week 35

Also, as always, thanks for telling me the awesome funny stories about whats happening on the home front.  I love you and I am so grateful for your support and for your prayers.  And I love being on the mission.  I passed the 9 month mark with lots of excitement to keep going strong.  Thanks for always helping me in that.  Hope all goes well this next week.  Good luck with sugery and with radiation treatments.  Love you lots

-Alyssa

week 34

This weeks been pretty great.  Hna Totten and I have been working together in alot of unity and we've been able to have alot of work.  First off, you'll appriciate that I spent your birthday in a great way.  We watch the Cordaba Temple dedication.  And it was amazing.  It was so cool to be a part of it and realize that this is a historic moment for the church in Argentina.  The second temple dedicated to the Lord.  It was an amazing Sunday.  

This week on Wednesday we had a bit of a miracle.  During the day, Hna Totten was thinking alot about one of our investigators named Viviana.  She's the Bishop's sister and she's really nice, but she is also really busy so we havn't been able to have a return appointment in a long time.  Anyway on Wednesday, Hna Totten was thinking alot about Viviana, and wanted to go knock on her door.  So we went before correlation meeting, because she lives close to where we have the meeting, and we knocked on the door, and she was home.  Then as we walked in the door we saw that her nephew, Natu, was there as well.  So we ended up teaching the restauración with her and it was awesome.  She told us yesterday that she felt really great after that lesson.  So the end result of this miracle find and teach moment, is that we now have more contact with her, we're learning more about her and her faith and her doubts, and we are now teaching her.  She's really awesome.  She already knows alot about what we believe, and she told us that for right now she doesn't want to live how we live (refering to the word of wisdom) but that she's not closed off and who knows, as she reads the book we gave her she might change her mind.  Yep that's what she told us.  Daniel y Antonela are still coming along well.  They invited us over for lunch on Thursday and we asked them if there was anything we could do for them spiritually, and they told us no, that they've been pretty great.  Daniel told us that they haven't been fighting recently, and that the other day they started talking about the possibility of marriage again.  He also told us that he's cut down by half the amount of cigaretts that he smokes.  During my personal study today, I was reading about faith in Ether 12, and I thought about how faith in Christ means that we are willing to follow Him, and that we have the confidence that through His atonement we and our investigators can be forgiven, healed, and changed.  So to see the changes they are making it did me good to realize that they are applying the atonement in their lives.  

  We've started teaching Flia Buscarrolo.  They're a couple that have been members of the church for a while now, but they come every so often.  Anyway Hna Buscarrolo, is the sunday school teacher and she's nice and everything.  And Hno Buscarrolo, is someone who is very confused, he loves the Book of Mormon, but he also believes alot of apostasy.  So we've taught them twice now, and the second time was alot better than the first time.  We read the introduction to the Book of Mormon together, and he told us that its hard for him to understand how the Book of Mormon could have been written on gold plates, because it would have then been to heavy to lift.  But at least he was sincere with us and that was a good step in the right direction.  Also something pretty great is that we went to teach one woman named Elvira, the restoration.  She's been inactive for a couple years, but recently reactivated herself.  Anyway as we started to teach her she started testifying and started teaching us.  She's pretty awesome.  One of the things she told us is that she loves to go to gospel principles so she can keep learning, because she loves to learn about the gospel.

week 33

I'm doing pretty great this morning.  Skyping you helped me have a ton of excitement for the work.  Also I really appreciate the advice that you all gave me.  And it was cool to see you guys put the following up thing in practice with me.  Sooo, just so you know, after talking with you I made sure to go ahead and write in my journal since you guys asked me about that.  I also took a ton of head shot pictures this morning to send you for the plaque.  But the the folder wouldn't open in the computer, so I'm going to try to send the fotos next week.  Also, tell the beehives, that I really appreciated getting the letter.  It was pretty fun, opening the letter and seeing some names that I do know and some names that I don't.  Anyway, things are going pretty great.  As always thanks for your support, and your prayers, and your love.  I have an amazing group of family and friends.  Love you all.

-Alyssa

Well, I'm definately feeling really high on animo after last night.  It was something fun to talk to our families, and I feel really energiezed now.  I gotta say, I'm really grateful that you gave us 40 minutes.  Because I know that if you gave us more time, I would take that time, but 40 minutes is a great not to long not to short sort of amount.  Anyway I do want to be more dedicated to the mission and to really giving all my heart, might, mind, and strength to this thing.  And that requires being humble.  A huge example of this is that I still tend to avoid doing practices in the morning during comp study.  And this morning during a practice I realized that its because I don't like feeling weak, and during practices I almost always feel weak because I see all the things that I don't do well.  But I was thinking about how you told me that pride inhibits progress and I realized that I want to be humble enough to learn, and practice, and progress, and be a missionary.  So I made sure to write this goal down, and I'm going to make sure I keep working on it.  Thanks for being such a great sounding board, and for giving me such awesome advice during the interview.  I really appreciate it.  Also pretty great, is that my parents and little sister were able to give me really good advice last night.  I told them about its still really hard for me to do follow up on commitments and the advice they gave me and the way to gave it helped me to see just how necesary it is to do the follow up, and they helped me get over alot of my fears about follow up.

Para Bautizar Más:  In order to baptize more, I definately want to start following up more.  With Daniel y Antonela when we asked them every night if they were reading they read up until 1 Ne 15, but when we stopped asking them, they stopped reading.  My Dad told me that it helps alot when we tell them right from the beginning that we're going to do the follow up, so that then its really natural and normal to follow up, because they're already expecting it.  Also we're working toward finding and teaching lots of new investigators this next week.

Para Retener y Reactivar Más:  In consejo de barrio, our bishop talked to us about the hastening the work initiative.  And alot of the talk was focused on what do we teach menos activos, and everyone talked about how important it is that we treat them like investigators; meaning that we teach them the missionary lessons, and that they have their own registros.  Its something that makes alot of sense and you've already talked to us about that, but it helps to have multiple people say something so that it sticks.  So I'm also rededicating myself to treating menos actives like investigators.  As far as retaining goes the biggest name that we need to work with is Cristina.  She was baptized last month, but she didn't come the last two Sundays to church and we're both wanting to retain her so she stays firm.  So our biggest goal for her is making sure that there are members in every cita that we have to teach her.  It was interesting because this Sunday her neighbors, Elvira y Celeste, came to church but she didn't and they were both concerned that she wasn't there.  What's happening with Elvira is pretty awesome, because she was inactive but she's reactivating herself in order to fellowship Cristina.

week 32

Something pretty great from this week is that we had our interviews with President and some training sessions, which is something that we all enjoy alot.  

