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.