Easter Week

This week was awesome. It was a special week celebrating Easter and a good time to testify of Christ.

We have some baptisms on the horizon. We met a single mother a few weeks ago and we were able to teach a lesson yesterday afternoon. Her name is Belen and she has set a baptismal date for the 16th of April!

Another good thing happening here is that the attitude of our ward is improving. It was something that my companion told me he wanted to change when I arrived. The members don't hate the missionaries, but they don't seem to love them either. We have visited a lot of families recently to gain their trust, and show them that we are here to work and work with them.

Its been working really well. There is a different spirit now in church when we talk with members. Yesterday we did divisions with the bishopric to find less active families. 

My testimony of the Savior was renewed this week when we sang yesterday in church. We sang that that HE LIVES! He is with me and I know he is with everyone else.

I love everyone and have a great week!

Elder Kauffman aka Jack

Checking In

Dear family and friends,

We have a lot of people that can be baptized this month. We have been finding people by contacting them in the street, and this week we visited a lot of member families in the ward to ask for references. 

Cristina and Denis will be the next baptisms in the ward. Denis just needs to come to church one more time and Cristina needs to get married. It's sad because she really wants to be baptized, but Daniel (her more or less husband), isn't really interested. He doesn't want to get married, but that's not getting us down. We are hoping everything will work itself out soon. Praying and working with the family as much as we can is all we can do. 

I'm doing well. Every day is another chance to renew again. There is no such thing as a perfect day in missionary work, but I feel like I'm learning to see past disappointments. I am trying to go back to the basics, serve where I can and be happy with my efforts.

The Book of Mormon has been helping me a lot lately. I realize that it takes faith to pick up the book and read it. It works and we can find everything we need there. 

I love you all. Have a great week! 

Elder Kauffman aka Jack

Letter from Plottier

Dear family and friends,

This was an awesome week and I am very happy in my new area. We had a leadership counsel meeting in Neuquén this week and it was really good. We talked a lot about having a vision of what we want to accomplish as missionaries, and the importance of asking Heavenly Father to help us accomplish what we know can be achieved. 

It's cool being sent to a new area. It makes me think of a book I have at home written by Rudy Ruettiger. In it he says if you want to start over you only need to go to a place where nobody knows you! No week is easy here, but this one was tough, but we just kept going.

Everyone in Plottier is really humble and are open to talking with us. We had a few lessons outside of houses this week and they worked well. Yesterday I shared my testimony in church. We were few in numbers, but the few that were there were are really nice. Little by little we want to fill the chapel up!

Yesterday with a less active family I discovered something really cool. In 1 Nephi chapter 4. The questions Nephi asks Laman and Lemuel make one think. Me and Elder Gallegos were able to apply it to our day. We had to sit down twice yesterday and change plans because things didn't go the way we thought they would, but we changed plans and kept working. That's what Nephi did, he kept looking for a solution and didn't stop until he found it. 

I have been thinking how true it is that upcoming generations are really special. I interviewed a 10 year old girl for her baptism this coming Saturday and it was as if I was talking to a 25 year old. She knew all of the answers and has a testimony of everything. 

I love Argentina. I love the people and the language. I am filled with gratitude in those small moments that I think every missionary has from time to time. When I remember that I am in foreign country preaching the Gospel I am so grateful for this opportunity.

We have two baptisms set for the 26th of this month. Cristina and Denis. A mom and a son. They are progressing well and we are looking forward to it. 

Have a great week. I love everyone!

Elder Kauffman aka Jack

Transfers

Dear family and friends,

Saturday we went to the chapel to open the email they send us every six weeks which provides us information regarding transfers and once again I am on the move! 

I left Roca early this morning and arrived in Plottier which is just outside of Neuquén. My new companion is Elder Gallegos from Syracuse, Utah and is a really cool guy. We have been in the same zone (Zapala) before and both go home the same day in July. 

We're the zone leaders of Zona Plottier which covers two small towns (Plottier and Senillosa), and the western side of Neuquén. This is the largest zone I've led and I believe we have 20 missionaries. It will be a challenge, but I'm excited for the experience. 

Roca was an incredible zone and I'm going to miss it a lot. I had two really good companions and saw miracles in the lives of the people I taught. If I had to share some of the principle lessons I learned in Roca, they would be that missionary work is the work of salvation, includes baptizing, reactivating, and retaining the fruits of baptism. Also that it is more than possible to plant seeds and harvest at the same time.

Elder Carroll and I didn't have any baptisms, but we were able to motivate the zone and we never stopped working. THAT is was gives me the most satisfaction. Knowing that I was constant, with my companion, in our efforts to keep things up and going. In our last two weeks together we found a lot of people that will be baptized in the future.

A few weeks ago we had interviews with President Casariego. He does this thing where he looks at you in silence and you know he's about to say something inspired. At the end of my interview he told me that even though I don't have a lot of time left on my mission is still have a lot of work to accomplish.

I love all of you guys! Oren por mi! vamos todavia!

Abrazos, 

Elder Kauffman aka Jack