Alfajores are like... a thing!

Alright, how are things? Well, it was transfer week, so stuff was crazy. but, we managed to find some new investigators, most notably Mauricio and his family; his wife's mother is an active member of the santa lucia ward, which we share a building with. He seemes egar to listen to us, wich is always nice.

Dallin's Feet by a reservoir

this week has been a kind of stressful one, what with teaching a new elder all about the area as I prepare to hand it off to him. I don't actulay have many fun stories to share.. Oh, yeah, Pablo Maldonado (ward memeber, has a back problem so can't go on a full time mission, currently serving as a family history service missionary, ward clerk, and secretary in the bishopric, also an amazing cook) made us home-made alfajores. Which where amazing. Alfajores are like... a thing that I'm going to miss a lot when I'm not in argentina any more, but also not, since they are mosly just a temptation to get fat that I have to avoid. Okay, I'm actulay going to go buy one from the guy who owns the cyber because I'm super hungry. no. no I'm not. breath. ahrgh.

(I actaly don't at many alfajores, jeez)

(Yes, I did cave and get one)

El. Backstrom and his trainer El. Spice

Hm, anything else? I'm sick, which is not cool. I got a cold. And it's lame. but whatever. It will go away.

On a spiritual note, I was reading and really enjoyed a lovely pasage in Jacob 3:1-2--
 1 But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction.
 2 O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever.
I am glad to think that God will always visit us in our aflictions, console us, plead for us. Sometimes I think I forget that, and get stuck in a moment, but God is able to help us ovecome anything, so there's really nothing to be proccupied about, no mater how bad things get.

.

Hanging with some other Elder's on P-day

Keep it classy and groovy and all that jazz,

El. Backstrom

Dallin's new companion El. Veintimilla from Barcelona Spain

The Reservoir

The Long Arm of the Law!

Elder Selfie!

Transfer Week!

Another thrilling update from the fingertips of Elder Backstrom, Argentina Mendoza mission, San Juan zone, Progresso Branch!

Yes! this week IS transfer week! AND.... I'm staying in progresso, with elder vintihallaba-something-or-other! (he has a long last name that I have not learned yet) (he is from Spain) (speaking of which, isn't Nathan Smith in Spain? how long does he have left in his mission?)

(I know nothing else about him yet)

The cool thing about this, is next week I will have many photos of things, because we will take goodbye and hello photos with members and investigators and the such. SO! that will be next week.

Yes! we ARE teaching investigators. good! I will proceed to give a short summary about them.

We have Emily who is around 23 and probably the most promising new investigator we have encountered recently. She is smart enough to understand many things rapidly which is helpful, and willing to keep the commitments we leave with her, also helpful. She has good questions and a cool seeming family we also hope to be able to invite to join the lessons.

Old man Dueñas (that's his last name. but when we met him, he just introduced himself as Dueñas and was like, call me hermano (brother) and then never told us his first name) is old, like older than time itself, but really funny and very receptive to our teaching. the real difficulty teaching him is getting him (and hopefully his wife who is frequently busy) to church, since they are old and that makes taking buses harder for them so we need to find someone who can give them rides or something.

The Machaca family is a part member family we are teaching. they are super cool, however there are several things that they need to do, like stop smoking, before they can be baptized.

Uh, there is also, many less active families who we visit, and other people who we have set appointments with but not taught yet.

Those are the people we are working with right now.

Cool, that probably wasn't fascinating but that's basically all we do, is visit people then talk with them.

Yeah, hmm. What interesting stories do I have to share with you? (ahh I almost just tried to pluralize you into yous)

I really can't think of any this week. Still eating lots of pasta, still eating lots of meat, still trying to convince the members that I really actually don't need that third serving of potato tart, that my mother will be absolutely fine with it if I return to her just as skinny as when I left. Sigh.

Ah well, this coming transfer should be interesting. it will only last 4 weeks, instead of six, and the next one will be 8, because in 6 weeks, or 2 weeks into the next transfer, president Avila will be going home and president Goats will be arriving. That will be a big change for the mission. He will come in with a full 6 weeks before he has to move missionaries around again... still, it's not very long to get used to things.

Good, on a more spiritual side of things, I wanted to share a part of the Preach my Gospel, the mission manual, in the "my purpose" section.

"The purpose of the gospel is to cleanse people of their sins so they can receive the Savior’s mercy at the day of judgment. Therefore, the focus of this book and, more important, the work you do each day is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.

