Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This was a busy week filled with many emotions. 

First.. It was Christmas! On Christmas Eve we had an activity as a mission and it was awesome. I love being with all the missionaries. We sang, watched some talks, ate, had a gift exhange, and watched the videos each zone made for christmas. 

Then on Christmas day I got to skype my family! It was awesome. And so so so hard. I told myself I wasnt going to cry but as soon as I saw their faces I lost it. But it was good to talk to them. 

Then we went back to work! Noelia was confirmed this week, so that was awesome. 

Pablo. Man he is awesome. We decided we should teaching him the word of wisdom, and we kinda knew we would have a problem with it. As expected, he told us he smokes. Which would be fine, except he told us he doesnt really have a desire to stop. Well. Dang. But we´re going to keep working with him, hopefully he´ll start feeling the desire. But the lesson we had with him was awesome. In the beginning I wasnt understanding anything. So I said a little prayer for help to understand and help him. And immidiately after I started understanding and we had a 30 minute conversations back and forth. The spirit was so strong. It was awesome.

We also found a woman named Isabel who has had the HARDEST life. Seriously. Shes literally never been happy. And shes going to be baptzied on the 10th :)

But I was thinking the other day. I feel like Ive been kind of a downer in my emails, always talking about how hard it is. So first Im sorry for that,

But hey, this has been the hardest thing ive ever down spiritually and emotionally. But its so so so so worth it. I cannot imagine my testimony without the mission. Of course I would still have it, but my testimony has grown more in these 4 months that it could ever have in my whole life if I was home. Ive gotten to see the atonement and love of Christ work and change people. Ive been put in situations where everything depends on my faith. Ive been given the opportunity to grow in ways I couldnt have without the mission. Im so thankful for this opportunity. 

I love you all and I hope you had a great Chistmas and have a Happy New Year!!

Love,

Hermana Prestwich

McFlurries in the rain...why not?

A Week of Milagros‏

Hola! 

I dont have a lot of time to write today, since it isnt really our Pday. 

But anyway. This week was awesome. We did divisions for a couple days which really helped our companionship. I was with an American sister here in Escobar for a couple days and my comp was in Tigre. 

So. Remember Dana? The girl that was baptized about 6 weeks ago that I always talk about? Yeah well when we first started teaching her, we were also teaching her sister, Noelia. And to be honest, she was tough. She was rude to us, and never really wanted to listen. We had dropped her as our investigator because she didnt want to commit to the Word of Wisdom. Then these past couple of weeks shes been expressing interest, and one day we took a leap of faith and invited her to read the Book of Mormon. She did and the next day she told us she felt like the Book of Mormon was "speaking directly to her". So we starting teaching her slowly, and then took another leap of faith and invited her to be baptized... and... she accepted!!! So we started teaching her again and when we got the the word of wisdom part we were super nervous... but she said she would live it without a problem. There were so many complications when it came time for her baptism. She really had to show her faith and desire to follow God, but she did and she was baptized yesterday! She´s amazing. 

Then another miracle. 

This week, with the help of God, we found an investigator named Pablo. Just the way we found him was a miracle. We knocked at his house and waited for like 10 minutes. No one came out so we left. Well we were almost at the end of the street when we heard someone whistle. We turned around and He was standing in the street. We went to talk to him. His parents are members but he was never baptized. Hes super spiritual and open to new ideas. He came with us the next day to our ward christmas party and everyone was SO nice to him. A lot of people knew his family and just made him feel so comfortable. Then he came to church with us the next day and stayed for our baptisms. He´s awesome. And this ward is INCREDIBLE. Ive never been so thankful for members in my life. They were amazing examples to me of welcoming a new face. Something I know I could have done better at and something I want to continue to work on when Im home. Today we´re going to set a date for him to be baptized. Yesterday he kinda hinted that he wanted to be baptized, becuase he asked us "so, people can be baptized at any age?" and then proceeded to say "and is there an age limit to serve a mission?" like... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The mission. Highs and lows. But its awesome.

And this week is CHRISTMAS. I get to skype my family!!!!! 

I love all of you so much and Im so thankful for your support and letters to me. I hope you all have a wonderful week and Christmas as we remember the birth of the Savior. 

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!

Love,

Hermana Prestwich

14 December 2015

Well hola once again! Theres not much to report this week, sadly. 

