The Most Memorable Christmas of My Life!

Merry Christmas!

Our Beautiful Christmas Tree

So I am sure that you are all wondering how christmas was for me in Argentina.  Well, it was probably the most... memorable christmas of my life.  In the morning we decided we wanted to do a little christmas caroling because we didn´t have appointments for the day, but we didn´t want the work to stop so we knocked some doors and started to sing christmas carols (note: here, they have no idea what christmas caroling is).  When they opened the doors and we started singing, their faces were the funniest things ever.  And as missionaries, we have seen many interesting faces.  Anyway, one of the houses that we went to, the man that answered had a super funny face, and then he started to scream some names.  30 seconds later, 3 people came out of the house to hear us sing.  Two of them had down syndrome and they started laughing, clapping, and singing with us.  It was absolutely fantastic because they were really grateful for the time that we took during the christmas holiday to spread some cheer.  It was the best.  All day, we were saying, "this is the best christmas ever."  We kept working...  AND THEN.

My companion started to feel sick at about 5:45 (we were going to leave to talk to our families and 6:30)... we decided to go back to the house for a little bit because we didn´t want to be sick while talking to our families.  We were walking, and next thing I know, my companion is throwing up on the side of the street.  We realized that we needed to go to the house.  As we were walking to the house, the other hermanas called us.  They told us that Hermana Ortiz was throwing up.  Yeah, it turns out that we ate something that was super bad in our bodies.  I don´t want to give you all of the details, but let´s just say that at one moment, three out of four of us were puking in various areas of the house.  We ended up in the hospital that night (and our families didn´t know that we weren´t going to be there). We all got shots, but yeah... all we can eat now is white rice.  YAY, MERRY CHRISTMAS.

That is pretty much all.  

Now with our investigators..

Alicia is still doing super well.  The other day we were teaching her (and she absolutely loves joking around)  For example when we taught the word of wisdom, she said, "yeah, I accept everything because I know that this church is true..... I will give up the alcohol, but I will never give up my illegal drugs"... she´s the only 83 year old woman I know that says stuff like that just to see what our faces are going to be like after.  

Anyway, she said, "I don´t want to go to church anymore."........ just to see our faces.  And then she said, "Nah, I am just kidding, I already talked to the bishop, I am going to be baptized January 18, and I want both of you to be there."  It´s right after transfers so we don´t know if we will be here, but the important part is that she is going to do it.  

It was a great week full of ups and downs.  Sorry that all my thoughts are super jumbled, but oh well.  Merry christmas to everyone!

 

With My Gift From Hermana Rozsa.

With Our Christmas Gifts

 

Merry Christmas!

So remember how I was so excited this week because I would finally be able to work all of the week!  Haha Nope.  Tuesday morning we have our district meetings and 15 minutes before leaving, one of the zone leaders called us and told us that we would be doing divisions with the other hermanas.  He told me that my companion would be staying and I would be going (vague right?) because I needed to work with the Hermana Batista. Anyway, I packed all of my bags and we headed to the meeting because I would be staying there for 2 days.  When we arrived at the meeting, the other Hermanas arrived.  The Hermana Batista had a bag packed and ready to go.  We were really really confused because she was supposed to stay.  Yeah, turns out that when the Elder told us that my companion would be staying.  He meant that she would be staying in Mar del Plata for two days after the meeting.  So yeah, I had all my stuff packed and my companion had nothing.  But Hermana Rozsa is a champ and so she said, "don´t worry don´t worry!"  My pour companion, I sent her off with literally nothing.

 

But other that that, everything went well.  We did our divisiones, met some great people, had some good lessons, and that was everything.  It´s so hard to believe that the christmas season is here.  It´s hard for me to believe it because it is so hot here.  Practically unbearable, but that´s okay. 

 

Anyway, our investigators are doing well, (surprisingly because we can´t work too much).  We have one that is 82 years old, but really spicy.  She makes jokes all the time and is practically already a member.  She wants to be baptized, but wants to make sure that health wise, everything is good before hand. 

 

Other investigator is named Enzo.  He is 18 years old and also, is practically a member.  He started going to church regularly 2 months ago and wants to be baptized as well.  The thing is that his mom does not support his decision and doesn´t want him to.  He is waiting for a Little bit because, even though he doesn´t need her permission.  He still wants her permission because he doesn´t want to cause contention in the family.  Anyway, that´s pretty much all that I have time for.

 

Love you all and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I always teach the GRANDMAS!

Dead Toad (for the nephews!)

 

Same Dead Toad

 

 Another week of interesting things.  Monday all of Mar del Plata didn´t have Police or something so we weren´t allowed to leave our house.  Tuesday we traveled to Mar del Plata.  Wednesday was the only day that we had all day to work because Thursday we had to travel again for the activity on Friday (which was all day).  Saturday there was a Baptism in the Ward for the other Hermanas.  I gave a talk and everything.  It has been really interesting here in Balcarce because it´s a lot of traveling, but it is beautiful.  The people here are so nice and the members are fantastic.  AND, it´s not too hot here.  When I say it´s not too hot, I want you to know that it is still really really hot.  The type of hot where you are sweating all the time when you are talking to people that literally everyone can see the drops on your face.  But the good part of everything is that they don´t care because they are sweating, too.  Here, I don´t think that they have Air Conditioning in many of the homes.  It is a luxury.

