Last Letter

Dear Everyone,

Well, This is my last email that I am sending out. This is so weird that it has ended but you know the saying, all good things come to an end. It is hard to write how grateful I am for the time I have spent here. It has really been the best 2 years so far in my life. Pretty cliché but it's the truth.

Packing my things the other night was really weird looking at all my clothes that I have used. How worn out they all are! jaja. My shirts are more yellow, socks have holes, pants have holes and are worn out a lot... wow.

Yesterday we went to the mission home and we had a nice time there. We ate some real mashed potatoes. Made with real potatoes.. jaja. Not instant! And some really good chicken. Then some chocolate cake. We just got treated really really well. We then a nice testimony meeting and rested a little. Then off to the airport with a majority of them. It was sad to see them leave but they all live in Utah so it's all good. I am staying here in the offices for a week until it's my turn to go home.

Now for my last day in Lobos. We decided to have 3 baptisms my last day in Lobos. But a miracle that happened. A really small one but it was really big for me and comp. So in Lobos we have a little swimming pool we'll say. And we fill it up with the water from the tap. So it takes a long time to fill it up. It takes 5-6 hours to fill up. So Saturday in the night we filled it up for an hour to cut some time for the next day. We filled it with warm/hot water. It cooled down a lot when we got to the church the next morning at 6 in the morning. Before we left the apartment to go to church, my comp and I said a prayer that we would have hot water for the baptism. The girls that we were going to baptize didn't want to get baptized if the water was cold. So we, at least I, were hoping for a miracle and we received one.





The water heater in Lobos works on a "D" battery and the battery was about dead when we started heating up the water. The battery would shut off every 5-10 minutes. So I was stressing out because the water kept becoming cold so I was worried. But I kept with the water heater during all the classes. Then during the 2nd hour, I went outside to check the battery to see if I needed to shake it again, but to my surprise it was still on after 15 minutes. I then checked half hour after and it was still on! It stayed on until I turned it off and we had hot water to have our 3 baptisms. How grateful I am for the littlest of miracles I have seen on my mission. Little stories like these I will always remember. They remind me of how much God loves us and wants the best for us. He desires to give us his best gifts. We must seek for the best gifts and not somethings outrageous.

I am grateful for all the things I have learned on my mission and am ready to apply them in my life. I can't say enough thank yous. Really I appreciate all that you have done for me. If there is something that I can do for you all, let me know and I'll tell you if I can do it jaja. I love you all and I'll see you next week!!!

AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Pickett

Happy Birthday week...

Dear Everyone,

Well, we are coming down to the wire now. We are down to two weeks left in good ole Argentina. It’s sad but true. We had a baptism this past weekend. We were pretty happy about it. We also had 22 people in church yesterday. Two investigating families. It was pretty cool. You can say we had a pretty successful weekend. We now are planning on 3 baptisms this next Sunday. We hope that everything turns out good. We are trying to do everything we can so that this place can progress. It has been hard but it has really improved. I am happy for everything that has happened out here. I really love the people out here in Lobos. They are very special to me. I’m glad I had the privilege of serving them.

This next week is my birthday and we have a couple of lunches and dinners set up to celebrate it. But it’s going to be really low key. Nothing much is going on. Just enjoying the mission and all that it brings. Excited to see everyone in two weeks but at the same sad because it’s come to end. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Argentina. We are going to give it all we got these last two weeks and we are going to have success.

But remember that it doesn’t stop once the mission is over. Gotta keep working in the Lord’s work after. Let us all remember that we have to be working for the Lord at all times. We members have an obligation to help people come unto Christ. I have realized while being on the mission that we have a huge responsibility as members. We must know that we are not to just be hearers of the word but also doers of the word also. We need to be proactive in the work of the Lord. People who just sit there and do nothing but go to church and listen, aren’t completing with their part as members. Being a member is a privilege. We need to live worthily of that privilege. We are members of the only true church of Jesus Christ. Let us live up to that name. Plus, it’s fun helping others come unto Christ. All the ex missionaries know how much joy it brings. But let’s try to be a little better. I’ll try to be better also.

Thanks for the support from everyone. I was going to send pics but my computer didn’t work today so I’ll be sending some the next time. I love you all and hope you all have a great week.

Love

Elder Pickett

Happy August... 3 weeks left!!!! AH!

Dear Everyone,

So we had a pretty good week despite all that we did and all that happened this week. We had a fairly normal week. We took out two more baptismal dates with the daughters of an investigating family. The parents aren’t married and so they can’t get baptized yet. They are very excited for their baptism and so are we! Haha. We have two baptisms this coming weekend. We are so excited because we have worked so hard to have these two. I am so happy that they are getting baptized. Its fun to get a couple of baptisms in before you hit the plane. Haha. We are just doing the best we can.

I’m trying to work as hard as I can these last couple of weeks. We had divisions this past week and I got sick the morning we had to change back. That would be Saturday morning. I got sick with stomach pains and I wasn’t feeling very good. Lucky you guys, I won’t go into details. Haha. But we stayed in the apartment all day Saturday and Sunday was hard to get through. But I did survive. We managed to get 13 people to church. Oh, and it was really cold, again. We got a young women’s president called. It’s the mom of our baptism this weekend. We are growing little by little. So far we have a president for RS, Primary and now YW. We just need more men now. We have 3 -5 active men in the branch. 2 of them are counselors, one is our mission leader, and the other is the secretary… ish. It’s kind of a weird situation but we are growing nevertheless.

We have found some pretty cool people this week also. We were walking in the street Wednesday and we walked by an accident that happened and the police officer that was standing guard called us over. We thought he was going to ask us for our documents (which we don’t have)but no. He asked us for something to read. We gave him the first lesson and he seemed interested. Who knows!? Maybe something might happen. We are going to pass by him this next week. But that is all exciting that happened this week.

Thank you all for your support and love. I will one day repay you all. One day. Not all at the same time. I love you all and hope you all have a great beginning of August and stay safe!

Love

Elder Pickett