Hermana Saren Hobbs

Saren is HOME!

2011-04-19T16:35:00.001-07:00

Her flight arrived on time, 12:20 on Tues. the 12th. She left Argentina Monday night at 8:00pm and flew straight through to Atlanta arriving at 6:00am. On that flight Saren was surprised to meet up with her former MTC companion Hermana Smith who has been serving in the Buenos Aires South mission. Saren traveled home with Elder Hobson whom she served with in several areas. Hooray for Saren's return. She wanted to stop for mexican food which I assumed that was all she had in Argentina, but found out I was wrong haha. Hermana Jill Daniels and her mom were able to visit with us at El Matador before heading back to good ol' West Weber. Saren was released and whisked away to softball and baseball games, where we are found everyday. She is freezing in our crazy Utah weather. Her homecoming talk was wonderful, we enjoyed Hermana Sasha Lopez visiting for the weekend. We were fed both spiritually and temporally that day. Thanks to you all who have helped support our Hermana and who have offered prayers and letters in her behalf. Our family has been very blessed.

Welcome Home Saren!!

2011-04-19T16:20:00.001-07:00

Saren's last letter!!

2011-04-08T16:15:00.000-07:00

We had a good weekend of many people that came and watched conference! We watched it both in English and Spanish.. one of our investigators, Graciela, turned to me and said this man is talking directly to me! hahah it was at the beginning of Elder Utchdorf´s talk! I just thought how would it be to listen to these men for the first time in my life! I love how the spìrit works and testifies of the truth. It’s all so perfect. As long as we are open and have a desire right? We also had Marcelo who we have been teaching English to come.. he’s the one from another religion that is a preacher and he loved it as well! He said the men talked about good things from god and they were right about many things. haha of course they are! All the missionaries loved how Dallin H Oaks dropped the cain on all the mormon bachelors. haha. im going to miss working with the elders.

We also are preparing Marta for her baptism this end of the weekend. Amada the lady that lives in the villa wants to build up a little room on top of her little shack for me to live and you guys can come visit me when you want in the villa. Hermana Daniels wrote me the other day as well! It was nice to hear from her! I was thinking to myself I don’t need to be scared when I get home, the lord will always be there for me he always has been. I just need to trust in him and everything will come into place! I love you all and hope you study those talks that were given just barely. I love the church so much and I have loved the joy it brings into others lives, I will miss my mission more than anything.

NO te precupes!!

2011-03-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

So we are emailing a little later cause we had a long day trip to Las Heras! Oh it was so great to see the Velazquez family and the Mercado family! They are doing great! This week was pretty crazy as well. My comp was sick one of the days cause on last Monday we ate a lot of deep fried food and it wasn't so good for either of us.. but the next day she was able to rest a little and then we went out and worked. Martas kids were being different yet again! They have their off and on days. we need to find out what the iceberg is with her and them. She came to church with us and it was good! We gave the principles class and it was on the organization of the priesthood. I actually learned a lot that i didnt know before.. haha.the time is winding down... and everyone likes to point that out.. missionaries, members and investigators.. but its all good! We are getting excited to go to general conference! it is in our area where they are broadcasting everything! I hope you all have a great week! I have to go cause its late!
I love you all!

3 Week countdown!

2011-03-21T18:47:00.000-07:00

Hola familia!!!
We are sending mail early this morning cause we are heading out to Ituzaingo and Ramos today!!! yay!! I’m going to be visiting all the families it will be fun to see them! This week was kind of sad with Marta and her kids. We had a fun night with them and the zone leaders came as well. They have been coming lately in all the different areas to help the whole zone out, to help us meet our goals that every area in the mission can have baptisms- all for one and one for all!!! So they came and we played this oreo game and ended the night with all of them committing to coming to church on Sunday.. however we showed up with all the pancake mix on Sunday morning and none of them were home. Marta had left with some of her children to go out and help her other daughter.. soo that was a very devastating.. however the daughter of Josefa and Fransisco came to church and absolutely loved it! She wants to be a missionary.. haha. which she can be! She just needs to quit her job cause it is not a good place for her to be!

Last week I forgot to tell you that Guillermo, the guy with one leg, blessed the sacrament and it was amazing and he gave a talk in church! He gave it on honesty and how we must be honest today as members of the church! i loved it we were so proud of him. It is so rewarding to see the progression of the new converts and with the help of the holy ghost!
well I love you all and hope you have a great week!
I sure hope there is snow left to get in a day of snowboarding!

March 14

2011-03-14T18:25:00.000-07:00

Hey family!
Well that was a good full email of events! I'm so happy you all visited Hermana Daniels.. I love her so much! Jason just barely wrote me too saying he got to talk to Hermana Lopez.. I love her too. What a small world! haha. Thats so weird they are home.. I guess in a month I will be as well. It hit me this week that I have to actually think about life after the mission, plans and goals that I need to make.

This week was really weird with everything happened. The tsunami of Japan has caused people talking non stop here. It's just more of a reason to prepare and preach la palabra de dios! We saw a bonding moment happen from one the converts from the villa Amada with another lady who suffered a lot during her life with her mom. She is like 70 something her name is Mari and she always calls us mamitas haha. she has a huge heart. When Amada came with us to visit her they had a bonding moment during the lesson. She came on Sunday finally to church! and absolutely loved it! Then marta ( the lady with 11 kids) stopped smoking! thats exciting. we keep teaching the kids but sometimes its hard to get them all together or paying attention but little by little they progressing.
well.. thanks for looking and getting into all the schooling stuff for me! I love you all so very much and hope you have a great week!

March 7

2011-03-08T18:59:00.000-08:00

Hey family!
Wow this week went by so fast. we ended it off pretty good! We had a huge barbeque on Thursday with the familia Laporte (who are my by far favorite family here in Bonzi) We have about 80 to 90 people in attendance here it's officially a ward now thanks to Guillermo being baptized and a full tithe payer now.. he is amazing. He wants to show up at our door in the states someday to watch conference live. We gave talks in the ward about the importance of serving a mission for all the youth.. that was very special. I probably wont be back home in time for general conference.. i think its the week before I get home. Tell Hermana Daniels that I love her so much and that Tomas is still in the house! haha.

This week was nice! There was a baptism in the other ward so Marta and some of her kids came to watch it! the day before we had a haircutting party and while I was cutting the 16 year olds hair Estefania she was talking about how she has been reading the book of mormon and loves it! She loves the story of Nephi and how his family was like families today with the same problems.. she is going to get baptized before I leave. We also had a noche de hogar earlier on in the week with a family from the villa. Amada is the mom and a member. She has some kids that aren't members including her 25 year old son. He came to church on Sunday for the first time and got to hear his mom's testimony. He used to be huge into drugs and drinking but after she got baptized back in Oct he stopped and started working! Amada is an amazing woman so humble but yet so strong in the gospel, her grandchildren are teaching her how to read. I truly feel so blessed to be a part of the lives of these great people. The Lord has His time for everyone.

Hermana danes and i colored our hair.. mine looks pretty much black and hers is really red! haha its fun. it was a holiday so nothing was open. Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

2011-03-01T08:25:00.000-08:00

Soo...
We didnt get 200 baptisms this transfer but we did get two hundred and ONE!!!! yaya! thats exciting isnt it! And yes Josefa and her cute little husband Fransisco were baptized on the 26th which ended up being their anniversary too!!! oh it was such a special day. We were really nervous at the beginning of the week cause we had some problems but it all worked out in the end. we felt so blessed.. their daughter came to support them and now she wants to get baptized too.. she has suffered a lot in her life with her husband leaving her and her children getting into problems.. but Josefa and Fransisco are going to be very blessed in their home. They have another daughter that lives there too with her sons and husband so its a full house!!

We are not having transfer meetings anymore.. now they are just calling the night before and telling us to come to Ramos if we are changing.. which we are together thankfully again and yes it is my last transfer here.... all the missionaries that are leaving are called pastores.. But now we will be having a little zone conference to see what are the goals for the transfer and they are filming the testimonies of all the hermanas and elders that just barely left.. so i will be doing that before i leave...

Hermana Daniels is leaving today to her house and will there by tomorrow! I have been so deeply blessed with having amazing companions that have taught so many things.. Hermana Danes has been great too. I'm so proud of her! We have Marta who is slowly stopping smoking.. we bought her the nicotine gum and suckers to help her but in the end she ended up getting an infection in her molars and now she has to get her teeth all pullen out.. oops. we felt so horrible but she was very understanding and we helped get her kids ready for school. they started the school year again today.

Well I love you all so very much and thank you for all your help and love! have a great week and i hope Heston and Maisie will feel better!! and find a date to prom Jake.

February 21, 2011

2011-02-22T20:35:00.000-08:00

Hola mi familia!!!
This is the last week of the transfer and the most stressful week we got! We have been working with Josefa and Fransisco towards baptism the end of this week but there have been some challenges the past week. On Wednesday we read a scripture from the bible of when Paul was giving the gift of the holy ghost to some people and it says they spoke in tongues and prophesied.. well Fransisco misunderstood the meaning of the ``gift of tongues`` and during the end of the prayer he started saying words and babbling then asked at the end what did I say what did I say?! we couldnt help but laugh afterwards.. he`s getting a little old.!!

We had a chicken barbeque pizza night with Marta and all her crazy boys. We were playing games while it was being cooked. They are a fun family. They have been reading the book of mormon together.

We found this man whose wife just recently died two weeks ago. The hermanas a long time ago use to teach him and he came many times to church. We were able bring comfort to him about how he can see his her again. We have been searching all the former investigators lately to find some new ones as well. I’m so happy with my comp! Well I love you all and yes I’m pretty sure the time hasn’t changed when am leaving it is April 11. Guillermo who recently was baptized thinks I’m going back to Ramos for another 2 months before I leave.. he is funny. Have a happy presidents day!

EL DIA DE AMOR!!

2011-02-16T20:26:00.000-08:00

I‘ve been wanting to send pictures but I have been having bad luck with the computer I get. This last week we had a conference for all the newbies so i got to see Hermana Daniels and Lopez! Its so crazy it is coming to an end... it felt like yesterday we all started fresh- what cherished memories and special people! We are taking real care of all the investigators that will be baptized this month cause we have the goal to achieve 200 for the transfer! We have Josefa and Fransisco who will be baptized on the 26! Their daughter who lives with them isn’t at all for it.. she goes to the church universal that is from Brasil and they used too as well but they have loved learning and coming to church. Josefa was telling us the other day who she felt she was being judged by her loved ones for coming to our church and reading the book of mormon. I felt bad for her cause she is so sweet and wants to please her family but we expressed our love for her and promised her all the blessings she will receive by sticking it out and enduring! Fransisco her husband follows her wherever she goes... haha its funny. This week the zone leaders are going to come out to our area and help us with them as well.
Did I mention one of them looks like an older version of Heston??. I showed him a picture of Heston and he said he looked exactly like him when he was younger.. so I think of Heston everytime we have district meetings. We have been planning a missionary activity as well for next month that has to do with the tree of life and the plan of salvation... thanks to all the activities in my youth I have used them on the mission! It will be fun and spiritual! Every Saturday we are translating a talk of this pastor for this guy Marcelo.. all the talk is in English and we have been helping him translate it in Spanish.. everytime we go we share something with him but he is very strong in what he believes in the protestant church... we always pray for him that he will have his heart softened which I believe it will be.. he is really nice and you can tell how he wants to follow the Savior.

So everything has been going good here! Hermana Danes is progressing really well she's going to be amazing. We have a fun time together. I love you all and keep on choosing the right and helping Levi with the missionaries. Have a family home evening with them or offer it to them and they will be more than happy to have one! nos vemos!!

SuperBowl Sunday

2011-02-07T19:33:00.000-08:00

Hola mi familia hobbs!
ANother week has come and gone... it was quite fun! During the week we found out how small the world really is especially with Archibald Gardner and all his wives!! Little did I know I have been walking with my long lost cousin the past couple of weeks here in Argentina. This is how it unfolded! On Tuesday night we were getting ready for bed and Hermana Danes brought up something about Mount of the Lord, how it wasn’t Wilford Woodruff that said something about the foundation but really Bishop Gardner! And I said ya ya I knew that too! and then the next thing she said ya he is my grandpa! hahaha.. so I told her he was mine too! Ask grandma Deona which one we come through? We got a big kick out of it cause a lot of people have asked if we are sisters or related.... haha in the end we are related! 5 generations back! haha.. how fun.

We had divisions with the Hermanas from our stake. We found this guy who is opening up a little kiosco and he was painting his floor. We asked him if we could help him and he let us! I put in all that practice that I had in the wood shop to use... then we have been working with this family of 11! We invited all the boys to come play soccer on Saturday so we picked them up to go. They are crazy boys.. we had like a parade of 5 of them with dogs all following us.. I felt like everyone was gawking at us thinking what are those girls doing with those wild boys! So we got to the church and they ended up not playing so we gave them a tour of the church and it was like night and day when they stepped in the church they all went silent and told us they felt something different inside. then we went back to their house and taught the whole family! it was quite fun. They need the gospel so much in their lives.. I keep imagining them all in white in the temple that they would be able to be sealed to their father... but all in the Lords time.

We have this cute old couple as well who are preparing to be baptized. They call us their angels when we come and visit them. Everything has been going good!! it hasn’t been as stressful as I thought it would be. Its been refreshing and I will be happy to leave all my things for Hermana Danes and just load my bags with Yerba and Mate cups! woohoo!

January 24

2011-01-24T20:34:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome start this transfer with Guillermo and Hector who were baptized on Saturday! I was so nervous to start out this week training and planning the baptisms.. the bishop has been on vacation too..but it all worked out in the end. I was so grateful. It's very humbling to train.
So it was Hector who was a contact from a long time ago with Hermana Scott and Guillermo was a contact last transfer! I'm not a fan of doing contacts but the lord seems to bless us when we open our mouths.. haha. i like that. Guillermo patted us on the back and said good job for dragging me here. haha. It was a great baptism on Saturday, they both were very excited and there was a special spirit.

My comp's name is Hermana Danes from IDAHO!! from a little town called Nampa... she was studying music at BYU I. Im so proud of her! she has been doing great, always smiling and having a good attitude about everything. She is improving on the language everyday.. starting to understand a little more each time if she doesn't understand something we have the people repeat whatever they say a little slower- unless its bad then I tell her dont talk to them.. hahaha. like the guys who always love to make comments of girls in skirts - i dont know why..

I like Bonzi.. I'm happy I finally got to be here. Hermana Danes is refreshing, she has helped me remember how it was at the very beginning of the mission! fresh out of the mtc with so much ecxitement! I absolutely love it!
I feel comfortable with the area too... zi have felt more and more comfortable getting to know an area with all these changes. and the people always warn us where not to go!
Time is flying by too fast for me. but I feel like I'm taking full advantage of it.. there is still work to do.. plenty of it!! I love you all and have a great week of school! we are baking here in the sun but we are getting a nice tan line!!

January 16

2011-01-18T17:52:00.000-08:00

Here i am sitting with my good ol comp Hermana LOPEZ!! woo hoo! we just found out today with transfers that we are training! AHHHH!! there are four sisters that are coming from the big USA! I know shocker... I thought I would have at least one more transfer with Hermana Vindas but she is in Lujan now with Hermana Lewis. Hermana Daniels and Hermana Hulen are the other ones training as well! So today im with Hermana Lopez in Billinghurst.. reminiscing good ol times.. she is amazing I love her.

This week we are preparing the baptisms of Hector and Guillermo in Bonzi. So pray for them that everything will turn out good! I still need to plan the baptismal service and they need their interviews.. we got a new bishop in the as well! He's a young father, Jose Luis Martin! He will be a great bishop in the ward. It will be nice to work with him! I feel so nervous to train! I finally got the packages from my birthday and from grandma and grandpa Hobbs! I have been sharing the candy with the kids from the villa (a really poor part of our area). They always asked for candy whenever we go and visit some of the members or our investigators! I have also been enjoying the peanut butter :) and we ate the cake yesterday for Hermana Vindas leaving!

This last week we had divisions with the hermanas from Ituzaingo as well. with Hermana Tucker from Cali and Hermana Duarte from paraguay! we found this lady that we contacted and she was telling us how she had the missionaries before in her house and had a friend in the church. So we put a date to come back the next day to teach her cause we were on our way for Guillermo. The next day came and we invited her to church and to prepare for baptism and she came... her name is Josefa. She saw her friend and the member came up to us and said- hermanas do you know how many times i had invited her to come to church?! haha Josefa is a cute little old lady. She loved church on Sunday! Things are working out good.. there is A LOT of work to do but its good, it pushes me to work harder focus on the people and their needs. Today they announced that we probably wont have any more transfer meetings in the mission. There has been a lot of changes here and now we have the goal to achieve 200 for the transfer.
Well I love you all! thanks for all your support and prayers. I feel so deeply blessed.
Have a good week and enjoy the holiday!

