¡Hola familia y amigos!

Anxiously I write today before I find out tomorrow if I stay or go for the next transfer… I cannot believe that I have made it this far! One transfer down, many to go, but it seems like only yesterday I stepped into the MTC and into a life that for a year and a half is not my own. Time goes by so fast and God has blessed me with an amazing companion that I hope will be an eternal friend forever.

I am indebted to her (for more than just the locro) and I know that I will be a better missionary because I knew her… I just hope God will bless me with more time to learn from her and keep us together for at least one more transfer… I guess I will find out tomorrow.

Cada día, I find more and more miracles, like the last person in the world you would think, comes to church, actively reads the Book of Mormon and the change that follows.

Miracle#1

We are teaching a 19 year old boy named Mauricio after English Classes. We try to keep English Classes as non-religious as possible to help the students feel comfortable in the capilla and not feel pressured in joining the church, but one day, Mauricio was lingering after class and talking to Hermano Godoy, our Branch Mission Leader, and we finally had the courage to give him a Book of Mormon.

He said that he had been doing a lot of research on his own but he had a lot of questions. So we taught him the first discussion then and there, and presented him with a Book of Mormon.

The next week, he came with a laundry list of questions about the Book of Mormon because he had read the introduction, the testimonies, and the first 15 chapters of 1st Nephi. We answered his questions, and then invited him to come to General Conference to hear the words of modern-day prophets, which he accepted.

The following Sunday was Stake Conference… in Posadas, an hour and a half away. And who were we pleased to see walking up to the comvee? MAURICIO! It was a miracle. La Familia Fortunato had invited him to stake conference and he accepted the invitation! Luz Fortunato, one of the two daughters, made herself his guide throughout the whole day and it was amazing to see what happens when members take an active role in the missionary work.

Miracle #2:

Nora and Oscar, our new converts were not going to come to stake conference, because their 15 year old daughter was not going to go to stake conference, and Nora did not want to leave her while she and Oscar went to Posadas.

So we prayed and worked with Marianna to convince her to go. All almost seemed lost when she went to a quince the night before and would not be back until 3 in the morning, but she said she would and we prayed that she would keep her word.

Then we showed up for the comvee to take us to Posadas, and there she was, tired, but smiling, and Nora could not have a bigger smile on her face if she tried.

Miracle #3

We continue to work with José, and we are still working toward a 26th Baptismal date. But it was almost not that way… Investigators are asked to come to church 3 times before they are baptized, and Stake Conference was going to be #3 for José. Then he got called to the campo to work, and would not be able to make it to Stake Conference.

José knew what that meant, that he could not be baptized without that third time, and it made him very sad. Then Elder Lehite, our district leader, knowing the whole story with José, called Presidente Del Castillo and told him the whole story. Presidente gave us permission to schedule that day regardless, and we get to tell him the good news today.

He still has a hard time remembering at times, so we are trying to be as simple as possible. Trying to teach simply yet quickly is hard, but we pray for him to understand and remember with every prayer we give, so he can be ready for that date.

When miracles like this happen, there really is only one thing to say, “YES I KNOW HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES ME!”

Happiness and Love to all who need it,
-Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Hey everyone!!

I have come to the realization that nothing in Argentina should surprise me anymore... Hermana Schmutz and I have a saying when we see something that seems out of the ordinary for us... "yep... That's normal!!" Here is a Top Ten favorites list:

10. Four year old girl buying cigarettes for mom
9. Citizens required to vote or go to jail
8. Offering candy instead of change for money
7. Gaucho pants
6. Every old man without shirts, and some old women
5. Woman breastfeeding in public without blanket to cover her
4. Five people riding a moto (scooter or motorcycle) at the same time
3. Chinese market without soy sauce
2. Little Kids carrying machetes

and number one is:

1. meat market that use power tools to cut the meat, and don't have gloves, bags, surface sanitizer, or anything. Good thing we cook it really good...

But life is good in this cute little town of Ituzaingó we have lots of fixed appointments, and our goal to work more with members produces more fruit every day. We have two Family Home Evenings planned for this evening, and we work to find new investigators every day.

I got a really cool story too... One time we were contacting in the streets in the center of town and we talked to this woman who said her name was Itati, and that we were welcome to come visit her after 7:00 in a really shady area of town called G2 (He-dos). So we had been trying to visit her at the time she asked, but it always seemed to fall through, and the members always got scared when we said we were going to go there at night. So one day, about three days ago, we had an impression to go to G2 in the morning instead, and we stopped to chat with her regardless that the time was different.

