Thats not charm, its called charity :)

It is a rainy day in Argentina and its pouring with lightning thunder, the whole real deal! I LOVE IT! It makes me miss camping with the fam! The whole sky is dark but nonetheless this week has been one of bright miracles!  

Hermana POWER 

 Story numero uno: Theres this less active, almost blind grandma in our ward named Dora. She wants nothing to do with the church now because she got offended by the members when they didn't come to help her fix her humble home like they promised they would. She rejects the Elders when they try to visit her and the members and everyone. But in Ward Council they decided that since we're Hermanas bonitas they might try sending us haha. So we went and sure enough she answered the door and found out who we were she was yelling things like, "I dont want anything to do with you Mormons, they are all words...etc." With lots of sweet talk, she let us in, intending to tell us all about how the Mormons treated her wrong. But we had another idea haha. We started to serve her. Cleaning her kitchen and giving her compliments. We listened to her story, said a prayer, and then read Helaman 5:12 and talked about how our only sure foundation is Jesucristo. If we build our trust in something else, even if it is something good, like the members or the service of the church, we are going to fail. Jesus Christ has promised us that He will NEVER fail us. He ALWAYS holds his side of the promise, and we can count on that. We testified that we knew she is una hija de Dios, and that Jesus Christ has sent us as his representatives to tell her that He loves her and has not forgotten about her. She started to cry, told us that she knows she needs to come back to the church, and she has scheduled a date to ask forgiveness from the members that she has ignored. I testify that only the true love of Christ can change the hearts of the people we teach. Dora is now offering to feed us lunch haha umm so thats a plus ;) The Elderes in our ward are a little dumbfounded that us Hermanas "charm" really worked haha. Thats not charm, its called charity :)



That same day we came in to check on Hna. Lily, the grandma that lives with us, and she was really downhearted and weak. This cancer is just eating at her, but she always has a smile and the strength to continue on. That night she was so disheartened that she couldn't find the strength to go the Stake Conference. But we sang to her "Abide with me tis Eventide" and got her ready for bed and said a prayer for her that she would be able to make it to Stake Conference the next day. The next morning she tapped on our window in her blue dress, all ready to go thanks to the power of prayer. She is such an example to me. 

 

So new born cats and we got  name them Copo for Hna Flake and Koala for Hna Toala bwahahah . What can I say we FAMOUS ! ;) 

We brought two investigators with us to S.C. on Saturday: Maria del Carmen and her son, Claudio, who are so funny haha and both want to get baptised on Christmas day! Claudio was giving us all a ride to the church after our lesson and suddenly he STOPPED the car and screamed, "I found Jesus! Why would anyone throw away Jesus?"....

.....he saw a painting of Jesus that someone had thrown away, and without even parking the car he ran out heroically to retrieve it! Hahaha the car was like moving backwards and Hna Toala and I were laughing our heads off! Claudio says that this is a sign that he's following Jesucristo. Hahaha they are just too much but we love them.

Elder and hermana Dance, they are serving in the offices! Theyre from idaho. I love these guys! 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone this week! Kinda funny, we had intercambios and I went to AlejandroKorn with Hermana Barrett, and we both thought  that this last Thursday was Thanksgiving...

....so we made a HUGE meal together and celebrated and everything and then found out that its this next week haha.... hashtag missionprobs. I spell hashtag cause I cant find the hashtag on this Argentina computer haha.... 

 

Who's that walking down the street? Are they shovels or are they feet?

Burzaco's got swag!

Stake Conference was great and our Missionary choir turned out really good! I kinda like being director:) Everyone calls me Hermana Squidward or Directora Squidward now haha.

Well I love ya'll SO MUCH! EAT LOTS OF PUMPKIN PIE FOR ME CAUSE IT DOESNT EXIST HERE! 

 

 

Is Mayonaise an Instrument???

What a week! Whfewww! I´m wiped out! (Sid the Sloth voice) It's been such a good one and passed by RAPIDO.

