GREETINGS TO ALL MY FRIENDS IN MOSCOW AND AT BYU/ IN UTAH! I DON´T WRITE MUCH BUT I THINK OF YOU OFTEN AND HOPE YOU ARE HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL! THANKS TO THOSE WHO HAVE WRITTEN ME LATELY!
Dear Mom and Dad,
Thanks for your emails! Three letters from Mom, two from Grandma, and the package arrived last week. I opened the package last night and laughed a lot over the "specially packaged" pantyhose. Thanks for the laugh and for the energy bars and pens and sticky notes! I really like the stationary too.
This has been a very full week. Here are the headlines:
Gastón Sires to be baptized 9-25! One week without smoking!
The miracle of the week is that Gastón didn´t smoke even once! On Monday his exgirlfriend sent him lots of nasty text messages and he was really upset, but despite that trial he didn´t give in to smoking! He stayed strong the whole week, even when it was hard. So he´s on track to get baptized this Sunday. Gastón is so wonderful and is developing so much faith. I´m so blessed to be able to teach him!
Pamela prayed and feels more sure about her baptism, although her parents´ permission continues to be a challenge that gives her occasional doubts. Her mom says yes, but her dad says no. But on Wednesday we are going to talk more with her mom, who promised to talk to Pamela´s dad. We are praying every day that Pamela will be able to get permission and feel sure about getting baptized.
Olga is struggling with fear and faith. On Tuesday when we arrived she said she wanted to wait to be baptized until her vacation in JANUARY in order to have time for one week of spiritual purification in preparation for baptism--- completely unnecessary for someone as practically sinless as Olga. But we helped her resolve her doubts and she said she would get baptized the next Saturday- 9-24. But then on Saturday she was worried again because she thinks the cold water will make her sick--I had to pray for patience. If she makes excuses it is because she is understandably nervous about making such a big change in her life. But we talked to her (I explained the water is warm, not cold) and she felt the Spirit and was more sure about baptism this weekend. She agreed to have her baptismal interview on Tuesday, which will hopefully help her feel more ready. I love her so much and I know she needs to get baptized.
One year anniversary of Hna Clark´s arrival in Argentina-- most of the public is still unaware.
Not much more to say about that. I´m trying not to count down the months, just focus on loving the people and working as hard as I can.
Psychological wounds from Elder Aidukaitis´ guilt inducing mission tour this September have dropped 25% since his last visit in June 2010.
On the one year anniversary of my arrival in Argentina, Elder Aidukaitis (from Brazil, part of the area presidency) came to speak to the mission. He told us: "I am very happy with your work. But I am not satisfied." He has really high expectations for us and wrote down all our statistics on a white board to show us how almost none of us are meeting the goals we set because we don´t know how to plan--- MAJOR GUILT TRIP!!! (apparently when he came last year he was even tougher and made the elders cry) He taught us that during weekly planning we should plan every hour of every day of the week-- yikes! I used to just plan lessons for my investigators. I tried to think positively about it though-- if he has high expectations it is because he sees a lot of potential in us.
On Sunday we tried to plan the way Elder Aidukaitis taught us. I had a lot of doubts about it being a good way to plan, but I made an effort to have faith and be obedient and we tried it. It was hard, and we only planned all the hours until Wednesday, but I felt good about it. I think the advantage of planning that way is that during nightly planning we can plan more specifically for the lessons we need to teach to our investigators. And when we set appointments in the street, we already know exactly where we´re going to be during the week, so it´s more efficient. I´m going to keep trying this way of planning until I master it.
For the second week in a row we contacted 150 people. It didn´t really help us find new investigators, but that probably means I need to look for other methods of finding too or change how I contact people. So far the blessing for contacting is more confidence and more of the Spirit, which is pretty great. I´m sure more blessings will come as I strive to be consistent and diligent with contacting.
This week I just want to help Gastón, Pamela and Olga get baptized on Sunday, but I know we need to find new investigators ASAP or we won´t have anyone left for next month, so I´m going to do my best to find new people too. I think we can work with Gastón´s family and invite them to the baptism.
Sister missionary bitten by dog!
Yup. I finally got bit. On Friday we found a potential new investigator named Efraín and as we were leaving after setting a return appointment, I heard a loud growl and felt a sharp pain in my calf. A black and white blur streaked back behind Efraín´s house. I was kind of freaked out, but after examining the bite we concluded it wasn´t very serious. Efraín very nicely brought me soap and water to wash the bite, and assured us that the dog (belonged to his neighbor) had all it´s vaccines. Then we went to go teach Pamela and even though I said I was fine, she insisted on cleaning the bite with iodine and bandaging it. After we taught her I go to show off my wound to Gastón and his recent convert brother, Seba, which was kind of fun. Anyway, I´m recovering just fine and the only time I foam at the mouth is when I brush my teeth, so I guess I don´t have rabies. We went back to our appointment with Efraín and he wasn´t home, though we managed to teach his neighbor, Fortunata. I saw the dog again-- black with white chest and feet. It seems to recognize me and growled at me from behind the fence---aaaagh! I don´t know why it chose to bite ME of all people. I keep thinking of poor Hermana Abbot, who is mission legend for having been bit 7 times during her mission! I hope that this was a one time thing for me. Fun times in the mission.
Well, I´m super out of time. Got to go! I love you and I miss you. I hope you and the family have a great week! I´m praying for you.
Love,
Ellis
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Making 150 Contacts in a Week
Dear Mom, Dad, Eliza, Emma, Dan and Elder Clark:
Thanks for your emails! It sounds like you had an action packed week with lots of trips and hiking. You guys don{t ever stop. I{d love to hear more about what Ben is up to. Could you maybe summarize what{s up with him and email it to me every week?
Here is what I've been up to:
Highlights/funny stuff of the week:
* Monday: we play soccer with the elders for 2 hours, then spend three days recovering from scrapes, bruises, and stiff muscles. It was worth it. We also went to a pizza libre (all you can eat pizza place) with the elders. They had an eating contest and Elder Hernandez won by eating 10 and a half slices. Typical. For the record, Hna Navarro and weren't competing, but the elders insisted on counting our slices anyway. We ate 3 each. I tried pizza cochina: pizza topped with cheese, french fries, and fried eggs. More fattening impossible, but it was tasty.
* Wednesday: In the same hour, a bird pooped on Hna Navarro and we met the world{s smelliest dog. It was one of those enormous gray sheep dogs that looks like a mop-- its hair was matted in dreadlocks and it was followed by a tidal wave of stink. The smell was indescribable. The dog followed us down a narrow passage way where an investigator lives, sniffing and panting the whole way-- eeeuhhh! (shiver of disgust) Fortunately, when I chanted "malo, malo, malo!" (bad, bad, bad!) it left without touching us. Eeeeeuh!
