Everything is New!

So, what's new?

EVERYTHING!

New area! (San Martin 1 A. San martin is located in mendoza province, about 1 hour from the capital. or less if you do 140, which we did in a puegeot 505 from 1970 on the way out. Argentina life.)

New companion!

​Elder Ortez is his name. He is from Honduras! He is super cool

New pench!

From left to right, yours truly, elder Trelease from Utah, elder Torres from Paraguay and Elder Ortez from Honduras.

More pictures!

Elder Backstrom and Elder Ortez

Elder Backstrom and Elder Torres

Elder Backstrom and Elder Trelease

Pesos

Saying Goodbye to San Juan

Familia Diaz. Juana, Ruth and Juan. Ana is missing, only Juana is a member, she is a recent convert. We helped Juan add a second story to his house.

Familia Maldonado

Familia Malki (Hno. Malki is branch president) 

The district, as well as our zone leaders: (left to right) Hna. Reyes, Hna. Sorenson, Hna. Guavera,

 (above) Hna. Norr, Elder Bair, Elder Backstrom, Elder Valencia & Elder Ventimilla

That's it for the pictures for now.

My scripture highlight this week is the book of first Nephi. It's frequently where we request our investigators start reading in the Book of Moromon (seeing as it's the beginning) And so I decided to read through it this week, trying to find things I could use to teach out of the begging of the book, where there a slightly less confusing names to keep track of. There is a reason first nephi comes before all the other books: It is rich with simply explained doctrine and easy to understand but also deep parables, stories and visions.

Particularly, Lehi's vision of the tree of life in first Nephi 8 stuck out to me. It's one of the best summations, or explanations, of the work of salvation that we find in scripture. I would invite you all to pass over it today.

Anyways, have a good one. Everyone, you should all know that there is a new zelda game and I'm excited for it since it should come out just after I get home. Everyone freaks out when Argentina wins but people in San Martin are less excited about the world cup than in San Juan,

El. Backstrom

1/4 Report

From the desk of Elder Backstrom!

I am pleased to announce to all of you good friends and family and whoever this email goes to anyways, I have reached 1/4 completion of my mission, or will on the 19th of this month, which is this week. This email will contain a brief report on the first six months of my mission.

Also, I am pleased to be finally headed of to a new area, after nearly double the time it is normal to spend in one place. (I will be going to San martin in Mendoza. Not exactly clear about where that is, but, luckily, it sounds like I will still have a washing machine in the pension.)

So? How were the first 6 months? you ask. Well, I say, reclining in my large office chair, That's a longer story than I think you realize; however, I'll resume it in compressed form.

Companions:

Elder Harris (Mission: Argentina Bahia Blanca), MTC

Elder Ford (Mission: Uruguay Montevideo), MTC

Elder Spice (Trainer), Progreso San Juan

Elder Veintimilla, Progreso San Juan

Areas:

MTC

Progreso branch, San Juan stake

Baptisims:

None!

Mission President:

Presidente Avila

Well, there it is. Basically I have meandered about, learning Spanish and talking to people and doing things and drinking an unhealthy amount of mate. Fun stories that happened:

-Walking through a line of rioters

-Building houses

-Going to the San Juan planing and development department office

Lists of top ten things!

Favorite things

1-bakeries

2-alfajores

3-pretty places

4-nice members

5-people who are willing to help me speak spanish with them

6-difunta correa idol worship

7-Mission president

8-other missionaries who are chill

9-coca-cola

10-Sleeping

Least favorite things

1-Cumbia ripped from youtube videos that has random pauses in it because of buffering

2-Difunta correa idol worship, when it's an actual thing I have to address in my teaching and not just something we laugh about

3-not having a piano in the pench

4-Alfajores, because they make me fat

5-Mean people (who are luckily few and far between)

6-Being with a companion LITERALLY ALL THE TIME

7-not sleeping nough

8-being sick

9-cumbia in general

10-Zonda (Hot, dusty wind of misery and death)

Yeah.  mean, that's really all I had to report, I think.

Cool.

Pictures, but first a story.

Dallin with a map!

So, my father is a city planner, by the by, so that this makes sense, if you didn't know. (Sorry this is a boring story about city planning. But I do have a soft spot for municipal politics.)

There was a big earthquake in San Juan about forty years ago, and since all the things where made of adobe, they all fell over and, more or less, the entire city was completely destroyed. So, on the chance that there be another earthquake (They're quite frequent here) they decided to start building things out of actual bricks. this meant (Also the fact that everything got trashed by the earthquake) that they needed to start from scratch, essentially, so they set up a planning department and result being, san juan is a very well planned city, and also relatively new. And we went to this planning department to get maps because we didn't have any maps and it reminded me of where my father works. Just proves, there are planners in all places. hahah. I almost bought a big 1.5m X 2m roll up map of san juan city for father's day for my father, but it was a little big to fit inside of an envelope.

