Emergency Transfers

Let's just say that this week I received a new companion but first a quick recap! 

Recap

On Tuesday, the people who are in charge of all the houses and apartments came to check out our house and broke the electricity somehow. We had to wait 2 hours for someone to come and fix it while they told us stories from their lives and frantically apologized for breaking our house.

On Wednesday, we had our divisions with our Sister Training Leaders! It was a lot of fun! I was with the Hermana Medrano who is from Bolivia and we had a very fun time and found a lot of fun people! 

On Thursday during a lesson with our friends Candela and Franco who are going to get baptized next week, we received a phone call from one of the President's assistants. He told us that there was an emergency and we were going to have changes. 

We received a new companion, Hermana Santos! Hermana Santos is from Brasil and has 15 months on the mission! She's super great and I'm enjoying my third trio on the mission! 

Our fun new trio!

On Friday, it was the Day of The Flag here in Argentina which means we had a big party in the church! A lot of people came, including one guy we found in the street in divisions with Hermana Medrano! But it was a lot of fun! I dressed up by wearing the traditional hat, which is called a Boinga, and they danced traditional dances from Argentina called Folclore!

 On Saturday, we visited a friend of one of the members and it was so spiritual! The member came with us and as we talked with this friend, Mellie, she told us she was really looking for truth and wanted to know if God really loved her. We promised her he did, and invited her to get to know God's love for herself by praying, reading the scriptures, and going to church! She accepted and told us she was excited for us to come back. 

We also went to the baptism of Andres and Mayra who the elders have been teaching and who have been coming to church for a long time now! 2 weeks ago they got married and this week they got baptized!! It was so special to see! 

We were inspired to buy flowers to help the newlyweds celebrate and the bride ended up using them as her bridal bouquet! Listen to the Spirit people - it won't let you down.

On Sunday Mellie came to church and said she loved it!! Also Eduardo blessed the sacrament for the first time which was so awesome! We had a super great day and I baked some bomb banana bread and then in the night we traveled to Necochea! 

Also tomorrow I have a year on the mission! How quickly time flies!!! 

Spiritual thought 

Doctrine and Convenants 64:33 says, 

"33 Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."

I really like this verse because sometimes when we're not seeing the results of pur actions we can feel discouraged or feel like nothing we do makes a difference. But this verse proves that every effort makes a difference. We are doing grand things when we do small things! 

Praying, reading the scriptures, going to church, family home evenings, inviting a friend, sending someone a nice message, writing a note for someone, etc. All these things may seem small, but it's these things that build the foundation of the Kingdom of God, and make Latter Day Saints such a peculiar people. 

There's a verse in this chapter that also says, "25 Wherefore, if ye believe me, ye will labor while it is called today." We need to work, it's an essential part of God's plan, and every single tiny effort makes the difference! 

Sweet Melancholy

I'm exhausted this week which is weird because I think I slept more this week than any other week in the mission. 

To hit you with a quick recap: Spent Tuesday and Wednesday locked in the house due to doctor's orders because we are sick, my companion has fully recovered - I am left with a cough in the night but other than that all good. 

Tuesday and Wednesday we sent a lot of messages and called a bunch of people and managed to find 6 people interested in hearing the gospel, and one of them wants to be baptized!! He said he has a really strong testimony of Joseph Smith and he loves the Book of Mormon. He really wants to be baptized, the problem... 

He lives in a little town about an hour and a half away from Tres Arroyos 😭 So the difficulty is finding a way for him to come to church but we'll see what we can do! 

On Thursday we traveled because on Friday we had our Zone Conference in Mar Del Plata! It was great, I received a lot of revelation and got to see a lot of old friends! Also had a lot of missionaries asking what we do in Tres Arroyos to have so much success, but I don't know what to tell them because I don't even feel that successful 😭

Speaking of not feeling successful it was a hard Sunday at church as many members traveled to Necochea for the District conference and every other member decided to watch the zoom link at home and the only people at church were the 6 missionaries, an inactive member who the other missionaries invited, our recent convert Eduardo, our friend Natalia, and our mission leader in the Branch. A very large 10 people listening to a zoom that was very difficult to understand 😭 but it's all good because Natalia told us she wants to get baptized and go to the temple with her family, and she's so ready to get married to get baptized! 

