October 8, 2012

Hola Familia!!

I hope everyone enjoyed conference! I loved it! It really does take on a whole new meaning when you are a missionary. I am excited for the age change but I think about how I totally would not have thought to go on a mission at 19. It is crazy the changes that can happen in just two short years. We got the opportunity to watch conference in English. I loved Elder Hollands talk and I loved Elder Bednars as well. It was all just Awesome!

So tomorrow at 4 in the morning I will say goodbye to Hermana Tourtillott and I will wait with a member until my new companion comes. SHE IS LATINA!!!! I don´t know how to spell her name but it sounds like Aww Cheww, like when you sneeze.:) Elder Silva says she is really cool and if she is the one that I met a while back at a conference she is the twin of Callie. No joke, I had to do a double take because I seriously thought it was Callie. I am super excited but really nervous. I don´t know how in the world we are going to be able to communicate. Oh well, vamos a ver.

So this week has been quite busy and really strange. Everyday is strange in Paraná but this week was something else. Lets just say it started out with us ending up in a home that has no roof and no doors and eating facturas with a man who was drugged up to wahzoo and his mother. Do you remember me talking about crazy man, yep the same guy. He was fine but completely drugged and really loopy. Interesting situation.

It hailed really bad one night and the next day as we were walking we saw 16 dead birds that had died because of the hail. There are places that are called villas and they are basically neighborhoods that consist of really poor people who make homes out of anything they can find and usually they only have thin tin or something for a roof  and dirt floors, so I can´t imagine how horrible the storm sounded for them.

So this week our ZLs called us up and asked us to give a workshop at the zone meeting. It was quite nerve racking but we did it and we made the Elders cookies so they really enjoyed it.:)

Also on Friday the stake had a dance for spring and it was quite something. But like the dances in the US, everyone just hugged the corners and not really anyone danced. So I had major flash backs. Everyone here dances with someone all of the time. We didn´t see anyone dancing by themselves. My comp got asked by a guy to dance with her, and he got really sad when she told him she couldn´t.

So Bauti got baptized on Saturday!!!!!! He was super excited and he really enjoyed it. The only problem was is that an hour before the baptism we checked the font and it had only filled about a foot and so we spent the next hour filling buckets and dumping them into the font. I have now had a traditional baptism! But in the end it was great and my comp and I even sang a song for the baptism. We sung I am a Child of God in English and Spanish. It was fun!

Well I hope I can answer a few questions for you Mom. So I don´t know anything more about the packages but you can wrap them if you want. I was also wondering if you could send my Hymn book in English and also the book that Derek gave me, Here We Stand, I want to read it and I can just as long as it isn´t during studies. So I guess you don´t need pictures or anything on the boxes either. Sorry I don´t know more.

I am so glad that everyone is doing great and that things are moving along. I only have a year left in the mission and I know that it will fly by but I also know that there is so much that I need to do while I am here. I love everyday and I can´t imagine doing anything else. I love you all so much and I hope that you all have a great week and take time for the most important things!!!!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

October 16, 2012

Hey Fam!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was great to get your e-mail Mom! I am glad that you have been able to get some things done during fall break. I am glad that Madelynn and Dylan are both okay. I knew one day that big tv would fall on someone. Its never been put in a place really stable. I hope that Madelynn feels better soon and that things settle down for them. I am glad that Derek and Kimberly had a good anniversary and that they were able to go to a Sister Hazel concert. And say Happy Birthday to Levi for me! I can´t believe he is 1! and when I get back he will be 2!!! That is crazy!

Well tranfers went okay. Maria de los Angeles had to stay at our pench on Tuesday night because we had to drop hna tourtillott off at the terminal at 4 in the morning and then I had to wait with Maria for my new comp to come. Her name is Hna, Acho and she is from Bolivia and she is super sweet. She is the one who looks exactly like Callie! It is really weird! She has been out 7 months and so this is her first time being senior comp. She does things way differently than Hna T but I am learning a ton. Latinas have no fear of asking really personal questions and at times I have found myself praying to have her stop asking probing questions. It has made some people really kind of mad at us. I like to talk to people like they are just friends and she is super serious. But she is a sweety and she has a really strong testimony and she really wants to learn English and she loves having me tell her about everything in the states because her dream is to come to to Utah and go to BYU. I am in a Spanish bubble right now and so its hard for me to type in English. I have learned a ton in this past week with her.

Our area is doing good but we don´t have a lot of investigators right now and so we are doing a lot of contacting.

So to answer your questions , yes we ate facturas(pasteries) with crazy man and his mom IN the house he burned! I don´t need a flashlight or anything but thank you and Monica and Yamina are doing good but Monica´s dad is in the hospital right now and so we can´t meet with them right now. The weather is really wack here one day it is really hot and then in a matter of minutes it is pour rain. I like it though, it is always an adventure.

I am so glad to still be here in Paraná. The people here are awesome. The ward is great and I really enjoy teaching the people here. It is amazing that a place I didn’t even knew existed 3 months ago is my home and I don´t want to leave. I am glad I still have 5 weeks here at least. There is a lot of work to do here and we have some amazing people that we are working with. So if you guys would, please pray for our investigators, Maria Caminos, Monica, Noelia, Yamina, and Carlos and Marta.

I am sorry I don´t have anything else to say. It has been a really fast week and I have been able to see a lot of little miracles. I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to be here and to be helping these people come unto Christ. I love this gospel and the peace and joy that I have found because of it.

I hope that you all have an Amazing week and that everything goes great! I love you all so much and I am so thankful for your love and support!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

October 22, 2012

Hey Family!!!!!!!

It was great to get all of your e-amils. Thank you! They really mean a
lot to me! I am glad that Levi´s birthday went great and that things
are going good.
I am sorry you didn´t like the empañadas Mom, I will have to be the
judge when I get back home. They can be a hit and miss. There are some
really good ones and others that are just weird. The ones that I like
are done with beef and have egg and pepper in them. But there are some
chicken ones that are really good to. But I am glad that you enjoyed
that facturas. You will have to find out if they have pan común, I am
sort of addicted to it. I buy a medio kilo at least twice a week. On
the plane ride home, I am going to have a bag of these cereals that
they have here and also a huge bag of pan!
My comp is always talking about food. She loves macaroni and cheese
and she wants me to make it for her. But I don´t know how so maybe in
one of my packages you could put a box of mac and cheese for her. Also
her trainer would always make banana bread and so she wants me to make
that too. So if you could send me the recipe for banana bread, my comp
would love you forever.:)
Anyway enough about food, this week has been really strange. Our area
is huge and to walk to some of our appoinments it takes and hour and a
half. So this week I decided to try and take the bus because my
comp(bless her heart) gets over heated easily. But that was a big
mistake, the bus ride took us basically two hours so that was a huge
waste of time for us. We also had our interviews with President
Giuliani this week. They were really good, I love talking with him and
he always knows exactly what to say. Also with a new comp some of our
investigators aren´t progressing anymore. Its hard because you develop
relationships with people and then when changes happen sometimes it is
hard for them to accept someone new. So right now we are trying to do
a lot of finding and working with the members. I enjoy the finding
part but here a lot of our members are a bit loco and so its hard to
work with them. I have quite a few stories about lessons with some of
our members. I am so glad that Florida has Derek and Kimberly(normal
people) to help the work. I love the members in our ward but the
things that come out of their mouthes sometimes are so strange!:)
We found out this week that the couple that we have been working with,
Carlos and Marta, aren´t married and so they can´t be baptized until
the get married or one of them moves out. But they have been together
for 24 years and they have no intention of getting married. So please
pray for them so that they can realize the importance of this gospel
and the blessings that come from it.
We talked with a JW(testigo de Jeovah) last night. He was so closed to
everything that we tried to share with him. He wouldn´t even accept a
little pass along card. It was quite interesting. I am so grateful for
the testimony that I have of this gospel and for the truthfullness
that we have. The people that we meet who are open to listen always
tell us how that can sense a difference with us. That we radiate
feelings of peace. I know that this is the Holy Ghost testifying to
those people. I love the Holy Ghost and how it works in conversion and
I love that people are able to recognize that. I am so grateful to be
apart of this wonderful work!
Well I hope that everyone has a great week and that everything goes
well. I pray for you all everynight! Thank you all for everything that
you do and for your examples! I love you all sooo very much!
Lots of Love,
Alayna

October 1,2012 - Happy October!!!!

