well might as well start with the highlight of every Buenos Aires
missionaries week. we had the privilege to listen to a very special
speaker this week. he came all the way form good old land of salt. that
is right thee one and only elder holland and elder christofferson spent
the weekend in this foreign soil that i am calling home. on Saturday
south, north and west missions gathered together in our mission home
and were filled and lifted spiritually. the night before we had eight
hermanas sleeping in our tiny apartment. talk about the biggest
fiesta ever. i made some good old popcorn, which is a lot more
difficult over a stove... but an adventure! popcorn really does pop...
everywhere!! and we bought some delicious pizza. between english and
Spanish laughter and blabbering on in the the wee hours of the
evening. but did i care... not until about two days later where i
literally became hermana bobble head in the lessons. it was sooo fun.
at the meeting my companion had the opportunity to spend five minutes
with her brother! who is serving in the north mission, how awesome...
yes i was jealous. i feel super close to tinnie.. just not close enough
apparently. i got to sit on the second row middle, aka the gleak
zone! it was great! this whole experience has been the highlight of my
mission thus far. before the reuniion started i waws thinking ok this
is elder holland... he is going to stick it to us right! well yes and
no. but first let me talk about my feelings prior to the start of the
meeting. terrible. i felt terrible spirtiually and completely drained,
picture yourself being dragged behind a colatevo in this crazy city and
thats how my spirit felt. no say why, oh yah i remeber the word to describe it.... satan. in a desperate prayer i asked to feel the spirit. instantly i started feeling so much better. elder hollan stands up and says...(if there is anything i want you to pull out of my message today it is that i love you, very much, and ive come half way around the world to tell you so... there isnt a more prayed for, more loved, more the image of the church than you missionaries. your grandma is praying for you, your little nephews back home are praying for you.) bam in that moment he looked straight into my eyes and said they love you. talk about cue the tears aka waterfall. how did he know this is exactly what i needed to hear. before the reunion started the hermana next to me and i were talaking about how much we miss the little squack boxes, and i was righting in my journal how i feel like no one really cares about me out here. well elder holland definietly does, eye to eye he does! comfort peace and the pure love of christ is what i felt from this man. after that it was history... everything he said completely clicked in my mind and i felt like he had written his entire talk specifically for me and me alone. during the course of his talk i couldnt help but think that its going to be exactly like this wehen we are once again reunited with our brother, JesusChrist, and father in heaven. ONLY BETTER! they{re going to look us in the eyes and say, (hey its ok if its hard, missions arent supposed to be easy, just remember that i love you). never before have i felt the spirt so strongly. never have i felt the love of God more in my life than right there on the second row as a speck amongst misisonaries. lets just say it was the best day ever to come to a missionary life. there is nothing like ooking into this incredibly devinely inspired mans eyes, even better than man handing me my gelato. and whats elder holland without some jokes my favorite,
"this isnt burger kind, you dont do it your way"
"180 years of missionary work goes into the white hand book. its not just some grumpy old men who drank to much pickle juice."
he even ended up kissing his translator half way through the talk... argentina style!
so it ended up being a fabulous meeting and i would give anything
to make him stay and be my personal boaster upper! and honestly i dont
know how the apostles do it, i respect them beyond words. they do what i
do, forever! not just 18 months and that takes unlimited amounts of
strength.
other than this my other wonderful bit of news is Raicho!!! on
martes we had a family home evening with him and he announced he is
ready to get baptized!!! hear the angels singing, cause i do!!! thats
right this Saturday
is the day! my very first one, and hes practically my best argentine
friend. these are the moments that make all the millions of crummy ones
worth it. we also took an italian-spanish family on a church tour.
they were very impressed and feel a lot more comforatbable withthe idea
of church.. she literally has a phobia of people crowed in a mass
listening to a speaker... aka church. so that is going to be difficult
to over come, but we are working on it! a lot of time on the missmion i
feel like a big counselor. thats practically all we do. help people
improve there lives by "giving them advice" aka the gospel. who knew.
a funny story of the week... so I am stoked to make chicken
patties, with cheese and ham.. delicous right! only took about 45
mintues to make. I sit down to enjoy my creation and it turns out they
were soy bean patties... not chicken. GROSS!!!! this is what happens
when you literally have no idea what your buying at the store.
ARGENTINA has massive factories. in my area there are two. I
literally have asked everyone person what they make in them and NOONE
knows... it is the biggest mystery. maybe one day i"ll find out. oh
and everyone constantly asks "how is your family". you dont just as a
person alone how they are, no no you have to make sure their anncestors
are doing great too! and you better have a great story to tell about
them too, bueno is never suffiencent enough.
well i love rambling off in random paragraphs. isn"t it fun to
read my letters!! hehe welcome to my brain of a hectic missionary.
stay a while, its quite the ride!!! while im sweating and walking long
hours i couldnt help but think of being a beach bum for a few minutes...
mom and dad i hope you soaked in enough for me too, cause man oh man am
i jealous! talk about HOT!
LOVE YOU ALL
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