(December
letters from Danie to family)
_
Did you know that I have the best family ever :) Thanks
for writing to me every week and encouraging me to keep going :) The mission
definitely has it´s ups and downs but that just makes me want to keep going
because I am experiencing the mission in it´s entirety. Okay I have no idea if
that is a word haha :D so concerning skype, I have no idea what is going to happen
but it is quite possible that I will not be able to use the camera
mechanism. It was a rule from the last mission president and our current
mission president hasn't said a thing. We will still be able to talk though and
that is the most important. There is an elder here who chose to extend his
mission one more transfer and I think he is missing his third Christmas with
his family. I definitely could not do that. Christmas here is pretty
unique. They don´t celebrate like we do but It´s kind of cool :) I am currently
planning with the other sister missionary who is training with me in Catamarca,
to do a little something special for our companions :) Even though I have
to make the Christmas spirit here I am more than happy to do it :) It is
kind of super weird to think about what is happening at home right now. Ward
parties and everything, I just don´t quite believe it. A lot of times I
feel like I am in a dream and one day I will wake up in my bed in Utah again
not being able to remember my mission. It really is so dream like.
I wanted to send something to you all for Christmas but the mail is currently
on strike right now (it has been going on for two or so weeks) so I can´t send
a thing. The keyboard also just went crazy so I can´t make faces
anymore.
I do
have some exciting news though! We have four people with baptism dates and the
ward is really starting to befriend our investigators. They are also
starting to attend church more and we are seeing lots of miracles. Even
one of the people we simply invited off the street came to church yesterday :)
so cool!!!!!!! One of our investigators name is Mario. He is so, so,
great! He arrived at the chapel on his own will, meaning we didn’t have
to go look for him and he is looking forward to coming to church next week
too. It makes me so happy to see people changing their lives. Right now
he is trying to quit smoking and he is really coming along.
We
are also teaching a Baptist person. it is kind of a miracle because
everyone here is Catholic. Oh we also met a Muslim person the other
day. This weekend was the festival of the virgin of Catamarca. it
is interesting that all these people come here for something
"religious" but
they bring their drinks and smokes and get all dressed super immodestly...for the
virgin? Really? I don’t think they do it for her anymore. It is
kind of sad, but one thing they will do, is remember her when the missionaries
try to talk to them. They had a big parade and people walked all the way from
other provinces in order to see it. The blisters on their feet were
crazy!!!!!
I
don’t know what I am going to do when they make me change companions...she is
so perfect. We have our differences, almost every day, but the
communication we have is just about perfect. We work things out quickly
so that we can just keep working. The other day she asked me what she
was going to do when she found herself with a companion that didn’t help her be
obedient because I am also helping her remember what we need to do while she is
wanting to do other things. I told her that she would be okay because the
spirit would take my place and she will be able to be that person for her kids
someday as long as she listens to the spirit now :)
The
bug bites aren’t so bad now so don’t worry so much about that :) I have
to go for now, but tell the elders hi for me okay? and make sure they have a Christmas
tree in their apartment :) I LOVE YOU
Love
always, me :¡
_
It seriously makes me so happy to
hear from you guys every week :) Thanks for taking the time to do
it. I don´t know how some missionaries make it through the mission
without the support of their families. So first of all...I loved the quote you
shared :) and also, I received my package!!!!!!! :) Thank you thank you
thank you!!!! My companion says Muchas Gracias as well :) When she
saw that there was something for her she opened it up immediately and
threatened to open my things for me if I didn't open them myself haha. She has
already eaten all of the goodies haha , and is trying to figure out what to do
with the sock now haha. I ended up opening my presents early because the
other sisters in my apartment just recently told their parents about the poorly
functioning mail system here and I didn't want to be the only one with gifts on
Christmas. I shared goodies with them and we even found a little
Christmas tree to put in our apartment :) They were so excited about the
calendar with chocolate haha, and they fight over who gets to eat the chocolate
every night hahahaha. I am saving my chocolate cereal for Christmas :) (You
pretty much made my day by sending that haha, and I read my little quote book
constantly. It is almost a regular nightly routine here to dance like our
little solar powered elf as well hahaha. Needless to say we are enjoying every
little bit of Christmas we can get :) THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK
YOU!!!!! :) I have the best mom, everyone in the apartment agrees.
