Sister Sarah Tritsch

Testimonio de Honorable Hermana Sarah Jennifer Tritsch

2010-12-30T12:08:00.000-08:00

Testimonio de Honorable
Hermana Sarah Jennifer Tritsch

Yo nunca pensaba que yo iba a escribir mi Testimonio de Honorable, pero como me he sentado escribir eso, me doy cuenta de los grandes milagros que he visto y he tomado parte. No soy una que “bautizó cada semana” o menos “bautizó cada mes,” pero no niega los milagros que han pasado y sé que mis esfuerzos no son en vanos.
Agradezco a mi Señor por esta gran oportunidad que me ha dado para servir en lo mejor, La Gran Misión Argentina Resistencia.

Yo recuerdo mi primera entrevista con Presidente del Castillo. El me preguntó lo que quería yo de mi misión, y yo le dije que quería regresar honorable de verdad. No solamente alguien que termina sus 18 meses y ya esta, pero honorable de verdad. El me prometió que yo lo haría solamente si yo lo quería. Espero realmente haberlo logrado, pero tal vez, solamente el Señor realmente lo sabe si yo he logrado o no.

Yo creo firmemente que la misión es el herramienta que Padre celestial usa para cambiar chicos a hombres y chicas a mujeres – personas listas para ser parte del Reino de Dios. En mi mismo, puedo ver eso, también. Me siento muchísimo mas preparada para seguir con la vida, ser esposa, y eventualmente mamá – la “dos-mil-joven” tipo de madre que Dios necesita que seamos en un mundo que esta cayendo un poco mas peor en cada momento.

Recuerdo muchas veces en mi misión que sentí que estamos empujando un gran roca, y aún que empujamos y empujamos sentimos que no hay progreso, porque la obra es muy grande, hasta que miramos atrás y nos damos cuenta del estado de nuestros músculos y regocijamos en el progreso que hemos hecho, y solo nos falta muy poco hasta que revolce… y eso nos hace felices. Solo hay que seguir empujando, para que cubra toda esta tierra como la roca cortada sin manos.

Yo sé sin duda que Nuestro Padre Celestial tiene su santa mano en esta parte de su viña. El esta trabajando fervorosamente porque ya es tiempo de la cosecha, y tiempo, hay muy poco.

Tenía yo, una compañera que siempre decía, “El Señor no nos necesita en su obra, sino que nosotros necesitamos ser parte.” Solamente ahora estoy empezando a comprender lo que ella quería decir.

Nosotros no servimos en donde y como somos más capaces a servir sino en el lugar que es mejor para nuestro progreso, no necesariamente el progreso de la obra. La obra de Dios siempre va a progresar porque él puede hacer todo. Por eso, el llama a los hombres en sus debilidades y los califica para la obra. Entonces, obramos, sacrificamos, transpiramos y a veces sentimos que todo es en vano, pero se que Dios esta contento cuando dimos nuestro mejor esfuerzo.

Yo sé que nuestro Padre Celestial me ama y porque me ama me ha dejado venir en la misión. Sé que Jesucristo es el Hijo de Dios y el autor de esta gran obra y agradezco a Él por poner su confianza en una ser imperfecta como yo.

Yo sé que Jesucristo vive, y cada cosa que nos dicen los profetas nos ayuda allegarnos más a Él. Yo testifico que las palabras santas en el Libro de Mormón son verdaderas. Sé que nos muestran todo que tenemos que hacer.
Agradezco a manos inspiradas que compilaron, tradujeron, y trajeron ese libro maravilloso de luz. Sin ese libro, no podemos saber quien es Jesucristo realmente y lo que realmente tenemos que hacer para que su expiación sea parte de nuestras vidas.

Ellos dicen que lo que realmente hace una misionera buena o mala es lo que hacen después. Espero que cuando saque mi pollera larga y placa y me vista en mis jeanes preferidos que mi conducta muestre la tipa de misionera que soy y pueda vivir según los convenios que he hecho acá y en el templo del Señor.

Seguro vendrán tiempos difíciles, pero si hagamos nuestro parte, Él siempre estará a nuestro lado.

En el nombre de Jesucristo, Amén.

Blog Entry #81: So what do you do when the big guns backfire?

2010-12-30T12:07:00.001-08:00

I am counting down the weeks and I realized I am running out of weeks. Thanks so much for reading my blog... It means a ton that you read it.

I feel strange.... I am packing my bags, but it still does not seem real... like a dream, really.

This week we pulled the big guns out on Julia. There is a Missionary couple here that is in charge of making our district a stake, (Matrimonio Larsen, from Lehi, Utah) and they joined us for a lesson on faith... and how to take the big leap of faith into the baptismal font. The spirit was really strong for the lesson, and it was hard to deny it. Pero al pasar de todo... she still has a lingering doubt... My leaders wanted me to put a baptismal date to get baptized with José for Christmas, but when we got there... I could not do it. It did not feel right. we did a soft invitation (without date) and she still stands by that its too soon. Meanwhile, she keeps the word of wisdom (gave up tea) and goes to the ward activities.

I know that she is headed there... We only pray that she opens up her heart and takes the leap of faith to ask God. The thing is, I think she already knows what the answer is, and so she´s afraid to ask, so she does not have to be responsible.

So for right now, we are going to focus on José Gauna... Who is happily dancing his way to the baptismal font. It feels like when I taught another José, José Balmacera -- the Gaucho in Ituzaingó. Less Gaucho pants and more Nike knockoffs... but the same simplified teaching and many visual aids. Also the anxious desire to know and to feel, even if its hard to understand all the details.

Proof that Faith has nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with trusting in God.

Thats all for right now.... Stay tuned for the final entry from Argentina next week to see how it all turns out.

Chaucito, Che-citos.
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #79: Working for divine intervention

2010-12-30T12:06:00.000-08:00

Hey All!

So, Julia did not get to her baptismal date... she thinks its too soon. And I got fustrated because I know that she knows its true, its just that she does not know that she knows it. And I felt fustrated because we worked really hard with her... we have been working with her since Hermana Hall was my companion and when it came right down to it... it did not happen.

Meanwhile, the least expected person to enter the waters, José Gauna is exitedly preparing for his big dunk on Christmas day. And I am thinking, where in the world did this great blessing come from?

I figured out something when I was busy filling out teaching records and progress records and whatever other type of record that you can think of, and reviewing old ones of old investigators and I said to myself... look at all the work we do that did not amount in baptisms. all the people here that have been taught everything... how many miles walked and doors knocked... and one would feel sad...

But I realized that all of the hard work we do, that seems like it amounts to nothing is work to show God that we are worthy to have his divine help. Then I looked back at all the times I was priveleged to see baptisms, and it seems like every single one of them... in the end, fell into our laps, like it fell out of the windows of heaven.

The thing is that we don´t know who it is that God puts in our way to test our diligence and who are the truly prepared people that are headed for the baptismal font... But either way, every person we teach, even if they downright reject us, is a golden oportunity to show Heavenly Father how much we love him.

I know that now... I am just sad it took me so long to realize it.

-Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #78: Christmas Miracles wrought by faith

2010-12-30T12:05:00.000-08:00

Our Grand focus this week was trying to find people to baptize. So what do we do? We try to put baptismal dates with everyone and we see what happens. Some accepted the challenge, and some did not, but President del Castillo says it is a way to weed out those who only want to be friends and those who have true interest in our message.

I guess it worked because we were able to put 7 baptismal dates this week and we were able to find key people, that we were not expecting to progress.

José Gauna is a very simple man, whose drug and alcohol use in his juventud, have reduced him into the thought process of a teenager. But he is really sincere, and when we teach him simply, he understands and wants to do what is right. He no longer drinks or smokes, but he has a firm belief that Christ has helped him overcome many problems in his life. He accepted a baptismal date for Christmas Day.

Olga Maldonado, accepted a baptismal commitment, but no fecha. We came to our appointment and told us that she was catholic and there was no way we were going to be able to change that. She was backed up with the wall of catholic Idols that she has inside of her home that we did not see before, because our first lesson was outside. We taught her the importance of the Book of Mormon, and invited her to Church, the spirit was very stong, and I know she felt something special. Then, miraculously sheshowed up to church this Sunday ALONE. She listened to the testimony and we introduced her to everyone, and I could tell it was very special for her.

Julia Muñoz continues to progress, even though she is beginning to doubt as her baptismal date gets closer and closer. She went to the Christmas Devotional last night to hear of the prophet and some apostles, and she promised to pray and see if she needed to get baptized.

The short story is this: in the conversion of a person, there are two factors, the faith of the investigator and the faith of the missionary. I realized that what was lacking was my own faith, and when I sucked it up and just did it, even though I was scared, God was able to bring about big miracles.

Love,
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #77: Persevere y triunfarás

2010-12-30T12:03:00.003-08:00

Hola mi familia!!!

AHHH!!! My mother was kind enough to remind me today that I have exactly 31 days until I come home…. There is so much to do before I go… I cannot believe that I have gotten this far.

This week has been a hectic one... Hermana Medero certainly keeps me on my toes as she asks me for everything from if she can shower in the night time to how the internet works. Its so wierd how in-control a trainer can be. Hermana Papenfuss was easy to train and caught on very quick... I was blessed.

I am still blessed, don´t get me wrong. Hermana Medero´s enthusiasm for the work is contagious, she is just a lot more dependent on me than Hermana Papenfuss.

But we continue to work hard and struggle and sweat like any other missionary. I am trying to teach my newbie how to have fun while doing it. She is a really serious, focused person... not that´s a bad thing or anything.

We are making good progress with Julia, as she came to church for the second week in a row... thats a very good sign. Things are looking bright for her baptismal date.... all holds barred.

Miracle of Perseverance moment: forever ago, with Hermana Hall, we contacted a reference of a member named Azucena, then promptly lost contact. We went by several times, but eventually, we gave up. Recently, the son of the family that gave us the reference, Marcos, asked us to pass by again... which, even though I had my doubts, we went anyway. She had told us that she had been reading a copy of the Book of Mormon that the elderes gave her forever ago and was almost done with it, and even though she did not understand it all, she felt a peace inside and had been praying that we would pass by.

Its like a story you only find in the Liahona.

We will see what happens with these two women, as time progresses.

ChauCito. Hermana Tritsch

#76: Just this once

2010-12-30T12:03:00.001-08:00

Hey Friends and Family!!

Well, it seems like everything is winding down for me… within 6 weeks time I will be back on North American soil… I can hardly believe it. It feels like I just got here, but then again, it feels like an eternity ago.

To keep my feet firmly on my toes, I was suprised to recieve a phone call that I had to get myself to Resistencia to look for Nuevita #2, Hermana Vanessa Medero from Montevideo, Uruguay. She is a good missionary, very serious and focused... just what I need in these next few weeks.

Its a whole different ball of wax than with Hermana Papenfuss, the problem is that I knew Lavalle like the back of my hand, and Laguna Seca, parts of it, are still foreign for me.

But we are having some success anyway. We are teaching a woman named Julia, the mother of a member of our ward, named Sebastian, and even though Sebastian is socially awkward at best, and kind of ignored her when she came to church this week (shortly after attending then leaving the catholic mass), she thouroughly enjoyed it anyway, and everything was made better when a seventy decided to randomly go to church in our branch... she felt really special to be there.

The thing is that morning it had been raining, so many decided that they would not brave it to come to church, and they missed out. Its kind of sad in that way... how people, decide that “just this once” I will stay inside, and then they miss out big time.

Well, got to get to work, I miss you all, and I hope that none of you miss a big oppurtunity by thinking ”Just this one time” I won´t do it and then miss everything.

Love You all,
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #71: The Labyrinth, or, It´s snowing registros de enseñanza!

2010-10-24T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hey Friends and Fam!!!

Now officially reporting from Corrientes Capital, I am back to feeling like a newbie... lost as ever, but exited to be here... I think that is why they do transfers... to keep you on your toes... jaja. This area is full of viviendas with confusing neighborhoods with a thousand and one wierd pasages to explore... its like a maze.... turn the corner and there is even more unexplored territory. My precious Posadas was a grid system, easy to learn and master... but here in Laguna Seca everything is completely mixed up.

But I am gaining somewhat of a footing from a forced study of the map when we decided to work with a long list of menos activos scattered all over the place, and two binders full of old investigators. We are examining every single sheet, discarding the ones that do not have enough information to find them, and writing down the addresses of the ones that seem to have potential to eventually go and find them. We have already seen some fruit... but its too early to see if the fruit that we found is ripe yet.

Hermana Hall and I are getting exited about one girl named Yesica, she is 17 years old, but as luck has it, turns 18 a day before the baptismal date we put with her. (we did not know that when we put the date, the only one who knew was her and God) She was really shy at first, and would not do much of any reading or praying with us, but every time we go there, she makes little steps, that for her are big ones. She went to chuch this Sunday for the second time, and this past charla, she even hugged us.... :) And we were teaching her about the law of chastity that day, so its a good sign.

On another side note, there is a Walmart and a McDonalds in Corrientes.... I walked into the walmart like a deer in headlights today, and found Marshmallows and Doughnuts. I bought my first doughnut in 16 months, and we are making rice krispie treats tomorrow... SOOO exited. I never thought I would think that marshmallows were a great find.

I think you learn what one can live without when you go to a foreign mission, I think.

Love,
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #70: Transferred into the middle of a Laguna Seca

2010-10-24T18:50:00.000-07:00

Hey All!

Sorry for not writing yesterday, but because of Columbus Day (yes... they celebrate it down here.) Our p-day was switched to Tuesday and we worked the holiday.

Transferred again.... Laguna Seca, Corrientes Capital, Corrientes! I really love it here... its a good area with a good branch of people that are really exited about the gospel. There are many less actives, that we work with more and more as time goes on, but the core group of active members are really good and unified, well, as far as I can tell. I miss my old area because it became like home for me... I think I lived in that apartment longer than I did in any one room in college. But the change is good for me... keeps me fresh and exited.

My new compi, Hermana Brianna Hall is from American Fork, Utah and has a lot of love for this people and for her mission. She was with her trainer for three transfers, thats a long time in missionary speak so its been a little interesting being her replacement, but she is really exited to learn and we are learning together. She might just be my last compi in the campo misional so I am trying to make the best of it.

We are teaching many awesome people, who really have desire to learn about the gospel, and I can tell that this place is full of people ready to take the plunge. Our work is primarily done with less active families and we are finding people to baptize through them... their children, their husbands, their family, and so on. The less active members are actually a treasure trove for missionary work, because people who go to church are friends with people who are in the church already, and those who do not attend church so often, have more friends and family who are not members. Many of the baptismal dates that we have came from less active and part member families.

A few weeks before I got here, they did a Tormenta Blanca, which is when all of the missionaries of all over Corrientes Capital, come to our area and pair off with the members, with several addresses of less active homes, to find them, find if they still live there, invite them to church, and also invite them to hear the missionaries.

They found many good families to visit and to teach, and so we are predominately working from the fruits of it.

Well, I love my mission although it makes me sick to my stomach to think that its closing to an end for me... I got this transfer and the next, and chao, me voy... 

Well, at least I got to meet Hermana Herrin, my “sister” in the mission field, because she was trained by Hermana Shmutz too.

Love you all,
Hermana Tritsch

P.S. Today, for P-Day, we went to a zoo and we got to see some of the local critters... Lots of Pictures, but this computer is being slow, so here are three of my new HUMAN friends....

Blog Entry #69: Me? Vieja?!?!?

2010-10-24T18:49:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone!!!

I can´t believe how fast that the transfer with Hermana Papenfuss has absolutely FLOWN by. It seems like yesterday that I went to find her in the mission home, but now my baby´s all grown up and (sniff sniff) savin´ Argentina!!!!! jaja (Mulan, get it?) well, it was an absolute BLAST doing it, but I can say that North American companions are ALOT different from South American companions... I am not sure which one is worse, but I feel my Spanish is getting worse, because I am speaking more in English.... Thats a nasty habit... and it does nothing for my skills. Hopefully I will get another south American compi before I go home, so I can go back to not knowing how to speak English.

We made invitations to invite seriously everyone to General Conference... we handed out something like 90 invitations to members, nonmembers, less actives, investigators, random people on the street and everything. We gave one to Familia Candia, a part member family that we tracted into and have many hopes that the mother, Nidia, will progress well and baptize without problems. They have three little children all under the age of three, kind of reminds me of my parents at that age. Well, they did not come Saturday, but just before the Sunday evening session, an Elder told us that there was a couple with little kids that were looking for us, so we immediately bolted out of our seats and found them at the front door... with their three little children in tow. We located some members of our ward in the crowd, our Ward Mission Leader and his NOT-girlfriend and we sat them together so they could get to know some of the people that pertain to us.

The Conference started and they absolutely love it... I have so much high hopes for this family... we had an appointment with them Friday a lesson that turned to obedience in the end, and it ran at the end right up against curfew, so we did a little object lesson about the importance of obedience "A veces no sabemos porque tenemos las reglas o mandamientos, pero Dios nos requiere obediencia iqual, y Dios nos bendice con seguridad y protección si lo hacemos." So we high tailed it out of there even thought they wanted us to stay to eat pizza.

I am glad we did, I think it was for our obedience that we could teach them, and that they came to the conference.

Speaking of conference, it was AMAZING!!! I loved it... Especially the talks of Elder Holland (like always), Elder Uchdorf (The tree-airplane analogy of getting back to the fundamentals when everything goes wrong) and the fourteen key points about prophets (and even though they said it twice, I could not write fast enough to get them all down) and the plea of the Prophet that we have more gratitude with one another.... Seriously this conference was one of the best. I am so happy I got to see it in English... They holed up all of the English speaking missionaries in the relief society room with a tiny screen so we could hear it in our native tounge... like Christmas for missionaries.

And now I am faced with a new year (now I am 23) and a new transfer (number 12 for me) and yours truly now becomes the Oldest Hermana in the Mission....

now where DID I leave my cane?

Love,
Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Tune in next week to see what happens.... Will she go or will she stay? dun Dun DUNNNN!

Blog Entry #I think its 68: The nitty and gritty of it all.

2010-10-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

Hola Familia y Amigos Queridos!

This past week went by so fast and every week I am as suprised as ever to see the number of my blog ever increase.... my mother was so kind remind me that I have 96 days before I touch American Soil... Thanks for that... Really.

But we work hard and try our hardest to achieve our goals...

One really cool thing: since the zone conference when they talked about working with part member families and less active families, we have found, by divine design several part member families that we did not even know existed. Nilia and Miguel Candia we found door to door contacting. When my companion recieved a really special prompting that we should talk to Nilia... and turns out that her marido, Miguel is a member less active!!! we are working really hard with the family... we have to help them get married, but It doesn´t seem like it will be a problem because they are in love with each other. They seem to soak up the doctrine like sponges and they love the promises that the gospel brings.

Then, not this sunday, but last, Angel y Elisabet Almendra came to church, Angel is a member and Elisabet isn´t but they decided to come to chuch so we went and visited them... Upon our arrival, we realized that we had already been to this house and talked to an old man... who was Elisabet´s Father. At the time we did not feel inspired to come back, but God just pushed us back into this house. Angel came to chuch this week, and is anxious to try to get back into activity, because he is ex-misionero.