* Wednesday or Thursday: we prepared a lesson about the priesthood to teach to Gaston. And we had one of those WOW moments, when you realized how cool something is that you haven{t really thought that much about for a while. I try to explain to people everyday about the priesthood and why proper authority is important, but when we studied that principle for Gaston. . .WOW. The priesthood is so awesome! Gaston liked the lesson. I think he is excited to receive the priesthood after his baptism.
* Wednesday: We went to visit Evelyn, my absolutely perfect in every way convert. I was worried because she{s missed a lot of Sundays, but when she said the opening prayer she said "Please help me be able to go to church every Sunday, because I know it{s important and I want to go to church." Precious. We read a scripture with her about prayer and she said she prays every night with her little brother and reads the Book of Mormon every day too. Then she painted my nails with sparkly nail polish. I love Evelyn!
* Gaston went Monday to Wednesday without smoking, but smoked 2 cigarettes on Thursday-- that seems to be a rough day for him. Then he didn't smoke again until Sunday, when he smoked 2 again. Only four in the whole week! That{s really good! We reset his baptismal date one more time, and now he is going to get baptized on September 25. I know that this time he can do it!
* Other news: Olga is having some doubts, (baptism is a big change to make so late in life and she is already baptized in the Orthodox Catholic church) but she talked to the bishop on Sunday and I think he helped her a lot. We are planning a lesson just to answer her questions and doubts. Pamela's parents keep telling her the family is Catholic and that she should wait or that for now she can{t get baptized, which is giving her doubts. But she knows that she wants to and that it will bless her life. Her testimony is small, but growing. This week we have plans to speak to her parents and explain to them the blessings of baptism for Pamela. I feel like Pamela, Olga, and Gaston are teaching me a new level of love for my investigators. I think of them all the time, every day, and I worry about them and pray for them and plan for them. I really really want them to be able to receive the blessings of baptism.
* The highlight of the week was Sunday. We arrived late and discouraged at the chapel, because we went to pick up investigators that didn't end up coming. But then we saw that Olga and Gaston had arrived by themselves early! Then we saw Hermana Maidana, who came to church with her unbaptized 10 year old daughter, Joana, after 2 months of not going. I was really happy to see her. But the happiest moment was when I saw that Daniel and Graciela Rosales had arrived at church. They have been inactive for my whole time in Hurlingham. They want to go to church, but they are really poor and have large debts that they are struggling to pay off by selling tupperware in a fair on Saturdays and Sundays. I{ve visited them a lot and cried more than once testifying to them to help them have faith to go to church again. They finally came! And they came with two of their grown daughters who are also inactive. When I saw Daniel and Graciela my eyes almost overflowed. Daniel told me " I will go and do what the Lord commands because he always provides a way to do what he asks. Today he provided a way."
* But things just kept getting better. After the meetings Sebastian, a little boy in the primary, was baptized by his dad. Olga and Gaston stayed after the meetings and watched the baptism! The spirit was really strong and Sebastian and his family were glowing with the happiness that only the Gospel brings. Gaston told us later that he imagined himself someday having a son and baptizing him! (I have the best investigator ever!) I'm sure Olga felt the Spirit too. It was great!
* The perfect ending to a great Sunday was when we finished our 150 contacts for the first time. President Carter has been putting a big emphasis on doing all our contacts every week, and we finally did it. Sometimes it's hard for me to want to speak to people in the street, but it helps me to be happy and it leads to really neat experiences. For instance,in the train I decided I had to speak to a young man with headphones. He turned out to be an inactive 22 year old from a nearby ward. His name was Dario. He told us he never went on his mission and asked us if the time goes by fast. He knows he should go, but 2 years sounds like forever to him. We assured him the mission flies by and that the blessings are amazing. I could tell we left him thinking. I really hope he goes on his mission!
I hope each of you has an amazing week filled with triumphs and good laughs. I love you!
Love,
Ellis
P.S. I know my emails have been getting kind of preachy/sentimental/serious, heavy on ambiguous expressions of enthusiasm and phrases like "the spirit was really strong" and short on visual details. Unfortunate side effect of the mission. I'll try to write with more details next week. I{m sure I'll return to normal when I get home.
Thanks for your emails! It sounds like you had an action packed week with lots of trips and hiking. You guys don{t ever stop. I{d love to hear more about what Ben is up to. Could you maybe summarize what{s up with him and email it to me every week?
Here is what I've been up to:
Highlights/funny stuff of the week:
* Monday: we play soccer with the elders for 2 hours, then spend three days recovering from scrapes, bruises, and stiff muscles. It was worth it. We also went to a pizza libre (all you can eat pizza place) with the elders. They had an eating contest and Elder Hernandez won by eating 10 and a half slices. Typical. For the record, Hna Navarro and weren't competing, but the elders insisted on counting our slices anyway. We ate 3 each. I tried pizza cochina: pizza topped with cheese, french fries, and fried eggs. More fattening impossible, but it was tasty.
* Wednesday: In the same hour, a bird pooped on Hna Navarro and we met the world{s smelliest dog. It was one of those enormous gray sheep dogs that looks like a mop-- its hair was matted in dreadlocks and it was followed by a tidal wave of stink. The smell was indescribable. The dog followed us down a narrow passage way where an investigator lives, sniffing and panting the whole way-- eeeuhhh! (shiver of disgust) Fortunately, when I chanted "malo, malo, malo!" (bad, bad, bad!) it left without touching us. Eeeeeuh!
* Wednesday or Thursday: we prepared a lesson about the priesthood to teach to Gaston. And we had one of those WOW moments, when you realized how cool something is that you haven{t really thought that much about for a while. I try to explain to people everyday about the priesthood and why proper authority is important, but when we studied that principle for Gaston. . .WOW. The priesthood is so awesome! Gaston liked the lesson. I think he is excited to receive the priesthood after his baptism.
* Wednesday: We went to visit Evelyn, my absolutely perfect in every way convert. I was worried because she{s missed a lot of Sundays, but when she said the opening prayer she said "Please help me be able to go to church every Sunday, because I know it{s important and I want to go to church." Precious. We read a scripture with her about prayer and she said she prays every night with her little brother and reads the Book of Mormon every day too. Then she painted my nails with sparkly nail polish. I love Evelyn!
* Gaston went Monday to Wednesday without smoking, but smoked 2 cigarettes on Thursday-- that seems to be a rough day for him. Then he didn't smoke again until Sunday, when he smoked 2 again. Only four in the whole week! That{s really good! We reset his baptismal date one more time, and now he is going to get baptized on September 25. I know that this time he can do it!
* Other news: Olga is having some doubts, (baptism is a big change to make so late in life and she is already baptized in the Orthodox Catholic church) but she talked to the bishop on Sunday and I think he helped her a lot. We are planning a lesson just to answer her questions and doubts. Pamela's parents keep telling her the family is Catholic and that she should wait or that for now she can{t get baptized, which is giving her doubts. But she knows that she wants to and that it will bless her life. Her testimony is small, but growing. This week we have plans to speak to her parents and explain to them the blessings of baptism for Pamela. I feel like Pamela, Olga, and Gaston are teaching me a new level of love for my investigators. I think of them all the time, every day, and I worry about them and pray for them and plan for them. I really really want them to be able to receive the blessings of baptism.
