Dang it!

Dang it!Dang it!Dang it!Dang it!Dang it!

That´s how I feel right now. I have absolutely no time (again, what the lame). Next week I´m making my companion swear that we´ll have more time. Because this whole 15 min thing is rough, I have so many stories to tell!!

Okay, so today, went shopping for a computer with a member (not fun) went and played soccer with the zone (also not fun, like dragging my face through mud. Ugh) and then played basketball. SO MUCH FUN!

But I only have time to tell you we had 4 investigators come to church this week and then had to stay in our house the rest of the day because there was a Riot. Ask Hermana Decker how she feels about River moving down to a ¨B¨level. I think it´s like minor leagues, but I don´t really know much about soccer. Also, not my focus on the mish. BUt there were a lot of drunk angry men on Sunday. So I got to stay indoors.

That´s my fun story.

Toodles,

Love you lots, sorry I can´t write more.

Hermana Reed

And the weeks fly by

Okay, so, Since yesterday was Father´s day (happy Father´s day pops) Almost everything was closed today. I´m writing this letter at 5:45 de la noche, so it´s going to be quick, and less funny. Because the funny comes in the details. And now I have to summarize. I hate summarizing. Where´s the fun in that.

First off, to my wonderful blessed father who climbed two 14´s in one day, crazy man that he is. Read 3 Ne 3:19, that´s what I think of you. Second, would someone please get in touch with Uncle Doug and Aunt Deryn (do they read this?) and ask them to take a picture of President Gulbrandsen from one of the ads on the back of the Yellow Pages if they still have one and send it to me. Yes I will print it off. Yes I will show him. No I will not tell him your names. Pretty please. Thank you.

Third - anyone want to look up a 70 for me? He was recently called and his last name is Haynie. I want to see if it´s the dad of my freshman roommate. a picture would be nice, since I do and always have referred to him as ¨Brother Haynie¨so really a first name won´t do me any good.

Okay, summarized stories. a) I´m cool, intelligent, and all around awesome. It´s cold here in winter, and sketchy to run in busy capitol streets at 6 in the morning. So for my cardio I have decided to pull out an unused mattress that is sitting under my bed.....and use it as a trampoline. Yes, I really am that cool. I thought you should know about that.

b) I have rekindled my personality now that the first transfer is over, and I´m even starting to hear and tell jokes. For all you cool cats out there, tell this to your friends. ¨What did the Gaucho say to his daughter? Hiiiiiiija! (Yeehaw)¨ I know right? Hilarious. I laughed for 5 minutes. I thought it was funny.

and c) I have completely ruined my companions ability to speak spanish. She´s started speaking English to members. And last week for Weekly Planning she started her prayer ¨Dear Heavenly Father......laughter¨ She hasn´t said an english prayer in over a year. I don´t know why she thought now would be a good time for that. But I love her, and she loves me- :)

Okay, so last off I wanted to just discuss something I was thinking about. Also, I want to make sure that even my e-mails are mildly spiritually uplifting since I´m called to bring people to Christ. Do people feel uplifted reading these things? I hope so.

Regardless, so yesterday we had a Noche de Hogar (FHE) with an investigator and we watched the Testaments. When they are flashing through the life of Jesus Christ and his crucificion, whatever, i don´t know how to spell it anymore, you know what I´m talking about, when he died, that part, wondering if he felt a sense of relief. I have wondered a lot about the amount of emotion Jesus Christ had. Because, of course, he was perfect. But did he get annoyed? I would have. There´s that one time where He forgives a man and the pharisees are all ¨who does he think he is saying someone is forgiven?¨And Jesus replies ¨which is harder? Forgiving someone of their sins, or making a lame man walk?¨and then commands the man to rise and walk. Kind of like a ¨take that you doubting pharasee´s¨type thing. But probably not. The thing is, I don´t know. I don´t know what emotions he felt. But my thought was, he HAD to have felt relief at that moment on the cross when he said it is finished and gave up the ghost. And my first thought, was just relief that the physical pain was over. Being the mortal that I am, if I had to go through that I would have been stressing about it the whole week leading up to this point. I´m going to throw a Celestial party that it´s over. And then, with more thought, I feel that yes, Christ would have felt a huge sense of relief. But not because the physical pain was over. Although that might have been a part of it. But what a huge emotional and spiritual relief, that finally, everyone had access to be saved. He did it. Atonement completed. Physical death overthrown. Spiritual death no longer an unconquerable problem. Everyone could access repentance and return to Heavenly Father. Because until he accomplished it, a lot was on the line. That´s why a third of Heaven chose not to accept the Plan of Happiness presented by Heavenly Father and gain bodies. They didn´t think that Jesus would be able to do it. But he did. Huge sense of relief.

