said was, “Please tell me you aren’t lying.” That would be funny, but no, we won’t be companions again. So tomorrow I will start the training…and then 5 days later I will leave…I heard in other missions elders are trained for a whole transfer…not here…the longest training is for the finance secretary…he gets 2 weeks…I guess it doesn’t really take that long to figure out how to sort mail…or how to make sure the sacred funds of the Lord are managed properly and efficiently. We have IMOS now anyway…so I am pretty sure Elder Maxwell just presses a button and it all fixes itself. I am not really sure what he does in his office all day.

Anyway, I don’t really know what else to say this week, because we just talked on the phone…but hope all is well. Oh yeah, Lucio got baptized on Saturday, so my goal of having a white Christmas was fulfilled. We ate lunch with them on Sunday, and all I have to say is I wrote a long journal entry on my personal experiences seeing how the gospel changes lives. Lucio is a completely different person now. He was cold and always looked angry before, and now every time we see him he is smiling and cracking jokes. I was talking with Gladys, his oldest daughter who lives there as well with her husband and four children, and she mentioned that she hadn’t seen her father like that since before her younger brother passed away. Suddenly the story of Lucio unfolded a little more, and I realized a little more just how important the plan of salvation is to everyone. He never told us about his son passing away. Gladys says he doesn’t ever mention it. I can only imagine how he felt when we talked about the plan of salvation. I just sat there and watched him play with his grandson and one of those surreal moments washed over me like you see in movies, and I felt pure happiness. It was one of those moments when you feel like an hour has gone by, but only a few seconds have passed. The best part of all of this is I GET ANOTHER SIX MONTHS OF THIS STUFF!!!!! Who even knows all the great experiences that are waiting for me in my new area, or the great people I am going to meet. In Ramos Mejia I have realized what everyone means when they say they love the people on their mission. I thought I did before, and I did, but my understanding is broadening, and for the first time, I honestly feel kind of sad about having to leave them and go home in six months.

Speaking of going home in six months…about this whole apartment thing, everything sounds good. It actually just so happens that I was talking with a sister in our mission while her companion was in the office calling home for Christmas, and she was talking to me all about BYU. She said stay far far away from Glenwood. Also she said that she heard King Henry was bad, and then she said the best place to live is Liberty Square…what a coincidence! So there is another testimony. That is cool too that Trevor would be living with us, then we can have a party when he opens his call letter. So yeah sounds great. Also today was pretty interesting (it is Tuesday now by the way because this week started off with a bang and I have been swamped with stuff to do for transfers) We were out delivering mail to everyone, and a sister missionary named Hermana Daniels asked me if my first name was Sean. Not a question I usually get, but I answered in the affirmative. She then told me that her mother said that she knows my parents and talks with them all the time on the missionary mom site…I muttered under my breath, “Miguel strikes again…” I don’t think she heard me, but Elder Varela did and started laughing because of his time and association with me in the office. Anyway, Shout-out to the Daniels family.

Love you guys!

Elder Vuestro-hijo “that is for Brett and all those Spaniards out there”

Ramos Mejia- Week #78

2009-12-23T09:02:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas !!!!!!

YO YO YO YO YO HEY HO HO HO HO HO HO FAMILY!!!!!!!! Or as Elder Don Spaniard Anderson would say, ¿que tal vosotros? Or as Elder Ng Anderson would say, Comusta? M´bouti…ng…grignak

Well, I got my package! It was…suuuuwweeeeeeet! Thank you! I loved the ties. They were more conservative than years past, yet very classy. The mango liquorice is already gone…oops…and the peppermint toffee is dwindling rapidly. Also the Winnie the Pooh ornament from Lacey is sitting on my desk as well as the coolest thing I have every seen in my life – the miniature Hyrum and Joseph statue. I am pretty sure it all got here in one piece. It was great . I was going to wait until Christmas, but only lasted about 3 days. Plus, I listened to the tape you sent me and Mom told me half of everything that was there, so I figured I had waited long enough. Thanks again, it was great! I think we will go to a member´s house for Christmas Eve, and then we have been invited to President´s house for Christmas Day, so I am pretty grateful for that. It should be really nice. As far as the call goes, I am planning on calling around 7 my time…I will let Dad figure out what it is your time…I don´t really know the exact schedule of the day, but that is the plan…I would be by the phone anyway just in case. I think we all remember what happened on Mother´s Day…Argentines still love Obama as far as I know…but more than anything the World Cup is the topic of conversation already. The brackets for group play were released and Argentina got a great draw, so they are pretty happy. USA plays England first…great…

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all whom I will not be talking to on the phone. We had our mission Christmas party, but I will save that until the end because there are some other matters to cover first. I almost died again this week…ha, not really. But seriously, it was a potentially life threatening situation. We were calling it a day, and walked into the pench only to find on the wall the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life (in the wild) just hanging out (no pun intended). It was only slightly smaller than a tarantula. I am not sure how it got there, especially because I have never seen anything like that in Argentina, despite the South American stereotypes you hear about. We decided it needed to be captured…and thus started a sequence of war councils and videos taken on cameras of us fighting against the eight-legged spawn of darkness that had infiltrated our humble sanctuary. Elder Maxwell first took a broom to it, and I kid you not, the spider straight up attacked the broom! It like grabbed for it and latched on, so we retreated for a bit, because it wouldn’t be a great start to the war if our best weapon fell into enemy hands so quickly. I know I am just joking around right now, but in the moment I was literally frightened. The thing moved like lightning, and could jump! I kept my distance until I was called to the front lines…Elder Maxwell gave me a bucket and I was instructed to “get it”. So we blocked off its best escape route and I ascended a few stairs until I could see its eyes…and then I lunged like I have never lunged before while letting out a loud “BYAH!” They had to amputate a finger because of the amount of venom...video is on the way.

So P-day Navideño was really good this year. I thought last year was good because I didn’t know any different, but now looking back, last year wasn’t that great. This year the skits were so good. We as a staff danced to Feliz Navidad by Jose Feliciano. Each member of the staff had about 15 seconds to freestyle…and well…I figured I would pay tribute to Michael…so I did a small rendition of the Thriller dance during my solo. It didn’t turn out very well though, I didn’t really practice it, and Feliz Navidad doesn’t exactly have the ideal beat to pull something like that off, but it was fun anyway. There were a few more Michael tributes in other zones. A few Moonwalks, which were sweet. So I had a really great time. We bought 90 kilos of meat…that is like…over a pound per person, so there was plenty to eat. As my white elephant gift I gave away some inflatable toy, and I received…dry erase board markers…merry Christmas? Haha well I guess that is the beauty of white elephant gifts. Every meeting that we have with the mission, I am in charge of all the audio and video stuff, so I always have to contact the stake high council member in charge of technology to get the keys for everything. Well I have never touched the stuff in the cultural hall or the stage, and everyone was asking me how they could get music and microphones for their skits so that was kind of stressful, but it all worked out. After a few minutes of seeing what little red buttons did, I figured it out. Time will tell if I did any lasting damage.

So things with Lucio are looking great for this weekend! Even though I am in gross humid sticky weather, we will still be having a “White Christmas” in Ramos Mejía. So that is going to be a great memory from my mission. We taught Lucio Monday night with our Bishop. It went alright. Our Bishop here has never liked us that much because we are office elders. He loves us on the weekends we baptize, but usually just ignores us, or chews us out in Ward Council. So he has really been pushing for this baptism, so we decided to give him the opportunity to participate in the teaching process, but it was kind of awkward. He was like a supervisor. He just sat there and texted on his phone the whole lesson…but after 7 ½ months of working with him it doesn’t really faze me. Elder Palacios was frustrated with him though. Also some more shocking news. At the end of this transfer the Secretaries are changing areas to Haedo 1 (home of Elder Zivic of the 70) because the Bishop there has declared that no more baptisms will take place until the sister missionaries leave. I am not sure he knows that is irreverent, considering he has no authority to halt saving ordinances, nor decide which missionaries are in his ward, but nevertheless we are swapping. The sisters in that ward are doing great, too, so I am not sure why he is so angry. Anyway, side effect of that is that our bishop here in Ramos couldn’t be happier. Haha it is some kind of messed up cycle. I mean, this ward has seen more success than any other six month period in the history of the Buenos Aires West mission (I know because I checked all the way back to the first baptism) but he isn’t happy with us, and it kind of feels like we are getting kicked out…which is childish, I know, but could we just work together? When we do well it is “Good job members, way to participate in the missionary work.” And then when we go a week without having a baptismal date it is, “oh the elders are lazy sitting all day in the office.” But like I said, I am used to it now after five transfers here. Long story short, we will be the last elders to serve in Ramos Mejía for some time. I am happy with my service here, the miracles I have seen, and the impression the people have had on me. I can honestly say that it has been in this area that I truly learned how to love the people of Argentina. I thought I did before, but now I can see the difference. It is a deeper, and more pure…or purer…I am not sure…but it makes me feel warm inside…ha. Ok basta. I feel like this ward is my home.

So anyway, that is about all that happened this week. Talk to you on Friday!

Elder Gilmore

Oh Christmas Tree

2009-12-14T12:40:00.003-07:00

Christmas Tree in the Mission Home

Office Elders and Assistants with President and Hermana Benton

Ok, we might be biased, but doesn't Sean look great?

Ramos Mejia- Week #77

2009-12-14T12:31:00.004-07:00

Oo-de-lally!

So, I am not really sure what Oo-de-lally means, or if It is even a greeting, but I figure Robin Hood has never let me down before, and we all know how much I dread thinking of things to put at the start of my emails home. But, as always, I will start with the questions you sent to me. First Mom, to answer your and Donny Osmond’s question, my personal opinion is that although Mary knew her Son was the Savior of mankind, I don’t think she knew specifically that He would one day walk on water. (That was a joke everyone, my mother wasn’t really wondering that…Donny…I am not sure. I don’t know him personally.) Also, Mom, what in the world does palputations mean? That went right over my head…but yes I can feel them? Great letters this week by the way! I was feeling kind of English today Mom, until I looked down and realized I was wearing my Ireland shirt you sent me that says “This be me lucky shirt.” So alas, the Brits are foiled once again, and the Emerald Isle prevails. Dad: BEAUTIFUL usage of “Faa” haha did they say that in Spain, too? When I first got here I thought everyone was on the verge of saying bad English words. Also, I am excited to call home as well, but you have given me our home phone number in the past couple emails. I have written it down, so there will be no need to send it again ha. I haven’t gone to pick up the package yet, and yes I share the chips with people. I don’t have any recipes written down, but I have learned to do some basic Argentine cuisine.

So going back and re-reading that first paragraph I realized that it is completely random and that every sentence is about something completely different. That is because I skim over your email, and whenever there is a question mark, I come back to this and put the answer. Then, I repeat the process, and the first paragraph of every email is formed. Anyway, this week was a little hectic again. We did NOT get out as much as I wanted to, but what can you do? We tried to teach Lucio 4 times, and 4 times we were denied by some outer force. The first time we were going to teach with our Bishop, but his grandfather, the stake Patriarch, passed away, so obviously we weren’t about to call him up and ask him to come with us, but then when we called Lucio he said that he heard what happened and didn’t think we were coming over so he planned something else. Sorry for that run-on sentence…Every other time we called him as well he was busy. He did come to church though, so now he has come like 8 times. Basically the only thing we need to do is teach him. We still have to cover a lot, too, so we are going to follow the Spirit, and decide whether we just teach everything this week and go on with the baptism, or if we spread out the teaching and postpone the baptism for another week. I feel uneasy postponing baptisms…nothing good ever comes of it, but I don’t want to rush things before he is ready.

So my time here in the office is winding down. I have three weeks left, and well, as much as I have loved it, I hope they fly. I have learned sooooo much here in the office, have seen miracles, and received countless blessings, but it is time to move on. I came in here at the end of May! Over seven months! It kind of feels like waking up and going to a job now. I am excited to get back out full time with the people. This transfer has been a little tougher than past ones here, but I am definitely seeing more growth. It seems like we have gotten a little lax in small things, and I am trying to fight it. It is definitely interesting being the office elder that has been here the longest, because I have seen the evolution of the Staff. A lot of things have changed in the mission and office since the days of Elder Sir William Pollock and Elder Woodmansee (my first transfer in the office), some for the better and some not for the better, but that just comes with the rotation of different people I guess. So, I am looking forward to Christmas, and New Years, and then my new assignment.

Well, yesterday we went over to President Benton’s house and met his youngest son Adam, who is visiting from New York for Christmas. He served in Italy, but has picked up Spanish really well. His friend Eric from Houston, and Adrian…or Adriana…I don’t remember, from New York too. They were all really cool. Adrian…a….taught in the MTC for a while. She served in Argentina as well. Eric served in El Salvador. So it was a nice day. We ate and shared some of our favourite Christmas experiences. I used to think that eating Chinese food on Christmas Eve was unique…but it really isn’t…I meet so many other people who do it. The Benton Family does it as well. President Benton shared with us three ideas he thinks will help anyone have a special Christmas. First he started with a quote from Hermana Benton. I guess one time she said, “You can never get enough of things you don’t need.” So basically during the Christmas season you can never buy someone enough of what they don’t need. We don’t need material things to make Christmas special. Second he talked about how the best Christmas we can have is when we are serving others. Third he encouraged us to establish traditions in our future families, so that they will be memorable. So Dad, your idea of the pickle ornament tradition is great! Anyway, we are heading out to buy some essential items for our P-day Navideño Skit. Yes the staff is participating, and lets just say we have come up with one of those ideas that is either going to be a hit, or shame and disgrace my descendants for generations to come. Either way, I will have a video taken. I wont give it away now, but I will say that José Feliciano has become an honorary member of the staff for the time being. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Alright, thanks for all your prayers and support. Until next week.

Elder Sean Gilmore

A Day at the Hard Rock Cafe- Buenos Aires

2009-12-07T16:11:00.004-07:00

Sean and the office gang went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Buenos Aires today.

Sean with Paul at the Hard Rock Cafe

Stained Glass Window of the Beatles at the Hard Rock Cafe

Sean went on a recent trip to the post office to pick up packages. Looks like the Christmas packages from home are arriving for the missionaries

Ramos Mejia- Week #76

2009-12-07T15:55:00.002-07:00

It is surprisingly cooler than normal here in Buenos Aires!

Happy Pearl Harbor Day!

First…I would just like to say that Mother’s email was not only shocking, but disturbing as well. And I quote, “The move to the new house is off until February, but we will send pics of the outside at least.” What…in the world…are you talking about? Are we moving again? Why have I not heard anything more about this!?! I am completely in the dark on this one people. ¡Hay que decirme lo que está pasando en la casa! ¿Papá por que no me dijiste nada? ¿Mamá, donde está la confianza? ¡SOY TU HIJO! Oh sorry, when I get in a flurry like that I just start ranting in Spanish. Just call me Ricky Ricardo. These past two weeks have just been full of things that you have forgotten to tell me. But seriously, if you were looking for a good subject line for your email, you should have just taken the classic line from Usher: “Confessions Part II”…ok I am done.

So President has informed us that we should suggest to our families that they prepare their list of questions for “the call” -my battery is low, just so you know, I’m going to a place near by, gotta go- that was a little backstreet boy flashback by the way. So yeah, it would be best if you prepared a list of questions and topics so that we use our time well. Also, not to be trunky, but we made it through the longest time period of the mission without talking. May to December will have been the longest we will have gone without talking. So I just thought I would share that little piece of information with you. This week was good. We got out a lot more, and found some new people. We also set a baptismal date with Lucio for the 19th of December. He is really one of the most interesting investigators I have had. It seems like he has absolutely no interest in our message, but he always accepts it. It is like he doesn’t care about the doctrine, but he likes to participate in the church. He loves coming. It is weird. I challenged him to be baptized and he just looked at me and said, “Ok”…oh…ok yeah…um so you know it is a covenant with God and you have to keep His commandments right? “Ok”…um…ok great…so we are going to be helping you progress more in the gospel and helping you learn all that God requires of you. “Ok”…fantastic…

Elder Palacios and I were talking about it, and realized we aren’t sure what he wants. I am not sure he wants to know which church is true, but I thought I had him with eternal families…nope…he said whatever happens after this life happens. So we asked if he WANTED to live with them forever. He said he “supposes” it would be ok. Haha, talk about being apathetic. But, he is good friends with our bishop, who is baptism crazy by the way, and what Obispo wants, Obispo gets. Elder Sabey and I affectionately called him the Dragon. So Obispo is really pushing for us to get him in the water. We have an appointment with him on Thursday with Bishop, so that should be good, and we can talk with Bishop about what he thinks on the subject. We also had zone conference this week. It was pretty good. We were given copies of President Benson’s talk “Beware of Pride”, which I loved. Elder Bednar mentioned a little bit about pride in our lives as well, and he related it to missionary work. He said that when you say things like, “We taught the most in the zone”, or “We baptized more than anyone this transfer”, we are standing “eyeball to eyeball with the natural man, who is an enemy to God.” We have been having a lot of success in the mission lately, so I think it was inspired of President to warn us about getting prideful.

Ok I am not really sure what else to say this week. Not much happened. Elder Zivic of the Seventy was in our ward again this week to participate in a baby blessing, so that was cool. Any time I have heard him speak in the ward he has really stressed the principle of fast offerings. So donate a generous fast offering. That is the General Authority counsel of the week. Other than the stuff said at the Christmas Devotional, which we didn’t see because it started at 10:00 at night here. They are going to be re-broadcasting it next week at a better time. Also, P-day activity of the day today was a celebration of Pearl Harbor Day…eating lunch at Hard Rock Café…which is probably the most American thing we can do here in Argentina. I bought a shirt, took a picture of the stain-glassed window of the Beatles they had, and saw an autographed pair of Mick Jagger’s (sp?) pants…quality American experience.

Love, Elder Gilmore

Ramos Mejia- Week #75

2009-12-01T15:40:00.002-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Thanksgiving was great at President Benton’s house. They made all the traditional food, which was good, but what just made it 100% the best moment of my day was the pumpkin pie. I haven’t eaten pumpkin pie in so long! It was a great day, and just barely beat last year’s thanksgiving with my mystery meat microwave dinner…which I ate again this year anyway, just a few days before thanksgiving. It actually is not that bad…but Hermana Benton definitely outdid it. The Benton’s oldest son, Aaron, was there as well with his wife and three kids. It was funny to be around American kids again. It was kind of strange and awkward at first, because I have gotten used to talking to little kids in Spanish, so it was a bit of a process to get back into English little kid mode. Their middle child, Luke, likes Star Wars, so I talked to him a little about that. I asked him who his favorite character was, and he said after some thought, “All of them are my favorite!” Fair enough. They were really nice people to spend Thanksgiving with. I can also now see there was a reason I have stayed in the offices. Thursday, after months of fighting and heartbreak, I finally won the mission home ping pong tournament. Elder Sabey and I always were upset by somebody in a late round, but this time Elder Palacios and I kept cool and took home the title. I guess I can rest easy now.

