Week in the Life of a Missionary

It has been a good week .... where to begin :)

So Monday was chill, we hung out in the pench and tried to make food and failed spectacularly.... haha when you try to make gourment food with only pasta and a tomato and onion .... #missionprobs also a bunch of our lunches fell through this week so it gave a whole new meaning to starving missionary (okay so we are not really starving but plain rice with plain potatoes isn't the most satisfying thing in the world ya know? :) 

We have been working a lot this week with a few investigators. We have visited the family Fronton a lot, they are the ones who live in a shack behind a house, and they have been super sick and aren't really seeing the whole importance of baptism and also the whole marriage thing before is kinda a hurtle! but yeah... poco a poco. We have also been working a lot with Carmen, she is super Evangelica but she is reading the Book of Mormon and really wants to know if this is the truth, she came to church yesterday too! :) She told us she felt a little bit like she was disobeying her pastor because she didn't tell him she was going to the Mormon church and she knows he wouldn't be okay with it but she really wants to find out the truth... but with her we are also gonna have the hurdle of getting married. She already told us she wants to get married because she doesnt want to be sinning in the eyes of God so thats good at least!

Also I am pretty sure we found the easiest investigator on the planet... Carlos!  He is 15 and has been coming to church for 5 years but his Mom didn't want him to get baptized but she passed away and his Grandpa is fine with it and so basically super easy but what you gonna do? :) We ran into him in the street when we first heard that he wanted to get baptized from the Young Mens leader and basically the conversation was, "hey!!! you!!! you want to get baptized!!!" him "uh yeah!" us "sweet we are gonna teach you a lesson Saturday morning and set a date for the baptism okay" "okay!" haha and when we related this to the assistant ward mission leader he was like, "no for real you didnt say that" and we just laughed because hey we are servants of the Lord and might as well be direct about what our intentions are no?? :) haha directness for the win! 

Actually we basically had the same convesation with this 10 year old kid we found in this part member family and are gonna try super hard this week to teach him! the family is kinda whishy washy though! 

My comp Hna. Gonzalez is SUPER AWESOME :) I really like her and we get along super well, we are sharing ideas and learning together and I am very grateful she is my hija :) some cool things about her, she knows how to bind books and working in a library restoring books how cool is that... for anyone who knows me... I LOVE TO READ so bascially the fact she worked in a library made me love her! :) 

Also I had intercambios this week with the Hna. Patiño. She is from Cali and it was fun, we totally spanglished it all day. Some things are just easier to say in Spanish and other things in English so yeah. Haha for real the English is going, sometimes my comp will say something to me in English and I'll know it isn't correct grammer but it takes me 2 minutes to figure out how you should say it in English correctly :)

What else what else what else..... oh I am a little sick.... sore throat type stuff nothing major, my guess is it is from the cold. :) we rode bikes at night without my heavy scarf so oops! :) my bad! 

Random fun fact: The Simpsons are HUGE here. HUGE. We dont watch TV obviously but we have to ask just about every house we walk into to turn off the Simpsons and there is graffiti of the Simpons everywhere and it is kinda weird and everyone asssumes because I am yankee that I watch the Simpsons but.... no. So yeah! #argentina :) 

So yesterday was also awesome. I completly forgot it was Pioneer day until we got to the house of a member and he turned on the Pioneer day concert from Saturday I assume and I bascially enjoyed some good old patriotism in the house of a Chilean living in Argentina :) That was fun! 

Also our new RM 30 year old bishop is super awesome and super excited to work with us missionaries and so bascially we are super pumped and have a ton to do which is awesome :) 

This week I was studying a lot about Faith. And basically what I learned is that humility is key. Until we strip ourselves of pride enough to really kneel down and ask for the wisdom we don't have, we will never receive the wisdom we need. I have seen it in the humble people here, they have no problem learning from 19 year olds or asking God for wisdom. And the prideful better off people, can't imaging that anyone, including God could make a better life for them than what they already have! Also faith isn't a perfect knowledge and for my very math black and white brain that is hard, but faith is a hope. Alma 32:21. Faith is a hope that true things are in fact true. I am grateful for this opportunity to lay aside my life for the Lord and help others. And I am grateful for the prayers I know I am receiving too! The mission is the best :)