* The highlight of the week was Sunday. We arrived late and discouraged at the chapel, because we went to pick up investigators that didn't end up coming. But then we saw that Olga and Gaston had arrived by themselves early! Then we saw Hermana Maidana, who came to church with her unbaptized 10 year old daughter, Joana, after 2 months of not going. I was really happy to see her. But the happiest moment was when I saw that Daniel and Graciela Rosales had arrived at church. They have been inactive for my whole time in Hurlingham. They want to go to church, but they are really poor and have large debts that they are struggling to pay off by selling tupperware in a fair on Saturdays and Sundays. I{ve visited them a lot and cried more than once testifying to them to help them have faith to go to church again. They finally came! And they came with two of their grown daughters who are also inactive. When I saw Daniel and Graciela my eyes almost overflowed. Daniel told me " I will go and do what the Lord commands because he always provides a way to do what he asks. Today he provided a way."
* But things just kept getting better. After the meetings Sebastian, a little boy in the primary, was baptized by his dad. Olga and Gaston stayed after the meetings and watched the baptism! The spirit was really strong and Sebastian and his family were glowing with the happiness that only the Gospel brings. Gaston told us later that he imagined himself someday having a son and baptizing him! (I have the best investigator ever!) I'm sure Olga felt the Spirit too. It was great!
* The perfect ending to a great Sunday was when we finished our 150 contacts for the first time. President Carter has been putting a big emphasis on doing all our contacts every week, and we finally did it. Sometimes it's hard for me to want to speak to people in the street, but it helps me to be happy and it leads to really neat experiences. For instance,in the train I decided I had to speak to a young man with headphones. He turned out to be an inactive 22 year old from a nearby ward. His name was Dario. He told us he never went on his mission and asked us if the time goes by fast. He knows he should go, but 2 years sounds like forever to him. We assured him the mission flies by and that the blessings are amazing. I could tell we left him thinking. I really hope he goes on his mission!
I hope each of you has an amazing week filled with triumphs and good laughs. I love you!
Love,
Ellis
P.S. I know my emails have been getting kind of preachy/sentimental/serious, heavy on ambiguous expressions of enthusiasm and phrases like "the spirit was really strong" and short on visual details. Unfortunate side effect of the mission. I'll try to write with more details next week. I{m sure I'll return to normal when I get home.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Gaston, Olga, and Pamela are going to get baptized!
Dear Mom and Dad,
Thanks for all your emails. You sure sent a lot this week! Grandma Clark sent me one too, which was fun. It sounds like the reunion was fun, though low key. I´m surprised you gustonians, as Uncle Adam would say, didn´t play sand volleyball until you developed calluses on your inner arms or something equally extreme. You have to remember your mantra: I am a well oiled machine, made to go for the gusto. . .
We were really blessed this week because we were able to help two more investigators set baptismal dates: Pamela and Olga. Pamela is 16 and has a really rough family situation. On top of everything, Pamela´s boyfriend just broke up with her. So she´s really unhappy. But we explained to her that after baptism the gift of the Holy Ghost will be able to help her feel safe and know what to do and she accepted the baptismal date. We pray for her a lot and we are going to do everything we can to help her get baptized.
We were also able to set a date with Olga, who we´ve been teaching since last transfer. Before she was afraid of changing and told us she didn´t want us to pressure her, but she spent this week reading the Gospel Principles manual someone in the ward gave her and felt the Spirit really strongly. When we went to visit her she started asking questions about the baptismal service and we set a date with no problems. She knocked us flat. We were really surprised, because we expected a lot more work to get her to accept baptism.
We are still working at full speed with Gaston. He went three days without smoking (we were SO HAPPY the first night that he told us he hadn´t smoked all day. We almost burst into happy tears.), then relapsed on Thursday (low point of the week, especially because that was the same day Pamela told us about all her family problems. Gaston felt terrible about smoking again and we almost cried.) but we are trying again this week and we reset his baptismal date for the 18th. Teaching Gaston has really taught me a lot about helping addicts. We have to recommit him and verify his commitments every day, and call him two or three times a day. We have to keep reminding ourselves that he´s addicted, so he needs constant support and reminders to keep the commitments he makes. If we don´t stay on top of him, the addiction becomes stronger than his desire to keep the commitment. And that´s not because he doesn´t want to change-- he really does-- it´s just that he is, well, addicted. It´s also really important to manage his stress level and happiness, because if he gets nervous and worried he starts smoking again. We basically have to keep him in mind all day long-- it´s a lot of work, but it´s really really rewarding. Yesterday we had a really neat lesson with him. When we arrived, we could tell he was happier than we´ve ever seen him. He told us he had been reading the Book of Mormon extra that day (he is a super investigator who reads every day and prays at least three times a day). He read about 15 pages in one go, and we could tell he had felt the Spirit. We shared with him how the gospel can bless his future family, and he is really excited to be able to be a father someday and teach his children the gospel. I feel so lucky to be able to teach him. It´s been amazing to see his change of heart. I can´t wait to see him get baptized! We are going to be very busy the next two weeks-- if Gaston smokes even once we will probably have to postpone his baptism again. Please pray for him!
I feel really happy to be a missionary here in Hurlingham. It´s been the most difficult of my three areas, but the area that will most cost me to leave. I´ve learned so much here, and I´ve come to love more deeply the ward and my converts and investigators. I don´t know how much time I have left here, but I want to use that time the best I can to be able to leave this area better than I found it.
Thanks for all that you to help me out. I love you and hope you all have excellent, successful weeks and that you keep learning lots! I love you all!
Love,Ellis
Thanks for all your emails. You sure sent a lot this week! Grandma Clark sent me one too, which was fun. It sounds like the reunion was fun, though low key. I´m surprised you gustonians, as Uncle Adam would say, didn´t play sand volleyball until you developed calluses on your inner arms or something equally extreme. You have to remember your mantra: I am a well oiled machine, made to go for the gusto. . .
We were really blessed this week because we were able to help two more investigators set baptismal dates: Pamela and Olga. Pamela is 16 and has a really rough family situation. On top of everything, Pamela´s boyfriend just broke up with her. So she´s really unhappy. But we explained to her that after baptism the gift of the Holy Ghost will be able to help her feel safe and know what to do and she accepted the baptismal date. We pray for her a lot and we are going to do everything we can to help her get baptized.
We were also able to set a date with Olga, who we´ve been teaching since last transfer. Before she was afraid of changing and told us she didn´t want us to pressure her, but she spent this week reading the Gospel Principles manual someone in the ward gave her and felt the Spirit really strongly. When we went to visit her she started asking questions about the baptismal service and we set a date with no problems. She knocked us flat. We were really surprised, because we expected a lot more work to get her to accept baptism.
