After being a little busy and not getting to Danie's blog, I kind of forgot how.  So now here are several letters to catch you up on her and her mission.  I will try to get them in order, but I am sure it will not be perfect.

From Danie to Mom:

Yet again I find myself short of time, but I want to write you a little something because you are the best mom in the whole world.    I know I can always depend on a letter from you each week :)  Things are crazy in the mission, hard, but most of all worth it.  The comforting thing about all the experiences I am having is that I still want to be a missionary.  I don´t want to go home until my time is up.  :)  I realized that, after reading about the story grandpa shared with you about the two sister missionaries that wanted to go home.  Things are still hard but they are getting better.  I am going to keep working because both me and my companion feel like we have one more transfer together after this one, if not more.  Our new mission president is so different.  He is awesome though!!!!  So perfect for this mission right now!  With the lady I found in the chapel I have to share a little something.  Her two youngest children are getting  baptized this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  They rest of the family will follow eventually but they have to take care of a few things first, but oh my goodness what a miracle :)  THese sorts of things are the things that make it worth being a missionary.  I have to go for now, but I love you!  Good luck with your primary class this week :) Talk to you soon!

Love always, me :)

From Danie to her Dad:

You beet me to it haha :D  Your email says practically everything I learned this week :) Its funny, sometimes at night I write a pretend email to you in my head, more or less to clear my head. By the end of the week I have changed my letter so much, it´s hard to believe.  It is neat though, because I can measure my progress depending on the things I want to say :)  Call me crazy, but it´s true :)  This week I have grown to understand the atonement so much!  We were walking in the street one day and I was beyond frustrated because we still didn´t have the unity that I had been working for for so long.  My companion, who was much like the companion you mentioned, was really pounding me to the ground.  I kept thinking, what would Jesus do what would Jesus do.  Would He let this happen, how would he react, then I realized that people treated Him far worse than my companion could ever treat me, and He still not only cared about them, but loved them with all of His heart and laid down His life for them. My eyes began to water instantly when I thought of this. I was filled with such gratitude for His sacrifice and in this moment, I came to understand it better.  I also started doing some other things this week, for example, I took advantage of the opportunity to answer the phone every chance I got, and when people asked me questions I made a point to consult with my companion before I agreed to anything.  Our companionship still isn´t perfect, but now my companion is listening.  For once I did something right! :) I was also reading in the scriptures today and I came across Jacob 4:12.  Look it up and pay attention to the words "why not?"  It is amazing how reading in a different language can bring new clarity to the scriptures.  I am definitely learning how to be more happy without having to depend on my situation :)  It is such a blessing because It allows me to give more to my investigators.  The lady that I found in the chapel a few weeks ago was able to see her children be baptized yesterday.  It was the sweetest little miracle :)  She along with her son bore testimony afterward as well :)  I cannot even describe the experience to you, but their testimonies were beautiful and the spirit was so strong :)  These are the moments one lives for on the mission, and I imagine afterward as well :)  Thanks for all of your help and advice and for cheering me on always :)  I don´t have as much time to write today so I think I will leave it at that, but I will write again soon :) It is possible next week that I won´t have the opportunity to write because we have transfers, but I will be sure to catch you up on everything in the week that follows :)  I love you dad <3

Love always, 

Your trying to grow up, little girl :)

From Danie to her brother:

