Week 64 (June 23, 2014 Parque Chacabuco, Argentina)

Dearest Family and Friends,

First i just want to say how grateful I am for the opportunity that I have as a missionary to understand Christ´s Atonement better and to see and feel how it works, not only in my life, but in the lives of God´s children. I know that what he did for us is something that gives us all hope. We were not there when he suffered or died, the prophets that testified of His Atonement before it actually happened were not there either, but through faith and hope and the Holy Ghost, we can know that Christ was born, lived, died, and lives again for us and that He did what he did because of love. I love Him and I know that he lives! Thank you all for being examples of Christ and for being the best family and friends ever. I love you all!

We had a meeting on Sunday and I learned something really neat from our Stake Pres. I learned why baptism is a miracle. A miracle is something that the natural man can´t understand. The natural man can´t understand that by entering a font, or a river, or whatever it may be, and saying a prayer, that one is born again and cleansed from sin. The covenants that we make with God are miracles! Because the natural man can´t understand  them. Speaking of the natural man, I was reading in Preach My Gospel and it says that we cannot develop Christ like attributes on our own, and that we NEED the help of God and The Atonement of Jesus Christ. The natural man does not have Christ like attributes and cannot have them. In order to receive these attributes, we have to apply Christ´s Atonement and rid ourselves of the natural man. I have a lot to work on! There are still many things that I need to let go of in order to rid myself of the natural man and i know that with the help of the Lord, I can do it!

We received some great news this week from Carlos, the big brother of Lautaro (cousins of the family Rocha), that if we talked to their mom about Lautaro being baptized, she might give him permission if he starts behaving better. Lautaro is 11 years old and has always loved coming to church and always listens to the lessons when we are teaching the family Rocha. He has come to church many times and wants to be baptized. About a month ago, we asked permission from his mom and she said no but did not tell us why. This week we found out that it was because she didn´t want her son doing something so important if he was not going to be completely committed to it. And according to Carlos, his brother, Lautaro is sometimes a pain to his mom. But I guess Carlos talked with her and she said that he could be baptized if he started behaving better and helping more. So we will see! He could be baptized this Sunday if all goes well. And we are going to pray and do all that we can so that this son of God can be baptized and confirmed and become a faithful active member of Christ´s church! God is blessing us greatly. Although we do not have many investigators, we are continuing to try and show our faith so that we can find the elect that are here in Chacabuco 3. We know there are many and that they are waiting for this message of hope and peace.

Alejandra Rocha had her baby!! :) It is a boy and his name is Benjamin :) We were able to visit her the other day for a few minutes and she is doing great! They are all still doing great and are progressing each day and becoming closer to the Lord! I love seeing it happen! It is the best feeling in the world! Yoselin gave a talk on Sunday on prayer and did so good! She was nervous but it was a very beautiful talk. I think I told you this already but Roberto is the second counselor in the Priest Quorom and really loves it. We love this family so much!

We had a sisters conference this week and my comp and I had to speak on baptism and the importance of it and also on the power of our calling. Sometimes it is hard for the sisters because the elders seem to have the better areas (the villas), where everyone wants to be baptzied, and that the areas of the sisters are more difficult. We talked on how each area is set apart from God and that there are no bad areas and that God has elect people everywhere we go! :) And also, that each of us were set apart with the power of God and we have the same power and authority as the elders to preach the gospel! :) It was a nice conference and was fun to be with all the sisters.

Some of the investigators that we found last week didn´t come to church but we are going to continue with the ones that we feel God is preparing! Eduving didn´t come because he had to go out of town and help his brother move. But he wants to come next Sunday! We have been finding a bit more this week. Yesterday we did our visits with Roberto and Kevin. Oh ya! Kevin received the priesthood yesterday!! :) :) He and Brian are both progressing well and are participating in the activities and are both very happy converts :) Yesterday with Roberto and Kevin, we contacted a woman in the street who was with her son and they had just been robbed but were ok. We talked with Julia and later her sister and mom showed up. We shared a message with them and gave them a book of mormon and they accepted to be baptized on the 13 of July! We will see what happenes with them! I know that if it is God´s will and if they really have been prepared by him, that they will be baptized and will have such happier lives! :) God is with us and is blessing us!

