Miracles Through Hard Work and Obedience

Here are a few snippets from Stacey's last letter:

Transfer meeting was really cool. All the missionaries go to the mission office where there is a chapel and we watch a movie with music and pix of the successes of the mission - there were 3 pictures from our baptism! I cried. Then we watch a power point with all the new leadership and companionships by area and everyone finds out at that exact moment where theýre going to serve and with whom for the transfer that begins the next day! It is a rush. Luckily me and Sis Torres are staying together in Castelar! FEW! I was not ready to be leaving the area... I still cańt figure out how the colectivos work.

Chapels in Argentina all have 2 or 3 ping pong tables. I dońt know why, but I thought it was interesting. Hna Torres says it is the same in Chile too. Why dońt we have ping pong tables in the chapels in the states?

The biggest lamest most frustrating thing about this country, well there are 2... one is that it takes like an eternity to get a divorce finalized. We have 3 couples that could be baptized and want to be, but cańt be because one or both of them are married to other people.. not the people they are living with... and they are waiting for their divorces so they can marry each other and get baptized. One couple has been waiting 10 years. Wére going to fast with them next week for their divorce to come through.
The other thing is that this country lives and dies by having change (coin money), because it is the only way to take the colectivos and often times the only way to ride the train because sometimes for no apparent reason there just wońt be attendants manning the stations so you have to buy your tickets for the train with the machines which ONLY take change. If you dońt have change and there isńt someone manning the station... you dońt ride the train... so no big deal right, go to the bank and get a bunch of change. NOT SO. The bank will only give you 5 pesos in change each time you go to the bank. Which lasts about 3 days. Yesterday we walked 3 miles to an appointment because we didńt have change to take the colectivo and if we bought something, we would have to waste like 2 or 3 pesos just to get change. They should just make a bajillion more coins and flush them into the system so that everyone doesńt have to hoard them the way we do.
We have 2 focuses as a mission. One is "low-hanging fruit" which means, work with people who are already married to each other and actually could get baptized, or friends of recent converts, or part-member families where a lot of the work is already done. It is a great focus and I hope that we can really tap into it in our area.

I loved the quotes you sent. The one that I have been reciting in my mind all week long is "yoúre gonna miss this" it is so true! I even thought it to myself the other day when my companion sat down on a curb in the street and started crying... she had just gotten in a fight with a t. j. (testigo de jehovah... jehovah's witness) and it got pretty intense. I didńt fight because I am not smart enough to bible bash, nor do I see a point in it, so I just stood there while they debated in the street for like 10 minutes. It was uncomfortable and the spirit was not there. After we walked away and she sat down to cry, I let her cry, comforted her and then I said a prayer to re-invite the spirit and we went back to work.

The other is that we will see miracles through hard work and obedience. It is great to know that when we have faith and are obedient and set good examples and work on the things 'we do have control over', that everything will work out-- and that is all we need to worry about.

This transfer my comp and I have a baptismal goal of 3, last time it was 2. The mission has a goal of 162... this past transfer we got 103. They showed us the numbers since March and they have been in the 120 130 range... and our goal is 162... Ím nervous, but we can do it.

I would like to end this email explaining something that I have come to see to be incredibly true. Every day counts. Endure to the end. Imagine if Christ had "almost" endured to the end. What if He had endured all but the last 2 hours of the atonement... we would all be lost. He did not give up and neither can we. We must serve Him ALL our days, not just until we get old and it is too much of a hassle to make it to church. Every day...Christ gave every moment...He suffered every pain, not just most of them. I know that this is important, it is salvation and no excuse is going to be good enough for why we didn't push on and endure to the end.

I love you all so very much.

Hermana Jensen