Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a rainy last couple of days. The weather is so weird. For a week we had super hot weather, and no airconditioning so we had to open the windows to get a breeze. At night it was not much fun because I have a hard time sleeping when I am hot. Then a storm blew in and it rained so much. It has been consistent rain since Wednesday. I love storms so I was excited but it is starting to dull because we have to be out all day in the rain. I like rainy days when you can cuddle up in a blanket and play games with your family not when we have to brave the storms. Also alot of people dont come out of their houses when it rains and they sleep alot, so we have trouble working with them. Every night Hermana Gordillo and I say 3-6 things that were tender mercies for us that day. Sometimes it is hard and sometiems it is easy but we can always find them. The Lord does love us. 

My list for this week

1. Storms!

2. Held a frog today, I wish I had a picture but my camera is out of battery :(

3. One of our contacts last week did not live in our area but we gave her address to the elders and they are teaching her and she came to church!!! That is a big accomplishment!

4. I had to drink this malta stuff. It is like mormon coffee. Gross. I only drank half a cup and then my companion was nice enough to drink the rest. 

5. We eat almost everyday for lunch at members houses, but sometimes we eat at our apartment when the appointment falls through. I actually really like it. It makes it feel like home. 

6. I have been in some interesting bathrooms, I dont want to say they are the worst n the world because I have not seen all of them in the world but yeah.

7. We sing a hymn in every lesson, it is actually really cool and the people dont really think it is super weird. One cool experience was with Hope of Isreal in spanish is Juventud de Israel or Youth of Israel. I had never realized that song was about youth. Maybe I was oblivious but I was able to share with a 9 year old girl named Yuliana that la esperanza es en la juventud. It is true, the next generation is where the hope is that we will pull people out of the darkness.

8. More and more I feel like I am fighting a war against the evils of the world. Not that I dont have my problems with disobedience but the things we teach can change their lives, only if they DO them. 

9. For service every week there is this huge mountain of dirt that we are moving. It is hard work but it is good. The elders help and we make a little more progress each week.

10. It is weird that people can tell I am from the united states, a lot of the people here look like they could be from the united states but I dont look like I could be from here. It is interesting, sometimes it is fun but sometimes people are annoying and I am not willing to put up with them :) Oh well. 

11. My spanish is getting better every week, I hope.

12. There are so many inactive members of the church here. We have over 1000 people in our ward boundaries and less than 100 come to church. It is so frustating. We now spend the majority our time working with them. My companion says that it is like when they get baptized they get put into a bag that has so many holes that they slip out. We are working on plugging the holes and fortifying our ward. 

My testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has expanded so much. I think I understand a little more how Jesus felt when I was like I dont want to go to church or read my scriptures today. He was probably saying, you know what is good for you so why wont you do it? I find so much joy though when people do come or they have read. The culture here is that they believe in Jesus Christ but that belief doesnt cause them to do anything different. People dont really like them to change but our message is one of change. Repentance requires us to change. I am learning that as I am changing my life and helping others change their lives as well. Also don't please dont let a week go by that you dont help the missionaries in some way. You dont have to be scared to have to missionaries over and have them teach your friends. Just tell your friends that you care about them and this is something that makes you happy and invite them. We can only invite as Jesus does. He cannot make us do anything, read, pray or attend church, He can only invite like it says in Alma 5.

I love you all and I am chugging forward,

Krista

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you all for your sincere and loving letters. I have loved Reading them and laughing and smiling. There are a lot of things I have to adjust to here and it has been hard. One thing I have found more and more is that my love for the scriptures has increased. When I am tired, hungry, impatient I can find alot of comfort in the book of mormon. One thing that is difficult is that my companion loves to give super super long prayers, like 20-30 min long prayers. on our knees. I am not used to that, and it hurts my knees. She is nice but she doesnt like to change things that she does. There are good times so I am working with her to love the good times.

My list for Salto (My área, Cerro 1)

1. There are so many motorcycles/dirtbikes here. Everyone drives them. The old grandmas and the 7 year olds. Apparently it is cheaper than a car. I went from only seeing motorcyles with men and serioius bikers to everyone. It is a Little different.

