Brrr......June 20, 2011

Painting faces for Flag Day

Family Garrido

Hola All!! Hope you are enjoying your summer! Ok, now it is finally getting cold here! Makes finding people so much harder! We try and jog from appointment to appointment to keep warm in the mornings and evenings. Lots of the people don't have heaters that we taught this week in a more humbler area so it was freeezing. Builds character though. Wouldnt have it any other way! 

Not much to report this week. Just good steady progress. We are running around like crazy trying to get our amazing investigators to come to church with us. We have a college aged girl named Natali prepared to be baptized. She is a miracle. She got hit by a car on a sidewalk two years ago and broke almost every bone in her body, her heart stopped, was in a coma for four months and is here now to live and tell about it! She lives 20 minutes from the church walking, but her walking speed is about 45 minutes to the church because of all her leg problems resulting from the accident. It was so humbling walking with her and listening to her sweet testimony along the way. We took step by step with her, waking up really early to go pick her up, and I was just so grateful for the life and health I have to be able to walk normal. It was a real testimony to me and softened my heart. Miracles are real. Two people that were planned to be baptized had some things come up so we pushed them back to this week. Having tons of faith it will all work out! We are also planning the wedding of a family we have been teaching this and last transfer, the Family Garrido. I am sooooo excited! That is the first picture I sent, all the kids in the family. They basically have nothing so we have lots to plan! We are involving all the ward members but it still is going to be lots. I probably wouldn't even want to plan a wedding in the states, let alone here haha! Wish us luck! July 1st is the casamiento and July 2nd is the baptism. It will be amazing, I cant wait! 

Today is Dia de Bander, or Flag Day. People get more into it here than the states so we decided to join the Argentine pride and paint faces. Fun no? Gotta try to do fun things to break up the week! Then we played monopoly in spanish in the chapel with the Elders. fun!

Oh another miracle this week. True story of the protection missionaries have. Almost forgot about this! On Wednesday I was walking like normal and passed a big dog. Didn't look abnormal or mad or anything so we just went on our way like every other 100 dogs we pass during the day. Well it happened so fast but it came behind me and bit me! In the back of the leg really hard! Then he just whimpered and ran away right after! I looked at my leg and it was all wet in teeth marks and felt really sore but my skirt was perfectly in tact and no bite marks on my leg. It would of been a bad bite, but I have absolutely no doubt that I was protected somehow and the dog couldn't bite through as much as he probably wanted to. Crazy huh! So there, I've been bit by my first dog but was protected so all is well! 

The mission is amazing. I love every second. The Lord is always there, he protects us and sends us help. The Holy Ghost will guide us, if we are worthy of the companionship. Everything works out if it is according to His plan. All is well.

Hermana Thatcher

Winter In Argentina- Feels like Spring!! - June 13, 2011

sorry we can't turn it around!!!

This week has been beautiful!! A weird week but loving every second! It is winter here but the temperatures have been great! Makes working so much more enjoyable! 

I'm guessing that everyone heard about the volcano eruption in Chile. We started seeing the effects last Monday and Tuesday because the sun was all white and we could look directly at it. So weird. It was all the smoke and ash had traveled up to us. People here have been really sad because on the Argentina side, Neoquin, all their water and food is contaminated and lots are suffering. Since it is the province just south of us, many of our members and investigators have family there. So on Tuesday we only went out half day because President Lindahl wanted us to get major food storage. That is one on the pictures I am sending. We took a taxi home because it was so much to carry! I guess volcanos are sometimes followed by earthquakes so since Mendoza is on a earthquake fault he is getting us all prepared. Makes me a little nervous but I guess that is the times we are living in. 

Besides all the crazy natural disaster gossip, this week was awesome. We met some amazing people and got 5 of them to church this week. It takes some strategy to do it since all we we can do is walk and only 3 members have cars. PLUS, this week was an AMAZING stake conference broadcasted from Buenos Aires. Neil A Anderson and Boyd K Packer spoke! I was in heaven taking all sorts of notes and I think even though it was long to sit, the investigators liked it too. If all goes well we should have two baptisms this week. Maxi is 18yrs old and is super smart and knows 4 languages! Javier is the father of a family we have been teaching and we just have been waiting for his health to get better and hopefully he will get cleared this week. There are many others who are scheduled for the next few weeks, we just have to keep loving and supporting them as they get their testimonies stronger. I love getting people excited for baptism. I get about as pumped for baptism as I would for a basketball game! 

Well, I feel blessed as ever. The work is still hard. Saturday we knocked over 100 doors and only got it twice. Those days are hard but Hna Wilde and I make up fun songs and laugh at the silly things we see here as we sing and walk. The work of the Lord cannot be stopped, I just keep working my hardest so I can help and be a better instument in his hands. Thank you for all your prayers and support! Even though I am so far away I still feel the love from you all here! 

Pictures
1> All the food storage in our room!
2> We went to a big supermarket far away and I found the same cereal I remember eating in Ecuador when I was a kiddo there! Tony the TIGRE!
3> We invited all these friends of one of our new converts to a big fun Family Home Evening (Noche de Hogar) and we ate fried bread and watched the Testaments. I love the craziness of tons of Argentine kids! They have the sweetest spirits!

That is all for this week! Love you all!!

hermana Thatcher

This week has been beautiful!! A weird week but loving every second! It is winter here but the temperatures have been great! Makes working so much more enjoyable! 

