Hola!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Happy New Year!!!

First of all, yes I just got the package today. Thank you soooooo much for the pens and the memory stick. We are very excited about it. I just got Hermana Hill and Hermana Sperry´s pens to them. They were so happy. They left today at 12pm to head out. We are going to miss them a lot. Hermana Kapp and I have a lot of work to do. We don´t know what will happen in 3 weeks, but for now, we are very excited to be together.

So, for the blog, Yolanda got baptized. She originally didn´t want to get baptized without the support of her sister, but we invited her to fast with us. That was sunday evening the 23rd. We fast and saw her monday evening Christmas eve. We went and visited the family. We sang some christmas songs and shared the lovely christmas spirit. She then asked us, how our fast went. We told her that we felt good. (we did not forget to verify with her, we were waiting to see if she was comfortable talking about it. She just asked us first.) We then asked her how her fast was and she said that she felt good and ¨tranquila¨. She asked us if someone could get baptized the 25th of December. We didn´t want to jump the gun and assume anything so we said: ¨Yes, whenever you want; the 25th, 26th, 27th...¨ She then said, I want to get baptized tomorrow. We didn´t scream with joy because that might have freaked her out, but we were very happy. We showed her that we were excited for her, but we played it cool. The minute we left and she had closed the door, we started screaming with joy. It was a christmas miracle and the Lord has blessed us greatly to be a part of it. His hand is in everything. We were just observers in this wonderful miracle, we do not rejoice in ourselves.

The other miracle we have seen is in Yolanda´s daughter, Luciana. She talked with us yesterday and told us of an experience she had that morning. She and her brother hadn´t come to church because they were always sleeping. They would stay up until about 3 or 5am and church starts at 9am. She went to bed at 1:30am and woke up at 5:30am. She couldn´t sleep. As she watched the nativity in her house, she had the desire to know if everything that we have taught is true. She prayed and received the simple reassuring feeling of the Spirit that it was all true. What´s more, she opened the scriptures three times and all three scriptures spoke of baptism. We are sooooo excited for her. Her brother is amazing, too. He is still putting up his reputation, so he doesn´t always show the soft side of himself, but he is a great kid. (16yrs) I´m excited for the both of them. Their baptismal date is for the 19th of January.

Well, as far as the weather goes, it´s rainy, hot and very humid. Imagine almost Vegas heat with humidity. It´s a lot of fun. ^_^

Well, time has flown and it´s time to go get some food. I love you all sooooooo much. Please stay safe and well. I know that the Lord is looking out for you.

Love

Hermana Alvey

Buenos Aires, Argentina temple dedication

Hola!!!

So this is going to be a really short letter. We just got back from the mission christmas party and it was wonderful. The thing is, that it doesn´t leave us time to write too much. 

So about the skype call. We are planning between 6 and 7pm our time, so about 1 or 2pm your time. The thing is, there are four of us and we don´t want to bombard the family all at once. Plus, we want to meet each other´s families. 

I am still with Hermana Hill. She leaves next monday. We wanted to see how we were related through the leavitt line. If you can have the book with you tomorrow, I would appreciate it greatly. If, not, it´s not really important, just something fun to do. Her mom sent her part of her line and it looks like she is through Jeremiah and sara sturdevant leavitt and their son jeremiah and sarah shannon leavitt. 

Sadly, we never made it to Once, time ran out after doing internet, and we had to get home. One day I might go to Once. I don´t remember if I told you, but Hermana Renteria is in the same zone as me again. We just seem to follow each other. What´s more, her companion is Hermana Hermosa. It´s fun seeing them every once in a while.

We are still working with Yolanda. We had to drop every one else because they were not progressing, but we have faith that we will find those who are truly prepared by the Lord. Yolanda is struggling, because her sister is a little disabled and lives with her. After her parents died, her sister was her only support and introduced her to the bible. Her sister is completely against the church because she believes that hers is true and wants to protect her sister. She really does love Yolanda and we admire that. So right now, Yolanda is struggling with baptism, because she doesn´t want contention in the house and make sure that her sister is happy. We fasted with her today to help her receive the strength she needs and maybe even soften her sister´s heart to hear the gospel. We can still have a white christmas.

I can´t wait to tell you how the party was today. We did a white elephant again and I got a 3 musketeers bar. It was wonderful. Again, I can´t thank everyone enough for what they have sent me. Thank you Lindy and Family, Bishop Westphal, Breeanna, the visiting teachers of mom, randy and ann, the alveys, and my direct family. I appreciate everything that everyone has done. P-days recently have been very hectic so I have not been able to get personal letters out to everyone. I promise that I am trying really hard. I just wanted to let all of you know that I love you soooooo much.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love

Hermana Alvey

Hola!!!!

So another week has gone by and it´s getting hotter. ^_^ It´s been a wonderful first week with Hermana Hill. As far as transfers and temple goes, Hermana Hill and Hermana Sperry are going to the temple together tomorrow and me and Hermana Kapp are staying and working in the area. I´m a little bummed about that, but I´ll get to go to the temple soon enough.

I am going to have to apologize, because the computer I am at right now is slightly broken, so I am not able to send pictures today. Everything here is so expensive so there are not many people that put up lights and decorations. It kind of reminds me of the states where through out the entire year, there are some people who never take down their lights and you still occassionally see some lighted houses. That´s pretty much how it is here. There are some ornaments and things on the doors, but not like the decorations at home. I like it, in part, because it helps remind us that there is more to christmas than snow and lights.

I am very excited to see what President Gulbrandsen is going to do for Christmas. Monday, Dec 24th, the entire mission is going to the mission office and I have no idea what is going to happen. I think he might have told us over the conference call, but I didn´t hear what he said very well. As you saw, we get to do skype the 25th or 26th. We are planning at being the house of Flia Curbello Christmas evening and doing skype around 6-7 pm our time here in Argentina. We don´t know if we will be doing internet next monday, so we will stay with that time for now. If we do get to do internet next monday, I will tell you the for sure plan.

Just so you know, it rains a lot here. Last thursday there were giant floods, because of how much rain we received. It´s pretty fun walking in water up to your waist. Luckily, thursday is weekly planning, so we were inside all day planning our entire week. By the time we left, there was only water up to the ankles in some areas.

Hermana Hill has a Leavitt line and I was hoping that you could send me the leavitt lines in our family. It starts with Sarah Sturdevant Leavitt. Two of her sons are our ancestors: Jeremiah Leavitt and Dudley Leavitt.

We are excited for our investigators that we are teaching. They are two families. We are still working with Yolanda and her children. We also found a family that lives in the same building as Romina (the recent convert who received the last minute surprise birthday party): Jazmin and Susanna are the only ones old enough to be baptized. We are so excited to be working with them. They all have their challenges and I know that it is our role to help them feel the Spirit to have the testimony to keep moving forward. It is so hard to teach people not lessons. You feel as if you are doing a good job and helping them by teaching lessons. They receive a lot of information and seem to understand it, but then you realize that they don´t really comprehend it. They aren´t applying it. They aren´t living it or don´t see the importance and fall away. It´s so frustrating sometimes when you realize that you aren´t teaching as you should be: with the Spirit. I have often wondered how many baptisms have fallen through because of that. It´s hard, but we never give up hope. So far, none of the investigators we found last week with Hermana Vargas and Hermana Shelley are progressing, but it was a faith builder week to say the least.

We are not sure how this transfer will end up with Elder Rose, Hermana Sperry, and Hermana Hill. It could be that Hermana Kapp and I take care of the entire area alone. It could be that we receive a couple new latin companions to train (they sometimes come in in the middle of the transfer). We are interested to see where this goes, but it sure is different having four North Americans in the same pension. As we were speaking english, I realized that I talk funny and that I have forgotten a lot of english words. I would sometimes say :¨At what time...¨ instead of ¨What time is...¨ I know that it´s proper the first way, but it´s so strange. I also could not remember what ¨mayoría¨was in english (It´s majority). Things like that just make life funny right now for all of us, because I´m not the only one doing it. I´m just the one that doesn´t notice, but you will all hear my funny way of talking soon. Something else that seemed natural to me was to say that we received references to visit instead of saying referrals. You can say ¨references¨ instead of ¨referrals¨, right? I can´t remember and eveybody here speaks spanglish so I´m not really sure. By the way, Hermana Hermosa goes home this transfer, too. I won´t have any companions left in the mission by the end of this transfer. I can´t believe it. The only ones will be the hermanas from the MTC.

