I live!!

Well, I never actually died. But do you know how much it blows to be sick on the mission? Big time. The biggest blessing I received from this "down time" is that because I couldn´t eat for a week, I am now back to my pre-mission weight. Love it. I´ll gain it all back, it´s winter here and they always hand out pasta. But who cares! Bring on the pasta, at least I can eat it. For those who want to know, I had strep and a virus (still unidentified, I go to the hospital today to pick up the Blood analysis), which included 4 days of fever, and 8 days of pain when swallowing and/or talking. The good news is the swelling in my tongue and gums has gone down, I don´t have a fever, and the doctor said I can leave to preach the gospel. And we still had 2 investigators in church on Sunday! What´s up? Well, that was mostly due to the hard work of my awesome companion Hermana Gutierrez who was very patient all week. Also, I learned that Argentinians love American goodies, they were able to eat brownies, oatmeal cookies, cake cookies and I made arroz con leche (not rice pudding, it´s different...really just by name, and culture!) I had to do something with my hands! So even though I couldn´t eat the delectables, I have forever won the hearts of the members of the Chacra branch. I´m so awesome. Okay, but, worry thee not! Just because my week was quiet doesn´tmean I can´t tell you all the stuff I was going to tell you last week! Okay. well, I was going to brag to all of you that I am incredibly influential here in Chacra, because I play the piano in sacrament meeting every week. So, I was going to be all prideful and tell you that even if we showed up late with investigators they would still be able to take the sacrament, because they would wait. Then I got sick and I realized that they would just start the meeting without a piano. Probably better. However, there were a lot of happy faces this week when I was able to go to play for Sacrament Meeting ( I didn´t go last week because I was "contagious". I shouldn´t quote that. I was. But it was also weird being part of a 3 person sacrament meeting later in the day when Pte Gomez and Hno Ontivero came over to bless and pass the sacrament. Very kind of them, I felt very taken care of. But it was also weird.) OH! And, everyone here knows my name. Not my first name. But my last name. It´s the first branch/ward that has taken the effort to get to know my name. It just shows how different the pace is here in Rio Grande. There were always individuals in Buenos Aires that knew my last name. But it was hard for many of the members to distinguish between the Hermanas. Because, when in doubt just call the missionaries and ask for the "Hermanas". But they know my name here! I love branches. They´re such a tight knit group. And it´s been really awesome because we´ve been going around to all the leaders to see how we can help them, and one hard problem here is that there just aren´t the members to call to fill assignments. So, they´re asking us to specifically talk and reactivate a family because they want them as a counselor (it´s also a great way to get references. "who of your friends would you like to help you in your calling?" gets an answer every time). And then some miracles of the weeks. We went back to see Marcela and Gustavo. It´s crazy. So, a couple of weeks ago Marcela called us Sunday afternoon and told us that we had left a message with her, and that it had touched her heart and that she and her husband wanted to change their lives. So please, come over, and we´ll talk. Well shoot if we just didn´t cancel our appointments for the evening and head over there in the moment! It´s a great family. The parents and 2 little girls (ages 14 and 12) and a friend who lives with them. And as we were talking to them the Spirit was so strong and they told us how they knew that something was wrong with their lives and they needed to change. The friend even said that God had spoken to him a couple of times and he knew that it wasn´t a coincedence that we were talking to him at this moment. And it came to pass that they all accepted baptismal dates. And then I got sick and we weren´t able to take them to church. Lame. Then we went back, and they still want to take the discussions, they still want to change, and they are super happy to see us again. We had an awesome lesson yesterday. We were teaching about the Restoration to explain how we have the Book of Mormon (they´ve been reading/received a BoM last time) and they had a friend who was there - get this. He´s an old investigator?? How do you say antiguo investigador in English? My companion and I don´t know. Anyways, the point is he´d received the discussions a long time ago. He wants to get baptized but he can´t because he´s living with his girlfriend who doesn´t want to marry him (he´s willing to get married). So the whole time we´re teaching, he jumps in and starts explaining about Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ, and the necessity of baptism. And it was incredible! He helped explain somethings or clarify somethings that we didn´t have the vocab for. And it was perfect! God really blessed us in that moment. And he said (the antiguo) that he would come to church again this sunday. So, maybe God will soften the heart of his girlfriend and he can get baptized. And then, we have this other investigator, Angel, who is the son of a family who moved to Chacra about 2 years ago. They met the missionaries here and have since converted. Now, their son came down from oujuy to work for a bit, and he´s taking the discussions. And it´s been rough, because at first he didn´t want anything to do with the church, and then it took him forever to begin to read. But this Sunday we were talking with him a bit after the Gospel Doctrines class (justo we had talked about why we have 4 books of scriptures with a bunch of testimonies and personal experiences of gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon) and we asked him if he had asked God specifically if he needed to get baptized. and he said no. So, right then and there, we knelt down with him (something that is really hard to do in his house, a bunch of families live there together and it´s hard to find a quiet moment, and then he gets all nervous because his family is watching him) and had him pray and ask specifically if he should get baptized into the church. And God lives, and loves us, and answers prayers! In the moment, Angel received an answer. When I asked him what God had said he replied "He said yes." Super simple. Do I need to get baptized? Yes. The question was specific, the prayer was simple. And God answered and Angel recognized it because he was listening. I know God answers prayers every time! It´s just up to us whether or not we´re going to hear the answer. Bueno, one last thing and then I´ll let you all go on with your Babilonial lives (said with love). I actually read this a while ago but I wanted to share it with all of you. I was reading in Acts 10:39, 42-44. And the apostle Paul is explaining how they have been called as apostles, how they have literally been called and set apart to act inbehalf of Jesus Christ. As his servants. And it explains that essentially the words they say are like what Christ would say (akin to DYC 1:37) and then in 42-44 it explains that we can know that it is true because the Holy Ghost will confirm the words that we say to those that listen. The same promise that is given to feel the spirit and the truthfulness of the scriptures when we read them. Mostly, at the time I read this I was thinking about why we end our testimonies and our prayers with "In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen" and it´s because as members of the church we have been given the power to receive revelation from God and to say the words that He would say. As we strive to live our lives more in harmony with what God wants, we start praying for and promising blessings that God wants to give. We are just the physically mouthpiece. We aren´t saying anything that Jesus wouldn´t say, or promising something that Jesus Christ wouldn´t promise, because we can feel the confirmation of the Holy Ghost through our prayers, through our testimony. It made the phrase "in the name of Jesus Christ" even more poignant for me. It´s not just a closing remark. We end our prayers and our testimonies with a witness and knowledge that all that we have shared, Christ would have shared if He was physically here. But he´s not. He´s in heaven getting things ready for the 2nd coming. So, he´s called us, in our homes, in our wards, in our callings, to stand on his behalf, to lift and encourage his brothers and sisters to do what he already knows they can. And in 2 weeks, we´re going to be able to hear the words of living day prophets who will testify and explain and stand as representatives of Jesus Christ to tell us what God and what Jesus Christ want us to know. I know that this is true. And I´m so excited to listen to our prophet. God loves each and every one of you. He is sending angels to prepare the way for you and to protect you. Don´t ever feel like He is not listening to your prayers. Make sure you are listening for the response. I love you, Hermana Reed