Not Even a Nerd Anymore

hellooo family!!

So I´m doing well!! 

I found out on Saturday that I was gonna give a talk on Sunday in sacrament meeting, so me and hermana gonzalez´s comp study was spent preparing me to have something to say in spanish haha. It was on missionary work and the responsibility of everyone, and I think it went really well! I was hardly nervous, which is a miracle in English, let alone in Spanish, and I didn´t even write it out word for word. Hermana Gonzalez told me that my Spanish was 100 percent understandable except for one time when I said para yo instead of para mi. so yay! In my talk I shared an experience that I wanted to share with you guys too.

Hermana Gonzalez and I were in a remis (taxi) in posadas going to the mission conference, and we were talking (well mostly hna gonzalez :) to the driver whose brother was a member and had listened to the missionaries before and everything. He told us "You know, I think the only faithful members of the mormon church are the missionaries". we were both surprised and said, well why do you think that? and he said "because they´re the only ones who talk about what they believe. I have been around so many mormons, who never talk about the gospel or their beliefs. The missionaries are the only ones who will share with you." Though I don´t agree that missionaries are the only faithful members, I just thought that was so interesting. He was watching and observing the members, waiting for them to share what they believe, and because they didn´t, he had come to the conclusion that it must not be that important to them. And so it must not be very important for him either. We have so many natural opportunities to share the gospel, and when we don´t take them it undermines the importance of our message. 

The mission conference in Posadas was also super great!! Mom asked a while ago about the stats of the mission but I didn´t answer because I didn´t know. but now I do! Right now we are 56 hermanas and 99 elders. But apparently in the coming transfers we´ll still be receiving enough hermanas to pull that number up to about 50 50. Also Elder Zaballo was talking about the importance of language with us, and shared with us that with the ability to speak English and Spanish you can communicate with 80% of the members of the church. Add to that a basic knowledge of Portuguese and you can communicate with 90% of the members of the church. 

Transfers are next week! When I was in the office the other week President asked me if I had paperwork for Paraguay and I said I don´t know I thought you were in charge of that. just kidding I didn´t actually say that :) But he said he wants all of the papers in order so if the Lord tells him to send us we can go. I know American missionaries who came in with me or after me who are now in paraguay, so that´s not entirely out of the picture like maybe you guys thought it would be. I learned how to say "I know the church of jesus christ of latter day saints is true" in guarani the other day, and then promptly forgot it. Something like che ikwaie jesucrist topai something something something (that spelling is totally wrong I´m just sounding it out). Anyway, I also ordered myself a tag in guarani just because I could, and because I thought it would be cool to have one, even if I don´t ever end up speaking it, haha.

I love you all a ton and am happy here just going along with everything. We´re working to help two men get baptized this week, so you guys can pray for them!

Questions from the family:

Did you get your package? I sent it on the 1st, and I was excited when I checked the tracking info and it said it had cleared argentine customs on the 10th!
I just got an email from the office that yes it´s arrived! The elder in charge of it though is new so I have to sign a new form and scan it in and email it to him so he´s authorized to take it out of the mail. I´ll do that today and I´m pumped to get it!

Did you get any semblance of pie on pi day?
I FORGOT PI DAY I´M SO UPSET ABOUT THIS I´M LIKE NOT EVEN A REAL NERD ANYMORE
sidenote: I also totally didn´t know that today is st patty´s day. shameful.

Is it starting to cool down at all?

yes little by little, hallelujah

your hair looks cute in this pic of L & the fam. how do you normally do it? like always a ponytail or no? kinda looks like a braid but i can't tell.

haha. It´s ALWAYS in a ponytail or a bun. That day hermana gonzalez (who studied style and fashion or something before she came) did it for the baptism. Sometimes I do a little braid back to a ponytail but as you know Alli, my creativity and capability is basically zero lol

how do you usually spend your exercise hour? or is that non existent? 

I run stairs, jog in place, yawn, stretch, etc :)

what are the argentinian seasons doing right now? 

changing. some days are beautifully fresh and then others are just as hot as they used to be. Right now it´s raining a lot, which makes me oddly really happy. i have no idea why.

much love,

hermana rawlins