¿Como se dice "miércoles" en ingles?

Queridos amigos,

What a crazy week!

Tuesday we had zone conference with 4 other zones and afterwards we played soccer. My team won! We ended up having a blast and I got to see Hermana Johnson. It was a great reunion!

Wednesday we had exchanges planned. I ended up going to Ezeiza around 5pm, when my companion, Hermana Santos, called me saying that all of Argentina was going on strike the next day and that we wouldn´t be able to end exchanges until Friday. So, we taught a lesson and then took the train back to Monte Grande so that I could be back in my area.

Thursday everyone did go on strike. Not a single bus or train was running. All the stores were closed and nobody was outside. It was crazy. But, when Friday rolled around, everything was back to normal. I´m not so sure that the strike was super effective but.....

This week a woman walked into the church wanting to baptize her baby. A member told her that we don´t baptized babies and then told her that the missionaries could explain why. So, the member gave us the info from the woman and we went to visit her. Her name is Yaquelin and is amazing! She has 6 children and is super sweet. We taught her about the Restoration and baptism. We read Moroni 8 together and after reading she said, "wow, so I was wrong. My baby doesn´t need baptism, but I do." It was incredible! She accepted to be baptized and we will visit her later this week. The work is great here!

I´m so grateful for the opportunity that I have to get to know a few of God´s children. Each one is unique and important. That includes you. Yes you! You reading this. You are important! Don´t forget that.

I love you all! Have a fantastic week and a wonderful Easter! Remember why we celebrate this holiday. Please take 4 minutes of your day to watch the following video:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2017-02-1000-the-prince-of-peace-find-lasting-peace-through-jesus-christ?lang=spa

Escuchen las Voces

Queridos amigos,

Another amazing week has come and gone. I can´t believe how fast the time is passing. It seems like just yesterday I left my family in the Great Falls airport. Now, I´m more than halfway through and I´ve learned so much.

I´m incredibly grateful for the opportunity that I have to me a missionary. It is an honor to be the Lord´s representative here in Argentina.

I´ve met some amazing people and I´ve come to know and love many of God´s special chidren.

This week I had my first exchange. I learned a lot from Hermana Hinrichs and I enjoyed being with her for 24 hours.

I´m coming to see that we all have individual talents that we must share. Someone needs YOUR talents, YOUR testimony, and YOUR love. Don´t be afraid to share what talents you have.

Saturday and Sunday we had the opportunity to listen to General Conference. Last conference, I had the blessing of listening to it in english. Unfortunately, I´m the only American sister in our zone and I can´t be without a companion, so I listened in spanish. The messages were amazing and I learned a lot. But, it´s just not the same listening in spanish. I could hear snippets of the apostle´s voices when the translator would pause, and I missed hearing the sweet voices of those men. My whole life I´ve heard those voices and learned from them, and for a moment I wished that I could just hear their voices without someone talking over them in spanish. The next speaker was D. Todd Christofferson (who by the way, served a mission in Argentina). As I waited for the translator to begin speaking, to my surprise I heard the familiar voice of Elder Christofferson. He had recorded his talk in spanish in advance! Even though it was in spanish, I got to hear it from his mouth! I was so grateful in that moment for the tender mercies of God.

The words of those men and women are truly inspired by our Heavenly Father, and we would benefit a lot from them. I hope to continue studying their words throughout the following months and I encourage each of you to learn from them as well. If you didn´t watch, go to lds.org and watch them! Let their words change you. Don´t just listen and then continue on with life as normal. Be the person God knows that you can be! He wants you to be that person, but it all depends on you!

I know with all my heart that this is the true church of Jesus Christ restored on the earth through His prophet Joseph Smith. I know that we are God´s children and that He loves us. Read the Book of Mormon! It answers your questions of the soul. It will guide you to where you need to go. Trust in the Lord and love Him.

I love you all so much! Keep fighting the good fight, victory will be yours one day if you continue with faith.

Con amor,

Hermana Chaffin

"A candle that lights another loses no light itself." -Anonymous

Sonrisas

Queridos Amigos,

What a week!

In the mission we have 2 sets of sisters that don´t have an area. They just travel and visit other areas for one week at a time aiding in the work.

