Man Alive

This is my second to last email to you! What?! It all passed by too rapidly. Doesn't feel real still. Thishas been by far the fastest, and one of the happiest transfers of my mission.

Easter was so special this year. Well 3 days ago, we were walking in the street and it was night, when I heard a karaoke (it was very poorly sung haha) and I was like "huh, where's the party?" we continued on our way, when we ran into 300 people in the street, all carrying candles and crosses. Well one person was carrying a GIANT cross, and then a girl was sitting in a car in front singing and such. It was crazy. It wasn't like a crazy mob, it was more slow and surreal, but I was still a littler nervous they were going to turn nuts and stone us for being another religion. We slipped away before we were too noticed, but it was pretty cool to see. 

We had a lot of members and less active members to go church on Sunday, that was really special. It made my heart just so happy to see these people come to church after not coming for such a long time. All of the meetings at church were really spiritual and special. And the branch president gave us a giant chocolate egg. They don't have a lot of Easter traditions here, but making ENORMOUS chocolate eggs are one. I felt happy to be a recipient. We ate with a really special family in this ward who are really nice to the missionaries, they only got baptized 2 years ago and they have a son in a mission in Chile and they just barely got sealed in the temple. I think that is so amazing.

This week I learned how to make ñokis with spinach and a vegetable called acelta, I looked up the definition and saw Swedish chard, not sure what its called, but it was really yummy. I'll be making that as my Argentine delight when I'm home for you guys.

Man, I can't think of anything else. I wish I had more crazy, cool stories, but in reality it was just a very, very spiritual week. I felt so connected and close to my Savior. I felt His presence as a living being who is right beside me a lot. I now feel something really strongly when I see paintings and videos, and I think "that's a good representation, but not Him". I know He lives. And He wants very eagerly to be an active part of our lives, and He can a IF we allow Him. If we give up ourselves and try to be more like Him.

It was just a really good week spiritually wise.

I love you all. Thank you for your prayers, for your concerns, for your updates on whose getting married haha. Man it will be another busy summer of weddings, hope I get to go to lots of them!

LES QUIERO MUCHO

Hermana Collins , weird for only 1 more email I will be called that

April Fools

FIRSTLY, the other hermanas came! hna Miller is back with hna Green, fresh from the mtc. She saw david archy there. c-razy c-razy.
So it wouldn't be a true April fools without a few light pranks. When I walked into the church on Sunday for general conference, the elders all greeted me and told me that president and his wife came as a surprise to watch conference with us. I peeped in the English room, and sure enough I saw them. I said hi but I watched conference in Spanish, because its the last time I'll be able to do that and I wanted to watch with my companion and our investigators. But when the other hermanas came they walked in but waited in the entry way with me for a few more investigators. I said "oh by the way you will be watching conference in the English room with president" hna Miller laughed and said "hahah good one Collins, I already know today is April fools day" I told her i wasn't joking, and she still didn't believe me! I was laughing and laughing and I said "no really, i promise you he is there" but apparently my laughing made it look like i was lying even more. I even said "hmm, that car out there looks a lot like presidents car" and she said "a lot of people have that car" so she didn't believe me at all. I told her that if she really didn't believe me, she should walk into the room dancing and see what happens. I wish i would have been smart enough to think of something bigger! It was funny.
But then president got me big time. Between the sessions my companion and i left to go look for some investigators, and i saw president in his car. I said jokingly "hey your wife said we could borrow your car to go pick up our investigators" and then he said "Do you have your drivers license with you?" i said no, and he said "ahh thats too bad. maybe next time" I walked away and i was like "wait, if i had my license with me, i COULD'VE used his car!" we looked for a few people, and when i came back i asked him "president, so if i had my license with me, would you have let me use your car?" he giggled and said "happy April fools day hermana Collins" hahah! I cant even escape it here!
conference was amazing. So, so wonderful. words cannot describe how much I loved it, how perfect it was for our investigators, and how much i learned and my testimony grew. Even in Spanish, it was super powerful.
We have one investigator right now who came to church by himself last week, and came to conference as well. Apparently 6 years ago in Rosario some other hermanas gave him a Book of Mormon, and he read it and liked it, then moved to Venado Tuerto, and recently found the chapel, and came and when I asked him what his religious beliefs are he said "everything in this church. I feel like everything I have learned about this church is true" woot woot! but he is moving back to Rosario this week to get baptized by the elders there. But Lisandro is awesome. He has a beard like moses.
I don't have much more to say! but i love it here! life is great, i love love love my companion, hna Velasco it wonderful. I cant believe I have 2 more emails to send. Very weird. take care, READ YOUR SCRIPTURES AND PRAY EVERYDAY!
love you
hermana collins