Pictures

2011-01-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

Another photo slideshow by Smilebox

January 10th

2011-01-10T18:08:00.000-08:00

Hey my fam bam!!!
The weeks are going by fast I do not like it one bit. we are in an internet place where all the teenager boys are playing computer games. This week was full of running from one end of our area to the other. The banks have been having problems taking out money from the machines...so we haven’t been able to take out money or have change to take the bus.. however today was successful! So I am content. we started off the week not so good... we had started to fast on Sunday til Monday.... cause we had forgotten. haha... so we thought we would make burritos for lunch on Monday. however la comida no se cayo bien con la pansa de Hermana Vindas or in other words that night we came back early cause my comp didn’t feel so good... but the next day she felt much better! Our two investigators that are getting ready for baptism live on opposite ends of the area so we have been getting a good work out and finding good people along the way. We have Guillermo who doesn’t have a leg.. and he can only see through one of his eyes.. he is hilarious too with his reactions to things. He is progressing really well. he loves to sing and pray when we visit him. Hector, the one that I met before, showed up to church with a tie and a white shirt.. he was all proud of himself! We had FHE with him and a recent convert who made steak and a fried egg on top... interesting - but it was delicious. No I haven’t gotten the two packages yet... I asked elder Bennett, who´s in charge of the mail and he said it could be because the mail offices were closed for the holidays... so hopefully tomorrow!
Well I love you all and be good! Have a great week!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-01-03T21:38:00.000-08:00

Weird its already 2011! I feel so old.. haha. We had a good week finding new people and having them come to church! We found this man outside of his apartment on Monday. He recently had his leg operated on because of diabetes so right now he is learning how to walking with his crutches. He used to go to the church universal but when he was recovering no one came to visit him. so we started to visit him through out the week and he came on Sunday! He used to be a cop and has three daughters but none of them visit him... only if they want money. sad i know. Then the other guy we have been focusing on is the one that I had contacted with Hermana Scott on divisions. Both of his eyes were horrible at the beginning of the week but towards the end they were getting better so he came to church as well! For new years we didn’t do anything special the elders forgot to inform us that we could be out til 10 eating at a members house or investigators but we were pretty tired that night. We were awakened from all the fireworks at midnight! There were tons.. I recorded some and then we went back to bed. haha. really the weather is like the month of July here on december. haha. and I actually just barely sent the discs today so hopefully you get them in a couple of weeks! Last week a member came and sprayed for the cockroaches that we have had... we have been getting high off of raid for the week so that’s been a highlight! Well I love you all and hope you have great goals for the year! Its always nice to start out fresh. We gave the principles class on Sunday and invited everyone to make goals on how to become closer to the lord.
have a great week!

December 27

2010-12-27T22:35:00.000-08:00

It was soo nice to talk to you all... mom likes to hog the phone doesn’t she. haha thats okay. Well there’s really not that much to say. Sunday it was kinda disappointing all the people that have been progressing really aren’t progressing but that is okay. That is why we keep on going and searching for those who are honest and sincere. We also left to Ramos yesterday for Hermana Vindas to talk to her family! We have been going to Ramos almost every week now. It’s like a 45 minute ride in bus. The other day we found a man in the street that was like hey you said you were going to come to my house but you never did and neither of us knew who he was. So we said we would pass by in a couple days and we did. When we got to his house he had said it was me and another girl that had passed by a couple months back so he went and searched for the pamphlet he had gotten from us supposedly lo and behold it had my handwriting and my name with hermana Scott! He had come to church a couple of times after that so now he wants to get baptized! We also have a lady that is deaf but she reads lips really well. She was a reference from a family in the ward and wants to start her life over and wants her sister to be baptized who died a couple years ago... but she left for vacations and wont be back till the end of this week... so were are trying to find others it will come in due time!
I love you all and have a fun new years eve!
Photos from the mission Christmas party

Happy Birthday Saren and Heston!

2010-12-16T21:50:00.000-08:00

HEy Fam!!!!
Oh I loved those pictures of Heston! they were so cute... he sooo big I can't believe how much he has grown!!! Okay so now I can give ya some details. Aldo Bonzi is a pretty big ward... and very well organized! It's not the city but we have two Walmarts in our area! woo hoo! We went there today... it was weird I felt like I was in the states! Yes Hermana Vindas understands a lot of English but she doesn’t like to talk too much in English. We had a good first week here together in Bonzi! She has been to Utah before too!

Hermana Daniels is with an hermana from the Provincia Jujuy in Argentina... Hermana Claros! And yes we went back to Las Heras for the baptism it took awhile to get there but totally worth it to see them all in white. Hector's membership records were miraculously located and he was able to baptize his wife and daughter. They celebrated my birthday after. Nothing is comparable to see a family change through the gospel in their lives it was so nice.

During the week it rained a couple of times. On Thursday two elders in our district were walking and were late for lunch in the rain and this guy pulled up to them in a big cheese truck and wanted them to get in! They were thinking who is this crazy guy! So the guy pulled over in front of them and opened his window showing them a book of mormon and telling them he was a member of the church! The elders got in and the guy asked them if they knew Hermana Hobbs and Hermana Daniels... and they said ya! It was Hector that had picked them up in the middle of nowhere! hahahaha. One of them is in my district, Elder Bush from Lehi, so he told me the other day what a small world even here down south. We also had stake conference here.. that means I had stake conference two weeks in a row. haha. Next week we have a Christmas activity! This year its going to be a little more spiritual and we will see the devotional of the presidency.
I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Another Transfer

2010-12-09T16:05:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all the birthday wishes... I feel so old .. haha. we had transfers today and almost all the Hermanas changed companions! Hermana Godfrey is leaving in two weeks.. mom you will have meet her. I have been moved to Aldo Bonzi, and my new companion is Hermana Vindas, she is from Costa Rica! She just barely arrived about a month a go in the mission. I know it came fast the changes... we didn’t think I would be leaving already but that’s all good. Daniels and I live close so its not a problem at all. We had a great week last week preparing for stake conference! We all went in a little bus to stake conference... for all those who didn’t have cars. It was fun! Hector and Vanesa are getting excited for the end of this week, he is hoping to baptize her! We still haven’t received his records from the other ward so we will see... it would be cool cause it would be on the 11!!! and we have permission to go and see it.. I love you all sorry the letter is short but I have little time!

Thanksgiving!

2010-11-29T17:58:00.000-08:00

This week flew way fast! I cant believe its the end of the transfer and its been already six weeks! We have one more week cause the last transfer was way short... we had divisions with some hermanas far away from here.. we were stuck in the middle after waiting for the train so we wandered around and talked to some people. It was fun... this week we also had our three baptisms of Veronica and her two girls! They were embarrassed to put on the white dresses... that was the first time its happened here, crazy, then we explained that everyone wears white and that they needed to focus on the symbolism and spiritual side to it. As it turned out the baptism was very spiritual her mom cried and cried after she was baptized, they are an awesome family. We also have Hector and his wife who are progressing so much!!! She and her daughter are already to be baptized!! We want him to baptize them but we have to wait and get his records from where he lived when he was little. if we find them in time before this Sunday he could receive the Melchezedeik priesthood, or if we cant he will be baptized again... but we are hoping they find them.
It has been a blast with hermana Daniels ! I really hope we are comps one more transfer! We have been SO blessed with opening Las Heras and seeing these tender mercies take place. The lord blesses those who work hard and trust in him. I feel so very blessed with the experiences I have had here.. even in one transfer! Hermana Daniels is a great missionary.... cross our fingers there is one more!!

Thanks for everything family! We had our interviews for the three that got baptized so our district leader made us brownies... haha it was a great Thanksgiving party! Today we are having our zone activity for the end of transfers.. barbeque and soccer! the usual. I love you all and thanks for everything.
have a great week in the snow!!

November 23

2010-11-23T16:45:00.000-08:00

hey!!!
Sorry I didnt write you yesterday... we had a holiday and nothing was opened!! So here we are in Las Heras, we had a fun week starting with a movie night. We prepared tons of popcorn and had everything set up nicely and borrowed the projector from the offices cause we were expecting a lot of people! And they did all come!!! They all came to church on Sunday as well. Veronica and her daughters are getting excited for their baptism at the end of this week. We will be having it in Marcos Paz cause they have a nice font and we want it to be special for all of them! Veronica has a sister who is waiting to be divorced and then she can get married to the guy she is with so that she may be baptized! She has been receiving the elders for quite awhile now too. The other day we met her and their sister here in Las Heras. She wants to come to church and also see the baptism of Veronica. It is exciting to see how it spreads once someone starts sharing in the family! The Familia Miguez have been amazing at helping us with everything.. they are always willing to go with us and become friends with our investigators. It is so amazing how the members make such a HUGE difference.

We have this couple as well that the dad was baptized forever ago and stopped going but now we have been teaching the wife and daughter who all love the church and the activities. He told us it makes him happy to see his wife excited about the church! Today I received the emails of Sam’s letters and of all the missionaries in the ward. I love to think of all of them working in all parts of the country. They are good young men. So is Sam, I loved his story of the lady on the bus!

I’m grateful to work here with them and with my awesome comp! We colored her hair yesterday for the third time going lighter and lighter little by little. haha so she can get rid of the black she had before! I love you all and am so grateful for your support. I am so grateful for your help in making this decision to serve a mission. It is funny to look back at all the people that helped me truly follow what I wanted to do and what I knew was right. Happy Thanksgiving week and show your gratitude for those you love!

November 15

2010-11-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

Hey!!!
What a week of hotness!! Its getting warmer and warmer each day... we are sure loving the spring here cause it gets nice and cool during the night! Well this week we kicked it into to gear trying to work with the members more and focusing on those that really are progressing and... it paid off!! There are two families we are working with, a mom and her two daughters and then a mom with her mom and her daughter who is 15 that has a son, the boyfriend and the other son of the lady! They are all amazing and they were both contacts in the street! I have to say contacts are not my favorite but there has been so many miracles that have come out of contacting people! haha! Isn’t that interesting.

We had a hair party on Tuesday in Navarro and ate some postre and watched some of the video of the special witnesses. Then this week we had divisions with the hermanas from Aldo Bonzi! I went there for the fourth time. We are figuring out all the transportation here. When we meet up for our district meetings on Tuesday’s we take a train that is really bumpy- its a fun ride- and that’s what we take to go in for transfer meetings as well. Yesterday we had made pancakes for one of the families to come to church and they loved them. Pancakes here are really crepes so they aren’t used to having thick pancakes! haha but it got them excited to come to church. The mom wants to be baptized and so does her little old mom who is 81 and walks and does everything, they are great ladies. So is the other family. We have been talking about baptism in every lesson with them and we invited the mom and her two daughters to be baptized! I used to be so scared of talking about baptism what if they would reject it or think its too soon.. but through time I have grown to love challenging in a bold way, cause that is what we are here to do! Bring these people to our savior that they may really follow him and apply the atonement in their own lives!

It has been such a blessing to work here, there are so many great families. The familia Miguez especially.. they all live in the same block and all the kids are married and have kids except the youngest. They are like our Hancock family all living close by, only closer!
chao!!!

November 8

2010-11-08T18:24:00.001-08:00

Hello HELLO!!
THe weeks do fly by pretty fast! This week was very eventful! It was blazing hot on Tuesday and we were headed out to Navarro. where its soooo country! We take a 40 minute bus ride out there so we brought these straw hats that some missionaries left in our pench for the blazing sun! We felt like we would blend in with the country life out there.. but little did we know it drew attention that we didn’t want. After lunch we headed out to an investigator’s house and here pulls up the cops asking us to step aside and ask some questions. It was the first time I’ve ever been pulled over like that here. So they asked who we were and we were doing and that they had a phone call that morning from someone that saw us get off the bus looking like strangers. We laughed afterwards with the cops! haha what a small town!

Then we had an amazing lesson with the lady that drove us in her car one day. We have found a lot of good families lately that have a lot of potential to progress so we are excited to work this week with them!
We had some haircutting parties this week with a family of 6. It was all done in 3 hours.. they kind of ruined my shears from trying to sharpen them... bad idea but they still cut a little bit. haha. Then the day after we straightened hair for a lady who has really curly hair. We are trying to help her and her boyfriend get married!

On Sunday we went up to Navarro cause lately no one has been going to church. There is a family who has the calling to live out there and build a rama. At one point there was 18 that were coming and getting ready to be its own rama but as the opposition works its hardest it has decreased a lot with different problems between the members so we went with a member up there who is not too active. It was us, her and this family with the calling. They have the meetings in their house. the spirit was so strong. It made me think how time has passed and the church used to be like that starting with a few people in a house and after many years the growth!

President Benton said something interesting during our zone conference this last week he spent a couple weeks ago with elder Neil Anderson. He was saying that we need to start finding people that can be future bishops, mission presidents, and leaders in the church cause we are reaching to the point where the North Americans will be serving more in Asia! This work is growing! That is because its the lords work! I am so grateful to be a part of it those small and simple things build up into marvelous works of our savior!

I love you all so very much - Love you! chao!

Tormenta Blanca

2010-11-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

This week went by so fast! It was a great week with many tender mercies... Tuesday we had a tormenta blanca which meant all of our zone came here to help us out with finding new people! It was really fun. We all met up at the end of the day to hear their different little success stories. I have found the Argentine version of grandma Deona Hobbs! She is always so loving to take us and teach her. She has been reading the book of mormon and understands everything really well!

We were ''counted'' on Wednesday which meant we couldn’t leave at all cause all Argentina was being counted to see how many people there are here, so we did some good spring cleaning! Then on Thursday we saw a lot of little tender mercies.. We had plans to go out to Navarroo and get to know the members and the investigators. We forgot to look at the bus schedule but luckily when we were planning we saw right then a bus was supposed to come. We ran out of the door with our rain boots, coats and umbrellas- it was pouring outside! We caught the bus in time cause he saw us running to make it! Once we got on we met this lady on the way who, after the bus ride, drove us over to a converts house. We were running late for lunch we were looking for a taxi to take cause it was on the opposite side of town, but there was a man standing in the road so we asked him if he knew and he told us he was waiting for his little girl to come home in a taxi! It finally arrived and we took that one. After that we were able to enjoy our day even more with an Hermana that left with us for visits! We met this family that has 16 kids with a single mom. We have plans to visit them this week.

We also were making plans each visit to have a haircutting and hair coloring party for all the investigators because the majority of them are women, so yes we are trying to look for every opportunity to serve these people!
they live in normal houses like in the city and they aren’t poor. The church has a little keyboard that I played yesterday but I need to practice more. We have plenty of members here that love to feed the missionaries, but they are used to giving portions for elders not sisters. haha. I feel so blessed to be here and to work in the countryside. They are great people to work with and we have some big plans to start working out in the other areas as well to start building a branch out in Navarro.
I love you all and have a great week! and be good!

Transfer!!!!

2010-10-25T22:57:00.000-07:00

Soo.... there has been quite the change here on the mission!!! We had transfers on Wednesday and I’m with Hermana Daniels now! She is from good ol Sandy Utah! You should look up her blog and her fam! hahaha it has been awesome with her! AND... we opened up a new area for the hermanas in Las Heras! They had hermanas here about a year ago... and they were sure happy to have them again! hahaha. So when we were driving out here on Wednesday from the meeting and it was all just fields and fields and COWS!!! Who would have thought I would miss all of that.. hahaha. Hermana Daniels and I both screamed for joy!!! it was great.. it gets greater everyday. We have three different areas that we work in. Las Heras, Navarro, and Villars. It’s a branch and basically its this huge family Miguez who are great! The son is the branch president, daughter is the relief society president, her husband is the elder’s quorom president, the son in law is our mission leader, the other son is in the presidency and ya there is even more of them! They own a meat place, a carniceria.... I can’t remember what its called in English! But they butcher the cows and sell the meat... I’m in heaven!!! And the people are sooo soo nice.. so open and nice. haha I guess I have been so use to the city and its so safe here too! I absolutely love it.

On Sunday we had a baptism too, of this little boy Rodrigo who is 9 years old. He was baptized in a pool- it was great. The elders had been preparing him and we just had to make sure he came for the day! He´s a great kid who has tons of cousins and family that we have been teaching since we have gotten here!

So our church ..we don’t really have one.. is like a little back allyway that has 2 little rooms for young womens and primary and then two big ones for relief society and sacrament meeting. It’s just great, doesnt change the spirit at all and we eat really well here with the family Miguez! haha..
The other day we found our own little chancho here from nacho libre... this cute boy that was eating his chocolate outside and starting dancing away.. hahaha.
Hermana Lopez and Hermana Lewis opened up another area as well for the hermanas! in Billinhurst. It’s in the same stake as Ramos where I just left.

Oh I truly feel so blessed to work here with Hermana Daniels! She is an awesome missionary and that we are both from Utah its funny to contact people and tell them. I’m excited to work with her here in campo! We have had some great times already! hahaa. There are so many great people here to teach! All we need to do is work hard with them, the members and trust in the lord! I love you all and have a happy Halloween. Argentina doesn’t celebrate it... there are some stores that have decorations but they don’t do any trick or treating!
Love y’all

Last few days in Ramos Mejia...

2010-10-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Hermana Godfrey

My good bye gift from the familia Cordoza

Yesterday was mothers day here! it was a beautiful day! so happy mothers day!
This week flew by so fast! We have a lady who is preparing to be
baptized next week! She is a friend of Maria who just loves to share
with everyone the gospel. The friend who is getting baptized calls us
sol and celeste cause she has a hard time with our last names... we
remind her of two of her granddaughters. She´s a great little old lady
who wants the best for her kids. Every time she prays she cries for
them hoping that they will talk to her more and learn of the church as
well. she is so cute!

The familia Escobar had some problems this weekend with the dad. He is
temporarily paralyzed on the side of his face. I can't remember what
its called, anyway they all left to the hospital yesterday in the morning.
it started on Saturday and was worse the next morning.

It is going to be hard to leave here. This area has been so amazing. I
dont really mind the city of having everything so close by. The
members are so wonderful! I have loved to get to know them and their
strong testimonies it is amazing how the gospel links us all together.
I absolutely love it and I know this isn't the end of everything! This
life is just a glimpse! haha.

So we have four new sisters coming in and one mini missionary!!
transfers are on Wednesday so we will see what will happen! We will
all be changing companions... all the sisters at least and probably
opening up two new areas for the sisters! I know to trust in the
lord... I'm sad to leave but I know it will be a new adventure and
another area to find those who are ready!
I love you all and have a great week!!!
oh and i got the package!
thank you sooo much!
we have already eaten the peanut butter treats

Dia de Diez

2010-10-11T22:16:00.000-07:00

We had our dia de diez yesterday and I will never forget it! Six baptisms!!! I cant even explain to you how blessed we were this week with all the miracles that happened!

