Week 74 (Sept. 1, 2014 Tigre, Argentina)

Dearest Family and Friends :)

I hear that in St. George you are getting to play in the rivers on the streets!!  That is so crazy that it rained so much! It has rained lots here as well lately but not too hard. The other day though it started hailing and they were huge pieces of ice, like the size of a blueberry! Luckily it was a sunday morning so we were inside the church :) The weather here has been really crazy lately. It will be super hot one week and the next week super cold. Right now it is cold again and i think it will get warmer this month but we will see.

We have has so many wonderful experiences this week and I just wish I could put in every detail but that would take to long and would also probably bore you all haha. We started a new transfer and for this transfer, President wanted to put a set of elders in Tigre! It has been 7 years since Tigre has seen elders so it is really different for the members but they love it! Two transfers ago there were three areas in tigre but then Pres took out tigre 3 because there was not much work there for a while and he felt like he needed to take it out. But this transfer, he wanted to add it again and put elders there instead of sisters. So now my comp and I are living with the other two sisters and the elders in the other apartment. We have been trying to help the elders because they know nothing about the area and it has been a busy week! We met with the President of the branch to divide the three areas to make it better than before and now we have a smaller area but we are excited to continue working hard with what we have! Our area is the poorest part of Tigre and there are lots of people there so we still have lots of work to do there :) When we met with President, he gave us a few families to visit. We went to visit the families and one of them is a part member family and the members are less active. They are from Peru and the father/grandfather was a bishop at one time in Peru but they moved here and he got a really good job really quickly and had to work on Sunday. We only met his wife, one of their daughters that is a member, and the daughter of this daughter and another granddaughter. The two granddaughters are not members. The parents we sealed in the temple with their children and everything! We talked about the temple and the covenants that they made with God and how their grand children need to make the same covenants so that they can be part of the eternal family. The two granddaughters want to learn more and we are going to visit them tomorrow!! We found them yesterday night so they have not come to church yet but are hoping to this coming Sunday! :) We are super excited to teach them and to help reactivate the family as well. Some less active families do not want anything to do with the church but some just need love and the invitation to come back and a little push and they feel the spirit again and want to come back. I love working with families that are ready to be rescued! It is the best to see them come back as a family and see how they change even as members. That was one of the great miracles that we received last week!

Hermana Traverso and I have been pondering on the promise that through the recent converts and less actives, we are going to find the elect. I know that this is true and we have been trying to help this promise come to pass! :) We are still working with Rosana, the girlfriend of the recent convert named Marco. She came to church on Sunday for the third time in a row and really likes it. She just needs to turn 18 now so that she can be baptized :) We also have to see if they are keeping the law of chastity 100 percent. We taught it to them and they said that they would live it, but we need to follow up better to make sure they are good.

God gave us a great miracle the other day! A few weeks ago a recent convert named Alejandro gave us a referral. He told us that he had really felt strongly that we needed to visit this person and that his name just popped into his head one day and that usually doesnt happen. We always ask him for referrals and most of the time he doesnt know who to give us. But this time he felt really sure and excited to visit his friend Martin with us. We went to contact him and he told us that we needed to come back a different day because he was working. we invited him to church and he said he would talk with Alejandro to see what he could do. Alejandro invited him to church and tried to talk with him lots of times but Martin didnt give him much attention. He didnt come to church like he said he was going to either. The other day we passed by just to see what happened and why he didnt come to church. We were with a different recent convert named Camila. Martin was there and we talked to him a bit and decided with the help of the spirit and the filters that he is not an elect at this time. We asked for referrals and he didnt give us anyone. We were walking away from his house, analyzing the houses around his, and my companion said that one day, we should knock a certain house. Camila then told us that she knew a girl that lives in that house named Flor. Flor is the friend of another recent convert. We didnt have time right then to contact Flor but we came back the next day and met her mom and grandparents because she was not there. We found out that one month ago, Flor's uncle passed away. His wife and children are having a hard time. And so are the grandparents of Flor...the parents of the man that passed away. We shared with them the Plan of Salvation. Flors parents are not married and Flor has a boyfriend of 7 years (she is 18 years old) but doesnt live with him thankfully! Her grandparents, Olga and Anibal, are so precious and wonderful. We taught them all again when Flor and her boyfriend were at home and Olga, Anibal, and Flor accepted baptismal dates for the 14 of September! They are a miracle family that God put in our path through a recent convert! Olga and Anibal came to church yesterday but Flor couldnt make it because she had to go to the hospital for something that is bothering her on her leg. We are so excited to work with this family! They really need the Gospel and the knowledge that they can live with their family forever! I know that if they are prepared and if they are elect, that the Spirit will help them feel and know that these things are true!

