October 21, 2013 - ¨Prayer is made up of heart throbs and the righteous yearnings of the soul.¨‏

Just another solid week of miracles! 

Week 6 of the transfer is always the hardest for me. It´s like that crazy mixture of wanting to kick it up a notch to make every moment count, but also the unsettling unknown of what´s going to happen, and above all it seems to be that time when Satan is working hard on the hearts of investigators and missionaries alike. 

BUT. The Lord has his hand in todos aspectos de esta obra! 

This week we had a bit of a slow start. Some of our most solid investigators, ie Veronica and her family didn´t come to church again next week, and were struggling to keep their appointments. Not progressing. SO as hard as it was, we decided that maybe we needed to refocus our efforts and give them some space to really see if they wanted it. We didn´t pass by all week. But there was a Relief Society activity on Saturday, so we passed by just to invite them. When we got there, Ariana was way excited to see us, and they pulled us in the door. We started talking, and they told us that they´d read EVERY day! They were so excited to tell us all about the things they learned about Lehi´s family, the difference between Nefi and his brothers. They loved the story. ¨AND,¨ Lourdes told us ¨We´ve been praying as a family every night, and we pray for almuerzos (lunches) too!¨ I couldn´t help but grin as they so excitedly told us of all of their success, and how they´d noticed such a difference in their lives. YES! Desire!!

Then Veronica told us that her neighbor friend told her how she was meeting with the Jehova´s witnesses, and Veronica said ¨But they don´t meet with your whole family do they? No? Well, my girls LOVE MY missionaries, and they´ve helped our whole family.¨ Hahaha We got a new referral from that one!!!

The next amazing miracle was....... RAUL CAME  TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! let me emphasize the !!!!!!!!!. We passed by on Thursday to do a follow up on the dream lesson, and also to really just pound it in that they don´t have to wait for God to come tell them to go to church, WE are here, as representatives of Christ´s church to invite them! We had a SUPER powerful experience with the whole family, and really just testified of the blessings that are awaiting their family. I challenged him to pray to know RIGHT THEN if this was what the Lord wants for him and his family. The spirit was so strong, and he did it! His prayer was amazing, as he asked to know with a surety that this was ¨GOd´s will¨for him.

We passed by on Saturday to ¨remind them what time it started¨, and Raul said ¨Well, i´m for sure going, but I´m not sure who else will come. Come by in the morning and we´ll all go together!¨

So we passed by on Sunday morning, and Raul, and 3 of his daughters came. And they LOVED it!  A family from the ward set up a FHE with them, and we´re going by tonight with the Zone Leaders tonight to talk about their baptism. ha baptism by FIRE. 

With each of the people we taught this week, I was always impressed by the intense importance of prayer. Prayer is one of the first things/my favorite thing that we teach people. People always think they KNOW what prayer is always about, but the more we talk about it, I realize that these people don´t understand the incredible blessing that it is to pray. When we really come to an understanding that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that we are his children, we WANT to pray, we recognize that we NEED to pray. in Jesus the Christ, James E. Talmage says: ¨A man who has never really prayed, that man...is a stranger in the family of God´s children.¨ I thought about some of our investigators that for one reason or another didn´t want to pray, or didn´t feel like they could. But then as I´ve watched them learn, really learn how to pray, and take it seriously as a conversation with their loving Heavenly Father, miracles unfold, hearts are softened, and lives are changed. Their doubts fade, they have that desire to do God´s will. ¨It is well to know that prayer is not comprised of words, words that may fail to express what one desires to say, words that so often cloak inconsistencies, words that may have no deeper source than the physical organs of speech, words that may be spoken to impress mortal ears. The dumb may pray, and that too with the eloquence that prevails in heaven. Prayer is made up of heart throbs and the righteous yearnings of the soul.¨

I´m so grateful to be a part of this work, and to watch these changes and progression in the lives of so many of these people as they come to a knowledge of the truth. That there is something so much better in this life! God lives, Jesus is the Christ. And they want ALL of God´s children back in his kingdom.

I love knowing that I have a loving Father who hears me, listens to me, and knows what I need. God loves all of His children so much.I know that I can´t even begin to comprehend.

I love you all so much! Thanks for all you do and are for me!

until next week,

xoxo Your Hermana C

finally got our set up..set up...and now the transfer´s ending

neither one of us could find the matches to our socks this morning.... ha

BRISA

3 legged race with the hermanas de la Soc

Hermana Argentina. I´m helping her with her English. love her!

Oriona! 

FAMILIA Polo. We live behind them. No, I´m really not that much of a giant...

