Questions and Miracles April 26, 2011

Family and Friends:

Let me just start off with all the questions mom asked me...haha:

1. So how are you liking you apartment? I like it. Pretty boring a simple. Ill take some pics and send them to you soon. It is cement and it has been getting a little chilly lately so it is cold since we have no heating or cooling system. We have lots of wool blankets though!

2. Do you have any hot showers and how do you wash your clothes, cook your meals, etc.? Yes hot showers. The water heater in really dangerous though because sometimes it kind of warms the water and sometimes it is dangerously hot haha so you have to stay on your toes! Here cooking is different for many reasons. They eat a huge lunch instead of dinner here and that is why they have a siesta afterwards. We get fed about every other lunch which is amazing. The food here is very bland but yummy. Hermana Diaz (32 yr old from Argentina) is teaching me! There is bread with every meal which is so yummy and they cook very unhealthy so I am gonna have to watch it haha! I wash clothes in the sink but since I brought so many clothes it has worked out great! Only wash about 1x week. I always have tons of ironing to do though because we hang it in the kitchen.

3. Are you getting to take any siestas? Yes, President Lindahl is amazing and really willing to work with everyone. He gives the Hermanas permission to take a nap if we are done with all our studying which I usually take a 20 minute nap every day. I squeeze it in but we walk so much I feel I need it and he says it is good to keep us from getting over exhausted.

4. That will probably help you a ton! Is your companion teaching you a ton and how are you getting along? We have been teaching a lot. She lets me add in my few words every once in a while and more and more each day. We are getting along well. She is a little burnout I feel so I am trying to help her get over the 1yr hump.

5. Are your shoes and feet holding up o.k.? And how is your back? All is good!! My back feels the best it ever has!! WHAT A BLESSING NO? My feet really hurt but are getting better. Those Nike print ones you told me not to bring haha- I wear those almost every day. Most of the Hermanas wear tennis shoes (because President says they can) because it is so hard on your feet. So maybe for my bday or Christmas keep your eye on ebay for size 10-11 nike free mary janes. My blisters are finally getting better yes! 100 bandaids later haha.

6. How modern is the city there compared to us here? Well I´m not sure how to explain it. The city is decently modern. Not like the states but I might compare it to our house in Tumbacco. Outside the centro city area where our area goes to is pretty poor. Lots of homemade cement houses and outside bathrooms. I have had to master my holding my bathroom for long time haha because you never know who will or wont have a bathroom!

7.What are your members like and what size is your ward/branch? Do they feed you at all? 
Well like Dad told me he looked it up, there are 6 wards here. Well, haha I was pleasantly surprised that our ¨ward¨had about 20-30 people in the congregation which was I guess a good day. 7of them were our investigators. So yes we do have a stake here (our building is the stake center) but there are sooooo many in actives that everything is like branches if even that. They are amazing. There are like 2 families that do everything and I am already really close with all the members. They always think I am from California haha!

Well, I think that is all. I love it here. It really is super hard work and some days it is hard to be energetic and excited to walk all day but it is what I want and need to do. We had zone conference yesterday which was a super spirit lifter. 

Miracle of the Week: We were walking far out in our area about 45 minutes from our apartment and were a little discouraged because everyone was slamming the doors in our face. Well they don't slam in our face because we have to clap to get in but still. We were fasting for a few things as a companionship which is super hard to do while you are doing so much walking. But get this, we were walking down this dirt road when a guy on a bicycle pulled right in front of us. He said he was a member and just went to see his friend who was having a super hard time. He just ran into us will absolute perfect timing! We walked to his friend´s house and he was a cute 60yr man and his wife. He said he could barely walk, was running out of money and felt like God had deserted him. We taught him and I testified that I had felt pain lots of my life but knew God never deserted me and that because of my physical struggles I am closer to him than ever. He started crying and called us angels and that he felt his life was about to change. The spirit was so strong I couldn´t believe how amazing it all was. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted and went to Church with us this week! What a miracle series of events?! We left his house and Hermana Richins and I jumped and cried in joy for what we had been blessed to experience. We were walking so fast all morning but happened to be on the street right when that member saw us. There are miracles everyday here in the mission but that has been the best one so far. Look for all the tender mercies in your lives and your faith in Jesus Christ and gratitude for him will grown more than you can imagine! How blessed I am to be able to share the Gospel to the beautiful people here! 

