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 

In the World, But Not of the World

Hola mi familia y mi amigos!!!

I can't believe it's already been a week! It has literally flown by! For those of yo who have been in the MTC, I'm sure you've heard teh phrase "weeks feel like days and days feel like weeks" and let me just tell you that that is 100% true. I feels like just this morning I was being dropped off at the curb, but when I think about being in the temple this morning I feel like it was YEARS ago. Also age isn't a thing here. I mean 99% of these Elders are straigh out of high school, but because they've been here longer, they feel at least 20.. Except for the ones that still look like babies :)

So. Mi compañera. Her name is Herman Shakespear and I LOVE HER. We are practically the same person. Heavenly Father knew who to put me with to help me not be homesick :) He also knew who to put me with to teach me patience and love because when you're with someone who has to do everything exactly her way and has to be the one the boys like best, you need those things ;) Also, she used to be a cheerleader so for those of you who really know me... You can see why that would be an issue. But.. She's great. 

MY DISTRICT. I am in love with them. There are 8 of us, and Hna. Shakespear and I are the only hermanas. There are 6 Elders, E. Babbel, E. Jensen, E. Carrizales, E. Nuss, E. Fullmer, and E. Goana. I can't even put into words the amount of love I have for them. :) 

My zone :) There are 7 hermanas, and 54 Elders. It gets pretty crazy sometimes, you know when we're trapped in our classroom/hallway for 13 hours a day.. But they are all fantastic. I've only been here a week and everyone just has so much love for each other. I don't know them as well as my district since I don't spend as much time with them, but it just feels like one big family :) I never knew I could have so much love for so many people.

So we taught our first investigator (his name is Antonio) on Friday (yes, in Spanish) and we BOMBED. I mean.... it was TERRIBLE. I mean he is just someone who will eventually be our teacher (shh.. I'm not supposed to know that) and not a real investigator, but still. AWFUL. We've taught him a total for 4 times now and each one gets better. We also started teaching our TRC invesitagor and don't ask me what TRC stands for because I have no idea. Probably something simple like.. Teaching.. Real.. Classes or something. Or maybe not. But anyway, her name is Rosí. I can't tell if she's already a member or not. I mean they're acting as if they aren't, but 90% of them are, but with her I can't tell. Also, she doesn't speak any English so I'm sure you already see the problem. But let me just tell you The Gift of Tongues is REAL. She went on a 4 minute rant speaking in her super quiet Chilean accent... and I understood every word and was able to respond and explain what she wanted to know. If you asked me now what she OR I said, I wouldn't be able to tell you. Only that I definitely had the Lord's help with that. 

My whole zone sings in the choir and let me just tell you that it is THE COOLEST THING EVER. Tuesday we were visited by the General Primary President and I got to sing in a choir with 1,003 missionaries with the best director ever. He is an institute teacher at UVU and probably one of the funniest people ever. He also teaches these super awesome super spiritual lessons mostly about church history during it and it's just so awesome. On Sunday we're singing for MTC Music and the Spoken Word and I am SO PUMPED. 

I don't have much time left, so let me just say this. Yes the food tastes okay, but no, it doesn't sit well in anyone's stomach. No, I haven't tried the juice yet and I probably never will. 

For those of you who work at the MTC (Jo and Dev if you could pass this on to Darren and Trev that would be awesome), I am in classroom building 8M, room 305, District 21F. Come find me and say hi :)

Thank you to those who have already sent me packages and letters, and let me just tell you that the Dear Elders MAKE MY DAY, so keep them coming :)

I love you all and I'll talk to you next week!!

Love, 

Hermana Prestwich

The subject of this email I will explain next week because there's a story with it :)

Headed here!

To the Family:

Hi everyone!  

Let me just say that the MTC is great. There are moments here where I'm happier than ever before. My zone, and specifically my district, are practically my brothers and it's only been one week. It's going to be so hard to leave them.

None of us in my district are going to the same mission. Two Elder's are going to Argentina, but not my mission. HOWEVER. One of my teachers, Hermano Figueroa, went to my mission, so he's teaching me how to talk with that accent and it's really hard. hahaha whateverrrr.

So this email is going to be a bit more personal. 

Friday when our lesson bombed was one of the worst days I've ever had. But that was followed by one of the best days I've ever had on Saturday. We go through pain to feel joy :)

BUT. Yesterday was THE WORST day I've ever had. My anxiety was on full blast for a reason I don't know. I was extremely stressed, and it came out of no where. Also, I was exhausted because the other hermanas in our room never went to bed on time and had to get up at 1:30am to leave at 3:30 to head out to the field, so we got no sleep that night. 

