Monday, October 11, 2010

10-10-10 A DAY AND BAPTISM TO REMEMBER........

Dear Family, Hey! It's great to hear from you and sounds like everyone is doing great. Thanks for your emails and letters, I received a letter from Dad and Mackenzie and I should have time to read them today. Everything is going well here in Argentina and the work is also going well in our mission as we just had a "día de diez" which is a phrase in spanish here that means a really great day. This last Sunday was the 10th of October of 2010, 10/10/2010. In the mission we set a goal a while ago to have every area in the mission have a baptism on this unique and special day. This past week was jam packed and spiritual as well. We fasted as a mission and focused on helping our investigators prepare to be baptized. We are very grateful for what we were able to accomplish as we had a total of 56 baptism, all in our mission! Although we were not able to acheive our ultimate goal we feel very blessed and humble for the miracles we were able to see as a mission. Elder Palacios and myself were also able to see the miracle of our Heavenly Father as we prepared Julia Herbas to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ. We found Julia last Saturday, the 2nd of October as we assisted some of our investigators attending general confernce. As we were walking to one of our investigators house we saw Julia and her family entering her house and we decided to contact them and invite them to general conference. At that time we did not know Julia but as we talked and got to know her we found out that her daughter is a member of the Church. Julia is from Bolivia and she is 63 years old and has a few kids that are members of the church that live in Bolivia and also one here in Argentina. Julia has been staying with her daughter Rosaesela here as things have not been going well with Rosaesela and here family. When we met with them Saturday we were able to tell that something was amiss and that they needed to attend conference. After talking with them and testifying of the gospel Julia, Rosaesela and her boyfriend and kids came with us to watch general conference. Julia was able to feel the spirit and Rosaesela was able to recognize that she needed the gospel back in her family even though her boyfriend is not currently a member, and her two kids are not old enough to be baptized. The following week after general conference we continued to visit Julia and we invited her to prepare herself to receive the belssings of the gospel in her family by being baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ on the 10 de October, 2010. Julia used to listen to the missionaries in Bolivia when her kids were preparing to be baptized but was not able to be baptized with were family at that time. Julia has a lot of faith and was able to receive and recognize her answer as she asked our Heavenly Father in prayer if this was the true Church of Jesus Christ and if she would receive the blessings of the gospel by being baptized. The 10th of October of 2010 Julia Herbas was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ! I am very grateful for Julia and the faith that she has exhibited as she has chose to follow our Savior Jesus Christ. It looks like we will be staying busy this week as we will be finishing missionary interviews with President Benton, divisions, working in the office, working in our area, and start planning for transfers with President Benton. Tonight we are going to the mission home to have dinner with President Benton, the staff, and Elder Evans and his family. Elder Evans was one of the other assistants and was a really great missionary and example for me and for the mission. His family has recently arrived and he will be spending his last week with his family here in Argentina. I am grateful for your love and support. I love the mission and I am grateful for the opportunity to represent our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Have a great week. I am praying for you, glad to her Beckie, Isaac, and Mackenzie are ok with the car accident and everyone else. Did Mackenzie receive my email that I sent a week or two ago? Tell her to write me when she gets a chance. I would like more updates and pics about Homecoming. Mom I love you thanks for your email. I was given the opportunity to write a message in "el sol" for this week and I invite you to read it when you have the chance. Have a great week. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

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Slideshow of Elder Brooks' Mission

Cameron reads his mission call

Flag of Argentina

Flag of Argentina
The national flag of Argentina dates from 1812. The full flag featuring the sun is called the Official Ceremonial Flag (Spanish: Bandera Oficial de Ceremonia). The Official Ceremony Flag is the civil, state and war flag and ensign. The sun, called the Sun of May, is a replica of an engraving on the first Argentine coin, approved in 1813, whose value was eight escudos (one Spanish dollar). It has 16 straight and 16 waved sunbeams. According to tradition, during the Argentine War of Independence General Manuel Belgrano was commanding a battle near Rosario. He noticed that both the Crown's forces and the independence forces were using the same colors (Spain's yellow and red). After realizing this, Belgrano created a new flag using the colors that were used by the Criollos during the May Revolution in 1810. The flag was hoisted for the first time in Buenos Aires atop the Saint Nicholas of Bari Church on August 23, 1812. - Ref: Wikipedia.com