My comp is teaching me a few things in guadanee, the language they speak in Paraguay. So far I know how to say "how are you" (in the title of this email) "shut up" and "lets go to chruch". I figured that would be a good start to get me by.
SO this week.
On Tuesday we had a lesson with our investigator, Sebastian, who since i got here had a baptismal date for the 3rd of march. He is great, has gone to church and listens to us, but really struggled reading and praying, and also is depressed a lot. We told him "if you read and pray it will seriously help you!" and i never thought that he took our invitation seriously. BUT, on Tuesday, he was the happiest that I have ever seen him. We asked if he had read and prayed, and he said that he did! We invited our ward mission leader over for that lesson, and he asked him how he felt about his baptism for that Saturday. He said he felt good, but he would let us know Saturday if he would get baptized or not. I explained how he needs to have an interview before, its really simple and i showed him the questions, and i said "why don't you at least have the interview so you can see how you feel after that" he accepted, and we scheduled an appointment to have an interview on Wednesday. The elders were so excited, and we were too! till on Wednesday, we show up to his house for the interview, and he isn't there. I got discouraged, but we felt like just waiting. We waitied in front of his house for an hour, and then I felt bad for wasting the elders time and we sent them off to lunch. My comp and I were fasting, so I said "lets end our fast now" she began to pray to break the fasting prayer, when next thing I know, Sebastian pulls up!!! She said amen mid sentence haha and we ran up, he said sorry for being late, and we called the elders and they zipped back over to have his interview, which he passed! Sebastian was then more excited for his baptism, and we began to plan it all. When we went over Thursday, and try to ask him who he would like to baptize him, and once again he says "we will see if i go. I wont say yes or no right now"AHHH so we had to just plan a baptism that potentially could or could not happen. It was so stressful. Members passed by and tried to get him more excited, but Saturday came, we filled the font, and just waited. The baptism was to start at 6. 6, he isn't there. 6:25, tampoco. Some elders said "lets go over and pick him up" and they left at 6:45.I have never prayed and fasted so hard in my life. We get a call at 7:30 saying "he said he would come, but he wont get baptized" apparently the elders went over, and when he answered he said "ya ill go just let me change" and left them outside to wait for 30 mins, then came out and said that. I wanted to go off by myself and cry so bad. I was on the point to do so, when he pulled up. I had to tell myself "K.I.T K.I.T K.I.T. keep it together" and go out and talk to him. We talked to Sebastian, he explained his doubts, and really, I don't remember the words that came out of my mouth. An elder offered a prayer with him, and i don't remember what he said either. All I know is that once he offered that prayer, he asked where he could change into baptismal clothes. So at 8:30 that night, he got baptized. It was such  a miracle. I couldn't believe it. So stressful, but it just always shows that God is way more powerful than Satan.
That, along with a slew of other things, was how our week went down. Its been a crazy, and wet week. Lots of rain over here in Venado Tuerto!
Please keep Sebastian in your prayers, he is a great kid.
Love you!
Hermana Collins