Hola Familia!!!!

 

It was great to get your e-mail Mom, Thanks! E-mail is the best part of monday! Sounds like everything is going great. I can´t believe that it is already October! So Hermana Tourtillott has been thinking about her end date since she has a year in the mission. Since we only have a year and a half our end date falls right in the middle of a transfer so we can either go home 3 weeks early or three weeks late. She doesn´t know what she is going to do yet but her family wants her to come home early so she is really struggling to figure that out right now. I am glad I don´t have to think about that for a while.

So this has been a great week! It went by super fast but a lot of good things happened. The conference was great! It was really fun to see Hermana Morgan again and it was fun to see all of the Hermanas in one place and its was cool to think that one of them will be my companion next week!!! I can´t believe that I will be finished getting trained next week and that Hna Tourtillott will be leaving me in crazy Paraná. I am excited but nervous, I still have a hard time understanding and I still can´t say all that I want and so it will be interesting.

Anywho, the conference was basically a day long and we got to listen to Presidente and Hermana Giuliani and also from the assistants. Hermana Giuliani talked about the 25th section in the Doctrine and Covenants and how we can be elect women. The assistants talked to us about having confidence in ourselves and also not have fear of man. It was really good. I learned a lot but the bus ride to and back are always a killer. It wipes you out for the next few days and I found out that I definitely get bus sick.

So I made cookies this week and they actually turned out really good! I was surprised because they don´t have brown sugar here and they also don´t have baking powder and the conversions for things were interesting to figure out too but they worked! We took them to a dinner that we had with some girls that are investigating the church. There are few things that I want to bring back with me from here but one of them is definitely the food. It may not have a lot of flavor but it is super good! Everyone here can cook amazingly! The frying gets me though. After the next year I will be perfectly happy to never eat anything deep fried again, except for the doughnuts we make at home .:)

The nephew of Maria de los Angeles and Marcos now wants to get baptized. He has been coming to church with Maria since she started coming and his mom finally gave him permission to be baptized. So he will be getting baptized on Saturday!!!!!! He is super excited and I have a feeling that he is going to be super strong. He loves church and primary and he loves learning and he is super smart. I am excited for him! Now the only people left in the family who are members is his mom and Maria´s brother. So we will definitely be working we them.:)

So this week Maria Caminos got robbed. Someone came into her house while she was in bed and stole acell phone and her diabeties kit. They didn´t know she was home which was a good thing. Things like that happen daily here, that is why every door and window has bars in front of them. It is super sad but I am glad that nothing happened to Maria.

Well I am sorry that this is again another short e-mail. I need to do better at writing things down because I can never remember when it comes time to write the e-mail.

I hope that this next week is amazing! and that you all enjoy conference. We can go to a session on saturday if we have an investigator with us and on sunday we can go to both sessions. So I am super excited for this weekend!

Well I love you all so much and I can´t wait to here from you next week! Oh!!! so since it is transfers next week my p-day will be on tuesday so just remember that. So I will write you all again on tuesday!!!!!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

September 24, 2012 - Marcos got Baptized!!!!!!

Hello My Amazing Family!!!!!

 

He did it. The man who has fear of water and people got baptized! He did amazing. He was calm for the whole time and he even stayed to have treats afterwards. It was quite a quick baptism but it was great and he felt really good afterwards.So now both Maria de los Angeles and her brother are members and their nephew comes to church with them every week and he wants to get baptized too but we have to get permission from his mom. His moms name is Carolina and she came to the baptism and loved it and even said afterward that her son will get baptized and then she will. So we will have to see what happens.

This week has been very interesting. It started out slow but by the end of the week things really pciked up. We were able to get Maria Caminos´ new wheelchair to her on Saturday and so she was able to come to church yesterday!!!!!! She loved it and she really wants to get baptized. So if everything works out, she will be getting baptized on the 6th of October. Also we had another great lesson with Monica and Yamina. They are awesome and they just love learning.

The conference for all of the Hermanas is on wednesday so that will be great. We have to leave tomorrow afternoon to get to the mission home tomorrow night. It is a three hour bus ride. I have been on more buses here than I have in my whole life. So I will get to see Hermana Morgan on wednesday!!

So today we had a special p-day and we went to this park by the river with our whole zone and had an asado. It was a lot of fun but it takes a lot of time and so that is why I am writting so late. We hiked down some cliffs to the river and back up again a couple of times and so I am so tired! It was really pretty though. I will have to send some pictures.

I am excited to here about Alexa! I hope I get her invite. I can´t believe she is getting married! I hope everything goes great!

I am sorry to hear about Natasha, I hope that she recovers fast and that there was too much damage done.

I will definitely be praying for Derek and I hope everything goes well with his test and that they continue to enjoy florida. It would be quite something to see monkeys just hanging around.

I am glad that everything is going great at home. I hope that all continues to go good and that everything stays busy. I am sorry that this is such a short e-amil but our p-day ends in about 15 minutes.

So I love you all so much and I hope that this next week is fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

First Asado!!!

• flackjl@yahoo.com

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Monday, September 17, 2012 10:51 AM

Hola Familia!!!!!

 

Thanks for all of the e-mails this week!!! It sounds like everyone is doing great! Say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Madelynn for me!!!! I can´t believe she is 3!!!!!! She will be 4 before I get home!!! Crazy!!!!

I am glad that you have been busy with work Mom, and it sounds like YWs is going great!

So playing Basketball was a blast! It felt so good just to shoot hoops for a couple of hours. We decided that some mornings we are going to run to the church and play basketball for a half hour for our exercise in the morning.

So this week we had an Asado with our investgator Diego. I really wish I had taken pictures because it was just so hilarious! An asado is just a bbq but you only salt the meat. He had never done one before and so let me just say that it consisted of twigs and a satelite dish. Yep our food was cooked on a satelite dish. Direct tv to be exact. He then over cooked it and it was quite hard. He also made us eat cow intestine. Not a big fan. But it was a day I will never forget. Everyone here in Paraná is crazy, but to them it is normal. So I am really sorry if I come back with some interesting habits.:)

When we were walking down to Diego´s a man randomly stopped Hna. Tourtillott and started to tell her that he could sing 16 times better than Micheal Jackson and then preceeded to sing for her. It was the weirdest and most hilarious thing I have every seen. He could sing and for a second there I thought he might actually kiss my comp. After he left us, we continued to walk and I then got pooped on by a bird. So lets just say that Wednesday was a very strange day. There is a point where I have reached where it doesn´t matter what happens, no matter how awkward or messed up it is, I just have to laugh. I will never have these experiences again, I don´t want them again, but they will make fun stories someday.