Well, we are heading out to Once. It´s an outdoor market that´s famous here. I love you all sooooo much and I´ll talk with you soon.

Love

Hermana Alvey

Hola!!!!

So I just realized how short the letter was last time and I´m sorry. Last week was a really hard week.

Friday was fun, though. The temple is absolutely gorgeous. I didn´t realized how much I had forgotten of the temple session. I didn´t think I had really forgotten anything, but I´m sitting in the session and it seemed like every five minutes I found something I had forgotten. I really want to go to the temple the first day I get back. It was a long travel, though. We also had Hermana Vargas´ english test (which she passed) so in total we left at 6 am and got home at about 7 pm. It was a very long day.

Hermana Shelley was with us the week before. She is amazing. I had forgotten to write about that. She helped a lot and is very excited about the missionary work. She works very hard and always has a smile. The poor thing was exhausted, though, after travelling all transfer. She is a wonderful missionary. She is definitely a consecrated missionary.

Today I said goodbye to Hermana Vargas, and it was ok. She finished her mission well and will return home with honor. She received many blessings in her home and saw many miracles. She loves the people and is very humble. She loves to learn and I´m very proud to have called her my companion. I pray that she arrives home safely.

So as you can guess. Transfers were this week. I can´t believe it, but I´m with Hermana Hill. She was with Hermana Renteria in Tigre when we stayed with them for the temple dedication. She is going home in three weeks. School is starting so she is going home early. Hermana Kapp´s companion is Hermana Sperry. She was with me in my first transfer in Vicente López. She also goes home three weeks early for school. Elder Rose is our new zone leader. He was my zone leader for two transfers in Rio Gallegos. He also goes home three weeks early with Hermana Hill and Hermana Sperry. I have no idea what will happen this transfer, but I am excited to be with Hermana Hill. She is awesome and I loved being with her in Tigre.

I´ve thought a lot about my companions and all that I have learned from them. I have also had a lot of unofficial companions in my mission, too: Hermana Shelley, Hermana Kapp, Hermana Lobos, Hermana Sperry, Hermana Bray, etc. I have learned a lot from them as well, and I am very grateful to have been their companions as well.

Christmas is coming up. I do not know if we will be doing skype sunday or tuesday. I also don´t know if you want to do a three way with Anthony, me, and the family. We will see what happens next week. My companions are finishing up their letters. I would have written more this week, but I wanted to send out photos. I hope you enjoy them.

I love you all sooooooo much.

Love

Hermana Alvey

Hermanas Alvey & Shelley after Wal-mart shopping

L-R Elder Wilkinson (district leader), Elder Caballeros, Hna Vargas, Hna Alvey, Hna Kapp (back), Hna Lobos

Goodbye Hermana Vargas

Hello new companion Hermana Hill

Hola!!

So it sounds like everyone is getting ready for Christmas. Things here keep moving forward. It doesn´t feel like Christmas, but that´s ok. It´s time to work. I feel like I have less and less time to write. Everything is moving very fast right now. The mosquitoes have begun their war and the temperatures are rising.

We are working hard with all of our investigators. When I first came here, I was told that we did not have any investigators and I found that to be true. We have been working hard and this week, we ended with seven baptismal dates. We are very excited for the month of December.

This Friday, I finally get to go to the temple with Hermana Vargas. We are very excited and I finally get to see the temple.

So, I realized that there are a couple questions I forgot to answer.
First off, there aren´t really senior companions right now among the sister missionaries. We have not been receiving sister missionaries, so almost all of us have more that 9 months in the mission. The one in our apartment that has the least amount of time is Hermana Kapp and she only has one transfer less than I do.

We also have a new ward mission leader. He and is family are absolutely wonderful. They love the missionary work and are such wonderful people. They have three young boys and recently moved back to Argentina after studying in BYU Provo. We are excited to see how the missionary work moves forward here.

Well, not a lot happened this week, I´m sorry to say. I just wanted to tell you all that I love you sooooo much and wish you the best.

Keep your chins up and your feet moving forward.

Love
Jessica

entrance to Buenos Aires zoo

Hola!!!

So I know that you might be a little upset with me, but we were at the zoo all p-day and now I don´t have much time to write. It was a lot of fun, though. Hermana Vargas´ dream was to see a penguin and she was so happy. The zoo here is only open on holidays for Mondays. It´s really a bad deal because our p-day is on Monday and holidays aren´t every week. I will have to send you pictures.

I ´m so happy to hear that Thanksgiving went great. I hope everyone´s thanksgiving was just as good.

I did want to share something with you. I came across a talk by Elder David B Haight. It´s in the Sept 2009 Liahona ¨Baptism Comes First¨ or Nov 1976 Ensign ¨Families Are Forever¨. It´s a wonderful talk and want to encourage each and every one who reads my blog to read this talk and meditate on the message. Afterwards, I would invite you to pray and ask the Lord what He would have you do with His words.

Another talk is in the Sept 2009 Liahona: ¨Why Do We Do Missionary Work?¨ by Elder Dallin H Oaks. I want to invite you to do the same thing with this talk as well.

I love you all soooooo much and will talk with you soon.

Love
Hermana Alvey

Hola!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hope your holiday is wonderful. Thanksgiving is a holiday of the US so it doesn´t exist here in Argentina. There are a couple of shops that have some Christmas stuff out, but nothing like in the states. Things here are pretty quiet (unless there´s a soccer game). If I remember right from last year, there really isn´t too much celebration as far as the commercialization goes. I do miss the lights, music, and Christmas movies. But I am hoping for a ¨white Christmas¨. We´ll see what happens. We are working with a family of an inactive member from another ward. They´re separated, but the family still wants to live with us. Her name is Yolanda and her kids are Fabrisio (17) and Luciana (13). They are excited to learn more and we pray that they will feel the desire to be baptized.

So a little more about my companion and area. Hermana Vargas really likes fruits and vegetables. Also, in Guatemala, they eat a lot of beans and rice and lentils. So when we make lunch, it´s usually rice and vegetables, or beans and vegetables. It´s good, and I really like it with lemon. I have not really had many opportunities this transfer to use recipes, and there isn´t really time to receive recipes either. I´m really kind of sad about that. I´m hoping to receive a couple recipes this Friday. There is an activity in Relief Society about international food. Three sisters in the ward are going to cook foods native to their countries, give us the recipes, and let us try it. They are from Venezuela, Uruguay, and Peru. I love Peruvian food. I was talking with Hermana Curbelo and she said that there is a bread store close to Grandma Alvey´s house that sells facturas. It´s a pastery here in Argentina. If you can find it, I would recommend trying some facturas (there are different types).

The ward is pretty nice. We have an average attendance of about 120 people. They are from pretty much everywhere: Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, China (yes china), Brazil, etc. We just got a new ward mission leader yesterday as well. They just moved back to Argentina after graduating from BYU Provo. They are really nice and very missionary oriented. We are so excited to see how the work progresses in this ward. The ward´s schedule is first the classes and then sacrament meeting. We are the only ward in our building so it´s nice.

So today isn´t really going to be P-day for us here in Capital. Tomorrow is going to be P-day and we can´t leave the house all day. There is going to be a political protest tomorrow so we can´t leave for protection. It´s the kind of protest that closes down practically the entire city and can be very violent. So president called us yesterday and told us.

I wanted to share something I learned a couple days ago during my studies that I feel you might find interesting. This is the result of the Spirit and how President Gulbrandsen teaches us to think.