It has been a good week and I am grateful that God is helping us see the fruits of our labors. I always need to improve and work harder, but i am thankful that he is blessing us with these wonderful people and families to teach. My joy is so full when we have progressing investigators haha :) I know that God loves us and that everything he does he does because he wants us back! I know that He lives! Thank you all for everything! Love you so much and have a wonderful week! Remember your blessings and think about them all the time and you will be happy! :)

Hermana Syphus

My rash is getting better. It is actually not a rash though haha. We found out the are bites from bed bugs!! Gross huh!?! It gives me the heebie jeebies thinking that I have bed bugs but i think I solved it! We washed my sheets and such and sprayed my matress with this one stuff prescribed by the doctor.

That thunderstorm looks CRAZY!!! Holy buckets those pictures are amazing!! I cant believe that! So beautiful!! Wow the combination of Gods creations, technology, and peoples talents is such a good one ha :)

I am sorry to hear about Kari and Kylie :( Poor things. I hope they keep getting better!

The bday dinner sounded like so much fun! And holy food! That is so neat that almost all of it came from the garden! I am excited to see it! you always work so hard with dad to make it so great, I hope that I will have those types of talents when I grow up.

 Oh ya! Last week we went to the doctors again haha! My comp was having trouble breathing and would make these weird sounding gasps for air and I told her that she needed to call the nurse because that was not normal. We called and she said we needed to go the doctors to get checked. So on Wednesday we went and the Dr. Smith checked her lungs and such. Then he checked me as well because I was pretty sick last Monday with a fever but received a blessing and had gotten a bit better but he still wanted to check me. And guess what? We both ended up having Bronquitis! Haha crazy huh!? She has it worse than me because she had it in both lungs and me just in one, but we bought the meds (she needed three and I two) and now we are both doing LOTS better! Whenever I get sick, I usually have the same symptoms and dont think anything of it, but I guess it was worse than I thought haha :) I am feeling good though now and so is my comp! So that is what counts! :)

I LOVE joels emails! He is so funny and I just love reading what he writes! I am glad that he is doing so well. Does he only have an hour to write?

I will try to watch out for the bed bugs in my luggage and be more careful! Ah man french toast made by erik sounds so good right now. i am hungry haha :) right now we are going to be meeting with some sisters in a different area. Pres called me and asked me if we could spend the day with them because one of them is a new sister that is having a hard time and needs some help! :) And when i got to argentina I was like her says President ha. So I hope that we will be able to help her! :) I am praying that I will be able to know what to say and do in order to help this sister. I dont know her at all and am not good with words, so hopefully it will go ok. Being sister trainer leader is hard at times but it gives me lots of opportunities to learn and think about others and strengthen my love for them! It is the best! :) 

Week 73 (Aug. 26, 2014 Tigre, Argentina)

Mom! :)

First, I dont know if I will have much time to tell about this week, but i will at least tell you about transfers and some other things that have happened! I am staying here in Tigre and yes, I do have a different companion! Because my last comp and I go home at the same time and we cant be together for our last transfer. So she got transferred to CHACABUCO!!!! I was just talking to her all night last night about Chacabuco and how much she is going to love it and I told her about all the members and the recent converts and just everything. She is excited and so am I!!! I told her that she will love ending her mission there!! I am super excited to be staying in Tigre!! I know that this new transfer will bring new adeventures and many miracles!! My new companion is Hermana Traverso from Peru!! My second comp from Peru!! :) She is wonderful and is a new sister training leader this transfer! She goes home two transfers after me, in december. I just told her that I hope she likes to work hard because the only way that I am going to leave Argentina happy is if I have worked hard, diligently and being obedient, until the end!! I can tell that she is a very hard working missionary and loves to serve God and I am so excited to be with her this transfer and learn from her. I still feel like I have so so much to learn and to change and time just goes by so fast I cant believe it. I hope that I will be teachable enough so that God can continue shaping me how he needs to!!

I wanted to send that pic of alejandro and nahuel again, but it was from my other comps camera and she already left :( sorry about that mom.

This last week was a good one. We are still trying to find those that are prepared to receive the gospel and accept it! We are still working with Rosana, the girlfriend of the recent convert. She doesnt have permission from her mom but she turns 18 the beginning of sept. and really wants to be baptized so we are trying to help her prepare for the 14th of september. We want to do Gods will though and will see how it goes.