As for your questions, Mom, I don’t think that it is necessary to make stockings for everyone. It was nice, but everyone gets packages from their families, and it just makes my packages gigantic. However, I will note that I am the only one here that is against it and Elder Fox still has his stocking, but would gladly accept a new one. So the office staff now is Fox, Aceituno, Maxwell, Gamboa, Palacios, Gilmore. The mission tie project is on hold for right now. I have a least a demo tie that I am going to keep, but President is “thinking about it” for now. The guy we were working with didn’t give us very many options to choose from, so I think President feels like we might be settling for something that isn’t exactly what we want. Also, you bought a Wii and Flat Screen LCD HD VHL DVD SNL TNT TV? I couldn’t remember exactly all the acronyms you mentioned in your email, so I tried to over-compensate. Also I got the Thanksgiving photos and I have to say YOU TWO LOOK SO SKINNY!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!!! I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!! You are actually doing it! I had my doubts I am sorry to admit, but you two are doing great. It really shows in your faces. Anyway, Dad, I always could drive, it just happened to be that every cool story was when Elder Sabey was behind the wheel. And for the record, Elder Sabey and I were Co-Companions, because we had the same time in the mission. Except for when one of us didn’t want to make a decision, then we would name the other senior companion.

So it has kind of been a slow week after having been visited by an Apostle. Carmen and Luis were confirmed! They are officially members. They weren’t confirmed last week because it was Stake Conference. What a blessing it has been to see their progress, and participate with their family in its spiritual journey. They are a miracle. We also had another investigator in church today. His name is Lucio, and he lives in the same house as Carmen and Luis. He is Carmen's uncle, and has come 4 or 5 times now. He is a little bit set in his ways, but the Lord has truly softened his heart. The first time we met him, he didn't say a word to us. To put it lightly, he was pretty cold, but now he is friendly with us, and we have started to teach him. He talked with our bishop today and said he would like to be baptized! So we are going to be heading over there with Bishop Canga this week to talk more. We are excited about that.

Other than that, Elder Palacios and I are working hard here in the office. I feel a little stressed because I really want to get out and work in the street, and find some more people to be baptized, especially with our bishop "cracking the whip" ha but at the same time, I can see that Elder Palacios is a little overwhelmed. So we are trying to find a balance, but as Elder Bednar mentioned, it is all about spinning the plate that is closest to falling. I really want to have a great transfer though, and find some more people to at least leave the area with something to work with if we don’t end up having more baptisms. I have noticed however, that the Lord truly does bless us for being in the offices. He just kind of puts people right in our path, so that we don’t spend what little time we have looking for them. For example, a couple of days ago, a sister missionary called me and told me that they have been teaching a woman who has expressed desires to be baptized, and has gone to church in their area, but just moved to Ramos Mejía…oh…I guess we can go by…We haven’t met her yet, so I don’t know how close she is to baptism, but the point is that we would have never found here with how little time we get out to work, so the Lord brought her to us. In reality, all missionary work is like that. Even when you are out all day in the street working, what are the chances of you meeting someone who will let you teach them, then make the changes in their life you tell them to make, and then get baptized. I would say very little, but that is why the Spirit is so important in the work. Moral of the story: It doesn’t matter if you are in the offices or not, the Lord is putting the people right in your path, because you wouldn’t be able to find them on your own.

I guess that is all for this week. I was in Capitál for 3 hours today waiting to pick up 15 packages. The best part is that there are still 35 more, but we didn’t have time to get all of them. The holiday season has hit the mail world in full force! Oh well, it is pretty fun getting to drive around downtown so I don’t mind. Thanks for the pictures again. Happy December!

Elder Gilmore

Pictures-

2009-11-24T08:44:00.003-07:00

Downtown Buenos Aires

A Hypermarket, not a Supermarket...

Baptism of Carmen and Luis !!!

Ramos Mejia- Week #74

2009-11-24T08:18:00.004-07:00

The Saga of Elder Bednar

Hey everyone,

Well, I just woke up from a 3 hour nap, which was very needed after this week. Last night we were up until about 2 in the morning getting the transfer meeting ready, which was a little ridiculous, but something always happens…something always goes wrong at the last second. However, we pulled it off, it was a good meeting and it is over now. Some significant people in my mission went home today. My old companion Elder González from when I was in Castillo. Elder Harper, who I replaced here in the office, so basically my office trainer, also went home. His parents came last week, so we met them and it seems like they had a great time visiting Argentina. And last, but not least, Elder Marchello went home. He was the first American Elder I met, along with Elder Fox, in the mission. They were companions in Castillo 2 at the time and I lived with them my first two transfers. I don’t know if I ever talked about him. He taught me how to do a contact with someone in the street, so he had a pretty big influence on me. He only had 9 months at the time, but it seemed like he was so old in the mission. Funny how your perspective of time changes so much.

Anyway, I am sure you are dying to hear about Elder Bednar, but I figured I would save that last to finish off the email with a bang. There is a great story I have to tell you first to lead into it anyway. So as you know, Elder Sabey and I were together six months, and have had a great companionship. Well, we ended it with the wedding of Carmen and Luis, and then their baptism the next day. It was a really great way to finish. However, with his new responsibilities as branch president, he actually left right after the conference with Elder Bednar, and had to come back for the baptism, so it was almost like our companionship ended Wednesday night. Well, let’s just say that it was only fitting that we spent it together in the police station. So we did! We had just bought 500 bananas and 500 apples for the conference, and the police saw two Americans with a huge van full of boxes. We were driving right next to Fuerte Apache, which they say is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in South America. All I know is that the police walk around with loaded shotguns there, so there must be a problem. Anyway, some police pull us over, and tell us to get out of the car, and basically start interrogating us. I never felt like I was in danger or anything, because we hadn’t done anything wrong, and their questions were kind of silly. They were like, “Where do you come from!?!” We said the United States, not trying to be smart alecs, but because a lot of times here that question really means, “Where are you from?” not “Where did you just come from?” So we lost points right off the bat haha. Elder Sabey was driving, so they separated us for individual interrogation, I guess to see if one would make a deal and rat the other one out. I had a fun little talk with my officer. He looked over my passport, and said, “Is this from the United States? Where did you get it?” I was very tempted to say, “No, I got it on the North Korean black market when I was there trafficking nuclear warheads…duh…where do you think I got it?” But instead I just said I got it before I came. He actually was a nice guy, just taking his job a little too seriously. So they then informed us that they would have to take us into the station, because Elder Sabey was driving without an Argentine license. Once again, my international license saved us, because they might have taken the car away if I didn’t have it. So they take our names and put it into their system. They already had Elder Sabey’s American driver’s license so they just copied his name down, then they got Elder Palacios’ name, and then he looked at me and said, “Y vos?” I couldn’t help myself, I caught Elder Sabey out of the corner of my eye smiling, because he knew what I was about to do. “Seanmichaelgilmore.” I said as fast and as slurred as I possibly could. It was sooooo funny. Elder Palacios couldn’t contain himself and started choking trying to keep his laugh down. The guy just looked at me….blinked a few times…and asked me to repeat it. “Sean Michael Gilmore”. He didn’t understand one thing that came out of my mouth. I mean, he did ask for my name didn’t he? Finally after playing a few rounds of that game they asked for my passport again to just copy down the name. It was fun while it lasted. So they hauled us into the station and we waited until their boss told them to let us go, seeing as the only thing they could get us on was that Elder Sabey didn’t have a license. Looking back it was kind of funny, but keep in mind this was the night before Elder Bednar came, and we were stressed out running around trying to get everything ready, so it wasn’t very funny at the time.

So that was the perfect prelude for one of the greatest days of my mission. I really can’t express in an email how amazing our experience with Elder Bednar was. Last year with Elder Nelson was very similar. We didn’t have any time alone with him here in the offices. In fact, nobody did, not even President. Just the church security workers were in the office to let him in and then he came straight over to the chapel where everyone was waiting. Sister Bednar was with him, along with Elder Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy, and his wife. Also, interesting to note that Elder Bednar is a little shorter than I thought he was, and that Elder Snow is a giant man. Anyway, we started the meeting off, and Sister Snow spoke first. It wasn’t very long, but really inspiring. She talked about how important unity with your companion is and having the Spirit in your companionship. She ended with a quote by Sister Hinckley that really hit home as well. “It is a wonderful thing you are doing, but it is the least you can do. You will still be in debt to the Lord when you finish your mission.” Then Sister Bednar spoke to us, and I have to say that she was just adorable. You could just see how good she was. I could really see how important wives are to and for their husbands, especially wives of General Authorities. They really were some choice women. Sister Bednar gave us three points: 1. Everyone deserves a good companion, so be that good companion. 2. Be the missionary your mother thinks you are. And 3. Be the kind of missionary the Savior expects you to be. It was really good.

So then Elder Snow spoke to us, and it was so good. We sang “Called to Serve” to start the meeting and he started out commenting on that. He told the story of how “Called to Serve” ended up in the hymnbook. In 1985 when they were making the new green hymnbook, President Packer was preparing the program for a new mission presidents’ seminar in Salt Lake, and wanted to find a special musical number about missionary work. He thought about it for a while, and his wife suggested an old Primary song she remembered from one of the old primary song books that was no longer in print. So they rummaged through all their stuff and found a copy, and a choir of 80 missionaries sang it at the seminar. President Packer then went to the music committee and told them they needed to add “Called to Serve” into the hymnbook. They told him it was too late because they were about to publish it, and they couldn’t add in a new hymn. President Packer then said, “No you don’t understand. “Called to Serve” WILL be in the new hymnbook.” Haha so thanks to President Packer it is now the missionary anthem of the Church. Elder Snow served his mission in Germany, as well as Elder Bednar, and he commented on how hard it was for him. He said that they just knocked doors all day long. He was told once when he was a little discouraged, “Don’t worry Elder, for every door you knock, someone is baptized in Mexico!” haha. But it was interesting that he said, although he didn’t baptize 100 people, he converted himself and to this day, even after being a General Authority, he looks at his life as before and after his mission.

Elder Bednar then took the next 2 ½ hours to address us…and it was mind boggling. First, he has a great sense of humor, and mentioned that it is alright to have fun learning the gospel because people in the Celestial Kingdom are happy, and they love living the gospel. He also mentioned, “Right now in Salt Lake City, on the fourth floor of the temple, the First Presidency and Twelve Apostles are meeting. Elder Cook is in Australia, and I am here with you, and I want all of you to know that if I can’t be there with them, there is no other place I would rather be than here with you.” So that made us feel loved right from the start. He talked a little bit about how to get as much as we can out of the meeting, and how everything was going to work. It was interesting what he said about note taking. He said that we have all been trained to take copious notes on what the speaker says, and then said, “Now, do you ever go back and use the notes? The word in English is ‘NO!’ Do you even know where your notes are from a year ago? The word in Spanish is ‘NO!’ So if you don’t use them, and you can’t find them…porque do you do that!?! (Everyone laughs) You just saw the gift of tongues at work.” (more laughing) What he really wanted us to do was write down the impressions we received from the Spirit, so he mentioned that if we only wrote down everything Elder Bednar said, we would have missed out on some of the greatest lessons taught during the conference. There were almost 600 missionaries there, and at the end of the conference he asked everyone to raise their hand if their questions had been answered. Every single hand went up. The Holy Ghost touched every heart, and whispered to every soul. I couldn’t believe it. I was getting chills the whole meeting, because I had questions that I didn’t even know I had until it was answered, and I realized in the moment that the Spirit was resolving a doubt I didn’t even realize I had. I assume Elder Bednar answered about 15 questions in two hours, and literally every single one of his answers I needed to hear, but I received more than 15 answers on Thursday.

He said it was going to be a question and answer session. He said that he was going to answer and ask questions. Then he said, “Some of you are beginning to sweat, and are thinking, ‘Elder Bednar is going to call on me to answer a question.’ First, I would never embarrass you, or try to make you feel like you don’t know something, so everything will be on a volunteer basis. For example, if I was to point at this sister (points at a sister in the first row) and asked her to stand up and tell all of us the three fundamental points of the baptismal covenant. Now, she knows the answer…UNTIL a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles asks her. As soon as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles points at her, she doesn’t even remember her name.” Everyone was laughing. It’s true. So then he opened it up for questions.

Now he started out saying that there are no bad questions, but some are better than others. Some people asked some pretty wacky questions. It was interesting though, that no matter how ridiculous the question, he always started it out saying, “Great question.” and then sincerely answered the question, without dropping the cane on the missionary or making them feel like they shouldn’t have asked anything. Someone wanted to know about the washing of the feet ordinance mentioned in D&C, to which Elder Bednar stated that details didn’t matter, what matters is the love shown by the Savior when he washed the feet of His Apostles. Then someone asked something about the Mount of Transfiguration, and all that jazz and Elder Bednar told the Elder, “How badly do you want to know the answer to that question? Ok, so you read that account in the New Testament twenty times. Then, read sections 20, 84, 88, 121, and 122 twenty times each. Summarize what you learn in one page, and send me a copy in Salt Lake. Then, if I have something to add, I will. Next question.” …holy cow…the point was that everyone can receive their own answer through scripture study. He told a story of how President Packer invited a group to do the same about the Atonement. Read the Book of Mormon as many times as you can in 6 months and summarize all you learned about the Atonement on one page. That is how Elder Bednar and President Packer get their answers. Someone else asked what he does, as an Apostle, when he is discouraged, and I really liked his answer. He said, “That is an excellent question. Don’t misinterpret this, but I have realized in my life that when I am discouraged it is usually because I am thinking too much about myself.” So when we are discouraged we should start looking to how we can serve others.

Someone else asked about how we can balance everything in our lives, and he gave a great analogy of Chinese acrobats who spin plates on poles. He said that you can never have all the plates spinning at the same velocity at the same time. The trick is to not spin more plates than you are able, and start spinning the one that is closest to falling. He also talked about agency, and how it is a choice between various options. Then he taught that when we make a covenant, disobeying isn’t an option. He also talked a lot about the Atonement that I really enjoyed. There are obviously way too many things to write, and I am not even touching half of all that was said.

Just two other stories and I will be done. So then he started to ask the questions. He asked what had we realized and learned in the pattern of the conference, and a bunch of people gave their answers, but one sister had a great answer. She said that she realized that if our questions that we are too afraid to ask can be answered by the spirit, then our investigators’ questions that they are afraid to ask can be answered as well, if we teach with the Spirit. Elder Bednar immediately said, “Oh sister, I am afraid what I am about to say is going to terribly embarrass you. We are all familiar with the scripture, ‘and angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost.’ Well, brothers and sisters, you just heard the voice of an angel.” That was one of the times I got chills. I was one assigned to be a microphone runner, so Elder Bednar would call on someone and I would take the microphone to the missionary. Well, I happened to be the one that gave the microphone to that sister so I was standing right next to her, and all the sisters sit in the front, so we were only two rows away from Elder Bednar. When he said that, I could see up on the stand, all the mission presidents, the Snows, and Sister Bednar, and there weren’t very many dry eyes. Very few times in my life and in very few places have I felt the Spirit like I felt in that conference. I received witness after witness that Elder David A. Bednar is an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that this is the Restored Church of Jesus Christ on the earth. I enjoyed every second of it. Afterwards, President Benton shared with us some of the things Elder Bednar told him while on the stand. It was an interesting exchange. Elder Bednar said, “I think they are starting to get it.” And President said, “Yeah, a lot faster than we did.” Kind of interesting to think about. It makes me wonder about my future children and how they are going to be even more prepared and valiant.

So that was a short summary of the conference with Elder Bednar, but it wasn’t the end of my experience with him. On Sunday, he did the same thing, but with one of the stakes here in the mission, where members could go and ask questions. Well, they broadcasted it to all the stake centers, so we watched it haha, another 2 hours of Elder Bednar. It was great! Don’t worry, I won’t write another novel on what he said, but one last thing happened that was soooo cool. He asked a little girl to come up onto the stand with him to ask him a question. She was 7 years old, and asked him what it felt like to be an Apostle. He talked a little about feeling inadequate but with the Lord’s help he can do anything. Then he prophesied about the little girl! He said, “One day I will come back here. I will be coming back to South America many times. One of those times, you will be a bigger girl, and we will find ourselves in a meeting similar to this one. Will you please come up to me and say “hi”? “Hey Elder Bednar do you remember me? I was the seven year old girl you met all those years ago. I remember what you told me that night, and it helped me be a good girl. I look forward to seeing you again.” Her father sitting next to her was overwhelmed with emotion, as were Elder and Sister Snow. It was so great. This week has been one of the best in my mission. Carmen and Luis got married and baptized without a problem. The marriage was about 5 minutes long. You just walk in, sign the paper, take a photo, and you are done.

Well, I think I have successfully given myself carpel tunnel. Not to mention how utterly irreverent the length of this letter is. I love you. Chaucitos.

Elder Seanmichaelgilmore

p.s. we LOVED the harry potter beans, and kept closing our eyes and eating them trying to guess what it was...I had horrible luck...I got black pepper, then VOMIT, then sardines...it was so gross! anyway, we are going to the Benton's for Thanksgiving, and their oldest son Aaron, his wife, and three kids are all here too. they seem like a great family.

I liked the shirt too! but I wear a large so it is a little tight. also I appreciated the conference Ensign seeing as we still haven't gotten it here, and probably wont until february. Thanks again! love you bye

Ramos Mejia- Week #73

2009-11-16T12:57:00.003-07:00

CANCEL EVERYTHING! ELDER BEDNAR IS COMING!

Howdy doody family,

Well, another fast week has zipped by me again. First off, I got the package, and thanks for everything! That new MoTab Christmas CD is just great. I love how there is a Prince of Egypt song on it…which has nothing to do with Christmas…I mean I think Egypt and Moses are the last things I think about when I think of Christmas, but I love the song all the same. It actually has some really inspirational lyrics if you listen to it. “You must look at your life, look at your life through Heaven’s eyes.” I can just picture Jethro dancing around and singing this, giving one of his daughters to Moses to marry. True love.

