7.30.12

Hey there familia!

Sounds like you guys had a blast this past week at newport I am happy to hear that. Man it has been a while since I have gone to Newport. haha Well it looks like this information is true. I recieved a call last friday informing me that I will be going home a week earlier than I thought. I am not going to lie as soon as I heard it tears started coming to my eyes because its earlier than I was expecting and it comes a lot faster. I had already had in my mind that I still had a little bit of time and now its like bamm! but it will be ok. 

Well I am happy to say that Adelaida got her hair wet (as grandpa says ;) ) this past weekend. I think it was the best baptism in my mission. Adelaida seriously was a golden investigator and before she was baptized she was asking us about callings and assignments in the church. She is ready to work. She is awesome. It looks like the branch president is thinkin about calling her to teach gospel principles. WOW! RIght before she was baptized she came to me and gave me a huge hug (pic below) and said Gracias Hermana! I seriously am so grateful to my heavenly father to have been able to know her and be apart of her conversion from the beginning all the way to her baptism. She is going to be such a great help in the church. We were also super excited because her husband and one of her daughters went to her baptism. She said that her husband was very suprised after because it wasnt what he was expecting He thought we were a church that yells and sing but I think he really felt peace and loved that it is like a family. He is very supportive of her and that is a great start! Her daughter ended up showing up on sunday in church with her because she liked it! Ahhhh I hope so much that her family will be able to follow her! 

Other than Adelaida we have our awesome little Diana. Our little 12 year old investigator that everyone thinks is my little sister. She absolutely loves the church and is already sharing the gospel with her neighbors and friends. She says ¨oh i was telling my neighbor about OUR church the other day¨haha its super awesome! just kind of hard because i want so bad that her family will be able to support her and go with her. Because its kind of hard for a 12 yr to go by herself. Truly things are super great right now! I feel so happy and grateful to be a missionary right now and to be able to know the people that i am meeting. Really it is an experience incredible. Everyday I think the lord for this time i have to serve him. Everything is great!!! Love you all lots!!!! 

Love,
Hermana Van Wagenen

 

7.23.12

¡Hola!

¿Como estan todo? Espero que todo esten muy bien. :) I hope you areall enjoying your little vacation in Newport this week! Well this pastweek was a pretty good week. The only down side is that I have beenkind of sick with a cold and a bad cough and my voice kind of left. Sothat makes it a little hard to teach but I am getting better. Theweather here is so bipolar because last week it was super cold and wewere sleeping with heaters and all our clothes and now today it is hotoutside and we are in tshirts but at least it is nothing like thesummer killer heat. Its a nice day.

Things are going super great! Adelaida is doing great! I think I toldyou that last week we put a baptism date with her for the 28 of Julyand after we put that date she was telling and inviting everyone toher baptism. This past saturday we invited her to a baptism and sheshowed up in a skirt (this was the first time she came in a skirt)with all of her books she has recieved. She is basically already amember its awesome. So we need all of your prayers this week thateverything will turn out well and nothing comes in the way of herbaptism this saturday. Her family still doesnt listen to us or go withher but I am super grateful because they are at least supporting herand not an obstacle for her. She said that every Sunday her husbandwakes her up to get ready for church and takes her to church in hismoto. It is def a blessing that he is supportive of her because thereare so many husband that are not supportive at all of their wives thatwant to be baptized. I am praying that her husband and daughters willgo to her baptism this saturday and will feel what she feels and beopen to listen to the lessons too..

This past week we found new investigators. This kid named Andres(18yrs old) and his sister Diana (12 yrs old). We taught them the planof salvation and put a date to go back. When we went back they hadtold us that the day before their aunt had died  (it made me realizethe spirit must have told us that we needed to teach them the plan ofsalvation because it was exactly what they needed at that time) whenwe went back diana had read the whole pamplet we had given her and wassuper excited for our visit she basically taught us the whole plan ofsalvation and had invited her friend to come listen to what we wereteaching. Her and her friend ended up going to church with usyesterday. It always seems to be the kids and teenagers that are superopen to everything. The members were asking me if she was my sister.if my sister came from the united states to visit me becauseapparently she looks a lot like me. haha  (see pic below)

Well that was basically our week. Sometimes I get down because ourarea is SUPER small and I feel like there is not one left that hasntlistened but then everytime we find someone who really is prepared. Itreminds me everytime that the lord really is part of this work and heis preparing people to listen to us that he has called us here to thissmall little area because their are people that need to listen to ourmessage. I really do love this work. It is so incredible to see theexcitement that people have when they feel the spirit and really havetestimonys of the gospel. I am so greateful to my heavenly father forhave given me this opportunity to help people feel this same happinessthat i feel because of the gospel in my life. Thanks for all of your support. It is very appreciate. love you lots!!

