"say shama shama. (Se llama llama???)" (July 6, 2015)

Jessica and Hermana V. at their apartment in Venado Tuerto

the subject is in reference to me talking about llamas. hahaha

WHAT A WEEK. my goodness. soooo for 

ya´ll who dont know, i was on my way to newport to visit a friend on wednesday when i get a call from my dad saying i needed to turn around because they called and said i could go back to the mission and my president wanted mye to leave that nihgt....so in shock, i turned around came home packed and then left thursday morning! sooooo

here i am! after like 30 hours or so of travel i made it to rosario and was able to visit my aunt monica who lives right close to the mission home! we spoke and she ordered pizzas and so we stayed for dinner! 

Jessica and cousin Monica...finally we got to meet!

it was so nice. when i finally arrived in my area the next day (saturday) we went to a members house for an asado and ice cream!!!! then we had to return to the apartment at 5. there was a big game for argentine soccer and pres. zanni didnt want to hermanas outside, so i had a nice long time to unpack!! while i was unpacking i discovered i forgot sheets and tights for the cold! hahaha so im going to having to buy sheet (15 dollars) and tights which shouldnt be too expensive. but i guess this is what happens when you have to pack like a mad woman! haha ah whatever. sooooo

sunday!! we have the best branch of 70 people. really it shouldbe a ward but the stake is just a district so it cant be a ward. haha but its so fun! the members are so funny and welcoming. thankfully my spanish is coming back super light speed fast! it helps having a latina companion and all we speak is spanish! i already think in spanish again! im getting lots of help. (cue pointer finger signaling upwards with smirk) haha

in terms of investigators...we have about 0. haha but were going to find them! 

the mission is very different but it runs more smoothly and i see why he changed so many things i freaking love it! welllll it was a mildly short week

oh! so the memebers feed us everyday here hahahso im gonna get fat. but we only bought healthy foods and i havent had one piece of chocolate yet! i know that once i have one itll be harder to resist hahaha

okay so funny moment ! my subject line...so hna (Hermana/sister) valencia and i were talking about animal...practivcing spanish, and i said llama (shama) thats how its pronounced. she laughed at me and i said what? its called llama right? but it spanish it sounded like K? se shama shama verdad?  and we laughed so hard just because it sounded hilarious! so now its a joke. i freaking love this area, and my companion and the memebrs here its insane! in terms of spiritual things here is just a thought.

we cannot do and live this life alone. yes we are strong but we need the savior to help us and to give us the strength to continue on. we cant do what is required of us. no way! without the help of the lord. so just remember that. we are weak but we are made strong in christ. we are nothing but with christ we are everything. i love you guys and im so happy and thankful im back here.

con mucho amor

hermana sanders 2.0

Oscar (friend of Monica), Monica, me, and Monica's son, Benjamin. 

with Hermana Valencia (from Peru) at my cousin Monica's house in Rosario

Back Again...

Off she goes...

"Navidad.mormon.org" (December 1, 2014)

SHARE IT. 

the church has a special program called, he is the gift. or el es la dadiva. it really is just a cute little video that makes us remember the true meaning of CHRISTmas. ,) well its a huge deal here as missionrys. its a missionary oppurtunity as weel for every single member. so all you have to do as members or as believers in christ is go on the site, and share it for facebook, twitter, insta, pinterest, redit, everywhere you can think of. #sharethegift. i love it. 

so this week we started this inicitice thing, basically instead of going from door to door to talk about the restoration we will be solamente testificando de cristo y su nacimiento y la expiacion! estamos emocionadas! welp! 

this week

http://www.mormon.org/Christmas

................

bugs

cockroahes

mold

heat

then super freezing for no reason

RAIN

tornados

investigators dropping us

crzy weather

geting sick again because my comp likes to sleep with the window open when its freezing (but its ok bcuz i do too but it was a little too cold)

these are a few of my favorite things.....

haha so yeha. my keyboard doesnt work realy well so gforive the typing errors more than usual.

we contacted alot this week.

