EARTHQUAKE

THE EARTHQUAKE WAS REALLY COOL!!!!  And sad because people died, but
it was the first time that I´ve ever felt one.  I´m in the part of the
mission that´s closest to the epicenter.  It was about 8:30 in the
morning, just chill-in´ doing my personal study, feelin´ the spirit.
And then everything started to mildly shake for a few minutes.  And I
just looked at my companion and Told her "Choo, Y la moyoria de los
argentinos aun se quedan dormidos" (And most of Argentina is still
sleeping)  and then we just went back to studying.  My people here
know how to sleep.  Things don´t open until 9ish and NOTHING; NOTHING
is open from 1-5 because everyone is at home napping.  I love it here.

Other exciting news, remember the wild ostriches that live here?  WE
ATE A CAKE MADE FROM OSTRICH EGG!!!!!

There are also wild monkeys.  We saw 2 yesterday, they we super cute.

I have lots of really funny pictures to show you when I get back.

I don´t have an aunt named Jennifer Shumway do I?  And a cousin named
Braden?  From Arizona?  They started e-mailing me and I literally
haven´t the slightest clue who they are.

This week was amazing because..... We hade 40 people in our sacrament
meeting!  But only like 15 stayed for the other classes.

La familia Roque (who live in the village 20 minutes away from our
village)  came and are really excited for their baptisms!  They´ve
been reading the Book of Mormon and the teachings of President Benson
together every-night and feel the spirit SOOO strong.  They invited
some of their friends to our last lesson.  We taught the word of
wisdom and the law of chastity- AND EVEN THOUGH IT WAS THE FIRST TIME
WE MET THE FRIEND THEY COMMITTED TO LIVE THESE COMMANDMENTS!!!  And one
of them really, really needed to hear our message and she cried and we
were able to teach about repentence and obedience to the Lord.  It was
soo spiritual.  Hno. Roque had goosebumps after the lesson.

Our branch President thinks that they will be able to start another
branch in their village.  I feel so blessed to be in this area at this
time.

Yesterday was mothers day here.  I love you.  It´s really cute here
because they make a HUGE deal out of it.  They decorated the church
and everything.

Thank the Olsen´s for their letters!  They are soo cute.

Miss you!  Chau!!

Tartagal

This week was really cool- but it was emotionally draining.  I´ve never
been homesick while I´ve been in the mission, but this week I got
area sick.  4 days out of 7 I wasn´t working in my area, because we
were traveling and training and in conferences.  It was super amazing
to be able to get to know, and work with other missionaries- but I
kinda missed walking in the dirt and sun all day reciting the first
vision.

We fasted to be able to use in the best way the short time we had in
our area and we were able to witness miracles!

3 investigators came to church!  2 of them are a married couple, and
the wife suffers a lot of health problems and can barely walk.  When
she was in the church, she was praying to know if it was true- and
after her prayer HER LEGS STOPPED HURTING!!!!!  And in gospel
principles class they shared their testimony that they know that this is the
path to salvation!!!!  I feel so blessed to be here and know them.
They live in a tiny village that´s even smaller than ours about 20 miles
away- but are doing everything possible para learn more about the
gospel.

We found a different family that night that knew the missionaries
before and were so happy to talk to us.  Their eyes were literally
shining when we talked to them about baptism!

Also, there weren´t a lot of people in the branch so the sacrament
bread was HUGE.  Literally I could not put it in my mouth in 1 piece.
I had to break it up in 3!!  (I secretly think it happened because it
was fast Sunday  but only God knows)

I feel really blessed.

It amazes me how easily that `people can love the missionaries.  After
the conference in Tartagal, the elders arranged for us to lunch with
some of their members.  We knew this family for 45 minutes, and I feel
like I´ve known them forever.  They are so excited to edify the church
that they asked to be ward missionaries and leave every week to find
people to teach and visit the less actives.  They are also making
customized scripture cases for my and my companion and have asked the
elders if we can eat with them every time that we are in Tartagal.

While we were waiting for our bus, we met some really cool artesanal
oborigenies.  I bought grandma a flippin sweet
winchime-mobile-dream-catcher thing (and one for me).  And a bunch of
necklaces and a bracelet made out of seeds.  And 4 bags that are
exquisite. Everything put together was about $20. I think I´ll have to
buy you guys more stuff when I go back next month.

I love you.

The conference was amazing!!

The hot chocolate is different- its not sweet.  If you want it to be
sweet you have to add sugar.  And it tasted like coffee even though
it´s not coffee. It´s called malta. Or they have nesquik.  But i´m
defiantly bringing back malta!

I miss the temple.

The conference was amazing!!  You can re-watch Elder Hollands talk and
remember that I love you mom.  It was a little bit weird to watch the
conference in Spanish because I know the voices of the apostles, but
Elder Cristofferson dubbed his own talk in Spanish!!   It was amazing
to be able to see his face, but hear his voice in Spanish!  Elder
Viñas visited our mission about 4 months ago!  It was crazy to see him
on a TV screen and not in person!  He dubbed his own talk too.

