Merry Christmas

Hola,
We started off the day yesterday by going to the hospital. My comp got bit by a scorpion. I guess that´s what we get for doing our morning exercises....She was laying on the floor, and the nasty little thing just bit her. We didn´t know if it was bad or not, as she said it only hurt a little. We went to our neighbor, who wasn´t of much help. We called hermana giuliani and pres. giuliani. Finally someone called us back, and then Hna Giuliani told us to go immediately to the hospital. Good thing the bite didn´t kill instantly, or my comp would have been long dead by this time. So then we went to the hospital. This is an experience in and of itself, in Argentina. We waited, and waited, I had to figure out the payment and how everything works. Then finally we saw a doctor, he said it´s not poisonous, and sent her to get a shot. Thing is, he didn´t even look at the scorpion! (we had to bring the real thing). And then I saw his nametag that said cardiologist. jaja. So there went my trust in the hospital. (don´t worry, they didn´t even once ask for her ID or health history or anything.) So then she got a shot in her bum. And that´s the story of the scorpion.

Other exciting things this week...the police. You have probably already heard about this or got the email from president....but the police weren´t working. So society went crazy. And we couldn´t leave our apartment after dark this week. Very inconvenient. In some areas people went around crazy with guns and robbing, lots of stores were closed, but nothing happened to us. It was all very political, and we always just heard what was going on from the people in the street, and little old ladies who were scared for our lives that we were going to get attacked.

Thanks for all the birthday emails! My first birthday without snow and gingerbread houses. I did get my share of cake though:) We ate with a member, and she made the most delcious cake. I didn´t know something so good existed in argentina. It was chocolate, with dulce de leche, whipcream, strawberries. mmmmm. And even made a delicious breakfast the next day. There is a bakery that I have just been waiting to go to.....it would put kneaders to shame. Its full of rows and rows and shelves of the most yummy looking pastries and cakes. So we went there also. Jaja mom you found an alforjor recipe! Some members gave me sweet cards and president calls everyone on their birthday.


The heat is here. Oh wow. And lucky us, our fridge-freezer isn´t quite working normallly. But we count the working fan as a blessing. Even though they do just randomly shut off the power during the afterrnoon somedays here. 99 in the shade, and 93 in our apartment. I guess some things, like a constantly dripping face, you get used to ?... My favorite are the adorable little lawnmowers with cords that people use here.

Sad news for the week is our investigator. He doesn´t want to be "Mormon" and learn more. We literally gave him everything we had...but in the end every person has to make a decision for themself. And at times the pressure of other people just prevents them from accpeting the gospel, but I know some day in the future he will remember what he felt and knew. We did find some other good people contacting. I love when people recognize how peaceful they feel when talking to us.... um, hello sista, there´s more where that comes from.

Other good things this week was an asado with our mission leader (an elder here was leaving), the christmas mission conference (mom, i´m sure you have already facbook stalked that!jaja).

Oh, and the ward activity! We had a talent show. I just love how different the culture is...jaja lets just say it teaches me patience. It started at 8:30 one night....we had gotten permission to be out this late (because of all the police problems) But we had shown up early...and there was no one. Of course the bishop showed up at 8:27, members showed up after.... jaja just a whole different schedule. There was a variety of talents, including singing, I taught a little girl a piano song, and food. Well we had no time to think of some cute litle talent, we are missionaries. So i had a brilliant plan to do rainbow jellow. Yes, rainbow jello. A talent? not really. But impressive? it can be. (it all started becasue we couldn´t find a box of brownies to make) Well if you recall we have some serious issues with our fridge. It took a full 24 hours, but we make a pan of jellow, complete with the layers and all. The problem came when we went to this activity, it took forever to start, we walked through the 100 degrees outside. Let´s just say by the time we tried to cut the cute little cubes of rainbow jellow, it was not so cute. It was a distaster... kinda like what you see on pinterest, and then when you actually make it it turns into a totally different thing. Haha it was so embarrasing. Well we had to leave the activity early, and who knows what it looked like when the members finally ate, or what comments were made...jaja. That is the story of the rainbow jello i made in argentina.

Tell the relief society thanks for the card! Thanks for the updates! Thank you for the bday stuff!! To answer about christmas here....well there are some trees and lights. Little baby trees. And lights in the window. And tiny little wreaths on some doors. But nothing at all like the american decor.... it´s funny to see little santa clause decorations or things in english. Here the night before is the big deal, christmas day everyone just sits around and drinks. I think we made introduce argentina to caroling. :)

Yes, I plan on skyping! We are going to to the church probably. Our pday is christmas day next week. It will probably be the afternoon here, around 3ish. Either I will send an email early next week to say exactly what time, or if you can just check your email christmas day.

love you all!
hermana andrews.

Hola!

Another week. Wow. Seriously it´s flying by. Cliche, cliche, I know. But its already my birthday and Christmas!

jajaja wow it sounds freeeeezing cold there. I can´t even imagine. I am learning what real heat and humidity it like.... let's just say sleeping is not the most pleasant thing, and I walk around like a slimy sweat ball. oh well. ja. Last night there was a huge storm though. And by huge I mean huge. When it rains, it rainnnnns. And we live in a garage. (literally). So the rains came down, and the floods came up....and the power went off.....and our neighbor was out of town, we called the elders to ask what on earth to do as the water was rising and we were sure it would come in our little place we call home. Well the elders either don´t get it or don´t care...jaja. So we took matters into our own hands, stacked the suitcases on top of our stove, moved everything off the floor.....It was a blessing that the rain finally stopped before we flooded. Call us extreme, or just prepared. What a night.

We went to Walmart last pday! WALMART!!!! Ok ok...here´s all the details for you mom. It´s like america! Well, kinda. Same huge parking lot. (surrounded by barbwire). There were more workers than customers, (siesta maybe??), but there was the same little old man greeter, and christmas decorations, and all. Aaah I felt at home. I bought peanut butter!!! I even looked at the clothes....lots of the same ones, there were a ton of these long reversible skirts (in the US too??), but when you look at the shelves you are reminded that it´s still argentina....

It was one year ago that i received that stinkin letter to change my date, my birthday....and now...i´m in argentina! So crazy. Oh, and i received the christmas package. THANK YOU!! Celebrate for me. I will be here eating funfetti as well:)

We had zone meeting this week, good as usual. There was a big long schpill about scorpiones....absolutely disgusting. I learned more than I ever wanted to know. There´s lots of kinds in the world of course, but the kinds in argentina happen to be the dangerous venemous ones. I guess it´s a big safety concern for missionaries. People die, and lots of peple have died recently here in rosario. The next day we were helping a lady clean her house, and guess what i saw...a scorpion. So now we have to scorpion proof our little house, but remember how we live in a crackerbox....so please just pray for us. ja.

One day we were contacting for the costanera, and found this guy who his grandkids are actually serving missions! Him and his wife are not members (catholic), but were the friendliest people ever. Right then they invited us to an asado, showed us scrapbooks and pics of their family. Turns out they don´t live in our area...but it was crazy to meet them. We almost accepted their offer for an asado:) So now we will be sending the missionaries after them though, they have so much potential...with his daughter and grandkids as members! Same day we met 2 college guys, turns out one has a girlfriend in California, and all her friends are members. So he has heard things, and even talked about how we discriminate who can go to weddings. We explained about the temple and marriage and families and everything....lots of potential also, but unfortunately they are students that are leaving now that it´s summer. We met a lady practicing islam...that was the first i have heard of here! I love meeting people. Even the special ones...like an old lady who told us she doesn´t wanted to be resurrected, but wants to be reincarnated into a monkey. She was so completely sincere, really wants to be a monkey. poor thing. My favorite excuse for people that don´t want to listen to us has been ´´i don´t have time until next year...´´....ok i know it´s like a month away, but really, if a person is interested they wouldn´t say that! until next year.

