Hola, Merry Christmas! (12/28/15)

HOLA merry christmas, 

so guess what. 

this week my email will be horrible because I am sitting at a stupid computer that just DELETED MY WHOLE EMAIL! I SPENT HALF HOUR WRITING IT AND IT DELETED IT!! ughhhh. 

okay, so this week was LONG. It was also awesome. Have I mentioned that its like 300 degrees here and the humitity is killing me?

Christmas night i got heat stroke and I have been puking for 3 days. Its okay, I will be fine. Lets just hope the heat doesnt kill me before i get home. I promise you, I will get off the plane and go straight to do snow angles in the snow... I CANNOTT TAKE THIS HEAT. 

Okay, i am done being negative haha

Now the happy things. 

THis week was full of miracles. We made the goal to double our contacts. We normally talk to 50-80 people a week and this week we talked to more than 150! Alot werent very interested but we have 16 that told us that we could come by and teach them! whooohooo!

Christmas was fun. We had a sleepover with 4 other missionaries and it was very fun. We were able to focus on the savior and the true meaning of christmas. 

We did an activity with the youth this week and we gave away books of mormon! 62!! they all loved it. We wrapped them up with wrapping paper and we went out and gave them away! It was an awesome experience. I love it when people can see that missionary work is fun! Its not hard, we just have to love people and share the gospel because we love them!! 

A member gave me a watermellon for christmas. I am happy. 

I am sweating SO MUCH in this internet cafe and I am SOO ready for snow! haha But, i am going to keep working hard and going strong till the end. I know this church is true and I know that all the people need to know about the savior and thats why i will keep going! Even though its hot and im tired, ILL KEEP GOING! 

I hope we can all make some goals this new years to be more like the savior. 

Hes the best role model and he will teach us all we need to know! 

I LOVE you all! 

1. santa brought me a watermelon!

2. We had a white elephant party and guess what I gave, a dead cockroach in a jar whoohoo

3. Hermana Colocimo!

4. Our christmas gifts

MERRY NAVIDAD! (12/21/15)

HEY HEY HEY! 

merry christmas

happy navidad!

feliz christmas!

WHOOHOO!its 100 degrees here and it feels like the fourth of july but OH WELL!

This week was LONG. it was interesting as well but we saw a LOT of miracles and the lord is helping us so much! 

Skye send me an awesome talk called Finishers Wanted. It helped me so much. The lord DOES NOT WANT QUITTERS! he wants people who will endure to the end. My goal is to return from the mission with Honor but not just the mission, ALSO to the presence of my heavenly father! WE ALL NEED TO ENDURE TO THE END OKAY!

We found 2 new investigators this week and it was AWESOME! We went to do a family home evening with a less active and we told her she should invite her friends. SOO she invited her grandson and her neighbor AND THE LOVED IT! we taught the restoration and they accepted baptism dates!

Our ward mission leader decided this week he was not going to be our mission leader anymore. He asked to be released. So we are now in charge of everything.. I should be used to it since i´ve never had a ward mission leader until this ward! hahah 

This week we were EVERYWHERE! On tuesday, we had to teach a class in zone meeting about contacting references, on wednesday we had to teach all the district leaders of the mission how to work with the sister training leaders, thursday we went from appointment to appointment and we literally were RUNNING, catching buses, trying to be everywhere at the same time! Friday same story and on saturday we took our investigator daniela to get ice cream and we had a heart to heart. BASICALLY her father told her she cannot go to church anymore. SO she ran away!! We had no contact with her in a week and she told us that now shes living with her dad again but that he wants nothing to do with the church. UGHHH shes the perfect investigator and she wants to be baptized SOOO badly but she doesnt want to disappoint her dad. Shes 18 and can make her own decisions but we told her to fast and pray and follow the counsel of the lord. 

ALSO, maria rosa, our 75 year old investigator is doing awesome. Shes progressing and she will probably be baptized in January! WHOOHOO!

ALSOOO, we found a whole family from venezuela that ARE GOLDEN! they are here till february and they LOVE everything we have taught. They are just so awesome. 

