flour eggs and water!!!

Welp this week flew by, I don't have much time to write, so this will be a quick little email, also they changed our p'day to be on Christmas day and new years day, so I prob. wont be emailing next week... but I do plan on printing off my emails, so hey don't think that gives you an excuse not to write!! SO Daniel was baptized on Saturday, it was very special, we didn't have much support from the members, but hey at least he was baptized and he was confirmed on Sunday, and has already received the priesthood, can we talk about how amazing this ward is? I'm so blessed to be here!! We saw I'm after he was given the priesthood, he had a glow about him, and he was truly humbled, I could tell he really understands the importance of these things!! I'm so happy I get to be a part o this part of his life! We are teaching several people, they have baptism goals, pray that they make it, we are teaching a kid who has a really rough life, but luckily a family from the church has taken him in and are helping him a lot, we are planing on his baptism for next sat the
26th, the day after Christmas, and his 14th birthday! Everything looks great for that date, as long as we can get permission from his sister... pray that she will give her permission!!!
Well I gotta run, but I would like to end with our fun little experience yesterday. well we had transfers this week, and everyone thought my comp would be transferred... so there is a family here that we eat with all the time that whenever a missionary gets moved they throw eggs and flour on them, well since we all thought mora would be leaving they planned on doing it to her on Monday our last lunch with them. We both went to lunch wearing old clothes, me just in case they decided to get smart. Well the whole lunch they were teasing her by bringing out the eggs and flour and stuff like that, the mom was like don't worry Hermana they wont do anything today. I thought it was really funny. Well after lunch the oldest son came over and had water in his hand and Hermana Mora tried to hide behind me, I went running and stood by the daughter of the family, at that point my comp was cornered by 2 of the sons and the mom, well they got her poor girl with eggs and water and flour, it was funny, as soon as they covered her with that she ran over to the mom and daughter and hugged them to get them all dirty, because well she cant hug the sons, and then we took pictures, well we put the cameras on self timer and posed for the picture, as soon as the picture took I felt cold water on my head and saw flour flying everywhere... yeah they got me too... just without the eggs!!! It was way funny,
but they waited a little to long so it doesn't really show up in the picture!! Well we tried getting them back by flinging rice (from the lunch) at them, but the oldest son had to go to work so we forgave him for yesterday, but we are coming up with ways to get them back... any ideas would be more than welcome :). So after lunch we had to walk home covered in flour and water and egg everyone was looking and laughing at us... it was really really funny... until we had to get it out of our hair... I thought it would never come out... luckily it did... yeah quite the day!
But it was all done in vain because well we didn't have any changes, but its better this way, we will have fun getting our revenge together!
Welp I gotta run I cant wait to talk to you all next Friday!!

love ya

hermana Gosnell

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

Ok don't get your hopes up, it isn't snowing here... we did have some torrential rains on Sunday, and I lost my umbrella, so I showed up at church looking like a drowned rat... but that is not why it looks like Christmas... WE HAD ANOTHER BAPTISM!!! This one was really quite the miracle, let me tell you how it went:
So there is a young girl her name is Cecilia, her older sister got baptized about a year ago, but now doesn't really come to church... the hermanas used to teach Cecilia (she is 15) and they tried to get her baptized a couple of months ago and she said no when I'm ready I'll let you know. So they stopped visiting her, then all of a sudden a few weeks before I got here she started coming to church, ALL ON HER OWN! Imagine that, a 15 year old girl waking up early on a Sunday morning to go to church, her sister who is much older and is a member doesn't even do that! We still didn't go visit her because every time we tried to talk to her at church she blew us off, so we decided to give her her space. She continued coming, the young women's program planned for her like she was already a member because she goes to all the activities and everything! Well we didn't have a baptism planned for this weekend and one morning my companion tells me I think we need to go see Cecilia and see if she wants to be baptized this Saturday! I was really surprised and didn't really have that much faith (yeah sometimes its hard for me) but I said alright lets go see her. We got there last Wednesday night and we didn't have much time
because we had another appt. with Daniel at the other end of our area, I told my comp we needed to be in and out because it was raining and I didn't want Daniel to have been waiting for us outside in the rain. We got to our appt. with Cecilia and were waiting for some members, but they never got there so we went on in and started talking to Cecilia, she was friendly but said several times she wasn't ready to be baptized, that maybe next year would be her time. I asked her if we could go over the interview questions for baptism to see if she was ready, she said yes and right as we started the members showed up, which turned out to be a big help because these members are good friends of Cecilia. We went over all the questions and she answered perfectly, and when we finished we all just looked at her and one of the members said and you think you aren't ready, are you crazy? We all laughed and she said she just didn't feel ready, we talked to her a little more and told her we thought she was ready and we would like her to be baptized this Saturday, at
first she said no but then said I will think about it, call me tomorrow night and I'll let you know. We said ok and then left running for our next appt (which ended up not showing!!)
So Thursday we had been fasting and one of the things we were fasting for was Cecilia, Thursday night my comp called Cecilia and I was getting ready for bed when I hear my companion squeal with delight, I went running to see what happened and she got off the phone with Cecilia and shouted she's getting baptized she's getting baptized!! Cecilia decided that now was her time and said yes Saturday at 6 will be my baptism!!! Wow I couldn't believe it! We went into turbo mode calling everyone we could think of to start organizing the baptism, no one could believe it! Wow so then Saturday we went to the church for the baptism and there were a ton of young men and women and their leaders, but there was only one priesthood holder!! We were starting to freak out, and we were calling our mission leader and bishop, and well finally at 6:45 they showed up so we could start the baptism, we wouldn't have had that problem if only we were elders... haha but well the baptism started super late, but it was amazing! Celcilia felt the spirit so strong and even cried a little at the end! I think this was one of the biggest miracles of my mission!!
Well not to put a downer on this letter, but Daniel our investigator of gold wont be
getting baptized this weekend, he did'nt come to church on Sunday and is telling us he is too old to join the church because he has nothing to offer the church, we have tried talking to him about it but he refused to set an appt with us!! Finally we called him last night and said he missed talking to us and set an appointment for Thursday! Please pray for him, he is amazing but it seems like satan is working really hard on him!!
Welp this is all I have time for... this was a great week!! I hope all is well and I love yall!!

Love

hermana Gosnell

11-25-09

Wow is it really thanksgiving? I cant believe it, I feel like we just started November!!! Time is just flying by way too fast!! Well I hope you all enjoy your thanksgiving, eat extra for me, because I will be spending my thanksgiving fasting, say what? Yeah we have zone conf. on friday and our president asked us to fast the day before to be more spiritually prepared, never thought I would be fasting on thanksgiving, but hey I guess there is a first time for everything right??
Well I have a ton to write, and almost no time to write it! Last week we had a
conference with elder Bednar and elder Snow, wow can we say amazing!! Elder Bednar just had us ask questions the whole time, and he responded to them, he had us promise we wouldn't write home his responses because he said he could be more honest with us if we could promise him that, so we all promised and well sorry, I guess I will just have to share my notes with yall when I get home, but it was truly amazing!! It was a conference with the mtc and the 3 missions in Buenos Aires, so I got to see Hermana Strasser, my best friend from the mtc! we both almost screamed when we saw each other, it was amazing!! She told me she is returning to byui when she gets home, so hey Ladd is there room for her... she is amazing!!!anyways it was so much fun, and very spiritual!! Then on saturday we had a baptism, Fernanda was baptized and it was truly amazing, she cried like the whole time and her husband was able to do the baptism, it was really very special! I'm so happy for her! If I have time I will try to send a few pics!!! Daniel is still progressing crazy fast, he is so excited for his baptism (next sat) and he still just seems too good to be true, keep praying for him please!! We are still trying to find more people to teach, we have a ton of investigators but I still haven't met even half of them, I asked my comp why we still count them as investigators and if we could take them off our list since she has only met them like once or twice but she got upset and said no, so we are kind of at a stand still with investigators, I'm going through the area books to try and find people we can go teach, can we talk about how the last few Hermanas who came through here did not know how to keep an area book, it's a bit frustrating! But hey I am still very grateful to be here in Almagro, the work is great and the members help us a ton!!
Well I thought I had more to tell about, but I cant think of it now, maybe its the
hunger... we still haven't eaten yet... so I think I will sign off for now, and try to send pics, love yall and happy thanksgiving, I'm grateful for my family and friends!!
LOVE YA

