This week was another good one! It was a different one though!

So it has been a weird different couple of weeks. We have kind of hit a dry spell in our area. We have great investigators and are progressing really well except they are not doing a few things to completely progress... coming to church is the hard one but it has always been the hard thing for investigators to keep or start doing.

On Friday we had a HUGE talent show! We played a duet together. Me on the flute and Hermana Hammond on the piano! I can't wait to show you the video!! It was soooo funny! So in our ward we have a joke with them singing "God be with you till we meet again" our Bishop always jokes with me that we are going to sing it in our sacrament meeting and I am always opposed to it and after that all the members sing it to me because they see that it bugs me! So we decided to do something funny for our song at the talent show. We played it and at first we played it all nice and beautiful and then halfway through Hermana Hammond ran her hand across the keys and we did a remix and did it faster and funner (I am not sure funner is a word)! The ward loved it! A lot of people have never seen a flute before so it was fun to show them. We also did a part of Karaoke and I was chosen to sing!!!! NOOOOO!!! haha But I did it! They had music in English and I got to pick! I didn't know 99% of the songs but I did know one of them.... "We are the champions" by Queen! haha It was so much fun!! Well the party started at 9:30 and lasted until 3 in the morning!!!! W e had to leave at 10:20 to be in the apartment at 10:30! It was sooo hard to leave! The talents here are amazing! There where a lot of dancers and music players! We didn't get to see much but in the next couple of weeks the members are going to show us their talent so that we can see it!

This week we cleaned the baptismal font here...... I really hate it! I did it in La Banda and now here????? UGH! haha but it was fun... I guess. It looks sooooo much better! I just hope that it stays clean! haha

I really don't have any updates on investigators. They are doing well. But this week has been interesting because I feel like that I have grown soooo much this week! We had a lot of experiences that were really spiritual and Ii felt the spirit a lot.

One experience we had was on Thursday. There has not been a lot of times in my life, if any, where I have received a strong witness from the spirit but I definitely got one Thursday! We were on the way to a lesson with M__________ and C________. We were going to invite them to be baptized and prepare for this Saturday and on the way there we were talking about what we were going to share with them and who was going to say what and so on, but I was talking and in the middle of my sentence I stopped and I felt very strongly that we should not go... I brushed it off and we kept walking.... again and the feeling was even stronger that we should not go.... I kept brushing it off because I really wanted to teach them, but once again I felt it but stronger. Suddenly Hermana Hammond said that she doesn't feel good about teaching them and I told her that I felt the same thing. We didn't know what to do. We felt like it was actually dangerous for us to go. We were very confused. We stopped in the park nearby and sat on a bench. We prayed. I received such a strong feeling of DON'T GO!! I have never felt the spirit like I had in that moment. It was really interesting. We didn't understand why and we still don't but we placed our confidence in the Lord and we didn't go. We still feel good about our decision to follow those promptings. Our district leader was really confused and a little angry that we didn't go. He has been pushing us hard to get M____ and C___________ baptized because they are the only ones in our area ready. It is really frustrating but I am not going to talk about it any more.

So after that experience, I have had a lot of interest in the way the spirit speaks to us. I have been studying chapter 4 in Preach My Gospel and there is a page where it talks all about different examples in the scriptures of the way he works. It has been really cool to study it and learn how to better understand the spirit! It's a great chapter to study!! I recommend it!

I can feel that the Lord is teaching me on a more intense level this past week! Not sure if it's because I only have 2 weeks left or another reason but I feel like I am on a high speed chase of pure doctrine! haha

So I guess that it is finally that time of the mission where I have run out of Pdays to write you all. I only have one more left!! I can not believe how fast my mission has gone and that it is actually almost over! So obviously that next week is me last day writing you and the last day for me to get letters from you and I have a very special request... because it will be my last week, I will need a spiritual boost.

Here is your homework...

Next week I would like you to write me what Padre Celestial has taught you in the past 18 months. What have you learned about Christ and how it has changed your life!! I know you all have grown sooo much and I would like to have your testimonies with me during my last week in my mission! It will help me a TON!!!!

