New Companion from Texas!

Hey fam! 

Sorry this letter's not gonna be super extensive because once again the computer is crappy and I lost a lot of time waiting for it to work :/ Thanks for the emails!! I read every line and saw every pic but I'm going to skip commenting on it so that I can tell you real quick how my week was! 

From Monday to Thursday we basically went and said bye to all of the peeps that Hna Chorolqui had met in her four months here, and tried to get everything packed and ready! On Thursday we took the 4 hour colectivo ride to Mendoza and arrived at about 9:30 pm at the mission offices. There waiting for us were two new sisters, and also a new elder, Elder Holmstead, who was with me in the MTC just in the upper level class and was also in my zone in Ogden! Also awaiting me were letters from Jenna, Sis Peterson, Herm Hales, Grandma, and the package from you!!! It was the best!! They didn't tell us which of the newbies were our comps, so we just got to know them a little bit, I read my letters/opened my package, and then went to bed! 

The next day we ate german pancakes for breakfast that Hna Ence made and then had an awesome training (just the 6 of us) from Pres Avila and the Asistentes. During the middle of it, HNA HALES walks in and we pretty much both died from the excitement of seeing eachother after almost 4 months.. it was the best! She's also going to be with a new hermana, but hers is from Nicaragua and she had to pick her up from the airport on Friday. Crazy! She's doing really well though and we got to talk for like an hour during lunch and catch up. After lunch we found out who our comps were and had to get ready to go to our areas! My comp is Hna Tzorin. She's 21 and she's from Texas, but her mom is Mexican and her dad is Guatemalan so she speaks fluent Spanish and grew up going to a Spanish ward! She's been in the field just about 6 months in Riverside California, and she's super cool. She's really excited to finally be here and she wants to know everything about the culture and Castellano, so it's been a ton of fun getting to show her around and teach her all about alfajores, mate/malta, che (which basically means "dude"), stray dogs, the rules of cheek kisses, etc. We're really good friends already and we balance each other out pretty well, so I'm excited for the miracles we're gonna see this transfer! 

Nothing too crazy has happened yet, but our investigators are doing well and were working on finding some new ones! She has a lot of great ideas and I don't feel at all like I'm training or anything like that, which is a relief! Next week should be a good one out here in San Rafael, and I hope yours is awesome too! Keep the commandments! Haha, love you guys!!

PS- I LOVE the music that you sent, it's perfect!! And the trail mix was still good (: Thanks again, hopefully the pringles can comes soon too!

Gotta love the Spanglish here!

The grape sign at night

Hermana Notaro (Relief Society president)

Hna Pardo working on the pizza

if I were to describe Barrio 2 with one picture...

new comp, Hna Tzorin eating her first alfajor!! (she loved it, of course)

trying to get warm by the estufa

old comp Herm Hales and I

Letter (with a Surprise Inside)!!

Como anda mi familia?                                                         Sept. 23, 2012 San Rafael

Che, I loved the emails and pics! I can't

believe that Bro Blaser lived with SANTOS?!?! Oh my gosh, he told us

so many stories about the missionaries that used to live in his house

and all the crazy things that they did........ interesting.. haha. I

also can't believe that you were in the Gilbert newspaper as Abigail

Adams hahaha you look great even though your wearing "the dress" (:

You finally got the recognition you deserve! We had a similar

experience here when our service project got printed in the newspaper!

The patriarch is gonna make photocopies and so I'll have to send a pic

of it next week and you'll have to get a translater to read it. It

sounds like it was a little bit crazy trying to get the new iphone

haha, but I hope it was all worth it and that the phone's awesome! I

also love that you guys got to have an amazing missionary experience

last week! I'm so proud of you and the fam for being a part of the

work and helping out the missionaries. You have no idea how much it

means to us when the members help teach and bear their testimonies

like you were able to do! Que genial familia que tengo!

So anyways my week was pretty awesome too as you can tell by the pictures.

We had intercambios (exchanges) and - OH MY GOSH WHAT THE HECK the

zone leaders just called right now and told us that we have to go to

Mendoza this Thursday to receive our NEW COMPANIONS that just got

their VISAS from the US. My comp is going to San Juan and I'm staying

here in San Rafael... AHHHHH. Dang it, now I can't remember what I was

going to write you about!! What the heck..!!!! Ok, ok. As I was

saying- we had exchanges and I got to go to the other hermanas' area

with Hna Medrano (she's from Salta but she lives in Cordoba and she's

about to finish her mission this transfer). She's such an incredible

missionary and fun person in general, I learned a ton when I was with

her for a day! The coolest thing that happened was that I met one of

her recent converts who was SO prepared by the Lord. Her name's

Alicia, she's 63, and she had recently lost her husband. She had a

friend who talked to her about the church a while back but she never

looked into it much, and then her husband passed away and she was

looking for something that could bring her peace and comfort. She had

smoked for years and had wanted to stop but couldn't, and the day that

the hermanas showed up at her door (on accident) she had decided to

quit smoking for good and she let them in her house to chat. Two weeks

later she was baptized. She hasn't had the slightest urge to smoke

again and soon she'll be able to do the work for her husband! She's

amazing and has the strongest testimony ever. Hna Medrano helped me

realize that there are more people like Alicia out there but we just

have to pray with faith and work hard to be able to find them! 

