Elder Hernandez’s blog has been changed to his new website http://www.missionsite.net/elderjdhernandez/. This site will no longer be updated with news from his mission. So be sure to visit his new site to read letters, look at pictures and receive our updates about his mission.
Hey all
So, so, so sorry about not writing you last week. I don’t know what happened. I felt bad the whole day and missed you all so much more.
This week has been good. We finally got our first investigators to church. They are two girls who are 13 and 8 years old. They are the first investigators that I have had come to church since I have been here. It felt awesome. (I don’t get how here in Argentina people are willing to listen to us, read the Book of Mormon or pray; but when it comes to church they just won’t go. I don’t know what’s up with them.) The two kids that came to church are members of an awesome family, the Yahu family. There are two other kids in the family and a single mom. They are awesome, but we need the whole family to go to church.
The work is so good but sometimes it’s slow. It feels like there’s 2 really bad days with people not home or no one wants to talk and then there is 1 day that is good where we find people to teach and people who want to listen. It’s like a 2, 1, 2, 1 pattern … weird. I’m coming up to my first transfer in 2 weeks and I might get transferred from central Rosario. I probably won’t though because my father (my trainer) dies (ends his mission) next transfer.
Life is good in Argentina. We are riding the bus A LOT and walking A LOT. I walk about 12 miles a day (so I won’t get fat out here). We just got our water heater fixed yesterday. We have been without hot water for 2 weeks and it’s been HORRIBLE. Waking up to a cold shower is the worst and I’m not a happy camper afterward, haha. I have not been happy that much with the language these past 2 weeks. It’s like a roller coaster. Sometimes I can understand what people are saying and other times I am totally lost. It’s coming slower then I would like.
One thing I love out of my whole day, besides teaching people, is studying. I didn’t like it in school but reading, studying, and growing my knowledge in the gospel is great. I love reading Preach my Gospel, Jesus the Christ, or The Book of Mormon!!! I just want to sit down all day and read about the gospel. This past week or two, I have felt my testimony grow more and more. If I could tell people one thing about this church it is that it is true!!! It helps people; it truly can help people in their lives. I don’t care if you’re rich or poor, if you have a family or are a student in college. If you really want the Lord’s help, He WILL help you. If you will let him he can help you so much! I hate seeing people unhappy when they KNOW that this gospel will help them. IT PAINS ME to see that.
I love this church. I love the Book of Mormon. If you read it, you will KNOW for a fact that no man could have written that book: that book was written by divine revelation. And Joseph Smith was right when he said that if a man would read the Book of Mormon he will come closer to God. I don’t mean to preach, but I just don’t want people to think less of the Book of Mormon because they see it every day and know the stories. We need to read it every day. I love my family so much and would not be here without them. They are the best people I know.
LE AMO,
Elder Hernandez
Wow where did this week go? It has been flying right by. Well I am still adjusting to Argentina life. I didn’t ride my first public bus until I got here and now I ride them every day. I use Argentine pesos different then Mexico pesos. 1 American dollar is about 3.8 Argentina pesos. So if you buy something thing here that’s like $18 pesos then in the states it’s like $5 dollars different.
Nothing is easy here. For instance, in the states we have Wal-Mart and we can go down there and buy your food for a month or a week. Here, people go to the store every day and just buy food for what they are going to use that day. It’s really different. Also, there’s no American food here. The other day, I just wanted some cream and there is none. I wanted taco seasoning and again, there is none. Canned beans: none.
So I had to do it like my Mexican grandma does it and soak the beans overnight in salt water and then cook them for about an hour or two. I made my mom’s Taco Soup. I love her taco soup, but because of the ingredient differences I had to make it Argentina style. It didn’t taste like mama use to make it.
OK, I have to go because I only have an hour and half left of P day and I still need to go shopping and buy a bag. Love you all! Write me if you want. I may not be able to write all of you back but I would love to hear from you.
Love,
Elder Hernandez
Wow, what a trip to get here. I traveled for over 30 hours on Wednesday. Thursday, I was dead but it was all worth it. Right after the plane ride we had a 5 hour drive to the mission home. My mission president, President Villalba, and his wife are the best.
