It passes all my understanding

I'm staying in Bella Vista this next transfer! I can't believe how fast the time is flying! I started with 18 months. Now I have only 18 weeks left. ROUGH.

We had a bunch of little miracles this week but I only have time to talk about a few.

We passed by an investigator we taught only once and she told us she was busy and she couldn't talk. We started walking to look for a referral we had and we get a phone call. The investigator called US and said, "my sisters just barely came home and they want to talk to you guys. Can you come back?" My jaw just about hit the floor. We walked right on back and taught the two sisters. Then they invited us to stay and eat lunch with them.

So I mentioned how a member brought his nephews to church but they had said they didn't have time to meet with us during the week and that they'd come the next Sunday. We about died when they actually did come without their uncle. They came AGAIN this week and POR FIN we set up an appointment with them to start teaching. It boggles my mind still because they don't seem too interested. But something keeps bringing them back so we're gonna make it happen!

We're seeing progress with Carlos. He is the friend of a member and he's really liking this message. We had a scare because last week he didn't come to church and the member told us that Carlos said his sister didn't want him to listen anymore and that he should tell us not to keep stopping by the house. But when we talked to Carlos he said his sister didn't say anything just that she was visiting and Carlos wanted to avoid conflict. He's super excited about reading and learning. He's going to visit family in Córdoba next week but when he gets back he's so getting baptized!

We are seeing a lot more dedication in the members. The Relief Society reorganized the visiting teaching and it's working really well! Presidente thought of an idea to set up a Mormon stand in the farmers market and contact the passing people. They called it an activity but the members that came just watched us talk to people. haha. I felt like I was in the science fair again. It was a fun experience

My companion had to go to Salta again to do paperwork but this time Hermana Baquedano came to Bella Vista with me!

Our Farmers' Market stand

Our Bakery Church

The Primary Activity

The 4 hermanas in our district. We're in their elevator...they live on the 9th floor..

Dios te ama and don't you forget it!

Well something REALLY weird is happening in our area. We are finally getting nonmembers to church, and they aren’t even our investigators! There are two younger guys that have family who are members. They came to church last week with their cousins and we taught them in Sunday School. We tried to set an appointment but they said they were super busy and never home but that they would come to church next week. Well surprisingly, they came again! But not even with their cousins! I’m still super confused! And more so because in the lesson they seemed so disinterested. We tried to set an appointment again but they said the same thing, they only have time for church. The people that come to church don't want us to visit them and the people we visit don't want to come to church. There are 2 other people with similar stories that are coming to church too. But besides them, we are seeing success in the members that are coming to church too! We met our goal of 40 after 2 weeks when we wanted to reach in a month. We committed the members to pass by the house of a less active before going to church.

We had the cutest lesson with Sofia and Maria Jose. We talked about how God loves us and how he is our father. We started shouting God loves me! They were too shy to do it at first but then they started competing who could say it loudest. Then we started saying it together and they kept asking to do it again. It's amazing and so simple and we all need to remember a little better. DIOS ME AMA!

The primary had an activity in the church and it was actually well attended. Probably because there were cakes and a piñata.

My companion had to go to Salta to do some paperwork, so I stayed in the city working again. It is such a different world than Bella Vista. There are garages and doorbells and elevators and such. WHOA! But I love working in an other area and to be able to see how other missionaries work. And remember what we can do better at.

We keep working with the investigators we’ve got and we’re hunting down those chosens!

Love you all and hope all is well!
Hermana Pearson

We´ll bring the world (cup) his truth

We didn’t celebrate much the 4th of July but Argentina’s Independence Day is the 9th and we celebrated that instead with a zone conference to meet President Chaparro. His family is super sweet!

