Noche de Luz! ... performing for Elder Zivic of the seventy!! :)

That´s right.... Noche de Luz is officially in FULL SWING!!! Which basically means life is crazier than ever... but that´s just how i like it! :)

 

We had our first performance on Saturday night in Florencio Varela, and it went GREAT!!! Everyone was SO excited! That day was absolutely nuts though. We were trying to get as much done as possible early because we had to leave at 2:30 to catch the train. We had an awesome experience though! We have a new investigator who´s name is Ana, who has four cute little kids. We met her when we did a contact with her mom Ester outside of their house. ANyways... after we first met them and returned for the next cita they weren´t there, so we were kinda worried that they weren´t really interested. On Saturday we went back though, and when we showed up Ana was looking out the window in the front of the house, and looked like she was about to leave, so we figured they wouldnt let us in. When she opened the door and asked if she was waiting for her kids or something, she said " no, no, no... we were waiting for you two to come!" and rushed us into the house. We then had an AMAZING lesson with their family. It´s amazing how the Holy Ghost accompanies us to the houses we go to, because all the time people comment on the peace and feeling they have when we´re in their house, but really it has NOTHING to do with us... we´re just the intermedio to bring the spirit there. Man! Can i just say I LOVE missionary work!! It´s incredible!

 

Alright... so... Saturday´s performance of Noche de Luz went great, and then they told us that the next day (when we had NdL in Banfield... my stake center)... that ELDER ZIVIC OF THE QUORUM OF THE SEVENTY WAS COMING WITH HIS WHOLE FAMILY!!! Man... if that doesn´t make ya a lil nervous performing I don´t know what will! Before the performance started when we were practicing EVERYTHING went wrong too! We had problems with the screen, Elder Baggaley´s trumpet got dropped and the bell bent, the chapel was almost impossible to fit everything in, and a bunch of other things. BUT:... in the end a lot of prayers were answered because the program went GREAT!!!! :) Everyone performed well, and we had a bunch of investigators show up too, including a guy who we had just done a contact in the street with 2 days before! :) It is SO amazing to get to participate in this, and share my testimony with people all over Buenos Aires through music! We still have 6 more performancse in the next two weeks, so I´m sure I´ll have lots more good stories to share! I just can´t wait til we get to record it in a few weeks... then i´ll be able to send the DVD and CD of it home to you guys! : )

 

ANyways, I love you tons and miss you lots, but at the same time I absolutely love life!! :) It´s amazing. I wish you all well, and I´ll talk to you in a few weeks! :)

 

Besitos!

Hermana Churchill

Life is a PARTY! :)

Holy exciting times in Argentina!

First off, with all the excitement of Raul´s baptism I forgot to tell yal that we just had transfers. It´s funny because before I wanted to leave Banfield 2, or "Beverly Hills" as everyone calls it... but then I got Hermana Turley, and didn´t want to change so we could stay together! Well.... transfers came, and we stayed!!! YAY!!! It´s pretty crazy though, because Hermana Turley is leaving early right before Christmas, so I´m going to have a "mini-missionary" for 2 weeks (kinda like mini training) and then I have to stay ANOTHER transfer in Banfield 2... meaning - por lo menos - I´m going to be here in Banfield for 5 TRANSFERS!! (o sea... 7.5 months) Pretty crazy. Definitely did not expect that!

This week was way exciting too! Thanksgiving was pretty tranquilo (calm). Mom... you´d be proud of me... we had district meeting on Thanksgiving day, so I made 2 pies for the zone. There was no way I could go from making 40 pies last year to none this year, so I made sure to at least make a few! :) Me and hermana Turley also had fun making gum-drop turkeys... the pictures are to follow... :)

In other happenings, right now it´s crazy weather season in Argie, and this weekend we had a HUGE huge storm! I thought I knew what rain was, but I didnñt know anything! Sunday morning it started raining like CRAZY! I´m talking... you go outside and you feel like buckets of water are pouring down on you! It was fun watching it from the pension, because we´re 11 floors up and could see all the flooded streets that literally looked like rivers! Then we went downstairs and found out our street was flooded too!!! This is totally normal in other areas, but we live right in the center of the city where that never happens! Anyways... when we got to church finally at 9:40 there were only 9 people there (church starts at 9:30). Luckily more showed up later, but boy was it a fun day! Being a missionary is hard when it rains so much because no one lets you in and you´re soaked all day with mud-covered shoes, and just end up walking tons... but I liked it! :) Makes for some AMAZING puddle jumping!

This week our Noche de Luz performances start!!! YAY! :) For the next 3 weekends we´re going to be performing Friday, Saturday, and SUnday in all the different zones in our mission! I´´m way excited. It´s turned out really good. We have a choir of 10 sister missionaries and 10 elders, a flute, a violin, and a trumpet. AND... last minute Hermana Fitch decided she wanted me to sing in an octet too! So... I´m excited :) This is going to be a CRAZY hectic, but very fun few weeks! :)

Alright... well... time to get back to work. Ok... not quite... but I gotta bounce! :) Here´s an awesome quote for yal before I go..

" There is no greater blessing, no greater joy and happiness than comes to us from relieving the distress of others."

- J. Reuben Clark

I love you all! Find a way to help those around you this week! Even though it may not seem like it, everyone is in need of some sort of help. Be good, smile lots!

Besitos!

Hermana Churchill

PICTURES!!

1. CANDY TURKEYS!! missionary style :) I´m the yellow one, Hna Turley is the red one

2. Pie time! We made apple and banana, and our other hermanas made peach cobbler! Yumm.

3. hehe... we had a little too much fun with the candy turkeys... this is the baptismal photo we took of our turkey family... mommy, daddy and baby! :) "la pila bautismal" = the baptimal font

4. SOrry its dark, but this was our street on Sunday morning. It was 9:00 in the morning but looked like it was 9 at night! So much fun though!

5. Ice cream day :)

"Sister smiles" - RAUL GOT BAPTISED!! (**This is the real one!)

Ok... so I have to tell yal the best story ever!!

I can´t remember if I already told you about Raul, but... let´s just say... I am SOO happy!! The first time we met Raul he accepted a Book of Mormon from us, but basically said "Alright I´ll take it, but I hope you know I´m going to have a LOT of hard questions that no one has ever been able to answer, including all my previous pastors"... so... we were a little worried since bible bashing is not our idea of fun, but agreed and said we´d be happy to answer all his questions. And, sure enough... the next time we came he had some pretty tough questions. Funny thing is, though, that the answers were ALL in the Book of Mormon, and ended up being pretty easy to answer. Nonetheless, he was really hard-headed for the first few weeks we met with him.

After a while, though, Raul started to realize that every single thing we taught him was what he had always thought was the truth before, and that the Book of Mormon really was written by prophets who were called of God. We would ALWAYS ask him to pray specifically about it to get an answer, but he always just brushed it aside and said he knew it was a book from God. FINALLY, one day we asked him AGAIN, and he rolled his eyes and said " yeees, chicas.... i did it.... and you were right" and told us all about the experience he had :) We were so happy! The charlas just kept getting better and better from there. Also, he came to church every week, and in 2 weeks read the WHOLE book of mormon, the whole Principles of the Gospel book (i havent even read all that!), and asked us for a triple so he could read more! It was AMAZING!! Usually you have to hastle people to come to church!

Anyways, the date we had scheduled for his baptism came and he still wasn´t prepared because he needed to quit smoking and also just be more sure of it. He´s smoked a full pack every single day for 38 years, so quiting was going to be hard. BUT.... this man is amazing! When he puts his mind to something, he´ll do it!

Anyways... long story short(er), he quit smoking in a week, and set his own baptismal date because he wanted to do it! Funny thing too... he´s a PE teacher, and hasn´t worn anything but sweats and tshits in 25 years.... not even to a wedding or ANYTHING! One day we talked about this and why we dress nicely for church, and the night before his baptism he surprised us when he said "I have something to show you" and brought out black dress pants, a nice button up shirt, and a brand new tie!! He had bought it all for church! We were so excited.

