Lightning Struck Twice (or for the 4th time)

Hermana Merlo

I've yet again killed another companion. Okay, not really, because Hermana Merlo is not my companion anymore, but we went to the terminal to drop her off today and it feels crazy dropping her off just like Hermana Ellison. Both of my first 2 companions have now gone home and I've dropped them off at the terminal both times. I'll really miss Hermana Merlo, and not just because she told me I get the Argentinian pass.

We will miss you Hermana Merlo!!

 

Transfers!

Oops I did it again. I'm starting my 5th transfer in the mission and I've already had 4 zones. I hope Tres Arroyos in the zone Necochea is ready for me because I am so ready for it! My new companion will be my second Argentinian companion, Hermana Orellano. She's fresh out of her training and full of good ideas. I cant wait to meet her and get to our new area! Supposedly Necochea is the best beach in Argentina, and Tres Arroyos is not at all near the coast, but I suspect I'll be seeing the beach at some point in my time there. But for now I'm just packing up all my stuff again. 

So we'll keep it short and sweet this week since I have to go pack, but stay tuned for the email next week where I inevitably kill some other missionary, sending them home from the mission.

My District

Serving = Joy

My Dog Threw Itself Into a River

Trio Vibes

Hermana Arbarzua left to Bahía Blanca for a few days to go do some sweet legal paperwork so we were in a trio for a couple days with her companion Hermana Notario. We had a lot of fun and ate the best food ever! 

Our Ward mission leader was saying that he wanted the missionaries to get the best food, he wanted us to only be eating things "ricisimas!" Because we're out sacrificing 18-24 months to go serve the lord. So he decides on Wednesday it's his turn to feed us and whips out the craziest Asado (barbacue) ever! Then he also gives us these little cupcakes for dessert! 

Amazing BBQ

The adorable cupcakes. Yum!

Safe to say he stayed true to his work. 

The Best Excuse Ever

So a lot of people really try to make excuses as to why they either aren't responding to our texts or can't listen to us. We've heard a lot of things from "I can't walk very well" to "I'm sleeping right now (It's 5:00pm what are you doing asleep right now?)" 

But the other day we received the best excuse ever. We texted our friend Juan the other day and ask him if we can pass by his house that day. The first thing he does is apologize to us that he's been without a cellphone for the last two days. 

We ask him if something happened to his phone. He said, My dog threw itself into a river and I dived in with my cellphone in my pocket to save it. 

We died laughing. Check the google translate on this one it's so funny. This guy's poor stupid Chihuahua is probably traumatized. I guess we'll swing by a different day.

My next excuse for missing a class deadline...

Milagros

We had 3 friends at church! It was so great! And all of them are really making friends at church and talking with new people and fitting in. Rodolfo, our friend on date to be baptized, already knew some people at church so was sitting and chatting with them and having the time of his life!

Milton and Laura didn't really know anyone but they talked to a bunch of people and at the end had the biggest smiles on their faces. 

Pray for Rodolfo, Milton, and Laura because these are some people who are getting baptized for sure!! 

Our Friends

One thing them coming to church has taught me is that you need to have patience with people. In the mission because the time is so short it's easy to let go of people quickly if it doesn't feel like they're progressing fast enough. But we've been teaching Laura and Milton since we got here, and they are finally taking the real steps, they're trying to come to church, read the Book Of Mormon, and Pray. 

Some people just need more time. And what I love about patience is that being patient doesn't mean sitting around waiting, it means "waiting well." It means being active and doing what you can while you wait. This week I so testify that when you do everything you can and use the faith that you have while you wait, God makes the miracle happen! 

Happy New Year to everyone!

Umbrellas and Cow Tongues

Never give up

The guy we have on baptism date came to church!! It was so touch and go there at the end. We had finally met him in person on Friday and he was just a regular guy! He wasn't weird which in it of itself was a miracle. Then on Sunday morning we were like "see you at church." And he was like, "actually it looks like it's going to rain so I'll just come next week" and we were not going to let that happen. 

