december in the mission

Music by John Schmidt – Walk in the Woods – Bells of Freedom & Waterfall

extras in the font

One of my favorite stories this month is about a one-legged man that the missionaries were teaching. They introduced him to a man in the ward with no legs. He became instrumental in the teaching process and when the investigator received a testimony and wanted to be baptized, he asked his friend to do it. It was quite a memory to witness one of our elders holding the member and the other one in a position to help in the immersion procedure of the baptism.

zone leaders report in

It is time for the monthly zone leader meeting. We have four grandkids “playing” quietly upstairs in anticipation of their lunchtime with the zone leaders. Nine of the zone leaders were here last March when Jonah was baptized and all of the kids were really excited to connect with “their” missionaries again. The primary leaders of their ward in North Carolina have told our daughter about the prayers that are offered specifically for the Buenos Aires West Mission.

At the time of Jonah’s baptism he received a leather bound book with a map of Argentina imprinted on the front. The missionaries all wrote him a little message. It turns out that up until just recently, Jonah thought it was a map of North Carolina, where he is from, on the front of the book. With just a turn of the map, it is pretty easy to see why!

It is wonderful to be in the mission at Christmas time and see how the missionaries are so focused on really what it is all about. All of the mission is full of beautiful baptism stories.

p day navideño

The mission had such a wonderful experience together. On the morning of Christmas Eve, we started out at the temple. We were blessed to have workers that were so accommodating to come in on a Monday. They  told us sincerely that they loved being able to perform this service for the missionaries.
We rented local school buses to transport us for the morning and went to the mission office headquarters at Ramos Mejia for lunch.
At the chapel, we had a craft and Christmas videos to watch to occupy the missionaries while they were waiting for others. Finally, we had our Christmas program. I put together a photo montage of the day from the pictures that I received. I have loaded the musical numbers into my YouTube account and they can be watched there in full.

http://m.youtube.com/user/dcnanamoo
Although, I am sharing the choir numbers here and here
 
as well as the closing Christmas hymn. It is pretty obvious that the chapel was like an oven, but the Spirit was equal to it.
I have been especially happy thinking of the joy among all the missionaries and their families as they have been able to share their feelings this holiday and the joy of the work of whom we celebrate.

Happy New Year!

information for parents/información para padres

 

Dear Parents,

At this special time of year we want you to know how much we love your sons and daughters who serve with us here in the Argentina Buenos Aires West mission. We appreciate your loving support and prayers for your missionaries as they seek to serve with all their heart, might, mind and strength.

We remind you that your missionaries will not be using the internet this week to communicate with you. Their call home on Christmas day will replace their weekly letter. We hope all are successful in making a connection on Christmas day as planned. In the event that something fails to allow a conversation with your missionary, please do not fear. We will work with them to connect with you as soon as possible. There are always a few who fail to connect as planned.

We ask that you limit your phone call to 40 minutes. Please speak about things that are supportive of what your missionary is doing here. I'm sure you all realize that spending time speaking of the things he or she is missing by not being home, is not what he or she needs to hear as these things only serve as a distraction from what your missionary has been called to do. Certainly do not speak about problems or issues they can do nothing about. Please do not invite non-family members including boyfriends or girlfriends to participate in the call. Try and spend much of the call asking your missionary to tell you what they have been doing. Ask them to share a spiritual experience with you before ending the call. They have been encouraged to share their testimony with you at the end of the call. Giving time for your missionary to accomplish this will enhance your experience and bless your lives as you continue to give support from home and bless their lives as they continue their sacred service here in the Buenos Aires West Mission.

We wish you and your family all the best at this time of year. Thank you for sharing your beloved children with us and the good people of Argentina. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year!

With love,

President and Sister Carter

***********************************************************************************

Queridos Padres,

En este tiempo especial del año queremos que sepan cuán grande es nuestro amor por sus hijos e hijas quienes sirven aquí en la Mision Buenos Aires Oeste. Apreciamos su amoroso apoyo y oraciones por sus misioneros al tiempo que ellos se esfuerzan servir con corazón, alma mente y fuerza.