Genesis 24: Missionary Work
vs. 1-4 His leader directed him to where he needed to go to find people to baptize
vs. 5 ¨What if they do´t want to listen or reject me?¨
vs. 7 The Lord is preparing people to be baptized through His angels.
vs. 8 ¨If they reject you, it´s okay; you did your part.¨
vs. 9 He accepted the commitment or made a covenant
vs. 10 The Lord has given us the best to prepare us
vs. 11 He went to where he would most likely find
vs. 12 He prayed to find.
vs. 13-14 He prayed to recognize
vs. 15 Before he finished praying, the answer to his prayer arrived.
vs. 16 The investigator almost left before he talked with her.
vs. 17 He rean before he lost he contact.
vs. 18-21 He did his part and God fulfilled His promise
vs. 22 She was baptized
vs. 23 He asked for references and also if he could contact them immediately
vs. 24-25 He received the references and contacted them
vs. 27 Thanked God for his blessings
vs. 28 She hurried to share the Gospel and invited her family to listen as well.
vs 29-31 They were prepared to receive the missionaries
vs 33 Don´t waste time. Invite the Spirit and start teaching as soon as possible
vs. 34-41; 48 Share your testimony and purpose.
vs. 42-47 ¨You are the answer to our prayers.¨(President Gulbrandsen teaches us to let the people know that we are praying for them.)
vs. 49 Do they have interest to learn and be baptized? If not, keep looking for the people who are prepared.
vs. 50-53 They were converted and baptized
vs. 54 He returned and reported and moved on. (We need to always be looking for those prepared to be baptized and never wait)
vs. 58 The new convert didn´t wait to receive the blessings of the temple
vs. 60 The new convert received many blessings

A little long, but I was so happy when I wrote down this revelation.

We also had Zone Conference with President Gulbrandsen, but I have run out of time. I will write about that next time. I love you all soooo much. Happy Holidays!

Love
Hermana Alvey

Hola!!

So it´s been a fun little week. Friday was a very rainy day. I realized, this day, that I had forgotten how much it really rains here. We left to wish a member happy birthday and it was just sprinkling. We then went to a supermarket to buy something for breakfast, and when we left, there was a fast moving river in the street. We couldn´t believe it. We were very unprepared. I remembered enough to bring an umbrella, but that didn´t do anything for our feet. The amount of rain and the slight wind that there was completely drenched us from top to bottom. When we arrived at our lunch appointment, the member kindly let us borrow her clothes and she put our clothes in a spinner to take out as much water as possible. The idea of this machine is like the device you put lettuce in and crank with your hands to air dry it. About a liter of water left the clothes of Hermana Vargas. I was wearing my button up shirt and jean-like skirt so not a lot of water left from my clothes. It was really fun. We got drenched again, of course, but all in all it was a good day.

So we made Ñoquis (a type of pasta made out of potatoes) with the elders and we just barely got here to do internet. P-day ends at six so I´m really trying to type fast here.

Yes, with the change in climate between here and Rio Gallegos, I finally got sick. Today I woke up with a chest cold. I´m hoping that it´s a 24 hour bug because my chest and throat hurt.

Another thing that was nice this week was a surprise birthday party/ FHE for a recent convert named Romina. She just turned twelve and is so excited to do baptisms for the dead. She is absolutely adorable and was just baptized 6 months ago. She is the only member in her family but is very faithful. The family where we had family home evening had forgotten, and also didn´t even know that it was her birthday. In 15 minutes (without her knowing) they had made a cake and wrapped up a present to give her. It was amazing. I don´t know how they did it. They have such big hearts.

I´m very excited for all who a working to go on a mission. It is a once in a life time opportunity. There is so much that you learn and do, but never forget the sacredness of your calling. This is the Lord´s time and resources. When you sign that letter saying that you accept the calling, you covenant with the Lord that you will consecrate everything to Him: your mind,  your heart, your will, your time, everything. In return, you grow and change more than you can imagine. You are better prepared to face life and be better mothers and fathers, husbands and wives. You learn who you really are and the hidden talents that the Lord has blessed you with. You learn how to develop more talents and rely on His Spirit. You learn how to receive revelation and grow spiritually. Your families are blessed more than you can imagine. There will be difficult times, but you will still be happy just as Alma, Ammon, and Nephi. Honestly pray for charity every day. Keep a journal every day. Look for the small everyday blessings. Pray for the vision of your area. Pray that the Lord will mold you to be who He wants and knows that you can be.

I´m sorry that I can´t answer all your questions. I appreciate so much your testimonies and questions. I promise to answer all next week. I love you all sooooo much.

Love

Hermana Alvey

 

Hola!!!

So it´s my first week in the North and it´s hot. Hermana Vargas is amazing. She´s from Guatemala and is 23 years old. (Her birthday is December 12). She returns home December 10th. She has two sisters and all of them are converts.  She loves being here on the mission. She is very intelligent and loves to learn. She is very nice and supportive. She´s a good listener and has many wonderful ideas. Something she told me recently that when a missionary ends, they and their companion get to do a session in the temple. Can you imagine? We get to do a session in the temple in a month!!

We are starting from the beginning. We haven´t had any investigators until yesterday and we are very excited to help this area move forward; to receive the vision the Lord has for this area and His children. The ward here (yes it is a ward) has an attendance of about 130 people. Something that might interest you is that there is a family that used to live in Las Vegas for a few years. The father was on the High Counsel for a while. They remember Aunt Gai the most because she´s always in the library, but they remember the rest of the family, too. They are Family Curbello, the wife and all the children have red, red hair.

So I didn´t know that this computer in on a timer, so I have even less time to write now.

We have been doing a lot of walking, but it´s nice to finally take a bus once in a while. We live in one apartment with other sister missionaries of the ward: Hermana Kapp (from Utah) and Hermana Lobos (from Chile). The apartment is new, for us anyway, and very clean. it´s a nice change to have working doors. Nobody in this mission has a car except for the assistants and President Gulbrandsen. Hermana Vargas´ hija, Hermana Lind, replaced me in Rio Gallegos and I replaced her here in Villa Urquiza. The mosquitos have not bothered me yet. I´m hoping that my body has adjusted to Argentina and they don´t want to eat me anymore. We´ll see what happens.

Well, I hope to have more to write the week to come. With Elder Alvey, I highly recommend reading James 2: 17-26 and ponder on it. I have learned a lot from my studies today of these scriptures.

I love you all sooooooo much.
Talk to you soon.

Love
Hermana Alvey

leaving Rio Gallegos
L-R Hna Hermosa, Hna Alvey & Hna Lind

In Villa Urquiza  Hnas Vargas & Alvey

Hola!!

So it´s transfers and you know what.... I am returning to the north! My area is called Villa Urquiza and it´s in Belgrano. Turns out that the Zone Belgrano is the neighbor of Vicente Lopez. I couldn´t believe it when Hermana Hermosa told me where it was. My new companion is Hermana Vargas. I leave for the north Wednesday at 8:50 am. I am sad to leave Hermana Hermosa and this area, but I know that the Lord needs us where He has called us.

So as you saw, Santiago was baptized!! It was rough, but we also saw many miracles with his baptism. Thursday, we were waiting for a member to take us to the appointment. We had another appointment scheduled, but because of the baptism we put Santiago first to have daily contact. Our member was not comfortable with our original investigator that we had the appointment with so she was going to look for her husband to come with us. I felt as if we should not inform her about the change of investigator (partially because we had already called her a lot that day), and so she arrived. Her husband came in his car and we arrived. As we entered the house, we saw a freshly lit cigarette in the trash. We had arrived just as Santiago lit his good-bye cigarette. If the member knew of the change in plans, she would not have worked so hard to have her husband come with her and we would have arrived too late. Also, the Lord blessed us in the fact that something prevented Santiago in the moment before we arrived from smoking. We worked even harder with Santiago so that he would arrive at his baptism, and he did. His friend, Hermano Garcia, baptized him. Turns out that they grew up together. Hermano Garcia was baptized only a year ago. Everyone was so happy.

Yesterday we had two wonderful experiences with prayer. We had a FHE with a less active family who live at the end of our area. Before we entered, Hermana Hermosa prayed that we would find in this appointment those who are prepared to be baptized. We enter and there is just the mother and the daughter. When the rest of the family came, it turns out that they had invited the brother of the father who is not a member. We have a return appointment with him. Afterwards, we were running late to return home. We need about a half hour to get home from where we were and we left at about 9:10 pm. I said the closing prayer and asked that we return in safety and on time. As we were walking rapidly to our home, a member honked and called for us. He and his wife were on their way to visit a less active family and offered to give us a ride home. It was a wonderful blessing because we arrived at 9:23pm.

