Argentine Commuters Torch Trains

Here is Stacey's response to my question of whether she ever feels unsafe. The timing was great in light of the recent riot in Castelar:

Do I ever feel unsafe? Actually yes, but never to the point that Ím really scared. I know the Lord will protect us and warn us if we need to get out of where we are. As a matter of fact He did this week. Íll explain in a sec, but as far as when I feel unsafe... it's when we run into or pass by men who are drinking, but dońt worry, we are really careful and walk with a purpose... meaning we try not to look like targets.
As far as the adventure and us being "warned" this week, you should see if you can find some info in English on the internet about the riot that took place in my area! Riot in Castellano is alboroto and what happened was that there was a problem with the train either in Merlo or somewhere, but by the time it arrived to Castelar (where we board), the people were so angry because they were all 2 hours late for work, and they started throwing rocks at the train and broke all the windows and then they set it on fire! That will surely accomplish something... now we have one fewer train to take! Anyway, what happened was, I was waiting ever so patiently for Hermana Munos (we were on divisions and I stayed in Castelar with another companion) and she had to gather her stuff and it was taking a long time. I was worried because we were supposed to have walked out the door about 7 minutes earlier, but it turned out to be a miracle because at 10:40 ish we got an urgent call from our Zone Leaders exclaiming, "dońt leave the pension!" We thought they were joking, but then Elder Lopez told us that there was a riot at the train station about 8 or 10 blocks from where we live. The funny thing is if we had left when we were supposed to - we wouldńt have known NOT to go to the train station as planned to switch back to our regular companionships in Haedo and we would have been caught up in it. The Lord protected us and we did get the call, rearranged the division and walked to Moron where we reunited with our companions. If you can find anything about the riot, I would actually be interested to know, because we just got bits and pieces of details... I think some teenagers cut the wires of the train or set a pretend bomb off or something... Íd probably know more if I spoke the language, but all I know is that something went wrong and they burned the train.

BBC News - Commuters in Argentina have set fire to two trains amid anger over delays.
Passengers torched the trains at stations outside Buenos Aires, saying the delay was costing them a day's pay. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up the protests, which the government said had been planned by militant members of the Workers Party.
The party rejected this, saying officials were trying to minimise legitimate protests over problems with public transport. The trouble erupted after a train broke down on the line.
Angry commuters at the station of Merlo, in the western outskirts of the capital, set fire to several train carriages. At another station, Castelar, a crowd set fire to another train, damaging a carriage. Protesters also threw stones at the ticket office and blocked the lines.
Justice Minister Anibal Fernandez said the faulty train had been sabotaged and left-wing activists had started the violence. "This was planned, it was premeditated," Mr Fernandez said.
About a dozen people were arrested. Argentina's railway network suffers frequent delays and commuters' anger has led to violence before.

Baptismal Program

It's a party!

Life is so good!

"Called to Serve" video link

This is very touching to all and especially to those with missionaries who have served or are serving at this time...

http://www.byub.org/calledtoserve/

Featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and

Orchestra at Temple Square

Umbrellas and Cracked Heels

Family!

First off, thanks for answering all my questions and sending me the conversion charts for Celsius vs. Fahrenheit and kilos vs. pounds.

No I have not gotten the package... you´d know if I had! I´d be thanking you left and right. I´ll let you know when it arrives.

Go BYU, but for heaven´s sake, make me proud--winning isn´t so grand if it wasn´t a victory that we earned by playing hard.

Nata - remember all those clapping contests we had? Well, it´s finally paying off because I can clap so loud! It´s great because that´s how you "knock doors" here. Everything is gated and fenced and locked and so the way you get people to come to the door is to stand outside it and clap. I think I already explained all of this , but yeah, it´s great that my big sis motivated me to learn to clap well!

Also, thanks for the dearelder letter you sent me about my birthday and being in a different country. You´re right... I´m beginning to feel so proud to be bi-cultural, but I haven´t got it down just right yet. I almost had a panic attack buying food today because I didn´t understand that "para llevar" meant "to go" ... luckily my companion helped me out. LOL!

