31 October 2016

Its been an awesome week!  

Tuesday started out with a district meeting that started out with everyone upset and fighting and ended with everyone laughing until they were crying. The day started out with super nice weather and so we left the house in practically summer clothes, and it ended up pouring.. pero mal. We got home literally dripping wet. It was so fun though. 

Wednesday we did divisions with some hermanas and I got to go to.. ESCOBAR! It was so awesome. I got to see familia Rios, well, at least some of the kids. I tried to see Dana but she wasn't home. And I got to see some other members throughout the day. It's kinda hit me there how much I´ve changed and how much everything has changed since I was last there. It´s been exactly a year. Crazy. It was cool though because I was able to understand everyone and they were able to understand me.. since when I was there was when I started and couldn't speak to save my life. 

On Thursday we went by to see the man who had stopped us in the street asking for a book and who was super interested last week. We got there and he goes "I've decided not to continue. I´m more on the side of the JWs-" Well.. Jws: 1 Us: 0. That sucked. But then we went to Teresa. It was our second time back at her house and she said the prayer both times. We challenged her to baptism but she said she didn't know yet. But we´re going back tonight to see what´s gonna happen. On the way to Teresa we were stopped in the street by someone on the bike who wanted to see the Book of Mormon and we showed it to him and he goes "Nope. thats not it". I asked if we could talk to him about it and he said no because he works at a radio and he was late. We ended up going in the same direction and about 20 mintues later we passed the radio and he came running out to explain that he thought it was a bible and wanted one. We explained what it was and he accepted. His name is Maxi. We´re gonna go by this week to see what he thought :)

On Friday we had lunch with the bishop. We´ve had a hard time as missionaries developing a relationship of trust with him.. Not sure why. But we went and we shared a scripture at the end that talks about how the structure of the church should be. We talked about how we´re here to help and do what we can to stregthen the ward, and the bishop started crying and said that when anything goes wrong, everyone blames it on the bishop. It kinda broke my heart. I left that lunch finally feeling like we got that relationship and we´re going to be able to help. 

Saturday was super busy because the elders had a baptism. The needed the clothes that we had used in our baptism for the hermana godoy, and we accidentaly forgot to wash them and they were still wet in a bag. We were in the church when the elders got there and we saw them open the door to the closet where all the clothes were and so we hid and we hear "the clothes are in here.... HERMANAS." Hahaha we promised them that everything would work out and not to worry.. and it did :) 

Sunday was a good day. We all wore some form of brown as "la obra misional", and we had lunch with my favorite family. :)

Alicia is progressing well towards her baptisms. Well, she didn't come to church yesterday but she´s been doing well. We taught the word of wisdom and she committed to quit smoking. So hopefully that's been going well. We´ll see this week! :)

This past week my zone leaders father passed away. It was a hard first couple of days as no one really knew how to act around him. He found out on Monday. It was one of the most hearbreaking moments as we were together when he found out. This elder has been the biggest example to me on my mission and I´ve never seen him without a smile on his face. On Saturday we asked him how he was and he said he was doing really well. He said he got to skype his family and after felt really good. That his family said that families are forever and he will have time after the mission to think but right now is his time to give double of what he has been giving. Watching him has really strengthened my testimony of enduring to the end. I don't think I would be able to go through what he´s been going through, and even more with a smile on my face. I love this gospel and I'm so thankful for the opportunity we have to be eternal families. 

Have a great week everyone! Love you all!!

Love,

Hermana Prestwich

1. familia Rios :) 

2. Enzo :)

3. Alicia y Emilio :) 

24 October 2016

These weeks are starting to fly by. Probably because it was an amazing week!  

To start off.. We had our baptism!! It was amazing. Hermano Godoy was able to baptize his wife and son and it was so awesome. So his son, Valentin, doesn't count as a convert because he´s 8 and the son of a member, but he counts for us becuase we taught him, and the mom, Laura, finally was baptized. She told us she can't wait to go to the temple. That´s what called her attention. She didn't even really believe in God, but when she heard that families can be together forever, she loved it. 

We found a couple of new people who were interested this week as well. They had accepted a Book of Mormon and we went by and they actually let us in, and told us they wanted us to come back. It was awesome. 

Last week we were knocking doors and this guy comes running out of a building and goes "are you guys from some religion?" and we said yes and he goes "give me a book. give me something to read" so I tried to give him the book of mormon and he wouldn't take it haha so he asked for a pamphlet and luckily I had one, so I gave it to him. He told us to come back the following week. So we went by and he said that he´s super worried about the end of the world because that means Christ is coming and no one understand that they need to be prepared and the world is wicked and he can't find anywhere that will help him be prepared. So we taught the restoration, applying it all to how it can help us be prepared for the second coming, and he LOVED it. He asked so many questions and goes "okay. stop there. I'm going to go home and meditate this, and I'm going to read the pamphlet again. come back next week please" so awesome. 

