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

Your Name Tag

¡Hola Mi Familia!

 

¿Como estan? As I am sitting right now in Walmart writing this and I am feeling like I am totally in the states. How crazy.

 

This week was great. I had my first experience with a crazy evangelist this week. Her husband invited us into the house and prompting left. Talk about feeding us to the dogs. Everything went pretty smoothly up until the part about Joseph Smith. My comp said " know that you might have a hard time believing this" to which the lady interruted saying, "actually that would be because I don´t believe it!" Oh... wow... After that I just shared my testimony with her and she had a ton of stories about healing people and casting out demons etc. We also had a member with us who shared his testimony about the evangelist church at the very end.... ha ha oh my. All in all pretty hilarious but I felt such a strong spirit as I testified to her of what I know. I guess now she can´t say she hasn´t been warned.

 

Another funny story that happened this week was we were walking down the street and a man from a car yelled at us, "Hey, where are you going tonight?" (in english!) Luckily I am still pretty quick with my comebacks and yelled back, "Not with you!". Oh so ridiculous. My comp was thoroughly confused for a bit as to why I was laughing so hard, ha ha until I explained it all to her in spanish.

 

This weekend we had stake conference in Ramos Mejia and it was really cool because they formed a new stake! Two of the area presidency were there and our mission president. I am not going to lie I loved the most my mission president´s and his wife´s testimonies. They were so powerful... maybe because I already have so much love for them. Pres Carter talked about the fact that you don´t have to wear a nametag to be a missionary. Our nametags (well not mine :) but your nametags are your eyes, the smiles that you wear on your face, and the way that you live your lives. I love that. We are examples in ALL that we do and are. This new transfer I have really gained a testimony of that. As my companion and I walk down the street we have made a goal just to smile and greet people as they pass us by. It has been incredible. We no longer have to stop people to talk to them (well not always anyways) because they stop us to ask us who we are and what we are doing. 

 

I miss you all and it is hard to not be a part of your every day lives, BUT I know that this is the Lord´s work and I am so happy to be here in Argentina. 

 

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

 

Hna Scanlon 

Although We Are Imperfect, God Loves Us Perfectly

(This is - hands down - my favorite pic of her mission!)

¡Hola!

¿Cómo estan ustedes? Wow how quickly the time flies! I can´t believe that I have been here in Cuidad Evita for a whole transfer. I swear the days just keeping going by faster and faster. We had transfers today but we are staying the same here in our area. Which means that I will be with my comp up until the end of her mission. I feel really fortunate to have been comps with all of the more experienced hermanas in the mission.

The transfers were really crazy this transfer but as I was hearing what happened I felt a little uneasy with the great unknown that brought the changes, but just as quickly I felt a calm assurance that President Carter is led and directed by God and Jesus Christ and that this is their work to bring happiness and joy to God´s children and that as an instrument in God´s hands President Carter knows what he is doing. I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who I know and who knows and loves me.

This week we had the craziest weather. One day it was super hot and the next day it was hailing and freezing and then 2 hours later is was hot again. And with a ton of humidity. Welcome to Buenos Aires! The hail here is crazy. I saw people covering their cars with blankets and I was thinking to myself "why?" and then when I saw the size of the hail I realized that it is because the hail will break the windows and dent the cars if not! We were in an apt building and heard a window in an apt next to the one we were in break... super crazy. But we were super blessed to never actually be outside when it was hailing and I have good boots and an umbrella for the rain so I´m good to go with the weather stuff.

Yesterday I was talking to a man in the ward about the temple and when it will be finished (he and his wife are missionaries called to work on the temple) and he told me that it should be finished some time in May... ahh that is cutting it close. He asked me when I was going home and told me that they would finish it just for me! :) I sure hope so!

This week I have really seen the love of God in my life. Many times I ask God for what I want and He gives me what I need, I ask for what I think will make me happy now and He gives me what will make me happy for eternity. I love this quote from a talk by Elder Uchtdorf:

"Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now multiply that love by an infinite amount—that is the measure of God’s love for you. God does not look on the outward appearance. I believe that He doesn’t care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely.
He loves us because He is filled with an infinite measure of holy, pure, and indescribable love. We are important to God not because of our résumé but because we are His children. He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken. God’s love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the arrogant, and the wicked."

What this means is that, regardless of our current state, there is hope for us. No matter our distress, no matter our sorrow, no matter our mistakes, our infinitely compassionate Heavenly Father desires that we draw near to Him so that He can draw near to us.

I know that as much as I love you all, God loves you more. The distance that is between us and God, we put ourselves and always he is just one prayer away.

Sorry that I have been slacking in the story department. This week I will try and write down some of the things that happen so that I can remember them.
I think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

p.s. I think the pictures are pretty self explanitory... one is of a my old district, one is of a goat that always likes to try and eat my skirt in the house of one of the members, another is of the street that is basically a river... yeah it will probably be like that for like a week after a rainstorm, one of the hail stones that were like rather large stones, and one is of argentine pride! :)

LOVE YOU ALL!

The Power of Prayer

¡Hola!