I am excited to see what happens with this coming transfer. There is so much to do and time is so short. The Lord has many blessings and miracles for us.

I hope everything will be ok in the east coast of the states. I can only imagine what it will be like for them. Look at the velocity of the winds here this last week. It´s been interesting to be outside. Friday, we were outside and there was hail, snow, rain, wind, and sun all at the same time. I don´t know how it was possible, and I wouldn´t believe myself if I hadn´t been in it. It was sure fun. Hermana Hermosa is excited to keep walking in it. ^_^

Well, it´s the last p-day and we have so much to do. I love you all sooooooo much and will talk with you soon.

Love
Hermana Alvey

Baptism of Santiago

Hola!!

Hope all is going well for you this week. It´s been an interesting week for us. Friday we had the asado with Santiago. It was really good.

Sunday was a day of miracles. We had four investigators in the church (Santiago, Martin, Rodrigo, and Blanca) Rodrigo was not planned, but he wanted to come to church. Martin didn´t want to go, but arrived before we did, because we had to look for Blanca. After sacrament meeting Nelson and his sister approached Blanca and said: ¨Hola Vicina¨. We couldn´t believe that they knew each other. They aren´t direct neighbors, but they live close enough.

Rodrigo loved church and later in the day, we had an appointment with him. He loved church and felt the Spirit. We asked him if he deisred to be baptized and immediately he said yes. We put a date for the 10th of November, and he immediately said yes. We just about died with happiness. At the end of the lesson, he said: ¨Entonces, estamos preparando por 10 de Noviembre.¨ Which means, So, we´re prepared for the 10th of November. He reminded us about his baptismal date!!

Afterwards, we visited a part member family. The dad is a member since birth, but is very inactive. We are teaching his wife and soon his daughter. They are so prepared. They had a bad experience with some members and didn´t want to talk with anybody from the church for a while, but they are amazing and we are so excited to teach them.

We then did divisions and the members here are amazing. As members, I don´t believe that you realize your value. Our appointments were miracles, because of the spirit and testimonies of the members. 

We are still trying to update the records and are finding a lot of members who want to return to the church but don´t know how. It´s amazing to feel God´s love for them. We pray that we will find people who are prepared to receive the Gospel through the efforts of helping the branch. References from the members mean everything to us as missionaries. The investigators are prepared through their friends and aren´t alone at church.

Transfers are this coming sunday. We don´t know how things will go, but I will probably be staying here in Rio Gallegos for one transfer more. We´ll see what happens.

I hope this week is special for all of you. I love you all so much and we pray for you each night. Keep your chin up and the Lord will guide your way.

Love

Hermana Alvey

 

Hola!!!

So, I´m not exactly sure what to write about. It´s been a week of walking. We´ve had appointments; some days 5 some days 7. The thing is, a lot of them have fallen through. We are trying hard to find people who are prepared by the Lord and His angels to be baptized. We are fasting, praying, and talking with everyone. We are trying to do better with asking for references at every house and invite everyone who is in the house to join in the lesson. We pray to find soon. We haven´t been able to have a normal lesson in a long time. We are not discouraged, though, and are working on bettering ourselves.

We are working with an investigator named Santiago. He has been smoking since he was 9 and when we first met him, he was smoking 40 cigarettes every day. He´s 62 years old and wasn´t really sure in the beginning if he wanted to quit smoking. As we talked with him and worked with him, he is smoking less and less each day. Yesterday he smoked only 5 cigarettes. We are very happy to see his progress. He has a baptismal date for Oct 27th. At first we would have to talk with him about the ¨why¨ of baptism because he would say no, then yes, then no again. Yesterday, he didn´t say no at any point. We know that he is feeling the influence of the Spirit in his life. It´s true that we are numb to the Spirit when we do the things the Lord has told us not to do. First, He won´t be with us, because we aren´t worthy. When the Spirit does want to talk with us, He can´t because we can´t listen due to our disobedience. It´s even harder with addictions. The addiction clouds our minds and spirits. I really liked what our relief society president said ¨If we drink just a tiny bit of tea, or a tiny bit of alcohol, will the Spirit leave us? Yes.¨ It really is that simple. When we are disobedient, the Spirit leaves. It doesn´t matter the cuantity.

Nelson passed the sacrament for the first time yesterday. We were so happy to see him using the priesthood for the first time, blessing the lives of others. I can´t explain the joy I had watching him grow and progress. He has such a big heart and such a pure faith. He wasn´t 100% sure at times, but he was guided, by the kind young men that were with him. I am very grateful for the members of this branch.

My spanish is still improving every day. As far as grammar goes, I feel as if I am at a 6. Vocabulary of the church, 7. Vocabulary of normal life, 3. Hermana Hermosa is working with me to smooth out the rough edges and do better each day to communicate with others. Likewise I am trying to help her with her english. I can do a lot better at speaking in english in the pension. I´m not doing so well and therefore am not showing my love. I will do better this week.

I´m sorry that this letter is so short. I´m not exactly sure what to say. I love you all soooo much. Take care. A special Hi to Grandma Houston and Grandma Alvey.

Love

Hermana Alvey

 

Hola!!!

General Conference was great. This time I didn´t get to listen to it in english so I didn´t really take any notes. I listened a lot. We were out looking for investigators and were a half hour late for both saturday sessions. You can imagine my surprise when I heard that President Monson had made an announcement about the missionary work. I couldn´t believe my ears when I heard what the announcement had been. I am so happy and excited to be here in the mission and now even more people will have the same opportunity earlier. I know that it is a truly inspired revelation and am so happy for it. I know that there is more urgency than ever for missionaries in the world and that the new generation is more prepared than ever to take on the adversary. It won´t be easy and they have a large task ahead of them, but it is possible.

Things here are moving fast. Sometimes faster than I can keep up. We just had interviews with President Gulbrandsen and it was a wonderful experience. The last time we had interviews I felt horrible sitting in front of this servant of God. This time it was a wonderful quiet experience for me. I think that that is how it is going to be in the final judgement. I felt horrible because I was disobedient and not doing my part. I wasn´t acting like a missionary and therefore was not ¨worthy¨ to be in the presence of a worthy leader. President Gulbrandsen did not change; it was my perception that changed. It was only a small taste, but I want to do everything within my power to feel worthy to stand before my Lord and God.

I do pray for all of you by name every day and I know that the Lord will continue to take care of you. President Gulbrandsen shared a scripture with me that I feel I should share with you. It´s D&C 100:1-4

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my friends Sidney and Joseph, your families are well; they are in amine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power.

 2 Therefore, follow me, and listen to the counsel which I shall give unto you.

 3 Behold, and lo, I have much people in this place, in the regions round about; and an effectual door shall be opened in the regions round about in this eastern land.

 4 Therefore, I, the Lord, have suffered you to come unto this place; for thus it was expedient in me for the asalvation of souls.

Remember what President Eyring told us missionaries. It´s a commandment to be happy. It´s our choice. Two days earlier than this meeting, The granddaughter of President Eyring was born prematurely and fighting for her life. He asked us: ¨How can I be happy? It´s because I trust in my Heavenly Father and have hope in His plan.

¨

I love you all.

Love

Hermana Alvey

 

Hola!!!!

So a year has come and gone in the mission and I can´t believe it. No, we didn´t do anything to celebrate. We have been working very hard this week. The least amount of appointments we have had is four. The other day, we had seven. I know that doesn´t seem like much, but think that we leave at 11 am and work to 9 pm with an hour lunch. We had an appointment every hour. It was wonderful. Yesterday, we didn´t have as much success. We were walking for most of the day looking for people to teach. We are a little discouraged with this week, because we have to drop a lot of people this coming week and we don´t want to. We are trying to be very obedient, but we still don´t have progressing investigators. At least when you´re disobedient, you know what you need to do. I don´t want to be disobedient, again, I was miserable.