So my comp got a package from her sister that had a bunch of candy in it and so when we went to go teaching this kid who is a recent convert, we gave him some willy wonka sweet tarts and he got super excited. He showed everyone in his family that he had gotten candy from `Willy Wonka´(spainsh accent). So now his whole family thinks that the willy wonka factory really exists and is in the US. We didn´t have the heart to burst their bubble.

So there is a woman in our ward who is crazier than normal and on sunday she cornered me and my comp and she told us how she was going to die if she didn´t meet this singer that she is mad about. She started bawling and telling us that the church need  to help her find this guy so that she could meet him and tell him that when she hears him sing she feels Jesus inside her. The people her are so interesting.

Alright now for the uplifting stuff, we had a Fantastic Zone Conference and next week we have a conference with just the Hermanas which I am super excited for. So there is a girl in our ward who has introduced her two friends to the church and we met with both of them and her on friday night. This was the second time we had met with them and it was awesome! One girl named Monica is really awesome. She read 3 nef. 11 with the girl in our ward and then on her own time she read it again. Then at the end of our lesson she told us that after she read it the second time she prayed and she said she felt an overwhelming feeling of paz. She then said that she knows that the Book of Mormon is true. All of our mouths just dropped! She is so amazing and we had been talking that night about how you can recieve and answer and she had already recieved one. It was so Cool! I love the Holy Ghost!!!! If people are truly looking he will definitely let them know the truth. So she has accepted a baptisimal date and we are really excited to keep teaching her.

 We have a bunch of mosquito repelent but it doesn´t stop a lot of them.

Thank you so much for the recipes! We will have to make the cookies for the baptism this weekend. Oh so Marcos(the brother of Maria de los Angeles) is getting baptised this saturday! He is excited! I hope we can get everything planned in time. The funny thing is is that he doesn´t want anyone at the baptism except for his family. So we will see what happens since the bishop annouced it yesterday.

Well I hope everyone has a Fanastic week and I love you all soooooo Much! Thank you for your prayers and your e-mails, they mean a ton to me. Give Kenai and Huge hug for me and I will hear from you all next week!!!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

I think I may go into the Spy business..., August 6,2012

Hey Fam!!!!!!!

I was excited to get your e-mail Mom! I am so glad that Derek had a good birthday. I need to find something really cool here for him but it may be belated. So its exciting that you all have been getting a lot of rain in Florida and I hope that Utah gets its act together and starts to rain soon. I am sorry the zucchini died again, that is really kind of funny but sad at the same time. The more time I spend out here in the mission field the more I notice how weird I am getting. My companion and I talk about the strangest things and we talk about how strange things are here in Argentina but by the time we get home we will think that everything in the US is weird. I laugh at hna. Tourtillott so much because she literally has forgotten how a lot of things are in the US. I will have to make a list and tell you about them all next week.

So this week has been interesting but we have gotten a lot done. We having be doing a lot of contacting and we have had some great lessons with people. I love being a missionary because I get hear some many cool stories from people about their experiences with God or with the Holy Ghost. And when we talk to people. sometime they tell us that they had been praying for help and then we have showed up at their door. I love the way that I have seen Heavenly Father working with people here. We have been teaching this man and he knows that the church is true and he believes in the Book of Mormon and everything but he just doesn´t understand why he just can´t live his life as a good person. Its so frustrating because I know how much the gospel can bless his life.

We also have this inverstigator whose name is Annibal and he has a date for September first to get baptized. He is really awesome! He loves Everything about the gospel but the hard thing for him to do is to come to church. He came last week but he was sick yesterday and so he was able to come. We are really working with him right now to help him understand the importance of coming to church. I know that it will click for him soon and I know that it will really help him if we get him involved with some of the members so that they can encourage him as well. I am really excited for him and he is really a very amazing man.

So on Saturday we had a very interesting experience. We had knocked into this women the previous week and se really like the first lesson so we went back to teach her. She let us in and right away she started to tell us about how she had been in an accident a few years ago and she was in the hospital forever because she had a big hole in her stomach that wouldn´t close up and now she is having issues with that area and the doctors who operated on her wouldn´t tell her anything and so she wanted to know if we could help her. I guess when she was having surgery, she was awake and her hands and legs were tied and she wanted to know if that was normal. My companion told her that is didn´think it was but she didn´t know and she told her at we were there to teach her the gospel and not to be her counselors. We then the lady looks at us kind of creepily and said that maybe we do know what happened to her but we can´t say. Since I can´t understand anything, I didn´t know what was going on but I sensed that she was off her rocker but after we left my companion told me everything she had said and I was shocked. So that is another person who thinks that we are spies.

the up side about not being able to understand is that I can make up really funny stories in my head as they are talking based on the words I pick up. Sometimes I am not to far off. The people here love to talk about everything and nothing all the same time.

Also this week we had a Noche de Hogar (family night) with Maria and her sister who is not a member. We hope to start teaching her sister but when we had the noche de hogar with them we literally didn´t say a word for an hour and a half. Her sister talked about all of her problems and stuff like that and Maria just talks about anything. So it was quite interesting. They are so hiliarious but it is really hard to teach them so we are going to be practicing on how we can cut in and bring the conversation back to our lessons.

Well yesterday at church crazy man came in and threated to light the church on fire so the police came and arrested him. He really needs help. He broke into the Bishop´s house and stole somethings last week. It is really sad but I hope that something can be done with him soon.

So I am sorry about the letter situation but I am writing today but it is way cheaper to send a large envelop with a lot of letters in it than a letter at a time so I will be needing you to put the letters for my friends in the mailbox so they can get them. There is just no time in the day to get everything done. We will be going down to Rosario on wednesday and thursday for me to get some more things down with my visa and we also hope to be moving this week sometime so it should be a crazy week. 

Well I love you all so much and I hope that your week is awesome!!!!! I love this gospel and the opportunity I have to spread it to the wonderfully crazy people here in Parana.

Lots of Love,

Alayna

What's Up Family!!! July 30,2012

Hola Familia,

 

It was great to get your e-mail Mom. It sounds like Sea World was a blast and its Exciting that Derek is now Offical!!! I am sorry that Dad couldn´t make it down but hopefully in four years.

So I love it here in Parana! It is so different and it really helps me realize how blessed I am. The people here are very friendly but they are all Catholic and they don´t want to change because they feel like they would be going against their family.

We have one man that we are teaching whose name is Nelson and he really knows that the church is true but he can´t get himself to stop being catholic and his wife has basically told him if he gets baptized that she will leave him. Its really sad because he is so amazing and he loves the gospel but his wife is just being selfish. We are going to continue to work with him and I hope that he will be able to get baptized soon.

So now I am going to tell you about some of the interesting things that have happened this week. One day when we were contacting, we stopped by this man who was working on his car and we introduced ourselves and he went off on how we were really spies for the American Government and we really just take down everyones information and give it to the government. It was hilarious! My companion tried to convince him otherwise but he wouldn´t have it. He was nice enough but when we left he still thought we were spies but he did say that he would check out the church sometime.

