Hoooollaa!
It's always so great to hear that everyone is happy and doing so well. Yo también. :) Life is really good. The work has been rather slow lately but I have learned so much about faith and good hard work. Reading in Alma, it's like Aaron and his brothers.. they had so much faith, obedience, diligence... all of it, and yet in the beginning of their mission they had no success. They were thrown into prison and suffered all sorts of afflicitions and yet they kept going no más. In the end they ended up converting the king of all the lamanites, his household, and cities and cities full of people. There are so many things that could discourage me here.. and don't get me wrong, they do sometimes. But I know that as long as I continue to work and follow the Spirit, the work will progress in the manera of the Lord. Always. And even if I can't see the "fruits of my labors," I always feel good at the end of a long day. :)
Ha, as far a details go, this week was awful. For some reason it was like everyone got sick of seeing us overnight. I felt like I had the plaugue or something the way that people would look at us when we came up to their door or saw them on the street. And if it isn't us, it's someone else in the church that has done something silly to offend them. I feel like a baby sitter sometimes but it also makes me grateful that I can't speak fluently or understand 100% because I can just ignore the dumb excuses and testify. We ended up finding some new invetigators and contacting a bunch. I never know what i going to become of everything... sometimes people act o interested but it's just to be nice. Other time, people are rather rude and short with us but when we come back it turns out that they have read what we left them or have questions or whatever else. I am always very aware of when people don't want to talk or are tired of listening but I need to learn not to care so much. It's tough for sure.
This upcoming week we have a conferencia de hermanas! Haha we are both rather excited. We get to go to Rosario and see all of the hermanas in the mission. With transfers coming up soon, the timing is perfect. Gosh, it is o nerve wracking not knowing where or who with I will be in two weeks. Seguramente I will stay here in Eperanza and get a new companion but... I'm not ready! haha. I am. ...as ready as the Lord wants me to be but.. it will be interesting for sure. Also, mom, we will be able to pick up mail in Rosario so if my package has come, I will get it then.
O. Funny story of the week. We were in church yesterday and one of the members was commenting on my shirt, she wanted to make one like it etc etc.. then after talking more she was like... awww you have gained weight here! but in spanish its more like... aww you´ve gotten fat here! ha.. my response: i knoooowww.. lol. everyones so blunt when it comes to weight. she says that Argentina is treating me well and that when I go back home I am going to return a gordita. .... :( needless to say, a diet of rice, pasta, bread, meat, more pasta, and more bread does catch up to you. lol it probably doesnt help than I have lesss will power than Cyd when it comes to food these days.
Anyways, ciao for now!
Love you alll!!!
Hermana Morgan
9.24.2012
9.17.2012
Hola de nuevo :)
Hola de nuevo :)
As always, it was geat to hear from everyone -- going to the lake, Cyd sleeping, dad and his romantic trip to París. wow.
This week was great as usual. Spring has come. ...more or less. ..Today is cold and windy but every day this past week has been in the high 70s and humid as all get out. On top of that air conditioning doesnt exist so.. its going to be an adventure for sure when summer comes full force. ha our land lord told us that people are gonna start wearing their "bikinis... nadakinis.. etc" lol it cracked me up.
Other than the blazing heat and mosquitos (which I have managed to control with some high quality Off!) this week has been pretty normal. We went to Paraná on Tuesday for a capacitación. It was the same capacitación that we went to last transfer for new missionaries and trainers except this time we werent completely rfesh off the plane like last time. haha its always nice not being the n00b. :P I love going to Paraná though because we have to cross the river which means driving next to the awesome bridge that I dont know what it´s called. haha. Paiton, there is a picture of it on your postcard. :) We also met Juán. We met with him twice this week and the second time he had an awful day and was a little bit drunk.. anyways, our visit really turned his day around and turns out he speaks English really really well! haha I think the alcohol gave him a lot of courage. It was funny though.
