Power to Change

MIS AMORES!! Hows the fam doin? Ya know I just realized that Thanksgiving is comin up! Hope you guys have a good one. :)

OKay so guess who came to San Fernando speaking like a champ in front of all of the missionaries and the Litoral stake? YA THATS RIGHT ELDER D TODD CHRISOFFERSON!!! K so i dont know if you guys knew this but HE and HIS WIFE speak Spanish perfectly.  We need to give a big round of applause for Sister Christofferson. Shes older but she spoke with soooo much power.. IN SPANISH. oh my word.

 

okay so my Elder Christopherson said something that hit every argentine/gringo heart soooo hard. he shared a story about the atonement. I really like how he focused on the atonement:) Anyways it was about this woman who excommunicated from the church. Guys im tellin ya she committed every possible sin. A huge list of sins... it was kind of impressive to Elder Christofferson to have so many sins. and this woman felt so broken and felt the love of God flooding her life she wanted to repent of her sins and return back to the temple. SO SHE repented of her sins. She did it. And she was ready to have an interview with Elder Christofferson. and Elder Chistofferson was super  worried. He was like.. HOW CAN one person commit so many sins?? Where do you find the time and he admitted that he judged her and was worried for this interview.

And then she walks in to the interview.

Her face is lit up. and Elder C is taken back because there is light shooting out of her face and shes smiling. They had the interview and he said when she left the room he felt so strong that this woman was more pure than he was and purer than anyone else could be in this world. 

It made me cry. It made every other Argentine cry. He went on explaining that thats what the power of the atonement can do for us. It can change us in ways we never thought possible. It makes us ok and cleans us perfectly. We only need to be like this woman and come to God with this broken heart and offer him our sins. Isnt that an awesome offer? He also said that the power isnt us repenting.. The power comes from God because  he forgives us. I know it seems really confusing but it was a huge lightbulb moment. It goes to show that our part is nothing in comparison to the power that God has to ALWAYS forgive us and give us more grace and more love. 

It reminds me of Abraham and Isaac.  He was about to sacrifice his son.. God stopped him and HE TOOK control and blessed him. The power of the atonement, the power of his grace doesn't come from us, it comes from him.   I testify with every fiber of my being that the grace of Jesus Christ gives us the power to change. To become better. To be happier. To be more loving. To be more humble. It gives us everyhting. Grace is everything people.

Bueno this week we have a baptism!! His name is Bruno and is 15 years old. His dad is a drunk.. (like Erica) and his mom and his family live in Corrientes Argentina. Hes living here and is feeling really lonely. Hes sooo fascinated with the church and his first question for us was.. WHO IS JESUS and how can I learn more about him. I lookd at Hermana Traverso and my mouth was hanging open. This boy has so much potential. His desire to read and pray and learn blows me away. hes so excited for his baptism! We're reallllly working on his dad. We have faith that he will stop drinking. :) Bruno told us he wants to serve a mission. :) YAY!

Last thing.. When i was in Belgrano.. me and Hermana Torres had been focusing on this less active family. out of my two transfers there.. They only came to church ONCE. We felt sooo strong that this family needed to return to the church and receive its blessings. AND THURSDAY I RAN INTO A MEMBER FROM BLEGRANO AND SHE TOLD ME THEY ARE GETTING SEALED IN  THE TEMPLE IN JANUARY! Wow. All of those lessons paid off! I feel so happy that I can be a little part of that!

update on Antonio.. . He baptized one of the elders converts and he had to redo it 5 times. HAHAHAHAA. HE got sooo nervious and nobody taught him how to do it. He just keep dunking the poor guy in the water. hahahahahahha. what an amazing soul :)

l

well i love you!! MUAH! Carry on!

hermama terrry

Undeserved Miracles!

This is Hugo!.  He is the most precious 12 year old boy in Argentina.  He has touched my heart and soul beyond words.

 This is everyones favorite baby at church.  He has down syndrome and he sings every hymn at the top of his lungs.  Just in love with this precious spirit!

 Me and Hugo!  Purest love!

 Me and My comp

WOW what a week! Como andan? Todo bien? Theres no more floods here in Tigre! Now its starting to get suuuuper hot! Faa. Miracles abound because I did not get sick mom from walking in the "filthy water" as you put it!  In fact I feel better than ever!

So every week in the mission feels like a miracle week. This week especially felt like a week of undeserved miracles. 

