My my my... has it really been 3 weeks already? I thought time was going by so slow, but turns out it has flown by. I can’t believe it. Technically here, we are on our 4th week schedule. So that’s what my district likes to say, it makes us feel better about ourselves haha. So! So much to tell.
We´ll start out with proseletismo last week, it was a huge letdown. I guess that’s how it’s going to be this next year and a half. Every appointment we had fell through. We had spent so much time preparing and STRESSING over all the lessons we wanted to give them and not one person was home. Actually, I take that back. Facundo, our most important investigator was home. We were so excited for him because he spoke English, and we thought he was so ready to hear what we had to say. He had family over for Christmas and his parents don’t want him to have anything to do with the church. That’s the vibe we got anyway. It was so sad. Luckily, we had a Book of Mormon for him. We said a prayer before we went to his house and I asked that the will of the Lord be done as we went and visited him. Then that happened. Weird thing is, we were so overly concerned about him that we all wrote our testimonies in the Book of Mormon. We are keeping the faith that all this is going to lead to something good and maybe he needs to hear about the church through the book instead of our mouths. No one will ever know. Tomorrow we will try and see him again. It’s our last day in the area then we get transferred to a different one. Everyone is really glad because apparently this is the poorest of any area anyone has been to. That’s pretty intense if you know what I’m sayin : )
Christmas! I hope everyone had a good one. Thank you much much for the package! All the candy is already gone haha! I love the pictures. I look intensely at them every day. One is by my bed and the other I carry around everywhere to show. Everyone says we are all so pretty! haha except dad… he’s just handsome. But they help me so much daily to have those here. I am doing so well here. The fact that it’s sunny and resembles nothing of the Christmas I know helped a little I think.
We had a lot of fun though. Pres and his wife had a couple programs for us. We played games and they got us all gifts. We had a little "remember Christmas at home" and we all shared traditions and then everyone was in tears. I witnessed a lot of giving though. Someone whose favorite Christmas memory was going to a choir and hearing a certain song every year and someone here would have that song and play it for them… Those kinds of things. It’s giving on a whole new level and I’ve come to appreciate this season even more. Afterwards, we all got to eat yummy food and we had a battle of the Christmas carols with the Latinos haha. It was the best time of my life. There’s nothing better than seeing 100 missionaries you have become so close with sing songs about Christmas, laughing, loving and having a good time.
Christmas day brought even better gifts. As I said we got to have Mervin J. Arnold and his wife come speak to us. Best thing ever; he is amazing. He talked about the spiritual gifts we have inside of us and how important it is we use those here. Because of those gifts is the reason we have been called to this specific mission and the reason everything for the next year and a half will happen. It was really touching. His wife and some other women gave us stockings full of AMERCIAN CANDY! It was such a sight haha! I will never take for granted anything American again. If only there was a Walmart here. It’s amazing the things we don’t appreciate. Look around you! There are so many comforts and blessings. I’m serious. You are all so blessed.
After that we ate lunch and they got to eat with us. I sat down and guess who walks over to me. Elder Arnold. He sat directly across from me. It was so awesome! He and his wife ate with us and we talked the whole time about his mission. Pretty soon everyone was crowded around us listening to his stories. It was so awesome. I swear he looked only me in the eyes for the whole 2 hours, like he was talking directly to me. He told us a really good story about when he served his mission they would reassign missionaries if they couldn’t speak the language. He went to Mexico and he got a call one day saying that he had to get on a bus to Salt Lake and he was being reassigned. He really struggled with Spanish. He told them no and refused. He said he had been called there for a reason and he would stay. They let him but a few weeks later they called again. Again, he refused. They let him stay and he said he worked so hard and eventually got the language down. He said imagine if I would have gone. Nothing about my life would be the same. Every blessing I have now is a direct blessing from serving, but not only serving... serving in Mexico. Basically, he told us to not give up, if we are struggling with anything it’s for a reason. We have been called here for a reason! It was so great.
Hmmm... I don’t have much time left, but this week has been crazy. I have been so blessed. I can handle the food now, no problem. So great! And I am not so homesick... I feel good here and it is starting to become home. Better not get too used to it because we'll leave in 6 weeks. So weird. Umm everyone left on Tuesday except us and 10 others. It was so sad. We miss the Latinos immensely, but my companions and I decided it was a blessing HF gave us. We got to see a love for those people and it’s just a tiny glimpse of how we will feel once we get to Uruguay. When people leave here it’s like graduating high school, they all sign journals and we party all night long haha. We also got to take pictures on Sunday! Wahoo! I got a bunch of MTC and people I have become friends with and my district and comps and such. Lots of things. We can’t send them until we get out of here though. But it just takes way too long on these computers. Sad day, but I do have some. It makes me feel better. It’s been fun though. Speaking of companions, we are not going to be a threesome anymore. Hermana Kirkham is getting to go with the one new North American sister who gets here tomorrow, she will move rooms and it’s so weird. But, on the plus side, Hermana Lundskog and I get to stay together! Yay! I love her. And we get 2 Latino sisters in our room tomorrow as well which means more Spanish practice. We are excited for that.
I can’t believe how much I miss the temple. In all this craziness here, it is the one place I feel like I could go to be closer to home. I mentioned we live literally next door to the Argentina temple, so I see the progress they are making on it daily and I long to go there so much. It is our way of doing other forms of missionary work. Don’t take for granted the opportunity that we live so close to so many. Go as often as you can..... It's a huge blessing.
I love you all so much. I’m doing well. I love this gospel and I know with everything I possess that it’s true. I’m so happy to be here and I’m so grateful Heavenly Father knows me and is blessing me. Take a look around and remember what you have been given. You will be so humbled. I love you all. Have a great week. Until next.... : )
Love, Ashley
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