Hermana Gosnell

Wow, did you know that some missionaries actually have baptisms?? Well I learned that this last weekend! We had a baptism!! Ok so I will start with that, So we had a baptism planned for this saturday, well we had to move it to sunday because it was stake conference this last weekend so we couldn't do it on sat, well we went and taught Oscar his last lesson before his interview, and he told us he had drank beer the other day, I was a bit upset because he tells us no I don't have a problem, I just like to drink, I don't think the other hermanas insttiled in him how serious drinking is... so when he said that I got really quiet and looked at him and said, that is very serious Oscar, he got really serious and started thinking, when he said the closing prayer he begged forgiveness, he really seemed sorry. So after that we told him he might not be able to be baptized this weekend, but we would do the interview anyways, well long story short, he amazingly passed his interview! then sunday we had stake conference, far away, and we had SIX INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH!!! It was amazing, for stake conference that like never happens!! I also saw hermana Palacios, she had to bear her testimony, she is leaving for her mission in like a week! Crazy!! Well during stake conference Oscar leans over to my comp and says hey can we post pone my baptism to next week, my work just called they need
me asap, she asked if it was important and he said yeah, and she said more important than god? he thought about it and said no, god comes first! It was amazing, so as soon as conference was over and we got back to our church building we had the baptism, it was a little rushed and stressful, but everything turned out great!! As soon as it was over we had to run to our next appt, it was with one of our investigators, she is amazing, she and her husband are separated, but when he started receiving the discussions he tried to start talking to her again, she started investigating the church on her own, reading the book of mormon and reading stuff on the website, well her husband got baptized and she told us she wants to get baptized too, but she wants to wait until she and her husband move back in together and have everything worked out, we tried putting a date with her, but she said no don't worry about it, well this weekend during stake conf. she told us I want to be baptized asap! We were both so shocked, when we went to see her after the baptism of Oscar she told us she just felt like someone had told her, hey you don't need
to wait to get everything in order, do it now! So she said I'm doing it now, she is
getting baptized this saturday!! She is absolutely amazing!! I'm so excited for her baptism!!
So that is the most exciting stuff, there is so much to do here! Oh after our appt with Fernanda we left for our other appointments but everything fell through, and we were starving because we hadn't eaten at all, we didn't eat lunch or anything because we were in a hurry from the baptism and then the lesson right after, well we ended up going to a members house, the family Feresin, they are amazing, the mom asked us what we ate that day and when we didn't say anything she got up went into the kitchen and made us a huge dinner... she is amazing, I'm pretty sure she earned her spot in heaven for that... haha :) But seriously this family is so much fun! They have a son on a mission in Neuquen, he actually was just comps with one of the elders from my district in the mtc!! They have this crazy tradition where they break eggs and pour flour all over the missionaries that end their missions here, I saw it happen with hermana Winters her last night here... it was so funny, they told me you don't want to finish your mission here, than asked me how much time I have! I just told them about a year or so, they laughed, they are now trying to find out when I end, they know I will end my mission here, they just aren't sure when it is I finish! HAHA it is a game for them... they are so much fun, I just have to think
of something to get them back for the eggs and flour thing... if you have any ideas... let me know, I still have a few months to think though!! Welp that's all I got for now, oh yeah I'm going to a conference with elder Bednar tomorrow, I'm so excited!! And next week we have our zone conference... time is just flying by!!

Love ya'll

Hermana Gosnell

Cockroaches City!!!! 11-12-09

Hey hey everyone, well I must say, I am one very blessed girl, this area only has a
few major problems, there isn't enough time to teach everyone that wants to be baptized, and there are too many members that want to come with us on lessons!! HAHA ok well it isn't all roses and stuff, but really compared to my other areas, wow the work is crazy! I feel like I'm in a completely different mission! We found a family that said they wanted to be baptized (a family of 5), but well when we went to pick them up for church they weren't ready and didn't come with us, it was a little sad and we were upset because we didn't have time to go pick anyone else up, but when we got to church and started counting how many investigators came on their own... we had EIGHT!!! But then our ward mission leader came and told us a man had come to church for the first time, he had been investigating the church online for a while and found the meeting house, and he is very interested in learning more!! He even came in a suit and everything! We taught him a quick lesson right after, and he seems really interested! Also we have a baptism this weekend, his name is Oscar, I'm worried he might not make it, I just don't feel like he understands what he is doing, but I'm praying he will make it to his goal! There are so many different miracles I just don't even know where to begin! One of them is we went to see an old investigator, she had wanted to get baptized but wasn't married, well I week
before I got here she called the hermanas and left a message saying she was getting
married and wanted to start coming to church and get baptized, we went to see her my
first day here and she came out to see us and was in a huge hurry, she said hey I don't have time to talk right now I'm getting everything ready for my wedding, we asked her when it was and she said tomorrow! WOW!! Then she said hey I get home from my honeymoon on the 12th, come see me after that, and we asked her if she would be willing to get baptized this month and she said yes yes as soon as possible!! She seemed so happy!! I just couldn't believe it! Wow there is so much to do, I just hope and pray I don't ruin anything here!!
My companion is amazing, I was a little nervous being with a latin again, but wow she is so fun! We have a lot of fun together, and I'm grateful to be with her, because my spanish was starting to get a little bad!! I feel like I will probably only be with her for one transfer, but I'm praying we stay together longer!!
Oh and there is one real problem here, our apartment is smaller than a postage stamp and has the whole world of cockroaches living in it... seriously they are everywhere, we have to wash our dishes before and after we use them because cockroaches are seriously taking over our lives! I will probably be bringing several of them home, because I see them crawling on my suitcases, it really grosses me out to the extreme! But I just try to pretend they don't exist!!Well I think that is all I needed to write about, oh also, if anyone out there would like to write to my comp, that would be great, she told me her family doesn't write her letters, so she runs to the bathroom to hide when they hand out letters, we have zone conference in like 2 or 3 weeks, so if you send them this week they should get here for this zone conf, try to write them in spanish, but if you cant, well I can help her translate them! Welp that's all I got,I love you all and you are in my prayers!!

Love,

Hermana Gosnell

11-3-09

Ok so well transfers have come an gone, and well as always it didn't go the way I was hoping or expecting it too!! Long story short... I'm in Almagro with Hermana Mora, who is from Mexico, I'm so excited because I have always wanted a mexican comp! She seems way chill!! And well Hermana Reese went to Vicente Lopez, which means they closed the area of tonelero, but not just to hermanas, but also to elders, there aren't missionaries there... I don't know what happened, but well there we are, all the members are quite upset, and well to be a bit honest I am too... I loved tonelero, and this last week we found several people who I'm dead certain will get baptized, but seeing as how there aren't missionaries, I don't know how that will happen! I still am reeling from everything, all the hermanas had changes, oh ladd, cano is with collinwood in tigre... problem?? Yeah everything is so crazy I'm still up in the clouds, I guess it doesn't help I didn't sleep almost at all last night!! Wow my last few transfers are going to fly by now that I have to get to know a new area, I'm not too very excited about it, but well apparently there is something the Lord needs me here for, I just need to figure it out!! Well I'm sorry I don't have much info about my area, I hear the members are amazing and the missionaries here baptize all the time, I should be having a goodtime then!! Welp I'm starving, I haven't eaten ANYTHING all day... I'm gonna go now, hope everyone is doing well!!

Love ya
Hermana Gosnell

10-28-09

Ok I'm going to start off this email by letting everyone know that my pday next week
will be on TUESDAY!! Not wednesday, we have transfers next week I'm nervous to find out if I stay, or go, or who will be my next comp! I'm actually hoping to get a latin comp, my spanish is getting worse talking english all the time, so I'm hoping for a latin so I can go back to spanish 100% of the time!! Pray for me!!
Ok lots of things happened this last week, before I talk about those though I wanted to mention something I forgot last week, When we went to the temple I was looking at the name of the person I had, I was noticing it was an english name so I showed my comp, as soon as I did that I realized not only was it an english name, the girl was from KENTUCKY!!! I kid you not, all the way here in buenos aires argentina I did the work for someone from kentucky, I felt very honored to have that priviledge!! Her name is Jennie Mae Holbrook, she was born on may 11th 1817!! I was so excited the whole session about it!!!
Ok so that was cool, oh and last week for district meeting we went and did contacts with the elders, we were walking and talking, and well my old luck came back... I totally biffed it in front of the elders... slightly embarrasing, but I just jumped up and acted like nothing happened. well I scraped up my knee pretty bad and got blood all over my skirt, but don't worry the elders didn't notice!!
Oh and well according to my comp I'm starting to attract admirers here! It all started when we went to a supermarket to buy a milk or something, well apparently the cashier guy was making googly eyes at me, I didn't notice it, all I noticed was he was annoying me with how slow he did everything!! hAHA she still mentions it all the time! Well then it didn't help that we went to buy somethings in liniers last week, and I was looking a tennis shoes because mine are pretty trashed, and the ones in liniers look like the real thing, but aren't so they are wicked cheap! well the guy that helped us find shoes, well he was definitly trying to flirt hard core with me, like tying my shoes for me and everything, slightly awkward! Whatever he gave me a good deal on the shoes, maybe I should have flirted to get a better deal, but well I think Ive forgotten how to flirt!
Well the next day we had to go exchanged the shoes cause the ones I bought were a little too small, well he exchanged them for me no problem, and as we were leaving he said ciao linda, for those of you don't know what that means, he said bye pretty girl! It made me feel awkward, and I just hope I never have to go to that store again!! But now my comp and all the members are making fun of my for it!!
Something really cool happened after that really awkward moment though, I was looking for some basketball shorts to wear at night because it is getting hot now,so we went to this one store and there was only one worker, she was helping us find what we wanted, and while I was trying the stuff on she started talking to my comp asking her if we were part of a church or something, so my comp tried to tell her what we were, and I was listening but not getting my hopes up, everyone that works in liniers lives far away, well she then asked well do you have anything to read, I want to learn more! I couldn't believe my ears, I got dressed really quickly and came out and started talking to her, and come to find out she lives just a few blocks away from there!! She is amazing! We have taught her once, and I can just sense such a desire from her to learn more! Pray for her please, her name
is Patricia! Also we have a few others, but I don't have time to really mention their stories, but their names are Alejandro, and Maria Adriana, remember them in your prayers please!!
Welp I gotta run, but thanks so much for your prayers, the work is starting to move along here in tonelero finally!!

