Querida Familia y Amigos,

Blog number 50.... I can hardly believe it.... its quite an achievement really.... when I get to 52, Its going to be a year for me.... kind of scare me a little.

This past week was one for the record books... Went by really fast and really slow at the same time... my mini is una capa... She has a strong testimony of the blessings that come from the gospel that really touch our investigators... she gets really nervous to speak, but when she gets to it, its like someone gave her 17 months in mission. She is learning fast and we get along great... I wouldn´t ind it at all if she stayed with me a little longer... but she won´t... she has to return to her home and finish studying... she is in quinto grado... which equates to a senior in high school, so she has got to finish.

But it is a whole ´nother game when your companion is a mini... when other full time missionaries, nuevos aun, come, at least they know the lessons and a basic idea of what we teach, but Hermana Stein did not come with any of that... Just with a testimony and a desire to serve... She has taught me that is really all you need to be a missionary. Mientras, estoy enseñando ella todos... She just barely got baptized... has less time as a member than I have as a missionary, and I have to teach her like we teach our investigators. But I am learning a ton about how to simplify my teaching so noone gets lost, especially my companion...

We taught the Plan of Salvation for the first time together with Celina and it was awesome... my mini´s testimony was the key of everything... and I know that when she serves a mission of her own that she will be a very powerful servant of the Lord.

This week wasn´t the best week I ever had, because it was mainly looking for the investigators that Hermana Loria and I had to leave behind because she was sick... we found many and found some new families too. She works hard and loves being here, which really makes all of the difference.

I am grateful that Heavenly Father gave me the oppurtunity to learn from her.

P. S. Pictures below of me and Sister Stein, Sister Lauria, some of the Elders in our area and a few surprises.

-Hermana Tritsch

Hey Friends and Family!!!

My companion, Hermana Loria, as some of you may know, some don´t, has been battling a severe case of Fibromyalgia (very severe muscle pain all over the body), and in this past week, it really got the best of her... spent a week in the Pension and expensive taxi rides back and forth from the hospital (because the motion of the public buses made it worse) and little to no real missionary work... This would be the bulk of my blog this week, but yesterday in the night time, the Zone Leaders informed us that Hermana Loria would go to Resistencia to recieve the health treatment she needed (and possibly her house after) and a mini missionary would come with me...

This rather recent turn of events came as a half-suprise for me... I felt that she was going to go, but we were not expecting it so soon... we have interviews with Presidente later this week, and the both of us were not expecting anything to happen until after the interviews... so today has been quite a rush... to say the least. I did not sleep much last night (Hermana Loria tampoco), for helping my companion get ready for her trip, and now I am quite tired and have to find some way to train my new companion.

Hermana Adriana Stein seems to be really cool... she comes from Garupa, Misiones... not far from Posadas. Like the difference between Las Vegas and Henderson... I have only known her for a few hours but I can tell that we are going to get along alright... She recently converted to the church like 9 months ago, so really she has alot of courage to go on a mini mission... I don´t think I could do it if I were her... she has a desire to go on a full time mission too, but later, because she is only 18 years old... what courage, huh?

She has alot of desire to learn and I hope that she will be a good teacher too... if its only for algunas semanas. I am kind of nervous at the prospect of being her companion, because it means a ton of responsibility, but I hope I can rise to the challenge. I know that Heavenly Father is watching out for me, so I know that everything will be okay... no matter what happens.

Anyway, wish me luck!! even if its only for a few weeks.

Love, Hermana Tritsch

This week flew by like it was nothing… The days are long but the weeks are very, very short. It’s hard to believe that I am even writing again.

This past week was ZONE CONFERENCE!!! I really love zone conference… its one of the only times in our mission that we stop teaching and have an opportunity to learn. It’s really awesome to hear from our mission president and the assistants because our mission is so big, that its one of the only times that we get to see them.
This time the focus (although it is always on baptisms) was primarily on how to help people get to the chapel and to make sure that they enjoy themselves and feel the spirit when they get there… They taught us many tricks of the trade, helpful hints and a ton of clues to put power behind our commitments to attend church. The goal is 300 investigators in the chapel every week (for the whole mission) and that means 4 investigators attending church for each area.