My second to last week in San Vicente we had them, and then this past week we had them here in Monte Grande, and this week we will have the second set. So, I have been with one of these other sisters during the week and not with my actual companion. So, I don´t know Hermana Santos super well, but the few moments that I´ve had with her have been amazing.

She is super sweet and sincere. She likes to work hard and have fun. Her spanish is amazing and she has a love for the gospel.

This week was amazing. We ended up handing out A TON of Books of Mormon. We gave away all but 8 books and we started out with 3 boxes!

I´ve truly come to love the Book of Mormon. Our mission is still doing the challenge of reading it in 3 months (in spanish of course) and I´m learning more than I ever did. There is always something new to learn.

I also had a leadership meeting with all the leaders in the mission along with Presidente y Hermana Calquin. I got to see some old friends in the mission and I learned so much. I´m grateful for the chance that I have to help others.

This weekend we have the wonderful opportunity to listen to General Conference! I´m so excited to hear from the prophet and the apostles. I invite you all to take the time to watch or listen to it. If you´re not sure how, please visit lds.org Saturday and Sunday (at 10 am and 2 pm). I promise that you will receive the answers to prayers and invite the spirit into your hearts.

Thank you all for your sweet emails and letters.

con amor,

Hermana Chaffin

Monte Grande

Queridos amigos,

First off, I´m so sorry that I´ve been falling short in the email department. Things have been so crazy busy that I haven´t had time. Thank  you for your patience and love.

A lot has happened since I last wrote, and seeing as I only have about 5 minutes left, I´ll do a few points:

-I had my first embarassing spanish error where I asked for diapers instead of tissues....

-We had a week with two sisters that don´t have an area but visit the hermanas to help them out for a week.

-We found a few new investigators that have a lot of potential.

-Hermana Johnson and I ate peanut butter!!!!!

-We made no bake cookies with the peanut butter!

-I got transferred to Monte Grande yesterday and I´m now with Hermana Santos who is from Brazil

-I am now a sister training leader, which means I´ll be having a lot of exchanges with other hermanas in the mission

I´m so incredibly grateful for the time that I had in San Vicente. It will always have a piece of my heart. I met the most amazing people and I grew so much in so many ways.

I´m also grateful for my time with Hermana Johnson. She is the most amazing person ever. I will miss her so so so much. She was a true companion and friend.

I´m excited for this new change and I hope that I can achieve a lot in my new area.

I love you all!

con amor,

Hermana Chaffin

¡Bautismo!

Queridos amigos,

This week was absolutely amazing! It was busy and crazy and I loved every moment of it.

Monday we had a lesson with Victoria and she said that she felt ready to be baptized this week! So, we left that lesson trying hard not to shout for happiness.

Tuesday we had district meeting and then we were in charge of a ward activity. We basically had a free yard sale. We had a bunch of donations of clothing, and we organized it and then gave it away to those that need it. We had a great turn out and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Wednesday Victoria had her baptismal interview, and it went amazing! She was so happy and seemed so at peace with her decision. We also celebrated my halfway mark by buying icecream and wearing pants!

Thursday we had a bunch of amazing lessons with investigators and we just had a fantastic day.

Friday was the day of the baptism!!! It was absolutely amazing! All of Victoria`s family came to support her and it was simply beautiful. The spirit was so incredibly strong. I love her so much and it will be so hard to leave her and her family. They are a huge part of my life that I will never forget.

Saturday we had a normal day teaching and testifying.

Sunday Victoria was confirmed, and her family also came to support her in that. It was so wonderful to see that whole family sitting on the bench in front of me and my companion. One day I hope to see that as a regular thing with all of them baptized. They`re all getting there, some just slower than others.

I`m so grateful for this blessing that I have to serve a mission and get to know some of God`s wonderful children. I could never learn what I´ve learned here in any other place. I`m truly humbled to be a small part in the Lord`s work here.

Thank you all for supporting me in this decision. I love you all so much! Keep smiling!

Con amor,

Hermana Chaffin

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph" -Thomas Paine

Hola Hola

Queridos Amigos,

How did the week go by so fast? So much has happened.

The best part of the week was Wednesday when we did a surprise service project for our investigator Victoria.

She had grass almost up to our knees and we cut it all while she was at work. We had an absolute blast!

It felt so good to work hard and to just enjoy working. I love teaching and I love meeting knew people, but it just felt so good to do something for someone that I love.