I love you all so much! And I love being a missionary :) Thank you for everything and have a great week! "Happiness is the destination, but it is also the path." Pres. Uchtdorf

Con Amor, 

Hermana Syphus 

​I have a few random things to tell you like always ha! First, when we went last monday to buy a coat for my comp, I bought one as well because last winter here was pretty rough will only my rain coat and grey zip up. So I thought, what the heck, I might as well so I don´t suffer again. I didn´t have money with me so Hermana Lines paid but i of course am paying her back. That being said, i took out 1000 pesos from my account from home and I hope that is ok. I think that would be like 100 dollars or something like that. I am not sure now what the rate is. But it is pretty high! Would you happened to know how much money I have left in my account? Also, you asked me if I needed anything. Nope :) I am doing great and am going to buy a new memory card for my camera I hope today :( I need to take lots of pics here to make up for what I lost. Not that it makes it any better but oh well. Serves me right for not sending my stinking photos each week like any normal missionary would do. I am so sorry :(

For your information ma :) So the last few weeks I have actually been pretty sick. Nothing bad bad but I think I got the flu with the body aces and such and a little fever. I tried to work through it a few days and got worse and our zone leaders got to me and told me that I needed to repent because they had told me to stay in the house one day and we did, but not until later that day. I think I haven´t been dressing as warm as I need to either. So it is my own fault. All these members are so kind and keep telling me to dress warmer and are giving us scarfs and hats and tights and all that jazz. I am starting to dress warmer though so no worries! This week I received a blessing from the zone leaders and was told to stay in the house and rest. So I did. It was super hard and I really actually hated it. I can´t do that anymore. It drives me crazy. Being leaders, our area needs to be an example and we should be always meeting the goals. And me staying in the house means that we cant work! I felt so guilty. But anyway, my companion is the best and is very diligent, and we were able to go on splits with some hermanas. An hermana came to stay with me in the house and my comp went out working with another hermana. And the Lord blessed us because of the diligence of Hermana Matamoros! :) When I could leave, we worked real hard and were able to still meet most of our goals. Man I am just so grateful for how merciful the Lord is with us. I know that he loves us and wants the best for us and desires that we are successful and happy. Oh yes, and I am doing lots better now and am mostly healthy and very happy :) :)

I think that was all the random news. Or for now at least :) 

Sisters Conference

                                               Alejandra and her new baby Benjamin

Week 63 (June 16, 2014 Parque Chacabuco, Argentina)

Dear Mom,

Your week with the family sounds SO AMAZING!! :) Thanks for sharing your experiences and sweet moments with me! Even though I am not there with you all doing those things, I am there in spirit and I feel so blessed to be able hear about all the good things that are happening in our family and to see how much the Lord really is blessing us. I know that God is pouring His grace upon us and our family and I am so thankful to be a part of this family! I am so happy for Joel and for Kimbers! :) That makes me smile so big knowing that they will soon be out with me and Niko and will be seeing miracles and enjoying the blessings that their missions will bring :)

This week in Buenos Aires has been another great week! :) And man let me tell you, it has been crazy with all the World Cup business going on!! Futbol here, as you know, is super big and yesterday was the first game that Argentina played and it was so bare at night! NO ONE was in the street!! We received many messages from our zone leaders telling us that we didn´t have permission to watch the game unless president told us otherwise haha. We also had to be in the house at 8:30 last night. Every house we went to, of course the game was on haha. I am not going to lie, it was hard not to scan my eyes over the tv haha, but we asked the people to turn it off while we were there and so it wasn´t a problem in the end. I felt like a sinner wanting to see a little bit of it though :/ haha. BUT THEY WON!! :) Messi is from Argentina and is huge here. He is well known in the US as well so Im sure you have heard of him. Anyway, that was a bit of random news but it is fun to see how excited these Argentinos get with their futbol business :) :) I like it.

Yesterday was just a crazy day in general. We had ward conference and I started at 2 in the afternoon and before that at 12:30 there were three baptisms in the ward (not from us, just the elders :) ). Right before the baptism started, there was a car accident on the corner of the street where the church is. We heard a huge crash and went outside to see what had happened. There was a car in the middle of the street upside down and the other car went off. A lady passed us and told us to call 911. I had the phone in my hand and so I called 911 for the first time in Spanish!! It was a neat experience :) The cops and ambulance came and thank goodness, everyone was fine and taken care of!

