Week Fifteen

Hola,

Sounds like you had a big staff party this year mom. I'm glad your business is doing well. As Christmas gets closer I think of your pumpkin pie more and more and the delicious baking. They love fruit bread and like dry cookies here. They are pretty good cause I'm not very picky. The Christmas conference was great. We had to get up at 3AM to catch a bus to Cordoba which was 3 hours away. Plus like usual we were late getting out the door so we had to run a little bit and it was still hot, so I felt like I had just taken another shower after my first one that morning. We talked about missionary work of course at the conference. It was great to see other missionaries and talk to a few of the ones that flew in with me and realize they have the same struggles and realize it's totally normal. President Salas dressed up as santa for us and handed out packages. I got the one from you. I might have opened it. Ooops! It was the one with the stuff from dad to. Thanks so much for the shampoo and reeses puffs, anything peanut butter is heavenly because it doesn't exist here. Plus our fridge finally works so I could have reeses puffs with real cold milk it was a miracle of Christmas!!!! The other packages will get here I'm not sure when I'll get them though. But honestly the thing about Christmas I look forward to most this year is just talking with my family.

Oh, I also finally got mail so I got your dear elder mom. You can send letters that way cause they are free and it doesn't matter how long it takes because mail is grouped together till we get it anyways. Oh and tell Auntie Deb thanks for all the letters and jokes.

The missionary work here is a mixture of contacting people on the street and then stopping by, asking the members for referrals, working with less actives and rarely knocking doors. We had the baptism of Osualdo this week. We were a bit nervous because of his smoking problem but he is finding strength in the Lord. He is such a great guy and I loved seeing him sit there in his white shirt and tie and receive the Holy Ghost and see the peace enter his life.

The people here are a variety of classes. There are different sections of town of income status. We generally work in both. I've seen houses with pools and houses that are two rooms and dirt floors but I love them all. The people are all very welcoming and even though they have little, they give everything.

As far as groceries go things are a little more expensive here. Like a liter of pop is 10 pesos which is a lot of pesos but it's 4 or 3 pesos to a dollar so it's not bad when you think it that way. and They don't have dimes, nickles or pennies so we don't have a lot of change which I like. We receive plenty of money every month for our needs. I make sure to spend it wisely. My bike was having issues this week but we got it fixed by this old guy who runs the shop out of his garage. He rides his motorcycle with viking horns but is a really great guy and the best deal for fixing bikes. You can tell he does it cause he loves it.

Things about Argentina, hmmm I still don't understand the driving here people just honk or flash their lights at an intersection which is interesting. Plus I've seen all sorts of people riding mopeds, dirt bikes or anything with a motor that runs and has two wheels really. Or we see people riding through town on horse and buggy very interesting. hahahaha

Anyways I should get going. I hope all is well with everyone. My thoughts and prayers are with you always.

Love Hna Potrie

Week Fourteen

Hey there,

Can you believe it's almost been 3 months!!!!!!! Time is just flying by. I feel like the saying in nursing school of "long days and short weeks" applies to the mission. We work hard to make the most of everyday and by the end we are always exhausted. Today we don't get a full Pday because we have the Christmas mission conference on Thursday this week so we just get the morning today to email and buy groceries and then back to work.

Oh and I had my first baptisms this week. It was two girls Angela and Margareta. They are two adopted girls into a member family so they had been waiting for the right time and it finally happened. Sadly, I didn't have much part in teaching them just setting up the baptism really. They are great girls though and I feel so much love for them. When we were going over the baptismal service plan it got really awkward when it came to who would go first but I just tried to let them know how much love I feel from our Heavenly Father for them and that we are just there to help them come unto Christ. We also have another baptism planned for next week. He was an investigator about a year ago and then lost interest but a rccent heart attack has given him a different perspective on life and he wants to be baptized. I really enjoy teaching him with another member Hno Hugo, they are very funny helpful guys. Hno Hugo reminds me of dad a little, great missionary for the ward always inviting everyone he knows and he's only been a member for 2 years. That's what I love about the members here - they realize how important missionary work is and are always sharing it with their friends. They are great examples to me.

We also found two families the Mendoza family and I can't remember the last name of the other. They both seem so prepared to hear the gospel. The Mendoza family is so full of love and unity as a family. I really hope they can see how the gospel can bless their family.

Things are also changing a bit as we got a set of elders in Bell Ville this week as well. I know it will take some adjustment but together I think we can really help move the work along. I also loved testimony meeting yesterday. The members were lining up after the first one and we went way over time. A testimony that hit me the most was the testimony of a recent member who is deaf. She went up with her husband and she signed while he translated. She has so much courage and such a strong testimony. I feel like learning a language has taught me a lot about being grateful for the ability to speak freely.

