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!