Week 10: Put the Atonement on your Scale

Sigh... I don´t want my trainer to leave :(. But I´m excited to meet my new companion next Monday!

Last week we had a fun activity in our district, and were able to edify each other, and I was able to have an enjoyable time speaking spanish! :D

In his talk ¨The Joy of Redeeming the Dead¨ Elder Scott gave us a way to ELIMINATE the influence of the adversary in our lives-- by searching wholeheartedly for our ancestors and taking their names to the temple. I can´t help with that right now, but I can see in the lives of the recent converts here, and it´s been shown that the people who do family histroy work are more likely to be active in the church... as my brother recently said, Coincedence, I think NOT!

Also, if you read in hebrews 11, it talks about faith and also about how faith relates to our trials. 

We were able to teach Kiara and Valentina-- the little girls who are preparing to be baptized, and we found another girl and a boy who haven´t been baptized, and who´s families are less active. It´s sad to see how inactivity in the church effects the children in the family. They don´t have a knowledge of Jesus Christ or a security that comes from the knowledge we have in the gospel. But we´re working with them, and their families remember the joy that they felt when they attended the church--it´s just taking the step to returning is difficult. 

On Wednesday, I stopped a woman in the street to invite her to our Open House (Capilla Abierta) in the church, and she smiled really big. Then she told us that just a few minutes before, she´d been invited by the elders. :S. But we were able to connect with her because her family comes from Germany and so does mine (distantly). 

As I was studying the attributes of God in PMG, I noticed that in nearly all of them it mentions love, or caring, or understanding, finally all summed up in John 4:7-9 GOD IS LOVE.

Thursday we were running (sometimes literally) from lesson to lesson. It was amazing! We were able to teach about the Book of Mormon with one woman, who said she´d download the gospel library and listen to it on the bus. We also sang some hymns with the blind friend of a member who we found again, and she sang some catholic songs for us. We shared how Jesus Christ helps each of us in our trials. 

Then we had one more lesson, quick study time, and a family home evening with a family, who then gave us some AMAZING Argentine pizza. :) It was an amazing day. :)

Speaking of food, we had intercambios (exchanges) this past Friday-Saturday, and during lunch the member filled our plates twice with delicious food, refilled our glasses at least five times, and then brought out dessert. :O. I rolled out of there very happy, and wasn´t hungry until breakfast the next day, and even then I could have waited until lunch. :). We also had a lot of lessons during intercambios, and it was amazing to see how the other sisters taught together and how my teaching could improve. 

One of their investigators shared that he hadn´t understood how there could be a God if all the bad things happened in the world, but after they´d left 2 Nephi 2, it made sense to him why we needed the opposition. 

We had an amazing day in church, the speakers were talking from their hearts and the Spirit was so strong. One of the less actives we´ve worked with came! And hopefully he was also able to feel the Spirit. 

I still love studying the Atonement. :) This week I thought about how we have a scale, and on one side is our sins and the obstacles keeping us from God and the other side is what we can do to make it up. It´s not that much. :( But if we accept what the Savior offers to us, and using our faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost to put it on our scale, He can make up the difference. And as missionaries, we help show people how they can put the Atonement on their scale and help them find that balance in their lives.

Que tengan una linda semana!!

Sister Tova S Biesinger

Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission

ps, quotes from this week-- We don´t have to defend Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon will do it for us (Hales... I think)

--Without repentance, the past would forever hold the future hostage.

--How many times have we vigorously protested on the way to a blessing? (Maxwell)

--The crowning characteristic of love is loyalty (Holland)

--Our Father in Heaven refreshes us on the journey through life with some pleasant inns, but He will not encourage us to mistake them for home. (CSLewis)

Knock-Knock Story and Quote

Knock knock story of the week:

We rang a bell for a referral. After about 3 minutes, she came out. ¨Did you ring the bell?¨ ¨Yes¨ ¨It doesn´t work.¨ Then she closed the door. We weren´t sure if she was going to come back out again, so we waited for a while, and then left when she didn´t come back out :S

Cool quote from Pres. Monson as quoted by Hma Walters-- our sufferings can be opportuinies to grow or they can just be sufferings.. depends on our attitude.

Week 9: Aug 1 and pics!

