La Cucaracha

Holaaaaaaa

 

And Now, verily I say unto you, and what I say unto one I say unto all, be of good cheer, little children; for I am in your midst and I have not forsaken you! And inasmuch as you have humbled yourselves before me, the blessings of the kingdom are yours. (D&C 61:36-37)

 

Hopefully I have time for all that I want to say.

 

So I´m addicted to coca cola right. Because sometimes I just NEED caffine. BUT I don´t want to take excedrine every day and I can´t drink mate anymore.. New rule. Broke my heart. However, they don´t call coke coke.. or coca cola.. just coca. So sometimes I feel like I´m asking for drugs... ¿tiene coca? ¿cuanto cuesta? ¿como esta?

 

Found our first cucaracha in our super nice apartment this week.. I just about died. Hermana Mendez was in the bathroom and she told me to kill it.. so I had the dust pan and the broom and I tried to kill it and it ran under our bunk bed so I moved the bed and all of our bags and I was screaming and whacking at a cockroach that wouldn´t freaking die and it came back alive and I seriously moved everything in our house to the other side of the house. It was insane and now our bed remains on the other side of the room.

 

The Lord answers prayers!! So I´m struggling right? 3 months in the field and barely anything. Sometimes I feel like it´s my fault.. I use the excuse that SHE´S my trainer.. She needs to be the example for ME!! She´s 23 years old and she acts like she´s 10. Seriously she can´t walk in a straight line and she has to touch all of the windows of every store. She eats chicken legs like this: stick your fork in the bone and eat the meat off the bone. like a gross man would eat chicken if he were alone... I feel like I´ve been HER mom for the past 3 months.. And I´m not as tough as I started.. I allow my companion to take her 20 minute naps. and I don´t yell at her anymore when we spend too much time in lessons... It´s not worth it. The fighting and screaming and crying... Just not worth it. So sometimes I feel like ít´s my fault.. Like I´m not helping her in the way that I should be. Which is probably true. But still. Our companionship is stronger than it ever has been.. It´s still super weak cause we don´t get along half of the time. But we have learned how to work well together. But we´re still not having the success that we deserve honestly. And I know that there is something that the Lord wanted me to learn from this experience. Don´t know what it is yet... but I´m hoping I find out soon. Maybe that I will never marry someone from Ecuador.. haha but this morning I was studying and feeling a little like I could have done more to help her.. and I looked at my quote wall and saw the quote that Carter sent me in the MTC.

 

"You´re doing the best you can and that best results in good to yourself and to others. Do not nag yourself with a sense of failure. Get on your knees and ask for the blessings of the Lord, then stand on your feet and do what you are asked to do." -- President Gordon B. Hinckley 

 

So yesterday, I prayed that I would be able to be sensitive to the spirit. That we could find an unplanned opportunity to teach someone. We were walking down a street that we had never been down before and we passed a house.. the door was open and a seniora was sitting in a chair.. we said Hola and continued to walk away.. and I stopped and told Hermana Mendez that I wanted to go back.. But she didn´t.. but we did. we took a card to her and she was there with her 2 hijos... and I started by saying.. Somos misioneras de la iglesia de Jesucristo. and Her son finished the sentence for me... "de los santos de los ultimos dias."

 

And they invited us in. Come to find out, they had already taken the missionary discussions in another town. but they are super Catholic and don´t want to change. We talked and talked and talked. And we felt the spirit. And I explained to them the experience that I had. that we prayed to find someone unexpected and that the spirit told me to turn around and talk to them. And I shared my favorite scripture with them. D&C 84:88. and we cried and it was probably one of the most beautiful experiences that I have had thus far on my mission. It boosted my spirits that there are people prepared and willing to listen to the missionaries. And that we can touch lives in such special ways if we just will LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT!!

 

Who knows what´s going to happen to this family... I´m off to Candelaria. I have no idea where the hell it is or what the hell I´m doing but I´m stoked!! I think... super overwhelmed but super excited. It´s time for a change. Hermana Mendez and I are finishing off on a good note. And I that is all I wanted!! And I´m going to be training a gringa in a new area. Either my President is crazy or the Lord has lots of fun things in store for me. They are also making me a Sister Training Leader. (I can´t decide if this is good or bad) Luckily, no anxiety attack yet.

 

But I´m off to pack my bags!!

 

Thinking about you and praying for you always!

 

I love you lots and lots and lots!!

 

xoxo

 

Hermana Rupe

 

p.s. ssssssssss :)

 

Sending the bank papers TODAY!!

 

Mom you can use my stuff.. just not the sparkley boots!

still nothing from grandma.. can you give me her email address?

I love speaking spanish with dad!!

Cars, how was your date??

And Carter! I have a whole list of foods that we eat here for you.. It´s super great I´´ll send it next week.