 

October 21, 2013 - FELIZ DÍA DE MAMÁ!‏

Hola! So Argentina has so many Holidays it´s kind of crazy.  A lot of theirs are different than ours. But yesterday was Mothers Day here. And even though the gringos don´t get to call home, I was thinking of you all day. I´m always a little prejudice during Mother´s Day and everyone is talking about how great their mom is.... when really I know that MINE is the best there is!

Mom, I´m so grateful for you, and everything you are, have done, and do for me. Although it´s not ¨the purpose¨of missionary work, Being out here has helped me to realize the kind of woman and mother that i want to be. So many of the qualities that I desire to develop come from the example that you´ve set for me and the woman that you are.

I was telling dad, the other day we were in a lesson and this man asked us ¨Well, don´t you miss your families?¨ Then he looked right at me and said Öh, by that face, I KNOW you miss your family...¨Well I don´t know exactly what he meant, but I´d be lying if I said no.  I do miss you all so very much, and although I try not to, there are days when I worry about everything that´s going on at home. It´s hard to feel so out of control.

But then there are those momentes when I literally feel all of you pulling for me, praying for me, and that gets me through those tough ¨Today I literally feel like nothing.¨Days. I know this is where I need to be. And I know that in some way or another, missionary service blesses entire families. The Lord has you in his hands, I know because he´s reassured me of it many times.

I love each of you so much, and every day I count myself so lucky to have you all in my life!

Know that I love you, and am sending a big MOM´S DAY hug your way!

xoxo C

October 14, 2013 - "I dreamed a dream!"

Another week quickly come and gone.

I will never cease to be grateful for all of things that happen in just one week in the life of a missionary. 

We had some of our highest numbers as far as lessons this week. There were honestly moments when I had out of body experiences as my heart, head and stomach tried to keep up. There were moments where we literally sprinted to our lessons. 

Our investigators are still going strong. We´re working with them and really working on the importance of commitments. The desire is there, and we´ve really formed awesome relationships with them. 

Veronica went to the last session of conference last week, and LOVED it. She told us that she knows the profeta and his apostols son hombres de Dios. and she shared so much of what she learned with her girls. We´re excited for their baptism date in a couple weeks, we just have to get them all to regular church meetings!  

The greatest miracle we had this week was with Raul (Ibaseta)! We haven´t passed by for about a week and a half, because they just were not progressing. They were so stubborn and stuck on waiting for that dream, and weren´t willing to do anything else.

But still as I studied, they kept coming up. They´re just such a great family, and could benefit so much from this gospel.

Saturday, we were walking to another appointment, and Raul was standing on the corner of the main street by their house. He saw us and his face lit up! He came over, we said ¨Hola, cómo le va?¨ Immediately he said ¨Hermanitas, I need something.¨My brain instantly thought ¨He got his dream!!¨

¨I had a dream.¨He told us ¨I need to see your Iglesia Madre¨ ¨The temple?¨I asked him. ¨Sí, creo que sí.¨Yeah. He explained that in his dream he´d seen a big building. Super bright white, really grande, with lots of spires. ¨it was holy and sacred¨he told us. ¨unlike anything I´ve ever seen before.¨ My thoughts immediately went to the Salt Lake City temple as he described it to us some more. 

So I told him what I thought, and we promised him we´d go track down some pictures, and then come back the next day! WHAT?!

We got some temple pictures, and then yesterday we went by with the bishop and ward mision líder. 

He explained more about his dream, and the looks on the faces of bishop and hermano Correa were priceless. We talked a lot about dreams, revelations, temples, ordinances. Honestly it was the craziest discussion ever.

Then, We told him that we had some pictures. I pulled out the Salt Lake City Temple picture from my bag and he nearly snatched it from across the table. He sat there looking at it. But immediately you could see in his face that this was the building he saw! ¨This is the building I saw. I´m sure of it.¨He told us. Everyone seemed to let out a sigh of relief and excitement all in one. Personally I just wanted to yell!

He told us about other dreams that he´d had concerning the church and how he really felt that he needs to do something to act. He told us that if God really wants him in this church and wants him to be baptized then he´s dispuesto to do the will of God.

We committed them to keep praying, and to come to church this Sunday. 

I´m so excited to see what happens with them! I have no doubt they have so many promised blessings! 

 

I´m so grateful that the Lord knows his Children so personally and so perfectly. Sometimes it´s hard to figure out the ways that these people need to experience conversion, but the Lord knows. And in his time and in his way, he gives them those things that they need. I know it. I´ve seen it. 

I love this work. The crazy moments and all. 

Les quiero muchísimo! 

