We just need to trust Him

Today I'm starting another transfer! It's so crazy how fast time is going by. I'm going to hit my one year mark in the mission next week. SO WEIRD! We received transfer calls this passed Friday and I will be staying here in Puerto with Hermana Newton. I'm excited to have more time to serve and learn with her. We work well together and I'm excited to see what miracles will come during this transfer. There was a surprise however, because Hermana Linco was transfered back to Bahía to Barrio Hospital. She was only here in Puerto for one transfer--6 weeks, but it's been neat to see how that was the will of the Lord. Hermana Jensen will also be staying in Puerto and she's going to be training! I am super excited for her. I think the world of her and I'm excited that we get to be here together in Puerto a little bit longer.

Luckily it's starting to warm up here in Mar del Plata. It's still weird to say that it's August and I walk around in a coat all day! Spring is coming however, and we're looking forward to it.

Big news! The Puerto (port) is going to open up again! I can't even remember if I had told you if it closed...Hmm. Well, like half of the people here work out in the Puerto and work with the fish and everything. There was some law that passed a few months ago that required people to pay an extra expensive fee. This put lots of people out of work and the Puerto ended up closing. Things were bad for about 4 months because people didn't have work, money, food, or anything. But news is that it's going to open up again and people will have work! Yay! The people already seem to be a little happier today. :)

Missionary work is going well here. We taught two guys a lot this week: E and M. They're super evangelico so they say Amen after just about every sentence we say. haha Or they call us their Angeles. Oh dear... But they're reading the Book of Mormon and love talking about Jesus. :)

This week I really studied a lot about obedience. I love in the Pearl of Great Price in Moses 5:6-7 when the angel asks Adam why he offers sacrifices. He responds to say that he does it because the Lord told him to, even though he doesn't understand why. What faith and obedience! I hope to be like that one day to do things even without an explanation why, because if the Lord tells us to do something there's no reason to doubt! He knows what he's doing, and all we need to do is trust Him.

One last thought from the famous Preach My Gospel: "As you obey, you increase in faith, knowledge, wisdom, testimony, protection, and freedom."

Hope all is well!
Besos!
-Hermana Vawdrey

Mi Distrito

Mom's famous cheese braid is now famous in Argentina too!

Don't forget the ducks!

Hey everyone!

It's already been another week? It was a good one. Yesterday especially was a day of miracles! My testimony of fasting was strengthened a lot. Three of our investigators went to church, and all three of them absolutely loved it! It was incredible to see them be touched by the spirit.

My Castellano still improves every day, and there is at least one day a week when I have a moment when I remember that:

1. I live in a foreign country

2. I speak a foreign language

3. I do it everyday like it's no big deal

That's crazy! And it would NOT be possible without the Lord. I love how much I am learning and I am grateful everyday for the chance to teach the gospel and also strengthen my relationship with my Father in Heaven

This week there were a couple moments with my Spanish where I said something funny without knowing what I said. I had to tell you! First of all, the other day I was explaining the steps of prayer. I told E that he could read the basic steps of the prayer on the paper if it would help. Only I didn't say "steps" (pasos), I said "ducks" (patos)! ha "Follow the ducks!" Yeah. Don't forget to do that...hahah We got a good laugh.

Then, last night we were talking to this guy who kinda mumbles when he talks. He gave us a piece of this cake he made and then he kept talking about random stuff about the US and some airlines. Very random. He asked me a question and I thought he asked me if I like brownies. So I was like, "Yeah! I like brownies!" No, it turns out he was still talking about airlines. He was talking about some company that sounds like brownies I guess. Maybe I was hungry? haha

We love our investigators. One of them, Ed is super open to learning about the gospel and talks about his baptism all the time. M and E and friends, they both have studied religion a lot and are looking for the truth.

Hermana Newton and I took the challenge of Presidente Detelfsen to read the Book of Mormon in 30 days, and today we FINISHED! Man, it feels so good! I love that book. I know it's true. I always yearn and crave to read it more. I was sad to finish it because I didn't want it to be over! I plan on starting it over again to see what the Lord has in store for me learn from it this time. :)

All right, this letter has been really random. Sorry about that. My finger tips are now too cold to feel the keyboard, but I hope all is well! I love you all!

