Hot, hot Diciembre!

Thanksgiving was on our planning day. Since it takes all day to plan (because there are a ton of people to plan for) we always make our own lunch. We tried to make it as special as we could. I’ve thought so much recently on how grateful I am for my family. All my siblings and my grandparents are such great examples to me. But I’m even more thankful for my parents. They have taught me so much, the most important being that we should always put God first and when we do that everything else will fall into place. So many people don’t understand that. The gospel of Jesus Christ asks us to make many sacrifices but most people are too focused on other things to give of themselves and keep the commandments. But my parents have taught me that to sacrifice doesn’t mean we’re losing. It means we are giving up something good for something better. Thank you Mom and Dad for teaching me that any sacrifice is worth a closer relationship with God.

My Spanish is really coming along. I’m to the point where I understand nearly everything and sometimes I talk in the lessons more than Hermana Gentry. I feel really blessed that it came so quickly. I always hated my Spanish classes in High School but now I’m so glad I had them because now I have so much more ability to share the gospel with these loco Argentines!

Facundo went ‘’missionarying’’ with us all day Saturday. He was testifying and teaching more than we were because he’s so excited about the gospel. We were walking down the road and he had us stop at a house
because he thought one of his teachers from his Catholic school lived there. She did! And he was so courageous in the way he shared the gospel with her. That’s something wonderful about these Latinos. They aren’t afraid to share the gospel with anyone. In Indiana it was so much harder to get referrals from members because they’re often too shy to speak up. But really we should all be a little more like Facundo and share the great gift we have.

There is a family that we visit often because half are less active. The mother died and left behind 10 kids. The youngest is only 2. They have a very humble home and don’t have much but every time we come, they’ve bought ice cream to share with us. It’s so sweet how they give when they have so little. They recognize missionaries as representatives of Jesus Christ. How great it is to have this calling!

Today we went to the capital of Jujuy, San Salvador, to buy gifts for a Christmas exchange at the Christmas Zone conference. The city is so my scene! El Carmen is great and I’m glad to be here and have the experience of living somewhere so humble but it was also refreshing to be out on the streets of the big city! My favorite part is that you don’t have to pay what they ask for. We almost always haggle the price.

We almost made it through the week without a barracho moment but over the weekend we had not one but two. We were teaching a lesson to Oscar (who hopefully is going to get baptized next week.) when his drunk uncle walked in. He started saying a bunch of things in Spanish that we couldn’t understand and then told us he’d be waiting for us outside……uh I don’t think so.

The next day we were teaching a family and their drunk uncle was listening. He had a comment on everything we said. So we’d listen to the first part which actually made pretty good sense and then we just start talking again even though he was still rambling on and on. Then as we left he gave Hermana Gentry a kiss on the hand. I decided not to give him a handshake goodbye…

I guess really ya’ll probably don’t care about all the barrachos here but I love them!

It was nice and cool this last week and I LOVED it but it's back to terribly hot. Que raro for the holiday season!

Shout out to my pops. Happy fifty-something tomorrow. Love you!

Hermana Pearson

My birthday hat from Facundo

Las Hermanas

San Salvador, Jujuy

San Salvador, Jujuy