Both Hna Totten and I are refocusing our efforts on finding new investigators because we really do need new people to teach, and its been good.  We've had a good time working with Daniel y Antonela and something pretty awesome is that they came to church yesterday!  When Daniel came to church about a month ago, he liked it.  But in the time in between they've both either been sick on Sunday or they've slept in without meaning to do so.  But yesterday they both came!  Also kindof interesting is that they both said it seemed like something didn't want them to go because Satuday night their daughter didn't sleep at all and they were super tired in the morning, but they both decided that they were going to go to church anyways so that's what happened.  With them we're really trying to help them do the basic stuff like read the scriptures and go to church so that they can have enough faith and strength to overcome some of their obstacles, the biggest one being deciding whether or not they want to get married.  They're pretty amazing.  They've shown the signs of increased faith, they've read a good bit in the book of mormon, and they've started integrating themselves in with the ward, but they've also got a long way to go.  So basically we pray for them alot.  Something amazing is that we brought another couple, Claudio y Carina Segade with us to go teach them this week, and in the time between that lesson and church yesterday, they formed a bit of a friendship.  The Segade's invited them over for dinner on Saturday and Claudio helped them with the wiring for a project that Daniel and Antonela are working on.  Then in church it was pretty awesome, because Daniel helped an investigator of the other hermanas, Jose Luis, feel comfortable in church.  And Daniel is going with the hermanas to a teaching appointment for Jose Luis.  Also a miracle from this week is a lesson that we had with a matrimonio, Herminia y Pedro.  This was our second lesson with them.  Our first lesson with them didn't seem that promising but this time around they were a lot more open to our message.  They suffered a pretty big shock they night before so they took it as a sign that we showed up when we did.  So we'll seen what happens with them.  

  One thing that was pretty cool is that we saw José walking around yesterday while we were walking to another cita.  Anyway it made us both pretty happy to see José because his feet have been hurting him and he hasn't been able to move around much for a while now, so to see him walking around and excercising was good.  Something sad is that Cristina didn't come to church yesterday.  We saw her on Saturday and she was excited to go on Sunday so we don't quite know what happened.  We have a cita with her on Tuesday so we'll see how it goes.  Something pretty great though was that we did see another less active, Rocio, in church yesterday.  And she looked pretty happy, which was nice for us to see because she has been going through a rough time recently.  Also I've come to really appreciate being in the companionship that I'm in.  Its been fun getting to know Hna Totten better and learning how to work together for two transfers in a row.  I love you all.  Thanks for always keeping me in your prayers and for being the awesome people that you are.  Everyday I realize a little bit more how grateful I am for the foundation that you all have given me.  Have a good one!

-Love Alyssa

week 31

So, I realize that this will come as a surprise, because I haven't actually written about her in any of my emails, but....we had a baptizm on Saturday.  Her name is Cristina Lopez and she's pretty awesome.  We found her looking through the former investigators part of our area book, while we were looking specifically for former investigators with church attendence.  Anyway when we knocked on her door, two and a half weeks ago she happily accepted us in and here we are now.  Anyway, I think I'm going to start writting about her a touch more in my emails now.  Also about my talking to people goal, it works really well when I remember to do it.  So yeah.  Its been a pretty good week.  I love all your examples about laughing about the side effects of the chemo.  You're awesome Mom.  Also give Lexie and HUGE hug for me.  WELCOME HOME SIS!  Love you all!

-alyssa

week 30

Thanks for the update on what's going on at home.  I'm glad your helping out the young women with the pajama pants.  Good luck with everything.  Things are going really good on my end.  We learned this morning the Hna Totten and I are going to keep working together for this transfer, which I'm glad for.  Also it means that unless there is a flash this transfer, which I doubt will happen, Hna Totten will be the first companion that I've had for two full transfers!  Exciting right.  Wow, Lexie will be coming home this Saturday.  That's pretty crazy, but in an awesome way.  And I will definately be keeping her in my thoughts and prayers, for her exams today.  A random side note, but I have gotten way to used to having a planner with me.  And now if there is something or someone I want to pray for, I write it down in my things to do part of the planner.  Yeah, I've realized that I forget stuff really easily if I don't write it down.  I'm also learning how to budget money and time better, and I'm learning that I've got a long way to go on the whole useing time wisely thing.  But the learning process is always good.  As far as Daniel y Antonela are going, things are going really great!  We visited them Thursday and Sunday, and Thursday they were both low for animo.  But then Sunday they called us and invited us over for dinner, and while we were there they started talking about questions they have about what they read in the Book of Mormon.  And before they were reading separately, but somewhere in between visits they just decided to start reading together!  It was just awesome.  And their was a huge difference in between Thursday and Sunday.  Sunday they were both happy and bantering with each other even though the their financial situation hadn't changed.  And after the lesson when we expressed that reading the scriptures gives us the strength we need, they both said "Es verdad".  So yeah, me and Hna Totten were pretty happy yesterday.  We also have two other people that we're working with, but I kinda ran out of time.  The whole learning how to budget my time thing, right? Love ya'll!

-Alyssa

week 29

This week's been good.  We've had our up moments and our down moments, but overall more up moments then down moments.  Thankfully Hna Totten and I get along really well.  While there is always room for improvement, our unity is pretty good.  That being said we're actually pretty similar in alot of things.  One of those things is that we both love being missionaries, but we also find it difficult at times to activily enjoy being a missionary.  One of our comp goals for this transfer has been allowing the missionary purpose become a part of who we are, and becoming people who are genuninly excited to go out a share the gospel with others.  We've improved, but I know that in this specific goal, I need to improve alot more.  But I'm really grateful that you've put me with Hna Totten, because we've been able to work together on the things that we both need to improve.  As far as the other transfer goal we've had of being more confident, we've improved in that as well.  But once again I know that I need to improve alot more.  Something that I learned about this week is the importance of small, daily, acheivable goals.  A couple of days this last week I've had the goal of having a gospel conversation with three new people; which is actually a pretty small goal and easily acheivable, but I found out that the days that I forgot to write that goal down, I often went through the day barely talking to anyone, and when I did it was more of the type of give them a card and leave.  So anyway, I've been glad for this new daily goal, because most of my goals have been alot more grand long term goals, and I've learned that having daily goals actually helps me alot.  Kindof obvious, but know I have a little bit more of a testimony about it.  

So...we were looking through antinguo investigadores con assistencia and one of the women we found was someone who was dropped a year ago and hasn't been visited since (probably because she lives on the edge of our map).  Anyway we went to visit her and she wants to get baptized.  We've had one lesson with her and she came to church yesterday, so we'll see what happens in the future visits.  We're also still teaching Antonela, Daniel and her have been sick this week so we've only visited them twice.  But the last lesson we had was really good, we applied the teaching method that the zone leaders taught us in zone meeting, and it helped us a ton.  So with Daniel and Antonela, they do want to get married, but they want to wait until they have a stronger relationship.  On thursday we read "La familia, una proclamación..." and Daniel talked about how they both really do want to imrove their relationship, and they like it when we come by because they feel like its helping them come together again.  Its sad because he talked about how when they decided that they wanted to fix their relationship, everything started working against them, cars started breaking down, people started telling them that they should just separate, that good stuff.  But we're excited to keep working with them, because their both really awesome.  Something kinda cool is that one day we were passing by their house and Daniel was outside talking to someone and we were debating whether or not we should interupt them or not, but we decided to go ahead and talk to them and the friend seems semi-interested in our message.  

