I love cold fronts! February 4, 2013

´Hola Familia,

Thanks so much for the birthday wishes. I dont know how I will be spending my birthday but right now all I want it for our home to have electricity. Hopefully that wish will be answered. I am excited that everyone is doing well and that things are still cool for you all. Sorry that the 49ners didnt win but it is fun to see them get that far. Its fun to hear that Jace and Emily are in Nursery and I feel really old knowing that Allison Avery will be turning 16 in  2 months. We is everyone growing up so fast?????? I am excited that Emilys sister Connie is going on a mission, and to texas¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡{upside down exclamation points.

So I also glad to hear that Kimberly and the kids got back safely. Back to humidity. I dont know why Derek likes it so much.?

This we has gone by so fast. Some weeks it just feels like a blur. The Elders in our area had a baptizm this weekend and so that was fun to help with that. Also we had interviews with Presidente this week. They were really good. I love talking with him. He is always so loving and he really knows just what to say to give me more animo and to help me improve. He also asked me if I was ready to train. I told him we would see. I really hope that I will train not this transfer that is coming up, but the one after. But who knows what will happen.

Sorry this might be my shortest e-mail ever. The keyboard I am using doesnt really work and i have to type every letter twice. So I am running out of time. This is what happens when you use the computers for gaming. They get beat up really fast. And I think that Argentina has more kids online playing computer games than the US. The cybers are always full of kids playing whatever game.

Also I have decided to bring home the tradicion of drinking mate in lawn chairs on the sidewalk in front of my house, everynight. I love counting how may people we contact who are sitting out drinking mate. It is a ton. But it does make it easy for us to talk to people.

This week was a little difficult because a lot of our investigators weren{t home and so we did a lot of walking trying to find people home. It was quite the exercise.

Well I need to go, sorry for the short e-mail but I promise this week that I will write more next week and that I will send home pictures. I love you all so very much and I hope that everyone has a great week¡

Lots of Love,

 Alayna

Hello Again!!! - January 28, 2013

Hola Familia!

I cant believe that it is monday again. I am really glad that I get to hear from all of you but I swear that we just had monday. The weeks go by so incredibly fast. I am glad to hear that you all were able to get some sunshine in  Utah to help with the inversion. That sound really disgusting. It is the weirdest thing here. We live in a pueblo but we still have inversion too because everyone burns everything, trash, plastic, old furniture, you name it, they burn it. Its quite sad but here they really don{t have landfills and things like that. I never told you this but here there are people who have horses and wagons and they go around and pick up the trash and take it to their homes and they dig through the trash to find things to us and then the create huge piles of trash with the things they don{t want and this trash usually ends up in rivers and in the streets. Its really sad that there are some people that have to do that to survive.

Anywho, I am glad that things are all good eventhough some of you have colds. I hope that everyone feels better soon. Also I hope that Kimberly and the boys can make it back to florida safely. And that Derek can focus on his studies and that he will do well on his tests. I am excited that you get to teach the plan of salvation this month in YW Mom, I never really understood how amazing this plan is until I can out here on a mission. This whole plan is made possible by Jesus Christ and his Atonement. So I know that it is not what you will talking about this week but make sure to help the girls understand the importance of learning and studing about the Atonement. It should all be something that we continue to learn so that we can apply it more fully in our lives.

I also love the purpose of why we are here on the earth. It is necessary to come to this earth in order for us to experience trials, happiness, and to gain knowledge. There is no other way that we can become like Our Heavenly Father without this life. He has given us the tools and a direct communication with Him through prayer to help us progress in this life. I love this Plan!!!!!!!!!!!

So on another note, today we spent our morning working in our backyard. Yes, we have a backyard! I dont know if I ever told you this but we are living in a house and it has quite a big backyard with a whole bunch of weeds and trees. We have a lime tree and some grape vines and two avacado trees! So this morning we had a couple of people from the ward help us remove all of the weeds and rake up all the leaves and stuff. It was a lot of work but it was great to get my hands dirty. I will have to send pictures next week. Another lovely thing we found was literaly hundreds of cochroaches in the dirt and the dead leaves. It was disgusting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never used so much bug spray in my life! I will be so happy to never see another one for the rest of my life!

Also this week we have been having troubles with our lighting in the house and there have been some night when we have planned in the candle light. I love the Mission! There are surprises everyday!:) But today an Hermano in the ward helped us fix the problem so hopefully we are done with things not working or going wrong in our home. But we still need to find ourselves a new shower.:)

We I am sorry that this is such a short letter! I hope that you all have a great week and that the weather can stay cool but that you can have your sunshine too! I love you all so very much and I am so grateful for all of your support! I am so blessed to have an eternal family and to have the knowledge of how we can be together forever! I love you all and have a Fantastic Week!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

The Frig is Fixed - Jan 21, 2013

HOla Familia!!!

