English Classes

January 26, 2015

Well what is cracking???

Things here in Argentina are just splendid! :) Oh how I love Argentina! Filled with adventures siempre. :) Okay so some quick updates on some investigators that I’ve gotten some questions about. Denis. Supposedly he moved to Capital. I don’t really know. I think it’s the truth, but we also saw him in the train station one day when we were on the train one day returning from lunch. So yeah, who really knows? Monica. Well she’s still just as sweet as ever, but the problem is that she has a ton of kids, her husband died a few years ago and even though her kids are pretty much grown up for the most part, they pretty much all live with her and she has to take care of them. So basically she doesn’t have a lot of time. Unfortunately she still hasn’t gone to church. :( We’re going to continue to try to visit her this week, but if she doesn’t go to church we’re going to have to drop her. I’m super sad about that. :(

So out of no where a ton of people have appeared that want English classes. Investigators, members, todos! So like, I feel like that’s what the Lord wants me to do right now, teach an English class. At the beginning when started saying they wanted English classes I kinda shrugged it off and didn’t think about it too much, but now it’s like everyone and their dog, so I think it’s a sign that I need to. Which scares me so much! Like literally that just scares me to try to teach English and I have no idea why. I think it’s because I feel like I don’t know enough Spanish to be able to teach English. Oh well!! Another mountain I need to climb/skill to develop I suppose. It’ll be a fun adventure! :) 

My companion and I have a fun new nickname! There’s a crazy man in our building and when he opened the elevator and saw us he was like "Oh! Mis ardillitos de oro!" or in English...."Oh! My little squirrels of gold!" Um what???? We were laughing so hard!! :)

Yesterday, we found an awesome elegido that accepted a baptismal date for the 15! He has tons of problems and really wants to turn his life around. His name is Lautaro and he’s 18! Then at church a member brought a friend that lives in our area!! Her name is Ivana and really wants to draw closer to Christ and needs His help in her life. We have an appointment with her tonight so we’ll see how that goes. The assistants talked to her more than we did and they said they really think she’ll get baptized, so that’s good. I sure hope so!!! :)

Asado.......So Delicious!!!!!

Last night we had to run home and it was rough. We’re super out of shape jajaj. So our district leader told us we should start running in the mornings to have more energy jajaj oh boy! So yeah, we ran this morning and it felt so good!!! Yes I’m out of shape but oh how I miss running! It was so great!! :) 

Yesterday I gave a talk on how the members can participate in Missionary Work. Basically I just wrote down some scriptures and ideas and then I just spoke. I think it went alright. The Elders had a baptism yesterday and there were a lot more members that stayed for it than usually. So that was awesome! I think something that we can all ask ourselves is "When is the last time I contributed to missionary work?" Or "when did I last accompany the missionaries or give them a reference or invite my neighbor to church or visit a less active member?" There are so many simple, but powerful ways that we can contribute to the work of the Lord! Please give it some real thought and then put some goals for this year to help in the work of the Lord. I promise you that the blessings you receive will be unlike any others you have received before! The joy of being an instrument in the hands of the Lord will be unlike any other!! :)

Thank you all for your prayers, como siempre. I love you all and feel your support so strongly! You will never know just how grateful I am for you all! I hope you have a wonderful week! Remember, when we love the way the Savior does, miracles happen. And of course, Stay Anxiously Engaged!! :)

xoxo,

Hermana Van 

Rain Rain Go Away!

January 19, 2015

Hola Hola!!!!

Well, as the subject says, it’s been raining a ton this last week. Nothing new, its Buenos Aires, but igaul, I just don’t like the rain. It’s the worst to work in jaja. I’ll be sending a photo of me in the puddles in the streets. It was raining a full!!!!!!

Crazy Rain!

In other news.....DIANA GOT BAPTIZED!! YAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!! I’m super excited!! She got baptized Saturday and then was confirmed yesterday!! :) It was a very very happy weekend! Stressful for sure in the process, but in the end when everything turned out well, it was the best!!! :) Oh and in OTHER news!!! I just got informed that my investigator in Almagro Jonny got baptized too! I’m super super happy for him! I don’t know if you guys remember me talking about him, but yeah, he got baptized too so I’m stoked. :) 

Diana's Baptism.

