November 18, 2013 Hello Hello

Hola familia!

Well this week was pretty much straight street contacting and walking. It´s pretty brutal, especially because walking is not exactly my strong suit right now! But it´s been cool to see times when the gift of tongues is definitely present.

This week we had a super cool opportunity. Elder Holland came and talked to us. We went to the Buenos Aires West mission, and it was Us, them and the South mission. It was cool to be with that many missionaries again! I have never been that close to an Apostle before (he walked right by me! Seriously he was 2 feet away). The hermanas all got to sit in the front, so I was about 5 rows back. Man was that powerful and spiritual. Oh and he was also staying in our ward, because the Area Seventy is in my ward. He talked a lot about how important our own conversion is. This is something that I know to be true! Out here is really hard, and I cannot imagine doing it if I was not converted to the lord.

One thing that he talked about is that the road to salvation always goes through Gethsemane. It is impossible to become like Christ without trials and tribulations. This work will never be easy because it never was easy for Christ.

Daily Miracles:
11- we got a new map that is actually legible! Yay!
12- I started a bunch of conversations in the street. I could not carry the whole conversation, but I was able to do a lot!
13- We had a really good district meeting. I have the best leaders. I am so grateful for them!
14- This morning i woke up with a fever, and felt terrible. As we were going to our lunch appointment we passed the elders, and they offered a blessing. They were able to give me one, and it was amazing how quickly I was able to feel better so that I could work. I am so grateful for the power of the priesthood and that I have access to it. I am so grateful for those who live worthy of it!
15- Today we had very little success... but nonetheless I was able to be happy and the day turned out pretty good. I am learning that my happiness here does not depend on what numbers I put at the end of the day, but on how much I choose it.
16- Elder Holland
17- We had ward council today and they are amazing! The leaders of our ward are so missionary minded and it is awesome! Hopefully we can get this area progressing!

I love you all and I pray for you every day!
Les Quierro!
Hermana Sirrine

November 11, 2013 Second Week in Argentina!

Well I am officially in my area here in Belgrano. My companion speaks no English and that has put some challenges on this whole thing. Also she is from Columbia which has it´s own special hard to understand accent. And she speaks wicked fast. Turns out the first day she was just really tired and I thought I could understand her. We walk many many miles a day, which has been slightly difficult on my sprained ankle. I am praying every day for it to heal rapidly.

We have not had a lot of success this week, and it has been difficult. But it is the first week of the transfer...and we are opening an area. Haha!  I have no idea how it is to work in an area that is open, the apartment is well furnished, and there are accurate records. Maybe one day :)

Since we are opening a new area we have to do a ton of street contacting. Unfortunately my companion hates it and wont do it. So guess who does. Yep me. The one who can't speak.  So I have no idea if people don't want to listen because they are not interested or because they have no idea what I am saying. Also sometimes they start to talk with me... but I have no idea what they are saying and it is super hard. Hopefully things start to click so that we can be effective.

Here are my daily miracles for the week. I realized I have not shared them in a while.

Nov 5- the elders in our ward are so helpful. the got us a map of the area and are being super nice about us asking tons of questions.
nov 6- we met a really nice lady on the street that seemed interested. I even initiated the conversation, so that was cool.
nov 7- there was about two minutes today when I had no pain in my foot. It was bliss. Also I was able to walk a ton today without a ton of pain. I know the lord is helping me because as soon as I get home I can hardly walk, but during the day I can manage.
nov 8- the last member we visited (of 13) was at their house! which was lovely seeing as we both really had to use the bathroom and there are not public bathrooms here.... at least we both don't think so.
nov 9- today I got to be around missionaries who speak English. It sounds awful but I loved being able to feel a part of something and to understand what was going on.
nov 10- today we had another visitor center thing. It was amazing; during the tour I could relatively speak. Definitely a gift of tongue experience.

Scripture of the week.
Mosiah 24:13-15
Love you all and hope things are going well for you!
Love, Hermana Sirrine

November 5, 2013 Oh boy! I am not in America any more!

Pictures from Illinois

Ward mission leader, elders, me, my comps

With investigator Kyle

Pictures from Argentina

A peek of the huge city I am in

Me, hermanas from my MTC district, and the president´s wife in front of the temple

 pink house

The Rio de Plata.  You can see the city across the water

Familia,

Welp.  I don´t speak Spanish. Nope, and I thought Mexicans were hard to understand. They clearly learned from the Argentines. They speak wicked fast and they speak Castillano (no it is not Spanish, they are almost offended if you call it Spanish) and they have a lisp, almost like Spain but not as bad. Soooooo yeah, I feel a little underwater.

