A little Olivia in Argentina

Hello Family,

This week was really awesome.  Thanks a bunch for all your prayers and support.  I really can feel the help.  I think the highlight of this last week was that we had 64 people in sacrament meeting!!  I know it doesn’t seem like lots but compared to the 30 from the week before it is a ton.  Sometimes it really is hard to do all the little things like go to church or read your scriptures or your calling.  But I know that these little things are the things that matter in life and are really preparing us for life’s challenges and to return one day.  We had a baptism set up this week but our investigador didn’t come to church so we had to move it to the next week.  Her name is Evelyn.  She is the niece of a member.  She is 10 years old.  She is such a cute little girl.  She always does her reading and is so excited when we teach her.  She also gives the best prayers you have ever heard.  They are so sincere.  You can tell that she is truly talking with God.  The other day she said something really funny.  We were teaching the plan of salvation and I told her that she lived with God before she came to the earth.  She said, " ya mean Heavenly Father?"  It reminded me of when Olivia always used to say, "What do ya mean?"  It was really funny.  Ever since she always reminds me of Oliv.  The funny thing is they have tons in common.  She is really tall for her age and athletic.  Her story is a sad one though.  Her mom died about 6 years ago when she was just little.  I don’t know all the details, but her mom wasn’t exactly the greatest mom and she died of an overdose.  The Dad left long before that.  Right now Evelyn lives with her uncle and her 3 sisters.  Every time we see her she has tons of dishes to wash or clothes to clean. She’s only 11!  It’s really sad.  I know that the church will be a huge help to her.  

We are also teaching a boy named Hugo.  He is the grandson of a member.  He is 16.  He is really awesome. Yesterday he came to church 45 minutes early!  But get this.  He started to throw up before the church started and had to leave.  His baptismal date was the 17th but we had to move it to the 24th.  I feel bad for him.  His parents died when he was just little also.  I just realize more and more each day how lucky I am in my life.  It’s really not fair.  This really motivates me to try and help others.  I know that I have so much to give back.  

Ok remember Ana and Rocio?  They have been seeing the missionaries for about 4 months now.  They know everything about the church and always go to activities.  They also believe in the Book of Mormon.  I know that they know that this church is true.  Well on this week we decided that the 4 of us would have a fast to try and help them really figure out what is stopping them from being baptized.  We watched a really cool talk by Elaine Dalton and then we started the fast.  The fast was to end after church on Sunday.  This was hard for them because they had never fasted that long before. hahahah The hardest part about it was we challenged them not to go to the Boliche on Saturday night.  Argentina lives for the Boliches.  A Boliche is a dance.  Everywhere you go, every Saturday night there is a Boliche.  It’s weird because it’s for ages 16-50.  It sounds really weird to me.  People love to dance here.  And they aren’t just for single people. Couples go too.  But the thing is, it starts at 2 in the morning.  So we challenged them not to go so they could keep the Sabbath day holy and have more of the spirit. I told them that the more we sacrifice, the more we are blessed.  So we had the fast and then talked after. It was really awesome. They both just told us that they had such a strong feeling that the church was true.  But this is the miracle. Rocio truly confided in us and told us the reason that she can’t be baptized.  It’s a long story that is really sad and I’m not going to tell in this moment, but she really can’t get baptized right now because of her older brother who is basically her dad.  When she told us this we just felt so calm.  Like we did our part, and an assurance that one day she will be baptized.  Through tears she asked why is it that for some people it is so easy to be baptized and she wants to do it more than anything and it’s not possible in this moment.  We didn’t really have an answer besides saying that the Lord works in his own time.  It was really sad, but I know that the fast worked and that we were blessed.

Well guys that’s basically my week. Thanks so much for all that you do for me. I really love you all so much and am grateful that we are an eternal family.  I’m so happy to be a missionary.

Love Riley!