We are still working at full speed with Gaston. He went three days without smoking (we were SO HAPPY the first night that he told us he hadn´t smoked all day. We almost burst into happy tears.), then relapsed on Thursday (low point of the week, especially because that was the same day Pamela told us about all her family problems. Gaston felt terrible about smoking again and we almost cried.) but we are trying again this week and we reset his baptismal date for the 18th. Teaching Gaston has really taught me a lot about helping addicts. We have to recommit him and verify his commitments every day, and call him two or three times a day. We have to keep reminding ourselves that he´s addicted, so he needs constant support and reminders to keep the commitments he makes. If we don´t stay on top of him, the addiction becomes stronger than his desire to keep the commitment. And that´s not because he doesn´t want to change-- he really does-- it´s just that he is, well, addicted. It´s also really important to manage his stress level and happiness, because if he gets nervous and worried he starts smoking again. We basically have to keep him in mind all day long-- it´s a lot of work, but it´s really really rewarding. Yesterday we had a really neat lesson with him. When we arrived, we could tell he was happier than we´ve ever seen him. He told us he had been reading the Book of Mormon extra that day (he is a super investigator who reads every day and prays at least three times a day). He read about 15 pages in one go, and we could tell he had felt the Spirit. We shared with him how the gospel can bless his future family, and he is really excited to be able to be a father someday and teach his children the gospel. I feel so lucky to be able to teach him. It´s been amazing to see his change of heart. I can´t wait to see him get baptized! We are going to be very busy the next two weeks-- if Gaston smokes even once we will probably have to postpone his baptism again. Please pray for him!
I feel really happy to be a missionary here in Hurlingham. It´s been the most difficult of my three areas, but the area that will most cost me to leave. I´ve learned so much here, and I´ve come to love more deeply the ward and my converts and investigators. I don´t know how much time I have left here, but I want to use that time the best I can to be able to leave this area better than I found it.
Thanks for all that you to help me out. I love you and hope you all have excellent, successful weeks and that you keep learning lots! I love you all!
Love,Ellis
Keeping the Faith in Hurlingham
Dear Family,
Sounds like you had a really fun week and didn´t spend any time inside the house. I loved the story about Danny pushing the raft back to the beach. Dan: Way to go, strong one! You are awesome!
This week I really saw the results of my commitment to be obedient-- Hna Navarro and I were able to work a lot more efficiently and teach many more lessons. And we found lots of new investigators-- including a very nice family of four. But the funny thing is, during the week I felt like I broke my promise to be obedient about 100 times and kept making a lot of the same mistakes. But I definitely improved-- especially in being diligent about contacting. I guess the lesson of this week is that a small change in be (I was more willing to be obedient) makes a big difference in do (we accomplished a lot more). This week I will keep working to change my heart and be 100% committed to 100% obedience 100% of the time, so I can keep seeing the results (more people helped) in my area.
Hermana Navarro has been a real blessing this week. Her new enthusiasm for contacting and teaching charlas cortas (short on-the-street lessons where we teach one or two principles and pray at the end) really helped me be enthusiastic and diligent too. And when I had moments of negativity, she helped me not be discouraged. I´m so lucky to be her companion. We had companionship inventory this morning (we ran out of time yesterday) and we shared personal and companionship goals. We realized we are a lot alike in that it´s hard for us to see what we are doing well sometimes. We set a goal to pray for more confidence and faith, and to pray every day to be able to meet our goal of 4 baptisms in September. That is a lot of baptisms, especially for Hurlingham, but we are going to give it a shot.
In other news, Gaston is still progressing and came to church on Sunday. He still reads the Book of Mormon every day and told us he is praying 3 TIMES A DAY!!! He is so fantastic! He still has a lot of challenges, but he seems much happier and laughs more than when we first started teaching him. Gaston´s biggest challenge right now is giving up smoking. We are praying for him and doing everything we can to help him quit. As of today, we are going to try calling during all the times of day when Seba (his brother) told us that Gaston usually smokes. We just hope he has the willpower and the faith to do quit, so he can get baptized soon.
Other highlights:
* Teaching 24 lessons and finding 16 new investigators! On Thursday, we taught 8 lessons and found 9 new investigators, including 12 year old twins Braian and Priscila and their mom, Carina. They are the really nice family I mentioned earlier. I really hope they progress!
* Zone conference with President Carter. He talked about new changes in the mission: The old Standard of Excellence (the goals for lessons taught, investigators in sacrament meeting, etc. per week) is now called the Standard of Expectations (does that name put on more or less pressure?). Now we count our numbers every month instead of every transfer, which is supposed to help us be more efficient and stop asking for last minute exceptions to rules so we can baptized investigators who don´t have enough church attendances. And there are no longer unofficial "rules" about when a person gets transfered-- I´m not the only one spending more than 6 months in my area, and several sisters are back with companions they´ve already served with. Interesting. I think the changes will be good for the mission. It´s kind of exciting to have a new mission president!
Well, I´m out of time, but have a fantastic week! I love you all!
Love,
Ellis
Sounds like you had a really fun week and didn´t spend any time inside the house. I loved the story about Danny pushing the raft back to the beach. Dan: Way to go, strong one! You are awesome!
This week I really saw the results of my commitment to be obedient-- Hna Navarro and I were able to work a lot more efficiently and teach many more lessons. And we found lots of new investigators-- including a very nice family of four. But the funny thing is, during the week I felt like I broke my promise to be obedient about 100 times and kept making a lot of the same mistakes. But I definitely improved-- especially in being diligent about contacting. I guess the lesson of this week is that a small change in be (I was more willing to be obedient) makes a big difference in do (we accomplished a lot more). This week I will keep working to change my heart and be 100% committed to 100% obedience 100% of the time, so I can keep seeing the results (more people helped) in my area.
Hermana Navarro has been a real blessing this week. Her new enthusiasm for contacting and teaching charlas cortas (short on-the-street lessons where we teach one or two principles and pray at the end) really helped me be enthusiastic and diligent too. And when I had moments of negativity, she helped me not be discouraged. I´m so lucky to be her companion. We had companionship inventory this morning (we ran out of time yesterday) and we shared personal and companionship goals. We realized we are a lot alike in that it´s hard for us to see what we are doing well sometimes. We set a goal to pray for more confidence and faith, and to pray every day to be able to meet our goal of 4 baptisms in September. That is a lot of baptisms, especially for Hurlingham, but we are going to give it a shot.
In other news, Gaston is still progressing and came to church on Sunday. He still reads the Book of Mormon every day and told us he is praying 3 TIMES A DAY!!! He is so fantastic! He still has a lot of challenges, but he seems much happier and laughs more than when we first started teaching him. Gaston´s biggest challenge right now is giving up smoking. We are praying for him and doing everything we can to help him quit. As of today, we are going to try calling during all the times of day when Seba (his brother) told us that Gaston usually smokes. We just hope he has the willpower and the faith to do quit, so he can get baptized soon.
