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 

Week 60 (May 26, 2014 Parque Chacabuco, Argentina)

:) :) Picturing you in my head just gives me joy and makes me smile. Man i just miss you so much mom. Thanks for the email, made my day like always :) I have very little time today so I hope I can get everything in! We went to the temple of Buenos Aires today!! I can´t believe I forgot to tell you the last three weeks! We knew three weeks ago I think and I didn´t say anything! But it was wonderful like always! Man I miss the temple and I miss going every week. I told dad in the email I sent to him that I miss going to the temple and that I know that I have a different purpose right now now which I love but I still miss it :) But it is all the work of salvation and it all helps God and His purpose which is to have ALL of His children receive eternal life. We went this morning and I learned many wonderful things but what I remember most was that I just felt so happy. SO SO happy. I am happy serving everyday in my mission, but in the temple it was just the best. I am sure you know what I mean. It was fun to see old companions, the pres and his wife, and the other missionaries :) So that is why I don´t have much time. This day goes by wicked fast.

Before I forget, next week i will be writing on Tuesday because it is transfers again. Why is this going by so fast? I also told dad that it was really hard to leave my family in Utah to come on my mission, but that it will be even more hard I think to leave my family here in Argentina. I love them and I love being a missionary. I am so excited for my cousins and for Joel to serve. They will love it so much. It is hard, but it is the only opportunity to serve God with all your time and energy and heart because that is what we are dedicated to do. And it is a great feeling. I don´t want to regret any of it. I hope i stay here in Chacabuco with my companion. She is great and I don´t know how much she likes me, but i sure love her.  I need to serve her more I think, I need to be better in lots of ways! You are my great example on how to love people mom! :) Thank you!

Man tell Joel congrats for me and give him a great big hug and kiss too please :) i am glad Kylie and Greg got packed up alright. I hope the time passes fast so that they can come back. How was Jordy´s talk and what did he talk on? Does he seem different or the same? That would be fun to know if you have time :)

I wrote Silvina back haha. She is a hoot. She is a great person and i love her to death.  She is the one in El Talar that helped me lots when i needed things I sent a pic with her and I. Her name is silvina orce. She is a great member and helped me so much! I'm glad that she has my email. She might write lots and I will write her when I have time for sure but prob not every week.

Well i have about 10 minutes to write about the week so I will write about the biggest things that happened. We had interviews with President on Wednesday and they went very well. But during my interview Pres asks me if he can spend the afternoon with my comp and i and go with us to our visits and all that jazz. Of course I wasn´t going to say no even though I was afraid to say yes haha. So that day we ended interviews and went to the members house for lunch and went to the church again to meet with pres and the member that was to accompany us that day. They arrived and it was raining (the past few days we have gotten pretty wet, lots of adventures!) :) We went to visit Brian who was just baptized and confirmed and his mom was there and hadn´t gone to work because it was raining. So that was the first miracle. Brian has a brother named Kevin that we had never met before, just talked to on the phone. Every time we asked Brain if his brother wanted to listen he told us that he wouldn´t be interested and that he was super shy. But this day we asked again and he said the same thing. We asked if Kevin was there at home and he said yes. We tried to invite him but the mom said he was studying. We tried and tried but nothing. So we taught Brian with his mom there as well and just as we were finishing Kevin enters the room!! The mom needed to leave at this point and Kevin was going to go with her but we asked him to stay and tried to gain confidence and Pres helped us lots and the Lord as well, and he ended up staying. We taught him the first lesson and the book of mormon and invited him to be baptized and he said yes. It really was a miracle. He is 16 and needed permission from his mom. Well his mom had left but right when we needed her she returned! God really had this all planned out because Kevin is prepared and ready! We talked with the mom and she said that if Kevin felt ready and had the desire, he could be baptized!! :) He has the date for the 8th of June and he came to church on Sunday with Brian and loved it so much! I don´t know why we never had met him before because he is ready! I think Satan knew that too and didn´t want us to talk with him and lots of things happened to impede us. But finally we were able to and with the help of the Spirit, Kevin felt something and accepted to be baptized and follow Christ´s example. i am so grateful for what the Lord is doing for us. i know that it is not me because i really couldn´t do it. The Lord is blessing us and giving us His strength and I know that His Atonement is real. i am grateful for this time that I have to experience His Atonement more each day and to realize that it is Him that makes it all possible. 