Love you so so much!!

Hermana Syphus 

Ok, finally I remembered to send this picture!! I have forgotten every week to send it! So these are the before and after pictures of my hair haha. The before one is really gross, sorry. I know that I should never let my hair get to that point but now I know that that will never happen again. I learned that it is hard to find time to keep your hair nice when serving a mission. Well at least for me anyway, for other sisters it is super easy and their hair is always so perfect. I dont know how but oh well, it doesnt matter right now anyway ha. :)

Last pday after I wrote, President called us and told us that he was in Tigre with his wife and their daughter that recently got home from her mission and that they wanted to spend pday with us! So we just walked along the river in Tigre and they took us out to eat at a yummy restaurant. They are the best!! It was super fun to be with them and to get to know their daughter. Also, this day was their anniversary!! :)

 Camila!!! :)

Hermana Christensen and I, she is a sister serving in Matheu and we had exchanges this day. She is so great!  

Hermana Vivas goes home this week :(

 I am sure going to miss her. 

She is my mom here on my mission. 

My first companion in Argentina.

 

We went to her despedida (the meeting on Sunday when all the missionaries that are going home speak and give their testimonies)and Roberto, Marco, and Lautaro came! It was the best seeing them!! I was so happy! The rest of their family couldnt come but hopefully they will be able to make it when I go home. At least I was able to see them though! They are all doing great still and are going to church like good boys! :) 

 The view from our apartment in Tigre. This was the other morning at like 7. Very pretty! 

The hermanas in Tigre 2 had a baptism on Saturday! 

The girl that got baptized is Mora and she is so precious. This is her in the white. 

She has been taught by at least four sets of missionaries I think, 

and finally was ready to be baptized! She is so amazing!

Week 72 (Aug. 18, 2014 Tigre, Argentina)

Dearest Family and Friends,

Oh how I just love you all so much and each day I feel so blessed to have you all in my life. Being a missionary has helped me understand what love really is. It has helped me feel so much more Christ like love for Gods children and for all of you. Love is action! When we have Christ like love, we act and when other people feel Christ like love, THEY ACT. I think that is one of the many reasons that as missionaries, it is so important to have charity because the people that we are teaching will feel this love and will want to act. I have been praying for charity because I think it is something that I am lacking at times! Someday I will have the charity that my mother has! :) I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ helps us to develop this Christ like love and that because we have the knowledge that we have, we are expected to help Gods children! :) Thank you for being great examples to those around you and for being great example to ME!! i love you all so much! :)

We had a lot of adventures this week! My poor companion fell on her back a few weeks ago and her tail bone had been hurting really bad. She is taking a pill to help the pain but the doctor said that no matter what, she will still feel pain for like 6 weeks because it just has to heal. She has received blessings but is still struggling. She is so strong!! We work hard still everyday but once in a while she has to stop somewhere and sit down. I love her for being so diligent and she knows that if she cant go one, she needs to tell me because we talked with the pres. and he told her to not push anything to hard and to be wise. So she is :) We had interviews with the pres and his wife this week and Hermana Ayre always asks about our health and our family. Hermana Henriquez told her about what was going on and she said that she NEEDED to go to the hospital and get an xray because at times, my comp feels a pain going down her leg and hna. ayre told her that that was not safe. So pres and his wife told us that we needed to go to the hospital. Haha well the hospital is two hours from our area and we had to take a bus...3 buses actually haha. And we had no idea really how to get there, just the general directions. Haha it was a fun adventure! So we get to the hospital and have to wait forever to get the xray. And to make a long story short, in the end, my comp was told that nothing was broken and could only take a pill to help it even though her pain is bad! MORE THING! :( We couldnt believe that we had traveled four hours just to hear that she had a small fissure and could only take a pill to help it. We ended up being at the hospital until 2:30 and we left that morning at 7:00. We were pretty tired when we got back to our area and had to do splits with two hermanas in the ward in order to accomplish our goals for the day! So I went with an hermana and my comp with another and we were able to have a good day in the end! :) I am so thankful for a companion who works hard even when it is difficult. She is so great and love her so much. I know that I could not do Gods work without my companion. I would feel so lost doing it alone and I know that God gives us companions for a reason. I have so many weaknesses and my comp  has all the things that I dont have and so it works! God knows who to put together in order to help His work move forward! Sometimes it is hard with a certain companion, but if we work hard, it will always work! :)

I really like to laugh and have been trying to write down the things that make me laugh each day. One of the recent converts, Nahuel, is ever so funny. He is 17 and likes to play video games. They are all mostly war video games. He always texts us and asks me what random things mean in english. Haha the other day we get this message from him that says "Hermana Sif  (he calls me that because he cant pronounce my name haha, just like everyone else), que significa (what is the meaning of) "the terrorist carrying the C4 must destroy one of the chemical weap

on stashes." Hahahaha!! I read the message out loud and started laughing so hard! It was just the most random thing and made me laugh a lot. I thought about if Kam and Kendyl were with me, they would be laughing too, because it was just so random haha. I think it was a phrase from his video game haha. Anyway, maybe it is "you have to be there moment" but I hope you liked it as much as I did haha :)

Like I said before, this week we had interviews with Pres. and it was so wonderful to be able to talk with him. He is such a wonderful Pres. and I  feel so blessed to be in this mission. I dont think I ever want to leave. He talked to our zone about the authority that we as missionaries have and that we will never have this opportunity again and that we need to make more than the best of it. Hearing him helped me once again feel the great spirit that being a missionary brings and helped me think about the sacred calling that we have as missionaries. I love doing this! :) We know that Gods work and glory is to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man. And as missionaries, our purpose is to help come unto Christ by accepting and living the Gospel and that through faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end, they can accomlish this. It is so neat to me that as we as missionaries fulfill OUR purpose, GOD is fulfilling HIS purpose. I love to think about that :) We can all be missionaries and help God fulfill His purpose and be a part of this great work! Also, we had a time to talk with the assistants as a companionship. And I had to do something that I havent done in a very long time...pray in english. Elder Pirez said to me, Hermana, I am going to ask you to do something that will be hard for you, are you willing to do it? I told him yes i think so, and he asked me to say the opening prayer in enlish haha. And to be honest, it was SO HARD!! I couldnt do it! It was the weirdest thing I sounded so different. Those of you that have served speaking a different language I am sure understand :) It was a neat experience and I know that God heard me, but I think I will stick to spanish prayers :)

This week we contacted some referrals from some members. We are really trying to work better with the members and the recent converts because we know that we are going to find through them! Most of the referrals from the members have not been too interested, but one of them was! Her name is Natalia and she 17 years old. She is the friend of a really strong young woman in our branch. Natalia is pregnant but just broke up with her boyfriend. She noticed that Augustina, her member friend, was always happy and wanted to know why. Agustina explained to her the gospel and of the church and Natalia wanted to learn more. We met with her the other day and she accepted to be baptized but she did not come to church on Sunday because of her health. We will be meeting with her more this week. She is very special and I feel like she will progress! She was super receptive when we met with her and I love it so much! :) Agustina is helping her so much and is the perfect example for her!

We also met the girlfriend of a recent convert that was less active but is coming back and wants to be closer to God because he had noticed that he has not been as happy when he doesnt go to church. His girlfriend is 17 and was taught a bit by the other sisters before but didnt have permission to be baptized. Her mom works all the time and doesnt have a day off so we have struggles to find a time when we can talk with her to receive permission. She wants to be baptized and came to church on Sunday with her boyfriend and really liked it. We passed by Sunday evening to talk with her mom but she was not home. This week we are praying so that we can find her mom at home as soon as possible and receive permission! :)

Thank you all for being the best! I am always so happy to know that you are doing well and enjoying life. I hope that the light of Christ that is in each of you will bring more and more people to Christ! Have a wonderful, happy week! Love you all so much!! :)

Hermana Syphus


Nahuel and Alejandro helping us with our teaching appointments. They are the best!

Week 71 (Aug. 11, 2014 Tigre, Argentina)

Hahahaha!!! Mom you are ever so funny :) That is really funny about the word superdeduper I cant believe that!. I am still giggling to myself about that. Thanks so much for your email!

There is not much to tell about this week but it was a good one! Just like every week in my mission! We have an investigator named Eduardo and he is progressing pretty well but couldn't come to church on Sunday because he had already promised his uncle that he was going to look for a house with him and had to travel far to do it. But he is working on quitting smoking and drinking and is reading and understanding the Book of Mormon. We are excited to continue with him :)

We also had a family home evening with some of the recent converts and talked about the pioneers! I sent a picture of us in Nahuels home! Camila did not want to be in the picture though :( She is the one in the other picture with just me and her. She is the best!

