ATTENTION FRIENDS AND FAMILY! : A message from your beloved missionary`s companions.... :)

Dearest Family and Friends:

For the last 18 months your beloved daughter, grandaughter, sister, aunt, cousin, niece, squirrel, and friend has been serving Heavenly Father and His children as a missionary and representative of Jesus Christ in Argentina – a land VERY far away and VERY distinct from that she was used to. As her companions, we spend a LOT of time with her, and have seen her change and adapt to the circumstances here, which she has done very well.... maybe TOO well. That being said, as you now prepare for her exciting homecoming, we wanted to take a minute to warn you ahead of time about a few of the changes so you don`t get worried later on.

While living in Argentina, there are many things that Hermana Churchill had NEVER before done or experiences. First off, in the home:

1. She`s never had such poor table manners, so don`t be surprised when she eats everything with a large spoon, wipes her mouth with her hand, and wipes her hand on her skirt. Please forgive her beforehand if you ever catch her sneaking unwanted food into napkins on her lap, plastic-lined coat pockets, or to the dog while you`re not looking.
2. She`ll probably eat a ton at lunch and barely touch her dinner. Speaking of eating a ton, she`s never before had to eat so much to the point of making her sick, so please... if she starts to look queezy, remind her that it`s OK not to finish everything and that she won`t offend you, even if you did make it with love and spend your hard-earned money.
3. She`s never had such a confusing diet. For the last 18 months she`s eaten everything from cow brains, heart and tongue and bloody pig intestines to hot dogs, ketchup and french fries on top of pizza. Every meal has been deep-fried in cow-fat or drenched in oil and salt, with a loaf of bread on the side. The most ironic part of it all is that dessert is always the healthiest part of the meal! So please just keep it simple... make sure to have the pantry and fridge stocked with lots of sugar cerals, fruit snacks, clean produce, peanut butter, cheddar cheese, bagels, wheat bread, fresh skim milk (not powdered or expired!), clean lunch meat, maple syrup (not from concentrate), tortilla chips and salsa, etc.
4. She`s never had every article of clothing become “hand-wash only” so don`t be surprised when every sink in the house is full. Just remind her where the washing machine is and how to use it.
5. She`s never had to sleep in a mummy sleeping bag for a year and a half, so please have lots of clean, comfy blankets and pillows ready, and hide anything with a zipper! She`s also never had to rely on a rooster to wake her up, so if she sleeps in late, and then runs around frantically trying to get ready for personal/comp study and the day`s work, kindly calm her down and show her how to use an alarm clock.
6. She`s never celebrated so many random holidays yet still had to work, so try not to kill her when on Christmas day she wants to exercise, shower, eat breakfast and study all before opening presents at 10 AM.
7. She`s never had so many weird quirks and habits. If she claps to get people to answer the door, wears her flip-flops in the shower, kills bugs with her bare hands, refuses to drink water from the tap, or scolds you for walking around barefoot, just remember: patience is a virtue, and she will eventually adapt.

SPECIAL NOTE: If she spends HOURS playing with the garbage disposal, trash compactor, electric drill, lawm mower, electric stove, toaster, water dispensor, pencil sharpener, blender, or other at-home gadgets, do not be alarmed... It`s totally normal. Also, when she starts sweeping the carpet with a broom, remind her that you do have a vaccuum that will only take 10 minutes instead of an hour.

