Put on Your Armor, It's Crazy Out There

MILAGROSSSSSS!!!! [MIRACLES!!!!] 

this week was the greatest ever!!!! ahhH!!!! we had a conferencia de zona or entrenamiento thingy on tuesday and it was about how to find and teach people. it was suuuuueper powerful and pumped me and hna musmano up a full!!!! one thing that was said was (cuz every night we write in our carpeta de area about the investigators and menos activos that we visited and thier status). and so what was said was, ´´imagine thatChrst has a carpeta de missioneros and everyday he fills it out with how each missionary is doing progressing, diligenica, obendiencia," yada yada. and i was like, snap crackle pop. i gotta pick it up! 

dont think that we werent trying or anything or being dilligent but oh siempre we can improve!!!! 

and so me and hna musmano kicked fannypacks this week! 

i dont know what changed. honestly i prayed harder and i think we had more faith. hna musmano had been a little down about this area because of the past but ya know what, WE'RE NOT IN THE PAST! and yeah it was awesommmmme!

this is awesome let me see if i cant somewhat convey the degree of awesomity. so there was this girl, Nara. i think i wrote about her like 3 weeks ago. her dad reminded me of papou-menos activo and she is not a member but is suuuuper interested! well. since then,

 WE HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO FIND HER! 

Like at all--we probably have tried like 20 times. and so she had been on my mind cuz we were like starting to think about stopping to try to find her right. but for days i was like, no. we can find her. and so i went about to test my faith. knowing that, "ask and we shall receive". i also read something awesome in pme and i was like, i need to pray harder. and so sunday, monday, and tuesday i had been including her in my prayers and thinking about her a lot. yall know me and how horrid i am with recognizing people so i was like, please help us be able to find her--somehow i dont know how--and please help me to recognize her. and so wednesday rolled around and we just left our pensión. mind you a few random things happened to delay us like we were walking down the stairs and then forgot contact cards and so we went back up. then i had to recharge my card for the collectivos and so finally we left our little area. and theres this polleria right next to our block. i was walking and this girl turned around and it was like i didnt even think, i just yelled "NARA!!!" and she was like,  "hermanas!!!" 

and so we proceeded to talk and everything and turns out she is very difficutl to find in her house and its the house of her tio [uncle]and so she was like, "lets meet at the church for our lecciones and yada yada yada." HOW AWESOME! 

i DONT know if i was able to convey this well. but seriously it was so incredible. i may or may not have cried right after we saw her. i was just so ahhhhh!!!!! so awesome! 

and she is capa!!! (boss) (insert michael scott shoulder pad quote--´´those shoulder pads are really boss man.´´) hahahahah

OH MOM I HAVE A SCRIPTURE FOR YOU! drop everything and read it now. 

hint: its Office related and i came across it while studying hahahahah alma 61:8 

hahahahahahaha if you dont get it you need to watch season 1 again. haha

okay so im convinced that everything is better on the mission. the sun is brighter, everything is delicious, i dont know! 

so, a few weeks ago we were eating lunch at a member's house and the drink was....apple juice. 

now, yall know me and apple juice. 

it's of the devil and i cannot bear the taste of it. 

i don't know, every time i'm like, it cant be that bad. seriously. 

i try and i die. and so i was like ah pucha! [darn] no quiero! hahaha but like the good missionera soy, i was like, alright ive gotta drink this. and guess what? 

IT WAS THE GREATEST THING IVE EVER TASTED! 

i almost pinched myself to see if i was dreaming. i kept trying it and was like, 

what did i possibly dislike about this beverage! ?!

it's for sure everything is better on the mission!"!! 

throughout the last several weeks i've had lots of apple juice at people's houses and i even bought my own. and i was like ah! this is liquid heaven, i think. then one day i was like, this tastes familiar... but i couldn't place it. and then i was like... it tastes like... jolly rancher????? but its apple juice!! 

then my eyes narrowed like squidward and i was like, ahhhh pucha (darn)..... is this not 100% juice? (of course it's in spanish, so it took me a little longer to find it) 
but it's 3% JUICE!!! :(((((((((( hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaha 
i don't know if you can call it juice 
but besides that, yes everything is better on the mission :)

so friday we were "oot and aboot" 
and we are going through our ward registry to track down and bring back all these menos activos. so we come across this one family and we go stop by. and this man answers the door and is like, what do you want! and so we explained who we are and were like, does this family live here? and he was like, how do you know our name! you arent a church! youré servicio intelligencia! were are you from? los estados unidos? are you spies! 
hahahaha can you believe that! 
another investigador yelled at me and was like, WHAT ARE YOU DOING! and i was like... whaaat (i was sifting through my bag for a pamphlet to give him) and he thought that i was messing with a camera. lots of people think we have cameras in our name tags... it's kinda funny and kinda confusing.

anyway ive gotta make like tigger, so ttfn !

but yeah. oh está todo bien! love you all!!!!! put on your armour; its crazy out there!!! d&c127! 

love hna dascanio 

ps thank you for the lovely emails and sorry i couldnt respond. mom i havent read yours yet and dad i'll send you a good email next week just know that i really needed to hear what you said and REALLY Appreciate it! 
shout out to gma! como está!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[two emails in this post]

i'm trying to send pictures but i haven't much time
--did i sound like lucy from chronicles of narnia just there? hahaha 

well this week was great! i learned a lot. 
one of the main things i learned is that everything happens for a reason. all of our trials and pruebas are for our benefit and we can learn something from everything. Sweet fancy francis, i can tell you one thing: our trial has been health. the actual ability to leave and work. hermana musmano had some crazy whackado thing where her chest and back were swollen and so she could hardly breathe. it was kinda scary. just talking she was really out of breath so she got a medicine that required 3 DAYS to work. it was the worst. BUT it turned out to be a good experience. I worked with members a lot. got more out of my bubble. (not like i was in a shy bubble. cuz the mission kinda shoots that horse in the face first day), but todavía, it´s easy to rely on your companion to say things or make calls but i was making calls like crazy getting members who could stay with her and leave with me. and we did some awesome work. it was AWESOME! and one thing that hna musmano told me was, "when youre out with members, dont forget that youre the missionary´´ and so i was like, snap crackle pop, okay!! and it was awesome! i was able to see myself more fully rely on the Lord for help, in their needs, in spanish hello, in todo. it was seriously such a good experience. and the members i was with have such strong testimonies and were able to testify of the things that we i taught and it was so cool. anyway. i dont have much time this time. i had to take a survey for president chaparro. anyway just know that im well and loving it and hna musmano is better, i think! 

