FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!!!!!!

Hola mi familia and amigos,
First thanks so much for the phone call. It was the best christmas gift I recieved. Also, thanks for the packages of food, you will see pictures of how well it used. THANKS. I really aprecieated the emails Dad, Mom, Nikki, Stefi, Joseph, Kim, and the Crums. Both weeks. Well, the past few days have been exciting. It´s been a rainy muggy hot christmas, but that doesn´t stop the excitement.On Thursday we at e christmas eve dinner at out president of the rama´s house which was good. I brought a kenny rogers salad and they liked it. We couldn´t eat with them because they eat at 12 at night and we had to be back by 11 on christmas eve. But they packed us dinner and then walked us home. At 12 the war started and there were fireworks eveywhere it was gorgeous. I´m going to take pictures the 31st because it´s a bigger show. We also set baptismal date for the first of january it´s for a 11 year girl but she´s excited to start the year out clean and a member. On Saturday we had a service project removing paint from a house of an invesigador with the bishopric. It was hard work, but it was fun to help and she was grateful. In the afternoon we ate with this family that lives 40 minutes away from us. So a member of the bishopric drove us out there which was super nice and this family lives on a ranch with horses and animals and a pool and everything. It´s super nice. They offered us to ride the horses but we can´t unfortunetly. But we fed the horses and we milked the cow. THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE…It was kind of fun. It´s not as gross as it looks and it´s quite the work out on the hands and arms. But it was fun. And then on Sunday we had a charla with this great family we´ve been teaching the Family Gonzalez and we watched the temple movie “Between Heaven and Earth” and then we challenged them to go to the temple in one year on January 9. We´ve asked to be baptized before and they always say a quick no. But this time they said they would think about it. The are scared of the changes and the rules. But we were brave enough to bring our branch president because he had to change a lot to be baptized and he shared a good testimony. Kind of put us down a little bit because we were born in the church and don´t understand. But I quickly said we had to find our own testimonies just as much as you all. Silly guy. But it was a good lesson. And we have a lesson with them tomorrow. I pray pray pray they accept tomorrow. Please pray for them. Thanks so much for everything. I LOVE YOU ALL MUCHO!!!! Here´s some photos, one is of a pig they normally cook for christmas. It´s actually really good. Have a great week and happy new years. Talk to you next week. Thanks for your prayers, I´m feeling better.
Con amor, Tiffani

Merry Christmas!!! (from 12/14)

Hey everyone,
Thanks for the emails Mom, Dad, Kim, and Naomi (I mean Hna Bell). Congrats Joseph on doing so well in your tournament. Thanks so much for the package of the CDs and the boxes and the money, and alergy medicine. THANKS THANKS. I really really appreciated it all. So last week was interviews, and I asked about the phone call. We have one hour on Christmas to talk to you all. I don´t know if we´ll have a pday on monday or if christmas is. I have no idea. But can you call me at 3pm our time and I think it´s 10am your time, I hope that hour works. Five hours difference. I went to countrycodes.com and couldn´t find progreso but Las Piedras is the city closest to us so I hope it works, if not, after 15 minutes I´ll call you. I´m not changing as you already know. I´m glad I didn´t want to change right before the holidays (It´s already rough enough). Did you also know that changes are now on tuesday so that means you can come wednesday in April. I don´t know if they told you that. But anyways, we went to tres cruces anyways the big bus station where everyone meets for changes because we live kind of close. So I saw Hna Yeates and Orme and Vera. Hna Vera is done. It´s crazy. It was fun seeing everyone. This friday we have a big mission conference for Christmas. That will be fun. Yesterday Alejandro that was baptized the week before was confirmed and then he bore his testimony and he was really excited. I´m glad for him. Also, this really great family we´re teaching the parents came to sacrament, it was exciting. The wife Yolanda has a testimony but Gustavo her husband is kind of here and there. Then the next day we had a family home evening with the president and his wife (I know...but we brought the wife) And at the end it turned in to a make fun of testimony meeting session between gustavo and the president. I was just shaking my head. However, they were talking though a couple of days ago saying how they wanted to the temple work for their family. And I´m like yay,first you need to be baptized. But they are thinking about it. I really hope they get baptized. Last week we had interviews and it was kind of a call to repentance, to do our 140 contacts every week. He´s like I know you can´t control baptisms or people in church but you can control this and it will help you focus and bring greater joy in your life. He did it really lovingly, but I felt bad and so we did our contacts last week and are going to do so. He did that with basically all the missionaries. But I did feel better after doing them last week. I have a really good zone and then after we all ate lunch together at a restaurant. So, that´s kind of what happened this past week. Thanks for everything, I love you all. Talk to you next week, maybe write you too on monday, I don´t know.
con amor, Tiffani

Next week´s changes...

Hey everyone,
Thanks for the emails and photos Dad. That´s a ton of snow you´re having. It´s really pretty. Also, thanks for the emails Mom, Nikki, and Kim. I also want to thank Uncle and Aunt Julie, Dawn, and Hna Wilson (Sariah), and grandma Mohrman for the letters, I really appreciate them. Just as a heads up next week is changes, I have no idea what will happen if I stay or go or what so just so you know I´ll have pday tuesday (most likely..things sometimes change) and I´ll check it really early just so ya know. We also didn´t have interviews or zone conference last week so we have them tomorrow, so next week I´ll let you know how it goes. Well, last week had a baptism with Alejandro and he´s really excited about it. The branch president and counselors were against it, so that was hard, but we felt he was sincere and our district leader did also. We had stake conference yesterday which was really good so he´ll be confirmed next week. I had to call the mission president because the branch president was going to do it all in one day and I so I called and the mission president said to wait, and that didn´t fly well with the branch president either and he didn´t even show up to the baptism. It´s been very dramatic these past few weeks in this little branch. I feel like writing a book called Progreso, the rengade branch. Because they like to do things their own way. I really like the president he´s a good, but he told me once I don´t care what the stake president, or the leader, or an apostle tells me I will do what the Lord wants me to do. So they´re a bit rebelious and then they get upset when the ward members are rebelious. We have so much contention and back biting and drama. It just makes me sad because this is not how The Church of Jesus Christ should be. After the baptism some forever investigadors who need to get married started having a YELLING match with the one counselor that came and in front of investigadors and just accusing him of stupid things and telling them what horrible leaders they are. I am just like, who do you think you are, you´re not even members. And I´m like how can we help this branch. But 3 or four times this week I´ve been on late night phone calls of talking sessions with some recent converts who just have problems and don´t want to find solutions but want to vent. And I´m just like I´m not a therapist and if they don´t want to turn to the Lord then there is nothing that can help them. But I´m really just scratching the surface on the problems in Progreso. But we´ll just keep being missionaries and trying our best. I´ve learned a lot about respecting and supporting leaders and trying to build an area instead of tearing it down by complaining. It´s just sad. I really want to help this area. We had a really good family home evening and played uno with this amazing family, flia gonzalez, and the dad gave the lesson it was amazing. I love them, they just have some doubts and won´t accept a baptism date. We decided to fast for them yesterday. I really want to help them. Oh, at stake conference I don´t know if you remember but I told you about this woman Norma that we found during general conference as we doing contacts in the other city and she came to conference the next day. Well, the elders have been teaching her and she is so awesome and progressing. I saw her at stake conference yesterday and it was so great she goes I´m learning and I´m trying to help my family understand these great things. It was so neat. I hope she gets baptized also.

