Week 34

HOLA FAMILIA!!!

How are you all doing?! Wow. so many things are going on for you guys! Lots of trips and camps and summer school and visits! so fun!! 

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!! I hope you enjoy the party at the Broadbents and that is so fun that Nathan Andrea and Bailey are coming to stay with you!

Well today has been an exciting P-day... So this morning we had to be at tres cruces at 9:30 so that my companion could sign her residency papers, and our bus left at 6:40.  So we leave the house at 6 this morning and go to the ATM to take out money because we didn't have enough to get there and back, so we go and we don't have any money.... And well it turns out that our money pops in right at 6:30, so at 6:30 we try again, well this ATM was without money.  So we book it down a hill, the opposite direction of the bus station and take out our money and book it back, we get there and the bus still haden't left. We buy tickets and wait, and wait, and wait.  we wait until 7:30 and then we see some people returning their ticket and this nice lady was like this guy offered to take us to tres cruces so we are going with him.... so we went! And we made it just in time.So while my companion left I stayed and looked around in the mall, we printed off our letters, 

and then we got back and came straight here!

I have to tell you all something, and I'm not sure you are going to believe me, and I'm not sure I want to tell you either but I will. I have gained weight!! So me and my companion are working on losing weight and eating more healthy.  Though everyone tells me there is no way that I could have gained that much, it is true.  And it doesn't help either, that our members are the best!! Yesterday por ejemplo, we ate a huge lunch, and then that night our members invited us over for a snack, and then that night someone brought us a couple bags of rice, chips, mayo, sugar, salt, tuna..... but I think it was because someone said that the missionaries are starving, which ^^^^^ I'm not. But we love the food!

YESTERDAY!!! I gave my very first talk in church! Apparently the members that were going to give talks didn't show up and so they didn't have anyone, and he came up to me and asked, and right then I was playing the piano, and I almost said no.... but I said yes.  In my whole life I have given three, now four, talks in church, and I was so nervous.  But I really feel like the Spirit helped me.  I found a scripture that I had been looking for D&C 112:21-22 ( And applied it how we can all be missionaries but we need to be 1. Humble 2. Keep the commandments 3.Be worthy and follow and have the Spirit.) and quotes came into my head and I also shared what Heidi shared in here farewell talk, and though I was super scared, it ended up being ok.  We also had one of the little boys come again and he was awesome this time! He sat with the primary teacher and he didn't say a word and was quiet!

Well I can't think of anything else that has been happening, but if I do I'll hurry and write it.  Oh well apparently we had permission to watch the soccer games so I watched the last two! and Luis Suarez bit someone, so he couldn't play and he is one of the best! And then we lost in octavos :(

I love you sooooooo much! Thank you for the wonderful emails, your love and support. Stay strong! And enjoy summer!

Love,

Hermana Louder

#9 Luis Suarez.

Hermana Elena and the sweet girl, Daniela, that she watches over.

Week 33

Hola Familia!!!!!

¿Cómo están? I hope everyone is doing great! Do you guys have any more plans for the summer? Who is all going to youth conference?

Things are a little slow here this week.  The week was really fast but it seems as though none of our investigators are really progressing. So we are trying to find new investigators every week and focus on those that really have potential to progress.

Maria Soca: Needs to get baptized in the font! So we are trying to figure out how we can explain to her that they really are the same! If anyone has any ideas please send them to me!!

Yesterday we had 6 investigators in church.  Pilar and her kids came again! The problem with them is she needs to get married, and she wants to but there are just some complications.  Then we had two little boys who wanted to come but talked all of sacrament meeting! Ah!...Well see what we are going to do with them.

Some other things I forgot to tell you that I learned from the conference that I want to share.... Think about this first, do you think someone can have a testimony from the 5 sense?..... We are not able to gain a testimony through the 5 sense I can't rememeber right now but Laman and Lemuel, the Ishmalites, and others all would have had a testimony if we could have one through the 5 sense but we can't.  Laman and Lemuel even saw an angel and that didn't help them have a true conversion either.  

We can only truly be converted and have a testimony through the Holy Ghost. It's something we feel in our hearts and through the Spirit.  Let us each be worthy to feel the spirit and let it enter into our hearts and be touched forever.

I love you all so much!! You are the best and such wonderful examples to me! Have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Hermana Louder

¨Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not an effort of once a week or once a day.  It is an effort of once and for all.¨ President Uchtdorf 

We can all be disciples of Chirst!! Also that's my favorite scripture :) 3 Nephi 5:13

URUGUAY!!!!

The big burger is called a tortugon and is huge!

Week 32

FAM BAM!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!!!!! DAD!!! AND NATHAN!!!!!!

How are you all doing?!?! How was the trip to SAN FRAN?!?! Sorry I didn't see it earlier until I was off the computer and I couldn't believe it! I hope you all had so much fun and got to celebrate moms birthday and fathers day! And you all look soooooooo styling!!!