Funny moment this week...i gave a beso to a man. Truth is i wasn´t sure if it was a man or a women, and i thought it was better safe than sorry. I then asked the menos activo we were with if her aunt lived with here...she then told me it´s her uncle, not her aunt. oops. i thought it was her aunt. Usually it´s the men that try to give US a beso.

We are trying to use our time better and plan better. We have greatly improved how we plan, and I have seen a difference in what we are able to get done. I didn´t feel like we wasted time before, but I know God blesses us when we make plans for every minute of the day we have. Even exactly what streets we will walk. By doing this God will put people where we will be. It´s been a struggle with our investigador. His family and friends don´t want him to be in the church or baptized....ugh so it´s difficult when he doesn´t have support. I just know he´s prepared, so it´s hard to see a person make a decision to not accept the gospel. This week we need to focus on new investigadores and helping those we have to progress. There´s a ton of our area that has not been contacted, or at least for years, so we will be going there to find new people. THis week we have tried everything....even calling every old investigador that had a phone number on their teaching record. Creepy maybe, but you do what you gotta do. Or whats inspired. We are taking advantage of this. season with every person and their dog outside sipping mate to contact.

There´s a less active family we are working with, and the happiest day yesterday when the mom and the daughter, and the little boy of the daughter were at church. I LOVE seeing the change in people. For example the girl maira (26) who i know trusts us now, and when we go to her house she is excited to read the scriptures.

To answer your question mom, it depends what we eat. Usually some sort of meat or chicken, potatos, or salad or empanadas. There´s a family that has a rotiseria (like fastfood for here?) so with them pizza or tarta. Another member is from peru, so it´s always rice with them. And always juice. Always. My favorite thing here now is ensalada de fruita....mmmmm. Fresh fruit salad. But its the dessert. My other main food i eat is yogurt and cornflakes. Everyyy day. One thing i still haven´t learned to love is mayo....ja oh well.

Oh, and this week I finished reading the Book of Mormon. yay! well, actually kinda too bad that it´s over. I LOVE this book. I have a testimony of this....it is absolutely central to everything we believe. It literally is the most powerful tool in the conversion, combined with the Holy Ghost.

Love you all!
Enjoy your week!
This is a crazy week here....we have misión christmas conference, a ward talent show, and of course me bday. Celebrate! And right now i´m off to a zone pday.
love,
hermana andrews

p.s. prov. 17:17

Diciembre

My favorite question this week has been, ´are you really sisters´.....never gets old. And no one can say 'Andrews' either. I´m glad you all enjoyed thanksgiving! We were lucky enough to eat milenesa (fried chicken) and mashed potatoes for lunch, complete with Tang and an orange for dessert. And that night a member randomly gave us sandwiches. So that is what we did to celebrate. Oh and my nose got friiieedd. I think I will have to up the sunscreen.

Mom, I received the package! Thank you! I will be waiting until my bday to enjoy the funfetti and cookies:) We have officially put the christmas countdown calender up. And thanks for the dear elders too! This week we did divisiones with the hermanas capacitadores. An hermana came here to Santa Fe, I seriously learned SO much, and it´s always a nice little change to see how other people work and have their ideas. Hermana Diorio actually came to the mission the same day as me, but is from argentina (the only hermana from argentina!) We also had a training in Parana for all leaders and trainers. I always love listening to presidente giuliani and his asistants. They talked about teaching the doctrina of cristo, and the importance to invite people to be baptized.

Our miracle this week was with Miguel. Maybe I told a little about him the last week?....First of all we received a message, he wanted to know exactly how it is we pray. Ok, that never happens here. Happily we went over and taught him. Later in the week we had an appointment planned, then it took us forever to find a member that could come with us. We showed up at the church, the elders told us that the members couldn´t come because the dad had got hit by a motorcycle...and then miguel didn´t show up anyways....communication is a little complicated when you can´t carry even your cellphone around and sometimes things don´t work out as planned(I can´t even IMAGINE having an ipad...and car...jaja) So everything fell through. The next day we reset the appointment, he showed up to the church, and had a notebook full of questions about the church and every bad thing- or lie that you can find about mormons on the internet. horrible. I told him we were going to teach a lesson and if he still had questions after we would answer those. We taught the restoration and libro de mormon, he accepted a baptismal date, and said one of the most sincere prayers I have heard. It was so interesting to see the Spirit work, and to have the member share her testimony and experience, that when we ended the lesson all the garbage he had found against the church didn´t even matter.

We were SO happy for him. I know that the appointment worked out better with the day and member we had. Then that night we went home and had received a message from him...he said he went home and was telling his family, and they said they will reject him if he is baptized. He didn´t know what to do, was considering looking for a different place to live...he was not doing so good. ugh. It all happened so fast.  In the lesson the member had talked about how when we start to do something good Satan attacks. And it happened faster than I could have imagined. So right now we are trying to help him, but also the members, so that he can make a decision for himself what he will do. It´s hard for him, but if something is true you can´t deny it. And he felt the spirit.

The world is changing. Fast. And for the worse. People have fear, or i don´t know what it is, to even talk about God and Christ. Yesterday we were handing out little pictures of Christ to contact and find people... and before we even said the name of our church people would even refuse to talk to us, or refuse to accept a little picture! I just don´t understand. There are lots of people who won´t even listen to anything or look at anything that appears to be religious. I´m sure this just makes our heavenly father sad.

Another thing I learned is that it doesn't matter how many years you have been a member of the church, if you have served a mission, or what has happened....the conversion depends on what you do personally every single day and every week. The conversion is not something we achieve, it´s a state of being that we need to constantly mejorar.

I´m happy to hear you did festival of trees! woohoo! Are you going to be chopping down a life tree this year? well we are off to walmart. Yep, you heard that right. Worldwide walmart here in argentina.

love you all!
hermana andrews

p.s. 3 juan 1:4

me and my district from the mtc
at conferencia de las hermanas

costanera!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

There is absolutely no evidence of the happiest time of the year, aka Thanksgiving and Christmas, here. So please eat some food for me. (mom, make sure the turkey is cooked this year. jaja). Today we are making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies....and the festivities about end there! I did make one of those turkey handprint things that you make in 2nd grade, and write what you are thankful for. So as I am sitting at my desk in the sweltering heat I have a lovely little turkey to look at.

I assume mom has already facebook stalked about the hermanas conference.... But yes it was lovely! I felt like I was in young womens...with all the girls, even the table decor. There are SO many new hermanas. Well truth is,maybey they aren´t that new....I still feel like the new one, then people remind me I have been here for months and months. jaja. Pres and his wife spoke, and other people, there were little class things about hair and clothing (jajajajaj that´s gone down the drain), we even learned how to lead music. And the food. That´s always important.

