Dear Familia y amigos,

Dear Familia y amigos,

Well the first week with the new companion was way good!!! He is way funny and teaches and acts totally the opposite of Elder Morinico did. He is from Sandy, Ut and is 21 yrs old. I"ll send a pic of us soon, but people call him Will Ferell with a mix of Paul Walker haha. The girls down here in Argentina love guys like him, so we gotta be careful ;) He does things so funny like we will go up to people and offer our help sometimes, and they will say, No,I'm not interested before they ever take into account what he says. So when they do that he is like, well I just wanted to give you some American money and then he gives them some U.S. pennies or something, and then they realize how mean they were being and they start laughing or something. It's pretty funny being with him sometimes. He also wears like a Cowboy hat a lot to keep the sun off his neck, so he certainly stands out in a crowd!!! Anyway it has been way fun with him and we are really ready to keep the work up in Rodeo de la Cruz and help more souls come unto Christ.

Sorry that I am emailing a day late, but we had a zone conference yesterday and they switched our Preparation day to today. Zone Conference was soooooo amazing!!! It got me so excited to get out there and work as hard as I possibly can.Our Mission President (The man who presides over our Mission here in Mendoza ( 200 missionaries)) President Lindahl is truly a man of God! I know that without a doubt. He knows exactly what is going on its so crazy. He speaks with the power of the Spirit and just has the words given him to say. It was just what I needed to recharge my batteries and go out and work!!!! Lots of the things he talked about is the potential and power we have to do and bring to pass miracles according to the will of the Lord. He talked about the amazing promise the Lord gives in D & C 84:84 and how we should expect to see and feel those types of things. He talked a lot about doing our exercises and staying in good physical shape and obviously spiritually strong. I can't tell you how strong I felt the spirit as he spoke. It was truly an incredible experience and helped me a little more understand my purpose and how happy and satisfying it is to help people come unto their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Sister Lindahl talked about Lot's wife and how she looked back and couldn't let go of all the things in the past which she had loved so much (worldy things). It really applies to us missionaries because we give up the world for the sake of Christ, and the more we focus on Him and His will we gain His trust and he gives us an increase of the Spirit to bring to pass his Will. I can't adaquately express my gratitude for being a missionary and being a representante of Jesus Christ. It is a daily delight to testify of Him and His restored Gospel.

I don't have too much time this week but, I want to bear my testimony of the truthfulness of the work that I know it is true. I know I am in the right place at the right time, and that I am here to help people recognize and come unto their Savior and God. I love you all so much and I hope all is well!!!

Sincerely,
Elder Passantino

Hey Week Two!

Hola mi familia!!!

So thank you for all the e-mails I printed them out and I am going to respond to them today :) So this week has been awesome! My companion and I have really bonded this week and it has been great. SO ya like I said the Spirit was so strong this week. Let me give you a quick story. So after we had a whole mission conference this week (only on fast sunday) we had a district meeting, where I was pleased to lead. It was an amazing meeting that was full of the Spirit. I felt like the meeting definitely had a purpose and I felt prompted to share personal stories from my life and other things I hadn't prepared to do. It was on the plan of Salvation and we got into the atonement, I bore my testimony of it and how I knew with all my heart that it was true. After that everyone was putting in their input and The Spirit was very stong! Then a Elder named Elder Munoz told our district of how he had been meeting with the Branch President, District President, and soon MTC President about some sins he had to overcome. He bore testimony of the atonement and told us how much he loved us. It was one of the most powerful experiences I have had with the Spirit in a very long time. After he spoke for about ten minutes the Spirit prompted me to close the meeting with that, and have Elder Brook say the prayer. There was very few dry eyes after the meeting and I gave everyone a hug afterwards. The Spirit was the most intensified I have felt almost in my life. Later, Elder Brook asked me why I asked him to say the prayer. And I told him I was prompted. He told me that he knew he was supposed to give the prayer and that every word he said was given to him by the Spirit. That was an amazing experience for me, that the Lord loved us enough and approved of what we were doing, to litterally change our natures for that time beings, into spiritual giants. It was great :)

Anyways the Spanish has been getting better this week. Its still definitely hard, and I know the only way that I am going to learn it is to rely on the Lord, while doing everything I can! I saw Kayleen twice this week, but yesterday when I saw her she looked horrible, becuase she had been throwing up the past two days and hadn't eaten in 30 hours... It was sad, but her companion looked like a good trooper. I have interviews with all the Elders in my district every Friday and things are going great! We celebrated the Birthday of an Elder this week named Elder Rueda and he expressed his deepest thanks that we remembered and did that for him. It was crazy this weekend we could hear the BYU game from the MTC! How did they do?? Oh and the choir starts today! I cant wait to sing at Priesthood session it will be such an amazing experience and I know I will love it! Look for me! This week has been great though. The Spanish is hard, but since one of our teachers in a native Ecudorean its nice to hear it as fast as a native says it. Oh we got to watch a past talk Elder Holland gave at the MTC in our classroom. It was one of the most powerful talks I have ever heard! You have to look for it it is called the Miracle of a Mission, its amazing! He came for Devo on Tuesday the day before I got here so I just missed him :(... but there is a general authority ever week so I cant wait to see who it is this week. It was Richard G. Hinckley last week. Its also our service to clean up after the Devo on Tues and Sunday.

But ya anyways I love you all so much! I I know that I am servving a mission for the Lord Jesus Christ and am participating in the most important work in the History of the World, the Salvation of a human soul! By the way my sickness is better, but my voice has literally almost been gone for a week now! Thanks for your prayers and fasting on my behalf I can feel it everyday! O how grateful I am for the Gospel and how eager I am to share it with God's children in Argentina! I met some missionaries going to Italy and they are going to look for Passantinos for us so dont worry! I love you all so much! Oh btw dad 2 Nephi 31:20 is now my favorite scripture! I read it everyday during personal study! You will hear from me in a letter soon!! I love you all so much ( with the Pure love of Christ!!!)

SIncerely,
Elder Passantino