had a "capilla abierta" (basically an open house in the church) last week. we had a giant LdM (Libro De Mormón) in front of the church and the young women helped us contact people in the nearby main plaza and invite them in to tour the chapel. had a few promising contacts, but i´m a little disappointed that they haven´t turned into any investigators. not yet, anyway.....
last monday was leo´s birthday party. (leo is son of rut, menos activo.) they invited us, so we made a quick appearance. it was super fun, because we got to jump around with a bunch of dancing 5-6 yr olds. leo is one of my most favoritist little kids. mostly because whenever and wherever he sees us (blocks away, across the plaza, etc.) he will yell "LAS HERMANAS!" and then he will run up to us. he introduces us to everyone as "the hermanas mormonas. they are my friends."
thanks to sis. mangum, rachel, sam, ma, jmag y la flia walton (loved the update!) for your emails this week!
due to popular demand, here are the answers to rachel´s questions.....
How are you feeling with your Spanish?
bien, gracias.
Can you understand most everything and say whatever you want?
i can understand most everything, but i still can´t say whatever i want. i know when i´m speaking, it´s not perfect, but people seem to understand me. questions are still the trickiest, and i usually have to rephrase questions several times before people get it. when i get home, i´ll talk to people in spanish (i def want to keep it up), but i will not do any translating, thanks.
Any buzz about the buenos aires temple rededication?
yeah, it will be broadcast via satelite to all stake centers and all members with temple recommends can come. it will take the place of sacrament meeting that day, i believe. we´re working to get our re-activating members and converso recientes excited to get a recommend.
Any funny elder stories?
don´t have much interaction with the elders. just during our weekly district meetings, and they´re usually pretty down-to-business. elders are definately different than hermanas. i am convinced our mission experiences are completely different....
Do you ever wake up in the morning and wonder how on earth you ended up in argentina on a mission????
yeah, like all the time. but not when i wake up in the morning. it´s usually when i´m crossing the railroad tracks into a different barrio and there are a ton of horses just hangin´ out, or when a drunk guy asks me if i am god (true story), or when it´s pouring rain and i´m walking through the mud to an appointment, or when i just spent 45 minutes in some stranger´s house speaking to them IN SPANISH about the restoration, or when i´m "showering" from a bucket because we have no water pressure again, or when we help make a billion empanadas from scratch. it´s kinda crazy to think back to how i got here. definitely an inspired decision.
okay, and here´s the best story of the week: remember my story about contacting a mom of someone in the gobelli fan club (see july 16 letter...her husband died 7 years ago and she just feels empty). we pass by her house all the time and she´s been avoiding us--havn´t had a lesson yet. we keep passing by because i felt like we were really guided to find her. well, finally on thursday, we had a few free minutes so we pass by, expecting to get turned away again. but she says, "well, like, what´s your message like? do you know what happens after this life, or no?" YES! before her husband died, she told him that if were to die before she did, to come back and give her a sign that there is life after death. she´s been disappointed because after 7 years, there hasn´t been any sign from him. we spent quite a bit of time standing there in her polleria (chicken shop) testifying about the resurrection, the spirit world, kingdoms of glory, our purpose in life, etc. after a bit, she said, "you know, i dreamed about you girls the other night. and my husband was there too. he was chewing me out for not listening to you. he said i should." and that was super cool, because then we could testify that the things we were teaching were true, that her husband was learning these same things and wanted her to know them too. i am excited for our lesson with her tomorrow.
eduardo didn´t get baptized this weekend. probably won´t be getting baptized anytime soon. he´s been making stuff up (can´t get permission to leave the hospital, etc) to put off getting baptized. after a lesson, his little converso reciente buddy, jose, pulled us aside and told us that eduardo was lying to us and it was just so sad. kind of like a bad breakup. maybe one day he´ll get baptized. we´ll just keep working for that day, i guess. but, we have two baptisms planned for this saturday, two 10 yr old girls that are cousins. i´m excited because we are beginning to teach their families too, so hopefully things will be getting more exciting soon.
the church is true!
hermana magnusson
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