Happy Mothers Day:)

Hello everybody!

Happy mothers day to all the moms out there. And we can go ahead and celebrate it again in october, like here.

It was so good to skype! woohoo! I just hope that by Christmas I will know Spanish so well that it will be awkward to talk in English. That´s the goal. The wolfleys made cinnamon rolls (one of my favorite foods in the world) so it was a good night:)

I have been in Argentina 1 month. We had one day that was quite the day. A day that required some tody and alfajores. A day that required us to use our emergency money fund to eat food to feel better. (I´m not sure what else they would consider an emergency...)

You pretty much heard about everything yesterday.....
Here´s a miracle from the week. One night all our plans had fallen through, we were to like plan X, and literally didn´t know what else to do. It´s not effective to contact at this hour, and our veryyy last resort was to visit a menos activo, 80something year old. We had walked around, and happened to end up by his house, so we went to visit him, just because we didn´t know what else to do. He lives by himself, but we were there, and his nieta (grand daughter) showed up....his nieta that weeks ago he gave us as a reference, but we could never find anyone at the address. We had just given up on contacting the reference, but this night we went to visit him and she was there! He is in her 20s, and has never really talked to the missionaries about the gospel, although she has met the hermanas who used to be in this area lots of times. She asked us for a copy of the Book of Mormon.....that day we had given out all of our copies, and had none. But this man, her grandfather, had 3 copies! So it was a miracle that we met her this night, at this house. God doesn´t always tell you where to go, but if you plan, and do all that you have planned, God will help you be in the right place. This happened the day after we fasted, so that couldn´t have hurt either:) 

Things are going here. It´s a little discouraging to see all the problems,  but we are working.

I will try to have more updates for you next time. (We made an ´I love argentina wall´, so i am working to find the good things here. It´s true, i know i know...attitude makes a difference)

Thanks for all your prayers, letters, and examples.

love you!

hermana andrews

p.s. everyone who is going on a mission should read "opportunity of a lifetime", a conference talk from a while ago. So good.

May 6, 2013

Yep, we celebrated cinco de mayo, with tacos and all.

Another week in argentina.....Dad, everytime i hear someone say it takes that long for the language, i want to cry! haha. I realize it is a process, but I have just never been so frustrated in my life. I can usually understand most of what is said, but I am just praying I come home fluent. 

 

This week has been another week of trying to find people. We contacted into a man, 73 years old, who is actually a member of the church. He got baptized like 40 years ago in Uruguay, but went inactive, his ´wife´ passed away 3 months ago, and now want to return to church. He is so sweet, and is actually pretty sharp. We have also been working with some menos activos. One family has 4 boys, 3 haven´t been baptized. SO we are working with the mom to reactive her, and teaching her adorable kids, she has twin boys .

Ok here´s some random things about argentina from this week....their haircut places are all closed every Monday.  There are also so many holidays here....and every holiday there is no school and everything is closed. They teach english in schools, so kids always want to practice it. The people LOVE their novelas...like day time soap operas. haha. We went shopping and I was looking for just ground hamburger, but all they had was cow tongue and intestine...i guess that´s common here! We had lunch with some members, and I tried intestine! So nasty and chewy...there was also cow stomache, my comp didn´t know it because it looked just like some yummy fresh salad...haha she almost barfed. There are also little kiosks everywhere, kind of like we have gas stations everywhere, they have little stores connected to houses. (This is where to buy alfajores and everything yummy). Luckily there is lots of fresh fruit here, they always have fruit after the meal as the dessert.

Daniel, they have chippas (?) here, those little bread balls with cheese like in brazil! I´m actually eating them right now....

And we also had empanadas....sooo yummy here. I am going to learn how to make them:) My comp also makes dulce empanadas, it´s like filled with a nobake cookie filling and fried. Pinterest worthy.

We always bring treats to district meeting, and even handouts this week. We represent the relief society, so nothing but the best. And the elders never knew all they were missing out on.

This week it was raiiiinnny

. There was a day that it was so humid and misty, you would be drenched walking around outside, even though it wasn´t raining. 