Our Fridge is fixed!!!! But I think we have a curse or something because now our fan doesnt work. I really hope  that we we can get that figured out soon. So that is super sweet of Sister Andrus, I would go for the black and white one. I cant believe that they  leave in february. that is really soon. I am also excited that Kimberly and the kids will be going back to florida soon, Poor Derek, he must be so lonely.............. :)Haha.

Thank you for the package Mom, I am sure that everything will be okay. Oh and please tell Sister Warner and the young women that I really appreciated the package that they sent. It was really fun!

Also....... Can I just say one thing about the new program that they have for the youth.... It is Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been looking on lds.org and finding some stuff out about it and it is fantastic! I really wish that they would have had this program when I was in YW. It does take a lot more work but on my it will help the youth really understand their role and the importance of sharing the gospel and really help them become coverted to the gospel. Let me just say this, with the age differences for missionaries, they have to be a whole lot more prepared spiritually before they even enter the MTC and with this program they are going to learn everything about what is means to be a missionary. It is really just Preach my Gospel! and they suggest role playing and ways to learn and study personally. It is everything we do on the mission. Hermana Miller put is this way, "We are literally creating an army of missionaries to help in the last days in the gathering of Isreal" I am so excited to see the changes that have happened recently in the church and the emphasis that they are putting on missionary work and Conversion. I am so blessed and so grateful to be able to witness and be apart of this changes and to see the progression of the church. We live in such an amazing time where we have the technology and the resources to share the gopsel with everyone. I really am now starting to see the hand of God in everything! All of the inventions, advancements in science and technology, our freedoms and they people that have lived and are living to help use accomplish this work. Being here in Argentina has really opened my eyes up to a lot of things in the world, all of the horrible things that are happening and the way that people have learned to coup with things and to see what is accepted and not accepted. My testimony has been greatly strengthened through these experiences and I have really learn how to rely on the Lord and to do all that I can, study, pray, to be worthy to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. I wish that I could just go around the whole world and be a missionary for my whole life. There is nothing so rewarding or so tiring than this work. I am SO extremely grateful for this experience and I thank my Father in Heaven everyday for the miracles, the small testimony builders, the members, the people we meet on the street and for the chance I have to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord at this time.

Wow, alright, well I hope that you all have an amazing week! That Kenai will have a breal through and stop eating birdseed and that The 49ners can pull through.:) 

I love you all so much and I am so grateful for all of your support and for all of you testimonies! Have a Fanastic Week!!!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

Snow, Snow, Snow - January 14, 2013

Hola Familia!!!!!

It was great to get your e-mails this week. I am glad that everyone is surviving the cold but it does sound like a lot. I hope that you all can have good health for this winter and that you all will only have to deal with minor colds. It is so weird for me to think that it is winter in Utah. I know that it is january but I just can´t imagine snow and cold. It is really funny when my companion and I have a hard time thinking of things in the US. There are still things here that are super strange to me but a lot of things have become normal and so I have kind of forgotten somethings from the US. Hermana Miller has it worse than me though, its kind of funny.

Also I am really sorry if my writing skills have gone down the drain. The placement of words is different in Spanish and so I feel like a lot of my sentences are worded weird.

I am glad that you all are getting snow and that it is cold, I hope that will help the summer be a little less dry. Everyone here tells us that this summer is going to be a wet summer but with a lot of heat. And it doesn´t help when we now don´t have a fridge that works. Now that is a long story and one that I can´t laugh about yet so it will be one of those crazy things I will share with all of you after the mission.:) The mission is definitely the place to learn patience.

So this has been a good week, we have had a lot of heat and it was hard to find some people, but we found so great new people and we definitely had some interesting lessons. I love the people of Argentina but I sometimes wonder about their sanity.:)

Our branch is really great and the members are hiliarious. They really care about us and they are so loving but one thing I have learned about the culture here in Argentina is that they have a very dry sense of humor. When they joke around it is very straight forward and at time it comes off really mean but I have learned that it is one of their ways to joke around with the people that they care about. So I am learning to have fast comebacks and I am really sorry if I come back with this trait. I will definitely try not to.

Valeria is still plugging along but it is really hard for her to come to church. She feels bad when she doesn´t come but it is hard for her to gear up the desire to go. So we are really trying to help her understand the importance of church and tonight we are going to be having a noche de hogar with her and her daughters.

We are also working with a great old couple that was baptized two years ago. They are really amazing people and they love to learn and it is their goal to go to the temple. We taught them this last week how to have a noche de hogar and tonight they are going to be having their first one with their daughter and her kids who aren´t members and they have asked us to come a be a support but they are going to be doing it all! They are super excited and Hermano Artigas is really excited about an object lesson that he is good to do. I love to see the fire and the spirit in the eyes of the recent converts who just get it. It makes me so happy to know that they are doing all they can to keep learning and to stay firm in the gospel.