Well that is all that I have time for :( Sorry for making it short. But that experience really was such a miracle and thanks to President and his presence, we were able to have a great day ha :)

Love you so much mom and thanks for all you do! Tell everyone hi for me and that I love them, just like always. You are my angel and my example! Thank you! Love you so so much! Hugs and kisses

Love, Hermana Syphus 

Week 59 (May 19, 2014 Parque Chacbuco, Argentina)

Dearest Mother,

Great email from you like always thanks so much! I could really just read and read all day about what is going on at home! I love it so much! I DIDN¨T EVEN REALIZE SUMMER WAS COMING FOR THE KIDS! That is so weird! I completely forgot that school ended in May. Actually I don´t think I forgot, I just didn´t even think about it. Man that is so crazy! How are the kids doing? Are they excited for Summer? I am so happy for little Joely Oley :) He is so great and part of me wishes I could be there for his graduation on Thursday but I will get to see pictures which is almost just as great :) I was just thinking the other day that this year for our family is SO CRAZY!!! There are like 50 things happening and they are all huge!! Kari and Kylie are pregnant and are going to have their babes, Shaun got married, Erik WILL get married (I am crossing my fingers for that one ;) ), Joel graduates high school and leaves for his mission to the Phillipines (I still haven´t figured out how to spell that), and I am sure many other great things are just awaiting us. Our family Christmas card this year will be fun haha!! :) I am really so grateful to have such a wonderful family. I LOVE telling the new people we meet about my family and showing them the picture of all of us in front of the red barn in dv. Even though they all always tell me that my sisters are all gorgeous and that I look bigger now hahaha, I still love showing them and telling them about you all. It makes me so happy to know that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the truths that have been restored to modern day prophets of God, my family can enter the Celestial Kingdom and live together forever. My mission has helped me so much to understand more the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I thought I understood it before my mission because it seems so simple. And it is, but now it means so much more to me. Repentance means so much more to me and I love teaching it to those who are seeking it and who are seeking change in their lives through a better way, or the way of Christ. I know that Christ has redeemed us and saved us from physical and spiritual death and that His Atonement is the way to Him.

Just a few random things that I wanted to tell you haha. I am happy to say that I have put your recipes to practice here in Argentina :) I have banana bread three times I think and lemon bars this last week and both have been a hit. When we talk to the zone leaders to give an account of our week and we ask them if there is anything we can do for them, they tell us to make banana bread from Hermana Syphus´ mom haha. They love it! To make it more yummy I put dulce de leche on top and it was pretty good. Of course not like yours or grandmas but it is banana bread. It has been fun making things from home the last few weeks :) I have really enjoyed it :) The lemon bars turned out ok but were a little toasty on the bottom. We took some to the Familia Rocha and Roberto wanted to eat the whole pan. So tell the Leavitts that the people here in Chacabuco love her lemon bars!!! :)

For the best news of the week, Brian and Cristian we confirmed on Sunday!! :) And now they are members of Christ´s church! Brian is the only member in his family and will be a great example to them. He has some good friends in the ward so that will be a good help for him. We are trying to get to know his parents and have a good relationship with them so that we can start teaching them as well :) He has a brother that is really shy and is 17 and we are hoping to get to know him better this week as well. Cristian or Papito as we call him, is doing well. Sunday when we went to pick him up to walk to the church he was still sleeping, little bum. We woke him up and got to the church on time thank goodness. He is so cute. Whenever we asked him throughout the week what he was going to receive on Sunday he would say my baptism of fire haha. He is great and has three great siblings to help him stay strong!! Alejandra and Yoselin are as great as ever. Such amazing converts. I love them so much. They both received callings to be ward missionaries and are coming to the meetings and everything. I think I told you last week but Roberto received the priesthood the last Sunday and that same sunday baptized his brother Cristian. Such a special experience! This family really was sent and prepared by God and I know that the Gospel is changing their lives for the better. i feel so blessed to be a part of it. Roberto is excited to come with us during the day to visit our people. Alejandra and Yoselin also accompany us when they have time. Yoselin and Roberto are preparing to serve missions!! :) I am just so happy and I love this so much :)

We met Marcos this week. He is a cousin of the Rocha family and is 14 years old. He just moved here last week from Bolivia and will be staying here. His mom left when he was a baby and his dad is not a very good father figure. He has gone through so much. We were able to talk to him the other day about Christ and he said that he wants to know him more. He accepted to be baptized but is under age so we have to receive permission from his legal guardian who is his aunt or Alejandra´s mom´s sister. She is pretty against the church and we have been praying lots so that she will accept. We will see this week how it goes! But Marcos  really is ready and I know the Gospel will give him hope and peace! I hope it all works out!

