Haz Lo Justo (Choose the Right)

Editor's note:  Lisa's birthday is coming up Feb. 1st.  Because it is so close to her coming home date, I would suggest that you don't send her any packages.  I'm sure she would appreciate a birthday email sent to her to on the Monday before her birthday.   (That would be by January 27th.)  Her email address is:   lisa.magnusson@myldsmail.net  Thanks for all your prayers and support on her behalf.

 

we made empanadas!  they were delish!

 

 

 natalia got baptized!  so happy!

 

muchas gracias a betsy!!, heather!!, ma, gee, sam, rachel and jmag for your emails.  loved all the photos and newsy updates.  i wish i could write everyone back individually.  but i can only email family (fun rule, no?) and i have zero time to write letters.  i´m definitely planning on visiting all my peeps when i get home!  two months to go........

this weekend: natalia got baptized!  she hasn´t smoked for over a week.  we buy boxes of gum in the feria (like a street fair/farmers market) and give her a ton every time we see her.  the night of her baptism interview, gabriel was commenting on the good changes in the family: "we ended the year with two baptisms (carla and anabela) and have started the year with two baptisms" (natalia and agustin).  natalia added, "and one wedding!"  and gabriel added, "and looooooooooooots of gum!"  they are happy.  we are happy.  i was a little disappointed that hardly anyone from the branch showed up for the baptism and reception that we planned for afterwards.  the branch pres blamed it on the corso which started that night.  corso is like mardi gras (i guess)--it lasts for 5 weekends and consists of groups that dance/perform (parade-like) in the street.  apparently it´s pretty inappropriate.  thank goodness we don´t work very much in the area where it goes on.

i got asked at the baptism to speak in church the next day.  my assigned topic was "haz lo justo" (choose the right)--inspired by the start of the corso.  the other member that spoke with me did a fantastic job--said everything that i wanted to say, but couldn´t due to no time to plan and less-than-fluent language abilities.  my first talk in this branch.

agustina is progressing fantastically.  is reading daily in the book of mormon.  understands it all.  has great questions.  went to seminary.  will probably be our next baptism in two weeks.  we are teaching her younger brothers--equally fantastic.  LOVE THEM!  her 12 yr old sister is working on getting confirmed in the catholic church and will listen to us from the window, but only if she thinks that we can´t see her.

gabriela, our golden golden investigator from a few months ago lost steam when we taught her she had to get married to get baptized.  has little interest now.  i gave her a liahona with talks from general conference and she was unimpressed.  HELLO, this is a living prophet we´re talking about.  it makes me so incredibly sad to drop her, but we have to.  dah.

tomorrow we have a conference for the hnas in our zone and the neighboring zone with hna levrino.  i´m excited.

sorry not much to report.  much is the same.  the days fly by.  i came home utterly exhausted every single night last week.  the church is true!

hermana magnusson

We are all His children, after all...

 hna rodriguez and i new years eve day in the house of a member 

  

miracle of miracles!  gabriel and natalia got married!  

my comp and i were the witnesses!  

(basically that means my signature is in some huge book in the registro civil of orán)

 the families and friends of gabriel and natalia that came to their wedding

 agustin´s baptism (natalia´s son--the last of the kids to get baptized).  

next week will be natalia´s baptism!

thanks to ma, gee, sam, jmag and rachel for your emails this week!

can´t believe it´s already 2013.  here are some fun facts from 2012:

• number of days spent living in argentina, speaking castellano all day, every day: 366
• number of areas served in: 4
• number of companions: 9
• total number of lessons taught to investigators: 1066
• total number of new investigators found and taught: 458
• number of pairs of shoes broken and repaired: 3
• total number of miles walked, mosquito bites recieved, testimonies bourn: countless!
• and in 2012 i finished reading the book of mormon in spanish.  yay!

new years was pretty low-key.  we had to be in the house early (to avoid crazies).  we cleaned (happy p-day!) and then made/ate tacos with the other hnas.  i didn´t realize how much i miss tacos.  they don´t exist here.  we had to teach the argentine hnas how to make/eat them.  i watched fireworks just for a bit at midnight.  i´m not a big new year´s person, but the people here are.  like, it´s waaaaaaaaaay bigger than christmas.  sad, eh?

