HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This week has been so high en the clouds and then smacking the ground in a huge stinking nose dive, and now in the clouds again! hahha

This week... what can I say....hahha

First off... I went to walmart today and bought spicy brown mustard... normal day... haha for you guys! It was a MIRACLE!!! I also saw goldfish!!!!! AND REESES AND A SYMPHONY BAR!!! Someone pinch me please!!

And now getting out of the things of the world...

Weve seen some crazy stuff this week. And we could find some awesome people. Here in Tucuman, the question everyone always asks is why theres so much bad if god loves us? And ive had the awesome opportunity to testify that God really loves us and that is why he will NEVER choose our decisions. He will guide us, give us prophets, scriptures, the holy ghost, literally everything to be sure that we wont fall but he will not choose. He loves us just that much. Im grateful for that choice, because I know im stubborn and if someones chooses for me, I dont like it one bit. hahaha We need to choose our own salvation. And it really is through our decisions everyday.

Liliana went to church again this week!!! WOOHOO! But Julio and Juliete no... because we passed by to their house in Saturday in the nightime... and a brother from the church gave them a bible, gigante so that liliana can read. And they stayed up together until 5 in the morning... reading ALL OF IT!!! Literally ALL! And we gave them  book of mormon, nd wooohooo.. i just love the hunger tht there is in this family to know what god wants for them. Theyre willing to give everything.... 

I love it nd just feel so blessed to know them nd try to help them.

We also used the 5th sunday to teach the ward... hahh it was awesome. We did prctices in how to give a book of mormon, how to invite your friends! It was just so great!!! It just made me love the scripture John 21:15-17 more!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!!!

From my zombies to yours... hahah

Hermana B

A slice of miracles please!!!

I haven't been able to stop smiling alllllll week!!

MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING HERE!!!!

This week we have a lesson with one of invs... Liliana. Shes awesome. I just can't stop hugging her... shes like a little old preacher. hahaha shes not old really, looks like it but no... shes has 55 years.. she literally is so ready to be baptized, God has been preparing her for YEARS!! She listened to the Elders 25 years ago.. And its really like shes teaching us. She told us that she believes that everyone forgot about God and the life before when we were born, but some people can remember better than others who they are. Love it! The only thing thats stopping her from being baptized is that she smokes. Alot. like alot. But she really wants to stop, so if you could all pray for her! Shes down to smoking one cigarete every day... but still has a ways to go. And she is always talking about her kids that live with her... with the drugs, and the all the crap they're into. We just literally finished telling her that through her example, they'll come to know the truth, and in walked in her son Julio... He has like 24 or 25 years. Hes a drug addict and never wanted to listen to us. We invited again, because you can never lose hope in people, and he sat down to listen... he was more than a little bit timid but in the end we felt like inviting him to be baptized, which obviously is crazy...so of course we did it! He accepted!!!! WOOOHOO!! Hes scared that God wont forgive him and that he cant quit drugs but he really wants to!! Liliana ended up saying the prayer and it was full of the pleadings of a mom, and she was praying for him. and he was crying, and we all just wanted to cry. 

and he said he would go to church. well we went to their house and he said he would go a little bit later... so we went with Liliana and 5 MINUTES LATER her son Julio walked in, really unsure but smiling and luckily a member had found him lost in the hallway and talked to him (another reason, why you should always take to people you dont know in the church building PLEASE!!!! it saves lives) and Julio walked in and Liliana started to cry... saying that she never thought he would come. She thought she would go to church and be baptized alone.. without her family. And well the church was really intense, and we lost the lights in the sacrament, and it was the farewell of  kid leaving for his mission so everyone was crying, and the little old grandma dropped a hammer of a class about the law of chastity... so really church was intense, but they left smiling and happy and said theyd come back next week.

LOVE MIRACLES!!!

Love you all,

Hermana Bower

This is Julio and Liliana!! <3

Foodie alert!!!

I FOUND WALMART!!! AND A REESES IN WALMART!!!
Something just freaking magical happened that yesterday we stumbled into walmart. and so today we went... wow... it was a walmart for rich people if you can believe it but wow... it was liking being in the U.S. without weird people buying things there, and alot more cleaner, and a lot more happy. hahahah

Woohoo!! Sometimes, just sometimes miracles happen! hahah WOoohoo!!!

SO that happened!!

This week... 

I never remember what happens...

We had FHE with a less active member.. and basically they let me throw flour in their faces and then read a scripture explaining why.. hahaha love it. As missionaries, people trust that theres always a spiritual reason to everything that we do. Falling in the street, well someone needed to help us so they could know the church, locking the keys in our apartment so our new leader could learn how to take the door off and the neighbors would come talk to us, and throwing flour in the faces of less activas... because we can. Love it. haha we're teaching her brother in law... and hes trying to quit drugs and keeps asking us if we're sure that God can forgive him for all that hes done.

Of course!! God can't look at us and not forgive us. When we turn our hearts to him, he can make us into who we've always been: sons and daughters of God. He loves us and we have more power than we think to change. We need to take that first step and if we fall, he'll catch us, but if we never take that first step, we cant change. I love teaching about the Atonement. Really, I think my hijastra is like WHY? This lesson again? But really.. Christ can heal hearts, stop tears, change people completely. He's not just some name in the bible, he lives. He lives and can help us.

Yesterday was Mothers day here in Argentina so of course, church was filled with tears and hugs from all the sisters, and every stinking class and talk was about marriage.. hahahaha of course. But we got to eat bbq and cram 15 people at a table to eat. Love it. Bbq, apple soda, and empanadas. Argentina. hahaha

And I ate TACOS THIS WEEK!! We have a family from Chile that love us because luckily my comp is from Chile hahahah so they made us tacos.. woohoo!!! I STILL LOVE TACOS!!! 

And also I went of splits with the lovely Hermana Smith from Orem, Utah. And we ended up teaching a family of 10 people. It was awesome. I love it because every single person was focused and trying to teach the law of chastity to them... ADVENTURE!! hahahaha love the mission.

LOVE YOU ALL TOO!!
Hermana Bower

Stepmommy, bombilla, and strangers walking

So Tucuman... I dont have much time... always.. hahaha but my area is TINY!!!

hahaha Its literally so tiny and we can´t enter a big section of it because its called the Bombilla... and we share a barrio with the Zone Leaders. Adventure.....

And my comp is the bomb. She has SO MUCH energy.. Ive had to kill a little bit of that excitment.. but only in the mornings.. I just cant. hahahah

But shes my step daughter... she gets me. hahahaha

Here in Tucuman, you'll probably never get photos from me.. because I cant take my camera in the streets. Only a book of Mormon in the hand, and the keys to our apartment in my skirt.

hahah speaking of keys.... we're breaking in our new leader misional.... He got called as of 2 weeks and hes had to run in every direction for us. Today... I was standing in the doorway reading a message from him saying that hes going to help us so we dont have to wash our clothes anymore by hand and BAM! The door slammed shut and knocked me out of the way... yeah... the keys were inside.... we were standing in front of our apartment in shorts and tshirts but WITH our tags, and we hadnt showered or anything because we've been cleaning all morning... poor guy, our leader misional came to take off our front door so we could get in. hahaha Im really grateful for our ward. hahaha and also this area is super interesting. Like 2 transfers ago, they changed from Elders to Hermanas... so its all new and all the members are like WOOOHOOO Sisters!!!! And Im the first gringa (the first hermana from the US) here in this area... so everyday is interesting. No one is used to seeing me here. Its a weird area to be in but I know Im here for some reason. hahaha

Conference was awesome no? I hope that you are all watching again and again Conference and never getting tired of hearing the prophets voice. Really easily, we take notes and then put this notebook on a shelf to never ponder about again. Keep Conference fresh in your mind until the next one!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Hermana Bower

Old Hair, Transfers, and PROPHETS

Wow... this week.... There was only one day this week that we didnt travel to Salta... EVERYDAY!!! First for Pday, then for a mtg, then interviews with Pres, then we went to do paperwork so we can get our packages.. which now we can recieve packages!! Wooohoo!! But literally this week was crazy!!! We did service for a hermana in our ward.. we cleaned her house and she paid us with lunch. hahaha and it was all fun and games until she took out an old plastic bag... that had HAIR of missionaries.... she had cut ALOT of hair from the missionaries and stored it in a bag. And then she took it out and started petting it and said,

"Do you think that this Hermana knows Im touching her hair?"

Yeaaaaah okay. BYE!! This was probably one of the weirdest moments this week... but I like her. She's really funny... but yeah okay, I dont think we're going to go back to her house. Another moment was when investigador Romina just started taking pics of us. And then a member walked in and started to take pics of us.. and its just turned into the paparazzi.. and I still dont really know why.. ahaha I love Guemes so much!!! Like really!! Some of my best friends are here.. and of course saying that, last night we found out that tomorrow Im going to Tucuman... to be stolen again.. hahaha no. I LOVED my time here and LOVED my time with Hermana Herrera.. but we both agreed, we're best friends but together, we're elders... we do weird things and get distracted and egg one another on... hahaha no. But friends forever. hahahaha So tomorrow Ill go to Tucuman and meet my step daughter ahahahaha who is also from Chile.. ADVENTURE!!!

And how awesome was this Conference!!! Watching it, I really felt like we need to prepare ourselves... I really love when someone said, "God was listening to me, but I wasn't listening to him." Do we pray just to pray or are we focused on talking to our beloved Father in Heaven. Prayer changes us, not God. THats why we need it so much. 

I was thinking about my prayers alot this week. As missionaries, we pray more than you can even imagine... but I was thinking in the difference in my prayers as a new missionary as to now... When I got here in Argentina, I didnt understand anyone or anything, not only Spanish, but God's plan for me. But I did know that He hears prayers. And EVERY MOMENT, in literally every moment I was praying. The beginning of my mission was hard, not just culture shock or the life of a new missionary, I had many trials put in front of me... But just like the People of Alma, I prayed in my heart when I couldn't pray outloud. And I know God answered me everytime. I know! How? because he didnt take away the trials, he made them lighter, he made me stronger, he gave me love and joy. Really I know that God loves us. I know that we really can be happy in the midst of diffulties... we can have JOY!! But We need to remember who will give us that Joy. We need to rememeber God. Now, my prayers probably arent as continual or fervent because Im not passing through as many things, but how sad.. We really need to remember God in the good and bad, because he always remembers us! Someone recienly sent me this quote,

"Is Prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?"

I hope no one will forget how they felt in Conference... and if you didnt watch it to go WATCH IT! Because God speaks to us through the Prophet and the leaders and God is waiting for us to not only talk to Him, but listen. 

I love you all!! And Im so grateful to be able to see Conference and hear the Prophets voice. God hasnt stopped talking to his children, we've just become bad at listening.

Hermana Bower

Next time, writing from TUCUMAN!