Well, as we all know, the mission is long, and just when we are so tired that we don´t think we could possibly go a single day longer....it´s transfers, and we have to stay up until 1 in the morning packing to be in the offices early in the morning, to not have a chance to take a nap on your p-day. It´s a good thing God loves us missionaries or we would drop dead from exhaustion.
Anyways.....Transfers!! Hurray! I am currently with my new companion, Hermana Lobos, she is from Santiago, Chile, has been in the mission for about a year, and was once companions with Hermana Whitehead. Hermana Alvarado went to El Taler, taking the spot of Hermana Cariola who went home this transfer with Hermana Gonzalez. <--That was a mission quiz. Anyone who can tell me how all those people are related to me and my mission wins a free prayer! And if you remind me, I´ll bring you back something from Argentina. Lets see if you actually pay attention when I write my e-mails. Muahaha, sorry I´m evil. I get a kick out of it. But yeah, so we got to get up early today to head out to the offices. Which is always fun, you get to see the Elders and Hermanas that you haven´t seen in at least 6 weeks, gossip about your old areas and companions, and just kind of wait around as your new companion flys up from the South. There were a lot of changes in our zone this transfer, I think at least 1 companion from every companionship left. 2 went home, and the rest went to other areas. They even closed an area here. The thing is, 12 missionaries left this transfer, and only 2 Latino Elders came in. The other 48 missionaries from the states are waiting for their visas. Which means, there is going to be a flood of missionaries some day. I personally believe it will be in about 3 weeks, giving all the new people time to learn the area and then the older more experienced companions will be called to train and open all the areas that they just recently closed. We´ll see what happens. That may or may not be revelation.
Lets see, what did happen this week? Oh, uh...hold on. I have to check my agenda. Oh, so we walked a lot this week. And we did some good old fashion missionary work, that made me feel good. Sometimes we just get into a routine, and something President Gulbrandsen has been saying is that if we want to see results that we´ve never had before, we have to do things that we´ve never done before. So to kick us out of our normal routine - visiting the same families, the same members, using the same members to accompany us. Just to branch out a bit. And I will admit that we had gotten into a routine, and we were always doing the work, even doing the work that President Gulbrandsen wants us to do (working with recent converts, references, etc.) A couple of days this week we just went out and started contacting, we had a guide. Our Bishop gave us a list of people over the age of 65 (something like that) and asked us to visit them to see if they have died or even live there anymore. To clean up the list. There´s an Hermana here that supposedly is 102. We´re going to see if she´s still breathing to brag about it. And it was fun to just do a little bit of grunt work. There´s a lot more politics to missionary work then I thought there would be, o sea, there´s a lot more analyzing and searching for the truth then I thought there would be (pre-mission thoughts....I didn´t know anything). And then getting a good relationship with the ward, helping the ward befriend the new members, getting everyone to work together. It´s a lot of mental work and planning. So it was nice to just get out and talk to people for a bit. Even if they pretty much all said no. I was still inviting people to hear, and was able to share my testimony of the Gospel.
And then, I was talking to E. Christensen (my old zone leader, he went home..today) on our convey ride to San Fernando and he was telling me that at the despedida yesterday (big "party"/spiritual program where we say good bye to the missionaries) he realized that he was "dying" as a missionary, and that he would never be able to teach or testify of Christ in the same manner. And it pained him to realize that sharing his testimony was going to be different. He encouraged me to enjoy these last two transfers being able to testify of Christ, and to do it with the power and authority that comes from our calling. It was rather insightful, and I love being a part of these moments. The ah-hah! moments where we can see that these little boys have truly become men. He was a good zone leader. I´ve met a lot of good Elders.
And, by a miracle, we were able to go to the Despedida. In case you haven´t google-mapped where I am in relation to the mission offices (I know, you are all really bored, and I am the priority of your lives, so you have all google-mapped argentina. It´s probably a daily occurrence, but for those that haven´t...) it´s about 1.5 hours in car from the church in Zarate to the church in San Fernando, about 3 hours by bus/train. Aka. No way on earth that we could make it to the despedida and get back on time - being obedient to our 9 p.m. curfew - unless we had a car. Well, one of our investigators (Leonardo) is a remis driver (think taxi-esque) and our recent convert Noemí lives in the same house. And they love us. So we asked them if they wanted to go, and so we did. And it was great. All the missionaries were able to share their testimonies, and then President Gulbrandsen got up and spoke. And he spoke about how it doesn´t matter how other people have treated us in our lives (or our missions) what matters is how we treat each other. And there´s a verse in the Book of Mormon (it´s said by Alma, I think the Older, in Mosiah, but I can´t find it right now) that talks about how we are accountable for our actions. And how when we stand in front of God to be judged (and the judgement day WILL come) God is not going to ask us: And how did your brother treat you? No, He´s going to ask: And how did you treat your brother? It doesn´t matter who did what, or when, or why. What matters to God is if you did your part. If you were humble enough to let it go, and move on with your life and what is more importnat - like the Gospel, and your eternal happiness en vez de temporary happiness. With the promise that if we do everything we can to be worthy of God´s love, blessings and guidence, we will be eternally blessed, even if life does suck for just a little bit - it will get better, as long as we keep doing what´s right.
Man, I´m such a talker. I´ll let you all head back to your normal lives now. But, I know the church is true. Keep praying for opportunities to share your testimony. Everyone needs the Gospel!
I love you.
Hermana Reed
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