I´m going to go change myself...

You hear the funniest things on the mission. For instance, Our district leader, who is learning english, and actually speaks it very well, was practicing with us one day after district meeting, and had to go change his clothes (he was going to do service). So, he comes up to say goodbye and says "I´m going to go change myself..." And I was able to keep a straight face until my companion said something. I don´t even remember what she said. But the poor Elder got all flustered. It was a direct translation of what he wanted to say, you just don´t usually say it like that in english, it´s just "I´m going to go change." Poor Elder. But this week has been a week of change. We were able to have a lot of amazing experiences. We went out on Tuesday with an Hermana from Centro who is preparing to go on a mission. She is one of 2 members in her family. Something like that, and is super excited to go on a mission, even though she still has 6 months before she can even put in her papers. So we were going around, and it was great, we had 2 citas planned, and then like every time we have a member all the citas fell through, so we went to go contact a few less actives, to teach them and see if they had any friends that wanted to hear the gospel. We go to one of our back up plans and find out that the direction in our list was for a house....when really it´s an apartment building. So we said a prayer to find this family, and while we were praying the number 3 came to my mind, 3 and 4 came to mind for Hermana Erickson, and Rosa (the member) thought of 4. So we thought, all right, we´re knocking 3 and 4. We go to knock apartment 3 - turns out an antiguo investigador lives there, we set a cita to come back, and then he tells us that the people we are looking for? Yeah, they live in apartment 4!! It was an amazing experience and testimony that God really does answer prayers, we just need to have the faith that He will guide us. The best part of that story is that when we went back to teach the menos activo family, we knocked on the door and their 12 year old brother answered. (P.S. this is a family where only one of the kids is a member) When he told us that the member wasn´t home, we started talking to him, invited him to church, all those good things. And then after he shut the door we heard this laughing coming from the inside. So, I tried to get closer to see what they were saying. Our member, who came with us tried to get close to the door as well, except, she ended up leaning on the door and it opened just a crack!! So all of us start RUNNING for the stairs. We get outside, hearts racing, and bust up laughing. They didn´t come to church, but it was nice to see the members getting so excited and involved in the work with us. And it´s true. We have 2 members in our branch that are just awesome! They went out together to go visit a couple of families and were telling us about it. Together they went to go visit the Family Heredia, but didn´t know which apartment they lived in. So together, they prayed to know where to go, and justo - a daughter of the family walks in the door. Shows them where to go. And then they talk, and Hermana Marcos (who is amazing) says that before they leave she wants to share a scripture. It literally nearly brought me to tears to hear this. Because she wants to be a missionary so badly. She knows the church is true and she has been completely changed because of it. Speaking of changing - the good thing about being a missionary, is that those who want to change talk to you, at least for a bit. We had an experience last Sunday I think, we were looking for the address of a family, and a guy comes up to us. He is clearly drunk, and starts talking to us about how he wants to change his life, how in that day he has already drunken 2 bottles of wine, and he just left his house to go buy a third, but he knows he needs to change his habits. (We know this because he comes up to us and says "Look, I´m drunk." To which I replied "yes, we know.") And he really wanted to change, but he didn´t know how, and I don´t know if it was the wine or something else, but he knew that he wasn´t treating his family very well with this addiction. We tried going back but we haven´t been able to find him. But I know, like he knows, that the only way to change is through God. He is the only one with the power to help us overcome our bad habits. And I was reading in the Liahona this week an article by Elder Bednar, he talks about the Atonement and shows us how in the scriptures the prophets don´t ask for their situations to change. Instead, they ask for the strength to overcome the trials in their lives. Two examples being Alma and his people when they were under the reign of Amulon - they were enslaved and set to work, and God didn´t free them right away, but he did give them the strength that their burdens would be made light. And then Elder Bednar talked about Nephi, how when his brothers tied him up, Nephi prayed for the strength to be released from his bonds. And then he probably had to work at the ropes, wriggling and struggling to free himself, but God gave him the strength to keep going until he was able to undo the bonds. This is how the Atonement (and the Grace of God work). It´s like the 3rd article of face. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. Believing that Christ exists is not enough. We have to do our part, but God will give us the strength to overcome every trial in our lives. This is the promise. And I testify that it is true. And I know it because I have been seeing the affects of the Atonement in the lives of so many people for this past year. In Argentina, in my family (even through e-mails) and mostly in myself. I know I am a better person for the trials I have been given. And I am grateful for the chance I have to change, because I know I am becoming what God wants of me. Just like you are changing to be what God desires of you. I love you all, until next week. Keep dreaming, keep praying. God will help you. That´s why He sent His Son. :) Hermana Reed

