An Evening With Audra

Best Night of My Life.

I got to freaking go to an Audra McDonald concert at Weber State last week! She is one of my most favorite Broadway stars ever!!! I love how she sings both opera and musical theatre. She studied classically at Julliard but uses that technique on Broadway. She is so amazing! She sang this song at the concert and I am pretty sure that every audience member shed a tear. So good.

Bringing the Blog Back!

Well, after coming home from my mission, I felt like I didn't want to blog anymore. I was just too overwhelmed with real life. Plus, I realized that blogs aren't really read anymore. But after looking at my blog's 5 year history, I decided to keep blogging. It's fun to see what my life has turned into since I started. It's way different- that's for sure! So I'm going to keep my blog. It's really just for me, so I probably won't write anything interesting, but you're still welcome to read it!

Home Again

Probably the weirdest day of my life.

 We stopped by Cafe Rio on the way home because I had been missing it!

 Enjoying my last few moments as a set apart missionary.

Taking off my nametag that night KILLED me! I have never heard myself cry so hard. It was almost scaring me, and scaring my family I'm sure! I was just sobbing like someone had killed my whole family. My heart felt absolutely broken. There are so many people I left in Argentina that I'll never see again here on earth, and so many amazing experiences and miracles that will never be repeated. I am so happy and grateful that I chose to go on a mission. Thankfully, life has gotten better since that first day home of pain, loneliness, and uncertainty. I am happy to be home again with my family!

On the Way Home

On the way home we stopped in Buenos Aires to go to a temple session. The Buenos Aires Temple is GORGEOUS!!!!! I was so happy to be able to go. The best part was that my third companion, Hermana Cruz, who is from Buenos Aires, came to surprise me with a gift and went to the session with me. It was so awesome!

 

 

 The MTC in Buenos Aires is right next to the temple.

 

At the end of the session, I found myself, again, like the last session before my mission,  in the Celestial Room, asking Heavenly Father for the strength to leave my family and everything that I love. However, this time was worse as I know that I won't be back soon. I am so grateful for all of the miracles I saw and people I met who have truly changed my life.

 

Such an amazing way to end my experience in Argentina!

Last Day

Last email as a Missionary: April 15, 2013

This is it. Where did this time go?! I seriously have no idea! I never want it to end!

Everyone is asking me how I feel. This is how I feel:

Grateful

-Grateful to have recieved the prompting to serve a mission.

-Grateful that I obeyed that prompting

-Grateful for being called to serve in the Argentina, Neuquén Mission

-Grateful for the many challenges I faced

-Grateful for the support I´ve had 

-Grateful for my companions

-Grateful for the thousands of miracles I´ve seen

-Grateful for everything I´ve learned

-Grateful for being allowed to represent Jesus Christ and devote 1.5. years to His work.

Love

-Love for Argentina

-Love for my companions, converts, investigators, wards, mission president, and every single person I met

-Love for missionary work!

-Love for my Heavenly Father

-Love for the Gospel

-Love for My Savior

¨How great reason we have to rejoice, for could we have supposed when we started...that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?

And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work...  

My joy is full, yeah my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.¨  Alma 26

I love you all!

Hermana Sandorf

Misionera de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias 

Argentina #67

Well this week has been interesting. I had lice. Sick, no?! It´s normal for little kids to have lice here, and I got it! but it´s all gone now, don´t worry. 

I also have an ingrown toenail. so on Tuesday the doctor is going to ¨operate¨ and cut of a third of my toenail. and I won´t be able to walk for two days. I was going to wait and do it at home to not loose proselyting time but the Mission nurse said no. She said I have to do it now. so I am a little frustrated that I have to waste my time but I am sure that Heavenly Father knows what He is doing. 

Flia Mendez went to the baptism of Ivana and Elias. they loved it! their progress is slow, but I know that they will be baptized. 

Also we got a couple of inactive members to go to the conference. And one said that she was never going to miss a Sunday again. Huge miracle! We have worked way hard with her!

Who loved General Conference?! I sure did! I had to watch it in Spanish again. There was a talk that I know was especially given for me- the talk that Elder Andersen gave. It is the only talk that made me cry. I felt so happy that I thought that I was going to explode as he talked about the growth of the church and missionaries, but I also felt sad thinking that I wasn´t going to get to be a missionary anymore. But I like how he said that will more missionaries, there will be more prepared people. Which means that now the missionaries will need more referrals, more lessons with members, more support, more everything! So I realized that my experience in missionary work is only beginning! and that makes me way happy! 

I love being a missionary!

