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