Argentina #46 (October 29th)

Hello Everyone!

Another transfer has come and gone - I can´t believe it! But I am still here is Limay! Yay!!! 6 transfers is a long time in one place, but I love Limay with all of my heart! I had a dream the other night that President called me and told me I had to leave Limay and I yelled at him and cried and refused to leave. Then I woke up crying, and realized that it was a dream!  And I was so happy! P.S. I would never really yell at President Lovell! haha

Today it is not raining! And so we went downtown and went shopping for souveniers (I do not remember how to spell at all!) and then we bought Milanesa Sandwiches and ate in a plaza and then we were thirsty and I realized that Argentina doesn´t have drinking fountains! Hna. Santiago said that they don´t exist in Mexico either. I am so spoiled!

Tuesday was Hna. Santiago´s 22nd birthday. I made her a cake and we used my left over princess plates and table cloth. So cute!

So now in my zone are the 2 latino Elders who arrived with me to the Mission. They are both so suprised at how I speak Spanish pretty well. I started thinking about how I have changed since I first got here. There are a lot of changes (spiritual, physical, etc), but one change is that now I absolutely love Argentina and the people. At first I put up with their weird ways, then I liked their weirdness, then I embraced it, and now I am one of them! haha I hadn´t realized it until Hna. Santiago came from Mexico and I remembered that I was once a North American like her! haha (seriously she is so gringa). Funny how that happens in the mission.

So this letter was pretty fluffy. sorry about that! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #45

Hello!

So it has just been raining like crazy lately! The Neuquinos say that it never rains here! Last monday and Tuesday most of the roads were closed and we saw a few people traveling in kayaks to get around Neuquén. It was awesome! It was hard for us to get to our appointments because we were walking in about a foot of water, and my pobrecita mexican companion doesn´t have boots and stuff for this kind of weather and was cold and wet and not enjoying life too much,

Miracle of the week: We were going about our day, when I thought of a woman named Bruni that we should go visit. Bruni is the daughter of Juanita, an ancient lady who was baptized a year and a half ago and is the sweetest woman ever! Bruni often eats lunch with us in her moms house, but she doesn´t want to talk to us about religion. She already heard all of the lessons two times, and so we have only been her friends. Everytime we have tried to go to her house, she always says that she´s busy and can´t listen to us right now. But the other day, I thought of her, and she lived nearby so we went to her house. She actually let us in! That had never happened before. Then, we started to read a scripture about the Jesus and she suddenly started bawling! She told us how she felt stuck and couldn´t find a way out of her problems, and how we had arrived right when she had needed us. She said that this time God was telling her that she needed to listen to us. So now we are teaching her.  It is pretty awesome.

This Gospel is true! It changes lives! It definitely  is changing my life everyday. I am so grateful to be a missionary!

Love you all!

Bretleigh

Argentina #44

Hello! How are you all doing?! I am just happy as can be!

So right now we have three couples working on their papers to get married. It takes about four to eight weeks to do the papers and get married. It´s a little frustrating, but it´s a blessing that they all want to get married so that they can get baptized! We have seen lots of miracles! I just hope that I am here for their baptisms!

I never end up with much time to write you guys. My letters to President have started to get a little lengthy haha so I have less time to write you all. Sorry. But I do have a funny and a little awkward story to tell you.

Last week I had to go do the papers to renew my visa. There were a bunch of police man and government officials in the building everwhere. I was sitting with the policeman who was doing my papers. There was another policeman in the room, and Elder Arenas, our mission secretary. Here is the converstion that happened.
Policeman: Did you go to school before your mission?
Me: Yes. For two years.
P: What were you studying?
Me: Music.
Elder Arenas: Yeah! She sings so well! I sat next to her the other day in a meeting and heard her sing! It´s so incredible!
Both of the Policemen: Sing something!
Me:....uh...no....
P: Yes!
Elder: Sing Hermana!
P: Please!
this went for five minutes finally I said ok. Elder Arenas left the room, and I started to sing ¨I never knew his name¨ from Civil War

When I finished, the whole building started clapping and cheering. What had happened is that when Elder Arenas left the room, he went to all of the offices and told them that I would be singing. They were all listening behind the door. There were like fifty people listening! I was so embarrassed. And Elder Arenas and has told everyone what happened and so everyone asks makes fun of me- missionaries, members, policeman....yep.

ok I have to go.

Love you all!

Hermana sandorf

Argentina #43

Hello! How are you all doing?! This week was AMAZING for me!!!!

So first of all, yes I am sure that everyone is freaking out about the age change with the missionaries! All of the hermanas were a little ticked at first because now we are going to be old. And the Elders instantly started calling us old ladies and saying a bunch of stuff to bug us. But we got over it quickly.And I am so thrilled for all of these girls who have this opportunity! Missions are the best thing ever!

So conference was amazing! I listened to the whole thing in Spanish, and I felt way proud of myself. But I would like to read it English (our stake president didn´t want an English room. He must be jealous that we can hear the prophet´s real voice haha jk). So mom, the second that they release the ensign, send it to me quickly! PLEASE!!!!!!

We had a lot of great investigators in the conference! And Friday night, our whole district was in downtown Neuquén inviting all of the people to conference! It was so fun! We a table and signs and we asked people in the streets if they had questions that they would like to ask God, and then we told them that they could recieve the answer in the conference. It was way cool!

I am so grateful that we have a prophet on earth. It is something that so few people know. I am so grateful that God speaks to us, His children, through His servants, or else I would have no clue what to do with my life. We are so blessed!

I love you all! I hope you are doing well!

love, Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #42

Hello everyone!


So this week so much has happened! I am so exhausted. We are going to sleep for our pday because we are emotionally drained (but with happiness!).

Marcelo and Aluminé were baptized this weekend! FINALLY!!!!! It was all a huge miracle and I don´t really know what we did differently but the Spirit definitely guided us. We talked with them Tuesday, and put the date for Saturday and they really were baptized! And Hna. Santiago was so happy to have her first baptism! It made me even happier!

ok, other huge miracle. I don´t remember what I have already told you...

In May, when I was with Hna. Cruz, a woman stopped us in the street and told us she wanted to be baptized. Her whole family had been baptized when she was 3, but by the time she turned 8 they had become inactive. Ever since then she has wanted to be baptized in the church but she didn´t know how to do it.Her name is Karina.  Her boyfriend, Francisco, was baptized when he was 10 but his family stopped going shortly after. They decided that they would look for missionaries.

So when Karina stopped us in the street, we were really excited! But she lived in the area of the Elders. The elders went a couple of times and then stopped!

So last transfer, when they took the Elders out of Limay, I immediately thought of her. We tried to find her but she was never home. My last week with Hna. Ibañez we found her. And when she saw us and we told her that we would be teaching her, she started to cry. She said that months ago when she had seen us in the street, she saw my face and she knew that I was the person who had come to teach her the gospel (and the funny part is that they day before she told me that, I told my companion that I didn´t know why I was put in this mission specifically, or why I have to be in Limay such a long time. Now I know!), and so she was confused when the Elders came. That was three weeks ago, and ever since then she has been the perfect investigator. She comes to church, reads the Book of Mormon, lives the word of wisdom etc. Her boyfriend too. But the other day when we taught them the Law of Chastity (they live together) they told us that they would NOT get married. We invited them to pray and ask God if He wants them to get married. Last night they told us that they were walking down the street, and someone from another church handed them a paper with wedding rings and a scripture from the bible about marriage on it. They took it as their answer! But it takes time to get married here in argentina so it might be a while, but they are getting married!

I Love being a missionary! And I am so grateful for this opportunity! There are miracles everywhere!

Have a great week!

Love,

Bretleigh

Argentina #41 (September 24th)

Hello Everyone! Como Están? Oh my gosh I did not just write that is Spanish on purpose! I seriously cannot speak English anymore. Saturday we invited Hna. Ehmke (from the matrimony missionary couple) to come work with us because she´s getting a little down being in the office all the time. She´s so energetic and loves people and so it is a pleasure to work with her. She was so excited, but I kept having to translate for her and I couldn´t do it! haha I can write English, but speaking it is so hard.

Kimmy got baptized?! I am so so so happy! Wow there are so many blessings in our family right now, even though we have had hardships too! Slowly all of our family is returning, and we´re bringing new people to the gospel too! I love it!

I am sure you are all wondering about who I am training... my hijita is Hna. Santiago from Mexico City. She is really short, is fun to be around, and has so much energy! It´s great because being here in Limay so long could potencially make me slow down (that happens a lot when someone is in an area a long time) but she´s is so excited to be here that I am so excited too! I went to the mission Home on wednesday and we had lunch and then the trainers had a meeting with President. He told me that he is aware that I am going to be in Limay 9 months, but that that is where I need to be. Then we found out who we were going to train and we did some practices and getting to know you games, had dinner, and then a testimony meeting. Then we loaded up all of Hna. Santiago´s stuff in the Assistant´s car and they drove five minutes to our pension. haha way different than how I got to my first area! haha

Juan Carlos passed the sacrament in church yesterday for the first time and he was so happy! And I was too! It´s fun to be in an area a long time because you get to see your converts progress.

my first day in Limay, we taught Familia Gramajo. And we taught them everything, but they would not go to church. We taught them an taught them in every was we could think of, be they never went to church. So once Hna. Cruz left, I dropped them. We went back this week with Hna. Santiago and yesterday they went to church! And they loved it! Huge miracle!