-Hermana Vawdrey

PS: I got my scripture tapas!! (leather covers) They turned out so good. I am so excited about them.

 

PSS: Spring Hollow Relief Society, thank you for the recipe book!! My companion and I are using it, and the recipes are so great!

PSSS: Grandma Rodgers, thank you for writing me so faithfully!

Bible cover

Triple Combination cover

Quad cover

Hermana Vawdrey teaching her companions to smile with a hidden top lip

Our sweet washing machine in the kitchen

A much nicer living room than our last apartment!

Answers to questions from home:

Q: Where do you clean your clothes? Laundry mat/members house?

A: We recently got an AUTOMATIC laundry washer! We're so excited, and really spoiled. We air dry the clothes after, but there is a spin cycle on the machine so normally they're pretty dry when we take them out. Before we had to take it to a laundry mat--super expensive. :(

Q: Are your clothes holding up okay?

A: My clothes are doing good! No worries :)

Q: Are you healthy?

A: Yes :) And in every blessing I have ever gotten on my mission the Lord always blesses me again with good health.

Q: When we mail packages or mail how long does it take before it gets to you?

A: 3-ish weeks. Sometimes it takes awhile for the mission home to mail it out to Mar del Plata though. So it depends.

Q: Tell us more about your new companion.

A: Hermana Natalie Patricia Newton: That's cool you´re friends with her mom through missionary mom! She's a great missionary. We're similar in a lot of ways and get along great. :) Went to BYU, almost got married, called off the wedding, went on a mission...She's studying nutrition. Is an incredible teacher. Super smiley, energetic. Oldest of 3...the list goes on. Hopefully that's some fun details :) Oh and she clogs! We probably competed against each other at Nationals in the past. She also did the BYU folkdance team and traveled a lot with that, and also for study abroad things.

Q: Do you have weekly responsibilities in your ward? Or do you get to always accompany your investigators?

A: We go pick up our investigators if necessary, but it's better to help them get to church on their own. We have a meeting once a week with ward mission leader, we have lunches with the members just about every day...the ward members are great. They do a lot.

Q: How can we be a better support from home? 

A: Nada. You are all SO supportive. Thanks for everything

Want something? Give something!

Hey Family!

Big news of the day: I no longer have lice! YEAH! You can trust me when I say I am probably the most relieved person in the world right now. It was not fun, and I hope and pray that I won't have to experience that "blessing" again. Once is enough for me!

This week was a little crazy because we moved in to our new house!! We are super excited because there is a lot more space. The old apartment we were in was just not accommodating. It got to be a little bit stressful because there just wasn't room, and we'd have to move study time around and everything to accommodate with the tiny bathroom and kitchen. Our contract for the apartment ends this month, and the Lord blessed us quickly to be able to find a new place to live. There are some members in our ward who are moving to Buenos Aires because they are going to work in the cafeteria in the Buenos Aires temple.  They were looking for someone to rent their house, so we jumped on it!  It's just a humble little casita with one bedroom and one bathroom, but it is SO much bigger than the apartment where we were. We're really excited about it. I meant to take a bunch of pictures to show you the new place but I didn't have time, so I'll be sure to do it next week.

The move ended up being kind of a headache because we found out last-minute Tuesday night that we would be moving the next day (Wednesday). We were all like "Uhhh...when are we supposed to pack? We've got appointments all day long?" The Lord blessed us to make all of the arrangements to get it all done. He really takes care of his missionaries. Some of the office elders came to help us move and we loaded up all of our stuff into their car. When we pulled up to the new house the family was still painting and not ready for us to move in! Ah! We ended up having a funny extra night in the apartment with everything still packed up in suitcases.

Living out of our suitcases!

We like to see it as a tender mercy though. For some reason the Lord didn't want us to move in just yet into the house and we may never know why! Everything worked smoothly the next day however, and the members were able to help us get all settled.

