Hey Everything is good here. Not too much to say but I invited my first person to be baptized this week. So freaking sick. Also we walked a ton and almost got killed by a pack of wolves hahahaha. Had interviews yesterday and we fasted for more investigators. Right now we have two people with a baptismal date. One is this sweet old lady who forgets everything we teach her and the other is Jose who I invited last week within the first like 20 minutes of meeting him. So legit the Lords work. My Spanish gets better everyday. Way grateful for all the support. Elder Hollingsworth My Companion Elder T Comodoro
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Buen dia a mi gente Wow holy literal my world just got turned upside down. Haha bad pun ew way nasty. but anyway it legitimately did. So we took a bus and a train and trax to get to the airport last monday. Then chilled at the airport and made some phone calls until our plan left at 2ish. Then flew to Atlanta and then to Buenos Aires. HOLY SACK haha when we landed in buenos aires we had to like go downtown, the comodoro group, and like get residence papers or something no idea really but it was so sketchy I definitely was experiencing some hardcore culture shock. Then we went to a different airport and waited (yay no 30 hour bus) until 6 when we flew to comodoro which took like 2 hours or so. We landed and President and wife and the APs and office elders were waiting and helped us take all of our stuff. Ya these little Argentinos cannot lift my 70 pound bags they need like three of them hahaha so thanks mom. Then went to a hotel and had some killer chicken and then slept freaking hard. Then got up and went to the mission office to do some business for like training and interviews and stuff. Super cool my President and his wife are really neat people and super super nice. He speaks English she does not. Then the next day we got our trainers. I struck gold I think. I honestly wanted a trainer that was a native so I could learn spanish really fast. My trainer is Elder T from Mexico City, which is great for a couple of reasons. 1. He speaks a little english 2. He speaks very clear spanish and I can understand pretty much everything he says. 3. He is a clean guy, not because he is mexican but they argentinos put the mexicans to shame with dirtiness (don´t be offended because its the truth) So ya and then right after this meeting, they handed everyone a book of mormon and sent us out to the streets of Comodoro. legit was so pumped but i really had no literal idea what anyone was saying. We gave them both away and my companion got a decent dog bite on his hand so ya great times. Then we had to wait until like 6 to get a bus to the area. The area is about 2 hours south of Comodoro and the city is called Pico Truncado. Super small little town which is nice. We had to stay a night with the zone leaders in Caleta Olivia because of how the buses work. So did that and then woke up the next day, friday i think it was, and came here to our apartment. It is small obviously and decently gross but hahaha whatever I cleaned it haha. Just unpacked and made a plan and got going. Had kind of a fun day because no english but whatever I understand more and more every day and learn a ton of stuff just talking with my companion. Then Saturday was a good day visited some members and did some contacting and stuff it was cool. The problem down here is the leaders of the branch are super proud and think they are better than the other members because they have been here longer. So we basically listen to members tell us all the bad stuff the leaders have been doing. Ya so pretty much just some good old fashioned apostasy nada mas haha. But I was able to share my testimony with two different members about this stuff and me and makaylas favorite scripture Enos 1:12. So that was good we are gonna try to fix things. Then yesterday church starts at 930 and so we got there and I introduced myself and shared a little and testified. Not sure if it made sense but oh well haha. Then my companion talked and another dude. Then visited members all day they are such nice humble people. Argentina is a dump compared to America. I dont mean that to degrade anyone but there is just trash everywhere and broken stuff and just people just dont care. But inside the little homes of these members, the whole house not even as big as my freaking bedroom, there is a little piece of heaven. The gospel is all they really have, and they feast upon it. Id like to remind you guys to think about what matters most. If you had nothing, would you be like them? Would you still get up every sunday and try to find a shirt with the least amount of holes or dirt because you yearned to take the sacrament? Just some thoughts. Love the Gospel, love this work. I really dont understand when people say this is hard because i feel so comforted and even when we get massively rejected and yelled at I just laugh it off haha cuz I have no idea what they are saying so no problem haha! Anyway the mission is really great. Some random stuff about Argentina before I end. Dogs everywhere. More dogs than people. Something like 8 dogs for every one person or something like that it is insane. Most of the wild ones are chill it is the ones that are chained up by peoples houses that you have to be careful with. The food is basically meat and bread. Thats pretty much what they eat. We walk so much haha good thing I did a lot of running and hiking before. The running in the MTC was good too. It is sacking cold rn. Like I am in someone´s house with a sweater and boots on and still a little cold. And we are pretty north too. One of the elders showed me a photo of Puerto Williams at the bottom and there is like 1 foot of snow in the SUMMER hahahaha I was made for this mission. The worst thing is that nobody eats breakfast or dinner. They wake up, slurp themselves some good matte, which I haven´t had and don´t want to, and then eat a massive lunch, like way more than you can eat. Then no dinner, the might have hot chocolate milk at dinner time but maybe not too. So ya I am fixing to be a pole because of the lack of food and the walking. But its great I feel great so no big deal. Bought some frutas at the store today. Hope all is well. Love is all you need and I am doing my best to love these people how their Savior would love them if he were here. Love Elder Hollingsworth (another thing, nobody can pronounce my name hahahahaha) Elder F at the airport. He is going to a different mission in Argentina.
Hola, So this week was week 6. We had a good time practicing teaching district B while they practiced teaching us. Way weird to view it from the investigators perspective! So many questions! It improved my teaching so much! All I do now is ask questions and explain stuff real real simple. That's how they learn through the spirit and it is so much better than just rambling on! The Spanish is kind of platueing haha I don't know how to spell that, but it will be good to just get immersed and learn it the old fashioned way! I have committed myself to only speak Spanish for the rest of my mission no matter what after I hang up the phone at the airport! So hopefully I still remember English when I get home! I think I'll be ok just because email every week. My suitcases are freaking heavy as crap haha! Hopefully everything gets down there ok! I am kind of nervous for so much travel! Hopefully the culture shock isn't too bad. I am stoked though! Gonna straight up read like all of the scriptures and maybe compose like some art or poetry who knows with so much time! Guess Spanish would be the best use of my time. Lots of stuff to worry about for the next couple months but my faith has never been stronger. I know the Lord lives and He is with me. Having the spirit 24/7 is something I never wanna be without again. I just know everything will be ok and hopefully I learn some stuff and help some people come closer to their Savior. So grateful for all you guys. Hoping to get hooked up with the gift of tongues soon haha I'll let you know how that goes! I know this gospel is true. The Doctrine of Christ; faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, endure. So true. That's all we have to do. What joy it has brought to me and I know it can bring to you. I sing How Great Thou Art every night in the shower. It is definitely my favorite hymn. So true too. How truly great our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ are. Hopefully in like three weeks they have to split the mission cuz of the baptism overload! Haha jk that is what we call a chiste. Hitting this with confidence. Pray for our safety and the people of Argentina! Love Elder Hollingsworth Last picture with the Bros at the MTC
Hola
Spanish is coming great I haven't spoken a lick of English. Jk I have but I am trying not to. Glad I am learning Spanish it is really neat and not too hard. This week was good! Right after I sent that email about not liking Sunday we had a great one! And tomorrow is fast sunday so no talk stress! Taught some good lessons this week. Really learning a lot about how to help people and teach with the spirit. I just wanna get into Spanish fast so I don't have to worry about that and I can say what I feel! Hopefully my trainer is a cool guy and doesn't feel like I am a burden. Speaking of that, you won't believe this. So next Monday we have a 6 hour flight to Atlanta, then a 11 hour flight to Buenos Aires. After those two great experiences we then have a 30 hour. Yes trienta! 30 hour bus ride to Comodoro Rividavia. This is legit. 30 hours. On a bus. Probably full of stinky people and for sure full of stinky missionaries. Holy cow so ya I'll let you know when I get there like next Thursday if I am alive. Should be fun though and get to basically see the whole country while it is daytime! Hopefully it is still cold there I miss the cold. I think on Thursday I think it was, we had a skype TRC with a member from Chile. He was so funny we just joked around the whole time! 5 minutes left and I'm all "oh crap we gotta give this guy a spiritual thought" So I asked him what was up and he said all the kids are turning into phone zombies. (by the way I can understand a lot when people talk so that is nice the trouble is talking back) But anyway I told him how when I would read and pray every day the phone became the slave and I was still the master. He liked that analogy a lot. I would encourage you guys as well to not let your phone be the master. Even if you are using it for seemingly good purposes the adversary wants us to be idle and waste away our time. I have never realized how precious time was until I came here! It is flying by so fast! Pretty soon I'll making that bus ride for the second and last time! So weird. I know my Savior lives. I have felt his divine inspired help as I have consecrated my time and efforts here for the purpose of bringing the Argentine people unto him. I love the gospel. How blessed we are to have the truth. Pray for that bus! Elder Hollingsworth |
Elder HollingsworthJake Is currently serving in the Argentina, Comodoro Rivadavia Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints. He reported to the MTC August 3, 2016. This blog is for family and friends. Archives
July 2018
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