So last week when I was talking about the familia Escobar all the kids were wanting to be baptized and the wife was too. One of the boys, the oldest (Jonathon) wanted to wait for our mission leader to come back from his trip to baptize him cause he was going to be his "godfather" oh ya and I’m a godmother now! haha of Sasha the oldest girl. I don’t really know what I am supposed to do? Anyways we were still hoping for the whole family to get baptized yesterday so we had stopped by during the week with our mission leader and his wife to talk about the plan of happiness and temples, that it is our goal to be sealed to our families. Then the night after, (Tuesday) we stopped by with the assistants. Alejandro, the dad, was still indecisive about the decision. Aldana, the mom, wanted to but she wanted to wait for her husband so he wouldn’t be alone being baptized when that day came. After we left they stayed up all night talking about it. The next morning we were working and we got a phone call from Aldana saying they all wanted to be baptized on the 10th!! We went over that night with the bishop and it was amazing how Alejandro had changed he was so excited to be baptized! They were all excited so we got them all prepared and ready for Sunday! It was a lot of work but so sooo worth it. I am so happy for them.I can’t even express how I feel. It was a beautiful Sunday! The last to be baptized was Sasha and for some reason the water started draining so she had to be baptized I believe 5 times. haha. but she was a good sport! She was the first family member to make the decision to be baptized then one by one they all started to grow the desire! On the 8th was the birthday of Michelle the smallest and she turned 8 that day and Sasha´s birthday was on the 10th as well! Look how the lord works in mysterious ways!

We have some other great people we have been working with. Matias who came to church yesterday and stopped smoking for three days now! Maria Angelica who was baptized about three months ago has been bringing a new friend to church every week. haha she loves to talk to everyone she can about how she feels so good and happy!
I’m going to miss this ward so much. There are families here that have been so helpful so loving, I have one more full week here to take advantage! Hermana Godfrey... she is an amazing missionary! Well I love you all my family! The church is true!

Hello fambam!!!

2010-10-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful general conference weekend we had! We were getting everyone prepared to come and listen to the great talks and the familia Escobar all came on Sunday and so did this guy we invited to get baptized Matias.. I dont know if I mentioned a him before but he showed up one time to church and then we didn't see him for like two months. One day we saw him at a bus stop so we rushed over to him and got his number to call. We have been teaching him for a couple of weeks. its hard to get a time with him to teach but on Friday we invited him to be baptized on the 17 of this month and then promised him he would receive a lot of answers at conference! So he came and loved it! The Escobar family is progressing as well! All the kids want to get baptized. The mom too but she wants to wait for her husband so this week we are going to work hard to get them all on the 10! our dia de diez!

The Cardozo family could not come to conference cause Alejandro fell again at work and hurt his other knee. Their little daughter is really sick too. The doctors don't know what she has but she dropped a lot of weight already. I felt bad they weren't able to come and hear the prophet and conference. We also had this guy we found in the plaza last week that wants to change his life so we invited him to baptism. On Sunday we met up with him in the morning and told us he didn't want anything more to do with the church. His sister said all of it was from the devil. hahaha. but we helped him calm down and then he came to conference and loved it! The talks were perfect for us and for others who came especially on Sunday. We are so blessed to have a living prophet and apostles. I was reading this morning in jacob 4 how he says we gain the hope from revelation and that revelation comes through the prophets and servants of the Lord. What a great feeling we can have at this time in our lives. I know without a doubt Thomas S. Monson is called of god. We have the truth. It breaks my heart to see so much confusion in the world but I know what I'm doing is right. I used to be so scared to share my testimony but now here I am in a total different country with a totally different language sharing it everyday! haha i love it!! its exactly where my father in heaven wants me. its not easy pero vale la pena!

We had a funny experience on Saturday, we helped our zone leader's investigator take a bus at the plaza so we bought lunch and were eating there. Hermana Godfrey had a hotdog and I got a hamburger. I had eaten half of it and then this homeless looking guy came up to us walking kind of drunken, pointing, and asking for our food. So Hermana Godfrey lifted up the quarter of her dog to give it to him and he said no and then pointed to my hamburger... so I gave it to him and he went on his way enjoying my half eaten hamburger... Hermana Godfrey afterwards said she was offended that he didnt want her food. hahaha. so it was a good laugh. i felt bad as well for him. To be that desperate for food to ask for what others had already eaten.
I love you all and hope you have a great week! Be good and listen to the prophet!

Hello Fam!

2010-09-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

We had another great week full of miracles. It’s interesting how we learn so much everyday from what happens. We had a family home evening night on Wed that turned out really fun! it was with all the people that are new converts and some investigators as well. Maria brought this little neighbor friend who has been struggling a lot with her health. We were able to teach her on Friday. She lives with her mom and sister and just barely started going back to high school. She told us after that she wants to change her life and start over new. So we are working with her now. On Friday we had divisions with the Hermanas from good ol Ituzaingo 4 and Hermana Duarte (from Paraguay) came here again with me! We met up with a lady and her daughter from Sunday last week. She came to church afterwards asking for food so we got her information and put a time with her to meet in the church cause she lives where Lucas does he can’t go with us anymore cause he has been working a lot and getting ready for his mission! Anyways we met up with her on Friday and gave her a tour of the church. We taught her the restoration and how god always answers prayers. She commented when her kids were younger she use to beat them all the time she said she was a horrible mom, she said that one day she hopes to have all five of her kids in front of her to ask forgiveness. I felt so bad for her.You could just feel the regret through her voice and see it deep in her face.

On Saturday we did a little service painting a hospital here in Haedo! Then we went over and had a barbeque with the familia Escobar... the ones we found last week. They came to church on Sunday three of their kids want to get baptized!
We are working with the parents. The mom almost didn’t come cause she was sick in the morning but in the end she came with her husband! My goal is to cut his ponytail off before I leave from Ramos! haha. I need to be more careful cutting hair cause now its lice season. President Benton told us this transfer is going to be short cause Elder Anderson is coming here to speak with all the mission presidents.. we were kinda of sad to hear that we won't be together for long! Next week we have general conference and then the next is our dia de diez!
Well I love you all and hope you are all doing great!

Hola la familia Hoobb! as Alejandro would say without any teeth.. haha

2010-09-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

This week was amazing to start off with, we have been working with some great people here. On Thursday we were walking down a street in our area when this lady came up to us and asked us for directions in Ramos Mejia cause she had been before with a friend. She said she had tried to find it on her own but never could so we gave her the direction and told her we could pass by the next day and that this Saturday there was an activity for the primary so she said she would talk with her kids.
The next day we went and ate with a family Hna Salerno, the primary president- side note with them... they use to live in Ogden with the Westergards in Far West! small world! She was telling us that we needed to tell her for sure how many kids that weren't members were coming to the activity. So we decided we would visit the woman on Friday. We went and met her four kids and taught them all together the plan of salvation... after she wanted us to come back later to meet her husband.. so we did! she and the kids came to the activity on Saturday and loved it!!! She was telling us she has been looking for where she needs to be with god and that she wants the same for her family. She saw how blessed her friend was that had brought her to church so she knew quite a bit already about some things! Tomorrow night we have a family home evening with them!

We have another guy that came a long time to church. He just showed up one Sunday cause the elders contacted him at the bus stop. He said he had an uncle who was a member. We set up a time to meet with him but he never came... we didn't have his address or cel. but two weeks ago we found him at the bus stop again and got his number so we have been teaching him as well! He has such great questions about life and what he needs to do to draw closer to our father in heaven!

This week really was amazing. I am so happy I'm working with Hermana Godfrey! She will be finishing the mission in December! hahaha. I dont know if I said she is from Pennsylvania and was studying music before... she did a lot in opera shows and all that good stuff! It reminds me of our opera night in Logan! ahaha.
It is crazy how this week went by so fast. We are all preparing for the general conference and getting plans ready for Oct 10, 2010. the president wants every ward to have a baptism that day in our mission!! UN DIA DE DIEZ!!!!!
Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!!

Sept. 13

2010-09-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

Hola Mi Porteña Familia!

Soooo we had a great weekend! Hermana Isla and I! We ended off the week with baptizing Enrique a family friend of the familia Cardozo! Alejandro baptized him! President Benton and his wife came to our ward and spoke! I am so grateful for the president and his wife here in the mission. He has a great love and spirit for missionary work! We truly are the best mission in the world!

This week we did some haircutting... i lost my shears awhile ago as well so Enrique gave me some that he had! how nice! They are from Brasil. i cut this guys hair that used to be famous in bike riding. His nick name was the Black David, his name is Dario David. He has had a rough life but is trying to fix things up.

Hermana Isla went off to her house today and I have my new comp with me! Hermana Godfrey! she is amazing! She served with hermana Lopez! I'm really excited to start this transfer with her.

It's been warming up a little more. We had some rainy days this last week! We are focusing more on referrals from the members. especially here in Ramos with the familia Cardozo and other recent converts to the church. It's crazy how time flies by.. I love to read the letters of Sam.. it brings tears to my eyes. When I think of what a great example he is for me. Well i love you all and have a great week! Remember who you are and read your scriptures every single day!

La Familia!

2010-09-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

We were able to contact a reference from the stake. Her daughter had sent an email to a member in the other ward to send the missionaries over to her house because her daughter lives in Ireland with her family. She lived in Utah for a year and a half cause her daughter was living there! During her time there she had gone to the ceremony of Gordon B Hinckley and attended church there too. She knows quite a bit about the church. She came on Sunday with us to church, she is really special! The other lady Mary came as well.. the one that came last week! We had Sara there as well, and a friend of the family Cardozo. He will be baptized next week! Beatriz used to attend another church with him but he was looking for more, so he came two weeks ago with the family and said he found what he was looking for. Something that he couldn't find in the other churches! Alejandro will be baptizing him!! They have been sharing the gospel with a lot of their friends and families.. haha, that is the power of true conversion when they have the desire to share it with others! It was a very special Sunday with all the testimonies we heard. I love the people i am surrounded by. Their examples for me and the help they offer to the work of the lord, all united to do what we are suppose to do to have happiness!
We had a crazy week full of rain until Sunday. it was bright and beautiful!
Sometimes our lives are like that. We will have storms and days that are just horrible.. haha. but our savior is our light. and when we put hope and trust in him and the atonement then we can find the true happiness, the warmth to our soul. I love you all and am so grateful for all that you do. no matter how far I am from you all I have the comfort that you are working hard so that we may enjoy the life after! Have a great week and be good!

2010-08-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

How exciting sam left!

We had an exciting and interesting week yet again... it is always an adventure in my life.. especially this transfer. haha. We had some little problems with our water at the beginning of the week and we were locked out of our apartment cause the guy from the offices to fix it had our keys. We had divisions with the Hermanas from Ado Bonzi. I was there with Hermana Claros! We visited a lady they were teaching, made pancakes (well really crepes but they call them panqueques) then we spent two hours washing all of her dishes. In the end we were able to set a baptismal date for her! haha its always through charity that we can warm the heart. Then on Saturday we had a talent show in the ward it was really fun! There were skits from the movie night at the roxbury, then two bands from members here, and we sang two primary songs with one of the members that plays the guitar! There was a friend of Lucas that came who we have taught in the past. He is about Jake's age and has a hard life. speaking of Lucas, he received the melchezdic priesthood last week.

We had a funny thing happen on Sunday. We share our building with the ward Ciudadela and they have their sacrament at the last and ours is first. Alejandro and Beatriz brought a friend from Ciudadela that stayed with us during the block and then we thought we would pass his address to the elders afterwards. When we went to talk to them they had someone for us! They said a lady came for the last block, it ended up being Mary, the lady that her daughter was a member, we met her last week!! We hadn't been able to contact her during the week cause she had changed her work schedule.... but she came on all her own. haha so we had switched investigators for the day with Ciudadela.

My little companion is doing great! She is a little shy but she works really hard and is always helping. I really do appreciate her! We have our fun moments everyday, and the language has improved a lot... but there is always room to improve right?

Well i love you all and hope the best with this new year of school, it's always refreshing to start over new. We just recently shared with Sara about the Sabbath day. The importance of partaking of the sacrament and how we can really apply the atonement in our lives. What refreshing hope it gives to each of us individually to be clean and renew our covenants. Have a great week!

2010-08-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

1- me and Hermana Isla!
2- Andres with his ctr ring
3- Alejandro painted this picture ahahaha
4- the baptism of Nahuel and Andres

Wow - End of August

2010-08-23T21:20:00.000-07:00

Hola mi familia!!!
Today it has been 11 months since I have left and how time goes by so fast! We had some adventures this week and found some great new people! We received one from the stake president, a lady who had a daughter that was a member but she passed away a couple years ago from cancer. So that's all we knew about her that she had interest in the church. so we went to visit her on Saturday and she explained this to us, that she recently had a dream that her daughter was unhappy with the mom. and wanted her to change something in her life. so the mom began to pray to one of the her santos in the catholic church, but she explained to us she didn't feel good during her prayer so she stopped. Then came one day she felt really depressed and sad. Her other daughter called to see how she was and she explained how she was and the daughter told her ¨mom! you need to contact the mormon church!¨ she recently talked to a member and wanted her mom to learn more as well. We were able to explain to her the plan of salvation and that the church of christ has been restored! It was amazing how strong the spirit was.

OH and i received the package from the Parslow fam! Most of it is gone already! hahaha. we ate the mac and cheese the other day and the idaho potatoes! it was delish! we are going to open on the ramen noodles... I never thought I would miss them but its nice to have a little taste of home. haha. It was really nice of them to send it! Give Leslie a big hug for me!

Sara is progressing really well! She bought a cute little dress for her daughter to come to church on Sunday! She loves that they talk a lot about the family in the church. Last week we ate at our apartment for lunch and I shut the door without the keys! The door knobs here are different, they dont have a handle to open from the outside so you always have to have your keys to open the door no matter if it's locked or not. I locked ourselves out of the apartment... we called a locksmith later that night to come rescue us. haha. I never fail to show that I am just human.. this morning as well we had a little problem with water everywhere on the floor... good thing we only have tiled floors.

Sunday was so amazing to see Alejandro bless the sacrament and to watch Nahuel pass it around. I am blessed to be here and see their progress. I wish I could just bring them all to Utah and live with us.... its a blessing to be a part in the lives of these people. and how important it is to have the spirit! Sometims you wonder if the people really listen to you or if they understand. It reminds me of the talk by Elder Anderson from general conference in April commented how the son of Alma remembered what his father had said and how Enos remembered the words of his father talking about a savior! The sacred name of our savior contains much power and the importance to talk about Christ! We must always be anxious to share what we feel and know! thank you for all!
I love you!!

2010-08-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

HOBBS FAM!
This week went by so fast! it was good. We had divisions this week with the Hermanas from Aldo Bonzi. Hermana Urdapilleta came here with me! We also had a new investigator come to church! She lives a couple blocks down from the church and we found her last week cleaning the sidewalk ( which practically every person does here when the sun is out) . She is from Bolivia and lives with her sister and her two kids! I'm going to color her sister's hair tomorrow for some service... haha. I have decided it is a good way to get into these houses here cause where we live a lot people live in fear or are very cautious of us! They like me being their own personal hair dresser haha.

We had a conference this week for all the new missionaries. I always love to hear different ideas of what we can do and what we need to work on more. There is always something to work on or better.. and there was a returned missionary that came to visit her converts here with a friend that served awhile ago, she is from West Haven, just around the corner of Kanesville where you taught mom. Her last name was Zaugmaister I think?.. it was cool to hear their testimonies. It has been 2 years since that they returned from their missions. They both knew my comp from the Hurlingham! We also had a family home evening on Saturday with the family Colque!

I love Sam's scripture that he chose for his plaque. President Benton always tells us we are in a spiritual war here and its so true. We are not fighting against the people but against the powers of satan. Sometimes it may seem like hope is lost, but we have the promise when we obey that we will be shielded from the things of the world. its so true! Those little things everyday protect us and our tesimonies. I love you all and enjoy your last week of the summer! It is such an adventure to be here! It's more than I could have ever imagined.. hahaha i love you all! be safe and read your scriptures! the church is true!

A New Week

2010-08-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

SO!! i have my little mini missionary with me! she is from Hurlingham, it is in the stake! Originally she was going to be in her own ward with Hermana Scott but we changed it! She's 19 years old and comes from a family of 4! She´s a good little worker and really helps me out! I am so grateful for the companions i have had! We had a great week to start out with and I'm excited to work with her this transfer! She served a mini mission in Mercedes... and now in the big city of Ramos! so she will be with me here for 5 weeks! We have some great investigators and some new ones! We have this man from the street that has come a couple of times to church so far. and he loves it! He told us he feels so loved and exactly where our heavenly father wants him to be.

I am in an amazing ward with tons of help from the bishop and the members, I can talk enough Spanish to find the bus we need... soo we are all good! hahaha. We are very blessed, where much has been given much is required.
The grandma of Lucas passed away last Sunday, the one they recently found a place for. we went and visited them on Wed and thats when we found out. We had the Liahona with us with the talk that President Monson gave about the resurrection in the Sunday session. I was able to bear my testimony to them about how special it is to me to know the plan that heavenly father has for us. Marisa was crying with me... then on Saturday we went with our mission leader to visit them... I think this is what we have been praying for them to prepare to receive the gospel in their home.

I am grateful to be here... no matter if most of the people tell us no in the streets. when we find that person who is looking for the truth everything is worth it! I just marvel every time we visit Beatriz and Alejandro! he is going to be the secretary in the young men! I have learned a lot here the importance is that we do look forward with faith in the lord and in the future. Mistakes we make are there to build us up and to learn from them!

It sounds like you all have had a great summer! Is the sweet corn on that is one treat I do miss..
I love you all and have a great week! Keep sending the emails from Sam, I love reading them!

New companion

2010-08-02T18:53:00.001-07:00

Hola mi hermosa familia!!
So we had such a great week to end off the transfer! My last days with Hermana Salazar here were very special, she has been my anchor and we have seen so many miracles here in the big city of Ramos. You would all love her, she´s so funny! Alejandro proudly baptized his two sons on Saturday! It was a very special to see Alejandro reach this point in his life. He is a very spiritual man and loves to learn more about the savior. Andres the 8 year old, received the gift of the holy ghost that night and then Nahuel who is 12, was able to receive the holy ghost on Sunday and so did Maria Angelica. For testimony meeting Hermana Salazar bore hers and so did Maria. It was a very spiritual meeting. We had some new investigators that we found during the week to work with. One of them is this 16 year old girl from Peru, she is amazing and so is her family. She came with us on Saturday to the youth Super Saturday... with sports and food and games. Then she came on Sunday and really enjoyed the church. She wrote Hermana Salazar a goodbye note thanking us for answering her prayers... that she had always questioned if god was listening or watching over her.