This week we found some people interested, who then became uninterested within the same week. So that was a little discouraging. But we found a boy of 11 years old who is super ready! His mom told us that when we found him he went home and asked so many questions and told her he really wants to learn more. His name is Bryan :)

We did divisions this week with some ward members. Dana and Aylen and I worked in La Chechela meeting with less actives and street contacting. It was fun even though a majority of the time I didnt know what people wer saying. 

On Sunday we had a Christmas devotional. A choir of missionaries sang and it was forr our stake. So all the missionaries around Escobar and all the members and investigators and pretty much everyone was invited. It was awesome. Like a mini music and the spoken word. Then after I got the chance to talk with my mission president. My companion and I have really been struggling. For some reason we cant seem to work together. So I talked with my president, and let me just say that he is literally one of the greatest people I have ever met and ever will meet. 

I also played soccer for the first time in my life with my zone and scored the first goal ;)

Ive been thinking a lot this week about Christ, since its Christmas time and all. And just why He was sent to earth. He came for us. To help us. Its also caused me to reflect on my relationship with Him. There is someone who knows exactly what Im feeling all the time, and He's just waiting to help me. Since being on my mission I have come to realize this. I have the ability, as we all do, to access the power of the atonement and ask for help. And He's waiting. He loves us more than we can imagine and loves us perfectly. And we can try to repay Him by following Him and trying to be like Him. Its not easy, but we will be so blessed and will see the happiness that comes from trying to be like Him. I'm so incredibly thankful for my Savior and His sacrifce. 

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Love,

Hermana Prestwich

7 November 2015

Well, hello again!

Time is so weird in the mission. They days go by SO SLOW sometimes, and then im sitting here writing again and I feel like it has been 2 hours since I last sent an email.. Pretty sure that made absolutely no sense but forming complete english sentences is slowly starting to be a problem for me. 

Speaking of Spanish.. Its alright! There are days where I dont understand anything, and many times where people dont understand me so that sucks. But its getting better. Ive already had dreams in Spanish, and my journal entries have randome words that I for some reason wrote in Spanish. Same with my prayers, as I sometimes randomly switch to spanish.. thats good, right? :)

As for this week, not a ton happened. The mission has united as we´re all trying super hard to reach our goal for this year.. and we have 4 weeks to do so. So we set a goal as a zone, and are trying hard to reach it. And its been tough. 

This week we found a kid who is 10 years old. We gave a quick lesson of the restoration to him and his mom and then invited him to be baptized. His mom said maybe and when she looked at him he said yes. When she asked if he was sure, his eyes got wide and he said "yes! I want to be clean". My heart exploded. 

We also found a girl through a member, whos 25 and has 3 kids, and an abusive boyfriend, and all live in a house smaller than an average garage.. we just talked to her for about an hour with the member, and it was great. She said she felt the spirit, and the only time her kids were screaming was during the prayer. Shes incredible.

Bad news. We had to drop both of these investigators this week. Everytime we went to visit the little boy he "wasnt there" and Patricia, the 25 year old, said it wasnt her time. 

Also, our baptism last week, Lucia, couldnt go to church on sunday, and didnt recieve the holy ghost. Its hard because shes only 11, and her parents arent members. We´re not allowed to bring kids underage to the chapel without a parent. So we´re heavily relying on her non member parents to bring her every week.. 

Our baptism for next Sunday is again pushed back until the 20th. I feel like its never going to happen. Her baptism has been in the works since before I got here. 

Thats pretty much it for this week.. No one wanted to listen to us, and ever time we have a good feeling about someone, it fell through or they didnt want anything. 

But our favorite family, the rios family, is doing so well. We had a couple really spiritual lessons with them this week. They are literally m family here in Escobar. I dont know what I would do without them. 

On Saturday as 9:30, my comp and I really wanted ice cream.. and since we cant leave our apartment after 9, we called our amazing ward mission leader.. and so at 10 at night he and his wife brought us ice cream.. Hes the best :)

I was reading "Our Search for Happiness", a book by M. Russel Ballard and found a quote I really liked. It says "If you really concentrate on trying to walk the way He walked - loving, caring, serving, and obeying each step of the way - one day you´ll look up and discover that His path has led you directly to the throne of God."

