i love you all!

Well, this week has been interesting.

Good news first! We have some investigators who are progressing so quickly! Their names are Fernando y Mariella, and they read the Book of Mormon and pray every day, and every lesson with them has been super intense and spiritual. I can tell that they are both so prepared and ready for baptism, so please be praying that they will keep growing their faith in Christ.

For some reason, there has been a lot of death in Santo Tome lately. The father of one of the ward members is in the hospital right now with cancer. He’s over 90 years old and very, very, very sick. Hermana Tapia and I went to visit him, and entering the room I could FEEL how close he was to passing to the other side.

Another ward member’s son in law was riding his motorcycle from Virasoro to Santo Tome around midnight when he got into an accident and died. It was so unexpected and the family is pretty shocked.

I am seriously so glad that our Heavenly Father has a plan. He knows when it is our time to pass and He will take care of us as we are faithful and obedient. Death is not the end. I know that we can see our loved ones again after death because of Jesus Christ. I know that the gospel provides a way for us to live with our families forever. It’s been kind of an interesting week with all of this going on, and I just wanted to let you all know (parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, ward members, friends, anyone reading this haha etc...) I pray for you all the time and seriously wish the best for you! Thanks for all your support.

I love you all! Keep studying and pondering the scriptures!

Hermana Simmons

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P.S.  It’s crazy to think how big the church is in Idaho compared to here. It took me a few days to get used to the idea that people have never heard of the LDS church or mormons or joseph smith or ANYTHING. We’re so lucky to have a temple so close and a ward that actually functions.

I think apathy is not recognized as much as it should be as a dangerous tool of the devil. So often we just focus on how he can cause people to turn into ravaging, crazy, angry, murderous people (which yes is definitely horrible), but it’s just as dangerous to turn into a cynical, uncaring person. Either way the person is allowing Satan to murder their spirit. It’s super sad. We have some investigators like that and i just want to get up and SCREAM or shake them or SOMETHING to get through to them that we are talking about SALVATION here, not whether or not it will rain tomorrow. ugh haha. 

(Questions and Answers)

1. How often do you get to meet with your mission president?

We have interviews with him about every 3 months (so they tell me), and sometimes when I’m in Posadas for paperwork (it’s called tramites) I’ll see him in the office.

2. Tell me a little about your mission president and his wife. Are any of their children on the mission with them? Is he loud and boisterous, or more quiet and reserved?

No, all their children are grown. He’s not super loud, but he likes to joke and is pretty funny in his own way haha. His wife doesn’t really speak Spanish. At all. But she always brings treats to meetings so that’s good.

3. Can you elaborate a little more about the “two package rule?” Is this rule only for missionaries, or is it for Argentinians in general. I was trying to find something about this on the internet, and the only information that I found was that it looked like the Argentinian govt. had limited how many orders people could place with international companies on the internet. Is this the law that is limiting your receiving packages?

I think that might be the law, but i don’t really know. They always explain everything in Spanish. but the paper they gave us just said that we can’t receive any packages of any kind except for twice a year. We can receive as many envelopes or pouch mail as we want. And apparently packages from the states normally take a few months to get here, at least one sister had to wait a long time for a package.

4. Will you get to go to a temple during your mission? If so, which temple will you attend?

No, maybe at the end of the mission we can go? I don’t really know. I do know that nearly every missionary gets the opportunity to go visit Iguazu Falls. If you are nearing the end of the mission and haven’t been transferred close to Iguazu the president recommends/allows you and your companion to travel to Iguazu.