September 24, 2018

September 24, 2018- 57 weeks down, 20 to go

HI mom!  How are you?

Wow ,what a sweet spiritual email! I love it!! thank you! Something that is kinda funny to me now is the fact that technology is such a big problem or addiction. Its been over 13 months since I’ve held a phone, and I can’t imagine being addicted or having it be such a big issue that all the church leaders are talking about it. hashtag sheltered missionary life. 

I’m glad that you guys had so much fun with Aly bear home for her 18th birthday!  Ii absolutely can’t believe she’s 18.... blows me away. Hope you guys had a fantastic weekend.

Well, my week was pretty interesting... Wednesday night I started having some pain in my chest.. and Thursday morning I had full blown bronchitis to the maximum... no voice , a cough that made my companera want to go running away.. We ran to the doctor and they said it was a minor infeccion and gave me a pill for pain... by Saturday i was even worse and was having lots of problems breathing. Hermana Salerno sent us back , and they took scans and said I had bronchitis and gave me the correct pills. But they didn’t want to give me an inhaler, even though I couldn’t breathe well. so Presidente  figured out a way to get one, and the zone leaders came and gave it to me, and helped me a ton...  Sunday we weren’t allowed to go to church because I was still so bad, but today is the first day that I have my voice back and i feel a lot better!!!! I think I should be able to get back into the swing of things tomorrow or Wednesday. A week in the pension is awful. But yay.. thats my update... super fun.

But the good side is that Tuesday we had divisions  and it went well, we walked until we couldn’t move our legs and talked with everyone that we could. We found an awesome family that is interested, so now the hermanas are going to teach them!!!! And we found them as we were in a colectivo (bus)! Miracles for talking with everyone. 

Wednesday we worked with a lot of members and found a few new people to teach!!!!   We had a bunch of lessons and it was great. 

Sunday night during our planning session, we realized that we had come from having 2 investigatores, to having 7 !! That made us super happy. 

During this week of bronchitis, I had a tonnn of personal study time haha. But i am so grateful,  because i was able to learn soooo much about the gospel and the scriptures. We studied and studied and I felt the Spirit so much and learned so much. As a  mission we are reading Doctrine and Covenants, and its absolutely amazing and so full of miracles and things that just absolutely prove that the church is TRUE.

In a blessing an elder gave me Saturday, he said I would gain something from this experience of being sick... and he was right. I gained an even stronger testimony of the church. I have felt the company of the Spirit in every moment of this week , and have felt so calm and so much love, even though I was in so much pain. I never felt sad or anxiety, just love and peace. It was a great blessing. I feel that I have truly become more converted to the gospel and to my mission in this week than in the last 13 months.

i love you guys. I’m doing well. Hermana Borba has been taking great care of me, and I’m recovering. i love you all, think of you and miss you! 

amy

September 17, 2018

September 17, 2018- 56 weeks down, 21 to go

Yeah for family scripture study! way to go guys! I’m proud of you all. Lets go!!

Yeah it sure was a crazy few days for me, i feel like i wrote you guys 3 weeks ago, not 5 days

after i wrote you, we had a busy day Wednesday, and a family home evening with the zones of Comodoro and Caleta. It was super fun.

Yes, presidente is a little better now, still sick, had to leave the conference a little early Thursday, poor guy. 

Conference was fantastic. i had to translate to English the whole time for an hermana that has 2 weeks in the mission. My poor brain, it was so hard.. after a while I started translating the Spanish into slower Spanish instead of English, because my brain couldn’t think in English for that long! haha... oh boy...

but i learned a lot. We learned a lot about talking with everyone, the importance of talking with at least 17 people each day, wherever we are. Presidente and Hermana Salerno even did practices up in front of everyone to show fun and simple ways to contact with family history, with other ideas... it was a crack up but i learned a lot.

i had been feeling in the last few weeks that all of my responsibilities of being an hermana capacitadora were taking up all my time and we hadn’t been teaching like AT ALL... so i came to the conference with a question in mind... What are my most important responsibilities, and how can i make time for the most important things? Rght off the bat, presidente answered my question. he said to everyone to start off the conference Your Most Important Responsibilitiy as a Missionary is to preach the Gospel of Christ. Wow. Thank you for answering my question basically word for word. Long story short me and my comp made more time for teaching and when we did that, the Lord solved a bunch of other problems and gave us the time necessary to teach and find new investigators! it was a testimony to me that the Lord wants us to teach. He knows we have other things too, but when we put preaching first, He has helped us out with the rest. Amazing.

