Hey hey hey. These pictures are loading quickly so this will hopefully be a Picture filled day!
My new companion arrived on Wednesday after a crazy amazing day of getting to sleep and KIND of catch up on the time difference and resulting jetlag. Dear Hermana ERICKSON is now with us in Congreso. At the mission home, President let us know that Hna Dunn WON´T be with us the whole transfer but that arrangements are being made to get her new companion up (from the south, we think) and things put in order to open a NEW SISTER AREA!!! Hooray!!!! Like mother, like daughter haha, I had warned Hna Shelley that since that´s how I was trained and how SHE was trained, that´s how someday, she will eventually train! It´s been amazing to see how the sisters are answering the Prophet´s call to serve. 4 more sisters joined the ranks of Buenos Aires North missionaries! We BAPTIZE! We have, at last count, 30 sisters!!!! WOOOOOWWWW!!!!! If I counted wrong, we might only have 29 but I´m pretty sure that´s about right. HOW AWESOME!
Hermana Erickson is from Chicago but has lived in California and Utah (Provo) so she gets the west coast stuff that Hna Dunn and I know. I feel like I´ve been in a time bubble because of all the things that she and Hna Dunn can talk about and I have no idea what they mean. And Hermana Erickson´s iPod nano is like the size of my really old iPod shuffle and I´m just really behind on stuff...that´s all.
Anywho, it was super great going to get her from the mission home, especially since it was so different from last time with Hna Shelley. Oh, before I forget, remember Elder Neilsen from my MTC district and how he´s the only one I´ve got from those olden days? Now I talk to him all the time (not ALL the time, obviously) but he´s the secretary to the President so in the offices, he´s got to get all the info to the trainers and is just in charge of a lot of stuff. I´m just really excited that he´s doing so well and that he´s close! I don´t want that to sound weird but remember that he´s like seeing Brett or Sam. If my siblings and I were working in the same job/profession or whatnot, if we were on the same floor or same office (you get the point) it would just be fun to see them!!!!
Back to the sisters. 4 more. 4 wonderful sisters. Hna Gutierrez was the lucky one who will have her first area in the SOUTH so while she was waiting for her flight to the south, President and the secretaries made arrangements for her to come home with US to CONGRESO............
So happy to receive her favorite things!!
Loving family and friends, thank you!!
Nutella is great for crepes, so are the peanut butter M&Ms
YUUUUUMMY!!!
Presents for Hna Dunn also!!
Email # 2 more pics and more letter.... ………hey more pics…..
but if you were doing the math on HOW MANY sisters were going to Congreso....
you´ve got ME....
my new comp: Hna Erickson
my lovely trio comp: Hna Dunn
AND a flight-wait-er comp: Hna Gutierrez!
FOUR SISTERS in one area! What does that mean???.....
…….DIVISIONS!!! haha my favorite. Twice as much work in the same amount of time. And we went CRAZY!!
Our living room (the only other room that ISN´T where we sleep or shower) was the suitcase room. But we got to go see so many people!
We got great things done and I loved the sisters but it was a LOT of stress and responsibility on ME. Three sisters, two brand-new to the country and one just finished training but ALL ROCKSTARS! THEN I was trying to coordinate who was going where and with which member and when we would meet back up again and all sorts of craziness. Just the fact that I´m writing these emails is proof that the Lord prepares the called, when assigned by your priesthood authority to do something, even if you think you can´t do it, you really CAN. It´s the power of the Spirit of the Lord.
RICARDO is my miracle of the week. He was a referral from Ushuaia and we couldn´t contact him for forever. We finally went one random day that he popped into our heads (which means the SPIRIT led us there) and we FOUND HIM! We couldn´t teach him much because he lives alone but we gave him a Book of Mormon and an invitation to church. Then, he kind of fell off the face of the earth. But THEN!!!!........
Argentine pants
We love them!!
Email # 3 so many pics.... (Send pic 101 to hna shelley. SHe´ll DIE! Haha)
…….so then Ricardo, called US! It was like in the best two years and I nearly cried. But we went and taught him. We read 1 Nephi 1 with him and he loved it. Then we left one more chapter for him to read for the next day. We went back the next day and he had read all the way to chapter 13!!! I LOVE IT! He is just plowing through all the goodness of the Book and he’s loving it. The member that we were with (a future sister missionary to Colombia, leaves in February) told him that there was a baptism in her ward the next day (Saturday) and he asked if anyone could go and see. OF COURSE! We took him and he liked that. He came to church yesterday along with 4 MORE of our investigators (all MEN by the way!) and he liked that too. BUT he´s LEAVING TO CORDOBA!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! He is going out there on some business with his mother and doesn´t know when he´ll be bacK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sad but he´s still going to get baptized. Maybe not as soon as we thought and hoped but, he WILL. He´s taking the Book of Mormon with him so all is well. I love this work and we see miracles all the time. I love being with the new missionaries because they aren´t tired yet. Maybe a little sleepy but their feet are soft and callous-free, their backs are strong and their wills freshly renewed from making and remembering the eternal covenant we made with our Heavenly Father in the Temple. I am starting to forget the little things. Makes me really sad. I didn´t think I could ever miss the Temple like this.
First stop in Utah, SALT LAKE TEMPLE? I want to do that as a missionary IF POSSIBLE. We have a while to worry about that anyway haha. Love you all!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
This season will be the most wonderful that I can muster. The Lord´s great work for 2 Christmases in a row. I can´t believe I am so blessed. I get emotional every time I think about the power of the Gospel, the blessing of the priesthood and the miraculous opportunity the Lord gives us to serve and learn and grow and work for Him full time. I talked about Ruth in one of our lessons, again, and my amazing little brothers. I am so overwhelmed with joy when I think of them and Dad´s story about the talk Brother Garbett gave about them. They have learned what President Eyring talked about in priesthood session, priesthood staying power is to work a little longer and push forward past the point others would have taken a rest. I love it. I had to come here to learn it and they will enter the MTC and get to their mission fields already having practiced it for years.
I love you, each and every one of you.
If I was born in my family ONLY to serve here in this area of the world, all the experiences I have had and endured, family things, especially my mom´s illness, then it is PROOF that our lives are not our own but that our Father in Heaven places us where we need to be and gives us experiences we need to have in order to serve and bless others in His due time.
In this ward, I think I mentioned that it´s really great for the visitors because of all the hotels here and random people show up every week. But it´s also where people from other parts of the country come to stay when they are here for medical treatments. The members from all over Argentina end up in Barrio Congreso. There has been a brother and his wife here because he received a kidney transplant, another sister accompanied by one of her sons for her chemo treatments and others. Just by being my mother´s daughter, I was able to extend the loving words I did years ago to my own mother and family. I could just hug them and let them know that they could do it; they could make it through too. Our Savior´s atonement makes our healing possible, my experience with similar illnesses, seeing it from the outside, made possible that my heart was open to express the Savior´s charity.
I love the Savior. I love my Father in Heaven and thank Him every day for the family he has blessed me with. I love you and I know that this is true. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Until next week,
Hermana Gonzalez
Hna Pinto and Hna Dunn
Hna Gonzalez and Hna Pinto
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