As to your questions I'm not sure exactly how big this city is but we bike all over it. It's probably a 40 min bike ride from one side to the other. The heat hasn't seemed as bad this week so maybe I'm adjusting. It's still cooling off at night though which is good. But it doesn't turn down the music playing out side in the town square thing. I think they were celebrating something for the last three days here but only in the evening.

The people here are usually fairly willing to talk about religion. Most are evangelist or Catholic because that's how they were raised but they don't go to church. And yes I'm taking my vitamins. I realize the diet here is lacking a few things but I'm so grateful for the food that I have. My Spanish is improving everyday and I'm learning to have patience. As I struggle with the language though I realize more and more the importance of the language of the spirit because although I can't understand all the words they say I can learn to feel what they are saying. It's mentally exhausting though to focus so hard all day on translating and understanding.

We spent a lot of time handing out invitations to less active members about the Christmas devotional. We werentt allowed to watch it though because it started at 10pm and we needed to be in the apartment. The Branch President said we could watch it at his place on a Pday though. I'm glad you´ll get to spend pre Christmas with Ammon, Tyanna and Sharla. I remember going up there last year and how excited Tacey was. This year will no doubt be just as good. I'm not sure what kind of food they eat here for Christmas but I'm sure it will be delicious. I haven't had anything that I don't like or that's really strange, it's all just very Italian. They do some really good BBQ meat though. Yummm!

I should go. But I love you and pray for you always. I pray that you can finish the pies in time and enjoy a good break for Christmas. I've been reading a bit in Jesus the Christ about his birth and life and it's such a great time of year to think of him and the blessings that come from his birth.

Love Hna Potrie

Week Thirteen

Hola

I'm sorry it's late and I don't have much time. It was a holiday here today and the internet cafe was closed. So we played soccer with the elders in our district. It was gringos (3) vs the latinos (2) it was pretty even. Mostly because I think the elders were scared they would hurt me or touch me. We ride our bikes everyday and just about everywhere because it's faster and helps us stay on time for appointments. I wish I could send you a picture. I got a new basket on it this week for my bag and if you saw the seat you would understand how my butt feels about the bike.

About the work, sadly the one family we were teaching has stopped because one of the sons that supports them doesn't like the mormons and lives in a different city. We're doing a lot of work with the inactives in the area to trying to figure out why they stopped and to help them relearn what they once knew. Sunday was great as the primary did their presentation. Although I didn't know the words in Spanish I felt the Spirit so strongly as the sang and read. They were so cute and it was great for those parents who are less active or non members.

I try to keep a journal of who we teach and how it went. It's hard to find the time because I'm exhausted when we get home and we usually eat something then too because all our dinner appointments are lunch appointments because that's the big meal and then most people siesta. So they usually have dinner around 9 but we have to be back be 9-930 so we eat on our own. As for your question if I eat lot's of fruits and veggies, not so much - mostly bananas and oranges and potatoes. It's tricky at the moment because our fridge is being fixed so everything we buy has to be out. It should be fixed by this week sometime. Who knows.

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. the food sounds amazing and if Sharla still has that job in 15 months I would so go. Although living here has definitely been changing my view of how blessed I am. And how much I just took for granted.

I know you're getting ready for Christmas and that's so exciting I pray that like always, you all try to reach out to those in need and give because we are so abundantly blessed. I wish I could give to the people here but we have rules about doing things certain ways.

Thank you so much so your love and prayers. They have been such a support when I feel the weight of this calling. But I know my Savior is with me lifting me up as I strive to do this work. I know that it will all be worth it if I can even help bring one person unto Christ. No matter how much I struggle with the language I feel so much love from Heavenly Father for these people and I wish they could feel that.

My love and prayers are with you always,

Hna Potrie

Week Eleven

Hola!

So ya about the town not being on a map, I blame it on my horrible spelling and tired brain that day - the city is Bell Ville. So try looking that one up. It's in the south part of the mission and is about 3 hours from the mission home which means we only get real mail about every once a month or so but I'm sure they'll make sure we have our Christmas packages, so I will get the mail just not as often.

Well the weather this week has been a great mixture of things. On Thursday it was 33 and very hot riding the bikes felt good because the wind would blow. We wear a lot of layers though with trying to stay modest on the bike we always have shorts underneath. People always give us funny looks though. Then on Saturday and Sunday it rained like crazy. We had to ride out to Enzo's house who is a young investigator. He lives on a dirt road and so you can imagine what the rain did to that. I couldn't help but bust up laughing at the situation of pouring down rain, soaked/covered in mud. I wish one of us had our cameras on us.