Sometimes, you don´t see any results when you are obedient to the commandments of God. A lot of people in the world ask: ¨I´m trying to do everything right and all I have are problems; I struggle through life. Why is it, that people who are disobedient and bad seem to have all the comforts and luck?¨ I asked myself that same question. We are trying so hard to be 100% obedient and aren´t seeing any baptisms or people changing. Yet, when we were most disobedient, we had 4 baptisms. I then realized that a lot of the success and blessings I received, I haven´t seen. I know that a consecrated missionary gives everything to the Lord. A by-product of that process, is that the missionary is molded and changed into the person, the Lord knows they can be. They bless the lives of many and also in themselves. They become more faithful in the Gospel, better parents, and better leaders. I have grown closer to my Heavenly Father. I have learned a lot more about the scriptures. I have received a lot of revelation, that I didn´t believe I could receive. Yes, I would love to see the results of my obedience, but the Lord knows better. Perhaps, one day, I will.

I love General Conference and it is a wonderful time to ponder and reflect. I have never thought of stoning prophets with our thoughts, either. It hurts when you give a friend advice and they don´t pay attention. The prophets speak for our Heavenly Father who loves us very much and wants the best for us. He has given us these commandments to be happy and we often don´t listen. Don´t forget the calling of these men and women.

I´m not sure how much longer I´m going to be here in Rio Gallegos. It´s warming up here, but there are still some cold days. Hermana Hermosa´s shoes have completely died. I don´t know what was holding them together. ^_^ It was rather funny to see her pull pebbles out of her shoes every half hour. One of the members finally said that he could try and redo her shoes. There are places here that fix shoes. o.o I thought that was the neatest thing.

Yes, we do have a meeting house. There are three here in Rio Gallegos and one in Calafate.

Nothing much has been going on here. I´m sorry that I won´t have much to write this week.

I love you all sooooo much. Stay safe and healthy. Grandma Alvey, we are praying for you.

Love
Hermana Alvey

Hola!!!

I forgot my notes this week, so I can´t really tell you the rest of what happened, but I did say that I would share some of my thoughts and feelings.

First of all, though, I did want to talk about my companion. Hermana Hermosa is amazing. She listens and sees the best in everyone. She has a lot of patience with people, but doesn´t like to be in one place for very long or not doing anything. One thing that I am learning from her is the attitude of urgency. She has a wonderful capacity to love and I am very happy to be with her. I´m not sure what it is, but I feel with her, I can truly be myself and I have worth. It´s not to say that with my other companions it wasn´t that way, but Hermana Hermosa seems to have this gift. We are helping one another with the languages and working hard. We also, finally, have a clean house, and I feel great.

The rededication. Hermana Alfaro and I were in the front right section as you came in from the stadium. Nobody saw us, so we must have missed the cameras. Everything was absolutely wondeful. My favorite dance called zapateos. It was the one where all the men danced with their boots. I loved every minute of it. In the meeting with President Eyring (not the rededication) we were in the front row. I never got to enter or see the temple, but it´s ok. I have a feeling that I will have that opportunity one day.

It was wonderful to hear the talks of each apostle. As always, I especially loved the talk of President Eyring. I remembered that President Erying had told the story of his first time calling a missionary about years ago in the General Priesthood Session. Dad came home and told us all about it. Two things called my attention. One was that he asked: ¨All I´m going to get is that little touch of a feeling?¨ A lot of us feel that way. I know that I do often. I remember what one of my bishops said to me. (I believe that it was Bishop Stankosky, but I´m not 100% sure anymore) I was worried because I didn´t think that I felt the Spirit and I struggled every day with that. (I still do sometimes) and he gave me an example. He lightly tapped my foot and asked: ¨Do you notice that? If I keep doing it, you may begin to grow accustomed and not listen.¨ I´ve remembered that after 8 years and will continue to do so. The Spirit doesn´t talk loud and can go unnoticed especially if we become complacent. President Eyring then said something I don´t believe that I will ever forget : ¨I hope I don´t fail.¨ How many times are we afraid to act on a prompting, because we aren´t sure where it came from? How many times are we overly preoccupied and don´t listen to the prompting when it comes? How often to we feel inadequate with the task ahead of us? A scripture that has often gone through my head this week is Ether 12:27: ¨And if men come unto Me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and My grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before Me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in Me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.¨ As we go to the Lord, we find those things that are weaknesses and He can fix them. We should not be discouraged with our weakness, we can rejoice because it gives us another opportunity to draw closer to the Lord. When we say: ¨That´s just how I am.¨ is when we have the problem. The wonderful thing about being a child of God is that we are always changing and growing. The Lord invites us to come unto Him so that He can make us into the person He knows we can be. Our weaknesses can be our strengths. Yes, often we feel inadequate. Yes, often we want to give up. The thing is what we choose to do in times like these. President Eyring had said to himself several times: ¨I hope I don´t fail.¨ Yet, look at where he is and what he is doing.

 

Faith is an action word. I started understanding that during a talk in Women´s Conference in Provo. Waiting upon the Lord is also an action. We feel as if faith is nothing more than believing and waiting is nothing more than sitting quietly and patiently. It´s much more than that. Faith gives us power and desire to do the will of the Lord. It was by faith that the pioneers endured all that they had to endure. It was by faith that Jesus healed the people. It was by faith that Nephi led his family is the wilderness. Abraham was obedient to all the commandments as he waited upon the Lord for his promised son. The people of Alma prayed with faith in their hearts as they waited upon the Lord to deliver them from bondage. President Gulbrandsen has often talked of these subjects. We have to have faith of power if we are to baptize and speak in the name of the Lord.

 

It appears my time is up again. I love you all sooooo much and pray for you every day. I know that you all are doing your best. I, too, can see your progress through your letters. You are growing and changing just as I am and I am very proud of all of you.

 

Love

Hermana Alvey

So I found a little bit more time. I wanted to tell you about Hermana Hermosa. She is from Formosa, Argentina and is amazing. She really lives up to her last name. She is one of 12 children. (I thought our family was big. One of her uncles has 16 children o.o) She is really excited to learn english. ¨It´s a rule in our mission that the north americans have to learn spanish and the South Americans have to learn english. If you don´t help your companions with the language, you don´t love them.¨ This was revelation revealed to President Gulbrandsen for our mission specifically. This way, all of the missionaries have better opportunities for work. I am very grateful for your counsel and I am still working hard on my spanish. Hermana Hermosa corrects me every day and I am trying to use more vocabulary. We are working together. 

She is very obedient and I am happy to say that we are keeping the schedule and working hard. We have not seen any fruits of our labors yet. We have done a lot of walking this week, because nobody wanted to receive us. Saturday we walked our entire area from 2pm to 9pm. We aren´t discouraged, though. We know that the Lord is accepting our sacrifices.

So a couple interesting facts. She shares my birthday and follows the pattern of my companions. My first companion leaves today, my second leaves the transfer after, my third the transfer after, and now my fourth the transfer after. I can´t believe it. She leaves in January, but it so focused. I hope I am like her when I reach that point in my mission. Well, it looks like my time is really up this time.

Keep your heads up. Remember that tomorrow there will be sun. I still find hope and comfort in the talk of Elder Wirthlin ¨Sunday will come.¨ I love you all and will talk with you soon.

Remember that General Conference is in 3 weeks.

Love

Jessica

 

Hola!!!

So another week has gone by here in Rio Gallegos, and I know that you are all waiting to hear about the temple experience. ^_^ I will start from the beginning.

So Hermana Alfaro was packing until 1am and we woke up at 5 am to be at the airport at 7:30am. We arrive and the plane is delayed until 11:30am. It´s a 3 hr flight and we have to be at the chapel in Buenos Aires at 2:30pm. We were a little bit worried. The other missionaries told us that President Gulbrandsen was Very worried. We take a combi (like a mini bus) directly to where we are going to have the meeting with President Eyring with all the luggage and everything. We drop off the luggage inside the chapel and President Gulbrandsen texted the zone leaders to have us come out and meet with the mission so we can all enter together. The three missions were Buenos Aires North, West, and South. The West Mission was hosting. When we arrived, the elders directed us to drop off our stuff and join with our mission, as well, but the President of the West Mission (who goes to church often in Vicente López so I knew him pretty well) directed us to follow him instead. The elders tried to tell him what President Gulbrandsen wanted, but he said, ¨No, follow me and I´ll take the consequences.¨ So we follow him and he asks us where we want to sit. Of course we said, where ever he had planned, and he put me and Hermana Alfaro in the front center row of the chapel and the elders in the front of where the elders would sit. (The hermanas would be in the front seperated from the elders of their zone). That was one of the greatest blessings. We were five feet from President Eyring, Elder Ballard, Elder Christofferson, and Elder Williams (of the Seventy). I will try and give you the points of their talks that called my attention, because I don´t have time to tell you everything.

