Week 21

July 26- August 1, 2016

Hey everybody!!!

This week was another awesome week!!! Matías and Candela got bautised!!!! It was sooo lovely!!! Today we went to Dique. Its some sort of camping ground with a nice big river. We took lots of awesome pictures hope you enjoy!!!

Hermana Guida, Candela, Hermana Jarvis

Hermana Guida, Matías. Candela, Hermana Jarvis 

Today we went to Dique. Its some sort of a camping ground with a nice big river!

Over looking the river.

Week 19/20

July 12-July 25, 2016

These past two weeks have been amazing! First off I can now say that I've met John the Baptist! We stopped to talk to a young mother and her three year old boy Juan El Bautista. We shared a message about the restoration but they ended up not living in our area so the sisters in 5 Saltos (that's the city where they live). 
We have a few progressing investigators (people interested in the Church). 

Fernanda - Girlfriend of Alfanso (member but is less active). They both smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol once in a while. We taught them the word of wisdom (revelation Joseph Smith received that teaches us that tobacco, coffee, tea, illegal drugs and alcohol are bad for our bodies) and they are committed to living the word of wisdom!! We left their house with two bottles of wine and three packs of cigarettes in my bag!! Alfonso said we should take the wine to any store and say we don't want them anymore and trade them in for soda! We were like you can do that??? And guess what we did today?? We traded the two bottles of wine in (worth 250 pesos) for two huge bottles of soda and 1.5 kilos of cheese!!!! All we said was that we had been given he wine by a family and that well we don't drink-- so could we trade them in for something else like soda?? There is a picture below.

Tuvimos un noche hogar con ellos y van a casarse!! Alfonso asked us to plan a Family home evening with them and told us to invite a married couple to join us. Usually we ask them if we can do all that but this family asked us!! Of course we took advantage of the awesome opportunity that was given to us and planed the whole evening around temple marriage and eternal families. It was a HIT! The married couple each shared their testimony about the blessings of temple marriage and how the gospel brings happiness. That night they said that they would get married so that Alejandra could be bautized and they said they've always planned on getting married and they are going to set date!!!  Alejandra has is trying to quite smoking and they are working towards her bautismal date. Alfonzo has stopped drinking and smoking and they are trying to support each other in the gospel. We are super excited for them!! They asked us if we could have lunch with them on my birthday August 4th and of course we said yes! They keep teasing me about how their are going to help my companion crack an egg on my head and pour flour in my hair. Apparently its some weird tradition. haha They both attended church with us Sunday along with our other investigators!

    We also have a bautism this Saturday!!! 30 de Julio!! Matías 12 years old will be baptized the same day as his little sister Candela age 8! Their mom is a member and was inactive but has been attending church and living the gospel for more than a month now. We are sooo excited for them!! We visit them every day to make sure that they are all doing good. They are supper smart too-they know the 10 commandments like the back of their hands and everyday they beg to say the opening and closing prayers (we always say a prayer at the beginning of our lesson and at the end)
My companion Hermana Guida speaks 3 languages!!! English (still learning but its sooo good!) portugues (native) and español!! The other day we were saying our nightly prayers together and she asked me to say it this time in english. Let me tell you it was so hard hahaha I kept accidentally saying words in Spanish and having to say them over again but in English. It was also suuuper slow because I have trained my brain to think in Spanish and I have to translate it into English before I speak and I'm not used to speaking English anymore and my companion thinks it's hilarious.  She is also a convert to the church!! She's been a member for a almost 3 years. (I can still say that I've only been a member for a year until 16 de agosto)

Her story is super awesome!!! She was baptized three days after first meeting the missionaries and learning abou the church!!! CRAZY AWESOME!! Normally people are bauptised about a month or so later. Her testimony is so strong! We are quite the team! 

Well thats all for today folks :)

Have a great week!!
Hermana Jarvis

We traded the two bottles of wine in (worth 250 pesos) for two huge bottles of soda and 1.5 kilos of cheese!!!! 

All we said was that we had been given he wine by a family and that well we don't drink-- so could we trade them in for something else like soda??

