hola hola

The World Cup is finally all over! Although I am genuinely disappointed that we didn´t win (Vamos Argentina!), I am glad that we didn´t have to deal with all of the craziness of the celebrations that would have happened if we had won. Even though we lost, it was still too dangerous for us to be able to leave our apartment Sunday night.

We had a lesson the other night with a man named Estevan. We didn´t have much time to speak with him, so Hna Gunter and I had decided to just do a quick spiritual thought and then leave to visit someone else, because we didn´t really think that Estevan was interested. But during the opening prayer, the thought entered my mind that I really did want to help Estevan and share a spiritual thought that would impact him and touch his heart. Immediately the idea of sharing the story of Alma the Younger, and how he and his friends did all sorts of terrible things, but God still loved them and saw their potential. Through Jesus Christ, Alma was able to change and become a better person. As my companion and I shared this story, Estevan began to tear up. Then he full on began to cry! There we were, two young sister missionaries listening as this grown man sobbed and told us how he was sick of getting drunk with his friends. He wanted to change but didn´t know how. Because of his past mistakes, his ex girlfriend wouldn't let him visit or even see his daughter. we testified that Estevan could change if he relied on Christ and we explained that God wants the best for all of His children, even if they haven´t always been obedient. Estevan ended our discussion with a powerful prayer, and then we went on our way. It was such a spiritual experience, and I really realized for the first time after that lesson that I ENJOY being a missionary. I like helping people learn of Christ and see how they too can feel their Savior´s love and repent.

On a related note, we have also started teaching Mariela and Fernando´s family. Their two youngest daughters are very interested and progressing quickly. It´s amazing to see the change that has taken place in Mariela and Fernando both! How much more love there is in their home! How happy they are!

Totally random, but Hna Gunter and I love blowing everybody´s minds here with American desserts. We made some chocolate chip cookies to share with some members, and everyone was asking for the recipe. The same thing happened when we made no-bake cookies for a branch activity. They don´t really have anything other than dulce de leche, sweet breads, and flan here.

I want to end with the scripture we shared with Estevan :) "My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more."

 

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Hna Simmons

P.S.  Oh my word those camping pictures look so fun! im starting to realize here that when i finish my mission, camping wont be so terrible because by now i'm kind of used to "camping"ish conditions. Especially seeing that some people here really do just literally "camp" for life.

Not Refugees Anymore!

Woohoo! We're finally back in Santo Tome!

 Hermana Gunter and I spent the week in Virasoro after all the rain flooded the river. We ended up having to buy groceries for the week, another pair of clothing, etc... because we didn’t really have anything with us. Luckily we were able to share a lot with the hermanas in Virasoro. The roads back to S.T. were all covered in water- the only way back would have been by boat! The river, which is normally about a 20 minute walk from our apartment, rose and flooded up to one block away from us!!! So luckily none of our stuff got ruined while we were gone.

 A lot of people are living in the local school though since their houses were completely covered and filled. It was so frustrating and heartbreaking for Hna Gunter and I because we wanted to help everyone so badly, but we were stuck in Virasoro with no way back!

 But if I learned anything this week, it is that God has a plan and He knows what He is doing. Even though we couldn’t do anything in our own area, we were able to spend the entire week with the sister missionaries in Virasoro. One of the hermanas there has been struggling. She has 6 months in the mission and still has lots of trouble with the language, so she has grown more and more anxious and has been letting her health deteriorate. Also, she doesn’t get along with her companion very well. While we were there for the week, I was able to talk to her a lot, and offer some comfort. As strange as it may sound, I think Hna Gunter and I were needed in Virasoro as emotional support for those hermanas more than we were needed here in Santo Tome with all the flooding!

 I know Heavenly Father has a plan! He knows every single one of us individually. He knows our weaknesses and struggles, but He also knows our potential and our strengths! Every trial we pass through is for our own benefit. Sometimes we just have to take a step back and try to see the big picture. Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

I love you all and hope you had a great Fourth of July! Things are still crazy here with the World Cup going on; Argentines love their soccer! Happy Birthday to Kipley!

 Hermana Simmons

Life is an Adventure!!!!!!!!!

Well, this is going to be very scattered and I will not have time to proofread this. So here I am apologizing in advance.

This week has been insane. Mariela y Fernando got married Friday morning at 10 in the Registro Civil! And then that night they were both baptized! They were confirmed members of the Church and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost this past Sunday. I am so proud of both of them, and they are already helping us visit other members and want us to teach the discussions to their kids!