During lunch presidente said that me and hna borba were looking skinnier... i was like are you joking? but thanks I’m glad hahahah

Friday and Saturday we got to work and a bunch of other stuff happened I’m sure but they days go by so fast and are so filled that i honestly cant remember what happened. Oh, Saturday evening i got a little sick, lots of ab pain and my back hurt... so i got to rest a bit and an elder from the office gave me a blessing. One of the most detailed and beautiful blessings ever. i think blessings in the mission are something special... i felt like the elder wasn’t talking, but literally Heavenly Father was talking to me in such a personal way... and i don’t even know this elder that well!!!!! It was tender.

Sunday was good, i still felt sick, and it was stake conference and i almost slept through the whole things, so many cute babies near me that i just wanted to play with haha it was a struggle....

My comp cooked lunch as i slept a little more. i don’t know why i felt bad.. not sick, just a ton of gut pain and muscle pain. She’s so sweet and helped me a lot. We had to go to a lesson with our new investigator, Julio, so i toughed it out and went. IT was FANTASTIC. We found him in our area book and we have already had 3 lessons with him. He wants to learn SO bad. More than any other person we have taught here in Comodoro. Even though his girlfriend doesn’t really want him to listen, he has come to the chapel this week 2 times to listen, found his Book of Mormon in his house and started reading. SUPER capo. He accepted a baptismal invitation, but we didn’t put the date yet. dang people never getting married here... ugh. 

So many tender mercies happened this week, i want to share a few good ones with you guys

We were contacting with a member a few people that we had found in the area book. We weren’t having any success, and we get to this one house and clap a few times. it seems like no ones home, but at the last second this guy comes out. he comes out of the house, and sits down on the sidewalk with us. i was like Lets Gooo this is a sure lesson and new investigator, cause usually they just look out the window and tell us to go away. AND hes got a ring.. the guys married!

Well, he starts talking and asking questions, and we start to teach a little. We barely start talking about the Book of Mormon, the Spirit is strong, and out of the nowhere he cuts us off and starts preaching to us and slamming the Book of Mormon and telling us that our words are wrong (all in a weirdly nice respectful way) and that only the Bible is correct and starts this evangelical like preaching, telling us to accept Jesus in our hearts.... after like 10 minutes (or an eternity) of listening and not being able to get a word in, my comp is getting a little ticked... and butts in and says Hey, can i share something with you? He says ok. And she starts to bear her testimony, and the spirit just floods back in. He listens, then cuts her off and keeps going with his blasphemy.... after a bit we cut off the conversation and left. I was mad. i was so sure after an hour of no one listening, this guy was going to be a new person to teach and to help. But he wasn’t ready to hear us.

So when we left, we said a prayer with my comp, and flagged down a taxi because we were late for our next lesson with Julio. as we got in the taxi, i was feeling a little too grumpy to keep teaching the taxi guy, but we started to talk. Turns out he has heard the missionaries before, and began to ask us heartfelt questions. Then he’s like I’m Immanuel, and i ask if we can take his number and he says yes. Then i felt prompted to give him the Book of Mormon in my hands. So i begin to say Hey, we have a special gift for you that... And he turns around and sees the Book of Mormon and practically yells A BOOK OF MORMON and I’m like uhhh oh crap he’s gonna freak on us... and he says I HAD ONE OF THOSE BUT I LOST IT CAN I HAVE IT. I was SHOCKED: thats never ever happened. I practically yelled yes and threw it at him, we talked a bit more, got his number, and I’m hoping we can have a lesson this week! It was s tender mercy and a miracle. We were from one guy who wanted nothing to do with us, to another that was desperate to hear our message. I’m so grateful that the Lord tries us and put trials in our way, and that he is always willing to help us and bless us when we are diligent and talk with everyone. it was a great experience

Thank you! it is a gift that all my leaders and presidente have all the missionaries truly working on. Personal revelation. There will come a day, very soon, where we will have to rely almost 100 percent on our personal revelation for us and our families. Its essential that we develop this gift to help us remain faithful and diligent until the second coming. Its also a testimony builder, that these things really are true, that God really does answer prayers. Because a lot of the time, like you said, we say prayers and we aren’t specific and we feel like he’s not answering us. It’s not that he doesn’t hear us, its that we aren’t praying in the correct way for him to be able to give us obvious and clear answers and direction!

Love you!

Im proud of you that you are eating so well and doing so good. Make me a plan so that i can get back on the right track when i get home. Iv’e realized that its just almost impossible in the mission to do anything about eating and weight, because we are out of the house and on the road so much there are just no other options.. but when we are in the pension i do the best i can. But i need your help when we get home... but take it easy on me haha! i wanna look good for Maddys wedding!!!!! deal??

September 12. 2018

September 12, 2018- 55 weeks down, 22 left

hi mom!

I’m so sorry that Monday we couldn’t write, internet outage, Tuesday was Super Consejo all day, and today there still isn’t any internet..but we found a place in Centro with a few computers that have internet so here we are! Yay!

