If The Lord Loves You And You Know It Clap Your Hands!

CLAP CLAP!

So much to tell, where do I start? How about with random stories like I usually do:

A few weeks back we stopped and talked to this young guy on his patio and street contacted him. He then told us that he was actually a member that hadn´t gone to church in years. Those are always awkward, but the even more awkward part of the situation came as his girlfriend sitting on a lawn chair about 10 feet away starting throwing rocks at us. None of them hit us, but it was really funny because we were literally being attacked and stoned! I got a kick out of it. Then this past week we stopped an older woman to contact her and she told us that the dogs are better than humans because they have life and I said, “so do I” and she said yeah and something that really floored us because we couldn´t understand it. Then she started speaking in tongues! Or at least not the Spanish tongue. She was blessing us and then in the end you could tell she had said something like, “away with you now.” We wondered if she was being serious but you never can tell.

On Sunday Romina, Yamila, and Nicolas were baptized, but unfortunately on Sunday only Yamila and Nicolas were confirmed… and we barely managed that. The details are exhausting and all have to do with people keeping commitments. The crazy part is that Romina finally came around to being baptized because one night she was waiting for her mom to come out of a store and she was really cold and she started to pray that her mom would come out quickly and then about 5 minutes later the mom came out and she told her she felt the spirit so strongly that she had decided to be baptized. I´ll take it… whatever works. She has nothing against being confirmed, it´s just that she said she could do it next Sunday and it´s all the same… she will be confirmed this Sunday, but the bishop would have rather it been that day.

We got electricity on Friday and we were very, very happy to be so blessed. The mission

didn´t think that it would go down that way, but the light company wasn't truthful and said we would have electricity in 48 hours--we didn't.

My trunky papers only ask me for the stake president, the name of the stake, and the name of the airport where I want to arrive. Are we in the Copperview stake? Since I never really lived there I don´t even know my own ward or stake…

Did you guys get some letter from a Seventy discouraging you from picking me up? Another missionary said that her parents were going to come get her, but then they got this letter saying that it is best to not. Just curious. I´m super looking forward to the airport reunion in my own hometown.

The transfer was quite successful even with all the obstacles that we faced… 126 converts as a mission! I was pleasantly surprised to see San Antonio de Padua appear on the jumbo screen as number 13 in overall efficiency and then I was pretty

content to win the scarf for the zone of Merlo… and with a white wash too! Take that Satan… you cannot stop this work!

The pictures; one is of the map we made for Padua to be able to plan better each night, one is of my companion and I during the move, and one is of the Botta family.... Yamila is next to me and Romina is the older daughter, and one is of the zone Merlo.

Ok, then I guess it´s time to ´fess up and tell you that I have pneumonia, and pleurisy. On Tuesday Hermana Benton told me to start taking Amoxicillin and on Wednesday I was given a blessing and we decided we had to go to a clinic. On Saturday and Sunday we worked less than normal because of me and it made me feel quite guilty. On Monday I was coughing and all the sudden something inside started stabbing me, (or that´s how I described it) and we went with the APs to the hospital. A bunch of x rays and tomagraphs showed that I was recovering from pneumonia and that the infection was minor. They put me on more amoxicillin and other meds and sent me home for 5 days of rest. Hermana Benton had us sleep in the mission home last night after the whole hospital run.Try starting off a transfer with nobody working… it doesn´t go well. I pled with the Lord in my prayer that night that He would help us find someone to work with my companion in Padua for 5 days and I started calling people. My old mini couldn´t, but she recommended a ward missionary from her ward in Catan 3 who could! We made plans to have her meet us in Padua, but it rained and rained all day and the streets in Catan flooded and it took her over 3 hours to get a remis that could get her here. The worst of it is that we were waiting and waiting for her and I finally called to see how long ago she had left and they hadn´t left at all. She finally got a remis and now we are waiting an hour and a half for her to get here, then I go to the mission offices and then the President or somebody will get me to the mission home – which is a good 45 minutes away.

DON'T WORRY about me… it´s just a little pneumonia – nothing that meds and rest can´t fix. I am going to start the Book Of Mormon over again and try to enjoy a little solitude. I am going to try not to worry about Padua, but you can´t even imagine how much it destroys me to not be able to work these 7 days (counting Monday and today). I feel terrible and want nothing more than to be well and able to work in the cold, muddy, rainy streets of Argentina. It is not fun at all to be a missionary that can´t work.

I got my package and LOVED it! Thank you so much. Didn´t you say you were going to send me a picture of Daddy wearing a funny shirt? Whatever happened to that? Thanks for all the fun things you sent me. The Ranch powder is probably my favorite. I met the Pollock family and they were very nice!

Thanks for everything. Don´t worry about me. Don´t even begin to worry about me. Hermana and President Benton are taking good care of me.Talk about putting a little more slack in the chain… after this I´ll have to put some chain in the slack!

I love you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ajohns37 said...
We didn't realize she was so sick. Our computer has also been sick. Our prayers and thoughts are with her. They have a wonderful mission mom and dad (the Benton's) and will be taken care of. Hope all else is well. Love, the Johns Family
JULY 28, 2009 9:58 AM

Out Of Nowhere A Dog Ran Right Into The Back Of My Legs!!!

Querida familia,

Yes, yes. It is important to relax.

Relaxing mentally is something that I crave more than you know. I long for a moment of true solitude. I have been with a companion for so long that I don´t remember what it´s like to just be alone for a second. I think about that a lot… about how much I would just like to sit down for a second all alone in a silent room and think about what I´m doing and what I want to do and all that jazz. I´m trying to find a way to relax mentally a little bit each day. I agree that it is important.

I also long for a little R&R physically. I don´t know what I´ve got, or how long until it runs its course, but I¨m telling you that my cough has mutated several times. At first it was just a dry itchy one, then for a little while it was sharp, then it went deep to the lungs, then it went dry again, and now I spontaneously get coughing attacks from breathing. Hermana Benton says that I´ve just got to let it heal itself. I finished all the day and NyQuil that I brought with me and have since converted to Argentine cough syrup. It is a one tsp. dosage and not that terrible, but I notice no relief whatsoever. FYI- child Proof lids do not exist here. They all think it´s pretty cool and that they should copy us and I would have to agree. It´s one of those things that you just take for granted in the states.

