Tuesday, May 27, 2014

"I Heart Catholics" (May 26, 2014)

what a crazy week!! lol not. in all honesty i could tell you what happened in like 3 sentences but i know that wouldnt fly. so!
i have finally eaten something interesting!! but it wasnt argentine it was swiss. haha the senior couple has us over for a dinner and meeting every monday. this last monday she made fish gelatin. which was cooked tuna, vegatables, and whatever else in a plain gelatin flavored with like a rotisserie seasoning.....it was FISH JELLO. im not even going to go into detail about how it tasted. haha but you know in the 2 LOTR when eowyn gives aragorn a stew that she made and he like says its good and that when shes not looking he dumps it? that happened. only when she left the room, we would have to run to the sink...hahaha so.
jyt (Jorgelina y Toto). we stop by on tuesday to see how they are. they didnt come to church last sunday so we were just wondering what happened. we come and shes outside smoking. looking really distressed. we talked to her and basically, she was really confused and told us to go away without setting up another appt....
we leave and on saturday we decide to go see them again and see whats up. literally we just went over because we felt like we needed to. we say hi and she starts to cry when she sees us. we start talking. it was a 3rd year anniversary since her mom had passed away. she was really sad and depressed about it. her brother is also pretty dying too and just alot of things are happeneing in her life. toto comes out from his sleeping and he just is listening and all that. they keep on talking and there were alot of silences but hermana moberly and i just felt prompted to stay quiet and let them say everything they needed to. after a little while, i started feeling like i needed to say something. so i said "yo tengo algo decir" which is "i have something to say". then i went on and just said that we are here to bring others to Christ. our purpose as missionaries is to do that. and we are here because we love you, and more importantly God loves you, and He has sent us here to you so that you can know how to come back to Him. He wants you to come back to Him and so we are here." and then silence. toto got a little teary but didnt say anything. finally moberly said, do you still want to get baptized? they said yes but she just needs to break this habit. so please keep praying for them and for a miracle. because without them we have no progressing investigators. the son and his family are becoming active again so we are very happy! about that!
on friday we had an activity with the branch and they came! even their 14 yr old daughter who is super inactive. we also had a 17 yr old investiogator come so the four of us bonded. we get both of them to commit to come to church but the 17 (eliana) was sick and couldnt come. but joanna did! we are friends with them and hopefully if we get both of them we could start having a young womens type of thing! so yeah....
other than that, we had lunch with a member, HMA Sara and we shared mosiah, 27:14 with her. her son is inactive so we just shared that we know the faith of parents is strong. and i really began to think about you guys and how i know that your faith had alot in giving me my strength and my testimony. parents are awesome and i just got to say i love you guys!

hmm what else...oh! on wednesday it was hermana moberly´s year mark! we made brownies with dulce de leche, and oreos! and we bought some ice cream! it was tan rico! (so yummy) also! hahaha we dyed hermana moberlys hair to a light brown! it was so fun and it looks soo good! she wanted the argentine men to stop hitting on her becuase she was a blonde so we dyed it haha. sooo since i have some time i will tell you how we cook here. two american girls, one kitchen, spanish labels. the recipe of the week was sopa de cosas! (soup of things) we got water, put tomato paste, milk, onion, garlic, salt, carrots for the broth and we threw in rice AND pasta noodles. the second day it was good haha. also we made a cake! and this is how we did it. we took 4 eggs, some butter, some flour, and some sugar. and we had some chocolate sauce so we thought why not. it turned out okay more like a sweet bready thing that a cake! haha also ive made it a whole week without gum! im spreading out the few pack i have. 

