Aloooooooooooha!!

 

I know that´s not spanish, but I wanted to say it. So transfers were today. I am still in Vicente López and Hermana Reed is still my companion. We are going to have so much fun this transfer. Hermana Sperry is being transferred to Orquiza to be with Hermana Gonzalez and Hermana Renteria is going to be Hermana Bray´s companion. I can´t wait to see how this transfer goes.

 

So, Carlos still does not have a baptismal date and we may have to have ¨the talk¨with him. We don´t want to drop him, but if he no longer wants to change, we can´t keep teaching him right now. Daniel is working on leaving, so we are having a hard time getting a hold of him, but we went and visited the address he gave us as his address since we were in the area. It turns out that his aunt and another family lived there. We still have not gotten Daniel´s address, but we now have two new investigators with baptismal dates for Feb 10th. We are so excited. The mother does not want to hear the discussions, but she is happy that her daughter (11) is and the grandmother wants to listen too. We have actually found several good investigators by going to the wrong addresses. The Lord works in mysterious ways. We also went to a Menos Activo family at the request of our Elder´s Quorum President and they turned out to be amazing. They have such strong testimonies and are so kind. They have health issues and work a lot so they have a hard time getting to church. We met them yesterday and have another appointment with them next sunday.

 

We are having wonderful success with the menos activos and with the members of the ward. There used to be a poor relationship between the ward and the missionaries. I don´t know what happened, but it used to be an obligation to talk to the missionaries and it was hard. When I came in 6 weeks ago, the relationship was just starting to get better. Now, the members are so happy to see us and love talking to us. They ask us to help in so many ways, and we have seen the hand of the Lord in the work even more. The other day, we got to clean the chapel grounds as well. One of the Hermanas is a grounds keeper as an occupation and asked us to help. It was fun, sadly we could not do much because it was getting late, but what we could do helped a lot. We were also there to find a giant waterfall coming down from the water resevoir tower of the church. Turns out, the float isn´t working and we ended up saving the church´s water supply by being able to shut the system off. We contacted the counselors since the bishop was out of town and it is getting fixed this week. Everywhere we turn, we are finding ways to serve. Another sister asked us to accompany her to the hospital because she was going in for a procedure. We could not go because it was out of our area, but we gave her encouragement. The members are asking us for help and even offering help in return. I was talking with one of the members and he said that he would love us to call him this week to ask him to accompany us to an appointment. These are wonderful steps and progress that we are seeing just in these last six weeks.

 

The spanish is getting better. I am talking even more in the lessons and I am able to understand more. I was talking with one of the members and it clicked in my mind ¨I´m communicating¨. It´s still difficult and I need a lot more practice. I get general ideas, but most of the sentences escape me. Hermana Reed is very patient and helps a lot. She makes mistakes as well and shows me that it´s ok and that the people love to help. They also love to talk to us. I can finally express myself better, but have a long way to go.

 

Things sound like they are really moving along at home. I did receive the pictures. Thank you so much. The dogs look like they have no idea what was going on. It was really cute. What happened to the dog that they found back in september? Is school going on again?

 

Hermana Martinez (Relief Society President) wants to do an activity in march for the women. She wants to share Pioneer stories and act them out. Afterwards she wants to share pioneer food. She asked us to help since we are from the states. I have already given her the recipe for funeral potatoes. I would really appreciate any help you can give us. I thought about recipes for baking powder biscuits, cornbread, and dutch oven chicken and potatoes. If you have these recipes please send them to me. She can read english so don´t worry about that. If you can think of any other recipes, please send them as well. Also, if you know any pioneer stories or find any you like, she does not have internet and I can´t look them up for her, please send them to me as well. I am very grateful for any help you can give.

 

I have felt all of your prayers and have been greatly blessed by them. The language is coming easier, we are finding people, and we have seen many wonderful blessings every day. I love you all very much. I pray for you every day and am so happy to have all your support. You are all amazing. I will talk to you soon.

 

With loooooooooooooooooots of love

Hermana Jessica Alvey

I forgot to tell you. The area president is coming next week to tour the mission so everything has to be even more organized. We are all excited here.

 

I have lost 3-4 inches off my waist and have gotten darker. I don´t know how much weight I have lost, but I´ll figure it out soon.

 

Jessica