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