Cambios y Apostoles

Walter, Ludmila ,E.Sosa y Yo

What a week! 

I'm really blown away by this week, really I am. I just don't know where to begin, so much happened. I saw an Apostle, Becca Alley, and my companion left me for his homeland, which also leaves me with a new companion. So..... 

I'll start with my comps. Elder Zapata has left me now to go to his new area... called Mexico. So yeah, he's gone. It's so weird to think that he is going home. I'm really happy for him, really thankful for his help, and for such a great transfer together. He is one of the best companions I have ever had. I learned a lot and I know I'm a better person because of him. 

My new companion is Elder Molina from Chile. And yes, he met Elder David Archuletta. He has about 17 months in the mission and is a great guy. This is his first transfer as a Zone Leader but I know he will do great. This makes me Zone leader 1.... I have to lead the zone now. I miss Elder Zapata haha!

And now I'll tell you the story of Sister Becca Alley. So we had the great pleasure of having Elder D. Todd Christofferson come and visit our mission. And this Saturday we heard him speak. We hosted the Mission Buenos Aires West in our mission. Because our zone was in charge of accommodating everything, I was running all over the place and I ran into my old friend Becca Alley! I laughed so hard that after 21 months in the mission I still run into people from home and here in the middle of Argentina haha. Plus I saw Elder Miner! He Just got to the mission and I saw him for the first time the same day. It was a day of Olympus High! Lets go Titans!

As the topic goes, we had the chance to hear from Elder Christofferson. It was so great to hear from an Apostle. The cool thing was that he spoke in Spanish! He served his mission here in Argentina about 50 years ago. Pretty good after that much time. He talked to us about Repentance and the importance of it in our teaching. And he talked about the Atonement. I loved what he said that Repentance and Baptism don't clean us from sin but that Christ is the one who cleans. Without Christ we would have no reason to repent and to baptize. He is the reason it all works. I loved IT!

To end I would just like to share an experience that I had that filled my soul to the brim with the spirit. This past Sunday in the night, we had the farewell for the missionaries that are leaving this transfer. At the end of the meeting there was a super big crowd of people (the converts and member friends of the missionaries who were leaving) and out of the corner of my eye I saw Walter Almada from Campana and one of his daughters. They came to the farewell with Elder Sosa hoping to find me. Well they did. I was so happy to see them We chatted for a while and then Walter told me that he and his family have a goal, and that goal is the temple. In September of 2015 he wants me to be there with them. 

It made me feel so great to see that my converts are doing so well and that they have their eye on the temple. I'm so blessed to have had the chance to know them. They are the best in the whole world.

  

Well a lot of talking but I hope you are all well and that you all can do something kind for another person. We all need a little help once and a while and you can be the person to answer someones prayers.

I love you All,

Elder Taylor Chriss

Hermana Alley and Me!

Elder Chriss and Hermana Alley - Oly Homecoming 2009

Elder Zapata y Yo En Buenos Aires

Elder Zapata, Aylene and her family, Elder Chriss

Elder Zapata, Gonzalo, Elder Chriss

One Busy Week!

Wow it has been a busy week!  I´m super tired. Full of the spirit but tired. Me and my comp have been working a lot and working hard to find new people to teach. Its really cool to see as the Lord prepares his children. We saw many miracles and we learned a lot about the work of the Lord. 

My companion is funny because when we learn something new he yells, "Why didn´t I learn this 2 years ago!" haha ( Today is his last pday) But really we are growing and adapting to the circumstances.

This week was my first Leadership counsel with the mission. It was great to see all of my good friends. We have 15 zones, and I know almost all of the zone leaders. We focused a lot on our goals. As a mission we are working on a goal of 2000 conversions. Right now we have about 1600 for the year. So we are going for the last push. Its cool to be in this work and to see the growth here in Buenos Aires.

  

We were very busy because we had 2 baptisms this week on two different days. So most of the week was planing baptisms and filling up the font. For the baptism Saturday we went to fill up the font and there wasn´t water in the whole church.... Well after several hours the water was fixed and everything turned out great. So all is well, Then Sunday they both got confirmed.

Today is the last pday of my comp so with permission of president my comp and I are visiting all sorts of places and taking pics.  That's why I don´t have much time to write. 

But I´m off to help my comp have one last look at the grand city of Buenos Aires.

  

I forgot my cord, so I´ll have to send you fotos next week! 

I love you all so much and hope you have a good week! Talk to you all later!

Elder Chriss

La Lluvia puede llenar las pilas!

My new mission, Venice!

Well for all of you that don´t understand the title, It says, "The Rain Could Fill the Fonts Here". I say so because its been raining here all week, I´m so wet and the wind has destroyed two umbrellas. Jaja I love the mission.

This week was a week of many surprises and many blessings. So we started the week with one of the hottest days of my life. Elder Zapata and I were walking from appointment to appointment slowly melting in place. As we came up to a house of an investigator a kid was eating an Ice cream. I´m not going to lie that I didn´t think about taking it and shoving it in my mouth. But I thought that might not be the best decision. 

