howdy...

Hello my dearest family and friends,

Well here I am still in Urquiza, yeah! Today is the first day of my 8th transfer, weird. Hermana Vargas is still my companion, but sadly Hermana Gillum went to Caballitos. I really learned so much from that girl and know that we will be life long friends. However, thus is the life of a missionary.... always changing.

Well this week has been fairly calm, not to many crazy stories. We are in need of new investigators, but that´s not really new. We always are looking for people who are ready and prepared for the gospel. I suppose you never can have enough people to teach. That however is one of our main focuses right now. Sorry I really am running a blank of things to write here, weird. 

So how are all of you doing? Oh, before I forget thank you for the emails. If you could only see the joy it brings to my face when I see I have emails, lets just say I smile, and you all know how big that tends to be. So thank you Isaac, Brother Bingham, Jack, Dad, Aunt Janie and Mom for your emails. They are such a lift, especially when it has been so long... I can´t believe I´m gonna hit my year mark next week....that´s weird. Okay so as promised photos! Oh and I´d love to hear how some of you are doing....you know who you are...if you are feeling the slightest bit guilty right now, you are probably on the list ;)

 

Okay sorry it´s so short, but that´s all I got, until next week...

Love ya

Aleta

 

burrr, it´s rather cold outside‏

Hello family,

I´d just like to tell you that it is rather cold outside. Today is kind of like a wet drizzly November day. We went to Wal-mart today. It was kind of weird, it was like I just stepped out of Argentina and into the states, but not exactly because there are still mostly Latin brands. It was pretty great though. I must admit that I never in my life thought that I would be glad to enter a wal-mart. So that is what we did today. So how are you all doing? Thanks Betsy for the update. Brother Bingham I thoroughly enjoyed your letter, sounds like camp will be great. Dad, thanks for the email, I guess we will just have to wait and see if my art changes when I get home or not. Mom, you are great. Thank you for your constant love and support.

So I got to go to Vicente Lopez yesterday and attend a baptism of a former investigator there. That was great. It was beautiful and I was so glad that I was able to go and be a part of that change in his life. There is just something truly beautiful when a person decides to make promises with their Heavenly Father. I know that the Lord will bless him in his life.

Last night we also had a rather fun (?) experience. We were walking home and my companion Hermana Gillum thought that we should take a different way home, so we did. We went a block and were about to turn the corner when we saw a mom and her two kids out side of their car with the hood up. Well, I thought wish I new something about cars right now... we offered to help anyway. Well after a bit of talking and looking at the car, it still wouldn't start. So we decided to try and get it going by pushing it and her putting it into gear. Well that didn´t really work either. So we asked where they lived and it really wasn´t that far so we pushed the car all the way back to her house. Okay, that was really a lot of work. I thought that it would be fine if we could push the car walking, it would have worked, but we ended up continuing to run. Well needless to say by the end of the whole thing we were really tired. We made it home and just were wiped out. We did manage to take a few rather entertaining pictures though. I don´t have time to send them today, but look for them next week.

I´ve got to get running. I love you all and miss you very much.

Love,

Aleta

The Ward Talent Show in Vicente Lopez

HELLO!!!!!!

My dearest family,
How are all of you? It was great as usual to get your email and to hear what´s going on in your lives. I hope that Calista is feeling better. I´ll keep her in my prayers. Yes, the 9th in Independence day here, but I actually forgot, so I guess that tells you how much they celebrate it here....I really don´t have to much to say today sorry, It´s been a really long week full of meetings. I feel a bit wiped out. It is just one of those days that you are happy it´s p-day. We had training meetings this week in San Fernando for all of the district leaders, zone leaders and the trainers. So we went to San Fernando three days this week. I learned a lot and it was great to see some of my former companions, especially because two of them finish their missions in two weeks. Okay so as far as things here in Urquiza.... We had a baptism last week, Carlos and this week he was confirmed. He is so happy. It was great to see his family seated together in church this Sunday. We had a lesson with them this week and the Relief Society president came with us. She and one of her counselors had gone to his house the other day to help with some of their everyday needs. The daughter, was so happy to have a new skirt to wear to church. Wednesday night we had ward council and informed the bishop and ward leaders of their situation and it was so heart warming to see how they all grabbed their pens and started taking notes of which person were in charge of doing what to help them out. Then to our surprise less than 24 hours later they had visited this family to start helping out. It truly was a blessing to see the lord work this way through the members of the ward.
My companions are great, we have a great time and are always laughing about something. I´m getting used to the city and figuring out which bus takes us where. That is always fun....there are a lot of buses here, not to mention the train and the subway. It´s a little different that home:) Well that´s about it for me today sorry, I´ll try and attach some photos at least.
Lots of Love to you all!!!!!!!
Aleta

Happy 4th !!!!!!

