It's great to be a Kid again

Something that I'm still not used to here:

American swear words don't mean anything to the people here.

And the f-bomb is everybody's favorite.

Nemi (the cute little boy from last week) was running around with his toys during a cita we had with his grandma yelling "what the f***, what the f***" and I´m sure I was white from shock because I´m a little innocent missionary while his Mom (who is a member) was smiling and laughing and giving him cookies to eat which only made him swear even more he was so excited.

haha!

Capturar La Bandera

Last week we had P-day de zona and spent it with another zone playing capture the flag. It was hecka fun but all of us were so sore the rest of the week. Even me, and all what I did was run around pretending I knew what I was doing haha classic Amy D. At least all the Latinos thought I could run fast. It cracks me up though because everyone thought that the team that had all the college football players would slay the team with all the small skinny Latinos but it was the opposite. Do not underestimate Latinos. They play real fútbol (soccer) and they know how to dominate. 

See the Child in Everyone

So my mom last week told me in her letter to think of everyone as little kids and I really took that to heart and learned a lot from that. I shared this with her in a personal letter but I think I'll go ahead and share it with everyone.

"One thing that I have learned here is that there is NEVER enough time. We are just never going to have enough time to do everything. But then I think of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings when he says something like "It's not about the time we have but what we do with the time we have been given," or something like that Josh could probably quote it better. But its so true! I don't have a lot of time on the mission, or rather, I don't have enough time in life so it´s so important to LIVE right now and do as much as you can because you're not going to get this time back.

Something that me and my companion talk about a lot (we have a lot of deep spiritual conversations on the mish haha) is that we see so many other missionaries worrying about life after the mission. School, sports, marriage, work, all of that stuff but it's like they forget they are still on a mission. Sometimes I find myself worrying about these things too but I came to a realization the other night talking with my companion is that I have done this almost my entire young adult life. I've always been sooo worried or constantly thinking about my future that I don't ever enjoy the present. Sometimes we think so much about the future that it takes the joy out of living in the present.

When you told me in your last letter last week to think of everyone as a child, I really took that to heart and tried to imagine myself as kid. Or this week I really tried to remember how I felt about life when I was a kid. Kids are just so perfect because from the moment they wake up, all what they worry about is how to enjoy every moment of that day. They don´t worry about who they are, what they look like, who other people are or what they look like, or even what they´re going to have for dinner that night but they just focus on enjoying life right now.

I think it has really helped me enjoy my time here more because I feel like this transfer has been rough for so many different reasons, but I've been trying to remember who I AM, the little kid in me that is sleeping inside. I find myself loving myself, my companion, and the people way more for some reason. I'm not as worried of what people think about me or what I think of other people. Life is just simplier and more enjoyable. It feels great to be a kid again."

Moral of the story: kids rule!

Have a great week!

Con amor, Hermana D

Quotes of the Week

me: I have to use the bathroom

Hermana Nomellini: me too

Hermana Nomellini: I have to use the bathrrom.

Me: Me too.

Cada freaking dia.

We're on the same schedule haha

Amargo entre de la Dulce

One thing that I love about being a missionary:

You meet everyone.

And by everyone I mean 

EVERYONE 

Especially when knocking on doors.

You just never know who is going to answer the door (if they do ha!)

Like, you don´t know if someone is going to open the door,

start talking to you so loud it´s like they´re yelling and you can´t understand a word they´re saying

and then they start yelling at some bikers down the street

and then they ask where you from and barely say "Los estados unidos"

and then they talk about how cute you are and run up to you and pull back your hair and grab your face to kiss you on the cheek.

True story.

This lady was crazy and Hermana Nomellini and I almost peed we were laughing so hard.

But anyways

Ups and Downs

So the past three weeks has been a struggle. When first came, we had seven investigators. Now we only have pretty much one (cirilo) and Roberto but we found out that he is pretty much always drunk so we´re trying to figure out what to do with him ha.