I would like to let you all know that my heels are becoming what seems to be permanently black. They started out kind of bloody and red, but now they are definitely black. The skin is hard and almost calloused and cracked and not that pretty, but it proves that I walk a lot! Also the soles of my feet are so hard... they don´t crack, but I feel like I´m wearing shoes when I´m walking around our pension barefoot. It´s trippy.

Sadly, Lorenzo is struggling. His current church told him that there couldn´t be any more scripture, so he threw his Book of Mormon away! I was so sad. When he told us about it during a lesson my companion was well prepared. First she had him read 6 different scriptures in the Bible that talk about scriptures and books and other things the Bible doesn't have to help him see that there have been many scriptures lost and that more was written. Then we went to 2 Nephi 29 and read the entire chapter out loud and explained the point about, "a bible, we´ve already got a bible and we need no more Bible", and how it isn't true because we are still His children and He remembers all of the nations of the earth. Because of this we will receive more of His word, and that just because He has spoken one word doesn't mean He cannot speak another, that His work with us isn't done. I was so grateful that she was so quick and ready. Then we told him about "other sheep" just like in John and I found the same reference that clarifies that the other sheep are the people in the Book of Mormon, and we read 3 Nephi 15:17,21. It felt good that we were able to help him understand. It ended with him being quite open to the idea that the Book of Mormon could also be the word of God and he told us that he wanted another one and that he wouldn´t throw it away.

And, we do have hope of finding a family to teach! One day we did a street contact with an 18 year old girl while we were waiting for the colective in the rain. We talked to her on the colective and we all got off at the same station and her umbrella wouldn´t open. So we all huddled under my giant umbrella (which I LOVE), and finally got hers opened. We stopped by her house a few days later and taught her, her mom, and her 2 little sisters. We set up a return appointment for 2 days later and taught her, her mom, and her older sister (her 2 younger sisters were at school), we set up another appointment for tomorrow and we hope to set up a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) in which we can meet the dad and teach the entire family! They had already been contacted by the sister missionaries here about 9 months ago. They already had a Book of Mormon, but hadn´t ever progressed. Hopefully now is their time. Family Sandes... I´d love to tell the story of the family that we found because we were doing contacts in the rain and her umbrella wouldn't open!

I carry one of the BYU family pictures, and the one you sent me that you took on the grass the day Davy was blessed and show them to members whenever they ask about my family. They are all way impressed with the thick and beautiful grass in the latter picture... the grass here is not like that at all. You can´t even sit on it because you´d get dirt all over your clothes because the grass it is so thin!

Okay, gotta run...I love you all so much!

Chao,

Hermana Jensen

The Five M’s of Missionary Work

Thomas S. Monson

16th President of the Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

New Era, March 2007, 42–45

Understanding these aspects of missionary life will contribute to a missionary’s success.

I’d like to speak about “Five M’s of Missionary Work.”

1. The Message
The message is divine. I think our keynote was sounded by our Lord and our Savior, who stands at the head of the great army of missionaries worldwide. After His Resurrection, He appeared to His 11 disciples. He could have given them any counsel, any expression, any warning that He chose to give. But what did He say? It’s recorded in Matthew 28:18–20. He said as follows:
“All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
What a promise! If we respond affirmatively to that sacred call, that binding authority, “I will be with you always, even unto the end of the world.” I can’t think of a greater promise.
The Prophet Joseph Smith said simply this:
“After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel” (History of the Church, 2:478).
What is the gospel? It is the message we take, a message that declares that an angel flew in the midst of heaven and that the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored. If we’ll remember that and the other elements of the message missionaries bear, we’ll be effective. In that message is the Book of Mormon, which is part and parcel of every missionary’s library—internal, what he knows, and external, what he teaches.
The Book of Mormon, the true nature of the Godhead—the world hungers for this message. It’s part of that which missionaries will take to the people.
Another element that I have found very important is that the Church is based on a foundation of Apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone (see Ephesians 2:20). And we emphasize a “living” prophet today. I testify that President Hinckley is such a living prophet—the prophet, seer, and revelator of the Church.
If I could put my finger on that portion of the gospel which seems to penetrate a broader range of people and penetrate more deeply their hearts and their souls and move them to action, it’s the plan of salvation, or our Heavenly Father’s plan—where we came from, why we’re here, where we go when we leave mortality.
It’s been my observation that the stumbling block for investigators is not the Word of Wisdom. It isn’t Sabbath day observance. It’s a testimony that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. It’s very important that we declare that message. The message is divine. Remember that.