So... Saturday he got baptised!!! It was so special. We´ve had baptisms before, but I was so happy this day, just because I knew the HUUUUGE change Raul had made in his life, and the person he has become. The entire service he couldn´t stop smiling, and when he came out of the water he had the BIGGEST grin and a big thumbs up!

Anyways, that´s my story for the week. I wish I could tell you even more, but it would take HOURS!! I am so grateful that I had the priveledge of meeting Raul and being able to share the gospel with him. The gospel really does change lives. I know this is the work of the Lord, and that we are all a part of it. I love my Heavenly Father, and I hope to be the best person I can be so that I can please him.

I love you! Be good, smile lots!

xo, Hermana Churchill

PICTURES!! YAY!!

1. Raul always calls me... in english.... "Sister SMiles" and always teases me for smiling so much. Every time we come to his house he always has a bag of cookies or alfajores waiting for us, and this week he was so excited because he found these cookies for me (sonrisas = smiles)

2. The mission leader filled up the font and there was a whole bunch of dust and stuff, so we had to try to clean it out SUPER quick before the service started!! (Hermana Turley and Vanina just said i was looking for an excuse to go swiming... :)

3. RAUL´S BAPTISM!! :) Hermana Asay (President´s wife) even got to sneak out of a stake conference to come!

6 MONTHS..... WHAT?! And... ELDER BEDNAR IN ARGIE!!

First off, today´s my 6 month mark! CRAZY! It´s pretty funny, because at the beginning of the mish it seemed to drag a little, but now it seems like I just left yesterday!!! And yet, I´m already 1/3 of the way through my mission. This is gonna fly, I can already tell!

In other news... Yesterday we had an AMAZING devotional with Elder Bednar. Last week I was told that I was going to play the flute during the program, but they took out the musical numbers last minute... bummer. So, I didn´t play for Elder Bednar. But I also saved myself a whole lot of nervousness! (... is that even a word in English?...)

Anyways, the devotional was absolutely amazing. It was with all 3 of the Buenos Aires missions, and we got to sit right in front of an apostle of the Lord and listen to him speak and answer questions for 3 hours. I think I learned more in those 3 hours than I have in my whole entire life! Elder Snow and his wife were also there, so we got to listen to some amazing messages from them as well. I wish that I could tell you everything I learned yesterday, but even I can´t write it all down. The most amazing part to me, however, wasn´t the words he said or what he told us. Rather it was how the Spirit was able to answer the questions. You have to understand, the whole time he had missionaries just ask questions and he answered them. But, even with 3 hours, he obviously didnñt have time to answer 600 missionaries´ questions. But... that didn´t even matter. I came with questions, some questions I forgot I even had, and although he didn´t specifically answer one of my questions, I left knowing the answer to every one of them because of the spirit there. It´s an amazing thing. Do whatever you can in your life to find that same spirit! Your entire life will change when you realize the unlimited love Heavenly Father has for you.

One specific part that I did like was when Elder Bednar talked about discouragement. A missionary had asked what he does as an apostle whenever he gets discouraged, and he replied in the most simple way, yet it really clicked with me. He said that if he is ever discouraged it is because he is worried about himself. The same goes for us. If we are ever discouraged, it is because we are worried about ourselves. If we quit worrying about ourselves then we won´t be discouraged! It´s that simple. I´ve definitely seen this in the mission, which is why I keep the quote from President Hinckley right above my desk - "Forget yourself and go to work". If you do this I promise you will be happier than ever before!!

Finally, I like the quote Elder Snow shared with us, which he always kept above his own bed on his mission...

"I don´t want to sit at the setting sun and hate myself for what I´ve done"

Think about that a little. I know that all of you are ABSOLUTELY amazing!! I love you and can´t wait to hear from you! Be good, smile tons, and help someone out this week! Love you tons and tons!!

Besitos,

Hermana Devee :)

NUNS?? Wait... what is it that i´m supposed to be again??... :)

Ok... anyone who knows me knows that there´s no possible way I could let a holiday go by without celebrating! So, of course it being Halloween, even though it´s barely even recognized here in South America, we HAD to dress up! I have to admit though, this was probably my favorite Halloween costume EVER. Mostly just because there´s good reasoning behind it. As missionaries, a lot of times people think we´re nuns, especially when they find out we can´t date or go dancing or any of that. SOO.... we decided to be just that for Halloween! :) Of course we didnt go out in public in our outfits, but we did have a blast surprising all the missionaries in our zone at district meeting by greeting them at the door as nuns with candy :) Hope you enjoy the pics!

ANyways... this week was great, but I´m especially excited for next week, because ... (drum roll)... ELDER BEDNAR is coming!!! YAY!!! So I should have some good stories for yal! Oh... speaking of.... My Pday next week is Friday instead of Monday, so you´ll have to wait a little bit to get my weekly letter.

This week was pretty good. It´s funny how much the actions and choices of others can affect you personally. We have 3 people who need to get confirmed, and we have been working SOOO hard to make it happen, but there seems to be SOMETHING that always happens. This week we ran around like crazy again on Sunday, and finally made it to church with one of the 3, but when we ran in the sacrament had already started, which usually means no confirmation. Luckily, though, he still got to be confirmed. So.. YAY!! Good things happen when you work hard!

Honestly, though, its been a huge test of patience, because a lot of times even if you do work super hard things might still not turn out how you want. But.. that´s life. You just got to roll with the punches, and remember that God knows everything, so there´s probably a good reason things don´t always turn out as we want.

Speaking of... my thought this week is short and sweet... its a talk from Elder Wirthlinñs talk in 2007 that I love:

"Do you love the Lord? Spend time with him, Meditate on His words. Take His yoke upon you. Seek to understand and obey, because "this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments¨. When we love the Lord, obedience ceases to be a burden. Obedience becomes a delight. When we love the Lord, we seek less for things that benefit us and turn our hearts toward things that will bless and uplift others."

I love you all. Go out and find a way to uplift those around you!

Love you tons!!
Hermana Dev

Pictures:

1. NUNS :)
2. Our Halloween in the mission! We got DRENCHED! This is the day we pushed the remis
3 and 4: A member gave us lunch but we had no where to eat, so we had to firgure out how to light the argentine stove in the church and then eat on cardboard boxes :)

HUGE rainstorm, water up to our knees, and pushing a car in skirts! Could it get any better?? :)