I still have no idea how deeply the emotions of Jesus Christ went. Loving, kind, charitable, always. I have no idea if he had a sense of humor. But I feel like he did. And I know that I stress over the salvation of our investigators, and it´s going to be a huge sense of relief when they get baptized. The battle isn´t over, but they are so much closer after baptism. Sometimes I feel like that´s where the joy comes from that is spoken about in D&C. How great shall be your joy if you bring but one soul unto Christ.

Oh, analyzing. I do just love it so. it´s crazy. I´m crazy. I make myself more stressed then I need to be. I haven´t slept for a full night in over 4 months. But I have the energy every day that I need. And I will for the next 18 months. less, then., Whatever. You all know what I mean. Totally worth it. Vale la pena. Christ loves you. Dios does too. I really do. Thank you for your prayers. I know I couldn´t do the work without them. Even with my prayers, if I didn´t have yours, life would be so much harder. Keep up the good work. Access the Atonement daily. It´s there for you.

Hermana Reed

I made it.

I made it. That´s all I can really think. I made it. That was what everyone said in the CCM. Just wait until Sunday, just wait until Sunday. And then out in the field. Just make it through your first transfer. Done and Done. It went crazy fast, ridiculously fast actually. But here I am. One full fledged full of errores missionary with six weeks in the bag. I was going to say under the belt, but since I don´t wear belts that would be a lie. I wear skirts. I could say under my thermals, but that´s weird. So I won´t.

No changes for me. I´m still here with Hermana Jones in Nunez. We are getting a new district leader and the other newbie in the area is getting a new companion. I´m not sure how I got to be so lucky. But that´s life for you. I´m super blessed.

Unfortunately, this might be a bit of a lamer e-mail. Nothing super exciting. Ricardo didn´t end up getting baptized. LAME! Actually, don´t tell my companion but I think he´s justified in his feelings. We were getting all excited for his baptism and setting plans. And Ricardo is just not feeling prepared. Has the desire, doesn´t feel ready. So we´re trying to help him, make him feel better. He gets to the baptismal interview, passes with flying colors. Still doesn´t want to get baptized this Sunday. Gah. That´s when we find out the real issue. He´s feeling a lot of pressure to get baptized this Sunday. Not from God, from us. Which, in my opinion, was completely correct. He had started making friends in the ward and EVERYONE was talking to him about his baptism, and really no one was taking into account his personal feelings on the matter. I was mildly aware, but my companion took the opportunity not to listen to me. But the AP´s new about it, the district and zone leaders knew about Ricardo. Everyone was pushing Ricardo for his baptism. If President Gulbrandsen had been around I´m sure he would have pushed it too. Luckily he wasn´t.

Anyways, Ricardo´s kind of been avoiding us all weekend. So we´re giving him time. When we talked to him last he said that he wanted to decide when he wanted to get baptized, and promised to call us when he is ready. I´m not sure if I´m supposed to not like this situation or not. But I personally feel he has a point. He still wants to get baptized, and soon. He just wants it to be his choice. Which, in the end, is what the gift of agency is all about. And really, just leaves me feeling confused. Should I be more upset that Ricardo didn´t get baptized? Am I always supposed to be this pushy? Where does the line between agency and persistence end? I can understand if someone doesn´t understand the importance of baptism, and that we need to be persistent because some people don´t realize that this is what they need in their lives. But we need to accept their ability to make choices too, right? I don´t know what the right answer is.