Another cousin of the Rocha´s, Carlos, continues to come to church with his two kids and is just the best. He knows the church is true and knows the book of mormon is true but is not married and lives with his mujer. we have talked about marriage with him and we met his wife the other day and are meeting with them both together tomorrow! He wants to be baptized and get married but not sure when. But tomorrow we will see! I will for sure keep you updated on him. I think we will see great miracles with this family. Carlos is one great person. He is reading the book of mormon like crazy and loves it so much and understands it really well. The Rocha family is helping us find God´s elect! :)

I think that is it for the week. Of course there is always much more to say and comment on but I think I included the most important news :) Today we went to the President´s house for pday with our zone and another zone and had burgers and played games. It was a lot of fun! That is why I wrote a little late. I wish I could write every little miracle that we see. God is really blessing us with His tender mercies and I know that He is here with us. Even though I can´t tell all of them, know that He is providing us with miracles everyday and showing us His love and concern and I am so grateful. i know He lives and loves us and that this is His way and the only way to happiness! Thank you so much for all you do. Heavenly Father has blessed me with the best family and friends and I love you all so so much! Thank you mom for your time, thoughts, prayers, love, concern, and for everything. Man I wanted to write lots of other things but we have to go. I love commenting on your emails. Tell Jordy I give him a big hello and a big hug and a big welcome home!! Tell their whole family hello for me. Wish Kylie and Greg happy traveling and good luck and tell them I love them so much! I wanted to write personal emails but today didn´t work. Tell Kam that I know she will be a great support for Jake and that I love her as well. Actually just tell everyone that I love them all so stinking much. That would be better haha. And of course, let my Dear Daddy know that I love him so much and still miss his hugs. Last night I dreamed that he was whistling to me and it was the sweetest thing ever. Love you mom and talk to you next week!! Oh yes! I forgot to say that I am very happy and very good! Oh and the weather here is cold! It is getting chilly and July and August are the coldest months! We will see how it goes! :) Love you.

Hermana Syphus :)

Week 58 (May 12, 2014 Parque Chacbuco, Argentina)

(Email from Katelyn 5/12/2014  Not much info since she spoke with us on Mother's day for 75 min.) 

​Dear Family,​

It was such a great blessing to be able to talk with all of you. It seemed super short and I wanted to talk longer

 ​ but tell everyone

 I am grateful for the time I had. I hope that no feelings were hurt because I didn´t give much attention to Kylie and Kendyl or dad either. I hope everyone knows that I love

​them ​

so much and miss you all. I really hope that you had such a great day yesterday Mom.

I know that I am being very blessed and that Heavenly Father is helping me to have all these wonderful experiences and meet all these wonderful people. I need to serve more faithfully. Sometimes I feel like I am not doing enough for all the blessings that we are receiving and I need to work harder. we have been very blessed these last two transfers with miracle baptisms and now we are in a bit of a dry spot because we literally have one investigator right now and he is great but is not married and lives with his girlfriend. So I am kinda worried about that. The l

 ​eader

s keep telling us that we are doing so good and that we are an example for the zone and things like that but I don´t like when they say that because now we really don´t have much and things might start slowing down. But hopefully that is not the case. We have faith that we are going to continue seeing miracles and that this area will continue to grow! I need to have more faith in that! But you know what I mean? When someone tells you that you are so good and that great things are happening, it is in that moment when it seems to stop just because someone said something. I know it is not us doing the work though, we are just helping Heavenly Father and he is providing the miracles and the growth. So I hope it continues. The liders also told us that it is because we are being obedient that we are seeing growth here in our area and I know that is true to some point, but I also don´t like when they say that because there are tons of missionaries that are being obedient and are not having baptisms and it doesn´t mean that they are being disobedient! I remember in Congreso Hermana Herrera and I were trying so hard for so long and doing everything yet we didnt see baptisms that transfer. So it just depends. Well there is my little tangent on that. Haha sorry some of the things I say don´t really matter. I just like to let you know how I think and feel at times. Thanks for listening Mom ha :) 

​

OK mom I am getting off now. I wan´t able to write many people but next week I will do better. Love you so much and have a great week! 

 Baptism of Brian, a cousin of the Rocha Family

 Brian and Cristian Baptism day

 Cristian's older brother Roberto was able to baptize him

District leader, Elder Martinez, baptized Brian

Week 57 (May 5, 2014 Parque Chacabuco, Argentina)

Dearest Parents :)

This email will be pretty short but I will try to get everything in that happened this week! :) We went on exchanges again and I was able to go to Parque Patricios with Hermana Rogerson. She is such a great missionary and helped me remember how to teach simply and with the Holy Ghost. I love exchanges so much because I learn things from the other Hermanas that Heavenly Father needs me to learn in order to become a better missionary and person! When I was with her we taught a man that has been taught by the missionaries for a long time now and can´t get baptized because he can´t stop smoking. Well we met with him and he told us that he had not been smoking for three days and that he had never done that before. Hermana Rogerson was very happy and we were able to say a prayer with him thanking Heavenly Father for his help. This was a neat experience that I had with Hermana Rogerson :)

