Life is like a bowl of Locro

I just had an amazing week! Probably the best week that I´ve had in the mission. The activity was a complete success and due to that, we have see many blessings and miracles this week. And I have a beautiful analogy about my week to share with you. I was going to compare my week with a banana split but then I realized something, I am in Argentina. And when in Argentina, do as the Argentinos do. So I´m going to compare my week with Locro. Be excited! And just for a little recap, in case you don´t know what Locro is. Locro is kind of like a stew and kind of like pudding. It has this beautiful yellow-orange color. The texture is somewhat pudding-like but they just like to throw anything they want in there- meat, beans, corn, vegetables, todo. It sounds weird but I actually liked it. Maybe I was such really hungry or something but I enjoyed it. All of the weird stuff they put in it turned into a delicious locro. SO, life is like a bowl of Locro. A bunch of stuff happens and you just have to run with it and enjoy it. And we had a ton of stuff happen this week, so I´m just going to compare the miracles we saw with the ingredients of locro.

Cow Intestine – So the day before the activity, we were inviting anybody and everybody to come and eat locro. Basically, we were standing on the side of the street yelling, ¨Somos Locos por Locro.¨ And we had tons of people stop and come to the actividad. And now we have new people to teach. I felt so ridiculous but I guess you have to do new and different things to see new and different results.

Pig Fat – We have been making desserts a ton. We made the cake of the Book of Mormon, and the sugar cookies of the flag of Argentina, and banana bread, and brownies, and shared with everyone. And everyone loved it. The funniest thing was when they ate the Book of Mormon. We put a ton of food coloring so it would have the dark blue color. And when everybody started eating it, their mouths were completely blue. Their teeth, their tongues, their lips. Everything completely blue!! It was pretty funny and delicious!

Onion – We had almost 100 in the actividad. Members, menos actives, inactivos, investigadores, Everybody!! My companion and I were running around the entire activity talking to everybody. It was a ton of fun! And we taught 15 lessons!

Chorizo – We had 27 Investigators that came to the actividad 25 of May.

Cow Stomach – We saw a miracle in the church. Half of our new investigators came to Church. And we had four different families!!

Corn – We have a new investigator named Sergio. He is the husband of one of the members but has never been interested in learning about the church for years and years. But he went to the activity and afterwards he came to us and asked us for the lessons. Usually, we have to ask to teach but HE ASKED US. And he went to Church!!

Beans - An entire family came to the actividad and then to church Sunday. Juan Jose and Claudia and their three kids. They have friends that are members and they are interested to know more. They really are amazing and are some of my favorite people.

Salsa – We have been working with an inactive family for the entire time I have been here and even before. We pass by every week and invite them to church but nothing ever happened. But they came to the actividad and then to Church!!! Lucas and Yesica are members that haven´t gone for a long time and Maria is married to Lucas and is not a member. But she wants to go to church and learn more!

Seriously, this week was full of Miracles. I love the mission and sharing the Gospel with everybody! The Gospel truly brings happiness and joy in our lives and I know because I am feeling it. But ya, I love you all! El Reino de Dios o Nada!

Les amo,

Hna. Ellsworth

The District

This week is going to be the greatest week ever! I am so stinkin´ stoked! So my companion and I have been planning this activity for the last month and it´s finally going to happen… tomorrow! We have been inviting everybody in Villa Independencia. Also we have been working crazy with decorations, and food, and presentations, and games. It is going to be the coolest activity that the branch in Villa Indpendencia has ever seen.

Tomorrow is a holiday in Argentina, (I don´t really understand what holiday it is. 9 de Julio is the independence day and 25 de mayo is like the pre-independence day. ¿Que sé yo?) so we´re going to eat locro and drink mate and have a good time. We´re going to start with a Church Open House and all of the different organizations are going to have a different game or presentation. And then my companion and I have a presentation as well. Then afterwards, we are going to eat locro and drink mate. And then there is going to be a ton of different games and deserts and such. I´m so excited!!! We are going to make a cake that looks like the Book of Mormon and we´re going to make sugar cookies that look like the Argentina flag. We have already made a ton of decorations, so our apartment is full of the colors – white, blue, and yellow. But the best part is inviting everybody. We are going to have enough locro for about 150 people. So we´re inviting all the members, all the menos activos, all our investigadores, and everybody else!