con amor, Tiffani

weekly email

Hola mi famila,
Thanks for the emails Dad, Mom, Stefi, and Nikki. Also, thanks Hna Bell and Mitch for the letters.
This past week was good we set a baptismal date with this man named Alejandro for friday. He was going to get baptized the 21st of november, but after Hna Rogers left he kind of dropped out of site. I kind of thought she was the reason, so I called to see what was up and if he still wanted to get baptized the 21st and he said he´d talk about in church. He didn´t come. So we dropped him. Well, the next sunday he shows up and he calls a meeting with the counselor and us and kind of complains and whines to the counselor that he wanted to get baptized and we weren´t helping him. Well, that was not true at all and I told him straight up, what he did. So we straightened some things out and had some charlas with him and set his own fecha for this friday. He started being a lot more nicer and is very excited his baptism. The fight isn´t over, there is a little more drama the president of the branch doesn´t like him, but we´re praying for him and Alejandro and the President will come and support it, just more drama. I felt like a therapist this past week we had a lot of people call us for emergency charlas literally crying to us there problems. I´m sure glad I´m not a bishop. I felt really bad and helpless. But this week work wise will be good, we´re trying super hard to be obedient to get all the help we can get. We have zone conference and interviews with the president this thursday. And then alejandro´s baptism friday (we´re praying). We also have stake conference sunday and some investigadors are really excited. Yesterday we made our thanksgiving dinner it was super good and we made brownies, thanks for the food again. Also, today we made a thanksgiving dinner as a zone and got permission to watch the "Other side of Heaven". On thanksgiving we ate with our branch president and made him turkey card, it was so funny there reactions, they don´t eat turkey here. Yesterday was the elections for uruguay and the communist party president won. Very sad. I´m serving in a communist country. It´s also been super crazy weather we´ve had a lot of heat (as you can see by my sundburns) and yet rain EVERY day for the past 2 and a half weeks. I love you all.
con amor, Tiffani

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! and CONGRATULATIONS NIKKI!!!

Hello family,
Well, I´d thought I´d start in english because it´s the week of thanksgiving and that´s not a spanish holiday. I´m actually quite in shock right now but I´m happy for you Nikki, It´s still hasn´t really seemed real that you´ve been dating mitch all this time. But wow congratulations. I expect A LOT or MUCHO of details next week... But Happy Thanksgiving!!! What are you guys doing for thanksgiving? Hna Farnsworth and I are going to cook all that stuff sunday because we have more time and so we´re excited. And then on Monday our zone is going to have a thanksgiving dinner. So that will be fun as well. If dad, you have time to send me the orange roll recipe I´d really appreciate it. But the definite highlight of the week was Elder Bednar. What an amazing amazing conference with him. Him and his wife and Elder Snow and his wife came and they all spoke to us. And then after Sister Bednar and Sister Snow and Elder Snow, Elder Bednar had a question and answer session for 3 hours. It was incredible. He first told don´t write a word I say down, because what I say is not important and I´m not the teacher and when are you ever going to read these notes again and if you´re to concentrated on writing you´ll miss the true teacher the spirit. So I really tried to listen and just write down thoughts I liked and that really applied to me. I loved it. I enjoyed it so much more as well. Elder Bednar is so nice and so upfront and relates well with the young adults. He emphasized a lot learning by the spirit and how as we focus the spirit will teach us. He also told us that I hope by the end of this confernce you all realize that you don´t need a apostle to answer your questions, we have the right to recieve revelation and he said I hope you say Thanks for coming, but bye because we don´t need you anymore, we can find answers for ourselves. It was so profound, not just learning about being teachers of the spirit but learners of the spirit as well. INCREDIBLE!!! I´ve been studying some of his talks the mission has given us and my notes and I´m just in awe. It was so great. I also got to see a lot of great missionaries and it was so neat to listen to 350 missionaries sing called to serve since I didn´t get that in the mtc. The spirit was powerful. And then I saw hermanas from the other mission that were with me in the mtc and hna ung from payson, I had no idea she was on a mission. But it was so fun to see my old companions, elders in my districts and other missionaires that I´ve known before. At the end as well, I saw a hermana from my first area minas and after a week in the mission I went to her engagement party, but now I saw her and we hugged she was so sweet and she goes you can communicate now in spanish, I taught her family a lot in MInas. It was so great talking to see her. It´s been a good week, the work is steadily going. Thanks for the prayers. I love you all mucho!!!! Thanks so much for the emails, Dad, Mom, NIkki, and kim!!! LOVE YA!!! You´re always in my prayers. I´m so so grateful for the great family and friends I have!!!
con amor, Tiffani

Elder Bednar´s coming...yeah!!!!!

Hola mi familia y mi amigos,
Thanks for the emails Mom, Dad, Nikki, Stefi, and Joseph. WOW all of you, it was AWESOME. THANKS!!!
Also, a huge huge huge thanks for my thanksgiving package. I had quite the blessing in disguise today with that. We got a call saturday that we had to go to montevideo for immigration stuff for hna farnsworth, which is kind of a bummer thing to do on pday. But we went and I got my package. We were so excited. Truly the nutella was just in time, I threw away my last one yesterday. I also got to see Hna Yeates, that was a lot of fun. She´s doing well, sick all the time. She´s going home in March and so is Hna Orme so I´m going to be the only one leaving in April. Oh well, they can come to my homecoming. But I also got to look around the bus station tres cruces which is like a mall and Hna Yeates and I love to shop. Don´t worry, I didn´t get that much. It´s a dangerous thing my new comp likes it as well. But anyways, this past week was good. We got to do more service on this house of Virginia. It was hard work but really fun. The priesthood were funny, they´d show us how to do something and then we´d do it and then they´d take the tools from us and finish it. They are very protective of the hermanas. It´s funny, Hna Farnworth´s dad was in construction and she´s like I know how to do this stuff. And I´m not that inept either and so we were just shaking our heads at each other. But it was a lot of fun.
We have this goal as a mission to do 140 contacts every week and President Da Silva is like you can´t control baptisms or people in church but you can control contacts, people we talk to do. So we really wanted to be obedient. But because of some obstacles we only had 44 contacts by sunday and we were like uggghhh, we know we´re promised blessings if we do that and so we after church and lunch and study we started at 3:30 and worked only until 8 on sunday, we did 47 contacts and 2 lessons of recent converts. And it wasn´t stupid contacts either just throwing brochures at people, we really tried. Just have to tell you that was a miracle. We´re setting the goal this week of 160 contacts. We need blessings. We´re probably going to have to drop a lot of investigators because they aren´t progressing, which is hard because that is knocking doors. But my comp has a ton of faith and she´s like if we´re doing our part Heavenly Father will do his. And so it´s like having you all here to tell me "everything always works out." I´m pretty stressed, my biggest fear as becoming senior comp was that I was going to kill an area. I know if we´re trying it won´t happen. I have a great comp and she´s a huge answer to my prayers. Well I love you all so much and thanks thanks thanks for the package. We´re excited for thanksgiving. I LOVE YOU ALL MUCHO!!!! Thanks for the prayers and love and support. CONGRATULATIONS Joseph on becoming an elder and getting your eagle. That is so awesome. I´m glad all is well, enjoy the pretty snow. It´s getting hotttt. Have a great week, and I´ll tell you about Elder Bednar next week.
con amor, Tiffani

