Final Week in My First Transfer

FAMILIA!!!!! Como anda?

FELIZ 25 DE MAYO! Yesterday was el Dia de Patria, or the Day of the Patriot, for Argentina. It´s kinda like the 4th of July, but their dia de independencia is on the 9th of July. But they celebrated their 200 year anniversary of this holiday this year, so there were banderas (flags) EVERYWHERE and everyone wore blue or had pins of the Argentine flag. Members also told us that it is customary to wear pigtails in your hair, so Hna Kjar and I had pigtails with blue ribbons. We went ALL out and got lots of compliments! :)
We also had a actividad con el barrio (the ward) to celebrate - we ate facturas, pasteles, y tortas fritas, danced traditional folklore, y sang traditional Argentine hymns and songs. It was SOOO fun! Hna Kjar and I learned the traditional dances, but they couldn´t get us to dance to the music with a partner (cause it´s against the manual misionero) e ven though they kept saying, Ït´s not dancing, it´s participating in traditional activities! haha

I have had SO much rejection lately - Mirta won´t talk to us, Daniel tried to give us his BOM back, Carmen y Natalia are NEVER home to teach, and I´ve run into so many Evangelicas that are fiery... BUT after the dificultades come the blessings, ALWAYS! I am grateful for these trials because I have been learning so much from them - and they make the successes even better!

A blessing is this experience: we had a Noche De Hogar with a menos activo familia La Familia Herrera. They are inactivie and drink and smoke, but they are so loving and kind to eachother and to us. They just need a little push! So, we talked to the grandfather for a while, the ex bishop who is now inactive, and he brought out all of his Bishop´s stuff and started to cry as he showed us his patriarchal blessing and other things from his briefcase. I know he felt the Spirit - and we encouraged him to come back to church. I have faith that he will, because he truly knows the blessings and importancia de these things. Then we had a noche de Hogar (FHE) with the ex-bishop´s daughter and husband and girls - AND they invited their friends over!!! So we ended up teaching a new family- La familia Barbosa! And they asked us to do ANOTHER FHE on Saturday night too!! So we did! :)
We talked about family and the Family Proclamation to the World and ate food and laughed and showed pictures (of the wedding! :) thanks Mommy!). Then, we invited this La Familia Barbosa to the activity for the 25th de Mayo. THEY CAME TO THE ACTVITY!!!!!! But the problem is is that the members of our ward greeted them, but after that NO ONE went up to talk to them. Only the Bishop and later the Bishop´s wife. I was SOOO upset with the ward because here we have this WONDERFUL family with 3 adorable children who WANT religion and something good in their children´s lives and NO ONE would help them feel comfortable. I prayed so hard last night that they will still want to go to church!!! We are going to teach them tomorrow, so I will know better. I am learning patience with this ward - they have had so many problems and they are all so self centered. They need to learn that through service they can be happy and know Christ better. All of their problems can be resolved through the Evangelio de Jesucristo, through the Book of Mormon, through the Spirit, through covenants, and MOST ESPECIALLY through service to one another and to others. I am praying with all of my might to figure out something, a new program or message to tell them during our lunches, that will help change the ward.

Iglesia (Church) - We had Cristhian, Ramina, y Ramon in la capilla!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!! Cristhian is on his way. Ramina really liked it and we are going to teach her again tonight. And Ramon seemed really interested.

Cristhian - we are SOOO close to sacking a fecha! Aka, getting a baptismal date with him!!!!!! He´s 20 years old, from Paraguay, an incredible kid who always talks about Jesus Christ. He is SO THERE!!! He is just about there with a testimony of Josph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Yesterday we taught him the Ley de Castidad, Law of Chastity, and boy, I was blunt. But I felt the Spirit guiding me as I spoke. I talked about my own life, I shared scriptures, etc. Hna Kjar just kinda let me take the wheel and ask him to move out of his girlfriend´s house or marry her. We told him to pray about it and that we´d figure it out in a day or too. Crisitan is AMAZING!!! And the single adults in our ward have taken him in! They invited him to stake dance on friday - and HE WENT! A boy in our ward who is having a little trouble, but is trying to shape up to put in his papers invited him over for a FHE on Sunday night, and HE WENT!!!! Then they invited him to an activity on Monday night, and HE WENT!!! Then he went to the actvitiy a bit last night. He reads the Book of Mormon and prays... but his prayers are a little intense - we´re going to teach him pray...AGAIN. haha But Hna Kjar and I are really praying for him and helping him along. He is elect- I hope and pray he will be ready to make this important step in his life.

Mom- MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS for the package!!! It got here last Thursday and my boca dropped when I saw how much it costed for you to send it!!! Thanks for loving me enough to send that! I LOVED ALL THE PICTURES!!!! It was so great to feel apart of everything as I thought about how it went! And then the chocolate and gifts (the hair flowers are PERFECT!!!) were so sweet of you! Thanks for thinking about me!!!! I truly truly truly appreciate it!!!

This gospel is true - the condesecion de Jesucristo is incredible - He is literally the son of God and of Mary, the Virgin. He is my Savior and Redeemer and EVERYONE´s Savior and Redeemer. It is up to us to change our lives and come unto him. We can only fully access his atonement through faith in Him, repentance and change of heart and lifestyle, baptism by the correct authority and priesthood on the earth, the Holy Ghost, and through keeping our covenants and commandments of the Lord. This work is SOOO important because through the Restoration, we have this access to the Atonement. EVERYONE needs this!!!!! And I am trying my best to share with everyone!!!

I LOVE ALL OF YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!!!!

ANIMO Y ADELANTE!!!

Hermana Tingey