I told the other sisters I was sure you would have sent them something too if
you had known I was living with another companionship but that you sent the
package months ago so there was no way you could have done anything. We
shared everything all the same anyway :) Thanks for the stickers
too!!! We can never get enough of those here.
I love your selfy haha ,and the picture of Grandma and grandpa
as well. Tell them thank you for me :) I will do my best to send a
little something in an email to them. I wish I could send letters but
even if I had time to write them I wouldn't be able to send them with the way
the mail system works here. I can´t believe what I am hearing about
someone being too rich to go to jail...this world is going down hill
fast... We hear a lot of sad things here in Argentina as well, just today
the garbage men decided to go on strike like the police, the medics, and the
mailmen have been doing...they left loads of garbage in front of our apartment
this morning. How kind of them
right? I don´t know much about the president here but all of the people
working for the government here are not very happy with their salary. I
am not sure if it is valid or simply greed.
I received emails from the Henries and Grandma Andrus this week
:) Tell them thank you so much! Also Peter just recently informed
me that he finishes in a week and a half. That is super weird. You will
have to ask Spencer if he knows a kid with the last name Martin. He is
really tall and has bright blond hair and really light blue eyes. He went
to Alta while Spencer was there and lives about five minutes away from us. We
have two Draperites, Draperans? serving here in Catamarca, pretty cool :)
Tomorrow we have a mission Christmas party. Christmas parties
always do fall on my birthday haha. I feel pretty lucky to be able to celebrate
with everyone in the mission together. I don´t think I will tell them it is my
birthday but I will take advantage of a fun day. Supposedly we are going
to have a water balloon fight. I know, weird right? Normally this
time of year I would be doing things with snowballs not water balloons. That
just tells you how warm the weather is here. I am still dreaming of a white
Christmas here...but with lots of people dressed in white instead. Our
investigators are putting up a good fight but in the end I know we are going to
make it :)
The other day we had a lesson with a less active lady,who was basically
condemning all the bad people in the world saying that hookers and sinners don´t
belong in the church. Who is the church for then? Well after about
ten minutes of trying to help her see how mistaken she was the conversation was
going nowhere. We tried to talk with love and everything saying, don´t
worry about them, don´t let people like that make your decisions for you
etc. Then finally I shared a scripture on Charity and told her that I
loved her as my sister and I really hoped to see her in church. The whole
atmosphere changed. I actually really felt that love for her even though
it was my first time meeting her. She didn't end up coming to church but
I think we left her with a really good spiritual experience. Maybe she
will come next week. I am doing my best to work with investigators but God
seems to always put me in the path of all the less active people so I work a
lot more with them. I like it though. They are all just as important and
they all need to come closer to Christ :) Well I still have to write Dad
so I gotta go, but I love you so much!!!! Happy Christmas!!!! I´ll
let you know about calling on Christmas, next Monday, I think president is
going to inform us about everything tomorrow :) Talk to you soon!!!! Love always, Danie
--We had a great Skype chat with Danie for
Christmas. Her companion is a “kind of
famous” singer from Spain, and they were asked to perform some musical numbers
together over the holidays. Danie sang
one of them for us when she called and clever Spencer used his phone to video
it for us. It was so beautiful and we
couldn’t have asked for more. Also, Danie said that on the long bus ride with all the missionaries, on the way to the Christmas party she fell asleep. When she woke up she said everyone on the bus was standing up looking at her. She didn't know what was going on until they all started singing happy birthday to her. I guess they knew it was her birthday even if she didn't tell them. It made her day. Our extended family Christmas parties have always landed on her b-day in the past, leaving less time to celebrate her, so she found it humorous that the mission Christmas party was on her day also. As the Mom, I am grateful to know they found a way to celebrate her.
(Letters from our Danie, after Christmas)
Thanks for your email. It was fun to hear about how
Christmas went for you guys this year. It was a pretty crazy day for us, but I
enjoyed it a lot. I know this sounds terrible, but I am kind of grateful that
it is over, because it was a huge distraction for me. We are still
struggling to baptize here in Catamarca and I want to give it my all before we
go. At least we are gaining more of the members´ trust. I had to give a
fifteen-minute talk on the book of Mormon on Sunday, and while I was grateful
for the opportunity because it meant that the bishop trusted us, I was kind of
panicking. It was really good for me to do it though because I learned a
lot.