Marla!! Thank you so much for the note! I received it rather quickly and really enjoyed it! Thank you for putting my name in the temple :)

AH!! Sam got her mission call!! been called to serve in the Canada Toronto Mission! I am speaking english and I leave August 13! Apparently she sent it to me like a month ago but I never recieved it :( But WOW!! I can't believe it!!!!

I have lots of things to say and I don't know if I can remember it all!

Well so I'm sure you all remember M. S. and the big problem with her registro... well yesterday at church I was sitting by her and the sacrament had just barely started and she starts talking to me hahaha.  First she asked if we had gotten her a bible from the church cause she wants one with the foot notes and then she pauses a little and is like and..... I want to be baptized!!!!  This week or the next week!!! But she still wants to be baptized in the river which isn't good, because it is freezing and she could die and we need permission for that so we will see... We are praying that her heart will soften again and will want to be baptized in the font in the church.  I think what really made her think was the lesson we had in gospel principals class and our mission leader said something very direct about how we never know when we are going to die and we shouldn't put off our baptism. Must of hit her pretty hard!

S. and E.... we finally could visit them this past saturday cause they havne't been home and E. isn't interested anymore :( for right now! It is hard because S. works only on sundays and they really need the money so we are praying for them. The kids really want to keep going and him, but its so hard because they are never there but they are so ready! So we are not going to loose them!

TWO MISSION CONFERENCE!!! Elder Robbins came and we went to Malvin on thursday and it was awesome!! Oddly though he talked alot about love... and how we need to prepare for marriage with our future spouse and how couples come to him and say they fall out of love, but really we can't fall our of love, it is something we choose.  And then he asked us an interesting question.  Out of the 10 people we invite to church, how many end up coming.  and we all responded 1 or 2.  And he said that it is very interesting, that no matter where he goes that it is the same response and that it doesn't matter where we are.  And then he told us that lots of people say they are going to come and then don't.  and how we would we rather have a true false or a yes no, meaning do we want people to say yes and then end up not coming, or say no that they won't come and that is a true answer.  And how we all would rather have them say no then thinking they are coming, so he told us to ask our investigators or say this.  Hermana Rodriguez, we missed you this past Sunday in church, but we are excited to see you this next Sunday.  We invite lots of people to come to church and lots of people say yes that they will come and then end up not coming, because they are nice and don't want to offend the missionaries.  Hermana Rodrigues do you have any questions or doubts or anything that would impeeed (impedir) you from coming to churhc? Entonces asistará la iglesia con nosotras? And then they really don't have a way of getting out if they say yes ;)

FÚTBOL!!! Well the world cup is going and on Saturday URUGUAY played and no one was out!!!! and they lots:( But I love it so much because everyone has on their uruguay gear and the flags out and it is great!

Oh and one more thing! We have this awesome investigator N. P..  We were trying to contact a reference and thought this was her house but it wasn't and N. came to the door and just whips out her perfect english and invites us in! So now we go by once every week and she prepares sooooo much food for us and this delicious hot chocolate made from chocolate bars and it is soooo good! We are trying to help her and we have taught her the plan of salvation and about the 2000 strippling warriors how they could remember the words of their mothers because she has two sons and one is off at college and she has taught them so many good things, alot of the same standards the church has.  BUT she just isn't interested in the church! So we are trying to tell her our purpose as missionaries and work with her little by little....

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! It can be so frustraiting at times, but it is awesome! I love it so much! and I'm so grateful for all of the support I have from everyone and all the prayers.  Thank you so much! I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Louder

ELENA FIGUEREDO!!!

Only the best person!! She is always helping us! Love her!

Week 31

Dear Family,

How are all of you doing!!!?? I pray all is well!! And......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!! I love you so much, and am so grateful for you in my life!!  Have a wonderful day!!!!

Well this week not too much happened... so we had changes and now everything is back to normal, we met our zone on friday at zone conference and we only have 6 sisters and 10 elders, it is a super small zone.  But all the people are great and it will be good.

This week we were waiting and hoping that S. and his family would come to church, but it was really frustrating when they didn't show up, so then we went to there house to see what happened, and S. was working, and E. didn't want to come without him and she didn't want to send her kids either. AH! It is a little tough when our investigators don't keep their committments, but I guess now tomorrow we will be teaching them día de reposo.