Isnt that what we all want? To live with God again? Thats what God and Christ want too, and They have prepared a way for us to do so. God sent His Beloved Son into the world to teach us and show us the way directly back to Him. We only need to follow. And sometimes its so hard, trust me. I know. But I know it will be so worth it. On the mission I get the chance to walk a VERY small part of the path Christ walked. And it is so incredible. Every day we get rejected. Every day we´re exhausted. But on the mission I have the Savior walking beside me and in front of me. I get to have a relationship with Him that I would never get anywhere else. And I know the only way back to Him is to walk how He walked. In this Christmas season, we should all try to remember why Christ was sent to this earth, and be thankful. God gave us the most amazing gift in the world, His Son, so that we may return to His awaiting arms. 

Thats about it for this week. Sorry not much happened! I love you all and hope you have a great week!! 

Love,

Hermana Prestwich

Eating Arrepas with Dana



Escobar!

23 November 2015

Fua! I can´t believe it´s the last week of the transfer already! I cannot believe I´ve been here that long. So this email might be long, so... deal with it..

Let me start by telling you what happened this week. 

Tuesday morning we decided to pass by the house of a friend of some young women who has been to church a bunch to try to set a baptisimal date. I guess some elders had tried a while ago but her mom wanted nothing to do with the church. But we went anyway and not only did her mom say yes, but asked if her other daughter could be baptized too! So Alma and Lucia are set to be baptized on Sunday :)

Then that night we went to the house of our investigator, Luisanna. Background: She is SO ready and so excited to be baptized. Her dad is hesitant but it letting her decide, however, lets us know every time that he has HIS religion and wont change. And insists on being present for every meeting. Si we went by tuesday night with Morena and Nahir, two girls from the family we baptized my frist week. And her dad let us have it. For like 30 minutes. We sat there while he practically yelled at us about how kind he was to let us into his house but doesnt appreciate what we´re teaching his daughter. How Joseph Smith never existed, and how our religion is the EXACT same as every other religion. Morena then bore her testimony, and at 12 years old, it was one of the most powerful testimonies I´ve ever heard. We tried to explain how our church is unique but his heart and eyes are closed. Luisanna cried and told her dad how bad she wants to be baptized. He still doesnt agree, but is letting her. And then we proceeded to teach as if nothing happened. 

Next thing: Dana. I dont think I ever really told you about her. Dana is incredible. The day we stumbled upon her house, she wasnt outside. We were talking to her mom and nephew. Her mom wanted nothing to do with the church, but we gave a pass along card with a picture of Christ on it to her nephew, and he ran it inside. Less than a minute later Dana came running out asking if she could have her own, and then straight up told us she wants to learn more. She has changed so so so much. Before it was rare to see her in something modest. And now its (not as) rare. The day we taught her the Word of Wisdom, she stopped smoking completely. On Friday she told us that she feels that since shes been baptized, temptations are so much stronger, she fights with her mom all the time, and feels completely alone. But she is so strong and has the strongest testimony, and God knows it. But so does Satan. And he is doing everything he can to stop her from progressing. But she is the perfect example of someone who was prepared by the Lord beforehand. 

So that´s about the majority of what happened this week. Oh except here, you greet others by kissing cheeks, and to some people its a big deal. Which is why, due to a misunderstanding, Dana´s mom told me God was going to punish me for not greeting her properly. She was mad. So that was fun- 

The mission. I cant honestly say I love it. I wish I could. I wish I could tell you all how it´s the best experience and I never want to come home, but that would be a lie. There are times where I would rather be anywhere else. Times where I dont want to work, dont want to wake up that early, times where the last thing I want to do it talk to someone. But then there are moments where I´m sitting in a lesson and hear an investigator share their testimony for the first time, os when I´m walking down the street and am overcome with happiness and love for Argentina or times where I can literally see God working with us as He, through other people, leads us directly to the people who are ready.. and I wouldnt want to be anywhere else. In those moments I do love it. 

I love and miss you all!

Until next week. 

Love,

Hermana Prestwich

Pictures! 

1. Dana´s nephew, Benjamin :)

2. I took this picture because my mom specifically told me not to touch the dogs. Opps. (This picture never made it through in her email.)

16 November 2015

Hey again! This week was packed full! So lets see. 

