Sister Becca Alley: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

first and most importantly... i am sweating right now... when it rains it is so humid!!! there is some kind of holiday today, who knows what but practically everything is shut down, locked up, and closed. bless this cyber for allowing me to twiddle my little fingers to the family I love.

out of the many things to tell you this week it won't be proper with out first telling you FELIZ DE ACCION DE GRACIAS!!! aka thanksgiving. I bet you cant even imagine what we did to throw down for the holiday, WEEKLY PLANNING. yahoo. this consists of a four hour planning extremely detailed session for our up coming week and investigators. ill tell you what i struggled focusing,. I think a turkey from a far away land was gobbling my name, nethertheless i made my comp and the other companionship celebrate with me. that morning instead of showering :) I made a giant patch of popcorn and split it into three, dulce de leche covered, chocolate covered, and sugar covered. YUM! and during our feast of a lunch we cooked up everything we had, which is always the exact same food just on thanksgive more of it. what did it consist of? well pasta, hamburger meat, potatoes, some stale bread, crackers...not turkey here...
in fact my comp has never before tasted the meat. crazy, how far down here am I? mix it all together and you have the average missionaries meal. I tell you what on a mission your taste buds go out the door cause you'll eat anything that's placed in front of you and it never is enough! decorating the place a little and dressing up with bandages around my forehead I call it a success. we ended the night with giant bowls of gelato and cookies and expressed our gratitude for our families and amigos back home. I love the holiday, really it just made me even more extremely grateful for you folks back home. the best family in the world, if your not an alley your missing out. sorry. hehe thanks for being such a major part in my life and for all your love and support from so far away! ive been in Argentina for exactly one month yesterday, and it still feels just as foreign! now you ex missionaries, when did it start feeling normal exactly.

This weekend was fabulous, I bet you can guess why...

"Raytcho and Estabon"

MY VERY FIRST BAPTISM!! everything ran like clock work and it literally was so perfect. slap it on mormon messages perfect. Raytcho (19) was baptized by estabon, who happens to be his best friend. what a neat experience. It was such a blessing to be apart of. you really do become so close with those you teach, it was like baptizing my own best friend that ive known for life, which in this mission is ironic because our mission song happens to have a story that talks about exactly that. its called "te hallare mi querido amigo". I invite you to all look it up and listen to it, and read the story behind it as well "i will find you my friend". it describes this experience to a TEE! we even sang this song (estabon, me, comp) for everyone right before he was baptized. Naturally the spirit entered the room and estobon started crying, so then I start crying, and well there wasn't a dry eye in the bunch. I don't know how well the song sounded with blubbers in between phrases but if you listen with celestial ears it was probably close to angels. hehe after that the rest is history, he was successfully dunked on the first attempt, confirmed yesterday and after the block meeting he attended a lesson with us and testified to our investigator how a testimony develops and well why baptism is so important. just like that he is already doing missionary work as a wonderful member! Everything was so wonderful that day, I think I like baptisms ;) after being a harvester for the first five months of my mission it was finally wonderful to see the fruits of the labors unfold, this is our purpose after all, Faith, repentance, BAPTISM, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end. I got to see all of the first steps, and I already slipped the word about serving a mission to him.. Guess where I predict him going? Utah. what are the odds? Every time we teach an investigator who starts progressing I can feel myself growing with them, and its truly remarkable to see people give up their lives, what they've always done before to strive for what they want to become. The

potential, the spark of light, that just makes you want to be your best self in this gospel. It is so great. For all those of you who have witnessed this change you know what I am talking about, its indescribable but man does it make me want to try harder. Give my all and become who Christ wants me to become. This weekended we had 80 something baptisms and confirmations take place. Im sure the exact amount is on the blog, but it was a miracle weekend down here. I don't know what else to tell you about my first experience honestly, besides it being killer awesome and I feel like all the others will be hard to compete. probably only gets better from here though huh. anyways this week im sure will bring some interesting updates, we have another baptism this Saturday but unfortunately its shifty, so might not go through. Some conflicts with family who happen to be catholic... shocker right. Well either way we are going to fight for her salvation!! no giving up, ever!

some things you don't see in utah,

1. at red lights entertainers jump in front of the cars and do some tricks, recently juggling is the big hit, they than run window to window for money.

2. no one has straight or white teeth or all there teeth. mine are considered a priced possession in my mind. Thank you mom and dad for this north american gift that I realize I love.

3. shocker one o one. Argentina is making me dislike dogs. wait stop, turn around, back up , what did I say. yup its true I will no longer have 5 dogs when I'm older. only one. Between Washington and here its loco how many animals are out and about. maybe if they were clean though it would be a different story.

well that's all for now, love you to pieces and miss you more than words can type.

LOVE you know who!!