on wednesday natalia and gabriel got married!  it was so happy.  gabriel bought a suit and shaved for the occasion.  he arrived at the registro civil before natalia (she was prepping at her friend´s house) and he was so nervous.  we had to buy him gum.  both sets of parents showed up, and about half of gabriel´s 10 siblings.  lots of family and friends came.  hna rodriquez and i were the witnesses.  natalia is going without cigarettes this week so she can get baptized on saturday.  (she was smoking last week so she couldn´t get baptized with her son on sat.)  i asked gabriel how she´s doing, and he said she´s pretty hysterical.  he is a good, good man.  he bore a sweet testimony yesterday (in his new suit!)--how this week was so wonderful, how happy he is that his family is getting baptized, and that prayers are answered.  he was interviewed by the branch pres. yesterday and will be able to baptize natalia.  this is the most miraculous experience of my mission.  i´m glad i´ve been able to participate in their conversion/reactivation.

agustina (teenaged girl from last week) is progressing fast!  she was so excited to get a book of mormon and begin reading it.  wants to pray daily with her family.  loved church on sunday.  we found out that her uncle (lives with her) was receiving the charlas from the missionaries several years ago and was super receptive.  is nice to us when we stop by but won´t listen.  it´s very mysterious.  can´t wait to get a chance to talk to him.

things are busy busy busy here.  i am often overwhelmed by the volume of potential/work that we have here in the area.  i guess that´s a good thing, eh?  definitely keeps one humble.  i can´t do it all on my own, so i have to do it with the help of heavenly father.  they´re all his children, after all.

the church is true!
hermana magnusson

Lots to Report Today

cleaning the baptism font.

analia, with her mom sonia and her siblings micaela and ezequiel.  

analia is the girl that found us in the street and asked us 

"are you the girls that sing?"

 kevin and his brother angel.  they remind me of perry.

 with natalia and her kiddos christmas eve day.

santa claus found us in orán!

 can i get a hyyyyyyynah!

 oh yeeuh.  my family´s great.

 natalia and gabriel and carla and anabela.  happy day, all is well.

thanks to ma, rachel, gee, renee, jacob, jmag and hna stetson for thinking of me this week!  and thanks to flia branchini, hna debinion and the bryan fam for your letters!

lots to report today.

merry christmas bedford falls!:  last week (christmas eve) we had lessons in the morning, ate lunch with members, took care of p-day stuff, then went to the family(ish) of my *comp (where i talked to the fam.  and i DO NOT have an accent, thankyouverymuch.).  she lives with the parents of her boyfriend.  he is serving as a missionary in bahia blanca.  hna rodriguez finished her mission papers this week.  we ate a little (asado) but no one had arrived yet for the big party.  christmas eve dinner is late (like 11) and we had to be in the pench by 10:30.  watched fireworks for a bit at midnight.  christmas day we opened presents that santa left and studied in the morning instead of during the siesta because no one was awake until muuuuuuuuuuuuuch later.  even still, wasn´t a heavy lesson day.  it was sooooo super incredibly hot in the morning/afternoon and then in the late afternoon, there was a huge storm that resulted in a city wide power outtage.  we went home early because dark streets are not a good place to be for sister missionaries.  today we had to work in the morning (instead of at night) and have to be in the pench at sundown.  we´re planning a dinner with the other hnas.

the field is white all ready to harvest:  kevin and analia got baptized the saturday before christmas.  kevin cut his hair the week after, but left his hair nasty and long in the back.  progress.  we´re teaching his younger brother angel.  hopefully he´ll get baptized in a few weeks.  carla and anabela, natalia´s daughters, got baptized this weekend.  we´re keeping busy.

