The Spirit of the Season

Hi Guys!

What a treat to get to see you yesterday. Ha ha probably one of the hardest things that I have ever done was to hang up yesterday. It was funny because as I looked at one of the comps that was with me... well she is not my comp but we are good friends, I saw that she was crying with me as well. Wow how embarrassing. I am so glad that I got to see you all! You all look so great!

Mostly I just want to share my testimony with you. I know that this church is true. I know that it blesses lives and that as we do all that we can the help others come unto Christ we will bless our own lives more than we can imagine. I know that we are lead by a prophet of God today and that it is not just by chance that we are born into this time and have the many opportunities that we do have. God loves us so much and we are all his sons and his daughters. I am so grateful that I was born into such an AMAZING family. I think that is the thing that I have noticed the most in my mission is how incredibly blessed I am.

I know that the trials that we go through are especially tailored for each and every one of us and that nothing ever worth it was ever easy! :) As we pay the price to get closer to the Savior, we will also feel His guidance and love more powerfully in our lives.

I am eternally grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve not only the people here in my area but also my companion and the other missionaries here. It is when we lose ourselves in the service of others that we truly find the real purpose of our lives and that we truly happy. I love this work and I love wearing the name of Jesus Christ every day so that everyone knows who I am and who I believe in and in whom I would trust my life.

Thank you all for being my family. Ha ha I know that you didn´t really have any choice but I have learned so much from each and every one of you and each time that I feel that I can´t give anymore I remember all that I have been given and realize that I have way more than enough to share with everyone else. This time is hard to be away from you but it gives me a stronger testimony of that fact that families indeed can and should be FOREVER.

I attached some Chirstmas pictures that we took as we went around and tried to share the spirit of the season with everyone. As we walked through the streets with our santa hats on and people yelled "Papa Noel" at us I couldn´t help but wonder if that was a fat joke... :)

I love you all tons and can´t wait to see you again in a few short months... wow how time flies! It´ll be here before we know it!

Think about you often, pray for you always and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon
(your fav missionary!)

PS thanks for all you love, support, and prayers... it definitely makes all the difference!

Christmas Day Conversation

WE GOT TO SKYPE WITH JORDAN!!!

It was so awesome!

We got to 'chat' with her for about 40 minutes and it was so cool. The time went way too fast (of course) but she looks so great and it was fun to see her speak Spanish. She looks so great and is doing awesome!

It was so hard (for both sides) to end the call, but she finally did it. I'm sure she was super trunky/homesick for a few days after, but it was so great to get to see and hear her.

I filmed some of the convo on my cell and have since gotten a new phone, so I need to figure out how to get it on my computer.

We are so proud of our little missionary! She is staying for another transfer in Ciudad Evita which has been a hard area for her, but she is seeing miracles as a result of hard work and obedience and she is so thankful for the thoughts and prayers (and letters!) of so many loved ones.

iFeliz Navidad!

SKYPE - Merry Christmas!

¡Hola!

Sorry this is really late getting to you today and I have to make it super fast! Ha ha but it´s ok because I have FANTASTIC news! I asked Pte and he gave me permission to SKYPE you on Sunday!!! YAHOO!! I am SOOO excited. So I guess I need to give Dad some homework so that we can figure this all out. Dad can you email Bishop Cristeche and figure out times and accounts with skype etc? Thanks! Sorry it is kinda hard to get it all together from my end but it will all be so worth it.

We found out about transfers and well since I will be able to use the Bishop´s computer I guess you can see that I am staying in my area... and so is my comp!!! It´ll be really great! In our district two elders went home and we had all been together for two transfers (3 months) so we are all a little sad about that but hey the mission is all about change right? I am excited to stay in Ciudad Evita for another transfer... hopefully the members aren´t too sick of me. They all seemed pretty happy when they found out that I would at least still be here for Christmas.

Ok well I had better go so that we can go to our apartment and sleep. Today we had P-Day as a whole mission. It was super cool because it was the first time that I had been together with the whole mission. We were at the offices from like 12:30 until like 7:00 doing all kinds of Christmas stuff to help make us feel not quite so homesick. Since it doesn´t feel at all like Christmas here I am doing just fine BTW. :)

Well I love you all tons and I am sooooo excited to talk to you all in a few short days! Make sure that you write down the questions that you want to ask me or the things that you want to talk to me about!

Think about you often, pray for you always and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

SURPRISE!

Hi All,

I got a few seconds to write you today so I thought I would just say hi! I love you all! I will be writing you my regular email on Wednesday because that is when we will have our Christmas P-Day! What time are you thinking would be good to call you? I hope that all the preparations are going well for the big day! Well I don´t have much else to tell you... It is SOOOOO hot here.... and I am basically ALWAYS dying of thirst!

Love you tons!

Hna Scanlon

Disciples

¡Hola Mi Familia!

Sorry I am writing you a little bit later today! We had a very interesting P-Day as we had to be in the offices EARLY and then went to capital and ate in Ramos Mejia with some of the Hnas... ha ha including Hna Svedin and Hna Tucker... so needless to say I was pretty happy! So much for the relaxing P-Day I was hoping for however!