Where you There?

So, my new companion has a cd from Jericho Road - less boy bandy more awesome spiritual musicy - and there´s a song entitled "Where you there?" And Essentially the song lyrics go "Where you there when they crucified our Lord? Where you there? Would you remember? *remember (that´s the backup singers) Anyways, that´s the song that is going through my head. And to answer that question. I´m sure I was there. Wasn´t at my sisters´ weddings (a lot of people in Argentina think it´s rude that you two didn´t wait for me. But I´m okay with it. I just want pictures). But I was there when Christ was crucified. I just don´t remember. But I do get the chance to testify that it happened. And something that I was thinking about. I was reading my patriarchal blessing the other day and it talks about how I will have the opportunity to teach the principles of the Gospel and how I will have joy doing it. Okay, lets be 100% real. I was reading my blessing today, and thinking about what I´m doing as a missionary. And the word "joy" pops up quite a bit. And I was thinking about if I could say that I have had a lot of joy in my life. I could definately say happy, moments of mirth for sure, I mean, come on! I´m hilarious! It just comes out of me. That´s why I´m so skinny, I laugh all the time. So I had to do a bit of self analysis. What is joy? What is joy to you guys? Is it winning the basketball game against the rival team (Broomfield 3rd vs 1st ward? good times). Ace-ing the test? Do any of those things really matter? Or is it standing in a group of family members praying and watching as two children of God become one step closer to living with God again. I wasn´t even there, but I´m betting a lot of my family felt true joy this weekend. And my joy - is knowing who I am. A daughter of God, and having the opportunity to share it. It´s not work - in the grudgingly given, burdened down, dreading the dawn type of work. It´s hard, takes a lot of patience and planning (oh the planning sessions we have!), and you don´t get a lot of thanks (agradecimiento?). But every day I receive a witness that I´m doing exactly what God wants me to do, even when I botch it - because I´m at least trying my best. Here´s the joy that I have had this week: Hna Paola - aka Belletrix Lestrange - wants to come back to church. She wants to quit smoking, and she wants her family to be together. She hasn´t gone to church in 10 years. Juan y Cintia - finally prayed about the Book of Mormon, even better, they recognize that the "good feelings" they get when they read are actually confirmations from God. They´ve accepted baptism, have actually committed to coming to church (before it was always, I´m not going to promise anything) and are opening up to us as to how they want to change their lives and what they are willing to do. And do you want to know why we were able to have this progress? Miembro justo - her name is Rosalia, convert of two-three years ish and she was so excited to share her testimony and the strength she has to recognize that the commandments of God - wait for it, because this is epic- are commandments. They aren´t guidelines, they are not suggestions, they are commandments from God because He knows that is what we need to do to be happy, and breaking commandments is akin to denying the power and wisdom of God. I love having members with us in lessons. Alejandro - we called him Saturday night and he said he wanted to move up his baptismal date (it was 12th of may) to this saturday. Then he didn´t come to church, that´s rough, BUT! He still wants to get baptized. More to come on his story. He´s currently in Mendoza. Family Manrique - a reference from Ushuaia. They are Catholic by tradition, but don´t like it. And the sister of the mom is a member. Her nephew served part of his mission in Peru before cutting some tendons in his knee. The nephew lived with them for about a month after his surgery- giving them some time to feel the spirit and be open to listening. They don´t feel like they have the abilities to change religions at this point in their lives (52 is not to old) but they openly acknowledged that we have something different. We are blessed. Anyways, Find your joy. Acknowledge it. And recognize that it probably won´t come from anything, it most likely will come from a someone - or many someones. Because we can´t take stuff with us to heaven, but we can meet people there when we get there. Love you all, Hermana Reed

So, You would think...