We also ran into even more crazies this week. Knocking doors and contacting does that I guess. We knocked on the door of one guy who I guess had been shot in the head and was crazy and looked at me and made a gun out of his hand and goes "tomorrow when I shoot you in the head you´re gonna realize that im crazy" and I was like.. "...uh huh.. okay well. bye!" And we met with some guy who was drunk when we got to our appointment and tried to make us go in a house that was pitch black and then looks at my companion and goes "you have a light about you. Christ is in you. I know because I´ve seen him. I'm an apostle like Peter and John. I know. (looks at me) You.. well. You need to get to know Christ more." THAAANKS.

We also had a meeting with all the missionaries, bishops, ward mission leaders, stake president, and one of the counselors of president smith yesterday. We talked about an action plan for the stake and the importance of the relationships between members and missionaries. It was really good.

Life is good. And crazy and stressful and just awesome. I´m happy. Bieng a missionay is literally the best thing ever. Its hard and demanding and challenging, but so so so rewarding. The happiness that comes from sharing the gospel and watching someone make covenants is the most rewarding thing. I love this gospel. 

Have a great week! 

Love,

Hermana Prestwich

It's wet!

The Godoy Family

Hermana Zanotti and Me



Dogs



Rooftops



Valentin Godoy


Dani and Flor

17 October 2016

The weeks are starting to fly by again.. not sure how I feel about it.  

This week started off with a district meeting and a district leader that let us all have it. At first everyone was a little offended and a little upset, but then we all realized that we felt that way because what our DL was saying was right and we needed to change. He talked a lot about diligence and obedience and literally giving our all. He made us imagine that we were in our last interview with president and he made us think about whether or not we would be able to honestly say that we gave everything we had,  that we were exactly obedient. 

Well that made my companion and I think, and when we went to lunch we talked a lot about how we felt, about our faults, what we needed to improve, and we set a lot of goals. I'm super thankful for my comp though, Full trust in a companion is so important but sometimes so hard to have. Luckily with her it's super easy. Sadly, she just got notified that her visa has been approved and that she should be leaving in about 15 days... that means another comp for me in 15 days. Yayyy.

Our investigators, familia Godoy, are progressing well. We saw them almost every day this week, and they came to church on Sunday. Hermano Godoy had his interview with the bishop, which went really well, and so he´ll most likely be able to baptize his wife and son on Saturday! 

My comp and I were able to come closer to reaching the mission goal of giving out 30 Books of Mormon in the week. We gave 25. The point of this goal is to find more people through this, and what we´ve noticed is that we´re not finding anyone. So we had a long talk about what we need to improve on, and we realized that we need to find a balance. We´re so focused on reaching the goal, and we leave behind those who have already accepted a book. So we have a lot of goals and a lot to improve on.. Time to get to work :) 

I also in this very moment was asked to translate for a training for firefighters, because the guy coming to do the training is from Scotland and doesnt really speak English.. This might not be a good idea. If I'm the one translating, they might recieve all the wrong instructions.. 

One of my zone leaders asked me something and told me to think about it before I gave him an answer. He told me to think about my biggest fear in the mission. All day yesterday I was thinking and at first I thought my biggest fear was contacting. Then more specifically, contacting people my age because they intimidate me, and then I thought, my bigget fear is asking people to do favors for me, or have to talk to someone about a problem that we need to resolve.. and in the end I concluded that my biggest fear is going home knowing that I didnt give 100%. Well I realized that a little late into the game. I know there have been days where I may have been too lazy to call and confirm something, or was tempted to get out of bed a little late, but then I realized that it's never too late, and I still have a whole 5 months left to give everything I have. I'm excited for what these next few months have in store :)

Yesterday was also Mother´s day here in Argentina so.. Happy fake Mother´s day mom! Love you!

Love,

Hermana Prestwich 

Ahhh, I Love Having the Truth

This week was amazing! One of the best weeks I´ve had in a long time.  

