Following the Spirit--Family and Mission!

FIRST OFF: My family is REALLY bomb. I come in to check all my wonderful email, to find a few from my parents/family and such. I get stoked, but I was slightly confused as to the subject of the email: "Furniture Arrival"

Me: Huh. Odd...What is th--WHAT?! **Bring on the little tears**

My dad starts out talking about a couple new elders moving in, all the cool new furniture they´re getting, and then something about "they´re gonna be downstairs in the rose room" (baha poor elders--hope they enjoy pink walls! (;  )...I stop. Wait, what?? I obviously did NOT understand that when it says, "Planned on getting a bunch of stuff for the elders that are moving in Wednesday"...That actually means moving IN--the MY house! :D WHAAAT?! So stoked! Seriously, living with a member is the best, and the connection with those members is just so...Full of gratitude and love. I seriously am SO stoked to know there are two great elders close to my family at home (AKA: just the parents, but that´s still SO bomb! :D ) I have no doubt that this time will be absolutely great for those elders AND my parents. :D

WHOOTS!! Missionary Blessings. (:

OKAY! Sooo this week has been nuts. As always, in the life of a missionary, but YES. It´s great. Hermana Cox and I are tearing it UP here in San Juan Centro. We got a little scare last week when our district leader told us, "Sooo I know it´s the middle of the transfer, but the district is changing a little bit..." I kind of wanted to cry. But turns out, we´ve got MORE hermanas now! The mission suddenly received a bajillion people from the states on super short notice, and they suddenly just split a bajillion areas! :D Except our´s. Go figures. It´s cool, we´re down with walking 10(or more) miles a day.

Okay! So for who we´re teaching. (: We have FOUR FAMILIESSS. Whaaat? So solid. The familia Poblete is probably one of our favorites haha. We walk out of every lesson on CLOUDS. The last time we went, the younger daughter (13 años) wasn´t there. Bum. So we didn´t teach MUCH of the Plan of Salvation. But what we DID do, was SING...Seriously, so much power in hymns. We sang "Eternas pueden ser las familias"--Families Can Be Together Forever. We finished, and Gustavo (the husband) just was quite, looked over the words a little bit more, and asked us in this solemn, humble, and HOPEFUL voice: "Las familias realmente pueden ser eternas?"...

(Insert bomb testimonies of Hnas. Lybbert and Cox about eternal families) (:

I love that family so much. Not to mention that the 13-year old who wasn´t there is always asking when we´re gonna come back by, and when they´re gonna read in the Libro de Mormón as a family. (: Shes´great. They all are. GAH! :D

Okay, one other experience. Aboutttt **DRUM ROLL**

Following The Spirit!

SO, we were walking to an appointment when we passed a man. We said the usual: Hola, Buen Día, ¿Cómo anda? ¿Qúe tal? Annnd we went on to our appointment--whichhhh of course, falls through. So we start heading back to the pent for one of our studies that we didn´t get to have (thank you district meetings), annnd we pass him again. "Hola, buen día, ¿Cómo anda?" Then what do I do?

Keep walkin´.

Yup. I´m a great missionary. Haha. Buuu I keep glancing back, and I KNOW I´ve got to go talk with this guy. I mention something to Hna. Cox, and we stop. We don´t even see him anymore. He walked up one road, and us the other. I know we can´t even see him, but I´m just like, "Dangit Hermana, we gotta go get him. RUNNN." Haha of course we don´t, but we know how to walk pretty fast. Sooo we do. We turn the corner, and he´s THERE. Talking with a friend, who tells us he´s not into religion much. So of course, this guy that we initially wanted to talk with is kinda quiet...Finally after a little discussion, the guy is about to take off, and we have GOT to stop him. So his friend leaves, and I finally jump in and ask Jorge (the guy I wanted to talk with) if we could come back and visit him. He then turns to us, explains how he goes to church Evangelico every week, and has been praying continually...To find something more. "Son respuestas a mis oraciones...Pueden pasar mañana por la tarde, y tambien mí mama estará."

WHAT?! Freaking miracle. But, of course, he´s not in our area haha. Sooo the elders of Rawson have two BOMB new investigators. (:

Anywho, that´s all for now! Enjoy the pictures, even though they´re few haha. The cake was a mixed celebration of Elder Wright´s birthday (district leader, holding the cake), Elder Guierrez´s birthday, annnd the 6-month mark for Hna. Cox and I.