Cough drops… no help either. I am weak and just want to stop time and sleep it off. I could say “we´re stayin´in the pench this morning” but that would not help me mentally because I would just feel overwhelmed and stressed about the numbers and the weekly minutia of catching up for the lost time. So far kidney stones are the only thing strong enough to keep me in the pench. But if I could stop time from passing I would treat myself to a good long nap to get over this cold and not feel guilty about losing proselyting time.

Mom – I´m going to do my best to find a way to try and do “chalk”. Sounds like fun. Thanks for sending it to me.

On Monday I get my trunky papers, so I´ll need to know the name of our stake president. Thanks.

We have been living in the new pench without electricity for 7 days now and it´s cold. That´s not entirely true. Our neighbor is sharing his electricity with us, which means that we can turn lights on, but we can´t run a fridge or a heater. I only learned on day 5 that it can handle a blow dryer. Learning curve. If the light people don´t come today, I´m going to be super bummed. The sleeping bag is my best friend, but it´s still cold at night. The apartment has no heating system and it´s winter. Full on winter.

It gets better. We actually had no water, gas, or electricity for like 2 days. Then we got gas, then we got shared lights and water. I will have to explain that all to you some other day. But having your own water is really important. All things are spiritual… when we finally got shared electricity… it occurred to me how lights (the Light of Christ) really is EVERYTHING. You can´t live without it. You can survive, but it is not a life well-lived.

Random “that only happens in Argentina” store: the other day I was walking with my comp on the sidewalk and this dog OUT OF NOWHERE ran right into the back of my legs I´m saying it charged right into me going full-speed. Imagine the shock that that would send you as you are hit by a dog. I don´t know if it was blind or what, but I sure yelled at it and then I threw a rock at it when it wouldn´t leave us alone. That´s what you have to do here… throw rocks at the dogs that give you a hard time. Sad but true.

Another dog story: there is an Alejo 2 that now follows us around our new apartment. I don´t know if we missionaries have a scent or what, but the dogs know us. It´s lame.

Last dog story. The other day there was this mommy dog and her 3 puppies drinking her milk and she all of the sudden decided that she had to head for the fence to check something out, so she got up and started for the fence. Her unsuspecting puppies were totally confused and were still drinking as she started to run for it. One of the poor puppies was dragged a good foot and a half before he fell to the ground. I was so mad at her that I yelled at her and told her she was a terrible mom. I wanted to go and pick the puppy up and coddle it, but I learned long ago not to touch dogs… ever.

Stuff you learn in Argentina: how to manipulate the way you pay for things to obligate them to give you change back. Instead of paying for something that costs 3 with a 5, you give them 2 2s so that they have to give you a coin 1 peso back. They know it too, so sometimes you have to lie and say that you don´t have it the other way. It´s something that still takes me a while to figure out. In line I carefully think about which way I want to pay, using which number bills to best rig what change they have to give me back. It is something that they just know. Oh, pay with this and then they have to give you this…. I´m very slow at it, but starting to get the hang of it.

Remember on the Alaskan cruise that night show when the woman changed her clothes/dress like 14 times really fast? Well, one of the songs that played during that show is the background for an ad that plays all the time here and so every time I hear it I think about the illusions of the girl that changed dresses super fast. I´m going to match it again when I get home… there has to be a way to figure out their secrets!

Quick story. In the beginning of my mission I bought oranges one day and was tricked into buying juicing oranges – that are no fun to eat. I was so mad that I rebelled and for about 9 months didn´t buy or eat a single orange (though I ate a TON of mandarin oranges). Then the other day we were given oranges in a take home lunch and I was hungry. My eyes were opened as I remembered how sweet and wonderful oranges are. So ever since then we have been eating oranges! I love them so much, even though I hate peeling them because my nails are short and weak. But I love oranges again… and mandarin oranges are dumb.

We are working hard with ______ to help him quit smoking, but he stood us up for the mini sacrament lesson on Sunday and we don´t know why. We are going to visit him tonight and find out. I really want him to progress because he wants to be baptized so badly. Those who want to be baptized always have a ton of obstacles and those who have fewer obstacles don´t care to be baptized. Lame.

Mom – President wants you to find and send me a talk by Elder Oaks called “doing and becoming.” He says it will help me. I´m sure if it will help me, it will also help you! Let´s read it!

The other day we went to the church to do our morning studies in the kitchen where we lit the burners to heat the room (a common heating practice in Argentina) and I was still cold, so I put a chair on top of the counter and sat on the table with my feet flying over the burner. Yep, you guessed it, I burned my nylons! I didn´t burn my feet or the socks I was wearing under them, but I have a giant hole in my nylons.. the price I pay to try and defrost my ETERNALLY frozen feet. The best warmest socks I brought still don´t even begin to keep you warm and toasty. I think that after the mission I will become obsessed with buying warm socks. Oh wait, I already was.

Mommy – what is the mission blog site? Hermana Carrasco wants to send it to her mom. Thanks.

Nata – I hope that you are all well. I look forward to seeing you in 4 and a half months!

Funny story: remember the TV show “Touched By An Angel”? Every time we street contact someone who then says they are atheist, we pull out this famous “we just want to testify to you that God is our Heavenly Father and He loves you” line. All of us do it. It sounds less corny in Castellano… at least I think. But every time that I say it, I feel like that English brunette-- and I always chuckle to myself as I remember the light that shone on her face as the music changed and she said “God loves you.” I´m like one of them!

We had divisions with Hna. Torres and Hna. Cole in Hurlingham. I went to Hurlingham with Hna. Cole and loved it. It was so blissful to walk around for 24 hours being the junior comp in some other area where they aren´t your less active members or your unmarried investigators. You teach with your heart and carry almost no stress because, hey, you´re getting on a train in the morning and leaving it all behind. You feel free and unstressed. I miss the days of being the junior comp. I enjoyed that break for a brief 24 hours. And it was even better to return to my area and be told by my companion that she and Hna. Torres had taught 6 lessons and found 4 new investigators. Our weekly numbers sky-rocketed and I just showed up to reap the benefits. It was great!