Funny things this week:
1. People try to practice English with me so I always make a bet out of it. If they want to speak English with me, the only place I will do it is in the Chapel. Just a little initiative to come haha.
2. The Five Dog Rule: at any given time you can see at least 5 dogs here. In the streets, sewers, in trees, in boxes, everywhere. I´m now officially annoyed but love laughing at how hilarious it is to see them everywhere!
3. The ice cream here is about 1.50 in US dollars. Like huge coldstone kind. I might be fat whhen I get back but gosh I am in heaven! Plus there is a Panederia on every corner! YUMMMM

With Love,

Hermana Thatcher

Buen Dia from SAN RAFAEL ARGENTINA!! April 18, 2011

¡Hola Familia and Amigos!

Wow where do I begin?! The last week has been a whirlwind! I think I have gotten more kisses in the last 6days here than my whole life haha (the argentinian hello kind of kisses on the cheeks of course, something that is a little strange to me but I´m getting used to it). Amazing whirlwind but gosh I am exhausted! Here is the schedule I had coming to Argentina:

Monday: Left MTC 7am to the airport. Weird seeing the outside world for the first time in 8 weeks! Flew from SLC to Atlanta and landed at 4pm. Left at 7:45pm for Buenos Aires! Good thing I am a walking pharmacy, I took some motion sickness medicine that knocked me out for about 6 hrs, more sleep than any of the elders had. There was a huge group of us that left for this flight from the MTC (8 in my district) but were all going to different missions in Argentina (Rosario, Cordoba, Buenos Aires West, and Mendoza). About 25 missionaries in all! I was all in the missionary spirit and talked to everyone I saw haha!

Tuesday: Flying through the night was a great blessing because I felt decently rested and was super super excited to see the tributaries and rivers leading to Buenos Aires from my window seat! There were almost all Argentineans on the flight and liked listening to why we going to their country so it was exciting to practice Spanish. We landed at around 8am and went through customs which took a while with ALL my stuff but it was fine.

The first thing I learned here in my new favorite country is that they don´t speak Spanish. Someone at the MTC messed up because I was thrown into a language that I hadn´t been learning for the past 8 weeks haha! Some of them doen´t even relate Spanish to ¨their language¨ which is Castillano. Every ¨Y¨, double l- ¨ll¨, and sometimes whatever letter they feel like it is pronouced with a ¨shaa..¨¨ And the best part is that they love to not say the ¨s¨ in any word they are saying! So yeah, hello headache and confused look! For example: ¨Hola, shhoo sooyy herm diaz de lo etado unido shhegue aqui do dia ante¨. If you know Spanish try to figure that out but a million times faster. Its been interesting to say the least to figure it out but I am understanding it way better than the first day! That is why in the subject is ¨Buen Dia¨, no one says any ¨s¨s here!

Continue: So we flew into the BA International Airport which I guess is different that the local one we would be catching a plane (yes thank goodness not a bus) to Mendoza. We were met by some sketchy looking guy with long hair who said he was from the church and put us on a scary bus to the other airport across town. What a ride! I was again the only Hermana but now joined by the other Elders going to Mendoza. A 30 minute bus ride through 6 non-marked landed through centro Buenos Aires was a blast. I saw much of what I remember in Slumdog Millionaire and tons of poverty- something I was kind of preparing myself for earlier. When we got on off the bus dropped us off and we kind of just sat there, all the world around us in castellano and we looked like white tourists in dress clothes. Thirty minutes later our other travel person came and after 4 hours of fighting to let us on the small plane with our big bags, they finally let us on. Four elders from the Buenos Aires MTC joined us who already knew spanish which reall helped. We were exhausted, thirsty, and very confused. We got to Mendoza about 5pm (2hr + flight) and were greeted by the lovely President and Sister Lindahl ( I hope everyone has a link to their blog). I got to ride with them in their car (since I was the only Hermana) to the mission home and loved them instantly. By the way, no traffic laws here. Or at least they don´t really apply. We saw police around but President Lindahl said he had been robbed by them over 3 times and are extremely corrupt. Oh well haha. We ate a yummy dinner, and then some on the Hermanas in the area picked me up and we walked to their ¨pension¨ (apartment). One of our goals here in to do at least 20 contacts with invitations everyday and they were missing 15 so I helped them with them on the way back. They were extremely surprised by my enthusiasm and spanish so I did about 4 and it was a blast. A bit comical but they got the point. I fell asleep in about 30 seconds since by that time is was 10:45pm.


