I´M ALIVE! Don´t worry! Haha yeah, there´s some pretty crazy riots, but luckily they´re pretty far away from where I am. Liniers is tranquilo. The rioting is all happening in 9 de julio which is right outside of my old area. They´re always rioting there anyway. That´s the same street where the crazy River fans were taking over the city buses and waving flags on top while they drove them around town. It´s ¨normal¨. Haha
So transfers came around again. But nothing changed for us. Élder Rosazza and I are still together in Liniers 1, because we only had 4 and a half weeks together due to that flash transfer.
The subject line is what all the Argentines sang in the stadiums to taunt the Brazilians, their archrivals in soccer. On Sunday practically everyone was singing in unison. It was pretty funny for a while but thank goodness the World Cup is finally over. I don´t want to talk about it again for another four years. So no more stories. :P
Gladys was baptized this last Saturday and confirmed this Sunday! She was so awesome, and so happy. She only has about half her teeth, but she doesn´t let that stop her from smiling. I´m amazed by the faith that she´s shown. Despite all of her trials from living alone in a tiny house still under construction that her neighbor is trying to take away from her, she continues cheerfully telling everyone about how happy the Gospel has made her. Right before her baptism it started raining so hard we could have practically just taken her by the hand and ¨baptized¨ her standing up. But we did it the right way in the font. But with the rain and the soccer game, nobody wanted to come aside from 5 other people to whom I will be forever greatful. (Check that out. I just used the word ¨whom¨. Considering how bad my English has been getting, you should all be real proud of me.)
I´ve been anxiously awaiting this P-day in particular. I was so excited to hear about Ryan´s first week as a missionary, that I could hardly contain myself. I´m so glad that he´s doing well, and he´s going to make an incredible district leader. What a freaking stud. I love you bro!
A while back we were talking to a lady who is a devout Evangelist about the purpose of life. She bluntly rejected the truth of Eternal Families telling us that after this life she believed that we´ll just exist in the glory of Jesus forever. We won´t be brother, sister, father, mother, husband, wife or anything. We´ll just be... there. I can´t describe how sad I felt when she said that. The thought of just... being... even if it was in heaven, made me so depressed. It didn´t make any sense either. I tried my best to testify about Eternal Families, and though I could feel the Spirit so strongly, I could tell that she didn´t want to feel it.
I always thought that while on a mission I would gain a stronger testimony about the Book of Mormon, about the Atonement, or about the Restoration- and I have, more than any other time in my life, gained an incredible appreciation for each of those. But to be honest, I´ve been surprised by how strongly my testimony has been strengthened about the truthfulness of Eternal Families. God established the family in the same way He has done everything: never to end, but to forever extend in glory and power. The kind of joy and happiness that our Heavenly Father wants to give us, yes, is in His presence forever, but with a purpose. A purpose and Celestial joy that can only be found in the family bonds. Of this I humbly testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I love you guys so much. Hasta el lunes que viene. ¡Chau!
¡Hurra por Israel!
-Élder Goff
P.S. Pictures
1 and 2, Glady´s baptism. All I can say is ¡qué capa!
3. Welcome to our study session for two days this week. The power likes to go out at the worse times possible like when it´s 130 degrees and 300% humidity, or 2 degrees and 300% humidity. But it´s fixed now. Plus we found out that we have a gas heater. :)
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