Just a little note...

October 10, 2016

YOU GUYS

It finally happened

Every since the day I first met him...

I have been waiting for this special moment.

NEHEMIAS PROPOSED TO ME

I´m engaged to a five year old. 

I died because we were visiting their house and he was kissing my cheek and then he stopped, grabbed my left hand, and popped the question. It was the cutest thing. He was like "but I don´t have a ring" and I was like "I don´t care. YES."

And that is my proposal story haha.

But other than that, I don´t have a whole lot of time to share. Just know that everyday I´m learning more and more about Christ and learning to love hime and the people more and more.

I see His hand in the work and in my life.

Everyone is deserving of his love and I love sharing this message with everyone.

I love love.

Con amor,

Hermana D

A Few Things On My Mind...

Sometimes I feel like my life right now is just a remake of the Mr. Bean´s Holiday movie

Especially the part on the trian when he´s ordering coffe:

Lady in french: "coffe?"

Mr. Bean: "wi"

Lady: "sugar?"

Mr. Bean: "no"

Lady in english: "you speak really good french"

Mr. Bean: "gracias"

THIS is me except it´s in spanish hahahahaha mi vida. I say a lot of "si´s" and "and no´s" and a lot of smiling and nodding still. Then they ask me how long I´ve been here and then I say "hace cuatro meses" (because I have it mastered) and then they´re like wow your spanish is so good and I´m like wow if you only knew but thanks haha.

Ice Cream Makes Everything Better

Before the mish I was not a huge fan of ice cream but here in Argentina it is perfection. LOOOOVE it. It´s so soft and fluffy. On Friday I woke up with a headache but decided that it was because I ate a lot of sugar the night before and I don´t usually eat a lot of sugar and so I figured it was just a sugar hangover. But as the day went on the pain went from my head to my stomach. I started getting chills and a fever and my entire body hurt. I made it half way through the day but during our companionship study when all my joints (even in my hands) were throbbing with pain I had to tell Hermana Hurtado I was sick. I called Hermana Cifuentes and she told me to sleep it off which I hate napping on the mission so it sucked. Hermana Hurtado was so sweet and cleaned our house and she would peek through the door to check in on me while I just stared blankly at the cieling trying to decide if I needed to throw up or not. I finally took some nyquil (Spencer, your white elephant gift from Christmas came in handy) and it helped with the pain and I was able to sleep. 

Then like at 8:00 at night we got a phone call from one of our cute recent converts, Luis. When Hna. Hurtado answered it he immediately asked if we were okay because he had a feeling that something was wrong. She told him that I had been sick that day and then he immediately wanted to talk to me. It was one of the cutest moments of my life talking to him. Then his wife Norma wanted to talk to me too and I swear it was just like talking to my mom on the phone for a few minutes. My eyes literally teared up I just felt so loved. Around 9 they called again and demanded the direction to our house because the were bringing me ice cream haha. And it was the best ice cream ever and it was the first thing I ate that day that agreed with my tummy. Sometimes I just can´t believe how lucky I am to have these people in my life that make me feel like I have my family. Someone asked me this week if I felt far away from home and really thought about it and said no because it´s like I can feel the love my family has for me through the members. 

This place is my home away from home.

General Conference 

Something that one of my friends taught me at college was to write down questions you have down on a piece of paper and leave space for answers that you find from the inspired talks you hear. I had questions like "what should I study?" "how can I be more patient" blablabla but there was only one question that got answered for me: "What lack I yet?" 

Annnnd I´ve come to the conclusion that I have been wayyy to hard on myself. The talk by J. Devin Cornish hit me hard when he said "stop comparing yourself to others" and I was like shoot dang. Of course I´m going to feel down about myself I compare myself to all the other missionaries that have had waaaaay more experience than me or have been speaking the language their entire lives. I´m still a newbie in so many aspects, the only person I should compare myself to is the old me. 

Also something that I have learned just recenctly is how cool it is to have your prayers answered. So many of my prayers have been answered through the words of the prophet and the apostles, and each answer was NOT what I was expecting, what I wanted, nor did it solve the problem. Each answer was something to meditate and improve on, to have patience with and something to work on daily and act in faith knowing that through hard work and trust in God, anything can be accomplished. 

