Damian :)

I have like 10 minutes to write this so here goes!

This week was awesome. Damian was baptized! Heres some background. We were teaching his mom Rita, and we were about to teach the law of chastity. Hermana Sanchez and I made a joke that we should invite Damian to listen. Anway, he accepted and since then he began listening to us. He told us a while later that he had had a dream, where Christ told him that he had one more chance to do the right thing. And the next day, we invited him to listen and he took that to be his answer. He then told us about how he prayed to know if the BoM was true. He said he prayed and felt the most "unique sensation" and knows without a doubt its true. He is SO GREAT. 

Anyway. Yesterday he was baptized, and it was so stressful! It takes 3 hours to fill the font, and some little kids drained it not once, but TWICE. So Hermana Vallejos and I were literally filling buckets in the bathroom and pouring it into the font to make is fill up faster. Then we couldn't find clothing for Damian, then the person who was supposed to baptize him forgot his clothing, and it was SO STRESSFUL. The ward mission leader was helping us and I turned to tell him there wasn't clothing and before I could say anything he said "solutions hermana! not problems!" and ran away. But eventually he was baptized and everything was great and then Damian told us he will be "eternally gratefull". I'm just so happy!

Anyway. Thats all I have time for. I'll write more next week. 

The picture is us with Damian. 

I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Prestwich

La obra

Hello again! I honestly feel like yesterday was Pday.. and I think that's the first time I can actually say that since the MTC. Time is starting to go by a lot quicker..

But anyway. Rita didn't end up getting baptized yesterday :( We met with her and she said she just isn't ready yet.. That she's "not going to lie" and doesnt know if she wants to keep the law of chastity.. I just don't understand. There is literally no reason for her to not accept it. She's not married, doesn't have a partner.. she just doesn't want to keep it "just in case" someone comes along.. hahahaha

BUT her son Damian is getting baptized next Sunday :) He went to church alone yesterday, as we couldnt go by to get him and none of his family went with him. He's so ready. He´s the uncle of Lucia, the 11 year old girl we baptized a while ago. We´re working with that family little by little :)

Dana. Let me just talk about how much I love her and how proud I am of her for like the bajillionth time. But fau. She told us this week that she was walking somewhere for about an hour or so and she was alone.. And she was just "talking to God". That she prayed and just told her about how she feels, what's happening, what she needs help with, and all that. It's amazing how much she's changed. She also gave her first talk yesterday and is going to the temple for the first time tomorrow :) I love her SO much. 

Yesterday in our meeting with our ward mission leader, I was thinking about how when I got to Escobar, I didnt understand a single word he said. Like.. literally nothing. And now I understand almost everything. I really do undertsand 90% of what everyone says. My problem now is speaking. 

The other day we were outside Dana´s house and I saw her neighbor sitting outside, as she normally is, and I felt like I needed to talk to her. I ignored it and made excuses like "no she's smoking she won't want anything to do with us" and things like that. But I kept feeling like I needed to talk to her. Finally I sucked it up and went over there. We talked, and she accepted a baptisimal date! She said her life has been super hard and she doesn't know who to go to for support... Good thing we have the answer :) She didnt come to church yesterday, but we´re not giving up :)

Other than that life is normal here. It's HOT. I got my first sunburn. It's hard when its 101 degrees, you're out of water, no one is in the street due to the fact that it's a million degrees, and if you happen to find someone, they either want nothing to do with you or just want to hit on you. 

But we keep pushing. Because its not about us. It's the Lord´s work and we´re here to find His children and help them return to Him. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Prestwich 

My Zone

Augustine

Tranfers!!!!!

Hello from... Escobar! Im here for my 3rd transfer! But this time with my new companion, Hermana Vallejos from Chile!!! This transfer is going to be awesome :)

Right now we´re currently teaching someone named Rita and her son, Damian. Rita has a little problem with accepting the law of chastity... shes supposed to be baptized this sunday.. but I guess we´ll see if she decides to accept it. She has no reason to have a problem with it as she doesnt have a husband or partner, she just said she doesnt know. Hahaha oh well.