To start out, here´s a scripture 2 Nephi 10:20-- trials will lead us to better things**

Last week for district meeting Hma Walters made banana bread with our left over bananas and I made Sandies --my dad´s ¨favorite¨ cookie :D.
Speaking of food, I forgot to mention that I passed my first test** During intercambios last week, we were served some rice, veggies, and noodles in a member´s house. But they weren´t noodles. I half knew this, but didn´t let myself think about it as I finished it. Later, my companion confirmed my fears-- It was cow stomach. Well, the worst part was the texture, and it was cut up small enough that you could just swallow it. :D. Hma. Latoja said that she´s only had it 3 times in her stay here, so I´m pretty safe.
Afterwards, we were looking for a member from the ward list --which is fairly old-- and she hadn´t ever answered the door. Hma. Walters felt to go one door over, and we found her brother. She had moved a few streets over. We found her yesterday. She hadn´t attended the church for about 15 years, but said we could visit her. Yeah**
We found two other less actives that day, both are very friendly and willing to try to come back to church. One of them went inactive because she married and moved shortly after she was baptized, but she has good memories of the church and the missionaries. Today we´re going to talk about Pres. Thomas S Monson and how we have a prophet today to help us.
On Tuesday we had an amazing lesson with Valentina. She asked us how she could recognize the answers to her prayers, and we had the other members of her family answer. After teaching the Plan of Salvation, we also talked about temples. They haven´t been sealed yet, but the mother remembers being sealed to her family when she was Valentina´s age. She said she doesn´t attend church because of some hurt feelings, but she´s going to try to let them go because she knows that it´s a step she needs to take if their family can be sealed. :D We´re so happy for them. It´s been a miraculous experience whenever we´ve taught them. Tonight we´re going to do a FHE with them, and start working with them even more.
Thought from Pres. Faust: The Holy Ghost is the most reliable source of peace in our unstable world. It can be with us in sorrow or joy. It can heal our insecurities.
The weather´s been great** It rained Tuesday and yesterday, but other then that it´s been autumn the whole time I´ve been here-- and occasionally spring and summer, it only gets winter like at night.
Jorge looks a lot happier this week, and we hope that we´re helping him by visiting regularly, and I know that the Priesthood is really reaching out to him as well. At the end of our lesson with him, his son Lucas gave us alfajores and chocolate bars. Mmmm...
Elder Bednar gave an amazing talk a conference or two ago about the prophets, and why they are elder men. He said ¨They are not spared affliction. Rather they are blessed and strengthened to press forward valiantly. ... Their greatest desire is to discern and do the will of Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son.¨ I could feel that as I read the talks of Pres. Monson today. They really do love us and want us to be able to be happy in this life.
Alma 28--talks about a huge battle where 10,000 plus were killed. Later it describes two types of survivors--the kind that had hope through the gospel, and those who didn´t. They were both sad, and both had lost so many loved ones, but because of the gospel, one group was able to look forward with faith and to move on to their future.
And yes, there´s a tie in in verse 14 to missionary work...
We had our first interview with our new mission president this Thursday, and it was cool. He gave great advice on how we´re going to help improve our work in this mission.
We also sang I am a Child of God for an older lady, and right after she asked if we were married. :S. She´s super cute, and it´s such a cool opportunity to visit with her.
On Friday, as I was talking on the phone, the lady on the other end kept saying that she couldn´t understand me. :O. I thought my spanish was improving** We also found an investigator that is rather hard to find, because of her school and work, but we talked with her about the Book of Mormon and she asked us if she could attend church. YES** You Can** She´s so sweet, and I can´t wait to see how the gospel blesses her life.
On sunday, we learned that we´d be having a big open house in the chapel later this month. It´s a beautiful program that was started in Central America and now they´re doing it here --I don´t know if they do it in the USA. I´m excited to help with it, and will send pictures if I can. :D
I was studying the commandments this morning, and found a couple of scriptures. Mosiah 2:36-37, 41. When we´re disobedient we withdraw OURSELVES from the Spirit, but as we live faithfully we are able to be blessed temporally and spiritually and live with God when it´s all through.
I know that that´s true, and that as we live faithful we´re able to see the blessings of God in our lives.
Love you all, have another great week**
Sister Tova S Biesinger
Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission

Week 8: "Awake to your Duties"

I read an amazing talk this morning by Carol M Stephens, and she cited a scriptures in Romans 13:11-12--both are very inspiring, and you should look into them :D

And yes, we are starting out with the connection between the Atonement and missionary work. In 2 Nephi 16 (or Isaiah 6), Isaiah receives a remission of his sins, and DIRECTLY AFTER the Lord asks for someone to preach. Isaiah is ready, and willing to answer that call. (see also vs. 17:14, 18:10, and 19:6). Are we?