Love you all

hermana Gosnell

Happy Mothers Day 10-21-09

Hey everyone, I forgot to send a shout out to all the mothers and future mothers
who read this to wish you all a happy mothers day, a little confused? Well don't worry, here in Argentina they celebrate mothers day in October! So everyone had lots of fun parties here to celebrate mothers day! Too bad we cant call home for both mothers days!!
Well I don't really have much to report, another boring week here in the mission, we are trying to talk to everyone we see, and we get to hear all kinds of insults, its a good thing my companion still doesn't really understand anything!! But no, I'm not too worried, I've seen miracles before in my mission, I just need to keep having faith and I will see results, but in the Lords time, not mine!!
The heat has come, but then it rains and the cold comes again, I'm not excited for the heat to come in its full vengence, but I am kind of sick of this hot then cold stuff going on! I wish it would just stay cold! Unfortunately summer is coming, and oh I have the mosquito bites to certainly prove that, I have about 50 in total on my body, and well lets just say they aren't fun!!
Well that's about all I have, we went to the temple last week and it was soooo nice! It was my last time in the temple for the rest of my mission because they are closing it down in November, that makes me really sad, but whatever it gives me incentive to save up my money to come back and see what the temple looks like afterwards... they say it will be a million times prettier, hard to believe!!
Welp sorry this is such a short letter, but I gotta run,

Love yall

hermana Gosnell

Spanish Bible

Hey guys, well I don't have much time, so I will write this fast! This last week we had our zone conference, and we got all kinds of new goodies, I got lots of nice packages and letters, thanks to everyone that sent me letters! I'm currently trying to write you all back! Also I don't know if many of you know this, but they just came out with and lds version of the bible, so the Spanish bible is the same as the English one now, its way exciting... well president and sister argyle ordered all the missionaries a bible with their name on it... so I got my very own new Spanish bible with my name on it, I was so excited!! Also this conference was amazing because in our interviews with president, well he didn't interview us like normal, he gave each of us a blessing, it was beyond words amazing!! When he put his hands on my head I could feel a spiritual power so strong that I had never felt before in my life and I started crying, and this is before he even started talking! Wow it was an amazing blessing, I am so blessed to be here in this mission right now, it is truly the best decision I have ever made, to go on a mission!!
Well not really much else is going on here, we left Romina and Richard, so we have
absolutely NO investigators,we are walking a lot and talking to a bunch of people and knocking on doors, we get home every night beyond words tired... but hey one day the Lord will bless us with success (alma 26:27)! My companion had her first bad contacting experience, she tried to stop a lady to talk to her in the street, and the lady went crazy and started yelling at us, telling us we are a bother to the people and we just need to go home and stuff like that! I thought it was funny, its happened to me before several times, but it had never happened to her, she says it doesn't bother her, but well she still talks about it so I know it does... poor girl!
Welp that is about all I have to say, and all the time I have to say it in, sorry its so short, but I gotta run!!

Love yall

hermana Gosnell

10-07-09 Conference Amazing!!!!

Hey everyone, I hope you all enjoyed conference as much as I did, well actually I don't think anyone could have enjoyed it as much as I did, but that's ok! Wasn't elder Hollands talk just amazing!! He had me rivited the entire time! He is amazing!! Well i actually don't have much time! But I hope everyone is good, So Romina and Richard, it looks like satan has gotten a hold of Romina good, she is fighting this a lot, and pretty much doesn't want to see us anymore, we have an appointment with them tonight and we are praying it will go well! Pray for us!
Sorry I don't really have much to write about, oh this is actually exciting, we might be moving! You see we live really far from the area we work in and we waste a ton of time and money, well I finally wrote my president about the situation and he called me on saturday really worried, he said he had no idea we were suffering like we have been, and sent our zone leader over to give us more money for now, and the zone leader is looking in to see if we can move!! Pray that we can!! Conference was a lot of fun, because we got some new elders in our zone who are hilarious!! Elder Arkansas got transferred, which was sad but a really funny elder who I don't know his name got put in, so that is good! And then another elder who I don't know what his area is, but he is in our zone, his name is elder Gaylord, he is freaking
hilarious (name sound familiar to anyone... Ladd?) Yeah anyways so it was lots of fun!
SOrry this is such a lame letter but I don't really have much to write about!
Oh one funny story, my companion was at it again, she hit herself in the head yesterday with a steel door... haha I almost died laughing, don't worry shes fine!! She didn't hit her head too hard!!

Welp love yall

Hermana Gosnell

PS Ladd if you were to send me a package, I would love to have... those sticky notes and stuff that everyone just loved here! and well I actually don't know what else... if you were thinking about food or candy well, um whatever, surprise me... haha love you... don't you just love L. Tom??

9-30-09 Double!!!!

So as a mission we reached the double!! It was def a miracle of the Lord! It reminds me of the story in the Bible about Gideons army, he had 10,000 soldiers and the Lord made him go into battle with only 300, so that they couldn't brag about their own strength, and that is def what happened in this mission! We had to get a ridiculously high number of baptisms this weekend, and only with the help of the Lord could we do it! There is no way we can brag on our own strengths, it was a miracle given to us from an all knowing and loving God!!
Well even though the mission saw a ton of baptisms this last week, we didn't see any here in Tonelero! But a little miracle we did see is that Romina and Richard have finally decided to get married!!! We are all very excited about this, the only problem is they want to wait until November 20, but the way they do things here in Argentina, is they have to wait at least 28 working days from the time they go and request the marriage, so they would have to wait a long time anyways! But we were also able to put a baptism goal with Romina, after 2 months of trying!! It was amazing! We also got to have another amazing lesson with Elder Campero, he extended his vacation with his family, and came with us to see Romina and Richard last Friday! It was an amazing lesson, and I must say I very much admire Elder Campero. We had lunch with him and his daughter in law that afternoon, and I had asked his daughter in law what he does, cause I've always wanted to know what people
like them do, I know they have a lot of work, but with what exactly? Well she had
mentioned it to him and he pulled out his scriptures and read to me from Doctrine and Covenants about what the responsibility of a 70 is, it was really cool! Basically they are responsible for missionary work. And well later that day we were able to see how seriously he takes his calling! We had the appointment with Romina and Richard at 5pm and he had a sealing of a dear family friend at 6:30, he got to our appointment a few minutes late, and to show how important it was to him to be on time, he was running... I'm not sure how many blocks he ran, but we saw him turn the corner and he was running to get to the appointment and he apologized a ton for being the few min late that he was... mind you he is like a 60 year old man... or older!! So when he caught his breath we asked him what time he needed to leave to get to the temple for the sealing, and he said no, I can't do 2 things well at once, so lets focus ourselves on this appointment and nothing else! I was so surprised! He def missed the sealing, but the lesson was amazing and Romina really started to understand! Our leaders aren't messing around when they tell us missionary work is important!!
Well this week has been a really good week! And I can't wait for this weekend, I'm so excited for general conf, and I get to watch it in English this time because I'm not with a latin!! YAY!! I hope all is well, and thank you to everyone for your letters... I love hearing from everyone!!

