Do you know where Dev Dev´s girlfriend is going?
So did Bronte lose weight for her wedding? I know that is a silly question but I am curious ha.
I thought Joel had to get his wisdom teeth out, but he already turned in his papers?!
Hiya My Dear Mumsy :)
Let´s first start with your questions:
My ribs are doing better but still hurt a bit. I called the nurse of the mission and she didn´t tell me much but I am doing fine :) They feel a lot better thanks for asking :)
I will get on to Alex a little later but yes, he did confirmed on Sunday!! :) And yes, Dante is Natalias husband. They are not married though :( And no he wasn´t able to make it to church. Thank you for your prayers as well as those of the family, I know that in time we will see a miracle! :)
YES!!! I am still in El Talar with Hermana Jensen!!!!!!! :) This is exactly what I wanted! We were thinking that for sure I was going to leave and that she was going to stay. So Sunday we were taking pictures with people and pretty much saying bye haha, and we even made one of our investigators pretty sad because she thought that we were leaving poor thing. It was Laura. She is the best, I will write about her as the email goes on.
I am hoping that I will get to go to the temple here someday. Hermana Jensen told me when she got here that President said something about going as a mission for Easter but it was not a for sure thing. So we will see! But I think that if I don´t get to go, that a few days before I go home I will get to. At least I hope so! And ya I have there, remember when I first got here right after the airport they took us to the temple and we got a picture of all those that flew in that day in front of the temple? I thought they sent that to you but maybe not. And I am serving in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, yes. They call it Provincia. Like there are areas in Capital and Provincia. And when other missionaries ask where you are serving they ususally ask capital or provincia. Capital is like Congreso and places like that, like the city. And Provincia is like the more mellow part. No tall building or anything like that. In Congreso we just spoke to people through intercoms and pushed the botton on the outside of their building to let them know we were there. Here in provincia we clap to let people know we are here. Because there are gates around pretty much every house so you can´t walk to the door and knock. It is interesting haha :) Lots of things are done so differently here. But I love it!
On to the week. Let´s start with Laura since I haven´t really said anything about her yet. I will try to summarize because I have a lot to say about this week. Laura is 27 and worked in a kiosco when we started talking to her. A kiosco is like a little shop with candy, alfajores, drinks, snacks, etc. Like a gas station store I guess. They are everywhere. So in this Kisoco Hermana Fullmer and I would go panchos (hotdogs) once in a while when we didn´t have lunch with a member. The panchos here are much better than the US by the way haha. :) We would also just go buy things in this kiosco when we needed something because it is close to our house. So we got to know Laura this way, she made our panchos for us ha. One day we gave her an invitation to the capilla and she said that she was catholic but liked learning about other religions and didn´t practice Catholicisms anyway. She said she would let us know when we could visit her. Each time we went to this kiosco we would chat with Laura for a bit, just about her life and our lives and things like that. Well finally one day we came in and she said to us, "When are we going to have that chat about your church?" :) :) This was a pday but we told her that we could start right then. From then on, we have been teaching her. SHE IS MARRIED, and has a little boy. A MIRACLE! :) people are never married here! Her husband is holding her back a bit because he doesn´t want anything to do with any religion. We teach her at her work because she is there everyday. She has almost been taught all the lessons and really likes everything but still doesn´t know if this is the true church. Man there is a lot to explain about her because I haven´t been doing it! She is so ready to be baptized. She has been prepared by Heavenly Father and just needs to recognize it. Her beliefs are those of this church and she doesn´t agree with lots of the catholic beliefs but still says shes catholic. She is married, she doesn´t smoke or drink or do drugs, she is golden! But she just wont accept a baptismal date because she is still confused about if this is the true church. We felt one day that we should say a kneeling prayer with her and that she should ask specifically if the church is true. She we went to the little room in the Heladeria (ice cream shop) that she also works at (oh ya, the kiosco got robbed and so she now works in this ice cream shop a few doors down) and she said the prayer and asked if the church was true and if what we were teaching her was true. She said she didn´t feel anything different but that she felt good and liked everything that we had taught her. It has been so amazing teaching her but also hard to see that she is so ready and still won´t accept a date. We think it is part because she fears what her husband will do. We have shared scriptures with her about that, about the feelings of the spirit, about so many of her needs, but still she doesn´t know what to do. We have also been asking her for the past few weeks to come to church and she hasn´t been able to because of family things. She is reading the Book of Mormon faithfully and loves it. She is praying and loves what we teach, but she hadn´t come to church yet. We told her throughout last week that we felt that if she came to church, she would receive her answer that the church is true, because that was the only thing that she lacked! She really wants to know because she is just confused, like Joseph Smith. We explained that similarity with her as well. So we told her that if she really wanted to know, she would come to church on Sunday. We texted her Saturday night to remind her. Sunday morning came and no laura. At the end of sunday school, we get a call from her and she tells us that she DID try to come at 9:00 but went the the WRONG CHURCH on the same street!! She said she got there and a lady asked her what brought her to church that morning and she told her that two chicas named syphus and jensen invited her and she decided to come. the lady said oh, well i don´t know those two but i am sure you will find them here. hahaha it was so funny when she told us about it later. she also told us on the phone that she didn´t think it was the correct church because we told her that we drink water for the sacrament but these people drank wine. so she was confused. we told her that yes it was the wrong church ha. she said that she stayed for an hour and a half and enjoyed it. puka shells. she told us that she went back home and asked how much longer we would we at church. we told her that we still had an hour and that she needed to hurry come! So she got on her bike and rode to the church and made it for 30 min. of rs!! Afterwards she said that it was different but that she liked it. We told her the most important meeting was the first hour and invited her to come the next sunday to see it. She said she still didn´t receive an answer. I feel like going to sacrament meeting would have helped her a lot but unfortunately she missed it. So we are hoping that this coming sunday she will come and feel something. After a while, if the investigators are not progressing, we have to drop them. We do not want to do that with Laura because she is so special, but we will have to see. So that is Laura! Sorry that was so wicked long! Mom, please tell me if my emails bore you okay!