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Abby 

Week 1 as Entrenadora!!!‏

Holy cow so this week,

Where to even start..... so! I have a hija! My new little greenie is Hermana Gonzalez! She was born in Chile but has lived the last 10 years in Barliloche o Varilocce?? or something like that, the south part of Argentinta. I dont know bs and vs are exactly the same in Spanish! :P very difficult but anyway yeah! She is great, a lot more low key not so high strung as my last comp which has been an adjustment! Not a bad one just a change :) We are enjoying learning how to be missionaries together! We found 5 new investigators together this week! Almost all of them just people we met on the street by opening our mouths to talk with people, not many of them are married but what can you expect really ? :) We are excited to work with them and a bunch of other investigators this week to help get more of them to church because for real that is a struggle! But whatcha gonna do? :) 

My new comp es una capa, or in other languages AWESOME :) she is super willing to help in lessons and learn and improve and we are getting along really well! Hopefully she feels the same way and we will continue to have success! 

It has been kinda stressful being the senior comp and trainer on top of that! I really feel a lot of responsibility for the members and ward and investigators, and I guess I should, their salvation is at stake..... :) ahhh. But I am doing good, I have really felt the hand of the Lord in the work this week. Because let's be real, I most of the time don't know where we should go or what we should do, BUT ideas are popping into my head all day long that are from the Spirit not from me with little promptings and as I follow them I find the work moves along nicely :) For example we were planning how to work with the ward in missionary correlacion meeting and I had a ton of great ideas of ways the ward can help out and I had some SERIOUSLY inspired ideas pop into my head that let me tell you I would NEVER think of on my own. So wow lets just say my testimony has grown a lot this week of the power of the Lord. This truly is His work and for some reason He has chosen 18, 19, and 20 year olds to do it but HE really is the one doing all the grunt work, we just have to follow the impressions He gives us. 

Also it is FREEZING here .... pretty sure almost literally, 0 degress Celsius some days in the morning. My comp and I are turning on the oven in the morning to warm ourselves and the apartment because Its be a real 1 electric heater does NADA. But we have to keep an eye on the carbon monoxide levels in the pench..... hahaha Argentina problems! :) 

Also Felipa and Elisa both came to church Sunday and I just want them to get married already so we can baptize them but patience es un virtud celesial.....grrrrr. ;) 

Basically, Life is good I am learning a ton and this is the Lord's work. As missionaries we have the power and authority to do it BUT the key is that the power is from the Lord :) Gotta love the mission! Love you all! Thanks for everything! :)

Ciao!!! 

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Abby 

Mi familia!!! My mom Hna. Medrano, yo, mi hija, y mi hermana Hna. Chaffin! :) 

Mi hija, my new companion Hna. Gonzalez de Chile. (but she has lived in Argentina the last 10 years) una capa de verdad :) 

Estoy embarazada!!!!‏ Photos

Ice cream party because she has 14 months, I have 4 and we are both going to train this transfer!! 

I am gonna have a hija, hermanita, and she is gonna have another hija and una nieta!! 

The last lunch of Hna Medrano here in Ezeiza with our investigator Felipa and her husband! 

We ate so much MEAT it was ridiculous! 

Estoy embarazada!!!!‏

So for those of you who don't speak spanish you may think that embarazada means embarresed, nope! It means pregnant! A common mistake among missionaries! And no... I did not use that word in the wrong context this week. I say that I am pregant because.... drumroll please.... I am going to trian a newbie!!! I am going to have a hija!!! I am going to have a daughter manana and I have no idea if she is Yankee or latina and so yeah....!!!  Holy moly can you even believe it cuz I for sure can't! 

So here is how it went down, Saturday morning we were studying in the pench (I literally finished my own training as a missionary yesterday) and we were waiting for our call to tell us about transfers. Usually the Zone Leaders call if it is just a normal transfer or Presidente will call if you have an assignment! So we are sitting in the pench super chill and then the phone starts ringing with a call from President, Hna Medrano starts to talk to him and he tells her that she is going to whitewash and train at the same time, in other words she is going to with her new hija be in an area where previously were Elders so she doesn't know ANYTHING about the area! She was more than a little bit shocked because she did not think she was going to train again, but then she asked Presidente about me and he said not to worry the ZLs are still calling and the assistents will call to inform you about training stuff. So at this point I am feeling super chill because yeah cool I am gonna get a senior comp no worries all is well. THEN PRESIDENTE CALLS AGAIN 5 minutes later!!! And this time it is for me and I am going to train too what in the world I have no idea how to do that but who the Lord calls he qualifies and that is that I guess! Basically I am going to learn a full these next 12 weeks! 

