¡Last Week!

Hey, como andan? Haha I can tell that you all are a little bit excited about the fact that I'll be back in 8 days.. I am too! Thanks for all the messages from Madi, Chloe, Liv, Rustin, and for the Olivia G. quotes. Grandma & Grandpa Crawfords' puppy looks super cute, and so do the decorations in Chloe's room. I have something Argentine for her that would look super cute in one of the hexagons if she wants. I have a flag for you guys and one for me too, so don't worry about ordering one! I already have most of the souvenirs, I can't want to show you/give you them (: That's awesome that Michael's back and happy. He probably has a weird acento Guatemalteco though (: I'm excited to see everyone too tough and catch up with all the people I haven't seen in 18 months!

But anyways, back to missionary life- my second to last week here was pretty good, not too crazy or anything (no one was told they had to get baptized over again haha). We went to Mendoza again and had my last leadership meeting, which was awesome. The area doctor that's in Buenos Aires but is from the U.S. came and talked to us because like half our mission is really sick and there's a bunch of people getting sent home for medical issues. Then we just had a brainstorming session basically about how to work better with members and how to face the challenges that this mission is having. It was good, and it was fun/sad to see a lot of my favorite hermanas and say bye to them. 

That was about the only exciting thing that happened. We had a lesson with the Catholic family and they're doing well (they didn't come to the baptism) but we're a little worried that they don't have a true desire to know if these things are true and to change if they find out that they are. They love us though and are really friendly and everything, but we're worried they'll turn into another Ibañez family. BTW the Ibañez are a little angry because we haven't visited them in a month or so because they aren't really progressing at all and aren't really willing to right now, but they asked us if we're mad at them and why we've stopped coming and blessing their house/family and sharing a message with them.. We're not sure how to tell them that our purpose isn't to make friends, but it's to find people who are looking for the truth and are willing to act. I think I'm going to write them a letter to explain it better and give it to them this Sunday when we have lunch with them. The other hnas that were here told me that when they tried to drop them they got mad and were going to call Pres. Avila and talk to him about it? Haha I don't know, we'll see how it goes. Renzo's doing well though, don't worry! We have lessons with just him to make sure he's progressing and is happy, and he is.

Damian has been in Mendoza this week and will be there until either tomorrow or Wednesday so I don't have any updates on him.

The weather has actually been super nice here this winter- I wouldn't even call it a winter because it's barely been cold at all. On Saturday there was a viento Zonda which is like a strong, hot wind that causes headaches, tiredness, and really isn't fun for people who have to walk around outside all day. But the warmth was nice and we didn't get too much dirt in our eyes. We've been making little notes for the members (active, inactive, and recent converts) lately to try to cheer them up and gain their trust, and it's been fun. We deliver them during hours that are less productive work-wise and we think it's something small that's going to help out a lot. No investigators came to church, but a less active (two active members' mom) who we've been working with for a while finally came to church! Woohoo.

Alright, well that's all the news I've got from this week.. Due to the fact that you're all probably wondering how I'm feeling about the mission ending and going home, etc., I decided to do something different to tell you about it. I've found some scriptures the past few months that relate to the subject, and so to find out what I think/feel you have to look them up and read them! Haha I figured it's a good way to get you to read your scriptures too.. So here they are:

1. How I feel about my mission- Acts 18:11, Alma 36:27, Jacob 6:72, Alma 29:9-10, Enos 1:26

2. How I feel about going home- 1 Ne 1:7 (replace Jerusalem with Gilbert), Luke 15:6, Proverbs 28:25 (the part after the colon), Alma 17:2 (after the semicolon), John 20:10

3. How I feel about the future- Mark 10:29-30, Mosiah 2:41, " 5:15, D&C 131:1-3

I hope take the time to look them up, and that you enjoy the funny ones. You can use it as your FHE lesson (: 

I probably won't write another email next monday because I think it'll be more fun to make you wait to hear from me until I see you in person in 8 days! I'll be traveling to Mendoza Sunday afternoon, on Monday we're having our last interviews, shopping, and having a dinner with Pres. Tuesday we go to Buenos Aires and get to go to the temple, and then get on our flight to the US! Yay. I'll see you then!! Portense bien! I love you!! Don't get too excited!