Wednesday:The apartment was a little sketchy but I wasn´t sure what to expect. I took a cold shower ( I guess in some pensions it isn´t reliable I don´t know) and had saw the beuday ( spelling idk) and realized I really wasn't in Kansas anymore! We walked 20 minutes to the mission home and all took taxis across town to go to some sort of immigration services not sure. We were there for all the morning and then went back to meet our new companions. My companion is Hermana Richins from Logan, Utah. Super sweet and I know we are going to be great. I can tell she is a hard worker and loves the people so I can´t wait begin learning from her! I felt my prayers were answered to have an amazing companion. She has been here for a little over a year so knows a ton. We ate lunch and then headed off to the bus station to catch a bus to my new area- San Rafael! 4 hours on bus south of us, I bet you can tell I was thrilled to travel again haha. The bus was an interesting experience haha, all sorts of people there! We drove through some beautiful vineyards and some very poor areas but I took a good nap. President said that safety had been an issue for the Hermanas lately but he promised me he put me in one of the safest areas to start. Not crime really but the missionaries have been targetted for just petty thefts so dont worry Mom! :) We walked to our apartment at around 8pm, put my suitcases down and went right back out to do our 20 contacts. I did my share of 10 and loved it! I live with Hermana Richins, Hermana Diaz from Argentina and Hermana Resquin from Paraguay (neither of which speak a bit of English haha).

So that was the trip! Everything since then has been hard work but nothing more than I expected. Our apartment in in centro or the downtown San Rafael but that isn´t really our area so I cover a lot of area in the surrounding area. I have blisters to show it! The schedule here is really weird- something I haven´t gotten used to yet. People get up late, have a 3 hour siesta from 1-4 everyday where the whole town shuts down and everyone eats their big meal of the day and takes a nap. So we have to go back to the apartment and study more! So hard not to fall asleep but President said we are authorized to take very short naps if we reall need which is great! Then we go back out at 4 to teach and get bakc at 9 or so. We have been teaching a lot already and finding awesome people. There are lots of people here that we have found that don´t know how to read which presents a problem haha. Also EVERYONE is either Catholic or Jehovahs Witness which makes it hard to even sometimes get into their house. I haven´t got discouraged yet so don´t worry. They love to listen to me practice castellano and that has kind of been a special blessing maybe- a six foot blonde speaking castellano sometimes attracts people to listen. The guys here are very blunt though, cat calling all day which does annoy me. Oh well!

Oh and there are so many comical things here. One of which that there are probably more dogs than people here. Sometimes they follow us while we walk on the dirt roads in the boonies. Super ugly ones that have mated a trillion times! I´m starting to take pictures when I know we will be in safe areas, otherwise I dont take it out. Also guess what? We had a baptism on Saturday!!! So awesome experience! I got to help teach the last lesson but they had been learning for the last 2 weeks but it still was special! A very humble family with 6 kids. They live in a small cement house with toliet, beds, and kitchen all divided by sheets. Sometimes I feel that I am in Juarez, because downtown El Paso (those shopping areas right next to the border) remind me a lot of here. Anyways, we baptized the 3 kids that are old enough and are trying to figure out how to get the parents officially married because they aren´t. It was a precious baptism. Everything with the church is so different here because everyone is new to it. We have 2 more baptisms on saturday that we have been teaching every other day (2 kids) and so I´m pumped for that!