Les recordamos que sus misioneros no estarán usando internet esta semana para comunicarse con usted. Su llamada a casa en el Día de Navidad remplazara su carta semanal. Esperamos todos ellos sean exitosos en tener comunicación en el día de Navidad como lo planeado. En el caso que algo falla y evite la conversación con su misionero, por favor no se asuste. Trabajaremos con ellos para que puedan comunicarse con usted lo más pronto posible. Habrá siempre algunas fallas al tratar de comunicarse según lo acordado.

Le pedimos que limiten su llamada telefónica a 40 minutos. Por favor hable acerca de cosas que apoyan lo que su misionero esta hacienda aquí. Estoy seguro todos ustedes notan que el hablar de cosas de casa hacen sentir al misionero que extraña no estar en casa, no es lo que ella o el necesitan de escuchar ya que estas cosas solo sirven de distracción de lo que los misioneros han sido llamados a hacer. Ciertamente no hablamos de los problemas o cuestiones en los cuales no pueden hacer nada al respecto. Por favor no invite a personas que no sean miembros de la familia tales como novias o novios a que participen de la llamada. Intente tomar mucho tiempo de la llamada preguntando a su misionero como ha estado. Pídales compartir una experiencia espiritual antes de terminar la llamada. Ellos han sido animados a compartir su testimonio con usted al final de la llamada. De tiempo para su misionero de lograr esto: mejorará su experiencia y bendecirá la vida de ambos a medida que continúe dando apoyo en el hogar y mientras continúan con su servicio sagrado aquí en la Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Oeste.

Con Amor,

Presidente y Hermana Carter.

merry christmas!

new church website

Create.LDS.org

p-day navideño practice

Next Monday is our P-day Navideño. There will be lots of pictures to be taken that day, so I decided to highlight this group of missionaries that has been preparing and has given up their P-days for a couple of weeks. They are my singers and narrators and players. As each of them was performing during our practice, I thought, that is my favorite number in the program…over and over again!
Behind the scenes there have been lots of things to do to make every part of this day special for our mission. I have to give another shout out to the office elders who respond so very ably to every request.

That handsome boy above, on the left, is our grandson. He and his family are visiting for the holiday, and he is also going to share his talent next Monday.

november in the mission

Uriel Vega--Hark! The Angels Sing / O Come All Ye Faithful (Se Oye Un Son En Alta Esfera / Venid Fieles Todos)--This Christmas / Esta Navidad   

Clay Aiken--Hark The Herald Angels Sing/O Come All Ye Faithful-- Merry Christmas With Love  

Celine Dion--O Come All Ye Faithful--These Are Special Times          

specialized training for the rest minus chivilcoy

We had a very funny moment this morning when one of the missionaries broke the clock that we were using to time the lessons. Presidente told him he could take that broken clock home, but he had to leave the batteries.

You might think that by the fifth day and 45 hours later of listening to lessons that it would be getting tiresome. It just didn’t happen and actually, one of the lessons I observed today fell right into the saying, save the best for last. You can be pretty sure that we will run this type of specialized training again, especially because the missionaries were very enthusiastic about it as well.

specialized training in merlo with castelar

I love this time of year when the missionaries come in with their healthy brown faces. You can tell I am from Florida when I think that everyone looks better with a little bit of sunshine on them.

specialized training in gonzalez catan with aldo bonzi

The missionaries are very creative coming up with Christmas trees and decorations, even though Christmas trees are very extraordinary in Argentina. I liked the elders that told me about the branch they cut off of a tree with a dull machete. Then they decorated their “tree” with a tie and empty yogurt cups and put empty cereal boxes under the tree. They showed me a picture…super cute!

There are no hermana areas in Gonzalez Catan yet, so these are the first hermanas that I have seen in the chapel here. All of the missionaries from Aldo Bonzi made the trek over.

Our visa waiter from Spain arrived last week. He is really surprised how different Argentina is from where he lived and has been serving in Madrid. Of course, it is a lot hotter here, as well.