lead me, guide me, walk beside me: we weren´t having a good day yesterday until we passed by agustina´s house.  she was a referencia of one of the young women in the branch.  we taught her once, i thought she had a ton of potential, but then we never could make it to her house again.  until yesterday when i "happened" to remember about her.  turns out that the day before, she found the pamphlet we left the first time and started to read it.  she was super super receptive the second time around, said that she felt something special when she prayed in the first lesson, and accepted a baptism date.  we are excited.

it makes me sad: our golden young couple valeria and armando that we just found came to church for the first time with their super cutie baby.  they left before sacrament meeting ended because a 10 yr old boy kept turning around to loudly shush their mildly squawky baby.  carmelo and yanet´s house burned down to the ground christmas night.  they almost didn´t get out in time because the door was locked and they couldn´t find the key.  they lost everything.  mariluz´s husband abandoned her and their six kids.  the relief society president came with us to visit her and to assess her welfare needs, told her she could receive help, and then never went back to provide/give help.  (sniff.)

wuv is what bwings us together today:  natalia and gabriel are getting married on wednesday!  it almost didn´t happen because they didn´t have the 30 pesos (less than $10) for their blood test.  we paid for it and did all their paperwork for the registro civil.  totally worth it.  gabriel is now actively attending church and we need worthy priesthood holders.  if natalia can quit smoking this week she´ll get baptized on saturday with her son agustin.

i´ll take spanish trivia for 300:  the word for speedbump = lomo de burro (donkey back).  the word for crust (like the crust on your slice of white bread) = the same word for river bank (orilla).

we are sin stoppers:  we found an unopened package of cigarettes.  we destroyed every single one and had fun doing it.

coming home will be weird: i saw an audi and a bmw this week. i was like, whoa.

the church is true!
hermana magnusson

*Lisa's companion is local girl who is stepping in until visa waiter companion from the US is able to come.

Feliz Navidad!

Hello Hermana Magnusson!  Nice to see you!  

This is the family skyping with Lisa Christmas Eve

 

thanks for all the christmas wishes!  i got the jamison´s letter this week (yay!) and thanks to mark o, jess (via fb via ma), grandma harris, los walton, jecia and carrie, ma, gee, rachel and jmag for the emails.

this will be short this week. highlights:

had a white christmas: two baptisms on saturday.  will send photos next week.  kevin (13 yrs old) and analia (9).  happy times.

had a good zone conference on friday.  pres. levrino will be a GA (general authority) one day.

christmas is tomorrow!  our plans:  WORK!  people need to hear about jesus on his birthday.

the church is true!
hermana magnusson

Happy 16 Month Anniversary, Sis. Magnusson

thanks to pa, sis. patiño, jmag, rachel, sam, sis. mangum and ma and gee for your emails this week!  glad to hear gee made it home safe and sound.  can´t believe next week is christmas.  i´m sweatin´ up a storm, man.  it´s like the middle of july in las vegas, but with more humidity.  but there are a few businesses with lights/little trees, so maybe it feels a little bit like christmas?.  and during the year, i cut out and saved every christmas activity from all the december church magazines, so i have festive things to look at/do.

 happy birthday dave!  all week long i was on the look-out for your name all big on some wall to take a picture of, but i had no luck this year.  glad you had a good day anyway.

today is my 16 month anniversary.  sheesh.  time flies, right ma?

this friday we have a special christmas zone conference.  we have to bring a gift for a gift exchange.  this year i´m bringing a box of cake mix and a can of peaches.  some elder will love it, no?

this week´s happenings:
ricardo (antiguo investigador from last week´s letter) hung up on us when we called him to invite him to church.  and he wasn´t home for his 2nd appt.  maybe not as interested as i thought?

hna rodriguez, my temporary comp, is teaching me a ton--like the finer points of drinking mate ("it´s part of who we (argentines) are"), and how to know if a mango is going to be stringy or no.  remember all the mango trees that we have here??  all the mangos are starting to ripen.  we have a tree that hangs over into our patio out back.  we climbed up onto the roof this morning (totally safe, don´t worry) to pick a bunch.  she also taught me how to soften them up, then make a hole in the top, and suck all the flesh out.  so easy.  and that means i can eat mangos anytime i want to (ie, freshly picked from the street) without a knife or getting my hands sticky.  it´s going to be a happy summer.  i just gotta be careful, or i´ll have some big-time problems.

