Congresso - Post 8

Me with my self-cut bangs!

Wow what a week!  First off, we aren't teaching Felipe anymore. We went back for our appointment with him but he wasn't there. We tried time and time again to set another appointment with him but he was never there when he said he would be so yeah.  

But We ran into Patsy in the street!  Patsy was one of the investigators Hermana Mowry had taught before I came but Patsy got busy and stopped taking lessons.  Hermana Mowry always was talking about how awesome Patsy was and how ready she was for the gospel.  She is from Mexico and is super fun and sweet.  We went by her house and had a mini-lesson.  She had been on vacation to Peru and Brazil and now she´s back.  We invited her to come to church and continue reading the Book of Mormon.   She wasn't sure if she would be able to come to church but she´d grab her Book of Mormon and start reading again.  We passed by Friday and she said she would come to church!  Yes! She came sure enough and afterwards there was a baptism and she asked to stay. It was such a beautiful baptism for Cintia - she is 15, super mature and on fire!  Even though we didn't teach her, I feel like she´s one of my friends :)  Well Patsy thought it was so beautiful and really felt the spirit.  So we invited her to also be baptized.  She took a moment to think about it and then decided yes!  She knows that this is the true gospel which was restored to the earth through a Latter-Day Prophet and she knows that this step will bless her life. We are super stoked!

We made cookies!

Saturday, we had 2 members accompanying us and we walked past this man sitting outside his apartment. Hermana Mowry stopped and started talking to him. His name is Nestor. I asked him what he was doing sitting outside.  He said he was just thinking.  SO I asked him what he was thinking about.  He said, Just stuff, the world, my life.  SO we just started talking and we gave him a Book of Mormon, read the introduction with him, and invited him to be baptized!  He didn´t say yes but he said he was interested in what we were talking about. SO we invited him to church and he said yes!  I could tell just from talking to him that he likes to think about things before acting.  So we passed by Sunday morning and rang his bell and he came down and was ready to come with us and everything!  THen he asked if he needed to bring his LDM (Libro de Mormon or Book of Mormon) and we said if he wanted to he could.  He came back down with his LDM but he had changed his mind. He said he want more space and time to think about it.  This broke our hearts because we know that he will learn so much and feel the spirit at church but we also respect the agency of others.  SO we asked him if we could come by and talk later and he said yes. In the collectivo (entryway) Hermana Mowry started crying and during the sacrament meeting I started crying. I was pretty sure he had some kind of concern or doubt in his mind, but we weren't sure what. We were super sad about Nestor changing his mind about going to church at the last minute, but then in walked Patsy and we felt better.

My Argentine Oxfords - super comfy!
The best tan my legs have had in Winter!

So we went by Sunday afternoon to visit Nestor and brought Hermana Diaz with us.  We started talking and we were talking about the Restoration and he started talking about making decisions.  We tried to talk about how we are here on this earth to make good decisions and try to follow Christ and do the will of God.  It became very apparent that his concern is that he´s been trying to make good decisions but they just never turn out good.  We tried to resolve his concern but he was being very vague and very intense.  I got lost in his words too. We just invited him to read a part of the Book of Mormon to resolve his concern and we are going to talk about the plan of salvation to see if that will help him.  He really is a great person looking for help and guidance but is really hung up on whatever these decisions are that he´s made or has to make.

Other than that, we contacted someone in the street last night that we feel super good about.  Her name is Paula and her husband´s name is Peter. (She´s married!  That´s a big deal here.) And she said she was Christian but hasn´t been attending any church since she moved here from Uruguay. She has 2 dogs, which is how we started the conversation because i LOVE dogs, especially Golden Retrievers :)

As for my Companion and I, we have learned how to work together well and are having a lot of fun together.  I feel like one of us is going to get transferred in 2 weeks and I´m going to miss her when we do get transferred. 

Oh and one more thing!  I cut my bangs! by myself!  At first I was panicking because i thought I did them wrong, But now they´they've grown on me :)  Although they are nowhere near as good as when Juliegh does them :)

I Love and Miss you all and thanks for all the prayers and Support!
Hermana Allison Scarlett

Congresso - Post 7

Sorry this post is a week or so late - the New Year has us running in ten directions at full speed!  So without further delay, here is Hermana Scarlett's first post for 2014......

So what happened this week?  Well, IT´S 2014!  QUE LOCO! It´s even crazier to think that I will be in the mission THE WHOLE YEAR!  It´s kinda awesome because I can focus all of my goals and what I'm going to accomplish here in my mission this year.  What a blessing :)  So how did we festivate this holiday?  Eating of Course!  We had a HUGE lunch and 2 HUGE DINNERS New Year´s Eve!  Oh man I was just way super stuffed.  As for the rest of this week, just the norm - talking to loads of people, visiting the members - both less active and recent converts.

As for Santa.  We had 2 more REALLY great lessons and set an appointment for another one, but she cancelled. All week we've been trying to set another appointment but she kept cancelling or wouldn't set a specific time. Then she stopped answering our calls and texts.  I was super worried about her.  We saw her Sunday morning in the street before church and stopped and chatted with her.  She said she's grateful for our help and what but decided she doesn't want what we have. I asked her if she prayed about what she taught.  She said yes.  Then I asked her how she felt and she said "I just want to continue with what I´ve always had."   What can we do?  She had it set in her mind that she was just going to continue in her old ways.  She didn't want to change.  It was sad because she is looking for more in her life to help her and I KNOW without a doubt that we have it. I want to help her so much and really have a lot of love for her.  But what can we do?  Everyone has their own agency.

On another note, we have another investigator.  His name is Felipe and lives with Jose Navarro, a less active member we are working with.  They are friends from Colombia and came here to study together. We passed by to have a lesson with Jose and Felipe and his girlfriend were there.  So we invited them to join us in the lesson and they said they would.  We talked about the Book of Mormon and why it´s important.  I invited them to be baptized and they said Yes!  They are so sincere and really want to have God more involved in their lives.  The girlfriend doesn't live in our area though.  We gave them each a Books of Mormon to read and are excited to continue working with Felipe.  

As for my Spanish, I am doing WAY better than my first day here.  I am able to have conversations with people and I'm really working hard to have good grammar.  Sometimes I'll be talking and then a minute later realize I said it wrong!   But I am doing so much better.  It´s so much easier and I am loving every second here.

So that´s pretty much it.  Feliz Año Nuevo les amo mucho!

Hermana Allison Scarlett