Week 2 in San Fernando. The Week of Easter and General Conference!

Hey all of you! I hope everything is well, that every one had a wonderful Pascua, or Easter, and that General Conference was enjoyed! I personally recieved an outpouring of direction and guidance that I can't wait to study and apply in the upcoming 6 months! This was my second conference in the mission, and I only have one more to go before enjoying the April 2016 conference at home:) What a crazy thought...

As for this week, my companion and I did everything we could to find new people to teach, to have members with us, and to invite people to the Ward Home Evening that occurred on Friday night. It actually turned into a pretty tough week, as members kept telling us last minute that they couldn't accompany us, making lessons with a member tough! However, with blessings and heaven's help we pushed through, coming to the end of the week with enough lessons and four new investigators! We also saw a lot of success with the Ward Home Evening:) Lots of members came and had a spiritual and enjoyable time. We started with paper airplanes, followed by a water balloon toss that I was embaressingly bad at (my poor companion), and ending with some church videos. 

 

Here are some photos of my new area in San Fernando.

 

 This the the chapel here and it is also where all the farewells at the end of the mission are held.

 

The highlight of the week was EASILY General Conference, and for those of you who haven't heard of it or seen it, I highly recommend taking a look at lds.org! You'll be sure to find a talk that answers a specific question or concern you have. The spirit was incredibly strong in all of the sessions and I received a lot of answers and guidance to personal questions I had brought. 

 

My room here in San Fernando: No A/C but nice fans

 

 

 

In between the two sessions on Saturday we went out to try to invite people to the conference. We couldn't find a member to go with us, but decided to head out anyway with faith that we'd make some sort of progress and help move forward God's work in some small way. We were trying to get ahold of Facundo, a new investigator we'd found at the beginning of the week. We had been trying, and failing, to find him all week without any luck. As we passed by it was no different. He still wasn't home, and we had to talk to the same poor man who we'd talked to the entire week, who informed us once more that Facundo wasn't home. We were about to just leave when I figured we might as well invite the man we always ended up talking to to conference as well. We asked him if we could invite him. He told us to give him a moment, and then he disappeared. We waited, unsure of what was happening, when a guy we hadn't met before came up to us and asked us if we were looking for Facundo. We said yes, to which he said he was a friend of Facundo and was actually looking for him as well. We started up a conversation, inviting him to conference and getting to know him a little bit better. His name is Jacquin. As we talked with him the conversation flowed naturally and we set up a different time to pass by his house and teach him. As we talked he complimented me on my spanish, asking me how I'd learned so well. When his friend came up and started talking to us as well he also seemed a little surprised by my ability to speak. He said to Jacquin with surprise in his voice that I even seemed to know the littler mannerisms of a typical Argentine, to which I responded: Me esta cargando! A typical Argentine phrase that seemed to entertain the both of them. I'm looking forward to passing by this upcoming Tuesday and talking more with Jacquin:) 

 

Lunch last P-day: take a look at these crazy hotdogs!  I had the pizza one!

 

I know they look super expensive but 25 pesos here is about $2.50 American dollars.

 

My wonderful companion whose training I am finishing: Hermana Yancey

We also got to have lunch/dinner with Hermana and Elder Lines between the Sunday Sessions of General Conference. It was delicious, and then we got to watch the last session of conference with them. Great day! With Franklin's help we were able to have 7 lessons with a member after conference, helping us have the number of lessons we needed for the week!

It may have been a rough week in some regards, but I can't help but reflect on how blessed we were, throughout every moment and every day. The Lord truly is in the inner workings of our lives. Of this I can testify.

After 2 months, I was able to finish reading The Book of Mormon in Spanish!

So, take the time to watch conference! Continue to do the little things that bring us so much STRENGTH.

Pray on your knees.

Dig into the scriptures.

Go to church and actually plan to CHANGE from what you have learned!

Endure.

Love you all!

Hermana Dickson