"Lord of the Rings All Day Everyday" (October 26, 2015)

In the park with Hermana Nelson

so how was your week? did you meet someone new? smile to a stranger? read your scriptures?

this week was sooooo freakin good. there is so much work to do here in ramallo and wow we are working like horses!

so lets start with the investigators. we found so many news this week. but ill just talk about a few!

las mellisas..the twins fiama and macarena. ive only taught them once. they are two sisters twins. with 17 years! when we got to their house we saw one making out with her boyfriend in the front porch...we were like...this is gonna be awkward...and then they saw us and it was...very awkward. well we went in and taught them and her other sister and her uncle. they live with their aunt and uncle becuase their parents left them when they were younger :( wel we just got to know them and we sang. (hna nelson sings reall well so we sing in almost every appointment) after we left their house we were like...well that was awkward and we felt like we should drop them...but then on sunday THEY CAME TO CHURCH so we will continue to pass by. 

estela. estela is a mom with 3 kids. she is married (miracle) and has a car(other miracle) she was a reference. so we went to her house and she was just leaving and told us to come back the next day! so we come by and she doesnt let us in because she doesnt trust anyone..so that was like, wow great start. haha well we were getting to know her and we began to talk about prophets. we told her there is a living prophet like how there were prophets in the olden times and that he receives revelation for the church in our day! when we told her that she became super intriged and said that was pretty cool. we then asked if she had ever gotten an answer to her prayers..she said no that she didnt know how. so we explained to her that we recieve answers through the power of the spirit. and that if we feel good, happy, peace, a knowledge of the things, that that is good and comes from god which is a positive answer. she was super excited about that and said she would put it in practice! well we quickly ended the visit and she said next time she would invite us in! haha woohoo! 

well those are the cool stories that happened this week. there is so much to do here in ramallo. there arent that many members. just about 40 that come to church regularly. compared to other places thats a ton! haha but there are alot of less actives. the thing is that on our side, we have to travel to get to church. alot of people to have money to get to church. its just 14 pesos round trip but times that by like 5 and every week would be alot. the people here are very humble. its defineitly different than venado but still wonderful!

so some things that happned this week. hna nelson and i both have a love for lord of the rings and we have been quoting it all week. its great! also the dogs here in ramallo are very nosy and always follow us and like to bark at us. i thiknk ive had to yell at dogs more in this last week than all my mission. also haha we were contacting and we went up to a cute house that had a cute garden. we were looking at it then a big black dog came out from behind..it wasnt barking but looked very tense. then we saw a bloody cow head or something scary in the garden. we got scared and then the dog flipped out so we ran away! haha argentina is great! :)

In front of a church in Ramallo

so spiritual thought for the week. just something short. something ive been practicing lately is having edifying thoughts! ive been trying to memorize scriptures every week. in my prayers i sincerely think of things i am grateful for. everyday there are miracles and if we just think for a second we can remember them and see them. also, changing every negative thought to a positive one. its been really helping me be happy and serve more! its hard but its a habit we just have to develop. i hope we can all try to be more grateful and happy this week! 

heres a talk i read that really helped me!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/grateful-in-any-circumstances?lang=eng

if you have time, read it!

love you all!!

hna sanders

Dog

With my new companion, Hermana Nelson
in my new area, Ramallo.

In our room

So Domestic!

Cookies & Pie

Tree-lined Pathway in Ramallo

The River in Ramallo

Ramallo Sunset

And now, for Ramallo (October 20, 2015)

Venado Tuerto (October 20, 2015)

Playing in a park

Field in Venado Tuerto

District & Hot Dogs

Flooding in Venado

changed out of wet clothes

Jessica and Hermana Jamison stuck in rain

District and ice cream

The District 

The Zone

Familia Mencho and asado

Goodbye to Familia Mencho

Goodbye to Familia Ermacora

Goodbye Mill family

Goodbye to investigator, Sylvana

Jessica, Hermana Jamison, and Sylvana

"this weeks in one word...viaje (travel)" (October 13, 2015)

so each week my district leader always says how was your week in one word...so i said viaje haha becasueeeee that seems like all we did last week. 

