Week 24: Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful time this holiday season!

Wow! it was just last Tuesday that my companion and I arrived on time in the train station and couldn´t get to our zone conference until 20 minutes late becuase we had no idea where it was and no one was answering their phones becuause they´d already put them in silent and we had to wait until the elders that arrived late showed up. It feels like it happened two weeks ago. :S

Zone conference was amazing!! One elder shared that we are literally living the dreams of the prophets. They saw our days and were so happy with how the church was growing.

After the conference a couple of sisters had a lot of stuff (book of mormons, pamphlets, etc) to bring back in their two hour journey, so they stayed the night in our pension, and the pensioneros (elders that organize everything in the pensions, rent, furniture, todo) picked them up the next morning with their things. That morning was the birthday for one of them and so we had a little celebration for her with balloons and presents. 

That day (wednesday) we had a lesson with Mimi about praying, reading, and going to church and it was really good. She still doesn´t really want to be baptized but our lessons are a lot better and she´s a lot more open. We also talked with Hna Olga about the Restoration, and then had a last minute rehearsal with the stake choir. 

They had their performance yesterday and the missionaries joined them for the last song- Joy to the World. I also joined the program playing the violin. In a couple of songs they also had me play the tenor part on the keyboard to amplify the sound. It was crazy and fun!

The performance was amazing! We´re going to get the photos and videos from the two photographers (members of our ward :)) and I´ll send them to you all.

To my embarrassment this week I fell asleep during a ¨lesson¨. :S We´´d found an old investigator and she talked and talked and talked, and it was late afternoon and I was sleepy, and so I fell asleep around 5 times during her conversation. :(. Lesson..... DON´T FALL ASLEEP DURING LESSONS!! :S

But we got a return visit, so she wasn´t offended (or didn´t notice, hopefully :))

Friday we had a lesson with a member that´s super sweet and is raising her neices. She came to the ward dinner that night which started at 8 and ended at 12 (we only stayed an hour), but looked super fun!

Our investigator Maria accepted the Word of Wisdom without any problems, so we´re super happy for her! 

Saturday and Sunday were musical! We practiced again with the stake choir in the morning, ran to lunch, ran from lunch to violin lessons and piano lessons with a less active member and her granddaughter, and ran to the stake center again for the baptisms of the stake. One of which was a member in our ward. She was the last person in her family to accept the gospel, but now they´re all together, and she wants to visit people with us. She´s super sweet, and it´s amazing that she´s had this opportunity.

Then Sunday was church, practice for the ward choir, eat lunch, and practice for the stake choir, and perform for the stake choir. 

It was really the best church production I´ve been in, and in the end people were crying, and Mimi was able to go, and it was all amazing.

Overall, I´m super happy. We have fun plans for Christmas, the highlight of which is going to be..... the apple pie. JK, talking with my family!!!

Famililes are amazingly important, and in the Christmas season we appreciate them even more. Because Christ was born, He was able to perform the atonement. Because He performed the atonement we can be clean from sin. Becuase we are clean we can enter the temples. And becuase we can enter the temples our families can be sealed together forever. 

I love you all and *May your days be merry and bright, and my all your christmases be white*

(we´re going to have a lightening storm here. I guess that´s the closest we´ll get to snow :))

Sister Tova S Biesinger

Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission

Week 23: Hola! Feliz Navidad!

This week was super fun!

Last Wednesday a member notified us that he wanted to go proselyting with us. So he went with us! He´s 16 years old, and is amazing. We had a lesson with an investigator and afterwards he invited her son to mutual and the church, and he went! Thanks to all the members who help us out, it really makes the day of a missionary when this happens. 

Also in Monday we´d made brownies and cinnamon rolls and piña colada (without alcohol, don´t worry) to bring to eat at the end of district meeting Tuesday. But at the end of the meeting our lunch called and said we had an hour to get there (and we were 1 1-2 hrs. away) so we left the food with the elders and to this day I will never know if it was delicious or not (besides taking their word for it, but I´ll never know for myself :( ...).

Then our weekend was amazing because WE SANG ALL WEEKEND!!

All of the missionaries in our zone sang chrismtas carols in three different parks that were next to train stations, and I got to play violin!! The funnest part was afterwards, as we all went home in the train we sang and I played violin some more. :)

I´ve been finishing Alma in my scripture study, and this is what I learned from Moroni. 1--we should be like him (he is ... Alma 48:7-16). 2--how to handle adversity: have faith and a sense of duty or motivation, receive counsel and comfort from leaders and loved ones, have unity, pray, endure with power, and forgive (see Alma 43:46, 48, 49, 50, 54, 44:20).

It also talks ALOT about preparation. When he isn´t fighting he´s preparing. When Teancumn doesn´t know what to do, he prepares. As we prepare we can face the trials and fights that come our way with courage and faith.

Oh, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! I know it´s not there yet, but it´s basically there. :)

I know that as you do the Light the World program (even every other day) you´ll be able to feel the Spirit more, and see miracles in your lives and the lives of others.

Love you all!!

"May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white."

Sister Tova S Biesinger

Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission

Week 22: A Great Week

I`m going to start out this email with some amazing scriptures about hope and faith. Reading them helped my understand them, where we get them, and what they mean for me, and I know they can help you all as well: 1 Nephi 7:12,  1 Peter 1:8-9,  Enos 1:6-8,  Moroni 7:33, 10:23,  Jeremiah 17:7,  Psalms 33:22, Moroni 7:41,  Proverbs 13:12,  Romans 8:24-25, Alma 31:21-22, Ether 12:4, 32,  1 Peter 3:15

My companion shared this thought with me... If we don`t have faith, the Lord can`t give us hope.

