Oct. 26, 2015 Mosiah 28:3 :D

Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.                                                    –Mosiah 28:3

 

Querido Familia y Amigos!                                         Oct. 26, 2015

    This week has been amazing! We made almost all of our goals! And we are working on finding escogidos every day. We found them the majority of the days.
     S- is doing well. We taught him this week about baptism and repentance, and about Palabra de Sabidurìa and follow the prophet. He applies all of the things that we teach him, and he is reading and praying. But he didn`t come to church this Sunday, since he went to a cinceñiera the night before, so we are going to move his baptismal date, since we want to make sure that he is firm in the church before he gets baptized. We also got his mom`s permission this week so that he can get baptized. She originally said that she doesn`t want it for her, but after we filled out the ficha with her, we taught her a little bit, and she said that we can come back to visit her again. :)
   Ja-is doing really well. We went with a member that is more mature, and were able to teach him in his house. She really helped us out, and answered a lot of his questions. He felt really good with her. We taught him how reading and praying and attending church can help him find answers and know the truth. In the end he said the prayer again, and said that he felt heard, and teared up. It was super good! He couldn`t come on Sunday, since there were elections, and he had to work the election table. But when we talked with our Lìder Misional on Sunday (who is his friend), he said that Ja- asked his dad for a white shirt and tie to come to church!!
    E- is a woman that we found week 1, when we saw a house and felt inspired to knock it. She came out and listened to us, and accepted a Book of Mormon. Yesterday she came to church, but she got there right when the Sacrament started, so had to wait outside until it ended. But she liked the church, and said that she felt peace. We taught her this week about The Plan of Salvation with her Less Active friend, P-. P- is from the South and moved here like 10 years ago, but never came to the church. P- was going to come to church with E-, but didn`t make it until right when it ended, but she came! We had a lesson with two active members, and had everyone introduce themselves and say how they felt, and what they learned in the church that day. It was super good, and we basically didn`t say anything. The members all talked and helped E- and P- to talk, and testified of things that are important for them in this time of their livesm and also about their own conversion process. So that was cool. We also learned things that they hadn`t told us before. For example, E-`s husband never stays to listen to us, but he is always in the kitchen, and E- says that he listens from there. Also, he is really opposed to churches since he had a bad experience with leaders of a different church when he was little, but he brought her to church! We have citas with both E- and P-, and are going to try to start teaching the rest of their families too.
   We are doing a lot better with contacts too, and following up with the contacts that we`ve already done. We found a ton of new investigators this week by doing that. That was also one of my goals from Thursday--to start more contacts, since usually my companion starts them. We applied that, and on Saturday we found 3 new investigators before lunch! And another escogido, and another contacto that is going to accept us back. We are working super hard to apply all of the things that we have learned, to sacar la tapa, to talk with everyone.
    We are working the areas of San Justo A and San Justo B, which is a lot. We had a thought this week that we are going to try to apply. Since before we were trying to work in all of the sections of San Justo, but there are some that are really far away, and hard to do it without getting spread super thin. So we are focusing more now on exploding one or two of the sections in each of the areas, A and B, so that when it gets divided again there will be people to work with in each area, and then with 2 companionships they will be able to explode more the parts of their areas that are farther away.

  I love you all! Keep up the good work, being missionaries to your friends! You never know who will accept the gospel now, or who will remember your good example in ten years and have interest. This work is true, and the only way to return to God and to live with our families forever!