We also went to Jose and Gladis Salazar... A couple less active that happens to be DEAF! Hermana Papenfuss and I got up the courage one day and went and visited them. We went there and Gladis was outside, and she saw us and put an angry look on her face and when she got closer, I showed her my tag, and her face completely changed and she became very happy to see us. She told us that when she saw us she thought we were Jehova´s witnesses because there is a deaf congregation of them, and they always come, but she immediately let us in and through a mix of botched sign language/paper conversation and lots of scriptures....

I realized that American Sign Language and Argentinian Sign Language are different, but not all that different. God is the same, Jesus is the same, and the sign for "I love you" too. I am not sure how effective it all was, but I felt the spirit really strong, and Gladis prayed and it was really beautiful. and then we all cried.

Later in the week, for week of Service, the ward cleaned up a local school, that was a school in which many of the adult members went to Elementary School. It was really cool to help them out in a place that was really close to their hearts. There was a great fondness, even though the school itself was in rough shape. Lots of dirt, and lots of repairs, but it was awesome to see all the work we had done.

Well time is up, and I miss you all, and just remember, by the next time I write I will be 23.

Love,
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #66: Back to the MTC: Four Walls and a Chalkboard

2010-09-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

Hola Chamigos.

Sorry this one is short, but my time has been cut short by a four-day training session that I have to attend as a trainer. This training session is for Zone Leaders, District Leaders, and trainers, and yours truly qualifies under the third one... So today until thursday I will be holed up inside the stake center with some serious intensive training. Its really fun to learn more about how I can do my work better and more efficiently.

Its very rare because I am an Hermana, and the size of our area is great, that we can experience such up-close and personal training from our mission president... I rarely ever see him otherwise. So, all in all, I am really exited. The sad thing is that my compi has to go work in another area leaving me all alone with 15 other elders... does not make much for company... jaja.

This past week, during the baptism of Jorge Alvarenga, a member brought with her a neighbor of hers, and her sister to the baptism, which, like good little missionaries, we quickly put a return appointment, and assured her that what was happening was really special, and that we could tell her why.

We went to her home, and found her, (Pamela) her sister (Maira) and her mother (Christina) waiting for us. We taught them the first lesson and it went very will. The mother had many questions and everyone was very open with us. So, following the Holy Ghost, we immediately put a baptismal date with them, and they accepted!

When I told the hermana later what happened, she was in shock, because it was exactly what she had been praying for. The hermana could not come with us because she was in the temple for the monthly temple trip to Asunción, but went to the temple praying that she would accept us, and that God had answered her prayer. It was so neat that we could be instruments in god´s hands to answer the prayers of this woman.

We are working all speed ahead with her, with all faith that the day will come.

We continue to work with Zulema, and tonight we have a Noche de Hogar to see if we can convince her family that she is not crazy, if we do, she might just be our next baptism....

Pray for us!!!
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #65: Sometimes they just sneak up on you...

2010-09-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the other side of the world!!!

My poor compi manages to survive without the suitcase that had the majority of the clothes, which was lost somewhere between Atlanta and Buenos Aires... its supposed to come today, after a great fight for it in the office "Elder, where is her suitcase?" "I don´t know, I was gonna call them today." "no, you will call them now." "I am kinda busy right now." "Elder, she has two changes of clothes, what would you do if you only had two changes of clothes?" "Okay I will call them now and call you back in 10 minutes." "Thank you elder, muy ambable."

But she still does not have them... I might need to call them again, jaja.

Back in our area, We also went to see a part member family as a direction of Elder Foster that we had originally written off, and we taught the grandfather (Pedro), who is a member, the granddaughter (Rosita), whom we had taught previously, but we stopped visiting because she stopped coming to church, and the grandmother (Rosa), an evangelista that has never been so friendly with us. We tried to get the First discussion out, but it was almost impossible, but the really cool thing happened when Rosita, the granddaughter started defending the church against her grandmother, she gave an awesome testimony (although I can´t imagine that she knew that was what it was called) which nearly silenced the grandmother.

It really suprised us, because we had almost given up hope on Rosita, but her testimony was strong, and expressed a desire to come to church, and to eventually be baptized. We are going to start working more with Rosita and her family to see if we can´t instil a little peace and help out Rosita with her desire to be baptized.

But the highlight of the week was something that noone expected ni planned for.

On Wednesday, we were also suprised to find out that the Father of Jorge Alvarenga, my convert, wanted to seriously move forward with his baptism after a big spiritual conviction he recieved after a Noche de Hogar and a night of prayer. "YO QUIERO BAUTIZARME YA!!!" and so we arranged with the bishop and we, with our Ward Mission Leader, put together a baptism in four days.

But it was really special, because, he had many years learning about the gospel, and a rough road at that. Had to quit drinking and doing all sorts of other feo things, but after 3 months sober, he had his answer and could not wait long enough to be baptized. We orginized it that his son, Jorge would do the baptizing, and with the suprise of everyone, it went off without a hitch.

Many people thought he would never get to this day, especially because he had a baptismal date before, and failed the baptismal interview, but I felt that this baptism, I could clearly see the atonement taking over in a man that many people thought would never turn around. It just goes to show you that the mercy of Christ is sufficient to pardon all sins, not because sin is little, but because His mercy is so great.

The spirit was so strong, I had never felt it so strong, I never got to see someone get baptized who had to change so much, but he did it. He changed. and now he is clean, and he is so happy. in his own words, "yo siento como estoy en el aire."

I know that the atonement is real, and now, I can see it even more than ever. I am glad that God let me stay here a little while longer to witness it.

Les Amo Mucho,
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #64: Without Words

2010-09-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

Hey All!

So its true that when you get comfortable that it is time for a change, and a big change happened, just not the change that anyone expected. Hermana Madariaga became senior companion with a girl that has been in Argentina less than two weeks in Formosa, and I boarded a bus to look for my nuevita in Resistencia...

Thats right I AM TRAINING!!! AHHHH!!!!!

When I thought that I would leave the area and have to start from scratch, Hermana Madariaga was not even CLOSE to being prepared to go, but off she goes to greater heights and new adventures. And I get my first North American companion since Hermana Schmutz, my own trainer. Hermana Kylara Papenfuss from Fountain Green, Utah now runs around with me in Posadas.

She is really a great person, a great sport, and luckily, studied alot of Spanish before her mission, so that really is not so much of a barrier for her. She has a lot to learn, but her willingness to serve, and her willingness to learn makes her one of the best and I am lucky to have her. Sometimes I feel like she is actually teaching me.

This past week we ran around like crazy getting everyone ready to go to Stake Conference, the seventy wanted to talk specifically with the new members and the investigators before the general session of stake conference, so we wanted to make sure that we had people there to hear it. Jorge Alvarenga and Julieta came with the combined efforts of the members, and Hermana Papenfuss and I made a beeline for Maria Mancuello, remember her? The Circus Matriarch? well, we were getting fed-up with her not come to church, so we were really focusing on her, we knew that if she went, that it would put everything in perspective, and that she would feel something really special.

We told her that we were going to pass by in the morning to look for her, and so about 7:00 in the morning we called her to wake her up, and she was all, "Don´t worry girls, I will go all by my self" but she has given us that before, so we just told her we were coming and that we were not going to take no for an answer and that we were going to be there in 45 minutes, "sogetreadyweloveyouchao(click)."

And made a beeline for her house. When we got her, she said she wasn´t going to go, because there was noone to watch her house. She said that she sent us a text message, but luckily, our cell phone does not recieve text messages. So we told her that now was to decide was was important for right now and what was important for eternity, and she went and prepared her granddaughter and herself and we left for the conference.

We are going to see her later today to see how it went for her.

In the conference, we also were suprised to see tons of less active members that we hadn´t seen come to church in forever in the conference, we are hoping that it will put a fire under them to come to church.

The next day we had Zone Conference (I love zone conference) and Elder Foster was there too. He told us that the church is completely changing the way that they do missionary work in Argentina, with the main focus in reactivation and the union of part member families. He told us that there was a ward in our stake that had 600 less active members, and that by reactivating them, we would strengthen the church, and find baptisms (like the kids or spouses of less active members.)

It would also require a greater participation of the ward in the Obra Misional. It changes everything, but we are really exited.

These changes are going to be good for us, I hope anyway.

Love Ya,
Hermana Tritsch

Photos from Sarah

2010-08-22T19:27:00.001-07:00

Blog Entry #62: Tarzan yells... and other suprising utterances.

2010-08-22T19:02:00.004-07:00

Hey everyone!!
I am so sorry that this blog entry is a day late, but there is a new mission rule, is that when holidays take place on P-day, we have to work that day and take the next day as a P-Day... such is the case this week. This week the whole of Argentina celebrates the death of beloved freedom fighter San Martin, and they celebrate this day is a national holiday. BUT missionaries work holidays... Jaja.

The transfer has gone by SUPER fast, I can hardly believe that we are in week 6 of the transfer. This past week was one for the record books, but eye opening. We worked hard running from one area to another, discovering a new neighborhood that holds alot of promise, and saw a part of our area that I had never seen before, that seemed like the center of nowhere, but in reality is in the geographical center of Posadas (not the commercial center, but geographical) Walking for this part of our area, by an avenida called Aguado, I felt so far away from everything, stuck in the middle of the jungle with tiny little shacks surrounded by toucans, monkeys and tarzan-like vines... (a little over-exageration about the monkeys. They tell me the monkeys exist, but I haven´t seen them... The toucans... that´s true, we really did see them.) Its so strange to see that especially when in the other side of our area is where all the businesses and factories are. What a stark difference!

There is alot of that here, big huge expensive homes right next door to little shacks without indoor plumbing or insulation. Its always been a little hard to get used to.
In other news, my companion had her first wedding preposal this week. My companion was doing a contact while I was buying some mandioca that we were going to cook for lunch, and he said, "I I come to church and I get baptized, will you marry me?" and my companion, in good missionary form, said the argentinian equivalent of "Heck, NO!" and I finished paying for the mandioca and we runned-walked to our apartment without looking back.

Missionary work-wise, We tried to pull a miracle, when we had a great idea that we could get Maria (one of the girls who severly wants to get baptized, but can´t because she does not have permission of her parents) to come with her parents to see a baptism that a neighboring ward was having, we tried all week to pull it off, but in the end it we could not pull it off. Pucha. Now we are down to four investigators that have baptismal dates... they are all falling like flies.

Remember 14 year old Julieta? Well, she has gone to church 5 Sundays, and WANTS to get baptized, but her home still is not Mormon-friendly, among shouting, criticisms and we think there might even be physical abuse, we do not want to baptize her and put her into that environment. She is still very young, so we will see. We want to see bigger changes in her and her family to see if she really is ready for such a big commitment, and that the home will be a better place where she can be strong and loyal without criticism or shame.

We have many people who go to church that we can´t baptize, and people that have baptismal dates that don´t go to church! We have no idea how to solve this problem. So we contine working and trying to find people that GO to church that we CAN baptize.

Ah, well. The life of a missionary, I guess.

Love you all,
Hermana Tritsch

PS: I hope by this time in my mission that some of you are still in tune with my blog... if so thanks so much. Thanks for visiting it, it means alot that there are people that read it. I love you all and I hope that I will be able to see you all in time for New Years!!

Blog Entry #61: My ways are not your ways neither my thoughts your thoughts.

2010-08-22T19:02:00.003-07:00

Hey Everyone!!!

This week has been rough for me health wise... We figured out that I don´t have a cold, but ALLERGIES and that is why my sudafed has not been doing anything.... NEVER IN MY LIFE have I had allergies, but there is some kind of dust or pollen or something that makes my nose angry, so the area doctor perscribed some sort of Argentinian version of Allegra that I have to take until I return to my homeland where the pollen does not make my sinuses nervous.

A headache-cito with some of our investigators... we HAD 8 that had a fecha bautismal, but now we have 5 because some of them lost it for not going to church. Damaris, we lost because she actually lives in another area, and we had to pass one of our golden girls to the elders that work in her area. We are working with Maria still, but the timeline is getting really short. We are hoping to be able to talk with her mother this week. Also, Jorge Alvarenga senior, who was to be baptized the 21st of August decided to change his baptismal date without telling us, (we found out from some of the members) and skipping out on the lessons... GRR.

Also THE lesson we were going to have with Mabel and Armin (about the law of chastity and eternal marriage) was the first one we ever had that fell through. The good thing is that it seems like they have come to the realization on their own that they need to get married first. I don´t know if someone told them or it was divine inspiration, but they are working on that a little more, and it seems like Mabel already knows. God gave them a little help when they realized that Armin had been completely erased from the Paraguayan system, which somehow (I am not exactly sure how) makes it easier for him to get an Argentine document. Its ALOT cheaper and he does not have to go anywhere, so marriage may not as far away as we thought it was.

We had also been talking to a woman named Noelia, and yesterday, she told us that her Marido left her, which is really sad and hard for her right now, but in the long run, may help her be in a better position to come to church and to get baptized. She could not come to church before because she had to go visit him in Jail, but now that is not something that will get in the way of her church attendance. Also, she won´t have to get married first. It just goes to show that there is a bright side to every situation.

I guess the Lord works in misterious ways.

-Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry 60: Showing damsels in distress how to rescue themselves

2010-08-22T19:02:00.001-07:00

Hey All!!!

This week was a really great one... After what seemed like a month of rainy days and thunderstorms and coldness that noone, not even the argentinians were prepared for, we had nearly a full week of sunshiny days.

But alot of really cool things happened this week.

We are teaching two girls named Damaris and Maria, who have burning bright testimonies and parents that think they are crazy and in the past, refused to sign the permission slip to get baptized. and so now, they were learning about the gospel with us in secret, and living in fear of talking with their parents. They had a baptismal date for the 14th of August, so we were getting really anxious for them to talk to their parents.

So we had a super lesson that we had been planning for a long while about faith, hope and courage, but it always seemed that something was missing, then the morning of our charla, we had a great idea to use the story of Esther to help us illustrate our point. How she had to do something that could cost her life to save her people and also stand up for what she believes in. So we taught it in this way... I really love the story of Esther because it shows that a woman can do great things to save herself and her people. Even though she did not have the priesthood, she did not have to be the damsel in distress. And we taught about the faith and courage that she had, and it went really well.

Then at the end of the charla we took various parts of the story to give them ideas about what they can do to make it easier to talk to their mothers... The spirit was really strong and it felt really inspired. They hesitatingly accepted the commitment to talk to their parents before the 7th of August.

Then in the week, we were walking to another investigator´s house and found Maria in the street (The mother of Maria was the more dificult of the two) and she looked really happy and told us that she had talked to her parents and felt so much relief. We found out that her parents had not given her permission to get baptized right now, but told her that they would not try to stop her when she turns 18 in November. Now we just have to wait and see what happens with Damaris.

I know its not exactly what we had hoped, but we are counting it as a milagro-cito and a great victory for Maria. We are very happy for this news.

Then, Some elders in another barrio, Barrio Jardín had a scare when they went to fill their baptismal font, and found that the city had cut the water going to their part of the city. So everyone rushed over to our chapel and had their baptism in our chapel, and we ran around like chickens with their heads cut off looking for investigators to come and see the baptism. This is really important in developing a testimony because when somone can witness a baptism, they can feel the Holy Ghost very strongly and develop an internal desire to do the same. 80% of the people who witness a baptism while investigating the gospel get baptized themselves.

So we ran to a part of our area where we have many investigators and within an hour, with the help of God himself (surely) we got three investigators and a family that is less active that has a daughter of the age to baptize and got them all to the baptism. 7 people altogether. The collectivo was delayed and we got there like 5 minutes before they started the ordinance, so by a breath they all got to see a baptism (WHEW!!!!)

Then yesterday in church, Mabel, our golden, and one of those who went to the baptism, got up and bore her testimony. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever heard. And thankfully, with the help of the members, 5 other investigators, including three that attended church for the first time got to hear it and feel the spirit.

Needless to say that this is a happy week.
Happy. Happy. Happy.

Love,
Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #59: Wake UP and do something more than dream of your mansions above...

2010-08-22T19:01:00.002-07:00

Hey Everyone!!!

What a rainy week... and with the rain, cold, and wet, and muddy... and the red dirt makes a mud that has a soapy slick sticky consistency... But working hard we have been able to see many awesome things. We have shifted our focus a little on a neighbor of Mabel, named Nora and her two daughters Julieta and Marianela. Nora is a member but so less active its hard to tell, so we decided to work with her to baptize her two daughters and bring a little of the gospel that was lost over the years... We quickly put a baptismal date for the girls the 28th of August as a goal to help them prepare, and seem really exited about the idea... They are busy reading and marking up the copies of the Book of Mormon that we gave them... I had a feeling that they hadn´t had a copy in the house in many years and I was right.

So yesterday morning before church, we decided that we were going to go and find them and bring them to church with us... we got to their little shack, and found it all locked up... So we knocked on the door... nothing. again.... nothing again. four times we knocked, and I was about ready to give up, but Hermana Madariaga felt that we should knock again, so we did and we heard... ¿quien es? and we told who we were and a groggy eyed Nora came to the door... We talked with her and got her to let us in and wake up the girls.... Which we did... In the most happy-go-lucky girls camp way possible... We got them all up and out of bed and with a little push and pull, got Nora and Julieta to church... Marianela still did not want to come, and we can´t force her, so Nora and Julieta came without her...

But you should have seen the look on the bishop´s face when we walked in with Nora. I think that she was the last person he thought he would see in the church. But everyone gave them both a big warm welcome. We hope that we will be able to see big changes in this family... There are copies of the Book of Mormon, and the beginnings of church attendance... Its a miracle in the beginning stages, I just know it.

In other not so happy news.... I recieved my trunky papers.... foo. Trunky Papers are a letter that the mission sends you when you have like 5 months left on the mission that asks you to verify your contact information and where you live so they can buy your airplane ticket home... They call it that because when it comes, many missionaries start focusing on packing their bags (or trunks in the olden days) and become useless missionaries. Its like a big slap in the face that my mission is coming to a drastic close. on the 30th of December, I start my journey home... Just in time for New Years.... I just hope that I don´t get trunky and ruin all the hard work I have done for missing home too much. I am not gonna lie, Christmas will be quite difficult for me.

But I guess I will see all of you in five months, I have no doubt that Mom already has a countdown.

Love,
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #58: Captian Clash

2010-08-22T19:01:00.001-07:00

Hey All!

Time is devestatingly short, so I am going to type fast... Enjoy this group of random pics from the few past weeks... I lost my card reader, but I just bought a new one so I am sending you a ton. This is my curly-haired companion, Hermana Madariaga... Really she has become one of my best friends in my mission. She´s fiercely dedicated, so its not very hard to work at a fast pace and help many people.

This past week has been dreadfully cold... the coldest it has been in years, and everyone says so, and I have had a rough battle with a cold, that its been rather difficult to shake. Last Tuesday was the worst, but I am better now. I have been trying to take it easy, but its hard to do that when you have the words of presidente whispering in your ear, "Ponga su salud en su mochila y pongase a trabajar." So we bundle up and put on two skirts and four pairs of socks and three sweaters (including my Aggie Sweatshirt, because it is warm, and hide its non-missionary nature under other, more appropriate ones) and get to work.

I think God is blessing our sacrifices, because despite the cold and rain that we have had for almost a week, We are finally meeting many of our goals (still no baptisms. but Baptisms are not everything). But I am so exited to see the ward rally around one of our families. We have had a really cold winter, and noone has been prepared for it, and Familia Cabaña (Mabel and Armin) live in very dire circumstances... a wood house with many openings, and no insulation, and little good clothing to help them aguantar el frio... but the ward is fiercely attatched to this family, and the Relief Society is putting together clothes and blankets for them, and the Elders Quorum is organizing to go over and fix up the shack, so the breezes don´t come in and attack the children... All of this without the family knowing, by the way. Even though it may be awhile until the family can be baptized, a service the size the ward has been planning is not easily forgotten.

