Argentina #53

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!! FELICES FIESTAS!!!! 

Where in the heck has this year gone?! I have no clue!

So this is what happened this week:

We started our plan to gain the confidence of the members. We also knocked a bajillion doors. And e found a Family to teach! And they are really sweet. We´ll see what happens with them. It kind of boosted our spirits a lot! 

Then the office called me saying that Hna. Cedro, the choir director of Limay, and my favorite person ever, asked President Lovell if I could come back and sing in the Limay ward activity and in the Stake activity. He said yes! I was way excited!

So Saturday in the early morning we had to go to the Neuquén Oeste stake center. We had interviews and a mini zone conference. Then we went back to Centenario and we participated in the Ward Nativity Scene as Nephites (it included both continents waiting for the birth of the Savior) and the choir. And then the APs picked us up and took us to Limay! And it felt like I hadn´t been there forever! The reunions between me and Hna. Santiago and Hna. Cedro were so happy! And so we sang 5 songs in the Christmas program. It was a beautiful program. President even went to it and was so complimentary and told me he was happy to let me sing in Limay. When you think about how we are at the end of the world where no one has much music training, the ward choir is a miracle! That night I went back to Centenario super happy! 

Sunday we went to church, then we ate asado with a family, and then we took a bus to Neuquén to sing in the Stake concert in the center of the City. And we were with the whole Neuquén Zone, all of the missionaries that are my friends. And we only sang a little bit in this because it started late and we couldn´t miss our curfew. The Cedros took us home and we had a sad little goodbye at the end. Hno. Cedro said that I am his favorite missionary ever! And he has known a lot, so that was a huge compliment haha. 

Fetch I love Limay! Expecially after seeing how Centenario is. But I am happy to be hear! We are seeing miracles, slowly but surely. 

So now we have pday until tomorrow at 9:30 pm. And we can be out until 11:30 tonight, and we don´t have to go to bed until 12:30, and we can get up at 9:30 am tomorrow! The thing is that here Christmas is the 24th starting at about 8 pm, and all of the celebrations happen at midnight, and tommorow every one sleeps so we would miss any kind of celebration if we had normal hours. We are going to spend the evening with Familia Arce, the dad is first counselor in the Bishopric. 

I love you all and I hope you have a merry Christmas! Talk to you tomorrow! 

Hna. Bretleigh Sandorf

Argentina #52

Hello! How is everyone! 

So I will be emailing you next week (24 December) to tell you at what time to call me the 25, and the number. I think the Zone is going to have a party, so I am not sure at what time I will be in the Church awaiting your call. 

This week has been a little tough. It was so so so hard for me to leave Limay. And leaving Hna. Santiago was way hard! we bawled when we said goodbye! And I haven´t cried since Hna Arcos and I parted in Pico Truncado. And heading to my new area I was so nervous!!! More nervous that when I entered the MTC, I think! I just hadn´t changed areas in so long and didn´t know what it was going to be like.

This is what Centenario is like. There are 4 missionaries for the City, and one ward. It is by far the largest area I have ever had. It has a lot of orchards outside of the city. It is famous for its apples, peaches, pears, apricots, and plums. They export apples to all sorts of places. The fruit here is way good! And i don´t really even like fruit! 

The ward is nothing like limay. I expected all of the members to be like ¨Welcome, Hermana! My name is...and this is my family.¨That did not happen. Almost no one even acknowleged our presence. Which is weird because in Argentina every one has to greet ALL of the people in the room with a kiss on the cheek. No one talked to us. Hna Mendieta has only been here for 6 weeks and so she doesn´t know anyone, and there are not really any investigators here. And we heard that the members lost the trust of the missionaries a while back, so we have come here to change that. So Hna. Mendieta and I decided that we are going to win the hearts of the ward, and help them get excited to work with us. We are going to the houses of all of the people in the ward list to sing a christmas song, share a Christmas message, get to know them, offer our help, invite them to the ward activity, and ask for refferrals. It´s going ok. It is just going to take a while to change things. 

