No electricity

Hola!!!

This past week was really long for us. My back has started to get bad again. We couldn´t go out and work for a couple days. The first day we didn´t have electricity. The bad thing was that is has been pretty dang cold here. We thought we were going to die. We found 10 little candles in a cupboard that served as heat and light for a few hours. It was FREEZING. Be grateful for what you have! We didn´t have it for 24 hours. But it really is a blessing that we are still alive! And the blessing of technology is a good one!

I have been reading in the scriptures a lot this week. The Book of Mormon is really amazing to me. I cant believe I took all those stories for granted before. There are some really amazing stories in there that we can follow to become better. I would love if you guys would start reading it today. I promise you that if you read it, you will see all the blessings come from it in your life. You will be uplifted every day. You will come to understand that God has a plan for each of his children. He loves you all! I love you guys and hope you have a great week!

Hermana Stewart

Emapandas

Mother's Day Skype

Hey everyone! 

I don´t have a ton to say this week. We travelled for 2 days to and from Paraná for divisions with the leaders of the hermanas of Entre Rios in our mission. It is a loooooong bus ride of 5 hours each way. Guess what?? We finally switched areas with the elders! The houses here have sidewalks and doors! Crazy! We are really excited to work hard in this new area! We have one investigator that is in a family of recent converts. She hasn't been baptized yet because she has to quit smoking first but she is awesome! Her name is Andrea. Her family is super cute. They have an 11 year old boy that reminds me of my little brother Cannon. Speaking of....WE GOT TO SKYPE OUR FAMILIES THIS WEEK! WOO!! It was really fun to see them and talk to them. I miss you guys tons. Let me know if you have any questions. I love being in the mission!!! 

Hermana Stewart💞
​
maren.stewart@myldsmail.net

**Questions and answers from our Mother's Day Skype**

What are your favorite foods so far?
-Chicken Milanese and Gnocchi

Do they have any holidays that we don't?
-They seem to have 'made up' holidays practically every few weeks. They all get off work and go to the river.

Where do you shop?
-There's a market in Centro on the corner by our apartment that we get groceries at. We went to Carrefor,  which is like a big Wal-Mart, once. But things are really expensive there.

How many girls are in your mission?
-There are only around 25 hermanas in our whole mission.

How does your new area differ from the old one?
-It's a lot safer. Also, many of the houses didn't have doors before just curtains in the doorways. But now they have doors.

What food have you liked the least so far?
-Probably the pizza with egg and a whole onion.
-They put mayo on almost everything here too.

What food do you like the best?
-Ice Cream. Frambesca (Rasberry) is the best flavor.

How do you wash your clothes?
-We wash our clothes in a bucket and we were hang drying. But we just got a dryer that spins it out and drains on to the floor. The drain is flat so water goes everywhere. We aren't very good at it. We wash our clothes like "Shanki's" (Yankees).

FACTS:
-No one wears makeup unless its a special occasion
-There aren't many fruits or vegetables
-17 pesos =$1
-We have bidet's
-The landscape reminds me of Idaho, California and Arizona. There are a lot of palm trees
-We are not allowed to play soccer in the mission because the people here are very intense and competitive about it.
-The song 'Despacito' is super popular right now 
-Kids go to school through high school. They wear uniforms.
Most do not go to college.
-People go to the Boilche (club) for fun
-1 District in Concordia and 2 branches
-There are 221 members on record but only 30 people regularly  come to church. But on a good day 40-50 people
-In Argentina they speak Castellano. 
The "che" sound is in place of the "ll" or "y"

-Some slang words:
-"vos" -instead of "tu" or "usted"
-"copodo"- that's cool or sick
-"capo"- you're a boss
-"facha"- swag
-"trucho"- fake

***-This is Maren's mom- (I may not have spelled all of the words correctly. :) )***

Changing Areas

Concordia

Hey everyone!

My back is way better now! I can walk a lot more without pain! This week was really good! We are going to change areas with the zone leaders because our area was getting increasingly more dangerous. We are really excited to work in our new area this week! 

We finally were able to meet with Junior, our recent convert, again. And guess what!! We taught his mom!! She is really awesome and has interest in the church. 

We have been using the registros of the church to find less active members. We have found out that a bunch of people are not living anymore or the address doesnt exist. So it has been a fun adventure with lots of walking haha. 

What I want to tell you guys this week is that I have realized that the mission is the best decision I have ever made in my life. Before, I didn´t really know why I was coming out here. I just knew it would be a good experience. I now know, without a doubt that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that he loves me. I know that by living the commandments of God, we are blessed. I have seen it in so many people´s lives here and also in my own. I know that we are here on this earth to have joy and to learn, so that we can return back to our Heavenly Father again.

I love you all so much. If you have a doubt or question about anything, please let me know! Have an amazing week!

Hermana Stewart

Faith

Hola!!

