Regocijad! Jesus Nacio :)

Hello Familia!!

HOw are you all doing?! I¨m so sorry I haven´t sent a long good detailed e-mail in awhile. Sometimes I get lost in this lçworld I¨m living in and feel like everything before was just a dream . .it freaks me out sometimes, but I guess it´s just the way it´s gotta be for now!! I didn´t really directly tell you I´m still serving in White! I realized this week I will have been here for longer than an entire semester of school!! Haha it´s gone WAY faster than I ever thought school went. . .but at the same time I´ve been here SO flippin long haha I was kinda looking forward to a change in scene, but I know this is where Heavenly Father needs me to be right now :) But, Heavenly Father musta known I was getting in a little bit of a funk cuz I went on Divisions this week to another area in my District called Punta Alta! It is WAY pretty there and there are fruit trees that you can pick the fruit right off and eat it on the spot haha the black berries were SO good! BUT, we walked like 15 miles in one day I think and we knocked SO many doors and the people were just cold. .

.it made me super grateful for my White where the people are nice and at least hear us out before they tell us they aren´t interested at the moment. 

White to Punta Alta

It was also nice cuz my Hija got an opportunity to see that she can communicate well (we were both with a native comp) which has given her a little more confidence and we are having SO much more fun now and learning and teaching a TON! I think I told you all about Flor. . .I love that girl so much. We planned her baptism for last Sunday. . .and she told us she wanted to go to church by herself (she lives close so we sould go so we could walk with her, but everytime we ended up having to wake her up. . .) And she wanted to be sure she could get herself to church by herself. So, we set and alarm, got all the clothes ready, and she was just so excited. But the next day. ..we were waiting for her, she didn´t show up at the time we planned, so we went by to see what was up, and she was sleeping. I was so heartbroken. We went by later and she just told us that we´ve done all we can do and now she has to decide for herself to live it. . .which is so so true but it just broke my heart because she has a testimony but she is letting Satan make her beliee it´s easier in the world. She knows that´s wrong, but still. . .so I cried for her a little bit, but I have so much hope and faith that she WILL choose the path for happiness her Heavenly Father has prepared for her. All we can do now is pray for her and be here when she´s ready <3 

We´ve found a couple REALLY amazing people to teach here. One is the friend of a member who is very Evangelist and loves her church, but we watched the Restoration with her and she loved how Joseph Smith is just like us and he just had to ask our Father, and she told us she´s going to read and pray, so we´re excited to go back and she her! Also we are teaching this super funny and sweet older couple who are living together because both of their spouses past away. They both love that we talk all about God and Jesus Chirst and Nelly (Carlos is her boyfriend) told us she knows the Book of Mormon is true. Now we just gotta break it to her that she needs to get married and that maybe she could drink some juice instead of wine :) But we´ll see how it goes!

Like I said, Hna Boyce and I are just having a really good time trying to give all we have to this work. It´s hard for both of us being away from all of you at this time of year. . .but I´m excited get to talk to you soon!!! I´ll have more details about how thats going to work next week. . .we´re singing in a missionary choir! We´ve been practicing a ton and we sound pretty darn good :) I´ll have to take my recorder and record us singing :) I´m loving the mission guys. It´s great :) I´ve got my ups and my downs but that´s life right?? We just have to put our trust in our Father in Heaven and in our big brother Jesus Christ that they truly can get us through everything. 

I read a talk this morning about putting Childlike faith in that knowledge because we often talk ourselves into thinking we are unworthy or less than we are, Satan literally uses these things as tools to drag down even the most righteous of people. Nephi is a prime example. I can´t remember the reference right now but I love when he´s despairing because of his carnal desires and then he tells he´s told to wake up and get over it and to rejoice in Heavenly Father and the Savior :) We´ve just gotta do that sometimes!! Remind ourselves of all the potenatial we have and that we can do anything with their help. We won´t be perfect, but we´ll be very very happy!!

Alright! I love you all so much but I gotta go!! 

HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE!!!