Okay, the highlight was definitely getting to meet Elder Russel M. Nelson! When he entered the chapel filled with 330 missionaries, everything was completely silent and he brought such a spirit with him! I was sitting on the third row, super close. He walked in and told us he wanted to meet everyone. When I shook his hand he looked me in the eyes and said  "Good morning Sister Flake" haha "He said my NAME HE SAID ME NAME!" Haha and I also had the pleasure of meeting his sweet new wife, and Jorge Zaballos and his wife. They all gave such amazing talks. They gave me so much excitement to be a missionary.

 

Hermana Nelson talked about the perspective of it all, and one of the things that I loved what she said is that if we could see just a glimpse of our Premortal DVDs, we would see ourselves standing by Christ, standing WITH Christ, and standing UP for Christ. She also said that if we could get a glimpse of the other side of the veil during our lessons with Gods children, we would see the room FILLED with angels, their ancestors and ours, cheering for us, praying for us, and hoping the Spirit can touch their hearts. She quoted, "The souls joining the church of Jesus Christ in our day are joining because their ancestors are pleading and praying for them in the Spirit world, so that their heritage on the Earth may perform their sacred ordanances for them" I loved it! They had a translator for Los Hermanos Nelson and one of them  was pregnant and almost passed out during the talk of Hermana Nelson. Elder Nelson accompanied her and held her head in his hands. It was really sweet. All in all,  it was an experience I'll never forget. 


At the conference: Elder Tyler Davis from St. David ARIZONA!

GOOD NEWS! We finally have a Ward Mission Leader! haha Hermano Garcia just recieved his calling and we have been working with him. I cant tell you the difference it makes to have at least one member of the ward helping out the missionaries. It makes me think about the missionaries in our ward at home haha you guys should give them a lift. The smallest offering makes a big difference.

Well our missionary choir is almost ready to sing next week. I say almost ready meaning its the best we're gonna get hahaha This weeks practice before we started I could tell they were all a little down so I told them I had a theory. And I related them to the Squidwards band in the Bubble Bowl and that all they needed to do was believe that they sounded good and then they would! Hahaha Payton, I was waiting for SOMEONE to raise their hand and ask, "Is Mayonaise an instrument?" But no one did. But I just imagined you doing it. :) 

 

FOOD UPDATE this week I ate fried frog legs and I actually really liked it! Next week we're going to eat rabbit stew.. and I´m not even scared! The mission does things to ya. I am no longer a picky girl :)


The spiders continue to dominate our pension but WE WILL NOT SURRENDER!!!! 

                  The cucarachas continue but Hermana Toala and I prevail. 

I don't think I told you last week, but our ride home from the wedding was a buzzkill... Everyone left and we were stuck with the bride and groom with a car that wouldn`t start haha. Classic Argentinian wedding. ;) 

Laura & Yonathon at their wedding

Noche de Hogar- "The importance of covenants" game 



Noche de Hogar con los niños 



So now that I've got a Tongan companion all the Tongans in the mission are immediately my friends now. The call me Kolipoki and all tell me that they've got my back haha. 

 

There Are No Accidents.....

Our mini look a likes.... Future Misioneras :) 

 



The most special part of the week had to be
the Wedding of Laura and Yonathan.



We got permission to go to the civil part, and it was so happy seeing two people that I just love making a decision like that.

We listened to some boring words, watched them sign the papers, and threw rice at them as they walked out the door just like Cinderella. Laura's baptismal date is the 22 of November. 

Remember Susana who cries? Haha she is progressing mucho!!!! She wants to be baptized but is not married yet either. We're waiting on her tramits to come in so that they can get married. She is so sweet, blond hair glasses and all. She feels the spirit so easily and is receiving the gospel with an open heart. 

Claudio!

 

Our noche de Hogar this week had the theme of "Yo soy un hijo de Dios" We played the game where we stick stickynotes of animals on our foreheads and everyone has to guess their identity. Then we stuck a stickynote on everyone at the end and told them their TRUE identity. Un hijo de Dios! :) 

 

 

 

On Saturday we got together a group in the ward to do a service project for Hermana Lily. We completely redid her garden.

Everyone was impressed with my weed pulling skills and I just told them that I was from Snowflake AZ and that my father taught me well :)

Today we got to play basketball and it felt SO GOOD!!!