We also found a woman named Marisa who accepted baptism in the first contact. We taught her twice and then she didnt show up to church and we havent been able to find her or get in contact with her. So we´ll figure out this week if we drop her or not. 

CATALINO AND MARTHA (Rios family) ARE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!! Catalino came with us to a lesson with Rita but wasn't able to bear his testimony about the law of chastity because he isnt living it. After he told us he felt like the lesson was for him, and the next day he FINALLY went to start working on his divorce. Guess what? If your converts are getting sealed while youre still in the mission you can go :)))) If Martha gets baptized any time before March I'll be able to go!!!!!

This week I got the best surprise. I got a call from the assistants, or at least who I thought were the assistants, and when I answerd, it was Hermano Figueroa, my teacher from the MTC, who was back visiting the mission! It was so so so awesome to be able to talk to him for a little bit :)

Other than that the mission is good. Working hard in the killer sun. But its so awesome to be able to see the change in these peoples lives. To have the opportunity to see them how God sees them, as His children with divine potential. I think one of my favorite things to teach is the Plan of Salvation. To teach everyone that there is a purpose in this life and there´s more after, and how we can acheive it. I have learned so much while teaching and every single investigator I have taught has taught me something. It's incredible and I'm so thankful for it.

I love you all so much! 

Have a great week and.. Happy 20th birthday to my best friend Elle today, and happy 14th birthday to my beautiful sister tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Prestwich

 

Damian

Dana and Noelia

Escobar and....Tigre?

Hello again! This week it has been so humid and hot that when you breath you are literally breathing in water. So that´s fun. 

So this week was good! We did divisions with other Hermanas and I got to go to Tigre for a little bit. Tigre is awesome and Hermana Vasquez is an awesome missionary. I always learn so much from divisions. :)

Anyway. 

Pablo. 

Dang. Pablo broke my heart yesterday. We went to visit him and earlier this week he has a girlfriend who is a pretty bad influence and he grows drugs. So.. yeah. We went to figure out for suer whether or not he wants to change. So we got there and I just straight up asked him if he was ready and willing to give up everything. And he looked at me and just said "no". In that moment my heart literally broke. So all we did was testify. We shared scriptures and just promised him that if he changed he would be blessed with so much more happiness than he has ever felt. We then taught him the plan of salvation. He told us his goal is to "get to the celestial kingdom", but "not right now". Ouch. So he's no longer going to be baptized but we´re going to continues to visit him once every one or two weeks and hopefully the disire will come. 

Isabel. She completely stopped smoking!!!! Miracle. But. She didn't come to church yesterday. We went by to take her with us and she said no because for the first time in forever her daughter and husband showed up and she doesnt want to lose them again. I mean, understandable but I also know that if she showed her faith and went to church God will bless her. So now her baptism date was pushed back. 

Also. Rita. She´s a miracle. She had always refused to talk to us. Remember Lucia? The little girl we baptized a couple weeks ago? Its her grandma. She accepted a baptismal date and came to church yesterday. She´s awesome. 

As for everything else, it's good. It's hard. It's the mission. There are ups and downs. But what I've been thinking about lately is how the mission changes everything. All of my thoughts are about others. All of my actions are for the benefit of others. When I'm sad, it's because someone doesnt want to accept our message. When I'm happy, it's because someone has chosen to walk the path back to God. I would never get the chance to experience this if I didn't serve. And there are sad times and there are happy times, but everything and every feeling I have is gospel related and I love that. :)

I hope you are all enjoying your cold weather and your new year! 

Ill talk to you soon :)

Love,

Hermana Prestwich

PS. Next week are transfers! :) :) :)

Picture: This is what happens when you let two missionaries into an apple store. ;)