Pictures

Lost Sheep

So we had a fun P-day today. We went to the misión home and had an asado for Hna. Widmer because it´s her last week. We also played soccer with the zone. And check this out, my team consisted of me, my zone leader, the assistent to the misión President, and the Mission President. I was a little nervous because I am HORRIBLE at playing soccer. But it was a ton of fun. And the asado was delicious! I love Argentinian BBQ´s!

Bueno, we continue to see a ton of miracles in La Calera! There was one morning this week that was really hard. We had about three different appointments and three different back-up plans and nobody was home or nobody had time to listen to us. It was a little disappointing for us but we figured that we needed to have animo and keep going! So we just started to knock doors and we found the most incredible people. We found a family of 10 people!!! It was like chaos when we entered. But then we sang ¨Families Can Be Together Forever¨and the Spirit came and there was an incredible peace. It was Amazing!!! And then we found another lady and sang a hymn and taught about the love of Jesus Christ and His Atonement and she started crying the entire time we were there. Our morning started with all of our appointments standing us up but ended with a ton of Miracles!!! I guess we had to miss those other appointments to find these people. Our Heavenly Father is always preparing us and those we are teaching. We just have to live worthy and follow the Spirit and we´ll find the miracles.

We have also been working a lot with the members to have more of a Church attendance. If we have 80 in the church every week, La Calera will have a chapel. So we´re passing by everyone to invite them to church. One in particular is one of my baptisms. He moved when I went to my other area and now he lives really far away and so he stopped going. But we are passing by every week and now he is attending church again! Yeah!! The misión has taught me a ton about the lost sheep. We have to go search out the people that have fallen away and bring them to church. It is so Important!!! Leave the 99 and search for that one sheep. That is what Christ did and we all need to follow His example. So go and search!! Visit somebody, call somebody, and just be a friend. That is usually all they need, and then they´ll return to church.

So it´s the last week of the misión for Hna. Widmer so we are going to be working a ful. We are going to finish her misión running! And I am so excited for Hna. Mortensen to come in a week. I have been telling everyone that one of my best friends is coming to the misión and everyone is telling me that I´m going to train her. I HOPE SO!!! So keep it in your prayers! It was be Amazing!!! But ya, until next week, take care and don´t forget that they are always MIRACLES!!!

Gold Flakes in a jar of dirt

Mom gave an object lesson once that has always stuck with me. She gave me a jar full of dirt and then told me that if I search hard enough, that i would find flakes of gold. She then likened the object lesson with the principle of obedience. Sometimes our Heavenly Father gives us trials or a jar of dirt. But he also promises us blessings or flakes of gold. We just have to search for it with patience, and we will soon find the rich blessings. It´s probably been about 10 years, so i´m not sure i remember completely correctly, but it definitely stuck with me and helped me this last week. This week felt like Heavenly Father gave me a big ol´ pile of dirt. But thankfully, I remembered that there are always blessings and miracles, I just have to search for them. So here are a couple of miracles that I found this week!

So we had our activity Friday. It was the coldest day of the year, so we didn´t have a very good turn out. We actually had more investigators than members. But we had a great time with the few people that came. We had planned to present a Ward Mission Plan but because there were more investigators, we changed the lesson in the last minute. But I think it went well and the Spirit was very strong We taught about Matthew 4:18-20, and how we can be ¨Fishers of Men.¨ So we had a bunch of different fishing stuff to follow the theme. It was a little bit cheesy, but a ton of fun. We had a fishing game for the little kids and we even made a cake in the shape of a fish! It was kind of weird but very delicious! It was a ton of fun! And the investigadores that went to the activity, also came to Church!

Saturday we went to a new neighborhood to find a few contacts that we´ve received We didn´t have Money, so we had to walk the whole way. We had to walk a ton in the freezing cold. It´s about 10 degrees here and I´m learning the importance of layering. For example, right now I am wearing three shorts, two jackets, a coat, two different pairs of socks, two pants hidden under my skirt, a cap, scarf, and gloves. Yep, that´s right! The frio can´t touch this! But I digress… So we walked and walked and walked (ANd yes, I was singing the Primary song) and we found a ton of amazing people. We had the most lessons in one day than in my entire misión. It was Amazing! You just have to search, and you´ll find the blessings!!

And Tuesday we had our interviews with Pres. and Hna. Salas. I absolutely love them!! They are so incredibly strong in the Spirit and are excited to do new things. He told me some things to help with the members in La Calera and reminded me the importance to always have excitement for the work! This is once in a Lifetime opportunity and we can´t waste a second of it! I´m excited to apply all of the things that I am learning from him and see the miracles unfold.

But ya, I am doing great here in La Calera. I am very grateful for the blessings and miracles that are here. Remember, there are always Miracles, blessings, tender mercies that are happening in our lives. It´s how our Heavenly Father shows us that he loves us. So if you don´t see them, that means you have to go search for the gold flakes in the jar of dirt. Because I promise you, the blessings are there waiting for you. You just have to find them. Well, I love you and miss you! Recuerde, siempre hay milagros!