but hey! we got to have counsil meeting por fin! we got a mission plan for the ward and talked about many good things. we finally re gaining the trust of the ward. bishop said that the hnas will have a harder time because the past few havent worked really. (which is relfected in the state of the area book and the uncleanliness of the apart) kind of disppointing but now we are here improving thing all at the same time because there is no time to just do one thing at a time, nope. mutitasking, thts why we are women. haha

so yeh. we are all super excited about this new program,. it is from the first presidency so we know it is so inspired. we will enter in more houses and spread this message and christmas spirit much more this way. but everyone has a part to play in this. WE NEED YOU TO SHARE THIS WEBSITE ON EVERY SOCIAL NETWORK YOU HAVE. share share share. what is a better christmjas gift then tht of helping omeone acercarse a cristo. i know he came to save ys, not to judge us. he loved each and everyone of us so lets show him our love by sharuing this love.- :) i love you all! and dont forget the bugs`pray!

funny!

on fridady it decided to storm. we were teaching n hombre outside of his house when all of a sudden the winds kicked up. the strongest ive felt in my life. rocks were flying and other things i dont know, well we told the guy we needed to go and find shelter. so we started running towards the church. i was thinking of esmeralda from hunchback yelling "sanctuary" haha but yeah, on oyur wy we ran into an inv, we went into her house to teach her and hopefully pass the wind strm, well as we finished teaching her, the rain and lighting storm began. so as its pouring, we are running, with lightning and thunder. we couldnt see really well and after a little bit realized we ran way pst the church, so we had to get back...haha wellwe were SOAKED! it awsas insane! hasha we waited for a ittle bit and then went home and changed into wterproof things. haha

spiritual!

this week i just want all of you to visit this site and SHRE IT. discover, accept, share. descubrir,recibir,compartir. i know god so loved us so he sent his son. this christmas season let us show our apprecian of this gift by the way we live and our love for fellow men. love you all!!!!!!!!!!

muah!

hermana sanders

dad- we get fed 3 times a week but soon more becuause th members are beginning to like us more, haha the bishop invited us over for an asado. we get along great my comp. she is still a very new missionary but hay que tener paciencia. haha but really shes so awesome if anything im a hard comp for her cuz im a lot more strict than her trainer. she didnt know alot of rules so its  little weir but im not mean about it so yeah haha

mom-didnt see monica but probaby soon. probably tonight we will go to the lombardos to give the email of gma but we will this week for sure! i love them so muh. that is probs another reason the ward likes us...haha we see the zone liders almost everday which is really fun. and about the weding stuff, it totes doesnt make me sad, quite the contrary!!! im so excited. this weding dress seacrh will take years knowing emily. send pic! keep them coming hahaha. i love you guiys so much! alo! i recieved all the letters and cddss and love from you guys! thanks so much! lñove the pic! totes miss reagan haha but so cute! keep it coming. also the janice kapp perry cds are good and all but super cxheesy missionary hahahaaaaaaaaa so yeah but im super excited abouit the fmily xmas cd. all the girls love it too!"! :) anywys! i love you all tons! :) muah!!!

"Bugs." (November 24, 2014)

is there anything else to say about this week? 

bugs

anyways. so pergamino. its nice. my area is the center and center of everything. its smack dab center of the city and we have all the shopping, tourist sites and ya...completely different than my last areas. but its super pretty, definitly cooler, and we have a real church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my companion is of las vegas has 20 years and speaks almost perfectly. she took 4 years of spanish haha. im the senior comp again here cuz she just started in july 16 so is pretty new. is so awesome and fun and we get along great. the first few days i was a little stressed because of the new area and having to lead it, but also there were alot of things that need fixing here so i got some work cut out for me. so the apartment....

spider in the lovely apt here in pergamino....

im so lucky ive been in 2 nice apt so i am not going to complain too bad but....its infested by cockroaches, there is mold all over, and theres just all these intersting bugs everywhere. but yeah. since ive been here we are now in the process of looking for a new apt and hopefully will be able to move out soon. if not i am asking for 2 days to do a good cleaning because the hmas who lived here before did nothing it seems. its gross. so thats good....not haha

the ward. 56 people came to church. apparently we havent had ward council in years but this sunday we organized it and will have it thursday. theres ton of disunity but i think hma bowler and i will be able to really turn things around here. we are in the same ward as the zone leaders so together we can really help this barrio work.