So we knocked on the door, and a man answered the door and we asked for Itati. But the Itati that was there, was not the Itati we talked to on the street. She was actually a woman named Maria Itati, and had been homebound because of a surgery for the past few weeks. She invited us in regardless, and we taught her and her husband a really great lesson about the importance of families and prophets, and they seemed sooo interested. They said yes to our baptismal challenge once she had healed, and asked us to visit again the following week when he would be home again.

It was really a miracle because we got two new investigators from a woman who gave us incorrect information. Its just fantastic how God looks out for us when we listen to promptings of the holy Ghost.

We had a really great week with our goals, and even beat our district leaders this past week with number of lessons taught with member, and number of new investigators. Our next goal is to beat them in lessons taught in general... WISH US LUCK!

I am kind of nervous for our transfer The end of this transfer ends on the 24th of this month, and I can´t believe that I have been here that long already... I hope that our mission president decides to keep us together for at least a little while longer. I do not feel ready to have her leave me here or me go to another area just yet.

But I know that I am meant to be here for a reason, and that going on a mission is the best decision I ever made (aside from being baptized myself) for my future family.

Happiness and Health to all,
Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Hey Everyone!!! Lots to say and not a lot of time to say it. So here goes…

My Castellano improves daily, although I am still having a little trouble understanding people when they talk… Argentinians talk really fast… Although the people in Ituzaingó are really laid back about everything, and they are really patient with me… or they tease me about my mad language skills. Hermana Schmutz says I speak remarkably well for just being here for three weeks, and she jokes that I am actually training her, not the other way around, although I always beg to differ. I can hear the “vos” (the Argentinian form of tú) when people talk now, so I know for sure that I am improving.

In the midst of all the craziness of Argentina, I got my first baptism this weekend and I am tan contenta…. SO HAPPY! The baptism of Nora and Oscar Triay was sooo sweet. The spirit was really strong and there was so many people there! Three of our investigators came to witness the baptism, and I know for a fact they felt the spirit… even though they had to redo the baptisms. They first baptized them with the wrong hand, making both of them have to get into the font again… Nora joked later that means that she is ¨super-clean.” (aww… Mi Vida!) They fit very nicely into our kooky little rama and I am so happy they got baptized. I have no doubt that they will flourish as new members of Christ´s Church.

On Sunday, they received their confirmation, on Hermana Schmutz´s birthday, and she thought it was so awesome that the only birthday she had on a mission, God gave her a baptism and a confirmation. Hermana Mohor, the Branch President´s wife made her one of the sweetest cakes I have ever tasted in my life. She loves us sooo much and likes to call herself our “máma misionera.”

On another note, we are the only missionaries in Ituzaingó, but everyone knows who we are… Hermana Schmutz can walk down the street and tell everyone whom she has contacted/taught and what there stories are… there must be thousands of copies of the Book of Mormon floating around Ituzaingó. The closest missionaries to us are in Posadas, Misiones, where the stake center is. But everyone is way friendly with us… and always offers us the maté cup, which is a sign of friendship… although, as missionaries we can´t drink it. But it is always a good sign when someone offers us some.

We can´t drink maté because they drink it in a communal cup with a communal straw, and when people drink mate, they intend to sit around and talk for hours, which is contrary to our purpose. But the members drink it. The General authorities came out and said it was not against the Word of Wisdom.

Speaking of food and drink, new adventures in the world of food this week… I ate locro, the meat of the cow that comes from the cheek… or… I TRIED to eat locro… Hermana Sena, a woman in our ward who grew up in the campo, made it for us for almuerzo, and it was so disgusting my throat refused to swallow. The sad thing was that Hermana Sena saw that Hermana Schmutz was succeeding at choking it down quickly and assumed that she liked it, and offered my disgusting half to her… POBRECITA! It gave her really bad somach pains, and I told her that I owe her a life debt.

Then the next day, with familia Rodriguez, I kid you not, I ate an R.O.U.S. Its called a carpincho… and while I was able to swallow the carpincho, It was still very weird tasting. If I have to conquer Mondongo (cow stomach, a common delicacy here) in the next little bit, I am not sure what my poor digestive system will do.

There are two distinct flavors of food here. Argentinian Campo food, and Argentinian European food. I LOVE the Argentinian European food, and I am still getting used to the Campo food. But either way they put massive amounts of salt and mayonesa (mayonnaise) on everything… and I do not think I will see Yellow Mustard for the next 15 months.

They cook everything with their hands, and there really isn´t anything like a recipe here. Por ejemplo, on rainy days the food of choice is fried bread called torta frita, and if you ask someone how to make it, and another person is around to hear it, they will get into a little tiff because everyone has a different way and it can be a source of contention, if you let it. The only thing people can agree on is that you are to use your hands to mix it.

