No stress baptism: Just add water.

Natalia got baptized! It was the most perfect, easiest baptismo ever. It didn’t even cause me stress. Our misión leader planned it all and got the priesthood there to baptize and be witnesses. Natalia had all the lessons she needed way early in the week and she understands everything perfectly. She had her interview and passed with flying colors. She even brought her boyfriend and we taught him while we waited. She told our district leader that she wants to be a missionary like us. The only thing that almost went wrong is that the pool had a leak. But we had a feeling to check on the pool early in the morning and we realized the problem. We made a temporary fix and turned up the water pressure and later the mission leader made a better fix and when it was time for the baptism, we had plenty of water.

And another miracle came out of her getting baptized. The elders came from the city to give her the interview and while we were outside with the elders waiting for Natalia, a man came over and started talking. He said he saw us all the time and was interested in talking to us but he’s an old guy and didn’t think he should stop young girls in the street. Just that day he happened to be closet to the church to get his haircut and when he saw us with men missionaries he felt comfortable enough to talk to us. Three days later, there was a guy that we didn’t know who came to church. We asked all the members who it was and nobody knew. So we went and introduced ourselves and asked his name. He said Miguel Angel. It took me a minute to realize it was the guy who stopped us in the street. He actually came to church! We couldn’t believe it!

We taught Nestor this week and he said he had a conflict in his schedule for the 30th to be baptized and asked if he could get baptized earlier! We explained that he had to go to church at least once more but yesterday he had to work until noon and church ends at 12:30. He said he’d come straight after work. We were nervous that he wouldn’t show up. But he did! So we set the hour of his bautism during the last song and the branch president annouced it at the end.

We’re hoping Carlos gets baptized this week too! He’s been in Cordoba this week and we haven’t been able to talk to him but he said by the end of his trip he’d have an answer for us on whether or not he’ll get baptized.

A long time ago, I realized we had records of a recent convert that didn’t have any teaching record. We asked around about her and no one knew her (because she went by her middle name.) Well we found her family and they said she had moved. We set an appointment with her family but never could find them. Yesterday we stopped by and her twin let us in. She already knows a lot from other missionaries from where she lived before and she told us ¨I want to be Mormon¨ so we said perfect. You’ll need to get baptized. And she said ¨Yeah, I know.¨

Matias continues to confuse us. He finally told us who invited him to church. Pablo he said. We don’t know a single Pablo. But we found a Pablo on some progress reports and we’re gonna hunt him down. Matias came to the baptism and after he went with Eduardo, the ward misión leader to the Bella Vista soccer game. Eduardo is helping a bunch. We’re gonna crack him!

We’re teaching Eduardo’s brother, Marcos and his practically wife. Marcos has been a member since childhood and has a testimony of the doctorine but he’s lazy in keeping the commandments. We had a lesson about the atonement and we asked how Marcos felt in regards to the Atonement. He had been joking around before and said ¨You want the truth?¨ His whole demeanor changed and he said “grateful” It was the most powerful one-word I’ve ever heard.

I love you all so much and hope we can all remember that if we’re really grateful for Christ’s sacrifice. We’ll show our gratitude with our actions!

Love,
Hermana Pearson

Natalia's Baptism

It's elementary, Watson

I cannot imagine a more miracle packed week, this email won’t be doing it justice. So 3 months ago we were teaching Natalia. She’s 18 and used to study with Jehovah’s Witnesses. She had accepted to get baptized and then she dropped off the face of the earth. We stopped by her house siempre (always) and she was never home. Her mom said she had gotten a job and was literally working all day. She even stopped going to school to be able to work more. We tracked her down and visited her at work and she told us that she didn’t have time right now and when she did she’d let us know. So I was really sad about that, obviously. Well for the month of August we made a calendar with scripture passages to read every day and a list of our investigators to pray for, and invited all the branch members to participate. We decided to put her name on the list even though we weren’t even teaching her. Well last Monday we had a feeling to go visit her. And she was home! But, quickly it was obvious she wasn’t gonna let us in. BUT we were able to set an appointment because she says she’s working less. We went back the next day and we had the most wonderful lesson. We shared 1 John 5:3-4:
 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
 4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
She said she realized that she has to be obedient to God and he will help her win the victory. She’s going to get baptized on SATURDAY. Yep, this Saturday.

We thought Carlos would need more time to prepare and to live the commandments but he’s been praying and reading and he understands. He’ll be getting baptized too…If he’s not in Cordoba… he leaves on Wednesday but he already committed to coming back on Friday for his interview.