2. The Missionary
The second M: the missionary, the desire of a lifetime.
One of the Brethren went to a conference and brought back to me a very simple note from a missionary.
“Dear President Monson, You shook hands with me when I was 17. You told me to go on a mission. I’m here in Seattle on my mission. Thank you.” Think of it—the influence of a handshake.
Missionaries are marvelous. They’re called of God by prophecy. Only those who are sustained as prophets, seers, and revelators make the suggested call to a missionary, and they’re called by the prophet of God. They represent the fruits of all that is good within the Latter-day Saint family.

3. The Member
Let’s talk just a little bit about the member.
When I was a mission president in Toronto, Canada, we knew that investigators worry about the changes that are going to come into their lives. We had a practice of supplying teams of members to help the missionaries. For example, the missionaries were working with a Catholic family (and that was the majority faith in our area). About midway through the set of discussions they could call on Brother and Sister Anthony Belfiglio. They had been Catholics. They’d joined the Church and were a great help to the missionaries. When the missionaries had borne their testimony, Brother and Sister Belfiglio would say, “We know what you’re going through. We were in the same position, but when we heard the truth and realized that a prophet was on the earth at this time, there was no question what we must do, and we never looked back and we’ve never been sorry.” It buttressed the testimony of the missionaries.
Brother Stoneman from up in the north area had been a member of the United Church of Canada. He’d been employed by the United Church of Canada. He was their printer. He lost his job. He found another, better one. He and his wife would go to the investigator who has been a member of the United Church of Canada and bear their testimony. He said, “I lost my job. I lost many of my friends, but I found a wealth of new friends, and I found the truth. You will not regret it.”
We had others who had been members of the Anglican Church. In fact, we had three teams in every area where missionaries were laboring. And what did it do for those new members? It strengthened them. What did it do for the investigator? It helped convince him. It was a proselyting method; it was a fellowshipping method. It worked both ways.

4. The Mission
Now, a word about the mission itself. Build an esprit de corps in your mission. It doesn’t matter which one it is or where it is. We were in Canada. I didn’t know anything about Canada, but I did a little reading. I found out that Canada was the only place the Prophet Joseph Smith ever went outside of his own country. That’s also where the early elders of the Church went to prepare for their mission to Great Britain. I let our missionaries know that. Sister Monson pointed out that Brigham Young went to Kingston, Ontario, and labored 30 days, walking through snow hip deep, and converted and baptized 40 people. I made sure our missionaries knew that. Parley P. Pratt, in answer to a referral, finding a man from England named John Taylor no more than 20 miles from Toronto, brought him into the Church, and he became the third President of the Church. All of those things we would weave into the history, the goals and the objectives of our missionaries.

5. The Mission President
Now, a word about mission presidents. Their philosophy is that of a teacher who says, “No one fails in my class.” They’re responsible for the missionaries’ success. Every missionary wants success, and the mission president shows him how to achieve success.
He helps each missionary to work, but more significant yet, he helps each one to work effectively so that the kingdom of God will grow under his inspired direction.
Remember: “I am with you always,” said the Lord (Matthew 28:20). In addition, the great promise found in the 84th section of the Doctrine and Covenants is yours: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (v. 88).
See True to the Faith, pp. 104–6, or online at the Gospel Library on http://www.lds.org/.

