Hola!!
Ahora ya es el último semana de mi qinto traslado! ¡No puedo creer! We had another great week. The other day we were walking to our next appointment when we ran into a "Rolo" (R, a recent convert--15ish years old). He told us that his dad was home and that we could stop by if we wanted. Rolo is the only member in his family so we decided that we'd take him up on his offer! We ended up having a really great lesson with his dad and his twin sisters, and a few days later when we had another lesson with them they told us that they had been reading the scriptures together! We were so excited, we hadn't even told them to do that! Since Rolo is a member they already had a basic idea of the beliefs of our church, so we had a brief first lesson with them and all three of them agreed to be baptized! We are really excited for them. The parents recently got divorced and are going through a tough time financially, so we know the gospel is just the thing they need to have more unity and happiness in their family.
Another day this week Hermana Orton and I were out working. The day previous we noticed that we needed to plan something else to do for about an hour from 11:00-12:00pm, so in order to use the Lord's time efficiently, so chose a street to knock doors. So we started knocking doors, and this one house with a big gate out front really stood out. We knocked it (clapped) and a man came out who wasn't very nice, but he went and got his 16-year-old son. It turns out that his son is a member! He is a less active because he just moved to Puerto and never found out what time and where church was. We were able to tell him all of that and invited him to play fútbol with the youth that week. As we were leaving his house we realized we weren't even on the right street! We got a pretty good laugh. Yet that experience taught me that we aren't perfect, but "who the Lord calls, he qualifies." Yeah, we weren't on the right street, but we were still in the right place at the right time so that we could find that boy!
Puerto is starting to get pretty cold. I am now remembering how spoiled I was to have two summers in a row!
I hope you all are doing well! Enjoy some March Madness for me! ;)
-Hermana Vawdrey
March 26, 2012
March 20, 2012
Who the Lord calls, He qualifies!
Hello Hello!
Sorry for the scare, we had Zone Conference yesterday so we had to switch our Internet time to today. But all is well! It was a busy week. Things are still going great with the ward missionaries. We have five of them that we work with regularly, and they are awesome! This week we did divisiones with them three times, and to be completely honest? It's absolutely terrifying! I have to be senior companion during all that and I still feel like a brand new missionary. I'm learning though how much trust the Lord has in me and how much potential He has for me to grow and feel more comfortable to teach. And to teach in a foreign language. In the blessing that our Ward mission leader gave me the other week he promised me that the gift of tongues would come in los momentos difíciles. Well...those divisions are "difficult moments" and I can bear testimony that the gift of tongues is always present. So cool. Who the Lord calls, He qualifies!
S and S are two of the people we are teaching right now. They are great! They aren't married, have a six-year-old daughter, and they both work two jobs. They are super busy, but they really look forward to the time with "las misioneras." The other day we had a lesson with them and we asked S (husband) to say the prayer. He started it: "Nuestro Padre Celestial..." His "wife" said all the stuff in the middle, and then he ended "en el nombre de JesuCristo, Amen." haha We had a good laugh after. Obviously we'll need to teach how to pray again. :) ha But at least they are trying! S (wife) has come to church two weeks in a row on her own now, so we are really excited for her. He still has yet to go though, so we need to work with him. We have a lot of faith that they will keep progressing towards baptism. :) Just yesterday she told us, "The first time I went to church I went because you told me to. I felt obligated! But now I want to. I know it's something that I need to do." YES! What a great "missionary paycheck" it was to hear that!
I don't have much time left, but thank you all for your support. Yo sé que Dios quiere que yo esté en Puerto-Mar del Plata en ese tiempo. Sé que el poder de la oracion es real. Podemos recibir toda la fuerze necesitamos a seguir los sursurros del Espíritu Santo. ¡Dios nos ama mucho!
Que esté bien!
-Hermana Vawdrey
Sorry for the scare, we had Zone Conference yesterday so we had to switch our Internet time to today. But all is well! It was a busy week. Things are still going great with the ward missionaries. We have five of them that we work with regularly, and they are awesome! This week we did divisiones with them three times, and to be completely honest? It's absolutely terrifying! I have to be senior companion during all that and I still feel like a brand new missionary. I'm learning though how much trust the Lord has in me and how much potential He has for me to grow and feel more comfortable to teach. And to teach in a foreign language. In the blessing that our Ward mission leader gave me the other week he promised me that the gift of tongues would come in los momentos difíciles. Well...those divisions are "difficult moments" and I can bear testimony that the gift of tongues is always present. So cool. Who the Lord calls, He qualifies!
S and S are two of the people we are teaching right now. They are great! They aren't married, have a six-year-old daughter, and they both work two jobs. They are super busy, but they really look forward to the time with "las misioneras." The other day we had a lesson with them and we asked S (husband) to say the prayer. He started it: "Nuestro Padre Celestial..." His "wife" said all the stuff in the middle, and then he ended "en el nombre de JesuCristo, Amen." haha We had a good laugh after. Obviously we'll need to teach how to pray again. :) ha But at least they are trying! S (wife) has come to church two weeks in a row on her own now, so we are really excited for her. He still has yet to go though, so we need to work with him. We have a lot of faith that they will keep progressing towards baptism. :) Just yesterday she told us, "The first time I went to church I went because you told me to. I felt obligated! But now I want to. I know it's something that I need to do." YES! What a great "missionary paycheck" it was to hear that!