Church is still slow going. The members have become really strong and come every Sunday mostly on time. Investigators on the other hard really struggle. This country really values there sleep lol. We meet from 9 to 12 so that people can get their siesta in but on Sunday absolutely noone wants to wake up earlier than 11.. noon. Partly because they end up staying up till insane hours on Saturday (5, 6 am) and partly because.. well it´s sunday. Anways, Im pretty sure the heat of summer will help with that. hopefully. ...and lots of prayers. hehe :))
I'm gonna try to send some pictures in a seperate email.
love you alll!!
Ciaoo!
As always, it was geat to hear from everyone -- going to the lake, Cyd sleeping, dad and his romantic trip to París. wow.
This week was great as usual. Spring has come. ...more or less. ..Today is cold and windy but every day this past week has been in the high 70s and humid as all get out. On top of that air conditioning doesnt exist so.. its going to be an adventure for sure when summer comes full force. ha our land lord told us that people are gonna start wearing their "bikinis... nadakinis.. etc" lol it cracked me up.
Other than the blazing heat and mosquitos (which I have managed to control with some high quality Off!) this week has been pretty normal. We went to Paraná on Tuesday for a capacitación. It was the same capacitación that we went to last transfer for new missionaries and trainers except this time we werent completely rfesh off the plane like last time. haha its always nice not being the n00b. :P I love going to Paraná though because we have to cross the river which means driving next to the awesome bridge that I dont know what it´s called. haha. Paiton, there is a picture of it on your postcard. :) We also met Juán. We met with him twice this week and the second time he had an awful day and was a little bit drunk.. anyways, our visit really turned his day around and turns out he speaks English really really well! haha I think the alcohol gave him a lot of courage. It was funny though.
Church is still slow going. The members have become really strong and come every Sunday mostly on time. Investigators on the other hard really struggle. This country really values there sleep lol. We meet from 9 to 12 so that people can get their siesta in but on Sunday absolutely noone wants to wake up earlier than 11.. noon. Partly because they end up staying up till insane hours on Saturday (5, 6 am) and partly because.. well it´s sunday. Anways, Im pretty sure the heat of summer will help with that. hopefully. ...and lots of prayers. hehe :))
I'm gonna try to send some pictures in a seperate email.
love you alll!!
Ciaoo!
initial gate
lunch with flia. flores. delicious fried chicken wings, mashed potatoe egg and cheese salad, and green lettuce (more just random weed plant that grew in their front yard) with raw onions and oil, salt, and lemon juice.
la plaza san martín
fountain in the plaza
ha, a third of my mosquito bites
zone mtg.
me and juli (pronounced huli) , la hija de guadalupe, our investigator
us and guadalupes family minus her husband.
one of the many many many random parks that are scattered all throughout the town
my first torta frita!! :)
9.10.2012
Ups and downs. :)
Hollaaaa :)
Wellp. This week was amazing actually. Ha, the mission is so full of ups and downs but whats awesome is that when you have a good up it has a way of out shining 20 downs.
For starters, we only had 3 lessons with members. Not near our goal but 3 times more than the week before. I dont like giving excuses or what not but we had 2 days of straight rain and the people here are funny with the rain. ...granted noone in their right mind likes walking blocks and blocks in the rain and mud but people just dont go out. Kids stay home from school and some stores decide to not open for the day. The mud does get really bad though but lemme tell ya. with rain boots. bring it on. we even went out to the campo and my feet were clean and dry. it was marvellous. haha i was so tempted to slide around but the risk of falling and getting incredibly dirty was too high.
On the up side of our lack of member present lessons, we had branch counsel on Wednesday night. It lasted for 2 hours because it was the first real counsel that we have had. It was choas but in an awesome way. The branch is full of inactives but we now have a president of every auxiliary. They were all there at the meeting and o my gosh. I sat there listening and jsut wanted to give them all the biggest hug because of their wonderful desires. They are ready for growth. The branch president and his counselor are doing their jobs and we are here to work and I am jsut so excited.