The next thing you`ll have to be careful about is taking her out into civilized society. Just be patient and try not to get too embarrassed, because just like in the home, there are a LOT of other things she`s never done before living in Argentina, such as:

1. She`s never realized how much she loves QFC, Safeway, Albertsons, Smith`s Macey`s, or Fred Meyer`s until now, so don`t be surprised when you take her to a grocery store for the first time and she acts like a child at a petting zoo, running from aisle to aisle and saying “Wow! Look at this!” If she starts talking to herself, don`t worry – she`s doing one of two things: 1) Praying and giving thanks, or 2) Trying to figure out how many pesos are in a dollar and how many kilos are in a pound, and how in the world to convert the measurements from all her Argentine recipes.
2. She`s never had to use so many buses or trains, so don`t be surprised when she`s frantically looking for coins in the couch cushions and asking people for 10 ¢ in the street. Remind her that you DO have a car and that she doesn`t need to scrounge for coins anymore. After a year and a half, though, it might be smart to first take her to a parking lot for a test drive before letting her loose.
3. She`s never gone so long without being alone, so she`ll probably follow you around everywhere you go and freak out when you`re not withing “sight and sound” of her. You might want to start now to master the technique of just “smiling and nodding” so that when she randomly starts speaking in Spanish or constantly talks about the mission and Argentina in “Caste-yankee” (aka Spanglish), you`ll be prepared.
4. She`s never kissed so many people, nor had so many men attempt to kiss her before serving a mission. Don`t be surprised when upon entering a room she immediately goes around and starts giving everyone kisses on the cheek, and then gives another round as she leaves. Oh and boys... if she kisses you, don`t take it personally... it does not mean that she`s in love with you!
5. She`s never been so excited to hear a song in English, so don`t be surprised when a hit from the 80`s comes on and she starts singing at the top of her lungs. Just hope you`re not in a crowd.
6. She`s never felt like such a celebrity just for having blond, curly hair and blue eyes, nor has she ever gotten so many cat calls, so don`t be surprised when she gives you the death stare just for saying “Hi”
7. She`s never worked so hard on the “Day of Rest”, so don`t be surprised when Sunday comes around and she`s ready to go pick up investigators at 7:30 AM, has an extra sacrament talk on hand and has read every lesson in advance “por las dudas”. When she responds to an invitation to pray or to read a scripture to the class with a look of complete panic, it`s probably because she has forgotten how to pray in English and/or has brought her Spanigh set to Sunday School.

As you can see, MANY things have changed while Hermana Churchill has been serving a mission. The biggest change, however, is the change that has taken place in herself. Before serving the mission, she had never had such as incredible, unforgetable experience. She`s never worked so hard, cried so much, smiled so often, or loved so deeply as now. She`s never been so converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ or been so desirous to share it with everyone around her. The last 18 months have been the best of her life, and have truly changed who she is for the better. She`s never before realized how incredibly blessed she is to have amazing family and friends who support her and love her so much, and would like to thank them for every e-mail, letter, package, and prayer. She`s never had so many people she can call “family”, as that truly is what the Argentine people are for her, and she will be eternally grateful for the short time she`s been given to spend with them, and for the friendships and memories shared with each and every one of them.

Well, that`s the best help we can give you. As her companions, we hope that these warnings and tips of advice will come in handy in the final preparations and first few months with Hermana Churchill. It`s hard to believe how fast the time has passed, but the inconceivable has become reality, and believe it or not....

Hermana Deverall Churchill is coming home!!!!!!

Pictures from this week!

1. Gaston`s baptism

2. The water heater that caused so much commotion!

3. Happy 18 months! . Do you like my floor collection? At least i was set to go! :)

4. This is me on the floor on sunday. My back froze up and i was trying to get it out, but it wasnt possible cuz it hurt so bad. Don`t worry though.... i`m actually dying of laughter on the floor... why it made me laugh and not cry i`m not sure, but oh well. Asi es.

You`ll NEVER imagine all the belebrations this week for....

MY 18 MONTH MARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Believe it or not, I officially hit 18 months in the mission?! Isn`t that insane?! I guess the next two weeks are vacation, no? SIKE! I`m super stoked I get 2 EXTRA weeks to work like crazy! :) Boy did we celebrate like CRAZY though.

So, my 18 month day started out super tranquilo. (PS:... 18 months feels more like your birthday than anything). My AWESOME companion made me pancakes with bananas and dulce de leche, and we studied and went out to work. We had lunch at our Bishop`s house, and then started doing all the preparations for GASTON`S BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOO HOO! Then the baptism started, and that`s where all the fun began....

When we got to the chapel, it was an hour before the baptism, and the font was filling. The only problem is that it was ICE cold, because the ward mission leader forgot to turn on the water heater. We got that figured out, and after that everything started pretty smoothly. We were really happy because a lot of members showed up to support Gaston, which is what we were really worried about because he has NO ONE - family or friend - who are supportive of him in getting baptised, so he was there alone. Our ward really pulled through though, and the meeting went super well. The talks were amazing and really showed Gaston that he`s part of a bigger family now, and what an amazing, important decision he was making. Then, AS SOON AS our ward mission leader announced that we would now be passing on to the most important part of the meeting, Gaston`s baptism, someone someone looked behind and saw that the water heater had CAUGHT ON FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!! At first it seemed like just a little thing, so as one person tried to put that out, someone else tried to open the baptismal font door.... but it was jammed shut. So more people went to help, and meanwhile the fire kept getting bigger and bigger, so one of the moms freaked out and rushed all the kids out of the room (which is probably good, since its a gas heater), which threw everything into chaos. Carlos grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall, but luckily just as they were going to spray the heater they were able to put the fire out with a towel. The Carlos went and helped with the still jammed door, and was able to open that as well, thank goodness. By that time, though, the whole room was filled with smoke and a lot of nerves, and poor litte gaston was even MORE nervous than he was to start out with.

They were still going to move right onto the baptism, but we called a TIME OUT, had everyone sit down, and sang a hymn together. I love music, and how it invites the spirit in any situation!! After the hymn everyone felt a lot calmer, and we were able to move onto the baptism, which was beautiful, we did a special talk and sang a duet during the intermision, and the rest of the night went super smoothly.

But.... that`s not the end of the fun! (sorry, i know this is long!)

After the baptism Carlos invited us and Gaston over to his house for dinner, just because he didnt want gaston to have to go home after the baptism..... Carlos is SUCH A CAPO!!!!!!!!!!! :) It was way nice, but I had started feeling REALLY sick to my stomach. We called a remis (taxi) to go home, and by the time we got in our pension i was dying. I still wanted to plan, though, so we planned on our beds while i layed down because i was in so much pain. We ended up cutting our planning session short, though, cuz i ran to the bathroom... and... well... you get the picture. I spent the rest of the night alone in my room super sick, running back and forth from the bathroom, without sleeping cuz i was in so much pain (my poor cmpanion gets really sick anytime anyone else is sick, so she slept on the floor in the kitchen).

Sunday morning i got up at 6:30 and was determined to go to church for Gaston`s confirmation, but my comp didnt think i would make it since it was hard for me to even stand up, so she called pres to see if she could go to church with someone else. When he found out what happened the night before, he prohibited me from leaving the pension ( :( bummer.), but gave my comp permission, so she went and said the conf. was wonderful, and Gaston was SUPER happy!!

SO those were the big celebrations this week! Today i`m feeling a lot better, and finally ate something besides jello, gatorade and crackers, so life is good! It was a crazy, mixed up week with lots of twists and turns, but that`s just what makes life exciting, right? :)

Well, I hope all of you have an amazing thanksgiving holiday. Eat lots of pavo for me, k? I love you all so much. I`m SO grateful for this time I have to be serving as a missionary in this marvelous work, and I`m grateful for my amazing friends and family who have been there every step of the way. I`m a pretty lucky girl! So thank you. Les quiero muchisimo.... mas que se pueden imaginar.

Un beso grande,

Hermana Churchill

PICTURE:

1. This is what happens after 18 months of walking!

Catholics, evangelical pastors, and Baha´I?! What a mix! :)

You guys are never gonna believe what just happened to us.... we went grocery shopping, and they were playing CHRISTMAS MUSIC in ENGLISH!!! :) You have no idea what big news this is.... they never play christmas music here! Not even at Christmas time! We were so happy that we FROZE in the lunch meat isle and just listened in silence until the song was over :) haha

ANYWAYS.... Hows things going back home?? This week here was just kind of funny and mixed up... but GREAT! :) We found a ton of new investigators this week, which was way cool! Saturday alone we found 10, so we were super happy! Anyways, here are a couple of the random stories:

1. We found a lady from IRAN! That was a new experience. She was from the Baha´I religion (which I´ve never heard of), and had to escape from her country to be able to practice it. Interesting, huh? She was way cool though, and walking into her house was like walking into another country!

2. We also found an Evangelical Pastor! A lady and her husband, who own their own church right next to their house. They received us super well, and (in the end) even agreed to pray about the restoration. That was also a first!

Pretty cool huh? The biggest news of the week, though, is that GASTON IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!! I think I´m even more excited just because he´s SOOOO CAPO, and has an amazing testimony of the church! We did his pre-interview this week, and I couldn´t believe my ears... it was by far the most spiritual lesson I´ve had. In every single question he showed a sincere love and conviction for the gospel, and in the end told us that he KNEW that this was the only true church .... that he could feel it! The hard part is that his whole family is catholic, and have been saying a LOT of bad things about the church, but he defends it and says that he wants to be baptized anyways. He`s great!!! That takes a LOT of strength! Actually, Dad... it reminded me of you, and how you were the only member in your family. If you don`t mind, it`d be awesome if you could write him a little note of encouragement on email that I can translate and give to him next week after his baptism.

Welp, that´s about all for now! The work keeps rolling along smoothly, and we´re having a blast here in Burzaco! :) I hope everything is going wonderfully back home. Be happy, and don`t get so trunky, k? :)

Love ya!

Hermana Churchill

PICTURES:

1. In Argentina, every piece of clothingn becomes "hand wash only" :)

2. Language study in the chapel while waiting for our cita to arrive :)

HOT HOT HOT... tamales?

It`s really starting to burn up down here.... and I LOVE it! It`s actually been a mix of sun, rain, tornado-ish, windy, hailing weather, so it`s been kinda funky. Right before the BIGGEST storm this week, we found a man and his mother, and they let us in their house on the first visit. RIGHT before we were going to leave, it started POORING... I`m talkin fire-hose pooring... so they insisted on us staying. We said we had to keep working, and that we would be ok, so then they changed and insisted that we take their umbrella. Yal know how stubborn I am, though, so I assured them we would be totally fine, and the mother said " ¡Sé que ustedes son ángeles, pero aún los ángeles tienen alas y no se puede mojarlas!" (I know that you are angels, but even angels have wings and you can`t let them get wet!). :) haha. SO that was the cute moment of the week :)

We had a LOT of fun with the packages of hot tamales that my AMAZING long-distance visiting teacher sent me. The people here HATE spicy things, so hot tamales kill them, but we decided to use them and apply them to the gospel. We talked about why it is that God gives us trials, and how it is that we can overcome them, and read in Doctrine and Covenants 121 about how trials are really only short moments, and in the end we will overcome them and be blessed. Then we would give a hot tamale to each person and tell them that this was their trial - that they had to suck on the hot tamale, and have faith that once the overcome their trial they will receive the blessings (which is the sweet part inside the hot tamale). It was a blast, and really helped a lot of our investigators and less-active members to realize why it is that we have trials, and that we will always be able to make it through if we trust in the Lord.

Sunday was also a SUPER special day for me! Raul, one of my converts from Banfield 2 (my first area) came to sacrament meeting in Burzaco! What made it even better, is that it was fast and testimony meeting, so he got up and shared a BEAUTIFUL testimony, which made me cry seeing how incredibly strong and dedicated he is to the gospel...... and i don`t cry ever! :) It was absolutely amazing, and I felt like the happiest person in the world! In my agenda I simply wrote " I have been blessed " cuz that`s how I really feel... blessed that I have this opportunity to meet so many amazing people and share the gospel - the biggest blessing that i have in my life - with them. There really is no greater joy than helping someone else receive the gospel and follow in the straight and narrow - whether it be your friends or your own family members or complete strangers. I LOVE THIS WORK!!!

Alright, I gotta get going!!! But I love you all so so so much!!! Be good. Be happy. Smile TONS!

Besos y abrazos,

Hermana Churchill

Pics!

1. Machete weed-wacking in the jungle ( aka behind a member`s house) with carlos!

2. Cleaning the capilla!

3. Crawling out the window when our door broke!

Happy Halloween!

Geez! It was a VERY interesting week this week!!! There were a TON of little, weird things that made working hard each day:

- Wednesday - Argentina Census. We had to stay in our pensions until like 4 pm because Argentina did a census and no one was allowed to leave their houses until someone came by to census them. So I guess now I`m counted in the Argentina population! :)

- Also on Wednesday, the ex-president (and current president`s husband) of Argentina, Kirschner, died, meaning there were 3 more days of feriado and a TON of news

- Thursday/Friday - It rained, and rained, and rained some more.... Always a missionary`s FAVORITE climate to work in! Haha. It was kinda nice though, since it`s starting to feel like summer here! The only downer is EVERYONE sleeps all day here when it rains, and there`s never anyone in the street!

- Thursday - Our front door broke right when we were leaving to work, so we spent probably about an hour trying to fix it, and eventually just climbed out the window so that we could work!

- Saturday - we had a huge ward farewell for an elder here, which was super fun! It was super weird seeing so many Americans though! (17 people from his fam came, and that wasn`t even all that came to Argentina!)

BUT!!!!

Now the good part. At the beginning of this week we put some AWESOME goals for this week and were super stoked to reach them, but then ALLL of these things started happening, making it super difficult! It was really a bummer, but even so we were DETERMINED to find a family! (That was our biggest goal). Anyways, Saturday we cancelled our lunch appointment so that we could have more time to work, said a LOT of prayers, and head out on the hunt for a family! I had my comp tell me, while looking at the map the night before, where she felt like we needed to go, so she picked 2 specific blocks that she had never visited but felt we needed to go. I realized that RIGHT there was a lady who just the week before we had said hi to, who recognized me from the Blood drive we did a couple weeks ago! (She was a nurse there). So we decided to stop by her house to see if we could share with her. When we got there, before we could even tell her why we were there, her AND her husband came out and told us to come in right away (.... that doesn`t usually happen so easily!). Then, we went in and sat down, and they brought their 3 sons out to meet us as well!

Long story (a little) shorter, we ended up chatting with them and they invited us to stay for lunch, and we were able to share a Book of Mormon with them and had a great lesson, and they invited us to come back any time we want to share more, before we could even ask! It was so wonderful! SO WE FOUND OUR FAMILY!!! :) It was amazing. They`re such an awesome family, too! It`s kinda weird, cuz I think it`s one of the nicest houses I`ve been in in my whole mission, and is one of these families that would usually intimidate you because they`re very successful, well-educated, and VERY catholic (they teach catecismo), and know a TON about the bible, but even so were completely open to receiving us and learning and "experimenting" (aka reading and praying about the BOM) simply because the mom had gotten such a great impression of the church when we went to do the stake service project donating blood!

Man was it a great way to finish the week! I love how the Lord ALWAYS, always, always blesses us when we endure! :) It`s like sunshine after the rain! :) So... when it feels like everything just keeps going wrong... KEEP GOING, and don`t give up!!! The blessings are on their way!!!!!!!!! :)

I love you all tons and tons and tons! :)

xo, Hermana Churchill

PICS:

1. Check out our AWESOME Piñas! :) .... This is how we do Halloween in Argentina! :)

2. Close up :)