Fun news. At this point in my life I can pretty much say that I have eaten almost every part of cow possible. Last week it was cow intestines, this week I got to sample a bit of cow heart and cow stomach. The cow heart was actually delictable. Cow stomach was a bit hairy for my taste. But that´s okay. The worst part is the family that made it for us apparently didn´t expect us to eat the whole plate they set in front of us, but my companion told me that I needed to eat the whole thing. So I did, later she told me she didn´t actually expect me to eat the whole thing. Well I don´t understand spanish humor. I was not happy with my companion. A small portion is fine. Plain and a lot. No bueno.

Lastly, Sunday night we had a despidida. Which is when all of the Elders and Hermanas that are going home get to say goodbye, and their converts get told about it, and you can go if you bring an investigator. We found someone, and so I got to see Hermana Whitehead again. I love her. I miss her a lot. She´s having fun in her area with her companion too. She didn´t get changed either. Woohoo!

Anyways, sorry this week is lame. The good news is that the investigator we brought to the despidida (Ezekial) wants to get baptized. so, yeah! And hopefully Ricardo will get baptized this week.

Love you all, pray always and be believing and all things will work together for thy good (God made that up, not me. So you know it´s true)

Hermana Reed

Just a bit of fun

Here are a few pictures:

Maria del Carmen


Me on my birthday!


Familia Llerena (the padres anyways) they are the ones that remind me of Uncle Carl and Aunt Heidi


Raquel


Me and my companion my first day in Argentina. I look like death. But that´s actually a pretty good description of how I felt at the time.

@ 8:00 I started watching a documentary on Einstien´s String Theory....

And at 8:03...my mind exploded.

That´s from Brian Regan. Yes, I´m still attached to Babylon. Don´t judge. But you are never going to believe what happened this weekend. I´m hardly believe it.

First off, I would like to apologize for last week. I was a bit in a downer mood, super frustrated with me onesie, and not very happy. But that´s not important, I had a one on one talk with Heavenly Father, figured out I´m prideful (shocker, I know), and am currently in the ¨fixing it¨stage of my life. But that´s not why my mind exploded.

I could tell you about how in this last week we had some really awesome lessons. But I won´t. I could tell you how I´ve decided if I were stranded on an island and a genie said I could eat only two things for the rest of my deserted island existence I would choose arroz con leche and empanadas and be happy for at least two weeks before starting to want something else. But that´s dull..... actually, this portion of my letter was supposed to be cooler, but I forgot my notes at home. We had interviews this week and we watched this bomb.com address by Elder Holland. Which was given to missionaries, so I don´t think you get to see it. Bummer.

No, I will, instead focus most of my letter to the ridiculous weekend I had, starting Saturday morning. It goes a little like this.

Once upon a time, I was a prideful little ninny. But I was working on it. And Saturday morning I was reading my scriptures like a good missionary. I´m actually doing this new thing where I´ve started reading the Book of Mormon from the back, and then going forwards. (i.e. started with Moroni, then Ether, now I´m in Mormon, etc.) This idea started a lot with the ending of the MTC, everyone talking about their ¨last thoughts¨ and what you would want to say to people. Anyways, so, I´m reading the last chapters of Ether where Coriantumr has his army and is fighting against Shiz and it´s essentially the end of the Jaredite nation. At the beginning of ch 15 Coriantumr realizes he´s exterminating his people and writes a letter to Shiz saying he´d be willing to do anything to stop the war and save his people. Shiz wants the life of Coriantumr...shoot. So the battle commences, everyone dies. The thing is, Coriantumr was PRIDEFUL! Ether told him all of this would happen, Ether told him his entire people would be destroyed and he would be the only one to survive. He had the chance to repent, but he didn´t because he thought that he knew better then a profet of God. For shame Coriantumr. So, I was reading this, and realized I´m a prideful ninny, AGAIN, and decide I have to do something I don´t like to do. I need to talk about my emotions with my companion (ugh, soul-baring). But, I don´t want to be like Coriantumr so I swallow my pride and ask for a companionship inventory instead of companionship study.