I think my favorite thing to learn and talk about is Christ and His atonement. Hna. Hurtatdo gave me this one talk (it´s called the fourth missionary I think) that I absolutely LOVED by (don´t remember his name whoops lol). I think the biggest thing I have hated hearing growing up was "you can´t change who are" and in this talk the guy literally says do not buy into that crap. Do not cut yourself short by saying "well that´s just how I am and I can´t change." It´s a lie! We can change who we are for the better through Christ and his Atonement. The atonement can help the biggest wounds and wipe away the biggest sins and BUILD us up to our potential through daily repentance. We can better ourselves everyday.

I´m so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel that we can always change and that there is always room for improvement. That we don´t have to accept our weaknesses as who we are but turn those weaknesses into our strengths through Jesus Christ. Our eternal progression depends on our desire and our actions to become more like Him. He is the only person that we can try to imitate and truly feel joy in doing so because he is our perfect example of who we can become. Of course we are going to be unhappy comparing ourselves to others and trying to be like them because they aren´t perfect either. Keep your eye focused on Christ, he is the goal and only mark your progession by who you were yesterday.

​I´m so grateful for the person I was yesterday, for the person I am today, and for the person I am becoming. I´m grateful that I don´t have to be happy with just how I am, but I can be happy with daily repentance and with change and progression. 

​I am grateful that we have the hope for a better tomorrow because of Him, and with a better tomorrow, a better me.

RANT OVER promise.

Anywho, loved conference. It was such a nice refresher. Played games with the zone, tried the most bomb banana bread of my life, had shrimp for the first time in Argentina and didn´t die. We´re gonna risk Hermana Hurtado´s tears and make brownies for zone conference. I´ll let you know if something happens, which by my luck I´m pretty sure it will. This week we are going to start eating with members, nervous, but stoked at the same time. I´ll let you know how that goes too. 

PICS

Parque Patricios in Miramar. Easily one of my favorite places, pictures don´t do it justice.

We think we´re funny

​Easily my favorite pic

Quotes of the Week

During General Conference

 "Our church is the sickest church ever" - Elder Brown

*8 seconds after President Eyring starts speaking*

"Wow he´s already started crying" - Elder Way

*Bednar comes to the pulpit* 

"Yes Bednar! Drop the stick Bednar Drop the stick! Drop it hard!" - Elder Brown

"I think I see my mom in the congregation!" - everyone from Utah.

*All the elders leaning forward in their seats when all the sister missionaries were singing*

Me: "You guys are so lonely I can just feel it."

Elder Way: "Hermana we have been out longer than you will ever be on the mission. You have noooo idea."

Les Amo!

Oscar´s Dream

After getting offered cake 4 times by the same member in the same cita...

And then 3 more times by different members right after that...

I realized something.

Members are like teachers.

Members give you food thinking that no other member will like a teacher gives you homework as if the rest of your teachers won´t.

I never left college after all.

Except I like this homework wayyyy more and is much worse to my body ha!

Oscar´s Dream

So a little over a week ago Hermana Hurtado and I found some people to look for in the area folder. We found this really elderly guy that had talked to the Elder´s like 10 years ago but hasn´t been taught since. 

So we decided that maybe it was time the missionaries stop by his house again.

He is this cute little elderly man that is so sad and lonely. He welcomed us into his front porch (we can´t go into his house haha) and immediately accepted what we´re teaching us. He is the hardest person to understand for me, but I still love him ha. He told us he remembered that the Elder´s taught him the Word of Wisdom, and so he told us that he stopped smoking since then.

We were stoked.

But then we had our second cita and he was so sad because he had stopped smoking but then the day after we visited him he had the tempation to smoke and he caved. Satan always knows when you´re about to do something right grrrrrr!

But then he told us that he had a dream.

He was standing at the bottom of a mountain and he felt really alone and tired. But then he saw Hermana Hurtado and I. I smiled at him and Hermana Hurtado told him that we were going to help him climb this mountain so that he can quit smoking and find a better life. We took his arms and suported him as he began to climb.

I had shivers. Sometimes you can just feeeeel it when someone is your person. I know that I am here to help them, and I am just amazed that I have this opportunity to help bring people to Christ.

