veranooo

HOla nuevamente!

This week has been probably the hottest week of my ever life.  The humidity here is tan pesada and the sun feels like it is only a couple of miles away.  Wednesday we took a remisse to one of the furthest points in our area (6600) and walked all the way back home (1459) visiting and contacting etc as we went.  Walking briskly without stopping it is about an hour and 40 minute walk so it took us literally all day.  After finally making it home to our sweltering hot steam room of a pench, I realized how gross I was.  Re quemada and covered in sweat, bug spray, mosquito bites, dirt... you name it. lol.  ah... missionary work. :)  We found some awesome people though and were able to get in contact with some inactive members and all sorts of good stuff.  Im still crossing my fingers for a comp that can ride a bike next transfer because that would speed everything up and cost us a lot less in remisses.  

Random cool thing that we did this week was find chirimoya -- a crazy exotic fruit that tastes like... Sprite or something lol.  My companion was so excited even though it cost 13 pesos for one. lol Probably worth it I would say.  We got to spend another mornign cleaning the dumb pileta and afterwards I had a one track mind on getting my hands on some aloe vera.  I cant remember the last time I was burnt so bad.  ... actually yes, it was my first weekend in Hawaii lol.  Anyways, it made me like sick to my stomach and with the sun still beating down my skin just.. hurt.  Aloe vera ended up costing 50 pesos and then anther 50 pesos for a normal sized bottle of spf15.  Its a wonder everyone here doesnt have skin cancer when they charge that much but... que va a hacer.  

Sunday we had two baptisms. :)  Both of them only have 10 years.  One is Maximos granddaugther and the other is his great granddaughter. lol its kind of funny becuase they literally have no clue how many grandchildren they have.. much less great grandchildren.  It was really neat though because Maximo got to baptize them.  He was soo happy and content.  Lol cada baptism is an experience...  the first time not everything went under water so he had to do it de vuelta and the second time I was like... ooook she has been under long enough!. haha But it wasnt raining and the water felt nice... por lo menos. :P   

On the other hand, despite the baptisms and reactivations and what not, we only had 19 in the capilla this Sunday.  Neither of the 2 families in the branch came along with various others..  I don´t know how to strengthen new members when the members of years don´t help or care to even set a good example.. It's like we have to start back at square one with the members.. except they arent as willing to listen this time because they know that we are going to want them to come to church.. participate... be active. and they dont to.   Im really referring to one family in specific but, it spreads to everyone. Advice??   I was reading in Alma 52 (i think?) about Moroni reclaiming the city of Mulek.  He had all of his men outside the city but knew that he couldn´t fight them there because they were too strong.  He didnt know what to do and it seemed hopeless but instead of giving up,he kept working, and thinking and trying different things.. all the way up to asking the Lamanites if they would leave their stronghold and come fight in the plains. Lol of course they said no to taht but after awhile Moroni received the inspiration that he needed to be able to trick the Lamanites and gain back Mulek.  No sé... maybe we just need to keep working no más... trying everything and not giving up.  ?

I think thats it for this week... Happy Halloween in a few days!  (Cyd -- eat lots of chocolate for me.  Especifically snickers and reeses. thanksss)

Chauuuuuu

Hna. Morgan

hollaa

FAMMMILLLLYYY!!!!!

Hello from another crazy week in Argentina.  Gosh I feel rushed.  We are in Recreo right now. We came up here for pday and made empanadas and arroz chaufa and I am soo satisfecha..  (mommy, i def didnt get your healthy nutrition tips until like.. 5 minutes ago)

Maximo was finally baptized this week!  He is just the sweetest old man.  He really wanted to be baptized but he didnt really understand the importance of the authority we have or anything.. He was baptized last year in the Evangelical church and told us that he tried to baptized again but they wouldnt let him. lol. Anyways, the day beofre his baptism he had this incredibly dream where God told him that he needed to be baptized in this church and no other. He was so excited and determined after that.  Saturday came around with rain and wind and he didnt even care. Incredible.  Supposedly he will be going to the temple this Friday with the branch president. It makes me smile.