 

Pretty sure I´ve eaten more fruit cake in the past 2 weeks than ever before in my life.

 

Also, I jinxed myself by saying that mayonaise is optional. The day after christmas, we had a mayonaise casserole. I swear one day these people are going to come out with a Thanksgiving salad-- Like Marshall´s family from HIMYM.. Potatoe chips.. mayo... gummy bears.. mayo... fruit cake... mayo.. chicken bones... mayo. all in a huge cylindrical vase!!

Merry Christmas!!

Break the rules---Hear good music..

It´s probably really bad that I always start my emails with the music that I hear throughout the week... but it´s funny. :) It´s a way the Lord has learned to comfort me..

You will NEVER guess which song I heard this week.. We went shopping on tuesday. Which we´re not supposed to do... It was for a good purpose. but ♪Ain´t nothing gonna break my stride...Nobody´s gonna slow me down. OH NO! I´ve got to keep on moving.♫ 

almost cried

Speaking of music... There is a new rule. We can listen to WHATEVER we want. as long as it invites the spirit.. :) 

Man in the Mirror

The story-- It´s my theme song.

So.. if someone wants to make me a CD for my birthday-- wink wink. Disney is totally acceptable too.. if it invites the spirit. Pretty sure Les Mis is super spiritual as well... and I have been singing lots of The Sound of Music Lately..

How do you solve a PROBLEM LIKE MARIA?!?!

Maria.. Oh my bad word. She is making me mad. Seriously SO MAD. She keeps committing to come to all of these activities and to church and she doesn´t do it!! and we thought that Max was changing too and he still sucks.. but we don´t know what to do cause when we are with them, we feel the spirit and we see these changes.. we just can´t get them married and we can´t get them out of their house!!

Tamara is still crazy..

And basically the Elders have been teaching someone in our area for 4 months and they baptized her on Saturday.. So pretty much we are both realllllly discouraged.. It´s dumb.

And I´m super ready to change companions. Super ready. but I am still doing my best to love her and be a good missionary.

We had a service project this week that we got permission to paint Claudia´s house for 2 hours which turned into 4 which turned into taking all of our study time and we were a mess... but it was good to serve someone. :) I was super frustrated though that she wouldn´t say anything about the fact that we had to leave to study!

Our ward´s Christmas party was on Friday.That was good. Except we ended up getting home SUPER late. Like 10:45... and even though we had permission to stay out till 10:30.. the leaders were ticked. and I wanted to plan when we got home, but she didn´t want to so I texted the leaders and asked them if we could plan in the morning and they called us and were super mad at her and then she got mad at me for texting the leaders without conversing with her first and she told me that she lost trust in me and I wanted to punch her. Because yesterday she used the computer at a members house. She can break rules but I can´t text the leaders for permission to plan in the morning?? I don´t understand it... 

But I didn´t freak out. I prayed and I prayed and we went to the Christmas Devocional last night and I was filled with the spirit..and I talked to her. I took the blame for the stupid text and I apologized. But I explained that she HAS to respect me and she HAS to trust me if she wants the same from me. And I explained that we probably only have 2 more weeks together and I don´t want to be running away from her by the end of our time together. I want to be sad to leave her.. and we talked and talked and it was really good and I am ready to conquer the next couple weeks with Hermana Mendez.

Also I am so ready to see your faces on CHRISTMAS!! I can´t believe it´s Christmas. Ah. So wonderful. And I would write more but I have to set up my skype account... So you´ll just have to wait for Wednesday.

Love you all..

Merry Christmas. The Church is true. Christ LIVES!! :) I know it I know it I know it. 

Love you.

xo

Hermana Rupe

Photos: Big booty big booty.

My favorite movie. :) :(

ME GUSTA

Hola amado familia.

I´m starting to dream in spanish!! yay for fluency.. Except in my dream i was speaking spanish and the people told me to speak english cause my spanish sucks.. What does that mean?

So... I decided that everyone forgot about me... haha but it´s okay cause I have more time to write this fun big email because no one emails me anymore..

Maybe it´s because one week I get like 50 emails and have to print them off and never get around to replying... cause I´m such a perfectionist I want to send good emails. So, forgive me if I haven´t been replying to people that want me to reply to them.

This week was crazy... I decided that the whole rollercoaster comparison is getting annoying so I won´t use it anymore... 

Sometimes it takes everything I have to not D A M N people to hell... The church email system bleeps out that word... I learned what it is in spanish and it´s not a bad word here.. Hahaha. It drives me crazy when people talk about how much they Love Jesus but they do NOT want to talk about Him... URGH.