 

 

 

Once again I schooled the Elderes and we all ate Brazilian food afterwards. I have a really fun zone. I dont want to leave Burzaco! haha 

 

 

 

My first ASADO in Argentina! It was so stinking delicious! 

Hna Toala - My compa is a cutie 

Watermelon time (We brought Obispo Baez a watermelon for his birthday haha) with Sofy 

 

Quote of the week "There are no accidents" (cute old turtle from Kung Fu Panda.) God is a God of miracles and His miracles are not coincidences! :)

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

"So you killed an elk? Busted the new truck? And your all okay?? I couldn´t help but think of Tommy Boy when Tommy and Richard decide to stuff the elk in the back seat and it comes to life and destroys their car hahaha "Dont you remember you told me you loved me babyyyyyyyyyy" And leave it to a Round Valley citizen to ask for the dead elk..."

 Haha no but seriously I am SO glad you are all okay! Actually when I read your letter I cried in gratitude- Not because of fear or of relief, but just last night in my prayer before bed I was thinking of you all a lot and praying for each one of you. And in my prayer I felt a sudden urge to pray for your safety. I didn´t know why or anything but the impression was so strong and so I did. I asked my Heavenly Father to bless my family, particularly their safety. And when I recieved your letter today I realized why. I have such a testimony of the power of prayer. It's not the first time something like that has happened... to feel the impression to pray for something or someone and then see the fruits of your prayer. I believe that God wants us to use the power of prayer in order to bless others though us. He has all power and can do any work at any time but he chooses to work miracles through us and it teaches us to trust Him. It teaches us to be more like Him. That is why He commands us to pray to Him. I also know that if we yield to promptings we will never regret it, even if we don't understand why. When I was thinking about it, I was saying my prayer about 6:30 your time. I don't know when the accident happened, but I can't deny the impression that I had and I know that The Lord is looking out for us.  (We hit the elk at 6:45)

This week has been one with less spiders and more rain. The highlight of it all was another Capilla Abierta that my compa and I had the opportunity to participate in Claypole on Saturday. I can´t tell ya how much I love to teach the Gospel.

Especially in the Spanish language. It has become my passion. I have no fear! The Hermanas are in charge of teaching all of the groups that come through, round after round for 4 hours. Its exhausting but I loved every second.

I ended up teaching with another comp. named Hna De Sosa from Brazil. I love her Portugese accent and she is the best!

I can feel the truth of the words that flow from my mouth when I testify. I never want to stop teaching haha. The Gospel is so simple and perfect.

There's nothing better than being a missionary and feeling the Spirit work through your words and touch the hearts of the people listening. It's the best feeling in the world.

 

So it's been raining and pouring perros y gatos this week, so much that the streets are flooded with water- in some places a couple feet deep!

Good thing I got my HungerGame rainboots. Everybody calls me Katniss when I wear them haha by the way is that movie out yet?

The ducks are different here in Argentina.... I tried to pet one in an investigators yard  and he BIT ME! Usually I don't mind but this pato was a biggie and he left a mark and everything haha... Can't trust the ducks here.

I don't know if I've ever told you but we live in a little house behind a member that is a grandma, Hna Lily, and she is such an example to me. She has cancer and has a lot of pain and so mi compa and I help her out a lot... I love to listen to her advice every day. This week we are getting a bunch of members to help out with her yard.. She says that if we trim the flowers the godzilla spiders will go away haha...  I hope she's right.

My compa- Hermana Toala- is basically a champ haha. She's teaching me Tongana and Samoana. A week ago in Sacrament Meeting we sang I am a child of God in Spanish, Samoana, and English.

Rockin the Restoration

 She has a Whitney Huston voice and likes to belt it so we make an awesome team haha and we always jam out to Prince of Egypt together "There can be miracles"

is the first song I hear every morning because its her favorite hahaha. The members call us Timon and Pumba hahaha She also calls me Kolipoki and I call her Feki. We make an awesome team and I actually think we might be having too much fun haha.



Capilla Abierta members and all

Los misioneros y la Capilla Abierta



We basically own the gold plates... NO BIGGIE



I was in charge of the final "Hoorah" shout haha