Monday, November 23, 2015

"the dark kinigth rises" (November 23, 2015)



Cacti
as we were on the bus to come to the ciber, we saw a kid wearing a shirt that said "the dark kinigth rises" nice try argentina ❤
so this week was full of traveling, and more traveling! but it was good. all in all i was in the bus for more than 15 hours....and you can imagine being on a bus that long with crazy argentine busses was quite the adventure. but it was a great week in that even thouhg we didnt have all that time to work in our area, we reached almost all of our goals! on saturday it was pretty hot and we were sooo tired but we kept on going. it was such a great feeling knowing how physically hard my comp and i are working. we stumbled into the apartment that night deaaad tired but so happy and smiling becasue we knew god was happy we pushed ourselves. 

thanks for everyone who fasted for me this week. i definitely felt the strength and health i received thanks to your prayers and your faith! God just loves it when we exercise our faith and one thing ive learned from this experience in terms of my health is patience, and the power of faith in healing. so thanks again. i feel your prayers!!! and prayers work and have tangible power!

divisiones with Hna. Valencia
in terms of the people here in good ol' ramallo pueblo.
estela's son got sick so we werent able to visit her.
monica wasnt home this week but we passed by and ran into her ex husband who was watching the kids, turns out he is less active!! so we chatted with him for a while. he lives in a different pueblo so we cant go by and visit him. but its okay he gave us the willies anyways. haha

silvia and miguel!!!!! goodness this family is incredible. they are the flia that came to church but the members didnt welcome them....well! on wednesday we had divisiones! hna valencia (one of my old companions!!!) came with me!! it was such a blast! but we went to them and had an amazing lesson about listening to the spirit! and on saturday we passed by and asked if they felt this was the right church what should they do..they said without hesitation "get baptized" ðŸ˜‚ eep. well they CAME TO CHURCH AND STAYED FOR SACRAMENT! this time we made sure they were accompanied by members. so idk if i mentioned this about them before but when i first met them, they were super sad and quiet. still great but timid. miguel looked very dark. hes had one of the hardest lives ive heard of and silvia is very tall, skinny, she had tons of wrinkles from smoking and just very weathered...well since weve been teaching them, miguel looks almost white!!!! and silvia barely has wrinkles! i wish i took a before and after pic but the change in them is physical as well as spiritual! we were over and the daughter shayla whos nine asked if we could read the book of mormon together so we did after they commited to baptism!!!! there is still a lot of work to do but they are amazing. 

Purple Trees
so also we have made a new goal to "andar haciendo bienes" in english i think its, go about doing good! basically look for every oppurtunity to give service!on saturday morning we saw an old man weeding his front sidewalk. we just knelt down and started to help him! then his neighbor saw and jokingly said "why dont you do mine too" so we did! and it was so fun! tons of people were walking by and saying "que hacen estas chicas en bolleras??" haha like what are these girls doing in skirts! 

so for the spiritual thought!

im reading and studying doctrine and covenants in seccion 103 now! i suggest everyone reads that section and ponderize verses 9-10. we (the members of the church) are meant to be saviors of men! that means be an instrument in the lords hands to bring others to salvation! so i invite you to think and have a personal inventory. are we doing things everyday to help others come unto christ? when we are baptized that is part of the promise we make with god. even if we do a random act of service, in some way or other it is bringing someone closer to christ. well i know there is alot more i can do and im excited to start doing it! 

also this is a wonderful scripture. prayer works, and heals. love you all!!!

D&C 103:36 All victory and glory ibrought to pass unto you through your diligencefaithfulness, and prayers of faith.

xoxoxo
hna sanders
eating last of the Peanut Butter from home
Asado
also we had a spa night on sunday because it was more elections and we couldnt leave so i shape hna nelsons eyebrows, helped her to do make up and we did facials. ally would be proud!!