Love,

Hermana Durfee

Oct. 19, 2015 No hay cual cosa como el limites!!:D

Querido Familia y Amigos!                                Oct. 19, 2015
Lots of running around this week! We had divisiones with Padua and with Ramos Mejìa. Lots of working on door contacts and street contacting, and how to make a contact shorter, more powerful, and how to start testifying and teaching from the beginning of every contact.
    Our President has given us a new standard of excellence: Find one "elegido" (elect) before lunch! We are working on doing that, and have found them about half of the days this week.  Some of them live in our area, and we are finding lots of references for other areas, so that`s super exciting! During the divisiones, we had one of the hermanas from Padua here with my comp, and the other hermana had already served here. So they found one of her antiguos on Tuesday when we did divisiones, so we are teaching them now--they are R- and J-. R- is super ready to be baptized--she already read the whole BOM etc. and is only waiting to get baptized with J-. The only problem is that J- goes to visit her Dad every weekend in Ramos Mejìa, and he is slightly atheist. So he doesn`t want to bring her, and he also doesn`t want to leave her with a member that he doesn`t know to bring her. But I think that as J- gains her own testimony that will help her to be more insistent with her dad, too.
    Saturday was a super great day! S- is our progressing investigator. He is the hermanito of a converso recièn, so his brother is helping him to come, and he is progressing a lot! We taught him on Saturday about the 2,000 stripling warriors (since he is also a young man), and we gave him a calender with the times, where, and what we were going to teach him each day. He is going to get baptized next Saturday, 31/10! He is super capo--he reads whole chapters and prays really well. He is super shy, so he doesn`t talk very much. So we had the idea to have him write a talk to see how much he really understands. But it seems like he understands really well. We are super excited for his progress!
     On Thursday we were heading for R-and J- and a chico ran after us and asked if we were mormons. He said that he knows one of the family`s in the ward, and we got his direction to go visit him. That`s one of those things that every missionary wants to happen--someone comes up in the street and asks them to teach them! So Saturday after S- we went to Ja-`s house and he said that he`s atheist, but he wants to have faith and believe. We taught him about the Book of Mormon, prayer, and going to church. He said that he would go on Sunday. Sunday he didn`t end up going, since he slept in, but he came to church in the evening for an appointment to talk to us, and we taught him Lesson 1, accompanied by a converso recièn. It appears that he has real intent, and we are going to get our ward mission leader involved too, since they were friends when they were little.
    Sunday was awesome. There were 4 nonmembers in the capilla, and a couple menos activos. S- came with his brother, two members brought family members, and a new man came by himself. He said that he visited temple square in Salt Lake City and wanted to know more and that his girlfriend is mormon and told him to go to church. We have an appointment to go visit him on Saturday with a member.

     So basically, we are starting to explode the area! God is blessing us a full--we had divisiones twice last week, and one day we both went to Ramos, but we knew that God would help us for helping his hijas. And He is a full afull!!! We are super excited for the progress of the area, and are looking for more ways to improve and more ways to find new investigators and make a difference.

Weekly Challenge: Did you have a really good friend when you were younger, who you have lost contact with? Look for the way to get in contact with them again--be it through face book, a letter, or a phone call. When the time is right, bring gospel topics into your conversation and see if they are ready to listen to the gospel! Share your testimony with them in word and actions.

I love you all!

Hermana Durfee <3

Oct. 12, 2015 Haz te SAN JUSTO por mas que le cuesta...

Current ZLs and HLE's

Querido Familia y Amigos!!                        Oct. 12, 2015

   Estoy en SAN JUSTO!! I am back in ciudad now, in the area right next to the area where I started my mission, Atalaya. It is a little bit more city-ish that Atalaya was, but the people are friendly. Super weird to be back walking after 9 months on a bike! The good news is that I am re-gaining the hang of it pretty quickly. 

   My new compi is Hermana A- from Florida. She has 2 weeks more than me on the mission, so basically the same time. I will be completing 14 months tomorrow! LOCO! We are the Hermana Lìderes Entrenadoras for two zones: Ramos Mejìa and Merlo. So we have 8 hermanas para cuidar. We are going to start off this transfer with a BANG doing 2 divisiones every week to help the Hermanas have ànimo, sacar sus tapas (take off their lids=get rid of limits!) and help them find new investigators. Pte Robertson said that we can expect miracles in every division, and we are super excited to see what the Lord has prepared! The biggest problem in our zone appears to be finding new investigators--which is also linked to talking to everyone, having short and powerful messages, and having confidence to talk to just one more person. Walking really helps with that, being able to talk to everyone, present them the Book of Mormon, relate it to your personal life, and see if they will read it and thus progress. 

    We are super excited for all of the work and miracles that we are going to see this transfer! With Christ, we are unlimitless!  Philippian 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." 

