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!!

October 12, 2015

Today we have a ward activity... a pollo asado and people are dancing folklore!  So my time is short... but I have had a very great and challenging week.

We are so busy and it is so great... I love it!  At times I feel overwhelmed and that we can´t take care of all of these people, but then two things come to my mind:

-A person is never a burden!

-Never complain about an oportunity to serve

It happened in sacrament meeting when we had 18 investigators in church!  We were so blessed... and I just about lost it trying to talk to everyone... I definitely should have slowed down a little bit more and enjoyed it.  For 15 of them it was their first time at church... and it is so important to help them to have a good and spiritual and uplifting experience... and I am so grateful for the help of the members.

This week we are going to have a baptism here!  Jesus, Delfina, and Atenas are going to be baptized on Friday at 7:00 pm.  They are so excited and prepared!  Their parents were going to get married and baptized on the same day... but they returned to old bad habits that they had, and are now separated.  But the kids continue going to church alone.  Both of Jesus´s parents died and he lives with his sister,  Delfina and Atenas are sisters and are technically the neices of Jesus.  It was so amazing when we taught them about repentance... and Delfina said, "If I do something wrong, the spirit leaves me.  Until I repent and make it right... then it comes back to guide me."  Such inspiring and strong words from a 10-year-old!  

We had to be extra careful and make sure that they are ready to be baptized... seeing as their parents won´t be for now.  But it was so amazing as we talked to them about baptism... the spirit touched us so strongly and told all of us that now is the time that God wants them to be baptized.  I am so grateful for the guidance fo the Holy Ghost and that we never have to guess and make surprise decisions.

We have transfers this next week!  I would love to stay and finish my mission here... but we will see what the Lord would have us do.  My companion and I are trying to work some things out between the two of us... but I am so grateful for her and her sense of humor.

Love you all so much!  

Hermana Eleanor Briggs (some people are watching me write, seeing as we are in the chapel in the activity and they are watching us.  Shout outs from Elizabeth, Joana, and Joaquin!)

October 5, 2015

Well I just stuck my memory card into the hard drive send pictures to you guys and long story short it is stuck in a little tiny hole and I can`t get it out... so we are trying to call someone and take it apart.  I am trying to not let it worry me... the fact that it has every picture of my whole mission on it (I have a thumb drive with most of the pictures, but not all of them).  Lets pray so that we can get it out okay!

We had a good week.  We are in the process of helping a couple get married and baptize their family... but it is hard because she smokes a lot and he has had many problems with Cocaine.  I´m not going to lie... it is hard to see them go through so many challenges, and to see the effects of addiction and poor choices made by parents.  The mother of the woman that needs to get married (we will call the woman Wendy and her mom Martha) had her when she was 12-years-old, and her dad was 18.  Martha died when she was 34-years-old from HIV, leaving behind 5 children.  We are teaching three of these children... and I have never seen a light so strongly as I have in some of them.  They YEARN to learn more about the gospel and do things right... they set their own goals and try to accomplish them.  We are constantly going by their home... trying to help them trust in the Lord and strengthen their relationship with Him.  I feel like a cheerleader... telling them not to give up every time that they fall down.  And they fall down A LOT.  They are hard changes that they are trying to make... last night we went over after the General Conference.  We were so filled with the spirit, and we sat down with them and had the children leave the room so that we could talk with the parents. It moment, I began to feel scared and that I couldn`t possibly speak with the authority and power that I needed... and I thought, "I wish that I had one of the apostles here to do this work."  And immediately another thought, not made by my own being, said, "You are called here to do this work."  I felt the strength come to me.. to the both of us.. and we trusted in the Lord and were given the words to say to help counsel a couple in things that neither of us have experienced before.  There were tears and hugs and shouting at times... but we kept ourselves close to the spirit and I have rarely seen a movement in the atmosphere such as I saw last night... as the spirit shifted everything and made us all aware that God has a plan far greater that our own.  And that the Atonement is can unbind us from any sickness or sin.  And that Godly love is stronger than that of any other being.

I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost.  It is what moves between and within all of us, allowing us to do the will of the Lord and be greater than we ever could be alone.  It testified to me that the Elders Redlung, Stevenson, and Rasband are truly called of God to do His work here on the Earth.  And that God expects us to love Him always and serve Him even when we are going through hard things.  I know that He lives and directs this church.

Love you all so much.  

Love, Hermana Eleanor Briggs

Zone Conference!

September 28, 2015

I am out of time, but I wanted you to know that this last week was amazing.  We have been working hard and Heavenly Father is blessing us so much.  Roberto and Joana and there whole family went to church on Sunday... they took up an entire bench and we handed out coloring paper and pencils to draw and stay still... and it was so amazing to see Roberto and Joana look so attently and listen to the speakers and the spirit.  In Relief Society they announced their marriage and that we will be having a little party here in the church... and Joana thanked everyone and began to cry.  She told about how she grew up in the street and begged for money and washed cars and was raised in an orphanage because she was abused by her family.  She didn`t go into much detail, but said, "When I didn`t want to exist anymore, and didn`t know if God existed, I came here And I feel so good here and I am so grateful. And now I have the energy and patience that I need to raise the children in my home and sit down and do homeowork with them, and keep working in the little store we have (kiosko)."  Easy to say there was not a dry eye there and the whole room was so moved... and I love the work of salvation with all my heart.

Love you so much... Hermana Eleanor Briggs

September 21, 2015

Just pictures this week! :)

Melani turned 8 years old! We are teaching her and her family. 