The other day Hna Gunter and I went out to visit with a less active family. Unfortunately, they live about 20 minutes from our apartment, in a very muddy part of town. It had rained all day and Hna Gunter and I had only been to their house once before. We set out for their house, but it was already dark outside and we got lost. So there we were walking around in the mud (and when I say mud, I mean MUD. Mud that your foot sinks deeply into and mud that is EVERYWHERE). We had our umbrellas, but it was raining so hard, and it was so windy, that we ended up just taking our umbrellas down because we were soaked anyways. We couldn’t find the house, we were drenched and dirty, we didn’t know exactly where we were, and we were starting to get worried because we knew we were close to a dangerous part of town where a lot of robberies go on. Then right behind us we hear a "Hola Hermanas!" Hna Gunter and I both screeched and jumped back. Apparently the young man who we were trying to visit his family with had seen us walk right past his house, so he thought it would be funny to come up behind us and scare us. He caught us by such surprise that I turned around and started speaking in English "Oh my gosh! Mat­as don’t do that!" He thought that was hilarious. But luckily we ended the night eating some super delicious homemade pizza and his family called a taxi for us to go back home.

So, it has basically been raining constantly the past week. The river has risen a TON. Today we went on divisions because Hna Gunter had to go to Posadas with another Hna in the zone, so here I am in Virasoro. The plan was that Hna Gunter would come and pick me up and then we would go straight back to Santo Tomé tonight. But the river has risen a lot and flooded a lot of homes of people, so a ton of people are living in the local school. Apparently today the river flooded the church, and has reached our apartment as well. Luckily we live on the second floor, so hopefully the river won’t keep rising. But if it rains again then our apartment will flood for sure. So Hna Gunter and I have to stay in Virasoro for a few days at least with the Hermanas here because for one the roads are flooded and two we wouldn’t be able to get into our apartment anyway since the first floor stuff is submerged in water.

I’m out of time. I wish I could write everything that happened this week! But I think the scripture that describes this week the best is in 1 Peter 5: 6-8 "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." Satan knows our weaknesses, and he will attack us especially forcefully when he knows we are doing good and accomplishing righteousness. When I depend on God and turn to Him, God can turn my weaknesses into my strengths. God can strengthen me and help me stand steadfast and immovable. No matter how crazy life gets, Heavenly Father is only a prayer away. Christ can strengthen and support me.

I love you all!

Hermana Simmons

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And I totally forgot about the fourth of july haha. everything here lately has just been "vamos argentina" for the world cup.

love you!

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Okay i won’t be able to answer the first list of questions until next week when i will be able to be in Santo Tome again. But the second list i can answer:

1. Can you listen to music, and if so, what kind of music is allowed?

Yes, as long as it is "uplifting" and has no romantic overtones. Most people here listen to a ton of EFY or BYU Youth ambassadors or stuff like that. Basically mormon artists. Paul Cardell is super popular as well.

2. Do you have a cd player?

Every apartment has a little portable DVD player that can take a USB drive. So what people do is they load music onto their pen drive and then just play it from that. Hna Tapia had a TON of music, so I just copied some of her songs onto my USB drive before she left for Paraguay. I’ll just delete the songs from my USB when I get home from my mission, but most are available for free anyway on the church website.

3. Do you have access to April’s General Conference, either in magazine form or cd form?

Magazine form yes. In Spanish, but we can ask for one in English

4. Do you have a cell phone to use as a companionship?

Yep. We would probably not be able to survive without our cell phone because we use it to contact our zone leaders and to call investigators and members all the time

love you!

Transfers!

Hey hey hey!

I’m still here in Santo Tomé! Hermana Tapia is now in Pilar,Paraguay!!! Crazy.

But good news! My new companion is Hermana Gunter, and she’s from Utah! I can speak English now! just kidding i wish. we still try to speak in as much Spanish as possible because neither of us are fluent speakers, so we need as much practice and help as we can get! But luckily she was in Paraguay for 11 months, and so she has basically everything down. It’s just that Santo Tomé is her first area in Argentina, so she is adjusting to the accents here.

Hna Gunter is definitely what Santo Tomé needs. She is probably one of the most enthusiastic and outgoing people I have ever met. But she is super friendly and never overbearing. People love her! She likes to be creative in the way we meet people. So far we have tried about a bajillion different door to door approaches. Sometimes we’ll go up and tell the people that we are trying to improve our singing and need someone to listen and give us feedback (which is true). Then we’ll sing them a hymn, and lots of people will feel the Spirit during the song and will be willing to listen to us. We once went up to a door and before I could say anything, Hna Gunter says "Do you know we’re in a battle right now? And we need more soldiers!" The lady kind of chuckled and replied that if we were referring to the battle against Satan she was willing to help. And then she let us in and we talked to her and her husband about the importance of families! We left them with the Proclamation to the World, and we’re going back this week to discuss it with them. It’s definitely been very exciting having her as a companion.