Individuals and families begin to follow Christ as they exercise faith in Him and repent of their sins. They receive a remission of sins through baptism and by receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost from one who has authority from God to perform these ordinances. They then endure to the end, or, in other words, they continue throughout their lives in exercising faith in Jesus Christ, repenting, and renewing the covenants they have made. These are not just steps that they experience once in their lives; rather, when repeated throughout life these principles become an increasingly rewarding pattern of living. In fact, it is the only way of living that will bring peace of conscience and enable Heavenly Father’s children to return to live in His presence.

Obedience to Jesus Christ is a lifelong commitment. Through exercising faith, repenting, being baptized and committing to serve Christ, and then receiving the Holy Ghost, we can experience healing, forgiveness of sins, and complete conversion to the Savior and His gospel."

I felt as I read that during on of my studies this week, that it was an excellent summary of both the "What" and the "why" of missionary work.

There was also an excellent quote that complements the ideas in that little section nicely:

“We do not preach and teach in order to ‘bring people into the Church’ or to increase the membership of the Church. We do not preach and teach just to persuade people to live better lives. … We invite all to come unto Christ by repentance and baptism and confirmation in order to open the doors of the celestial kingdom to the sons and daughters of God. No one else can do this” (Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “The Purpose of Missionary Work,” missionary satellite broadcast, Apr. 1995)

Reading that section of the Preach my Gospel this week was a great help that allowed me to re-focus on the purpose behind the work, to slow down, analyse my actions, and ask myself, are you acting out of love for these people? and then try and make according changes. I would urge all of you who are members (or not, that works too) to read the chapter about the purpose of missionary work- it's for sure one of the absolute best in the manual.

Anyways that was about it,

Have a good week all of ye,

I say unto ye, farewell,

El. Backstrom

(stay classy)

Mother's Day

Good day from Argentina,

Yesterday was mother's day which was good, and I got to talk with my family which was also very good.

So, the internet/phones/all communication died for several hours in san juan right after I wrote those words and we went off and did other things and then came back to the cyber. So that's fun.

Good, let's see- where was I? I'll start with the scripture I wanted to share since it was the last thing I wrote then go backwards from there until I get to what saved.

I found a good scripture I enjoyed about accountability in the old testament, Ezekiel 33:1-6.

Uh... what else, hmm, the thing is, we just sort of do lots of missionary things all the time. for better or worse, that makes the time go nice and fast, but with a distinctly low number of notable adventures.

We wait for lots of buses, and also walk various places.

hmm. There is bread that we eat lots of here, there is like a panderia culture and they don't have boulangeries and a panderia is a little bread store that makes little bread rolls and torttitas (some sort of, uh, I don't know, pastry thing? google it) and facturas (kind of like doughnuts. but slightly different)

Somehow I always manage to write about food.

Hmm, I this week we encountered a new investigator. Weird thing is, she's young- like 25 or something- and we don't teach many young people. And something I had begun to take for granted- that everyone basically more or less recognizes us as ministers of Jesus Christ here- was something Emily didn't do. but we explained that and she had a lot of very good questions which is far better than people who silently stare blankly at you and hopefully she will be dope to teach and stuff. And then also her athiest/jew boyfriend.

we went up to ullum today which is a big dike but I was sick s it was a little less fun for me. however I have some fun pictures I will send next week since I don't have my cord right now.

Well, I think that was all I wanted to write about, more or less.

El. Backstrom

El. Backstrom Walker of Long Distances

Hello friends. 

Due to the sad internet and my desire to send photos, I am currently writing you from wordpad offline as google slowly uploads various images. Good. However, this week has been rather enjoyable. We haven't had many lessons but we set up a capo week for this next week. Week five of the transfer already! time is just skipping by.

Hmm, our branch president's daughter, Ayixa (no it's not any better to say in spanish) is currently in the hospital. Hopefully she is cured soon because she is supposed to be going on a mission in tree months to Rio de Janero, Brasil. Also it makes Pres. Malki rather unavailable to assist with other things, of course understandably, but it is hard on the small branch to be down one of the four families we have...

Yeah. I just sent an email with images of life in Argentina to everyone on this list also. So there is that.

We had a really weighty lesson with one of our investigators who is having a difficult time with her husband/but not married/boyfriend/has a child with/ partner I guess is the word for that? and it helped me appreciate a greater degree the reason we're here, which is to help people with all sorts of problems, including those. it also made me appreciate how much she trusted us, to talk with us about a sensitive mater such as that.