This week was really good! We had transfers!! I will be staying here in Concordia 6 more weeks! And I am still with Hermana DeGolyer!

I have been going to physical therapy for my back. I have to do a bunch of exercises. But I have been able to do a lot more than I could before. Thank you all for your support! 

The weather is finally turning into fall here which is really nice! We don't have to walk outside and sweat to death and feel like the sun in attacking us all day haha. We are still working on finding people so it is much better in this weather. We might be changing areas with the elders which will be awesome. I will let you guys know when it happens. 

Hermana DeGolyer and I have been studying a lot of the Old Testament this week. There are so many stories of true unwavering faith. If we want to see a miracle, we must first have faith. Without faith, nothing can happen. I have been learning that God sends us hard things in life so that we can become the best people that we can be. We just need to endure and have faith.

I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.  Ether 12:27 


Love you guys and have a great week!!

Hermana Stewart

la flia. Wallingre

This cute girl is in my Branch. She said, "Hey, I want a picture!" :)

Sk8!!

Some of the people in my district. Elder Chaname, Elder Chauque, Elder Orozco, Elder Soto, Elder Mitchell, Hermana DeGolyer and I

Trips to Santa Fe & Rosario

Helloooo!

This week seemed really long! We traveled 2 times back and forth from Santa Fe from Concordia which is a 5 hour trip each way. Santa Fe is really pretty!! I had to go to Santa Fe for tramites and then the next time we went, I went to Rosario. Rosario is really cool!!! It is almost like the US which was pretty weird for me to see. It looked SO fancy haha. Also we ate at Burger King, which sucks a lot in the US, but here it is DELICIOUS. It was so fancy too. SO weird for me hahah. I will probably never eat at burger king again in my life. 

I found out this week that I have scoliosis. The xray is super cool haha. I get to start doing physical therapy which should be fun! 

This week I have been learning a bit more about the attributes of Christ and what kind of person he was. If we were all just a little bit more like him, how amazing the world would be! 

Love you all so much!

Hermana Stewart

Angelica's Baptism

Hola!!

This week was awesome! I got to go to the doctor and get x-rays! My back is really messed up. It started one day when I couldn´t get up out of my bed. It was incredibly painful for many days. I feel like I am like 90 years old when I am really 20 hahaha. I now have special permission from my mission president to use a little backpack. It is my mochilita. 😊 It has been helping. The biggest help for me was when I got a Priesthood blessing. The Priesthood we have here on the Earth now is from God. It is the same Priesthood given to Jesus Christ in his time on the Earth. It can work miracles. My back doesn´t have as much pain as it did before. I am able to walk now without a ton of pain. I will find out more about my back on Wednesday when I get the x-rays back.

Angelica is baptized!!! She is not the same Angelica I met my first day here in Argentina. She has changed completely through the gospel. Her testimony of Jesus Christ is incredibly powerful. She was prepared to receive the gospel at exactly this time. She is a huge example to me of how we can use the Atonement of Christ each day in our lives to become better.I gave an impromptu talk about baptism. Hermana DeGolyer sang and I played the piano as a musical number. Angelica bawled so much. It was beautiful. After the baptism she basically ran to me and she hugged me in the tightest hug ever and said ¨thank you for everything. You have changed my life.¨ It was so beautiful. 

I want to challenge all of you to learn a little bit more about the life of Christ each day. I have been learning more about him every day and how I can try to become more like him in my life. It has been an amazing experience for me. 

Love you all lots! I am really sorry if I don´t get to your emails right away. 

Love,

Hermana Stewart

My mochilita

Whitewash art

A youth activity in our branch about La Obra Misional

Me and Angelica!

Angelica, Hermana DeGolyer & I

Another Week in Concordia

A mural with some of the history of Argentina

Hey guys!

Angelica is getting baptized this Saturday woo! She had her interview yesterday and is all ready to be baptized! Something really spiritual this week was that we taught her about temples. She got emotional when we said that they are really a piece of heaven on earth! 

Another really amazing thing that happened with her this week was that she said that the first time she saw me (My first day in Concordia) She felt like she had seen me before. It was truly a testament to me that I am supposed to be here at this place at this time and that there are specific people that the Lord has prepared for me to teach. 

We had a young adult activity on Saturday. There were traditional Argentine dancers and there was a rock band. Hermana DeGolyer and I had planned to play the piano and sing Mas Cerca Dios de Ti. We practiced and planned to play it on the nice piano in the chapel. They ended up calling us up after the band and they let me play their keyboard! I was so hyped. Hermana DeGolyer sang really pretty and my keyboard version wasn´t as pretty but hey! It was pretty dang cool. 

Anyways love you guys lots! I have a couple videos I would love you guys to watch! Talk to you next week!

Hermana Stewart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spGtVY6L5jY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EgpvCLUq8k

Hermana DeGolyer and I in the collectivo

A church in Centro

The wall above my desk