How are you? I love hearing from you and seeing the pictures each week! You guys all crack me up.

I’m sorry you feel a little lonely with all the trips and the kids and dad being gone...thats hard. But hey it would make it all easier if you moved to Randolph and could hunt on your own property and be close to dad... just saying... could be neat.... haha! Love you.

Poor kiddos. But way to go Brandon. Such a stud. I’m so proud of him. I can’t wait to see him as a Missionary!

I’m doing well. Yes, yesterday in Consejo I mentioned to Presidente that Marce and Laura are getting sealed the 13th and I’m leaving the 12th... he said he thinks its fine, but when he arranges the flights for my group he has to change it, because all the groups leave here Tuesday at 8am and get to Buenos Aires 1030 am, and leave Buenos Aires 8pm for the States. So it would be me arriving the 12th at 1030 am , staying the 12th and 13th, and the 13th (Wednesday) at 8pm taking the flight to the States. PLEASE do not email him this week or the next week about this... he is dangerously sick.. during Consejo he couldn’t even see straight and we had to run to our pension and get some pills and then later the assistents told us he had to go in an ambulance, cause he is really sick..... poor thing the whole mission is praying a ton today... because we have conference this week and he couldn't finish giving us the talks in Consejo and now everything has to be cancelled and the poor guys just cant get a break.

But we will figure it all out! HEY mom 5 months today... not to be trunky... but in 5 months from today I’ll be home!!!!!!!!! WHAT

I love you! I’m glad you had a great week.

This last week was insane for me. We had so many things to do, problems that the Hermanas had so we had to spend a lot of time traveling to help them. We have 3 pairs of sisters. one lives 15 minutes away, super close. the others live 1.5 hours, and 4.5 hours away. So when we have to go check up or help them or divisiones, it means a TON of time in colectivos. And it means that we don’t get a whole lot of time to work in our area.... but i have learned that the Lord knows He gave me other responsibilities apart from working in my own area, so wherever I am, or whatever I am doing, its for His work and He will bless me for it. It has been a grand lesson, because at first I was super stressed that we weren’t getting any time to contact and teach people in our area. But we are doing all that we can and making it happen. We have 2 investigatores that need a ton of prayers, they are so close to baptism, have testimonies and EVERYTHING, but they just can’t say yes. Juan and Brianda.

My comp cooks like a boss. It’s great, because we eat suppper good each day, but bad...because i think I’m going to gain weight with her hahahah.....

It’s still super weird being with her. Its neat, because we connect really well. But this week we had a few more struggles, not bad, little ones...but things like she makes all the decisions without consulting or wants to have everything under her control... but we’ve both grown up a lot so we were able to talk about it openly and make some goals to be able to participate more equally...its slightly frustrating at times, but I guess i need to learn a little more humility and patience still... haha! But she’s a doll. and her brother is going to have a baby! a girl! And she will be home for her birth, so she is over the moon.

Its super weird being with so many missionaries. I’m so used to being in Rawson so far away from everyone and everything... and having 16 or more missionaries in my ward and presidente living 5 blocks away is super trippy sometimes. But i like it, its just a little hard to get used to it!

I miss being in Trelew a lot still, being with the zone. 

Yesterday was Super Consejo, a huge meeting with all of the leaders of the mission, and it was so neat to be able to see all my old friends from other times and other areas. Elder Beltran, Elder Poggemann, Diderickson, Hermana Crespo... it was a blast. and I really enjoyed this consejo. I love being able to participate and add and answer... at one point Hermana Salerno didn’t want to pass me the microphone anymore because she wanted other people to talk more! haha whoops. I just love the Spirit of Consejo and all the revelation and inspiration we receive!!! We have some big changes... some are hard to explain, but apparently there is a new Preach My Gospel 2.0 that is coming out next year, and we are changing the vocabulary we use in the mission and some of the planning techniques.. so its gonna be neat! I hope it helps us! And I heard about the new book SANTOS, Un Estandard de la Verdad that the Church published.. I wanna read it so bad!!!!!

Don’t know what else to say, these last 10 days passed so fast and so many things happened... i can’t remember any of it!!! I try to write things down in my journal, but its amazing how in 13 months i feel like i have had like 5 lives... haha!

I love you guys so much. Take care

amy

i accidently left my camera in the pension so i cant send pictures.... SORRY MOM!!!!!!!

September 3, 2018

September 3, 2018- 54 weeks down, 23 left

Hey hey hey! Como esta mi familia???

This week was Buenisimo!

Tuesday was super hard to say goodbye to my area and zone Trelew, all the people and the missionaries. I didn’t realize how close I had gotten to them all until i had to leave. When i said goodbye and got up in the bus i just started crying. I love them all! And our mission is so darn big that i don’t know if i will get to see some of them again. But here we go!

