Happy Easter!!! (a little late I know)

Hola mi familia y amigos,
¿Como andan? Muchas gracias for the emails Mom, Dad, Nikki, and Joseph. I´m glad all is well. Dad, I´ll keep you in my prayers. I hope you feel better. I´m glad you all enjoyed conference. It was fantastic. My conference experience was the best I´ve ever had. I went in with a question for help and guide for my life after the mission and every talk gave me like one piece of advice that I should remember when I get back. I´ve never had a conference talk to me like that before. It was great and I watched in English. And then to feel like it event talked to me more, President Monson closed with my absolute favorite scripture proverbs 3:5-6, that´s on my plack. And it´s basically, what you all tell me all the time, everything all works out. But it was very comforting and very amazing. Also, this past week we prepared Pamela to be baptized and she was baptized friday. A lot of poeple didn´t come because it was a holiday week, so I gave the talk and played the piano. And my comp did the musical number, but it was so great in the end. She even teared up. Which is interesting because she´s so heavily on depression pills that she can´t show emotion, but she did and she was so happy. And then she came to every single session of conference which is a lot better the most of the members. I was so happy for her. She has a lot faith. It was an interesting experience this week, because in the baptism interview preparation we had with her she confessed something and we had to call president but he cleared it up and all was well. Phew... Then on thursday which was April fool´s day, I had my best april fool´s day ever!!! In morning we decided to play a joke on the elders who live 2 blocks away. So my comp called in a panick voice and said that I fell down the stairs and wasn´t moving, and then we put a sign on the door saying april fool´s day and ran across the street to watch. Well, if it was real, I think I would have died they took so long. But they finally came kind of half dressed. And then they knock on the door and find the sign, it was so funny. They rolled their eyes at us, but we laughed about it all day. And then to top it off. They tell us that Pamela is at the church waiting for her interview, and we´re like you all are liars. But it turns out she was at the church waiting for the interview, and misunderstood 8 in the night for 8 in the morning. But fortunately the elder told us he´d do the interview and all went well. It was a blessing we found her because she doesn´t have a phone, and the guy to pick her up at night bailed that night, so it was a blessing in disguise. I think Heavenly Father has a sense of humor also. :) It was a funny experience. Well, that´s about what happened this past week. It was a great week. I have a great comp. I hope you all have a great week as well. I love you all. I´ve attached pictures of the bull here and of us and the baptism. Fun stuff.
con amor, Tiffani

Happy 18 months in the mission April 1st!!!!!! CRAZY!! (from March 29)

Hola mi querida familia y amigos,
Como andan? Muchas gracias for your emails Mom, Dad, Nikki, and Kim!! And a thank you to Hna Vera!!! I´m really glad all is well!! I´m super excited for conference and it´ll be fun that we´ll watch it at the exact same time!!! Have fun at priesthood Dad and Joseph. This week has been good. I have a great companion and we´re very united and so we share everything and so it was her turn to be sick this week. She was sick for 4 days and so we were in the house that time. I was bored out of my mind, but I have a good comp and she´s fun to be with even sick. I really know my apartment here in Paso a lot. It´s really good that I´m staying an extra three weeks just to make up for the week of my toe, the week of the flu and the flu of my comp.
But she´s better now and so we can work. We had a miracle these past 2 weeks this really great investigador we have Pamela, she´s 27. she´s came to church and we´re having a baptism for her friday the day before the conference. She´s really excited. And so are we. She´s really medicated on depression pills and so she has a glazed look on her face all the time, but she understands everything and is reading book of mormon and loving the church. And I´ve seen more emotion on her face now that she´s participating in the church. It´s amazing her family is against this but she´s set on
going and the ward the sisters are really befriending her. I´m so excited for her. So please pray for her. I also this week had zone conference well a tri zone conference. My very last zone conference ever. It was really a wierd feeling. All the missionaries that go home give there testimonies in front of everyone. I only cried a little bit. :) But I received great news, the family gonzalez that we taught in progresso is progressing well and they are getting baptized in May. I´m so stoked. This last conference was really good. The president talked a lot about the book of mormon and the power in this book and he gave us all a new copy of the book of mormon in spanish and told us to read it before the next conference. And do what we ask investigadors to do and pray to know the truth of the book. And mark all the
parts that mention the savior and the words he says. So I decided because I only have to month left to finish it in a month. That´s 23 pages a day, in spanish and it´s pretty intense. But I´ve been doing it and it´s amazing EVERY page mentions the Savior or God, every page. It´s so neat, I can´t get a ton out of it because I´m a lot slower reader in spanish but I´m learning and my testimony is growing. And I´m excited to read the book of mormon my last month of the mission. It´s like a cherry on top of the mission. We also this week, went to my first quince party. This recent convert had her 15th birthday party and it´s huge the number 15 so we went and watched and ate.
It was really fun. I love this family, Flia Ferdandez and am excited for you to meet them. They treat us so well and they would do anything for the church for the Savior. But this is what happened this week. I´m excited to work this week. We´re healthy now and we´ll be careful. :) I hope you all have a great week!!! Enjoy conference!!! I love you all MUCHO!!
con amor, Tiffani

