The singing approach / Repentance takes time.

Doing Service

This week was a good week.  A lot because the weather was a lot nicer this week than last week.  

We had some pretty cool experiences.  Hermana Parreño had given us an idea to sing at doors to meet people.  In this case, it was an investigador that we already had named Mariza.  We went to her house and she was laying in her bed.  We knocked the door and she said, "No no no, I don´t want anything to do with you guys right now."  We opened her window and started to talk to her a little bit, she didn´t really want anything.  We asked, "Do you want us to pray."  "You can pray if you want, but I am not going to do anything."  Alright, we decided to sing instead.  We started to sing, "Señor te necesito."  I don´t remember what the translation is right now, but anyway, by the third verse, she was sitting up in the bed smiling.  And when we finished, she said, "Ahhh, chicas, come on in.  I need to talk."  BOOM.  It was great, and we don´t even have good voices.

As for other things, Juan Carlos is doing super well.  He was reading the other day that true repentance takes time.  And he doesn´t want to be baptized until he feels good about himself.  But it´s great because he trusts us now, and he calls us to see how we are doing and when he has questions about the gospel.  He says that he feels really good when he reads and he has more energy and desires to work.  So we are pretty excited about that.  As for Hermana Bermudez and I, we are doing really well.  We have set backs sometimes and she´s still adjusting to the weather and everything, but it´s all good!  

Also, I don´t know why it´s so hard to find ugly sweaters in Utah, because here they are so ugly and so cheap.  I bought the best ugly sweater yesterday for 5 pesos, aka 50 cents now due to inflation.  That´s better than DI.  (I know you were dying to hear that!)  

Anyway, that´s all for now.  I know that God loves us so much.  Thanks for all your prayers.

A can that we destroyed because we didn't have a can opener.

It hurts my brain to think or write in English!

 

Hermanas in Tandil.

 

Hermana Williams

 

Alright, this week is going to be a little bit short because we did divisions in Tandil this week, but all in all, this week was SUPER GREAT!  Monday was a great day, too.  We went to visit one of our investigators named Lucía.  Anyway, we were thinking about dropping her because she didn´t really seem interested and we could never get in her house to teach.  We went one last time and said to ourselves that if we didn´t get in the house, it was a sign that we shouldn´t teach her anymore.  We knocked the door and at first she wasn´t there.  We were about the leave and then she came outside.  Hey, chicas, how are you doing?  As I was thinking, "hmmm she´s never going to let us in"  she says to us, "HEY COME ON IN."  Seriously?  I couldn´t believe it.  Direct answers from God I guess.  ANyway, we went in and we taught a really long lesson with her.  As we were saying the closing prayer she starts to cry.  And she can´t stop.  Little did she know she was feeling the spirit.  God answers all of our prayers, sometimes it´s just a lot more obvious.

Renee

Sunday was an interesting day.  We went to go pick up an investigator that we had met earlier this week.  She is really great, but a little bit crazy.  We went in the house and she started to scream, cry, and say random things.  But we told her that we were going to walk with her to church.  She was so happy, and she actually came with us!  Every 3 seconds, she just kept asking us, "Do you have a boyfriend?" "and you?" and she kept asking us.  She then offered her son to us, so that was a little bit awkward.  We meet really interesting people everyday.  

Argentine Mosquites still hate my body!

BUT in the church, we were sitting patiently, and then de repente we totally see Juan Carlos!  We were super excited because it makes the third time that he has come and he actually likes it.  

Anyway, that´s really all that I have time for.  It hurts my brain the think or write in english.

Not because my spanish is good, but because I don´t use english.  At all.

Love you all!

Ice-Cream!

 

We have miracles every day. Our only job is to recognize them.

Bueno, this week was another really good week. I realized that we have miracles everyday. Our only job is to recognize them. For example, we went to visit Juan Carlos, who had come to General Conference to see how he had felt and all that jazz. So we passed by his house a lot of times to see how we was doing. He never answered us, we rang the doorbell an annoyingly amount of times, but he never answered. The last time we went, and once again. He didńt answer us. We were about to leave and in that moment, he left from his house. He had a really weird look on his face that pretty much told us, "why are you here?" I was a little bit scared, but then he explained that he never heard the doorbell ring. Turns out the doorbell doesńt work and he was just going to go run a few errands right in the moment that we were in front of his house. We thought he was avoiding us, but nope. Turns out that he really liked what he heard in the conference and told us that he would come again.

Sunday morning, we had a missed call, but didńt know who it was. Long story short, it was Juan Carlos! He wanted to know if we were already there because he didńt want to enter the church alone! We were super psyched and once again, he really enjoyed it! So yeah, I like to think that when he felt like he "should run errands" was just God putting him in our path. Miracles exist everyday.