I saw my little companera, hna cruz, that is in colón. I was SO happy to hear about the good things that are happening there, it´s being taken care of. 

We met lots of interesting people this week. People seem to share their life story, deepest darkest secrets, their body and health problems in detail, and more than you ever ask to know. This includes sweet little abuelas cannot hear us, even when I am practically screaming...and cannot walk to go to church....and cannot see to read the pamphlet. ja oh well. Testigos de Jeovah....this has tested my knowledge! These people are hard core. We had some very interesting discussions....but the truth is if a person looks for every fault or doubt, they cannot receive a testimony. We were with a menos activo, when the mom went mute. She lost her voice....it was one of the weirdest appointments I have ever had, turns out this is a healthproblem she has and it happens, but they don´t know why. Lipreading in spanish is hard. ja. I hardly knewwhat to do..It was crazy.

My testimony of Jose Smith and the restauracion grows stronger every day. People are constantly attacking our message and the church, but I know for myself that he was a prophet. There´s been many moments where I know the spirit testified strong,even if a person doesn´t want to accept the gospel. The interesting thing is that EVERY time we begin to teach the first vision and jose smith, there is a distraction -phone rings,baby cries, person walks in the room. This is not coincidence, because this is the moment the Spirit can be strongest.

Our miracle this week was Miguel. He is 25, the elders helped us contact one day in our area. We went back to this house to visit his mom, and met him. He has interest and wanted to go to the church! So we passed by Sunday and he came with us,it all turned out so good, the members were SO friendly,excited to have an investigador,and I think we have more confidence of the members now. He is unlike anyone I have taught, he is so open and very intelligent, he liked the church.

Sunday was primary program.Me and my comp played the piano, it was an adorablelittle program. There´s 8 kids in the primary...so a little different than the utah ones!

To answer moms questions, we eat with members every day. This ward is really good about this, even though there are also 2 elders. And we are in Costanera Ward. It´s the first ward in santa fe, my mision president served here 40 years ago. And Elder Scott was a mission pres. here. There is a family, the Chiapellos, that are the NICEST people ever. They feed us any day that we don´t have a lunch. Rosa is from Peru, Jesus is from here, they have been married a year, she is RS pres. They will do anything to help the misionaries.

This week I was reminded of the unity and humility that is always needed. I´m grateful for my comp, she is always willing to contribute and teach also. I wasn´t so good at that when I first got here...oops. But being with a person all day every day I am reminded of the humility.

I just love the people.Even the 98 percent that don´t even want to talk to our face. But I know that the work we do is real, the gospel istrue, so what else matters?

Summer is coming, it´s been hoooot. But I can´t judge yet, because everyone says it just gets worse. Other things this week....I discovered the most delicious ice cream i have had in argentina, found that they sale yummy dino shaped pasta (I have already apologizedto my comp for my food obsession. ijust can´t help it. i don´t even have cookbooks to read here). Oh shoot...I can never remember everything to share! Or it´s just not as funny as in the moment. Mabye we can do a tour of my mission when we are up in heaven watching the videos.

What are you doing for thanksgiving? Enjoy the festivities! and blackfriday. or whatever it is that we do in america. Mom, tell Heidi hello. Glad to hear she is working!

i was going to send some pics....but the computer is not the greatest here. Next time. 

Hopefuly I will be getting the dear elders you sent, we have a training manana.Thank you! 

And make sure to take pics of turkey day and all!

I´m grateful for my family, for the gospel, for the life I have had, for this little time of my life to live far away and come to understand more who my Heavenly Father is, and to see his hand in the details of our lives.

Love you all!

hermana andrews

Buen Dia!

buen dia!

Another week has come and gone. Wow. This has definitely been a test of faith...... all the negative details don´t really matter, but let´s just say it didn´t provide the results of what you see on those District DVDS. jaja.

I think we had the record for most failed appointments in my mission up to this point. We were literally up to plan Z every single day. We set appointments, contacted, planned lessons with memebers, received references, tried to contact references, contacted in the street, searched old investigadores.....and nothing. Nothing. It was day after day, we did everything, studied, were obedient, worked the whole day, and nothing seemed to work. And the lovely weather always seems to play a part...days of blazing hot humidity, and other days waking up to argentina rainstorms. I was stuck, and just didn´t know what else we were supposed to do and change. We were trying to be good little preach my gospel missionaries, but I didn´t know if god was trying to teach us humility or patience or what. NO ONE wanted to talk to us. I understand Sterlings dilemna of nights with nothing...jaja. Sometimes I think it would be better to just go bake brownies and deliver them to all the old peple here for service.

But last night, Sunday, was a little miracle. Once again we had been through all our plans, back up plans, and plans of back up plans. We were contacting one last street, got the usual catholics who don´t even want to look at our faces. When we presented ourselves to a man, and he said ¨quieren pasar?¨......WHAT? he asked us if we wanted to enter his house. This never happens here. So we met Javier, a man who it turns out talked to missionaries a few years ago in a different city. He was so receptive, has a baby, really likes listening and learning about religions, he likes that our church has the name of Christ in it. It was a miracle and tender mercy to find him. He has a crazy work schedule, and we happened to contact his house one of the only days he has been home in the past 2 weeks...coincidence? nope. But this week it made me think a lot about success of a missionary. Lots of times it´s numbers, numbers, numbers. But our personal faith and confidence in God determines how we handle a situation, and in turn allows the spirit to work through us, even if we are not in the friendliest place in the world. ja.

Our neighbor warned us this week about the scorpions. Scorpions. Aaaahhh. They crawl up through the drains, because santa fe is hot and humid. I don´t know if it will be worse to see one, or to just be living where i know they are crawling around. and bite. Funny moment....we were talking to a contact, and a bird pooped on my comps leg. jajajaj. I didn´t even know until after, when she showed me that there was a big green and white dripping down. Another day a horse charged us, but luckily it was on a rope. Or I think we legitely would have died. A sweet little recent convert, Zunilda, made us lunch one day. She made empenadas, they were absolutely horrible and burnt and stuffed with green olives. But she is the sweetest, and her prayers are priceless. She said the prayer in sacrament...and i think some people were caught off guard, she does it more in the style of the catholics or some other church, with eyes open and doing the cross think with her hand. jaja. She is quite the caracter, and is still learning some of the differences in our church. (during lunch she asked my companion who is richer, me or her. My companion didn´t really understand, and zunilda then turned to my companion and said ¨yep, you look like you have more money than hermana andrews.¨jaja. i don´t know if it was my outfit for the day or what.) Another member made us lunch one day, it was rice with what I initally thought was bad chicken. Oops. She then said it was intestine (mondongo). This is one thing I just can´t eat.

Here´s a random fact....the FLDS church sends letters with revelation from their profeta to all the wards, even here in Argentina! It´s so crazy, it is straight from their profeta warren jeffs, delivered to the bishop here. funny huh.

We also contacted what is basically the hollywood of santa fe. Not knowing our whole area, we chose a street to contact, which turned out to be the RICHEST of the richest. haha oops. Everyone needs the gospel, it just takes a little more searching in areas like this. And wasn´t the most effective.

Tomorrow we go to Rosario for a conferencia de las hermanas:) with all the hermanas from the mision.