The two pictures of the mess of papers?? Welll let´s just say nobody knows how to keep an area book organized. We have less-active members in the progressing investigators section...Yup. ORGANIZATION. :D

Annnd one last thing for any other missionaries! A bomb quote from the book, Our Search for Happiness:

"Adversity becomes adventure in the service of the Lord." (:

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Two More Pictures!

Baha, just because I´mma steal them from Hna Cox. (:

First: From the conference, with some of the Peruvian and Chilean elders, and some more hermanas!

Second: A random picture that Hermana Cox snapped last week, in the freezing cold. So bad. Thought it was gonna snow.

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The More the Blisters, the Greater the Blessings!

Yeahhh. Blisters. They´re killers, but they are SO worth it, considering the people we keep finding. This week has just been...Ha, I dno. A little nuts, and kind of hard, but still SO good. A grand part of that being my companion, Hermana Cox. Even though we´re both SO new and sometimes a little lost ( :P ), we both have so much fire and faith here in San Juan. She first got here, and she asked about the area...I was straight up with her. "Well...I LOVE it. I love the members, people, and investigators...But it is NOT easy. We´re gonna have to work hard. To find, to teach, to baptize. But more than anything? I KNOW there are so many people here, waiting for us. I feel it. We´ve just gotta get out there..."

She was and is up for this challenge. (:

And BOY, was I right. There are SO many people here waiting for us. Just one little example: This Morning!! We decided to go grocery shopping and emailing a little later, so that we could finish cleaning a bit. We started walking here to the cyber, and this guy passes on his bike and says hola. We respond and keep walking, and he kind of glances back. I get a little nervous, because there´s some sketch people and the guys are kinda shameless--cat calling and whistling consistently. But he stopped. We walk up to him and he asks us, "Ustedes son de la iglesia de los mormones, no??" (You all are from the Mormon church??) Uhhh yes, we are. And he gets SO stoked. Why?: The elders were teaching him 20 years ago; he happened to move about the time of transfers, and the missionaries lost him...He asked if we still have meetings, what times, where, and if we could stop by--"Oh, and could you bring a Book of Mormon, too??" GAH!! Don´t need to tell me twice, I gave him the one I had with me right then and there! :D He asked us to put our names in it, and he flipped through the book, like it was a long lost friend. You could tell he was familiar with those pages, and that he had missed having them. His name is Rafael, and he is genius. He already must know everything, because he started talking about José Smith, Brigham Young, and Thomas S. Monson. And then about the Plan of Salvation haha. It was nuts. He´s not in our area, and we told him that the elders would come by, but he told us, "Y´know what? I´m gonna see you two girls again. Maybe not even in this life. Maybe in heavens. But I am forever grateful to you both."

Fah. I kind of wanted to cry. I´m so stoked to pass on this referral to the elders of Rawson! (:

Other than that...Awesome updates! The lady who has the dog who bit me?? Well, she really just wants this all for her family SO much. Which is great, because we´ve been hoping to start teaching all of them soon...Well, we showed up this last week, and Verónica sits down with us. Her daughter then comes and sits down. Verónica calls her other daughter in...We were a little surprised, but SUPER stoked. We start teaching just a tad, when her husband gets home from work, walks in, and sits down! WHOA. Really surprised. A little overwhelmed and a tad nervous about the husband, BUT...I remembered...That it was HIM that the elders taught 15 years ago. It was HIM who went to church various times. It was HIM to still had his Book of Mormon from long ago...We had a rocky, on-the-spot lesson, FULL of the Spirit. (: And now they are all progresing towards being baptized as a family. They are IN-CRED-I-BLE!!! Gustavo is her husband, and he really amazes me. He expressed such love and appreciation for those elders, years ago, and he expressed the same for us somehow finding them. Verónica knows it wasn´t coincidence. He gives thanks that we arrived just in time. And their daughters just feel something different...This family is glorious. (: All because their stinkin´ dog BIT ME! (;

-Alrighty. Pictures. Not many, but at least y´all can now see who my comp is haha. HERMANNNA COX! But before that, we had a GREAT "capacitación" on Thursday, with a member of the 70. Elder Nuñez. Gah, it was so great. So we all got a great picture. Have fun playing "Where´s Waldo?" (;

-Annnd we had a long bus ride with all the elders. They were OUT haha.