Love yall

Hermana Gosnell

9-23-09

Ok so there were no transfers, so I am here another 6 weeks with hermana Reese. We are both pretty excited about it, even before we knew there would no transfers we went out and bought ice cream to celebrate, because we decided we didn't want transfers, and well we were right... there were no changes! Actually our president basically told us that there would be very little changes because we are in the last week of the double. I haven't mentioned it, but last year at this time as a mission we put a goal to double baptisms, and this is the last week of that period, and to achieve it we need as a mission to have 52 baptisms this weekend!! It is a huge goal, because the most we have ever seen in a weekend is 43 I think! So pray for us that this weekend we will be able to see a miracle! My comp and I well, we don't have much to work with but we have faith that we will see a miracle in some form this week! So because of this president said there wouldn't be very many changes, and even told us to treat this week like a normal one, because normally we have district meetings on mondays and pday on wednesdays, but transfer week it is all different, we have pday on tuesdays and district meetings on wednesdays, but this week no, we kept it all the same... which is good because I forgot to tell you all to write me before tuesday!!
Well This last week nothing too exciting is going on! My comp did't have too many crazy things happen. She did fall once that was really funny! We were running to cross the street cause a bus was coming and we got to the other side and she just biffed it, I don't even know what happened, all of a sudden I turn around and my comp is sprawled out all over the sidewalk with all the contents of her bag spilled everywhere... it was soooo funny!! Luckily she didn't get hurt!!
Oh and our lesson with Elder Campero went well, it wasn't exactly everything I had hoped it to be, it actually almost didn't even happen! Romina was really sick and refused to come down until we said we would just leave and come back another day and then she came down to see us!! And it was really nice cause elder campero gave her a blessing, and we had a lesson and he bore his testimony which was really nice, but it was hard because romina was really sick and she wasnt really paying attention, but the spirit was really strong, and I know it helped them a lot! Beacause we went back on saturday and talked to them about baptism and marriage, and well romina is still saying no to baptism, and we had what we called a charla franco with them, which is basically saying they need to get baptized, because we have nothing left to teach them, and they really started thinking about it, and well we will get our answer from them tonight! I hope it all goes well!!
Wow I don't really know what to say, not much is going on, we are working a lot but
sometimes I feel like we aren't doing anything! I know I'm putting in my all because I don't know what more I can do!! I love this work, I love being a missionary but it is def the hardest thing I have ever done!! We are working a ton with the members, trying to gain their confidence, its hard, but little by little maybe we can do it!
Welp I gotta run, we have lots to do!!

Love yall and thanks for everything!!

Hermana Gosnell

PS to Ladd, I dont hate you, I just miss you a TON!!!!

9-16-09

So this last week has been a good one, we have had one gross experience, one funny, one annoying, and one AMAZING!! So I will proceed to tell you all each one!!
I will start with the gross experience, so we had lunch with the flia gamarra on friday, it was some kind of spinach thing, it was good and rice, with aji (some kind of spicy thing) I love aji, so I put a ton on my food, I actually really liked everything I ate, and we left and went to work... well I started to feel really sick about an hour later. But like really sick, but I wanted to keep working, and anyways since it was friday we go home at 6 to plan, so I was like I can hang on until then. So we walked around a lot and then ended the day with ruth and marcelo (los gitanos) I was feeling really sick and just wanted to go home, we shared with them the scripture we had wanted and i was ready to go, but as always marcelo left to go buy something for us to drink, I mentioned I didn't want anything because I felt sick, so Ruth said just buy apple juice, so he left, and I was like I hope I don't throw up, so Ruth showed me where the bathroom was just in case, we walked back to their room and I was about to sit down when I turned around and ran out the door and por suerte made it to the bathroom and started throwing up... it was so bad! For those of you who know me, I NEVER throw up!! I just wanted to go home, but well we live about 40min from our area in bus, or 15min in car... but car is more expensive, well I couldn't handle driving in a bus, so I opted for a car. We sat with ruth and marcelo for a bit for me to calm down, and then we left walking to find a remis place, well all the cars were being used so we left to find another one, luckily we found a taxi and took that. I told him I wasn't feeling well, but he just kept driving crazy, and well usually they dont talk to us but this one did, he talked a ton, and I didn't want to talk back but I had to, I looked at my companion and asked her to pray I wouldn't up chuck in the car... luckily I didn't! I got home changed as quickly as I could and curled up and bed and fell asleep, slept for a few hours and started throwing up again! It was awful... but that was the last of it! I slept the rest of the night, I ended up sleeping for like 12hours straight!! I was still feeling horrible on sat so we stayed in all day, I counted it up and I slept 24hours during a 48hour period... I got caught up on all my lost sleep! It was horrible, but well at least I am better now, Im just nervous to eat at the gamarra house now!!
Ok so now for my really funny experience, of course this has to do with my companion!! So after district meeting we had a lunch appointment really far away and so we took a bus, it was ridiculously crowded, I cant even explain how bad it was, well I was being pushed toward the back as more and more people squeezed on, some how my companion stayed up front. Well I finally got to the doors and stayed put so I could get off quickly, well I saw our stop coming up and motioned to my comp that we were getting off, I thought she would either start moving back or try to get off up front. So any ways I jump off and stand there waiting for my comp. She never got off, I start freaking up and she still isnt getting off. I see her face show up in the doorway as the door shuts and the bus starts moving... I take off running after the bus screaming PARÁ PARÁ which is stop in spanish, but of course that doesn't do anything! so luckily the bus stopped only a block away and she gets off and comes running over to me, and tells me what happened. So she wanted to get off the front but couldn't get around the people, so tried to push her
way back, but she is really sweet and only nicely asks people out of the way, here in Buenos Aires you cant be too sweet when you need to get off a crowded bus! Well she made it to the doors as he closes the doors, she started to panic and yelled WAIT!! IN ENGLSIH!!! HAHA it was so funny, she started touching the timbre like a million times so they just let her off a block later!! I died laughing, I thought it was so funny!!
So now for the annoying story combined with the amazing story! It all happened
yesterday!! SO yesterday started out horrible, but ended AMAZING! We had an appointment with the gitanos, and well ruth wasn't home, so we went to find marcelo, and he freaked out trying to find his wife, so needless to say we went and found something else to do. Then we had been told we had lunch with gamarra because they had signed up for the elders but since they aren't here anymore we could have it, which is good because we dont have time or money to go home, but i was a little nervous to eat there again so soon... they are the ones that I got food poisoning with, and they usually give us liver or heart to eat! But I thought they would be waiting for us! So we go and buy juice to bring with us to share with them, because their water is not the most sanitary, so we always bring soda or juice or something! Well we get there and no one is there, I was slightly relieved, and we turned around to leave right as oscar comes walking up and was like no my wife will be home soon wait. So I thought ok we will wait, emma got home 10min later
and didn't say anything about lunch and didn't start fixing it, oscar left to go wash his face so I told emma not to worry about the food that we were fine, because we had dinner that night and we didn't need to eat, and they are the hardest to convince because oscar was like no give them food, so I told them I had been sick and still wasn't hungry and wanting to eat, which was mostly true, but they still made us food. Not after emma freaks out and was like no I didn't have lunch with you guys, alicia didn't tell me and I saw her today why wouldn't she have told me, plus I signed up for the elders not you all and since the elders aren't here it isn't for you guys, and all these things! Which makes me really sad because they never treated us this way when hermana ladd was here. In fact most the members dont really treat us that great anymore now that ladd is gone! The gamarra and the sampayo are the worst! They always talk about all these wonderful amazing things hermana ladd did... but the funny thing, SHE NEVER DID THEM!! At least the hermana ladd I knew never did, and as amazing as they talk about her, Im surprised she isnt translated yet... because she is better than perfect in their eyes... because well she is like a really good person! And the gamarra used to tell us that whenever we needed lunch
to just come over and they would make us something! Well I guess that is out now! Well they whipped us up something, like a spoonful of rice each, half a fried egg and almost raw lentils with like a whole onion each... it was GROSS!! They dont usually feed us like that! I couldn't eat it all because it was so disgusting! I scarfed what I could down, so did my comp and then we shared a scripture and left quickly, because the whole time they talked about hermana ladd did this and you all don't, and how we should be more like her! I just didn't want to listen to it anymore!! They would talk about how she would always come over and spend her pdays with them all day long even though it was her free day... SHE NEVER DID THAT!!!! I was like fed up! SO still being hungry, we went to ruth and marcelos to complain, we didnt ask for food, because we were just going to go to the gas station to grab something later, but ruth asked if we were still hungry and then left to call marcelo and see if he would bring us some asado he was making for his family,
which he did, and it was SOOOO GOOD!!! Ruth and Marcelo are one of the only ones that dont treat us any differently... I just love them, they are truly amazing!! Also the flia bacarreza and flia campero treat us just the same, the rest are varying degrees of what gamarra are like towards us! We have a lot of trust to gain!! So after being with ruth, we left to go to our other appointments, no one was home so we did some contacts and then caught a bus out to our branch presidents house because she was making us waffles, because she has a waffle maker, I havent hadd waffles since our north carolina trip! So we got out there, and it was AMAZING!! She had maple syrup, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, cut up strawberries, It was like I had died and gone to heavan!! I was so excited, my comp and I scarfed them down, they were the best waffles ever!! We ate a ton!! So while we were eating her father in law comes home, he is here visiting because they are going to bless their new daughter this weekend, and they had to do it this weekend because oh her father in law is an area 70 and could only make it for this weekend! SO he comes in sits down and starts asking us about our investigators and stuff like that! He is really cool but I was so nervous, then he was like well do you have any
investigators close by we could go visit, which we don't and I was like dang no we dont. Then he was like ok well if you would like I could meet you somewhere and come with you on a visit! I had to contain my excitement! I was like yeah actually we have an appointment with romina and richard tomorrow and we want to teach them tithing!! I was wanting to bring a member but I couldn't think of who would be good to invite... well I think he is PERFECT!! I couldn't believe it, he is meeting us tonight and we are going over to teach them, I was so excited I told him all about romina and richard and everything, he seems really interested. I just cant even believe it, I cant wait until tonight!! I mean this guy has a ton of power, he just has the spirit with him, as soon as he walked in yesterday you could just tell he was a man with the spirit! This is going to be awesome! I am a little nervous because Im the sr comp and I have to teach like amazing, pray for me that I do well!! Well That is all my stories, I think this is officially my longest letter EVER I hope you enjoyed all the details I was able to put in, I know I left out a lot... but hey when you only got an hour what can you do?
Welp I love yall, hope all is well... and well THE MISSION IS AMAZING!!