Anyway, enough of that trunky talk, I’ll answer your questions now. Yes I have been to the Wal-mart, but I didn’t browse around. We went for something specific in my first transfer here in the office, it is pretty cool I guess. It is for sure like the higher-end shopping in the mission, most areas just have chinos (that may sound racist, but here in Argentina very blunt things are perfectly acceptable to say. The only thing you can be politically incorrect about, or blaspheme, is a soccer team.) So yeah, a “chinos” is a super market owned by people from Asia. I don’t think you actually have to be from China to be qualified as a chinos. Long story short, wal-mart is a nice place here in Argentina…at least in the mission. I am sure that when you get out into some nicer areas, there is normal shopping. I have always shopped in a chinos…but you have to be careful because they try to scratch off the expiration dates on the food, I got some bad milk one time, and realized that they had changed the date on it, and the milk had expired 2 months earlier…but that was a long time ago. I hold no malice. Here in Ramos there is a big store we go to called Coto, which is kind of like Jumbo, the sign outside says it is a hyper-market…haha that is intense. Gone are the days of supermarkets…I shop at a hypermarket! I was almost physically sick when I saw all the streaks USC lost, and how the dynasty has come crashing down. Yeah I still have all of last year’s Christmas decorations, and the stocking. Mom: excellent word choice…”befuddled” I was impressed, and yes I understand what you mean.

Anyway, we have found out where Elder Sabey will be going, and what he will be doing. He is going out to a little town called “9 de Julio” to be Branch President! That NEVER happens. They usually send Latins to be branch presidents so that there is no language barrier. I have to admit when we found out I was a little mad and jealous. I want to go have a sweet assignment like that, but instead I am being left behind in the office…lame. However, I am pleased to announce that was only my mentality for a short time, and have come to the conclusion, after seeing all the manuals he has to study, and hearing about all the problems they are having out there, that I do not want to be a Branch President. Haha. No but really, I feel good about staying. There is something I still need to learn here, or something I still need to do, so I am happy to stay and see what the Lord has in store for me. He will stay here until after the conference with Elder Bednar, then he will head out to the branch, but will be coming back on Saturday for the baptism.

Speaking of baptisms, Carmen and Luis are doing great! I want to go to the wedding Friday morning, but we have to talk to President about it first. We went by to talk with them last night, and they were thanking us over and over again for what we have done for them. We really haven’t done anything, but I was grateful to Heavenly Father that He has allowed me to have these experiences here in Argentina. Every missionary dreams of finding a golden family, and this is mine. This is the family that every missionary dreams of finding. They ARE my family. Not as in the possessive sense of the phrase, but as in they are members of my family. I have never really thought about coming back to Argentina, but I would seriously consider it when they get sealed in the temple. It won’t be for a few years, because the temple closed, and Bryan is going on a mission in June (exactly one year after his baptism!), and they want to wait until he comes back. First we baptized Bryan, then two weeks later his sister, Fiorella, and now 5 months later, his parents too. This is what it is all about: Finding families so they can be together for eternity. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures.

President is currently in a conference with all the mission presidents in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay and Elder Bednar. He won’t be getting back until Wednesday, so hopefully the mission doesn’t collapse. Then Thursday Elder Bednar will be here to talk with the North, South, and West missions here in Ramos Mejia. I am pretty sure that he is only going to be here for that one day, but we have been informed he will be here in our offices, but I don’t know what that means or how much interaction we will have with him. It could be that he just comes in and eats alone with his wife and Elder Snow, and then leaves. We don’t have any details. We are cleaning everything! It kind of reminds me of the semi-annual cleaning week we had growing up at home because Grandma and Grandpa were coming from across the country to see us. Well, as important as Grandma and Grandpa are in my life…THIS IS ELDER BEDNAR WE ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!! So the stress level is just a bit higher. I am excited though, and I am sure this is just going to be a great week. Elder Zivic came specifically to tour our mission, so that is why he was here for more time.

I love Elder Palacios. He is on the ball. He lived for six months in Brigham City, Utah learning English. Also, we played soccer today for P-day and we were losing pretty badly at one point, but then Elder Palacios said he was going to play for real…and all of a sudden some kind of Chilean whirlwind took over the game and scored 13 goals for us…when I looked up I realized it wasn’t a whirlwind…it was Elder Palacios. So that was fun. So everything is going well for now. I will be sure to take lots of notes of what Elder Bednar says. Last year, the conference with Elder Nelson changed my mission, and my life for that matter. It strengthened my testimony in a lot of areas that I was weak in, so I am looking forward to enjoy whatever message an Apostle of the Lord has to give. ¡Les amo!

Elder Gilmore

Ever hear of the Joseph Smith Papers?

2009-11-09T10:48:00.004-07:00

Elder Gilmore

Ramos Mejia- Week #72

2009-11-09T10:00:00.004-07:00

Changes!!!

Howdy,

Well, this week has been an interesting one to say the least. It was really busy, and I actually have stories to tell this time. But first I will answer the questions that were in your e-mails. I have seen Michael Jackson “This is It” posters all over the place, and I have to say that it is the first time in my mission that I have contemplated going A-wall and sneaking out to go see it…ok not really, but that might be the FIRST thing I watch when back on American soil. Sorry Harry Potter. Anyways, for Christmas…I don’t know. Ha just kidding Mom. I guess I’ll take some ties and a car waiting at home (Audi A4, or something similar). That’s all thanks. I will say as well though, with all the love and thanks that I possess, that it does not need to be as big as last year’s. I probably won’t be getting mail the day Elder Bednar comes, I assume anyway. I would say the Italian influence is most prevalent in the food. We either eat meat, or pasta of some sort. Yesterday we had raviolis.

So, on to the news of the week. First, I think it is important to announce that there is a new office elder here. His name is Elder Palacios and he is from Chile. He only has 8 months in the mission, so he is still a pretty young elder. He is really cool though. I already knew him before he came in, and he was just training, so he had to leave his son just like I did. I haven’t brought it up yet because I am sure it was painful. Anyway, he speaks well in English, so he should have no problem being in the offices. So he is here to replace Elder Sabey, and got here last night to start his duties, which makes me…his new companion? Yes, shocking but true, there is no replacement coming in for me. I will be here to start my fifth transfer in the office. That is…7 ½ months…almost a third of my mission. I have mixed feelings about it. I love the ward here, and being around President, but I was a little anxious to get back out working full time. Not going to lie though, I am a little excited to see what the holiday season is like with the Benton family. So yeah, it is a little strange after being with Elder Sabey for six months, to think about having a different companion. I am sure I will have more to comment on next week after it all kind of sinks in.

I have been thinking a lot about people going through repentence. For someone who has tripped and fallen on the path, the last thing they need is for someone to point their finger and laugh, or talk about how weak they are. No, they need someone to support them and help them get up and running again. I didn’t understand that fully 16 months ago. But something that I have learned here in the mission, and something that Elder Fox mentioned as well, is that the people who judge you or say things about you aren’t the ones who care about you, and obviously don’t understand much about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The people who are going through a repentance process are the ones who most need our love and support. They don’t need to be shunned like they are defiled. They aren’t lepers! It goes back to what Hermana Benton said, “People already know about their faults. They need their strengths emphasized.” I would be embarrassed and ashamed if one day my Father asked me why I didn’t help someone trying as hard as they could to get back to His presence and I had to say…because they messed up and I think I am better than them…? How childish. Anyway, just an interesting thought, how sometimes when we mess up we receive the most heat from members in the church, when you would think that they would try lifting you.

So with the temple closing, for some reason they are giving away almost everything that was inside. It was like a massive garage sale where everything was free. We got a bunch of paintings and furniture to put in the offices and the apartments of the mission. It was kind of fun. We drove by at night, and the temple lights were all off. It was just a huge looming building, but it was dark. It was no longer a beacon of light unto the world. So we spent a day hauling stuff back and forth from the temple to the office.

I had another interesting experience this week, too. Elder Sabey and I contacted one of the references we had, and upon getting to know her (Maria) we found out her husband died a little more than a year ago. She probably talked for a good ten minutes straight about how it was a true love and how perfect they were together, and little stuff they used to do for each other. The plan of salvation was PERFECT for this lady. Well, it is perfect for everyone, but you know what I mean. We taught and testified of the plan of salvation, but long story short, she didn't want to hear more. She just talked about how she believed in God, was thinking about being a nun, didn't need us, and how she wasn't going to see her husband again so she wasn't going to have false hope. I felt the spirit strongly as Elder Sabey testified that she could live with him, and how we wanted to help her believe. She wasn't having it, and just said, "No lo creo." (I don’t believe it) Come on! I felt like asking, "Do you even want to believe? Doesn't it at least sound like a nice idea?" We testified one more time, gave her a folleto (pamphlet/booklet/thing) and told her we would come by later anyway to talk with her more, but I just sat thinking about it for a while. If she really loved her husband like she said, wouldn't she do everything possible to be with him again, no matter how far-fetched it might sound? And if she believed in God, why would you think that He would be so cold as to not let you even have the chance to be with your family after this life? It was so obvious, but she didn't even want to try. There was no desire, and it was sad. I was sad that she wouldn't try. We were there. She was there. The Spirit was there, and she wouldn't try to believe.

It was interesting that as we got back into the car, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD we were listening to came back on, and “We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" started playing. I don't think it was a coincidence, because its message was perfect. "We doubt not the Lord nor His goodness. We've proved Him in days that are passed. ...Thus onto eternal perfection, the honest and faithful will go. While they who reject this glad message, shall never such happiness know." How sad! She will never know this happiness we have if she doesn’t try. That’s why we all have to do all we can to help others realize how happy they can be if they have this gospel in their life.

Elder Gilmore

Ramos Mejia- Week #71

2009-11-02T10:54:00.003-07:00

Happy Turkey Month !!!

Hey Crew,

I was thinking the other day about how in middle school I loved watching Strongbad emails on Homestarrunner.com, and how he always had a different introduction to start off an e-mail…well…I couldn’t remember any, so I can’t use one right now, so I will just dive right in. Sounds like everyone had a busy yet fun Halloween. It was funny here, because hardly anyone celebrates it. I never saw one decoration. I was on splits with our ward mission leader, Kevín, Friday night and we saw some kids out trick or treating…umm…Friday was the 30th. They didn’t even do it on the right day haha. Kevín is from Peru and usually comments on ridiculous Argentine quirks. He said, “I thought Halloween was tomorrow…I guess there is a soccer match tomorrow.” Yes, Argentina would change Halloween so that they could go to the stadium on Saturday and not have to worry about their kids. Whatever makes everyone happy! So despite the time of year, it feels nothing like the holiday season. It might also have something to do with the fact that it all of a sudden got really hot and humid. I almost died several times this week from heat stroke. It rained though so it cooled down a bit now.

The countdown has started for the arrival of Elder Bednar. He will be here the 19th of November. The area presidency has suggested that we fast about questions we might have for him. I have a few, but I don’t think I will muster up the gumption to ask, plus they aren’t really formed into a coherent sentence I could verbalize. I have the faith that I will receive an answer from the Spirit. They said that it might be just a huge question and answer session, so I am pretty excited for it, considering the question and answer session was the best part of when Elder Nelson came last year. So we are cleaning the offices pretty well, and a bunch of repairs are being done on the church. The temple just closed yesterday for 18 months to remodel, and somehow President worked it out so that we are getting some of the paintings and furniture from the temple to put here in the office, so that is a bonus I guess. I am sad that the temple closed, though, because that means I won’t be going again until I get home. I don’t know if I wrote this already in a past e-mail, but I was thinking about how I want this to be the longest amount of time in my life I ever go without going to the temple, especially since there are so many in the States. It really is easy for us to go to the temple back home. The members here will now have to go to Uruguay or Paraguay, but they are small temples so you can’t go whenever you want, because supposedly they will be filled to capacity. So each stake gets like three visits a year or something like that. Anyway, I won’t be visiting the temple here in Buenos Aires ever again, unless sometime after my mission.

So a lot of stuff happened this week. We were really busy on both ends of the work. The missionaries from the MTC came to our area to practice their contacting and all that jazz, and we received like 80 references, or referrals, or whatever they are in English. So we have been using all of our spare time trying to get out and contact them all. Carmen and Luis are still doing great, and their wedding is still set for the 20th, the day after Elder Bednar comes. Let’s just say that week’s e-mail is going to be good. So that is what we are working with right now in the missionary work.

Here in the office we have been swamped as well. Unfortunately we had some problems in the mission and there were some flashes. A flash here is when someone is transferred in the middle of the six-week transfer to another area. I was assigned to captain the voyage which was sweet because I have never been out to campo (the country). The only down side was that we left at 8:00 at night. So Elder Gamboa and I took the Elder out there and were received well by the Elders out there, with a box of empanadas. Elder Mills from my MTC district is out there right now as District Leader, so I got to see him and catch up a bit. Then we had to drive the two hours back…so we got back into Buenos Aires at about midnight, and I was tired. But I loved it anyway, because it was just dark open road and reminded me of driving late in Montana. The only difference was there are no mountains here, but there was some cool lightning. I love long drives, it is like therapeutic or something for me, even more because we can’t listen to the radio and I was sick of the only CD we had, so it basically forced me to think and meditate about life. Then last night we were up late playing the whole numbers game and Elder Sabey was making El Sol, the mission newsletter. So a few long nights but I’m still up and running.

I would try and get some rest today, but something horrible has happened. There is a very sporadic (I thought it was “sparatic” but spell check tells me otherwise) cycle that accompanies the correspondence of a missionary. For example, let’s say you are lucky and about 10 people are writing you. It would be hard to write ten letters every week back to them. What saves you is that they are all on their own cycles, and you might only get one or two a week to have to respond to. What I have now learned by sad experience is that if I get behind on writing back…I find myself in a complicated situation. Everyone who is writing to me has written me, and I now have to write them all back if I expect more mail. It is kind of like a big game of hot potato, and I have all of them in the drawer in my desk…now the question is whether they will sit there and rot or whether I will pass them back. Anywho, guess I’ll go get started. Have a great week! Also, we have declared it appropriate to start listening to Christmas music here in the office, so we are having a pretty good time.

Elder S. Michael Gilmore

P.S. I don’t go by Michael…I go by Elder…but I get bored putting the same thing at the end of every email, so I change it up occasionally. Although remember when we first moved to Texas and I told everyone my name was Mike, and they called me Mike for the whole youth activity in Nacogdoches, and then remembered like two months later at another activity. It was weird.

The Tie Clip

2009-10-27T12:39:00.003-06:00

This picture was taken the day of the transfer meeting two weeks ago. Sean is wearing a tie clip that he got from the Bishop of the Ramos Mejia Ward in Argentina for meeting their baptism goals for the Ward.

Ramos Mejia- Week #70

2009-10-27T12:32:00.004-06:00

Hey Family,

Another week in the books…they are passing by so quickly now…I don’t even know what to write, because it feels like I just wrote you yesterday. Well, Elder Sabey’s birthday was fun. We celebrated it yesterday with President and Hermana at the mission home. They cooked us breakfast, egg casserole and pancakes…it was so good. Then we went golfing with President. It was fun, and I did a lot better than last time we went. I took a few videos so you could see my athletic prowess…I only lost one ball in the water hazard. So that was fun yesterday. It wasn’t actually his birthday yesterday though. It was last Friday, so to celebrate together we bought a pineapple and ate it. Our tongues were pretty ripped up after from the acid intake. Have you ever tried eating a whole pineapple before? Let’s just say when it is your birthday, or your companions, you just have to be wild and eat a whole pineapple. Sounds like everyone is keeping busy with the holidays coming up, while here in Argentina I haven’t even seen one hint of Halloween…it isn’t very big here. I actually can’t believe it is this week.

Well, Elder Sabey and I came to the realization that no matter what our companionship is coming to an end in four short weeks. It definitely will be weird to have a different companion, after being with him for four transfers. We were talking about it in our weekly planning, and realized that for both of us this has been the most successful companionship we have ever been a part of, and that we have been blessed with more baptisms in this ward than any other companionship that has served here before, as far as the mission records go. I am not saying that to brag, or put us up in the spotlight, because it really did humble us. We realized that we have two baptisms planned for the end of the transfer, and two things could happen. 1. It would be really easy to coast until the end. We would still have two baptisms this transfer and we could reminisce about the glory days of yester-transfers, and no one would really be the wiser. We would still have had a great companionship, but after talking about it, we both agreed that we don’t care about how things were in “the good ol' days…because these ARE the good ol’ days!” HAHAHA ok sorry, that was just a family inside joke…good old Denson Bates from Bossier Ward talking about the good old days. Anyway, moral of the story is that we chose option 2. We decided to sprint to the finish, as they say, and give this last month every single thing we have left to end one of the most important relationships I have had in my mission. We set some pretty high goals, and are going to do all we can to stay diligent and meet them. We also took a moment to realize that it might still be that we only end up with two baptisms, and to the outside world, to the mission, to the ward, and to President, it looks as if situation one occurred, but we know what the Lord expects out of us, and we want to do the right things for the right reasons. So we are excited for what happens this month we have left together.

So yesterday Hermana Benton said something that really hit me. She always has these one-liners that sound like they should go into an inspirational quote book, because they inspire me to try and do better more often than not. In Argentina there is a phrase that people love using. It is “Drop the cane”. They use it when someone is chewing someone else out…or calling them to repentance or something. It is used a lot during General Conference. For example, Elder Scott dropped the cane on pornography. Or, my mom dropped the cane on me for getting home late. (Hypothetical example) Anyway, we were talking about it at breakfast yesterday, and Hermana Benton had some really good insight on it. She mentioned how she didn’t think it was a very effective way to try and correct someone’s actions. Then she said, “People already know all about their faults. They need their strengths emphasized.” It is so true. GO HERMANA BENTON! People need to hear the great things they are doing, not just the things they need to do better. It is something that I am going to try and do better at. So, as a missionary of the Lord I challenge anyone reading this to try and give out a few more sincere compliments this week, and see how you help brighten someone else’s day. President and Hermana Benton are the masters at giving compliments. They notice little things that others do and thank them for it. Let’s not take the people around us for granted. Anyway, that’s all I have for this week. I hope you all have a happy Halloween. Thanks for all the pictures family. Keep them coming.

Love, Elder S. Michael Gilmore

P.S. yeah I got all the cereal Dad, it is great!

Hospital Posada

2009-10-19T13:18:00.004-06:00

This is when Sean went to the hospital to play with the terminally ill children

This is Milagros who was not allowed to eat the chocolate they brought her so they gave her a toy.

