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