We also had the meeting with Elder Nuñez of the 70 this week and it was

amazing too. He talked about how being obedient is important, but it's

not enough just to be obedient to all the rules- we have to also have

our hearts in it and pray for the same desire that Alma had when he

wished that he was an angel so that he could preach the Gospel with

the voice of a trumpet. There was a lot more that was talked and that

I learned, but thanks to the surprise phonecall I can't think of them

at the moment.. 

Oh my gosh.. 

Ok so we also had another activity with

the ward this week where we cleaned the chapel, ate pizza, and

prepared a song for the ward conference that we had this Sunday. The

secret's out that I can sing thanks to an hermano that discovered my

secret ability at lunch during exchanges. He made me sing hymns with

him and his wife after lunch after I told him that I liked to sing-

and he then proceeded to inform our ward about it and also ask

permission for me to come to the stake choir (which I did yesterday)

because they need more contra altos. He came to the activity and

helped a few of the members and missionaries put together a rendition

of "Jeovah mi Pastor es".. They're not the greatest singers ever, but

they were really excited to be able to have a choir for when the stake

pres came, and yesterday when we sang it wasn't the most beautiful

thing I've ever heard but it brought almost everyone in the room to

tears (this Sunday a lot more people showed up- yayy!). 

Sorry if this letter doesn't make a ton of sense- I'm trying to throw in all the

most interesting parts without thinking about the news we just got.

After that we had a relatively normal week and did a lot of door

knocking. Luciana is doing well even though she couldn't come to

church. She is super open, always listens, and has great questions

(not the kind that some people have who just want to fight). We had a

few difficulties with technology during the lessons, but in the end we

were able to get the message across and the spirit was there. That's

about all I've got at this point. There were some pictures of the

activity that I didn't have time to send- we'll see if I have time

next week (I doubt it though, given the fact that things are about to

get pretty crazy.......). I'm excited that I'm going to be with

another gringa for the first time in my mission here, but also a

little scared. I'm going to have to study the map hard and learn as

much Spanish as I can in the next 4 days!! Ahhh. Pray for us! Thanks

for being the coolest! Love you!

<3, Hna Crawford

PS- I got an email today that I recieved a package!!! And I'll be able

to pick it up on Thursday! (: Yayy!

Another pic of what San Rafael looks like- there's actually green!

Another look at the inside of our little pench

my 7th comp (including MTC) and I on our way back from the painting
service project last week

Hna Medrano and I during our exchange with an American flag that we
gave to one of their investigators because he had been searching for
one

So if you thought the weather in Gilbert was bipolar, try living in San Rafael..
The day I got here it was perfect- sunny and like 75 degrees. The next
two days it was cold and snowy. It got a little bit warmer but was
still cloudy the next few days. Then there was one day this week that
was super warm (1st pic). *one day later* (voice from Spongebob)....

Snow... but wait.. 

two hours later* (same voice) .... sunny again..? So confused. In case you were wondering, yesterday it rained and was cold, but today it's sunny again.

Pics of the different areas with Elder Nuñez of the 70.  I'm in the bottom one right next to him in the turquoise blazer and pink skirt aka the only gringa in the pic.. haha.

 Hna Hales is in yellow.

The first thing I saw from the bus entering San Rafael was this cool grape sign

Saying Goodbye and Hello!!

Hola che!

Thanks for the update on how the week went! I'm impressed

that you guys pulled of the surprise almost flawlessly (even though

you offended Kenny) and that you got it on video! I can't wait to see

all of these videos that you're making when I get home. The

Harringtons look sooo different and grown up- especially Katie and

Camille! And I love Emily's long hair and the view from their

backyard! I wanna visit some day.

I have a ton to tell you about and like 2940 pictures to send but I

don't have that much time, so I'm gonna do my best to give you all the

highlights in this letter, and then the pictures will tell the rest of

the story.