In our district meetin on Tuesday we made some goals to find people to reach our goal of baptisms this year. My comp and I decided to try and find a family to teach. Which is hard because 99% of the parents here arent actually married, and they cant be baptized unless they´re no longer living together or get married. So that´s hard. So my comp and I started a fast, to find a family ready for our message. So we went to work, and ran into a lady and her son. We gave them a mini lesson of the restoration on the street, and invited them to be baptized. They accepted, so we went through out "filters", like if she´s legally married, things like that. She said the is legally married to her husband, and then we asked how many kids they have. And guess how many? 12. 12 KIDS!!!!!!!!!!! My comp and I literally started crying on the street. Hahahaha So we asked for her number and address, and guess what? They live ONE BLOCK outside of our area, in the Elders areas.. Of course. So that night when we were doing verifications over the phone we told our district leaders and the elders in our ward about finding the family. The were freaking out when we told them there were 12 kids, and then when we said they lived in the Elders area they started screaming over the phone.  Literally not even 10 seconds after hanging up verifications, the Elders called us and I aswered and the first thing they said was "WHERE DO THEY LIVE" So we hung up. Haha but no we went to find them and try to teach them together with the Elders. We agreed that they can have 6 and we can have 6... No but really I think we´re leaving them for the Elders. Anyway the point that whole story was that the Lord is aware and is working with us. We fasted to find a family that is ready for our message and we did! We just found them for the Elders instead. Next time we fast we need to be a little more specific of where the family lives :)

But we did find a girl and her brother who accepted baptism and came to church, so they´re scheduled to be baptized on the 29th!

Dana, who was baptized last week was confirmed yesterday. She said she felt the spirit so strong. She´s so awesome. I wish I could expres my love for her. She is a perfect example of someone who the Lord prepared beforehand and was just waiting for us to come to her. 

On Thursday night we got a message from the assistants that we were going to go to the temple as a mission on Friday! So at 4 in the morning we woke up to head to the temple! It was the most amazing thing. President said he felt that we all needed to come to help us personally and figure our how to help our investigators. It was a much needed chance to relax and think. And the temple here is BEAUTIFUL. And everything being in Spanish was so cool. 

This week I´ve been studying attributes of Christ. Preach my Gospel has a way to study so I´ve been using that. I´ve focused a lot on charity and love. And it´s made me think about the people here. These people are so so so incredibly humble. Most of them literally have nothing. But they give us everything they have. Whether its a glass of water or lunch, we are well taken care of. The people here are prefect examples of charity. Read Moroni 7:46.

Also, though it´s only been 4 weeks, I´ve learned a lot. Never in my life have I ever had to rely only on the Lord. I´ve never been so alone that the only person I had to talk to was God. God asks us to trust Him and then places us in these stuations that just break us. And for me, He is practically breaking me to the core. But He does this so that he can build us back up into what He needs us to be. I was told by a sister of a missionary here that we are a lot like the bread in the parable with the bread and fish. We are being broken into pieces, but for a reason. To help others. Christ and God are breaking us so that they can give us to others. So that we can be the Lords hands here on the earth in this work. The mission is a mountain. But I get to climb this mountain side by side, shoulder to shoulder with the Savior. It´s incredible. And It´s not easy. I dont think it will every be "easy". But it will be worth it. 

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! 

Love,

Hermana Prestwich 

Elegidos‏

Hello again! This week was packed full. But due to limited time, I´ll just write the higlights. :) 

This week we went to do service at a members house. What did we do? Mow the lawn... WITH SHOVELS. We literally just wacked at the grass until it was kinda cut.. To be honest I´m still not sure what we did. But the member appreciated it! 

So this week we were meeting with an investigator of ours, Dana, and during the lesson my comp asked me to share something and right as I opened my mouth, Dana said that she doesnt like how my comp tells me to do everything. She thinks its rude and she doesnt like it. I tried to explain to her that as my trainer, she has to or else I will never speak and will never learn. It all spiraled out of control and we left with both my comp and dana in tears. So my comp and I talked later about it all, and as we were talking we got a message from Dana. She said how sorry she was and she didnt mean to offend us. And that she was going to pray and sincerly use the atonement that night, which is a miracle because Dana never actually prays.. What is cool about this is we noticed how God was using our weaknesses to bring someone closer to Christ. Though we suffered a little and our faults were pointed out, it helped someone else realize what was important, and realize the gospel is the key.

So then yesterday Dana got BAPTIZED. It was the coolest thing to watch her step into the font. The love I have for her is unreal, even if I can never understand what she´s saying. 

This week we had a lot of meetings and such. The goal of this mission is to work through and with the members. We need to have every lesson we teach be with a member present. Not saying that always happens, but we try. We have a huge goal of baptisms by the end of the year so we will be working super hard to find the "elegidos" this week. 