I had intercambios for a day with Hna Abate Daga from Argentina. I learned a lot from her.

Hermana Johnson is the best companion ever. I absolutely love her! She works so hard and just loves sharing the gospel. I seriously hope that I have one more transfer with her.

I received a letter from Oscar!!! He´s doing great, and he has baptized two of the converts of the missionaries in Banfield. It was such a sweet surprise to hear from him.

I´m so grateful to be a part of this work.

This week will mark the halfway point of my mission. I can´t believe how fast it is going by. I`ve learned so much about myself, the gospel, and our Heavenly Father`s plan for us.

I`m out of time, but I hope you all know that I love you, God loves you, and I´m grateful to have each one of you in my life.

Have a wonderful week,

Hermana Chaffin

We're dead! We're alive but we're dead!

Queridos amigos,

First off, don´t be too alarmed by the quote from the Incredibles in the email heading (that means you mom).

This week has been insane.

Monday- I wrote you lovely folks and then did grocery shopping for the week. We deep cleaned the apartment and that night we had a family home evening activity with our investigator Graciela and her family. It was great. We made stir-fry for them and they loved it! Juan, Graciela´s boyfriend had never tried broccoli before! He´s 52! But, they all liked it, broccoli included.

Tuesday- We had district meeting and we got a little bit of rain. My comp´s permanent retainer fell out, but we had so many lessons scheduled that we did divisions with members so that I could teach and she could go to the dentist.

Wednesday- We had a worldwide conference for missionaries where we learned about new changes to schedules and studies in the mission ( I´ll write more later about those when Pte. Calquin approves them)

Thursday- My companion woke up with a headache (not out of the ordinary because she gets migraines occasionally). We had a lesson with Victoria (she accepted to be baptized 17 de Febrero) and then one with Olimpia (she accepted to be baptized 11 de Febrero). Then, we had lunch with Graciela. Graciela didn´t have water, so we went with her to her mom´s house to eat. My companion started to get chills and was shivering up a storm. She did not look good, poor thing.

Graciela is a nurse, so she took her blood pressure and checked her oxygen level. It was all very low. So, she gave her some mineral water with some sugar and then sent us home. Hermana Chappell went to bed and slept. I washed laundry and cleaned the apartment while she slept.

Friday- I continued to clean and do things to keep myself busy. My companion was still sleeping until 2pm. We called the mission president´s wife and she gave us the rest of the week off and told us to rest.

Saturday- Hermana Chappell felt a little bit better, so we did weekly planning and then rested some more. We decided to go visit Graciela and after we left her house, I started to get a headache. We then headed to visit Sonia. When we left her house, I felt nasty. My head hurt and I was dizzy. My skin hurt to touch and all of my muscles were sore. It was a blessing that we made it back to the apartment without any problems. That night I had a fever of 101.8 F and I was taking Ibuprofen and Tylenol like it was going out of style. My fever never went away and it was a rough night.

Sunday- I slept until 8am and then we slowly made the walk to the church. I felt a little better, but not that great. I made it through all of the church meetings and then we had lunch with Graciela. After lunch we walked back to the apartment where I went to bed to die. I was close to overdosing on Ibuprofen and my fever wasn´t going down. So, what does one do in times of desperation? Turn to God. Or, His servants the Elders. We got a sister to drive us to the chapel ( I couldn´t walk to the chapel and the Elders can´t enter our apartment) and the Elders met us there.

They gave me a priesthood blessing of health. During the blessing, I felt my fever break and all of the pain left my body. I couldn´t believe how fast it took effect. I´m truly grateful for the priesthood and the miracles that it works in our lives. When I entered the chapel my temperature was 100.6 and when I left it was 98.3.

I know that God has restored His church through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that Joseph Smith received the priesthood authority of God, to act in God´s name and that through this power miracles are wrought. Today, worthy men in the church hold this power and have the great responsibility to use it to bless the lives of others. God is a God of miracles. He always has been and always will be. I´m grateful for the daily miracles that I´m seeing here.

I hope that you all look for the miracles in your lives. They are everywhere, just stop and look.

I love you all and hope you know how much you mean to me.

Con amor,

Hermana Chaffin

"The sheep is worthy of divine rescue simply because it is loved by the Shepherd" -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"The highest ideal of man is the will of God" -Anonymous