Speaking of other things that are miracles. Our intelligence. We have now successfully removed all of the lightbulbs from all of the rooms that do not absolutely need light. The bulbs keep going out and we just keep moving them around. But it́s gotten to the point that we dońt have light in the bathroom. Yeah, we have been using the flash on the cell phone to shower. I dońt know why I am telling you all this, but I just thought it was pretty funny.

Also, lawnmowers here have cords. They are more like Vacuums on grass.
Well, that́s all, LOVE YOU ALL!

Juan Carlos

I lost my Preach My Gospel and so Hermana Harrison bought me a new one.

Playing at the park.

Todas las hermanas en la zona con el Elder Buzo' antes de irse.

At the lider training meeting.

 This week my letter is going to be short.  I would explain everday, but really all that we did this week is talk to people and invite them to conference. Conference in the mission is so much better, seriously.  When there is an investigator sitting next to you and you are so focused on what they are saying and how your investigator is going to react, it´s a lot more entertaining.  Especially when your investigators are totally confused because they are talking about family history and baptisms for the dead, and they don´t even know what a temple is.  BUT, I realized that it isn´t always about the message that is presented, but rather the feelings that we reaceive.  Saturday we were sitting in the chapel waiting for conference to start.  We were waiting for all of our investigators to show up.  

We started listening.  Passed the choir, first talk, second talk, third talk... and then a member turns to us and whispers, "Hey, I think you guys have an investigador a fuera."  Bueno, we went to go see who it was.  It was Juan Carlos.  He is the uncle of an investigador that we were visiting (and we thought he had no interest).  Anyway, we invited him in, sat with him, and explained some things about the prophets and apostles.  After a little bit, he pulled out his phone.  I was thinking, "Oh great, he´s super bored, baptisms for the dead, the resurrection, and a lot of other things he´s never even heard of."  Then, I realized that he just pulled out his phone so that he could turn it off.  When it ended, we were a little anxious to see his reaction of everything.  He then told us, "So... how long to have you to be studying to be a part of all of this?"....  uh...  3 weeks if you want.  (investigators need to have at least 3 attendances in the church).. we didn´t know what to say, but he said that he felt something special. It was all really cool, because he didn´t understand even half of what was being talked about, but he could feel that it was right.  

That was pretty much my week this week.  I was too distracted with the conference to think of anything else.  

Seriously, if you haven´t watched or listened to the conference, it´s super easy.. (also goes for the people who fell asleep during conference.. {I am talking to you, dad.}), Listen to it while you to cleaning or homework or driving.  It´s super great!

That´s all from Argentina this week!

God is always preparing people!

Hermana Bermudez and I

This is going to be a short email because we did divisiones this week, but this week was super great.  Hermana Bermudez and I are getting along really well and we had a lot of good experiences.

We have been looking for new ways to find people.  One of the ways that we wanted to try was through ex investigadores.  We went to a house, knocked the door, and asked if Raquel lived there.  She said, "24 years ago, the elders came to my house and taught me.  I had cancer at the time and they put oil on my head and blessed me.  I was cured after that and I felt something really special.  I couldn´t be baptized because I was living with my boyfriend but I always said that God would send messengers when I was ready again."

Yeah, I didn´t really know what to say after that.  I learned that God is always preparing people.  There are many people who asked to receive an answer and didn´t get one, but I always think it´s because God is preparing us in other ways.  Thanks to the elders 24 years, God prepared a super awesome lady.

As for other stuff.  I realized that you don´t really know about the culture of Argentina.  The only thing that you need to know is that they eat Mayonaise with EVERYTHING and they drink Mate EVERYWHERE.  Seriously, Mate is a drink that has herbs and you drink it was a straw that has a build in filter.  Seriously, it´s everywhere.  

 

 

I cooked super yummy nokis.

 

Where we slept because there weren't any mattresses.

Empanadas

And that´s about it.  Love you all!

 

 

Hermana Bermudez from El Salvador, and it's starting to get really cold and wet here!

Ping Pong activity.

So first off, my companion is named Hermana Bermudez and is from El Salvador.  I have no been companions with each one of the hermanas from El Salvador.  So anyway, my companion was visa waiting in El Salvador for 6 months so I am not really training, but there are SO MANY things that are so different in this mission.  But we have been doing really well together so far.

This week was super great, my companion actually arrived friday in the morning.  Everyday they told us, "Your companion will be here tomorrow.."  Then the next day passed and they said the same thing.. until Friday.  So I was still companions with Hermana Ortiz and Hermana Llave for another week.  