Happy Holidays

Hola mi familia y amigos,
¿Como estan? Muchas gracias for all the emails Mom, Dad, Nikki, and Kim. I am so happy life is going well and I heard you all are enjoying snow. How pretty. It´s getting pretty warm here. We have had like all the seasons in like a week. But it is getting warmer. Congratulations Jose Vaughn in recieiving the Melchezidik priesthood next week how amazing. And congrats on recieving your eagle as well next week. Sounds like a action packed weekend. I am so happy for you.
Well, this past week has been crazy busy, but really good. We had a baptism saturday. I was so excited. Her name is Virginia and we have experienced some drama because this but everything worked out. The ward has been doing service on her house and we got to help last saturday as well which was fun. It was hard work, the branch president wants to work us hard, which is great. We had a lesson on the ten commandments last week and she asked us what happens to people that know the commandments and break them. Well that is a broad question but we covered repentance and talking with the leaders if it is serious and how everyone will pay for their sins and I was kind of worried after because she seemed really bothered with it, but we went on. Then on Friday night our ward mission leader told us that one of the newer members of the ward was trying to solicit certain favors for the service on the house. And I was blown away and like oh no she is going to be offended. Plus, that is quite a lot of drama for a little branch like here. But she had her baptism interview and it went very well and she was so excited and then on Saturday we had the baptism, 45 minutes late with a lot of stess, but she came and it was a beautiful service. I love seeing these great people make these big changes because they love the Lord and they know it is true. And yesterday we had a great lesson with this family Gustavo, Yohana, and Betina and we watched mountain of the Lord. Because they do not want to commit to make these big changes in their life. But they have been coming to the activities and general conference and one time at church. It was so great. But we focused on temples. And they were impressed with the sacrifice of the pioneers for the temples and the dedication and at the end of the lesson Gustavo prayed that he could have an eternal family. They are so great. I hope and pray they get baptized. My companion Hna Farnsworth is so amazing. I didn´t do anything my first change but she already loves the people and loves to share her testimony and teaches what she can. And she just wants to get better. And she is just a good friend. Which is so nice. It is a lot of responsibility and stressful, but she is patient with me and wants to do all she can. I´m really grateful for her. Oh I don´t know if I mentioned this but for those who are not immediate family and want to email you can use this address urumontemission@gmail.com and just put my name in the subject line. I hope you have a great week. I love you all mucho!!!! Talk to you later.
con amor, Tiffani

Happy November!!!

Hola mi famila y mi amigos,
¿Como estan? Muchas Gracias for the emails Mom, Dad, Nikki, Kim, Hna Bell, and Los Crums. I loved loved loved them. This past week has been kind of exciting, we are going to have a baptism this week with a really neat woman named Virginia and she said the reason she was converted was because of the faith with the action of the members. The members are really serving and helping this neat woman. I´m really excited. Faith with action is everything. I´m really sad Hna Rogers is leaving. I learned so much from her and learned a lot of we had some great times. I´m training and I´m so so scared. We were suppose to meet at the mission home at 8:30 and then the President and the Hermana had a little meeting with us and then we met the missionaries we´re training. My companion is Hermana Farnsworth from Nevada. She´s really nice. I´m excited to get to know her. Hna Yeates is also training. It was really interesting to have her there because we were there together in the beginning and we had a lot of de ja vu. I´m super nervous. But it´s what Heavenly Father wants me to do, so I´ll definetly learn and grow. I hope pray I can do a good job and help her. So I forgot to tell you about the cookies, it was a kind difficult day when I received those packages and so I opened them and I felt bad that you took all that time to do the cookies and send them and so I opened them and I tried one and you know what it was good. It was a miracle. After a month and a half, they were still really good and not hard. Kind of a small insignificant thing, but it really brightened my day and made me feel so much better. Through small and simple things...right, Heavenly Father really just made me feel so much better through that. Well, it´s getting warmer which is a good thing. But also alergy season could you please send me some semprex and eye drops? Thanks for being such a great family, I don´t have time to read your emails before I send you this but if there is questions I´ll write back monday. I love you all so so much. Sorry this is short, and I´ll write more monday. Have a happy rest of the week!!
con amor, Tiffani

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!...EAT LOTS OF CHOCOLATE!

Hola mi familia y amigos,
Happy Halloween or Feliz dia de los muertos, yeah I like halloween better! Thanks so much for the emails and the pictures (minus my parents) but I loved them and I´m going to print them and show them to everyone, how lucky are you. But thanks for the emails Dad, Mom, Nikki, and Kim. I´m glad all is well in the land of utah. It´s getting warmer I bought a goofy looking hat to protect me from the sun. I probably won´t send a photo of that one. So this week has been pretty eventful, no baptisms but we had zone conference, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The Da Silvas are really great people. He really wants us to learn to follow the spirit and to live worthy to have the spirit with us. It´s really great. I also got my packages. YEAH!!! I loved loved loved the bible and the gospel principles book, and medicine. I´m really excited and I got my card thanks. I also loved loved loved the orange sauce, it really saves some of my lunches when I eat at our apartment. haha. And thanks for the jerky and chocolate and everything. I was so happy. I think I will get packages every six weeks but envelopes I will get sooner so that might be better. But we recieved some great news Elder Bednar is coming November 20th to talk to us. I am so excited. It´s going to be 2 mission conferences, the west mission and us. So I will get to see some of the missionaries from the MTC. This past week we did a service project. We helped build a wall of house and leveled out a path and cleaned up, etc. It was a lot of fun. It was a little back breaking but I´m glad we could help her she´s a single mom and an investigador and the branch really has helped her out a lot. It´s been great. So here´s a funny story, there´s a conspiracy theory going on here in this little branch. This forever investigador Marcilino and this new member Richard have come to the conclusion that there is corruption in the branch with the money and the leadership and they tell us about and they tell us how they need to find a way to break in the church and look at the records and they are serious. It´s absolutely nuts. They are very different people. For instance Richard told us that he went to one of our investigadors mom´s house and gave a blessing to dog. (Is that allowed?) He used to be an evanglist and it really shows when he talks. It´s really funny some of the members here and kind of scarey because they could really start a break off or something. But that´s the conspiracy theory of Progreso. But today we had a zone activity which was really fun we played volleyball for a little while and then the elders played soccer. But today is our last pday of the change. So next week pday is wednesday as a heads up. Thanks so much for hte emails and the news. Here´s some photos of the service project and the zone conference. I Love you all mucho mucho!!! Thanks for the prayers, I know they help.
con amor, Tiffani

Middle of October...wow...and it´s getting warmer!!!

Hola mi famlia y mi amigos,
How are ya´ll doing? I figured I´d start out a little different. Anyways, thanks so much for the emails Dad, Mom, and Kim. I sure love them and you all too. I´m glad things are going very well. But this last week was good, we had a baptism for the cutest girl. Her name is Brenda and she´s 9. She´s the daughter of a used to be less active. The hermanas found her before I got here and got the ward involved in helping her because she´s a single mom and left the church because she joined and then met someone and they got married and he beat her. So she divorced him and moved. But we´ve been teaching her and her daughter and she was so excited to be baptized. And her mom has come back and she said a beautiful prayer at the baptism and how grateful she was for the church in her life. The ward has been really great with her and really supportive and helpful. It was such a beautiful service and Brenda borrowed this pretty little baptism dress, because they don´t have anything with her pink tennis shoes, there´s a picture it´s soooo cute. Earlier on Saturday, my companion had a baptism in another area and so we got permission and went. I really love baptisms, they are so neat and I love to see how excited they are. I ended up playing the piano for both baptisms, it was kind of amazing because in the mission I am able to play a lot a lot more hymns and I know Heavenly Father has really helped me with that and so I´m glad I can help. We had a really funny charla this last week with a family who the dad we are trying to help quit smoking and so we brought the branch president because he used to smoke, and it was the funniest, shake your head kind of charla. Because he starts telling stories of his crazy ways of quitting like being around people that smoke all the time, and having cigaretts in your pocket. We´re like what are you thinking? And then he started telling stories of when he got drunk. And we´re like stop stop.. But he just kept going and going. But by the end everyone was laughing. The president said the prayer and he was late with a interview with the stake president and he said in the prayer with the family there please bless that the stake president won´t hit him for being a half an hour late. We´re like...well that´s the last time he´s coming on a word of wisdom charla. The branch president is a really interesting, but really nice fellow. But we made a schedule with the dad and he´s almost done quitting, the sad thing was we tried set a baptismal date with them yesterday and they said no, because they don´t want to change and there is a lot of rules in the church. It was sad, but they said we can keep visiting them, so we´re going to keep working with them. Oh, Hna Yeates called me to give a reference yesterday and told me this cute cute kid Jose Luis, that we had found and had been working with got baptized in La Paz. I was so excited. We also had an incredible day at church yesterday, we had 10 investigadors. It´s been a very successful week. We also had an activity Friday that the young men we´re supposed to be in charge but they didn´t come till hours laters, so we at to do it, but we played ping pong and guess what all those practicing games of me losing paid off yet again. I beat everyone. It´s so fun. Also, this friday is zone conference and interviews so I will get my packages. YEAH!! Thanks so much in advance for the christmas package. I´m excited, is there anyway you can put in knee high nylons. I go through them fast, because the dusty roads just tear them up. And they are required, and they are really expensive here. Also maybe 45 or 50 boxes would be great dad. THANKS!!! Have a great great week. THanks for the prayers and advice and help and love. I LOVE YOU!!!
con amor, Tiffani
p.s. here are some baptism photos.

