Hola! Hermana Johnson and I are working so hard, trying to find satisfaction with our efforts and joy in the work. We know we´re capable of a lot more, but haven´t been able to quite figure out how to accomplish it. We feel like we´re getting close though. Satan has been working on us especially hard this week. Hermana Johnson told me that she feels we´re on the verge of a breakthrough and he knows it. He doesn´t want us to figure it out because he knows he´ll be losing not just us, but so many more people that we´ll have the opportunity to teach and help experience true conversion. Hermana Reales sent me an email today saying that Rubén will be receiving his endowment soon. It makes me so happy! Now that I´m in Padua I´ve had the opportunity to see him a few times since we´re so close to Libertad. Hermana Reales will be coming to Buenos Aires to be there when he goes through the temple. She asked President Carter for permission for me. We´ll see what he says. We´ve hit a bit of a roadblock here as far as our investigators go. We´re having to drop a lot of them because they´re not progressing or we can´t ever get a hold of them. We have a lot of work to do in finding new people to teach and baptize. Preach My Gospel talks about how nothing happens in missionary work until you have someone to teach. It´s kind of obvious, but so true. We could spend all day knocking on doors and contacting in the street, but until we start teaching, we can´t fulfill our purpose as missionaries. We need to trust in God that He´ll guide us with the Spirit to those who are ready to receive the gospel. It´s possible that we´ll have to go through all those who aren´t ready yet to find them, but the important thing is to keep looking. I´ve really tried this week to listen to the Spirit and follow what He tells me I should do or say. I´m realizing how subtle and almost imperceptible His voice is. I´ve been straining myself to listen and the times when I´ve acted as a result have brought forth fruit. I know that as I work on listening for and recognizing the whisperings of the Spirit I´ll be able to recognize them more quickly and easily. When President Eyring came here for the temple dedication he spoke to the three Buenos Aires missions. He talked about what it´s like to assign missionaries to their missions and how faint the promptings are. He said he was sitting there with another one of the apostles and he did it a few times. He said he would see the photo of the future missionary and some basic information, then he´d look at a map of the world. One part would look just slightly brighter than the rest. He´d asked to see the countries in that part of the world and then one would look just slightly brighter than the rest. Then he´d ask for a list of the missions in that area and receive another very faint impression. He then looked at the other and said, "We´re talking about the lives of thousands of people here. Is this all I´m going to get?" It made me think, "if that´s all an apostle gets, what can I expect?" The voice of the Spirit really is a still, small voice. He will never yell or shout. He looks for those who are willing and ready to listen, gives them just enough information to move forward, and waits for them to seek guidance once again. I´m learning more and more every day how important it is to have the Spirit with us in what we do. It really doesn´t matter how much talent or knowledge we have. If we don´t have the Spirit, we will never have true success. The picture is of downtown Buenos Aires. It’s nothing but rain here right now. I’ve got to go. I love you and hope you have a wonderful week. Love, Erin

I learned a lot this week. As missionaries, we´re responsible for helping our investigators progress spiritually. I realized that I really don´t know what these people need. Only God knows that and the only way I´m going to really help these people is look for His guidance and trust the inspiration I receive. I need to focus all my efforts on them and what they need. I guess that´s what it means to lose yourself in the work. That´s also where the most joy comes from. We had to go to Capital Federal (downtown Buenos Aires) this morning to renew my visa now that I´ve been here almost a year. While we were there in the migration offices we met a girl from Virginia who is here studying. She´s studying the Bible to become a missionary. We talked a little about how rewarding it is to serve God and about why each of us decided to be missionaries. It was wonderful to see the faith she has and the desire she has to serve God and share the Gospel. Hermana Johnson asked her if she had ever had the chance to read the Book of Mormon. She said she hadn´t, and that all the truth God wants us to know can be found in the Bible, how there is no need to have any other book, that God made us with the capacity to understand and live what the Bible teaches. Hermana Johnson had brought her little quad and was reading out of it when we met this girl. She shared a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon as well as the Bible and even offered to give the girl her personal scriptures if she would read the Book of Mormon and put it to the test. The girl declined, reassuring us that the Bible contained everything she needed to know and told us she would be praying for us. We left and Hermana Johnson asked me if she had done enough in inviting and testifying. I reassured her that she had, but I just felt sad inside. I´m used to having my religion and