Today was our new day of transfers... and guess who is my companion...... I DONT KNOW YET! Its a new hermana coming in. I'm going to be training AHHHH! I'm excited... but a little nervous. I'm with hermana scott right now. She is going to have a mini missionary! She is the other cosmetologist in the mish... so we are going to have a hair cutting party tonight!

July was a very good month here in the mission. Today the president was talking about how the mission is growing more and more. We are seeing many miracles day by day, focusing on others' needs especially in this world of challenges, difficulties and trials. Im grateful for the gospel, that is my anchor and my armor. I know it is true. Everytime I have a chance to bear witness of it I feel a confirmation in my heart. There is no coincidence in this life, everything and everyone has a purpose and it is my job right now to awaken those who already accepted the plan of our heavenly father before coming to this existence.

I received all your letters today but I still need to read them! Thank you for everything and I love you all with my heart! We are a part of so many rich and wonderful blessings! There is no reason to be sad and discouraged because Christ lives and through him we have the hope for a better life. It is a goal to work for... eternal life!
Have a great week my family!

Hello family!!!

2010-07-26T23:30:00.001-07:00

Zone Activity

This week was so great! We had divisions with the Hermanas from Ciudad Evita! I was with an Hermana from Paraguay who has an amazing story of how she was converted…she was attending seminary for a couple of years before she was baptized because her parents didn’t want her to be involved in the church until one day she saw the elders after seminary and she went up and told them she wanted to be baptized! At first her parents were not happy but after they warmed up to the church they allowed her to get baptized... then years passed and when her parents moved here to Argentina they started to receive the elders after a stake conference meeting. 3 years ago they were able to enter into the temple together with her whole family!

We had the baptism of Maria last Sunday right after church, she was soo happy! She’s a little grandma that works so much and loves to learn! She received the lessons from the elders a long time ago but couldn’t be baptized cause she wasn’t married. Now we are working with her grandson Leandro. He will be baptized in a couple of weeks! Alejandro will baptize his two sons on Saturday! We have had lunch at their house every Sunday this month. I love how the people get so excited after church sharing what they have learned! haha... i feel like I’m at home with all of you when we talk about our Sunday School or Primary lessons. I love to see their desire to learn more and to purify their ways. Leandro and his little sister came to church to watch the baptism of Maria and they were so excited after church to read the Book of Mormon and study more! That is how it should be for all of us!

Well i love you all! it sounded like you have been enjoying the pioneer days! Here we have friend day - dia del amigo - so we were giving treats out! It’s always good to hear that my family is waxing strong in the gospel! I love Proverbs25:25 where it says "As cold waters are to a thirsty soul," so is good news from a far country!

2010-07-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

Matias & Gabby on their wedding day. And the family of Alejandro & Beatrice. Alejandro will receive the priesthood soon and be able to baptize their sons. Miracles of the mission!

Rain again!!!

2010-07-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

Oh it sounds like you had a wonderful week with everything! I love those parts from Tuckers talk. I didn’t recognize Jake with Jacee!! he´s huge!! and cut his hair... how crazy!! and maisie is as gorgeous as ever! I love my crazy family.. haha. This week flew by fast! At the beginning we had a conference for the whole mission. They were announcing some changes that will take place so that we may focus more on the work and that the president will be more involved in leaving and teaching with the elders. We will be having our zone conferences every other transfer and so will our interviews with president Benton.

That same day we found two boys that were recently baptized with Hermana Gurr and Hermana Carrasco in Haedo, but now they live in our area. Their parents are not members and they have a little brother so we are excited to start working with them as well!
We had a great baptism of Alejandro on Saturday! He had chosen our mission leader Emmanuel to baptize him cause he is in charge of filling up the water as well... Alejandro wanted to be for sure that he wasn’t going to have freezing cold water like his wife! haha He received the gift of the holy ghost on Sunday and Maria was able to fill the spirit strongly. Then he had us over for this delicious pasta. He makes the noodles homemade and the salsa... We found a frame in the street last week so we sanded it down and put shoe shine on it to make it all shiny. Then it was all ready for a picture of Christ. It was our gift for the family of Alejandro! He received the Aaronic priesthood as well and now is preparing to baptize his two sons next week!

We have postponed Maria´s baptism for this Sunday! She has loved the church so much and we want to set a date with her little grandson that lives with her! It is amazing to me how these people are just so prepared to have the missing pieces of the gospel revealed to them in the fullest! This weekend ended with a lot of rain.. its raining today as well.
I love you all and hope you have a great safe week! Tomorrow is el dia del amigo here! and happy 24th of july!!

Hola Familia

2010-07-13T14:17:00.001-07:00

Happy July!!
We had a week of divisions with Aldo Bonzi... again! ahaha. But Hermana Lewis came here and my comp there! It was fun to have a day full with her, she´s from Arizona and it was different actually talking in English with someone! haha.. weird. The next day was full of experiences. The morning my comp and I helped with a wedding in the ward of this family that we´ve grown to love. I did the hair of the bride and Hermana Salazar made this cute bouquet of flowers made out of the ribbon fabric. It was so cute! They had a little civil wedding but it was special to be a part of it. The family is all members but some of them were inactive for awhile, however they have all been coming to church!

Later that night we were able to find this lady that we contacted last transfer who received the elders in another area where she lived with her daughter for some time. We found out that she was to the point of baptism with these elders but she couldn’t because she wasn’t married to her spouse. Her husband died1 and a half years ago... and we had an amazing lesson about the plan of salvation. So we invited her to baptism and she was so excited and said she was grateful for a second opportunity! Her and her grandson that lives with her came to church on Sunday and she will be baptized this Saturday with Alejandro, who is amazing just as well! He has been faithful and not smoking and loves the church.. he always participates in the class. Last week he had a dream that he was with our mission leader saying a prayer with his hands upon the child’s head... he asked us what it meant and we told him it is because he is preparing to receive the priesthood. They are an amazing family. This past Sunday I was thinking of what I heard this week in our zone conference that we work hard and some day we may all be together again and enjoy those blessings of all our hard work in the eternities. I am blessed to be here to help them in their first steps of growing testimonies and following the path of our savior, that they may have those sweet rich blessings that I have had in my life. Sometimes its difficult to see that with the little things we do each day turn into great and wonderful things, but once I look ahead and remember it gives me faith and hope to move on. We should never doubt the lord and what he has sent for us to do. Through our prophet, leaders, parents, loved ones, Wthat his parents were able to find a rest home for his grandma! so they were able to have a calm weekend.. so we have big plans to pass for her this week and help her. Thank you for praying for her! We had a great zone conference week with new ideas to help our investigators.. on Tues we have a special conference as well to help improve everything on the mission! love you all!!

July 5th

2010-07-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

This week has been great with members helping in the lessons and the progression of the investigators. We found this lady who loves to talk.. she is one to know what is going on in the neighborhood. She was a contact in the street that at first didn’t want to know anything but somehow we got on the topic of family history, so we told her a little bit about it and set a day that we could go check it out with her. The day came and she was able to fill out some of her info with the member helping us. In the end she was really impressed with the family history and told us she felt the love she has needed for awhile. She has come a couple other times to church in the past but stopped investigating because she had her doubts about tithing. We were able to help her understand more clearly what it is and where the money goes.

Another day we went to teach where Lucas lives. He came with us and we found a family of 8 kids! We have taught the father a couple of times but this day we found 4 of the daughters all together.. recently their cousin, a friend of Lucas, passed away. So we shared the plan of salvation with them.. we want to work with them more but we can’t see them as often as we would like cause they live in the area where we can only visit when Lucas is with us. We didn’t have the baptism of his mom after all. She had some struggles this week but we are going to wait and see what happens with her. Their family is really struggling right now.. but I know they will make it through.

It has been a great week with little miracles here and there. We are fasting right now for Alejandro to stop smoking completely so he can be ready to his baptism! We had baptisms in the ward on Saturday. We were able to receive some references who were a grandma who was Catholic, and a little family of four. The dad was very interested in everything that happened!

Thanks to Connie (Saren’s piano teacher) being so patient with me I’ve been playing the piano in church for sacrament and relief society... but I’m being pushed to learn more cause every Sunday they don’t want to sing the same three songs that I know... haha.. so its good for me... I get nervous but in the end they keep on singing whether I mess up or pause a little bit.. haha. its all a learning experience!
i hope you are all doing good. I love you all and read your scriptures and start the promise of 21 days!!

Ciudad de Famoso Ramos!!

2010-06-28T16:41:00.000-07:00

Oh it is crazy how time flies by and everything that changes! It was a great week full of miracles here and there. It is amazing how diligence and obedience make such a difference in the work here. Even the smallest little rules make such a difference and what we are really working for. We had a meeting about how we are the ones that put the goals and show if we are searching for those who are ready to be baptized and the importance of praying for this in every prayer. We didn’t have a baptism on Sunday but the ones we have been struggling with like the mother of Lucas has her date set for next Sunday and has stopped smoking for a week. Last night we had one of the members of the bishopric come and bless their house. Most of the family was there and it was so spiritual, he blessed each person that was there individually. Before he started the blessing he explained about the priesthood and a little more of the restoration cause there were some brothers of Lucas that we have never been able to teach or were kind of cold with us and one of Lucas´ friends was there as well. While waiting for the bus afterwards we talked with him about what he had thought of the blessing and the church he started saying he wanted to change his life. His grandpa just recently passed away and his family is falling apart he smokes a lot cause he gets so discouraged... he is Jake’s age. I was able to talk to him about grandpa and the plan of salvation and baptism. He was crying and I was as well it made me think of Jake and how it would be so hard for a 16 year old to go through such difficulties.

Earlier this week the husband of Beatriz has decreased his smoking a LOT!! Last week President Benton gave us money to buy him the nicotine gum and when we went in to the pharmacy there was some other gum called chicle laxante and so before I took a moment to think what laxante meant I asked my comp what is chicle laxante with a voice that everyone could hear in the small store and she replied with a big grin its what you need to go.... hahahha my face went bright red from the realization of what it was... oops

Yesterday the whole family came to church and Beatriz received the gift of the holy ghost. The mother of Lucas came as well and another investigator.... who is eternal... haha but he hasn’t attended for a long time.
So last night we invited Alejandro to be prepared on the 17 of July for his baptism and the next week he will be able to baptize his two boys! This family is so amazing!! I can’t get over how prepared they were to receive the gospel in their lives... They are all like little children after each Sunday wanting to share what they each learned....ya Alejandro has his challenge with smoking but he has shown us his willingness to stop and nothing is impossible with the lord! It truly is amazing to see these people change and start to be enlightened with the truth in their lives... the view becomes clear of why we are here and what we are doing with our lives as - clear as daytime!

Sam will set up his email in the MTC... it’s one of the first things he will do when he goes! Good luck with everything Sam! Do what I said and you will be happy... hahaha. I love you all and have a great week saying your farewells to your future Spanish speaking Hobbs! Hey Sam, Argentina recently won Mexico in the Copa Mundial!!! woo hoo!

FELIZ DIA DE PADRES!!!!

2010-06-21T11:58:00.000-07:00

Oh what a great letter to read of my family!!! ... people look at me weird cause we come to local stores that have computers and I sometimes laugh outloud at the stuff thats going on.. haha . Oh we ended this transfer amazingly well! Beatriz was baptized last night at 5:30 in freezing ice cold water in the church. We had the water running right after church and the mission leader had left the pump on to drain the water cause there was old water and he is new. So when he showed up at 4 he saw it was all empty. Luckily we showed up at the same time and then others to start pouring in water. We were in the women’s bathroom filling up buckets of water and so was our ward missionaries in the other but it was all good in the end. It was perfect for her kids to see and her husband since we´ve been working with them as well. Before her baptism we went over to their house and had a delicious barbeque for fathers day and for her big day!

Hermana Salazar and I are together another transfer!! with new goals and a new view thanks to our president and Elder Aidukaitis. Something that I remember from general conference... I was questioning before was how can I gain more faith or strengthen it.. someone had said that it is through obedience and righteousness. It is so true in this life... the more willing we are to give our time and everything that we have, the lord is more willing to bless us and strengthen us into what we can be what He sees in each of us. We have a view high and it is all possible with our savior.

The mother of Lucas is good. We are learning patience with her but she is still in the progress. Its interesting how many difficulties a family can have but I know someday this family is going to be eternal. His brother could be baptized this transfer as well he has been going to seminary with Lucas! Today there were tons of elders that left for home... half of them were from the mission. It makes me feel old! This week I’m going to have 9 months in the mission! How crazy to look back on what has all happened. I’m so grateful for my companion and feel so blessed to work in this area.

Wish Sam good luck for me and that I need his address for the MTC and his mission.. that would be nice! I love you all and are so grateful for your examples! It’s sad we don’t get to call our fathers on fathers day but how I love my dad with all my heart!
I love you all have a great week! Que Dios les Bendiga!!

Saren and Beatrice
Beatrice's kids
Hermana Salazar

A Week Full Of Rain!!!!

2010-06-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

Today it is raining and pouring with the old man snoring! Yes winter starts here on the 21st of June! It’s weird that it is winter without snow but I love when it rains we always have a good time in it! This week we started off with a family home evening with the mother of Lucas who we´ve been preparing for her baptism at the end of last week. We played the if I were .... I would do... game! It was way fun and we used dad’s feather example with our words and actions! So thank you for all those ideas! During the week we found out that the mom has been smoking.. so we postponed her date of baptism. Now we want to work with the father more and the brother, so she can have more support from the family and that she doesn’t feel alone. Her son helps her a lot but the more involved her husband and other son the better it will be! They are a great family who have been through a lot. It makes our lives seem so cushioned and so simple with the things that others go through.

On Thursday we were walking on our way back to our apartment and I sprained my ankle from stepping weird on the side of the curb! It was my lucky right ankle that I have sprained almost every year of my life! ( yep the same one from falling down the stairs with Katie and Sarah) hahahaha. So it is all swollen like a baseball but its all good! We went in the next day to the famous hospital posada here in Argentina which is in our area! We went in the emergency and there were tons of people but the lord blessed us and somehow bumped my name up at the top to be x-rayed and then to see what I needed to do. There were some little old ladies that were way upset that I went before them for the x-rays, so it was quite an adventure! While we were waiting this guy came running up to me and asked if he could speak to me. He was a member and asked if we could contact a lider in the church to come and give his son a blessing cause he was going to have surgery done for his heart. We contacted a member from the ward to send up some men of the priesthood. In the end we were meant to be there for something! The doctor said my ankle was all good.
Then on Friday we ate these old sausages from two weeks ago called chorizos. My comp was sick on Saturday night.. so we were quite the companionship of the handicapped gringa and the latina with a bad stomach ache.

There was a guy that showed up at church on Sunday! He told us the elders contacted him at the bus stop and he had the impression to come that day. He has a 6 year old son and is divorced, so this week we are meeting with him in the house of our mission leader! It was disappointing with the mother of Lucas this week but there are still so many miracles everyday that we are so blessed to be a part of. This week we are preparing Beatriz for her baptism! It is crazy how fast this transfer has gone by. I feel like it was my first week here.

Well I hope you are all well and have a great summery week! Next week is another new transfer, I hope Hermana Salazar stays with me!!! It has been a blast and a privilege to be her companion and her aunt! I love you all and be good!

(THANK YOU LOPEZ-ZIMMERMAN FAMILY FOR THE PHOTOS!)

Visiting authority

2010-06-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to hear that everything was wonderful with grandpa's funeral and. He was truly a great man and a hero in many eyes as well as mine. I know he is right with me thrusting his spiritual sickle with mine and shedding forth miracles.

We truly had an amazing week and ended it off amazing! On Tuesday in the afternoon we had a conference with Elder Aidukaitis of the seventy. He came and taught us many great things! I left with my mind and my heart really open to what we could improve and work on! Especially about faith! He is a great man and talked to me a little bit afterwards about grandpa.

Then on Thursday we were trying to put some dates with different investigators but the lessons were not quite what we planned.. we ended the night a little frustrated and sad. But I kept thinking the weekend is not over! We are going to get dates and have baptisms cause this is God's work not ours! And Friday we did! We put a date with the mother thats been having a hard time coming to church and she came on Sunday! So her date is for this Sunday thats next! Then the other is another lady that I was talking to you about with her husband who didn't want anything to do with us but it was her birthday on Saturday and she told us she wanted to be baptized!! whooo whooo! So her date is the 20th. We are hoping to put some dates with her son's cause they all came yesterday... its amazing how the lord works through his little missionaries. Both of the ladies that have fechas received blessings after church cause both are going through some difficulties, but it was exactly what they needed. The spirit was so strong and so powerful. It truly is the authority that christ had when he went out performing miracles and healing the sick.

Oh thank you dad. I love your letters always. I can feel your love and your voice through them. I am so grateful for the gospel and here on the mission there is nothing compared to the sweet miracles and mercy of our dear heavenly father, how he does love us unconditionally and pours down those blessings, just by our simple willingness to obey and follow His Son our Savior. And His perfect plan. This experience I will never forget and what happened with grandpa. How I can be right here in the service and help others have the peace and comfort that I have. THank you dad for everything you have given me and how your work time and love has shaped me into who I am. I love my badge that some may have a hard time saying Hobbs well actually everyone hahha, but im proud of who I am. I love you dad so much and pray for you all. have a great week! and wish Maisie happy birthday and congrats to Heston and his victory in baseball! haha!

