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