Lot´s of Love

Larissa xoxoxo

Mi y mi hija Hna Boyce :)

Thanks so much for the updates momma!! I feel so bad cuz I don´t think I´m sending a big e-mail today. . .I messed around reading stuff for way to long. . . I´m doing good! It´s been a hard week. . .but I´m glad to start a new one :) I´ll be sure to write a good long e-mail next week!

Are there any specific questions I can answer???
I LOVE YOU!!!!

"her nice smile illuminates the quarter"

ALERT!  Post from Mom/Rhonda:

Veronica is a member in Argentina. She has let the girls come to her home and use the computer, and probably all sorts of other things to help them. I'm touched that she went to the trouble to send this message in English!

I LOVE how Veronica says: "her nice smile illuminates the quarter"

Goodness I miss that smile!!  ♥

Here is another one from a friend in Argentina, posted back in August:

Translation:  "MOM's sister conger: I am writing to thank you for the beautiful person q has raised the word of God, she brought to my house here in Argentina we are caring for her. I hope q to read this message. Best regards"

And one more from a friend in Florida back in June:

♥ Yes that Rissy girl is a special kid alright.  I'm so grateful for her. ♥

It's another holiday!

Sorry everyone!  It´s been a crazy morning! It´s a Holiday here (practically every Monday in Argentina haha) but everything is closed. I had a great week, but I´m gonna take advantage of this members computer and get you some pictures!! I´m doing great and having a blast.

My comp and I have had a few head butts this week, but it was good we talked it out haha One was because she can´t handle when i blow my nose (I was sick again this week, but I worked through it!!)outside of the bathroom (I go in there and close the door now haha I decided not to tell her about the farmers blow) ;) haha but yeah, it´s cool though that we are just completely different people and learning how to serve the Lord the best we can together. It´s also super stressful not being able to communicate how you want and not express yourself the way you want either, but we are practicing and working hard to get her there!

I´m loving White. Our investigators are doing good, especially F, she needs to show a little more commitment, I´m praying she´ll get herself to her baptism interview by herself this week, cuz if not I think we´ll have to wait till next Saturday, but we´ll see. She wants to follow God and Christ so we just gotta help her understand what´s important! It´s very possible that I´ll be in a different area next Monday. so I´m gonna give all my heart to White this week!! :)

Ok pictures, I love you all so much!! Have a great week ok!!
LOVE YOU!!!

This is Tigra. . .I dunno if I´ve talked about her but she´s great :) She´s just a Street dog but she makes my day and is a great source of conversation when we´re knocking doors haha 

in the kitchen  :)

a while back with Hermana Vincent and new member!

LOVE

Haha ok so I read an AMAZING talk this morning by Elder Uchtdorf in the Nov 2009 Ensign called The Love of God (I think that´s what it was called) and you should all read it :) Sooo so good and it helped me realize that I think I´m doing the best I can right now. (watch below)

or click here to READ the talk!

It´s been a good but crazy week! I´m kinda getting sick again cuz this darn weather is nutzo. . .so if you could pray for my body that'd be GREAT!

F is doing great. She had some pretty big doubts about the church, mostly sparked for a TV show she saw, but we happened to be blessed to pass by with a member exactly when she needed to hear the testimony the member had about 7 years of doubting she did and all the blessings she thinks she lost in those years, and now she seems very full of faith that this is the path God wants her to be on :) We had 4 investigators at church yesterday and that´s the most I´ve EVER had on my mission! It was a miracle and I´m so grateful that I´ve been able to feel like I´m doing all I can to be the tool in Gods hands that he needs me to be.

