Feliz Navidad!

Queridos Amigos,

¡Feliz Navidad! I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas. I am sorry that it´s been so long since I sent a group email.

I had a wonderful week. It was jam packed full of lessons, activities, choirs, and all sorts of wonderful things.

The best part of my week was getting to Skype my family. It was so wonderful to see and hear from them. It´s crazy how much they´ve changed in 7 months.

I laughed pretty hard when Rochelle said that my accent is cute. I didn´t realize that I had an accent, but I´m glad that I have one haha.

Rylee apparently doesn´t miss me too much because after about 5 minutes she said, "I´m going to go play now, bye!" Haha she did come back and talk with me though.

Family is so important! I honestly don´t know what I would do without my family. I hope that you all take the time to show your appreciation for each of your loved ones. We experience the most joy (and sorrow) through our families. We learn the most from them. Our Heavenly Father has a wonderful plan that includes a way to be with them forever. Happily ever after really exists. Through Jesus Christ we can be with our loved ones in this life and the next. I know this with all my heart and I will do all that I can to receive this promise.

I wish you all a happy new year!

Con amor,

Hermana Chaffin

Hola Amigos

Mis queridos amigos,

Happy late Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a wonderful time and that it was well spent with good people and good food. My thanksgiving was great. I am grateful to have such wonderful people like you in my life.

I have a spanish phrase for all of you to learn : No me gustan cucarachas

I´ll let you google translate that and let you think why I need to use that.....

This week was an amazing week! We have 5 new investigators! One is named Carmen and she talked to the missionaries 23 years ago! How crazy is that? She started reading the Book of Mormon and came to church yesterday! She is so sweet and eager to learn. I´ve grown to love her, and we´ve only had one lesson with her.

This week will mark 6 months in the mission. I can´t believe how fast the time has gone. I´m loving every minute and doing my best to make the best of every moment and experience I have.

I´m short on time, so I´ll just say that I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Chaffin

The Puddles in San Vicente Are Deeper Than They Appear

Queridos amigos,

Wow! Que loca semana!

San Vicente is pretty and tranquilo. It is a lot like Salmon, Idaho minus the sagebrush and mountains. Throw in a few palm trees an put everything in spanish and you´ve got San Vicente.

I miss seeing Oscar everyday, but I know that Hermana Medford is taking good care of him.

To explain the heading of my email, first I need to explain that San Vicente is very country. So, we use bikes. Sometimes, Hermana Chaffin thinks she knows everything and decides to take the shortcut instead of follow her companion around the puddles when riding to the next appointment. Sometimes these puddles are rather deep. And sometimes bikes get stuck...

Hahaha it all worked out well, and I got to baptize my shoes :)

Hermana Chappell is super sweet, hard working, and funny! We are enjoying our time together and working hard in the area.

Yesterday, we had a meeting to practice some songs that we are going to sing in a choir. We ended up singing in the train on the way there and the way back and then we handed out cards and talked with the people in the train. It was super awesome, and I hope I have the opportunity to do it again.

I find the greatest joy in sharing my testimony with others. I hope that this week you can all set aside some time to share your thoughts on our Savior, Jesus Christ with someone.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this.

Con amor,

Hermana Chaffin

San Vicente

¡Hola!

¡Otro día glorioso en Argentina! This week was fantastic. It was also my last week in Banfield. It was a pretty laid back week after a crazy one preparing for a baptism. So, it was nice to focus on lessons and finding new people.

Saturday I had a "last supper" with the Hermanas in Banfield. We cooked hamburgers and fries and had icecream. It was the best way to end the transfer. I love those sisters so much, and I had wonderful times with them in Banfield.

Yesterday I said goodbye to sweet Hermana Medford (who will be training a new missionary in Banfield) and headed to my new area. I´m sad to leave Banfield but I´m also excited for my new area and my next adventure.

My new area is San Vicente and is so pretty! It´s very calm and peaceful. My new companion is Hermana Chappell (Chappell and Chaffin isn´t confusing for the people at all haha) from Phoenix, Arizona. She is super sweet and funny. I can´t wait to get to know her more and to work hard together.

That´s all for now!

Gracias por todo!

Hermana Chaffin

"Worry a little bit every day and in  alifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything" -Ole Helgerson

Bautismo!

Queridos amigos,

This week was truly a week of miracles!

Tuesday I had exchanges with Hermana Walker and then we had a lesson with Oscar. He was still struggling with smoking, and we had a great lesson on faith. We discussed showing our faith with actions.

Faith is not waiting for the Lord to help us and then doing something. First, we need to act, showing our faith, and then we receive the Lord´s help.

During this lesson, I received the strongest impression to ask Oscar to be baptized this Saturday. I would have thought I was crazy if I didn´t know that this thought was from the Holy Ghost. I could not deny that the Lord was telling me to invite Oscar to be baptized.

Oscar said that he would pray that night and then let us know the next day.

Wednesday I was reunited with my sweet Hermana Medford and when I told her what happened Tuesday I think she thought I was a little crazy. When we went to talk with Oscar, we could sense that something was different. He told us that he´d gotten his answer and that he wanted to be baptized Saturday! We felt the Spirit confirm that this was the will of the Lord, and we were so grateful that so many prayers had been heard. Oscar quit smoking from that moment on, and we began to set up everything for his baptism.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf said that a sacrifice is when we give up something good for something of far greater worth. I´ve been in the mission for 5 months now, and up until 6 days ago, I was sincerely questioning if the mission was worth it. Not that I wanted to go home, I simply felt like I wasn´t fulfilling the purpose God has for me. I couldn´t see the "far greater worth". I felt stuck. I was obedient and trying to be humble, buty I wasn´t seeing the fruits of my labors.

My experience with Oscar has been nothing short of incredible. The Lord is truly working miracles here, and I´m deeply grateful to be a part of those miracles.

I´ve come to realize my weaknesses and all my falts. I´m quick to doubt but just the same I´m quick to ask the Lord to sustain me and strengthen my faith.

I don´t know what the future holds for me here in Buenos Aires, but I do know that the Lord has great plans and I´m going to do all that I possibly can to help Him fulfill those plans.

This is His work, and I´m going to do it His way because His way is the best - and only way.

I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and that it was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that we are led today by a prophet of God and I know that the Lord has a plan for each and every one of us. Jesus Christ is our Savior and only through Him and His Atonement can we return to the presence of our Heavenly Father.

I love you all, you are in my prayers.

Con amor,

Hermana Chaffin

Sabrina the Teenage Missionary

Queridos Amigos,

Wow, I can´t believe that another week has come and gone.

This week was really busy. We had a lesson with Oscar that went really well. He committed to stop smoking, and he is progressing little by little. He started smoking when he was 11, so it is a difficult process.

This week we had interviews with the mission president, and they went really well. It´s great to know that he cares for us and the mission and wants to help us in the things we need so that we can have a lot of success.

Two days ago, we were walking near the border of our area when we found a secret street that isn´t on our map. We named it Narnia because it is seriously the most beautiful, peaceful street we´ve ever seen. We knocked a few doors, and several people asked us to come back and visit later this week. We are super excited about that 😀

This week is going to be super busy because we have lots of appointments, which is awesome.

I´ve come to have a love for the scriptures in my life. Every day I have 1 hour of personal study, and I´ve learned so much. I´m incredibly grateful for all that we have to learn from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. They are more than just books full of stories. They are proof of God´s love for us and His willingness to give us guidance and direction in this life. I hope that you all can find some time in your day to read a verse or two and see what the Lord has for you to learn.

I love you so much, thank you for reading my emails and for supporting me.

Con amor,

Hermana Chaffin

Note: For some reason the exlamation point key wouldn´t work today, so if it sounds like I´m not excited, it´s because I could only use periods.....

Happy Mother's Day!

Queridos amigos,

Buen Día! Man, it is super hard to type in english after a week of total spanish. Haha hopefully you all can forgive my spelling and grammar mistakes.

This week was absolutely amazing!!! I seriously love my companion. She is a rock star! I love her so much. I love her work ethic and I love that she is super diligent in the work. We´ve seen a lot of success these past 2 weeks, and I´m excited to see what we´ll have this week.

We had 2 lessons with Oscar this week. He is progressing a lot, and making changes in his life. Yesterday he went to church again! I think it´s still a little uncomfortable for him, but he always asks if he can come, so there´s something that he likes.

Yesterday was Mother´s Day here. It was really weird to be walking among the streets and seeing all of the families walking together and not being with my family. My companion and I felt really guilty that we hadn´t contacted our moms yesterday when we realized that it wasn´t really mother´s day for our mothers. Haha the mission changes a lot of things. So, once we realized that our mother´s weren´t at home awaiting a phone call, we were able to focus more and continue sharing the happiness of our message.

Today we have district activity. Somehow I got put in charge of it, and I´m sure it will be a blast. We´re going to eat pizza and everyone is bringing a dessert. Then, depending on the weather, we will play soccer or volleyball and then pool and ping pong. It should just be relaxing and fun.

My companion and I made chocolate chip cookies for our dessert. This was the first time that I made cookies in the mission and they turned out pretty good considering brown sugar really doesn´t exist here. So, we added a little dulce de leche to the dough, and I think they´re pretty tasty. I´ll try to send photos if this computer decides to work.

Hermanas Walker and Hernandez moved out of our apartment yesterday, which is bittersweet. I had such good times with them. It will be nice to have more time in the bathroom and more one on one time with my companion, but I will miss them.

That´s it for now! I love you all!

Keep smiling,

Hermana Chaffin

"My people must be tried in all things... he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom" D&C 136:31

"Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties" - Walter Spurgeon