I still working on translating Jenn´s testimony into Spanish.  Being a sister zone
leader is a lot of work, I´m traveling and doing a lot more things. Tonight we
 travel to the mission offices for the mission leader conference and then we
 are there almost the whole day Tuesday.  And then Friday we train missionaries
 in one zone and then Saturday a different zone.  I´m starting my 3 week in my
 new area and I still don´t know it super well!

This week I went on companionship exchanges with an Hermana that I
used to live with and it was one of the best days ever!  Their new
district leader doesn´t know how to ride a bike so he gave his bikes
to the Hermanas.  I GOT TO RIDE A BIKE!!! It was kinda fun in the
beginning but in the end I was kinda scary because with dirt roads
with lots of rocks it was more like mountain biking.  And when it got
dark we used a little flashlight because they arne´t many street
lights and I kinda felt like I was gunna die.  But, it was SUPER
pretty because there was a forest of banana trees, and hundreds of
fireflies.  And we felt the spirit a lot.

La Colonia is soo pretty.  It more tropical than my other area, and
there are little canals everywhere and we walk on really sketchy
bridges. And you can hear little frogs in the nighttime! Everyone
mango and avocado trees.  Mango season´s in December and you can
already see the fruit starting.

There is a really fun elderly convert that always has these huge black
spiders in his house.  We made a couple of comments but he just
laughed and told us that he´s spider-man.

I love you all, and hope that everything is well!

Everything that could happen has happened

This was the craziest week of my life basically.  

First off, I had my first companionship exchanges as an Hermana Leader!  but is was the easiest thing of my life because is was with my daughter in my old area.  And we saw miracles!  We´ve been teaching an amazing girl, Lucero, for the past 2 months that we found one day when  the spirit prompted me to talk to her!  She was actually supposed to be baptized the day before I was transferred but she had to go out of town unexpectedly.  I was in companionship exchanged the day of her baptismal interview in Oran- and it started to look like it wasn´t going to happen.  She was stuck in her house with her little brothers and had to watch them while her mom was gone.  So, me and my ex-companion asked the district president if he could go and do the interview in her house!  He was just finishing up a district meeting with his two counselors so they all decided to come. 

 When we almost got to the house, Lucero sent us a message and told us not to come because her mom had just gotten back- was angry and was taking her out.  We got there right when they were heading out the door.  It was late in the night, and she happens to live in the most dangerous part of Oran- and so I think it really scared the mom to see 3 men and 2 Sister missionaries approach them.  It was honestly the 1st time that I had ever seen the mom, because Lucero is 19 years old and the mom is always traveling.  When she asked us what we wanted I explained  that we were missionaries and that we were here to interview Lucero for her baptism the next day.  Then she kinda freaked out and told us that she had no idea that Lucero was going to be baptized, and a bunch of other stuff basically blaming the church for things that were happening in their family.

It was one of the most uncomfortable moments in my entire life.

Nobody said anything.  The District president and his counselors backed up and me and my ex-companion just looked at each other for a moment.  And just before I started to panic, I felt the spirit and the words just came to me.  I don´t know how I was able to talk but I did.  I explained, and testified- and in the end she told us that we could have the interview and baptize her daughter.

The whole interview we talked to the mom- and she opened up about everything in her family and her beliefs and she told us that she would start going to church to find out what her daughter is learning.

I never felt like such an instrument in the hands of God.  The district president  then called our mission president and asked if I could come back and go to Lucero´s baptism the next day!  We didn´t tell her that I was coming and it was a really neat surprise.

I was kinda sad that I got transferred so close to my old area but maybe some people in Oran still need me.

I also had a baptism of 9 year old Walter in my new area la colonia.  It was kinda crazy because the baptismal font/swimming pool thing had a hole in it so it was leaking water the whole time- but it was really spiritual.  

I'm pretty sure the new apostles are going to be more diverse too.  They changed our area presidency and everyone is talking that our old area president Elder Zaballos could be in the quorum of the 12. 

When we were looking for investigators to go to church Sunday morning- I looked down and saw a page of the book of mormon, a little bit burnt on the floor.  I picked it up and showed it to my companion (Hermana Franks de Koosharem, UT).  We then looked down the road and it was completely covered in slightly burned pages of the book of mormon.  I wanted to cry.  Some kids that were playing in the street started helping us collect all the pieces.  They could tell that it made us sad.

The work is really different here and that week we found our next baptism, but I´ll have to tell you about him nest week when there´s more time.

La Colonia Santa Rosa

I got transferred! And a new leadership position!

Saying goodbye to all of my converts was probably the hardest thing
that I´ve ever done.  Nehemias and I cried together, and Braian´s last
prayer made me cry.  My family in Argentina cried at our last meal
together.  It was one of the most depressing weekends of my entire
life.

