Baptism!!

Hey everyone how was your week! This last week has been awesome! On saturday we had the baptism of Jonathon Reyes which was an amazing experience. He was baptized by the bishop and had some family members who weren´t members come so that was really good for them to be able to see a baptism and feel the that strong spirit that is always in a baptimal service. Jonathon is an amazing guy as well. Yesterday he told us in church that he was up until 3 am reading the scriptures/the gospel principles book. He has done a complete 180 and is really a new person in more ways that one. When I met him I honestly didn´t think that he was gonna get baptized all that quickly if at all. He´s really a great guy and has been really converted. His dad had a big influence on him and this last saturday when Jonathon got baptized was also the month aniversary of his dad´s death. I think it made the day even more special for him and I´m sure his dad is extremely happy with him in what he has done. Maria is struggling a little bit. She´s been traveling a lot back and forth between Dorrego and Bahía cause she has to go to doctors that are in Bahía and it makes it tough for her to go to church. Her son Sebastian is about the same cause he says he wants to get baptised with mom so until she settles down and gets into a routine it looks like it´ll be a little tough for them. Please pray for them so that they can get everything settled and start progressing. We do have a baptismal date with Maria´s daughter, Daniela. She´s a way cool girl who really wants to do things well. She´s 19 and has 2 kids already which is tough but she´s working really hard and wants to change her life which is awesome. She´s really willing to make changes and do what the Lord asks so please pray for her as well so that she has the strength and help that she needs. Besides them it´s somewhat slow as always. Thing´s here in Dorrego are pretty much all the same but Elder Thomas and I are doing well. We are working well together and I´ve probably gotten along better with him than almost any other companion I´ve had. I´ve been really blessed with good comps and Thomas is a stud of a missionary. We´re doing a lot of contacts and I´ve started to realize that a lot of people already have decided if they´re gonna let us in or not before they even open the door. The other day we knocked a door and I asked the lady who answered if we could come in and share a message. She said no so I asked her why and she said she didn´t believe in the same things as we do. I said "Do you believe in God?" and she responded "No I´m catholic". That kinda left me thinking/laughing a little bit. It´s kinda funny cause sometimes we could say almost anything and it´s like the people don´t even listen to what we say. Interesting stuff. Well I gotta get going, we have a family home evening set up with a member and she was gonna invite a bunch of non member people to it. Thanks for all the love and support you all give me. You guys are amazing and I really appreciate it!!! Con amor

-Elder Nicholas Gaughan

After I wrote...

Hola familia cómo están? Everything is going good here in Dorrego. This week was a little slow but we´re recovering and gonna have a much better week starting today. On monday right after I wrote you all I got a call from one of the members here and she told us that Maria took a bunch of pills and was being taken in an ambulance to Bahía and they weren`t sure if she was gonna make it or not. We all starting praying like crazy cause she wasn´t conscious. On thursday we went to that members house to see if they knew anything more and they told us that she had woken up! Apparently during the week they were also in Bahía and they went to go get some missionaries to give Maria a blessing, they did and she´s been getting better and better. The doctors had done everything they could before that and there was nothing else they could have done and then they went and got some missionaries (who just happened to be our zone leaders) and they gave her a blessing and slowly she started getting better. So on thursday Maria woke up but still couldn´t talk, then we went back to the members house on sunday cause we had lunch with them and they told us that Maria started talking, they took her out of intensive care and that she keeps slowly getting better. And from what else they´ve said to us, Maria´s son Sebastian really wants to get baptized! Looks like we´ll be taking care of that as soon as they get back. We´re still not sure when they´ll be coming back here to Dorrego but we hope that´ll it´ll be soon so we can keep teaching them. So that was the crazy stuff that happened this week investigator wise. We also had zone conference on friday which was awesome!! I learned a ton and it was a really good experience. Now we only have zone conference every 3 months so they´re a lot more intense and hands on which is great cause I think we learn a lot more and it´s a lot more personal. My interview with President Detlefsen was really good and just things that were said in conference really helped me put things more in perspective and I´m starting to see more the purpose of everything and the sometimes mysterious ways the Lord works in our lives. I felt like I knew there was some lesson for me to learn here I just couldn´t figure out what it was yet. President is amazing though and he helps me out a ton, it´s kind of a bummer cause we only have interviews every 3 months as well and the interviews are only 15 minutes long or so. Not a whole lot of time but hey it´s what we´ve been given and we gotta make the best of it. Besides that things are going pretty well here, a little slow but well. Thanks for forwarding that email from Daniel, it´s cool to see how he´s doing and what´s going on with him. Oh I also heard that Pedro and Angelica got baptized this last weekend, how cool is that!!!! Elder Dominguez sent me an email telling me they were gonna get baptized which was way cool!!! Thanks for all the love and support!!
-Elder Nicholas Gaughan

