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.