Elder David Maynard: 16 Months

Queridos,

The best month of the year has begun! And it started up here pretty good in Argentina. Although it was pretty cold, we had a good week.

In the mission we are always setting goals. Lately, bueno... siempre. I have not been reaching my goals in the mission. So my companion and I have been doing some deep analysis to reach our goals. I thought about my goals before the mission. Basketball, grades, etc. All of these goals depended on what I did every day. The only thing that affected the results of the goals was me. I could work as hard as I wanted in order to reach my goals. Well goals here in the mission depend on other people. If I put the goal to bring 3 people to church, I can work as hard as I possibly can, but in the end, the result depends on the will of the 3 people. If the 3 people don`t want to come to church, then I will not reach my goal, no matter how hard I try. So my conclusion: The only thing that matters is our effort. If we give it absolutely everything that we have then we will be happy and God will be happy. Regardless of the results. True happiness and true success comes by giving our best effort. This is so true in life. Complete effort and strength brings us complete joy. This is something cool that I realized this week. So everyone go out there and give it your best! In work, in school, in sports, and in life. If we give it our best, then we will be happy!

This week we found 5 new investigators! It was awesome. With all 5 of them, we kneeled down at the end of the lesson to offer up a prayer. One guy hadn`t prayed for 3 and a half years, but he prayed with us! How cool is that? It is one of the coolest experiences in the world to humbly kneel down and say a prayer with complete strangers. Can you imagine the smile on God`s face? He had 5 sons and daughters this week that prayed to Him after a long time. Missionary work is awesome.

I think we knocked on about 500 doors this week. haha We contacted so much but as you can see we received the blessings. At one point Elder Pearson said, "Woah we have knocked on too many doors." I died laughing because I was thinking the same thing. Who would do this madness if it wasn`t the truth? Well it is the truth and that is why we do it. One day I asked Elder Pearson, "How many times do you think we have done this?" He said "Too many." haha We have a good time and I am enjoying it. We are going to keep on knocking and we are going to keep on seeing the many miracles that come to pass every day!

I know this church is true. It is the best. God loves us and He lives! Everyone go to the temple this week because I miss it. Hasta la pròxima.

Saludos,

Elder Maynard

Chocotorta (Dulce de leche, milk cream, and chocolate cookies) with banana dulce de leche ice cream. I am going to recommend it to the prophet to serve it in the celestial room in the temple