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #66

Hello Everyone! I hope that everyone had a happy Easter! Yeah they don´t do anything here for easter really. They buy huge chocolate eggs and that´s it. But no one bought us anything :( oh well. 

But I wanted to do something to bring Easter cheer to this dreary Patagonia, and so I convinced my companion that we should go sing hymns in an old people home (what is it called? I don´t remember) and sings hymns and read them a scripture about Jesus. She doesn´t sing, so she really didn´t want to but she as a good sport and sang with me. I think she thinks I´m crazy because I always want to sing.  And also celebrate everything. I made me a cake for my 18 month mark. I made her a little card for her 7 month mark. I made us buy cookies in the shape of easter eggs for Easter. I wore green on St. Patrick´s day and found a four leaf clover. haha as Hermana Cedro once told Hna. Santiago about me ¨no matter what day it is, Hna. Sandorf will find a special occasion to celebrate¨. I didn´t  realize that about me until now. 

I also gave a talk in Sacrament meeting about The atonement. They asked me to do it like 10 minutes before. It turned out pretty well.  

I love Jesus Christ! I appreciate Him more everyday! Everyday I meet someone new, with a different problem, and there is always 1 solution: The Atonement of Jesus Christ and His Gospel! It´s so amazing! 

And this week we are going to have the opportunity to hear HIS WORDS from the Prophet! I am so excited! I LOVE conference! I hope that everyone gets to listen to it! 

I love you all!

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #65 (March 25, 2013)

This week was awesome! We had interviews with President Lovell. I love talking with him! He is just great! 

The argentine pope is making catholics want to stay catholic. Catholics are always the easiest to convince that their church is a joke (we don´t say that to them, obviously), but now they are all proud to be Catholic. ugh. 

Also, we found a family of seven- Familia Mendez. wow. this is what happened:

My first day in Trelew, we were Familia Ñancurupay´s house. They are getting reactivated and their daughter, Oriana, whose 9, will be getting baptized in April, if she goes to church two more times. There was a friend over named Roxana she´s 14. She asked us where we were from, why we were here, ect. Then, the next day, we decided to knock on a few doors, and the first door was Roxana´s door. she told us to come back another day later when her family was home. So on Monday, we decided to go and see if we were there. And they were all home and the mom let us in. She was nice and they listened to us as we taught them about the Atonement, but they didn´t seem super interested.  They said that they were Catholic, but that we could come back because they wanted to strengthen their faith in Jesus. Then Friday we went again, and felt that we needed to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It went well, at the end of everything, we asked if they had any questions, and the mom, Ana, asked ¨What do you think of the Pope?¨ And we were like ¨oh, no! she´s gonna get mad!¨ but then she said, ¨because in the bible it doesn´t talk about a pope, it talks about apostles.¨And then we gave her a paphlet of Lesson 1 and they all promised to read it. Then she told us that her sister was getting married April 5 because she wants to be Mormon. We know a family that is getting married and baptized April 5, they are the investigators of our District leader. So it turns out that Ana´s sister is getting married and baptized, and Familia Mendez is going to go! And yesterday in stake conference, we met her sister and she was so excited to hear that Familia Mendez is meeting with us. I really know that they will get baptized! But I think it´s gonna take a month or two to baptize them because we want all 6 of them to have a  testimony (the youngest only is 5). But what a huge blessing to be able to find prepared people and help them get ready to be baptized. 

I love being a missionary!

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #64

Hello! 

So this week was great! We worked hard and saw a lot of miracles! We also had to present a workshop in Zone Training about Perserverance. It went well. 

The craziest news is that I am being transfered! Down South! I am going to Trelew! To a ward called Centenario haha. Trelew is in Province Chubut and it is on the coast. It´s about 10 hour bus ride. I have passed through on my way to and from Pico Truncado. I will be with Hna. Quiroga from Salta. She has 6 months in the mission. I know her a little- she´s a nice girl.  It´s gonna be crazy but I am super excited! Changes always help keep me excited to work! And I feel good about what I have done here in Centenario. Now the ward has Mission Correlation Meeting, WArd Council, etc. It´s not all because of me but I do feel like I helped give them a little push to work with the missionaries. And I am excited because Hna. Villagra and her hija are going to have baptisms for sure because we have found so many people who really have a desire to change. The area is way different than when I got here and there was nothing. I am happy to have helped in God´s work in Centenario. And, P.S. David  ALWAYS goes to church, he pays his tithing, etc. He´s gonna stay active in the church! I know it! 

I love being a missionary!

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #63

Hello everyone! How are you all doing?!