I got there at 2 pm and I didn’t get to meet my companion till 7:30 pm. My new companion is Elder McFarland. He is the coolest Elder out here right now. We get along really well and he teaches me a lot about…..everything. I’m in a foreign country and he speaks Spanish and I don’t. So basically, he is my life line to this crazy country. Well, my area to labor in the Rosario Argentina Mission is in the central part of the city of Rosario. I am living in the city!! It’s so cool because I come from the desert and there are no big buildings around there. Now, I live on the 6th floor of an apartment. I wake up to the city, ha ha.
My first day tracting was horrible, it rained. And I guess when it rains here no one is out. Some stores don’t even open, so contacting was out of the question. Instead, we went around to some member’s houses and checked up on them. Get this, my first time meeting anyone or even talking to someone was in a member’s house and at the end of talking with them my comp turns to me and says that I would like to share a scripture with them. They all started looking at me and I was like a deer in the headlights. It was mean and he didn’t even tell me he was going to do it. But it was good, I read a scripture and bore a VERY small testimony.
So the area me and my comp are in charge of is called Parque de Independencia. We live in the city. Our area goes from OK nice houses to….it’s called the “villa.” The ghetto looks nicer then this place, no lie. We had lunch over at a member’s house that lives in the villa and it was scary. They were a very nice family but very poor. Their house is a one room house of a destroyed house. It’s crazy coming from the nice MTC to a place like that. It makes you very humble and grateful for the USA. No matter how much we say we are poor or how much the USA stinks, it’s always going to be better then down here.
So I need to learn Spanish fast because when we go teach a lesson or go talk to someone on the street, my comp is always talking and I look so dumb. We were teaching this lady that is like 60 years old whose name is Gladys. I love her, she is so nice and always willing to listen or talk. Her husband is in a wheel chair so she has to take care of him and her daughter who is mentally handicapped. She can’t go to church and people need to go to church at least 2 time before they can be baptized and its just way to hard for her. So we were teaching her, or more like my comp was teaching her and I was nodding my head, smiling, and holding the pamphlet with pictures, and she said that she came to like an hour of conference. That’s really good so this week we asked her to be baptized. And she said yes!!! So now we just need to get her to go to Church twice before the 23rd of April (because that the baptism date for her).
Later, we went to go visit this lady name Rosa who lives in the villa. She wasn’t there so we talked to her grandma for a little bit. We talked and asked if we could share a message with her and she was said ok. So we asked if we could pray and she said yes. Then Elder McFairland was about to pray and she said, “Can I pray?” We said, “Yes, why couldn’t you?” She said, “Because I don’t go to church and I’m not like you (she meant missionaries).” Have you seen those like kids who go up to the pulpit and have their parents go with them to tell them what to say? Well, this is was my comp did, but not in her ear. He would say the pray sentence by sentence and then she would say them. It was a great moment because right after she said, “It’s easy to pray.” Haha. It was way cool for me because it makes me sad to know that they think that they can’t pray to their Heavenly Father. I’m just glad I am helping his work go forward.
Then we were knocking doors and we went to this one house where we introduced ourselves. She said I know who you are the “Mormons.” So we ask to go inside and then we started teaching her about the restoration (I taught about prophets). Then she said, “You believe in one more person.” Then we said we believe in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. When we got to Joseph Smith she screamed “That’s the one!” We told her about him and gave her a Book of Mormon. We are going back tomorrow to see if she read it. The best part is that she’s been a Jehovah’s Witness for 23 years and it’s unheard of.
So, that’s it for now. I will write more about life in Rosario next Wednesday. Thank you all for you help and prayers. Love you all,
Elder Hernandez
OH my gosh, it’s my last week in the MTC!!!! This time has flown right by. I am so excited to head out and start teaching some real investigators and eat some real Argentine food (I hear they have the best steak down there).
