Libro de la Vida

Queridos amigos,

Another amazing week in the Lord's vineyard! We were in Burzaco with Hermana Hernandez and Hermana Rotela. We learned a lot from them and had a bunch of fun experiences with them. From combing their hair for lice and eating a bunch of icecream, the week was complete. We found a few new investigators, one of which is named Sven and is from Switzerland! What a crazy world!

I started my mission planning to write a story, but ended up writing a different one. There's no rough draft and there's no sequel. There've been adventures and moments of fear. Sometimes it seemed like the characters just couldn't catch a break. Some chapters were short and others seemed like they would never end.

As I've written the story day by day, I've come to realize that I started out with the wrong story in mind. I thought that I was the hero coming to save the day. But I'm not the hero. I'm the awkward sidekick trying not to mess everything up. The hero of this story is Jesus Christ. He is the protagonist of this story. He is the author of salvation. I just try to be a good pencil in His hands so that He can accomplish His plans here.

Every page has been worth it. Every tear shed, every rainy day, every heartfelt prayer has been worth it. Every moment of suffering and of joy has been worth it because it has brought me a little closer to Him. I've come to know Him better because I've tried to BE like Him.

Every book has a purpose, some lesson to teach. I've learned many lessons from this wonderful story that I'm a part of. I'm getting to the last few pages and I'm coming to better understand what my Heavenly Father wants me to learn.

Thank you all for being a part of this story. You've all played a role in shaping me into the person that I am.

I hope that Jesus Christ is the protagonist in the story of each one of you. And if not, it's not to late to start a new chapter.

con amor,

Hermana Chaffin

Banfield 2

Queridos Amigos,

This week was absolutely amazing! I had the wonderful opportunity to return to my first area, Banfield 2. It was great to walk the same streets that I walked a year ago. Not much had changed. The same old potholes and the same man selling churros in the train station. But, there were some changes and they were the most incredible changes of my mission.

Monday we had an activity in the church with all the recent converts, and Oscar was there! I couldn't believe how he's changed. He was answering all the questions and laughing and having a good time. He shared his thoughts and feelings and helped those that were new. He looked so happy and I was filled with joy when I saw his happiness.

I don't know what I expected the mission to be, but it was't this. I thought that it would be hard work, but easy to love. I thought that it would be full of success and that missionaries are always happy. The mission is full of disappointments, failures, tears and exhaustion. But, every once in a while you experience moments of PURE JOY and it makes it all worthwhile. I wouldn't trade any minute of suffering or pain that I've had while on the mission. I wouldn't trade the moments of hunger or the homesickness. It's all shaped me into the woman that I am today. Those little moments of pure joy are amazing and they are pure. They usually aren't even moments of our own joy. Pure joy comes from seeing others accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and let it change their lives. That's what it's all about.

Oscar probably knows more than me. He gets it. He studies the scriptures everyday and is always helping his neighbors and the members in the church. He understands what he promised when he was baptized and he entends to keep that promise. I'm just a simple girl from Montana trying to do the Lord's work here in Argentina. I'm not always happy and sometimes it's hard to work everyday. But, I go out and I give my best because that's what God's children deserve. It's not about me, it's about Jesus Christ. It's about coming unto Him and allowing Him to change your weaknesses into strengths.

I've come to know my Savior much more in my mission and I will strive everyday to live up to His expectations of me.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week,

con amor,

Hermana Chaffin

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

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