Esta semana que viene!

xoxox Your Hermana C

October 14, 2013 - Q and A's -Hiking Zonda Photos!

1.Do they celebrate Halloween in Argentina and how? They just really started celebrating Halloween like we do not many years ago. Guess we´ll see what really happens!

2.Do you think shoe inserts would help if I could get some for you? I´ve never tried them...so I don´t know. But my toms and moccasins are working wonders. it´s just when I try to use real shoes that I have problems. Why can´t missionaries just go barefoot? jk the streets are horrendous.

3.Is San Juan different food than you had in your first area? Yes. But honestly we haven´t really had very many meals with members. Yet. We filled our calendar yesterday. But they are all really super gluten-free aware, so I think it will be good. 

My favorite quote from Hermana Lybbert this week. I do all the cooking usually. ¨Hermana, I´m really grateful for you.¨ ¨Why´s that?¨ ¨Because you´re really good at making yummy food out of really cheap things.¨ Ha ha what a great skill. 

4.Did any thing happen worse with the dog bite? Nope. We just avoid walking near him these days.

5. you skipped 5.

6. Did you sew up your tights? Do you need new tights? no, they were dead anyway. I might actually. Right now it´s super hot here, but come winter time I´ll need some...

7.  Do you have running water in San Juan? Yes, but it tastes super funny and the pressure is really bad. ha ha so... showering is an adventure.

8.  Is the weather getting warmer?Cold and fall here.  Spent a lot of time in the yard trimming this week.  

It´s starting to get really HOT. we have the greatest. not. tan lines ever.

9. Is there any thing funny you want us to know? Hm mm. I got asked out on a date the other day. this guy literally chased us down to ask me to go dancing. Poor fellow could not understand why I would not say yes or give him my phone number. So I taught him the restoration. He gave us his phone number, and he now has a folleto, and a referral sent to the ELDERS. we´ll see. 

10.  Do you know you are loved? Yes. Literally there are days when I am just beat. Physically, emotionally, spiritually. I´ve never been so tired. But sometimes in those hopeless moments I just get this random overwhelming sense of love and peace. I´m grateful for each of you and the strength and prayers that you send my way. 

Did you know there are lots more being sent your way as well? I pray lots of times per day :)

Greenie room for conference!

Hiking the non-trail. I WAS IN HEAVEN!

Sketchy pipe over the great cliffs!

District at la cabeza del indio!

Hermana "selfie"

Amazing view!

Looks like Utah?

Package sending FYI

For all that have been assigned to the Argentina Mendoza Mission, here are some instructions we have received concerning the mail and packages between you and your families:

To all missionaries of the Argentina Mendoza Mission, current and future, their parents, friends and families:

In order to allow the missionaries to receive mail and packages from home, please consider the following suggestions (These are based on our most recent experiences with the customs service here in Argentina, especially here in Mendoza.):

First some background information. Packages sent through the mail are processed here by the Argentina Postal Service, Correo Argentina. There is no additional charge for their service for letters or small packages. However, for larger packages that must be cleared through the separate Customs Service, Aduana, the post office charges a document processing fee and possibly a storage fee if we are unable to retrieve the package in a certain amount of time after being notified it is being held for pick up at the Post Office. Then the package is opened by Customs, in the presence of a representative of the missionary (an elder from the mission office staff, currently), the items evaluated and a tariff assessed. That tariff can be up to 50% of the declared original price. That charge is then passed on to the missionary and deducted from the monthly allowance provided each of them. What that means is a package intended as a gift for a beloved missionary in Argentina turns out to be an unexpected, and often very expensive and, therefore, painful, surprise; one that costs both the sender and the receiver.

Also, there are some items that are not allowed to be imported into Argentina, specifically, vitamins and medicines without proper and complete prescription labeling. These are always potentially confiscated and definitely always result in the mission representative receiving a lecture about not allowing such materials to be sent in the mail.