So this week was SOOOO exciting! Well, first off I got to say that I love Tuesday night devotionals!!! They are so good. But this Tuesday was a little bit more special than the other ones because Elder Cook of the 12 came and talked to the MTC. It was such a cool feeling to be in the same room as one of the 12 apostles. When he came into the gym (that’s where we have our devotionals, they transform the gym into the coolest devotional place ever) everyone stood up and he looked like the happiest person in the world. He talked about missionary work and how we can’t just go into people’s houses and teach them and leave. They will learn and grow but you haven’t done your job. We need to leave them with commitments to read the LDM (Libro De Mormon) or pray or something. We need to help them find their own testimony for themselves. I thought it was a really good talk because in the TRC appointments I have tried more to commit people to doing those things to help them become closer to our Heavenly Father.
Another really really cool thing I got this week was my TRAVEL PLANS!!!!!!! I was so excited! That was probably a little under Elder Cook but still up there on my AWESOME SCALE. So hear this travel plan out: I have to be at the travel center here at the MTC at 5am. We drive up to Salt Lake City Airport and I fly out at 8:20 am and head to Dallas, Texas. I will get to Dallas at around 12 pm and then wait until 2:15 pm to catch another flight to Miami, Florida (beaches here I come……..i wish). I will get to Miami at around 5:50 pm and then head out of Miami at 9 pm to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It will take 10 hours of flying time to get to Argentina so I better bring a good book and get a window seat. I will arrive in Buenos Aires at 7am on Tuesday the 30th (the next day). If you thought I was done moving around and traveling, you thought wrong. I then have a 5-6 hour bus ride (depending on the driver) to Rosario, where I will be serving. So I won’t even get to my mission area until Tuesday night. It is going to be crazy but I am so excited to do it. This week has really gone by at a snail’s pace so I don’t have much to say except thank you all for your prayers and letters. They have helped me so much. Don’t think just because I am leaving to Argentina I can speak like a native. I haven’t even hit the level of a “gringo” yet so keep those prayers coming for the gift of tongues for me =). I am not sure how DearElder.com works down in Argentina. It takes about 3 weeks for a letter to get down to Argentina. Thanks for understanding that I love getting mail and remember I love you all. The Lord’s work is not easy but it is so worth it. This will be my last letter from the MTC. Next time I write you all I will be in Argentina.
Ok I probably say this every week but I can’t believe how fast this week has gone by. On Thursday my district will be the oldest District in my zone. Sometime this week I should be getting my flight plans. I’m excited about that even though my Spanish is probably not the best. I can teach a full Restoration lesson in Spanish like at a primary level but it’s a step. I don’t think anybody leaves the MTC saying “Wow, I can speak the best Spanish ever”. There’s always something more you could be doing.
I have been going choir on Tuesday for the firesides. My companion, Elder Pratt, likes to sing, so I go with him. It’s really fun. I’m just glad the Elders around me are louder then I am so no one can hear me haha.
This week wasn’t that crazy. The same old missionary life: wake up, eat, class, eat, study time, eat and more class. Pretty boring but I love it here. It’s great always feeling the spirit and just learning how to get closer to our Heavenly Father. Today, my p-day, was cool. I did my own laundry (yes, I know, I do my own laundry; I will send a picture to you all). I was there in the laundry room and Hermanas (sisters) from my Zone came in and said one of her roommates had a REALLY bad migraine. She wanted a blessing but her Elders were at lunch. Elder Waymen (a new Elder in my Zone) said he had oil and I said “Oh ya, someone needs a blessing. Let’s do this”. I love helping people. So we went on splits and headed to her housing. Elders are not allowed up the stairs and she couldn’t come down because the migraine was so that bad that she couldn’t get out of her bed. We asked a president if we were allowed to go up there and give her a blessing. He said it is fine as long as the Hermanas in my zone clear the way for us. As we headed up the stairs I was feeling bad because it’s “forbidden land” haha. We entered the room and it was dark because the light hurt her head. She was on the top bunk so we had to stand on chairs to give her this blessing. Elder Waymen anointed her and I gave her the blessing. Note, this is my first time giving a blessing (I have anointed but never blessed anyone). I had no idea who she was, so it was kind of hard to know her needs. All I knew was that she was in pain and this blessing was going to help. I don’t know how I knew that, I just knew that it would. I reached over to put my hands on her head and gave her the blessing. I don’t even remember what I said but when we got to the room she was sobbing and crying because of the pain and half way through the blessing she was quit and she wasn’t crying any more. We left right after. At dinner at 4:30pm I asked my Hermanas how her roommate was doing. She said once we left her migrain went away and that all she has now is a small headache. This event has made my testimony grow and I know for a fact that I didn’t heal her but the Lord did. All we need is to have faith in Him and He will heal all of us no matter what we are going through. That is what the Atonement is all about.