so the work here is really slow. we just contact all day, teach lessons to contacts and with everyone else we get rejected. its really fun. buuuuut hey its just part of the mission! we are trying all these different ideas but nothing seems to be working but we will keep`trying and tract until we find the 1 or 2 people we were sent here to find. we were in the hopes of finding "some soul" like ammon says. hopefully we do.
so spiritual thought! im stuidying in alma now. my goal is to finish by wednesday. i started alma saturday haha but literally i read so much its not even funny. anyways! earlier this week i got to the part about the Anti Nephi Lehi's. we pretty much know the story. a wicked people became converted and vow with the lord never to kill another soul. when other people hear about this they get super angry and go to kill them,. the ANL's bury their swords and keep their promise with the lord and say"let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren....let us hide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God." they are slaughtered (verse 22) and when the people see this, they are astonished and become converted to the lord because of the example of the ANL's. (verse 27) sooo there is a lot of power in being an example. we will probably not be in a situation like this one but how powerful it was that they were willing to seal their testmiony with their blood and just be slaughtered because they would not let anything stand in the way of keeping their promise with god. so cool.
well that is all i have for this week. the bugs are still biting just not on my face! the stuff monica gave me is working! im still sick but i just deal. its getting better. uhmmmm tell gma and gpa hi for me! havent gotten the boots yet but i have the reimbursement of my luggage from the airport on my misison card im gonna use that because that is in pesos. i have to email the mission pres about it so ill know in like next week.! i hope they can come though! havent gotten your letter yet but we have a zone meeting on fridayso i probably will get it then.... . well i lover you two too pieces and i want pictures of the house! you can email me pixxxxxx hahah love yaaaa
Signing off
Hermana Sanders III

san cristobal 
after the rain
moberly and joanna at the activity and me with karen, the 10 yr only active memeber of her family she is great! 
me and eliana the 17 yr investigator,  
conpanionship unity! 
eating milanesa that we bought from the panederia next door

Monday, May 19, 2014

who let the dogs out/soccer, guns, and bombs (May 19, 2014)

CRAZY WEEK but not really. Tuesday we traveled to san cristobal, 2 hours, for a district meeting, and we watched a short called the butterfly circus. you all should totally check it out. i teared hahaha its about how we cannot let ourselves believe the things that people tell us. we have our divine potential and we need to believe in ourselves the way God believes in us. if we do this we can acheive anything!
on the way to rosario
then on wednesday-thursday we travled to Rosario. 4 hours to and anopther 4 back. so we really couldnt do work in our area. we went down there for visa stuff and we are going to have to go back again because...i really dont know. so thats great.
jorgelina and toto are amazing and we meet with them everyday in preparation of their baptism. Jorgelina is so wonderful and still hasnt smoked. everytime she feels the desire she pulls out the Bok of Mormon. shes read alot but literally they are so wonderful! please keep them in your prayersÂȘ we had a noche de hogar which is family home evening with their son and his family. we did the joseph smith story and we had them act it out. when it came time for the "pillar of light" i stood up and held a flashlight on their 10 yr old son who was playing joseph smith. haha it was really fun and it was amazing seeing how this family was coming together during this night that we had with them. philipe is on his way to getting the preisthood back and we really want them to go to the temple and really have this family be active again. they are becoming closer and more happy and it just testifies to me the importance of having an active religious role in the family. it truly brings happiness.
on saturday hermana moberly and i went to the one section in our area called Barrio Nueve. it is 1 and a half hours walking away. and then we have to tract there...and then walk all the way back. i brought my camera with me so theres a bunch of pix. on the way there we almost got attacked by 5 different dogs. and we witnessed like 3 dog fights so thats why the first part of the subject is who nlet the dogs out...but when we got there we only contacted 6 people because everyone was gone, or sleeping, so that was a bummer but we got back, ate a quick lunch then studied and then went out and contacted agin closer to home. that night we tracted into a house of a man. he opened the door window and just stared at us. we introdued ourselves and he interrupted us and started saying that he is very sick and if he doesnt go to the hospital 2 a day the police will take him. he believes that numbers have a special signifigance in his life. the number 25 and 89 are like reocurring things idk. it was weird so moberly just gave him a pass along card and invited him to church. soooo HE CAME. it was weird...he was telling moberly that he sacrifices animals and loves satan and all these bad things......sooo yeah there are very weird people here. but we think he is very disturbed and hopefully the gospel will help him lol
also! so yesturday sunday was the fist soccer game of the season...woohoo.. we were out teaching a lesson and the game ended while we were there. so you know how everyone says that the argentines are crazy for soccor, well that is an understaement. the game ended and we first here a bunch of cars honking and its all cool, but then...we start hearing gunshots every so often, so moberly and i are like, we gotta get home. on our way home we start hearing little bombs go off right! well and then were just about 3 blocks from our house. we see a gathering of people on our street all singing the songs, shooting their guns, and honking their horns. they start parading down the street and moberly and i have to sneakily run into our house hahaha so that is the first game of the season all i can say is thank goodness im not in a big city because thn it mightve been a little dangerous ! hahaha
also i got sick with a head cold. im taking the cell salts and im feeling alot better. i got another bug bite on my forehead but i really think the bugs are adjusting to me. i use monicas bag of wonder haha so yeah. 