Now for the unfortunate truth of the week… No one was baptized on Sunday… I thought I already told you we had to reschedule everybody for the 19th… maybe I forgot and only told the Pres. Anyways. We have Nicolas (son of reactivating mom) who WILL be baptized without problems this weekend. But, that is the only guarantee we have. Brian (12 years old) randomly went with his uncle to campo for 2 weeks and is just gone. He still wants to be baptized and all, and it´s for the best because this uncle is an active sealed in the temple convert who will hopefully bring him to church and help him really understand and develop a testimony so that when he gets back we can baptize him and he´ll be better for it. _______ (14 years old) decided that she doesn´t want to be baptized because she is afraid of the obligations of the promise. She wants to just be close to God without being baptized. We are trying desperately to win her again, but she has totally closed and frozen her heart. In the beginning she was so great. She read, she prayed, she said she felt that she needed to be baptized… she was the strong one, and now she is almost not even an investigator. We are totally sad and lost with it all. Yamily (10 years old) is now the strongest of the Botta family she is determined to get baptized even if it´s just her and Nicolas, but the thing is that it is kinda of sticky business to baptize a 10 year old who will then be the only member of her family. She can´t get herself to church. It´s tough. We can do it, if the mom signs the paper, but it´s tough… the bishop doesn't like it because she is a high risk to go promptly inactive. We don´t know what to do, if we baptize her and lose the bishop´s confidence, the work is frustrated. We can´t be eternally responsible for bring her to church and the members aren´t that willing to help bringing her. It´s tricky stuff.

We are still trying to work to win ________. If she comes back, we could baptize her and Yamily and Brian this weekend, and then Brian when he gets back and pray that the 3 of them can develop habits in coming to church with the help of the members.

We need your prayers.

The swine flu is rising. Some 200 deaths in Buenos Aires. I can´t lie. It is seeming to frustrate the work. Even though I know that the Lord´s work is not frustrated… but it seems to be frustrated, at times.

In my interview with the Pres. he told he that I´m a great missionary and that I need to put a little more “slack in the chain.” Hmmm. Now where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, my wise family! I´m working on it. This week I even went to bed past 10:30 once! And I brushed my teeth with tap water! Walking on the wild side in my rebellion! I hope I don´t let it go too far.

Daddy – I look forward SO MUCH for you to meet Pres. Benton some day because you are both so wise and so influential. I know you two will be great friends!

Gotta run. I love you. I miss you. I know the Lord hears our prayers!

Take luck and have joy!

!

14 Months Old Today!

Dear Familia,

There is so much to say, I absolutely refuse to try and make this email ebb and flow. I am just going to go from point to point. It´s exhausting to try and make it all come together! :)

There are some odd 60 deaths in Buenos Aires from the swine flu. As a result the stake president decided to cancel church. Imagine what that does to the work… yeah, the members will survive, it´s probably even a little bit fun for them to have a break from preparing lessons and taking a bus to get there in the cold, but it makes it hard for the missionaries who are trying to find, teach, and bring people to CHURCH on Sunday so that they can have spiritual experiences, be fellowshipped, and prepare to be baptized. It´s hard to commit people to a baptismal date when for now baptisms have been more or less suspended. Unfortunately we had to lose the date for the 4 kids we had ready, and now we have a "weak, maybe” date of the 19th (the last day of the transfer) and we are just hoping that the stake president lets us baptize. Imagine having to finish the transfer (another transfer) without baptisms… but this time having 4 people that could have been baptized. It hurts. You work and work and work and have no control over the results of anything you do. Who has all the control? That´s easy… Heavenly Father. It´s His work and His plan, and we trust perfectly in it, but there are moments of frustration. President Benton and the stake presidents and bishops allowed us to have a few small meetings with two hymns, a prayer, and the sacrament in the homes of a few members so that we could bring our investigators…. In this way they still progress with their attendance requirements, and don´t lose contact with the church and the Sabbath day thing. But it isn't the same because we are forbidden from sharing or testifying of anything in this meeting because we are not allowed to have a mini-sacrament meeting. It is not my favorite thing--it´s easier because we can pick the time (and we don´t pick 9 am) but harder because you have to explain so much about why we are doing this. We are at least grateful that they can gain a testimony of how important it is as they see us go to such measures to partake of it each week. Just trust me that this twist in the work is throwing us all for a loop.

All of the schools have closed until August 4th. The kids have tons of homework to do on their own--I hope they all complete it. The Evangelical church had their meetings on Sunday as normal and I was actually jealous. We work all week long to have game day (Sunday) and then it was like we never had the game… and had to start another week of training. It´s like having a bye / bye in sports… it messes up the groove of things. I´ll try and see it as being a great thing, mind over matter, right?

There are signs all over the place that say Alcohol en gel (hand sanitizer). We bought 300 mg for $15 pesos and the next day found a liter for $15 pesos. So we bought that too. We wash our hands and checks at least 30 to 4o times a day from the saludo--which we aren't supposed to do anymore.

I´m 14 months old today… and we are moving today. But it is not the funnest way to spend my 14 month p-day. I could go into the details, but it would take my remaining 30 minutes and then I´d just have to admit that there are worse things in life.

It is true… this is not the end of the world, but let me tell you that there is just so much that one can handle at a given time and I reached that point 12 days ago. This week I had a morning when I couldn´t take it anymore and found myself crying on the floor in prayer. My companion came and listened to me explain why I just couldn´t handle it anymore and then she helped me feel better. The night before we had had a really rough moment with the mom of the 3 kids who will be baptized and it looked like we were about to lose them. I couldn´t handle the loss, we had been treated quite brutally that day by the world in general and the Elders said that we were going to move on the fifth of never. I fell to my knees and sobbed. I tell you this not to make you sad, but to testify that the Lord hears our prayers. I don´t remember how I was able to get up and go out and work that day, but I remember that we did. And I remember that the day wasn´t all that bad. The point of the story is that you should take comfort because we are not alone. He carries us when we cannot go one step more.