This week we started teaching a guy named E. He's really cool! He's from Peru and speaks a whole bunch of languages. He heard some of the missionary lessons growing up, but never got baptized. We contacted him in the street one day and he told us that he wanted a Book of Mormon! Yeah...okay. We can help you with that! haha He now has a baptismal date and we are really excited to start teaching him.

This week I was really humbled to see how blessed I am. I have never had to worry about not having food to eat the next day, or wondering what I can put on the top of my house to make a roof that won't blow away during wind storms. The people here in Argentina are so strong. They deal with trials that I would never have even imagined! They are so creative too! When something breaks they just find some way to fix it! Even if it's totally trucho and cheap. haha

Yesterday in church we talked about sacrifice and I really liked it. We talked about how if you want something, you have to give something! The trick is trying to identify what you need to give, and then you can do and accomplish whatever you want!

I hope you know that I know this church is true. I know it without a doubt. The gospel is the only true happiness, and if we strive to remember our Savior we will always be able to find the happiness that we are looking for.

I love you all!
-Hermana Vawdrey

The bedroom in our old apartment. Can you say tiny?

The room where Hermana Newton and I studied.
We called it the cubby because it was so small!

We had two mattresses on the ground, but they would only fit
when the door was closed. We would have to wait until everyone was
in the room to put them down (yet we made it work)!

Fort!

The Power of Love

Family and Friends,

This past week was exciting because we got to meet our new mission president, Presidente Parreño! We had quick interviews with him on Wednesday, and then had a zone conference the next day. Presidente Parreño and his wife are from Spain, and I am loving their accent/lisp! I can already tell that a lot of things will change with our mission by having a change of mission president, yet I am excited for the changes. He is very genuine, loving, and down to earth. His wife is a little spitfire too, it's awesome! She is a convert, yet has one of the strongest testimonies ever. She talked to us for a good hour about how to make our street contacts better--because she does it all the time too. How cool is she?!

Hermana Parreño

Conferencia de Zonas de Mar del Plata

During the conference Presidente Parreño talked a lot about the power of love. If we love the Lord, we'll serve him. If we serve him, we'll learn to love his children. If we love his other children, we'll want to serve them...and the list just keeps going on and on. Later on that day we received a reference of an X-investigator from one of the members. At first I didn't want to pass by because we've already been by before and she is just not progressing! But then I remembered what Presidente talked about and we decided to go so show our love and trust in the Lord. We went by and she told us that she had just been praying to the Lord for help and comfort, and then she heard us clap outside! (This is about the fourth time this has happened now) :) She let us right in and she said that now she wants to get baptized. She told us about all of the little miracles she has seen lately and basically set her own baptismal date. My jaw just dropped! We see miracles here all of the time, and I am humbled more and more every day by the unconditional love the Lord has for us :)

R and K got baptized on Friday!! We are SO excited for them! Technically they are in Hermana Jensen and Hermana Linco's area, but I helped teach them when we first set their baptismal date, so it was neat to see some "fruit of my labor!" R is the younger brother of S, who got baptized last week. Then K is R's uncle..but they're both ten years old. (Figure that one out...) Yet miracles are happening here in barrio Puerto because the members in their family are starting to re-activate. :)

R y K's bautismo

Hope all is well :)
-Hermana Vawdrey


Other News:

• Today for P-Day we went to this lighthouse/tower thing where you could look out and see the view of Mar del Plata and the ocean. SO BEAUTIFUL!

Hermana Newton y yo

Mar del Plata - If you're wondering if I miss the mountains...you're right!

• I got lice this week. :'( NOT funny. Don't worry, Mom, I'm okay. What's the most upsetting part is that there is no way to say where or when, or from whom I got it from. :S Oh Argentina...

• We're going to be moving to a new house this week because our contract is up. And the apartment is really really tiny...

Lunch with G

Two days of miracles

Happy belated 4th of July!

I wish I could say that we also celebrated this past week with parades, BBQ's and fireworks, but instead we celebrated with cold, wind, and lots of layers. Winter is here and I probably gain about 5-10 pounds in clothing each morning when I bundle up to go out and work. :) Yet this week was really neat because amid the bitter bitter cold, the joy of the gospel gave me so much warmth to just keep going.