With one woman, Norma, we don't really know what to do.  We've prayed and talked about her, and we're definately going to keep doing so, but we haven't made much progress with her.  She was baptized a year ago, but she was offended and went back to her old church.  The only progress we've made is that she likes our visits and she's generally happier when we leave than when we came in.  We'll see where things go with her.  We're starting to work more with the Book of Mormon with her because she does have a testimony about that.  Love ya'll.

-Alyssa

week 28

First off, THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE AWESOME LETTERS.  Not just today, but for all the weeks, and for all the prayers that you guys have been praying for me.  In answer to your questions, yep I'm having a pretty great birthday.  Also I was able to watch conference.  I watched part of it in spanish and part of it in english.  It was obviously easier to understand in English, but I enjoyed watching it in Spanish as well.  It was a cool experience.  Also I did hear J. Vaun McArthur, as a 70 and I was wondering if it was who I thought it was, or if it was someone else.  So thanks for settling my question on that one.  I also heared the announcement of a temple in Bankok Thailand, so I'm super excited for David on that account.  La verdad es que me encantó los discursos de Conferencia.  Just saying they were all pretty awesome.  But I kinda agree with all the elders when they said that there were way too many family talks.  Nah just kidding.  I liked all the talks.  And all the family talks helped me refocus my teaching style.  I often go straight in talking about God with the good typical questions like, "¿es creyente?" "Do you belive in God?", that in a way I forget to address the family and how the gospel blesses individuals and blesses families.  There really were alot of talks about having the big picture, and I really do need to improve my ability to teach with the big picture.  As far as Daniel and Antonela are going, things are going pretty great.  They are both people that are very prepared, and very open.  We invited Antonela to be baptised last week and she does want to get baptized.  Pretty cool right?

Letter to the President

So this week has gone pretty well.  Course conference weekend is always awesome.  The talks were pretty inspirational, and I'm excited to try to apply what I've learned.  I loved how some of the talks showed me how I can teach better, and how other's showed me how I can be better.  I especially apreciated how there was a focus on always trying, and always improving.  And the one about enjoying the music of the gospel.  But then again they are really were good.

Para Bautizar Más/ Reactivar:  Things are going really well with Daniel y Antonela.  They are both very prepared by the Lord.  They both told us they were going to watch conference in their home.  So yesterday morning we called them to verificar, and they didn't answer the phone, but we left a message saying "felices pascuas! Esperamos que esten disfrutando conferencia"  Then in between conference we saw that we had a text from them saying "Thanks, happy easter and see ya tomorrow!"  Its really cool that they not only remember our return appointment, but they seem excited for it.  In our last appointment we invited Antonela to be baptized and she was super willing.  When we asked her why she said yes so easily she told us that she had visited with the elders before and she remembers that she liked what she learned.  And we remembered to explain baptism as a covenant and we simply explained the promises we make and the blessings we receive from this covenant.  And I think that helped bring the spirit for our invitation.  The challenge is that their are juntada, and I think we set the baptismal date a little too soon, but thankfully they want to get married.  We also had a cool experience with an investigator named Rodrigo.  We have officially only taught him one time.  When we contancted him we talked for a long time to the point where it was kindof a contact, kindof a lesson.  And we gave him a Book of Mormon and gave him a couple verses to read that answers one of his questions, and also told him that the introduction explains a little bit about where this book comes from.  Anyway when we followed up, he had read and he had changed a little as well.  He talked a little more seriously and sincerely.  And the coolest thing that he told us was that the Book of Mormon seems like it was written more for our day; that its a lot more direct and easier to understand than the Bible.  Its interesting its both he and we recognize that its difficult to accept a new book.  But just by reading part of the book he has started taking us more seriously.  Whereas before he was more interested in us from a more psycological/academic standpoint.  

Anyway, I love you all.  And...............HAPPY EASTER

-Alyssa

week 27

Both Hna Totten and I have had a pretty good week this week.  We're pretty similar, so we end up having the exact same goals.  Which makes everything pretty easy for setting companionship goals.  Anyway we both decided that we want to be more confident missionaries, and that we want to actively enjoy the mission.  So basically that's what we've been doing, and its been pretty fun.  Since last week we haven't taught Maricel again, but we have an appointment with her today so we'll see how it goes.  Also something pretty exciting from this week is that we taught this couple, Daniel y Antonela, and they both are super open and want to improve their lives.  Daniel was baptized when he 10 but he hasn't come to church since then, but he remembers that he felt good in church.  So when we invited them to church last Sunday and then passed by in the morning, he ended up coming with us with his little daughter Maya!  It was pretty cute.  All in all, I've enjoyed being here this week.  The people here are honestly really friendly, and the members here take good care of us.  Anyway love you all.  Have a great week. 

-Alyssa

week 26

So the week's been pretty good.  My companion's name is Hna Totten and we get along pretty great.  I'm getting into the flow of having new companions so thankfully its all been good.  Hna Totten and I are also good at communicating with each other.  And its kinda funny, always after a lesson or after a comp practice, we naturally start evaluating what we want to improve in, and one of us always says WAIT, first what did we do good?  Its healthy when we make sure to evaluate both sides, not just the bad side.  I've enjoyed working with her.  As far as the area goes, I also like working in Hurlingham.  We definately meet tons of people here, and there are alot of great, nice people here in Hurlingham.  Also fun fact for you, there a casino here (Bingo Hurlingham) I'll make sure to get a picture of me in front of it and send it to you.  I'm now in a ward, and I love the ward.  I've been able to meet alot of the members here, and I've felt alot of love from them.  As far as people go, we've had some fun and some interesting experiences.  My first week here, I had this fatal habbit of starting conversations with people who know how to monologue.  As a result one of our companionship goals is learning how to cut people off (its a difficult skill to learn :)  We starting working with one woman named Maricel, she's a really curious person and she easily understands the things we talk about.  I'm excited to see where our next visit with her goes.  She's super talkative, and she's very Argentine in the fact that she's a touch too honest.  But I like her alot, she's very fun to be around.  We also met another curious soul named Rodrigo.  We haven't actually taught him yet but we'll see what happens.  We gave him a Book of Mormon, and it was pretty funny, his first question was "Can I touch it?", and we said "It's your's"  and he was a touch confused so we explained that we have alot and we like to give them to people.  He's very interested in psycology and he talks like an athiest, but he also said that he believes in God, so I'm excited to see where it goes.  As always, I'm excited to see what the next week brings.  I love you guys alot, and I'm loving hearing about your experices on the home front.  You rock mom.  Oh and I just reread some of your questions, and I actually have not played the piano yet, but while I was in Junin I directed the music.  Also another fun fact, Hna Totten and I have the exact same amount of time in the mission.  We were in the Mtc together, but not in the same Mtc distict.  Kinda crazy right.  Also both of our old companions are now together in Junin.  Gotta love the fun connections that we all have with one another.

