Easter Miracles

It was a really good week. Ailen y Yuli were baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. It was a miracle. Ailen told us last Sunday that she wasn´t going to get baptized. We feel like she said it because she didn´t want to disappoint her parents, but we planned to have her do the interview anyway. She came out of the interview and announced that she was going to be baptized. We were really happy. Marisa, the mom, came to the baptism and the confirmation to support her daughters. We have been praying so much that she would come and be able to feel the Spirit in the chapel. We sang "Families Can Be Together Forever" at the end of the baptism and Hermana Shneider said that Marisa had tears in her eyes by the end of the song. We could see and feel a change in the family as we left the baptism and took the train back to our area (we have to attend different capillas right now because ours in being remodeled). I hope Marisa realizes what it is that she´s experiencing and I hope she can see the change in her daughters, too.

We had a good Easter, too. The people here don´t color eggs, but there were a ton of people selling chocolate ones. It´s sad that a lot of people don´t know why we use eggs at Easter, but maybe it´s because it´s autumn here and not spring. We were able to teach the family of Ailen and Yuli about the symbol of new life and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was a nice end to our week to have the holiday. Leonel told us after the meetings that he had thought and prayed and that he feels like he should be baptized on the 21st. We were so happy we were speechless. All we could say was, "!Qué bueno!" (That´s great!). We have plans to congratulate him more and testify to him about how wonderful it is that he has found the truth and answers he´s been looking for. He even spoke to us about how good an experience a mission would be. We are so grateful for the opportunity we have to teach him.

We worked really hard this week and found some really good people. We did 209 contacts! We´re learning how to "forget ourselves and go to work," and do it in the Lord´s way. April is turning out to be a great month. Hermana Shneider and I only speak Spanish to each other and her Spanish has improved a lot. It´s still hard for her and I can tell it hurts sometimes when the people say that my Spanish is better than hers. She speaks incredibly well for someone who didn´t know a single word before she entered the MTC.

Well, I´m out of time. I wish I could write more. I love you all and hope you had a wonderful Easter.

Love,
Erin

Storms in Buenos Aires

I just wanted to give you an update, in case you have heard about the destructive storms in Buenos Aires that occured on Thursday, and were wondering if Erin was affected.

According to the Buenos Aires Oeste Mission blog, they had to move some missionaries because of power outages, but Erin's zone (Caseros) was not one of them, and apparently there were no missionaries that were hurt, only inconvenienced. The following is a paragraph from the blog.

"The missionaries are very focused on their work and they are used to losing power from time to time. For them, this storm seemed like a minor inconvenience. When we began pulling them out of their areas yesterday, it seemed to be the first time that they realized that this storm was much more than they imagined."

If you want more information, you can click on the mission blog tab at the top of the page.

From Argentina April 2, 2012

We saw a lot of miracles here this week. We have really great investigators and members here and I´m learning a lot from my experiences with them, mainly that "man is nothing." Sometimes as missionaries we can get caught up in the thought that we are having success because of what we do, which in part is true, but like someone once said (I don´t remember who), "The things that need to be done to a human soul, must be and can only be done by God." It is the Spirit that converts, not us, the scriptures, or our teachings. What we do is prepare with the Spirit and teach with the Spirit so that those we teach can recognize it and allow it to change them. I realized how intimately involved God is in each of our lives. He has been working on the hearts of these people (and mine) for years and years.

I thought about one of our investigators, Leonel, who is so prepared for the Gospel. We met him at church last week (he came to listen to his friend´s mom give a talk) and set an appointment to teach him the following Wednesday. It was incredible to listen to him express his desire to find the truth and come to know God better. He talked about watching this family almost his whole life, as well as an old friend of his brother, and seeing the happiness and light that exuded from them. He noticed that he doesn´t have it, but wants to. He told us later that he walked home after that lesson feeling enveloped in a peace he couldn´t describe. We taught him about the Word of Wisdom and he has the goal to quite smoking completely by Sunday (1 week!). His faith is incredible. He came to all 4 sessions of General Conference in a suit and tie. I am loving being a part of this experience with him and am so amazed at the power the Spirit has to change hearts.

General Conference was wonderful. I wanted it to just go on and on forever. I loved Elder Scott´s talk. General Conference really isn´t the same in Spanish, though. There´s something about hearing their words in their own voices that make more of an impression (Elder Scott translates his own talks, though. That was a blessing). It was a little difficult to focus because they translated each talk with voice-over, but I could still hear the English a little bit. I had to work really hard to understand what they were saying in Spanish and fight the urge to zone in on the English. I hope it will be a little easier by October and that I can get more out of it. I thought about how we were watching the Conference live, and that we were doing the same thing at the same time. It was a nice thought. I can definitely feel your love from here, every day.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week.

Love,
Erin