Hola!!!

 

How is everything going? Things here are going pretty good. This last week, we went to a place called El Talar and did what´s called: Centro de Visitantes en la Capilla. You might remember it as Capilla Abierta. It was a lot of fun. El Talar is about an hour and a half away from Vicente López by train and bus. The whole ward helped out and they even had an extra tour of the chapel with all the different auxillaries. They had so much fun. There was one young man that the bishop brought in from the street named Ignacio. He is a young man that doesn´t have much religious background and is having a rough time right now. It was so hard to see him with his hopeless, lost expression. I knew that I needed to sit down and talk with him. We talked about the Gospel and how it can bless and change lives. It is such a wonderful experience when the Lord works through you. It truly is a priviledge to be on a mission. The Lord has given us this opportunity to help Him in the work. Everything went pretty good and we were able to get home on time (which we weren´t sure about).

 

We still haven´t had a baptism and two of our people with baptism dates we needed to drop because they have not been progressing for a while. President Gulbrandsen talked with us about letting go of our investigators when they aren´t progressing. We need to have the faith to do so, and we will be open to find the people who are already prepared to receive the Gospel. It´s tough, but I am growing a lot myself. I don´t know what I´m going to do when I need to leave Vicente López. I´ve been here my entire mission. I know I´ll be ok, though. There is always an adventure waiting out there for me, and people waiting to hear the Gospel.

 

So as you know, it´s getting cold here.  I have started using my heavy jacket and nylons. Thank you so much, again, for sending me them. The humidity really makes a difference. It feels like late fall in Logan, Utah here, but I know that it´s only because of the humidity. It´s just fall right now. We´ll see what the weather does soon. It rains a lot though, but because it´s so cold, there are no mosquitos. I am so very happy about that.

 

I don´t have long or heavy skirts, so I may need to look around for them. I have lost about 25 lbs now (healthy pounds) and some of my clothes are loose on me now. Hermana Milont is going to help me alter them. It´s not too dramatic, although, there is one skirt that is pretty close to falling off. I will need to get new shoes this next transfer. You know how much walking we do. I am also looking around for some simple gloves. I only have my snow gloves here and those are a little bulky for every day use. There isn´t a place here, really, like the stores at home. they are all ¨mom and pop¨ shops so you need to find a shop with the specific things you want.

 

I am also excited for Mother´s Day. It looks like we will be doing Skype at 7pm on sunday my time. Sunday seems to be the best day for everyone and I like it because it´s actually Mother´s Day. We don´t know who we will be with so we will have to let you know when the details are more secure.

 

I am so excited for Nick Hardy. He is going to like it here. It really is a beautiful place. He is in the West Mission right now. He will actually most likely meet my old bishop: Fernando Gomez Paz. Another person in our ward works at the MTC as a teacher. His name is Hugo Alvarez. If he sees them, please let him know to say hi. They are wonderful helpful people. It´s so awesome to hear about everyone. People leaving for missions, people coming home, others getting married, and others still having children. It is an odd feeling.

 

The ward is really moving forward with the missionary work and I hope that they keep moving forward. We have wonderful leaders and they are all excited about everything. Us as a companionship are getting better with teaching and helping people move towards baptism. We still have a lot to learn, but we have come a long way. She is a good cook by the way, she just doesn´t want people to know. We had Peruvian food at a member´s house this week and it was amazing. The people here are all really good cooks. I love this ward and the people in it. They try so hard and are so kind. I´m going to miss them. I don´ feel like I´m leaving though. Oh well, I´m not worried. There is too much to do each day. ^_^ I have been talking about recipes with people and realized that I don´t have nearly enough of my recipes from home. Did you ever find the recipe book on the computer or my memory stick. Which reminds me. We have portable DVD players and we can put a USB card in it and listen to the music that´s on the card. Just a thought. Well, we have to get to work. I never seem to be able to say everything I want to and we do internet for almost an hour. Oh, well. Just know that I love you so much and look forward to seeing you in two weeks.

 

Love

Jessica