#blessings, #hashtags and decisions.....

Sometimes I wonder what my facebook and twitter posts would be like if

I could use them on my mission. Probably something like this:

You know you have the best zone in the world when the elders create a
rap to Justin Bieber´s "Confident" #missionBAO #prime #focused

OR

Painted my nails for the first time in forever (Frozen) Finally feel
like a girl again. #theyarepink #iknowthatyouwerewondering #libresoy
#libresoyisletitgoinspanishifyouwerewondering #yourewelcome

OR

One of the best feelings in the world is after a baptism, when you ask
them how they feel, and their answer is always the same. They always
say they feel like a weight has been lifted off of them, and that they
feel clean and warm. #beingamissionaryisthebestthingintheentireworld
#becauseofHim

This week was crazy in the sense that the weather changed a bajillion
times. At first, the week was pretty normal!! It was nice and warm,
and there weren´t too many mosquitos. AND THEN I jinxed myself and the
weather became a BLAZING FLAME OF DEATH. I almost died it was so hot
and humid. That was when the people told me that "Oh!! Today´s
beautiful in comparison to what´s waiting for you in the Summer!!"
What. That was Thursday. Today is freezing with crazy hurricane winds.
But now, I cherish every single second of the cold while I can (and
I´ll admit I have been playing the Christmas music a little too often)

We´ve been adjusting to not having Hermana Bangerter around (as of
right now she´s sitting in a college classroom trying to adapt to the
real world--poor thing) and it´s been a little rough, but we´re
getting through!!! My mind is especially focused on the work now that
I have to lead the area, and I´m memorizing things faster than ever.
The Lord has been blessing us and we´ve seen so many miracles this
week.

We saw J_______ get baptized on Saturday. She was confirmed yesterday.
Miracles every single moment.

One of the things that I learned from Hermana Bangerter that I will
remember the most is "disfrutar cada momento." Enjoy every moment. As
she neared the end of her mission, she was a shining example of this.
Every single moment was precious to her. It´s something that I need to
remember. Sometimes I get caught up in the everyday, and sometimes
monotonous, schedule of missionary life, and I don´t realize how
blessed I really am to be here. How blessed I am to LIVE even. Every
moment is precious. But only if we live our life in the way the Lord
wants us to. So I´ve made the decision NOW to be more happy. To be
happy and love it even when it´s hard. It is a decision after all.

Con amor,
Hermana Edwards

Hunger Games, Goals and Perfection

Hello!

I´m going to start out by saying that our water sometimes doesn´t work
in our apartment, so we´ll boil a pot of water in the morning or at
night and that is how we shower. Real life Hunger Games.

This week was good!!! Now that we have our own personal goals, we´ve
been really focusing on retaining our recent converts, and
reactivating the 300 less actives in our branch. I love that we can
determine our own goals now, and follow through with them. I feel more
fulfilled each and every day.

We just found out that our convert from last month, R______, is
preparing to serve a mission!!! He´s so excited!!! And we couldn´t be
more excited for him:) Even though we aren´t seeing as many baptisms,
we´re still seeing miracles every single day.

Hermana Bangerter ends her mission this week. It´s so strange to me,
because I remember exactly the day that I met her in the transfer
meeting when President Carter left. She still had two months to go.
TIME FLIES. I got my mission call almost 10 months ago. It´s
incredible. When I compare myself to the person I was when I first got
out on the field, the difference is astounding. I still have the same
personality, the same interests. But now I can actually speak the
language comfortably (sometimes there are embarassing moments....)
and I feel much stronger in my relationship with Jesus Christ and our
Heavenly Father. I can´t wait to see what 1 more year will bring:)

One of the things I love to teach the most is that there is growth and
progression in every stage of life. There is always something new that
we can learn and apply to our lives. And eventually, we´ll have the
capacity to understand fully what perfection is, through our Savior
and Redeemer. I love this gospel so much:)

Con amor,
Hermana Edwards

Sleepover's, leadership, and the Atonement

This week was pretty dang eventful. We had Zone Meeting on Tuesday. We
hold Zone meetings once a transfer. Since we´re in campo and
everything is SO far away, all of the hermana´s in our zone came and
stayed the night in our apartment the night before. It was like a
giant sleepover (except for the fact that they all arrived at
different times in the middle of the night)

Our mission rules have changed completely. Before, we had key
indicators and percentages. We had to get this si o si, every single
week: 8 new investigators, 8 lessons with members, 7 other lessons, 8
references recieved, 10 references contacted, and 70 contacts in the
streets. But now we set our own goals every single week according to
the specific needs of our area, and try our best to complete them.
Some HUGE changes, and I´m sure we´ll be seeing more with time. Right
after Zone Meeting, we did DIVISIONS. I have never done divisions my
ENTIRE mission, so it was a bit daunting. Hermana Bangerter went with
one of the Sister Training Leaders to Junin, and Hermana Sosa and I
were to stay behind and work in Chivilcoy with our other Sister
Training Leader, Hermana Ramos (who is also from El Salvador) I HAD TO
LEAD THE AREA. It was like being the senior companion for a day. And
now I truly understand what it´s like to be a missionary completely
focused on the work and nothing else, because I had to take us
EVERYWHERE, I had to make all of the calls and confirm all of our
lessons and write all the progression forms and everything. I did this
stuff before, but I always had a senior companion to fall back to for
help if I didn´t know what to do. But it was a fantastic learning
experience! I learned to have more self confidence in myself, as a
missionary and as a person in general.

I only have a week and a half left until Hermana Bangerter goes home
(when I will also bawl like a baby cuz she´s one of my best friends in
the entire world) and I´ll start leading this area with Hermana Sosa.
But now I have more faith and trust in myself, and also in the Lord.

The only rough thing about this whole situation was traveling in the
middle of the night on the Nightbus for 2 hours to Junin to pick
Hermana Bangerter up, and then sleeping on the floor of their
apartment for an hour, and traveling 2 hours back only to arrive home
an hour before 6:30am when we would have to wake up to start the day.
I´m still recuperating. MISSION LIFE IS THE BOMB.

I wanted to share a quote from the 2012 General Conference talk by
Jeffrey R. Holland (my relative yo) entitled "The Laborers in the
Vineyard."

"...however late you think you are, however many chances you think you
have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents
you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God
you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled
beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink
lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines."

The Atonement is real. I knew it before, but now I truly KNOW. I have
seen it work miracles with people who were so deep in despair, and
just as it seemed as if there was no turning back, the light of the
atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ shines in and rescues them. I´ve
seen it work miracles in the lives of others. In my life too. And I´m
so grateful for this opportunity that I have to share the message of
this blessing to these people. I love you all so much!!

Con amor,
Hermana Edwards