Time is up so I have to go! Ill try to add pictures later if we get back on, but if not, until next week! 

Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Prestwich

Dana

Argentina... I have a feeling I´m not in the US anymore...‏

The culture shock is still so real. Every day something happens that suprises me.. So.. what even is Argentina?

Argentina: Where the car in front of you isn´t going fast enough, so you simply run into it. Where it's weird to see a dog ON a leash. Where old men hitting on you is normal. Where the yogurt is so liquidy (is that a word?) that they drink it. Where there are diapers everywhere in the street (AND DOGS EAT THEM). And where I am living for the next 16 months. WHERE AM I?!

This week was a little bit better. The homesickness is still way real. And I know it won't get better anytime soon.. and I'm not really sure what to do about that so oh well. But there are times where I'm reminded of a bird I saw one time driving in OR and I get homesick.. like what? Bleh.

So this week... Pres. Gonzales of the Seventy came to speak to our mission but it was all in spanish so I couldn´t tell you what he said. Then after I found out I´m related to an Elder Phair here! From family on my moms side, his dad is Greg Phair and his grandpa is Gary.. Small world! 

Then we had stake conference on Sunday.. and also my first baptisms! Aylen, Nahir, Morena and Valentina were baptized. It was so awesome. Also my comp and I sang at there baptism.. and those of you who know me really well know that I DON'T SING so you can imagine how that was. I made no-bake cookies for the baptism and the two american elders in my ward said they made them so homesick because they're their favoroite cookies. And all the members asked for the recipe hahaha 

Thats pretty much it. Spanish is getting a little better. I can understand more but still can't speak haha. The food here is SO GOOD so expect me to come home with 50 extra pounds. 

I miss you all. This is super hard. It´s already easily the hardest thing I´ve ever done in my life. But I know its where Im supposed to be even if I don´t want it. But I trust God.. so here I am..

I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Prestwich

Aylen, Nahir, Morena and Valentina

Elder Ben Phair (in the middle)--Son of Mom's cousin

Fotos de sus hijas‏

Email from her Mission President received Sunday, November 1st:

Hoy hay muchos bautismos de la familia Rios. Sus hijas son increíbles. Muchas gracias por prestarlos. Los amo. 
David Ayre
Buenos Aires Norte

"Today there are many baptisms from the Rios family. Your daughters are incredible.  Thank you for lending them. I love them.  President Ayre"

And this was sent on the same day from Hermana Sanchez's mother.

MTC, Argentina, and Escobar‏

Hello everyone! I feel like it´s been forever since I wrote! 

So my last week at the MTC:

It was the best. I hated leaving because I honestly loved it there. I wish I could have spent my whole mission there. Because the food was normal, it was in America, and everyone spoke English. Saying gofdbye to everyone was the hardest thing. My district was my family and leaving them was so hard. 

Two elders from my district also went to Argentina, but different missions. So we got to fly together. The plane ride was so long. It was awesome to be able to talk to my family, and weird to be out in the real world with my tag and everything. It was funny to see people look at me, my tag, and then avoid eye contact. But yeah the plane ride was about 11 hours, from 10 at night until 9 in the morning or something like that. When we got off the plane I was exhausted. everything was in spanish and no one knew what was happening. There were about 20 elders and 1 sister with me who were all going to different missions here and none of us had any idea what to do. So we got through customs, and our mission president was waiting for us. It was the weirdest thing to see him in real life. But I can honestly say from the minute I saw him I loved him. Seeing him was so comforting and him speaking english was so nice. We toured the capital for a bit, went to the mission home, and president did interviews while the rest of the new missionaries had a little trainig. 

Then we met our trainers and were shipped off to our areas. My comp is from Colombia and barely speaks any english. The people here have the weirdest accents, and they can´t even understand me. The culture shock is so real. The food is good but I know is going to make me gain a million pounds. Because of my blue eyes, people are hitting on me like a thousand times a day. I´ve had old men tell me they will come to church just to see me and when we tell them that this message could change their lives, they tell me that they know that I could change their life. Ew. 

It has been the hardest week of my life. I feel totally and completely alone. People who served tell you how much they loved their missions but never tell you how hard it is. Let me just tell you it is HARD. It´s been less than a week that I´ve been here and It has been the hardest thing I´ve ever done. 