Flying a kite hahah (it's called a comet in Spanish)

My companion made me Arroz Chaufa...so yummy 

September 8, 2015

Hola familia!  I don`t have my card reader to send pictures today... but next week I will send a bunch.

We had transfers and I stayed in La Florida!! I am so grateful... I know that this is where I need to be.  We have a lot of work to do and I love being here with these amazing and humble people.  My new companion is Hermana Valencia from Lima, Peru!!  She is so cute and sweet and tiny... and is an amazing cook and missionary!  We will be sister training leaders together still... which I am still loving as well.  

This Sunday in one word would be MIRACULOUS.  I know that when we keep the commandments, defend what is right, and work hard.... the blessings come.  They really do.  Three months ago when Hermana Knapp and I arrived to this area together and didn`t know anyone or anything, we found this family... I wrote about them one time... the two boys are named Nico (14) and Jesus (12) and are living with their older sister because both of their parents died.  Well all of them and their little sisters have been begging us to baptize them... though the parents didn`t want anything to do with us.  But Saturday night, right before transfers, we passed by the house and talked with the mom.  And she said, "Yes you can baptize my children." 

"We aren`t going to do anything unless you come to church... because you at least need to know what it is that your children and brothers are doing," the words just came out.

Sunday morning we went by the house... and thye were all ready to go!  They were all brushing their hair and putting their tennis shoes on!  The sun was out and it was so beautiful as we walked to church together.  And when we got their, and Joana (the mom) walked in, she said, "Wow their is a lot of peace in here."  

We sat down in the sacrament room and the members were so sweet and said hi to them.  When the time came for the testimony meeting... a little boy that is 10 -years-old named Jeremìas went up.  He is deaf and severely handicapped... and he went up and tried his best to speak.  And the spirit flooded the room... touching every one of us.  We could see that he had so much to say... he knows so much... and the spirit testified of the little noises that he was able to make with his mouth.  When he finished, his little brother (8-years-old) went up and said, "Amen," to close his brothers testimony.  I looked at Joana and she was crying (along with everyone else in the room).  And Delfina, the little investigator that is 10-years-old, leaned over to me and said, "Can I go up there?"  I told her she could but I asked her what it was that she wanted to say... and gave her a few ideas of how to share her testimony.

She walked right up there, and through her tears, said, "I am grateful that my mom is here and for the missionaries that brought us here.  Because the truth is... I feel really good and I am so happy. Amen."

It was so amazing... needless to say one of the greatest moments ever.  We talked to Joana after the meeting and asked why her brother Nico didn`t come, and she said, "He was embarrassed because he doesn`t have shoes."  All this time we thought that he was avoiding us because he felt pressured... but it was because he has been embarrassed about not having shoes.

I am so grateful for prayer... I know that the prayers of the children are strongest.  And that God heard the prayers of the little kids in this family... and sent us to teach them the way back to Him.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

August 31, 2015

This week was amazing... and Sunday was one of the best weeks of my life.

So we had a Stake Conference with a live satelite feed where Elder Cook and Elder Hales were speaking to the area.  And I am in the Rosario North Stake... which is where three of my areas are.  Here.... I will give you a visual.

Capitan Bermudez________________La Florida________Alberdi__________________mission home

The line is the main street that takes you all the way to downtown... and it is a straight shot to my three areas.  So I went to the conference... and EVERYONE was there!!  Investigators and converts and members... it was so beautiful.  I got to hug so many people that I haven`t seen in so long.  Lots of tears.  Daniela Carballo and her family sat next to me! It was so amazing.  This is the family that I met in Capitan Bermudez in the beginning of my mission.  They had been inactive for a long time... and at the end of my time there they began to attend the meetings.  Her husband is now Ward Mission Leader, and Daniela is in the Relief Society Presidency, and her son is going to be baptized this week, and her other son is going on a mission!!

It is an unspeakable and indescribable type of joy.  Heavenly Father allowed me to see some of the fruits of things that have happened... and they were much greater than I could ever have imagined.  Also, one of our investigators came IN A SUIT!!  He got all dressed up and went with his wife... who is our Relief Society President!  His name is Julian, and last week we had a Family Home Evening with him and Presidente and Hermana Zanni.  It was so amazing... the spirit was so strong.  Julian has received his witness many times that he needs to be baptized... for ten years he has known and spoken with the missionaries.  He has repeatedly told us that he wants to be baptized, but says that not right now.  Some of the most powerful lessons I have ever had have been with him and his amazing wife, Mariana.  She works so hard to help all of the hermanas as relief society president!  Last week we spoke to her and she told us of her saddness that she feels when she goes home and knows that she won`t be able to be with her family forever... it was one of the most heart-wrenching but empowering conversations I`ve ever had.  

We taught about "Why we need the Atonement" and shared personal experiences and read John 3:16. President and Julian talked for a while, and I held Mariana`s hand because she was so nervous for what was going to happen.  At he end, he didn`t pick a date to be baptized... but he is praying for one.  I know he will be a leader in the church one day... he is so hard-working and sensitive to the spirit... we are just waiting for the day that he calls us up!  Mean time, we will keep on teaching him and his sweet family.  The spirit tells us to keep going with them.

I am so grateful for these experiences.  I wish I could express the love and joy and hope and faith that I have felt... but I can`t.  Maybe some of the pictures can show it!  I think everyone has experienced little things like this... glimpses of what is to come in the Celestial Kingdom if we endure to the end and help others along the way.

Love, Hermana Eleanor Briggs