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.....

Sunburnt Shey Shey... (11/9/15)

Hellllooo familia! What a week! 

Lets just say summer is in FULL force here in good ole tina and I AM ONE BURNT HERMANA! 

This week was, hands down, the best week of my entire mission! (I always say that but seriously, it was awesome!) 

MY COMP= BEST THING EVER! We started this transfer off with few investigators and no one really progressing BUT we put goals as we started the transfer and lets just say we have seen SOOOO many miracles this week. 

On saturday I hit my 18 month mark! I CANT BELIEVE IT! To celebrate we bought ice cream, and then we realized that we both had lice. 

I hate lice. 

SO MUCH.

so i spent all my money buying shampoo to kill my little bugs in my hair.

First off, we had something called Gira Misional. Elder Spitali, a 70, came and we had a day full of LEARNING! We had a womans meeting and I got to traslate for the hermana thurgood and it was so special! We talked about the worth of woman in the church today. We need men, but we need the love and nurturing the women can give!! Sister Spitali answered a lot of questions and just gave us a lot of energy! We then all met together and president thurgood and elder spitali talked and they said that he never wants us to ask ourselves [ WHAT WOULD have happened if I would have talked to that person? I have tried my whole mission to think that. May times we get prompted to talk and because we get nervous we dont, but we never know what could come out of sharing the gospel with one person. That really inspired me. I talk to man people each day but I decided that no matter WHERE i was, I am going to talk to everyone! WELL, we got done with the meeting and we got on the bus. A woman got on and we were in the back and she was in the front. I felt that we needed to talk to her. She looked just so sad. So I made the plan that a few stops before we got off, we would get up, and talk to her. WELL, she got up and got off the bus. I freaked. I wanted to follow the spirit and so I got up, and just jumped off the bus. Luckily, my comp is the best and just followed me. We talked to her and she rejected us. We then had to walk like 40 blocks because we got off to early. It made me think, why did heavenly father prompt me to talk to her if she really didnt even want the gospel? And I just felt a calm feeling that Heavenly father was testing me to see if I would do what I commited to do and luckily, i followed through. I learned a huge lesson that day.

ALSO, we made the goal that we were going to find a GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR! So, we asked for references and we got one from a less active family. We went to contact her and she is named Daniela and shes 18. BASICALLY SHES THE BEST THING EVER! She accepted a baptism date and we taught the restoration.We told her we would never force her or anything, she just needed to ask god if it was true and she would know. So we said she prayed right after we left and she told us that she felt her whole body just fill with peace. She told us how she had had an abortion and she has never felt happy since but when she prayed she knew that what we taught was true because it changed her. I LOVE THE GOSPEL! I LOVE THE RESTORTATION!

ALSO, we decided on friday that we were going to fill our backpacks with book of mormons and give them away knocking on doors. WE FOUND AWESOME PEOPLE!

My companion is a member of just 2 years but she literally is the best thing ever. She pushes me and I push her. We are obedient, we are focused, and I have never been so happy in my life. I love this work. I love being a missionary. I know what God is preparing the hearts of the people and that we will find ALL the people that are searching for this truth. 

 I love you all! And pray for you each and every day!

Les extraño y les amo!

Have fun shipping cows! I will just be here in tina, getting sunburned, and avoiding lice.

1. Chau Hermana Ostler!

2. CHURI PAN! 

3. Gura Misional

4. Hermana Silva

5. Celebrating 18 months and 6 months ( we started the mission both on May 7th ) and getting rid of our lice!

6. SUNBURNS!

And my new companion is... (11/2/15)

Hola hola hola!

Guess what?? 

We had transfers and guess what.. 

I GOT THE COMPANION I WANTED!

HERMANA SILVA FROM MEXICO!!!!!

WHOOOO! I´ll be staying here in Banfield 1 for 6 more weeks and Im pretty sure hermana silva will be my last companion! SHES AWESOME! And we are sooo excited!

BUT, 

im really sad Hermana Ostler is leaving me. 

Wow, what a week! Literally each week goes by sooo fast and I cannot believe I only have 2 transfers left. WE ARE ALREADY IN NOVEMBER! THIS IS INSANE! 

So, this week we had an AWESOME district meeting. Remember the story I shared in sacrament meeting for my farewell talk? Its called I´ll find you my friend and it made me really think about my purpose her in Argentina. Its not a coincidance that I am here or that I have met the people I´ve met. I know that the Lord sent me here to meet the wonderful people i´ve met and I promised them I would come and find them. Today is the day I should be finishing my mission and I feel a lot of mixed feelings. I am sad that I am not able to see my family, but I am 100% happy that I am here and able to keep bringing the people here the gospel. There is a reason why I needed to come back to the mission and why I need to serve these next 3 months here and I will talk to everyone and find all the people the lord is preparing. 

This week I had intercambios with Hermana Alanocca from Boliva. WOW, what a humbiling experience. She is a convert and she told me how her father abandoned her while she was a child. She started working when she was 8 years old and she was abused physically if she didnt bring food home each day. She started going to church when she was about 14 years old and shes been active since. Her mother never told her she loved her until the day that she left for the mission. She has only 6 weeks here and she is struggling because the mission is demanding physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Basically the whole exchange she cried to me and asked me how she could feel better about herself and I remembered that my District leader had given us the story You are Special. So i read it with her and I made her tell me how she thought her heavenly father felt about her. She started to cry and she realized just how much God loves her. But being honest, it was hard for me. I cannot help but ask why did she born in these circumstances and I was born in such a wonderful country, familiy, at the gospel? I am so blessed. I can see just how PERFECT my life is. Far too often we complain for everything we dont have and dont see what we do have. I love being able to be a sister training leader because I get to know these girls and see how the gospel has changed their lives and made them the missionaries they are today. 

We also had to give a workshop this week in our Mission Leadership Council and it was AWESOME! We had to talk about consagration and we read like 100 talks and ideas but we realized that to become a consagrated missionary you JUST have to put gods will above your own. THE moment you stop worrying about what others think and just think about what the LORD thinks, thats when you are consagrated! So we used the  You are special story and said the quote: You are special because I made you and I dont make mistakes! ITS TRUE! GOD DOESNT MAKE MISTAKES. We just have to be obedient, follow the spirit, and THEN just confide in the Lord. HE LOVES US AS WE ARE! 

Yeah so thats basically what I learned this week. Lots of other funny things. My comp fell down stairs, we found some AWESOME investigators, I went to a halloween party dressed as a cat, and I LOVE PREACHING THE WORD!

and just so you know, I know that todays a really hard day for everyone but, I know what 1 year ago today, my favorite uncle went to a better place and I know what today hes looking down saying that hes a lot happier and that he watches over us everyday. Lets remember Uncle Al today, but lets try and remember that because of the plan of salvation, we are going to be a forever family and we will be together forever. 

I love you!!

1.My new comp, HERMANA SILVA y hermana edgar in the transfer meeting today!

2. Banfield 1 MISSIONARIES!

3. Zona BANFIELD!

4.HERMANA ALANOCCA!

5. Stake halloween party!

6. BEST INVESTIGATOR EVER! And we had matching costumes

7. Hermana Edgar and I