[photo] Photograph by Welden Andersen

Elder Ballard Encourages Use of Internet to Share the Gospel

Elder Ballard spoke at the BYU-Hawaii graduation (12/15/07) and urged graduates to use the Internet to share the Gospel. He mentioned blogging, podcasts, Facebook, video-sharing sites, and “people using … search engines to hunt for topics about the Church.” Here are selected portions:

The emergence of New Media is facilitating a world-wide conversation on almost every subject including religion, and nearly everyone can participate.…Conversations will continue whether or not we choose to participate in them. But we cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches.…The challenge is that there are too many people participating in conversation about the Church for our Church personnel to converse with and respond to individually. We cannot answer every question, satisfy every inquiry, and respond to every inaccuracy that exists. …some who seek answers want them to come directly from a member of the Church, like each one of you.…May I ask that you join the conversation by participating on the Internet, particularly the New Media, to share the gospel and to explain in simple and clear terms the message of the Restoration. Most of you already know that if you have access to the Internet you can start a blog in minutes and begin sharing what you know to be true. You can download videos from Church and other appropriate sites, including Newsroom at LDS.org, and send them to your friends. You can write to media sites on the Internet that report on the Church, and voice your views as to the accuracy of the reports.…Others have recorded and posted their testimonies of the Restoration, the teachings of the Book of Mormon, and other gospel subjects on popular video-sharing sites. You, too, can tell your story to nonmembers in this way.…Use stories and words that they will understand.

Folletos = Pamphlets!

We give out folletos that are invitations to church with the schedule and directions written on the back when we do our 20 a day street contacts. Since I've arrived wéve done about 600 together and this past Sunday someone we gave one to came! His name is Lorenzo and he came for the last 40 minutes of church. We saw him come in out of the corner of our eyes and went over to talk to him. He is awesome, we went to his house that afternoon after church and taught him the first lesson and committed him to pray and if he gets an answer, he will be baptized on the 27th of September! I have a testimony of folletos and street contacts. All we did was say, "Hi, if you ever want to get to know about our church, here is an invitation with the address," and someone came, someone ready, someone prepared and elect. And get this... he asked if he can start paying his tithing because he believes in tithing! And he said he was going to pray and FAST to ask if this is the true church. He's golden, shining brighter than anything in the world!
This week my comp and I had a special fast for our investigators with baptismal dates to progress and for us to find a family to baptize. That is the second time wéve included "find a family" in our fasts here. We really want to baptize a family because it is one of our transfer goals. A week is already gone leaving 5 weeks to find, teach, and baptize... they have to attend church at least 2 times to be baptized... families only have to attend twice, whereas Lorenzo who is just by himself has to attend 4 times before he can be baptized. It looks like we are going to reach our goal of 3 baptisms this transfer, and surprisingly... all the dates we had last week are now barely progressing and probably wońt make it within this transfer: Coco, Tomas, and Santina didńt come to church. In addition to Lorenzo, we have two daughters of an inactive single mom who is starting to come back to church. Ayelen is 13 and Rocio is 11 and they both are committed for the 13th of September! The transfer ends on the 28th by the way. At first we were having problems with Ayelen because she doesńt want to be baptized on the same day as her kid sister, and so she wouldńt accept that date, but her mom told her that she pretty much had to because theýre moving on the 15th and may not be staying in Castelar. Wherever they find a place, theýre are moving, so we are obviously searching for a place for them where they could stay in the ward even after their baptism. But luckily, when her mom said that, she came around, but insists on going last... I guess she wants some glory, but she deserves it-- she is getting baptized!
Remember Rolando Destito that was baptized last transfer? He just received the Aaronic Priesthood last Sunday! It was so cool and he also got a calling... he is a Counselor in Young Men's!
Azucena Rodriguez... our other baptism from last transfer is also progressing incredibly. Every morning she sits down at her kitchen table, sings a hymn, says a prayer, and reads either the Book of Mormon or the Gospel Principles manual for the upcoming lesson! She rocks! Her youngest son came to church last Sunday and we had a lesson with him last week but he doesńt want to be baptized. He didńt give us a reason, just doesńt want to. But maybe with more time, héll come around.
Story... remember the low-hanging fruit talk the President gave at the transfer meeting? Well, I was looking through the "former investigators" tab in our area book searching for people that might have become elect since they were dropped. I wrote down 6 names of people I wanted to revisit. My comp went through old progress reports and wrote down about 4 names. We compared lists and had 3 in common. We went to visit one such former investigator last week. Santina Trillo... shés a sweet older lady that talks when we want to teach, but we committed her to be baptized. The reason the other missionaries dropped her is because she stood them up a few times and didńt answer phone calls. But we picked her up again and hopefully it will work out that she can be baptized on the 27th with Lorenzo!