So our pench is pretty run down and we have rented a new pench but we can´t move in for about a month because they found out that the land lady had been stealing the electrical power from the meat store near by and so they have to re-wire the entire pench. So I will have a bucket shower for about another month and then I will have a some what normal shower again.

Yesterday at church a lady who just got bapized 4 days before I got here, got a calling to be the Relief Society secretary. Her name is Maria and she is super sweet but she will talk your ear off. When we have lessons with her she literally talks none stop for 50 minutes, no joke! She has some interesting thoughts but she loves the gospel and she is way excited about her calling.

Also yesterday we went to Evangelical Church. One of our investigators invited us and it was super weird! They pray and sing a ton and they have a full band to play the music. At the begining they had something like a testimony meeting where people would come up praise God by singing or saying stuff. I can´t understand any way so it was really hilarious. All of the women wear veils and the men and women are separated. It was quite interesting and I know even more now how blessed we are to be in the true church.

So this week we talked to some JWs here we call them testigos. They gave us a pamphlet that all it talked about was evolution and science. It had nothing religious in it what so ever! I don´t understand them at all but that is okay.

So this will be an interesting story. So there is someone in our ward who we call crazy man. He actually used to be the ward mission leader until about 4 months ago. He is skitsophrenic(or however you spell it) and so he was fine when he would take is medicine but about 5 months ago he started to mix his meds with drugs and he just kind of went crazy. He kicked his mother and sister out of the house that his mother owns and he has come to church a few times and threatened people with a fire extinguisher and he punched the stake president one time too. Now this was all before I got here and this past week some other things happened. Since he kicked his Mom and Sister out they have basically been in hiding. They come to church but he has no idea where they live because he may do something to them. So this week on saturday he basically took everything that was in the house and threw it into the street and so we got a call from is mom asking us to come and help her gather everything together and keep it in our pench until she could pick it all up. So we helped her and we asked her where her son was and she said she had the police take him. But here is the kicker, the police here are literally men in capes. Eventhough crazy man has thrown his mother out of her home, threatened people, assaulted the stake president and some other police and he also sell and does drugs and on saturday night he was mad at what his mother did so he lite the house on fire, they can´t arrest him because he is a skitsophrenic and so not in his right mind, supposedly, which is ridiculous because he knows what he is doing. It is really sad that basically he has to kill someone for them to finally arrest him. But don´t worry because for some reason he likes us has always been nice when we talk to him. This is such a strange country. It blows my mind. I would maybe like to visit again but I would never want to live here. They have a very corrupt government and people just do what they want.

Anyway, on a happier note, I am having such an amazing experience here and I am learning a ton. Hna. Tourtillott is hiliarious and we are always laughing at something that happens everyday. I have really seen the power of the Holy Ghost since I have been here and I may not understand the language but the people here have very strong testimonies and I can feel their love and their desire to follow Jesus Christ. I am excited to see waht happens this week.

I hope everyone has a great week! Enjoy the warm weather because I am freezing right now! It is so strange to be freezing in July!

Oh and it sounds cheesy but count your blessings! There are so many things that they don´t have here or don´t do here that I miss so much, like pepper(they only have salt here), peanut butter, cinnamon, pudding, cookies, fresh produce, flushable toliets, warm water, carpet, couches, insulated walls steak seasoning(I miss that so much), and a bunch of other stuff. Argentina is has its own charm but I am excited to come home and just lay on our carpeted floor.

I love you all so much and I can´t wait to hear from you next week!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

Hola from Parana!!!!!!!!!! July 23,2012

Hola Family!!!!!!

Well the past week has been quite the Adventure! I am still alive but for a while I didn´t think I would survive.

I guess I will give you the play by play. Here is goes........

So after I talked to you all in Dallas we boarded the plane and we sat there for a bit before the pilot came over the system and said that we would need to change planes because the was a not so good smell that was in the plane and the maintence had  to check it out. So we got off and had to wait until 10 o´clock that night to board a new plane and start off for Argentina. So I thought that we might meet up with our Elderes there but we didn´t. We were just with 6 other Elderes from the MTC that we had seen before. The plane ride was forever long and I hardly slept. We arrived in Buenos Aires at 10 in the morning on tuesday and it was really quite easy. We went through a quick check point and we gave them our Visas and then we met up with Aliberto, a guy who works for the church, and then we separated from the Elderes and they took me and Hna. Morgan to this van and guess who was there, Our Elderes!!!!!!!! It was weird to see them again but Awesome at the same time. They loved Alabama. So then that started our 5 hour car trip to Rosario. Now our driver didn´t speak English and we couldn´t understand him for anything!!! So after being really confused and stopping at a gas station and eating a ham sandwich and Coke,(My first and last Coke) we finally made it to the Mission Home. Presidente and Hermana Giuliani are super sweet and nice! We had my first home cooked meal in Argentina, it was really good! It was ravioli with a meat sauce and there was a ton of it! Then we had flan for dessert.

We slept over at the Mission home that night and then on wednesday morning we got our trainers. Before we found out who they were we saw two sisters getting dropped off and on was American and the other was a Native speaker. Elder Perkins turned to me and said that i would be getting the Native Speaker. I thought that I would as well but nope, I got Hermana Tourtillott!!!!! Quite the name right? Its French! She is awesome and she is from Kansas. She has been out for 8 months and she is basically fluent in Spanish. She just finished having a companion from Peru and so is is going to be able to teach me a lot.

Our area is in Parana and it is called Cinco Esquinas(Five Corners). We had to take another 4 hour bus ride to get here from Rosario. It is so strange to think that I live in Argentina! and I will be living here for the next 15 months!! It so crazy!!! Cinco Esquinas is a rather large area and some of our investigators live an hour away from our Pench(apartment). Walking! Okay now our pench is something else. The walls are concrete and we have no heating. We have a gas oven that looks like it could attack you and the word carpet doesn´t exist here. Oh and we have a Bucket Shower!!!!! When I first walked in Hna. Tourtillott asked me not to run away. I guess I looked that dumbfounded. I know that the living conditions here in Argentina aren´t like in the US but wow, it really humbles you. We we are contacting we knock on buildings that I swear we be condemned in the US. I have been extremly blessed to have grown up in the US.

Any who, we are over one ward but only 30 people come every sunday. I had to bear my testimony in church yesterday. It was quite nerve racking.

So basically I can´t understand a thing!!! They all talk super fast and so I am lost all of the time. I thought people in Texas talked a lot but nope, the people of Argentina have them beat! Hna Tourtillott just laughs at how confused I look as we are talking to people. But she is an awesome teacher and so I will be working super hard on learning the language.

I will have to tell you about all of the people that we are working with in the letter but they are quite interesting and have quite the history.

Well I hate to cut this short but I still need to write Presidente. I am so glad that everyone got down to Florida safely and that everything is Great!!! I will be writing a long letter! Promise! But I will probably be writing you on e-mail again before you get the letter. I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

 

p.s. My address is still the Mission Address. All of the mail has to go there so its the same as the one I gave you before I left.

p.p.s. I can´t believe Alexa is Engaged!!!!!!!!!!! Tell her congrats if you see her and give her my address so I can get and invite!

Adios to Texas! Monday July 16,2012

Hey Family!!!!!!!!