Ramos Mejia- Week #69

2009-10-19T13:04:00.004-06:00

Por favor.... Por favor

Hey Grandpa Mike and Grandma Page,

I’ll answer your questions first. The package came, and it was not in one piece. I didn’t have to pay anything for it. It had been broken into. I took a video of it so that you can see the state it arrived in. Long story short, it looked like they ripped into it, ripped open every bag that had candy in it, (I assume looking for valuables) and somehow didn’t find the ring, the memory card, or Dad’s patriarchal blessing. Go figure! They did however eat a few of the apple sauces. I guess there was so much stuff inside they got bored before they got to the valuable stuff at the bottom. So I saw the videos, and have cracked up and fallen in love with Rihanna…I mean Rhiannon…I mean, well you know what I mean. She is going to be perfect for me to take out and attract women with, you know showing my sensitive fatherly side…nah just kidding, that stuff never works, and I wouldn’t stoop so low as to manipulate a five year old like that. My toe is fine, Mom, I only wake up with my sock soaked in blood a few times a week now, so I think it is healing. Also, that last sentence was just dripping with sarcasm, don’t worry, it is completely fine. That’s cool that you made Enrichment stuff for the house. Also, go Lacey super step-mom. Elder Sabey hadn’t heard of the pizza place in Denver. We haven’t really started anything yet for Elder Bednar. He will be visiting here in Ramos Mejía and North and South mission are coming, so it will be more like the time we saw Elder Nelson, and less like with Elder Zivic. I don’t know any more details that that.

So as for Daylight Savings Time: I don’t know if you heard, but Argentina did not participate in it. This is not a joke…they actually refused to do it. President printed off an article that says, “Argentina Says No to Daylight Savings Time”…ha…haha…really? Yes, so we didn’t change any clocks, because the government here decided like the day before that they would have none of it, because there is “no need for it.” I don’t think that they or I fully understand the consequences of this decision, but I am sure that this somehow throws off the whole Gregorian calendar and Ben Franklin is scratching his head in the Spirit World. The biggest thing about this that affects the mission is flight times…but I am sure everything will work out.

So it was another busy week. It always seems like there is a lot that happens, but it doesn’t translate over into an interesting email. It was just busy. One cool thing that did happen was that, like in Brett’s mission, for the first time we as office elders were invited to the zone leader conference at the mission home. Most of them are my good friends, so it wasn’t awkward for me to be there like it was for Brett. Or at least, it wasn’t like what Kyle assumed it was like for Brett. I had a good time. There was a huge ping pong tournament, which Team Gilbey entered…and…we lost in the semi-final against the zone leaders of Marcos Paz…I could give excuses…but I’ll just say that we made too many mistakes. Alright change of subject.

So we went down with the zone leaders, President, and Hermana Benton to Rio de la Plata for a short walk, and had a very interesting experience. We stopped on a little bridge looking thing to take a picture, and there was a small hill / look out point that we were going to go up onto. Well there were like 10 college kids up there and they see the army of black suits nearby. It turns out that they were from the States, studying abroad, and it was apparent that they knew who we were. So we were just taking some photos and some guy that was too cool for his own good yells down at us, “Polygamists!” Good one, buddy. We just minded our own business, and a few seconds later he yells, “Child-Rapists!”…our general opinion at this point is that he is an idiot…and President turns around and says to him, “Hermano por favor”…just trying to be nice and courteous. Then he can’t shut his mouth and down right mocks President Benton, and with an imitation of his accent he says, “POR FAVOR POR FAVOR!” I won’t forget how I felt in that moment or the way that I saw 22 other Elders tense up at the sound of our President being disrespected like that. President just brushed it off and started to walk toward us. I thought that we were just going to leave and forget about it, and then I learned a valuable lesson from President Benton. He said, “Let’s go up there.” So we followed him up and we started talking with all the students there. All of them were really friendly, and President talked with them about the Church and everything. The immature kid just kind of sat in silence after that, and we got to know these other students just getting to know Buenos Aires. They took pictures of us all lined up, and then one girl asked if she could have a picture with us, President said yes, and she came on over and put her arms around me and Elder Hatch…Elder Hatch was just mumbling under his breath, “five more weeks, five more weeks.” He goes home in five weeks, and my hands shot into my pockets. President was just laughing. I told him I would probably need an interview after that, and he has joked around with me about it a few times since then. So I basically had a girl wrapped around me on the romantic Rio de la Plata…it is probably on the internet by now.

Anyway, moral of the story is that President showed that it is possible to share the gospel in all places and situations. It would have been easy enough to just leave and forget about it, but he marched up there and shared the gospel with them. He didn’t retaliate to pathetic insults, but instead was just loving and friendly and got to know some people who needed the gospel. It was really cool for me to see the patience and love that President shows towards all people. I was also thinking about how I felt in that moment. It was a sickening feeling to see a man I admire and love so much be mocked like that. That kid didn’t know the influence that President has had on me, the other missionaries, or this world, and then the soul-searching question presented itself. How do I feel when I hear the lips of men mock our Lord, Jesus Christ? The Son of God, who I admire and love so much, who has had such an influence on me, and on the world, is mocked more than any other being I can think of. How do I feel in those moments? Interesting question to ask yourself. Our lives are constantly filled with opportunities to learn and recognize the Savior’s influence in our lives.

Elder Gilmore

Ramos Mejia- Week #68

2009-10-14T23:03:00.003-06:00

Busy Busy Busy

Hey Mom and Dad,

Well this week has been really busy, and I haven’t gotten much sleep in the past three days. We have some really good news, and that is that Bryan’s parents, Carmen and Luis, have a marriage date for the 20th of November, and a baptismal date for the 21st. It is the last week of the transfer, and a few days after Elder Bednar is going to visit the mission. We have a few other prospects for baptism before that too, but we will see. This week has been transfers, and fifteen new missionaries are about to show up in about 2 hours or so. It has probably been one of the busiest transfer weeks I have participated in so far. Elder Woodmansee is now with his parents, and we have welcomed in our new assistant, Elder Aceituno. He is from Chile, but speaks English really well. It is the first time that President Benton has had a Latin assistant since he has gotten to the mission. I think it will be good for the mission, and Elder Aceituno is awesome.

Well, Sunday night was crazy because we were trying to get ready for the big transfer meeting we have, and I had to get all of the sound technology stuff…i.e. microphones, projector hook-ups, and it was getting complicated. The member who usually gets us all our stuff was on vacation or something, and so I had to call the counselor in the stake presidency to track down a key to the sound/audio room. It was stressful…because we can’t have the meeting unless we have the projector and microphones. Well we could, but it wouldn’t be good. So we ended up getting a key at 7:00 Monday morning, the day of transfer meeting, and we told by the stake that after the broadcast of General Conference everything was disconnected, so good luck. Ha GREAT! So cables were going everywhere, and we used some from our own stash to jimmy-rig some kind of miracle solution to the problem. Long story short…lot of stress…everything worked out fine.

1 day later…Ok so right now I am writing Wednesday morning because there was no time for anything. All the 15 new missionaries made it fine. There is a new sister missionary whose family is from Spain, and she has dual citizenship in the USA and Spain. She speaks perfectly in both languages…well, at least as well as she can with that strange Spanish accent, and her lisping all the time. I feel bad for Brett that he has to learn such a weak and feeble version of the language. Nah, just kidding, it isn’t that strange, and I can’t really talk, because she is fluent. So for the past two days as well we have been playing host to all the missionaries going home, and the trainers. It has been interesting. They have taken over the offices, and that is one of the reasons I haven’t written earlier. There are only four computers in here, and for some reason everyone thought that they could get on them whenever they wanted, so there were never any free ones to use, but the madness has passed and no harm was done.

Sorry this one is short, but there really is no time for anything this week. There isn’t very much to tell anyways, just running around loving every minute of it. We never did get to play our championship match, but President invited the staff over for the zone leader conference on Friday where there will be two ping pong tables set up for the ultimate tournament. We hope to be in a good rhythm on Friday. I let you know how it turned out next week. I love you, and sounds like things are looking up. That’s great that you two are doing well on your weight loss challenge! Just keep working Mom, you will break through a wall and will start to shed the pounds like crazy. I’m glad Lacey is doing so well, too. Well, talk to you next week.

Elder Gilmore

P.S. I just read through this thing, and it is kind of boring…sorry about that…

Ramos Mejia- Week #67

2009-10-05T07:31:00.003-06:00

Conference!

Buenas,

So before I give my thoughts on Conference, first I would just like to say that I will be applying President Monson’s Priesthood session talk and not be angry or insulted by Mom’s email when she said that the part in my hair is ugly and I should stop doing it…first of all, I think you owe an apology to Elder Varela, he does his best, and second it is a mission rule to have a part in your hair, and although I think it is ridiculous, I would appreciate if the woman closest to me in my life would encourage me to obey mission rules. But for the record I hate it as well. Also, Elder Sabey does have a part in his hair, it just isn’t as noticeable. Also, Elder Zivic isn’t just an area seventy; he is up in the First Quorum of the Seventy. He was sitting there in the conference center. And I didn’t really lie about my toe in May, because it didn’t hurt in May, so I figured I wouldn’t worry you. That white house with the gate is the mission home where President and Hermana Benton live. I do not know an Elder Mason. Yes, Dad I would love some athletic socks, they don’t have to be ankle socks. Ankle socks aren’t good for Clay court tennis. I still have plenty of journal space left. I didn’t eat the avocado…Elder Varela used it for some kind of salsa…he is of Mexican descent. Anyway, now that we have that out of the way…

G-G-G-ENERAL COOOOOOOONFERENCE! Loved it. I had a lot of questions going into it, and received a lot of answers as well. After President Monson announced five new temples, Elder Scott answered a lot of my questions right off the bat about personal revelation, and being guided by the Spirit. I consider that one of my weaknesses. I think I have always relied a little too much on myself and not enough on the promptings of the Spirit, also he just dropped the cane all over the place on pornography, which Argentina needs to hear, because it is just infested with it. I also loved Russell Osguthorpe’s talk on teaching, because, well…I teach a lot. Then the two power hitters ended the session, Elder Bednar and President Uchtdorf. Both were so inspiring! It was very clear to me that the underlying theme of this conference was love, specifically God’s love for us and our love for God. President Uchtdorf taught us so much about the nature of our Father. Elder Oaks spoke on love as well, in a talk that was; as President Benton put it, “meaty”, which was true…I was trying not to let everything he was saying fly over my head. He packed a lot of ideas into 15 minutes. I also absolutely loved Elder Andersen’s talk on repentance. It feels like a long time since we have heard a talk specifically on that. I loved it all. I wrote down a few quotes from it, such as, “The Savior is able and eager to forgive our sins.” “In this life, it is never too late to repent.” And, “Repentance always means that there is greater happiness ahead.”

Priesthood session was really good, too. I was thinking about Dad the whole time Elder Ballard was talking about Father-Son relationships, as I am sure all sons were. Other than that, Priesthood session just made me trunky! It was all advice to returned missionaries. Elder Ballard and President Uchtdorf took a part of their talks to talk to returned missionaries. It was funny. Yoon Hwan Choi just made me laugh inside every time he said “rowdy boys” which he used frequently in his talk, and all of the First Presidency messages were great. Sunday was just as good with all the talks. All I have to say is that Elder Holland blew everyone’s mind with his talk/testimony. It was one of those talks where I didn’t take many notes, but instead just sat back and listened. I just love how he gets all fired up about everything. I don’t think I learned much “new doctrine” from it, but it definitely was one of the most inspiring of the conference, and I loved the story about Joseph and Hyrum, also the fact that he had the book with him there at the pulpit. Elder Christofferson gave a great talk as well to wrap things up. I loved all of it, and there are a lot of things that I need to improve on and change, but that is why we have Conference. I also just loved the music. I thought of Grandpa when they sang, “Have I Done Any Good?” and the time we sang it at his funeral, and O Divine Redeemer was amazing, too. Anyway, it was all so good, and all of our converts were there, and three investigators.

Today we are going to the mission home for a little family night, and last night we held an office meeting with President, were we all submitted a silent ballot as to what our three favorite talks were. The co-winners were Elder Holland and President Uchtdorf on love, so President told us we will watch those tonight at his house. Also, Team Gilbey (Gilmore-Sabey) will be defending its championship title in the Benton Classic Ping-Pong Tournament. Wish us luck.

Love, Sean

This weeks photos

2009-09-28T08:18:00.003-06:00

Baptism of Margarita, Ramos Mejia, Argentina

Photo taken when General Authority, Elder Zivic, made a visit to the mission. Sean is in the top row, 5th from the right.

Ramos Mejia- Week #66

2009-09-28T08:11:00.003-06:00

Pre-Conference Warm-Up

Hey,

Well, we had another great week here in Ramos Mejía. Any week that you have a baptism is great of course. Margarita really was prepared to receive the gospel. Her baptism went really well…sort of. There were only 10 people there, including us and Hermana Benton. It was a bit of a shame, considering that this ward has had an attendance of 144 within the last month. Our bishop said that there was a service activity that morning, and that is probably why no one came. Oh yeah, haha, I forgot about that commandment where you can only go to one church activity a day. My bad. How silly of me. But in any case, she was baptized and confirmed on Sunday, and loved it. Also, news flash, she is the first convert I have had to say my last name right in a prayer on the first try, and for that has moved up a few notches on my favorite people list. It has been funny here on a mission, how many people just can’t say my name. Gilmore…so easy…Heel-mor-eh? Close. Seems like it wouldn’t be too hard, but then again when I think about it, I never realized how much we butcher Hispanic people’s last names in the States without even thinking twice, because we say it with our English accents. San Luis Obispo, California ahahahah…we aren’t even close.

I've been so blessed here in Ramos Mejía. Last year in October, Elder Richard G. Scott gave a challenge to all the missions to duplicate their baptisms before September. Well, the last weekend in September just happened, and I am happy to say that Ramos Mejía duplicated baptisms from last year. This ward always gets a bad reputation of not baptizing, because of us being office elders, Last year they only had 7 baptisms, but Margarita yesterday was 14 for this year. Yesterday our bishop was all smiles after PEC when we congratulated the ward on duplicating baptisms this year and completing with Elder Scott's challenge. This ward helps us so much. It is the BEST ward in the mission, a perfect example of how members should work with the missionaries. Every single one of the baptisms this year has been a referral from a member. So, we the missionaries didn't really do much. The members duplicated baptisms by presenting their friends to us. Elder Sabey and I have been blessed to be the lucky ones here to see all the fruits of their work, participating in eight of the fourteen baptisms the ward has had this year as a companionship, and only in the past 4 months. GO MEMBERS!

Speaking of our companionship, President told us yesterday that…yes…we will be eternal companions. 4 transfers together, or in other words, 6 months. Most missionaries don’t make it 6 months in one area, let alone with one companion, but I will admit that I probably wouldn’t be able to do it with anyone else. So, we will both be here for Elder Bednar’s visit on November 19th. We also found out that Elder Snow from the Presidency of the Seventy will be accompanying Elder Bednar. The bad news is that this means our beloved Elder Varela will be leaving us, and that isn’t good for me because he cuts my hair. At first it wasn’t very good, but I have been impressed at how well he does it now. So I will have to break in somebody else, or maybe just go to a real barber before Elder Bednar gets here.

Speaking of Apostles and missionary haircuts, Conference is almost here! I am excited to hear what the Brethren and other Authorities have to say. Everyone is making their last push to try and convince President to let us watch it in English. The rule is that if you have more than a year you watch in Spanish…so this is the first time the rule has affected me. I wasn’t going to try and sway President’s decision, but then realized that I, too, am interested in watching it in my native language. It probably isn’t that big of a deal. I will say, however, that I have had the opportunity to watch it in both English and Spanish, and there is no comparison. In my experience, the spirit was stronger, the revelation flowed more easily, and the notes were more copious when I watched in English. I am not sure I wrote down one sentence in the Spanish sessions I watched, not because I wasn't listening, but because if I took time to start writing, I missed everything they were saying while I was jotting it down. Maybe that just means I am a bad note taker in a foreign language, but I just think it is interesting that when watching in Spanish, you have to concentrate on the Spanish language, and the more important language of the Spirit takes a back seat. In English, we can fully concentrate on what the Spirit is saying, thus hearing what the Lord would have us hear. I don’t think that Conference is the most appropriate time to try to do language study. Regardless, though, I am excited and will willingly obey whatever the rule happens to be this weekend. My Purification fast is coming to an end, and my questions are formed for Conference. I will be doing at least one fast this week to get ready, and know that my prayers will be answered.

That is cool mom that you challenged your class to do the Purification fast as well. Always leave a commitment, or else the investigator won’t progress. Not that your Relief Society sisters are investigators…but you know what I am trying to say. Other than that, I am not sure much else happened this week. Except for the fact that Elder Woodmansee made homemade root beer yesterday and we had root beer floats...which just about made my life. So, have a great week. Enjoy conference!

Elder Sean

P.S. GO MOM AND DAD! You are going to be lean machines when I get home.

Got to love more pictures

2009-09-21T13:46:00.004-06:00

For Sister Benton's (Mission President's wife) birthday the office elders gave her a heart attack. In that I mean, they put up lots of hearts all over her wall in the mission home. They also wrote little messages on some of them.

Elders Sabey, Gilmore, Maxwell, Varela, Fox and Woodmansee

Baptism of Elvira and Gabriel in Ramos Mejia, Argentina

Ramos Mejia- Week #65

2009-09-21T13:24:00.004-06:00

Shaping the future

Hey Everyone,

It has been a pretty good week this week, with a lot of great experiences. Happy 21st Birthday to Brett and Kyle! I also got Grandma Wilma’s letter this week, and enjoyed it a lot, especially the fact that it had her shopping list on the back crossed out. Ha, she said she didn’t realize when she started writing the letter. Anyway, I will start by answering your questions from last week. I don’t think they caught the killers of Germán, nor do I think there was much of a search. That kind of stuff happens all the time here. There are definitely areas that are safer than others, but for the most part, events of that nature are commonplace anywhere in the mission. So basically everywhere is a bad neighborhood in the mission ha. Yes Dad, my heart on the wall is the left white one. We only go to one of the zone conferences in a transfer as audience members, but sometimes we go to help out in the kitchen or something. Downtown Bs. As. does look really cool, but I don’t know if I would call it Paris…although I have never been to Paris…yet. And yes, 9 de Julio, the widest street in the world is fun to drive on, and gets your adrenaline pumping. Elder Bednar is coming in week 4 of next transfer…but who knows, I might leave this transfer, I have no idea. I don’t want to jinx it, but I wouldn’t mind being in here another transfer to be here when he came. The closest temple now is 4 hours away in ferry to Uruguay, so I don’t know how many people will be going. Traveling long distances here is a bigger deal than to people in the States. The new Spanish Bible is sweet! Everyone is buying them, so I am sure the Church is making bank. They are like 98 pesos. I did NOT get to play tennis. We went on a wild goose chase trying to find a place that would rent us equipment, and didn’t have luck. Don’t worry, Mom, I don’t think you are a heathen. Just keep trying your hardest. We can’t let the basics escape us. I am sure that this is a test in your life to see if you will study without any other reason than to improve, and gain personal knowledge and testimony. The glory of God is intelligence, and we should always be trying to increase that aspect of our life, so even if there were no callings we should be still increasing in spirituality. I mean, if we think about it, nobody is just going to come up to us in the celestial kingdom and poke us so that we magically know everything there is to know. We have to do it, and no one can do it for us, but hey, I am not preaching to you. I was probably the worst of us before the mission; I rarely studied scriptures every day of the week. I didn’t understand. What is the exact date of Lacey’s wedding? I am loving this weight loss boot camp thing you are doing…and no, we didn’t spiral into depression because of all the sports losses, although it did have me on the floor laughing when I read mom’s description of Dad pacing back and forth moaning. I love that feeling. It just brings back the painful memories of the USC-Texas Rose Bowl Classic. Probably the most bittersweet moment of my life; huge disappointment because we lost, but was at least sharing it with my dad, and I knew we felt the same way.