Les kiero,

Hna. Ellsworth

Conference, Hospitals, and English

So I had another fantastic week! I had the great blessing to meet our new mission president and he is pretty much Amazing! I am so excited! Things are going to change but it´s going to be great! I left the conference very excited and energetic to work. Our mission president is Pres. Salas and Hna. Salas who are from Buenos Aires, Argentina and he has about four kids, (one that is going to live with them in the misión.) Pres. Salas is very funny and very energetic and very spiritual. I like that he knows when to make Jokes and have fun, and then can bring the Spirit and get down to business. In the Zone Conference, he started with a video of his family. They sang a song in English and Spanish because they are all bilingual. And then afterwards, we saw a video of all of the the returned missionaries in his family bear their testimonies. It was very powerful! And then we heard from Pres. and Hna. Salas. They taught us how to be better teachers and how to get excited for the work here in Cordoba, Argentina. And then they presented the changes. There´s not a lot of changes, mostly just the scheduling. We´re only going to do Zone Conferences and Interviews once every three months. And there´s going to be a lot more Leadership Training Meetings. It doesn´t really affect me a lot. We also focused a lot on what our purpose really is as missionaries. I feel very blessed to have two different misión president and learn from their different perspectivas. Pres. Olsen´s motto is ´If other missions are doing it, we can do it too!¨ And Pres. Salas focused on the importance of excitement in the work. I have an interview with Pres. Salas tomorrow, so I´m very excited!

This week was very interesting. I had my first experience in an Argentinian hospital. Now, don´t freak out Mom! Everything is fine. My companion has had a lot of pain in her stomach and so we went and found out that she has a hernia in her belly button and she needs to have a surgery. But she goes home in three weeks, so she´s going to wait until she gets home. And I learned that Argentinian hospitals take your temperature from your armpit (not in your mouth) and that all injections are administered through the bum. I hope and pray that I never have to go to the hospital in the misión ever again! But now she has another diet because she always has Gastroitis (i´m not really sure what that is in English.) And so with the two different diets, pretty much all she can eat is pasta and vegetables and sometimes fruit. So I´m getting really healthy here in the misión. And I´m sad to report that I lost all the kilos that I gained in Villa Independencia. But I feel better and I have more energy. Wierd! Who would´ve thought that I would have more energy ealing fruits and vegetables instead of cakes and ice cream? Yep, so i´m just strengthening my testimony of the Word of Wisdom.

And do you want to hear the coolest thing ever?!! We found a family that only speaks English!!! They are from the United States but they´ve lived here for two years but the husband still doesn´t know any Spanish. So we get to teach them everything in English. YEAH!! I have missed English so much!! My companion and I are both gringas but we always speak Spanish because I need the practice. I went about three months without any English. It felt good to have a conversation in English again. And the other good news is that he is a chef! And he wants to make us American Pizza!!!! I have to write American Pizza because Argentinian Pizza is very, very, very diferent. It´s not bad, but it´s not American. So I´m pretty much excited! And they are reading the Book of Mormon and he always has a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Woohoo! They´re really busy with opening a Pizza Resturaunt right now so they haven´t gone to church yet but we are definitely working on that. He´s not too interested to go because he won´t understand anything. We´re happy to translate but he needs a little bit more convincing. But ya, keep the Family Villy in your prayers that they will go to church.

Well, I´m very excited for this week with the activity Friday and the interview with Pres. Salas tomorrow. I hope you are enjoying summer and vacations! Love ya and remember who you are and that you are children of God!

Les kiero,

Hna. Ellsworth

Feliz Dia de Independencia!

We celebrated 4th of July yesterday by eating a delicious American meal of bbq steak, Mashed potatoes, Corn-on-the-cob, and green salad. And we finished it up with chocolate cake and ice cream. It was pretty much amazing! And it was even more delicious because I hadn´t eaten any sugar or fat for about a week. I´m trying to follow this diet with Hna. Widmer. Which pretty much means we can´t eat anything except pasta, rice, vegetables, and specific fruit. And i´m a big fan of these food but it´s hard to eat them without sauces or butter or something unhealthy on top of it. Oh well, I´m trying to eat healthy. It´s kind of a struggle but I´m learning.

Other highlights of this week is that we recieved our new misión president. I haven´t met him yet but the Elders in the misión office told us that there will be a ton of changes. It should be exciting… And i can´t remember if i already said this, but he is from Buenos Aires, Argentina but he knows perfect English. I´m sure that will come in handy. But ya, I should meet him this week because we have Zone Conference with him. I´ve very excited to see the changes that will happen.

We´re trying to keep busy this week with working with our investigadores and the members. We have an activity coming up for 16 de Julio. My companion and I are in charge, so we´re excited to do something new and different. So if you have any fun ideas or activities about ¨Working Together,¨ send them my way. We´re going to stay busy with making decorations, invitations, planning, activities, cooking, and all of that other fun stuff. It should be a ton of fun and I´m way excited!

We´re working with a young man named Augusto. He is preparing to get baptized this month. He´s amazing because he is going to church, praying, and reading the scriptures. And the greatest thing is that you can see a change in him every week. All of his family and friends have seen this huge change in him. So we´re very excited for him and we´re just happy to be working in La Calera together again! I hope all is well with everyone!

Les kiero,

Hna. Ellsworth