In the reading this week I freaking LOVE 3 Nephi!!! It is just sooooo good! I am learning a lot about the Savior and his love for us and I am learning more every day! It was so nice to see the way the Lord shared His love for the people in the Americas and I get the chance to know how much He loves them! I love it here and the people here! I understand a lot about the willingness the people had to accept His doctrine when He was here because they were and still are humble and meek in heart and with open arms to the Savior of the world!

As for the reading this week....

Mon 3N 17-19

Tue 3N 20-21

Wed 3N 22-27

Thu 3N 28 y 4N

Fri Mor 1-3

Sat Mor 4-8

Sun Mor 9 y Ether 1

Hope y'all have a great week!!!

Hermana Creason

p.s. WE ARE ON THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!!!!!

WOW what a week!!!!! It really is just flying by!! 

Well this week was a little hard for us. Our area hit a dry spell this week. Our investigators are not really progressing. It's been hard. We were doing sooo good but then this week we hardly taught anyone and we couldn't find anyone new to teach. But there are weeks like that in the mission and there is nothing that we can do but move on and find the chosen! haha

Well this week we had fun! We had our interviews with president Chaparro. He is so great! I really like him! I'm just sad that I don't have more time to learn from him! But he will be so great for the mission!! He talked to me a lot about what he thinks that this mission needs. What is something that every area needs? Great question right? I was stumped but he just sat there and waited for my answer. So I thought and thought and I thought some more. I was thinking about every area that I had served in and what it needed and I immediately thought about charity. All of my areas needed a lot of love! That is what I shared with him! I told him that love is what every area needs. I told him about how when I shared my love with others, the mood changed, trust was stronger and the spirit was powerful. I learned a lot about charity in the mission! I still come up short having it but I know that it has gotten a lot better in the mission. Loving and serving!!! 

So not a lot of updates on investigators this week because we didn't teach very many but I have got some great stories that I want to share!!!

First off was yesterday!! Oh my gosh! It was CRAZY!! We had a family home evening with a less active S____________ and her family. We are teaching S__________'s friend, J______! He is the one that is sensitive to the other side of the veil. Anyways, he is great and he wanted to teach us how to cook a few things!! He taught us pizza, empanadas, and tortillas.... well it was an eexperience that I will never forget! So we are making the dough and having fun with her crazy kids, making a mess with flour and we are rolling out the dough for the empanadas. So I was filling empanadas and Hermana Hammond was putting sauce on the pizza. She came over to me and said in English....

"hermana... I have something to tell you... there's cochroaches crawling on the food..... 2 were in the pizza sauce...."

I will leave you time to go puke...

Are you done?? Good, so am I...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

It was HORRIBLE!!! They were everywhere in the kitchen! Lets just say that the food came out and I was sooo sick to my stomach I couldn't eat! It was just crazy! Her kids are nuts and the youngest who is 4 nailed me in the face with a ball of dough. I didn't have time to warn Hermana Hammond and then he nailed her in the face too! I am soo surprised we don't have black eyes! 

Saturday tradition

This week we taught M__________ and C___________. It was interesting. They are so great and love to learn but they are sooo iintelligent and they are just soooo stubborn its hard to teach them. So this week we taught them about prayer. We told them how to pray and the importance of prayer. We explained it for a good hour and we thought that we had explained it clearly. They said they understood it. We asked one of them if they could say the closing prayer. M___________ hates praying. She thinks its just empty words so she wouldn't say the prayer. So C__________ said he would do it. We bowed our heads and listened. He then said... " I would like to ask you to keep preaching to us and to keep helping us learn..." I looked up and he was looking at us, I realized that he wasn't praying. I looked and Hermana Hammond and she was looking at him too. We listened to him basically share his testimony and then he said , " in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."........ yeah he was praying the whole time! haha we laughed about it forever after! haha

This week will be exciting! We have a huge activity this week on Friday! It;s a great big talent show!! We are sooo excited! We are going to do a duet with the piano and flute! We picked the hymn God be with you till we meet again. We are going to play it really pretty and nice and then at the chorus we are going to Rock and Roll it!! We are stoked!! 

So I have once again run out of time to write more but I pray that all is well and that you too are enduring till the end! After all we only have 3 more weeks!! 

Love you sooo much!!!