Well, I got to go. I absolueltely love it here. My apartment is one of the nicer ones but still getting used to not having a washing machine, any heater or air conditioner, and other things I am used to with the food. I wouldn´t trade this for the world though! Walking and talking all day is no easy task but I am praying so hard and feel the blessings of your prayers so thank you. I´m running out of time here at this internet cafe but should send pictures next week sorry. This one doesn´t accept them. Love you all and hope all is well in Los Estados Unidos!

PPPPSSSS: Great mission rule!!!! I CAN get emails from friends other than family but you just have to send them to Mom (brenthatcher@hotmail.com) and someone from my immediate family has to send it to me and I will send things to you that way too if that is ok with Mom or Dad or whoever can do that for me :)


XOXOXOX
Hermana Thatcher

Emily Arrives in Argentina!!!

Hermana Thatcher arrived safely!!!

"What a delightful young woman you have entrusted in our care. Your daughter's companion is Hermana Richins, one of our very best missionaries.  We are sure that she will compliment your daughter's talents. We look forward to getting to know her better as the months go by."        - President and Sister Lindahl, Mission Presidents

Last Letter from the MTC & USA!!!! April 5, 2011

Hola Mis Amigos y Familia,

 

Last email here at the MTC. Pretty sad but gosh I am excited and anxious to get out in the field! I have another pday on Saturday but no emailing (I might send out some letters though if I have time during packing). Here are the highlights of this amazing week:

 

 

1) 

*****Salt Lake to Atlanta 11am-4:30pm, Atlanta 8pm- Buenos Aires 7:30am (all times of actual time zone I will be in) !!!!!!!!!! (Notice no plane ride to Mendoza scheduled!!)***

Travel Plans! We checked the mailbox about 5 times on Thursday and finally in the evening we got them! We all jumped around and sang songs and now it feels real. I guess my Visa is ok because if it isn't you usually don't get travel plans which is great news. My whole district (or the 8 out of 11 who will be going to Argentina) will be flying together the whole way! What a fun mormon party plane! It will be great though because I have grown to be good friends with them all. We have all grown a lot together and really enjoy the experiences we have had at the MTC together. Once we get to Buenos Aires though we all separate to our own missions. We have I think 6 or 8 going to our mission but other than Elder Boyd, Kelly and I they must be from the beginner Spanish class since I have never met them before. I will be the only Hermana though, how fun haha. The best part of the trip are these three things: 1) We don't have to leave the MTC at 3am like lots of people, we leave at 8. 2) We have a 4 hour layover in Atlanta so I will have plenty of time to make phone calls 3) We think that we are riding a bus from Buenos Aires to Mendoza!  We don't have any flight info on the ride from Buenos Aires to Mendoza and the travel center said we might be riding a bus there- they have no info! What an adventure no? Don't worry, I bought motion sickness medicine and might possibly get to see the whole country of Argentina which would be great. The ride would be around 15hr maybe (or so we have calculated). I just think it will give me a head start on getting to talk to people there. So I guess I will let you know as soon as I know- which maybe wont be until I get there! :)

 

 

 

2)

GENERAL CONFERENCE!! How awesome was it?! Such a powerful experience to sit in a gym full of over 2000 missionaries taking notes and seeing the prophets and apostles in theater sized screen. Yes it was hard to sit for so long in hard plastic chairs and then go and study spanish in between but we mad it through. I see it as a small sacrifice compared to people all over the world who have to travel far distances just to hear it. The awesome part was that the speakers : Jeane Stevens, Kent Richards and Richard Maynes all just spoke in here to us at the MTC! How cool is that? We haven't had an apostle here yet (not sure why) but I am so glad to be able to watch conference here. It was such an upllfting experience before I get ready to leave

 

3)

What I have learned here: EVERYTHING. But a news station in Salt Lake (KSL) did a story on the MTC and I made the film (for a few seconds during a devotional haha). It is long but really shows what we do here and what everything is like. I hope you can search it and share it with everyone because I think it will answer a lot of people's questions. But besides that I just can't even begin to explain how much I have grown here. You really can't ever measure something like spiritual and personal growth but if I could, it would be unreal. My testimony of Christ and the Gospel has grown unbelievably. I am still kinda nervous to step out of the plane in Argentina and say goodbye to English for 16 months, but I feel I used my time wisely here and worked hard. I guess that is all you can do. But more than a little nervous, I can't wait to begin this mission. I can't wait to meet the people, teach lessons and hopefully change some one's life like the gospel has changed mine.

