February 20, 2012- Letter

Dear Dad and Mom,

Thank you for sending me some pictures! I love getting them and this week I got a lot! I got three packages from Kami. I look forward to getting the Valentines Package just in time for my birthday. hehe. And,the big news about transfers!!! I am still in Puerto!!! Thank goodness! However, Hna Israelsen did leave. That was really really sad and really really hard. However, my new companion, Hna Vawdrey is really great! She got here last night,and we are still getting to know each other, but so far things are going really really well!!

Also, some general information. A Christopher Thomas will be calling you Mom. He was my district leader, and he is going home tomorrow. He offered to take a couple of things home for me since he had extra room in his luggage. So I did send a couple of things. It really is nothing exciting at all. Some old letters, and some old journals (please don´t read them). And I think that is it. So he will be calling you to find a time that he can come and drop them off. So when he calls and knows who you are, don´t be alarmed. He is friend.

This week was good. It was crazy crazy hot. Hna Iraelsen and I are fairly positive that we had a little bit of sunstroke. And I am not exaggerating. It was crazy crazy hot. It had been a long time since I had felt so ill on the mission. So we had to take a little bit of time in the house just cooling off. She was dizzy and lightheaded and I was nauseous (SP?) among a couple of other things, so that was mildly unpleasant.

Overall,the week was pretty basic. We are still struggling to really find people. We do have a couple of investigators, but they aren´t keeping their commitments, so we are going to have to let some of them go. I hate doing that. You really do grow to love the people that you teach, and it is hard to let them go when you know what they could gain if they just put in a little bit  of effort. But, that will also free us up to find the people that are prepared to listen to what it is that we have.

There was something really exciting that happened yesterday! We had two new ward missionaries called! They are cute little priests,and they are going to do so good. They had the first EFY in Argentina this summer, and last week was the turn of the youth from our ward. So yesterday for Sacrament Meeting, they had all the youth that were able to go give their testimonies and it was a really powerful meeting. A lot of them come from part member families, and they now have goals to have their whole family with them at church. They are great. The youth really are amazing, aren´t they?

Sorry I didn´t get to send very many pictures, and that my letter isn´t too long this week. We had some technical errors (and no Dad, they weren´t ID 10 T errors :). By the way, I taught that to Hna Israelsen, and she thinks that It is genius. Hopefully next week will just be a little better in that regard overall.

I love you!!!

Corinne

February 13, 2012- Letter

Dear Mom and Dad!

 

I too am wondering about transfers. There is a slight chance that Hna Israelsen and I will be together again, and I am really really hoping that we will be. Or that if there have to be some changes, that I will be able to stay in Puerto again. For at least one more transfer!!!!!

 

Kami told me that she was coming home this week, she did not tell me about her experience while she was modeling. I do love that she has turned into the "sports expert". That is great. But just look. You two had nealy lost all hope that you would have sportsy children, and while we may not play, we are learning some. How well rounded we are turning out to be!!!

 

OKay. My week. Things overall are getting alot better. I can certainly feel a difference in my attitude, and are starting to see some results, even if they aren´t quite the amount of results that we would like, they are coming! And things from here will only go up!

 

In terms of exciting things that happened this week, Hna Israelsen had her first asado! We had visited a menos activo family, and they were asking what things we had eaten in Argentina, and one of the first things that everyone asks is if you have had asado. I don´t know how but Hna Israelsen in her almost 6 months in Argentina had never had an asado. So they invited us back for another day, and we had one of the best asado´s that I have had in my entire time in Argentina! We were also able to get them at least thinking about coming back to church. They have a couple of obstacles that they will need to over come, but I hope that we can help them do just that!

 

Also, this year they are have the first EFY´s in Argentina! They have broken the country up by missions, and so each mission has a week, where the youth from that mission will go to Buenos Aires to have EFY. This is the week for our mission, and a good chunk of the youth from our ward were able to go. They are SO excited, and I am really excited for them. We have some amazing youth, and EFY will do nothing short of helping them become even more amazing. I am really excited to hear how it goes. The last week I have told more EFY stories than I probably have in my entire life!

 

And, on Sunday we had Elder Patanía come to our ward. He is the area 70 for...our area. I actually have no idea how large the area is or anything. I don´t know how the area 70 are split up. But I do know that he came. And he gave the best talk that I have heard my entire time in Argentina. He talked alot about the Atonement, and how we need to try to remember every day what it is that Christ did for us. Christ gave so much, and we should never take that for granted. He talked about the picture where Christ is knocking at the door, and that we have to let Him in. He also said that many times, God will knock so we will let Him in through our trials. That we need to think, what is it that I need to learn, and with this trial, what is it that will help me grow closer to my Father in Heaven.