The people in this ward are not rich in money, by any means, but they are rich in heart and have a great capacity to work miracles in Posadas. I am truly blessed to work in posadas with these people, I love them, and I will miss them, not only the investigators, and the people that I have had the privelege to see baptized but everyone. And when I think that I only have about 3 transfers after this one left, It reminds me that everything is so dreadfully temporary... Well the work isn´t, and God isn´t, but my time to labor here is.

I love you and miss you all, and can´t wait to see you all upon my return, I can´t promise that I will be home for Christmas, but definitely by new years. (although, for me, it feels like Christmas right now... except I don´t hear the music.)

Love Ya,

Blog Entry #57: he Change always comes, even if it is long overdue.

2010-08-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

Hey All!!!

I found myself missing home a ton this week... I don´t know why... maybe the fact that I only have five measly months left has something to do with it.

This past week, we achieved almost all of our goals... the really important ones at least... Five investigators in the chapel, six investigators con a future baptismal date, and seven lessons with members. No baptisms yet, but its a process.

Mabel went and enjoyed the service project and we went to the church to visit her and to take advantage of the time and we taught her the first part of the plan of salvation... we found out later that she stayed to help almost the whole day, and really loved visiting and chatting with the other hermanas in our ward and stake. She said that she very much enjoyed it, and to show it, brought herself, her husband Armin, and her three children to church... que lastima we can´t put a baptismal date... the whole marriage and document thing makes things super difficult... Its a really big problem here. About 2/3 of the people here are not married to the person they live with, but its something we as missionaries very much dread.

The father of Jorge, my convert, also named Jorge came to church yesterday. He has a history with the missionaries longer than the time of a missionary, but always had problems with drinking, but after a lunch appointment in their house, we felt that we needed to talk with him, and we talked to him about the blessings that come from obeying the commandments and put a baptismal date for the 21st of August. He confessed that he hadn´t drunken anything in 3 months, and hesitantly accepted the fecha... He felt it was a little soon, but we put it as a goal, and if he is not ready, we could change it. But he came to church yesterday with a different mirada, a look of peace and a little happiness, so we hope that he will feel ready to enter the waters of baptism. When he gets baptized, they can work together for a temple meta, so we are really exited for it.

We continue to work with the ward, and as we gain the trust of the members we get more and more assignments to look for menos activos. We are teaching a TON of menos activos, and with the Sociedad de Soccoro, which recently renewed and rennovated the visiting teaching list, we saw many less actives in church too. One of the families we are working with, Familia Acuña, is a really interesting case, the mother, Nora, got baptized forever ago, and none of her children got baptized, we started working with her and saw that she had alot of shame in her eyes, so we started by looking her in the eyes and told her that regardless of what she did, she was of worth, and then we told her that we were going to work with her and her kids so they can get baptized, and she can enjoy the blessings of the gospel again. We sang "I am a child of God" and taught part of the first lesson, and at the end, she smiled, the first real smile I have seen from her, and we have been working with her since Hermana Loria.

Sometimes, I think that people need people to look them right in the eyes, and instead of telling them that they need to repent all the time, tell them that they are worth saving, and they develop the need to repent on their own.

Anyway, Food for thought.

Love,
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #56: Thou shalt not have any other gods before me.

2010-07-11T19:29:00.001-07:00

Sooo... I saw grown men cry this week.... After the Germans slaughtered the Argentinians 4-0, grown men wandered the streets drunk and crying as if the outcome somehow affected their way of life. Thankfully no riots, but I have heard of that happening too. The next day, everyone forgot about the World Cup and la Obra Misional got back to buisness as usual. Hermana Madariaga (argentinian herself) and I actually prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for the loss, because it was cutting into prime proselyting time... that, and the final would have been on a Sunday Morning and we would have been missing all of the investigators and half the members, who would have been at home watching the game... I pity the German Missionaries, but then again, I don´t think the Mundial Fever is the same there as it is here.

We have a new rule here in the mission, that we need to try and put baptismal dates with people in the first lesson, the first meeting... Anyone who is or was a missionary knows thats kind of a really gutsy thing, and Hermana Madariaga and I were really kind of freaked out at the prospect, so we asked help of presidente in interviews and he showed us a really tranquilo way to do it, and so, with a little courage, we put it to work and found that within our cache of investigators, two more fechas bautismales.

One girl, Julieta, is a daughter of a woman who is menos activo, and another Noelia, is a friend of Familia Mancuello (the family of circus people), Julieta came to church and seems very sincere... but we want to reactivate her mother or baptize her sister too, so she does not have to be alone... I don´t want what happened to Débora in Ituzaingó to happen to Julieta. Noelia accepted the fecha bautismal, but still has not come to church yet, so we are not so sure what we should do... we don´t want to leave her yet because she is keeping all of her other commitments.

Another woman that we are teaching, Mabel... is totally awesome. She came to church for the second time yesterday, which was fast and testimony meeting... I explained to her what was happening so she wouldn´t freak out that people randomly stood up in the audience, that she was not expected to do the same, and she expressed a desire to bear her testimony at some point. "Not today." she said, "Maybe next month." And then in Relief Society she volunteered herself to help in a service project serving meals to a bunch of young single adults that are going to sleep in the Capilla during a big conference. ALL BY HERSELF SHE DECIDED THAT! She is quickly becoming part of the ward!!! But no investigator is completely golden... She has to get married, and her marido (the man who acts like her husband but is not married to her) is from Paraguay and doesn´t have Paraguayan or Argentinian documents... makes marriage super dificil... She might be an investigator for a long haul.

Well, Time is almost up...

Love you all,
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #55: What happens when the city stops

2010-07-11T19:28:00.002-07:00

Hey All!

Hope everyting is fine on the home front. I am so glad for these weekly letters or maybe I would be fresh out of journal entries... I enter the pench so tired in the nighttime, me da fiaca to write in my journal... We work really hard and Hermana Madariaga helps me be more obedient. She is helping me a TON with my language, we call her the "Gendarme Linguistica" but its exactly what I needed. My other companions never corrected me, so I have picked up alot of nasty habits like, "wear the bus" instead of "take the bus" among other little gut-busters. Well, my companion at least gets a crack out of it... jaja.

This week we were all ahead full with menos activos, and found much success with this. Many people came to church yesterday that had not been at church in a long time, and I like to think that maybe one of our visitas gave them the animo to come to church. The chapel has two sets of banks with the isle in the center, and normally everyone sits on the same side, but yesterday there was so many people that there were also people who had to find space on the other side... Its a little thing but its enough to make a missionary extraordinarily happy.

Now I am going to tell you what it is like during the World Cup in Argentina.... Especially when they are winning. In the United States, there really is not anything like it. There are big, crazy fans in many sports in the United States, but here in Argentina, its really the only sport. Yesterday, Argentina played against Britain (I believe) and the whole city was dead, but we could hear the game playing from all the houses.

When they scored a goal (and from the sound of it, Argentina scored several) The whole of Posadas shouts and cries and makes tons of noise. You could lay down in the middle of a normally very busy street and take a nap if you wanted and nothing would happen to you. And missionary work? You can almost forget it. The only ones that wander the calles are people with black tags. All of our citas told us to come back after the game, and noone wanted to listen to us for fear of losing a goal.

I am quite happy that the United States is no longer in the running for the World Cup. OR it might be dangerous for me to be in the streets. Jaja.

Love Ya,
Sarah

Blog Entry #54: Its like teaching in the primary, Hermana... Haven´t you ever taught in the primary?

2010-07-11T19:28:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!!
This week went by superfast… Yesterday, I forgot that tomorrow was p-day… but alas, here I am for another entry.

These past few weeks we have had a very high number of new investigators, and we rana round town trying to follow up on them… some of them had little interest, others were not home (on purpose or on accident, we will never know) but others really had some interest… I am a firm believer that when people have interest, they show it quickly… for example one of the new investigators from this past week, Mabel.

Mabel and her family live right next to her sister Yolanda and we started teaching them and their 8 year old daughters, Augustina and Sabrina (They have other little kids that listen, but these are the ony ones that are of baptizing age.) (Mabel´s marido also listens from the doorway…) They both showed a ton of interest, and very quickly put into practice the commitment of family prayer. Mabel is a little shy to pray out loud, so she asks her children to do it. But this last time only Mabel and Augustina listened to the charla. They only have about 20 minutes before we loose the attention of the kids so we teach them one or two principles at a shot. This last time, we taught her and her small children Prophets with the book of pictures Dad sent me (thanks… I really have no idea how this lesson would have went without them) and it went really well. We volunteered a member to come by her house to find her and accompany her to church, and Mabel and Augustina CAME TO CHURCH!!!

It was fantastic! They really enjoyed the meetings and are exited to come back the following week. When we finish with lesson one, I think we are going to be able to put a baptismal date with them. Their desire is sincere, and that is what matters.
Momento Milagroso con Miembros: Remember my circus family, well, Yanina y Yamila, the “little people,” and also Angel, a friend of the Mancuellos got cordially invited by Fabiana, a girl in our Ward, to go watch the Argentina game at the institute, and also attend the class. Milagro de milagros, they went, and very quicky won the hearts of all that are involved… Now… how can we get them to church? Well, Fabi and our ward mission leader, Lucas are working on that, still. I would not doubt that they are going to do it. The invitation of a member to go to church is a million times more powerful than that of a missionary.

We have also been working with Familia Garcia, a married couple that has been members forever, but are now inactive because of the death of their son a few years ago. Her son died in a car crash when he was preparing to go on a mission, so she felt bitter that God took someone away from her that was preparing to serve God.
Well, yesterday was the birthday of the hermana, and we really celebrated it up, with a little cake that we made and candles… it made her so happy that she told us that this next Sunday that she will come to church with a nonmember friend… Its a striking difference from the first time that I know her… all sad and bitter toward the church and God but now really exited to return…

Stuff like cakes, pavadas, really, sometimes can make all of the difference. She is also allowing us to put together a JAS noche de hogar in her house… We were thinking if we fill her house with jóvenes again, it will probably help her reactivate. A little unorthodox, but nothing in a mission is orthodox.

Thanks for Reading this…

Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Drop me a line if you want to at: Sarah.tritsch@myldsmail.net

Blog Entry #53: Working Hard sometimes feels like Hardly Working

2010-06-20T20:18:00.002-07:00

Hey Everyone!!

This week, we got highly involved with the members when the relief society presidency and primary presidency completely changed, including my convert, Ana Maria, as relief society first counselor... The ward has a new desire to work hard to find the inactives and help with the obra misional. As a result, we got 2 new weekly lunch appointments and 3 new assigned less active families. Put that with a litany of recent converts as well as our duties to find and teach our investigators, you can see that we have had our work cut out for us.

Funny story: We are still working with Natalia and her family, trying to teach her husband and child, and stumbled upon her brother and law, Fabian who had a baptismal date at one point, but could not give up smoking. He lives with Natalia, so we had a little plan to make sure he got to church Sunday. We already promised Natalia that we were going to look for her and her family and we got there and sent her children to jump on Fabian´s bed to wake him up for church... With a little push and shove and the shouting of children, Fabian groggingly got to church this sunday... one more step to guarding the word of wisdom, and on to baptism... (we hope.)

Well, Sorry this one is short, but I am out of time... Love ya.
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #52: What, Your Dad Didn´t Tell You?!?

2010-06-20T20:18:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!!!

Lots of Love and news:

This week, my mini went home and Hermana Lila Madariaga came from Goya to work with me here. She is from Buenos Aires, Argentina, although her English is a million times better than my Spanish. She has only been on a mission for a little over two months, and I am her second companion (Madrastra, asi dicen). She is really smart and friendly and we seem to work well together. She helps me refine my language, develop a better accent, and encourages me to be more obedient. The funny thing is, that she knew who I was long before I knew her.

Before my mission, (with the help of my dad) she stumbled upon this blog and read it and found out many details about me and my experiences. Its a little disconcerting when you begin to tell a mission story and she already knows it.... jaja. But its great... lots of laughs.

But we work hard and study hard together... we had record numbers this week with 19 new investigators and 6 references contacted. Arguably the best numbers I have ever had in my mission. I know that God put us together for a reason...

We made leaps and bounds with Natalia, the woman who had been attending church but did not know how to read well.... This week we were trying to put a baptismal date with her for the 26th of June but when we gave her the commitment she asked us if the baptism that she had when she was a girl still worked... Many people tell us that they have already been baptized because they do not understand that the baptisms of other faiths really don´t work for God... only the faiths that have the authority to do it, so we were not immediately alarmed.

So we began to ask her questions about her baptism to clarify... what age were you baptized? how was it done? do you remember anyone putting their hands on your head later? and the and the answers were all correct... that she had been baptized in Candelaria (another branch) when she was 12 years old. she remembers elders with tags and filmstrips, and a bunch of men putting their hands on her head... and lo and behold, our progressing investigator, really is not an investigator at all, but really and INACTIVE MEMBER!!! NO WONDER SHE WAS SO RECEPTIVE! jaja.

So now we are working to reactivate her and are teaching her husband and oldest son (the only one that is old enough to baptize) How´s that for a drastic change of events. I am happy that she is a member, but at the same time, I am a little dissapointed because she was our only progressing investigator.

We also started teaching two girls Maria and Damaris, two 17 year old girls that the missionaries taught in this past year, but could not get baptized because their parents refused to give them permission (thats an understatement...) They turn 18 at the end of the year, and thus will not need parental permission to baptize, and their friend Luci, a member asked us in their behalf to teach them again... I first knew them algunas meses atras, and I remeber feeling like they were already members because they had a spirit about them. We know that they will get baptized, either now or when they turn 18, but we are trying to make it so when they do get baptize that it will not destroy their families. I see them and hear their stories and I feel like I have heard it before... Its resoundingly similar to that of Dad´s.

They came to church in secret yesterday... I hope it does not blow up later.

I love you all very much and thanks for all of your letters.

Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #51: Highs and Lows

2010-06-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the trenches of Suburban Posadas!!!

This week, we worked super hard trying to get everything back to normal after a week of no work for the sickness of Hermana Loria... I am soo tired,,,, and my mini too. We go to bed early almost every day.... plan... brush teeth... pray... sleep.... repeat the next night. I am learning a ton from her and how to teach better because she does not know anything... a nuevita would know the charlas... but minis come in, and if they happen to have or have read or even know about preach my gospel its a good thing...

I love Hermana Stein, don´t get me wrong... she is awesome... a hard worker and has a willingness to learn, but I am trying to develop more patience... that christlike attribute always needs developing, so it seems.

But the work continues... I am a firm believer that the gospel is so strong that it can overcome the petty mistakes that I make... well, I hope so anyway.

We are working hard with Familia Mancuello... A family that was born and raised in the circus. The mother, Maria, is really awesome... she is not afraid to ask her questions, which is a really big sign of interest... Her daughters Yamila y Yanina are also listening, and two friends of theirs, Noelia and Angel are also escuchando las charlas. Every time we go over there, its all jokes and giggles... Yamila and Yamila are "little people" and work in a functioning circus that is about to open, so we get to hear all about it.

Noelia has a great desire to know why she is here in the world, and is eagerly reading the Book of Mormon to find out why.

Saturday we took them to see a baptism and they really enjoyed it!!! Some of the members were suprised to see them(you can imagine) but every one treated them well and were really exited to see them... Especially Hermano Tau, who gave us their names as a reference. Its really fun to teach them, and I am so exited to see them progress. Its a new experience, and if they are to get baptized, there is alot of work to do.... (Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity above all) but I know that if this is something that they really want to do, that they will become strong converts in the church... I am sure of it.

We are also teaching a woman named Natalia, she is really awesome... has a strong desire to change, and has been coming to church for the past few weeks... Its hard for her to read, so we are taking everything slow and steady, so she can remember and understand everything. Sin embargo, she loves coming to church, even though her head still hangs really low when she is there... I know that she will come to baptize in time, and I hope I can be here to see it.

I love Ya,
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #50: Good things come in "mini" packages

2010-05-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

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

Blog Entry #49: This week flew by like it was nothing… The days are long but the weeks are very, very short. .

2010-05-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

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

Blog Entry #48: Only in the Ensign... yeah right.

2010-05-27T18:02:00.002-07:00

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

Blog Entry #47: 1 Down, no more to go...

2010-05-27T18:02:00.001-07:00

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

Blog Entry #46: I saw the sign, I opened up my eyes and saw the sign

2010-05-27T18:01:00.002-07:00

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

Blog Entry 45: 90 and Hechopercha

2010-05-27T18:01:00.001-07:00

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

Blog Entry #44: Mi Andrea

2010-04-19T05:39:00.000-07:00

One of the final pieces of the puzzle, for familia Palacio, the daughter, Andrea finally entered the waters of baptism this past Saturday. Her mother and Sister got baptized some weeks ago, but Andrea needed a little more preparation and teaching, she also had to quit smoking and other things that she had to take care of... So when she finally entered the waters of baptism, it was like a triumphal entry. I really love this family and I am so happy that I could be part of the miracle for her.

Our last lesson with her before her baptism was a scripture study of Alma 24 about the Anti-nephi-lehis and how we need to bury our sins deep in the earth to show our determination not to return and do the same sins over and over again, and how God blessed them with power and protection, we then turned it on her, that all the changes that she has made in her life are really wonderful, and that she has to bury her past life deep in the earth to show God her seriousness and her repentance, and that she is doing it now, and God is already blessing her for it.

But the cool part about this did not happen until sunday, She had an awesome experience while she was recieving the Holy Ghost, she says that she could literally feel the Spirit entering her body, from the top of her head gradually descending right into her toes, and when she was done, she felt so empowered that she felt that she could conquer anything bad that could ever happen.

It really is a miracle when the people whom we help begin to recognize the power and the protection for themselves and not for what we say or what anyone else says.

I know that the power is real, the salvation and the atonement is real, because I can see the power of God changing lives for the better, and I know that when lives are better, it is because of the influence of God, and noone else. I love the happiness that our Heavenly Father offers us and that Jesus Christ brings us, and I know that this happiness exists, even in the furthest reaches of Argentina. You just need to ask anyone that is really, truly, smiling, and you will know.

Con Amor,
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #43: Like Christmas in April

2010-04-19T05:38:00.000-07:00

I LOVE CONFERENCE!

It’s probably the best thing that ever happened to a missionary serving in a foreign country in a foreign language… They rigged up a 14 inch screen in the relief society and I (and about 12 other English-Starved missionaries) huddled around it to watch in our native tongue, while our companions went and watched it on the big screen with the members.

Watching it live-time, the morning sessions started at one in the afternoon and the afternoon ones started at five, but we were so giddy-happy to be there… Like a little kid when their favorite cartoon comes on or Santa Claus enters the room. We even dubbed the room the English Room and anyone who entered had to speak English… It was a funny awesome turn of events.

The whole conference was one emotional/spiritual rollercoaster after the other and I enjoyed every minute of it. What President Packer said about our Priesthood living below their expectations and that the priesthood power does not have the power that it should have because they are not using it the way they should, really hit home.

Also, Elder Holland´s talk about the difference between love and lust was something that we in the mission field like to call “Bajando la Caña” which is an Argentinian idiom which refers to when the leaders castigate you really hard for something that is wrong. But it was seriously powerful and necessary.