100 Countacts (from March 22)

Hola mi famlia y mi amigos,
Como andan? Muchas Gracias for the emails, Mom, Dad, Nikki, Joseph, and Kim. I´m glad things are going well. I´m glad you had a great trip to Alaska dad and a great trip phoenix all of you. Mom, tell that crazy stalker dude that if he doesn´t stop he´s going to have a angry returned missionary come and give him a piece of my mind and a lesson on the eternal families. Say hi to grandma for me dad, and tell her I love her. Well, this past week has been quite interesting. I got really sick this past week. Go figure...my body is almost done... It´s like that scripture the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Yeah, my flesh is dying. haha. I got the flu, stomach flu, and fever and we were out from work for 4 days. It was super boring as always, but I have a good comp and she did a great job at entertaining. We had fun,
even though I felt awful. But we have such a good ward and this elderly couple that´s like our grandparents called and visited us everyday to make sure we had everything. And then they did our laundry. SOO kind. I told them I would visit there daughter when I get back she lives in ogden and she´s a less active returned missionary. So they are excited about that. And it will be fun to see connections when I get back. But now I´m better and working.
The subject is "100 contacts" because during this illness of mine, my doofy zone leader was telling my district leader to excite us to work and to push and I´m like, you are such a dork, I have a fever and my body hurts so bad.
This past week the president really wanted the whole mission to do there 140 contacts for the week. And it´s saturday and we´re like well that´s to bad we have 13. But we just kind of thought that we could try. So on saturday we did 100 contacts. It was NUTS!! I was so exhausted and sore after. But by sunday we did 140. And they were real contacts not just throwing brochures at people, but we really talked to 100 people or groups of people. CRAZY! We celebrated with pizza and ice cream. It was well deserved. But also, this week we have a baptismal date with a great investigador, Pamela. She´s a great person. She´s like 27 and she´s heavily medicated on depression pills.
It´s really sad. But she understands the church and the things we´re teaching and she loves it. We went to go get her Sunday and she already left for the church because we were a little late. And it was rainy. We were excited. She´s scheduled to be baptized the day before general conference.
So if you´d like, you can all pray for her, her family is really against it. I really am enjoying my personal study and more my companion study now that I have a new comp. But I just love how much I´m learning and how much the scriptures talk to me. It´s so interesting. I was reading in the book of omni and jarom and I was like what is the point of this book, it´s like 5 authors and they write like a verse each. But then I thought that´s kind of sad actually, most people don`t say how much they love the book of omni or how it´s been a answer to their questions. But when reading the authors are like well I´m doing this because it´s a commandment and here´s my part. But I was like there calling was to write in the book of mormon a record that would be read for ever and they just half heartily did there callings, and there writings are a testimony of that. I was like how important to always
magnify our callings, who knows what things they could have written to help us now or there children. And I´ve seen that here, how important it is to do our callings and the magnfiy them so we can help others. So that´s what I learned the past couple of days. I´m going to miss miss miss this fixed personal study every day. And I know I have to fight with a lot of other thigns to keep my personal study after the mission. But I plan to. Thanks so much for everything. I love you all much!!!
con amor, Tiffani

