Wednesday, August 4, 2010

I am PUMPED!!!

-----------I am PUMPED!!!!! -----------We have some GREAT investigadores and I am sooo excited to work with them! I´ve also had some humbling experiences this week that I would love to share, so hold on because you all are in for a tour of la Mision Bahia Blanca in the eyes and thoughts of la Hermana Tingey!

Milagros (28) and Camila (9) - We contacted someone in the street and fijamos una cita. We weren´t sure if she had lied about her dirrection, we thought it might not exist, so we went dirrectly to it to verify. We couldn´t find it and as we were turning to leave the street, I saw a door. At the time I didn´t know it, but the Spirit was guiding me to knock on this door. I am so grateful that I was listening to my feelings because we knocked on the door and una mujer, Milagros, let us in!!! (Doesn´t happen everyday, let me tell you.) We talked for a bit and she told us that she has a enfermedad, but the doctors don´t know what exactly yet. We listened and I analyzed in my mind what I should teach her... Plan of Salvacion. I can´t remember everything I said, but I remember that my companera and I talked about the Plan of Salvation and I talked about Bunny, my mom´s cousin who recently passed away, and the importancia of knowing God´s plan for us. After we testified, she told us that she knew someone who had a hard time in his life and right when he needed God, the Elders showed up. She said she really needed someone right now and just when she needed someone, we came knocking at the door. Milagros is VERY VERY Catholic, but I have faith that she will progress. Por lo menos, I will be forever grateful that I listened to the Spirit and knocked on her door. She will always remember that we were there when she needed us. We have sinced passed by twice and taught leccion 1...which was tough because she is VERY VERY Catholic, but I am constantly pleading with my Father to help her feel the Spirit and to help her see the importance of the Restauracion and the Book of Mormon... of THIS gospel! Camila is adorable, if Milagros progresses, so will Camila. Please pray for Milagros!!!!

Veronica (30) and Sofia (8) - My companera listened to the Spirit as we passed by a contact that we made probably 4 weeks ago that we had forgotten. She said, ¨Recuerda Veronica, Hermana Tingey?¨ I had NO idea who she was, but I´m always up for visiting old contacts because they recognize us. We knocked on the door and fijamos una cita for the next day. We went back and Sofia (8) came to the door. ¨Are you Testigos de Jehovah?¨ ¨No, we´re Mormonas. Can we talk to your Mom?¨ ¨...Are you sure you´re not testigos de Jehovah?¨ Haha... Eventually her mom Veronica let us in. We talked to them and Sofia told us that boys at school were talking about the end of the world. She started crying because she was scared of the end of the world. My companera was blessed with the Spirit and with authority as she taught the Plan of Salvation to Sofia. Sofia is very very intelligente. She understood everything and even had questions for us! She´s 8 years old!! I talked to Sofia and gave her a folleto. I told her about church and the Book of Mormon - she said she wants to go this Sunday and she thanked me for the Book of Mormon, ¨I´m going to read it all!!!¨ Veronica, her mom, said, ¨She really will, you know.¨ Veronica is kinda evangelica, but is open to learn about our religion. Sofia is golden! She´s the type of the girl who will learn and understand the doctrine of Jesus Christ. She´s also the type of girl who will help her mom go to the church and keep her covenants - I have really high hopes for these two women, PLEASE pray that they will go to church this Sunday!!

Mari - Una menos activa. We walked in and it was like the Villa all over again (the Villa - pronounced Vi-sha en Argentina - is like the ghetto). The house had a dirt floor, it wasn´t heated, all of their food was on the table (and there wasn´t much... mate, milk for the baby, and pan o algo), they were dirty... it was so heartbreaking. Mari talked to us for a while. She was baptized 5 years ago and has a child that´s 7 months old. Her boyfriend isn´t supporting her because she moved out. He hit Mari´s daughter whose 20 years old and Mari said enough´s enough and moved out. She doesn´t have anything and her daughter barely has a job. The Spirit was so strong as we testified of the blessings she will receive as she keeps the commandments of the Lord. (Mosiah 2:41) We atlked about the leyes (laws) in heaven that were decreed before the world was organized and I felt prompted to promise her blessings if she goes to church this Sunday. Everything I´ve seen here in Argentina is changing me - I´m being humbled and my eyes are opening to the poor and suffering, the hungry and desolate. I have faith that Mari will come back and partake of the love of the gospel - I saw the faith she has in her eyes. She´s very special. (Ben - you can tell your missionaries that we are working with Menos Activos here in Bahia Blanca mission. There are SO many members that are not coming to church and the church is small as it is... it´s part of our obra right now.)