oh but real quick, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIGGGGGAYYy!!!! LOVE YOU, HOW ARE YOU, 
EMAIL ME I DONT HAVE YOUR EMAIL!!!

birthday donut! pardon my hair! i just got out of the shower!

also i forgot to tell yall about my birthday! it was awesome! that was the day where we were seeing so many miracles. well all of that week! ah! i am struggling with english!!! hna zambonini made me a cake! and said to tell my parents, not to worry. there are people in argentina taking care of their daughter and that you all have a very beautiful daughter. and that she shines like the light from the sun... hahahhaa kay maybe not the last part! bahahahhaa 

love you all! oh and the hnas i live with bought me birthday donut! hahahaha it was the best! (the birthday not the donut.) oh hahaha 

oh and i got nick's letter! 
THANK YOU. THAT IS THE BEST DRAWING OF 
MARIO AND LUIGI EVER!!!!! 

also maddy email me!!!! but i hope you're having a blast in cali! and that your kidney stones are gone! 

emma if you're reading this, i love you and hope that all went well with your surgery! sorry i'm not there to make you a hoagie and do a jig! 

oh and tell hermana rawe muchas gracias for putting together the cards from the mujeres jovenes! it was so awesome! thank you all!!!!!!! 

in the words of the hippie bus from cars, ´´there´s a lot of love out there man´´ hahahahaha 

ps laura write me!!!!! i miss you!!!!! 

paz y bendiciones!
[peace and blessings]

Here are Some Shots in your Fanny

Well im sure you are all intruiged. ¨why ever would hermana dascanio title her email that"? haha well, boy do i have stories! primero, i am healthy whole and happy, so tranquilla, mama :)

so i had been feeling poorly for a little while, but I was like, nah im fine, i have sinus allergieness all the time, whatever! but come tuesday i was like, kay imma kick the bucket. so i told hermana musmano that i was feeling horribly and luckily she followed the Spirit a ful cuz we went right to the médico. we went there and luckily there was a lady frm our ward that works there, hermana caxal, and she took us back and i began to describe to the doctor what was going on. (it's really hard to do that without a dictionary haha-- words like throat, cough, itchy, burn, things of that sort would have been useful to know haha, but anyway the doctor was like, you have angina and blah blah blah heres some shots in your fanny! and i was like, cool thanks! we left and hermana musmano freaked out and was like, ah you're gonna die i'm a terrible mom! you need to rest right now! and i was like, what do i have? i consulted my dictionary and found out that the doctor said that i had tonsilitis and the beginnings of pneumonia. hah divertida, no? and so i was like, oh thats why i feel horrid! haha so i rested for a long time and long story short, hermana caxal ended up coming to our pension cuz our thermometer didn't work. the next day hna chaparro ended up driving down to our pension and she and president chaparro [the mission president and his wife] took me to the hospital down in centro salta to get a better diagnosis. they are seriously the best! president chaparro is the sweetest and hermana chaparro too. she reminds me of you, mom! and turns out that i didn't have the pnemonia part, just the tonsillitis and after like 6 shots in the rear i was on my way! presidente chaparro was waiting in the car for like 2 hours-keep in mind this is at 10 at night- and he bought us candy bars and water- how precious! 

anyway. this week was highly consumed in that fiasco. my gluteus maximus was like numb and bruised for 3 days but i'm all good now! so don't worry!!! yesterday por fin we worked and it felt sooo good! i have ENERGY! for the whole week i was seriously so weak i couldn't close my hand shut but now I'm bouncin' and preachin! hahahaha 

oh! while sick, i had an epiphany! ya know kronk´s spinach puffs? THEYRE TOTALLY SPANIKOPITA!!! hahahaha also, one member had these cookie things and they were koulorakia!! they tasted the same and i was like, ahh! cookies for mister!!! hahaha but they were in shapes and not swoopdys.

so, ive come to realize that i'm horrible at respondng to your questions so here we go. 

1. no, we cant send or receive videos. so thats a bummer summer. i want you all to here the spanish world in which i currently reside! haha 
2. yes, we wash our clothes by hand. well a veces [sometimes]. we found that we have a washer thing but it kind of just gently swirls your clothes around, so i don't use it. but we do have a secadora which is the greatest cuz it sucks all the water out of our clothes which cuts the drying time by like a bajillion! its my fave! but yeah i wash my clothes in the kitchen sink, sometimes in a bowl on the floor. i've got an awesome picture of it, but right now my cameras dead as a doornail. but yeah its fun! makes you appreciate everything a little more. a lot more. my fingers and nails are red and sore from scrubbing but i like it! its all so cool! 
3. on pday we wash our clothes, study, CLEAN shop. there's this store Libertad (liberty) and it's like a walmart with a mini strip mall in it, so we take the colle (collectivo-bus) up there to shop for food and stuff we need. and we print and write! occasionally there are other things but thats pretty much it! pday ends at 6 and then we work! its bomb!
4. so dad, in answer to your question, we haven't had the opportunity to see our investigators too much. hermana musmano left wednesday thursday and saturday with members for a few hours. its soo hard to coordinate that! cuz we need to find someone to say with me and someone to go out with her! and when nobody has cars and everyone has kids its hard to get people that can and can walk over that the same time the other can! ay carrumba! haha but it was good- we found people! 

it's funny and agitating cuz as i'm typing, the word that comes to my mind is in spanish! too awesome! #dificil hahaha but yeah. 

vilma is progressing still. her daughter camila isn't really. we thought that vilma was progressing a ful, but she didn't come to church yesterday! so were gonna stop by tonight! 

last night was awesome, though. i don't know it was just so awesome. this work is so awesome! there isn't a feeling comparable to when you feel the Spirit and follow through and can look back and be like, wow that was awesome and totally not me! haha "rewarding" doesn't begin to describe it! 

