My New Area

My mission president is sending me to St. Pedro, Jujuy (San Pedro de Jujuy, Argentina). I am going to open up a new area for the hermanas with an hermana that is finishing her mission in 2 months. I am so excited but I think my president is crazy for sending me to open a new area! I don't know what I'm doing!! LOL

I am now in my new area and I'm so excited to have the opportunity to open up a new area! I don´t know really what I'm doing here but President thinks I can do something so I guess I will attempt to do ¨something¨. lol

Anyway, this week was really amazing but terribly sad. I never realized how attached I was to my area until these past two weeks. I have not been able to stop crying. I do fine until they hug me and then start crying, or the men shake my hand and the grip gets tighter and tighter as they begin to cry also. I always thought that I could hold my own in a hand shake, but man they can squeeze hard when they start to cry. It was almost as if this was their way of hugging me, but these types of hugs were a little stronger and a bit more painful than the kind I like.

This week was great! Veronica and Celeste were baptized and their whole family came along with many people from the ward! It was wonderful! I learned the song 'His Hands' in Spanish to sing for their baptism because it was the two converts' favorite song. That was really fun to do for them. Then our other investigator showed up with a huge cake that she made at the house for everyone that attended the baptism to eat afterwards. It was amazingly delicious!

Afterwards, she asked if she could speak to me alone. As we walked into the chapel to have some privacy, she started to cry. She then began to tell me how happy she was that we knocked on her door 4 weeks ago. Before then, she really never had faith in God, but every time we enter her house, she feels different and wants to keep her commitments of reading, praying and going to church. She said that we have given her a new strength, especially this week with her and her husband. They have not talked this whole week because he is gone for business and hasn´t come back yet. She said that prayer has helped her to come closer to God and that she knows with a surity that the Book of Mormon is true and that this is the Church of God. She thanked me for sharing this gospel with her and the blessings that come from it and she wants to be baptized now and not wait any longer. I just lost it. I was so happy for her and I feel so blessed to be a part of her experiences! She has invited us to start teaching her children more regularly now and they all want to be baptized. Now all of that is left for my old comp and her new comp to talk to the father more about these things and teach him more firmly. I am so grateful to be here and to have this opportunity to serve the people in Argentina. It's not always easy but I have learned to love in a different way that is more profound and more sincere. I am beginning to understand more about the pure love of Christ and how I can obtain it and grow with it. The mission is really humbling and I realize every day how much pride I have and that hermanas are difficult. I feel for those elders that have to deal with us, but out of all of our stupid girl problems, I know that we can make a difference when we work with everything that God has given us and forget about our personal pride and self needs.

I am excited to be in my new area and excited to open it up and to break ground here and be the first to tread the ground and share what I have. Next week I will send pictures of my new area and also of the baptism. I love you all tons! Remember to thank God for all that we have because we really do have it all and the people here that have nothing are more humble and grateful than we have ever been. I love it here and I think it is going to be very difficult to come home. I miss you all very dearly (don´t think that I don´t .. lol) but I am learning what true service is and that my heart and soul is truly with them right now.

love amanda