So ive made it past my first week here in Arguaray! Its been a crazy one thats for sure! Funny story- so there is a family here (the mom and son were baptized but now are inactive) anyways they are the Comba Family but I call them Familia Loca because they are CRAZY! I love them and they are alot of fun! We were visiting them and they took us to the kitchen and pulled out this plate full of something really nasty looking! and the smell was horrible! then one of the boys told me to look inside this tin and when he took the lid off there was a full chicken head! And a wave of stench filled the room. I wanted to throw up! So then the mom kept saying "come come!" (eat eat) and handed me some bread to put the meat on. My companion pointed out that there was chicken hair on the meat! We were both dying! Luckily there were dogs in the kitchen (of course because they are everywhere) so we kept throwing the meat when they werent looking and I would jsut eat the bread. But then the daughter gave me some and watched me until I ate it! (hot husband points for me!) I was so sick that night and the whole next day! After our lesson with them the boys wanted to arm wrestle me and I won thanks to my 4 brothers back at home for teaching me to be tough right?! So anyways when I talk about la familia loca that is them!
I
definately feel the help of my savior every day. I know that I could not
do this without him. Before my mission I always struggled with anxiety
and stress but here its gone! Im not afraid of anything. such a
blessing! I know that I have been set apart from the world because I
feel different as a missionary! I feel the help of the savior stronger
than ever here! The other day I was talking to my companion and she
asked if I liked the mission. I said yes but its so hard. She said Im
doing better than most missionaries she said most cry every day for the
first 4 months. She said she wanted to go home for the first 4 months
and she knew spanish! But she said I am doing really well with the
language because I have a desire to learn and I try to talk as much as
possible. She said most gringos
dont talk at all. So that boosted my confidence even though I feel like
Im the only missionary who has ever gone through this! haha my
companion has alot of patience with me and I´m grateful. She doesn´t
speak much so it makes learning the language hard...and when she does
she speaks really fast. but she is obediant and I´m grateful for that.
So
we spend alot of time at the branch presidents house and one day we
were there eating lunch and their grandson Fabio was there. He doesnt
want anything to do with the church but I asked him if we could just
teach him because I needed practice. He let us! And at the end of the
lesson I was bearing my testimony and I looked up and he had tears in
his eyes (probably because he felt bad for me and my bad spanish) but it
made me cry and I told him I am here because I want everyone to have
what I have and thats the gospel. It was a good experience for me
because I felt like I finally had an investigator
of my own! he has agreed to let us teach him again.
So
miracle of the week! we had a baptism! The first one here in arguaray
in over 6 months! His name is Angel and he is 9 years old. He is the
grandson of one of our investigators so Im hoping his example will get
his grandpa to committ to baptism because he has been meeting with the
missionaries for 14 years! the baptism was great. there isn´t a font
here of course so he was baptised in a plastic tarp pool! haha that
morning my companion and I straightened our hair (first time in 2
weeks!) and tried to look nice for the baptism. Anyways it wasnt 5
minutes after we started walking that its started to rain! We had to
hide under a semi truck until it stopped! haha So basically Im never
getting ready again because its not worth it!
So I feel like
nephi among a hundred lamen and lemuels here! The members here have alot
of issues! None of them want to do anything and they wont give
us referalls or help us with the work! Church attendance is horrible!
Only 17 members were at church yesterday! In relief society it was just
me and my companion and the teacher! It makes our work a million times
harder because we dont have the support of the branch. The branch
president and his wife are frustrated and there is alot of contention.
My companion is really discouraged because this is a really tough area.
They took missionaries out of this area for a long time and my companion
thinks they will do it again because its not progressing. So we need
miracles here! Everyone worships Virgens even some of the members! Just
like in the book of mormon- false idols! Its so frustrating.
but
I know I need to have faith that we can see miracles here. We do have
some good investigators. Sixto and olga are an older couple that feel
like my grandma and grandpa here! They have been meeting with the
missionaries for 14 years as well...just waiting
for Sixto to get his divorce papers. He read jesus the christ in 10
days! Golden! anyways the other day he texted us to come over and make
banana bread. So on our way there we walked past this man and he said
the quote of the week "Que linda la flaca! Por ti me vuelvo mormon!" (oh
how pretty the skinny! For you I will return mormon!) haha freaking
snakes! The only thing I can do is laugh. I am about to paint my skin
brown so they leave me alone!
Anyways we had a great night
with olga and sixto! We drank mate and made pan de banana and we brought
the D&C movies so we watched part of that and I was crying through
the whole thing! It was so good to feel the spirit because sometimes its
hard to feel it here in the world!
Yesterday after church we
had lunch at the 1st counselors house with his family. One of their sons
is learning english so they all were asking me to teach them english
and I LOVED IT! Their younger son Isael
wanted to know what my favorite scripture was so I showed him in his
book of mormon and next to it he wrote ¨my favorite missionary Hermana
Stewart¨ ah stuff like that makes all the hard times worth it! or when
that cute little girl Nicole says HERMANA everytime she sees me! I think
I am being taught more than I am teaching here. Ive already learned its
possible to be happy without having much. And I love how loving the
people are here! they all greet with a kiss on the cheek! doesn´t matter
if youve never met them before! The people in north america need to be
more like that!
I do
see miracles everyday! I am starting to be able to understand alot more.
Its still hard to speak but people are patient with me. Its a miracle
that I can even understand after only having 11 days here! I cant wait
to get to the point where I can speak because I know thats when real
miracles will happen! I bear my testimony that this church is true. ITs
true
in utah and its true in Argentina and the rest of the world. It doesnt
matter how much you have or how little you have god blesses us in our
own way. It doesnt matter if you are baptized in a plastic tarp or a
fancy font...the way back to our Heavenly Father is the same. I tell
everyone here that I cant understand everything but I can understand the
spirit because its the same no matter where you go and for that I am
soo grateful! The spirit doesnt have a language and all can feel it the
same!
More than
anything I am grateful for the gospel and especially that I get to
experience it with my whole family and we enjoy the blessings of the
gospel together. People ask me here if my whole family is members and
sometimes I feel bad saying yes because here alot of people are the only
members in their family and its heartbreaking. I want to live with my
family forever and so we have to be faithful together until the end! I
love you all so much
and Im grateful for your examples!
Con mucho amor,
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