 

Right off the bat I will tell you that this is going to be the shortest e-mail ever. I will get to talk to you all so I can say everthing then. I can't believe that I am leaving Texas. I swear I just got here yesterday. I will miss Texas but I am super excited to be going to Argentina Finally!! Mom, I don't know if I will be able to call you between 2 and 4 but I know that we will be flying to some where else in the US first so I might be able to call you when we have our layover. Which might be around 5-7 maybe. I am sorry I can't be more definite. I don't know anything still. I guess I will find out when I go to the mission office at two.

I am excited that the trip is going great and I am excited to be able to talk to you. Have a blast in Nauvoo!!!!!!! I love you all soooooo much! Talk to you soon!!!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

 

p.s. yes Mom, when you write me in Argentina, don't put Hermana. 

Hi Y'all !!!!!!

Hola Familia!

 

It was great to get your e-mail Mom! I am glad Dad that you enjoyed the Father's Day card. I picked it out because it was a dog fishing and I like that song! So I am super excited that you liked it. I'm glad you all had a great Father's Day but I hope that Jason and his family can start feeling better now that they have moved into a new apartment. Yesterday we had Dinner at a member's home and they are vegetarians and so they grilled us regular hot dogs. It was super sweet of them to do that for us. and then after that we had great night visiting the less active families in our ward.

One family was the Hernandez family. They are So sweet!! He is from Mexico and she is from Peru and they have three kids. They came to church yesterday for the first time in 6 months which is Awesome!!!!! The father really wants his family to continue to come to church so they just need to get out of the habit of not coming. So when we visited with them last night we asked them if we could teaching them the lessons in Spanish so that we could get the practice. Because I am in an english area and so I hardly ever get to use my Spanish. And they Loved that Idea! It will help us practice with native speakers and it will hopefully get them active again and wanting to have the gospel more in their lives. Then the father asked if we could also come over sometimes and read The Book of Mormon with them in Spanish. He feels that it will really help their family. So I am super excited! Also super nervous because of my struggling Spanish skills but the cool thing is is that when we left Hermana Wright turned to me and said, "You know, this is one of the reasons you are here, to learn the language from the Hernandez family and also to help them grow in the Gospel." So I am super excited to meet with them again.

This week has definitely been something else. We had quite a few member present lessons scheduled but all of the appointments feel through. It was discouraging but I know that there will be days and week like this one has been but I know that if I continue to work hard and do all I can, the Lord will take care of the rest. So needless to say we did a lot of knocking doors this past week but we met some nice people who said we could come back and meet with them again. So I can't wait to see what this week brings.

Today for p-day we are getting together as a zone and we are going to Enchanted Rock. I guess it is a cave somewhere but that should be fun. So I will have to take a lot of pictures and send them to you. Tonight we have dinner with a couple where his is a member and she isn't but they are super sweet and so we are going to have a bbq with them tonight and also do some service for them. They are both in their 60's I think and he has some health problems and so we try to help them in anyway we can. Also tonight we hopefully will be teaching the first lesson to this guy named Dakota and his family. We tried to see them yesterday but they were busy and so they asked us to come back tonight.

So something really cool that happened at church yesterday was that Sister Riding in our ward came up to me and asked me what my parents names were. I told her and then she asked me if I knew Kent and Sherry. I freaked out and said they were my Aunt and Uncle and she got super excited. When Sister Riding and her husband we newly married they lived in Kent and Sherry's ward and they loved that ward and I guess Lisa baby sat for them. Well Sister Riding loved Lisa so much that she named her second daughter after Lisa. Isn't that cool!! So she wanted me to tell Kent and Sherry that so if you get a chance let them know that Bob and Valarie Riding say Hi! We have dinner with them on thursday so she is excited to talk to me about them. This is one of those times when I wish I knew my extended family better.:)

So to answer some questions, yes I am doing the twelve week program and if I leave from Argentina this next transfer then I will finish the program down there. And so no I haven't heard anything about my Visa but I think they will probably just tell me if I have it or not when transfer calls come so I need to be prepared.:)

We had a little rain last night and supposedly we are to get rain tomorrow and the next few days but I doubt it. The days have been a bit cooler lately but it is still super hot! And everyone I meet tells me that it will just continue to get worse. Que Bendicion!!! Also we have a car but we usually go to the area we are working in, park and walk everywhere until we have to leave that area.

Thank you all for your letters and Dad, for all the advice you give me! Thank you so much! I am always so excited to hear what is going on back home. I hope that Utah can get some rain to help with the fires. We talked to a guy a few days ago who predicts the world will end by the end of this year because of all of the signs that are coming true in the Bible. It was quite hilarious to listen to him. He went on to talk about how the Mayans and the different people in the Americas had to have been visited by some God because how else could the have been so advanced and I guess there are some carvings of a God that they worshiped that had long hair and a beard and his so he said it had to be Jesus. So we told him yeah it was and that is what The Book of Mormon is about and once we told him that, he was stumped and said he would have to think about that. It was so Funny!!!!! Oh the people you met!

Well I hope everyone has a great week and I hope to hear from you all soon!!! Thanks again for all of your love and support and I can't wait to tell you what this week brings!!! Enjoy the dry heat!!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

Greetings from Texas San Antonio Mission

Hey Everyone,

 

I have officially survived my first 5 day in Texas. The heat is killer but everyone's air conditioning works really well. I have so much to tell you but its hard to know to write in my e-mail and what to save for the letter. So on wednesday when we got off the plane and met with President Jones and his wife we got to go back to the mission home and have lunch. It is so nice to have real food again! Then they talked to us about the mission and I felt kind of out of the loop because they kept referring to things they had asked the missionaries to do before they came and me and Hermana Morgan had no idea what they were talking about and so President Jones would turn to us a say, "Oh you don't need to worry about that." They are both extremely nice but I now know what my teacher meant when he said we are kind of in limbo right now. Then we got to go to the Alamo. It is a lot smaller than I thought it would be but it was cool to see. It is right downtown in the middle of San Antonio. We then got to split up and go place our first Book of Mormon. There were only 3 sisters so we all went together and the one sister who is staying here totally took the lead and talked with this lady for 25 minutes. We were able to give a Book of Mormon to her but neither Hermana Morgan or I got a word in. But all in all is was a good experience. After that we went back had dinner and then slept over at some sisters apartment. Then on thursday we went to the transfer meeting. My trainer's name is Hermana Wright and she is from St. George. She has just been hear for 12 weeks and she is already training! She is awesome and I am so excited to work with her! Our area is Encino Park. Its not a very big area and its just outside the city limits of San Antonio.

On thursday night we were supposed to have a dinner appointment with a family in the ward but they weren't home when we went over so we dicided to knock some doors. Knocking doors is quite a nerve racking experience! Most people are very polite in telling us they are not interested. So we knocked a few doors and we knock on one door and a man answered the door and he and his wife let us in. They are both Catholic but they aren't happy with where they are at and so they are looking for something different. So right there we taught them the first lesson!!! I was so Nervous!!!!! They both agreed to read the Book of  Mormon and we get to meet with them again this week! Hermana Wright said I did great but I know I can improve a ton! Later that night we met with a couple and he is an inactive and she is not a member. They are Awesome!!! I will give you the details about them in the letter.

We are extremely blessed, we get to live with a member! In a House! It is the greatest thing Ever! Her name is Billie and she has 3 dogs!!! I love it so much!!! The members are also so Amazing! They feed us practically ever night and they are willing to help anyway they can. My first sunday was great and it was fun to be in a normal ward again.

