Mission Argentina Buenos Aires Sur!!!

Sooo......transfers were today and....I´M STAYING IN ALEJANDRO KORN which means that.....I´M STAYING IN THIS MISSION!!!!! yay!!!! I won´t be heading over to the new mission, I´m going to stay here in the south mission with President Thurgood.

   So many things happened this week! I talk in my sleep, and Hna. Latoja told me that one of these nights she woke up and said that I was talking in Spanish and teaching the lesson on the Plan of Salvation and that at the end I bore my testimony.....haha do I qualify to be a 24/7 missionary yet?

   This week something crazy happened with family history! We have this family that we´re teaching, Mariano and Rosana, and their kids as well. He is from Germany...well his dad is or someone along in the past line. When I was filling on my little pamphlet of Mi Familia this week I was filling out the side along my German line and found out that one of my ancestors had the same last name as him!!! This means that probably somewhere along the line way back, we´re related. How crazy is that?? It was way cool. We´ve been working a ton with this little family. They want to get baptized, but they're not married. We talked about baptism this week and set a date..or like a goal rather. They were super happy and they´re like, yeah we want to get baptized! and then we had to tell them that they would have to get married first. Rosana really wants to get married, but Mariano is a little....no sé.(I do not know) He wants to have his house done and I don´t know what other things, but he´s slowly warming up to the idea of it. Please pray that they can get married!!

    This week we had an amazing lesson with Ema. We were talking about the atonement of Jesus Christ and it was just so amazing. We read a scripture about what Christ did for us, how he took upon him the sins and the pains of the world so that He would know how to help us when we had problems (Alma 7: 11-13). After she read it she just stayed quiet for a minute and then asked us...."Could this really be? That He would actually do that for me?" The spirit was so powerful as it testified to her that Jesus Christ is her Savior and that He loves her so much, that he would do that for her. Moments like this, is when I know why I´m here. There is nothing more precious that the moments when people come to know their Savior and what he did for them.

   This week it rained for about 3 days straight! I actually like working in the rain, it really makes it such an adventure, especially with the bikes and all the mud. My companion's brakes on her bike gave out Saturday night, so we switched bikes. That was quite the adventure let me tell you, to have to try to not run into anything without brakes! But the Lord blessed us and everything worked out :)
 

     It was raining way hard Sunday morning when we woke up and when we got to church...there was almost no one. We had an attendance of 27!!!! 27!!!!! we could not believe it!!!! One of the last weeks it was 85!! When it rains people don´t come and it´s just so sad. One of the speakers was talking about the atonement of Christ, and he said this quote that I loved by Jeffrey R. Holland. It´s not exact but it goes something like this, "If people really understood the power of the atonement, they would run to church every Sunday." What a powerful statement! How much do we REALLY value the opportunity to go to church every Sunday and take the sacrament and receive forgiveness of our sins? I realized that everything in this gospel has to do with the Atonement of Christ. Our reason that we do everything is because we believe that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can live again. That we can be free of our sins and receive eternal life. We sin because we don´t fully understand the Atonement or what it really means for us in our lives.

I hope you have a great week! Que Dios les bendiga :) (God bless you)

Con mucho amor, (With love)
hermana Feldermann

Everyone in the mission received blankets

Hermana Latoja and I

My Comp had to go to the dentist

Hogar, dulce hogar (home, sweet home)

 I actually don´t even know where to begin to start telling about what happened this week......haha okay so on Tuesday we had intercambios (exchanges). So I went to another area, and when I get back the Hna´s told me that our power had gotten cut at like 4 that morning. I thought no big deal, but then we called the pensionerios...or the elders that work on the pension and they said they would send someone to fix it the next day. That night was the best, because it was like we went camping!! It was way cold, and so before we went to bed we put on 5 layers of clothes and then got in our sleeping bags! Haha so the man came the next day anddd....couldn´t fix the power. And my companion was also pretty sick so after he told us he couldn´t fix the power we went to the hospital with Hna. Latoja....haha I have officially been to the hospital with all my companions except my trainer. We headed to the hospital because she´s been having a ton of pain in her mouth and her head for a lot of days. Then the doctor sent us to go see the dentist. We went to the dentist and they ended up having to do an operation thing on her tooth....poor thing. Then afterwards we had to go to the mission home to arrange some things. When we were there we were talking with Hna. Thrugood, President's wife, and when she found out we didn´t have power she got super upset with the pensioneros! They told us that we might not have power for about the next week.....so that night we took our mattresses and a suitcase and moved to another area, San Vicente, to live with the Hermanas there. Then when we got to their pension that night.....the power got cut in their area as well, and because the power got cut, there were a ton of protests.....people got mad and lit fires in the street and stuff like that. we had to travel in colectivo, or bus for 20 minutes every morning and night to get to our area, but at least we were still able to work! However, yesterday night we were able to move back into our pench--finally!