beliefs rejected in Spanish, but it´s a lot harder to just let it roll off and move on when it happens in my own language. Somehow I felt it more. I love the Book of Mormon. I know it is true. I love the Bible, also. It is true. I am so grateful to have two books of scripture that testify of Christ, help me understand God´s plan for His children, and apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life. I know God calls prophets to guide us and that the Priesthood authority of God has been restored to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know because I have asked God and He has answered my prayer. I hope that girl will continue to have faith in God and I pray that someday she´ll be able to feel the joy that comes from knowing and living the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was thinking about what you said about your Young Women’s goal for baptisms in 2013. As missionaries, we wouldn´t function without our goals of key indicators. For so long in my mission I have felt what many feel, that putting a number down makes it so impersonal and that we end up working for the numbers and not for the people. Sometime I still struggle with this. But it´s important to remember that there are names behind every number. Every month we set a goal of baptisms, and we write down a number. We think about all of our possibilities and pray about how many we can baptize. Sometimes the number we feel like we should set is more than the number of people we have on our list of possibilities, but we need to remember that when God guides our goal setting, He always has a name behind the number. He has all of His sheep counted. We just have to do our part in finding them and helping them progress in learning and applying the gospel and towards making covenants with God. Preach My Gospel says that our goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our dedication to serving God. I know you can see 3 girls baptized as a Young Women´s organization in 2013. You have the desires and the testimonies. I am so proud of the youth in the New Mark ward. They inspire me. You have no idea how often I think of them and their examples to me. I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week. God bless. Love, Erin

We started a new transfer this last week and I get to be with Hermana Johnson for at least six more weeks. I´m glad because I still have so much I want to learn from her and we have so much we want to become and accomplish together. We´ve really been struggling with completing all of our responsibilities. We feel like each week we get better at one, but then leave all the rest to the side and can´t figure out how to combine everything we´ve learned and apply it. We want to feel like we have more control over what we do and not just let the mission happen to us. We want to find the balance between being well prepared and following the Spirit step by step as we´re teaching and contacting. We want to really be able to discern the needs of those we teach and help them apply the restored gospel to have a lasting conversion. We feel like we´re slightly missing the mark with a lot of things and don´t know how to get on the right track. Any ideas? It´s getting hotter here every day. I can´t imagine what it will be like in January if it´s already this hot. I´m trying to drink a lot of water, but it´s a pain to have to carry around our water bottles with the filter in them (since we can´t drink the water here). I figure health should probably take precedence over convenience or comfort. I´ve already gotten sunburned a couple times so I´m already using sunscreen every day. I´ve started developing some pretty awesome missionary "tan lines" on my feet. My feet and my neck seem to be the only things gaining any color. Haha. This week I want to just go for it. I´m realizing more and more that I won´t be happy or successful as a missionary if I only give what I think I can or what I feel like giving. I promised to give my all when I sent in my papers and I do the same every day when I put on my nametag. We never get used to the water one toe at a time and never learn to swim if we keep our heads above the water. Something Hermana Johnson is teaching me is how to turn our moments of discouragement or fear into springboards into success. This week it´s my goal to make every temptation to not work hard or be bold as a springboard. Every time I feel fear to talk to the people, I´ll contact someone, and if there isn´t anyone outside I´ll knock on a door. Every time I feel discouraged or like I can´t do what I´ve been called to do, I´ll think of a hymn or scripture I have memorized. Every time I feel afraid to invite someone to be baptized because I´m afraid of them saying no or I don´t know what to say, I´ll just do it. I will not "voluntarily bind my tongue" anymore. I want to be the type of person who acts, who faces her fears, and changes weaknesses into strengths through faith in Jesus Christ. My mission is the time to become what I want to be in the future and I will become that as I learn to consistently be it every day. I´m loving my reading in the Book of Mormon. I´ve been reading about the missions of Alma and the sons of Mosiah. I don´t think I´ve ever enjoyed reading Alma so much. I´m learning so much about being a missionary and teaching from them and their experiences. There´s definitely a reason why they had so much success as missionaries. I hope to be a little more like them and develop the type of faith they had. I love you all! Love, Erin