Today I found a scripture that I really liked. It´s in 3 Nephi 5:13 and it says (roughly as I am translating it from spanish yet again...) "I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called by Him to declare His word among His people so that they can gain eternal life." Obviously that had special significance for me at this point in time as I am a full-time missionary. But I know that as we are all called to be servants of God, His disciples, we are all called to declare His word and help others come unto Him. I´ve found on my mission that often the people that I least expect to be helping, are often the ones that need my help the most. As I have constantly been praying for miracles in my life and especially in the lives of others, I have found that almost NEVER do things turn out the way that I would have planned, but they always turn out far better than I could have expected. I know that as we put our faith in the Lord and open our mouths, He will guide us by the hand into far greater paths and unto those that will recieve us and His word.

(thanks for believing)

Ha ha alright now for some funny stories that I actually remembered to write down so that I could tell you. So we have a man in our ward who is a little excentric and we have been teaching his brother for a few weeks who isn´t a member. Last week we went to their house 3 days in a row and each day after lunch we had been determined to fast and had started our fast so when we got to their house each day... we had indeed been fasting. Well the first two days we had to break our fast early for various reasons so we planned the next day to start the fast again and have a full fast. But on the third day of our going to their house and refusing to eat or drink anything one of the men gave us a puzzled look and then broke into a smile and said, "Oh that´s right, 'las santas' can fast for a longer amount of time!" He now always refers to me as "Santa Scanlon" and every time I have a hard time not laughing because I know that he is being completely serious!

Before I forget to tell you, next week we will be having our Christmas P-Day which will be on the 21st (Wednesday) so we will not be having P-Day on Monday. So when you don´t hear from me on the 19th don´t be too concerned cuz I will be writing you on the 21st... and maybe be telling you where I am going to be in my new area... ha ha who knows!

Alright I have to go but I love you all tons! Until next week!

I think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

This Time Of Year

¡Hola!

Another week has come and gone... Ha ha I can´t believe it as usual.
Thanks for all the emails that I got this week. It´s fun to hear about
all the exciting things that are going on as you all get ready for
Christmas! I see Christmas things all the time but yeah it basically
feels wrong listening to Anne Murray when it is 100 degrees outside.
Ha ha yes I know that Kyle is saying that it is wrong to listen to
Anne Murray at any point in time but Christmas wouldn´t be Christmas
without her.

This week was pretty low key. I had divisions with Hna Svedin so we
were together again for a day! Ha ha it was awesome and weird since we
can both now speak spanish and actually teach. And it was also weird
to be with an American for a day. She is doing really well though and
it was fun to talk about all the good times that we had in the MTC and
how much has changed/happened in the last year. I can´t believe that I
was in the MTC at this time last year... in part it seems so long ago
and in part it seems like just yesterday.

This coming week we will be having Zone Conference so I am looking
forward to that. Then in two weeks we are having transfers and I am
pretty sure that I am getting transferred but we will see!

This week I was reading in 3 Nefi about what it was like for the
believers in America when they first saw the sign of the birth of
Christ.... kinda cool to think about that and compare it with what is
said about what as happening in the old world.

Sorry this is kinda short this week. I will try and write down things
during the week this week so that I can tell you about them!

Love you all!

Think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

Fun With A Goat

Here are some pictures of a 'kid' that loved to eat Jordan's skirt. So funny!

Enduring To The End

Hey all!

So this week was VERY interesting, and VERY stressful. I do have a funny story to share with you. We finally got mail this week!!! YEAH!!! We only get it about once every 6 weeks so we were pretty excited. I got a package from the Streits... but it was for Hna ScanTon.... oh my ha ha. Everyone was asking me who exactly sent me this package and when I explained that they were family friends practically since my birth it made the joke even funnier. So I am now know as Hna Scanton... :) The package that they sent was awesome though.... a christmas tree!!! Ha ha we love it in our apartment. Although I am not gonna lie, with the temperature in the 90´s with almost 100% humidity some days... Christmas is probably the last thing that I feel that I should be thinking about.

This week our investigator Mari got baptized!!! I have been teaching here since I got to this area so it was a really exciting to see her be baptized! Also the ward is really happy about all our work, which also is nice. How are the Elders doing in the ward? I actually think about them a lot and how hard it must be to be a missionary there. I know Dad is doing his part to help them out... So hopefully everyone else is praying for missionary experiences as well.

I have often felt that the mission is very much like a "mini" life. It has all the emotions of a life packed into a very short time... it´s stressful and hard.. but so great at the same time. This week was to put it very frankly, a very challenging week for me and I felt very discouraged. As I contemplating my feelings I couldn´t help but have the impression that satan uses the same tactics to try to prevent us from succeeding here as he does in normal life... the feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt, always attacking our weak points and those things that are close to us. I have realized in my mission that the baptism and confirmation isn´t the hard part... that feeling that first spark of testimony isn´t the part that we struggle with the most.... that hardest part is enduring to the end! In 2 Nephi 31:20-21 it says that we need to press forward with a FIRM faith in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope and love of God and ALL men, and if we continue on, delighting in the word of Christ and endure to the end, then we will have eternal life. This is the only way, and there isn´t any other way or name on earth for which we can be saved in the kingdom of God. (Sorry if I slaughtered that.. I had to translate it from spanish) This is the challenge that we all have ENDURING TO THE END. I have realized that the disappointments that we face, whether in the mission or in life, are what bring us closer to that perfect day, our own "refiners fire" as we call it and that as we learn to have perfect trust in God and that all that we face in this life is apart of His plan for us, we can have peace and comfort even in our darkest hours of need. I pray for all of us that we can have the kind of faith in God and hope that He knows what is best for each of His children that we can always put our trust and confidence in Him and His plan.