So this week I had some great experiences. First, Margarita did not get baptized, but don’t worry because she is this Saturday. Her little fight with that guy didn’t turn out to be a big deal, so she is back on board for this weekend. We are excited because the Ward Ramos Mejía will double their baptisms since last year with Margarita. They had 7 last year, and in the past four months, Elder Sabey and I have had 8 with “Marga”. Which will put us at 14, so I am just grateful for the blessings the Lord has poured out on us to help us reach the challenge Elder Richard G. Scott gave to us last year to duplicate baptisms. Speaking of Apostles, I am super trunky for General Conference.

So next cool thing to happen was that Elder Zivic of the 70 who came and visited our mission last transfer, visited our ward yesterday. So he spoke in our Sacrament meeting. His son just got home from the Missouri Independence mission and has been kind of going on tour for the past couple weeks speaking in all the wards of the stake. He remembered us and came over to talk to us…AND OUR INVESTIGATORS! It was, for lack of a better term, bomb-diggity. That is the second time I have had a general authority do my job for me, and I am not complaining. In his talk he kind of dropped the cane about fasting, and fast offerings. Only 30% of the whole area (Arg. Par. Uru.) is self-reliant when it comes to fast offerings. He was saying that we, here, still have to borrow a ton of money from members in other places like Europe and the States. It has been really interesting to see in my mission how reliant some people are on the church, because they just don’t have enough to survive. He said that it is interesting when they get requests and recommendations for bishops and the candidate hasn’t paid a fast offering for 3 years…here is a quote in English from him I translated, “It is a sad day when a man like that is the best we have to be a Judge in Israel.” Cane…dropped…hard. So moral of the story is read Isaiah 58 about what a true fast is, and do it!

Last thing I want to talk about is a little trip/service project we participated in on Saturday. There is a hospital right across the freeway from the offices that is pretty well-known here for bad reasons, Hospitál Posadas. It is just an awful hospital. We walked in and it seriously looked worse than a rundown high school. There was graffiti on the walls, dirt and trash in the hallways, windows broken out, and stray dogs running through…um…this is where people go to get medical attention, like…have surgery…or give birth…watch out people, this is what socialized healthcare will get us one day. So we walked in for a specific purpose, and I was super excited. We went to the top floor, all the way to the west wing, where special patients are held. And by special I mean terminally ill cancer patients…all under the age of 12. It was probably the most rewarding experiences of my life so far. We had to get scrubs and masks on and then we went in and played with all the kids, most only 3 or 4, who have been classified as hopeless by doctors. It looked like the most miserable life to have. Some could barely move, and some looked like nothing was wrong at all, but they were all up in that top wing, like they were forgotten, and sat and watched TV all day. We came with candy and alfajors and other goodies to try and lift their spirits. They looked happy to see us, I am sure they don’t get many visits, other than their parents who practically live there. Elder Sabey and I played Charades with them. It was so much fun! We only did Disney movies so they could guess easily, but I still think it was hard to do Beauty and the Beast. I just fell in love with this one girl, 3 years old, named Milagros (miracles in English) who had Down syndrome and cancer. We walked in and gave her an alfajors, and she burst into tears. We couldn’t figure out why until the nurse said, “She can’t eat sweets, and she knows it.” Oh my gosh, it broke my heart. She wanted to eat it but knew that she couldn’t. Come on people, she is terminally ill! Let her be a 3 year old and eat some chocolate! So we calmed her down and gave her a stuffed animal instead, which she seemed to be content with. It was so much fun, and so inspiring to see the parents and children all with smiles on their faces even in the midst of this awful and uncertain time. We gave all the parents magazines and talked with them about the church and eternal families. It was just a very rewarding experience for me, and I will never forget it, or my cool new friends I made who will inherit celestial glory without question.

So good week, and looking at having another good one. We will probably find out soon if Elder Sabey will be leaving or not this transfer, and it is up in the air as of now. Love you guys!

President Benton quote of the week: “Elders, there is no reason to be fearful of the future. We are going to shape the future.”

Elder Sean

Ramos Mejia- Week #64

2009-09-15T17:31:00.004-06:00

Ups and Downs

Hey fam, Well, this week was a quick one, but so much happened! It definitely was one of blessings, but there were some HUGE trials this week, so I will be typing fast to get it all in…dad…that is a hint to correct all spelling mistakes.

So good news first, or bad? Well, we will start with the good! I have two good things to tell you, and two not so good things, plus pictures to send. First good thing, Elvira and Gabriel were baptized and confirmed this week, so they are the newest members of the Ramos Mejía Ward. It was a great service. I will send pictures, but let’s just say that our convert from June, Bryan, who was baptized the weekend I got into the office, baptized Gabriel, and I can’t even begin to try and describe what it is like to see your convert baptize another convert, and Brother Salas a.k.a. coolest member in the ward, baptized Elvira. We had a little scare, because Elvira slipped going down into the font and almost ate it hard on the stairs. Luckily she grabbed onto the guardrail and made it safely into the healing waters. Gabriel followed next, and had to do it twice because his knee came up out of the water. I told him not to worry about it because I had to do it twice as well. So that was a great part of the week. Margarita was set for this weekend, and technically still is, but she got into a fight with her boyfriend/business partner/member who introduced her to the church…so she is up in the air, but that isn’t one of the bad news items.

Next great topic is that it was Sister Benton’s birthday on Friday, September 11th! It was also Teacher’s Day here in Argentina, which is weird because in the U.S. it means something a little different. The Argentines, however, don’t really remember the attacks on September 11th…mostly the response we got from people if it came up was, “Welcome to the club, our country has had our share of tough breaks.” But all in all it wasn’t on anyone’s calendar. So for Hermana’s birthday we went to her house and gave her a “heart attack”…like the young women kind when you cut out hearts and put them everywhere. She went to a luncheon or something, and we snuck in with President’s help and covered the wall in her living room. She loved it…I think. She called us and thanked us for it, and said she was going to leave it up for six months or at least until Valentine´s day. President took a few pictures of us which I will attach so you can see our…labor of love…ha I thought about that one for a while. Anyway, so it covered my arts and craft portion of the mission for a while. Don’t worry though; we had a meeting with President while we were there, too, so we actually got work done in the process. I am still working with the tie guys, so that is coming along as well.

So the bad news for the week…two things, and both happened on Wednesday night. So we went to sleep on Wednesday night, and got a call at about 11:30 from our bishop. He had bad news. So you remember Sandra who was baptized in June as well, and her boyfriend/father of her children, Germán, who had a baptismal date and everything? Well bishop had just been on the phone with Sandra’s mother and had some bad news. Germán had left to go buy something at the store, was robbed, shot twice in the chest, and killed. Boom. Just like that, that whole family’s life got flipped upside down. He was only like 24. He is in the pictures of Sandra’s baptism. We have been trying to help all we can, but it is just a mess over there. Sandra is not doing well at all. We reminded her of the plan of salvation and all that, but I have a feeling it was the last thing she wanted to talk about. It is just an awful feeling. You grow so close to the people you teach, you grow to love them! And now one is dead, and the other who you baptized is suffering perhaps more than ever before. The worst part is that I want to do something to help her, and when I saw her the first time all I could do was give her a lousy handshake…great…but, she came to church still and the sisters in the ward are scooping her up, so we are working through it. Their kids still don’t know. Abril (5) is used to him coming and going, so nothing is unusual for her, and Aaron (2) isn’t even talking yet, so I am not sure how they are going to tell them. So it was just a little hard for them to deal with, but they are staying close to the church, which is the way to go.

So the next thing that happened Wednesday was that President Benton was robbed and kidnapped for 40 minutes! This is not even a joke…so this isn’t to make you worry or anything, but Satan is wreaking havoc here in the outskirts of Buenos Aires! This place is just dangerous! 2 robbings, 1 kidnapping, and 1 murder…I am totally getting street cred. Anyway, he was exactly 1 block away from the offices and a car cut him off with blue sirens, and guys got out with guns screaming at him to get into the passenger seat. They had hats on that said police and everything. So he complies and they take off with him in his car, and the funny thing was that he said they were kind of nice after that. He asked if they were really police, and they said no, that they were professionals, this was their business, and sorry that he was the unlucky one that night. Great…so they took him and put him in another car, and drove him around to disorient him for 40 minutes and dropped him off in some field. During the 40 minutes he said they were talking about family and stuff, and showing pics of their children on their cell phones and stuff. So President taught the first lesson to them and everything. They took his phone and wallet and stuff and left him in the field. So he hitchhiked back to his house and made all the necessary calls. It was too late to find the car…they had already disabled the tracking device that was in it. I guess they really were professionals. So he wasn’t harmed or anything and just has a cool story out of it. It is pretty funny the way he tells it. So the church, the next day, went out and bought him an even nicer car, brand new…I am not sure why…He just got hijacked because his car is nice…so let’s give him a nicer one that is new and shiny! I don’t think that helps the problem, but whatever…so that was the eventful week here in Argentina. I am out of time, but I love you all, and remember that most opportunities to grow come disguised as trials. You can’t grow without the growing pains.

Also, news flash, President just announced that we will be receiving a visit from Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve in November. Boo-yah…keep the good news coming! I hope I am still in the office.

Elder Sean

Ramos Mejia- Week #63

2009-09-08T12:17:00.004-06:00

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

Fotos de Juan Miguel

2009-09-02T10:25:00.005-06:00

Elias' baptism!

The photo that showed up in the transfer meeting. On the Smith Family's balcony.

Temple pic!

Our next boy band album cover

Ramos Mejia- Week #62

2009-09-02T10:14:00.005-06:00

I have connections!

Hey Fam,

Finally catching my breath…it has been a busy week. The last week of the transfer always is. We just finished with all the new missionaries, and then Elder Sabey and I hopped a train to Haedo to hit up a tie store I am doing business with. President Benton gave me the assignment to make a mission tie, so I have been doing some mingling, and it is kind of funny because I kind of have connections now. I’ve got Eduardo down on Belgrano, who is my main man; also he has a hole in his throat from smoking. I plan on bringing him a Word of Wisdom pamphlet next time. He is kind of the one who gets everything going for me, but I also occasionally need something from Ruben or Luis. So I’ve been in contact with the gang, and have been getting some things to look at. We took the train to see Eduardo who gave me the sample tie I am showing to President the next time I see him. Kind of different…I never thought I would be doing this as a missionary, but it has been fun. It is amazing how everyone treats you when you always roll up in a suit and tie, and pay for everything in cash. It is also fun to learn business moves at the feet of President Benton, who is just an amazingly successful man. So I am jotting some things down on how to get what I am looking for after the mission.

So it is official: Elder Sabey and I have started our third transfer together. In this mission we call that being eternal companions, and very rarely have two ever been together four transfers, which is called being celestial companions. In the slideshow for transfer meeting that I make I put a great picture of us together when our area popped up. It got a little chuckle out of President, so I guess it wasn’t too inappropriate. Things are just humming along, and it is crazy to think that September already started. It has been two years since I started BYU. Glad to hear that things are going well in California, and that our family is still just as unique and stereo-typical at the same time, as ever. Stories about the Grandmas just make me laugh. Tell them I miss them. It has been hot here too! For some strange reason it got to about 80 and humid as ever…keeping in mind it is supposed to be WINTER here. Sounds like you are having a great vacation. Enjoy it!

Elias’ baptism went off without a hitch. Our Bishop baptized him, but was kind of in a rush when the phone call came that his wife was having contractions. But still, it was a great service. I will send pictures. The missionary work is going better than ever! In our mission we had a goal of 200 baptisms, and we were able to reach 192! That is a new mission record! When I got to the mission the record was 130, and it was good if we got over 100, but now we are just sky-rocketing. Elvira and Gabriel both came to church, and Gabriel had on a green tweed suit straight from a hippy’s closet, with a ruffled white shirt. It was BALLER! They both have baptismal dates for the 12th of September. Margarita is also a choice lady. We taught her and she mentioned that she had already read the Book of Mormon her friend gave her, and is in Doctrine and Covenants. That is amazing, but has been heard of, which is why this next piece of information is proof of how prepared she is. She has also read the teachings of President Spencer W. Kimball. President Kimball drops the cane sometimes, but it didn’t scare her away, so she must be ready. We also found out that Carmen and Luis, the parents of Bryan and Fiorella that were baptized last transfer are getting married this month as well, so they can be baptized. We should be having about five baptisms this month, which would be such a blessing. I know I have said this a lot, but it is amazing how much the Lord is blessing us here in the offices, with not having as much time to go out and work in the street.

So last thing I want to talk about was that we had interviews this week with President Benton, and mine was probably the best one I have ever had. It was very interesting, and really spiritual, too. I learn so much from him. I can’t believe how much President Benton is influencing my life. I think it was Brett or Kyle who told me that we aren’t sent to a country or land where we are supposed to be, rather, to the mission president that will help us grow most. If I just totally misquoted them…I am sure they are used to it…but the point is that I am thinking it is true more and more every day. He has taken a more important role in my life than I ever would have thought my mission president would.

I have started a “purification fast”. Elder Zivic told us about them. You choose some things you are trying to change to align your life with the gospel, like saying “dude” haha or something more important, and you fast from them for 40 days, and at the end of the 40 days you have the Spirit more, and the desires to do those things are gone. Well, I had a few things, so I am going strong through one week. I am going to end it with General Conference, preparing myself for the inspired messages that will be given. I need them pretty badly right now. The world in general and my world have changed quite a bit in the last six months, so I need some revelation from the Prophets. Something big is coming for me in Conference. Everyone should start getting some questions ready to take to conference, because your questions will be answered, God will make sure of it, keeping in mind that the answer might be “No”, or “It doesn’t matter for you to know” haha love those ones. Anyway, I love you fam! Some friends too… I will be sending some pictures soon in the mail, lots of videos too, most don’t have any point to them, and make me look dumb, but I think mom likes those best…hopefully.

Elder Sean

P.S. I forgot to tell you the most important news ever! Starting this week President changed P-Day back to Monday! So I will be writing on Monday now!

Picture at Buenos Aires airport

2009-08-25T08:57:00.002-06:00

Airport Love. Notice the Justin Timberlake posters hanging up in the backround

Ramos Mejia- Week #61

2009-08-25T08:47:00.004-06:00

Lactation and Reckless Chariots

Howdy there,

Well, just to start out, I got Grandma’s package! I made a video to thank her for it, but there is some bad news. If there was a tie in there, it was stolen, I don’t know if we want to tell her that or just let it kind of slip her mind…but other than that it was great! I loved the mango liquorice! How does she find stuff like that? Also, when you go down there fix her computer, she said she can’t read my letters anymore, and it makes her sad. Anyway, I also need to take this time to wish everyone a Happy World Maternal Lactation Week. I don’t know if I have ever talked about this before, but breast-feeding is a whole new ball game down here. In the states it is done privately and politely, but here it is not inappropriate to do it in public. And by public I mean in the street, the store, the bus, or sacrament meeting. It is just another part of life here. If a baby is crying, you can expect shirts to be coming up. It took some getting used to, but after a while it isn’t a distraction, although still unusual. You would think that the mother would be uncomfortable with everyone around. Anyway, I am not trying to write a whole letter about breast-feeding, but I wanted to tell you that it was world maternal lactation week. How do I know? Well, we were going to Capitál for mail, and were driving on 9 de Julio, the most famous street in Argentina (where the obelisk is) that is like 18 lanes wide or something, and hanging on one of the big buildings is a giant poster, covering this 20 story building, of a young mother nurturing her young and wishing everyone a happy W.M.L. week. Oh Argentina, how I will miss you when I leave.

Speaking of leaving Argentina, last night my tio, my second companion back from Castillo days, Elder Shields, hopped on his plane last night. It was really weird…especially because we were in the airport with him! President had us all go to the airport to say goodbye to him. It was way weird…I was on international soil. It was kind of like going back into the world for 30 minutes, and then stepping back into the mission. I took some pictures and a video. Definitely a strange feeling, to see probably my most important companion, that taught me the most, go home. He is the first companion of mine to go home since Elder Torres my first transfer. He went back a week early to start school. He is running BYU track.

So that is cool that Brett and Kyle thought something was actually interesting in my letters. I always find myself just laughing at their stories and imagining them telling me in person. If Kyle liked that quote, check this one out that I got this week from Jamie Melin, who still is a faithful writer even with three children.

“In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil, and you must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike—and they will—you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection. They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham’s seed.” –Jeffrey R. Holland -2 Kings 6: 16-17

I wonder if Elder Holland just sits and thinks about how he can just make something sound 10x more intense… He could have just said that we have help and comfort when we are discouraged…but I’m glad he didn’t. Also, Brett, we met when we were 10…or at least I was 10…10 year anniversary of being best friends! BFF! Or in Spanish, MAPS! (mejor amigos para siempre)…or in Tagalog…NGKISHPOPTUM! I assume Kyle will understand that translation.

So, moving on, B-B-BAU-TIS-MO-MO-MO on Saturday! Elias is getting baptized on Saturday, finally! It took some work to get him to commit, but we finally are going to have his service on Saturday, and Bishop will be baptizing him. Germán is completely lost for now. We haven’t seen him since he came to church a few weeks ago. Elvira and Gabriel returned home early from vacation, and both of them went to church in Corrientes. That is like meeting an investigator, them coming to church one time, teaching them one time, and they go to another state to visit some people, but attend the ward building there on vacation. Golden. Also, Brett is right…I am not doing anything, because we kind of just work all day in the office, and somehow we had 8 investigators in church on Sunday. Ok, we go out and work everyday at 4, but still, I rarely ever had more than 5 or 6 when I was out in the field full-time, so the blessings of the Lord are overflowing. We had another one of those crazy stories on Sunday. A woman, Margarita, showed up to church, because she works with a member in capital and he told her to go, so she came…and luckily for us, Hermana Benton was visiting our ward and just latched onto her and made friends with her quickly. So Hermana Benton was with her the whole block, helping her with everything, and we have an appointment with her on Wednesday…so people are just showing up to church on their own…kind of helps.

