Olmos.... AKA Heaven!

Alright, now that things have calmed down a smidge I can explain to yal how my new area is! Olmos is just outside of La Plata, which is the capital of the province of Buenos Aires, but it´s NOTHING like the city. Everything is campo, villa, or almost villa. (uhh... country, ghetto, or almost ghetto). But I am seriously IN LOVE! Our members are amazing here too.... they´re WAY excited to have Hermanas, so EVERY day we eat with members, and every day they give us lots of references! I love it! We´re already seeing tons of progress in the area. Before, because it was so far away, the Elders almost NEVER came to this area, so it´s basically completely new. Everyone is SOOO nice here too. It´s not like the city where everyone has money and lives in houses with big fences in front and intercom´s you have to talk into. Rather, everyone´s always chillin outside drinking mate, and LOVE talking to you, even if they have no interest in the church. It´s so amazing!

SOO.... I have some sweet updates from Banfield too!! DO you remember Raul, the bald guy who got baptised in November, who´s the best member ever??? WELL.... before I left he started passing the sacrament and gave the prayer in church, and would come to citas we had. Well... this week he´s going to receive the Melchizadek Priesthood, and he´s giving a talk in church, and in 3 weeks he´s going to be the one who baptizes Ariel!!! (my other favorite.... the guy from Noche de Luz). I am SOOOO happy.... you have no idea! It is amazing to see the changes the gospel brings to people´s lives. If ever single person I meet from now on slams the door in my face, it wouldn´t even matter, because now I understand why I´m here on a mission and why this work is so important.

It´s true what Elder Brent H. Nielson said in conference, that " the is no greater work, there is no greater call than teaching ´all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." And that doesn´t mean just being full-time missionaries. Every single person has the same opportunity and responsibility to share the gospel, whether it be with their family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, whoever! By doing so we give the best service we can offer to those around us, because there truly is nothing that will bring more happiness in this world than having the gospel in our lives. I love the poem quoted in Pres. Monson´s talk in October:

I have wept in the night

For the shortness of sight

That to somebody´s need made me blind;

But I never have yet

Felt a tinge of regret

For being a little too kind.

As the wife of a prophet once said, we should never surpress a kind thought. So please, take full advantage of the calling we all have to share the gospel. By doing so we can show those around us that we truly love them.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week, and keep smiling!

xo, Hermana Devee

ROLLERCOASTER week! But still tearin it up! :)

Man do I have some stories for yal! ....

So Tuesday morning I got to meet my new companion who I´m training, Hermana Hill. (hehe... pretty sweet huh? My companion´s name is half of my name!) She´s way sweet! While at the mission home, however, I still had no idea where we were going to live, and apparently the stake president wasnt able to find a pension for us, so we were going to have to live with a member for a little while. Seeing as Olmos is 2 hours away from the mission home, and we would have to travel in bus and train with ALL of our suitcases, AND we didn´t know where to go, President arranged for the Assistants to drive us down. BUT.... when they called to find out where to go, we found out that it wasn´t an apartment we were going to live in, it was a room in the house. SOOO... we went on a little road trip with the Assistants to see how it was and make sure it was ok

Well... I wont go into too many details, but that night we had a fun night sleeping with the infestation of spiders and cockroaches in the walls and right above our heads in the bed, and on our thin, worn-out mattresses in a pool of sweat since it was one of the hottest days here, and we had no fan. It was a hard, hard night. I think we slept about 2 hours. We also ended up not even showering the next morning because the bathroom door couldnt shut, which is awkward when you´re living in someone else´s house. Luckily the members are AMAZING who we were living with, making it more manageable, but with being a missionary and all it was tough.

ANYWAYS.... no worries... the next day when President found out he got us moved right away. Now we´re living in the Hermana´s pension in the area next to ours, and its WONDERFUL!!! I always joke these problems happened to help me transition from living in the "castle" apartment of the hermanas in Banfield to whatever new apartment i get. Its super fun living with 4 hermanas too. (that NEVER happens in our mission). And our area is PHENOMENAL!!!! I absolutely LOVE it!! I cant even explain. It´s ALL campo and villa... meaning very very humble people. We found a TON of new investigators, and were even able to set 3 baptismal dates with a family we just found, and they ALL came to church on Sunday!! WHOO HOO!!!

Anyways, I´ll tell ya more next week, I´m all out of time. We are DEFINITELY having a party here in our new area though!!!! It´s WONDERFUL!!!

I love you lots!! SMILE tons, and remember... anything is possible with a little faith!

love, hermana dev

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Training AND opening an area?! .... WHAT?!?!?!?!

HOLY COW!!!! Today was transfers, and I can´t believe what´s happening!