HOLY CRAZY WEEK!!!!! .... But man was it a good one!! Im sorry this is long, but it´s DEFINITELY worth the time to read it!!! :) :) :) First off, Friday was one of those days that just makes you feel good! We had a couple in our ward give us a reference of the wife´s mom, and tell us that they never give this to the missionaries, but they really like us and trust us so they want us to go visit her. It´s wonderful when people WANT to give you references, instead of begging for them :) Then we had a lesson with Miriam, who we´ve been teaching for 2 months now, but hasn´t ever got an answer as to whether she should get baptised. In the lesson she told us that she had prayed about it and got an answer and wants to get baptised!!! YAYYY!!!!!!! We were SOOO excited!!! :) So... that was the good day... then came Saturday.... Story time :) We started the day out by visiting one of our investigators and meeting his wife, but it turned into more of a marriage counseling session. It was really sad to see how couples treat each other sometimes, but by the end of the lesson everyone was more happy and content. As much as I dont want to be a marriage counselor, I´m really excited to go back and visit with this couple, because i KNOW the gospel is going to change their lives completely. It´s the best marriage therapy you can possibly find, and best of all... it´s free! So... that started our day. Then we went back to the pension to eat lunch, and got ready to go out with TONS of Books of Mormon and folletos (pamphlets), because Saturdays are always the BEST days! It was a little overcast, but didnt seem like it would rain, so we left our umbrellas. BOY WAS THAT A MISTAKE!!!! It started POURING rain.... and im not talking just a nice heavy rainshower... I´m talkin buckets of water falling down on us!!!! We were SOAKED from head to toe, right down to the bone! :) What made it even worse is no one wanted to let us in, or come outside because of the storm, so we were stuck wandering the streets trying to think of SOMETHING to do! *** side note... there´s a story in ´´Preach My Gospel´´ about a taxi driver in Mexico who´s driving in the middle of a rain storm and sees two young men walking, completely soaked, so he pulls over and tells them to get in, that he´ll take them wherever they´re going for free. The story ends up that these missionaries got to share the gospel with this cab driver and later he and his family all found what they were searchjing for... the gospel... and were baptised.**** Ok... now you know the PMG story... so while we were walking along we sais ´´man, where´s our taxi driver to save us from the rain?!´´ just joking around. That´s when we came to a big intersection that was completely flooded with water. On the other side was a car pulled over and a guy trying to push it from the door. As soon as I saw him i wanted to go help push, even though it was surrounded by water, and luckily my companion was completely in agreement! SO we ran over and told him we would help. He tried to politely refuse because he didn´t want girls to help him, saying that we would just get wet, to which we looked at ourselves, looked at each other, and just laughed (at this point there was no possible way to get MORE wet!) Instead of listening, we just jumped behind the car and started pushing. Then 3 women got out of the car and started yelling at the driver, saying they would just walk the rest of the way. So... with water almost all the way up to our knees, in skirts and backpacks, we pushed the car for about 2 blocks while running, and it finally started!!! Then the guy pulled over and told us to get in, that he would take us wherever we were going. At this point we were only a block away, so we nicely said no. He insisted, so instead we told him that it would make us even more happier if he would accept a folleto (pamphlet) from us. That only made the experience even funnier when, while still pooring rain, we pulled out a folleto and tried writing on it. Wet paper and wet pens dont make a good combination :) Anyways... that was our awesome rain story. It wasnt until later when we realized that he was a Remis driver (a remis is basically an argentine taxi), and that we really did get our taxi just like in ´´Preach my Gospel´´!!! We spent the rest of the time on the way home jumping in puddles and making up rain songs to help keep our spirits up. The BEST part of all of this, though, is that even though this potentially could have been the worst, most MISERABLE day, I think it was one of the best I´ve had in the mission, just because we were so HAPPY being out there as missionaries and being able to help other people, that all we could do was laugh! :) ANYWAYS.... I know this is RIDICULOUSLY long so I´ll get going. Maybe its missionary syndrome or something, because missionaries always write such long emails! Anyways... for those of you who made it to the end, I hope you enjoyed the stories :) It just proves that you can ALWAYS, ALWAYS be happy, no matter what the circumstances are or what the world throws at you! So.. go out and find something nice to do for someone else! I LOVE YOU ALL TONS AND TONS!!!! Thank you so so much for all the sweet messages and support! xo, Hermana Devee :)

´´ They walked... and walked... and walked... and walked.... ´´

Man are our feet getting a beating!! This week we have been running like crazy!! Literally :) We started Noche de Luz practices and have had to cram in everything else so tight, but somehow we´re still getting everything done! It´s funny though... I thought my life was SO hectic and busy before the mission, but now.... it´s just a more organized version of busy :) Funny moment of the week... we had stake conference this week, and 2 of our investigators came with us to the church, one of which was Raul, the man with the broken arm who has a baptismal date in 2 weeks. Anyways... we were sitting in conference and they started to do the sustainings, so we were explaining what it was and how by raising our arm to the square we show that we will support the people who are being called to each position , and so on. Anyways... when we explained this in the middle of it all he raised his hand and said ´´well, can i do it for you too? I want to support the two of you too because you´re angels.´´ :) It was nice of him. We explained quickly so he put his hand done, but it was pretty funny. Gotta love the little moments that make you smile :) This week I´ve really thought a lot just about how incredibly happy I am, and for SO many reasons. First off, I love my mission. Being able to serve people all day, every day is a dream come true, and brings more happiness than imaginable. People always talk to us about how terrible it must be not watch movies, listen to the radio, or even talk to our family more than a single email each week, but really.... I wouldn´t have it any other way right now. I don´t even notice those things. The quote from.. President Benson I think... about how when we put things in order in our lives and put God first, then all other things will fall into place or drop out of our lives completely... is so true! When you really focus on what´´s most important, all the trivial, meaningless things don´t even matter. I´ve also realized how much I LOVE studying. Have you ever realized how many amazing books and talks there are, that tell us EXACTLY what we need to do to be happy? Yet somehow we still are too busy to read them and apply them to our lives. I know that´s how I was at least. There´s one book in particular I´m talking abuot... yep, how´d you guess it... the Book of Mormon! It´s AMAZING!!!!!!!! By far the coolest book ever!!! :) But it´s SOOO much more than just a book too! It´s literally the answer to every question, the crutch we need for every trial we face, and the boost of energy we need just to get through the day! Speaking of the Book of Mormon, we started a new goal as a mission this week, to start over and read the entire Book of Mormon this transfer. BUT... not just read it. Rather, we´re reading it and marking a vertical line in the column of each part that applies specifically to us at this point in our lives. I really like this challenge, because at different times in our lives there are different parts that apply to us. SOOOOO... I want to invite each one of you to do the same challenge with me!!! A transfer is a long time... 6 weeks... so it´s not terribly hard. Only about 15 pages each day and you´ll be good. But instead of marking it like you normally would, ONLY go through and mark the parts that apply specifically to you. I promise that you will find the help or the answers that you are searching for, no matter what it is! Put it to the test, and ´´experiment upon the word´´!!! :) Les prometo muchas bendiciones!! :) Anyways.. I better get going. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures!! Sorry this email is kinda long.. I´´ll be better next week :) I love you all tons!! Have a wonderful Halloween!!!! ANd send me lots of pictures :) I´m sure I´ll have some good ones for yal next week. But... our costume is a secret... you´ll just have to wait and see :) BESITOS! Hermana Devee

Talk about the perfect companionship!!! ... and pictures finally !!!

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!! This week has been AMAZING!!! First off, my new companion Hermana Turley....I absolutely LOVE her!!! Funny thing too... We were talking one day, and I asked her where she lived in Provo before her mission, and it was Carriage Cove, the same place I lived!!! We talked more and realized she lived in my same ward, and even with my same exact roomates Mindy and Allie, before she left (which... i moved into Carriage Cove 4 days after she left!! Craziness!). SO.... this means we know all the same people and have a ton of the same friends!! Even funnier is that we´ve discovered we are super alike and even have the same exact missionary shoes and clothes. Pretty funny! haha. Needless to say.... I am LOVING this new companionship I´m in! :) So... for those of you in CC... yes, i finally met Kaylee Turley, and now she´s my comp! :) To make it even better, we had a ROCKING week this week! We taught more lessons than we´ve ever done in this area, set a baptismal date with Sonia, a woman we´re teaching in Escalada, got Raul to come to church just by showing up at his house, AND.. best of all... found a family that has 13 KIDS!!!!!! We met them while knocking doors, and not only did they invite us in to talk, but later we found out that 10 years ago they were listening to the missionary charlas!! (aka discussions). Pretty cool huh?!?! So... we´ll see what we can get going this time. Apparently they weren´t prepared to receive the gospel 10 years ago, but maybe this is their time! We´ll just have to wait and see... So I have a SUPER cool thought for yal this week! It comes from a lesson in the Argentina MTC and 1 Corinthians 9:26¨ ´´I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air´´ One of the hermanas explained that in boxing, when a boxer goes to hit and misses, it wastes 7 times more energy than if he had hit his target. We can apply this in our own lives, in that when we don´t go straight for the goal or target we have, we´re like one that ´´beateth the air´´... simply wasting energy and time. Instead, everything we do should be things that are centered on our target. I really like this analogy because I know how easy it is to get distracted. (Honestly... my attention span is worse than that of a 5 year old!) Really, though, we need to make goals of what we want to do and how, and then focus all of our efforts upon that. Then we won´t waste energy on the things that dont matter. So... think about what´s most important to you in your life, and how you can focus on that to achieve your goals. Thank you a TON for the support and love!! I can´´t even start to explain how happy I am right now!!! I love you all tons and tons!! xo, Hermana Dev PICTURES!! FINALLY!!! 1. Angel´s baptism2. Cookies for hermana reyes´ 1 year! 3. Pizza Hot :) Argentina´s Pizza Hut4. Marta and Diego´s baptism!!! I LOVE this picture!!! They´re my favorite :) Sorry no pics of me and Hna Turley yet... they´ll come soon though!