This week was a very stressful one to be honest, with being stuck in the house while being sick, and also because we couldn't get in contact with our friend Leandro whose supposed to get baptized next week. He didn't come to church after 5 Sundays coming so when I read these verses in Alma 13 I was really feeling them, 

"27 And now, my brethren, I wish from the inmost part of my heart, yea, with great anxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the day of your repentance; 

28 But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering; 

29 Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest."

When Alma says that he has anxiety unto pain, I really feel it. In the mission I want so badly to help people come unto Christ that it really hurts when they don't. I want so badly for them to have these promises, to be able to rest and feel the love of God, but so many people reject us or choose another path.

But the cool thing is that this promise extends to us too. So even though I may feel anxious and stressed, the Lord can give me his rest and help me feel his love and sooth the pains of my soul. 

Anyways sorry for the melancholy week, it was a great week in truth, just a stressful one! 

Jenga and Board games

Baptismal dates!! 

So on Tuesday we visited a hermana named Cintia whose returning to church and has 3 kids who aren't baptized. Well, we've been visiting her a while and her kids have never wanted to participate, but this Tuesday when we visited not only were her kids there ready to participate, but also Cintia's sister who is also an inactive member, with her 3 kids who haven't been baptized! 

So we had a very hectic lesson playing The Plan of Salvation Board game (10/10 recommended) with 2 adults and 6 kids! We planned with Cintia to come back on Thursday and all the kids pleaded for us to come back! 

On Thursday we busted out Jenga to teach the Restoration of the church (12/10 I love Jenga) and it was a crowd pleaser. The kids were very engaged and asked a lot of questions!! In the end, 2 of Cintia's kids decided they wanted to be baptized!! So we are going to help them prepare to get baptized on the 28th! 

This Sunday they came to church for the first time and loved it! So we're looking for more games to teach right now, I'll take ideas! 

I'm sick, but in the winter who isn't? So that's a wrap on the big news for this week, next week will be a lot of traveling so we'll see if I survive! 

Spiritual Thought 

In the Come Follow Me for this week 2 verses really stuck out to me in Chapter 58 of Doctrine and Convenants that say, 

"3 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. 4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand." 

And it's got a cool companion verse in 1 Corinthians 2 that says, 

"9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

In this life we can't see the truly grand plans God has for us. He intends for us to be so much more than we are now. He loves us so much and he's got a lot of blessings in store. In the difficult moments we don't need to be so worried, because God will make sure it all works out. 

The Perfect Baptism

 ... almost

Mía got baptized this week! 🥳 On Friday she got baptized and it was great! Her mom came to her baptism which was super special considering her parents are catholic and not very supportive of Mía going to church. The mom even said she was interested in family search so we're helping her discover her family tree! 

But the baptism was perfect and everything was going well. They fixed the hot water in the church, but it left the spout extremely slowly so we had to go to the church 5 hours before the baptism to fill the font. But other than that it was all perfect. Until the confirmation of the Holy Ghost. In the prayer I heard the Brother giving the blessing say "Mía Dufourg." 

Now for those who don't know, the ordinances of baptism and confirmation have to be done with the full name of the person. Mía happens to have a middle name. So we spoke with our Missionary Leader and he goes, "ummmm they also didn't say the full name in the baptism". So while everyone goes to party and eat and socialize after the baptism, we go downstairs and tell Mía she has to get baptized and confirmed again. 

Luckily Mía is awesome and put on the freezing soaking wet dress again, her boyfriend Thiago baptized her again (this time with the full name, and a lot more splashing around in the water to try and soak the other) and his dad confirmed her again (this time with the full name) and by the time we got to the party they ate basically all the food. 

But, she got baptized and was so so happy about it! Many tears were shed that day! 

Other thingzzzz

Hermana Villagrán was so sick this week 😭 my poor daughter. Yesterday we didn't leave the house except to go to church and it doesn't look like we'll be leaving today either. 