Other highlights:
* Teaching 24 lessons and finding 16 new investigators! On Thursday, we taught 8 lessons and found 9 new investigators, including 12 year old twins Braian and Priscila and their mom, Carina. They are the really nice family I mentioned earlier. I really hope they progress!
* Zone conference with President Carter. He talked about new changes in the mission: The old Standard of Excellence (the goals for lessons taught, investigators in sacrament meeting, etc. per week) is now called the Standard of Expectations (does that name put on more or less pressure?). Now we count our numbers every month instead of every transfer, which is supposed to help us be more efficient and stop asking for last minute exceptions to rules so we can baptized investigators who don´t have enough church attendances. And there are no longer unofficial "rules" about when a person gets transfered-- I´m not the only one spending more than 6 months in my area, and several sisters are back with companions they´ve already served with. Interesting. I think the changes will be good for the mission. It´s kind of exciting to have a new mission president!
Well, I´m out of time, but have a fantastic week! I love you all!
Love,
Ellis
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Tough Times in Hurlingham
Dear Family,
I´m sorry this letter is arriving late. Because yesterday was a holiday (Día de San Martín I think), all the internet places were closed yesterday and we couldn´t send email.
There are some great things and some tough things happening in Hurlingham. A lot of our investigators have stopped progressing or aren´t progressing very much, and we are having trouble using our time efficiently and therefore aren´t teaching very many lessons or finding many new investigators. I feel sad and frustrated about our investigators because I don´t know how to help them understand how important baptism is. And I´m disappointed with myself for not using my time wisely, because I know it´s one of the most precious resources that Heavenly Father gives us to do missionary work. On Saturday night I was frustrated because I make the same mistakes over and over again-- going to bed late, arriving late to the pension, not speaking to enough people in the street. I realized all of those things would be easier to do if I was more committed to be obedient. So I said a prayer and promised Heavenly Father that from now on complete obedience will be my highest priority. I´m still not perfect, obviously, but feeling more committed to complete obedience over any other priority is helping me to change the things I wanted to fix. It really is easier and less stressful to try to be 100% obedient than to try to be 90% obedient. On Sunday morning I remembered my promise and spoke to 3 people in the train! I NEVER speak to people in the train. I´m hoping that this week if I strive to keep my promise to Heavenly Father that we´ll be able to find new investigators and teach more lessons.
The ray of sunshine here in Hurlingham is our investigator Gastón. He hasn´t used drugs or drank for 2 weeks, and he is working really hard to stop smoking. He has really changed his heart and everyday he reads the Book of Mormon, prays, and tries to do service for his family. He is a miracle and I can´t wait for him to get baptized. It´s really a privilege to be part of his conversion. Every day we try to follow the Spirit to know what to teach him, and we use as many scriptures as we can. Heavenly Father is really helping us to help Gastón.
Thank you for all that you do for me to help me serve a mission-- for helping to pay for it (ok, for paying for basically all of it) and for emailing and writing letters to me every week. Thanks for praying for me, because I know you do. Knowing you love me and are praying for my success helps me to want to work harder and not give up in the rough times. I love you and I pray for all of you that you will have the Spirit, not be stressed, be healthy, that you will feel loved, and that you will be able to achieve your goals.
I love you Mom, Dad, Eliza, Elder Clark, Emma, and Danny!
Love,
Hermana Clark
I´m sorry this letter is arriving late. Because yesterday was a holiday (Día de San Martín I think), all the internet places were closed yesterday and we couldn´t send email.
There are some great things and some tough things happening in Hurlingham. A lot of our investigators have stopped progressing or aren´t progressing very much, and we are having trouble using our time efficiently and therefore aren´t teaching very many lessons or finding many new investigators. I feel sad and frustrated about our investigators because I don´t know how to help them understand how important baptism is. And I´m disappointed with myself for not using my time wisely, because I know it´s one of the most precious resources that Heavenly Father gives us to do missionary work. On Saturday night I was frustrated because I make the same mistakes over and over again-- going to bed late, arriving late to the pension, not speaking to enough people in the street. I realized all of those things would be easier to do if I was more committed to be obedient. So I said a prayer and promised Heavenly Father that from now on complete obedience will be my highest priority. I´m still not perfect, obviously, but feeling more committed to complete obedience over any other priority is helping me to change the things I wanted to fix. It really is easier and less stressful to try to be 100% obedient than to try to be 90% obedient. On Sunday morning I remembered my promise and spoke to 3 people in the train! I NEVER speak to people in the train. I´m hoping that this week if I strive to keep my promise to Heavenly Father that we´ll be able to find new investigators and teach more lessons.
The ray of sunshine here in Hurlingham is our investigator Gastón. He hasn´t used drugs or drank for 2 weeks, and he is working really hard to stop smoking. He has really changed his heart and everyday he reads the Book of Mormon, prays, and tries to do service for his family. He is a miracle and I can´t wait for him to get baptized. It´s really a privilege to be part of his conversion. Every day we try to follow the Spirit to know what to teach him, and we use as many scriptures as we can. Heavenly Father is really helping us to help Gastón.
Thank you for all that you do for me to help me serve a mission-- for helping to pay for it (ok, for paying for basically all of it) and for emailing and writing letters to me every week. Thanks for praying for me, because I know you do. Knowing you love me and are praying for my success helps me to want to work harder and not give up in the rough times. I love you and I pray for all of you that you will have the Spirit, not be stressed, be healthy, that you will feel loved, and that you will be able to achieve your goals.
I love you Mom, Dad, Eliza, Elder Clark, Emma, and Danny!
Love,
Hermana Clark
Friday, August 19, 2011
A Dramatic Week
Dear Family,
Last week was a very dramatic week in Hurlingham.
Exhibit one: Investigators with baptismal dates per day and their dates of baptism:
Mon: 1 (Mariana, 14/8)
Tu: 3 (Mariana 14/8, Pamela and Teresa 28/8)
Wed: 7 (Mariana and Dahiana and Ramona 14/8, Pamela and Teresa 28/8, Graciela 28/8, Gaston 4/9)
Thurs: 4 (Pamela and Teresa 28/8, Graciela 28/8, Gaston 4/9)
Fri: 4 (Pamela and Teresa 28/8, Graciela 28/8, Gaston 4/9)
Sat: 4 (Pamela and Teresa 28/8, Graciela 28/8, Gaston 4/9)
Sun: 2 (Pamela 28/8, Gaston 4/9)
Exhibit two: Visits of elders to our area to have baptismal interviews with Mariana, Dahiana, and Ramona
Tu: Elder Quackenbush (zone leader) and Elder Cerda (my district leader)
Wed: Elder Gutierrez (zone leader) and Elder Steele (district leader of the other district)
Thurs: Elder Gutierrez and Elder Quackenbush
Exhibit three: pesos in coins spent taking the bus
almost 60 pesos
Exhibit four: pesos spent on taxis
about 111 pesos
Exhibit five: minutes left on our cell phone that have to last us until the 23 of the month, minutes we need to confirm lunches (so the Relief Society doesn't chop our heads off) and appointments with investigators and communicate with the bishop
0, yes, zero
Anecdote A: Our ward mission leader was released (i.e. stolen by the Young Men{s presidency) and the Bishop hasn't replaced him yet.