I'm super grateful for the water bottle they gave us so I can drink the water freely and not worry about getting sick. Plus we often are offered pop at the members houses. I thought Americans drank a lot of pop but the people here do a pretty good job. The food here is actually amazing. Very European. A lot of the members serve pasta and my favorite is the fresh gnocchi with creamy tomato sauce. And there is usually fresh baked bread from the baker. Our fridge is also having issues right now so we have bought facturas which are fresh puff pastry with cream, or jam filling. We eat them cause they are cheap and delicious and the croissants are really good as well. Don't worry, I don't eat them much. We live in an apartment which they call a pension. It's really nice and central to everything.

I'm understanding more Spanish everyday. The hardest part of lessons is trying to figure out what they are saying so I can try to say something. Hna Tejada is good at helping include me. I'm learning each day how to better follow the spirit. We are working hard to get to know the members in the area and the inactives. I love the Cordoba family who are recent converts. I have practiced teaching the lessons to them a couple times. They are very funny and always try to help me with my Spanish. They are very animated when they talk which helps me understand. And for lunch yesterday we helped Hna Laura Cordoba make gnocchi. They were so good. I hear she makes the best.

It's humbling every day to have to rely fully upon the Lord for everything. Even when it seems to literally just pour down on us, I feel the Savior by my side helping me carry on. It's incredible. I know He lives and I want to share that with everyone. No matter what burden we carry, He knows how to help and is always willing.

My prayers and thoughts are with all of you.

Love Hna Potrie

Week 10

Hola!

I'm finally out in the real world - Argentina and I can't believe it. I love it!

Well I guess a quick recap of how I got here is in order. We left the MTC at 6am on Friday and took a flight to Georgia. Then the next flight was to Buenos Aires, Argentina. That means 12 hours on a plane. Long time to try and sleep. Then in Buenos Aires we were driven by different people to the domestic airport for our flight to Cordoba which left at 5:30pm. So we had our first meal there in the airport of pizza. Which was very good and different than the American pizza.

Once in Cordoba we finally met President and Hna Salas and took a taxi to the mission home. I think our taxi driver thought he was a race car driver. Anyways we had a meeting/dinner of empanadas (they are little pockets of amazingness) then I met my compañera Hna Tejada and we were off to our area at 11pm. Hna Tejada is from El Salvador, is a Dr, she's 31, has an amazing testimony and is in her last couple months of the mission. She also speaks English because her family lives in NY. I also hope her patience is good because my Spanish is not good.

So We took a bus which was the most comfortable thing I had slept on for the last few days and we traveled from 12:30-4am. So then we got to the apt and we crashed in our beds. Because 6:30 was coming early. Surprisingly though the town was still up and awake I could hear the taxis driving around with their music blaring.

So on Sunday we woke up at 6:30 and got ready because we had a few people to see before church. We walked everywhere which isn't bad because it's a small-ish city called Bell Cella. I met a new member family that I love. There are three kids plus one niece adopted sort of and the grandma lives right next door. They fed us lunch after church it was delicious chicken bread, potatoes and empandas plus jello. As we walked to their house one of the daughters was teaching me Spanish words and I would teach her English. She would laugh when I couldn't pronounce something right. Hahaha like the word for glass in Español was very difficult for me. Oh I also introduced my self in Sacrament and I was very nervous. It was just a tiny little branch but I just bore my testimony.

The rest of the day we tried to visit people we knew were interested. I mostly just nodded and smiled because they speak very quickly and the accent is different. It was great to be out working though. My companion is great and works very hard to make the most of our time here. It's crazy how prepared these people are to hear the gospel. Oh and did I mention that we have bikes? Hahahaha ya we haven't ridden them because I think one is broken but that should be interesting in a skirt. I'm also getting used to how they greet each other here with the cheek kiss. We only do that with other women though as sisters not the men. Oh and there are dogs everywhere especially in the lower income sections of town. Mom you would love it. The weather is warm here but it cools off at night which is nice. The buildings, like you said are interesting lots of old looking buildings with old furnishings but with the technology of cell phones and T.V. is interesting. But I love the people even though I can hardly understand them. I wish my Spanish would be good ahora (now) but I know I need to be patient and just try my hardest and the Lord will help me beyond my own ability. Honestly I know it's a miracle that I can speak this much for only 2 months of learning.