Good job ethan and landon with all your awards and everything! What proud little parents i have:)

Happy almost thanksgiving! I´m grateful for all I have....but most importantly for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Cliche, cliche. But really, it´s true. My testimony grows more every day. I know that lasting happiness only comes through knowing who Jesus Christ is and applying his atonement in our lives.

les quiero!
love, hermana andrews


p.s. home sweet...welcome to prison. the next few nights we will be shoving extra 2 girls in there with us....no idea how. just pray the scorpions don´t eat me during the night while i am sleeping on the floor.

Santa Fe, Santa Fe

Hola!

Whoaaah. I am in santa fe. I survived the week of transfers.

Let´s just say, I´m probably in the most gorgeous area in the mision. Ok, I still love Colón. But once again, I am RIGHT next to the river. The name Costanera is exactly what it is. Truth is I haven´t even taken pictures....as it has rained EVERy day since we got here. (More like argentina torments). But yes our area is right along the coast, has some of the most beatiful houses (think of like san diego on the beach). You can google it. There´s a huge Santa Fe bridge. It´s a lovely place. Except people say it is the most humid city in the mission....and summer is just miserable. ja. We will see how that goes. 

And we live in a crackerbox. Well, it´s a garage. I won´t even begin my dislike for apartments of elders...and how once again we had to clean it ALL. Boys will be boys. Ok I will start from the beginning of the story. 

Tuesday I had to say bye to everyone. And there wasn´t even time to see everyone I wanted. Tuesday during the night I went to Rosario, got there Wednesday morning. It turned out that almost all the hermanas that were training were the same that trained last transfer too...weird. My comp from the MTC trained again also. Then we had the little meeting thing with all the trainer and new people. There are 8 hermanas and 8 elders, and only one hermana from the states. And guess who I got?...Hermana Hickman from washington! jaja. The others are from Central and South America, and there is one from Spain!! She is the hot item around here, with her accent and all.

Hermana Hickman is 19, fresh from the MTC. I think she was plenty freaked out her first day here. We got here Wednesday night, were given the address of our aparment. We went in a taxi, got there, and people told us that missionaries haven´t lived there for over a year. A guy explained where he thought the missionaries now lived....so we got back in the taxi and went there. We didn´t even have a phone during this time, our luggage was with some other guy in another truck with our zone leaders. So we pull up this dark street.....we didn´t have an exact house number or anything. The taxi driver told us this is a dangerous area...I had no idea what to do, there was no one to communicate with. Luckily the elders showed up a little after, confirmed that this is where we live. It didn´t help the fact that the the metal bars on the window and door had a broken lock...jaja. The owner of the house was explaining that this is a dangerous area, to always keep everything locked....jaja my poor comp. And it was not the cleanest inside. But hey, she got her first taste of Argentina! We spent a day cleaning, reorganizing, and it´s a quaint little place to live. The elders had to move out and are looking for another apartment.

We were left in this area with zero investigadores. We spent time meeting and visiting members. It´s actually pretty great, because our area is very untouched. We split the ward in 2, it´s super long hot dog shaped, which means the missionaries have always worked in about the same area, as it takes time to walk from one point to the other. But now we are here and it´s basically opening a new area.

The members are great so far:) There´s a family that goes to the US a couple times of year...they had pics of moab, park city, all the church history places....it was so weird to see all this, they have been to more places in UT and the US than the typical mormon family! jaja. There are some VERY wealthy areas in our area....also some more humble neighborhoods. We still have hardly even seen our area, as most of the members live in the area of the elders. But we are working to contact and with references that we have already received from the members. Some people are quite happy to have hermanas:) That´s always nice.

I´m quite content to be here. It´s a lot of work. Starting from nothing. But I love the faith and animo of a new missionary! It helps me a lot, she has so many desires to find and teach. I understand what it´s like to be new. Exactly. I´m grateful for the perspective, and to see the things that I have learned and now hopefully will be able to help her with. I love the changes through the mission...being able to learn more and more, to communicate with the people, to have more meaningful studies, to develop the ability to teach. I´m not freaked out of the same things. The mission either can kill your confidence, or help build it up centered in Christ. I know it is being built on him, because I know without him I am nothing. And even when people are not the nicest, or don´t want to talk, I know that there are more people that are waiting for the truth, and that I am just a little instrument in the hands of God. It´s all quite humbling, but also empowering.

Glad the birthday was great ethan! holy smokes, I cannot believe he is 15. 

thank you for the emails and remembering me:)

love, hermana andrews

I love this girl and her family. Ailen. I had a super good experience with them the last night I was there...and can´t wait to hear of the day her dad is worthy to baptize her, and her mom is baptized:)

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Hola!

Happy birthday ethan!!! I hope you enjoyed the day! Did you keep up the tradition of a bonfire?

Guess what....I´m leaving Colón! My Coloncito!!.....Once again, I am training. Yep. Tomorrow (or maybe in the middle of the night tonight?) I go to Rosario, and then we will be in Santa Fe. Good thing revelation is real, and president Giuliani is called of God. There are SO many changes here. Crazy thing is I was only here 3 transfers. Either I have messed things up, didn´t do training right the first time, or something like that. ja. But I´m excited! I have no idea what the area will be like...only that right now there are 2 elders, and the area is splitting. I am leaving my hermanita Cruz!..... :( 

Also....there are 2 more hermanas coming here to Colón! This week I officially entered the real estate business....we were initally given 2 days to find an apartment and buying everything you would need to live. This eventually turned into a week of hunting for an apartment. (Which basically doesn´t exist, as it is summer in Colón and every single house is for tourists.) But we still haven´t found anything. And after complications with money, the hermanas will be lucky if mattresses get delivered for them tomorrow. All in all, it was quite the week. You all know how I love home depot and RC Willey....the thing is it isn´t quite the same here. I had to hunt down prices for everything, we went to about every furniture store in colón, called every inmobiliario. Quite the experience. And at least 3 times this week people asked if I am from Germany.

Yesterday we rearranged everything in our apartment, to make room for 2 more hermanas, until we find other apartment. (I even redid the wall decor) And then what happened.......ring, ring, ring, hermana andrews you are changing areas. I think this is the theme of the mission, just when things start to get going, boom....changes.

Sunday was a miracle though, and it was a sweet little piece of fruit from months of efforts. Sunday there were 3 families, the Castros, that went to church. They have all been less active, we have visited and worked with all three of them (brothers) lots and lots....and after all this prayers and fasting and frusteration jaja....it was the happiest day to see them all dressed up in white shirts and ties. One of them, David, blessed the sacrament for the first time in years and is going to baptize his daughter this week. Another brother, Sebastian, was there with his wife (non member) and his baby was blessed. The other brother Eduardo was there with his kids, after about 15 times that they have commited to going to church but haven´t. I can see the changes in these families. All the brothers, and their kids, bore their testimonies. The gospel absolutely changes lives....it´s difficult to return to the church, but I have seen evidence in this area that it is possible. I look forward to the day these families go to the temple:)

Church was just lovely, even with the usual noise of screaming wild children. There was a hilarious moment during sacrament mtg., a little boy was up and the stand, when his sister and cousin walked right up and hauled him off by his hands and feet. It was just so out of place to see a little child being hauled off by other little children in the middle of church, I think i busted out laughing.

It rained this week. And rained. It´s always a little bit more complicated with this (including we had to cancel our activity we planned)...but our sweet Rubencito made us torta fritas...like a scone. I finally convinced my comp that it is worth it to purchase boots (haha even though the next day was warm and sunny). We saw a guy on a bike get hit by a taxi driver...I am always just waiting for something like this to happen.

