"la playa blanca!!" (January 18, 2016)

With Hermana Shotwell

so no more lice! after days of washing and scrubbing and losing hair becuase of the tiny comb i had to use, the little bugs are gone! it is an experience i hope to never have to repeat! haha 

well what a week! we had a lot of success at the beginning but then the week just flew by!! you know we had divisiones with hna cabrera until wednesday morning, then on friday we had more divisions with the capacitadores which are now HNA SHOTWELL (my mtc comp and a good friend) and hna christenson! we had to travel to their area in rosario called baigorria. its right by the victoria bridge! (for those who know rosario) well we had to take 3 coletivos and we had no idea where we were going but they explained to us how to get there. we pretty much guessed the whole way but we made it ok! we had great times (of course) and then on our way back we had to try to take it back in time for mission correlation meeting at 4. we left their apartment at 1130. we were trying to stop the coletivos but none would stop for us! finally at 12 one stpped. we got to the terminal and just missed the cole to san nicolas. we waited. got on the bus and as we were pulling into san nicolas the bus to ramallo pulled out. ahhhh so we had to postpone the meeting an hour. what are ya gonna do.

well other than that this week was crazzyyyy in ramallo pueblo there was a HUGE party called "la playa blanca" (the white beach) everyone goes to the beach dressed in white and theres great music awesome lights and illegal drugs of course! people from all over the world come apparently and yeah! our quiet little town turned into crazyville for the weekend. saturday in the night i woke us 2 times becuase we could hear the music from the party in our apart!! mahhhh well the party ended at 8 in the morning. we have to wait for the coletivo at 830...yikes so we left and instead of seeing no one, the streets were filled of people dressed in white, some passed out on the side of the streets, on the benches everyone was a zombie. but we got on the bus and made it in time to church but on the bus is was so crowded and some guy put his armpit right in front of my face as he reached to grip the rail. haha

Divisions with Hma's. Shotwell, Christenson & Lopez

well in terms of the investigadores. we taught silvia and miguel the word of wisdom which prohibits alcohol, tobacco, black or green tea, and drugs an coffee. we had them explain to us what it was to make sure they understood and well, they did. the next day we went back to their house. they were in the back, some of miguels sons were there. all the men were drunk out of their minds inculding miguel. silvia was the only sober one. they were also smoking and being very disrespectful....well we felt super uncomfortable and were trying to leave but they wouldnt really let us...in the corner of my eye i saw a hand gun on the table so i decided not to offend them, but we left 3 minutes later (i was checking the watch) so that pretty much sucked. we have spent soooo much time with this family and have seen so many miracles that honestly, it was disheartening to see them completely ignoring this counsel. but in the end it is up to them if they want to come to god. if they want to obey and recieve the salvation that comes through obeying and if they dont they will not progress, they will only digress. so that is really sad. but things like this happen on the mission. just sucks a bit more when you really have grown to care for these people. :(

other than that everyone was out of their house or all they talked about was the playa blanca so it was a hard week for the work to move much forward. but its okay we got to see hna shotwell this week and i had awesome studies and finished alma! :)

Lunch today: Stuffed Zapallitos
(green pumpkins)

so this week i want to share 2 nephi 10:20, 23.24

20 And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off; nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea.
23 Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of 

everlasting death or the way of eternal life.

 24 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the 

flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved.

in the first verse i love how hes like "dont hang your heads" they were led out of a good land to come into a better land! sometimes we have to leave our comfort zones so we can get to a better place and grow and just be better. after he talks about agency, or our ability to choose. and he invites us to reconcile with god , or talk to him and be on the same terms as him, and as we do we will be saved through his grace! so hopefully we can do a personal inventory and see how we can come closer to god this week so that we can be saved. he may ask us to do things out of our comfort zone but it will always be for our good! 

well thats it for this week! have a wonderful week and dont forget to "reconcile" with God. i love you all!!

xoxoxo

hna sanders

Artsy photo on the train tracks