This transfer we have really been trying to focus on finding Gods elect. It has been a bit hard but we know that if we start doubting that we will not work as effectively. In order to see more miracles, we have been fasting each week and decided to wake up earlier to study and prepare ourselves better for the day and we are trying to think of other things that we can do so that we will be more prepared to receive Gods elect and so that God will have more confidence in us. I know that we can do it with Gods help! In a personal study last week I was reading in Mormon 9 and it talks a lot about receiving answers to our prayers but only if we doubt nothing. I reflected on that and realized that I needed to put that into better practice. I think that because these last few weeks have been hard, my faith dropped a bit and I started to doubt, and I realized that God cannot work with me if I am doubting His miracles and blessings. I know that we will start seeing more miracles and find Gods elect and that things will get better! :)  I am thankful for the small miracles that we are receiving everyday. I am thankful for a companion who is always positive even when it is hard. Hermana Henriquez is a great companion is always serving me and helping me!

Well mom, sorry this is so short. Next week will bring more experiences and miracles :) Even if it was a harder week, I know that God keeps his promises and that we just need to keep having faith and working diligently and effectively in order to find the people that are waiting to receive this joyful news!! :) Love you so much and tell everyone I say hello and love them too! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Syphus 

We had a family home evening this week with the amazing recent converts (Nahuel, Alejandro, Camila)! We watched the Legacy with them and talked about the pioneers and it was a great experience! I was able to feel great love for those that sacrificed so much in order to find Zion and feel closer to God. I just love the pioneers. The chicos really like it as well! I made banana bread for the occasion and we made popcorn as well. It was a fun lesson :)

I made some banana bread :) 

The reason we left today was to have a bbq with Alejandro at the church!! He wanted to make an asado for us and so we went to the church and ate lunch there with him. He is so great! He is a recent convert and loves to serve the Lord! :)  I just had some of the chicken haha. The other stuff was a bit weird. 

Me and Hermana Henriquez tracting

Week 70 (Aug. 4, 2014 Tigre, Argentina)

My Dear Family and Friends,

Happy August!! :) I can imagine that in St. George it is super hot and everyone is doing their gardening and playing in the water and here we are in Argentina building snowmen and sipping hot chocolate :) Haha just kidding, there is no snow here! But if there was, I probably still wouldn't have time to build a snowman! But I think there is always time for hot chocolate :) It is cold here but getting warmer and I think the coldest month is over. I am excited for the heat! I am also excited because now our investigators won't have the excuse that "I can't come to church because it is too cold outside" :) So I am happy about that :)

The other day we had a meeting with some other missionaries and Dan Clark spoke to us through skype. He talked about the difference between a commitment and a covenant. He said that a commitment is a two way contract born out of suspicion and that a covenant is a two way contract between God and man born out of love. I really love how he described the two. And it is really true. When we invite our investigators to do something or commit them to something, they might want to keep this commitment for many reasons, but they do it because God has blessings for them if they do so and they want to see if they receive the blessing or the answer they are looking for. These commitments help them to have a relationship with God and they become closer to him and love Him more and become ready to make covenants with Him because they love him. Or at least that is how it should be. And it is the same with us. Each time we make a covenant with God we are showing him that we want to follow HIm and when we keep these covenants, we are showing him that we love him. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to help people prepare to make covenants with God and become closer to Christ. It is the best feeling ever :)

This week was a little rough but in the end we were able to have two investigators ar church (to answer your question, mom :) ) But we don't know if these two that came will end up progressing. Maybe next week I will tell the story. We are short on time today! But I know that God provided us with miracles. We have been fasting and praying lots in order to find God's elect and to have them at church on Sunday. First, because we want to fulfill our purpose as missionaries and help people come unto Christ. And also, because if we don't have investigators at church, we can't do exchanges with the hermanas in our areas and we have to do exchanges every week in order to be with each hermana. So it is sometimes hard but the Lord blessed us and helped us to see miracles! The recent converts here are doing great and the branch is growing slowly. I know God has prepared people here and we just need to work harder to find them! :)

Thank you all for everything and for being the best friends and family ever! I feel so blessed! Sorry for the short email :( I hope next week will be better! Love you all so much!!