So it´s been pretty rough trying to find more people to teach. As a missionary I feel like you literally are in God´s army, because we are pretty fighting for each person that we meet. And it´s really hard beacause we fall short sometimes and it´s a struggle,

but the fight is so worth it

I think growing up I´ve always taken for granted having the gospel in my life but now I´m just grateful to be raised in my family. I can see how big of a difference it makes and even though it´s such a fight to help these people, it´s so worth it when you see them fight for themselves too.

Like lately we have been seeing more inactives coming to church and we´ve been getting refrences left and right from the members.

And the other night we had a family Home Evening with Julia, Narea and their entire family. It was their very first fhe and I don´t think I have ever felt so happy here. It was just so special to see a family come together and just love each other and talk about the gospel and stuff.

And we had empanadas which were BOMB

But anyways,

It´s moments like these where you see the fruits of your labor and the people you fight for enjoying the blessings of the gospel because they chose to follow Jesus Christ, is just so special to me and makes me want to fight even harder.

​I seriously love all these people so much!

Another thing that I probably love most about being a missionary is that you get a bigger taste of how Christ loved people I think, but it´s only just taste but man it is SWEET. 

I can´t even imagine how much he loved us!

Also this kid:

Is Nemias

And he reminds me so much of Elijah it kills me omg he is adorable. He´s always grabbing my hands and my face and kissing me and yells "AMEN" after every prayer lol I die

he started taking selfies on my camera haha

​I want to frame this

But anyways, we got a new investigator yesterday and he is super interested in the church, and so the work is still going and ball is still rolling, we´ll just keep running and till we come home dead haha

Les amo un montón!  

Always running with an egg in my pocket

First off, I just want to say sorry for the lame title, but I´m running out of creativity.

Speaking of running, I´m not kidding when I said I run in a egg in my pocket because for the last two sundays in a row, Hermana Nomellini and I have been running to the bus terminal late at night and I´ve always had a boiled egg in my pocket.

One time the police picked us up and gave us a ride to the terminal and my egg cracked in my pocket and I made their whole car smell like egg lol.

Why am I even talking about this?

No sé. 

Pero, SPRING IS HERE!!! I´m so happy I could cry. It´s been soooo pretty and warm lately. Flowers and Blossoms are blooming everywhere and it hasn´t been rainy and cold at all. 

But I can already tell that summer is going to suck because it can even get really hot right now, and it´s only August. Hermana Nomellini told me that it got so hot and humid in the summer that sometimes she just felt like crying. Sooo I´m stoked.

It´s not about what you say

So the one thing that has been frustrating me the most in the mission has been myself. I´ve always been impatient with myself but learning a language has taken everything to an entire new level. 

I just want to tallllk. 

I can understand way more than I can speak and I just feel like I´m struggling with talking and all the members think I should be speaking perfect Spanish because I have been here for a month and a half...

Hermana Nomellini totally gets me, and she told me that one cheesy quote about it´s not about what you say but how you make people feel. 

So on Saturday we went to the Elder´s area for divisions and refuerzos and I was with Hermana Menacho (our newest Hermana in the zone fresh from the MTC in Buenos Aires, I´m not the baby anymore!) and one of the members who was a return missionary. We had a list of inactives to go visit and we only made it to one family.

It was this cute little Mom and her 15 year old daughter and they invited us in to sit and she and the member talked for like 3 hours (I´m not kidding when I say Argentine´s can talk sooooooo much) and the whole time I was trying to think of  something to share from the scriptures because Hermana Menacho is still so new and I had to take the lead for once.

I remember I shared D&C 58:2-4  with a member the day before and she loved it and so I thought I would share it again. 

So we said a little prayer and I asked the mom to read the scripture to us. She read every word so carefully and then at last line she and her daughter just started bawling their eyes out. I was so shocked I was not expecting the scripture to touch them that much.