Food update: Milanesas are still delicious!! We have them at least once a week. We also had estofada, I think it´s Peruvian, and I was in heaven!

We taught our 10 year old investigator every day this week to try to prepare her for her baptism. We talked with her family about eternal families and how they could be sealed in the temple. After this lesson, her mom really warmed up and shared how she remembers being sealed to her family. She still hasn't attended church, but Valentina bore her testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday. 

On our way from district meeting and to lunch, Hma. Walters felt like we should turn around, and talk to the woman we'd passed sitting by the sidewalk. She opened up quickly to us that she'd lost her son a year ago, and didn't feel like Jesus Christ could be there if he'd let a child die. We talked to her for a while, and are going to find her again. The family we had lunch with knows her, and told us a little more about her situation, and is willing to help us to meet with her and with other investigators.

We taught the daughter of another less active family (Kiara) and had a fun object lesson to teach about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The 6-yr old reminds me of Hava and Maia, and is super sweet!

We found a new investigator on our way from this lesson, a young mom with two children. (We also met her husband in our second lesson). She hasn't really ever prayed, but said the prayer in our lesson, and is reading the Book of Mormon. She asks really good questions that show that she's really learning and has a desire to learn more. 

I decided to be daring and read something out of the old testament. There's a reference to Ezek 33-34 somewhere in PMG, so I read those, and WOW!! They're so powerful, and beautiful about the love of God for people who've gone astray and how we have the responsibility to look for them, and how Jesus Christ is also the Shepherd who wants to gather his flock. 

We met with the woman who's blind again, and were just in time to help her walk to her friend's house. She was so much fun to be with, and said that we could call her to pass by again some other day. 

I've been talking to more and more people, and have decided that one of my mission goals is to be able to talk more easily about the gospel in contacting situations. I'd just gotten use to easy conversations with strangers in English, and now I'm learning how to do it in Spanish.

Yesterday we had our first lesson with a woman that we've talked to a couple of times, and who has met with the sister missionaries once before. She asked a lot of questions and has a desire to have a desire to believe. She told us she has a lot of doubts about religions and even apologized for her "Hard Heart" We shared scriptures from the Book of Mormon and explained about faith, and how it's something that grows gradually as we're developing it. 

Today I studied how the Book of Mormon answers questions of the soul, and decided to write down a question I had, and look for the answer tomorrow. But I didn't even have to wait, because in companionship study, Hma. Walters shared a scripture that answered the question. 

The Book of Mormon is true scripture, and it's a way that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. 

I love you all and wish you a happy week filled with the Spirit!

Sister Tova S Biesinger

Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission

Week 7: A Free Store with Immeasurable Joy

Hola!

So a super cool scripture I was reading this week is in 2 Nephi 9:50-51, where it says that anyone can come to Christ, and buy milk, water, and wine without money. I was thinking, ¨Oh yeah, that´s so wonderful¨ But then I also thought, how would my mom react if she knew of a store that had free food and drinks. She´d tell my aunt and all of her friends. Who would tell all of their friends. If you knew of a store that would give you this opportunity, you´d want to mention it to your neighbors (even if you didn´t know them well.) ¨Oh, by the way, there´s this amazing place where you can get food.¨ That´s how it is with the gospel, only instead of having food, we have the fountain of righteousness, the living bread and water, the light and life of the world--Eternal Life through Jesus Christ. How much more will we want to share this Good News?

We met some cute girls (daughter and friend of an investigator) who wanted to know all about New York... City. I´m glad I visited it once so I could describe it a little. :S.

District meeting was great. Mostly because I don´t feel as intimidated talking in spanish in front of them. It´s been cool, as I rely on the Spirit, I can feel the gift of tongues, but when I just try to think of things and words, I get flustered and confused.

We had lunch is the friend of the relief society president--she´s a sweet lady who´s blind, but very independent and very close with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. She mentioned the scripture in James 1:5, and the scripture in Isaiah 29 about God{s thoughts higher than our thoughts. She teaches in schools, and helps children who have family problems to learn better. She´s funny and we´re going to visit her again this week.