i know that if we´re doing what we´re supposed to: reading, praying, renewing our covenants, magnifying our callings, we´ll be okay. it's work! and there are soooo many menosactivos here (300 if i didnt tell yall) that say that, it's work and too much and la la la! and to that i just have one question: was it easy for the Savior? 

welp. i wasnt planning on saying all that. haha but its true! i love the scriptures and everything! 

oh and thanks for the birthday wishes and the cash cash money dough. i haven't read yalls emails yet, so thats why i didn't mention anything yall said. sorry! they're printed though! love yall! yall are da best!

oh wait! so hermana garibay (she lives with us) last week she received an email that her dad was taking the discussions FINALLY!!! and this week while we were printing our emails she burst into tears and we were like, what happened? but on her screen was a picture of her dad in white with 2 smiling elders!!!! he got BAPTIZED!!! how insanely awesome! i cried too. ah! His plan is beautiful and i am soooo thankful that families can be together forever!!!!!!!!!!!! and im sooo gratefull for the missionaries that baptized you mom and dad!!!! (grandparents, too))

oh wait, update on escott! 

WE HAVENT SEEN HIM IN LIKE A WEEK! 

i don't know what happened to him!! :((( 

´´he´s on a different path now.´´ 

name that show! 

hahaha that one´s for you mommma!

paz y bendiciones

read your scriptures-you can receive help with ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING! 

make like nike and just do it!

love yall 

A Tiny Ball of Spastic Gospel Excitement!

WOOOPDEEEDOOO!!!

Helado!

i would start by saying something to the effect of ´´wow! i cant believe it´s already pday´´ but i think ive started every email with that since ive been in argentina.. wait.. hahaha

UPDATE ON THE DOG THAT ATE ME!! 

So, since that night where that evil dog attacked my and i kicked him in the face, we´ve been on cowboy terms. i say this because it's like in the movies where the one cowboy glares at the other cowboy as a conveniently timed hay bale brustles by to the tune of "wah wah wahh." like i said, this perro lives on the street of one of our frequently visited inactives. so we see him a lot. we carefully walk and glare at each other. that´s how its been for about 3 or 4 weeks. Plot Twist! we say Hermana Orué, (menos activo that we visit) on the street and THERE WAS THE DOG! she was like, 

(wait i have to describe her--Shes a little bigger. short-obviously, and has a voice that couldn't be more opposite than what you'd think. its minnie mouse. i'm convinced that she is the voice for minnie mouse). 

bueno, now picture this--she´s like "oh hola hermanas!" and starts talking as the dog comes up. me and hna musmano hesitate and the tumbleweed (did i say hay bale earlier, oy, vey!) rolls. she goes, ¨ oh! this is scott! he´s de la calle! (of the street!) yeah he´s bad. we always say callete! scott! but pobrecito lives on the street! he´s bad malo malo. pobrecito.´´ 

hahahaha keep in mind, in spanish it´s ´´ehscott´´ hahahaha and yes, ehscott is a golden retriever, and yes, he wears a tshirt. hahahhaha so, now we´re freinds with 'escott el perro de la calle!' bahahahha que loco no! hahah

This week was really good! we´re working really hard with our barrio and for our barrio (ward). In our district meeting, spirits were a little down because of our lack of numerical success as a district and so one hermana suggested a district fast.and so of course we were like yeah! Saturday, we fasted, and it was so cool. we had sooo many lecciones!! i know numbers aren´t important, so i dont know if i should say how much or how much more, but we actually had lessons! you all. this area is DIFICIL! we trek like pioneers and have back up plans for our backup plan´s back up plan. without the Spirit, it would be impossible. If this weren't His work, i would want to give up and i´d feel sad. but i just want you all to know that, yes, we literally have 0 progressing investigators, but I know that we are doing our best. one speaker at the CCM (MTC), once said, when you leave your mission, ask God for His opinion. Ask Him if you served a worthy mission. Those words, more elegantly put than that come to my mind now and then and i want yall to know that I´ve asked Him. for an update of sorts. And I know that Im serving worthily and with all my might. I wasn't planning on talking all about this, but i dont know, there you go haha. i want yall to know, mom and dad, that Im serving my hardest and that God´s pleased with me. Oh boy, im having a mini breakdown. not a sad one, like a spiritual one. i was a little worried, idk if thats the right word, but to email you all cuz i dont have grand stories or names to report or photos of baptisms, but i want you all to know that each and everyday my testimony grows stronger. that i am working like ive never worked before. im being obedient and serving the Lord. And right now, that´s apparently what´s supposed to happen.  

I love you all so much! and know that i am absolutely loving it out here! despite the straightforwardness and solemnity of this email, i LOVE everyday. im not discouraged at all! i find strength in the scriptures! and thanks so much for those quotes, mom! they are great and much appreciated! :) the mission is the best thing i've done with my life! not like i have a list of profound things ive done in my 19 years, but ah! it´s too cool. thanks so much for all the support!

Oh! and maddy! you need to name your kidney stones, Pebbles and BaM bAM. 

paz y bendiciones.

con amor mi frijolitos :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[fast forward one week]

Hola familia!

como está!!! ay yay yay! 

okay so, GUESS WHHHATTTT!!! Patricia came to chuch (fairly  normal) but we HAD ANOTHER INVESTIGATOR AT CHURCH!!! VILMA CAME! we´re teaching vilma and her daughter, belen. belen has a little baby and they are awesome! their problem is that they are like eternal investigators! but! pobrecita vilma was in the hospital for like 5 days with pnemonia and i guess that was what they needed to start progressing! belen especially. she's been praying and reading and vilma is back and doing better and they both have such strong testionies of prayer now! and Vilma WHO IS SICK WITH PNEMONIA came to church! we drove by in a remis (taxi) and picked her up! so awesome right! that´s big stuff!

also, we have a new district leader, elder molina de ecuador. and he is bomb! this is his last transfer! and he is not slowing down at all! we had such a solid district meeting--he helped us a lot with Belen y Vilma! and he is just a little tiny ball of spastic gospel excitement! it´s awesome! its awesome! 

we´re getting lots of help from the Bishop and ward now! im telling yall -- prayers are answered, siempre! i think this area had misionaries of questionable dilligence and so it´s not like the barrio was untrusting, just not very helpful and encouraging and idk but now its awesome! last night, all of the priesthood, the patriarch and us and the elders all met up and attacked (spiritually and with love) this one area-san luis! this area has a lot of menos actives (less active members of the church) that are priesthood holders and a lot of pontencials and it's huge and so we all split up and visited! it was sooo cool! [yes it was EXACTLY like in harry potter 7 when the order of the phoenix is all gathering together to transport harry!] hahaha that's what i thought of! and i was with herman a florinda---picture a woman, about 50, tan tan tan, about the height of my shoulder and she´s like. oh my goodness i dont have a metaphor.... well, she's the funniest little person and laughs and laughs and laughs and LOVES MISSIONARY work"! she is with the elders every wednesday and friday and sometimes sundays from 4 - 8:30! how awesome! anyway i was with her. we were all split up. so she was my companion for a little!" anyway it was bomb!

This is me contacting a statue!

oh my" today!" we went to salta capital and they have this teleferico which is like imagine a hamster ball barely big enough for 4 humans, and it travels up and down a wire to the top of a mountain. hahhaa sketchy awesome"! [translation by mom, 'cable car' :) ]

oh and hermana musmano forgot that she's clausterphobic and afraid of heights cuz she was all gung ho about teleferico! "yah, let's go!"  and we got in and she tried to jump out right before it lifted off! like its a real phobia! i'm like, how can you forget something like that! hahaha pobrecita! she bursted into tears and was screaming while hermana roa was snapping picures and walking around the little ball to get the best angle and i'm like not scared but i was like, please don't lean! hahaha yeah but anyway, we got the view of salta! hermana musmano calmed down after i was like, just picture a car! you're just in a car! luckily it had a window for air! haha too funny! it was mainly funny cuz it was her idea-- aha, pobrecita!

The view of Salta from a mountain!

anywho, the work is awesome! i love it! thanks for all your emails! i cherish them dearly! also! i think my spanish is getting better! people are surprised when i tell them how long i've been here, so thats good! 

(after they're surprised that im a gringa!) 

hahaha welp. 

paz y bendiciones!

Las Hermanas de Limache!

I Have the Small Talk Abilities of Clousseau from Pink Panther

ah! literally feels like i just wrote to yall! thanks again for the emails, but im afraid you´re mistaken: 

i am NOT limited on time to read! we print emails every week! 

1 peso a page! 8pesos = 1dollar and i read the emails all day long! hahaha enserio. all day long. hahaha we´re only allowed to read/write letters on monday, so i read and reread yalls letters! 

FALSE DOCTRINE THAT I'M LIMITED ON TIME! 

WRITE YOUR LITTLE HEARTS OUT ALL OF YOU! hahaha seriously though! i love them!!!! 

write me like its your job! [see sidebar of the blog]

as yall know, i cant wait and so the only waiting i do is i dont read them until were back at the pension (living quarters) and then i INDULGE i read and reread! hahaha 

and then i try to explain to hna musmano why I'm laughing--

like at that thing with pobrecita maddy and her chiggers! haha i was like, "ITS FUNNY CUZ SHE ITCHES! BUGS!" 
needless to say, the message didn't translate well, bahahaa 

but my spanish is coming along. i haven't heard english in so long it's weird! and i kind of think in spanish so that's bomb! whoever said ´´if you want to hear english yuou have to speak it yourself was CORRECT! hahaha but tis fun!

anyway this week! so good! difficult! this area really is hard. if we´re being honest. our president de mision said so too! 

BUT VAMOS A VER MILAGROS! 

hna musmano said something really powerful and perfect: ´´some missionaries are put in people´s lives to plant seeds and some are there to harvest´´

i know i can and will do both with the help of God, but right now we´re doing some mean plantin'! 

haha one day i got a wee bit down. last monday actually, then i started singing papou´s,

 WHATS A MATTA YOU EH! GOTTA NO RESPECT EH! WHADDAYA THINK YA DO? WHY YA LOOKA SO SAD? ITS A NOT SO BAD, ITS A NICE A PLACE,

OH SHUDDUP A YO FACE!!! 

so papou, if you read these, thank you! and i love you and miss you! 
(you should post a clip of that song on my blog haha)

anyway, never fear! i was not down for long, cuz like that one 90s song with the whacko chorus, 

´´I GET KNOCKED DOWN, I GET UP AGAIN, 

AINT NEVER GONNA KEEP ME DOWN!´´ 

repeat until you feel better. hahaha

first of all! i have SUCH a strong testimony of revelation while reading the scriptures its insane! its like everytime i study, its like 
BAM THIS IS FOR YOU! or BAM THIS WILL COME IN HANDY LATER WITH AN INVESTIGATOR! 
i love it!!! 
I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON!! so yeah, we had suchhhh a good study time and so many things came in handy later that day. also, i was teaching a lot! we did a good job switching off and ah i love the feeling after a lesson! soooo satisfying!!! but yeah theyre teaching this girl, she´s 14 and her she wants to be baptized sooo bad and she carries her book of mormon everywhere and reads it all the time its the greatest! anyway, she accepted a fecha earlier and this day she was going to talk to her mom, who was really against the whole thing and the church. anyway, she was super nervous, like shaking. but we said a prayer with her then went to talk to her mom. and ended up teaching the first lesson with her mom!!! 

AND SHE WAS LIKE, I LOVE THIS AND I'D LIKE YOU YALL TO COME BACK AND TEACH MY WHOLE FAMILY! so obviously, we got the permission from her and it was sooo coooL! full-fledged MILAGRO [miracle]!! 

while i was on splits, hna musmano and the other hna found this family! a mom, and two daughters around 20! and first lesson the accepted FECHAS!! how sick!!! ah! so that is the coolest thing ever!! 