Earlier in the week Hermana Jensen and Hermana Newton had to travel out to Bahía Blanca to do some paper work with their Visas and such. Because of this Hermana Linco and I were companions for 2 days. I'm telling you...they were two days of miracles! I don't know what it was, but the Lord clearly had been preparing us and other people for these two unexpected days when we would be working together. It was absolutely incredible. It was seriously just one miracle after another!

Two of our investigators kinda disappeared lately. We could never find them. But we decided to go by them one morning and they happened to be opening up their store right when we got there! It had been a whole week since we had taught them the Word of Wisdom and they told us that they had both quit smoking, and it had been three days since they smoked a cigarette! They each used to smoke 3 packs a day! I thought I didn't understand when they first said that! Awesome!!

SR got baptized on Saturday, and it was such a great day! :) She's technically in Hermana Jensen and Hermana Linco's area now, but I helped teach her several of the lessons so it was so neat to see that my efforts helped her progress to her special day to make eternal covenants with her Heavenly Father. Her uncle was able to baptize her too, which was awesome because awhile ago he wasn't very active. Her baptism has been a great blessing to her family because many were less actives, but they are all reactivating right now!!

Hermana Newton and I are going through a hard time right now when it comes to finding new investigators. The cold makes people so much more closed and so much more unwilling to listen. It's definitely an unwelcomely long trial of faith haha but we're learning a lot together. I guess that's how it normally is though, right? Trials of faith aren't normally welcomed, yet when we face them with the strength of the Lord we have the strength to overcome them. :) Every challenge and trial is worth it whether or not we can see the outcome right now. I know my Savior lives, and I know he is right there at our side each day to hold our hand and guide us back home to him. I am so grateful for the gospel and I know it's true!!

Thanks for all the support back home! Love you all! "¡Chaucito!"

-Hermana Vawdrey

Being with Hermana Newton has been really fun because she helps me see things that are so common to Argentina :) For example:

• The other day we saw a guy riding his bike. Only it didn't have handle bars. hahaha He had both of his hands stacked on top of each other holding the metal thing where the handles should be. Que trucho...

• How EIGHTIES everything is! Side ponytails, high tops, leggings, leg warmers, the baggy T-shirts, etc.

Hermana Newton!

Hey hey hey!!

Alright, so news from Argentina is that I have a new companion! Her name is Natalie Newton--from Colorado. She has actually been waiting for her Visa for 6 months, so she's be serving in Ogden, Utah since about January. She is super sweet, enthusiastic, and so excited to be here. She's 21, and before her mission she studied Nutrition at BYU, was on the BYU Folkdance team...and she clogs! As we started talking we realized that we are connected through several people in the clogging world. She clogged with the Babbots for several years, but also knows the Steel family really well. I guess she knows Angi because she talked to her about a year ago about how I am here in Bahía Blanca. Crazy! We have a lot in common and I am genuinely excited to be companions with her. Sometimes I wonder why she needs to be "trained" because she already speaks Spanish fluently! The big LUCKY!! I guess her dad served his mission in New York--Spanish, and he has only spoken to her in Spanish ever since she was a little girl. Kinda cool! I'm excited to help her learn about Argentina however. It's definitely a different place! It's been fun to laugh at some things that are so Argentine, because they already seem so normal to me!

Hermana Newton y yo

We had a good week. She arrived in Mar del Plata on Thursday at midnight. Since there are four hermanas in Puerto now we decided to split our area to work more effectively. When we did this it unfortunately left Hermana Newton and I without any investigators. We've been working hard to find new ones and we have already had many powerful, spiritual experiences together. I know for a fact that we need to be companions right now, and I am so excited for everything that she has already taught me.

Earlier this week before Hermana Newton arrived, Hermana Linco, Hermana Jensen and I were in a trio. We had some really neat lessons. As unusual as it is, we ended up teaching the Word of Wisdom to three different people within two days. Every time at the end we asked them if they had any problems with any of it. Each of them did, (like coffee, cigarettes, tea, etc.) and so we asked them if we could take it with us to remove the temptation. And all of them said yes! It was so neat to experience their faith and willingness to rely on the Lord to change. Every once in a while I remember to stop and think of what I am doing as a missionary. We're strangers, we go up to them, promise blessings, tell them they need to change...and then they do it! The Lord works in incredible ways!

