He is Risen!

Happy Easter to everyone! Yesterday was a super great Easter Sunday and we had a fun week down here in Argentina. First and foremost I am now with my daughter, the beloved Hermana Villagrán! 

My New Daughter!

My Daughter

She is from Chile and she is so so great! I love her with all my heart! She is so determined and such a hard worker! We arrived in Tres Arroyos Friday at 8am and we have seen so many miracles in this short weekend. 

That same Friday that we arrived we put a man on date to be baptized! Then the very next day we put a woman on date to be baptized! (To be honest though, really the member accompanying us put her on date to be baptized. The member told this girl, "the missionaries are preparing a baptismal service if you would like to be baptized.")

We had a lot of lessons and visited a lot of people this weekend. On Sunday we have 5 of our friends come to church and it was so special! 

Our friend Eduardo came to church and afterwards he told us he can't wait to come back! He said he felt something really special at church and he knows that he needs to come back! 

This week has been so special and I feel so blessed to be in Tres Arroyos right now at this time! My daughter Hermana Villagrán is literally the best, all our friends are awesome, and the lord is guiding our steps. I know that things will get dificult, or that we'll have hard weeks or days, but it is because we will be challenged that we will have a lot of success! 

Spiritual thought

Happy Easter! This Easter season I have been thinking about Christ's resurrection. Thanks to his death and resurrection, every one of us will be resurrected as well. Not only from physical death, but be resurrected from all our pains, fears, and trials. 

Through Christ's Atonement, his suffering and triumphant victory, we can rise above all the challenges we face in this mortal life. We can be resurrected as we find or receive forgiveness, as we comfort others, as we find acceptance in a trial, etc. The Atonement does not solely cover sins or death, it encompasses everything. 

I encourage you to ponder on how you have been resurrected this Easter season, or to look for where Christ can help you leave the past behind, and begin anew. 

I'm a Mother

This week was a lot, starting with Monday we traveled to Necochea because on Tuesday we have divisions with our STL's (STL = Sister Training Leader), Hermana Lima and Hermana Costa! 

So much bus time! We may have been a bit tired...

Divisions

Me and Hermana Lima were companions for the day, and we had a really fun day. We found 4 people to start teaching and had a fun experience copying keys. One would think that getting a copy of a key is easy, but one would be wrong. 

We went to a shop, and the guy made a copy of the key! Yay, we went home, tried the key, and it didn't work. So we go back to the shop and we tell him, "Hey! Your key didn't work, can you make one that does function?" And so he "fixes" the key, gives it back to us and we go home. 

And the "fixed" key, also did not work! So we went back and said, "hey, this new key also doesn't work, can you make us a key that actually functions?" 

So he makes a new key, then gives us a black powder and tells us, "listen chicas, if the key doesn't work, do "poof" with the black power in the lock and the key will work." 

Now, I'm no skeptic, but part of me feels like if a key doesn't work, pouring some glitter in a lock and saying the word "poof" like I'm Tinkerbell will not fix the key. To everyone's surprise, the key still did not work after we "did poof." 

Divisions

My Daughter

I've received the news I'm expecting a little baby girl! It's true, I'm going to be training a new missionary here in Tres Arroyos. I'm sad to see Hermana Orellano go, but I'm excited to help a new missionary! Next week when I know who it is that I'll be training I'll send photos and names! 

I loved my time with Hermana Orellano!

Zone Conference 

We had zone Conference this week and it was really awesome! One thing that really stuck out to me was the focus on improvement, but not self criticism. Often times when we strive for improvement we end up falling into the trap of over critiquing ourselves, thinking that we are the worst or that we're failing. 

But while we need to acknowledge our past mistakes for improvement, we don't need to dwell on our past mistakes. We don't need to beat ourselves up for the things that are already dead and gone, we can only look forward and try to do better tomorrow. I like this scripture in Corinthians that says, 

"9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death."

I like this scripture because it explains that sorrow of the world only leads us to misery, but when we look to Christ, our mistakes become beautiful. 

Machetes and Conference

Machete

I wielded my first machete this week. I read 7.2.2 in our  missionary handbook and for the record it doesn't say anything about Machetes, so this service project is legal.

But basically, there's a family here who've got this really large annoying plant that has these leaves that cut and pinch and hurt like crazy. But this plant has overgrown and now the only way to leave the house is blocked by this crazy plant. 

We offered to help and they readily accepted, pulling out the machete, showing us how it's done and letting us go at it. I will say I think I lack the rage to properly wield a machete, but it was fun to try. I don't know how much help I was in this service project, but I do know that after a while they pulled out the scissors and told me to just cut the leaves off. 

Housing Troubles

In other news the world of housing is rough here as our "brand new" apartment breaks every 5 seconds. We have spent many hours this week in our apartment as people come to try and fix the problem. As of right now we don't have heating (Winter is starting and we're getting into the 50s), and our bathroom doesn't really work. But fear not! 

The other day we got a text from one of the people in charge of housing asking us if we were in the house. We asked why, and then she told us not to worry about it, it was just for the next move. So looks like we'll be moving again at some point and the problems of this house will be left in the past. 