-Alyssa

week 25

So I'm now in Hurlingham, and I'm loving it.  Also I ran out of time, so sorry about that.  I'll make sure to fill you in on the details next week.  Love ya!

-Alyssa

week 24

Thanks for your advice about how to write leters.  I took your advice when I was writing the president, and it worked really well (because I normally overstress and take a long time to write him as well : )  So the whole writing without overthinking thing works well.  Thankfully, the mission has a new tradition about when they tell us who is having changes.  The tranfer meeting is always on wednesday, and it used to be that we would get the call about who is leaving and who is staying on monday or on tuesday.  But now the rule is that we get the call on Sunday night.  So now the big news......I'm headed out of Junin.  So next week I'll be able to tell you where I'm at and who my new companion is.  But as you guys can probably tell from the tone of my last email, it wasn't that big of a surprise that I'm headed out.  I've felt like I've been here a while and its time for a change.  However it was a bit of a shock.  Hna Andersen and I became really great friends really quickly.  And I'm honestly more sad to leave her than I am to leave Junin (I know it really shouldn't be that way but yeah...)  Kinda cool, Idaho Falls is an hour away from her hometown, and she lived in Idaho Falls for a short bit.  I asked her if she ever met Anna, cause she's the same age and everything, but she lived in Idaho Falls at a later point in her life, so she never met her.  But still kinda cool.  As far as Kevin goes, things are going good.  He's been more sincere with us lately, and we've learned that he wants the gospel, and he wants to make changes in his life, but we're pretty sure he doesn't have that much confidence in himself and his ability to change.  He told us that he struggles with some "habits".  So that's hard.  But he can make the changes.  Also for his sake I am super glad that Hna Andersen is staying in Junin, because she can help him.  She's is someone who doesn't have fear of really getting to know a person, while I recognize that I'm someone that kinda likes to skirt around a problem, and I'd often rather not know.  But its been good.  That being said, its been good having us both.  I think I've been the missionary that has gained his confidence and helped him get started, and Hna Andersen is going to be the one that helps him make the changes.  And we're definately trying to involve members in the conversion process with him, cause the last thing we want is for him to become spiritually dependent on the missionaries.  But anyway I'm excited for what the future holds.  Love you all and have an awesome week!

-Alyssa

Also a little part from my leter to the presient:

 I read something else in my personal study that helped me a ton, and that was the chapter about keeping commitments. I've always had some fear about extending commitments, and sometimes I ignore that fear and move forward with faith, and other times I let that fear hinder me. But today when I was reading that chapter I felt strongly that I was doing everyone and exteme disservice to let fear keep me from extending comitments, because its basically impossible for us as humans to improve our lives and have more of the peace of God in our lives if no one or nothing invites us to improve. Just thinking about today, my strengthened desire to repent and improve came because I was reading the Book of Mormon and the verses invited me to improve, it didn't come out of thin air. So that is definately going to be one of my focuses, having the faith to commit other people. It's interesting because when I met Hna Andersen, we agreed that our theme for our transfer (2 weeks : ) together was going to be Moroni 8:16 "perfect love casteth out all fear". So I'm definately keeping that theme for this next transfer.

week 23

As always thanks for keeping me updated, I am trying to return the favor.  Its super weird, during the week I'm always super excited to write you guys, and then p-day comes around and it takes me forever to put my thoughts together enough to write a good letter.  But thankyou for telling me about Stephanie.  I am sorry about what happened.  And Dad, I hope you and your family is ok.  I love you guys, and I know your both a strength to each other, because you both are a strength to me.  As far as the details go.  Hna Gonzalez did get sent home, we did both see it coming, but we didn't want to say anything. She had a migrane almost every day, and so they had to send her home.  Kindof interesting is that the companion of my new companion was also had health problems and went home, so now Hna Andersen and I are together.  

 

Hola presidente:

With transfers coming up, I wanted to let you know that I really am cool with wherever the Lord decides to send me.  I've been in Junin for a while, and I understand if my time is coming to an end here.  That being said, I have honestely love having Hna Andersen for a companion.  I'm super glad you put us together when you flashed out Hna Gonzales.  We get along super great, and we compliment each other's strengths and weaknesses really well.  It's interesting, I feel like with each companion I've learned something really different, and I've also had to excersise a little more self discipline.  And in this companionship its the easiest to get distracted because we love talking about every random thing together.  But I do feel like one of the reason's we are together is so that we can both learn greater self-discipline together, because we both want to improve in that.  Honestly Hna Andersen is super awesome.  She is a super strong person, she is incredibly disciplined in following her health diet, and she has an amazing talent for seeing things as they really are and then expressing her observations clearly and concisly.  This talent helps us alot during comp study when we're making plans for the day.  : )

Para Bautizar Más: This week we were able to teach Veronica again, and it was pretty great.  Her and Hna Andersen connected really well, so I'm pretty sure that Hna Andersen will play a big role in helping Veronica take the next step in her progression.  We've also started teaching Kevin again, and he's showing a little bit more sincere interest in our message.  I'm kindof amazed that he is still allright talking with us after we had one of those really straightforward "if your not interested we're not coming back" lessons.  Looking back on that lesson with Kevin, I do feel like we could have handled it differently, but it does look like that lesson helped him to understand better our purpose as missionaries.  So I'm glad for that.  As always we'll see what the next week brings.

Para Retener y Reactivar Más:  Today I'm feeling kinda down because it rained yesterday during church, and church attendence was super low.  Even Cristian, our super strong convert, didn't come yesterday.  But its kindof interesting because we called him before church and he sounded low.  And I didn't think to ask him how he was, or if there was anything we could do for him, I just kindof assumed everything was great, and he was coming to church despite the rain.  So now I'm hoping that all is ok with him.  Anyway what I learned from this experience is that we should never just assume, and we should show more genuine interest.  

week 22

Soooo, I know that today was the day that I planed to send you guys a nice long letter, but today's going to have to be short as well.  During email time, one of the secretary elders called us, and my companion Hna Gonzalez is getting flashed.  So we don't know what's going to happen to her.  She's super worried that she's getting sent home for her health problems.  I hope not.  I know that she loves the mission, and she wants to stay.  And I honestly love her alot.  You asked how we get along, and we get along good.  There have been some rocky moments (I've learned that rocky moments are bound to come when you're with someone 24-7) but we both feel a strong friendship for one another.  She reminds me of Lexie alot, she can be abrupt at times and she is super sincere and determined to do whatever it takes to accomplish her goals, and she has a huge heart for everyone here.  Yesterday I told her that I'm a little bit mad at her because she keeps reminding me of people at home. 