 

We were also able to do divisions with the ward missionaries again.That is really proving to be something successful for us. The last two weeks we have done it, we have found new investigators. The girls that we have really are special, and they know what it is that they need to be doing to be good teachers. We are also starting to do a "companionship study" with the ward missionaries. And that has been really great. They are all just so nervous to go teach when they don´t know the lessons very well. So once a week, for an hour, we are reading PMG with them, and doing practices, so they can feel more comfortable with the lessons that they have to be teaching, and so that they can be helping us when they are with us. It really has been great.

 

We also got our Ward Mission Plan for the year, and it is going to be great. They are doing a big PMG push. They want every family in the ward to have it, so and use it when they are doing FHE´s or family scripture study. I think that it is going to help our ward a lot. They have so much potential! And we are going to see so many miracles here! As we have had the blessing of already seeing.

  I have yet to receive the other shoe. But I did find out from one of my zone leaders that I will be getting a package tomorrow at district meeting. Who knows which one it will be? I sure don´t. Haha.

 

Umm...I think to buy new shoes it should be....anywhere from 100-300 pesos. (25-75 dollars) It really just depends where I get them and how good of shoes they are. I did end up buying about a month ago some jelly shoes which have actually been really good. They have yet to wear out and I have been wearing them for a month! I am hoping that they will last me another month longer up until the cold weather comes.

 

Just so everyone knows. If you send me peanut butter, don´t write it on the claim slip. If you do, one of two things will most likely happen. 1) they will send the whole package back to the states or 2) they will just take the peanut butter out and I will never see it. There is a slight very slight chance that they will just let it slide, but that isn´t too normal.

 

Okay, I think I´ve got to go. I am going to try to send some pictures, we´ll see how that goes. I haven´t had much success lately.

 

I love you!!!

 

Corinne

February 6, 2012- Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

Things here are going really well!!! We were finally able to find some new investigators! Things are looking up. There are only two bummers now. One, we now have to get people to church and that is like pulling teeth! And Two, they are living so far apart, and with just the two of us, we are running around little bit like a chicken with its head cut off.

Divisions turned out to not be too bad. I was mildly apprehensive, but I enjoyed them. I did end up getting the biggest blister of my mission to date. The size of a quarter. It was disgusting. Hna Israslsen wanted me to take a picture of it to send to you, but I opted to not put you through that.

This week really was pretty basic. We are trying to do something al ittle different with our ward missionaries.
We have the two girls who have recently been called as ward missionaries, and they are feeling a little hesitant to teach lessons completely on thier own. So we started a "companionship study" with them. We are basically doing with them what we do every day. We are only going to do it once a week, but they are really excited about it. We are hoping that this will be able to help them fulfill their callings a little better, and that they will feel more comfortable.

There was a little bit of bad news. Marta, our cute little convert fell this week. She broke her hip really badly and is currently in the hospital. She will be having an operation here in the next few days and will have to have her hip replaced! She cant have visitors right now, so we have no way to go see her, and we are very worried. Please keep her in your prayers!

I am glad that you FINALLY got your Christmas package! Dad, I am sorry if I got you a similar present than what I sent you for Fathers Day, but for the life of me I could not remember what it is that I got you! Thank you for being will to distribute the other gifts!

Summer, that is so crazy, you are very popular! Let me know if you end up going out for the All Star Team, okay?

Holly, you should know that I am very sad that I am missing all of your freshman dance concerts! WIll you send me some pictures so that I can at least see you in one of your constumes?!

Okay, I know this isn´t that exciting of a letter but really, not that much exciting happened! Here are some fotos!

The fotos are very diverse! They go from when the twins were still here (since I couln´t send pictures last week) there are some at thier surprise farwell party, and the morning that they left for the MTC, and one with our cute little ward missionaries the first day we did divisions! There are also some with the Hermanas from Centro when we did divisions with them, and me and Hna Alvarez, my companion of a couple days!

Transfers are next week, so we ´won´t find out for another week and a half. I am already mildly anxious, as I have had nothing but wonderful companions, and I am sure it is my turn for a challenging one! (By the way, I had no idea that Hna Israelsen wrote you a letter,)

Well, thats about all for now. I am so happy to be a missionary, and that I will be one for a little while longer!!!