Hermana Ortiz is really short!

Hermana Llave eating a pomegranate.

We saw a lot of miracles this week.  We were talking to one of our investigators named Estér.  She is super great, we were talking to her and everything and then she says, "yeah, my son sent me a book of Mormon from Spain."  And that´s why she had let us int he house.. because she had recognized that we were from the same church.  We talked to her and resolved a lot of her doubts about everything that was going on in her life.  We were so happy when she came to church!  Everyone says they´re going to go, but usually they don´t go.  But no, she actually came to church!

Another miracle was through the member here in Balcarce.  One of our investigators that was a referral went to church last week.  It happened to be the same day of Oscar´s confirmation.  He said that during the confirmation, he felt something really powerful.  The members were so nice to him and accepted him.  But the real miracles was how willing the members were to embrace him.  We traveled to Mar del Plata sunday and so we couldn´t be there for Family Home Evening, but the members invited him to participate with him and he said that he wanted to do everything he could and that he feels a lot different now that he´s listening to the missionaries.  Seriously, the members here are what do the mircales.

We have giant slugs everywhere!

Apart from all that.  It´s starting to get really really cold here.  Really cold.  We actually used the heaters.  The other day, it rained so much!  We didn´t even have the keys to the apartment so we could´t put on another coat or anything.  We were so wet and cold all day.  But on the bright side, it´s now the season of the pomegranates.  In the street we find Pomegranates and eat them.  It´s super delish.  

As for the slugs... they are multiplying!

Oscar's baptism, Juan Paulo, NEVER COMPLAIN ABOUT SCHOOL, and Hermana LLave's birthday!

Making Orange Juice in the street!

Alright, it has been another interesting week because well a lot of things happened.  I am still companions with Hermana Ortiz and Hermana Llave, but the zone leaders called almost a week ago that I will have my new companion tomorrow.  And I will be training again, so I am pretty nervous about that.  My time with my companions was really fun.  They really want to learn english, so I am trying my best to help them.  It´s funny because the things they remember are phrases like, "come at me bro", "wazzzup", y "freaking blonde."  It´s pretty funny because they have their accents while saying these things.

Baptism of Oscar y soaking wet.

Anyway, as far as the work goes, it went really well.  It´s a little bit hard because we have investigators from each companionship, but only one companionship to work.  Oh also, we had a baptism this week because the other hermanas were teaching a grandpa named Oscar, and he was going to be baptized last week, but he got really sick.  So... the week he actually got baptized was the only week that they were my companions.  So that was a really cool experience.  He is 70 years old, but acts like a little kid.  His baptism was really sprititual and afterwards, he just wanted to play in the water.  Seriously, he´s like a little kid, but is absolutely awesome.  We were friends before because he had been going to church, but it was good to get to know him better.

Also, Juan Paulo is progressing a lot.  He came to church this week and realized that he already had a lot of friends in the church, but didn´t know that they were members.  It was really good for him to have a good experience his first time because if they have a bad experience in the church the first time they go, it´s really hard to have desires to go again.

Other than that, there were some other things that happened.

Lesson for the kids:  The other day I was talking to some member kids and they started to ask me questions about how school is for us in the United States.  They asked me, "I saw in the movies that you guys have trays and you can choose what you want to eat?... and you guys have lockers where you can put all your books and school stuff?... and you guys can where whatever you want to school?"  When I said yes, they started to freak out because they thought it was just movie stuff.  SO NEVER COMPLAIN ABOUT SCHOOL.  Because we have it the best.

Cumple de la hermana Llave.

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Also, Yesterday was Hermana Llave´s birthday.  She came up to me and said, Will you give me a birthday favor.  Bueno.  She wanted me to take some "chicken fat" from the kitchen sink that was halfway in the drain.  I was a little bit confused because I didn´t remember having any chicken in the house.  Anyway,  I started to pull out the "chicken fat" and then I realized that it was moving.  Long story short, we had a giant slug in our kitchen sink and I totally threw it when I realized what he was.  Hermana Llave already knew what it was, but didn´t want to handle it so she told me that it was meat.

Also, the birds are dying here like crazy.  The other day we had found a lot of dead birds.  Hermana Ortiz was explaining how sad she was because there were so many.  As she was saying this, a bird with a broken wing tried to fly, but couldn´t quite make it to the branch and started to fall.  A giant dog ran as the bird was falling and caught it in it´s mouth like a frisbee.  I think Hermana Ortiz almost started to cry.

That´s pretty much all, thanks for your support.