Alex was confirmed! But then one of his sisters was crying and wouldn´t stop so they left after sacrament meeting :( We had a great lesson with them this last week. Probably the best we have had with them ever. We watched the Restoration dvd with them, and they really liked it. Erik, Lisandro, and Alex were all there and when we asked them at the end how they felt Erik said "I´m sure I really really like it but I don´t know why" haha we explained that he had felt the spirit and for that he liked it and felt good. Alex as well said that he liked it a lot. Usually they are thinking about futbol and just don´t pay attention during the lessons very well, but this time it was really special and we all felt the spirit. We had made question and answer flashcards about the restoration and played a game with them afterwards to help them remember the basics of the restoration. They seemed to really like it. Also, Heremana Jensen got marshmallows from her aunt or someone and so we brought those and they had fun eating them. We played that game where you put as many as you can in your mouth and each time you put one in you have to say chubby bunny. Erik and Alex did it and it was super funny and a great fun moment with them :) I hope they will someday receive the priesthood and become worthy holders of it and choose to serve missions. This family is too special to not be receiving the blessings that Heavenly Father wants to give them.
We had a great miracle this week. There is an hermana in the ward named Karla that has not been coming for a while. We planned to go visit her one day and see how she was doing. She had just recently moved to El Talar from a near by town and so the bishop also wanted us to go see if her address listed was correct. We went and the neighbors said that she was not home but that she lived there. So like we always try to do, we talked to the neighbors haha :) We taught two girls about the restoration and the book of mormon. They do not live in el talar but they told us that they wanted the missionaries in their part to visit them, we were happy to tell them that they sure could :) As we were ending with them, Karla and her daughter and her cousin came walking up the street. We were able to meet with them in the end and her cousin Karina is not a member. She is around 27 I believe and has been going to church with Karla for a while but just is not baptized. We simply asked her to be baptized on the 9th of February and she said yes! Wow, I have always heard of miracles like that happening but had never seen one myself. It was amazing really. She is one of the elect that we as missionaries are supposed to find. That night when we got home I pondered on that miracle that we had had and I received a stronger testimony that God has a plan and that he is preparing people. He knows exactly how to plan things out so that miracles happen. Everything just worked out perfectly. Karla wasn´t there but her neighbors were and so we talked to them and as we did Karla came. If we would have left, nothing would have happened and Karina would not have had the opportunity of accepting to be baptized. I just marvel at how God works. He is a planner. He has a grand plan for us all, but he also has things planned out for us each day. i know that when we are obedient and are seeking His will and when we follow the spirit, His will becomes reality and the plans that He has for us happen. The way things "just work out" sometimes has shown me that God´s plan is perfect and that He is all knowing and is walking beside us. I know that none of these things are coincidences, but that God helps them happen when we are trying our best. God works through His servants, and we are all His servants! :)
I have been studying about the importance of pondering. I hope I can share more about what I have learned more in the coming weeks but it is really quit neat the many things we can learn about pondering. The introduction of the book of mormon says that to know if the book is true, we should read, ponder, and pray. I have come to realize that pondering is such a big part of this process of coming to know. And not just about the book of mormon, but any doctrine or teaching of this gospel. Whether we want to understand it more, or come to know if it is true, pondering about it when coupled with prayer, is the way it will happen. We can receive revelation from God when we ponder and pray about eternal truths. When Nefi want to know for himself if what his father has told him is true, he prays and ponders and AFTER he does this, is caught away in the spirit who tells and shows him all these things.
.For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat apondering in mine heart I wasbcaught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high cmountain, which I never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot.
And in the end, he receives his own testimony (1 Nefi 14:30). I know that we become more effective instruments in God´s hands when we ponder upon the truths that He has offered us. I know that when I have pondered about things, sometimes I will suddenly just get it, or understand somethings new that I didn´t before. It is a neat sensation that we receive, it is like our spirit is remembering what it already knew before, and I think that is why it feels so good.
Thank you so much mom for all you do for me! I love what I am doing and I know that it is helping me be the person that God wants me to be. I lack so much but I am thankful for what I am learning. Someday I will be a great as you and dad! :) I have some pics that I want to send! Love you so much and thanks again for everything. Like always, tell the family hi and thanks for everything as well. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! :) I am blessed! I love being a missionary :)
Con Amor,
Hermana Syphus
Thurday January 23, 2014 Hottest.Day.Ever.
I don´t think I stopped sweating all day. This is us disgusted with ourselves haha
This was after we got on the bus to go home for the night. We had lost our cell phone (left it at Natalia´s house) and had to run to go retrieve it and be at the bus stop to wait for the bus in order to be home by 9. It was already super hot and we ran forever! haha
Me and Hermana Jensen when we found out we were staying together this transfer!! :)
Laura!! :) We love her so much!
Marshmallows with Natalia´s family!!
Natalia´s Family
Ingred Menezes- one of our favorite members
Silvina Orce- another one of our favorite members. She always like coming with us to visit people and takes really good care of us! She bought me some cream to put on my bug bites!
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