Hermana Creason

oh and the reading! i forgot the paper but on Sunday we need to be on 3 nefi 16

Oh wow there is a lot to tell you guys this week! I really hope that I don't forget anything and that I have enough time to write! haha

Well to begin with C___________ and M__________... they are great people but we found something out this week.... C__________ is a Hustler...... haha he got out of jail about 5 months ago and he was in jail from robbing money from a church... haha so that was fun to find out... haha we are really bummed about it because we don't know what to do about it. He doesn't know that we know and he has lied to us about a lot of things. Let's just say that the bishop was able to figure it all out. We are bummed because we want to keep teaching M___________ but we just can't teach one and not the other... our leaders told us to really pray about it and go by the spirit!

So we were kinda bummed because our progressing investigators are just falling through! Its tough but where there are hardships, the Lord is there too because we have AMAZING INVESTIGATORS that just came out of no where!!!

J__________: I am not sure if I have talked about him yet. He is a friend of a less active that we are trying to activate. He is the one that read the Book of Mormon in a week. Well we recently couldn't find him and then as we followed the spirit, we found him again. He then told us his issue... J_________ is a freaking medium!! Meaning that he can see the other side of the veil!! He can feel out energies too.  He said that he already knows if we are in his friends house because he can "feel" us..... that's a first... haha.   He has had a lot of bad experiences in churches because he said he can see evil things  or things that just aren't right. He hates churches. Well we invited him for a church tour of the chapel. He didn't want to go when people where there so we did it later Sunday afternoon. It was sooo good. He said that he feels really good in the church and that its very, very peaceful! We talked about the Plan of salvation and he loved it! He wants to be baptized!!! He is prepping for August 30th! He really, really wants this!

J_________ C.: he is the son of a member. He was actually baptized when he was 8 but his papers were lost and he isn't a member so he needs to be baptized again but the thing is... he doesn't want to... well didn't ;) He drinks a lot and doesn't have a desire. He said that missionaries have been teaching him for years but never wanted to. From the beginning we just clicked with him!! He is really great! He wants to change and he wants to know how THROUGH THE BOOK OF MORMON!! How great is that?¿?¿?¿? He really is great and he too is prepping for the 30th of August.

M__________: she is the girlfriend of a member. She is from Spain! She is so great! She came to church yesterday! She loves us and we are teaching her tonight! She is a fireball and we like her a lot!!

So a lot of funny things happened this week that I wanted to share with you that I KNOW will bring a smile to your face and make you WISH you were in Argentina!

So this week we forgot to buy something in the store so we went on Wednesday... when we checked out we got our change back and the checker asked if I had 50 cents.. I told him no and he said well we don't have enough change here so as for your 50 cents change, can I give you a band aid? .... only in Argentina is a band aid change!! haha We laughed forever about it! and to make it better as we were walking back to our apartment, laughing I looked at a cop that was leaning against a wall biting his walkie talkie when we got closer he was staring at something in the road and he was MAKING OUT with his walkie! I LOST IT!!! Oh how I love Argentina!!!!!

O____________ is doing great! He is in Buenos Aires this week and it has been very lonely without him here! haha But we text him every day!!!

As for the reading the reading this week.. Aren't the war chapters so much fun to read???..... haha well I came across a scripture I really liked. Its in Alma 43:37-38. here it talks about the Nephites and the war with the Lamenites. The Nephites did a good job and not as many died like the Lamenites but something grabbed my attention. The Nephites still died from the loss of blood because their protection was not enough. The more I thought about this scripture the more I thought about my personal armor of God and if I have enough armor, or is some of my spiritual body exposed to the attacks from Satan? I thought about the Armor of God, and how we have it in our lives. We have it as we obey the commandments of the Lord. So I thought if I am being obedient... not in everything... no one is but the thing is, if we are not obedient we aren't completely protected and we are vulnerable to the attacks of Satan and we fall because of the loss of blood. This loss of blood is SIN and we are staining our souls! It was a really cool study and I invite you to read it too and receive revelation!!

The reading this week!

M alma 55-57

T alma 58-60

W alma 61-63

T hel 1-3

F hel 4-5

S hel 6-7

S hel 8-10

Love you more than you know!!

Hermana Creason