The Juan´s pull through!

Pig herd that passed right across the street from us during studies

So Juan´s are just capos. In Casilda, all my best investigators were named Juan, and that is no different here in Empalme. We have three totally golden investigators, two of which are named Juan and the other is the wife of one of the Juan´s. And there´s a less active Juan who is trying to get active again and wants to baptize his wife.

Juan José.

The type of person you think of when you think of a golden investigator. He is a 45 year old man. He was a reference from some other Elder´s that met him in an internet café. He sneezed and one Elder said "Bless you!" and Juan José was just super touched and goes "Thank you so much!" They got to talking, and he accepted the invitation to have the missionaries over. So Elder Ostler and his old comp went and started teaching him. After their second visit, he handed them a paper bag and told them not to open it because it had all the inappropriate videos and pictures he had had in his house, then he put his earings in and said watching and wearing those kinds of things and wearing earings makes him feel farther from God. This was about 3-4 weeks ago. We didn´t teach the law of chastity until this last Friday. He literally reads the Book of Mormon side by side with the Bible from 9am-1pm every day. He studies and reads so much he knows more about the Gospel than I do. He comes to church every Sunday. Also, he´s single, so we don´t have to worry about a girlfriend that doesn´t want to get married. But he tried to share the gospel with his ex so she would get interested in this and then they would be able to get married in the temple after both getting baptized. She wasn´t interested, but, he´s a boss.

He went to stake conference with us this last weekend to meet Pres. Zanni and when one of the speakers started asking questions and the guys walked around with mic´s, Juan José raised his hand to share. He gave a really awesome and copado response to the question. I can´t believe that guy. I have never even raised my hand in a class to share, much less in a session of a stake conference, and I´ve been a member my whole life! This dude´s been an investigator for 4 weeks! But afterward, Satan made sure to hit us with temptation. The session got out at 9:30, and our bus didn´t leave from San Nicolás (the city where the stake center is) until 11. So we got on the bus, just us three and another member from Empalme. But holy cow. That bus got sketchy, fast. It was the last Saturday night before school starts, and all the night clubs in Rosario had huge parties. That bus got totally filled with girls in super tight and revealing clothes (every bus going to Rosario passes through Empalme). Then the driver turned the lights off. I don´t think I´ve ever felt more uncomfortable as a missionary. This even topped when I was conducting the music in sacrament and the lady in the first row started breastfeeding without a blanket. Then, the next morning at 8 we got back on a different bus to go the morning session in San Nicolás, and ALL the same girls were on that bus going home. That bus reeked of puke, alcohol, and sweat. Plus all the girls were staring at us the whole time, trying to attract the attention of the two handsome nicely dressed guys.

Juan Carlos and Ely.

An awesome couple. This Juan is probably the best example of a loving father I have seen in Argentina. We went over on Friday for the second visit and the first thing he did when he got home was kiss his wife and then go say hi to his kid (don´t worry, we weren´t alone with a person of the opposite sex). Most people don´t read what you leave them the first time, but, they read Moroni 10 together and then prayed and totally understood everything they read and understood their answer from God. And Juan looks exactly like Kevin James.

Juan Pablo and Romina.

The less active guy. We stopped by last night and started sharing a spiritual thought that Elder Ostler felt like we needed to share from Enos. Then Romina (the nonmember girlfriend) asked why we always share scriptures from the Book of Mormon and not from the Bible. Then we had a bomb lesson about the Restoration and Juan Pablo clarified everything our limited spanish kept us from saying and bore his testimony to her so many times. It was awesome.

Anyways, that´s about all the exciting news I´ve got from this week, hope you all have a great week!

Elder Brown

Alma 5:59-60

Pig herd that passed right across the street from us during studies