Antes...
...Después

"Jess & Tess" (November 16, 2015)

The District
so first, what a crazy and weird week! it was great and also pretty boring. i got sick again....but the days we were able to go out were great!!
so estella had to cancel all the appointments we had! we would reschedule then either i was sick or she couldnt. she also couldnt come to church but we will see whats going on there. the hard thing is when alot of time passes in between appointments with inv. when that happens it is very easy for them to turn away and stop progressing. the adversary works with them. so thats why it is important to have as much contact with the inv. as possible!
so thats the update with estela. but i want to tell you all about monica! she is a single mom of 4 young kids. evangelista. last week we visited her and her house was in complete disorder! it smelt and she was a complete mess. she told us she wasnt eating because she had no desire and she was going insane with everything that was going on in her life. so we invite her to read the book of mormon and we promise her that as she does she will receive strength from the lord. that she was a valiant lady and god would bless her as she follows the commandments! well a week passes and yesturday night we stopped by! her house smelt wonderful, everything was clean, she was calm..COMPLETELY CHANGED. it was so incredible! we ask her if she had read and she said she had everyday!!!! and that she knew that was why she felt peace! THAT IS A DIRECT BLESSING THAT SHE EXPERIENCED.  honestly that is an undeniable experience of the literal power of the book of mormon! well by the end of our visit she accepted a baptism date and invited us over for ASADO. so thats wonderful!!
we lost weight and traded pants
other than that it was a pretty decent week! so to explain the title!
we were walking one morning (it was already super hot) we were talking about our future lives when hna nelson and i are a famous duo of singing and me on the uke and her on the mandolin, our name with be jess & tess. we came up with a list of songs we will sing. among them are boogie wonderland, mary did you know, and dont worry be happy! :)
so fun/creepy story....we were traveling to district meeting. when we got off the bus, the bus driver asked us where we were from, being friendly we told them, the USA. then he said, are all the girls as cute as you??....well i awkwardly said no...then i corrected myself saying well actually idk. and i got off that bus quickly...well we return to the busses after district meeting. ITS THE SAME BUS DRIVER DANG IT! well i was paying for the trip and he was handing me the change and as he did he grabbed my hand and squeezed it!! liufci4utlskjehtisau it was one of the most awkward moments..and after that we had the hour drive back to our area. aaahhhhhhh. so moral of the story is as a sister misisonary in argentina you have to dress super frumpy and ignore all the guys. merpp
lunch (baked chicken, zuccini, potatoes
with oregano) look I'm learning!
okay and for the spiritual thought!
alma 37:35.
im pretty sure its a scripture mastery. but the first part of the scripture alma is telling his son helaman to learn to be wise while in his youth..the second part tells him how...follow the commandments. as a youth, following the commandments of God will benefit us more than any other thing. as we gain experience in life we will know why we have commandments. as we study and gain experience and are faithful in keeping the commandments we will be made into the modern army of helaman that god NEEDS us to be. so, study is important, gaining experience is important, and following the commandments are all so important in order to gain wisdom. after all, the kingdom of God is inherited by the wise and faithful. 

have a wonderful week fam and friends!! love you all so much! 
xoxoxo
hna sanders

Train Trax

Monday, November 9, 2015

"Falling Avocados" (November 9, 2015)

The Heavenly Avocado
so let me explain the title really quick:) on saturday morning we were walking tranquilas in the morning. it was already pretty hot and it was only 10 am. so were walking on the avenida when out of nowhere we hear a "thud" we look around and see a HUGE avocado that had just fallen. we look around and make sure no one is looking. we cross the street and pick it up, and end up walking around the whole morning with the huge avacado that fell from the sky! come to find out that avacados actually grow on trees and ramallo is filled with avacado trees! yayyyy!!! you think being from california id know that by now haha.
so this week! wow idk if ive walked so much in my mission before! we had like 3 days this week when no one was home, lunch got cancelled so we had to scramble to make food out of nothing haha and then just walk and walk for hours and hours! in the heat, with the dirt roads, the dust flying everywhere and sweating so much but you know what, its so worth it!! its so worth it because it is a little sacrifice, who needs air conditioning, cars, even  bikes, when the apostles, the pioneers, and Christ endured much worse for great causes. our cause is Christ and im down to suffer whatever i have to for him and his cause!! :) :)
so the people! estela is amazing and accepted a baptismal date! she told us she has chosen our church becuase she feels the happiest learning and reading! she never has read the bible and doesnt know the story of Christ so we get to teach her Christs ministry and all! isnt that great! i love teaching about Christs life and mortal ministry! not only do i love teaching it but i learn something new everytime myself! we also found a bunch of people here who havent known the story of Christ. they dont know what it means to need salvacion, to sacrifice, so its been a wonderful experience to be able to teach these things! 