Love you all! 

Hermana Durfee

Aug. 31, 2015 The Iron Rod is the Word of God

Querido Familia y Amigos!      Aug. 31, 2015

 

     We have seen many miracles this week using the Book of Mormon! We contacted a reference, who is also an Antigua Investigadora, and set a cita to come back. When we arrived, she let us in and told us to present our message. She didn´t seem super open, but was willing to listen. We taught her a little bit about the Book of Mormon and how it could help her in her personal life. When we said we were going to give it to her, she said she didn´t have any money. So we explained that she didn´t have to buy it. But she still protested that it had to be expensive to print etc. We explained that that didn´t matter, since her soul and salvation were worth a lot more than the price of a book. She accepted it, and her countanance changed completely. She became a lot more open and said that she is going to read a little bit every day, and is going to pray to know that it´s true! Wow! 

   We were riding down a busy street, and saw a woman working outside. We pulled over to see if we could help, and found out that she is an Antigua Investigadora. She said we could come back later, and strait out gave us a reference for a neighbor who´s husband had recently passed away. We went strait over, and L- opened the door. She told us all about her husband´s death and other problems she was having, and we explained that we had a book that we would like to share that could help her with these problems, and permítanos pasar. She let us in, and we explained briefly the Book of Mormon and left her the intro to read. She said that she usually doesn´t let any one in her house, but for some reason she let us in. :)

 

   Our biggest miracle this week is G-. He is the brother of a más o menos activa. We found him in her house last Saturday and taught him about the Book of Mormon and gave him one. Then he went back to La Plata (city 4-5 hours away) this whole week (he´s studying to be policia). On Saturday when he came home for the weekend, we went to teach him and found out that he had read almost 100 pages! He said that he had had dudas about why God told Nefi to kill Laban, but then he figured it out while he continued reading. Awesome. We taught him Lesson 1, and he believed it, and said that it would be important to have a prophet hoy en día. He commited to pray about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and if the church is true. (His sister already texted him telling him that he had to pray about the church!) He said that when he gets his answer he´ll get baptized. He has a fecha for 26/9! The only problem is that we are only going to be able to visit him once a week, but luckily he graduates in 3 weeks, so the last week we´ll hopefully be able to visit with him every day! 

Other news: It´s Spring!! Everybody is leaving their houses, they are now all outside in the tardes--mucho más fácil contactarlos! Woot! That also means the sun is starting to come out more--thinking about using sunscreen--...AAND the mosquitos!! Noooo! Pulling out the heavy duty bugspray too. The other day my companion looked up, and there was a huge cloud of mosquitos above us, and they kept following us! And then I got bit. Luckily most of my mosquito bites haven´t been like this one, but these were super huge, and they made you bleed. My comp got bit by one, and her whole hand swelled up. Luckily, the aftermath of my bite was not so big. 

Yesterday we had a Muti-stake Conference. Elders Cook and Hales along with Elder Maynes of the 70 and Sister Marriott sent the thingy by satelite from Salt Lake, and Elder Gonzalez, the Pte of Sur America Sur also spoke--I think from somewhere closer to here. :) It was really good. They talked a lot about sanctifying the Día de Reposo, and to the youth about preparing to serve missions! :D

41 Day Challenge: Read the Book of Mormon in 41 days! So I looked at the English copy, and it is only 13 pages in English! I usually study the BOM slowly, analyzing all of the things with cross references, etc. but it´s really cool to be able to see the larger connections between chapters, too! Whatever you do, make sure to read every day! 

Love you all lots! 

Hermana Durfee

June 27, 2015 The Book of Mormon

Querido Familia y Amigos!                                               June 27, 2015

This week things warmed up a little bit, with cloud cover, and then rain. Which was nice to not have it be so cold, but it hurt our numbers for church attendance. But the good news is that both us and the Elderes had one investigator each in the Sacrament Meeting. A-A- came with his family (the rest are all converts), and he liked it! He has been changing a TON since he started reading the Book of Mormon every day. Yesterday we went over to visit them, and his wife had just made a bunch of popcorn. So we had Family Scripture Study popcorn style! (When you finish reading the verse you say "popcorn" and get to decide who reads next). 