IDLENESS - oohhhh, I HATE that word! But I learned about that word this week. We had one of those days that I still feel horrible about... La Hna Abarzua and I felt LOST at the end of the day, ¨What did we do with our time today?¨ We felt so guilty, we had idiled much of the day, our plans fell through and we weren´t very assertive in contacting or finding someone else better to do... at the end of the day I felt HORRIBLE! We prayed for forgiveness and wrote a ¨Constitucion de las Hermana de La Falda¨ with all of our goals and ideas to change for this week. We signed it and everything - We will NOT waste the Lord´s time for ANYTHING this week!!!! I am very excited because I´ve been trying to help my comp have more animo for the past 2 months - it´s been tiring for me, and I lost vision for a while. But now, I am back on track and FIRED UP!!!!!!

I LOVE this gospel! I know that Christ is at the head of this Church and that He leads and guides us through a profeta on the earth today, just like He has done in all the dispensaciones. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it ¨¨aclara la Biblia¨¨ and convinces all men to come unto Christ and be perfected in him. I LOVE to testify of this Book and of this Church!!! I have such a strong testimony of these principles!

LOVE YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH!!!!!! Animo y adelante!

Hermana Tingey

P.S. Please tell Greg Livingston I am so proud of him for returning home with honor! And Jason Brown - he´s going to be SUCH a good missionary! Where is he serving? And I am SOOO excited to see the Park City house when it´s finished!!!

One year left!!! How time flies!

July 26th 2011... apparantly that´s when I´m going home next year! I´ve already had 5 months on the mission- ¡que loco che!

Moving, again?! We just can´t sit still! :) Mom, I´m praying for your sanity - haha - but really, I am praying that you are ok with everything, that the move is going smoothly and that you and Dad and the kids will be alright leaving Montreal.

SHELBY CLAWSON - please tell her I love her and am SOOO excited for her! (And we ALL knew Shelby would go first... :) haha)

Abby cut her HAIR!!! I am sure she looks B-E-A-UTIFUL! Knock ém dead at EFY Abby Cakes!

Jack - How are you doing with the changes, buddy? I hope you´re doing alright without la Tele y the computer right now! haha

Biffy - TLC Cupcakes? ¡Que riquisimo! And a half marathon?? What wonderful memories we have with our half marathon with Daddy, no? I´ll be praying that the last mile you´ll think of me and SPRINT to the finish line! :)

Jackie - I started to tear up as I read your email about your brother - what wonderful blessings from your faithfulness and example! Your brother is a stud for reading the Book of Mormon every day and he went to CHURCH!!!!!! What a WONDERFUL demonstration of his faith! This gospel is all about change. Repentance is change change change! What a wonderful opportunity to know Jesus Christ and His Atonement through repentance and re-dedication to His gospel!

Ben - 4 misioneros a Bahia?? BUENO!!! Get ém ready, Benji! They are going to have a lot of Evangelicos y Catolicos. They will probably have a native comp to start out (but maybe don´t tell ém that or they´ll freak! haha). If they have any questions, have them write it down and I can answer them. I know I wanted to hear about my mission specifically in the MTC... I can even give them some things to study! I taught Hno. Zivic one time - he won´t remember, but I was SOO excited to speak in Castellano! (´Sho´ se que Jesucristo vive... es musica a mis oidos! :-D)

Daddy - I have been praying that you´ll be alright with the transition with work and callings and everything.., but I know how much you love Park City, so I´m sure you´re already psyched to go biking... can´t wait to go skiing with you in 2011!

