Book of Mormon!

 
This week was GREAT! We saw a ton of miracles :) 

I have a cool story! One night we were walking and were hungry so we bought choripanes from somebody who had a lil BBQ set up in the street...not the smartest or cleanest, but things are different in the mission. We sat down quickly to eat it, and a man sat next to us eating his food and asked us how our choripanes were. "Ricos!" And then he asked us if we were Elders because he had gone to our church a few times 2 years ago with his neighbors that are members. As he was talking about these members, the members just happened to be walking by and invited us all over! He is super awesome!!!!! I´m excited. Things happen in such weird ways in the mission. Choripanes=success...

Hermana Ahumada and I were able to give a talk on Sunday. The bishop wanted us to do something different and not to just read and talk. So we did the talk TOGETHER and made a HUGE Book of Mormon out of boxes and on the other side it had stories and teachings that are found in the Book of Mormon. We were so busy throughout the week that we didnt even practice once before so we ended up talking for way too long, but we made it fun :) 

We had an actividad as a mission for completing the Book of Mormon challenge. President made a challenge to read it in 24 days, and we did it! We read the last chapter together as a mission. Reading it super fast in spanish was a little interesting, but it was a testimony builder and I still learned lots! 

The weather is great! Honestly, the winter wasnt even that bad. But I´ve heard it was a super mild winter...I came at the right time! I did take the COLDEST shower of my life though. Funny story...my companion went to take a shower and as I was eating breakfast the water heater in the kitchen kinda exploded and was shooting out hot water, gas, fire, and metal pieces haha. An explotion in the kitchen! I started screaming and my companion started running out thinking that a man had entered. I could barely breath in my shower I took after that.....hahah it was so cold! but it´s all good now :) 

It´s a new transfer and I have a new companion! Her name is Hermana Baldwin and she´s from Georgia. She is blonde, blue eyed, and my same height.....we have a lot in common....so it has already been kinda funny. We both have a lot of energy. I´ll be working with my twin. Woop!

About an hour ago, the daughter of my convert called and said that she had passed away :( I´m so grateful I was able to be apart of her conversion and that I could grow a strong friendship with her; she told me we were family :) It´s crazy how it all happened just hours after her confirmation, but we know that God prepared her up to that point to be baptized. I love my sweet Olivia! 

I hope ya´ll are enjoying the summer :D Talk to ya next week! I love you!!! 

 

On top of a casa tomada with a rad view.

Los fots: Our giant Libro de Mormon!

Cleaning a kitchen. We did a service project to clean an apartment....it was a ton of work! There were a TON of dirt and other stuff, but it was really fun!

Two kids that I absolutely LOVE!

We have investigadoras from the Dominican Republic. They live in a tiny little room together in a conventillo. We always all gather on that bed and teach. But that's how it goes a lot here... we all sit on beds and teach.

This is one of the kitchens in the conventillo.....very sad. But, she made us Platano frito, something they always eat in her country. It was interesting!

 

 

Mis experiencias!

This week was super interesting! Like...SUPER interesting lol.

First off.......cool experience. My companion wanted me to meet an old investigador from last transfer, because they were never able to find her again. We knocked on the door, she let us in, and opened a door to a HUGE room with TONS of piles of clothes and fabric and 12 tables with sewing machines, with 5 people in the room working. She mentioned that it was her work and that she worked with her family (cousins, siblings, and husband). We sat down in the middle of them all and started teaching. As we were teaching, people kept coming in every couple minutes....person after person after person until we got up to 10 people. Every time someone came in, I was super happy and a little "BOOYA!" went off in my mind haha. I couldnt believe it was really happening! I wanted to make sure everyone was listening because they were working, so to get their attention I went to the front of the room and started teaching haha, almost everyone was pretty into it and had a ton of questions! Afterwards, we sang for them all, and the whole room was super silent. It was a pretty cool moment! 

Our convert, Olivia that has 81 years, ended up in the hospital a few hours after her confirmation. Before her confirmation her mind was sharp and her health was pretty good. Now she is in the hospital because only 20% of her heart is working and they dont know if she will make it. Also....her memory is pretty different. She doesnt know who a lot of her family is and is really confused about everything. We went to visit her and we brought her a picture of her baptism...she seemed to remember it. She remembed who I was and was excited to see me but she had no clue who my companion was. She pointed to Hermana Ahumada in the picture of her baptism and asked "when am I going to see this girl again?".....uhhh "she´s right here!" We were thinking that Heavenly Father prepared her to be baptized and make the covenant and maybe now is her time. It is just so crazy how it all happened just hours after her confirmation. She´s such a cute lady.

Also...my companion was sick and went to the hospital, so I had to do divisions with a member. I left my companion at a members house to rest and I went with the daughter out to teach. I went with a 15 year old girl, so I was a little bit solo teaching, but it was a lot of fun! We met a lot of people, walked miles and miles and miles, and taught 13 lessons that day! We made it super fun :D

A pro about Floresta....I have found 5 nursing homes :) We entered one to teach a less active member. When we entered into a room there was a table of old ladies that started talking to us. One of them asked me what my title was,....a missionary? "No, what are you queen of?" Hahah what?! Come to find out...She was Miss Argentina when she was 20! Crazy! So we taught a former Miss Argentina!!! 

We had a Book of Mormon challenge to read it in 24 days as a mission...26 pages a day. It was a little rough in spanish, but I´m almost done! There´s so much more I learn each time I read it. When I was reading it in spanish, there were things that stood out to me that I notice much in english. It has been a great experience reading it in such little time. It´s sooooo good and really is evidence that the church is true :)

My sweet Olivia is hooked up to just about everything :(

A day of success con Daianna! Eating Alfajores :)

me.... reading SO much. SO good!

I bought a new coat... HAHA totally kidding. I just found it in the pension. I wish I could go out with it!

Ladder to get to someone's part of the house.

I love every chance I get to play the piano!

Templo

 Where to begin.....

ehh. bueno. We went to the temple as a zone! It is so beautiful and was such a great experience. Afterwards we went and ate at a food de Peru (SO GOOD). We always just want to eat somewhere where it`s not Argentina food lol.

Buenos Aires is something else! And my area is super capital so it makes it super interesting. There are a TON of immigrants from other countries because they have free schooling and medical help here...so there is a HUGE diversity in people and religions. There are a lot of people from Africa and China here for businesses. Also....there are a ton of people from discendants of Europeans after the war...which means there are a ton of their religions. For example....Buenos Aires has the biggest organization of Jews in South America and the pope of the catholic church is de Argentina. Por eso...the European culture is a little bit difficult, but not impossible! I think it`s super interesting and I love to learn about all these different cultures!

We were in a casa tomada and we were trying to find a door that belonged to a new investigador. Turns out we were at the wrong door and it was somebody`s bathroom, so when the guy came out he was super confused why 2 girls in dresses were standing at the door. So what do ya do? Invite him to chuch! We eneded up teaching him a lesson right there in front of the bathroom and now he`s our investigador! Stuff like this happens everyday.......things work out in weird ways sometimes haha. We also found a couple investigadores in a kitchen as they were cooking. I testify that talking to everyone and congregating people is the way to meet and find a lot more people! Plus, it`s super fun.

It has been a goal of mine to say the miracles we have seen in the day...my companion caught on that I was doing that...and I just have to say that when we stay optimistic and understand why trials happen, we will be more receptive to learning from them. It makes such a big difference and we have so much more ànimo and energìa for the work! Count your blessings and realize the Lord is always extending his arm out, we just have to do our part and grab on.

I am super grateful to be out here, missionary work is a blast and is such a great experience :) I love you all tons. Have a great week!

One of the tables of missionaries.

We have Avellaneda in our area... which is a SUPER BUSY area for vending clothes and food, and about half of it is on the street. People put their little business out on a blanket and the streets are filled with them. It is sooo busy, people are just shoving to even get a step in. It reminded me of Black Friday, but like 10 times worse and through a big part of my area. But it's super fun! I went to a less crowded area to secretly take these pics lol...

This is one of the casa tomadas.

Bautismo de la abuelita!

Perdòn, I didnt have time to write a general email last week, but wow, these weeks have been super great! We are seeing some changes in Floresta, but there´s still a TON of work.

Last week my zone threw me a suprise birthday party, it was super rad! They told me to show up to the zone meeting at a later time and play the piano in a different room, and of course I was occupied for a little while so it was a complete suprise!!!! I have a video that is pretty funny. I was spoiled! Later on that day, some people invited us over for my birthday, but when we showed up they didnt have light (it´s soooo common for the power to go out all the time), so we just sat in the dark around a candle, talked, and ate crackers. And then I blew out the candle after they sang....ha kidding. It was a great day!

My companion has a goal to baptize an African....the problem is, she doesnt know english and they dont know spanish. Así que....I have been doing a TON of translating...I have been translating all the meetings in church and everything that my companion wants to say. We recently found out there´s an english speaking ward for them, so that´s good! Because we have an investigator from Ghana that wants to be baptized!

After we were teaching a menos activo in a nursing home, I told my companion we were going to find an old lady to teach ha. And shortly after....we started teaching an 81 year old lady who has family that are members but her and her husband were strong catholics and didnt want anything to do with the church. But we taught her all the lessons and she was BAPTIZED YESTERDAY! She cant walk, so she had 2 of her grandsons in the water with her. It was such a beautiful moment! It was so amazing to see how happy her and her family were.

Last Sunday it was pouring super super hard, the streets were flooding a little! I love the rain here. But....it meant that our investigadors didnt want to go to church. We had many investigadors in the same casa tomada, so that morning we went to many of the doors to try to bring them with us. Most of them were in bed, half asleep. I told them we would go back to our pension and gather all the rain gear and boots that we had and that we would come back to get them. The investigadors and my companion looked at me like I was crazy, but 2 of them came and had super great experiences! They loved it. I showed up to church drenched haha. Afterwards one of them was telling us "This is my church, this is MY church!!!" and the other one told us that he wanted salvation and would do what it takes. Así que.....just shows us that Satan works hard on us, but we are always blessed when we are following what the Lord wants us to do.

I celebrated the fourth of July by watching La Copa American final with the bishop and his family. We had permission to watch the final futbol game, Argentina against Chile, because the streets are too crazy during this time. Chile won, and my companion was a little scared to be a Chilena in the streets on the way home, so she covered up by talking in a Argentina Porteño accent lol. People are sooooo crazy about futbol!!!! Everyone in the house was super silent, my companion was extremely nervous the whole game, and I was just chilling, eating cake celebrating the fourth of July :)

Oh my goodness look how cute she is!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had an activity with the zone. Had asado (Argentine bbq) and played frisbee.

LOOK HOW MANY ANIMALS ARE ON ME! 4 cats and a dog!

Surprise party!!!!!

 

And party around the candle.