“Hope is trust in God’s promises,

...faith that if we act now, the desired blessings will be fulfilled in the future. …"
Elder Neal A Mawell

Bueno. Its definitely true. This is the Lord's work and everything will be done His way and in His time. A veces its super hard being patient and trusting in the timing of the Lord, but this week my patience was definitely tested. We spent Monday and Tuesday working and absolutely NO ONE received us. People continued to slam doors in our faces, lie to us but MORE than usual. Tuesday night when I got to apartment, I was so frustrated. I just wanted so badly to teach someone, and I started doubting myself and my abilities as a missionary. I thought maybe I just wasn't good enough to do this work.
Then a scripture came to mind that my Gpa Ho Ching shared with me in D&C 35: 12-14.

12 And there are none that doeth good except those who are ready to receive the fulness of my gospel, which I have sent forth unto this generation.

13 Wherefore, I call upon the weak things of the world, those who are unlearned and despised, to thresh the nations by the power of my Spirit;

14 And their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their shield and their buckler; and I will gird up their loins, and they shall fight manfully for me; and their enemies shall be under their feet; and I will let fall the sword in their behalf, and by the fire of mine indignation will I preserve them.
I remember that I have been called and set apart to preach the Gospel and I should never doubt myself or the Lord's promises.
Then I read a talk by Elder Uchtdorf titled, "Grateful in any Circumstances". That was another answer to my prayer.
I learned that my attitude is so important. Even on the rough days, I can still be grateful. Grateful tht I am giving many people the opportunity of receiving the Gospel even if they choose to reject. I love the quote by Elder Uchtdorf that says, "How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God there is rain?" Don't wait to be grateful!! Choose to be grateful everyday! ♡♡

After this day we saw many miracles. Not necessarily because the people were more receptive, but because my attitude changed. Every day can be a successful day if we choose to make it one!

But some small miracles that we had this week:
-we found a secret super humble part of our area. The people's houses are very humble and it is sad to see the conditions that they are living in. They don't have stoves/ovens. They cook over an actual fire but we were able to teach many families in this part of our area.
-Mateo and his family have started having family night every week
-Father's Day, I only cried once! I miss and love my Dad a lot, but it was amazing to spend a Father's Day with families here in Argentina
-Following small spiritual "nudges" helped us find many people to teach
-my companion and I both had upset stomachs one day after lunch and the fact that we survived with only one bathroom is a miracle
-Monday night I told my compa that I had only seen a couple really beautiful sunsets in Argentina, Every night since then, there has been a gorgeous sunset. God is good.
-In Family Home Evening, after the lesson, the woman who gave the lesson says, "Beueno. Now to close. Hermana Norman will sing a song for us.. (My face----:O) Then they all say that after the opening hymn they wanted a solo. Yeah, I told my companera to sing with me, and so we sang a duet 😄
-I tripped in the street. Only 2 people saw, so that's good.
-We talk with A LOT of people every day and it's honestly very hard for me to remember names, but if I'm not sure, I always go with "Jose", "Juan", or "Maria". 46% of the time, I get it right!
-Like I said in my last blog post, my Spanish isn't as good as I think. But if I don;t know a word, I mumble the word in English but with a good Spanish accent and the people almost always understand me. I don't know if it's the gift of tongues, but hey, I'll take it!

This was my week. The mission is the best. I love my companion, I love Argentina and I love this Gospel!

Have a great week!

Con Amor,
Hermana Norman

PS Nelida is still in the hospital, please pray for her.

beautiful sunset

Some of the member kids in a "tree house"

Party Breakers

This is when we have to make it fun...when people tell us they will be right out, but its been 5 minutes and music is blasting. Guess we have to crash the party!!

My compa and I are so awkward it hurts! We went jogging like this...