It just keeps getting better and better with the Rocha Familia :) Alejandra is going to be having her baby anytime now and is super tired lately but has every reason to be haha :) She is doing great though! Roberto takes every opportunity he can to come out with us in our lessons and for lack of a better word, is just a stud. He is so special and is progressing so much. On Sunday, he came to church with a suit coat that he bought in the villa for 50 pesos and he looked really nice. He was called to be the second counselor in the Priest Quorum!!! :) He is on fire with missionary work and shares is testimony whenever he can. I am so thankful for this family and for the things that the Lord is helping them with so that they can become faithful members of His church!

Hermana Matamoros and I didnt have a choice this past week, we had to find new investigators. We were able to see many miracles and blessings and I know that the Lord has been with us and that He is preparing His people to receive Him and His Gospel. One day this week it was raining and usually when it rains it is hard to find people for some reason. But we left the house saying that we were not going to return home that night until we found at least one escogido (elect, someone that is prepared). We left that day with Roberto and Marco who just received the Holy Ghost on Sunday. On the way to each lesson, we talked with at least one person in the street and gave them a pamphlet on the Family Proclamation. At the end of the day, we had three people with baptismal dates and two escogidos! One of them was almost an escogido but needed permission from his parents because he is 15. It was so amazing to see the Lord´s hand that day. I know that through out diligence and desire to find and to baptize and build God´s kingdom, the miracles will come and God will be there to help us. It really is the Spirit and the Lord that bring the miracles! One of the escogidos we found this week is names Eduving. He is great and came to church for the first time on Sunday. He thinks he liked it and hopefully we will be able to answer his questions and help him feel the Spirit. This week we have to continue looking and searching diligently in order to keep finding!

And as I said before, Marco and Kevin received the Holy Ghost on Sunday! They are both so great and will soon be receiving the Priesthood as well!

This week I have thinking lots about the joy that Gospel brings to us. In the scriptures in Alma when the father of Lamoni is being taught, he mentions that he wants to receive the Joy that Aaron has and talks about. I know that as members of Christ´s church, we can have the greatest joy knowing that He lives and loves us, that this is His church, and that we are His servants in this great work. I love Him and I know that through Him, we live! I love you all so much and thank you for your amazing examples and love and support. Have a great week and keep smiling and enjoying life! :)

Con Amor, 

Hermana Syphus 

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Extra little tidbits from her

Hey Mom!! :) Oh how happy i get when I can write you and know that you are there ever so far away in the front room reading and writing as well :) I just love you so much and hope that you can feel it! I am ready to answer your questions finally! Sorry that it has taken ages! Today, ONCE AGAIN, i don´t have much time to write because we had to go early this morning to San Fernando where the mission office is and go shopping with Hermana Lines who is a missionary in the office with her husband :) They are the best! But my companion doesn´t have many warm things for the winter and a few weeks ago when President went out with us for a few hours, he noticed that she didn´t have much and so he called me and asked me if she needed more. I told him that I could share with her even though I didn´t have much and he just decided that it would be better to just buy her something of her own. So today we went and did that :) Out President is just the best. He cares about us and takes care of us. It was fun to do that today but took lots of time to travel. It is a two hour trip one way and so it took four hours of our pday. First we have to take the subway, then the electric train. I am super happy that my companion will be more comfortable now though, it was worth it spending our time today because now she will be warm! :)

To your questions:

When we go to the temple, the whole mission goes the same day but at different times during the day :) 

That part of the mission is not part of this mission anymore. But when it was a part of our mission, yes, hermanas did go down there :) They have fun with the penguins jaja :) 

1 did you find your memory card?  Please say yes!!!

NO!!! :( :( :( I haven´t found it yet! I just gets me sick thinking about how i might not have all those photos to show my family when I get back and to remember the people that I knew! I hardly sent any pictures home and there were lots that I was so excited to show you all. I want to cry! I feel so dumb and irresponsible! I really don´t know what I am going to do. I just have to forget about it i guess. But it just makes me sick. 

