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!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

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 

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

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!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

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!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Weak Ankles

No, no, not like silly Little Mermaid or anything and HER weak ankles for Prince Such-And-Such...But seriously. I have ALWAYS had weak ankles, I´ve decided. In running (whenever I actually found the motivation to do so haha), softball, and WHOA. Walking "un montón" every day. I truly couldn´t even take a guess of how many miles we walk each day--mostly because they count in kilometers, and I don´t care to try and convert to miles. I´ll just accept the kilometers and act amazed at how grand the number is. (:

But seriously, I don´t know what´s up with my ankles haha. I´m gonna blame my boots, even though I love these dirty things to death. Regardless, my calves are as toned as ever. :P

Interviews with Presidente Avila!...AGAIN! :D Haha I walked into the room, shake his hand, and he says, "Que bueno, Hermana Lybbert! Me gusta a verla otra vez! Trés semanas atrás." Hahaha. True story. It´s only been like 3 or 4 weeks since I first got here. But regardless, interviews with Presidente are always incredible, and always what I need. Both with Presidente Alba AND Avila. Such inspired and incredible servants of the Lord. Here to help me and all the other missionaries. (: I, for sure, have been stressing out a bit about knowing the area well enough, understanding the language, and buses, and money, and EVERYTHING, since Hna Mujica finishes her mission here in two weeks! Annnd Presidente Avila kinda sorta told me what he´ll be doing with me next transfer haha. And basically, I need to continue to learn a lot about this area--since I´m likely not going anywhere haha. BUT he reassured me completely. And I´ve come to realize that I DO know this area, and I CAN speak the language (enough to get me by haha), and the money truly is nothing to worry about, and I GET IT! :D Finalmente...But yes. Interviews are always great. (:

I realized that I haven´t really updated on the people we´re teaching!! I´ll give an update onnn Estella today. (:

ESTELLA: Is incredible! She has yet to come to church, but she´s incredible regardless. She was a referral from a member, and she´s loving the gospel. Tonight we have a Family Home Evening with her and her member friend with POCHOCLO! :D Popcorn...Baha. But the thing we´re working on is the Word of Wisdom. She smokes and really wants to stop, so we´re helping her out on that. So this last week when we went to teach her the Word of Wisdom, the lesson was...Well, it was the Word of Wisdom. Nothing super special. But ESTELLA. Gah. SHE is what makes it phenomenal. We get up after the lesson, hugs and gives goodbye cheek kisses, and I glance back at her. What do I see? She grabs her box of cigarettes from the table and throws them in the trash.

WHAAAT?!?! Miraculous! She´s incredible. (: Anywho! That´s all for this week, my friends! I love you all, and I hope to hear from some of y´all soon! (; Baha. CHAU!

-Hermana Lybbert

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.