LOVE YOU!!!

Corinne

January 30, 2012- Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

Sad news. I just had a really long email typed, and I don´t know how,
but I just exited out of the email. And nothing saved!!! AHH!!! So I
now have ten mintues to try to type as much as I can of what I already
had. So when this is mildly scattered and devoid of details, you know
why.

I also had plans to send a lot of pictures this week, since we took a
TON of pictures, but I am not at the normal ceber  this week, and this
computer doesn´t have anywhere where I can plug in my camera. So the
pictures will have to wait until next week. Kind of a bummer of a
email. week, sorry about that.

We are still struggling to find people, and I am not quite sure why. I
am hoping we can find what it is that we need to fix so that we can
find the people that are waiting for us!! I know there are there, it
is only a matter of where.

This week we had the suprise going away party of Franco and Marco.
They are now missionaries!! On Tuesday we had the surprise, and they
had no idea. So many people were there, it was really great to see how
much support they have. They are going to to do great! I have no doubt
of that. They are easily two of the most prepared Elders I have ever
known. They are now in the MTC!

On Wednesday they got set apart, and needless to say, I cried alot.
Haha, some things never change. After they got set apart, Hna
Israelsen and I asked for blessing from Hno Valente, our ward mission
leader. He gave us great blessings, and gettting them really helped.
We feel a lot better about what we are doing, and we know that things
are going to get better.

Another interesting thing that happend in my blessing is this. He told
me that I should be a missionary for 18 months, and no less. So it
looks like I will not be coming home in August. I will be going home
in September. A little change of plans, but I feel really good about
it. I am excited for the extra time that I will have to be in
Argentina!!!

Right now I am on divisions with the Hermanas in Centro, so I won´t be
in Pruerto until Wednesday morning. I am really hoping that it will be
good. It is going to be interesting to work in another area for such a
short amount of time. I already miss Hna Israelsen though, so here´s
hoping it passes fast!!

Well, I am already out of time. Sorry about that. I am praying for you
all and I love you!!!

Corinne

January 23, 2012- Pictures

January 23, 2012- Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

 

I am feeling much better physically. However, this week was a little rough again, in terms of finding new people. I dont´know what it is! We are trying to do as much as we can. Obviously we still have something to learn. We found ourselves a little disappointed a couple of times this week. We had the lessons, the members, the contacts, everything lined up, and nothing worked out. It was kind of a depressing week in that regard. However, it is going to be better this week. It has to be better this week. We have goals to reach dang it! And reach them we will.

 

However, will all of the adversity, we have had a couple of really good moments together, Han Israelsen and I. We had ourselves a couple of tender moments. And we have a couple of references from members that we are going to be able to start teaching. So we have high hopes for that. We also have divisions all worked out! We will be doing them for the first time this Wednesday, and we have really high hopes that that will help our productivity.

 

Oh Thursday the twins leave for Chile! It is really crazy that they are already leaving. Yesterday they bore their testimonies, and they did a wonderful job. Those two really are two of the most prepared young men I have ever met. They also have some of the biggest desires I have ever seen to serve a mission. They are going to change Chile. They are going to do so amazing. It really is, cheesy though it sounds, inspiring to watch them. They have gone through so much in the last two years, and I am really really excited to hear how they are going to do.

 

After church we took a bunch of pictures as they.. well..won´t be here anymore. So there are a couple of pictures from yesterday. Marco is the one in the purple tie, and Franco is the one in the green tie.

 

Today, Hna Israelsen and I, and a couple of the ward missionaries and lunch together in the church as kind of a "last supper" kinda deal. It was really fun, as it always is. And I took a bunch of pictures, but (sorry mom) I didnt´get any of myself there. But, the goodnews is I made Apple Crisp for the first time, and it turned out really well. They had never seen it before, but they really liked it. That was cool.

 

On Friday, we had interviews with Presidente Detlefsen. As always it was a really good experience. I don´t know how that man does it, but he manages to answer all of my questions when he speaks, even the questions I didn´t know that I had. He talked alot about revelation and prayers and how we can recieve answers. He gave us some tips on how we can work a little better, which we happily recieved.

 

He also gave our district a really cool compiment. He said that he cant feel this way about all of the missionaries in the mission, but when he thinks of us, he knows he can sleep peacefully at night. He knows that we are doing what we need to be doing, that we are working hard, and that we aren´t doing anything stupid. So that was really cool.

 

In terms of other random news, I am almost done with the Old Testament. I should be done here in a couple of weeks. I am really excited to get to the New Testament, and after I finish it in English, read it in Spanish. I am readin the BoM in Spanish again, and it is really nice to be able to understand a lot more than I ever could before. It is still really wierd sometimes when I realize that I am speaking in a different language. And that I can actually communicate. It is really cool.

 

Well, I think that is about it. Oh, they changed the mission norms. And when I say they, I really mean Presidente. One of the new ones is that we memorize a new scripture everyday. It actually has been really cool. I can memorize things in Spanish! Todays scripture is 2 Cor. 4:5-6, 8-10. It is to be the motto of this week, to help us think positive!

 

I am praying for you and I hope that you have a good week! Love you!!!

 

Corinne

January 16, 2012- Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

I´m surprised that you got Kami up in time to leave for Rexburg! Haha. Just kidding. I know that she can now get up whenever she needs too. But do you remember the good ole days when we (okay, you two) had to pry her out of bed with a crowbar? Oh how things have changed. Did it end up snowing? Haven´t you had a decently mild winter? The weather here keeps changing. Really hot and humid, or raining, kinda cold, and humid. The only constant thing in the humidity. Some of the days here have been hotter than it has been in a couple of years, but it keeps changing, so at least it isn´t hot every day! And, I have made it halfway through January! One of the hottest months of the year. If I can make it through January, I can also make it through February, which means I will have survived!!!!

Yes, we are all feeling better. Or, I am feeling better and my wonderful companion, Hna Israelsen is still doing just as great! I hardly even have to cough now! And you should all know that the Lord protects his missionaries! I am still very clumsy and falling all over the place, but, my injuries haven´t been nearly as bad, and I don´t fall quite as much! Poor Hna Israelsen can´t imagine me more clumsy than this, she has it in her head that if she isn´t watching me every second of everyday I´m going to lose a limb.

As of now, no more packages. We´ll see if that changes tomorrow. I don´t know why we have had such problems. I know a lot of missionaries that have received every package without a single problem. But if I have already met my quota, then good news! It won´t happen again for the rest of my mission!!!!

It is good to hear that everyone is doing well.

Does Holly still have dance twice a week? How is dance going at school? I think I have heard more about cheer than about dance? Does she like dance at school? Does she have very many extra practices for it?

How is Zac enjoying the play? Is he still working at Jamba? If so, Zac, will you tell everyone hi for me? Especially Susan. I am glad to hear that he is rising to the challenge that is the age 16, and everything that comes with it. I feel like I had to make some of my hardest decisions at that time of life. 

I am glad to hear that Summer is feeling better! What did she have? Just the flu? That is no fun! I hate that. How is dance and tumbling for her? Does she still like tumbling a little better? Is she dancing twice a week as well?

I hear that Kami is taking a confectioners class. Out of all her classes, I would have to say I am most jealous of that one. I MISS SCHOOL! I mean, if I had to choose to be on the mission right now or at school, I would of course pick the mission. But it has been so long since I have been at school. I miss studying. I am also glad to hear that Kami is taking a mission prep class. That will help her so much on the mission.

Mom, I am glad to hear that you got to go to the Doctor! And that you don´t have to get another MRI. Although, I don´t really remember why you didn´t like it. I´sn´t it nice that now we know at least a little better know what is going on. I remember a year from now, when we were learning all of this, and wondering if I would actually leave on my mission. Because I had no intentions of leaving you if you had cancer. You could not have paid me to leave. Thank you for taking your medicine.

Dad, I hope that everything is going well for you! I think of you, and I am praying for you! You should know, I taught Hna Israelsen, the I D 10 T thing that you used to say when someone was having a "user" error, and she thinks that it is hilarious. And now she uses it all the time. So your humor lives on in Argentina! As does your constant, and ever appreciated good advice.

I am doing well. It has been a little rough the last week, two weeks. We have just had a hard time finding new investigators, and helping the ones that we do have to progress. I am hoping that this week we can turn that around. We really do need to have a good week. It is hard to explain the pressure of the mission, those who have served already know. Sometimes it is just hard. But there are blessings too, and miracles everyday. I suppose it is all a matter of perspective.

I dont´say any of that to make you worry, because you really shouldn´t. I am doing fine, and things will turn out. Thank you for all that you do. Your letters (both emails, and the other kind!!) really do help lift me, and help me be more positive and happy. I love you all so much!

Love,

Corinne