So, 1) Please never send vitamins or medications via the mail. Most items are readily available here and probably at much lower cost than in the US. 2) Never repackage anything you are sending. Candies that have been taken out of the original packaging, homemade candies, dried fruit and jerky all look like contraband drugs and are almost always confiscated and serve to embarrass the Church. 3) The Argentina people are neither backward nor superstitious. Putting pictures or religious items on packaging does nothing more than cost the sender and further embarrass the Church by appearing to protect the package contents with icons. Honest treatment results in a much better impression. 4) If you can prepare packages that weigh less than 2 kilograms (about 4.4 pounds) they will generally bypass the Customs office and avoid the extra charges if they have a sticker that lists the contents and the declared value of the contents does not exceed $25US. 5) Letters and very small packages are always welcome and highly encouraged, (though home baked cookies and candies, dried fruits and meats are not, they often look like contraband because they are not in “factory”-like packaging ), and are very gratefully received, but even more gratefully received because they don’t have an additional cost to receive them. 6) If larger items are needed by your missionary while she or he is here, we suggest you provide them via additional funds deposited in a personal bank account at home and the missionary being able to access those funds here via a personal bank card. Personal cards are accepted almost everywhere in Argentina.  That way the only additional cost may be the bank service fee which is generally fairly reasonable, especially when compared to the Customs duty. If you have any questions regarding these suggestions, please feel free to contact the Mission via Email at:2012677@ldschurch.org

October 7, 2013 - The Waves Train the Sailor

Hola Queridos Míos! 

What an amazing General Conference! Honestly I´m always a super sad when they announce the final speaker. It goes so fast. But I´m so grateful for all of the inspired messages that we heard from our leaders and our Profeta. 

Something that I noticed was a recurring theme in many of the talks was the topic of ¨decisions¨. 

I love the story of the Brother of Jared. The Lord helped him prepare, and then, finally, told him to make some of the decisions for himself. The Lord made sure that they had the things that were of the utmost importance, ¨tight like unto a dish¨. I thought it was interesting how Elder Vinson emphasized that it was the Lord who sent the waves and torrents as well. Why not just change the weather? I´ve often thought about that in relation to trials and hardships. Given the choice between stopping the waves, and preparing the sailor before the journey begins, the Lord always allows us to use our agency to choose. He doesn´t leave us completely alone, but neither does he do it all for us. The waves are important, they train the sailor. 

There were several people who mentioned that our seemingly insignificant daily, or even hourly decisions determine our destiny, having Eternally significant consequences. ¨Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.¨I think it was M. Russell Ballard who said once ¨It doesn´t matter so much to the Lord whether you have eggs and bacon for breakfast, or something else...¨ BUT as Pres. Eyering said ¨The Lord´s plan is the only way for true and lasting Happiness.¨

With that, there isn´t one of us that God isn´t completely aware of. He has already developed a very specific, intricate, and of course perfect plan for each of us.

So then where is the decision?

The decision is made when we exercise that God-given gift of AGENCY to lay aside what we think is best, and to submit. Humbly, prayerfully, and fully, our wills to HIS.

After all, he is the one with the ¨perfect foresight¨.

I´ve learned a lot about agency this week, as two of the five baptisms in the district (one of them being Lucia), literally just disappeared off the face of the earth. It´s frustrating when those things happen, and honestly something that I´m sure we won´t ever truly understand. 

But, as President Uchtdorf said: ¨it may break our hearts when someone chooses to use their agency to turn away from the church..(and consequentially the blessings), but we respect their ability to choose.¨

Agency is beautiful, right?

We may not be able to ¨force¨anyone to join the church or accept our doctrine, although honestly sometimes it seems like a nice option... 

The call we have is to invite them. Help them understand what we have to offer. The gospel changes lives. I´ve seen it. 

We invite them to ¨Come, join with us.¨and they, when they choose to, will see it too.

My invitation to all of you, along with many of the speakers from conference this weekend, is to think of someone that you can INVITE. 

We have been promised so many times that they will accept this invitation, and that by Christmastime millions will be brought to the fold.

I love you all. Take the challenge. Sometimes that´s what it is, a challenge. But this work is amazing, thrilling, contagious, and worth every effort. We need EVERYONE to push the work along.

Until next week.

Les Quiero, muchísimo!

xoxox Your Hermana C

October 7, 2013 - Q and A's plus photos!

Just another random list of happenings this week:

1. We had to go to Mendoza this week so that Hermana Lybbert could do her visa stuff. On our way, we had to take a taxi to the terminal, the man was pretty shy, but super nice. Then, Saturday Morning, we were waiting for a bus (micro) on our way to conference, and he drove by and picked up someone. We waved and he smiled and waved back. Then, yesterday morning, we were waiting again for the micro to take us to the stake center in Libertador, and he pulls up. ¨Chicas, a dònde van?¨We told him to Libertador. ¨Hop in!¨he called. ¨For free?¨Hna Lybbert asked him. ¨Of course!¨ So we get in and we start driving. It´s like a 25 minute drive. But we get in and start talking to him. He was super friendly, and had lots of questions about why in the world we would leave our families and come down here. But then he told us that he´s been to church before! One of his best friends is a member, but moved to Texas. He knew about the Book of Mormon and everything! So we got his info and he said we can stop by. When we got there we offered to pay him a little for the long ride. He said ¨No, seriously, I just wanted to talk to you about all of this! We´ll see you soon!¨

2. I got bit by the MANGIEST dog. We were walking, and Hna. Lybbert scared him, so he bit me. che! But don´t worry mom, no broken skin or anything, just ripped tights.