So once again I'm sending part of my letter to the president

 This week has been awesome for finding new investigators. Especially two different families, Flia Delgado and Andres y Flabia, they both show a lot of potential to progress in the gospel. Flia Delgado are Testigos de Jeovah, and are super open as well. They both understood really well the importance of profets and that there was an apostasy, and they said that they're going to read the Book of Mormon. With Andres y Flabia, they've talked with the missionaries before and it looks like they have an understanding of the restoration. With them we talked about sacerdocio, and how really its the priesthood that sets us apart from any other church, and they both understood priesthood really well. So we'll see what happens with these families in the next week. With Veronica, we had a really awesome lesson with her this week. It was the first time she had actually read what we left her, and we were able to see a difference in the lesson. But after that she droppd off the face of the earth. We haven't been able to get in contact with her and we're a little worried, so we're going to keep trying the next week.
 We started working with a woman, Claudia, that got baptized a year ago but now is inactive. Still working with Cristian, and he's still super faithful. Also Alicia finally came to church this week and that was pretty awesome.

By the way, I love your haircut.  It's super cute.  And....as far as the amount of information that you send me, its the perfect amount of information.  I'm trying to improve in the amount of info that I send you.  Also, thanks for sending your stories about the ladies at the quilting retreat, they sound super super awesome. 

-Alyssa 

week 21

e two people we're working with the most are  Veronica and Flia Vila. Yesterday we were able to teach Veronica and I have a lot of hope for her. She's been passing through a difficult time lately and our visit yesterday helped her faith. I know that when people pass through difficult trials they either loose their faith or strengthen their faith, and I think that this trial is really going to help Veronica strengthen her faith. 
Thankfully this week we were finally able to get in contact with Alicia. We learned that the reason we haven't seen her lately is because she was taking vacations, so now that she's back we're excited to work with her more. Also we had a lesson about tithing with Cristian yesterday were we were able to help him stay firm in the faith. He's already super firm, but we were able to help him be a little bit firmer. Which is always pretty awesome.

(This is part of my letter to the president.  Next week I'll be way more awesome at writing a real letter)

As always I loved you're leter.  Especially the part about your opinion on the wigs and the Lancaster look a like.

Sorry this is super short, their about to close ciber so I'm extra short on time this week.  I am so grateful for your prayers and your love.  You help me alot Mom.  So thankyou for everything.

-Alyssa

week 20

So this weeks been a little interesting.  As always there's been blessings and good things that have happened, but unfortunately also sad/hard things.  First off my companions been pretty sick this weeks so we've been getting a little stir crazy in the apartment.  And through this I've learned that I really like being outside talking to people, and am not a big fan of staying inside.  But you do what you gotta do.  Hna Gonzales really is pretty amazing, she's been having to deal with an awful migrane and with lack of sleep, and she's been dealing with it with an amazing amount of grace.  The other major thing that happened this week is that we've basically lost Kevin.  We talked about what our purpose here as missionaries is: that we're here to share our message and invite everyone to ponder and decide whether they want to act on it.  Unfortunately he just wants to be friends with us, but doesn't have any interest in our message or on changing his life for right now.  I honestly loved Hna Gonzalez's reaction to that.  She told him that we have friends at home and that our purpose isn't to come here and to just pass time as friends.  Looking back that answer is pretty funny to me because its totally true.  Anyway I'm out of time.  Honestly there were miracles that happend in this week as well, sorry about focusing a little on the bad stuff.  but as always I'm loving being a missionary.  With lots of love

Alyssa

week 19

Allright.  Transfers were pretty great this last week.  My new companion is Hna Gonzales.  Kinda weird, but this is the second transfer in Junin where I'm the only one with a latino companion.  But I'm definately not complaining, it gives me lots of oportunities to practice my spanish.  But its also kinda funny because Hna Gonzales speaks english, so she keeps talking in english with me, while I keep talking in spanish with her.  Her english is alot like Elin's english, practically perfect, so that's pretty cool.  She said that she learned english by watching tv in english with spanish subtitles.  If ever there was a good excuse for watching lots of tv, that's a pretty good one.  It's been pretty great working together, we have about the same amount of time in the mission, so we've been learning alot together.  And it feels nice to work with her more a equals because we both have about the same amount of experience.  As far a investigators go, we're focusing on Kevin right now.  It's really cool to see his tesimony grow a little more each time we see him.  He came to church yesterday, and it was really cool when we visited him in the afternoon and he told us that he feels good when he comes to church.  We're trying to help him see the blessings that come from following Christ, so I was glad when he told us that he feels good in church and that he feels good when he prays.  Something that's kinda cool about directing the area, is that now more than ever before, ideas keep coming into my head, especially about ways that we can work with different members to help the people in this area.  I'm excited to see if we can put some of these ideas into practice this next week.  In the lesson we had with Kevin yesterday, Cristian came with us and it was pretty fun.  Anyway, that's all for this week.  Have a good one!

-Alyssa

week 17

First off, I loved reading your letter.  Its so cool to hear about visiting teaching and also about the family and about my grandparents.  And it made me laugh that you made sure to reassure that I shouldn't worry about the car.

With Kevin, I'm a little frustrated, just because I know that the teaching process is probably going to take some time with him.  We had a really good lesson with him this week were both Hna Leiva and I both felt the spirit directing the lesson.  And he was able to openly express his feelings and we were able to testify that it is only through following the commandments of God that we are able to feel peace and happiness.  But there is part of him that doesn't want to give up the world in order to follow God.  Which obviously we all have those things that are hard for us to give up, but anyway thats that.  

This Saturday was pretty interesting.  The morning was awful, but the evening was awesome.  In the morning had a lesson with Estela Mari, and the Spirit was completely absent.  We started the lesson singing "Love at home" (classic right) , and the son was not showing love for his mom, and nobody was paying attention to the message.  Then right afterward we went to follow up with someone that we only had one lesson with, and he returned the Book of Mormon that we gave him.  But in the evening we were able to go to a baptizm, and Kevin came as well.  And Kevin liked the baptismal talks.  And I was so happy to be at that baptism and feel the Spirit.  Also something that was really good about this week was that Hna Leiva and I were able to have an impromptu companionship inventory, where we were both able to express what we were feeling.  We've been having different opinions about almost everything and its caused some tension, especially because I kept bottling up my feelings.  So it helped a ton when we both expressed our feelings and I was able to vent some of my frustration, and Hna Leiva was so calm about it. 