Helaman 3:35

Hola mi famlia y mi amigos,
Muchas muchas gracias for the emails Mom, Dad, Nikki, and Kim. I´m so jealous dad, those pictures are gorgeous, ENJOY! I also am so happy for my little stud brother. Good luck! And enjoy the warm Phoenix everyone. Tell grandma happy birthday for me. It is getting colder here, it´s starting fall. It´s really nice, I´m really enjoying that part. I can´t believe how the time is flying. Time is so warped on the mission some days are really long and then you look back and I can´t believe how much time has passed. My companion is great. Her family lives in Salem and her little step sister goes to Salem Hills High. She wants to work hard and wants to be obedient it´s a breath of fresh air, last change we had some disagreements on obedience. It´s really great, and she´s a friend. Today we´re in montevideo because she has immigration stuff, so I got to see my old pal Hna Yeates. She´s just a wonderful friend. Hna Farnsworth is with her now, so ít´s funny we´re both here at the same time with comps that were comps in the CCM. This past week has been a little crazy, our baptisms fell through they hid from us on the day of the interview, I was really sad. First time that happenend to me. We also had a talent show the same night so the peope had something to do at the church and me and my comp sang and I played the guitar. It was fun. Then on sunday I had to give a talk, I was nervous as always, but Heavenly Father helped me, it was how the gospel is a guide for our lives and they asked me use preach my gospel. I love that book. I talked about the Family Vidarte and there change and how the gospel guided them to baptism. It was good. I hear the family vidarte is still struggling but I´m excited to see them. We also had two miracle investigadors in the church we just invited them in a street contact and they came because our ward mission leader picked them up. It was a miracle. I hope they progress, I know I´m here 6 weeks longer to have more sucess. Oh quick note my toe is practically perfect, a little infected but good still. My email is still a little crazy so just send the emails to my old account, this account and my comps account until I let you know what´s up. So I put this scripture as my subject because we read this week in comp study and then when I talked to Hna Yeates about the end this scripture really hit me because it talks about the purification of souls and heart because of much fasting and prayer and yielding your heart to God. In the first of my mission Hna Ashby talked about how a mission is a fast from the world and I´ve come to see that through this fast and this refiner´s fire of a mission, I´ve learned so much and how this has been an incredible sanctification for me, I feel like Heavenly Father has helped become more like he wants me to be, I still have a long way to go but it´s been amazing. You should all read this scripture. This is kind of fast explanation but it really touched me this week this scripture. I sure love being a missionary. Thanks for your love and your emails and your PATIENCE!! I LOVE YOU!!!
con amor, Tiffani

My last change...

Hola mi familia y mi amigos,
Thanks so much for the emails Mom, Dad, and Kim. I´m glad all is well. Thanks for the well wishes. My toe is getting better which is a huge blessing. I´m still walking with one flip flop and a normal shoe. It just hurts when I bump it or if I try to wear a normal shoe. But it´s getting better. Huge blessing. I just found out who my new comp is Hna Thompson from Las Vegas. She came with Hna Farnsworth. I hope we have a great change. We had some really good charlas this past week. I started working wednesday, Hermana Rojas left wednesday morning (the substitute while I was in bed rest) and I was really sad we became friends really fast. She said we can visit her when you all come. I was like I can´t sit in the house or the house of someone else anymore. So I went to work with my flip flop. But we found some investigadors which is a great blessing and we have a baptism scheduled for this friday. We´re praying really hard for this because they filled up the font 2 times before, but hopefully she´ll go through with it this friday. I´m excited. Her name is Carmen and all her family are members but inactive and so she can help them come back. Her son Anthony is getting baptized too. We also have a talent show this friday after the baptism and so I´ve been practicing the guitar. It´ll be fun. Sorry I didn´t send any pictures, next week. But this email is going to be a little short because we´re at the bus station and we´re going to catch a bus to paso de los torros. I´m so glad I´m finishing there. I love you all so much. Thanks for your love and support and emails. Have a great week.
con amor, Tiffani

Hola from the Hermana gimp in Uruguay :)

