What a week! Everything just blazes by! I look at the North Americans who just got here and feel like I was standing in theri places yesterday. After spending every hour of every day with the same people, everything just becomes really funny. It's amazing how many little inside jokes three people can develop together. Getting along with a companion requires a great deal of patience. Even if he is a wonderful person and teacher, it can be easy to be annoyed with somebody after spending every second of every day with them. It also requires a lot of apologies and forgiveness. I know why they say that missions help prepare you for *other* relationships in the future. It's true! Luckily, me and my trio get along very well because we're generally easygoing. I am so blessed to have them; they're wonderful guys.
In the CCM, the secret to making time fly is looking forward to whatever comes next. Wednesday is temple day, Thursday is email, Saturday is proselyting, and Sunday is sacrament meeting. Even as a missionary, Sundays are still incredibly special. The Spirit felt during the meetings and the chance to renew our covenants in Sacrament meeting leaves us rejuvinated for the week. This is especially needed right after proselyting day. Proselyting is easily the thing that we all look forward to the most. It is so tiring and I have a great deal of resepct for missionaries that spend their whole missions doing it. I have even more respect for the missionaries who always maintain a great attitude, too. Elder Parker, Elder Pointer, and I have great strength in keeping a positive attitude. The Lord blessed us last Satruday with a miracle! After two hours of knocking doors in Vicente Lopez, Buenos Aires, we hadn't seen any success. But we knew that the Lord would bless us for diligently working. While the three of us were sitting on a sidewalk, eating lunch, a man of about fifty years rode his bicycle up to us and engaged us in a conversation. This man recognized us a missionaries from the LDS Church and started to talk to us about himselrf. His name was Ricarlo and he was baptized in the late 1990s. About eight years ago, he stopped attending church becuase he had to work every Sunday and on top of that, he was also going through a very difficult time in his life. He told me that he was still having hard times and that he wanted us to say a prayer with him. Before praying, I felt prompted to testify to him that if he would start attending church again and start to read the Book of Mormon again, that he would see great blessings in his life. I offered a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to give Ricarlo strength through his trials and to feel His love. The Spirit was strong and Ricarlo was so grateful! He made sure we had his contact information so we could give it to the missionaries that belong to the area. Ricarlo committed to attending church again and reading out of the Book of Mormon.
None of us expected something huge to happen that day, but the Lord blessed us with a man who needed help. This was no coincidence. This is why I'm here. On top of the present miracle, we were only speaking in Spanish, something that continues to amaze me. The Lord is pouring blessings on us! I am so grateful for this opportunity to represent Jesus Christ; I wouldn't do it if I didn't know that this was His church. This is His church. We, as the missionareies, hold His authority spoken of in Matthew 10:1. Our appointment with everyone else feel through that Saturday; we went to Graciela's and Matías' house and Graciela said that he wasn't home, but that she wanted us to come back. I have great hopes for those whom we have come in contact with. The language of Spanish is making more and more and less and less sense every day. People say that missionaries eventually start to think in the language and that's starting to happen to me. It doesn't happen all at once. It just starts with words and phrases that you would noramlly think, except it's in Spanish. It's a miraculous process! Continue to pray for me and I will do the same for you! I must now go and serve the beloved Children of God. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
LOVE,
Elder Plautz
P.S. Shout outs to Catherine, Amelia, and Sydney for birthdays! One year older and wiser, too! I love you all!
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