SUPER DOOPER WEEK

I would say this was one of the best weeks of the mission. We have found SO  many people, taught SO many lessons, and a ton of people came to church. I'm kinda doing a white wash here and it has been extremely fun so far. I really like Venado Tuerto. It is much more city-ish than Funes. I feel like I'm at home (as in back in Paraná). Contacts are easier to get, and people are just letting us in. I don't know what's happening, but I love it! Hopefully we see more and more miracles everyday.
And the members here are AMAZING. So kind to the missionaries. I get along with them and they are really surprised that I already can speak Spanish well because normally new Americans go there. I have 14 months practicing Spanish now, crazy!!!
My comp is great. Her name is Hermana Gossen (I sent pics to you mom) and she is from Paraguay. Not gonna lie, I'm not a huge fan of the Paraguay accent. They say the "r"´s like Americans who have a bad accent in Spanish. It's kinda funny to me, but I don't wanna pick it up. I like the Argentine accent better. She is a lot older than me, but I think she is self conscious of that so I haven't asked exactly how old she is (I'm thinking 27 or something). But she is a hard worker. SOOO loving. I have never met someone so loving. She cares about EVERYONE. She is always always always thinking about our investigators and their needs. It's so incredible to me. I hope to come home with that kind of love for others as well. That is by far her best quality, although she has a ton of great qualities.
Also another blessing is that there are 2 other hermanas who like right next door to us! They share the branch with us and we just split the area. One is Hermana Giusti, who I ADORE! She and I are really good friends, and she is going to go to BYU! (she is from Buenos Aires). WE have a lot of fun together. And, I testify that the Lord hears and answers our prayers--Hermana Biar (the comp of Hermana Giusti) Likes to go running every morning. YES! I scored myself a great running buddy for the rest of the mission.
I literally have nothing to complain about. Just I'm hoping our investigators can keep with their commitments and realize how wonderful the gospel is and how much it can bless their lives. I know right now we are doing ALL we can do to let them feel the joy, happiness, Peace, and love the gospel of Jesus Christ brings. It is so marvillosa (whats the word for that in English again?).
I guess the only thing bad about here is that there are 4 times as many dogs here as in any of my other areas. And most are street dogs, that have been hit by cars several times and are limping and dying and diseased. Its SUPER nasty. And hna Gossen is more scared of the dogs here than I am, I never thought I'd meet someone who was more scared than I was!
THe chruch is true!!!
loooooooove you all

hermana collins

Sorry this one is incredibly short. This week was hot. I sweat a lot and we walked a lot.
> The most exciting thing is that we got a mini "vacation" -- we called it-- but really we just did divisions with the other hermanas in our zone. It's the first time I've been in a zone with more hermans than just us, and so it was my first time doing so. We went to cañada de gomez and I worked with hna Miller. We met back up at like 7 and then tourtillott and I did contacts while they met with their investigator who is getting baptized next week. We accidentally got ourselves locked outside of the apartment building, that was embarrassing. but we saved a little girl who was lost and helped her find her mom. So a little blessing in disguise.
> Miguel is preparing to go to the temple in Feb! I am SO happy for him, esp since its a very long trip to get there (the members here have to go to Uruguay, because there is no working temple in Argentina right now). Sadly, that means I wont get to go through the temple here before I go home. I'll just have to come back when they put a temple in Rosario.
> OK i love you! I'm very anxious to hear where Kruse goes on his mission!
> hermana collins