TRANSFERS!!!! WHOO HOOOOOO!!!!

Alright... so i have 10 minutes to email yal, so this is gonna be short!!! Man was today crazy....

First off, it was transfers meeting! Saturday night we found out Hermana Reyes, my companion, was leaving, and now I´m with Hermana Turley who´s from Conneticut. Two gringas!! Whoo hoo!! SHe´s SUPER cute and I already love her! She and I are both in Noche de Luz together, and this week we start practices... about 5 hours a week! Crazy eh? But so much fun too! I also got to play ´´My shepherd will supply my need´´ ... the mo-tab one... on the flute with 2 elders on violin and piano and 4 elders singing... it was amazing!!

Alright... so this week was super fun! I got to do intercambios (exchanges) again with Hermana Strasser, which I loved! We even got to go to the villa (ghetto,... but WAY more ghetto that any US ghetto :) and taught a lot of lessons to the people I met last time. And of course we had a little fun too :) Funny moment of the week was when we were walking along and.. you know how tennis shoes on telephone wires means thats where drug-dealers live, but its small so its kinda hush hush? Well... we were walking along and I looked up and I saw this... but not just one pair... literally like 30 pairs of tennis shoes on this one wire!!! Guess it´s not such a secret here :)

Then on Friday we got to do another radio show!!!! Hermana Reyes recorded it, so hopefully sometime I´ll be able to send it to yal so you can listen. It was really neat though, being able to share my testimony with so many people!

Aside from all that, this week has been pretty tranquilo. It´s starting to get hot here, thank goodness! I´m sick of the cold! With everything going on back home and here in the mission, though, I´ve really come to realize how blessed we are in our lives. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who I know is always watching over us.

Anyways, I love you all and pray for you every single day!!! Take care, be safe, smile TONS!!! And go and do something nice for someone else today!

Con Carino,

Hermana Devee

I´m famous now!! :) Radio show and a baptism... could it get better?

Ok, ok.... so maybe not quite famous, but this week we got to be on a RADIO SHOW!!!! It was pretty sweet! One day me & my comp were walking down the street and we saw a little sign for a radio station, so we decided to stop and ask if they would announce General Conference for us. In the end, they asked us if we just wanted to have our own show, and gave us a WHOLE HOUR to talk about whatever the heck we wanted!!! So... Friday we went with 4 other elders from our zone, and got to talk all about the Restoration of the church, the Book of Mormon, conference, and listen to MoTab! Pretty sweet huh???? Afterwards they offered to have us back again, so this Friday we´re probably going to do it again!! It´s an AM station, but you can also listen to it on the interenet at www.radioindependencia.com.ar from 12pm-1pm on Friday (that´s Argentine time... I think that´s like 8 am Seattle time, or something like that).

Speaking of conference... wasn´t it AMAZING????? I LOVED it! I can´t even explain how wonderful it was! This week was absolutely exhausting, since we had the radio show and were working a ton to invite people to conference, and we had to prepare a baptism for Sunday. Whoof! Even so, Friday night I felt like a little kid on Christmas Eve... I could not sleep! I woke up so many times, and when it finally hit 6:30am, I jumped out of bed!! haha. It was a wonderful weekend though. It´s funny because a lot of people think going to all 4 sessions is so much time, but I wish there were more!!!

Oh... yeah... skipped a little detail... ANGEL GOT BAPTISED ON SUNDAY!!!!! WHOOO-HOOOOO!!!!! Angel is the guy who showed up at church and beasically said ¨Hi I want to be baptised, what do i need to do? ¨ :) Wonderful, wonderful! So, we had the baptismal service in between the sessions (a little tricky since that left the whole chapel without running water for people to wash their hands). All went well though. One fun part, too, was the talk from Maxi, a pre-missionary in our ward, who HATES public speaking and gets super nervous. We asked him to give one of the talks, and he DID NOT want to do it. But... the night before, we went to his house and had a super fun lesson about how to give a talk... Hna Reyes helped him write it and I taught him how to present it... that was fun. Anyways, when he got up to give his talk he surprised us by memorizing the whole thing!!!! He did great!!

Anyways.... that´s pretty much my fun for the week.... Radio show, General Conference, and a baptism!!! Not a bad week :)

Well I hope life is wonderful back home, and hope to hear from you all soon! SMILE LOTS!!! Jesus loves you :) .... and I do too!!

Besitos!

Hermana Devee

(no subject)

What a week, what a week!!! I think it was a little more hectic and crazy back home than it was here, but I´m glad to hear everyone is safe and still alive! :)

Anyways... Only 2 weeks left until tranfers!!!! Yay!!! I love transfers time... and not only because all the missionaries in the mission go to Burger King together... :) Last week we had interviews with President Asay, and he said there´s a good chance I might be changing companions. Of course we still don´t know, but it´s exciting just because I love changes!!

Well the mission is great. Time is SO weird here, because some days seem SO long, and then before you know it the week is already over! I´ve already been here for over 4 months... crazy! And it´s only going to go faster since we´re going to start practicing for noche de luz soon. Our area is doing great though!! This week we found 17 new investigators!!! Pretty sweet, since thats about as many as our area had each transfer (6 weeks) before. We´re loving it, and just trying to push forward and work hard.

Wanna hear something exciting?? This week is GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!! Party time! Party time!!! Man, I am so stinking excited!!! It almost feels like Christmas!! With it being conference week, though, I have a VERY, VERY, VERY important challenge for every one of you!!!! Find someone... a friend, coworker, neighbor, ANYONE, and bring them with you to one of the sessions of conference!!!!!! You have no idea what a difference it will make!!! We were talking, and a lot of missionaries said that every single investigator who has gone to conference wanted to be baptised. Why?? BECAUSE THEY GOT TO HEAR A PROPHET OF THE LORD SPEAK!!!! What could be better?! This is an opportunity for every single person to listen to an actual prophet, who has been called of God to speak in his name, talk to US! So... that´s my challenge. If you´re a member... invite someone! If you´re not, talk to someone you know who is LDS and make the arrangements to go Saturday or Sunday!! You will NEVER EVER regret it, I promise!!!! If there is any question you have or any problem you´re facing, take it to conference and i PROMISE you´ll get an answer!!

I love you all. Be safe, don´t sleep while driving, and as always... SMILE tons!!! :)

Besitos,

Hermana Churchill

Life is WONDERFUL :)

Buenos Dias a todos!!!!

Man is it a beautiful day in Argie land! We had a great week this last week, and are getting ready to have another great one! First off... CONGRATULATIONS AARON AND YUKA!!!!! :) :) :) I´m a new auntie! ... again :) YAY!!! Sukai is GORGEOUS and I´m so excited to meet her!! ... in ... a year. haha. And Beanie Bear... you look gorgeous too!! Keep that smile going.

Anyways.... Yesterday we had 2 BAPTISMS!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!! Marta - the mom of Marcela, Daniela, and Leo - and her other hijo Diego got both got baptised yesterday, and man was it wonderful!!! I know I´ve probably told you about them tons, but even so I love talking about them because they´re the perfect example of how wonderful the gospel is and how much peace and happiness it brings to people´s lives!! We met this family my 2nd week of the mission. Apparently other missionaries had gone by before, but never had taught them. When we passed by, we were talking in the gate when the mom came out, skinny as a stick and in tiny clothes with her hair crazy, and told us if we were going to talk we had to come inside so the neighbors didn´t get mad. We were kinda thrown off and didn´t know what to do, but ended up having an awesome lesson with there family, and have been teaching them ever since. At the beginning Marta was a mess... and she says so herself! She´s had a TON of hard things happen to her and her family, and has gone through things I can´t even imagine. When we met her she was always depressed and sick, and always had something to complain about. Now, though, she´s ALWAYS smiling, and is always out and about talking to neighbors and playing with her kids. I LOVE going to their house, because in every lesson it´s a fight for who gets to choose the hymn and who GETS to say the prayer :)

Plus, this week Marcela (17) went out with us for her first time to teach other people, and it was amazing! She ALWAYS wants to share her testimony, and always wants to help other people. She even says that she wants to serve her own mission, as does her little brother Leo. They´re SOOO wonderful. Basically... I´m in love with this family!! :) It´s true.