On to the things I got out of my study of the scriptures this week, I encountered several really striking passages but I would like to highlight one in particular, which is the poem known as the psalm of nephi in 2 nephi 4:15-35. I the spanish scriptures, all of the psalms are divided or written in verse as opposed to the paragraph form the rest of the scriptures take, and I found it was rather interesting, and quite powerful on an emotional level, to read the passage in verse; so I'm going to divide it more or less into the same form it takes in the Spanish scriptures here.

 And upon these I write the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass.

For my soul delighteth in the scriptures,

and my heart pondereth them,

and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children.

Behold, my soul delighteth

in the things of the Lord;

and my heart pondereth

continually upon the things

which I have seen and heard.

Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord,

in showing me his great and marvelous works,

my heart exclaimeth:

O wretched man that I am!

Yea, my heart sorroweth 

because of my flesh;

my soul grieveth

because of mine iniquities.

I am encompassed about,

because of the temptations

and the sins

which do so easily beset me.

And when I desire to rejoice,

my heart groaneth

because of my sins;

nevertheless,

I know in whom I have trusted.

My God hath been my support;

he hath led me through mine afflictions

in the wilderness;

and he hath preserved me

upon the waters of the great deep.

He hath filled me with his love,

even unto the consuming of my flesh.

He hath confounded mine enemies,

unto the causing of them to quake before me.

Behold, he hath heard my cry by day,

and he hath given me knowledge

by visions in the night-time.

And by day have I waxed bold

in mighty prayer before him;

yea, my voice have I sent up on high;

and angels came down and ministered unto me.

And upon the wings of his Spirit

hath my body been carried away

upon exceedingly high mountains.

And mine eyes have beheld great things,

yea, even too great for man;

therefore I was bidden that I should not write them.

O then,

if I have seen so great things,

if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men

hath visited men in so much mercy,

why should my heart weep

and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow,

and my flesh waste away,

and my strength slacken,

because of mine afflictions?

And why should I yield to sin,

because of my flesh?

Yea, why should I give way to temptations,

that the evil one have place in my heart

to destroy my peace

and afflict my soul?

Why am I angry because of mine enemy?

Awake, my soul!

No longer droop in sin.

Rejoice,

O my heart,

and give place no more

for the enemy of my soul.

Do not anger again because of mine enemies.

Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.

Rejoice,

O my heart,

and cry unto the Lord, and say:

O Lord, I will praise thee forever;

yea, my soul will rejoice in thee,

my God,

and the rock of my salvation.

O Lord,

wilt thou redeem my soul?

Wilt thou deliver me

out of the hands of mine enemies?

Wilt thou make me

that I may shake at the appearance of sin?

May the gates of hell be shut continually before me,

because that my heart is broken

and my spirit is contrite!

O Lord,

wilt thou not shut the gates

of thy righteousness before me,

that I may walk in the path of the low valley,

that I may be strict in the plain road!

O Lord,

wilt thou encircle me around

in the robe of thy righteousness!

O Lord,

wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine enemies!

Wilt thou make my path straight before me!

Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way—

but that thou wouldst clear my way before me,

and hedge not up my way,

but the ways of mine enemy.

O Lord, I have trusted in thee,

and I will trust in thee forever.

I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh;

for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust

in the arm of flesh.

Yea, cursed is he

that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.

Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh.

Yea, my God will give me,

if I ask not amiss;

therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee;

yea, I will cry unto thee,

my God,

the rock of my righteousness.

Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee,

my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen.

Thanks, sorry that's long and I have to rush to head now, but have a good week,

El. Backstrom

walker of long distances

P-Day Adventures

With the Zone Leader Elder Huaman

El. Backstrom, Missionary, Possessor of Pants, etc

So, here we are again at the end of another week of the mission.

(how many weeks are there total? like 104 or something like that? hmmm. to lazy to do math.)

Good news, a week feels about two days long. time is just taking giant strides. Also good news, we met a bunch of cool people who we are going to go visit this coming week- stoked lady, who was stoked about everything, sweeping lady, who was sweeping her walk, dirty rap guy, who was listening to dirty rap- all of whom we forgot to ask for names. no wait, sweeping lady's name was Sandra. okay. One out of three.

This week everyone was sleeping because they where all partied out from easter. Which meant that very pocos personas eran en la calle y todovia son pocos que se leventan... tuvimos tambien pocos assistencias a la rama ese semanan :(

Uh, do I want to fix that? No. it was easier to write in Spanish and you all have Google translate so I shall BE LAZY

Ihave discovered that chili powder DOES INDEED EXIST in this country, meaning I can make chili also my own hot sauces because there are no haut sauces.

also an exciting update on Argentine politics, there will now be 70% Larger trucks, a proven fix for economic uncertainty! Also, new trains in mar del plata.

on the spiritual side of life, I studied many scriptures this week but by my interest was captured especially by Helaman chapter twelve, wherein the prophet nephi father of nephi of the twelve is explaining the need for missionary work and some of the challenges thereof.