Fun story time! Apparently about 5 or 6 months ago, the Elders in this area left their apartment in a mess. And since we don’t have Elders here now, the Mission Office finally decided to just cut the contract to the Elder’s apartment and put all the Elder’s stuff in storage. Hna Gunter and I have been the lucky people getting to sort everything out- work as mediators between the angry landlord and the mission office, collaborate with ward members to move out all the furniture, sort through all of the old Area Books and moldy old pamphlets, etc... I’ve only been with Hna Gunter for 5 days, but I’m fairly certain we’ve already accomplished more this week than I have in my entire first transfer! Things have been so crazy.

To get even more fun, Presidente LaPierre and his wife came to visit Santo Tomé on Saturday night and Sunday! So we definitely had a little panic attack trying to get everything ready for him. But it all worked out, and the President and his wife really are super nice and it was great to have them visit.

This past week La Copa Mundial started! That has been interesting. Everyone here LOVES soccer. Nobody has time for God, or they can never get off work for church, but the second that Argentina starts playing soccer the ENTIRE COUNTRY shuts down. haha. That has been pretty interesting. So far there have only been two games where Argentina played, but both times we had to change our proselyting schedule because we can’t be outside right after a game since the partying and celebrating can be a little intense. Even though we just stay in the apartment during the game, we always know when something exciting is happening. Hna Gunter and I will be sitting studying when all of a sudden everyone in Santo Tome will start cheering and yelling at the same time. So even though we can’t watch the game it’s fairly simple to know who’s winning, or when we’ve scored!

This week we taught a woman named Gladys. We’ve talked with her a few times and she’s been interested. But Saturday night we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and how we can see our families again after death. The lesson went fairly well, but as it was coming to a close I really felt impressed to sing her a hymn before we left. So Hna Gunter and I sang "Families Can Be Together Forever" (in Spanish, of course). The Spirit was so strong. And after we finished singing we all just sat in silence for a few moments, and then Gladys began to cry and explain how she had lost her father and sister and now she is so happy to know that they can all be happy together again someday. It was amazing!

Sometimes we forget that the Hymns really are sacred and I personally think we should study the hymns every once in a while too. "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads." D&C 25:12. It’s way sad to me that hardly anyone here in Santo Tome can play the piano (or even carry a tune for that matter). Music has such a way of touching people’s hearts and reminding us to praise God. Sometimes for my personal study I like to read a hymn and study the scripture references associated with it as well! I suggest the same for all y’all as well :)

I love you all! Pray that everything goes through for Mariella and Fernando’s wedding and baptism this Friday!

Hermana Simmons

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P.S.  Personal study:  Normally i take a while to go over the lessons we are going to be teaching that day and study for our investigators. But then after that it just varies. Sometimes i like to just choose a chapter in the Book of Mormon and really study it. Other times I’ll take a topic and then read and study as much as i can about that idea. Sometimes I’ll read from Jesus the Christ or the other Missionary Library books. I always read a little from the BoM, but I like to do different things every once in a while so I don’t just get into a rote routine and not pay attention when I study.

Washing:  We have to wash all of our garments by hand since we haven’t found a member who has been able to wash them for us yet.

woohoo!

Exciting update!!! This week we met with Fernando and Mariella. We were a little nervous since we needed to talk to them about chastity and marriage. They are living together right now and had never even discussed marriage, so we weren’t sure how this lesson was going to go for them. Anyway, we gave the lesson and it went fairly well, and we asked them at the end to go home and pray individually and then pray together as a couple to ask God if they should live the Law of Chastity, and then if they should get married. A few days later we met with them again and asked if they had thought about what we talked about last time. Mariella looked up with this huge grin on her face and said that they had prayed and talked together and decided to get married and want to be baptized!!! So we are helping them organize a super quick wedding for this week, and then a baptism the week after. So please pray for them! We want everything to go through and want them to remain true to the faith they have gained. It’s crazy to see how much they have changed and how closer they have grown to Heavenly Father and Christ just in the past two weeks. They never really prayed before, but now Mariella says she reads the scriptures every day and loves to pray and talk with God. It’s amazing! And Fernando has smoked his entire life (he started with his friends when he was twelve years old). And since our first lesson with them he hasn’t smoked once!

Also, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! I’m going to try to send some pictures after this email. But lots of the computers here don’t have a functioning SD drive slot or whatever it’s called to upload pictures. Hopefully this computer does.