We are especially excited for one of our families, the Familia Villarreal. We have been working with them the entire time I have been here. Both of the parents are members but haven´t gone in a long time. And they have three kids that are not members. So we have been working with them a ton. They are probably some of my favorite people in Villa Indpendencia. They are so fun! The oldest daughter is called Rosio and she wants to be baptized but she wants more time. She is reading and praying and it´s just fun to see the excitement she has to learn more. It is hard for them to go to church because they play futbol on Sunday. It is kind of a problem here. But they are really an amazing family and they are excited to go to this activity tomorrow. They can meet all the members and see how the church is. It is going to be amazing! Yep, so I hope that all is well with everyone. Have a fun week!

Les kiero,

Hna. Ellsworth

No me gusta mis lentes . . .

Ok, so i don’t really understand this but every time I wear my glasses, I usually have a bad day. I realize that you think I’m making this out, but it’s true! There was a lot of wind this week (cold wind, fyi) so i had to wear my glasses because I kept getting dirt in my contacts which would make me start crying. It was a little weird when I would be talking to people in the streets, and I would start crying in mid-sentence. I could usually say it was the Spirit, but it still was a little weird. So I wore glasses and here’s what happened…

My first attack of the dogs! I knew the day was coming when I would be bit by a dog, but I was hoping I could avoid it. But we went to the house of our misión leader and he kept telling us that the dogs were fun. Just a little too friendly. Friendly might have been the wrong choice of word. So we were leaving, and two dogs started barking and biting me. Nothing too bad because I had the protection of the Spirit. But there’re a few nice battle scars to show off.

Next, our cellular just kind of died on us. Actually, it didn’t really die, the misión switched the plan and forgot to tell us. So we had no phone for about four days and you would’ve thought it was the end of the world. Everybody was trying to get a hold of us, and the president of the misión had to send elders to come to villa independence to find us. It was a miracle that we found them in the street. It was crazy! And afterwards we had to pass by a lot of the members because they thought something horrible happened to us. How did we ever survive without cellulars?

I also got assigned another talk. I’m not a huge fan of talking in front of people especially when I have not a lot of notice. So i wrote my talk early Sunday morning. I hardly had time to get ready. I was in such a hurry that I forgot my scarf and even worse, I forgot my name plaque. So I had to endure three hours of Latina moms telling me to ¨Abrigese¨ aka ¨Wear your scarf!¨ And I had the opportunity to lead the music again. I figured out that I was in front for more than half of the sacrament meeting. While I was leading the music, going off script of my talk, and living out assignments to the members; I felt like a missionary! I have flashes of this feeling often but I usually lose it when I don’t understand something or make a mistake in my Spanish. But yesterday in church, I felt like a representative of Jesus Christ. And what’s more, I felt his love and the guidance of the Holy Ghost. It was a big momento for me yesterday. It might’ve been a bad day because I wore my glasses, but there was a huge click for me. I can be an instrument in the hands of God. I’m grateful for this experience to learn and to grow. Besitos y abrazos!

Les quiero,
Hna. Ellsworth

Pix from Nor's companera

Navidad en Mayo

So I´ve heard of Christmas in December and Christmas in July, but I think I just had Christmas in May. It definitely felt cold enough to be Christmas and I was so excited for all of the different ¨presents.¨ So check it! My Christmas in May…

Torta de Reeses & Hot Chocolate – We started off Christmas Eve aka the night of May 8th with a Reeses cake and hot chocolate. It was one of the most delicious cakes I´ve had in the misión. It´s hard to find peanut butter and good chocolate here, but thanks to Hna. Nobles and her family, we enjoyed a delicious cake. For real, it was like a giant Reeses. That one cake was enough of a Christmas for me but it only gets better.