<3,

Hna Crawford

last District Meeting

Alicia (a recent convert) made us amazing flan with dulce de leche

like I said.. everywhere.

Damian's bautismo!

Ahhh, only 2 weeks left! Thanks for your letters and pictures! I'm happy that Liv had fun at EFY, that Chloe had fun in Cali, and that Rustin had fun in Washington. Thanks for checking out my apartment even though you couldn't go inside, it looks awesome. Your trip to Utah sounds like it was great too, that's funny about the gravestone mess-up. I'm glad dad enjoyed his birthday too and is going to be able to relax a little more for now after being released!

Well, surprise: my week was........ insane. But really, probably the most stressful I've had in quite a while. Damian got baptized!! But we had some crazy things go down.. So on Tuesday we had our interviews with Pres. Goates & his wife too and mine were awesome- they both are incredible and have a lot of energy and ideas about how to work more creatively and get better results from members/investigators and converts. This mission is in great hands. Then our lesson we had set up with Damian fell through.. but we had a good lesson with that Catholic family who told us they were going to come to Damian's baptism on Saturday. On Wednesday we taught Damian and my comp asked him as we started how he was doing with the Word of Wisdom, and he informed us that an hour after he had come to the baptism with us he drank a glass of beer because some people in a store were celebrating friends day and offered him one.. Yeah so since investigators have to keep the WoW for a whole week before baptism we got worried and basically tried to get him to understand the importance and seriousness of both baptism and the commandments. He kind of got mad that we were probably going to change the date but were legitimately worried. He also told us about all the trials that he's had this week like losing his house and job. Stress. 

The next day we went and he was a lot different- happier. We talked about the verse in D&C 122:7-8 I think and he calmed down a lot and was back to normal, and excited to get baptized on the 25th. We had a really good lesson and afterwards weren't sure about whether to change the date or not. We prayed about it and both felt like it'd be best to do it sooner rather than later. Luckily a miracle happened and the next day (Friday) was a holiday (it's not really a huge miracle I guess because just about every other day is a holiday here..) but we then had the time to teach him the things that we had to so that he was prepared, and we got to watch the hour movie about Joseph Smith and all the trials he went through too, which helped a lot. That same day he had his interview and it all went well. Then on Saturday at 7pm, the coldest day we've had here this winter, we had his baptism at 7pm. Hardly anyone that we had invited showed up, but a few recent convert kids with their non-member mom did so that was good- Damian had invited them after fixing their car. We watched the Come see the light video from Reflections of Christ after he was baptized, and we ate alfajores and soda afterwards. Everything went as planned... until later as we were sitting in the pench my comp noticed that on his baptismal record Damian had a middle name, but the guy that baptized him didn't say it during the ordinance. We weren't sure how big of a deal it was to not say the middle name, so we asked our district leader who asked the zone leaders who asked the assistants who asked the President. Apparently during that game of telephone there was a miscommunication and Pres. thought Damian was upset that they didn't say his middle name and so he told them to tell us that he should be baptized again using the middle name. So we got told that he had to get baptized again or it wasn't valid. First we called bishop and decided to do the 2nd baptism sunday morning right before church so he could get confirmed, but then when we called Damian to tell him..... he got mad and said he refused to do it because his middle name was the name of a relative who I guess did something to offend his family and he had been trying to get the name legally removed for a while. He said he wouldn't do it again and that for him the baptism he had was good enough.. but that he would still come to church the next day. The next morning we informed the Elders of what had happened when we called and then right before church and half an hour before sacrament meeting the assistants called and told us about the miscommunication and that he didn't have to get baptized over again after all.. We got to church and right before it started Damian still wasn't there so I called him and he said I had woken him up but that he'd be over in 5 minutes. Luckily he kept his word and showed up right on time and was confirmed a member of La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias. Then my comp and I got put in charge of the Gospel Principles class last minute and it happened to be about Exhaltation and we had to give it to 3 recent converts with less than 6 months as members and one member with only 6 years in the church. It was fun, there was almost a fight... almost. Hahaha so yeah sorry about the length of the story but that was basically my week! It was insane but I think everyone learned a lot from it and it helped my stay distracted from getting trunky too (;