You would think that in a Catholic country Easter would be a big deal, right? Me too! Turns out, it might be, just, when you´re at the end of the world, you have other things to do...like eat, and not be cold. I kind of forgot all week that it was easter. Which, I would say is unusual, but on the mission I forget about all holidays (or feriado - the spanish word for it hear) unless specificallly told to me by President Gulbrandsen, or my district leader day of (or during weekly planning, if it´s in my agenda, I will remember). We didn´t have any processions, we didn´t have any fiestas, we just had a special reunion based on the Atonement of Jesus Christ like President Monson asked of us. And then we all got a chocolate easter egg after sacrament meeting. That´s what they do here. They give out chocolate eggs, most of them are hollow, the really cool ones have M&M´s inside, I have no idea how they make them. How do they get the chocolate on the inside? I still don´t know. But 2 cool Easter-y things did happen this week. First off, I was asked to speak in sacrament meeting. Whoot. They must really like me to pick me out of the four missionaries that are here (okay, two were brand new to the area, and the other one has already been here for 5 months, so it may not be stretching to much to ask me). Which was fine. I prepared my talk, had the basic idea, and then a recent convert offered to correct my spanish. This was an incredibly humbling experience, as I thought I was kind of good with my spanish, and then she started to correct my talk. What do you mean to say here? What´s that? That´s really complicated and doesn´t make sense......Pucha. My writing eloquence just hasn´t really passed on into my spanish speaking apparently. It´s a lot harder. And then. She didn´t finish editing it and we had to go, so she said she would bring it to church the next day. So I show up to church at 9:45 and she´s not there....what? She ends up calling us at 10:30 (during the meeting, we did not answer). It was a good thing I kept my notes. I will be sending the talk to you, because it was actually really good. It combined a couple of talks from October Conference 2011 by Elder Carl B. Cook and Elder Cristofferson with the other cool thing that happened this week. MISSION EASTER CONFERENCE! Loved it, it was my first conference in the south. Which meant my first time trying to work the internet here. We tried doing it at the Downs house first, but the internet was out so we all had to run to the church, and made it right as the musical number was finishing. Phew! Anyways, President Gulbrandsen talked about a lot of different things, but one example really stood out to me. He had us all close our eyes and envision ourselves entering a room where Jesus was sitting upon His throne. As we walk into the room, Jesus gets down from his throne and runs to greet us and give us a big hug, having returned home from our long journey. After this reunion we spend time together and we go to a museum like courtyard where we see scenes from our lives hanging on the walls. As we pass through our lives together with our Savior, we come to one of the most embarrassing moments of our lives, as we see ourselves sinning. With the Savior by our side we plead for his forgiveness, and with tears in his eyes he tells us that all is forgiven. I really liked this analogy. But I had two very poignant thoughts that I wanted to share with you. The first is when we enter the room where Jesus is sitting, how do you feel? Are you excited? Are you scared? Do you feel worthy to enter into the presence of your Savior? Because if you don´t, you need to study the Atonement again. You need to truly understand the meaning of repentance. (This is what I talked about on Sunday, btw). Because there is nothing in your life that you can do, that would block you from returning to your Heavenly Father if you truly repent. And this is true, real repentance, as in a change in behavior, from the heart, drawing yourself unto Christ repentance. This is why we have the Atonement in our lives, so that we can enter that room with heads held high, and not wait for him to come to us, but for us to want to RUN to him, and with tears in OUR eyes, thank him for all that he has done, for the happiness that we have received, and to feel his emanating love surround us. And to want it. Because we can, because he loves us, because he died for us that we may live again. Point two: when you are in the museum of your life, begging for forgiveness for a sin that you are watching. I don´t want to feel sad. I want to turn to Jesus and say, "Yes. I sinned. This was a terrible moment in my life. But look! Look up ahead, a scene or two. That´s where I repented. That´s where I applied the Atonement in my life. I didn´t reject your gift, the drops of blood you spilt for me were not in vain. Because look! I became a better person, this is who you allowed me to be, to discover. I truly am your disciple." Such an amazing miracle that we have the Atonement in our lives. We are so truly blessed. And then the other day we were at a recent converts house, and they were watching Lord of the Rings II. And right before they turned it off Samwise Gamgee said: "I think I understand now. In all those stories, [the heroes] had so many chances to turn back, but they didn´t. Because they has something to hold on to. They had hope. Hope for a better future, and a better day." As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have this hope. We have this knowledge of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and we have the opportunity to share what we know with our family and friends. And we share out of love, not out of contempt, because we truly want this happiness for those around us. Thank you for being a wonderful blessing in my life. I wish you a happy Easter. Felices Pascuas! Go eat a chocolate egg. Hermana Reed Okay, so that was super spiritual. Now I would like to give you some quotes of the week that are hilarious! "The area is always better when I leave. No, I mean it´s better because I´m not there." - Hermana Erickson, my new companion. She gives me hope. "I could convert people with my body if they could se it...but they can´t because I´m wearing to many clothes." - Hermana Erickson after putting on 5 pairs of socks "Hermana´s! You can´t be in an apartment with a man alone can you?" Hermana Marcos (member of the branch) as she was accompaning us for a couple of hours "Right. But we didn´t....you were there." "Oh, right. I was with you." Hermana Marcos is hilarious. She´s 25 and has 2 kids, convert of 4 years ish, and hilarious. She doesn´t want to have another baby because it will delay her and her husband serving a mission together. They love us, and she loves helping the missionaries! "Hey kid! Do you want to get baptized?" - Me, because we wanted to see if he would say yes. Also, we´re reactivating a member who looks like Belletrix Lestrange. She´s happier every time we go back. The church is true. :) Love you!