3. While I was in Mendoza, I ran into the new companion of Hna. Keller. She told me that ENRIQUE GOT BAPTIZED! He quit smoking, was baptized, and then he even went out and did the white storm with the elders! He is already sharing the gospel and telling everyone that he´s going on a mission. He sent her a cute little hello for me. MIRACLES!

4. When we got back from Mendoza, we had to take a taxi to get to a meeting on time. We walked out of the terminal, and the Taxi man flagged us down. We got in and he immediately said ¨what church are you from?¨We told him, and he started asking all sorts of questions, really what he was interested in was if we believed in healing. He has a daughter that´s sick. I taught him a little bit about the priesthood and the restauración, and he asked us to come to his house and teach his family. He doesn´t live in our area, but the elders are teaching him!!!

5. Mom, on one of the streets we walk on a lot, there´s this little girl that is always riding her bike. The other day we passed, and she was having a little argument with her mom. She wanted to be allowed to go further down the road.  

I had to laugh. Even Argentine moms don´t let their kids go past Nelsons or Crowley's :) 

Love you all. Even halfway round the world, there are always things that make me think of you. 

Happy Birthday Elderes!

 

Officially all of my asados have been done by gringos!

New district! More Hermanas!

 

District San Juan!

Revamping area books!

la familia Poblete. Love these women so much!

Q and A's- sorry random order!

1.  What did you eat for conference weekend.  We ate lots of fruit and lots of rice. ha typical.

2.  Did you get to watch all sessions?  What language did you listen to conference in ?Yeah! we got to watch the Relief Society session in Castellano, and then for the other sessions we had a ¨gringo room¨for English.

3.  One last time, I am for sure NOT filling out any applications or deferring with Weber, correct?? 

I am filling out applications for Davis and I am just in the mode!!!  He is applying to Weber, USU, UVU and U of U.  We will have to see just have to see what happens in the next year... less than a year!  WOW!   No. I should be good for deferrals. I cannot believe that Davis is doing college apps!

4.  When someone get bit by a dog, do you have to get a shot or go to the doctor? Depends on how severe it is :)

5.  What was your favorite conference talk and Why?Ooh, I loved them ALL. but one of my favorites was President Monsons, and also I loved D. Todd Christofferson´s about GOOD WOMEN. That´s honestly what I wanted to write my other email about, but it wasn´t really tailored to all ears, and kind of more personal. I´ve realized that while that isn´t the purpose of a mission, it´s helped me to become the woman that I wasn´t, and more of how I want to be, and how God wants me to be.

My favorite quote of all of that was ¨She was LOVE personified.¨Ooh, that´s what I want to be. 

  

We´re going HIKING with the district today, so we had to do everything a little early!

Just loving the San Juan Heat!

What´s up with you all?

Pretty much what my letter said.  5 am dad left, 6;20 kids to intramural basketball, Davis left at 7:20, Ben left 3 minutes ago and elementary Emmi is still in bed, scheduled to wake in 10 and leave in 30! How hot is it there now?  That sounds so nice.

Sorry, still reading. How are you feeling by the way?

Sorry, I didn´t see that detail until after I´d printed out your letter.

Flu is the nastiest.

It´s still only like 75-80 maybe. But the SUN it´s killer. I love it. Poor Hermana Lybbert looks like a lobster!

Sunscreen available?

I am doing better now.  Thanks goodness no one else got this one.  I was down and out couldn't lift my head for two days, fever blisters on my lips, didn't eat a tablespoon of food and keep it down for 2 days then uneasy eating for another two days.  Colorful!

Yay, hiking that will be awesome.  How do the mountains compare to here?

I´m totally fine. not burning.

Oh my gosh. It was just the flu?

They´re So paracido a Utah. It´s crazy to me sometimes. I look out into the desert and it sometimes, ALMOST feels like home. 

That's cool, feels like home, minus us of course? so parecido(similar?)

Yes the ugly flu.  I am good now though!

Ha. That was a joke. This is so far from home. But home for now. I love San Juan.

Yeah, parecido is similar, haha I can´t speak English or castellano right now. 

I´m way glad!

I responded to questions, still tyring to read. There isn´t enough time to read and write, all the computers are so slow. I´ll respond next week.

Love you!