Daddy, nice try, but you know I am going to buy a bunch of stuff that says “Argentina” on it. Especially key chains... it´s how you prove you´re an RM. Don´t try to take that away from me. Hehe.Nata – I´m so excited to hear little Davy say “i-kay!” That made me literally go “ahhhh” out loud as I read it. Can he say my name? I hope he likes me.
Mom – I LOVE the brunch food idea. It should be easy to prep the day before and as stress free as one can hope. I love the idea and will help you do all the work, so don´t worry!
My Granuloma Ammulary came back. I don´t know why or really when, but the other day it dawned on me that it´s totally just as present as it ever was. Go figure.
It´s hot here in Las Heras... which must answer your question that no, I was not flashed. It was another Elder...mysteries. I wear sun screen in my makeup and occasionally on my arms just so that the members don´t yell at me saying that I´m going to die of cancer. I´m hoping to get a nice tan! My nails are a big fat disaster, I might even ask Tiffany to give me a fake manicure to hide my shame. The hangnails prevail and I just can´t get my body to sustain healthy nails.
I literally am a little nervous about coming home. I don´t know what to do or expect or even what to say to ya’ll. We´ll see how it all goes down. For example, what happens that first day when I get in? I know at some point I need to be released, but other than that all I can picture is wanting to take a bath and a nap. Imagine the jet lag I´m going to have... and I´m going to be super cold with the climate shock. Do you know what is going to happen that first day?
Guess what I did this week that probably wasn´t all that smart? Well, I wanted to take my picture under the train station sign of this certain part of our area that we almost never go to. The train stops there for 20 seconds so I got Hermana Pruner to jump off with me, take the picture and then get back on before the train pulled away. Just for kicks I decided to hop off before the train had come to a complete stop. Don´t worry, I didn´t get hurt. I tried to follow the Elders advice of jumping into the direction of motion, but it is harder than you think. My landing was less than graceful, but all on my feet. I´d like to give it another try some day and see if I can get really good at it, but I don´t want to twist my ankle, so at least that will not be an experiment I repeat in the field. Rest assured.
_______ is understanding more and more. She can almost pray by herself and remembers the rules about Sundays. We are quite content with her progress. Keep her in your prayers.
The other night there was this lightening storm like you can´t even believe. Remember the scene from the Testaments when Christ has died and the sky just goes crazy with lightening? That was nothing compared to this. I took a video of it to prove to you later... it was lightening every 2 seconds with no thunder. It was fun and we made it back to the pench completely dry before the rain started. What a blessing!
The family we were working with isn't progressing at all. They recognize that their church isn´t true, but let their kids go anyway. They love our doctrine about forever families, but don't want to be baptized and don´t keep any of their commitments, so it´s basically time to say Chausazo “big GOODBYE” it makes me sad--a complete family that just doesn´t progress. But the kids are golden. They want to come to church and said they felt an answer to their prayers, but without the support of their parents it would be tough for them to stay active...it makes me sad.
The other day we stopped to talk with a bunch of 12 year old boys who were fishing something out of the ditches and one of them showed us this giant eel like creature he had in his hands. It was like a snake, but with the mouth of an eel and the skin of ... how could I describe it? I touched it as I made the boys promise not to try anything smart (like throwing it at me). They were all really cool about it. I think they were just tickled pink to have 2 American girls all talking to them and telling them how brave they were. It will probably be one of their fondest memories and one day lead to their baptism!
We were supposed to paint the fire station in Villars on Saturday, but we got there in remis – which cost $25 pesos and it had been cancelled. We were so not amused. But we made the best of the day and hey, it was an adventure.
Did you know that there is a huge lack of cemetery space here? They don´t sell plots they just rent them and you have to re-rent them or move the deceased person somewhere else. Last I heard Las Heras only has room for 5 more dead people and then there is just no plan B. I don´t understand such confusion. And the worst part is that the living have to keep paying the rent for the dead. So the more generations down the road, the more you have to pay for all your dead.
The other day we were talking to this guy and he said “you guys do things differently in the states, like you celebrate Christmas in winter.” And before I could stop myself, I said “yeah, but that just has to do with how the planet rotates,” it´s not like we just do the opposite of you guys for kicks. I had to bite my tongue not to laugh after I said it. I´m not even kidding.
So yeah, yesterday we had Sisters Conference in the mission home and Sister Pruner and I were assigned to teach a workshop.