Love,

Hermana Van Wagenen

mini mtc: the group that went out with my to do contacts

with my old comp Hermana Green at the mini Mtc last week

with my old comp Hermana Vera (the mini missionary) and her BFF

my comp and I (i am a giant) haha

Diana (the investigator) and i after church yesterday

7.16.12

Hey there.

I hope everyone is doing great. I didn’t hear from anyone besides mom, grandma and grandpa. Hope everyone is great! ¨Finding Joy in the Journey¨is my theme for this transfer I put it as a quote on my planner and I think it fits well as a missionary.

Updates from over here in Argentina. Well this past Saturday was a fun crazy day. It started out with interviews with our mission president. The interviews were to update temple recomends for the rededication of the Buenos Aires temple in september that sadly I wont be able to attend because it is a few weeks after I finish. I am super sad but whatever hopefully I will be able to read it later. Then after interviews the stake did a mini MTC for all of the youth. They gave them all nametags that said Future Missionary with their name and they were assigned companions and  had classes to learn how to be a missionary and they had studies and everything like they do in the mtc and then in the afternoon 2 or 3 companionships were assigned to 1 missionary and we went out and contacted people. It was actually pretty fun but I ended up having to talk to everyone because the kids were scared to talk. haha but i thought it was such a great idea for the youth to experience a little bit of what a mission is like.

Adelaida is doing great. No she didnt make is for her baptism this past saturday but yesterday we were able to put a new date with her for the 28 of July. She is excited and already wants to pay tithing and everything. The members say that she acts like she is already a member because on sunday during relief society the teach talked about missionary work and she talked as if she were a member and how she wants to share the gospel with others. haha She knows that this is all true but she says that she still fills like she needs to know more and she want 1 or 2 more months but we put a date with her for the 28th and she accepted so were are praying like crazy that everything goes through and that she feels ready and prepared for this. Its difficult when we know that an investigator has their answer but they dont recognize it.

Other than that things are going great. I seriously feel so grateful to be here on my mission and to be on a mission at this time. I really have a strong testimony that God answers our prayers and that I am suppose to be on a mission. It  continues to be an amazing learning experience every single day and I love it so much. Its amazing how from every difficulty we learn from them and are able to better our lives. A mission is a refiners fire and it is difficult but amazing. I am grateful that God answered my prayers and sent me here to Argentina to do his work. It truly is the best! Thanks for all your support and everything you do. Love you all lots!

Love,
Hermana Van Wagenen

7.9.12

Hey there!
     Well as you have probably realized yesterday was a holiday here in the great Argentina it was independence day but sadly independence day here is NOTHING like 4th of July for us. They seriously didnt do anything here to celebrate their independence. It made me miss the 4th of July (but don’t you worry I def represented my country 4th of July/see pic below)
     This week was a good week. Things are still going super great with our investigator Adelaida. She has gone to church 3 times and has a baptism date for this Saturday but she doesn’t feel super sure about everything. She was to be positive that what she is doing is right. Its difficult because we see that she has received many answers that this is true but she doesn't recognize it. Last week our mission leader gave her the gospel principles book to take home and she told us that she already read the whole book and has been studying it and looking up all of the scriptures. She asked us what is D&C she said she was searching all over her books and couldn’t figure it out and said that she found in the index of the BOM some things that said D&C too.. hahaha  It makes it nice when an investigator likes to read because they can learn things on their own and we don’t have to teach as much just answers questions and explain doubts she has. The other day she told us that she was thinking about Joseph Smith and how she doenst believe in him and then that night she had a dream that she was walking in a forest or something and was kind of lost and was about to walk across a bridge and then Joseph Smith came in her dream and lead her along the way. Umm hello! Yes that it exactly what prophets do they lead us along the way. We just have to help her recognize these things are answers that Joseph Smith really was a prophet. We are praying hard that she can recognize her answers and that her family will also follow her. .
     Things are great! Today I was reading a talk from last April conference called Waiting on the Road to Damascus by Pres. Uchtdorf. Its awesome! It talks a lot about recognizing  answers to our prayers. I think its something we all struggle with sometimes. its a really awesome talk. I am thinking about sharing it with Adelaida! Well I hope all is well and you have a wonderful week!

Love,
Hermana Van Wagenen

7.2.12

(I posted her past 4 emails. Sorry for slacking!)