President Monson´s powerful testimony of the Plan of Salvation and Jesus Christ made me well up tears… like he was speaking right to me.

And it was a good thing too, because two of our investigators that have baptismal fechas both came to conference and really loved it. Andrea was a little sad but found comfort in the words about the relationship between mothers and daughters, and continues to progress toward her baptismal date this upcoming Saturday.

Jorge Alvarenga, our newest investigator with a baptismal date, went to and enjoyed all four sessions. Jorge Alvarenga is the son and brother of a member who recently developed a sudden interest in the gospel. Even though it seems sudden, he seems sincere, especially because he is attending and went to conference…

Thank goodness for conference… Without it, I am sure I would have gone stir crazy, and maybe our investigators too.

Love,
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #42: Baptism in Posadas

2010-04-03T16:01:00.000-07:00

My Beloved Friends and Family,

So I looked at the calendar this morning and I realized that yet ANOTHER P-day came and now it’s time for another blog from the depths of the Argentine mission field.

This past week was all ahead forward preparing for the baptism of Ana Maria and Augustina. TONS of stuff to do and not enough time to do it. But we are so happy that at the end of the week, there are two new members of Barrio LaValle. The baptism went GREAT…. Really smooth and without problems, which was a nice change to what happened in Ituzaingó with my last baptism.

Everyone enjoyed themselves and the spirit was really strong and beautiful…. Ana Maria´s son Pablo baptized Ana Maria, and Augustina´s cousin Gabriel baptized Augustina. Ana Maria looked so happy afterward when she hugged her son in the font (Pablo got baptized about a week before I got here). You could feel the love and happiness that was in the room, and I wish I could adequately describe the great spirit of zion that I felt in that room.

Also this week, we got to see Presidente del Castillo and his wife in Zone Conference!! I love going to zone conference and getting the training and help directly from our leaders. I know that he is a smart, inspired man and is always there to help us… I wish we could see him more often than zone conferences and intrevistas.

I love it when he gives the doctrina… this time we used Alma 22 to teach us from the scriptures how we should be teaching and going about the obra misional through the examples of the great Book of Mormon missionaries. The general message of the conference is that we need to use the Book of Mormon more in our teachings and not just rely on the Bible because it is familiar for our investigators. Sometimes we have a little fear of using the Book of Mormon because we have fear that people will reject it and us more rapidly, when in reality, it sparks an interest in the Book of Mormon much more efficiently.

So we are to try and use the Book of Mormon as much as possible.

Back in the mission field, we contacted a really cool family of circus people, who seem really interested in the gospel. The whole family is involved in the circus, and the two daughters are “Little People.” They are all a really fun, awesome family that seems like they have been searching for peace, comfort, and tranquility for a very long time…

We have only talked with them once, but we are really exited to return and teach them, and they seem really receptive. We are going to give them a Book of Mormon when we return, and we hope it will give them the guidance that they are looking for.

Well, I hope that everything is well, and I thank you a ton for all your cards and notes of inspiration and love.

Les Quiero,
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #41:Ch-ch-ch-changes!

2010-03-23T07:01:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!!!

I can´t believe how time flies by... quicker than lighting. I feel like I just wrote one of these yesterday! But here we are — week 2 in Posadas, Misiones.

Posadas is an AWESOME city... the people here are great and the members too. Because of the type of support we have in our ward, our area is the highest baptizing area in the Mission (not to brag or anything), and the work keeps on developing more and more with the help of the members.

Developments with Ana Maria are as follows: She is practically a member already. Her baptism on the 27th of March is going to be awesome... especially because we are super-speed teaching her daughter Agustina to be baptized with her. Agustina is 12 years old, and is super sweet and super innocent. She is very quick to believe and trust our message and is already finding her place in the ward here.

We are in the house house of Familia Pérego almost every day teaching Ana Maria and Augstina (in separate lessons because they have separate needs) , and the new member discussions for her brother Pablo (who got baptized just before I got here) and also to prepare Augustina´s older sister Andrea for baptism too (who has a baptismal date for the 10th of April.) Familia Pérego is all to happy to have us because we are teaching their family and they are getting super close to baptism.

Andrea, the older daughter of Ana Maria, is really awesome too, but she has some doubts about the word of wisdom and the law of chastity that she still has to conquer, so we are working with her separately too.

Cintia, the daughter of the Catholic Priest, we found, still had doubts about the veracity of the Book of Mormon, so we had a good long lesson and showed her that if she REALLY believes in the Bible, she believes in the Book of Mormon also, because the doctrine is the same, and we re-committed her to pray to know if it is true. Both Hermana Loria and I felt that maybe she needed a little more time, so we changed her baptismal date for the 17th of April, with the promise that her member-boyfriend, Hugo could baptize her.

The moral of this little letter is that you got to help the missionaries... because we did like 50 contacts this week, going door to door and in the calles, and we did not even get one person who maybe would be interested, but when the members get involved, miracles happen.

In other, non-missionary-work related news, Hermana Loria and I are trying to move to a different apartment... the one we have is really dark and danky and a little dangerous, and we found an apartment that we really like, all we have to do now is go through the red tape with the mission to find out if we really can make the change.
If we can it would be better for all the misioneras that come, because this apartment is relatively new, and there is not so much damage and mold and stuff. That, and it is in the dead-center of our area.

Fingers crossed!

Love ya all so much and thanks for your letters and love.

-Hermana Tritsch

#37 through #40

2010-03-21T19:24:00.000-07:00

Four letter for your reading enjoyment.

Blog Entry #37: Visitors are not always welcome

Hey all!!!

I hope everything is going just fine at home as I make my weekly report... I cannot believe its Monday already... It feels like I just wrote one of these...

Week of suprises: We went to visit Rafaela, the lady with a shrine to Maria the size of a house... and she dismissed us. She did not seem like she wanted to... like she was sad to do it... like she was regretting it even before we left, so we asked her why.

She said that even though she really likes what we say and admires us for what we do, that she refuses to pray about the Book of Mormon because her son is training to be a priest in the Catholic Church... and he said that if she investigates the church further, that he will take it as if she is turning her back on HIM.

Suprising that she witheld that information until now... We had no idea... or we would have been more careful. All we could say to that was that we wished him luck in all his goals, and that we were happy that there were people like him that want to get closer to God in whatever way they know how... because alot of people in the world do not want anything to do with God. Its the second time I have contacted a womon whose son is in training to become a priest... There really is not anything tactful you can say to that as a missionary of another religion, except... SUERTE!

Also, there is a lady named Elva, who lives in our building that we have been trying to teach forever... She is, for lack of a better descriptor, a woman that is like a Argentine version of Nana (my grandma for those of you who do not know her), by the fact that she is well travelled, a bit of a socialite, and has that old grace that you wish people had in this day in age.

Well, Elva was moving from her apartment on the third floor to another on the ground floor because she could not deal with the stairs any longer, so we kept on insisting that we help her move, and this week, she finally let us... she had TONS of artwork and pictures (yet another indicator that she is like Nana) that she wanted us to carry downstairs one by one.

We eagerly voulunteered, and she was so touched by our service and our message about personal prayer, that after 7ish months of trying to get in and teach her... she let us put a return appointment to teach her more... We are really exited to teach her... We trade... she tells us stories about her travells in Greece or Egypt and we tell her about Joseph Smith... seems like a fair trade, eh?

Also, Maria de Pilar came to church again this sunday... we also found an old registro de enseñana for her and found that the missionaries had taught her un monton antes. When we went to teach her... she was really receptive... I think she knows its true... its just that she is a little scared of change ... if we can overcome it, she might be our next baptism. Fingers and arms crossed.

In other news that has nothing to do with missionary work whatsoever, with the fall coming on, we have had a litany of unwanted guests in our apartment from spiders to geckos to scorpions to a bug that I have never seen before. I am sending you pictures so you can meet all my new friends... just to warn you... everything is bigger in Argentina.

I love you much and miss you all un MONTON!
Hermana Tritsch

#38 All´s Fair in Love and Missionary Work -or- I DON´T SPEAK DUTCH!

Hola querida familia y amigos!

Lots of things to say that have absolutely nothing to do with each other, so I guess its time for a bullet-pointed letter...
• Earthquake in Chile or terremoto, as it is called here... we did not feel the earth shake here, but we are certainly feeling the aftereffects really strongly in the mission. My love and prayers go out to the family and friends and missionaries that are having a hard time getting in contact with each other because of the terrible earthquake in Chile... Our mission is about equal Chileans and Americans and we have got alot of freaked out missionaries that can´t talk to their parents... Presidente del Castillo gave them permission to call, but they are having alot of trouble getting through... the letter says that all the missionaries in Chile are accounted for and none of the Chapels fell, but some of the missionaries think that is a lie...

We DO know that the temple in Santiago still stands... thank goodness. Well, we are all praying for them and hope that they are able to get in contact and get back to work in tranquility.
• Back in Ituzaingo, we have found that love can be a key factor in missionary work. For example, Adriana, a Jovencita in our rama recently aquired a new NON MEMBER boyfriend, and Adriana´s freaked-out mother is basically forcing him to take the discussions if he is to be her boyfriend... I am not sure exactly how I feel about that, you really cannot force someone to come unto Christ... but there is not really much we can do about it...

Also, we have been working very hard with a less active family, familia Rotta. This family is really amazing, and after much work, we got Raquel, the mother, who got her boyfriend to come to church... The meta is that they can marry and he can baptize, and they can reactivate together... Seems to be working so far... he has quite a bit of interest and the whole family, from Grandma to the baby came to church on Sunday, and the rama (thankfully) welcomed them back warmly.

Another evidence that love is in the air is that we were recently put back in contact with Viviana, a woman who, back when I was with Hermana Schmutz, always welcomed us warmly when we were accompanied by Hermano Ojeda, but when we were alone was always very cold with us... Needless to say that she has a little bit of a crush on Hermano Ojeda... and maybe the other way around too... he gave us her name as a reference.
• We have been doing ALOT of divisions lately with the Jovencitas, they really like leaving with us and we can get ALOT more work done when we can split up and be in two places at once. We have been working extra hard with one girl named Roxana, everyone´s really worried about her because earlier this week, her sister found her with her wrists bleeding (yeah... really scary.) There really is not much by way of professional help here, so we are trying to do the best we can to keep her mind off of trying again. Presidente del Castillo would say that the best medicine is WORK, WORK, and MORE WORK... and for the time being it seems to be working. She always seems to be a little happier when she leaves with us so we are letting her whenever she wants to so she can feel wanted, loved, and we can keep a VERY watchful eye on her. Her mother is a little anxious when she leaves because she doesn´t want her wounds to reflect badly on the church, but really, the kind thing to do is let her do what makes her happy... and she´s actually getting pretty good at street contacting.
• On a lighter note, we had a really funny thing happen to us in Collectivo... we wanted to go to Posadas for P-day and bought tickets and got on the bus... with instruction that we could sit wherever we found space... We got on and found a TON of fair skinned people eyeballing us very closely... We went to sit down where we thought was space and all of a sudden we had a bus full of people talking and shouting at the same time and Hermana Casco looked at me in confusion, and I looked at her hoping it was some native tounge that she could somehow understand... Most tourists that come this way are from Germany and so I said... "Lo siento, no hablo aleman," and her muttered something and said hollandes (o sea, Dutch) and then I said, "no hablo hollandes tampoco!" and then the people turned to my companion... and started telling HER all sorts of things in this wierd language... and she looked at me all lost too... and then I had an idea.. "alguien puede hablar ingles?" and there was one man who could.

What happened was that we were about to sit in a seat where someone was sitting, but had left to go to the bathroom... We got everything figured out but it was a wierd chain of events... we are still laughing about it now...

Well, that´s about all there is for now, I love you and the church is true, and all that jazz...

Sincerly,
Hermana Tritsch

PS Shout out to the activity day girls of the Newport ward... I got your lovely cards... I am writing you better, a real card, but I wanted to let you know I recieved them.

#39 How the Grinch Stole Stake Conference

WOW another week has flown by and now I am sitting here in the cyber writing you again. It is so wierd to think that I am going to hit my halfway mark in two days... I can´t believe it!!! The really sucky thing is that I am going to have to travel on my nine month mark... its extremely likely that it is my turn to go.... I am going to miss Ituzaingó.

My whole mission up to this point has been wrapped up in this little pueblito... everyone knows who I am... or at least recognize me for what I am. I feel like I am leaving home...

I got rather mixed up feelings about all of this... on one hand... yo siento como yo he golpeado cada puerta y I am getting a little cabin fever living so far away from the other missionaries, but, on the other hand... these MY gente. these are MY people. I have been worrying about them so long... its going to be hard to leave. I might cry.

I am exited to conocer otros lados. I think it will be good for me to get out of here, to meet new people and to apply what I have learned.

Meanwhile... I am trying my hardest to pump our area book full of investigators for the Hermana that will come... so she does not have to freak out too much when she gets here. Trying to find TONS of new investigators and rescuing antiguos that used to be really good investigators. We are having alot of success finding people to teach... the majority are fairly new investigators, so we don´t have much else, but at least the new hermana will have at least an idea of where to go. Especially because Hermana Casco, herself, is still learning her way around our HUGE area.

Yesterday was stake conference... and we had an almost disaster when Presidente Mohor told everyone that there would be a bus that would take us all there... the disaster came when Friday, he told us that kids would not be envited because there was only 19 places for a ward of 50ish...

Sunday came and three families came with their children, eager to go to stake conference. Now, if it were up to me... I would put a kid on every adult lap, cram them all in there, take other cars, whatever it takes, to make sure all who wanted to come got there... (we even went in normal, public bus to make room) But Presidente Mohor, started bajando la caña en todos for bringing their kids and sent them all home. in the end, by the judgement of Presidente Mohor, only 17 were worthy enough to go to stake conference... kind of cheap... especially because Presidente has a car and could have driven people.

So, we got to stake conference, and who was there? Presidente y Hermana del Castillo!! What a suprise... in his talk, el Bajó la caña en todos for not taking care of the missionaries and one another as well. Kinda ironic... don´t you think?

I have been fighting being sick for quite awhile and finally succumed to my eventual doom during stake conference. I had been fighting it all week took affect like a train wreck (even though I was taking medicine) and by the time I got back to Ituzaingó, I was so sick I could not walk straight, I had a fever, and Hermana Casco pretty much commanded that I go sleep, even though I wanted to go work. (Don´t judge... I got 3 days left in Ituzaingó and I did not want to waste them in the pension.)

But now I am better... pretty much living on cough drops and sudafed, but I am upright and breathing and thats always a good thing.

Well... my time to write is quickly running out, but I love you all and am thinking and praying for you... and, who knows? Maybe my next letter will be coming from another city.

Les quiero tanto.
Hermana Tritsch

#40 A Whole New World... A New Fantastic Point of View.

Hey everyone… TRANSFERRED!

My first transfer in Argentina… and I don´t get very far… I got transferred to POSADAS which is like the difference between St. George and Las Vegas. I am now working in Barrio LaValle… Same district, same zone as Ituzaingó. I am now working with Hermana Loria. She has 5 months in the mission and is from Mendoza, Argentina.
That makes me officially senior companion, too. I am really freaked out about that… lots of responsibility in an area I barely know.

The area and the ward are super awesome. Everyone is way supportive of la obra misional. They have experienced lots of success for it too. They have had 6 baptisms since January 1st… and we are scheduled to have two more by the end of March. A woman named Anamaria and another named Cintia… los dos son muy buenas.
Anamaria is the sister of Miriam Perego, the matriarch of a really awesome recent convert family… It’s almost positive that she is going to get into the water.
The other girl, Cintia, is the girlfriend of a member, Hugo Tau. She is really awesome and has a really firm testimony… but she has a lot of fear because her father is a priest, and don´t even know that she is taking the discussions. If we are right, then her father and mother are lying to themselves and to her, so it takes a lot of courage to continue with her fecha.

We have a lot faith that she will make it though.

In other news, Oscar Triay died about three days ago. I was already working in LaValle two days when he died, and I have no idea como esta Nora. I am sure that she is a wreck, and it makes me very sad that I can´t be there for her right now… even though I am so close. Maybe I can arrange for divisions or something so I can visit her…

Its stuff like this that makes me miss my Ituzaingó.

Well, I am to continue here… trying to learn the streets and the ropes quicker than lightning. The people here speak tons faster and have a lot more education than those that are in Ituzaingó, and it’s a whole new world for me in the mission field.

-Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry 36: Miracle of Miracles and Mother Mary

2010-02-19T06:24:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!!

I hope that everything is going swimmingly in the states as I report in the goings on here in Argentina.

If you haven´t gotten the memo… there is a ton of changes in my contact information so here is everything… spread the word… I still expect letters… and pictures.

Address:
Misión Argentina Resistencia
Entre Ríos 435
CP 3500 Resistencia
Chaco
Argentina

Email:
sarah.tritsch@myldsmail.net

It looks like emails sent to my old email get forwarded to my new one, but I don´t know how long that is going to last, so please get into the habit of sending your emails to the new one.

Bueno… Back to business.
Here in Ituzaingó we are working really hard at the “sowing” end of things… and we have found a few people who seem really promising. We are teaching a woman named Rafaela, who is the maternal head of a very big family… 8 in her house and she has a lot of influence in two others. We hope that if we can teach her and get her to the font, the rest will follow.

She is VERY catholic, but seems to be receptive of the things that we have said… a shrine to Virgin Maria taller than the door greets those who enter her home, but she really likes the idea of modern day prophets… but no contact is entirely without problems… she can´t read. We are trying really hard to find a way to make it so she can grow a testimony of the Book of Mormon without offending her. Any ideas anyone? We can´t ask her to read the Book of Mormon and audio recordings are a little hard to come by.

God also helped us a TON when three people who we hadn´t visited, one we did not know, showed up to church on Sunday. Mariana, the daughter of Nora and Oscar came to church WITHOUT Nora and Oscar because some of the young women invited her. Nora and Oscar could not come because Oscar was getting treatment, but we were really surprised and exited to see Mariana there, igual. Miracle of member missionary work right there.

Then we met Maria de Pilar, the mother of one of the members, that up and decided one day that she wanted to go to church with her son… we went and visited them Sunday and found more than just a passing interest.

Then Vicente came too. I really don´t know much about him, he kind of just walked in off of the street, but, we are going to visit him tomorrow during divisions.
Which reminds me, we are going to do divisions again with LaValle, one of the areas of Hermanas in Posadas, but this time Hermana Galbraith will come with me in Ituzaingó. I am really excited to work with her because for the first time, I get to do divisions with someone more experienced, and with Hermana Galbraith, I hope we can do some really awesome things for the day. Hermana Galbraith goes home this traslado, and it’s really my last chance to work with her.

It is really weird to see her go… she has been in my district since week one… my companion has changed twice, but she has always been there… and now she will go, and maybe me too… I am so happy that I get to do divisions with her at least once.
Well, I am running out of time… but I love you all.

Chaucito, eh?

Hermana Sarah Tritsch

NEW ADDRESS for Hermana Tritsch

2010-02-15T12:31:00.000-08:00

Big changes in the mission...

New office address, and new email system, which means new email.

This is my current contact information

Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Misión Argentina Resistencia

Entre Ríos 435

CP 3500 Resistencia

Chaco

Argentina

sarah.tritsch@myldsmail.net

Please send word and change it on my blog.