I ran away from my first homeless person this week... I was actually a little bit scared. Hermana Mendez makes too big of a deal out of creepy people and if they follow us for one quadra she freaks out and tells me to walk really fast... and usually I just shrug it off cause we´re in the middle of the city and really everyone wants to save my life so I am never scared of dying... And I wasn´t this time either cause I easily could have snapped this man in two.. but it was weird. We ran for like 5 quadras...And she almost passed out.

In other creepy news... I´m sweating like a maniac right now.. because unlike last week, it´s not raining today.. It´s like 200 degrees outside and the computer place is blistering hot. I have sweat literally dripping off of my face. super attractive... and this creepy old man came and sat by me and started speaking in english that I didn´t understand cause I can´t switch... When I´m out and about-- I speak spanish.. When I´m in the office, my spanish doesn´t work and I can only speak english. So this creepy man literally. in english.. this is the only part I understood... asked me if he could kiss me for a souvineer!! WHAT!! I about slapped him.. No, I said... I´m here to serve the Lord. I can´t sorry... and I´m emailing my family right now, so sorry.. and I stopped talking to him. urgh. Why do I have to be so pretty?

Also.. funny story about how hard it is to understand spanish.. Elva.. The pastora that came to church.. She doesn´t have a leg right? We went to visit her and somehow she got to telling us about her accident and about the hospital after her accident and she got to telling us about her bowl movements.. don´t know how. and I didn´t understand what was going on. I just thought she was telling us her story and how her faith got her through.. but her daughter started laughing and told her to stop telling us about her poop... still didn´t understand and I felt bad cause she was embarrassed... so I said, PERO ME GUSTA!!! And everyone died.. I still didn´t understand what happened... but basically I said that I like hearing about her poop story... It was horrible.

This week was good. Tamara is CRAZY!! She told us that we all need to be like animals and just have the instinct to choose good things. WHAT?? And she told us that she doesn´t like anything about smoking... but that it´s rico.. I don´t understand it. Her mom, however has a baptismal date for the 18th of January.. 

and we have another date!! whoo hoo.. Natalia is a new investigator. She just moved close to Eliana because she just got married. She is seriously so darling. Her whole family is Catholic but she converted to the Evangelical church not too long ago. Which in most cases is weird... but in this one it is super great!! We have a lot in common with the evangelical church believe it or not... So it´s kind of easy talking to someone who just recently converted to that church... because she is still learning and there are lots of things however that they are missing.. that we have. because we have ALL of the truth!! whoo hoo.. and she is super excited to read the Book of Mormon.. and we just love her!! And I was the one that got to commit her to baptism.. Super cool..

I finished my 10th week of training... WHAT!! Almost 4 months gone??

Yesterday, we went to the evening of excellence with the YW.. There are only 3 active YW in the ward here. But I was so emotional thinking about Young Womens and how much it helped me throughout my teenage years... YWs definitely prepared me SO MUCH for my mission... ah. I asked for a Personal Progress book in spanish so that we could help Millie Rojas do her personal progress with her mommy!! yaya!!

We tried to get Maria to church this week but it didn´t work.. which was sad. But we´re still working hard. I was getting a little discouraged.. but I read in Preach My Gospel that it´s BAD to be discouraged... because when you get discouraged, you lower your expectations... and when you do that, you don´t work as hard... and when you stop working hard, you lose the spirit. and I do NOT want that... So yes... I wish that things were more successful here. but I am not discouraged!! The Lord still knows what He´s doing. and He can only use me if I work hard!! So vamos... I get to take over today... It´s part of week 11... I am in charge. Hermana Mendez is super excited because she says she gets a break.. and I´m super excited because, you know me... I love being bossy.. I´m a little nervous but so ready. haha.

I´m praying for you always and hoping that all is well at home... Like every missionary, I think... Somedays are wonderful and some suck.. but I love being a missionary. The time is flying by. usually... haha. I´m so excited to talk to you all next week!! yay for Christmas.. but it´s so weird without snow. My body is so confused. Where is the freezingness!!??

I love you love you love you..

Share the gospel with everyone.. Feed the missionaries.. Give them rides too.. Help them bring their investigators to church.. Really, the missionaries are there to help YOU do your missionary work... because you should be doing missionary work always. Remember every member a missionary. Yeah,,, get to it!! I feel like this email needs more spiritualness.. haha.

Cool quote.. "That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do. Not that the nature of the thing has changed, BUT our capacity to do has increased." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I was listening to a talk by President Monson and he was talking about all of the former Presidents of the church.. This was the favorite quote of President Grant. And I loved it.. Be persistent!! And the Lord will bless you. Things get easier. This life is hard.. but when we persistently, consistently live our lives in line with the teachings of the gospel.. with the help of our Heavenly Father and His Son, we can do anything. 

Love you.

Hermana Rupe.

photos: preaching to the coolest graffitti in the city.

la iglesia after a cool rainstorm!