Well i cant write too much more today... we are kinda short on time but I love you all and have fun on your trip mom! That is so exciting and on an historical adventure! Send me some pictures!ª

The passing of Grandpa Hancock

2010-06-02T16:49:00.000-07:00

On Thursday May 27th we lost our beloved Grandpa Val. He had been out weed-eating, a farmer who can never sit still. He had his dialysis treatment the day before, came home and rested a bit and then went out and planted the rest of the spring crop. My brother Blair helped him get the weed-eater going and turned to get gas in the other machine. Blair heard the weed-eater stop and saw dad slumped over on the ground. Dad never regained consciousness. He was a man of the earth that wanted to wear out not rust out and he went out with his boots on. Dad was 81 years old.
President Benton was the one that Saren heard the news from and he allowed her to call home for strength and comfort. She also sent the following note that was shared at grandpa’s funeral:

The president suggested that I should write some of my feelings down of my wonderful grandpa who I loved.

His Legacy Lives on Strong.
Last year for his 80th birthday mom had the great idea of making a little tribute film. Little did I know how much time it would take and patience especially with how mom gets an idea and there´s no other way you can make it when she has it painted vividly already in her mind. She had all the different black and white pictures of moments of grandpa’s life on the farm, as a kid, his mission in Copenhagen Denmark, moments with his children, and their families. They had to be scanned on to the computer then transferred to my laptop then all in order and in harmony with the music. But as I was loading up these pictures it hit me hard of what a legacy my grandfather brought there in West Weber. Of how his vital decisions and his dedication radiated through his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. What he did day in and day out on the farm and in the house with the gospel central to life on the farm. He did exactly what it says in Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when his is old, he will not depart from it.

How true is that in our Hancock family! How that scripture was exemplified on Sundays with all of us together surrounding this old farmer with his posterity at his side laughing, talking, and cherishing every moment with him. What man would not want that? To be surrounded and know he is loved to look in the eyes of his grandkids, his legacy. Someone told me here on the mission that you wont know that you were a successful missionary until you look into the eyes of you grandchildren. It does radiate in our family, his example and what a great leader Val J was.

Sometimes it’s hard here in the mission to keep on going. But whenever I get discourage or frustrated I remember the blunt short powerful words of grandpa the night before I left for the MTC. Two things that make a great missionary is - pray hard and work hard then famous of all is - getter done!
I am so grateful for him and the great impact he has had in my life. The great hero he is in my eyes and I know in so many others. I know exactly where he is. With his sweet Margaret Ellen rejoicing she has been patiently awaiting her hubby at the back door coming back from a long days work on the farm. I know this to be true. I testify of it everyday and today as well. The plan of God is real and alive and we are in it! Our Savior is central to this marvelous plan. Through Him we will be united as an eternal family. Our grandpa led the way and now it is our time to follow him and keep on following in those farm boot foot steps. We may get stuck in the manure or kicked by a cow. But never stop... getter done.
I love you all and hope you are all good. It’s hard to think he passed away but he’s not too far. Just on the other side of the veil. I love you all!

On a Rainy Sunday!!!!

2010-05-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

Wew this week slipped right underneath my feet and out the door in no time! We had some fun times this week... We had stake conference, and had tons of investigators all planned to be picked up by us or my some of the members.... but none of them came. either they werent home or they didn’t come.... it was really disappointing cause we were all fasting in our zone to have a goal of five in the conference. I guess the lord had other plans in store for them. We passed by some of them later in the day with liahonas. It was pouring like crazy. We visited the Italian member that lives in the same building as us when we returned and she made some soup for us... it was nice and warm! So once again that big rainy coat serves its calling here for the rainy days of May!
And yes I did receive the package!!!! oh it was amazing to get it… all the sweaters and sticker notes and everything is just perfect! thank you so much... and yes I did get the letter from Lynette! I’ve been meaning to write her back.

Other than Sunday we had a really great week with finding new people and working with the members in the ward. It is amazing to see these people change their habits and change their ways when they grow closer to our heavenly father.
Its interesting how I never realized how many churches there are in the world and how important our message really is... its been a big eye opening experience to share my simple testimony and have it re affirmed every time we share the restoration. Last night we had a lesson with our mission leader where we talked about afterwards that you will find everywhere you go the same questions... why are there so many churches... which one is true... and how can you know?? It is through a simple sincere prayer. I testify to you all that I know it is the true church. With our prophet Thomas Monson leading the way. I know he receives pure revelation for you for me and for all the people on the earth. I know that we have the authority to act in the name of our savior Jesus Christ and truly become members of HIS church, the original church that He organized when he was here. Our covenants are sacred and bring us closer to him. How I’m so grateful for what happened to Joseph Smith and how our god which is in heaven is the same forever. We can trust in him and his path. The other day I saw a little sign in the Liahona that said the ten commandments are commandments not suggestions.

hahaha there is my little spiritual message! I love you all and am so grateful for the people in my life and how they have helped build me and strengthen me. I hope that I may do the same for others! Have a good last week in school and know that I love you all!! Be good and Be safe!

Mulé de Arjenteena!!

2010-05-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

OH my goodness that is hilarious with Hestons hair cause I swear every kid here has it as well!! (Sam cut Heston’s hair into a mullet for a day - GROSS!) It’s exactly like that a thick mohawk! hahahahhaa... the little boys grow up to be grown guys wearing them.

I love RAMOS!! It is amazing here... with my little comp Hermana Salazar! She doesn’t speak a lick of English so that’s good! ahhaha then I won’t be tempted to revert back in my own tongue and get the gift of tongues in more progress! I do feel like I have improved with the language.. I just keep on going and keep on talking and I know the lord will use me where he wants to. The church is right in the middle of the rich area and then there is a highway that is close by. On the other side we have kind of a ghetto area, but its all good... its the west side of the highway! watch out!!! There is a kid that was recently baptized and he comes with us during the lessons... we were pretty good this last week.
This next week I want to try some more areas where we found a lot of people the other day. I swear Hermana Lopez drilled in me exactly what I needed before I left her and the area. The ward is great too! There are a lot of members that can come with us. This transfer we are trying to focus on members that relate to the investigators in some way... like if its a teenager then we would want to bring someone around their age that would be able to befriend them! hermana salazar is wonderful, everyone loves her here in the ward.. we laugh a lot together! The bishop in the ward is really young like in his 30´s and has two little children. He seems like he is going to be great to work with and our mission leader as well. There are a lot of families in the ward that are from all parts of South America, like Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay, all sorts of different people here!

I enjoyed this last week... it flew by way fast!!! There is a park as well that is right next to the train and buses that we contact a lot of people! It’s going to be a good transfer... the more I get into the mission the more I don’t want to leave it. It has shown me how ingrained the gospel is in my life and our familys. How I’m so grateful mom and dad for both of your examples.. and look at the fruit that is coming out of it! president benton is a wonderful president, I think he will be higher in the church after his calling here... he truly is amazing.. and his wife. Buenos Aires West is the Best!!! I love you all and have great week and happy birthday JAKE from last week!!!! oh I loved your pictures too of Sam at the temple!!! I love my family soo much... never forget that !!!!!

New Transfer

2010-05-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

A New Transfer with a New comp! I'm an AUNT!! (This is the title for a second comp to a new missionary.)
Oh I loved your pictures and talking to you all as well!! The time went by fast. I’m with my new Hermana Salazar from Argentina sur! We are more in the city now and its called Ramos Mejia. Our church is connected with the mission office where all the assistants work and where we will have our district meetings. It sounds like there is about 90 to 100 members that come to church on Sundays... the map looks small and my comp said we walk a lot here... never take the bus so that will be good cause the food is starting to get heavier with the cold. Lately what we had in Castelar was called giso (i dont know how to spell it in castellano but thats how its sounds) and it basically is noodles with potatoes, a delicious tomato sauce, tons of different vegetables and meat. So ya
It’s soo weird that I’m in a different area, it is exciting it will be nice and refreshing! Hermana Lopez is with Hermana Perez from Nicaragua now... I’m eating my lunch while writing you! Last night we passed by the familia Benitez and the mom Patricia felt bad that she forgot but it was just nice to say my goodbyes to them... I’m going to sure miss them.. I loved watching Leandro pass the sacrament each week... they are great kids, and the others as well. But just like you said now its another chapter in this great adventure, to help my savior find those who are ready... I don’t feel too scared and that’s thanks to Hermana Lopez who helped me grow more confidence in myself and in the lord. We showed that the lord uses the willing to thrash the nations! Well I love you all my family! I love that you are all doing so great and are achieving so much... we are so blessed! Have a good week y nos vemos en la semana que viene!!! TE AMO MONTONASO!!!!!!!

Never a dull day!

2010-05-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

Saren in front of their chapel.

2010-05-03T21:07:00.000-07:00

Ward mission leader & wife on the right, friends learning the gospel on the left.

2010-05-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

Argentine Drink (it is no diet coke) and Garbage can man

2010-05-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

Street Art

2010-05-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

Saren with a new family

2010-05-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

Hermana Hobbs and Hermana Lopez with results from their FHE activity.

2010-05-03T20:39:00.000-07:00

May 3, 2010

2010-05-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

So this week was way fun! We had divisions with Hermana Daniels and Urdapilleta! Hermana Daniels was with me this time in Ituzaingo, it was really fun with her... always is. This weekend there was an airplane show in our area with helicopters and different planes flying by every now and then. We kept snapping shots during the siesta in the streets!

We had a special lesson with and investigator who has been listening to the lessons for over a year now! He is an amazing guy that has a beautiful family but he´s been struggling to make the decision of baptism cause his wife doesn’t like the church too much that is before she didnt... we´ve been working with him a lot cause he has a testimony but is just scared what is going to happen if he does make the decision! At the beginning of April he told us we would see him be baptized and just give him a month more to be prepared and to think about it. So our night with him ended up being on the last day of April. Hermana Lopez found this awesome talk from the May 2002 ensign by Worthlin. It talks about the apostles when the savior called them to be his followers when they were fisherman before then compares how we have nets today and if we are willing to leave them behind to follow Christ. We shared this talk with him and also when Paul is talking about how his life was before he knew Christ. He was high in society with his education and everything but he says those things are like dung compared to the joy that it was to know the savior! After the lesson he accepted to be baptized this week! So pray for him please and our others.... the little girl is getting ready to be baptized! She is soo cute and just absorbs everything we teach her! We also have the Peruvian lady that will be... and the other that was supposed to be last week!

I love this life here. We had our zone activity with volleyball and popcorn and homemade donuts and of course a little bit of soccer. It wouldn’t be a zone activity without futbol! Its going to be sad to leave this place! I have grown to love these people in the ward and the investigators that we’ve been working with for awhile. Now that I know this area like the back of my hand they want to send me somewhere else all new! hahaha no it will be good. I will definitely miss working side by side with Hermana Lopez.

It sounds like it was a great week for all of you as well... and how exciting we will get to call next week! I’m going to call around 5 here so I don’t know what time it will be there... I forgot the time difference! Know that I love you all. I’m sending a letter off to grandpa and grandma Hancock today! I love you all and remember what is most important in life... the gospel, family, and facturas! hahaha

2010-04-27T00:32:00.000-07:00

Mother’s day is coming up! So start preparing your questions if you have any... we have 40 minutes to talk but I don’t know for sure at what time we are going to call! I just got the letter from Kate last week!!!!! oh thats soooo excititng for her and her little hubby! I wrote her back so she should be getting one in a couple of weeks!

Its been a tad bit chilly this week! We have this little electric heater that we put right next to our bunk bed to keep us warm! I’m thinking that I’m going to get my sleeping bag out soon. I didn’t believe that it was going to get that cold but I guess my blood was all nice and thin from the humid summer.

So this week went by fast with divisions from the other sisters in the mission! I went to Hurlingham with Hermana Urdapilleta who is from here in Misiones! She`s been here for about 4 weeks now. She lost her little map during the night together but luckily had an extra with her, she is awesome. Then the day after I was with Hermana Abbot who has about 11 months in the mission. She`s from Illinois! We have some fun sisters here in the mission from all parts of the world. It is such an adventure to be united in the same thing! You can learn so much from each and every one of them.

We kind of had a rough weekend with our investigator that was going to be baptized Sunday. He ended up not getting baptized cause he needs to be able to partake the sacrament but the problem is that he works in the morning. We are going to see what we can do. He wants to be baptized but his boss won’t let him have time off to come! Things are looking on the bright side with the ward. We`ve been able to work more with members that just moved into the ward. The lord always provides us the way to achieve what he wants done.

Tomorrow we have our interviews with the president. I’m sad to leave my city and ward and Hermana Lopez! But that is life in the mission always changing and every moment counts. There is no time to waist. It’s the same as life. We must always cherish what we have and look ahead to the future. Never live in “I should have done this” or “I could have done that.” Just do your best and move forward. I love you all and its always exciting to hear from you! Have a great week and remember to stand in holy places! Good luck Sam with the temple! Love Saren

Hola

2010-04-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

I´m glad to hear that nothing has changed from home with mom and her chocolate to famiy dedication with the baseball! But yet I can feel in your letters how everyone is growing!

This week I would have to say was one of the funnest with Hermana Lopez, she is a blast.. and we work work WORK til we drop.. and she did this week! The other night we were walking on our way to the bus stop and before I know it I look over and Hna Lopez is on the ground with her leg behind her back and her skirt up! ahahha. She had slipped on a plastic bag and fell right on her back! I was scared she had broken something but no she was all good. On Wednesday it poured all day so I felt all snug in my big rain jacket! Then we had lunch with this member who gave us soup first.. she got up to search for something, while we were eating I looked up right in time to see Hermana Lopez flick something in the bowl of the members! ahhaha and I turned to her and asked if she had meant to do it and she said yes... so we both started laughing and the member was like what happened... and we made up something on the spot! .. then come to find out it was a little bone that she had flicked in her soup and the reason was cause at first she was going to give it to me or drop it on the ground but then she thought she could be sneaky and flick it into the other bowl but right after she had done it she realized the son-in-law was behind us watching the whole time!

We are starting week 4 now in the our transfer here! It is crazy how time flies by so fast. There’s so much to learn as well... I don’t feel like a year and a half is enough.. maybe i could ask for an extention! We had a crazy Sunday with helping our investigators come to church. We had this cute family come who are way into their church but the mom said afterwards that she going to start coming to ours for right now cause its closer and cheaper (and better for her). During our lesson the other day the three little boys were singing all their songs from their church. We have another family that we are working with as well that is a very humble family. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with them and they loved it! Know that I love you all and keep on being the great examples you are! You never know who is watching or listening. Always be ready for when our savior needs us to help others! have a great week!!!

A Great Week!

2010-04-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

It’s so crazy to think of all that is happening while I’m here! There´s a lot that goes on!! We saw some miracles that our heavenly father blessed us with... especially having lessons with members which is sometimes hard. Sam should go on divisions with the elders in our ward or stake! We also have a baptism that is coming up this weekend a 25 year old guy that has been coming to church on his own. I know the baptisms do not determine the success. We see a lot of opposition everyday here, but hna lopez and I were talking about this last night how without difficulties we would never experience joy. It’s kind of the same if we didn’t have the hardships or the times when people would not listen then we wouldn’t know how unique and satisfying it is to see these people progess and follow the lords path!

This past Sunday wasn’t as stressful as the others have been. For some reason the pews in the chapel were taken away so right now we are using those metal fold up chairs, kind of ghetto looking but its all good! We have our zone conference tomorrow as well! Time truly does flow by fast!
Right now we are working with this lady called Yolanda. She´s this old tall grandma that always has something stressful going on in her life, but the last couple of times we´ve gone to teach her we´ve seen a big difference with her attitude about her difficulties and things that come up. It’s amazing to see such a difference, where she was at first with her negative attitude to now with feeling like she can face anything! She can hardly read cause she has bad eye sight, but we gave her this little calendar to read a page a day or one column in the book of mormon and she´s been faithful at it!

We also had this lady that we found recently that is from Peru! She is about in her early 50s and has a 5 year old girl. Her husband died a couple years ago and she´s living with her brother here. She is so sweet and seems like she was just ready to receive us! Our Heavenly Father truly does love us and wants the best for each one. Hna Lopez has been awesome as well! I’m sooo happy we have this other transfer together! haha she is truly an amazing missionary! I’m honored to be her companion and have our fun moments together! It is funny when we are walking down the street and a dog starts barking right by us or something happens that is startling, I will jump and gasp, then she will do the same from my reaction! Haha

Well I love you all and it sounded like you had a fun week! I’m excited for mom to go to Boston! Mrs. Hobbs on her history trip! haha. Have a good week and choose the right!

Conference was Wonderful!!

2010-04-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

The Castelar Zone in the baptismal font, proud of their efforts!
Juan, Miriam & Ramona baptized on March 28th.
Antonio the former boxer is getting baptized next.
Saren outside on their apt balcony
Ice cream buffet
The ring salesman they met while in Moron
Not-so delicious hamburger patties, 5 minutes in a storm and soaked to the bone!

Okay so I just sent like a bunch of pictures hopefully they all worked! Oh I just got a letter from Sarah, thanks for sending it for me! Maybe I’ll just do that cause I don’t know how the mail works here for Puerto Rico. Yes they all keep in contact with me! Kara just sent me a picture of her cute little boy and the salon girls sent me a couple of letters together but I lost them on my way back home.... I almost started crying cause letters are like GOLD!!! I truly felt horrible... but that same day is when I did hair for like 5 hours so I was reminiscing from those good ol days in the salon trying to figure out what to do with my hair and cutting everyone elses... haha I love those girls like no other!

This weekend was CRAAZY! With running everywhere to get our investigators in the chapel... but we did have some good ones and some interesting ones. We made all the sessions but I didn’t get to hear all of them in English. Conf. was held in our stake church and it was great! This really is the best I’ve heard. The spirit was so strong in the room just hearing the exact words and messages a missionary needs! Oh it is crazy to think where I was this last year! I am in a total opposite pathway than I thought I would be... I’m so happy that I am here with the people that I am with teaching and working the lord’s work! I would never change it for anything. It is pure joy that nothing or no one else can bring or at least that I’ve experienced!