Even though the address changed, its really better, because Myldsmail is now linked with gmail and adding pictures and stuff like that is tons faster.

Love Ya.

Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #35: I´m singing in the rain...

2010-02-09T12:30:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!

Kind of an uneventful week, but here in Ituzaingó, sometimes no news is good news... we have kind of hit a brick wall with many of our investigators, and those that were progressing either stopped or have big challenges that have nothing to do with the doctrine (i.e. Matrimonio) so we have turned our focus in finding new ones, as well as working more with less active members and recent converts... The members all seem to be fresh out of references for us, so we get to tract the old fashioned way... Door to door.

Blazing hot here, which heats the sand which burns, but at least all the people are outside... makes it easy to find people (they can´t hide from us.... jajaja). It also makes it also easy to find people half naked... one of the unfortunate side affects of working in a beach town... We got temporary relief this morning when it rained torrentially... I am actually wearing a sweater right now, if you can believe it. Its actually okay when it rains on P-day because it did not rain yesterday, Sunday, and tomorrow won´t be so hot, more frescita.

This morning, Hermana Casco and I took a photo tour of Ituzaingó, took lots of pictures before we got rained out... I am sending you some of the good ones, as well as the picture I promised you last time. I really love being with Hermana Casco. She´s a little quiet, but super patient and super understanding... the members have taken to her right away.

I have been super obssessed in my personal study with the idea of covenants… I was reading in the Book of Mormon about the 2,000 stripling warriors, and I thought it was cool that they were willing to go war to defend the covenant thier parents made… a covenant that was not even their own, because that was how important it was... and I got to thinking that my parents have made covenants too, eternal marriage, and even though I haven´t yet taken that covenant, I am earnestly fighting to preserve the sanctity of the covenant that my parent´s made, a covenant that I hope to make too someday, but not yet.

And then the thought entered my mind that it did not say they would not MAKE weapons, just that they would not USE them, and a really funny-cool picture entered my mind that the 2,000 stripling warriors had to be outfitted, and their parents had to use the talents and skills almost-forgotten, that the sons probably had never seen them use before, to defend and outfit their sons. That probably suprised the pants of the 2,000 stripling warriors, to see their parents doing all of that.

Anyway,
Food for thought

Until next week.
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #34: Be a Clown, be a Clown, all the world loves a clown.

2010-02-07T17:07:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Hope everyone enjoyed the Spanish lesson last week, but here I am reporting again in my native English… hehe.

Traslados happened again, and I find myself, for the fifth transfer in a row, still wandering the dusty streets of Ituzaingó – this time with a new companion… Hermana Laura Ayelen Casco. Hermana Araya is busy abrasando su mama in Chile right now, hopefully happy to be home, and missing her mission too.

Hermana Casco is super awesome… she has almost 16 months in her mission and will likely “die,” o sea, finish her mission in Ituzaingó, like Hermana Araya… They say that everyone starts or finishes their missions in Ituzaingó… I guess it still holds true. She is from Chubut, Argentina, although she is been here so long, she feels like she really is from Corrientes Capital – her last area.

Our numbers were uncomfortably low this past week although with preparing Hermana Araya to go and Hermana Casco to come, then travelling to find her, last minute meetings, and despididos, we really only had about 2 and a half days to really work… But that’s no excuse… goals are goals.

But this week is without disruption, so we can really see how we work together… I think it will be awesome… She is really chill… its very easy to be at peace and I don´t know what it is, but its much easier to have patience with others and myself when she is with me… she gushes tranquility, which is really funny because her main hobby is all things circus-clown oriented… The goofy kind not the scary kind.

Sorry I don´t have a picture of her yet… Well, I do, but I forgot my camera in the apartment, so I don´t have it now… I will send some next week, I promise.

Still dying of the heat… although I am perfectly happy here if it means not going to Formosa.
We are still working heavily with Débora, trying to make sure she starts her new mormon life on the right foot… it’s a little difficult, with the problems aforementioned, but I think she will survive… live up to the task. To help our cause… we are working heavily to reactivate her family… difficult, yes. Improbable? Definitely. Worth the effort? A million times over.

Well I gotta bounce, sorry this one´s short and all that jazz, but I miss you all and thanks for your letters of support and love… I got a stack the day after I wrote my last blog.

Chaocito.
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #33: Spanish Lesson...hehehe.

2010-01-31T20:55:00.000-08:00

¡¡¡Hola Querida Amigos y Familia!!!

Espero que todo esté bien con vida en los Estados Unidos mientras yo escribo un medio mundo en distancia. Esta semana fue relativamente tranquilo… Trabajamos muchísimo para arreglar nuestros números, que eran feos por los tres días estábamos in Resistencia. Estoy un poco enojada porque perdimos muchas citas mientras.

Encontramos una mujer muy buena, se llama Marité que está muy interesada in el mensaje que compartimos. Recién empezamos a trabajar con ella, pero yo tengo un sentimiento que no todo está bien en su casa con su esposa… no sé todos los detalles, pero yo pienso que su esposo es un poco abusivo, espero que el mensaje que compartimos pueda ayudarle en estas circunstancias difíciles en su familia. Sé que el mensaje que tenemos sobre un profeta moderno que esta guiándonos pueda traer más paz y gozo en cualquier situación.

También estamos enseñando ex gendarme Ramón y su hija Antonella. El es re inteligente y ella también, y esperamos que ellos puedan ser líderes en la iglesia si ellos se van a bautizar. El nos dijo que este mensaje que compartimos es re familiar por él, aun que él no escuchó los misioneros antes. Los dos son re capas y sé que el evangelio esta tocándoles. Queremos que podemos enseñar la esposa de Ramón, pero todavía, la faltamos.

En otras noticias, Hermana Araya se va a su casa en dos días, y no pienso que aun que se va pronto, no ha entrado su corazón ni su alma que ella se va. Todavía trabajamos a full, y estoy muy agradecida que ella no está floja en estas días finales de su misión.

Yo he aprendido muchísimo de la Hermana Araya, ella, mi madrasta me enseñó sobre cómo ser una misionera capa. La Hermana Schmutz era mi “mama” y me enseñó cosas básicas, como nosotros no podemos tomar el agua, y como vivir en Argentina sin ofendiendo alguien, pero mi “madrasta” me enseñó cómo enseñar bien, y como podemos trabajar con los miembros, y como hacer la obra misional.

Estoy muy agradecidas que yo tenía dos compañeras muy capas para enseñarme todos.

En verdad, muchas son yendo y llegando ahora. Cuatro hermanas nuevas vienen de los estados y van a abrir un área nueva por Hermanas. Ni idea adonde va a estar, pero puede ser El Dorado o Ituzaingó porque las dos áreas son grandísimas. El Único cosa que yo sé sobre los traslados que vienen es que voy a quedar y recibir una compañera nueva. Al fin de este traslado va a marcar seis meses en Argentina y casi ocho meses in misión (con el tiempo en el CCM). El tiempo volé cuando estamos en el servicio de Dios.

Bueno, Bueno, Bueno… Tenemos que irnos, pero les quiero muchísimo y espero que todo esta bien. Y si ustedes quieren una carta en ingles, tiene que escribirme… No ha recibido nada de nadie que no es mis padres en casi un mes y media.

Chaucito,
Hermana Tritsch

If you need to have this translated, go to http://translate.google.com/#, and copy and paste this into the field. Spanish to English.

Blog Entry #32: When it rains... it pours. Especially in Argentina

2010-01-31T20:52:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!!

So this week, all of our plans and citas were dashed to pieces, when we got last-minute noticias that we have to travel to Resistencia to fill our papers to stay in the country. They are technically making me a resident... although the papers will probably not come back until after I am done with my mission, I can legally stay in the country while I am “waiting.”

When we got to Resistencia, we immediately went to work with the misioneras of Barrio 4, Hermana Beers and Hermana López.. We recieved a very warm welcome as we went to a Noche de Hogar with a family that is really progressing in the house of a family in the ward. I quickly found out that these people were old investigators of Hermana Schmutz, as she started her mission in Barrio 4. It feels rather awkward and familiar here, because I have heard so many stories about this place, and Hermana Schmutz´s writing is everywhere in this apartment.

That night it thundered and rained throughout the night (yes... its an important detail.)

This morning we went to the mission home, and started the work on our papers. When we went to the Registro Civil to do our papers, the afteraffects of the storm were sorely felt, that, athough it was technically open, noone came to work for the rain... That´s Argentina for ya... EVERYTHING here stops for the rain.

So we have to stay in Resistencia yet ANOTHER day, lose more time in our area, in hopes that they will show up for work tomorrow. Meanwhile, we are still hanging out with Hermana Beers and Hermana López.

Sorry this one is short, but thats the mish for you.

-Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #31: Bautismo... in spite of it all.

2010-01-17T18:52:00.000-08:00

Hey All!

I hope this letter reaches all of you in good form, as I am pleased to announce, even though there was TONS of opposition, Débora is safely baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We woke up the morning of, and Hermana Araya and I had a similar feeling that with all the problems that Presidente had, that we should call for backup priesthood, and asked two elders to come from Posadas to support us. At the end, we were short one witness, which Elder Blacker, very happily filled for us.

The baptism, all in all, was AWESOME, and the spirit was super strong, as if to testify to the importance of the baptism and also to testify that all was well, and that she really was ready and worthy.

Eventually, we want to reactivate her family and get them to the temple, and her whole family was there to watch, and I know that the baptism touched every single one of them, a strong motivation to start making some major changes. A really awesome way to get the ball rolling.

Many might ask, why did we baptize her to put her in such a volatile environment… Well, for two reasons, one because she deserves the Celestial Kingdom just as much as the next person, and its not her fault she was born in Ituzaingó, and two, because she will need the Holy Ghost more than ever to keep on enduring to the end. I know we did the right thing, and the Holy Ghost testified of it too.

The next day, in church, she was to be confirmed, and someone higher-up sent us a high-councilor stake representative, and his ex stake president, ex mission president Dad. Now, whenever there are stake representatives, things always seem to go smoother in the Sunday meetings… someone to keep in check the Presidente, but yesterday it was even more awesome because the ex stake president, ex mission president, Hermano Romero, keeps everyone on their toes. They say the only ones who don´t fear him are the missionaries.

But he did the confirmation of Débora, a really fortunate thing. Because everything ended with her being confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints by a man who´s word is pretty much law around these parts.

I am realatively calm, as opposed to before when I was a nervous wrecking ball, but now the hard work begins… reactivating a family thats been inactive on and off for fourteen years. But if we can do it, it will be living proof that miracles do happen.

I am gonna need all your prayers for that one.

Love you tons,
Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #30: Wait... I´m on #30?!?!?!? When did THAT happen?

2010-01-17T18:51:00.001-08:00

¡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

Blog Entry #29: Alpargatas y Sandia aful.

2010-01-17T18:49:00.002-08:00

Hola Familia, Amigos, y Todos,

José died this week, if you can´t remember who he was, read back… he was the Gaucho that Hermana Schmutz and I baptized in October. On Sunday, we were stopped by a lady I had never met before in my life, who told us that “Toto” (his nickname) was in the hospital, in room 9.
Hermana Araya, Hermana Godoy and I went to give him a blessing, and we got to room 9 I thought there had been some mistake, because I did not recognize the man in the bed. He was frail, unresponsive, and his legs were the ugliest shade of purple. He was just lying there, with nothing but a t-shirt and an adult diaper, surely this wasn´t my José, and then I saw his alpargata shoes at the foot of the bed, and I just knew. I knew it was him.

We then set to the task of convincing his family that he was Mormon and to let us give him a blessing for his health, which after some trouble, we were able to do. Hermano Godoy gave him a really beautiful blessing and we stayed with the family about a half an hour longer and had to leave.

We found out Christmas Eve from his drunken roommate that he had died, probably about a half an hour to an hour after we left.
Everyone tells me that I did a good thing though… the best thing, because now he has a one way ticket straight to the Celestial Kingdom. I still feel like the converts are slipping through my fingers though… Oscar Triay is devastatingly sick too… something with the kidneys. But at least he is upright and walking.

All things considered, I survived my first Christmas away from home just fine.

Hermana Araya y yo celebramos New Years Eve with Familia Gómez and ate asado a full. It was a good way to spend Christmas Eve, because Hermana Gómez´s son is on a mission in Cordoba right now, so she lacked one missionary but got two others in his place for Christmas Eve. I love this family so much… probably because they remind me of my own. I feel such at ease there, and it almost feels like I am in my own house… except I was in Argentina.

We had a later curfew than normal and got Christmas Morning to rest, which Hermana Araya and I aprovechemos el tiempo y descansamos. We woke up just in time to call home. Which was the highlight of the fiestas for me.

In another entertaining note...

We have been having a tiny problem with money lately, we were expecting our money the 25th, but still it hasn´t come and its hit harder for some companionships than others… so when we came to Posadas for p-day today, and for zone conference tomorrow, we decided to bring pan dulce y sandia for some of the other Hermanas in our zone. Especially because we have had enough sandia to fill Ituzaingó. We had almost gotten it to Posadas when the bus took a sharp curve, and the sandia dropped and exploded in the bus. The juice spilled everywhere. I don´t know if we are welcome in that empressa anymore. Igual, We started riéndonos aful. Hermana Araya asked for funny/awkward situations to end her mission, so there you go.

Well, at least the other Hermanas still have the pan dulce.

We are looking forward to the final weeks before Hermana Araya goes home and the start of the new year. Expect more sandia and fireworks for sure.

Love you lots, and thanks for reading this bittersweet blog.
-Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #28: El Divino Niño

2010-01-17T18:49:00.001-08:00

¡FELIZ NAVIDAD, PROSPERO AÑO Y FELICIDAD!

Hola everyone! Hermana Araya and I are avidly preparing for my first and hopefully my only Navidad in Argentina... Never thought I would actually have a Christmas in the middle of the summer, but there you go... I fully intend to enjoy the sweltering heat of summer for Christmas, and I am so exited to be with La Chilena for a Chilean-Argentinian christmas. Especially because I really do not know If I will spend the next one here or in the States... The end of my final transfer is four days after Navidad. I guess I will not know until I get my trunky papers. (the paper that we get about 4-5 months before that outlines our travel plans)

The whole city is anxiously celebrating in the catholic kind of way... they have all sorts of fiestas and it makes it really hard to do street contacting because everyone is either going to or coming from mass or some sort of catholic ceremony or fiesta, and to contact them is rather insensitive. We made the mistake a few times and people got really mad at us. “can´t you see that I am busy worshiping mary and the baby jesus and how dare you tell me to stop going to my church when I am headed there now...” type of stuff.

Either that or they are plastered drunk.

In a completely unrelated note, Hermana Araya will go home to La Serena at the end of this transfer, and instead of slacking like some missionaries do, she has added desire to work fully until the end of her mission, and its her goal in life to be 100% obedient... Its hard to do, she just wants to know if she can or not. Its good, because she is keeping me 100% aware of everything I do, and keeping me on my toes.

Her going home at the end of this transfer pretty much solidifies that I will be in Ituzaingó por lo menos 7½ months, which is really long for a first area... make it 9 months, the longest I can stay in one place, and I will have spent more than half my mission in one area. Casi unheard of for my first area.

We were anxiously preparing for a baptism, a baptism of Débora Cabrera, a 13 year old daughter of menos activos. But the President of the Rama doesn´t think she is ready, even though we think she is more than ready. So we had to move her fecha for the 8th of January. Well, we don´t get our Christmas Baptism, but its okay... at least its still on, even if only for another weekend. We also got her little sister Melina to accept a baptismal challenge for that date. Hopefully she can get baptized with Débora too.

Griselda is our golden woman, and she is progressing fantastically. She will be baptized the 16th of January barring her marriage on the 11th of January. Its really fast, but we have confidence the marriage will go through, because it was their goal from before las Hermanas Misioneras were even part of the picture.

Anyway, time is short, like always when you are a missionary, so I gotta get back to work.

Love you tons, thanks for your letters, and Merry Christmas in whatever language you happen to speak.

Love,
Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #27: Soaking wet and happy about it.

2009-12-17T09:08:00.000-08:00

Hey Family and Friends!

Can’t write much so I will write fast.

I finally completed 6 months in my mission on the 10th!! Wow… a third of my mission over and I still feel like I reported to the MTC yesterday. And it came without even thinking. We were in the calle caminando a nuestra pensión and ella me dijo, “Feliz Cumplemes!! and I did not believe her. I had to look at my agenda to make sure. But sure enough its been six faithful months since that life changing day at the MTC.

Today Was one of the best P-days ever because we finally got permission to go to Iguacu falls. I am so exited that we got to see it. I took a mom-size amount of photos. It’s the second largest waterfall in the world, and it was rather a miracle that we got permission to go and see it. It was an all day activity, and for this this letter is rather short. It was awesome, we got soaking wet.

I will write more about it later but I am running out of time before we have to get back to work.

Love ya.
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #26: An Argentinian Christmas Miracle

2009-12-17T09:05:00.000-08:00

Hmmm…. What to say and so little time to say it…

Hope I find all of you in good health as life continues here in Ituzaingó. We were recently informed that the way we were counting our lessons, and the way practically the whole mission has been counting their lessons is wrong… Needless to say, many missionaries will, if they are not already, be frustrated. Before, we could count any instance where we taught a principle as a lesson… now, we have to, si o si, pray to count them.

I understand why, but many are frustrated, because contacts in the street, or contacts tracting where we don´t really have the opportunity to pray don´t count. Our numbers are going to drop dramatically, and it makes my companion and me anxious.

We are also going to do divisions this week with the other hermanas in our district, and I am really nervous because I have never done them before. The thing is that Hermana Araya wants to be with Hermana Galbraith, who used to be her companion about a year ago, leaving me doing divisions with her mini.

For those outside the missionary sphere, a mini missionary is a local volunteer that works with a missionary when there are not sufficient missionaries to form a complete companionship. Otherwise, they would have to close an area for a while until they get a new missionary to fill the gap, this way they can fill each area with missionaries, and avoid having to do trios and closing an area.

Hermana Do Santos (the mini) is 17 years old, from Buenos Aires by way of Apostoles, Misiones, and I only got a little less than 6 months in the mission, and only 4 in Argentina… can you smell disaster waiting to happen?

Well, It’s only for a couple of days so It can´t be too bad… can it?

Our investigators are doing fine… we had to move algunas fechas, because they still were not married, but Griselda and Noemi both still want to get baptized which is always a good sign. We were getting kind of nervous because Débora stopped keeping her commitments for a little, but we think everything is alright now. We probably won´t reach our yearly goal, but at least we know we worked hard and are doing everything in the Lord´s time.

In other news, we put up the Christmas tree today, and it looks awesome… We found a fake tree bought by missionaries who knows how long ago, and decorated it with cutouts from the Liahona, random objects around the house, a star that really took too long to make, origami, and my tag. It’s kind of awesome though… Like, if I have to be away from home for Christmas, at least I have a tree. The lights we found looked too dangerous to use, so, our tree is lightless, but its cool in a geeky missionary way.

We also received good news that next P-Day will be a good one, because our zone leader received last minute permission that we could have a Zone activity at…..IGUAZU FALLS! I am so exited we had a mini fiesta when we found out. Iguazu Falls is the biggest waterfall in South American and possibly the world, but I am not really sure. President never lets anyone go that are not in the areas closest to the falls, but everyone wants to go… so it’s a Christmas Missionary Miracle! Hermana Schmutz is going to be so angry when she finds out and she got transferred just before.