The Old Man is Snoring

When we bring our umbrellas with us, it doesn´t rain.... When we decide not to bring them with us, we get soaked.

I´m soaking wet and I´m emailing you still. because I love you. It´s funny though. Hermana Mendez and I went to the office today to get her money back from the millions of dollars we have to pay for rent and water and all of that fun stuff and it started raining while we were waiting... and the elders were shocked that we would leave in the tormenta... but it´s p-day!! We´ve got stuff to do. Hermana LaPierre took a picture as we left because it literally took 3 seconds for us to be soaked to the bone. and we just laughed as we walked to the store to buy our food because people can´t handle weather here.. A little rain falls from the sky and everyone runs for cover... but here there is this equatoriana and this blonde american walking in the pouring rain without umbrellas and we´re laughing and smiling... People stare at me reguardless... but this was extra special. It was hilarious. Maybe you just had to be here but I´m still laughing at all of the people huddled together under canopies of the stores and us just trudging through the rain and the puddles having a good old time...

Now I´m freezing though. urgh.

I wonder what Posadas would do if it snowed.... aaahhh. I don´t even wanna know.

This week was a rollercoaster again... I don´t even understand my own thoughts anymore. This week was horrible. seriously horrible but in the same week, it was one of the best weeks of my mission. Someone please explain to me how that works.

For some weird reason, I´m always nautious. How do you spell that? I always feel sick. Like I want to throw up but I can´t. It´s weird... But I think I figured it out.

Imagine if you were to go to lagoon... No 6 flags cause 6 flags has cooler rollercoasters. Imagine you´re in 6 flags. and you really like that new rollercoaster Triple X or something like that... So you ask the dude working the rollercoaster if you can just ride the same one all day without getting off... He lets you. Cool... After 3 turns, you´re going to throw up. You want to throw up just thinking about it, right?? That´s how the mission is. And I decided that´s why I feel nautious all of the time. That is totally spelled wrong... Oops.

POR FIN!!! I had real investigators at church yesterday. Everyone can cry happy tears for me. It was the best thing ever and I was so proud!! Florencia. Her spouse... boyfriend. Everyone here calls their boyfriends and girlfriends husband and wife.. even if they aren´t really married. It´s confusing. and there is a SERIOUS problem with unmarried people living together and having families together here. So we have to ask everyone if they are really married. whatever. But Florencia´s esposo is a member of the church. He has been for his entire life really and his whole family belongs to the church. But they have a daughter. She is the most beautiful baby in the world and her name is Maitena. Gorgeous. But Florencia has been meeting with the missionaries for at least a year. And she is basically a member of the church really, she just needs to get married before she can be baptized. She has been visiting her family in Buenos Aires for the past 2 months that I have been here and that´s why I just barely met her. But she is incredible. Im in love. really. We had the greatest lesson with her on Friday. We went to her house with Claudia and we talked about the blessings of eternal marriage. and PRAYER. It was so incredible I don´t even know if I can explain it. Sorry. The spirit was so strong. I feel the spirit all of the time... but this was different. And she got emotional and I think I saw something change in her. Like her priorities are changing. They just bought a new car... A car is more important that eternal salvation. NO. and they have other things that they are saving up to buy... but I think that with a little more time these priorities will change. They are begining to realize that this whole marriage thing is seriously important... if they want to be a forever family. They´ve got to do it now. We taught from D&C 132.. Read it. We are seriously so blessed.

Hermana Elva. Our other investigator that came to church. Basically she is a Evangelical Pastora. She even had to get permission from the Pastor that is like her boss to come with us. and her church was having a worldwide fast yesterday and she came to church with us!! Granted, we had to pay for her taxi to and from the church because she is missing one leg. which is really cool because her hermano is a member. Hermano Ramon. He tool the discussions for FOREVER and was finally baptized. but he lost his leg too.. and they are siblings. He struggles coming to church cause he´s the only member in his family and no one wants to drive him to church and we don´t have many members with cars and taxis are a bit expensive... but we were able to get him to church with his sister who is a pastor and it was great! I think that Elva likes her lively worship services but she definitely felt the spirit which is really so cool. Such a blessing.

This week we had emergency divisions with the Hermana Lideres. Becuase I got really frusterated with Hermana Mendez... I always get really frusterated when she doesn´t know what she´s doing. but we never talk about it so Hermana Mendez just holds everything inside until she explodes at a random moment when I have no idea what I´m doing wrong. She is really rude sometimes telling me that she doesn´t like my attitude and all of this crap.. and it´s hard cause She freaks out at the most random times and she doesn´t have the patience to explain what I need to change so I don´t know how to change to make things better. But we had divisiones which was really great. They called us in the middle of a lesson and told us they were coming to find us.. I was with Hermana Rejas this time and it was so great. I learned so much from her. And we were able to talk about our problems and we fixed them. And we are better at talking about things that drive us crazy when they drive us crazy so that we can fix them and be happy.

