AMAZING week, baptisms - July 18, 2011

 Our beautiful baptism on Saturday

All the posters all around town for the futbol tourney

 I was hungry one day, I wanted to catch this chicken and eat it!

Hna Zepeda and I eating and watching the game

 I made the Elders help cut.

My second family, the Garridos

The Garrido youngest girls come run and attack me with hugs

All my tights look like this. I love the signs of hard work!

We made 12 or so pizzas in the stake center for the Zone

Power nap in San Rafael!

At the end of transfer, some of the Zone eating at a super yummy pizza place

Hola Friends and Family! 
July 18

Wow I had about the hardest week last week and this week was about the best! How about that? We have been teaching two girls named Agustina and Lucia and they were baptized this Saturday. I was soooo proud of them! They are super strong and their mom is close behind them to get baptized. There is nothing better than watching the people you spend so much time teaching and praying for enter the waters of baptism. Better than winning a big basketball game. This was Hna Zepeda´s first two this transfer and with the way the Lord is blessing us, we should have some more if we work really hard. They got confirmed yesterday and I almost cried. They are about Aubrey´s age and wrote me the sweetest note yesterday, it made me think a lot about how much I love these girls but love and miss my own little sister. Interesting how that happens huh? Tuesday we also found an awesome family who has five kids. The parents are the perfect example of how the Lord prepares people´s hearts before we arrive. They are wanting to be baptized but are on vacation right now so when they get back we are going to work our butt´s off and teach them with all we´ve got! Familia Araniz. Muy buenos! So so so grateful for this week! 

The leaders we have right now are amazing. The zone leaders are like our big brothers. Elder Smith from Mesa, AZ and Elder Gonzales from Buenos Aires. They know we are new and like to work hard so they always pump us full of advice and ¨amino¨or go get em attitude and are helping us a ton. I am very grateful to have good leaders when we sometimes don't know what to do, but we are definitely getting more and more confidence and used to the mission situations now. The best part was they came to our baptism Saturday and said we did such a good job this week that they gave us permission to go out and get pizza and watch the COPA Argentine Soccer game! So we went and sat with all the crazy fanatic Argentines and had a great time watching the game even though we sadly lost.

So it is snowing right now. Bummer I know. My poor Honduranean companion has never seen snow and thinks she might literally die of cold haha poor girl. Weather has a ton to do with how the mission goes so this week we are going to have to be creative to keep our motivation up. We are still planning the wedding for the Familia Garrido and things are looking amazing. We are passing by them every day to read scriptures with them and doing other little acts of service which seems to really help them. July 30. What a birthday present?! We finally got the relief society to help but everyone is so short on money we are getting creative. The picture attached is one we used on the invitations. 

So long time without pictures so I sent a lot.
1) At the end of transfer, some of the Zone eating at a super yummy pizza place
2) When we come down the street, the Garrido youngest girls come run and attack me with hugs. I love them! Crazy dirty girls!
3) My second family
4) All the posters all around town for the futbol tourney
5) Sometimes there are random animals in the streets so I was hungry one day and wanted to catch this chicken and eat it
6) I was EXHAUSTED this day and since our lunch was a 45 min walk from the apartment we took a nap in a field instead of going home and then went back to work. Power nap in San Rafael! And of course I loved the Hip Hop background
7) Last pday we made 12 or so pizzas in the stake center for the Zone
8) I made the Elders help cut. Amazing the things they don't know how to do haha but their future wives will thank us
9) Our beautiful baptism on Saturday
10) Hna Zepeda and I eating and watching the game
11) All my tights look like this. Disgusting. I wear socks over them but from all the walking they are all ripped like this and my ugly heels are destroyed. Love the signs of hard work! 

July 11, 2011 - Miracle of a Mission

Hello family and friends. We had a great but hard week this week .We worked through sinus infection and all sorts of crazy problems with the investigators. I am a stronger person coming out of this week and thought about writing this. I am soooo happy for everything we learned this week. Please pray for the Familia Garrido. Their landlord is kicking them out, we have 2 weeks to find a new house for them and plan their wedding. We have our hands full and I will cry like a baby when I see them get married and get baptized but there really isnt anything more beautiful in this world. July 30 is the date, what a birthday present?! But today we got to rest though and Hna Zepeda and I made 12 pizzas for the whole zone. The Elders loved it and it was a blast! But hope you enjoy this little food for thought! 


The Miracle of a Mission

Christ said "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men" (Matt 4:19). And so we follow. We turn our lives over to him. We leave who we have been all our lives and turn to what we believe in and Who we believe in to guide us. At first is a scary decision, but one that changes us forever. 

You pack your bags thinking and realizing the adventure you are about to take, the leap of faith. But once you begin, you realize that the adventure is also a journey. Nineteen and twenty one year old young men and women leaving there lives and loved ones behind to bless the lives and loved ones of others, thousands of miles away.You arrive and realize your whole life you were waiting for this moment, but yet you feel completely unprepared for the task ahead of you. You drop to your knees and plead with the Father above. And thus the transformation begins, the miracle of a mission. 

It continues. Every day a battle to be better and do better, a challenge of diligence, will and heart. You wake up in the morning exhausted but begin with a simple plea, a prayer for help and strength to how what to do today and how to do it. Who will you find at the other side of that door? Will anyone let you in? Will you be able to help them and share with them your testimony in another language? Will you feet stand another full day of walking with all your blisters? The only option is to be obedient, pray for guidance, forget who you are, and listen to your guide. Doubt not, fear not: you are now a servant of the Lord and an instrument in sharing the life changing message of the Restoration. He will get you through, just go. The miracle of a mission.

