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.