For the next 30 minutes she and the member  just talked something that had happened last september but I couldn´t understand what because 1. spanish and 2. she was just sobbing

But I understood that they needed comfort because I understood the word they kept saying "dolor" which means pain. I thought someone in their family died but I wasn´t sure. But I remembered what Hermana Nomellini told me.

But when the daughter broke down into tears I could just feel that for some reason she was hurt the most and I just felt like I needed to give her a hug. 

So in my very broken spanish I asked her, "Puedo darle un embrazado?" And she nodded and I hugged and she cried into my shoulder for good couple minutes. I told her that God loved her. 

After we hugged the daughter left the house, just needed to be alone I think. The mom talked to us for a bit and Hermana Menacho was awesome and beared her sweet testimony about the Savior and that through prayer and through Him they can find peace.  

When it was time to go the Mom thanked me for the scripture and I made sure to give her a big hug too.

Hermano Menacho explained to me after that the daughter had been sexually abused by her brother last september. 

What´s really cool to me is that in my mind, I thought the mom´s husband had died but I was wayyy off in what actually happened. Like I had no idea what was going on, but now I know that I was being led by the Spirit to share the scripture and hug the daughter. This experience was an answer to my prayer, because sometimes I just don´t feel like a missionary yet and if I was actually following the Spirit, or if I even knew how the Spirit talks to me.

This was probably the most spiritual experience of my mission so far. It´s so true when they say you don´t even have to worry about knowing what the people need, because the Spirit does.

"No fui yo, fue el Espiritu!"

Ella es Divina

So I have a funny story to go along with the same scripture I shared with the member the day before. 

Hermana Nilda is the cutest 85 year old lady and she is so sweet and gives candy to us and everything. But she has a hearing aid and has a hard time hearing anything. 

So when I shared the scripture and started bearing my testimony about it in my broken Spanish, I just watched her smile and nod her head but I just knew the look on her face because I have that same look on my face when I don´t understand what they´re saying.

"Me entendió?" I asked her, did you understand me.

But she just kep odding her head and said "Ella es Divina" (She is divine)

Hermana Nomellini and I just busted up laughing. Gahhh the struggle of the language barrier and deaf people and having a soft voice!

Quotes of the Week

I´ve noticed with old people, they have their own catch-phrases:

"Sí, es cierto!"-Hermana Nilda.

"Que va hacer?" - Roberto

"Mmmhmm. Como no?" - Cute grandma in the ward I can´t remember her name

"Hasta allí!" Grandma Toledo

I wish you could hear their cute voices when they say it.

*Me brushing my teeth before bed and smelling something gross and then after smelling myself realized that the gross smell was me and gagging*

*Hermana Nomellini on the phone with the zone leader cracks up watching me*

Elder Marin: ¿Qúe paso?" what happened?

Hermana Nomellini: "Nada, solo mi compañera es... Divina." Nothing, just my companion is... Divine.

So that´s pretty much it for this week. I don´t really write a lot about happened during the week because time just kills me. I´m not going to lie, the work has been a struggle lately.  We really only down to 1 investigator, and he´s Cirilo. Please keep praying for him so he can be baptized soon, and also so that we can find more people who are prepared to hear the message of the Restored gospel.

Les quiero mucho!

This week I´m going to be the Senior companion with Hermana Menacho on divisions in her area in Punta Mogates. Wish me luck!

Pics pics and more pics... For Real this time!

This week I´m going to try and sum up my past THREE months in the mish...

In pictures yay!

Last days at the MTC!

Todos de nuestros maestros

Hermano Roberts

Hermana Skidmore

Hermano Hicks

Saying goodbye to Hermana Hollingworth at 2:30 am

Heading to Argentina after 24 hours of no sleep ha

ha

Mi compañera, mi mamá, mi trainadora, mi mejor amiga.