as far as inv go we really just have 1 progressing right now. her name is joana and this week we programmed her. shes young and has many good questions. but we are going to just do a good sweep of inv and start really from scratch. its almost like a white wash even though bowler has been here for 2 transfers but its what this area needs. haha

we share the apt with 2 other girls. hna haynes from idaho (who was in esperanza with me for a little bit) and hna valencia from peru! so its fun. 

the girls haha

umm yeah. so we went to visit the patriarch. we were visiting and said a little background about me. i said how gma is from here and served a mission. the patriarch said, do you live in san fernando valley? i said yes, and he said is your grandparents names nydia and bill? i said yes. he said. gma and him were set apart as missionaries the same day and then later in 1980, him and his wife visited them and received their endowments and were sealed in the LA temple. they remembered of my mom haha so i just kind of cried a little becuase it was so special. they have a pic of them with my gma in their living room :) it was so special.!! 

the lombardes...friends of gma and gpa rasmussen :)

so funny. the hermanas found a huge bug of some kind and brought home. we named it pucameni like in the ldm. haha well then we had a foto shoot with it of course and yeah. we kept it but it died the next day. haha

the city of Pergamino!

spiritual. job 19:33-35 i think....i love these verses. i hope we can all be closer to our savior and depend on him. he is our redeemer and as long as we look to him in times of trouble, he will life us up so we can overcome all. 

i love you all. and hope you have a wonderful week!!!

besitos!

hermana sanders

dad. i get fed 4 times a week. its fun having a ward but tons of work to do here. love ya

mom. 

the secretary and his comp are visiting with monica. hna bowler will have tramites soon and we will arrange a time through them where i can come and visit her. its totally gonna happen within the next few days i think :) moberly is home.haha love you tons!

pucameni...pour mascot for the day. found it in the street haha it died the day after

saying bye to esperanza...

saying bye to shell

with rogelio....crazy old man hahaha gave me a hug 

when i left and he was crying haha pobre

bye to lucila 

"Goodbye Esperanza, hello Pergamino" (November 18, 2014)

yay! what a week as far as numbers go it was the best week of my mission so far but we all know numbers dont count. what does count is that we met so many new people and were able to speak to them about the gospel many times. 

saying bye to patricia...the homegirl and the recent convert. 

shnell is still coming along. he came to church and was wearing a white shirt and tie. he just needs a litttle more time and then will shortly be ready to make these covenants everlasting with god. :)

saying bye to the marathon inv.

lucila and emmanuel. son buenisimos todavia! buuuut emmanuel is gonna move to a different barrio but we'll still be able to visit him. lucila wants to wait till the end of the year for her baptism but one day they both will make it and soon after, her family will make it. 

sole. she was on vacation this weekend so the first time we saw her was yesterday. we taught the ten commandments with chasity. it was a nice lesson and she understands that she needs to get married in order to baptize herself*-.

other than that we just found a ton of news and it is amazing how the spirit guides us in the way.

so other than that, im getting transferred. im going to a place called Pergamino in the south of the mission. its in the provincia of buenos aires! so im super excited. i know my zone liders and theyre awesome so im stoked. 

when hma moberly left she called me on the phone and said bye. i really will miss having her here especially cuz shes such a good example to me but its all good. crazy though shes going home and then next transfer hna carlson will go home. and then its just me and all my compysss. its all good.

soo yeah that was my week. i love hna fry and am sad i will be leaving her but i know ive done all i couldve done here and im excited to go where the lord needs me.