This week is going to be loco! I am doing divisiones with the hermanas on Tuesday, on Thursday we will have to viajar to Ramos Mejía, and Friday I have Concilio de Líderes, then we have to travel back to Lobos, and probably won´t get there until 6 or 7ish. Awesome. But the good thing about that is that it means that we are going to see un monton de milagros este semana! Since that is what always happens when we have so much time away from our area. :D 

Lots of work this week. Lots of good things are happening in the area! The best tool that we have to help people, is helping them to read the Book of Mormon! Really, if an investigator is not progressing, it probably means that they are not reading the Book of Mormon and praying. If a member feels that their testimony is weak, it´s probably the same reason. If a family feels ununited, or that something is missing, same thing. The Book of Mormon is so powerful, because it truly contains ALL of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we read, study, and apply the princples that we learn, we start to make the changes in our lives that the Lord wants--changes that lead to greater happiness and peace. I know that the Book of Mormon truly is the word of God, and that we really will get closer to God by reading this book than any other. 

WEEKLY CHALLENGE: Create a scripture study plan if you don´t already have one, or review and revise your current one as needed. Make sure you take time every day to read and study the Book of Mormon. Include in your plan how you will ponder, study, and apply the things that you learn in your reading! Apply the plan daily! 

Love you all lots and lots! 

<3 Hermana Durfee

June 15, 2015 Colectivos y Coversiones

Querido Familia y Amigos!                                                       June 15, 2015

Wow, super crazy week, but a thousand mini miracles! Like always. :D

Next Monday we are going to the Temple como misión!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO! We are super pumped! We are losing the temple to the South Mission on July 1, so we are really happy to be able to go before that! And we are going to have a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) with Pte y Hna Robertson and their family! I´m so excited! (So that also means that I won´t write you next Monday, but don´t worry, because they´re giving us time to write on Tuesday.) 

We started out this week having to change our Reunión de Zona to Wednesday instead of Tuesday because of a transportation strike (so there weren´t any colectivos, so nobody could get very far out of their area). So that meant that we had to go Monday night to Las Heras so that we would make it on time Wednesday to the meeting (the bus from Lobos doesn´t leave in time). So that gave us all day Tuesday to go and do contacts ALL DAY LONG. We actually did find a few super great people that said that the other Hermanas could come back and teach them. And we also did our weekly planning. 

On Wednesday we had the Zone Meeting, and heard some really good tallers (pronounced "tie-share") about faith and about finding new people to meet. I got to give a small taller about obedience, since I am still HLE. It was really cool. After the meeting, we went to go take the colectivo back to Lobos, to find out that the next two colectivos had been canceled! So we had to wait until 3 pm to leave Loma Grande. But Hna P- said that something awesome would happen, since something awesome always happens when there are problems with the colectivos. And she was right! When we got to Las Heras, a woman got on the bus, and sat down in front of us and started talking to the Elders. They found out that she lives in our area, so they traded us seats so that we could get to know her, etc. Her name is A-, and she has wanted to talk to the missionaries for a long time. She said that they always pass by her house, but that they never hear her call out to them. But that this day she went to Las Heras by herself to go to the doctor--she said she was scared to go solo, because she might fall (she´s 70), but something (Holy Ghost!) told her to go, so she did! She is golden! We went the next day to teach her the first lesson, and she accepted a baptism date for three weeks away, but wanted it to be closer. :D And she prayed about the Book of Mormon that night, and already knows that it is true! Woohoo! We have taught her every day except Sunday, and she is progressing a fuullll! We are really excited! :D

On Saturday we had an awesome lesson with A-A-, and his family. Hna P- and I know that he is so ready to get baptized! But he is still resisting a little. For a while he said that he would only come to church every other week, since he didn´t want to commit that much. But yesterday we taught him about Día de Reposo, and he commited to come every week to church! Woot! He couldn´t come this Sunday since he worked, but he came to pick up his family after, and reaffirmed his commitment to come! He is sooo close!!! 