Wednesday was the Día de Amistad (day of friendship). There were a lot of people in the park, and a member we met gave us these cute little butterfly brooches, but more importantly, she gave us the information of her niece, who´d listened to the missionaries before and wanted to listen again, had a new baby, and was ready for us! Yeah! 

I read an amazing talk by Holland this week, about the scriptures (Safety for the Soul) and how in these days, mens hearts will fail them, but if we´re anchored to the gospel through the Book of Mormon we will be able to be strong. He also bore a powerful testimony of the book of mormon.

We met a sweet woman, who said that the sister missionaries always find her when she needs them and that they´re like angels. Aaah... We had an appointment with her, but found out that she doesn´t live in our area! Thankfully, we were able to call the sisters in the other area, and they were able to go visit her.

Another connection between the Atonement and Missionary Work: The first thing that Alma and the Sons of Mosiah did after repenting was going about preaching to the people, and the sons of Mosiah even went to the Lamanites because they couldn´t bear the thought of anyone not experiencing the repentance that they had experienced.

True to the Faith on the Atonement: The Savior was willing to be beaten, humiliated, and executed so that we might enjoy immortality and eternal life.

We had exchanges again this week, and I got to be in our area with Hma. Latoja from Chile. We tried to start our classes of english, but no one came :(. But it´s winter vacation here, so next week we have some members that are going to come and bring their friends! :D

Also this week, I found out that I was saying ¨Raro¨ wrong. I was saying ¨rado¨ ... thankfully the rs and ds sound almost exactly the same. ;)

We weren´t able to meet with the aunt of the member that we met last week, but were able to talk with the cousins. They are also willing to learn, but don´t have a religious background, so it´s different trying to teach them. I hope that they can come to see how happy the gospel can make them, they´re so sweet!

We also met the family that we taught the first day I was in this area. It was interesting, because I can now understand what the little girl is saying when she´s chatting with us!! (most of the time) We were able to go over the Book of Mormon again, and are going to talk with them again tomorrow. 

As I´ve been trying to talk to more people in the streets, I´ve decided to try and follow the Spirit first, and be afraid later. Of course, deciding and doing are two different things, but deciding is the first step. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Sister Tova S Biesinger

Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission

 

 

Week 6: The Weekly Letter

Some delicious food from this week: My companion is a spinach smoothie pro, and also makes some fried rice cakes that are things I´ll eat for the rest of my life** I found out that the {normal{ word for hootenannies is puff pancakes, and they tasted just the same here as in America :D. Also, I´ve discovered my favorite food from Argentina isn´t the milanesa --although that´s a close second. It´s Pastel de Papa. Oh my goodness, it´s so good*** --those are exclamation points again, just like this is in parantheses :D--. Also, the most delicious treat is ¨divinity¨ --something my mom makes at Christmas-- and a cookie with a thick layer of dulce in between and all covered in chocolate. Heaven*

Anway...

I was reading in True to the Faith last monday, and found their section on Judging Others. A lot of people try to define what exactly is good and what is bad to judge, but I was happy to find a doctrinal place that talks about it. It had a beautiful scripture in Alma :

On Tuesday, we were teaching a lesson to a neew convert and his daughter when his grandson ran up behind me calling, ¨Abuela* Abuela*¨ Then he came up next to me, and looked at me for a second, before asking, ¨Abuela?¨ 

Oh* And a miracle from last week: I´d lost my name tag while walking somewhere, and so was just using my other one and moving it back and forth from my coat to my shirt until I could get another one. Then one day, we were passing the house of Maria Ester and stopped for a quick visit. Towards the end, her daughter was rummaging through their blankets and pulled out my name tag** She´d seen it in the street as she was walking to work, and recognized that it was probably one of ours. Yeah*

A few more scriptures about the Atonement and missionary work: 2 Nephi 2:6-9, Alma 17:15-16, 36:24

On Thursday we taught Nora again. Her testimony has grown so much, and she is recognizing the Spirit in her life.

We also found an old investigator of the last hermanas, and taught Patricia about repentance and prayer, and how it can bless her life.

We taught another daughter in a less active family who really wants to be baptized. She goes to church with her uncle sometimes, and really likes it. She hasn´t really read or has a Book of Mormon, so we´re going to get her one and help her with that. She´s super sweet, and her older sister is going to help her, as well.