Another week...with a great bapism

Hola mi familia y amigos,
¿Como estan? I´m glad all is well. Thanks for the emails Dad, Mom, and Hermana Bell. I really appreciate knowing how everything is going. This past week has been really good. Our investigator Irene was baptized and it was a really beautiful service. She was so excited to be baptized. When we were asking the questions to prepare her for her interview she said she had an abortion when she was younger and so she had to have an interview with one of mission presidents counselors. But everything went well, and her daughter and son in law and grandkids came and supported her. It was really great. We are teaching them right now so hopefully they will follow in her footsteps. On Sunday when she recieved the gift of the holy ghost she bore her tesimony of her own will and she was really grateful for the gospel. It was neat. We also had a spring activity on friday and it was pretty funny. Because there is this one lady in the ward who wanted to really help plan the activity and so she said we should act out Alma 32. And one of us should be the dirt, the seed, and the tree and her boyfriend our ward mission leader would narrate. So I was the seed, it was pretty embarrassing and hillarious actually. This woman said she was going to be the soil and so she dressed in all black and had a black nylon on her head and she said she was going to be fertile soil and dance. (How dancing means fertile soil, I have no idea) But her boyfriend turns on some classical music and then in a very dramatic voice talks about Alma 32 and she comes out and starts wiggling because shes fertile soil. I was trying so hard not laugh and then it was my turn and I made a seed around my neck so I sat down like a seed in dirt. It was sooo funny. But the thing is we had investigadors and I could see their faces, they were like, who are these crazy mormons? But at least we made that woman happy and our ward mission leader. But after we decorated little cakes like sugar cookies and gave them sprinkles and colored frosting and they really enjoyed it. So that was good. My companion got a little sick this week and on saturday and sunday I started feeling bad, the spring weather here is crazy hot and cold, hot and cold. But now I am better, thank goodness. Springtime is really pretty here there are so many kinds of flowers and it is so green. Our area is so huge, it´s a bunch of little tiny towns put together so we ride buses all the time. We also get to use trains once in a while which is fun. We are having zone conference and interviews October 23. So I will get my packages then. They are combining them so I guess I will only get packages every 6 weeks which is a bummer, so if you could send my medicine well in advance, that would be good. I am excited for the thanksgiving one, hope I get it before thanksgiving haha. Thanks for your testimonies and experiences. I love hearing about them. Thanks for the encouragement, advice, and prayers. I love you all mucho.
con amor,
Tiffani
ps. here are some photos. The first are of the baptism of Irene and her family. And then there is one of her with this cute little family that the boys always give us little presents. And then one of our acting out of alma 32. so so funny.

Happy October!

Hola mi famila y amigos,
¿Como estan? Thanks so much for the emails Dad, Mom, Kim, and Alyssa. Loved them, loved them. I´m glad you all enjoyed conference. It was sure amazing. Thanks for sharing the talks that really touched you. I was able to watch conference saturday and sunday and all in english except the relief society session, so I´m glad you gave me a little update kim. But actually I understand quite a bit, which I was really grateful for. The talks that I really loved were from Elder Scott about listening to the spirit and recieving personal revelation and Elder Holland and his very powerful testimony of the book of mormon and the prophet..amazing. And the one seventy about the mighty change of heart and the likening it to the physical heart transplant. There were so many great talks. One of my earlier comp told me that if you go into conference with a question that you have been prayerfully pondering you can recieve the answer in conference. So I decided to try it, and it was really neat. I recieved one of the answers in conference and the other no and I was kind of disappointed. It was the question that you want to know when I should go home, so I was like well, a lot of the talks talked about recieving revelation and the how sometimes it takes time and patience. But then this morning we woke up to no electrictiy and a huge storm and so we were trying to find the breaker and then tried to start a fire and tried to call someone and all didn´t work and so I suggested we have a prayer and right as I asked for us to have light the power flipped on. It was really amazing. And it was just another testimony to me that I know heavenly father hears ours prayers and even if he doesn´t give an answer right away like my question he will answer. And it was just a really neat experience. So that question, I´m still praying about. But we had an amazing conference because we had 13 investigadors come. And they had to ride a bus 20 minutes away. We also had a miracle because of some miscommunication this fmaily that we´re teaching missed the bus, but they were all ready. So my comp arranged for a taxi but there were six of them so they wouldn´t fit and they were kind of mad at what happened, so we prayed that they could come and the grandma and the grandkids came in the taxi and then 20 minutes later the parents came on a moto. It was so neat, and they felt the spirit really strongly. We´re going to have a baptism for the grandma this saturday and we´re going to invite the family to be baptized as well in a few weeks. We also were doing some contacts in the other city between sessions and we found this neat woman Norma, right across the street from the church and we talked to her for a while and then shared our testimonies and then invited her to conference the next day and she said yes. So that night we wrote our testimonies in a book of mormon to give her because she´s not in our area and so we passed by to get her and she was ready with a skirt which is rare here and she was really grateful for the book of mormon and then she came to conference and really felt the spirit. She really enjoyed it. We then presented her to the elders and so hopefully they can teach her and baptize her. But it was such a neat experience. So technically 14 investigadors came I was really blown away. That´s all we taught this past week to everyone follow the prophet and an invatation to conference and it paid off. In minas when we had conference it was in the same city and not nearly as many people came. But Heavenly Father is really blessing us. I saw a few families from La Paz, they were visiting family, which was so great, they gave me big hugs, it was great to see them. I loved conference. Oh I have a question for you all, What are your absolute favorite scriptures? Thanks for everything, for the emails and prayers and everything. I love you all mucho.
con amor, Tiffani
p.s. these photos are of the norma and us the neat woman from the other city, and the family that was a miracle that came and the grandma is going to be baptized the end of this week. And us the country with the cows.

Happy 1 year to me...Happy 1 year to me!!!

Hola mi familia y amigos,
I can´t believe it I´m hitting a year in the mission on Thursday. At first I didn´t think I would survive a year. haha. Muchas gracias for the emails Dad, Dad, Mom, Nikki, and Kim. I really really appreciate it. Have a good trip dad! I´m glad Mom and Joseph you´re safe with the car and good luck Joseph with basketball. I´m glad life is GREAT for ya Nicks. We´re going to watch the relief society conference on Saturday before the general sessions, but thanks for the recap Kim. Oh...Stefi thanks for the photo last week, I laughed really hard. Well, I´m really excited for conference. The ward here , well actually it´s a branch is good. They asked me to present myself and give my testimony and then right before sacrament started they asked me to give a talk also, I was like ummmm...It wasn´t that long but whatever, I still need to develop that talent. :) Progreso is HUGE!!! We take buses everywhere because it´s like a bunch of little tiny towns hooked together. It´s in the country and it´s really reallly pretty. Some parts are like I´m walking into the movie of Anne of Green Gables. I forgot to mention the conference with Elder Bowen 2 weeks ago. It was amazing. He shook all our hands and he told me what a great name I had and then turned me around and told everyone my name and laughed. It was funny. He talked a lot about the book of mormon and how that was the keystone, which I knew but it was amazing how he just used the book of mormon and had practiced teaching sessions and his testimony was really powerful. Then us hermanas ate lunch with him and his wife our mission president and he told us, you hermanas are the best, you always have the greatest success. It was really nice. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn´t get the cookies, probably won´t for a couple of weeks till zone conference unfortunately, I´ll dip them in milk. :) This area is really really busy we are running from charla to charla. We´re having a baptism in 2 weeks. I haven´t been this busy since my first 2 changes. Last night, Hna Rogers and me made crepes on a camp stove, they were really good. Our apt. doesn´t have a stove or oven, I´ve been spoiled in my last two areas to have a stove and oven. But it was an interesting experience. The people here are really nice and a lot more willing to listen than in la paz, but I still really miss la paz. Yesterday my comp had a tarantula climbing on her leg, it was really funny and scarey, but she killed it. I hope we don´t have a spider problem here as it warms up. Oh my credit card works, thank goodness, I used it some last week. But thanks for sending me another. I´ll let you know when I get it. Well, I think that is all. I love you all mucho mucho and miss you all a ton. Thanks for the prayers I know they work. Have a great week. I LOVE YOU!!!!
con amor, Tiffani
p.s Here is a photo of us and our crepes.

My third area

Hola familia,
Thanks for the emails, Mom, Dad, Nikki, Stefi, and Kim. I really appreciated all. About that question dad, I´ll fast and pray about it and let you know. I am glad life is good for you all, and I´m sorry softball isn´t doing so hot, there is always next year. :) I´m glad your talk went well dad and your enjoying your class mom. Another change gone by, and I´m going to my third area Progresso. My new companion is Hna Rogers from Utah. She´s going home in December. Oh well, I can learn a lot and she´s really nice. I am really sad to leave La Paz. It was so hard to say good bye to the people there. I cried like a baby, go figure. But I had a feeling I was going and it was time. I was so grateful we found investigadors together and that they are doing great, Hna Yeates will baptize them next change. We had 6 investigadors in church our last week together, it was awesome. We´ll we see how progresso goes. I´m only like 30 minutes away from La Paz. The Vidartes said they are going to go to church there one sunday. They are really great. I´ll miss them a ton and a lot of people here. This past week has warmed up quite a bit. It´s really nice, but I started remembering last summer and how sweltering hot it was. I never realized how the physical aspect of the mission effects a lot. I guess I´ll just tough it up. I´m really nervous to go to this new area as always. Change is still tough. But I´ve been lucky I´ve only had 2 areas in almost a year and Hna Yeates has had 4. Heavenly Father has really blessed me and he will continue to help me and bless me. Thanks for sending me the card. I´ll let you know when I get it. I´m so excited for conference in a few weeks and I can´t believe I´m almost hitting a year, it´s nuts. Sorry, this letter it kind of short, I´ll have more to write monday. I love you all mucho!!! Thank you for being a great family. I´ll be sending photos home in a few weeks, so you can see the fun Hna Yeates and I had. :) Have a great half of a week. LOVE YA!!!
con amor, Tiffani

Another change almost gone...

Hola mi familia,
I am glad all is well with you all. Things are good, warm finally. Muchas gracias for the emails Mom, Dad, Nikki, and Kim. So heads up next week is changes so pday will be wednesday, and i have this sinking feeling that I might be leaving La Paz. I really love this area, well mostly the people, but I will be really sad to go. I hope I have one more change here with Hna Yeates. I´ve had 2 changes with all my comps and so I don´t want to break tradition. haha. This past week has been good. We found 9 new people and some of them are really great. We´re excited to continue to teach them. My family Vidarte has callings now. They are like fully integrated in the ward. It´s awesome!! I feel like a proud parent. haha. The gospel is amazing. This week the ward is having a talent show and guess what me and hermana yeates are doing a duet on the guitar. It´s the same song I did with Hna Wilson, ("I hope they call me on a mission," It´s like the only one I have memorized) But this lady in our ward is really sweet and she played us some uruguayan folk songs and we recorded them and then she had me play that song and then she said I could borrow her guitar till the talent show. So at nights when I have a few minutes we practice or I just practice hymns. It´s really fun. I really miss the guitar. I made a resolve to practice that and get a lot better when I get back. But I´m glad I have had a few chances to use what I know. Our investigador luis came to church again which was great, but he booked it home after to smoke. He never goes longer than a hour to smoke. It´s really sad. But we have a lot of charlas with him to try to help and motivate him, but after church we went and he told us he smoked and that he has faith and knows he can quit. It´s getting pretty frustrating because he´s not exercising any self control. I don´t know what an addiction like that is like, but I know many have quit and it´s very possible. The day after he got a priesthood blessing he smoked more than he had the whole week. He´s just waiting for Heavenly Father to stop smoking for him. But that is not how it works. But we´ll keep praying and working with him. The members here are great they are helping us a lot with our investigadors. We had two really good noche de hogars this past week also. One in English with this family Schvint, they are so great. She showed us some mission photos and we ate pizza and played uno and we taught in English another funny experience. We also had a noche de hogar with this less active family we found last week. It turned out nice, the kids aren´t members and they love having us visit and the parents want us to bring a ward member so they can know ward members. They are really ready to come back. He´s looking for work right now, and we can tell they are struggling and are looking for hope and help. We´re having another NDH with them saturday. They are really great also. On Sunday one of the women came up to me and said I´m like a spoiled child and I don´t know what we´re going to do when you leave, because I give them some ranch packets. It was pretty funny. She said you need to send us ranch for the rest of our lives. haha. Oh this week President Bowen is going to speak to us, and I´m excited, he´s a good man. Well, I´m barely surviving (this running stuff is rough haha). I love you all mucho. Thanks so much for everything. I love all your emails. Have a great week and a half.
con amor, Tiffani

Happy 11 months !!!

Hola mi famila y amigos,
¿Como estan? Muchas gracias for the emails Mom, Dad, Nikki, Joseph, Kim, and the Crums. I am glad things are well with you all. I´m glad you had a good bday Joseph, did you get keep your present from Kim? haha. This week has been good and rainy. Every 31 of August there is a storm called santa rosa and it´s still going strong, so it´s been kind of a bummer. But it´s warming up which is good and bad. This past week we had interviews and it was good, I really like the DaSilvas. They are great people. He gave me some advice to try and find other ways of finding people and use baptisms to find references. The great thing is on Sunday this guy Luis (his wife is a less active that we visit) came to church. The first visit we went to with Hna Yeates he sat down and listened to the lessons. He had listened before but couldn´t stop smoking. Now he has a lung disease and wants to change. And so we have been teaching him the past 2 weeks and this week he came with his girls. He really wants to be baptized, but he smokes like 25 cigarettes a day so we´re working with him to stop. If he keeps going maybe his wife will come back and his daugter will also want to be baptized. It´s really great. So we have some investigadors now and it´s really a big blessing. We´re also teaching 2 twelve year old girls and one came to church and the other Alison is amazing, but she has a rough home life so she didn´t go, but I think she´ll come next week. It´s really great. But the interview with president Dasilva was really good, really short, but good. My comp started to kill me last week, and asked me to go running every morning. She´s scared of getting fat, especially with all the chocolate you all sent me. I HATE RUNNING!!!! We only do it for like 20 minutes, but the after the second day, I could barely walk during the day. She just laughed at me. And the next day she gave me a break because I couldn´t move at all. Every morning I have been praying for rain because I won´t run in the rain and every morning it starts to rain around 8. I guess she has more faith in her prayers. But, I love my comp and so we´ll run until we change. Well, tonight we´re going to have 2 family home evenings, which I´m pretty excited about. The first one will be in English with the family that the wife served in california and her husband is trying to learn english, so that will be interesting and fun. And then our regular family home evening with the vidartes. Another fun one. So I bought another backpack today, yep my 5th one, I don´t know why I have such rotten luck with my backpacks. Thanks again for the packages, I really really really love them. We made the cookie dough you sent last night while we wrote our letter to the president and practically ate the whole thing. Little piggies. We have to deal with the stress some how haha. Things are good, sorry I don´t have a lot to say this week, but things are good. I love my time to study every day, I learn so much. I love the gospel and know with all my heart it´s true. Have a fantastic week. I love you all mucho. Talk to you later.
con amor, Tiffani
ps. I really liked the kitkats you sent me, if you have any extras lying around the house to send...I´m so excited about the cookies.

HAPPY 18 LIL´ BROTHER!!!!!

Hola mi familia,
¿Como estan? Well, I can´t believe it, my baby brother is growing up 18. CONGRATS and Happy Birthday Jose Vaughn! Muchas gracias for the emails Mom, Dad, Nikki (puh-lease) haha, and Kim. This past week has been a little long, but thank you to my comp today was like christmas for me. She has medicine in her packages and since we didn´t have zone conference she called last week and said she needed them, so they delivered her packages and mine too. I was sooooo excited. I got 3 packages and an envelope. I was so chocolate deprived. THANK YOU. Thanks also, for the other amazing american food, cds, tights, and verb book. (wasn´t that yours mom?) BUT THANK YOU!!! The swiss chocolate didn´t make but the good old american chocolate did. phew...haha. THANK YOU THANK YOU AND THANK YOU!!! It will defintely comfort us in these difficult weeks of not many investigadors and lessons. I think I am suppose to be learning something in this very slow time. I may not be helping a lot of people, but I am sure learning a ton. And I´m grateful for my comp. Yesterday was a very long day and super hot, (Uruguay has the craziest weather) and so at the end we had an hour left and we were doing contacts and we went and talked to these elderly people outside with their handicapped daughter and they were just the nicest people in the world. They are very evanglist, but they were talking with us and saying god bless you for what your doing and so I asked we could sing them a song and they were excited and pulled out chairs for us and then we just started visiting. We talked about God and how it´s sad that so many people don´t believe in him and how he´s always there for us. And then they told us there life stories which were really neat and how they found each other and God and how now their mission in life is to take care of their angel daughter who is 44 now and handicapped and can´t take care of herself. It was so great, (and they gave us orange soda...haha.) And we sang to them and gave them a brochure and it was just a blessing because it´s been a long week and we have been getting a lot of doors slammed. And they were just nice and they asked us about our missions and how what a great sacrifice and great blessing to serve Heavenly Father and gave us some advice for life. It reminded me a sunday night visit with the Cooks. I just was grateful. I don´t know if we´ll be able to teach them, but if they don´t get baptized here, it will be in the next life for sure. This week we have interviews with the president because the last week Elder Bowen is coming to give a conference, so that will be exciting. Yesterday, the president asked us to write in our president´s letter our feelings of Joseph Smith, and I was thinking that I have walked and visited practically all the places he was, New York, Kirtland, Nauvoo, etc. And I have grown up in Utah and have seen so many neat things. But right now in this far away land Uruguay, my appreciation, love, and testimony of him have grown so much more. It´s the same with Jesus Christ, I´ve walked where he walked, but doing the things and serving as these have done I feel so much more gratitude and love. And my testimony is growing every day. It´s really amazing. I am giving the President and his wife two pictures of the sacred grove with the leaves on the back. (If you have more, I will always accept them.) But the gospel is such a blessing, and as hard as my mission is and how much I miss ya´ll, I wouldn´t trade it. Thanks for everything. I love you all MUCHO!!! Have a happy week. Tomorrow is 11 months, nuts huh?
con amor, Tiffani

Happy School starting!!! (hahaha)

Hola mi familia y amigos,
¿Como estan? I am glad all well with you Dad, Mom, and Nikki and I hope everything is well with you others. Mucahs gracias for the emails Dad, Mom, and Nicks. That is so neat you got to see the temple dedication. I love the temple dedications and the spirit that is there. At least when I get back I can go and do a session there and in Draper. I think I´ll go to all the temples in utah. I sure miss them. So this week, has been pretty normal. We didn´t have any investigadors in the church but our converts are there and so that is good. We´ve found a really great girl her name is Maria Jose (kind of strange name but common here) she´s our age and we had two charlas with her so hopefully we´ll keep her progressing. She´s really nice and really willing to read and learn. So that´s great. Yep it´s still a little slow with investigadors, but like I said before it´s really awesome that our recent converts are going strong, Camila, Grasiela, and two other recent converts are doing awesome Facundo and Myriam. I love teaching and helping them learn more. The family Vidarte had a break down with us, they miss Hna Vera sooo much and they said it´s going to be the same when I leave and that no other missionary will be the same, and they are so upset. It was so hard. Hna Yeates and I explained that we can live together again if they remain faithful and that it´s not the missionaries who can save them it´s the Savior and that we have to follow the Savior no matter what. She came up with a really good idea that for all the charlas that we have with them from now on we should just focus on the Savior and make him central. It´s a great idea and so I hope it helps. They are such a great family, It´s not me that can save them it´s the Savior. I´ve started really enjoying companion ship study. At the beginning Hna Yeates would ask what did you learn and I would kind of roll my eyes inside (because I´ve had this experience before and it wasn´t that great) and just say what I´ve been reading. But I started warming up, we started really talking and applying things we learned and it´s amazing. I found that talking about it and explaining the things I learn I´m remembering better. Which is a huge blessing, because I have the memory of an elephant. I just love the scriptures though. I can´t believe how they talk to me and how every chapter just applies to me in some way. I can´t believe I went so long not liking to read the scriptures, before my mission. They are just letters from Heavenly Father to me and it´s amazing. I learn new things every day. I´m reading Jesus the Christ right now and my testimony of the Savior has grown so much because this book just explains things really well and I really love it. I found out a few days ago that we´re not having zone conference this change and so I won´t get my packages for a couple weeks (kind of a bummer) but I still have a few remnants left from the others. Hna Yeates was having chocolate withdrawls so I gave her a bottle of nutella. Haha. Oh also, there is a new music rule because last change hna yeates and hna orme asked if they could listen to other music and he said whatever brings the spirit you can listen to. I was soooo excited. I am not listening to Motab again. There is also this new thing in the mission where anyone can send emails to the mission office and the mission office will print them and send them to us kind of like Dear Elder. So anyone can email now, the address is urumontemission@gmail.com. So those who don´t have time to write and send a letter can just email. Well, the great news is it is warming up. FINALLY. Grandma sent me the weather report a few times during winter for Florida, I was like thanks for rubbing it in. Haha. But, thanks again for everything. I sure love you all mucho. Have a great week. Oh how was softball this last week?
Con amor, Tiffani

Hola

Hola mi familia,
¿Como estan? I am glad you all are doing well. Thanks for the emails Dad, Mom, Nikki, and Kim. I am glad you guys won one of the games, I am still waiting for my jersey...haha. Well, the past few days have been good, a little stressful, but good. Hermana Vera had an incredible memory and so I just kind of followed her around La Paz, but now it´s my turn and we´ve only gotten lost a few times. haha. I am so glad Hna Yeates is my comp. I guess the biggest thing we´ve done is on friday we recieved a text to come to house of one of the members so we had time and she said she wanted to feed us french toast and maple syrup but all the days on the calendar are full so she wanted to feed us dinner, well turns out that our lunch was canceled that day and so we ate with them. It was fantastic, I think I´ll call it american toast. Anyways, she served a mission in california and she is teaching her husband english and they read the scriptures in english together and so they asked us if we would teach in english. So we´re like...okay and then we taught the plan of salvation in english. It was soooo wierd and soooo hard. I couldn´t believe it. I kept plugging in spanish words and hna yeates was struggling to. It was a good experience. We haven´t taught in english since the mtc and we did it together. Two weeks ago in english class, they asked me to say a prayer in english, it was the hardest thing ever. I ended up ending the prayer in spanish. I could not talk. I think it will be really funny when I get home, if I am already struggling to teach and pray and english. They want to us to practice on them more so we might do it once a week or once every couple of weeks. She loves american food, so I´m going to give her some ranch packets. There are actually a lot of people that know about it here and so I gave some ranch packets before to a family that lived in utah for little bit. They´re funny they´re like what are we going to do when you go. On friday and saturday the weather was amazing it was just like spring or summer, it was perfect I didn´t need a coat, scarf, gloves, sweater, etc. I just wore a short sleave shirt. And then on Sunday it dumped, and I mean dumped on us rain. We had 30 people in church, so it was a lot of fun walking all day in the rain. I really don´t like the rain. But today it is warm again. Every year in the end of winter they have a little summer for like a week or two weeks and it´s just like summer and then it will be cold again, so it´s great. I am sure grateful I only have one winter here. On monday we found a really great girl, Allison who is really mature for her age,she is 12, has a hard life, and so we went back on friday and then again on Sunday and she is so awesome, she´s like drinking it all up. And she prayed for the first time out loud yesterday and it was such a simple pretty prayer. I´m really excited to be teaching her. Well, thanks for the emails again and everything. I hope you all have a great week. I love you all mucho.
con amor, Tiffani

I am staying in La Paz...and my companion is...HNA YEATES!!!!!! :) :) :)

Hola mi familia,
¿Como estan? Muchisimo Gracias for the emails Dad, Mom, Nikki, and Joseph! I am glad things are going well. I am sorry about the softball game last week, I know you all will do well tomorrow. GOOD LUCK!! So yeah, my comp is going to be Hermana Yeates!!! She is so great! I am so excited and really nervous, we are co companions and the streets are crazy, it is a good thing I have a map. But it will be an adventure. I am really going to miss Hna Vera. She is such an amazing friend. Her name is Daniela Vera and she likes nutella and peanut butter and chocolate, yep I converted her too. haha. She will appreciate that. All the people loved her so much, so I am a little nervous. So her release date is in between November and December changes and so she wanted to go home the early change, so she called the president and he said there have been a lot of problems with Elders and Hermanas going home the change early and so he talked to the area presidency and they have a new rule that all missionaries will stay till their later date. So my release date is April 21st. I am not trunky, I am just letting you all know. But it is finally getting warmer, yeah! It is still really cold but not as frigid. This past week and half has been really good. Our work has finally starting to pay off again, we found 9 new investigadors, 2 families. We are so excited. Prayer and patience and work are the keys. The woman that talked to the bishop last week to start changing, came to church this last week, she was so scared but she came to sacrament and her daughter and friend and they want to get baptized, they have to keep coming to church but it is really neat. We had our last family home evening together with the Vidartes. When Hna Vera said goodbye to the famila vidarte they were so sad, and then when they found out that I was not going to stay for my whole mission in La Paz, the dad got so mad and said we are going to fix that, and after we explained a little bit that these were calls from the Lord he went to his room and started crying. It was soo soo difficult. But for now...we have more time. Anyways, thanks for everything. I love you all so much. I really love this gospel and how our family can be together forever, so many families do not have that. I am grateful that I can share this blessing with all the people here. You guys and your prayers, letters, support, and love, really keep me going. It is amazing how much you appreciate something after you do not have it or are not around it for a long time. I love you all much. Have a happy few days, and talk to you monday.
con amor, Tiffani

Happy August!

hola mi familia,
Muchas gracias for the letters Dad, Mom, and Nikki. I am glad things are going really well. I received a envelope with my medicine and pictures of Jesus Christ and ranch and m&ms. MUCHAS GRACIAS!! I loved it as usual. Oh, I bought a cd player last week it´s a little one and they said if I buy a cord and it will work in the USA, but I think I will try and sell it or something. My comp was pretty excited too. She listens to english cds to help her as she excersises. haha. Oh, she wanted me to ask you all if you could send her a baby book of mormon in english like you sent me because her folks don´t really send her packages. She really thought it was cool. Thanks. Oh our next pday is wednesday and it is changes so I might get a new companion, I probably will because I have been with her for 3 months. She is sooo great, I am going to miss her a lot. I am excited she´s going to study in the states so I can see her again. We made tacos a couple days ago that was kind of funny because I had a little bit of mild sauce you sent me and so we used that but it needed more tomato so she told me use ketchup, I know wierd. It was kind of different but I haven´t had tacos in a while so it was good. I put ranch and she used ketchup as salsa. haha. (Maybe you could stick a few taco seasoning envelopes once in a while...please...haha). We also had interviews this week it was really late notice we thought it was this week but on Thursday night they called and said tomorrow the President and his wife and the assistants are coming to your apt to inspect and have interviews. We were kind of nervous and we had to clean all the next morning. It was a good interview. President DaSilva is a really nice man and his wife is so sweet. He picked up on that my concern is spanish because the interivew was all in spanish, with him translating some. And he read me 1 Cor. 13:1 saying what you all have been telling me the spirit will speak through me and that love and charity is more important than spanish. It was really good. He then talked to my companion mostly about me, I felt bad because it was her interview and I don´t like being the concern. He asked her what she thinks will help me the most and she said to have someone who is at my level or less of spanish because she´s my crutch. I was like, "oh, no." Oh he also told me to thank you all for your support and sacrifice and that he´s really grateful to be able to watch over me and the other missioaires for this time.
Also, this week a lot of new members went to the temple including the flia vidarte. They loved it and thought it was sooo beautiful. I was so excited for them and they bought us a picture of the buenos aires temple. It was really nice. We also have been teaching a less active named Silvia and her non member daughter Evelyn and she has made progress and went the christmas activity but she wouldn´t go to church and so she finally told us why she hasn´t been coming to church she was baptized unworthily and she knew living with a man while she was married with another man is bad but she lied and she was baptized and then one year later, there was a teenager pregnant and how the ward was like talking about it and how bad it was she stopped going to church because she felt guilty. And so she hasn´t been back since. She was crying a lot. And so we told her she needed to talk to the bishop and we set up a appt. for her and she came and talked to him and he´s going to help her and she is planning to get married. So that´s great and then her and her daughter can support each other and come to church. I was really glad we could help her. Also, another update, this week we were walking with brother vidarte and we saw the crazy man but he didn´t do anything because we were with him and brother vidarte knew him, a few nights later he walked us home and then he was walking home and saw him and talked to him and told him he´s a member of the church and that what he is doing it really bad and ugly and if he doesn´t leave us alone we´ll go to the police. The guy mumbled something "no no" and then walked away really fast. It´s amazing because Brother Vidarte is the only man here that would have the courage to confront him and stick up for us. It was amazing. I am sure grateful for that family. I know I always talk about them...Anyways, I love you all soo soo much, thanks for everything and the encouragement and advice, love, letters, prayer, etc. THANKS. Have a great week and half!!!
con amor, Tiffani