First let me tell you about our miracle this week. Last week I mentioned a part family, named familia Godoy. The dad is already a member, and the wife a the son arent. (and their daughter is only 6). We finally set an appoitment with them and started teaching them the first lesson. They already knew everything, and at the end they told us they had already prayed and gotten an answer and want to be baptized. So we committed them to October 22nd! Im so excited. They are amazing. The moms name is Laura and the son is Valentin. The dad, Carlos, is working with the bishop to be able to baptize them :)

Bueno. Jazmin, our 12 year old investigator, isnt progressing as well. We went to have her dad sign the permission thing so that she can be baptized and he wouldnt sign it. Her family are all gypsys and I guess they dont sign anything..  I dont know. We left the form with him so he could look it over, but Jazmin didnt come to church again. So we´re gonna give her one more week and if she doesnt come we´re probably going to drop her. 

We´ve had a busy week as well. Zone meetings and leadership councils. We have some awesome zone leaders with a ton of ideas and are lucky enough to have them in our ward, and they and us long with our ward mission leader have stepped it up this week and are finally gaining the members confidence and are progressing with the ward. Its been hard but I think we all realized that we´re not going to go anyway in terms of missionary work in the ward if we dont have the members trust. 

It´s also just been a really fun week. I love my companion and we get along so well. God has blessed me so much with my companions. 

Let me just tell you about a few of the crazies we contacted.. all one right after the other.

1. A man that was a little crazy and as a motorcycle passed by he starts screaming, literally with all of his strength "I ALREADY HAVE THE BIBLE." The thing is that the bike was far away by the time he got to the word "have" and just continued yelling. I left without the ability to hear. 

2. We contacted a couple that were very strong in their church and "kneweverything" about ours, told us that the bible was pure and perfect and that we, having another book, are walking in darkness and will go to hell. The minute we turned around my comp pulls out the scriptures in 2nd Nephi about having more than one book of scripture and goes "ahh.. I love having the truth".

3. It was night and dark and a man was walking towards us. He looked crazy but we decided to contact him anyway. Well we invited him to church and he tells us about how he doesnt go to church because he´s afraid of judements because he steals and he´s killed people and goes "because I killed my mom." I looked at my companion and her face went blank and we both took a step back and so i just said "...yeah.. anyway.. have a good day!" So scary. 

In our leadership meeting we were talking about the Book of Mormon. One of the assistants quoted something from someone I dont remember, but he said "those who have received this witness of the Book of Mormon are under sacred obligation to share it." As members of the church, we have all received this witness of the Book of Mormon and are therefore all under sacred obligation to share it. So that´s my challenge for you this week! Share the Book of Mormon with someone!

Love you all! ¡Que tengan una buena semana!

Hermana Prestwich 

1. my future roommates

and the some other pictures I cant remember and cant see them so enjoy!

My Crazy Week and Conference!

Hi!!  

So today is transfers, and since my comp went home today, I have yet another new companion! Her name is Hermana Zanotti! She is amazing and we were already great friends. She´s from here, from La Boca. She´s waiting for her visa to go to the Eugene, Oregon mission!! And her visa should get here literally anyway so dont be suprised if I´m soon introducing you all to yet another companion. 

This week has been crazy. I think I mentioned last week, but due to San Pedro all of a sudden becoming super dangerous,  President sent the hermanas to Zárate. So we´ve been doing divisions every day for the past week. And due to those changes and my companion going home, I feel like I havent really worked in a really long time. Im excited for things to start going back to normal and being able to work again. 

As for investigators, we´re still looking. We have one named Jazmin. She´s 12 and super amazing, but she´s promised the last 2 sundays that she would come to church and hasnt, even when we go by to get her in the mornings. But we´re going to see her today and see how she´s progressing. 

There is also a part family here in the ward. The husband is a less active and the wife isnt a member. She and her son have wanted to get baptized for the longest time but havent been able to because they werent married. But they just recently got married! We have an appoitment with them tomorrow so hopefully I´ll have some good news for you all next week :)

Conference was AMAZING. Shocker. Luckily they set up a room for all us gringos and we got to watch it in English. I love conference as a missionary. It was really weird to think though that a year ago I was watching it in the MTC and that that was my last conference as a missionary. I absolutely LOVED the Saturday afternoon session that was all about missionary work and the Book of Mormon, which is exactly what we´re focusing on here. I loved all the talks on repentance and the talks that focused simply on who we are, children of a loving Heavenly Father. The spirit was definitely felt and it went by WAY too fast. I was waiting for it for months and now its over. But it was so awesome. I hope you all got something out of it!

Also, shout out to my brother Harry who enters the Mexico MTC today to begin his 2 years as a missionary in Peru! It will be so hard not having him there when I come back, but the mission is the best decision anyone can make! Love you Harry!

Love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Love,

Hermana Prestwich