We really felt that this zone conference was meant for us, because with the baptism of Jorge Alvarenga, we do not have any progressing investigators that have attended the chapel, so that has been our focus as well, and as a result, many people had promised us that they would attend church this Sunday.
Lamentably, no one who had promised us came, but I guess it’s a process and not an immediate thing… We are going to continue working at it, and hopefully we will have more success this Sunday.
We did have a really awesome contacting experience… We were contacting an apartment building and we were talking with a woman named Gladys and the contact was awesome, and we taught the first discussion and then we were about to give her a Book of Mormon, but I only had one, and we felt, that despite it all, we should not give her a Book of Mormon just yet, and we gave her a pamphlet about it instead.

Then, after we continued tracting, and we went to a house, and a woman, named Celina, answered and let us in very quickly (shouting at her aged mother who was watching the partido, that the chicas were from the “church” and wanted to talk about God.) So she lets us in and we begin to teach her and its like the golden contact that you only read in the Ensign… She is totally committed and attentive in the whole lesson and when we teach her about Joseph Smith, she totally relates to his confusion about religion, you would think that she was Joseph Smith´s best friend, and when we relate the first vision, she gasps in amazement. I have never EVER had anyone gasp in amazement (vocally at least) during the first vision. She totally accepts our baptismal challenge, and we are so exited to teach her again.

Now that I am thinking about it, I remember that I felt very much guided by the Spirit, like we were a car and that someone else was driving… the spirit was so strong, and the lesson went so well, we could not deny that it was one of our best lessons ever. And then we realized that the Book of Mormon we had was not meant for Gladys, but for Celina, and the spirit was guiding us long before we even started the lesson.

Its pretty awesome how the spirit works in mysterious ways, but it always turns out better in the end.
-Hermana Tritsch

Hey Everyone!!!

Sorry if this one is a little short, but I am a little short on time this week. I love you all and thank you for all the little cards and pictures that came from the primary.... Really touching, and it was awesome to see your bright faces in the photo you sent me... I have it glued in my journal to help me remember all of my little friends.

The rain continues... it stopped for awhile, long enough to get some laundry hung and dried, but it decided to start up again... When there´s rain... there is no missionary work.... well there IS but noone lets us in, and some people are so afraid of the rain that they do not even dare open the door to reject us. But we continue anyway.

This week went by faster than lightning... I can hardly believe that P-day is here again. I feel like time is quickly slipping through my fingers, and all I can do is let it... on the 10th of May I will hit my 11 month mark (EEK), and I hardly feel worthy to meet it, but this week, we were able to see more fruit of la obra misional.

This past Saturday, however, Jorge Alvarenga, the son of Graciela and daughter of Diana, both members got baptized this week. He is super awesome... I am so exited to see him progress... The lessons got off to a rocky start, but once they started, he was one of the most golden investigators that I have met in my mission... we found out by the second lesson that he was already keeping the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity even before we had a chance to teach him about it. Kinda cool, huh?

And it was one of the most awesome baptisms that I have ever experienced. The spirit was so strong, and he was surrounded by all of his best friends, which are all members. I know that he is going to do great things for his family and for the church... I would not be suprised when I am old and grey, hearing his name called to be a seventy or something in general conference.

I know that God has great plans for him and his family... And now Hermana Graciela has Sacerdocio in her house, which is one of the greatest things that God has given her in a very long time. Now we have to work with her husband who has a story and a history with the missionaries longer than all the blogs in the world, but we are working to make this family a happy functioning eternal family, one way or another.

We are kind of worried right now, because no investigators attended sacrament meeting, and we do not have anyone who has a baptismal date scheduled, and President del Castillo does not like that... We are supposed to have 6 people attend sacrament meeting and 6 who have baptismal dates each week, and now we have none...

They really can´t argue with us, we have had 4 baptisms in 2 months, making us the higest baptizing area in the mission, We have a few new people that we have recently found, but noone concrete as of yet. So we are fasting and praying that we can find more people who are willing to attend church and are prepared to jump in the water.