   So this week we saw some amazing  miracles with some of our investigators. We have this one investigator named Ema, I´m pretty sure I´ve already talked about her. She wanted to know how she can recognize answers to her prayers, so we left her some chapters to read in the Book of Momon and she read them. Then when we went to visit her she told us about how she was making biscochuelo....it´s like a type of bread, but it´s really specific and has to be at the right temperature and everything to rise right. She was  making it for a family event and needed it to turn out right and the first one she made turned out flat like a pancake. Then when she went to make the second one, she said a prayer....and it turned out perfect!! Then she made the third, didn´t pray, and it turned out flat again. It was way cool to see how excited she was, and how that little experience really helped her build her testimony about prayer.

    We found this amazing family, and the parents are named Mariano and Rosana. We´ve been teaching them for a few weeks now, and they´re the best. Mariano loves to read the Bible and knows a ton, but he has never in his life went, or wanted to go to a church. Rosana has always wanted to go to a church so her kids can have some kind of Christian background. They have 3 kids, Julieta who is 11, Lucas who is 8 and Samuel who is 3. They live waaaaaayyyy far away from the chapel and on Sundays, the buses that run by there only pass like once every hour, and sometimes not at all so it´s really hard to get from there to the chapel. We were talking to our bishop about them and planning about how we were just going to leave super early to go look for them and then bring them with us in bus to the chapel. He told us that just this once, he would pay for a remis, or a taxi thing, to help us bring them to the chapel! So we got it all set up and then they came with us on Sunday and LOVED everything! They loved everything they learned and everything they saw...they told us how they just feel such peace and calm when we come and teach them and when they´re in the church. Literally, there is nothing like this kind of happiness. :)

    I´ve learned a lot this week. That despite of everything that´s happening, I´m so happy. THAT´S what the gospel does! If we´re living the gospel, we can be happy no matter what circumstances we´re in or what is happening. Because this gospel is a gospel of happiness! We have the certeza ((assurance), that we´re doing the best we can, repenting and being obedient. The only thing that can happen is blessings. When bad things happen, or things don´t go according to plan, what a great thing it is to know that the Lord has an even BETTER plan than what we had wanted. And in the end, we receive even MORE blessings. He just wants to bless us and love us--nothing more :)

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Feldermann 

Guinea Pig Hunting

I´ll start with the subject line first....that today we went....GUINEA PIG HUNTING!!! Haa it was the best thing ever! We have this family in our ward, the familia Diaz and they live way at the edge of our area, so right next to a huge field. When we were over there for almuerzo (lunch) on Friday they served us guinea pig, and then today for our P-Day activity they brought us out in the field to hunt them!! We got a bunch of slingshots, because that´s how you kill them. Then we gathered together a ton of rocks and went to go find them! They have some dogs they bring with them to help chase the guinea pigs out of the tall grass and weeds and then you try to hit them with the slingshots to kill them. It was the best!!! This field we went in was huge! I couldn´t even see the end of it. And we just hunted and chased guinea pigs :) We ended up with 12 of them! Then afterwards, we got to skin them and clean them and prep them to eat!  I ended up skinning like 4 or 5...you´ll have to see the pictures. It was so much fun.

      Other than that....this week was quite interesting work wise! On Tuesday there was paro....or like strike of transportation, so everyone was home and in their house. It´s the best! My bike got a flat tire that day and my seat broke so that was quite the adventure let me tell ya. We had some amazing lessons this week and found some new investigators :) Do you remember me telling you about Ema? If not, I´ll tell the story again.

   We taught her the first week I was here and then she said she didn´t want to know anything but then we refound her a few weeks ago and she came to Family Home evening in the chapel on Thursday, and church on Sunday! We had an appointment with her this last week and she had two questions for us. 1. Who is Joseph Smith 2. How can I recieve eternal life? man....it was the best. The lesson was so incredibly spiritual and she said that this is everything that she´s been looking for!

   Hna. Latoja has been kind of sick all week with a cold, and then it really hit her hard on Saturday, so we weren´t able to leave really because she spent all day in bed. Poor thing. Being sick on the mission is the worst. I feel so grateful to be here on the mission and to be working for the Lord. I just feel.....so happy and so grateful. I think that´s the thing. Every night during our planning Hna. Latoja and I write "miracle of the day". It´s awesome because it gives us a chance to look back on the day and see all the ways that the Lord has blessed us. Not every day is easy, but every day there are blessings as long as we are doing our part.

Cuidense, (Take Care)

Hermana Feldermann

Every Week is a Miracle

 Not a day passes in the mission or in life where we don´t see miracles! If we look for them, we can find them every single day. My first week here in Alejandro Korn, we taught a lesson to this woman named Ema. When we finished teaching her, (we were in the house of a less active), we asked if we could come by her house some other time to continue teaching her. She said no, that honestly she would rather not know anything more. We left, and then about 2 weeks ago we refound her! We were riding in the streets and we passed right by her! So we stopped and said hi and were able to set up an appointment with her. We went to the appointment and she had forgotten that we were going to come, but said that we could come the next week. That night, she came to the Family home evening that we have every week in the chapel. She loved it and was talking to some of the members and when she found out that during church there were classes where her kids could go, she was way excited and told us that she was going to come on Sunday and.....she came!! And she brought all her kids as well. It was such a miracle, that we were able to find her again and that she was able to come to church. I just feel blessed that the Lord put us in the right place where we could find her again!