Week 18

July 5-July 11, 2016

I'm in Centenario now with Hermana Guida!!! Just got here this morning!! Hermana Guida is from Brazil and speaks Spanish with a Brazilian accent. I don't have much to say for this week. Hemana Nieto (my companion in CutralCo) and I got t-shirts with a picture of the statue of Jesus on them and they are super awesome!! I have lots of awesome pictures to send but of course this computer doesn't have a port from my camera. I'll have to send lots next week! We are going to work super hard this translado to find people who are prepared to hear our message!! It's going to be great! Ill tell you all how it goes next week! Hasta Luego!!

Hermana Jarvis

Jesus statue shirts with Hermana Nieto

Week 17

June 28-July 4th, 2016

I’m running supper short on time this week sorry everyone!! Next week we have transfers!! I might stay in CutralCo or I might be shipped to somewhere new! This week we didn’t have much success with teaching Gisela and her bautismal date fell BUT we taught Miguel all week and he went to church with us and is progressing so well in the Gospel and he invited us to have lunch with their family this week and we'll be having a Family Home Evening with them at a members home this week. (which is another awesome story that I wish I had time to tell.)  Basically Miguel when he was baptized like 20 years ago shared what he was learning with his friend Miguel Lopez (they have the same name...) And Miguel Lopez (the friend of Miguel Ponce whom we are teaching) got baptized and is a super strong member and has a family and they were sealed in the temple and everything. Well he (the friend) is how we even learned about Miguel Ponce. Miguel Lopez said hey I have someone for you to go visit and gave the missionaries the address of Miguel Ponce and his daughter Gisela. And now Miguel Ponce is reactivated or is attending church and living the gospel with all his heart thanks to his friend Miguel Lopez. Entonces: Miguel Lopez found/learned about his Savior thanks to Miguel Ponce, and nooowww several years later Miguel Ponce is has returned thanks to his friend Miguel Lopez. MILAGROS!!! I love their story! This week were going to have an awesome family home evening with the Lopez family and the Ponce family!! So happy to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands to help people come unto Christ!

See you next week!

Hermana Jarvis

Week 16

June 21-27th, 2016

Hola Everyone!!!

We had another great week! Monday we had a lesson with Mario y Carina (Mario tiene 25 años y Carina 22 años) They aren’t married but they have two kids Thomas tiene 3 años y Sofia tiene 7 meses. We were asking questions about their life and about their religious background and teaching them about how God is our loving Heavenly Father. Mario asked us an amazing question!! ¨Porque hay muchas iglesias hoy in día?¨ ding ding ding. We began to teach them about how God calls prophets in every dispensation (time were the gospel is on the earth) and how Jesus Christ was also a prophet. He established his church and called 12 apostles to lead and teach the people his teachings. He gave them the authority to teach is his name. But we all know that Jesus Christ was rejected and so were his apostles and eventually the people killed all of them. 

Thus the people entered into a time of apostosia ( o sea a time where the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Authority is not on the earth) There were people who wanted to continue to follow Christ but didn’t know how and they established churches based on the principles of the gospel (o sea some of the teachings of Jesus Christ but not all of them) and we can still see today that there are many churches and many religions even though Jesus Christ taught one specific way to do things, His way. 

 We shared the first lesson with them about the restauration and how the profeta José Smith was an instrument in the Lords hands to bring forth the complete Gospel of Jesus Christ and all of his teachings. It was soo awesome!!! 

They then invited us to eat lunch with them on Saturday and so we said yes and lunch was delicious! It was like twice baked pasta with a nice white queso to poor on top. After lunch we taught about the Book of Mormon and how it’s another testament of Jesus Christ. Mario was really interested and we gave them each a copy (free of course) and we committed them to read and pray to Heavenly Father and ask if it is true. We let them borrow the video of the restoration to watch and were going to visit them again this week and see how everything went.