Yesterday we had a lesson with A and she´s one of my investigators that had a hard time, especially with church, because she has a fear of large groups of people. . .I´m not totally sure how it came up but she started talking about how she trusts us and she said "·especialmente vos. Tienes una alma transparecida y puedo ver tu espiritu." (especially you. You have a transparent soul and I can see your spirit).  She´s SUPER spiritual but it made me cry because I really do just care so much for each of these amazingly special people here. I might not be able to speak perfect and I have to repent everyday of the things I lack, but I have been feeling more and more like I am doing the work Heavenly Father needs me to do here and now. I think that's when we find the fullest joy here in this life, when we can have confidence that we are giving our all to do His work and love His children (that talk I read this morning talks about that) but it´s been a huge blessing to me to really feel that <3

I love my Heavenly Father and I love Jesus Christ and I love that I have the opportunity to help the children of Heavenly Father here and now feel of the love that He has for them :) I love you ALL so darn much!!! Have an awesome week! My sweetheart Aaron has a big surgery to go through so please keep him in your prayers, especially on Thursday!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

xoxoxoxo Larissa

Haha algo chistoso. . .this week my poor comp had been told by several people that she has "la cara de una niña" (the face of a girl) and it´s been making her mad. But, yesterday someone (sorta jokingly I think but idk for sure haha) asked me how old I was turning and said "40 what?" haha soooo I´m hoping all the stress and challenged of the mission haven´t aged me THAT much haha I´ll try my best to getcha a picture ASAP :)

LOVE YOU!!

Happy Little Working Song

Haha anybody anybody??? Haha yeah, it´s a song on Enchanted that Amy Adams sings and it just so happens I´m serving right now with Amy Adams :) Hahaha it´s sooo funny to me because since the first day I met Hna Boyce she reminded me of some Disney character and I couldn´t figure out who and I said Amy Adams from Enchanted one time and she was like really? and I was like oh maybe not. . .but THEN she started singing that song and she sounds JUST LIKE HER!!! Haha and she´s just super gorgeous and cute and yeah haha it´s the best :)

She also knows what she wants too, so she is being a tough one and working even though her allergies aren´t totally gone. . .so we went out and worked hard this week!

My Florencia, who I´ve been teaching for awhile, is SUPER looking forward to her baptism and FINALLY came to church yesterday! I think she really enjoyed it :) She loved that there was nursery for her kids to be in while she was in class, even though they only stayed there for one of the hours (which really worked out perfect) and I taught the gospel principles class on the Priesthood and she had been wondering about getting a blessing for all of the hard things she´s got going on and just bad feelings about her past, and we set up a time this week for her to receive one, so I´m super looking forward to that :) All of our members in our little branch went to the Temple this week. It´s crazy to be in an area where they literally save all they can every month so that they can go to the temple 4 times a year. . .if they are lucky. Our missionary leader got sealed to his wife and he is just the sweetest about it all.

One of the members cars broke down on the way back too and that´s what they use in order to work (they take drinkable water around, like the dispenser kind since the water is bad here) and they really need there car for that :/ but they just have this amazing "God gives us trials to make us stronger" attitude and it´s so amazing. I love the Book of Mormon for that reason. It teaches us and helps us see that the only way we can find happiness in life is if we are learning and we can only learn if we are having challenges and testing our faith so that is can grow bigger and stronger. it´s truly amazing. I also have seen that REMEMBERING is so huge. We have commandments in order to keep us humble, so that we know that we can´t find peace and happiness without Heavenly Father. It´s all about doing things in his time and in His way :) That´s the theme of the mish for me, and I don´t know if I would have learned that any other way.

I´m so ridiculously blessed. Thank you ALL for all your support and the prayers and letters! Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for the e-mails! Sorry I didn´t get to reply back this week, hopefully I´ll find time one day! Thank you to everyone whose sent letters too! Those are a rare thing and they mean the world to me when I get them :)

Have a great week ok??

I love you all so much <3 xoxoxo

Larissa

Help from on High!! :)

Wow! This amazing ride just continues to get crazier and more amazing the more I´m here :)

We actually didn´t get out a whole ton this week because my poor companion has major allergies to the air here and her head feels like it´s going to explode, I think she´s doing a little better now, but the poor girl is just having a rough time. Please send some prayers Hna. Boyce´s way if you could. It´s hard enough being a new missionary, but add a foreign country, language, and being super sick on top of that, she´s having a hard time loving it here.

just a joke!  :)

I feel so blessed that I had my time in Florida to adjust to mission life before I was just thrown out into Argentina, just proves she´s a strong one! Despite all that´s happening I know she´s trying her best to look at the bright side. It´s also been hard for her that she can´t contribute a lot to the lessons, but this has really been where the miracles of the week were for me! I´ve seen help from my Heavenly father in EVERY part of the work when we were able to go out, especially in my ability to teach what people need and that has been amazing. I know I have a Heavenly Father that loves me and is looking out for me and especially all the people I care about!

click here to catch upon the latest back in the good ole FOM

I´m praying for all of you! Sorry this one is kinda short this week, I´ll get you all a longer one next week! (haha after all this time - only having an hour still kills me :/) Haha oh and maybe I´ll start up the things that are different about Argentina list again because having a comp brand new from the States has made me realize some things I forgot, I´m just like used to life here I guess! haha

I love you all so very much. Have an AWESOME week!!

Love, Larissa :) <3

I'm a Mommy!!!!

Hahaha this is kinda funny cuz my mom sent me updates about some of my friends that are pregnant. . .but yeah! In missionary terms I'm now a mom :) Haha I got my first daughter (I´m training her) on Friday and she is so great! Hna. Boyce is her name and she was only in the MTC for 5 weeks before she got shipped out here! Apparently there was a glitch in the computer system about who needed to go to the MTC and yeah, that´s why she was only there for 5 weeks! 

She has an amazingly positive attitude and helps me remember why I love being here in the mission :) It's also been a huge blessing because for some reason until I recieved her and have this opportunity to help her get accustomed to missionary life and the Argentine culture, I´ve realized how much Spanish I really can speak and how I am so used to Argentina I´ve stopped noticing how different it is (haha yeah, that´s why my facts about Argentina have gone way downhill cuz I can´t remember things that you all would think were wierd because Í´m USED to them now!) So that´s been kinda crazy and a real blessing to help me see how much I´ve grown in this short period of time (also crazy to think I´ve been away for 7 months now. . .huh??) 

We had the trio thing going on until this morning when Hna Harris finally headed to the mission office to head home. That was a sureal experience to be apart of someone leaving the mission to go home, while I don´t think I´ll be the sameway she was, I know that this time of my life, this people, and this work I get to be a part of right now is a once in a life time experience that I can´t ever take for granted. So, I´m going to so do all I can to make the most of EVERY minute I have here :) I´m pretty nervous about the fact that I´m training. . .the truth is, my other two companions wanted to help me ease into teaching, but I guess I like never really eased in, I asked questions and bore my testimony a lot while they did most of the teaching, so it might be a rough ride in the begining for us and our investigators as I figure out how to teach and lead a lesson. . .I´m trying to stay as confident as possible for my little hija (which actually she´s like 5'9 so she´s a lot taller than me haha) cuz it would be more stressful for her if I didn´t seem like I knew what I was doing, so I´m going to act my heart out (thanks Ms. Mann for the help in this deptartment!) haha so yeah, I look forward to letting you know how next week goes! It was interesting having 5 girls in our tiny little apartment haha but luckily we´re gonna get back adjusted to not being SO ridiculously crowded ALL the time. 

Nothing too crazy happened this week. . .I could fill you in on some of the people we´re teaching! I´m not sure if I told you all about one girl who is 20 and has 2 kids and was Envangelist but hasn´t been to church in a long time. She´s funny cuz she thinks she already knows everything, which she knows a TON and has a crazy amount of Faith, but it makes it kinda hard to talk to her cuz she always wants to talk over me and I´m not sure how to stand my ground in that sense against a native speaker, so I´ll have to figure that out haha We´re gonna try to get her to church this week, and as soon as we can get her to church I think she´ll start progressing a little quicker :) We´re also teaching one of the nieghbors/friends of Mariela and Rocio, his name is Marcelo and he accepted a baptism date in our first visit! So I´m really excited to be able to teach him with the amazing help of Mariela and Rocio :) 

Um, those are our two most consistent and right now, we also had an amazing lesson list night with a woman named Alisia who had listened to the missionaries before but hasn´t ever been able to come to church cuz she has some fears of places with a lot of people, so we´re gonna work with her to overcome that! I´m so excited to get to working with Hermana Boyce, we are going to help so many people and have some fun doing it :) 

I love you all so much! Oh, side note, if for Christmas you could save any money you were thinking about using for sending me things and packages just leave it as money and put it in my account so I can buy things here in Argentina that would be AWESOME! I would just love a hand written letter from as many people as are able to write me :) I can´t believe Christmas is just around the corner!!! CRAZY!!! 

