A Week at the Hospital / Alicia is Baptized!

Street Sign Puede Ser

Greetings from Mar del Plata.  This morning we had interviews with Presidente and so we had to travel super early to Mar del Plata. And the interenet in this Cyber is pretty slow so I am sorry if I can´t write very much this week.  Also, my camera doesn´t work in this computer so I have no pictures this week.  Which is a bummer because we had so many things happen today. 

 

Live Frog!

 

At the Hospital.

Monday, right after talking to you guys, we went to the hospital.  Hermana Llave, the new hermana that arrived a week go had problems with her legs.  She got hospitalized for 4 days.  So that´s where we were this week.  We were doing divisones every 4 hours so that work could be done from each companionship.  We took turns staying the night there, too so that was pretty fun.  She got out of the hospital Thursday.  Right after that, we had a baptismal interview for Alicia, and while she was being interviewed the other hermanas called us to tell us that I needed to go to Bahía Blanca with Hermana Ortiz so that she could get her documents here in Argentina.  That night we left, we traveled all night, arrived, did our thing, and then we left for Mar del Plata.  We stayed in Mar del Plata with the other hermanas because there were no more buses to Balcarce after midnight.  We woke up to travel to Balcarce, arrived, and then practically went straight to the baptism.  I don´t know if any of that made sense, but let´s just say that it was a really really interesting week.  But it was also a lot of fun.  We got to talk to other missionaries.  A lot of traveling, but that´s okay, I quite like it.

Tender Loving Care for Alicia!

But now I am going to talk about the baptism.  I wish that I could send a picture this time, but I can´t.  Maybe after I figure everything out, I will be able to send something.  I don´t know.  Anyway, we had the baptism two days ago.  Alicia didn´t want anyone to be there, she just wanted to do it and get it over with.  She arrived on time and was pretty excited.  She has 82 years, but a really strong personality so she wouldn´t admit that she was excited.  

 

Alicia's Baptism.

Even though she didn´t want anyone there, there was still a lot of support from the members.  Everything went really well.  When she entered the font, she was really scared because she can hardly bathe herself.  Hermano said the words of the baptism and then she got even more scared.  Hermano Ruiz pretty much pushed her under the water, and when she came up, she was really really emocional.  She began to cry (but don´t worry, tears of joy).  Hermano Ruiz gave her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.  It was really really sweet.  All in all, it was a really good, interesting week and we are looking forward to working this week, too.

I think that´s about it for now.  Lot´s of love from Argentina!

Another Exciting Week of Transfers!

The Zone in Mar del Plata.

The Sisters that Hermana Squire trained!

Another exciting week!  It was also the week of transfers!  I am still with Hermana Rozsa this transfer.  We were both really relieved when they told us that we were both going to be staying in the area because our investigator Alicia wanted us both to be in her Baptism, and now we both can!

Bueno, this week we did divisions with the Hermanas in Mar del Plata.  The first day I did divisions with Hermana Ibaña.  I lived with her before, so it was so great to be able to talk to her and see her.  The second day, I did divisions with Hermana Peterson.  She is from Boston, but she went to Utah State so we had a lot of things in common.  It was really interesting working in a different area.  It was really fun, and I learned a lot of things.  Mar del Plata is really beautiful.  It has the same climate more or less to Southern California, and the beach is super pretty.  Yeah, I saw the beach!  We were in a bus, so it was only for a few seconds, but it´s still better than nothing.

Anyway, this week we saw some awesome miracles.  We are working with an Hermana that wants to be baptized so bad, but her boyfriend refuses to marry her even though they have been together for five years already.  She was an ex  investigator, but when we went to her house she was super awesome.  She wanted to go to church with us so bad!  We told her that we would walk with her, and we were 3 minutes late on sunday, and she called us to ask us where we were.  Normally, we show up, and they have some excuse as to why they can´t show up.  

Also, yesterday!  We were knocking some doors... a lot of doors and nobody was answering.  Seriously for 3 hours, we didn´t even talk to a single person.  All of our appointments fell through and it was already 4:55. We said, we just want to talk to SOMEONE before 5:00, rejection doesn´t matter.  We knocked a door at 4:59 that had the first person that was actually home.  We started to talk to the lady, her name is Andrea.  She saw us and couldn´t believe it, turns out that she had received some of the discussions four years ago and was pretty familiar with our church.  She began to cry because she explained to us that 2 years ago, her mom passed away; and 2 months ago, her brother passed away in a terrible accident.  I don´t remember exactly what we said, but it was a really spiritual experience.  We said the words that God wanted us to say.  In the end, she said, "You know what?  This morning, I woke up and felt a really strong desire to go to church, but I didn´t know what church to go to, I don´t feel like it´s a coincidence that you are here."

All in all, it was a good week.  No time left.  Love you all.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

New Year's with the Iannone Family.

It´s been a really interesting week, but it´s also been a really good week.  We celebrated the new year!  We were all in bed at 10:30, but still is was great.  The work that day was almost impossible because there was nobody outside. Literally! There was nobody in the streets that day, nothing was open, and it was really really hot.  Even the taxis weren´t running that day.  It was interesting because our zone leaders called us and told us that we were going to be going to Bahía for a meeting with all of the zone leaders and we needed to travel to Mar del Plata.  But there were absolutely no taxis to get to the terminal..  So we walked a pretty good distance.  (But my companion and I love to walk, so really there was no problem.)  The tiring part was the traveling.  It´s about a 7 hour bus ride from Mar del Plata to the mission home.  We left at 11 at night and arrived at 6 in the morning.  The meetings started 8:30 so we didn´t sleep at all.  Regardless of all the traveling, however, it was still a really really good week.  

Alicia is still progressing, they announced her baptism for the January 18, and we was really really content.  Also, we were working with a man named Daniel and his wife.  He told us that he was going to come to church, but there are a lot of people that say that and then don´t do anything.  We were in church and then, BAM. He showed up!  It was super awesome because we didn´t think that he would come.  Really, it´s the best feeling ever to see someone that you care about in the church because we know without a doubt that their week will be better.  Everything here in Balcarce is super great, it´s still really really hot here, but that´s about everything.  Transfers are in a week and we really don´t want to change.  Hermana Rozsa is so great, really.  We get a long really well and everyday we enjoy each other more and more.  We laugh all day everyday (don´t worry, we still do a lot of teaching.)  

Anyway, I am about out of time so that´s about it!  Thanks for the letters, I really appreciate everything!

 

MY PACKAGE ARRIVED!

Beautiful Balcarce