Happy Monday!

It is a beautiful day here in Barrio Jardin. The sun has finally come out (for the first time in a week), and Hna Cannon and I are planning on going to the park later today to enjoy the sunshine.

Last week I got to try... squid tentacles! Yum. They actually weren't too bad, they didn't have much of a flavor. Luckily I haven't had to try anything too nasty here. So far the worst I've eaten is squid tentacles, reviro (literally, flour and oil burned on the stove together), and liver (yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck).

Last week we had interviews with President LaPierre! It ws so great talking to him and getting some new ideas to help our area. We have been trying to find new people to teach, but we really need the help of the ward. So all y'all have the homework of doing something this week to help the missionaries. Give them a reference! Accompany them to an appointment!

We went with Marina this week, but we weren't sure what to teach her. We knew we wanted to share something from the Book of Mormon and had prepared a lesson plan. We got to the lesson, but we just really felt like what we had prepared was not what she needed to hear. We said the opening prayer, but then completely changed from what we had planned. We decided to read Etehr 12:27 with her. We finished reading the verse and she looked up with a huge grin on her face. She had been trying to remember that particular verse and couldn't find the reference. When we read it to her, she said that she felt a strong spiritual impression that God had used us to answer her prayers. I feel so honored and blessed that Heavenly Father uses us to help Him save and comfort His children.

I found this quotation and liked it! "The most important of all the commandments of God is that one that you are having the most difficulty keeping today." President Harold B. Lee

All of God's commandments are essential to our salvation. Just like we shouldn't murder or committ adultery, neither should we tell little lies, hold grudges, backbite, etc... I know Heavenly Father's plan is perfect and His commandments are to help and strengthen us! Through Jesus Christ we can have the stamina and excitement to keep ALL the commandments.

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Hermana Simmons

ps- Next week I will be at the Iguazu Waterfalls on Monday, and then we have Consejo on Tuesday. So I don't think that I will be writing until either Tuesday night or Wednesday.

it might be cold and rainy, but Argentina is as beautiful as ever!

out contacting

Rain, rain, rain, and miracles

So, we have had 3 weeks of nonstop clouds and rain. Since I have arrived here in Posadas we have had cold weather! Yesterday was the first time it had cleared up and been nice. We were so happy! We were hoping that the sunshine would last, but we woke up to a nice thunderstorm this morning. Oh well.

Yesterday we passed by a less active sister to walk with her to church. We clapped her house, but she couldn't come outside! They have two doors on their house- one normal door and one that has a lot of bars and padlock to keep the robbers out. She opened up her normal door and we saw that she was all dressed and ready to go to church. Unfortunately, her younger sister had gone out to a party the night before and had taken the other key! We felt as if we were talking to an inmate. She wanted to go to church so badly but couldn't! That was kind of a bummer. But we are going to have a Family Night with them today, so we are excited for that.

Last week, again, we had a lot of investigators fall through. And, due to the rain, we had troubles finding new people to teach. When Sunday rolled around, we were worried that nobody would be at church. But they came! An entire less active family was there, and a young man that we had invited to church two weeks ago came! His name is Claudio, and we had only spoken to him once (literally, we handed him a card and said he was welcome at our Sunday services). Woohoo! Miracles happen when we work and show our faith. God blessed us with a lovely Sunday.

Doctrine and Covenants 35:8

"For I am God, and mine arm is not shortened; and I will show miracles, signs, and wonders, unto all those whobelieve on my name."

Love you all! Have a lovely week!

Hermana Simmons

OFFICIAL MISSIONARY STATUS!

Hey, so I GOT BIT BY A DOG.

Yes, yes I did.

We were walking to an appointment with the Relief Society President to coordinate with her about the less active sisters that we visit. While waiting outside of her house, a dog started barking and snapping at us. This has happened to me my entire mission, and from experience I've learned that if I just ignore the dog and not threaten it in any way, it will leave me alone. Apparently that dog does not understand common sense. While putting my water bottle back in my backpack I felt a sharp stinging in my calf. I looked down and there was an ugly little dog (it wasn't even a big dog! it was a wimpy mutt, probably a maltese) hanging off of my leg! I shook it off and then we just walked away. I thought I was fine because the bite marks weren't very deep, but then we got home. When I took my tights off, I saw that he had broken skin and I had nasty blood dried on my leg. yuck.

Anyway, sorry that took up a whole paragraph. I just thought it was pretty fun that I have now had the stereotypical bad experience with dogs as a missionary.

This week we have seen rain every single day. Hermana Cannon and I have been walking and clapping at a lot of doors. It would be so easy to slack off in the stormy weather (especially since nobody wants to listen to us in the rain), but we want to be diligent and show Heavenly Father that we are doing our best! After a very long week with some excruciatingly long days, we got to Saturday. The weather unexpectedly cleared up and within a few hours we were able to get in multiple lessons! Then, on Sunday, our investigator showed up at church! Her name is Valeria and she is 18 years old. Right now she is living with her boyfriend because she fights a lot with her parents. But she understands the doctrine well and is very receptive and eager to learn more. Hna Cannon and I will be praying for her lots in these next few weeks!