Elder Christofferson:

The prophet calls the missionaries, but the apostle gives the specific call. During the calling of a missionary, the Spirit is perfectly clear and they become very familiar with the missionary. The Lord knows us perfectly and will send us where he needs us. We need to understand the importance and sacredness of our calling. We received this call from a prophet of the Lord to go to all the earth and preach the Gospel. It is such a sacred calling that we have to be guided by the Spirit, and you will receive this revelation through prayer. You have the same calling as the apostles and are companions with them. As missionaries we are giving them the opportunity to enter into the Kingdom of God and nobody else in all the area can do that. We are offering the key which is baptism unto repentance. Baptism without repentance is nothing, just as repentance without baptism is nothing. You cannot preach without preaching repentance and the message of repentance is Jesus Christ. There is no repentance without Jesus Christ and there is no way to return to our Father without Jesus Christ. You cannot have one without the other. As you teach these principles, you will teach with the Spirit and if you teach any other way, you are not teaching by the Spirit, or the words of God. ¨I testify that you have the authority. You have been touched by the hand of God and given the authority. Everything you do and are needs to testify of your sacred calling.¨

Elder Ballard:

He spoke of his grandfather Melvin J. Ballard. Elder Melvin J Ballard was having a hard time in his call as a mission president of the western states mission, especially to the lamanites in the indian reservations. As he prayed this night, he received a vision in a dream. He stood in a corridor and was told that there was someone special waiting to speak with him. As he entered he saw the most glorious man he had ever seen or would ever see. His clothing was a glorious white and his countance shone with glory. The man descended from His throne and embraced Elder Ballard. Elder Ballard fell to his knees and there saw the marks in the feet of his Savior. Elder Ballard later wrote: Ïf I lived 4 score years, I would give all I had to have that experience again to be in the prescence of the Lord.¨ He was later called to dedicate South America for the preaching of the Gospel. There were only 4 known members in all of South America. They were immigrants from Germany. One of Elder Ballard´s companions also spoke german and the other spoke spanish. The first missionary testimonies in all of south america were given in German translated into english and then translated into spanish for the rest to hear. Elder Ballard spent 9 months handing our pamphlets and talking in the streets with people just like we are doing now almost 100 years later. ¨You are a miracle. You are fulfilling an apostolic prophecy given in 1926. Do not allow yourself to get discouraged. Do not let Satan confuse you about your purpose. Build your companionship like the first missionaries. Go forward with courage. Testify, call, be witnesses. The church is still young here and the future is unlimited. The power of God is here, you have it, you have been blessed, you have a great bleesing and opportunity. May you feel the power.¨

President Eyring:

(By the way, he´s very tall.) ¨The Lord is in your life. If I succeed tonight, you will know that He lives and loves you.¨ Many say they know God lives, but do they live that way? The first time that President Eyring called a missionary, his senior companion was Elder Scott. There wasn´t hardly any information. (He asked us to tell all future missionaries: ¨Send in a picture with your application. It´s very important. I won´t tell you what kind of photos some missionaries send in.¨) ¨The Lord knows you. You all know it, but as a member of the Twelve Apostles, you have to really believe it as you believe the sun will rise.¨ He received just a tiny little feeling about what area of the world. Then he asked for all the missions in the area that needed missionaries. One place stood out just slightly and he sent the missionary there. Another picture, another slight feeling, another mission, another slight feeling. This went on for a while. Finally he turned to Elder Scoot and asked: ¨I´m going to send this person in the name of the Lord, to who knows what kind of place far from their family with who knows what kind of experiences, and all I´m going to get is that little feeling?¨ Elder Scott turned to him and said: ¨Yes¨. It´s going to be like that every time. President Eyring would often say to himself: ¨I hope I don´t fail.¨ (Even an apostle of the Lord feels that way.) Follow every little feeling. ¨Don´t you ever think that it was a mistake that you are here (in your area of your mission). Don´t ever think that. He called you.¨ ¨Smile, this is a glorious work. You will only do it well if you look happy. Who will follow you if you don´t look happy? The best way you will testify of the Savior is with a smile. Show them that they, too, can be happy. Let your light shine in your eyes.¨ ¨Look for the Lord in your life. You´ve had evidence that the Atonement has worked in your life. Even when it´s hard, do I have to be happy? Yes. When you really know the Savior, you really know Heavenly Father, you really know the Holy Ghost.¨ ¨Glorious happiness is ahead of you, be faithful, be humble, be obedient. The elect will recognize you and what you are offering. Offer your joyful experiences.¨

I believe that I will write more of the counsel given to us next week, but for now this is ok.

Saturday, we arrived at the Stadium Independiente at about 3pm. We were there until 10:30 pm and what an experience. We first thought that all was completely unorganized, and we had no idea what we were doing. We knew that we needed to enter and sing Called to Serve Him, but more than that we had now idea (and remember that there were about 650 missionaries to organize). It all turned out well in the end. President Eyring, Elder Ballard, Elder Christofferson, and Elder Williams entered and received a gift (as well as their wives). It was a big red poncho. We are sitting there listening to the introduction and we see them putting their ponchos on over their suits. The camera didn´t show it, but we were laughing because we could see them. The dances were beautiful and so much fun. As we entered I felt such pride and joy to be a part of it all.

I´ve run out of time so I will have to share my thoughts and the rest of my experiences next week. I love you all soooo much. Stay well and happy. Remember what a prophet of the Lord said? ¨Smile, even when it´s hard.¨

Love

Hermana Alvey

Hola!!!!

Sorry that I couldn´t email yesterday. I was still in Buenos Aires. We just got back at about 2:30am this morning. What a trip. So, yes, we did have transfers and as you can tell, I got the pictures to work. My new companion is Hermana Hermosa. She is amazing and so sweet. She has 14 months in the mission. She has only had 2 US companions. She wants to work really hard. She is from Argentina and loves the mission. She was companions with Hermana Alfaro at one point. I´m really excited to work with her and she is really excited to be here. Yesterday we had transfers and I went and picked up her stuff in Vicente López. It was so good to be there again. Everyone seems to be doing great.

We stayed in Tigre with Hermana Renteria and Hermana Hill until monday.

I know that you are all dying to hear about this last weekend. The thing is, with sending all the photos and the slow internet, I used up all my time. I am sooooo sorry. It will have to be next week that I tell you more about the temple. It was an amazing experience, though. I was 5 ft from President Eyring, Elder Ballard, and Elder Christofferson because I was in the first row of the chapel. It was so exciting. Don´t worry, I took really good notes. We weren´t allowed to take photos of the events, but I´m hoping they are going to release the video. I know that there is a pamphlet in lds.org.ar

I love you all sooo much. I´m really sorry that this email is so short.

I´ll talk to you later

Love
Hermana Alvey

Hermanas Hermosa & Alvey

Hanging in Tigre during Temple dedication
Back row:  Hermanas Alvey & Alfaro
Front row:  Hermanas Renteria & Hill

Hola!!!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!

So it looks like there won´t be any photos this week either. The internet isn´t working very well, so the photos aren´t loading.
We received a call saturday evening saying that we will be leaving for Buenos Aires thursday!! We are so excited. We, also, received a letter from President Gulbrandsen today saying that we really are going to be part of the Cultural Event saturday as well. What a time to be a missionary in Buenos Aires. We aren´t allowed to tell anyone, though. My companion is having a hard time with the good byes. She´s been here for about six months and is trying to get everyone´s information. We don´t know where we will be staying or when we will be leaving thursday, but we should be receiving that information tuesday in District Meeting. Yes, we are going to have transfers a week early because we are all going to be together (and to save money). We shall see what happens up north.

We haven´t been able to find anyone to teach or baptize (but you can probably guess why). We are trying to work with the Branch on cleaning up the Directory. We feel as if we are going to find through the less actives. We are starting this week and we hope, as well, that it will strengthen our relationship with the members. When the two Branches joined, a lot of records were lost, and others were erased by members. It is going to be a big task, but we are up to it. The leaders have a lot of confidence in us and we are excited to see the branch grow into a ward. That is the goal. On average, we have about 80 people in church. The goal is to have an average of 130. We can do it.