We have a lot of other miracle stories this week, but as always I have run out of time! I love you all and hope you are doing well!

Love,

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #40

So hi everyone! I don´t have much time and it is sad because we had a ton of miracles!!!! We have found some truly amazing people this week! I am in awe of all of the blessings Heavenly Father has given me this week! Missions are the greatest!

So, today is transfers, and this time I am training for real! They promised me that my refuerzo is coming this time! And so I am about to start my 5th transfer in Limay. That is a lot of time in one area! But if I have to be in an Area a long time, Limay is the place! I love love love limay!

Ok, that is really all I have time for this week. Sorry!

Love,

Hermana Sandorf

Neuquen Zone-August 16th

Argentina #39

Hello Everyone! How are all doing?!

Caleb and Kira, congratulations on your baptism!!!! I am so happy for you both! Remember when I played the piano for John´s baptism? Disaster! haha

So this week was AWESOME!!!!!

Saturday was the Cutural Event of the Church in Argentina to celebrate the Temple Dedication.
We went to the Stake center to see the Celebration through Satellite. It was broadcast from Buenos Aires. Elder Ballard, Elder Cristofferson, and President Eyring came for the dedication. Elder Cristofferson served in Argentina, and his spanish is super Argentino! It was great! The youth danced a bunch of traditional dances of Argentina and the they had Missionaries and returned missionaries come out onto the stadium to sing ¨Called to Serve¨ with the Youth and the Primary kids. I LOVED it!!!! And everyone needs to youtube the dance ¨Malambo¨ from Argentina because it is the coolest thing I have ever seen!

Yesterday was the Temple dedication. Of all the dedications I have been to (and there have been quite a few), this was by far my favorite. I don´t know if it´s because now I´ve gone through the temple, or what, but I was just so happy! I think it´s also because it´s an entire country that has been looking forward to this day for four years. I have seen the sacrifices that the members here have made to go to the temple, and how much they value the temple. They realize what a huge blessing it is in their lives. So it just gave the dedication a special feeling.

I am just so grateful for the temple. Now that I haven´t been able to go in such a long time, I realize even more how important it is. And it keeps me living the Gospel so that I never have to experience not being able to enter the temple. It´s about the worst thing I can think of. All of my life I have lived 10  minutes away from the temple. It´s a huge blessing!!!! Take advantage of it!!!

haha, ok, my preachyness is over. Transfers are next week, so we will see what happens! The members here in Limay joke that I should just by the apartment  and ask for visiting teachers  because I will be here forever haha.

I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Argentina #38

Today is Labor Day?! I had no idea!

I have no time to write.

I am still with my mini Hna. Ibañez. She´s awesome!

We had a HUGE conference with Elder Zeballos! Four zones! (which never happens here because we are all so spread out!) I sang with 5 other Hermanas. We sang the Olive Tree in Spanish. It sounded AMAZING!!! Best musical number I have done in the mission! And they conference was incredible! I learned so much!

This Saturday is the celebration of the Buenos Aires Temple, and Sunday is the re Dedication. I am so excited! And so happy because Leo, Julieta, and Juan Carlos are going to be in the rededication too! (through sattellite, we won´t be in Buenos Aires haha) It´s almost like all being in the temple together! haha

I am so grateful for temples and the blessings they provide. I am so happy for the people here that they will have a temple again after 4 years! huge blessing!

Love you all! Take care!

Hna. Sandorf

Argentina #37 (August 27th)

Hi everyone!

Thank you for all of the emails! I had the greatest birthday weekend!

Mom, I got the package on Friday! LOVE IT!!!! Thank you so much!

Saturday Juan Carlos was baptized! It all worked out perfectly! I was so happy! And more importantly, Juan Carlos was happy! We found him on July 17th. He was taking a walk with his two children, and we contacted him and he said we could visit his family. And when we went to his house two days later, he listened so well and so did his kids, and they went to church that sunday and they fell in love with the church, the members, and everything! Juan Carlos loves to read the Book of Mormon! He reads it every night. His wife abandoned him and his kids two years ago, and learning about the atonement has really helped him feel better. His kids are too young to get baptized, but I they love church too! I am just so happy for them!

On my birthday after church we ate with the Hurtado family. We ate milanesa and a bunch of salads and they made a cake and gave me a present! They are so great!

Today is the birthday of Hermana Cedro, the ward choir director. The Cedros are my family here, and they invited us to eat asado with them in a couple hours to celebrate our birthdays together! So I am bringing the princess table cloth and plates and the tiaras that came in my package! And I made a cake, but not the oatmeal cake (I am not sharing that because it is my favorite! haha) to take!

Pretty much it has been the greatest week ever!

This thursday Elder Zeballos (I think that is how it´s spelled...?) from the Area Presidency is coming for a Special Conference. I am excited!

Since our area is now bigger, we started exploring the new area last week and we have found some great people! I love limay! It is the greatest area ever!

I hope everyone has a great week! Love you all!

Argentina #36

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing?! I am doing great! First of all, I am back in Limay. I only had to be in Cipolletti for 2 days. I am with another mini, Hna. Ibañez, from Comodoro Rivadavia. She is great!

This week we had our first Zone Conference with President Lovell. It was awesome! He has made a lot of changes in the mission, but they are great changes and I know that it will help us to be better missionaries!

So Juan Carlos was not baptized last week. But don´t worry, he is getting baptized this week! It really was a huge miracle! He was looking for a place to live and last Friday night he still hadn´t found a place and so we had to cancel the baptism because we hadn´t been able to teach him because he was looking for a place to live. But, Saturday night, he found a place! But he didn´t tell us. The next morning when we got to church, he was already there, and told us that he found a place and was going to be able to stay! Yay! He said that he knew that God blessed him because his desire to stay in Limay was a righteous desire. He is so great!

I love being a missionary! It is the best thing ever! I hope you all have a great week! I know that I will!

Love you all!

Bretleigh

Argentina #35

So missionary life is just full of twists and turns. Last night we found out that I will not be training because my companion can´t enter the country. But the mini that I had last week (Hna. Aleman from Caleta Olivia, Santa Cruz) had to go home because she starts her classes today. So, right now I am in Cipolletti (a city in the province Rio Negro) waiting until they can find me another mini missionary. It´s kinda a bad week to be gone because we are going to have a baptism this Saturday! And we still have a couple things we need to teach. Well, I don´t know if we still are going to have a baptism because our investigator, Juan Carlos, was rejected from his brother´s house Saturday night because he´s going to be a Mormon. He still came to church the next day though!  But, if he can´t find another place to live in this neighborhood he is going to had to live in another city with his dad. NOOOOOO!!!!!! It totally stinks but all the members of our ward are trying to help him. I´m trying to have faith.

Yep, ok that is about it this week! I love you all and hope that you enjoy the last little bit of your summer vacations!

Also, my birthday is in 13 days. So, if you haven´t sent me a letter during my mission this far, it would now be the perfect opportunity! Thanks!

Ok, love you all!

Hna. Sandorf

Argentina #34

Hello!

So this transfer ended well. Hna. Di Stéfano and I didn´t end up having any baptisms but we have found so many people and have quite a few baptismal dates for this transfer so I am pretty excited.

Today I went to the Mission Home to say goodbye to Hna. Arcos. I just love her so much! And guess what?! We recieved permission to call Familia Funes. They screamed and cried and were so happy to hear our voices! And they suprised us with the news that they are getting married this Friday and baptized the following Saturday! And then it was our turn to cry and scream. They are seriously our favorite family ever, and we worked so hard to teach them the Gospel. They thanked us a bunch and told us that they were sorry that they didn´t get married earlier, and that their dream is that we can go to the temple with them in a year. So, mom and dad, start saving up because we are going to be returning to Argentina! Or at least I will be! Saying goodbye to Hna Arcos was so sad, we both cried a ton. She is the only companion that I´ve cried with when I had to say goodbye. There is just a special bond between trainers and their refuerzos (I have no idea what the word is in English in this moment). Which leads me to my next announcement....

I am going to be training! When I found out, I was absolutely terrified! Hna. Arcos was so excited when I told her, and was telling everyone in the mission home, ¨I´m going to be a Grandma!¨ haha. And we talked for a long time about the responsibilities and a bunch of stuff and so now I feel a lot better.

