Mission Christmas Party - 2008
The quality isn't so great, but here is a closeup of Stacey and Brittany just right of the Bentons
A New Year!
Flía is an abbreviation for familia. “menos mal” means like “thank heavens,” or “luckily.” Nata, thank you for be willing to read my letter to a one year old little boy! I just want him to know how much I love him. It´s funny of all the family I have days where I miss each of you the most… even little Davy! Does that make sense? There are days I miss Mommy most, Daddy most...etc. You all take turns being missed most by me.
I know it´s not for another week, but I´m afraid I´ll space it in my next email so here is a special shout out, sing out to mi sobriñito: “que los cumpla feliz, que los cumpla feliz, feliz cumpleaños a Davy… que los cumpla feliz”
Nata… remember back when we were little and you used to push all the fatty meat and skin off of your plate and onto the dinner table? Imagine being in the home of a member or investigator and they serve you asado and you have to pick at it in front of everybody trying to do a good job at eating lots of it, but there´s fat all over it. It´s like “oh no, they´re all watching me and I´m leaving lots of meat there because I don´t want to eat the fat.” Daddy wouldn't mind it too much and just eat...but I cajn´t!
One of the constant battles one faces as a missionary is the attempt to “give hope to the hopeless.” Ponder that and then tell me if you think it can be done. Unfortunately I am coming to the conclusion that only on very rare occasions can it be accomplished. I wish I could....but because of agency I cannot quit smoking for Paula and Romina nor can I go to the city registrars office to take out a wedding date for Vanessa, Pamela, or Lorena. I cannot wake up and go to church for Yudith and Sergio or Ricardo and Jorgelina. I can pray for them...but not as them. I cannot read for them, they have to do it. We cannot walk the path for them that we show. There are so many people that are so close, and yet so far from being able to get baptized. It´s the little things. Alma 37 – or is it 36… I don´t have my LDM with me.
So I suppose we are all insanely vane and worldly in the states… did you know that most people here get like one Christmas gift here? Like a toy… and not even a very awesome expensive one. Christmas here is more like a party to light fireworks and eat asado (serious BBQ). So just in case you were wondering... the question “what did you get for Christmas” is not a part of their vocabulary… they would probably have an answer and say the one thing they got, but it wouldn´t be the question they would expect you to ask them.
A story from back when I was in Castelar… that Daddy will get a kick out of and will make Mommy mad at me. One night with Hermana Johns we were heading to the bus stop to take the colectivo back home and I knew that if we stayed at this stop it´s 30 cents more (in US a DIME!) but if we walk 2 or 3 blocks it´s 30 cents cheaper. Before you get on a soap box to judge me allow me to remind you that it is INSANELY difficult to obtain change in this country and we can only go to the bank once a week. If you run out of change on Wednesday you walk until the following Tuesday. Or you spend a lot of unnecessary money to buy lots of alfajores to get 25 cents change every time you pass a kiosc… don´t even think about asking for change… they´ll laugh in your face and slam the window. Anyway… I looked over my shoulder and couldn´t see the colectivo coming for at least 5 blocks, so I thought we´d speed walk to the next stop to save our change. Well my gamble didn´t pay off, in between this stop and the next one came the colectivo. We started to run to the following stop, but didn´t make it. My mistake and pride made us miss the colectivo and have to wait for the next one about 10-15 minutes. And all that to save a dime a piece. Can you believe that? Well, did you laugh? I did… after a few minutes of saying “what are the odds!”
Mommy- of course it was the directions to the church I was getting the map from! Do you think I would ever agree to meet a stranger in Argentina? I wujn´t so don´t worry one little bit. Hna. Benton told me you wrote to tell her the e-mail address I had given you to request the maps from was incorrect. She got me special permission to search a website and look for colectivo maps. These malditio colectivos (that´s like saying those darn colectivos) are just about making me crazy. The drivers aren't very helpful and tell you they don´t go where you are sure they go and they come like every 30 minutes and we waste lots of time and… I never thought I´d say it but I miss the colectivos in Castelar! Oh, they were a dream. But the apartment here makes up for it!
I don´t know why it took me 22 years to learn that I LOVE tomatoes! Did you know that here they call a “salad” a bowl of quartered tomatoes with oil and salt… and it´s delicious! I was going to wait and surprise you by making you this salad when I get back, but I figured I wouldn´t be selfish and that I could just tell you about it now. So picture this… your youngest daughter is spooning a heaping pile of tomatoes on her plate and eating them all and going back for more… I confess I add more salt… even though the kidney stone paper says not to, but it´s my rebellion… it´s so yummy!