Well, I love you so much, I feel like this email has been not that good. I dońt know what else to say, we had lots of great miracles and experiences this week, but I think I hit on the most miraculous of them. I think of you all every day and pray for you all every day. I love you so much and cannot express the immense gratitude I have for you all. I know how blessed I am to have such a supportive family. I feel so privileged and I fear the day that I will sit across from the Stake President and he will tell me I have to take off my name mag... I almost cry thinking that I will one day have to get up and get dressed without being able to put on my name tag. It is completely a part of me!
Love you tons! Hermana Jensen

Richard G. Scott in Argentina

From left: Elder Richard G. Scott, Cheryl Benton, Evrett Benton

Elder Scott greeting members

Area Mission President and Sister Bowen (left) President and Sister Benton (right)

We spent 3 wonderful days last Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with one of our Church's 12 Apostles, Richard C. Scott. Elder Scott counseled and taught the 15 Mission Presidents from South America and their wives the whole time, and then we all attended a temple session with him. Our Area Presidency was there the whole time too, along with their wives, and Elder Walter Gonzalez, one of the 7 Presidents of the Seventy was there too, with his wife.
My favorite moments with Elder Scott were when he gave the Mission President's wives two separate "Apostolic Blessings". His Blessings strengthened me a whole lot.
The photos are of us posing with Elder Scott outside the temple on a windy, blustery day, and of us with President and Sister Bowen.
My favorite photo of these three is the one where Elder Scott is walking across the temple grass with the Bowens to shake the hands of some members of the Church who were sticking their hands through the bars of the temple fence, and, after he shook their hands, he reached through the bars with both his arms and embraced them.

Miracles Through Hard Work and Obedience

Here are a few snippets from Stacey's last letter:

Transfer meeting was really cool. All the missionaries go to the mission office where there is a chapel and we watch a movie with music and pix of the successes of the mission - there were 3 pictures from our baptism! I cried. Then we watch a power point with all the new leadership and companionships by area and everyone finds out at that exact moment where theýre going to serve and with whom for the transfer that begins the next day! It is a rush. Luckily me and Sis Torres are staying together in Castelar! FEW! I was not ready to be leaving the area... I still cańt figure out how the colectivos work.

Chapels in Argentina all have 2 or 3 ping pong tables. I dońt know why, but I thought it was interesting. Hna Torres says it is the same in Chile too. Why dońt we have ping pong tables in the chapels in the states?

The biggest lamest most frustrating thing about this country, well there are 2... one is that it takes like an eternity to get a divorce finalized. We have 3 couples that could be baptized and want to be, but cańt be because one or both of them are married to other people.. not the people they are living with... and they are waiting for their divorces so they can marry each other and get baptized. One couple has been waiting 10 years. Wére going to fast with them next week for their divorce to come through.
The other thing is that this country lives and dies by having change (coin money), because it is the only way to take the colectivos and often times the only way to ride the train because sometimes for no apparent reason there just wońt be attendants manning the stations so you have to buy your tickets for the train with the machines which ONLY take change. If you dońt have change and there isńt someone manning the station... you dońt ride the train... so no big deal right, go to the bank and get a bunch of change. NOT SO. The bank will only give you 5 pesos in change each time you go to the bank. Which lasts about 3 days. Yesterday we walked 3 miles to an appointment because we didńt have change to take the colectivo and if we bought something, we would have to waste like 2 or 3 pesos just to get change. They should just make a bajillion more coins and flush them into the system so that everyone doesńt have to hoard them the way we do.
We have 2 focuses as a mission. One is "low-hanging fruit" which means, work with people who are already married to each other and actually could get baptized, or friends of recent converts, or part-member families where a lot of the work is already done. It is a great focus and I hope that we can really tap into it in our area.

