1.23.12

hey!
man this week seemed to fly I dont know about you guys? Things are going good here. I have already seen a huge difference in this week and a half that i have had with my new comp. It truly is a huge blessing for me to have a new comp who is here and ready to work. We are a little bit sad because when we did the switch of areas with the elders the elders didnt leave us with any investigators who are really progressing so we have a lot of work to do here in this area but I have faith that everything will work out. Sadly in my other area I left the elders with at least 2 for sure baptisms and maybe more. but whatever I swear that is what always happens in the mission. It kind of stinks.

I truly find it a blessing from the lord that I have been put with many latin companions to help me with the language. Sometimes it is a little bit difficult because there are sometimes things that I don't understand but I know that if I was with a comp from the states I wouldn't be learning the language. My comp is really teaching me to be more confident and to always invite everyone to come and listen. I really do think that because we are doing this more we are finding a lot more investigators.

Things are good! I am happy and know that I am where the lord wants me to be. I truly am happy to be here. I am not going to lie it has its difficult times and this argentina sun is killer and sometimes i have no desire to leave the apt because it is so hot but I do it and I know that the lord is blessing me. I truly love this gospel and I have no doubt in my mind that I am doing the work in the lord. We as missionaries are truly representatives of the lord! We are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives. I lovee you all lots and wish you a great week!!!!

Love,
Hermana Van Wagenen

1.16.12

hey!!!!
Well we had tranfers this past wednesday and I will just tell you that I am super happy! My new companions name is Hermana Cepeda and she is from Lima, Peru. She just finished her two transfers of being trained and now she is with me. but I wouldnt have thought that she was new because she works just like any other missionary. I am so happy to have a real companion that understands the missionary work and is here to work. I think this is going to be a good transfer!!!

hmmm not much happened this week besides tranfers. It has been a bit of a struggle with the new area but we have been able to figure things out and luckily we are able to call the elders to help us out a little bit. It is crazy the difference i have already seen in these past 3 days with my new companion. Things are a lot better and I am ready so see some success in this new transfer. The president also sent two more elders to our branch here in Obera so now we have 6 missionarys here and he is wanting us to work hard and find all of these members. 1500. so our goals right now are to help the branch here in Obera grow and bring it back to how it was. We have a lot of work to do but I am excited. I really dont have a lot to write this week but things are good. I have already seen the lords hand so much in this past week and I know that this work that I am doing is true and powerful. I truly thank the lord everyday for this amazing opportunity that I have to be apart of this work. There are def difficult times in the mission but I know that from every difficulty that there is always something so learn from it. Thanks everyone for your support and all you day. I am so grateful for all of you!!!!! Love you lots!!

-Hermana Van Wagenen

1.9.12

Hey there!

Man another week has past. I feel like I was literally just here typing the letter from last week but another whole week has past. awww how sad to hear that Sassy died. Man how long did we have her? Forever! how crazy! but I am assuming that you still have the other cat that honestly I dont even know the name of the cat. and did you ever find a dog dad? haha

Well truthfully I dont have much to tell about this past week. We have been doing a lot to prepare for the change of area. On Saturday we spent the whole day with the elders because they were showing me my new area (their area) I am not going to lie I am kind of scared for the change because I am comfortable and know my area that changing to a new area with a new comp that doensnt know anything is going to be interesting. lets hope that i have a good memory! At the end of the day on saturday i took off my shoes and it looked like I had a huge tan line from my shoes but the marks were really just dirt! Super gross! I think I am going to be a lot more dirty in this new area because basically the whole area is dirt. no streets!!

We were very blessed on sunday with 5 investigators in church! It is def not easy to get investigators to church. Most of the time when we pass by their house they are sleeping or just dont answer the door. So we were pretty excited when the less active family (Antunes Family) with their son Facundo (9 years old) showed up at church and a few of their neighbors that we have been teaching. I am getting kind of sad because you really start to form relationships with the families and people you are teaching and this week we will be changing and wont be able to teach these people anymore. but luckily I will still be in the branch and will be able to see them on Sundays if they come to church!

Well we have transfers on wed. We dont know anything yet because we wont find out till tuesday night but I do know that I will be getting a new comp. I am super anxious and nervous and praying that i wont be getting another mini missionary! haha but things have def gotten better this week with the mini missionary. We actually get along really well but as far as the missionary work it has been a little hard because she didnt know anything but things are good. but change will be kind of nice! it is always nice to have a little change! I am doing good. I really feel like I am learning so many things that are helping me grow here in the mission and will help me after the mission. there are def some challenges but I am try and sit back and think about what i am learning from these challenges and what I can take from it. I am really grateful for this short time that i have to serve the lord and share this amazing message with the people here in Argentina even though there are a lot that dont want to accept I just hope and pray that i can make a difference in someones life. Love you guys lots and hope everyone is doing good! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Hermana Van Wagenen

1.3.12

Hey there!