No sé que más decir. It was a really great week filled with lots of miracles and picture taking. Jaja. But it’s kind hard to describe everything that happened ya know? Oh yeah, we had exchanges with the Hermanas Entrenadores and I was sure I was going to the other area since I only had two weeks in the area, but it turned out I was very mistaken. I ended up staying in San Fernando. I was super nervous, but in the end it turned out okay. We found an awesome lady named Monica. She didn’t go to church (I think she was embarrassed with how her sons acted towards us. They’re snakes. Or in other words they try to flirt with us and what not. Bleh.) But anyways, even though she didn’t go do church, I think she will this next week. I really feel like she’s going to get baptized. 

Lovin' the missionary life!

OHHHHHHH!!!! I got a story for you guys! Okay, so Monday night we had a lesson with Denis. When we arrived he was once again in his super short shorts. So we sit down and he starts making some juice for us when a lady walks in and see us and just goes bazurk. She starts yelling at us and Denis saying that we couldn’t be there and that she knew his intentions and that she was the owner of the house and that visitors weren’t allowed in this house etc, etc. It was crazy!! I’m not even kidding. So we just say we’re super sorry and that we had no idea so we get up and leave and she slams the door behind us. So yeah we got kicked out, that was fun. Denis called us later and said that the lady isn’t the owner, she’s crazy and she was seeing a psychologist or something like that. So that was pretty funny. When we finally had our lesson with Denis in the chapel it went suuuuuper well. He said he had been thinking about baptism and lots of stuff. He recognized that the Catholic Church did a lot of things contrary to what the bible says. He had lots of questions and all in all it just went really well. I honestly think he will be baptized. I don’t know when, but I really think he will. 

Ooops! Got a little flour on the skirt!

Hmmm....what else happened? Burned some brownies, didn’t have power one night so we had to live by candle light, and held a new born guinea pig. That pretty much sums up the week! It was a good one. :) 

Missionary life by candle light!

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week! I feel all of your prayers so strongly! Thank you thank you thank you! You are all the greatest!! Love you!!! Remember, when we love the way the Savior does, miracles happen. And of course, Stay Anxiously Engaged!! :)

xoxo,

Hermana Van  

Short Shorts and Church

January 12, 2015

Hola todos! Cómo les va??

Bueno, where do I start with this week?? Yet again it has been a week of miracles. It’s been super fun to be here in San Fernando and witness so many miracles. My companion and I have a great time together. 

Hannah with a Christmas Tree on her head!

Hermana Gomez with the Christmas Tree on her head!

Okay, so I think I’ll just start with my story from yesterday right away since I’m still thinking about what else I can share from the week jaja. So yesterday we went to pick up our investigators Lucia y Ashelyn to go to church. Saturday night they had a quince (instead of quinceñera they just say quince here...it’s a birthday party for when you turn 15...it’s pretty big.). Anyway they had a quince for the cousin and they said that there was a chance that they’d be sleeping and couldn’t go to church. Well we did our best to help them understand the importance of going to church and they said they’d go. So when we passed by Sunday morning to pick them up pretty much the whole family was awake, however they told us they couldn’t go to church because they had been in the hospital until 2:30am. The 5 year old little boy, Tobias, had cut his leg/foot on the grill. So then we see Tobias and the poor thing is limping super badly. So they were super tired and since Tobias couldn’t walk very well they weren’t going to be able to go to church. So at that point we had NO one to go to church because our super awesome investigator that is getting baptized this week can only go to church every other Sunday due to work. So we decided to go to another investigator’s house and see if she wanted to go to church. Yeah, she didn’t answer the door. So we go to church and I’m just thinking, what we need to do this week to make sure there are investigators in church next week. Then while I was sharing my testimony (since I’m new in the ward) a guy walks in and sits right next to my comp in my seat. It turns out he is an investigator from a couple weeks ago. We had invited him to go to church last week but he didn’t go and he never could set a time to meet with us so I thought he wasn’t interested. So we didn’t even try to call him this last week and contact him, but miraculously he went to church!!!! It was such a miracle. The funniest part is that he works in the villa (ghetto) because he’s in the military. He is so buff. Like he seriously is like a body builder. Anyways, he came to church in SUPER short shorts! I was dying! It was so so funny but so so awkward and uncomfortable. I was like, this cannot be real. So then we talk to him after and he’s like I’m looking for the truth, I’ve visited tons of different church, etc, etc. So as we were talking to him we were trying to make him feel comfortable in church so we were trying to laugh since he seemed kinda tense, but he would not crack. This guy is so serious! Like super serious! It’s pretty funny. He’s like your typical military guy I guess. Anyways we have a lesson with him today. We’ll see what happens.