I arrived to Comodoro Rivadavia, the center of the mission and of the Patagonia, in the afternoon. And reunited with dear Hermana Borba!!! It was so good to see her again. I still cant believe we are companions. That day the newbies had arrived from the States. 15 gringos, and not a single latino! It was chaos, to put it lightly. No one spoke Spanish, and i couldn’t change gears and speak English to save my life... haha. It was weird, I felt so old. Me and Hermana Borba went to watch the meeting where they assign the newbies to the trainers... it threw us back in time to a year ago, when they assigned us together. At one point i look over and Hermana Borba had started to tear up. Seeing the joy of these new elders as they announced their first comp in the mission, running up to hug them and take a picture and hear about there first area... made us both cry. It was precious and i was so glad i got to be there to see it. 

We got straight to work. Well, we had to get up early and pass a lot of time in the bus terminal to wait for missionaries and send others off to their areas (the week of transfers is LOCO for us in Comodoro)... but around Thursday or Friday we got to go teach! We have these two investigators that are super AWESOME. Juan - has the face of a stake president. He has everything. Everyone in his family is member but him. He is ready... but doesn’t want to accept a fecha because his mom is super Catholic and doesn’t want him too... But we had a fantastic lesson with him and the Spirit was felt a lot. I know he will be baptized! and Brianda. Super great...she also is super prepared, but just lacks the decision to say YES. She has lots of fears and lets those fears get in the way of her faith. But we had a fantastic lesson last  night about the importance of faith and also the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the blessing it is to have the Spirit guide us in our lives. We invited her to baptism, and she almost said yes..... we will get there!

This week was a little scary as well... the dollar went up (40 pesos) and everyone started freaking the crap out and robbing stores and protests... we had to give out the warning to the missionaries in Comodoro that they can’t go near any supermarkets or stores this last Saturday because there were a bunch of people going around robbing. But man its been a great opportunity to teach the people about the Plan of Salvacion, that they don’t have to be afraid with all the hard times that are happening here. There is a plan. There is hope and if they just follow the commandments of God and have confidence in his plan, they will be ok. I’m so grateful for the many moments that i could testify about the plan of salvation this week!!

Hermana BORBA! Its been so great being with her. Its amazing to see the changes that have happened in each one of us over this year. We have both grown up a lot and are comfortable in the mission, now that we both are in our last few months. We can teach in great unity and presidente called us a Dynamite Team yesterday in church, which made us feel super good. We called Marcelo and Laura (in Ushuaia) a few days back...they were so happy to hear from us both! Marcelo will receive the melquesedic preisthood in a month!!!!!! He has a calling. AND THEY RESERVED THEIR SPOT IN THE TEMPLE OF BUENOS AIRES FOR WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13 of 2019!!!!!!! Its reserved! Its all set!!! ITS GONNA HAPPEN! We were so happy when we heard the news. I cant wait for that day!!!!!!!!!!!!

With Hermana Borba, we have looked through so many old photos and videos and recounted so many sweet memories. I cant wait for these next few months together! The cantidad of mate we have drunken together in this week is unmeasurable haha!

My area, and my zone, is super unique. Its the zone of the Office. In my ward of 100 or so people, 16 are missionaries. I have never had so many missionaries so close to me during my mission! My last area was a little town where only me and my comp worked, with the nearest missionary a 45 minute bus ride away... and now we are 16 within minutes! I love being with them all, they are all great friends, some of them old friends from Ushuaia as well! And being in the same ward as Presidente,.... is a little stressful but wonderful at the same time! I love being in their presence and hearing their advice and testimonies always. I love him!

Due to there being so many missionaries, we don’t have lunches hardly ever with the members...so we have been cooking like crazy people!!!! Lots of rice.... and gluten free pasta and whatever we can find! I don’t ever want to eat food from the States again (i take it back.. i miss Mexican food)... because the food here in Argentina is SO DANG GOOD. I don’t think I’ve tried something that i didn’t like.

I love the mission. I have learned so much in this last week. Most of all, I received an answer to my doubt that i had, that i wasn’t changing during my mission. But being with Hna Borba and being able to see exactly how i have changed over these last 12 months has helped resolve that doubt. I know that i am changing, i know that i am doing all that i can here in the Patagonia to become a better servant for Cristo, and to be an instrument in His hands to help all of Gods children return to HIs presence through the covenant of baptism. I’m far from perfect, but i am grateful for each trial and each success that helps me appreciate more my Savior, and his gran sacrifice for me.

I love you my dear family! Take care this week. Have so much fun in all of your adventures and changes and experiences. I love you and think about you oft. I know 5 months seems so short and so long at the same time... But the busier we are, the more we do, the faster it goes. And i want  to see you all, but I don’t want to leave here! I love the mission. I love being a missionary!!!!!

I love you all

amy