Hola From Rodeo!

Hola from Rodeo!

Well this week has been a much better sickness free week! I can´t explain now how grateful I am for the simple blessing of good health. Sometimes we need to be sick or have hard times to realize how blessed we really are. Elder Morinico and I had a much better week with much success. We have really been trying to rely on the Lord as we plan for the next day and we have been seeing the blessings of that. We found three people this week that we have been trying to find for three months, and all three have a strong desire to be baptized in the Church of JESUS CHRIST! What a blessing and a joy that is :)

I feel genuinely happy here on my mission, even though it has challenged me to my edge. The testimony of diligence and consistency has been written on the tablet of my heart. I feel so much happier when I am working hard and doing all that I can to bring souls unto Christ. Missionary work is all about service and it is all about others. If we think too much about ourselves and our problems, we miss the opportunities to lighten the load of others. When we focus our thoughts on others and think about how we can bless their lives, we find a different kind of happiness than we have ever experienced. It is true happiness. It is the happiness that the Savior enjoyed as He lived his mortal life; for His life was a total and complete life of service. Everything He did was unselfish, and for the benefit of others. And of course the culmination of His selfless was His infinite atonement, wrought in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross of Calvary. What a blessing that is to all of us, who will, ´´come unto Christ and be perfected in Him.´´

It has been the joy of my life to help others see the light of the Gospel, and see it change their very countenances. When I think it is just so hard sometimes, Heavenly Father shows us the tender mercy of service, and how we have helped the lives of others.

This week I had the opportunity to talk to a Hermano in our ward named Hermano Patiño. He broke his ankle about a month and a half ago while he was playing soccer with some friends. He called the missionaries over to give him a blessing. When I got there I figured that he would have me do the anointing and my companion give him the blessing; But to my surprise, he asked me to give the blessing!! (In my broken Spanish!!) I was very nervous and said a pray in my heart that Heavenly Father would give me the words that needed to be said. I really don’t remember what I said, all I know is that I followed the Spirit, and felt good after the blessing. Before all of this the doctor had told him that he would need the cast on for a little more than three months, and that he would need to stay in the house for three months too. He was devastated, but he his also a good man with a love and faith in Jesus Christ. Anyways, we ate lunch at his house this Sunday, and he asked me if I remembered what I had said in the prayer. I told him I really didn’t… He then told me that I told him that he would heal and walk and be able to run perfectly in the due time of the Lord. He then went on to say he had just gone to the Doctor and the doctor told him that the ankle had healed miraculously and he would be getting his cast off a month and a half early, and he would be up and walking soon. He said the doctor told him that because of the type of break he had, they might have to do surgery after his cast was taken off, but because of the healing it did that was no longer necessary. He thanked me with a full heart for the blessing, and expressed his gratitude for me and especially for the mercy of our Heavenly Father.

That experience was special to me, because I realized that Heavenly Father used a 19 year old kid like me to bring to pass a small miracle. The Hermano had faith enough to follow the counsel of James , ´´Is any asick among you? let him call for the belders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.´´ James 5:14-15. I am grateful that even with all my imperfections, I have been chosen as a servant of Jesus Christ to build up His Kingdom one little act of faith at a time. (John 15:16).
As for some funny Agentine updates, the mullets are totally back in style here, and yes they are still nasty as they ever were!! And I am convinced that there are 15 songs here that they just put on repeat on the radios here!!! Haha. Well everyone, I love you with all my heart, and I am happy and excited to see how transfers are going to be next week! Until next week!
Love,
Elder Passantino