Anyways... I gotta head out. Today we had a district asado (AKA amazing BBQ... but way better than a BBQ) so I´m all out of time. The big thing that I´ve realized this week is how wonderful studying is!!! There is so much to learn about and grow! So, I just want to encourage all of you to take the time to study the scriptures this week. Not just read them, but actually STUDY them. You´ll be amazed at what you´ll learn and how much happier you will be.

MILLIONS of kisses to all of you!! Love you all tons and tons!!

Con cariño,

Hermana Churchill

AKA Devee :)

Argie time!! :)

I am BEAT! But man does it feel good :)

SOO.... today was WONDERFUL! Sorry about the delay in the email, but this week our p-day was switched to Tuesday because we got to go to the temple!! WHOOOO HOOOOO!!! Sadly, though, it was my first and last time going to the Buenos Aires temple, because they´re closing it for 2 years in November to do rennovations :( sad day. But at least I got to go, and boy was it wonderful!!! :) So, this is my temple shout out to everyone... whatever it takes, BE WORTHY to go to the temple!! If you´re not right now, then get worthy!! If you are, then make time to go!! The temple is a PHENOMENAL place, and the feelings and thoughts you have while inside are better than anything else imaginable. If you don´t know what the temple is... well.... let me know... I´ll fill you in :)

(Oh... PS... while at the temple... Josh McDaniel, one of the Hermanas from Lanus said she was talking to you a few weeks ago and said hi to me for you :) It was awesome! And Allen... while walking back from the temple I met your ¨hijo¨.. pretty funny... i dont remember his last name but it starts with an M... he says hi! )

So.. this has been a pretty mixed up week. Wednesday I spent the day in Capital doing paperwork for my visa... not so exciting... but we did get to have a sleep over with Hermana Fox (my MTC comp who i LOVE) and another hermana... and Thursday we had zone conference... yay! Zone conference is always amazing, but this one was especially fun because I got to play the flute with another Elder playing the violin and another on the piano. I am SO happy I get to play!! We also got to talk about all the awesome experiences we´ve been having, and the crazy number of miracles we´ve seen! Before our ward was pretty cold to missionary work and not interested, and finding people to teach was difficult. Now, though, we´ve been finding tons of people who want to learn more about the gospel, and the ward is starting to see it and get excited!! Yay!

So.. thought of the week is from the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon. Can I just say that I love Alma the younger? Anyways... He´s talking about the experience he had with repentance and how wonderful it is to be forgiven of his sins. Sorry I dont have the english scripture, but I LOVE Alma 36:21... ¨No podia haber cosa tan intensa ni tan amarga como mis dolores. Si, hijo mio, y tambien te digo que por otra parte no puede haber cosa tan intensa y dulce como lo fue mi gozo. ¨Or... basically he says there is nothing as intense or bitter as the pain he felt, but also there is nothing as intense and sweet as was his joy when he repented. It´s SO true to. So many people suffer because of things they have done in the past and the guilt the feel. Imagine, though, that if they repent the joy they feel is just as intense, if not greater!! We are SOO incredibly blessed to have the atonement and the opportunity to repent of ALL of our sins! Our brother Jesus Christ suffered for us so that he could help us. All we have to do is turn to him and he will take off the burden and we can be HAPPY again!!! :) There is nothing sweeter!!!

Well... I love you all more than you can even imagine!!! I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve. I´ve only been gone four months, but I am already amazed at the difference this has made in my life, and will be eternally grateful for the chance I´ve had to serve in this amazing work!! Thank you so much for all the prayers and support!! :) Les quiero

Con carino,

Hermana Dev :)

PS.... BYU updates? Anyone? :) :) :)

RISE AND SHOUT!!! :)

Ok... so there´s lots to shout and sing about here in Argie... but the subject of this email is definitely a tribute to BYU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE BEAT OKLAHOMA!!!!!!!!! WHOOOOO HOOO!!!! Man you have no idea how happy I was to hear that!!! President Asay let my zone leader know who passed on the message to me! I can´t even explain how happy I was!!!! I spent like 30 minutes dancing around in our pension singing the cougar fight song :) Trying to explain to my companion who is from Chile why I was so happy and what BYU beating Oklahoma means in the world of college football and why it was such a big deal to me didn´t really work very well, but she was nice enough to listen and let me sing anyways :) MAN! I am so happy!!! Sad that I have to miss two college football seasons, but... I guess it´s worth it ;) haha. Any BYU updates would be more than welcome :) I mean.... .what?

ANYWAYS:... on to more missionary-like matters.... :) We had a pretty sweet week, and a pretty disappointing one at the same time. BUT! It´s all good. It was an awesome week because we found 16 new people to teach... YAY! It was also disappointing because Marcela, Daniela, and Leo didn´t show up to church... and neither did anyone else of our investigators ¨:( It´s all good though.... we went to their house later and found out the night before they had a ton of family stuff happen... and... in the end it was legit they didnt come. It was such an awesome lesson too, because the sister-in-law was there and Marcela, who just got baptised last week, shared her testimony and even helped us teach part of the lesson. It was wonderful!!!!

Even so, moral of the story.... For every good thing that happens there will always be something that happens to oppose it. That´s just how Satan works., and as the scriptures say, there is ¨opposition in all things ¨. So... even when hard times come just push through it!!! Just wait... a miracle is on it´s way! You just have to look for it!

Well... sorry this is short this week but I´m nearly out of time. Thank you SOOOOOOOOO much to those of you who have sent me letters!!! You have no idea how wonderful it is!!! And yes, I´m writting every single one of you back... it just takes a little while since I dont get letters for nearly a month and then it takes 2 weeks to send them too. So... patience :) But MUCHISIMAS gracias!!

I love you all more than you know!!!! :) SMile lots, be good, go and do something good for someone else.

Besitos,

Hermana Churchill

YAY FOR BAPTISMS!!!!! .... Great way to end my first transfer!

Well hola yal!

Life is great here in good old Argentina!! This week we had an awesome time, especially Sunday! First, we had 5 investigators at church on Sunday! Oh... one of which is named Angel, who showed up at church last Sunday asking how he could get baptised.... talk about a dream come true! :) He´s awesome though

After church we had a BAPTISM!!! YAY!!!!! Marcela (17), Leo (8), and Daniela (11) all got baptised today, and their mom Marta and other brother Diego are getting baptised in 2 weeks!! It was so wonderful. You have to understand.... this family lives in some of the worst of circumstances, and when we first met them the mom was super sick, always in bed and angry at the world too. Now, though, you can literally see a change in her eyes, and she`s always happy and smiling, and LOVES talking about the gospel! I`m so excited for their family!!! Marcela is a total future missionary too, and we already have plans for her to go out with us to teach their neighbors. WHOO HOO!! Party time in Argie!

Oh... also... I was way excited for this baptism since it was my first here, but then I also found out that this is the first baptism in this area since like February! Not to mention we also have 13 other investigators getting ready to be baptised too in the next few months... so it`s AMAZING because our ward is starting to change and are starting to get excited about missionary work. Miracles really do happen.... just gotta have a little faith!

Let´s see... other news... Today is the last day of my first transfer! (6 weeks). Turns out me & Hermana Reyes are staying together though, so we`re getting ready to work extra hard this coming transfer!

So... thought of the week... here`s a quote from President Hinckley that I love (i hope i havent already shared it... but if so... no worries... its still wonderful)

`Rise to the great potential within you. I do not ask that you reach beyond your capacity. I hope you will not nag yourselves with thoughts of failure. I hope that you will not try to set goals far beyond your capacity to achieve. I hope you will simply do what you can do in the best way you know. If you do so, you will witness miracles come to pass.`

Each and every one of you are AMAZING with so many talents and abilities. Develop them and use them to help those around you. Every day miracles are happening, you just have to look for them to recognize them.

I love you all! Know that you`re always in my prayers and I wish the best for each of you!

Besitos,

Hermana Churchill

Livin the life!!!

Hola, Hola, Hola!!!!

Man... this has yet again been a great week! We have had some awesome lessons, and have met some amazing people!!!! - Remember the mad wife who ended up giving permission for her daughter to be baptized? Well we went back Saturday and I had my first Argentine Asado.... HOLY COW!!!! It was amazing!! Chicken, beef, chorizo, (luckily no ¨mystery meat¨) ... that they spent 5 hours making! But man was it good!

Stories of the week:

- Humberto and Norma (the family of 12) - we went back to their house and taught them about the plan of salvation. The best part, though, was that when we got there the whole family was watching TV together, so they all ended up staying for the lesson, including Humberto (the dad) who usually makes excuses to go and do other things. We had talked with Norma the week before and found out that they aren´t married, but they´ve been together for 23 years and have 10 kids together. So, while talking about the Plan of Salvation we also started talking about Marriage and why it is so important, and extended a commitment to them to get married!! In the FIRST lesson we´ve had with Humberto! :) They´re great though... i´m not too worried. The BEST, BEST part of the lesson, though, was at the end when we asked Humberto if he would give the closing prayer. He wasn´t too excited about it, but we showed him in the Book of Mormon where we had writen the steps to prayer and told him he could use that, so he agreed to do it. When he said the prayer he simply thanked heavenly father for his family and for never abandoning them, and then was silent. All of us sat with our heads bowed waiting for what he would say next, but he was silent. After a while, he simply closed in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen, and then sat with the Book of Mormon in his hands just staring at it. This was SUCH a simple, small moment, but everyone in the room could feel the spirit so strongly!

So... thought of the week... this week the subject of adversity has come up a lot, and while studying i came across a quote from President Brigham Young which I love...

¨We are the happiest people when we have what are called trials, for then the Spirit of God is more abundantly bestowed upon the faithful¨

I don´t know about yal, but the first thought that that comes to me when I´m faced with a trial is usually not about how happy I am. What a great perspective this is to have, though, because if we really have faith, and recognize that every trial we pass through will help us become better and progress, then we can have this same view ... To know that during our trials our savior Jesus Christ will never abandon us, and will never leave our side. WHat a comfort it is to know that we will never be alone! I´ll admit... being thousands of miles away from all of my family and friends is difficult at times, but at least I´m never alone, and I can still always be happy!!! I know this is where I´m supposed to be right now, and I´m so grateful for this opportunity Heavenly Father has given me to share the gospel with others!

I love you all and wish you the best. Take some time this week to forget about yourself and the millions of trials and hardships you may be facing, and do something nice for someone else to help lift them up. I promise it will help ease the burden you feel as well.

Besitos a todos!

Hna Devee

Pictures!

Sorry I've been running behind on posts. Our family just moved to California and we've been pretty busy for the last few weeks. Hope you enjoy these pictures of Hermana Churchill!

1. mission president week in the MTC! This was the sign in the parking lot.... pretty sweet :)

2. Me & Hna Fox´s awesome collection of food :) Yummy yummy. I SO wish i had some of these things right now! :)

3. Playing in the laundy room the day our last time doing laundry before we left the MTC!

4. Remember the day that English died? This was the funeral service we had for it. It was a sad, sad day!

5. WHOO HOO!!!! PERU!!!!

6. The view from the roof of our apartment building!

Sorry everyone that I'm so behind! I just moved to California and have been so busy moving in. Enjoy these pictures of Devee.

BEST DAY EVER!!!!!!! :) :) :)

Holy WONDERFUL week in Argentina!!

Man... this week has been CRAZY with many crazy moments.... I had a man attack me with a hug and proceed to ask me if we could be friends and if i loved him and if we could eat lunch and chat together (he was a little... different). Kinda weirded out... my companion just sat and stared. Egh. We taught a family who started out with the wife telling us very... strongly.. that her church is the only right one... but ended up in her giving permission for her daughter to be baptised and them inviting us to have an asado with them. Crazy. And.... i dont even know. I million very interesting things happened this week.

The BEST though... was Sunday! Its a VERY long story, but because of some crazy happenings we ended up having 6 investigators at church (this whole transfer we´ve only had 1), found a family of TWELVE PEOPLE, and found 8 new investigators... alll in one day!! It was AMAZING!!!!!!!! The most miraculous was this family. On Saturday an appointment fell through and we were way bummed, but we decided to go back to the chapel and study language there while we waited for our next appointment. That day it turns out the MTC missionaries were proselyting in our area, and when we were in the chapel some of the hermanas ran up to us, telling us they were SOO happy they found us and that they had a reference for us of an awesome family. Sunday we went and met them... the family of 12... and found out that they had been being taught by missionaries a LONG time before, but the missionaries just stopped coming. (most likely because this house doesnt have an address so when the missionaries changed they didnt know where to find them). Anywaysl... long story short.... we got to teach them about Joseph SMith and the restoration, and they accepted invitations to be baptised!!! This family is SOOO amazing!!! There are 10 kids and they all live together, and are SO SO SO prepared!!! Its funny to me though how all of this worked out.... if we hadnt have listened to the various impressions we received throughout the day and if this apt hadnt fallen through, this all never would have happened and again they would have had to wait. Moral of the story: You never know what Heavenly Father´s plans are. Even when things go wrong, remember he is in charge and is ALWAYS watching over you!

Quote of the week is from Elder Dallin H Oaks:

¨Drive and determination are what lead to extraordinary success, not natural ability.¨

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this quote, because its so true!! I believe is a person puts their mind to something and wants to succeed and is willing to work for it, they can accomplish anything!!! So many times, though, people make excuses for themselves or for others. Don´t do this!!!!! There´s a quote from Pres. Kimball I love when he talks about how any excuse, no matter how valid, will always hurt the person. So don´t make excuses!! Even if you´re right!! Instead.... move forward. Try to make the best of what you have, and always push yourself to become better! This is when we find success and when we truly are happy. ¨If you think you can or you think you can´t, you´re right.¨(Henry Ford... i think....)

I love you all!!!!! I hope all is wonderful. Smile TONS:... it will do miracles for you! I am loving being a missionary and a part of this great work. I pray for all of you and hope that life is everything you could dream of and more!!

Besitos,

Hermana Dev

¨Count your blessings, not your worries!¨

Party time in Argie!

This week was quite an interesting one! It started out a little bit rocky but quickly improved! We set a goal as a district to find 15 new investigators per companionship, which is really high for our area. The goal usually is 6/week, and that is even a bit hard at times. Even so, we decided to accept the challenge, and set a minimum goal of 10, and the ideal of 15. It´s amazing what Heavenly Father does for you when you set goals and make plans and ask for his help in achieving it, because we were able to find 11 new investigators this week! YAY!¨:) Yeah, its not 15, but its still double what we´ve ever done in this area! Our district all together found 43, which is awesome! Half of what the whole zone found. AND... the investigators that we found are so wonderful! I´m in love already :) ...

Funniest finding moment this week was when we went to an appointment we had set with one of our investigators, Rosa. She wasn´t there, so we decided to go across the street to a house we had contacted 2 weeks before. When we knocked on the door we could hear Aerosmith music playing SUPER loud, so we figured they were busy and wouldn´t want to talk. When they answered the door, however, The dad Robinson came and invited us in immediately! He started introducing us to everyone there, and brought us drinks and food right away. After talking to the people there a little, we found out that the next day was Robinson´s birthday, and they had begun ¨celebrating¨ a little early. Ay, ay, ay! We started thinking it would be best to just leave because we probably wouldnt get much accomplished, they only wanted more company and were intrigued by a rubia who spoke English (the dad kept telling his daughters he wanted me to teach them English). When we were about ready to give up, Robinson and his two daughters, Rocio (10) and Jeraldin (4) came and sat with us and were talking to us, and Rocio said ¨Is it ok that i read the pamphlet you left my uncle?´¨ We were super surprised because she seemed so young, but then she continued to ask us questions about the book of mormon and the church. We explained what the Book of Mormon was to her and her dad, and explained to Robinson that we wanted to give him a copy to read. Then Rocio asked us if she could read it too! Throughout the whole visit Rocio would say things that completely surprised us, and was so excited to read and to learn! So... what started out as a rocky visit turned into an awesome experience!

Aside from that... life is good. I´m sure there´s a million other things i have to tell you, but my mind is so fried i can´t even think! Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOO much to those of you who have written me emails!!! :) I absolutely LOVE hearing from home! It makes me so incredibly happy.... you have no idea!! :)

Thought of the week comes from a little sign that was in the house of a member we visited .... ¨El secreto de la felicidad no esta en hacer lo que se quiere, sino en querer siempre lo que se hace¨ or... in english... The secret to happiness isn´t in doing what you want, but rather in wanting always what you do. So.... enjoy life!! Sometimes things don´t work out exactly the way we want, but if we learn to love the things we have to do then we will truly be happy! Stop waiting and wishing and hoping.... instead GO and do something with your life!! Nephi said ¨I will go and do¨ not ¨I will sit and stew¨ !! Enjoy life!!! Smile lots, and help bring sunshine into the lives of those around you!!

Love you all tons and tons!!!! :)

Besitos,

Hna Churchill!

HACE FRIO!!!!!!!!!!

FAMILIA! AMIGOS!

¿¿¿Como estan todos??? Espero que todos esten bien! Man has this week been an interesting one!! We FINALLY got a heater! YAY!!! Before we were studying in the morning with scarves, gloves, lots of blankets, and lots of socks, and were STILL freezing because we didn´t have a heater... but now, life is great. I´ve also become a professional at toasting bread in a frying pan. You would think that because I know how to cook so much (i mean, honestly, i was even a caterer!) that I would be able to toast bread, but when you dont have butter or a toaster and all you have to use is an ancient missionary frying pan with who knows what burnt onto it, it´s a little difficult! I finally mastered it though, and I´m the best toast-maker ever now! :)
Other cool happenings of Argentina...
- I´ve learned how to clap doors quite well... it takes practice to clap loud enough for everyone to hear! Oh... for those of you who dont know... in Argentina we cant knock on doors because there´s always little gates, so instead we clap. Pretty cool!
- I´ve learned that if you´re going to eat an orange, get ready to spit... they have 20-30 seeds in every orange, no joke! Makes you grateful for genetically engineered food!
- The more clothes the better! It is SO cold here!! And being outside all day makes it even worse! Plus, even when we´re inside, most people don´t have heaters. It´s kinda funny to be teaching a lesson to a family and being able to see your breath... when you´re inside! One day I wore thermals, running spandex, 2 pairs of tights, socks (under the tights so you couldn´t see), two skirts, 2 sweaters, and my big coat, and was STILL cold! It´s all good though... I´m getting used to icicle hands :)
- I get to eat dulce de leche anytime i want! Funny thing though... its not as amazing now as it was before, just because they use it in everything here!
- I never realized how grateful I was for peanut butter!

Ok, ok... enough of all that. As far as the week goes, we started teaching an awesome family!! They live in the tiniest little house in part of our area thats ¨la villa¨. We´re teaching the mom, Marta, her daughters Marcela (17) and Daniela (12) and Leo (8). I LOOOOOVE them!! The first time we went to teach them they had read everything we left them and were so excited to talk to us! They accepted baptismal dates in the first lesson, and always talk about how excited they are! It´s cute too because the mom always calls me ¨La angelita¨and every time we come the younger kids run in saying ¨la angelita esta aca!¨... or ... the little angel is here! :) They are all so sweet. When she first called me this it reminded me of the talk that Elder Holland gave us at the MTC, when at the end he said ´´welcome to the work of angels. To your family and those who are praying for you, you are angels, and especially to the investigators you are going to teach´´. For me, many times I feel insufficient and overwhelmed, but I am so grateful to be a part of this work, and to be able to help my Heavenly Father in bringing the gospel to other people.

I hope life is wonderful for all of you back home!! :) Do me a favor this week, and take some time to serve someone else. Even if it´s just by writing a nice note or making treats for a friend. This little things that take so little effort from us can make such a big difference to the person who receives this service. When we serve others, that is when we are most like Jesus Christ, and when we are the most happiest in this life. I love you all. I love this gospel. I know without a doubt that all of the blessings and happiness I have in this life are because I have the gospel, which gives me hope and strength. This is why I want to share it with others. This is why I am here. I want more than anything for other people to be able to have the same happiness that I have in my life.

I love you all MUCHISIMO! Les quiero.

Besos!
Hermana CHurchill

AKA Devee!

Devee's in Argentina!

Dear Churchill Family,

It is a great pleasure to notify you that your daughter has arrived safely to the great mission Argentina Buenos Aires South. She is in a very good area with an excellent Trainer, Hermana Reyes . Although we have known her for a very short time we love her already. She will be great!

Sincerely,

President and Sister Asay

ARGENTINA HERE I COME!!!! ... I hope

SOOO... So far so good.. I got my flight plans and I'm leaving on Monday morning at 5 AM to go to ARGENTINA!!!!! YAY!!!!! It's about time! :) The whole "i hope" part though.... Apparently all the elders in my district just got visa delays and found out they probably wont leave for 2 more weeks... and they're all going to Argentina too. From what I hear if you're in Buenos Aires, though, you don't need a visa... so I think I'm safe... we'll find out soon enough though! So... Cross your fingers and pray hard that I'll get to go! :) PS have yal heard that Argentina is now the capital of the swine flu? Buenos Aires, specifically. Pretty sweet huh?! haha. Don't worry, I promise I won't die.
>
> SOOO... anyways, travel plans... I leave a 5 AM on monday... our flight leaves at 8 AM ... and we get into Buenos Aires, Argentina at 8 AM on Tuesday. Translation: it's going to be a very long day! It was gonna be a big party because we were going to have 30 missionaries all on the same flights, but now we'll probably only have 8. Oh well. We have 2 lay overs.. one in LA and one in PERU!!! YAY!!! Ok... I know it's silly to get excited because I don't actually get to leave the airport, but I'm still SOOOO stinkin excited to be in Peru again! :)
>
> This week has been pretty good, but time is starting to slow down ever since we got our travel plans! It should pick up pretty quick though because we're teaching 15x in the TEC... meaning NO study time pretty much... just class and teaching. I'm excited!! I can't wait til I get to teach and find all day, everyday!
>
> We've had some really good speakers this week! Last Tuesday Elder Angel Abrea of the seventy came and talked to us, on Sunday Margaret D. Nadauld (YW general president) spoke to us in Relief Society, and President Clegg (who set me apart) spoke on Sunday. Today we're hoping for a really good devotional since it's our last! Kind of silly to say since all of them are wonderful. I'm super excited though because we're singing "Blessings"... AKA "Come thou fount" in choir for the devo. AMAZING. I absolutely love this song! The spirit is SUPER strong when we sing it together!
>
> Here's a quick thought for yal today: It's from Music and the Spoken Word from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. During the program some of the commentary really stood out to me. It basically said:
>
> "Stop. Look around and realize how much you have been given and blessed with. Instead of thinking of what you can buy and be happy, think of what you already have that is sufficient to accomplish this. SLOW DOWN & ENJOY all the beauty around us that God has given us."
>
> We are SOOOO incredibly blessed... every single one of us! Look outside. Look at your families and friends and the people who you care about the most in your life. All of these are blessings. I'm probably not the best person to talk about slowing down... after all, I'm my mother's daughter... but it's definitely good advice I'm trying to use. When we slow down and realize all we have we are instantly happier. This goes along with a quote from Henry Ford I really like too:
>
> "Don't find fault, find a remedy. Anybody can complain"
>
> I hope all of you are happy and loving life & living it to the fullest! Never waste a single day.
>
> I love you all!
>
> xo, Hermana CHurchill
>
> AKA Devee!

I ESCAPED AGAIN!!! .....

Only meaning that once again i had to go to another appointment, which i DO NOT like!! It's all good though. This time it was pretty interesting... for the last week my front tooth has been killing me so finally my companions convinced me to go see the dentist, and its a good thing I did! It turns out that... well... long story. When i was 12 years old I face-planted on a concrete ramp and broke my front tooth. Apparently when that happened it blocked off the blood supply, so my tooth is dead now! Guacala. SOOO.... I have to get a root canal. On Monday they drilled a hold in my tooth and scraped out the inside, and i have to go back on Friday to get it filled. Crazy huh?! The craziest part is that right now I'm double insured medically but I have no dental insurance, so we were going to have to pay for it out of pocket and I was supposed to call home to tell them how much it would cost. The dentist just started doing the procedure, so I asked how much it costs and that I needed to check with my dad.... knowing that these things are usually $300-500, but he said "well.. for you... it'll only cost 2 or 3 pesos." Later he told me that he wanted to do it for me completely FREE!!!! Crazy huh>?!> I was so grateful!! (and my parents too I'm sure!). Oh the blessings of being a missionary! :) Oh.... and I still got to call home and talk to my mommy to let them know what was going on! (Sorry to those of you who were at home.... I tried calling there first! Now for the next 18 months you'll always answer the phone :)
>
> ANYWAYS>.... aside from that I've been good. I only have 13 DAYS left in the MTC!!!!!!!! crazy huh>? I should be getting my flight plans this thursday, and I leave a week from Monday! I'm so excited!!! I'm definitely ready to go.
>
> Oh... PS>... Happy 4th of July!! They treated us good here at the MTC! We got out of class early and went and watched a program they made all about the reformers and how they made it possible for the church to be restored. Pretty cool. Then we got to go outside and watch the stadium of fire fireworks until 11 PM! Pretty rebelious eh? haha. Don't worry.... President Smith gave us permission! It made me a little homesick being away from all my family and friends, but it's all good. It's just a good thing that not every day is a holiday, or else I'd really be in trouble!
>
> Soo.... no big AMAZING stories or cool quotes for yal this week, but what I've realized the most this week is that whenever anything goes wrong or doesn't happen like you want it to, instead of pouting and getting depressed, just make the best of it! Heavenly Father always knows exactly where you are and knows far better than you what is best for you. So... roll with the punches. Make the best of every situation, no matter how bad it seems to be at that time. And through everything, NEVER forget to smile. Even if you have to fake it, smiling ALWAYS helps you feel better!!
>
> I love you all. Be good.
>
> Besos! Hermanita Churchill
>
> AKA Devee!

More Pictures

Fort time!! Do you like that I'm wearing pearls & sweats? :)

This was by far the best night of sleep that I've had!

Me & Hna Fox both have the same alarm clock & everyone thinks that they're cell phones. It's helping me cope with losing mine.

Half of our district. E Robinson, E Haas, E Petersen, Me, Hna Fox, Hna Wise, Hna Fair. Hna Fair went to the Dominican Republic MTC & Elder Haas went home (sad), but now we have 2 more sisters & 2 more elders too!

Swimming anyone? :) Don't worry...I didn't actually do it.

Hna Fair (she left for Puerto Rico), Hna Fox & me

Playing at the temple in the rain

PARTY TIME IN THE MTC!@!!!

Hello everyone!!!!
>
> This week has been absolutely crazy in the MTC! .... Crazy cool that it. It was the new mission president seminar this week, meaning all weekend members of the first presidency and quorum of the 12 were here, as well as tons of mission presidents! It was so neat! So here are the cool happeninngs of this week:
>
> 1. I finally have seen what heaven is like! .... Because all these people are here the cafeteria gets blocked off and we can only use half of it, so everything is a little different. Because of it though, they put all the cereal on one side together. Now you gotta understand... these are big huge cereal dispensers, and there were TWENTY of them, all different kinds, all along one wall! On Wednesday when we walked in and i saw this i was SOO excited. I looked up and thought "man... now this is heaven!" :)
>
> 2. Ok... now real stuff. Before the devotional on Friday we had choir practice and then went back to our classroom to get ready for devo. I have an obsession with brushing my teeth a million times each day, so I convinced my companions (who always make fun of me) to go to the bathroom with me. When we got there, there were 2 other sister missionaries waiting and a woman who looked like a mission president's wife. We started talking to her and asked what mission she was going to and she said "Oh I'm not. I'm sister Beck, the Relief Society President". At first this didnt really register... and she went into the bathroom. We finally realized this was sister Beck,... as in RS president of the WHOLE church!! SO later we saw her again and she gave us hugs before she left :) It was pretty random, but pretty cool
>
> 3. Then ,.... Devo... OHHH MYYY GOOOOOODNESS!!!!! :) Elder Holland spoke at devotional and it was phenomenal! Not only was Elder Holland there, but also on the stand was Elder Bednar, Scott, Perry, Cook, Anderson, Christoferson AND Oaks. It was SOOOOO coool! We sang Joseph Smith's first prayer and it was absolutely incredibly! I didn't know a choir with 200-300 people and only 2 hours of practice could sound that good! Maybe it's the whole 100% obedience thing.... people actually listen to what the conductor tells em to do :)
>
> 4. The next day we had a big combined sacrament meeting... the biggest one I've ever seen! There were 600 missionaries, and so we had about 50 Elders blessing & passing the sacrament, which was set up on 4 long tables. It was really cool! At sacrament a couple members of the district presidency talked to us, and I REALLY liked a story that one of them shared with us, so I'll share it with you... in a little bit :)
>
> 5. For Relief Society on Sunday, Sister Wendy W. Nelson, wife of Elder Nelson, spoke to us!! She is an amazing example to all women... she has her ph.d. and has accomplished a ton in life. One thought she shared that I loved was that we should ask ourselves "What am i willing to commit to the Lord, that from this moment on I will never do - or never do again - NOT EVEN ONCE?" Think about that for a lil bit...
>
> Sooooo.... those are the highlights of the week. Oh... another cool thing... if yal have never visited mormon.org GO THERE!!! Its a cool website. If you visit the teachings part and watch the video clips, you hear a ton of cool stories from real people. Just a though.
>
> OH!! So... the story I was gonna share.... Pres. was talking about a time when he and his son went night scuba diving to certify. He had put too much weight in his weight belt though, so when he came to the surface he was REALLY struggling to stay afloat, and the water was super choppy and keep beating against him while the weight kept pulling him down. His son saw him and swam over and said "Here dad, lean on me and I'll swim you to shore" so he did, got to shore, adjusted the weight, and then went out and had the most amazing dive of his life.
> He compared this story to the savior and said "Sometimes if you're carry8ing too much weight it takes all your energy just to stay afloat because the weight is pulling you down. The savior is off to the side & he says "Lean on me. I'll help you take off some of that weight & then you can go out and have the best experience of your life"
>
> Don't forget... you're never alone!!! The savior is always there to help take off some of the weight.... he wants to help us as much as he can.
>
> Be good. Never quit trying. Smile lots.
>
> I love you all! :)
>
> Hermanita Dev

PICTURES!

PICTURES! Captions by Hermana Churchill.

These are all the sisters from my zone...we have tons! Still saucy as always. :)

My district w/our first teacher before she quit to get married.

I miss Wilson's :(

Most of my zone!

Oops...I accidentally hit Elder Riches in the face when we played volleyball. My bad!

Argentina here I come! (with her comp, Hermana Fox)

The hermanas of my district!