-Forgive us of our tired-looking, ridiculous selves. It was a long, rough day yesterday--not to mention that all we had for lunch was rice annnd a bowl a fruit haha.

-My comp really likes her apples...Haha it´s ridiculous how easily we could be sisters. :P

-Our sad lunch...Needless to say, we didn´t have much for dinner haha.

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Fotos

I thought you´d all be semi'interested into what our "pensión" looks like, no? Well I don´t have a ton of time to explain, but enjoy!! :D OH! And also, the big group of people is our zone from last transfer. (: Annnd yes, we have a turtle. (: Annnd the last picture is from Hna Mujica´s last day haha. We´re great. (: Chau!

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Norte Americanas Tear It Up Down South (;

WHEW. This week has been a rollercoaster--like every other week in the mission, but STILL. All the time haha. I don´t even know where to start. So while I´m loading these photos, I´ll explain them. (:

-August 23rd was Hna. Mujica´s 18 month mark and my 5-month mark, so we celebrated withhh...ALFAJORES. Baha. So good.

-Asado with the district. (: Mmm. The elder in the sweater was my district leader last transfer, Elder Hurley. The elder behind him is still in my district, Elder Gutierrez.

-Seriously, I´m a ñoquis queen. (gnocchi?) I don´t remember how English people spell it now. But regardless, I make some good ñoquis. (:

-Another foto, which I´m not a huge fan of haha, of my district from last transfer.

-HA. And y´all thought YOUR scones were good. Try some HOMEMADE scones. So good.

OKAY. More photos coming in the next email, no worries. :P But for now...Wow, where do I start?? So we sent off Hna. Mujica, and I was with a gal from the ward as my temp comp. And thennn, the fantastic Hermana Cox arrived!! The scary part? We´ve got the same time in the mission, and about the same amount of Spanish/Castellano experience. Annnd we´re navigating this Argentine area on our own haha. But we have seen SO many miracles, no joke. I´ll save those for a little later. (:

SO...Headed to the terminal to get Hna Cox, and I´m anxiously waiting haha. However, it had been a good solid 6 weeks since I had spent a decent amount of time with a Norte Americana. The first transfer here with a native who didn´t speak English was GREAT. And I didn´t realize how stuck in Castellano I really was until Hna Cox and I got talking. It was so weird, because I was pausing and stumbling and jumbling all my words in English, and I often just reverted back to Castellano. It´s insane. Sadly, I´ve lost that a little over this week, but I´m working on just speaking Castellano again. But other than that, Hna Cox and I realized we had a lot of the same experiences, and we had a lot of the same goals. Which was GREAT. IS great. Immediately we hit the ground running, and we haven´t slowed down.

Background of San Juan Centro. This area is NOT easy. When we finished the last transfer, we had found one new investigator that week, none of our investigators had a baptismal date, and we had one SET appointment for the coming week. Ouch. In the five days that Hna Cox and I have been working together, we have seen MIRACLES. Found five solid people to teach, five more have baptismal dates, found the BEST family (who happens to have NINE kids), and met the coolest people. We´ve sang Soy Un Hijo De Dios to people on the street and have received besitos from a weird guy. Only on the cheek, of course, and it´s almost nothing now, considering how many times I´ve been kissed on the cheek by men. Haha but nonetheless, I still try to stick my hand out as best I can so as to avoid the besitos.  :P

So this week...I got bit AGAIN. Ridiculous, right?! On the arm, but luckily I had my coat on. So the dog didn´t really get me. Tried sharing the gospel with the owner the other day, buuut it wasn´t quite the same as Veronica haha. Speaking of Veronica...I am SO grateful for past missionaries who have planted so many seeds here in San Juan. Especially a couple elders. Veronica, as I´ve mentioned, has listened to a couple "chicos" before, and she can´t stop thinking about it since we´ve come by again. She is SO incredible. Struggling with family stuff right now, but she fights like no other. She loves this Gospel, and she craves what we share with her. And her PRAYERS. Gah, the best. You´d think she was a member just by who she is.