also im out of time and this will be way short. sorry :(

The District

we went to do more tranmites on wednesday, then we had divisions in pergamino on friday. so we were out of our area traveling from wednesday to friday night! good news i was able to visit benjamin and ezekiel wallice :) 

on monday night we taught tithing to silvana. she loved it and she came to church again on sunday!

marinana was super busy this week and we have an appt with her on tuesday. flia oviedo are off the grid haha

my spiritual thought for the week is alma 42:30-31. this scripture has changed my life. we all of sins that pin us down from progressing but we should let our weaknesses humble us, not destroy us sop that we can move on and reach our full potencial! 

well im really sorry but thats all i have time for! i lvoe you all so much! next week is transfers and im sure ill be leaving, so ill write on tuesday. take care

hna sanders

The Other Hermanas...

The District

Target practice

ponderize...meditizar (October 5, 2015)

haha ponderize...from conference. it was so great! general conference is literally the christmas of the mission!

but first i will speak about the people becuase thats what it is all about :)

remember silvana? yeah shes basically amazing!

this week we only saw her once on wednesday. we taught her about gods plan for us, where we came from, why we are here and where we go after. she accepted all of it and was really thankful to know now! at the end of the lesson we invited her to pray, she always declines but this time i just said, hey once you say it with us itll be easier. the first time is always hard but just get it over with and youll feel great! so she laughed and said it. after she looked at us, eyes wide and said wow i just felt a warm feeling in my heart the spread to my whole body..she wiggled her arms and said. its such a weird feeling but i like it alot. i feel great! and we smiled and told her, thats the spirit! after she expressed how she was accepting everything and she always feels good when we come over. she wants to get baptized when she gets to know abit more but she said the time would be soon!!!!!!!!!! so shes amazing. she didnt make it to conference though because her kids were misbehaving pretty bad.

mariana is amazing. we taught her about prophets and she was super stoked and came to conference, the saturday afternoon session. she LOVED it. 

still no word about the other people weve been teaching. but its okay the work still moves on!

so ill share these stoires super quick im already running out of time!

on saturday morning we got a call from a sister in the branch saying that the mom of hna mill died. (hna mill alwasy gives us lunch on sunday and comes with us to a ton of lessons) hna mill was heartbroken. so not knowing quite what our role was as missioneries...we texted her, said sorry and asked her what we could do. she invited us to the viewing and to sing in the funeral with the choir. so saturday night after conference we went to the viewing. it was so sad to see hna mill so distraught..the next morning (sunday) they held the funeral service so we went. hna mill and her family were all sobbing..we sang jesus lover of my soul, and nearer my god to thee. then after the service we went to the cemetery. i wasnt sure if we should go but i asked brother ermacora (griselda resek´s husband) if we should and he said yes so we went to the cemetery and everything. alot of people went to suppport the family. it was sad but everything turned out to be okay in the end. we will stop by their house during the week.

and now for conference!!

woowww such a wonderful conference. it is always such a spiritual upliftment that is so necessary. all the talks were amazing, the surfing analogy by brother keetch was great! we have the commandments for a reason. God wants, and will always protect us through giving us commandments! brother durrants talk on saving money each week and "ponderizing" a scripture a week was amazing! and actually something ive been doing here on the mission! memorizing a scripture and thinking about it throughout the week really does help keep you focused on God. Dallin h oaks talk on the atonement and physical pain was great too. one day we wont fell these pains becuase christ suffered and died and resurrected for us. he took it away, he already paid the price! and finally i loved allen d. haynie´s talk. one thing he said rings so true. im paraphrasing but we cannot deceive ourselves on what repentance requires. it is a painful process and its meant to hurt a little bit so that we can grow and become the sons and daughters that God needs us to be. 

so from all of that im going to echo the invitation from durrant. ponderize a scripture this week! start out week by week and before you know it, it will be a habit youve developed. as you ponderize these scriptures you will have the spirit with you, you will be more focused on the tings you need to do throughout your day, and you will have the light of christ and the power to resist temptation! :)

well i hope you all have a wonderful week. keep up the great work. i love all of you. 

xoxo

hna sanders