 

Finally we are starting to get a grip on the work here.  It´s been a Little interesting with both being new the area, traveling so much, and not really knowing the members.  We have a few investigators now that are super great.  One of them is named Alicia.  She is 83 years old, but her health is surprisingly well.  There is a joke here that I always teach the Grandmas... but it´s no joke.  I always teach the grandmas.  ALWAYS.  But it´s great because now whenever I see a grandma, I talk to them because I know that it´s my calling in the mission.  Yesterday we stopped and talked to two grandmas for a while.  They told us that they were in the city til 3 in the morning and when we asked why, one of them started laughing.  Turns out that she was in the casino enjoying everything.  She is 85 years old!  Her health was even better than Alicia´s.  But yeah, I am getting side tracked.

 

So Alicia... she´s super great.  She goes to church all the time.  She was evangelica, but she said that now that she is coming to our church everything in her life is better.  She has already received her answer and knows that it´s true.  The only thing is that she is afraid of the wáter and so she doesn´t want to be baptized right away.  But yeah, that´s her.  She´s super awesome.

 

Everything is going good here.. we are still trying to figure everything out and work with people.  But now, we are only going to travel to Mar del Plata once a week for our reuniones so we will finally have more time to work here.

 

Also, like a month ago I told that there were dead Toads everywhere after it rained.  Here it's more humid so there are a million dead Toads everywhere... it has become really common for me.

 

That´s all, love you all.

 

 

My Companion and I.

Meditating on a Rock - Like Normal!

 

The Other Sisters.

 

Mar del Plata

 

Hermana Rozsa, Hermana Valenzuela, and I.

 

This week has probably been the most interesting week in my mission.  I now live in a little inn where we have to travel an hour to get to our meetings each week.  Not only that, but whenever we have other things in Mar del Plata.  It is pretty fun, but at the same time, it is a little frustrating.  Monday was P day, Tuesday we traveled to Mar del Plata, but we needed to see a doctor so we got home at 7 at night.  Wednesday we worked super hard, but Thursday they split our area so where we worked is no longer our area.  Friday was the first day we worked in our actual area.  Saturday we had Stake Conference so we had to travel to Mar del Plata.  After that, we stayed the night there.  Last night we got to the house at about 8:30 at night.

Needless to say it was an interesting week with little work, but that´s alright.  I am sure that my letter next week will be a little more exciting.  

There are four of us that live together:  My companion, Hermana Valenzuela (from Chile), Hermana Ortiz (from El Salvador), and I.  It´s pretty fun.  We pretty much have a sleepover every night.  

Anyway, that´s pretty much it.

Love you all, Happy Holidays!

Our broken table.

I'm now a trainer of trainers.

The Sisters in 3 zones.

Our district and other random people.

First off, I have not slept in 3 days.  Literally.  Saturday they called us in the morning to tell us that Hermana Gaona was staying and that I was leaving to serve in Balcarce.  We were so sad because normally with trainers, we stay with each other at least 2 transfers.  I really thought that I did something wrong and that I was a horrible trainer because they were taking my daughter away from me (or taking me away from my daughter).  I was having a hard time with it because I didn´t want to go and I wanted a second chance to prove that I could train better.  I was getting ready for bed and still feeling bad, but right before falling asleep, the phone started ringing.  It was President Parreño.. I was freaking out.  Anyway, he called to tell me that I was going to be a trainer sister.  Yeah, I don´t really know what it means either.  But pretty much, there are three of us in the mission and we are in charge of the 60 sisters that are in the mission.  I wish I could explain more, but I really have absolutely no idea.  I hardly understood what President told me, luckily I had latin companions that told me that I would be training the trainers.  So I think that it means that I didn´t really fail at training.  

Elder Hall, Elder Cuadras (my zone leaders) and I . . . old zone leaders.

Hermanas of Hospital.

Hilda and I.

Teresa and I.

My daughter and I.

Anyway, my bus left at 10:30 at night and arrived in Mar del Plata at 6:00 in the morning.  After that we needed another bus from there to Balcarce.  Needless to say, I have absolutely no sleep and so I know that I don´t make much sense.  It´s gorgeous here though, and apparently the members help us out so much!  It´s all super great.  My companion is Hermana Rozsa from Draper, Utah.  She´s super great, we´re both new to the area so I am sure that it will be a week of a lot of confusion.  

Anyway, that´s pretty much it.  Love you all.  Write you in a week.

Our diligent exercises in the morning - a night that we didn't sleep!

We bought burgers in a super awesome restaurant!

I don't even know how to explain this one!

Hermana Vincent and I.

