Monday, July 18, 2016

Argentina is AMAZING!

Oh my goodness, where do I even start? I´m in Argentina!! I arrived last Tuesday, spent the night in a hotel and then met my companion on Wednesday!  My companion´s name is Hermana Melo, she is from Brazil.  She has served for 15 months, so this is her last transfer and I am her last companion!  She is 24, and she was converted when she was 21.  She is so awesome, but it has been so hard because she doesn´t speak any English.

My area is Jujuy, and wowie, wowie!  I am being so humbled right now.  The people here live in houses made out of cinder block, and they usually don´t even have doors, just a sheet hanging in the entry way.  I´m grateful for my apartment, even though it is definitely different from my home in Utah, it is much more than what the people have here.  The first couple days, I didn´t have hot water, so I showered in freezing cold water.  So humble right now. 

But anyway, we are the first Hermanas in our area, and I guess we have to ¨whitewash¨? the area.  We arrived and we knew nothing about our area, and we didn´t have any investigators.  The past week we have been focusing on getting to know the members in the area and asking for referrals from them.  We tried to reach out to the bishop of our area, but he was recently excommunicated.. But the members are amazing!  So kind and so welcoming.  It has definitely been hard because I don´t understand a lot, and most of the time I just sit there trying to figure out what people are saying in the conversation.  But I´m trying to not get discouraged, but it is so hard!

I actually really like the food here!  I haven´t had anything with mayo yet... an answer to my prayers.  But our first lunch with a family in the ward.. oh my.  They fed us so much food, and I had to finish everything on my plate because it is offensive to not finish everything.  I thought I was going to throw up, I had to hold back tears as I tried to finish my food.  Now I know why people get fat on my mission, we have to eat so much.

So during this past week, we have four new investigators with a baptismal date. How amazing, right?!  It is amazing to see that people are looking for a source of peace and hope in this life.  It´s even more amazing that we are able to show them how to get that! Yesterday we taught a Sister that has been inactive for several years, when we showed up at her house, she burst into tears.  She later explained that she had needed someone to come remind her about the happiness and comfort that comes from the gospel and through Jesus Christ.  It was such a powerful moment because I felt like the Lord placed us here to help her, ahhh it was so amazing.
So it is actually very cold here, and one night as we were walking through the rain trying to find the homes of some less active members, I found myself thinking, ¨What in the world am I doing here?¨  I was freezing and we had been walking around, basically lost, for almost three hours.  But then that night, we found one of our investigators who is now preparing for baptism.  This is why I am here!  It is such a privilege to here and to be able to invite others to come unto Christ. 
Thank you all for the love and prayers!  I am so so so grateful to be so blessed.

Con amor,
Hermana Norman

PS.. Sorry to all who I couldn't personally respond to this week.  I had very little computer time. Hopefully next week...till then....
This is my Mom's cousin's (Kuulei Polvado Jacubczak) son's, best friend, Elder Christiansen. Did y'all get that? 
So it's like having a big brother here in my new district watching over me! How cool is that? The gospel truly is a small world!

No comments:

Post a Comment