And then when the elder called me en the noche- he told me that I was
only going to be transferred a little more than a half and hour away to
La Colonia Santa Rosa and our mission president called me and told me
that I was called as a sister training leader.  Which means that I
have to go on companionship exchanges with all of the hermanas in 2
zones! And teach in zone training for the 2 zones as well.  Which
means that I´m going to work with my daughter again, and be able to
visit everyone that I already said goodbye to!  We actually have
divisions with Oran this week.  My old companion isn´t going to tell
any one that I´m coming for the day, but I think that no one will
believe that I actually left.

La Colonia is even smaller than Oran.  And the internet is really bad,
so I won´t be able to send pictures.  There isn´t a grocery store. And
all the food is SUPER expensive. And I´m with my 1st companion that´s
north american.   And there are even more mosquitoes.  And the branch
is even smaller, there are like 30 active members.  And there are wild
ostriches in the fields that surround the village.  OSTRICHES.

Basically this is the biggest adventure that I´ve ever had in my entire life.

Apart from being a little bit sad, my last week in Oran was crazy fun.

I ate more steak in one night than I think I´ve had in my entire life,
because some members wanted  to teach us all the cuts and types of
asado.  And they don´t give little pieces.

We had a branch talent show and with the other Hermanas we dressed up
like elders and acted to the song Querido Juan (Dear John).  Everyone
died of laughter, especially the elders.  I´ll show you guys when I
get back.

In family home evening with the branch we let one of the jovenes choose what game we
were going to play and it was the best thing I have witnessed in my
entire life.  It begins with everyone sitting in a chair with their
eyes closed, but there´s someone with their eyes open who walks around
bothering everyone until they open their eyes, and then they help
with the bothering.  Some people wanted to win so bad that it didn´t
matter what happened to them they kept their eye´s closed!  We even
started bringing the people outside of the church and putting them close
to the street.  I have some really great pictures.  And my convert
won- capo.

Well, I´ll probably have better stories next week.  Until then!
Hermana Shumway

Chicken not neck.

We have transfers this sunday- and I´m pretty sure I´m going to be transferred.  So don´t be surprised if you don´t get a letter from me next week.                                                                                                                     

This week was kind of embarrassing because a member dropped off food for us and as we were thanking him he said "Es cuello, le gusta cuello?" (It´s neck, do you like neck?) It didn´t really catch me off guard, because I´ve eaten some weird cow parts but I just told him I didn´t know because I´ve never tried it! He then looked at me really, really confused and said "ok".

When we got in the house me companion looked at me really strange and told me "Pero comimos pollo siempre!" (but we eat chicken all the time!)  Turns out he said "pollo" (chicken) not "cuello" (neck) and now he thinks that I´m really weird.

This week we were buying something when the store owner asked if we knew his nephew. We didn´t recognize his name, but the store owner told us that it was alright- he would show us where his nephew lives after he rung us up- because his nephew really loves Mormons. So then he  took us to his nephew´s house.  And, he´s super rich and really likes Mormons and own´s a tennis club.  So, for P-Day we went and played tennis with him as a district and he gave us breakfast!  It was crazy fun.  He´s atheist but we had a really good talk with him.  

I love you all.  Until next week (or 2)

 The church that the branch here in Oran meets at.

 We bought matching skirts

 Tennis with Ricardo

All the bug repellent that I have personally used here in Oran (less than 4 months)

"testimony"

My least favorite people to visit in the entire world are people who leave the church because of others. If they are weak enough to do that their "testimony" needs a lot of work.  There is literally nothing, NOTHING more important than taking the sacrament every week.  Our first district counselor is a police officer, and when he has to work Sundays he comes to the church building in his uniform, on-duty, and waits outside to take the sacrament before he returns back to work.  It´s that important.

This week we had the opportunity to baptize his Nephew- Braian.  We started teaching him and the first time he went to church we realized that his uncle is 1st district counselor!  They are part of a huge family- and are the only two members out of more than 30.  It was one of the most spiritual baptisms I´ve ever had.  

After his confirmation, Braian´s uncle bore his testimony.  It was so powerful.  He has always been praying and hoping and working to help his family accept the gospel.

There is nothing that God wants more than eternal families, and we should be willing to do everything possible to reach this.  

I love you all so much, and hope that we can all return back to our Heavenly Father together, and help others do the same.

 Nehemías! He also looks a lot happier in the photos after his baptism.

 Braian y su tío. The best part is how much happier they look after the baptism!

 We couldn´t sleep because there was a giant fiesta the whole night (For teachers day all the teachers dressed up and had a parade with EXTREMELY loud music in the middle of the night).  The only part that we got to see was the trash the next day.

 We traded name tags and accessories,  And, My daughter has 3 months in the mission!  I´m old.