So today I was reading the Christmas story in Luke. When the Angel announces the birth of Christ to the shepherds, he uses a few key phrases. ¨Good tidings of great joy¨and ¨On the earth, peace¨I was thinking about how without Christ, we can´t have true joy or peace. He is the source of both. My appreciation for Christmas has changed dramamtically here. Last year, I was so sad and lonely and hated Pico Truncado and thought my heart would break with sadness. I had never been more grateful for the birth of Our Savior more than in that Christmas. This Christmas, I am happy and have seen many miracles, and I also remember what I learned last year, and I am even MORE grateful for Jesus Christ than I was last year. Here, they don´t really do too much to celebrate christmas, so I have really had time to think about the meaning of Christmas. I know Jesus Christ lives, and that He suffered for me so that I can find peace in times of trial, and so that I can repent and change my human nature a little bit every day. I am humbled that He has entrusted me with His brothers and sisters, and has allowed me to represent Him here in Argentina. I can´t think of a better way to be spending this time in my life. 

I love you all and hope that you all have a great holiday. I will let you know next week at what time we´ll be talking! 

You know what I ´ve been singing a lot lately in my head? Christmas Carol, obviously! It´s the only musical that I allow myself to sing in the mission (but obviously only at Christmas time). The message of that story is amazing! it´s what finalized my decision to serve a mission. I hope you all go see Breanna in it! 

God bless us, everyone! 

haha love that show. 

Hna. Bretleigh Sandorf

Argentina #51

Hello Everyone! How are you! I am great! I am just feeling the Christmas Spirit in 100 degrees heat!

So this was my last week in Limay! I didn´t cry saying goodbye to anyone. I just held it in each time, but last night my heart literally was hurting from holding everything all in, and when we got home I cried for hours. 

So I am heading to Centenario! It is still in the Province Neuquén, about 20 minutes away from Neuquén City. I only have to take a taxi to my new area! Way different from last time! haha My companion is Hna. Mendieta from Buenos Aires. She is starting her 4th transfer in the mission. I am excited to have a little change in the routine, but really I am going to miss Limay sooo much! 

We had Stake Conference on Sunday, and Juan Carlos said the opening prayer! And he was sustained to recieve the Melchesidec (how is it spelled in English?) Priesthood. 

When I said goodbye to Karina, she wrote in my journal, and said, among other things ¨When I met you, my life changed. I am happier than I have ever been. Thank you for showing me the Beauty of Church and the Book of Mormon.¨ Those few sentences alone make my entire mission worth it. I love being a missionary! It is the Best! 

Also, I ate 2 asados this week! So yummy! 

Love you All

Hermana Sandorf

Argentina #50 (December 6, 2012)

Hello Everyone! How are you all doing! I am doing great! And I was happy to get lots of letters this week from the Woottons, Eldredge manor, and Hna. Arcos and Hna. Cruz. Sorry that I am bad at writing letters back. It´s just not something that I enjoy doing. 

So this week has been great! Really we are seeing a lot of miracles. Eva, Azul´s mom, comes to church all the time now with Azul, and she wants to get baptized. But she has to get married or separated, so we will see how that goes. She doesn´t know which she would prefer to do....

Yesterday I bore my testimony in Limay for the last time (Next week is Stake Conference). I cried and cried and cried. It is basically killing me. But I know that I have done the best I could here and Hna. Santiago is awesome and I am not worried about how she´ll do. I am more nervous to know where I will be for Christmas! haha I already spent last christmas at the end of the world with Gypsies, so I am prepared for anything. 

I played the piano for a baptism the other day. I played ¨The Spirit of God¨¨, Ï know that my Reedemer Lives¨and ¨Nearer my God, to thee¨. The first one was pretty hard, so I just played mostly right hand but no one here knows any thing about music so it is ok!¨

I was saving the best news for last....but know I can´t remember what it was...hehe sorry. My memory worsens every day....nope. Can´t remember. 

Ok, I love you all and am praying for you! Tell Lena and her family that they are in my thoughts and prayers. And the Muirs also. How sad. But we will all be together again so it´s ok!