But I really love it here, regardless. Our small little rama of forty is so crazy and kooky and they love and support us very much. In fact, because the church in this town is very young, they look to us for advice and help more than the Branch President at times. We have a beautiful little chapel, that was built when the dam (represa) was under construction and there were more members here, but now that the represa is built, everyone went back to Buenos Aires, so we have 40-60 active members in a capilla (chapel) built for 250.

But people here are proud of our rama and capilla, and their membership in the church. The truly converted proclaim their membership everywhere and are very helpful with missionary work. Yes, there are many inactive members, but there really isn´t anything in between. Either you are, and you REALLY are or you are not and you are REALLY not.

But God blesses us with little miracles everyday, and everyday I am at awe at everything I get to see and do here. It really is quite amazing.

I love you all and I pray for you every day, Hermana Sarah Tritsch

In Argentina… everything works backwards. Everything works differently and everything sounds differently… from the sidewalks not being on the side of the street but instead on the island in the middle, to the fact that centavos are in short supply and no one can give you exact change for anything.

Also, nature works differently… from owls that sound like wolves and frogs that sound like dying cats, I often find myself in a place that it seems logic forgot. But I am slowly getting accustomed to this strange place, a place where often times I feel that surely I am in some sort of dream… that surely I am going to wake up and be back at Utah State and away from this dusty place that was so far out of my frame of reference, not even 6 months ago.

This is an odd sort of the place where the north star doesn´t exist and I can never quite figure out which direction I am going.

But gladly I have a companion that knows what to do and where we are headed, and I feel grateful to work with someone who I feel as long as I stick with her that I will be okay.

I slowly understand more and more Castellano as the days progress, and I am sure that soon I will look back on these silly posts and laugh at the time where I could not say anything… at least that is what Hermana Schmutz says.
But regardless, one thing remains the same… and that is our message to the world… that Christ lives and we are children of God that can return to him as a perfect, glorified person.

Hermana Schmutz and I are getting to experience some of that. The 5th, this Saturday, marks the baptism of two of our investigators, Nora and Oscar Triay, and we can´t hardly contain our excitement. We know that they are going to benefit greatly from being baptized and our little Rama (branch) here in Ituzaingó will benefit greatly from having them as part of their congregation.

Monica Mendez continues to dig a niche for herself in her new calling as first counselor in the Young Women´s program… I never saw a ward jump on a new member so fast and give her such a weighty calling not a month after her baptism… but that is the way it works here… They figure if you are attending and worthy, then they can give you a calling… The Young Mens president is 19 years old and mission bound… and no one has any clue what they are going to do when he finally leaves on the mission.

We continue to struggle to find new investigators because we set up appointments with people we find on the street, and no one seems to be bothered with keeping their appointments. But we pray and work hard and know that God is on our side.

Hope everything is faring relatively well in the states… remember to email me. I miss you all dearly.

-Hermana Sarah Tritsch

PS – My Preparation day is now on Mondays, so if you want to email me, do it before Mondays so I can receive it quickly.

I have gotten a request for more information about Ituzaingó, so here is an entire blog dedicated to it.

Ituzaingó is a character in and of itself. There is a very clear separation of classes here... There are very nice, solid brick houses with fancy european cars in the front... and also abject poverty -- people living in wooden shacks you think would fall over if you huffed and a-puffed hard enough. But everyone (at least as much as I know with the castellano I know) seems very friendly and I feel very safe here. When we teach in the street, people listen to us... at least for a few minutes, and we are able to get in at least a small lesson in before they politely decline.

Everyone is very chill here... they work and go to school in the mornings and then take siesta -- a culture-mandated nap from about 1 in the afternoon to about 4 or 5, and the town practically shuts down. Argentinians here most spend summer nights on the patio drinking cold maté and enjoying the warm summer air.

The city is not so big, and President Del Castillo has an aversion to bicycles, and so we walk... everywhere! and we get to stop and talk with the craziest kinds of people I have ever met.

Most people here say they are catholic, but many really don´t attend church or have a knowledge of the gospel, leaving many open-minded to the idea, but many don´t wish to change because of their heritage in the Catholic church.

I am growing to love the culture and the people we are teaching, and I know that the people here crave the gospel... even though they do not know it yet.

-Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Hey Everyone!!!

Here I am writing from a cyber in Ituzaingó, tired but happy.

I am pleased to report that the air temperature continues to make a steady climb upward, pushing everyone from inside their homes to their patios -- making contacting infinitely easier since they can´t pretend they are not there if they are outside. We have a goal this week to get 60 "other lessons" this week and 20 "bautism challenges" this week and we are well on our way to completing both of our goals. These numbers are the "numbers of excellence" for our area, and we are working hard to achieve them.