This week was great! One of the biggest lessons that I learned was that when you tell an Argentine woman that you want the tips of your hair cut, then she is going to cut it until all of the tips are the same length... oops. So funny coincidence is that Cali and I still have the same haircut... but at least her´s was by choice! Today one of the Elders told me that I look like a Sister missionary now... When I asked if that was a insult or not his response was "well you are one right?"

[How weird/awesome that we're roughly 6,200 miles away from each other and we get our hair cut almost exactly the same on almost the same day. Crazy! (This is the only time I'll show up on this blog, I promise!)]

This week I also started giving classes of english for service. Ha ha so funny. My lesson plans this coming week involve watching "The Restoration" in english with spanish subtitles so they can hear more english and reading the book of mormon in english. We´ll have to see how it goes.

This week I also had divisions with Hna Schneider who was in the MTC with me. IT WAS SO GREAT! We had a blast and worked so hard. I also could view this week the importance of working with members this week. We are having so much more success working with members and visiting less active members, it really is incredible.

Probably on a daily basis we teach the importance of prayer. I love this quote by Elder Scott because it really showed to me just how much of a blessing prayer is:

"Prayer is a supernal gift of our Father in Heaven to every soul. Think of it: the absolute Supreme Being, the most all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful personage, encourages you and me, as insignificant as we are, to converse with Him as our Father. Actually, because He knows how desperately we need His guidance, He commands, “Thou shalt pray vocally as well as in thy heart; yea, before the world as well as in secret, in public as well as in private.”

"It matters not our circumstance, be we humble or arrogant, poor or rich, free or enslaved, learned or ignorant, loved or forsaken, we can address Him. We need no appointment. Our supplication can be brief or can occupy all the time needed. It can be an extended expression of love and gratitude or an urgent plea for help. He has created numberless cosmos and populated them with worlds, yet you and I can talk with Him personally, and He will ever answer."

How incredible is that? I know in my life I have always wanted to talk to someone more wise than I am to tell me what I need to do for success. But think of it... We can talk to God ANYTIME that we want. In the Bible Dictionary it says that we need to pray and ask God for the blessings that He is already willing to give us but is waiting for us to ask for. Prayer is such an essential step in our eternal progression. I love the scripture in Alma that says:

"Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day."

Also in Proverbs where is says:
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
The power of prayer is so incredible. Almost every day someone asks me if I miss my family. Of course the answer is yes but I know that through the power of prayer (yours and mine) I am strengthened every day and the Lord qualifies me for this work. We can´t go through this life and find peace and happiness on our own. we have to have the help of the Lord through prayer.
I love you all. Thanks for all that you do to love and support me daily. Life really is a rollercoaster but I know that I am so blessed in that I really have truly had many more ups than downs.

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

Hna Scanlon

P.S. Los Fotos: One is of my new haircut. The other was when I made no bake cookies this week (i was super excited and yes I froze some of them... my comp thought I was crazy) and today for P-Day we played "futbol" and umpa-lumpa ball and ate sandwiches! Oh the excited life of a missionary!

I Love My Life!

(This picture is either really cool or super creepy...)

¡Hola!

Hey so I hope that you all like getting pictures and a VIDEO!!! (Hooray!) The video is from awhile back but I thought that you would still like to see how cold it is here. Also I don´t really remember what pictures I sent apart from the ones with a huge slab of meat thing.... yeah I´m not really sure but it actually smelled pretty good. It wasn´t made for us to eat but my comp told me that it is actually really good.

This week was a good one! It involved lots of travelling as I spent one day in Hurlingham on divisions and we had to go to Capital for some paperwork for my comp. It´s funny how everywhere we go people stop us to tell us that they are members... The sad part is that usually this is followed by "but I´m inactive". Also a lot of times when we contact people they tell us that they go to our church every Sunday.... which is obviously a lie but we can´t really say that to them but I have a hard time not laughing. Ha ha usually I just tell them "Ok well see you there on Sunday!"

(We have heard that it's more likely she will get the packages we send if we put crosses and/or pictures of Christ on the outside. So far it's working! This is a package from our parents.)

This week I was also sick for the first time in my mission... no so fun. I am pretty much 100% again except for the fact that I don´t have a voice... this makes missionary work and a new language super fun. Luckily I can still somewhat talk and my comp can translate for me. Oh good times in the mission.

(I have no idea what sport they are playing).

This week we also had a crazy storm that involved hail and everything. I was loving it and my comp was freaking out. Nothing better than knocking doors soaking wet. The best part is that people yell at us from their houses "Chicas, it´s raining, come back another day..." I always think, "yeah it´s raining outside but not in your house!" When this happens I usually look at my comp and say, "I love my life"... This is a phrase that I have taught her in english. This usually gives us a good laugh. There is nothing quite like this time and we are definitely loving it.

Today my comp and I read the talk, "Beware of Pride" by President Benson. Wow... so good. I loved the part where he talked about the fact that most of us have pride in the way that we think we are better than others... Also he opened his talk with the comments that the Book of Mormon is the story about how pride destroyed an ENTIRE civilization. If you haven´t read this talk, read it, if you have, read it again.
Sorry this is a little short this week.

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

Hna Scanlon