oh! we saw 2 scorpians in our apt this week and i got a pretty good pic! they are babies but they also are the poisoness kind so we got to be carefull haha and another contacting story, just to give your a taste of the people here. we knock, this lady opens her window. we introduse ourselves. she says, did you read my door! it reads "this house is catholic" and then we say yeah...she just says, ok, chow! so welcome to argentina hha but really there are a lot of really great people here! ya just got to find them haha

so i guess one cool thing i read today was alma 32 :27=28. i just ask you all to read this and just assess how strong your faith is. also cool story. ive read mosiah in 3 daysÂȘ holaahhhhh 

okay so people here say that a bomb went off in california. whats that about? well i love you all! mom and dad! i love and appreciate you so much! i hope alabama is a blast and tell jane and artie i say hi! also how many views does my blog have? 
keep up all the good work and just know im safe and protected. i love you and the spanish is getting better and better everyday! i pray for you nightly and i hope you can keep up the prayers for jyt. they need all they can get. muaahhhh
xoxoxoxoxo
hermana sanders III


our pench



bug bite 
the dandelion was at barrio 9 like a talked about earlier
argentine fields..its reminded me of the kiera knightly
pride and prejudice when darcy proposes in the sunrise
in a graveyard of the catholics...they dont bury their dead..
they put them above ground in things that look like house
plaques and flags
i had to do my hair like this becuase of my bug bite



Monday, May 12, 2014

Post 2 today (May 12, 2014)

LA in Santa fe


the best chocolate here...cofler haha
going out before the rain
youre the best and i love youuuuuu


senor suave 

"What say you?"-Aragorn (May 12, 2014)

So guess what! I was writing a really awesome email to you and my computer I'm on decided to turn off so it discarded the draft so thats fun. ughhhhhh so I'll just start over.
My eye... it's so much better and it's about 90 percent back to normal. I wear my glasses to hide the little bit of swelling that is left but really it's totally fine.

