Hola!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Happy New Year!!!

First of all, yes I just got the package today. Thank you soooooo much for the pens and the memory stick. We are very excited about it. I just got Hermana Hill and Hermana Sperry´s pens to them. They were so happy. They left today at 12pm to head out. We are going to miss them a lot. Hermana Kapp and I have a lot of work to do. We don´t know what will happen in 3 weeks, but for now, we are very excited to be together.

So, for the blog, Yolanda got baptized. She originally didn´t want to get baptized without the support of her sister, but we invited her to fast with us. That was sunday evening the 23rd. We fast and saw her monday evening Christmas eve. We went and visited the family. We sang some christmas songs and shared the lovely christmas spirit. She then asked us, how our fast went. We told her that we felt good. (we did not forget to verify with her, we were waiting to see if she was comfortable talking about it. She just asked us first.) We then asked her how her fast was and she said that she felt good and ¨tranquila¨. She asked us if someone could get baptized the 25th of December. We didn´t want to jump the gun and assume anything so we said: ¨Yes, whenever you want; the 25th, 26th, 27th...¨ She then said, I want to get baptized tomorrow. We didn´t scream with joy because that might have freaked her out, but we were very happy. We showed her that we were excited for her, but we played it cool. The minute we left and she had closed the door, we started screaming with joy. It was a christmas miracle and the Lord has blessed us greatly to be a part of it. His hand is in everything. We were just observers in this wonderful miracle, we do not rejoice in ourselves.

The other miracle we have seen is in Yolanda´s daughter, Luciana. She talked with us yesterday and told us of an experience she had that morning. She and her brother hadn´t come to church because they were always sleeping. They would stay up until about 3 or 5am and church starts at 9am. She went to bed at 1:30am and woke up at 5:30am. She couldn´t sleep. As she watched the nativity in her house, she had the desire to know if everything that we have taught is true. She prayed and received the simple reassuring feeling of the Spirit that it was all true. What´s more, she opened the scriptures three times and all three scriptures spoke of baptism. We are sooooo excited for her. Her brother is amazing, too. He is still putting up his reputation, so he doesn´t always show the soft side of himself, but he is a great kid. (16yrs) I´m excited for the both of them. Their baptismal date is for the 19th of January.

Well, as far as the weather goes, it´s rainy, hot and very humid. Imagine almost Vegas heat with humidity. It´s a lot of fun. ^_^

Well, time has flown and it´s time to go get some food. I love you all sooooooo much. Please stay safe and well. I know that the Lord is looking out for you.

Love

Hermana Alvey

Buenos Aires, Argentina temple dedication

Hola!!!

So this is going to be a really short letter. We just got back from the mission christmas party and it was wonderful. The thing is, that it doesn´t leave us time to write too much. 

So about the skype call. We are planning between 6 and 7pm our time, so about 1 or 2pm your time. The thing is, there are four of us and we don´t want to bombard the family all at once. Plus, we want to meet each other´s families. 

I am still with Hermana Hill. She leaves next monday. We wanted to see how we were related through the leavitt line. If you can have the book with you tomorrow, I would appreciate it greatly. If, not, it´s not really important, just something fun to do. Her mom sent her part of her line and it looks like she is through Jeremiah and sara sturdevant leavitt and their son jeremiah and sarah shannon leavitt. 

Sadly, we never made it to Once, time ran out after doing internet, and we had to get home. One day I might go to Once. I don´t remember if I told you, but Hermana Renteria is in the same zone as me again. We just seem to follow each other. What´s more, her companion is Hermana Hermosa. It´s fun seeing them every once in a while.

We are still working with Yolanda. We had to drop every one else because they were not progressing, but we have faith that we will find those who are truly prepared by the Lord. Yolanda is struggling, because her sister is a little disabled and lives with her. After her parents died, her sister was her only support and introduced her to the bible. Her sister is completely against the church because she believes that hers is true and wants to protect her sister. She really does love Yolanda and we admire that. So right now, Yolanda is struggling with baptism, because she doesn´t want contention in the house and make sure that her sister is happy. We fasted with her today to help her receive the strength she needs and maybe even soften her sister´s heart to hear the gospel. We can still have a white christmas.

I can´t wait to tell you how the party was today. We did a white elephant again and I got a 3 musketeers bar. It was wonderful. Again, I can´t thank everyone enough for what they have sent me. Thank you Lindy and Family, Bishop Westphal, Breeanna, the visiting teachers of mom, randy and ann, the alveys, and my direct family. I appreciate everything that everyone has done. P-days recently have been very hectic so I have not been able to get personal letters out to everyone. I promise that I am trying really hard. I just wanted to let all of you know that I love you soooooo much.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love

Hermana Alvey

Hola!!!!