So... here´s the story.... Saturday night at about 10 pm our district leader called to let us know what trasfers were gonna be. Now... I´ve already been in Banfield 2 for 4 transfers, which is usually the most, but seeing as Hermana Turley left 2 weeks ago and my mini companion only has 2 weeks in this area, I was positive I was going to stay.

ANYWAYS... When transfers come, you can guarantee the first thing they tell you is a joke, cuz they always like to tease. SO.... our district leader said¨"alright... for transfers.... Hermana Taquichiri and Hermana Churchill are staying together in Banfield 2!" I don´t know why I believed him, but I thought "really?! This means i´m gonna be here for 9 months!" cuz i would have to stay ANOTHER transfer since taquichiri is only a mini and is only staying this transfer.

BUT.... then he told us it was a joke and said "ok, ok... i´ll tell you the truth. Hermana Taquichiri is staying in Banfield and Hermana Fox is coming to be her companion. And Hermana CHurchill is going to OLMOS in Villa Elvira to open an area, and for her companion.... she´s TRAINING!"

Ok.... now when he said this i was SURE it was a joke, for many reasons.... 1) Hermana Taquichiri only has 2 weeks in this area, and barely knows it. 2) EVERYONE in the mission knows me and hermana Fox are best friends and want to be companions, so i thought he was just teasing that she was coming and i was going. And 3) Opening an area AND training are two huge things, so I was POSITIVE president wouldn´t have a missionary do both at the same time because it would be CRAZY, especially since I only have 4 transfers in the mission.

After i spent 5 minutes trying to get Elder Riquez to tell me the truth, until i finally realized that he wasnt joking.... meaning that

I´M OPENING AN AREA AND TRAINING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy CRAZY!

I am SOOOO stoked though.... I can´t even tell you! I was way sad because I´m going to miss Ariel and Miriam´s baptisms, which i promised i´d be here for, and Tatiana is having her baby in February, which I´ll miss too. BUT... I am SOOOO excited for my new assignment!! Today I get to stay in my pension here in Banfield 2 with Hermana Fox and Taquichiri, and tomorrow morning I go to the mission home to meet my "nuevita"!! (new companion).

Olmos is close to La Plata, which is the capital of the province of Buenos Aires, but is about 2 hours away from where I am now. How in the world we´re gonna make it with ALL our suitcases for both me and my comp in train and bus i dont know, but I´m sure it´´ll work out. All i really now about the area right now is that there´s a prison there, and that I get VILLA!!! YAY!! haha.. hermanas never get areas with villa (villas are ghettos ... but WAY more ghetto than what we think of ghetto) so I´m excited. We´re going to be sharing the ward with two other elders, and as of right now... we dont have an apartment. But I guess we´re living with members until we find one. SO... we´ll see how that goes.

ANYWAYS:... that´s my exciting news for now!! It was COMPLETELY unexpected, but I´m pumped and ready to go!!!! I´m sure I´ll have some great stories for you next week!

Well.... I hope everything is going great!! Thanks for the pictures and letters. Send me lots!! I LOVE seeing everything that went on back home!! Oh... side note... mom and mel... i still havent gotten the packages but i DO know they´re in argentina and coming soon! whoo hoo!! :) haha. I hope you all had a WONDERFUL time with CHristmas and New Year´s. Love you all tons and tons!!!

Un beso GRANDE!

Hermana Devee :)

P.S.... I´ll be home for Christmas :) hehe

Run, run as fast as you can..... what a week!!

If i ever thought the mission was stressful before.... now it´s reached a whole other level! :) But man does it feel good! haha... I am so my mother´s child... the more stressed and hectic the better! It just means you´re getting things done, right? :)

First off.... Christmas in Argentina... man was that a new experience! I felt bad because Christmas Eve was P-Day (and Hermana Taquichiri´s first ever) so we were going to go play with everyone, but there was a huge storm and everything got flooded, so we ended up sitting in the pension. I felt bad cuz for H Taquichiri Christmas Eve is the big celebration day. SO... to make it better we made empanadas and pulled out our matresses to sleep under the Christmas tree (my family always sleeps under the tree the night we put it up. We were a little late doing it this year, but it was still fun!). After talking to my family (which I LOVED) we went to bed, only to be woken up a short while later at 12 AM to BOMBS going off outside! In Argentina, that´s basically what fireworks are! It sounded like we were in the middle of a war or something! It was fun to watch so many fireworks going off though, since we live on the 11th floor and can see everything!

