Good labor/painting

This picture kinda sucks, but we did some good labor this week.. as a gift for Anahi and Gustavo, we painted their house! haha wahooo.. it was super tight. Also, not to mention the we looked like we were campaigning for Pechi, since we had a bucket with yellow paint in it. (:

it turned out so good, but i dont have any pics of the houseee...

Anahi and Gustavo getting freaking murrrieeedd!! EEEEEP (:(:(:

Successful week.......

We had  a super successful week... it was tiring and long, but at the end of the week, I felt super happy. This weekend, Anahi and Gustavo got married and so they are now living together and it's like seeing a completely different couple. I am honestly amazed and overwhelmed at the changes they have made to follow the gospel and accept Christ as their Savior. so cool. 

Also, Anahi's little sister Melina (17 years old) went to the baptism and went to church to see her confirmed... turns out that she really liked the meetings and felt something different than any other church. She has now been to church two weeks in a row and we couldn't let it go one more day without inviting her to be baptized. the truth is,  we haven't even had a lesson with her, we have only talked to her and asked what she liked about the church and testified of its truthfulness. She told us that she liked it, but she wanted to keep learning and feel really sure because baptism is important for her. She also said that she wanted to take the process really slow to learn more. (Hermana Soto and I said that we understood and helped her feel good about everything, but she is WAY too prepared to wait much longer.) Then, we had a FHE with the bishop about baptism last night, she came with anahi and gustavo. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted the 28th of march!! Something that helped her feel like the church is really different and true is that we invited HER to pray to God to ask if the church is true and if she needs to be baptized. She had never received an invitation like that from another church before. She said that she really feels like that is what makes the church different, we are focused a lot on our relationship with God and the family. 

So we are preparing to have Rosa be baptized this week and Melina the next week, on the 28th. Then, we also have 3 kids - Rocio (14), Sol (11) and Hernan (9) that are prepapring to be baptized on the 3rd of April. They are all super receptive and love learning about the church, and going to the meetings. SO MANY BLESSINGS!!! (: 

Also, we had SIX investigators in the church meetings yesterday. We are feeling SO blessed. (: are you kiddin' me... I can hardly even contain my joy. I literally don't have words. I just feel so overwhelmed and cried my eyes out to my Heavenly Father of gratitude for being here in the mission and being able to help others find true happiness from the gospel. 

lets take a good look at this picture... my feet. see all the whiteness? yah, those aren't socks... that is my SKIN. super tan, right? hahaha so embarrassing. but I am so happy for Anahi and Gustavo.

so keep on keepin' and prepare yourselves for the general conference!!!

xoxo

Hermana Terry

Also, this is the Noche de Hogar that we had with the Bishop and his family. So hyped. Sooo hyped! melina is in the black and white polka dots on the right. she's going in the waterrr!! (:(:

(isn't that KYLEE so cute?!  Love her) (her mom) =]

A letter to Kylee from Kylee

Kylee wrote herself a letter and I wanted to share it..........
She is so precious and sweet and a spirit that Michael and I were blessed to raise, to have her teach us to be good, and to bring so much joy to our lives.  We are blessed to have her as our daughter.

Kylee going into the MTC........

First day in the mission... crazy! It's been super awesome though. It still doesn't feel like I'm really in Argentina, it's just that everyone speaks spanish. It's been very long two days of travel, and I am still so tired, but I'm just getting ready to always be tired. The Lovells are the beesssttt. todo esta bien! Can't wait to keep going and start the work of missionaries tomorrow!

I have some goals that I wrote down before I came here...

1- No fear. No worries, it's not my time, it's The Lords.

2- Talk to everyone. IN SPANISH. No more english, that's for the USA! (; No matter what, don't get embarrassed. 

3- be obedient and work hard. 

I have a testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ is true and complete. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know that everything we do and have is because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that Thomas S. Monson is our modern prophet today, and he is called of God. I know that God is our Heavenly Father, and he knows us and loves us. I know that the work of temples is amazing and the closest thing we can get to heaven on earth. I know that families can be eternal and I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the only way to progress. I know that missionary work is so important and the best place for me right now! Keep working hard, be happy and always be obedient.

Anahi and Gustavooo

I just want to report a couple of super great miracles that I have seen this week! First of all, we had a lesson with Anahi and Gustavo, and we invited them to be baptized this Saturday, instead of the 14th, and to live the law of chastity for one week before they are able to be married. they accepted and are now members of the church. Anahi is staying with her mom this week and Gustavo in his own house. They are truly converted, because they didn't have any doubts or problems, but they just want to keep all of the commandments that they can. I feel too blessed to know them and have learned a lot from their faith and obedience. I cant even begin to explain the changes I have felt and seen in Anahi and Gustavo, and to have seen them be baptized this weekend and to start to live the law of chastity, makes me want to die from too much happiness. It's like having kids, I think. Because we have helped them from the beginning and see so many changes and accomplishments from them. And they were finally baptized!!! Then, on Sunday, they shared their testimonies in the sacrament meeting and it was seriously amazing to see their changes. Ahhh love them too much.

