Dear Family and Friends of Mine!

I am happy to write to you on this very rainy day in Salto, Uruguay. I was actually kind of hoping to change areas this transfer but I am here at least for another 6 weeks! I know that this assignment is from God so I am going to be okay and I have a new companion Hermana Christiansen. I havent met her yet but I hope she is awesome. Although I am staying I will have a new companion and my companion (Hermana Nielson) from the ccm is being transferred to salto and is going to be companions with Hermana Petien. I missed Hermana Nielson so I am happy that I will get to see her again. I guess I would have been sad too if I was transfered out of Salto right when Hmna Nielson was transfered here. haha.

I had some setbacks this week. We had temporary companions from the young women in Obelisco for a day. It was nice of them to come. I was a little overwhelmed to be in charge of what we were going to teach and where to go but that went alright. The problem was that my spanish is not very good. I have been working on it and Hna Gordillo and I make an effort to speak only spanish outside the house. I thought it was getting better and I felt more confident about speaking. I think that my companion for the day was trying to be helpful but she would repeat what I would say in better spanish to the members or investigators and I felt a little sad. The worst part was when she would joke about how she couldnt understand anything with some of the members. I felt so tired and useless. I cant really argue with her or anything so I just smiled and prayed that the day would be over soon. That morning at church we had given talks in sacrament meeting, mine was about the atonement and hna gordillos about the love of God. When hermana gordillo told people that she was leaving and that I was staying and Hermana Christiansen was coming, they were all like "I hope she can speak better spanish because we cant understand Hna Beatie at all" Well isn't that a nice compliment. My language problems are a weakness for me and kind of tender. I just felt like everytime someone would ask about Hna Christiansens spanish or laugh about how they couldnt understand me I felt like they were stabbing me in the back. I know what I need to do but it sure is hard huh? It is easy to teach others about forgiveness but it is another thing to have to do it yourself when your heart hurts. Well I am working on it and I hope to love this people once more. 

Everyday I have a better or at least different experience. Sunday night we took a bus to Montevideo which is 6 hours away. Hna Gordillo needed to visit the doctor there. We arrived on Monday morning and we thought we were going to be able to go to the temple but it turns out it was closed. I also loved being in montevideo! I am a city girl at heart so I loved it. We worked with the sisters in Flores and they were really nice to us. I was a little tired but the more people we talked to the more I felt the spirit and that we were helping people. 

The work here in Salto is slow and has some progress but in other places a decrease. We have this fairly new investigator Marcos. He doesnt have muscles in his legs and he is in his bed most to all the time. He is really honest and is progressing so well. Usually at the beginning of the lesson we ask our investigators who they want to say the opening prayer, he always says that he wants to say it! He has a wonderful heart and a great desire to learn and accept the doctrine but his body is weak.Sometimes I wish he could just change bodies. There is this idea that God doesnt have a body, he is only a spirit. He did have a problem one time with the fact that heavenly father is a man with flesh and bones and not just a spirit. I wasnt there for the next lesson because I was sick (I think the combinaiton of rain, not much sleep and stress and working hard was too much for my body and I was down for a day) but Hna Gordillo said that they taught him and he had a really spiritual experience about Heavenly Father. 

Apparently here at Christmas time the attendance at church goes down because people have parties and stuff. Our President asked us to think of ways that we can help. I guess I want to help by sharing the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior and the reason why he is our Savior. The atonement is the most wonderful event in the World!  Also I will share the promise to help people be focused on helping their friends come to know about the gospel. The promise from Elder Ballard from the last conference. He says"We are not asking everyone to do everything. We are simply asking all members to pray, knowing that if every member, young and old, will reach out to just “one” between now and Christmas, millions will feel the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a wonderful gift to the Savior." I love that last line, what a wonderful gift for Jesus Christ at His birthday. I invite you all to look up the talk by Elder M. Russell Ballard entitled Put your Trust in the Lord. 

Peace and Blessings to you and your family,

Hermana Beatie

Photos: Mi companera Hna Gordillo y Yo

Dear Friends and Family,

So I realize that I have been thinking rather negatively lately and I need to be more positive, so this is my positive letter.