     The keyboard I am using doesn´t have an option for exclamations at the moment so I am terribly sorry if this letter sounds a little dull.  I am writing to you and only you this week so you will have to fill mom and dad in on the details of my week.  So we had transfers yesterday, that is why I am writing on a tuesday.  I got a new companion, and oh my goodness she is perfect :D  So happy :D  Some interesting updates, I am pretty sure we are the only mission that is shrinking write now in the world.  It is near impossible to obtain a visa to enter Argentina and every transfer we have missionaries going home, but we aren´t receiving any newbies.  Kind of sad.  Also, I went to the bathroom the other day in a lady´s house and you will never guess what was in the bathroom.... A LAWN MOWER... who would have thought haha :D  also for your info. there are bikers here like dad haha :D  they are not as common but every now and then I see some one with his biker gear riding along and it makes me think of my fam :D  I was able to escape having to eat cow intestine this last week, but something kind of funny... I have officially had the mission experience because I had to boil my own water to bath without freezing to death haha :D  that was definitely something.  Right now temperatures are rising, and boy are they rising fast.  I might die haha :D nah, it´s me we are talking about, I love the heat.  I have another transfer in my area with a new companion and well, we only have two days together at this point, but I already love her :D something else interesting, so normally we travel by bus, double decker bus, to get around argentina.  Well yesterday all of the buses in Cordoba decided to go on strike.  I happened to be in the city three hours away from my area when this happened.  We were traveling to the city to change companions when all of a sudden someone shouted at all of us to get off the bus. they just left us in the street.  It was crazy.  Well then we were stuck in the city all day during p-day so I couldn't write to you guys and we didn't get back until super late in the evening.  Guess what, the strike is still going too.  Oh man this letter is boring without exclamations, sorry.  We have investigators in another city right now that we can´t get to and it is pretty much crazy because one of them is planning on being baptized this weekend and we need to communicate with her and teach her, but we can't.  Yikes.  Despite all of this, my spirits are high, I am super happy and super excited to work.  Things were hard with my last companion as I am sure you know.  In our last week together it was super hard.  I decided to try standing up for myself again because I wanted to be obedient.  Well to make a long story short, she said some terrible things, called leaders and her missionary friends to tell them what I had done, and then hid the cell phone from me so I couldn't call anyone.  It was hard, but it was kind of neat that the spirit helped me feel happy even in the miserable moment.  I was trying to do what was right, and in the eyes of God I was okay and I was able to be happy with that even though everyone else was thinking something completely different.  The Lord really knows the trials we need to have in our lives.  I think I have found a new sense of self confidence, but for reals.  I thought I had found it before, but it had to be tested for me to really know,  and now I really know :D  I love that your favorite song this week is I am a child of God.  It is my favorite this week too, because now it has a whole new meaning to me to be a daughter of God.  Don´t ever forget that God is your loving Father in Heaven okay :D  He knows us so perfectly.  I have a video for you to look up. Our mission president showed it to us the other day.  It is called la expiacion y la obra missional.  ´Don´t worry, only the subtitles are in spanish.  You might even be able to find it in english as the atonement and missionary work.  It is really good :D  That is all I have for now.  Except, I have some questions...Who did you ask to homecoming and when is the dance :D also how is seminary going, did you finish the book of mormon already :D  How is the dog :D and why didn't you like the candy i sent :D did the rest of the family like it :D  Sorry I can´t use question marks either with this keyboard.  Anyway, I have to go for now, but I love you so so much :D Send my love to mom and dad too :D  I´ll write to you guys next week :D 

Love always,

Your Spanish Speaking sis :D

From Danie to her Dad:

Sorry I haven´t written in so long.  I have had to start rotating who I write because p days are always crazy here.  One day I will have a peaceful p day again, but who knows when haha :D  Things are good in the mission.  They are still not easy, but I am definitely a lot happier :)  I am working with three other, very trunky, missionaries haha :D  it is a different sort of difficult, but I am giving it my all.  One thing very important that I have realized though, is that it is so incredibly important that I find someone to marry that has the same standard of obedience as I do because when both members of the team are not working toward the same thing it is super hard!!!  I love my companion though.  She is super sweet, also from chile, but she is from the south and the culture is completely different in her part of the country.  She is super loving and happy and just awesome! :)  It is interesting that you talk about change because I have been thinking about that a lot lately.  I feel super bipolar in the mission and I am realizing more and more everyday that it is because I am constantly changing and change is painful haha :D  It is an amazing experience, but it is super hard!!!!  I love it though :)  One other thing I have learned about myself, I don´t know if I was always this way but at this point in my life I have realized how important it is to me to be obedient.  I really love being obedient.  To gain my trust one only has to be obedient and support me in my efforts to do so. :)  Haha :D who would have thought.  I am still in the same area as before.  I imagine I will have a lot of time in this area before I leave, and quite frankly, I am perfectly okay with that :)  I love it here.  The love I have for the people here is so strong I can´t even think about leaving them.  I am so grateful that the last two transfers of my mission were so hard, because it makes the sweet moments that much sweeter, for example, the other day we were on our bikes and we passed by a member's house and all the kids outside started calling out to us.  They were so excited to see the missionaries.  To have a reception like that was so perfect, so sweet.  I can´t even describe it.  For now I have to go because we have to catch a bus.  Sorry to cut this short but I can´t concentrate with all of the missionaries in the zone watching me :) Know that I love you.

To Mom :)

Oh boy, where do I even start? haha :D  It is crazy to hear all that is going on.  Thanks for filling me in on all the political stuff, the wedding, and the family, everything :)  Tell Spencer I know I can´t spell...but it´s because I am tiping so fast I don´t have much time to make corrections and the two languages confuse my brain a little bit.... :)

     Something kind of funny.  So practically all the streets here are of dirt and rock, so in the summer they have to water the streets to minimize the dust haha :D  It kind of made me giggle a little bit :)  What more can I say...right now my mission is blissful.  It´s not perfect, but honestly at the same time it is perfect because I´m happy and helping others to be happy too :)  It is an interesting balance, because it is all about being selfless, but at the same time we can´t give what we don´t have...When I have the exact answer to solve this perfectly I´ll let you know :)  Okay, I have no idea what I am writing, feeling a little scatter brained today.  So this last week has been paradisiacal.  We have been teaching, laughing, crying (tears of joy and love) and just living the mission life. My companion had a very similar situation to mine in her last area and I think the two of us are just super happy to have things a little easier in the moment.   :)  Sunday was so beautiful, because all of the primary kids wanted to sit by us haha :D  I have never felt so loved.  I am so happy I chose to study something that will allow me to be with children all the time :)  I have discovered that nine year olds are my favorite :)  I don't know what it is about this age, but I just love working with nine year olds :)  My companion is working on learning English this transfer and she prayed in english with our district last night.  We all pray together over the phone every night :)  It´s neat :)  Currently I am trying to help my district learn english because I am the only gringa in the district, and our mission president has put a lot of emphasis in learning english as of late.  Oh, little side note, so we had a conference the other day en cordoba capital and we learned a little analogy about seeds and how one seed from an apple has the potential to become a tree with much fruit.  Our investigators are the same :) super great analogy, what happened after, not so great. So there is an Elder in my zone, we are friends (basically he likes to talk to me so he can practice his english) Well, at the conference he pulled me aside, handed me a little elephant charm and told me it was his seed.  I told him thank you, I am sure with a very confused look on my face, then I proceeded to talk with other missionaries.  A few minutes later my brain connected the dots.  Advice to all future elders, DON´T FLURT WITH, BUY GIFTS, OR PERSUE IN ANY MANNER THE SISTER MISSIONARIES!!!  :D  That´s about all, I am sorry I can´t write more, but my time is short.  I love you so much!  Send the family my love :)  Also it is a good possibility that I won´t be able to write next week just to warn you.  However, we will be in touch. 

until next time :)  Love, your misionera :)

From Danie to  her Mom: 

Thank you so so much for writing :)  

its funny that the letters you think are boring are always some of the most interesting to me :)  I love hearing about what goes on over there in the USA haha :D the normal everyday life of the people I love :)  THanks for sending the recipe :) the ovens here don't have numbers to tell the temperature so I think I will just have to experiment with the time haha :D I was happy to receive the email from brother Henrie. I will try to write back if I have the time :)  Something super different here.  General conference starts at one in the afternoon and ends at night.  Super weird. haha :D Spencer didn't tell me about the emergency room thing...what happened?! Things are going pretty well for me :)  I am over all happy :)  I love the mission so much!  It teaches me all sorts of things everyday.  One thing I am figuring out is it is kind of like practicing raising kids!  I think I have sort of talked about this already, but really what an opportunity.  All the people I am teaching are like my children.  Our teaching pool is kind of small right now because we are focusing a lot on less active people, but we are getting along alright.  THe poor bishop here is worried out of his mind for the ward.  This last week we had about 50 of the 200 members at church.  It was super cold outside so that explains part of it, but still the numbers are shrinking.  Along with our mission haha :D okay really it is not funny but it is definitely strange.  It is so hard to get people from the states into the country right now.....I am focusing more on remembering to stop and smell the flowers now, especially since summer is on its way. So far there are not too many bugs yet, but I have a feeling I am in for a very unpleasant treat very soon yikes! haha :D  My companion is a lot like me two transfers ago.  It is interesting to see what I have learned in the last two transfers.  Now it is my turn to help her have more self confidence since I just spent the last two transfers learning that for my self.  It is amazing that really when one has to teach something they really understand it that much better :)  Sorry this email is super boring same old same old but typically that means things are going well haha :D The elders that work with us in this area are a lot happier right now as well and they are actually starting to laugh and smile.  I think they were pretty stressed out with all the goings on in last transfer.  They told me a lot of the things they were struggling with concerning  my companion in and interview and basically told me I had to fix it. Well I didn't really exactly understand how stressed out they were until now.  Before, I just thought they were naturally serious and boring haha :D turns out that is not the case haha :D That is about all I can think of.  I hope everything is going well over there.  I cant believe Ammon is married now. Weird.  Did you know Em Hales leaves this wednesday on her mission?  It is crazy to see all they changes happening right now.  Seven months into the mission already.  wow!  Anyway, I hope you have a really great week!  If you get bored haha :D there is another book by Brad Wilcox that came out while I have been in the mission. You should check it out for me, read it and tell me if it is any good.  Also If you want to look something up on the internet look up mormon messages :) they are the best!  I love you mom :)  Until next week,