Now Gisela and her father Miguel!! They are doing great!! Gisela is still clean from all her addicions and she has been praying and reading the Book of Mormon!! Saturday we stopped by their bicicleteria and she told us all about how she had been reading about Nefi and how he killed Laban with the sword of Laban and how the mother of Nefi was worried about her children and complaining to Lehi.... I was thinking to myself wow she understand more than I did my first time reading the Book of Mormon. My heart was filled with joy and I was so thankful that the Holy Ghost is teaching her as she reads. I truly love this Gospel! She had a friend with them and we tried to give him a Book of Mormon but he said no that honestly he would like one but he is studying to be a doctor and has sooo many things to read daily that he doesn’t have time. But later we ended up giving him a Book of Mormon because in the lesson that we shared that night we had read a scripture in Mosiah 2:41 and when we finished he shared his thoughts about it and how he really liked that scripture and we asked him, are you sure you don't want a copy of the Book of Mormon? We have plenty of others and when you want, you have it to read. It was sooo awesome!! 

We also had a Noche Hogar (o sea family home evening) we basically went with her to the familia Inostrozza´s house and they shared a spiritual messaged about the gift of the Holy Ghost and how its blessed their lives and Hermana Inostrozza (the mom) shared her conversion story about how she was taught the gospel at 22 years of age and she had a daughter and was wanting to be a better mother for her child but didn’t know how or what to do and that the gospel changed her life and taught her patience and love and many other fundament things. She now has 3 children and is married to a return missionary Hermano Inostorzza. We all shared our testimonies about the Holy Ghost and how it’s a blessing in our lives. I could feel the Spirit sooo strong and I could just see in Gisela´s face that she could feel it too. 

Last but not least Gisela and her father gave us two little pins to pin to our shirts of Argentina!! So that we can always remember Argentina!! How thoughtful!!! I love them, they really are lovely people!!! 

I’ll keep you all posted!!! Have a great week!! Oh and Gisela will be baptized 9 de Julio (July 9th!!)) WHOOHOOO!!! :)

Lots of love,

Hermana Jarvis

 Gisela and her father gave us two little pins to pin to our shirts of Argentina!! So that we can always remember Argentina!! How thoughtful!!! I love them, they really are lovely people!!! 

Week 14/15

June 7th-20th, 2016

Hola!!