I can´t believe it is July 4th. Last night when we were planning I looked at the date in my planner, which says ¨4 de Julio¨ So to me it was simply the 4th of the month. So naturally my mind first went to ¨Hey, I have 11 months in the mission today, weird...¨ Then after that I gasped and turned to Hermana Gillum and said ¨Tomorrow is the 4th of July!¨She got out an American flag and started singing the Star spangled Banner along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was very entertaining. To answer a question, yes I am currently decked out in Red, white and Blue.

Okay so to answer a few questions, Yes, I am great. Don´t worry about me. I have trust in the Lord and I know that I am the one here in Urquiza because he needs me here. Of course I miss Vicente Lopez and it just seems like I had so little time there, only 7 weeks and I had almost 8 months in Tigre, so it was a bit of a change. I have one week in Urquiza and it is great. The ward is very friendly and missionary oriented. We actually had a baptism on Saturday. His name is Carlos and I met him for the first time about 2 hours before his baptism. The other missionaries had been teaching him and he has been really busy all week so we couldn´t teach him. Well we called him Friday night and asked how he was feeling for his baptism on Sunday. He said he had to work Sunday, but Saturday would work. Okay, sure, no problem. So we ran around and got everything figured out and he got baptised . YAY.

Okay, next. Yes I am warm enough. Okay it is cold. It feels just like home in the Winter there is that lovely humidity here as well. ;) My poor companion who has 1 month here in Argentina is from Guatemala, she had 4 skirts on yesterday along with spandex under her tights and two jackets. It was pretty funny, she said that she has never had on so much clothes in her life.

Next. Urquiza is close to Vicente Lopez, just closer to the capital. This area is a lot busier tan the other two and there are a lot of apartment buildings. I think it is next to Nuñez and Belgrano if you can find them on the map.

You asked about Hna. Sandoval, yes she technically finishes her mission on the 7th, but will go home at the end of transfers like every one else. I will be done with 18 months the 4th of February, but won´t finish until the 21st. So it is really more like 19 months in the mission.

Sounds like all of the movies have been fun, I look forward to watching them all with you when I get home! A big shout out to the folks at the theater!!!!!

Okay I think that was all of the questions for this week. Thank you everyone for the letters! It was great to hear from Dad, mom, aunt Janie, Jack and Brother Wilson. Bro. Wilson your letter was great and I actually had the exact reactions that you thought I would. I can´t believe there are so many missionaries leaving from the Ward. That´s awesome! Oh and Jack, yes, it is the kind with ground beef and mashed potato's. I am slightly jealous of you right now. I hope it is delicious.

I hope everyone is having a lovely and Happy fourth. Enjoy the fireworks for the girl on the other side of the planet where they don´t celebrate today. I hope you have lovely weather and that it is warm, cause I ´m missin´that right nowJ

I´ll write again next week. Love you all.

Aleta

wow, didn´t see that coming...

Hello dearest family,

I hope you are all well. I am doing just great here in URQUIZA. That´s right, not Vicente Lopez, Urquiza. Well it is a bit of a long story and I´ll get to it in a minute. First things first. This week was just full of suprises. We had a zone conference on Wednesday that was just great. We all learn so much and just come away from them with a new enegery to work, work, work. My companion is fabulous like I have previously said, but she really is great. She is learning and growing everyday and so am I. Oh and on Thursday we had our weekly planning session where we plan for the whole week, who we are going to see, when we are going to stop by this persons house, what we are going to teach etc..., so this week was something different. President Gulbrandsen had all of us in the whole mission on a conference call at the same time so we all planned together. It was pretty cool that he can talk to all of us at the same time no matter where we are, even the people in the south.
Okay okay, so that is how the week went up ´til Thursday. Friday morning I got a phone call from one of the assistents saying that something had happened in Urquiza and that we (my companion and I were being transfered.) What? Okay when...now. What? Well okay so we packed our bags and were ready to go about at 12.30. So we called the mission office to find out the direction an dhow to get there. Well Elder Denton said that, they didn´t have the keys they were with Sister Gulbrandsen in Escobar. Well for those of you who don´t know, Escobar is far, very far from me. So we thought it would be aboutu 2 hours until the keys got there. Well we called at 4.30 and still no new news. Turns out the keys didn´t get to the mission office until 9 something and we got them at about 10.30. So it was a very unproductive day. All day in our apartment. It was goood for my companion though because she has just been dying to mark her scriptures. So she had plenty of time to do it:) Okay so Saturday morning we left lovely Vicente Lopez 2, my area. I say minie, because it really feels that way as in that we had 1 investigator when we got there and had to figure everything out by ourselves, there was no one to show us around.
Well, here we go again. The hermanas that were in Urquiza are being transferred one to Vicente Lopez to be in a trio and the other to Caballitos. So once again opening an area. Well, not exactly, there is at least an area book and list of investigators. That is a major plus. So Saturday we got here and then we found out that Hermana Gillum was coming back to this area to be with us for a few days. She is great, she´s from St. George. She only had one week here, so it´s all pretty new to her too, but at least she knows the investigators. So we are all really excited for this week and the opportunity to start from a clean slate, literally. The ward is really great here. It reminds me a lot of our ward at home. It is now where near the same size, but all the members are really friendly and loving. Okay so I think that is pretty much all that happened with me this week, pretty dull, huh. :)

