I'M BACK!!!

I´M BACK!!!

WOW! I feel like I say this every week but I LOVE THE MISSION!!! I just had an incredible week! I saw so many miracles!! I have to admit that I had my doubts to return to La Calera. I´m always looking forward to new opportunities and new experiences. I´m kind of a huge fan of change! So I was a little hesitant to go back to La Calera. My first day was pretty rough to see what had changed while I was gone. My favorite familias and both of my baptismos had moved out of the area. And my very first day, we went to a ward party and I definitely know who missed me and who didn´t. It was a bittersweet moment. But you know what i learned this week: I can choose to look at the problems and bad things, or I could look for solutions and for all the great things. Needless to say, I chose the latter. I came prepared with a ton of goals and plans and I put them in practice. And I was blessed to see the miracles that happen immediately. And there was a ton of miracles so I think I´m just going to list them off!

1. Most popular phrase of the week - ¨Wow! You are a new person!¨
2. I recieved two packages from Mom, so we had Christmas on June 25. (Because it´s really cold and it´s the 6 month mark of christmas. Yep, i know i´m clever) so we put up a tree and presents and decorations and hot chocolate and cinnoman rolls and christmas music and a nativity and read the Christmas story in Luke. It was pretty much Amazing! I´ll try to send photos soon!
3. After a month of only three lunches with members, we have four lunches this week!
4. We passed by some members that haven´t gone to church for a few months and some of them came!!! And a good story with that. So we passed by la familia Loyola who haven´t gone to church in a long time. We invited them and testified of the importante of church and promised them that they would recieve blessings if they went. They were a little hesitant and told us that they might be preparing for the soccer game of Argentina. (The World Cup is reall HUGE here! Bigger than the superbowl, World series, and NBA all put together!) So i promised them that if they went to church, Argentina would win. I honestly was trying to follow the Spirit on this one. But ya, so they went and guess what?! Argentina WON!!! Just another example that Heavenly Father fulfills his promises!
5. We had eight investigators in the Church!!! Some members brought friends, one of my old investigadores, and one of our investigadores that we challenged to be baptized this last week!
6. We tripled the numbers of: lessons taught, members that helped us, people we talked to, members in the church, investigadores in the church, people that have a baptismo date, and new investigadores. We tripled the numbers from the week before. I am way tired but very happy!

I really feel so blessed and excited to be in La Calera with Hna. Widmer again. We are going to do miracles. I feel so blessed to be an instrument in the Lord´s hands. I can feel him giving me the confidence and the means to share His powerful message. I love you all and remember that Miracles Happen!

Les amo,

Hna. Ellsworth

Shocker!

So here´s a little shocker… I´m back in La Calera with Hna. Widmer. Same area, same companion, same branch, everything. I feel like i´m living in one giant flashback! This is possibly one of the wierdest transfers ever. I realize that i don´t have very many but this has never been done before. To return to the same area is wierd. Or to have the same companion is unheard of. And to do both of them after so short of time is just crazy! I don´t really understand it but I am definitely excited to come back. I left La Calera feeling like a newbie that didn´t know the language very well. But now I can return and ¨tear it up!¨ I´m so excited to apply all of the things that I´ve learned in Villa Independencia. And it´s great to be with Hna. Widmer again. This is her last transfer and she wants to end it strong. And it´s great because i already know the area and the members, so we can just take off running. It´s going to be great!

But I´m definitely going to miss Villa Indpendencia. Yesterday, I got to eat an asado. I can´t remember if i´ve ever mentioned an asado but they´re pretty much the most delicious barbeque that i´ve ever heard. They jsut barbequed a bunch of steaks and sausages. It was so delicious!! But i didn´t know and wasn´t prepared for the chorizo de sangre. You´re going to have to look up the translation for that one but just be prepared that it is disgusting. I´m never eating it again. But i absolutely loved the asado. It was a perfect way tos ay goodbye to Villa Independencia. I am sad that I had to leave. I´m going to miss the members and all of the people I met. But i guess this is the misión. You have to be ready for everything that happens. Come what may and love it! I love the Lord and the opportunity to help do His work. I´m so grateful for this opportunity to learn and to grow. Becuase I have learned a ton in the misión! I´ve learned about the gospel, our Savior, and a lot ut myself. And I know that we can always learn more. There is always a reason and a purpose. So i know there is a purpose of why I am here in La Calera with Hna. Widmer… again! I´m just excited to find out why. Wish me luck! And know that you´re all in my prayers!

Les amo,

Hna. Ellsworth

Big Ol' List of Questions

My bad! Sorry that my emails are short, mom. I guess i can never think of things to write about. But I aim to please. So I guess I´ll try to write a bit more by answering some of your questions. !Disfruten!

Do you have mamasitas who cook for you (like Emily did) or do you eat at members' homes everyday (or do you cook for yourself)?

I eat at member´s homes everyday. It´s pretty much a huge blessing! We actually have more offers of lunch then we have days. And we eat a ton!! I eat about 2-3 plates overflowing of pasta, pizza, rice, potatoes, meat, and different Argentina food. And that is why I have gained about 5 kilos aka 12 lbs in Villa Independencia. Crazy! My goal is still 10 kilos, and I think I might just surpass my goal.

Do you do your own laundry by hand? (I think I remember that you have a washing machine but not sure.) Do you line dry it?

Another huge blessing is that we have a washing machine. And in La Calera, we had a member wash our clothes. Can you say – spoiled rotten? And yes, we do line dry our clothes. I kind of miss the drying machine because it´s like an automatic ironing job. Oh well, i´m just happy that i don´t have to wash my laundry by hand.

What are the perks and disadvantages of your apartment?

Perks – it has the room we sleep in, the bathroom, a closet, and the kitchen/studying area. Again, i´m pretty spoiled!

Disadvantages – we kind of shower from a bucket that heats up water. It´s kind of wierd and i never have enough time to wash all my hair. (I should cut my hair but i´m too scared. My hair is still in the shape of a ¨V¨.) Also we have to keep the gas inside. Which is fine, but we have to remember to always shut it off because yesterday the carbon monoxide alarm went off and we had to evacuate. That was kind of interesting. But at least we know it works.

Who can we be praying for to help you bring about the changes you are hoping for?

Sergio and that he quits smoking. Maria and that she gets married. And Claudia and Jose and their family that they will continue being Amazing.

Do you have someone who plays the piano/organ/keyboard at church? Have you played? Do you have special musical numbers? Do you and your companion sing together during companion study? (The sisters do here sometimes, and it is angelic coming from downstairs when I least expect it during the day.)

We don´t have a piano/organ/keyboard in the church. So i have been blessed to never have placed. I guess there was this one time for a baptismo but I´m just trying to block that out of my memory. I guess I´m just not a fan of sight reading songs. Oh well. And there aren´t really special musical numbers here but my companion and I are going to sing one next Sunday. It´ll be the first special musical number I have ever seen in Argentina. The problema is that we´re not much of singers, and it might be a little interesting without piano… but we are practicing every morning, because we always sing for companion study. It should be interesting…

What about a character sketch of a few of your favorite ward members and why they are your favorite?

One of my favorite ward members would have to be the Familia Godoy. They actually lived in Mesa (near Broadway and Val Vista) for a long time and they have some kids that are still living there. Is that crazy or what? They went on a temple mision and the hermano has a blood clot in his leg. So keep him in our prayers. But ya, they are pretty much Amazing! The hermana is the Relief soceity president and she loves the misión work so she helps us a ton! And random note, they bought this Magic Jack thing which they can call anyone in the States for a lot cheaper. And they want to call our parents. So you might get a call from a lady with a really strong accent soon. Be excited!

What about critter stories? I haven’t heard you mention anything like that (since the ants).