We have to travel 3 hours to Mendoza today for my last mission leadership counsel meeting tomorrow, and then on Thursday night we're traveling to Malargue (another 3 hour bus ride) to do exchanges with Hna Sanford and Bentley. So basically the week's gonna fly by because we'll only be in our area 2 and a half days.. then we'll start my LAST WEEK! Ahh. I'm excited! I hope it's a little less stressful of a week, and I hope your guys' week isn't too stressful either! Love you, & see you soon.

<3,

Hna Crawford

Hno Julian's sister missionary shrine.. no comment.

Julian' desserts!

Hermano Julian 

@ Hermano Julian's

Our favorite bakery

my favorite member's house & kid (Raquel, the lady that's friends with Damian)

inside Raquel's house she's decorated her wall with missionary pamphlets

Volleyball on p-day with the Elders

our area

these are everywhere..

Argentina's answer to the Twix bar

uhh, yeah

More of our area

eating dinner (for once) with a recent convert, Teresa- haha she didn't understand the concept of the 10 second timer on the camera and wasn't quite prepared

Baptism!!

Damian and David

My comp, Damian and I

Damian, David, Raquel, my comp & I

Damian's baptism

Finishing Strong..

Hey, it was awesome to hear how all of you are doing! It's getting hard for me to comment on all the crazy stuff you guys are doing because you're all over the place and are having all sorts of fun, so sorry if I don't cover it all or email everyone- I'm trying! I'm jealous that you've been hanging out with the Winters/Koskis and Anne and her boys all week and that you went to the hot springs place.. I can't wait to be able to swim again! I bet Olivia had/is having a blast too. Tell them all I said hola! I'm glad Chloe's back safely from Fiji and that she had an awesome experience. She'll never forget it. I'm also extremely jealous that Rustin got to hang out with the Crawfords and Straights!! The pics are so cute, I'm so excited for McKenna. Seriously, she made a great decision. I bet dad's been enjoying having some time to relax in silence too. I hope everyone's doing well and stays safe wherever they are.

This past week we didn't have a baptism- it'll be this week (: Damian has been doing well and is keeping the Word of Wisdom even though he's given us a few scares, they were just false alarms though. He came to a baptism in the ZL's area on Saturday and liked that the service was short and sweet. He's a good guy that just wants to calm down and turn his life around. He's also excited about being able to go to the temple some day and do the work for his little girl that died at age 11 (she's not technically his daughter but he raised her I guess). He's great and really funny. He reminds me of some of the people that Tiffany Coon writes about that she's teaching in Oregon haha. So yeah, this saturday should be the day if everything goes well and we make sure he's prepared of course. 

We met this Brazilian girl walking down the street the other day and my comp started talking to her but she didn't understand anything. All she could get out roughly was that she was from Brazil and that she had only been here a little while. We drew a little picture of a chapel with the address and meeting times on a card with the mormon.org site on it and gave it to her because we weren't sure what to say or do. It made us wonder if that's what people felt like talking to us when we didn't speak any Spanish at all.. It's slightly awkward. Poor Argentines that have to deal with us gringos that just want to teach them the Gospel but don't know how to. Haha.