 

Ok I don´t have much time, but I will be talking to you this week! yay!

Basically all i have right now to talk about is food and the dogs here, so hopefully some things happen before then.

love and miss you all!

Fall in Argentina; April 29, 2013

Hola familia y amigos!

It is so weird to hear about all the summer things and end of school!...because it is just starting to get cool here i just see everyone raking their leaves. I literally do live in a totally different world.

Ok, first of all I have survived another week in Argentina! Let´s just say...good thing I have a year to love the people and country. I feel like I am in Italy. Or Germany. Or some old person nursing home full of grouchy people. Let´s just say...I haven´t met the nicest people here. One day we were contacting (we have to knock a ton of doors, because we started out with no investigators. And we need to find lots of people) It was my turn to talk, and the lady said,  "if you are going to be in this country you better learn the language. Where did you even come from?"  Haha, can you say rude?! (there goes your salvation!.......kidding) Thing is, her neighbor said about the same thing. Good grief we are just really trying to find nice people, who can at least give us 60 seconds to listen. For how much people sleep here, they sure should be nicer! (Santa Fe providence, specifically this city, is known for having very private, cold people. Even the members who live here say that! lucky us!)

Good thing there are some nice members!  We had lunch with an American family. I just love Americans:) Also, their is a great Argentine family.  But this is the best family, they feed us twice a week, and love the missionaries. 

 

Basically if something could go wrong this week, it could. Let´s just say I am learning the lesson of enduring patiently. But really. One day everrrry single appointment and plan fell through. Like we were to plan Z. And the next day, everything fell through. No one was home, members didn´t show up, etc etc. Oh, and I can´t speak stinkin Castillano. We have eaten a lot of alfajores and ice cream this week. Oh and they love their oreos here, which is good! One day we walked at least 115 cuadros (blocks), which is 7.14 miles. Ok ok....I know the pioneers walked more. haha. We just need some miracles to find people who want to go to the celestial kingdom:)

We have a few investigators that are progressing, but of course there are always difficulties like them going out of town for long periods of time, or one who always is working, or they don´t show up for church.

Other things this week include braving a ride in a remis (taxi...I literally do not understand how more people do not die in these streets!), going to a birthday party (they lit the candle, which was actually like firework thing that exploded sparks everywhere, I thought the entire table was going to catch on fire...it was hilarious, everyone was freaking out), we went to a baptism for some elders (yep, they needed me to play the piano), me and my companion made china food! (seasoning packet from america, i love flavor!).

Yesterday Elder Walter Gonzalez came to our sacrament! It was so good, he talked about centering everything we teach in our family on Christ, and being converted. There are 2 ramas(branches) in our building, so it was combined. This district is going to be made a stake, not sure when, but i think he is making the rounds before that happens. (He is area president). The classes were combined too, it felt like Utah to be in a Sunday school class so big! haha. And in RS there were even handouts and pics taped all over and quotes! haha.

We also had intrevistas with president Guiliani, which were really good. It´s only the second time I have really talked to him...but he is such a good man.

.

Thanks for all the updates.

2 weeks until mothers day!!

love you all!

hermana andrews

p.s. Mom, the pastries are better than what we tried. mmmmmmmm. Guess you will just have to come here to try one.

p.p.s. We ate the last of the peanut butter that was in our apartment...it´s hard to find here. But they LOVE their dulce de leche. Like the grocery stores seem to have a lot less variety here...but there´s a whole aisle for dulce de leche. (and of course one for mayo, one for matte, and one for pasta)

The cockroaches have attacked . . . .

but don´t worry, i´m still alive!  Seriously, there have been like 4 here! One morning i woke up and turned on the light and a giant (ok like 2 or 3 inches) was just chilling there.