My patriarchal blessing project was put on hold because we got really busy, but thanks for reminding me, I need to get back on that. My favourite food right now is oreos with milk that I still eat every Thursday…no just kidding, I don’t know if I have a favourite food right now…but I miss toasted PB&J…we don’t have a toaster here…also, just informed we have a toaster here…so I will be filling that need soon. Also, this computer’s default English spell check is English (Ireland) so it keeps spelling things weird…like favourite, instead of favorite, and I think it spelled licorice differently, too. It is getting nice outside, and spring is on the way. I don’t want to be a writer. I want to actually support my children. We are going to the temple today! Have fun at the USC game Dad, if you go. I am wearing my Trojan shorts today. This is the last season I will miss…they better not make it to the NC or I will be fuming mad for having missed it.

So last thing, we ate lunch with the coolest family in the ward on Sunday, the Salas family. They all speak English, and live in a house nicer than most U.S. homes I have seen. The dad is the former stake president that I talked about in the story with Elvira. Anyway, he showed us a video of some Canadian country band called Sons of Maxwell, who sing a song about how United Airlines broke their guitars and wouldn’t give them a refund. It is pretty funny, and disobedient for us to do, so I had to confess that to everyone so they know I am not perfect. It is called “united breaks guitars”. Anyway, that’s all for this week, I think.

Oh how I love my Savior, because He first loved me!

Elder Sean

Ramos Mejia- Week #60

2009-08-18T14:56:00.004-06:00

Family Vacation

Hey

Well, like you said, today is month number 14 for me. Exactly one year ago I stepped off a plane and set foot in Argentina. A lot has happened since then, and it is weird to think that I have more time in the country then I have left in it. I will miss it when I leave, good thing it isn’t for a while. Didn’t end up going to the temple today. We are going next week I guess, I got confused. Kind of a bummer, because I was gearing up for it. There are rumors that it is going to close in October, so this might be one of the last times I can go for ten months…I am actually surprised how depressed I am about that. We take it for granted being so close to temples in the states, and having multiple within driving distances.

This week was great. We are really humming along in the work. We have a lot of great investigators. We ended up teaching Elvira and her son, Gabriel. So you know how we just met her on Sunday, well she gave us her address to pass by with the member and everything, and we went by. It was a huge apartment complex, and we buzzed in 2A, which is the address we had, only to hear an angry man answer. We asked for Elvira or Gabriel, and he said that they had moved, and then hung up on us…we had just seen her on Sunday! How could they have moved! He wouldn’t answer again, because I buzzed a few more times, and he wasn’t having it. So we left, a little deflated, because she was so ready to hear the gospel. We didn’t have her phone number or anything. However, the Lord gave us a second chance. It wasn’t an hour later that we got a call from Brother Salas, the former stake president, and our gospel doctrine teacher, who is quite possibly the most amazing member I have met. Also, he speaks perfect English. So I picked up the phone, and he says (in English) “Hey, where are you? Elvira has been calling me wanting to know where you are. She is waiting for you. I think you should go over, she is really prepared.” He had given her his phone number on Sunday in case she had any questions…that is a member with his priorities straight. He helps investigators feel comfortable. So he gave us her phone number and we called her. She lived in 12A, not 2A! How embarrassing! Haha, they sound similar in Spanish. So we ran back and found her, and her son, whom we taught. They are soooooo ready to hear this message. I have never seen anything like this. The son is 19 and just had a smile on his face the whole time. He told us that he had stopped smoking, drinking, and messing around with his girlfriend BY HIMSELF, so that he could be closer to God...uh…ok…wanna get baptized maybe? They both have made up their minds to be baptized, but they went on vacation to another province for two weeks, but get this, Elvira already had looked up the address to the church building closest to them there. Golden! We are basically just waiting for them to get back. Also, Elias’ parents are giving their permission for him to be baptized, too, so we have a date with him for the 29th. He really needs support, because he changes his mind a lot, but he set this date by himself, so we will see what we can do to help him along the way. Germán dodged us again, so we didn’t see him all week. He doesn’t have a cell phone, so it is kind of hard to pin down where he is.

So today I was writing some letters, and one was to Alex Greaves…yay…but anyway, this story isn’t about her. I wrote in one part about being “dead serious”, and the memory popped into my head of Brett in his room at BYU saying in a slow serious voice, “I am deathly serious…” I could not stop laughing, because he would say it and like start doing his fake laugh, which actually makes him laugh, so it turns into a real laugh. Deathly Serious…just one of those things that are only funny to a few people. Sorry I hate when people do that, but I don’t remember many things that happened this week to tell you about. I heard a country song the other day and remembered just how much I liked the genre. It was that song, “the good stuff” I don’t even know who sings it, but it was a great little moment. Also we scored some Gladys Knight singing primary songs and hymns, and making it all gospel-like, which is just a picker-upper. Also, the internet isn’t working, so I can’t get back on to read any questions you had for the week.

President and Hermana Benton went on a trip out to the campo for a District Conference, because there isn’t a stake out there yet. It was kind of funny on Saturday they were all getting ready to head out in the van, packing everything up, and making sure they had everything. The assistants were going with them, and we were helping load everything into the van. It was so strange; it felt like getting ready for a family vacation or road-trip. Elder Sabey and I kind of laughed talking about how it always is the same sequence of events on family trips. You set a time to wake up, but only Dad wakes up at that time. You think you did everything the night before so that you only had to load up the car in the morning, but somehow there are a million things you forgot to do when morning rolls around. Dad has people on a strict schedule, telling us how much time is left before the car is rolling out of the driveway. You never leave on time. Dad is honking the horn yelling that we are 20 minutes behind schedule and we are never going to make it on time, while Mom is in the house still packing a cooler or something. She yells out the door, “Oh we forgot something; we have to stop by the grocery store.” Dad either rolls his eyes, or mutters how there is no time to do that. The kids have pillows and blankets in the car, no matter what time of day it is, or how hot it is, because the trip goes faster when you are asleep, and sometimes the air conditioner gets cold. Mom wakes up two times just to say she needs a bathroom, and the kids are out cold the whole trip, or playing gameboy Pokemon. Dad takes advantage and listens to some talk radio show about politics or sports. If the kids do happen to wake up, he sits through a backstreet boy CD about five times, until they fall asleep again. When they are out, his show is over and he drives in silence. The air conditioner breaks in the middle of a desert, and you shove the blankets in the trunk, and drive 80 mph down the highway with windows down. You arrive where you are going, and if there is family waiting for you they ask how the trip was. Mom always answers, “Oh it wasn’t bad at all.” Dad doesn’t answer. His bloodshot eyes are answer enough. He just starts unloading the car and wants to sleep, but the kids were asleep all day, so they want to do something, so Dad takes them out for a burger and a shake. And that…is the perfect family vacation. Aren’t dads great? At least mine is. I hope I am like him with my kids.

Sean

New photos today

2009-08-13T12:24:00.002-06:00

¡MIA! Just one more small Argentine I wish was my girlfriend. Her mom is the lady I did a baptismal interview for a few weeks ago.

My area! ¡Ramos Mejía! This picture is off of the balcony of the Smith Family Robinson´s Treehouse...and by that I mean, The Smith's apartment. Pretty cool view, huh?

Ramos Mejia- Week #59 cont.

2009-08-13T07:37:00.005-06:00

Argentina Primary is just as good as American Primary

So tired…no p-day…guraahgahag

P-Day count for the transfer: I/4 …So I am really at a loss of what to write this week. I mean, a lot of stuff happened, but man I am fried. We have been really busy basically since the transfer started. Once again we will not have a P-day, due to the fact that four missionaries that were assigned to Venezuela were reassigned due to visa problems, and show up today, so we have been getting everything ready for them. I have to make their orientation binders, so I have been printing things off like crazy. I didn’t have the actual binders with the church logo on them, because they come in the shipments that I order every couple of weeks. Well, I made an order like 3 weeks ago, thinking that it would make it here in plenty of time, (they usually show up in a week and a half) plus we just kind of found out a month ago they were coming. So I have been waiting for this shipment and everything, which had a ton of materials the missionaries have been asking for. The binders were in there, as well as a bunch of lesson 1 pamphlets, which a lot of people use to teach the first lesson. Well, for two weeks we haven’t had any pamphlets in the whole mission, and I have gotten some heat for it from some missionaries. At first it made me feel kind of bad that they didn’t have what they wanted, but then I realized it is not a requirement to have a pamphlet to teach a lesson, so I just started to tell people to hand out copies of the Book of Mormon and quit complaining. No where does it say that a lesson 1 pamphlet is the key to conversion, or the lesson, or that you can´t teach without one. The first missionaries bore pure testimony of the Book of Mormon, and baptized thousands. Elder Sabey made a good point when he said, “When have you ever heard a General Authority say, ‘I gave my friend a lesson 1 pamphlet’ NEVER! They always say, ‘I gave my friend a Book of Mormon.’ So do the same.” Anyway, about 20 minutes after we left to go distribute the mail to everyone…the shipment came hahaha…so a whole lot of frustration could have been avoided if we would have left 20 minutes later. Not a big deal though. I just laugh now.

News flash, President just told us that the new financial secretary is Elder Maxwell, from my MTC district. We are basically taking over the offices. So on a less stressed upbeat note, there were a ton of miracles this week in our missionary work. Germán showed up to church, clean-shaven, and with a smile, which was so nice to see. We have a lesson with him tonight, and we plan to re-set a baptismal date with him. Anyway, as is probably obvious, we don’t get to work the whole day in the missionary work, because we are working here in the offices, so sometimes it can feel like if we only had more time we could be having so much more success. This week, however, has shown me that the Lord is blessing us double in the missionary work, for the time spent in the office. We have wanted to find some new investigators that will progress towards baptism (like every other missionary on the planet). Well, we showed up to Church, and sat through priesthood class. Our Sacrament meeting is the third hour of the block, which is weird to think about in the States, but is the regular schedule here for most wards. So we are about to go into Sunday School, and some woman comes up to me asking me questions. She asked where gospel doctrine class was and everything. I had never seen here before so I introduced myself and all that good stuff. Turns out she wasn’t from here. She is from the south of Argentina, and brought a friend who lives smack dab in the middle of our area. Her name is Elvira…yes…like the song, which I have sung about 100 times since Sunday. They met on the internet, and the member came up to Ramos to take a class and has been staying with Elvira. So they decided to come to church together, and she LOVED it, she is going to bring her 19 year old son next week…if he wants to come. Our members are sooooo cool! They just swooped in and scooped her up to make her feel welcome. We were playing the role of the directors of the play, telling members to go say hi to her, and sit by her in class and in Sacrament Meeting, showing her how the hymn book works. It was great. We have an appointment with her on Thursday, and a member she already met and became friends with is going with us. We are in the best ward in the mission. So even though we aren’t in the street as much as other missionaries, the Lord still blesses us with success.

So, the highlight of the week also happened on Sunday. It was a national holiday…Dia del Niño. Children’s Day. Yes…like mother’s day or father’s day, but for children. Best holiday ever invented, and it is legit here, too. The children get presents and everything, and everything shuts down, no one wanted to have us over, the usual big holiday treatment. Well, in celebration of this great holiday, the Primary had a special treat, and guest visitor…US! Elder Sabey and I taught Sharing Time in Primary, and it was probably the highlight of my mission so far. It was all combined, so we had the little tikes as well as the older kids who were too cool for Primary with us. Little do they know, that ten years from now when they are on missions, the only thing they will want to do is be in Primary again. So we played all the games we could remember from our Primary years, and surprisingly they weren’t familiar with any of them…so either it is different down here, or they have done away with the old primary traditions. We also did a few magic tricks for them and got them just hanging on our every word, after which we taught about the Book of Mormon and the Spirit. I think the teachers enjoyed it just as much as the children did. One sister came up after Sacrament Meeting, a good hour and a half after we taught Primary, and said, “Elder, you still haven’t told us how you did that trick.” And she was dead serious…haha, actually it was kind of awkward trying to get away without giving her the secret to the trick. Anyway, I had a great time, and can see why missionaries are in the class with investigators and new members, and not the Primary, because the kidnapping charges would probably sky-rocket. I wanted to take one home with me ha…but not like in a creepy way…the kidnapping was just a joke. Also, last week I found out that when you are really stressed and busy, it is helpful to sing Primary songs. And well, I am the material guy, so I have huge stocks of the Children´s Songbook in Spanish, and this whole week I took the liberty of memorizing primary songs in my spare/stressed time, in preparation for Sunday. It totally paid off too! I knew 3 of the 4 songs we sang.

I have also found that I can’t feel bad when I have an apple in my hand. Strange, yes, but an observation I made during the week. If I am eating an apple, I feel good, physically, and mentally. And with that little piece of information, I will leave you for another week, and hope that we have a P-day soon…because I ate 5 apples yesterday. Is that healthy?

I love to see the temple, I’m going there someday…next week…

Elder Gilmore

Mission Pictures

2009-08-12T21:54:00.003-06:00

Well, looks like Sean had to work through P-Day again and didn't get a chance to write a letter. I don't know if he will get to write this week or not, but thought I would post a few more pictures that he has sent us. Enjoy!

Sean looks so happy doesn't he?

Sean and Elder Fox

Elder Gilmore

Does Sean look taller to you? Love the sword too....

pics pics pics

2009-08-12T21:43:00.001-06:00

Elder Arriola and Sean at the temple in Buenos Aires

Sean raises the Title of Liberty?

Sean really liked that new years day pig

I'm sure it liked it a lot better after it was BBQed

more mission photos

2009-08-12T21:34:00.004-06:00

Sean and companion, Elder Arriola

Sean with Argentine family

Sean with Ciris and companion, Elder Gonzalez

Ramos Mejia- Week #59

2009-08-12T21:29:00.003-06:00

unfortunately we dont have pday again, so i dont know when i will write...there were going to be 5 new missionaries with visa problems coming today, but something happened and that number has dwindled down to 1, but 3 are staying for a week...it is just a big mess...and i am tired, and want a p-day...but it escapes me again

Missionary Photos

2009-08-04T09:33:00.002-06:00

Sister Pollock went to Argentina to pick up her son a couple weeks ago and she was nice enough to send us these pictures she took. Thanks!

Elders Sabey, Woodmansee, Pollock, Gilmore, Marchello, Frost and Varela

Sean showing Elder Pollock something on his camera... nice winter coat!

Ramos Mejia- Week #58

2009-08-04T07:17:00.002-06:00

General Authority Week!

Welcome to the Sean Gilmore Show,

Do you ever wish your life is a movie, or TV show, like the Truman Show? I would probably watch this last week on re-runs. Actually, this week was kind of a hard one. Everyone was really stressed out with the three conferences, we didn’t get a lot of time to get out and work, our baptism fell through, and the second counselor in our bishopric died, which has hit the ward pretty hard. He was 29 and had cancer. He has a wife and three children, one only eight months old. Last week was testimony meeting, and everyone was just a mess. It was hard, as a missionary, this is my ward, my home ward for six months, and you build relationships and get attached to people. When you spend long enough with anyone, you can learn to love them, but it is even easier when they are great people trying their best to live the gospel.

Anyway, regardless of the trials, there were so many great things that happened. I call it General Authority Week. You know General Authorities are on your mind, when they start appearing in your dreams. Last night I dreamt that L. Tom Perry came to our mission and we were talking with him. Do quotes from a General Authority in a dream count as modern scripture? That wasn’t a serious question...

I will get to the Elder Zivic stuff later on, but we got the Church News this week and it had summaries from the talks at the New Mission President Seminar. It was just chalk-full of amazing quotes that everyone has to read! I liked it because the General Authorities understand better than anyone, what being on a mission is. They understand it isn’t a breeze, but that there are a lot of grinding times, when you think you will break. President Uchtdorf gave some advice to the mission presidents when he said,

“Please help your missionaries to understand that the fruits of their labor will reach far beyond their present horizon. Generations to come will be grateful and bless their names for their faithfulness and dedication. As these noble missionaries endure rejection, loneliness, self-doubt, homesickness and exhaustion, the Refiner’s fire will purify their souls. They will increase in wisdom and GROW UP in the Lord, and their confidence will wax strong in the presence of God.”

I love the term, Refiner’s fire…I have started to use it too much…but one thing is for sure, if I am not doing any other thing on that list, I am growing up. I liked what you said Dad, that there will be time after the mission for other things, but this time only comes once, and I have to use it as best I can. Anyway, President Uchtdorf goes on,

“A powerful jet reaches its true potential in the air only after the landing gear and takeoff flaps are retracted. Missionaries might experience a similar experience in their labors. They might arrive in the mission field a little clumsy, timid or even cocky, but as you help them to get rid of some early drag, as you guide them to develop some added acceleration and extra lift, they will discover their true potential and become what they were meant to be. They will become true servants of the Lord, following His promptings and magnifying their callings—climbing during their mission to greater spiritual heights and reaching out to faraway goals.”

Then Elder Holland put into words what I have felt, but couldn’t really express, about when you meet someone who is progressing and finally ready for baptism.

Elder Holland: “Spirit will prompt testimony and an invitation to be baptized. There comes such joy and peace in the room, such a near-tangible atmosphere of divinity, that neither the missionary, nor the member, nor the investigator experiencing such a moment would choose to be anywhere else in all the world at that time.”

They understand! Anyway, just a few more quotes and I will write about me. Elder Holland is pretty famous in the MTC for his talks that he has given there, and there are some classic lines from his messages. He always ends them in a powerful way that just makes you think, “Wow, did he just say that?” So here is how he ended his address to the missionaries, just before sitting down.

“The Godhead will bear testimony of you and your companion—frail, little uncelestial souls that you are—when you have earnestly tried to become part of the Divine Order…If you try to live this way—try with all the best that is within you—the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost above you will smile and say, ‘It is enough. We will let these missionaries and their investigators feel a portion of the power of heaven. We will let them feel the touch of our unity and our divinity. …’ Welcome to the work of angels. Welcome to the work of divinity.”

Haha I like the frail little uncelestial souls part. It is so true though. You just can’t have another experience like a mission. Like he said, it is the work of angels; it is the work of divinity. You can’t go on a mission, and put the least little bit of effort into it, and not come back better. All young men go on a mission. Shoot, all young women go on a mission. Everyone go on a mission, I don’t care who you are, how old you are, or your circumstances. You aren’t making the wrong choice if you choose to go on a mission. Senior couples, go on a mission…ok so I can’t really order senior couples around…but just my opinion. Alright so enough of that little rant, on to the Elder Zivic stuff.