Something me and my companion decided to do this change is write a list of 42 things together or attributs of Christ and we are working on one every day in the change, because there are 42 days in a change I'm pretty sure.... haha, but it is super interesting.  So these have been the things we have done so far, 1.Obedience 2.Faith 3.Pacience 4.Love 5.Happy.  And it has been really interesting because on each day there has been something testing us in this to see if we can do it, or obey and have the faith.  Day 1 it was a thursday and we had a charla in the church at 8:30 because we couldn't get one before than, so we could be outside of our house until 9:30, well the charla was coming to an end and our investigator was still talking and it was like 9:23 and we are like closing it up so by the time we finish we have like 2 minutes to hurry and get into our house, and we were in right before 9:30.  Day 2 we were walking and my companion lost her scriptures so we trusted and had faith that we would find them, and really it ended up that she had left them in the house ha.  Day 3 we had sisters conference in Pan de Azucar and we didn't start for a long time and then had a really long bus ride on the way back with lots of school children, but our patience was tested and everything worked out. Day 4. Love.  Well when our investigators didn't come to church we really just wanted to give up but we thought about this and remembered all the Christ has done for us, and that he showed us the greatest of love when he gave his life for us. and now, today Day 5! Happy.  Well this morning I was studying about this and how we have the Plan of Happiness so that we can be happy, and that keeping the commandments and following everything that Christ has given to us that we can be happy, and I read the talk by President Eyring

 ¨To My Grandchildren¨ and I really like this quote ¨We may be insignificant and contemptible in our own eyes, and in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that we are the Children of God, and that He has actually given His angels- invisible beings of power and might -charge concerning us, and they watch over us and have us in their keeping.¨

God loves each and everyone of us, and no matter what we do His love is always here, and he has given us angels to protect and watch over us, and we mean the world to him. His love for us is infinite.

I love you all so much and I am so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel and that I am here being an instrument in the hands of God to give that knowledge and the hope that we can be with our families forever to everyone.  I love  without a shadow of a doubt that his is the true church.  God loves us.  I know that my Savior lives, and that he gave his life for me, and that he invites every person to come unto him.  I hope that we can each take more time from our days and remember him and love him and apply his atoning sacrifice in our lives.

Love,

Hermana Louder

P.S. I forgot to tell you but kinda cool, this week we are having a two mission conference with Elder Robbins I think it is from the 70 in Malvín!

CAMBIOS (Week 30)

Dear Family!!!!

Well we know cambios ha, and me and my companion will be staying in the same area together!!! I know there is a reason for this, I don't know exactly what but I know we will have a baptism this change.  I feel like there is so much to tell you but I don't know if I can remember it all.

Andrea and Nathan!!! Thank you so much for the package! I was so suprised to have one and I loved it! Thank you so much!

Well this past week was a little rought.  Our family didn't come to church :( we actually went with our bishop on Saturday night and he gave them each a blessing for strength and comfort and it was a really sweet experience, but then the next day they didn't come to church so me and my companion went to see if they could come for sacrament meeting and S. was sleeping and she said she had a cold and that they couldn't come this week, but that they still want to be baptized so that's good.  We are going to go visit them to day and figure out what's wrong but I know they can make it through this!

Ah with all the new investigators we have it's getting tedious and we are trying to thin out who is interested and not.  Cause we have a mission goal called HTC (Hablar con todos) and they ask every day if we did or if we didn't.  And so if we have a set lesson then we go to it but if it falls through or we don't have one set then we being talking to everyone... unless we feel the Spirit then we talk to someone even if we have a charla, but it's good and bad.  Because we get to talk to so many people we love it! but we can't keep up with all of them so that is hard.

Last monday! We had a cool experience. So after p-day we are out teaching and we had a set charla at 7 and we looked at the clock and we had about 10 minutes until we had to be there.  We were walking and we felt a strong impression that we needed to go contact a reference.  So we went and she came out, and we had talked to her husband and son and they seemed really interested and now we just had to talk to her.  Well the first thing she says to us is I'm Cathlic and I'm not going to change.  And so we started talking about that and how is is awesome that she believes in God and Christ especially in the world today and then I felt the impression to ask a question, how she got this faith and how she had the desire to share and teach her children this.  And she went off on this amazing story of how is has changed her life and how she had depression and found God and then my companion had an experience that she was able to share and we could feel the Spirit so strong.  Well we finished and taught her a little of the Plan of Salvation and she is a new! and we have an appointment with her soon! It was amazing and I know that the Lord is helping us and confided in us and that he blessed us with this prompting to talk to her.  I don't know what's going to happen but we'll see!!

Ah President Gonzalez of the Seventy came and it was amazing!! I can't remember everything we learned.... but he talked about how the message we carry is HOPE.  That everything we can apply or bring it back to hope and that there is always a message of hope to continue on, and how we need to have an eye of faith.  and then he also talked about how we could use our time more wisely and work through the less actives and he gave us an example about going to them and asking them what they could do to help the work of salvation or invite them to accompany us or ask them what they could do to help someone that is investigating the church.  And then also in PME ch 11 about committment and how after you do a direct committment like will you attend church with us the sunday and they give you an excuse find the good in the excuse and then work it so that they can figure out a solution, and not just give them something to do so they can fix that, but let them think how to resolve it because then they are more likely to follow through.

The mission is awesome and I can't believe I have been out now for almost 7 months.  I miss you lots, but I also love the work, and I only have one time to give everything to the Lord, and I'm so grateful for all the support I have from each of you in helping me do this.  If you have any suggestions on how I can be more dedicated or more obedient or anything please share it with me, and share with me your experiences.  I love you all so much!!!

Love,

Hermana Louder