:) yay

me with a bunch of little lambs haha 

so funny story!

not really funny story but yeah. so argentines have 3 ways to cut grass- 1. the rich people have small lawn mowers that are plugged in. 2. weed whackers. 3. machete. the third being the most common.

also we were in a lesson and the guy come up to saludarnos and goes in for the kiss (they greet people with a kiss on the cheek here) so we did the whole, lean way back stick out the arm a mile out and say no! and then the guy we were teaching jumps in and says. "you cant kiss them, theyre holy".....so                                                                                    people here think we are holy. hah! now spiritual!

i was studying in the" true to the faith" that i got from the parents and decided to study the part about adversity. many people here go through tons of adversity it is hard to imagine how they must feel. but we always explain that god gives us these challenges to test us and make us stronger. that he has a unique plan for everyone but through everything he is right by our side but we just have to reach back for him. he loves us and everything we go through is for our benefit in the looooong run. read in dyc 122. a short section but very comforting. i love you all and god loves all of us. we can feel this love that he has for us and for others if we just humble ourselves, repent and ask in prayer. 

well thats it. excited to start this new adventure! love ya all!!!!!!!

xoxoxo

hermana sanders

bye to maria. she bought us matching hats as a goodbye
gift to me and hna fry just for fun. love her so much!

ps. pergamino has a ward and it will be my first ward in my mission!!!!

dad. so glad you are doing so much service. cool thing. i did some family looking this week. like looked at tree and ive decided im so doing it when i have more time! keep on serving. im great, the work is coming, and no baptisms this week haha

mom, glad you enjoyed my thought last week. hows your studies on pmg. i read in chp 9 the seccion about member missionary work this week. i suggest you study it. its awesome! and allyson had to walk 5 miles...pobresita.....hahahahaha im gonna be walking again. the bikes were such a blessing and now i can ride without handle bars. thats what happens when you spend 6 hours on bike at least.  sorry about aarons gpa... love you all so much!

un beso grande!

last lunch with hermana susana!

on a road to nowhereeeee

bye to the capilla here in esperanza! 

the relief society room

sacrament room 

the primary!

  last pic with the district!

*publisher's note: I copy and paste Jessica's emails just as she has written them, as poor as the spelling and grammar may be, because it's more authentic that way. You get to observe just how immersed a missionary becomes in the language and culture, as well as how little "free" time they have. They often don't' have the time to worry about spelling and grammar... they figure their family and friends will get the gist. ... and we do. ;) For this particular typo, however, I feel compelled to clarify: We do not believe that one can baptize one's self. This is just a perfect example of the Spanish grammar bleeding into English. I'm pretty sure Jessica just meant to say, "in order to be baptized." 

"Lyfe Changing" (November 10,2014)

so this week we were 100% healthy. prayers get answered!!! haha but serioulsy its been a good week. 

we have a new inv named sole. she is 25 with a cute baby girl, a 7 old boy and her marido. shes together with him not married yet but have promise ring. anyways she is wonderful. super sweet and has accepted a baptismal date. we just need to get her married but she is great. this week we will have to drop maria

na :( annnnd hmmm we focusing on finding news and all the normmmmm. 

so the baptism was all going good until thursday. shnell decided he needed to stay in the church he was baptized in. but he said maybe in the future. he is so close we know one day he will get to it but for now its this. but we arent sad. the lord knows better than us and he has to wait longer. so its okay.

the brother of lucila is golden. he is so awesome and understands everything. this week we taught the sabbath day and he even showed the scripture in the bible we were going to show. we talked about our purpose in life as well. 

so we had divisions again! i went to parahna again with hma moberly and met the nurse of the mission. she just came in from washington and is amazing. 

other than that we just are doing to norm but the title "life changing" is in regards to a conferencie we had with pres zanni and his wife. basically after sharing what they learned in a leadership training thing, he went off and talked about many themes but i want to speak on one. 

spiritual! 

he said this "como el hombre es, dios fue. y como dios es, el hombre puede llegar a ser." it means how man is, god was. and how god is, man can become. how awesome right? well if we want to reach our full potential as missionaries...or as children of god, we need to do everything he has commanded us to do, 100%. this means being exactly odedient. i read today in hebrews 12:6. god loves the disciplined, simply. and this means those who obey and are doing the things without complaining. its interesting that discipline and disciple are similar right? if we want to be true disciples of christ, we need to be disciplined. do the thing we are asked to do without complaining and doing them to the best of our ability. as we do this we will become true sons and daughters of god. 

funny!

another thing pres told us is that he learned 

us being us... 