We are never Enough

I feel so small and so insignificant in this work. I still feel brand new in the mission and now that I´m done training I feel so much more pressure. I need to be more obedient. I need to speak more in lessons. I need to help plan better and set goals. I need to be on time for studies. I need to look for this person or a visit this member. There are so many things that I need to do but there is never enough time. I felt so stressed because I felt like I just kept falling short as a companion and a missionary. I was frustrated that even though I was trying my best, sometimes I still fell short.

But then I realized, we strive to be perfect, but we aren´t. What we do isn´t enough. We are never enough.

BUT

But with CHRIST, WE ARE.

We fall short because we aren´t perfect,

But Çhrist fills the gaps where we aren´t enough. We do what we can, and he does the rest.

I´ve really seen that these past couple days. I just feel so insignificant sometimes. But the only words I can think of to describe this week is like the hymn "I stand all amazed" because even though I fell short, we were blessed to find people like Oscar. We have 7 investigators now and we recieved 5 references in two weeks - that´s more than I have ever gotten in the three months I´ve been here. I just am amazed that even though I am not a perfect missionary at all, we are still blessed with work and people. I am amazed that even though I am no where near speaking perfect spanish, the Holy Ghost will teach these people the things I can´t say as long as I am always bearing testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ.

Even though what I do and Who I am is never enough, Christ does the rest to make us where we are enough. Through him, we can do everything.

For this month in October we have a goal as a mission: Every companionship in the Argentina Bahia Blanca mission have at least one baptism. We have been praying in hopes that we can have one and I would like to ask you guys to keep us in our prayers so that we can have a baptism. Also please keep our investigator Noberto in your prayers this week. 

I feel very loved by everyone and am so grateful I have such wonderful family and friends.

The Tacos made my Companion Cry too

So as funny as the cake story from last week was I think I have decided to throw in the towell altogether with cooking and baking. We found cilantro (the rarest thing to find in Argentina) so Hermana Hurtado and I decided to make tacos for the Elders for lunch when they came over to Miramar to help us with an activity. It was fun until we spent too much time over it, starved for half the day, and had to haul all the food (to feed 8 elders the equivalent of 30 grown men) 15 blocks away because Elder´s are horrible with communication. My companion ended up crying at the end of this story too. 

But the Elder´s were extremely grateful and decided we were the best cooks out of all the sister missionaries in the mission.

Worth it.

PICS

Check out all these bananas I bought for less than $3!

I was really proud of myself. I might risk making my companion cry again and make banana bread haha

Hermana Nomellini told me that she and her companion before me drew a baptism symbol and a heart in some cement back in April but we never found it. But lookie here! We found it!

The sister missionaries have forever left their mark in Miramar!

​One of my most favorite places in my area. Am I in Argentina or Scotaland???

Quotes of the Week

One of the new Elders: "So I just had my first awkward kiss rejection in the mission..."

Elder Brown (his trainer): "yeah he went in for it and she rejected him."

su hijo: "Noooo she tried to kiss meee!" 

Elder Tew: "I miss soccer mom´s you guys."

Me: "I miss my Mom" (in moderation. I´m fine guys really haha)

Elder Tew: "Yeah, truuu."

Hermana Hurtado after I tripped for the 37th time that day: "They say in Bolivia, that when ever you trip, it´s because your boyfriend is lying."

*I trip again*

Me: "Mi novio chupa!" (my boyfriend sucks)

Hermana Hurtado: "This piece of paper smells like toilet paper"

She is just a big ball of fun haha. 

Hasta la proxima semana! 

Con fuego

I think the weirdest experience I have ever had is 

Learning a foreign language in a foreign country. 

For the longest time, I felt like I was in a movie or something because I couldn´t really communicate or express myself with anyone besides my trainer.

Like, (Hermana Hurtado thinks it´s funny that Yankees say "like" so much) talking to someone felt like talking to a computer screen. I´m not sure if it was culture shock or what, but up until now I didn´t really feel like I was living in the real world. I felt so isolated. And the people only talked with my trainer because they were just used to her talking for me.

But now that I have a Latina companion, I can talk and understand soooooo much better. I´m starting to have normal conversations again and it´s so weird to me for some reason that the same things we say in English translate into Spanish too. I don´t know why, but it blows my mind that we can speak two different languages but mean the same thing.