And whenever I swallow my pride, things never go the way that I thought they would. I always think, oh, I´m going to be able to share my thoughts, we´ll talk it out, and figure how to work better. But no. It seems like everytime I´m about to talk about my feelings, and how I´m frustrated with myself and or others, and things need to change, the person I want to talk to always starts going off on how great I am, and that they see me working really hard, and how it´s incredible how much I´ve grown in the few weeks I´ve been here, and she sees how much potential I have. blah blah blah blah blah. And I´m just sitting there thinking.... you couldn´t have told me this yesterday? Que el diablo! My life, really. I can´t explain it. The point is, We end up talking it out, I don´t talk nearly as much as I thought I was going to. But I try to explain how, oddly enough, I don´t actually like interrupting people when they talk, and I don´t like trying to interject things when I don´t know what the conversation is about, and that I´m actually quite comfortable with silence. In the end, I get at least some sort of confession out, I´m feeling a lot better, I know a little more about how I´m doing, and the expectations of a new missionary.

So, we go to our lunch appointment where I get to eat share the ¨weirdest meal¨my companion has ever had on the mission. Mondundo. Any one like to take a gander at what that is? I shall tell you. Cow intestine. Now, before being told that there is something a little off with our meal I had thought it was calamari. Not a huge fan, but I´ve eaten worse things in my life. And then the mom leaves for a bit and my companion puts like three pieces on my plate. Ah....I see, my companion doesn´t really like it. I didn´t mind it so I ate hers. The trickiest was the last bite because it was still on her plate. I had to wait for the perfect timing where neither daughter nor mother was looking so I could sneak it real quick. It took me forever. Hermana Jones was almost afraid she was going to have to eat it. But no. Aren´t I such a great companion? (something´s just aren´t that rough. Just don´t make me eat the nasty green olives. Ugh, they taste like fermentation, blugh).

After, we go to fill up the font for my first convert baptism! Woohoo!! And having quite a few return missionary relatives I´m ready for the pre-baptism chaos. Which includes but is not limited to a) the pilot light to the water heater not working (you need matches cuz the flint piece thingy don´t work) b) running to go get our newest investigator who walks slow BUT is a your-momtian!! Fallyn, didjá hear that? I found one. Well, kind of. I hope Fallyn reads these. She´s actually from the Dominican Republic, which shares the same island as Haiti. So, I think it counts. She´s great, and has a different accent, which means I can understand her. (side note: of all the different types of people, I can´t understand the people from Argentina. I understand Peruvians best, they are actually my favorite. I wanted to go to Peru, Peru came to me! Score.) Anyways, she walks slow cuz she´s old, and wanted to buy us facturas (we of course said okay!) but we show up to the church at 6:04, the baptism starts at 6. But it´s okay/not okay, cuz c) our baptizee isn´t there yet. She´s just a little late though. So it´s okay. The funniest part was watching my companion flip out. I was fine. Whether she showed up or not we had no control over at this point. And regardless, the church is true. But she did. Great baptism. We go home, prep for Fast Sunday.

SUNDAY:

Go to church, and are unsure where we are going to be eating for lunch. Not a huge problem, just that if we weren´t going to be eating at a members, we would be fasting for the whole day (we had started our fast a little late because of the baptism so we figured this would be fair, but you can´t say no to members, you need to be on their good side). This isn´t a huge problem but at the beginning of Sacrament, this lady named Raquel asks us about lunch, when we tell her we don´t have one she invites us over for lunch. Now, let me give you a little background on Raquel. Her husband is a member, she is not. She´s been coming to church for 2 years, wants to get baptized, but her parents are very catholic and she doesn´t want to get baptized without their permission. She also is very familiar with the missionaries and the purpose of missionary work (aka. baptism). So, usually she avoids us. Before this moment, Hermana Jones had never been invited to her house. So, something fishy is going on. But we say yes, duh. And then sit with Maria Del Carmen as she gets confirmed in sacrament meeting (which is really great. This lady has absolutely no support. 10 brothers and sisters, all hate her, her friends think she´s crazy and she had to quit her job to be able to get baptized. Her faith is incredible).