We met an amazing member family on Saturday and after lunch they went through basically all of their relatives and friends, giving us their addresses and names so we could visit them. A missionaries dream come true** We found a couple of them yesterday, and are going to visit them in this coming week. 

Another lady we found yesterday was a little surprised to see us and asked, ¨Hermanas, you didn´t call me?¨ This was our first time meeting her, so we told her no. Apparently she´d been receiving the lessons for a while, but had lost contact. We got her number, and are going to call her :D.

More thoughts from the Atonement: mosiah 4:2-3. Alma 5:33-34-- ¨Repent, and I will receive you. Come eat and drink of the waters of life freely.*  

I started a list of things the Atonement does for us/brings us: peace, enduring joy, understanding, healing, liberty, light, wisdom, eternal life, immortality.

The Atonement and Jesus Christ are truly at the center of our work. He is how we are able to bring people joy. The Book of Mormon testifies of Him, and teaches us how to become like Him. His prophet leads the church today, and brings light into our lives. He really doesn´t ask that much. All that we give, He will replace and then give us more. It´s like Uchtdorf´s talk about the umbrella: Heavenly Father is raining blessings on us, if we will just put down our umbrellas.

Sister Tova S Biesinger

Week 5: One Transfer Down

Hola everyone!

Everything is the same with my companionship (thankfully! That´s what we expected, but it was good to be sure :))

I´ve been studying the Atonement a lot and how it applies in missionary work. It´s cool, because in so many scriptures in Alma and DC, the scriptures about missionary work are aften acompanied by scriptures about the Atonement (Alma 29:1-2, D&C 18:10-16, also Matt 26-28 (28:18-20)). Also, in PMG, it says that the better we understand the Atonement, the greater desire we´ll have to share the gospel.

Last Tuesday we found an investigator--Miriam-- that had been taught by the Sis. missionaries that had been here before, and she had a Book of Mormon, but hadn´t read it. We taught her about the Word of Wisdom (following the inspiration of Hma. Walters) and thought we´d taught simply and well. But then at the end of the lesson, she asked us if we wanted some tea or coffee. :S. We explained it again, and she gave us some hot chocolate. She was super sweet! We also talked to Gabriela from last week, and she told us that she´d try to arrange her work so that it wouldn´t be on Sundays anymore. What an amazing example of faith.

There was a cool thought about fasting in Sunday school. The teacher taught that fasting is showing our physical self that our spiritual self is in charge for those 24 hours (or 2 meals). Looking at it that way, it was easier for me to fast on fast Sunday. :)

We taught a less active from Mark 10:46-52, about faith, and how it leads us to act on what we´ve received. We´ve also been working with a couple of youth in the ward and helping them be missionaries. One of them actually gave their friend a pamphlet of the Restoration! It´s so exciting when they catch the spirit of missionary work!

As part of my Atomement study, I studied forgiveness. I love The scirpture in Luke 23:34, and the talk from last conference--The Healing Balm of Forgiveness (Kevin R Duncan). 

We got to teach another investigator--Nelida-- in the little pasillo (alley) where a woman told us none of her neighbors were interested, and where we´ve found 3 prepared people :). She doesn´t have any religious background, but believes in God, and has had a hard time understanding what we teach, but accepts it with faith. 

"The Atonement is the ultimate example of God´s love for us, and of the Savior´s love for God and us." (john 3:16, 1 John 3:16) Romans 5:10-11, Helman 5:10-11

We were able to teach Maria Ester (less active) on Saturday, and she shared that one reason she knows the church is true (besides the Book of Mormon) is that the members are always nice when they see her, even if she isn´t attending church, and we´re always willing to visit her. So really, as we´re showing our love for people, they´re going to be able to see God´s love for them, and have a desire to change.

We also found Patricia, who started crying when we told her how happy the gospel could make her. She was very active in the lesson, and asked questions. She´d been taught once or twice before and had a Book of Mormon, and hopefully we´ll be able to help her and her faith.

FInal thought... I LOVE 2 NEPHI 4 !!!! I´m there in my scripture reading, and was able to get over the shock of vs. 27-28 fairly well, but then I hit 32, and fell again. Hma. Walters describes it as the Psalm of Nephi, and I think that´s a perfect description. 

I know this gospel is true. I love the Book of Mormon, and the chance I have to help other people love it.

