March 5, 2012 Visionary Leadership

Yeah, it´s kinda fun to baptize.  It´s also kinda fun to eat alfajores.  Things are getting super busy here because Elder Ramirez and I have been struggling quite a bit to get the zone organized and moving, we finally are getting there today with all the materials we need, so hopefully this week will be better than the last.  This week we also have a conference with the zone leaders and district leaders so that should help because we have two new district leaders in the zone.

I´m still working on developing this "visionary leadership" deal.  It´s really cool what we´re learning here about vision and about how we need to know the why of what we´re doing instead of just accepting the rules.  That gives us the drive we need to want to follow the rules and also to make our own plans inorder to accomplish our objective.  That´s when it becomes our objective, and not just our mission president or the assistants objective.  It´s really neat too, kind of like Nephi was the only one who supported his dad and acted on his own direction to accomplish the commandments received through their dad.  He had the vision, and in 1 Nephi 2 it explains that he achieved it by praying and receiving a confirmation for what his dad had told him.  Laman and Lemuel never wanted to know and Sam it seems obeyed to obey, and did not receive the vision.  That´s the difference between being a Sam and being a Nephi; Sam obeys but Nephi understands.  Yeah when I was down in Ushuaia it seemed that everyone wanted to get a job in the factory because they paid the best and had the most stable hours.  It was huge down there.

So another spiritual experience we had this week was that we were walking down the street in front of a members house and they had told us that across the street lived less active members.  We saw a lady sitting outside there and talked to her and she listened to us and accepted to be baptized.  We then decided to try and visit a less active family before going home and a man called out to us in the street.  Normally we don´t stop because at night they usually do that to rob us, but this time we did stop.  He turned out to be going through a really rough time and after talking with him and his mom we learned that they had been to church before but a long time ago and that missionaries had passed by too.  So we commited them to read and pray and get baptized and they accepted.  That´s another things we are implementing here in our zone only, is counting how many times a day we invite people to be baptized.  This really shows how focused we are on calling people to repentance through baptism and if we have received the vision of real growth in the celestial kingdom.  So yeah, good stuff.  Well, time to go and now more pictures, so I´ll get the paper signed and faxed in and also the doctor appointment.  Love you lots and thanks for all the help you´ve given me with the West Point application.

Con Amor,
Elder Arrowchis