Here in the mission when we meet people on the streets we´re supposed to share them the message of the restoration and then invite them to baptism right then and there, And then the goal is to get them to church 3 weeks in a row and have them baptized in 3 weeks. We have a family getting baptized on saturday, and a couple of girls who should be getting baptized on the 8th of november. The family has 4 girls, who are all getting baptized. The dad is inactive and the mom isn´t a member. So the problem here is that they aren´t married. They have to sparate and get married before the mom can be baptized. But they are so strong. They feed us all the time and the testimonies they share are so strong and their desire to follow Christ is so obvios and strong. 

All in all Argetnina is weird. I don´t love it yet, but I´m hoping that will come. 17 more months seems like an eternity, homesickness is worse than ever, and I feel so alone and don´t think I can do this. 

But I´m going to try. I know that I was called here by God, and I´m here just on faith in Him. In reality I don´t really want to be here and I´m not sure why I was called to a place that God new I would struggle so much in. Why he put me with a comp that I would stuggle with, and why he gave me anxiety that I can´t handle. I don´t know the reasons. But I know that if I give everything to God it will work out. I want it to work out right now. I want to love this mission and the people and the culture and the language, but the point where that will happen seems so far away. 

I miss all of you and can´t wait to soon be able to tell you that I love it here. 

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Love you!

Love,

Hna. Prestwich

Last temple trip together

 MTC Zone

This is the Rios family, whos daughters will be baptized on Saturday. Also in the picture is the ward mission leader and his daughter. 

The Final Countdown

It's my last P-day here!!!!!!!!!! I leave to Argentina in 6 days. First feeling is that I want to throw up, but I'm super excited! I can't believe I've been here for 5 1/2 weeks. Time has literally flown by..

This week was so much better. Maybe because it's all ending here so everyone is excited and my mind is focused on leaving rather than worrying about what's happening here. Let's see. 

We taught our TRC investigator, Rosí, for the last week. It was such a good lesson. We kinda just had a little devotional, asked her what her favorite thing was, and had her bear her testimony. We were all crying and and the spirit was so strong. Then at the end we asked her if she was a real investigator or really a member, and she told us sh's an investigator, and then proceeded to thank us for everything we've taught and done for her. Goodness, I love her so much. 

So when I got here my branch president challenged us to start the Book of Mormon over and try to finish it while we're here. And today I finished it in the temple :) I've read the Book of Mormon before, but never like this. As I read it here, I actually understood what I was reading! And it felt way more like a story. It was so cool to read it here. Also within the past few days, everyone has been talking about Joseph Smith and how crucial he is in the conversion of any member of the church. There's a quote in PMG that says that there's a reason that so many people attack Joseph Smith. If they can bring him down, they bring everything else down. And my choir director talked about it a little bit too. He said that if Joseph Smith wasn't a true prophet, then Thomas S. Monson is just a "cool guy". The Book of Mormon is just a cool story, the church is just like every other one, and the work I'm doing doesn't matter.  But Joseph Smith WAS and IS a true prophet, and therefor so is Thomas S. Monson. The Book Of Mormon is the work of God and the truest book on the earth, and the keystone of our religion. Our church is the only true church on the earth, and the work that me and thousands of others are doing is the most important work that can be done. Seriously the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith are crucial to conversion. Not just for non members but for everyone. You have to have a testimony of Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. 

I can't think of much else that happened this week.. Volleyball is still the best, classes are long but helpful, the MTC helps you feel the spirit like never before, and life is good. 

I leave to Argentina on Monday, so the next time you'll here from me is a week from Monday, because my P-day changes to Monday. :)

This is Rosí, our TRC investigator :)

Last temple trip

Parangarocutirimicuaro

Hola! 

Not going to lie... this was a hard week. I wanted to try to stay positive in these emails, especially in the MTC, but I also want to be real about my mission experience. So here goes. 

This week started out hard. A new district with 8 new sisters came in and it was so fun to be able to show them around and work with the zone leaders in welcoming the new districts. But about half the girls are having a really hard time and as their sister training leaders, it's our responsibility to listen and try to help. One girl has made her decision to go home and it's been so hard. I love her and of course I don't want her to leave, but she really feels like it's her answer. 

And helping/listening to this sister made it so hard on me because honestly for the past two weeks all I've wanted to do is come home. It pretty much consumes my thoughts. And it sucks because I know with 100% surety that I' supposed to be here, but I don't really have the desire to be here. But I'm stubborn so there's no way I'm coming home, no matter how much I want to. And I've prayed for help and have tried to have a good attitude.. It's just so hard. 