I had another opportunity to give a blessing of comfort this week to another missionary in my Zone. He was having a hard time letting feelings go from his past and he needed to forgive someone but needed a blessing to help him and comfort him. So he asked me to do that blessing. I was touched when he asked me to give one because as he told me his past and he needed help i just felt my love grow for him. He is doing much better now. The priesthood is real: I have seen the results of giving blessings. I hope all Priesthood holders will take their calling seriously and know that they have something that no one on earth has, not kings not priests not the president no one and that is the power of God. I love you all and love your prayers. Missionary work is hard but SO worth it.
I can’t believe it already, I’m in my 6th week of the MTC. It feels just like yesterday I came into the MTC. But I have learned and grown a lot just from these few weeks.
Well it would be good to tell you in exactly 3 weeks from today I will be on a plane and going to Argentina. I should be getting my flight plans next week and that is so scary but at the same time SO EXCITING. I’m probably just scared because it’s the unknown and I wish I was a lot better at Spanish. I have this scary vision that I’m going to fly down there and walk off the plane and everyone around me is speaking Spanish and I will have no idea what they are saying. That will be the worst feeling ever. But I do feel the Lord has blessed me SO MUCH already. There is no way I could have ever come this far in such short time without His help. I am so grateful for Him.
So I heard some people wanted to know what a typical week was for a missionary, which I am (I love saying I’m a missionary). I wake up every morning at 6:30am, get ready for the day, suit and tie (the whole suit every day), say my personal and companion prayers and then head to breakfast at 7am. Breakfast isn’t that good most of the time. It’s always cereal or pancakes or waffles and eggs like a hotel breakfast. I usually have a cheese bagel. Then at 7:30am we start class. I have two awesome teachers. Hermana Capps served in Washington DC Spanish speaking like 6 months ago. Then I have Hermano Alrich, who served in the Mexico City mission. They both are awesome. One teaches in the morning until lunch at 11:30am, so that’s 4 hours of class. And we have a gospel lesson and then learn a Spanish grammar lesson. After lunch we have MDT (Mission Directed Time) which is where I do my personal study, companionship study and Language study and each of those are an hour long. We have MDT till dinner at 4:30pm. Dinners here are good most of the time. It’s all you can eat so I enjoy that. Wednesdays and Sundays we have ice cream so we look forward to those days. Then after dinner we have class until 9:30pm. Then we go back to our housing and hang out or rest or prepare for the next day until quite time at 10:15pm. Then 10:30pm is bed time. That’s a typical day for a missionary. Each day varies because you got to throw in Gym time each day, Tuesdays are Firesides, and Fridays are
Large Group Meetings (where we have a speaker come here and has a PowerPoint for us and teaches us on how to be a better missionary). Sundays rock because you have priesthood, Sacrament, temple walks with my district (where we go up to the Provo temple and take pictures, relax, walk around). Then we come back to our housing until dinner. We have Firesides at 7pm and then a movie at 8:30pm. It’s a relaxing day and that’s basically it.
This week was the second week I have been Zone leader. A new district came in this week so it was my pleasure to show the around, take them on a tour of the MTC, and just help them out any way I could and show my love for them. We got 10 new Elders this week and we have 8 more coming next week so it’s an exciting time and a learning time as well.
I love you all and thank you for the letters and prayers.