Another few seeds that were planted?? The family of 11 that we´re teaching haha. So insane. I was looking through our messy area book the other week, and I decided I wanted to stop by this house. We finally we able to go by this last Friday to look for Raul y Antonia, annnd....NADA. We go to leave, and there´s a gal on the other side of the road. I decide I want to talk with her, right as I see that she´s crossing the road--to the house we just knocked on. We started talking with Antonia, and she is INCREDIBLE. Had a couple questions and doubts, but she told us all about these two elders that had such great relationships with her kids, her family, her husband...WHOA. We share a folleto with her, and we ask when we can come back. She tells us to come back on Sunday! So we leave all stoked and such, and we get back to the apartment that night and decide to look at their teaching record...I got a little intimidated, not gonna lie. It sounded like Raul would be pretty tough and hard. Nevertheless, we studied up, prepared, said a lot of prayers, and we headed over yesterday...WHATTT. This family is incredible. Raul reminds me of MY dad, and the parents have such strongs faith and beliefs. We invited them to be baptized right then and there, and all Raul really said was, "Well, I don´t like to lie. I can´t. See my Bible? It obviously doesn´t get used much. But if I pray, and God tells me that I need to be in this church and listen to you...Then of course I will do God´s will."

I just about cried. Their family is beautiful, and we´re excited to go back tomorrow. :D And the funny part? We were getting up to leave, and Antonia goes, "Wait...You have to leave already??" (: GAH. We left the appointment and said a prayer of gratitude in the street. So great. I love it. (:

OKAY! That´s all I´ve got for now! Until next weeeek!!! Loves y besitos to all except the men! :D 

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Transfersss!!

Wow…Where do I start?! I´ve gotta tell y´all what´s going down with transfers, and inform you of my first sick day, tell the miracle stories that we saw this week, and then explain pictures! :D If I can get them loaded…So…We´ll go in that order haha.

TRANSFERS: So Hna. Mujica has officially completed her mission. Kind of insane. We sent her off yesterday afternoon, and I´m now "companions" with Agustina, a member of our Ward. (: She´s super great, and I´m helping her get STOKED for serving a mission. (; She´s 20 and a recent-ish convert. Love her to death. (: So Hna. Mujica is in Mendoza right now, and she´ll be headed back to the province of Buenos Aires tomorrow night, I think. Annnd I figured out who my new companion is!! Hermana Cox. (: Met her in the MTC, and we both came to Argentina together, on the same flight. I´m so stoked, I just hope I´ll be able to continue speaking only Castellano around another norte americana haha. The tricky part? Well, not "tricky" necessarily, but oh well. The thing is, I learned loads of tasty foods with Hna. Mujica, and I love it. Totally made a cake this morning, so that we´d have SOMETHING toe at when Hna. Cox arrived…Well…Hna. Cox has celiac disease. And all that I learned from Hna. Mujica has—of course—some type of flour or something haha. WHELP. That´s alright. I´m stoked to learn loads more from Hna. Cox, so that I can go home and cook some great Argentine food for Trista and Aunt Kristen! :D

Yup, first sick day. Poor Hna. Mujica, she was planning on packing and such while I planned for the week on the Thursday…Yeah that didn´t happen. Instead, I was feeling like junk ever since 1 am. I was trying my darndest to do my studies, but it was rough running back and forth between the bathroom and my desk. Finally, about 9:30 or so, I went and laid down. And slept. For a good 3 hours or so. I wake up and find that Hna. Mujica did the majority of the planning and such. SO GRATEFUL.

Miracle Story! We received a bomb referral from the zone leaders a couple weeks past. They told us that they met Teresa in Vea, the supermarket, and she started talking in broken English with them. She was so stoked to find a couple white guys to practice with haha. They got to talking a bit, and they shared a little bit about the Gospel with her. She loved it, they wrote down her address, and off they went to pay. Teresa surprised them by coming back, saying, "Wait! I forgot to give you my number! We´re really busy, so it´s better if you call and set a time to come by and teach my and my husband."…WHOA. Miracle. Hardly anybody is THAT interested haha. Anywho, we make plans to stop by. Tried calling the number, and it didn´t work. BOO. We stopped by. And again. Again. Again. Checked the number and address with the elders. Nada. We finally considered her contacted, as saddening as that was…Well, yesterday, we sent off Hna. Mujica, and Agustina and I took off to find a couple former investigators. We stop by, nada. Try another investigator, nada…Teresa came to mind. We weren´t exactly close or nearby, but I decided we should go for it…YUP. You had BETTER believe it. She was home, her husband was home, and we are now teaching two more lovely investigators, who love us, and we love them. It´s SO bomb.