We did this activity as part of it where everyone had a little heart handout and everybody was supposed to write an attribute about that missionary and pass it around in a circle until everyone had written on everybody´s. Sounds simple, right? What could possible go wrong... we were in a circle and we´re all at least 21 years old. Oh how wrong we were. Somehow, which I will never know how... the hearts got messed up and there were hearts that nobody had gotten and other hearts that people had gotten twice and it took 3 times longer than we budgeted for and in the end it was like a joke. I was sure that there would be a candid camera somewhere, but there wasn´t. So hence, don´t be so sure that 21 year olds can pass a piece of paper in a circle without getting seriously confused. What a joke. But President liked the activity, even though it seemed to blow up in our faces.
Oh, and we were heading to the mission home to stay the night before the Monday Sister’s Conference and we were in a remis. The driver got off the freeway one exit too soon and when it dawned on him a good 50 meters down the ramp – yes declining ramp – he just stopped, put it in reverse and went UP the hill in the DARK with the other cars coming DOWN the hill and swerving around us and honking. I literally looked behind me, saw what we were doing, and turned back around, closed my eyes and said “if I die, it´s OK.” We weren´t hit, which was literally a miracle and we got back on the freeway and kept on our way. ONLY IN ARGENTINA.
During said conference Heavenly Father blessed me with great closure with respect to the end of the mission. It hit me little by little all day, that it was literally going to end and I was totally OK with it. I wrote in my journal that night how I felt like I felt when I was graduating from BHS and then BYU. You are dead sure you´re going to miss it like crazy and you loved the experience, but you´re ready for something else.... something more. I feel quite at peace. Believe it or not.
We tried to buy ice cream on Saturday night to eat on the long train ride on Sunday night heading to the mission home, but we don´t have a freezer and it melted in the fridge... so we ate milkshakes in the train. It was still fun, but not quite the image that Sister Godfrey and I had in mind. But we will never forget it!
We had interviews this week too and President has me just about convinced that I need to get a Masters. In what, I have yet to decide, but the more he talks to me about it, the more I start to see his point. He said, “Well, I´m going to just start crying now” as I entered – referring to the fact that I´m leaving the mission in 3 weeks. He told me that I need to do something every day to find my future companion. He says I´m so young that I really should keep studying. In my interview he told me that I have had an incredible mission and that I should be very pleased and that the Lord is pleased with my mission. He told me that I need to pray and get a confirmation of that. It´s hard. I keep asking, but I don´t really feel the “ah-ha” moment of being like “oh, yeah, Heavenly Father is like totally pleased with my mission.” We´ll see if it comes with time.
I have under 3 weeks left and the energy comes and goes. I fight with the guilt at not doing more contacts because I´m just simply tired. But President didn´t even touch on numbers in our interview, he told me to just enjoy this and be happy.
Osvaldo received the Priesthood on Sunday. He is now a priest. If we can just get _______to get baptized we are going to have Osvaldo baptize him! Speaking of him, he has almost 3 weeks without smoking, but so far hasn't accepted a baptismal date. It is like a roller coaster. One day he wants to get baptized, one day maybe, one day no. It´s really frustrating, but in our last lesson we had a good talk and helped him see a few new things. Tonight we are going to watch the Restoration DVD at the church with the Branch President present and hopefully that´ll be the trick to him gaining a testimony of Joseph Smith and the key to his accepting a date.
President Benton assigned Hermana Pruner to say the opening prayer in the special conference with Elder Bednar! Imagine that. I would be so nervous, but she´ll do great.
We have been practicing our song – it will be Hna. Pruner, Hna. Godfrey, and myself singing “All my Days” in Castellano with a gorgeous 3 part harmony. I can´t wait to see how it all turns out, don´t worry I´ll video it for ya!
I love the mission so much. I love that as I see all of the pictures it will be more of a surprise for me than for you because I just take them, burn them on CDs and send them home. It´s going to be the first time that I actually see my own mission pictures! I´m pumped.
OK, that´s just weird that I´m going to be an “RM” in like a matter of weeks. How weird is that.
I am super excited to see you all again. Tell all the grandparents that I have a ton of stories for them, so to just hang tight a little bit longer.
Daddy – I hope that BYU has a good basketball season, after all-- I care a lot more about basketball than I do about football.
Nata – you make sure that Davy can say my name before I see him, i-kay?
Mommy – sorry to not have informed you better about the Sisters Conference and as a result the email delay. I don´t mean to put your nerves under that kind of worry of thinking I had been flashed…. “No one knows what I suffer with my nerves. And yet I never complain!” (one of my favorite Pride and Prejudice Quotes)
I know with all of my heart that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He lives. I know that the Book of Mormon is totally true. I know this is His work. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. I know that we really will see Christ again, He will come back. We need to be ready. I know that the small things are what counts and consistency is the key. Every single day we have to read and pray and every Sunday we need to renew our covenants. I love the gospel and know it is true!
Gotta go, there are many souls to save this day!
You´re all in my prayers!