So another week has gone by and it´s getting hotter. ^_^ It´s been a wonderful first week with Hermana Hill. As far as transfers and temple goes, Hermana Hill and Hermana Sperry are going to the temple together tomorrow and me and Hermana Kapp are staying and working in the area. I´m a little bummed about that, but I´ll get to go to the temple soon enough.

I am going to have to apologize, because the computer I am at right now is slightly broken, so I am not able to send pictures today. Everything here is so expensive so there are not many people that put up lights and decorations. It kind of reminds me of the states where through out the entire year, there are some people who never take down their lights and you still occassionally see some lighted houses. That´s pretty much how it is here. There are some ornaments and things on the doors, but not like the decorations at home. I like it, in part, because it helps remind us that there is more to christmas than snow and lights.

I am very excited to see what President Gulbrandsen is going to do for Christmas. Monday, Dec 24th, the entire mission is going to the mission office and I have no idea what is going to happen. I think he might have told us over the conference call, but I didn´t hear what he said very well. As you saw, we get to do skype the 25th or 26th. We are planning at being the house of Flia Curbello Christmas evening and doing skype around 6-7 pm our time here in Argentina. We don´t know if we will be doing internet next monday, so we will stay with that time for now. If we do get to do internet next monday, I will tell you the for sure plan.

Just so you know, it rains a lot here. Last thursday there were giant floods, because of how much rain we received. It´s pretty fun walking in water up to your waist. Luckily, thursday is weekly planning, so we were inside all day planning our entire week. By the time we left, there was only water up to the ankles in some areas.

Hermana Hill has a Leavitt line and I was hoping that you could send me the leavitt lines in our family. It starts with Sarah Sturdevant Leavitt. Two of her sons are our ancestors: Jeremiah Leavitt and Dudley Leavitt.

We are excited for our investigators that we are teaching. They are two families. We are still working with Yolanda and her children. We also found a family that lives in the same building as Romina (the recent convert who received the last minute surprise birthday party): Jazmin and Susanna are the only ones old enough to be baptized. We are so excited to be working with them. They all have their challenges and I know that it is our role to help them feel the Spirit to have the testimony to keep moving forward. It is so hard to teach people not lessons. You feel as if you are doing a good job and helping them by teaching lessons. They receive a lot of information and seem to understand it, but then you realize that they don´t really comprehend it. They aren´t applying it. They aren´t living it or don´t see the importance and fall away. It´s so frustrating sometimes when you realize that you aren´t teaching as you should be: with the Spirit. I have often wondered how many baptisms have fallen through because of that. It´s hard, but we never give up hope. So far, none of the investigators we found last week with Hermana Vargas and Hermana Shelley are progressing, but it was a faith builder week to say the least.

We are not sure how this transfer will end up with Elder Rose, Hermana Sperry, and Hermana Hill. It could be that Hermana Kapp and I take care of the entire area alone. It could be that we receive a couple new latin companions to train (they sometimes come in in the middle of the transfer). We are interested to see where this goes, but it sure is different having four North Americans in the same pension. As we were speaking english, I realized that I talk funny and that I have forgotten a lot of english words. I would sometimes say :¨At what time...¨ instead of ¨What time is...¨ I know that it´s proper the first way, but it´s so strange. I also could not remember what ¨mayoría¨was in english (It´s majority). Things like that just make life funny right now for all of us, because I´m not the only one doing it. I´m just the one that doesn´t notice, but you will all hear my funny way of talking soon. Something else that seemed natural to me was to say that we received references to visit instead of saying referrals. You can say ¨references¨ instead of ¨referrals¨, right? I can´t remember and eveybody here speaks spanglish so I´m not really sure. By the way, Hermana Hermosa goes home this transfer, too. I won´t have any companions left in the mission by the end of this transfer. I can´t believe it. The only ones will be the hermanas from the MTC.

Well, we are heading out to Once. It´s an outdoor market that´s famous here. I love you all sooooo much and I´ll talk with you soon.

Love

Hermana Alvey

Hola!!!!

So I just realized how short the letter was last time and I´m sorry. Last week was a really hard week.

Friday was fun, though. The temple is absolutely gorgeous. I didn´t realized how much I had forgotten of the temple session. I didn´t think I had really forgotten anything, but I´m sitting in the session and it seemed like every five minutes I found something I had forgotten. I really want to go to the temple the first day I get back. It was a long travel, though. We also had Hermana Vargas´ english test (which she passed) so in total we left at 6 am and got home at about 7 pm. It was a very long day.