Transfers this week! My companion is going to Paraguay! I’m staying here in Santo Tome and apparently my new companion is also from the U.S.! I’m so excited that I will be able to communicate! haha. I’ve missed English a little bit. So on Wednesday we are going to Posadas to meet our new companions and go our separate ways- super exciting and also really sad since Hermana Tapia won’t be able to be here for the baptism.

I love you all! The Book of Mormon is true and I know that by reading it we can grow closer to Christ than by reading any other book! And having faith in Christ is something we constantly should be working for. We will never reach a point where we can just say, “Well, now I’m a perfect person and know everything. I don’t have to work anymore or read the scriptures or pray. I’m good.” We constantly have to be praying and working to gain a stronger testimony and a deeper conversion to the Lord! 

"But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not." MOSIAH 4:30

Hermana Simmons

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Also, just a fun little fact. I’m super glad that I have had so much practice with not using a restroom during long car trips, because about 95% of the bathrooms here are nasty. So lots of times I just wait until we get home or pass by the church or the house of a good member to go to the bathroom. It’s WAY nice. My poor companion has to go to the bathroom like every other hour it feels like haha. And sometimes she says she’ll walk into someone’s bathroom and decide not to use it since it’s so gross. She’ll just stand there for a little bit and then turn on the faucet and come out without doing anything so that the member or whoever doesn’t feel bad. haha. thought I’d let you know.

love ya!

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Now that you've been in Argentina for a month or so, are there any items that you really can't get there, that you miss??

I miss the Kirkland canned chicken!!!! haha the only meat they have here canned is tuna. so we eat a lot of tuna because we don’t really have time to wait around and prepare other meat from scratch. I also miss s’mores! (especially those s’mores bites!) I don’t think graham crackers are a thing here. and tortillas. they don’t really believe in tortillas. But other than that the food here is great. They eat A LOT of bread and rice. But that’s okay because i LOVE the bread here. It’s so good. I’ve probably gained a lot of weight but i don’t even care haha. yeah we do a lot of walking and a half hour of exercise in the morning (crunches, squats, leg lifts, sit ups, etc...) which is good because if we didn’t we’d be little gorditas!

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.

This Week

Hola hola hola everyone and happy Monday! I’m spending another Preparation day away from home this week. Hermana Tapia is a Sister Training Leader, so she and another hermana went to Posadas (Google images, Google map) today for some meeting. So I’m here in Virasoro (Google images, Google map) with Hermana Averett. (Sister Simmons is currently living in Santo Tomé - Google images, Google map)

Some relatively exciting news is that I got sick for the first (and hopefully last) time on my mission this past week. The weather has gotten super cold, but normally the temperature wouldn’t be a problem- what’s killer is the humidity. I can just feel the cold seeping into my throat and my fingertips. I lost my voice completely on Friday and Saturday, but luckily I’m almost completely better now. Plus, we were finally able to buy a little space heater and that has helped tremendously.

It’s super sad to see investigators progress and learn, but then just stop- for whatever reason. We have been working with a lady and she is really interested in the church and learning about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. But her husband is not very supportive, and so she’s having trouble finding motivation to come to church when her husband doesn’t want to go. Another one of our investigators would love to come to church, but for legal reasons can’t leave her house! So that’s really sad to see the desire but not be able to help her progress very quickly until her legal situation is taken care of.

Something that has surprised me here is how willing people are to talk. Everyone wants to be understood and loved, so when missionaries come who are willing to listen and care everyone wants to talk. It amazes me how open some people have been- family conflict, health issues, legal troubles, EVERYTHING. I have heard from so many different people about so many different problems. It’s super sad sometimes, but I’m glad that they feel the Spirit testifying to them that the missionaries can listen and can help. Going along with this, I love the scripture in John 12:47 when Christ says that He "came not to judge the world, but to save the world." As a missionary, I’m supposed to be a representative of Jesus Christ, I’m supposed to follow His example to the best of my ability. That means I offer His gospel to all who will listen, but it also means that I love everyone and don’t judge people or get angry with them when they make decisions that I don’t necessarily agree with. I can be sad that they won’t be able to see the blessings, but I still love them and trust that maybe at a later time they will reach out to God.

I love you all!

Hermana Simmons

P.S. We had Zone Conference this past week, and a lot of what we talked about is not only using the gifts we have but also recognizing that sometimes we don’t have the same or as many gifts as others, and that’s okay. The Lord blesses us all and it’s just our job to do as well as we can, we shouldn’t hold ourselves to a higher standard than what the Lord holds us to (for example, the servant with 2 talents wasn’t expected to gain an extra 5, he was commended for gaining an extra 2). Sometimes it’s hard to remember that when we compare ourselves with others (other missionaries or other work colleagues).