On the bright side I am almost positive I will be in Ezeiza for at least 3 more months which is awesome because I should be here for the baptism of Felipa and Elisa yay!!! :) My poor comp is super sad to leave Ezeiza, the members here are awesome and really pitch in to help with the work! Because there is nothing more frustrating than having an awesome investigator and not being able to have lessons with them because they are men and we can't enter their houses without a sister member! that happened twice this week with Ricardo and it broke my heart!  

Gotta go because yeah! Lots to do to prep for my new comp! 

Abby 

Miracles in the Work Photos

fotos con los Thurgood



Hermana Medrano



Con Presidente Calquin y Susi :) 







our whole temple trip group



selfie at the temple



Happy 4th of july from the district! Our banquet I think ! :) 



I have no idea what the other photo is I just attached it :) ​

Miracles in the Work‏

Sometimes being a missionary just fills ya with joy ya know? Wow! What a week! :) 

so ..... where to start! So last Sunday we had a lesson with that family that lives in a tarp right? So we had another lesson with them Tuesday and finished teaching them the restoration with the 20 minute video and they are awesome (of coarse not married but I have learned not to expect that at this point). When we showed up to the lesson with a member they had all the pamphlets open to the images and pinned to the "walls" of there hut and it was awesome! They told us they had been waiting all day for us to arrive. We had another lesson with them Saturday but where kinda bummed when we showed up and nobody was home! But with faith we passed by with a Hermano from the ward to take them to church on Sunday and they were all ready to go! Which was a miracle because to say it was POURING Sunday would be an understatement! Holy moly my knee high rain boots where not high enough for some streets. They also told us the reason they hadnt been home Saturday was because they were looking for shoes to come on Sunday!! Did somebody say golden?? 

Also last  Sunday we had a lesson with a new investigator named Ricardo. We had the name of his wife in our area book as a person who accepted that we could pass by to visit and when we did Ricardo came to the door and we asked for his wife and he told she died 2 months ago. Obviously our hearts broke for him right there in the street and we gave him a plan of salvation pamphelt and came back the next sunday for a lesson with him and a member. It went super well and we didnt think much more of it, but then on Sunday HE SHOWED UP TO CHURCH!!!! We didnt expect him! Like we had passed but a day or two before to invite him but he was wishywashy but he showed up! And after the sacrament meeting (which by the way there were 42 members and 6 investigators and 4 missionaries present) I was sitting next to him and he told me that we showed up in his life right in the hardest moment and that there had been a gap in his life in his heart and that when he was with us it was filled and that he feels weird reading the book of mormon but he is filled with peace when he reads it and i almost lost myself to tears right there in the chappel. wow. This week my testimony grew wiht respect that I know that God knows each and every one of us, and knows EXACTLY when and what we need. And because he loves us demasiado he reaches out in love to help us out. Wow. So basically Sunday was the best day of my life, I was basically walking around the chappel Sunday feeling like a super hero! :) Gotta love missionary work! 

Also this week we went to the temple with some investigators and less active members. The lady with greying hair is felipa who is getting married in August and then baptized after 3 years of missionary  discussions and the lady with dark hair is Elisa also getting married/ baptised in August! Yay temple!!! For real there is such peace in the temple! Elisa was one of my favorite parts of the temple, we asked her how she felt and she told us that at the temple and in the chappel she feels a peace she doesnt feel anywhere else and I just wanted to say, "I know right" but it just doesnt come out the same in castellano! :) 

Also we met our new Presidente de Mision this week! Presidente and Hermana Calquin seem great and I am excited to work with them! He is a super funny down to Earth guy with tons of great insights and enthusiasm for the work which is AWESOME!! Basically he justs wants to be out the in field with us and not behind a desk! And his wife is awesome too! They like to dance! They know how to do tons of Chilean folk dances and other stuff besides and it is pretty awesome! :) 

Today to celebrate the 4th of July we had our district activity of the transfer and everyone made a food from their country and basically we gourged ourselves! :) I made fajitas becaues this girl misses her Mexican food and they were ricisimo!! :) I am very fat and happy right now. Also we watched the incredibles in spanish of coarse and I love that movie! So yeah! :) That is basically the awesome week I had! Being a missionary is awesome and the church is true! Enjoy this good ole independence day! :) Ciao from Argentina! :) 

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Abby