We have been working harder than ever.  As i mentioned last week, my companion had this new drive to work like crazy.  I hate setting goals that we dont reach, week after week but its like were making empty promises with the Lord or something but I went with it and worked hard and was obedient and turns out that we had the best datos in the zone. Datos dont really matter but at the same time they do because each number is a person that we are helping get closed to Christ.

I dont really have much more time right now.  I lvoe you all so much. :) Stay strong and happy.

_Hna. Morgan

:)

Hello family,

So it is raining again. Pouring rather.  Always on pday. So sad.  But this week has been great.  My companion found this new drive to work and it's been awesome.  Gosh.. an elder in the mission was telling me about his time here.  He is home now so it was him reflecting and giving advice and what not.  Anyway, he told me that when our companions aren't obedient at first upsets us.  After a while we figure that there is nothing that we can do about it and theres no use getting upset so we just sit back and watch but that in time we start doing the same.  As we sat together in weekly planning this week she started going off on all these huge goals that wants and all that we need to do and work work work.. etc and I found myself getting upset!  Goodness I felt so bad because it was true! Not only had I accepted the previous weeks without getting upset I had grown accustomed to them.  Anyways, I have since repented.  Our numbers were great this week.  We found an incredible investigator who came to church the very same week that we found her (miracle.)  Maximo is feeling better so hopefully he can get baptized this Saturday (he was supposed to be baptized the 6th) and Luciano has finished reading the Book of Mormon and said that he would like to serve a mission one day.  (getting him and his siblings to wake up on Sunday and get to church is the first step).  But yes.  This transfer is going to be really good.  We doing all we can to get the members involved and by golly this is the Lord's work and nothing can stop it from progressing!

If you would, please all pray for la familia Spies (pronounced Espees).  I think I have told you about them before..  He is just the most amazing man. So full of faith but his family just.. doesnt help very much.  He is single handedly supporting him, his wife, his 3 boys (one of which has health problems and has to travel to buenos aires frequently), his 15 yr old daughter, her parejo (who fell out of a tree a week before the baby was born and was hospitalized for a month (at his expense)), and their 3 month old baby.  He is struggling a lot with tithing because what he makes just doesnt reach and he cant sit and watch his family not have food or the baby not have pañales.  On top of that his brother just died last week.  Its seriously one thing after another.  Thank you thank you.

Thats all for this week, more later. :)  I love you all

Ciaocito

-Hna. Morgan

6 monthss whaaatttt

Hey everyone!

Lol having pday on Tuesday makes me that much more grateful to hear from all of you.  As you know, transfers are tomorrow but absolutely nothing is changing for me.  I haven't decided quite yet how I feel about that.  When I first got here the prospect of a new companion terrified me because I would be the one that "knew" the area but after 3 months maybe a little change would be nice ..o well.  After this transfer my companion will be in Esperanza for over 7 months..  next transfer I will get a different companion and then it will already be Christmas. weird. Anyways, 2 or 3 missionaries went home today that my companion was pretty good friends with and it has literally been allll she has talked about for the past 3 days. One of them lives in Lima where she is from and so she sent home a package with him for her family.  Lol The whole thing has made her super trunky and me? I havent been here long enough to be able to think about all that yet.

As for my Spanish, it has really come along.  Everyone kept telling me to just wait until I had 3 months in the mission and I would see a ton of progress.  Crazy thing but they were right!  I still wouldn't say that I am fluent by any means but my tongue doesn't feel like a giant knot in my mouth when I try to speak.  I understand almost everything except for weird Argentine phrases and such, and able to actually teach according to the needs of our investigators.  As we work hard, the Spirit is always with us. It is a wonderful, beautiful thing. 