Transfers in the south are a lot different then the north...

So, I know it´s Tuesday. I promise I´m not being disobedient. It´s just that when you are chilling with the non-existent penguins (lame that I still haven´t seen one) tranfers are a little more loco. Here´s why, because when you are waiting for your new companion, she has to get on a plane and travel all day just to get to you. As opposed to finding her at the mission offices and jetting off to enjoy your p-day. Also, because your now ex-companion has to wait a day for her flight, you spend a lot of your p-day saying goodbye to people. Things are very different here. So, would you like to know about my new companion? Her name is Hermana Erickson, she´s from Chicago. Blonde, and hilarious. She came in the same group as Hermana Alvey and Hermana Gutierrez, which means I have now been companions with every Hermana from that group. Which I think is hilarious. There is obviously something very special about this group. Oh, and I´m still in Chacra II. Hermana Gutierrez left, she went to Caballitos, capital. It´s going to be so different. I kept telling her not to wear her heavy jacket in the airplane but she didn´t believe me. She´s been in the cold so long she can´t wrap her mind around the fact that there are places warm in our mission. It´s cooling down up north, but it is still pretty hot. We know this because Hermana Erickson shows up in this very light skirt, without tights on, absolutely freezing. She put on her warm jacket real quick. Anyways, that´s the most exiting news. How awesome was General Conference this weekend? I loved it. As a missionary it is still one of the most stressful times of my life, because we have 5 chances to get investigators to church, which means 5 times to look for investigators, call them, wake them up, and get them out the door. But it´s all worth it because then we get to listen to the prophet! And we get the chance to sustain him (I did, enthusiastically) and promise God to follow the counsel that He gives us. Plus, as a native english speaker, I went in a little room with all the other english speaking missionaries so we weren´t distracted by all the little kids running around. A spirit of reverence resided. I won´t recap any of the talks, but I will just say, that going to General Conference boosts my testimony every time. To see all those people singing and testifying, and knowing that there are millions of people all over the world who are doing the same, and watching with me. It is also nice to know that at this time, my family is doing the same thing I am, and we are growing in the Gospel together, even though we´re about a bajillion kilomotres away from one another. Ish. Bit of an exaggeration there. And this week was just amazing, Divisions with Hermana Gonzales was very edifying. We talked a lot about receiving the Vision of God, something President Gulbrandsen has wanted us to do for a while. Because when we receive the vision we understand how to work more efficiently and then we achieve miracles. And I was thinking about this during conference, God has a Vision for each and every one of us, if we can take the time to understand it, we will be able to work miracles in our lives. Anyways, Hna Gonzalez taught me a lot, through her example and wisdom. She goes home this transfer, so she has a lot of experience. I´m going to be as good as her some day. I can do it. And then I got my companion back and we just went to town teaching and being missionaries. And it was awesome. It was hard, and we still had trials and had to show our faith, and we didn´t have a baptism this weekend, but we have some awesome plans and I´m excited to keep working. I know this e-mail is really vague. But there´s just so much to do. Last week when we were doing weekly planning I kept getting frustrated because lunch kept getting in the way of our plans. Sometimes I just don´t want to eat. I´d rather go and visit one more person, teach one more lesson. But that´s not healthy, also we need to form a good relationship with the members. God is wise, making us eat. We can do it. Thanks Heavenly Father. And don´t worry, I really do like to eat, I just want to keep working as well. We can do it. Pray for us please, I need to get better at so many things, but God is preparing people and He is preparing me. Just like He is preparing each and everyone of you to be in the right place at the right time to share your testimonies and bless someones life. You don´t even know when, but it will happen. Because God loves all of His children. Not just one or two. All righty, got to jet, otra vez. I love you all! Hermana Reed