Here are some of the details:
Ramona and Dahiana decided on Wednesday that they wanted to be baptized with Mariana, but by Thursday they had spoken to their uncle and their father, who were both very against their baptism, and only Mariana wanted to be baptized still, and even she was unsure. We talked to Miriam, their mom, who was also freaked out about the family opposition and said she wasn't going to be able to take her daughters to two different churches every Sunday. Then she told us her daughters told her that we were obligating them to be baptized-- something they had never said to our faces. That really hurt because we were trying really hard to help them and had spent substantial time talking about the importance of receiving their own testimonies. We went back the next day with a really inspired lesson plan to help Miriam and her daughters recognize the Spirit, but Miriam got up before the lesson was over and said she had to leave to pick up Mariana from school-- we felt like she was relieved to leave and didn't really want to feel the Spirit. So Mariana didn't get baptized, and she and her family didn't make it to church either. It was discouraging.
But, Hermana Navarro and I are still really happy and excited because we get to have one more transfer together. We prayed a lot that I wouldn't be transferred (even though I've spent 6 months here), because we have some really neat investigators and we work really well together. I know we are going to see more miracles together this transfer and see baptisms too!
We are also happy and excited for our two investigators with baptismal dates: Gaston and Pamela. Pamela (16 years old) keeps having dreams about listening to us teach or going to church and has cautiously decided that those dreams were her answer that the church is true. She loves coming to church and mutual and receiving the lessons. She even invited a friend to mutual her second time going and tried to explain the Book of Mormon to an evangelical friend who believed only in the Bible! She is fantastic! Her sister Teresa (18) had a baptism date too, but it fell through because she didn't come to church. We will keep working with her though. This week we want to try to teach Pamela{s mother and little brother too, and maybe even her dad!
Gaston is the brother of a recent convert in the ward, Seba Sires. He came to church for the second time yesterday. When we went to teach him for the first time on Wednesday with the help of Seba, he told us he feels upset and depressed and wants to change his life. We told him baptism was the way to do that and he accepted a baptismal date! Gaston is really already converted-- he has already had a complete change of heart, he just has to do the grunt work of repenting. He has a lot of, actually all of the Word of Wisdom problems, but he has already started trying to quit, and in every lesson he impresses us with his desire to read the Book of Mormon, do more service for others, and repent.
Despite the disappointment of Mariana's baptism falling through, Sunday was an excellent day! I reached perfection in the banana bread I made for the investigators, and we found out that I GET ONE MORE TRANSFER IN HURLINGHAM!!! We went to Morris (the next train station, the poorer half of our area) to pick up Pamela and on the way stopped by to wake up Gaston and his brother Seba. We expected them to come to the door in PJs, but they were already almost ready! We awarded them slices of banana bread as a reward. We were still early, so we went to look for Celeste and Elvira (my converts!) and it was a good thing too, because their alarm hadn't gone off! We let them eat banana bread anyway. They were thrilled to see us and Elvira shouted to Celeste "Wake up, Cele, the hermanas came to take us to church!" I guess they miss the personal attention they got when they were investigators. They brought Ludmila, Celeste{s darling toddler with them too. We went to get Pamela and then went to church with her and Elvira, Celeste, and Ludmila in the bus. I was so happy to be there with my converts and my investigators! And when we got to church, Evelyn (most recent convert) was there too! Evelyn's family hadn't been bringing her and Celeste was missing church because of work (she got up the guts to quit this week) and Elvira had missed a couple of weeks because of family visits and losing her roof to a freak storm (forgot to write about that) so it was the first time that all three of my converts were in church together! I was so happy! And seeing Gaston sit with Celeste and hold Ludmila, who was sleeping, was very touching.
Well, I'm super out of time as usual. A couple requests: please send me Ben's emails, because I have no idea how his first week went! And, the next time you send me a package, can you send pantyhose? The regular kind, not the make you look skinny kind or the super dark colored ones. I started wearing them again because it is cold, but now they all have holes. And yes, pantyhose exist here too, but the sensual photos of women's legs that are always on the packaging in the US are downright pornographic here in Argentina and my inner-feminist wouldn't let me buy any. Ok, now I'm really out of time.
I hope you are not heartbreakingly lonely with just the five of you rattling around in the house. Thank you for your support and emails.
Love,
Ellis
Last week was a very dramatic week in Hurlingham.
Exhibit one: Investigators with baptismal dates per day and their dates of baptism:
Mon: 1 (Mariana, 14/8)
Tu: 3 (Mariana 14/8, Pamela and Teresa 28/8)
Wed: 7 (Mariana and Dahiana and Ramona 14/8, Pamela and Teresa 28/8, Graciela 28/8, Gaston 4/9)
Thurs: 4 (Pamela and Teresa 28/8, Graciela 28/8, Gaston 4/9)
Fri: 4 (Pamela and Teresa 28/8, Graciela 28/8, Gaston 4/9)
Sat: 4 (Pamela and Teresa 28/8, Graciela 28/8, Gaston 4/9)
Sun: 2 (Pamela 28/8, Gaston 4/9)
Exhibit two: Visits of elders to our area to have baptismal interviews with Mariana, Dahiana, and Ramona
Tu: Elder Quackenbush (zone leader) and Elder Cerda (my district leader)
Wed: Elder Gutierrez (zone leader) and Elder Steele (district leader of the other district)
Thurs: Elder Gutierrez and Elder Quackenbush
Exhibit three: pesos in coins spent taking the bus
almost 60 pesos
Exhibit four: pesos spent on taxis
about 111 pesos
Exhibit five: minutes left on our cell phone that have to last us until the 23 of the month, minutes we need to confirm lunches (so the Relief Society doesn't chop our heads off) and appointments with investigators and communicate with the bishop
0, yes, zero
Anecdote A: Our ward mission leader was released (i.e. stolen by the Young Men{s presidency) and the Bishop hasn't replaced him yet.
Here are some of the details:
Ramona and Dahiana decided on Wednesday that they wanted to be baptized with Mariana, but by Thursday they had spoken to their uncle and their father, who were both very against their baptism, and only Mariana wanted to be baptized still, and even she was unsure. We talked to Miriam, their mom, who was also freaked out about the family opposition and said she wasn't going to be able to take her daughters to two different churches every Sunday. Then she told us her daughters told her that we were obligating them to be baptized-- something they had never said to our faces. That really hurt because we were trying really hard to help them and had spent substantial time talking about the importance of receiving their own testimonies. We went back the next day with a really inspired lesson plan to help Miriam and her daughters recognize the Spirit, but Miriam got up before the lesson was over and said she had to leave to pick up Mariana from school-- we felt like she was relieved to leave and didn't really want to feel the Spirit. So Mariana didn't get baptized, and she and her family didn't make it to church either. It was discouraging.