Last Monday we joined a family for FHE, and were able to teach the less active father. We had fun building boats and planning how to help our family arrive in the promised land, and then chatted until they gave us a ride home. 

Also, this week we made cinnamon rolls and apple pie!! The apple pie was easy to make and turned out really good, and when our district leader heard that I`d made it, he requested it for our district meeting tomorrow (he`s also from the US). 

We had another good lesson with Mimi. We`re going back and teaching the first lessons before going into the commandments. She and my companion chatted after the lesson about Mexico, becuase she wants to visit there with Leonardo (her son). Then we talked with Hna Olga and her daughter about their families and how special they are. Even though she isn`t doing her family history as we`ve invited her to do, teaching her got us started doing our own family history.

We also got to help a member in her garden weeding (woohoo :)). We only ended up doing it for about 20 minutes before she had to leave, so we`ll be going back to help another day. 

I loved reading in Alma 29 and Alma 31 because in both chapters Alma prays. In one, he`s finishing a mission, and in the other he`s starting a mission.

In chapter 29, I learned that joy comes from seeing others spiritually self reliant, seeing their success, following God`s will, and being grateful.

This week has been full of appointments, so in Thanksgiving we enjoyed riding the bus and sprinting through our area to have a lesson, then deliver a piece of pie, have lunch with a less active, and finish the day with another FHE. 

We got to go visiting teaching with a sister that doesn`t have a companion, and talked about the new Church Christmas challenge-- Light the World!! (I only just figured out what it was in english today, when I saw the other emails from missionaries :)). It`s a beautiful video and a challenge reach out to people every day until Christmas.

After visiting teaching we helped set up a reception for a member`s daughter`s wedding (but we didn`t stay :( ), and then left to have a lesson with our newest investigator-- Maria. And she accepted baptism! She`s so sweet, and reads the pamphlets we leave with her, has a son and a boyfriend. I can`t wait to see her and her family sealed in the temple. :)

At the end of the day we needed to walk home, because we no longer had money to take the bus :D.

Saturday it rained a lot, but we started our piano classes in spite of it, and my student (aka, my companion) played her first hymn! Next Saturday we have more people that are going to come, and I`m super excited to continue teaching.

After church on Sunday we had ward council, lunch with the bishop, a lesson with a less active family, a FHE with another family (so much fun, and they taught us a game!), and then ran to the stake center for a choir practice with our zone for the weekend choirs we`re going to do. 

So this week was busy and awesome, and this next week is even busier! :D. I know that this work brings happiness and that we can all help in it. As you reach out to the missionaries in your ward you`ll be able to help them feel your support and you`ll also be able to feel the Spirit more in your own life.

I love you all,

Enjoy the snow,

Happy holidays!

:D

Sister Tova S Biesinger

Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission

Week 21: New Transfer.... Ready for Christmas!

Hola todos!

So last week in district meeting we played two truths and a lie to get to know each other, and I mentioned that I could solve a rubik´s cube, so one of the elders let me use his 2x2x3 cube (which I had never seen before) and said to solve it like a 3x3, but it´s completely different, but I solved it this week :). 

We´re starting our Christmas campaign this week after Thanksgiving (which I will be celebrating alone :(...). Our President organized for us to receive enough pass a long cards to give out 75.... EVERY DAY!! :s. We´re also going to be getting together as districts and zones to sing in choirs in parks every weekend until Christmas, and it´s going to be super fun!

This week´s been full of miracles. We found a less active that has never been home before, and got his number and an appointment. The same day, we went to visit another less active (who is now evangelical) and she told us that her pastor told her not to listen to us anymore :(. But we´ll probably drop something off at Christmas anyway :D.

I was reading about Aaron, and thought about him and his brother Ammon, and the conversation they had in the prison. 

Ammon: Hey brother, wow, you look terrible.

Aaron: Yeah, it´s been rough. No one wanted to talk to us, but it´s all for the Lord, right?

Right.

How did you let us out?

Oh, this is Lamoni. I baptized him, his queen, and all of his servants, plus a bunch of his citizens this week.

..... Oh....

So often in missionary work we make comparisons between our work and others, but WE SHOULDN´T. (this applies to any other aspect of life, too).

Then a few chapters later, I found something I´d never noticed. After destroying the city of Ammonihah, many of the Lamanites remembered the words OF AARON, and were converted, and went to live with the people of Ammon.

Every good thing you do counts.

Also, in this section both of the kings--when converted-- shared their testimony with their people but established religious tolerance. Thought it was interesting...

We were able to teach a lot of less actives. 

Our new investigator asked me if I was from Ukraine.... Never got that before :). Another first-- we knocked on a door, and the guy who came out gave us the cross, and left :S. 

The Flia Ortiz let us in again, and we had fun chatting. There is so much love in that house, but she is very sensitive when we share things about the church.

Speaking of the church, there was a baptism from the elders yesterday, and I got to lead the music, and my comp got to give another talk (she also spoke in sacrament meeting :)).

Also, the husband of a member who is generally inactive also came to the church. 

Yeah!!

As I said, a week of miracles.

I´ve really been able to feel closer to the Spirit this week, and feel the excitement of the work.

Love you all so much!

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

Sister Tova S Biesinger

Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission