Fotos!

Buenos Aires from the sky

"Family" in Chacra - Elder Reid and Elder Rassmusen (cousin of Hermana Reed's brother-in-law)

Ready for Alejandro's baptism! 

Current companion

Riding in first class to Buenos Aires

Hermana Erickson getting excited for Alejandro's baptism

With Hermana Erickson (companion in Chacra)

With a member in Chacra

That´s Lame

This week was fun and exciting. For one, it was the 25th of May! Whoohoo! Except, as a missionary we pretty much did the same thing. Preach the Gospel. We did have a district meeting that day, and I made brownies. De-lsih. and Zarate put on a concert esque type thing with a bunch of booths and what not. It made me think of Broomfield Days. Other than that, it was pretty mild. I do have a couple of good stories, my testimony and then we´ll leave you until next week.

Okay, story time. The first one is quick. We went to contact a reference and knocked on the door. When the woman came to the door she was like " Testigos! No! No more Testigos" and we sat there for a second ".....uh, We´re not Jehovah´s witnesses....." " Oh, you´re not? Oh, good, because I don´t want to talk to them anymore." We actually get that a lot. But we´re not Jehovah´s witnesses, that´s why we have placks that identify us from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So that was funny.

But the best was on Sunday. We had 5 investigators at church! Whoohoo! It´s my record. Don´t tell me if you´ve had more as missionaries because I don´t want to hear it. I´m happy with my 5. We worked really hard to get these 5 people to church. Well, we worked hard for 4 of them. The 5th was a miracle. His name is Adrian, and he´s Evangelical. He was walking down the street and decided to come inside for church. It was great. And he was talking with one of the Bishop´s counselors before church and the counselor told him to talk with the missionaries. So, after sacrament meeting he came up to us and we started talking. And he told us how he really respects women and he wanted some advice because he grew up without any love and he just didn´t know how to show the people in his life that he cared. And it wasn´t very fair to his girlfriend. So if we could help him out...? So, we start talking about the Gospel (right, normal transition) and how if he is looking to change himself, the way to do that is through God, and we started explaining about the Book of Mormon and he inturrumpts us and starts talking to me. Haha, okay, so he looks at me and says, "I appreciate all that you are trying to tell me. But I want you to know that you are here in Argentina for a purpose. (Right, preach the gospel) You are here to find your future spouse." Uh...I´m sorry what? But wait, there´s more. "And you´ve recently had a dream, a really vivid dream. And it scared you a bit. But don´t worry, it wasn´t bad. It was good! You are here to find your spouse." And family, I was doing everything I could not to laugh in this man´s face. It was all I could do to tell him, "well, I dream a lot. Pretty much every night, so I´m not quite sure which one you are referring to." And I didn´t tell him this, but there was a very vivid dream that I had had recently that came to mind.....I was running a Ragnar race with Beez. Except we were swimming and not running. Apparently that´s going to come true, so Beez. Get ready.

I was laughing so hard on the inside, I couldn´t look at my companion, I couldn´t look at our member that was with us. And after a while I just interrupted and started talking about the gospel again because it was getting ridiculous. And then he told us that we had the devil in our church. So we let him leave. I guess he forgot that he entered OUR church first. Oh well. He is a beloved son of God. He will do great things. Unfortunately I did not have the time to tell him that he can´t receive personal revelation for me as he has no stewardship over me whatsoever. Poor Unfortunate Soul. It was pretty dang funny. Alright, I will tell you, because I love you. There were a couple of responses going through my mind. A) Oh you poor crazy nutter butter. B) Riiiight. Actually, if I did want to marry someone here in Argentina it would be pretty easy. I have had a couple of people propose to me. But....they were all drunk. Don´t think it would work out. Darn.... C) ....That´s not going to happen.

But I didn´t say any of those. Because I´m a good missionary. Actually I was just trying not to laugh. I laughed when he left though. It took me a while to get my control back. =) I´m just not perfect.

But I did want to share with all of you how important my mission is to me. Even though I´m not perfect, and sometimes bad things happen, and crazy people talk to me, or whistle at me, or don´t accept the Gospel, my mission means everything to me. I can´t fully explain with words how happy it makes me to at least have the chance to share my testimony with the people of Argentina. The fact that I can, and that they listen makes me so happy. I feel like I am a better person for the testimony that I have. And I wouldn´t change the experiences I have had for the world. I know that God lives, and I know that the Book of Mormon is true. Scriptures change lives as we become closer to God. And we are happier because we know that there is an All Powerful Being who is taking care of us. Yes, we need to struggle, and life is hard. But we continue surviving through the grace and power of God. I was reading in the Book of Mormon recently, Mosian 13:3. It says "Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not deliveed the message which the Lord sent me to deliver; neither have I told you that which ye requested that I should tell; therefore, god will not suffer that I shall be destroyed at this time." This is when Abinadi is talking with King Noah and his wicked priests, and the king wants to kill him because Abinadi is essentially telling him and the world that he is sinning (which, he is). But the thing is, that for all the things that happen, we can tell Satan and the world "Touch me not...for God will not suffer that I shall be destroyed at this time." We each have an individual and defined purpose here on the earth. And while we may not understand completely exactly what that purpose is. We can have the faith that God will not permit us to be destroyed until we have completed our missions. God loves us so much and wants us to be successful. So when bad things happen, just tell satan "Touch me Not." God will give you the power to overcome every trial that satan throws in your way.

I love you all,

Write me back. Have a Good Summer! It´s winter here.

Hermana Reed

Words just can´t explain...

Allright, I´m going to try my best to explain just exactly how my first week here in Zarate was. It was an experience that is for sure. And I loved it. Zarate is super rural, a lot of fields, and horses and sheep and dogs, and people. Yeah, there are some people too. The people here are actually really awesome. It´s a ward, and the active people are super active and recognize the importance of their convenants, going to church, giving time to everyone. It is really amazing how much love they have for each other. They are always calling and visiting and while the ward has it´s concerns and problems like any other area, they are all working really hard to help each other make it to the celestial kingdom.

My companion is from Rosario, Argentina, it´s actually about 3 hours from where we are working right now. Hermana Alvarado told me that in the beginning it was kind of hard for her to be so close to her house, but now she´s super focused. Hermana Alvarado is really awesome, she´s super into the work and wants to work hard. she´s a convert of umpteen years. she was super catholic when she was 11 and the missionaries found her and her family. but her father/catholic leader told her to read the book and pray about it like the missionaries were telling her, she did and got her answer. she´s had some family problems and so has acted like the mom of the family for many of her siblings. which makes her responsible. and yet she is super humble and willing to learn. not exactly like i´m the most dominating person you will ever meet in your life, but she respects my opinion and just wants to do things right. which makes it great because that´s what i want too, so we discuss what should be done, how we think the best way to do it is, and she asks for my opinion. also she´s super stoked to have an english companion because she wants to learn english. I´ve never really taught a native english (my first companion native I didn´t really know spanish, and the 2nd wasn´t really into to the whole "learn english" thing).

but it´s great. she has a strong testimony, and while she´s still developing how to share it, you can tell that what she shares is sincere. and she´s learning how to search for the needs of the people. something i know i struggled with a bunch, because yes the church is true, but we all gain our testimonies in different ways, and so you have to teach to the needs of the investigators or they may not recognize their answer. Plus just throwing the doctrines of the church at someone helps no one. Understanding is always the better answer. I´m excited to be with her for 6 weeks. that´s what we all think. I´m going to die here, and i´ll be training my last two transfers. we´ll see what happens.

Anyways, so after my super awesome flight from Rio Grande with Elder Reid (long lost relative we´ve decided) and Elder Leon we have our 1 1/2 road trip to Zarate. We get home and the place is not super clean so we spend our first couple of hours cleaning (I don´t really do the whole, disorganized thing. God is a God of order, and so am I. I feel the Spirit more when I know where my scriptures are). And then after getting food (hunnnger!!) we only had time to meet the Bishop. Who is amazing, and already loves me. I didn´t even do anything. Well, that´s not true. I started talking. Apparently there is this member, currently serving a mission, that I remind him of. The way I talk, my face, pretty much everything about me points to me being distantly related to this Elder. Which is great. I mean, I have a great relationship with the Bishop now. And The Elder comes home in August, so I´ll probably be able to meet him. Anways, so we say the transfer prayer (we have a prayer every transfer with the Bishop so that we can find the people who are ready and have success) and then go home and sleep. <-- Favorite part of that day.

