Hello all!
I could blame my lack of blog updates on the dog stories...
Instead of me making excuses, followed by a promise to do better with weekly updates, let's just get to the three weeks of email updates from Devon and his adventures...which do in fact include crazy dogs!
WEEK ONE (THREE WEEKS AGO)
How is everybody doing? As always I hope and pray you are all good and everything is fantastic! The MTC is still awesome. My Spanish is quickly improving. I actually accidentally switched up English and Spanish at lunch the other day - it was pretty funny to see that my mind is starting to switch to the language I need!
We went proselyting (definition=seeking out those who might like to hear about our church) for the first time last Saturday!! It was sooooooooooo awesome. The area we proselyted in was very second world. It really makes you see how much we take for granted back home. So much garbage on the streets, dogs running around, some people literally live with just tin roofs and two by four for walls! I found myself having conversations with people on the street for a solid half hour in Spanish! A couple guys we ran into were sitting outside their house smoking. I figured we are all children of God so I went to talk to them. Immediately they said they didn't want to learn anything and they were fine. So I just asked if we could practice our Spanish with them and they said sure! So after about 40 minutes of talking about the weather, people, Argentina, sports, jobs, religion, they asked about our religion! We gave them a Book of Mormon and they said to come visit again if we every passed by!! Needless to say I am super stoked and excited for next Saturday!!
The only scary thing that happened is these two HUGE dogs came after us bearing fangs and snarling at us, they actually started fighting in front of us because they were trying to get to us, it was a little intense, but we made it out okay!!
It has been very hot over here not to mentions the humidity, but our teacher said it gets even hotter...so that'll be fun!(Poor Devon, it's supposedly winter there right now!)
I wish you all the best and I pray for you often!
WEEK TWO (Two weeks ago)
Helloooooooooo everyone!
Already a month has gone by and it flew by!! I have a story from our last proselyting trip. Me and Elder Seffker went out to the same area as last week, we were teaching and getting some good contacts so everything was good. Then we decided to start heading down this one street to a road we hadn't gone down yet. So there were quite a few dogs on this said street. We saw this one day and said "THAT IS A BIG DOG!" We continued cautiously, then suddenly a HUGER dog came running up from behind Elder Seffker and literally tried to attack him!! I quickly started walking away (really Devon??) and Elder Seffker was kinda stuck in a pickle! (Good advice for missionaries - you don't have to run faster than the dog chasing you, just your companion) Elder Seffker grabs his scripture case and starts holding is and waving it above his head and yelling at the dog. The dog whimpered away, but as soon as he put the bag down the dog came back fangs baring. So it took us a while to get out of there (I'm not gonna lie I was laughing the whole time - you know me). Now in our district Elder Seffker is known as the BANE of DOGS. Our teacher drew a picture of him taking down a massive dog!
On a more spiritual note, I have found that I love the scriptures so much. There are so many flecks of gold to be found in these pages to apply to our lives and many awesome stories! I ask all of you to read your scriptures more (Devon suggested Alma 17-20, a section in the Book of Mormon)
Love you all, off to the temple today and every time I go I think of all of you. Stay awesome! (Time for me to be teased for being Canadian)
WEEK THREE (Today)
This will be my last email to you from the MTC here in Argentina! On Tuesday I am outta here! I am so excited. After talking to my MTC president lots and my teachers about the mission my excitement and optimism for my mission is spiking every day.
Another proselyting story...we got a new area, definitely not as ghetto as the last place but it still wasn't like the community back home. We were walking down the street after talking to some people and found this woman working on her garden. We talked to her and after a great conversation asked her what her beliefs were. She told us she had gone to the Evangelist church but didn't feel the peace and comfort she wanted. We started talking about our church and what we believed in. We shared that the gospel could bring her peace. Elder Seffker busted out a scripture from the Book of Mormon (Moroni 10:3-5) She read the scripture and said "I feel so peaceful and I have goosebumps!" I was like BOOM and busted straight into my testimony telling her that I knew God loves her and that the gospel would bring her the beautiful joy and blessings she was looking for. Never have I felt the Spirit so strong, if I were to try and recite the words that I said I couldn't, the Spanish was just flowing from my mouth. At times I couldn't believe how easy the language was coming. She was shocked, then asked where our church was and that she wanted to go and visit with the missionaries more!!! It was pretty boss. I am excited to keep finding people all around Argentina!
Pretty soon I'll be starting my REAL missions and I cannot wait! I pray for you ALL every night and I hope that the hands of God are watching over you - I know they are. I encourage you all if you have not, to read the Book of Mormon, it is a book the will kick ya in the nuts (in a good way) - Keep staying amazing!!
Ah yes - as you can see Devon is on fire with missionary work, but still our Devon we know and love by saying things like "kick ya in the nuts!", for those who didn't know, it was a common saying around here.....he said it in the most appropriate of ways, if that's possible!! He hopes to send pictures soon, gotta find a computer that he can plug his memory card into - keep your fingers crossed cause I want to see pictures!!
I love him and miss him - but how can I be anything but happy for him - he is so happy!!!
Until next week (I promise)...