Lessons are going better. We´re finding more and more people to teach everyday. The Lord is truly preparing people for us to find and to teach and to bring closer to Him. It´s incredible. I am so grateful to be a part of this marvelous work. It is such a blessing. I feel really selfish sometimes because I feel like the Lord is helping ME more than I am helping Him and more than I am helping His children here in Posadas. But I am trying more and more everyday to be the missionary that He wants me to be. Because He knows what he´s doing. I don´t. But with His help, I know that I can see miracles.

Oh my gosh cool miracle. So we had this really creepy person that we met the first week I got here and he said he didn´t remember his name and we thought he was just a bum and we see him all the time. But we have a new investigator... Tamara. haha mom... but it´s her BROTHER!!! and their mom is seriously distraught because the bum-- cristian. left his family.. which is seriously so sad so we were able to help them solve some problems and we shared a scripture about the responsibilities of a parent and hopefully it helped. Tamara is so cool. She smokes a ton and she is 22 she has a 6 year old and a 3 year old and her husband-- not really married is 40... So she´s a little crazy but so cool. Keep your eyes open for fun stories about her. She was really hard to break at first, luckily Hermana Zambrano was with Hna Mendez for that one cause Hna Zambrano is super frank and great... but yep. Cool miracle...

The Rojas Family is struggling. The dad left. Just up and left. so yesterday, we had a cool lesson with them and I was able to relate to the kids. Not that my dad left. He didn´t. I have the greatest parents in the world. but it was really cool to be able to literally on almost the exact same level.. I could relate to this family. And I think they really were touched that I´m not this perfect blonde from Utah. I have struggles and problems too. I´m real. It´s important to be a REAL missionary I think. The spirit is able to testify of things that we really can´t ourselves when we forget ourselves.. our insecurities, our problems and humble ourselves enought to say. look, I understand... my life isn´t perfect either but I am a living testimony that you can do this!!

We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. :)

I love you all. I am so grateful for your love and support everyday.

Praying for you always.

xoxo

Hermana Karlie Bee!

Still can´t believe corb is a MISSIONARY!! Oh my goodness. How cool.

Challenge for the week!!: It says in True to the Faith that if we merely lounge about doing nothing on the sabbath, we fail to keep the day holy. Abstaining from work and recreation is NOT ENOUGH. Your challenge is to set goals and think of things you can do on Sundays to keep the day holy. A nap is fine... but do things that are productive... Like write your missionaries... Visit the sick and distressed... study. :)

Pictures:

We had Family home evening with the familia rojas on monday and made tacos!!

Hermana Rejas...

My Christmas tree!! I used all of my neckaces... our broken key and some ribbon to decorate it. And of course a bow on the top... a scarf for the tree skirt.. and I bought those cool owls. Wendy should be jealous. They were a little expensive... sorry mom. but so worth it!! Everytime we passed the store that I got them from, I would stare and stare and finally I had to just buy them. Merry Christmas to me!!

Thanksgiving Treasures

It´s Thanksgiving!!! Holy crap. it does NOT feel like Thanksgiving here... Talk about blistering heat.. either that or freezing cold rain.

Anyway.. I hope all is well and everyone is being especially grateful for their blessings this week. I know I am. Am I a horrible missionary if the highlight of my week was that BRUNO MARS FINALLY FOUND ME. POR FIN. I have been waiting 3 months. I knew our love was too strong for the mission to keep us apart. Oh my gosh I´m pathetic... But Imagine, me doing Cyntia´s hair again and his beautiful voice comes over on the TV... Treasure... that is what you are.... Oh I lost it. Literal tears, sobs of joy. I died. Forgive me. I´m terrible. tengo mucho pescados... er pecados. :)

So.. Argentina is ruining my feet. I have a nasty ingrown toenail. You´re welcome everyone. and I am terrified that my feet are going to end up nasty like lots of the people who live here.. cause I stub my toe at least 17 times a day. On rocks, trees, cats, birds... the air. It´s painful. Also, I am COVERED in mosquito bites. Like the men here, the mosquitos love my white skin.. and they love my blood. cause I eat lots of Dulce de Leche.. and I´m sure my blood sugar has sky rocketed. but I´m still skinny so it´s alright. Pretty sure my metabolism has sky rocketed as well cause I´m ALWAYS hungry... except for after lunch because the members feed me more than my stomach can handle and I´m always bloated. "Quiere un poquito mas?" Si un poquito... Okay vamos y give you more food than we gave you on your first plate. They are really gracious and I love them. My companion though, loves to tell me how pregnant I look after lunch and she loves pointing out each new zit everyday... Also, I guess my freckles are ugly.. I like them but she doesn´t. CONFIDENCE-- blown. I think that´s why I get so many compliments from creepy people everday cause If I didn´t, my self confidence would be totally gone.