Can you believe that it is already 2012? How crazy huh? Another year has past! I have been thinking a lot lately in what could be my new years goal! I am still in the process of figuring them out! haha Well us poor missionarys again didnt have any plans or invitations for new years and knowing that new years is a holiday of drinking we knew we werent going to have much success knocking doors so we sadly called members to see if perhaps we could stop by for a bit at night and luckily the members who is always there for us (Dora) happily invited us over for the night. So we ended up spending new years eve night (until 11) with Dora and her family. I was lame and went to bed. I didnt even stay up to see the fireworks. but from what I have been told it sounds like New Years here is pretty much the same as christmas. They all have their big bbqs and at midnight light off fireworks and basically drink and party all night. I dont think I missed much. Its not like I am a huge fan of meat anyways. and sadly none of our investigators that said they were going to go to church on sunday showed up. I am kind of ready for the holidays to be over so people can calm down a little bit and wont have as many excuses. haha even though we know they always make up some sort of excuse. haha

Well this week was an interesting one. On friday around 3 in the morning I was woken up to hearing my comp crying and pounding her leg on her mattress. Honestly I was super out of it and I just assumed that she was crying because she was sad and missed her family or something so I didnt say anything. Until about 2 hours of crying later she asked me if I had advil or something because her ear hurt really bad. So I gave her advil and went back to bed and didnt hear much more. In the morning she told me that she was pretty much awake all night with killer pain in her ear but that she was feeling better. We then went out and worked an then had lunch with a member when she said that the pain was back and it hurt bad. So guess what we had to do? yep I had the wonderful privelage of experience a lovely hospital in Argentina and I would like to say that I never want to have that experience again. Can I just say that we are blessd in the United States to have nice clean hospitals. Man what an experience. I just felt dirty the whole time. but it seems like my comp is doing better and hopefully we will be able to work. Man it has been difficult because it seems like almost every other day that she feels sick with something so it kind of hinders our working a little bit. but we are doing what we can!

We are working a lot with inactive members right now and trying to find them. There are like 1500 members here and about 50 active. There is a lot of work to do! Our mission president told us to not even knock doors but to just focus on finding these members because a lot of times there are members in the family who have possibility of being baptized. I am hoping we have some success with that because right now I dont know what is going on but it seems like everyone is in their own little world and dont want anything to do with us. so the members it is!!! haha Well, I hope all is well! Things are well here! We continue working hard and learning lots! Man is there a lot to learn here on earth huh? I feel like there is not enough time to learn!

Love you all lots,

Hermana Van Wagenen

pic 1: Christmas eve in the church!

pic 2: Senor Morales!

pic 3: One of the many beautiful Argentine sunsets

pic 4: Dora the explorer (one of my fav members!)

12.27.11

hey there!

well as you probably have figured out yesterday was another holiday here in argentina so we had to work yesterday and today we are having p-day. We didnt even find out until 10 on sunday night. haha ahhh how amazing it was to talk to you guys. I am not going to lie I was super nervous to call and talk to you guys because it has been such a long time but it wasnt weird at all. I absolutely loved it so much. It was just what I needed and like you said I think I just needed someone to talk to because it has been a while since I have been able to talk to someone in english. What a great day! man I love you guys so much!

well I really dont have much to write today because I just talked to you guys on sunday night but I will just write about christmas for other people to read. haha So they celebrate christmas here was different than I am used to. I figured that everyone celebrated pretty much the same but man was I wrong. So they start celebrating about 1030 on the 24 of December. They all get together with their familys and have a big bbq of meat, meat, and more meat!! They love their meat here!!! Well then at midnight they all start shooting off fireworks and then start partying and dancing and drinking all night (my comp told me till like 11 the next morning) crazy huh? they dont really do the whole santa clause thing. They give each other little gifts. and then I think on the 25 they have another bbq for lunch of meat. but sadly we didnt get invited to anything so we ended up going to the church on saturday night and watched the first presidency christmas message with the elders and a couple in the branch and then ate. Then on sunday we went to church for sacrament meeting and then made lunch in the church and basically spent the whole day in the church with the elders watching church movies and calling home. I actually really enjoyed it. Super relaxing and we were able to focus more on the reason for the holiday. The birth of our savior Jesus Christ. It really was a good day for me.

On sunday we went to pass for some of our investigators in the morning to bring them to church and when we got to their houses the houses were closed and I am pretty sure they were all sleeping. Well we then got to church and three of these kids that we have been visiting their families were sitting in church waiting for it to start. They are 9, 11, and 11. Man what examples they are. They woke up in the morning and all walked together to church without their parents or anything now it the struggle of helping the parents. Man does it really shock me to see kids like that.

Things are still hard right now with the mini missionary. Man do I have to be so strong right now because literally if I dont do anything nothing will get done. Its hard because sometimes you have a bad day or are really really tired and you dont have strength to do anything but luckily you have a comp to help you and to share the work but it is not like that in this situation. If I do teach or talk to people then we dont do anything. man am I really having to learn to leave my comfort zone. I guess that is what I always said before my mission huh? that I wanted to learn to be able to talk to people and not be scared well the mission is really forcing me to do that. haha but I am learning a lot and I know there is a reason for this challenge right now and there are things for me to learn. There are always things to learn from the hard times. Well I love you lots!!! hope everyone enjoyed their christmas and has a happy new year!!!! Dont forget the reason for the season and our savior Jesus Christ! What a blessing it is to have the restored gospel on the earth today and the priesthood. I am grateful everyday for this opportunity that I have to share this with the people here in Argentina.

Love,

Hermana Van Wagenen