I also did exchanges with a mini missionary Hna Moron (hahaha yeah, I know) and it was an interesting day.. Basically she just wants to bajar la caña a todos which I'm not really sure how to translate into English right now but it means that she wants to like put people in their place and tell them why what they do or think is wrong. For example she wanted to read a scripture in D&C about how anyone that doesn't support marriage is not of God to a very Catholic family (their child is named after the current Pope) that we just barely started teaching.. I had to explain to her that for most people that's not the most effective way to help them accept our message, and she kind of understood I think.. hopefully. She likes to yell HOLA and BUENOS DIAS to everyone we cross paths with on street, which is even more uncomfortable when she does it with her mouth full of drinkable yogurt and tutucas (inflated corn?). It was a funny day. It made me glad to have the comp that I have- she's great!

I've been doing pretty good about concentrating on the work, but it's getting harder and harder. I try to only think about it at night after planning. I have a ton of lists of goals and stuff that I want to do when I get back, as well as goals for the mission of course. My favorite list is the grocery list that I made of all the food I want to buy when I get back <3 Haha but really I'm not quemando too bad (which means I'm not too trunky in English missionary slang), I promise. I'm obviously excited though- who wouldn't be excited to see their family, friends, country, etc. after being in practically another world for over 17 months doing something that's amazing but not easy. I'm super excited for Damian's baptism though too and to keep teaching and finding people to teach.

Sorry about the lack of pictures- this computer sucks and won't read the memory card. Only 2 more letters after this one though and then I be able to put the pics/videos directly on our computer and we can all look at them together! Woohoo. I hope you have a great week and stay safe like I said earlier. Love you!

<3,

Hna Crawford

17 Down... I to go!

Hey! How are things going in Utah, Fiji, AZ, and wherever else you guys are?

I'm super jealous of how awesome 4th year camp sounded like it was- bugs, games, repelling, stories, and all the rest of the fun experiences you got to have. To answer your question I'm pretty sure one of our babysitters taught us pshht- Nikki if I remember correctly. I'm sure the girls loved it and loved you guys. I'm glad Chloes's still having a blast in Fiji and that you guys made it safely to Utah and are partying with the Winters!

My week down here was cray as usual. It started out with my last ever Zone Meeting and then with the semifinal game and holiday on Wednesday. We had the activity from 11 to like 3 and it was pretty fun! It started out a little slow- they were just drinking mate, but then they had this traditional dance-off thing (don't worry I have videos of all this) and played hopscotch, marbles, trivia, and a 1 on 1 game with brooms and a big bouncy ball that you have to hit between two chairs called Pato. It was definitely entertaining even though we couldn't participate in most of it. Renzo came and so did Damian! Damian actually danced in the dance off and it was pretty funny, he enjoyed it. We then ate pasteles (fried empanadas) and drank soda. Afterwards we had to go back to the pench and we didn't leave because of the futbol game, but we definitely knew who had won once we heard the cheering along with the ambulance siren and gunshots. It was a fun day.

Then on Thursday we saw Pres. Goates again and he told us some cool stories about his mission and the experiences he had. On Friday we found a new family to teach in the morning who are nice, but nothing else too eventful happened. On Saturday we had lunch with Julian, who's a recent convert guy that is a baker and is a little.. strange.. and kind of has an extreme, borderline-creepy obsession with sister missionaries but is sweet and makes us really elaborate 3 course lunches once a month and invites 2 other members because he lives alone. It was fun just because the members he chose are funny and it was entertaining and only slightly awkward. We ate tacos at my request though, so that was good!

Sunday was probably the most eventful day of the week. Our church attendance was a record high of about 50, including Damian. My comp and I sang "Brillan Rayos de Clemencia" otherwise known as "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy" acapella in sacrament meeting- the first 2 verses in Castellano and the last one in English, and it went pretty well, the members loved it and all wanted to give us lunches this week afterwards (; We had a lesson with Damian during sunday school because we hadn't been able to see him in a while and he has a baptismal date for the 19th of July. We weren't sure if he wanted to still or would be willing to learn/keep the commandments, so we had a chat and surprisingly he told us he still wants to on the 19th and is willing to meet every day with us for 30 minutes and do whatever's necessary. That's NEVER happened to me on the mish as you well know so we're a little shocked and had to scramble after church yesterday to try to plan out how we're going to teach him lessons 2-5 (we have to teach lesson 5 now before baptism according to the new Pres.) in five days and help him be 100% prepared......... We know he can do it but we're going to make sure that he's ready of course and if we need to we'll push it back another week. It's going to be crazy. We're a little nervous. It should be awesome though! The final game wasn't that eventful- we were in the pench all day again (sleeping and eating tacos) and so all we heard were a few "NOOO!"s and then gunshots and stuff of course. So yeah, we lost, but people don't look to devastated today, I think they saw it coming..