 

This week was really good. Pretty emotional. The whole Mission is just a little bit sentimental right now. Here is why:

 

I am guessing you all heard that they are dividing the mission in July. I wish the people who get called to Mission Argentina Comodoro Rivadavia a lot of luck! haha but it is awesome that Heavenly Father sees that there is so much work to do here in the Patagonia! Everything is changing in missionary work! I am pretty jealous of all of the people who are just starting out!

 

Also, next week 22 missionaries go home. That is a ton! Some of my best friends are included in that group.

 

Our Zone conference was great! super emotional.  We talked about all the changes that are being made and I just got so excited! And then they showed a slideshow of all of the baptisms since July (when president got here). It was really long but so amazing because I not only got to see photos of my baptisms, but also people that I taught or found. When they showed the picture of Familia Funes, I started to bawl! And then they showed the picture of Karina, and I bawled more! And I felt so happy. I decided that planting seeds is okay. I used to hate it when people said that, but I am at peace with all of the work I´ve done so far. 

 

Then we sang our musical number. We invented a medley of Army of Helaman with God be with you till we meet again (the idea of our zone leader who goes home now). Kinda a weird combination, but it was gorgeous! Best number we´ve done!

 

And THEN, they said that it was time to listen to the testimonies of those who were in their last Zone Conference. And the named the people. And I had been so caught up in the zone Conference, that when they announced my name, it totally slapped me in the face. I knew it was my last conference, but them saying my name made me feel way weird. It was basically the weirdest day ever. 

 

But enough with the trunkyness! I am not ending yet! I have another transfer! YAY!!!!!  But we have no idea what is going to happen. Neither of us have been here much time, but they need senior companions so they´ll probably have to split us up. Hna. Villagra and I get along way well, and we have seen so many miracles in our short time together. We´ll see what happens!

 

ok I have run out of time! I love you all! Have a good week!

 

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #62

Hello!

So this week has been great! We basically doubled our numbers! It was so crazy because at the beginning of the trasfer we found Antonela and Olga, and they had baptismal dates, and then the dates fell through, and we weren´t finding many new investigators, and we were just way stressed out (If you couldn´t tell from my last email haha). So on Sunday we fasted and then monday, we started seeing miracles. We found a ton of new investigators, more than there has been in Centenario in almost a year. And we knocked on a few doors this week (which I hate doing because it isn´t very effective) and people just let us in right then and there. And we went to one house to look for a referral, and another person answered the door and started asking us questions and set up an appointment with us instead of the other way around! And when we knocked on another door, and man said ¨Oh I´ve always wanted to talk with the mormons! But I didn´t know that there were missionaries in Centenario!¨It´s been a huge miracle! We have been in shock all week. It´s incredible. 

This week is Zone Conference. Today we are choosing the song that we are going to sing. I´m excited! 

That is about it! 

Have a good week!

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #61

Hello everyone!

 

I don´t have much to say because I haven´t even really been in centenario this week. We were in Neuquén for the Hermanas´ Conference and then I had to go to Bariloche to do visa stuff to be able to leave the country. Don´t worry mom, it all worked out and I will be able to come home...unfortunately haha

 

So That´s about it! I was pretty much panicking because we were unable to see any of our investigators this week and that is about the worst thing that can happen! I  didn´t sleep all week, and my stomach hurt the whole week from worry. And Atonela won´t be getting baptized this week because we´re never in Centenario so we barely ever teach her. I´ve been super stressed this week! I just want to work! But after an awful week, and amazing week always follows so  I´m excited for the miracles that will come!

 

That´s about it!

 

Love you!

 

Hermana Sandorf

 

Argentina #60 (February 11)

Hello!

How are all of you?! Good I hope! I am great. So, funny story....my refuerzo never came. She won´t be coming til next transfer, and so I won´t be able to train her. But the good news is that I have a real companion! She´s Hermana Gabriela Villagra and she´s from Buenos Aires. She has 9 months in the mission (she was also waiting for her refuerzo who also never came, so they closed her area and brought her here to Centenario). She´s awesome! I LOVE having a companion with more experience! She´s been here 4 days and we have already accomplished some great things! 

So tomorrow we have An Hermanas´ Conference. All of the hermanas from the whole mission are going to be together in the mission home all day!!! I am SO excited!!!!! But also nervouse. One of the activities is a panel of 3 ¨experienced¨ hermanas and the rest of the sister missionaries are going to ask them questions about whatever they want in the mission, problems, advice, etc. and they have to answer. So guess who the APs called yesterday to be on the panel? Yep. Me. Ummmm.....I don´t feel experienced. I still feel like I don´t know anything. So we´ll see how that goes. haha 

And that is about it! It´s been a crazy few weeks with everything that has happened, but now I can just focus and work without worrying about anything else. Yay!!!

