Dreaming in Spanish!!

SO WOOOWWW SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED! I feel like that sentence will always be at the start of ALL my emails haha!

BUT FAAAA!

So the spanish dreams have started this week haha!... the first night I dreamt a man was talking to me in spanish and I couldnt respond and I found myself awake in my bed trying to speak spanish! haha.  The next few nights I ended up talking to this person in Spanish and I remember one night bearing testimony of the book of mormon and jospeh smith.  And then on wednesday one of my roommates told me that I was sleep talking in spanish for the last 3 nights... whoops haha! Thats embarassing, I wish I could have heard all that I said.  I don't know why people say your fluent when you dream in spanish though, because I am definitely not there yet haha!  But hey, if dreaming in Spanish allows me to keep practicing my Spanish even if I'm not awake, than I won't complain... I will take all the practice I can get =) !!

So proselitismo (proselyting) was basically the greatest thing since sliced bread! It was so special! Hermana Perez and I ended up having 20 contacts and 7 lessons and 7 references. It was amazing! Holy cow, this is what the mission is all about! =) !!

I would love to tell you about every experience but there isnt enough time haha - so I'll fill you in on as many as I can, (Mom I forwarded you an email that 3 of the guys we taught sent me =) See below) The short one with the red and blue collared shirt was named Bernardo and the really big guy is named Ulises, and dang it... I cant remember the other man's name (Rodolfo)... BUT THEY WERE AMAZING!  Hermana Perez and I decided to walk down one street just for the heck of it, and as we are walking we notice there was a garage open on the otherside of the street and there were 3 men inside. We said hi from across the road and were going to keep on walking but we felt like "You know what, its siesta time... no ones out... lets go and talk to them for a minute"... So we end up going over. These men were the NICEST men I have ever met, they grabbed us chairs, invited us to sit down and we spent a solid 20 minutes just getting to know them, and them getting to know us, by the time the 35 minute mark rolled around we felt that we should get going.  So, we asked if we could leave them with a message before we headed out.  We just shared a quick message about our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and just how much They love us, how They love and know every single one of us.  Our Heavenly Father knows us and wants to help us. He loves us so much that He blessed us with the ability to pray and.... Next thing I know, Bernardo cuts us off and says "Wait, can we pray?.... Like right now?"  Hermana Perez and I looked at each other with big happy eyes and told him "Of course!"  So taught them how to pray and then left with a prayer!  And this Saturday we get to go back to the exact same area, so we planned a second visit!  They wanted the address to the church, they wanted the local missionaries numbers... they even wanted to walk Hermana Perez and I back to our bus because the area was actually fairly dangerous. (Like every family or person we talked to told us to be careful becuase 'there were men who pulled guns on their neighbors that morning' or 'somebody who robbed someone an hour ago'... it was interesting.  But the whole time I felt so protected =) !!

The other man we spoke to THAT I LOVE! was named Damian.  He was just sitting on the street, he seemed about 25.  We started conversing with him and he just had such a special spirit about him, such a humble spirit, a spirit that was sweet and genuine and wanted to have some truth and direction in his life... You could tell he wasn't necessarily surrounded by people that would help him find it.  So we began talking to him and had him tell us about himself, about his family, religious background.  It turns out that his family had never gone to church and he was ready to try going.  He began asking us questions and we were able to begin bearing testimony to him and sharing a folleto with him.  As soon as we pulled out the folleto though, a guy hopped out of his car to get Damian for work... this guy was a huge distraction becuase he was all like "woah, I thought that was you Damian, but I saw you were surrounded by 2 girls and I thought.... Really? that's new blah blah blah" you get the idea.  So hermana Perez and I kind of paired off  with both of them right there, she was able to talk and distract the friend while I was able to have a few more moments with Damian.  I gave him a folleto about the Plan of Salvation and he told me that he wanted to read it and he wanted to come to church.  So we parted ways leaving him with a folleto and testimony... and while yes, I was bummed that our time was cut short with him, I could feel the desire he has to know his Heavenly Father and I could feel that desire beginning to work in him.  All the people we taught and gave commitments to are in my prayers like crazy.

The coolest thing about proseletismo was that we really just became aware of how special every single person is to Heavenly Father.  Every soul is special and every person has a purpose and plan.  I could see it, I could feel it! And while we were out walking on the streets, even though there were people who didn't want to hear our message, or their were people who ignored us when we said hi... it didn't matter... Because those people that we taught - I couldnt get them out of my head... All I could see was them dressed in white, preparing to enter a baptismal font, and all I could see was the joy on their faces and their Heavenly Father smiling down at them because of the choice they are making!  It was so special to look at all these people in Banfield Argentina and see them as our Savior would.  Granted, I cannot fully comprehend just how much our Savior loves us and granted, it would be impossible for me as a mortal being to love someone with the same capacity our Heavenly Father can love us.  But what insight it was to be able to witness and feel a glimpse of the love our Heavenly Father has for us - and what he sees when he looks at us =) !  Like a painting, on our own, we can only create ourselves a smudge on a canvas, but the Lord, with Him and His gospel... he will create us a masterpiece =) !

XOXOXO 

Hermana Fardos

PS. This pciture of Hermana Perez and I basically sums up our compnionship...Haha! I'm the goofy one and she is an angel, I am so grateful to be paired with her!

Oh and Dad... We do service projects as a district every week, and our job this week was to power wash all of the walkways.... I was the only person who knew how to use a power washer!  Haha!  None of the Elders had ever heard of one, let alone used one...  So, just know that, Thanks to you, I got to teach 10 Elders how to use one ;) !!

Oh, and now my name is Hermana Barbie... according to the latinos... don't quite know how that name came about... but yeah, thats a thing! Haha!

Following is the letter and photos sent to Lauren from the gentleman she talked to when she was proselyting.

Hola Lauren y Summer;

Quiero darles las gracias por habernos visitado en nuestro local, pasamos un momento muy agradable y además pudimos orar juntos.

Deseo que alguna vez vuelvan y si lo hacen las esperaremos con mate amargo y pasta frola de membrillo (como le gusta a Lauren).

Les envio las fotos que hicimos hoy.

Les mando un cariñoso beso a ambas, espero que la pasen bien en mi país y en mi barrio y quedo a vuestra disposición en mi correo electrónico o en mi perfil de Facebook.

Atentamente.

Ulises