Week 27 (Oct. 14, 2013 Congreso, Argentina)

Wow thanks so much mom for that information and for taking the time to find that and help me. I am sorry if I have caused a mess. I am a missionary and shouldn´t be worrying about these things and causing people to worry over me! I hope you are okay and I really do appreciate what you are doing to help me. That must have taken lots of time to find that information and I am sure you are doing lots of other things because of what I have told you and I feel a bit bad for that :( I am doing great and I am happy and healthy and all is well. I wrote the pres and he told me to call if i want to talk. we will see. Ah my dearest mother thank you for everything. I can never repay you for all you have done for me! Heavenly Father is blessing me each day and I am great! Thank you for helping me see that other people have had the same issues with baptism and such and just with the feelings of depression in general. Wow you are just doing so much to help me and I really am so thankful. Please know that! To answer your questions :) 1. Yes there are blossoms on the trees (don´t see many of those here in the city but of the ones that I do see, there are blossoms :) )! And I know it is so weird! Christmas in the heat, whoo hoo!! ha :) it will be an adventure! 2. YES!! Holy toledo am I getting enough to eat! We eat at members homes everyday accept monday and they feed us tons. I am not kidding mom, I am going to be rolling home if I keep eating like this for one year. It is pretty ridiculous but I love it! haha. Ummmm, I really like the food here and I have been wanting to write about it for a while but always tell myself I need to write about the experiences that I have had first and then I never have time. But, there are many people here from Peru and so lots of the food is Peruvian. Like rice, chicken, french fries...and that´s `pretty much it haha. But no the food her is amazing. The cuisine in Argentina is meat and pasta. They have something called milanesa which is a thin piece of chicken or beef that is breaded. Kinda like your Parmesan chicken but with less flavor. We have that tons and it is really good! We also have lots of pastas and none of the sauces so far has beat dad´s! But all have been good :) OH, and the best thing ever that they have here...ALFAJORS. Oh my goodness these things are so delicious. Of course it´s a treat food haha :) I don´t really know how to explain it but I am wanting to send some home so that all of you can partake of their goodness and experiment upon my word :) The are cake things with dulce de leche and chocolate and there are so many varieties of them! I will take a picture one day and email it. But let me tell you, I am sure going to miss alfajors when I go home. Maybe a suitcase full will suffice ha :)

I forgot to say last week, but last week on the day that I emailed, I had one year left exactly on my mission. That is pretty nuts and hard to believe that it has been 6 months already! Times flies when your having fun! I look forward to the one year that I have left and know that it will be a year a great experiences and growth and I am so excited! I want to work so hard and be so diligent and so obedient and have fun for this year that I have left. I am so thankful for the experiences and memories that I have had on my mission.

There are two sets of missionaries in Congreso (us and the other hermanas that live with us) and they just had a baptisms last week of a 18 year old girl named Adelis. There is a neat story about Adelis. One day me and my previous comp were waiting to cross the street and there was a girl selling things on the sidewalk that we saw many times but never talked to (bad, bad, bad on my part). She saw that I had pamphlets in my hand and called to me and asked, "are you going to give me one of your little books?" I was shocked but so happy of course and gave her a pamphlet and explained a little about it and who we were. She was working and couldn´t leave so we got her info and gave it to the other hermanas because she is part of their area. Well this girl was Adelis and last week she was baptized! She is a testimony that the Lord is preparing His people to hear His word. I didn´t do anything, she is the one that came to us and asked us to help her! She is one of my greatest friends here and I love her so much and am so happy to see that she has made this covenant with God. A very special experience :)
 I love reading the dearelders from my cousins and Devin Bennett and Kortnie and other missionaries so much! I am going to miss them because I don´t know if you can keep sending them, and it´s a lot to read haha! But I really do love them. After reading their letters to their families I really am sorry for my emails ha. Jordan´s emails are always so full of great experience and are always uplifting and wonderful. He knows how to write about the things that matter. I hope i will get better at this. Is he a zone leader? I wasn´t sure but he sure is great and sounds like he is having loads of success there in his mission. So happy for him! :) This past week has been wonderful and has been a answer to my prayers. On Friday we went to the mission home to have a meeting with all the hermanas in our mission. We were able to watch the general relief society meeting together as hermanas of the ban north mission and it was a very great time. I learned from that meeting that I need to be more sincere in my prayers and pray more about certain things. Man I wish I could tell you everything I learned and felt- both in this meeting and in general conference. I was surely uplifted and felt the love of God. I learned that faith in Jesus Christ is vital in the work of salvation. I am learning so much more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ on my mission, about each principle and ordnance of the Gospel. And I am realizing more and more each day way faith in Jesus Christ is the first. Faith is everything! I need to have more faith and not only that but ACT upon my faith. That is where I lack at times I think. After we watched the broadcast we had lunch which was delicious. Carne and chicken tacos with tortillas from Costco! WHAT?! haha the mission pres. daughter brought lots of them from the usa to argentina and so basically we americans felt at home again while eating our tacos from costco haha :) Man I have lots to say about conference! Why is emailing so hard and why can´t I express all I want to say...someday i hope. General Conference was amazing once again! I brought my apples from home to eat and I felt close to the family which was nice ha :) not in a distracting way but in a way that helped me feel more happy :) We watched it in a stake center and it was in spanish of course but for the english speaking missionaries we were able to watch it in english downstairs if we so desired. 

Mom I am going to send this and you can send what you would like to people. Sorry it´s a bit crazy once again and not much info. :( Sure love you and the fam. Tell everyone hi and that I am doing great!!!!! :) 

 a picture of our street

 the view from our kitchen window 

 me and sweet Gabi whom I love ever so much

picture of us as a zone at the zoo in our mission

So I can´t remember the order of the pics but one of them is a view from our kitchen windo and the other is our street (you said that you would like to see something like that right?) The other is a picture of us as a zone at the zoo in our mission! I will tell about that day in my other email, but it was so fun! And the other is of me and sweet Gabi whom I love ever so much. She is an investigator, or was :( she came to conference with us and we have been teaching her but her parents will not give her permission to be baptized. I was pretty ruined when they told us they wouldn´t sign her baptismal record. We are praying to know how we can help them accept! Gabi is 8 and really wants to be baptized. She reads the pamphlets that we give her and is so solid and it is just her parents that will not accept! Ugh, this things do happen. So there are a few pictures mom :) and as you can see, I am eating very well haha. Honestly, do I look bigger? ;)