I wanna start off with a little story. :) .............Once upon a time Hermana Terry and Hermana Traverso were suuper hot and were walking along the empty streets on empty stomachs of Rincon. They felt prompted to ask a referencia from this little 11 year old who was playing soccer on the street. He led them to his house and the missionaries started to teach him and his mom. The kids name was Ignacio and the moms name was Alicia. Hermana Traverso y Hermana Terry shared their testimonies about the power of the atonement in their lives. Then they taught them how to pray. We first start off saying Padre Celestial. And then that sparked an interest in Ignacio. Ignacio asked Quien es Padre Celestial (Who is Heavenly Father?) . Hermana Terry, said a quick prayer in her head and opened her mouth and explained to this little boy who is God. She told him very simply that when he gets scared in the night he can pray to Dios and Dios will watch over him every minute of his life and protect him. And that Dios es nuestre padre y que el le ama. :) 

Ignacio put his hands over his eyes and tried not to cry. It felt like light white fire in the room while he digested this information.  It felt like God came to witness himself personally to Ignacio and it was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed.  For the first time in his life he learned that there is a God that loves him. Hermana Traverso and Hermana Terry felt Gods hand in this little boys life they will never ever forget. 

The next day the Hermanas were walking and realized that there were two little kids laughing behind them. Ignacio and his friend had been following them. Ignacio told the Hermanas that he TAUGHT HIS FRIEND HOW TO PRAY. His friend, Hugo jumped in and lit up and told the Hermanas that he liked praying and had been reading in the pamphlet that they gave to Ignacio. I felt like my heart froze, it almost seemed surreal.  The Hermanas went to Hugos dad and talked to him. Hugos dad was suuuper harsh and didnt want anything to do with God. He is a man whos divorced and feels super depressed in his life. The Hermanas felt a little sad because they didnt wanna focus on baptizing ninos (kids) so they decided to wait a while to teach Hugo. 

Sunday rolls around and the Hermanas brought one person to church. His name is Bruno and is 16 years old. He will (hopefully) be baptized next week! Bruno loves the church and wants to serve a mission. The Hermanas felt so grateful to God that they found someone who God had prepared. During the sacrament Hermana Terry heard the door open and saw that there was a short someone with a rugrat gangster hat on. AND THEN HE COMES TO SITs NO HE ACTUALLY SNUGGLES UP BY HERMANA TERRY AND THEN HERMANA TERRY REALIZES... HEY ITS HUGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She asked him HOW in the world he arrived solo. HE PULLED out a Jesus card that had the direction de la capilla (directions to the church) on it. He told her that his DAD dropped him off. So of course Hermana Terry started freaking out and was smiling so big. It felt like the best Christmas morning ever. She prayed and asked God... HOW? WHY? HOW did this happen???

And then God told her these words. "How do you think he got up this morning? I prepared him. How do you think he got to church? I led him to church. How do you think you found him? It was me.  I can do all things Marie."  It hit her soooo hard. This whole time she and her companion were so anti kids when in reality GOD HAD PREPARED HIM FROM THE BEGINNING. Hermana Terry felt God tell her that he is not only watching over Hugito.. but HIS WHOLE FAMILY. She had a strong feeling that Hugo and his dad will be baptized. Hugo has the softest heart of gold.  Please please friends, pray for Hugos Dad to become soft and gentle like his son.

This story screams to me. I know with all my heart that if we do GODS WILL, we will always always always always always always have success. But what is success? Doing the will of God and in return he gives us 10,000 more blessings. Theres a song we Ive been listening to since Christmas is around the corner:) here are the lyrics (mom will you include a link to this song- it is really so beautiful and worth a listen) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhzWypOp-E4

The skies don't seem to be as dark as usual
The stars seem brighter then they've been before
Deep within I feel my soul a stirring
As though my hope has been restored

The shepherds say they've heard the voice of angels
Confirming rumors spread across the land
That a child protected well from Herod's anger
Is our Father's Son, and the Son of man

Love is raining down on the world tonight
There's a presence here I can tell
God is in us, God is for us, God is with us, Emmanuel
He's a Savior we have been praying for
In our humble hearts He will dwell
God is in us, God is for us, God is with us, Emmanuel

I feel compelled to tell all who will listen
That peace on earth is not so out of reach
If we can find grace and mercy and forgiveness
He has come to save, He is all of these

Love is raining down on the world tonight
There's a presence here I can tell
God is in us, God is for us, God is with us, Emmanuel
He's a Savior we have been praying for
In our humble hearts He will dwell
God is in us, God is for us, God is with us, Emmanuel