I miss you all and I am going to take a mom-size amount of pictures.

Love you much,
Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #25: What country am I from again

2009-11-30T14:41:00.000-08:00

Queridos Familia y Amigos,

I hope that you are all well in the states as I continue to work hard here in Ituzaingó. I miss you all dearly and I want to let you all know that I am thinking of you and missing all of my friends and family very much. Today was a real homesick week as I finally became infinitely aware how long it will be before I see my whole family together again… My brothers are in the “mish” too, y´know. (see their blogs to find out more. Elder Jared Tritsch and Elder Zack Tritsch)

But the thought of all of us doing the same thing at the same time gives my a little bit of comfort. I mean, I know they aren’t in trouble, smoking, drinking, or in jail… so I guess it could be worse.

Okay… back to Ituzaingó…

We had a VERY impromptu zone activity which was kind of a bust today. We wanted to go visit the Yacyreta, a dam that is co owned by Argentina and Paraguay with the Hermanas, but when we called the zone leaders to ask permission for the hermanas in Posadas to come here, he made us feel bad for not inviting the elders… soo… everyone is here. We did not get to go to the represa (dam) though. Because it is co-owned with Paraguay, technically we would go to Paraguay and needed our passports to go. We had certified photocopies of our passports, which we were misinformed would work to let us go to the represa. But when we got to the office, they told us that we needed our real passports to visit it. So… all of us gringos did not get a chance to visit the represa.

We actually catch a lot of flack for being American. It's not the first time that we got cut off for being from the United States (see the Ruinas of San Ignacio incident). We are getting rather sick of it, and many people won´t listen to us when we say that we are from the states. Hermana Kretchman and Hermana Borchart are starting to tell people that they are from Germany. Everyone thinks that they are because of their names. Everyone thinks I am Polish for the same reason… Although I don´t feel comfortable lying about it.

It's always been a little bit of a problem, but it has been worse in the past week or two… the tension, I mean… for all the Americans. Something must have happened. I don’t know what it was… I wish I did. Luckily I have a Chilena companion to vouch for me.

Back to the work…

So… having Brother Cabrera baptize his daughters is kinda a bust. He won´t even talk to us, let alone come back to church to prepare himself to do the baptism. But on the flipside, Hermana Cabrera, the mother, is listening to us more. Maybe we can activate her and it won’t be a complete and utter wipeout. If we can manage to reactivate her, we won´t have to ask permission of Presidente del Castillo to continue the baptism of Débora and Melina, their daughters.

We also had a charla franca (frank discussion) with Itati Acosta (una investigadora eterna [eternal investigator]) to find out what is preventing her from being baptized. She has been taught by the missionaries since forever… since before there was Hermanas in Ituzaingó, and has had more fechas bautismales (baptismal dates) than I can count. But we decided to work with her again because we were reading her teaching record, and the other missionaries that came before us said some fairly unfriendly things about her, saying that she was “trucha” and that we “shouldn´t waste our time” and Hermana Araya and I want to prove them wrong. The good news is that our risk paid off and we are going to work with her for baptism for the 26th of Diciembre [December].

Emilio and Griselda are still progressing rapidly… Normally we can only pass by los fines de semana [on the weekends] because she works in la Isla, a part of Ituzaingó we can’t go because we have to cross the water and the Isla is in Paraguayan waters. But Emilio nos permitó que podamos pasar y enseñarle [Emilio allows us to go and teach] during the week when she isn’t there. This is a good thing, because this means he is willing to listen to us independent of his pareja [partner]. If he accepts a baptismal date within the next week, we are going to move Griselda’s date to match up with his.

So… Theoretically we could have 5 baptisms in December… Achieving our goal of doubling the baptisms of the previous year. Its all coming down to the wire though… It might be that we have a massive baptism of everyone together on the 26th – the last Saturday to do baptisms in this year. I just hope I don´t get transferred before I can see the baptism.

Time´s up for this week.

Chao Chao, y les quiero muchisimo.
Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #24: You want the good news or the bad news first?

2009-11-23T14:42:00.000-08:00

Its time for Bad News/Good in the life of las Hermanas Misioneras de Ituzaingó!!!

Bad News:

We worked harder than ever to push through to the baptism of Débora Cabrera esta semana (this week)... and all seemed to be into the clear, until Presidente del Castillo suggested we reactivate her father to do the baptism. Great idea... Brillant... but who knows how long that's going to take and we know for sure it will take more than four days to reactivate a man who´s been inactive for 14 years. So, we can´t baptize her this Saturday like we planned.

Good News:

But if it can go through, we can reactivate the dad, baptize Débora and and her sister Melina, and get the family to the temple, its best for all that is involved. If we can pull it through, by the end of the year, hopefully, then that would be concrete evidence that there is a God, because we will have witnessed a miracle. Thankfully, Presidente del Castillo said that if we can´t manage to reactivate the dad to do the baptism, we can baptize Débora and Melina igual (together). Takes a little pressure off... but not much.

Bad News:

Church was utterly chaotic Sunday with lessons and talks ranging from the priesthood, to baptisms for the dead, and tithing, making first time comers Griselda and Emilio Dominguez confused and scared for the church. Every speaker mentioned them, placing them uncomfortably in the spotlight.

Good News:

After a 2 hour lesson with them to explain everything they are still interested, Griselda has a fecha (date) for baptism and accepted our challenge to pay tithing, and whether Emilio will admit it or not, he´s interested too.

Also, the fact that everyone took interest in them at church is a good thing... It means that they like them, and that when they get baptized, they will be a welcome part of the rama (branch).

Bad News:

Yoli, (don´t know if I have mentioned her in the past or not) who once was progressing, dejared us (spanglish term for asked us to stop coming by). Its really too bad because Hermana Schmutz and I had high hopes for her. I think when Hermana Schmutz left for Formosa, Yoli´s interest went with her... I hate it when that happens.

Good News:

On our way back from the royal rejection, we got seriously lost and stopped to ask for directions, and it turned into a fairly promising contact. Two ladies were kind enough to offer us ice water, (which Heramana Araya and I faked-drunk because we were fasting) and we talked about our key beliefs, and gave them a tarjeta de obsequio (gift card) about the Articulos de Fe (Articles of Faith), and they seemed genuinely interested. We are going to pass by later this week to see them and teach them. Hopefully we don´t have to get lost to find them again.

Bad News:

Thursday, it reached 50 degrees celsius here, which is like 122 degrees farenheit, factor in another 10 or 15 degrees for the humidity, and I think we have found my eventual cause of death.

Good News:

The schedule changes at the first of December and we study in the afternoon, so we don´t have to work the hottest hours of the day. I just gotta last until then.

Love you all and would love to hear if anyone actually reads my blog... Please drop me a line at sunrisenightingale@myldsmail.net.

Hasta la proxima semana, (Until next week)

Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #23: WHERE´S CORDOBA?!?!?!?

2009-11-19T07:33:00.000-08:00

10th of November marks my 5th Cumplemes… Meaning that I completed 5 months in the mission. *GULP* it feels like I got my mission call 5 days ago.

Nevertheless, Here in Ituzaingó, my madrasta teaches me new things every day, and she and I have been doing really well. She and I have been trying to work better with the members this transfer, and so far, our efforts turned up plentifully. This week, we found 15 new investigators, contacted 7 references, and had 6 lessons with members… Numbers that Hermana Schmutz and I only worked to achieve and never saw.

The rain has been pouring and pouring this week, and on Saturday, normally a big work day for us, we could not work because it was so dangerous… and it was like another P-day. (Seriously, people were trapped in their houses because a river ran were the street used to be.) We spent the extra time memorizing scriptures and learning the provinces of Argentina. Hermana Araya has this puzzle map of Argentina, and I almost got it down… except we lost Cordoba… Hermana Araya likes to remind me of it every once in awhile.

We have also become eminently familiar with the extended works of LDS composer Michael McClean. She has officially taken over my zune, and we constantly listen to church music... she doesn´t seem to mind that its all in English. Hermana Araya likes to sing along to our favorite eighties hits like, “We Can be Together, Forever Someday” and “I Got to Find out Who I Am” and is consistently singing them in calles (streets). Too bad noone knows what in the word she is singing about.

We have to do this mission long homework assignment throughout our mission called Atesorad la Palabra (Treasure the Word), which consists of Predicad mi Evangelio (Preach My Gospel) study and memorizing like 200 different scriptures. Hermana Araya is almost done… I want to complete mine so badly, but me cuesta memorizar en Castellano (I have trouble memorizing in Castilian). Hermana Araya is helping me though. The rainy day really helped my atesorad progress… and hers too.

The rain aside, the work still moves forward in Ituzaingó.

We are working a lot with the youth, because two of our progressing investigators are teenage girls: Débora Cabrera and Mariana Triay. Débora is working steadily toward her baptism date on the 28th and we are so exited for it. The Mujeres Jovenes have kind of taken over planning her baptism, and we are going to let them.

They have all named themselves their Hermanadoras, and its awesome that they have friends in the rama. Gospel Doctrine was nearly all teenage girls last week.

Funny story: We have been trying to get Mariana, a daughter of some of our recent converts to come to church forever… and we can´t seem to do it. Mariana and one of the young women in our rama Adriana are schoolmates. Adriana loves doing missionary work with us, and we have been trying to get her and Mariana to be friends forever.

Last week, for an unidentified reason, they got into a fight at school and Adriana punched Mariana… Then, the parents get called in, and now, Mariana is going to church and Adriana is her biggest friend at church. Who knows if the two events are related or not, but it’s a funny chain of events.

Today, P-Day, we went to Posadas to hang out with the other hermanas in our Zone, Hermana Galbraith, Hermana Do Santos, Hermana Zevallos, Hermana Bourroughs, Hermana Kretchman, and Hermana Borchart. We really did not do much, we made tacos and hung out at the apartment of the Rocce Saenz Peña Hermanas (Downtown Posadas) and ate tacos. It was a real treat, because people don´t believe in seasonings really here. Herbs sometimes, but seasonings, no. Hermana Bourroughs had some taco seasoning from the states, and it was awesome… Still wanted some Cholula Hot Sauce, but it was so awesome anyway. The apartment smelled like home.

Now we are hanging out in Posadas waiting for our collectivo (bus) to take us back to Ituzaingó and back to our mission area.

Hope everything is well and happy stateside, and know that I am thinking and praying for you.

Love,
Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #22: The Crazy Stepmother

2009-11-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

Hola, Everyone!

I´ve officially graduated from training!! Well, of sorts. Hermana Schmutz, my trainer got transferred and will bake all summer in Formosa, and I am still here in Ituzaingó. Its weird being without her… But I guess I knew this day would come. Here, turning everything I learned about how to do missionary work on its head is Hermana Camila Alejandra Araya Casanova from La Serena, Chile.

They say that Hermana Araya is my Madastra, or stepmother, because she is the companion I have directly after my trainer, or my mission mother. I am her 12th companion, third stepdaughter (yes… that’s a lot of companions for a Hermana) and probably her last, as she goes back home to her friends and family in the Chilean coast. If we stay together this transfer and the next, then, as they say, I will kill her. (not really… it just means that after me, she won´t be a missionary anymore.)

She is sooo awesome though. She is the queen of getting references from people and getting prople to come with us to lessons. Two days ago, we had an almuerzo with Familia Rodriguez and she got 4 references and 4 lessons with member scheduled in a matter of 10 minutes! That’s more than Hermana Schmutz and I would get in a week! She is also very knowledgeable about the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and I feel lucky to have her as my companion and the chance to learn from her more.

She´s also loca.

Her favorite pastimes include, eating, making fun of people´s accents in Spanish, Singing the English hymns (but she can´t pronounce the words, and she knows it, so she just makes them up), and teaching me Chilena. She also likes to infuse English slang into her Spanish words. Its kind of funny because she sometimes uses them incorrectly. She also likes breaking out into random songs in the middle of conversations. Yes, my companion has a soundtrack…

She refuses to teach me Castellano, the type of Spanish they speak here, but everyone says that as I learn Chilena, the type of Spanish they speak in Chile, that my Castellano has improved by leaps and bounds.

I am also helping her with her English. I am still teaching English Classes, even though Hermana Schmutz is not here anymore, and my companion is one of the students. She is constantly asking me the English words for things, and when we read Manual Misional (Missionary Handbook) together, she reads in English and I read in Spanish.

I rarely speak English now, or at least, not nearly as much as I did with Hermana Schmutz. Nearly my whole day is in Castellano, and I even surprise myself in how much I have learned and can understand of the people when they speak.

A few days ago, we were having lunch in a restaurant, and overheard a conversation where it was mostly Spanish, but every so often, I would hear the same thing repeated in English, and knew that they were tourists. As we were leaving, I said, ``Enjoy your time here!´´ In English and his head jolted and he was so relieved that someone spoke English. He was from Canada, and I couldn´t believe it! I COULD NOT HAVE A CONVERSATION COMPLETELY IN ENGLISH!

My mind and my words drifted in and out of Spanish like it was nothing! I told them that I had learned Spanish here and had only been speaking for five months and the woman, who was from Ituzaingó and his wife said, ``Bob, I have been trying to get you to learn Spanish for 15 years and she speaks well after 5 months!!´´ Needless to say, I was feeling fairly confident in myself after that.

I am still anxious that I don´t know my area well enough, but I am working on it, and I haven´t found myself too terribly lost yet. I can feel that Hermana Araya and I will have much success together, and I will have a riot of a time learning much from Hermana Araya.

I miss you all so much, and Zack… its going to be okay… you are going to love the MTC. Just remember to check every so often that you are breathing normal until you get to the MTC. And just think! Every Wednesday and Sunday there is Ice Cream sundaes with ice cream from the BYU creamery. So when in doubt, drown your sorrows in the creamy goodness.

Also, When I was at the MTC, I was on the 4th floor of 18m. On the same floor of those who are ASL missionaries. So, when the cabin fever gets really bad about the 5th or 6th week in, remember that Jared and I were there… pacing the same halls… feeling the same way. And don’t forget to email me… I KNOW YOU CAN.

Love,
Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry 21: Noche de las Brujas

2009-11-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

Hey all! Its me again!

Thanks for all your letters of support and love... I hadn´t got any emails, but last district meeting, I got a stack of letters through the post, I guess they all arrived at the same time. I am doing my best to write back, so please be patient with me.

Hace muchisimo calor ahora... like 100 degrees, with like 100 percent humidity. and we still have to work the hottest part of the day, during the siesta, until december. Thankfully we have our fans (Cornelius and Linus, named by Hna Schmutz) and our water cooler(Ivan). I have inherited a sun hat from Hna Glade, Hermana Schmutz´s old companion (now honorably stateside). Just trying my hardest to not die this summer. The good thing is that I have lost lots of weight, and by the time the summers over, I am sure that I will loose more.

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In our rama, the missionaries also double as activities committee. I really don´t see where that is in the job description, but ya esta. All last week, we were planning a primaria/obra misional activity for Halloween (or Noche de las Brujas (night of the witches)) We spent hours planning with Hermana Gomez to put together a night of fun and games and sweets, and for the first time in recollective mission history for either one of us, it was successful! we had investigators, community members, and church members to help. all said and done, we had about 30ish kids, and 15ish jovenes/adults.

Noemi even came with her son Augustin, and suprise! Her marido Cesar came too. Maybe him seeing the capilla will soften his heart a little.

Hermana Schmutz and I even dressed up as witches. (again the cyber is giving me problems with my pictures... grr... Its kind of touch-and-go with the machinas... I will probably send another CD pretty soon, mom.)

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We get the transfer call tomorrow. We think that Hermana Schmutz will go because during our last interview with president, he thanked her for her service in Ituzaingó and asked me if I knew the area. We are way anxious. Hermana Schmutz is way triste all the time, and I have a big fear that when she leaves, everything is going to fall into catastrophe, and I am going to do something stupid and lose all of our investigators.

She says that most missionaries that stay in one place for as long as she has, get cabin fever and want to leave, but she is different. She wants another transfer in Ituzaingó. More likely is that she will go to Formosa and bake. But who knows, Presidente could throw everything for a loop and send ME to Formosa (I shudder at the thought...)

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We put a Fecha Bautismal with Griselda. Well, half a fecha. She didn´t say no, only that she would pray about it, she wants to make sure its for her and not for us. But we have faith that everything will be okay. She accepted our desafio to obey the Word of Wisdom, and she and her marido, Emilio, are going to try to obey it together. Who knows, if the Holy Ghost will help us, we might be able to baptize her and Emilio at the same time. They still have much to learn and much to do (like get married) but it could very well lead to our next baptism. Fingers Crossed, check that, arms crossed (like prayer, get it? Get it?)

(Love that cheesy missionary humor that makes no sense)

Miss ya much. I love you all, and look forward to reading more news from the homefront.

-La Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #20: Do we get to wear real clothes when we go?

2009-11-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom and Dad and Everyone!!

This week might be a little short because time is short right now... We went to meet up with our zone today to visit some waterfalls (not the Iguazu Falls tiny ones, but it was fun anyway... )and las Ruinas de San Ignacio today... My first time since coming here that I was allowed to look like a proper tourist... I did not even have to wear proselyting clothes

Well... We went to the falls, (they were awesome, wish I could add pictures, and I will send them sooner or later, but I forgot my card reader...sorry) but when we got to the ruinas they were going to charge us like 30 pesos just because we were Norteamericanos, and the other missionaries didn´t want to pay, so we just had fun doing a bit of shopping and bargaining... I didn´t buy much, but Hermana Schmutz was a genius at the whole bargaining thing and taught me how to do it. Kind of dissapointed though... really wanted to see the ruinas, maybe I will get another chance some other time.)

Now we are feverishly writing in the cyber in the Posadas Bus terminal racing our bus that will take us back to Ituzaingó. If we don´t we will miss some pretty crucial citas, so here we are.... hoping we won´t misspell anything too bad.

Yesterday was one for the record books. We had consigned ourselves to having pretty rotten numbers yesterday, because Hermana Galbraith and Valenzuela, other Hermanas in our district, asked us to come to posadas early and help them with their activity, so we reluctantly wrote like 5 lessons taught and no new investigators. We would leave very soon after church and would really have no time for proselyting.

We left in the morning in a hurry to find Noemi, a woman who we were teaching and had a fecha... but by the time we got to church, Hermana Lita, a member of the ward, brought two new investigators... and then randomly in the middle of Priesthood/Relief Society, this drunk twenty-something Named Raoul wanders into the capilla, probably straight from the boliche (dance club) and says that he always wanted to come into the chapel but never felt he could and now he had the guts... We, wanting to be inviting to everyone, lead him straight to priesthood, where, oddly enough, he was warmly welcomed.

In Gospel Principles, Noemi, Gaucho José, the two friends of Hermana Lita, Hermana Lita, Raoul, and Us are all crammed into the small gospel principles room for one of the biggest showings we ever had.

In sacrament meeting, Raoul hit on, then fell asleep on Noemi, causing all of us to bust up laughing...Talk about bad reverence examples. Fillipa, one of the friends of Hermana Lita, got really emotional during church, and left during sacrament meeting.

Needless, to say, by the end of church, we had got return citas with them all, and counted them as three new investigators on the first day that we planned to get none.

Talk about God watching out for you and giving you blessings when you least expect it and the form that you least expect.

Love ya all, wish I could write more, but the bus is coming.
-Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #19: Whadya Mean I can´t call my Mom?