Did everyone know that Elder Zivic was a mission President in the Spain…Bilbao mission! Cool huh? Brett is serving in the mission Elder Zivic used to preside over. I told him my best friend is there right now. Also, he is the new financial Secretary, cool stuff Brett! So the interview with him was pretty interesting. He told a little about his story. He lives here in this stake, and has all his life. He helped build the chapel I serve in, and the one the offices are attached to, here in Ramos Mejía. Get this too; he met his wife…in Primary…yeah! That is SWEET! I don’t even remember any girls from Primary. It was really interesting though, I thought he would talk about how important getting out of the offices is to go do missionary work and all that, which he did, but most of it was counsel to enjoy and take advantage of the time spent in the offices. Take advantage of the close relationship being developed with President Benton, because other missionaries just don’t get that opportunity. He said the offices are like Logistics, in the Army, making sure the troops on the front lines can work to maximum efficiency. So that was kind of cool. He really loved his office elders in Spain, and said sometimes they don’t get the credit they deserve. I think the missionaries here are pretty nice to us. They usually are appreciative and send us brownies and stuff…well…the sisters do anyway.

In the big conferences I took about 6 pages of notes. He talked a lot about how we get these “mindsets” about what is possible, and we refuse to think outside that mindset and do new things. He talked about an experiment that some scientists did – they put 4 monkeys in a large cage, with a staircase leading up to some bananas. Once they let the monkeys go, they all obviously ran for the bananas. Once they were almost at the top of the stairs, the scientists hosed them down with cold water, soaking the monkeys (not a very nice thing to do, if you ask me) and made them run back down the staircase to avoid the cold water. Every time they tried to go up and get the bananas, the scientists shot the cold water at them until finally the monkeys decided that they didn´t want to get wet anymore, so they stopped trying to get the bananas. Then the scientists took out one of the monkeys and put in a new monkey that knew nothing about the cold water. Obviously, the monkey went straight for the bananas, but when the three other monkeys saw where he was going they thought that surely the cold water was coming, so they grabbed him off the staircase and carried him away, and started punching and kicking him until he stopped trying to go for the bananas. He thought, well, I guess I shouldn´t go over there. Then the scientists took out a second monkey and put in a second new one, and just like the rest started running for the bananas. I probably would have, too. The two monkeys who remembered the cold water grabbed him off the staircase and carried him away, then started punching and kicking him, and the first new monkey didn´t know what was going on, but started punching and kicking anyway because that´s what happened to him, so he figured he would join in. The scientists changed out the third and fourth monkey, with the same thing happening, until there were 4 monkeys that knew nothing about the cold water, but none tried to go get the bananas. Elder Zivic said that we as people laugh at that story, but many times we get caught in a mindset that is just as ridiculous as the monkeys and the cold water. It happens a lot in missionary work. We don’t try things, because it is not how things have been done, and generations of missionaries have said not to do it that way. Moral of the story, don’t be a stupid monkey. Be a smart monkey and go for that banana! Never mind the cold water. So we also noticed that you don’t have to be an Apostle to have good quotes. Here are a few from him.

Elder Zivic quotes:

“Satan, you have awakened me, and now you will see me work – and it will make you tremble.”

“In the moments when we plead to God saying, “Why don´t you do more to help me?” I can sometimes imagine Heavenly Father say, “Remember that it is you, not me that have to achieve divinity. I already have.”

“When we have a positive attitude, 50% of the work is already done.”

So it was a pretty uplifting week in the sense of learning from the General Authorities. I got my package, thanks a lot! I ran out of peanut butter so that was welcome. Even though I am in the bigger city now, I have still yet to find peanut butter in this whole country. I did know Elder Tyler Larson, he was my district leader in Merlo for a few transfers, and we did divisions together. I would love to hear about the Education week stuff, and discuss it. Glad to hear everything is going well with Lacey, and she had a good time in Livingston. I can’t believe Kim Larson is already getting off her mission…she just left…a few months before me, haha. Well, that is about it. Just to end General Authority Week with a bang, here is another Elder Holland quote that I found a while ago that has quickly become one of my favorites.

“When things aren’t going well, remember that God loves broken things. He especially loves a broken heart. We still live the law of sacrifice. Christ died of a broken heart. We are put in situations to break our hearts. So try to be as good and as big as you can be and see it through, because we get it back, all of it! Everything that was dead and gone. We are given a new life. We all have to give a broken heart sometime. It is our Holy walk: the road to salvation goes through Gethsemane. Endure and save yourself for days of happiness ahead-because they are ahead. Endure! Just stand there and take it! Where else will we go? Peter said, “Lord, to whom would we go?” This gospel is the only hope you’ve got! The sun went down on a very black Friday (as it will for all of us at some point during this test) and it didn’t rise again, but it will. Don’t cave in the middle of the three days. Christ did it. You can do it too!”

Love, Elder Gilmore

P.S. It is amazing how long an email can get, when half of it is quotes copied and pasted into a word document.

P.P.S. There are rumors that an Apostle could be coming to the mission in November, but nothing official.

Ramos Mejia- Week #57

2009-07-28T13:25:00.006-06:00

Elder Zivic is in the other room....

Season’s greetings to you and your kin, (line from Elder Sabey)

Well, this week has been busy, to say the least. I guess when you are an office elder getting ready for a General Authority to come tour your mission, more is expected of you. Let’s just say that all six of us, blatantly broke mission rules last night, and we were all working in the office until about 12:30 at night. I remember at BYU I would go to sleep sometimes at like 3 or 4, and be fine…Let’s just say I was dozing off while walking last night. A missionary is not built to be up past 10:30. It actually was pretty funny, because everyone was just losing their minds from the stress and being tired. My question is, if we knew he was coming three months ago, why are we having to work down to the wire? Then I thought about it, and it always works out like that…no matter how much preparation you have, it always seems like the night before you are pulling the all-nighter to make sure everything is perfect. So everyone had little projects to do, and mine was to obtain all the materials that would be needed for the meetings, such as microphones and keys to the audio room, and all that jazz. So I called Church HQ down here in Buenos Aires to get all the stuff like last week, and they kept telling me they would come to deliver it to us, well long story short, it never happened, and up until 11:00 last night I still didn’t have the stuff I needed. I thought Elder Woodmansee was going to kill me with lasers coming from his bloodshot eyes! I finally got a hold of the stake president and we got someone over here to open the secretary’s office. Also, Mom, about the being in a nicer area comment: Yeah, this place is definitely safer than my other areas. The roads are paved here…but it is still considered a “slum” of Buenos Aires in some parts. Also, President lives about 40 minutes away in a nice part of the Capitol, which is in the North mission. But everything worked out, and Elder Zivic is next door in the chapel! He seems like a pretty laid back man. We haven’t had our interviews with him, but it will be sometime within the next two days. The details might have to be in next week’s email.

So tell the Grandmothers that I miss them, and miss hearing from them. Tell Grandma Wilma that I obviously do not look down on her letters for grammatical errors; ha I am not sure why she would think that. She helped in the process of raising me…so it is pretty much impossible to look down on her, because what I am is a product of her and my family’s teaching, so if I looked down on her, I would technically be looking down on myself. I love my family for what it is, even if we warsh clothing. Also, I haven’t heard from either of them since my birthday, which is just entirely too long to go without grandma love. I know Grandma Sherry is a little under the weather, to put it lightly, with the cancer treatments, so I won’t demand a letter, but just let them know I am thinking about them.

So about the Elder that got deported, he is in Los Angeles, and is supposed to come back whenever he gets his passport. So who knows? That is great you got to see everyone in Livingston. Do I know the girl Sant is dating? Also, Moriah’s wedding announcement said she was getting married in June, so why is she just having an open house…or is that how they usually do it…I have no idea. Wish I could have had a corn dog with you, Dad! Also, I will be home next summer for the county fair, and I definitely will need some Park County corn dogs…they were so good. That Education week stuff sounds cool. Well, you could buy a Wii…or add to my car fund! I will let you be the judge of which is more important in the eternal perspective…keep in mind that usually girls like guys with nice cars more than guys that sit and play Nintendo, so this will probably effect whether or not the Gilmore name lives on through me. I still feel pressure about being the only male Gilmore of all the grandchildren…I better have a son. Elder Brook´s package got sent back because, although I go to mail every week, I only go to the huge mail place in Capitál every two weeks, and wouldn’t you know it, it was closed for pig flu, and I didn’t get back in time. Also, they have downsized all the missions to only two cars. So we are kind of hurting. President uses one, and then we all now have to plan for the rest of the things to do with one car. Why don’t they just take one of the 90 cars in the Hollywood mission? We don’t even have bikes here, because they would get stolen…they are probably going to take our shoes next…no just kidding, just takes a little extra planning, which is good. It can only make us better.

So, something pretty fun that happened this week: Sunday night we were invited over to the mission home by President and Hermana Benton for dinner. Steak…corn on the cob…and baked potatoes. I almost felt like I was being disobedient by eating it, because that just doesn’t happen here. It was kind of like a little family night. We ate, and were then told that it was Benton family tradition to tell gross stories right after eating…I love them. So it wasn’t like we all went around telling our own story, but it was funny. President asked about my toe operation, which has pretty much healed by the way, so that was a fun little story to tell. I just have to tell you though, I could not stop laughing when President and Hermana went off. They started talking about how they can’t really take gross situations, which sparked the story when their cat had kittens, and President was feeling sick, but Hermana wasn’t affected, and actually was eating a BLT the whole time. So President then says, “Yeah, I just couldn’t handle it. The same thing happened with our first child.” Hahaha, so that sparked the story of the birth of their four children…yeah…it was hilarious. It wasn’t inappropriate or anything, just really funny how they both told the story. So then we turned it over to a more spiritual note. We sang a few hymns together, and then sat down for a little forum discussion. Topic: Agency. I was way excited because I am actually studying agency right now, and I have for a good while, so it was perfect for me. President really helped us understand a few things.

First we kind of talked about how when people say free agency, it isn’t correct. Someone had to pay, and then from that the discussion went to how we lose our agency, when we don’t use it wisely. The obvious example being when we sin, or get into an addiction, we gradually lose our agency. We all looked up scriptures and talked a little more about it. I really liked something that President said though. He said, “As you make right choices, it is easier the next time to make a right choice. As you make wrong choices, it is easier the next time to make a wrong choice.” So I have to keep making right choices. Every choice we make either moves us closer to God, or farther away. There are no detours. We have to ask ourselves before we make a decision, big or small, is this moving me closer to Heavenly Father? Is this really what He wants me to do, or am I doing it for me? If there is one thing I have learned here, it is that I don’t know what is best for me, nor do you, neither does anyone else. Heavenly Father knows what is best for us, because he can see the “big picture”. So we better stick close to Him, and do what He would have us do, not what we think we want to do. I noticed that I make a lot of decisions that probably don’t move me closer to Him, nor is it what He expects of me, but I am learning, and loving the journey. I realized this is the first time I have ever been on a mission, or been 20…and I have no idea what I am doing. This is the first time I have ever had to make decisions like this, or live like I am living. I use my agency, and some stuff works, and some doesn’t. All I can do is keep doing the best I can, and rely on the Spirit to guide me and instruct me on how to use my agency wisely. Then, as I learn more, it will be easier to heed the voice of the Spirit, and make the right decision. Bah…I have a long way to go. Good thing I have so much time to learn it. So that was my week. A little busy, but I still learned something, and had a pretty good time. I just finished talking to Elder Zivic who told me about the time he and his wife went snowmobiling in Wyoming. I almost forgot that he, as a General Authority, is in Salt Lake at least twice a year for General Conference. He speaks in English, too, but lives right here in Haedo, which is in the stake I am serving in. Cool stuff.

So, that’s all for now. I am grateful for all your support, and hope the summer is going well for everyone. It is still freezing down here…sometimes. I am grateful for this opportunity the Lord is giving me to grow. I thought before the mission I was a pretty good guy wouldn’t need to change very much, but it has been crazy to see just how much I have learned. Guess I wasn’t all that, ha. I’ll tell you who was though! Christ. I have grown closer to Him than in any other time, and am learning more and more from Him on a daily basis. I believe in Christ, He stands supreme! From Him I´ll gain, my fondest dream; And while I strive through grief and pain, His voice is heard: “Ye shall obtain.”

Elder Gilmore

P.S. Sister Pollock did end up giving me a hug, but it was a half hug, and pretty sneaky. I don’t think anyone saw it.

Ramos Mejia- Week #56

2009-07-23T13:22:00.004-06:00

Learning to Walk

Hey Everyone,

So, this week was just crazy! With transfers and everything we had so much to do, hence, I am writing late. It all started last week when President and the Assistants started transfers. We went out and did some errands in the Capitol, and came back; to find President’s passenger side window in his car bashed out…it was sitting here at the church, and they heard a loud thumping from inside, then the alarm went off. When they went out, the thieves were gone, and so was President’s GPS system. So, we are taking more precautions here in the offices of locking all the gates and knowing where everyone is at all times. I guess they thought I was outside breaking down boxes or something. So that started probably one of the busiest weeks of my mission. All the transfers were made, and Elder Fox is the new AP. He is the elder I lived with in my first area for four transfers, or 6 months, and now we will most likely live together for another four transfers…or in other words I will have lived with him for a year of my life by the time this is over. We were talking and laughing about how I guess this means we have to be best friends, and be in the sealing room at each other’s weddings. I haven’t told him about Brett and Kyle yet, but I am easing into it, don’t worry, they still hold the #1 spot in my heart.

So the weekend before transfer meeting is always busy, and this go around we were actually down one man, because Elder Pollock went off with his parents on Friday. They were really nice, and I probably could have just sat and talked with them all day, but there was work to be done. Sister Pollock did mention though about how Dad is famous on missionary mom.com, or rather, how I am famous because of my dad, and how he linked everyone through to my blog…so that was funny. They all just left on the tour of Capitál with President and everyone going home, and she asked us if we were coming. We said no, and she said, “Oh, how sad!” haha it is sad…

So we got through the transfer meeting on Monday without a hitch, and it was great, only to fly into Tuesday, with all the new Elders, and one Sister, coming. Well, we get a call at about 8 or 9 in the morning from Sister Abbot, fresh from the MTC in Provo, telling us that Elder Seedall, also fresh from the good ol' USA lost his passport…and they aren’t letting him through Customs…I guess they didn’t fly directly to Argentina like we did when we came. They first went to Lima, Peru and had to get off and change planes in the middle of the night and then showed up here. So somewhere in that process he lost his passport. Long story short, they wouldn’t let anyone see him, and he was all alone not knowing how to communicate. I guess they got someone back there who “spoke English” to tell him he was officially being deported. So he is probably already back in the United States, in the MTC again or something…we haven’t heard anything since. So even though poor Elder Seedall didn’t make it, the rest did! They all looked dead tired when they got here. When we were getting them all into their taxis to go to their areas I was helping an elder that was kind of just standing in a haze.

“Where ya from, Elder Moore!?!”
“St. Louis.”
“Hey, I’ve been there! You are going to Castillo! That is where I started, but a different ward. You’re going to love it!”
“Alright”
“Are you nervous?”
“I´m terrified.”
“Yeah it is a little stressful when you start out, but don’t worry.”
“I guess I will play the piano to relieve my stress, back home Halo relieved my stress.”
“Oh my gosh, I love you…”

This little conversation was followed by a good 5 second awkward pause…then he kind of smiled and said, “oh…thanks…” hahaha it was way funnier in person. Anyway, they made it safely.

Yesterday we went down to Church HQ for South America South area, which is basically the United States inside, and talked with Elder Petersen, the area doctor, and he operated on me. For about 8 months I have had an ingrown toenail, but it hasn’t bothered me too much, just slight discomfort. I never wanted to go take care of it because I always had goals to reach and didn’t want to waste time, but the other elders betrayed me and told President and Sister Benton about it…and they suggested I go. Happy to say that all went well, and my ace bandage is snug around my toe. It wasn't in-grown, he said it was a "p***********************"...all I know is that it was a long word that started with a "P", or in other words, and infection that occurs on the nail wall. The needle to numb my toe was only a little bit shorter than a #2 pencil, and he stuck it in about 5 times. I have heard horror stories about it, and I went with Elder Shields when he was my companion, but it wasn’t even bad. He said I did really well, and should think about a career in medicine…something about having good composure around needles and excessive blood. We got a great video of the procedure, which probably climaxed when I asked, "Is there usually that much blood?" He, without hesitation, gave a stern, "No" and continued on with his work, hurriedly putting gauze into my open wound. So I have my soapy water and cheap argentine version of Neosporin to soak my toe in every morning and night, so I should be good to go. Now I just have to learn to walk again...just kidding.

I have seen Harry Potter stuff all over the place…trunky…and yeah mom I heard about that Harry Potter theme park before I left on the mission, I read everything I could find about it, and plan on going every year at least once for the rest of my life. Well, the work is picking back up, and we have a baptism with a 17 year old named Elias on the 1st of August. He is golden.

This week in my studies it has been really interesting. I kind of realized that my studies aren’t just for one hour…I am being taught all day. Speaking of learning to walk again, I am continuing to ascend the mountain of spirituality, if you will, and am finding out more and more it is a hard road, one I have never attempted to travel, but at the same time, I’m not alone in the climb so it looks promising. I look at it as a parent teaching a child how to walk. Heavenly Father is teaching me how to walk. I have always been a good crawler, and have been able to get pretty far crawling. A lot of good experiences, lessons learned, trials overcome, but it is time to move on to the next level…and I don’t quite know what to do, it is easier to just crawl, but He knows that I can do more walking. He has set me up on my feet and let go of me, and is standing right in front of me with His Arms open, but how do I get to Him. How do I walk? Haha, obviously the physical answer is obvious, but how do I do it spiritually. I have seen a lot of Argentine babies learning to walk, and they just kind of stand in the same place staring at their mother, not moving, but you can tell they are doing some intense thinking of how to get over to her. You can see it in their eyes. So I am learning how to walk, and then He will teach me to run, and eventually fly…on my Firebolt…buahaha ok inappropriate Harry Potter reference right there. Anyways, I have determined that for now, my answer is look to my Perfect Example, the Lord. He knows how to walk, and I have sacred records that tell me how He did it. Become Christ-like, and you will be up and walking in no time.

Speaking of studies, my gospel understanding and knowledge is just loving being in the offices, where I have access to unlimited conference talks and religious forums. I found this quote from Spencer W. Kimball.

“To be like Christ! What a lofty ideal! The Savior had a pleasing personality, He was kind, He was pleasant, He was understanding, He never went off on tangents, He was perfectly balanced. No eccentricities could be found in His life. Here was no ostentation and show, but He was real and humble and genuine. He made no play for popularity. He made no compromises to gain favor. He did the right thing always, regardless of how it might appeal to men. He drew all good people to Him as a magnet.”

I am not like that, but I want to be. I love you all. Talk to you next week!

Sean

Cereal Feast

2009-07-21T21:08:00.001-06:00

This is a video of Sean with Elder Latorre in Merlo, Argentina in May, a few days after his birthday, having a "cereal feast".

