Week Ninety: Almirante Brown

Hey fam!
So this was a good week for us and it sounds like everyone had some fun too. But maybe Dad didn't have the most fun being home alone but I'm sure Chloe made everything better!!
This week we are gong to have a baptism! It's two sisters, Sofia and Guillermina. Both are primary age. The mom is a less active member but is coming back, the dad is also member but sadly is not coming back. We are going to have to have the baptism in the morning because the mom works in the afternoon. It's a little stressful planning this one because all the leaders work in the morning, but we will see how it goes.
This week was pretty chill for us, not too much happened. Yesterday there was a good amount of people in church. A lot of less active members came that we are teaching so that was nice. Also I'm getting my comp to participate a bit more. I'm letting him lead the planning sessions and letting him make more decisions. I'm starting to notice his confidence go up. We were able to find some new investigators this week. So our teaching pool is slowly growing. Not much happened this week but I can send a few pics this time. These picture are of my zone and of my last apartment. I hope you guys have a great week! Give Chloe lots of love for me! I'll talk to you soon!

Week Eighty-Nine: Almirante Brown

Hey fam! 

Sounds like everyone had a great week and I'm super happy to hear that Dad had a great Father's Day! Everything is going good here. The area is pretty big but I think I'm picking up pretty fast. Things with my comp are good, it's just that in lessons he doesn't talk. When he does talk he says like three sentences and that's about it. So we are working on talking more and talking with confidence. The apartment is really nice, I like it a lot! By far the best shower I've had yet! It's clean, has a good water heater, it has enough water pressure to actually reach my back and not just fall on my head, and it has a shower head and it's not just a stream! So I'm enjoying that lol. The apartment building isn't even a year old and when it opened the mission bought a room right away. So everything is clean and new still. In the ward there are a lot of returned missionaries and they are helping the ward a lot which is really nice. We have about 80 people that assist every week so it's not bad. It looks like the elders before were doing a lot of reactivation because we don't have many investigators. So we are looking for some more. 

We had some interesting experiences this week. President Chaparro's first counselor, President Samudio, lives in our area and we had lunch with him on Friday. For the last few years he has been fighting a tough battle with cancer and just the day before he had chemo therapy and had no energy. So they gave us the food to eat in out apartment, which was no problem. When we walked in the house he was there to greet us but then went back to bed and we talked with his wife while she was finishing the food. He came back out a little later and asked for a blessing of comfort. He said that once he laid down he felt the spirit tell him that he should ask for a blessing. He had received various blessings of health but felt that he needed one of comfort. And then he asked if I would do it. I was of course happy to do it but I was nervous. It is pretty intimidating giving a blessing to someone that has so much experience in the church. So in the short walk from the seat where I was sitting to where I'd be standing behind him, I said a very quick prayer asking for guidance. I asked for his full name and then began. I closed the blessing and looked at his wife who was standing in front of him, then I looked at him. His face was in his hands and he was crying. He thanked me for the blessing and said that I spoke for the Lord and that it was exactly what he needed to hear. I was extremely grateful for the guidance I received to give him that blessing. 

Everything with my district is going good. They are a good workers. Two missionaries are really new and still have some trouble speaking. So I have to talk slow and use easier words. I know what it's like not understanding or being ale to say what you want, so I'm trying to help them. But all in all everything is going good here! I can't complain! I love you guys and hope you have a great week! Give lots of love to Chloe for me!!

Week Eighty-Eight: Almirante Brown

Hey fam!  Man it sounds like an awesome week! Congrats Katie!! It sounds like you guys have some good plans for the summer! Visiting the Tucson temple sounds so awesome! I would love to go to a temple open house!  So I'm pretty sure you guys want to know what happened with the transfers. So President came through, I am a district leader again!!! I am back in Jujuy but in the other zone. My area is in a big city so I'm not in the middle of no where like my last area in Jujuy lol. My area is called Almirante Brown and my comp is Elder Rojas. He is from Peru and has a little over a year in the mission. Our apartment is super nice! I think its the nicest apartment I've had in my mission. I wasn't planning on writing right now so I don't have my camera with me, I'm sorry. But I'll send lots of pics next week.  Also just something I thought was funny is that my district is all sisters again lol. I'm not sure why that is because when I was a district leader the first time my district was all sisters too. I'm pretty excited to be here, I think my comp and I are going to have some fun and do some good. Also I think I just entered my grave. That means my last area. I have two transfers left and I'm pretty I'm going to stay here until the end. And I also had a sad realization while talking with the zone leaders, I am the oldest in the zone. I have the most time in the mission. That's a weird feeling for sure!! I don't know much about my area now except it's a lot bigger than my last area in Salta. From what I've heard there is work to be done here so I'm pretty happy about that. All in all with my new area, comp, district, and apartment I am pretty happy! I'm ready to get to work and do some good! My last comp was quite trunky and it was hard to get him up and going but I don't think I'm going to have that problem here. I'm looking forward to these last two transfers.  For what happened this past week, the Martinez family is doing really good. The dad came to church! We talked with them last night and he said once he started reading the Book of Mormon he has felt a peace in his life and in his family he hasn't felt before. He said he is excited for his baptism and to go to the temple with his family. I don't think I've taught someone that has understood everything so fast and so clearly. It was pretty hard to leave them but I did get to say goodbye. I'm going to be in contact with my comp to follow their progress. We also got flu shots this week. I was pretty nervous because of seeing the hospitals here and hearing stories. But luckily the mission literally has the best medical care that there is in Argentina. So the hospitals and care centers are really nice and everything went nicely too. I took a video so I will try to send it next week!  I think that's it for my week! I hope you guys have a great summer! Make it the best!! Give lots of love to my baby girl for me! I'll talk to you soon! Love you!!