Anyways, I can't believe I have less than a month left! It's a good thing we have all this work to do here to distract me (: I can't wait to see you locos. 

I hope this next week is less stressful for you guys than it is for me and that you enjoy your vacations like you have been doing so well. Les quiero!

<3,

Hna Crawford

Hahahaha!

me eating leftover tacos on Sunday (my cumplemes- 17th months!) right before the final game.. that we lost..

We drink herbal tea & mate cocido all day 

This random member on a bike gave us half a dozen facturas (pastry things) as we were walking the other day

4th of Julio

Greetings from World Traveler #1. 

I still can't believe Chloe's actually in Fiji, what the heck. It looks like they're doing amazing things over there, I'm proud of her! Seriously we all are going to have a ton of catching up to do here in a little over a month. Haha I liked the story about grandma's birthday (PS- Feliz Cumpleaños Abuelita) apron at Joe's BBQ, and the 4th of July sounds like it was great too. I <3 the USA. The $5 patriotic shirts were a nice touch. The flour war sounded awesome as well. My cuatro de Julio was kinda fun- we did our best with the time, money, and resources we had haha. 

So as you know we got to travel again and meet Pres. Goates and his wife. They're from Sierra Vista, AZ I believe (I think it's super close to Mexico) and they're buenísimos! We were afraid they wouldn't be as funny as Pres or as loving as Hna Avila but they definitely are. They have amazing testimonies and are very excited to work hard out here in Argentina even though it's a lot different here than in Colombia and in Bolivia where they served. It was entertaining to watch the look on Hna Goates face during lunch as we hnas told her a few stories and facts about the culture and stuff that goes on here. I guess it's a lot different than Colombia where she had lessons every hour every day. Ha. She has some cool ideas though and I'm sure it'll help us get a little more creative with how to work more succesfully. Pres. is really great too and he's going to help this mission focus and grow a ton. I'm excited even though I won't be here to see much of it! They're coming here on Thursday morning to meet the rest of us and tell us more about their lives/fam. 

Other than traveling we've been teaching that guy named Damian who's a member's friend and it's been going pretty well- he actually came to church yesterday! It was great even though the Gospel Principles class got a little....crazy. I wish you guys could see how funny the classes here are sometimes just because of the culture and the personalities here. He's coming to the 9th of July activity on Wednesday and he's going to help cook so it'll be good! We haven't really seen the Ibañez fam so I don't have updates on them, or on Belén except for that we found her last night and have a lesson for Tuesday which hopefully she won't bail out on again like she did this week when we had brought a member and everything.. Grrr.

The World Cup is insane too and the people are getting super pumped for the game on Wednesday. It's the first time that it'll be at 5 pm instead of 1 pm which has been perfect because it's during lunch and we study afterwards so there's been no conflicts.. so we'll see what happens.

There hasn't been much more to tell you about. We FINALLY got the Liahona/Ensign (not sure what it's called in English anymore) with these last conference talks and I've loved being able to read them this week! The Priesthood ones were especially awesome. My new fave is "The Chosen Generation" by Ridd of the seventy. You should all read it, it's awesome- especially the part about smart phones and how we should make sure to be spiritually charged every day. It's something I've definitely come to understand a lot more thanks to the mission. Oh yeah also Acts 18:11 is a cool scripture that an elder in my zone found the other day. Go sister missionaries! Anyways I hope you have another awesome week! Be safe, I love you.