And now for the story of the week. We took out a baptismal date (that just doesn´t translate well at all) with a 9 year old girl –Sofia- who is special… she is the daughter of a member that was less active… the sister missionaries reactivated the mom and tried to baptize the daughter who was then 8 but she had a panic attack in the water and didn´t submerge. She was hysterical and would not be baptized again. They tried a few weeks later, and she wouldn´t do it. She has a phobia that is quite real about drowning. We promised her that if she asked Heavenly Father in each and every prayer until the 18th of January to take away her fear of water that she would be able to be baptized. Last Sunday there was a baptism of an 8 year old boy and she stayed to watch. As he entered the font she became very upset and saying, I don´t want to get baptized.” BUT 15 minutes later was saying that she wanted to be baptized and was telling us what songs she wanted on the program at her baptismal service. Right after this we went to eat lunch at her house and she came right up to us and said “the 18th, I´m getting baptized” and we hadn´t even said a word about it because we figured it wasn´t gonna happen. So we sat her down and with her mom and grandma and cousin talked about the options… doing a practice baptism before hand and getting a blessing first. I do not know if she will be baptized, but she is basically our only hope of a convert this transfer… even though our goal was 2… we´ll be lucky to get 1. We are in the process of receiving special permission from Pres. Benton to do a special baptism where she doesn´t have to put her head under the water… this can be arranged for special exceptions like the elderly and others like Sofia that literally cannot bring themselves to lie back into the water. We hope to attain said permission. But it´s really up in the air.
I´ll give better detailed reports on those who progress this week in next weeks email. Please include Sofia in your prayers. Remember the story of the little boy who brings lunch to his daddy working in the well and the daddy tells him to jump into the darkness and that he will catch him and the little boy has faith to do it… Sofia is working on getting that faith. She is special. Please pray for her to feel comfort and faith and know that everything will be okay.
I love you all so much. I was sad to hear about the cougs lost, but will surely overcome. Enjoy the snow and well done on bearing your testimonies like I challenged you both too!
It does my heart good to hear it!
With all my love,
Wace
Hermana Jensen!
I know it´s not for another week, but I´m afraid I´ll space it in my next email so here is a special shout out, sing out to mi sobriñito: “que los cumpla feliz, que los cumpla feliz, feliz cumpleaños a Davy… que los cumpla feliz”
Nata… remember back when we were little and you used to push all the fatty meat and skin off of your plate and onto the dinner table? Imagine being in the home of a member or investigator and they serve you asado and you have to pick at it in front of everybody trying to do a good job at eating lots of it, but there´s fat all over it. It´s like “oh no, they´re all watching me and I´m leaving lots of meat there because I don´t want to eat the fat.” Daddy wouldn't mind it too much and just eat...but I cajn´t!
One of the constant battles one faces as a missionary is the attempt to “give hope to the hopeless.” Ponder that and then tell me if you think it can be done. Unfortunately I am coming to the conclusion that only on very rare occasions can it be accomplished. I wish I could....but because of agency I cannot quit smoking for Paula and Romina nor can I go to the city registrars office to take out a wedding date for Vanessa, Pamela, or Lorena. I cannot wake up and go to church for Yudith and Sergio or Ricardo and Jorgelina. I can pray for them...but not as them. I cannot read for them, they have to do it. We cannot walk the path for them that we show. There are so many people that are so close, and yet so far from being able to get baptized. It´s the little things. Alma 37 – or is it 36… I don´t have my LDM with me.
So I suppose we are all insanely vane and worldly in the states… did you know that most people here get like one Christmas gift here? Like a toy… and not even a very awesome expensive one. Christmas here is more like a party to light fireworks and eat asado (serious BBQ). So just in case you were wondering... the question “what did you get for Christmas” is not a part of their vocabulary… they would probably have an answer and say the one thing they got, but it wouldn´t be the question they would expect you to ask them.
A story from back when I was in Castelar… that Daddy will get a kick out of and will make Mommy mad at me. One night with Hermana Johns we were heading to the bus stop to take the colectivo back home and I knew that if we stayed at this stop it´s 30 cents more (in US a DIME!) but if we walk 2 or 3 blocks it´s 30 cents cheaper. Before you get on a soap box to judge me allow me to remind you that it is INSANELY difficult to obtain change in this country and we can only go to the bank once a week. If you run out of change on Wednesday you walk until the following Tuesday. Or you spend a lot of unnecessary money to buy lots of alfajores to get 25 cents change every time you pass a kiosc… don´t even think about asking for change… they´ll laugh in your face and slam the window. Anyway… I looked over my shoulder and couldn´t see the colectivo coming for at least 5 blocks, so I thought we´d speed walk to the next stop to save our change. Well my gamble didn´t pay off, in between this stop and the next one came the colectivo. We started to run to the following stop, but didn´t make it. My mistake and pride made us miss the colectivo and have to wait for the next one about 10-15 minutes. And all that to save a dime a piece. Can you believe that? Well, did you laugh? I did… after a few minutes of saying “what are the odds!”