Sister Tova S Biesinger

Knock-Knock Mission Jokes

So I put stars in my journal next to things I want to share, and there was a really funny day last week (Sunday) so I put a lot of stars next to it.

I SHARED EVERYTHING WITH YOU GUYS EXCEPT FOR THAT DAY! :S

Bueno, here´s that Sunday:

We knocked on a door (old investigators from the area book) and someone inside asked their friend ¨Who is it?¨ ¨It´s the missionaries¨ ¨Oh¨ ¨Do you want me to get rid of them for you?¨ :(. Apparently they didn´t know we could hear them. Hopefully they didn´t hear Hma. Walters and me laughing. 

We couldn´t find a contact, so were knocking on a door (inside it was dead quiet) to ask if they knew where our person was, but when we knocked someone yelled ¨Quien sos?!¨ Followed by a lot of people bursting into laughter. But when they opened the door, they were surprised to see us. Apparently they were expecting friends... and found us! :D

(stories that happen while knocking on doors are now known as ¨knock-knock¨ stories ;D)

 

**********************

Dad had his own reply:

"These are funny stories. I have a knock knock story. We were tracting in a lakotelep, those large russian-made apartment buildings. We knocked on one door and heard:

-Who is it?

-Elder and Biesinger and Elder Vail

-Who?

-Elder Biesinger and Elder Vail

-WHO?

-Elder Biesinger and Elder Vail. We are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

-WHO?!

-I don't think you know us.

-And I never will.

And they never did. Because they didn't answer the door. And it was a good thing because we thought it was pretty funny and were laughing. "

Week 4:Hola de Buenos Aires

Hola Familia y Amigos

This week has been one of the best weeks I´ve had on my mission. My companion and I are closer, I´m feeling the Spirit and recognizin the hand of God in the work, and feeling more of a love for the people I´m teaching. 

Last week, after writing, we had my first district activity. It was great, I got to see and get to know more the other elders in our district. It also gave me a chance to read the letters I´d printed off last week-- sorry to anyone I didn´t respond to, I ran out of time D: ...

Thoughts of the week on umbrellas... they should be made to cover two people instead of one and a half :D. Also, we were able to tell the weather with them this week. When we brought them it wouldn´t rain. When we forgot them, it would. --not all the time, but often enough to be weird :D-- There was quite a bit of rain this past week. Especially yesterday, when I finally gave in and wore my rainboots. I´m so grateful that I did.

Also last Monday, we went to see a less active young man, but he wasn´t home and we met his sister, who wasn´t baptized. Noellia had heard the lessons before, and had felt that the church was true, but no one had invited her to be baptized. :O We invited her, and she accepted. yeah** --my exclamation point isn´t working :S--

We also met with her on Friday, and brought a member. It was amazing, because as Noellia us about the path she´d been on looking for religions, it was similar to the path the member had been on, and she was able to testify that the end of the path could be found in our church. 

Our last lesson on Monday was with the daughter of a less active we´ve been visiting. I was so grateful for the Spirit that night, because as I started to say the opening pray, I realized that we´d only heard her name three weeks before, and I wasn´t completely sure what it was. So I said the name the Spirit gave me --Camila--, and I´m 80 percent sure it was correct. Yeah** She and her mom have gone through a lot of challenges, and still have a lot of challenges, and we hope to show them that as they exercise faith and attend church, they´re unlocking the door to the blessing that can help them with their trials. 

Flash back to last week -- So when I came out here, one of my worries was avoiding the *Besa* or the kiss that´s the traditional way of greeting, even from men to women. It´s fine for us to do it with other women, but I´ve been worrying about how to avoid it from the guys. Well, I´d forgotten about that worry, because it had been 5 weeks, and no one had tried to do it. Until intercambios**.. There were three guys who tried to do it that day, and it was like a boot camp on avoiding the *besa salud*. 

On Tuesday of this week, as we were walking up the street, Hma Walters had the impression that we should turn around and try to contact a less active that we haven´t been able to find. We went and tried, and she was home** We weren´t able to visit then, but set an appointment, and got to know her a little. Then, as we were walking again, who should we run into on the sidewalk, but another person we´d been looking for** Two people, because Hma. Walters followed the Spirit. 

We had a lesson this past week with the less active we met on the sidewalk, and were able to find her needs, and hopefully we´ll be able to help her with them. We´re going to have a FHE with her, hopefully this week.