Yeah. On a slightly more spiritual note, I was readying in Moroni 7 this morning and found a couple of verses I liked a lot:

40 And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?

 41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.

 42 Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.

Faith and hope are two of the Christlike attributes in the chapter 6 of Preach my Gospel that I've been focusing on this moth, because they are so absolutely essential for missionary work, and also so tightly intertwined.If we don't have faith, we don't have hope; if we don't have hope of something better hereafter, what are we sharing with people anyway? something of no worth. The light of the Gospel is "A perfect brightness of hope... (that we may have) eternal life".

Anyways, signing out for now,

Elder Backstrom

Advice on preparing for a mission

Hello my good fellow people.

first of all, I have bronchitis. And have had it for like three weeks or so. I am now taking an antibiotic to kill it out of my lungs. Good.

Dallin with his lungs!

Dallin's Bad Lungs!

Otherwise the week has been mostly as normal, except of course, the days I was constrained to my bed, when we did not leave. the surgery for the mother of Juan went well. I was, evidently, not able to donate blood due to the fact that I was sick. They told me that 21% of the blood cells in the sample they took where white, which is very high. I also learned that I am A+ type, but I really don't know what that means.

Currently as a mission we are doing a thing with our ALB, which is the key indicator for street contacting. Basically The mission president has asked all of us to do 10 street contacts every day as a companionship, 5 each, in order to find more news and obtain more references e&c. It's something that I find to be rather hard, since I have difficulty know what to say to begin a conversation with people. Mostly we just offer people a pass-along card with a picture of Jesus and go, "Hey, can we give you a picture of Jesus?" and then if they take it and run away, so be it. Some people listen though, maybe half of the people we talk to every day. Which is actually a lot harder, because then I have to think about the things I'm going to say.

I'll probably leave this area in this next week that is coming. I've spent almost a quarter of my mission here. it will be interesting to see another part of the mission (I'll probably go inside of Mendoza province). I hope I get another Spanish-speaking companion, my Spanish has improved dramatically since I started working with elder veintimilla.

Speaking of almost a quarter of my mission, next week will be my 1/4 email. I'll probably wax philosophically about the meaning of life and bread products.

On my scripture-study highlight, this week I was particularly impressed by the fifth chapter of Jacob, and several of the cross-references to doctrine and covenants, especially D&C 33. They are bout large blocks of scripture, so i'll leave you to read them on your own if you so desire.

and something more:

at mothers day, my father asked what I thought was important for someone who was preparing to go on a mission. I never properly answered that, so, I'll do it here, because some of you are preparing for missions & it might be cool but if it does not interest you, you need not read it.

-Know what a mission is. Be familiar with the purpose of missionaries as stated in the first page of Preach my Gospel. Read all of the first chapter of PMG, and, time and motivation permitting, study the accompanying scriptures and complete the study activities. If you so wish, you might memorize the missionary purpose word for word. This will help you have a clearer understanding of exactly what is expected of missionaries, what going on a mission even means, and why missions are so important.

-Go to Seminary. I know that before I left on my mission I did not have tons of motivation top study scriptures on a daily basis, but seminary attendance will grant not only a strong foundation knowledge of key doctrines, but also provides a well structured study routine that helps you learn how to study well. also seminary teachers are usually super cool and have lots of wisdom to laser into your minds.

Wisdom lasers

Good

Those would be my top two pieces of advice. Also, stay classy, Read Moroni 10 regularly and take advantage of the cause-effect promise in verses 3-5, and gain a testimony,

El.Backstrom out.

9 days to the world cup

I have a cold STILL and it is super lame. so the mission nurse told me to take 2g of vitamin c every day,and they are these dissolve-in-water tablets that taste super nasty. eurgh. and the other thing is like a tylenol cold pill, which isn't bad.

I'm going to go donate blood tomorrow for the sick mother of one of our investigators. (she has cancer and is like 89 or something, not super unexpected or anything) It's actually a very common thing to do in the mission, because there are big blood shortages here.

hmm, what else? Oh yeah. there a bakeries everywhere here, that are super cheap, and they sell delicious baked goods, and I purchase them frequently for breakfast and supper, and it makes me fat. ah well. delicious.

Additionally, 9 days until the world cup. Aw yeah.

However Argentina an Brasil will not play each-other unless both make it either to the final, which is unlikely. But that would be a game to see. (Brasil would crush Argentina, Messi is good and all, but he doesn't have his team to back him up is what everyone says)

On a more spiritual note, over the past three days, I read the entire gospel of John, and was impressed by the number of times the word love occurs, especially in reference to Christ. While many of his teachings,such as the sermon on the mount and all of his parables are missing from john's account of his life and ministry, the gospel of john does an excellent job of illustrating who each of Christ's actions where motivated by the love he has for all men.

I was particularly impressed by chapter 15, which is an account of certain things Jesus said to his disciples at the last supper.

anyhow, that's about all I had to talk about today.

Hope everyone has a good week,

and listens to lots of smooth, smooth jazz,

El. Backstrom

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