I don't have much time left, but thank you all for your support. Yo sé que Dios quiere que yo esté en Puerto-Mar del Plata en ese tiempo. Sé que el poder de la oracion es real. Podemos recibir toda la fuerze necesitamos a seguir los sursurros del Espíritu Santo. ¡Dios nos ama mucho!
Que esté bien!
-Hermana Vawdrey
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| All the Elders that were in my travel group to Argentina |
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| Las Hermanas en Mar del Plata |
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| Hermana Detlefsen |
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| Our District: Elder Galan, Elder Forbes (District Leader), y Hermana Orton |
March 12, 2012
There is always a way
Wow. What a week. I don't know where to start. We honestly had the lowest lows and the highest highs. I learned so much, and my testimony and my desire to work harder is so much stronger! That's life though, right?
First of all, things are unfortunately a little rocky with all of our investigators right now. Hermana Orton and I were getting a little discouraged at one point because of how hard we are working and how little of a reward/success we are seeing. We know logically that every bit of missionary work is important even if you don't immediately see results...but sometimes it's hard to really remember that. Satan is so good at making us feel discouraged, it's not even funny.
One of our ward missionaries had a day like this too this week, and we learned a lot with him. I was reviewing lesson two one day--the Plan of Salvation so that I could be ready to teach it to one of our investigators, and I re-learned something really important. When we came to the earth we passed through the veil, which means we forgot a lot of things about our pre-earth life. We lost a lot of our perspective, and we are now here to learn again what the purpose of life is. But what helped me so much is that Satan didn't have to pass through the veil. That's why he's so good at making us feel discouraged sometimes, because he knows just what to do, and just what thoughts to put into our mind so that we feel inadequate. Yet! The gospel is a gospel of hope because the Lord sent us to Earth to have success! The Lord called me to the Bahía Blanca mission to have success! The Lord gave all of you the challenges and trials that you have because he believes in you and your strengths, and knows that you will have success! I love it. With the gospel there is always a way.
Our ward mission leader gave both Hermana Orton and I a blessing this week. It was really neat to hear in Castellano what my Heavenly Father specifically wanted me to hear in that exact moment. I know he knows me personally, better than I know myself! He knows where I am, what my questions and concerns are, he hears my prayers, and he blesses me every day! All I have to do is look for the little blessings!
One of the recent converts in our ward got really sick this week. In all honestly, I'm not really sure what exactly happened, but she had to go to the hospital for some heart condition, and then the rest of the week she has been home pretty much on bed rest. She and her husband are some of the humblest people I have met. They live in what the call here: ¨the Villa." It's an area of old train tracks where the more poor people scramble anything they can find to try to build a house. Their home is so simple. (It'd probably fit in our garage...with room to spare!) They have dirt floors, a door that stays shut only when tied with rope, a hose for their kitchen sink, a tiny little table, and random little odds and ends that they have probably found in abandoned houses or in the street. Yet they have both the picture of Christ and a picture of the temple that the missionaries gave them when they were baptized. :) It's amazing how strong the spirit is in their home. We went by to visit G a couple times, and I am humbled every time to see how much more "rich" they are now that they have the gospel. All the little material worldly things really don't matter!
Thank you everyone for your support! I hope you're all doing well!
-Hermana Vawdrey
First of all, things are unfortunately a little rocky with all of our investigators right now. Hermana Orton and I were getting a little discouraged at one point because of how hard we are working and how little of a reward/success we are seeing. We know logically that every bit of missionary work is important even if you don't immediately see results...but sometimes it's hard to really remember that. Satan is so good at making us feel discouraged, it's not even funny.
One of our ward missionaries had a day like this too this week, and we learned a lot with him. I was reviewing lesson two one day--the Plan of Salvation so that I could be ready to teach it to one of our investigators, and I re-learned something really important. When we came to the earth we passed through the veil, which means we forgot a lot of things about our pre-earth life. We lost a lot of our perspective, and we are now here to learn again what the purpose of life is. But what helped me so much is that Satan didn't have to pass through the veil. That's why he's so good at making us feel discouraged sometimes, because he knows just what to do, and just what thoughts to put into our mind so that we feel inadequate. Yet! The gospel is a gospel of hope because the Lord sent us to Earth to have success! The Lord called me to the Bahía Blanca mission to have success! The Lord gave all of you the challenges and trials that you have because he believes in you and your strengths, and knows that you will have success! I love it. With the gospel there is always a way.
Our ward mission leader gave both Hermana Orton and I a blessing this week. It was really neat to hear in Castellano what my Heavenly Father specifically wanted me to hear in that exact moment. I know he knows me personally, better than I know myself! He knows where I am, what my questions and concerns are, he hears my prayers, and he blesses me every day! All I have to do is look for the little blessings!
