In LDS.org there's a new page called "Hastening the Work of Salvation."

Dear Everyone,

Feel like member-missionary work is a little bit difficult? You aren't alone.  But yesterday we watched this amazing broadcast and heard from speakers Jeffrey R. Holland, Russel M. Nelson, Boyd K. Packer, Neil L. Anderson, L. Tom Perry, and our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson.  All of them talked about the same focus, that the time to come together to work in the field (which is white and all ready to harvest) as members and missionaries is now.  Elder Holland promised us that an invitation (to church or an activity or something like that) borne out of love for the Savior and for the people who we are inviting will never offend.  Take him up on that promise.  Elder Nelson shared with us a parable of a father who loves his children enough to check on them and think about what he can do to help them.  He as a father doesn't do this out of obligation or because some manual tells him to, rather he does it out of love.  That should be our motive to share the Gospel.  On LDS.org there is a new page called "Hastening the Work of Salvation" that helps members find more meaningful ways to share the Gospel and help the missionaries have people to teach.  You all may wonder why I always come out and preach about missionary work in my letters.  It is because of just how important I know missionary work to be.  It is so important.  And I am willing to remind all of you again and again of the blessings that will come to those who hearken to the words of President David O. McKay: "every member a missionary."  

This week has been filled with meetings.  I had to say goodbye to President Armstrong and his wife. I have never been a huge fan of goodbyes.  Even though my mission president won't be leaving until near the end of the next month, I won't be seeing him in person any time before then.  I'll just be working.  Florida is getting colder.  I feel like I forget what cold is like every year as I go through the summer.  And then once it comes I am amazed when the temperature goes further and further down.  Plus I never understood Celsius temperature measurement.  (No matter how many times they explain it to me, I always forget, like, five minutes afterward.)  So I just look at the thermometer like I would look at my old Calculus notes and stand conquered by the fear of the unknown.  Do you know how much scarier temperature is when you have no way of measuring it.  And none of the people here pay attention to the weather!  So I never know if it'll rain!  Needless to say, I am basically a saint.  End of story.

I admit that I do love learning the language of my companion Elder Gila, Bislama.  The vocabulary words are almost all English, but grammar words are all different.  They use the words "long" and "blong" a lot.  And just listening to him speak is a treasure.  I think I'll learn this language, too.  Why not?  It's pretty excellent.
 Unfortunately, I don't have much more to say today other than we're working harder and harder every day.  And this is the most amazing experience of my life.  Have you ever read the Liahona magazine before? (I guess you Americans call it the Ensign.)  It's incredible!  I love you all and thank you for all of your support and prayers.  I know that when we do our best and we work our hardest, the Lord will not let us faith, according to His will.  And when we are on the Lord's errand, we are entitled to his will.  I must now go and serve the beloved children of God.

LOVE,

Elder Plautz

 

This first picture is pretty amazing. If I could fly, I would fly with a copy of the Book of Mormón in my hand and declare repentance to everybody. (With love; this picture seems more frightening than loving.)

The second picture is me with Elder Gila. He's my Turk Turkleton. (Except for Devin Bodhaine.)

There Can Be Miracles When You Believe

Dear Everyone,
 

I hope that everything is warm in the United States, because things just keep getting colder here.  I never got used to the cold, either, so I have been putting as many clothes on as I can to avoid feeling the disastrous affects of the temperature.  As I was suffering outside, dealing with this climate, asking myself why, oh why was the cold created, I had an apostrophe (I think he means an epiphany) that God probably invented the cold so that His children would be forced to be chaste in their clothing for a least three months.  Now the cold doesn't seem so bad.  But I'm still not its biggest fan.
 

Our week was one of miracles.  As I have been contemplating what I must do to fully give myself to the Lord and do what Christ would do in any situation, I have wanted more and more to just be a blessing to this people in any way that I can.  Obviously the best way to serve them is help them repent and be baptized, because the greatest joy comes from that of losing one's self in the hands of the Lord and reaping the blessings of righteousness and happiness.  My end goal is to baptize, but why am I doing it?  Is it for personal gratification, or is it to build the kingdom of God and to serve the people?  For me, maybe it has been a little of both, but this is continually changing (for the better) as I try harder and harder to be more like Christ.  I am convinced that because of these efforts, both from myself and my amazing companion Elder Gila (by the by, it's pronounced "Kee-la"), we have found great success this week.  Still, nobody is coming to church, which is pretty much the greatest setback there ever was to missionary work, but we must show the Lord that we are willing to work hard and be obedient, even if that means that we don't see the blessings that we are expecting immediately (even if the expected blessings are righteous and just).  This, I believe, is called patience.  And it's something that the Lord is finding many ways to bless me with.
 

What were some of the miracles we saw this week, then?  Well, to understand, I must start with the premise that in Florida, it has been very difficult find people to teach, and especially difficult to help them agree to us even coming back to talk more.  We would be lucky to find even one new person to teach every day, and normally our weeks would end with much, much less than seven (going with the idea of one per day) "new investigators," as they are titled.  This week, however, the Lord blessed us with not just seven new people to teach, but seventeen.  These were amazing miracles.  Every day, we would go out and say "we don't know if it's possible to have as much success as we did yesterday, but we are going to trust the Lord and hope that He blesses us." Lo and behold, we saw a great deal of success.  And it was such a wonderful gift from the Lord.  There is a great chance that we lose several of these people to the walls of non-progression and disinterest over time (because exaltation requires actually doing something and some people aren't interested in action), but I trust the Lord.  And I know that if I do everything I can to follow His will, then we will have the success that He is waiting to grant us.
 