Hello!
Thank you for the letters! I literally love Pday, just to email:)

Week 2 in Argentina has been better. I have never been so overwhelmed in my life, but i have never been so humbled either. I was reading in Ether 12  about weaknesses, and it definitely takes new meaning as a missionary, and every weakness is exposed. There is literally no way we can do this work without the Lord. Many, many moments during the day I have wished that I could be anywhere rather than Argentina...(I know, I know, I waited and wanted the visa so bad)  just because there is so much to do but so much I cannot do on my own. I have never felt so inadequate! The Spanish is the hardest thing ever, and it is difficult to have perspective. But my comp told me about that story in the bible where Jesus feeds the 5000. We are like that....it looks as if we cannot do all we need to do. But God calls us as his disciples in our weakness and provides a way. I have noticed so many more miracles and tender mercies in my life. So there are definitely moments where I am reminded of why I am here, and that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ, his work, and we are entitled to his help. Sometimes faith is just waking up in the morning and doing all that we are asked to do to the best of our ability.

My lucky little feet are covered in blisters and bug bites. It´s been 2 weeks and my skin is already not attractive. Thanks for sending that bug and blister stuff though before mom! And my albino legs are developing a tan line).

Some other things about Argentina. They like to sit. A lot. There are always people sitting out on their porch if it´s past like 6. Time is so different too....because they have siesta, streets are dead all afternoon, and when they say noche it really means like 8 or 9.

You would die if you tried the bakeries here. They have the most delicious pastries ever. And i love that everyone goes and buys their bread every day. People also love to mop their porches....if people aren´t sitting on the porch, they are mopping it.

 We had a district mtg, and me and my companion made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (her birthday cake mix). Oh my goodness it was a little piece of America. And of course the elders loved us.

They eat mayo with everything....it´s like their salad dressing here. Don´t know if i can adjust to that. Oh and they have grapefruit soda! haha ok ok...i know that was all food stuff. But i know you needed the update on that. Today we are making nobake cookies. :)

This week we did a lot of contacting, to find people. We have met some really good people, so now we have a lot to follow up on. We have some people set for baptism, but they still need to learn a lot and go to church. We met a sweet lady  (i don´t remember if i told you this last week...) but she was our first contact in the whole area. We went back and taught a lesson, then a few days later finally got a hold of her again. She had read the BOM every night, and the tumor that she was worried about and was going to need an operation had disappeared! It was crazy. We have an appointment tonight, so hopefully things progress, because she has definitely had things in life that have prepared her for the gospel. And we are teaching her mom too. I don´t have other cool investigator stories...yet....because we are basically starting from scratch. But there´s a lot of good that can be done here.

love you all! the gospel is true! have a fabulous week! gooood luck with finals!
love, hna andrews

p.s. I accidentally locked us inside our house (because their is only part of the handle, we have to remove it and put on the side of the door we are on), so i had to crawl outside the window and crawl around on a little ledge to our front porch to get the handle and key. don´t worry mom, i didn´t fall off the second floor)

April 15: I made it to Argentina !!!

Oh my goodness, where to begin...

So we flew here this week (i have no sense of days....). There was 3 of us from America. After the forever long flight we arrived in the morning in Buenos aires. >We made it through customs, answering all the questions right i guess! >(in the us we barely made it on our flight...haha....we thought we had plenty of time, and then the lady wouldn´t let us on the plane until we payed 160 reciprocity fee, come to find out in Argentina we weren´t supposed to pay>!  So we were just hoping someone would be there to pick us up....when 2 guys in white shirts came up speaking spanish, asked for our passports, and took the suitcases. We followed, cause what else would we do, and they had some sign that said church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. I felt like I was in some movie....we didn´t know what was going on.(we soon figured they weren´t members, as they took a smoke...) Then they put us in a bus with all our stuff, and there was 5 other missionaries from the MTC here. Then we drove 3 more hours to Rosario to the mission home. Then we were at the mission home that day, had pizza, interviews, a bunch of other stuff, slept in the house, the next morning was training and then we left for our areas.
The mission home is huge and beautiful, the office is on the same property. The pres and his wife are sweet, both from Rosario but live in Provo.
There are 8 of us, me and 2 girls and the rest elders, most of them are from Chile. A ton come from Chile because they don´t need visas.