everything from his mission. this is how he propsed to his wife. knocked on her door, and verified how she was, taught her that marriage was essential to salvacion then 

invited her to marry him. he said seguira las eseñanzas de la iglesia a se casara conmigo? she said. he promised blesing and said yo le promete que va a ser re feliz and blah blah blah. then he said you need to know for yourself that this marriage is true. will you pray to know that you should marry me? she said yes. then he made an appt. tomorrow at 7 i will come to see how your pray was. will you be here at that time, she said yes. he left. then the next day h came back and verified hahaha

anyways that was my week i love you all soo much!!

hermana sanders

in argentina they make their own houses on the side of the road haha

the sign says, dont trespass, danger of death. haha 

Sunday dinner, pasta and garlic bread!!

"oauhfcrmluhrgls...." (November 3, 2014)

hiiiii

getting ready for the rain

so this week started out soo great. we taught wonderful lessons and found news monday. tuesday morning also was great but then after our district meeting, hermana fry started to feel super sick....she ended up throwing up and then the comp of the other hermanas was sick too, so hermana wilde and i just did spilts for the night. then wednesday we went to the hospital and stayed in the whole day because hma fry was super sickl :( then on thursday i got super sick. we went in the morning but had to come back early. then friday we were both on the better side of things but we started to go out, kinda shaky, then it started pouring we went inside for 10 minutes cuz it was a storm that was dangerous and then went to lunch, after lunch i threw up, we stayed in a little then left again cuz we had a cita but came back at 8. saturday we had a baptismal interview for an inv and then i ended up having bad pains in my ear so we went to the hospital, i had an ear infecction and inflamatory something or other...couldnt understand spanish medical terms. then stayed tried to work...i was feeling super weak and dizzy and all, with pains in my ear and head and stomach, hma fry still wasnt 100% but we needed to see patricia...the rc (recent convert). she wasnt answering any of our phone calls and she still needed to be confirmed (receive the gift of the Holy Ghost) btw...she moved and theres been a huge ordeal so it was really important that we saw her. haha anyways right after we bought my meds for the ear thing we were riding around just praying to see her. no more than 2 minutes we see her waiting on a corner for a taxi. we ride over and turns out she has a new number. we get the new number and talk to her for a little bit till the taxi came. so that was a miracle. we were wiped out after that and sat in a park for 5 minutes debating what to do. we got ice cream and returned to the apt and just rested cuz we were both super sick still..fry was getting better but i still was on a low. so sunday. wake up...rough. the night before it was thundering and lightning and all and we couldnt sleep too well. get up, still raining and super cold. get to church, not feeling well at all. but we get through it. in the 2nd hour PATRICIA CAME. she walked in the rain with her baby and all! aaahhhhhhh i was soo happy. so finally she got confirmed. i held it together until we got home, i threw up one more time and just studied for a bit and slept. woke up this morning feeling soo much better but yeah. that was our week.

hugeeeeeee pills for the ear thing 

funny...we kinda did nothing so there wasnt too much funny 

spiritual.

first of all, the secret to happiness in missionary work is work. and when you cant work because of stupid sickness, just try to keep your head up. dont get frustrated and just pray that you will get better ASAP cuz its not fun doing nothing all day. 

second of all. i just want to speak a little on patriarchial blessings. for those who dont know too well, patriarchal blessings are special blessings unique to each and every individual. basicaly they are given by men who have the priesthood (power and authority of god). they are inspired by god to give specific blessings and guidance to someone to help them in their life. they also answer 3 questions very simply. what is your identity as a child of god? what is your purpose in this life? and what is your destiny?. i invite all of you who have your blessings to read them again with these things in mind. pray before and after and ask for the guidance to find these answers. i know you will all find these answers and gain a better understanding of who you are and gods plan for you. i know god loves us and because of this love he gave us the ability to return to him. we have the gospel, we have blessings, and he gave us his son. jesus christ. only through him and his atonement, can we become who we need to be to return and live with god and our families forever. 

i love you all :)

keep healthy and keep happy #thumbsup

chaocito

hermana sanders

our week...drinking mate cocida... 

...and chilling out with my awesome comp