Okay to answer your questions mom, 1.YES. I can wear what every color I want. The sky is the limit, well okay still need to be classy, but patterns and colors are VERY welcome. It is one of the new rules that I didn´t know when I left. So something with flowers is just fine. Think of the Aleta that you know and don´t worry too much about the rules. Chances are that what ever you buy will be just fine, since my tastes aren´t really extreme. I think the size will be okay. To tell you the truth I have no idea what size I wear, you may want to go with one size smaller, no idea in a shirt. A skirt thought maybe 1 size smaller. Don´t worry though, I eat, I get fed, I just do A LOT of walking, it is the only way to learn my way around the area.
2. no I am fine on the memory card.
3. Can´t think of anything that i need in a package..... whatever. It is like Christmas every time, never know what will be in there, it´s pretty fun. Oh, but could you send me a white sauce recipe, I attempted to make some the other day but failed miserably. Well it was okay and I ate it, but definitely needs improving.
4. I think there are actually 20 sisters now in the mission, not 18. There were 3 in the south that you didn´t see. 1 got cropped out of the photo. Hermana Olsen and Sandoval were talking and didn´t come in time for the photo, I think, either that or they were in another room.
Okay I think that was all of the questions. Thank you so much for the emails this week, mom, dad, aunt Janie, and Brother Bingham. They were great to read and I love hearing from all of you at home. Brother Bingham, THAT IS GREAT. I do remember her and she is super nice. I guess you just never know the impact you can have on people.
Okay I´ve got to get going, you know how it is. Oh and Happy belated b-day Jaime, 25 on the 25th pretty cool.

Lots of Love,
Aleta

hello, from me....

Dear family,
Wow what a week. I can´t ´believe it is over. Well I´m sure learning a lot. Thank you very much for all of the emails! Mom, I´m sorry it is still so cold there, sounds like about the same kind of weather we have here. Actually the Autumn here is very similar to home. Aunt Janie, sounds like you are in for some good eatn´ in the fall with all those veggies! Matt C. yes I did get your email, thank you so much. It is great to hear from you. I can´t believe you´ve been home for two months already. Give a thanks to brother Herman for the great letter. Dad, sounds like you had fun at the poetry thing, keep up the good work.

Well I´m sure you all have just been bursting to know who is my new companion........... her name is Hermana Vargas, she is from Guatemala. It was pretty interesting last week. We got a phone call last Monday, saying that we didn´t have to pick up our companions on Tuesday, because all of the North Americans flights had been cancelled. Then about 5 min. later another call saying that I didn´t have to go, but hermana Keele yes. because she was training a Latin. Then about 2 min. later another call saying that I need to go too, that we should just forget the other calls and proceed as normal because we were training Latins and the Elders had called all of the trainers at first and then realized that there were some of us who did need to come. Well long story short, I met her and she is great- Oh and that Volcano's and their ash, really make life interesting around here.

Okay as for my week....Well here I am in Vicente Lopez and trying my best to be everything the Lord needs and wants me to be. I am humbled everyday at the challenges before me and trust in the lord to see me through them. I know that I am doing his work and pray that he will continue to guide me in everything I do.
My companion is amazing. I think she is the one training me. Hermana Vargas is just bursting with energy. She wants nothing more than to go out and baptize all of Martinez and Vicente Lopez. The other day I said that we could knock a few of the doors on the street where we had an appointment. She was actually excited about. She said that she had been wanting to do it. Well it helped me some, since knocking doors is not my favorite thing in the world to do and not the easiest either. She did great. We also have been passing by for a few former investigators and seeing if they have any interest. The majority said no, and we scheduled a few appointments. One of them Carmen, said come on in. So Hermana Vargas had her first opportunity to put a baptismal date yesterday. She did great, a little nervous, but she followed the spirit and I know that the practices that we do every morning really helped her know what to do. I really love the extra hour of companion study, when I was new it felt like we never had enough time to practice, most of my kinks I had to work out in actual lessons. Don´t worry I´m still working on that, I am far from perfect, but I trust in the Lord and I think the best thing about practices is not that we are learning how to teach the material, but that we are learning how to listen to the spirit and teach the things that he brings to our remembrance. This is why it is so important to study every morning so that we will have the needs of our investigators fresh in our minds while practicing and teaching.
Hermana Vargas is an amazing missionary. I am doing everything possible to help her become the kind of missionary that the lord needs. President Gulbransden once told me that using inspired questions to teach, isn´t only for the investigators, it is for every facet of our lives. I am really finding that to be true. By asking my companion the needed questions, I think she is learning so much more than I could ever teach her.
I am really looking forward to this time that we have together and I am grateful for this opportunity responsibility that the Lord has entrusted in me.

Love you all tons!
Aleta