This week we made the goal to talk to over 200 people using our A savior was born cards so that EVERYONE can think about christ this christmas. I LOVE LOVE LOVE christmas when its centered in christ. Yesterday Bishop gave a talk in sacrament meeting and he shared a conversation that I ahd with him. He asked me what would I like for christmas if i could have anything (he has a son in the mission and they didnt know what to send) I said, I would give anything for my moms sugar cookies and to smell the smell of my house. He shared that and said, We should all simplify our christmas season. The little things like hugs and cookies and TIME are the best gifts we can give. I am sad I wont be home for christmas but the 2 more important things in my life are the gospel and my family. I can give one more christmas to christ, and i know he will give me the rest of eternity with my family. 

Dont eat too much raspberry cream pie & I´ll talk to you fools on friday!

LOVE YOU!

Last Transfer!! Here we go! (12/14/15)

hey hey hey! 

guess what!

MY LAST TRANSFER! AND IM IN.. 

BANFIELD 1 WITH HERMANA SILVIA! We didnt have transfers and we are PUMPED. 

Also, its so hot that I CANNOT EVEN HANDLE IT! 

It was 100 degrees and like 100 perfect humidity! 

I HATE HEAT. 

AND we only have fans that blow around hot air. My life is SOOOO awesome!

This week we WORKED. 

We have been talking to everyone about christmas and sharing the A savior is born card with ALL! Everyone is happier around christmas time. We did an awesome zone activity this week and we went to Lomas de Zamora (which is like New york city times square) and we SANG CHRISTMAS carols! It was AWESOME. It was like 100 degrees, we were all sweating, and we sang and lots of people stopped and we had 5 missionaries that went up and talked to people and got their addresses. Christmas is about CHRIST and i love helping people understand that!

This week I had exchanges with Hermana Flake. Shes one of my greatest friends here in the mission and she went home today! She finished the mission!! She really inspired me. I want to finish the mission with FIRE. I am working my hardest even though I am exhausted and my whole body hurts, the ONLY WAY we can be happy is if we are obedient and WORK hard! If the mission has taught me 2 things it is that, OBEDIENCE AND WORK MAKES FOR A HAPPY LIFE!

We had a little hard week because our golden investigator is not making the best of decisions this week. She basically just fell off the face of the earth. We have called and went to her house every day and her parents dont even know where she went. We were SO sad and we sat down on a bench in the street and stared to cry. She was SO close to being baptized and we said a prayer in the street and asked God what we needed to do. I opened up the Book of mormon to Moroni 7:41  And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say untoyou that ye shall have hope through the atonement ofChrist and the power of his resurrection, to be raised untolife eternal, and this because of your faith in him accordingto the promise.

I realized I NEED TO HAVE HOPE. I am a missionary of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints, I am sharing the most AMAZING message, WHY AM I CRYING! I got up and I told my companion, lets go. We dont have time to waste sitting down. There are people to find. We are talking to everyone and we are basically without investigators but I KNOW we will find them. I know that we will find the people god is preparing because we are doing our best to be obedient and follow the spirit. Thats ALL god asks of us!

Im ready for the BEST 6 WEEKS OF MY LIFE!

Love you all!

Happy birthday MOM!

Hermana Root

1. Today I saw my BEST FRIEND! Hermana Latoja!!! 

2. Happy birthday MOM!

3. Exchanges withHERMANA FLAKE!

4. On the bus!

5. ZONA BANFIELD!

hola hola hola hi (12/7/15)

WHERE DO I START.. 

what a week! 

the weeks just go by so fast. 

I feel like I am writing these weekly letters everyday!!!

Happy nineteen months in the mission to me! 19 months ago today I started this crazy adventure! And boy am I so thankful for it!! My comp and I are going to celebrate going to subway and waiting 100 pesos.. which is a lot of money! Thanks mom for sending us cash!! 

Lets start off with the investigators! Remember walter?? The difficult investigator, yeah well.. we started teaching him again! He was SUCH A HARD HEART! But, we had a stellar experience with him. He doesnt believe that there can be prophets on earth today and we read a talk with him explaining how in the old days, god called prophets and he gave them the priesthood to help and guide us. We asked him, Walter, do you think we dont need guidance from god now? and he said no we need it but no one is called of god in these days! And using the bible we were able to show him how god is the same TODAY AND FOREVER so we MUST have prophets!! He came to a ward activity this week and we have an appointment tonight! WE SHALL SEE!!

