Lima - Post 4

June 16, 2014

First off - HAPPY DAY FATHER´S DAY!  hope you all had a good one :)

Second off - WHAT A WEEK!  It has been pretty busy!

Tuesday we had a zone conference that took up a big chunk of the day but was WAY AWESOME! and the cooolest part is I GOT PACKAGES!  It was a freaking miracle!  They were the last ones Mom sent before the No More Packages Rule came out.  That was months ago!

This means Prayer in Spanish -
Of course I had to take a picture of it!

Wednesday was a normal day except that NOBODY was home went we went to visit them.  Lots of appointments fell through but we kept on going. It also started POURING rain the night before and the leaves that had fallen from the trees clogged up the street drains so the streets were FULL of water and it just kept on pouring.  There were people outside trying to unclog the drains with their rakes

Thursday it continued to rain and halfway through the day Hermana Lines from the office called us and told us they received the papers for Hermana Weitl to start the process for her Argentine ID.  So we had to run home, get ready, pack up, and get to San Fernando (just outside of Buenos Aires) that day in order to do the paperwork the next day - it is a 3 hour trip on which we take 2 buses and a train.  So we got there and stayed with Sister and Elder Lines (a senior couple that works in the offices)  They're like the mission grandparents.

So we get up Friday morning, get ready, and go to the church offices here in Buenos Aires to pick up the papers.  We are just looking around while Elder Lines is doing his business.  Bumped into a couple members from Vicente Lopez that worked there and some Americans too.  Then Elder Lin

Yeah - we are definitely in the country!

es said "I have bad news"  In the rush of getting all the mail, they accidentally put Hermana Weitl's papers in the box for the Buenos Aires West (BAW) Mission, not ours which is Buenos Aires North (BAN).  So they were calling people in the BAW mission to see if they could take the papers to the immigrations office in time for our appointment. The folks in the BAW Mission office said they would send it over on motorcycle by such and such time.  SO we were FLYING in the minivan to meet up with the other missionaries there and let them know what was going on.  SO we met them, all piled in the van, went and parked in front of the immigrations office and waited.... and waited........ and waited for hours and the guy never showed, nobody was answering their phones, and the appointment time passed.  SO we got NOTHING done.  Then had to travel 3 hours back to Lima and wasted pretty much a whole day.  Don´t get me wrong it was a good break and lots of fun but very unproductive.

Saturday yet again everyone fell through.  Not such a great day either.

Nicer home in Lima -
dirt roads are standard

Sunday everyone we had planned for church fell through again.  It was great...

But this week the World Cup Series started (that´s soccer ya´ll)  And Argentina played Sunday, so we had a record low on church attendance.  It was 19 including the 4 missionaries.  Everyone we visited that evening was prepping for the big game, nobody let us in.  Once the game started there was NOBODY in the streets.  It was eerily quiet and empty until someone shot a goal, then you heard the whole town cheering, blowing their horns, lighting firecrackers in the street.  We were wondering how on earth we were going to find someone to teach!  

So we biked the streets looking for a human soul, when we saw a little old man walking. We walked up and started talking to him and had a nice chat. We talked about the restoration and how Christ has restored his church on the earth again through a latter-day prophet.  Then we invited him to be baptized and said yes! Then he was like, but I need to go see what it´s like.  SO he´s definitely coming to church.  His name is Nicolas so pray for him!  He´s a way cool little old man.  And he was our miracle for being diligent even when it seemed like we wouldn't find anybody.

And as for today (P-Day), it´s been pretty chill.  We cooked lunch with the Elders and chatted and listened to some wholesome music (Sons of Provo) it was a good calming day

SO yeah that was my week.  I love this work and am ready to keep on keeping on for the next 9 months!  (I hit my half-way mark next week.  HOLY CRAY!)

Love you all!