Long story short, we regained the confidence of the mom and things looked good, then _______ the 14 year old decided she didn´t want to be baptized because she didn´t want to give up tea. We almost lost her but we are pretty sure we have won her again. We finally got a brother to give _______ a blessing – she is terminally ill… has an ulcer and unfortunately HIV. We pray for her and know the gospel can help her, but she is not totally well but has moments that are so wonderful that we keep fighting-- determined to at least give her and her children the chance for a hope of a better future.

My companion was downright shocked when I told her the other day that Coca Cola has caffeine. She vowed to drink no more and eagerly told her family so that they could learn too. She is very funny sometimes… Nata – one of those people who says, “you know what I hate… red lights.” lol! Last night when Alejo was following us and taking care of every tree in the 16 blocks on the way home she said, “do you know why they do that?” and I said, “to mark their territory” and she said, “yeah, like wow…” as though she found out yesterday. I about died laughing. She also says things like, “you know what is so bad in the Church… pride, it destroys us.” If it´s a good moment it makes me laugh, if I´m stressed, it makes me think, “did you really just say that?” But good times! Just writing about it makes me laugh!

Brian – the 12 year old thought that I was 36 years old. OUCH! That´s 1 year older than his own mother. Does he really think I am older than his mother? Let me just say that it was not the best comment he could have made.

The other day we saw a dead dog in the street and his tongue really was completely hanging outside of his mouth--just like in the comics. I don´t know why his tongue is out of his mouth… did he die that way? I accept suggestions and answers to this question.

In the chinos supermarket the other day I saw the meat man sawing the meat with a tooth saw… it caught my attention and I stared mesmerized almost sure that he was going to cut himself because he did it all so fast-- and with his hand an inch from the blade… but wouldn´t you know it, he didn´t cut himself.

Every day we contact someone and I walk away thinking, “now THAT is the person most lost and confused in all the world.” And then an hour later we stop someone else who is even more misled. And I repeat it, and the next day the same thing happens. Each day we find someone who is even more lost than the one we met yesterday… unfortunately they are the ones who almost never let us give them the answers and bring them out of confusion. I wish I could make them listen, but they have their agency.

Nata, Dad, mom, everybody… I do all I can to relax, but our life is programmed for us and there is literally no free time to be had. I would love to make shakes and stuff, but it is pretty much impossible. I try to relax in the morning before study and as I drift off to sleep. I´ll do my best to complete the assignment.

Jason – I am trying to write a poem and I want you to write the song… I am going to have it playing in the background of the video I am going to make with all of the pictures from my mission. When I have the poem / lyrics… I will send them to you! That is my way of asking if you will write the song! :)

Norene – Happy birthday! I hope you eat lots of cake and get a fun new puzzle! If I see a puzzle here in Argentina… I will buy you one, but so far I have seen none. Feliz Cumpleaños!

Grandma – I hope you are recovering well. I am constantly praying for you. I hope that you are able to use this time to really study the Book of Mormon… it will help you heal because it answers all the questions of the soul. It will bring you peace.

Mom –I´m excited for the package.

I love you all. I pray for you. I have a cough, but I´m surviving! I love the mission, even though this week was frustrating and trying. I am happy, I am well, I am protected, I am safe. I am blessed. I love you all.

Gotta run!



I don´t yike packing... or moving… at all.

The Gospel Is So True I Can´t Even Believe It!

Heal the world, make it a better place... I´m trying and the saga continues!

Mom, I´m super excited for the package! The day after it was too late, it dawned on me that I should have asked for one of those cute little bricks of Velveeta cheese to make scrambled eggs. I was kicking myself all afternoon long saying that that would have been so clever because it doesn´t perish until you open it, but oh well. I thanked Elder Pollock for being a pastor (going home missionary) because that means his family is bringing me a package. I had to explain that you were friends with his mom through missionarymoms.com and it was kind of funny and threw him off at first, but in the end he smiled and said, “that´s what I´m here for.” He´s a good Elder.

To help people quit smoking I suggest that you review Preach My Gospel chapter 10 pages 187-190. That is the approved doctrine for quitting and you are bound to see why. It just makes sense.

Dad, just for the record, I am not afraid that you guys will go inactive, it is just this kind of motto we have developed in the mission. Every time we get together and talk about the work we promise that we will never, ever, ever go inactive, so naturally it spills over into my emails too.

Only in ARGENTINA: the other day we contacted this elderly lady in the street. She was sweeping up leaves and putting them in bags. We offered to help and of course she refused. We chatted with her for a minute and I asked her how old she was… ready for this 96! And she was sweeping her own leaves and bending over and grabbing them and putting them in bags. She REFUSED to let us help her. 96. Wow, when I´m 96 I hope I can still sweep up my own leaves, but I will let the missionaries serve me because I will remember that they have to report their service hours!

The Lord really does detain us and put us where He wants us to be and where we will be safe. For example, we had lunch with the bishop and his wife and after they were chatting away – either unaware, or not concerned by the fact that we are only allowed to be at lunch for an hour. After about an hour and a half I was feeling quite guilty and desperately trying to tactfully get out of there. We finally grabbed a 2 second pause and made our way out. We walked a few blocks and stopped some people on the corner. They were all very upset and it turns out that 5 minutes before this man on a motorcycle had robbed the purse of a woman standing at the corner. Had the bishop not been wisely detaining us with his pictures and stories… we might have been on that street corner. Tender mercies!

Hey – somebody should tell Cameron to write me. I want to write him, but this p-day was filled up with redoing the map of Merlo. I´ll explain someday with pictures.

The four young investigators are all still a go for their baptism on the 12 of July. We had a tough time getting them to church on Sunday because it was the day they vote. Here they are assigned to vote in specific places, but it is not always close, nor are families kept together. The dad may have to vote in one city and the mom has to vote in another that is like 6 train stations away. And it´s not like they can just hop in their car and go from one to the next. It was really frustrating and we had to really work to have a successful Sunday with them in church. I promised them blessings and said that it was really, really important and they did make it there.

