2016.9.26 Week 17 - Unbelievable and hilarious

ANDREA GOT BAPTIZED. This is big news, she finally arrived at her baptism date and everything went well. We are super excited for her and her decision to be baptized!

WE MADE EMPANADAS. We made caramel apple pie empanadas for the ward. Everyone hated them. I have literally no idea why? My companion and I are both extremely confused because they were super good. I think that people just don't like the idea of apples in an empanada. A bunch of people wouldn't even try them. Locos. (Crazies.)

WE WENT ON A HIKE. It was really pretty. We hiked to a waterfall and then up the mountain where we could see everything. It was really pretty but super crazy because no one was there. It was the type of hike that if it existed in America there would be a million people there. It wasn't super easy but was relatively short. Locos. (Crazies.)

I GOT AN EARFUL OF HATE. On Sunday for the first time, we went to Sunday School with the ward. We always teach a separate class for our investigators so we have never gone to this class, but it was Andreas first time as a member so we accompanied her. The teacher was talking about the pride cycle and it was a really good lesson, then this crazy lady in our ward raises her hand and asks, "Why are the members in the United States in the prosperity cycle and we aren't, I thought that God loved all of his children?" This immediately turned into a huge argument with the whole class about the United States and the members there. Money. Tithing. Righteousness. TODO (everything). It was unbelievable and hilarious. They kept saying, "But of course this doesn't include the hermana."  In the end, the whole class was a disaster and without the spirit. So I raised my hand and shared a scripture in Alma 26:12, "Si, yo se que nada soy. En cuenta de mi fuerza, soy debil. No me jactare..." (Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever). Then we talked for a second about how we all need to worry about our own problems and if we can stay humble and remember where all of our blessings come from it doesn't matter where we live. When we are humble we can recieve more blessings. Locos. (Crazies.)

Overall it was a great week and I can't believe how fast the time is moving. My companion goes home on Sunday. I'm pretty bummed because she has been an awesome companion but I am excited to see what will happen at translados (transfers)!!!

Love you all!

-Three weeks of pictures came through today-

2016.09.19 Week 16 - We can't wait to choose the right

Another fabulous week in Argentina! It's spring here and I am thrilled to stop using tights. They are just the worst. Everything here smells good right now and there are blossoms everywhere! It's weird to think that in America the seasons are opposite. I don't think that at Christmas I am going to believe that it is Christmas because it's already pretty hot, I can only imagine I am going to die of heat for Christmas.

The best news of the week is that Andrea is going to get baptized this Saturday! POR FIN (Finally). In the beginning, it seemed like an easy baptism. She literally showed up in the chapel one day and told us she moved to Bariloche to get baptized. NOPE. Not easy. She has a lot of drama with her family and keeps saying she wants to wait for life to be calm to get baptized. I think she finally understood what we have been telling her all along this week. Life is never calm, we can't wait to choose the right.

We had another lesson with Victor. For some reason, he is my favorite investigator so far on my mission. HE IS SO SMART. I love when people know things. I hope he can get baptized before I leave and I know if he keeps reading the Book of Mormon he is going to.

FUNNY STORY OF THE WEEK:

There is this crazy guy in our ward. He's crazy because he is actually missing a huge chunk of his brain. Don't ask me how he is even living with only part of a brain but it's always interesting to interact with him. This week we were walking down his street and he saw us so he came to talk to us. We were talking and somehow he starts talking about Facebook. Then he proceeds to tell us about how Hilary Clinton is super in love with him. She is constantly sending him messages on Facebook and he is SICK AND TIRED of her. He says, "Why doesn't she understand that I do not want to marry her? She is just so en amor (in love) that she can´t even think."

This was pretty much the funniest thing ever. If any of you are in contact with Hilary right now you can tell her that Nestor is sick and tired of her messages and no he will not marry her no matter how in love she is.

This week I have been very grateful for how logical the gospel is. It's just the best. It's so nice to explain the gospel to people because everything makes perfect sense.

CIAO

2016.09.12 Week 15 - Piojos. Lice. Disgusting.

Can´t believe that another week has passed. It seems like I never have anything to say here.