But, Hermana Navarro and I are still really happy and excited because we get to have one more transfer together. We prayed a lot that I wouldn't be transferred (even though I've spent 6 months here), because we have some really neat investigators and we work really well together. I know we are going to see more miracles together this transfer and see baptisms too!
We are also happy and excited for our two investigators with baptismal dates: Gaston and Pamela. Pamela (16 years old) keeps having dreams about listening to us teach or going to church and has cautiously decided that those dreams were her answer that the church is true. She loves coming to church and mutual and receiving the lessons. She even invited a friend to mutual her second time going and tried to explain the Book of Mormon to an evangelical friend who believed only in the Bible! She is fantastic! Her sister Teresa (18) had a baptism date too, but it fell through because she didn't come to church. We will keep working with her though. This week we want to try to teach Pamela{s mother and little brother too, and maybe even her dad!
Gaston is the brother of a recent convert in the ward, Seba Sires. He came to church for the second time yesterday. When we went to teach him for the first time on Wednesday with the help of Seba, he told us he feels upset and depressed and wants to change his life. We told him baptism was the way to do that and he accepted a baptismal date! Gaston is really already converted-- he has already had a complete change of heart, he just has to do the grunt work of repenting. He has a lot of, actually all of the Word of Wisdom problems, but he has already started trying to quit, and in every lesson he impresses us with his desire to read the Book of Mormon, do more service for others, and repent.
Despite the disappointment of Mariana's baptism falling through, Sunday was an excellent day! I reached perfection in the banana bread I made for the investigators, and we found out that I GET ONE MORE TRANSFER IN HURLINGHAM!!! We went to Morris (the next train station, the poorer half of our area) to pick up Pamela and on the way stopped by to wake up Gaston and his brother Seba. We expected them to come to the door in PJs, but they were already almost ready! We awarded them slices of banana bread as a reward. We were still early, so we went to look for Celeste and Elvira (my converts!) and it was a good thing too, because their alarm hadn't gone off! We let them eat banana bread anyway. They were thrilled to see us and Elvira shouted to Celeste "Wake up, Cele, the hermanas came to take us to church!" I guess they miss the personal attention they got when they were investigators. They brought Ludmila, Celeste{s darling toddler with them too. We went to get Pamela and then went to church with her and Elvira, Celeste, and Ludmila in the bus. I was so happy to be there with my converts and my investigators! And when we got to church, Evelyn (most recent convert) was there too! Evelyn's family hadn't been bringing her and Celeste was missing church because of work (she got up the guts to quit this week) and Elvira had missed a couple of weeks because of family visits and losing her roof to a freak storm (forgot to write about that) so it was the first time that all three of my converts were in church together! I was so happy! And seeing Gaston sit with Celeste and hold Ludmila, who was sleeping, was very touching.
Well, I'm super out of time as usual. A couple requests: please send me Ben's emails, because I have no idea how his first week went! And, the next time you send me a package, can you send pantyhose? The regular kind, not the make you look skinny kind or the super dark colored ones. I started wearing them again because it is cold, but now they all have holes. And yes, pantyhose exist here too, but the sensual photos of women's legs that are always on the packaging in the US are downright pornographic here in Argentina and my inner-feminist wouldn't let me buy any. Ok, now I'm really out of time.
I hope you are not heartbreakingly lonely with just the five of you rattling around in the house. Thank you for your support and emails.
Love,
Ellis
Monday, August 8, 2011
A Week of Blessings
Dear Family,
I think often of you, especially of Ben, and I hope you are all well and adjusting easily to the big changes that are coming when Ben leaves. Here is what I did last week:
Monday: made tacos in the apartment with Hna Navarro-- despite the absence of jalapeño juice, they were yummy. Then we had a great Family Home Evening with the Herreras, an active family in our ward (the ones who made me birthday cake), about missionary work. Best quote of the week is awarded to Micaela (six years old.) Me: What are some of the things Jesus did to help people? Micaela: He helped poor people who couldn´t take baths be clean again. (see the healing the leper scene in Finding Faith in Christ when the little leprous grandpa gets healed and says"I´m clean!")
Tuesday: had divisions with Hna Salazar, who has just one more transfer left-- we found some new investigators and she gave me some good advice: "Don´t be sad about what you aren´t doing well. Be happy for all the things you are doing well."
Wednesday: Left the keys in the gate, traveled all the way to Merlo to reunite with Hna Navarro (it was really good to see my companion again!) and didn´t realize I didn´t have the keys until we arrived at the gate again. We searched the ground and the trash (eww) before concluding that I had indeed left the keys in the gate. Fortunately, our neighbor had found them and we were able to get them back and enter the apartment-- phew! How could I be so scatterbrained?
Thursday: We went to pick up a lunch the Hna Hornos made for us to eat in the apartment. As I thought about our plans to visit the Tejedas, a dirt-poor family in our ward, I thought "Maybe they need our lunch." At first I thought I was nuts, but just in case I called Hna Tejeda and asked how she was doing. She said lousy, so I asked what she needed. She said her husband needed work and the family needed food. So I told her we were coming right away. Hna Navarro said she had also felt that we should give the Tejedas our lunch. Wow! I assumed they had food, just not very much, and that our lunch would be more of a comfort gift than a real help. But when we arrived and gave them our lunch, Hna Tejeda said they had absolutely no food, not even enough for dinner that night. As soon as we left we called the RS president, who was able to bring them more food that night. This was a really cool experience, because Heavenly Father knew that the Tejeda family needed our lunch, even though I didn´t, and he let us be instruments to work a miracle for them. Moral of the story: always listen to the Spirit!
We also contacted a reference from the Saravia family and found Teresa and Pamela, who really liked lesson one and agreed to pray! Pamela came to mutual that same night and loved it!
Friday: We taught SIX LESSONS IN ONE DAY! A record for our companionship, and very welcome because we have had embarrassingly low numbers all transfer long. Also, we taught the Law of Chastity to Marta, and she accepted the principle and seemed open to the idea of talking to her boyfriend of ten years about marriage.
Saturday: We taught SEVEN LESSONS, including a really good lesson to Marta and her daughter Julieta about obedience. Julieta said she wants to come to church too! We also taught Miriam and her daughters Dahiana, Mariana, and Ramona. Dahiana and Mariana accepted baptismal dates last week, but Dahiana has doubts now because the three of them are preparing to take communion in the Catholic church. We told them it was their decision and that they should pray about it, but tried to explain that they won´t be able to have the same blessings in the Catholic church. Mariana said she is sure she wants to get baptized, but Dahiana and Ramona still weren´t sure after the lesson. We really hope they decide to get baptized with their sister.