Well truth is I can´t even think of what else happened.....my mind is in 50 million directions. Or maybe I am just aging.

Aaahhhh I am leaving Colón! I absolutely love it here, muddy streets and all. It´s hard to understand how much you love the people and everything, until they are all you think about 24-7. I´m waiting the news one day for when there is a church here:) It makes you think about all you tried to do...and all you didn´t do. But I feel content, that I gave God everything I have, and so hopefully I fulfilled my purpose here. Answers to prayers come in funny ways. Or something like that. We will see what this next little part of the adventure, called a mission, brings.

As you can see from the fotos, pres Giuliani sent us new transportation. The food, well Mom, you would be proud of my diet. A healthy salad and fruit...ok ok, with a little dulce de leche. (I blame the fat cankle legs on the walking all day....and the whiteness....maybe summer will change that) That would be my beloved district! Not sure if it was purposelfully segregated like that, with giant americans and little latinos. Happy birthday hermana cruz!

I´m glad everyone had a happy halloween. It´s basically nonexistent  here. I used my orange tic-tacs to make a little pumpkin shape on my desk, and took a picture. That would be the extent of our festivities.

Good job ethan with band!

I read one of the best talks I have ever read...by elder maxwell, Jesus the Perfect Mentor. Instead of giving 

the whole schpill, you can all just go read it. But it has changed my attitude and view on the person that I need to be. (yes, it´s like 10 pages long, but worth it.)

love you all! thanks for the emails, they all mean a lot...the advice, the love, the updates. 

love, hermana andrews

happy halloween

I have seen one store in all of Colón advertising halloweeen.... And reeces and twix don´t exist here. I will just have to settle for some dulce de leche and buy a funny looking squash to look at. Speaking of which..... I must be converted to argentina, as I have discovered that dulce de leche in my bowl of cornflakes is delicious. Other things that happened this week....

- I found out last night that my retainer glows in the dark. Seriously...it has taken me 5 years to discover this....I NEVER knew that my little watermelon retainer glows in the dark, until last night. What a moment that was. 

- Why was I so blessed to grow up in a family with both parents who live the gospel, with so many opportunities for school and work, always enough food and money, cars, traveling??.... my life before feels like a dream. People here have NO idea what we really live like. 

- The hardest thing is when we work all week long to have people go to church, they commit to coming, we have lessons with members, we call them....and then they still don´t come. Sometimes we work, work, teach, invite....and then everything falls through. It just makes my little heart heart, when people don´t progress. 

- I had a good experience to relate to a member in our branch this week who has a daughter with lots of difficult problems, as I was able to relate with what happened to uncle boyd. It´s a thing that others who don't have this experience just don´t understand. 

- The majority of people really don´t understand who God or Jesus is. I have realized more and more that even many people claiming to have religious beliefs and faith don´t really understand WHO he is...our loving heavenly father who we lived with as spirits, and who one day we are going to return to. And that Jesus Christ was not just a man living in the world who died on the cross, but our Savior, our perfect example, that everything we do and believe is based on the faith that he suffered for every sin and pain we have passed through. And that he lives. 

- The most beautiful moment was as we had a FHE with the familia Castro, we were singing a hymn, and literally every person was on a different note...and then we read the scriptures....but I just saw this little family sitting here with so much potential. I could see that there is nothing more important than a family who reads the scriptures and teaches their kids about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sorry, dad, we were always little snots with FHE and scripture time. But I was so happy to see this family and the changes they have made. The worth of every single person really is so important to God. 

- We are still teaching Ruben. For every lesson we teach he has more questions, and then more doubts. I know the spirit is the most important thing, as we cannot change the heart of him. Also it is important that people understand what prayer really is, and to ask specific questions. He loves learning everything, but sometimes people don´t do their commitments and progress like we want them to!

-We have found some new investigadores and famliies this week. There is a difference between going around and teaching lessons, and finding the people who are prepared in this moment. This has been our challenge...but segimos adelante!

-Another happy moment was to see a menos activo, Sebastian, ride up to the capilla on his moto with a white shirt and tie, and his daughter on back. 

Ethan, thanks for the email and hour by hour update of your trip! Did you tell mom about all that?....jaja. 

Woohoo good job landon! Maybe you can sign up for a marathon in argentina?...

I hope daniel and seth are still alive and kickin, as it has been quite a while since i heard. They better have an excuse as to what they have been occupied with....

Oh that little hallowwen party sounds delightful! What goods are you handing out this year mom? and your scary movie?

Enjoy your week evrybody! This week we will find out what is happening in colón...presidente and other people have called, we are looking at other apartments, there may be elders sent here, or hermanas....lots of crazy things happening, emergency transfers, tons of new missionaries coming. 

Love you all, 

hermana andrews

"grace is not something received down the road, it is received right here and right now"

p.s. Cuanto leche da una vaca en argentina?.....moooocho. jaja. maybe mom at least gets it?!

p.s. i literally feel like a giant.....i am huuuuge. THat´s why i had to share this. Not to mention my face looks like an egg in this pic. We were doing some service one day. 

Happy October!

First of all, yes mom, i have collected some clothes. jaja. Good thing though....and I still need to go buy some shirts so I don´t die in the summer heat. I have collected from my comps that went home and even last week we were helping a member move and she gave us a bunch of shirts and skirts. DI doesn't exist here, but I have collected a lot of things.

This week we traveled...again! jaja. suprise! But seriously....we traveled half the mission. First we went to Concordia for zone meeting. Literally 10 minutes before we left our apartment to go, we got a call from the office that we had tramites[paperwork] for my comps visa also. So we went to Concordia in the afternoon, had a meeting, attempted to sleep for 2 hours in the apartment of the hermanas there, had a bus ride in the middle of the night to Paraná, arrived and all 12 of us missionaries (attempted?) to sleep on the oh-so-comfy church benches for a little, then we had a training for all new people and leaders. Then that afternoon we took a bus to Rosario. We slept in the mission home that night, did the paperwork stuff, and took a bus back to Colón that night. Quite the time...it´s what we get for being in Entre Rios! 

The training with president was just lovely, it´s always good to hear him talk. A very powerful man. He spoke about the importance of the spirit. There is also some new program for all missionaries, about emotional health, that they introduced. I always figured yoga and ice cream solves the problems of stress and all....but it is to help all the new missionaries adjust to the missionary life. Paraná is a pretty big city, the bus terminal is full of gypsy ladies who rob your stuff and poor little kids that sell stuff and beg all day.

Then in Rosario, we went with the office elders to pick up a new hermana that had just arrived. The elder who was driving us in the mission van, was driving for the first time manual (out of the church parking lot...) Oh my goodness, I don´t know if I will be able to let my kids drive....it literally may have been one of the scariest moments of my life as we almost died about 5 times in the insane streets of Rosario.

We had a cool experience while my comp was doing tramites for visa. In this building it is very diverse, as the people there are from other countries. We were next to 2 guys from Haiti who are living here now. We talked for quite a while about the church and everything, but it was interesting as spanish is not their first language, they speak french and creole, a little english, I speak english and spanish...jaja. It was translating between 3 languages!