Ok, I LOVE YOU ALL SO

MUCH!! Have an amazing week :) 

xoxoxoxo 

Larissa

What a week!!

I find myself writting and thinking that phrase a lot more than ever before in my life. What a day. What a lesson. What a week. What a testimony. But yeah. . .this week truly has been THE what a week of my mission so far. I felt every emotion and experienced some of the funnest of times and lowest of times. But yeah haha I guess I got a new week ahead of me so I´m gonna do all I can to just put my Faith in my Heavenly Father and Savior to get me through this one. I don´t have p-day today cuz we are having transfers on Wednesday - normally they are on Sunday-Monday so that we don´t take time out of working to travel and things, but they let us write today.) so it's going to be a really weird week for me.

I also recieved a call from Hermana Vincent that she is going home cuz she broke her back. she can still walk, which is apparently a MIRACLE! She just had a little pain in her back (so she says) and then she went to the doctor and her column was literally broken. So please pray for her! 

Other random things from the week, I saved the life of a puppy! We were eating lunch at a members house and they had this cute little 2 week old puppies out in therçir back yard and I for some reason was watching one that had kinda started to drift away and I turned back to say something and then when I looked back out at the puppy it had fallin into this hole of muddy water face first and was flayling trying to get out, frantically trying to translate in my head how to say this I stood up and pointed and don´t really remember what I said but the family turned and were like "Oh yeah, we have puppies, cute huh" and I was like "NO UNO ESTA EN UN POSO Y CREO QUE ESTA MURIENDO!" haha you no me and animals, I was desperate so I kinda yelled haha but that got there attention and they ran out and got it out like just in time, the poor thing. . .but they told me they are gonna name it Conger haha so that was nuts. 

Also, the other Hermanas are super into cooking, and the other night they were making Dinner and apparently one of them forgot what they were doing because she poured water into hot oil and WOW. I have never seen such a big flame in the house in my life. I literally thought the house was gonna burn down with all of us inside. But the brave Hermana Harris ran over and grabbed the pan and took it off the flame and in two seconds the flame fell. And apparently it´s amazing she didn´t get some type of burn. . .but she definitely saved the day, yup, she´s the Batman of the house :) 

Also, the mosquitos here are AWFUL! I thought Florida was bad haha but it was NOTHING like here. BUt, I believe I´m protecting myself better here haha alright, that´s all I have time for. I know for me this week it´s going to be a lot about being will to trust in my Heavenly Father and Savior to get me through it and to help me find answers to my questions that I have. So I´m going to be really concentrated in doing that, prayers would be great and you can be positive I´m always sending my prayers and love your way. 

I love you all so much and I love my Savior and am so grateful for this gospel that gives us the answers we need to have peace in this life <3 Have a great week ok?! I´m gonna do my best to do so :) 

LOVE YOU!!! 

Your Larissa

De White A es la Hermana Conger!

Yup. We're White A now :) Two other Hermanas came to the area on Friday and it´s been a party ever since haha I have to tell stories and talk about random stuff in espanol now so that is helping the language a TON! Hermana´s Alvarez y Carpio are from Peru and they are some pretty great cooks (not quite as good as my mom of course ;) haha but it´s been good! Our apartment is tiny and our area is tiny, so it´s been interesting working all of that out. They had to come to our area because they´re old one was dangerous and also there are MORE missionaries coming out then leaving, wihich hasn´t happened here in Argentina for a REALLY long time so that´s pretty darn cool. BUt now that I mention that, I´m still here on a tourist Visa, so that might complicate things if we have a bunch of tourists cuz they ask for our identification sometimes in stores, but it´ll be ok! haha

This is gonna be kinda short but just a few other updates. . .