2 How has Maria been doing?  Is she back on track?

Maria hasn´t changed her desires :( Carlos is still going strong though and is really pretty much a member that just hansn´t been baptized. I feel so bad for him. He wants it so bad and just can´t right now. We are working on it though! :) 

3 Kevins full name and Marco's.  Were there any others that you were in charge of baptizing last week?

Nope, just Kevin and Marco :) :) Marco Antonio Rocha, Kevin Andres Agostopa Eugenio :)

And just a few other random things, I finally received the package that you sent in January! The one that has jerky, deodorant, sour patch, gum, and fruit by the foot! haha thanks so much! I can´t believe how late it was but I sure appreciate it! I also received a package from Hermana Mirow from the US!! :) Also, your letter that had the wedding invite of Tyler! Thanks Mom! And once again, don´t worry about writing me letters. I am just great with emails and love love love reading them each week. So no worries at all :) I am ever so happy with emails :) Man I think my happiness would be almost perfect if it werent for my lost memory card. that just keeps getting to me. I still have faith that I can find it, but a thought keeps coming to me that I threw it away on accident :(

I wanted to email Dad especially and all the other ´dads´ in my life, but I don´t know if I will have time this week! If I don´t end up having time, can you please tell dad that I say Happy Father´s Day and that I was sure thinking about him yesterday. i wish I could write him a nice message but I don´t know if i will have time. He is in my heart!! :)

I sent her some pics of our family camp....

I LOVE THIS!!!!!! :) :) :) My companion saw how I reacted to these photos and was like ¨Do you like camping or something?¨Haha :) YES!!! I told her! I miss this so much and it just looks so lovely and so much fun!! Ah man, you all are the best :) I have the greatest family in the world that is for sure. Man everyone just looks so good and a part of me wants to be there haha. I wish we could do it with everyone again when I get home but Joely wont be there! Awe thanks for these pictures mom, I am so glad everyone had such a good time! :) :) 

Week 62 (June 9, 2014 Parque Chacabuco, Argentina)

Hey we are going to leave pretty soon but are going to get back on in a few hours! :) So I will write my email and send photos in a few hours if that is ok. The zone leaders want to go to an all you can eat asado (meat) place and so we are going to do that with the zone. Mom, speaking of my camera, it got fixed and I had to pay 300 pesos for it so it was not bad at all! But i have some very sad news that still is worrying me very much. I lost my memory card to my camera. The tiny tiny one. I didn´t have my camera because it was being fixed and so my card couldn´t be kept in it. An hermano borrowed my card and gave it back to me in a square of toilet paper. I didn´t have my camera and so I put my card somewhere and I don´t remember where! I have a big big fear that I left it on our table and threw it away thinking that it was just a piece of toilet paper because I have looked and looked and can´t find it! It has ALL of my pictures mom! It only I would have been smarter and better with sending pictures and I wouldn´t have to worry about it! But there are almost 1000 pics and I can´t find it :( :( I am so sorry. Sometimes I feel so irresponsible even after this time on my mission. I don´t know what to do. If you could pray so that I can find it maybe that would help...

Hey Mom!!! :) I think I can buy one here so no need to buy one and send one, but I will let you know :) Thanks so much. I just really hope I can find it because it is so small and there are tons of things in our house. It makes me want to throw up or something that I lost it darn it all. Also, I just remembered that I didn´t answer the questions that you had for me last week! So sorry! Man I just forget things too easily and it is not fair to you. Sorry ma :( I have to get off now but next week for sure I will respond to them. Love you so much mom and hope all is well. Thanks for everything. You are my angel! Love you! :) :) :) 

Dearest Family and Friends,

Hiya! :) Last week I wasn´t able to write very long and so there are lots of things that I missed telling you all! I will try to remember everything that has happened in the last two weeks but it may be hard especially because I am not the best writer ha :) Last week I mentioned Carlos and Maria. They are family of the Rochas (recent converts who are the best and love missionary work :) ) and are not married but have two children together and live together. The story with Carlos is kinda fun haha because in the past, missionaries have stopped by to talk with him or so he tells us, and he has been invited to the "Mormon church" but never really was interested. Even when we were teaching the Rocha family he stopped by lots and we invited him and he was always super awesome and friendly but didn´t want to stay and listen. One day we gave him a pamphlet on the Restoration and invited him to church. He said that he would think about it. This was about a month ago i think. He ended up coming to church that Sunday and has come every Sunday since then. He even came to Stake Conference two Sundays ago with his two little kids. He is one amazing person and has a strong desire to follow Christ and become a member of His Church. He reads the Book of Mormon every day and is already in 2 Nephi something. He is a real miracle that´s for sure. Last week he and his wife Maria had a date to get married. It was the 13 of June, this coming Friday. And then he was going to get baptized on the 15th. Maria, his soon to be wife, works over the weekend and goes into work on Friday. In order to get married, they needed to go to the hospital and do some tests and needed to do them the past Friday. We tried and tried everything we could but Maria couldn´t get work off in to make a long story short, everything was postponed including their date to be married and Carlos´baptism. They now have the date the 27 of June and Carlos will be baptized the 29. But there is another problem that arose last week. Maria was doing great with what we were teaching her and loved everything, but last week something changed in her and she came home from work deciding that this religion is not for her. She told us that she loved us and that she wants us to keep coming but that she doesn´t want to keep following it. The bishop came with us one day to their house to meet Maria because she can´t come to church yet and I guess he might have said something that offended Maria. He said that the children that we have are "borrowed" from God and she told us that she did not like that. It was a long story and there are lots of little things that happened but in the end we invited her to pray specifically to know that the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true and she said she would. So we will see. She is now thinking that she doesn´t want to get married yet so that´s another problem :( I think the adversary knows that Carlos will be an amazing member of the church and he is trying to stop it. The other Saturday we asked Carlos if he was going to come to church on Sunday and he said "of course i am coming to church hermanas, if i didn´t i would be sinning!" haha he really understands and he really has a testimony of the Church and of Jesus Christ. He told us the other day that he doesn´t know what is going on with Maria and if it was up to him, he would be baptized right now. He always refers himself as a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and likes saying it too :) So that is what is going on with those two. We had a really neat experience with them the other day that i will never forget! Well actually we have had lots of experiences with them but this one was really neat!  We arrived to their house to have a lesson and they were all worried and stressed because their son had lost the keys to the car and they had been looking for 4 hours and nothing. We helped them look for a bit and still nothing. Then a thought came to us and we asked them if they had prayed to find the keys. They laughed to themselves and said no they had not and that they didn t know if that would be a silly thing to do. We told them of course not and explained prayer a bit with them and offered a prayer to find the car keys. After the prayer, Maria says to her husband, did you look under those blankets, pointing to a pile of blankets. He said that yes he had but that he would look again. Sure enugh, the keys were there and we offered a prayer of thanks for helping us find the keys. It was a great experience and a great moment to help them understand prayer and that God hears all of our prayers.

We had another miracle with someone who God has been preparing! I can´t remember if I have told you about Marcos. He is the other cousin of the Rochas and is 14 years old and just moved from Bolivia. He was living with his one aunt that didn´t give him permission to be baptized, but a few weeks ago, the mother of the Rocha´s became his guardian! He always comes to church and came to the conference on Sunday with his family. After the conference we went back to the church in Chacabuco and we invited him to be baptized on the 8th and he said yes! We got permission from his aunt and he was baptized yesterday :) :) :) I don´t know how these miracles keep arriving but I sure am grateful for them. We thought about Marcos for a while wondering if he really was prepared to be baptized and if he really was going to become a faithful, active member. We believe he will :) President Gonzalez of the 70 has been with us as missionaries and then came to our stake conference and talked about baptizing, retaining, and reactivating. How these three things need to be our focus and how we need to be doing all of them, all at the same time. The Lord´s work really is hastening and we are really seeing that here in Argentina. I am so grateful to be here on my mission serving at this time. I know that the Lord´s second coming is soon and that He is preparing His people. It is a wonderful feeling when with His help, we find someone that has been prepared and that is ready to make and keep sacred covenants with God. I love being a missionary :) But to tell you the truth, right now we have only one investigator and he is Carlos. We have been praying and fasting to find more and have been searching hard, and last week was pretty rough. But we were able to see two of God´s children be baptized and that was a great miracle for sure! :) So this week will be interesting. We need to find more people to invite! I am excited to work hard this week in order to do it.

