18 Months an Angel : Week 7 in San Fernando : Got to Skype with my family for Mother's Day ;D

Man was this week wonderful! It might have been a little rough at times, as we tried to find people to teach or members to accompany us, but the miracles have come, the spirit has been present, and I got to finish off the week talking to my beloved family!

(Reed, excited to skype with his sister, Mallory)

(The blessings of technology)

(The first thing we saw when we turned on skype)

My companion and I started picking a scripture to go with every day, so enjoy the scriptures, and look them up, as we go through a quick run down of May 6th to May 10th:)

Wednesday: Alma 17:11 "And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls."

After weekly planning and lunch we headed out to work:) Out of the three members that said they could accompany us all fell through, leaving us a little lonely and feeling a little stranded in the calle, or street. As the day progressed and we just couldn't seem to find anyone, whether in their houses or on the street, I was getting a little frustrated. I wanted nothing more than to teach, to work, to help others. Out of our 5 scheduled appointments almost All of them fell through.

The view from my "backyard"

As the day started winding down I asked my companion if she wanted to visit the familia Chavez. They weren't written down in our plans, but regardless I felt that we should visit them. She agree, and off we went. To our great surprise and happiness they were actually home and had time to let us visit! We came in without a clue as to what we would share or teach. I didn't want to just share a scripture and skip out of their house. I had brought a block game for a different appointment that had fell through, so I decided to make it useful. I had found the blocks laying around the apartment and had decided they might be fun to use. Without a clue as to how I wanted to use the blocks, I told the family that I had a game for them.

Teaching the familia Chavez can be a little complicated, as it consists of active members, less active members, and non members. At the table with us was Sara Chavez (member), her husband (not a member), her daughter Claudia (less active), and the daughter of Claudia, Dana (not a member either). I poured the blocks out on the table and told each person in the family, including my comp and I, to take a block. Written on the blocks were different words, like scriptures, family, faith, priesthood, etc. As soon as each person had a block I told the family that we would be building a tower out of the blocks and that each block would be essential in building a strong and sturdy tower. I invited each person in the family to explain to the group of us why their block, the topic written on it, was important before adding it to our tower.

At Camila's Baptism

Hermana Yancey

Camila and I

Mis hijas y Camila :)

We talked of prophets, baptism, the sacrament, etc. The members bore testimony, and those who weren't members really enjoyed the game and were asking lot of questions. It was such a good way of bringing up a little bit of everything we believe in as members of the church! After the tower was built I asked 13 year old Dana to take out one of the blocks without making the tower fall. Due to how the tower was built she was unable to do so, and the tower fell. I then asked her to set it back up. Maybe it was just that particular block, and if we took out a different block we would get different results. Sara's husband tried next. He really took his time, trying to get the tower to stay upright, but had the same luck as his granddaughter. We then talked of how every block, or every thing, was essential, and that we had to have all or the tower would fall, and we wouldn't have the strength that we needed to carry on.

We then read Alma 38:2 which reads:

"And now, my son, I trust that I shall have great joy in you, because of your steadiness and your faithfulness unto God; for as you have commenced in your youth to look to the Lord your God, even so I hope that you will continue in keeping his commandments; for blessed is he that endureth to the end."

We then talked about the strength of keeping the commandments and Claudia bore her testimony. We then asked each member of the family to take one of the blocks. Based on their topic we assigned each one of them a reading assignment with one of the three missionary pamphlets. They accepted the "homework" and we scheduled to meet with them on Tuesday. It was an AMAZING lesson! The spirit was present and everyone in the family was edified. And yet, I had gone into the lesson with no idea of what we would be presenting. It was truly completely led by the spirit. I had had the opportunity to teach and to bring the spirit. God truly had heard my prayers.

Cool statue in the park

As we were heading over to a different appointment we ran into the primary president, who accompanied us and thanked us for all of the help we'd provided for Camila. What a miracle!

Thursday: Alma 26:31 "Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us."

The morning started out with a great Zone meeting! I learned that no matter what the spirit tells me, I Have to act on it and Do what it tells me to do. That we teach and find whether or not we have a member to accompany us. That after many no's we'll have a yes.

We got to teach Lilian! She had gone to church the Sunday before and seemed very eager to learn more:) We stopped by Zulma's house, her friend, and were able to teach her the Restoration. I loved how excited Lilian was to learn. We invited her to be baptized the 24th and she accepted. We love her so much! We also visited with Estephanie and her family and talked about the mission, Walter and his little son and reminded him that his family is more important to him than money (Alma 39:14) "seek not after riches nor the vain things of the world; for behold, you cannot carry them with you.", as well as Carmen about family history. It was almost the opposite of the day before, when we spent almost the whole day on the street! It was a great blessing:)

Beautiful sunset here

Friday: Ether 10:34 "Now Com did fight against them much; nevertheless, he did not prevail against them."

What a struggle! Lunch went really well, and we ran into President and his wife on the train back, no big deal. Great to see them:) We spent the rest of the day trying to invite people to the Noche de Barrio. We got there early to help set up. At first there really weren't very many people, but as the night progressed we had a better sized group. It was quite fun:) Despite our best efforts we were not able to have lessons with a member, leaving us with 5 lessons in total for the entire week. Needless to say, I was pretty stressed!

Saturday: 1 Nephi 4:6 "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."

A day of miracles and lessons with a member! We found two new investigators and were about to help Jorge Luis. We passed by the house to see if he was home. He actually was! We were able to talk to him and see how he was doing. By following the impressions of the spirit I was able to share an experience which got him to open up to us, and was able to share a scripture with him: Doctrine and Covenants 6:10,11, 15, 16.
10 Behold thou hast a gift, and blessed art thou because of thy gift. Remember it is sacred and cometh from above—
11 And if thou wilt inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which are great and marvelous; therefore thou shalt exercise thy gift, that thou mayest find out mysteries, that thou mayest bring many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, convince them of the error of their ways.
15 Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten thy mind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been enlightened by the Spirit of truth;
16 Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart.

Domingo: 2 Nephi 5:27 "And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness."

We ended the week with style! With Saturday and Sunday we were able to have 14 lessons, bringing us close to our goal of 20! Camila was confirmed, and I got to sykpe with my family!!!!!!! I love them so much, each and every one of them! Mom, Dad, Reed, Hyrum, and Emilie! (Yes Emilie, Charli too). It was an amazing week!

I love all of you and am praying for you! Keep pressing forward and relying on your Savior. He truly does know, so much better than we do.

Hermana Dickson

We don't take a lot of pictures while we are out working so here is a "taste" of Argentine culture ;).

Remember Amigo Pancho:)