With my 3 comps and two recent converts, Thommy and Junior

For the past week I have been with Hermanas White, Lobo, and Escalante. When we got our visas, they just put us in a temporary area until transfers, which are today. So there were four of us in an apartment the size of our kitchen and half the dinning room back home. It was cozy! I didn't mind though, it´s not like we spend much time there. Two are native speakers, one to Mexico and one to Argentina, but they both speak really good English. It was a crutch I liked way too much! Haha! It was nice to be able to at least communicate a little. However, I am now in my new area. My companion is Hermana Sanchez, and no she does not speak English. None. She is from Columbia, so at least she pronounces the whole word, which makes things easier... but I am gunna get real good at charades. Also, we are opening an area. We are in the city, and she has only been out in provencia (the country). So we both are super confused. It´s going to be great!

This BOM was part of our open house

On Saturday we went to another church with a bunch of missionaries and made our own sort of visitor center. It was really cool. pretty much it was like temple square, start at the Christus, and then learn briefly what we teach. It definitely helped my Spanish! At the beginning we were out on the streets inviting people to come in. I got really good at saying ´´we are inviting people to a center for visitors to learn about our church´´ I would then give them a card, and pretty much no one said more than no thanks. Until one man.... he starts talking to me and I had NO IDEA what he was saying! Me and my companion were standing a little bit apart so that we could be more effective, and when she saw that someone was actually talking to me she comes over. After we told him I had no idea what he was saying, the man repeated to her what he had said to me. Apparently he said ´´I have been asking God for a doll like you, but he never sent one to me´´. All the missionaries there thought it was hilarious!

Sunday, we were walking out of our apartment to go to church and I fell on the last step and rolled my ankle. In Illinois or Missouri that would have been unfortunate, but okay. Here it is a problem. We walk everywhere. So I pretty much had to stand up, wrap it quickly, and walk to church. I thought I was going to die at church. I got a priesthood blessing that I didn't really understand except that I would have strong feet throughout my mission. I felt comfort and knew that Heavenly father will help me. I think Sunday I ended up walking close to two miles or so. As much as I knew I shouldn't be on it, I didn't really have a choice. However, my companion would not let me go out on Monday. It was the worst day of my mission. I thought I was going to go stir crazy! There is only so much studying I can do.... I did not like not working! I iced it a ton and hopefully it will get better real quick because I know there will be lots of walking in the upcoming week. I am wearing my boots because they help give support.  It looks really weird because it is spring here and getting warmer!

Pretty much the food here is amazing. Everyone cooks very well. and the ice cream is to die for. Someone needs to bring it back to America.... It is custom to eat a small breakfast and then a huge lunch. I have no idea if the normal population eats dinner.. but as missionaries we are so busy that we don't. When we get home at night we eat something small , but the members have been feeding us so well that we have not been hungry. I sorta like the whole small dinner big lunch thing.

I do all of my studies in Spanish, which means it takes forever to do because I read really slow in Spanish, but I know it helps me. Also it is super exciting when I read a verse and I can understand the whole thing and don´t have to look up anything in the dictionary.  Yesterday while I was imprisoned in my apartment, I studied the plan de salvation. It was really cool to read all of the Preach My Gospel scriptures in that section all together. I was amazed at how central the atonement is to the whole thing. Every scripture either directly talked about the atonement, or had a scripture that did really close. It was cool to notice that pattern. I love seeing how central Christ is to the gospel and our lives.

Well, I love you all so much!
Love, Hermana Sirrine

 P.S. Mom, don´t worry... I am taking care of my foot.

October 29, 2013 Arrives in Argentina

We are thrilled to report that your daughter, Sister Sirrine, has finally arrived safely in her mission this morning here in Buenos Aires.  She was picked up at the airport, and after a brief tour of Buenos Aires was brought to the mission home for a luncheon, followed by an interview with the President.  You should expect to hear from your missionary on her next P-day which will be next Tuesday, November 5th.  Thank you for your prayers and support.

President and Sister Ayre

October 21,2013 What a week!

The photo is me and sister nicholson sqeezing water into a pot from me and sister franks filtered water bottles we were given in the MTC. We forgot to buy water last week and there was no way we were drinking dirt water.

Familia!