So we kinda just broke down. Two hermanas in our zone saw us and pretty much just said they knew how we felt and bore their testimonies to us. Blessings. 

Then when they left we started crying again, and our teacher, Hermanos Figueroa saw us and brought us into his room. He's from Chile and speaks English alright, but I seriously LOVE him. He's so funny and just helps us all relax. Anyway, he sat us down and told us to tell him how we felt and why, then then told us this SUPER DEEP PERSONAL story for an hour about his mission for like an hour. We were all crying. Then after he told us we were the best companionship he's ever seen, and two of the best missionaries he's ever seen. Then he told us he felt like we were his little sisters and he loves us. When we were leaving he said "keep laughing hermanitas!" Gosh. I love him. Blessings. 

Then we went to this super awesome devotional where I got so many answers to my problems and questions. The speaker spoke about God's love for us and about how Nephi's journey to go get the plates was basically a mission, and how everyone that went, including Lamen and Lemual deserved "welcome home"banners when they returned, but they all had different experiences on their mission, and it just depended on their attitude. BAM. Blessings 

Then when we went back to class Hna. Shakespear asked for blessings from our Elders. I asked Elder Jensen to give mine because I felt I should. He said everything I needed to hear and said multiple times how important it was to Heavenly Father that I stay here and serve, and that he loves me and I will be blessed immensely for it. Blessings. 

Then one of our branch presidencies wives came in when we were studying and pretty much just bore her testimony to us and told us how much she loves us. Blessings. 

Pretty sure I cried more that day than ever before. But it helped me look for the miracles and blessing that I had throughout the day. And there were SO MANY. 

When we walked out of our building Elder Babbel and Elder Jensen were waiting for us and told us how much they appreciated us letting them do that. I love them so much. They asked if there was anything they could do. They are taking their responsibility of protecting their hermanas seriously. :) Blessings. 

But it's not all bad, I promise :) I seriously love it here. It's just hard, because it's work. Satan is working hard to make me feel like I'm not worthy of this calling. I just need to remember that I have the authority from God to do this work.

Mom, how did your surgery go? I hope you're enjoying doing nothing :) Also, if you don't already have a name for the blog, Val sent me a list of some and my favorite was "Baptizing Buenos Aires" and I like that, but if you already have some that's fine! I love you!

Dad, Spanish is easier than I thought. I've learned a lot, but it's interesting because we aren't learning conjugations or anything. We kind of just have to remember how to say things and memorize it. It's alright though. I can get through a conversation for the most part :) I hope Nathaniel is doing better. I definitely can say that your emotions are on steroids here and it's way hard to handle.

Harry, I think it's great you want to go straight on you mission. But personally, I am so grateful for the year I had away from home at school first. It has definitely helped in more ways than one. And it's totally okay to not come straight out of high school. At least 10 of the elders in my zone are 20 and they're some of  my favorites. But follow the spirit :) I love you! 

Lydia, How's dance? Lock down on the first day of school? HAHAHAAH leslie. I miss you. I hope everything with your friends is going well and you're enjoying school :) How's south? Have any boys asked you out yet? I love you! 

Cal, School doesn't suck!! It's awesome! Just have a good attitude. That's something I've learned. It changes everything. I hope you are doing well with friends and everything. I love you!!!

I hope next week I will have more time to write everyone, but an hour isn't a lot when there's SO much to say.

I love you guys to much and I miss you a ton.

Talk to you next week!

Hasta luego!!

Love, 

Hermana Prestwich 

I'm Alive

Hi! 

We were given 10 minutes today to tell you that we're alive and made it through my first day! 

I think a sister in my room was going to email you to tell you this but I guess now she doesn't have to. 

I already love it here. I absolutely LOVE my companion. Her name is Hermana Shakespear. She's from Smithfield, UT and is heading to Carlsbad CA, spanish speaking. We're in pretty much the exact same boat when it comes to speaking spanish. We re pretty much the same person which is comforting, and it's helped take away the homesickness that I have yet to feel ;) She even has anxiety like I do!  Heavenly Father knows me well. :)  I will tell you more about her when I have more time. I also love my district. We get along so well together already. And I will also tell you more about that when I have time, which is on my P-day which is on WEDNESDAY. The spanish is crazy. I know more than I thought but responding is still hard. We teach an investigator in Spanish already tomorrow. Gah. My zone is pretty cool too, except they all love to talk and that means that people are constantly talking over each other which gets frustrating. 

I tried not to look back yesterday when I left because if I did I think I would have ran back to the car.  

I didn't put in any of the kids emails since I didn't have much time, so you can show them this if you want. 

I love you guys and I'll talk to you on Wednesday!! 

Love,

Hermana Prestwich