Ready for an interesting trial of my faith story? One morning during personal study I suddenly had this impression that instead of watching “Finding Faith in Christ” with the 4 kids that afternoon we needed to watch “The Testaments.” I tried to override the feeling because “The Testaments is 65 minutes long and the other is only 25. 65 minutes is a HUGE sacrifice for one lesson – even if it is with 4 that will soon be baptized. But I knew it was because the Spirit was telling me that it was what they needed to develop a testimony of the atonement of Christ. So I presented the feeling and idea to my companion and we decided to go with it, even though it would really complicate our afternoon plans. We got to the appointment, put in the DVD and the machine wouldn't read it. DVD players in Argentina frequently refuse to read church DVDs – ORIGINALS…. man if them will read bootlegged movies, but originals – forget it. We put it in again, cleaned it, blew in the machine, prayed a TON and nope. No go. Not on your life. I couldn´t understand for a million dollars why I had had that impression so distinctly if then the machine wouldn´t let us watch the movie. And even weirder is that it read Finding faith in Christ, so we ended up watching that. And weirdly enough it was perfect… I even cried I felt the Spirit so strong. I rarely cry. Almost never. It was so incredible. But I couldn´t understand why I had felt that we needed to watch the other. I asked my companion that evening what she thought about it and she is so wise that she instantly replied that she had been pondering it too and thinks that it is like the Lord trying the faith of Abraham to see if he was willing to sacrifice Isaac, but then he didn´t have to go through with it in the end. The Lord tried me to see if I was willing to sacrifice so much time, but then didn´t make me go through with it. I loved the comparison and felt that it really strengthened my testimony and I was humbly proud to have been as willing as Abraham was to do what I was asked. And then the Lord said, “well done, you would have done it, so don´t worry about it, I´ll take it from here.” Talk about cool!

Don´t worry about me, I´m all better and my coat doesn’t even smell like throw up. I´m too much of a cheapskate to dry clean it for now because it´s $40 pesos. And not just that… I´d have to go without it for 2 or maybe 3, 4, or 5 days. It´s winter. Hello, how could I do that? I´m quite content and one day, I will dry clean it – before I come home I promise!

Hermana Benton called me and said that you wanted to make sure I wasn't running a fever. I assured her that I didn´t and she said she´d let you know. You got to talk to the President too? Isn´t he so awesome! I love him. He mentioned the Thanksgiving thing (coming home the day before it) to us too, I hope it doesn´t mean that our end of the mission tour of Buenos Aires doesn´t get cut short a day because I have been looking forward to it all mission long. That is what the pastores (leaving missionaries) do right before they go to the airport – they go on a tour with the APs and the President. I don´t want to get gypped out of it. But I obviously want to be home for Thanksgiving. Ummmm. Mashed potatoes and gravy!

I cut my hair, no, just trimmed it to get rid of the split ends and remind it to grow again. I promise not to cut it again until I come home. I have gotten quite fond of having long hair again.

This transfer my motto is one that the President has been teaching us for a while.

“Circumstances do not determine results” Allow me to apply it to our situation. White wash, Father´s Day (Sunday – investigators that can´t come), Voting (Sunday, investigators that can´t come and members that can´t pick them up), moving to another pension, passing a kidney stone, and losing about an hour and a half of proselyting time a day walking to and from the bus station in your area… and all of that doesn´t determine the results of the transfer because we are going to have 4 baptisms! I am going forward with faith and don´t even let a single doubt or fear enter my brain. I just say that we will find a way to make it happen… because the Lord is on our side.

Grandma Olson – did I ever tell you that in my last area I bought this giant can of Nesquik and every time I make myself some super chocolaty chocolate milk I think of you and remember how much I love you. I hope that you know that I pray for you each and every day and am so grateful for all that you have done for me. The other day I bought you a really cool souvenir and I´m looking forward to giving it to you!

Grandma and Grandpa Jensen – I feel so happy to know that I am a Jensen. We have such a great legacy of faithful members of the church and I love being able to tell people that all my family are members of the church and they are active. So many missionaries, so many lives affected and blessed all because 2 people fell in love! I stole that from a country song, but it´s true. When you think about your posterity you should be incredibly proud. I hope to have such a faithful posterity as you do!

We hadn´t heard a thing about Farrah Fawcett, but I found out on Saturday about Michael Jackson. I was truly sad because his early stuff is great.

I finally got my leather scripture cases yesterday. They turned out so well and she does each drawing by hand in the leather. This morning as I studied the scriptures in their new cases – my study was literally funner. It´s like the first time you use the Venus razor and Skintimate you received for Christmas and the first time you use the new pens and write in a new notebook – it´s just funner.

Today my companion stopped to contact this couple and at the end of the 10 minute conversation they were attacking me and the states for being the cause of swine fever. It was a difficult moment for me because I have a ton of USA pride. But I let it go. My companion was mortified and embarrassed at the behavior of a fellow Argentine and she admitted that he was totally in the wrong. That made me feel a little better.

About the move – it is dragging on because the Elder in charge of the pensiones is super busy. We begged the President and there´s not much he can do. We begged the Elder and he´s doing the best he can, but it´s still a good while away and we have no clue who will help us realize it. I shudder to think. The place is definitely not furnished.

Uncle Ron said I should be a writer… I just might do that. I love to write.

I love Padua. It is such a great area and I feel like if I die here (finish the mission) it´s fine. We´ll see what the Lord has in store. For all we know we´ll stay together this one and the next and then the President will white wash me again to train – because we will be getting a bunch of new sisters that transfer. We´ll see. I´d like to stay here I think.

Romina, Brian, Yamila, and Nico are very great because they accept tithing and the Word of Wisdom, but it is super hard getting them to church especially when their parents don´t want to or cannot come. Romina, Brian, and Yamila are all brothers and sisters, and Nico is the son of a less active member we are trying to reactivate, we are also teaching the Dad. There is a lot of potential with others, but many of them need to get married and many need to get divorced before they can get married. That always complicates things.