Random thought- The other day I remembered back when we would lose something at home- a pair of shoes or maybe a book. We would look around and wouldn't find it anywhere. But then Mom would (without fail) suggest that we say a prayer to find the lost item. Within five minutes someone would always be able to recover what was lost. Now, instead of praying for lost shoes, Hna Cannon and I pray for lost people. Heavenly Father has so many children that are searching for the Gospel, and we just want to be able to find and help them! Thanks Mom for teaching me how nothing and no one is ever lost to God.

"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation." 2 Nephi 22:2

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Hermana Simmons

hey look a dog bit me.

found this little guy in our shower. 

hna cannon refused to touch it so I had the honor of carrying him outside.

More News

I don't really know how to send love or comfort in a letter, but I just want to say I love my family and I am so grateful for our Heavenly Father's plan. Today I found out that Hayden and Hudson died in a helicopter crash together. Definitely shocking and upsetting news (both of which mean I was crying in an Argentine internet cafe). I guess all I can say is that I know that God loves us, I know that Jesus Christ saves us from death, and I know that we can be together forever as a family as we depend upon the Gospel.  

This past week with Hermana Cannon has definitely been amazing! She and I both had the same trainer, went to BYU before the mission, love al the bakeries here, and want to invite as many people to come unto Christ as possible in these next six weeks! She is super upbeat and outgoing. She only has 3 months here in the mission field, but she already speaks Spanish really well! We have also had a lot of fun working out together in the mornings! She did gymnastics at BYU, so I`m going to see if I can learn any fun tricks from her :)

Here in Barrio Jardin there is mud EVERYWHERE. I`ve worn my mud boots every single day. Sunday? I wore the boots to church and then changed into my nicer shoes.

Here is a lot more neighborhood-y setting. We are still in a city, but we have less businesses and more houses, which is nice. 

2 Nephi 5:27 "And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness." In this chapter, Nephi and his family have to abandon everything and move far away because Nephi`s own brothers are trying to kill him. But in spite of all this, Nephi and his family and friends are able to find joy. They find joy in working hard, in building a temple, in keeping the commandments, etc... I know that the only way to find true joy in this life is through living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I honestly think that is what has changed the most about me in these past months. Serving God and just truly living the gospel to the best of my ability makes me HAPPY. It doesn't matter the things that I go through, God helps me push on and see the bigger picture. Trials and disappointments and sadness will all end if we put our faith in Christ and repent. He does forgive; He does heal; He does provide peace. I know that only through living the Gospel of Jesus Christ am I able to feel this goodness that I feel. This is happiness.

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

Hermana Simmons

P.S. I can't believe the news about Hayden and Hudson. But I do know that God is watching over them and has a perfect plan for them.

Saying hello to Hna Cannon and Barrio Jardin!

Saying goodbye to Hna Moreno and Barrio 2!

I'm going to Posadas!

Transfers came today! And after spending almost my entire mission in Paraguay, I'm going back to Argentina! And not just anywhere in Argentina- I`m going to Posadas! It's called Barrio Jardin, and I'll be with Hermana Cannon. I don't know her at all, I think she just barely finished her training. I'm super excited that I get to finish in Argentina!

These past few weeks I have been focusing on just trying to love every single aspect of being on the mission. The awkward stuff, the gross stuff, the scary stuff, etc... Life is definitely a lot more exciting and rewarding when I can laugh bad experiences off!

Maria Isabel came to church on Sunday again! She has a lot of questions that we are answering using the Book of Mormon. It really contains the fullness of the gospel and answers the questions of the soul. 

Also, as a mission we have been putting an emphasis on using the Book of Mormon more. President LaPierre and the assistants put together a list of 25 scriptures from the Book of Mormon that the entire mission has to memorize. At first I thought "easy, scripture masteries." But nope, they are not the scripture masteries we learned in seminary. They are 25 ADDITIONAL scriptures to memorize. But we have been actually using them a lot! I love seeing how our leaders can be inspired to counsel us so well.

The other sisters in our ward had a baptism on Friday! His name is Silverio and he is 69 years old! He is such an example of humility! He is willing to change his life and follow Christ. Even though he has had 69 years of bad habits built up, he is leaving everything behind because he truly wants to follow his Savior. I love it. The gospel can truly change people and it can enhance our lives.

Romans 1:16 " For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;"

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Simmons

surprise, surprise

I found out this morning that my life is about to turn into an uncomfortably realistic rendition of "The RM" (the movie).  Luckily I still have a few months of mission bliss to dim out reality haha. But even if Mom and Dad and Taylia move to Utah, I still am and forever will be Idahoan! (yay for potatoes!)