it´s fun working with hna rodriguez.  we have made some good contacts, and have met some promising people.  she makes good contributions in the lessons, is great with the kiddos that we teach, has clicked with all our current peeps.  i will miss her when i get my real comp.  but from what the office elders say, it may be a while.  like, if she doesn´t come during this transfer, i prob won´t train her, because you need 2 transfers to train.  it´s chill man.  we´ll just keep plugging away here.

school finished this week.  that means summer vacation, which means more members can accompany us for lessons, and it will be more convenient to set up appointments.  i love summer vacation.

had a good fhe with gabriel and natalia and kiddos.  i always forget to take pictures.  that´s my one big regret of my whole mish--i have like zero photos with the people i love.  we read and talked about lehi´s vision, iron rod, etc.  and then they all came to church on sunday (best thing ever) and in one of the talks someone was talking about the iron rod.  good timing.  they are supposed to get married this week.  we´ll see if we can pull it off.

had a lesson with a new lady on tuesday that told us that she can see the spirits of people who have died.  apparently there are lots of spirits that hang out around our chapel.  great.

analia ("are you the girls that sing?") is scheduled to get baptized this weekend.  her mom was too, but she´s not married.  i absolutely hate teaching the law of chastity.  i hate telling people "look, you have to either marry your jerk husband or you have to separate your family and raise your 7 kids all by yourself, or you´ll go to outer darkness.  questions?"  but i really do have a testimony of this oh-so-important commandment.  it just is so super hard to help others gain a testimony of it too.

all my converts here are innactive.  that makes me so sad.  the kiddos that we baptized recently haven´t come back to church after getting confirmed.  their aunt, silvia, that always brings them was drunk this weekend.  daaaaaaaaaaahhhh!

hmmm....there really were lots of happy things that happened this week.  basically, finding good people to teach makes a missionary happy, but they didn´t leave me with any good juicy stories to report.

next week i can talk to y´all!
the church is true!
hermana magnusson

"Christmas is Around the Corner"

thanks to jmag, sis. young, gee, ma, rachel, sis. patiño, and sam for the emails this week!

hard to believe christmas is around the corner.  like in two weeks?  i´m making a christmas card/ornament thing for my investigators/ward members like last year.  it´s my christmas gift to the world.

today is the first day of a new transfer.  i´m staying here in orán.  my comp hna villegas left.  i´ll be training again, but my new comp is waiting for her visa.  she won´t get here for a few more weeks, or so i was told.  so in the meantime, i´ll be working with a "mini"--a local ward member that will be set apart to be my comp.  she is hna. rodriguez--21 yrs old, a convert of 1 yr.  she worked with hna wills for 5 weeks so she already kinda has a little experience.  not quite sure what it will be like--like a new missionary, but without mtc training, i guess.  stay tuned.......

this week´s happenings.....

we found ricardo.  23 yrs old, antiguo investigador.  was super buddy-buddy with the elders for years when they served here--would play tennis with them on p-days, etc.  but never was super interested in the lessons.  has stayed in touch with a few of the elders and has gone to the USA to visit them--has visited mecca (slc, st. george, logan, ogden, provo, rexburg, idaho falls, plus las vegas and texas).  from our first and only meeting with him, he still doesn´t seem super interested, but heck, anyone who has been to temple square is someone worth teaching for a bit.   i was super direct with him from the beginning--("look buddy, we´re not here to play tennis, you need to get baptized") and he still let us set up a return appt, so we´ll see how things go.

gabriel (less active) and natalia (investigator) are progressing.  natalia is taking care of paperwork to get married.  we taught word of wisdom--she smokes, but had already started cutting back on cigarettes.  she didn´t come to church, and neither did any of her kids, so that means we have to push back their baptism ANOTHER week.....grrr........  she made us yummy scone thingys to eat after a lesson.  with honey.  i don´t love honey, but i love fried bread.