I wish that I had more positive things to say. I wish that I had more to tell, as well. I´m sorry. I can share what I have studied and learned this week from the scriptures.

Like you, President Gulbrandsen has been focusing on revelation. It is a wonderful gift that we have. The spanish guide has a quote from Joseph Smith. He said that you cannot receive the Holy Ghost without receiving revelation. It´s impossible to have one without the other. I really thought about that and what Mom said about Nephi and that we can have the same experiences. I have often thought to myself, that only the little miracles or little revelations are for me. I´m not prepared or worthy to receive big revelation (for example the promise we received from President Arnold). The same quote keeps coming to my mind. ¨If you believe that you can´t, you´re right. If you believe you can, you´re right.¨ It really is that way. The reason that the Brother of Jared received his revelation, was because he had complete trust and faith in his Lord. He knew that all things were possible with God and that God had given him a task and would provide a way to accomplish it after everything he had done. I don´t think he ever thought that he would receive the knowledge that he did, but I do believe that he knew with all his heart and soul that all things were possible. It´s the same with revelation. I keep going back to my favorite scripture: 1 Nephi 15:11. How many times has the Lord told us that He will open the windows of Heaven and answer our prayers if we believe, keep the commandments, and are faithful? It´s true that often the answer comes in a form that we do not expect, or in the time we want, but that doesn´t mean that it excludes miracles. Yes, we need to look for the daily miracles and tender mercies. Just don´t forget the potential that you have and how great your faith really is.

I have to go, but I want to tell you all that I love you. I pray every day for you and hope the best. I will talk with you soon.

Love
Hermana Alvey

 

Hola!!!!

Happy Late Birthday Grandma Alvey!! (please remind me if there is anyone else I forgot. I can´t remember when Rachel´s birthday is)

Well, another week has gone by and we are one week closer to the temple. Thank you soooooo much for all the emails, packages, and letters. Also, thank you for answering all the questions I have. I couldn´t ask for more. You have all been so amazing during this time. I know that time has moved quickly. I can´t believe that Hermana Reed (my trainer) is leaving for her home right after the temple. The next transfer, Hermana Milmont is leaving. The transfer after that, Hermana Alfaro is leaving. I can´t believe everything that has happened and will happen still. I have a lot of growth still to do. My patience is something that I am working on a lot during this transfer. I have also learned how to control my thoughts and desires. It´s not easy being with someone who keeps talking about the end of their mission. You know that I have always looked forward to the time when I would get married. Because my companion is leaving soon, she is talking and thinking a lot about the same thing. On top of that, there is a sister here in this branch that is getting married soon, so that just adds to everything. Every day I have to remind myself of my top priority and forget everything else. That is the only way that I can grow on the mission. As much as I love you all (which is aaaaalllllooooootttttt) I finally learned with Hermana Milmont how to put my family and friends out of my mind and into the hands of the Lord. Now, I am working every day to put my goals and my dreams out of my mind and into the hands of the Lord. I know that it is a year into the mission and I should have done that a long time ago. I thought I did, but as I said in one of my first emails: everything you don´t take care of before the mission comes before your face until it is truly taken care of, or you cannot continue to grow and be molded by the Lord. I know that I will continue moving forward. I feel your prayers everyday and everyday I feel your love. Thank you.

This week has been an interesting one. So, I found myself on the otherside of a closed fence for the second time in my mission. This time, we were trying to get an investigator to church and this is the first time that the fence has been closed. Instead of climbing over the fence, this time it was easier to crawl under. He came to church, though, and has a baptismal date for this coming weekend. We are working hard with him so that he can go to the rededication of the temple. It is an exciting time and we want everyone to be a part of it. That´s almost all we can think or talk about, but that is how it should be because it is only in the temple that we can be together forever and receive the greatest blessings that God has for us. In order to go to the temple, you first have to be baptized. Nobody who isn´t baptized will return to their Heavenly Father; nobody. That has been a real motivation for me. There are many people that I love who aren´t baptized and can´t return home to their Father with their family. Our responsibility as members is to open our mouths and share the Gospel. I have forgotten that many times in my life because of fear, but that can´t be. We are in a battle and we are concious of that. Keep pressing forward. Never give up. This week, I recommend studying about the armor of God this week.

I believe that this email is going to be pretty short this week, and for that, I am sorry.

I love you all soooooooo much. I pray for you all every night and wish you the best. You are all special in your own way and I wouldn´t change any of you for the world.

Love
Hermana Alvey

Hola!!!!

So I just realized that I sent the pictures before I wrote the letter. As you probably have guessed, my companion threw me a surprise birthday party. It was a lot of fun. She pretended like she had forgotten my birthday the entire day. I was dissappointed but realized that it really wasn´t that important so I tried to forget my birthday as well. Later we went to the church to drop something off for the elders and there was a surprise party with some of our recent converts. It was nice to see them there. There were treats and chatting. At the end it was time for the cake and nobody brought candles so they tried to use matches. It didn´t work that well, but it was thoughtful. At the end everyone said that it was a tradition in Argentina to eat the first bite with only your mouth. Of course we all know what they wanted to do so I was a good sport about it. Luckily nothing got on my clothes or glasses. ^_^

We are very excited to go to the temple. I think I translated a little incorrectly the promise that was given. He said ¨Un nombre va a venir a su mente cuando está en el cuarto de sellamamiento que será su esposo.¨ It´s a struggle not to think about that every time we talk about the temple with the less actives. We saw the official photos of the temple and it is beautiful. I hope that we get to do at least one session during our mission or at the end.

Thank you for responding to my questions. I appreciate everything that you do for me. I wish that I could express my gratitude and love properly, but I hope you know how much I love you. We were talking with our elders about their line of authority and I realized that I don´t remember Dad´s. What is your line of authority? Out of the 8 elders in our group, only two knew theirs. Two others had their papers, but didn´t know their line and the rest. I know that this knowledge strengthens the testimony of the priesthood bearers to know that, in reality, their line of authority comes directly from Jesus Christ. I would hope and encourage all worthy priesthood holders who read this to look for their line of authority and remember it and remember that they literally hold the power of God to bless the nations of the world.

Not much has happened this week. We are doing better about finding people. We have three baptisms scheduled for this month and have dropped about three baptisms this month. It´s always hard and sad, but we need to find those people who are prepared and we know that they are there. We have that promise from the Lord and I know that He does not lie.

I feel all of your prayers every day and I am soooo grateful for them. I have found that I am not happy when I am not working and that has probably been one of the greatest blessings I have received. There are still hard days, but I am enjoying doing the Lord´s work. Yes, I can still do better, but I have come a long way. I still have a long way to go and I know that I have such a short time. I don´t know how time has been working for you, but it seems like yesterday I just arrived in the MTC and I am approaching my year mark. As I look back to see how far I have come, I am happy with the progress I have made. I am sad that, because of my pride and laziness, I have missed out on a lot of opportunities and changes, but I know that if I am faithful, the Lord can help me make the most of these last months of my mission. I pray for the charity and humility every day for the Lord to work in my life.

Well, it´s time to go play sports. I love you all soooooo much and pray for you daily. Stay safe and well. Don´t do anything that you aren´t supposed to.

Love
Hermana Alvey

 

Zone/district
front row L-R Hermanas Alvey & Alfaro, Elders Gregory, Haws, and Rose
back row L-R Elders Pino, Figueroa, and Warburton

other Elders in our Zone
Elders Brown and Ocares

my surprise birthday party
L-R: Leonardo, Elders Warburton & Gregory and Hermano Vargas

Hola!!!

Bienvenidos al CCM, Anthony!!!!
These first three days tend to be the hardest, but it is an amazing experience. Hope you enjoy your district. They make the experience even better.