Well, I love you all, and I am counting down the days when I can see all of you again.

All my Love,
Hermana Tritsch

Hey Everyone!!!
Despite all the worry and trouble, I still serve in Posadas, LaValle area with Hermana Loria. But this past week went haywire with all the other changes in the Zone… our apartment was a landing platform for hermanas coming and going (because it’s closest to the bus terminal), which makes us have to entertain them all. When everything was all over, we did not want to do anything but sleep.
But no rest for the weary I am afraid… We still bear the Lord´s name on our chest and have to continue working anyway… But Hermana Loria has many sicknesses and one of them got the best of her, and we had to get her to the hospital… Something with her stomach… We still are not sure what exactly she has, so the doctor wants to do more tests.
They gave her some sort of antacid, I am not exactly sure and put her on a very boring diet, which I have to follow because I am her companion, but things are better now… for the time being.
And to top it all off, it has not stopped raining since last Tuesday. The sun came out today, but just barely.
But Saturday was awesome… we were doing contacts in the far part of our area, and had done like 20 and were on our way to a cita, when we contacted our way into a deaf woman. She had a little girl with her and she looked about 20ish years old. We mimicked and gestured and wrote our way into a contact because the sign here is way different than in the United States. She spelled out her name for me and it was unlike anything I have ever seen… in the end, I could not figure out what her name is, but we gave her a pamphlet and gestured our way through explaining where the chapel was.
It was way thrilling to be able to talk with my hands again even though it was not exactly what I was used to…
I have seen several deaf people in our area, and even a member that attends our meetings. (Without interpreter… way sad, but there really is not anything I can do about that.) I really want to learn more of the sign here…. Maybe president will let me buy a dictionary or something… even basic signs and the alphabet would help, and it probably helps my cause a ton that I already can understand a little. I really hope so… I hate that my hands are tied (so to speak… jaja.)
But I am kind of on a giddy high from the whole ordeal.
Love,
Hermana Tritsch

This week, the final week in the transfer, we shifted our efforts to finding and knocked on about a million doors... We taught 90 lessons (including contacts) and found 12 new investigators (which is a record for Hermana Loria and me.) We found alot of really cool prospects, including a woman whose granddaughter is serving a mission in Bolivia. We are really exited to visit with her becase she seems really friendly and open to the idea of the gospel.
I am a firm believer that their are some people, who are just prepared from the beginning to hear the gospel, and I think this is a great example of the power that the gospel has to change lives and the power that the example of a good person has in changing lives too.
We also did companionship exchanges (ordered by the president) with other Hermanas in another part of Posadas, in Villa Cabello. Hermana Runyan (newbie) came with me here in LaValle and Hermana Loria went with Hermana Kretchman (leaves for home tomorrow).
I had a blast hanging out with Hermana Runyan and we found five of our 12 new investigators with her (including la abuela de la misionera). She has tons of energy, which is something I lack sometimes, so I was super-exited to learn from her. She speaks really well, but has trouble understanding, and I am okay understanding and don´t speak very well, so between the two of us, we were okay.
Our new pension is really good for us, but we have had to pay for a few fixes and hookups for the utilities, which has made money really tight, but we have to deal with all of that when it comes.
Yesterday, the zone went to Iguazú falls, my second time going, and I really did not want to go again, because it was expensive, but it was Hermana Loria´s birthday and she really wanted to go, so we went. It was a ton of fun, and I got sunburned and wet and now we are paying for it... really hechopercha (hurting and aching and messed up-tired)
Again, like what happened at the ruinas and yacyreta, we had to pay significantly more that what we were expecting to pay because we are extranjeros, but the Zone Leaders got them to lower the price a little since we all live and work in Misiones, but we were still a little disanimados. But in the end, everything is fine, and everyone enjoyed themselves.
Transfers are this week and everyone is super anxious because there is going to be many changes in the zone, with two hermanas going home and many who have been here quite awhile. Hermana Loria thinks she is going to get transfered, but I really do not know or have any idea what is going to happen.
But I am hoping and praying for the best.
Love,
Hermana Sarah Tritsch