Love is raining down on the world tonight
There's a presence here I can tell
God is in us, God is for us, God is with us, Emmanuel
He's a Savior we have been praying for
In our humble hearts He will dwell
God is in us, God is for us, God is with us

You're the Savior we have been praying for
In our humble hearts You will dwell
You are in us, You are for us, You are with us, Emmanuel

This week the words, God is in us God is for us God is with us have been running in my head. HE IS EVERYWHERE in the mission. You know what He is all over the world, in every crack and crevice God knows his children and he loves them dearly.  He leads them to churchs and missionaries, but maybe most importantly he leads them to their knees to come to know him.   I have a strong testimony that THIS IS GODS WORK.. NOT OURS. HE WILL LEAD US TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE PREPARED. I KNOW IT. I KNOW IT. I KNOW IT.

This morning I read this scripture (perdon if ive already shared it) and I wanna share it with you guys: 

Hebrews 11: 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

I think the reward is that we actually FIND HIM!  I have been searching for him my whole life and I see him in Hugos eyes, and Ericas face the hearts and words of all my Argentina friends!

PEOPLE ITS SOOO TRUE!!!!!!!! ITS  IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD IF WE DONT ALREADY HAVE THE FAITH THAT HE LOVES US JUST HOW WE ARE. HIS LOVE NEVER CHANGES!!! I feel like as missionaries we try to please God.. and then we get in this trap and think were not good enough and we're not good missionaries. But I know through experience that we need to believe that God will CARE FOR AND LEAD us. God loves his missionaries and is pleased with us. I learned to never stop seeking him.. even though sometimes I feel tempted to push him away.. DONT DO IT. TRUST IN HIS LOVE. TRUST IN YOUR WORTH, BECAUSE YOUR WORTH WAS ALREADY SET BEFORE YOU WERE BORN. YOU DONT NEED TO ANYTHING TO RECEIVE MORE WORTH FROM GOD. OKAY? OKAY.

i love you all and hope you have an amazing week!!!

love, Hermana Terrrrry!! CARRY ON CARRY ON CARRY ON!

Rains came down and the floods came up!

HOLA FAMILIA!!!

Holy smokes this week has been crazyyy and FULL of rain and floods and more rain and more floods!!!Ok everybody sing altogether now.  The rains came down and the floods came up.......

Saturday we got a call from a member in Rincon telling us to NOT come to work today and we´re like whatever. We´ll just work through the floods. How bad can it be? HAHA so we get there and it is PAST our knees. And it was raining and we look at each other and just started laughing. ;)  We could laugh or drown, we chose laugh.

Sunday we were like SI O SI we have to go pick up our investigators and go to church. YAAA that didnt happen!! We  had 9 people at church yesterday!! THE FLOODS were crazy! 

People were traveling in boats in the streets! ahahaa.

SO we walked/swimmed to our area and THE WATER WAS SO DIRTY. haha you dont even wanna know. AND THEN WE DROPPED OUR PHONE in the water AND THEN I FELL IN THIS LITTLE/BIG HOLE IN THE ROAD.

But it was so special. As we were walking all of the people were looking out of their windows waving to us and saying HERMANAS!! HERMANAS!! And I just felt so darn happy. Even though I was freezing cold in the pouring rain walking in a river. I FELT SO HAPPY. I felt sooooo proud to be a missionary. Everyone knows who we are. When no one is willing to walk the streets the missionaries WANT to be in the streets asking everyone if they need help.  We wanted to be out and about and we wanted to help everyone we could find.   Everyone could see that we werent gonna stay home, we were gonna find people.We talked to everyone. Even though they didnt want anything.. I went to bed happy those two nights. I felt like I was really searching for people who needed anything we could offer.  God has taught me in the mission of buenos aires norte that things arent always gonna go my way.. but if i just go with it and TRUST in Gods will, things will work out and the miracles WILL COME!!

Ive made a personal goal to talk to as many people as I can in a day. I feel like this is something that Im not afraid to do and I so enjoy meeting new people. so I´ve started opening my mouth and now its getting embarassing cause I  TALK TO EVERYONE IN THE STREET. haha it just brings me so much joy to spread the gospel. even if they reject us, at least we helped them feel the spirit and a little bit of love from our Heavenly Father. :)

well pray for Tigre and all the homes that have been ruined from this flood!! love you all!!

CHAU! CARRY ON CARRY ON CARRY ON!!!!