This week was crazy though.  Siempre at the end of transfers we are soo busy and yet our numbers seem to go to poo.  Having conference was a big part of that but we also had an activity on Friday and a baptism on Saturday (woo!)  The activity was called Viaje a Hawaii.  My companion had done the activity in a different area (where there are more members and missionaries) and as such, had a vision of exactly what needed to happen.  As for me, I have never been much of a partier but I did as I was told to keep the peace.  Haha apparently the most important part of an activity is the decorations because over the weeks we have spent hours cutting out flowers and glueing paper chains etc.  O it killed me but like I said, not agreeing/understanding/being excited about it all got her in a bad mood and if she's in a bad mood, I'm doomed. sooo we cut, and pasted, and taped, and cooked, and maybe 15 people came and it was actually a lot of fun and maybe worth it because Luciano and his little sister Angela came.   Anyways, the activity is that everyone gets on a plane to hawaii. Once in Hawaii they are given money to go and buy food, drinks, play games, etc.  They are also given 2 convenios (bautizmo, confirmación, sellamiento).  Someone goes around andtries to buy the convenios for more plata and many people take the offer so they can keep spending.  At the end, we all get back on the plane but unfortunately, it crashes and everyone dies.  We end up in the Spirit World and only those who are 7 or younger or still have all 3 convenios can go to the celestial kingdom, 1 or 2 convenios to the terrestial, and none have to go to the terresial.  Lol i will admit taht it is pretty fun watching the peoples faces as they realize what they have done and watch the happy few walk away to the celestial kingdom with their 3 covenants. good stuff.  Anyways anyways anyways,  Saturday was the baptism and it has been raining for like 4 days straight now so it was a baptism to remember thats for sure. We spent almost 3 hours on thursday preparing by cleaning out the font that had been neglected since Ramóns baptism 2 months ago. We got it all cleaned, white, and with all the rain it was literally filled to the brim by Saturday morning.  The baptism was that of Ramón Monzon.  He has been atending church for almsot 5 years now but living with wife.. but not actually wife because they werent married.  It was amazing to see this miracle happen because after 5 years nothing has happened and yet, last week he told us he had moved out. Lol it was so unexpected and it was all we could do to not fill the font that very same day.  He has so much faith and tried eveything her could to stay together for his son but his wife didnt want to get married and he knew that in order to progress he needed to be baptized.  Their relationship seems to still be pretty good and he gets to see his son all the time so... vamos a ver. 

As for conference.. incredible, no!?!  We actually missed the first session because of the baptism but did see the press conference after where I got to hear the crazy crazy news about the new missionary policy.  It just stunned me.  That all the talks on how the Lord needs disciples.  Gosh, it gives me chills thinking about it all.  These truly are the last days.  This is the Lord's church and the work it progressing.  

Squiddy -- I know right?! wowza. But hey, mission or no mission, your schooling still exists.  Forever and a half ago Chandler wrote me a letter with something that a returned missionary had told him.  I can't remember it perfectly but the jist was that yes, your future will be incredible. So full of wonderful opportunities and growth, experiences.. eveything.  But we have been given this time here and now to prepare for that time.  Don't waste these next two years.  If you want to go on a mission, study. Learn this gospel.  Gain a testimony and be converted.  And prepare yourself as well for when you get back.  Get good grades and have everything lined up. I love you Cyd.  You are such an incredible example to me. Stay strong and happy :)

hola

Hello my dear wonderful family :)

Can you believe it is October already??  Increible. Faa en serio. El tiempe vuela. Pero bueno. Esta semana fue buenísimo.  Ha, I always love how one awesome thing makes me pretty much forget all the slumps of the week but I'll get to that later. :)  

This week was the Conferencia de Hermanas! woo!!  hahaha. All the elders made fun of us and went on talking about how we were going to swap recetas caseras etc etc but it was really just perfect.  Aside from all the girly things (decorations etc) that la hermana guiliani had set up for us, Pte. Guiliana y los asistentes nos hablaron y no sé, it was just really refreshing being spoken to as an hermana, not just a missionary in general.  We could tell that the assistants and president and his wife had really meditated on what we as hermanas needed as missionaries.  Gosh, I love president.  He cares so much about each one of us.  We also were fed very well while there and all the office elders served us. haha tan chistoso.  

