Dear Mom and Dad,
I just read the numbers from last week in Hurlingham and it said 0 confirmations! What happened to Gaston???!!!! Why didn't he get confirmed? Why didn't I fight with the bishop to let him get confirmed during his baptismal service instead of two weeks later after Conference? What was I thinking? AAAAAAAAAGH! I'm freaked out. I hope it was a mistake. Sometimes the office elders are sloppy when they enter the data. And yes, I know it's not my fault if he didn't get confirmed. Gaston is responsible for his own addictions. But, WHYYYYYY? I am really upset. And I{m sure Hna Navarro, who is even more sensitive than me, is miserable about it. AAAAAAAGH!
OK. Deep breaths. We are now focusing on the good news.
For example, this week was better than last week. I'm slowly but surely learning my way around Ramos Mejia and learning to love the area. I've actually only seen a small part of the whole area because the monoblocks and the casitas nuevas are so full of people willing to listen to us that we spend all day there. There is so much potential in this area!
Cesar is still trying to quit smoking, so we reset his baptismal date for the 22 of October. I really hope he makes it! Fortunately, I think his awesome recent convert family is giving him good support.
On Thursday we had interviews with President Carter. I sat down on the couch in his office and one of the first things he asked me is if I would like to end my mission by training again. I said yes and he said, good, because the Spirit has been telling me for the last couple of weeks that you should train again. He said my next companion is going to be a North American sister! Yikes! So I have to teach her Spanish AND teach her the ropes of the mission. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm glad I know how my mission is going to end: I will spend my last two transfers in Ramos, training a North American. I feel good about that. President says it's a great opportunity to leave my legacy in the mission.
President also told me that I shouldn't worry about trying to judge myself and my mission, I should just focus on what I've been able to learn and accomplish. He said I'm a good missionary who loves the people and cares about the work. It was really nice to hear that. I'm going to try to follow his advice and stop trying to grade my mission.
Aaaaand I asked President Carter if it was OK (by which I mean, not a Sin) to let you come pick me up at the end of my mission. His answer was sort of that it's officially discouraged but pretty much OK with the big 3 (i.e. First Presidency) for parents to pick up missionaries. And he assured me that it is OK to have fun (albeit low key mostly spiritual fun) before being released. And then he said that if his dad had served in BA, he would jump on the chance to visit Argentina with him. And he said that visiting their kids' mission has the potential to change parent's lives. And he said it was my choice. So I thought about it and it took about 3 minutes to realize I was needlessly freaking out and that I really want you guys to see the places where I served and meet the amazing people I met and baptized. And it would make my converts feel special if I visited them with you. So if the funds are there, START PRACTICING YOUR PORTEÑO SPANISH! So here's the deal: sometime in the next two weeks you need to call the church travel office and tell them you are coming to pick me up and what the plans are so that they can buy me a flight home with you. As for your flight to Argentina, I recommend that you arrive on Monday, which I think is the 30th of Jan. We can work out the details in a couple more months, but just so you know I mostly just want to visit everyone of my areas and converts with you and go some places that dad went. President says there is some cool stuff in the capital that I'll see during the end of the mission tour that I might want to show you guys, so we can fit in a little bit of tourist stuff too if you want. OK, that's it. Back to focused-on-the-mission mode.
Funny story from Sunday: We went to pick up Maira and David, a couple from the Monserrat family who we are trying to marry and baptize, to take them to church. We clapped at the gate and shouted (nicely) at their open window for them to come out and come to church. First, David appeared at the window looking very sleepy.
David: "No, hermanas, we aren't going."
Us: "Why not? Come on!"
David: "I want to go, but Maira doesn't want too. She's tired."
Us: "Maira!!!!" Maira appeared at the window.
Maira:"I do too want to go! I got up and got ready but David didn't want to go. I was going to leave him but he told me "if you aren't going with me you aren't going anywhere.""
David again: "That's not true. I wanted to go but Maira wanted to sleep in."
Us: "Well, obviously you both want to go to church, so get moving!"
They sure gave me a lot of laughs. In the end, they both got ready and came to church with us. Sometimes being a missionary feels more like being a mom with lots of overgrown children. I sure hope Maira (20) and David (27) can figure things out and get married and baptized.
Miracle of the week: On Friday it was raining buckets and very windy and all our appointments fell through. We started knocking doors and Marilina had compassion on us and let us in. We taught her and her dad and on Sunday they came to church all by themselves! After church we introduced them to about 5 million members so that they would feel fellowshipped and then we showed them the baptismal font and invited them to be baptized on the 29th of October. They said yes! WOOHOOO! Good times in the mission.
OK, I'm out of time as usual but please pray a lot for Gaston so he can work through whatever is going on and get confirmed. And if you can, please pray for Cesar so he can stop smoking. Thank you so much for all your wonderful emails and letters. If I don't respond with more commentary to what you said it isn't because I didn't pay attention, it's because I didn't have time to write everything. I enjoyed the thoughts you send me in your emails. I'm praying for Ben that his visa gets here soon and that he loves being a missionary in California. Say hi and I love you to Emma, Eliza, and Dan for me! And tell Dan thanks for the drawing of the mirror of reflections. I loved it and pinned it to my bulletin board. I love you!
Love,
Ellis
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