So it was transfers yesterday and I know that you are all waiting to see what will happen. We are all still here in Rio Gallegos. Nobody left and we are all going to the meeting and the temple dedication. We are so excited for the temple. Our zone leaders had a wonderful experience in the temple. Last Tuesday, they had a special meeting with the three missions in Buenos Aires and President Arnold. President Gulbrandsen told all the zone leaders to be two hours early and to be doing their studies for that time. All of them were obedient and President Arnold saw that. When it was close to the time for the meeting, the other missions were just arriving. President Arnold asked President Gulbrandsen if all his leaders were there and he said yes. President Arnold then told President Gulbrandsen and his missionaries to follow him; they were going to get a tour of the temple. Can you imagine an experience like that? There´s more. When they arrived at the sealing room of the temple, President Arnold stopped and said: ¨I´m going give you a promise. This is for your entire mission. When you are in the sealing room, the person who you are going to marry will come into your mind, through the Spirit.¨ What a promise. Now, I´m not going to tell you the answer when we go to the temple, but I wanted to show you the amazing blessings we receive by being obedient; especially to our leaders.

This week has been a pretty quiet week. We have not had any baptisms recently and are still looking for investigators.  We are working better with the leaders of the branch and gaining their trust. There wasn´t a lot of trust between the missionaries and the leaders about 4 months ago and Hermana Alfaro has been working with them. Now I have joined the cause and we are continuing to see progress. We are happy to be moving forward.

Thank you so much for answering my questions. I´m going to let the elders know the answers. Were you able to find any more information about the different kind of visas? Do you have Anthony´s email address? I´m sorry about all the funerals. I hope Brother Hort gets better soon. How is Brother Ramirez healing? Tell Jared I say Hi back. I´m glad that things are moving along well at home. Stay well, Dad, and do exactly what the doctor says. You won´t heal otherwise and may even make it worse. I can testify to that.

I just realized that I don´t really have much to talk about this week. We are all still thinking about the temple and can´t wait for that time to arrive. We still don´t know what we are going to be doing as part of the cultural event, but we hope to hear soon.

It´s time to play fútbol, so I will talk to everyone again soon.

I love you all sooooooo much.

Love
Hermana Alvey

Hola!!!

Happy Farewell, Anthony!!!!!

So another week has gone by and I have some amazing news. First of all, we had another baptism this weekend and it was great. His name is Nelson and his sister is a member of the branch here. We weren´t 100% sure that he should be baptized because of some mental disabilities, but I remembered what President Gulbrandsen said about one of our investigators in Vicente López. Ask a series of simple questions such as: If you took a cookie and your mother asked you if you did, is it good or bad to say ´no´?¨ Simple questions like that help us learn if they can choose between good and bad. If they can, they can be baptized. We asked how we would teach him, since he could not understand or retain everything. President Gulbrandsen told us that if he has desires to be baptized and is showing a change of heart, he is ready. From that, he was baptized. It was wonderful to see the support of friends, family, and the branch.

Good news about Leonardo, as well. He just received the priesthood this last sunday and is very excited to become a fully active member of the church. He is the first to volunteer for things and really wants a calling. We asked him yesterday to accompany us for an appointment today and he was very happy to say yes. The whole family is doing great.

We just had our interviews with President Gulbrandsen and it was amazing. We received some wonderful news. He asked us if we were ok with staying with our companions for one transfer more. We said yes and he told us :¨This is the only way that I can find that you all can go to the meeting for all the missionaries in the three Buenos Aires Missions with President Eyring, Elder Ballard, and Elder Christofferson.¨ We could not believe our ears!!!  If it is the Lord´s will that we all stay the same this transfer, we will get to go to this meeting and participate in the cultural event for the temple!!! I am beyond happy right now. It will be an amazing experience and a once in a life time opportunity. Please pray that we get to go.

I was writing in my journal the other day and I want to share some of my thoughts.

¨I am reminded of when we would make pies with Mom. She didn´t need our help and it might have been easier without is. Still, she let us help. as we waited for the pie to be done, she gave us little treats; parts of the pie crust with cinnamon sugar that were delicious and helped us wait for the big treat while getting a sample of what it would taste like. Our Heavenly Father is much the same. He is letting us help with His work and His glory which is to bring to pass the inmortality and eternal life of man (our own included). This is the pie; after all the hard work, that is the ultimate goal and it is delicious to the taste. He lets us help with His work even though, at times, it may be easier if we didn´t. As we wait to receive this grand gift, we are given blessings that help us know what the ¨pie¨ will be like and they are also delicious to the taste. If we do our part, we will receive this great gift from our Eternal Father in Heaven. We may ask, ´Well, what if I mess up? What if I use walnuts instead of pecans? What if I burn the pie?´ You´re not going to do everything right the first time. I messed up my first three pies. The lemon pie didn´t have enough starch in it so it didn´t set up, but it still tasted good. Sometimes things don´t turn out the way we expect them to, or we ´mess up´, but we have the promise that if we do our best, everything will be ok; the Lord will make up the rest. The pie wasn´t pretty, but it tasted wonderful. ´What if I use walnuts instead of pecans?´ An experience from the life of Aunt Jane can help with that. She has a hard time telling the difference between a walnut and a pecan. One day she made walnut pies and pecan pies without knowing it. Turns out that the walnut pies tasted better than the pecan pies. The Lord knows what He´s doing. He knows better than we do. Though, things may not turn out like we want them to, the Lord knows the end result and it turns out to be better than our own. ´What if I burn the pie?´ One of the greatest gifts that our Heavenly Father has given us is the Atonement. Through His Son, Jesus Christ, we are able to repent. We can be clean again; we can start over. Even though we may burn the pie, we can start over and try again. It´s true that you will have to clean up and buy new ingredients, but it´s possible. Just as repentace can be hard and there are a lot of consquences, it´s possible. It is an amazing thing. One last thing I want to share before I move on is something that happened with Aunt Marie. Grandma Alvey was pickling and making jam, so she had a lot of sugar and salt. It turns out that this time, Aunt Marie´s pie was made with 2 cups of salt instead of sugar. The adversary has a counterfit for everything and if we are not careful, we fall into temptation and the end result is bitter to the taste. Salt looks just like sugar, but does not taste like sugar. Just as the adversary´s promised results appear the same, they are not. We need to be careful and look more closely to see if we are using salt or sugar.¨

There were my thoughts and I wrote them down. I testify of the counsel given by the prophets. Keep and inspiration journal nearby. Always write what you receive. Ask if it is correct. Ask if there is more and then write again. Keep repeating this process and you will receive some of the most precious and tender impression from your Loving Heavenly Father. He has not forgotten you here on this earth and is waiting to talk to you. I, sadly did not ask for more, so I do not know, this time, what more He had to say to me, but I am happy for what I have right now. He will use our own experiences to teach us in the moment and years after. It´s been about 14 years since some of those experiences and I was taught from on high through them.

Thank you soooooo much for the letters. They always bring light to my day. Thank you for your help with questions, research, and patience. You have all blessed my life greatly and I cannot thank you enough.

I hope you had fun at Pioneer Days. I bet it was exciting as usual. I can´t wait to see pictures. I´m happy with the fruits of your labors. I know that you are enjoying yourselves.

Have fun in Arizona. Take pictures of your haircut Mom. I still like your silver hair, but I understand if you want to color it. Say ¨Hi¨ to everyone for me (including Nathan). Best of luck and love, Anthony. Enjoy every minute of your mission; it´s too short to miss even one minute of it. Talk with everyone.

Dad, thank you for the research that you have done. I really appreciate it. I have one more question, what are the different type of visas? I know that you are working hard and I am very happy with all that you do. With all that everyone does. You are all doing your best and I can see the many blessings of the Lord for all of you.

The pair of shoes I have are boots meant for walking in the cold/snow and snowboarding. One of the Elders here said that the brand I have is an amazing brand and will last me for 2 years or more. If they are meant for snowboarding as well, I assume that they will last up to all the walking I have to do. I won´t need other shoes until I get back into the north. It will be too hot to wear my ¨snow boots¨ when I get back into the heat. I appreciate the offer, though. I am going to try and send some mail so I´m going to take out about $25 more. I am trying to be 100% obedient and I feel that writing people through you (though I greatly appreciate it) is breaking the rule of only writing emails to family. I´ll send all my letters in an envelope to you; please, then, send them to the addresses on the envelopes.

Wow, this letter is getting long. I love you all sooooo much. Please stay safe and well. I pray for you every day.

Love
Hermana Alvey