I am in a ward with hermanas and elders and this last saturday we were planning to have a water balloon fight for the noche de hogar del barrio. I was really excited to plan it because it has been really hot and I wanted to do an activity that people would want to come to and have fun. Well the last week it rained most of the week and was cloudy. We prayed that the weather would change and we would have good weather for the activity and that people would come. We even made invitations and gave them to investigators and members. Well Saturday came and it rained in the morning but by evening it still was cloudy and drizzly. We were kind of sad because we worked on spreading the news and promoting this activity and we thought no one would come. It started out small but by the time we started the mtg there was a good group. Hermana Gordillo had a great idea to share the mormon message about service from President Monson and then do a service project together: cleaning the church. We didnt know how it was going to go but we did it. People didnt leave! Not everyone helped a lot but they all stayed. At the end we took a picture and had food. We had so many people that we needed more food, the elders went and bought one of those fake pizzas. Anyway this experience helped me to recognize that people want to serve and sometimes they need a little push. I used to get frustrated with my mom in her calling because she would always ask people to do things that I knew they didnt really want to. It is amazing to me to hear that they all are thankful for the opportunity to serve afterwards but sometimes they need to be helped to serve. I am thankful for Hermana Gordillo and this great opportunity to serve, I know that the water balloon fight would have been fun but there is no better way to bring people together than service. I hope we continue to have better weather and so can have the fight this saturday.

Hermana Gordillo makes this cake in the microwave in 8 minutes, it is good but it is always a little dry. So we didnt have anyone to eat lunch with this week so we decided to have cake for lunch. I wanted to try to make it with a smashed banana inside and bananas on the top with dulce de leche. It was heaven! We just so happened to have a senior couple missionaries come to our apartment to do cleaning checks and we shared it with them. It was great and they loved it and wanted to the recipe.

We teach this one less active woman whose name is Laura. Laura is sweet and old and has trouble hearing. During our lessons we have to speak really loud in her one ear that works to have her understand. She is sweet but loves to talk as well so it is kind of hard to have a lesson. I dont know what is wrong with me but everytime someone talks to her really loud I start laughing. I am able to laugh without making much sound but it probably isnt very reverant. Anyway I take it as a blessing to be able to have a good laugh :) Just thinking about it makes me smile. haha

Yesterday at church was so good, we had 92 people in the chapel for sacrament meeting. After the sacrament some people left but overall they stayed. I was so happy. We also had one of the families that is less active and we have been teaching came to church with their family to have their new baby blessed. I think one of the reasons people were on their best behaviors was because we had company. I wish we could be like that every week. Not everything is better but this last week the spirit was definitely there.

We have had some troubles with one of our investigators. She is 15 and was our one investigator with a baptismal date and progressing. This week she and her mom and 3 siblings left and moved to another place in town. It was all sudden people have different stories about what happened or what is the truth. It is hard to know what to do or say. We had really come to love their family and the rest of the family is still here and a little hurt by their actions. There are some accusations of her father and her having a relationship and that is why he is in jail. We are trying to just show how the gospel of Jesus Christ can help everyone. We are also sad that she is not in our area anymore. We were trying to help her have a testimony of the gospel and not just be friends with us so I am not sure if she will continue searching for the truth. One thing that breaks my heart is that her little sister that is with them, she was my first baptism here. She is sweet and diligent when others in her family are not. They left so quickly that Yennifer, little sister, didnt take her book of mormon. I know that it would help so much in this time of dificulty but she doesnt have it.

Every morning we study and it goes by so quickly. I wish we could do more in less time. We have good intentions to practice the lessons but it takes me a long time to figure out what I want to say. We are getting better, though, I think at asking inspired questions. We have been giving the restoration lesson to all of our recent converts and less active people and it is really good. Alot of times people dont remember simple things like what a prophet is or what the priesthood is. I guess after you dont go to church for a while you start to lose the knowledge that you gain. I am glad for the opportunity to share the restoration.
.
Love,
Krista

ps. these pictures are of my apartment. when I first got here I thought that it was terrible and a ghetto apartment. Then we have people say that it is so nice. I really dont know. Maybe I will send the picture of the bathroon next week! Be excited :)