2009-11-15T08:47:00.000-08:00

Hope everything is going very well in the states as I write from the hot confines of the Macau cyber in Ituzaingó, Corrientes.

This week was an adventure and a half, to say the least, as I mended from my nightmare of a cold. Because as soon as I was on the mend, my poor compi inherited the same sickness... except for worse... because she was so worse off that she could not walk, let alone work, and we spent most of the afternoon Tuesday in the pension as she slept... Between the two of us, we had produced a missionary´s weight in snot... But we are all okay now.

This made evident by us setting a companionship record on Saturday by teaching 21 lessons in one day. We went to bed tired as ever, and slept hard, knowing we did good work.

Thursday, Hermana Sena, the same woman that fed me cow face, decided to treat us with a nice healthy helping of cow stomach... Mondongo as its called. They did not tell me what it was at first, but I kind of guessed as I smelled it... It smelled and looked like the Zoo. The worst part was that she and her mother were happily feasting on baked chicken and rice as we were suffering through it. The thing is, Mondongo is really expensive, so when you are served it, its a big sacrifice for the family, so you just have to find a way to choke it down if you can. Hermana Schmutz and I were still fairly sick, so we got away without having to eat too much, though.

Sunday morning, was Dia de la Madre in Argentina, and saddened that we couldn´t call our mothers because it was not Mothers day in our own country, we started the day by hunting down one of our menos activos, Juana Baez. We get to her house, and she is already to go, which is a good sign, because we normally wake up people we drop by to take them to church. Then we are walking, and we are almost there, but we needed to pass by Noemi, one of our investigator´s house, to pick up her and her son, so we ask if we can meet her there, she agrees, and we run off to collect Noemi. We get to church with Noemi and Juana Baez does not show up... between the five minutes it takes to get to the chapel from where we left her, she must have got lost or something because she never showed up. I sure hope she is okay. We are going to visit her later this week.

The church services were the day of Hermanas Misioneras, because Presidente Mohor and half the rama went out of town for Dia de la Madre and in their place we were assigned... everything. We taught the relief society lesson, taught the activity in Primary (making handprints of the kids for the moms on mother´s day) and gave the talks in sacrament meeting. It was a headache and a half, running back and forth doing everything, and my first talk in Spanish was probably a disaster but I really don´t know enough spanish to know if it was a disaster or not. I had never been so nervous for a talk in my life.

Today, we went to the casa of Flia Gomez, and Hermana Gomez taught us how to make empanadas and the tapa (dough) from scratch. They were fantastic, and I can´t wait to share it when I get back from Argentina. The key? Pig fat. We also made them a chocolate cake as a gift for all they have done to help us in the obra misional from the recipe that Dad sent me. In fact, they are the fourth family we have made a chocolate cake. Everyone wants the recipe and I still have to translate it. Its a fantastic recipe and it bakes really well, but I really don´t want to see another piece of chocolate cake for awhile.

I am gaining my footing here. Its hard at times, and I don´t know what to do, but I feel more and more comfortable as the days continue. One thing I have learned is that you can prepare and sacrifice and pray for the Holy Ghost to be with you when you teach, but if the investigator does not want to feel it, or refuses to recognize it, it really does not matter. Thats our job as missionaries, to help people come to the desire to have the gospel change them, then the Holy Ghost and Christ can do the rest.

I urge everyone to let the Holy Ghost touch you and change you, its the first step to allowing Christ to save you.

All my love,
Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #18: The Gospel: The Best Medicine

2009-10-16T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!!

Here I sit with my companion at my side, reporting on the weeks activities from the cyber in the middle of Ituzaingó. Its a pretty spring day, but the summer heat comes quickly, and I am in store for one of the hottest christmases I have ever had, I am sure. The heat, though brings the people out of the woodworks and onto the streets, and we have a goal this week to find investigadores nuevos, and we are firm in the faith and in our minds to achieve our goal.... si o si.

Last week, we got to see the baptism of José Balmacera, a gaucho from the campo... He was really golden because he was quick to recognize the spirit and the truthfullness of the message, he just had a little problem remembering what we had taught him, he is a 55 year old man who looks MUCH older than he is, and has many heart problems, But with much fasting and prayer, he sailed through his entrevista with ease, and enjoyed a simple servicio bautismal that was smooth and easy... no problems at all. We are sooo happy for him, and the spirit was strong, sweet and simple, both during the baptism and during his ordination yesterday... I am so glad I got to witness it, and that I could be part of it all.

I have been sick lately... The weather can´t decide what it wants to be, and so it changes regularly. I had a very nasty cold, and am running out of american over-the-counter sudafed, but luckily I am on the mend... I just work through it. No time to take it easy when there are people to teach and lives to change with the miracle of the restored gospel.

I really love it here in Ituzaingó. Its like the place that worry forgot... this tiny little beach town, where people still drink out of glass bottles, and sit around talking for hours about everything and nothing at the same time. Where people would rather fix what they have than buy it new, and find pride in the simplest of homes – because they built it themselves. Everyone has motos, or walks everywhere... and only the very wealthy have cars. The people are very humble, and willing to listen...

The only trouble is that it is hard to change, and there are not many who want to change. When we contact on the street, nearly everybody lets us pass by, but when they find out that being mormon is hard, they give up, and only wish to be our friends.

But we do find people who are willing to go the extra mile, they are good, and worth waiting for.

Miss you all dearly, sorry this one is a little shorter.
-Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #17: It´s a risk, but we think it will be worth it.

2009-10-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

Here is another entry to the life and times of Las Hermanas Misioneras Tritsch and Schmutz:

Happiness reigns following the miracle of General Conference this past weekend… I love having my birthday right before conference… It makes me feel as if I am recieving God´s word for a birthday present… Truly impressed as always with Elder Holland´s firm and stalwart testimony of the living divinity of the Book of Mormon. I know its not really kosher to have a favorite apostle, but he ranks very high in my list. Probably just shy of the prophet himself. I love all of his talks, especially recently. I felt the spirit so strong, I forgot to take notes… Mental Note: Get this when a printed version is available.

I love conference, and even more now since I am a missionary. It seemed as if every word of every talk was directed toward missionary work... both in and outside of the home.

The members watched it in Castellano in the chapel while Hermana Schmutz and I cheerfully camped out in the primary room in front of a small TV playing in English... The funny thing was that many of the youth and primary children decided that they were too cool for spanish, and decided to hang out with us. Surely they could not understand the conference, but they could understand the spirit, and it was wonderful to know that they loved us enough to listen to conference with us.

With the end of conference, Hermana Schmutz and I decided to shift our focus onto the menos activos and familias en que todos no son miembros. (less active and part-member families) We will work on a very strong impression of Hermana Schmutz, and we know that we will be able to recieve our meta (goal) of 5 more baptisms by the end of the year by working with them because less active families and part member families usually know more people to teach. We were kind of hesitant at first, because it means that our reports will be lower than normal, because we are not working purely with investigators, but we think it will help bring people back from inactivity, unite families, fill the capilla, and help with rama unity.

We ask that you pray for us in our efforts, that they will recieve us, and we will be successful in our endeavors.

José Balmaceda, gets baptized this Saturday and we are sooo exited. With our last lesson with him, he prayed with us for the first time with him voicing the prayer. It was so awesome and the spirit was so strong. His prayer went something like this:

Padre Celestial (Heavenly Father)
Gracias por... (Thanks for...)
Te pido por... (I ask thee for...)
En el nombre de Jesucristo, amen. (In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.)

No content... really said nothing, but he said it with so much reverence and respect for God, that we could not deny that he had really prayed, and that Heavenly Father had truly listened. It was amazing.

He taught that it really does not matter what we say, as long as it is sincere and with pure intent. God will listen.... ALWAYS:

I miss all of you terribly, and I want you all to know that I am thinking of you.

-Hermana Sarah Tritsch

PS Cynthia and Anastasia, If you read this blog, I have letters for you but do not know where to send them since you went off and got married to your fiancees... please send me an email with your new addresses, so you can get my letter.

Blog Entry #16: La Semana de las Tortas (The Week of the Cakes)

2009-10-04T06:51:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Here to report that Ituzaingó is not done with me yet! I finished my first transfer, and Hermana Schmutz and I are still companions… YAY! Still teachin´ lessons and takin´ names… We are working hard to serve the people here and are enjoying a measure of success.

The missionary work here progresses faster and faster every day and we are seeing many of our key investigators progressing very rapidly… Our closet-Mormon Mauricio secretly falls in love with the gospel of Jesus Christ more and more every day, and we can see the big changes that the gospel has brought him in his life, and we pray every day that he gets the courage to notice the changes too. His friends, Luz and Lucas, both members, (and lucas, mission bound) create a nice niche for him to be too.

Our Fecha Bautismal with José fell through... sad but true... because he got called to work in the campo again... We think he has got a big piece of land that he co-owns with some other men. However, we rescheduled his baptism for the 10th of October and are somewhat thankful for the extra time to assure he understands every principle. The good thing is that for his work last weekend, he solidified the fact that he was not going to be called last minute the weekend of the tenth. See? God does work in mysterious ways.

Happiness comes to those who are anxiously waiting for conference. I LOVE doing missionary work around conference times because it completes the pattern of revelation... God called prophets biblically, he called Joseph Smith to be a prophet in 1820 and today, now you can listen to a modern-day prophet that gives us counsel for our modern day problems and difficulties, and in the first fin de semana en Octubre usted puede ver el profeta hoy y escuchar sus palabras por su mismo. Its great.... and about 10ish investigators promised to come to the broadcast in our little capilla.

Its a totally happy thing...

Speaking of happy things Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes! :) :) :) :) :) Birthday celebrations started early this year when Hermana Mohor, the branch president´s wife threw me a mini-party on Sunday.

Then today, the 28th, I shared two cakes with Hermana Sena (its her birthday too) at her little fiestita. We made a chocolate tortita (little cake) for her and she made a torta grandiosa for my birthday. Imagine a cake where there is a chocolate layer, then peaches in the middle, a lemon layer, covered in dulce de leche (caramel-like substance) and then covered in sprinkles. Topped with a firecraker. It was a sight to see...

And then tomorrow, Hermana Fortunato and Hermana Fantini both want to make me a cake.... I feel like I am swimming in birthday cake.

Its so nice to know that I am loved here and that people have their eyes out for us and take care of us... And I had a false impression that my birthday tomorrow will be a lonely one. It might just be the biggest one I have ever had...

This week we are going to focus on giving baptismal desafios (challenges) and working in and around general conference. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, suprisingly, is really popular here... with members and nonmembers alike, so Hermana Dirie and Hermana Fortunato are trying to get their friends to come by advertising the choir. Hopefully it works.

Its so wonderful to be here on a mission... Its still so surreal that I am wearing the black tag and serving my Heavenly Father... Sometimes I feel like I got here yesterday, and sometimes its hard for me to remember what it was like to NOT be on a mission... and I have only been on a mission for a little less than 4 months... I can´t even imagine what its like for someone who is nearly done.

I love you all, and if you are reading this and have any idea who Kira Johnson is, I want everyone to tell her that Hermana Sarah Tritsch says ¡Feliz Cumpleaños! (We are birthday twins 5 years apart...)

Love you all. You are always in my prayers.

-Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #15: You got questions? We like Questions...

2009-09-28T07:36:00.001-07:00

¡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

Blog Entry #14: Its not so dangerous if we go in the morning...

2009-09-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

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

Blog Entry #13: Rodents of Unusual Size? I don´t think they exist.

2009-09-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

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

Blog #12: Hermana, What sounds do frogs make?

2009-09-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

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.

Blog Entry #11b: "I think I recognize these footprints..."

2009-09-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

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

Blog Entry #11a: ¡Verano, Lo Viene!

2009-09-01T11:55:00.000-07:00

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.

Blog Entry #10: Toto, I think we aren´t at the MTC anymore...

2009-09-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

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!

Soy Aqui

2009-08-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

I am finally in Resistencia, and I have met my mission president and my new companion, Hermana Celia Schmutz, She is from Utah, and is very nice and continues to help me with my Spanish.

We have been assigned to labor in Ituzaingo. An area on the North end of Corrientes province. We have a four hour bus ride to get there, so I am emailing you from an internet cafe close to the mission home.

I do not have much time, but will email more on my preparation day, Wednesdays, when I get to my area.

I am glad I am here, now that I have met my companion I do not feel so scared anymore.

I love you all,

Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #9: 238 Bowls, 54 missionaries, 3 companions, and one final plane ticket.

2009-08-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Hey All!!!

I guess I will not wait as long as I had been lead to believe.... Flight plans for Thursday, August 13, 2009 to Buenos Aires arrived, and these ones seem rather definite.

Everyone is getting anxious to go, and its really distracting to everyone. In order to calm my nerves, I have been reading the Book of Mormon straight through, in order to find my favorites, highlight them, and give away the Book of Mormon on the plane.

In order to blow off steam, as well as boycott our weekly Teriaki Styx meal (which always seems to make us sick) Our zone, a couple of nights ago, decided to drain 4 large containers of cereal in one meal. It was arguably the most entertaining thing I had seen in 9 weeks. 54 Elders, and 4 sisters consumed 238 bowls of Marshmallow Mateys, Life, Frosted Flakes, and Tootie Fruities. It was..... ugh. But it suprised me how dedicated our elders were to the cause. I myself, was only able to consume two bowls, because I was hesitant with the milk because of my recovering from a nasty cold. So I kept tally. One Elder, Elder Vincent, consumed 9 BOWLS of the sugary cereals.

On another note, Hermana Allen left for Buenos Aires yesterday, so Hermana Sorenson became a third companion for me for these last few days. When her roommates leave, she may have to move into our room for a night... Which seems rather odd... but noone can be left alone in a room.

I don't feel ready to go, but I feel that I have gleaned as much as I can from the MTC, so I guess its time for me to get out of here and get to work.

WISH ME LUCK!!!

P.S. Just because I am going out of the country, does not mean that you have to start writing me... email me at sunrisenightingale@myldsmail.com or send letters to the pouch. Send one page letters folded into thirds and taped shut without an envelope to the address listed in the sidebar. Just write the address directly onto the paper. This way, you only have to pay in-US postage, and I will still get your letters.

I love you all, and want you to know how much I love you and am praying for you.

-Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #8: Curses! Foiled again!

2009-08-11T16:40:00.000-07:00

NOTE: THIS BLOG POST WAS RECEIVED BEFORE #9. SARAH NOW HAS HER TRAVEL PLANS TO ARGENTINA, LEAVING AUGUST 13TH.

Bienvenidos a mi Blog para la ocho semana!

Nearing the end of the eighth week at the MTC, I finally recieved travel plans to Argentina... A flight on the tenth to Salt Lake to LA, LA to Lima, Peru, and Lima to Buenos Aires! and then on to Resistencia or bust, RIGHT?

CHISTE! (Just Kidding!)

Not to be outdone, the travel office informed us a day later that we would indeed be delayed. As they say in spanish, CHISTE! I will be delayed out of the MTC until we can meet with the Consulate from Argentina, however, whomever I ask has different ideas about when that would be.... Some say the 12th, some say the 31st.

So I am stuck here in the MTC for anywhere from a week to a month, but the thing is, when our visas finally do come through, we could leave at the drop of a hat, so everyone is rather on edge. All of the missionaries going to Argentina are delayed, and there are about fifty of us that are delayed, (at least that I know of...)

Meanwhile...

I have developed a rather nasty virus (NO ITS NOT SWINE FLU) that feels like the worst kind of head cold ever. I have to take over-the-counter sudafed and Aleeve as an anti-inflammatory. The good thing is that the doctor does not think I am contagious, so I can still go to class and study. The bad thing is that he prohibited me from dairy products until sunday. So I am lactose intolerant until Sunday.

I just hope that I can shake this thing before I meet with the consulate, so it doesn't get in the way of my visa once he finaly does come to meet us. But I feel better every day, and even can breathe out my nose now!

In other news, things are getting repetitive now, because the teachers have taught us all they have planned to teach us, and everyday is a review now. Which I desparately need, but there really isn't anything new now.

Our TRC appointments came to an end on Monday, and we have no more scheduled. Which is a mixed blessing because I liked the practice, but Hermana Greene and I did not really feel it helped us at all.

I am doing my personal study almost soley out of my Spanish PMG and Scriptures now, and am also reading the Spanish Conference Liahona, and Find that I can understand just about anything that's written down. However, speaking and listening is a different story.

Hermana Ramos and Hemano Tateoka (our teachers) suprised us this week by informing us that now, we would be doing Spanish outbound calls in the RC (referral center). Talk about nerve wracking! I was way nervous my first time, but Hermana Ramos was on the phone with me and prompted me with what to say when I did not know, but my real trouble comes from understanding what they were trying to tell me. My listening skills in spanish are sub-par at best, so most of my study this week with be working on understanding people as they speak.

But things are otherwise going smoothly. Three of my roomates left for the field yesterday and Monday, so we get new roommates tomorrow, I am kind of nervous for them, I hope they like me and that I will like them...

But I know that God loves me and has a plan for me. I know that sometimes life is fustrating, but I will survive, because I am going to Argentina for a reason... Even if I don't know the reason at all.

Love you all.
Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog #7: Where's Waldo

2009-08-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

Hola from the CCM!

Hope all is well in the home front, as I continue my adventures serving the Lord. This week flew by faster than the 747 that will take me to Argentina. All the days seem to meld into one, and I have a hard time, sometimes, telling the days apart.

This week, however, we got to contact a much younger (meaning newer) district the second lesson in Espanol and they returned the favor with lesson 1 in espanol. I know we are not supposed to compare, but I was exited to realize the immense progress I have made in my Spanish compared to a visual and aural reminder of where I was just over a month ago.

Its truly a miracle how fast people learn languages here, and I am glad that the Holy Ghost is my constant "Study Buddy" at the MTC, else, I would be nowere near the place where I am in studying the language. We have learned all of the basic verb conjugations, and now, we are just practicing the application of the language, which, on some days, are better than others.

I know, that the days where I am the least selfish, and the most centered on Christ, both my teaching and my Spanish come quicker and easier.

Update on Samuel: We had another quick phone call with him and officially passed off the main teaching responsibility to the missionaries in his area. He went to visit his mother in the Dominican Republic, but by the time he returns, we will hopefully be proselyting in Argentina, and will be unavailable.

But our hopes are high, because his faith is good, and he has kept all of our commitments, even some more difficult ones, and works heavily on overcoming his problems and learning to depend on God and Jesus Christ.

The last commitment we gave him before he left, was to take his mother with him to church when he visits the Dominican Republic. I hope he does so, so his mother can realise how happy he has become, and can learn more about the gospel that her son has begun to embrace.

I wish him the best of luck and continue to pray mightily for him and his family.

In other news, John H. Groberg visited us with a wonderful fireside about the importance of temples and temple work. He also talked about how much earnest temple attendance can teach us about how to be good missionaries.

He urged us all, in our next temple visit, to ponder about what kind of power are we endowed with when we leave the temple, and how to more efficiently access that power.

One of the things that I have been most quick to learn is that we can't just baptize just anyone, because we need to make sure that they understand and are ready for the bran new life ahead of them. We need to be searching for the Elect, the ready and the willing. Not just anyone, we are not trying to just boost our numbers, but really, honestly, change people's lives and save them through the message of Salvation that only comes through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Its like a giant game of "Where's Waldo" -- missionary-style. We are looking for specific people with specific traits that show their willingness to follow christ through the waters of baptism, through the temple and on to eternal salvation.

