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

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