I'm guessing that everyone heard about the volcano eruption in Chile. We started seeing the effects last Monday and Tuesday because the sun was all white and we could look directly at it. So weird. It was all the smoke and ash had traveled up to us. People here have been really sad because on the Argentina side, Neoquin, all their water and food is contaminated and lots are suffering. Since it is the province just south of us, many of our members and investigators have family there. So on Tuesday we only went out half day because President Lindahl wanted us to get major food storage. That is one on the pictures I am sending. We took a taxi home because it was so much to carry! I guess volcanos are sometimes followed by earthquakes so since Mendoza is on a earthquake fault he is getting us all prepared. Makes me a little nervous but I guess that is the times we are living in. 

Besides all the crazy natural disaster gossip, this week was awesome. We met some amazing people and got 5 of them to church this week. It takes some strategy to do it since all we we can do is walk and only 3 members have cars. PLUS, this week was an AMAZING stake conference broadcasted from Buenos Aires. Neil A Anderson and Boyd K Packer spoke! I was in heaven taking all sorts of notes and I think even though it was long to sit, the investigators liked it too. If all goes well we should have two baptisms this week. Maxi is 18yrs old and is super smart and knows 4 languages! Javier is the father of a family we have been teaching and we just have been waiting for his health to get better and hopefully he will get cleared this week. There are many others who are scheduled for the next few weeks, we just have to keep loving and supporting them as they get their testimonies stronger. I love getting people excited for baptism. I get about as pumped for baptism as I would for a basketball game! 

Well, I feel blessed as ever. The work is still hard. Saturday we knocked over 100 doors and only got it twice. Those days are hard but Hna Wilde and I make up fun songs and laugh at the silly things we see here as we sing and walk. The work of the Lord cannot be stopped, I just keep working my hardest so I can help and be a better instument in his hands. Thank you for all your prayers and support! Even though I am so far away I still feel the love from you all here! 

Pictures
1> All the food storage in our room!
2> We went to a big supermarket far away and I found the same cereal I remember eating in Ecuador when I was a kiddo there! Tony the TIGRE!
3> We invited all these friends of one of our new converts to a big fun Family Home Evening (Noche de Hogar) and we ate fried bread and watched the Testaments. I love the craziness of tons of Argentine kids! They have the sweetest spirits!

That is all for this week! Love you all!!

hermana Thatcher

 

Beautiful Week - June 6, 2011

Wow this week was a blessing from heaven really! I have such a great new companion that is just as crazy and fun as me so there is never a dull moment. Hna Wilde is such a great teacher too so I am taking lots of notes. She has been here 10months so is pretty experienced but I feel we both tons of new things every day. He have found amazing people this week and hopefully they will follow up on their baptism commitments. We walked 40 minutes one way to pick up a family for church and they weren't there which was sad yesterday but we haven't given up hope on them. But there are tons more we are working for and praying for daily!

Let me explain the million pictures which will basically explain this week.

This week was a hard week for my new close friend Hna Zepeda from Honduras. This is her second week here on the mission and we have been close since she got here and is a sweetheart and recent convert to the church three years ago! Well, on Tuesday she got the worst call you could get as a missionary or even in your life. Her dad had cancer that was in remission when she left but within a span of 3 days they found more in his stomach. They operated on Sunday and he passed away Tuesday. It was terrible to hear here wail and cry when President called her. I felt heartbroken for her and didn't know exactly what to do (especially since expressing being sorry and emotions in Spanish is kind of hard still). I sat there and scratched her back and cried with her but I felt such a strong comfort and calm in the room and I said words to comfort her that I am not sure where they came from. It was a miracle for me. We called her family and Stake President back home in Honduras and they were all so strong and told to to stay here and all would be ok. From that moment she never questioned why things happened or talked about going home, but only moved forward knowing Christ would heal her and she had a work to do. I have never seen such strength before! Some days I see her cry and we talk and then she gets back to work. Hna Zepeda has amazing faith I have never seen before, especially for a new member of the church. If you haven´t read President Monson´s  talk from April 2009 ¨He Is Risen¨ lately you should. It is amazing and I cannot believe how beautifully it fits into her situation. The zone leaders are amazing and gave her a blessing and we all read it. I really have been touched and changed from the experience this week.

I thought we should do something fun in the pension to make us laugh since the weather has been yucky. So Hna Wilde and I had a fun version of ¨Come Come Ye Saints¨ on her ipod and we dressed up and danced for them and then they joined in. It was all to have fun and make everyone laugh and feel better! Basically hilarious! Laughter helps everything feel better! We all have laughed and cried together this week. The joys of a mission are amazing, and I am lucky to have such great missionaries around me to learn from everyday!

2) Best Pday so far!! VALLE GRANDE!! We went to this huge lake 30 minutes from here with the other hermanas and the Elders from our district! It was so fun, freezing but fun. We hiked and played and it felt like I was a normal person for a day haha! Very relaxing! I guess it is a huge summer spot for rafting and all sorts of fun things but since it is winter here, it was empty and we had it all to ourselves. The only funny thing is that the bus dropped us off at 800am and it only comes every 8 hrs to return which we didnt know so we were stuck there wandering around for quite some time! All in good fun though! I love every adventure here!


Well, almost been out for 4 months! Weird!! Love every second! Thanks for the prayers and til next time!


Hermana Emily Thatcher