Menos Palabras, Más Poder. Less Words, More Power.

Or maybe more like ningunas palabras, más poder (no words, more power.) Desperate times, call for desperate measures. Who would have thought that the answer to my prayers would be to lose my voice for 5 days?

I’m doing pretty well today. This last week almost nothing happened because we literally didn't leave the apartment, because I was sick.  After the terrible cold I had last week, I was almost completely better, but I guess I also contracted a virus that made me lose my voice. By Tuesday night, it was completely gone. Impossible to say anything!  So until yesterday night I was instructed by the doctor to not say one word.  NOT one.  I couldn’t talk for like 5 days.  We ended up staying in the pench all week. Awful. I wasn’t able to persuade my companion to do all the talking so we could go out and work; she was more than very reluctant/afraid/determined. But it was probably the biggest blessing in our companionship, because we were able to finally come to an understanding of each other and of our goals together as I listened and listened and listened, unable to talk back. This week, I have greatly improved my listening ability and my skills as a mime :)

The Lord will have a humble people.  Either you can choose to be humble or the Lord will humble you. This was a humbling week for both of us.

So we just hung around the apartment and listened to every Conference session on my iPod (hours and hours every day!).  I am super pumped for Conference this weekend!  We get to go if we complete our key indicators that don’t apply to church attendance by Friday night.  If not, we have to work Saturday to finish.  But I have the faith that we will for sure be able to go to both sessions on Sunday.  We have to travel by train to a chapel about 40 min away.  It will be hard to have people come to church this weekend, but I am so excited.

Marc and Nic are so cute.  This week I had a dream that Nic is going to Australia and Marc to Peru.  So those are officially my guesses. I can’t believe they aren’t getting their calls this week. I don’t think they make calls this week because of Conference, so they could be delayed another two weeks! If they are delayed that long, I wont know where they are going until like the 21st :( I am very sad, but weeks are going faster for me than for you guys.

I seriously have only a little more than four months left of my mission.  Four months.  I am going crazy.  I can’t believe it has been so fast.  

I love you all so much!!

xoxoxo,
Hermana Chloe

PS.  Thanks to the Montgomerys for my cute Valentine's Day package!
PSS. Remember everyone that I'm not allowed any more packages because of the new shipping restrictions in Argentina.
PSSS. I'm still holding out hope that I will receive the last package that Grandma Sue sent me.
PSSSS. Maybe I will find a better computer next week so that I can send pictures :)

In Sickness and Health . . .

Hello,

But seriously, it is like we are a married couple out here on the mission with our companions.  This week my companion had to deal with a lot of the in sick times because I was out with a crazy cold for about two days.  One whole day I only could get out of bed two times.  But I felt so sick I couldn´t sleep.  It was rough.  But I got a blessing, and took some Advil cold and sinus (gracias a Los Estados Unidos) and I am feeling better today.  Despite the fact that my voice is shot.  I can barely talk.  If I thought it was weird to hear myself speak Spanish everyday, now I am listening to myself speak Spanish when my voice is gone.  It is pretty funny.  All the elders keep imitating my voice they think it is so funny.

This last week we saw quite a few miracles in what we were able to accomplish with the help of the Lord in our area with the little time we had to work.  We found great families.  It is so amazing to meet people who are prepared to hear the gospel.  All of our investigators are really new, but we have the faith that they are going to progress.

Everything sounds so exciting out there these days.  I am going to die these next two weeks waiting to hear where Marc and Nic are going.  I was talking to my companion this week about how hard it would be to be a future elder because they have to fill out papers as well and pray to receive answers, but they really don´t have a choice.  It would be hard to really only be able to pray for a confirmation what the Lord has already said they need to do.  Then at the same time it would be easy because it is not like it is a question.  

We need to keep that in mind always.  Sometimes we try to receive an answer to something that we already know.  We are silly sometimes.

This week I got a letter from Ashley Pernyak, but it was from dearelder and had two parts and I only got the part with the spiritual thought.  So if you see Ashley you should tell her to send me an email.  I was also thinking about Paigey Wagner the other day.  Could you get me her email?