Nata – I hope you had a stellar birthday. I thought about you a bunch that day.

Jason – have a wonderful birthday and eat lots of cake.

I love you all and am happier than you can imagine. I miss you tons and pray for you constantly.

Could you all add Liliana, Beatriz and Santiago to your prayers? We need all the help we can get… and so do they!

Wubba more than the move that will someday take place!

Hermana Jensen

p.s The gospel is so true I can't even believe it!

I Love Everything...Even Kidney Stones!

Hola,

I am super excited to get one last package! In it you could add: stuffing, chicken in a biscuit, Cheese Whiz, Reese's Pieces, packages of instant hot cocoa, good Q-tips that actually have some cotton, makeup remover and candy (other than Snickers which I can get here). Oh, and a hole puncher we can use to make holes for our binders. Thanks so much!

Tell the new missionary to bring a pair of garden gloves for service projects, but to put her name in them because it is highly probable they will be stolen.

Happy birthday to Nata and Jason! I sent home treats for your birthdays in the package you got like 3 months ago… I over plan.

So we found a great apartment and the papers are already signed. The office elders have to arrange for light and gas to work and install some kitchen cabinets. It looks like we´ll be getting in the new place in the end of the month. Which to us feels super far away. The new place is a block from the church and a block from the train station! It was literally handed to us on a silver platter by the Lord. The move is overwhelming and won't be easy. We have no boxes, no truck, and no time. Moving will come out of p-day and proselyting time and I don´t have much desire to sacrifice either of them. :)

I made Brown Sugar Chicken and sent it home with President and Sister Benton after Zone Conference. All she had to do was bake it and serve with rice. I hope they liked it.

In Zone Conference President Benton talked about how we should all study our Patriarchal Blessings and put them in scripture form and add foot notes. I about died because I had already decided that I was going to do that the next time I have access to a computer. He read my mind.

We have 4 kids that have baptismal dates and 3 of them were in church with us last Sunday – the other was sick. Nicolas – age 11, Brian – age 12, Yamila – age 10, and Romina – age 14. It is usually easier to baptize kids because they don´t work on Sundays, smoke, drink, or have problems with the Law of Chastity…nor are they waiting for a divorce!

We had to really pull some teeth to get them in church with us, but in the end, it was worth all the money we spent in remises (taxis). If all goes according to plan, the 4 of them will be baptized together on the 12 of July! Pray for them, please… they are our hope for the transfer!

FYI- we learned not to trust local kiosk type joints on the street corner to do our photocopies. They will try to totally pull one on ya. They will do the photocopies and send you out the door and then when you look at the photos you realize that there was next to no toner in the machine. I of course returned and made them do it again, but it totally astounds me how they would do that to the customer. Hello – imagine going to a copy store and having them try to send you away with crummy copies…

My companion and I won the prize (for having good numbers) and were allowed to pick a companionship of Elders and have them come work in our area for 3 hours. We chose the other companionship of Elders that had the best numbers from their District. Maybe they will find us a family we can baptize!

There is this dog that we named Alejo and his 2 followers that terrorize us all 15 blocks from where we get off the bus to the front door of our apartment. They just bug us the whole way home. Alejo barks and barks and acts like he´s going to bite you, but so far hasn´t. He just lives on that street and for some reason picks us every night to follow home. It´s really annoying. I´m glad we´re moving, we won´t pass Alejo and his gang anymore! He is so filthy that I shudder to think of what he carries in his fur. I´m not going to miss Alejo.

Before I forget… I was totally mistaken when I said we were the first sisters ever to walk the streets of San Antonio de Padua. It is not true. It made me feel cool for a while to think I was the pioneering sister missionary in the big bad world of Elder town, but then I was informed that sisters have been here before. So anyways, it was fun while it lasted.

It all depends on how much room I have in my suitcases if I will bring the sleeping bag home. My Argentine companion also sleeps in one, but it is not a thing they all do. If I don´t have room, I´ll leave it with some missionary that will be very grateful.

I would like to take advantage of this time to thank you Mom and Dad for never going inactive. When I think about how many times throughout our lives we have the chance to say “no more!” and quit… there are a lot of times. But you two never gave up. You never said “I´m just too offended to go back to church” or anything of the sort. Were it not for your faith and testimonies – I would not be a missionary in Argentina in this moment. I am eternally grateful for the commitment that you have shown to honor and keep your covenants. I owe you a great deal for giving me such an example of faith and dedication to the truth. Here in Padau there are a ton of people that are super offended and say, “I will never come back” and I am so glad that that was not something that entered our home. I mean it. You should be very proud to be active in the church. So many are not.

This past week I almost fell on my back in the street when I stepped on a banana peel. Yeah, that really happens, and it really is slippery! I about died laughing that I had done it. In my defense… It was dark and I didn´t see it on the sidewalk, but boy did I laugh. Thank heavens I caught myself and didn´t fall!

My back still hurts, but this time I know why. It is because my great winter coat is pretty heavy and even more so when I have my scripture bag crossing my chest--it just makes it feel even heavier. It can´t go under my coat or the coat won´t close. I even took out my Triple and now I am just walking around with pamphlets but it still really hurts. That is just part of life in winter. I am pretty sure the only solution is pray for spring.