Okay, I don´t think I have time for much else. Annnd the pictures are being super lame. So sorry. ): Until next week! CHAU!

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Blessing to Every Bite

WHAAAT?! This week has been insane. The last couple of weeks have been a little rough, not gonna lie, because we haven´t seen a ton of success in the numbers or anything. Seriously, we didn´t pick up or find a SINGLE new investigator in 2-3 WEEKS. Practically all the people we talked to and got directions/addresses from to stop by again lied to us. (Wicked normal, but usually it´s not QUITE so many people!) So we walked. A lot. Insane. But this week...?

First Miracle: We went to stop by a gal who had given us her direction one morning, and (MIRACLE) she let us in! Whoots! First little miracle. We walk in, and BOOM...Two of her "girlfriends" are there, all drinkin´ mate together. Second miracle. ALL have families AND are married. Third miracle...We get to talking and getting to know them, and Hna Mujica stops for a second. She then realizes/recognizes one of the other gals. We had stopped by her house ONCE, she was busy, and we never went back...Long string of miracles to be written quickly? We walked out of that house having taught the best lesson we´ve ever had, picked up 3 INCREDIBLE new investigators, and it was only 11 am! :D Seriously, I love those 3 gals, and we´re so stoked to go back this week and teach them again. (:

Okay, okay. Now here comes the GREAT story. Curious about the title of this email? Haha GOOD. You should be. Remember how I got bit the other week? Well ever since then, I´ve been thinkin´ about that gal who owns the dog. She was wicked nice and checked to make sure I was fine and such. But then we just up and left...Ever since then, I kept thinking about her. One day, while walking (of course), I mentioned to Hna Mujica that I´d really like to stop by that house again with the dog. We never went and knocked, but this last Wednesday, we were walking down that street, and Veronica was outside sweeping. We stop and remind her who we are and that I was the one that got bit haha. She again made sure that I was fine, and then we asked if we could come back another day to share this message with her...

We stopped by this last Saturday, and WOW. Talk about a great miracle. Veronica is going through a rough time right now, and we were talking about how we KNOW this can help her. I was in the middle of a sentence when she suddenly stops me and says something to the extent of, "Y´know what? It´s been...YEARS. I can´t even remember how long ago it was, but there were two chicos that used to come visit us. I never let anyone into my house, but they brought something different. They had placks like you do, and they were teaching my husband and I. There was just something about them that I can´t describe...I´m not sure where they are now, but our family loved them so much. My husband went to the church a few times. I remember the chicos prayed a lot. But nothing rote. Always from their hearts; they loved us, too, I think..."

WHOA. I almost started crying. I can´t explain her words or love for those two elders long ago, but I am SO grateful for them. They prepared Veronica to love and crave this gospel...So yes, we are now teaching Veronica, the owner of the dog who bit me! (: I am SO excited.

WHEW! Whelp, that´s all I´ve got time for right now miracle-wise, because seriously I could go ON and ON and OONNN. But I just want to quickly express something that I KNEW from day one that I would love about missionary work: Menos Activos. Orrr less actives/inactive members. There are MANY here in Argentina, mostly because of the culture and how laid back it all is haha. But wow...I could name SO many that I just LOVE. And so badly I want to help them get back to church. All of them tell us how they want to go, they have a testimony, and they miss going and being able to go to the temple...Yet, for some reason unknown to me, they don´t get to church the next day...It´s hard to see and watch, but wow I love them so much. I´ll for sure have to get some pictures with them soon. (:

Alright. I´m exhausted. Agotada. That´s one of the words I learned this week baha. But before I finish off this letter of the week, I´ll include one last quick story...

RATS. Not in our apartment, but just outside of it. We have a patio of sorts where we hang our laundry. Rats...The funny story? Hermana Mujica was outside the other night watering the "lawn" when all of a sudden I hear a whacking sound on the concrete and short screams...Hna Mujica killed one of them! It was gross but hilarious haha. She told me, "Pero Hermana! El Espíritu me dijo: Mátalo." And I responded, "No, Hermana, you are NOT Nephi, and the rat was NOT King Laban haha."

The End. (: Until next week!! Hopefully we´ll head to a cyber that allows us to send photos next week! (: Chau!

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