Love Elder Hernandez
Wow, I have been in the MTC for 5 weeks now. I can’t believe it!!! I feel like I just got here yesterday but I have learned SO much since I have been here. This week was the first Sunday I got to sit up on the stand with the Branch President (because I am now the new zone leader). It was so cool!!! I have only been Zone leader for one week but I felt like I have learned and grown so much. I also was able to conduct weekly District Leader interviews. This gives me a chance to see how each of the districts are doing and if I need to bring any information to the branch president’s attention. It’s funny because I get to interview DL’s that have been here longer then I have so it’s like I’m smaller then them but I’m who they report to. It’s just funny because when you come to the MTC everyone who is in the MTC before you, you look up to them.
We also lost two more missionaries today at 5am. They are off to Guatemala. It was hard to see them go. You really do get really attached to elders in your Zone because you spend 16 hours a day together and just have the same goal in mind. Their names were Elder Harmon and Elder Mortenson, from Idaho. I loved Elder Mortenson, he always made me laugh and just was a super funny guy. We were supposed to lose like 7 other missionaries from our zone today. They are going to Chile but because, most of you know, Chile had a 8.0 earthquake last week. It hit the exact area where they are going. So because of the earthquake they are delayed for a week right now but that is not even for sure. It might even be longer. So pray for the people of Chile right now, they need it.
I went to the temple today, it was awesome like always. I didn’t go last week so it felt like forever since I have been to the temple. It’s like when you miss church for a week and then the next week it’s like “wow it has been a long time since I took the Sacrament”
Also a little FYI for you all in gym time they have a record board up and they have records for pushups and 3 point shots and they even have one for the mile. The gym is 3 stories and it’s 10 laps to make a mile so the record is at 4:57 a mile. I want to beat that record before I leave the MTC in 4 weeks. So I ran it Friday and I got 5:47 so I need to shave like 0:50 seconds off my time but I can so do it.
Spanish is really coming along. I can listen to it and understand it and I can also read it better then I can say it. This Thursday night will be the first time I will be able to teach in Spanish. I am so excited for it but sadly I won’t be there because there are 10 new elders coming in to the MTC. They are in my zone so I need to show them around, go over rules, and just make them feel welcome by making their first few days awesome. But I love Spanish. I even bought this children’s picture book of the Book of Mormon stories in Spanish and I am reading it. I am really surprising myself on how much I can understand so that helps. And I also have TONS of flashcard with words on them that I carry around and that helps. But I just need to speak more. I think that my problem is that I need to talk and hear it out loud. The Lord has blessed me so much I could have never come this far and know this much without Him.
Thank you all for your prayers and your letters of encouragement and packages. They are REALLY needed and I love to know people are thinking about me and haven’t forgotten about me. Thank you again. I love you all.
Love mucho Elder Hernandez
Hey all!!!
How are you all doing? I hope all is well. Well I am in my 4th week in the MTC and sometimes it seems like I have been here forever and then other times it feels like it is going way too fast. I’m so grateful for the MTC and all the time people put in on missionaries behalf. I have heard stories when there was no MTC. It was called the LTC (Language Training Center) and you would be at the mission home for like 3 weeks listening to General Authorities all day long. After 3 weeks if you’re learning a new language they would ship you out to your mission and you would learn it when you got there. Talk about scary. I can’t imagine doing that. I’m in class for 8 hours a day and I still don’t feel ready. But it will come in time.
SO OFFICALY yesterday around 1:45pm my companion and I became the Zone Leaders for Zone 8. It is going to be a hard but fun experience. I am so ready to learn and just start helping people. Today about 8 Elders from our Zone left for Mexico. So every time we have Elders leave we all meet in the halls and we sing GOD BE WITH YOU TILL ME MEET AGAIN in Spanish of course. And then pray as a Zone. It was a very touching last night because I only knew those Elders for about 3 weeks but they felt like family and I love them. It’s sad to think that I most likely will not ever see those Elders that help me through my time in the MTC again. After we sang and prayed, the old Zone Leaders had a little ceremony for me and my companion as new zone leaders. They had these like, I don’t know what they are but they look like Hawaiian black beads for me and red and orange lay for my companion. And they passed those necklaces down to us and entrusted us with the whole zone. It was kind of cheesy but I thought it was the coolest thing. It was like passing the torch from one person to another and now it’s my turn to run with the torch. And a little fun fact about those necklaces, I’m the 4th generation to get them and when I leave in about 5 weeks I will pass them on to the next generation.
