DALAI LLAMAS YO

November 23, 2015 (last letter!!)

I don´t really have anything eloquent or profound to say.  Just that I am so grateful.  I am closer to the Lord than I have ever been.  I have experienced sweet sweet joy and long to always have it.  I love the people here so much.  I have so much more to give, and I am so excited to continue to serve and to be back with family and friends.  

I find myself without words... so I will just end now.  Love you all so much and see you soon.

Hermana Eleanor Briggs

This little thing is so cute! Her name is "sweetness"

Valeria

She is so shy and so sweet... just hugs me all day long. She is a contortionist in the circus!

Guillermina Aranda

November 16, 2015

I am so sorry for not having written these last past weeks!  It has been a strange few weeks to say the least.  Some funny things that have happened:

-There has been a measles outbreak here... and I went up and give a kiss to little girl that had measles (it´s normal here).  After that I found red spots all over me... and we thougth that I had measles.  But don´t worry!  Turns out that they were bites from the flea infestation that we have in our apartment!  Hahah we are fumigating soon.  Don´t worry... they really aren´t that bad.

We have been doing lots of divisions with hermanas from all over the mission. And this last week I got to go to Rosario and I was serving in the area that was right next to my last area.  And guess what?  I got to go to lunch with one of my best friends from my last area!  She called at night and invited us... and we didn´t have lunch and had permission to go.  It was one of the greatest things in the world... because when I left she and her daughter and her mom had just started going to church again.  And they are now going every sunday and are preparing to receive their endowments!  I learned that the family that was baptized in my last area is still going every sunday... and that Jesus received the priesthood and is passing the sacrament!  I learned that a couple we taught is going to be married and baptized this next week!  And that the single mother and her two daughters that we taught are all going to church in SKIRTS!  

I contemplated over all of these things... and I truly feel that I am the richest person in the world.  I am so happy and blessed... Heavenly Father is taking such good care of all of the people I love.  And I am seeing miracles in my area as well.  Guillermina is going to be baptized this Saturday!  Her mom started going to church again and is going to get married to her dad, Matias, in January (it is the soonest date that is available to get married here because every day is booked already).  I found myself crying three days staight... in the bus and as I gave massages to my companion (she has a hurt back) and as we studied.  It was actually funny... I laughed at myself while I did!  It is a feeling of peace and saddness and hope and excitement all at once.

These next weeks we won´t be able to work much because my companion has a hurt back caused from stress.  We went to the hospital today and she needs physical therapy for ten days and lots of rest.  I have been trying to look for things to do to keep me busy in the apartment... there are many things to do. Cards to write, things to clean, clothes to wash, scriptures and talks to read... but I will be honest it is hard for me to be inside so long.  I have such a strong desire to be out and serving... but I know that now I am called to serve inside and help my companion.  

My heart is just so full.  I can´t think of another way to describe this feeling.  In stake conference yesterday, the chorus sand "Army of Helaman."  And the words, "We will be the Lord´s missionaries to bring the world His truth," touched me so much... for the last time as a full-time missionary.  And I looked up at the stands where the leaders were sitting, and Presidente Zanni was looking at me and we smiled and cried together.  It was a sweet and hard moment.

I love you so much.  I am so grateful for Jesus Christ.  I know that He lives and that through Him I received the strength and grace and mercy I needed to be able to serve a mission and help others feel happiness that comes from living the gospel.  I know that our relationship with God is the most important thing in the world.  And that He has a perfect purifying plan for every one of us... and we can choose to follow or not.

I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost so much.  Love you all

Hermana Eleanor Briggs

November 9, 2015

Presidente has asked us to do divisions every week with some specific hermanas... and this last week I went to Ramallo Pueblo and I took a picture of this in the bus!  This week we will go to Rosario and also have other hermanas come here to do divisions... many many divisions!!

                                                            Our Bikes!

November 2, 2015 (1 month to go)

This week was a very good one.  I don´t have time to write a letter... but I am happy and well and my companion is awesome and things are moving forward in our area!   I am loving this time that I have to be with these amazing people.  