Love, me :)

Hey Mom :)

I love the pictures you sent :) including the one in your last email :)  Spencer looks so old!!  How did that happen?!  Something you might find interesting...they basically eat dessert for breakfast everyday here haha :D I am trying super hard to be healthy but you kind of just have to eat what there is in the misión because we don`t have a lot of money to buy the healthy stuff and the members don`t exactly always cook healthy food either....I am a lot rounder than when I left St. George. Also, something else kind of funny. Today I am writing to you in the neighborhood hangout of Leones (a city near the city where I am serving)  While I am typing my companion is playing pool with other missionaries and there are video games everywhere haha :D  It is kind of like a nicklecade Argentina style haha :D  The life of a missionary is so interesting sometimes.  Conference was fantastic! exclamation :)  It has never gone by so fast for me in my life.  I feel like it just started but it is already over.  We anticipated conference weekend for a long time and it has already come and gone.  Also, I wasn't even sleepy during a single talk.  That is the first time that has every happened to me.  It was really neat to invite people to come and listen to the current prophet of the world.  I am pretty sure they all thought we were crazy, but it was still super fun to invite them and declare that the prophet would be speaking haha :D  A man walked up to us the other day and started talking to us about our religion.  He made some comment about the second coming and then some remark about Joseph Smith.  Well we happened to be with one of my favorite members this day.  Her name is Meli and she has 17 years.  Well immediately after this man insulted Joseph Smith she said "you don`t know anything about the church... how dare you go around talking about the church like that when you have no idea what you are talking about. Where do you think our church started?"  He answered "En los Estados Unidos no?" "Wrong" the look on his face was priceless haha :D She then said "that`s right, if you want to talk about my religion get your facts straight first, then we can talk"  She put him in his place good hahaha :D  Mind you he had 50 or 60 years and this Little 17 year old said it all.  THis is exactly why we need members to participate with us though...they add a Little extra to every lesson that as missionaries we just can´t have alone.  I can´t believe what happened to Spencer's Head!  That is super crazy!  Speaking of crazy, the spiders are starting to come out of their hiding places here in argentina...OH MY GOSH!  They are huge!  And I am not even serving in the part of Argentina where they are the largest, and they are all Little baby spiders right now too...I am going to die!!!  Our stake president thinks it is hilarious that I have such a problem with them.  I was at his house the other day for lunch and there was an enormous spider on his Wall.  Well I kind of freaked out a Little haha :D  and he found it very amusing.  I am pretty sure he is plotting something as we speak to scare me with some sort of icky creepy thing.  Hopefully I will be able to overcome this fear of mine haha :D  So far I have managed to avoid any serious bug bites though so that is good. :)  Things are going well in the misión. :)  I am sort of learning how to cook and my companion and I are doing our best to make the best of the goings on here.  One miracle to share before I finish.  We are still teaching the family that I found a few months ago.  They are doing awesome and one by one they are being baptized.  Well the big news this week starts off like this.  The oldest brother has not really ever wanted anything to do with the church.  He is very quick to leave the house when we come to visit but we invited him to sit in on one of the lessons recently, and he agreed.  Well, we taught about faith, used what I call faith paper, (you can light it on fire and put it in someones hand and just before the fire reaches their hand the paper begins to float)  Well after we explained the importance of the trial of your faith we challenged everyone in the family to present something to their father in Heaven then show their faith and await the answer.  Well he has been trying to find a job and made a deal with God that he would go to church if God would bless him with work.  He is still waiting a job, but is becoming more and more converted everyday!  He has come to church two weeks in a row and is even helping his Little brother to progress in the gospel as well!  I was feeling pretty discouraged before because we haven´t been able to bring anyone to the waters of baptism for the past two months but it was kind of like an Abinidi moment for my companion and I :)  The gospel is full of miracles :)  I love being a missionary!  Sorry if my story didn't make sense.  I am not always very good at explaining things through written words haha :D  I hope all is going well over in the USA.  Tell Spencer people here in argentina are hoping he will accept their friend requests on my Facebook page. :)  I love you so much mom :)  Thank you for all that you do :) 

Love always,

Danie

p.s.  So I have decided that I love how much I am realizing how much my family means to me here in the misión.  I love you all more and more every day that I am away :)  Thanks for being the most perfect family in the world :)