First of all I just want to say that God really helps his missionaries achieve their goals. It's true. The first day I got out into the field I set some goals for my time here in the states. Most of them were pretty simple, just helping me stay focused and productive but one of them was to have a baptism during my time here in the states. I figured that there was no way that was going to happen when I got the call that my visa came in. BUT... it did. Crazy story. There is a 10 yr old who was going to get baptized this past Saturday. The family has been on and off active and he was going to get baptized at 8, but the person they wanted to do the baptizing had to make some changes. For whatever reason it did not happen, and suddenly he is 10 and not baptized. Then his cousin who is 8 was ready for baptism and the family wanted to do it all together. Unfortunately  they did not realize that he is now a convert baptism! Soooo we had to get involved. And for whatever reason the family was adamant that this baptism would happen on the 19th. We had to go through lots of people and eventually got permission to teach all the missionary lessons in 1 night and then have him interviewed for baptism. Poor kid. Way to much gospel knowledge in 2.5 hrs. However, he passed the interview and got baptized this Saturday! Talk about a lot of work!! We had so much to do in 3 days. It was really rushed, but i guess they didn't care, it was still a really special day. Unfortunately we missionaries had way too much on our minds and forgot cameras... :(

This week has been so busy! We have been trying to orient sister Franks, and still  keep up with our busy schedule, and then the last minute baptism. Not to mention I had to speak at the baptism, us sisters spoke in church yesterday, and I am giving a training tomorrow in district meeting. Brutal. And I still have to study for my investigators, and there really is not any extra time to prepare. Let's just say it's crazy. Oh, and I leave on Monday. Yep.

The trees are so PRETTY here. They go RED.  I mean real red. Like nothing I have seen before. I am hoping by this Sunday there will be even more. I will try to send you a picture of it. I have been praying for the leaves to change and it's working!

It's really hard knowing that I am leaving soon... I love this area and the ward so much! Me and sister Nicholson have built this area and I don't even get to see it for the whole 6 weeks! Oh well. It's been amazing to see the growth so far. We have gone from 2 investigators (who we have not even seen by the way) to 13 and a baptism. Heavenly father is truly preparing his children. I also have started switching over to Spanish. I do about half of my studies in Spanish and I understand PMG and the scriptures pretty well. Now I just have to hear and understand... I really need to study this week though.. I am in trouble! Ha ha its gunna be weird to have no idea what's going on when I have been a missionary for almost 4 months already.
It's odd to hear about missionaries being in an area for a long time. In my limited missionary experience, you switch areas and companions every six weeks. Hopefully I can stay in one place a little longer next time!

The members are determined to fatten us up here. It is terrible. We eat at members at least once a day. Sometimes we get dinner and lunch. I think we have cooked for lunch and dinner probably 2 times since we have been here. And unfortunately when missionaries come over it is a special occasion for the member. They always make their 'special' recipe (special usually equates to fattening) and they always have dessert. And they bring all sorts of goodies over. It was a relief for a member to bring us veggies the other day! I have gained a lot of weight. It is terrible. Some of my skirts no longer fit, embarassingly enough. Good thing I will be walking a ton soon! I need it!

My talk this week was on Luke 22:19. Christ passing the sacrament. It was really interesting to study. At first we were told that we had 3-5 minutes, and that there would be another speaker. Then Saturday they called us and said just kidding! You get 15! Soooo... we were scrambling. But it turned out really well and we got really good feedback from the ward. One thing I had not really noticed before was that Christ gives thanks before he passes it. It made me wonder how often I give thanks before I take the sacrament...

Well I love you all so much! I loved the pictures. So cute! Have a great week!
Hermana Sirrine

October 15, 2013 Visa News

Mi querido familia, (that is probably spelled wrong)

First off I am going to answer some questions so I don't forget. Sharon, She is doing well. Interesting, but well. We are trying to see her this week... but she is very sincere. She just has a hard time keeping commitments. But she enjoyed conference and loves meeting with us. So that's real good.

Brother Koogler, the less active I talked about... wait for it... WAS AT CHURCH! and He took notes on conference (which was our commitment to him) AW man it was so great! I was so happy to see him it was ridiculous. And you could tell he was real happy to be there too.

Mom: Yes I can print emails. but here it's 20 cents a page, so for the most part we don't. And unfortunately here in Murphysboro we only have 1 hr for email, which sounds like a lot but it's not, especially since we have to write letters to the president. In my last area we had more time, but this library kicks you off the computers after an hour. Weird.

And thanks for the spelling check. Yes it's true, I have very little time and don't proof read and am trying to type quickly.... but also I just have bad spelling. Plus Spanish. (By the way, my comp has worse spelling than me. It's rough)

I loved Sarah's letter! Tell her thanks!