<3,

Hermana Crawford

¡Happy Fourth of July from Argentina!

we impressed ourselves with how delicious our hamburgers turned out

last week I had the genius idea of making tropical pizza empanadas and then dessert empanadas with bananas and dulce de leche inside- we enjoyed them

extremely creepy dog on a roof (I guess that's the most convenient place to keep them here)

more dogs on a roof haha

Farewell Pres. and Hermana Avila

Hey, long time no email. It feels like it's only been a week though, time is going by faster and faster. The house looks super modern, I love it. I can't believe Jamee and Sara are pregnant!!! Tell them I said congrats and I approve of their name choices. Oh and congrats to Josh too for popping the question! I'm sooo excited for Chloe getting to go to Fiji TOMORROW!! She needs to take a ton of pictures and videos so that when I get back I can look at them, and she can look at more of mine that I haven't sent (: You and Liv are going to have fun in Utah too!! Dive camp and Efy sounds like a great combo! 

I'm glad you guys are enjoying the World Cup because the Argentines sure are haha. It's been crazy too see all the people on the streets afterwards waving flags and blowing horns in their Argentina jerseys- not to mention the gunshots too. Tell Rustin not to worry, he'll get his jersey!

It's awesome to hear that the Wilsons are doing well too- I miss them! Thanks for the pictures! I can't believe Rich's parents get back on the 13th too, that's insane!!

I'm also really jealous that you get to go to 4th year camp, that's awesome. It sounds like your summer's going to be one of the best one's yet. 

Well, these last 2 weeks have been super fun. Our super p-day was seriously the best. On sunday night we got to have a sleepover in the offices and then on Monday we played volleyball, told stories amongst hnas (they made me tell for the millionth time your engagement story- in English this time luckily- and it was a hit as usual), did skits about funny things that happen on the mission, and Pres. told us some jokes. It was the best p-day in history and we ended it by eating pizzas and 3 kilos of Grido ice cream which we also ate the next morning for breakfast. It was a day that we all needed. Oh and Hna Paulson was there because she's being trained by an STL, Hna Sagers! I got there a little late on Monday and when I did the hnas started telling me that there was an hna here who knew me and told them that her sister used to babysit me. Sure enough it was Jenny's sister! She's awesome and is unusually calm and happy for just having arrived to Argentina haha. I'm glad I got to see her!

The next day was the meeting and we had to do like 2 hours of practices/presentation things. Afterwards we sang our mission hymn and we all got to hug Pres. Avila and then sing God be with you till we meet again. It was like saying goodbye to our 2nd family, but luckily I'll see them again in 6 weeks at the Buenos Aires temple, and in April they're coming to Utah!! They left yesterday and the new Pres. (from AZ!) got here on Saturday! So weird.

So in our area this week we were super frustrated for a while because we culdn't get ahold of Maribel, and Belen also disappeared... We didn't have a ton of time to work but we did have a church tour with this member's friend, this 25 year old bald guy who we're pretty sure was high during the tour..... But don't worry, yesterday we finally found Belén in her house! She's alive and I guess she was at her mom's house and her phone broke or something. We couldn't teach much because of the lack of time but we have another lesson on tuesday that we're praying that she's there for! We'll see.

Another surprise that we got this morning: we have to travel 4 hours to Mendoza AGAIN...TOMORROW. I guess Pres. Goats and his wife want to meet us (the leaders) or something so we're going back, and having another counsel meeting! Kind of weird but I'm excited, I love traveling in the double decker bus things (colectivos). So yeah we're not going to have a ton of time to work this week either, plus we have zone meeting this tuesday morning. It'll be another adventure! We're all anxious to see what Pres will be like and what new rules or adjustments he'll make. He lives in AZ so he's obvioiusly cool though and I'm sure whatever he decides will be great. They don't have young kids though so they can travel as much as they want and work a lot more closely with the missionaries. It'll be interesting to see how things change.