Week Eighty-Seven: Salta

Hey fam! 

Sounds like everyone was able to have a great three day weekend back at home! Things here have been pretty chill. 

The Martinez family is doing really good. We had some divisions this week with other elders, and the elders that were with me or my comp teaching the Martinez family were super impressed. We usually leave them specific parts in the Book of Mormon to help them understand more about what we taught, but this time we told them to read from the beginning. Everyone read at least to chapter 3 and the mom read up to chapter 5. They are progressing super nicely and we can see their testimonies grow. The dad stopped using coca and is doing really well. We just need to get him to church. He said he was going to come yesterday but only his wife and daughter came. We are going to talk to them today so we are going to find out why he couldn't come. 

Yesterday at church we had a pretty nice surprise. One of the less active sisters that we have been teaching for a bit now finally cam to church!! It was super awesome to see her come. And during sacrament meeting the Delgado family came to church. We have been teaching them and helping them since I've been here (the last six months) and finally they came to church!! It was completely unexpected but it was incredible!! My comp and I were pretty content after church yesterday. 

Nothing too special happened this week but we are finding some really good and interested investigators and we are keeping pretty busy. With that kind of busy, there isn't enough time in the day to visit them all. So we are pretty happy about that. 

We had interviews with President this week and I renewed my temple recommend because it is going to expire this month. This was the last interview with President Chaparro. The new president is coming soon. President Chaparro asked what I would like to do with my last 2 transfers. I'm not sure if he was asking, like if I had a personal goal I wanted to reach or if I had a preference as to where or what I would like to do. I just said I really enjoyed my time as a district leader. So we will see what happens in a week lol. 

Everything is going good here. I hope everyone has a great week! Give lots of love to my pretty girl for me!! I'll talk to you guys soon!

Week Eighty-Six: Salta

Hey fam! 

So this was a pretty good week. It was pretty busy and we were running from place to place, but we still had a good amount of time in our area. I'm sure you are wondering what I did yesterday for my birthday so I'll start with that lol. It was a pretty chill day, I started it with opening the wrapped gift. Thank you guys for the sweater and tie! They are so awesome and I got a lot of compliments on them! I didn't tell that many people it was my bday to not make a big deal out of it, but a sister in the ward made me a cake and gave it to me in church so that was pretty nice. My comp and the other companionship we room with sang happy birthday in the apartment lol. But I was trying not to think about being 21 too much. 

The Martinez family is doing really good. They had a problem with the coca... that leaf crap... and he said he needs it to work. This week he went to work and he said his body just started to hurt and he couldn't do anything. We had already taught him the Word of Wisdom and he understood it really well. He said a prayer and asked God for help. He said he took the coca out of his mouth and in 20 minutes his energy came back and he felt really good. In our lesson he said he isn't going to use coca anymore. So that was an awesome experience! Also in our lesson when we were talking about temples and eternal families, they all loved it and said they want to go as a family one day. They always read what we leave them but the hard part is getting the whole family to go to church. They don't want to leave the house alone because they have been robbed in the past. So we are looking for a solution. 

Last thing about my week is that we had a mini MTC here in our ward for all the youth of the stake. We were asked to help a bit, so we sang and we broke off in groups to go contacting in our area. It was actually really fun! Our mission president was supposed to come but he had to cancel last minute so we were called to fill in. We talked to the youth about the importance of using our time wisely and the importance of planning. That wasn't as much fun because we literally had no time to plan what we were going to say (a little ironic) but it turned out nicely!! 

I think that's about it for my week! But that's super crazy about Dylan! Man I hope he gets better soon! Don't let him die! I love you guys! Give lots of love to Chloe for me!! Talk to you soon!

Week Eighty-Five: Salta

Hey fam!

So I am super tired right now lol, we literally just got down from that big hill and I am dead. We took a different route and I don't think it was better, but on the good side there were hardly any spiders. The first time there was way too many but I think they all left for the cold or something, I really have no idea. One elder brought an American flag so we took advantage of that lol. I'll send some pictures. 

This week we did go to that area that is super far away. Everything went good, it's just a lot of time out of our area but we are the closest zone leaders, so it's more efficient for us to go. 

Yesterday the mom of a family we are teaching went to church. I think I told you about them, they were a reference from a member without a good direction. We have been teaching them and they have been reading. They just say it's hard for them to go to church, but the mom went so we are pretty happy about that! I'm sure she will help the rest of her family come to church! They are called the Martinez family by the way. About the less active that came to our house, it's actually a investigator. He is doing really well. We are teaching him and his girlfriend, Vanessa. Actually we always talk to and teach Vanessa more than Pablo because he's pretty hard to find. But they are super converted to the gospel. The only thing that is impeding them from getting baptized is that they aren't married and there are a lot of legal things and background stories that makes that process a little hard. But they recently put a picture of the temple on their fridge to make it a constant reminder of their greatest goal. 

About my b-day, it's like last year. I'm not too excited to be older lol but it's not as bad as going from 19 to 20. 20 to 21 is a little easier lol I don't know if that makes sense. Oh to answer your question, the key indicators are the "numbers" we write down for the lesson and everything. Like how many lesson we taught, or how many went to church on Sunday, stuff like that. There was just a change recently and President wanted us clarify some stuff and explain it better. 

I think that's about it for my week, not too much happened. I love you guys and hope you have a great week! Give lots of love and kisses to Chloe for me!!!