Sorry folks, I'm a tad tired today due to the lack of sleep I get due to our downstairs neighbours music, which they begin to play around 11 every night- long story short, this email might be a little goofy to read. Whoops,

El. Backstrom

Holy Week

How do you do, everyone?

This week the internet is particularly bad, so I am not sure if I will be able to get out any letters beside my one big one.

Uh, so yeah, this was holy week in Argentina, so all the (pagans, catholics, use interchangeably) came to their groves and high places to worship strange idols such as "the virgin", a strange little woman portrayed holding eggs, "san expedito", a dude in a skirt waving a small cross at things, and "el gaucho Jesus", a cowboy named Jesus who was crucified by the army for pillaging and murder but somehow became an object of worship.... Haha. but yeah, the Catholics worship weird stuff. They where also out in force all week long, since semana santa is one of the few times they all go to mass. there where big parties and in all the plazas they had long sermons about things, I'm not sure what the sermons where about because all I heard of them where snippets like "today I had a little virgin so that we could pass it around better" and "When you open your stores, you need to put a prayer to san expedito in the door. The same in your house, in your car. this way san expedito will bless you with much things" So. yeah.

This week was otherwise rather action-less. we didn't have an astonishing number of things happen, it was just kind of.. normal missionary things. I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned this before, but empanadas need to be a thing in Canada. they are little pastry pockets of ground beef or other filling, and are delicious.

We did have a large number of church assistances, which was good- one of our "eternal investigator" families came out to church and had an interview with the branch president about getting their marriage finished so they can get baptised. So that was exciting.

anything else worthy of mention? we are, as always, eating well. Even if we have a week with few lessons, an asado-style lunch-dinner always lifts the spirits. (asado is long coal-smoked meat. straight up.)

On the scripture study side of things, I have been reading mostly out of my preach my gospel, studying the Christlike attributes one at a time, along with the accompanying entries in the "true to the faith" reference guide. one chapter in the scriptures that stuck out to me particularly was 1 nephi 22, as nephi is expounding important parts of Isaiah's revelations to his brothers. the last verse of that chapter was also of great note to me, when nephi says "and ye need not suppose that my father and i are the only ones who have testified of these things" and goes on to offer his testimony of the veracity of the holy scriptures and the divine nature of prophets.I put in a note in the margin, substituting "my father and I" for "my companion and I".

have a good week all,

I second Paul's condemnation of idol worship,

Elder Backstrom

Conference

So, here comes the weekly update.

I hope you all had an excellent conference weekend! I certainly enjoyed coming to hear the prophets speak, and a week of visiting and inviting people out to the sessions resulted in one of our investigators attending with her mother, who is a recent convert. I'm excited to get the conference edition Liahona and add that as one of my morning study resources. I particularly liked the Neil A. Anderson talk on how adversity helps us grow stronger.  that seemed to be a theme throughout the entire conference- to sand strong through adversity, defend your faith and be vigilant and diligent in striving to be a disciple of Christ. I also quite liked the Henry B. Eyring talk on how we have the opportunity to keep covenants, a them that was then reiterated in the Sunday morning session by what's his name, the presiding bishop. And of course, president Uchdorf almost stealing airforce one. that's always fun.

In all seriousness, if you missed any of the conference sessions or haven't watched the priesthood session yet, I would encourage you to take that opportunity. I found that as I listened intently and took notes, I was really able to not only feel the power of the testimony of the apostles, but extract specific, applicable counsel and promises. I particularly encourage you to obtain a Preach My Gospel manual as counseled by Elder Ballard, and to study from it, share your study with the full time missionaries in your ward and ask them about their study. The preach my gospel manual has an astonishing capacity to surprise me with seemingly new content every time I open it to study, and I can guarantee it will help you find simple ways to strengthen your own testimony, to share the gospel in everyday interactions with people, and to understand, cooperate and help the full time missionaries better.

I won't drag this email out since conference was more or less the only really exciting thing that happened this week (oh yeah actually transfer week, and elder spice and I are both staying in progresso another six weeks), but I will also share some particularly impactful scriptures I encountered while studying the book of Mormon in Spanish for the first full time. I found it interesting how the different order of the words made different verses pop out more particular to me: 1 nephi 13:11 and 15:37 are some of my favorite scriptures of the week.

Have a good one,

El. Backstrom