We had another interesting and kind of difficult week. I´m recognizing more and more what my responsibilities as a missionary are. We´re the only two people in our entire area authorized to teach the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the only two with the authority to invite people to come unto Christ through baptism. It´s a big responsibility! But I need to remember that we´re not left to do it all without help, in fact, if we try to do it without relying on the Lord, we´ll never be truly successful. I´ve thought a lot about what Hermana Johnson has taught me about forming habits in the mission. I thought a lot about it yesterday during Elder Holland´s talk. So many missionaries have the fear that after the mission they´ll come home go back to being the same person, doing the same things, and letting the same bad habits rule their lives. I completed 13 months in the mission yesterday and I realized how much the next few months are going to count and make a difference in the person I decide to be after my mission. I´ll still be me, but if I´ve done my best, I´ll be a better, more refined me. I want to be able to take what I know home with me and I know I will be a better member of the Church as a result of my missionary service. I will be more faithful and committed to magnifying my calling as a visiting teacher, participating in missionary work, serving and actively loving others. I will be a better wife and mother as a result of what I´ve learned about sharing responsibility and communicating in companionships, and teaching gospel principles and how to live them. I can´t imagine what my life would have been without a mission and I never want to. I know though, that in order to receive all of these blessings and remember to live all of these principles, I have to remain faithful and improve in my daily scripture study and personal prayer, and constantly apply the principles of the Gospel in my life as I repent daily and participate worthily of the Sacrament each week. I´m still learning what it means to give my "whole heart, might, mind, and strength," but I think it comes mainly from always "seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" as well as seeking and listening for the promptings of the Holy Ghost and then acting without delay, even when it may be inconvenient for us. That´s something that really struck me from conference. So often as missionaries, and I think everyone, we are so tied to our own schedules and to-do lists that we sometimes ignore the opportunities given to us to share the Gospel, serve, or lift the spirit of another. If we listen closely and seek to do God´s will before our own (or the will of anyone else), I´m sure that God will direct us for good and we will be successful in the long run. He´ll never do anything that doesn´t benefit us. He needs us to answer the prayers of others and wants us to feel the joy that comes with doing so. I love you all. I hope you´re all doing well. You´re in my prayers always. May God bless you in all you do. Love, Erin

We had a tough week. It was pretty stressful, but we learned a lot. I discovered that what I´ve been lacking (not just in my mission, but in life) is consistency. I have a hard time pacing myself. I´ve decided this week to focus on that - working hard in every moment. Taking everything as it comes and looking for potential investigators at every moment. It´s normal to wish I would have figured this out earlier in my mission, but I´m still grateful for the time I have left to figure it out and apply it so I can have a more successful future. Gonzalo got baptized on Saturday! It was really nice, but we have a lot of work to do to get the support of the ward. His mom showed up late, just after the actual ordinance, and so she didn´t get to see it. It was sad, but she was happy just to be with him in his special moment. We´re hoping to be able to teach her, too. She´s really great and is so happy for the decision and the changes Gonzalos has made for his life. We got a new bishopric on Sunday. They´re all so excited to get to work and help our ward grow and progress. We´re excited to work together in missionary work and help get the ward excited about living and sharing the Gospel. Our bishop reminds me a lot of Dad and it made me happy to think about all that he does for our family and the ward back home. In our companionship study this morning we studied about the importance of prayer in conversion. We practiced teaching the importance of prayer, how to pray, and inviting the investigator to offer a kneeling prayer at the end. I realized something so important, something I already knew, but didn´t understand completely. We´re here, not just to present our message, but to help others come unto Christ. Prayer is so essential in that process. I tried to think about why prayer is important to me and discovered that I have a lot to improve on to have a strong relationship with God and testimony of prayer. In my personal study I really looked for God´s help and the guidance of the Spirit. I realized that if I couldn´t learn what our investigators need and how to help them, we´ll lose them. I want to be able to receive the guidance of the Spirit for those I teach, not just in the mission, but in my future callings and in my family. I´m grateful for this experience and the things I´m going to learn as a result of it. I wish I could tell you everything, but I´m out of time, as usual. I love you all! Love, Erin