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

¡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

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

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

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

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

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