We also taught Olga, who has been progressing pretty slowly because she is too busy to have a lesson more than once a week. I challenged her to be baptized, but she says she doesn´t know enough yet and she will tell us when she is ready and doesn´t want the pressure of a baptismal date. She still wants to listen to us and come to church, which made me feel good, but I was upset that I´ve taught her for a full month but haeen´t been able to help her understand that a testimony isn´t about knowledge of facts, it´s about getting an answer from the Spirit. I felt like my teaching had sort of failed. But as we returned to the apartment, at exactly 9:28, I saw a man with a mohawk and his young son waiting for the bus. We walked past, but I felt like we should go back to talk to them, even though we were supposed to be inside at 9:30. We returned to talk to the man, whose name was Cristian. He said he´d already met elders and had a book of Mormon. He said he has a lot of respect and gratitude for missionaries and what we do, because we don´t discriminate. He said that most people would not have turned back to talk to him and he thanked us for helping him to feel included. He told us to never get discouraged because what we are doing makes a difference. I felt like Heavenly Father was sending me a message through Cristian-- not to be discouraged about my teaching and to know that I really am helping people. Cristian doesn´t live in our area, but we wrote down his address so we can send the elders to him again.
Sunday: We lost some of our little sheep on the way to the pasture, but Ramona, Mariana, Olga, and Pamela came to church and really loved it. And Seba Sires´ (recent convert) non member brother came to church and agreed to let us visit him. So we had 5 investigators again! And Pamela is already thinking seriously about baptism! Life is good in Hurlingham!
This week the big struggle will be helping Mariana (11) get ready to be baptized and trying to help her mom support her by taking her to church every sunday and trying to help her sisters get baptized too. We will be busy, but very happy.
I love you all and hope you are as busy and happy as I am!
I think often of you, especially of Ben, and I hope you are all well and adjusting easily to the big changes that are coming when Ben leaves. Here is what I did last week:
Monday: made tacos in the apartment with Hna Navarro-- despite the absence of jalapeño juice, they were yummy. Then we had a great Family Home Evening with the Herreras, an active family in our ward (the ones who made me birthday cake), about missionary work. Best quote of the week is awarded to Micaela (six years old.) Me: What are some of the things Jesus did to help people? Micaela: He helped poor people who couldn´t take baths be clean again. (see the healing the leper scene in Finding Faith in Christ when the little leprous grandpa gets healed and says"I´m clean!")
Tuesday: had divisions with Hna Salazar, who has just one more transfer left-- we found some new investigators and she gave me some good advice: "Don´t be sad about what you aren´t doing well. Be happy for all the things you are doing well."
Wednesday: Left the keys in the gate, traveled all the way to Merlo to reunite with Hna Navarro (it was really good to see my companion again!) and didn´t realize I didn´t have the keys until we arrived at the gate again. We searched the ground and the trash (eww) before concluding that I had indeed left the keys in the gate. Fortunately, our neighbor had found them and we were able to get them back and enter the apartment-- phew! How could I be so scatterbrained?
Thursday: We went to pick up a lunch the Hna Hornos made for us to eat in the apartment. As I thought about our plans to visit the Tejedas, a dirt-poor family in our ward, I thought "Maybe they need our lunch." At first I thought I was nuts, but just in case I called Hna Tejeda and asked how she was doing. She said lousy, so I asked what she needed. She said her husband needed work and the family needed food. So I told her we were coming right away. Hna Navarro said she had also felt that we should give the Tejedas our lunch. Wow! I assumed they had food, just not very much, and that our lunch would be more of a comfort gift than a real help. But when we arrived and gave them our lunch, Hna Tejeda said they had absolutely no food, not even enough for dinner that night. As soon as we left we called the RS president, who was able to bring them more food that night. This was a really cool experience, because Heavenly Father knew that the Tejeda family needed our lunch, even though I didn´t, and he let us be instruments to work a miracle for them. Moral of the story: always listen to the Spirit!
We also contacted a reference from the Saravia family and found Teresa and Pamela, who really liked lesson one and agreed to pray! Pamela came to mutual that same night and loved it!
Friday: We taught SIX LESSONS IN ONE DAY! A record for our companionship, and very welcome because we have had embarrassingly low numbers all transfer long. Also, we taught the Law of Chastity to Marta, and she accepted the principle and seemed open to the idea of talking to her boyfriend of ten years about marriage.
Saturday: We taught SEVEN LESSONS, including a really good lesson to Marta and her daughter Julieta about obedience. Julieta said she wants to come to church too! We also taught Miriam and her daughters Dahiana, Mariana, and Ramona. Dahiana and Mariana accepted baptismal dates last week, but Dahiana has doubts now because the three of them are preparing to take communion in the Catholic church. We told them it was their decision and that they should pray about it, but tried to explain that they won´t be able to have the same blessings in the Catholic church. Mariana said she is sure she wants to get baptized, but Dahiana and Ramona still weren´t sure after the lesson. We really hope they decide to get baptized with their sister.
We also taught Olga, who has been progressing pretty slowly because she is too busy to have a lesson more than once a week. I challenged her to be baptized, but she says she doesn´t know enough yet and she will tell us when she is ready and doesn´t want the pressure of a baptismal date. She still wants to listen to us and come to church, which made me feel good, but I was upset that I´ve taught her for a full month but haeen´t been able to help her understand that a testimony isn´t about knowledge of facts, it´s about getting an answer from the Spirit. I felt like my teaching had sort of failed. But as we returned to the apartment, at exactly 9:28, I saw a man with a mohawk and his young son waiting for the bus. We walked past, but I felt like we should go back to talk to them, even though we were supposed to be inside at 9:30. We returned to talk to the man, whose name was Cristian. He said he´d already met elders and had a book of Mormon. He said he has a lot of respect and gratitude for missionaries and what we do, because we don´t discriminate. He said that most people would not have turned back to talk to him and he thanked us for helping him to feel included. He told us to never get discouraged because what we are doing makes a difference. I felt like Heavenly Father was sending me a message through Cristian-- not to be discouraged about my teaching and to know that I really am helping people. Cristian doesn´t live in our area, but we wrote down his address so we can send the elders to him again.
Sunday: We lost some of our little sheep on the way to the pasture, but Ramona, Mariana, Olga, and Pamela came to church and really loved it. And Seba Sires´ (recent convert) non member brother came to church and agreed to let us visit him. So we had 5 investigators again! And Pamela is already thinking seriously about baptism! Life is good in Hurlingham!
This week the big struggle will be helping Mariana (11) get ready to be baptized and trying to help her mom support her by taking her to church every sunday and trying to help her sisters get baptized too. We will be busy, but very happy.
I love you all and hope you are as busy and happy as I am!
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