Remember this: Niokis

Mamma, you don't have to email everyone. The reason I started the blog was for people to read whenever they had the chance. I appreciate it, but you don't have to do it.

Speaking of Janelle, HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY!!!! But I remembered on your birthday and yelled out "Happy birthday Janelle!!" Does that still count?

No, I haven't felt any earthquakes or anything since I got here.

Let's start from last week...My companion and I were getting ready to leave Puerto Madryn on Monday night for a 18 hour bus ride, when at about 6:00 we got a call from our zone leader that was coming with us that our ride was cancelled. They had major flooding on the route we were going to take and a bridge collapsed in a town that we were supposed to drive through, so we weren't going to leave on at least monday. My companion and I were " AJSNDGGUFIDÑ!!!" because we didn't have any appointments, any investigators, lunch or food or anything. But thank goodness we had a wonderful sister in the ward with mad cooking skills who offered to feed us. But still. It's hard to work in an area when you know you're going to leave it.

The next day we got bus tickets to drive through a town called Esquel, on the other side of the country next to the Pampas (I think that's what the mountains are called here, the ones that separate us and Chile), then up to Neuquén, and then to Zapala. By the time it was all over, the trip just to Neuquén took 26 hours. At one point our bus was broke down, so we got off for about an hour near Bariloche (a freakishly gorgeous city) and waited for another bus to come and take us. While we were waiting there was this couple with a video camera who stupidly left it sitting unattended and it was jacked. Well, duh! You're in Argentina, what did they think was going to happen? They were kind of freaking out over it, but when we got to Neuquén we had to be searched to make sure that nobody on the bus had the camera. At first they weren't going to let us off the bus until they found it. We were like You have got to be kidding me! It was like midnight. But all they ended up doing was doing a half-hearted search though our bags and we got to get off.

I said goodbye to my Hermana LeGrow *sniff* and went with two latin sisters to stay the night in their apartment. It turned out one of my elders from my first district was in their district there! Yay Elder Smoot!!

At 6:30 the next morning I caught a bus to Zapala that was about another 4 hours long. So I should've gotten to my mission by Tuesday night, when I really got there Thursday morning. So honestly, I haven't really been in Zapala all that long. But there's something different about it. Especially amongst the members. There's a really positive attitude towards missionary work amongst the members. They always give us at least one refferal and we have lunch every day. Lunch here is the main meal. Normally they have dinner really late at night, but all the missionaries get into the habit of not eating dinner because it's just way too late.

Anyway, it's a lot different from Madryn. It's wickedly dry here with lots of wind and dirt. Everything is dusty here. Yeah, there aren't as many tourists (um, if any), our area is a lot bigger so we're taking taxis a lot, and oh my gosh, we have so many investigators! It's insane! Most of the time Hna.LeGrow and I had only three progressing investigators, but here we have at least 15-20. We never have time to do street contacts because we're always teaching someone, visiting someone. Holy Moly.

But although we're really busy with lessons, I realized yesterday that there are only 6 priesthood holders in the entire ward. Maybe. The size of the ward is alright, but there are all these women and children, and no men. What the crud!?!? I'm still trying to figure out details, but one of my goals for being here in Zapala is to find more men to be baptized and receive the priesthood. It kills me that all these women are in chruch without their husbands. All these kids don't have fathers to support and encourage them with their God given priesthood. There is a lot of work to do here.

My companion is Hna. Porter from Utah. She's a military brat, so she's lived in a lot of different states, but her family has been in Utah for a while. All of her extended family lives in Orange County, so we both love the California ways. Her cousin is actually the lead singer of the Aquabats (and that always reminds me of Ben from seminary, it made me giggle), she loves the same music I do, and she's a dancer and a hair stylist. She's a very loving and helping person. We're both blondes so the oogling doesn't stop, but she's been very helpful so far. She just finished training someone else, so she's ready to deal with me.

Yesterday we made a goal that we had to get some contacts done, so we went to knock doors on a certain street that she felt like we needed to go. We ended up finding this lady who, oh my gosh, is so ready for the gospel. We couldn't stay and finish the lesson, but we're praying hardcore that she let's us in again. She's totally ready and prepared.

So I babbled on and on again, but in more spiritually uplifting news, this week in my personal study I've been reading a lot about love. Our mission president has given us a challenge to read the BOM before Easter, and right now I'm in Mosiah with King Benjamin's speech to the people, and a common thread he has is about love, charity, and goodwill towards men, and therefore towards God. I also just finished reading Pres.Uchtdorf's talk from the last conference about love, and it was so good. Please just read it all! It's all so true! And because he is an Apostle of the Lord, we should heed his counsel and try to do what he asks us to do. Because if it's from an apostle, it's from the Lord. Keep striving, keep moving forward, and don't give up. Don't give up and I won't give up either, k? I promise.

love you all!!!

xoxox, Su Hna.Georgeson

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