Because of visa problems, my refuerzo won´t get here until August 14, and so I will be with another mini missionary for a week. And, they removed the Elders from the Limay Ward, and so now it is just me and my companion with an area twice as big. It´s gonna be a challenging tranfer, but I think that we are going to see a lot of miracles and I am really excited!

I love you all and hope that you all have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #33

Hello Everyone!

So this week was really awesome! We worked really hard and put a lot of baptismal dates and we had a ton of investigators in sacrament meeting yesterday! It was so awesome!  Here is the part that is even more awesome: Two weeks ago my Hna. Di Stéfano and I were walking to go to our interviews with President Lovell. We were in a huge hurry, but there was a man sitting on the side of the road smoking and we decided to talk with him. We talked with him a little, gave him a paphlet of the restoration, and told him the direction of the church. Afterwards, we realized that we hadn´t asked his name or his address and we felt so dumb because we always ask those two questions! But then we had interviews and really forgot all about him.

So yesterday, we were greeting everyone in the entrance of the church, and this man came in! At first we didn´t remember who he was, but then we realized who it was and we were so excited! He stayed the whole 3 hours and asked some really great questions and afterward he asked if we could teach him. And obviously, we said yes! It was just the boost we needed this day because we didn´t end up having Alumine and Marcelo´s baptism the day before. So we ended the week happy.

This is the last week of this transfer, and what did the office start to do yesterday in church? ¨Hermana Sandorf, I know transfers and you don´t and won´t know for a whole week...¨ blah blah blah. They do it because they know that I will react, but I can´t help it! Ugh! It´s like waiting to know the results of an audition, and I get so nervous every time! Even though it´s more than obvious that I will stay in Limay because my companion is a mini, I still get nervous!

It is so cold here in Neuquén! I am so glad that I am here because it is the warmest part of the mission....and I have to sleep with a hat and socks and long sleeves (which I can´t stand and have never done before in my life). And everyone says August is the coldest month, so we will see how that goes!

I love you all and hope you that you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #32

Hello dearest Family,

This week has been very interesting. We found an awesome family! The dream of every missionary. They are not married, but we can change that! They are so great! We have also found a couple of other great people! And although Satan is working hard to keep Aluminé and Marcelo from getting baptized this Saturday, I have faith that everything will work out great.

On the down side, yesterday I was throwing up and felt totally miserable. At about 10:00 pm, I was lying next to the toilet hating my life, and President Lovell called me to tell me that Papa had passed away. I was so tired and out of it, all I could say was "....oh....". And then I went back to sleep. Then a couple of hours later I returned to the bathroom to throw up, and I just felt so alone and upset. Being sick when you are thousands of miles away from your family is one of the worst feelings ever. So I was kneeling there barfing and feeling so distraught, and then all of the sudden, I felt a hand pat my back, and a huge feeling of peace (probably the strongest feeling of peace I have ever felt) came over me. And in that moment I knew that my Papa was with me, because no one else pats people´s backs like he does. And I felt happy.

 And I still feel happy. I know that he is totally having a blast seeing his parents and is jogging and exercising and I am just so happy for him! And I am glad that I didn´t have to see him suffer, so I can just remember him as the energetic man I said goodbye to in September.

I know that families are Eternal, and I am so glad that I have the opportunity to share this knowledge that makes me so happy and gives me peace. In the mission, so many people that we talk to ask us what happens to people when they die, or if we exist after this life. And I am always filled with joy to be able to give them the answer!

I love you all so much! You are in my prayers! I know that you are all strong and can handle the difficulties that lie ahead this week with the funeral and everything. We are one tough family! Our little family song came into my head this morning and it gave me a boost! Ya! I am a Sandorf/Wootton! It´s so great! Ok, I am done being a cheerleader now....talk to you next week!

Love,

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #31

Hello everyone!
I hope that everyone is doing well!

So this week has been a little crazy! My companion has been sick and we had to go to the hospital and she will be having a little surgery tomorrow. She always says that the point of me having a mini missionary was so that I could keep working in my area  but since she hasn´t been able to work much, she feels bad. But we´ve worked out a system. She stays with Hna Catalan and I´ve been working with a couple returned sister missionaries in the ward so I´ve been able to keep working. One served in Washington D.C. so it is kinda fun to be able to talk about the U.S. and talk in English a little bit.

If everything goes well, Aluminé and Marcelo should be getting baptized July 28th. I´m very excited! And yesterday I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting without having to write down anything! Huge accomplishment! haha

This transfer is kinda the weirdest transfer ever for me, but we´re seeing a lot of miracles even with all of the trials! I love being a missionary!

Have a great week! I love you all and pray for you all of the time!

Hna. Sandorf

Argentina #30

Feliz Dia de Independencia! 

So it is Independence Day here today (if you didn{t understand that really complicated Spanish!)! But because it is winter here, they don{t have fireworks or anything. There was a little parade today, and everyone is with their families eating asado and drinking mate.

So they are going to re-dedicate the Buenos Aires Temple September 9th! It is so exciting! And so today, the church filmed the youth of the Stakes in Neuquen Province dancing a tradicional dance. It will be shown in Buenos Aires the night before the dedication in a stadium where they are going to have a celebration. We went and watched them film today because it was right by our area! It was cool! Everyone here is so excited about the temple because they haven{t had a temple here for 3 years now. 

We met President and Sister Lovell! They are awesome! I am so excited! And we had a big conference and I go to see a bunch of people I know- a bunch of people from my first district, Elder Kimball, and HERMANA ARCOS! My Mama! Happy little reunion! Everyone was shocked to see that I had learned the language haha. 

My companion was really sick this week and so I went out with the Relief Society President- Hermana Catalan. She is also the owner of our apartment, which behind her house. She is 72, and lives alone and she is hilarious! She LOVES to accompany us in lessons and stuff. And she loves contacting people in the street. But sometimes she is a little too bold..the other day we were talking with a Catholic woman, and Hna. Catalan was bearing her testimony, and she said: I was catholic once too....but now I know that catholics are confused and that their church is of the devil. 

Obviously, the woman freaked out. And I was terrified and also very entertained and wanted to laugh. Super uncomfortable moment! 

We have an investigator named Emiliano who is crazy. Seriously. He is thirty and thinks he was born to be an actor. He has serious ADD too. And, he has a bunch of conspiracy theories and thinks that the prophet is working with the pope and other religious leaders to conquer the world. We laugh a lot after our lessons with him. But he has some legit questions and does all of his homework- reading the book of mormon, praying, and going to church. We will see what happens! 

So yeah it has been an interesting week! I hope that you all have a good week! Love you all!

Bretleigh

Argentina #29

Hello!

So remember last week when I was freaking out about my mini missionary? I shouldn´t have worried about it because my companion is AWESOME!!!! My companion is Hermana Di Stéfano and she is from San Martin de los Andes. And we worked so hard this last week! I am still exhausted, although I think it´s because I am still recovering from my sinus infection. It was terrible! I have never had something like this in my life! I don´t understand why I get so sick here. Actually yeah I do....I shake hands with the entire world here! And I eat food that is made my people who have never heard of food safety. But it´s ok! Part of the experience.The other day my zone leaders sent elders over to give me a blessing because they said they couldn´t stand to hear me talk with my nose plugged up and coughing and everything. And now the last day or two I have felt better. Yay!

So we did not have a baptism last week because Norberto was in the hospital. And now he´s having a bunch of studies and everything done and is really depressed that his health is declining and doesn´t want to be baptized now in this situation. Ugh! What a stinker! haha He is such a stubborn old man!  He comes to church, reads the Book of Mormon, and prays. He passed the baptismal interview. Now we just have to find his doubts or fears and work through them. For some it´s a longer process, I guess.

 We have found more little kids to baptize, Aluminé and Marcelo. Aluminé (she´s 9) is the sister of a less active member. Marcelo (10) is her nephew. They are so great and so excited to be baptized. At the beginning of my mission I was against baptizing children because they can go inactive really easily. But Elder Aidukatis (in our Area Presidency) gave council a few months ago that we need to baptize children also because everyone needs this ordinance, and that someday they will remember and come back to the church. Plus, Leo and Julieta are going strong and coming to church and everything still, so now I feel better about baptizing children. I still don´t search them out, they just seem to show up!

Presidente and Hermana Lovell got here yesterday, and we will meet them Thursday. It´s been crazy! Since we´re right by the office and share the church with the office we have seen all of the behind the scenes chaos! haha but I think now everything is under control.

So that is what is going on right now! I hope you all have great week celebrating the 4th of July! I totally forgot about it until I read mom´s letter! You do not even know how blessed you are to live in the United States! I will be celebrating Independence Day the 9th of July, because that is when Argentina became independent. Hna. Di Stéfano loves history too, and so someone is FINALLY teaching me the history of Argentina!

Love you all!

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #28

Well, this has been a weird week!

So we not have a baptism because our investigator is in the hospital. His name is Norberto, and he is 74 years old. He´s awesome! Hopefully he gets better soon!

