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

Argentina #1

Hello Everyone!

I AM IN FREAKING ARGENTINA!!!! It´s so awesome! I´m sooo happy to be here! But this has been one of the weirdest weeks of my life.

Our district had a really hard time saying goodbye to each other. Our ¨hasta ver¨ was very sad. I love those people so so so much.

Monday, Our teachers came to the travel office and we all said goodbye. I had to say goodbye to Hermana Nelson, and that was very sad.I had to be with Elders Kimball and Hudgins. I missed her so much! Then we left for the airport with like 27 other missionaries, which included Elders Snelson, King, and Hancock and Hnas. Sweet and Shoaf. It was insane! Checking in was a joke. But everything worked out. Mom, I loved talking to you! It was so great! But it felt normal, like I was just talking to you after a day of school.Weird. Love you!

So we flew to Atlanta, then we flew to Buenos Aires. 10 hour flight. Ugh. It was not very comfortable for anyone. Elder Kimball is 6´6¨, Elder Hudgins is pretty tall too. The three of us were squished together in a row. Therefore, no one slept much. We arrived in Buenos Aires at 8 in the morning. The next flight until Neuquen wasn´t until 9 pm. So the three of us sat in an airport for a million years. There are a lot of funny stories about our airport experience, but I wrote it all down perfectly and I will share it with you in April 2013, ok?!

We arrived in Neuquen, and I slept in the Mission Home. I got to bed at 1am. and we left the next morning (Wednesday) to the immagration office at 7am. We were so tired at this point. Then, Elder Presley (who was helping us get our papers) Said, ¨Hna. Sandorf! I´m really excited about your first Area, and about your trainer. Hna. Arcos is Latina, and doesn´t speak English, so you´ll learn really fast! And your Area is Pico Truncado. It´s a twenty hour bus ride from here.¨ When I heard this, I tried to sound excited, but apparently it didn´t work. When Elder Presley left, Elder Kimball said, Äre you ok? You looked like you were going to throw up!¨haha

I met Hna Arcos the next day (Thursday). She´s super nice! And she´s a great missionary! And somehow we understand each other. We arrived in Pico Truncado Friday Night. I really like it here. Our home is pretty nice. The people are so kind. I love them already. The food is good- the members love to feed us. I learned how to make Empanadas last night with La Familia Flores. I´ve already been served like 5 meals, and so far haven´t gotten sick. They use bottled water for cooking. Some of the other things they do aren´t as sanitary, but they try to keep every thing clean. And I always pray really hard before I eat. haha.

While I´ve been here (3 days) We´ve put one person on date. Her name is Petrona. We have six other people with dates this month, and they all have to get married! No one is married here. But hopefully it will all work out.

I love you all. I wish I could share with you more experiences, but I am out of time. I have everything in my journal, I´ll share it with you someday. I´m doing great. I´m a little MTCsick, and I wish that there was someone around me who spoke English, but I know that it will all work out! I´m happy to be a missionary!

Love you all!

Hna. Sandorf

P.S. You can still use dearElder. Now, you send it to the mission instead of to the MTC. It goes straight from the mission office to me.

MTC #9

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! Today is my preparation day, and unfortunately we only have 2 hours to get everything done. Ugh. This is the worst week ever to getting ready to leave, because the mail, haircuts, and store are closed for 4.5 days. Family! I got your package! Thank you! I loved the letters and treats and CDs! My district was so happy to get more pumpink bread! And Breanna, THANK YOU for the cookies! I was way happy! I don't have time to write letters this week so thise is all that you get-sorry! I almost didn't get the package. Elder Hudgins walked into our classroom last night and said, "Hna. Sweet and Sandorf, you have packages and the mailroom closes in 7 minutes, and it won't be opened except for lunch on Saturday." So the two of us literally ran all of the way there, and once we got there we realized neither of us had an I.D. card to get into the building. We both just rely on our companions to swipe the doors, and they were back in the classroom. And no one was around because everything was closing. Finally, we chased some sisters down and used their card. I am sure they thought we were crazy! haha

 

I have my travel plans! Here you go:

Monday, November 28: SLC 11:25 AM. Arrive in Atlanta Georgia at 5:06 PM. Head for Buenos Aires at 7:50 PM. Arrive at 7:55 AM the next day. Then buses to the mission.

I can call you at one of the airports. I have no idea which one, it just depends on how much time I have. I will definitely be calling from the U.S. though. I have no idea of the time difference between here and Atlanta- I'm sure you can figure it out though. It's going to be a very short call- like 5 minutes. So if you don't get to talk to me it's ok. I'll be calling in one month! All the RMs who teach here say that calling is actually really wierd and not very exciting for the missionaries- interesting, huh?

Elder Snelson asked me if I was ok with the travel plans. Apparently, everytime travel plans are mentioned, I get a panicked look on my face. I told him that flying on airplanes is probably my least favorite thing ever, and that I was worried I wouldn't be able to carry all of my luggage, or that I would get lost- especially in the Atlanta Airport! And I won't have a companion (well, I will be in a trio with Elder Kimball and Elder Hudgins, but that doesn't really count) so I was afraid the Elders would walk way faster than me and I would get lost .I really was so stressed out! But Elder Snelson and Elder King promised that they would make sure I was ok. And so did Elder Kimball and Elder Hudgins. They came up with a bunch of plans to make sure I'm ok. So don't worry about me while I'm traveling! I will be ok. I feel way less stressed out about it now.

So we had the most amazing experience in class the other day. The Spirit was really strong, and all of the sudden, Hermano Snyder said, "the Spirit is telling me we need to stop our lesson and each write down the personal revelation we are recieving right now." And so we did. For an hour. For every single one of us, we just kept recieving more and more revelation. The Spirit in the room was really intense. After an hour, we said a prayer of thanks together, for all that we had learned. It was so wonderful.

Our three investigators are being baptized this Saturday! We have to plan and have a baptismal service, even though it's all pretend. I'm glad that it is treated so relistically.

All of Hna. Nelson and my roomates left on Monday. Now we just have the room to ourselves since no new missionaries came in this week. It's so weird. But our suitcases are spread out all over the floor. I'm actually pretty close to being done packing!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving day today! I have so much to be Thankful for! God has allowed me to help Him in His work. He has allowed me to represent His Son, and bring His children unto Him. Wow. I am so grateful that I made the decision to come on a mission! I'm so excited to leave for Argentina on Monday! Yay!

I love you all!