With the summer, Ituzaingó becomes a prime tourist spot for Argentinians because of the pretty beaches here, and for us, that means TONS of people to teach. Everyone flocks here during the summer like Americans flock to Florida or LA. Hermana Schmutz and I are anxious for everyone to get here.



We have a baptismal date with Nora y Oscar!! my first ones in the mission field. Hermana Schmutz and I are so exited because a miracle happened to let them be baptized. Nora has been smoking most of her adult life, and through much fasting and prayer on the part of us and many of the members of our little rama (branch), quit last week, and has not had or bought a cigarrette since! because of her dedication to the word of wisdom, she and her husband Oscar will be baptized on the 5th of Septiembre.

Hermana Didie, a member of the church and teacher at the local school, has even noticed big changes in their daughter Mariana, even though she, herself is not taking our lessons. I know that the gospel will cause many good things in that family, and I hope I can stay longer to witness the changes.

We are so happy for the family, and we know that they will be a good addition to the ward, and will work hard to eventually become a forever family by becoming sealed in the temple.

We are trying extra hard to find new investigators -- which is hard because the missionaries have taught most of the city, and the ones they haven´t taught are only transient. But we work hard, and I know God will bless our efforts with new investigators.

-Hermana Sarah Tritsch

PS I don't know why I cant email anyone besides family... Its just one of those mission rules, I don't want to say that I broke. So I receive emails from everyone, and slow mail back... Its only about 6 or 7 pesos to mail back to the states, so its not too bad by way of postage.

Hey all! Here goes nothing for my first blog entry from the dusty streets of Argentina!

I am here in Argentina and everything is exiting and different, but I love it so much!!!! My Spanish improves exponentially, and have done much work in the language. My trainer, Hermana Celia Schmutz is fantastic and says my spanish is wonderful! I am so happy because she smiles all the time, and it leaves no room for feeling sad or sorry for myself.

Our area is this tiny little town called Ituzaingó (eh-too-zayn-goh) on the Rio Uruguay in the North Eastern part of Corrientes province. If you can´t see it on your maps, its very close to Posadas -- about an hour and a half drive away.

Its very quiet and the people here are very relaxed and chill with everything. Its not a very affluent area, but the streets are relatively clean and the crime is next to nothing. Most people live in little shacks, that don´t look like much from the outside, but they keep the inside nice and well-kept.

Noone has carpets -- or shower curtains -- but everyone is very humble and relatively easy to teach.

My mission president, President Del Castillo gave us all a really big desafio (challenge) for the month of August. If we, as a mission will double the amount of baptisms we have had in the same month last year, he would take us all to Iguacú Falls as a treat. Its hard, because the goal for the month of August is 96 baptisms for the whole mission. That breaks down to two baptisms per companionship.

Our area already has one for this month, and we are hoping to gain one more by the end of August.

We are currently teaching a woman named Noemi, who is very interested in the gospel and wants to get baptized, but she needs to marry her marito (or boyfriend who lives with her), and it causes anxiety in her family, because he does not understand her desire to be baptized. So we continue to work with her, and encourage her to keep working toward her goal to baptism. Hopefully we can help her get things resolved and have a baptism date by the end of September.

We are giving another couple a desafio (challenge) for baptism today. We are hoping that Nora and Oscar, an older couple, will set a baptism date by the end of the Month!!!

We are also keeping tabs on a very recent convert named Monica. Monica was baptized less than a week before I got here, and seems to be striving in her new environment as a member. They even called her to be a counselor in the Young Womens presidency already!!!

Its so exiting to witness the blessings that new converts get from becoming members of Christ´s church! And I am glad I could be part of it.

On another note, we went to Posadas yesterday for Zone Conference, and was able to hear from Elder Claudio Zivic of the seventy! Even though I could barely understand him, the spirit was strong, and Hermana Schmutz was kind enough to interpret for me the gist of what was going on. I saw two elders there from my MTC district, and was able to meet many of the other elders and sisters in the surrounding area. I am so grateful for the chance to go, even though it was hard for me to understand much of it.

But now we are back in Ituzaingó and ready for action (after a well-deserved P-Day)

I love you very much and thank you so much for your letters.

-Hermana Tritsch

PS The food here is actually really good! It tastes like a mix between Brazilian Food and Italian Food. I love the food, but then again, I havent had to eat anything weird ... yet.

PSS I can receive your emails, but I have been informed that I can only write emails to my Mom and Dad, so I will write slow mail back, but I WILL WRITE!