I hope I can adjust to the heat soon or it may kill me!:) I may be buying a few cheap but cool shirts because a lot of what I have is too thick. The mission refunded me for my luggage and also the overweight which is Awesome!!!

I am excited to hear that everything is going well and I hope things work out with Jace and Emily with their apartment. I am glad they are all feeling better. Also its exciting that Derek and Kimberly will be leaving in a month! I hope Dad can get work off so you all can have a little Vacation! I really want to see dads new duds!!

Well I hope to go into more detail in my letter. Thanks so much for all of you love and prayers. They mean everything to me! The mission has been really hard so far but I know that this is where I need to be! I hope your week is amazing and have fun in the nice weather. I will never complain about Utah heat again! I love you all so much!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

 

p.s. here is the address you can write me at. :)

2318 Park Farm

San Antonio, TX 78259

Hola Familia!!!!

I am super excited! I found out this morning that I am getting temporarily reassigned!!! And I know where!!! But You will be getting a call from me around 5:45 tonight so I will tell you then!! So I am super excited to be going to two different places!!! This e-mail will probably be really short, sorry. And really scattered.

So my companion Hermana Nelson got re-assigned to Washington DC south!!! So you know where she is going but that is not where I am headed! She is going there with Brittany Pasquale. She is super excited!

So this week has been great but also difficult with not knowing if I would get my visa or where I would be off too. Its been hard to focus but I have learned a ton this week. My companions and I studied Alma 4&5 this week trying to find what Pure Testimony is. It was really Amazing! So I am inviting all of you to do the same! Its awesome what you can learn when you look for a specific thing.

It was fun to see Sister Wilson at the Temple! I'm glad she e-mailed you about that! So another person I just saw yesterday was Elder Hall!!!!!!! I didn't host yesterday but I saw him at dinner and talked to him for about 20 minutes!! It was so fun to see him!!! I was really happy that I was able to see him and I hope that I will see him more before I leave.

So It was fun to get an e-mail from both Kimberly and Emily! Thank you two for writing!!! Its great to here that Natashia got a job here! But I probably won't see her because I value my sleep more that yoga at 6 in the morning.:) And I can't believe how mobile Dylan has become!!! That is so fun to hear!!! Also Emily I am excited to hear that you are thinking of going back to school! I think that would be awesome to do as soon as you felt you could! Its also good to hear that everything is going well for Jace and work! Also I am excited that you got to work with Callie!! I miss that girl so much!!

So the tuesday night devotional was great! Elder Zwick from the seventy and his wife did a great job! They both talked on the importance of the Book of Mormon and Elder Zwick's testimony was just so Powerful!!!!

.Sorry this e-mail is so scattered but I need to go and I can't wait to call you tonight!! I love you all so much and I hope this week goes amazing!!!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

 

Alayna has been temporily reassigned to San Antonio, Texas and she flies out next Wednesday, June 6th. I will post her address there as soon as I know what it is!!

Hello from a Very Happy Missionary!!!!

Hola Familia!!!!!

It was great to get your e-mail Mom. Thank you! I hope that you have had a great Circus Day! I can't believe you are practically done with school for this year. I also hope that you can finally get some sleep! I still feel like I don't get any sleep but I am resolved to the fact that I won't be getting enough sleep for the next 17 months. We have a roommate that is so cute when she wakes up in the morning. She hates waking up and it it takes her forever to get moving. Her first companion in the field is going to love her!:) I am sorry that it is Allergy season. I hope that it isn't too bad for you and especially for Derek.

Oh so I have been wondering when Travis Hall(cousin) is comming into the MTC? Do you know when or may he already be here? I would like to find him if I could. So with the CDs or the Tape player I am fine with the Tape player. You could send me a few more tapes if you want but I think I will be ok.

So tonight we should be getting our travel plans for Argentina and then next friday we will find out if we are getting reassigned. So they basically get our hopes up then they dash them. I just am so excited to get out and start teaching. We have "investigators" here but they are just our teachers so its really not the same. Both of our investigators are getting baptized this week which is awesome! So we will be getting new investigators next week. With teaching these investigators I have come to find out how hard it is to teach certain things, like the Law of Chastity, especially when one of your investigators is living with his ex-girlfriend and their two kids. I guess will be encountering that A Lot! The next year and a half are going to be quite interesting.:)

And Mom yes, the talk was in Spanish! I was so nervous but its nice because they only have to be 2 minutes or so. I am just glad that I got it over with so I probably won't have to talk again while I am here.

Thank you some much for the pineapple! We had to eat it really fast because we have no way to refrigerate it. Everyone loved it! Also thank you so much for the foam guns. I opened that package during one of our study times in class and needless to say we all played with them for over and hour. It was great! Very unproductive but it was good to take some time and just mess around. They are permantly in the residence so that they won't be a distraction but right before we leave we will be surprising our teacher with them. It should be Awesome!

I did get to host again and the fun part was that we got a new district in our zone yesterday and so I was able to escort a sister that is now in our zone. They are all going to state side missions. Some are going to cali and the others are going to salt lake. I am excited to have new people because our zone became quite small when the last district left. Elder Mcrae has the new district convinced that he is from England. He fakes an accent that sounds a little like John Lennon but honestly, its not very good at all but they all believe him. Its very funny! They all listen so intently when he talks.

On Sunday we got to here from President Daines and his wife. They are the Provo Temple President and Matron. They did an amazing job. They talked about the importance of temples and how as missionaries when have been blessed to be endowed with power to help us fulfill our missions. So because of their talks, The Temple today was a totally new experience. It was utterly Fantastic! On Sunday night we got to watch Elder Bednar's MTC Devotional "Character of Christ". Can I just say.............. IT WAS THE MOST AMAZING THING I HAVE EVER HEARD!!!! Elder Bednar is the Best! It was all about how we can live as he lived. We learned that the Character of Christ is simple. He turns outwards to serve others while the natural man(all of us) turns inwards. Gave 3 examples from the scriptures on how Christ show his character. One was in Matt. 4:2-12. Read it and also pay attention to the JST in one of the versus. Also find out what the real temptation was that Satan tempted Christ with. He also talked about becoming converted to The Lord. Not the functions of the church or the people, but The Lord! Spend your life learning of Him and us his strength to help you overcome hardships. It was really great.

Well I need to wrap this up! I love all of you so much and I hope you all have a fantastic week!!!! Enjoy everyday!!!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

 

Posted by Judy Flack

Week #7

Hey Family!!!!!!

Thank you so much for your e-mails, Mom and Jace!!! It sound like everyone has a quite the week!!! Thank you mom for the fun Pixar stamps and for the box with the instant breakfast, bubbles and the shaker! Also THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the Cinnamon rolls! One of the sisters in our zone became sick on Sunday so intstead of going to breakfast that morning the rest of us sisters ate all of the cinnamon rolls. So they were very much needed, Thank You!. The nerf guns sound like fun and so do the stickers, also some fresh pinnapple or something like that would not be turned down.:) They food here just sits in your stomach like a lead balloon. It tastes okay but it always messes with me. I guess its just preparing me for Argentina!

So about Argentina, it is more and more for certain that we will be re-assigned. The travel office hasen't heard anything different. Brittany Pasquale said she heard they have stopped Visas entirely right now but I have heard so many different stories that I am just going to take what comes! I know that I will be going to Argentina some day but I may only have a year there. They really need missionaries down there and its just said that things a so messed up with the Visas. I just hope they works things out soon.