A few more pics

2009-07-15T09:19:00.001-06:00

The Smiths prepared a meal in honor of Elder Pollock going home next week

Office Elders with the Smiths

Ciris gets to baptize

Harry Potter Pictures

2009-07-14T12:48:00.003-06:00

Sean's reaction when he asked the Assistants if he could go see Harry Potter on P-Day. He has on his House Elf shirt. I think you can guess what the answer was.....

In the spirit of Harry Potter week, Sean made some slight changes to this picture of the Mission President, his wife, and the office Elders.

Ramos Mejia- Week #55

2009-07-14T10:02:00.004-06:00

Harry Potter is a child of God..... fictionally speaking

Well Hello there,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! Did you ever think we would make it this far? I am so sorry about this birthday letter fiasco, I thought it would get there in time, but it should be getting there soon. Also, don’t freak out Lacey, I am writing your birthday letter this week so it gets there in plenty of time…why are all the women in the family born in July…I think I counted like 7 from aunts and cousins and stuff…

Don´t worry, I have made it one more week without the pig flu, although I did go one night with an intense fever, but it was gone in the morning so I took the liberty of keeping that a secret! If someone would have known, they probably would have carried me off to the pig flu infested hospital and I would have contracted it. So we dodged a bullet. This week was kind of a downer as far as the work went. Germán totally disappeared…well, there is a longer story to it, but it is complicated. He is the boyfriend of Sandra, who was baptized a few weeks ago, and they got into a fight, and she won’t let him back in the house for now…but that is where we always teach him, so we have no idea how to get in contact with him, …so we have been advised by a few members to let it blow over and continue with them after peace has been made. So kind of a lame way to end the week, but there is still hope for Germán. I got a letter from Alex Greaves, and yes Alex I have seen a Harry Potter billboard, but it was far away, and all I could see was what looked like Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore standing in a subway station or something…I asked special permission to go see it on p-day, but was denied…oh well 11 more months. Oh yeah I turn 13 months on Saturday.

Thursday I had an interview with President Benton. It was really good, but I kind of wanted it to go a different way, but it was good all the same. We talked for a while about the office work…which is fine, but in my once a transfer interview with him, the office work was the last thing I was interested in talking about. I like talking about more the things I can do to progress, what I can do to raise the level of spirituality, and life stuff, but still, I got a lot of great advice, and I just love that man. Also, we spent a good 3 minutes talking about Michael Jackson! Turns out President is a fan, and said that Michael was a genius. We talked about some of our favorite MJ classics. Go figure.

The sister I interviewed was baptized on Saturday. We went to the service, and it was really great for her. She bore her testimony at the end, which usually people are way too nervous to do, but it was like she had been a member for 30 years. Great lady. So in other news, there is a missionary couple that works with us here in the offices, The Smith Family, and they invited us to dinner last night, which was awesome! Sister Smith is like a caterer food science major person from BYU and she cooked us taco salad stuff, but used the meat they have at Café Rio…enough said. It was in honor of Elder Pollock, the assistant who is ending his mission next week. On the way home, we saw that Harry Potter poster and everyone started talking in outrageous accents, quoting lines from the books and movies. I dabbled…mostly just my bertie botts line that I always would say to Lacey, also threw in a few things about the chudley cannons, and wizard chess. It reminded me a lot of BYU, when Brett, Kyle, and I would play my Harry Potter xbox game and mimic the people talking…the best always being Brett’s imitations of Cho Chang…”harrow harry” haha makes me laugh just thinking about it. Elder Pollock was just going crazy, saying that he thinks my hair is red…false…he said that when the light hits it right it has a red tint…I have never seen any evidence to support that theory. He was screaming, “ whoa! You have red hair and your name is Ron!” “Close! I have brown hair and my name is Sean!” I did tell them though that my dad and sister are/were (sorry dad) red heads.

So on a more spiritual/missionary note, this week personally has been great. For a while now, I have felt like I have hit a plateau, but this week I started to see more progression. I have really gotten back to my studies, and have been learning a lot more. It is one thing to read scriptures everyday, which I have always done, and another thing to study the scriptures every day. I have been diving into my patriarchal blessing more and more, and applying scripture to it, kind of like making my own little D&C 139 with footnotes and cross references and stuff. I got the idea from Elder Woodmansee. Anyway, I have been studying a lot about Heavenly Father’s relationship with His children, in the sense of us being His children, like not prophets, or members of the church, but children. I wonder about the pre-mortal existence, to think about how well we knew Him, and now we can’t remember, and have to get to know Him all over again. What were we like with Him, individually? We trusted Him completely, or we wouldn’t have come to the earth, so why it is so hard for me to trust Him in this life? I think about how much He must expect of me, being one of the last He would send to build His kingdom, how much instruction He gives me in my blessing to fulfill those expectations. How valiant was I? I mean, I know we were all valiant for being sent in the last days, but was I one of the most valiant, or just above average? Not to put myself down, but I think about it and He answers me when I ask Him. I mean think about it, you don’t even know who you are! I don’t even know who I am! ISN’T THAT EXCITING! I could have been just above the average of faithfulness in the pre-mortal existence, but can now use my time on earth to prove I will be the most valiant, and then add in the factor that we are trying to jog the people’s memories we teach, that they actually DO know their Father, and they were most likely some of the most valiant! It is a continual cycle of love and progression. Side-note, it is most effective to study this topic while listening to the primary choir from two conferences ago sing the songs they sang.

Last piece of news, we have been informed that Elder Claudio D. Zivic of the Seventy is coming to tour our mission in two weeks, so we are on code red to get everything ready for him. President also told us that he has requested interviews with…the office elders… Some may say that would be a once in a lifetime experience, being interviewed by a General Authority, but it just scares me out of my mind.

Well, hope everyone is having a great summer, because we are freezing to death, and fighting off the forces of Satan…and pig flu.

Sean

Videos of Sean's Birthday in Argentina

2009-07-08T08:14:00.002-06:00

Sean having an Ice Cream Party the night before his Birthday

The other Elders throw Sean a Birthday Party- Merlo, Argentina

Michael Jackson Conspiracy Theory

2009-07-07T21:02:00.002-06:00

Mention on the blog please so everyone knows, that Elder Sabey and I have a theory that Michael is not dead, it was all a hoax, and he will be back for the 50th anniversary concert. Mark our words. Did anyone even actually see the body, they buried him early? You have got to be kidding...he is alive, and in the opening act of his concert, he will introduce a new song about being immortal or never dying or being timeless or something. So just doctor that little thought up and put it on the blog so that we get credit when it happens.

(Oh no- Sean is starting another "Elvis is still alive" rumor about Michael Jackson...)

New Pictures

2009-07-07T20:49:00.003-06:00

Bowling! Perfect form, unhindered by missionary attire

That was a strike by the way...maybe...I was trying to put spin on it

I was the official "looker to see where the ball goes" on this hole

Classic Narnia lightpost pic

4th of July

(notice this flag from Argentina has 55 stars...)

Ramos Mejia- Week #54

2009-07-07T15:39:00.005-06:00

Watch out or a pig flu will hit you in the face....

Hey Mom and Dad! And the rest…

Happy Birthday Grandma Wilma!!!

Well, to start off, Happy 4th of July! God bless America! We had burgers and hot dogs to celebrate, but no fireworks. Also, don’t know if you realized, but that was my last 4th of July in the mission, and on Argentine soil, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot of time left here. A few of the most patriotic quotes came to mind while thinking about our nation’s independence.

1. I say, that what you say is what I say.” –Spot Collins, Newsies…never fear, Brooklyn is here!

2. “If you are racist, I will attack you with the North.” –Abraham Lincoln, paraphrasing by Michael Scott

Well, this week was really interesting with everything that happened. First off, this pig flu, or swine flu, or gripe porcina, or whatever you want to call it, just got seriously legit in Argentina. All of a sudden it is like a big deal. I am not sure what happened. So the death toll is just growing and growing, and everyone and his brother is running into their houses and locking the door. Nobody has desires to speak with anyone else, which isn’t very good for missionary work. There are people wearing masks and hand-sanitizer is sold out everywhere. Here in my area, there is a hospital exactly 3 blocks away from the offices where supposedly there have been a handful of deaths from this thing. I walk by that place everyday…and almost catch pig flu everyday! Ha no, but seriously, they quarantined the doctors there, so all medical staff is living in the hospital and no one leaves…kind of like Wonka chocolate factory…we just see silhouettes in the windows and wonder if it will ever be open again. All school has been cancelled until further notice, and we aren’t allowed to shake hands with anyone until further notice. President Benton is still pretty optimistic. The craziest thing is that church was canceled this week and for the next two weeks. All meetings, during the week and on Sunday. The only thing not canceled is baptisms. A few stake presidents tried to cancel them, and that was quickly corrected by Elder Zivic of the Seventy, who said that baptisms and confirmations will continue. He said, “We will not stop baptizing, confirming, nor deny the ordinances of salvation to anyone!” So that is great news for everyone. Also great news is that Elder Sabey and I have a baptism set for this Saturday. He is the boyfriend of Sandra who was baptized a few weeks ago, and his name is Germán. When we first met him he was smoking 20 cigarettes a day, but he has slowly given it up and now has gone a week and a half without smoking, so he is doing really well. So yeah anyway, this pig flu stuff is now like something everyone is worrying about…as for me…I feel great, hahahahahahahaha ok not going to lie, as soon as I wrote “I feel great”, I sneezed…pig flu…

So with Church canceled and everything, people were wondering about the Sacrament and how that is all going to work and whatnot. Well, in a pretty big move, permission was given to all worthy priesthood holders to bless and pass the Sacrament in their own homes. It was really neat to think about all the brethren that were able to provide that blessing and service for their families. Having the priesthood in your home is so important, and sometimes I don’t think we realize that. I also felt great because obviously there are a lot of people without priesthood in their home, and so, with a spare three hours on Sunday morning when I usually would have been in Church, I found myself in the middle of a war of wills: Natural Man vs. Man of God. I couldn’t decide between doing two things. Natural Man, I was all for going to the nearest sports bar and watching the Wimbledon final between Federer and Roddick…the biggest tennis match in the history of time and I missed it…or Man of God, go to the houses of the members and administer the Sacrament. Ok, so I wasn’t really tempted to go to a sports bar, but I did think about Wimbledon an awful lot this week. So we really had the sacred privilege of going to member’s homes to bless and pass the Sacrament to them. It brought me back to the good old days in Lufkin, Texas, and my good friend, Garland Fairchild, that great old man that we took Sacrament to every week for almost a year. I wonder how his wife is doing. I still think about her sometimes. Her name was Frannie, which just made me want to be in her company…if it wasn’t 2009, I would probably name one of daughters Frannie. Do you remember them, Mom and Dad? Good people.

So something else happened this week that I have to tell you about. I did my first baptismal interview! I didn’t know this, but being an office elder, we do the interviews for the other office elders, or if there is an emergency we go out into the mission to do them. Well, I thought only district leaders and zone leaders did them…guess not. It was really fun to talk with -----, and help her make the final preparations for her baptism. She was really nervous, but her husband is already a member, so she was familiar with everything. To try and make it a little more comfortable, I didn’t go into the interview right away, but let her look at my pictures and talked with her about her kids and everything. She brightened right up and I got her laughing, which just helps anyone’s nerves. It is interesting to try and make people laugh in Spanish, because the sense of humor is a lot different. Also, a lot of phrases are different. I learned how to say “beggars can’t be choosers” this week. It is “A mucha hambre, no hay pan duro.” “For much hunger, there is no hard bread”… interesting…like when you are hungry, you can’t complain the bread is hard…makes sense. So anyway, everything was going well in the interview, until we got to a certain point, and she confessed a few past transgressions to me, and they were pretty serious, and happened pretty recently… I didn’t really know what to do, other than I knew that she had to have an interview with President Benton, because it was above my authority to ok it. However, we continued with the interview, and she was crying a lot, and I really was excited at how much the Spirit was guiding me in the interview, what questions to ask, and what details to get from her, how to do it sensitively and delicately. It felt good. Well, we finished up and I explained to her I needed to call President. So I left to call him and explained to him the situation, and all the details I could remember, and he said, “You did well, Elder. Those are all the details we need in a case like this, she needs to do some repenting, but we’ll get her clean of this.” I really just loved it, because it was one of those cool spiritual experiences that you always hear about, but never feel like they happen to you very often. The Spirit told me exactly what President would have needed to know in that situation. So she was set up with a time to meet with him, and everything worked out fine, and she is getting ready to be baptized this week. Newsflash: The power of the Atonement cleans any stain. It is real and changes the lives of people every day. It saves them. I was so excited for her; I mean she is my first interview, that I started giving her a bunch of presents, like DVDs and scripture cases. I mean, I am the material man, so I figured it would be alright…just kidding I paid for it. So that was a journal worthy experience. Speaking of journals, I have almost filled up my second one, so a third will probably be needed in about a month.

By the way, my international drivers thing saved us again…Elder Sabey parked illegally and the cops were pretty cranky with us, wanting to see Elder Sabey's license and stuff, but I just flashed that at them and we were let go. Well, I have to go now, out of time, and I have to buy stuff.

Cuán asombroso es que por amarme así, muriera Él por mí, Cuán asombroso es lo que dio por mí.

Love, Sean

FOTOS

2009-06-30T09:03:00.003-06:00

"Somos los mejores" means "We are the best"...so naturally we needed a picture of that.

This kind of looks like we are a boy band...but Elder Frost was just taking pictures like crazy!

Great companionship...not quite sure why I look angry, it was kind of cold, and basically I was in the midst of a huge monument of apostasy...it takes its toll

Ramos Mejia- Week #53

2009-06-30T08:54:00.004-06:00

Tribute to the King

Hey all,

Well, just last week I thought all was well, my mission was going great, I felt like I was more focused than ever, and shock hit me like a cinderblock to the back of the head. MICHAEL IS DEAD!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I found out on Thursday. We found this awesome guy while clapping houses, and he invited us in, only for me to walk straight into the house and see on the television the words “murió Michael” and clips of him singing…I kept in the initial shock, and we taught the lesson and went back outside, and I was like, “Elder Sabey, I have pressing news for you. Don’t be alarmed, but something serious has happened.” He asked me to proceed, and I shed a tear and told him the news…he was equally devastated. Anyway, when I first found out a panic ran through my head, because I just knew I was missing out on some great pop culture history…but I got over it quickly. It has been fun though, because in Argentina, if somebody wants to listen to music, they blast it so it can be heard in the street, seriously everybody does it, it is like a culture thing, but usually it is reggaeton or cumbia or some kind of Spanish music…but not this week baby. I say “Beat It” to the Spanish music, and keep blasting Michael Jackson. “Don’t stop til you get enough!” “I want to rock with you!” Good stuff…classics…but seriously, it has been interesting teaching lessons when the neighbor is just cranking Thriller so that the whole world will hear it. We have gotten a few comments on our inherent “head bobbing” that we can’t help doing while we are in houses. You know me; I just cannot help spontaneously breaking out into dance, even if it is for two seconds, so it is really hard to keep my composure with all this going on. We were in this house and we walked out to the sound of “Billie Jean” and something took over my body, and I couldn’t help just kind of doing a little move while going down the stairs and out the gate. Next thing I know we hear a “Look at the Americans dancing to Michael Jackson!” I then felt bad and had to repent…I am supposed to be a representative of the Church of Jesus Christ. Michael just has that effect on me. It is just way too easy to dance to…abc…easy as…123…I can’t believe I am missing out on all the tribute material going on…tape it! ha

So one last Michael Jackson story of the week and I will move on. On Sunday, which for some reason was better than usual this week, my Sacrament experience was really special. I know special is a stupid word to use there, but I really can’t think of another one. So either I am progressing spiritually, or they put something in the water, but it was just great. So we had lunch with a sweet young couple on Sunday afternoon. The husband’s name is Walter…yeah!...and I forgot the wife’s name, but they are recently married and look like they are just loving the married life. They are two really funny people, and we were laughing almost the whole lunch. She is expecting their first child so they are really excited. Good strong members, he is a returned missionary. Well, we walk in, and go into the dining room, and I look over and see three large candles that kind of made a pyramid, and at the top, the 20 year anniversary edition of the Michael Jackson Thriller Album…I about choked, and said, “Sister Richart, did you really do this!?!” She just kind of laughed, and Walter comes into the room with incense, head bowed, and hands it to me to light the candles…I didn’t know if it was against our religion to do so , but his father is in the stake presidency…so I paid my last respects, lit the candles, and we sat down to eat. She told us that she has been glued to the TV because MTV and VH1 are just playing non-stop M.J. videos…dang…oh well.

In missionary news this week, Elder Sabey and I were interviewed here in the offices by four high school girls. They came to the door on Saturday morning, and said they are writing something up for their school and wanted to speak with a representative…that’s us. So they interviewed us for like 2 hours…we literally taught something from every lesson, and gave them commitments for all of them, and gave them all copies of the Book of Mormon, and pamphlets, and article of faith cards, and everything we have…I am the material man, so I can do that sort of thing. They talked to us a lot about Mary, and if we believed she was a virgin, and why we don’t pray to her, then wanted to know about the history of the church, if we worship Joseph Smith, why we are on missions if we are only 20, if priests can get married in our church, etc. It was actually really fun, and we got them interested in the message to the point where they stopped asking us questions on their sheets of paper, and started asking us what they really wanted to know. Also, they took a picture with us, so that will probably end up somewhere on the internet…

So that is all the time I have this week, usually I could write more, but we got a call from President this morning, and he reserved a 1:30 tee time to go golfing…so looks like I will spend P-Day with President Benton, probably picking up tips on how to become a billionaire…temporally, and spiritually…we all have picked golfing nicknames, and mine is Ronnie Blake (my Lufkin Texas high school tennis coach! Love that guy!) so I will send pictures, also it is freezing outside, so I will probably get pig flu. Maybe Michael had pig flu. The King of Pop is gone…also, we have had lengthy discussions about his successor, and the final consensus gives it to Justin Timberlake. JT! Elder Sabey and Woodmansee wanted to crown him right away, but I am not quite ready to say goodbye to MJ (not to be confused with Michael Jordan, another prominent MJ) so Justin, I love you, but Mike is still the King for now, at least until the mourning process is over. Alright, sorry I wasted this whole email talking about Michael Jackson…

I will end talking about the gospel. The Church is true, and Resurrection is a universal gift…mj…Doesn´t matter if you´re black or white, Sean

P.S. did you catch the Michael Jackson song reference in my signoff? Also, I got a wedding announcement from my MTC teacher, Sister Engebretsen! I love her new last name…if she keeps her maiden name as a middle name, she will be Jenna Engebretsen Mangleson…I am not sure there is a more beautiful name known to man. Congrats to her!