I haven´t seen any critter for a while besides dogs. It´s pretty cold, so i think all the bugs are hiding out. I saw a rat once and that kind of freaked me out. Other than that, i don´t really have any good critter stories.

What is there to tell about cultural differences?

So this week the World Cup started. Now if you had told me this befote the misión, i would have been like, ¨What is the World cup?¨ I actually did that here and they all looked at me like I was crazy! The World cup is the biggest thing here. They do it every four years so I am kind of excited to be here when it happens because it is pretty crazy! I didn´t really think anything was going to happen until Saturday morning and we recieved a call that said we weren´t allowed to leave our apartment until 1. We had to wait until after the game had ended. I couldn´t believe it! Latinos are for real with their soccer. The United States played the same day as Argentina, (thankfully not against each other) and so my companion and I dressed up in all red, white, and blue. It´s little things like that that make me happy!

What kinds of instruction do you get a zone conferences/district meetings/ etc.?

So we just had a Zone Conference this week and it was pretty much Amazing! It was a little sad because it´s the last zone conference that we´ll have with Pres. and Hna. Olsen. They are finishing their three years of the misión and going home the beginning of July. So it was a little bittersweet, but I´m kind of excited to meet the new misión president. It´ll be cool that I can have two different misión presidents and get to know them both for plenty of time. But I am definitely going to miss Pte. and Hna. Olsen. I have learned so much from them. But ya, the highlight of the zone conference is that they all talked about out activity 25 de Mayo. The President loved it! So now they are teaching everyone in the misión to do the same thing 9 de Julio (Argentina independence day.) It was pretty cool! We felt good that we are following the Spirit and doing good things. And I´ll just end with a cool little thought that I´ve heard a few times in the misión…

Remember this:

Faith is the Power

Obedience is the Price

Love is the Motive

The Spirit is the Key

Christ is the Reason

The Restoration is the Message

The Members are the Means

Baptism is the Way

Joy is the Reward

Salvation is the Cause

How true is that? I love that thought because we need all of those things to invite others unto Christ. We need the faith, the obediente, the love, the Spirit, ALL of those things. I´m grateful to be in the misión. And i love you all! El Reino o Dios o NADA!

Les kiero,

Hna. Ellsworth

YEAH!!

So we had a great week in that we actually found our investigators. YEAH!! I don´t know what the deal is but it´s way hard to find people again. They either lose interest, have to work or move! It´s a bit disheartening. But it´s all good because we found everyone this week and we had a lot of people in Church again. YEAH!!!

So this week we found and taught Gema and she needed some help in her backyard. So we got to pull weeds, and chop down bushes and trees. It was pretty hard core, let me tell you! I defnitely used an ax to chop down a tree. YEAH!!!

We also found and taught Sergio who is the investigador that is married to a member. After years and years, he´s now read to be baptized. YEAH!!! He just has to quit smoking first. That´s going to be a little bit of a trial but we´re working on it. He used to smoking about 40 a day but now he´s down to 10. YEAH!!! That last 10 is hard for him to quit but we´ve got a bunch of different ideas to try out. If you have any ideas as well, digame.

We´re also working with a beautiful family of 5 – Jose, Claudia, Benjamin, Victoria, y Ana. They are Amazing! Claudia loves how she feels in the church, when she reads the Book of Mormon, when she prays, and everything. YEAH!!! Now we just have to work with her husband so he feels the same way.

And we found and tuaght Maria this week. She loves church and everything and her boyfriend is a member. And she wants to be baptized! YEAH!!! So we put a date and everything, she just needs to get married first with her boyfriend. But ya, we´re excited for a baptismo in Julio. YEAH!!!

So yep, miracles are happening in Villa Independencia. We just keep chugging along and we love seeing the miracles that happen everyday! Just know that I love you all and don´t suffer too much in the heat without me. J

Les kiero,

Hna. Ellsworth