This week we taught a lady that let us in one day when it was raining and this visit she was feeding us crackers with butter and jam and then she left for a bit and returned with this bottle of perfume... she gave it to Hermana Lopez and told her to try some and then was like more more put more on! Then she handed it to me... and I put a little on and the lady called chicha was like NO you need to try MORE! The next thing I know she grabs it out of my hand and starts smothering me with this perfume that stinks like those old perfumes that makes mom sick! hahahha. She was going to town with that bottle! in my hair, all over my face, getting up in my grill! ahha and then she starts rubbing it all of hna Lopez´s back! hahaha we were laughing like no other with this little old plump lady! We were thinking maybe we stunk and that was her way of telling us we needed a little help!

I’m excited to get your letters. It was freezing this morning! I didn’t realize how cold it was going to get here! ... but I’m good I have a sweater and my comfy socks! I love you all and thanks for sending me letters! I always love hearing from you! Oh and yes I did know the sister that was from my mish that Pres. Monson talked about! She was here til Christmas so I got to meet her before she left home! She was an awesome sister and we were all so proud that the prophet had mentioned her in his talk and our mission! I know he is our prophet today and that he speaks directly from god to us. How great the love is of our father in heaven. I love you all and be good this week!

_

A Fast Week!

2010-03-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

Hello!!!
Another week just as fast as the other one! We just ended this transfer with 3 baptisms! One was the little old guy and the other was these two ladies that we were teaching back with Hermana Roy!
We fasted this week just to end it off to achieve our goals and to have miracles. That next day is when we invited the mother and daughter to baptism this Sunday. Before we did they were even talking about how the elders before us had been pressuring them and they didn’t like that at all! Then probably five minutes later we asked them to be baptized on Sunday! hahaha. Just the perfect moment! The spirit was really strong and we could feel that they were ready. The mother was Evangelist and the daughter Catholic! It was a very special Sunday! The president came and everything!

That day as well we were looking for this little lady that Hermana Lopez and another Hermana found when we were on divisions. We went down this street thinking it was where she lived and stopped to ask these guys that were sitting out sipping their mate. One of them got up and was talking with us and we introduced who we were and made an appointment for later on in the week.... well later that night we were on the bus coming home and one of the guys that had been there on the bus with us came and sat behind us and was talking with us for a little bit. Then once we were getting closer to the stop he started to ask us a little more about the church and he was talking about his children. He said he had one in particular that was born premature and couldn’t walk really well. The father had taken him to all these other churches for help to see if they could do something but none of the things they did worked. Then he asked us if we had something or someone that could it was a perfect window to tell him about the priesthood and the power of it! Later on once we got his information he was telling us that the elders had always passed by his house and he never thought much of it... always having some excuse. He said today when we were there talking to his friend at his friend’s house he felt something different! ahhhh! He lives out of our area but we are definitely going to look around for those elders that are over there!

Here are some pictures from the baptism and Hermana Lopez and I are together another transfer woo hoo!!!!! I’m so happy here! I love that scripture in 2 nephi 11:4-7! This is such pure joy to see these people make these decisions that are going to change their lives for now and eternity and everyone else’s around them! I love the rippling affect the gospel brings. Ilove you all and have a wonderful week! TE AMO!!!!

More this week!

2010-03-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry i didn’t write too much to you all last week. We had a little Hermanas conference/party in moron.
But this week started off rainy and ended rainy, the middle of the day was nice and sunny. Today was freezing in the morning. So I would say its starting to feel more towards the fall then the spring.. ahha we will have a cold easter! I used my raincoat yesterday so it was perfect. We were anxious to get in our warm beds last night. This week we had a couple of days of divisions with the Hermanas in our zone! Hermana Hulen was with me in Castelar. she made homemade popcorn for us on the first night. It made me think of dad and our movie nights with popcorn and mom making the orange julius... I need to search to see if they have the frozen juice to make that here! This morning I attempted to make chocolate pancakes with nesquik! haha they weren’t too bad! I’ve come to love making pancakes.

This week was pretty good with our investigators! We are working with this cute little old man named Juan. I’m sure Hermana Lopez has written a lot about him. She and Hna di Stefano found him when we were in divisions awhile ago. He laughs a lot... its like teaching a little kid. We are simple with our lessons, but you can always tell when the spirit is strong cause he gets a little teary eyed. Especially when we sing, pray, or his daughter bears her testimony.

We are also working with this mother and daughter who are great! The mom is like in her 70s and the daughter is in her 50s. They came to stake conference yesterday. Which was great as well! I I love the people here and the language.. its beautiful! haha. They gave some great talks and the choir sang. Our president came and gave a talk with his wife... he announced that they were moving their location to here in Castelar!! Afterwards he gave us a ride cause it was pouring outside and showed us their new house.
He also said that he thinks Hermana Lopez and I are going to be together one more traslado! We have three new sisters coming in and hopefully a mini one cause we have 4 sisters that are leaving. The mini is when the local young kids from like 18 to 25 can come serve for 1 traslado. It’s a good idea cause then they get an idea of what the mission is like!

I love being here not only in my area but just in Agentina and experiencing everything... its been a big eye opener to get to know others and to push all my fears out and truly trust in the lord! I pray I can do all of that I’m able to do for Him. Cause He has done so much for us! Just like in doctrine and covenants 14:7! The greatest gifts of god is eternal life! Happiness does not come from making short cuts and skipping something... no. it’s from fulfilling what we promised our Heavenly Father when we all accepted The Plan before this life on earth! This life is to reach true and pure happiness. Our heavenly father doesn’t set us up to be failing but to reach the highest.
well i love you all and have a great week!

TOO SHORT!

2010-03-15T20:01:00.001-07:00

This did not make Saren's mother very happy to get such a short e-mail. The photos are borrowed from Hermana Lopez' site. Thanks to Bro. Zimmerman!

sHola familia! Sorry but I dont have time to write you that much! This week was great and we had a lot of divisions with two other companionships. During one of their times Hermana Lopez and Hermana di Stefano found this little old man that was ready to be baptized! It was exciting! So now we have 5 people that we are focusing on! 2 are these cute old men... one of them is an old famous boxer! But love you all and have a great week! the president says hi and thats he is proud of you mom for getting your masters! LES AMO!!!

The weeks are flying by!!!

2010-03-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

March 8
Today is womens appreciation day!!!! ( like off of the office but its furREAL in Argentina!) What another crazy fast week that has gone by already! Yes mom I received the package finally!! I was able to make brownies for the members that have been helping us a bunch! So thank you thank you thank you!!!! We worked off with a great week of finding new people and just work work work! We had divisions with the sisters in our zone on Friday! It was fun to have a day with Hermana Di Stefano that is from Argentina but more south of here.

We´ve been having little miracles each day. I forgot to tell you all not this last week the week before we found this man in the park that was sitting alone. He looked pretty rough with tattoos and scars. We went up to him and started talking and getting to know him. He was telling us how alone he felt every night and just thought sometimes it would be nice to end this life. We were able to explain to him that he was never alone. Our savior is with him every step of the way and knew what he had gone through in his life. I was talking to him while Hermana Lopez was writing down a message for him in the book of mormon. Towards the end he seemed much better. He ran off to catch the bus but was telling us he was going to read the book every night! We might never see him again but I knew we were meant to meet him and I don’t know what will happen but I know we were there for a reason to help him along the way.

Last Monday we had gone to Moron... its a bigger city next to ours with tons of stores and restaurants. We were looking around after lunch at all the little booths out. There’s a couple booths that these black guys were selling big rings and jewelry. We stopped and talked with one of them ( Hermana Lopez, the two sisters in our zone and I) and were chatting with them trying on the rings. One of the guys was named Cessi and he has been here for about 2 years. He was telling about his rough life and that he came here alone from Africa and didn’t know any Castillano! He told us he could speak french so we told him we would get a book of mormon in french. Then by the end he had all given us free rings because we were out serving god.

We are coming along good with our baptisms. We´ve had some challenges come up with the family that has a date. But we are working hard for them to get there. We also are working with another to get married... I had talked about them awhile back in Feb and we´ve started to work with them more. Hermana Lopez is amazing that way! She just has a way to get these people to listen and work with what we have - to perform miracles! We haven’t put any dates yet with others but this week we´re hoping to!
Every Sunday I feel like a chicken with its head off running in circles! That’s really the day of miracles trying to search for all those who want to come to church.

It will almost be 6months that I’ve been on the missioN!!!! Hermana Lopez and I are definitely going to do something for our 6 month mark! Ahaha maybe a kilo of icecream. I’m so happy for Sam and how he´s getting ready for his missioN! ahhh tampico!
But everything is coming along great! I’m going to be sad when I leave this area cause I truly have grown to love the people. This Sunday one of the girls that we first baptized in this ward got up and gave a beautiful testimony of our savior. It was a satisfying feeling to see this 12 year old say that she knew her savior lived and that he is our redeemer. I hope I can make difference in the lives here and just help them along the way to feel that they are loved and that there is hope in this life! I love you all and have a wonderful week!

March 1, 2010

2010-03-01T19:41:00.000-08:00

Oh your emails are like gold to me!!! I love to hear how great you are all doing! I can´t believe we are already in our week 2 this transfer! This week we even had more success. It’s actually been the best week I’ve ever had with reaching our goals and spreading forth the gospel! Tearing it up! The earthquake didn’t hit any of us here, but one of the new converts was having a hard time thinking its the end of the world. haha. I guess we really are in the latter days! But we can always trust in our Savior when we stand in holy places. Stand our ground in all the torments and storms that Satan throws at us.

We didn’t receive mail last week cause the office had a their zone conference but tomorrow I’m pretty sure I’ll be receiving the package! I sure hope so! I’ts been a hectic week from working every second we have! We never have time to relax until we hit the bed, but I love it... I love being busy and working with Hermana Lopez! She truly has a way to get people to listen to her and share what we have! I didn’t know our time to serve was going to be so soon in the mission! We are preparing the Rodriguez family for baptism not this week but the next. The husband got called into work yesterday and we came to search for them and none of them were home yesterday. So tonight we have another FHE with them at one of the counselors home! Next week we´re going to make sure they come to church. Last week we were helping some kids with English for their essays to start school today... weird huh. They had their summer vacation and now they start back today!

Tomorrow we have our big zone conference in the mission office. I sent off a letter today for you to send to Sarah for me from the pouch mail! I’ts kinda sad this week we have found a lot of people that would be ready for baptism but they need to be married first... I didn’t realize that would be such a problem but its common here where they live together have kids but no marriage.

Yesterday our gospels principles class was amazing! The teacher gave a good lesson on prophets in the church... and how to this day our prophet sees God and is visited by angels like in the old testaments. I was thinking this while I was looking at the cover with King Benjamin in the Liahona awhile ago how he was visited by the angel in the night! That is just another testimony how our prophet’s words are truly the words from our dear heavenly father. Not from his own thinking but from God. It is amazing how those words and teachings become so much more precious and meaningful in our daily lives when we truly give heed and act on them.

Thank you my family for everything! It sounds like all of you become more and more successful in your daily activities when I read your emails. It helps me to know that you are all doing great and are happy. I love you all! TE AMO MONTONASO!!!

The Call

2010-02-22T20:35:00.000-08:00

OHHHHHH MY!!!! HOW EXCITING FOR SAMMY BOY!!! Tampico like the nasty drink in elementary school.. hahaha. I’m so excited for you to speak ESPAÑOL!!!!!
(Sammuel is going to Tampico, Mexico and leaves June 30th, he received his call on Wed 17th)

What an awesome week we´ve started off with! Tons of new investigators and finding people left and right! Hermana Lopez truly knows what she is doing and when we make goals we get’er done! It has been amazing and I’m looking totally forward to this whole transfer! We´ve already had some fun times in the rain, in the streets and everywhere we are! We have three baptisms that are coming up on the 7 of March, close to your birthday Sammy boy! They are the Rodriguez familia, a father, mother and two girls one who is 11 and one who is 3. The father is really quiet but you can tell he has so much love for his kids and the mom is so bubbly and loves to pray. At first we had their date for the 28th but the dad didn’t accept it that time and we didn’t know why cause he loved the one time they came to church and loved our lessons. They were telling us as well that they were going to be gone this weekend so they would be to church once more (and for investigators to be baptized they need to come to the church 3 Sundays) so we felt like we needed to talk to them about moving their date for the baptism and ask the father how we could help him. When we got to their house the mom told us they had been up all night talking about the date for the baptism and why the dad didn’t accept. He had felt like it was too fast and wanted to be more familiar with attending church and that it was not just some event but something he was taking very seriously. So the second time we talked about it with him he felt a lot better for the 7th of March. I could see him as a future bishop and her in the young womens. Their daughter is awesome as well, she´s home all day so reads the book of mormon and bakes cakes for us! Hermana Roy and I found them a couple weeks ago when we were walking by their house! Tonight we are going to have a FHE with them at the bishop’s house!

I love the work here and the people more and more each day! The language is coming along.... I’m so happy that Hermana Lopez knows the language so well since we both are so early on into the missioN! What was the president thinking!?! haha no it has been amazing this last week. We are at the top of our area right now! Our little old lady that was baptized on the 14th received the holy ghost yesterday in sacrament meeting! She has become the cute little new member everyone loves! We’ve found a couple more families this week that we are hoping to work with as well! Love you all!

!!!Dia de Amor!!!

2010-02-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

Hola mi familia!!!
So we had transfers today! We had a goal to make this transfer one to push the records and it was! Our goal for baptisms was 200 and we had 195! How great was that. I also had divisions with Hermana Daniels this week, the same area last time! She was awesome to work with for the day! Hopefully a transfer in the future as well! What a crazy week getting Hermana Roy all packed off and away in the campo... which is out in the middle of nowhere! I am here in Ituzaingo once again with Hermana... duh da duh da... LOPEZ!! How exciting is that! Now we have our opportunity to serve together on the mission! haha... hopefully she can be patient with my Castillano. She is awesome I’m so excited to start of with her. We had our baptism yesterday on Sunday! Her name is Chiquita. I probably talked about her before. She was excited to be baptized and learn more the gospel. We also had our sacrament meeting as missionary work and I gave a talk! yep! All in castillano and it wasn’t bad at all.
Thats exciting about Logan Storey getting home. It’s crazy how the time flies by here every little moment counts. This is the Lord’s time and his people. Well I love you all my family and I’m always excited to hear from your experiences! Hopefully Sam will have his call by next week! Have a wonderful week in the month of love! Use all the languages of love to make it known!!

Week of crazy!!!

2010-02-08T22:12:00.000-08:00

Oh i love you all and i love your emails! everything i read to hear your voices through those words! im glad you all had a good week with superbowl and with sams papers in! how crazy that i have been in my mission for 5 months aleady! aaaghhhh! we had a pretty good las week with the rain from thursday to sunday! we have a baptism this next week on sunday after sacrament meeting. its this cute little old lady that we found while knocking on doors! she had this huge avacado tree and she gave these delicious avacado por GUACAMOOOOLLLEEE! ahhahaha. she is amazing. the day after we met her she came with us to church and she loved it! on friday we were drenched from head to toe from the rivers in the streets! one of the members gave us some coats and afterwards we were crossing one of the main streets and a lady started running towards us while her flip flop slipped passed me. i tried to dive for it but missed it. then the next minute hermana roy had bolted down the street running in the river to catch this flimsy flip flop! hahahahaha. she was about a block in a half down when she dove for it and was totally soaked. i was running along the sidewalk trying be close to her laughing hysterically and her little curly head bobbing when she ran and fell.. ahhahahaha. i love her so much. we have our transfer next week and we dont know who is leaving or staying. theres a chance i will stay or she will. she talked a little bit how scared she was to change cause we´ve been together for quite a long time. but i know the president will do what is best for us. he is our leader and is truly a man of god. today we played futbol and i cut some of the elders hair. they were all impressed with my different thinning shears and texturizer. ahahha. its always fun to get together with them and share our experiences and know we´re not alone is this. i love you all and have a great week! im so grateful to be here and enjoy every minute i have or learning to laugh at hard times, being patient with myself, and growing to love these people, the children of god in every corner. i can feel His love and i pray every time that they may feel His love through my actions and my words. just like the song brightly beams our fathers mercy. you should have val heiner sing that for sams farewell. ahhaha. he is our lighthouse and as members we are the lights along side of the shore helping those struggling ones to land on firm ground! to build and accelerate into the potential that god sees in us! magnified and glorified through the gospel! i love you all!! be good and haz lo justo!!!! TE AMO!!

Hola Mi Familia!

2010-02-01T13:33:00.000-08:00

I received your package last week with the paper and the rings! It was perfect! We gave two of the rings to our new little members today (or going to this night I should say) and Hermana Roy took one as well cause she doesn’t have one! Oh this week has been great! It went by just as fast as the others. I had my first division this Wed with a sister from the pampa we took the train to meet them in the middle of Castelar ( which is where I am my ward is called Ituzaingo 4) and the place I went to was called Aldo Bonzi! It is where Hermana Lopez is right now as well! Wednesday was great with Hermana Leguizamon! We found a lot of new contacts - we taught when we found - we found when we taught! haha if you get my drift.

Then this Saturday we had the baptism of Tomas finally! With this little old lady that finally decided to be baptized! I guess her daughter has been a member for about 30 years? and has been waiting patiently for her mother... she had received a blessing that her mother would be baptized in this life. The daughter bore her testimony how she knew how savior lives and that she knew her blessing would be fulfilled! The mother is about 90 years old and it was from the ward our district leader is in. what an amazing experience it was to hear the testimony and watched this cute little viejita be cleansed! They had the two elders help and also her son in law for the baptism and another man from the ward.