This week we were out tracting when we met a man named Estevan, he seemed really eager to talk with us which put us on the alert (here in Ciudad "really eager" usually means either "really drunk" or "really creepy"). As we talked with him, we realized that he had lots of in depth questions about the gospel because he had talked a lot with the Elders before. I don't think he had ever met sister missionaries before Hna Moreno and I. We could tell he had sincere interest, but he was also very close to arguing. We didn't want to debate, so Hna Moreno and I just decided to bear our testimonies to him and come back another night when he was less agitated. As we talked to him the scripture that popped into my mind was when Alma left as a missionary "seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them." (alma 4:19) We felt the Spirit powerfully, and when we testified he couldn't argue against what we knew was true. We are planning on going back this week to see if he has true interest in the Gospel or if he will just want to debate.

We had a fun Father's Day activity on Friday. There were minute to win it games put together by the other sisters in our ward, asado, and a mormon message video about fathers. It was lots of fun and we were so happy that Maria Isabel, our investigator, was able to come! She like it a lot and told us that anytime there is an activity we need to invite her. She gets along great with the other young women, so right now we are trying to focus on her spiritual needs. We want her to experience a true conversion, not just go to church because she likes the people there. She has a testimony of prayer, and for this week we are going to read a lot of the Book of Mormon with her.

Alma 22:17-18 "the king did bow down before the Lord, upon his knees; yea, even he did prostrate himself upon the earth, and cried mightily, saying: O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day."

If we want to come to know God, we have to be willing to give up everything for Him. We can't let personal pride, material possessions, favorite sins, fear of other people, bad habits, or ANYTHING prevent us from following Christ our Savior. As one of the members here said, "God only lets his good and valiant soldiers into the Kingdom of God." If we are not courageous, if we are not willing to risk it all to follow God's counsel, we are being cowardly. We are here on earth in training- training to become God´s mighty sons and daughters. We have to live true to our divine heritage. I testify that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that every trial we go through is for our good, and throughout the process of trial He always provides help and relief.

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Sister Simmons

Autumn Weather!

Good afternoon!

Last week we went down to Posadas for consejo. Tuesday morning we were sitting in the chapel waiting for the consejo to start when Pres. LaPierre and the asistentes walked in. President informed us that he had had the strong impression that we needed to go and have consejo somewhere else for the day. So we all traveled the hour over to La Cruz in Santa Ana, Argentina. We had our consejo in the conference room, and when we ended we had about an hour to walk around and see everything. It was BEAUTIFUL. There was a strong spirit of peace there. The Cruz is a huge cross, and it is set in the middle of a lot of wooded area. So it is kind of like a nature reserve.

Well, I guess it`s about time that something else crazy and wacky happens here. After consejo we all boarded the colectivo to travel back to Ciudad del Este. As we got on the bus, I heard a man saying "norteamericano! mis amigos los norteamericanos!" ("north americans! My friends the north americans!"). An older gentleman had gotten himself miserably drunk and then decided to travel in the public colectivo. Awesome. haha. Apparently he had done this before and he recognized some of the Elders from when he traveled Sunday night on colectivo.

Anyway, he talked to Elder Roberts and Elder Thomas a LOT. I can`t remember about what, I just remember that he could hardly get a comprehensible sentence out of his mouth, and he couldn`t stand still. When he saw me sitting in the back of the colectivo he shouted out "Rubias!" ("blonde girls!"). And then he started trying to invite me to sit with him and share his beer. Yep. So the Elders told him that I didn`t speak Spanish. But that didn`t stop him. He squared his shoulders and shouted out "MADAM! Madam!" Apparently someone had taught him a little English. I tried not to burst out laughing, but I couldn`t hold in the giggles. The poor man thought he had said it wrong so he asked the Elders "Did I say it alright?" They told him that sorry, but she doesn`t speak spanish either. They told him I speak German.

That quieted him down for about a minute as he gazed in intense thought at the floor. Then he got that "lightbulb moment" look on his face, turned to me and said "Buen da!" Just so you know, that is not actually German. When I didn`t respond, he defeatedly walked back to his seat. Later, when the man got up to go to the bathroom, the conductor locked him in the bathroom, threw all his beer cans out the window, and then let him back out. The rest of the trip was pretty routine.

I love this scripture!

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

Isaiah 45:22

Jesus Christ is our Savior. He alone can save us. Not money, not friends, not our ancestors, not any other idol or anything else. Only Jesus Christ. He is our Mediator with our Heavenly Father. Through baptism we accept Christ as our Savior and can access His divine grace.

I love you all!

Hermana Simmons

I got to see some of the Elders and Sisters from my old zone!

Me, Hermana Garcia, Elder Collins, Elder Prince, and Elder Graves

We went to the Cruz in Santa Ana, Argentina. It is a huge cross, tourist attraction, nature park area. There were lots of pretty walkways and even a butterfly exhibit.

The cross in Santa Ana

On the 9th floor (there are a lot, but that's the highest we could go without paying anything)