Dorrego

Hey everyone how´s it going? Things have been pretty good here in Dorrego, a little slow as usual but good. We´re almost done with another transfer which is hard to believe. We have this week and next week and we´ll already be at transfers once again. Not a whole lot of stuff goes on here in Dorrego. This week we were able to find quite a few new investigators and have a few people with baptismal dates but it looks like we´re going to have to move them back because they´re taking a little longer to progress. We have Maria and her son Sebastian for the 14th of this month but they didn´t make it to church yesterday and Maria was telling us that she felt like it was a little soon so we´ll probably be changing that in the next few days. She´s way cool though and you can already see the changes that the gospel is making in her life. Before we started teaching her she had a ton of problems and it was almost like she didn´t know what to do with herself or everything that was going on. Then we started teaching and she looks happier everytime we go over there. Her son Sebastian is the same. When we first got there he was way quite and didn´t really talk much, now it seems that we´ve gained his confidence a bit and he´s a lot more open and talks to us a lot more. They´re way cool people we just need to get them to church, that seems to be the only thing they struggle with for now so please pray for them so they can do that. We also have another lady Betina for the 21st of this month. She´s a super nice lady who we actually found knocking doors. The missionaries had taught her a few years ago but they both got taken out at the same time and for whatever reason the new missionaries never went by her house. Talk about being guided by the Spirit cause we almost went right passed her house then I stopped and said to Elder Thomas, "hey let´s knock this door". We knocked and she basically let us in right away. Please pray for her as well cause it will help her a ton. That´s pretty much it investigator wise. We keep finding people but not a lot of them are progressing so that´s gonna be the new trick, to help them progress or find those who will progress. Things are going good though and Elder Thomas and I get along really well, which is really good being in a small town pretty far away from everything else. Yesterday in church was a bit of a shock. Only 15 people showed up including us, I had never seen so few people in a sacrament meeting before. Looks like we have our work cut out for us and I think it´s a little more than I thought but it´s all good. We´ve been working with the members a lot more which has been great. I´m getting a huge testimony of how important it is to have members in the lessons with us cause they had a whole new aspect that makes the lesson a lot better and much more powerful cause investigators are hearing testimonies and experiences from people that don´t walk around preaching all day. I think it helps them see how the gospel applies more in everyday life cause sometimes we explain one thing 5 times and they still don´t fully understand it, but then the member comes and gives testimony and it they have a better understanding of that principle. That happened with one investigator we have called Marta. We had a lesson with her and a member Hermana Molina. Marta has a ton of challenges in her life and the Hermana Molina has had similar challenges. Having both of them together was amazing, the spirit was way strong and it was one of the best lessons I´ve had in a long time. Marta didn´t want to pray cause she said she was angry with God for all of the things that had happened in her life. Hermana Molina beared testimony and helped Marta feel like she´s not alone and needed to pray to God to get help and to have more peace in her life. Marta committed to pray and we saw her yesterday and she was way happy!! Much happier than she had been that day we taught her. Stud members are the best. That´s all that´s really been going on out here in Dorrego. Thanks for all the support and all the love. You guys are amazing and I love everyone of you! Mom I can´t believe your in NY!! And dad thanks for all the advice and encouragement. John your sweet, keep being how you are bud. Love you all,
-Elder Nicholas Gaughan