Love ya

Hermana Gosnell

9-9-09

Welp this last week has just been another same old week! We walked a lot, taught a few lessons, got stood up, had rain, wind, and sunshine... but to be honest, it has been an amazing week!! Nothing crazy or out of the ordinary happened, but I had a great week! Romina and Richard are going to be getting married, they are just working out when now!! I hope it is sooner than later!!
I'm sorry this letter is really going to be super lame, I have a really cool spiritual experience to tell, and a ridiculously funny story to tell, and that is all!! But if it makes anything better, I will try to send pics!
Ok, so I will tell the funny story first! So last week we spent our pday with the elders of our district at the church eating pizza and playing ping pong, well my comp and I didn't bring regular clothes because we thought they were going to play soccer and my ankle still isn't strong enough for soccer! Well they didn't have a ball so we played ping pong instead! Well the elders decided to play round the world ping pong... which I must say once I warmed up, I was pretty good... I came in second place once!! Well I can't say that so much for my poor comp! The shoes she was wearing are very slippery... I really wish I had a video of what happened, because words just can't even describe!! So we were playing, and she goes up and hits the ball puts the paddle down and goes to run around to the other side, only I'm not sure what happened but she lost her footing and biffed it, but hard... it was so funny to watch because it was like a twirly flip fall... haha the elders say it looked like Michael Jacksons triple spin! HAHA I fell on the ground laughing so hard... the elders went and helped her up... I felt a little bad because I should have helped her up, but I couldn't I was laughing so hard!! So I thought ok that should be enough to teach her that her shoes are all slippery... apparently not! Just ten minutes later she does another fall... but this one was a little scary... she hits the ball puts the paddle down and goes running only slips and goes to do a face plant on the corner of the table!! Luckily she put her hand out to catch herself so her head didn't hit the table, but she missed it by inches, we all were holding our breath until we saw that she was laughing and then we all lost it, I once again had to sit down because of laughing so hard, and the elders once again did my job by helping her up!! HAHA I decided that is was prob best if we left before she ended up breaking anything!! Whenever we see the elders they are always like hey remember that time you biffed it playing ping pong... welp she has her reputation now!!!
Ok now so for the really spiritual experience, well I actually wont write everything about it, but it was really very special. We ate lunch with a member with the elders we are sharing our area with, well after lunch they told us in their study that morning they read a really powerful scripture that talked about blessings and stuff, then they took turns giving each other blessings of comfort that morning, and he said, and well we thought about you guys and wanted to offer a blessing, well my comp and I def jumped at the offer! We walked to the church and went into seperate rooms to pray. After that one of the elders gave me and my companion a blessing, I cant write what was in it, but there were things he said specifically to me that I know there is no way he could know, and also the same for my companions blessing! I started crying realizing how much our Father in Heaven loves us and knows us more completely than we know ourselves! I've never had such a simple more profound blessing... It was so simple but yet so perfectly tailored for me! I'm so geateful to be in this country serving my mission right now, I know there is nothing better I could be doing! I'm so grateful for my Father in Heaven who loves me and for all the wonderful blessings he has given, to name just a very few, my wonderful loving family who is always there to support me... THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING!!

I Love you all more than you know!!

Hermana Gosnell

9-2-09 Happy Birthday!!!

Ok so there are like a million birthdays that happen in September, so let me just mention a few of my immediate family and then the rest of my cousins just assume I'm wishing you a happy birthday too! Happy birthday to: Dad, Grandpa, Rachel, Waveney... and then whoever else has a birthday in September... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
Ok now that I have that out of the way, I hope everyone is doing great!! This last week has been kind of dull, we did a lot of walking, we had a few exciting moments, like last Saturday morning we were dropping of our clothes to be washed by a member who wasn't home, her neighbor let us in this little hallway and then left, but left the door open so we could leave, well as we were writing a note to the member, the outside door shut... leaving us locked in this hallway until someone came along and let us out... it was pretty funny, we were locked inside for like 15min!!
The elders had a baptism, and well let me just say I did most of the work, I filled the baptism font, I gave a talk, my comp played the piano and said a pray, I led the music, and well the list could go on and on... lets just say I'm like a really good person... haha!! The baptism was alright, almost nobody went, but it was sweet, the next day the guy didn't get to church in time so he will have to be confirmed this week! But we had FIVE investigators at church, it was amazing, I was so excited!! We are working hard to find new people to teach, lets hope we can get some baptisms soon!! Well I'm sure there were other funny and awesome moments, but to be honest I can't think of anything, and I don't have much time!
I hope all of you are doing great!! Keep healthy... and WRITE ME!!

Love

Hermana Gosnell

I have decided elders are not my friend in the mission field. So I'll start with this
story so we can just move on from it. So work here in Tonelero is pretty hard, We don't
have many investigators, and we have one that went to church a few weeks ago and gave
Hermana Ladd a few scriptures to read, it was a little weird, and then we couldn't find
him. Well last Thursday we went to see where he lived. It's kinda hard to explain but
he lives in the house of a member, we went to see her and she wasn't feeling very well,
so we offered to have the elders pass by for her the next day and give her a blessing,
she said she would like that so we set an appointment to come back and see José (our
investigator) and left... we called the elders to tell them they had an appt and that in
this place lives a few of our investigators, we told them their names and then said
there were a few other people there they could teach... but not to touch José and the
other 2 who are our investigators! Well later the next night they call us all excited,
they found a new investigator at the house of this member, he just so happens to have
all the church attendance he needs to get baptized... guess what his name is... JOSÉ I
was like um guys he is our investigator, and they were like well we taught him and put
a baptism date with him, but we will talk to president. So they called president and
all he did was laugh and said just work it our between you all and your district leader.
Well background on my district leader, he hates hermanas, in fact I've had a few elders
tell me how much this district leader hates me and hated Hermana Ladd, only because we
are hermanas, seriously we haven't done any of that annoying sister missionary stuff,
it is just because we are girls! So when they told me that they had to work it out with
him, I knew all my chances of keeping one of my few precious investigators was gone!
Well the next morning I get a call from my district leader demanding me to give up José,
the next half an hour we were on the phone, not talking in hushed tones... I haven't
lost my patience that bad in a long time!! Well it didn't matter how much I explained
according to president's rules José is our investigator. Elder Empey kept saying it
doesn't matter... I made the decision... Well so this last weekend I lost one of our
precious investigators, I made a comment to the elders that this wouldn't have happened
to us if we were elders too, and they all said you're right, this only happened to you
guys because you're sisters! I was so mad!! So yeah, I don't have very friendly
feelings toward my district leader!! OK now that I've gotten that story out of the way, we'll get to the fun stuff... Really
nothing much else happened this week, we had zone conference, it was alright, all
president talked about was numbers... because we are currently trying to double the
baptisms from last year, and we only have 5 weeks left to do it, and he talked about all
the baptisms we all need to get to reach the goal, and it kind of stressed me out!
Well after that this losing my investigator happened. But then Monday was a good day,
we spent the day walking... A LOT But we were ending it with our 2 investigators who
are awesome, their only problem is they need to get married! Well we were knocking on
this one door and this dog came up to us and dropped a rock in between my comps feet,
it was really weird, she got scared and kicked it away, but not very far, the dog was
not impressed... so he came over to me and put it right on top of my shoe... haha I got
the hint, he wanted to play!! I kicked it far away and the dog went running after it,
we stood there playing kick the rock for like 5 min... it was really fun but we had to
get back to work! We ended that night going to see Romina and Richard, with one of our
members... it was an amazing powerful lesson... we watched the restoration, and it was
so good and at the end I asked Richard what he thought about all this and he said it's
true... I put a baptism date with him and he accepted and was super happy, his wife
didn't accept yet, she is a little afraid for the big decision and feels like she needs
more time... but they both still have to get married and she loves reading the Book of
Mormon and going to church, so she will get baptized with him... things will work out
great... as long as the elders don't steal them too!! Alright well that's about all I have time for, sorry about the lame letter, oh yeah
Brian was asking me for details about my comp... she is way cool we laugh a lot!! She
is from Colorado and has about 6 months in the mission! We have fun together! Maybe I
will send pics some day!! Well I hope all is well, Love ya Hermana Gosnell