I kind of felt lost for while like I was forgetting who I was, but I´m surprising even myself that my personality is shining through my spanish now. I´m starting to tell jokes again whooo! 

But honestly I know that it´s because I´m doing the Lord´s work that He has blessed me with the ability to learn this language. Sometimes I amazed by how much I can understand for only having 4 months in the mission. And after only a week with a Latina, my spanish is already getting better!!! Stoked!

Hermana Hurtado brought Fire

This week with my new companion, I feel like I saw soooo many miracles. We found so many more people to teach and we taught soooo many lessons. I think she is extra loved by Heavenly Father or something. But she is honestly an answer to my prayers because I was so afraid that when Hermana Nomellini left, my area would fall apart. But I´m so happy to see that it´s still growing! I can´t wait to see where our fire will take us! We have a goal to have a baptism in October, and so pray for us that we can reach it!

Mi Nueva Compañera

My new companion is sweeeet. I mean it. She is the kindest person I have ever met. She loves everyone and everything. I have never been hugged so much in my life before haha. She´s even kissed my head a few times haha. Sometimes I don´t know how to handle all the love. But I have learned soooo much from her already in so many different ways. And she is so fun too! She dances with me in the streets and taught me how to salsa so we´re tight.

 The Cake that made My Companion cry

So for zone meeting I had this gigantic desier to make a cake for all the Elders (we´re the only hermanas in our district now) escpecailly since half of them are fresh from the MTC. Making a cake in Argentina is soooo hard though because the ingredients are so different. It took me forever and I think I have a permanent wrinkle on my face for frowning the whole time. 

(notice the broomstick keeping the burner for the oven on because you have to constantly press it to work. So we have to wedge the broom stick between the oven and the counter behind us haha. Welcome to the mission in Argentina where you do ghetto stuff on a regular basis haha)

Cakes stress me out. I don´t know what I was thinking. Plus the cake made my companion cry because she felt like she didn´t help haha. There wasn´t really much she could have helped with but oh well. I promised her she could help with the next one. But I don´t think there will be a next one haha. But seeing the Elder´s faces with the cake was worth it. The orange buttercream frosting I made off the top of my head was bomb too. They don´t make frosting at all here so I was pretty proud. 

And then I dropped it in the bus terminal on the way to the zone meeting.

Classic Hermana D amirite?

All what I could do was just laugh. 

At least the cake was covered. It just came out ugly but the Elders didn´t care. 

They thought it was bomb so mission accomplished. I proved to them I can bake so I don´t have to do it ever again haha

Feliz Cumple 9 meses!

Hermana Hurtado completed 9 months in the mission!

I asked her what she wanted to do to celebrate and all what she said was "la pansa." (the belly)

Entonces of course we took the traditional 9 month mission pictures!

​It looks so fake and disformed it kills me lol I die

Also take a moment to appreciate this picture of my companion on the floor. ​

This is how you know you had a really good day. The more tired and happy you are, the better!

Quotes of the Week

"Hermana Davidson, have you ever killed a chicken?" - Hermana Hurtado

"I want to marry someone serious like Ferb from Phineas and Ferb" - Hermana Hurtado

"Hermana Davidson, the frogs are your friends." - Hermana Hurtado

All the frogs are starting to come out and they are huge and creepy and freak me out haha

*Me sitting down eating lunch*

*Hermana Hurtado gets up and puts her plate in the sink*

Hermana Hurtado: "Gracias"

Me: "Por qúe? Yo no hizo nada." (Why? I didn´t do anything)

She tells me thank you for doing nothing haha. She is so funny.

During get to know you´s in Zone meeting

Elder Sisson (DL): "Elder Tew, would you like to explain a little bit more to us why you wrote that you are a Momma´s boy on your paper?"

Elder Way: "The guy just loves his mom."

Elder Sisson: "Yeah but why?"

Elder Tew (ZL): "It´s true. I just love my mom so much. I cuddled with her right up until the day I left..."

Elder Sisson:"... Sorry I didn´t mean for this to turn into one of those moments."

I died

Guys I have good vibes coming on. Amazing things are coming for Miramar I can feel it! Can´t wait to share all of my experiences with you all next week!

Les Amo Un Montón!