Well this past week we had transfers and happily I can say that I stayed in the area. I´m not going to lie I was praying that I would stay because I truly did not want to go to a new area and finish my mission in a new area. I am grateful to still be here because there are certain people here that I honestly consider like family and I just feel like there is still things that I need to do here in Formosa. Its crazy because this past week I realized that the Lord is truly who does transfers. My new comp is Hermana Ovando. She is from the south of Argentina (usualla …something like that) This is her 4th transfer in the mision so she is still pretty new. Well we are teaching a lady named Adelaida (attached pic) and she is pretty much amazing! Did i tell you about her? Well she said that she was praying that the lord would show her the truth and we happened to show up at her door. Ever since we have started teaching her about 2 weeks ago she has been reading everything we give her and is so excited. About a year ago elders had passed by and visited her and given her a book of mormon but she never even looked and it and almost through it away but decided not to and now she says. that for a reason she felt she shouldn't throw it out. She has been reading the book of mormon like crazy and loves it! She has already gone to church 2 with us and says that she just feel something different and there has been so much more peace in her home ever since we started visiting her. It has just made me realized that the lord really is preparing people. Sometime I get kind of down and feel like there is no one and then this happens. Really the lord knows us and gives us hard times so that we can truly appreciate the good times. I feel grateful that the lord has given me this opportunity to help Adelaida find this happiness that she is looking for. Missionary work really is the best! It has its super hard times but when there are good times they are amazing! I am so grateful to still be here in this area to keep helping Adelaida have a strong testimony and help her family also follow. Well hope you have a great week! Love you lots!

Hna Van Wagenen

saying bye in the terminal to my comp Hna Sallay

Our investigator Adelaida with her husband (i really like this pic)

casino. haha

6.25.12

Hey,

Well this week was a seriously crazy week. Pretty much all of the problems of everyone came out and put on us. Thats the life of missionarys. Well things were going super awesome with our inv Blanca. We were preparing her and getting her ready for her baptism for the 23 of June she was also super excited and loved the church and honestly didnt have any doubts. Well last monday we went to visit her and out of nowhere came all of the doubts. She asked us about her baptism and after she is baptized what she has to do. She basically told us that she feels like the church is taking her away from her studies and that lately she has been not going to well in school (which really has nothing to do with church) and that she can follow through. My heart seriously dropped. We tried explaining to her that really the church is here to help her with her schooling not take her away from it. we told her she needed to pray for the help of the lord and that we were going to pass by the next day to talk a little more with her. When we passed by on tuesday night her mom came out of the house and said that she didnt want to come out and talk to us. ahhhhh so sad! so basically everything fell through. We later found out from her mom and others that friends have been saying things to her about the church like that we cant listen to music or dance or use jewlery. (which is soooo not true) and i think that scared her alittle bit and put lots of doubts in her head. So basically we are super sad about Blanca but that doesnt mean we give up there is still hope.

but other than that things are great. We found a awesome investigator this past week. She had listen to the missionarys before but truly  didnt havemuch interest then because she was involved in another church. but now she is not going to any church because she had problems and she is looking for the true church! Awesome! we will show her the true church! :) i seriously lvoe missionary work. It is hard but amazing whenyou found those people who are truly prepared to listen and accept the gospel. the lord truly is preparing people. i know that without a doubt. i am so grateful to have the gospel in my life. i know that it brings so much happiness. well gtg they are kicking me out of this computer place. haha. loveyou lots!!! have a great week!

-Hna Van Wagenen

6.18.12

Hey there!

I just wanted to wish a Happy Fathers Day over there. I hope you had a great day and gave reedsif some lovin! haha Over here things are going good. I told you about Blanca right? Well we are getting her all ready for her baptism this saturday. she is super awesome! We found her one day clapping doors and she accepted to go to church with us the next day and that sunday when we went to her house to pick her up she was standing outside her house at 8 am waiting for us to go to church. and ever since then we have been teaching her. She told us that she felt something different in church. Something warm and a peaceful feeling. She said it made her happy. She said she has never felt that before. We explained that this was the holy ghost and this is how God answers our prayers. The thing is that she is 14 (kind of young) and her mom supports her with everything and is always listening to our lessons and likes it all but she is kind of lazy and basically told us that she doenst really leave her house for anything (for example to go to church) and she likes to worship her little virgin mary. I am praying that with time her heart also can be touched and she will be able to follow with her daughter.

    This week something kind of sad happened. We have been teaching this kid named Fabio ( i think i told you about him) he was super in drugs and now he is in a treatment that is helping him. Well he has been progressing great and everything he went to church with us and had a date for this saturday to be baptized. but on thursday when we went to visit him we was super weird and didnt want to read or pray or do anything. We basically told us that he doenst know if he can keep the commandments  and continue. He said he hasnt been praying all week so i think that just made him fall completely down. Satan is powerful and if we are strong he will get to us. So i basically thought we had lost Fabio but members are miracles and we had a member go visit him and shared his testimony with him and Fabio ended up coming to church yesterday. This was seriously a miracle and we are praying that he can realize that the gospel really is going to help him and bring happiness in his life and that drugs and alcohol wont bring happiness to his life. 

    Other than that things are great!  This week was a little bit of a sick week. My comp and I got colds but we are getting better. It sounds like pretty much all of the missionarys in the mission have been sick this week. haha but we are feeling better so thats good.  Hope everyone is great and that the girls enjoy their week at girls camp! Love you all.

Love, 

Hermana Van Wagenen