Also, this week, we have been studying the talk Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ  by Gene R. Cook and I am amazed at all of the little and BIG things that come from faith. I already knew that, but when I read it again and started to think about all of the things that come from a little bit of faith, I know that the Lord blesses us immensely with everything that we need. So, we put it into practice right after the zone training... while looking at the calendar in the zone training, i had an overwhelming feeling that on march 21, Rosa Pichun would be baptized. We prayed as a zone and I had tears in my eyes, just knowing that she would be baptized. After much time of waiting (since about 1986...) she has wanted to be baptized, but for the lack of being married and having somewhere else to go, she hasn't been able to, or maybe hasn't shown enough faith in the Lord... We went to her house right away after the training and we explained what we had felt. We invited her to think about it and think about the sacrifice that she would have to make. She explained that she had received a job offer to watch and take care of a neighbor from 9Pm until 7Am every day of the week. Which would mean that she wouldn't be sleeping in her house, and wouldn't be breaking the law of chastity. It was another testimony to me that the Lord really blesses us when we put ALL of our faith in HIM. Not in others, or ourselves, but in Him. So, she came to church very ready to keep her committments and be baptized in two weeks. I am so happy to be here right now. 

Everything is going well with Hermana Soto and I. I continue learning from her wisdom and testimony. She is super funny and we are becoming best friends. I am so graetful for the opportunity I have to train her. I have learned more from her I think, than her from me. what a blessing the Lord has given me to be with her in the beginning of her super successful journey. I invite you guys to read the talk "Faith in The Lord Jesus Christ" by Gene R. Cook this week and try to apply your faith in ALL things, at ALL times. 

Keep being good! Love you so much, hope you are all having a super awesome and happy week. 

xoxo

Hermana Terryyyyy

What???

same door, all of the days. Valeria.... we about to drop yaaaa!

My arm is tired from Knocking.......=]

just.. i can't even say it because it was terrible. but thanks to my super companion, we spent two hours oiling, brushing and picking through my hair. shout out to my mom for sending me a comb in the mtc and shout out to hna Soto for doing so much work and helping me. (:

Come unto Christ, Come unto him

Okay, I think that I am semi-embarrassed that I like efy music.. but it's all that I have got to listen to.. that or the hymns. so give me a break. haha that is what the title is, if you're interested, look it uuppp! (;

This week has been pretty great, tranquilo, but we have worked hard. Here are some great things that happened: we had a "charla franca" with an investigator family while teaching lesson 3 and it turned out super great! ( a charla franca translates into a frank chat.. basically it means that we lay down the law and tell the investigator that they need to get their crap together, or we can't continue teaching because it is a waste of our time. that is a really direct way to put it... haha) we put a baptismal date with the 4 of them that aren't members. It was a really powerful lesson. We had a family night with our Anahi and Gustavo about the atonement and they really like to learn about how they can continue to be an example and making changes. If you have seen The District, more specifically the lesson with German about the law of chastity, that is basically how Gustavo is. He is trying SO HARD to follow all the rules and he basically doesn't talk to anyone all day, just to avoid saying something bad... haha he is is such a champion. I seriously love them... and we are counting down, only two more weeks!!! Please keep them in their prayers, they are making huge changes in their lives.

We gave a Book of Mormon to Silvana, an evangelical investigator, this week that we had written our testimonies in. She is really evangelical, but is so nice and always receives us in her house, the only worry we have is that she just wants to be friends. We are working on sharing more and helping her understand what we do and that the best thing we have to offer her is the gospel.Her husband is a freaking member.. but he is kinda cray cray. hah. 

Also, Hermana Soto and I were talking about all of the changes we have seen in the ward since we started working together and we decided that we had activated many families and people and we have had a baptism. So far, we have helped la familia Parra (7 people), la familia Barraza (5people), Luis, Rocio and Irma Huenul (son, daughter & wife of Rene, our recent convert), and we helped a recent convert get back to church after a tough trial during the holidays. We feel like we are doing a lot of good work... and honestly, the reason that I know we are seeing so many miracles is because we are using the book of mormon like we never have before. We read it in all of the lessons, we give homeworks assignments to read during the week, and we are making sure that everyone KNOWS that it is an inspired book from God and that it holds the evidence to everything we say. It has helped so much. (: I invite you guys to really read the book of mormon... READ IT. READ IT WITH ALL THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART AND MIND. I promise that you will feel closer to God and strengthen your testimony of the truth. 

also, just us, always trying to find Valeria.. get home Valeria!!!

just the freaking cutest baby of the earth. Aihan. (I-an) soo darling. love him

8 months?

There are a few things I would like to share from this week. One is a lesson that we had with an investigator family. We had something planned, but it ended up that there were some extra famiy members there, and so we changed our book of mormon lesson plan.  thanks to the amazing cards we are using right now (mormon.org/questions), we had a super cool lesson. We put all of the cards on the table, they chose the one they liked most,  and we let them share a little bit about what they thought the answer to the question was. Then, we found a scripture for every question they had. They all agreed that they answers were helpful, and the spirit was so strong. The coolest part was that the 4 girls in the lesson were all different ages, all different experiences and everyone felt the spirit. They all said that it helped them a lot to get rid of their doubts and have more hope in the future.

Also, this week I prayed very specifically before reading The Book of Mormon and almost instantly, I found an answer to my prayer. This week, I have definitely gotten to know my book of Mormon better and my testimony is constantly strengthened. I can't even handle how freaking cool The Book of Mormon is. GO READ IT NOW! and pray about something specifically, you will find an answer. i promise (:

Also, we had a super great activity with our bishop on saturday morning in the plaza. we did a encuesta ( i dont know that word in english, sorry... look it up), it went really well and we got 34 references in an hour! we are really excited to find all of these people again and help them accept the gospel.the gospel is the coolest thing ever.

oh, also, fun fact. I started my family history work this week.. haha in a little book called My Family... go do it. it is fun (:

well, be good, homies. keep it reaalll and eat your vegetables (:

xoxo

Hermana Terry

I am really tan.. but I have a farmers tan.. hahaha 

hna soto and marcela... good times in the bathroom, thanks for the picture Alma. haha