This week there was also a baptism for a kid in our branch. The dad, Martin, was the first missionary who left from Colón (and since then there has only been one other...). He is very much into sharing the gospel, the chuch was packed with people, their friends and non member families. It was a really good experience, we had numerous menos activos who went, and we even had the elders from our district come. The baptismal font....oh boy. Every possible thing seems to break loose before a baptism...We were able to get a new pileta (little swimming pool), as the old one made a lake covering the entire floor. The day before Martin went to fill it up, there was no water. At some point the water went back on during the night, and the handle thing was left on. The morning of a member found 6 inches of water covering the entire floor....but then there wasn´t water to fill it. It was quite the day, at one point we resorted to using a little hose and bucket to carry water from a spout close to the street. In the end we were able to get a longer hose, and we didn´t have to have a baptism in the river.

There was a socieded de socorro activity for mother´s day. Our investigador Antonela went with us, it was a lovely little time in the park with all the moms and their kids. And mate of course. 

We had a miracle this week with Antonela. While we were in Rosario we called her, and ended up talking to her husband, who is never there. He told us that they want to get married now so that she can be baptized, and not wait until March!!!! It was such happy news for us! (as we had been planning a hardcore law of chastity and marriage lesson. jaja) They completely changed! The next day we went to her house, and she told us that they decided it is more important to be married now than have a big fiesta!!! The sad news....that she went to the place to do the paperwork and all, and found out there are only civil marriages some semanas, and you have to sacar a turno (take a number??), and it is full until December! ugh. Now that they want to get married, there isn´t a day to do it!  We are praying for another miracle, that they will be able to get married. 

I got that dear elder mom, thanks! Those are great to send, if you can send copies of talks through dear elder that would be appreciated:)

Who are the girls landon´s age? Seriously, you have the best calling. 

Ethan, how was your vacay?

Thanks for the updates and everything! (mom...spud, the guy bald guy, is married! yep. And tricia is pregnant!!!!) I´m glad I could teach you some good FB skills!

Love you all!

hermana andrews

p.s. I chopped my hair. Well, my comp chopped it. I wasn´t sure if I should have more confidence in her or in finding some place here...but hey, ya fue! The ends were pretty nasty damaged, and hey it will all grow back. 

p.p.s. I saw some advertisment for a car wash, and it used the Utah licence plate in the background. Utah! with the arches and all! how random, huh. 

p.p.p.s This is the happy 9 months pic, taking a wild ride.

9 Months

9 months. Holy cow. Yep this is the half way mark this week.

As for the dog....it just so happens that I really did get bitten by a dog this week. The good thing is, it wasn´t completely wild, so I don´t think it had rabies or anything. Stupid thing was even on a leash. We had just contacted a house, which wasn´t even successful as the 15 year old kid was an atheist and his mom wouldn´t even come out to talk to us, when as we were walking away the dog just ran straight for me and bit. Don´t worry mom, it all turned out fine, there´s just a little scar now. The bear spray or taser is not needed But i will send you an email with other things that you can send.

And the washer story. One day we were eating lunch with the hermana dora. Wednesday is garment day, we use her washer during lunch. Well everything was behind schedule because she had been washing her clothes before and we had to wait, and I was getting impatient I guess. I was sitting there waiting for the washing to finish to take out my clothes. I went to open the thing, but it hadn´t finished all the way. Point is, the handle busted right off. She told me this isn´t the first time it has happened (it automatically locks until it completely finishes), so we would need to rip off the whole door and buy a new one. Aaahhh. jaja oops. Eventually we were able to get my clothes out. Later found out her washer is so old that she might not be able to buy just a door. She says the washer still works, just a little more complicated to open and shut. jaja.

This week were interviews with pres. giuliani. Those were just fine, he is a great guy. But when you want some feel good advice or compliment, he is a person will tell you to get on your knees and pray and then get out the door and work. jaja. We had a meeting with our president of rama. We are trying to change the culture of this ward, in terms of missionary work and everything. And I think it´s working...even if we are just the people who will be preparing the area to really grow in the future. But hey, someone has to sow the seeds. We set up activites every 2 weeks, something which has not been done in years. This week there is a relief society picnic (happy mothers day, sunday!) and a branch baptism. A good moment was when we were teaching the familia castro and the mom, who is not a member, said their house is always so peaceful after we leave. She just feels good, and just doesn´t know how to explain it. Thank you, holy ghost. We are also working to help the members have opportunities to share the gospel and know what to say, this week we introduced them to pass along cards to give to friends and family. Yesterday was one of the best testimony meetings I have been to.

Every person has some sort of problem. The challenge of a missionary is to know how to help with each unique challenge. One investigator likes the church and everything, but doesn´t think it´s possible to live the commandments, that times have changed since the times of Jesus, and that men will always be men. Another needs to get married, but wants to wait to have a big fancy shmancy wedding. The investigadores we have are progressing little by little. It doesn´t help that we have to travel so stinkin much.....this week we go to concordia and parana. But I know  God watches over our area, and he multiplies our efforts into more than what we can do.

Here´s some random facts: Nicuragua has it´s own money, cordobas, but also uses the american dollar. Crazy, huh, when I saw my comp with our money! Here some of the stoplights are backwards - the yellow means it is going to turn green. I have gotten used to lots of things, I don´t scream when I see the spiders and cockroaches. But, I did lose my appetite when I was sitting on the bus and watched as the attendent guy filled up the cups with coffee and juice to pass around....and reused and reused the same cups. No thank you.

Congrats on the new calling mom!!! yay! You know what this means?...girls camp. You lucky girl.

And megan is already leaving?! And danielle is back?! tell her hello for me.

I have been asked multiple times now, if I am from france or germany. Hmmm...still not sure where that comes from. My accent must be really bad.

My comp is learning english, so she wanted me to pray. Oh my goodnes...the most awkward prayer. I have not prayed in english in 8 months. I can talk (mostly just fine?) but the praying in english is a struggle. I am happy to say that my brain is being transformed to think in spanish. I know I am changing, but as a person and a missionary, as the language is not the top concern. I am able to more easily think about the people and all that they need, rather than my lack of abilities. Or maybe it the faith and confidence in God growing?

I love to see how God works, putting people in places in the right moment. One day we were on the bus, all 10 elders were sitting close to each other, but for some reason our tickets were for the back of the bus in china. Well there was a little family sitting next to us, that ended up contacting us. The dad had lots of questions and was interested in the church. It was a cool little experience to know that there are no coincidences in the gospel.

Congrats on your band competition ethan! And california??! whoah whoa, aren´t you like 10 years old? Is mom going with you? Good luck on your race this week landon!

Debbie is just adorable. I would tell you to save me some food....jaja.

The truth is, I had no idea that we are in the month of halloween. Enjoy fall! The weather here is turning from perfect to hott.

Thanks for remembering me down here in argentina! for the letters and all:)

Que tengan una buena semana!

love, hermana andrews

p.s. the pic is not the greatest...but us with cinnamon rolls and her ´Nica¨ food- rice, avacado, eggs, tomatos....mmmm. And the other, the package that traveled around the world, I got the easter candy right in time for spring here:)

Happy conference week!