Love you all! Have a good week!

Hna. Sandorf

Argentina #59

Hello everyone! how are you all doing?

So....I am with ANOTHER mini. Different from the mini last week. My companion is Hna. Hernandez from Neuquén. She looks so much like Lexi! It freaked me out when I first saw her! haha 

But the good news is that my real companion got her visa on Friday. So she should be coming later this week. Funny thing; The Secretary called me the other day, and I thought it was something important. He said, ¨Hermana, do you realize that you have had as many minis as real companions? You have the worst luck ever.¨ Then he laughed at me, and that was the only reason he called!

We found another great investigator. Her name is Olga and she´s in her 60s. She saw the Elders walking down the street the other day, and she stopped them and said that 20 years ago she recieved the disussions, but didn´t get baptized because her husband didn´t want her to. But her husband left her 6 months ago, and has been looking for the Missionaries because she knows we will bring her peace. She lives in our area, so the Elders set up an appointment with her and we went and she´s great. She has a lot of potencial. 

Antonela has a baptismal date for February 23. She is excited! In our 3rd lesson, she said that she has always felt like something was missing in her life, but since she´s started to read the Book of Mormon, she hasn´t felt that anymore. She is super mature for a 15 year old! 

I love being a missionary!

Hna. Sandorf

Argentina #58

Hello!

It´s still way hot. I have the ugliest tan lines ever. 

Everyone here is talking about how everything is frozen right now in the U.S. Crazy!

 

So this last week had a bunch of twists and turns! 

Monday in the bus terminal I dropped off Hna. Mendieta and then I went to Limay to be there until Wednesday. We went and visited some members and converts and I was so happy to be back!

Tuesday afternoon the office called me and told me that my refuerzo wasn´t going to arrive. She´s stuck in her country still. These visas are driving me crazy! But they said that there was a chance that she will get here January 30. They told me that I could stay in Limay or have a mini missionary. I chose a mini because as much as I LOVE Limay, Centenario is where I need to be! So the found me a mini and Thursday I was back in Centenario. And my mini is Hna. Costa from General Roca, Rio Negro. She´s in the ward of Hna. Santiago and Elder Kimball! What an awesome ward! And she is a fantastic mini! But she can only stay until Wednesday, so everyone needs to pray that my companion comes! I was really excited to train! But it will all work out like it needs to, I´m sure.

I FINALLY saw Elder Hudgins! We hadn´t seen each other since the day we arrived in Argentina. He was in the bus terminal on his way to Zapala and I was way happy to see him! It is crazy to see how much we´ve changed! And now we speak Castellano!

We recieved an awesome referral! We went to contact this referral and it was one of the best lessons of my whole mission! We went to teach a 15 year old girl named Antonela, but her sister and her mom also listened to us! Her mom said that if Antonela wants to join this church that it´s ok, but the mom is catholic. But at least she gave her permission. And we´ll work with her. But her sister, Vanina, whose 19, was really interested. We´re gonna see what happens! I am pretty excited!

I love being a missionary!

Hna. Sandorf

Argentina #57

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? this keyboard doesnt really work so sorry if the punctuation is bad. 

This week was good and normal.Centenario really is way different than my other areas. I dont understand why there are so hard hearted if its half an hour away and basically the same as neuquen. But we are working hard and are seeing the blessings. 

So Saturday they called us with the transfers...Hna. Mendieta is going to Pico Truncado! hahaha I love it! I gave her a bunch of directions of people we were teaching a year ago to see if there is any potencial with them.

As for me.....I am training again! You have no idea how shocked I am! In this mission, the hermanas almost never train more than once, and especially right now because there are a ton of hermanas who have never trained. Super unexpected. But I am excited and scared. Excited because training was an awesome experience last time. Nervous because I have heard from all the missionaries that its hard to be trained by someone who is going home. But I will work way hard to keep my hijita excited to work! And I am nervous because Centenario is not the ideal place to train. But we are going to work hard, and there are always lots of miracles with new missionaries! Its going to be awesome. 

The office told me that Karina got married and baptized last week! And so did Azuls cousin! I am pretty sure that I get more joy out of planting seeds than baptizing the person myself. Its just great to know that all of the hard work that we do as missionaries does pay off, even if we dont see the results when we want them immediately. 

Love you all! 