One of the recent converts in our ward got really sick this week. In all honestly, I'm not really sure what exactly happened, but she had to go to the hospital for some heart condition, and then the rest of the week she has been home pretty much on bed rest. She and her husband are some of the humblest people I have met. They live in what the call here: ¨the Villa." It's an area of old train tracks where the more poor people scramble anything they can find to try to build a house. Their home is so simple. (It'd probably fit in our garage...with room to spare!) They have dirt floors, a door that stays shut only when tied with rope, a hose for their kitchen sink, a tiny little table, and random little odds and ends that they have probably found in abandoned houses or in the street. Yet they have both the picture of Christ and a picture of the temple that the missionaries gave them when they were baptized. :) It's amazing how strong the spirit is in their home. We went by to visit G a couple times, and I am humbled every time to see how much more "rich" they are now that they have the gospel. All the little material worldly things really don't matter!
Thank you everyone for your support! I hope you're all doing well!
-Hermana Vawdrey
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| After eating our Valentine's ring pops! :) |
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| Mire, we found a restaurant called La Restauración! We HAD to take a picture. |
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| The famous calendar |
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| The beach! |
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| The famous spot on the pier! Mar del Plata! |
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| The beach! |
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| The famous lobo statues |
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| Mi compa y yo |
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| One of our ward missionaries |
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| A yummy pizza we ate with our ward missionary |
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| A view from our roof |
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| Another view from our roof |
March 6, 2012
Barrio Puerto es buenísimo!
It's been an eventful week! In ways that we hadn't planned...but it was good! I'm probably going to say this every week, but I am so glad and excited to be companions with Hermana Orton. She is great. This week she celebrated her one year mark in her mission! We celebrated with Oreos and peanut butter--her all time favorite foods. I think she's got me hooked.
We've been teaching this cute little boy lately. He's eight, and is the cutest thing ever. His parents aren't members and really don't want to have anything to do with the church, but they live in an apartment behind his grandma's house, who is a member...so that's how we got the reference to start teaching him. He has already been to church several times, so when we had our first lesson with him he was practically teaching us! So awesome! We got to the part about Joseph Smith, and he was like "Yeah, I already know about him. He was a prophet!" haha And then we started talking about the Book of Mormon, and he was like "Yeah, I know. El Libro de Mormón es verdadero!" He's practically teaching us! It's awesome! We're just praying that his parents will still let him keep preparing himself for baptism.
The ward missionaries have been helping us a lot, and it's great! They come with us to lessons almost every day, and it is so fun to see them bear their testimony and get a love for missionary work. Our ward missionary leader is dynamite too. Barrio Puerto es buenísimo!
This week was interesting because we didn't necessarily find very many new investigators like we had planned...but we found several recent converts that seemed to have "dropped off the face of the earth!" There were three of them that no one has able to find for months, yet we were able to find all of them this week! It was interesting to see everything fall into place because at first we were a little discouraged that we were putting too much thought and effort into following the Spirit to plan where we needed to be to find new investigators...but really the Lord had something different in mind for us this week. He needed us to help strengthen His other children right now. It was humbling to see that even though we weren't finding new investigators, we were still where we needed to be, at the right time, so that we could help the Lord with His work. :)
On Friday we had an esfuerzo in our area. This is where our District Leader and our Zone Leaders came to our area for a few hours to help us find new investigators. They weren't able to find new investigators like we had originally planned, yet it was a little comforting that it's not just us that have trouble finding nuevos! But we're all learning together that all missionary work is important to the Lord. This area is where I specifically need to be right now and I have experiences that remind me of this each and every day. :)
Amigos, la iglesia es verdadero! No tengo ninguna duda que la iglesia es la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días. ¡Él vive, y va a venir otra vez!
Su Misionerita,
-Hermana Vawdrey
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| Happy birthday, Hna Orton! |
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| Oreos and Peanut Butter. Mmm! |
The ward missionaries have been helping us a lot, and it's great! They come with us to lessons almost every day, and it is so fun to see them bear their testimony and get a love for missionary work. Our ward missionary leader is dynamite too. Barrio Puerto es buenísimo!
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| Barrio Puerto ward missionaries |
On Friday we had an esfuerzo in our area. This is where our District Leader and our Zone Leaders came to our area for a few hours to help us find new investigators. They weren't able to find new investigators like we had originally planned, yet it was a little comforting that it's not just us that have trouble finding nuevos! But we're all learning together that all missionary work is important to the Lord. This area is where I specifically need to be right now and I have experiences that remind me of this each and every day. :)
Amigos, la iglesia es verdadero! No tengo ninguna duda que la iglesia es la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días. ¡Él vive, y va a venir otra vez!
Su Misionerita,
-Hermana Vawdrey
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| We wake up to a sunrise like this every morning. :) HERMOSO!! |
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| This morning!! |
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| 20 minutes later. haha |
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| We got our Valentine's day package! Thanks! |
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| You know you're a sister missionary when you have weird tan lines on your feet... (These are after they have faded for 2 months too!) |
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