The next day we felt an impression to do divisions with a companionship who are doing good but need a little more help achieving their potential. And it wasn´t that hot in the morning and a bit cloudy. Well the day went well I went with an Elder from Mexico named Elder Franco. He was great and we had a good time. Well about half way though the day the clouds exploded with rain and we got soaked. Then in the night I had to do a Baptismal interview in another area and the rain just got worse and worse. Literally I have never been so wet before in a Shirt and a Tie. But It was good. Refreshing.

  

The rest of the week was a bit more calm. We got a lot of work done and have been building up our area a lot. But Friday the Clouds said that they still had more water and let us have it. There was so much rain that the streets filled with water, I asked my companion if he was called to serve in Venice, Because I wasn´t haha. Part of the zone was so full of water that the water came up to their waist. We told the missionaries to find a place where they were dry. So we took a hard hit as a zone, due to super water. But I enjoyed it. 

Our investigators are doing great and they are progressing a lot in the gospel. As I´m doing my best to teach to the needs of our investigators I've gained a greater testimony of our Savior. Something came to me the other day. That without Christ we are hopeless and with our a plan. Without Christ every thing we do could not lead to Salvation. I´m truly grateful for my Savior and I´m striving to be like him and to talk about him in every lesson. Sometimes its easy to say that you need to pray and read and everything works out. But in the end Christ is why it all works. He is our every thing. As the scripture says "There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name " Mosiah 5:8. I love the work of the Lord and I know that the Savior is our center. He will never leave us to fall.

  

Hope you all have a great week! 

Love you tons!

Elder Taylor Chriss

Part of our Zone

Look who is on Google Maps, Elder Chriss and Elder Damitz in Pablo Nogues!

Metas y Planes

Azucena and her Grandson Dylan

Hay estamos! Hey guys, how is every thing going? Here things are going great! Virreyes is a great place and I´m enjoying my time a lot. I´m seeing a lot of growth here in the area, in the mission, and and in me.
  
This week we have been trying to be the most obedient and diligent missionaries that we could be. And wow it brought a lot of blessings. I´m learning a ton from my companion and we are working well together. We are teaching a lot of lessons and helping a lot of people find peace in their lives.
  
Some of the good news is the Baptism of Azucena and her Grandson Dylan.  They are family of Nazareno who was baptized the week before. So they passed their baptismal interview and are doing awesome. After the interview we asked them if they would like a member to baptism. Azucena laughed and said I want E. Zapata to get wet, so she asked him to do the baptism and Dylan wanted me to baptize him. So it was pretty cool to see another part of a family that I love so much be baptized.
  
Plus as a zone we reached our goal of baptisms for the month which was 14. As a zone we had 18 for the month. So that was pretty great. We are all really excited for the growth here in the zone. We are doing our best to help all the areas in our zone baptize. We are hoping to have 2 more baptisms this week but we will see how things go. I love this mission!
 
So we also heard that Elder Christopherson will be coming to our stake conference in a couple of weeks, which is really cool. The ward was really excited when they heard who was going to be coming to the stake conference. But one of the best parts of Church this Sunday was the Primary Program. It was awesome to hear all of the testimonies of the children in Spanish. It's probably the only time I will have a primary program completely in Spanish. So I really enjoyed it.
  
All is well here in Virreyes, and I hope you all have a good week. Keep up all of the good things you are doing,
  
With lots of Love
 Elder Taylor Chriss

New Pension

Divisions...

Nazareno's baptism by his uncle

I'm not sure about you guys, but I'm doing fantastic! I'm starting to get the hang of things here in our area, with my comp and as a zone leader. But I have found that as long as I put all my effort into things, the Lord gives great and wondrous blessings. This was a hard work week, but as I have recently said that blessings come from such hard work. 

Now me and my companion were thinking a lot about what we can do to help get excited the zone! 

Well the way that we came up with was doing divisions early in the transfer. But that meant that we needed to do them relatively soon. And so we did three this week. THREE! I practically wasn´t in my area for half of the week! haha. But it was great. I really got to know some of the other areas in the zone and more importantly the Elders that we are serving. Man we have a zone full of great missionaries. 

 

First off I went with E. Pariquahua from Peru in his area of Tigre, which is that center of tourism here haha. So I heard quite a bit of English during the day. Then 2 days later I went to the other part of Virreyes with Elder Bohn, a newer missionary who is doing great and learning a lot. Even though all of our appointments fell through he still had ideas of what to do. And the next day I went to Don Torcuato with E. Lopez from Honduras. And it was a day that I didn't sit down once. We just didn't have a single appointment that we got to sit down. And E. Lopez got a little lost so I was exhausted. But it was a fun day/week.

 

 In the Morning of the last divisions we had an interview for an investigator, and every thing went well. His name is Nazareno, He is the nephew of a Recent Convert here. It was awesome that he got baptized also. We are really pumped here. We are working with a lot of people right now. Obedience is the key! But we are hoping to have 2 more baptisms this weekend! So we will see how that goes.