I finally sent pictures! The first picture is me with syrup.... I was super happy. The second picture is me with one of the little kids in the ward... her name is evelyn. The third picture is me with my comp and Daniel, the girl that lived in the states for 16 years! The fourth picture is me with one of my converts, Juan... he is a K-po....

Well gotta go!

I think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hna. Scanlon

There Can Be Miracles...If You BELIEVE!

¡Hola Mi Familia!

Here we find ourselves at Monday again. Hard to believe! Thanks for
all your emails and updates on things in the family. That is crazy
that Grandma´s house is almost done! I am so excited for her and for
Launa to go and see it this week!

I can´t believe that Thanksgiving is this week!!! Do you think I´ll
eat turkey? ha ha I doubt it. I asked a family the other day if they
eat turkey here because I have never even seen it and they told me
that more in the country part of Argentina they do... dang it why am I
not still in Las Heras?!? I can´t believe that in a little over a
month it will be Christmas. It is especially weird because it is SOO
hot here... hard to believe that you are all experiencing snow etc.

This week was a really crazy week. We are going to have two baptisms
on Saturday! Daniela the 16 daughter in the english family is going to
get baptized and a lady named Mari who I have been teaching basically
since I got here. It was incredible the miracles that we could see
this week as we have all put our faith in the Lord. With Mari at the
beginning of this week she told us that she would be moving to another
part of Argentina Friday at the very latest.... I was devastated. I
couldn´t believe it. Apparently for weeks she has been searching and
literally begging for money to pay for their rent because the overtime
that her husband worked he won´t be paid for until next month. As we
had a lesson with her on Wednesday talking about the gospel of Jesus
Christ and about baptism she told us, "hermanas, I made a deal with
God. If I can find a way to stay here with my family, I will be
baptized on the 26th of Nov! I just need to know that He is there." I
couldn´t believe it. For the first few months that we were teaching
her she wouldn´t hardly even talk about baptism because her family
told her basically that they would disown her if she joined the
church. Her husband would also send her to do errands on Sunday so
that she couldn´t go to church... So to have a change this drastic and
for her to tell us that I couldn´t believe it. To make a long story
short she was able to find the money and is getting baptized on the
26th! Also on Sunday her husband helped her decorate some cakes so
that she could come to church... definitely a TON of progress!!!

Also this week was incredible as we continue to teach Daniela. She is
so amazing. I realized how much the catholic church and other
christian churches really do prepare people to accept the fullness of
the gospel in their lives. Daniela doesn´t have a Christian background
at all and as we realized this we changed our approach to teaching her
and started with more basic christian doctrine. This week we retaught
her the plan of salvation and focused on the atonement of jesus christ
and our need for a savior. Before she believed in reincarnation and
that we would be saved based on our own merits. As we explained the
need of a Christ and the role that He plays in our daily lives it was
amazing to see how light and truth flooded her life where before had
only been darkness and uncertainty.

As I have spent a lot of my time this week studying and thinking about
the atonement I want to invite each of you to read 2 Nephi 2 and 9. I
love both of these chapters because it really describes the plan of
happiness that God has for each one of his children. He knows the way
and is beckoning us to following Him!

I love you all!

Think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

Blessings

¡Hola!

Ha ha interesting thought that I had today... a year ago today was my farewell talk and when I was set apart!!!!! How time really does FLY!! Today I celebrate 1 year as a missionary!!! In my last interview with Pte Carter he asked me if I would change my decision to come on a mission. I didn´t even have to think for a second. I love being here, even though it´s hard- that just makes it worth it! I love being a missionary. Today in his email to me Cade was talking about how much protection that God gives us a His servants. I can definitely feel that is true. I have seen a ton of miracles in my mission, not in only the lives of the people here but in my own life and the lives of my companions. This really is the Lord´s work to bring to pass the eternal life of ALL of His children.. the missionaries as well as the converts... not even to mention the members here!

This week was a good one. We had an activity on Saturday where we learned how to make jam! Ha ha it was really great! It was a ward missionary activity with the young woman so they had to bring friends of theirs that weren´t members and who live in our area. One of the leaders brought her neighbor who has talked to missionaries before. We had the chance to watch two short mormon messages by Pte Monson and afterwards I was talking to her about it and she talked about how much peace she felt as the prophet talked and I commented that he really does have a special power about him. She then surprised me by asking me if I had had the chance to meet him to which I responded yes. She looked me right in the eyes and said, "what a blessings that you have had the opportunity to meet a prophet of God"... and she isn´t even a member! Her comment left me thinking... What a blessing it is that we have a modern day prophet to lead and guide us and help us to find everlasting peace in this world and to return to live with our Heavenly Father. Cali put a quote in her email today that a guy said, "The goal of this life isn't to return, it's to become." We are here to become like God, not just to return to Him so every day we need to work at that and have that as our goal, otherwise we are never going to get ANYWHERE!!!

This week we were challenged in our gospel principles class to share our talents so we helped some girls in the ward and our investigator get ready for a stake dance and I curled their hair.. ha ha I think that counts as sharing my talents right?:) I usually just tell people that my only talent is speaking english :)

Well gotta run!

