¡FELIZ AÑO NUEVO EVERYONE!

This week, I felt like I spent more time in Posadas than in my actual area... between zone conference, district meeting, p-day last, and nuevo año, we actually spent very little time in Ituzaingó.

Monday past was P-day, and because Hermana Araya siempre le gusta ir, fuimos a Posadas. It was relatively tranquil, but we spent most of the day chasing Hermana Loria, one of the other Hermanas in our district, around Posadas because she had to go to the doctor because of something with ther foot, and to the other doctor, and to the x-ray people, and then to the Farmacia... We got to see alot of Posadas, though.

We stayed the night in Posadas because we were going to Zone Conference bright and early. Zone Conference was amazing. It was so awesome to hear from Presidente and los Asistentes. We got tons of really good training, and Presidente taught us an awesome doctrine from John 8, and how its “a day in the life of a missionary” and began to pick apart the chapter verse by verse and word by word within those verses and how it applies to us as missionaries. Starting with “and Jesus went up to the mount of olives” and it continued from there. It was really cool.

We accidentally missed our collectivo para viajar a Ituzaingó so we did “divisons” with Hermana Loria and Hermana Galbraith so Hermana Loria could rest her foot, which by this time, was painful for her to walk. I stayed to take care of her and Hermana Araya went to algunas citas con Hermana Galbraith.

We finally get to our area after reunión de districto the following morning, and we return to disaster because Presidente Mohor, the Branch president told Débora Cabrera, our 13 year old investigator, that she wasn´t getting baptized because he did not think she is ready (he does not have the right nor the authority to say that... but another rant for another time) and wasn´t going to girls camp because she was not a member, and only members can go (thats not true either...)

So we spent the afternoon trying to repair the damage, restore her baptism for this Saturday, and make everything ready for her... after tons of work and anxiety, We have got all the proper signatures for both her baptism and girls camp and she is happily enjoying the campamento now.

We are really happy that she went to girls camp, because in the mission, we have a program to protect those who have a fecha bautismal coming up, were we do all possible to minimize the influence of Satan, which includes but is not limited to, daily visits and calls from us and from the members. Its called “Protección Total.”

Even though we can´t contact her at girls camp, its really the best form of “Protección Total” because she will be with members and surrounded by a spiritual environment 24/7 in the week leading up to her baptism. Its really a fantastic blessing.

Saturday we decided to ditch all of our plans and go again to Posadas, this time with Débora, so she could witness a baptism that Hermana Galbraith and Hermana Loria had in their area... It was a really beautiful and awesome way to prepare her for her baptism, but we stayed a little too late, and had to take a really expensive remis back to Ituzaingó. It was caro, pero no tanto if I thought about it in American Dollars, and remembered the face of Débora when she got to witness the baptism.

To backtrack a little, we spent New Years Eve in (suprise suprise) POSADAS! And all the zone gathered for a cena and we exchanged gifts secret-santa wise. It was a little awkward because there are 8 Elders and 8 Hermanas and somebody (ni idea quien) had the bright idea to give all the Hermanas the names of Elders and the Elders the names of Hermanas. I had no idea what to get... I gave Elder Lehite a wallet... rather boring, but there you go... And Elder Arestegui, one of the Zone Leaders gave me a Damas game... its a really crazy variation on checkers... I really like it but its a little more difficult, because the queen has significantly more power. Its kind of hard to explain in an email...

Anyway, long story short, after a little bit of craziness, everything is fine and happy here in Ituzaingó, just in time for the start of the new year.

All my love, and I am waiting for your letters and emails still.
Hermana Sarah Tritsch