Mother’s day is coming up! So start preparing your questions if you have any... we have 40 minutes to talk but I don’t know for sure at what time we are going to call! I just got the letter from Kate last week!!!!! oh thats soooo excititng for her and her little hubby! I wrote her back so she should be getting one in a couple of weeks!

Its been a tad bit chilly this week! We have this little electric heater that we put right next to our bunk bed to keep us warm! I’m thinking that I’m going to get my sleeping bag out soon. I didn’t believe that it was going to get that cold but I guess my blood was all nice and thin from the humid summer.

So this week went by fast with divisions from the other sisters in the mission! I went to Hurlingham with Hermana Urdapilleta who is from here in Misiones! She`s been here for about 4 weeks now. She lost her little map during the night together but luckily had an extra with her, she is awesome. Then the day after I was with Hermana Abbot who has about 11 months in the mission. She`s from Illinois! We have some fun sisters here in the mission from all parts of the world. It is such an adventure to be united in the same thing! You can learn so much from each and every one of them.

We kind of had a rough weekend with our investigator that was going to be baptized Sunday. He ended up not getting baptized cause he needs to be able to partake the sacrament but the problem is that he works in the morning. We are going to see what we can do. He wants to be baptized but his boss won’t let him have time off to come! Things are looking on the bright side with the ward. We`ve been able to work more with members that just moved into the ward. The lord always provides us the way to achieve what he wants done.

Tomorrow we have our interviews with the president. I’m sad to leave my city and ward and Hermana Lopez! But that is life in the mission always changing and every moment counts. There is no time to waist. It’s the same as life. We must always cherish what we have and look ahead to the future. Never live in “I should have done this” or “I could have done that.” Just do your best and move forward. I love you all and its always exciting to hear from you! Have a great week and remember to stand in holy places! Good luck Sam with the temple! Love Saren

Hola

I´m glad to hear that nothing has changed from home with mom and her chocolate to famiy dedication with the baseball! But yet I can feel in your letters how everyone is growing!

This week I would have to say was one of the funnest with Hermana Lopez, she is a blast.. and we work work WORK til we drop.. and she did this week! The other night we were walking on our way to the bus stop and before I know it I look over and Hna Lopez is on the ground with her leg behind her back and her skirt up! ahahha. She had slipped on a plastic bag and fell right on her back! I was scared she had broken something but no she was all good. On Wednesday it poured all day so I felt all snug in my big rain jacket! Then we had lunch with this member who gave us soup first.. she got up to search for something, while we were eating I looked up right in time to see Hermana Lopez flick something in the bowl of the members! ahhaha and I turned to her and asked if she had meant to do it and she said yes... so we both started laughing and the member was like what happened... and we made up something on the spot! .. then come to find out it was a little bone that she had flicked in her soup and the reason was cause at first she was going to give it to me or drop it on the ground but then she thought she could be sneaky and flick it into the other bowl but right after she had done it she realized the son-in-law was behind us watching the whole time!

We are starting week 4 now in the our transfer here! It is crazy how time flies by so fast. There’s so much to learn as well... I don’t feel like a year and a half is enough.. maybe i could ask for an extention! We had a crazy Sunday with helping our investigators come to church. We had this cute family come who are way into their church but the mom said afterwards that she going to start coming to ours for right now cause its closer and cheaper (and better for her). During our lesson the other day the three little boys were singing all their songs from their church. We have another family that we are working with as well that is a very humble family. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with them and they loved it! Know that I love you all and keep on being the great examples you are! You never know who is watching or listening. Always be ready for when our savior needs us to help others! have a great week!!!

A Great Week!

It’s so crazy to think of all that is happening while I’m here! There´s a lot that goes on!! We saw some miracles that our heavenly father blessed us with... especially having lessons with members which is sometimes hard. Sam should go on divisions with the elders in our ward or stake! We also have a baptism that is coming up this weekend a 25 year old guy that has been coming to church on his own. I know the baptisms do not determine the success. We see a lot of opposition everyday here, but hna lopez and I were talking about this last night how without difficulties we would never experience joy. It’s kind of the same if we didn’t have the hardships or the times when people would not listen then we wouldn’t know how unique and satisfying it is to see these people progess and follow the lords path!

This past Sunday wasn’t as stressful as the others have been. For some reason the pews in the chapel were taken away so right now we are using those metal fold up chairs, kind of ghetto looking but its all good! We have our zone conference tomorrow as well! Time truly does flow by fast!
Right now we are working with this lady called Yolanda. She´s this old tall grandma that always has something stressful going on in her life, but the last couple of times we´ve gone to teach her we´ve seen a big difference with her attitude about her difficulties and things that come up. It’s amazing to see such a difference, where she was at first with her negative attitude to now with feeling like she can face anything! She can hardly read cause she has bad eye sight, but we gave her this little calendar to read a page a day or one column in the book of mormon and she´s been faithful at it!

We also had this lady that we found recently that is from Peru! She is about in her early 50s and has a 5 year old girl. Her husband died a couple years ago and she´s living with her brother here. She is so sweet and seems like she was just ready to receive us! Our Heavenly Father truly does love us and wants the best for each one. Hna Lopez has been awesome as well! I’m sooo happy we have this other transfer together! haha she is truly an amazing missionary! I’m honored to be her companion and have our fun moments together! It is funny when we are walking down the street and a dog starts barking right by us or something happens that is startling, I will jump and gasp, then she will do the same from my reaction! Haha

Well I love you all and it sounded like you had a fun week! I’m excited for mom to go to Boston! Mrs. Hobbs on her history trip! haha. Have a good week and choose the right!

Conference was Wonderful!!

The Castelar Zone in the baptismal font, proud of their efforts!
Juan, Miriam & Ramona baptized on March 28th.
Antonio the former boxer is getting baptized next.
Saren outside on their apt balcony
Ice cream buffet
The ring salesman they met while in Moron
Not-so delicious hamburger patties, 5 minutes in a storm and soaked to the bone!

Okay so I just sent like a bunch of pictures hopefully they all worked! Oh I just got a letter from Sarah, thanks for sending it for me! Maybe I’ll just do that cause I don’t know how the mail works here for Puerto Rico. Yes they all keep in contact with me! Kara just sent me a picture of her cute little boy and the salon girls sent me a couple of letters together but I lost them on my way back home.... I almost started crying cause letters are like GOLD!!! I truly felt horrible... but that same day is when I did hair for like 5 hours so I was reminiscing from those good ol days in the salon trying to figure out what to do with my hair and cutting everyone elses... haha I love those girls like no other!

This weekend was CRAAZY! With running everywhere to get our investigators in the chapel... but we did have some good ones and some interesting ones. We made all the sessions but I didn’t get to hear all of them in English. Conf. was held in our stake church and it was great! This really is the best I’ve heard. The spirit was so strong in the room just hearing the exact words and messages a missionary needs! Oh it is crazy to think where I was this last year! I am in a total opposite pathway than I thought I would be... I’m so happy that I am here with the people that I am with teaching and working the lord’s work! I would never change it for anything. It is pure joy that nothing or no one else can bring or at least that I’ve experienced!

This week we taught a lady that let us in one day when it was raining and this visit she was feeding us crackers with butter and jam and then she left for a bit and returned with this bottle of perfume... she gave it to Hermana Lopez and told her to try some and then was like more more put more on! Then she handed it to me... and I put a little on and the lady called chicha was like NO you need to try MORE! The next thing I know she grabs it out of my hand and starts smothering me with this perfume that stinks like those old perfumes that makes mom sick! hahahha. She was going to town with that bottle! in my hair, all over my face, getting up in my grill! ahha and then she starts rubbing it all of hna Lopez´s back! hahaha we were laughing like no other with this little old plump lady! We were thinking maybe we stunk and that was her way of telling us we needed a little help!

I’m excited to get your letters. It was freezing this morning! I didn’t realize how cold it was going to get here! ... but I’m good I have a sweater and my comfy socks! I love you all and thanks for sending me letters! I always love hearing from you! Oh and yes I did know the sister that was from my mish that Pres. Monson talked about! She was here til Christmas so I got to meet her before she left home! She was an awesome sister and we were all so proud that the prophet had mentioned her in his talk and our mission! I know he is our prophet today and that he speaks directly from god to us. How great the love is of our father in heaven. I love you all and be good this week!

_

A Fast Week!

Hello!!!
Another week just as fast as the other one! We just ended this transfer with 3 baptisms! One was the little old guy and the other was these two ladies that we were teaching back with Hermana Roy!
We fasted this week just to end it off to achieve our goals and to have miracles. That next day is when we invited the mother and daughter to baptism this Sunday. Before we did they were even talking about how the elders before us had been pressuring them and they didn’t like that at all! Then probably five minutes later we asked them to be baptized on Sunday! hahaha. Just the perfect moment! The spirit was really strong and we could feel that they were ready. The mother was Evangelist and the daughter Catholic! It was a very special Sunday! The president came and everything!

That day as well we were looking for this little lady that Hermana Lopez and another Hermana found when we were on divisions. We went down this street thinking it was where she lived and stopped to ask these guys that were sitting out sipping their mate. One of them got up and was talking with us and we introduced who we were and made an appointment for later on in the week.... well later that night we were on the bus coming home and one of the guys that had been there on the bus with us came and sat behind us and was talking with us for a little bit. Then once we were getting closer to the stop he started to ask us a little more about the church and he was talking about his children. He said he had one in particular that was born premature and couldn’t walk really well. The father had taken him to all these other churches for help to see if they could do something but none of the things they did worked. Then he asked us if we had something or someone that could it was a perfect window to tell him about the priesthood and the power of it! Later on once we got his information he was telling us that the elders had always passed by his house and he never thought much of it... always having some excuse. He said today when we were there talking to his friend at his friend’s house he felt something different! ahhhh! He lives out of our area but we are definitely going to look around for those elders that are over there!

Here are some pictures from the baptism and Hermana Lopez and I are together another transfer woo hoo!!!!! I’m so happy here! I love that scripture in 2 nephi 11:4-7! This is such pure joy to see these people make these decisions that are going to change their lives for now and eternity and everyone else’s around them! I love the rippling affect the gospel brings. Ilove you all and have a wonderful week! TE AMO!!!!

More this week!

Sorry i didn’t write too much to you all last week. We had a little Hermanas conference/party in moron.
But this week started off rainy and ended rainy, the middle of the day was nice and sunny. Today was freezing in the morning. So I would say its starting to feel more towards the fall then the spring.. ahha we will have a cold easter! I used my raincoat yesterday so it was perfect. We were anxious to get in our warm beds last night. This week we had a couple of days of divisions with the Hermanas in our zone! Hermana Hulen was with me in Castelar. she made homemade popcorn for us on the first night. It made me think of dad and our movie nights with popcorn and mom making the orange julius... I need to search to see if they have the frozen juice to make that here! This morning I attempted to make chocolate pancakes with nesquik! haha they weren’t too bad! I’ve come to love making pancakes.

This week was pretty good with our investigators! We are working with this cute little old man named Juan. I’m sure Hermana Lopez has written a lot about him. She and Hna di Stefano found him when we were in divisions awhile ago. He laughs a lot... its like teaching a little kid. We are simple with our lessons, but you can always tell when the spirit is strong cause he gets a little teary eyed. Especially when we sing, pray, or his daughter bears her testimony.

We are also working with this mother and daughter who are great! The mom is like in her 70s and the daughter is in her 50s. They came to stake conference yesterday. Which was great as well! I I love the people here and the language.. its beautiful! haha. They gave some great talks and the choir sang. Our president came and gave a talk with his wife... he announced that they were moving their location to here in Castelar!! Afterwards he gave us a ride cause it was pouring outside and showed us their new house.
He also said that he thinks Hermana Lopez and I are going to be together one more traslado! We have three new sisters coming in and hopefully a mini one cause we have 4 sisters that are leaving. The mini is when the local young kids from like 18 to 25 can come serve for 1 traslado. It’s a good idea cause then they get an idea of what the mission is like!

I love being here not only in my area but just in Agentina and experiencing everything... its been a big eye opener to get to know others and to push all my fears out and truly trust in the lord! I pray I can do all of that I’m able to do for Him. Cause He has done so much for us! Just like in doctrine and covenants 14:7! The greatest gifts of god is eternal life! Happiness does not come from making short cuts and skipping something... no. it’s from fulfilling what we promised our Heavenly Father when we all accepted The Plan before this life on earth! This life is to reach true and pure happiness. Our heavenly father doesn’t set us up to be failing but to reach the highest.
well i love you all and have a great week!

TOO SHORT!

This did not make Saren's mother very happy to get such a short e-mail. The photos are borrowed from Hermana Lopez' site. Thanks to Bro. Zimmerman!


sHola familia! Sorry but I dont have time to write you that much! This week was great and we had a lot of divisions with two other companionships. During one of their times Hermana Lopez and Hermana di Stefano found this little old man that was ready to be baptized! It was exciting! So now we have 5 people that we are focusing on! 2 are these cute old men... one of them is an old famous boxer! But love you all and have a great week! the president says hi and thats he is proud of you mom for getting your masters! LES AMO!!!