After church: we head over to Raquel´s apartment and on the way Hermana Jones kind of gives me a heads up to the situation, and we both start thinking of ways to set a baptismal date. (we were thinking, as soon as you get your parents permission, two weeks after that). We didn´t want to be to pushy, but at the same time, this is important. So, we knew we were treading on thin ice. We show up to lunch, and the husband is cooking dinner, when Raquel sits down and is talking with us, and says, ¨so, I´ve been thinking about it, and I´ve talked with my parents. They´ve given their permission, I was thinking about getting baptized in July¨ My companion looks like she´s about to drop out of her seat. Serious?? Where did that come from? Apparently she had to duke it out a bit with her parents but she had been talking with the Bishop and he helped give her the faith and courage to go through with it. So, we´re sitting there talking and it comes up, you know, why wait for July? We´re having a baptismal service next week. You can get baptized then. And I chime in ¨yeah, and if you get baptized with someone else, there´ll be less people focusing on you. Share the spotlight.¨ (she didn´t want anyone to know she was being baptized, and no fiesta, she said that like 17 times). And she says ¨okay¨ dun dun na nah! Baptism next week. So we go over the baptismal interview questions with her and then call up our district leader to set up an interview time. Tuesday is our best option. But we also need the mission president so we call him, and he says the earlier we do it the better. So we talk to Raquel, she says we can do it today. Call back the district leader, ask him if we could do it today at 6. We´re good to go. The husband at this point is BEAMING, he´s the happiest of the lot, and freaking out in the background and he up and calls the Bishop and tells him what is going on. And then gives the phone to Raquel who´s all ¨oh, hey Bishop, yep, I´m getting baptized....so, how are you? do you have a lot of homework?¨ I was laughing so hard. This girl does not like attention.

So Hermana Jones calls the Mission President back up and tells him when the interview will be. And during the phone call she´s telling President Gulbrandsen, you know, she´s ready, she´s been ready for over a year now. She could probably be baptized today. To which the President responded ¨.....okay. Do it, if she´s ready today let´s baptize her. Well, follow the spirit. but try to do it today¨ So we ask Raquel, what would you think of being baptized today? and she said ¨...Okay, that will give less people time to get there¨ score! Went in with a dinner appointment came out with a same day baptism! What´s up! Take that in your ¨I want everyone to live in misery, sin and depression¨pipe and smoke it Satan. whoopah!

So we left to go fill up the font. Interview was at 6, people started showing up for the baptism at 6:30, baptism started at 7. No problems. And like EVERYONE showed up. We had so many people there. Marcello (the husband) literally had been on the phone since we decided she was getting baptized to the start of the baptism inviting everyone. It was such a great show of support. And though she didn´t like the attention, Raquel was really touched. It was a beautiful baptism, and the Bishop gave a beautiful testimony afterwards. And then, Hermano Llerena (who just happened to be called as the ward missionary leader sunday) leaned over and asked, hey is she getting confirmed today too? Now, that´s the perogative of the Bishop so we all turn to him, who says he´s okay with it but needs to get permission from the Mission President. So the whole audience is like ¨well! Call the mission president!!¨ So, of course, he did. Right then and there, got permission, we confirmed her (¨we¨, priesthood leaders did) and we were done by 7:40. Of course it took another hour for everyone to leave the chapel, But very fast. wonderful feeling. And Hermana Jones and I were just glowing for the rest of the night. Minds Blown.

And the best part is. I know I had nothing to do with it. Missionaries really don´t do much. We were just at the right place at the right time. I didn´t even have a chance to bear my testimony or anything. I literally, showed up, ate her food, and then helped fill up the font and kept her nerves steady. Well, I did more then that, I talked a bit about how she needs white clothes but as far as teaching and prepping for baptism. Nada. But it was such a great service, and both Raquel and Marcello are so happy right now. And it was just a great experience. It really is a marvelous work. I´m glad I was able to be a part of it. miracles happen daily. You just need to be obedient. That´s one thing that I tried to teach to a recent convert (she cut me off so I didn´t get a lot of words out). The windows of heaven are open and pouring out blessings to all who choose to receive the blessings. When we choose not to follow commandments we cover our cup. The windows don´t shut. We choose not to receive. But when we do, the blessings are amazing, the peace, the joy. It is wonderful, and yes, trials come, but, it doesn´t matter. Vale la pena. Value the pain. It´s always worth it. And in the end, Jesucristo had it worse anyways. If the perfect man was able to deal with all the mockery, physical, spiritual and emotion pain that he had to go through. We can handle life´s short trials. God has promised us blessings.

And don´t be prideful. It´s a hard pill to swallow, but look at the blessings you get from it. :)

Hermana Reed

Alo! Zees is yur wake up call.