Traslados - We had to wait up to get transfers that night and it felt like waiting for Santa Claus to come. But it finally came at about 11 and it was the best news ever… I get to stay in Villa Independence with Hna. Nobles!!! Woohoo! I don´t have to be accustomed to a new area and a new companion. We can just keep doing what we´re doing, just better!! I´m way stoked!

Conferencia de Estaca – And then the next day we went to the Stake Conference and I got to see all the members from my old area. I love them so much! It was one of the best ¨presents¨ ever. I also saw two of my old companions which is always exciting. After being the only hermanas in a zone of about 20 19-year-old elders, you start to miss the other hermanas. It was the best! And Pres. and Hna. Olsen spoke because it´s their last Stake Conference before they leave to go home. The Spirit was so strong. And all of the missionaries there sang to them ¨God Be With You ´Til We Meet Again¨ (in spanish of course). I was a little embarassed to sing in front of all those people, but it was a tender momento. I may or may not have cried…

Llamados – And then after we got back from Stake Conference, we got to call our families!!!! It was fun, I loved it, the end.

Reunión de Planeamiento – And then after we had time to have one of the best planning meetings of my life. I´m not so much of a person to plan or make goals, but I think the misión has finally converted me. I love making goals! Without goals, I am nothing. If I don´t make a goal and write it down, I will not get anything done. And so i absolutely loved planning for an incredible transfer that we are going to have. We can´t wait to achieve our goals, and be exactly obediente, and have fun! This is going to be an Amazing six weeks! Be excited because I know am!

Besitos,

Hna. Ellsworth

La vide es como una gran escuela

All is well in Villa Independencia Argentina. We just working a ton and trying to invite everyone to come unto Christ. We have our difficulties but I´m just loving my time here in the misión. I´m learning new things everyday and I just have to say that I love to learn. There´s always more to learn because nobody is perfect. I love that! So let me just share a couple of things that I learned this week…

I´ve learned that I can pretty much eat anything, all it takes is mind over matter. So now that winter is coming up, we´re starting to eat hotter foods and one of their winter specialties is called Locro. I had my first experience with Locro this last weekend and let´s just say, it was very interesting. Locro is kind of like a soup and kind of like pudding. The color is bright yellow-orange and they just throw anything they want in there. This one had something called mondongo aka cow intestines. It´s white and chewy and pretty much disgusting. And you know what, I ate three huge plates of it. Ya, that´s right! I was pretty much proud of myself. Of course, I washed everything down with a nice fresco coca. (i realize that some of you might think that we´re not allowed to drink coca cola but we can. Apparently the coca kills parasites. Yep, you gotta´ love it!) But ya, i survived my first Locro experience. And we´re planning a ward activity with Locro that´s coming up soon. Just something that I can look forward to!

I´ve also learned that appearances aren´t everything but apparently I need to make more of an effort. I hate to say it, but I think that I have officially become a frump. It has always been a fear of mine being a sister missionary but the day has finally come. It´s starting to get cold and I have my nice, big, black winter coat that I wear everyday. So we had a couple of investigators and members that tried to help us out. Yep, last Saturday we had one of the members try to teach us about make up. We were trying to share a message from the scriptures and she wanted to talk to us about eye shadow. And then after we finished she gave us bright, bright purple and gold eye shadow. I´m way excited to try that out! And then we went to another cita and we had an investigador and after we taught her she gave us necklaces: Big huge necklaces made of seeds. She told us we had to take one and wear it. So ya, I can take a hint. I need to try a little harder with looking nicer. I´m glad that everyone is looking out for us. J

My favorite experience from this last week happened in Church. I was just about to lead the song in Sacrament Meeting (p.s. not a big fan of leading) and we had our investigador come in. I was so excited! I pretty much waved in the middle of the song. A little embarrassing, but whatever. And the greatest thing was that it was testimony meeting and our investigador went up and bore her testimony. It was so powerful and I felt the Spirit so strong. She is amazing! She´s so excited to get baptized! Her testimony and faith is so strong and I´m grateful to learn from her example. I love learning from everybody´s example, especially the example of Jesús Christ. I´m grateful to be a part of this work and to learn new things everyday. ¡El Reino de Dios o NADA!

Les amo,
Hna. Ellsworth