OK not to seem like I'm counting time... because I'm NOT! But tomorrow I officially have one whole year in the mission, where has the time gone?? My companion was talking last night about how she will have a year in Feb and it isn't that far away, I got a sick feeling in my stomach thinking, if feb isnt that far away, Im almost done with my mission... I didnt like that thought process, so therefor I have started to come up with ways I can either slow down, or reverse time... any ideas would be helpful!!
Well I dont really have anything spectacular to write about, and well I dont have much time to write either! I have a new companion, she s awesome! Her name is Hermana Reese, and this is her second area... she loves to do contacts, and we are finding new investigators a full!! I must say my conversation skills are improving, because well I do all the talking, spanish is still a little hard for her! But hey I love to talk!!
The whole having the elders thing here is pretty cool but kind of stressful because they dont pass us all their references, if they find a good one they keep it for themselves, which they arent supposed to do, but whatever, we have zone conference this friday so I will get more guidance from presdent on this subject!!
We have started teaching a beautiful family, the only problem is they arent married... but want to, only when they have more money!! Yeah but they are awesome, they came to church this last sunday even though it was pouring and storming a ton! Yeah they are amazing!!
Well I think Im gonna run for now, sorry this letter is so lame, I hope all is well back home! Love ya

hermana Gosnell

Tuesday Aug. 11, 2009

Ok so this week, went by so fast that I don't even remember what happened!! Tomorrow I will be saying goodbye to Hermana Ladd, it will be really hard... but luckily her mom came to pick her up and so she will still be at church this next Sunday! So tomorrow isn't like forever goodbye! I bet you all are just wanting to hear all about my new comp... well all I know is her name is Hermana Reese... I think! She gets here tonight at like 4, so we are just cleaning and getting ready for her all day! She is coming from Ushuaia, she started her mission there, she has 3 transfers in the mission, which means I think she started in Feb or March... she is from the states, but I'm not sure which one! I seriously don't know anything else... her last comp was Hermana Guerra, who is awesome! So I'm hoping she is really cool!

Also another weird thing about this transfer is I am sharing the branch of Tonelero with elders... now get this, the elders only job is to find investigators for me to teach!! Yeah I'm serious!! Every person they find they have to hand over to me and my comp to teach!! Apparently there are a lot of missionaries from the MTC here waiting for visas to go to other missions so they have to hang out in our mission for a bit and president didn't know what to do with them so he is putting one of them with an elder from our mission here and having them find people for us sisters to teach!! I'm still a little bit confused, but hey I'm pretty dang excited... We are gonna have a lot of baptisms this transfer!! The one elder I know who will be here is kinda stressed, because he won't be doing any teaching, but he is really cool and sorta excited... at least trying to be! I'm gonna try to involve them in the teaching process as much as I can because it isn't fair to them to only find and not teach... but I'm not gonna lie, I'm so excited!!!

So lets see some random stories, this past week I was up to my old tricks and sprained my ankle... it was bad for a couple of days, but I slapped my handy dandy brace on it and I'm doing better!! I won't even go into details on how it happened... its just too embarrassing, and not funny!! Also the ward threw a surprise party for Hermana Ladd and told me about it... I knew she didn't want anything like that... because she wanted to work until the last day, not say goodbye to anyone! So I told her so she would have a heads up... because if she walked into that blind she would have probably gotten mad... this way she was prepared and was able to pretend to be happy!! It started at 6 and we said we would be there at 630, and they got mad and were like no you need to be here on time... well we got there late because we know the members here are late people, we got there and they blindfolded Hermana Ladd and she walked in and there was like one person there... haha SURPRISE!! She acted confused, and it was confusing because one person was there, but then everyone started coming!! It was sweet, but a little stressful! Also we sang in church on Sunday and it turned out so beautiful... just the 2 of us sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives, we sang one verse in English and then 4 in Spanish everyone in the chapel was crying... it was powerful!!

Welp I think that is about all I can think of, plus I'm hungry so I'm going to finish this up and go eat!! I hope to hear from you all next week (since I didn't hear from ANYONE, except Mom, this week)

Love y'all

Hermana Gosnell

Wed. Aug 5, 2009

Hello everyone! I have gotten all kinds of good reports of this last weekend how Gabi's baby blessing was really sweet! I hope you all didn't spend the whole time sitting around moping about how much you missed me... its OK though, I know it must be hard!!

Welp this last week we have been working HARD!! And the unfortunate thing about that is, there are no instant results in this kind of work! Its going slowly, but when you drop like more than 20 investigators, you just know its gonna be hard work!! Yesterday we decided to head over to an area we had never worked in (even Hna Ladd who has been here for like 9 months) Well we can see why, nothing happened! But we did walk like A MILLION MILES!! OK maybe not that much, but almost I'm sure!! But its a good thing we get a long so well, the time passes faster. But maybe that is a bad thing because the time is passing WAY TOO FAST!! Next week is transfers and I will be saying goodbye to Hermana Ladd and hello to a new companion, whoever that may be... I hope she is fun and a hard worker!!
So a cool thing that happened this last week is we went the the house of a member knowing that 2 new families had just moved to her house (she rents out rooms of her house) and we got there and she was like hey can you wait for a few min. so we sat down and waited and a few minutes later she came out with 3 people and they all sat down and were waiting for us to teach them!!! 2 of them are a couple (I hope they are married) and they have 3 kids, ages 10,7,5 we are so excited to keep teaching them, we have an appointment with them tonight!!
Also one more thing, this last week as we all know it was Fast Sunday. This Sunday we have decided to put our faith to the test, we promised the Lord that we will obey with 100% exactness and work as hard as we can. We are looking to have a baptism this weekend... we still don't know who it will be! Pray for us to not loose faith! I know that the Lord will follow through, we just need to do our part!! Its kind of scary being its Wed. and still not knowing, but I'm not losing faith!!

So I don't have a lot of funny stories to tell, we have a lot I'm sure, because we are laughing a little too much sometimes I think! Our zone leader called us gigglers... we weren't to happy about that... we are def not gigglers... but whatever what does he know??

My one funny story for the week... So we decided we wanted to make zuchinni bread, Hermana Ladd's mom sent her a recipe... our only problem is neither of us knew how to say it in spanish, or even how to describe it (its a vegetable, and green?) I actually to be honest didn't even know what a zuchinni looked like!! So we consulted our trusty dictionary, and it said calabacita, so we went on over to the vege and fruit stand and asked for one of those... the lady looked at us like we were crazy, and held up a pumpkin, we were like no its a vegetable and its green... really specific right? well she ended up giving us something green, I didn't know what a zuchinni looked like so it seemed good to me, and Hermana Ladd was like I don't think this is it. So we go home and look up what we had just bought... apparently we bought acorn squash... whatever THAT is!! Well we had that instead of zuchinni, we decided to make the bread anyways just to see how it would turn out... and to our surprise, it was really good!! So we took it to our branch presidents wife the next day because she just had a baby and we were telling her about what happened, and she thought it was funny and she was like what kind of vegetable were you looking for, and we were like well we don't know what it is called in spanish still, but in english it is zuchinni... she just started to laugh... apparently its the same word in spanish too!!! We feel like such idiots... oh well I guess that's what you get when you put to yankees together!!

Welp that's about all I think... I hope all is well for everyone back home! Love you all and cant wait to hear from you all next week!!

Hermana Gosnell

PS a shout out to bro Ramirez, that's for the note... I'll just leave you in charge of negotiating with the gypsie... I like your prices!!

OK so this week was full of laughs and fun, but also it was a long stressful week. We are still in the, looking for people who want eternal salvation, but we just feel like we are fighting with people to understand us. Whatever, there are thousands of people in Tonelero just waiting to hear our voices, we just have to find them, who knew it would be so hard??

This last week we celebrated Christmas, it was A TON of fun, we took pictures, made smoothies, Christmas cookies with icing (Hermana Ladd has Christmas cookie cutters) and we made crepes for breakfast, and then we sang the first verse of all the Christmas hymns, AND read the Christmas orange story, wow it was better than my real Christmas!! We were going to buy each other presents but we didn't have time or money, but it was better that way!! This week we are celebrating New Years! We are going to dress up and order a really good meal and drink Mormon champagne... haha we are such dorks, but it keeps us animated after long hard weeks!!

I wish I had better stories to tell this week, but I just don't! But I guess I will just end with a funny food Gypsy story!! There are always good funny stories when it comes to the Gypsies!!