General Conference! 

General Conference was so good and so special! I love getting the chance to hear from prophets and apostles and receive revelation especially for me. One big theme I found from this Conference was being Christ focused. When we are striving to be like Jesus, or at least develop his attributes, we have nothing to fear. 

As we desire to be like him, as we desire to keep Christ at the center of our lives, we can be confident everything will work out. Life is hard, it has its challenges, but when we are centered on Christ, we find that it is through the trials that we find greater joy.

General Conference!

 

Babysitting

Trucho

Getting right into things, this week we got absolutely bamboozled, fooled, tricked, and downright made fools of. 

Basically this member told us about her friend. She's been talking to her friend about the gospel and she really thinks that her friend would be open to learning some more. So we go over to her friend's house and we knock and we talk to this woman, let's call her Sarah. So we talk to Sarah about the gospel and ask if she'd be interested if we passed by another day to talk some more. 

She's enthusiastic and says yes! So we write down her phone number, plan to come by bright and early the next day. So we wake up, rush to get ready and basically run to her house which is a nice long walk from our apartment. 

We get there and she says "Pass right on in, my mother in law is waiting for you in the back!" We're confused, but we follow her, she takes us to a little house behind her house then says, "I've got to run to the store but I'll be back soon." 

So we're sitting there with this mother-in-law, who is quite up there in age, and as we began talking with her, we realized not fully mentally there. So we chat with her a bit, try to understand her ramblings, talk about the gospel, all the while waiting for Sarah to return. After about 45 minutes we realize we can't wait anymore because we have a lesson to get to. 

So we leave and we knock Sarah's door. She opens it (apparently returned from her shopping trip) and says "Oh you're already done?" And we're like, "yeah we've got to go. But when can we come back to share with you?" 

She goes "Come by whenever you want, my mother in law can't really go anywhere so she's always bored!" 

And we go "No. When can we come by to teach you?" 

And she's like, "I don't know, I'm always busy, but you have my number so we can coordinate, my mother in law is always here." 

Quick recap, we babysat this woman's mother-in-law and now she wants us to come back and do it again

Translado de Emergencia!

I've been noticing a trend in this mission. For those who don't know every 6 weeks we get a call that tells us whether we're staying in our area or changing city. So every period of 6 weeks is called a transfer. An Emergency transfer is a change of area that happens in between these 6 week periods. 

Basically I've started to notice that every other transfer is a transfer full of emergency transfers! Last transfer, there wasn't any, the transfer before that, a bunch, the transfer before that, nothing. Anyways right now we're in the Transfer of Emergency because there are transfers happening left and right! 

To sum things up, 

- My beloved ex-companion Hermana Robbins left the zone :-(

- My district leader Elder Maldonado got exchanged for Elder Castillo

- 2 different sets of Hermanas in my zone are being replaced by elders

- My district leader and his companion received another companion today making them a trio

There were a lot more emergency transfers than just those ones, but these are just the ones happening in my zone. Anyways prayers for me and my dear Hermana Orellano because I do not want to be separated from her. 

Other thingssss

- Invited 2 people to be baptized this week! They both said yes but not right now 🫠

- Our Mission Leader got changed and he's a young ex-missionary who gives awesome advice! 

- Had the best Consejo De Districto ever and now me and my companion are more motived than ever before 🔥

- We tried to play matchmaker for some of the young single adults in the ward 🤭

- A missionary just got home in this ward and watching him reunite with his family got me feeling trunky 🤪

Spiritual! 

Read "The Imperfect Harvest" from April 2023, by Elder Stanfill

Elder Stanfill talks about when he was a child on his dad's farm and how they had a machine to harvest their wheat, he says, 

"After [my dad] was satisfied with the adjustments to the machine, I found some kernels of grain in the chaff on the ground and presented them to him with a critical look. I will not forget what my father said to me: “It is good enough and the best that this machine can do.” Not really satisfied with his explanation, I pondered the imperfections of this harvest. A short time later, when the weather turned cold in the evenings, I watched thousands of migrating swans, geese, and ducks descend onto the fields to nourish themselves on their long journey south. They ate the leftover grain from our imperfect harvest. God had perfected it. And not a kernel was lost." 

I love this talk and I wish I could share all of with you. I encourage everyone to go read it if you're feeling imperfect or like your efforts don't matter. This week I've struggled with feeling inadequate, like my Spanish isn't good enough or I'm not learning fast enough, like I'm not as good of a missionary as this other person, or this person didn't get baptized so I failed. 

But I love how in this talk the father says, "it's the best that this machine can do." We are all different, some "produce a hundredfold, some sixty, and others thirty. All are part of His perfect harvest." 

Some people will be better at something than you, someone will always be richer, smarter, a faster learner, a better basketball player, a better mom. But you're not competing with them. You are part of God's perfect harvest, your race is not against others, it's against yourself. 

Comparisons with others either leave us feeling prideful and like we're better, or depressed and discouraged. My invitation is to choose today to let go of the comparisons and focus on being better than the you from yesterday.