This week we visited Trevelin it very much reminded me of Rockland (ID). It's very small but I really like it. Much more calm than Bariloche. Also apparently we have two different old people missionaries in our mission. One couple lives in Trevelin. Pobres (Poor people), our colé (bus) popped a tire on the ride to Trevelin so we were really late and missed our transfer colé (bus). So at about 1:30 AM they came and picked us up from the terminal. They were really nice.

This week we had......wait for it.......its super fun and exciting........it's not a type of food.........piojos. Lice. Disgusting. So we spent part of a day dealing with that and I laughed remembering earlier this year when my whole family thought we had lice. My companion has had lice three times on her mission so I am expecting to receive more visits than just one. It's the final weeks of her mission and she is really sad to go home. She is super awesome and I have really learned a ton from her, I will be sad to receive a new companion but I'm sure all will be well.

This week we were really trying hard to find new investigators because a lot of our investigators have stopped progressing. This week we found quite a few new investigators but I am specifically excited for two of them. Carolina is a girl from Chile who I think is 20 years old. She wants to be a nurse and is here going to Universidad. We had our first lesson with her and the first thing we asked is "Who is God for you?" She was already crying after this question and the spirit was there from that moment on. I am really excited to see how she progresses.

Victor is the other new investigator that I am really excited for. He is a neurologist. I love teaching smart people. The gospel really is logical and when people can understand it, everything makes sense. He told us he loves to read so I decided to give him a Book of Mormon and we explained what it was. He was very interested in the idea of Christ in the Americas and seemed very excited to read it. The Book of Mormon is really the key, if people are reading it they can feel the spirit and they know that what we are teaching is true! I am very excited to see how things go with Victor.

Drunk people here always try to talk to me in English. It's funny and annoying. People in general always want to speak in English. I usually cannot understand their English. It's better if they just speak Spanish, but I am happy to help with English. There are a few people in the ward trying to learn and get better. It's fun to not be the only one who doesn´t know a language.

Blood Sausage. Yep, I ate that. We went to a member's house for lunch on Sunday and had an asado ( a type of Argentine barbeque). It was super yummy. It's basically like eating at Tucanos. The meat here is SO good. Everyone says it, but it's not a lie. So there was this one sausage looking thing that they kept telling me I had to try. I assumed it was meat because everything was meat. So I tried it. it pretty much tasted like refried beans to me. I didn´t think it was bad at all. Everyone was watching me when I ate it and acting really weird so I finally asked, "WHAT IS THIS?" Then they tried to explain in a very delicious sounding way that it was blood. Mondongo was definitely worse for me. They were all pretty much completely shocked that I thought it was fine. Apparently, everyone hates it. Now that I know what it was, it's more gross because the idea of eating a sausage filled with blood is disgusting.

I hope all is well in America. Good luck with Donald and Hillary. Enjoy the milk and butter. Dairy here is a nightmare. Argentina is the best and I am super happy to be here and also loving my mission!

~~~

Rachel sent an e-mail with photos, but the pictures didn't make it.

These are from her mission president's FB page.

Bariloche Zone Conference.

2016.9.5 Week 14 - I ate mondongo this week

I have no time to write but I ate mondongo this week. It was disgusting. I looked up what it was after...innards.  YAY. Innards are not better than air. I hope you are all doing well. I can´t believe I have finished three months of my mission. IT PASSES SO FAST AND SO SLOW. 

I am grateful every day to live in Bariloche, it is super pretty and a huge blessing. How many people get this opportunity to learn all about a new culture and live in Argentina, it´s pretty awesome!

We don´t have a ton of investigators right now so we got a list of all of the people in our ward so we can visit all of the menos activos (less actives). We are hoping to bring them back to the church and baptize their families!

This week we found 3 brothers that are about 9, 11, 15. We played soccer and basketball with them and are hoping that since we are friends now we can teach them. It was super fun to play "basketball." We played with a soccer ball and the hoop was a hula hoop stapled to a board, but I still wrecked, I don´t mean to be prideful but I think they were impressed, especially since I was playing in a skirt. I love basketball.

Thank you for all the emails and remember that GOD LOVES YOU! My goal right now is to learn more about the Savior. I have been reading Jesus the Christ and it is super super good. It's fun to learn more about Christ and his way of teaching. I appreciate learning that he wasn´t always Mr. Nice-Guy, if he needed to bajar la caña (drop the cane -Argentine phrase implying discipline), he could. I am trying to be loving but direct with investigators and follow his example.