We are going to be having so activities this month with the relief society and with the ward and so I am excited to see how we will be able to help with those.

Well I am so glad to hear that everyone is doing great! I love you all so much and I can´t wait to hear from you all next week. I will do my best to send letter this next week! 

Take care and have a fantastic week!

Lots of love,

Alayna

It is Santa Elena!!!

Hola Familia!

I am Super jealous of the cold weather in Utah!!!!! I maybe out of a big city but it is still really hot. Santa Elena is Super green and really small. Our area is a lot smaller than my area in Paraná. The people here are really friendly and really humble. Another big change from Paraná. The branch that we have here is really strong and we have a lot of young single adults that help us alot and that are preparing for missions.

Hermana Miller is from California, around LA. Her father works as an editor and director for commercials. She graduated from BYU and she has her degree in film and so she is going to be working with her Dad when she gets home. She has these transfer and one after this left, so I maybe killing her off in April.:) She is Awesome!!! She wants to finish strong and she is really friendly and amazing with the people. I am super excited to learn from her. 

We have some really great people that she has been working with that are really progressing. There is a woman whose name is Valeria and she is awesome. She really loves reading the book of mormon and she is continually asking us questions. Her daughters are really awesome too, they are always listening in the lessons and they are always asking their mom when they can go to church. The only thing that is hard with her is that she is living with her boyfriend and he is not the best person. She doesn´t want to marry him but she is afraid to leave him. So we are praying to help her find the courage to leave him. It is so sad to see this situation but I know that she can find the strength through this gospel.

One of the things that I am learning here is that a lot of people don´t have cell phones and so it is quite fun to try and find people. Also  most of the street don´t have names and the houses don´t have numbers so that will prove to be quite fun. It is just totally a hit and miss a lot of times but and I slowing finding my way around. 

Sorry to tell you but yes our pench is really bad, but don´t worry, showering with a bucket really isn´t that bad.:) Seriously, I have plans to clean things up a bit, butwe will see if I have time for that.

I am glad that you and Derek and Uncle Jim could go down to California. I hope that you all can get things worked out with his trailer and everything. Also I hope that Derek has a safe trip back to Florida and that Kimberly and Gideon and Levi can have a safe trip to Seattle.

Well I hope that you all can have a great week and I hope that it will continue to be cold. Oh also I am super jealous of the ice fishing trip pictures and  I think pictures of model rockets!?!? 

I love you all so much and I am so excited to hear from you all next week. I am so thankful for all of you support and I am extremely grateful that we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. I love it so Much!!!!!!!!!

Lots of Love,

Alayna

Me Voy!!! A Santa Lena!!! December 31, 2012

Hola Familia!!!!!

I will be leaving Paraná this Wednesday! I am both way excited to be going to a new area but I am super sad to leave Paraná. It will always be my first area!(In Argentina:)) Also I am super sorry, they changed our p-day this week back to monday, so I get to write all of you today, which is kind of depressing because I don´t have anything from any of you. But that is okay! 

So I hope that Everything is Great and that you all had a great Christmas! It was really great to talk to you all of you. It was really fun. I hope that it was okay for all of you. I also hope that all of you will have a great New Year´s Eve! I can´t believe that this year is over! A ton has happened in this! A lots of things that I never expected to happen but I have learned so much in this year. I have come so much closer to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in this past year than ever in my whole life. I have been blessed so much and I have gotten to have the chance to be a witness to miracles and to the workings of the Spirit. I have Loved this past year!

And I am super excited to start a new year, I have so may things I want to do better and I have a lot of things I want to do. I am excited to continue my mission and to continue to grow everday and to help others come unto Christ.

I wish I had more to tell you but in reality, this week we didn´t every a lot of success. We didn´t work for two days because of Christmas and I think all of our meetings with investigators fell through. It was rather tough but we got a lot of contacting in.:)

So I don´t know. I feel bad leaving Hermana Acho in this area when we don´t really have anyone progressing but I know that she is going to do great things in this area. She just needs to find a way to get the members to help.

So my new comp is a yankee! Her name is Hermana Miller and she will end her mission in two tranfers and so I maybe her final comp. She knew spanish before the mission and she is Awesome! She is a really great missionary and I am super excited to get to work with her. The area is Santa Lena it is north of Paraná and it is a little city. I hear that we have the worst pench in all of the mission so that will be fun! I will have a bucket shower again!:) I am really excited to go to a new area. Hermana Acho tells me that the people in Santa Lena a really humble and so they have a lot of success. That will definitely be a change for me. I am used to texas and paraná and both of those areas are really hard. So it will be a welcome change.

I am sorry that this is such a short e-mail but I know that I will have more to write next week.

I love you all so very much and I am so blessed to be apart of our family! I hope that you all have a Fantastic week and that you everything goes well! Enjoy this new year!!!!!! I love you all soooooo much!

Lots of Love,

Alayna