Matias who goes teaching with the Hermanas.

So like I said, we’ll be having a baptism this week!!! This Saturday. Her name is Diana! She is so so great! Ah I just love her! She has only gone to church twice, but with her work schedule we felt that it would be best for her to be baptized this Saturday and then be confirmed on Sunday. But since she only has two church attendances we had to ask special permission from the bishop. At first it seemed like he was going to say no, but in the end he said, this is the only exception he would make, but from here on out it always has to be 3 church attendances. We were thrilled!!! I’m so excited I can’t even tell you guys!! So PLEASE pray for Diana so that she can get baptized this Saturday!!!!! :)

Hannah loves the provincia of San Fernando but with it comes cockroaches!

Well, my story ended up being longer than I intended so it looks like I’ll just wrap it up here. I don’t want to write too much or take up too much of your time. But yeah, it was a good week. :) Quick side note, today I have 10 months. I’m kinda freaking out. The time is passing suuuuper quickly! I’m wondering where it’s gone. :/ Amway, I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thank you so much for your prayers! Love you all!!! Remember, when we love the way the Savior does, miracles happen. And of course, Stay Anxiously Engaged!! :)

xoxo,

Hermana Van 

Bienvenidos a San Fernando!

January 5, 2015

HOLAAAAAA!!!!!

Wow! What a week!! I can’t even express how much I already love San Fernando! I don’t know if I mentioned it in the last email, but it is provincia. Now it’s not suuuuuuuper provincia, but its still definitely for sure provincia. It’s sooo different from Capital! It’s been a nice change. It’s so much more tranquilo. 

So last P-day in San Fernando was just nuts. After P-day was over we went over to a less active member’s house. He was kinda crazy so that was a pretty fun experience. Then after him we went to visit a recent convert’s house. I didn’t know much before hand, just that he’s a recent convert of about 6 months and his name is Jorge Luis. So we walk in and we’re just sitting there chatting when my companion was like "We would love to share a scripture with you, is there anyone else home?" And he’s like "Yeah my wife is." So he calls for her to come and join her and from the kitchen I hear her respond, but the voice was the voice of a man sounding like a woman! Next thing I know, a man dressed as a woman comes out with a tray of coca colas for us all. So we introduce ourselves and start chatting and the whole time I was thinking there is no way this can be real, but at the same time I was like but maybe it is, who knows, because I have seen MANY transvestites in Argentina. So we keep talking and they want to know if they could get married and have children and my companion wasn’t saying much so I was like well, I gotta answere si o si. So after a little while I was like "Next time we come we’re going to bring the Family Proclamation and read it together." So they got pretty excited for that. Then my companion was like "We actually wanted to share a scripture about the family where are the chicos?" Then when they called for the chicos like 5 guys jump out from everywhere and no where from like the ceiling and everything (like the lost boys in Peter Pan) and everyone just starts clapping and saying "BEINVENIDOS A SAN FERNANDO!" Then I look and see that one of them has a camera. I seriously died I was laughing so hard!! It was the funnies thing EVER!! It was just a few recent converts from the last like 6 months or so that got together to do a little joke. It wasn’t anything rude. I thought it was absolutely hilarious. So basically right from the first day I just LOVED the members and the area! It’s seriously so great!!

Members playing a prank on Hannah!

Another story: New Years I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. It was completely dark and when I walk into the bathroom my foot steps into water. My first thought was "This cannot be happening." So I turned on the light and the whole bathroom floor was COVERED in water. Like a good inch of water in todos lados. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you think about it, it’s a lot. So I look directly at the toilet thinking the water was leaving from there, but it wasn’t so I was super confused. And then I look at the window, nope not raining. So then I look at the part where you flush the toilet (in our apartment it’s on the wall and not outwardly connected to the toilet) and I touch the wall underneath it and the water is just cascading down the wall. I was like Oh crap how do I even open that up and fix that, I do not want to wake up Hna Gomez. So I just tried flushing it and BAM problem solved. It totally stopped the water leakage. It was sooo weird!! So then I look around at all the water and I’m not, yeah I’m not cleaning that up right now. So I just went back to bed and then in the morning I started on the task. The whole thing was pretty funny.