AND THEY ARE THE FIRST TO ACCEPT 
A BOOK OF MORMON IN OUR AREA 
THE ENTIRE TIME THAT 

HNA MUSMANO HAS BEEN HERE! 
(3 or 4 months) 

loco, no??

anyway oh! i have a date for returning!!!! november 3 2k15!! already seems too soon, but there you go! and cheers, familia cuz i wont miss Christmas twice :)

OH GUESS WHAT I FOUND OUT! hahahaha the word for ´´chew´´ in spanish is MASTICAR! hahaha,

 ´´half-masticated cow rolling around in your wide open TRAP!´´ 

NAME THAT MOVIE! hahaha miss congeniality!! agh! 

also, me and hna musmano bonded over the movie parent trap! haha in spanish it´s called ´´El Juego de Gemelas¨ or 

the twin game hahaha too sick, right!!

also the music here is hilarious but guess who i can't escape? pharrell and his song ´´happy´´ its played all the time!!! ahhhh youd think id be far enough away!! hahaha

oh the game! LA COPA DEL MUNDO! [World Cup]

also VAMOS ARGENTINA!! fue ayer! ah! too bad we lost but AR-GEN-TINA AR-GEN-TINA!

yeah fue LOCO! we were told not to leave the apartment after 3:30 yesterday. so we had a lot of time to study and stuff. i wanted to get out there though cuz it was such a gorgeous day! it has been sooo cold! but these last two days its been GLORIOUS! PRIMAVERA EN MI ALMA HAY! hahaha anyway, yeah it would've been way crazier if we'd won, but todavía, it was loco outside! everyone was already drunk, so they were just going crazy out there fiestaing and playing futbol and launching fireworks that they'd already bought --it was insane!!!'

but anyway, this week was great! ah i love everything! oh also hna musmano needed something for her stomach cuz it as hurting and so i gave her tums but SHE LOVES THEM! she was like where do you get these! how much to they cost! she was going to town on my tums and so i had to hide them!! bhahaha

so mom, i relate to you cuz i was sick this week too! 

but never fear! the elders gave me a blessing on sabado and im all good now! 

hna musmano is the greatest caretaker ever bahaha shes from buenos aires obviously and the way she describes it and the way she is, it sounds like buenos aires is the new york of argentina. so she´s very short tempered and impatient (but in  a good way) like for instance i was sleeping and woke up to the smell of breakfast! (breakfast isnt a big thing here. siempre tea and crumpets hahaha) and so i go over to the cocina and hna musmano looks like shes about to kill something and im like ah! what is this! and she´s like "PANCEKES PARA USTED! COMO GRINGA!"

 hahaha but she doesnt know how to make them, so they were floppng everywhere and burning cuz she couldnt flip em and so she was stabbing them with a spatula cuz the middle woulndt cook--it was hilarious needless to say haha! 

OH! ew! so me and hna musmano were home cuz i felt horrible and we called the other hermanas and were like, ¨do yall have a thermometer¨ and hna roa was like yeah! and so i put it in my mouth for like 5 minutes. no idea how it works. so we gave up. LATER hna roa has me use it and its AN ARMPIT THERMOMETER! #ew #sicknast #sicknast 5mil!!! agh! 

how gross, no!!! hahaha 

well. ya win some, ya lose some. haha

OH! and did yall know that toms are from argentina! they totally have an argentina flag on them and come with a flag... 

i feel tanta for not knowing that hahaha

oh mom! did you know that president thomas s monson was the mission presdient of toronto canada??? google when! how sick is that!!!! i was like SHOUT OUT TO MY MOMMA! hhahah too legit!!!

i realize that i keep on forgetting to actually respond to yalls comments. so shellfish. lo siento. 
[insert overheard seafood joke here]

SELFIE TIME

me infront of our living quarters! hahaha why so awkward! haha it as supposed to be like a oo looky here! but its kinda like ´´is this where i live?´´

oh yesterday! we had the best empanadas ever!!! this family cooked a billion and six! i literally had stacks on stacks of empanadas! and not the highly popularized version of the word ¨literally¨where you're just really excited and feel like misusing a word--no! like i LITERALLY HAD STACKS ON STACKS OF EMPANADAS! RICO A FUL! AH loveeee ittt!!!!

but yeah, the work is great. my spanish is getting there. i have the small talk abilities of clousseau from pink panther... ´´lovely weather we are having.. 

i hope that the weather will continue´´´

bahaha enserio i say that all the time!
 love you all!

bon o bons are the greatest candy in the world. i would have a hard time trading my kidnapped husband for my case of bon o bons 

love you all more than i love bon o bons.. maybe! ahhaa familias pueden ser eterna! Jesucristo vive, porque de Su Expiación, podemos volver a Su presencia.

i love you all with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns

paz y bendiciones

ciaocito!!!!

hna dascanio

Cool Runnings

Well! this week was by far the fastest! ay yay yay!

so! boy oh boy where do i start!! this weeek was really good! a little difficult, but nothing can stop us!!! this area is apparentyly a little difficultand nonreceptive, but im not listening to that cuz WE WILL SEE MIRACLES!! 

patricia is still waiting on her casamiento, which is kinda sad, but hey! maybe she needs the time or its a test of patience or something! her boy, joel, already had a bautismo fecha but he wasnt completely on board, and so wewere like, well pray for yourself to know and he was liike i tried! and so boy i prayedfor him a whole bunch  and it was really cool cuz in the lesson i was like well its kinda like talking to a friend, it actually is!,and you need to wait to see what they say before you leave. kinda like that one kid said in church back home, recuerde? anyway, our next lesson with them was so good! we asked him if he had received an answer and were kind of bracing ourselves for another no (shame on us!)andhe was like yes! hes 10 by the way! and we were like ah yay! AND WHAT ANSWER DID YOU GET! AND he was like THAT ITS TRUE! THIS IS THE TRUE CHURCH! ah so good! so many good things!!!! me encanta la misión! 

sometimes im writing in my journal or on here andi cant think of the ingles word and so sorry hahaha but thats a good thing, no? hahaha i would say that i understand a little more, but i would probably comparemy speech to... trying to talk to a 2 yr old on skype: all my answers are really lagged and sometimesi just look at you and i do alot of smiles hahaha but its all good!! hahaha its fun! 

oh my! and EVERYONE LOVES TO SHOW ME THEIR ENGLISH! hahaha its sooofunny! like well be walking and some little kids playing fútbol will be like: hi ho er oo! [hi how are you] thats as best as i can explain it on the keyboard hahaha oh and everyone is so flattering haahhaa like were just walking down the streets of salta and (there are people playing fútbol everywhere, all ages) and theyll just be like ¨I LOVE  YOU HERMANA¨ THERE they go again with the english hahaha and

im just like shooot heres a book of mormon for you! bahahaha and people are all ways whistling at us bahaha im like shoot you want the gospel come and get it! hahah chiste! nah its really funny though! 