So highlights of this week:

• We got a new companion! Her name is Sister Franks, and she is a visa waiter for Brazil (we laughed together at the Portuguese influence in Sarah's spelling). She is from Texas and you best believe she has a great accent. She's from the north east part so it's thick. I love her. We got her Saturday and she got really thrown into things since we did not know she was coming until midday Friday.
• Another super exciting thing that happened: We found 7 new investigators. Yep 7. that is no typo. All I can say is the lord blesses you when you talk to everyone and really open your mouth.
• Another is Kyle. I think I wrote about him. He is a part member family and super solid. Well we had a fantastic lesson with him. His wife bore her testimony and the spirit was so strong. He started crying and we all were chocked up. And he prayed! For the very first time out loud and in front of everyone. You could see how happy his wife was! He told us he had been so nervous for that part, but it was the best prayer. I just love that family so very much.
• Also, I got to be companions with Hermana White (MTC companion) for a day again! They really like to bounce visa waiters around, so they needed a sister for a couple days, and she stayed with us for a day till someone could come get her. It was really cool to see how she has grown in the last 2 months!

The work here is going really well. I love it. I am sad that I am leaving. OH! Yeah! Big news. I AM LEAVING! I GOT MY VISA TO ARGENTINA! Yep! It totally happened. Awww man am I excited. My plan to skip winter worked out. God is so merciful. I leave OCT. 28. so two weeks from yesterday. I am bursting with excitement (in case you missed that). It's weird to think I am actually going to go to Argentina. I guess in my mind this is just my mission now. But not for long. Hermana White, and one other elder from my MTC district also got theirs too, and I am so excited to go out with them! Definitely sad to leave here... but thrilled to go.

All of the sudden Language study got real for me. So I started once again really focusing. I translated 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' into Spanish. Let's just say it does not flow. However Sister Nicholson thinks it's hilarious. It goes like this:
Cabeza
Hombros
Rodillas y
Dedos de pies (that's the killer in the flow)
**Repeat as necessary**
Ojos
Orejas
Boca y
Nariz

I really like that last part! It's fun to say.

Man this week has been so good. I have really been studying Charity. It's amazing to break it down and study all of the parts that you find in Moroni 7. I love this gospel and I love this work.
I know now more than ever that God loves us, Jesus Christ is my savior, and the redeemer of all the world, and that this gospel is the only way to get back to him.
I love you all so much, and hope that you all doing well!
Les Quierro!
Hermana Sirrine

Sorry no pics, i forgot my camera...

October 6, 2013 Time is the weirdest thing on a mission!

Sister Nicholson and I

Dear Lovely Family!

I think part of being set apart puts you in a time bubble. It's weird. Time flies! And at the same time is slow. I can't explain it.

This week has been real good. We had the exchange sisters come, which was really cool. I was with sister Ash, who is Samoan. We knocked one door and the guy was trying to tell us we had a racist church that would not let anyone but white people, and she was like 'Uh, I am Samoan and I'm on a mission, so pretty sure it's not just white people'. he didn't really know how to respond to that. It was really funny.

30-We found service! Starting next week we will be doing service at a food bank. I know it sounds dumb... but it's really hard to find weekly service here. But the food bank is perfect because it allows us to see LOTS of different people.

1- I have been studying Charity. Today my study was particularly effective. It is amazing how the Book of Mormon talks about it so much. Love, and the other components of charity found in Moroni are all through the Book of Mormon!
 2- Today we had a lesson with an amazing lady named Sharon. She referred herself! it was so cool to be able to meet with her, when she sought us out and is truly searching for truth.
3- We had a lesson with a Less Active. I think we totally made his day be talking with him. It was really amazing to hear his story and testimony. Sometimes people just need to know that they are missed to come back. He said he would be there Sunday!
4-Exchanges! Ah so good! What an amazing learning opportunity to be with someone way experienced and great
5- Total miracle: we were driving to our dinner appointment and we saw a lady crossing the street. Both of us had the impression to stop. Once we did and got turned around, she was no longer outside. So we went and knocked her door. We did a normal tracking approach... and she let us right in. We were stunned. We then asked her what roll religion had played in her life. Ha! Turns out she's a member! (she's like 80 or something) and someone close to her had died the day before. It was a moment where it was obvious the lord knew her needs and used us to comfort her.
6- General Conference. Of course! It was interesting how one theme of conference was Gender Rolls and morality. It is amazing how confused the world is in this aspect!

Well i have no time. I love you all! Hope you have a fantastic week!
Hermana Sirrine