We were traveling home from Chaves this week in the car of a member named Sasha and her car broke down in the middle of the route and we got stuck on the side of the road for 40 minutes in winter in a car without heating 🥶

Our baptismal fecha Leandro brought a friend to church all on his own!! She loved it and said she was gonna come back! 

Ordered empanadas and it was the best empanada place I've ever tried here, but the guy who owns the place was a little more interested in getting to know the missionaries than the religion so now I can't eat empanadas 😔

Spiritual Thought 

I want to share a scripture in Matthew 28:19-20, 

"19 ¶ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." 

To be a disciple of Christ means to go forth with the purpose of helping others be baptized. Baptism is not just something we do because we like numbers and we want the church to seem really cool, it's the door to eternal life. 

Baptism is literally the essential ordinance. Every single person in the world has the need to be baptized by priesthood authority to be with their family forever. 

Something I've been thinking about recently is that I'm not here to baptize people, I'm here to make eternal families. The only way to be an eternal family is through baptism and that means that my goal should not just be teach people or find people or whatever random thing, it should be help people have eternal families by helping them share the gospel with their families and friends. 

Doing that will make a lot of happy families for eternity ☺️

Baptizing without Water

Exciting News

Eduardo and Mía got baptized!!!!! 

I don't know how many remember Mía the younger from previous episodes. The Mía who was 11 years old who we were teaching who couldn't go to church and ergo couldn't be baptized. Well on Friday she got baptized! The other hermanas were working with her and helping her go to church and so she got baptized on Friday and brought all her friends to her baptism it was so cute!! 

And of course, Eduardo got baptized this Friday and it was the most beautiful and stressful experience! Eduardo was very pleased to tell us that even though his wife and other daughters said no to going to his baptism, his youngest daughter and grandson said yes and accompanied him on that special day! 

So everything was great until an hour before the baptism and there's 0 water in the whole church. I will say if anything is a Testament to this being the true church, it is the things that happen before a baptism. 

So there's 0 water in the whole church and the first counselor comes and he can't fix the problem and he has no idea what's going on until he climbs up into the attic of the church (which is so well hidden I didn't even know they had one.) 

And he sees that someone turned the key to shut off the water tanks, ergo there wasn't any water in the church. Guys, Satan literally works so hard because how on earth could someone use a key to turn off the water in the attic of the church when the only peopls who have keys are the president and his counselors??

So 40 minutes before the baptism the font finally starts filling (with freezing cold water, and it's the middle of winter here just so you know) and so for the time of the baptism the font is less than halfway filled! We're like, okay, maybe we can wait for the font to fill a little more? No. The water in the church cuts off again and everyone is waiting so finally they say, we're just gonna do the baptism ans hope for the best. 

So basically Mía the Younger gets baptized just fine because she's an 11 year old whose not very big. But with Eduardo they try 3 times and they just cannot submerge him in the water! And it is just so cruel to dunk a 70 year old man in freezing cold water so finally we close the font so no one can see and he gets baptized lying down in the water. 

Well even though Satan was working hard that day Eduardo came to church that Sunday the happiest I'd ever seen him. He told us it was the day he'd dreamed of and he's so excited to keep learning more about this church because he just knows it's God's true church!

What a happy day!!

Anyways that was the most exciting part of my week so I'll leave it at that for now and go right to my spiritual thought. 

Pensamiento Espíritual 

With Eduardo finally being baptized it's made me reflect on the fact that Eduardo is a 70+ year old man, and yet he is so humble and teachable. He is such a perfect example to me of how the Savior wants us to be. In Doctrine and Covenants 50:40-42 it says, 

"40 Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. 

41 Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me; 

42 And none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost." 

In this life we are all little children. No matter how old we are, we are God's little children and the little brothers and daughter's of our brother Jesus. 

We need to be like little children, always learning, humble, and trusting in our father and his wisdom. If we do these things, then not one of us shall be lost. 

Anyways, I'm just so happy Eduardo got baptized and it's such a testament to me that God prepares people if our only desire is to trust in him and his plan. 

Some seriously talented artists on my mission

Celebrating with our Mission President

Getting my new trainee