OH YEAH! im in salta! tribuno,salta,argentina! and its really sweet! i love it! ill try to send a picture of the view from our

place. were not supposed to be tourists and bring our camera with us, or have it visible to the public eye...  so sorry for the

lack of picture (WHAT MOVIE!! IF YOU DONT KNOW YOURE DEAD TO ME!)HAHAH jk miss congeniality! ¨¨i recognized you from your lack of picture!¨¨ bahaha Oh yeah! salta! sorry! so yeah salta is bomb! if you wanna know what it looks like, watch the beginning of Inception. is that argentina at the beginning? i think so... anyway it looks like that! 

ahh this keyboard will be the death of me. my fingers literally hurt from how hard im hitting the keys! agh!! hahaha also i formally apologize for the horrendous spelling and grammar. aint nobody got time for dat! ahahhaa 

so everyone in argentina is like up to my shoulder. i wish that were an exaggeration bahahaha talk about Big Person Little World bahahaha haha shout out laura and your favorite midget show! bahahaha but seriosusly! all the trees are also really low but everyone just walks under them just fine (like on the sidewalk) and im like ducking every 20 feet! hahaha also i need to figure out how tall i am in centimeters cuz i have 0 idea #woops 

oh my goodness! the KEYS! LA LLAVES! the keys here are all like old fashioned keys [skeleton keys] like moms old key on her car key doobop! its the coolest thing ever! and so el obispo, the bishop, has like a million right, and so he looks like dadgum the sheriff of nottingham with his key ring! ITS THE COOOLEST THING EVER! hahaha 

oh and HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!! i forgot about it! how unpatriotic! ah! but we had a zone conference on that day and so one of the other missionaires from los Estadus Unidos told me happy 4th and i was like oh hot dang! lookey there! haha 

also did yall read alma 26 when i told you to! betta have! hahah too good right! ahh i love el libro de mormón! also i put pictures of the fam in there and so its bomb! i showed one family, theyre less active, i forget why families got brought up but i was like oh i have my family right here and they the wife was like ah!!! CHIQUITITOS!!! (lilly and nick) she marveled at them for a solid 3 minutes hahah  especially niko! hahaha cuz like chiquito is like small,right and so chiquitito is like tiny like oh so cute litlle chiquitito! i should have counted how many times she said chiquitito! bahahah 

rosita chaquita wonita chihuahua 

oh yeah! we have a new presidente de misión! hes awesome! at the zone conference we met him and his family! love them ya!  

oh! and ya (pronounced sha) is everyone in argentina´s favorite word! its like means: over here, this way, already, go,

ANYTHING! like hna musmano is always like ¨¨vamos para ya¨¨ or ¨¨no es más para ya¨¨ hahhaa too funny 

i love hymns in spanish!  oh also TODAY IS 2 MONTHS ON THE MISH! can you believe that! SCARY!!! 

oh story time! so we had just finished a lovely lesson with belen and her mom, belma(they are bomb btw but they didnt go to church! ah!) but anyway and so we were un poquitito tarde. which is fine if you were in a lesson, but we wanted to run back cuz funsies right and so were liike light jogging and this 

EVIL DOG COMES barreling around the corner and is chasing us! not us, ME! 

and i was like WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH 

and so i start high tailin it like, straight bookin it, like my adrenaline was pumpin 

and i was runnin like a jamaican. 

just call me usain bolt! 

hahaha and then the dog GOT ME AND I WAS LIKE im not going down like this perro!!!! 

and so he had my skirt and i kicked my leg back at him and he let go and so i start booking it otra vez, only to realize that my shoe was off (curse you tiny tim the baby foot!) hahaha 

and so were like 30 feet away and i was like HERMANA AYUDAME! TIENE MI ZAPATO!!! 

and she was like no its fine, lets go! and i was like NOI NEED MY SHOE! 

AND she bucked up and tip toed towards the dog, got my shoe and we ran off hahaha how CRAYYYY!!!! ay hay hay! and i wasnt hurt at all! all i can say is that God is watching out for us for sure and garments really are a protector! 

like for real! it didnt get to my skin! how awesome! 

well, i love you all. 

know that i am well. todo bien! 

eatin pasta like a boss hahaha and loving it! 

the work is great. the work is His and AHHH I LOVE IT ALL!!

PAZ Y BENDICIONES

HNA DASCANO

I Speak Like a 2-year-old with 3 Marshmallows in its Mouth

OH BOY! this is gonna be awesome!

so i realized like right after i was done writing that i hadnt hardly said anything about how Argentina is and HELLO THE WORK! hahahaha woops! i was like WAH! also more pics are coming for sure! so here we go! 

I think this might be her neighborhood or area of town--not sure, haha

Argentina is AWESOME! the people! the place! the food! soo awesome all of it! the food is a very not mexican hahaha lots of noodles, lots of rice. LOTS OF CHICKEN! and french bread with everything! like EVERYTHING! entonces, stacks on stacks of carbs ´´id eat carbs if an italian boy bought them for me´´ NAME THAT MOVIE! hhaha lizzie mcguire! bahaha basically thats how it is! so awesome though i love it! our apartment is nice. we have a shower! the floor is sicknast all the time and i dont know why. its tile and i sweep it like 34 times a day. oh well. tis vida hahaa lets just say that those 4dollar flip flops from walmart are the greatest thing to happen to me! bahaha our apartment doesnt have heating or airconditioning, but its all good! we have tons of blanks and little estufas which are like baby heaters! im in love with the estufas! ill send a pic of me hugging one bahaha but its all good! 

hermana musmano is great! so patient! hahaha i teach her ingles and she obvi teaches me spanish. i only help her with ingles during estudiar idioma. she has to study english. which basically means that i write down funny things for her to say and translate primary songs and hymns! 

OH MY THE SONGS I FORGOT TO TELL YALL!!! AH! hahahah okay so we´re allowed to listen to music and apparently the apartment that we´re living in has been the missionary apartment forever and so theres this cd that belongs to the apartment and it has 8 songs-in

english. let me tell you what they are. 

• a pop version of Saturday is a special day 
• david archuleta´s version of True Colors
• a piano version of These are a few of my favorite things
• mormon tabernacle choir'sTeach me to walk in the light 
• and then theres a few that i didn't know before :)

so heres the hermanas in my apartment: 

• mi compañera, Hermana Musmano (no english) from buenos aires
• Hermana Villacis (nicest and cutest little person in the world) no english and from Ecuador 
• hermana roa (knows a decent amount of english hallelujah haha and shes from chile) 
• then there´s ME. bahahaha 

and so we listen to this dern cd on repeat alll day long. well obviiously not all day long cuz  were working but like we wake up at 656 and pray and then at 7on the dot we have ejercisio! and so that music is blasting and its the funniest thing in the world cuz they dont know how ridiculous the songs are but its so funny. i translated most of the songs for them so theyre learning the words bahaha tooo funy. like i guess its not that distracting when its in another language and you dont know whats going on, but like when were having companion study and its blaring SATURDAY IS A SPECIAL DAY ITS THE DAY WE GET READY FOR SUNDAY!! i cant help but smile and laugh obviously hahaha

Oh! i havent even told yall! so hno vargas of the good old ccm told us that argentinos dont use their s´s and so i was like yueah yeah and didnt really pay attention BUT THEY REALLY DONT! it really threw me off at first! and hna musmano is argentina tambien and so she doesnt either and im like WHAT! who doens´t use their s´s! S is the greatest letter in america!!! wait. maybe thats the problem. this isnt america... bahahaha and so yeah its crazy. like the word Entonces. it is like a filler word. for like then or so and so the people here say ´´tonce´´ instead of entonces! HAH QUE INICUA! bahahha also thats what hna musmano says ALL THE TIME! AHH QUE INICUA! its like oh! wicked! or like Oh! how wicked! bahaha too funny! anyway let´s get to the good stuff!

So the work! ah! greatest ever! read alma 26 and thats how i feel! for real! pause the letter and READ! I WONT LET YOU CONTINUE TIL YOU READ IT! not like im picking favorites, but its the greatest chapter! or at least very relevant and PUMPS ME UP! FOR real, i havent felt bad, sad, homesick, too tired, or anything since i got here! i love it!!!!! 

now that youve read the chapter, you can imagine that how i feel. SO AWESOME! putting in all this work cuz its worth it! putting in all this work to save a soul!!! ah! i love the gospel! and i find that everytime i speak its easy, not only because of the Holy Ghost, which this work is not possible without it cuz we ARE NOT TEACHERS OR EDUCATED RELIGIOUS EXPERTS, but because it's what i believe because it's TRUE! ive also learned to really LOVE the book of Mormon. its my favorite. ive always loved it and knew it was the word of God and really important but not its like BAM i seriously AHHH 1 hour to study it is NOT ENOUGH!  

poor hna musmano was sick this week and so friday was kinda a bust and the last half of saturday was too. we had to go back to the pension and she rested, or tried too. poor dear. ah! im running out of time! any way though it turned out to be really good experience for me though cuz i had literally 12 hours to study the book of mormon on friday! and that wasnt enough! ah! me encanta! also, im now studying solely in spanish so woop de doo! i understand for the most part everything, i just speak like a 2 year old with 3 marshmallows in their mouth. hahah seriously bahaha but it doesnt matter becuase what the investigators remember and what matters is what they feel and that´s the Spirit´s job! 

yes, that is an etch a sketch i did while hna musmano was sick
bahaha que bueno, no! hahaha tootin my own horn bahaha

so basically this work is all about dilligence. one day i think it was miercoles, but we worked SO HARD it was insane! and NOBODY WAS HOME everone was busy! hours and hours and only a few lessons!!!! but we just have to work because we witnessed the sickest miracle!!!!! we were walking back home for the night and this man stopped us. it was a dark street so i was kinda taken aback but he started talking to us and was like ´´are yall missionaries´´ and we were like SNAP CRACKLE POP YES!!! and then he was like ´´i have a book of mormon and i want to learn more and be baptized´´ LIKE WHATTTT!! 
i need to stop being surprised when things like this happen because obviously God can do anything!!!! but HOW SICK RIGHT!! we met with him once already, and ill keep you posted. hes a talker, so its hard to get stuff in, but he is searching desperately for peace in his life!!! so sick right!!!!

no, patricia didnt get baptized saturday. still waiting on her papers, but never fear! because she is very active and isn't by any means backing out! just a lesson of pacience! ah! 
i cant remember how to spell in ingles!!! hahaha

also! we havbe another baptismal date! her name is belen! shes still got a ways to go but shes awesome! and has a date for 26 de julio!!!! that was so sick! shes so curios and has been like a permanent investigator-not progressing but our lesson with her on jueves was INSANE! the spirit was like BAM SPLAT!!! love it!!! and i had this impression BAPTISM! BUT Then her mom came through the door and i was like ah is the spirit gone what do we do! cuz her mom is like a big mouth and completely distracted everybody hahaha but hna musmano continued on and asked her and she was like YES! ahhh!!! so sick! love it! this area is a little hard. so we've heard. but im not listening to that. because were just gonna work and work and 

Thy will be done right!!!!

AHHH I FORGOT TO TEL YALL THIS! so yes, we have a toilet, but no you cant flush the toilet paper. yes its gross, i know. but thats apparently the way things are. WHICH 3 LOVELY HERMANAS FROM SOUTH AMERICA DIDNT THINK TO TELL ME. so literally we just barely arrive at the pension. like barely and im like kay hermanas i gotta go. like 2 days in airplanes, i gotta go hahaha and so i went to the restroom and then the toilet water rose and i was like ahhh uhhh is this normal and hna musmano was like um no thats not normal. hahaha so im like uhhh my b. no paper in the toilet and shes like NO NO PAPER IN THE TOILET! and i was like hahah oooooops. like thats the worst in the world when you jack up a toilet, but when you need help to fix it--theres no coming back from that bahaha and so naturally we dont have a plunger. so hna musmano and hna villacis go down 2 flights of stairs for a plunger (yes we are on the 4th floor) and come back with this LITERALLy 4 -foot tall plunger bahahaa and so the funniest thing in the world was watching little hna musmano who is like 5 feet tall use this gigantore plunger! bahahhaha but, she tackled the beast, no need to fear or fret. bahahah

also did i mention its colder than africa here!!!! ahh! and also thank you sooo much for the shoes again! they are the greatest! and the tights! mom youre the greatest! 

i wrote mom a letter, and i dont know when ill be able to send it seeing as i need stamps and i dont know how to get them. welp all is well, todo bien aquí! love you all so much! 

please post the whole letter in my blog. shout out to the fans. bhahaha do i have a twitter hashtag yet? haha chiste. including the toilet story! itll make me famous! broma! 

pride is of the devil! hahaha

 paz y bendiciones!!!!