Love you all!

xoxo

Hermana Chloe

Tests of Faith

Hola!

Heavenly Father has really been testing our faith this week. This has been a hard week as I struggle to learn a new area and how to work with a new companion. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we almost had no lessons.  We walked and walked and walked and clapped doors all day.  Wednesday was hard.  Thursday was hard with blazing sun all day long, and then Friday it rained for the 6 and a half straight hours that we were working after lunch.  We only taught one lesson of about 25 minutes in that whole time in the rain.  And then we ended up the week horribly with all of our key indicators. It got me thinking about our tests of faith.  I have been so committed to doing everything with exact diligence and obedience these past few months that I think that instead of testing my faith so that I could develop patience, now he is testing my faith to see how strong my testimony is.  In the face of these moments, we need to stay strong in our testimonies.  When it becomes harder to do the right thing, that is when our agency is so important.  We need to always remember that just like Satan cannot make the decision for us, neither can our Heavenly Father.  

My area is good, we are finding a lot of new investigators.  I am sure that this will be one of the transfers where I grow the most. I am grateful for the trials that help me to be better. I am also in love with Ammon.  We have been reading in Alma this week.  And the Book of Mormon is so true. I am starting to feel like I will really be able to end the book of Mormon in Spanish this time, since we are already half way done and so far I am going along great. And I understand about everything I read these days. Conference, church manuals, the scriptures.  I guess six months completely immersed in the language really is the ticket.

Love you! 

xoxo,
Hermana Chloe

PS. It took me the whole hour to upload two pictures :( These computers are really bad. I will send pictures of Las Heras and my new companion next week.

Hermana Nielsen and I at the last transfer meeting

Has it really only been a week?

Hello!

Sorry, I didn't email yesterday. Yesterday and today are holidays in Argentina, Carnival, so all of the internet cafes in my new area were closed for the holiday. What is Carnival? That was my question, and all I could figure out is that Carnival has something to do with having a big party/celebration/indulgence before you give up something for Lent. Today we had district meeting, and then after we hopped on a train to Ramos Mejia because my companion has an interview with president.  There is an open cyber here in the city so I'm able to email! 

It has been a week and one day, but it actually feels like it has been a month or so since I last wrote.  Sad news, since I am not writing from my area, I don't have any pictures to send because it is too risky to bring my camera when we are on the busses or the train.  My new Area is Las Heras! In Marcos Paz Zone! (Yes, like Marcus said--that is Marcus Peace. haha.) General Las Heras is a small city about 30 miles outside of Buenos Aires and just a few miles from Marcos Paz. It is very rural, a lot of dirt roads, cows, horses. It also seems friendly, and I am once again with a companion from Santiago, Chile! Her name is Hermana Figueroa, and she has six months in the mission. We are having a great time, but as of right now I am really just trying to get to know the area. However, this weekend we have two baptisms, Eva and Clara.  They are the best.  They are 13 and 11.  On Sunday they showed up to church before us and are so excited to be baptized.  Their mom also is great and is going to get baptized, but not this Saturday, because she takes care of her grandma on Sundays in the morning and hasn't been able to come to church.

As was expected, it was really hard to leave 9 de Julio. I will always remember that place as where my mission became sacred.  This week I gained a really strong testimony of fasting.  I know that if we fast with faith, that we will recieve.  But like always, Heavely Father will respond in the best way to help us return to Him, not necessarily in the way we think we want.  I was able to see this week that the Lord's will is actually the answer we never knew we wanted.  And sometimes the growth we were to afraid to ask for.  

I am excited to hear buenos noticias from Marc and Nic this week about all that dang paperwork you have been working on. haha.

And last, if we could all be member missionaries like Anna there would be no need for missionaries!

xoxo
Hermana Chloe

PS. I will have many pictures next week!

PSS.  This is the link to Sister Carter's blog that has some information and pictures of Las Heras.  Click here-->http://buenosaireswest.blogspot.com/2014/02/las-heras-and-mariano-acosta.html