Saturday night was exciting, because we went to take the Colectivo for Las Heras and it left literally 5 seconds before we could get on. So that was awesome. Stake Conference was on Sunday, and we had no idea how we were going to get there on time. But luckily, the members had room in the combi that they rented, and let us ride with them. 

So Sunday we had to get up at 5 am to go get on the combi. But it had super cushy seats that leaned back, so we could (kind of) sleep on the way there. The Conference was super good. Pte Robertson talked about having 4 "bars" of spiritual signal by always praying, reading the scriptures, obeying, and serving. And he talked to all of the youth about using these steps to prepare for the mission. The Stake President and one of his counselors gave really good talks about delighting in the Sabbath Day, and also about fasting. The ride home was great, since we got to sing hymns with all of the members for a while, and also because everybody shared all of the food that they had brought. :) Saturday night we went to contact a man, P-, that we had found outside our pench. It was funny how we found him. Nobody in Argentina uses bike helmets. We were parking our bikes outside of the pench, and had the helmets on, and a man came up to greet us, and told us that he liked our helmets. He said that he wanted to get one so that he could feel safer when he bikes! Haha. So we got his name and address and permission to go visit him. When we went on Sunday, his wife, E-, was in the other room, but we sat down and started getting to know him better while we waited for her. He was super excited that we were there. So I was a little bit nervous that his wife would be super catholic or something, because he was pretty awesome. But she came in, and was also SUPER excited that we were there. They even invited us to come back for dinner another day! We taught them the first lesson, and when we asked them how they felt when we told the first vision, he said "a rejoicing"! They are going to pray to know that it is true. They are pretty golden! 

A big thank you to all that wrote me this week! I hope that you´re all well and happy, and that you are sharing this marvelous gospel!! ;D Keep up the great work! 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Durfee 

 

Oct. 5, 2015 General Conference Glory!

¡Querido Familia y Amigos!                                                   Oct. 5, 2015

 

    Transfers are on Wednesday!!!! Aaaahhh!! And, I have transfers, and it looks like I am going to ciudad! After 9 months in campo, me va a costar un poco. But, THERE ARE NO SUCH THING AS LIMITS!! So planning on baptizing about 3,000. Or at least talking with that many. :D 

 

    I ABSOLUTLY LOVED GENERAL CONFERENCE!! Siempre a spiritual feast!!! If you didn`t get the chance to watch all of the sessions, go here https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2015 to watch, listen, and read! AND, if you did watch conference, I challenge you to go back and re-watch, re-listen, and re-read all of the talks! There is something important in every talk for every person! 

 

President Thomas S. Monson, President Henry B. Eyring,
and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

    It is absolutely amazing to me how God works. Through his chosen profetas and apostoles, he can communicate with every single one of His children in the world, helping them with their current needs, and giving them encouragement and guidance. And even though every person will hear the same words, every one will leave with a different message for what they need to do in this exact moment. For example, with our individual questions and preparation, my companion and I came away with different messages. She said that every talk mentioned something about faith; while I felt like all of them were talking about the central role that Christ plays in our every day lives, the importance of keeping Him the center, and the importance of depending on God and allowing that His will, and not ours, be done. I testify that through the words of the living day prophets, each of us will hear what we need to hear in this exact moment. And we will be able to receive even more help and guidance as we study
                                                                                   and re-study their words! Because their words are
                                                                                   His words. 

    

I know that President Thomas S. Monson really is a prophet of God, his chosen spokesperson in these days. Together with his counselors and the 12 apostles, he directs the church, under the direct direction of God and Jesus Christ. This truly is the church of Jesus Christ, and the only way to get back to God and to be able to live with our families together for the eternities. 

WEEKLY CHALLENGE: I invite each of you to review your notes of conference. Find all of the invitations that were made, write them down. Think about what you want to do with your life in this moment, and how these invitations can help you now. I testify that the men and women that spoke to us truly are dedicated servants of God, and that by following their counsels and accepting their invitations, we will see miracles in our lives every day! 

I love you all! 

Hermana Durfee <3