Hermana Allison Scarlett
allison.scarlett@myldsmail.net

Lima - Post 3

June 9, 2014

Well here in lima is getting colder by the day but that can not stop 2 determined sister missionaries!  

This past week has been pretty good.  We have been finding and teaching lots of people!  The people here are so great.  The only problem is that out of ALL of them, NONE came to church.  That is one of the most frustrating things that can happen as a missionary.  You know that going to church can bless them SO MUCH and they decide they would rather sleep.  So this week we are going to focus a lot on getting people to the church.  

As for my companion and I we get along SO GREAT!  We have the SAME sense of humor and we joke and tease a lot. Hermana Weitl is a lot of fun and we are already planning the great adventures we are going to have after the mission.  She gave her first talk in spanish on Sunday about the Book of Mormon and she rocked it!  Seriously this girl amazes me.  

Well this is a pretty boring e-mail but it's okay because nobody writes me back anyways :p so i am calling you all to repentance except for Mom and Sheridan Thompson.  The highlight a missionaries week is seeing a plethora of e-mails from people who love you.  But days like this when you get on and have 6 e-mails and half of them are from the mission, you tend to feel un poco triste (a little sad).  SO I love you all and I know you love me too, so why don't we just take a couple minutes and write a short little e-mail to your favorite sister missionary named Hermana Allison Scarlett.  Okay? okay I am glad we are all on the same page :)  

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

Hermana Allison Scarlett

allison.scarlett@myldsmail.net

Hermana Weitl decided I needed mascara on my nose!

Lima - Post 2

EARLY morning arrival at
The Buenos Aires Temple

June 3, 2014

Hey everyone sorry for not emailing for a while.  Things have been pretty crazy these past few weeks.  SO 2 weeks ago I got emergency transferred to this little town called Lima (NOT lima peru).  It´s pretty for from everything.  But it´s cute and I love it!  My companion is Hermana Weitl and I just LOVE HER!  She is from Washington and got baptized almost 2 years ago.  She has such a fire and will to do this work. She has only been here in Argentina for 6 weeks and I´m training her.  So I´m her mission mom :)  We get along SO WELL!  I'm positive we will be friends forever! 

Last week we went to the temple. It was so amazing and it was something I really needed, even if i didn´t know it.  I was able to see all of my previous companions minus Hermana Salazar who is back home in Honduras.

The Elders we work with and
the Ward Mission Leader

As for the work here in Lima.  Lima is a tiny branch and we meet in a rented house on Sundays.  The Elders are the counselors to the branch president and we are primary helpers.  There are few active members and the attendance sundays is around 20 people.  There is a lot of work to be done.  When we first met with the branch president I asked him what his vision for the branch was.  He said to have a church building so we talked about what we needed to do to be able to reach that vision.  

Pedaling through Lima

We also ride bikes here.  It´s really nice.  Also here everything closes at like 12 or 1ish and opens back up at 5 because they take the siesta here.

As for investigators we find alot of people but they either fall through, don´t progress, or just don´t have any interest. We found one really great mom named Mirta but she didn't come to church and fell through on us so we will see what happens there.  Yesterday we found another mom named Griselda.  At first she was like "No thanks but we already have our church" but I shared a bit about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  She said they moved here about 6 months ago and have been going to her church for only 4 months and have always been looking for a church where they feel comfortable and is right for their famnily.  She said she would read the Book of Mormon and go to church.   I then invited her to be baptized on the 28th.  She said if she knows that this is the church for them she will most definately be baptized!  I was a little shocked because at first she was just going to blow us off, but it is so important to teach with the Spirit because the Spirit testifies of Christ and the Truth, and that is what changed her and made the difference.  Man I love what I do every day!

SO yeah things are going great and I´m loving the work.  Sorry I haven´t been doing so well with keeping in touch but now that things have calmed down a bit I will do better :)  LOVE YOU!

Hermana Allison Scarlett

Lima Sunset

Sister Weitl and I on the bus ride to the temple