WEEK TWO

Hey everybody! There just is no time to write! It’s crazy. We are so busy…. So!
Hermana George, the president’s wife, has been so great. She reminds me of Grandma Berg. I’m so grateful for her and President. They have been great. She even brought me breakfast in bed one morning because I haven’t been able to eat breakfast at all. I will be ok though : ) All my teachers inspire me. They are fantastic. I think I already mentioned that. The people we have in our lives are there for a reason. That’s why I have my family! I love you guys so much. Heavenly Father teaches us in interesting ways.

Speaking of which... We are learning so much about families and their importance in the whole scheme of things and it has me thinking so much about you all. I really do hope that you don’t take our family for granted. I know I did, and I wish so much I could take that back. Every single person in our family has so much to offer and so much love to give. I hope with everything that I am and I say in every prayer that I hope we all can be kind and just love unconditionally. That’s what Heavenly Father wants from us.

Ok, so proselyting! Oh man. The best time I’ve had here so far. It was soooo good to get out of the box we are in and get out to see the country and the people. We went through Buenos Aires for about a half hour and it is big. There are dogs who run all over the freeway, it’s so scary and horses do roam the streets haha! It’s great. They don’t need fields. Then we got to the city we were teaching. It is soooo the opposite of big and nice. I couldn’t believe it. So poor. Dirt streets. We had a map, but it did us no good because there are no street signs. We got lost a lot.

I have to make this quick because other missionaries are waiting to email, but... we found 3 investigators. Even with our tiny bit of Spanish. We go proselyting every Saturday. Since this Saturday is Christmas we are going back tomorrow to teach them. This whole week has had new purpose. Instead of just learning facts, we are actually planning on what to teach these 3 people.

We have Javier and his family. He has a little girl and boy and wife. We met them at their hair salon and we're going to teach them about families and the Plan of Salvation. Facundo speaks English! He is young, and he had all the questions of the soul. So we are teaching him and his girlfriend, who also speaks English, about the Book of Mormon and how it has every answer to every question they may have. We are so excited about him. He even told us he questioned his religion and he hated the Pope and such. He is ready for the gospel…. or so we hope : ) He is open for anything. And he speaks English! haha Can’t get any better than that. And lastly there is Jorge. He is a sweet little old man and it will be his birthday tomorrow! haha So we made him a card and things to let him know we love him already ... even though we have no idea who he is. I think that speaks tons about our gospel.

My Spanish is still coming along. We are getting better and if I think about it outside of the MTC, we know a lot. I still don’t feel ready to teach people though. It’s alright, we trudge along ha ha! We have since learned the first vision all in Spanish and we have that and half the commitments from the Preach my Gospel chapters and the principles of each chapter memorized in Spanish. That’s so fantabulous. I noticed last night I ended my personal prayer in Spanish without even realizing it haha. I remember dad said I would get to that point and it would be weird. AND weird it sure was. I also wake up in the morning and I have a random hymn stuck in my head every day and I’m reciting Spanish phrases. It seriously is the craziest thing ever.

Hmm... so the oldest group here leaves this next week, because a group leaves every 3 weeks, right? Anywho, we sure are going to miss them. Also, all the Latinos leave. There will only be 2 districts here from Tuesday till Thursday until all the new ones arrive. P.S. we counted how many missionaries there are here and there are 60 of us. So, when those districts leave there will be only 20 of us. crazy eh? We have become such good friends with the Latinos too, even though we don’t speak the same language and can’t communicate hardly at all - we all love each other. It’s the best feeling ever. We really are so blessed here. Count your blessings!

I hope you all have a good Christmas. Seriously, remember who it is about. I don’t even miss Christmas haha. Maybe it’s because of the fact that it’s sunny here and doesn’t remind me at all of home is the reason, but nevertheless... I’m glad. Christmas is not about us. Just smile and remember Christ and don’t worry about the gifts. hmm... also, I am singing for the Christmas eve program. Interesting eh? This is the second time I have sung here haha. I love you all sooooo so much! I love love love hearing from you. Till next week...
Love, ash

P.S. Pray for our investigators and that we may teach what they need to know!