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