Sheep w/ a tire necklace
other than estela we met with another family weve been teaching. they are silvia and miguel and their 9 year old daughter shayla. they arent married and are pretty humble. but super funny and great! we had a wonderful lesson about going to church. and this sunday they came to church! here we have sacrament meeting at the end. so they came at 9...none of the members came up to greet them. or say hi....by the third hour they felt so awkward they left! it was heartbreaking to see this! please dont ever do that! when people are coming to church we need to be so welcoming and love them! i was super sad about that, so we will go back and see what we can do for them.
The Argentine Sky
so that was pretty much the week! thank goodness that we have a new week to do better and learn more!
so my pictures, the argentine sky, a sheep with a tire necklaces #argentina, and the heavenly avacado! haha
im just gonna leave a nice quote for the thought this week.
"real personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. instead, it is a willingness to put the animal IN US upon the altar and letting it be consumed."-elder bruce c. hafen
remember that sacrifice is never easy. its not supposed to be but when we do it right we change and become better. with all the changes happening in the world we will be asked to sacrifice many things but the biggest and most important sacrifice we can make is ourselves. give ourselves to the lord. follow his commandments, listen and trust in the prophet and his apostles, and do what is asked of us to do. let go of pride and be humble! hope you all have a great week! love you all!!!
xoxo
hna sanders




Tuesday, November 3, 2015

"The Fellowship" (November 2, 2015)

wow what a week!
so first ill write about the twins...we have to stop teaching them because they are super awkward with us and not progressing anymore. we thought that after they came to church they would be fine but its just gotten progressively awkward so thats that.
estela!! we went to teach her again and her husband was there! so we taught them as a couple it was mainly just getting to know them but in the end we taught about prayer, he said wow if anyone had taught me that earlier we probably would have done that already! haha so that was pretty cool! other thn that we have just visiting more people, eating birthday cake, and explaining to the members over and over again that i cant eat certain foods for me health! hahaha
this week our mission president gave us an extra half hour everyday to read the book of mormon and study it! how great is that?
so fun fact, in argentina they dont really celebrate halloween right..? well this year we saw some trick or treaters, the tradition is spreading here little by little!
with hna nelson we are quoting lord of the rings at least 3 times a day if not more its wonderful so time for me to explain the title!
i was reading a quote that one of my friends sent me to hear. its by henry b eyring. at one point he says "i am fellowship of the unashamed" so hna nelson read that part aloud and right after she said that i replied "well i am part of the fellowship of the ring" :) so thats thats. haha
so for my spiritual thought, with all this reading of the book of mormon i just thought it would be a great idea if everyone could make it a goal to read the book of mormon for a half hour everyday. if thats all you do youll be so blessed! the book is powerful, being that it is the most correct book on earth and the book that will bring one more closer to christ than any other book. when we read it everyday we will have the ability to resist temptaion, feel God's love and be more grateful and thus more happy in every circumstance! its true! and i hope we all can do this everyday! even if is just reading a few verses and pondering them for a half hour that counts! haha just do it and you will see specific blessing that come from it. well love you all! have an amazing week!!! 
xoxo
hna sanders

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Healthy Dinner, Cabbage and Carrots
Dinner with Hermana Nelson
Cooking with Hermana Nelson
In the apartment with Hermana Nelson
TAN LINES!!!!