Since the conference was early on Wednesday in Rosario we had to/got to sleep with the hermanas in Mayoraz in Santa Fe on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Their pension is attached to a members house and the member has extra bunkbeds for guests.  Everything was just so cozy.  painted walls, frazadas, mm todo.  COming back to our empty white walled pench was.. sad. lol.  On top of that, not being in our area for over half the week made our dats even more sad but all we could do was seguir no más.  

As I mentioned last week, all of our old investigators got sick of us over night so we've practically had to start over.  It's not quite that dramatic but it's been a lot of contacting and 1st lessons on peoples doorsteps etc..  everyone here is so nice and polite initially but when it comes down to it they are soo hesitant to let us in.  Have I mentioned Luciano y Sylvana before?   Bueno.  They aren't so much hesitant to let us in but finding them is impossible and their stepmom is... yeah. easily the most difficult person I have come accross here in Argentina.  Anyways,  we ran into Sylvana(21) contactign and invited her to the iglesia.  But, instead of just taking the card with the dirección and saying gracias she asked what time the mtgs were and if she could bring a friend.  whaatt?!? of course!  Ha, this all happened a good month.. month and a half ago.  Anyways, we got her dirección and passed by that week.  She wasnt there but we met her brother gustavo(17).  Next time--Marcelo(23), her other brother, but no Sylvana.  Next time--Luciano(19) other brother, and friend Alejandro, but still no Sylvana.  Finally... no. the next time still we went and nos atendió su hermanita Angela(13). Literally we met every member of her family one by one before we found her again.  But everytime we left that house we left in awe because... they all listen and are attent and it was this crazy miracle. The difficulty with them as I mentioned is their stepmom.  They want to come to church but stay up way late (5, 6 am) on Saturday and when we pass by on Domingo they are (obviously) asleep.  Lol but Maria (the stepmom) is never asleep.  SHe will answer the door, say ¨they are sleeping and their dad doesnt permit me to wake them up. ciao¨ and close the door.  haha its always so blunt and... ya. over. after 3 weeks of passing by like 3 times before church we gave up this week but decided to stop by in the evening and try our luck.  After not having seen them in about 2 weeks they were miraculously all just sitting outside, charlando, tomando mate.. the youge for Argentines.  anyways, they got chairs for us and we sat and talked for a bit.  Luciano was inside and came out after a bit.  we were talking about the Book of Mormon and asked Sylvana is she has been able to read. noo... i didnt have time.. this excuse and that.  noone else had read but Luciano didnt say anything.  Y usted Luciano? Pudo leer?    .. sí.  oo que bueno. do you remember what you read or what it talked about?  ..ya. Éter.   o.   ...wait. what? Éter?  ha, my companion flipped throughthe book and was like... so.. youve read.. all of this?  ..ya.   omgsh. we wanted to scream and hug him!  he is so quiet and timid but not only had he read.. he .. no sé read.   

Gosh, church is crazy.  Our convert doesnt come anymore (hasnt since his confirmation) becuase of something taht the branch president said or did.. or said but didnt do.. and our one sumo sacerdote didnt come this week because last week the branch president directed his entire sacrament talk on self-sufficiency at this hermano and his family. ...  the members struggle and sometiems it seems so incredibly overwhelming to find new members when the ones we have need so much help but... Luciano... the other people that we have found. the miracles we have seen.  The Lord truly is preparing people to recieve this gospel.  the trouble is finding them and keeping them lol.  But I know that as we go forward with faith and give all that we can, the rama will progress.  

Thank you all for being such strong examples to me.  Never let silly things get in the way of the true happiness that can be found in the church and this gospel.  Nothing is more important.

Les quiero mucho!

ciao ciao

-Hna. Morgan

p.s. translados next week.  así que.. pday será el martes. bueno? bueno.

Conferencia de hermanas!!

 Nuestra Mesa!

 Los elderes de la oficina

My companera y yo (comiendo con las mosquitas) :)

our pets(yes there are two).... under our kitchen counter

Lunch with Flia. Spies!

pizza casera :) ..i dont remember if i already sent you this or not... we made another one with alfredo sauce this week. superhiperarchirecontrariciiisisisimoo

masitas en la capilla :)