 

Thank you for all your prayers and I hope to be able to have more time to write more people once I get there. I love you all and wish me luck!

 

 

Con Sinceridad,

 

 

 

XOXOXOXOX

Hermana Thatcher

 

"Navidad"

March 29, 2011

 

Family and Friends!,

 

So this week, everyone in our district is calling it "Navidad" or Christmas week: we get our travel plans! To many that may seem small, but when there are not many more major accomplishments than the halfway-point at the MTC, travel plans are your key out of here! Should get them in two days, on Thursday. We have no idea if our visas are here but since the consulate came and supposedly signed them, hopefully I will get that golden ticket this Thursday! My flight should be on April 11th which is a Monday (which means I will get a P-day not this Saturday, but the following Saturday before I leave to get things together and do laundry). And YES I will be using a telephone at the airport :)

 

This week I have been working harder than ever on teaching and understanding the deeper meaning of the Gospel of Christ. Hermana Elias and I have made a lot of teaching appointments and have learned from almost every Spanish instructor here. Great stuff to work on. I feel a little bit more comfortable with the language now so that we can do more during the lesson flexibility wise. Still have tons to work on but I know it will be baptism by fire when I fly into Buenos Aires! Woooowwwooo!!!

 

This last Sunday was amazing. Fast Sundays at the MTC are pretty comical. Everyone is kind of on edge if you an Elder, and more emotional if you are a Sister haha. We stop eating at 5:30 Saturday and eat at 6pm Sunday. I never fasted a full 24hrs but it is a great experience haha! I learned a lot about relying on prayer. I felt I really needed to bear my testimony and I did, choking through it. I bore my testimony in Spanish about the Atonement (It was on my mind since it was 5yrs exactly since the Carissa McGee case happened) and I felt something I had never felt before. I left even though I was scared, testifying of Christ- I felt the words came easier. Then, we had Mission Conference and the President Brown (MTC President) gave an AMAZING talk about Christ's last 24hrs on the Earth (ssimilar to Elder Holland's talk "None Were With Him" but in much more detail). I felt such a conviction to learn more about the Atonement and have studied for about 2 hours a day on it since then. I feel the more I know about it, the better missionary I can be. Amazing stuff huh?

 

Well I want to switch from a serious topic to the funny things at the MTC I have found in the last 7 weeks:

 

-While doing service in the Gym mopping floors, the scale to weigh yourself is close in sight. Every 30 seconds you hear a wail of "ohhhhhh noooo" from about every missionary that has gained some sort of weight here from eating all you can eat.

 

- While walking to the temple today, there was a 12 pack of Dr Pepper on the sidewalk. We all stopped and starred at it for a while like it was some sort of missionary trap. We guess that someone from Utah had someone drop it off for them but we passed the test and didn't take any. It was hard though haha. Like manna from the sky tempting us! :)

 

- The cafeteria is where we think up many cool games. I probably have slumped down to the level of my 19yr old Elders but we all need some fun. I can eat a WHOLE apple in 3 bites, we play shuffleboard with the salt shakers, I am the referree for the Elder's eating contests (pizza, etc), I can break a banana over my head, and we count down the days til "ice cream wed and sunday". But don't worry, I still very much act like a lady! :)

 

-We have learned how to slack 3 of the bunk beds together and we all sing 4 part hymns in the showers.

 

 

Well, that is it for this week. Fun and games and serious learning. Great huh?! I am so lucky to be trusted to do His work. Thank you sooooooooooo much for yur prayers!!

 

 

Hermana Thatcher!

Photos from the Mission Training Center - Provo, UT

Here are some of the photos of me and my district (we are the only 2 Hermanas), my companion Hermana Elias and my roommates!