So on Sunday afternoon we did something that I have wanted to do all mission long. We took a 2 hour nap! The heater running, the shutters closed so it is pitch black in the room, we set the cell phone and slept for 2 blissful hours. Before you panic and call the President to beg for forgiveness for my sin… allow me to explain just why we did so. It just so happens that kidney stone number 4 decided to pass. Hehe. (2 at BYU and 2 in Argentina!) I woke up Sunday morning and knew I was in for a party. I carefully read the packages of drugs you sent so as to not overdose and kill myself and took the necessary medication – determined to take it in stride. Unfortunately the Promethazine didn´t take care of the nausea and I was already throwing up before we left for church. We took a remis (taxi) to go and get one of our investigators. I was very ill. We picked her up and went to the church. I got out of the car and walked for the chapel door. I had 2 options: try to run to the bathroom and throw up the last 6 feet before I made it to the bathroom OR try to walk to the bathroom and throw up pretty much the whole way there. What would you choose? I walked 6 steps and made a break for it. Companion or no companion I had to get to a restroom! I put my hand over my mouth to try to contain what was already coming out, but my hand only held a tiny bit. Then the vomit escaped my hand and started to fill the right sleeve of my dry clean only winter coat. I am not even kidding. It reached clear up to my elbows inside my long sleeved blouse and coat. It was one of the most disgusting feelings I have ever had. I finished throwing up in the toilet, but the mess I left on the bathroom door and the floor around the stall was quite pathetic. It got in my hair, on my scarf, on my coat, in my coat, on my skirt and I had nothing to change into. My companion and the investigator came strolling into the bathroom and we tried to play cool and make it seem like nothing. We said things like “oh, I´ll just clean this right up and we´ll be fine.” Hello – it was a joke! The poor woman probably thought to herself “these crazy Mormons go to church even when they´re dead sick.” Anyways… I sent my comp with the investigator to Relief Society and finished cleaning up. I had to take off my shirt, and coat and wore my comp´s coat the rest of the 3 hours of church. I took off my skirt, washed it, and put it back on – cold and wet. I tried to wash my hair, but missed some spots. I felt better and we went to go get our other investigators and finish out the meetings. After church we had to send them off in a remis and it took like 20 minutes for it to get there. By then my pain had come back and I was pacing and fighting back tears and no one besides my companion knew why. We finally walked to the station, took a taxi, went home, ate our sack lunch and decided to go to bed. She was also pretty sick with a nasty cold, so we took 2 hours to try to get well and at 4:00 we went back out to work and finish the week – we did our contacts and taught 2 lessons! The pain hasn´t returned, so I either passed one, or it was just moving around and didn´t really drop. Either way I am proud to say that I didn´t shed a single tear. I know the Lord helped me and that all in all, it wasn´t that bad. That was my Father´s day… I´m SURE yours was better. But we had 4 investigators in church – 3 of whom have baptismal dates!

I decided this week that for us to have true success and see miracles this transfer I have to believe that we will receive them… that´s all. My own lack of faith and doubtful thoughts were like poison that I was drinking drop by drop. Now instead of thinking, “what if we don´t baptize this transfer… I´ll just die!” I think “how cool is it that we are going to have 4 baptisms with a white wash transfer!” I decided that I have to believe and have more faith. My own doubts were wearing me down. So now I believe perfectly that we will have miracles and we will. It is that simple. Choose to win. Choose to succeed, choose to receive blessings and you will. Try it with me!

Jason – everyone knows I´m all business. Your advice has proven helpful.
Nata – have a great time in Spain – buy me a scarf of something, k?
Mommy – thanks in advance for the awesome package you will send me. As you can tell I am hungry for the states! I have this transfer and 3 more. I am so pumped! Prepare to see some serious changes in me in these last few months.
Daddy - I bought you a cool present today. You are going to love it!

I love you so much. Study the scriptures every day. Have FHE every week. Never go inactive!

All the love and joy that I possess,
Hermana Stacey Jensen

Sights From Argentina

Carving of the Buenos Aires Temple

...fishers of men

Celebrating 10 months out (taken 3 months ago)

Week 2 Has Now Begun In Padua!

Well, there is so much to say.

First of all I love San Antonio de Padua, but it sure comes with its challenges. White washing an area is difficult-- if you can imagine. This first week we were able to find most of the investigators the elders left us, and we committed 3 to be baptized. The thing is that these are very fragile dates… it´s FAR from certain that they will happen, but the only way is to start somewhere and work with them to make it to the day. One is the 11 year old son of a less active member. His name is -----. He is good, but it is hard to get him to church because we can´t bring him alone and his mom works in a fruit store. But we have plans. He is the most sure that we have. And the others are a mother and daughter, but there are obstacles to overcome, she smokes and both were sick this last week, so couldn´t come to church. They are ----- and -----. They might not be so happy with some of the changes they need to make, but we have our faith and are going to give it our best shot.

The Elders left us a bunch of teaching records in the area book. We have been working a ton with member referrals here. They just might be the ticket to success!

About the storm… pretty cool, you can imagine that storms here are a lot like that. Instantly there is a mud flood and it comes down so hard you think it might bruise your skin. I´m thrilled to hear that we did not have any flooding. I am truly sorry to hear that the garden was destroyed, that is a bummer. We can be thankful that our garden is not our only source of food as it was for the farmers of old. Imagine what a storm like that would have done to their faith.

What do you mean to Davy everything is a phone? How cool is that about web calls. Did you know that my laptop has a webcam? It does. I don´t remember if I ever really got it to work, but I know it has one.

About Sarah… you could try calling the LA Mission and asking for a forwarding address. That is the only solution I have if she´s not on facebook. The only address I have is in Alaska, but I bet she´s studying somewhere else. Let me know if you want me to send you the Alaska address.
Thanks for being diligent with all that. I really appreciate it.

As for stuff that you can send with the Pollock family (who FYI is the senior AP right now… and the one who served where I am right now in Papua) You could send me some of those powder packets of Ranch that you add to sour cream, also another bottle of Ranch Dressing, a thing of Peanut Butter and um… let me think. There has got to be something I really need. I´ll let you know what else comes to mind next week. Thanks for the heads up.

We want to move because we live way out of our area and it´s a huge hassle. The quickest route from the bus stop to the pench every night (and every morning for that matter) is 15 blocks – 22 minutes walking quickly and not stopping to street contact anybody… which is obviously not good because street contacting is what we do. The pench in itself is great, but the electricity is a disaster. The power failed and we have been limited to only use the heater on low. We were forced to study with our coats and scarves on in the morning-- it is so cold. There is someone who supposedly came to fix it today, but I haven´t been there yet.