gabriela came to church for the first time.  i am so embarrased that i didn´t let ma invite any of her friendies to hear my goodbye talk in church.  please invite people to sacrament meeting every single week.  it makes the missionaries and heavenly father soooo happy.  she is one that i think will really "stick" once she finally gets baptized--she really GETS it.  but because she gets it, she wants to do a careful job of investigating.  she´s one that´s not married and whoes "husband" wants nothing to do with us.  i can already sense a slow down in her progression because she can´t get baptized right away.  you really have to act quick while the spirit is good and hot.

mariluz and her newly baptized kiddos did not come to church.  their dad is a total punk and was drunk and violent the night before.  please do not EVER drink alcohol.  it is so not even worth it.

we finally got a ward mission leader!  we´ve been working without one for a while.  hno ramirez has the mel. priesthood, is endowed, but has been innactive for years.  one day soon after arriving here, i had the impression that we should pass by his house and talk to his son, and we met him.  we invited him to return back to church and he hasn´t missed a sunday since.  he was a mission leader before and i think is excited to help us.  i´m excited to help him.  the gospel is so inspired.  i swear callings are really just a way to help us all help each other.

sheesh, there is always too much to say.  it´s pretty emotionally draining to think back over the week and try to condense it all down into like 30 minutes of writing time.  i walk out of the cyber every week feeling like i just ran a marathon while holding my breath.  maybe mormon can understand?

the church is true!
hermana magnusson

Your Assignment: Endure to the End.

daniela, soledad´s sister, handing out party favors.  soledad´s little house is in the background.

Editor's note:  Check out that little house in the background

 

birthday party of soledad´s daughter, celeste.  

this is soledad with her three girls (and one niece) and dad of her youngest.

 baptism of cristina and cristian

 after-baptism-refreshments.  does this dress make me look tall????
Editors answer to question:
No.  Who you stand next to makes you look tall.

this has got to be a quickie...new rules with email use...now we only have an hour to do everything (read, write to fam and pres, take care of other mission business).  it goes fast.

thanks to sis. stetson, rachel, gee, jmag and ma for your emails this week!  loved the photos, like always.  glad to hear everyone is good.

last week i forgot to write about meeting natalie.  hna sanchez and i were in a remis (taxi) going to the bus terminal for our trip to salta and we shared the remis with a young couple.  we struck up a conversation with them and natalie was so excited to hear that we are missionaries: "how exciting!  i´m just starting to know god!  missionaries have just begun teaching me!  (but from another church)  what message do you have for me?"  uhhhh.....no one has ever asked me to share something with them...so i start teaching the first lesson (prophets, apostacy, restauration), quick and basic, because we don´t have much time--and she gets it all.  is eating it all up.  i can tell she´ll accept a baptism invitation, so i lead the conversation to baptism.  and she got soooooooo excited.  she wants to get baptized so bad.  so i set a date.  only problem is that she lives outside of oran in a pueblo where there is no ward or branch.  she technically belongs to the oran branch, but the hnas don´t ever have time to visit where she lives.  i got her phone number and address and left her with some pamphets.  she seriously was so excited.  the only problem is that the other hnas haven´t been able to get in touch with her.  never is home.  never answers the phone.  and then, randomly (but not randomly because heavenly father knows his children), we were walking to our lunch appt and someone calls out to us from a car that is waiting in the street--natalie, in a remis.  our paths crossed for like 30 seconds--enough time for me to get a different phone number from her.  not sure if the hnas have been able to make contact with her since then.  but wow, there are prepared people out there.  we just have to open our mouths!

we had a zone conference with elder viñas, from the area presidency.  he was quoting scriptures like it was nothin, man.  like, it just was part of his everyday speach.  good stuff.  talked a lot about helping people get to the temple.  like, baptism isn´t enough.  it´s true.  retention is a challenge.  and getting people to the temple isn´t enough.  we all have to endure to the end.  that´s your asignment, k?

the church is true!
hermana magnusson