I loved the quotes you sent. The one that I have been reciting in my mind all week long is "yoúre gonna miss this" it is so true! I even thought it to myself the other day when my companion sat down on a curb in the street and started crying... she had just gotten in a fight with a t. j. (testigo de jehovah... jehovah's witness) and it got pretty intense. I didńt fight because I am not smart enough to bible bash, nor do I see a point in it, so I just stood there while they debated in the street for like 10 minutes. It was uncomfortable and the spirit was not there. After we walked away and she sat down to cry, I let her cry, comforted her and then I said a prayer to re-invite the spirit and we went back to work.

The other is that we will see miracles through hard work and obedience. It is great to know that when we have faith and are obedient and set good examples and work on the things 'we do have control over', that everything will work out-- and that is all we need to worry about.

This transfer my comp and I have a baptismal goal of 3, last time it was 2. The mission has a goal of 162... this past transfer we got 103. They showed us the numbers since March and they have been in the 120 130 range... and our goal is 162... Ím nervous, but we can do it.

I would like to end this email explaining something that I have come to see to be incredibly true. Every day counts. Endure to the end. Imagine if Christ had "almost" endured to the end. What if He had endured all but the last 2 hours of the atonement... we would all be lost. He did not give up and neither can we. We must serve Him ALL our days, not just until we get old and it is too much of a hassle to make it to church. Every day...Christ gave every moment...He suffered every pain, not just most of them. I know that this is important, it is salvation and no excuse is going to be good enough for why we didn't push on and endure to the end.

I love you all so very much.

Hermana Jensen

A Spiritual Feast

This post is copied from the Benton's mission blog. It sounds like they had a wonderful time and learned many great things.

I absolutely LOVE that Sister Benton keeps up a blog. It, I believe is another "tender mercy" from Heavenly Father to give us, as her parents, (and each of you) another opportunity to see and learn more about the great work going on in Argentina.

From one mom to another, thanks Cheryl...YOU are the best!

We've had a spiritual feast for the last two days with the visit to our mission of President & Sister Bowen. President Bowen is the President of the South America South Area (including Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), a member of the Seventy (a "General Authority" for our Church), and he presides over all the affairs of the Church in this southern portion of South America.
We traveled with the Bowens to all of our Mission Zones to meet with all of our missionaries, and both President and Sister Bowen spent lots of hours counseling, teaching and instructing us all.
President Bowen spent some time helping me understand my purpose and role here in Argentina. He said to me, "You were foreordained before you came to this world to be on this Mission, at this time, here in Argentina." I felt courage, support and strength when he told me that.
My favorite teaching that President Bowen taught us was when he said, "Everyone is special, but no one is special," a true doctrine found in the scriptures where we are taught that the worth of all of our souls is great in the sight of God, but no one of God's children is more important than another, and God is greater than us all.
President Bowen taught us many other profound concepts (mostly in Spanish), but we'll just tell you a few favorites here:
One of Evrett's favorite "take away" phrases from President Bowen is, "Miracles are always found on the far side of obedience and hard work."
Our Assistants each had a favorite teaching from President Bowen.
Elder Stephens: When he taught about who holds the "keys"(llaves in Spanish) of the Priesthood for various realms of responsibility in the Church, compared with the concept of the "authority" of the Priesthood.
Elder Pannier: When he taught the concept, "We act differently when we know who we are,"
and then he taught the Lord's words from the scriptures defining who we are, beginning with our spiritual forefather, the prophet Abraham in the Old Testament.
I liked Sister Bowen's teaching that, when we serve a mission and then return to our family, there is more of us to share with our family. I also was impressed with how well she speaks Spanish!
Thanks very much for your visit President & Sister Bowen! Your precious time has made lasting memories for all of us! We know you have lots of other responsibilities, but we hold out hope that we'll be able to have another "spiritual feast" with you sometime during the next year.
You two are the BEST!
Posted by Cheryl & Evrett
President and Sister Benton (left), President and Sister Bowen (right)

Happy Baptism Day

Rolando Destito (2nd from left)

Azucena Rodriguez (center)