"Seems like a mission would be the best years of my life..."

Would you believe that´s what a contact on the street said to me? Not even kidding. Talk about a miracle. We were walking to a menos activos house and there was this group of boys playing soccer in the street. The ball comes rolling towards us, so we ever so suavely kick it back (aka, we didn´t make a fool out of ourselves, and it only went mildly off to the side instead of wildly off to the side), and started talking with them. This kid is 17 years old, and while he initially may have just been flirting with the blonde american, Heavenly Father quickly took hold of the situation and we ended up having a good first lesson of the importance of the gospel in our lives and the necessity of change. And Fernando was talking to me and explained a bit about his family situation and how he really wants to change his life. So, I took the opportunity to promise him that if he was willing to put forth the effort, he could change his life for the better in 3 weeks. April 7th, he´s planning on getting baptized. This kid is great. And while we were talking a little about what we do as missionaries that he said that he would like to serve a mission. The next day we went over to his house and he had read all of the Restauration phamplet (my jaw nearly dropped, that hardly ever happens where they read the whole thing) and then Thursday when we went over to talk to him, his sister told us that he had been reading in the Book of Mormon that we had given him all morning, and was talking to her and the family about it. It was crazy. AND THEN! Friday when we called him (love daily contact) he and his 4 other friends (whom we are also now teaching) were sitting there reading in the Book of Mormon together, and they asked us what "the senda" was (2 Nefi 31). To which we explained it was following the example of Jesus Christ, being baptized, reading, praying and going to church. To name a few. Basically, it has been a bunch of miracles with this contact, and his friends. Through him, we are teaching 4 of his friends and his sister. They didn´t go to church this week because it was one of their birthdays and they were going out to celebrate. And we hadn´t taught the Word of Wisdom yet, so that was saddening. But they commited to go this weekend, which is great! Because it´s General Conference. Love it. Point is, it was a great miracle. And he´s still reading, and loving it. And I can´t wait for him to be baptized. We already love all of them so much. Future leaders of the church! We found them. Which is good because we´ve been praying for them. Alright, to answer some of your questions. Chacra is a small branch, we have about 87 people at church every week (average), a good chunk of them trickle in after the sacrament (having taken it outside in the foyer area). Marcela and Gustavo are also doing well, they didn´t make it to church. Pucha, they said they would go and then we weren´t able to wake them up. We always have to wake them up for the first time, and they didn´t answer. We knocked on doors, on windows. Nothing. Very saddening, but Angel did come to church. He´s the son of members, he is slowly but surely progressing as well. He still has some concerns - in regards to some of his Godchildren. But we are slowly working with him as well. The point is that God is giving us miracles and we are going to work as hard as we cann to be worthy of the gifts God is giving us. For instance, last night we received a phone call from one of the chicos at 5 o´clock in the morning (I did not answer, are you kidding me? I´m a missionary. I´m tired). Recently called them back, they were just calling to see when we were going to come over. We have a cita with them at 7 today. Love my life. Other miracles - so we received a referral for the sister of an investigator of the Elders. The investigator really wants his sister to go to church because he knows that she needs it in her life right now. So, we go over, she´s not home, but her mom is. And we start talking to her. And sometimes references can be kind