2. Alot of things are broken in our apartment (the bathroom mirror, the toilet flushing knob, window, most of the lightbulbs. Also the my companion and her past companion did not clean much or very thourougly so it is kind of gross. Like moldy shower curtain Gross

3. My comapnion is a perfectionist and that is a Little trying sometimes. She wants to help me so much though, it is a Little frustrating.

4. Finally had a meal I didnt like. Like a meat pie with olives and onions and stuff. But I ate it all. Then Hermana Silvia asked me if I liked peaches and I said "Los siento, no) She gave me an orange, but Hermana Gordillo said she may have been ofended. I dont know, she asked me if I liked it.

5. Realizing that you cant translate straight into spanish from english, some things just are not said the way they are in spanish. Oh it is also really great that they want me to learn spanish but language study each day is always the first thing to go.

6. I have learned not to judge a house by the outside. Most of the houses here look like nothing but they are actually prettier on the inside.

7. There are alot of innactive members here in Salto. Like all of them. We go looking for new investigators and find out that they are actually members already but have fallen away. I studied at BYU Family Science and I just see how and why these families have so many problems. We want to help them. All the families want peace and happiness but they are not willing to do anything to have that peace and happiness. They are not willing to pray with their families and teach them the góspel or come to church.

8. One inactive man we went to visit was this big black man that was really scary. He and his mom. Apparently he was baptized but I am not sure how converted he was to the góspel. He smoked 3 cigarettes while we were there. And he kept quoting scriptures about Satan. I dont really know. It was weird. That was a weird day.

9. It was cold for a couple days when I got here but it has warmed up considerably. And the locals say this is nothing and it goes until March or may. I dont know if I will survive. AHHH. I am sweating buckets.

10. I want to wish my lovely sister Angela a very Happy Birthday. I know this is after her birthday but I am thinking about her. I love you.

11. My companion is fairly new, she has been on her misión for 3 months. Sometimes, I dont agree with what she wants to do or how she does things. And even though we both speak english, she is by no means a native english speaker and sometimes when I am explaining something she doesnt understand. I can tell by what she says after I finish. I dont think I have ever had a friend that was from a different culture/language and it is difficult. Communication.

I think that is the end of my list. We are working with a couple investigators that are progressing so that is exciting. Carlos needs to get divorced so he can get married to the woman that he is with before he can be baptized. Aparently that takes a long time here. But he wants to and is really ready. Two sisters we are teaching are not very diligent in their learning about the góspel. We found a family that we are going to teach as well. I dont know how receptive they will be. The father is an inactive member but the rest of the family has never Heard about it. They are going through some financial difficluties.

On sunday, my second. I guess they didnt have enough speakers so they asked the missionaires to speak. At first they said just two, so my comapnin and one of the elders. But then they said they wanted us all to speak for 5 min each. I was like "Are you kidding me" I have talks that I have written but they were at home because I had no notice in advance. So I am trying to find a scripture and I chose Alma 32 about the seed which is the góspel. Later in the chapter it talks about the result of the seed. It mentions that we  need to have faith, patience and diligence to nourish the seed. I know that a lot of people have faith and maybe patience. But how many have diligence. Nosotros necesitamos tener diligencia. Yo se esta dificile pero El Senor pedir nos hacer dificile cosas. Como mi mensaje en extrajero país en mi segundo domingo. Pero este es posible. Yo testificar. En el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen

But then my comapnion took up all the time. so no I didnt give it but I was confident and happy with what I prepared. Which was a big step for me.

I will finish with my testimony that I know the Lord lives and He has promised to help me do all the things I need to here.

Love you all,

Krista

My picture

1. my district at the ccm. I love them. They were my brothers!

2. My companion in the ccm. Hermana Nielson. Looking back I love her more and more.

3. My comapnion now, Hermana Gordillo. She is from Guatemala and loves oatmeal.

More pictures next week!