    So many miracles are happening in our ward right now. The family Sosa that I talked about before....has been reactivated and is now coming to church. We´ve been teaching their 11 year old son Elias and he is going to get baptized soon. When they came back, their older son who has 19 came back also and brought his wife. Also their other daughter returned as well, bringing with her the inactive son of another member. With him, he was able to bring his other siblings. It´s like a rain drop effect and it´s amazing to watch! We have tons of people to teach and the Lord is blessing us so much.

   Sorry that I don´t have a lot to write about this week, just that I´m so grateful to be here and that I love being a missionary! This is the greatest work on earth, for the members as well as the missionaries! When we all work together with our focus on the same purpose, miracles happen. It doesn´t matter if it´s rainy or cold or sunny or windy, because you´re just happy all the time. Obedience brings happiness as well as blessings. I hope that you have a great week! :)

Con amor,

Hermana Feldermann

We discovered a new part of our area today and it is kind of pretty

No words

This week was just crazy...awesome. So many miracles happened this week! First of all, the week before this was way hard, and I figured out why. My companion and I did not really get along super well at first, and it was hard. I was totally focusing on why what she was doing wasn´t making me happy, instead of focusing on how I could help her to be better and be a better missionary myself. I was able to spend a lot of time talking with God this week and trying my best to let go of my pride and repent. And you know what? This week was amazing :) We get along so great now, and I realized that no one can make you feel a certain way. Being happy is a decision we make completely on our own! And how can I not be happy?! I´m doing the happiest work that exists in this world and I get to talk about the gospel and Jesus Christ every single day! What a huge blessing. Our motivation to follow the gospel and to do the Lord's work comes from the love that we have for God. To increase our motivation to the do what the Lord asks, we have to increase our love for Him!

   This week we had potentially our last zone conference with President and Hna. Thurgood! Exactly a month from today the mission divides and then over half our mission goes to the Buenos Aires East mission. As of right now, my area still pertains to the south mission, but If I change areas after this transfer, which is on the 28th, then I will be heading over to the new mission. It might be good not to write me letters for these next few weeks until I know which mission I´ll be in. I know that the Lord has a plan for me, and I will be happy with wherever he decides to place me.

   So a funny story about what happened this week. We have been having troubles with our front door. There´s the front door to our pension and then in front of that is the door to the gate that goes out into the street. We can open the gate door, but the door to enter the pension has been having problems. One night this week around 9 we were returning to our pension to finish up for the day. We got there and....the door wouldn´t open. We tried and prayed and tried again, but nothing worked. We called the elders that are in our area and they came over to try to help us, and they couldn´t get the door open either. They tried for another 5 or so minutes and then we started to try to think of what to do. Around the side of our pension is the window to the bathroom, so the elders went around to the side and took the glass and the screen off the window, to try to see if we could get in and open it from the inside. The opening wasn´t very big and my companion is really tiny sooo....jaa you guessed it!! We hauled her up and put her through the window to the bathroom to try to open the door from the inside. She got in and...it still wouldn´t open....now what? The elders kind of turned to me and were like "well hermana....you know if we can´t get the door open you´re going to have to go through the window as well" so we started shoving all of our stuff through the window, our bags, jackets and everything so that if we couldn´t get it open I´d be going through the window as well.....but then..IT OPENED!! Sweet miracle :)

   Now an even bigger miracle happened this week. Right now we´ve found so many families to teach!! We have so many people to teach that we hardly even have space to breath! it´s great and we´re constantly rushing from one appointment to the next. There´s this less active family, the family Sosa that lives right on the border of our area with the elders. It´s technically in our area because it´s on our side of the street, but sometimes the elders pass by and try to visit them as well. The dad wants to return, but the mom doesn´t want to know about anything. She´s slammed the door in many missionaries faces. On Friday night the elders were passing by their house with el obispo, and they decided to stop by and knock. The mom answered and...she let them in! They were in their for a while and then they told about how they had kneeled down together as a couple on Tuesday night and prayed to know if the church was true, and that if it was if God could show them some sort of sign that it was true and they would come back to church and never leave it again. So on Friday night, at 8 o´clock in the very last hour, the elders knocked on their door. They came to church on Sunday and said they´ll never leave it again! They have an 11 year old son who hasn´t been baptized yet, and now we´re teaching him so he can get baptized!! The Lord works in so many miraculous ways.

    Have a great week!
Con amor,

Hermana Feldermann

We don't have a hose, so when it gets really muddy we have to wash our bikes in the shower

Meeting Sister Latoja with President and Sister Thurgood

Zone conference