On Wednesday Argentina played in the semi finals of the World Cup. We were out on the streets trying to find someone to teach, but no one wanted to open their doors. So we said a prayer in the street to be able to know where to go and to be able to find someone who would listen. Right after a couple meandered into the center plaza-literally right in front of us-and started to set up a tent to start selling sandwiches. So we started helping them and talking about who we are and what we do. When they finished setting up, we sat down and had a lesson with them. As we were finishing up, Argentina won! And the craziness began. It was super interesting to see but quickly we saw a rather large problem. We were in the center plaza and when Argentina wins all the people do a parade thing and just do circles around the plaza in their cars and motorcycles. They honk their horns and wave their flags and just circle around for about an hour…or at least it seems that long. We walked up and down the sidewalk trying to find a way out, but there was no escape! We finally managed to find a break in the traffic and we passed without incident.

We thought it would be super hard to find people to teach on Sunday. We practically skipped lunch to be able to work before the game and we found a super sweet couple that listened to our message and said we were such special visitors that they offered us to stay and eat. And it was some of the better food I’ve had here!

Our branch is super struggling but we talked with our mission leader and he worked on some ideas for a ward mission plan and we had a super successful ward council. (mainly because people actually attended.) We set a goal for attendance and talked about plans to accomplish it. Sunday was a huge miracle because we brought the less active mom of an investigator to church and when we got there, there were two nonmembers-nephews of a member. And then later two of Oscar’s friends came too. We can’t seem to get many people to church. It’s ALL about the members!

One of the super active members had been acting kinda weird and basically fell of the radar. Long story short we passed by to talk to him and he told us he decided to “quit” church. He’s not offended or anything like that, he has friends, he has a calling.  It’s just he really hates going. Missionaries reactivated him almost 5 years ago and he’s been active the whole time-and has hated it the whole time. It was really hard. We mustered up all the heaven sent words we could and committed him to tell God out loud, while on his knees that he was going to leave the church. When we saw him last night, he said he hadn’t done it. (It’s cause he’s scared. He knows if he does it, he won’t be able to leave.) We recommitted him and he says he’ll do it before Sunday. We have a lot of hope and faith that he’ll show up to church on Sunday.

We’ve been really wanting to do more service. Especially for the members, and this week we had the chance to cut firewood for Familia Toledo. With a machete…We had to borrow the machete from Oscar and later in the week we found another service opportunity cutting firewood. We’re already machete masters. When we went to the “monte” to cut the wood, there is a field of sugar cane and while we were working we had a lot of sugar cane desert. It’s called chupacaña, or sucking cane because you can’t swallow, you just have to suck. It’s super RICA!

Con todo mi amor,
Hermana Pearson

Chupacaña 

Machete master

To bathe or not to bathe; that is the question

I barely have any time to write because we’ve spent the day moving! Well to be more accurate, we’ve spent the day waiting for the people who were going to help us move. Por fin we finished. And it should all be worth it considering I will have a real shower tonight! And a toilet with a toilet seat! It even flushes all by itself! Wahoo!!

So funny story of the week…I was trying to boil water (to bathe with) and to do that we have to light the stove with a match. I struck the match and as it caught on fire, the tip broke off and flew in my eye! I thought I was going to go blind! But I closed my eye in time so it only burned my eye lid and quite a few lashes…

We taught Noemi this week and gave her a promise that if she'd read a chapter in the Book of Mormon every time that she wanted to smoke, she’d be able to quit smoking in one week. We stopped by the next day and instead of smoking a whole pack she only smoked 3!! She makes good progress but it’s soo slow. And we still can’t get her to church again after the 2 times she went. And she doesn’t want to get married because she’ll lose her government welfare money. But hey she is the MOST humble person I’ve ever met so we are still working with her.

A few weeks ago, her excuse for not coming to church was that her daughter didn’t have dry shoes. Well a couple weeks ago it rained and considering that all my shoes are broken, I didn’t have dry shoes either and my feet were really cold. But obviously I kept working and when we got to her house we sat in the sun while we taught so my feet could dry. This week she told me I had been an example without knowing. It reminded me of the quote about how we should ALWAYS preach the gospel and when necessary, use words.

That’s all I have time for.

Hermana Pearson