Reunions and testifying

This week went by super fast!!! We had a reunion again with President
Robertson and both zones of Chivilcoy Norte y Sur here in our
chapel!!! (we had a bajillion hermana´s overnight again) And we
learned of the importance of teaching the Restoration in the very
first lesson. Sometimes it´s difficult to bring up such a big topic
such as the Restoration in the very first visit, but Hermana Sosa and
I tried it this week. My faith in the testifying power of the First
Vision and the Book of Mormon has grown so much in just a short
period!!! We´ve been practicing how to use more free agency while we
extend commitments to people. It´s been helping a lot!! We´ve found a
lot of good new people this week. And.......

We have two baptisms planned for this week!!! I´ll let you know next
week if they work out. Sorry I don´t have a lot of time to write
today:( But I´ll be sure to be more diligent the next week. 

I love you so much!!!

Con amor,
Hermana Edwards

 Hermana Foutz my Hermana Training Leader (we had divisions this week)

 We helped some members move into their new house!

I bought a super cheap curling iron and I am in love. I hope you like!

Hermana Edwards didn't have time for a blog entry this week, so this is an excerpt from her email to her sister in high school this week. It is a good reminder all around: "Through the Lord, you can do everything. I know it:) I love you so much and I think about you ALL of the time!!! I pray for you always!!! Be safe and trust in the Lord, and everything will be alright. Keep being a light to all those around you. Love you."

-Mom Edwards

Springtime, Divisions and Nacho Libre

This week went by even faster than the last!!! It´s almost Springtime
here. The mosquitos are coming out again (joy) but the weather is
really pretty!! Hermana Sosa and I get along very well and we´ve had
some awesome lessons this past week!!! But the only sad thing is that
our work didn´t reflect at church yesterday. None of our investigators
showed. It´s been a little hard lately, but we keep pushing on. We
have divisions (starting tonight) One of the Sister Training Leaders
(Hermana Foutz-from the States HOLLA) is going to come here and work
with me for a couple of days while Hermana Sosa is going to work with
the other hermana in Junin. I think divisions are so fun!!! And we
learn so much!! In campo they´re always longer (almost a week long)
because all of the cities are so far away. In Buenos Aires they always
last for a day. Ours should go till Friday! We have transfers in a
couple weeks, I´m REALLY hoping I´ll get to stay in Chivilcoy. But I
don´t know. 28 new missionaries are entering the mission, and there
are going to be a lot of changes. But whatever happens happens!! And
it´s all for the better and benefit of those who need it most.

We had a wonderful conference with President González of the Seventy.
He was inspired (of course) I asked how we could help people who have
a pre-existing knowledge of our church, better understand and gain a
testimony of Joseph Smith. Usually a lot of people have doubts about
Joseph, and it´s usually hardest thing for people to accept. President
González emphasized the importance of utilizing the Book of Mormon
more while we teach!!! He said that if they have a true testimony of
the Book of Mormon, then they will have a testimony of Joseph Smith in
return. Now, as a mission, we are going to learn more and more about
how to teach using the scriptures. Sometimes we use the pamphlets and
forget just how important the Book of Mormon is in the conversion
process, and also in retaining a testimony of the gospel. I have
gained such a testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon. Before my
mission, I read everyday. But more than anything it was because I HAD
to. Like I was obligated to do so. But now, I have such a great love
for the scriptures!!! I look forward to reading them every day! When
you read the Book of Mormon with real intent to learn and understand,
that´s when the heavens open up and we come to a whole new level of
understanding!!! I love it!!

Love you all!!!!!

Also, in the micro bus on the way back from Lujan, we had a Karaoke
sesh, and I sang Nacho Libre in front of my whole zone. Good day.

Con amor,
Hermana Edwards

The Keystone

This week was great!! A LOT colder (thank the heavens) BUT there were
a lot of gigantic spiders in our house this week, so I suppose you
can´t have everything. It went by SO fast, just as I imagine it did
for everyone at home with school starting up again. SEPTEMBER. I can´t
believe it. Just a few more months and we´ll hit 2015. I´ll be halfway
done with my mission on Thanksgiving. Time goes by too fast. Now I
have a little over 6 months on the mission. A year left!! It startles
me to think of all the things I was doing just a year ago. The weeks
and months are a blur. We only have a couple more weeks in this
transfer. I´m really enjoying the mission!! We´re headed to Lujan this
friday for a big conference with a representative of the South
American missions (forgot his name) so, we´re super excited for
that!!!! I love conferences. And I love traveling in the Nightbus (but
not in the nighttime)

The other day, I decided to begin studying "Jesus the Christ" during
my hour of personal study. As I pulled the book from my desk, all the
other books around it fell, knocking down my souveneirs and papers and
pictures. I thought silently to myself how ironic it was. The simple
action of pulling the book out of my study caused quite a bit of a
mess. Just as the seemingly harmless act of pulling Jesus Christ out
of our lives causes a much greater catastrophe than we could possibly
expect. I´ve seen time and time again, especially on my mission, the
disaster and tragedy that comes to people when Christ no longer is in
the center of their lives.

Why is Christ the keystone to our religion? Because through Him, we
have the gospel. We have the Atonement. We have this earth, this
universe, our bodies, our spirits. We have our families. How could we
ever expect to live a life of happiness when we blatantly take out the
sheer REASON for happiness? When we put other worldly priorities
first, such as clothes and internet and movies and music and parties,
our sense of spirituality is dulled, and we can´t feel as close to the
Savior. I struggled with this before my mission. I just went with the
flow, not really doing anything extra to benefit myself of others. I
was on my phone WAY more than I should´ve been. I´ll admit--Pinterest
is pretty dang addictive. My worries really shouldn´t have been
worries. I had other things to do than service or studying my
scriptures. Sure, I did these things, read my scriptures every day,
went to mutual and church activities and mission prep. But it wasn´t
with full intention of heart to learn and progress and serve. Why?
Because I failed to put Christ above all other things.

Christ is the center of everything. I hope everyone can remember that.
Our primary purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come unto
Christ. Through this, I´ve only been brought closer to him. I hope we
can all remember to put Him in the center of our lives. Only then will
we truly feel spiritually edified and full.

I love this gospel!!!! More and more every single day. I can truly say
that this mission has changed my life. I´m so grateful for the
opportunities that the Lord puts in our path. It´s amazing!!!

Love you guys!

Con amor,
Hermana Edwards

#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