Yay for San Luis!

May 26, 2014

Mis queridos, 

First of all, shoutouts: 

Good luck in your half marathon today!!!!! you'll all do so great! You have a fan in Argentina! 

Also, CARLIE BUSH! Congrats on your new baby!!!!!! I am so excited for you guys, you'll be amazing parents! You also have a fan in Argentina! 

Well, this week I grew. Sadly, not in stature.. but I feel a little bit more spiritually "filled". 

San Luis is almost like a different country than Mendoza! The food, the people, the buildings, the streets, the dogs.. ALL DIFFERENT. But the good news is, I LOVE IT HERE! 

We have a pretty big ward here and they are all unified in building each other up and expanding God's kingdom. I hope one day to raise a family like the ones found here in San Luis. Everyone learns from each other, seeks to help and love each other, and they just have fun! They all have so much faith and show it in every little decision they make. 

I've been studying this week a talk by President Eyring called "Mountains to Climb". He talks about building our foundation of faith so that when the mountains come, we will have the strength to climb them. Like Nephi says, "I know that the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." He always prepares a way. We may not understand that way as much as He does, but with faith, we won't need to understand. 

President Eyring says that the way to build our foundation of faith is 1. the base - our personal integrity, choosing the right in every decision placed before us, and 2. the rest- the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all of the Priesthood ordinance and coventants that come with it. 

The members of the Pringles ward are STRONG. And from what I've seen, it is because they are constantly righteous and constantly remember their covenants and seek to help others make and keep those sacred covenants. 

This all makes sense in my head, sorry. But that's what I'm learning from my time here in San Luis. My faith is growing and we are seeing miracles! 

Right now we are teaching a girl named Mikaela. Her parents raised her in the Catholic church, but she never felt close to God there. The Elders stopped her on the street last week and invited her to church. She came and she loved it! Now she is praying and reading the Book of Mormon and she is excited to have a relationship with her Heavenly Father. I know He is listenting to her. She has a baptismal date for the 7th of June! 

Yesterday was the Argentine Independence Day, so we got together with the ward for a Locro on Saturday. If you look it up, you'll know how excited I was to eat it.. 

Today we are headed over to Mendoza because tomorrow we have our last leader's meeting with President Avila before he leaves! Que triste! 

But I know this week will be even more full of miracles and learning! Because I still have MUCHO TIEMPO to work hard! 

I love you all and I hope things are going well! You're in my prayers! 

Hermana McKenna Lawrence

2 Ne 31:20  

Yay for Transfers!

May 19, 2014

I'm running out of creative titles.. 

So I'm leaving my area! And I will die in.... San Luis! My area is called Pringles but its pronounced "preen-glaze". Am I craving American chips? Yes. I leave on Wendesday and I'm so excited! 

My new companion will be Hermana Lybbert! She came with me to California back in the day. She's from Washinton and went to BYU Idaho. She's super sweet and I'm super excited to get to know her and learn from her. This transfer will only be four weeks long and then comes the 8 week transfer to welcome in the new mission president. And then I'll be home! Crazy! 

It is going way too fast! The week was unbelivably fast! For P-day we went and toured a winery. ha! It was cool. But I probs won't ever do it again. It smelled way bad like drunk people. But it was cool to see how they make wine. Made me never want to drink it so that's good! ha. 

We had zone meeting this week and then a talent show in our branch. Hermana Barney and I did a special presentation of "chin heads". Everyone loved it! I'll send the video soon when I have a better computer in San Luis! Woohoo! It was a lot of fun. 

Today we're going hiking, so you'll get lots of cool pictures next week! 

Sadly, I have to leave, but David Olivera is getting baptized next week! A miracle happened with him this week. He still was waiting for his answer and wanted to know that God loved him before he got baptized. So we promised him that that night, if he knelt down and prayed and then waited a little to listen for his answer, he would feel it. He said he prayed and then woke up at 2 in the morning because he couldn't sleep. He went downstairs and saw a man dressed in white. The man told him that God loved him and had a special purpose for him. He felt peace and told us that he wanted to get baptized as soon as possible. Sweet huh! He is way excited! I'm sad I'll miss it, but I know it will be beautiful! 

Well, I love you all and I hope all is going well! I am praying for you always! 

Good luck with everything this week! 

Hermana McKenna Lawrence 

Yay for Exchanges!

This week was way great! Full of more meetings and more learning and more work and more fun! 

We went up to Tunuyan, the area of the other sisters in our zone, and did exchanges! It was super fun and we saw a ton of miracles! 

Right now, in our area, we are focusing on the Olivera Family. They are Jehovah´s Witnesses, but they are not attending right now. The dad, David, is the most interested and we are sure he will be baptized really soon! He came to church by himself this week, but we are working on getting the family more involved. They'll come around soon! They have 3 of the cutest little boys ever and they are our best friends! Alejandro (8), Neuel (4), and Diago (2)! 

I am getting way excited to talk to you on Sunday! 

And this next week we will have a lot more time to stay in our area. So we will work really hard and teach everyone and their dog about the Gospel! 

I feel like I learn the same thing every week, but deeper. ha. This week I learned again that the Gospel really is soooo simple! All God asks us to do is keep His commandments and everything will turn out the way it's supposed to. Our Father in Heaven loves us, so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to be our perfect example. And if we follow Him, we will be happy. Being an instrument in the Lord's hands makes me the most happiest I have ever been, and I know that will stay true forever. 

I still love being a missionary! 

I am continually grateful for your love and prayers! 

And I love you all so much! 

Hermana McKenna Lawrence