One day this week Hermana Newton and I were out contacting in the street and I had the idea to go knock the door of this one house. As we got closer we realized that it was a duplex so we went to go decide which doorbell to ring. Right then this guy came out the door, so we just started to talk to him and teach him. I started talking to him about the importance of prophets...and I was NOT planning on explaining that--yet that's what came out! Right after that he was like "yeah, that's actually really interesting. I'd like to know more about that. Do you have something else I can read about that?..." It was so neat because the Lord knew that that man needed to hear about the Restoration through prophets, so he put the words and thoughts into my mind.

Ok. One last story. Saturday was one of those missionary days when you're working so hard, talking to everyone, trying every idea you have...and no one wants to listen to you. We had pretty much exhausted all of our plans and then I had the thought to go by a reference we received from a member. We went and clapped at her fence (because that's just what you do here haha) and she was so excited when she came out!! We went in her house and she told us that right before we came she was praying to the Lord for some help and comfort. Then right after she ended her prayer she heard us clapping! It was such a tender mercy of the Lord. After hearing that it made our whole day of no success worth it. The Lord is aware of all of his children, and he made sure to help us be where we needed to be to help out his one in need.

I know this gospel is true. The Lord knows us more than we know ourselves, and he loves us so much!

I hope you are all well. :)
-Hermana Vawdrey

Las hermanas de Mar del Plata

I'm going to be a trainer!

So. BIG NEWS: I'm going to be a trainer! Ahh. It still hasn't really kicked in, I don't think. I'm feeling a big mix of emotions right now to be honest, but mostly excitement and a little bit of nerves. I just feel so grateful and honored that the Lord trusts me enough to train one of Sis servants right now! That's a big deal! I'm sure I'll be spending most of my time praying in the next little bit so that I can know what to do and how to help my new "hija" learn how to be a missionary. I'm so excited to meet her. She comes out here to Mar del Plata like Wednesday or Thursday and I don't know much more than that. I'll let you in on all the details next week.

Hermana Jensen will now be companions with Hermana Cindy Linco from Chile (she actually came to Argentina the same time I did!) She's really sweet and we're excited to have her here in Puerto. Hermana Jensen and I are feeling a little bit ripped off since we don't get to be companions anymore, but we're so glad that we at least get to still live in the same house. I'm excited for her to be with a latina too, because her Castellano is going to be awesome!

We had big hopes for S to get baptized last weekend...but he didn't do his part to receive his answer. It's always so devastating. Agency is such a critical gift we are trusted with, and some simple decisions just change absolutely everything! We're still working hard to find new investigators however, and he'll definitely still be in our prayers that one day he'll humble himself enough to listen to the Spirit testify of the truth and get baptized!!

This week we also had a zone conference. It was the last one we will have with Presidente Detlefsen because he leaves at the end of June. It was really good. He talked a lot about how important the Book of Mormon is. And I loved that he explained that it is the best thing an investigator can read because by reading it, it starts out with a family who had to give up everything and change. It's so true. Awesome.

He also had us read in the Bible in Matthew 14 when Christ asks Peter to walk on the water and when there were huge storms. Yet Presidente pointed out that Christ knew before the boat left the shore that there would be a big storm. But he left anyway! We did the same thing. In the spirit world we accepted the Plan, and we knew there would be challenges and "storms," but we're here anyway! He then pointed out that Christ waits to calm the storm until after the trial of faith. All we have to do is trust Him that He can calm every one of our storms. If we turn to Him for help and comfort, our storms will always be calmed.

I love my Savior. I know He lives. I know this church is true and I am so grateful to be a member. I love you all.

Hope things are well!
-Hermana Vawdrey

Our Distrito: Elder Hawes, Elder Halls, Elder Flores, yo, y la Hna Jensen

Presidente Detlefesen

Las hermanas en Mar del Plata

Mamma Hall, your son told me the other day
that you had found my blog. So, I figured
I'd attach a photo of your son so that you could see
that he's still full of energy, smiles, and jokes.
And, he's got clean teeth! :)

Jump off the cliff already!