Have a great week. 

Argentina #49

Hello! How are you all?! How was Thanksgiving?! Mine was good....the member who was going to give us lunch canceled and we didn´t have money or food in our fridge. My companion knew that I would be super sad eating nothing on thanksgiving, so she called the Elders from the office and asked them where they were eating, and if we could join them. And they said yes. So we ate at the house of a member in their ward, and she was the sweetest lady and cooked way yummy food- Milanesa and mashed potatoes! So that is what I did for Thanksgiving. 

Karina is getting everything ready to get married. She´ll be getting married shortly after I leave the area. But it´s ok! I feel happy that I could help her! She is one of my favorite investigators of all time!  

One of investigators quit smoking out of the blue. We hadn´t taught her word of wisdom or anything, she just quit on her own. We are super excited! We were worried about how she was going to handle the word of wisdom, but hopefully now she doesn´t have other addictions.  

Transfers are in two weeks. I am ready to go. There is no way that I will be here another transfer. So I am trying to get everything organized in the area for Hna. Santiago and her new companion by telling her everything I know about Limay. Having spent 9 months here, I know lots of secrets and how to get the ward members to help us and stuff like that. But it will be so good for the ward to have a different missionary. I would be so sick of me if I were them. But Hna. Cedro told me that she is going to call President Lovell if I can stay one more transfer because she wants me to be there for Christmas to sing in the ward activity. Haha not happening.

Um....That is about it. I love you all! Have a good week!

Hna. Sandorf

Argentina #48

Hello Everyone! How are you?! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!! Even though it doesn´t exist here! Hna. Santiago and I cut out turkeys and wrote on the feathers the things we are grateful for. And I have been sharing a scripture about gratitude in lunch with the members. That´s about it! I was just thinking about Thanksgiving last year in the MTC! it was awesome! I can´t believe how fast time is flying by! It is scaring me!

 

It is starting to get pretty hot. We are in the 90s a lot of the time and summer hasn´t even started yet.

 

This week I went to Bariloche again! It´s soooo pretty! And I bought chocolates. And a couple souvenirs. I love that place so much.

 

We also had Zone Conference. It was awesome! We sang ¨Abide with me tis Eventide¨ in an octet. It went pretty well.

 

And most importantly, Azul was baptized on Sunday! She was so happy! And we were too! It was a very special day. I am so grateful for the miracles that I have been able to witness in the mission. And there are more to come!

 

Also, Today we were in the grocery store, and a woman came up to us and told us that she had been baptized as a little girl, and that she needed us to visit her because she wanted to come back and be part of the church.

 

I am so happy! I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! I hope you remember how to make stuffed mushrooms without me there. And, I hope you realized just how blessed we are (actually, more like YOU all are. I don´t have these things at this moment) to have a big house, cars, maple syrup, peanut butter, washing machines, air conditioning, ipods and of course, THE GOSPEL!!!  We are so blessed!

 

 

Love you all!

 

Hermana Bretleigh Sandorf

I love you all!

November 12, 2012

Hello everyone!

 

As usual, I don´t have time! And I don´t really have much to say either. But Azul, an investigator, will be getting baptized this weekend! We are excited and so is she. Huge blessing!

 

Our new Bishop is awesome! Limay hasn´t had a bishop for 9 months, so there is a lot to do! He was an MTC teacher and so he loves Missionary Work! But the Relief Society had a HUGE drama this week, and of course every woman in the ward has talked to us about it. They expect us to solve the problem, but we are missionaries. We can´t to anything except share a scripture. And also we laugh at them behind their backs because they are all crazy old ladies and we love it. Argentines are super dramatic and they take everything badly, and they don´t easily forgive. And so now the sisters are all against each other. ugh. But it will all work out. It´s been pretty entertaining.

 

That is about it! Sorry that I never have much to tell you. I will just have to share my journal with you all one day. I know that a lot of stuff happens, I just never remember when I am at the computer.

 

Love you all! Have a great week!

 

Hna. Sandorf