So my companion doesn´t have a filter but things are continually getting better. Last Thursday-- I forgot to tell you this, we had lunch with the bishop and his family and he said something that changed my life...

"Hace su parte.. no puede hacer todo." Do your part because you can´t do everything. I can´t be a perfect missionary. Sorry to break it to you, I can´t do it. I tried and I tried and It´s just not possible. Also, I can´t expect my companion to be perfect. I am SO OVERWHELMED with the amount of work we have here and I feel sometimes like I´m not doing anything. because we don´t have investigators coming to church... We had another creepy person come. He touched my bum. I wanted to die and I almost slapped him. And then when we went back to visit Maria (he was her neighbor) NOT TO VISIT HIM, we found out that he just upped and moved away. No one knows what happened or where he went.

I feel like my guardian angel probably scared the crap out of him somehow. I think about a story I heard once or twice about a sister missionary and her companion who had an army of angels protecting them this one time.. ;) I strongly believe that I have been blessed with special protection. I never feel scared.. Sometimes I am disgusted in the way people look at me. And there have been times that Hermana Mendez and I have been prompted to go another direction and I feel a little uneasy, but never scared. I know that the Lord is taking care of me. It´s such a blessing.

So Maria´s birthday was Sunday. We had a little party. We tried to make a cake but burned it so I ate it anyway and we took her muffins... They were better than the cake. We were SO HOPEFULL that they would come to church. because on FRIDAY, we took maria and her boys to the capilla for a little church tour and we gave them a lesson there about the gospel. The spirit was so strong even though her boys were running around like wild men and they were so excited to come back!! But when she woke up in the morning she had a crazy bad toothache and can´t take medicine (but she can smoke) cause she´s pregnant. Rompe mi corazon.. the party was good though. She really wants to be baptized but stupid max wants to wait to be married. grrrrr. Just pray that we can get them all to church this sunday.

Funny story that I forgot to tell you about last week... So Sunday night. Not two days ago, the one before that. We got home right on time. 9:20 ish I don´t remember and we open the door to the staircase that leads to our apartment door... perfect... but when we put the key in to open our pension, it wouldn´t work. for nothing,,, and we looked at it and part of it was bent.. we have these cool skeleton keys.. so hermana Mendez took it and started beating it against the wall to try and bend it back and it broke. broke. and would not work. and we only have one key. and our landlord doesn´t have a spare... the office doesn´t have a spare.. so we ended up calling the president and he send his secretaries to come pick us up and we got to sleep in the mission home and eat breakfast with president and sister lapierre. haha. Pretty great. If only I had facewash and pajamas.

I love being a missionary. And I love my companion. She has truly been a blessing... no matter how much I complain about her and continue to complain about her. I am so grateful for her. She is so kind and loving and she has a strong testimony of the gospel. We are working better with each other. so much better. She lets me help in the lessons. she trusts me with navigating our routes throughout the day and we are honestly becoming a companionship. I´m starting to take over in the lessons and I can talk more and explain things that Hermana Mendez can´t even explain. It´s so cool And it doesn´t even make her mad. We´re praying together at night right before we go to bed which we didn´t do before and it is seriously making a world of a difference. We are not perfect. Far from it... but we are improving and we are doing better every day.

I love the gospel. I am so thankful for the incredible blessing it is in my life. There is no where else I would rather be. and there is nothing else I would rather be doing with my life at this moment. The church is true. Heavenly Father loves His children. The knowledge we have of the gospel and of the Atonement is incredible. and it is such an incredible experience for me to be sharing it with the people here in Argentina. Even though I´m not baptizing the world, I am so grateful for the lives that have been touched through me, somehow in ways that are not by me...

All of these lines across my face. Tell you the story of who I am. So many stories of where I´ve been and how I got to where I am. But these stories don´t mean anything when you´ve got no one to tell them to. It´s true, I was made for you. ARGENTINA. ;)-- My favorite Lesbian, Brandi Carlile.

The work is work, but the work is working.

Te amo muchisimo!!
I´m so thankful for you!!

Hermana Rupe.

p.s. so excited for my little hermanito to be joining me in a week!!
Also please tell Jakey to email me. SO STOKED!! SPANISH SPEAKING CANADIAN!!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY 16 YEAR OLD BABY BROTHER CARSON!! whoo hoo. Old farts you boys... Love you love you love you.

Hola

Hey friends and family!!

I love you lots and lots and lots. I think about you every day.

I'm loving life here in the mtc.

I've had a really great week but I'm kinda homesick today because we have had a lot of down time, so I have more time to think about home! BUT usually I am so darn busy, there's no time to think about anything besides the gospel... and spanish... and eating... and sleeping... OH MY GOSH! Sleep. The nights are so short here. I go to bed at 10:30 ish... fall asleep for 10 minutes and then I swear, it's 6:30 again!!! It's not hard to get up-- so you can't blame my horrible sleeping habits at home. I just am always exhausted! Body, mind, spirit. Missionary work is exhausting!! All we do is STUDY, STUDY, STUDY, eat, study, walk around for a minute, study, study, clean something for service, sleep, eat, repeat. It's insane.

The spanish is hard but it's coming. My companion is wonderful and I have made so many great friends!!

It's crazy how young everyone is here! CRAZY!!

I feel like an old grandma.. Speaking of Grandma, tell her I love her.

Also, I am learning so much. About me and about the gospel and about the mission.

Like I have always said, this mission is definitely not about me. It's about the Lord and His people in Argentina!! I'm just a tool in His hands to bring the beautiful gospel to those who need it. And I am so excited!!

The food here is weird. There is so much food. It's crazy.

I love my teacher. Except she's getting moved which I hate. It makes me so sad.

So, the first day. You dropped me off and I thought I was going to die. BUT I didn't cry because, the Bingham's were right. You just go go go go go go go go. There is no time to be sad. I didn't even cry myself to sleep because I was so darn exhausted.

OH YES!! I wrote down what I remembered from my setting apart blessing, but I was wondering if you would all send me what you remember.. and mom will you send me those lists of things that holly gave you? and tell her I love her,

After dinner on the first day, we met our zone leaders. One of them reminds me so much of Jordan Jex. It's kinda creepy. Also we met our sister training leader. Her name is Sister Jarman. She left this morning and I miss her so much! She was only 19 but I swear she seemed so much older than me. She was so great! She gave us so much advice and she just loved us to pieces. I seriously needed her.

Also, my teacher is incredible!! She is the sweetest thing. Her name is hermana Link and I love her so so so so much. She is also exactly what I needed to keep me in that classroom. Had it been anyone else there, I would have turned around and ran home. I was so blessed to meet the most amazing people my first day here. I honestly don't think that I would have been okay without them. The sisters in my district are AMAZING!! My companion is so darn cute. I love her so much. Her name is Hermana Crump. And I went to school with her in Logan. I met her once before!! It was crazy.. and so comforting. Hermana Rust is the cutest thing EVER!! She's from vernal. and she is so sweet. AND HERMANA BARRETT!! I'm obsessed with her. She's me, but in short cute form. :) She is exactly like me. We eat the same things,,, have the same taste in clothes... laugh at the same jokes... and we curl our hair the same way!! JUST ASK WENDY, THAT'S A HUGE DEAL!!

Saturday was pretty great. We taught our SECOND discussion with Rafael. and Hermana Crump and I did so great! We even taught Him to pray. It was wonderful. We felt so good about it and Spanish is actually kinda coming... VERY slowly but it's coming!

Yesterday was super awesome. I was kinda sad because Sundays are my favorite days with my family but it was still good. I don't think that I have ever felt the spirit so strongly, ever as I did yesterday!

We started the day with a 3-hour study session. Then we had mission conference. I am DYING to see Michael Walker and Cameron Anderson. BUT I think that they are on the West Campus cause I haven't seen them ANYWHERE!! Will you find out where they are?

Mission conference was great. Every time I feel like I can't do it even for just a second, someone says something to change my mind. I CAN DO THIS!! And I am going to be so wonderful!! :)

After the mission conference, we had a district meeting. Since we are new, brother and sister Price gave a lesson. They talked a little bit about obedience and how it brings blessings. It was great. I wish I had time to explain more!

After district meeting, we sung with district C. God Be With You Til We Meet Again.. EN ESPANOL!! Para siempre Dios este con vos. It's so great, I was trying to think of what it's called in spanish this morning and I found out that I have it memorized and I have been singing in spanish all day long.

It was really sad to say goodbye to District C. I hated it. But I have some fun pictures with them from the temple yesterday.

Oh-- Hermana Barrett is going to Buenos Aires. I'm sad. All the rest of us in my District are going to Posadas.

I was hoping that I would run into the Elders that I know at the temple... However, I think the Lord knows that I will want to hug them so he's purposefully keeping me from seeing them.

After we sang, we went to sacrament meeting. It's kinda fun that almost everything is in spanish.. and none of us know spanish!! :)

After that, we had some study time the dinner then the sunday night devotional which was SUPER great!! I loved it. At the end, we sung the battle hymn of the republic and I looked around at all of the missionaries around me and I seriously can not believe that I am apart of this huge army of missionaries. Our MTC president called us the Army of President Monson-- like the army of Helaman?! :)

THEN we have movie night!