We have embarked on a Sherlock Holmes scale mystery. We’ve been teaching Matias and Franco for a couple weeks and they are SUPER shy and it’s hard to teach them because they don’t like to answer questions and they don’t seem to understand. But they come to church and read and always come to the appointments. We’ve been trying so HARD to figure out WHY they want to listen to las charlas when they admit they are super uncomfortable. Well we always figured that their brother-in-law invited them because we teach them in his house but when we were talking to Matias we asked if has been wanting a change lately in his life. He told us yes and that even though he doesn’t know what kind of change, when his friend invited him, he dragged Franco along so he wouldn’t have to be alone. We asked who the friend was but he didn’t want to tell us. We can’t figure them out! It seemed Franco was interested and Matias was just along for the ride but it’s the other way around. We are so confused. The Spirit is definitely doing His job with those two. It’s the only way possible that they keep coming to church and listening to us. They don’t understand. They just feel good.

We taught our investigators a ton of commandments this week. And boy was it easy. They all just basically said yep, sounds good to me.

We had a lesson with Carlos in the church and an appointment with an inactive with his girlfriend after. The second appointment got there and THEY waited for US. I have never taught so efficiently in my life. Haha, but really with all these super great investigators we are teaching a lot these days! And enjoying every minute of it!

Careful: Satan bites. And so do dogs.

Where do I even start? We just killed it this week. All of our numbers were sooo much bigger than I’ve had in a long time/ever had. It rained bautismal dates on us and we’re feeling so blessed that God has given us some mighty fine investigators. At the same time we see how hard Satan works to convince us all that God’s got it all wrong and that obedience isn’t worth it.

We found a new investigador this week, Jose Luis. He is 35 and half his body is paralyzed. He said he’d come to church with us but that rarely happens after teaching just one lesson. But he came! And he got up in front of everyone to bear his testimony. The branch fell in love with him because he is super sweet.

Nestor is our shining star. He is the husband of the young women’s president. We invited him last week to pray about baptism. When we followed up, he said he felt a lot of peace and he agreed to be baptized on the 30th. We taught him and his wife about temples and eternal marriage. WOW. That’s what this gospel is about. The spirit was so strong and his wife is so happy that she’s so much closer to an eternal family. In another lesson we watched The Restauration and after we asked if he believes that José Smith was a prophet. He said. “No quiero dudar. Me parace que si.” Ï don’t want to doubt. It seems to me that yes.” He really is so prepared. The truth is I’m mind blown that he didn’t get baptized ten years ago with his wife. She said he just never paid much attention to the missionaries. He came to church for the first time too. His wife and daugther came without him and he showed up later. Because of his example, his inactive daughter and his “atheist” son showed up too. We were so excited! And he loved it!

Matias and Franco that came to church but we weren’t teaching them finally had a lesson with us. They beyond confuse us because they seem so disinterested but they keep commitments. Matias didn’t accept baptism (yet) and Franco said it was too soon but that it was something he wanted to do. During the next lesson we talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it’s true. We asked what he should do (refering to reading and praying) and he said “bautizarme” um, yep. He gave himself his own bautismal date for the 23rd!

Carlos has to go to Cordoba this next week. And we knew it, but we felt like we should invite him to baptism the Saturday he’ll be gone. Even though he didn’t accept that day, I think it helped him accept a date for the week after because he was a bit reluctant. He doesn’t want to get baptized in the cold but the member that was with us (Nestor’s wife) told about how she got baptized in the dead of winter and just before her baptism, the clouds went away and the sun shined. When she got out of the water, the clouds came back. He said he’d get baptized the 16th. In the next lesson we taught the word of wisdom. We thought it’d be a bit hard for him but he accepted it super easily. The doctors say he should drink a half glass of wine every day for his health but he isn’t and says it’s no big deal to keep the word of wisdom. So then we taught the law of chastity. He’s not such a fan of that one. He talked to the former branch president that helped him reason through but he’ll need a little more time to change and repent. We talked with him a lot about Satan and how he is intelligent and knows how to deceive us. I think more than anything what Satan tries to do is block our ability to see things with an eternal perspective.

Also a dog bit me this week. It was actually pretty funny because it was completely quiet and I didn’t even notice the dog. It bit me, I screamed a little, it bit me again, and then went away. Don’t worry mom. It’s healing just fine and Hermana Chaparro had me go buy a rabies shot so we’re all good.

We are really seeing so many miracles and I am loving Bella Vista so much! I feel like the Lord is really blessing us right now and I just want to live worthily of these blessings so that these people can really get baptized! We want to get them all baptized this transfer before I leave!

Hermana Pearson

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