Also, Roberto Antonio Soliz Rocha was confirmed on Sunday! :) I can´t remember if i mentioned this last week but we were able to find a shirt and tie for him and he looked so nice! His confirmation was very beautiful. I love listening to the blessing when they are receiving the Holy Ghost. The hermano that confirmed him in the prayer blessed him to be a light to his family and friends and to serve a mission in the near future. Roberto and Yoselin both really want to serve missions and we are working on helping them with that! We talked about the priesthood the other day and Roberto is preparing to receive it hopefully this week! :)

We are teaching a young man named Brian and he is 18 years old. Yesterday he came to church and has now been two times and loves it! He was able to stay this time for the baptism that the elders had and this week we are going to be passing by almost everyday to help him prepare for his baptism this Sunday hopefully! Also, Cristian or German is the little brother of Roberto and Yoselin and Alejandra and he should be getting baptized this week as well if all goes well!

I don´t have lots of time left to share about my birthday but it was a great day!! :) We we on exchanges from Wednesday to Thursday so I was with a different Hermana on the morning of my birthday. But when we were getting to know each other the day before, she asked me when my birthday was and I told her that it was actually the next day haha. In the morning she made me a sign and gave me some ice cream that they had! It was such a nice surprise!! Then I got home and my comp had made some signs as well! We had a normal day and did our visits and had weekly planning (every thursday) and it was great! But we were able to each lunch with one of my favorite families and she made a cake for me! I will send more pics next week and talk about it better! Then at the end of the day we went to the Rocha´s house and they had made a cake, pizza, asado, and everything! It was so great and so special!! I loved completing 21 years on my mission! It was really a great day thanks so the people here and my friends and family at home as well! Mom I was not able to write anyone at all a thank you. I am not sure if I will ever have time for that :( Sorry for the short email. I can explain more about my bday next email if you want but it really was just a normal missionary day with a fun little fiesta at the end of the day! I think just being a missionary for my birthday is the best thing ever so it was very enjoyable!! :)

Love you both so much and let everyone know I love them and tell them hi! Hope to have a better email next week! Thanks for EVERYTHING!!

Con Amor, Hermana Syphus

 Birthday cake made by the Rocha family

 Ayelin Rocha and the card she made me for my birthday.  

It was a drawing of their family, us and her dogs.  So cute!

 My birthday party given by the Rocha family

 Home made pizzas too!

 Questions from mom:

So Alejandra was baptized on April 13 and her sister, Yoselin the week after....right?  Any idea what their last names are for your chart?

Yoselin was baptized on April 20 and Alejandra was baptized on Abril 6 but confirmed Abril 13 :) And their full names are: Alejandra Soliz Rocha, and Yoselin Rosario Soliz 

Any luck with getting your pics to download on the computer?  If not, we can  wait to see everything when you get home.

I think it will work, it just depends on the computer. But time is usually the problem. My comps always seem to be able to send pics and I don´t know what my problem is with time. I want to fix it though. My actually, right now my camera is not working :( I brought it to the Rocha´s house on Thurday for my birthday and my comp had it in her hand and acidentally dropped it on the ground and the lens went crookerd so it wont take pics now. Luckily the night was ending and we got pics taken but we have to fix it somehow. I sure hope it will be ok! I still have 5 months and I need to take pictures!! :/

How has your tummy been since that one night a couple of weeks ago?  I hope you are well.  I wanted to ask last week, but not having a computer for a whole week was AWFUL!!!  I'm definitely spoiled!

Haha :) It is a lot better and was better in a few days :) Thanks for asking me mom

How is your luggage holding out?  I need to get some for Joel and wanted to make sure yours was doing alright before I ordered the same kind for him.  We took Shaun's with us to Branson and his is a piece of junk.  The wheels didn't roll right and we had to carry it most of the time.

Man that really stinks :/ My luggage is doing great!!! :) It is still really good intact and everything and there seems to be no problems :) Roberto told me that he is going to come with me to the US in my luggage when I leave for home haha. I told him that I would have one with him, one with alfajores and dulce de leche, and the other with my missionary memories haha.

For your blog, I need pics of Alejandra and Yoselin and Roberto for their baptisms as well as Hernan and Evelyn...but like I said, it can wait until you get home if you can't get it to work.

Man I haven´t seny pics of the Rocha familia yet?! How bad am I!! You guys need to see them! I am sorry for my sending pictures problem! I will try to send them today! 

AND...any idea about your call home for Mother's Day in 2 weeks?  Just needed to know if it will be a skype again or a call so I can get Erik's expertise on the Skype :)  Can't wait!!!

SUNDAY but we don´t know where yet! :)