So mon and tuesday was spent traveling, but here are a few fun things that happened. We watched "Rise of the Guardians" in spanish for p day with the zone, and then the next day in Parahna, I saw Hermana Shotwell! So much fun! When we were traveling we were never alone, the elders took good care of our safety and were awesome! They even carried all of our stuff which we had a lot because we have to pack clothes and books and stuff for the meetings and such. We returned Tuesday night exhausted.
Wednesday we were so ready to work because now my eye was all better. We got out and tracted and found some pretty awesome people. We decided that we were going to drop the majority of our investigators because they just weren't progressing, so we did. On Thursday for weekly planning we decided who we were keeping and who we'd just drop, for now. We also decided that were are going to put alot of focus on re-activated the members and working with the 4 adult members we do have to do member missionary work. Thurs. night we were meeting with a member to talk about member missionary work and she surprised us with dinner!! So we were fed! It was a tender mercy because we really didn't have much food and needed to go shopping soon, so it was such a blessing! The members here are so strong and because there are so few of them they need to be even stronger. But every Sunday their diligence in attending is amazing and their testimonies are so strong it really is something to look up to.
Fri. we have to travel to Rafaela for entre vistas with the president. It went really well and I love them so much. We also got to spend some time with our zone so it was fun, but then we had to leave. We missed the bus because it was too full and they ran out of tickets and had to wait an extra hour and a half to make it on the next one. But we made it back and taught a few lessons. Then Sat. it rained rained rained rained rained....like you don't know rain until you experience an argentine storm. There was thunder and lighting, but thankfully no wind! haha we taught Jorgelina y Toto and that night we committed them to baptism!!!!!!!! 31 de mayo, so if you would all please pray for them and also especially for Jorgelina and her smoking to stop! haha (on Wednesday night Hermana Moberly and I committed her to stop smoking and took away all
her cigarettes) so yeah! Also I forgot to say, they have the craziest dreams. They had a dream before they met the missionaries of gold plates and they saw two missionaries and an angel that said "listen to them"! And then after they met us, Toto had a dream of his mom standing next to a big building with Hermana Moberly and me standing next to her, she said to him, "listen to them". And Jorgelina had a dream of a temple! The Salt Lake City one without even seeing it, and she woke up holding the BOM(Book of Mormon) and that's how they knew it was true. Miracles are truly everywhere. Aren't jyt awesome! It's amazing how prepared they are and willing to learn! What a blessing!
Sunday! We had 17 people there at church and 2 included jyt (jorg y toto) they loved it and are so excited for their baptism. Their inactive RM (Return Missionary) son came with his whole family too! It was a partyyy. Sooo then later WE GOT TO SKYPE! I am so thankful that we were able to do that. I love you guys so much!!!! anywayssss
Sorry for no real funny stories. Nothing really happened this week but Moberly and I are hilarious and have constant funny moments hahaaa ;)



Spiritual thought/LOTR(Lord of the Rings) reference.
Third movie, when Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli go into the mountain to find the cursed army of (i cant remember the name ;(( ) Aragorn is asking them to enlist in the fight for middle earth with them...he repeats "what say you!!!" over and over again to these souls, asking, pleading with them to join with them. That is like member missionary work. We are in the fight of our lives right now and we need eachother. Without eachother the fight is bitterly more difficult and pretty much hopeless. The adversary is very much real and we need to be actively engaged in the fight for souls against him. In 2 nefi 7 v. 7-8 it says "for the Lord God will help me therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. And the Lord is near, and he justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near me, and I will smite him with the strength of my mouth." And the first line of v.8 "For the Lord God will help me." Soooo what say you? Can the members and the missionaries stand together and fight the enemy? Really there are two sides. You cannot be indifferent and still be considered on the Lord's side. You either actively are engaged in the work or you are not. And that is that fact. What say you? Will you stand with the missionaries and stand with God? or not. It's up to you. What say you??
So that is my thought. I love you all and think and pray for all of you daily! Shout out to Monica and her friend for saving me with the care package.
Hermana sanders III signing out!!
xoxoxoxo
I love you all so much keep up the wonderful work and be amazing like you all are. keep writing me. I'm supposed to go to Rosario in the next few days but we will see. I hope I get the letters you've sent!!
waiting for interviews 









Monday, May 5, 2014

"When in doubt, always follow your nose."-Gandalf the Grey (May 5, 2014)