Oh this week we´ve been sleeping outside in our balcony patio area as well cause its been so hot in our apartment! What a great week and this week we´ll have another division but ill be with the companion of Hermana Leguisamon in the same area. Hermana Daniels from Cali! My time is almost up with my little mother and trainer! haha. She has helped me in so many ways oh I love her with all my heart! haha. She has been a member since she was 9 and so has her family! She has a strong testimony of the plan of salvation from her brother passing away before her mission. The members always comment that she’s a walking book of mormon quoting and remembering every scripture there is! Ah she is amazing. Well it sounds like you all are doing great! I love to read your letters and look forward to them! Wish Loren good luck for me and my prayers are with Brent. We are truly blessed with what we have in this life. I’m reminded every time i walk into these houses and streets of my family. My strength my love and my rod you all are to me. I love you all! Oh and I sent a letter for each of my little siblings today so hopefully you get it sometime this month! Love you and hold on to the rod! Trust in the lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding! acknowlegde him and he SHALL direct thy path... to true happiness! Chaosito y te amo montonas!!!!

Jan. 25th

2010-01-30T20:43:00.000-08:00

Oh how it was great to log on today and see I had a message from grandma! And Kara as well. Will you tell them I’m only suppose to write really only one message and its this one... so we had one baptism this Saturday. The other boy was at his fathers till late and he headed to his grandparents house ( where he lives during the weekdays and where we found them) it is very far so we went ahead and had the baptism of his sister Camila. During the whole time the family was worried sick for him wandering out in the streets at night. But the grandma called us later that night and told us they were able to find him so he will be baptized next Saturday!
We also taught the nice lady I talked about before and we have her baptism set for the 13th of Feb! We are going to work hard with her! The jehovah witnesses are interesting to teach everytime.. haha i love it. I love learning about these people and their different customs, the music, the food…everything! Its been a pretty hot week as well. Last Monday it poured like no other during the night but everyday it got a little more warmer and warmer! Its crazy to think I have been here for 2 months already. We played futbol again today with the elders.
Hermana Roy lately has been taperecording me making phone calls at night with members or investigadores. Good thing I have confidence in myself and the Lord... haha. No I’m happy with the progress I’ve made its crazy to think I’m able to understand most of what these people are saying and I’m able to talk to them as well! The gift of tongues is real! It’s different than I thought... I guess I just pictured it before that it would all come at once but no through practice and using all the things I have it will come more and more! Just like my scripture says in d&c 100... its so true! I find that when we prepare and prepare we are ready and the lord will bless us with the thoughts and feelings these people need to hear! I love you all and have a great week! choasito!

Aribbaaaa Aha

2010-01-21T15:38:00.000-08:00

This week has been pretty good! nothing too exciting.. the heat is pretty... well pretty much HOT! We played the what if game with familia Castro and they absolutely loved it! We are preparing our two kids for baptisms this week on saturday! they are so cute and timid. Their aunts that are about jakes age made some kind of pastry for us the other day and then jello yesterday. The people love to feed us here and im quite alright with that. I haven’t gotten sick yet from the food so that’s a good thing. We have our conference with a couple of other zones tomorrow and then my interview with the president is the week after so every couple of weeks i get to see him and his wife. We called her this morning for a recipe for brownies! We have found these Jehova Witnesses that we´ve been teaching well the daughter is and the mom is way catholic. She has this huge bible like our big book of mormon and said she put it right up on her chest and read it everyday (i cant remember how long) and she had a permanent dent there. haha its been interesting to teach them and hear their beliefs they have, but they are great people and we´re hoping to teach the daughter more! The couple that we found that had the smoking problem don’t want anymore to do with teaching. Its kind of sad to see these people give up. They don’t understand what they could have but we cant force it on them. Hopefully it rains today to cool off this week. Thats sad about Haiti and yes the lord truly does work his works, it is a blessing that Brad and Dori have Luxana! Its amazing to see that here everyday with the people and even within my companionship with Hermana Roy! She has been a great trainer in every step to know how things work and be prepared for what more lays ahead. The people are so helpful here with the idioma! I love you all and have a wonderful week! Enjoy your day off today! nos vemos!!! oh and for Sam I really don’t use my i-pod that much... i wasnt allowed to in the mtc and here I actually wish I had a cd player cause every now and then the president sends out a new cd mix of church music in English and Castillano. So just depending on his president! Love you all, adios for now!!

The HEAT is on!!!

2010-01-11T18:55:00.000-08:00

Woooooohhhh!!! Oh who could ever think there was a place where people could live in this weather... hot and sticky.. haha. The people here in Argentina have their siesta from 1:30 to about 5 which sounds like a party right?? Nope its their time to get in their bed away from the heat and sleep right through the heat of the day! Sometimes I wish I could because at times I feel like we are just brain dead from the heat wandering in the deserted streets because no one is outside.. haha but its good! And when they are they are in their little piletas or also known as pools.. the kid pools, the other day we saw about 20 people with grandpa in as well just chillin in the pool! it was probably about 6+8 ft pool. It makes me want to join right in with them!

Our goal is to reach 140 contacts every week and we reached our highest last week! 121! And we are also having this futbol bracket with the our zone. Two sets of missionaries represent a country and ours is brasil! So we played for the first time today. I never really was a fan of soccer til i played on Christmas and today! I love tomatoes as well now.. with onions vegetable oil and tons of salt with milonesa, the typical argentine food.
It’s actually been a really good week! We feel like we have found another lady who is ready to be baptized! The next time we teach her we´re probably going to ask her. We need to pray about it first. She is about in her mid 20s and has two kids with her husband! And she is amazing! She wants the best for her little family. She has almost read the whole book of mormon so it will be exciting to teach her this week... hopefully tomorrow! I love the language here and I feel more and more comfortable to talk! In the ward there is about 60 members and our area is pretty big. We have to take the bus almost everyday to reach the east side of our area! Hma Roy thinks I will be here in the same area for another transfer or two! So I wouldnt mind! We are in a ward and there is another ward that meets in our church.. its the ward of our district leader! We have everything a bishop and his counselors! Great men! One of them reminds me of grandpa Hobbs with his snow white hair and his face.. every time I see him I think of grandpa rambling in Castillano!

And yes I received grandma and grandpa Hancock´s email! I’ve been meaning to write them back! Will you send me measuring cups in my package that would be very helpful here! I made those congo bars but they turned out to be more like cake... they still were really good but I was guessing the measurements and plus I had used a little bit of yeast instead of baking powder.. haha. oh and thank you so much for those ideas for family home evening! The first idea was with those children baptized and the other was with the family that had invited us over for my birthday! Their grandpa and dad is a member of the church but the dad is inactive and they have two girls and one boy.. I think I sent a picture of them! So the grandpa was there to teach with us and we talked about eternal families! Then afterwards the dad had made oh this delicious pizza. He’s been taking cooking classes!.. We call them the crazy family cause we are always laughing with them. They are great people with so much love for one another! I love these people we find and meet everyday... even some of the people we find on the bus. Just to sit down and get to know a child of god they deserve to know they are loved and they can choose to have a better life here in Argentina. We are blessed to have an eternal family. I couldn’t thank my heavenly father enough for the love the unity the rich heritage the legacy that we hold. Our divine mission here on this earth. Everyday you all give me strength to think of the examples and the success each of you have been blessed with and have achieved even my friends and their examples. Oh how the lord loves His children. I’m so grateful for my life here on this earth. I feel so sad for those we meet that don’t even believe there is a god. How could they not??? Everything testifies there is a god.. and loves us individually he cries when we cry. he suffers when we suffer. Just like in moses 7 and enoch talking about heavenly father crying for his children. I love you all! Thanks for letting me ramble on my spiritual high! oh and this little old lady that barely has teeth in my ward says “un beso and mucho salud por mi madre de hermana llanos... meaning one kiss and much heath for my mother dear!” jaja. i love you all and keep up the good work! I’m so excited for Sam and his papers getting in!!! YAY!!! This is the best thing you could ever do in your life! And keep on working hard Jake! Maisie you have the life I wanted.. hahaha be a good example to every person and love them with all your heart! And Heston rock on with the piano! You´ll be the next Beethoven! I love you mom and dad so much.. thank you for everything you have done for me and for our family. choasito mi familia!!! te amo monton!!!!

Another Great Week!

2010-01-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

Helloooo My good ol family!
I love reading your emails and I just barely got Maisie’s letter from forever ago! Today I had my first transfer meeting! And guess what! I´m with Hermana Roy for another transfer! Good thing too cause I’m NOT ready to leave her just yet! So this week we found two kids through these converts who want to be baptized! We are preparing them for the 23rd of this month! How exciting!!! They are great kids Thomas and Camila.. twins as well! Thomas loves to pray! Our first lesson he offered the ending prayer! We also found a couple we’ve been trying to get a hold of that the elders were teaching before us. They smoke but we taught them yesterday and we are ready to help with them with our savior and the strength and miracles from our faith!

There is another couple we´ve been working with Diego and Jessica who live in this humble little house. They have tons of plants and a fun garden with corn! haha. They have their kitchen table outside that is basically their kitchen. They are not married but they want to be... they were waiting for this year when they could afford to have a fiesta. At first they were thinking more later on this year. Last week we had a lesson with this couple from our ward and they talked with us about the importance of matrimony and praying as a couple. They also talked about how the ward can help provide a place for their wedding and festivities! It was a powerful lesson. It’s amazing to work with these members cause missionaries come and go but the members are the people who become the support and the anchor these people need! So yesterday we were with Diego and Jessica and they said they had a date finally!!!! the 25th of this month as well! yay!!! so we´ll be here for it!

Oh what a wonderful place I am in... funny story.... so for Leandro Nazarena and Andrea we gave them the trio and wrote our testimonies in castillano... we weren’t there when they opened them so the next time we taught them they got their books out and the mom showed me all my mistakes that I made in my testimony... hahaha. She went from line to line and said oh this one is good... op you need this and this in this one. hahaha. it was quite funny.

Lately with the heat we´ve had some unwanted friends in our apartment. Of course all day long we keep our windows open and you´d think since we are on the 6th floor no creatures would be able to enter in... oh but they can... CUCARACHAS! ohhhh... haha. im usually the one who ends up killing them and every time Iscream bloody murder cause they are huge!! Ashley, Katie and Sarah would know! its worse then those spiders we had in our apartment.. haha...

This morning I was electricuted by my blow dryer... I had touched the metal when I was plugging it in.. not good. we also had some good spiritual moments today. Our theme for this transfer is to focus on being more spiritual in every moment. In the streets, in our apartment, in our meetings. It was really good to hear from our president. You can truly feel the love he has for missionary work and his wife too. She makes me feel good about my Spanish whenever she gives talks in Spanish cause she is still learning as well!

Well I love you all my family! Thank you for everything you do! This week is going to be great to start with new goals. I’m glad we´re not leaving our area. I want to help these people more and more! The more I learn the more I can talk and understand them as well!
I love you all and be safe! Always remember what is most important in this life!

2010-01-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

Buenos Tardes!

2010-01-01T15:24:00.000-08:00

Wow it did not even feel like Christmas here! You could say it was more like the fourth of July to the extreme! Every house has illegal huge fireworks and it was a blast. We had two other sisters stay the night and we watched all the fireworks on top of our apartment building with sparkling pineapple, it was very fun! Then we went the next morning to one of the chapels in our zone to make breakfast. We experimented with different fruits for smoothies while the elders made chocolate chip pancakes. Afterwards we played soccer a couple of times with four different teams playing each other! We had a bracket going on! Then afterwards we had a good barbeque with these delicious big chorizos, kinda of like hotdogs. Then we had a big water balloon fight! It was nice to get together and enjoy Christmas day in the sun!
It sounds like you all had such a great Christmas too! Im happy for y’all! Its another great week in Argentina with great people and great food. This Sunday I played the piano! Oh and Leandro the oldest of the three we baptized awhile ago just received the Aaronic priesthood so he was able to pass the sacrament on. We were able to teach his mother about the birth of our savior and two other investigators as well. It was special to read and talk about it in Castillano. I loved it!
I feel like after looking back on this month the language is coming along pretty good and Im able to do a lot more then my first day! I just have to laugh at my mistakes and keep on talking and trying.
It was very nice to talk to you all! Ilove knowing you are all watched over and protected by our dear heavenly father. I know we are as well in His work! I remembered a scripture Ihad found while Iwas in the mtc about the lilies in d&c 84.... verses 79 to 85! The lord is on our left and on our right. I was also thinking about one picture a sister had given me in the mtc as well how we are fishers of men! Here we have this delicious sweet message for these people but its their choice whether they want to partake of it or not. We just have to keep on praying searching and be guided to those who are ready. Thank you for everything. I love you all and have a wonderful week celebrating a new year! Make some good goals! Funny thing is that I look back in my diary and see my goals for 2009 was to pick up a new hobby. Thanks to Sarah she taught me to stitch! And I was deciding over school or a mission.. haha here I am embarking in something so powerful and so wonderful!! I love you all! chaosito!

Dec.21

2009-12-21T19:37:00.000-08:00

Can you believe christmas is in a couple of days??? i cant!!! oh man time flows by so fast here and the heat is on! summer will be official the 22! oh i was dying the other day... but then the next day it poured like no other! there were tiny frogs all over the place... i guess they come out because of the humidity is so strong after it rains! and today we had our christmas activity with the whole mission! it was so much fun! we got to listen to the testimonies of the elders and hermanas leaving then we watched the christmas fireside in castillano.. then after that everyone had prepared a navidad skit! ours was about four elders who were not in the christmas mood so some of us came out at first and named off that they needed happiness, peace, and some other good stuff then the rest of the zone came out and ya it was pretty fun!
im so excited to talk to you all!! i cant wait! and yes i kept some of the presents to open on the day! so thank you very much! sorry this letter is so short but i dont have much time today to write to you! i love you all and have a wonderful christmas! what a great time to be serving the lord with the most greatest gift we have! the restored gospel! our heavenly father truly radiates his love through every little thing we have. what a wonderful life we have with a family strong in the gospel! and sealed for all eternity.. i love you all and ill talk to you in a couple of days! Chaosito!!!!

Tenga un Buen Semana!!!

2009-12-14T19:35:00.000-08:00

Hola familia! once again this week has been crazy! haha with the language the people!! everything! My birthday came and went here.. it was pretty fun! That day we didn’t really have that many lessons. No one was home but at the end of the night we went to visit a family that have two daughters who are interested in the church! The father had made dinner and cake for my birthday! It was so fun and nice of them! They made this thin meat called milonesa! which is just basically deepfried and then with potatoes and egg salad. Then the cake was chocolate!! oh my favorite!hhahaha. I forgot about that mom til you mentioned it in your last email! It was very fun to be with this family and so nice of them!
I had my first zone conference this Tuesday as well with the president and his wife! It was all day long and we had milonesa ... seriously we eat it at least 4 times a week.. haha. im not complaining! They talked about how we can improve in some areas and new goals for the mission. I really enjoyed it! Our baptism on Saturday was amazing! I love baptisms especially these three children who we´ve been working with from the beginning of our time here! The spirit was so strong every time one of them was immersed in water. Then they received the gift of the holy ghost on Sunday. An elder who had taught them once before us (one of my zone leaders) was the one to baptize them! I cut the hair of all three of them before!
Oh and every week we have like a newspaper type of thing for the missionaries of buenos aires west and every week they do a spotlight on one couple and their success so this week it was ours! I will forward it to you! its all in spanish... i wrote it first in english.. then tried to in castillano then hna roy corrected some of it as well!
Every Sunday we have a crazy busy day with meetings and making sure our investigators show up and all that good stuff. When the people say hi to each other they love to give kisses on the sides of the cheeks.. so you have to watch out for those old ladies who love to have their bright pink lipstick! I learned that though after many kisses on the cheek and one of the men from the bishopric asked if I had something on my cheek. haha
oh and I will be getting to call you either on the 24th or the 25th from our chapel!
Tomorrow I have an interview with the president - exciting! The language is coming along slowly... I guess right now Im just learning to be patient with myself its not all going to come at once!
Oh and did I tell you we are hoping to have 2 other baptisms on the 26th of this month. The couple Estela and Walter!
and yes mom the skirt is perfect for here! nice and cool for the heat of the day! i have a great tan line from my watch already.. The other day I was telling Hermana Roy something and she was like that is a malo chiste meaning a bad joke and then she asked how to say bad joke in english. then today she called something else a bad joke but instead of joke she said yoke! haha... it made me think thats probably what I sound like to these people! haha.. Today I went on a short exchange with another hermana to the capital for some pictures and some information on being here. We got to catch up with the elders I had traveled with here! It was fun talking to them and hearing all their stories they already have from one week here! Ut made me feel much better they were having some of the same struggles I was with the language and the people. Cause it is hard. I didnt realize how it would be! But it was comforting to know I wasnt the only one struggling. It shouldnt be easy. Cause the most amazing blessings in our lives are the ones we have to work the hardest for! Hermana roy has so much patience for me! haha... sometimes she has to repeat a couple of times of what she says to me cause she has such a heavy accent.. its been fun! We laugh together about some little thing everyday. i love you all and be good!

Happy 22nd Birthday to Saren!!!