Queridos amigos,

Hermana Jensen and I just had a really good week. We had a lot of experiences that touched our hearts and helped us remember how incredible our calling is to be missionaries of the Lord. We have been called specifically to serve His children in Bahía Blanca because He has been specifically preparing them to hear something we are going to say, or see something that we are going to do while we are here. It's incredible.

First of all, earlier this week Hermana Jensen came out of the bathroom with a grossed out look on her face and told me that she thought she had lice. Uhh. Luckily we had a lice comb in the apartment (because I guess it's quite common to get lice here in Puerto)...and sure enough we found another lice bug. But, she refuses to say she had lice, just that she had a lice bug in her hair. haha Still. DISGUSTING. We caught it earlier enough that she was able to shampoo her hair really good a couple times, wash all of her sheets and bedding, and it's now taken care of. I felt so bad for her though! It's just part of living in Argentina I guess, because sanitization doesn't really exist and she really could have gotten it from anywhere or anyone, especially since we beso everyone everywhere we go. Yuck. However I'm praying that I won't be "lucky" enough to get lice while I'm on my mission. I'll be crossing my fingers, and toes, and arms, and...eyes... haha

That same day we were out working and looking for new investigators and two of them pretty much just fell into our hands! It was so cool. The Lord knew our efforts, our desires and our struggles, and He was (and is) always willing to fill in the gap to help us have success.

We saw many miracles this week. One of them is named S. To be completely honest, he frustrates me so much and confuses me all the time by his "willingness to do something" and then not following through. Yet somehow through all of that I just love him! I desire his well-being and salvation so bad it's impossible to even put into words. I just want him to be happy and to have everything he and his daughter would ever want. We have been teaching him for about 2 months now and he really is just a unique investigator because he is really intelligent and he really wants to understand everything. But it makes it hard for him to have faith because he wants to just know it all, rather than take a step of faith and "jump off the cliff" and just trust that the Lord will take care of him.

Every time we bring up baptism he will not agree to a baptismal date. But this week we felt really strongly that we needed to ask him again. We went to the lesson fasting, and did everything we could to bring the spirit. At the end Hermana Jensen and I both bore our testimony that we know the church is true and that we know the Book of Mormon is true. After that we brought up baptism again, but this time it was different. He didn't get all defensive. We told him how we have taught him all the lessons and now he is only lacking one thing. That's when he was like, "Yeah. I need to get baptized!" We set his baptismal date for Saturday June 23 and he accepted! He has his baptismal interview tomorrow, and if all goes well tomorrow he'll get baptized on Saturday! I can hardly wait. I taught an "S" in the MTC too, so I'm so excited to be able to finally baptize him!

All right, one last thing. Lately I've been thinking a lot about sacrifice. Our zone leaders talked to us about it at a district meeting awhile ago and it was really good. They asked us two questions.

On a scale of 1-10, how happy are you?
On a scale of 1-10, how much did you sacrifice today?

They talked about how the two go hand-in-hand. The more we sacrifice, the more we serve, the happier we are! So that's my challenge to you. If you want to be happier, serve more. Sacrifice more! It's always worth it!

Hope all is well :) Happy Father's day to all of you Fathers. I hope it was a special day!
-Hermana Vawdrey

It has been so humid this week! All of our papers are wavy!

Missionary Ninja Turtles

Ward Activity! Relief Society and some of the recent converts.

This tree looks like it belongs in a Dr. Seuss book.
We laugh at it all the time!

Ha! What?

Family and Friends,

About a week ago we were doing some contacting and we talked to a young man named G. On Wednesday we had plans to do divisions with some of the Ward Missionaries in the far end of our area. It was pouring rain all day that day so we ended up changing our plans. Daniela and I went to go to a couple of appointments and I felt prompted to go see G again. And I'm so glad we did! Daniela and I were able to teach him lesson one and he accepted a baptismal date without a problem! What? We were so excited.