These past two weeks have been quite amazing! We have a few new investigators! (people who are interested in the gospel) The first one is Gisela. She is a young mother of two and is pregnant with her third. She is 22 years old and I honestly love this family so much. We found Gisela through her father who is a member of the church and was baptized more than 20 years ago and hasn’t come to church since. Entonces he is inactive and really doesn’t know much about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He says at the time that the missionaries taught him he got baptized because he knew it was a good thing to do but did think much else about it. When my companion first found them (a week or two before I got to Cutral-Co) he only wanted us to teach his daughter Gisela to help her out with her life but he didn’t want to return to church. As the days went by little by little his opinion has changed. His daughter Gisela has had many problems with drugs and many other worldly things. Right now all Miguel (the father of Gisela) wants is for his children to stop doing drugs and start living a better life. As we have taught the restored gospel to them Miguel has begun to remember little by little and has begun to teach his daughter Gisela what he knows about repentance and baptism, the word of wisdom and how the holy spirit works. The first two weeks we had no luck with Gisela, she was never around and we found out that she had actually left for a whole week without telling anyone were she was and wouldn’t answer her phone. During that time we visited her father to see how he was and he opened up to us and we got to share our testimony about how the gospel really can change lives. We shared our testimony about how everyone can repent and come unto Christ, that it’s not too late for anyone. We shared how the chapel is like a hospital no one in the church is perfect and every Sunday all the broken and worn down should go to church to be renewed, to take the Santa Cena (the Sacrament) and to be forgiven. When we invited Miguel to come to church with us last Sunday he said that he would now only invite Gisela to go if she returned but also he would be there even if she hadn’t returned. Sunday came and guess who showed up extra early for church? Miguel! It was amazing, I was so happy. After church he asked me for the name of the person who gave a talk during church on repentance. It was an elder in our district (male missionary) named Elder Larson. He had shared his testimony about the power of the atonement and how his sister had been inactive for many years and just this week she wrote him saying that she wanted to return to church and repent and change her life but she didn’t know how, or if she even could. He said he wrote to her sobbing baring his testimony of the power of the atonement and how much Heavenly Father loves each one of us. That talk really touched Miguel´s heart. I remember Miguel saying ¨eso discurso toca mi corazón¨ Miguel later said that he wants to return to church, he wants to learn the gospel again and he wants to be better. My companion and I fasted and prayed that Gisela would return home safely so that we could share the gospel with her as well and that very day we went to the bicicleteria (their family owned bicycle shop were we teach Gisela and her father) and Miguel said that Gisela had returned that day and was sleeping. He said please pass by this week and see if Gisela wants you to teach her. And of course we did! We passed by a few days later and Gisela was there and we taught her about the Book of Mormon and read with her and asked her if she would like to be baptized. She said yes!! This week everyday Miguel has gone over the house of Gisela to say a family prayer every morning and every night helps her read her scriptures. He is soooo good! We have taught Gisela almost all the lessons and it has been amazing! They both attended church yesterday and the joy that fills my heart to see them growing in the gospel is unexplainable. Gisela has decided to stop drinking, and doing drugs, they have stopped drinking café and tea also. We committed her to following the word of wisdom (a commandment from God that says we shouldn’t use illegal drugs, alcohol, tobacco, tea, or coffee because they are not good for our body) She has been clean every day so far. We have goals that we’ve set up with her and we have made sure she knows that we are here to help her. No one is perfect and overcoming an addiction is NOT easy. We made sure she knows that if she has a relapse we are here for her and to keep working and trying to accomplish her goal day by day. I have seen so many miracles with this family I can’t even write all the amazing things that have happened. I will keep you all updated on our progress! Today were are going to teach a family during our Pday at 1. I’m supper excited and I’m praying that they too will be receptive to the spirit and will feel the truth of our words through the spirit!! So happy to be serving my Savior! Love you all and hope all is well! Remember that you are never alone!! 

we cooked a chicken roast all by ourselves without instructions or anything!! It was DELICIOUS definitely proud of my hidden cooking skills ahahha

my complimes present from my companion! She is the best haha ALFAJOR!! its basically a giant three layered chips ahoy covered in chocolate. It was delicious. Alfajors are the BEST!

segundo mi comañera conmigo

Week 13

May 31-June 6th, 2016

Hola! Como andan? This week we have been obtaining references (names and addresses of people we can visit) like crazy! Our goal is 7 a day and that’s A LOT... and we’ve been doing it haha it’s actually the mission goal too and here the mission goals are soooo high so I feel like I’m doing alright. My castellano is coming along and my compañera has been teaching me frases (phrases) and jokes in Spanish. We have a pretty good friendship and she is honestly one of the best examples of service that I have ever seen. Every day I’m like wow she is such a role model I want to learn to be like her. The people in my last area all the member and families I knew all spoke so highly of my new companion and now I know why. She is just naturally a servant of the Lord. I know that heavenly father knows what I need and what each person here needs. Hermana Nieto and I are working really hard to help others and preach the gospel with all our fuerza (strength). I know that if we keep it up we are bound to see many more milagros. I have been studying the book of Mormon en español like crazy and I truly have a testimony that es la verdad (it’s the truth). I love the scriptures because they bring me so much peace in a spinning world. Every day I read I try and apply what I read to my life and how I can be better. I think that is the most important part, not to just read but to apply the scriptures to our life. I really do know with all my heart that the book of Mormon is the word of God and is another testimate of Jesuscristo. It and the bible together testify of the life of Jesuscristo and His Atoning sacrifice for us. I know that He lives and that God is our Heavenly Father who loves us perfectly. So much that he sent his only begotten son for us, so that we could return to live with Them again. We are not perfect but through obedience to the commandments and through the atonement we can be perfected through Cristo. I give my testimony en the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. 

I have completely forgotten how to spell in English... please forgive me.

ps- on the 10th I will have been on my mission for 3 months!!!