Mom - I was freezing before but the Office Elders helped us fix the calefactor and the gas... and now the weather´s getting better! Yeah don´t worry, everything I have works great! I wasn´t exercising - just abs and stretching - because my comp doesn´t like to, but now she has more ganas to exercise, so we´re trying to do aerobics together every other day. It´s fun! :) I think I want to take Kick Boxing when I get home. No surprise, eh?!

Typical Mission Story - I killed a spider half the size of my palm!!! La Hna Abarzua freaked out and screamed, ¨Hermana Tingey!!!!!!¨ I turned around and there was a HUGE spider crawling towards her. I took a shoe and killed it...Princess Storm style. I hope that´s not a sin to kill an innocent animal, but my comp was freaking out... what was I supposed to do? :)

On a spiritual note, we had divisiones this last week and it was SO fun! I went with the relief society president Natalia Perez. She served in Bahia Blanca about 6 years ago!!! She´s from Cordoba and met her husband in Cordoba and then they moved to Bahia! ¡Que loco che! She´s SO great! She´s been such a great friend to me - and she has a powerful testimony, being a convert for only 8 years or so. We taught a woman named Sylvia (40 plus) and her nephew Guillermo (15). Sylvia is evangelica and a saint - she visits the sick and afflicted everyweek. She listened intently and said she´d read the Book of Mormon. Guillermo has interest in all things spiritual - I pray and plead to the Lord that they will come to church and progress!!!

I had a really spiritual experience with a menos activos named Juan. He hasn´t been to church in years - YEARS! He was one of the first baptisms in La Falda - more than 20 years ago. Back when they had to travel more than 40 minutes to get to church. Something happened with the leadership and he stopped going to church. He knows the Book of Mormon is true - he LOVES it and is so grateful for the missionaries because they taught him how to read using the Book of Mormon. La Hna Abarzua del Canto and I testified so boldly and with power (that is only given in certain lessons) that he needs to come back to church. When I looked into his eyes it was different than others menos activos - usually menos activos have all sorts of excuses and you can see it in their eyes that they are uncomfortable and don´t want to come back to church. But with Juan, his eyes were eyes of many years of pain. I testified of the life of Joseph Smith - how many trials and tribulations he endured with faith in the Lord and with hope. I testified of the atonement and of my Savior Jesus Christ who endured everything - I felt a connection to this man Juan. I was supposed to bear testimony to him. I have had a few experiences like that here - every time it hits me SO hard. I was bawling after we left. The spirit hit my chest so hard and filled my whole body. I haven´t seen baptisms, I haven´t seen many lives change dramatically, but I have planted a few seeds... I always pray that these seeds will be watered and fed one day. I try to do as much as I can, but they always have the choice themselves. But one day, I know it!

I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!!!!! I am learning SO much! I hope and pray that all of you are happy and doing fine! I know that Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. That He lived a perfect life and suffered, died, and was resurrected, fufilling the will of the Father completamente. He is my older brother - He is the Lamb of God. I know that Heavenly Father loves us SO much! He lives and has a perfected, glorified body. I testified of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to a man named Cristian the other day who would not belive in God. I talked about the scripture in Alma - the earth and the planets and their perfect forms... how could someone not believe in God? I told him one day He will want to know and I gave him a Book of Mormon with that scripture to read.

Well, this one´s a little shorter because I´m trying to be more and more and more obediente and I don´t have time today to write more... but I know that this is the work of the Lord and I look forward to the day when I can see the change in these people´s lives!

Animo y adelante!

Les quiero UN MONTON!

Hermana Tingey

Prayer Role
Rocio y Sebastian - That they´ll go to church on Sunday!
Sylvia y Guillermo - that they´ll read the BOM and pray!
Ana y Mario - that they´ll read and pray
Gaston - that he´ll read the BOM and pray
Menos Activos - Juan, Fabiana, Mikaela, Ayelen, etc. that they will come back to church!
La Hermana Abarzua Del Canto - that we can become best friends!
El Barrio de La Falda - that we will have 2 baptisms soon!!!