I know that as I tune my heart and mind into the spirit the best I can, I know that I will be able to find those who are ready, "already to harvest," even if it takes months and months.

Happiness to all,
Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #6 It's not about the size of the sin, it's about the power of the forgiveness.

2009-07-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hello!

This week at the Provo MTC passed by like a whirlwind. The days are long, but the weeks are short, and I am looking at just three short weeks until I am in Argentina (keep your fingers crossed that my visa comes in). If the time in the field are anything like this, I will be back in the states before I know it.

I got my first taste of a real investigator when I recieved an inbound call during our time at the Referal Center from a man named Samuel. He had many questions about God and forgiveness, and had been going to many churches to find the answers. I felt prompted to skip the normal first discussion and hop directly to Jesus Christ and the Atonement, which really helped him realize that there was hope for him.

We also talked alot about who God was and what he wanted from us. After going about 40 minutes over our alloted time in the Referal Center, I felt terrible that we were disasterously late for class, and I set up an appointment to call back and tell him more, but also let him talk to Elder Monroe, our Zone Leader, who had just reported for his own RC duties.

Elder Monroe talked to him for a further hour, and taught him the bulk of the first discussion, and committed him to baptism, if he found out that what he was hearing was true, and Samuel accepted. (Talk about Golden, huh?)

On Saturday, we called back for our return appointment, and talked about modern-day prophets and prayer, and we urged him to go to Church. We asked him to read a talk by Thomas S. Monson so he could find out for himself if he was really a prophet.

On Monday, we called him back again, to see how church went, and HE LOVED IT!!! He met the missionaries serving in his area, and set up an appointment to talk to them today (Tuesday) and is very much looking forward to it.

One of Samuel's main concerns was not the fact that he could not pray to God, but that he was wary of praying for his forgiveness (which he thought, by praying for it, it made him selfish). So we urged him to pray more honestly with God and to read the book of Mormon.

Then, after a long pause, HE said that he had an idea, that he wanted us and him to pick a chapter from the Book of Mormon, read it, and we would talk about it when we called back on Wednesday. How awesome is that? We told him that that idea came from the Holy Ghost telling him that he should read the Book of Mormon, and then he got all the more exited.

I am so happy for his progress, and how much he has come to know His Heavenly Father's love for him and the true forgiving power of the atonement. I pray that he will continue to learn and grow and will eventually truly understand what "Coming unto Christ" means.

It leaves Hermana Greene and I on such a high that It makes me want to be a better missionary and a better person. Its so exiting to see this man learn about the gospel and find such joy in the scriptures -- a joy that sometimes we forget.

Hopefully, on Wednesday, we can start teaching Him all about the Plan of Salvation.

Regrettably, we have to slowly move away as he begins to trust in the missionaries in his area, so they can help him on his journey into Baptism and beyond.

Please pray for his continued interest and success. He, the missionaries in his area, Sister Greene, and I would very much appreciate it.

All my love,
Hermana Tritsch

Blog Entry #5: "Sorry I'm Butchering your Native Tounge..."

2009-07-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Now is time for a weekly blog from yours truly.

In this week's episode, MY FIRST LESSON ENTIRELY TAUGHT IN SPANISH!!! WOOOooOOOOoo!

In the MTC there is a program were volunteers come in and act as mock investigators, and then us missionaries set up appointments to practice our language and teach them.

Up until last week, only part of the appointment had to be in Spanish -- the "Get to Know you" part or the "Lets order Food" part. But they threw us a curveball for this weeks appointment, when we were informed that we would teach the first lesson entirely in Spanish as well... We taught a woman who, according to the teaching record had been coming to church with her husband's brother, but only because she desired unity in her family. She had taken the discussions years before, but only now, wished for the missionaries to return.

We first had to practice ordering food, and it was terrible for me, because I could not remember the words for anything food-related. I think I have been studying gospel terms so much that normal everyday people conversation kind of got left by the wayside. We were also supposed to share a scripture and spiritual thought, then arrange to come back to teach the first lesson -- supposedly.

What really happened was an awful massacre in the form of a terrible mix of English and Spanglish -- at least on my part. But I have been learning spanish for five weeks -- surely it couldn't have been that bad -- in the circumstances. But we were so nervous, that we even forgot to "bless" the food that we "ordered"... es muy terrible!

We returned ten minutes later (after one last-ditch plea for help from the Lord), and taught a great lesson about how the gospel brings unity to the family, both eternal and temporal. We talked about God being our Heavenly Father desires unity among His children within the protecting power of the gospel.

I think Hermana Greene and I did fairly well for our first shot for all the marbles. But we do have to give credit where credit is due -- we had been praying every spare second for guidance and knowledge, and the Holy Ghost really had been our "Third Companion" in the lesson, and through that, we were able to teach, even if we could not remember some of the words.

On Sunday, during Relief Society, former-President Margaret Nadauld of the Young Womens came and gave a Relief Society lesson that was just amazing about the power that we have as Sister Missionaries. She called us "Her Girls" because she was the President when most of us were Mia Maids, and it was so great to hear from her again.

I got to meet her afterward too, and SISTER NADAULD......HUGGED ME! I wish I could have gotten a picture, but they wouldn't let me. but it was really a wonderful Sunday.

Tonight is another Devotional, and people are as tight-lipped as ever as to who is speaking, but I get to sing with the choir, and I know whomever it is will be amazing. Stay tuned for another episode to find out who...

All my love,
Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #4: Why Does Everyone Declare Independence in July?

2009-07-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

Hola Amigos y Familia!

Esta Hermana Sarah Tritsch. Yo quiero escribir un poco sobre de mi semana ayer en la MTC.

This week marked the first major holiday on my mission -- Fourth of July. But the Independence Day festivities started long before the fireworks on Saturday. The 1st of July marked Canada day, and Elder (Spencer) Wannop, an elder in my district made sure that we did not forget it by singing loudly at both breakfast and lunch "O, Canada" both in English and French. It was interesting to watch because of the expressions on his face, and the fact that he was soon joined in on one boisterous chorus by at least three other Canadian missionaries. All sporting red and white ties for the occasion, it was a sight to see as these other missionaries celebrated their homelands even though it was far away.

Not to be outdone, the whole of the MTC looked forward with eager anticipation for last Saturday, the 4th of July. The rumor was that the senior missionaries had put together a play for us and that we would be able to stay up a little later to watch the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire. The rumor was proved true when class was canceled early for the occasion.

The play was all about the people of the restoration that helped prepare the world for the restoration and ended with them visiting Wilford Woodruff in the St. George temple, asking for their work to be done. They were all dressed up in costume, and it was quite a sight and a wonderful way to celebrate the fourth in an increasingly international MTC.

During the fireworks, most of the missionaries started singing patriotic songs as well as songs of the restoration as loud as possible during the fireworks. We were all together by the flag circle, enjoying the fourth at the MTC. It was a welcome break from the studying and an effective boost of comraderie amongst the missionaries.

Even the foreign missionaries could not help but join in the festivities.

Our district looks forward with anticipation for the 9th of July, which marks El Dia de Independencia de Argentina (Argentina's Indpendence Day) My culture book says that in Argentina, they celebrate with fireworks (Juegos Artificiales) just as we do, but somehow, I don't thing we will be able to shoot of fireworks to celebrate the occasion here in Utah.

I am exited to be here at the MTC where I feel part of something bigger than myself -- something more important than all of us, and that can unite us all together under a banner of righteousness. I know that the gospel is for everyone, and it is the only thing in the world that has the power to unite cultures, if we let it.

Thank you for all your letters of support and love.

-Hermana Sarah Tritsch

Blog Entry #3: Welcome to the Work of Angels

2009-07-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

Everyone who can and will ever read this,

My mind and heart are both full as I write today with the events that happened over the past week.

With a million things running through my mind its hard to know where to begin. Last week, the new mission presidents reported to the MTC for a week of seminars and training, and thus, the whole main building and many other parts of the MTC campus were inaccessible to us normal missionaries. This made it easier on security because all of the twelve apostles and every member of the first presidency came to the seminar for the mission presidents.

Because of the Swine flu scare, everything was locked down and there were very few real sightings of any authorities, but the thought of Apostles and prophets here made everyone exited, even if we never saw them... Unfortunately, I was one of them, but I know I felt their spirit, even though I never saw them or talked to them personally.

Then the Devotional happened. The devotional, which had been moved to Friday to accomodate the Mission Presidents was something I will never forget for as long as I live. I am sitting in the Choir waiting for the devotional to start, as oblivious as everyone else as to the identity of the speaker. Then L. Tom Perry walks in! But it gets better, he is soon followed by Elders Cook, Bednar, Oaks, Anderson, and Christofferson, acting like giddy teenagers around our favorite celebrity, me and the others in my district mused at the marvel that they were all there in one place and then which of them would be honored to hear as our speaker.

Then, right before it started, the speaker walked in -- Jeffery R. Holland! (In case you are keeping tally, that rounds it out to seven apostles in one place!) I love hearing him so much, that it was such a treat to hear from him. He talked about the power of the Holy Ghost and something he coined as the "Divine Companionship."

One of my favorite things he said was, "The Holy Ghost must be with you because it is the way your lesson ceased to be your lesson and becomes His". (meaning Heavenly Fathers) He commented that if we work our hardest to make sure the Holy Ghost is our "Third Companion" on our mission, he will be the key that connects our investigators and ourselves to the Godhead.

And then he ended in the best way possible. He takes a long pause, and he says, slowly and deliberately, "WELCOME TO THE WORK OF ANGELS.... YOU ARE THE ANGELS." and I loved it because it reminded me of my missionary plaque scripture Alma 13:24 (Don't have time to write it, look it up in your nearest Book of Mormon) and made me feel as if I was part of something much bigger and nobler than myself, and it made me realize that I made the absolutely correct descision in coming here, and I truly am in the right place at the right time.

And even though I never shook a prophet or an apostle's hand, even though one never looked me in the eye, at that singular instant I realized that these men know what we need. They know our situation and what we need to hear. I know that these apostles and prophets really do act as the mouthpiece of our Heavenly Father, and I know as we listen to their teachings, God will pour out blessings so big that, "there will not be room enough to recieve them."

I am honored that God would trust me with the "Work of Angels", as Elder Holland said, and I know that he loves me very much and has a divine destiny for all of us.

I urge all that read this to find out what their own divine destiny is and join in the work of angels and share with the world the testimony they hold near and dear to their hearts.

Lets be missionaries together forever,

Hermana Sarah Jennifer Tritsch

Blog Entry #2: Learning, teaching, planning, singing, chatting, tithing, and all other sorts of -ings.

2009-06-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

Hola Amigos y Familia!

Reporting direct from the Provo MTC, this is Hermana Sarah Tritsch with an all-new blog-cast for all of you!!!

I am happy to report that the Swine Flu Battle may be coming to an end with the preventative flu pills we have to take, as well as the contagious germaphobia that sweeps the MTC. Elder Wannop recently got out of quarrantine and said there were only 7 unfortunate missionaries there down from an all time high of 135.

There is a no-touchee rule here at the MTC and it is getting very old, very fast. I want to hug my Relief Society Presidency and my companion and the other Sisters in my district, and shake the hands of my Elders, but it is strictly prohibited because of swine flu. But the word on the street is that we almost got it beat... Maybe I can hug my companion before I leave this place (fingers crossed).

We got trained on the mormon.org website chat system and started chatting online with real investigators. After having brief chats about the gospel and the website and getting cussed out by an angsty teenager, we chatted with this man named Joshua who seemed genuinely interested in learning about the gospel. We answered his questions about agency and about God's Plan and made an appointment to teach him again over chat the next day. Unfortunately, when the time came for our appointment, he did not log in. but Sister Greene (my companion) and I still pray for him.

On a lighter note, I joined MTC Choir at the request of my father and the support of Kira and love it soooo much!!! I love getting to know more people at the MTC and being able to sing for the devotionals.

This week is going to be kind of hectic because this week is New Mission President training Week, and they have whole buildings roped off and unaccessible to missionaries. There is a rumor going around that all of the first presidency and every apostle will make an appearance at their training seminars. Unfortunately, they are not going to visit with the missionaries, only the presidents. Maybe one of them will stick around for the tuesday-night devotional which, this week, has been moved to Friday to accomodate the Mission Presidents. We will just have to see.

My Spanish is progressing, albeit slowly... Its really great learning languages with the spirit and the "Gift of Tounges" because I am sure that if I was learning spanish just to learn Spanish, I would not be nearly this successful at this time.

The whole MTC is slowly turning digital. Part of the instruction is on a computer program called TALL which helps with spanish, and we have cards that are like an ID card that we scan for everything. Haircuts, Meals, Computer Use, Emails, everything. Everything then turns into statistics that the MTC uses to evaluate and to do things more efficiently. Its really cool, actually.

I am really happy here and I am exited to be in the Lord's service. One of my teachers said it this way: "You have been alive for about 20 years, and now you are giving two back to the Lord -- 10% of your days -- Its like tithing!"

I love you all and look forward to hearing from you. Remember: Write me, and I will try my best to write you back.

-Hermana Sarah Tritsch

El Dia de Los Dork Dots

2009-06-16T15:00:00.001-07:00

Hola mi famila y amigos!!!

This is Hermana Tritsch logging in for the first time since reporting to the MTC.

First of all, my new email address for all of you to email me is sunrisenightingale@myldsmail.net
Please write me at this email because it is the only one I have access to here in the MTC.

I am soo exited to be here, but I am overwhelmed at the same time. Everything is planned out to 15 minute increments, and I am always busy. It was very overwhelming the first day, but I am getting better as the weeks progress. The nice thing was, we had these orange stickers on our nametags that told everyone we were new and had no idea what we were doing, so the other missionaries knew to help us out. The missionaries at the MTC call these orange stickers, "Dork Dots."

My Companion's name is Hermana Jennifer Greene and she is from Cortez, Colorado. She went to school at BYU Hawaii, and is really patient with me. I have known her less than a week and I love her already. We work really well together, and I am looking forward to accomplishing great things with her as my companion.

I also have a temporary pseudo companion named Hermana Kristi Green. We have been companions since sunday, because her companion left for Long Beach and was a "Solo" missionary. Hermana K. Green leaves for Houston tomorrow after an extended missionary stay because of the swine flu. She and Elder Shawn Lemmon, the Elder they call "Abuelo" which means grandfather, leave tomorrow early and even though I am sad they are leaving, I am glad they get to go serve the Lord.

They call Elder Lemmon "Abuelo" because he has been at the MTC so long, also, all the other Elders in our Zone look up to him for advice and guidance, so the nickname really fits. I will miss Hermana K. Greene as she served in the same capacity for me.

On another note, Elder Wannop, an Elder in my district from Canada, caught Swine Flue and was quarrantined yesterday. The funny thing was all the other Elders in our district started singing, "God be with you till we Meet Again," in spanish as if he was dying or something. When they found out he was actually quarrantined, instead of feeling sorry, they thought it was even more hilarious. Silly Elders.

Because of that, however we have to take preventative flu pills to assure we do not catch the flu..

On Sunday, We were priveleged to hear from Sister Ann M. Dibb of the General Young Womens Presidency. She taught a wonderful lesson on the value of virtue, and told us that "this gospel is a gospel of Happiness, and to make sure and tell our faces that we are happy and smile."

Then she let us ask her questions about her father who is none other than President Thomas S. Monson (The current president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)! We got to ask her all sorts of questions about her life growing up and how her father got called to be an apostle when she was 9 and she found out he was going to be the prophet at the press confrence like everyone else.

Tonight we have another devotional and it usually has a visiting general authority talk. They really like to keep who it is under wraps until they are on the stand, so there is alot of gossip as to who it may be... (Stay tuned in next week to find out who talked!)

I got to go to the temple today and I really loved it. Hermana K. Green wanted to do sealings for her last week, so Hermana J. Greene and I went with her. They did not let us do husband-wife sealings, but they let us be the son/daughter, and I loved it anyway.

The work at the MTC is long and intense, but I am really glad about my descision to serve a mission and I love it. I especially love feeling the spirit 24/7. Its as close as you can get to the spirit you feel in the temple without being in the temple.

All my heart, Hermana Sarah Tritsch

On Her Way

2009-06-11T06:36:00.000-07:00

Well, Sarah is now begun her missionary adventure.

Because of some changes to the Missionary Training Center intake procedures, we had to say good bye to her outside of the facility. We dropped off her luggage, took a picture, said our "good bye's" and were whisked away by some very eager Senior missionaries. With the number of missionaries arriving that day, they had to make the process very quick.

As of today, Sarah will be in the MTC for about 8 weeks, so if you would like to write her, here is her address:

Sister Sarah Jennifer Tritsch

Argentina Resistencia Mission

Provo Missionary Training Center

P.O. Box 249-H10

2005 North 900 East

Provo, Utah 84604

6 Days and Counting...

2009-06-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

I am exited to report that my mission report date comes up faster than fast, and soon, I will be on my way to representing the Lord in Argentina. Super exited and super nervous at the same time. Although, not as nervous as I thought I would be. I thought I would be a nervous wreck at this point, but I am just nervous, probably because of my avid temple attendance as of late.

Everything is taken care of, at least as far as I can tell, and I think I am as ready as I am going to be. Its not like I can learn more in the next six days than I already know.... Cramming was never very effective for me. LOL.

I am sure once I get to the MTC I will be fine, but this interim wait-period is getting the better of me.

Thanks to the instances of Swine Flu at the MTC, my parents will have to kick me out at the curb and say goodbye there. Unfortunately, there will be no "Kiss and Cry" session as my father calls it. Mom says it is for the better.

Anyway, I know Heavenly Father loves me and is looking out for me, and everything will be okay.

OH! BTW

Packages are more than welcome in the MTC, however once I get to Argentina, its really best if you do not send them, they are expensive to send, and come with an expensive tariff for me, and the post in Argentina is not very reliable to begin with. So, just send me letters, remember that the most mundane things for you will be very interesting for me, so just send them. My Contact information is on the sidebar.

I love you all, and I will see you December 2010.

-Hermana Tritsch

The Big News

2009-03-13T18:30:00.002-07:00

I got my mission call today!!!

I am going to the Resistencia, Argentina mission, Spanish speaking. It is the northeast part of Argentina which includes the Chaco, Formosa, Misiones,Corrientes, and northern part of Santa Fe provinces.

I leave on June 10th for the MTC.

Although noone guessed it specifically, Congrats to Jen Monsen (with a guess of Cordova) , Anthony Parras (guessing northwest Argentina), and my grandfather Frank Nakahama (guessing all of Argentina) for guessing the closest.

For their guess, they will receive cookies for their win.

-Sister Sarah Tritsch

This Marks the Beginning....

2009-01-26T11:34:00.000-08:00

Good Morning!

This entry officially starts my missionary blog. I do not have my call yet, but when I do, I will update it here. Every week of my mission, barring any unforseen circumstances, I will send a letter home, which will subsequently be posted here.

Any guesses as to where I am going?

Comment this blog entry with your name, email, and guess, and I will put it on the map hanging in my apartment. Whomever guesses closest will win my silly game.

Giving me your email will ensure you are notified when this blog is updated.

WISH ME LUCK!

-Sister Tritsch

PS If you wish to write me, my email is sunrisenightingale@gmail.com. If you write me, I will do my best to write back, although it may be returned through snail mail, so remember to write your home address when emailing.