I´ve thought that line a couple of times this week. It´s from Joan Bob - Swan Princess, just in case anyone thinks I´m insane. Mildly so, but not enough to tip off the people in Argentina.

So this week, I thought I´d give you a bit of the low down on some of the people and the culture. Things that I have noticed, how people interact. Generals. There may or may not be stories.

So, some random things that I have noticed this week. 1) Latinos have very short eyelashes. That and their eyelashes are very straight. This has nothing to do with my or their eternal salvation. But I thought it was interesting. I know this because I look people in the eyes when they are talking. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. Good because eye contact is good. Bad because then they think I actually will respond to them when they are talking. What they don´t realize is that I´m spending so much time and effort concentrating on what they are saying, there is very little brain room left to respond emotionally or physically. Oops.

2) Latinos talk a lot. About everything. They are also very touchy/feely/huggy. I have been kissed more here then probably 3x the amount before the mission. And sometimes it´s the French side cheek kiss, and sometimes it´s an actual kiss on the cheek. And sometimes it´s a kiss and a hug, sometimes just a kiss. Very touchy feely. But that´s cool.

3) They don´t have mops like they do in the United States. A mop here is a thick rag and a very large squeegee. Which works, I guess. In the hygienical side of things their toilets do flush in the opposite direction and the handle to flush is about 3 feet about the toilet in the wall and is a button you press in, not a handle you press down. I know this is really important to your life. Which is why i´m telling you now. The only fun story I have about this has nothing to do with a toilet. Last week I had probably the worst cold I´ve ever had in Argentina - aka the only one - and I was super confused, groggy, couldn´t breathe. So we go to this member´s house where I´m fighting not to fall asleep. And fail. So I wake up and ask to use their bathroom hoping the walking around will help wake me up. Go in, use the restroom. There´s really no problem until we get to the point where I have to leave the bathroom. I remember locking it. But upon trying to leave the bathroom I can´t remember a) which way to turn the key to unlock said bathroom and b) how to turn the door handle to open the door. I was stuck in the bathroom for an additional 5 minutes trying to quietly open the door and not cry so no one would know my shame. Good news, sometimes door handles are the same in different countries (just push down). And sometimes you just have to try a couple of times to unlock yourself from the bathroom. I´m pretty sure my companion doesn´t know.

4) Everything comes in plastic bags. Everything, their milk, their mustard, ketchep, mayonnaise. Everything. They also have a brand name of ¨Dánica¨which I thought was cool. So, Dani, everyone in Argentina loves you! The barbeque sauce in your name isn´t that awesome though. Don´t eat it.

5) The junkfood to eat here is alfohors. Essentially it´s two cookies squished together with some type of cream. Usually dulce de leche, which really is just liquid caramel. Nothing over the top. I actually don´t eat much of them. I prefer to go home and eat club crackers. When I tell this to people they think I´m weird. They also don´t understand why I don´t eat food when I watch movies/tv. Some people just don´t. And I´m one of them. Oh, that´s another thing. The people here eat ALL the time. We usually get offered something, at least a drink whenever we go inside. The food is delicious though.

The people are fantastic. And the sure know how to cook. Most of the people in our ward are Peruvians. We have a lot of Peruvians, Colombians, Bolivians, and then a smattering of Argentinians. They´re all Latin so it´s okay. And they all talk a lot. It´s hard because as much as I love butting in to conversations, and over riding people when they are talking, I just don´t do it a lot. So, everyone here either thinks I´m retarded or mute. Mostly mute. I´ve had three investigators tell me I need to talk more. And one start giving me advice about having confidence and looking people in the eye when I talk. Guess what my biggest weakness is right now. Plus, I have a super talkative, outgoing companion. Mostly I just haven´t found it necessary to talk. She´s doing more than enough talking for the both of us, and neither she nor the Latinos stop to breathe (seriously, longest sentences of my life. They can go through a whole story in one breath!). So, usually I just sit back and enjoy the conversations, until my companion looks significantly at me and then I bare my testimony. Good times.

In essence, Argentina is a great but very different country, and right now, I sure am a white American. Super white.

Next week will be better. Maybe. We do have a baptism this weekend, and a baptism the week after. The church is true.

Hermana Reed