Cockroach Cake

This has been quite the week! but a good one. Lots of good little stories. Hope you enjoy.
We finally were able to pull off our first missionary activity this Friday. It went fantastically. We played volleyball and had a surprise water balloon fight (felt amazing!!!). We got to meet lots of the wards friends and it was a blast. The little old woman who starred in our Christmas sketch pulled hermana Tourtillott aside and told her that she made her a birthday cake.She hid it in the kitchen for us to find after because there wasn't enough for everyone. Well we did, and found a little surprise in it. A cockroach and a pretty big one too. We were screaming and I hit the pan really hard to get it to leave. It left, but ran straight into hna tourtillotts book bag. She was scared and didn't want to touch it, so I grabbed it and flung it as hard as I could to the other side of the room (I apologized later for not treating her scriptures very nicely) and the cockroach scurried out and I was screaming and yelled to the little kid who was close to me to kill it. He did so, and we took the cake home and ate a little bit of it. yea i know, disgusting and the cake wasn't even that good anyways.
This week there was a crazy storm, and it started with a dirt storm. Well, the area I am in is all dirt roads. So when the winds are coming, dust and dirt gets in your eyes like crazy. At one point we were getting pelted so hard with little rocks that we ran and hid behind a dumpster for safety. We had to stay there for like 5 mins till it cleared up. After we were completely covered in dirt, we actually finally looked latina!
I saw the most incredible thing this week. We were contacting in this new neighborhood that we found in Roldán, our other pueblo. As we were walking this lady calls us to come over and we stop and talk to her for a while and invite her to come to church. She was super nice, but get this. Her house was COMPLETELY, and I mean completely and totally, made of pop bottles.Like the 2 liter 7-up bottles. There were easily 3,000 bottles in total. I wish I could describe it fully. The house was sand and pop bottles. JUST. BOTTLES.
I fulfilled one of my mission dreams yesterday. We were teaching this man and he struggles with smoking. He was telling us how it is hard for him and he has quit before, but relapsed. We spent a long time talking about he atonement, and at the end he pulls out his pack of cigarettes and begins tearing one. OK, this sounds weird, but one of my mission goals was to walk out of a house with tons of beer and pour it all out, or rip up a bunch of cigarettes, or something like that after someone says they will stop. So as he was tearing the first one I said "give those to me" he didn't believe me at first, but I took the package and hna tourtillott and I began tearing them up to shreds. IT FELT SO GOOD! I was so happy for him to take that big step, and to also see that God cares about us and knew that was something I was dying to do my whole mission.
Susanna and Diego (the wonderful family from San Nicolas) came to visit me yesterday in Funes!!! It was so nice of them! Esp since they live 50 mins away. Yhey came and they bought me a t-shirt that says "I love running" hahaha they know me too well. It made me absolutely thrilled to see them.
Ookkk i think that is it. The mish is FLYING so fast. I hit 14 months tomorrow. Yikes, where has time gone. Its been the greatest though.
*****I MUST ADD THIS NOTE--I have received many, many, many letters from all of you. THANK YOU. Unfortunately, I have not written many letters in response in a while. Firstly, it costs 9 pesos ($2) to send, and that's a bit pricey as it adds, and secondly, I never have time on P-day to write. But I hope you read this and know that these are things I would say back to you all, and I love you all dearly. Seriously, and I'll bring back an alfajore for every letter that I get from someone that I don't write back. That is a promise.
LES QUIERO

hermana collins

HOPPY NU YERR

Today is a lot, lot, lot hotter than Christmas was, so I feel like the parties will be a lot more intense. I just hope I get to see lots of fireworks again tonight.
Can I just say how dang fast this year has gone by? All of 2011 I have been a missionary. That is crazy. When I was making goals for this year, I realized they have to be for like real life stuff. Whaaaaa....It's all happening just too stinkin dang fast.
We had tons of success this week. I just think the spirit of Christmas helped a lot, and my comp and i had a lot more faith and so we have been finding amazingly prepared people. Last night Miguels sister, Silvina, said these exact words "after hearing your testimony, and sitting in on all of these discussions with you guys, i too know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ" i was SOOO happy when i heard her say that! The only problem is that she is living with a guy she isn't married to, and that she lives in Merlo, San Luis, 6 hours away from here, and the closest chapel is an hour away and I'm not sure there are missionaries are in her area. I think she is in Karissa´s mission. Just send her there! It's a for sure baptism.
AHHH I also got the BEST news this morning! So at the Christmas conference, i talked to one elder who is in my old area in San Nicolás, where Susanna and Diego live. I told him how much i loved that family and how he needs to go keep teaching them. I got my missionary nametag and signed the back and gave it to him to give to them for Christmas (i have more, don't worry)
He did, and they all came to church, and right after church called me and thanked me and told he how much they loved the plack. I was SOOO happy to hear their voices, and they told me that they are going to come and visit me some Sunday here. Today, I got another call from that elder telling me that they had a lesson with her last night, and she is really going to be baptized!!!!!! I'm trying to make plans right now to see if there is any way I can make it to that baptism. I love Susanna SOOOO much, and even though she didn't get baptized when I was there, I am so excited she is finally making the step now. I am just giddy thinking about it. Please pray for her (and pray that I can get permission to go to the baptism!)
well, vosotros, que tengáis un año nuevo muy lindo. 2012 is going to ROCK.
High fives
hermana collins