So I am so glad that you all have a great Mother's Day! Sounds like Sacrament meeting and the lessons in Church were great! It was weird being here and having the speakers in the Sunday night fireside talk about mother's but not getting to be with all of you.

Sunday was pretty great though, the only down size was that I have to give a talk in Sacrament meeting! We don't know until right after the sacrament prayers who will be giving a talk that day and I about died when I heard my name! it had been quite a rather difficult week previous and so I felt like I hadn't prepared as well I should have for my talk. I guess I did fine but there is a lot of room for improvement.

The Sunday night fireside was good, Brother Heaton spoke to us about where we need to have our investigators, and more importantly, ourselves look. He used the story of Moses and the Serpent on the Pole as his focus. So I really learned how simple and neccessary it is to look to The Savior. It was a great talk. That night we got to watch The Testaments!!!!! I was just a little excited for that.:) It is a good story except for the cheesy parts but it was a nice way to end the day with really driving home how much Jesus Christ has done for me.

On tuesday guess what............ Elder L. Tom Perry came and gave us the Devotional!!!! Ok I may just need to brag for a second. That is number 5!!!!!!:) He did an Awesome job. Since it was May 15, he talked about how the Priesthood had been restored exactly 183 years earlier. It was a great talk and his testimony was so Powerful and Sincere. They Devotional Review that we had after was also great! I love hearing my districts testimonies and the things that stuck out to them in the Devotional.

So last night as we got back to residency the fire alarm went off. I don't know if I told you all but my first few weeks here they alarm went off at 2 in the morning. It was so cold outside! I was just glad this time it happened at 9:30 at night. So I am sleeping this morning and all of a sudden I hear a light turn on and my companion Hna. Morgan basically yell at us, "Get up! We are late for the Temple!" I look at my clock and I said, "Hermana, its 4:40 in the morning!!!!" she then said, "oh, okay" and she went back to bed. She had heard someone moving in their sleep and so she look at her clock and saw that it was 40 on the minutes and assumed that we had slept in. It was quite funny but she was so mad when she thought we had slept in.

Well I loved hearing about the garden. It sounds like it is going to be beautiful this year, I hope that we have a wet summer. I hope you all have a great weekend and tell Derek and Kimberly to enjoy pelican and I hope dad can go up there with them! Enjoy the week with Uncle Bob and Mom, have a great last week in School! I hope everything goes great!

Thank you all for your wonder letters and for your words of love and advice. They really mean a lot to me! I hope you all have a great week and that maybe Kenai has a bath in sometime in his future! Give everyone lots of love from me!!!!

Love,

Hna. Alayna Flack

 

Posted by Judy Flack

Hello Everyone!

 

This has been a great week! I feel like I have grown so much! It is amazing how much you can learn in just one day here at the MTC. I hope everyone is doing well and that you are all taking time to have fun outside in this beautiful weather. I am soaking it up while I can.

So I am going to start off by telling you the latest on the Visa situation. So we have some Elders in our Zone that are leaving in 5 days. They have all been called to Argentina but their Visas didn't come so they have been temporarally reassigned to California, Oregon and Colorado. They will probably be there for two transfers or until their Visas come. So I hope mine comes through but I am excited that I could possibly get to serve in Two places! I know that it will work out the way that it is supposed to. It feels so strange! The oldest district in our zone leaves next week and then the other district leaves the week after which will make our district the oldest. That is crazy! In a little over 3 weeks I will know if I have my visa or where I will be going instead! It feels so far away and yet not far at all. I am so not ready to get out there. In English maybe but definitely not Spanish.

So sunday was a great fast sunday, we had a large meeting in the morning with everyone in the MTC. It was a two hour meeting and by the end of it my back was killing me. They don't know the meaning of a soft chair here. It was a great meeting where we heard from the MTC presidency and their wives.  They focused on Developing faith in Christ. It was great! The Sunday night fireside was great as well. It was Mark J. Lusvardi and he talked about Alma 17. Great chapter in the Book of Mormon!!! The sunday night movie that we went to was the restoration and the story of kirtland. The later was very cheesey. But it was pretty good anyway.

On Monday we got to watch 'The Miracle of a Mission' by Elder Holland. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! That is all I can say. If you can find it I would recommend watching it!

Then on tuesday we got our 4th apostle! Elder D. Todd Christofferson! He did an amazing job! He talked about the Doctrine of Christ. 2 Nephi 31, 3 Nephi 11 and 3 Nephi 27. It was amazing!

I am so sorry that this e-mail is so short but I only have a half hour to type this and I have been distracted the whole time. I am so sorry. I hope I will write more next week. I hope you are all doing amazing! I love you all! Thank you for your love and support!

Love,

Hna. Alayna Flack

 

May 10, 2012

Posted by Judy Flack

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Hey Family,

It was great to get your e-mail mom!! Also thanks for all the packages and your letters.

So this week has gone by pretty fast but I feel like it all runs together and so when it is finally p-day I feel like I don't have anything to say. This week we got chewed out by our teacher Hermano Orme because we don''t speak spanish all of the time. It made us all feel horrible but it is so hard to get into Spanish mode. I guess things are picking up for me with the language but I still have a long ways to go. I am talking a little bit more in the lessons which is good but my companions threaten to have me teach a whole lesson. They are great but you know me and I want to rebel so bad at times and just tell them to let me be but I know they are doing it because they care. This sunday was great. Robert Swensen gave the fireside and he talked about staying happy, having fun and doing good while we are on our missions. It was awesome! The Temple walk was great as always but this time we spent our day taking panoramic pictures at the temple. The movie for Sunday night was Legacy, I never realized how cheesey that movie was until watching it in a room full of 19 year old boys. It was hiliarious!

Classes are same old same old but we got a new district this week and now we have 3 new Hermanas in our zone. The new district will all be leaving in 3 weeks so they will leave before we do which makes me really antsy! I have been here for a month and I can't even think about being here for another month. I really hope me visa comes through on time.

Dad or Mom, can you ask Bishop Hill for Brienne's address. I would like to write her. So Tomorrow we have TRC which is where we teaching people who are members so its like a family home evening. Its a great experience and I hope things go well with that tomorrow.

On tuesday our devotional was by Elder Edwards of the seventy and his wife. They did an excellent job! He talked about living your life in a way that lets the spirit be with you all of the time. He also said if we get discouraged we can read Alma 8:13 and feel better because that is what a bad day as a missionary is. He also said that the real reason that we all came on missions is because we love The Lord and how true that is because that is the driving force for why I am here. In the end he said "There are no wasted motions when you are on the Lords errand doing his work." I Loved that! How true is that, as a missionary I should never get discouraged if some I teach doesn't get baptized of if someone doesn't want to listen. They will find they Gospel in their own time and I will have helped in some small way.

Oh I forgot to tell you but I love the food at the temple! It is way better than at the MTC. We have breakfast there every morning after we do a session or whatever we do for our temple time. I really miss your food mom. It was really great to get the pumpkin chocolate chip bread, everyone loved it and it felt like home. Thank you!

Well I should probably wrap this up, my time is almost up. I love you all so much and I know I say this all the time but thank you for all of your love and support. Give Kenai a big kiss and a hug for me! I miss that furry mess! Thanks again and have an Awesome week!!!!