Argentina #56

Hello Everyone! How are you?! Freezing?! I am jealous of you guys because it is FREAKING HOT DOWN HERE IN THE PATAGONIA!!!!! I WANT TO DIE!!! I am not even exaggerating. Thursday and Friday it got up tp 107 degrees Farenheit in Centenario. And at night, It only lowered to  about 95. Luckily on Saturday it cooled off to 103. Then on Sunday during church it started raining like crazy for about 3 hours. Then the sun came out, and although it´s not quite as hot, it´s about 92 right now but there is a ton of humidity from the water. 

It´s been kind of funny. All of the floors here are tile, and so everytime that Hna. Mendieta and I kneel down to pray, we end and each have a puddle of sweat below us, and we slip trying to get up. And popsicles don´t exist here, so we freeze juice in icecube trays.  And sleeping is impossible. And everytime we need a moment of relief from the heat, we stick our heads in the freezer. And we have two more months of summer. It´s gonna be interesting! Definitely memorable. I am so grateful that I was born in a place where everything has air conditioning. 

But, in spite of this horrible week, it´s been a great week! because David got baptized on Saturday! And President Lovell came to the baptism! And the Centenario Ward choir had it´s first performance ever for the Baptism. Yep, I started a choir in Centenario. They sing terribly (a bit shocking after being in Limay), but they are so excited to have a ward choir, so it´s ok. It was just a really wonderful day. And David was so smiley, which is unusual for him.  Happy Happy Day. 

I love being a missionary so much! 

Hna. Sandorf

Argentina #55

Hello!

Oh my gosh! The sun is killing us! It´s normally about 95-100 here. Which may not seem like a lot, but when you think about how air conditioning doesn´t exist, and how we walk everywhere, it really is a lot. And they all say that this heat lasts until May. yay.

But it´s ok, because we are going to have a baptism this weekend! David, the 81 year old, is getting baptized this Saturday. It´s a huge miracle. We didn´t think we would have a baptism this transfer because it´s basically like we´re opening an area because there were NO investigators. Huge blessing and we are so grateful! And it´s amazing because David lived quite the life back when he was young. And actually his whole life. The water´s gonna be pretty full of sins afterward! haha but that is what is so beautiful about the gospel. A person can start a clean slate after 81 years. And God won´t remember a single sin. Incredible.

Another great experience was teaching the Plan of Salvation to a woman who lost her mom when she was 1, and since then, all of her siblings, her dad, and her husband. We read the first 5 verses in D&C 137 together to understand what the celestial kindgom is like, and we all ended up bawling. After about 10 minutes of crying. She told us, ¨I really hope to recieve the answer that what you´re teaching me is the truth¨ Huge breakthrough with her because she loved her Catholicism. 

Being a missionary is the coolest thing ever. I am so happy that I am here! 

Love, 

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #54 (December 31)

http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#new-years-look-not-behind-thee

Everyone should watch this video! Most of you have probably seen it! But I love it and never get sick of it! 

This week has been great! It was so good to talk to so many of you! haha mom I didn´t realize that I was talking slow at first! I was way proud of my English! 

So Christmas Eve we had a Family night with Familia Arce and the we ate the best dinner ever: A bunch of Salads, fire-cooked Lamb, and grilled chicken stuffed with ham, cheese, onions and carrots. Then we had a ton of desserts. My companion ate more that anyone else- More than either of the Elders or the dad haha. Best Christmas dinner of my life. Seriously! 

And, we finally have some baptismal dates. On my first Sunday here, an man, David, came to church. He´s like 84, and he had had a baptismal date a few months ago but there were a few commandments that he didn´t want to live so he decided to not be baptized. But he continued going to church every Sunday. So we decided to teach him again because if he is going to church, he has the desire to change. We went to his house, and come to find out, he´s been keeping these commandments for about 7 weeks now. We set a baptismal date with him for Jan 12. He really wants to be baptized and be rid of his sins, but he is a little nervous that after his baptism he´ll go back to being the way he way. But we keep promising him that with the Holy Ghost, it will be easier to keep the commandment. I am pretty sure he´ll be baptized the 12! We have another baptismal date with Ana, a woman in her 60s, but it is hard for her to quit praying to the Virgin. haha but she´s coming along nicely, but SLOWLY. 

I hope everyone has a happy new Year! We will be eating dinner with Familia Flores, and then tomorrow our zone is going to get together to choripan. Yummy! 

I can´t believe how fast this year went by! I am a little bit sad to start 2013. I just spent 1 complete year being a missionary, being a representative of Jesus Christ. It can´t get better than that. But that is why I have watched the video I posted above many times. It helps me know that there is always something better ahead. Always. 

¡¡¡¡¡¡FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!!!!!

Hermana Sandorf