After that night we've had a lot more unity in our teaching and that's been a huge relief.  One of my goals for the mission, is to learn how to communicate better, because my natural tendency to to pretend that everything is alright, and I really think that that night helped me in my goal of learning to communicate better.  A example of that is when after the lesson with Estela Mari, Hna Leiva was unusually quiet, and I was thinking, "she's probably mad at me for teaching poorly", and then I realized that I didn't know that for sure and that I needed to ask her.  So I asked her straightforward, "are you mad at me" and I learned that no she wasn't mad, she was unusually quiet because the lack of the spirit in the lesson really afected her.  Anyway, thats my thoughts from this week.  Another side note, I now understand why everyone always thought it was so awesome that as youth we went to seminary, because I now feel the same pride for all the young singles in our branch.  Everytime I see them I keep thinking about how awesome they all are for putting God first in their lives.  Anyway I love you lots.

-Alyssa

week 14

As always, thanks for you letter.  No need to worry on my side, this week has been a lot better as far as energy goes.  I've started putting on sunscreen everyday and drinking tons of water.  So yep, I've been pretty awake this week.  I'm pretty sure your prayers on my behalf have helped as well.  Its good to know that Timothy is now out of the hospital.  Ánd yes I will definately continue to pray for him.  I actually love what you said about visiting teaching, because I am learning alot about how everyone needs a friendly face, and how that goes a long way towards activity in the church.  For example in Junin, most of the missionary work is with JAS (jovenes adultos solteros) ( young single adults) because we have fútbol every saturday, and they're all able to make friends with each other.  Also your right on when you say that alot of our work is with rescuing and reactivating.  Also good news with Kevin, he's stoped being being flirtatious.  Now he sees us more as friends/missionaries and nothing more.  Also a super cool experience was when we had a lesson with him on Fridayand we brought Cristian with us and they hit it off.  They were talking like they were friends forever, laughing about every random thing and talking about every random thing.  And they sat next to each other in church on Sunday.  Also during the week we brought Silvia, another recent convert to a lesson with Graciela, and they ended up sitting next to each other in sacrament meeting.  It's super easy to see the difference between someone that has a friend in the ward/branch, and someone that doesn't, and one of my goals for after the mission is to improve in my dedication to visiting teaching because people need friends in the church.  This week was also a special week for less actives because we kept running into less actives without planning or anything.  The most special was when we went to visit with Celi, an investigator, and she wasn't home but we were able to talk to Louis, a recent convert, that lives nearby and we were able to help him and encourage him some, because he's been struggling lately.  Anyway, I love you lots.  Thankyou for keeping me updated on everything and for praying for me.  I love you and am praying for all of you as well.

-Alyssa

week 13

Hey everyone.  It was sooooooo good to see and hear you all this Christmas.  During the whole skype call, I kept thinking that truly my family is so beautiful.  I am so blessed to be a part of this family and I am so blessed to have all your prayers and all of your love.  It was am awesome Christmas!!!  This week has been kinda crazy, but in the good way.  I was just looking back on the week with my agenda, and I had forgotten that at the begining of this week is was in a trio, and now it's Hna Leiva and I again.  We all like Hna Theobald, Hna Gerber's new companion, alot.  I was super impressed at how chill she was about skyping her family.  I was also surprised at my own reaction.  I thought seeing you guys would make me homesick, but during the skype call, I was simply happy, and afterwards I was ready to work again.  I was glad when the 26th hit so, I could more easily focus in on being a missionary, because I was a little distracted for the rest of the 25th.  On the 26th we had a group fast for one of our investigator's, Lucia.  She and her aunt, Graciela, are long term investigators, and they are super awesome.  The thing with Lucia is that she knows the gospel is true and she's reading in the Book of Mormon, right now she's in Alma, but she has been living with someone for the last five years and she doesn't know whether she should separate from him or marry him, so she just keeps living with him.  We followed up over telefone to see what she has felt, and she said she hasn't recieved her answer, but we're going to visit with her soon and see how it goes.  Also this week we've had a lesson with one of Graciela's nieces, Veronica, and it went pretty well.  She has alot of questions about the Plan of Salvation, and what we talked about made sense to her, I'm excited for the next chance to meet with her.  She's super friendly and super organized about scheduling.  Also we have a mirical investigator, Kevin, that came to the church 2 weeks after we and the other Hnas talked to him in cyber.  We've taught him the restauration, and he came to church (and FHE and fútbol during the week) again this last Sunday.  Unfortunately he is a little flirtatious, so the next time we're going to try explain clearly our purpose.  Also, he read the testimony of Joseph Smith and one of the chapter's in Nephi (which is super awesome), but when we asked him if he has prayed about it, he said that he doesn't need to because we are so confident.  When he said that I was thinking, "Por favor, que tipo de respuesta es este."   Cristian is still going super strong.  The more I talk with him the more I'm impressed by him.  This Sunday, when I thanked him for coming to church, he told me about how in the morning he knew that he needed to turn on the light or else he was going to fall back asleep, so he turned on the light and said "ha ha gané (I won!)".  On sunday we visited with Flia Aranda their not they are a family that was menos activo and still needs help.  We taught them about gratitute using a conference talk from april, I really hope that they are able to think about the message more, because its sad to see them discontent so often.  And they are a pretty awesome family, they're always willing to open their home to us and to share their food with us.  Anyway I love you guys a ton.  I'm super grateful for all of your example's to me.  And I hope new year's goes well.

ps. Once again, SUPER AWESOME that you kept up the tradition with the Christmas thing, Mom.  Muchas Gracias!

week 11&12

Week 11

Love you both alot.  Things are going pretty overy here.  Thankyou for your loving words and for all your letters.  It's good to know that Heather and folks are finally able to make the move.  Also pretty exciting, Cristian is still going super strong.  In every single lesson he is willing to follow through with the commandments. Law of Chastity, Word of Wisdom, Tithing, all of them he hasn't had a problem. And..........he is going to be baptized this Saturday!!! Yesterday Hna Leiva asked him why he wants to be baptized, and his answer touched my heart and increased my faith. He said that he has gone to a couple of other churches, but he has felt the most peace in this church and through the Book of Mormon. His reason for his faith is the same as my reason for my faith (because of the peace in this church) but it is good to hear from someone else that he feels different in this church. 