Hermana Syphus 

Oh man I forgot about my haircut! I totally told you last week that I was going to post a pic of my hair! I am so sorry! I am just so brain dead sometimes and have problems! I am pretty sure that I tell you almost every week that I am going to do "something" the next week and I never do it. So sorry mom :( i don't have my camera now but next week I will send it! Also, I finished my email but didn't have lots of time so it is kinda lame. Sorry :( We are getting off now though so I will talk to you next week. Thank you for EVERYTHING!! Love you tons mom!! Hugs and Kisses and many of them!

Week 69 (July 28, 2014 Tigre, Argentina)

Hola Hola mis queridos!! :)

Greetings from Tigre :) This week we were able to learn patience and humility I believe. We were finding really well throughout the week but when Sunday came, we didn´t have any investigators at church. We were teaching a young man named Franco. We talked to him on a Wednesday I think it was and he told that he wanted to change because he had been smoking for a year and each day smoked almost two packs. He told us that he wanted to stop and change his life and we promised him that through Christ, he could. The next time we saw him was on Friday. He told us that since Wednesday, he had only smoked 2 cigarettes. We were so amazed and really felt like he was going to progress. He committed to come to church and was really excited as well. But on Sunday we called many times and passed by his house and he wasn´t home. Later that day he told us that he didn´t want us come back to his house. We are not really sure why he chose that and it was quite hard but we are going to keep moving forward :) He wasn´t an elect and God wanted us to know that. We dropped him and pretty much all of the investigators that we had because we were expecting 6 to come and none of them did. We found a few of them super drunk Sunday morning, which is really common here and especially in this area. The others didn´t want to leave because it was super duper cold Sunday morning. But Sunday afternoon, after we had dropped everyone and weren´t quite sure what to do (but praying in our hearts), we stopped to talk to a woman in her yard. Her name is Anna and she is a single mom with 4 kids. She doesn´t believe in God "for the moment" because she wonders how there could be a God if bad things happen to good people (something that the Book of Mormon answers wonderfully). We talked to her about what we know to be true and shared with her part of the plan of salvation and later invited her to be baptized. She said yes right away. We asked her why and she told us that she wanted to feel something different and learn if there really was a God who loved her. She has committed to come to church this Sunday with her children :) And tonight we have another lesson with her. I am so grateful for the mercy that the Lord has for us. It is hard when there is not much to work with, but the Lord always provides. I know that He gave us this special experience with Anna and I am so excited to help her know and feel that God is there and that he has a plan for her and her family. She was so special and we felt a sweet spirit with her. I just love testifying to people that God loves them and wants them to be happy. And that he has given us the means to accomplish it. Lots of times, when we testify of those things, we can see a hope in their eyes and it is so sweet. I love it so much and hope that Anna and her family will be able to experience this hope and continue to grow in Christ. We are going to work hard this week in order to find more of God´s elect. I hope that it will pay off and that come Sunday, the chapel will be full of investigators and people that want to change! :)

Also, I think I mentioned Ramon last week. He decided that he didn´t want to be baptized because it is too big of a commitment that he doesn´t know if he can keep his whole life :( It was sure hard to hear that. Especially when we know that he felt the spirit at church and knows that this is right. I just love these people so much and want them to be my eternal friends and it is hard when they don´t want to accept Christ. But I know that things always get better and that each day brings new miracles and that God´s love is always there. I am just amazed at the things that he gives us. The other day I was thinking about the commandments. We know that we have commandments to guide us and protect us. And that God will not change whether we keep the commandments or not. He will always be perfect. But he knows that in order to live with Him again, we need to keep the commandments and be worthy, and so he wants us to keep them for our good. But because he is so loving and so merciful and wants us to recognize that, he not only gives us protection and guidance (the commandments), but he also gives us added blessings when we keep them. Commandments alone are the blessings that we have, but because we are humans and want good things to happen, He also gives us blessings when we keep the commandments. Haha I hope that made sense. Sometimes I can´t put what my mind is thinking into words as you can tell ha. But the point is, GOD LOVES US and loves to see us happy and smiling. And I love Him so much and know that He lives. I am happy to be His servant and will do what he asks me to do because I know what he asks is nothing compared to what he and His Son have done for me and for us. 

Thank you all so much for being lights in this world. You are all great lights in my life and I love you all so much. I know that the Gospel is what brings us together and helps us stay together forever. Have a wonderful week! Love you!!

Hermana Syphus 

I forgot to tell you, I CUT MY HAIR!!! :) and i did it MYSELF!! Haha i am not sure how it looks and maybe i made a mistake doing it alone but if it is a mess, I will get it done better at home haha. I have a pic but dont have time this week to send it so next week I will send it.

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!!