There's not a ton more to fill you in on. My comp and I are excited for the 4th of July- we're going to print out the patriotic hymns today to sing, we've got our red white and blue outfits picked out, and we're going to cook hamburgers and eat popsicles. It sounds really lame, I know, but we're excited. I hope your week and your 4th of July are a little more exciting! I love you and miss you!

<3,

Hna Tess Crawford 

instead of slug bugs we punch each other when we see Fititos (little Fiats like this one)

took the train in Mendoza

eating tropical pizza (it's covered entirely in jam with pineapple and brown/black sugar on top.. it's surprisingly really good)

Hermana Paulson is on the right. Her older sister, Jennie, used to babysit Tess when she was little.

it says "smile, no one's filming you" (but they messed it up because they used both vos and usted form..). There's little vegetable stands like this all over the place, as well as kioskos and bakeries.

the bishop's baby, Nicholas <3 <3

yeah so I lied. my feet keep getting worse so the pics are going to keep coming- lo siento. it's not as painful as it looks though, don't worry

all of the STLs (and Hna Paulson, Jenny's little sis!!) at the mission counsel meeting- they're the best

Maribel and Maria

Hey so, surprise- 

we get to email today because on Monday we'll be in Mendoza for our leadership meeting and we're having a super p-day with Pres. so we won't have time! I only get half an hour so I'm trying to send a bunch of pictures and make this letter short & dulce. So I finally got my new comp on Wednesday at 5 pm (super late) after being with Hna Reyes and Japa for like 3 days! 

Hna Lybbert (my new companion) is awesome, we already get along super well. She's 21 and she's from this town of 5 or 6000 people that no one's ever heard of in Washington called Quincy. She says there's mostly Mexicans and farms there- she used to drive a tractor and everything. She goes to BYUI and she's studying to be a high school softball coach or PE teacher. It's been crazy to try and find our way around San Rafi and finding new people to teach because we didn't have a ton when Anderson left. We've had a lot of success though surprisingly! We had another lesson with Maribel who's the Ibañez's friend, and it was amazing because she remembered every single detail of the Restoration that we had taught her the week before. That NEVER happens here. They almost always forget completely who Joseph Smith was and what the Apostasy is, etc. but not Maribel! She's super smart and likes what we teach so hopefully she'll have time in between all her studies to study the Book of Mormon and come to church! 

Also, on the day we took those pics on the street the ONLY person we talked to was this girl named Maria Belen who was pushing her baby in a stroller and told us we could stop by whenever. We went yesterday and she let us in right away and said she had been hoping we'd come soon. She started telling us about all these trials she's going through with her mom who beats her and her siblings and then pretends like nothing happened, and her various suicide attempts, and her severe anorexia (she hadn't eaten in 4 days when we showed up). She told us that she wants to change for her 9 month old daughter and that she's gone to other church's but hasn't felt anything, and the psychologist hasn't helped at all either..... I'm extremely grateful that we found and decided to talk to her on Sunday and that we didn't give up trying to find people and go back because this girl seriously needs help, like now, and we know that this is what she needs and has been searching for. We're going to do a church tour today and then she's going to come to church on Sunday. Please, please pray that she sticks with this and doesn't run away from the answer God's given her.

Yeah I'm out of time but I hope you like the pictures and that you've had, and continue having an awesome week! I'll talk to you the 29th if I'm not mistaken. Love you!

Hna Crawford

Ibañez's patio

San Rafael

lunch w/ flia Ibañez

a member's super cute kid, Isaias

Last hug

I'm Argentine <3

the first waffles I've eaten in 16 months

hanging out on p-day with the Ballofet hnas- 

carrying groceries like 12 blocks every week = this

I may or may not have neglected to wash my bag since Feb. 13, 2013... but Norma Ibañez washed it yesterday, don't worry

Hna Lybbert & I (new companion)

ciao Hna Anderson :,(

uhh, I think they like rugby

Hermana Medrano

flia Riquelme (recent converts)

vamos Argentina