My first transfer in Argentina was a crazy experience! I had to pack

everything and be at the terminal for collectivos at 9 so that I could

leave at 10. There was a TON of elders in the terminal dropping of

their comps or waiting to catch a bus like I was. I saw all of the

elders that were in the MTC with me there, which was awesome! Hna

Sidan, the mini missionary that was with me for a bit, also surprised

us and showed up at the terminal with her mom and little sisters! I

could only talk to her for like 2 minutes though because my bus came

and I had to get on. I rode in a double-decker bus that looks kind of

like the ones that we use to go to girls camp inside. It was a long 4

hour drive from Maipú to the terminal in San Rafael, but I slept a bit

and talked to the Columbian elder who was sitting next to me. I

finally got to San Rafael and met my comp, who's super nice but a

little timid.

San Rafael is sooo pretty compared to Maipú. It was like

moving from Tucson to Gilbert! Haha, but really. My comp and I have a

lot in common as far as personality which is good and bad. It's not

quite as fun with her as it was with my other comps but it's not bad

at all. We're a lot more balanced when teaching because she's not a

huge talker either, so we have to depend on each other a lot during

lessons. In fact, we had a great lesson with a lady that they met on

the street the other day who said that they could stop by sometime. So

we went this Friday and got to know her a bit and gave the lesson of

the Restoration. It went super well, and as part of the lesson we

watched the 20 min video about the first vision, and afterwards

Luciana (the investigator) described to us that she felt an incredible

peace that felt like it didn't fit in her body as she was watching the

movie. I had felt exactly the same during the movie and was praying

hard that she would be able to feel what I was feeling, and she did!

We went to her house to walk with her and her two little kids to

church with us yesterday morning, but no one answered the door. Later

we went to see what had happened and she told us that she had been

waiting for us this morning but never heard us knock on the door! We

were so mad that we hadn't knocked louder or something, but there's

always next Sunday!

Anyways, as you can tell, the people here are

great, and the ward is super small, but there's some awesome

investigators and they respond better to the missionaries here than

they did in my other area. It was a little shocking to go to church

and only have 14 people show up because of the snow, but given the

fact that I gave my first talk ever in Castellano and it was terrible,

it was probably better that only a few showed up! We also had kind of

a disaster with the sacrament hymn because they use the CD's instead

of piano because no one plays, and someone chose a hymn that no one

knew (including me, and I was leading the music) and on top of that

they accidentally played the version without the vocals, so it was an

extremely uncomfortable 4 minutes.. Haha maybe it's for the best that

Luciana didn't come.. but it really has been a great week and I'm so

excited to have a fresh start in a new area with new members and

investigators to work with! We have a zone conference with a member of

the 70 and Presidente Avila tomorrow, so it should be another great

week! Those are the highlights, and now I'm gonna take the rest of the

time to send the pics!

I hope you have an awesome week too and that

Jakey gets better. Tell Dad I'll write him next week, I think he'll

enjoy the pictures more than something written! Love you guys!

<3, Hna Crawford

PS- Thanks for sending me a present, it'll probs get here just in time

for Christmas (:

PSS- Castellano is what they speak here in Argentina, but they call

people from Buenos Aires porteños (as well as the accent, which uses

the sh sound). The people in Mendoza don't like Porteños that much and

they pronounce the ll's and y's like someone from Mexico would.

Hna Becerra- she reactivated when Hna Keller and I started visiting
her, I miss her a lot!

Roxanna, the investigator, and her husband in their kiosco

Crazy old Hno Santos, who's awesome and helped us a ton, but also
taught Jehova's Witnesses how to be better missionaries.. hahaha

 my comp hit her 9 month mark on the 13th so as the tradition goes
we had to give her a pregnant belly and take a pic! she did NOT want
to do it at first but I talked her into it (;

pics of our last p-day in Maipú! We ate hamburgers, took pics,
and played games (ping pong, monopoly deal, frisbee, etc.) at the
stake center

Saying goodbye to members in Maipu. Hna. Rossi

Hna. Hernandez

Mauricio, Ruth and baby Candela.

Tony the perrito of our investigator, Dylan! He was a lot cuter when he was a tiny puppy but he's still adorable!

On my way to San Rafael not knowing what was in store...

I had a great view from the top deck of the bus- there's actually
green here, unlike Maipú where everything's brown.. haha

La pensión- we live in the top floor and have a balcony! It's only one
room and a bathroom but it's nice and clean (for now), so I like it a
lot more than my old one

We did a service project with Barrio 2 (the ward here) and two other
wards this Saturday. We painted a school for handicapped teens where
they learn how to prepare and can food, and then the school sells the
cans to the public. It was a ton of fun, we painted the hallway and
all of the classrooms & doors. Took about 4 and a half hours!

The last pic is from yesterday when it decided to SNOW.. I thought
spring had come, but apparently not yet :/ It snowed a lot this
morning too even though supposedly it ws going to warm up today. Oh
well!

That's all the time I've got, folks. I had a ton more to send but time
goes by wayy to fast in the Ciber. Love you all, ciao!