Ramón, our wodnerful convert, had some serious problems this week as well. ... rather, he still is having.. fa. thats the other thing about the people here. It doesnt matter how old or young you are, how many kids you have, how busy ou are, nothing. people dont like living alone. everyone says that they feel useless without someone living with them, etc etc. anyways, yes. Ramón is in love. ha. its ridiculous how the adversary works. truly unfair. anyways. he has decided to renounce the church because he doenst want to sin and he wants to break the law of chastity so he has decided that if he jsut doesnt go to church anymore, he wont be sinning. ..... lol im glad that my companion has the patience that she does because i can only expain things so many times before i start pulling my hair out. not really but... ya. its a constant battle with him now because this woman is evangelica and so everytime we "fix things" so so speak, she breaks something else and he has a differnt random question or doubt or tells us once again that he is renouncing the church. ughh.. pray for him? thanks.
Yesterday was the much anticipated rededication of the Buenos Aires temple. We got to travel to Santa Fe to watch the dedication in the stake center. All of the stake centers broadcasted the 3 different sessions of the rededication and the members had to get a special recommend to be able to watch. We ended up going to two of the sesison with our branch and I cant even explain to you how wonderful the Spirit was there. President Eyring came as well as Edler Christofferson and Elder Ballard. Elder Christofferson served his mission in Argentina back when it was the "Argentina North Mission" and conducted the mtgs in spanish which was aweseom and the other two had translators. In that aspect I was super glad that I know Ingles porque the translation just... doesnt.. its not the same. President Eyring bore his testimony on the power of the Spirit and the reality of the testimonies that we receive through Him. He said that when we stand before the Maker that testimony.. knowledge.. love of the Savior is going to be the only thing that matters And that effective missionaries have the testimony and love rooted deep within them. It is so true. When it comes down to it, that is all that matters. Why I am here, what I am attempting to do.... it all goes back to my testimony and faith in Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and Redeemer and He loves us more than we can even comprehend. Continually leaning more of Him and learnign to love as He does is what will bring me success as a misisonary. :) It makes me excited to work.
Thats pretty much it for this week... .... mosquitos are coming out with a vengence. ... I currently have 89 bug bits on my legs. ...and counting. haha I finally sprung for some Off yesterday even though it is rather expensive here. Mom, you mentioned buying one of those Off Clips in Texas? ... ya.. i never did but am now regretting it.. lol.
¡¡¡Les Quieroooo muchísimo!!
Ciao ciao!
-Hna. Morgan
p.s. answers to your questions:
ha yes. cow. thats at our recent converts (ramon) house. he lives out in the campo wil no electricity anything. one of his jobs (he randomly gets work all over the place) was killing that cow and i guess he got to keep the hide, tail, and a bunch of grasa ... grease? that he made tortas fritas with for us. :))
not sure. we didnt help them rebuild it. and they didnt move their home... they took the bricks from an abandoned house. in the campo they have on outhouse for their toilet and shower, they pump all their water from the ground, and their kitchens consist of a stove like ours. usually they have some sort of stone or tile or cement on the ground. ..havent been to dirt floors yet.
and my comp went to the buenos aires mtc
Wellp. This week was amazing actually. Ha, the mission is so full of ups and downs but whats awesome is that when you have a good up it has a way of out shining 20 downs.
For starters, we only had 3 lessons with members. Not near our goal but 3 times more than the week before. I dont like giving excuses or what not but we had 2 days of straight rain and the people here are funny with the rain. ...granted noone in their right mind likes walking blocks and blocks in the rain and mud but people just dont go out. Kids stay home from school and some stores decide to not open for the day. The mud does get really bad though but lemme tell ya. with rain boots. bring it on. we even went out to the campo and my feet were clean and dry. it was marvellous. haha i was so tempted to slide around but the risk of falling and getting incredibly dirty was too high.