Week 2 in Derrego

Hey everyone how´s it going? Well the second week in Dorrego has definitely been an interesting one. On sunday we had someone in church which was great. His name is Jonathon Reyes and he´s the son of a member. His dad, the member, is in the hospital with cancer which is really sad. We´ve gone to visit him a few times and he´s not doing too hot but we´re praying for him every day hoping that he gets better. Jonathon is a pretty good kid. He´s 21 and has already listened to a bunch of missionaries before so teaching him is fun. In church it was just me, my companion Elder Thomas, and him. We started talking about the lesson we had assigned but then I randomly decided to ask him why he hadn´t been baptized and he started talking about why and saying how good he felt in the church and how it helped him to feel calm and relaxed. So we started talking about baptism and how that´s gonna help him feel like that a lot more often especially with the companionship of the Holy Ghost. We couldn´t take out a baptismal date yet cause Jonathon says he needs to talk to the bishop about a few things he´s been involved in so this coming sunday he´s gonna talk to the bishop and we´re gonna take out a baptismal date for next month. Jonathon is a really good guy and you can see that he wants to make changes and be a better person. We also have another lady named Noelia who we just started teaching this week as well. She is the girlfriend of the grandson of Elder Thomas´ convert here (hopefully that connection all made sense). We were there to teach Elder Thomas´ convert, Maria, and Noelia happened to come into the room while we were sharing the scripture. We starting talking to Noelia a little more and my companion asked her if she wanted to learn more and she said yes. We taught her the restauration and set a baptismal date with her for Nov 7!!! Please pray for her so she can make it to that day without any problems!! Things are getting better here in Dorrego. We´ve bee working hard and we´ve been trying to work with memebers more so we´re gonna see how it goes and what we can do to keep improving. We´re trying to teach more lessons with members as a mission so this will be good to help us get better. Besides that not a whole lot has really been going on. This place is super calm all the time, it´s still been kinda of an extreme adjustment from Mar Del Plata to here but it´s all good. The members are good and there are some that are really willing to help up so we´ll be working with them a lot. I´m glad everything is going well with you guys. Sounds like your all busy but doing well!! Thanks for all the love and support!!! You guys are great and I love you all!!!!
-Elder Nicholas Gaughan

New P-Day for Elder Gaughan!

Hey everyone how´s it going? Your probablly all wondering why I´m writing on monday. Well we´ve have quite a few changes in the mission that they just told us about this last thurs. P day is now on monday so start expecting emails and all that fun stuff on mondays now and not wednesdays. They also changed the day of our district meetings and now we have to work during the siesta which here in Dorrego should be pretty interesting. Everyone here in Dorrego sleeps from about 2-5 or 6 and the as it gets hotter and hotter the longer and longer people here sleep. We´re gonna have to get creative in terms of what we do during that time but I think we´ll be able to find something.
Mom Matius is a member from my last area in Newbery. They were super awesome and helped us out a lot in missionary work. His parents know some people in the government or something and helped us speed up the whole process of Carlos´ marraige so that he could get baptized. Matius went to BYU and lived in the states for a while, he´s an awesome guy and a stud. I told him one time if he ever went to california to let me know and I would give him your guy´s info so that he could get in touch with you and all that fun stuff. He told me like a week before I left that he was gonna go to the states and that´s when he asked me for our phone number so I went ahead and passed it to him. He´s a great guy and is one of my favorite members there from Newbery besides the people I was able to baptize. I´m glad he called although you guys couldn´t actually talk.
Things in Dorrego here are going good. It´s weird being in such a small place and it´s still taking some getting used to but I think that´ll happen eventually. We´ve been finding some people here and there but we haven´t really found anyone that is willing to keep committments or progress. The missionaries have been here for a while now so it´s proven a little though to find people that don´t know the missionaries or people that are willing to listen. A lot of people already know the missionaries and don´t even really let us talk that much when we knock the door. It´s ok though, what can you do? There are a lot of incomplete families and less actives so we´re thinking more about taking that route and hopefully we´ll be able to find success. Please pray for the town of Dorrego cause it really needs it. Especially the members. This place is way small and as one member told me "everyone knows everything about everybody" so they´re not always that optimistic about the mission work cause most of their friends have already listened to the missionaries before and nothing´s really happened. We´re gonna see if we can change that though. We got good members we just need to animate them and get them excited which could be the biggest challenge. Please pray for us cause we need all the help we can get and then some!!
 Ok thats all for this week cause it hasn´t been all that long since I´ve written. I love you all and thanks for everything!!!
Elder Gaughan

Transfer!