Really, they just play a movie of an apostle speaking. BUT it was so great. We watched Elder Bednar. He came to the MTC on Christmas one year and gave the most amazing talk about forgetting about yourself. Obviously, I'm thinking a lot about myself. and I shouldn't be. It was really beautiful though and I am going to do my best to be more Christ- like and to turn outward toward others and serve them.

Anyway, that's been my week at el CCM. (The MTC) And I really am having a great time! I am learning so much and I have grown so much. I miss you all every day! But I know that I am where I need to be. I'm doing what I need to be doing. And I am so excited to see what more I can learn and how I can be of service to the Lord and His children in Argentina.

Don't forget about me.

Send me letters.. and emails and DEARELDERS!!! Por Favor. EVERY DAY!!

I love you

xoxox

Hermana Rupe



Picture: My best friend Hermana Barrett with the bun and my cute favorite companion Hermana Crump!! :)

Argentina

IT CAME!!!

I have been called to serve in the Argentina Posadas mission. :)


I will be speaking Spanish. The best kind of Spanish.

& I enter the Provo MTC on August 28th.................. in FOREVER.

But that's okay because I'm going to ARGENTINA!! :) And I am so beyond excited and happy, it's ridiculous. I am seriously thrilled. I couldn't have asked for a better mission for myself. I am so blessed. ♥


At first, I didn't want to make my call opening a huge deal. Originally, I was just going to open it with my parents and my brothers. BUT the more I thought about it and talked to people, the more I realized that I just couldn't do it without my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, my friends and even some of my neighbors. There are so many people who have played such a huge role in bringing me to this point in my life, it felt wrong to not include them.

So, we invited the world. :)

We even Skyped my aunts and uncles who are scattered across the Nation.

And it was such a blessing to be able to share this wonderful moment with just about everyone I love.

 I told the Lord that I would go where He wanted me to go. (Except for Russia. |: ) I even would have been willing to drive 5 hours to Boise, Idaho if He wanted me to. However, He wants me in Posadas Argentina. I never would have guessed it, but now that I know, there is no where else that I would rather go. This has definitely strengthened my testimony of how well my Father in Heaven knows me. ...

AND of how much He loves me.

Argentina could not be any more perfect for me.

And the waiting begins.....

Christmas in April

I am five years old.

I am exhausted, yet I can't sleep.

Because it's Christmas Eve!!

Okay, not really. It's April 9th but it FEELS like Christmas Eve.

Almost not as blissful, though, because on Christmas Eve, I absolutely know that I am going to wake up the following morning to a magical room full of gifts. Unless I somehow happen to be  put on the naughty list. Growing up, I never expected to be on Santa's naughty list. I always knew he would come with a couple of new outfits for me.

I know I'm not on Heavenly Father's naughty list and I know that He wants me to receive my gift, but there is still a chance that it won't come by morning. Because Heavenly Father can't bring me my gift physically. The mailman has to do it.

But the mailman is not as wonderful as Santa Clause.

source

The time has come, my friends. [Hopefully] Tomorrow morning, my momma should be getting a phone call from the Post Office informing her that my MISSION CALL has arrived!

After 6 long months of debating whether or not I should submit my papers and 3 even longer WEEKS of waiting for the call to come, it is finally here! [Hopefully]

The church is true. Christ lives and He loves us. We have a Father in Heaven who knows us and loves us and is aware of our every want and need. I am so thankful for the knowledge that I have of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so excited to be able to share that knowledge with the world by serving a mission. I want those people that I am to teach to have the opportunity to experience all of the joys that the gospel brings into my life, daily. There is nothing more meaningful than for all of God's children to be able to know of the blessings that come through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that the Lord wants this for His children more than anything. He wants His children to come to know Him. I want His children to come to know Him and I love that I can be a hand in moving His beautiful work forward.


I can't wait to see what my Heavenly Father has in store for the next 18 months of my life. ♥


Any guesses?

Sandy

You're the one that I want. You. are. the. one. I. want.

hoo

hoo

hoo

H O N E Y.

Over the weekend, my lovely family and I took a trip to the Sand Dunes.

My dad is Mr. Chef. He built an oven in the ground.

Don't tell the park rangers. They'll be mad.

Cute Carter never stopped riding. Ever.

Carson learned how to ride the motorcycles.

All of the kids were having too much fun riding around to dye Easter eggs. 

So, the oldest granddaughters got stuck with it!

I don't know why we didn't just put the eggs back in the fridge. They all went bad anyway...

My family is the greatest.

Day time Easter egg hunt.

We had a glow in the dark Easter egg hunt

We have made it a tradition to write Mark's name with rocks at Lake Powell every year.

We had glow sticks and figured it would be fun to carry on the tradition with this fun family vacation as well.

I braved the commander. Last time we went to the sand dunes, I rolled that thing.

My parents are the cutest!