I sent pics :)

Thank you for all of your support and love and prayers.  I feel it

We have bikes!

Our area is really green and it's spring!!

October 26, 2015

I will be perfectly honest... this week was one of the hardest ones of my entire mission.  My companion is amazing... Hermana Cerna.  She is from Barcelona and is the only active member in her family.  Her dad isn´t a member... and she doesn´t really have support from her family. But when she bares her testimony... the spirit floods the room and touches everyone.  

My area is amazing!  We are teaching so many good people.  Honestly, we have been amazed.  Because we don´t feel that we deserve all of the blessings that we are receiving.  We have been going to lessons and leaving more and more spiritually elevated and we can´t quite figure out why we are being so blessed.  But the spirit is giving us the exact words to say to help these people.  One of my favorite experiences from this week is that we went to teach a 9-year-old recent convert that smoked marihuana with his friends, and his mom asked us to go and help him understand the word of wisdom.  This family has been less-active for a long time... but they are beginning to resolve things and start going to church again.  We prepared a lesson for him, but ended up talking with the mother for a long time and giving advice that we had no idea existed.  It was a unique experience! 

Another thing that happened is that we have been teaching many people who need to get married. One of them is named Geraldine.  And she is so sweet... is a mother of two and has so much light in her face!  She shared with us about how late at night she began to read "The Testimony of Joseph Smith" and was so touched by the experience that he had that she felt an angel had come to visit her... and she cried in her bed and the spirit testified to her that these things are true. When we finished the lesson, she prayed that she could have the bravery to admit to her father (that is antimormon) that she wants to be baptized.  It was such a sweet experience.

Heavenly Father loves me so much and has given me so many amazing things this last week... though I am just beginning to realize the reality of the "end of the mission."  It was a brutal moment... because I hadn´t thought much about it before.  And when it hit me, I was so comforted by my sweet companion.  And I knelt down many times and prayed for the comfort and strength that I needed... and God answered me in such direct ways.  What little faith I had!  Though it continues to  be hard, I am determined to give all that I have for as long as I have... and I know that there is more work after the mission as well.  And that God will continue sending people to help these many loved ones that I have here (as much as I would like to be here with them).

Love you so much!

Hermana Eleanor Briggs

October 19, 2015

Mi querida familia,

Wow this week was full of so many things.  Weddings, goobyes, baptisms, birthdays... not necesarily in that order.

First of all... we were so happy and busy planning the baptism and things, that I didn´t even think about how I was going to be leaving!  Until I was sitting behind a family of 8 in the church on Friday night... with three of them all ! dressed in white and shaking because they were so excited and nervous.  When they came out of the water... I felt the spirit so strongly.  I can honestly say that the best feeling in the world, is when the spirit tells you that Heavenly Father is grateful for your service.  It is the most motivating and gratifying and loving of feelings... I invite everyone to seek after these words.

I am now in Ameghino, Pergamino!  My first time being called to serve in Buenos Aires.  It is really pretty here... my companion is Hermana Cerna.  She was born in Trujillo, Peru but has lived her entire life in Barcelona, Spain.  She is super sweet and I am so excited because she is so loving with the people and we are going to be working a lot with the local leaders and we have investigators that are so great.  Today is her birthday!  Having just met her yesterday... I was trying to think of something I could do to help her have a good day. So I tried to make her pancakes this morning... and I ended up burning one because I was trying to flip it with a fork (I couldn´t find the spatula) and she ran in and was coughing from the smoke and I said, "feliz cumpleaños!"  Hahah it was really funny.

My last sunday was amazing.  The Aguirre kids were confirmed... and the entire family came to support.  The dad is leaving the drugs behind and they want to get married now.  I am so grateful for them... they are so amazing.  There were lots and lots of tears from everyone.

Love you all so much!

This is Sara... Johanna's little girl

Jesus, Delfina, and Atenas were baptized this last Friday and I have never been happier!!