Speaking is Hard; Comedy is Harder

Oh my goodness!!!! how crazy!!!!! It is awesome here! 

every single word i write says its misspelled and cuz its on a spanish computer and so if its random and weird-lo siento! haha also the shift is in a weird spot hahaha so it might be shallow on exclamation points, but know that 

i AM PUMPED!!!

so yeah all the flights were dandy. the flight to buenos aires was suuuper full and so we had to check our carrry on which was nice but also that was our backup clothes in case we lost luggage. haha so we were a little apprehensive at first,  but everything is good when your on a mission, even if you lose all your clothes! ahha 

WHICH NOBODY DID 

HALLELUSHAH 

[argentinian pronunciation]

so we land in argentina and find our bags and go through customs and enter the country presenting them with our passport and like this paper that basically says, im not sketchy and am not carrying more than 10000 dollars with me. hahaha that seemed scarier than it was haha its all good! then once we left the aeropuerto part of the aeropuerto, there were a whole bunch of lovely argentine faces greeting us saying like ROSARIO THIS WAY MENDOZA THIS WAY. WHAT MISSION ARE YOU<? SALTA? OKAY OVER THERE! mind you not one english word was uttered! and our person never arrived so the mendoza person  helped us out. lovely lady. not a member. they are just hired by the church to get missionaries to the right places! and so she was spanishing to us, gave us a sack filled with sandwiches and two huge cartons of chocolate milk to split, mind you there are 4 elders and 6 hermanas. hahah and a sack of croisssants and pastries. bahaha 

then we took like a 30 minute drive to another airport in buenos aires that isnt international and we followed this guy who didnt understand any english over to get our bags checked again. 

a few times i was like waaaa but idk the whole time ive been here i havent been stressed out #bendicion. and so that plane ride was pretty much the same as utah to texas. not bad at all. it was mostly missionaries on this little dinky plane. but they had the best snacks ever!!!! in a little happy meal like box! hahaha

anyway! landed in salta and guess who we see! 

pres and hna levrino! 

they are precious! too bad theyre leaving in like a week or two! im sure the next pres will be great though too.! oh and hna levrino was like, Your mom wrote me about you coming and stuff! hahah i was like hahaha she´s crazy! and she was like, no shes just being a good mom! hahah precioso!!! thats right mom, youre just being a good mom! 

haha and so we went on to the mission home. 

we ate so well! i learned VERY QUICKLY that no matter how good it is, eat it SLOW!!! cuz they will automatically refill your plate to the same size! ahaha we keep having this dish. its milanesa and its bomb! its basically breaded chicken with a little bit of sauce and cheese on the top. basically chicken parm. and its so good! we had it the first night at the mission home and also at two other miembros houses for lunch. oh, thats another thing. we dont go to peoples houses for dinner. dinner isnt a big thing here. its all about lunch. like as in heres two emapanadas for APPETIZER then heres 2 chicken breasts with a boat ton of rice and french bread. lots of french bread haha and ALWAYS soda cuz their water is no good. we have a waterbottle filter doobop though that makes the water we drink safe. i put mine together and was like, how do you know if it works? haha good question, yah! ahaha well. im not dead yet! 

chiste! mom calm down!° 

so my companion is hna musmano! she {s super legit! straight from buenos aires. she is 12 of 14 siblings! 3 others are out on missions! how sick!! haha oh and did i mention that she doesn{t know a lick of english! hahahah that{s what i wanted though and its fun. i havent but uttered a word of ingles since wednesday hahah. granted ie probably talked 1/64 what i normally do. hahah its fun though! my dictionary is my best friend besides my Heavenly Father. but ya know, i havent really gotten frustrated. like at all. and the people are so nice! 

pobrecita means like oh poor little thing! and so ive gotten that a lot. cuz people full fledged takl to me cuz i look mexican or latina or something and then theyre like oh she {s from the united states? and then like oh how long have you been here? oh 5 days? and you dont understand anything, do you. pobrecita! hahaha its fun though1 

and i think that i am learning quickly. speaking is hard. comedy is harder. i cant think quickly enough for that hahaha but im understanding a lotttt more. like a lot more. i got there at first and was like whaaaat but i understand a lot more now. also its weird to think in english now cuz i havent in a while. i gave myself a migraine the other day concentrating so hard. bahahah it's so great though! we have lunch with a member pretty much every day except lunes. hoy. 

the work in this area isnt hoppin too much BUT WE{RE GONNA CHANGE THAT!! we have, or they did before me but now she{s mine too, a woman with a bautismo date! hopefuly saturday! shes great! her names patricia! and she has two boys 13 and 10 i think. hopefully they will get baptized, too. 

the world cup is going on and so when argentina is playing theres literally not a soul in the streets and you can hear the commentary on everyone{s tvs as you walk hahaha and its super funny when argentina gets a goal cuz you hear houses erupt in cheers slighlty delayed from each other bahaha i love it though. 

i love the people!

we have a nice builiding pretty close. it only takes like 20 min to walk there. 

also the streets here are insane. its clear to me now that the whole ýielding to pedestrians thing´ is an american pasttime bahaha  but its almost more safe cuz you just have to watch where youre going and theres not that awkward communication between pedestrian and driver. 

being in a cab is LOCO PARA COCO!! 

no lights. no stop signs. the cabs slow down at intersections. and thats the reason why we dont have bicycles or cars ahhahaa so cool though. 

i love it already. it{s a lot of work but it is the most rewarding thing ever!!! 

i love all yall and paz y bendiciones

with love from argentina

cue music [james bond]

wa waaaa waaaaa!

hahaha 

con amor a ful,

hna dascanio