I am actually sitting here listening to the talks, as I write this. (And try not to scream at the 20 little 10 year old boys who are playing computer games and screaming in the ciber. I miss the quiet of my own quiet room and laptop. jaja.) I saw the saturday morning session (actually afternoon here) in a members house. We couldn´t watch the second session, because we didn´t have an investigador. Sunday we watched it in the church. This is actually the first time this was possible, before the members had to travel to another city with a chapel. We watched it on a tv in black and white that was hooked up to the computer. Our investigador Ruben showed up! It was a little miracle that everything worked out, that the internet worked and everything. It still was quite the experience, as right as it was starting the daughter of the president flipped off all the power...jaja our president has so much patience, just like dad, and didn´t even say anything. But luckily that got all worked out and we were able to watch it. And then during it another little girl kept barfing. Jaja so it was quite the experience, but Ruben at least liked it. I don´t know how a person could watch a profet speak and not feel something! To answer someones question, yep it was in spanish. There were a few of the speakers who had prerecorded their talks, like elder scott. Other than that i miss listening to the real voices! Conference overlapped with a Boca-River soccer game....like if the superbowl was the same weekend. So that put a dent in attendence. Shows priorities.

Aaahhh conference weekend! I'm sad to miss the crepes and 2 solid days of delicious food.....We did make pizza. But there was no conference bingo and treaties. 

Between the sessions Sunday the members sat outside with their mate (of course). We went and contacted, and had a super great lesson. This week we have really been focusing on contacting and find the people that are prepared. There are a couple families we are teaching. One lady is SO prepared. She kept saying ¨I will never be able to know which of the churches is true¨, and had so many questions, all of which are directly answered in the lessons. There is a difference in just teaching people, or really trying to find the people who are prepared to accept the gospel in this time.

We are teaching a less active family, the dad is 23 and was super active, was preparing for a mission. Well he met a girl, and three years later, now, they have 2 kids and he is everything but active. He wants to return, but doesn´t want to leave his life of sin behind...jaja. But we are teaching them and his wife has interest, they really want their daughter to be baptized, so she does have a date for this month. We tried with the mom...but we are still working on that. A person needs their family to progress. 

Daniel, there´s an elder in my district from brasil! People here say the brazilians are harder to understand than us, when they are first learning spanish. 

This week we legit almost got attacked by a dog. It put it´s mouth on my ankle, I don´t know if hairy legs or the smell scared it off. Or maybe it was just blinded by the whiteness of my legs. My comp is terrified of dogs. Poor thing. 

One day we went searching for service. We wanted to help an old lady, or build a house, or something like that, but we just don´t know where to start or where to go. Well we got directed to some political and social acción place...after waiting forever and talking to way to many people (buearacracy??) we realized we were not in the right place. But it was so interesting! It´s a government agency that works with the poorest of poor to help them find education and learn social skills. Social work nerd. They were asking us what training we had and what kind of project we wanted to set up....jaja we just wanted an hour of service of every week!

Congrats on the running landon! wooohooo! Are you varsity captain? 

And good job ethan! Oh mom, you are just the perfect little PTA mom! jaja. 

Me and my comp have just been working, working. No one ever tells you how hard a mission is before...probably a good thing! Definitely very up and down. And as the comp with more time I have to always be positive and make decisions....forced learning! But I hope I am developing more into what Heavenly Father wants me to be. Some days you just have to get up and do everything with faith, knowing that you are not alone in this work. I am blessed to have the comp I have right now, to have her faith, enthusiasm, and testimony. And you probably won't belive this, but she eats more than me, and is always hungry. jaja. We have lots of fun together. :) We are trying to talk to every person we can, to testify and invite them to repent and change their lives. The mission and church is not about numbers and asistencia in the church, it is about the salvacion of every child of god. 

Thank you for the updates! 

"doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith" -pres. uchtdorf.

Enjoy your week, and fall!!!

We are going to the beach today, and will be enjoying the summer:)

Love you all!

Hermana Andrews

nuestro distrito:

October 1, 2013

Ya Octubre!!!!

This week was....crazy!

Oh yes....I FINALLY RECEIVED THAT PACKAGE! hahaha with the ensign from conference and candy. Took 5 months, the reeces are literally like pancakes. But it made it! After being ripped open in Chile and all. 

Well to start off I left at 1am Wednesday morning to go to Rosario, and my mini comp went home. Living in Colón, there are not many bus options.  (don´t worry mom, the elders are just like you making me call and text to tell when i arrive) haha.  So I arrived that morning in Rosario. I had been told before to just take a taxi to the mission home as soon as I got there, so this is what I did. I was on the way there, when I realized there were probably other people in the terminal that I should have waited for, and I got a text from my zone leaders saying I shouldn´t be in the mission home for a few more hours. Well I was already on the way, so just kept going. As soon as we pulled up to the house, I saw a family from my first area in Venado just standing there.

 I GOT TO SEE THE FLIA RIVOIRA:) They just happened to be in the mission home to pick up their son who just returned from his mission in Chile. They had just arrived to, so I got to spend the morning with them. It was a little miracle, as if I had waited in the terminal during the morning I would not have seen them. We had lunch with all the trainers and new people. They are all latinas, except Hna. Sainsburry from my district in MTC. It was SO good to see her!

 Then we had a meeting where president and the assistants talked, and they revealed the companionships. (a bunch of the elders are 18....oh boy. Adorable little things) He said that there were 2 hermanas that weren´t going to arrive until the next day. They read off all the names....except one other hermana and mine. jaja. So I still didn´t have my comp. I stayed in the mission home that night, with another hermana who was waiting for her comp. We of course had not planned on this, and had nothing but the clothes on our back. Being in Argentina, they were not even worried if we had a toothbrush, but made sure we had plenty of food. jaja. (pizza with scrambled eggs on top anyone?!) The next morning we waited in the office....and were then told one hermana would be arriving in the night, and the other not until the next day. I put skills and time to use, an office elder asked for a haircut so I did that. jaja. The office elders cooked us fish tacos....we waited around more. Finally president said we could go to the area of the hermana who I was waiting with. They were kind enough to even give me a new pair of garments, and an elder found a toothbrush. :) Oh and this just happened to be a holiday where everything was closed, a weekly occurrence here. We left to the area, Canada de Gomez, 1 1/2 hours away . On the way the  colectivo broke down, so that delayed us. Finally we arrived and had just a little time to work. The next day we worked, while I was just thinking about my area in Colón and the appointments we were missing! That afternoon we received a call from the assistant, he thought we were already on our way back to Rosario.....oh my goodness I experienced the serious lack of communication....I don´t know if it is because they are all men or what! I explained no, we were working, and it would take time to return to rosario. So then we waited for a colectivo....it broke down, so that took time. Finally we arrived Friday night in Rosario. We had a dinner with president and the 2 new hermanas, one of which is Hna Rane (serving in DC south) from my district. He talked a little and then assigned comps. That night we had to stay in the mission home AGAIN....and finally went home Saturday morning. Hahahaha it was quite the week. They should have just reassigned me to be an office hermana!

My comp is Hna Cruz from Nicuragua! She is an adorable little thing, I am twice her size. She was waiting for her visa in Nicuragua before. Poor thing is ALWAYS cold...jaja I don´t know how she is going to survive winter here!! She has desires to work, and high expectations:) I don´t know that we will be baptizing 5 families a week like she is used to, jaja, but she has so much faith and a positive attitude. We have so much to do here, so many people to find. We are really focusing on finding families, my comp is a good example of talking to everyone in the street (jaja I was never a fan of chasing people down, but sometimes it works.), and we have some ideas of things to change in the branch. 