Think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

November!!!

¡Hola!

I can´t believe that we are in NOVEMBER!! Especially because it is SO HOT here! And this week we started listening to Christmas music... so weird. I already have some nice tan lines going. I think that they will be permanently there for the rest of my life. The big news this week was that we had TRANSFERS!! Ha ha I am still in my area (I was pretty sure that I would be) but Hna Svedin (my MTC comp) got transferred into Aldo Bonzi so I get to see her at least every Sunday!!! I am SO EXCITED! It´s the best. I can´t believe that we have been in Argentina for so long... It seems like yesterday that we were in the MTC.

This week was so great. Daniela, the daughter of the family that speaks english is so incredible. I love being able to see how the gospel changes lives. It was amazing because we got to go to their house this week and we taught with the Elders. Well one of them is from the states as well so basically it was he and I teaching in english. It was SOOO different but SOOOO cool. I loved being able to preach the gospel in my own tongue... but at the same time I also missed spanish!!! Ha ha I am becoming so Argentine!

This week we went to mutual to take a few investigators and they were celebrating Halloween. So the kids were running around crazy and yelling throughout the whole church. Meanwhile, I was in the Sacrament room with the mom of the kids trying to help her feel the spirit of the building and right as I said, "can you feel the peace that is here?" One of the young women let out the loudest scream I have ever heard and it seemed like there was a herd of elephants running around outside the building. We both looked at each other and started laughing. She just smiled and looked at me and said, "yes hna I can." It was such a hilarious moment but so incredible. I love the mission.

On Saturday we were helping the Bishop and his family clean the chapel and he was asking me what I had learned in my mission. It reminded me of a scripture in Mosiah 23: 21-22. Sometimes the Lord sees fit the try our patience and our faith, but if we put our confidence in Him, He will ALWAYS make more out of our lives then we could have possible done.

I love you all tons! Sorry this is so short but there wasn´t a ton of news this week which I think is a good thing!

I think about you often, I pray for you always, and I love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

Be Happy!

Hello my favorite family!

How are you all doing? This week was so great! I cannot believe how fast October has flown by! And of course as it is getting colder there things are getting a lot hotter here. I always thought that Idaho weather was crazy but Buenos Aires definitely tops it.... One day we have to use a jacket and something underneath and the next we are melting in short-sleeves. Oh my... I guess I am pretty tan already since like everyone is commenting on it. I personally feel that is a weird thing to notice about the missionaries but oh well. :) Also the mosquitos have come out... Oh my favorite part of Argentina. The craziest part is that they are out all day, not just in the night, and they can bite through any article of clothing! I guess I will just suffer for the next couple of months.

I forgot to tell you last week about the great "typically missionary" experience that I had! We were crossing the street and had to wait in the middle for a second for the cars to pass and a bus came by and some guy threw a half eaten piece of bread at us! Ha ha the best part was that it hit my companion in the head and then hit me in the head as well! My companion was super mad but I thought it was hilarious! Also walking down that same street this week someone threw an egg at us. Luckily they have terrible aim so it wasn´t even close... again I was loving it for the whole "being persecuted for Christ´s sake" and my companion was mad. Oh the mission experiences.

So the family I wrote you about last week, the Flia Solis, is SOOOO amazing! I love them so much and it is sooooo interesting to speak/teach in english. They are so incredible. They said to tell you all hi today. I was so excited in thier house this week. They have couches!!! And they have a box of rice crispie treats, fruit roll-ups, maple syrup etc. I was in heaven. AND I ate ranch!!!! Also the kids of the family (Daniela y Nico) went to church on Sunday. Nico is 8 so it was pretty interesting since I haven´t really been around kids in awhile! We were so blessed though because we were running super late and weren´t going to make it to church on time and just then a member pulled up along side of us and told us to get in her car! I love instantaneous blessings like that!

As a thought Cali sent me a quote that I want to share with you. "If you aren´t happy, change something. If you don´t want to change something, be happy".... Y si... don´t really have much more to add to that, happiness is a choice, not something that just happens! so BE HAPPY!

Alright I have to go now, but I think about you often, I pray for you always, and I love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

When we think that it is all more than we can bear...we find someone that speaks in english

Hey!

Thanks for the emails! I can see that you are all doing well! I cannot believe how fast time is flying by! I have been with my "daughter" for a month now! I really can´t believe it! I had a funny story to tell you all that happened this week but I left my agenda in the pench....oops. One funny thing was we were walking down the road one day and there were a bunch of chairs set up along the side of the road, in parade fashion, so I asked my comp if there was something that was going to happen today. She gave me a really blank looked and responded, "No I don´t think so, why?" I responded by pointing to the chairs and she just started laughing and told me, "No they are just selling those." Ha ha one of those cultural things again.

It´s always interesting the excuses that people come up with as to why they cannot come to church. I think it would be easier to just tell us no but hey maybe that is just my thought. One of our investigators is always telling us that he can´t come to church because he has to take care of his bees. I didn´t know that bees needed that much caretaking but hey what do I know? So this past week we had to go to the offices for a meeting and when our district leader called to tell us that we had to be there really early in the morning I responded that we couldn´t go because we had to take care of our bees... His repsonse "You have bees?!?" I responded, "No, but I just wanted to see if that excuse worked on anyone else but us." It was pretty funny. Argentina is an interesting place but I find myself loving it more and more every day!

This Saturday was also one of the greatest days. Saturdays are super stressful days because we have to pass by for all of our investigators to make sure that they are going to church and also try and meet all of our goals for the week since we won´t have very much time on Sunday. So as we were walking around contacting people I saw a girl sitting behind this gate with her brother. I thought to myself "well they look a little young, but hey we´ll contact them anyway". As I started talking to her, she said to me in broken spanish, "Sorry I only speak in english!" I could´ve cried. I was so excited! I exclamed back "Me too!" And in that moment I think that she could´ve cried. Her name is Danielle and she and her family recently moved here from California because both of her parents are from here but she and her brother were born in the United States. They have only been living here for about 5 months so the language is still a struggle for her. Her brother who is 8 was standing in the background yelling, "I hate spanish!", it was pretty funny. It was super hard for me to talk about the gospel in english though...I guess I am really only a spanish missionary! I kept having to translate what I would normally say in spanish into english in my head...it was interesting. And they she asked me if I could say a prayer in english for her!!! It was SOOOO incredible. What is really the miracle is that they were waiting for their parents outside because they were moving into a new apt, if not we NEVER would have found them because their apt is behind a bunch of stores and is not very accesible. As we helped them move all their stuff in I was loving my life because they had things like microwave popcorn and all their boxes were written in english like "food" and "books". They are so great and a complete family which is always hard to find so we are super excited to help them progress!

Also on Saturday we were walking down the street and passed by two boys. It took me a few seconds but I realized that they were talking in english! I then yelled after them, "Hey, do you know english?". They turned around shocked and responded "yes". I guess that they had both lived in Florida for some period of time and are now studying here. Again it was really hard to explain to them exactly who we were and what we were doing in english.

This Sunday in church we heard a talk from our stake president where he shared a story about the end of his mission. As he was having his final interview with his mission president, he only asked him two questions, "Did you do everything the Lord wanted you to do?" Wow when he said that question it made me think really hard...and the second question "Did you work the hardest that you possibly could?". Obviously this applies not only to me as a mission but also to all of us in this life. I really feel like the mission is a "mini life" where I have found many applications for the things that I am learning here to be used for the rest of my life. Are we all doing all we can the help the Lord build His kingdom here on earth and the prepare not only ourselves, but everyone to be prepared to meet their God? I found that they hardest thing for me as a missionary and I think for all of us in our lives is consistancy. Anyone can be a fantastic disciple of Christ for one day, one month, or even 1 1/2 years :) but can we do it for our whole lives. Do we make Christ a part of who we are? I love this quote that Dad sent to me from Elder Maxwell:

When in situations of stress we wonder if there is any more
In us to give, we can be comforted to know that God,
Who knows our capacity perfectly, placed us here to succeed.
No one was foreordained to fail or be wicked.

When we have been weighed and found wanting,
Let us remember that we were measured before
And we were found equal to our tasks, and, therefore
Let us continue, He will not press upon us more than
We can bear.

I know that God not only loves us but knows us perfectly. He knows what He sent us here to accomplish and if we let Him, He will lead us by the hand.

I think about you often, I pray for you always, and I love you FOREVER!

Hna Scanlon

The following is a video of Hna Scanlon. Her companion is filming and Obispo Cristeche is on the left. It's pretty funny.

Nothing Goes Unnoticed

Hey All!

Sorry that I didn´t get an email sent out yesterday... it was a CRAZY P-day so I am sending you a quick note today. Yesterday we had a little training as trainers and our new comps so we were in the offices of the mission in the morning and then had lunch there as well and played some games afterwards. It was really fun since we don´t get to be in big groups of missionaries very often. Ha ha I love that little things are so exciting in my life now! I also got to see Hna Tucker which was super great! We were talking about the fact that we need to register in Feb and find housing like in Jan. How crazy fast time is passing...

I have been enjoying the pictures that Cali sent for the past two weeks. I think I look at them all EVERY day. I cannot believe how big all of the kids are getting. How crazy! Especially Kyle and Carolyn´s kids since it has been so long since I have seen them... And Luke! Wow he looks completely different. Tell them all to stop growing until I get home ok?

This past week we had interviews with Pres. Carter and his wife. It was so incredible. They are so amazing. He has helped me so much and more than anything I can feel how much the Lord loves me through the love that Pres. Carter has for us. His wife works really hard to have pictures updated on the blog of the mission so there are a few from last week´s conference so you should check that out.

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about the past year and if I could change it, would I? This morning I was reading in D&C 49:27 where it says, "Behold, I will go before you and be your rearward; and I will be in your midst, and you shall not be confounded." I loved this scripture especially coupled with D&C 84:116 "Let him trust in me and he shall not be confounded; and a chair of his head shall not fall to the ground unnoticed." I love these two scriptures because the Lord is with us in everything and as we put forth our best effort, it will never be enough, but He will always be there to make up the rest and as we put our trust in Him we will never be "confused" about our decisions but will have the gentle confirmation of the spirit that what we are doing is the will of the Lord. He knows all of our trials and our successes, nothing goes unnoticed. I am so grateful for the opportunity that the Lord has given me to be an instrument in His hands to bless lives. I would not change where I am and what I am doing right now for anything in the world. I am grateful to all of you for the person that you have helped me to become, but I am eternally grateful for the person the Lord is shaping me into now. Although I miss you all more than I can even express and we all know that I don´t deal with change very well, I am happier now than I have ever been in my whole life. Thank you all for all your prayers on my behalf and for all the love and support that you give to me.

I know that this is the work of the Lord so that He can "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life" of all of His children. I love where I am , what I am doing, and who I am becoming.

I think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

Stand Up And Speak Out

(Showing off the dirt from a hard day's work!)

¡Hi All!

It was so good to hear from you this week! First off my birthday was so great! And also super funny. That morning I received a text message from our Bishop telling me to head over to his house because he had a package for me for my birthday! Ha ha so first thing we headed to his house and he gave me the package and we sat and ate skittles and M&Ms and Hot Tamales!! I was in heaven. Thanks Cali for all the pictures, it was absolutely perfect. Also thanks for the grape juice packets. It´s interesting because in Argentina they have literally every other flavor of juice besides grape! Also thanks for the tattoos... All the little girls have loved me this week!

On my birthday we also went to one of my favorite member´s house and they made me a cake and sang happy birthday to me. Then when we finished it was raining so hard that they convinced us to cut head holes in plastic trash bags and then put them over us, not letting us cut arm holes because then our arms would get wet. It was pretty funny. Secretly the whole time I was hoping I didn´t fall because I could just imagine breaking off all my teeth!

We also went to a families house to make them brownies. yeah I really can´t cook very well so they didn´t turn out the greatest but hey it´s the effort that matters right!?!

Other than those exciting moments it was a pretty low key week. My companion is really great. I figured out something this week. I think that all Chileans are DEATHLY afraid of frogs (Kyle you can reaffirm this for me). I have only known 3 Chileans in the mission and every single one of them has a phobia of frogs. But really really bad. I don´t think that I have ever really seen anything quite like it. It would have been funny it my companion hadn´t been so scared since after it rains here there are almost literally a billion in the street.

From Dad´s email I have been thinking a lot about the importance of "standing up and speaking up" that Elder Holland talked about in his talk. Well obviously I don´t know what exactly was said but I love the well know scripture in Timothy that says, "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." Sometimes the hardest thing that we have to do is to be an example of the believers because it is such a popular trend in the world today to rely on the philosophies of men and to lean on our own understanding. I love the opportunity that I have to be with a new missionary because I can really see how much I have grown in the mission, more than anything in my testimony. I love that I look for any opportunity that I can find to share with those around me who I am and what I know. Yesterday my Bishop called me "sin verguenza" meaning that I have no shame. This is almost 100% true. I love this work and I love the people here. I know that it is God´s work and His glory "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life" of all of His children! I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to help Him with His work here in Argentina! I hope that we can all be examples of the believers EVERY day because whether you get to wear His name on a plack on your chest every day or you a wearing it in your heart it is the same.... People are watching you and your actions because they know who you are and who you represent!

I love you all so much!

Think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

Pictures

Hermana Scanlon requested that this week's email be just for family. She is doing well, but doesn't want to share some things with the whole world. She did, however, send pictures, so here they are!

Hooray for American candy!

She is training! Woohoo! Her cute 'hija' is Hermana Cadiz from Santiago, Chile and Jordan thinks she's so awesome!

One of the best parts of my week was that I got to meet the Bishop of her current ward. Cool, huh? Obispo Cristeche is visiting Utah for General Conference and has been communicating with our dad via email to arrange tickets to Conference and so that I could meet him and pick up a package from Jordan.

I was on the way to the airport, so only planned to stay 15 or 20 minutes, but I ended up staying an hour and had to rush to catch my flight. It was so cool to speak a little Spanish and hear about Jordan and meet someone who knows her as a missionary. I am confident that she is doing very well and that the members are taking good care of her. He repeatedly told me that she is an excellent missionary. :)

The Future Of The Mission Is In Your Hands

¡Hola!

¿Cómo estan? Wow what a crazy week. My old companion Hna Urdapilleta goes home tomorrow along with my old companions Hna Duarte and Hna Salazar. It´s funny that basically all of my old companions are leaving this transfer! I guess I´ve had the best examples that the mission had to offer me as far as my training goes! As for my new companion for today I am with Hna Tucker because my new companion doesn´t arrive until tomorrow! I have no idea (and neither does President) if she will be from the states or a latin! Ha ha that´s right... I don´t know who she is because I am training!!! Yeah I am a little scared but I trust in the fact that I am an instrument in the Lord´s hands and He knows what He is doing far more than I do! So this coming week will be really interesting!

This past week was really interesting as my companion had a lot of things to do to get ready to go home. We went into the offices of the mission three times this week which involved a 1 hour bus ride each way! Ha ha tons of fun! I also got to go on divisions with Hna Tucker in her area also with another American named Hna Johnson. It was fun and really different to be with Americans for an extended period of time!

Also this week we had the baptism of Juan! He is so incredible. It was so amazing to see the change that came over him after his baptism and confirmation. And also to see the ward really reach out to him. Such an incredible blessing to be able to help the Lord in His work.

Dad sent me this quote and I really liked it so I decided to share it with you all.
"We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ, The Bible sits on the pulpits of hundred of different religious sects. The Book of Mormon, the record of Joseph, verifies and clarifies the Bible. It removes stumbling blocks, it restores many plain and precious things. We testify that when used together, the Bible and the Book of Mormon confound false doctrine, lay down contentions, and establish peace." (2 Nephi 3:12) - Pres. Thomas S. Monson

It really is so true. The Book of Mormon changes lives and so does the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have seen it not only in the lives of the people here in Argentina but in my own life as well. The Bible and the Book of Mormon together really are the word of God and through both of these books and the doctrines found in them we can find more peace and happiness in this life and in the life to come! I love this work!

I love you all!

Think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

Miracles

Hey!!!

Another week has gone by. I swear that they just keep going by faster and faster. Thanks for all your love and support. I really can feel all your prayers in my behalf and I really appreciate it.

So this week I really learned that God is still a God of miracles. A few months ago a friend sent me this scripture in 2 Nephi 27:23. I think I might have already sent this to you but it´s worth sending again, especially since I lived it this week. It says "...I am God and I am a God of miracles and I will show the world that I am the same yesterday, today and forever, but I only work among the children of men, according to their faith" (sorry if i slaughtered that, I had to translate from my spanish scriptures!). This coming Saturday we are going to have a baptism!!! A friend of one of the members is going to get baptized! His name is Juan and he really is a miracle. I really didn´t have faith in him specifically but I had faith in the fact that the Lord was preparing people to accept our message. As of about 3 weeks ago he wanted NOTHING to do with us. But we were presistent and every time we saw him in the house of his friends we taught him the pure and simple truths of the gospel. Mostly about Joseph Smith and how he could know if this message was from God. What an incredible promise! In Preach My Gospel it says that the biggest miracle that we can see in our lives in the miracle of conversion and I definitely know that is true. As we put our faith into action, I know that we can all see miracles in our own lives and know that God loves us and has a

plan for every one of us in this life.

Elder Aidukaitis came and visited the mission this week. Everyone was super scared for him to come but it was so incredible. He is an incredible man. He also challenged us to live worthy enough, work hard enough, and have enough faith that we can see miracles in the mission because miracles are not a given, as the scripture says, they are according to our faith.

This week is the last week of the transfer and then my comp is going home!!!! Wow so crazy how fast time goes by. Ha ha actually all of the last 3 comps that I have had are leaving this transfer. It´s crazy because when I got here they had the same time that I now have and I thought that they were soooo old in the mission! :)

I love you all tons and tons!

Think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

I stole these pics from here.

Trust

(we're currently having a picture drought, so I'm getting a little creative)

¡Hola!

First off I just wanted to say thanks for always writing me every week. I love reading my emails every week. It makes me feel so much closer to home.

I can´t believe that it was the 10 year anniversary of 9-11 this week. How quickly time passes. There were quite a few people who asked me about it; what I thought about the anniversary of it etc. It is interesting to me that there really were quite a few people asking me about it. I am not sure if there was a lot of news coverage since we don´t have access to a television but I am thinking not really.

Ha ha so this past weekend was Grandparent´s Day huh? Wow the USA is starting to become like Argentina. I think they celebrated the Day of the Child like 3 different days this year. There is also the Day of the Friend etc... Ha ha it´s pretty funny. I am surprised that Hallmark hasn´t capitalized on this country yet. They would make a fortune with all the "holidays" here. :)

This past week was a fairly calm week. This coming week we will have a meeting with Elder Aidukaitis so everyone is talking about that. Remember that we are missionaries so any news is BIG news. :) The weather here is also starting to get hot. During the day I can just wear short-sleeves and be ok. And I also don´t have to wear nylons anymore!!!! I am SO excited. I am guessing that is probably more information than you all wanted to have...

This week I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah 29 and I loved on part specifically in verse 20.  It says "...thus doth the Lord work with his power in all cases among the children of men, extending the arm of cmercy towards them that put their dtrust in him." I love that because the Lord is always there, ready and willing to "extend" His arms of "mercy towards them that put their trust in Him". I know that I can see the difference daily as I try to do it on my own and slip and fall 100 times before I am humbled enough to put my trust in the Lord and do things in His way. As we put our all of our trust in Him, He will comfort and consol us and lead us by the hand in the path that we need.

I love you all tons!

Think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

Emergency Entrance

¡Hi to all!

I sounds like you are all doing well and had a fun filled weekend! Ha ha I totally forgot that it was Labor Day Weekend and was a little confused as to why there was a long weekend until I was actually told that is was Labor Day Weekend. I guess that is probably a good thing and means that I am focused on the work. :)
How is everything going with everyone?! I can´t believe that we are already in SEPTEMBER! I am loving it here because it is starting to feel like spring. I never realize how much I miss the sun until it starts setting and rising earlier. I feel like the changes in seasons are more drastic here but maybe it is just because I pay more attention to it than I did in the states and it feel like time passes more quickly here! But it is already starting to get like at 6:30 when we have to get up!

Today we had to travel quite a bit because since my companion is finishing her mission she can go to her old areas to say goodbye to some of her converts. So as we were travelling I had some time to think and I was thinking about some things that have changed about me since I left ha ha so here is a little list for you.

1. I love bananas now. I don´t know if it is just in Argentina or what I but I love them, I eat like 1 kilo by myself every week. The best dessert in the world is dulce de leche and a banana... yum

2. This week Beth´s kids sent me an email and Anna asked me what animals I am seeing. Well this leads me to my second point. I don´t really like dogs anymore. I was never a huge animal person before but I have almost been bitten by so many and most of them I am sure have flees... so I have learned to really not like them. Other than that because I am in the city I don´t see too many animals. Oh parrots fly around wild here which is pretty cool.

3. I can now wash laundry by hand pretty effectively. Ok it´s not the same as a washer but I also don´t spend my whole P-day washing clothes...  so I am thinking that this is progress.

4. I am now tall, blond, and have light colored eyes... ha ha at least that is the Argentine perception of me. It´s super funny to me still that everyone calls me "the blond one".

5. I now snort. I hadn´t come to grips with this yet and was denying it until yesterday when we were talking to some Elders and everyone was laughing, but relatively quietly, and I started snorting... oh my how embarrassing. I have no idea why and I am hoping that it will go away after the mission. But as for now it is a reality of life that I am learning to cope with. It at least makes things entertaining.

6. I will basically eat anything now. I feel really rude when people offer me food and I say no so I have learned to eat just about anything. Luckily Argentine food is really good so it isn´t usually a trial for me to eat it! :)

7. I have learned to be more patient with people and have more love for them and to listen more than I want to be listened to. Obviously I still have a long way to go but it is something that I am working on every day.

8. I love reading the Book of Mormon! Especially in Spanish. I honestly never thought I would say that because I always struggled with reading my scriptures before but now I can really see what a resource they are for us in our daily lives.

Ha ha I am sure that there is more that has changed but for the most part those are the funny things.
In church on Sunday the lady giving the class in Relief Society made an interesting comment. She said that every time she looks at the emergency exit signs she thinks that they should read emergency entrance because the church is where we go to be healed from all our worldly wounds. I loved that because a lot of times our investigators or recent converts think that they aren´t worthy to go to church. And a lot of times we as members view church as a task, as one more thing that we have to do in our week. But to be able to go to church and seek refuge from the world is a blessing that is given to everyone! If is wasn´t important and to help us in our daily lives, do you think God would have made it a commandment?

I love this gospel and the opportunity that I have to be a missionary. I love being able to take the love and blessings that I have received from Heavenly Father and from all of you and share these things with the people that I meet every day.

I love you all so much! Thanks for all your love and support!

Hna Scanlon

The Elephant

¡Buenos Dias a Todos!

Ha ha I always feel so proper when I say that! :) How are you all doing? Wow so things around here are going great! Today is the first day that is actually feels like SPRING here!!!! I am SO excited. I was talking to my comp about the weather today and realized that I won´t see winter again for like a year... yes that is probably the best news of the week. :)

Everyone here is talking about the crazy weather in New York. I sure am glad that most of our loved ones are on the western side of the states. Kyle and Carolyn... Are you feeling any of the effects of the weather? Really I don´t know that much about it but I sure hope that everyone is doing ok.

So everyone here thinks that automatically since I am a girl that I know how to cook. One of my punch lines is "Hna/Hno/Elder if I knew how to cook, do you think I would be in the mission?.... No I would´ve gotten married!" Ha ha it´s always funny and everyone always laughs. Also it makes all the members love me more and also all the wives give me recipes to help me get married after the mission. As my bishop always tells me, the way to a man´s heart is through his stomach. Anyway the point of this story is that a bought a notebook this week to put all of these in. I was pretty excited about that. basically all that I have learned how to make will shorten your life drastically because of the amount of calories due to the oil or the butter but they sure are tasty!

Yesterday in church a lady gave a talk that I loved! (Mostly I love that I can understand now as well :)) She started off by telling a fantastic story. One day a little boy was at a circus. As he walked by the elephant he noticed that from it´s massive leg was a small chain and an even smaller stake in the ground. The boy stood there in amazement... How could it be that this gigantic animal didn´t simply rip the stake out of the ground free itself. For years the boy thought of the image of the elephant but could never come to a rational conclusion. One day, a man finally was able to resolve his childhood doubts. The man explained that from the time the elephant was very little he had had the same chain and stake on his leg. As a baby elephant it had been quite a large chain and stake and after many attempts at trying to free itself, the elephant gave up in defeat, NEVER to try again. And with it´s impressive memory, the now adult elephant remembered it´s earlier failures and so kept itself hostage, by it´s own now personal defeat.

I loved this story because it is so true. How often do we let the past hold the future hostage in our own lives? As I was thinking about this story I love to relate it with Heb 12:1-2
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the asin which doth so easily bbeset us, and let us run with cpatience the race that is set before us,
 Looking unto Jesus the aauthor and bfinisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him cendured the cross, despising the dshame, and is set down at the right hand of the ethrone of God.
As we run this race of life we must set beside us EVERY WEIGHT and run with patience the race that is set before us.

The member related this story to a scripture found in Eph 4:22-24 which I also think is really appropriate.
 22 That ye aput off concerning the former conversation the bold man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful clusts;
 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
 24 And that ye put on the anew man, which after God is created in brighteousness and true holiness.
As we put off the old natural man of sin and follow God with all our hearts and minds, we will be able to rise above and overcome all the the obstacles that we face in this life, whether they be of a physical or a mental nature.

I love you all tons and tons!

Think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon