February 25 Letter

Hey hey!
Of one thing I am absolutely certain: A strong testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon will give more satisfaction to the heart and spirit of a man than all the outside knowledge that can be gained in this world. Just thought I'd start out my letter by giving that thought I had in my head the other day. It wouldn't leave, so I wrote it down! Anyway, sorry I'm a day late e-mailing! We had a mission conference yesterday in Cordoba so our p-day is today! This week has been AWESOME! Let me start off the details by saying THANK YOOUUUUU Linsey, family, and Karessa for your letters! Karessa, does Flat Stanley really need to be back to you by March 15? Let me know by Monday so I can print off pictures and get that back to you!! I love having him! It's great! We have fun! Anyway, I got more letters today from Linsey and Elder Soane! Thanks so much! Letters definitely brighten my day! =) At our District meeting last week, our Zone Leaders told us a story about how they did a fast from Sunday to Monday to find a family that was ready to receive the message of the restoration. They said that when they went out on Monday afternoon after p-day was over, they got rejection after rejection and they were thinkin, wow, what is going on? Then they saw a family at their house, the dad was outside and the house was kinda far away but they thought, we need to go talk to this family. They walked up to the man, introduced themselves and gave him a short overview of the message and said they'd love to share the message with him and his family. He said, "if you'll wait just a second, let me go talk with my wife." He walked inside the house to talk to his wife. Missionaries know that this is rarely a good sign. They usually return and say something like, oh no, sorry, she's washing the dishes/clothes/taking care of the kids, etc. But to their utter amazement he came back outside with 2 chairs. His wife was behind him and said, "Have a seat, we've been looking for the true church for a long time." I know, amazing right? This experience made an impression on my companion and I. We decided to do this as well. We fasted from Thursday to Friday. Our luck was different. It rained Friday. When it rains, Argentines sleep instead of going outside or answering their doors (it would be no fun to doorbell ditch in this country, nobody would answer their doors =( ...). We tried to talk to the people who were outside however, but we had no luck. However, we had an appointment with Olga at two thirty on Friday in which we had planned to extend the baptismal commitment. This would be the first time meeting with her after a LONG time. We weren't sure what was going to happen, but we knew what we wanted to say and we knew how to calm the doubts she might have. The lesson went great and she accepted the baptismal commitment. We had to explain, however, that babies don't need to be baptized because they have no sin and that we aren't responsible for the original sin because Christ overcame that when he died. She will be getting baptized on March 28. Saturday we had another appointment with Olga and an appointment with Valeria. Ruth, the recent convert, accompanied us to the appointment with Olga. It was awesome. We taught lesson 2-the plan of salvation. When we explained the resurrection, Olga asked, "well, what about the people who are cremated?" We explained that even these people will have their bodies as well. She explained that she has a fear of boxes and wants to be cremated instead of being put in one. I kind of wanted to laugh. That's so silly, she won't have the fear of boxes when she dies. Hahaha oh dear... A member of our ward was supposed to come with us to our appointment with Valeria. When we called her to see where she was on our way to Valeria's house, she said, "it's raining, I can't go out in the rain, are you going?" Uh...duh. Hahahaha it was hilarious. These Argentines crack me up! Honey, we have to work no matter what's going on with the weather. If there are puddles a foot deep, no importa, we work. Let me tell you, my feet were wet the entire day on Friday and Saturday and there wasn't a single thing I could do about it, but keep walking and not think about it. Anyway, we went to the appointment with Valeria without Paola (the member) and explained more about the apostasy and the importance of the restoration of the priesthood. The priesthood that Christ gave to His apostles which was lost with the death of Him and His apostles and restored when Joseph Smith was called to be the prophet and restore Christ's church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The only church over the face of the earth that has this authority. If you can recall the last time we met with her, her mom walked in on the baptismal commitment. Her mom wasn't there, but we explained this again to her and watched the restoration movie. She really liked it and accepted the baptismal commitment as well. She didn't come to church on Sunday because she had to help her boyfriend with his grandma, but if she goes every Sunday until March 28, she can get baptized. If not, we'll have to change it. Investigators that don't attend church with a spouse have to attend 4 times before they can get baptized. We're praying real hard. That's what's been happening this week! We didn't find any new investigators, or a family to teach, but we have two of our investigators with a baptismal date! WOOHOO!!!! Now I have some questions for you family:Dad-how are you doing??? I miss you so much! We sang the "I'm so glad when daddy comes home" song while we were walking in the street the other day and it made me miss you! I hope you're having fun with the garden! I can't wait to help with that stuff when I get back!Mom-are you stake camp director again this year? I couldn't remember. How is it being with Audrey in YW? How was your birthday? Did you get the card I sent? I made you a cheesecake on your birthday! It was so yummy! I'll send you the pictures k? Would you send me the recipe for baked pineapple and if you have one for homemade croissants, I would like that too. Send it over e-mail!Alicia and Aaron- Alicia, your e-mail about when you were dancing with Brendon and singing I like to move it move it, 1. made me have that song stuck in my head all day and 2. it made me laugh so hard and I just love that little boy! Smother him with kisses for me! Aaron, I hope you haven't been too tired with all the traveling you do! I hope you are feeling better from your accident!Brenton and Sarah-why have I not heard from you? What is going on? Are you pregnant yet? How are the dogs? How's work going? Brent, do you like working for Dish Network?Carly-how's the college life? Have you gone on any dates with cute BYU boys? I need a letter from you PRONTO do you understand me? =) Hey, have you heard anything from Ti? I wrote him a letter, but I don't know if he still has the same address because he was in Serbia for a while. Would you ask him and get back to me? Thanks girl!Linsey-you are so busy my love! How do you do it? Thank you for your letters! I have received more letters from you here than anyone else! You're awesome! Thank you!Audrey-I just have no idea what's going on in your life right now and I'd really appreciate it if you would let me know. I take back what I said, you and Linsey can e-mail me. I know how busy your lives are, so e-mailing is definitely easier! Oh, for swim team...start doing exercises that will build up your leg muscles so you can beat everyone this year! Your arms too! Love you!
Thank you all for your prayers and support! I can't tell you how much I can feel them every day. I love you all so much and I hope everything is going AWESOME! Chau for now!
Hermana Shumway