On Wed., on our way to lunch, we contacted a contact from earlier--she´s 20, and  a strong believer in Christ and the Bible, and doesn´t believe that any other book can be from God. She accepted a Book of Mormon anyway, because she was curious. We hope that she can be touched by the Spirit as she reads it, so that we can talk with her about it in our next meeting. 

That night all of our visits fell through, but while knocking on one of their doors, their neighbor called out that they weren´t home. We asked her if we could visit with her instead, and she said yes. So we got to meet Gabriela, who´s son is baptized in the church, and who has questions about God and Jesus Christ. We have an appointment with her tonight, and really felt guided this morning as we were studying what we should teach her. 

On Thursday, we tried to find a girl that the Elders had contacted and referred to us, but she wasn´t home. Her madrasta --step mom-- answered the door and asked if we wanted to come in. ... Por supuesto** We were able to teach her and her two sons the Restoration, and this Tuesday we´re going to take them on a tour of the church. It´s amazing when we can find people that the Lord has prepared. 

We met with Jorge on Friday. He´s a recent convert, and has actually inspired me. He has a lot of challenges and you can see him struggling to overcome them. When we walked into his house, he was studying his scriptures. He´s coming to church almost every Sunday. He´s working his hardest in order to receive the blessings and guidance from the Lord. 

We were able to have lunch with a member that day, and she was determined that I would start talking to her in Spanish, so she kept asking me questions--which was good, because I need to be better at talking with the members. She found out about our family, and was surprised. *Su mamá es un angel genial*** she kept saying, and I agree. 

We also had dinner with the bishop that night. It was good to be able to get to know his family, and he said that he wanted to invite some of his family that weren´t active in the church to have a meeting with us. We were able to share a scripture with them, and then run to our apartment to do nightly planning. 

Saturday we had lunch with the member that went with us with Noellia, and she made Hma. Walter´s favorite meal--niocis, I think. They were delicious little noodles with tomato and a white sauce. Can I say again that I love all of the food here?*

Speaking of food, we stopped by a panaderia for a factura, and the lady gave us mini alfajores when we told her we were missionaries. She was super sweet, and we talked to her about temples.

We found a less active family, who live on the limits of our boundary. They have the cutest kids, and just had the last one, which is the reason they haven´t been attending. We´re going to go help the mother this week with cleaning, and when she and her baby are all good, they want to start coming to church again. 

That morning, we also met with a recent convert. She´s so excited to be able to go to the temple this week and do the work for her family, including for her husband who passed away a year ago. It´s so cool to see the comfort that the gospel can bring to people. 

Sunday was amazing, I love attending the church. One of the less active families we´ve been teaching attended** We were so excited to see both of them there, and met with them last night to share a spiritual thought. That family really feels the spirit of missionary work, and have accepted a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet to give to their friends at school. 

From my studies this week I´ve learned a lot of things. I found this awesome scripture in Acts that says *they rejoiced to be counted worthy to suffer for his name.* It´s similar to what Elder Ballard said in a talk that we should get up in the morning, look at the rain, and say *What a beautiful day to suffer for the Lord in the rain** :D Thankfully, I haven´t felt like I´m suffering, just trying my best. Also in Mark 10:9, Jesus is talking about the rich young man, and said *Jesus... loved him, and said... Come follow me.* It´s because Jesus loves us that He askes us to follow Him, and do the things that are hard for us.

I´ve also been studying a lot about faith. Ether  is amazing, and I spent one morning just studying that and these are some verses I pulled out: 4, 8, 32, 37 --God has prepared a place for us. 6, 12, 16, 18, 29-- we are able to see miracles after our faith ... I also thought about the story of Peter walking on the water, how after he acted on his faith, even though his faith started to fail, Christ reached out to him, and was able to help him. I also love the story in Helaman 5:;21-50 talking about the faith of Nephi and Lehi and the other people in the prision. --a few other scriptures on faith: DC 6:36, Moronio 7:33 Romans 5:1--

There´s also a beautiful talk that I was reading from this last conference, it´s by Paul V Johnson and is called A There shall be no more Death --or something like that. :S I was really touched by the message he had, and the comfort that he and his daughter were able to offer people. .

Oh, and Happy Independence Day** We´re going to celebrate with icecream, and this morning I read --not planned-- in  2 Nephi 1 vs7, a perfect scripture for today. 