Hola mi famlia y mi amigos,
Como andan? Thanks so much for the emails Dad, Mom, Nikki, and Joseph!!! What´s up Stefi??? Congrats on a good basketball season jose vaughn. I´m glad life is well for you all and you are all happy and busy! Next week is changes, so pday will be tuesday as a heads up and I´ll have my last companion. I hope I finish here in Paso de los Toros. Well, this week has been very interesting, very interesting. We had a baptism Saturday of Paola, she´s 14. it was so great, she was so excited. It was a fight in the beginning to get her to listen and commit, but she watched the Testaments after the baptism of her family and it just changed her outlook and touched her heart and then she started listening and finally saturday was baptized. It was monumental for her and for other recent converts Miria who was baptized last week and Sebastian who was baptized 3 weeks ago, because we asked them to say the prayers and so it was there first prayers in public. It´s so neat to the progression. But I´ve included some pictures of the baptisms. The other big news this week is that I was operated on...my toe. You all know it´s been hurting and infected and the doctors wouldn´t do anything about it because I´m a out of towner. And so finally some doctor said come on tuesday because you need to see a surgeon. And so we went on tuesday hoping someone would help us because they just like the red tape. But there was a member, her name was ana there for a check up and she ended up helping us and talking to the nurses to get me a appointment with the surgeon. She´s was a answer to prayers. And so the surgeon saw me and said well we need to operate. And he said we´ll do it today. But he didn´t get my records or anything no one did which was a miracle because if they did I would have to pay a bunch. But they didn´t and he just said follow me and so we went to wait for the surgery upstairs, (this hospital looks like it´s from the early 1900s and from england, it´s crazy) But then we waited in line to be operated on for 3 hours. They do things very different, but then they called me into the room and the doctor looks like he´s ready to heart surgery with a nurse and we´re in a room about he size of a bathroom and sitting on a little bench side by side. Then he said put your leg up in my lap and so I turned a little bit and I had to support my leg with my arms while he gave me a PAINFUL shot and started digging in and then put stitches in. Oh it hurt. All while my leg was in his lap, it was so strange. And I was supporting my self. Talk about an interesting experience. They were really nice though and we talked about the church while they were operating. I couldn´t watch there was a a lot of blood. But then they bandaged me up and gave me pain killers but not a antibiotic. So I called Hna Da silva and she made call the mission doctor and say what happened and he told me that I could go to work that same day. I was like ummm it really hurts. And hna da silva was like no you need to rest one day at least. And the elders gave me a blessing. But then my toe got really swollen and infected because I didn´t have antibiotic and it felt like a knife was in my toe and so we went back to the doctor thursday and he gave me pills. It´s been painful. So this past week I´ve been in my bed with my toe in the air trying to get rid of the infection. It feels better and is getting better, fortunately but I haven´t done much. The president sent a corto plazo which is a member to work with hna bangas saturday until I feel better. Tomorrow they are getting rid of the stiches. I don´t know when I go back to work, I hope soon, I´m so bored. But the corto plazo Lucy Rojos is really nice and is preparing ot go on a mission. But there is this really nice couple has been taking care of me and watching me while my comp´s been working. It´s been really nice. Here´s some lovely photos of my experience this past week :) I know you´re all grateful for this. Heavenly Father always sends me grandparents when it get rough :). And I know he´s always looking out after me. And this was a big blessing to get it taken care of now. The members have been so nice and great. But that´s what happened this week. Talk to you next tuesday. I love you all mucho!!! Have a great week!!!
con amor, Tiffani

Happy Birthday Kim!!

Hola mi familia y mi amigos,
¿Como andan? Thanks so much for the emails Dad, Mom, Nikki, Kim, Los Crums, and Naomi!!!! I really appreciate them. Congrats Jose Vaughn on being accepted to BYU, that´s awesome!!! Feliz Cumpleaños Kim!! What a great way to celebrate a cruise!!
This new email website is www.new.myldsmail.net, and I have the same password as before not the new one I changed it. So you can check now, if you couldn´t find it. I have a quick favor, could you email me the address of Grandpa in Nicuragua all of it and city. Because the missionary that baptized my companion Hna Banegas and her family is the bishop in Nicuragua and I think it´s the same city that Grandpa lives in. If you could give me the address, I could write him to go visit grandpa and invite him to church or whatever. It would be great. A update on my toe...It´s pretty fat and infected and I´ve seen a bunch of doctors, some nice and some not so nice. But they couldn´t do anything because the church´s insurance is in montevideo. I got a blessing last week. but this week I called Hna Da Silva and she said to soak it everynight and take some medicine. I am going to a surgeon, and I think they are going to remove the nail. But I´m going to wait till next week because we have another baptism of the daughter of the family we baptized a few weeks ago, but she didn´t want to and now she does, she´s really great. So I´ll take the antibiotic and pain killers and soak it and then we´ll see next week. But I´m really excited for this girl Paola that will be baptized this next. The baptism this past week was so nice. Miria the woman that got baptized didn´t have any support from her family she is a widow and has eight kids. But she was so excited and the ward just welcomed her so much. It was a great testimony to me of the importance of friends and support in the church for these new members. There are photos. We are being so blessed, it´s amazing how despite our difficultadies the work is going forward. I also had an interview with President Da Silva and it really helped me. It was a great feeling of peace. It´s still hard, but it´s better. I attached photos of the baptisms and of the skies. I´ve never seen such beautiful skies, than in Uruguay. Well, thanks so much for everything and for your love and patience. Have a great week!! I love you all Mucho!!!!
con amor, Tiffani