NEXT! We were walking down the street and we found a woman named maria rosa! SHES 70 and she wants to be baptized!!!!!! Its insane, she looks just like the woman off the golden girls. She went to church yesterday and has a baptism date for the 19th! Basically, shes the coolest grandma. And she calls me her little american! 

NEXT, daniela. Well, this week she finished high school and here in Buenos Aires they sure like to party. So she was planning on going to all of these parties and it just wasnt a good idea. It was going to be a HORRIBLE enviroment SO, my companion and I started to pray and pray and pray. We fasted as well so that she would not want to go to the party. GUESS WHAT! She got all ready and went on friday night. She got there and all of a sudden just felt angry and didnt want to be there SO SHE WENT HOME. THEN on saturday, she wanted to go to the next party AND SHE GOT SICK and started reading the book of mormon and decided to stay home!!!!!!!!!!! MIRACLES HAPPEN. She told us that she doesnt want to surround herself with those kinds of things anymore and she went to church yesterday and her baptism date is also for the 19th of diciembre! WHOOO!! 

Funny story, this week I got on the bus, and it was really full. The driver drove INSANE and slammed on the breaks and I fell and knocked over 3 more people. The whole bus stared at me and I felt really stupid. 

Also we are teaching a family and they asked me, Hermana Root, what do you want for christmas? And I answered, Watermelon. Because watermelon is SOOO expensive here. 150 pesos!! And my companion wants a box of trix cereal which is 70 pesos. Who would have ever thought that I would want a watermelon for christmas. 

This week I had exchanges with Hermana Patiño from California. Shes so sweet! She is just starting her mission and it made me think about when I started mine. I have grown so much and I wouldnt trade it for the world. 

We had Leadership Council this week and I just cant believe how fast the months are going by. Hermana Thurgood talked about a talk from Elder Renlund that says that something special happens in a missionaries life when they realize their mission isnt about them. I thought about this quote all week. Its not just the mission, this applies to live. SOmething special happens in our lives when we realize that HEAVENLY FATHER gave us our lives, its really not ours. We owe it to him and we should do all we can to serve him. 

Other than that, I am doing great. This week is the end of this transfer and we are praying that we stay together, Hermana Silva and I! 

UGHH MY LAST TRANSFER! 

I LOVE THE MISSION!

& i love jesus and I love all of you!

LES AMO!

1. Consejo de liderazgo!

2. Exchanges with Hermana Patiño

3. My companion and I have the same cumple mes! She started May 7th too and today she completed 7 months and me 19!

oh ya family, i like ketchup now! 

4. A savior was born so I could have an eternal family!

Another Week Down! (11/30/15)

Hey hey familia, how are you doing? I loved all the pictures of thanksgiving! I am so jealous. Seeing the pictures of green jello and soup made me want to cry. I WANT REAL FOOD. I WANT AMERICAN FOOD! We are going to have another thanksgiving dinner when I get home okay?

This week was fantastic but also very trying. The lord is trying our patience right now. Banfield is a fabulous area. We are working hard and being very diligent but, not everything happens in our time. We are looking for new investigators and we are TALKING TO EVERYONE. But, the people are getting more and more hard of heart. BUT we know that the Lord is preparing people to hear our message, we just have to find them!

We did have some great miracles this week! FIRST OFF. One day we were walking down the street and we told 2 women hi. They looked at us and said Are you jehovas witnesses? and we were like NO! we are missionaries of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints! We then started talking and one was a less active and the other was named Sandra. She has been fighting depression and feels like god doesnt have a plan for her! So we started sharing with her a little part of our message and shes like, this week I will be out of town but next week please come by. I want to hear what you have to say. I have a good feeling about you girls!!!!! WHOOOOO! SO this week we are going to teach sandra and I have a great feeling about this one!

ANOTHER miracle was that we were walking down the street, and said hi to another woman, and said why are you telling me hi, you dont know me? And we quickly answered and said we are happy because we know god loves us and has restored his church, so we talk to all the people!! And we know he loves you too! The woman started to cry and told us she had just lost a son, shes from italy, and feels like she has no purpose. SHE ALSO gaves us her address!!!!!!! The lord is putting the people in our path. Just by saying hello, you can share the gospel!