So when we eat with them it is ALWAYS asado, and usually deliciousness, well this last Sunday, it was good... until Marcelo brought out something neither one of us knew what it was. He gave us each one and said try it, but if you don't like it don't eat it, we asked what it was and he told us but neither one of us knew what it was, we decided it was better to try it first then ask for details later... I thought it can't be worse than heart or liver can it?? I only tried like 2 bites, when I cut into it stuff oozed out, I didn't think that was a good sign, it was so disgusting and after we asked what it was... apparently it was intestines... YUCK!! But not only that, later we were talking to another missionary and he was like no that stuff is good, but there are 2 ways to fix it, the only way to eat it is cleaned out, did you have it cleaned out or with the crap still in it... so just to add to my list of weird foods, I ate intestines with crap still inside it!! I wanted to eat a bar of soap afterwards... but i didn't!! Oh I just love Argentina!!

Haha, welp that is all I have time for, it is so cold here, my fingers hurt to type...
but I'm not complaining, it is a lot better than summer!!

Love y'all

Hermana Gosnell

Feliz Día de Amigo

SO here in Argentina July 20th is what they call friend day, who knew they actually celebrated it hard core here, well we thought we would buy some little candies to hand out to people, then we found out some of the recent converts bought us a gift, we were freaking out realizing we needed to do something for them, what do you even buy for friend day! We ended up just buying more candy... haha hey we are poor missionaries!! Well they bought us mates and are going to teach us how to make mate, I'm pretty excited, it was really cute! So everyone happy friend day, oh and august 9th is kids day, these Argentines LOVE celebrating holidays!!

I'm sorry this letter is probably going to be pretty lame, not too much exciting has happened this last week, we are still looking for new investigators, we are walking A LOT and its hard, but then I realize at least i have a friend as my companion, things could be worse!!

Oh and some info we shouldn't know yet, but Hermana Ladds old comp called her, we are getting 3 new missionaries this next transfer, and it looks like I will probably be training... I'm so nervous, I would like another yankee but I will probably get a latin, I just hope its a good one!! I wont be going back to liniers, because president told me that he needs someone like Hermana Ladd to keep Tonelero going and that is why he chose me to go to Liniers! That is like a huge thing because she is an awesome missionary and everyone loves her here! But I'm so ready for it!

OK so to clear up the Gypsy thing, it was just a funny story, they never actually offered money, and the guy left to go back home! There are some gypsies that aren't good, they have a bad rep here, but the ones we are always with are just a little weird, but good people! The one we go see is a Gypsy, he just joined the church because he married a non Gypsy who is a member, and now she dresses like a Gypsy (poor girl) and lives the lifestyle, but they are really good members of the church! But the whole buying me thing, its kind of a joke, so you can stop worrying and tell dad that I'm perfectly fine!

OK so funny story, I needed Hermana Ladd to send me a letter from our president, so she went to forward it to me and put in the letter fool, remember that time the creepy man was making that noise, just a funny joke thing we have, well it ends up instead of forwarding it to me, she emailed that line to our mission president! HAHA we have been laughing about that one for the last 10 min! She had to write him again saying sorry, I can't wait to see if he says something next week! HAHA I'm just glad it wasn't me!! Sorry this letter is so lame, maybe once we start getting investigators it will be better! We have decided we need to be more obedient, so we study in separate rooms, and it is so hard to not talk to each other, its ridiculous, but oh well we are doing better!!

Hope everyone is well, and I'd love to hear from everyone and get pics of the cutest kids
in the world!!

Love y'all

Hermana Gosnell

So this week was good, interesting, and stressful! Let's just say I'm still so grateful to be with my new comp! She is amazing (she is threatening to call mom when she gets home!) So we did a lot of walking this past week, and we are still working on finding new investigators that will progress, it would be nice if the members realized how important they are in our work, in fact one of the members told us that they aren't here to help us, we are here to help them (the members) after that it was hard to ask for help, or in other words ask for references! But not all the members are like him, most of them are trying to think of friends, and we are getting references slowly but surely!

Last Friday was zone conference, and during the conference one of the elders in Liniers was giving an example and basically trashed the work I had done in Liniers saying when he got there, there was nothing to work with and then they found an awesome family (which this family was found by our zone leaders, I put the appointment and all this elder do was show up at the appt). Well after he finished his example feeling like president was going to congratulate him, he got the opposite. President Argyle looked at him and said Elder good job, but just so you know you are living in abundance thanks to what this sister here has done for your area now, and went on for a minute about how he is so blessed to be in Liniers in comparison to what I lived through in Liniers! I felt pretty good! Then in my interview later with President he told me he didn't take me out of Liniers because of my work, he just said he had to close an area because he lost 2 hermanas and no new ones came. His exact wording was I closed Liniers because your companion left and her replacement didn't get here in time (making it sound like he is planning on me training soon). He said he wanted to keep me close so that is why I'm in Tonelero, and he just said thank you a lot for everything I did, I felt really good, but it really isn't anything I did, I just did my part and the Lord is the one that did all the work! But I was really grateful for all the things president said, because I did feel a little like maybe he didn't trust me to keep Liniers going, but he told me that wasn't it at all!!

So after zone conference we had weekly planning where we celebrated thanksgiving with corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, and green beans, also we ate derby pie for dessert!!It was a good thanksgiving, this Friday is Halloween and our birthdays! It is going to be fun! Friday was a little sad because all the elders took all the English Ensigns, so I won't get to even read conference in English. I'm kinda bummed! And even though I finally got my b-day package from mom and a few good letters, my comp didn't receive ANYTHING!! Not even one letter or postcard, it is her last transfer, she didn't really say anything but I could tell she was kinda bummed! I was thinking if anyone wanted to write her something you could send it to me and Ill print it out and give it to her like they are letters so she can feel special!

OK so Saturday my companions back started to hurt, but not too bad, and we walked like all day Sat!! Then I finally met the gypsies! They are really funny, very sarcastic! I'm starting to learn there are a lot of rules to the whole Gypsy lifestyle! You can only be born into, or marry into it, but that is harder! Don't worry I'm not thinking about becoming a Gypsy, I'm just giving background info! So sat night we were talking to Ruth and Marcelo (Marcelo is a Gypsy and Ruth just married into it) Marcelo just joined the church about a month ago and Ruth is already a member! Well apparently Marcelo's dad is like top Gypsy, and their house is like headquarters or something, well one of the cousins or something got in a fight with his girlfriend and is staying at the house, well he is weird, and every time we have gone he just sits there staring at us! Well another bit of background the gypsies do arranged marriages, but its more like they buy the wives! SO my comp went to the bathroom and the dad Gypsy started talking to this cousin about me and how I was cute, and then the cousin agreed and the dad started asking me a ton of questions, luckily my comp came back and we left! I think the cousin wants to buy me!! So we went back yesterday and he was asking us all kinds of questions and hermana Ladd didn't let me talk because he was directing them at me, luckily he goes back home (which is far) today! We think it is really funny that a Gypsy wants to buy me!

So Sunday rolls around and my companions back starts hurting even more! and we walked A LOT and we ate lunch with the gypsies, it was good traditional Argentine asado!! Can I just say DELICIOUS!! And we just walked all day after that, well at the end of the day my comp could barely move! Monday I wake up at 6:30 with the alarm and my comp goes hermana is it 6:30 yet, and I was like yeah that is what the alarm means, and she was like ok I need to go to the bathroom, I was like um OK go, and then she said I can't move! I had to help her out of the bed (she was sleeping on the top bunk) so she could go to the bathroom, she had been waiting like 2 hours for it to be 6:30!! I don't know why she just didn't wake me up!! SO then I gave her my bed and took her mattress down, because I won't sleep on the top bunk! But she was in so much pain she was in bed all day long, so we were in all day Monday! I went a little crazy, I had to help her get up every time she needed to!! It was crazy, she got some medicine and it helped a little! so that night she slept in my bed and I slept on a mattress on the floor. Tuesday she woke up a little better so we went out to work, but by the end of the day she was dead, we went to our mission leaders house and he gave her a blessing! She starting crying before the blessing, and she never cries, it was really hard! But then this morning she wakes up and feels great! Her back is still really stiff but she isn't in pain! Keep her in your prayers, but don't worry about her too much, I take really good care of her! I carried her bag around all day, it was so heavy cause it had both our stuff in it!

Well I think that is all the exciting stuff for this week, my comp almost died and a Gypsy wants to buy me! I also had a really spiritual experience this last Sunday, but its one of those things that isn't appropriate for an email, so it will just have to wait until I can tell it after the mission!!

Love you all and keep the letters coming!!

Hermana Gosnell

Welp everyone I have been officially welcomed into Tonelero. My very first lunch here we ate with a family from Peru and well they were joking about how they were going to make us heart someday so I could try it, and I said OK well if you do just don't tell me before hand, we ate lunch and I didn't really enjoy the meat, it was just a little too chewy for me, after we ate it they were like oh yeah by the way, you just ate heart!! I freaked out, so I made it like 10 months into my mission and this is my first weird thing, we also just ate lunch with them this week and they gave us liver and brought in like a huge live fish and killed it and made fish burgers, I almost threw up watching them fix it, I made my comp sit in front of me so I couldn't see it. Luckily I had told them before that day that I can't eat fish so they just gave me liver soup and rice with a fried egg on top! Sounds delicious doesn't it! I think life will be interesting here!!