Hey everyone how are things going? Hopefully pretty well!! Well first things first, I got transfered!!! I´m now in a tiny town called Coronel Dorrego that´s about 2 hours outside of Bahía. When I say tiny, it´s literally tiny, like about as small as our neighboorhood tiny. Kinda crazy and it´ll take some getting used too but I think I´ll be ok. It´s just me and my comp, Elder Thomas from Ogden Utah. He´s a way good kid and a good missionary. He´s got about 7 months or so in the mission but is way smart and works really well. There´s a ward here but only 25 active members so we´re gonna have to get working pretty hard to change that. Leaving Newbery felt pretty weird when I finally heard that I was leaving, but I also felt that it was just time and there wasn´t a whole lot more there for me to do that I hadn´t done. Pedro, Angelica, Adriana and Luis still haven´t been baptized but I´m confident that they will be in a short amount of time. Elder Schmidt from my group replaced me there in Newbery with Egbert so they should be going pretty well. We´ll just have to wait and see. Conference was amazing as always!!! I loved Elder Uchtdorf´s talk about pride, everything that President Monson said and a couple more that I can´t really remember right now. Amazing though and I loved it. It was kind of bad timing to have transfers the same day as conference, it made it hard to say bye to everyone and let them know I was leaving but maybe it´s better that way. I loved Newbery though and now I´ve got a new challenge here in Dorrego. We´ll have to wait and see how it goes here, we wanna work hard and have success to try to help the ward out. One last fun story from Newbery, last friday we went to go contact a reference we´d gotten from a member of another ward. Here in Argentina it´s "good manners" to clap your hands at the gate and not go up to the door and directly knock it. This gate didn´t have a door, we clap our hands but nothing happens. So we decided to go knock the door cause they probably didn´t hear us when we clapped, we go up and knock the door and the neighboor who has his house on the same plot of land starts yelling at us from his window saying how we need to be out front at the gate and I don´t know what else. Ends up that he comes out of his house with a big old butcher knife to chase us off the land, so we go ahead and leave right there. There´s never a dull day in Mar Del Plata that´s for sure. Here in Dorrego on the otherhand is the complete opposite. It´s super calm all the time all day long. We´ll just have to wait and see how the adjustment goes. Well I gotta get going but thanks for all the support and love!!! You´re all great!!!

Elder Gaughan 

PS next time you send me a package for christmas or whatever could you send me some teenage mutant ninja turtle sheets? Random request I know. Also what is Ryan and Molly´s address? and how is mike doing? he hasn´t written me in a while?

Gonzalez Family

 Romi (convert)

 Carlos and his family

Adriana and Luis

Take Advantage!

Hey everyone what´s going on? Well this last week was pretty crazy to say the least. Ok so basically we were doing divisions the entire week and I hardly even saw my comp which felt quite weird let me tell you. It was weird having to bounce around and work with a ton of different people but it was also pretty cool cause I had the opportunity to learn a lot from each one of them. I think my favorite day was friday cause we went to Balcarse, a little town about the size of Poway or a little bigger about an hour outside of Mar Del. It was way cool, I went out to work with Elder Carter who´s from Utah and we had a really legit day. In the morning we went to go teach a few older ladies for the first time and we were able to take out a baptismal date with them which was awesome!!! In the afternoon we went to do a baptismal interview which is always a great experience for me to be able to do that. At the interview there were a couple people there who weren´t members so when I finished they were all waiting outside to see how the kid did. He passed and then after I just randomly asked the people if they wanted to listen to our message and they said yes!! Crazy but it was way cool, we had 4 new investigators that day which was awesome, basically just taking advantage of opportunities that were there in front of us. On sat we had the baptisms of Viki, Magali and Agustín!!!! That was an awesome experience. I was able to baptize Viki and Agustín and Elder Egbert baptized Magali. It was a crazy/really good day cause that day in the morning I had to run over to Belgrano with Elder Dominguez to do another baptismal interview while Elder Egbert and Elder Wilkes (Dominguez´s comp) went to go set everything up for our baptisms. Kinda insane but it all worked out well thankfully. On sunday we had the confirmations and we also were fortunate to have Elder Patanias who is an area 70 come to church in Newbery and talk to us in sacrament meeting. He gave a really good talk about preparing the family for everything that we´re seeing and how important it is to strengthen the family and use all the tools we have to do so. Also we´re in the last week of the transfer so we´ll be finding out what´s going on this friday. I´ve been here for 6 months which is pretty hard to believe, it feels like a long time, but at the same time it goes by really quickly. It´s kinda hard to explain. Newbery has been a great area though inspite of all the hardships and random things that have happened. I´ve grown here a ton and I´m really grateful that I´ve been able to be here and learn from my comps, leaders in the mission, local leaders, and the people that I´ve been able to teach. It´s weird cause Newbery feels like home and leaving sounds good but also not at the same time. This is one of the best areas in the mission and I´ve loved the time I´ve had here and the people. I´ve been fortunate and blessed with a lot of success. I was talking with Egbert the other day about how crazy the mission really is when you sit back and think about it. I think as missionaries we don´t fully comprehend the what it is that we´re doing here. In other words, we do but at the same time we don´t. It´s hard to explain and I feel like I´m kinda mumbling so I´m just gonna stop. I love you all. Thanks for all the love and support you give me!!!! Have an awesome week!!
Elder Gaughan