Today we had Sisters Conference and even though it is proselyting time already, we are doing Internet… with President´s permission of course. Anyways, we have got to move because we lose about an hour and a half of proselyting time each day just going to and from home. Nobody we are teaching lives where we live. They all live clear on the other side of the area. I want to move over there, but it is more dangerous, but still, for time and convenience and stuff… I´m willing to be like Simba from the Lion King and say “I laugh in the face of danger!” I don´t want to spend my last 6 months or whatever I have left wasting such time every day… and at night when people are actually home to be taught and members can accompany us. That is just not the recipe to have success here and I promised the Lord that I would do all in my power to give Him success.

Not only is it a waste of time and a big expense, but it is exhausting to have to start each and every day walking a mile… hear me out, when the day is coming to a close, you don´t want to think “ok, time for the last mile of rushed walking” – it´s more than one can take, and after just 7 days of doing it, I´m already sick of it. So the President authorized us to look for a new apartment, but that´s easier said than done, especially when you can´t just hop on the Internet or spend a bunch of time looking.

So the Sisters Conference: I spent a ton of time planning this 45 minute workshop on contacts to present and then wouldn´t you know it… they put me last and we were so far behind that when we finally were up, it was like, what do we do? The food was to arrive at 1 and so we kind of shortened it, kind of rushed it, and I was a little less than pleased with how it turned out. I tried not to let the time thing ruin it, everyone said it was great and the President was super impressed with it all, but I felt like we could have done MUCH better had we not been so time restrained. But if everyone else said it went well, I have to just accept it. But I tell you – I know it could have been better.

Being in the zone of Merlo is like starting a new semester in college. You´re lost, you´re confused, you´re stressed, you set all these incredibly high goals and you start with what you have, but every night you fall on your knees and beg your Father in Heaven to carry you through one more day. It is just mentally demanding. All day long you are lost, as you learn, you grow, as you are stretched, you learn to rely on your Savior, but it is hard. I am not going to tell you it´s not.

But one of the biggest tender mercies that the Lord has given me to be able to handle it is my companion. She is so capable. She took upon herself the responsibility of learning all the bus routes and thus making it possible for us to do what we do each day. She faithfully searches each bus that we see all day long and looks up their routes (which I don´t understand in the book I bought – but she does) and that is the only way that I personally have been able to cope. Because she is native she does colectivos and basically navigates us all day long. I on the other hand am in charge of all the little details, like remembering the keys to the church, having pamphlets, keeping us on schedule, and other stuff that seems very trivial compared to what she does, but without the little things we would fail. So we are a perfect team. We complete one another in this challenge we chose to see as an opportunity.

On Sunday we had a Stake Conference broadcasted from Salt Lake and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately we went in a taxi that we got to accommodate all of our investigators and not one ended up in the taxi with us. 26 pesos later we showed up all alone. Lame. 2 were sick, ---- couldn´t come with us without his mother… and 3 others stood us up completely. Lame.

FYI – we tried to laminate little hand outs we made for our work shop and they tried to charge me 3 pesos (almost a dollar) for each of the 2x3 cards. AS IF! We bough contact paper and did it ourselves for less than 7 pesos total!

As for that Hermana that is coming, I thought of more advice: ankle socks to wear under nylons are great in the winter. Buy shoes with thicker soles because the uneven sidewalks and dirt roads rip up the soles pretty quickly. Bring Ziploc bags – lots of them and in various sizes. You can find them here, but they are EXPENSIVE. You will need them for random things. At least I did. Oh and the most important one of all… If she is struggling with space or going over the weight limit with her luggage, bring a big suitcase and a carry on that is formed, but for the middle sized one, just buy a giant shoulder bag that is sofá – it weighs much less and you can stow a ton more in it. It´s a hassle in the airport, but you only do that twice (or four times if you are me and serve in 2 missions. :)

Mommy – I love you so, when I see Hermana Benton I remember you and how much I look forward to a hug from you and miss you. The truth is that each day I am more and more thankful that I was raised in the church, and even more – by ACTIVE members of the church. That is something that I took for granted all my life, but no more. I am so blessed. So blessed.

Daddy – Happy Father´s day on Sunday! I love you so. The other night I had a dream that I got a hug from you. When I woke up I almost cried because I want one so much.

It is weird that you are getting information about when I go home. I still don´t understand clearly if I have 3 transfers left including this one or 4 including this one. If you say that I am due home around Thanksgiving that would mean that I have four more. I don´t know if I will “die” here or not. I would like to go to campo, (the country) but more importantly I want to be where the Lord wants me to be. If I never get to serve in the outskirts or the ghetto, life goes on. Argentina is different enough for me – even if I am in the “city.”

Nata – I hope that you go forth with faith and courage in your callings. Davy is such a little stud. I can´t wait to give him a high five and teach him Argentine hand gestures.

I love you so. If you wouldn´t mind this week – I want you to pray for me to quit comparing myself to others. I need to just let things happen a little more. I need to just relax a little. But I´m afraid that if I relax – I will fall apart. Pray for me to adapt and be at peace. Thanks. I know you are always praying for me.

I have to go. I´m sorry you had to wait all day long for this.

Wubba,
Hermana Jensen!
~~~~~~~~~~~
1 COMMENTS:

ajohns37 said...
We can hardly believe the experiences and things our young Hermanas are going through. It is so humbling of what they are seeing and doing, yet their tremendous faith and example to go forth doing what they know is true and have been called to do. We love you and have great familyhood (?word) kinship, felt with you knowing we both have daughters doing the same thing. All our love, the Familia Johns
JUNE 16, 2009 9:45 PM

Dear Brother and Sister Jensen,

We are pleased to inform you that Hermana Stacey Lynn Jensen is completing an honorable full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission. Your missionary's release date will be November 26, 2009!!!!!!! (exclamations added by the mom)

We are so excited to have a date...and yes she opted to stay 3 weeks longer instead of coming home 1 week early due to the transfer dates-- but if you know Stacey that won't surprise you a bit. Now we get to watch the mail for the flight plans to find out what time she will be arriving on Thanksgiving Day. Wahoo--we couldn't be happier! :)