The pranksters at church.

Okay, honestly I just have so many stories that I could share from this last week, but I just can’t write a novel and bore you all. Basically this week was an incredible week of miracles. We had like 5 investigators in Church, but due to some circumstances only one actually has her baptismal date planned (Diana, she’s incredible!!) but it was an absolute miracle to have so many there because now we have so many possibilities! We tried to do our part and work really hard, but in the end we didn’t even do anything, all the miracles that occurred last week were Heavenly Father’s doing. I can’t even believe how blessed we were. It was such an awesome week. My companion is incredible. She is just the cutest thing in the world. She teaches so well with such great sincerity. She’s seriously retraining me in the mission. I’m learning so much from her.

Hannah loves her new companion!

So I know I say this all the time, but my favorite part of the mission is seeing so many miracles. Every baptism I have ever witnessed in the mission is a grand miracle. Every person we find, every lesson we teach, the same, grand miracles. I love being in the mission. I love witnessing so many miracles. As our faith increases we see more miracles! God is a God of miracles! In every aspect of life! Look for them! :) You’ll be happy and realize that you truly are His child and in the palm of His hand. Remember, when we love the way the Savior does, miracles happen. And of course, Stay Anxiously Engaged!! :)

xoxo,

Hermana Van 

Feliz Navidad!! y Cambios!!!

December 30, 2014

Hola todos!!!

To start... FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!! :) I hope you all had an incredible Christmas! I know I sure did!! :)

In other news, another transfer has come and gone. I honestly cannot believe how fast the time is passing! I hope it starts slowing down here pretty soon. :S So what happened in transfers? Well, I’m no longer in Almagro. I am now in San Fernando! It’s where the mission offices are!! So I’m pretty stoked about that because I’ll basically always know what’s going on and I’ll get my mail super often! It’ll be fun. And would you like to know what other missionaries are in our ward? The Assistants. Yep...to the President. No pressure or anything. :/ My companion is Hermana Gomez from Spain! :) She just got done with training, so I’m her second companion. I cannot even express how much I already love her. She is the cutest, sweetest thing ever! I feel so lucky to be in the area and have her as my companion. 

Since I haven’t written in 2 weeks, I feel likes there’s a lot to say, but I don’t really know what to say. So we’ll see how it goes. So two weeks ago Carlos got baptized!! It was awesome!! I was so happy! It was such a good day! He called us in the morning and wasn’t too sure about getting baptized, but some how my companion was able to talk to him and calm him down and he was able to be baptized and have an awesome experience! :) I seriously witnessed so many miracles in Almagro!

Carlos Baptism

Last week, the 24th, we had a Christmas Devotional as a mission which was super fun! We had a little program where different groups of missionaries sang and then between each musical number there was a narration. It was beautiful. Very well done. Then we ate lunch, talked, and received little presents from President and Hermana Ayre. It was so great! :) I love our mission gatherings! We always have so much fun!! Then in the night we had permission to stay out until 10:30 so we were with a family from Ecuador that lives super close to our apartment. They gave us super cute earrings that I’ll be able to use when I get back from the mish! :) Then Christmas rocked (obvio) because I got to skype the fam and we were with the Gutierrez family, aka my second family! It was a blast!!! :) They gave me two cute ornaments in order to always remember them! :) 

Ward Christmas dinner with the Ayovi Family from Ecuador

Okay so I’m literally racking my brain to remember what else I could possibly write about but I’m kinda at a loss. Oh I know. Sunday they didn’t have enough speakers in Sacrament meeting so while I was just chilling in the congregation the 2nd counselor was announcing who would be speaking and he just announced that I would be sharing my testimony. I was taken completely by surprise. Not that it’s rough to share your testimony; I just wasn’t planning on it. It went well though. It’s always an awesome opportunity to be able to share what you know is true. So yeah, it was kinda like my farewell testimony from the ward jaja. 

Hannah holding the Christmas Ham.  Spending Christmas with her 2nd  family -Gutierrez

Well, I believe that is just about everything I got for this week! Thanks for all you do! I love you all so much and I really hope you all had an awesome Christmas!! :) Thanks so all your prayers on my behalf! Remember, when we love the way the Savior does, miracles happen. And of course, Stay Anxiously Engaged!! :)

xoxox,

Hermana Van