Lots of Love,

Hna. Alayna Flack:)

 

Posted by Judy Flack

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing great! I just got back from the temple. Our whole district was in the same session today and afterwards we ate lunch in the temple cafeteria. It was an awesome experience. Oh and I saw Aunt Sherry at the temple today! She had just gotten out of a session and it was really nice to see and talk to her for a bit.

So I think I maybe making Derek jealous again but guess who came to our sunday night fireside...... Elder Ballard! He was Awesome!!!! Pres. Brown spoke to us first and then we had a special musical number by.......... you'll never guess. Yep, David Archuleta. He sang The Spirit of God and the second verse he sang in spanish and I was bawling by the end of it. He did and amazing job and it really brought the spirit and the Elder Ballard talked about how there will never be a more important time in our lives that serving a mission. It was all around an Amazing Sunday! Our Tuesday night Devotional was with Elder Gibbons of the seventy. He talked about how the most important way to be effective in having people come unto Christ is through the members and how our missions don't end when we come back, we are always supposed to be doing missionary work but inviting those we know to learn more about our religion. It was great!

This week has been pretty good but by yesterday we were all ready for a p-day. We have had grammer lessons everyday this week, sometimes twice in one day so my mind is fried!! We got a new district yesterday of all boys! They seem pretty nice but they all had the Deer in the Headlights look. I am sure I still look likt that most days.

So this week we started doing the TRC. Its a time were we get to teach volunteers who come in, who are members, about some gopsel principles. It was nerve racking because they are acutal members and will have no problem telling you if your spanish is really bad. But it was a really good expience and it was nice to get their feedback on how we taught.

I don''t know if I told you this but right now we are teaching two progressing investigators. They are both our teachers but one hour a day they go into a different room and they become this other person and we teach them like we would a real investigator. One of the investigators, Gilberto, is really hard to teach. he just sits there and if we ask him a question he just says "I don't know'' and thats all we can get from him. Its really frustrating but I know that this practice will be good for us.

So I hope I can remember everything you had asked me about mom but if I don't say something in this e-mail I might put it in the letter. So it would be nice to have that other old navy shirt and you don't need to send me my sunglasses until I leave. My clothes seem to be holding up pretty good but compared to both my companions I have no clothes whatsoever! They have a ton of clothes, I don't think one of my companions has had to wear the same thing twice yet. So one of my companions has a pair of Dansko shoes but that is all I have really seen. Most everyone wears their nice shoes around here. So I would like to know if you could maybe send me some foot powder for my flats. They are starting to really stink! Also if you could send me a small calender or the one from my room I would really appreciate that. I feel like all of the days run together and I have a hard time remembering what day it is.

I want to thank you all for your prayers, they mean a lot to me. Thanks for all of the letters you send and for your support. I am so glad to be serving the lord at this time and I am so blessed to have a family who is there to support me. I miss you all and I hope this next week treats you well. Enjoy the beautiful weather! I love you all so much!!!

Hermana Flack

Posted by Judy Flack

Week #4

• flackjl@yahoo.com

Message flagged

Thursday, April 26, 2012 5:16 PM

Hola Everyone!!!!

 

This week has been utterly Amazing!!! But first I want to tell you mom that my p-day has changed permanently to thursdays. They just have some many people here right now so they had to change the schedules around a bit. So I now have Temple at 6:50 in the morning! This morning we did Sealing. They were amazing and our Sealer served a mission in Argentina and he has been a mission president in Chile. It was a really great experience!

I feel horrible Dad! i forgot to tell you Happy Birthday!! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I hope it was fun!

So Derek thank you for your e-mail, it was great to hear from you and I am excited that you closed on the house! Now onto the yard sale and then Florida! I am sure you are all way excited to get going. Oh and Derek you can be jealous again because on Tuesday guess who came and spoke to us at our Devotional.... Elder Nelson and his wife! It was Awesome and Sister Nelson is a rock, she was amazing! Elder Nelson did a really incredible job and I have never written so much in my life. It was all about the doctrine of Christ and I learned a ton! On Sunday we had Sister Dibb come at talk to us during Relief Society and she gave us some advice from President Monson. It was a really amazing sunday. Sister Nelson gave a talk in Sacrament meeting and she did a really good job. The temple walk was awesome a usual.

So this week has been kind of hard because will will be losing two elders from our district because they are leaving tomorrow morning for the mtc in the Dominican Republic. We have become quite a close district and it is hard to see them leave. After the devotional on tuesday we have a devotional review where we talk about what we learned and get to share our testimonies and lets just say that we were all bawling by the end of it. It feels like a part of our family is leaving. But I am super excited for both of them. They are so amazing!

Classes are going good but i am still frustrated that I'm not picking up the language like I think I should. I know it will come with time and I really need to to put all of my faith in Christ and know that the only way i can learn spanish is through him.

I hope that Youth conference is fun for you mom! I am sure that it will be.

So the food here at the MTC is not that good. Its edible but that is about it. You have to stay away from the mexican food though because you will have problems for a long time after if you do that. I haven't tried the orange juice but some other people have and they haven't had a problem with it. So that was a false rumor. All in all things are great here but I am getting antsy! I know I still have six weeks lefte but man I want to get out and start teaching! I know that this is where i am supposed to be and I am here this long so I can learn the language but it is a long time. I hope it picks up soon.

I hope I have covered everything but if I haven't sorry. I love hearing from all of you and i hope this next week is amazing! I love you all soo much!!!! Thank you for all of your love and support!

Lots of Love,

Hermana Alayna Flack!

Week 2

Hola Familia!!

 

Sorry I haven't written yet today but I probably won't write until about this time every friday. So today we got to go to the temple this morning. It was great! We also got to sleep in til 7:50! It was Amazing! Today has been a great day to chil and write some letters and do Laundry!

 

So Easter Sunday we got to have a special Easter Devotional with President Packer. It was incredible! I learned so much! Our tuesday Devotional had Elder McMuilln and his wife and they talked about the power of the Holy Ghost. I have really enjoyed my classes this last week because we have lesson where we are able to discuss Preach my Gospel and the Doctrine of Christ. I am still struggling with the Language but I pray every day for help to learn. This past week and since I got here we have been teaching what is known as a progressive investigator. All in Spanish! Lets just say I only say about two words. His name is Carlos and he has been really great to teach. Two days ago was our last day to teach him because he is actually one of our teachers and this was just an experience to show us how much we need to rely on the lord and I definitely learned that! My teachers only speak spanish unless we are talking about PMG or discussing doctrine.

 

Sunday was also great because we were able to go on a temple walk. It was great to get out and just sit and look at the temple and think. It was also a very nice day on sunday. This past week has really showed me how much I need to rely on the Lord and how blessed I am!

 

Sorry this is such a short e-mail but I need to go get ready to go to dinner and then head to class! I love you all so much and I hope this next week is Amazing for all of you!

 

Love, Hermana Flack

Let's Get this Adventure Started!!!

Hey All!
     It has been a while since I posted but a lot has happened. Tomorrow I will be entering the Provo MTC to begin my training as a Missionary. I received my call to the Argentina Rosario mission and I can't wait! I am super excited but also quite nervous! My mother will be posting my weekly e-mail on my blog so definitely check in if you want to see how I am doing!!!
I love this church and gospel so much and I can't wait to share it with the people of Argentina! Thank you for all of your support and I will see you all in 18 months!!!