Transferred to Bella Vista

I've got  some news! I left costanera already.  I was expecting to stay, so I didn't do my  bags at all.. then Sunday night we found out that I was leaving. I'm in an area called Bella Vista! and I'm with a Latina! She;s from Buenos Aires!! woooooo, yay for Spanish! I was sad to leave because Isis was getting baptized! it was gonna be last week but her husband had to travel for work... so sadly I'm missing the baptism. But its okay, we´re gonna have some in Vella Vista. my comp is on her last transfer so I"ll be her last companion!

We had a Christmas party with all the missionaries in Resistencia this week, and it was super fun! we got to play  some games (scripture trivia)... which i think is super fun... which proves I'm a missionary haha.


 Presidente announced that for the new year we are all going to do a fast as the entire mission.. to rededicate our areas.  I love our presidente. He is always thinking of what we can do to be better, and hes all for trying new things.  I can tell he thinks about us day and night. 

We traveled to Resistencia for an activity, illuminate the world (light the world in the USA) 

The members put lights in balloons and let them go when we sang silent night "noche de luz".. it was fun and good to see all the missionaries. 

We waited in the terminal for hours and hours waiting for our buses to our new areas. I had a good talk with my old zone leader, and explained to him my thoughts about how the zone was disorganized, and they needed to try harder to be more consecrated, etc. and it went really well! 

My Comp passed out this week. We were eating with a member, and the daughter had a bloody nose, and my comp can't handle blood I guess, because she fell on my lap, so I lifted her up, and her face was white, and she fell to the  floor. It scared me a ton!  I thought it was from the heat at first, but it was just the blood. anyway, it was crazy and the members were freaking out.

I had an experience during the week with Daian.. I had explained the holy ghost to her.... and a few days later she told me that she had a really bad day and was super sad... and couldn't shake the feeling, so she layed in bed and prayed and prayed and then she feel asleep for like an hour and woke up with the biggest sensation of ´peace, and said it felt like how I described the holy ghost. 

My new comp is super awesome! The thing is though, I"m so used to being in charge.  Since my training ended, I've always been the one in charge of things, making the most decisions, the phone calls, and teaching the majority of the time. So now I'm gonna have to get used to being equal in a companionship, and I get to learn from someone with a lot of time in the mission! I'im excited.

PS.  We were doing a choir in Costanera and I was in charge of playing the triangle for "canta santos angeles".. and all the elders would laugh, because sometimes it sounded awful. and they´re like "I thought it was impossible to be bad at playing the triangle, but I was wrong"...I guess I'm really just not musically talented haha.  

Isis to be Baptized!

Birthday Cake for my Comp 

Transfers are this coming Monday... so put it in your calendar that next week ill be writing on Tuesday! I'm anxious to find out who my next comp is, but I'm feeling comforted knowing that its either a Latina, or someone who at least has more time than me. So we were talking this week in comp study, and my comp told me that she has had so much fun being comps with me. She said her training was stressful and hard, but she is really starting to enjoy the mission experience now, and she also feels more effective because we try to talk to as many people as possible.  I think all of us feel like we waste time in our training and once we are up to speed we feel more productive.  I did too.  It just made my day to know that she has felt loved and has learned a lot.  That was my goal! 

Isis is scheduled to be baptized this Saturday!! yay! In relief society we talked about temples, and she raised her hand and said that Vincen (her husband who's a recent convert) said he wants to be sealed in a year so they can be together forever, and she started crying. it was so tender!

MANGOES

We have an investigator named Daìan, shes 22. and we got talking the other day about journals.. and how I write in mine every night. and she was amazed. She said  she really wants to start one, but doesn't really know how to. she doesn't want to write the sad things, because someday she`ll look back and it'll be negative. But i told her that that's the only way to look back and really see your progress, or see how much you've changed. And that she can read it someday to help her children, etc. So she said shes gonna start! i know you always kept journals growing up, but I hope you still keep one. Even though you already are an adult and have children, and you think sometimes all you do is work, etc. .. I'm sure you have thoughts and experiences that will bless us someday. So I'd encourage you to keep writing mom. XO 

In every mission you'll find missionaries who are lax with the rules and just don't care as much. I've definitely found them here and it's hard to find a way to try to influence my peers to value obedience without coming off as a goody good and like I'm calling them out on everything.  Any ideas?   

COSTANERA

WEST SIDE for DAD 

You Seem Decided...

WOW...summer here.  I'm constantly sweating and it's been suuuuper humid this week, well plus we live right next to the coast, so we get more humidity. It feels like my skin is wet all the time haha. So I guess we´re in a pretty dangerous area, and whenever we contact certain areas, the people tell us we shouldn't be out there because it's dangerous, people rob, and use knives, etc.  So my comps are a bit tentative to go out in the neighborhoods that look poorer.  For some reason I'm not that scared.  Of course we don't go there at night.  

THANKS FOR THE PACKAGE. I was so happy... you gave me OHS  that was something i was not expecting at all! you guys are the best. And yes the dress fits! I'm wearing it next week to the big Christmas party we´re having as a mission in Resistencia!  

LEAD BY THE SPIRIT
This week we walked past a house, and a girl was sitting on a chair. I felt the slightest feeling to turn back, so I did.. and started to talk with her. And she said "my husband said you guys stopped him in the street the other day. Hes been reading your book.".. turns out we had already contacted her husband! What are the odds!? So we taught her, and we´re going to visit her and her husband together this week! their names are Alejandra and Juan. I'm praying for them, because I have a feeling we were lead to them.  

On Sunday Isis got a priesthood blessing from the Branch President and received the confidence to tell her mom she was getting baptized. She was holding back because she was afraid to hurt her.   

FUNNY

We talked to this police officer who was kinda joking around with us, and he looked at me and said  "You have a strong look" ... we were like uhh, what. and he said pointing to my companions,  " this one seems quiet, this one seems shy, and you seem decided.  You have a strong personality I can tell." Then we were talking about it later and my comps agreed that I wasn't shy at all, and its something they wish they could do.. etc. I keep thinking about how I used to be too shy to even ask for honey at McDonalds haha. And now apparently I'm not shy at all. I think its amazing, the mission experience has helped so much with that. 

Thanks for the recipes! I made a cake today because it was Coleman's birthday yesterday... a yellow pudding cake with chocolate in it, and cream cheese frosting. We´re gonna eat it tonight and watch a church movie. 

I wanted to make a cheesecake but unfortunately graham crackers and sour cream don't exist in Argentina. :/

Love you

Hermana Hall