Okay, so this is my last email, and I'd like to quickly jot down a few of the many miracles that occurred so that we could get home.
After a week and a half of being quarantined in San Luis, we were finally given the chance to get to our mission office in Mendoza, but it was to be no easy feat. We were ten missionaries in our zone in different parts of the city and we were all needing to get to the same place without getting arrested by the Argentine police who were hunting for unwanted people in the street.
What ended up happening was that we were able to contact a member who was a taxi driver who would pick up each missionary individually one by one and drop them off at a chapel in a less populated area of San Luis, more low profile.
After getting everyone to the chapel, we printed off a bunch of permissions from the Church and the government giving us permission to leave the province to Mendoza. After a few hours of waiting, we again, one by one, were taken to the bus terminal to take the private bus from the church. Being one of the zone leaders, I was in charge of locking up the chapel, and while trying to give the key back to a member, a police truck turned onto my street and I just about wet myself in fear. In spite of the fear that I felt, I had a strange impression to start talking loudly and walk faster as if I was doing something very important, which I was jaja. By the grace of our Heavenly Father, the policeman driving the truck that had pulled over to stop me ended up leaving me alone, and I was able to give the key back to the members, and return to the other missionaries at the bus terminal. On the way, we were stopped by a police blockade, but were not stopped or questioned by the police. As we drove away to take a different route, the member taxi driver explained to me that he had made four trips the day before, and was stopped by the police several times, but today, having made 20 taxi trips all over the city of San Luis, he had not been stopped once. Another miracle from the Lord.
Once at the terminal, I found two of my missionaries being investigated by police officers that wanted to take them to jail, but they spoke with confidence and showed them the permissions from the Church. We then boarded the bus and drove til we arrived to the border of San Luis and Mendoza where we waited for almost 3 hours. When we first arrived we found out that the permissions that we had printed off had no meaning or ability to get us through, and we were told that we had to turn back. When we heard that, we gathered in prayer and faith and ask the Lord to deliver us. That day was the first world wide fast that the church did, and we were all participating. Putting all our faith in the Lord, we waited nervously. Then our awesome member friend who had come with us to the border in the bus told us that they were gonna let us go through!!!! It was a miracle.
After arriving in Mendoza, we spent five more days in quarantine with two other missionaries. We then received word that all the gringos would be leaving first to go home to their families. It was a hard time for our Latino brothers, and we all felt horrible to leave them in such a way. But it was what needed to be done.
We left on a bus for twenty hours to get to Buenos Aires and then waited at the temple for about seven hours. After that, we left in a large bus to the airport with MANY other missionaries for all over Argentina. After many hours in the airport, we finally boarded the plane and were off to the U.S. Thirteen hours later, we touched down in Salt Lake City. While going through customs, it occurred to me that I couldn't remember my address in Lehi.......yup. I was sooooo scared for some reason, so I said a quick prayer to Heavenly Father asking Him for one more miracle so that I could make it through without any problem and see my family. The moment I finished the prayer, 3394 North 900 West entered my brain. I couldn't believe it. Fastest answer to a prayer ever jaja.
Anyway, I then grabbed my bags and made my way to find my family in the airport parking lot. To my surprise, they hadn't been informed that I would be arriving, and weren't there jaja. After making a few calls, I was able to communicate myself with dad, and they skirted over to get me. I was the last missionary there at the airport, which was pretty cool.....lol. T'was a joyous reunion when they arrived.
I thank the Lord for the many miracles that He blessed me with so that I could make it home. After meeting with my stake president I was sadly informed that I would not be given the chance to continue my service as a missionary, and was released as a representative of the Lord. I served the Lord for about 18 months, and what a blessing it was. I'll remember always the time I spent in my beloved Argentina, and the mighty miracles that I saw. I arrived in Argentina confused and scared, and left just about the same jajaja, but all jokes aside, my mission will make an impact on the rest of my life. T'is the true church of Christ that we find ourselves in, of that I testify. He leads her, and speaks to us through his living prophets. God speaks to His children, all we need to do is be ready to listen. En el sagrado nombre de Jesucristo, amen.
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| Making ties...in all our spare time! |