2009-12-11T16:29:00.001-08:00

2 Weeks in Argentina

2009-12-07T17:48:00.000-08:00

Hello my familia!!! so another week in argentine land with delicious food crazy people and a lot of rain! oh im loving every moment of it! so many stories this week! so we have been preparing three kids for baptism on hestons birthday with all the discussions... basically hna roy, from nicaragua, teaches the lessons.... or ill say something and she´ll translate it.. but its all good! im able to understand the people a little more! and the bishop (obispo) in our ward complemented on my testimony during sacrament that im sounding better! this sunday we had six investigators come to church!! how amazing is that... three of them were the children and then a family came as well that we´ve been teaching! it was amazing. oh and some inactive members as well that we´ve been visiting! i could have shouted for joy when i saw them show up! I truly just grow to love these people instantly! I love them all... even if they own 5 to 6 pets they keep in their homes and just have hard lives.
there is a couple walter and estela who are amazing people. Walter has some kind of sickness where his right arm and right leg dont work at all so Estela does everything. She works to take care of their kids cleans and takes care of her beloved husband. We taught them the plan of salvation last week and Estela broke down crying saying she tries her hardest in this life to do her best and how she is so overwhelmed. My heart just ached for this strong woman who does everything for her family. Walter started crying as well and we comforted them with some scriptures and our testimonies. We are preparing them for 26th of this month for baptism. We told them to pray about it! How amazing it is that the lord truly prepares these people to hear the gospel... a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
Hermana roy has been a riot getting to know! ... we have a pretty nice apartment with good beds and everything you need. We even have a balcony! we scarcely cook for ourselves! i actually cooked for the first time today some eggs! haha. We usually eat a little breakfast to tide us over til lunch and then we eat at a members house! We eat like three meals there and then when we´re done for the day we just have a little snack before bed. We walk everywhere we go! and sometimes take the bus (collectivo) and no i dont wash my own clothes we take them to a cleaning store and they clean them for us.. basically everything we need is right here! We live in castelar and are in the ituzaingo 4th ward.. we have some other elders in the 1st ward who are our district leaders and we meet with them every Tuesday! Tomorrow we´re meeting with some other zones and I'm supposed to bear my testimony... I'm a little bit nervous but who cares they were all at the point I'm at right now! My mission president is great! he´s so short and so is his wife but he´s so boisterous and full of power!
The other day i almost got bit by a dog! Nasty perros. They are all possessed by the devil. You wouldnt believe how many strays there are around here... especially on the outskirts of town! Saturdays and Sundays are the days that they blast their castillano music. it makes me want to dance.. haha.. but now im a missionary. Its discouraging at times with the language when I dont understand what is going on or how to express myself or even to help them! But I know through time it will come. I just need to open my mouth and put more effort into it! Know that I love you all and sounds like you are all doing great! I count my many blessings everday... all of you, the way we were raised, with goodly parents who want the best for us, in a clean loving environment, with food always on the table. haha we are so rich with things that are eternal and everlasting. remember what counts! our families. People come and go in this life but families are forever. They will love you always. This world is harsh and so are moments in it that we have. Thats why we have families to lean on them for support and comfort. I love you all! have a wonderful week!

2009-12-05T22:33:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Saren has arrived in Argentina!

2009-11-30T16:12:00.000-08:00

So now my p days are on mondays here!!! exciting!!! and i have a new address but i dont know what it is... i´ll get it to you all next week. sorry! but oh my goodness this is sooooo crazy im here!!! i dont know if you got my letter yet but i have a companion hermana roy who is from niceragua? i dont know how to spell it.... she doesnt know that much english so we have our own spanglish to understand and translate for me... hahha i have to laugh at times cause this is so crazy. but over just the days im here im able to understand the jist of the conversations we have with others... sometimes i just think oh they´re going to break in to english (like the teachers at the mtc) haha but no they dont... its sometimes frustrating but it will come over time. i just have to be patient. this place is crazy and i didnt realize how much walking we would be doing.... im going to be working off pounds down here! and sweat it off too and yes i have sunscreen i´ll put it on! ... it has rained ever other day here... and when i say rain its more like a down pour! on sunday we couldnt even walk in the streets cause they were like rivers. the bus we were on was having a hard time driving through it! i love it.... we were walking down this road with all these small house barking dogs at every house the rain pouring and here we are in our missionary attire and umbrellas. i was thinking to myself this is so legit! haha... nothing compared to the movies!!! oh the food here is to die for!! they have flan a yummy desert, their icecream is delish.... mhmm. i just actually had some. and the people oh i love them all with my heart even if i dont know them or cant understand them 80 percent of the time.
our first lesson was on friday with a new convert named angelica. she lived in this little old house with her daughter and her granchildren. it was exciting! cause i am able to explain through my slow spanish(castillano they call it down here) my part and my testimony!
then on saturday we taught this awesome family about the plan of salvation. we started with a song i know my redeemer lives and it was amazing how strong the spirit i could feel at the beginning of the song! they had really good questions about what happens to those who dont have a chance to hear about the restoration because the father explained they were so lucky to have us there in his house explaining to them about the plan our heavenly father has for us. i also bore my testimony about how i would see my great grandma again. the father knew a little bit of english so he asked me if i truly believed this... and i said no i dont believe i know! i cant tell you how blessed i feel walking these streets and thinking here are these people needing this message i have for them! and they dont even know. my second day here, really the first we went out to preach, hermana roy was surprised i did so many contacts, meaning talking to people in the streets or on the collectivo (the bus). but really i would just smile and ask how they were doing and talk about the rain if it was raining that day! then hermana would say the rest mostly... hhaha. so ya its been funny. yesterday we taught these three children who want to be baptized!!! so we set a date for them on the 12th of december!! hestons birthday!! they´re names are leandro, andrea, and nazarena. they are around jake maisie and hestons age. oh and they´re house was a poor poor sight. i´ve never seen anyone in anything place like this. but they are great! we are teaching them tonight more about the importance of reading and praying im excited to go and teach them again! its amazing the love you just grow instantly.
oh my flight was great too! i didnt get any sleep cause i was talking with the elders who are in the same mission as i am. they were awesome taking care of me every second. haha.
the ward we are working with is great! i might be playing the piano next sunday for them cause they really dont have anyone to play in sacrament. there is about 50 to 60 members! oh and on saturday night we went to this dance performance they had for the stake. these ballet dancers! haha.. we had some investigators that came along with us too! their names were angelica and migaela. they are about maisie´s age... very cute girls!!
there is another hermana that serves in my same zone who does hair as well! her name is hermana scott and she is from new hampshire! she was telling me it took her like a month to get the language and everything they were saying so just keep praying for me. its coming along good i just need to be patient. we ate at a members house yesterday and they told me i was sounding good for it being my first week here! all the people whether members or investigators are really understandable and very nice about it!
there hasnt been any different animals here... but we did see tons and tons of little frogs after it rained on saturday! they were probably the size of a dime. good stuff! well it sounds like all of you are doing great i love you all and just remember to count your many many MANY blessings we have. i dont know if i am helping all these people with my broken down spanish or if this is really for me cause it has been an awakening that there is so much more to this life then what i imagined. i was just thinking that this morning when i was reading my scriptures. how all those great prophetic missionary scriptures come alive when you are actually in the work!i love it! i hope you are all doing great! have a great week and do your best to choose the right!i love you all so very much!

2009-11-22T10:19:00.000-08:00

Hello my favorite family en el mundo!!!!!!!!!
so as you know i only have like three days left here!!! agggggggghhh!!! how exciting! im excited to get down there in the good old argentina! so the next time i email you it will be when i'm there!!! fun!
there's really not much to say about this week... it went super fast! we have been all lucky to get pumped from the teachers cause there's three of them that served in our missions! rosario, buenos aires south, and buenos aires west ( which is the BEST!) yep... so im excited. the teacher that went to my mission was talking about how humid it gets down there especially after it rains. he said he would wear his coat in the morning and then within a few seconds it would clear up and be way hot. i have two other elders that are going to be assigned to me for our flight down there. i guess we're the only three going to BAW! hopefully all the stuff you sent me will fit in my bags... haha.
oh and today we ate in the temple cafeteria... and it was divine.. i guess i didnt realize how bad the food is here sometimes... but its all good!
oh and thank shaun zimmerman for me! he sent such a great letter to me this week! it got me all excited to meet up with hermana lopez... hopefully! if i do see her i will definitley give her a major hug for him! and for how fun she is! and thank you for all your letters my crazy fam! i love you all so very much.. know that you are always in my prayers. i always am comforted knowing the lord is watching over each and everyone of you. you have all helped me get to this point in my life and have always encouraged me to do better. thank you. im so happy we are sealed for eternity! im so excited to bring such a glad tiding to those argentine people! we had a meeting awhile ago explaining that the people in argentina are italians who speak spanish, who dress like their english and act like their french! haha so it will be interesting!
ill give you my testimony in spanish kinda.. haha:
yo se que la iglesia de jesucristo es verdadero. yo se que el libro de mormon es la palabra de dios. yo se las familias pueden estar juntos para eternidad porque jesucristo murio por nosotros. dios nos ama. somos sus hijos. El quiere nosotros regresar otro vez. jesucristo he preparado un camino para nostros. pongamos sus mano y camino con tuyo. en el numbre de jesucristo amen.
there ya go!! know the church is true and to always have a testimony on your lips! as elder holland would say! love you all and ill talk to you on monday!!! yay!!!!!!

Nov. 13th

2009-11-14T22:37:00.001-08:00

Oh my favorite family ever!!!!
I hope you are all doing great! it sounds like it! this week has been kinda crazy... wedbnsday we got to host the new missionaries again! i love showing them around and just telling them how amazing this place really is! yesterday was an amazing busy day too! each day i get closer and closer to leaving this place!! crazy!!! anyways we called geraldine, the lady in the rc, and she committed to being baptized! it was so exciting!!! she has been taking the missionary discussions and we were telling her this was going to be one of the last times we call her. and then we've been teaching two other progressing investigators yesterday and the lessons went really well! it truly does pay off to pray hard and to work hard like grandpa put that night. i love being busy and knowing it is all for my father in heaven!! oh and guess what came today!!!?!?!?!?
FLIGHT PLANSS!! i leave on the 23rd of this month. my flight leaves at 12:10pm and then we'll be getting in dallas at 3:45pm then leaving dallas at 7:35pm and arriving in buenos aires at 10:05am.... and the elders were telling me that ill prob get to call you all during my time at the dallas airport!! that would be exciting!!!
oh i am scared out of my mind to think i'll be there in 10 days!!! im actuall doing really good with the language... im starting to notice i remember words a lot easier ( maybe it will help my memory storing abilities) but im sure it will totally different once we get off the airport! this last sunday my companions and i gave a lesson on the book of mormon and how important it is in missionary work! i gave my shpill on how you should use it when teaching! can i just say i love this book! and this is pathetic that its taken me almost 22 years to truly love this book and appreciate what it holds for us!
and we can use it so many ways in our lives today! just with likining it to ourselves or trying to feel what the prophet or the people at that time were going through. it reminds me of hollands talk on the sunday conference this fall! i loved. oh and dont you love the picture on the ensign this month of king benjamin! i love king benjamin... that is us every fall and spring pitching up our tents to hear the wonderful words the prophet, thomas s. monson, has for us! i love you all so very much!

2009-11-08T18:26:00.000-08:00

Hola!!!
What a great place this is!! so not only did i get to see sarah i got to be her host and show her around!! how exciting is that! when i was waiting in line with all the host sisters i saw her pull up with her family! it took everything in me not to scream and run up to her! gotta remember quiet dignity and all that good stuff! so when she was done crying and hugging her family a million times she walked up to me and it was really amazing. and we also have all the food times, gym, and most of the meetings together so ill get to see her everyday! and our p days are the same!
oh and before that i got to host a good friend of mine from logan as well! her name is kelly goulding and she was in my ward all last school year! i didnt even know she was coming on a mission. she'll be going to the oakland temple mission! and next week i get to host again! and ill probably get my flight plans and everything else!
and thanks for those genealogy stories! i loved that one about merriner merrill cause just the other day i was talking with one of the elders about that story! so i was excited to tell him it was my grandfather! we truly have such rich blood in these veins! im proud to be a hobbs and a hancock. i love you all so dearly and thank you for writing me. i love getting letters and hearing how great you all are doing.
we have this progressing investigator in the tec... one of the teaching buildings. his name is bobby jameson and his story is that he has a wife and two girls and he's from new jersey. his father died about two years ago and has been struggling with it. he was raised catholic but wasnt too religious. we first taught him how families can be together forever through the atonement of jesus christ. when we were teaching him, i truly felt the spirit just guided us to teach to his needs.
@ chow

2009-10-31T20:33:00.000-07:00

2009-10-31T20:20:00.001-07:00

Hola mi familia!
Otro se mana que tuve sido bueno!!! le amo mucho! yo se que el evangelio es verdadero! trae felizidad en mi vida tambien ustedes! gracias por todo cartas! yo he recibi todo!!! anyways! there’s some spanish for ya’ll! this week has been great!! guess who came and spoke to us on tues??? not the prophet but it was an apostle! L. tom perry!! it was amazing! we sang lead kindly light and then his wife spoke and then he did! did you know this is his second wife? he talked about missionary work and how it is the life-blood of the church. and that missionary work started before the church was even established. on sunday we had an interesting talk too... some guy from the mtc presidency. he talked about how heavenly father has planned everything so perfectly with the position of the earth and how it was created. he also talked about the sun and that researchers are coming up with new information where right in the middle of the sun is the coldest place! and that it absorbs energy from somewhere else. you should look at that abraham symbol thing in the pearl of great price where one of the things talk about how the sun gets its energy from kolob! how amazing is that!
thats another testimony in itself how the book of mormon is so true. that is was a simple plow boy who translated such a deep doctrinal book. it had been buried for 1400 years before it was touched again by man. i didnt know it was that long. oh i wish you could all just be here listening and learning everything i have!! this place just opens up your mind to a another understanding of the gospel. here we’re learning how to simplify it for those who have never heard it, but for ourselves it gets deeper and deeper each day! i love it. I encourage you all to read the book of mormon every day. I truly regret those times i was lazy or too tired. there is so much to learn! and that’s why we are here. to obtain everything! we are so blessed to be born when it is at it’s fullest! it truly is! we don’t have to worry about a temple being built or the doctrine in covenants being printed off.. it is so conveniant that its all placed in front of us. the temple is just 20 minutes away from our house. take advantage of it! whether it is endowments or baptisms. go as a family!! and it will just bless your lives more fully! stop making excuses. i know i did all the time. take advantage of it where others have died and traveled to complete these prophesys! oh and you all should watch this video clip on lds.org its called lifting burdens. its on the main page! good clip definitely!
im so excited for sarah to get here! im going to be a host that day... so i’ll be doing what those elders did for me the first day i got here! maybe by some miracle i’ll be her host!!!
oh ya and we’ve been teaching in spanish this whole week! its so crazy how much we’ve learned. but there is still much to learn. i guess in argentina they say sho instead of yo.. and like elllo is pronounced esho. maisie can explain that one to you!
.... weird that its halloween tomorrow. im waiting to open the salsa tomorrow and share it with everyone! we’ve been getting all this candy in our district so we’re going to have our own little halloween party! oh i’ve been meaning to tell you that my district leader looks like austin powers.. he has the teeth and the glasses!! haha if only he had the accent.
always remember who you are and where you come from! i love you all and have a happy halloween!! write me all about it!!!

Oct.24, 2009

2009-10-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

My good ol fam
So it's been a quick fast primero month!!! crazy... time truly does fly by at this place. the days are very very long but the weeks go by quickly! you better not show up here mom or they will call security on you... haha and that would be ugly. plus all my district thinks your crazy enough.. haha jk. so every sunday the whole zone has to prepare a talk in spanish and you don't know who will talk til they call you in sacrament to come up. usually they call on the district thats closest to leaving the mtc. but for some reason the branch president called up hermana hobbs. so i gave my talk half in spanish half in english cause i was nervous by the end of the talk and plus i had a quote that i was NOT about to translate in spanish.. haha it was one they gave us on the first day here by henry b. eyring called the disciple of christ. ya'll should look it up! its a very powerful quote! and all of our talks were based around diligence and hard work! so i should be safe the rest of my time here!
and thank you all for the letters. now i feel complete that every single one of you has written me. keep them coming cause its like christmas! we all stand out by the mail room waiting for our district leader to get the mail for us.. it's probably a funny sight! and yes i am feeling much much better.. my throat is still being weird but its bearable. im so excited for sundays! they really are the best days on top of p days! every sunday we practice a song we're going to sing at the devotional on tuesdays with the mtc choir... we sang be still my soul two weeks ago and then jesus once of humble birth. We're thinking we're singing we thank thee oh god for a prophet this tuesday cause our teacher heard from some others that he's coming to speak to us!!!! that would be amazing... we already have amazing speakers but the prophet.. oh i sure hope so. tomorrow we're teaching the first lession in spanish!!! scary i know... but the language is alright! im actually grateful for senior graves over at fremont cause that really has helped me a bit!its not too bad.. im able to say my prayers in spanish. and wednesdays and thursdays as a district we speak strictly spanish! well i love you all and hope you are doing great! it sounds like you are. im so grateful for my wonderful family that gives me strength each day! i encourage you to read as a family more in the book of mormon. its amazing how it comes alive! adios!!!!!

MTC address 2005 N. 900 E. #263 Provo, UT 84604

2009-10-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

Saren loves mail!

In the MTC

2009-10-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

So it has been another speedy great week at the mtc! And yes mom i did get your packages! everyone loved the oreos and i havent opened up the salsa yet... im savering it!!! and i was able to last week watch the 2002 olympics of sara hughes ice skating for relief society and this johnson lady talked. she was very successful in life and was showing how we can be successful missionaries if we have the same positive bright attitude like sara hughes! haha. and yes i have been sick this past week coughing up my lungs. but its not the swine so its all good! oh and my companions are going to buenos aires south and rosario.
my whole district is going to argentina but most to rosario and a couple to buenos aires south. so i'll see none of them.
hermana hansen is from lehi and hermana smith is from riverton! she actually went up to logan for school before our mission so we always talk about how we will do stuff once we're back!! originally i was supposed to have my own companion but she ended up being fluent in spanish. her mom was from spain and they would go there every year for the summer.so they moved her up in the intermediate class and she left this week for our mission she was our roommate too so i was able to see her all the time!( we'll probably be companions at one point in our mission) I love it here! each day gets better and helps me focus on my purpose! this week we went to the trc on monday and taught this guy named orinez. He could hardly speak spanish and we could hardly speak english, so we gave our lession on the plan of salvation in our native language. He told us at the end that even though he couldnt understand most of it he could feel the spirit very strongly!
Tonight my companion and i are singing joseph smith's first prayer in spanish for our zone meeting! we're pretty excited We just got a new district this week as well! and three new hermana's! we played volleyball this week too and we rocked with the elders. we have gym 5 days a week! i hope you all are doing great! and keep writing me! love love you all!!!