On the up side of our lack of member present lessons, we had branch counsel on Wednesday night. It lasted for 2 hours because it was the first real counsel that we have had. It was choas but in an awesome way. The branch is full of inactives but we now have a president of every auxiliary. They were all there at the meeting and o my gosh. I sat there listening and jsut wanted to give them all the biggest hug because of their wonderful desires. They are ready for growth. The branch president and his counselor are doing their jobs and we are here to work and I am jsut so excited.
Ramón, our wodnerful convert, had some serious problems this week as well. ... rather, he still is having.. fa. thats the other thing about the people here. It doesnt matter how old or young you are, how many kids you have, how busy ou are, nothing. people dont like living alone. everyone says that they feel useless without someone living with them, etc etc. anyways, yes. Ramón is in love. ha. its ridiculous how the adversary works. truly unfair. anyways. he has decided to renounce the church because he doenst want to sin and he wants to break the law of chastity so he has decided that if he jsut doesnt go to church anymore, he wont be sinning. ..... lol im glad that my companion has the patience that she does because i can only expain things so many times before i start pulling my hair out. not really but... ya. its a constant battle with him now because this woman is evangelica and so everytime we "fix things" so so speak, she breaks something else and he has a differnt random question or doubt or tells us once again that he is renouncing the church. ughh.. pray for him? thanks.
Yesterday was the much anticipated rededication of the Buenos Aires temple. We got to travel to Santa Fe to watch the dedication in the stake center. All of the stake centers broadcasted the 3 different sessions of the rededication and the members had to get a special recommend to be able to watch. We ended up going to two of the sesison with our branch and I cant even explain to you how wonderful the Spirit was there. President Eyring came as well as Edler Christofferson and Elder Ballard. Elder Christofferson served his mission in Argentina back when it was the "Argentina North Mission" and conducted the mtgs in spanish which was aweseom and the other two had translators. In that aspect I was super glad that I know Ingles porque the translation just... doesnt.. its not the same. President Eyring bore his testimony on the power of the Spirit and the reality of the testimonies that we receive through Him. He said that when we stand before the Maker that testimony.. knowledge.. love of the Savior is going to be the only thing that matters And that effective missionaries have the testimony and love rooted deep within them. It is so true. When it comes down to it, that is all that matters. Why I am here, what I am attempting to do.... it all goes back to my testimony and faith in Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and Redeemer and He loves us more than we can even comprehend. Continually leaning more of Him and learnign to love as He does is what will bring me success as a misisonary. :) It makes me excited to work.
Thats pretty much it for this week... .... mosquitos are coming out with a vengence. ... I currently have 89 bug bits on my legs. ...and counting. haha I finally sprung for some Off yesterday even though it is rather expensive here. Mom, you mentioned buying one of those Off Clips in Texas? ... ya.. i never did but am now regretting it.. lol.
¡¡¡Les Quieroooo muchísimo!!
Ciao ciao!
-Hna. Morgan
p.s. answers to your questions:
ha yes. cow. thats at our recent converts (ramon) house. he lives out in the campo wil no electricity anything. one of his jobs (he randomly gets work all over the place) was killing that cow and i guess he got to keep the hide, tail, and a bunch of grasa ... grease? that he made tortas fritas with for us. :))
not sure. we didnt help them rebuild it. and they didnt move their home... they took the bricks from an abandoned house. in the campo they have on outhouse for their toilet and shower, they pump all their water from the ground, and their kitchens consist of a stove like ours. usually they have some sort of stone or tile or cement on the ground. ..havent been to dirt floors yet.
and my comp went to the buenos aires mtc
9.03.2012
Happy September
HOla all
How has school been?! Ha, it is so crazy that summer is already gone when down here it is just beginning. Yesterday was high 70s all day but were back in the 60s with lots of wind today. I don´t understand argentine weather but thats ok. honestly i think i might prefer winter over summer. ..people are more modest at least. ha, my companion says that in the summer girls will answer the door in just their bra and shorts. but ya, spring officially starts in a few weeks but they say its just going to keep raining. we didnt get rain this week but i ended up buying rain boots today so no need to send them. :) I guess we will just have to see.
