Hola! (Week 11)

Hola!

So this week has been crazy! The past two days it has been raining! So now I have really experienced the rain of Argentina, at least I think!

Also it is super hot here, that info I found before I came was wrong cause it is hotter than high 80's everyday practically. I have that cool alarm clock that has the temperature gauge on it correct. Well guess what, the hottest our bedroom has been when we got home at night was 93 F!!!! So we drip sweat all day and sleep in our sweat at night, but it makes you feel good and helps you know that you're working hard!

Guess what!!! Yesterday at our lunch appointment we got to talking and then this family invited us back that night for a pancake dinner. Here is the best part they had Peanut Butter AND Maple Syrup!!! That doesn't happen in Argentina, so that is AWESOME!!

Well as far as investigators go the ones I thought would have potential to be baptized in February have dropped us...so that is sad. But that means we just have to work that much harder! Which is good cause sometimes I wonder if I am working hard enough, which means I need to be doing more. This week I have been thinking how I can be a better missionary. I have decided that I need to have more charity for the people. But how, well I was studying about charity and found that the way you gain charity is by acting out of love. So I am going to be better at acting out of love. Also, my compa said that the goal is to be able to train after your 12 weeks of training. Well at this point I feel I am nowhere near that. So we are going to let me be more of a leader this week. Which scares me, but I know that I need to learn this now so that I can become the missionary and leader that the Lord wants me to be.

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Burr

There is a family that we have eaten with a few times that had us over for dinner again. Last time we were there they asked what some of our favorite foods were. This night they had a special surprise. They had us each what we had said! So they gave me this box of empanadas! Hna. Benson had a happy meal, Hna. Allen and her compa Hna. Hale (in photo) had ravioli (pasta with cheese in it).

This is a woman that is a professor at a highly accredited university. She teaches Italian and is teaching us some! It is hard for me to translate in my brain from English to Spanish to Italian! But I am learning patience!

This is a photo from the MTC with Branch President Carter and His wife and Hermana Allen.

Messi, Goat, and Tender Mercies of the Lord! (Week 10)

Hola mi familia!

How are you all doing? I have had a really good week. It has had its ups and downs but our companionship has really been able to see the Lord bless us this week. One day we were looking for an address and we could not find it. We approached a family that was outside to see if they could help us. We had intentions to talk to them about the gospel as well. Before we could say anything gospel related they had their children taking us to a man who knew where every address was. The children showed us where to go and then left. Hermana Benson and I wondered if we should really bother the man cause we thought the address didn't exist. But we decided we shouldn't pass up the opportunity to talk to him cause we need to talk to all people. After he helped us with the address he asked if he could ask us a question, so of course we said yes. He said he was interested in understanding how Mormom missionaries work or the logistics. (I guess you could call it this, I don't really know how to explain it). We got to talking and the conversation slowly turned to a gospel discussion. He asked us if we had a pamphlet or something he could have. We left him with the restoration pamphlet and a Book of Mormon. He said he wants to read the entire book. He also asked if he could come to church sometime and bring his family. He wasn't able to come yesterday but he hopes to this upcoming Sunday. It really amazed me when he asked "all the right questions" before we asked them to him. We had recently fasted that we would be able to find an investigator that is prepared for the gospel and will be baptized in February. That the investigator would become truly converted and remail faithful. This may be him and it may not be. We have seen other simple miracles this week that could also be our answer. I absolutely love the tender mercies of the Lord. Looking for his hand in my life really makes a difference and makes a bad day into a good day.

I have been studying about the enabling power of the atonement. I have come to realize and better appreciate the Book of Mormon because of how much it testifies of the enabling power of the atonement. I really love this quote from Elder David A. Bednar:

"The enabling power of the Atonement strengthens us to do and be good and to serve beyond our own individual desire and natural capacity."

If you want to read more, it is from the talk "The Atonement and Our Journey through Mortality". At least I think that is what it is called. It came highly recommended by the amazing Sister Bailey!

Here are just some cool things that have happened to me this week:

• Someone thought I was from Columbia not the United States!
• In my setting apart blessing I was promised that my Spanish would sound like I have been in Argentina my whole life. The other day someone told me I have a better accent than some of the missionaries that have been here for a year. So I am already starting to see the blessings there. Also, my companion has an Argentine accent so I feel like that is one of the reasons we are companions. 
• We found a man that speaks really good English the other day! We are going to teach him in English, yay yay yay! We have already had one leccion with him. 
• The first time I played soccer it was with some teenagers and a few younger kids. Guess what I made TWO goals! And one of the members gave me the nickname "Messi". The next time I played soccer was with the other Hermanas and a few girls that are about our age. They said I was really good at soccer. I think they mean for a gringa hermana they think I am good. So this makes me happy that they all think I am good at soccer! 
• We were taking a recent convert back to her apartment after she had been at leccions with us and her older brother was out front with his friends. They are more of the crazy not so good people you usually try and avoid I guess you could say. They were playing darts and wanted us to try. Well it turns out I am not too bad at darts. I kept beating Hermana Benson and the "brothers friend" I played against. So that was good cause now they know who we are and they like us so we are safe and other people won't bother us!
• One day we were so thirsty and we finally found someone to put water in our water bottle for us. After we left we were just gulping down our water in front of a house. Well I noticed an elderly woman. So I said Hola! At first she was a bit confused and asked if we know her. We said no we were just saying hi. Then she started talking to us about religion! yay! She invited us in to see her paintings she has done and talk some more. She is 88 and lives alone. She said we were an answer to her prayers. And she is an answer to ours as well cause we can share the gospel with her. She actually already has a pretty good knowledge and believes a lot of things we do. She is Christian. I look forward to teacher her more! Also she gave us an alfajor so she is golden! 

Well I love you all and hope you have a Fantastic week! Put forth the extra effort to look for the Hand of God in your life! You will realize how truly blessed you are and you will realize that your bad days are actually good days! 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Burr

We ate goat! It was delicious! No joke! 

Twins! a member made these shirts for us!

Recreating Ashley kissing a gator!

 Head of the goat we ate. Check out the tongue. We didn't eat this part.

Family we ate Christmas Dinner with. 

2 Meses (Week 9)

Hola Familia,

Today marks two months in the mission! Can you believe that I have been out for so long! Well unfortunately I don't have much time to write this letter so it may be short sorry!

The temple trip was AMAZING! The Buenos Aires temple is beautiful in person! It was so nice to feel the peace of the temple. It is amazing how much you can feel the spirit on the temple grounds let alone going inside! We did an endowment session. Here is the catch...it was all in SPANISH. They didn't have translator things for us. It was still amazing. What a blessing it was.

On the 31 de diciembre we had lunch with the Lo Giudice family. And then that night we went back and had a mini dinner fiesta! They taught us how to make empanadas! I love empanadas! It was so fun to learn how to make them. Then we had this fancy pinapple and apple cider stuff in fancy glasses!

Love ya I will write more next week! Stay awesome!

Con much amor,
Hermana Burr