Week 12:

So.....first off sorry about last week.  I started to write you last and I wasn't watching the time as well as I should have been, and while I was typing I ran out of time and the computer turned off.  Physically all was well, but emotionally, I was feeling super homesick during email time so it was difficult to type.  Today is a whole lot better.  Honestely I love the length of your letters, I love the questions, and the little details that you include about the family and everyone.  Also great news!  Well two great news.  One is that this week the Aldrege's and senior couple that works in the mission offices came up to Junin in order to do some stuff, and they brought with them, a whole bunch of letters.  The letter with the money wasn't a part of the group, but the advent calender letters were.   I'm not up to date with the letters but I read a bunch this morning, and I loved them so much.  The fact that you included both scriptues and little letters from my nieces and nephews touched my heart so much.  As part of this group of letters was one from Lexie that said I have to wait unto the 24th to open it, so I'll be patient.  The other awesome news is that Cristian was baptized Saturday, and confirmed Sunday.  Crazy right.  Everything went so fast with him, and I'm grateful that we have retention lessons, so we can go over the doctrine and everything at a slower pace.  It was really sweet, the week before the baptism he asked us if we're going to keep meeting with him afterwards, because he likes to fight.  (He's someone that likes to debate for the sake of debating, but always in good humor)  We've also been teaching his grandma and aunt, Graciela y Lucia, and it was really funny.  One day we were teaching him in Graciela's house and they started to debate and it was like they were the same person.  Graciela and Lucia are both really awesome.  They've been meeting with the missionaries for a while now and they both come to church every Sunday.  Their love for the Lord and for other people is really impressive.  Sadly they both have something holding them back.  I love you so much.  Thankyou for the prayers, and the comfort, and the letters.

-Alyssa

week 10 pics

week 10

Wow, first off thanks for telling me about Sis Brucker.  She is an awesome lady, and I am glad that the ward is helping the family with meals and such.  I'm glad that you had a good week.  I had a pretty awesome week as well.  There are 3 companionships in our branch, and on Thanksgiving all 6 of us went to this place called La Carpa which is basically Golden Coral but better.  While we were there a PuertoRican lady came up and started talking with all of us in English and the two other hermanas were able to give her a "El es la Dadiva" card and note down her information so they could visit her.  So that was pretty cool.  Then this Sunday we had 7 investigators in church!  Elder Starr (our district leader) kept asking, "hermanas what did you do? Do you have any advice?"  But it wasn't anything that we did, it truly was a miracle, especially because I feel that our invitations to come to church still need a lot of improvement.  Also something amazing just happened, today during email time one of our investigators called us.  He already has a baptizmal date, but we all acknowledged that it was more of a goal date, not a firm date.  Anyway, he called us and told us that he received his answer and that he wants to be baptized!!!  This is the first time this has ever happend to me, and oh my word, it feels amazing!  We have met a lot a great people here.  

week 9

First off sorry for taking so long with the picture for the plaque, I thought the one with the bike was an appropriate picture, but I will make sure this week to get an appropriate picture taken.  Thanks for sending me a bunch of letters, that's really awesome of you to go to that effort for me.  Hna Leiva told me that letters generally take a long time to arrive (like a couple of months) sooooo yeah.  Also something that Hna Millet told me is that when her parents send letters they always make sure to put tape all around the letter and that usually deters the robbers.  Truly I'm happy to have your emails every week.  It's the best part about P-day, being able to come to cyber and read your letters.  Also we had a zone conference this last week with our mission president were he told us about the "He is the gift" or "Ël es el dadiva" initiative.  I'm sure Dad has already heard about it since he seems to always know about what going on in the church before I do.    But it is really cool, we have special pass along cards for the Christmas season, there is a new website, christmas.lds.org, and we learned that on 9 Diciember the church has bought the masthead for youtube for a 30 sec video about "He is the Gift".  And our next p-day, we get to explorenavidad.mormon.org.  During zone conference our mission president talked about how the Christmas season is one of the most exciting times to be a missionary because its one of the most appropriate times to talk about Christ and how He is the gift for the world.  He also told us to tell our parents that honestly it's okay that we can't receive packages because we already have the best gift, our Savior.  And as he was telling us this I honestly felt the same in my heart, that its an excited and happy thing to be a missionary during the Christmas season.  I do miss you guys, but at the same time I am glad to be here, and to have this opportunity to be a representative of Jesus Christ.  Also, Dad, thanks for the letter about hunters and fishers, I love those little inspiring letters.  Another thing that President told us is that we will be skyping our families on the 24 or 25 whichever is better

-Alyssa

ps I think it is super cool that Julie is trying out for all-state.  Suerte!

pps and yes I am starting to think is spanish cool right!

week 7

So alot has happened this week.  The coolest thing is that this last Saturday Elder Christopherson gave a devotional for all of South America, and because the devotional was in Buenos Aires, I was able to go and watch in person.  Also really cool, there was a short question and answer session at the end, and all except one of the questions was focused on the work.  Which is awesome!  His talk was on the atonement and on repentance.  Also everyone spoke in Spanish and I was able to understand it all (its always easier to understand the northamericans :)  My favorite thing that he said was during the Q&As, someone asked what we should do if someone feels like all churches are the same and doesn't understand the importance of this church.  First his respose was "let me guess Catolica Postolica Romana?" and we all laughed some.  And after that he said that the best thing we can do is get them reading the Book of Mormon and allow them to feel the spirit of the Book of Mormon.  And that had alot of significance for me because of Rafaela and Daniel and also because of the other thing that happened this week.  Thursday morning President Robertson (our mission president) called and told us there are making some changes was a possibility of them closing down our area, then Thursday night we got a call that confirmed that.  So Saturday after the devotional both Hna Millet and I were taken out of our area.  As I said in the last letter, when we read the introduction of the Book of Mormon with Rafaela she said that she knows that the book and she even asked what she needs to do to be baptized.  However in the last lesson we had with her, last Friday, she was back to all churches are the same, she was already bapized, and her pastor had authority to baptize her through the Holy Ghost.  And we were able to tell her that we know that this is God's church, with His authority, and that she will be able to know through reading the Book of Mormon.  Thankfully she had already started reading, and because of this I was able to feel peace when Elder Christopherson said the best thing we can do is get them reading the Book of Mormon.  So that's my other big change, I'm in a new area!  So, I'm in Junin A, my companion's name is Hna Leiva, she is latina so now I have to talk in Spanish all the time, and she is really nice, so I'm not worried about this companionship.  Lots of people have told me how Junin is the promised land, I'm kinda rolling my eyes at the phrasing, but it is really pretty here and the people I have met are super awesome.  I've already met our sister training leaders and they are both northamerican and really fun, both of them have a California accent and it fits their personalities really well.  So I do still miss Ramos Mejía, and Daniel and Rafaela are in my throughts alot, but I am also excited for this new change.  And truly Junin is very different from Ramos Mejia.  The sister training leaders said that it's very easy to be happy here.  Regardles, I'm happy to be wherever I'm called.  I love you all and hope the next week is great.  Have a good one!