After the choas of last week this week seemed so.. calm and normal. ha, It was wonderful. Seriously, a huge answer to my prayers. I still am looking for the balance between not working hard enough and pushing myself too far but I am finding more patience with my progress -- slow as it may seem -- and just.. being myself. smiling. :) Smiles truly are universal. And what a difference!! happily being confused vs. frustratingly being confused. I love these people so much and they are able to feel that love when I am happy and have the Spirit with me.
We ended up working a lot with our less active members this week. We have been desperately trying to get lessons with members but either the members flake our or the investigators are no where to be found.. lol it kills me. Especially since we walk everywhere :P The mission asks us to have 12 lessons with members each week but... we don´t even have 12 active adult members so... we reaching for 7 this week.. 6 more than our average. Pray for our success. Sometimes I feel like we have to be independent and just do things ourselves if we want to get them done but I know that having members with us is the way the Lord wants it. Struggle.
mommy -- last night I made french toast for my companion and I. "tostadas franceses" Mmmm. they tasted like a lazy saturday morning at the cabin. Thank you so much for that memory/ tradition. If they sold catalina dressing here I would be making taco salad. haha.
Ciao fo' noww!
-Hna. Morgan
ALLLLEEEXXISSSSSSSSSSS ---- HAAPPPPYYY BIRTHDAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! Goshh! I was gonna write a letter but by the time I realized the date it wouldnt have made it in time. I hope you have the most spectacular day ever even though I am not there to celebrate it with you (because that would make it perfect haha) I love you and miss you a super lottt! Cuídese, eh? :))) (also, i think it is very appropriate that Fun. is randomly playing in this sketch ciber.. internet cafe(?) that I am in right now)
How has school been?! Ha, it is so crazy that summer is already gone when down here it is just beginning. Yesterday was high 70s all day but were back in the 60s with lots of wind today. I don´t understand argentine weather but thats ok. honestly i think i might prefer winter over summer. ..people are more modest at least. ha, my companion says that in the summer girls will answer the door in just their bra and shorts. but ya, spring officially starts in a few weeks but they say its just going to keep raining. we didnt get rain this week but i ended up buying rain boots today so no need to send them. :) I guess we will just have to see.
After the choas of last week this week seemed so.. calm and normal. ha, It was wonderful. Seriously, a huge answer to my prayers. I still am looking for the balance between not working hard enough and pushing myself too far but I am finding more patience with my progress -- slow as it may seem -- and just.. being myself. smiling. :) Smiles truly are universal. And what a difference!! happily being confused vs. frustratingly being confused. I love these people so much and they are able to feel that love when I am happy and have the Spirit with me.
We ended up working a lot with our less active members this week. We have been desperately trying to get lessons with members but either the members flake our or the investigators are no where to be found.. lol it kills me. Especially since we walk everywhere :P The mission asks us to have 12 lessons with members each week but... we don´t even have 12 active adult members so... we reaching for 7 this week.. 6 more than our average. Pray for our success. Sometimes I feel like we have to be independent and just do things ourselves if we want to get them done but I know that having members with us is the way the Lord wants it. Struggle.
mommy -- last night I made french toast for my companion and I. "tostadas franceses" Mmmm. they tasted like a lazy saturday morning at the cabin. Thank you so much for that memory/ tradition. If they sold catalina dressing here I would be making taco salad. haha.
Ciao fo' noww!
-Hna. Morgan
ALLLLEEEXXISSSSSSSSSSS ---- HAAPPPPYYY BIRTHDAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! Goshh! I was gonna write a letter but by the time I realized the date it wouldnt have made it in time. I hope you have the most spectacular day ever even though I am not there to celebrate it with you (because that would make it perfect haha) I love you and miss you a super lottt! Cuídese, eh? :))) (also, i think it is very appropriate that Fun. is randomly playing in this sketch ciber.. internet cafe(?) that I am in right now)
grido...my new addiction
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