So we were like "we'll send a member with a car to pick you up." Then he said "no really, it's all good, don't worry about it." So we said, "we're actually walking past your house anyways, how about you walk to church with us." And he finally like "okay."

So he came to church! No one else did but our other friend whose on baptism date expressed his sadness that he couldn't come and said he was gonna do everything to try and come next week. Anyways, sometimes if you want something done you got to grab your umbrella and walk it to church yourself.

Crusty dogs

A quick shout out to Kevin, the 12 year old white crusty dog that every single grandma has, the one that looks like it will die any day now but wants to wait to die until the most dramatic moment possible. That's the kind of dog our baptismal date guy has. Just a quick Kevin shoutout for all you crusty white dog lovers out there! 

Need more  - Cow Tongue?

Had a member try and feed me cow tongue the other day. Fortunately it was after the main course so I just insisted that I was really very full, and I couldn't possibly have another bite despite how much I definitely wanted to eat that cow tongue. 

To be honest, didn't actually smell that bad, but I still wouldn't recommend it. Hermana Abarzua ate it and from the look of her face I'm glad I have a tiny stomach. 

Other

Some fun updates this week. Saw a cat with bluer eyes than mine. Found the real church of Jesus Christ, I'll keep you updated on when I can figure out how to sign up! And ate lunch with the other hermanas in our ward every day this week (shout out hermana Abarzua for eating the cow tongue, my hero!) 

Ol Blue Eyes

The True Church

Christmas with the Hermanas

Feliz Navidad y Próspero año de felicidad! Celebrated my first (and last) Christmas in the mission with some of the other hermanas! I made mashed potatoes and another hermana made pulled pork and we played uno and watched the illegal fireworks go off. It didn't really feel like Christmas since we had to work, but it was fun to celebrate with the other missionaries and get to sleep in on Christmas day!

Playing Uno

Christmas Dinner

 

Our Christmas Tree

Plus I got some awesome Christmas gifts from the other hermanas! We also put on our own nativity which ended up being super hilarious to us. You can check the video, but if you don't speak Spanish or understand Argentinian culture you may be confused as to why we're dying laughing. 

My awesome gifts!

Lessons and Dates

Have you ever been serenaded before? I recently had the pleasure of being serenaded by one of our friends. He brought us alfaphores (really yummy Argentinean candy that's chocolate and some other yummy stuff) and Facturas (Argentinean pastries that are also very yummy) and played his guitar at us all while telling us that religion was a cage and he prayed, and God told him that our church wasn't true. 

He ended up coming to church surprisingly, but one of the church members came up to us and told us he had accompanied the old Hermanas to lessons with him and he had a tendency to sing at the missionaries... we had to break the news to him that we already knew. 

Anyways we stopped teaching him, but at least he'll never be forgotten 

Roldolfo (falleció)

We had a Christmas miracle this year! On Christmas we recieved a text out of the blue from a random guy named Rodolfo with a "Merry Christmas!" We responded, chatted with him a little bit and then asked him if we could teach him something. We looked for him in our records but we couldn't find any information on him. We called him the next day and I just felt the steongest prompting to ask him if he wanted to get baptized. He said yes so we put a date to be baptized and he gave us his address so we could go teach him in person. 

Anyways, we began looking a little harder and we ended up finding his phone number linked to a guy named Rofoldo. So we assumed the old missionaries had written his name wrong, but also, next to his name, he had a cute little note written that said, "Creemos que falleció 😬" 

That means "we think he died." Luckily for Rofoldo over here he's about to be reborn through the waters of baptism. So please pray for our dead man whose about to get baptized, it would be really awesome if my second baptism in the mission was a zombie. 

Anyways I just wanted to say as a quick spiritual thought that miracles are real, they happen and sometimes we just need to have the eyes to see. Recieving that random text from that guy was a miracle and even if he doesn't end up getting baptized God gave us the awesome Christmas gift of hope this year which was a super special miracle. Look for miracles in your life and you'll see them. 

A fun note from Artemio!

Hermana Merlo's Side hustle?