My first and only birthday in the mission field.

My piece of birthday cake.

 

Ismael bakes me a birthday cake!

 

It was a week that was a little more rough to be honest, but it doesn´t matter we still enjoy it all the same.  We had some pretty cool experiences.  First off, it was my birthday, and so all of our investigators made me cake.  It was a day of fun and joy!  A recent convert bought me a pair of really nice boots.  She always tells me that I am her preferred missionary, but secretly it´s just because I am from the United States.  Ismael called us on monday and said, "You guys are coming over tomorrow right?  Because I am preparing everything right now."  It was my first and last birthday in Argentina, but it was absolutely fantastic. 

 

Cutting the cake!

My companion and I walking home.

The other day we had a pretty cool experience.  The two people that we are working the most with are Ismael and Hilda.  Ismael always gives us fruit because he works in a fruit stand.  Normally he is our last appointment so we carry a bag of fruit to the house, but we visited him during the day on Saturday.  When he gave us the fruit, we didn´t know what to do because we still had to work and we didn´t want to carry a bag around with us all day.  Anyway, we left the house and went to our next appointment with Hilda.  We didn´t know what we were going to do with the fruit, I had the bag behind my scriptures so that Hilda didn´t see anything.  When she was talking, she started to explain that she had absolutely nothing to eat because her money was stolen.  I grabbed the bag of fruit and put it on her table.  She said, "Huh?  what´s this?"  When she realized that it was fruit, she refused.  It took about a half an hour to explain that we didn´t want the fruit because we needed to walk really far and it was actually a burden for us.  She started to cry.  It was really humbling for us because we never have fears that we aren´t going to have anything to eat.  

Our investigator Margarita.

Anyway, that was pretty much it.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I hope you all eat a lot of Turkey for me!

Con Ismael on my birthday.

Just past the half way point of my mission!

I can´t believe that I have already passed the half way point of my mission.  Time is flying by like crazy.  Tomorrow I turn 22.  I think, to be honest, it might be Wednesday.  How sad that I don´t even know. 

Anyway, it´s been pretty fun here, it´s been a lot of changes for us too.  The day that I celebrated my 9 month mark in the mission, we celebrated with a new house!  Yeah, it was a miserable day because we had to pack up all of our stuff to move houses.  It was awful because not only our stuff, but the things of the house, too.  But now we live super far away from all our investigators and we have to run, literally run, to get home on time. The good part is that we live on campus housing now and so there are always frat parties and whatnot going on, which is really fun to listen to when we are trying to sleep.   But I actually really enjoy it because it reminds me of college life.  More or less.

All of our things packed up.

Anyway, we had some pretty interesting experiences this week.  We were walking down the street and normally the people reject us before even looking at us.  It´s pretty funny, but friday there was lady with a stroller and then she looked at us and she stopped us in the street.  SHE STOPPED US!  Yeah, I wrote that correctly.  She started telling us how she wanted to change and be a better mom.  She told us that she thinks that we have the door to the truth, so that was pretty cool.  Normally people reject us, or if they believe us, they don´t want to change.  So it was nice to have a little fresh air.

Also, we talked with Ismael, he´s still doing well.  He still has some habits that he needs to break in order to be baptized, but all is well.  Last night we had a lesson with him, and it wasn´t exactly the best lesson in the beginning, but in the end it turned out to be just fine.

Hilda promised us that she would come to church, but in the morning she told us that she couldn´t.  Last week she did the same, but two days before.  Yesterday, it was yesterday morning.  So I think this week will be better.  She suffers from Panic Attacks and anxiety, also, she found out she has cancer, her son stole 4000 pesos, and she´s getting kicked out of her house.  Needless to say, she needs the gospel.  She loves me a lot.  She always calls me German Face.. hmmm in english it doesn´t have a good ring to it.  The other night she couldn´t sleep and she said she wanted to call me, but didn´t.  She tells us everytime we come, "I don´t know how it´s possible, but everytime you come to my house, I can always sleep really well during the night."  DING DING DING. We have the answers.  She´s doing really well, despite all of her difficulties.

ALSO, Argentina wants to kill me.  I guess I touched some plant or something and then I had red hives all over my legs.  It didn´t itch or anything so I left it alone and slept it off, but seriously, Argentina hates me.

That´s all (that I can write.)

My diseased foot.

Hermana Rodriguez cleaning the area.

I will go where you want me to go, and talk to who you want me to talk to!

Hermana Rodriguez and I

I don´t have much time because the computers here don´t work too great.  But I had a few cool experiences this week.

Hermana Gaona and I.

The day that Hermana Gaona arrived in the mission we were walking around to the appointments that we had.  I saw a man in his backyard drinking mate and I had the feeling that we needed to talk to him.  Sadly, I didn´t listen to the spirit.  That night, I felt awful because I had no idea where the house was or in what area it was.  But I prayed and said, "Okay, look, I messed up and I didn´t talk to that man, but if you give me the chance again, I will talk to him."

Two days ago, I felt like we should go visit a certain person that lives in an area a little bit out of the way.  But on the way, I saw the man that I needed to talk to.  I saw him, and immediately started walking towards him.  Hermana Gaona was a little confused because I just said, "we NEED to talk to him, but I will explain why after."  Anyway, we talked to Eduardo.  In the beginning he was NOT interested.  He made that very clear, but after some time he said, "I believe these things are true."  MIND BLOWN.  Anyway, he left for a different province in Argentina for some time so he couldn´t come to church. 

Who knows, maybe he won´t be baptized, but we did our part and that´s what matters.

As for the other investigators they are doing well.  People drop us everyday, but it´s okay because we find other people and it all works out.

That´s pretty much all because I am out of time.  LOVE YOU ALL.

Hermana Vera and I.

Hermana Vincent and I.

"Do you guys realize that you have all the answers to my questions?"

Hermana Gaona, Hermana Rodriguez, me, and Hermana Ibana.

 

Wow, I didn´t realize how different it was going to be training.  I love my companion.  She´s great, but I am teaching a lot.  Like how to do laundry, read a map, clean, use a blender... It´s pretty interesting.  Thanks for teaching me, mom.  Anyway, we have been seeing success.  We have been finding a lot of people.  For example, we were in the area of an ex investigator who was great, but we could never find her again, but we decided to stop by her house.  We found her and her son and when we explained the Restoration, her son Pablo said to us, "Do you guys realize that you have all of the answers to my questions?"  He is really great, too bad he had to leave town, but it´s okay because they are really great.  Also, the other day, we were in the street looking for a referencia.  We knocked a couple doors to find them (which was an interesting experience in and of itself), but we couldn´t so we decided to ask people in the street.  We started talking to this guy, and he told us, "Oh hey, I always went to your church in La Pampa, but when I moved here, I couldn´t find it."  Good think for him, the church found him.

There has been a lot of rain lately.  Last monday, we were in downtown area of our zone and it started to rain really hard at 7, we were about an hour away from our house without good rainy weather attire.  My poor companion, I have put her through a lot of things.  Also, Halloween it rained so much!  Here they don´t celebrate Halloween so I hope that it was an awesome Holiday for the rest of you!  It rained so much that on our way home, we were so soaked.  We stopped into a bread shop to buy pastries and then we stood in the rain eating our pastries really far away from the house.  It was really great.

That´s pretty much all that I have time for, but something funny.  Our President Parreño was in our church the other day and they had a meeting with the zone leaders after church in the same building.  We got a call during lunch saying that presidente, his wife, the elders, and an investigator were locked inside the church.  Everyone left from the church and locked the door.  We didn´t have the key because the other hermanas had it.  16 missed calls from the Elders.  hahaha  We laughed a lot.  Even though I am sure they had really important meetings and stuff.

Anyway that´s pretty much it, everything is going peachy.  Also, my spanish is coming along rather well.  An investigador was surprised when I told her that I spoke english because she thought that Spanish was my only language.  So that was pretty cool, I guess.  Well, that´s all.  Love you, write me.

 

 

I have never seen real change in anyone so profound as in Ismael.

 

Our Zone.

First off, we had transfers.  I thought that I was going to leave from Hospital, but I am still here.  And I am training.  Yeah, training, what?  They called us on Tuesday night to tell us what was going to happen.  They called and told us that I was going to be training.  I almost fainted, but luckily my companion is a sweetheart.  On Friday, we went to pick up our trainees. We went and the AP Elder Nash said, "Your companion is right there."  She came up to me and she gave me a big hug, and we talked for a while.  After about 2 minutes, they came back and said, "oh wait, she is not your companion." But after, we cleared everything up and it was great.  My companion is Hermana Gaona from Peru.  It´s actually really great because she has that newbie spirit that I absolutely love.  It reminds me when I was in the MTC and I was excited.  She is great, really shy so I do almost all of the talking.  It is interesting because now I am the person that talks to everyone, calls everyone, knows everyone, and she is the one that actually speaks the language.  Now I know that I can do it, and I am so glad that my companion is from Peru because she is helping me with my spanish.    

The last night that Hermana Medina and I had as companions was pretty sad because we wanted to stay as companions, but we knew that we were going to separate.  We were excited though, changes are always good.  

Hermana Medina with the two kilos of ice-cream that our district leader gave us.

The first day that Hermana Gaona and I worked, I wanted to show her how great the area was because I didn´t want her to regret coming to the mission.  And so, I planned a perfect day to see all of our best investigators.  Nobody was home, and we never entered a house.  We walked at least 8 miles, and I am afraid that I killed my poor hija.  Luckily, she is really awesome so it wasn´t a problem.  But that day, we went to clap at a door and then we hear, "NO NO NO NO"  We saw a man who was mute and deaf.  But we taught him the first lesson.  All in signs and signals and a lot of awkwardness.  What we understood is that the man that we were going to visit is sleeping and that we shouldn´t wake him up, that he drinks a lot, and that the mute man´s father collapsed one day and passed away.  I have no idea if that is what he was trying to tell us, but that´s what we understood.  For me it wasn´t unusual because I am used to feeling lost in conversations and not understanding.

Anyway, our investigators.  Ismael is still progressing.  I have never seen a real change in anyone so profound.  He has completely changed.  The baptism process is still going to take a while because a lot of things in his past, but we are working with him and trying to help him in anyway that we can.

Teresa is doing great, healthwise no, but she is so happy to be a member of the church!  The doctors did the chemotherapy this week and her health has declined a lot so we don´t know what´s going to happen.

As for the mosquitos.  (or the bugs of Argentina)  During dinner friday night with a member family recent convert, we were eating and I looked down and my leg was covered in blood.  I don´t know what kind of bug it was, something bit me and caused me to bleed a lot.  Yeah, it´s interesting the things that the mission does to our bodies.

All in all, I love you all.

Water, Water - Everywhere! Except in our house!

 

The rain created a river in the street!

What a week.  First off, it´s starting to warm up.  It´s starting to warm up a lot.  And there is this awesome thing that happens in Argentina when it´s warm.  Sometimes the water just stops working in the houses.  The pressure drops a lot and since we live on the second story, we don´t have water.  After three days of no water, we called our pensionero and so we got to stay in mission home.  It was awesome, but none of us could sleep, but it felt really good to be in a house that was really nice.  Still we have no water during the day and when we return.  To flush the toilet, we have to keep bottles or water ready, pour it into the wall, and then flush.  It´s really fun.  The only problem is that it requires a lot of water and the bottles are used to fill up our drinking water.  (We aren´t allowed to drink from the tap.)  So it´s been an interesting week, the day after, we went to the other hermanas in villa floresta.  It´s such a hassle though, so we decided to just live with not having water.  It´s great fun.

The crazy thing is that we went from not having water, to having a ton of water.  It rained and stormed really bad.  So bad that there was water leaking in and collecting on my bed because I sleep on the top bunk.  Sadly that´s not the first time.  They are trying to find a new house for us because the house we live in is about to fall apart.  But we enjoy it.

Also, with the extra water, there were more mosquitos.  My companion told me that the mosquitos here have Argentine Pride so they do more damage.  My arms were swollen for a while, and I still have the bites 4 days later, but all is well here in Bahía.

 

Mosquito bites!  They have Argentina Pride!

 

On to the spiritual, Yesterday was the confirmation of Teresa and it was excellent and really spiritual.  Also, it was Mother´s day. So Happy Mother´s Day!  All in all it was great and our investigator Ismael came, too.  His life is changing so much, it´s absolutely fantastic.  

We also found a lady named Hilda this week.  She has NO trust in anyone.  All she tells me is "You have german face, you are german, I never let anyone in my house, why did I let you in?"  She´s pretty awesome so we are going to bring her to the church this sunday.  If I am still here.  Wednesday are Transfers so I don´t know if I will still be here.

Well that´s pretty much all for today.

They can't say my name in Argentina! I've been called Hermana Banana, Hermana Barbie, Hermana Brownie, Hermana Marta, Hermana Vawdrix and more!

 

Before baptism.

 

I really don´t even know how to begin this letter.  This week was the craziest, most stressful, most spiritual week of my mission.  After writing you last week, my companion and I were talking about one of our investigators.  We were talking, and we felt like she needed to be baptized this Saturday.  So we planned the lessons we were going to teach and we set out.  Wednesday we had a lesson with her, and I can´t really explain everything, but basically we told her that she could be baptized in a couple weeks because we still had a lot to teach her.  There was a little bit of contention in our companionship because we disagreed about a couple things.  To make a really long story short, Thursday morning we got our answer that she NEEDED to be baptized on Saturday.  When we returned that day, we invited her to be baptized for Saturday instead, she was more than willing.  When we returned Friday to do her Baptismal Interview, she was so sick that she had to do it in her bed.  Everything that possibly could have happened to try to stop the baptism from happening happened.  Seriously, 10 points to Satan for his diligence.  It was the strangest experience because Friday night, we still weren´t even sure if the baptism was going to happen because of her health.  Saturday morning, we showed up at her house and she was outside ready to be baptized.  The baptism was absolutely amazing.  Her doctor thought she was going to have a heart attack, but she loved the warm water.  When she came out of the font, she was crying and gave us all kisses.  She is so special.  We still don´t know why she needed to be baptized on Saturday, but she was.  Wow, I really wish that I could explain everything. 

Teresa and I

After the ordinance.

Also, with Ismael... he still hasn´t drank at all since we first met him.  His birthday was this week, too.  We made him a cake, and a really ugly card, but he loved it so much.  I realized that he has never ever experienced true friendship.  He has never received a card or a cake in all of his life.  He is 46 years old.  He put our card in a safe, and he said that nobody can ever touch it.  Also, he thinks my name is Hermana Banana.

 

Cake for Ismael

One thing about Argentina is that they can´t say my name.  I have been called.. Hermana Banana, Hermana Barbie, Hermana Brownie, Hermana Marta, Hermana Vawdrix, and many more names.  It´s pretty funny actually.

ALSO, remember all those dead frogs?  Now they are dried up and everywhere.  Speaking of no water, our apartment hasn´t had water consistently for 3 days.  So when we have water, we shower and fill up bottles because nothing works.  It´s great fun.

Love you all.  Chao.

Hermano Escudero, Teresa and Ismael

Me and my companion Hermana Medina.

All four of us that live in Hospital.

The other day, I was looking out the window from our apartment and I saw a horse carriage thing.  It´s a normal thing to see everday in the city roads.  Then I realized, this is kind of weird.  I am in a different country.  Sometimes I forget because I am really used to life here now, but there are many things that are different.  It´s going to be weird when I come home.  But hey, later today I am going to Walmart.. (Yeah, apparently there´s a Walmart here.)

Anyway, this week was excellent because it was the conference and so we were inviting everyone to the conference.  Three people I want to talk about:

First, Hermano Escudero.  Let me give you the background story.  His wife has been a member her whole life, but went less active when she was a teen.  About 10 years ago or less, she came back to the church and now she is so active.  He has a daughter that wanted to be baptized a long time ago, but he was opposed to the idea and wouldn´t let her.  After she turned 21, she no longer needed his permission and she was baptized.  Then she served a mission in Nicaragua.  In fact, we were looking at pictures from her mission and there was one from the MTC in Guatemala.  Guess who was in the picture with her?  Chantel Knudsen.  Apparently they were in the MTC together there.  It´s really a small world because now we are teaching her Dad.  Anyway, we had a really good lesson with him the other day.  He really wants to know if these things are true.  At the end of our lesson, we asked him to pray, kneel down, and ask God if these things are true.  He is a really tall full grown man who knelt down on his knees to pray to know if these things are true.  He cried!  The whole family is praying that he gets baptized because he is the only one that isn´t a member in all the family.  But he came to the conference and we are pretty sure that he received his answers.  The church is true!

Second, Teresa.  She starts her cancer treatments next week, and we are really afraid that her health is going to go down because she has more problems than just the cancer.  She wants to be baptized so bad, but investigators have to come 3 times before they can be baptized.  The other day we went to her house with some Brothers from the ward to give her a blessing.  The next day, she had so much strength and she wanted to come to the conference.  SHE CAME!  She was in pain the whole time, but she said that it was worth it because she felt so good after.  It was amazing.

Third,  Ismael.  We met Ismael on Friday.  His wife and kids left him and all he does is drink all day everyday.  He has no desires to keep living and he lives his life day to do with everything that he does.  When we showed up (on accident)  he started to cry.  We told him about the conference and he wanted to come.  He came Saturday morning, and then he came Sunday morning... and then he came Sunday afternoon.  He said that the conferences gave him the strength to not drink.  Two days of not drinking!  It is fantastic!  

I wish I could write everything, but it is literally impossible.  So much happens everyday all day and we don´t have much times to write.  Sorry!  

The church is true and I love being a missionary.  That´s all.

On our way back from Conference.  Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is illegal.  

All four of us again!

Satan is the Worst!

Let me explain.  This week, we really wanted to be better with everything because we aren´t seeing much progress in our area.  Our entire zone is feeling the same way and so we decided as a zone to have a fast together. 40 days of purification in which we try to be the best missionaries that we can be.  We had our meeting tuesday and we were so pumped up.  We were working like crazy, knocking doors, calling members, and doing everything.  We were doing so great, and then a mosquito bit me.  I know it sounds really stupid, but it was a big deal.  We continued to work and work and work.  And by the time that I got home, my hand was SWOLLEN.  The pictures don´t do it justice, but it was huge.  I couldn´t see my knuckles or anything.  I didn´t want to go to the doctor because that´s a really lame excuse, but my companions convinced me and we left.  We went to the hospital and 10:00 at night with a swollen hand.  They gave me a Argentine version of Benadryl and I went home.  I don´t remember the next two days because I was pretty medicated.  I don´t know what that drug was, but I never want to take it again. In fact, we went to eat with a member one of the days and the member asked my companion, "what happened to your companion?"  Apparently I was just standing there staring out the window at something.. I don´t even know what.  It´s actually kind of really creepy.  Poor member.  That´s why satan is the worst.  Because when we try and do better and to progress, that´s when he sends little things that make our hands swollen so we have to be medicated for a couple days.  Really, it´s lame and I am sick of it.  When I told my companion that I don´t have allergies she just told me that the mosquitos here have Argentina Pride so they are going to do whatever it takes.  (She´s from Argentina so she can joke about it.)

Anyway, later this week we went to Cerri to help out the rest of our district.  It was miserably cold, and nobody let us into their houses, but all was well.  We met a lot of people that were very sincere and now the Elders there have more people to work with.  Doesn´t matter where you are, the message is still the same and the church is still true.  

Also, side note.  It´s very very rainy here.  With rain comes other stuff.  Like in Utah, we have a lot of worms after rain.  Here, there are frogs.  Dead frogs that have been smashed by cars with their guts on the outside.  I thought it was pretty funny so I started counting them yesterday.  My companion didn´t appreciate that too much, but I thought it was funny.  Poor frogs.

Anyway so much happened this week, but all is well and this area will improve.  I know it.  At least I hope, because it´s been really frustrating.  Sorry that my thoughts are so scattered.  Love you all. 

Another week in the land of Bahia Blanca!

We had a really good week, mostly because we made some progress with some awesome people!

One is named Teresa.  Teresa is really old and has very advanced cancer.  The doctor told her that she has 6 months left to live. She has a kitchen in which she feeds people that cannot afford to buy food
for themselves.  The missionaries taught her over 15 years ago and she knew that the church was true then and so now we are just reteaching everything because she wants to get baptized so bad.  During the first lesson we were talking and she asked, "what do I need to do to get baptized?"  That was the most shocking question ever during a lesson, but she knows that it´s important and she always jokes about how it´s even more important for her because she knows she doesn´t have much
time.  Which is a little uncomfortable for us at times because we don´t know whether to laugh or not.  It´s awkward.  She is absolutely so sweet.  She is completely bald, has no voice, but her heart is the
biggest that I have ever seen.  Even when she knows that she could go any day, she is still serving everyone around her.

The other investigator that I want to talk about is Hermano Escudero. His wife and all of his kids are active members in the church, but he has never really had any interest.  There are a lot of families like
that here, it´s a little unusual.  But when I first got here, and Hermana Medina was telling us about our investigators, I felt a big explosion of spirit that I knew that we needed to teach him, and that he was going to pick up this time.  Yesterday we went into the chapel and we sat next to his family.  He wasn´t there...  but then, I heard the door open and turned around.  It was him!  I was so excited that I
yelled at my companion in english, "turn around!"  She didn´t understand me, but she could tell that I was excited.  One of the other Hermanas that we live with taught him a couple months back.
(She served here 6 months ago or more and then return after two transfers in a different area.)  She told us that she was trying to get him to come to church for the whole time that she was there and she was really shocked when she saw him in the church wondering how we did it.  It was a good day yesterday.

And be prepared family, when I get back from Argentina I am going to cook so much delicious food.  We made ñokis last week and yesterday we made Empanadas.  Pretty much it´s still amazing here in Argentina.

I go by Hermana Marta now.

Wow, I cannot believe that another week has gone by.  When I first arrived here, my companion was sick.  Go figure, I am in an area named Hospital so it´s only appropriate.  Really though, it is so much different here.  I am now living with 3 hermanas that are all from Argentina and don´t speak any English.  My companion is Hermana Medina and honestly she is so cool.  She is one of the funniest people I have ever met.  Hermana Ibaña and Hermana Severiche are the other two Hermanas that I live with.  Every night is pretty much a party with them.  Sometimes though, I forget that they cannot speak english.  We were in a zone meeting and sometimes the native elders like to conduct the meetings in English.  Elder said, "we will now sing hymn one hundred and fifty three."  My companion turned to me and asked what hymn he said.  I repeated him... in english.  She had such a confused look on her face, but then we realized the problem and laughed quite a bit.

Anyway, my first day here.  My companion was sick and so was Hermana Severiche and so Hermana Ibaña and I went out to work together.  We had a lot of fun actually. We went and we were in the street and I was like, "let´s talk to this lady."  She is so short, has crutches, had throat surgery, a fake leg, and she couldn´t hear.  We started talking to her, and she was so cool.  She really could not hear at all.  She asked my name and we were screaming my name at her.  By the end my name became Hermana Marta so that´s what I go by now.  Anyway, her birthday was the next day so we set up a time to see her on birthday.  She gave us the address and so the next day we went to her house.

We had a hard time finding her house, but we finally found it and it turned out it was a place where a ton of people lived.  And when we walked in there was a huge picture of the Pope and a statue of the virgen Mary. Turns out it was a house from the Catholic church. The most awkward part about finding her was that we had to ask to Nuns where we could find her.  She wanted us to talk to her in the hallway, but she couldn´t hear so we were screaming at her everything that was going on.  We felt uncomfortable preaching our doctrine in a Catholic house so we tried to teach out of the bible and set up an appointment for a different hour.  Then she kept asking questions.  It was the most awkward lesson I have ever taught because we were screaming the answers at her with the nuns in the next room. Actually probably not the most awkward, but it was definitely pretty close.

Anyway, it´s been pretty interesting here.  Definitely a lot different.  Well, there is a lot more to say, but writing it all down would take too much time.

Chao.

Transferred to Hospital, Buenos Aires

Okay everybody, a shocker happened.  I am no longer in Toay.  I am now in Hospital, Buenos Aires.  I hear that the people here are really nice so I am really excited to work here.  When we got the call, Hermana Tovar and I were both really shocked when they said that I was leaving.

I love Toay.  I will just talk about my last day there.  First off, our recent convert Margarita always relies on people for rides to get to the church each week, but this week, we totally forgot to call her.  Some of the ward members were really worried that she was a little too dependent on the members fo everything.  Anyway, we were in the middle of relief society and all of a sudden Margarita walked in.  She was so exhausted from the walk there that she was breathing pretty heavy, but she came!  So I am actually really happy with how everything turned out.  At the end of relief society, Hermana Gozalez asked me if I would give the closing prayer because I was the Hermana leaving.  Then everyone found out that I was leaving....  They all just looked at me, and I got up to say the prayer.  I started the prayer and then I couldn´t continue because I was crying so bad.  It was really sad, but all of the ward members after gave me a huge hug and told me it would be okay.  

I left on a bus that night and said goodbye to La Pampa for a while.  

Well that was sad, there were also funny things that happened.  For instance, I don´t know if I explained this, but everyone always greets you with a kiss.  Sometimes it is really awkward because we aren´t allowed to receive kisses from the men.  Sometimes they attack you because you are American.  Twice.  Creepy men with moustaches.  And after... women with moutaches.  That was a little awkward.

Also, I wanted to eat a hard boiled egg so I cracked my egg open.  It hadn´t been cooked.

My companion hermana Tovar flooded the bathroom in the church.  Literally water filled up the whole floor.  It was a good last day.

Now I am in Hospital and my companion is Hermana Medina.  I live with 3 other hermanas all from different parts of Argentina.  They don´t speak any english.  This transfer is going to be fun.

Love you all, see you in a while.  Weird to think that I almost have 7 months in the mission!

Activation Activity / Camila / Frederico

Foto Santa Rosa

This week we honestly worked ourselves to death.  We are so exhausted right now, it is not even funny.  We had some pretty cool experiences though.  So the majority of what we do here is work with the less actives, it feels like.  There are so many.  We went through the whole ward list, and it was pretty humbling to realize that less than 10 percent of all the baptized members even go to the church.  With our ward mission leader, we decided to have a huge activity for all of our investigators and members with games and a lot of fun other stuff.  So, I will just explain that night because it was a little unusual. 

There were two parts to the activity.  There was an hour beforehand to learn a lot of things about first aid so that in case of emergency, people can be more aware of the things they can do to save lives if necessary.  The second part was a noche de hogar with games and food and everything with bundles of joy.  When we showed up, however, the patriarch pulled us aside and said, "You have 4 new investigators waiting for you."  It turns out there were four 17 year old boys who wanted to know more about the church (yeah, they were doing a school project, but Props to them for not using Wikipedia).  I do not really know exactly why I am explaining this because they ended up asking us out on a date for ice cream, so I am not so sure we explained the mission very well.  Oh well, one of them was actually pretty interested and asked a lot of good questions, so who knows.  Hopefully 1 out of 4 will be interested at least.  I will let you know how it goes. 

Anyway, I explain the story of these boys because that is why we were late to the activity (that we were in charge of).  We finally got done explaining and booked it to the activity.  We had been handing out invitations all week.  At least 50 invitations to all of our investigators, members, and random people on the street.  Only one family came: the familia Haspert.  I was actually really shocked to see them because they have not been in the church for so long.  But they actually came, and it was amazing to see them!  We played games and had a lot of fun with them.  One of their daughters really wants to come to church, but her father has not allowed it.  We asked her if she would ask her parents if she could come to church, and they said that would be fine.  We went to go pick her up in the morning to walk with her to church.  We thought for sure that she would not end up coming, because that is kind of the way things work here.  But when we rang the doorbell, and immediately her dad opened the door and Camila was wearing a little dress with her Book of Mormon in hand. 

Vicky at her birthday party.

 

 

Her other cake.

She loved the church, and she is preparing for her baptism.  The only problem is that her dad wants to do it, but he needs a little more time.  Really though, they are so great and the whole family wants to come back to church.  At this point, they just do not know exactly how.

Also, one more that I do not think that I have talked about.  Frederico!  He is the cousin (actually he is the neice) of a member in the ward.  Which is interesting because Frederico is older than his uncle Santiago, but they are living together now because of some problems in the family.  Anyway,  Frederico is a 17 year old boy, who is absolutely awesome.  We first met him in the street when he was walking with Santi.  Frederico suffers from a disease that disabled his muscles from growing to full capacity, so walking for him is really difficult.  We have been having lessons with him, and they have been going really well!  He came to church last week, and absolutely loved it.  His grandma told us that he went up to her the other day and said, "Grandma, is my white shirt ready for church this week?"  He was so excited to go, so we are praying for him because he is an awesome kid!  Well, I think that is about it, so much more happened, but I really cannot write all of it.

Love you all, write me!

Hermana Tovar on one of the streets  . . . yeah, it's dry here!