Sister Tova S Biesinger

Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission

Week 3: Pictures

Tova's "happy pillow" that Lily bought for her right before she left...posing at the airport on Tova's way down south.

Due to a lot of things, this email will be filled with typos ans errors, because I only have a short amount of time. :S But pictures are coming!!

This past week has been nice and warm, and I´ve been wearing my rain coat rather than my winter coat (although they both look identical :S).

On Martes (tues) we had district meeting, and I switched my winter coat for my rain coat jsut as we were heading out the door, so I left my sube (bus pass), the phone, and my agenda with my money in the other coat, and didn´t realize it until we were catching the bus. :S Thankfully my companion is patient, and helped me out.

We also had our first corolation with the mission leader of the ward this week, which went well. I didn´t say much :), but could understand about 1-2 of what he said. 

Cool thought: reading the Book of Mormon from a missionary´s perspective is so cool because I can totally tell when the prophets are teaching the lessons. The restoration, the plan of salvation, the gospel of Christ, they´re all through it! (for an example, see 1 nephi 13-14 about the restoration, esp. vs. 13:40 and 14:7)

This week I also managed to catch butter on fire :). Apparently the wrapper is aluminum, and so when I put it in the microwave, the microwave spazzed, I quickly turned it off, and opened it up, and there was a little flame in the butter and on the wrapper. :S. Note to self--check the wrapper for metal. 

We had our last zone conference with Pres. >Thurgood this week, and so we all went to the temple. It was so cool! And what was even more special is that it was on a Thursday, which is P0Day for the CCM right next to the temple, and so I got to see a couple of the girls that I knew that had stayed in the CCM for three more weeks!

While we were there I was able to get a spanish Liahona with the conference talks of the last conference. I have a goal to read through all of them before October. 

So I opened up the first talk (Gary Stevenson about the Keys fo the Priesthood) and read the first sentance, and almost started crying. I had no I idea what he was trying to say. Thankfully, it was just because he was talking about skiing down a hill in winter, and none of those words are in missionary vocabulary (although now they´re part of mine! _:D) 

2 Nephi 4 is definitely my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon. I read it while I was in the temple, and it lifted my spirits (just like it does everytime). Then there was a song on one of my CD´s called "I love the Lord" and is based off of that chapter. It´s beautiful, and you can listen to it for free if you can find it :).

Quote: It´s going to be ok. How can you know? For God so loved the world... (Max Lucado)

Missionary promise from Pres. Uchtdorf: Counsel, use your resources, seek inspiration, and ask for confirmation, then go to work--and you will find who what when and where you need to serve.

We met an amazing member this week who was less active for years, but recently was reactivated, quit smoking, and wants to go out teaching with us! She has such a sweet spirit, and a lvoe for the church. We´re trying to teach her son and granddaughters who are all lessactive, and she´s very helpful in that effort as well.

Unfortunately, one of our other investigators told us she didn´t want us to come anymore. She was never enthusiastic before anyway, but we were praying. We´re still praying for her, and hopefully she will remember what we taught someday and feel the desire to know more. 

We met another recent convert, and she served us malta (my first time--it tastes good if you put enough sugar in it :)) with galletitos (cookies-crackers). 

The family that we found last week met with us again. And holy cow! they have a lot of questions. They´re very sincere and want to learn more, or at least want to know what the Church teaches. I felt pretty helpless, though, because they talk very fast. :) Thankfully, mi compañera helped me stay caught up, and helped me share my testimony. Then I was able to offer the prayer. We left them some things to study that will hopefully answer some of their questions.

I´ve learned how to do laundry in the sink. :) I wish I´d helped my mom with laundry in Hugnary when she did it out of the sink. But now I know. 

So, the reason this email is a day late. Yesterday was the day of the flag here in Argentina and no one was open (besides one shop that had a mini card reader that I used today--blessing!!) So we had zone conference and went shopping, and now I´m here :). 

This is also our mission president´s last week. Next week Pres. Calquin (sp?) is coming from Chile. For our last district meeting, Pres. Thurgood will be there, and we have a surprise musical number ready for him (so don´t say anything ;)). I get to play the piano!! :D

I love learning about life as a missionary. It´s very different and sometimes scary, but always improving. We´re learning to get along with the members of the ward, and how to receive referrals. 

Until next Lunes (mon)!

Sister Tova S Biesinger

Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission