How are you all doing? Ha ha I know that I ask that every week and that you can´t actually respond to my question but I am going to go ahead and keep asking it. ;) My week was really good. It turns out that they weather in Argentina is a crazy as the weather in Idaho and some days this week we were dying of heat and other days freezing. Ha ha but as we always tell ourselves and everyone else we are still happy so that is what really matters. My new area is really great. The members are fantastic and really want to help us with the work. They always have ideas as to what we can do to help the work here so it is really great. To answer Dad´s architectural question and for the information of the rest of you, most of the chapels in Argentina have the same floor plan, with exception of the the chapel that is attached to the mission offices. The front door leads into kind of a entry type thing that is a hallway that connects the two halfs of the building. On on half is the chapel and in the back is the gym. on the other side is the classrooms and offices etc. It´s interesting. I will have to take a picture of the chapel next week. Oh before I forget. Hna Carter has a blog about the mission. I think the address is http://buenosaireswest.blogspot.com/. If that is wrong sorry. I will look at my notes later I just don´t have them here.
The exciting part of today is that we got to go to WALMART!!! I was sooooo excited. We did have to walk through monoblocks to get there which are kinda like apartment buildings but pretty dangerous. For example only a few of the areas of the Hnas have monoblocks and the Hnas always have to enter them with members. We with with Elders so we felt safe but it was definitely interesting. The best news is that Walmart is the same everywhere. I was all smiles as we were walking in and I guess it must have been pretty funny because one of the elders looked at me and said, "Don´t worry Hna, you´ll get trunkier" Ha ha good joke. Well I guess the only difference is that here Walmart is like super nice.. so yeah I guess that is a bit of a difference. I did get to buy peanut butter which I was super excited about so I will let you know how it tastes.
I LOVE having the temple in our area. It is such a blessing to be able to see it every day even though it isn´t open the spirit is still so strong around the area that it is in. This week my comp and I ate lunch in a park that is close to the temple. It was the best.
This week I found the coolest scripture and it is something that I have been thinking about a lot. In Mark 8:34 it says, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." I love this because it doesn´t say that all we have to do is follow after Christ and all will be well. No it says, deny yourself, take up your cross, and come follow me. I also like to cross reference this scripture with one found in 2 Nephi 9:18 "But behold the righteous saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the Kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world and their joy shall be full forever." As we follow after Christ we are expected to endure the crosses of the world and only after this sacrifice and time of learning and growth can we become perfect, even as Christ is perfect. The other day my comp shared a story in one of our lessons that I really liked. One day a man had a dream in which he was carrying a cross. The cross was heavy and hard to bear. He prayed to God that He would change the cross in which the man was called to bear. God granted his plea and the man entered a room filled with crosses. The man put down his own cross and began to search for the smallest cross he could find to carry. There were many crosses in the room. Some very small but heavy. Others very tall and some seemed to go on forever without end. After trying on a few crosses and not finding one to fit his desires. The man spotted a cross far off in the corner. He ran to and and tried it out. It was very large nor very heavy. And although it still had weight to it the man felt that he would be able to carry this cross. He turned to God and told Him that this is the cross he would like to carry. God replied, "But this is the cross that you recently wanted to exchange." I love this story because we are all called to carry our own crosses in this world. Sometimes it is due to our own decisions. Sometimes it is due to the decisions of others. But always it is for our experience, profit, and learning. Often it seems that others do not struggle as much as we feel ourselves to be struggling. But this is a deceitful trick and habit of the human mind. We all are here to gain experience and I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that loved us enough to send us here to learn and to grow although that must not have been an easy decision for Him. I know that He gives us that exact trials that we need for He loves and knows us better than anyone else. He not only sent us here to learn and grow but He also send his beloved son Jesus Christ so make is possible for all of God´s children to use their agency and return to live with Him once again. For as Christ said, "Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give ye rest... for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." As we come unto Christ with all that we have and use our burdens to help us learn and grow, then will our crosses seem easier to bear.
I love you all tons and tons. Thanks for all of your love and support.
Think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!
Hna Scanlon
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