I have a severe sinus infection. I started antibiotics today. Everyone last week was asking me why I wasn´t in our apartment resting. I worked normally for several reasons:
1. I´m a missionary, and we always need to work unless it is a really serious illness. I´d feel really guilty. Plus my investigators need me!
2. It was the last week of Hna. Cruz, and I didn´t want her to have low numbers.
3. I couldn´t sleep anyway, even if I wanted to because I can´t breathe through my nose! I haven´t slept in five days and now am pretty much an emotionless zombie. I wasn´t in the best state of mind to comfort and help Hna. Cruz this week with her emotional roller coaster. But we managed somehow.

This morning I went to the mission home to drop off Hna. Cruz. It was so weird. The families of other missionaries were there and it just weirded me out. Do NOT come to Argentina to pick me up, ok? K, thanks.

So what am I doing this transfer? I have been given the wierdest assignment that there could possibly be I think. I am now senior companion, and I will be with a mini missionary. Mini missionaries are usually girls who are like 20 and are working on the mission papers. BUT, my mini missionary is like 28 years old, and she is a returned missionary. And she was married once, but now she´s divorced. So this is gonna be so weird! I have absolutely no idea what to expect. It will be great because she´ll be thrilled to be in the mission again, and want to work hard. But there is also the possibility that she will want to take control of everything. Today one of the A.P.s told me ¨Remember that YOU are the senior companion, and that this is YOUR mission and YOUR area and that YOU are the person set apart to be a missionary.¨ That advice just freaked me out more. I am just this immature little girl who doesn´t know anything about life, and I have no idea how this is gonna go. So wish me luck!

Ok, that´s all for this week! I love you all so much!

Love,

Bretleigh

Argentina #27

Hello Everyone! How are you all doing? I am great! But it´s getting really cold here! And here if it´s cold, no one wants to do anything. The people don´t go to work, the kids don´t go to school, the members don´t all show up to church! All because ¨hace frio¨. And I always want to tell them that that is the stupidest excuse, but obviously, as a missionary, I can´t do that. So I just think it in my head and smile.

We had our last conference with Presidente and Hermana Peterson. We each had a little interview with the two of them, and they said ¨Hermana Sandorf, we are so happy that we live in the same city as you so that we can watch you become a wife and mother and see you apply the things you learned on your mission for the rest of your life¨. So basically my mission president is going to stalk me for the rest of my life to make sure I turn out ok- How is that for pressure? haha just kidding I am way happy that we will always be able to keep in touch so easily!

One of our successes lately has been with an inactive family. We´ve been working with them my whole time in Limay. They started to come to church again 2 months ago and yesterday the son recieved the Melchesidek Priesthood (I can´t remember how to spell it in English). Hna. Cruz said goodbye to them yesterday and it was really sad because we´ve become really close with them!

So many changes are coming! Our New Mission President arrives July 30. Transfers are next week! Again?! My mission is flying by, and I don´t want it to! Also, Argentina is being really stinky with the visas. Very few of the missionaries from other countries have been able to enter. Next week only the missionaries from Argentina will be able to come. It´s especially a problem with the Hermanas because we are losing 10 hermanas and recieving 1. There are similar problems in all the missions in Argentina. A lot of mission presidents are having to close areas because they aren´t as many missionaries anymore. Hopefully the problem ends soon!

We have some big miracles coming! We will be having a baptism this Saturday! I´m pretty excited!

I hope you are all doing well! Love you!

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #26

So this week was great! We saw lots of miracles and were able to find a lot of great people who really have the desire to listen to our message.
This last week was so cold! We had to use every winter clothing item we had. I slept with a hat and socks and everything! And we didn´t have water 2 mornings because it froze in the pipes. And winter doesn´t even start until the 21, so we´ll see what happens! At least I´m in the warmest part of the mission. Today is way better- 41 degrees farenheit. My companion has been miserable with the cold since she´s from Buenos Aires. She is awesome, and the least trunky dying missionary I´ve ever seen, and I am just hoping that all of our hard work pays off and we see a final baptism in the next two week for her sake. We have a lot of baptismal dates and every thing, and I have faith that someone will be baptized.
Today for p-day we took a hike as a district. Basically the entire Patagonia is like the ugly part of Utah and Arizona where the Indian reservations are.

That is all for today! Love you all!

Bretleigh

Argentina #25

First of all, this week we found a ton of absolutely incredible investigators. Seriously. They all really have real questions about their life or religion or whatever, but it´s amazing to me that the Gospel always has the answer to every question.
We were walking in the street the other day, and a boy of 14 stopped and talked with us because he had questions about religion. He has been look for the right church for four years, but has never talked with Mormons before. We explained the Restoration in the street. And the story of Joseph Smith had even more significance in this moment, because this boy is in the exact same situation. He listened and had tears in his eyes. It was amazing. Like really.

I don´t know if I´ve told you, but we teach English Classes during the siesta on Saturday (when no one is willing to listen to us) with the Elders from the office. Since it´s free, and we´re gringos and really know English, people are actually willing to come! We have ten students and we´ve been teaching two months and it´s going great!

We have a lot of investigators who have baptism dates, who are reading the Book of Mormon and praying and going to church, but they all say that they haven´t recieved their answers yet. We talk a lot about the Holy Ghost and we read example in the scriptures, we have had some really unique and very personalized lessons with these people. They are all so stubborn! hahaha But we are being patient, praying a lot, fasting and doing everything we can think of to help them. We are at a point where we just have to trust Heavenly Father. Just like normal life. Heavenly Father has His own timing and knows what is best for us. I have been learning this my whole life, but apparently it hasn´t sunk in yet. Haha.

Ok I have to go! But I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #24

Hello everyone!
So this week was a bit difficult because it is a party week in Argentina. May 25 is the day of their revolution. I am not sure how the story goes exactly, I have asked a ton of people and the story is always different. The thing is is no one here knows much about history. It bugs me because that is exactly what I want to know about Argentina! haha but that is ok!

So on May 25, we worked as usual (all the Argentine missionaries were a bit bugged by that), but for lunch we went to the church for their activity. They sang their national hymn (it´s pretty cool, but nobody knows the words very well here), and then we ate the traditional food: Locro! It pretty much stew/chili. It has every meat, bean, and vegetable possible in it, with cheese and cilantro and it pretty good! Not too flavorful (nothing here has much flavor), but yummy. I enjoyed myself.

It was hard to find new investigators this week because everyone was on vacation and partying. But we found a couple of awesome people!

Also, Leo is the greatest little convert ever! He comes to every activity, and every sacrament meeting. He makes his family pray together and read their scriptures. He is just so great! It makes me way happy.

So I hope everyone at home keeps on being happy even though Papa is sick. We are so blessed to have such a united family! Seriously I feel so blessed!

I love you guys!

Bretleigh

Argentina #23

Dearest Family,
I am sorry to hear of the struggles you´re having back home. Keep your chins up! I´m praying for you all!

This week was great! We found a couple of really awesome investigators! And we saw some huge progression with some of our investigators. Little Miracles everywhere- I love it! Also, Hna. Cruz and I had the opportunity to work with the new Hermanas this week before their trainers came and picked them up. I had to be senior companion for 4 hours, and although this might sound dumb I was super nervous at first! But then I calmed down and it went well and now I don´t have as much fear for the future when I have to do it for real. Hopefully I have a while to wait though!

This work is so important! I am so happy to be here! I hope that you all have a great week !

Love,
Bretleigh

Argentina #22

Hello everyone!

So I loved talking to you all yesterday on the phone! It was awesome! It made me so happy!  I´m glad you are all doing well.

So here is what happened this week:

We had another baptism! Julieta is 9 years old. Her dad is inactive and her mom isn´t a member, but she has been going to church all of her life with her Grandma. She has the strongest testimony, and her parents decided that she is finally old enough to make this big decision. It was so great!

As for transfers: I am staying with Hna. Cruz in Limay another transfer! I am super happy! This whole week the Elders from the office tried to convince me that I was opening an area and training, and finally I actually believed them, and was almost crying because I was scared and it was terrible. But thakfully, that is not the case!

Today I went to the Mission Home to say goodbye to Hna. Sosa. It was so weird. Also Hna. Arcos was there with her companion too, and so I got a photo of me, Hna Cruz, Hna Arcos and Hna Sosa all together! It´s the greatest thing ever!

I am so grateful for all of your support, my dear family and friends. And lately I have been thinking a lot about the Plan of Salvation (is that how it´s spelled in English? I seriously can´t remember! What is happening to me?!), and how I am so grateful to know that we can all continue to be friends and family for the eternities. It is such a huge blessing!

I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Love,

Bretleigh

Argentina #21

Hello!
I really have no time today to write. Did I tell you guys that we sing in the ward choir? It´s actually a decent choir. We bring investigators so that we can go. It´s nice to be able to practice a little. We sing some fairly difficult stuff, or maybe my choirs skills have died- I don´t know.
This weekend is going to be crazy! We are going to have a baptism (yay!), it´s transfers, and I am going to call you guys! I´m pretty excited.
That is all I have time for. Sorry! Love you all!
Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #20

Hello! How is everybody doing today? I have had a great week!

Thank you for the package! I LOVED IT!!! But I think Hna. Cruz was even more excited than me. She has now tried reeses, rolos, macaroni and cheese, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And she loves it all! It´s so weird that before now I never would have gotten so excited about these kinds of things. Do you know what I did today for lunch? I went to McDonalds. My first fast food in my mission. Hna. Cruz has never been, and the Elders in my district wanted to go, so we went! And it was actually really yummy! But now I am disgusted with myself haha. Don´t think I am going back anytime soon!

We had a baptism this weekend! Leo was baptized. He is eleven years old. He has been going to church with his friend for years but the missionaries never tried to teach him. Hna. Cruz and her last companion taught him and his mother one lesson, and then I came to Limay and we kept teaching, and Leo wanted to be baptized. He is the sweetest kid! And he reads his scriptures and prays everyday. Now his step dad is listening to our lessons too, and he wants to be baptized, but they are not married so it´s gonna take awhile. But we are working hard to get the whole family baptized!

Also, we had a recent convert, (the last baptism before I got here), who passed away on Friday. Hna Cruz is really sad, but now we realize even more how important this work really is! Because of Hector´s baptism, he is now in Paradise, in a peaceful state. Wow. I am really so happy to be a missionary! I really just love it.

I love you all!

Hna. Bretleigh Sandorf

Argentina #19

So this week we had Zone Conference, and it was awesome! I learned a lot. And our song went really well. It was the last Zone conference with President Peterson, so that was pretty sad for us. The next day, Hna. Cruz woke up extrememly sick with severe pain, and it was really terrible. I was very concerned, and we couldn´t call Hna Peterson because they left for Uruguay for a conference, and so I talked to the Assitants but they don´t really know anything or where a good clinic is, and so I had to use my own judgment. Oh. Boy. But luckily I have practically every remedy in the world and have watched my mom take care of people all my life, and so I knew what to do! And now she is all better! Yay!

So there is an ice cream shop chain here in Argentina called Grido. And it really is the best thing ever. There wasn´t one in Pico, and so we could only go when we went to Caleta or Comodoro. But now, it´s everywhere! And every p-day, all of the missionaries of our zone meet up at Grido, and we eat the most delicious ice cream ever. And it is super inexpensive too.

So I don´t like to say when we are going to have a baptism because I´m always afraid that I will jinx it. I know- I need more faith. But I am sure that we are going to have a baptism this Saturday! It´s all planned, and as far as I can tell everything will go smoothly. I´ll tell you more about it next week after the baptism.

I can´t believe how fast the time is going. Yesterday I was talking with Elder Presley, the secretary about my first day in Argentina, because he was saying how I didn´t say anything that entire day. I was in shock haha. But so much has changed since then, and I can speak Castellano now! Yeah, I don´t know every word in the world, and sometimes I have to stop and think about how I should congegate a verb, but for the most part I can do everything I need to with the amount I speak. Obviously, I want to learn more and speak like an Argentine, but the worst part is over! haha

Oh, and I figured out exactly where I am! My area is in the southern part of the City Neuquen, to the west of the mission office. Hope that helps!

Love you guys! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #18

Hello everybody!

I am really bad a writing home, huh? That is because even though a ton of stuff happens everyday,  I don´t really know what to say to you guys. But we are seeing lots of miracles! I love the mission because ever time there is a disappointment, there are a bunch of blessings and miracles after.
We found some really great investigators this week, and we have a ton of investigators that are progressing nicely, even though some are progressing super slow, and Hna Cruz realized that she only has 10 weeks left in the mission and now is a little panicked that she won´t be here for some of their baptisms. We´ll see what happens! The nice thing is she was already a hard worker, and now she is working even harder instead of slowing down and being tired and sad, which is what some missionaries do when the end is near.
Mom, yes, I still sing! Haha. I´m singing in a quartet for Zone Conference this wednesday. We´re singing Yo Sé Que Vive mi Señor (Bri gets to translate that for you guys).
I have a little story. So in my ward there is a kid who just returned from his mission like a month or so ago. And this is how our conversation went (obviously, it was in Castellano):
Kid: Where are you from, Hermana Sandorf?
Me: From West Bountiful, Utah.
Kid: Bountiful? I had a companion from Bountiful.....Do you know of any one with the last name Wanlass? Brady?
Me: BRADY?!!!OH MY GOSH!!! YES!!! (that part really was in English)He´s my friend,  his sister is one of my best friends in the whole world, and his family is my other family. I love them so much!

It was a super happy moment for me! haha

I am seriously loving my life, I love being a missionary, and I love helping others learn more about our Savior.

Have a good week!

Bretleigh

Argentina #17

Hello Everybody!!!!
Sorry that I didn´t write last week! It has been crazy!!!! You have no idea! I will try to start at the beginning, but a lot has happened!

Conference was AMAZING!!! It was waaaay too short. Our district spent the weekend in Caleta Olivia for the conference. There was a Gringo room, so I watched conference in English with 3 Elders. It was great! And since we weren´t in the chapel with everyone else we ate a bunch of food and I talked in English for the first time in quite a while. It was super fun! But I LOVED the talks so so so much.

That weekend it was also transfers. We all gathered as a Zone after conference saturday to hear the results: It was time for me to leave Pico Truncado. I was super sad. We left for Pico Truncado after conference on Sunday. I packed up my stuff and said goodbye to Florencia and Familia Funes. Tears were shed, but I kept it together pretty well through it all. In the morning we left on a bus back to Caleta to drop off Hna. Sosa. Then I got on another bus headed to....

NEUQUÉN! In an area called Limay. Yep, I made the 20 hour bus ride back to the City of Neuquén.  But instead of dropping of missionaries, the bus kept getting more and more headed to their new areas. We stopped in Trelew for an hour, and I got to see and talk to Elder Kimball from the MTC! I got to Neuquén on Tuesday. My area is just a few blocks from the Mission Office. I share a ward (Yay, a WARD!!!) with Elders in the Office. I am surrounded by tons of missionaries! And there is so much to do here because it´s a big city. It is the total opposite of Pico Truncado. I LOVE my new area a ton already!

My new companion is Hermana Cruz. She is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is so sweet and a super hard worker! She heads home in June, so I´m pretty sure I have come to ¨kill¨ her. We are working so hard, and in the short time I´ve been a lot of amazing things have already happened. I love it here!

Easter was just a regular Sunday for me, except there were talks about the Atonement. I am so grateful for my Savior! Right now I see His sacrifice work in the lives of so many people, but especially in my life as I try to become better. The more I teach the Atonement, the more in awe I am.

I love you all so much! Have a good week!

Love,
Hna. Sandorf

Hermana Sandorf and Florencia

Argentina #16

Hello, everyone. My heart is a little bit broken today. Remember Maria? She asked US to be baptized during a lesson a few weeks ago. But she lived with her boyfriend and he did NOT want her to be baptized. and so we didn´t know what to do. Until one day we went to a lesson with her 2 weeks ago, and she had separated from her boyfriend because she wanted to be baptized! We were amazed! We never even mentioned separation. She was super excited and so many miracles continued to happen in her life. And this last Thursday she had her baptismal interview and everything was great and she was so happy! Like I have never seen anyone as happy as she was as we told her about the plans for her baptism. But hours before her baptism, he ex called her and apologized for the way he had treated her, and blah blah blah, and said that if she didn´t get baptized he would change and become a better person. And she bought it. She backed out of her baptism. She told us, ¨I know that God prepared a way for me to be baptized, and I know that I am making a bad decision, but I love him, and he´s going to change.¨ Oh my gosh you all know how much I can´t stand those words, ¨But I love him¨. It is the dumbest excuse ever! If I ever even think about giving up my life dreams for a man somebody please slap me!!! Because it is the stupidest thing ever! Ugh!

Ok, this email sounds like I am mad. Actually I´m not. I´m just sad and dissapointed. Not with God, because He did everything in His power for Maria. And not with me, because I know we also did everything in our power. I´m just sad that someone that I love very much knowingly made a bad choice, and now she will have to suffer the consequences. But oh well. Agency is what we fought for before we came here, right?

Other than that, I am happy! And I am super excited for General Conference! It´s in Caleta, so I will be with my whole Zone this Weekend. And this weekend is also transfers, but we won´t be in our areas to be able to pack and say goodbye to people, so I don´t know how this is going to all work out. It´s going to be crazy!

It´s starting to get really cold here is Pico Truncado! It still messes with my mind that we are in opposite seasons!

I love you all! And I hope that you LOVE General Conference! Have a great week!

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #15

HELLO EVERYONE!!!

I am sorry, but I don´t have much to say again. There are some big miracles in the process of happening, but I don´t like to count the chickens before they are hatched, and so I will just suprise you all soon with an awesome story!

We had interviews with President Peterson this week in Caleta Olivia. We were there for a whole day (7 am to 9 pm) because there weren´t buses. It is really common here to have strikes and the strikers block the route (there is only one route to travel) for a few days. It´s a little annoying, but there is nothing we can do about it!

I introduced Hermana Sosa to pancakes, and she is addicted. I taught her how to make them and now she makes them everyday for her breakfast.

Did you know that Yogurt here is a drink? It´s more of a liquid here and it´s what we drink for breakfast.

Hermana Sosa and I both think that everything is hilarious. There have been moments when we are teaching and something a little funny happens and we burst out laughing for like five minutes. But the investigators seem to like us more after so I guess it´s ok.

I am SO EXCITED FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!! We have to travel to Caleta, but there is going to be an English Room so I am pretty excited! I feel like everyone here misses out because they don´t actually listen the voice of the Prophet, and I love the way he talks. It is going to be great!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Sosa and Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #14

Ok, so once again I don´t have much to say. It´s weird because I feel like the more I do in a week the less I feel like writing about it. 

We have seen so many miracles this week. We have found the perfect investigators this week and last week. They are all progressing wonderfully so far. Usually for me it´s been a difficult to get people to read the book of Mormon and pray and keep commitments, but with these investigators it hasn´t been! A lot of them now have baptismal dates for the next transfer. I hope that I will be here! I really love Pico Truncado. It took a long time for me to love this wasteland, but now I love it so much! I don´t want to leave!

Also, I learned all about Argentine Asado (barbeque) this weekend with Familia Funes. I have pictures, notes, and videos, so I hope that I with be able to bring this skill back with me to the states. It´s really the yummiest thing ever! Although I doubt it will ever be quite as good because our beef isn´t the same in the U.S. 

And yes, we are still waiting for Exequiel´s mom to get back from Buenos Aires so that they will get married and baptized. Sometimes I forget that they aren´t members yet because they totally act and live like members (except for the Law of Chastity part). My new dream in life is their baptism because they are my new best friends/family . I love that family so much and I know I was sent here to teach them. We just bonded so quickly. 

Ok. That´s all. 

I love you all! 

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #13

Hello! how is everybody?! I am doing great! I am just really happy right now! Hna. Sosa and I are working really hard, and we are finding a lot of really great investigators! We have seen so many miracles this week! One was that we felt like we should clap a street, and we found a member who hadnt been active for 10 years. She had been thinking about coming back, but she took our coming as a message that she needs to go back to church. We had a really awesome lesson about the Atonement with her. Another miracle was that one investigator, Maria, asked US if she could be baptized during the first lesson. Wow! She has to get married first, and her boyfriend is being a stinker, but I know that miracles are possible, and she and we are doing everything possible so that her desire to be baptized becomes a reality.


I am just really loving life right now! I love being a missionary! I love the people I am teaching, and I am just happy. That is about it! Sorry that I do not have much to say!

LOVE YOU!

Hna. Bretleigh Sandorf


Hermana Sandorf and the welcoming statue in Pico Truncado



Argentina #12

So my new companion is Hermana Sosa, and she is from Formosa, Argentina. She´s so nice! She only has one transfer more after this one and so she is sharing her wisdom with me everyday. It´s great!

I went fishing yesterday at the ocean. There were seals there! I have pictures that I will maybe send one day, or you might just have to wait 13 months to see them. Eeek! I can´t believe how fast my mission is going! It´s freaking me out!

My castellano is coming along pretty well. My grammar isn´t the best and my vocabulary is small, but people usually seem to understand me, so that´s good! and if I have improved this much in 3 months, I know I will get much better throughout my mission. It´s really a miracle that we can learn a language so fast.

I´m working hard, I´m happy, and that is about it!
Love you all!

Waiting in Caleta Olivia for Hermana Sosa

Argentina #11

Hello Family! How are you?!

I am great! First of all, this week was insane! We were in Las Heras all of Tuesday as a district. On wednesday we were in Caleta Olivia because we had to practice our song with  Elder Slaugh, our accompanist. On Thursday we left at 6:30 in the morning for Comodoro. The conference with Elder Foster was great! I learned so much! And our musical number went really well! We sang ¨Come Thou Fount¨ again because we love it! And we already knew it, so yeah.

So we back to Pico Truncado Thursday night, and worked like crazy to reach our goals for the week! We wanted to reach the Standard of Excellence because we were pretty sure that it was our last week together. And guess what?! We reached the goal! I have no idea how, but somehow we did it! It was a miracle!



Oh yeah..... we had a baptism! My very first! I am about the happiest person ever right now! Her name is Florencia, she is 22, and she pretty much appeared out of nowhere two and a half weeks ago,and was super serious about recieving an answer from the start. Miracles, miracles everywhere! Seriously I am so happy! I don´t know why it had to take so long for us to have a baptism when we were working so hard all along, but I know that Heavenly Father´s plan for us is always the best :)

Also, today is transfers! I am staying in Pico Truncado. Hna. Arcos went to Neuquén, and my new companion is Hna. Sosa. She is from the Northern part of Argentina, but I don´t know exactly where. She only has a couple of transfers left in her mission. I haven´t met her yet because she has to take a super long bus ride to get here, since Pico Truncado is the end of the Earth! I am staying with the Hermanas in Caleta until she comes tomorrow evening. I am glad my companion is a Latina, or else my Castellano would die! It is a little scary though because I am the person who knows the area and have to help her learn. I am so used to being the new person, it´s a little weird! But I am super excited!

And....that is about it! It was a super crazy week! But the best one of my mission so far! I love you all and hope that you are just as happy as I am!

LOVE YOU!

Hermana Sandorf

Bretleigh's Zone with Elder Foster

Baptism of Florencia

Argentina #10

Hello everybody! And Happy Valentine[s Day tomorrow! Where is the time going?! Pretty sure I was just celebrating Halloween in the MTC! It is so crazy how fast this is going!

(Breanna, I sent you a letter 2 weeks ago, but I just read your dearElder on the computer, and it is easier if I just tell you right here that yes you should audition! The End.)

So this past week Hna. Arcos and I were both way sick with fevers, and she was also sick to her stomach, and we had to spend most of thursday and friday in the pension. We did not like it, but everytime we would leave for like an hour, and then have to come back because we had spent all of our energy. Plus Hna. Peterson said that I would recover faster if we took it easy. It is so weird how that is something I don{t want to do right now. If someone gave me permission to take a break from school and work, I would totally do it! But here in the mission field I feel awful if I am resting because there is a ton of stuff to do.

So this is the last week of this transfer, and we are freaking out because we have so many things we want to accomplish, but we are going to be in Las Heras Tuesday to work with our district there, we are going to be in Caleta Olivia on Wednesday to work with the other hermanas and to practice with our accompanist, and Thursday we will be in Comodoro to sing and listen to Elder Foster. Hna Arcos thinks she is going to leave Pico Truncado, and so she{s sad we won{t be here much this week. All of this traveling really is a pain, but oh well....
I had a dream that I was teaching Emma Watson about the Restoration. Right before we went to bed, I was telling Hna Arcos about Lexi and her mission to London, and how we were obsessed with Daniel Radcliffe in 5th grade, and so I think that is where my brain came up with this idea! But she accepted a Baptismal date in my dream! haha

Yesterday we had a Family home Evening with an inactive family in our ward in the house of another family. The dad of the active family gave all of his children and the children of the other family a blessing because today is the first day of school here. And I realized how grateful I am that my Dad could do that for me, and that my parents always taught me about the Gospel. Gosh I love you guys! You do not even know how blessed we are in our family. Seriously.

Ok that is all. I always forget everything I want to say once I get to the ciber. So...yeah! Love you all!

Argentina #9

So this week started out really great with a Valentine´s package from you guys! Thank you! I wasn´t expecting a package so soon! And I LOVED IT!!!!! Those chocolate and peanut butter (I really miss peanut butter) Bugles were fantastic, and Hna. Arcos also thought they were the greatest thing ever! We have a lot of fun sharing treats from our countries with one another. I also recieved a letter from Sam-Thanks pal! I also got the Family slideshow from the Woottons, and my entire district watched it with me! The babies are so big! And so cute! I loved it! And everyone in my district wants me to cut my bangs back to how they were, but that would be too much work! My straightener fizzed out a week ago, and it´s not worth it to buy a new one here because everything is so expensive, so I am going to wait and see if I can get one cheaper when I eventually am closer to Neuquen (since I literally can´t get any further).

This week we had a Branch Activity. It was a talent show. And I sang ¨Come thou Fount of Every Blessing (in Castellano)¨ with Hna. Arcos. It was pretty good, if I do say so myself. And next week, Elder Bradley D. Foster is coming to our mission, and President Peterson has asked that Hna. Arcos and I do a musical number for when Elder Foster comes to Comodoro! We are really nervous! haha

This past week we put 5 people on date for baptism,we had 13 new investigators, and we recieved 20 referrals! So we are working really really hard! And we have faith that everything is going to work out great!

That is about all I have to say for this week! I love you all! Have a good week!

Argentina #8

Hi Everybody! How are you? I am great! So this week I had my first Zone Conference, although it was really with two Zones because President Peterson doesn´t want to come all the way to the end of the earth! Haha so we spent Monday night traveling as a district to Caleta Olivia. We picked up the mail right before we got on the bus, and guess what?! There were a whole bunch of letters and everyone was really excited. Only guess what- they were all for me! haha I felt bad, but I was happy to have an hour long bus ride to read them all! I recieved 2 Dear Elders from Mom and 2 from Dad, and I also recieved dearElders from Lexi, Breanna and Caitlin!!!! I was about the happiest person ever! I also recieved Christmas Cards from the Hatfields and the Jerry Sandorf Family. AND letters from Eliza, Mindy and Paula. Pretty much I was so full of joy to hear from so many people who are so important to me!!!!! I am starting to write letters back, but it´s gonna take some time. Sorry. But last week I mailed a letter to Lexi so hopefully she gets it! Thank you thank you thank you for the letters! Love you all!


Anyway, Zone Conference was great! I learned a lot! we got home late Tuesday night. So we didn´t accomplish as much this week because we had less days in the week, but some really great things happened. We found an awesome family. We recieved a lot of referrals. We are working really really hard to find people to teach who will actually progress. We aren´t giving up on anyone, but there are some people we feel we need to stop devoting so much time to. It´s sad, but that is what we need to do.

I bet you are wondering about the Familia Funes (or, as Hna Arcos calls them, the Fetching Funes Family¨. The Latino missionaries all use fetch and oh my gosh and crap because they learned them from their companions. It´s the greatest thing!). They read the book of mormon and pray as a family daily. They come to church. Sometimes I forget their not members.But they won´t get married until his mom can be there, and she is undergoing chemotherapy for two more months in Buenos Aires. ugh. we try and try to teach them about faith and keeping commandments even when it´s difficult, and everything else we can think of. but they are so stubborn¨. I have no doubt that they will get baptized someday, but probably when I´m like 50 years old. Sheesh. Anyway, that´s me venting and now I feel better. haha

Dad, now I understand about 70% of what I hear. I understand alot, but I still can´t speak too great. Usually the people understand what I am trying to say, but I am so slow at speaking! I want to speak with perfect grammar and everything, and I am pretty impatient with myself, it´s really bad, I know!

Oh! Yesterday I gave a 12 minute talk in Sacrament Meeting about how the members can get more involved in missionary work. I had one hour to prepare. I was freaking out! Talks stress me out in English, let alone Castellano! But I survived, and everyone came up and complimented me after. Hopefully, they weren´t lying to be nice.

So I learned how to make wonderful empanadas yesterday. You should be excited to try them next year! haha They are baked in the oven instead of fried, so they´re much better!

I am pretty sure that my English is getting really bad. I´m sorry if my grammar is horrible. I was talking to and Elder in English last week, and there were words I couldn´t remember how to say. This is good news!!!! I really hope that all of my companions are Latina so that I can have really great castellano. It really makes a huge difference if your companions are native speakers.

I think that that is about all I have to say.

I love you all and I hope your week is wonderful!

Love,

Bretleigh

Argentina #7

This week was crazy! We worked harder than we probably ever have, and yet we had the smallest number of new investigators and progressing investigators that we´ve ever had. Friday night during our nightly planning session, we both had a melt down and bawled for an hour- something that has never happened before because we are both really positive most of the time. It was weird. But we just lost it after a lesson with a woman that we had really high hopes for, and she turned down the invitation to be baptized over and over again. But preach my gospel says that you are successful when you do all that you can, so in that sense we were very successful! We put one more person on date for baptism yesterday, and so our day ended much more happy. We have a ton of referals, but every one is on vacation! and so we haven´t been able to contact very many. But school starts again in a couple weeks, so hopefully every one will return soon.


So we walked past a church last night during their service hour, and we could hear rock music playing inside. We we looked inside, there was a live rock band and a ton of people dancing and the lights were going crazy. It was like a high school stomp, but it was a church service.......yep.

Dad, remember how when we ate that pizza at the Argentine corner, we were obsessed with that cheese because it was so creamy? Yeah, that is normal household cheese. It´s so good! But no Mom, I don´t eat very much of it. Don´t worry. We don´t have money to buy cheese very often. We only eat breakfast at our house, and we pretty much eat cereal, yogurt and fruit that the members give us all of the time. Dinner doesn´t exist here most of the time. Lunch is so huge, that the people only eat a little snack at like 8:00 pm.

So tomorrow we have a Zone Conference in Comodoro Rivadavia. We are heading to Caleta Olivia this afternoon, and tomorrow morning we take a bus to Comodoro. I´m excited! All of the missionaries love the bus rides because we have the opportunity to sleep! Haha. I don´t know if I already told you, but the buses here are way luxury. The seats recline completely, and for long busrides they serve you meals. It is just like an airplane, except the seats are even more comfortable.

Last week I recieved the Christmas card/poster from the Ward! LOVE IT! I taped on my wall, and so everymorning I wake up and see it there! So happy!

Ok I don´t have much else to say. I´m working hard. I´m learning a lot of Castellano. I´m drinking 3 liters of water a day (a new mission rule while it´s so hot). I am meeting and teaching a lot of wonderful people. I am happy I am where I am.

Love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Hna. Bretleigh Sandorf

Argentina #6

Hi family! How are you? I am great, although I am melting because it´s freaking in the hundreds right now. But that´s ok! I am getting pretty tan! Well, tan for me, which is still really white, but oh well.


Honestly, I don´t have much to say. We´re working hard with our branch right now because it is seriously falling apart.Every is on vacation for another month, and so we barely have any lessons with members right now. I don´t understand how a nation can function when everyone goes on vacation for two months at the same time as everybody else. Whatever. But, We finally had a meeting with the Branch President for the first time, even though we are supposed to have one every week. And it´s because we pretty much forced him to hold a meeting. But that´s ok! Things are looking good. We have some baptisms coming up, but I am not going to say anything about them. You can all be suprised when they happen!

One story. So their is an Elder in our district who is brand new from the MTC, and who is a gringo. And I was so excited to finally be able to speak a little English with someone. I am learning a lot of Castellano, but sometimes I just want to speak english so that I remember how. Haha. And I met him and was like ¨Hi how are you?¨and he said that he doesn´t want to speak any English for his whole mission. How. Lame. But it´s good because I need this attitude also. I just feel like my personality doesn´t translate over to Castellano. Seriously. But it´s ok!

PLEASE WRITE ME!!!! I love being here, and don´t think of home very often, but I still love hearing from people! It makes me way happy!

Ok, that´s really all I have to say!


Love you all!
Hna Bretleigh

Hermana Arcos and Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #5

Hi! So last Tuesday I received dearElders from Lexi, Laura, and Delma. Yeah, it takes awhile for me to get them. Thank you so much! I will write you as soon as I can! Today, I recieved christmas cards from Brandon and Lynne, and Mike and DeeDee.Thank you! Your kids are so cute!!!! Sorry if it takes me a million years to respond, We are never in our pensión during p-day. We´re always doing something, so I barely have time to write. Last p-day our whole zone was together for the new year. We played soccer. Oh my goodness! Latinos are amazing at soccer! I was in awe of their soccer skills. From that game, I got my first sunburn. I had done so well with sunscreen, but that streak of luck ended. I have recovered, my skin has peeled off, and now I look normal again!


My first transfer is done. I can´t believe it! But, as I expected, I am still in Pico Truncado training with Hna Arcos. I´m glad because we have a lot of work to do!
So the other day, we went to an appointment, but the lady wasn´t there. We were bummed, but all of the sudden, we felt like we should clap at all the gates of the houses on that street. It was so weird, I felt like there was someone on that street who desperately needed the message we have to share. We clapped and clapped, but no one answere at any of the houses. At the second to last house, a woman answered, but said she was too busy. While we were walking away, the woman´s daughter (about 20 years old) came running out of the house, and yelled desperately ¨WAIT! I want to hear your message! Do you have time to share it?!¨ Of course we did! We shared the first lesson (restoration), and the whole time she was wide eyed and very attentive. At the end she cried and said that she was feeling the feeling that she had been searching for for a few years. Her name is Yohana. She actually lives in Bariloche, but she´s visiting her mom right now. She leaves in two weeks. We´re hoping to put her on date next lesson, and we´re hoping she´ll be ready in time to baptize here, and not in Bariloche. But if she is baptized here or not, I am pretty sure she is going to join the church, and I happy to know that we were where we needed to be to help someone come unto Christ. It´s a great feeling! And it´s why I´m here!

A few of the things I love about Argentina:

How dramatic the people are.

Their steak. You all know that I have never liked steak. But now I know that it is because Americans don´t know how to cook it correctly.

Argentina invented the shoes we now call Toms. Except, here they don´t have the brand Toms. Instead, the are sold in grocery stores for the equivalant of $4. It´s a beautiful thing!

Alfajores. I´ve only had 4 because they are not healthy and I don´t have money. But oh my goodness I will have one suitcase full of them when I come home.


I love you all! Have a great week! I know that I will!

Love,
Hna. Bretleigh Sandorf

Argentina #4

OH MY GOSH!!!! IT¨S 2012!!!! I can´t believe it! I hope you all had the greatest time. I also had a great time. Here is what I did for New Year´s Eve:
We have a three day pday. It started Saturday afternoon. We visited a part member family. They fed us fruit salad (It´s pretty much just fresh fruit coctail. It´s a dessert here). Then we went and visited Rebeca, an Investigator. She is pretty old and lives alone. Her husband died a few years ago and he was the love of her life. She cries about him often, but it´s with happiness, and it´s really cute. Anyway, Rebeca was so excited to be celebrating the New Year with somebody (even though it was 3:00 in the afternoon)that she went crazy and bought a ton of food. She was so excited, and it cost her so much money. So what did I have to do? Eat as much a I possibly could. I did a lot of praying. haha. I was pretty proud of myself, and I didn´t feel too full, so I was really happy. Then we stopped by our favorite family- Familia Milano. They are Gitano (gypsies), and they are the sweetest people I have ever known. The Dad said, ¨We know that you have to go back to your home at 9:30, but we would consider it a blessing if you would eat dinner with us before hand. We don´t have very much, but what we have, we always share, because it was given to us by God and so it´s not ours to keep. And we know that your families are missing you right now, but let us be your family today.¨ It was so nice of them. Then they fed us delicious food, but I was still full, and it was difficult to eat. I kinda wanted to die. My teachers in the MTC always told me that holidays are miserable because you feel sick and have to eat food when you don´t want to. It´s totally true! haha We asked the family if we could share scriptures from the Bible with them. They said yes. We all read scriptures about Jesus Christ and talked about Him. And seriously, these gitanos (not all, but this family) understand more about Jesus Christ and His love and Sacrifice a lot more than most people. It was a very touching experience. Then we went home, ate ice cream, watched all the neighbors light fireworks, and went to bed.

For new Year´s day, after church we all went to Caleta Olivia. I am there right now. Our whole Zone is together and we´re pretty much just eating crap and lighting fireworks. Yep, that´s what I do for fun now! Haha

So this past week, we found a ton of new investigators! We´re pretty excited! And at one house, we clapped at the gate. The lady opened the door and said, ¨What do you want?!¨ and I was scared, but I said, ¨We´re missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of-¨and She cut me off and said, ¨Oh! Mormons! Yes I want to talk with you!¨ And I was in shock, and she thought I didn´t understand, and so then she started talking in pretty decent English! haha It was a weird experience.
Something random about Pico Truncado, It´s a city where everyone works in Petrolium. Hence the photo of us with a Petrolium thing. They are everywhere on the outskirts of town.

I love you all very much! good luck with this new year! It´s looking good to me!
Love,

Bretleigh

Argentina #3

Hi Family! How are you? I am doing great!

Ok, about Christmas- I have idea when I am going to call. I can´t call in the evening at Tutu´s because here it will be past 9;00 here. So, I will either call between 730 am 1200 pm (your time, of course) or between 230 and 430. Hopefully it will work out! It´s hard with church and the families that we are eating with. So make sure you answer the phone!

Ok, so about the Funes Family. I seriously don´t know if we are going to have a baptism this Saturday or not. They are an awesome family, and we are so close with them. They always tell us their feelings, and they are trying really hard to change. The Spirit is always really strong in the lessons with them. But stinking Satan keeps interefering and so every other day they start freaking out, because they know it´s a huge life change. So I seriously have no idea. I believe that miracles can happen, but people have their agency, so we´ll see. But if they get baptized it will be the happiest thing ever in my life, and my Christmas will be complete! haha seriously.

Friday was the Branch Christmas Party. It was way fun! We missionaries (there are Elders in our branch, too- both Latino. There is NO ONE to speak English with haha) were the entertainment. We sang Christmas Carols. We had 3 investigators come to the party! Yay!

Oh my gosh, it is so hot here. I feel like I am melting all of the time. I thought that if I was this far south it would never get this hot. I was so wrong! But I´m so grateful I´m not in Neuquén right now, because apparently they´re dying of heat.

Want to know something funny? One of the Elders in my district knows all of the lyrics to the songs from High School musical ( in English). And he´s from El Salvador. It is hilarious to me!

Ok, now I will try to answer some of your questions. Hna. Arcos and I live in a house alone. I don´t think missionaries live with families anymore. It is like all the other houses here- One living space, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. We have a fridge, and a semi-automatic clothes washer. It´s so ghetto. It´s kind of like a Bosch, but for clothes, not bread dough. We have running water and electricity. We have a Special water dispenser for drinking water. It´s not like I´m in a 3rd world country. But it is WAY different here that home. But that´s ok ;)

All of the people here think I´m totally stupid because I don´t know how to use anything here! Cell phones, the toilets, keys and door locks. It´s pretty funny. I was asked by the Relief Society President to peel potatoes, but with a knife, not a potato peeler. She looked at me like I´m so pathetic because it took me FOREVER! haha but that´s ok.

I hope that you all have the best Christmas ever! Although I know it can´t be that great with me haha. I´m sorry I didn´t have a choir concert this year for you to go to. That is the first time in a billion years! Don´t worry, there will be plenty more at Weber after my mission, since it´s gonna take forever for me to graduate!

I love you all! So much! Merry Christmas! ¡Felices Fiestas!

Love,
Hna. Bretleigh Sandorf

P.S Can you please tell me about my friends? Like does Lex have a mission call? Is Caitlin engaged yet? haha stuff like that. Also, how are all of my musical missionaries? Could you please send me some of their adresses? I only have Zach´s, Jacob´s and Grant´s. I was planning on sending everyone a letter for their birthday, but now I don´t think that is going to happen. We´ll see!

Oh! and....
Happy Festivus! (OH MY GOSH- SAM JOHNSON I WILL BE THINKING OF YOU DECEMBER 23RD!!! hahahaha)

Argentina #2

Hola mi familia! I am in week 3 of my first transfer. I´m not gonna lie, this has been a horrible week for me. But it has also been wonderful. Let me explain:

My companion, Hna. Arcos, is great! She is helping me learn Castellano super fast. I´m at the point where I can understand about 1/4 of what people say. Having only been here 10 days, that´s pretty good, I think! But It´s been difficult because I went from having 11 best friends that I talked and laughed with all day long, to not being able to talk to anyone because no one knows English. I have just felt very lonely this week. Also, Pico Truncado is gross. It is so windy, and so dusty. I feel gross all of the time. And, there are stray dogs EVERYWHERE!!! Ew ew ew! And, we eat lunch with a member family everyday. We always are served greasy empanadas or greasy pizza. We are also always served soda. I have never drunken so much soda in my life. They drink orange Fanta, Sprite, and Apple soda with EVERYTHING! And then for dessert, they feed us fruit cake. I am going to be a billion pounds! Ugh.

But despite all of these things that I do not like, there have been many blessings. My teachers in the MTC always said that missions cause you to rely more on Jesus Christ. That has definitely happened this last week. I had no one to talk to, and so I spent a lot of time praying. I have turned to the scriptures even more, because they are the only familiar thing I have. Also, although it has been difficult not being able to speak English, I can already see the blessings. I am learning Castellano so much faster than those with companions from the U.S. Also, I love the people here. I have no idea how they are content with their 4-room houses, with clothes that don´t match, and with dust everywhere, but they are. And I am learning what a blessed life I have led. I have already known that, of course, but now I know it even more. This is such a humbling experience. I am so happy to be here.

We are working with the best family. We are so close to them. Their baptismal date is for the 24 of Dec. But they have to get married first. They decided on the 20, but now the Grandma can´t make it to Pico Truncado until January. We are all praying for a miracle.

Don´t worry a ton about me. I´ve been a little discouraged, but that´s ok. The trials I have had in life always bring me closer to the Savior. I knew that it was going to be hard when I decided to go on a mission. I won´t ever give up. I know why I am here.

I love you all so so so so much! Sorry, but I am barely writing individual letters to people anymore. It´s way too complicated, and I don´t have a ton of time on pdays like I did in the MTC. I´m glad to hear of the miracles in West Bountiful. Our ward is so awesome! Tell everyone Hi from me!

I know that this Church is true. I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that through Him we can overcome everything.

Have a great week!

Love,

Hna. Bretleigh Sandorf