Oh and I don't know if sending it through pouch is best because the one thing President said is that it needs a customs sticker if it comes through regular mail. But I don't know do what ever you think is best oh and packages need the phone number if they are being sent to the mission home (03543) 420-699. Oh and don't worry about the foot thing. I sprained my foot just barely in the MTC but it's feeling a lot better and the boot is just to help the healing time. Hope everyone is well.

Love Hna Potrie

Week Nine

Hola!

So how to survive week 10 in the MTC or (CCM) is always interesting. This week was fine because we've just kept to our normal teaching schedule. We are getting antsy though. verytime in the cafeteria when a page comes on we all hope our names are called. It's tricky for us because if the visas get here today we leave tomorrow but we won't know till at least noon. So do we pack do we not? It's tricky. I JUST WANT TO KNOW!!!! If we don't go tomorrow the next tentative date is Monday. But I'm not getting too excited till we have those travel plans. I will get to call home once I get the final plans too, It'll just be one of those quick 5 min calls. But once in the airport I can call for a bit longer.

So exciting things around here. Hmmm they put up Christmas lights but they have yet to turn them on. My and my companions took family Christmas pictures in front of a tree and they are pretty awesome. I'll probably send them home as my Christmas card. I had to give a talk in Spanish in sacrament the other week. I didn't do so well because I was super nervous but it will get better. Sacrament is a little nerve racking because they always pick two missionaries to speak on the weekly assigned topic but they pick them once the meeting has started so you sit there panicking each time. Okay maybe it's not that bad but it's still not my favorite thing. Oh but cool thing we got to do real service other than cleaning toilets here. We counted tongue depressors into groups of 80 and put them in boxes to go to church headquarters for when the next disaster hits.We also sorted paint stir sticks which they use for splints. It was a lot better then sitting in class for two hours.

Who is the Burnham girl that moved in? I don't have a picture of just me and my name tag but I can take one and email it to you once I'm in Argentina. Also the other girl moved out of our room last week she was just there for a week while doing visitor center training. Oh tell Naomi congrats and that I hope to speak Spanish with her when I come back.

We still work hard to prepare for the mission field by practicing teaching Spanish and doing contacting. My Spanish still has a long way to come but I know it'll come. So many people make it through this and I know I can to. I know that the Lord has blessed me to learn the language so quickly I can't believe how far it's come even though I still grammatically sound like a little child all the time. It's coming. Well I should go, I'll let you know when I know what the plans are.

All my love and prayers, Hna Potrie

Week Eight

Hola!

You write emails like me mom, just one big paragraph. So ya the travel plans have been changed. Kinda bummed because there was a rumor that Pres Holland is going there this weekend to do a mission conference. But oh well. I'm sure I shocked you when I called but once we get our other plans I will get another call home to let you know. Plus while I'm in the airport during layovers I can call home as well. So let me know when you plan on going up to Vanderhoof so I can call the right phone as plans are in the air. That's cool you got a new elder from the MTC. He was totally here at the same time as me and that's crazy. I met one Elder Flexhog who was from Calgary to to Vancouver mission Spanish speaking. Oh and thanks for the package of cookies last week mom. Last week there was lots of packages for our district because everyone thought we were leaving. Oh and thanks for mailing that letter can you do me a bigger favor though and call her and tell her to dear elder me if she has time before I leave the MTC. Gracias.

So from now until we get our travel plans we are going to keeping doing classes like normal. We still learn Spanish and keep practicing teaching. My gospel vocabulary grows everyday but I need to start working on my normal words as well. Last Sunday we got to hear from Sister Elaine S Dalton. She gave an amazing talk and shared some personal stories and scriptures that have helped her through life. She is such an amazing woman. One thing she taught was don't quit in the middle of a hill. It was so great. It's also been amazing to talk with our teachers about the people they role play for us and to teach and find out what really happened or who they are to our teachers.

I have no idea when they'll be letting us leave and if they'll wait for all of our visas to send us as we each get them we don't really know. After a couple extra weeks though I don't know what they will do. I've heard of some people getting reassigned to a mission in the US till the visa comes. But I doubt that will happen, I just think there wasn't enough time for visas to come through with meeting with the consolate only a week ago.

How was everyones Halloween? Some elders switched name tags but that's as crazy as it got here. One of my favorite things here is singing in the choir every week. The director is super funny and entertaining to work with. Plus never have I been so out numbered by male voices in a choir. It's way cool.

Well I should get going. I can't wait to leave but I'm so grateful for the extra time to learn.My love and prayers are with you.

Love Hna Potrie