Hermana Shelley was with us the week before. She is amazing. I had forgotten to write about that. She helped a lot and is very excited about the missionary work. She works very hard and always has a smile. The poor thing was exhausted, though, after travelling all transfer. She is a wonderful missionary. She is definitely a consecrated missionary.

Today I said goodbye to Hermana Vargas, and it was ok. She finished her mission well and will return home with honor. She received many blessings in her home and saw many miracles. She loves the people and is very humble. She loves to learn and I´m very proud to have called her my companion. I pray that she arrives home safely.

So as you can guess. Transfers were this week. I can´t believe it, but I´m with Hermana Hill. She was with Hermana Renteria in Tigre when we stayed with them for the temple dedication. She is going home in three weeks. School is starting so she is going home early. Hermana Kapp´s companion is Hermana Sperry. She was with me in my first transfer in Vicente López. She also goes home three weeks early for school. Elder Rose is our new zone leader. He was my zone leader for two transfers in Rio Gallegos. He also goes home three weeks early with Hermana Hill and Hermana Sperry. I have no idea what will happen this transfer, but I am excited to be with Hermana Hill. She is awesome and I loved being with her in Tigre.

I´ve thought a lot about my companions and all that I have learned from them. I have also had a lot of unofficial companions in my mission, too: Hermana Shelley, Hermana Kapp, Hermana Lobos, Hermana Sperry, Hermana Bray, etc. I have learned a lot from them as well, and I am very grateful to have been their companions as well.

Christmas is coming up. I do not know if we will be doing skype sunday or tuesday. I also don´t know if you want to do a three way with Anthony, me, and the family. We will see what happens next week. My companions are finishing up their letters. I would have written more this week, but I wanted to send out photos. I hope you enjoy them.

I love you all sooooooo much.

Love

Hermana Alvey

Hermanas Alvey & Shelley after Wal-mart shopping

L-R Elder Wilkinson (district leader), Elder Caballeros, Hna Vargas, Hna Alvey, Hna Kapp (back), Hna Lobos

Goodbye Hermana Vargas

Hello new companion Hermana Hill

Hola!!

So it sounds like everyone is getting ready for Christmas. Things here keep moving forward. It doesn´t feel like Christmas, but that´s ok. It´s time to work. I feel like I have less and less time to write. Everything is moving very fast right now. The mosquitoes have begun their war and the temperatures are rising.

We are working hard with all of our investigators. When I first came here, I was told that we did not have any investigators and I found that to be true. We have been working hard and this week, we ended with seven baptismal dates. We are very excited for the month of December.

This Friday, I finally get to go to the temple with Hermana Vargas. We are very excited and I finally get to see the temple.

So, I realized that there are a couple questions I forgot to answer.
First off, there aren´t really senior companions right now among the sister missionaries. We have not been receiving sister missionaries, so almost all of us have more that 9 months in the mission. The one in our apartment that has the least amount of time is Hermana Kapp and she only has one transfer less than I do.

We also have a new ward mission leader. He and is family are absolutely wonderful. They love the missionary work and are such wonderful people. They have three young boys and recently moved back to Argentina after studying in BYU Provo. We are excited to see how the missionary work moves forward here.

Well, not a lot happened this week, I´m sorry to say. I just wanted to tell you all that I love you sooooo much and wish you the best.

Keep your chins up and your feet moving forward.

Love
Jessica

entrance to Buenos Aires zoo

Hola!!!

So I know that you might be a little upset with me, but we were at the zoo all p-day and now I don´t have much time to write. It was a lot of fun, though. Hermana Vargas´ dream was to see a penguin and she was so happy. The zoo here is only open on holidays for Mondays. It´s really a bad deal because our p-day is on Monday and holidays aren´t every week. I will have to send you pictures.

I ´m so happy to hear that Thanksgiving went great. I hope everyone´s thanksgiving was just as good.

I did want to share something with you. I came across a talk by Elder David B Haight. It´s in the Sept 2009 Liahona ¨Baptism Comes First¨ or Nov 1976 Ensign ¨Families Are Forever¨. It´s a wonderful talk and want to encourage each and every one who reads my blog to read this talk and meditate on the message. Afterwards, I would invite you to pray and ask the Lord what He would have you do with His words.

Another talk is in the Sept 2009 Liahona: ¨Why Do We Do Missionary Work?¨ by Elder Dallin H Oaks. I want to invite you to do the same thing with this talk as well.

I love you all soooooo much and will talk with you soon.

Love
Hermana Alvey