HERMANA NOMELLINI

Conferencia de zona con Hermana Jensen y Hermana Child

Presidente Cifuentes and...

Who are you?

​Hermana Cifuentes!​

She´s really tall ha

Mini MTC reunion!

Mi abuela (trainer´s trainer) making me Noquis cutest!

No it´s not as good as it looks... It was BETTER

Hermana Sanchez de Honduras

Miramar... heart eyes for days! Do I really live here???

Doing cartwheels on the pier

​Insert inspirational message about life)

Also, there were these sinks full of fish heads behind us.

So there´s that.

La casa nueva! (This is for you mom!)

La cocina

So STOKED to have a shower I´m not terrified to shower in.

The shower in our old house was like from a Horror movie.

No chiste.

(The coldest, windiest, rainiest) Divisions in Miramar! 

I had one with Hermana Jensen like this but trust me it was not cute. 

(the black dog on the right follows Hermana Nomellini and I on our runs every morning)

This isn´t cute either.

But Hermana Jensen brought wax and so we waxed each other´s eyebrows and noses for fun

Elder Schiess kills me

​La zona!

Elder Way, Hermana Nomellini, Hermana Jensen, Elder Schiess, Elder Pasos, me (lol), Hermana Child, Elder Marin

xxxx

xxxx

Los Elderes

​It was our last meeting before Hermana Child died. (went home)

R.I.P. She is missed! 

Saying by to Hermana Child

NOW

THIS

THIS

is an Alfahore. You know those things I can´t stop talking about?

Yeeep. These are dangerous.

Sarah Marie Waters and Abigail Stanworth, come down to Argentina and get these! You would love them! 

When You Least Expect It

So last week I didn´t have time to write a group email so I´m not sure if my Mom has spread the word around yet or not but I had my very first baptism!

We had a cita with Julia on wednesday and we knew something happened right off. She seemed really down and told us that her operation was being delayed so we would have to wait longer for her to be baptized. 

Ugh.

And then Hermana Nomellini said, "well why not get baptized before your surgery?"

And then Julia was like NO

And then we were like "Why not?"

And then she was like "Mhmmm okay this Sunday lol."

And we were like "WHAAT"

So yeah we planned an entire baptism in less than a week haha.

The whole thing was just unexpected, but I´m learning that the best things in life, even the things you are expecting to happen, happen when you least expect it to happen.

You can quote me on that ha.

The baptism was beautiful. There was such a special spirit there that I had never felt before at a baptism.

Julia is seriously the best. Strongest and Sassiest person I know.

Love her to bits and pieces.

Narea, Julia´s daughter.

(Narea is the reason Julia started talking to the missionaries in the first place! She is gold!)

This cute man is Cirilo, Julia´s dad.

He wants to be baptized too, but we have to wait.

Pray that he can get baptized before Hermana Nomellini leaves Miramar next transfer!

​​Quotes of the Week

"Blake Lively is HO- Nice. She is very nice" - Elder Way

Elder Schiess: "Wow, all of you hate me."

Me: "Es cierto, Elder Schiess."

Elder Marin y Elder Pasos: "OOOOHHHH"

Elder Way after getting his eyebrows waxed for the first time in his life: "I hope I don´t look like a girl now."

Me: "You already did"

Elder Marin y Elder Pasos: "OOOOHHHH"

... Neither of them know a word in english, I don´t know how the understood us haha

Me: "Hermana Nomellini you are seriously the best. You do so much for me! You are the best companion and trainer ever! Tell me anything you want and I will go get it for you!"

Hermana Nomellini: "Just buy us toilet paper next month."

Me: "kay."

Hermana Nomellini: "Want to hear the first thing that is on my list of things not to take for granted back home?"

Me: "CARPET"

Hermana Nomellini: "... No. It´s going to church with all your family and friends who love you and spending the entire Sabbath day with them, full of laughter and love."

Me:"... Way to be sentimental. Carpet is number 1 on my list."