Mommy- of course it was the directions to the church I was getting the map from! Do you think I would ever agree to meet a stranger in Argentina? I wujn´t so don´t worry one little bit. Hna. Benton told me you wrote to tell her the e-mail address I had given you to request the maps from was incorrect. She got me special permission to search a website and look for colectivo maps. These malditio colectivos (that´s like saying those darn colectivos) are just about making me crazy. The drivers aren't very helpful and tell you they don´t go where you are sure they go and they come like every 30 minutes and we waste lots of time and… I never thought I´d say it but I miss the colectivos in Castelar! Oh, they were a dream. But the apartment here makes up for it!
I don´t know why it took me 22 years to learn that I LOVE tomatoes! Did you know that here they call a “salad” a bowl of quartered tomatoes with oil and salt… and it´s delicious! I was going to wait and surprise you by making you this salad when I get back, but I figured I wouldn´t be selfish and that I could just tell you about it now. So picture this… your youngest daughter is spooning a heaping pile of tomatoes on her plate and eating them all and going back for more… I confess I add more salt… even though the kidney stone paper says not to, but it´s my rebellion… it´s so yummy!
And now for the story of the week. We took out a baptismal date (that just doesn´t translate well at all) with a 9 year old girl –Sofia- who is special… she is the daughter of a member that was less active… the sister missionaries reactivated the mom and tried to baptize the daughter who was then 8 but she had a panic attack in the water and didn´t submerge. She was hysterical and would not be baptized again. They tried a few weeks later, and she wouldn´t do it. She has a phobia that is quite real about drowning. We promised her that if she asked Heavenly Father in each and every prayer until the 18th of January to take away her fear of water that she would be able to be baptized. Last Sunday there was a baptism of an 8 year old boy and she stayed to watch. As he entered the font she became very upset and saying, I don´t want to get baptized.” BUT 15 minutes later was saying that she wanted to be baptized and was telling us what songs she wanted on the program at her baptismal service. Right after this we went to eat lunch at her house and she came right up to us and said “the 18th, I´m getting baptized” and we hadn´t even said a word about it because we figured it wasn´t gonna happen. So we sat her down and with her mom and grandma and cousin talked about the options… doing a practice baptism before hand and getting a blessing first. I do not know if she will be baptized, but she is basically our only hope of a convert this transfer… even though our goal was 2… we´ll be lucky to get 1. We are in the process of receiving special permission from Pres. Benton to do a special baptism where she doesn´t have to put her head under the water… this can be arranged for special exceptions like the elderly and others like Sofia that literally cannot bring themselves to lie back into the water. We hope to attain said permission. But it´s really up in the air.
I´ll give better detailed reports on those who progress this week in next weeks email. Please include Sofia in your prayers. Remember the story of the little boy who brings lunch to his daddy working in the well and the daddy tells him to jump into the darkness and that he will catch him and the little boy has faith to do it… Sofia is working on getting that faith. She is special. Please pray for her to feel comfort and faith and know that everything will be okay.
I love you all so much. I was sad to hear about the cougs lost, but will surely overcome. Enjoy the snow and well done on bearing your testimonies like I challenged you both too!
It does my heart good to hear it!
With all my love,
Wace
Hermana Jensen!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2 comments:
ajohns37 said...
Yea! I just noticed. (I'm not the brightest!) that I can make comments again. You just have to approve them. For anyone who reads this, I am Barbara Johns, the mom of Hermana Brittany Johns, Stacey's former companion. This blog spot, along with Hermana Jensen, and mom Karen, have been some of the greatest blessings to come to our family these last few months. Alan, my husband and Brittany's dad, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer last month. He had his thyroid removed and this Friday will have the last step and get radioactive iodine to make sure all cancer is gone. Our oldest daughter had this 5 years ago. It's a cancer with a high cure rate, but the steps going through it are very hard. Stacey was just the companion Brittany needed at the time and I consider Karen one of my best friends even though we've never met because of their tremendous love and support. We have turned on this blog spot at times to listen to the inspirational music, videos, read the thoughts, Argentina info,scriptures, articles and see the pictures. With love and gratitude, The Johns family
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Natalie Pyles said...
This blog is so cute! I wish my house were decorated just like this!
Nata
January 8, 2009 10:38 AM
This blog is so cute! I wish my house were decorated just like this!
ReplyDeleteNata