It’s been nice in Provo this week. We got a little snow but not too much. I am starting to get use to waking up and going to bed at these new times. The language is coming along. This week in the TRC will be my last week teaching the whole 2nd lesson in English. After that I will have to teach in Spanish only!!! It is really scary but I will be OK. I will just have to use all my time studying and using the Lords time wisely. I keep hearing at the MTC, that this time will be the only time I will ever be called ELDER (forever) unless I come a general authority. But I am on the Lords time and I need to use his time wisely. This will be the only time I will be able to give all I have for the building up of His kingdom here on the earth today. And I can either be lazy and waste these 2 years or get ready for the hardest most brutal time of my life and labor with Him at my side and make it the most satisfying 2 years because His work will still go on and over all the world NO MATTER WHAT. We know the ending to this story; the Lord’s work will prevail.
I am so grateful to be on a mission and work and labor with my fellow man and to have the Lord with me every step of the way. I love Him and will always love Him. I will never be able to pay back the debt that He paid for me but I will try. I love this church and know it is the only true church here on the earth today. We have the FULLNESS of the gospel today. I know Thomas S. Monson leads and guides this church today with Jesus at the head of this church. It is not President Monson’s church, it is the Lord’s Church and it will be forever. How great is this work.
Thank you all for your prayers and blessings, I love you all.
Hey all
Well its been a good week this week in the MTC. We got a new district on Wednesday, 6 Elders and 4 Hermanas. It’s been so crazy, I have only been in the MTC for three weeks now but I feel so out of the world and everything that is happening. We had a devotional yesterday and it was Brother Heaton from the Provo MTC Administration. He talked about being focused. Not on being focused on us (missionaries) but being focused on the investigator and how so many times we are always thinking “did I do a good job” or “did I say that right.” Those things are important but we just have to be focused on them and their needs and tell them about the lesson that will bless their lives the most. We as missionaries are tools in the Lords hand. Like when digging a hole, true a shovel needs to be sharp and stable enough to work but after that is done then next thing we worry about is the ground. Is it hard, are there rocks in the way and then you focus all your attention on the ground (investigators). And that really struck me, because when I am role playing as a non-member, I have an opportunity to receive revelation, to know how they feel and know how I can adjust my lesson to their needs.
Ok so yesterday was the craziest, coolest, most blessing day ever!! Yesterday, the second counselor of our branch pulled me and Elder Pratt (my companion) into a room and sat down with us. I thought this was an interview to see how our companionship was going, but I was dead wrong. He sat down with us and asked us to be the Zone Leaders for Zone 8. A zone leader is now a 4 week calling, it is your calling till you leave in the MTC and I still have 6 weeks left. I was so shocked!! I don’t know why the Lord asked us to be Zone Leaders but He will help us and give us strength to help and lead our zone to great things.
To break it down for you, in the MTC, There are 5,6 or more districts in a zone and each district has 6-10 or more people in them and there is one District leaders in each district. So I am in charge of all districts and all the people in each of those districts. I had no idea I was going to be called to be a Zone Leader, I was just worrying about learning Spanish and now I have the great opportunity to watch over and help each new Elder in my Zone. Needless to say I am so glad the Lord knows me better then I know myself because it’s going to be work and less time to study.
Ok, anyways, I am doing great, still loving the MTC. Making muchos friends and still learning everything I can about Spanish. It’s a crazy language to learn so many different tenses and verbs and just everything but I can do it!! A lot of the older Elders are heading out this week or next week, some are going to Texas, Chile, Mexico, California little bit of everywhere and all of them are Spanish speaking missions. They group people up by the language they are speaking so that it’s nice because you have people to help you and show you the ropes. I went to the temple today like I do every Monday morning at 6:30 am I’m actually writing this letter while waiting for my clothes to stop washing. Haha missionary life and I love the temple. I get so much power from the temple, I am grateful for the knowledge that families can be together FOREVER. Thank you for all who read this. I love you all and if you ever have a free moment or two shoot me an email (DearElder.com) or I love written letters also.
Thanks again,
Elder Hernandez