Bad news, Daniela the perfect investigator? Remember her? Yeah well she isnt SOOO perfect. Shes finishing school this week so she has been partying and doing what 18 year olds do when they finish school and she didnt go to church again... SOO her baptism wont be until the 19th of december. But, oh well. Lets just hope we can help her see that the gospel is the MOST important thing in the whole world! 

MIRACLE! WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK and it was soooo awesome. I loved every second of it. You can feel the spirit so strong in the house of the lord. I know that temples are the house of God. If you dont believe me, go and step on any temples grounds and you will the peace!! 

We had a zone conference that really motivated me. This work is the hardest work on earth, but its worth it. i LOVE being a missionary and even though every day people yell things at us and slam the door in our face, we will keep going because we know this is the truth and we know it can change peoples lives. 

All of you need to watch this, 

https://www.mormon.org/christmas

and share it on facebook! instagram! twitter! 

LET EVERYONE SEE IT!

I love you all! I miss you a lot, but I am so thankful for you. 

I´ll see you all soo soon. 

Besos y abrazos!

Hermana Root

FELIZ DIA DE GRACIAS! (11/23/15)

HOLA FAMILIA! 

well, happy thanksgiving!!! thanksgiving isnt a thing here so I hope you all eat a lot for me. I want grandmas gravy and moms pie, save some for me. Just 9 more weeks and I cant eat REAL AMERICAN FOOD. 

I am thankful for you all and I am sad I wont be there but also, i am so grateful that I am here in Beautiful Argentina serving the lord. Of all the things that I am grateful for this year, I think my mission and my savior would have to be at the top of my list. 

This week was LONG. we are in the search of new investigators but we had 2 miracles this week....2 BAPTISMS!!! Yes, Dionella and Thiago got baptized. It was so awesome. They are 2 little kids that have such strong testimonies. Their baptism was beautiful and I just was filled with so much love. You cannot express the love you feel when you see your investigators be baptized. I am just a tool in the lords hands and I am so grateful he gave me the opportunity to teach this wonderful family. The mom is going to get baptized soon and the dad didnt want anything to do with us, but during the baptism he felt the spirit and afterwards he told me, Hermana Root, i have never felt so much peace in my life. Maybe I do want to listen to what you girls have to say. WHOOOOOO! 

ALSO, I had exchanges with Hermana Padilla who is from Argentina. She is so sweet but she was so overwhelmed. Shes new to the mission and she has a hard time talking to people so the whole day we basically just contacted so she could get some practice and so I could help her get over this fear. I remember when I was so nervous to talk to people and now I just naturally talk! It just took me 18 months to learn it! haha

I had some very spiritual experiences this week during some contacts that we did. The Argentine people are so wonderful, but there are many who are VERY set in their ways. Many have false ideas about our church and our doctrine and this week we knocked on a womans door and she told us that our church was just a brainwashing system from America that made us believe in everything but Jesus Christ. She told us she didnt like modern religions. As everyone knows, I HATE CONTENTION! haha but this time I was able to tell this woman that our church is the oldest church on earth because it is the same church that christ established while he was on the earth. We told her how we have evidence, which is the book of mormon. She then slammed the door in our face and my companion started to tear up. Its so hard when people just shut us down as we share our testimonies but, we will keep on doing it every single day because we know it is true. 

Next, we knocked on a Jehova´s witnesses door. He then told us how prophets cannot exist today, that gods authority is not on the earth, how we cannot change or add things to the bible. My companion and i once again began to testify. We shared in Acts 8 how it testifies of the restoration of the gospel, we showed how the book of mormon TESTIFIES and compliments the bible, and we shared how we know that today their is a prophet on earth. I asked the man, do you think that God loves us less than the ancient people? He gave them prophets and his authority, so why wouldnt he give us the same blessings? The man started to stutter and slammed his door. We walked away with a warmth in our hearts. The promise in D&C is real. Heavenly Father does not let us be confused. He gives us the words to say. We will keep sharing this message until we find someone who wants to listen. This message is what EVERYONE needs!