However, a couple nights ago I prayed just to know that God is there and knows I'm struggling. Not necessarily for help.. but just confirmation that He knows. And the next morning my favorite teacher, Hermano Figuerora, pulled me and my comp out of class and just said he wanted to tell us that we are exactly where we're supposed to be. That there will be SO MANY trials, but the blessings that will come are unimaginable. And that it wasn't easy for the Savoir, so why in the world should it be easy for us? I can't express the amount of love and appreciation I have for him. I honestly don't think I would be able to do this whole MTC thing without him always checking up on us, listening to us, crying with us, and talking to us. The other day he told us he would give anything to have us as his little sisters. I know he's someone I needed to meet. And he said that we have helped him so much. Ah. I love him. 

Besides all that inner struggle, the week was good! Conference was AWESOME and I'm so blessed to be able to have had that experience of watching it in the MTC. Our devotional Sunday night was awesome too. Vocal Point from BYU came and sang to us and gave us testimonies about their missions. It was so fun to see them perform. 

And other than that, the week has been pretty normal. We taught a mini lesson to a member from Uruguay over Skype. Hardest thing ever. The connection was awful so it cut out every other word and was pretty much the longest 20 minutes of my life. Our teachers are deceiving us because they talk so slow and clear and make us feel fluent and then once we hear a native speaker it's like BAM. You know nothing. So that's fun. 

We get our travel plans on Friday. I leave in 12 days. I'm gonna puke. So not ready to leave this place. 

Scripture for this week: Isaiah 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. 

I love you all! Thanks for the emails, dear elders, and packages. I love hearing from everyone. Talk to you next week!

Love, 

Hermana Prestwich

P.S The subject of the email is the name of a city in Mexico and I just thought it was cool.  ;)

Picture! This is the best volleyball team/district/boy band you will ever meet. Love them so much. Our boy band name is "boys from the backstreet"/ "quarter boy" (for those of you who watch psych.. I pray you get that, but I'll give you a hint... quarter black... If you don't remember go back and watch that episode) 

Some of my roomies. Hermana Toby.. just decided to not stay in her clothes for the picture. I promise she normally looks nicer ;) I love them! 

I just love my district. This was this morning after the temple. As for Elder Jensen (the tall one) I promise that isn't his real smile.

My district DOMINATES in volleyball. Like no joke, we're actually pretty good. We have a zone wide tournament today and we're competing for the best meal table so.. it's pretty serious. Yesterday we strategized how to win, and this was the picture from it. 

This is the best district leader/Elder Jensen/Dad ever.

Feliz Navidad!‏

Hola! So it's so hard to sit here each week and try to remember everything that happened since last Wednesday because honestly I cant even remember what happened this morning. but let's see. We got a new district in our zone. 10 new elders and 2 new sisters. None going to my mission of course :( BUT. There is an Elder Prestwich in the new district which is totally random. Later today I think we're going to try to figure out if we're related. hahaha weird. So Hna Shakespear and I were made Sister Training Leaders this week which means that we're in charge of all the sisters in our zone, and we get 4 more tonight so we get to meet them and welcome them to the MTC :)

We taught Rosí, our TRC investigator again this week and we taught about faith and repentance. It could be that she's just a really good actor but there's a change in her. She wants it but is too afraid to commit. We tried to commit her to a baptismal date, and she kinda said yes but she did it very reluctantly. But the gift of tongues of course is real and helped us and the spirit very much directed us in what to say. I honestly love her. 

Lets see. Yesterday we had a devotional and Claudio R. M. Costa from the Seventy spoke to us. His message was fantastic. It was all about how we are literally working with God as out companion and how we need to be willing to give up EVERYTHING in order to honorably serve the Lord in what he has called me to do. Got me super motivated. So excited to go out and dedicate everything to the Lord's work. 

As for the caption of this email, last thursday was the 25th, so we had Christmas-anniversary with our zone. We all wore red and green, sang christmas songs, and my district had a little white elephant exchange. I'll try to attach our awkward family photo below. :)

So my teacher said something this week that really stuck our to me. He said, "If you have an doubts or questions about the gospel, it's OKAY. Because it gives you an opportunity to pray."I just thought it was so cool because all growing up I thought that if I wasn't sure about something that wasn't okay. It's okay not to know something, but not to be unsure. But he straight up told us that it was COMPLETELY OKAY to be unsure about things, as long as we take this opportunity to pray and ask God. I don't know. I just loved it. 

