Thanks Hna CAMILLY for the update!! I was SOOO happy to hear from you. I have a story for you and Alipio: so Hna Dunn went to her new area and new companion with all sorts of great hopes and things are going well as far as I know. She said that her new companion did NOT like the Brother of Jared´s skin!!! Remember when Hna Dunn SCREAMED when it was in her hand and she threw it on the table with the food that first time??? haha apparently her new companion´s reaction was WAAAY better. haha I thought Alipio would really appreciate that. Hna Dunn had to take that page out of her memory book and hide it until her companion leaves :)
EMMA bo bemma!!! I LOVE hearing that you have had such great testimony building experiences in DC and that you are loving it. I will TOTALLY go back east with you someday and you´ll have to show me around a town I know I’m BOUND to love! Keep being amazing like you are and remember always that I love you! The Church is true!
ANGELICA!!! You TALK about me all the time? I know, I know. You love me. But I DO expect you to dedicate at LEAST 3 biscuit nights to me to catch up on all the stuff you HAVEN¨T TOLD ME! I don´t worry that you will, it´s just when. What´s your Alaska stuff looking like? P.S. WHO is the guy that served here?? NAMES please? Well, I love you my dearest!
I don´t know if you can send these to them by email or what. I know that all these lovely ladies read my blog often. My favorite stalkers for sure :) haha I have a stalker story for you all later :) don´t worry it´s not scary, it´s actually really funny. Well, it was to me at least.
This week was INCREDIBLE!! I decided that the end of the mission is DEFINITELY the best. I can´t believe it but then again, God is a God of miracles. EVERY day is my new favorite day of the mission. We get home EXHAUSTED beyond all reason of course but we are on FIRE! Well, the MEMBERS are really. We have had the success because we have been receiving the Lord´s vision for this area and it lies in doing our part to help the MEMBERS fulfill their missionary responsibilities. I mean, when a member has a referral of a friend that wants to hear us, they come RUNNING. They don´t have to putter around, we don´t have to tear the referral from the hands or anything. This week we had 7 of these great people in Church with us and one will be getting baptized this coming Sunday. She is so great and is so excited! She´s like Enrique and has been telling everyone and inviting them to be there! Ana Laura. She´s 12 and fell in love with the Young Women´s program and the hymns and music and then read the Book of Mormon and noticed right away that it was special. She´s amazing! I´ll send pics next week!
We are preparing a great little family too and a wonderful woman who is fighting to get out of a bad, very harmful relationship. I love her and she is so great and has a powerful testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and how it is true by what? Praying and reading. She prayed and picked up the Book and found her answer right away. So GREAT! I love knowing that the good news we bring, the Gospel message, is what EVERYONE needs, regardless of situation or problem. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for every one of us.
We have been going to the hospital quite a bit this week because that´s just how Argentina medicine works (we´ll talk about health care when I´m NOT Hermana Gonzalez, don´t get me started) if someone gets sick, to the hospital. Fall and your knee still hurts 2 days later, go to the hospital. If your nose is runny, go to the hospital. Anyway, Hna Shelley got some weird red spots on her body and we were told to go to the hospital to figure it out. Anyway, the subsequent visits were to get an appointment with a dermatologist, get blood drawn, a delicious throat swab etc. Well, the point of the story is that I noticed when we were there at 6 am to get in line for the tests that Argentina has ZERO vending machines. I had never thought about it until we were sitting there in SILENCE, in a HOSPITAL. I have spent a good amount of time in hospitals and the familiar hum of the vending machines was absent and so it clicked. NO vending machines anywhere in Argentina. WOW! BUT there are dispensas/kioskos on every block which serve the same purpose. haha Just a little side thing that I discovered this week that changed my life. Also, learned how to make yogurt this week. Another life-changer.
This past Thursday, the 8th of march, was Día de la Mujer. Everyone was really friendly and wished us a good day all day. We took advantage of the day to get in touch with some of our tougher peeps. There are less active families that NEVER let us in to teach or they are all friendly and everything UNTIL we start to remind them about Church on Sunday then all the friendly goes out the door. So we took delicious banana bread to a sister that isn´t our biggest fan and we saw as the bread melted her heart a little, she smiled, let us in and it was great!! Hooray!!! We took more bread around to all of our appointments that day and ended with a big empty tupperware and happy hearts lifted all over Ushuaia! Oh the love and tenderness of small acts of kindness!
Hna Shelley asked me a really great question this week. We were enjoying really great facturas and she thoughtfully asked, ´why are pregnant women so cute, but fat missionaries aren´t?´ hahaha I would really like to know the answer but hey, it might be one of those mysteries that we won´t get to know until the other side. I might come home slightly round but not for a lack of trying. It´s cold, ok? Everywhere we go, they ask us if we are cold or hungry and without listening for an answer, they get out something to snack on and get the hot water on the stove. Bummer that it´s too wonderful to turn down a warm cup of boldo (not sure if that´s the same herb in English) on these cold days. Whew.
Well, the funny stalking story real quick. We have this recent convert that is doing great. She´s super faithful and is learning a lot and very quickly. She sometimes brings a lot of what she would have said in her ´former´ life to apply now and we have to remember to correct her like a child. She calls us her baby because she´s learning like a child. She´s been baptized for almost 5 months and has had some issues with an ex-boyfriend that she just chooses to suffer over. Well, we got that guy out of the picture, I mean, not US as missionaries, but she finally just closed the door on that. BUT all of a sudden we get this NEW guy on the scene. He´s already tons better than the last guy because he came to Church, is reading the Book of Mormon and all BUT is not being a fan. We were teaching this new member last night and he came over. She got all red and blushy! Like a little teenager. haha I called her out because he went to the other room to not pray with us (baby steps) and she wouldn´t confess. Anywho, we left all together because she said she was going to go meet some friends and this new guy had come to get her and go. We went separate ways after getting out to the street from the apartment. As she was walking I had this crazy ´protect her´ sensation so we watched as they crossed the street. It looked like they were holding hands!! So we ran down the block to see them cross the next street (good thing the blocks here are shorter than the city blocks in Capital) and we ran down and hid in a darkened doorway to watch them walk by. We followed them a good long while, laughing and giggling all the way because of my craziness. We stalked them until they got in a taxi and drove away but it looked like good friendly time so we walked home still talking about this new guy. We´ll be keeping our eye on him.....Then, Hna Shelley, always the worry-er (can´t spell), said she hoped no one called the cops on our creeper behavior, and if they did, she hoped Hno Franco (our ward mission leader haha) would be the one called to come. hahaha
haha anywho love the work. We are looking to help a lot more members catch the vision of every member a missionary and getting a STAKE here in Ushuaia.
I love this work. I know the Church is true!!
Love you all,
Have a wonderfully fantastic week!!
Hermana Gonzalez
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