I cut my bangs back last monday haha I was sitting writting a letter to Aaron and the thought crossed my mind (normally when it does I´m in the street or laying in bed so I don´t do anything about it, but I just got up and cut them :) and I LOVE it haha it was funny cuz I id it while my companion was sleeping so she was WAY confused when she woke up haha so great :) Also, futbol (soccer haha) season is in FULL SWING around here, big timers and the little White games, and they shoot off this HUGE cannon whenever there is a goal haha I´ve been at doors talking to people and I jump so high when that thing goes off haha it´s really funny. It´s wierd though, whenever we walk by I feel like I could just walk in and I´d be watching Kix and Ace or SVU playing haha I guess I didn´t really realize how terribly much I miss supporting MY teams <3

Random story of the week: I´m not sure if I´ve mentioned, but when we have to go to Bahia for meetings of Conferences, we take a Collectivo (a big bus haha) and when we were coming back from Stake Conerence yesterday, me and Hermanan Harris were sitting in the back and the driver curbchecked hard core and I went FLYING in the air and fell on this poor man sitting next to me haha I just smiled and laughed cuz I felt so silly and embarassed, but then an old man carrying flowers got up to get off the bus and he handed me one of the flowers and said something like "To make everything ok again" it was the sweetest thing and TOTALLY made my day :) People really can be so sweet around here :)

Welp. That´s my time up I guess! I love you all so much! Mom, if you could get me a copy of the General Conference talks in English that would be the best :) haha

Have a great week everyone, I know I´m going too :) 
Your Larissa

Down for the Count

This is a duel meaning title haha For starters. . .ROCIO went down in the water on Saturday!! :) Oh man that was so awesome. She is just amazing and is going to be SUCH an amazing example for her family. I can´t wait to see what the future brings for her <3 She had a bunch of family at her Baptism, including her Sister Magalee who I´ve always loved. She is an English teacher, so if I don´t understand something it´s So nice to have her there because she can just explain it to me in English haha but it was so cool to see her there supporting Rocio. Who knows, maybe one day she´ll listen to the missionaries!

Haha meaning number 2 - My "cold" turned into full on fevers, headaches, and 4 rolls of toilet paper for this waterfall of a nose I have haha I was stuck in bed Wednesday, Friday and most of Saturday :/ I still feel pretty gross, but it is what it is and I definitely think I´m on the uphill climb haha (I didn´t make it even past a year like my Superman. Failure haha) My immune system is like that though I think. . .if it´s gonna give in, it´s down for the count haha came up with that while I was trying to muster the engery to shower this morning haha it´s the darn weather down here! It´s beautiful one day and then the next day it´s freezing cold and pouring rain, so my body gets all sorts of confused. But, I got this Argentina medicine that´s working on sweating it all out of me, which is really gross I know haha but I think it´s working! So yeah! Don´t worry about me but prayers are VERY much appreciated :)

Being so sick, I got a TON of sleep, but I also did some reading of the Ensign of past conferences and I got so excited for Conference. I´m really excited too because our Zone has decided to do this Purification fast, I think Aaron mentioned this to me once that one of our friends from SVU did it on his mission, but we start with a fast from food and ask Heavenly Father to help us determine a list of 10 or however many things our natural man is holding on too that is keeping us from having the Spirit as our constant companion. Then, we make a covenant with the Lord that we will do all within our power and with His help want to fast from the things on the List for 40 days. Everyday, start by telling Heavenly Father what you want to do, and then end telling him how the day went. Eventually as the 40 days come to a close, we should be able to see that the Spirit is with us and those natural man desires have disappeared. 

Click to watch this devotional address

I also read His Grace is Sufficient by Brad Wilcox :) Read it if you can! It´s an amazing talk. But I´m really excited to start my fast and see where it takes me by the begining of November :) It should be neat!

Well, that´s all for this week!!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Keep up the good work :)

xoxoxo Larissa