Also, Kevin was baptized yesterday as well! Man him and his brother are going to do great things in the church :) Yesterday we had 5 baptisms as a ward and President Ayre and his family came because he was with us when we invited Kevin to be baptized and he wanted to come and support him! And he came! It was so wonderful! And also, the President of our stake lives in our area and we got together with their family to practice a musical number for the baptisms. They have two violins and so for the first time in a long long time, I played the violin with Nahum their son and their mom sang with my comp and another one of their sons. We played I feel my Saviors love. I don´t know how it turned out but I learned that I need to practice the violin when I get home haha. It was a great service and the ward, like always was a huge support and help. I am telling you, this ward is on fire. The converts stay active because the members and the bishop and the leaders understand the work of salvation. The converts receive callings quickly and we have seen a great growth in those that have callings quickly. I wish had time to write more about all that is going on here! But real quick, remember Roberto Rocha? He baptized his cousin Marco yesterday and blessed the sacrament for the first time!!! :) :) Also the leader of the young single adults left on her mission and so YOSELIN was called to be the new leader of the young single adults!! And Alejandra is still going strong as a ward missionary. I thank my Heavenly Father for His hand and for helping me know His children that he is preparing. I don´t like to see people getting baptized that later fall away. I would rather not baptize if that is the case. And with the Rocha family, they are doing great and I know that it is because they were prepared and ready and the Lord really did all the work. The ward members are a huge help and I am just so happy to be here :)

Next week I hope I will have more good news and more investigators to tell you about. That is our focus this week! Thank you all so much for everything and for being my greatest friends! I love you all so much and I know that this is Christ Church and that he lives! I really appreciate what you are doing to help in this great work. Thank you for your prayers and faith and hope!

Con Amor, Hermana Syphus

Alejandra, Rosario with Valentin (Carlos´ son), me, Nahum Catala, Marco, Roberto, Kevin. And kneeling: Lorena, Carlos, Lautaro, Mi companera :)  

Elder Martinez and his investigator Fernando, and the rest 

All that were baptized yesterday!!! 

me, nahum, marco, roberto, kevin, comp :) 

Very Special Day 

CARLOS AND HIS ANGLES!!  

 I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!! 

This was the morning of Stake Conference and I will never forget this sight!! So so cute, too much cuteness for one photo i am telling you. As a ward, we rented 4 buses to go to La Boca where stake conference was. 

Carlos arrived at the church like this :) at 7:50 in the morning with his cure kiddos 

 

Us on the bus on the way to stake conference in La Boca! 

Super fun!

Week 61 (June 2, 2014 Parque Chacabuco, Argentina)

Hey Mom!! :) Thank you for letting me know about Nik. I have just finished my email to him and feel bad because the last few weeks I have been wanting to write him but have not acted on the feeling. I hope that he will get the email although I don't know if it will help. Man I wish he knew how much better it will get. I hope he stays strong. 

A few of the keys are not working too well on my keyboard and so it is taking me a long time to write! And we are with some other hermanas and elders and they are all pretty much done so I am just going to write a little bit this week i think :( But first of all, I AM STAYING IN CHACABUCO WITH HERMANA MATAMOROS!!!! :) :) :) I didnt think it was going to happen but I am so happy that it is! This transfer that we are going to have will be so great and I am so excited! I don't think I told you last week about Carlos and Maria but Carlos is the cousin of the Rocha family and he is living with his girlfriend Maria and they have two kids. We have been teaching them for a while and Carlos comes every week to church with his two kids and Maria works. Man i will have to tell you the details next week because they are waiting for me but what is happening with them is so amazing and I never thought would happen! To make a long story short, they are going to be getting married on the 13 of June and Carls will be baptized on the 15 of June! :) I will tell the whole story next week! I know that God is preparing people in this area and that he is blessing us so much! I love these people so much and am so happy to stay here this transfer! 

Kevin will be baptized this Sunday! WE had stake conference over the weekend and he came to both sessions! He is excited but nervous for his baptism and we are so happy to help him prepare! I will for sure tell more about him next week! 

Mom I have to go! I am sorry for such a short email! Next week will be lots better and I will include everything because there is lots that had happened! I am doing great and am happy and healthy! 

Oh ya!  about the letter thing that you are concerned about, NO WORRIES!! Haha man you are the best mom, I have not even thought about that to be honest. There is no need to send letters because your emails are just wonderful and I receive the Dear Elders which yes I DO love so thank you! :) I am just fine without them :) 

Love you so much mom and tell everyone the same! Hope you have a great week! 

Love Hermana Kates Syphus