 >>Everything else is going to be scattered, as there are a million things to say.
>My trainer is  from >Utah, she has 3 months left. We are whitewashing the area, so basically we arrived knowing nothing. >It is quite the challenge....and we have a ton of work to do. The city is actually pretty big, and our branch is mostly middle class people.  The branch pres and his wife are the best!! They are younger and so excited, we met with them like the second day here. And the best news is that there is a family from idaho!!!!! Oh my goodness it´s so nice to have Americans, and they are a cute young family, and love american missionaries, and mom she is going to call you today!!
 
The food! cause i´m sure you were wondering about that. Portions are huge! In the mission home we had pizza, and facturas (the yummmiest pastries i have ever had...only in argentina!), They love dulce de leche! Lunch is the big meal here, so we have that with members.  (Everywhere closes at like 12 or 1pm, and doesn´t upon until 5. They need their sleep here. so in afternoon the streets are dead). But just like any other country, their is lots of different food....their milk is in bags, they eat a lot of pasta, and have the best juice that´s thick and tastes like a squished up peach. I am already planning to bring home a suitcase full of oreo alfajors, it´s like oreo cookie things stacked up and filled with fudge.

My comp is great! I was happy to get a north American, but she does usually speak in Spanish to me which is good. So she has been sick....one day the other hermanas, who are latinas, came and made us lunch. The Latina Hermanas are great, they sure know how to be hospitable! haha. They just come in and take over. There are some awesome members in the ward, a lady does our laundry and feeds us once a week.
There´s just a lot to adjust to, of course everything is different, and we don´t really know anyone here. And we don´t have any investigators. It has been frustrating. We have a lot of finding to do. It´s definitely better when we stay busy and are doing things. It´´s frustrating not knowing the people or language. We need some miracles here. But...ask me in a while and i am sure i will love Argentina!

So far we have gone to church, (yep, i played the piano! haha), walked around a lot, and have been trying to contact people to find to teach. We organized everything, made maps, etc. Oh, and we have hot water for showers!

It sounds like you have all had quite a week.... Crazy to think the semester is over! I have a totally different sense of time being here. And it´s almost summer for you!

 Sorry for all the rambling and everything, but thank you for your letters! It´s so good to hear from home!
love and miss you all!
love, hermana andrews

April 8: ARGENTINA, HERE I COME !!!

I looked out the window and what did I see?

popcorn popping on the apricot tree:)

Oh my goodness....the trees here are beautiful:) 

 

 

 

hola amigos y familia!

 

As you heard....I am going to Argentina today!!!! Woohoo! Well, I'm actually like peeing my pants. And calling home just might make me cry. But I am SO excited! I have only heard of one other elder from my district, who is in North Carolina, who got his visa. My comp right now waiting to go to argentina still doesn't have hers. Last week during weekly planning, she (jokingly?) said visas would come wednesday, and even wrote it in her planner. Of course I have prayed for a visa to come this past week, but didn't want to get hopes up or think about it too much. On Thursday afternoon i got a call from the office secretary, telling me my visa is here! Funny thing, the secretary said the email about my visa actually came late Wednesday night! Moral of the story, planning and prayers do actually work:)

 

It's crazy to be leaving VA. I have been here 1 transfer! While here I have made a collection of cat pictures, enjoyed beautiful spring, been in a wine store larger than home depot, been part of a compship of 4 gringos, and seen that there are more problems in the world than can be solved in 6 weeks. We always wonder what our neighbors and people think....4 girls always walking outside all together at the same time everyday, our walls are covered with Jesus and temples, always in skirts, all of us pile into the same car with little nametags...it must be weird for anyone who doesn't have a clue what a missionary is! But honestly, I am so grateful for the things I have come to learn in Virginia, and the people I have met. It has been a blessing to see 2 people baptized, to see the extremely humble circumstances that some of the strongest members I have ever met live in. It is eye opening to see the problems that so many people do have though - especially as many are illegal immigrants, have health problems, and live on hardly anything. It is a difficult balance between providing for peoples temporal and spiritual needs. What I have realized, is that at this time I am a missionary, called to teach others of Jesus Christ. We cannot provide everything, but ultimately the gospel of Jesus Christ can make any situation better, and is a need of every person on this earth.