I am so thankful for this gospel and for all the blessings I have. I am so thankful that I get to live with my family forever and that VERY SOON, i will see all of you. Keep sharing the gospel and keep being so cool! 

ALSO,funny story. Last night I sat up in my sleep and started speaking english with my comp. She said I was like yelling andlaughing and she felt like I was speaking chinese because she didnt understand anything haha.

FELIZ DIA DE GRACIAS!

Les extraño y les amo! 

Chaucito!

1. Hermana Padilla and I during exchanges

2. BAPTISM DAY!

3. Dionela and the YW!

4. I gave her my dress for her baptism!

5.  Happy kids!

6. Post baptism exhaustion!

7. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

8. I LOVE THIS FAMILY!

9. The best kids ever!

10. All the YW!

11. Best buds!

Hola Familia! (11/16/15)

Hola familia!

What a week seriously. The time is going by SUPER slow in the heat but at the same time I cant believe it´s already monday! The weeks feel like days sometimes. 

This week we WORKED. Basically we are talking to everyone and are trying so hard, and we have seen so many miracles!! 

NBD, today my MTC companions go home and my BEST FRIEND HANNIE! I cant believe i left for the mission before all these nerds and I´ll be the last one to finish! OMG MOM I HAVE MY TRAVEL PLANS! I FEEL LIKE ITS NOT REAL. haha But GOOD NEWS, WE ARE HAVING A ZONE CONFERENCE THANKSGIVING DAY IN THE TEMPLE!!!! We get to go inside and do a session and IM PUMPED! 

So basically, we have the BEST INVESTIGATOR IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! Her name is Daniela and she is perfect! haha we have taught her basically all the lessons and she already has a testimony. She LOVES to read the book of mormon and she is just so diligent! She does all the things we invite her to do and yesterday she went to church and all the YW just SWARMED Her! THey all love her and they are going to go to a YSA dance this weekend! She loved church and she is just so prepared. During sacrament meeting she was sitting with Andrea, the girl who just got baptized and I just got this sweet feeling saying, this is why you had to come home, you had to find her., And i was just filled with so much joy. It was the hardest thing ever going home, but now I am enjoying the blessing. THATS JUST HOW LIFE IS. We go through hard times, but we always  end up happier if we make good choices! JUST FOLLOW THE GOSPEL AND WE WILL BE HAPPY!

ALSO, huge miracle. A year a go my trainer started to teach a family. They too this day are 100% faithful but, the mom needs to get divorsed and then re married to her boyfriend and here in argentina getting divorsed is really hard. SO the bishop said that we needed to wait to baptized the kids until the mom can come. WELL this week bishop was like, hermanas, Dionella and Thiago should be baptized. They have been so faithful throughout this year. SOOO we are going to have 2 baptisms, and maybe even this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!THEY ARE THE COOLEST KIDS EVER! And they have such strong testimonies!!

This week I had exchanges with Hermana Walters from California and we are basically BESTIES. Shes so cool! We had to walk the ENTIRE day. literally 5 hours of walking in the heat without stopping BUT we love jesus so we will do anything!!

I am super exhausted but super happy. My comp and I are working so hard because we know that there are people waiting for us. We all got invited to read the book of mormon before april and i want to invite all of you as well. THE book of mormon is the way to get to know christ. If you want to answer your questions, become a better person, or find out if the church is true... READ THE BOOK. Its the KEY of our religion and it will change your life. Its changed mine. We are giving out a book of mormon each day and its so awesome. Dont get me wrong, i love the bible. Juan is my favorite book but the book of mormon COMPLETES the bible. God always sends 2 witnesses and the book of mormon is a testimony of Christ here in America. READ IT!

You wont regret it!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Just a few weeks more!!

1. We made ELOTO! (MEXICAN CORN!) and we had a corn eating contest. 

2. We love walking in the rain, ALL DAY LONG

3. Its not exchanges if there isnt HELADO DE GRIDO! (ICE CREAM!)

4. Hermana Walters and I!

5. RAIN RAIN RAIN

6. Cute foot tan

7. Look hard for my companions motivational sign she made during language study.....