Week 68 (July 21, 2014 Tigre Argentina)

Day of transfers.

 Old comp Hermana Matamoros, i just love her ever so much!!

New comp Hermana Hernriquez from El Salvador!! 

New Adventures!!

Dearest Mother,

You told me to include detail. I am not really sure what that means or what type of detail, but I will try to be as detailed as I can with the time I have ha. Well first off, I am ever so happy and am doing very well!! I love my companion and she is a great woman. She is super sweet and makes me breakfast every morning when I am showering and is super down to earth and very understanding. I really enjoy working with her! Tigre is great!! The first week in a new area is always so stressful (for me anyway haha) because I am trying not to think about the people that I left and the ward and such and am trying to get to know the new area and the members and the investigators and their needs and all that fun stuff. But this week had been really good and I feel great here in Tigre and already have come to love the people here. To explain the area a bit, it is the poorest area that I have been in so far in my mission. I will send pictures next week. It is like a mini villa and is pretty poor. But that is why I love it!! I know we will find people here that are ready to accept the Lord and His Gospel and that have been prepared by God. There are not many paved roads. It is all dirt and mud!! So I hope my shoes will last these three months ha! When it rains, the roads flood and it is a big mess!! So it is going to be a good fun adventure! Oh also, I feel like i am camping in this area because it always smells like campfire or something that is burning and there is a river in our area so that makes it a more campy feeling as well!! My clothes always smell like I am camping hahaha. I like it though, it is all part of the great experience of my wonderful mission. The members are great! This is actually a branch here not a ward, but on Sunday they announced that it was going to transform into a ward this coming year so we need to work hard and continue working together as members and missionaries in order to help this branch become a ward!!! I am super excited for that. In fact, before they told us about changing into a ward, during sacrament meeting I was thinking that this branch needed to become a ward and that I was going to do all I could to help it grow. And now I am even more excited to be here!! It will be lots of work but I am super excited and feel very blessed to be here at this time and help the less active families come back so that this branch can become a strong ward!! I wasn't able to talk much with the branch president on Sunday so I don't know him very well but i hear that he is super awesome. There are many recent converts. Lots are less active though. But the recent recent converts that are youth are INCREDIBLE!!!! One of them is Alejandro and he met the missionaries and was baptized in a week and a half because he was so prepared. My comp now taught him with her last comp. He quit smoking and drinking in a week and is so so so strong and has not relapsed at all. Him and his friend Nahuel and Camila are the three that come with us to most of our appointments and they all love sharing the Gospel and their testimonies. I know I am going to love this place! ps, is that what you mean by detail or would you like more? Just let me know!

Ah and you know what? My comp from Chacabuco called me yesterday about something and also mentioned that she and her new comp were robbed on Thursday. I couldn't believe it. I was there for 4 and a half months and was never robbed. And in Chacabuco there are lots of robbery's. I think God knows that maybe i wouldn't know how to react if something like that happened to me. I don't know. But they are both safe and were not hurt in any way. They had a member with them and none of them were harmed thank goodness.

So this week was a good one!! The hermanas here in this area were having a hard time for the last few weeks finding investigators that wanted to progress and this last week was the same but we did see some great miracles!! The brother of a recent convert (Camila is the rc and his name is Ramon) was being taught but didn't really want much to do with the church and didn't really pay attention when we taught him. He is 15. He said he would come to church on Sunday earlier in the week but then said later that he didn't want to go. Sunday morning he didn't want to come even though he was up and awake. His sister who is the recent convert said that she had tried but that he wasn't going to come. We didn't like that answer jaja. And so we went to the house and called him outside and he came and told us the same thing. But after a bit of talking and promising blessings, he decided to come. He previously had a fecha for the 3rd of Agosto but after church he came up to us with a light in his eyes and a smile on his face and told us that he wanted to baptized sooner because he felt something that he really liked at church and loved everything. This was something that we were not expected at all but gave us so much happiness and hope! If he is baptized this Sunday, he will only have 2 asistencias, so we need to talk to the bishop and call the pres as well to see if it is ok, but only if he is well prepared and ready. This was one of the great miracles that we were able to see this week.We went later that day to teach him and he was completely different! His face was all lit up and he had a desire to learn!! I just love love love seeing these changes in people. I know that they make these changes because Christ makes it possible. I am really excited to see what happens with Ramon. He sure is a sweet boy. I read something in preach my gospel that made me think. It is a quote by elder Holland and says something like we don't invite people to accept this message and to be baptized just so that they can have a better life, but so they can become closer to Christ. I really like that because lots of times when i am promising blessings to the people we contact, I say that by accepting this message, they will have more hope and happiness in their lives. THis is true, but I learned that I need to promise that they will have this live BECAUSE they will become closer to Christ. I want to improve on doing that and receiving a stronger testimony of it!! I love preaching the Gospel and I love being a missionary!

I sure love you so much and appreciate all you do. Please tell dad I love him and am thinking about him. And all the siblings as well. I hope that Kari and Kylie are doing well and so glad to hear that Joel is doing great! Thanks so much for everything. LOVE YOU EVER SO MUCH!!!

Hermana Syphus

PS

I talked to Pres and I can't extend my mission. Only if we have someone that is going to go through the temple or something like that. So I will be coming home in October. 

 

 I just finished my email! If it is not detailed enough, let me know and I will include more next week! Love you so much and talk to you next week! Tell everyone hello and give hugs and kisses!! LOVE YOU!!