The miracle occurs in the transformation. The fight to get out of bed early at 6:25am everyday. The quiet dedication in the early morning hours of study time to diligently search His word. Fasting and walking all day with an empty stomach for the ones you now love. After being yelled at, mocked, and turned away hundreds of times, you press on waiting to find that individual or family who needs the light of the Gospel. The miracle is that person who you came as is starting to change. The punk college aged kid no longer exists because now there is something bigger to be, to work to become to be an instrument in His hands. You leave who you were as you put on your plaque every morning and enter into the apostolic work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Your relationship with our Heavenly Father is strengthened, your testimony of the Atonement deepened, the tears and heartaches of the people you teach now become yours as well. Even though you are farther from you family than you ever have been, you love them and are more grateful for them than every.

A mission is a journey, a transformation. When you send in your papers in you never realize the struggles you will have and the situations you will have to help your investigators overcome. You don't know who your companion will be or where you will be sent to work. But there is Someone who does, and has walked that path before you. You change your fears to faith, pride to humility, doubt to courage, frustration to love, and discouragement to determination. Not only do you learn to become fishers of men, but you learn to follow him and walk on water. The miracle of a mission, and what a beautiful miracle it is.


(PS, my camera card had a virus so you will get pictures as soon as it is finished getting cleaned!)


Love you all,

Hermana Thatcher

July 4, 2011 - Cold but happy

Hello ALL!!

This will be short because I made some Cd's for my investigators of Spanish church music. But this week was hard but I learned some unforgettable lessons. We taught a lady 3 lessons and committed her to baptism and then found out she had already been baptized and has some major mental problems. I felt that when we were teaching but wasn't sure what I was feeling so we kept going. It was a hard lesson but a good one. Also, it has been around 20 degrees this week. I wasn't prepared that it was going to be that cold here. My poor beautiful companion from the warm country of Honduras from wanted to die. Our water heater also broke so I am professional at bathing with a pot of hot water. Our wedding we were planning got postponed and one of our investigators is moving out of the providence.

Well, sounds like a lot is going on no? Let me just say I am as happy as ever. It was hard, but I felt it just brought me that much closer to Christ. We had an amazing testimony meeting and brought lots of people to church and also we have been pumping up the members to work with us and they are on fire helping us with the work. I am SOOO grateful. When things are hard there are only two ways you can look at it. You can ask why things are happening and feel ungrateful or you can ask the Lord how you can get through them and fast and pray. He will give you a way and a spirit to do it I can promise. Training in my second transfer hasnt been a piece of cake, but it was been a blast. Learning opportunity of a lifetime here. We got transfer calls and I get to stay here with Hna Zepeda another transfer. I love her to death and we work awesome together. We both dont really know what we are doing so rely a ton on the spirit and have had some life changing lessons. I cant wait for this transfer and all we have planned. 

The Lord is always there for us. No matter if it is 9pm and 10 degrees and knocking on doors with angry people or in a home made of bricks with no heating and 15 people or in a warm house with lonely and sad people. I feel so grateful for what I have and I hope you do too. Love you all and thanks for your prayers. Please pray for the Familia Garrido if you can. They are being hit with about every trial while we are preparing their wedding. This family is special and Satan knows it. But we are going to fight even harder. 


Love,

Hermana Thatcher

June 27, 2011 Miracles, Extra Strength...Wow week!

Hello All! 

Well, where should I begin? This week has been a complete whirlwind. Let me explain. 

Tuesday. We had interviews with President Lindahl. Wow mission presidents are amazing. Probably the best interview I have ever had in my life. He gave me great mission advice and advice for after the mission. Very inspired man. So at the end of the interview he asked me if I could switch to be companions with Hermana Zepeda. Hermana Zepeda is the beautiful hermana from Honduras who barely got here and her father passed away. He felt I was the one to do it and I could do it. She has been really struggling with keeping going and Hna Diaz doesn't want the responsibility of training and feels is having a hard time helping and keeping herself going too. I was really shocked that he trusted me with the big job to train and help someone who just had her father pass away but I gladly accepted the change. Needless to say I didn't sleep that night. Did President Lindahl forget I am still in my second transfer? How was I ready to lead another person through the area to meet every member and investigator again and lead the new lessons? How was I to give advice and teach when I have still so much to learn? Well, good thing this isn't Emily Thatcher's mission, but the Lord's. No doubt in my mind he WILL help me and HAS helped me prepare for this moment. 

But here I am today, feeling amazing and blessed more than I can imagine. I have fasted and prayed for strength and guidance and felt that I have been given so much. It was a very quick switch from being the trainee and the younger companion to trainer and senior companion but what a better way to learn, literally baptism by fire I felt. I have been more obedient that I think I was capable of and we have been trying to listen to every whisper of the spirit. And no it has not been easy, but we found 14 new people this week (only working 4 days) which is pure testimony that missionaries are not here because of their capabilities and teaching skills, but to be used as instruments of the spirit- something we put exactly in practice this week. Each day I try to make it fun for Hna Zepeda, because I know she is still hurting so bad inside. I know I cant rush the healing, but I am trying to make the freezing cold hard days as fun as I can think of. She is AMAZING. She has only been baptized for 3 years and has such a deep understanding of the gospel and the Atonement of Christ, I love every second with her. Plus speaking Spanish all day is helping me tremendously! Well half of the day we play charades trying to explain something (because she doesn't know any English) but it is so fun!

So another week begins. We have transfers next week but I have a feeling we will stay together. But we also get our new mission president President Sergio Avila next week which should be awesome. We have heard all sorts of rumours from the members so we will see. I'm sure he will be amazing!

Please pray for Hermana Zepeda and I. We have less than 6 months experience combined and leave each day with the hope that whatever we encounter, the Lord will guide us through. Isnt the mission amazing?!

Love,

Hermana Emily Thatcher

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