Holy heck...what a week. Soooo here's a speedy update on everythang. Tuesday, the elders in our district came to contact and it went well in the morning, but then I got sick. I got a fever and the sympTOMS OF the stomach flu but I didn't throw up. But I got permission to just sleep the rest of the day. Hma. Moberly also had a slight fever. Then the next day, Wednesday, it rained, and when it rains in Argentina, it pours. Because there aren't good drainage systems, it floods. We got back from contacting that morning, still sick, soaking wet, and really annoyed but we had brownies that we made the night before to make us happy so we ate them haha. We did our studies and went out in the evening again. We visited this couple, Jorjelina and Toto Romero. They have been investigating for quite some time and when I came Jorjelina said "there's something special about your new companion". I couldn't really understand. But that's what Moberly said after. Soooo it was a really great lesson about going to church and praying. She had never prayed about the church so we really stressed that! There was just such an amazing spirit about that lesson and even though we were still sick we were on cloud nine. It was like the feeling that I had known her before ya know?? I really want the best for her...anyways we return and sleep. Next day. Thursday. We go out and visit a few people and then visit Jorjelina y Toto again. We do service for them and we fold their clothes..including their chonies ...and jock straps..................haha but it was ok. THEY FED US ASADO (argentine bbq,) it was my first here and also the first time getting fed by a family here! and they surprised us with it! It was so great and wonderful and delicious... teehee. In our lesson with them we spoke about the Tree of Life..she had prayed about the church and she told us she knew that it was true and also the Book of Mormon was true!! So did Toto know it was true! What a miracle. So it was just wonderful>! We get home, stuffed from the asado and super happy. We do weekly planning and I accidently fall asleep during it haha (food coma) and we go out again. This one lady said she thought I was latino :) made my week. But then we return home in the night and my left eye had begun to swell up...it was weird so I took a benedryl that night. I wake up Friday morning. I can't open my eye. It is swollen shut and is about the size of a golf ball. Without knowing what to do, Hna. Moberly and I call the senior couple who serves with us and they come over. I cry because I am so ugly and I can't see. (hence the subject line) We walk over to their place. I have my glasses on but I close my right eye and pretend I'm blind holding onto Hna. Moberly bcuz I didn't want people to see me..haha! We make it and Hna. Hohermuth starts to POP MY EYE! It hurt SO FREAKING BAD I CANT EVEN EXPLAIN and I cried again and had to lay down and rest before we could return home. Hna. Hohermuth sent the pix to mission mom and she told us just to put heat and Ibuprophen. So for the rest of Friday and Saturday that's what I did. Laid in bed, hopeless, wallowing in self despair because I was a useless Hna. who couldn't see because of a dang arachnid. But Sunday rolls along and my eye had begun to peep open just the slightest bit. 


We have church and everyone is saying poor presita! lol but we get home after, and put more heat on it and it just starts oozing green puss....like, alot. and it hurts but it's okay. Anyways it's been oozing off and on since then and I just carry tissues everywhere as it drains. I have another spider bite on my arm that's big too that I'll send pix. But man it is so gross and it hurts so bad but it's okay. I'm alive and well and can finally see out of my eye but there's still a ways to go in the draining hahaaaa lol yaya me. So that was my week.



Funny story! If my eye wasn't funny enough, on Thursday night we were walking home and passed by a group of drunk guys. One of them says "mamamia, quires dar me la palabra?" (babe, want to give me the word?) haha and we didn't reply but that was a funny one. Mostly the drunks just say stuff like your beautiful and stuff like that haha but yeah. Also, there are alot of stray dogs and we name the ones that follow us, one is "creeps" because it always jumps on us and its tongue always sticks out. Another one is "Charlie", just because it's super cute. And then there's "Ranger", "Robin Hood", and finally "Juan Pablo", (because we saw him mating once and he was a tool dog like Juan Pablo from "The Bachelor") Haha.

Anyways that's all I got for this week. These next three days we will be traveling, right now I'm in Rafaela for a zone meeting, then we go to Parahna for something, then Rosario for another thing...tell Monica I will be in the mission home Wednesday and I will try to see her! So have her be home! Haha. On Friday we go again to Rafaela for something else but it's just great, traveling with my bum eye randomly oozing, my mas o menos castellano and yeahhh so that's my life. Much love from yours truly! Also I read alot about the Tree of Life this week in First Nefi and I urge you to read it. All the chapters like 1 Nefi 13-15 i think idk (I don't know) for sure because I don't have my scriptures with me. But it's good to remember to persevere to the end. Once you taste of the gospel you cannot forget it and always stay strong. Ignore others who make fun or try to persuade you to leave. Keep the eternal perspective.
anywhoooo pix on the way!! I hope my eye isn't too awful and gives you nightmares...lol!
con mucho amor,
Hermana sanders III
I love you all so much and I had some weak moments this week and thought alot about you mom but I want you to know I am taken care of and I love you! I love ya too dad and you were also on my mind alot.