of awkward - or knocking doors really. Because they don´t know you, you´re interrupting their lives. You just need to find the right words to let them have time to feel your intentions. Because that is what I´ve heard the most, is that when we are there - they feel something different (Holy Ghost) and they want to know more about what it is. So we go over, and the mom was a little affronted at first - strangers knocking on her door, looking for her daughter - from America. But we got to talking with her and it was amazing to see the change in her posture and face over the course of 5 minutes. She went from being defensive - to actually wanting us to come back. It´s a small story, but it happens a lot, and is a testimony to me that God really is guiding us in this work. And the people need it. They don´t even realize that they need what we have to offer, but we do have an inner peace and happiness that can only be explained by God. And it is just amazing that we have the chance to share it with others. Oh, that and then we were talking with some of our other investigators, and they said that one of their friends said that Mormons are the CIA. And I laughed - because all I could think about was Sydney from Alias. I wish I could be as cool as her. But our missions are very different from her kinds of missions. Also I was laughing because it took us like 2 minutes to realize what he was referring to. Because here in Argentina they don´t say C - I - A. They say "see-ah" so we were all "what´s a seeah? weird" But we get it. Well, we do walk around in 2´s in black coats all day. I had a district leader once who pretended to be from the FBI contacting a referral. I´m pretty sure the guy ended up getting baptized. The Elder told us that story to help us relax, we need to find ways to enjoy the work that we are doing too, because if we are too uptight, we can´t follow the spirit (but don´t go to lax either, we still need to work). Anyways, it was a fun week. I´m super excited for General Conference. Oh, and this week we are doing divisions with the Hermanas from Ushuaia. Hermana Gutierrez went down to Ushuaia and Hermana Gonzales is with me for a couple days. We´ll rock the world this week. Love you all! Have you prepared for the prophet? He´s going to speak to you! Prepare yourselves. Hermana Reed

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

Let the good times roll

As winter turns to more winter, I find myself continually happy to find that God loves me and blesses me at every turn. I would like to start out with introducing one crucial member of my new district that I failed to introduce before. There´s an Elder in my district named Elder Reid. That´s right. Not even joking And then this week we were blessed to find a new family. They called us on the phone. Told us that they had received our number from one of the Elders, and the Hermana that called us begged us to come over because her husband needed help, and she had felt something strong when she had talked to the missionaries. So we went over right away. Turns out her husband drinks to much, and it´s killing him. All the doctors keep telling him that if he doesn´t change he will probably die soon. So we started talking to them about the opportunity that they have and what we are there to teach, and they accepted everything. They said that they could feel the spirit burning within them, well, they didn´t understand it was the spirit, but they said they felt something, and they new it was all true. And they accepted the fecha for the 31st of March. The whole family. All 5 of them. I´m not telling this story very well, but it was a great experience, and I´m grateful to God that I could be a part of it. And then I found this scripture in 2 Nefi 5:27 - it´s like the "and he dwelt in a tent scripture" it´s short, but powerful. All it says is "and they lived after the manner of happiness" That´s what the Gospel brings us, that´s what we can do. Sorry this e-mail is lame. I´m not feeling very well. I´ll have a better e-mail next week. Sorry. But I love you all. Hermana Reed