Not only that, but the spirit was so strong. It was one of those moments when I really realized how far I have come with the language because I took initiative to teach the entire lesson and had no problem at all! I went a whole lesson without saying "cómo se dice?" o "qué es...?" o "a ver..." ha The words were just flowing! All of the practice and studying is finally paying off! 9 months later...hahaha I was so excited and so grateful to my Heavenly Father for that experience because it helped me remember how much potential my Heavenly Father really does have in me.

Having to learn a new language is just an interesting experience. I don't know how else to say it!  There are still moments every day where someone says something to you and you think you know what's going on, and you think you understand...and then all of a sudden you realize you really don't! ha And all you can do is laugh :) Just yesterday one of the ward missionaries came up to me and said something about the priesthood and I thought I was following, but then he walked away! ha What? I hope it wasn't important. haha

But I'm so grateful that I get to be learning a language right now. I am learning so much! I am learning patience, practice, and I'm learning to have more trust and faith in the Lord. I love this people so much and I am so grateful that I get to be here to teach them the gospel in their language.

The church is true!! Even in cold, tile-floored, squeaky-doored capillas (chapels) en Argentina!

I love you all!
-Hermana Vawdrey

Mmm... Anyone hungry for a "Barfy" hamburger? haha

Our District: Back: Elder Galan, Elder Hawes, Elder Hall,
Elder Flores (District Leader), Front: Hermana Jensen y yo

We made homemade empanadas for lunch today. We were so excited!

To be one of your word

Hope all is going well and that you are all enjoying your first bit of summer!

We had kind of an interesting week. I really realized that there is a time to reap and a time to sow...and for some reason this was simply a week to sow. We worked so much and so hard and didn't have much to show for it. Yet I got to share my testimony with so many people and I have no doubt that it touched their heart. We planted many seeds. We talked to many people who had some interesting questions. Some of them were almost funny because it was like they were so confused that they couldn't even form their confusion into a question! Yet the Lord helped us in so many ways by helping us with the spirit to know what to say or what to ask to help them understand or to help them realize the importance and the gift of prayer so that they could find the answers.

The beginning of this week started off with a little bit of a scare. We went to C and G's house for lunch, and G was all mad. They live in a very simple house and they have been having problems with the lighting for awhile now. Members of the ward told them that they would come by to help them with it, but then they didn't come by when they said they would. G was all mad and told us that the was going to leave the church! That she was going to visit her new grandson in La Plata, and that she would never come back. She said she was only feeding us because she promised us to, but that we wouldn't be allowed to come to her house again. Yeah.....what?!! So we tried to talk reason into her by helping her realize that if she really is a woman "who keeps her word," she needs to keep her word with God! She promised him when she got baptized that she would follow him and remember him!

Even after that she was still like, "No, no...I'm going and I'm not coming back." It was heart breaking. We explained to her that that's not the answer, and that now that she knows what real happiness is, she wouldn't have that again if she were to leave the church. At his point I started crying because I would never be able to see G again! I'm not normally a crier in front of people too, so that was a big deal! Hermana Jensen said a final prayer before we left that the Lord would help her soften her heart and remember the blessings she has recieved from the Church. And after the prayer G said she changed her mind and that she would come back to church--that she would forgive the people who hadn't kept their word, so that she could keep her word with God.

The Lord helped us so much that day because we didn't know what to do! We couldn't let someone leave the church for something silly like that! Yet as silly as it may sound, I feel like the Lord blessed me with the compassion to cry and Hermana Jensen with the words to say in prayer to help soften her heart. He works in marvelous ways! "Stunning." "Exquisite." "Darling." hahaha But really, He does. All we have to do is let him!

I love you all!
-Britt

Jeanette Mullen, Tyler Alsop, Aubri LeBaron Robinson, Joseph Savage, Lynette Neff, Niccole Hanks, Joanne Grenny, Kristen Stoll, Jessica Dewsnup, Susanne Kush, Alyssa and Chris Smeda AND BABY HUSDON, Lisa Lundburg (Congrats on the engagement!) Matt LeBaron, and Chad Healey--Thank you for the birthday wishes!!