Semana 1 en Metán 2! [First week in Metán]

Hola,

This week was good, lots of things have happened! First of all, Metán is really different. There are Gypsies and gringo Mennonites, and the people who own the store where we shop speak Chinese with each other. I guess it's not that weird, just diverse, unlike any of my other areas up until now! But it's cool to learn new things, ¿que no?

 

Hermana Castillo is 23 and is a convert and has 1 year in the mission. She is really friendly with everyone and really fun. I have learned a lot from her already. Oh yeah there are 2 other hermanas here, the 4 of us live together and share a branch [small congregation].

 

Welllll the coolest miracle we saw this week was on Monday night a member called us to tell us that her cousin's boyfriend wants to get baptized and wants us to teach him. Pretty cool considering normally we have to find people to teach who generally aren't that interested in their salvation and stuff. He is 17 and his name is Agustín, he has been attending church but the missionaries had never taught him because his mom didn´t want them to, but now she is okay with it! So we´ve been working with him a lot. 

 

The members here are the BEST! We have to alternate weeks of almuerzos [lunches] because there are so many people who want to feed us. And there are families and ex-missionaries and it's great. Members make all the difference in missionary work, because, after all, it is their work! 

 

Yup. This week was also really hard because of something that happened with an investigator who was supposed to get confirmed [a member of the church] (already got baptized but couldn't get confirmed because of the temple dedication trip) and didn't end up getting confirmed, but overall it was a good week and I'm learning a lot and already growing to love Metán. 

 

Yup that's it in a nutshell.

 

Love you all so much! Remember that when it gets hard, use the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I'm learning more and more that it is real--He heals our mistakes and strengthens our weaknesses. Hope you have a beautiful week! :)

 

Hermana Hooke

So long to San Pedro! [Córdoba temple dedication] PHOTOS GALORE!!

Hello!

Hope you are all doing well! Well after 4.5 months in San Pedro, I am in Metán, in the province of Salta again. My compañera is Hermana Castillo, from Chile. Don't really have anything to say about her or the area yet because I have been here for like 1 hour but she seems really great and the area seems really great! It is full-blown autumn here! Really pretty.

Well my last week in San Pedro was wonderful. Mostly because of how it ended. We went to Jujuy to see a transmission of the Córdoba [Argentina] temple dedication, and 6 recent converts went with us and the branch president and his family!!!! All the Diaz and Rojas kids and another young man Gastón who recently is active again in the church.

That pickup truck is how 12 people got to the temple dedication

In the truck!

It was so beautiful, because to go to the dedication you had to have a temple recommend, so that means they are all temple-worthy! The dedication was really cool, (my first!) President Uchtdorf and Elder Christofferson went to Córdoba for it.

Online photo of the Córdoba Argentina temple (they went to a broadcast of the temple dedication, not to the actual dedication)

"After the dedication we had a picnic lunch by that pretty lil river"

[Previously the closest temple to Salta was the Buenos Aires temple, a distance of over 900 miles. The Córdoba temple is a little over 500 miles to Salta.]  Elder Christofferson speaks Spanish because he served in my very own mission several years ago! (okay, more than several years ago.) All of us who attended really felt the significance of the temple. The covenants that we make there are the bridge between earth and heaven, that link us to God. Someone who spoke shared a scripture that I liked a lot, I only have it in Spanish so I wont type it but its in D&C 97:15-16. If you have gone to the temple, I invite you to think about the covenants you made and try to keep them, and if you haven't gone, I invite you to prepare to go! Pres Uchdorf said a current temple recommend is a symbol of our love for God. So that's pretty cool.

Well love you all! Here are some (more) pics for your viewing pleasure.

Best, Hermana Hooke

¡Feliz Día, Mami! :)

Hola!!!!!

Well it sure was fun to see your faces yesterday! [Skype for Mother's Day!!] I'm glad everyone is doing well and didn't die in Costa Rica or anything. Really I do love you guys a whole lot!!!

This week started out rough but we just kept right on working with faith and it turned out to be a wonderful week. We were able to find some really good new people who are really interested and the best part is 2 of them were referrals from members, so that means they already have built in friends at church! 

We got to have a conference with a Seventy on Friday, Elder Viñas, who just so happened to be the mission president of my mission president when my mission president served here in the Argentina Salta mission. So that was pretty cool. One thing he told us that I really liked is that "Seek the Lord early and you will find him" (Proverbs 8:17) means that we must seek the Lord early, or strive to obey and have a relationship with Him early, as in before the trials come, so that when the hard times come He will be there to help us. Elder Viñas was just the best. He needs to come visit San Pedro [where Emily is now] because he is very direct and doesn't take excuses. (For example: ¨You didn't go to church because you were tired? That's a sin. We don't have to do everything that we like. Do you think Jesus liked suffering for your sins?¨) I may not be THAT direct or bold but I am trying to be more direct, because I am learning that part of my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ is to call people to repentance and warn them of the consequences of sin. So I learned how to really love first, and part of this love is to really be concerned for their eternal well-being and sometimes that requires being direct.

What else happened this week....we had our 2-branch talent show on Saturday and it was super fun and successful! It helped boost the ánimo in the branch (I honestly don't even know how to say ánimo in English...) [Perhaps "excitement" or "motivation" or "enthusiasm"]] 

Decorating for Talent Show

Kevin, who did the piano "glissandos" while Hna Hooke and Hna Stewart played a blues song for the talent show

What else. I have to give the capacitación [training] tomorrow in our district meeting on following the Spirit. Also the Díaz family got an armadillo. It was really gross. Don't mind my 30 chins--that's what happens when I hold armadillos. 

Love those armadillos!!

 And it is customary here to greet with a kiss on the cheek. As missionaries we greet women with a kiss and men with a hand shake. There was this really old drunk person and my companion thought it was a woman so she leaned in to greet ¨her¨ with a kiss. I thought it was a man so I got really confused and gave them a kiss too. Yup it turns out it was a reallllllly old nasty drunk man. So that's the fun story of the week. Gross.

Wellllllll I love you! Happy Mother's Day again to a very wonderful lady, Abuelita Lori! [One of Emily's nicknames for me...]  

PS thanks for the recipes and stories!!! 

PSS this is probably going to be my last week in San Pedro. 

K love you bye.

Hermana Hooke

I think I technically went to Chile... [Those with arachnophobia beware--spider picture...]

Helloooo!

Well this week was pretty crazy, I was barely even in my area. I went to Salta to get fingerprinted and stuff so that one day I might actually be legal in Argentina and then we did divisiones and I went to a pueblito called La Colonia Santa Rosa that is like 3 hours away. In Salta I went to my "birthplace" (one of the government buildings where we had to go was in Huaico! I passed by it every day in my niñez "childhood") and also to the embassy of Chile, so I think technically I have been to Chile? 

Well, we don´t have a lot of people we are working with right now. We are just gonna keep working and keeping positive because I know that if every time we work hard we immediately see the results, it wouldn't  be faith. Faith is knowing that if we do our part, in His timing, the Lord will bless us. So yep! This week should be better! I will call you on Skype at 12:30 (like lunch time not midnight) MY time on Sunday. 

Pics: The lady next to Hna Stewart is Veronica. The lady next to me is Dora, the relief society pres and basically the coolest lady ever.

Hna Hooke, Dora, Veronica, Hna Stewart

And yes, that is ar eal and living spider on my nose.

Love you all! Thanks for the letters and love and prayers! Hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,

Hermana Hooke