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!