I am Healthy Again! YEAH!!! July 27th

Hola mi familia,
¿Como estan? Thank you very much for the emails Mom, Dad, Stefi, and Kim. I am really glad overall Las Vegas was good. Well, the great news is I am HEALTHY!! Finally... I started to go out and work this week, which was a lot better. Except the weather, it was absolutely crazy this past week. I have never been in wind and rain so strong. It was like 40-50 miles per hour. My umbrella broke. It reminded me of when we watched that hurricane on TV and the news reporter was knocked down by the wind in the bushes. haha. So it´s been an adventure that´s for sure. The people thought we were absolutely nuts walking out in it. Their reactions were funny. Anyways, we also had Christmas in July this past week, and it was a success. We had about 40 people come and we had them decorate a envelope like a present and then we put it in a box for a game and then sang christmas songs and read the christmas story and ate and then after we played a game "Do you love your neighbor" and we put the gifts under the chair, and the ward loved it, it was fun because all the adults played also. And then they opened their presents and we put pictures of christ from our brochures with a quote that you guys gave me from that christmas quote book and we translated it. Except, I made it and put a scripture reference in english. So my companion explained a gringa made it. It was funny. But I think they enjoyed it. The theme was to share our best gift the Savior with everyone so we asked them to put names of people they knew in a box decorated so we could visit. It turned out well. I really enjoy planning activities. When we set for the party thursday night after english class we were the only ones in the church and it is scarey to be in the church at night especially with our previous experience and so we had to carry tables upstairs to the gym because it has 2 floors so we used the elevator and loaded the elavtor with tables and I refused to ride up because I didn´t want to get stuck in the elevator and so we pressed the button and then sprinted through the church upstairs to meet the elevator, it was soooo funny. We did that like 5 times. We got our excercises and then when we cleaned up we did the same thing. It was a fun couple of days. The family Vidarte brought their nephew to church he´s like 20 and they have really caught the spirit of missionary work and they want to share with all their family, and so the nephew Manual read the brochure and the lesson in gospel principles was the restoration and he turned to the vidartes and said "that is like in the brochure I read" and he paid really close attention. It was amazing, we are going to start teaching him. We are also going to have a family home evening with them all tonight. They are such a great family! I love them a lot. Sister Vidarte calls us her angels. I was listening to a talk during my sickness last week by Elder Holland and he talked about how right before something really good happens something really bad happens like the first vision. But he said many times and this happens more how bad things happen right after really great things. Because Satan wants the person to forget the miracles and blessings that they had seen like with Moses and his vision and how Satan came after or when Peter saw Jesus walking on water and then he started to do it and then when the storms came he forgot his faith. He applied that to us when we have miracles and blessings in our lives many times trials will follow because Satan wants us to forget and forget our testimonies. This talk really hit me hard and I realized that´s what has been happening. We had a miracle with the Family Vidarte and then after the crazy man, my sickness, no investigadors, etc. I know it´s because Satan wants us to forget the miracles and blessings. It was a really big answer to prayer and really has helped me this week. I am really grateful for the all the experiences I have had and know I will continue to see miracles. I love you all soo sooo much. Thanks for everything, always. Have a happy warm week!!!
con amor, Tiffani

¡¡¡¡Happy Christmas in July!!!! (7/20)

Hola mi familia,
¿Como estan todos? Aren{t I so creative in my subjects...haha. Anyways, thank you soooo sooo much for the emails Mom, Dad, Nikki, and Stefi you guys have made my week literally.
We'll get to that later. I hope you have a great time in Vegas, lucky family. Enjoy and lots of luck!! But this past week was our first zone conference with our new President. It was really good. He wants everything to stay the same as with President Ashby and so it was the same format with a different President. It was really good. Except I was really really sick. Yep, I am still sick, but I am getting better. Anyways, I did my first missionary acting at the zone conference they always call missionaries to practice and show examples and so we were called on this past wednesday to show how to resolve doubts when some rejects a baptism invitation. And then all the missionaries critique. It was so scary. I was really sick, so my comp did most of the talking. Anyways, we are the only hermanas in our zone conference and so we are automatically targets for everything,zone and district meetings also. It is probably a good thing. I talked to Hermana DaSilva a lot, she is really sweet woman and told me to go to bed for at least 2 days and call the church doctor in Argentina. He said I have a virus, the flu and I need lots of rest and water. Everyone is sick here. And so this past week I have obeyed and have been in
bed since wednesday. I have been bored and sick out of my mind. It is amazing when you don{t work you think of home and I haven{t been homesick like this since the beginning. I guess the best medicine for homesickness is missionary work. I have listened to a lot of talks and read some, but I have had a really super bad headache for most of the days and I couldn't read. I even missed church, it was sad. It was my first day of rest on the day of rest in my mission. The ward has been really good and some hermanas have took turn babysitting me while my comp worked. But we don't have investigadors so my comp babysat me most of the time. I felt bad because she wants to go work. But I guess Heavenly Father knew that I would be sick for a week, so it is good that we haven't had investigadors.
She has been great and has really helped me. I have seen a lot service and love this past week from her and from the Hermanas, when they came they cleaned some of our house and even washed some of my clothes. Really really nice. Our family, the family Vidarte they came visited us after church it was so neat and really brightened my day. They are amazing, the son passed the sacrament yesterday. Always blessings. Oh and I haven't seen the crazy man. haha. Thanks for the ideas for the party, Dad. I hope it will be a success. And for the information about the swine flu. The uruguayans are some of the most panicked people I have ever met. Thanks. I think I will live. I get to be a missionary tonight and I am pretty excited, we are having a family home evening with the family vidarte!! Sorry, I don't have much else to write. But I love you all much and thanks for the prayers, love, and letters, and support. Have a fantastic week!! Love you and miss you all much.
con amor, Tiffani

Hola from La Paz

Hola mi familia,
Muchas gracias for the emails Mom, Dad, Nikki, Kim, and STEFI!!! I really enjoyed them. Good luck Joseph with basketball and have fun in Vegas everyone else. I am glad you all are having a good summer. Dad, I will look for a cd player here and the music rule has not changed we are still stuck with motab. Thank you, enjoy chicago and you should eat a chicago hot dog. I am glad you get to go to MTC again Mom, I can tell you are happier when you go. I am glad your talk went well nikki and good luck on your even Kim. Well, another chilly week has passed. And I have been sick with the flu, I really am allergic to the cold I think. The mission president{s wife told me to call the area missionary doctor and he said I just needed to rest and take some medicine. They were worried because of this swine flu. What{s up with this flu, what is it, they even have announcements in church to stay home if your sick. And everyone is so scared, so I am just wondering, they don{t tell us anything. So wednesday I stayed in bed all day. I have to say it{s a bummer to be sick without a mommmy and a television. haha. But I got some reading done. So that was good. I got a blessing to and that always works. I am feeling a little better but I am going to sleep after I write this email. We received some great news this week, that our mission president gave us an extra hour to study spanish after lunch, I am sooo excited. I think that will really help. My comp and I have been talking and I really want to learn to teach and I have not had the opportunity to learn because my comps have always liked to talk. And so we are using companion study to practice lessons and teach with unity and it has been really good, she is trying to help me more and I really appreciate that. We have been really struggling to find people to teach we have like 2 investigadors and it has been really hard and we have been sad and so I read Alma 26 and shared it with her and it is an amazing chapter and gave us more hope and confidence that we will find people as we continue to pray, work, and obey. Also, this week we ran into "the creepy-anti american-freaky sounding-obviously mental stalker dude" as Stefi puts it again. He was waiting for us by the church but we were walking in the light and people were around, so he just yelled the usual things at us threats on our lives, how much he hates the USA and the mormons and all that. So we called the mission president and he said we can use that study hour in the night and so we come to our apt. one hour early to study and the ward is so helpful and supportive and we have had priesthood holders with us every night and they walk us home and so it is really great. And we have lessons with the members which is much better. Always a silver lining. I took your suggestion dad to have a "Christmas in July" and we are going to do it as a ward activity. We are really excited. We planned some of it in a missionary meeting we had yesterday. But if you guys have ideas, activities, suggestions, that would be great. We are having it the 24th of the July so like Christmas Eve. We hope it will turn out good, the ward does not have activities ever and they need to be more friendly and united so we are hoping this will help and they become more friendly with the new members also. Oh, our family, the family Vidarte that was baptized two weeks ago, the dad and son recieved the priesthood yesterday and that was so exciting. They are going to do baptisms in the temple saturday and Grasiella who was baptized about a month ago is going to, they are all so great. We feel like proud parents. haha. Or what we think proud parents feel like. haha. This week we are having zone conference, our first with our new president so that will be interesting. I will let you know how it goes. Well, thanks for everything. I love you all mucho and miss you a lot. Have a happy week.
con amor, Tiffani