I don't really have much time to talk about too much. I feel bad because this week was awesome, lets just say I am the happiest I have ever been in my mission right now. I'm with an awesome companion, we are like the same person, which is a little scary sometimes! And the area has been having a lot of success, this week was kind of hard though because we had to leave a lot of investigators and then that family of 6 that was supposed to get baptized this week left us, but I haven't lost hope or let it get me down. We both just decided it meant the Lord has another even better family for us to find. We went out and knocked doors the other day and found an investigator by singing to him. It was a joke my comp and I had I said I would ask him if we could sing and she didn't believe me, well he actually said we could we were so surprised we were like um what should we sing, well we have an appointment with him tomorrow!!

This last Saturday we decided we were both so happy about the fact we are both from the States and we celebrated 4th of July, we made hamburgers and I totally made derby pie. It was delicious, then we decided since I passed most of my major holidays with Riquelme and I was suffering we are going to re celebrate every holiday in this transfer, this Friday is Thanksgiving, next week is Halloween and our birthdays (because her birthday is Halloween for real) and then the next week is Christmas and the next is New Years and then we are still trying to figure out the last holiday, we are thinking Abe Lincolns birthday, but if anyone has any ideas we would love to hear it!! I'm so excited about this transfer!! It is so much fun being with someone from the same place as me!!

The members here are awesome. I already feel like part of the branch, they all love us and are always trying to take care of us. It is so much different then the ward of Liniers, where in our first meeting with the ward mission leader told us we were a bother to the ward, it is not like that here!!

My comp and I speak in English like all the time, I forgot how much I like English, but we don't speak in pure English, we speak in Spanglish because sometimes things in Spanish come out easier, it is funnier when I randomly say things in English to people. I'm bad at that! I don't have time to write more, but I got to go to the temple last week. If I have time next week I will write all about that miracle!

Can I just say I love the mission!!

Love ya

Hermana Gosnell

Holy crap this week has been full of surprises!! I don't really have time to write about everything but let's just say, we had a baptism this last Saturday and it was perfect, and we planned it in like 2 hours! It was really stressful because we had everything planned and then our bishop called us on Tuesday and said I will not have baptisms on Saturday, you can only do it on Sunday, which is really against the norms here in the mission. It is a lot better on Saturdays, so I couldn't believe he was starting this whole thing again after promising us just 2 weeks ago that baptisms could be on Saturday, so we were really upset. I didn't have the patience to talk to him and I was just praying to leave Liniers. Well then Friday night our bishop calls and says well are you having a baptism this weekend or not, and we were like um we don't know and he was like oh I thought you had one planned for tomorrow, and we were like yeah but you said we couldn't do it and he was like oh I don't have any problem. Then we come to find out our stake president talked to him, but I don't know what changed because before he had talked to him and our bishop said yeah the stake president thinks baptisms are better on Saturdays but I command things here... WOW I couldn't believe he actually said that! Well something changed and he said we could have the baptism, and then he said it has to be very organized, this was like Friday night at 10:20pm and the baptism was the next day at 6, my comp got really sick that day so I was stuck calling like the whole ward inviting people and giving out assignments, and I must say the baptism was perfect! I absolutely loved it and a lot of members went! I think our bishop is a little mad that everything went so well!!

SO then we were also waiting for transfers because of course I knew I would be getting a new comp, and we were talking about who it could be, of course we never even thought that I would get transferred, so then we get home on Monday night to plan and our mission president calls. I think my heart stopped because he only calls for 2 reasons, that I knew of, to either tell you you are going to train, or that you are going to the south, so he calls and I was so nervous, and that is when he tells me I will be going to Tonelero with Hermana Ladd, which made me so happy because she is awesome, we get along so well. I'm just really sad she goes home in one transfer! Things are still a little weird right now because Hna Pérez is still here until tomorrow morning so things won't be normal until tomorrow, but we are both so excited to be together because we never thought it would be possible. My area shares the same chapel with Liniers so I'm still practically in the same area, but it is a branch which means the members are sooooo much better. I already know most of them really well, because, well, I see them every Sunday! I'm so excited to be in this area, I always wanted to come here but never thought it would be possible!! We have 6 baptisms planned for the 11th. I don't know them yet but they are a family from Bolivia, they seem really great! The work in the branch here is so good and they have a mission plan that is the best I've ever seen! And the best part of everything is I will still be able to see the members and converts from Liniers every Sunday anyways, because I will miss a few members, there is one member that was like my mom here in Liniers and I will miss her a lot, but thankfully I will see her every Sunday! But wow I can't believe my luck, I'm so excited. A little about my comp, her name is Hermana Ladd. She is from Vermont she went to BYU Idaho before her mission. She is a little crazy. The other day she burnt her lip while eating an apple with a knife. She wanted to cook it and didn't realize the knife was so hot, now she looks really funny with a big burn mark on her lip! I think this transfer is going to be the best in my mission until now! I have a great area and a great comp at the same time. I'm excited!! Pray for me and my new area I'm sure we need it, no matter how great it seems I'm sure there is still a lot of work to do!!

I think there were other things I wanted to write about, but to be honest I can't really remember, but this week was a week of miracles, I saw a lot of progress in Liniers and I'm so excited I got to be a part of it!

I hope everyone is well and well I guess I will be writing next week. Let's hope my letter will be better!!

Love ya,

Hermana Gosnell

P.S. You all have a pic of my comp. Remember my birthday cake? She is the one where we are eating the cake!!

Well this week has been good, I got sick last week, everyone here has the flu or something and we were always talking about how it is amazing that we haven't gotten sick ye. Well I got really sick all day last Wednesday. My whole body hurt but we still worked. Thursday I felt sick to my stomach so we called the member that was supposed to give us lunch and she gave it to us in a tupperware thing so we could eat in the house, and well that was the last thing I ate until Saturday at night! Then Friday I was really sick but luckily we have planning Fridays so we are in the house from 3-6 and then Saturday I woke up and starting throwing up, but I hadn't eaten anything Friday so there was nothing to throw up. I was very worried because we had a baptism that night, so we stayed in Saturday in the morning until about 4 in the afternoon and then we left to go to the church to get things ready for the baptism! I was so miserable!! Sunday I was feeling a lot better, Saturday night my comp made me eat some toast and a banana because she was worried about how I wasn't eating, Sunday we ate in the apt and I was able to eat and we went and worked, I've been getting better a little each day, today I finally feel like I'm probably 95% better! I still feel a little weak, but wow I thought I was going to die! But don't worry about me, I'm all better now, and I have a good comp that was taking care of me the whole time!

Let's see, so yes I had a baptism this Saturday, Emiliano was baptized. He is 11 years old and
such a good kid! He was so excited he couldn't eat lunch that day! We didn't have many people in the baptism, and the members that did go were all furious with us because it was Saturday and not Sunday, but they are just going to have to get used to it. The Spirit wasn't very strong, but luckily Emiliano was just so excited he didnt realize at all!!

That's really all that happened this week, I got sick and we had a baptism, I have a lot of fotos to send home, so I will do that, but its kind of boring here again! We might be having a baptism this Sat but we have to wait and see! I hope so because my comp would love to have one last baptism before she goes home, because oh yeah before I forget, this week we have transfers!! SO next week my p-day will be on Tuesday, so don't write me Tuesday in the night, I won't get it!!! This next time you all hear from me I will have a new comp! I have no idea who it could be because according to our mission president there aren't any new missionaries coming in this transfer, and so I wont be training that is for sure, and I don't know if I will become senior comp or if I will stay junior comp. I just hope for a good fun obedient comp!! I also hope that if I stay junior comp that my comp won't be going home with me, I do not like killing a comp, because they are sooooooo trunky and it makes me a little trunky!!

Welp I'm gonna run, sorry this letter is so lame!

Love ya

Hermana Gosnell

OK these are all from the baptism (remember this day I was dying!). The guy that baptized Emiliano is our old bishop, his family has kind of adopted Emiliano at church! The one with Emiliano and a guy alone that guy is our bishop now, and the other guy with dark hair is our mission leader! Enjoy!


OK so the first pic is of my district now, but there will prob be a lot of changes this transfer!! All my fav elders are prob leaving, which makes me sad! And then the second one is where we eat lunch every Monday, from left to right it is Vera, me, Marta and the 2 kids in front are Barbara and Christian. Christian is Marta's son and Barbara is Vera's granddaughter! Vera is from Brazil, and Marta is from Bolivia, Marta works for Vera, and eats with us too! Vera cooks SOOOOOO GOOD!! I love Mondays! Also the pic of me and Barbara, well we are pretty much really good friends!! She speaks a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish, its hard to understand sometimes! And then the last foto is of me and my comp with the mom of Barbara, her name is Adriana, and I don't understand ANYTHING that she says, I think she is always speaking Portuguese, but she is very sweet!!

Welp hope you like the fotos!!