I loved hearing about your fun primary incident. It´s funny, I
kind of had one too. There is a little girl here named Sofi, I think she has
seven or eight years. I don´t know. She is super sweet and wicked smart. Well the other day we were playing
sports with some members and investigators and she was playing with
everyone. I was feeling kind of down because I couldn't play very well,
my self esteem was pretty low because of my appearance as well, but all of a
sudden she just started talking to me and I had myself a new little friend
:) It made my day. It is so interesting that right now, when I was just
beginning to have some real success elevating my thoughts and only thinking about
the mission in every moment, (I was trying before but it wasn't as much of a
goal as it is now) I can tell that Satan is trying to throw whatever he can at
me. I am doing my best to not let him win though, and I can feel the help
of our Savior in each and every moment. Speaking of new year resolutions,
it made me feel good to read what you said and see that my goal was in line
with my missionary life. I made a goal to use the atonement more
fully. Each and every prayer I say I am trying to reflect on the mistakes
I have made so I can confess them to the Lord and improve. I can already
feel it working. I know it isn´t January first but I just felt like it would be
the best way to improve in consecrating every moment for the Lord.
It is cool that Spencer was able to record the song. I´ll
have to do a better job of it when I get home. I really am losing some
talent here but I will have time to develop it more later.
I can´t believe Grandpa Greg changed the rules to white elephant. I
am glad you all had a good time, especially everyone wanting to make sure
that everyone else got something special. It is kind of the opposite of
what I see happening here. Everyone is trying to keep everything for
themselves. Hopefully I can work with
the spirit well enough to be able to help them see that they can actually be
happier in giving than in keeping. It all depends on the spirit though. I
am doing my best to qualify for it every day and I notice a difference
from week to week, but it is definitely humbling to realize how many weaknesses
I have and how much I really don´t deserve it at all.
I am glad to hear the house is going so well. I am excited to see
more pictures in the future. Also if you get the chance I would love a picture
of the plaque on the tree and a picture of our house that you guys are living
in right now. I will do my best to send a picture or two your way next
week. The sister that puts pictures on facebook is out of town.
Sorry, but don´t worry I didn't forget. :) Anyway, for now I've got to
go, but I love you so much! I am so glad we got the chance to talk for Christmas because I am motivated all over again to keep working and help my brothers
and sisters here have what I have there :) I love you mom!!! Until next
week :)
Love
always,Me :)
_
Hey mom :) I really loved your email :)
Thanks for reminding me to realize the things I do well. I
took some time to focus on that today and it helped me realized that with the
help of God I have accomplished a lot. I wrote to dad about that but I
failed to mention that I really owe it all to our Savior. He has helped
me change so much :) It is pretty crazy to think that I am coming up on a
year. I have started just saying to everyone I have about a year in the
mission, because I am just going to keep saying that until I finish haha. That
way they won´t be able to remind me when I get closer to that time to come
home...I can´t afford the distraction.
I have to tell you about a sweet family I recently met. We
are teaching Maxi, an 18 year old boy and his dad Walter, along with two
sisters, Karen and Augustina. They have gone through a lot of trials as
of late and it was so neat to listen to them tell their story and feel so
powerfully the love that God has for them running through me. They told
us they opened the door because they felt they could confide in us and saw sincerity
in us. The dad talked about us being some type of friend, and I told him
it was more. That he is my brother and I felt the power of the words as
they left my mouth. We are family. I really feel like these people
are part of my family. I want to help them all. I want to help
sweet Maxi, who is just a year older than Spencer and lost his grandparents
(they passed away) and even worse his mom (abandoned her family for another man
after being married for 18 years) and then had a horrific accident that
almost killed him. I want to help him know why God made it so that he
could live even after the doctors didn't think he would make it. I hope his
sisters can feel the value they have in God´s eyes, and I want their dad to
feel added help from God to raise this family without a spouse. He is
such a good dad to them and Maxi cracks me up because he is covered in tattoos
and scars but is the sweetest little guy ever. I knew I had people here
that needed me to make the decision to serve a mission. I will have to
tell you more in the weeks to come. I am already running out of time.
I love you so much mom :) I love you more and more every
day that I am away. Don´t you worry all the hugs I sent in cards and
letters are headed your way in real form and even more :) I hope that
made sense. I´ll talk to you soon!!!
Love
always,
Me :)