Another tender mercy of the Lord this week was running into a less-active lady who was baptized by my trainer, Elder Sevilla.  And it was just a nice reminder from the Lord that Elder Sevilla was, indeed, the boss that I make him out to be.  Because he literally was amazing.  And I miss him a lot.  Anyway, I just know that we are doing our best.  And although we're not perfect, we are getting closer every day.  I hope that everybody has a wonderful week.  I love you all.  I must now go and serve the beloved children of God.
 

LOVE,

Elder Plautz

Sometimes I forget that there was a life before my mission.

Dear Everyone,

First of all, I learned today that back in San Carlos this past Saturday, Honorio Soriano entered the waters of baptism.  And he is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I can't express how happy that makes me to know that he finally got there after all of his hard work.  I really love that guy.

I have been learning more and more that the more that we learn, the more there is that is expected of us.  I have been learning a lot in Florida about how much I not only depend on the Lord for every single blessing, but also that He also expects me to give myself to Him.  Everything.  That's not easy.  It has been really tough realizing that there are still things that I do that I know I must change, even if they aren't really that bad or if they are little things.  But I am willing to be more obedient to show the Lord that I am willing to give my whole self to Him.  I know that he that loses his life for the Lord gains everything.  But that doesn't mean dying the death of a martyr.  It means living the live of a disciple.  And it's not super easy to start off.  But I know that once I get the wheels in motion, even more blessings will come.  

The mission is changing.  Last week, we found out that because of severe health complications of the mission president's wife, Sister Armstrong, they are both being released from this mission at the end of July and that we'll be getting a new mission president, Gary Newsome.  None of us saw this coming because President Armstrong was just called as mission president last July and mission presidents serve for three years.  But just like that, he will be moved to some other calling in the church. (I think they're going to Utah.)

I love doing this work.  I know that I say it every week, but it becomes more and more true as I forget myself more and more.  It's true that sometimes I forget about my life before my mission.  It's not that I choose to!  It just... happens.  I don't forget the people that I love like my family and friends, but I just forget about life.  It's a bit difficult to explain.  Other missionaries would know what I mean.  Either way, I am truly enjoying myself in the wonderful country of Uruguay.  This branch, the Piedra Alta branch, is full of some of the most amazing people I have ever met in my life.  Growing up in the church in English and in America made it difficult to imagine such amazing testimonies in other cultures.  But the church is true everywhere.  And those who recognize it and live it are really blessed.  I have seen it with my own eyes.  I have seen the stark contrast between the desperate, obscure, directionless life of sin and the tranquil, bright, purposeful life of righteousness.  Truly wickedness never was happiness.  I will do my best to help all understand this.  I must now go and serve the beloved children of God.

LOVE,

Elder Plautz

I'm not playing games. It's cold out here.

Dear everyone,
 

This week was another week of hard work and I am learning even more and more just how merciful the Lord is to His children.  Especially me.  Elder Gila is an amazing companion and he is super humble.  He has the funniest stories to tell from his homeland.  "We would plant crops.  Like... how do you say... sweet potatoes.  But the pigs would come in and destroy them.  So we have an idea.  Maybe we could kill the pigs.  And then we eat them!"  Maybe it doesn't sound as funny coming through a computer, but his accent while he speaks in English is priceless.  And that's just a lil' story.  He has much, much more amazing hunting stories.  Like hunting sharks and pigs.  And He does the hand motions and the sound effects.  His pig squeals are the best thing I have ever heard.  Apart from his crazy stories about Vanuatu, he is a very diligent and hardworking missionary.  And I love him a lot.
 

Our area is the middle of the city, as I might have said last week, so it's difficult to find people that really aren't super busy and want to hear what we have to say.  We're trying to focus on listening to the Spirit more because we only really have about twenty seconds to gain their trust and catch their attention.  And honestly, I have no idea what to say in just twenty seconds that will make them want to keep listening or to agree to meet sometime.  But the SPIRIT knows!  The Spirit knows all things.  So if we learn to only focus on what the Spirit is telling us to say, and then say it, then it will be our best chance to help them come to the light and understanding of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We're doing what we can to involve the members more in the work and I know that the fastest way to help someone want to help you is by finding ways to serve them.  So we're gonna start serving away!  Uruguayans are pretty difficult to accept help, but I think that's the case for everyone, so we're gonna try nonetheless.
 

There is a recent convert in our ward named Artigas and he is around sixty-five years old.  He didn't complete more than three years of schooling when he was younger because he had to start working to provide for his family and thus, never learned how to read.  Two months after he got baptized, he finished reading the Book of Mormon and can read.  That is such a miracle.  That literally couldn't have been possible without God.  Today is very special for my city Florida because it celebrates some Saint named San Cono who is huge for Catholics down here.  And my city of a few thousand people becomes filled with twenty thousand or more people.  Why?  Just to be at San Cono.  It's a huge party outside right now and hundreds of little mini shops have been set up on the streets to benefit from the lucrative aspect of this holiday.  It's a madhouse out there.  Nonetheless, we are going to go out and find those prepared souls who need to speak to us.  I love being a missionary!  I must now go and serve the beloved children of God.
 

LOVE,
Elder Plautz

The Pictures:

 

The first is me with Elder Gila.

The second: after a long time of being apart, a few weeks ago when we went to sign our visas and became residents of Uruguay, I found my trio again! And it was a spectacular reunion. No sabía qué hacer porque estaba demasiado animado por encontarme con ellos de nuevo! Que coso, che! Pero sacamos una foto por lo menos! Los amo, en serio. Viva Uruguay!