-Alyssa

week 6

Wow, that story about Sam made me laugh some.  Our family really is awesome.  Something I'm super grateful for.  Transfers came and went and its still just me and Hna Millet.  I really like working with her, and she has helped me and taught me a lot.  With mail, all mail goes to the offices, and I forget to check to see if I have mail, but I'm going to check tonight.  We're super close to the mission offices so sorry about that.  So this week has been awesome.  First with Rafaela, we read the introduction to the Book of Mormon with her, and she has already been reading different chapters that we have been giving her and we know that she likes reading the Book of Mormon, so we were reading the intro together, and when she got to the part about "we invite all to read..." she paused and started to cry (which she kindof does alot) and she asked us if we know why she is being emotional.  My companion is nodding her head yes, and I'm nodding my head no because I truly had no idea and I'm worried and thinking is she ok, and she tells us that she has received her answer, that she knows that this church is the Lord's true church.  Sad thing is I think she is starting to doubt, but we'll see.  Also her son Daniel, everyday comes closer to the Lord.  This week he prayed for the first time out loud, so hopefully he is praying more in private as well.  He's very fun to teach, because everytime we talk with him there the sense that he gets it in a way that his Mom doesn't.  His mom is a little more dramatic, but I feel like Daniel understands better the quiet voice of the spirit.  We've also met a lot of people this week that have been prepared by the Lord to hear this message.  As always thanks for the letters and I love you a ton. 

Alysaa

week 5

So I wrote Lexie and Anna first and now only have 3 minutes.  So really sorry about that.  Thank you for your inspiring letter.  The message in your letter goes along with my personal thoughts for today.  In my personal study I read 3 Ne 9 13  which says "...will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?"  And that scripture gave me such comfort.  Truly it applies to all of us, both me and the people in the street that I talk to.  I've been getting discouraged some this week, but this scripture renewed my determination, and gave me the inner peace that I need to conqure this week.  This is why I am here, so that everyone can feel the same healing that I have felt.  Also, this is why I'm not going to be discouraged when someone tells me that they are ateo.  Instead my reaction is going to be, more  of "great, I have a message that can change your life for the better, and give you the healing that we all truly want!"  Anyway, thankyou for your letter mom.  Talk to you more next week!  ¡Chao!

week 4

As a matter of fact there have been some cool experiences this week.  This week has been a struggle with too much walking and not enough lessons, but the lessons we have had have been worth it.  First off Rafaela and her family.  This is the family most dear to mine and Hna Millet's hearts.  I've already told you a little about her and her son, so here is a little more info.  Rafaela is living together with Ramon, and Ramon has a daughter, Sofia.  So in the family is Rafaela, Ramon, Daniel, and Sofia.  Ramon is the slowest progressing, he is never a part of the lessons, but he has always been friendly and recently he has been warming up to Hna Millet and I more.  I think we teach Rafaela and Daniel the most, but Sofia is often a part of the lessons.  And this week we taught them the Plan of Salvation and part of The Gospel of Christ.  After teaching the Plan of Salvation along with forever families, I extended the baptismal invitation.  And everyone was silent.  And its pretty funny to me now, because after a bit, Hna Millet asked "did you understand my companion?"  Like, was her spanish really that bad?  And then we started talking about baptizm some and why it is important, and it was cool because both Daniel and Sofia mentioned how the Plan of Salvation makes sense.  They didn't commit to anything, but they are sincerely searching.  Then later in the week we were able to find Jaquelin Vera, Rafaela's niece who is menos activo.  Jaquelin is the person who originally gave us the reference for Rafaela, but it is dificult to find Jaquelin because she has a busy work schedule.  Saturday was the first time that I had talked to Jaquelin, and we knock on her door multiple times during the week.  And coolest part of this week is that: Rafaela, Daniel, Sofia, and Jaquelin all came to chuch this Sunday!  Rafaela is sincerely searching in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon for answers especially about priesthood authority, which is huge for her.  In the beginning when we talked with her about priesthood authority the lessons because slightly contentious because she believes/believed (not quite sure right now) that her church also has priesthood authority.  Sofia is reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning, because she is like Lexie and I, she likes reading, so for her it makes sense to read from the begining.  And Daniel is reading in the Book of Mormon which is also huge to go from saying, "I'm atheist" to bending enough to read and consider.  And both of us do think that Daniel is searching and is interested because he is almost always a part of the lessons, and he has the interested look.  And all of them liked church (They only stayed for Sacrament Meeting/ but hey that's the most important meeting).  Hna Millet called the family later, and asked Daniel what he thought abut church and he said "me encantó" ("I loved it")  This family truly is awesome.  And sacrament meeting was perfect, because it was all about families (yesterday was Día de la Madre) and families are a huge focus for this family.  Rafaela, everytime we get her family together talking about God, she cries.  Daniel has told us that one of his main goals in life is to be a good Dad when he has kids.  Something kinda cool happened to me yesterday.  There was this man, Lucas, working on his motorbike as we were walking down the street, and Hna Millet told me that she wanted me to talk to him.  So I start talking to him, and he tells us that he is ateo(atheist) so Hna Millet asks him why he is ateo, and he says something about how there are so many different beliefs about God and life and such, that there is there is no way to be sure.  So I was able to give him a brief sumary about the Restoration and also the Book of Mormon and it was really cool, to feel the Spirit testify that yes, The church of God has been restored through Joseph Smith and you are able to know through the Book of Mormon.  I think he felt the spirit as we because as I testified about the Restoration and also the Book of Mormon, he look alot more interested.  We invited him to Family Home Evening at the church tonight and he says he is coming so, way cool.  Anyway I love you all.  Have a great week!

-Alyssa

MTC pictures

Week 2

I'm way glad you are doing the Halloween tree this year, and I bet Sarah and John will have lots of fun helping you decorate it.  I think your tradition with the Halloween tree and later the 3-4 Christmas trees is such a cool tradition, and I've loved always having those fun trees in our house.  It is so great that your also making the pillowcases and sending them in care packages, stuff like that truly does brighten people's day.  The care packages that you and Heather sent me at BYU helped me a ton, so I know that these gifts you're working on now do help cheer people up.  Also, that is way cool that Hna Millet's mom tracked you down.  Hna Millet, really is a great trainer.  I love watching how she teaches and how she often testifies that the message will be able to help you in your life.  The coolest thing from this week has been, when we've taught the restoration.  Until now I've never testified of the truthfullness of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ to people outside of this church, because I've know how crazy it sounds.  But everytime we have testified about the restoration I feel the spirit testify that this is true.  And the other cool part is how the other person reacts.  There were two different women this week, who when we taught them about the restoration, they were excited and expressed how this actually makes sense to them.  So that's been the coolest part of this week.  The most difficult part is how we have been having a great first lesson and then stuff comes up.  One woman called us and told us that she just got a new job, so she won't be able to visit with us for a while.  So we figure we are going to wait and see with her.  Another called us and told us that she liked our message and later she will probably want to meet with the missionaries more but for right now because her family is going through some stuff (we don't know what exactly) her family doesn't have the time to meet with us.  So I'm glad to be here and I do feel like everyday, the Lord strengthens me a little more.  Thank you so much for your letters.  They also strengthen me.  And I do agree with you, confrence was great.  They ended up letting all us north american missionaries watch the confrence in English, which was a blessing.  Hope the next week goes well, and I love you both.  

-Love Alyssa