Next day we plan for a billion hours, because there is a ton of stuff to do and getting to know everyone takes time, but it was a good planning session and we have really good plans for the next week. I´m feeling good, and we go out and start teaching the people. We go to our first investigator and talk with her, she hadn´t gone to church on Sunday, so we had to solve that doubt, and we talked to her about obedience and why God asks us to do these things. And we ask her about baptism and she says she´s decided. She knows it´s true and this is what God wants for. She will be baptized the 9th of June. It was an amazing first experience here in Zarate, seeing how my companion works and how we will work together, and I take it as a good sign that we teach so well together so soon.

Thursday, the fun started when we went to go search a reference. Well, no. Back up. First we went to go visit our ward mission leader. Who introduces himself to me and says "Oh, and you´re the  hermana Reed" "yup, sure am." I reply, thinking he had read my plack (dead give away). Until he continues "yes, Hermana Reed, and you have a birthday this Saturday." ".........How in the world did you know that?" "Do you happen to know an Hermana Jones?" It looks like my mission mom is still looking out for me. Thanks Hermana Jones! Yes I did have a wonderful birthday, more to come on that. But it made getting to know the members very exciting. Because half of them new me before I got there, and they all knew it was my birthday on Saturday. There are no secrets.

Anyways, we had a good meeting and then left to go find this reference, and we´re looking for about an hour, because this place is huge and not all the streets are on the map, and so we´re searching forever, and we think we´re almost lost but then it turns out that we´re not. We make the contact, set a cita. Man, it was hilarious. Some times the streets are little trails, we were dodging in between weeds and dogs, battling the insects of the field. I felt fully welcomed.

Then we had our district meeting (sorry this e-mail is long because it´s the first week, got to give all the deets. But I know you´re entertained so it´s okay, besides it gets good at the end. Hold on!). I found out that I am the only missionary from the United States/speaks english in my district. This is the first. I´ve always been in the majority. And now I´m the definite minority. But it is cool, I actually coudn´t even tell because I understood everyone on the phone. Usually I can tell when someone is Latino because I don´t understand them very well (maybe I just had bad phones?) But it made me happy to think that my spanish is better. And we all eat lunch together after district meeting because the Elders have to wait an hour anyways for their Collectivo that passes by every hour. That´s how separated our district meetings are.

And then Saturday! Big day! Happy Birthday to me! I know you were all thinking about me (....Jared....). And it was pretty tranquilo. The night before a member calls us and asks us to pass by for his house the next day. It was actually really funny. Because he calls and asks "Hermana Reed? How are you doing?" All in English, so obviously he knows who I am and where I come from because he´s speaking English to me. He tells me that he was just practicing his Spanish, and that he had been talking to Hermana Jones (hmmmmm....) and he wanted to know if we could stop by the next day. Obviously in my head, I´m thinking, hmmm, member, talking with my mission mom, who likes to do nice things for the missionaries. I´m seeing Birthday cake in my head. I was not dissappointed. And it wasn´t awkward like I thought it was going to be. Partly because we arrived late due to a miracle! Last transfer there was this huge storm and Hermana Vargas and Hermana Alvarado took shelter in the house of some random person, started talking to her and never had the chance to go back. We went back saturday night and talked with her a bit, and it turns out that while she respects all religions she has never let anyone enter her house until she spoke with us. And she believes that what we teach is the truth. accepted baptism and a fecha. The Lord really is preparing people to accept the gospel.

Anyways, due to this miracle we showed up late to my own birthday party and we only had time to sing happy birthday once because the hermano had to go to work (for pictures ask Hermana Jones, apparently they will be going up on facebook). But it was awesome because he also made arroz con leche, which I LOVE!!! and the cake was really good too. And then we just ate cake for the last 15 min of the work day while talking with his sister. Good times.

But nothing compares to the adventure I had on Sunday. Sleepover with Hermana Whitehead! Hermana Whitehead is serving in Campana which is in our zone, and so this Sunday I may or may not have been robbed at gun point, losing both sets of keys to our apartment, my spanish scriptures that I´ve had my whole mission, my patriachal blessing (copy not the original, dad could you send me a copy in e-mail and i´ll print it out again? thanks!), my only picture of my family, and various other not very important things (except the card signed by Pte Monson that says I´m a authorized missionary. I am mildly peeved about that). So when I called the President to tell him what had happened he said I could go to Hermana Whiteheads apartment. POVER! It was good. I haven´t seen this woman in 7 1/2 months and I was stoked. It may have been a little ridiculous but I don´t even care. And that´s where I am right now. We called the Livings guy to change our locks (and open our door since we can´t get in) and we´re waiting for him to call us back with the go ahead. Let me tell you, not having my scriptures with me is a really weird feeling. I feel like it´s a foreshadowing of feelings to come. But whatever. P-day in Campana with Hermana Whitehead. I´m happy.

And yeah. So that´s my big adventure in Zarate. Lots of funny stories. Lots of things that happened. But the Lord is blessing us with work and guiding us to the people who are prepared. And I love it all. Sorry, I got distracted, my companion came back with Hermana Binks (we may or may not be doing divisions). So, I lost my train of thought. But yeah. Keep doing good. Sorry my letter isn´t overly spiritual today. Go read the scriptures. They are always spiritual! :)

Love you all,

Hermana Reed

1 Nefi 19:20

Alrighty then, another 6 weeks and it is time to change. We got the call last night, i.e. we called the Elders to give them our numbers for the week I get a "Hermana nos vamos!!!" As a response to my hello. That's almost what I was expecting. But I learned I'm heading back north to end the mission. I'm going a place called Zarate. It's super campo - i.e. large fields ranches. Not big city capital. God loves me so much. I was kind of expecting to leave based on some of Pte Gulbrandsen's remarks (we were having some convert drama, and he asked me if my companion had a good relationship with the convert. What are you trying to say President....?) Anyways, my new companion is from Argentina, pretty sure. I definitely know she's latina. I will know her name when I can see her plack and know how to spell her last name. It will be nice. I've only had 2 latin companions my whole mission. Something about God having confidence in my language skills. Which is valid, He's the one that gave them to me. I feel like I'll go and learn the area, and then I'll be asked to train for my last two transfers. How weird to be talking about the end. how did time go by so fast?

Allright, lets go for some fun stories real quick. We learned a new song. Well, I learned a new song, it's something latinos sing when they go on road trips. Dad, maybe you know the tune, we learned it from a Peruana. It goes like this.

Vamos a Paseo Beep beep beep
En a alto feo Beep Beep beep
Pero no importa Beep beep beep
Porque llevo torta Beep Beep Beep!

Except Hermana Erickson and I made up new lyrics. Like any good companionship

Vamos a paseo Beep beep beep
Predicamos el evangelio Beep beep beep
Bautismos los Domingos Beep beep beep
Aunque somos Gringos Beep Beep Beep!!

We liked it. I still get a kick out of it. Especially since it works as we're both from the United States. Rock the gringo power.

Fun story numero 2: we were over at a recent converts house having a NDH, and Julian, a son shares this story. He is talking about how their family is really calm and it takes them quite a bit to get worked up about anything. they just don't yell and scream (not true during games, they were all pretty in to it). For example, one time the whole family was over and someone put a towel or something up next to the furnace to help it dry. Well, it dried....and then it caught fire. Julian sees the whole thing, calmly walks over to the family and in a monotone voice says "I think your clothes are on fire." And no one pays attention. So it kind of waves, "Gente! Se parece como su ropa esta enfuego...." It was just really in spanish because it translates to "People, it would appear that your clothes are flaming." And mostly i wanted to tell you that story so I wouldn't forget it. because that is hilarious.

The last funny story is a mix in translation. Which is funny. I love it both ways, spanish to english or english to spanish. But this happened during our last district meeting. Afterwards, Elder Leon comes up to Hermana Erickson and says, mildly quietly, "Hermana, I don't mean to be bored when I say this," and Hermana Erickson just looked at him funny...."You mean rude??" Que chistoso. But it was good. because he told us that Elder Bednar came to the mission in 2009 and asked all the missionaries for their placks and if they had any stickers/writing on the back of their placks he snapped them in half. The idea was that the placks show everyone who we represent, Jesus Christ. We need to treat our placks with respect, just like we do our scriptures and our priesthood leaders. It was a good insight and got me thinking.

That and we have been given the challenge to read the scriptures in 60 days as a mission. So we've all been starting on that. And it has been great reading in English again, i've been able to get some really good insights. Things that I just would have missed reading in Spanish. Or that I had forgotten. One of which is the strong witness of the spirit in our lives, and the necessity of the spirit. And that's where 1 Nefi 19:20 comes in. Because nefi talks about how he is just exhausted from feeling the Spirit. And that is how we are. Because we have mortal bodies and aren't ready for the Celestial Kingdom just yet. We wouldn't be able to handle the glory. And as missionaries we are feeling the spirit and looking for the spirit all the time. To find the people who are ready, to teach what they need. In every moment, we are searching for and testifying with the Spirit. And that's why we are so exhausted all the time. Think of Joseph Smith after his visions, the numerous times he saw angels, and then was just sapped of energy. Or Lehi, in the first chapter, after seeing a vision, he goes home and collapses on his bed, completely drained of energy. But what joy we receive. It just gives me so much more hope for the future. Especially the verses that talk about receiving our rest some day. I'm really looking forward to that. I love what I'm doing. And I know that I am doing what the Lord wants of me. Because I can feel His confirmation every day. But I still need to do more. There is more for me to do. We are weak, our bodies are not perfect, and sometimes we break down. But God will always be there to pick us back up and give us the energy that we need for just one more day.

It was really great getting to talk to you yesterday. Even though the connection kind of blew sometimes and I couldn't see a single person. But it was good to hear your voices, and just know that you all are thinking of me and are a part of my mission, through your e-mails and your experiences. Keep looking for opportunities to share the gospel. The people need the joy that the Gospel brings. And everyday I go to bed wishing I could do more, but knowing that I'll have another day, another opportunity. Darn weaknesses.

I love you all. Keep being strong. And know that whatever weaknesses that you have, God gave them to you to help you remember Him and to help you recognize your true potential. Because every trial and every weakness can be overcome. It says so, in Ether 12:27. Every weakness is an unopened gift.

Hermana Reed

What you don´t seem to understand is we´re all searching for answers...

Well this week has been absolutely amazing. It will have to be short. Because it´s the last p-day and so we have to get everything prepped for next week. But it was a good week. Alejandro got confirmed on Sunday. And he is just so happier right now. He has started joking around with everyone. Part of that might be because we invited him to come to a family home evening activity with the branch this saturday and we played this game where we put flour in a cup and then take away the cup so there is this pile of flour, put a coin on top and essentially play jenga. Cutting off a slice of flour at a time. And the person that makes the coin fall, has to pick it up out of the flour with their mouth. Sick nasty. And Alejandro lost. Welcome to church activities!! We´re crazy. But yeah, so we call him Sunday morning because si o si he has to be on church on time. And it´s 5 minutes before church starts and he´s all "oh yeah, don´t worry about it. We´re going to be there in like an hour and a half.....no just kidding, but in like 10 minutes." I nearly had a heart attack. You do not show up to your confirmation an hour and a half late. Don´t you...meh, I´m an axious wreck before sacrament meeting trying to get all the investigators there on time. But he showed up. was confirmed. Good times.

Actually, what was better then this is that the Elders in Chacra had a baptism saturday, and it was at the same time as a members baptism. But the fun part was that the family of this member were from a different religion. Evangelical to be exact. Which is fine, they are good people, but after every talk, after the baptism, they started clapping! Hermana Erickson and I were like "NOOOOOO!!!!" in our heads obviously. Because we had brought Marina and Victoria to the baptism. So, afterwards we had to explain to them. Well, normally we don´t clap during our baptism, we like to have a reverent atmosphere. Luckily Hermana Marina understood. She did look a bit confused during the baptism when they all started clapping. Oh well. The life of a missionary. There´s always something to make it more exciting.

But we did have some really good experiences this week. Mostly with menos Activos. and one active member. We were walking with Hermana Marcos to a cita and she was telling us how she and her husband were talking about how they had to step up their game as members. O sea, they were active, they have very strong testimonies, he´s in the branch presidency, but they aren´t doing some of the small things that the prophet has told us to do. Like scripture study as a family, family home evenings, reading in the mornings. And she was talking about how it is hard, because he works from 4 until midnight, at his job, so he is hardly ever home, and when he is she just wants to spend time with him (valid, they are still in love, that´s good). And then she turns to us and says "but that´s just an excuse, right? It doesn´t matter, we know that we aren´t doing what we should and it doesn´t matter if it´s hard. It´s a commandment from God, not a suggestion. Right?" And mostly what caught me off guard about that was that she was looking to us as missionaries for verification. We had a good discussion about it, about why God has asked us to do these things and the importance of obedience. But it caught me off guard that this very active amazing member was looking to me for questions. Probably because I have so many of the same questions. Okay, not right now as a full time serving missionary. But Often I´m searching for answers, looking for verification as to what God wants me to do. And it was weird to recognize that I was the current authority on the subject. But I can with full purpose of heart testifty that it is true. It doesn´t really matter how busy our lives our. This isn´t Pirates of the Caribbean. They aren´t guidelines. They are commandments. And while we might not understand them. We need to live them. It is a bold face lie to say we don´t have time. God gave you life. Give him 5 minutes. Better, make Him the priority, and He will give you the time you need. I think we forget that sometimes. Our life is hectic, but God can help us de-hectify our lives.

I love english. I just made that word up. I probably broke like 17 grammer rules doing it, but you understand. Also, I´m working on being more bold. Can you tell? I´m also working on being bold and tactful. Sometimes I do good. Other times I don´t. Either way, I try to do it with love. My heart is in the right place even if my foot is in my mouth.

The other good experience we had this week was with the Family Roldan. The kids are semi-active. They all go to seminary, General COnference, but don´t go to church on sunday, because their parents don´t. And their parents don´t most of the time because they work, but sometimes they don´t work and they don´t go to church. And we were talking to them about the need to be good examples and to help their children understand the importance of going to church, and the need to reconcile themselves with God. And they were talking to us, pleading really, for us to look just a little bit a head to how they will be. Because they know the church is true, and live all the commandments minus go to church. And as they were talking, all I could really think about is that we really understood, and we were looking to the future. We knew that they had the potential and the strength to change their lives and live fully the gospel. That´s why we were there in their house. Because we knew that they can make these changes, and we know that God knows it. That´s why He sent us to their house. But that doesn´t mean that we can put off the day of change. God is helping us to change now, to be what we want to be in the future. And we were sitting there trying to help them, and testifying that the process of change needs to start now. I don´t think I´m saying this very well. The point is. We told this family that we were there to help them become who they wanted to be. We weren´t condemning them, we were helping. Because sometimes the first step is the hardest. But God always helps those who are willing to accept it. aka - he sends missionionaries/visiting teachers/bishops/home teachers/leaders/friends. Just don´t let your pride get in the way of accepting divine help from a physical hand. We pray, we plead for help and guidance, and then when God sends it in the form of a leader we push it away. It shouldn´t be that way. And now this family understands it a little better.

Anyways, that´s all the time I have for today. But Keep being good. Read your scriptures say your prayers. And tell me good fun stories. I´ll see you (family) this Sunday. SKYPE!!! Happy Mother´s Day.

Hermana Reed