We didn´t get to work with investigadores much this week...as there was not much time to work. But it is conference this weekend!! woohooo!

No, we didn´t get to watch the RS thing. :( I hope you enjoyed a ´light´dinner. :)

I hope everyone is doing good! Thank you for your prayers and letters!

love, hna andrews

p.s. daniel i got your postcard:) gracias

Feliz Primavera ! (Happy Spring!)

Hello!!!!

2 important things....

1. I am training!!! woohoo! Yep just found out today. I go to Rosario tomorrow to find my child! I was not super surprised with this news, as I had a mini and there are lots of hermanas coming. But I am SO excited! I know it will be a lot of work and there are always hard things, but I also know that this last transfer has prepared me for it. Woohoo! 2 hermanas from my mtc district are finally coming! 

2. Mom, you would be proud. I made beans. And I don´t even have a crockpot. I found blackbeans, soaked them, cooked them with the garlic (forgot to pack the garlic press in my suitcase) and onion. I had a legit mexi meal (well i used empanada shells for tortillas....) My comp, once again, just gave me a look of disgust, but they were delicioussss!

Wow this was quite the week. It had some of the hardest/best days of the mish. I definitely have more faith than 8 months ago. There were some seemingly impossible moments, but we also had milagros! (miracles)  And tender mercies. Our investigador Ruben went to church!!!! One day, with my old comp, we were contacting in the rain. Well he has been progressing, and he came to church! And liked it. It was an extra milagro, because Sunday was rainy and so there were less people, but Ruben came igual!

This week there were 2 holidays, dia de estudiantes, and dia de primavera. Basically it means that every person and their dog was drunk for 2 days. It is rather inconvenient to have all these holidays, when the people go party and have picnics. Thirteen year olds buy shopping carts full of wine...its quite the party. And they make a giant snowman looking thing out of all the papers from school from the past year, and burn it on the beach.  (burning of the wolf??)

I had my first pig asado. It was delicious. I didn´t eat the pig foot, I prefer to not recognize what part of the body i am eating. I introduced some members to banana bread. (I had put it in a ziploc, and I also had to teach them how to open and close it. jaja the things we take for granted) My comp tried hot tamale candies (an elder had given our ward mission leader a big costco bag a long time ago) and she did not like them at all. Too much flavor. jaja. 

The evangelista church is taking over Colón. I don´t love that they actively preach against our church, and we seem to run into more and more people from the church every day. Maybe one day they will regret the mean things they say..jaja. We have contacted a lot, the truth is you have to talk to like 30 people to find one person interested. But there have been moments where I really understand the potential of each person - you just have to imagine every person you talk to in the street dressed in white in front of the temple. And then I just want everyone to hear and have the chance to accept Jesucristo and apply the atonement in their life. 

To answer your questions mom....there are a lot of missionaries from America. I don´t know the percentages....but i think the biggest percentage is from Argentina and Chile. We get mail from the mission office about once a month, mas o menos. When the leaders go to the mission home for a monthly meeting we get it. 

Enjoy pumpkin bread and everything fall! I´m sure pinterest is just loaded with delicious things...hahah.

I hope everything else is going well!

All is good here! LOTS of changes here....we will see what the next week brings! But I am grateful for this little bittle of time in my life that i can serve here in Argentina:)

love, hna andrews

I believe that if we could truly understand the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, we would realize how precious is oneson or daughter of God. I believe our Heavenly Father’s everlasting purpose for His children is generally achieved by the small and simple things we do for one another. At the heart of the English word atonementis the word one. If all mankind understood this, there would never be anyone with whom we would not be concerned, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, or social or economic standing. We would strive to emulate the Savior and would never be unkind, indifferent, disrespectful, or insensitive to others.

If we truly understood the Atonement and the eternal value of each soul, we would seek out the wayward boy and girl and every other wayward child of God. We would help them to know of the love Christ has for them. We would do all that we can to help prepare them to receive the saving ordinances of the gospel.

-Elder Ballard

8 months!

Hello!!!!

Yes, today is 8 months as a missionary!

To answer some questions first....yep I am still here in Colón:) with my mini. There is one more week of the transfer left, so i will be getting a new comp in a week. No idea who.... As for having fun...haha. Well, let´s just say the past month hasn´t been the funnest part of my life. It went from being the funnest transfer of my mission to being completely different. This transfer I have learned to be more dependent on Jesucrist than anyone else, and to be happy with myself. There is no one to enjoy cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate or appreciates humor. I just try to not go crazy by myself. 

About the cinnamon rolls...yes I made the MOST delicious cinnamon rolls. Seriously were perfect. Let me brag for a minute...I didn´t even have a recipe, and they were cooked in an Argentine oven! My comp...well she did not appreciate them in the least bit or was even impressed. So I may have eaten a dozen by myself...

Monday (last p day) we were in Concordia and had zone meeting. During the day we went to a huge park, and Urugay was right on the other side. We ate ´churi-pan´, it´s like a giant hotdog. I have had to accustom myself to eating stuff like this....i know, i know. There is a new hermana (from the states) who just about died when she saw the sanitary conditions of how the food was cooked, and the water we were drinking. haha i assured her i still haven´t gotten a worm or anything.

We had conferencia de zona en Santa Fe! Half the mission was there, an an area seventy spoke. (elder di giovoanni?) as well as pres. Giuliani. It was so good: to be with other missionaries, to hear the talks. We had a little MTC reunion, my comp from the mtc was there was well as 2 other elders from our district! They spoke about developing Christlike atributos to become a disciple of Christ. Hermana Giuliani spoke about what we should have achieved by the end of our mission, the goals that we should be achieving throughout. 

After we went to Subway. Subway! It was at a mall, it felt just like the US. Pretty sure only the richest hang out here. I had a turkey sandwich, it even had sweet onion sauce! It was quite a site to see 30 missionaries all in line at Subway, all in heaven. Well, except my comp who did not appreciate it at all. She just told me it was expensive (um, i bought it for her...) and informed me she could get a sandwich for half the price any where else. (with a fried hunk of meat and mayo. not the same)

This week we may have had the record for failed appointments! I don´t know what the deal is, sometimes things just don´t work out perfect for days in a row. It´s definitely more difficult to work when you cannot see any progress. The week before we had so many little miracles and people we found, then the next week was like a slap in the face! haha kidding. But it was a week to test the faith and diligence. We ended with less investigators than we started with. And, it went from being 95 and humid to rain for the past 5 days. Rain as in torments of rain. When there is any cold or rain people hibernate all day, which is not the most convenient for missionaries. We also came in contact with the most negativity against the church, from investigadores, menos activos, from everyone. If you do not have a testimony and are converted it would be easy to listen to everything that is said and just give up. There are a lot of religions in this part of Argentina, and that preach directly against the church. Satan works hard here, in ways that i had never thought about before. 

That´s hilarious about meager Monday. I sure hope Sunday dessert lives on, I assumed that was a part of every house, but had to teach my last comp about that. 

Sorry for too many details about food, and not any cool stories about the people?!....

haha i will try the next week.

thank you for all your love and prayers!

have a good week!

oh p.s. my fave chapter from the book of Mormon lately is Alma 34. You can all read it:)

love, hermana andrews