Also our chior teacher who is literally the greatest human on the planet ever talked about how we are God's army. Not just missionaries, but every member of the chruch, and we are here fighting a war for people... for souls. But as missionaries we're on the front lines, and our weapons are our testimonies and the Book of Mormon. But what I've been noticing is that one of THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS is help from the members who aren't currently serving a mission. So I just wanted to challenge all of you to find someone that misionaries can teach. They will be so thankful. And whether it works out or not, it will help them stay motivated knowing the members are fighting right behind them, and I promise you will be blessed for it :)

Favorite scripture of the week: (Look it up) D&C 84:88

I love you all and I would love to talk to more of you, so feel free to send me a personal email now and then. Thanks again for the packages and dear elders that you're sending. Love and miss you all!

Love,

Hermana Prestwich

Awkward family photo (minus 2 of our sick Elders):

Temple picture

    

 Favorite Sefie!

Me and my companion Hermana Shakespear

Miracles

Hello again!

This week was another roller coaster of emotions, but in a good way :)

We've been doing a lot of teaching, and it's way cool. Our second lesson with our TRC investigator, Rosí (who I'm 99% sure isn't mormon), went SO WELL. We talked about the atonement and how Christ feels everything she feels and loves her forever and the spirit was SO STRONG. She was crying and we were crying and it was just great. I love her so much. 

We got to sing for Lloyd Newell who does the Music and The Spoken Word and it was such a cool experience. After that we got to watch Meet the Mormons. Let me just say that after you've been here for 2 weeks things that normally wouldn't be funny are hilarious. So it was cool to watch a (semi) real movie, but it also kinda made me homesick and I didn't like the fact that after the movie I had to go back to reality. aka missionary life. Oh well, at least I love it. 

Now to the sad part. My favorite district in my zone (besides my own, obvi), left on Monday. So we had a little spontaneous goodbye devotional during our study time at night at like 9. We sang, shared poems, and bore testimonies. I think it's so crazy that in (at that point) 11 days, these people would become my brothers and sisters... my family. I loved each of them so much and it was so hard to say goodbye. But I know they're going to be amazing missionaries and we'll all be together again someday :)

ALSO THE COOLEST THING JUST HAPPENED. While my companion and I were just waiting for our elders so we could go email, a man walked up to us and started speaking to us in Spanish because he saw our nametags were in Spanish. He isn't a member and is one of the people that come here to do TRC. He said he had a bunch of questions for the missionaries who were teaching him but they all left this week, so he asked if he could ask us. So we started talking and we pretty much taught him a lesson outside, and when we finished he said he wants to meet us again next wednesday, same time, same spot. GUYS. I'm pretty much teaching a REAL investigator IN THE MTC. What?! He also said he wants to bring his daughter because he doesn't like the choices shes making and is worried for her. Man. The gospel is so true. We were just in the right place at the right time and look what happened. Miracles. Ah. 

I know this email wasn't very long but there wasn't a ton that happened this week. But I personally have been working on loving everyone. Sometimes it's difficult, and when I had an interview with my teacher he said that it is hard because sometimes when you meet someone it's very easy to pick out what you don't like about them. But he told me that I'm going to meet people on my mission, and their lives will be in shambles, and it will be hard for me to find something I DO like about them. Then a member of our branch presidency told us about a missionary who said "I'm the happiest I've ever been, and I'm thinking about myself less than I ever have". I just want to say that I know that's true. Last week when I was having an awful day, I decided to pray for a service opportunity. A new sister moved into our room and was so confused and stressed, so we helped her unpack, calm down, and took her to her class. It wasn't until we dropped her off that I realized I was so happy and had completely forgot about my problems. If we follow the example of Jesus Christ and truly look for opportunities to serve, we will find them and I PROMISE, we will be happier than ever. It's so awesome. 

I love this gospel so much I know I'm supposed to be here. It's already been the hardest thing I've ever done, but it has also already been the most rewarding. I know Heavenly Father really does love each and every one of his children individually and just wants what's best for them. I know that Christ suffered for our sins and knows exactly how we feel all the time. It's incredible. 

I love you all so much! Thank you to everyone sending me Dear Elders and packages. The make my day. :)

Talk to you next week!! 

Love,

Hemana Prestwich