 

This week we have watched '17 Miracles' with a couple members. That movie is powerful, and people love it. Other exciting news...a great family we are teaching has a baptisimal date for April!!  But I am SO excited for them! This family is awesome. The best lessons I have had, has been with them. This week we helped her make tacos and salsa, she is the best cook. Then it was time for the lesson...there was one distraction after the next - the phone kept ringing, the doorbell rang, and other distractions....It started out rough. Satan definetly did not want that lesson! And they even made that comment later. But it turned out good, and we commited them to baptism. This week the elders were also able to bless their house.

 

Conference! How was conference? I watched it at the church, for first time in my life! On saturday, the only people at the church were missionaries! I guess everyone here even watches it on TV. (I missed a good breakfast and sweats....but luckily I got to watch it in english!) I have been sick :(.....so even staying awake was a challenge. But luckily I feel so much better today. There is some flu going around, and it seems like always at least one person in our compship has been sick. But don't worry, I'm bringing my years supply of chewable pepto-bismol to argentina:)

 

Mom, don't worry, I went after easter shopping and got onsale candy:)  Yesterday we went to the Bishops parents house for lunch between conference, and I had my last real american meal. It was probably some of the best food I have had yet....BBQ, funeral potatoes, salad, baked beans, cake....mmm. We had dinner another time with the bishops family this week. Good week for dinners:)

 

It is true, there are now sister district leaders.

Did everyone else do anything for spring break? Did mom slave everyone into yardwork?

 

This is such an exciting time to be a missionary. The work truly is hastening. Obviously every person is not going to accept the gospel, (yes, we were dropped by a few investigators this week...), but Pres. Perry talked about being a representative of the Lord that is exactly obedient. He said we need to earn the trust of everyone, members specifially, in order for more doors to be opened to teaching people. Heavenly Father will always bless us and pour out miracles when we do everything in our power to follow him.

 

love you all!

have a great week!

-hermana andrews

 

April 1, 2013

VISA CAME !!!

kidding...it's april fools of course.

Still no word on it.....But Virginia is great!

Happy Easter!

Happy April Fools!

How was easter? Did you have an egg hunt with the fam?

So it was raaiinny here yesterday. And when it rains, it rains. (But today is SOO nice. And the trees are blossoming!) Basically we were at the church the entireee day, because we had church and meetings, but also because it was the last day of the month and we had no miles left to drive our car...haha. But church is just great!  It was the 5th sunday, and so they showed 'Finding Faith in Christ' for combined. I have never seen so many adults crying in one room.

On Saturday night we went to the YW broadcast. It was SO good. Except I felt like it should be me sitting at home there, wasn't I 12 like just yesterday?....President Uchtdorf talked abouthow at one time we were all valiant and wanted to return to Heavenly Father. It was a good reminder of perspective, and to see people as God sees them. Perspective makes all the difference. I have never been sooo excited for conference!! I guess that's what being a missionary does to ya. But I cannot wait:)

This week has been busy. (Well at least I think so...I don't have other areas to compare it to..) But we have had a ton of appointments, (well only half of the people are ever home), and lots of people to meet with. The only problem with the hispanic culture is they have a completely different sense of time, and everyone loves Jesus, so people are always willing to let you come in even if they are not interested. People rarely say "no thanks, we are not interested". They always just say "I"m busy, come back later".

 I think being a missionary has turned me into a boring person. So we have a goal to be fun. We have to do fun things, like tell jokes. And be spontaneous. So we are working on that...We sometimes eat with members.

That is so crazy to hear about the MTC.....even when I was there it was so crowded, so I can't imagine what it will be like! I also don't know how all these missions are going to manage, with the logistics like cars/apartments/etc. They are going to have to start little cities of tents for missionaries to live in.

Is it warm there?

 Things are well here! I love my companions, there are some incredible people in the ward, and definietly people who are prepared for the gospel. But....prayers are still appreciated for my visa:) This gospel is true! I am coming to understand more every day how the gospel needed to be restored, and the importance of prophets.

Thanks for all you do!

Love you all!

Happy April!

love, hermana andrews