Ilumina al mundo!!!

¡Hola my family and friends! Como le van? I hope you all had a LOVELY Thanksgiving :) I cannot believe it's already DECEMBER!!! Haha It definitely doesn't feel like it at times here with the heat, but I've had hot Christmases before in Texas. Sunday was my cumplimes!! Entonces I've been a missionary por 2 meses!! CRAZY!! Only 16 mas meses to go...no big deal haha!!

This week was good...but honestly had a lot of ups and downs for me and my companion. One thing I'm learning as a missionary though is just to take what comes and try to make the best of it! :) Here in Mosconi it is easy to find people to teach and contact, but hard to get them to actually progress and take action - like go to church. This week we set a lot of baptismal dates with AWESOME people, but in order for our people to be able to get baptized, they HAVE to come to church twice. So it's REALLY important they come and makes me sad when they commit to coming and then don't. Pero esta bien there is always the proximo Domingo! Something Hna Folau and I always remind ourselves is that while it is our job to teach and invite people to make commitments and come unto Christ, it is still up to them how they will use their agency. 

Haha funny story - this week we were contacting and getting a little discouraged because a lot of the people were saying no and then I saw an old lady outside her house and decided to contact her! She looked about 80 or something and so I had to scream "Hola!" in order for her to hear me. She came out from the side of her garden and looked confused. My companion later told me that she was in the middle of praying and worshipping the virgin Mary in her garden. The virgin Mary is very important to Catholics so a lot of them have little shrines and statues of Mary in their front yard that they worship. Sooo yeah it was a little awkward trying to invite her to church after I realized I had interrupted her prayer. Haha but that's how contacting goes sometimes lol. My trainer always says she can't believe how little fear I have with talking to people considering how new I am. But now I think I might need to have a little fear or at least be more careful when choosing the people we contact haha

On Wednesday Hna Folau and I discovered this lady that sells medialunas and they are my NEW FAVORITE FOOD here!! Medialunas are basically just sweet bread with this yummy glaze on top. But when we buy them fresh and homemade from this lady it literally tastes like krispy kreme. Haha we may not have peanut butter in Mosconi but at least we have medialunas :) Another one of my favorite things here is EMPANADAS!! My first pday here we made empanadas from scratch with the help of a latina hemana and they were the best. Speaking of food, everyday we pretty much get fed lunch by a member family - which is such a blessing because the people here are so so poor. The members willingly feed us lunch every week (we eat with the same family every Friday, Saturday, Sunday etc.) and it is one of the highlights of my days. Lunch is also a big deal here so literally everyone comes home from work and school to eat lunch with their family. Then after they take a loooonnggg siesta from 2-6 pm. This took some getting used to because on my first pday I was confused on why all the stores in Tartagal were closed down all afternoon??? So yeah - they take their siestas pretty seriously.

One day this week we had a lesson with this sweet old lady named Pastora. She is a lady who we have been teaching for a while but grew up Catholic so it has been hard getting her to commit to baptism. During our visit we asked her to say the closing prayer and her prayer was so pure and sweet it overwhelmed me and my companion with the spirit, nearly bringing us all to tears. I could feel the love God has for her so strongly during this lesson even though I have only just met her. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father and knows and loves each and every one of us individually. Getting to feel the love God has for the people of Mosconi is such a privilege and blessing!!

The highlight of my week was conferencia de zona!! Sunday was stake conference for our branch so Presidente Orquera came here and spoke there and then after we had interviews. Then yesterday we had a conference with our zone (Tartagal) and another zone. It was cool to not only to get to meet other missionaries in the mission but especially to also receive counsel and direction from Presidente. This zone conference also got me in the spirit of Christmas!! I am so stoked to get to ilumina al mundo uno por uno aca en Mosconi! I love my Savior - He is the reason I am on a mission and the reason I will stay when things get hard. I hope you all take the challenge to light the world this month and participate in the celebration of the birth of our beloved Savior :)) 

Anyways I hope you all have a wonderful week!! Love and miss you guys!! And for anyone wondering ... sadly I don't have an individual address you can send packages too, but if you send it to the mission home Ill get it!!
The address of the mission is:
Los Eucaliptus 75
4400 Salta
Salta
Argentina  
Love and miss you all!! Gracias por sus amor y apoyo!! La iglesia es verdadera!! Chau! 
Con amor,
Hermana Tate

Pics!! - some pics of my zone and conference and a medialuna and me and my companion!! 












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