 

Me and my comp are doing great, I love having the chance to serve with him. He is a great missionary and he makes me laugh a ton. Although he is on his last transfer, he still has the fire and is working until the end.

 

Today we played Soccer with the zone, But only 4 companionships came.  It was a blast. The Assistants are in our zone, so they came over to play with us. But I'm just plain tired now haha. Life is great in the service our Savior and blesses us in more ways that we can believe. 

 

For all of those that are thinking about serving a mission.... Do it. It will bless you more than you can ever know.  If you don´t feel ready, Prepare yourself. And if you put all of your faith and dedication into your mission, you will never regret it. I know that I don't.

 

I love you all so much, keep it up and never quit. The Lord has great things planned for all of us if we just obey and put our trust in him

  

Love,

Elder Taylor Chriss

 

Argentina Mother's Day Lunch

A really cute kid that bit me... Tuve hambre...dijo!

Virreyes!

Elder Chriss' new zone, Tigre.  His new companion is Elder Zapata, second from the left in the front.

Well now that I´m settling in to my new area and getting to know my comp better, I have a lot more to tell you this week. So my companion is named Elder Ramon Zapata. He is from Chihuahua Mexico, and this is his last transfer in the mission. He is a great Missionary and he knows how to work. It's great and he is teaching me a lot. He is really funny and I´m enjoying everyday with him.

My new are is awesome, it's Virreyes1. There are three different areas here in the ward and it's one of the greatest wards ever! It is rather small but it's full of people, A little different than Campana. Our area is super small but that doesn´t stop us from having lots of things to do. We live in a nice pension right next to the Elders of Virreyes 2, Elder Da Silva and Elder Bohn, which is great  because Elder Da Silva  is a district leader so he just comes over to do verifications each night. The other Elders in the ward are the Mission secretaries (Elders who are called to help around the office) so they live closer to the mission offices. But here in the ward there are a lot of people who are full of the Missionary spirit. The ward has recently changed to be a Ward and we are in a new building that is in the center of our area. And there are about 150 people that attend church. That is about three times the people that came to Campana and Pablo Nogues haha. Its a very active ward.

 

We have about 8 investigators that are progressing here, so we have a lot of work here and things are only growing! I love it here and I´m really happy. We are being obeisant and working really hard. 

The zone is awesome and is full of great missionaries that are dedicated to the Lord. We even have the Assistants to President in our Zone. haha All is pretty great.

I need you all to know that I love you all so much, that I know Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that if we just follow him we will  be blessed and strengthened.

Have a good week and I will keep up on the mission ;)

Love,

Elder Taylor Chriss

Elder Chriss and Elder Wilcox at the BA Temple.  Elder Wilcox went to Olympus High.

Saying goodbye to the Castelli family and Campana was hard!

Changes!

Friday the entire mission got to go to the Buenos Aires Temple.

 Wow this has been a great week and I couldn't be more happy here in the mission. I have been truly blessed to serve here.

But lets talk about the week. First off my companion and I have been really focusing on finding those that the Lord is preparing. And we had great success in our efforts. And not only that but our converts, the Familia Almada, are doing great. Walter the father is preparing to receive the priesthood and the whole family just seems happier. Patricio,  their son, helps us do visits and always is willing to help us contact some one. So everything is going very well with them.

And officially the whole Familia Almada are members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! We had the baptism of their two daughters, Sunday in the morning. In the beginning they didn't want anything with the church, but after the changes that their parents have been making. STRAIGHT TO THE WATER!!! haha. the service was great and the daughters are really happy (Magali and Ludmila) Plus we found several new investigators from them. They have lots of friends that are going to start listening.

And of course I can't forget Conference. I love Conference here in the mission. It's the greatest to help me get pumped. The talks were all so inspired, plus a bonus was that when the speakers spoke in Spanish we could understand them hahah. I loved the idea of having them speak in their native language. It was great to hear their testimonies in Spanish, (the members were thrilled). And to add the cherry on top of this conference.... The Familia Almada went!!! And they loved all the messages, Lucia the mother was very emotional when she heard the prophet speak. I love Converts! 

But the title does suggest that some things are a bit different now. First off we had transfers, and well I'm no longer in the great land of Campana. I was visiting the Familia Almada yesterday and I got a call from President.  He called me to be a Zone leader and that I would be going to a area called Virreyes, in the zone Tigre! my companion will be Elder Zapata de Mexico. I was pretty shocked to hear the call and to tell you the truth sad that I was going to leave Campana. But here comes my new adventure. I'm grateful for this chance to serve and I'll do all I can to live up to the expectations.

  

I Love my Savior! He is all who I am trying to be and I will follow him anywhere he needs me to go. I love you all and hope that you are doing well. Keep it up and remember that Elder Chriss loves you all!

Con Amor!

Elder Taylor Chriss

The entire family are now members of the church!

Zarate Zone

Elder Chriss is really going to miss these guys!