Then Christmas day we spent with the zone in interviews with president and later lunch in the mission home.... not a bad deal :) It was WAY fun, and almost felt like something a normal family would do :)

Oh.... in other news.... Noche de Luz was AWEEEEESOOOOMMEE!!!!! It seriously was phenomenal!!! We had 8 performances over a 3 week period, and traveled all over the mission! Adrogue, Banfield, La Plata, Longchamps, Avellaneda, Montegrande, Florencio Varela, and Quilmes. Every chapel was PACKED, some of them even overflowing into the hallways! It was great! And the best part... they predicted that over half were investigators! There have already been SO many amazing stories that have resulted from this program, with many more to come I´m sure! I´m so grateful I got to participate in it!

Alright.... well... my time is all up and i better get to work! I love you all tons! Challenge of the week.... WATCH President Holland´s talk from the October conference on LDS.org.... it rocks! I promise it´´ll be worth the time!

Love you tons!

Hermana Churchill

Pics - 1) Noche de Luz... instruments! This night, Elder Barton from the north mission came down to see the program and happened to have his cello, so he played prelude with us!. 2) Sleeping under the christmas tree on christmas eve :). 3) Christmas day with hermana taquichiri in the mission home.

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!! .... and a flood? What?!

AHH! SOryy!! Did this not get sent last week?! My bad... here ya go..

Sorry this is so long.... we´re gonna have to do topics so it´s easier to follow... :)

FLOOD?

Merry Christmas!! Yep... that´s right.... we had ANOTHER flood! Today is Christmas Eve, and we woke up this morning to a HUGE thunder and lightning storm, and ALL of the streets were completely flooded.... even more than last time! What a way to start the christmas festivities eh? I decided it´s God´s way of keeping people from blowing up stuff and getting as drunk tonight.

Christmas in Argentina

Oh yeah... i better explain how Christmas is here so that makes sense. It´s just a TAD different. Ok no... it´s really different. Here La Nochebuena... aka Christmas Eve, is the big day. Everyone gets together with family and eats tons all night. Then they have a countdown to midnight, and everyone goes out into the street and starts yelling, singing, dancing, and lighting off fireworks (that appear more like mini bombs), and shooting guns in the air at midnight. Also, they open all the presents and things like that at midnight too. SOOO.... we´ll see if i get any sleep tonight :) ha. Oh... not to mention... everyone gets super drunk, so sadly enough Christmas and Christmas eve are some of the most dangerous days here. It´s all good though.... no worries... we have to be back in the pension at 6:00 pm both days, AND new years and new years eve too, so we´ll be safe.

TRAINING? Saying goodbye to the Turlster....

Anyways... this was an AWESOME week!! .... Besides the fact that Hermana Turley left me :(. She went home a little bit before the transfer ends to get ready for school and be with the fam. The only problem is that because of that now I have a "mini missionary" who i´m training, so it´s been a little stressful this week! It was hard to say bye to Hermana Turley, cuz she´s AMAZING and we got along SO well! I love that girl! But... I´ll see here in 11 months so it´s ok :) My new comp´s name is Hermana Taquichiri, and she´s from Burzaco here in Buenos Aires. (the mini missionaries are members of missionary age who serve for only a few weeks or a transfer when we need extra missionaries). She´s way cute, and we´re having fun! It´s a little hard cuz she´s never been in the MTC or had an training, but now she´s gonna be a pro! She´s awesome though... she´s learning really fast and is always willing to listen and try new things!

ARIEL & RAUL .... the capos of the capos

So... cool Ariel and Raul update.... they ROCK!!! On Sunday Raul gave the opening prayer in sacrament meeting AND passed the sacrament for the first time! I felt like such a mom because he was really nervous, and WE were nervous cuz no one explained it well, and didnt have time to cuz the meeting already started. But he did great, so i was proud! :) THEN... after church on Sunday Ariel and Raul both went to a YSA fireside.... on their own! Crazy cool eh? Raul is the best missionary too... he sat with Ariel the whole time, introduced him to other members, and even took him home afterwards!

Then, to make it even better, on Tuesday Raul came to a cita we had with Ariel, and we were able to take out a baptismal date with him! But, what makes me happier than anything is that we didnt have to try to convince him or explain why or anything... he wanted to be baptised, and is WAY excited. Sometimes people are really hesitant and precautious, but he´s not at all! It was funny too, because he put it in his cell phone, and then wrote in his to do list "arrepentirse" ... o sea... "REPENT" :) I can´t even explain how happy I am and how much fun we´re having here. Life as a missionary ROCKS! There are so many people that I´ve met that I´ll never forget, who are friends i´ll have forever because of this mission . So... lets just say I´m in love with life! :)

*** DO THIS!! .... Pretty Please? :) ***

Alright... as usual I´ve written WAY too much.... I always wondered why missionaries send such long letters, but now I understand. A quick spiritual though of the day for yal though, is actually an invitation:

Read the lyrics of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" - p. 29 in the hymn book, or look it up on LDS.org. But REALLY pay attention to the lyrics this time. I was reading it this morning and was amazed. What amazed me, though, is that this man did so many acts of service for the man who was suffering, but after each one HE always was served in some way or received something even better in return. That´s EXACTLY how I feel as a missionary. Lots of times people say how great they think it is that we sacrifice so much time and leave behind our family and schooling and jobs, but really... i kinda feel like i´m cheating the system or something, because although every day is filled with tons of service, I feel like I receive WAAAAAAAY more blessings that what I give. It´s amazing! Can I just say LIFE IS WONDERFUL! :)

Anyways... that´s the challenge.... read all 7 verses of that song, and then read Matthew 25:31-40, and let me know how it goes! And, most importantly, don´t forget to put it into action! There´s always someone around us who needs a helping hand... we just have to look around. So please.... all I want for Christmas is for everyone to find a way to serve those around them. I promise if you do then you will feel the same unsurmountable happiness I´ve felt. :)

I love you all, and wish you the merriest Christmas yet! :)

Un besito grande! :)

Hermana Devee Churchill

COOLEST story EVER!!

Ok, ok.... I know.... I say that a lot... but this really is an AWESOME story about an experience we had last week!

Alright.... so do you remember how I told yal about how an investigator we had just met 2 days before Noche de Luz in Banfield showed up there? Well... his name is Ariel, and I HAVE to tell you the whole story now!

K... So Friday we were walking down a quiet little street, and out of the corner of my eye I could see a guy walking in the middle of the street and getting closer to us. So... just as a normal precaution, we crossed the street. As soon as we crossed though, we heard someone say... in english... "Do you two speak English?" So we stopped and turned around, and started talking to him. Apparently, he´s been studying English in college so he speaks pretty well. Anyways... we gave him an invitation to Noche de Luz, wrote down his address, and went on our way.

THEN... 2 days later on Sunday he showed up to Noche de Luz! Just from the short little visit we had in the street! So we chatted a little more and set up an appointment for us to go over on Tuesday. And NOW is when it gets really cool!

On Tuesday morning we were about to leave the pension when we got a phone call from the Buenos Aires MTC. They told us that "Ariel", and investigator of ours, had called because he wanted to let us know he wasn´t going to be there for the cita, and wanted to give us a new phone number. So we called him and set up the cita for a few hours later. When we went, though, he told us that he had gone on the internet, looked up the LDS website, started chatting with missionaries in the UTAH MTC... in english.... and told them, so they gave him the Argentina MTC phone number which he called.... and all of this JUST so that he wouldn´t fodge our cita we had! You gotta understand.... usually people wont even call US, let alone go through ALL that work to tell us! So we were amazed!!

Then, we had an amazing cita... he understood everything REALLY well and asked us a ton of good questions. At the end, we had marked a part of the Book of Mormon to read and were about to ask him to come to church, when he said "Hey, I had another question.... is it ok if I come to your church on Sunday?" .... ?!?!?!??!?! Sweet huh? A lot of times getting people to come to church is like pulling teeth, but we didn´t even have to try! He asked US to come!!! And at the end of the cita he said the prayer, which is another awesome thing that a lot of people dont like doing.

ANyways.... basically.... Ariel is the CAPO of the capos! :) (capo = cool.... but better than cool :)) . Oh... and.,... a few days later we met his mom and found out she already got baptized and LOVES the church, she just stopped going because she couldnt stop smoking and moved. So... I should have some fun updates for you with their family!

And... thats my amazing story. Sorry its a lil long. But it was awesome!

Oh... ONE more awesome thing.... Raul was a reference from the MTC missionaries here when they got to come to our area to do tracting, so when he got baptised President Asay and his wife brought a picture of the baptism to the MTC. But... last week the MTC called us again and told us that they´re going to make a big print of the picture to frame and put on the wall in the MTC in Argentina. So we´ll be famous! :) haha

Alright... WELL... I hope you are all happy and LOVING the Christmas season! I´m just trying to not get burned in the INCREDIBLY hot weather we´ve been having ;) haha.. not to rub it in or anything :)

I love you all! Be good, smile lots, and eat lots of yummy Christmas candy for me! :)

xo, Hermana Churchill

PICS!

1. We live in a way nice pension, and this is the Christmas tree they put up downstairs, so at least it feels a LITTLE like Christmas! :)

2. District Christmas picture :) Precious. Oh yeah... hence the matching outfits for both... we decided to take a "family christmas pic" with our district this day :)

3. Noche de Luz in Florencio Varela.... these are the 2 cutest girls EVER!! :) And it´s the mini versions of Hermana Turley and Hermana Churchill :)