Neil A. Anderson came to visit.

I got letters from the Christensens today and Adele! And Hermana Macfarlane got a letter too.  Today was record breaking!  LOL  Lorna wrote notes on balloons for me to blow up and read, which was fun.  One said: "Wherefore be not weary in well-doing for ye are the foundation of a great work, and out of small things proceedeth that which is great" on one side.  The other side says: "Hermana Keller, remember EVERY effort no matter how small, no matter if we think it's successful or not, is noticed by our Father and will bless us and those we serve.  Keep at it!  <3 U!"  The second balloon says: "Hermana Keller!  Ere you left your room this morning, did you think to pray?  PRAY PRAY PRAY.  And then the third balloon has a face drawn on it.  It was fun to get and really nice to open.  Lorna's things in the mail have been really good: enough to make me happy, but not too much so that I'm trunky.  I thought when I left that I would just not talk to anyone except for Mom for a year and a half, so it's been nice to realize that people miss me!  ha ha

This area is doing good, we're trying to work better with the members this transfer and I think it's really beneficial.  Yesterday, Hermana Macfarlane and I felt like we should go to the temple prep class for Sunday School, and that was really good.  There are actually quite a few Hermanas in the branch preparing to go to the temple soon and I am wanting to start working with one in particular to help her be ready... and help her family to be ready to get sealed as soon as she goes to the temple.

Hermana Macfarlane is working so hard to finish her mission strong.  I hope that one day I can be more like her.  She asked me to trim her hair... scary!!!  

  
Because Hermana Macfarlane is a Sister Training Leader (STL), I frequently go on splits with Hermana Thornton, so I just call her my other companion.  LOL!  My companions and I set some good goals together during weekly planning so that we can be better companions to our companions and be better missionaries too.  Yep, it's confusing to know who is with who for me too!  LOL!

Hermanas MacFarlane, Brown, Keller, Thornton

Our companionship goals are:

1)  Write down a positive thing that our companions do every day.  President Wakolo said to notice all the details, so we are going to write down something we like that our companions do every day that we want to start doing/continue doing/be more like them in that way. 

2)  Question everything they do.  Not in the bad way, but in the way that we want to understand why they do things that they do.  So that we can be better and learn form their experiences too. 

3)  Make sure we share our experiences and knowledge to make sure we are equal parts of our companionships. 

4)  Follow President Wakolo's counsel to have high love with high expectations.  We decided that maybe we are using the unusual situation or our quadpanionship as an excuse to be a little more casual when we are not with our real companions.  That maybe we have been having a high love, medium expectations for each other.  So we want to improve on that. 

5)  Pray for charity and understanding of our companions every morning and every night.  we want to make sure we are helping them feel okay with going home and making that change, so we want to pray for them, and pray to know how we can help them.

6)  Start being happier about the weird situation with our companions.  I think we've not had the best attitude about the interesting situation and I feel badly that we've been not the best about it.  But we are going to be a lot better at that.

I am so excited for these goals.  I think this was the best comp inventory that we have ever had.

While I was in Batesville this week (on splits again), we decided to go up to the college and try to find some youth investigators up there.  TBH... It was so scary to talk to white people. White people are so much meaner.  At least Hispanics pretend to be interested!  We were walking around and were not having any success, so we started to walk home.

Not finding people to teach...

But then we decided that we felt like we hadn't gotten anything from spending our time up at the college so we decided to turn around and try for a little longer.  So we walked back up the hill and saw three people standing kind of behind a tree.  We were like, okay, this is them!  Turns out they are band kids so I was cool with them.  :)  They were nice and kind of nerdy, which was great.  One of them seemed fairly interested in letting "us" (cause I was on splits so it won't really be me) come back.  Her mom is even a less active member!  I am so glad we decided to turn around and try a little bit longer because I really think we found who we needed to find.  She said she has friends that live in Utah and that they have gone on missions.  I think her missionary friends would be happy that we found her and got her info.  I think I would like it if the missionaries in California found Michael, Katie and Alexa, and all of my other friends.

Band geeks are everywhere!

...finding people to teach!

The Relief Society sisters met Zobe this week and they wanted to throw her a baby shower because all her family is in Mexico.  But I think she's due at the end of this week so they wanted to do it tonight.  She wasn't feeling to well though, so she couldn't come and they just made it a branch FHE instead.  I am so impressed at how they were wanting to do that for one non-member neighbor.  I really appreciate the branch Relief Society a lot.  They're awesome!

President Wakolo announced last week during zone conferences that we are now authorized to use Skype and Facetime! The Spanish Zone had a Skype conference call and it was really cool to see everyone. (Well, about half of everyone). Some people's video wasn't working. 

  

Elder Neil A. Anderson came this week and spoke to the whole mission!!!!!  That pretty much never happens because the mission is kinda split into the Little Rock side and the Memphis side.  It was so great to have the entire mission together!!!  

This was quite a big deal.  Elder Anderson was concerned about how much time it would take to gather everyone together and get a decent picture.  President Wakolo assured him that we could do it.  We had strict instructions to get in our places and be picture-ready from the minute we arrived until the picture was taken.  NO GOOFING AROUND!  All the missionaries gathered for the picture, then the mission leadership, then President and Sister Wakolo walked in with Elder and Sister Anderson.  It was super cool to have everyone there together!
Can you find me???

This is where I'm standing.  Now go back to the big picture and you'll find me!  :)  

I was pretty nervous for Elder Anderson to come because I thought I would feel super guilty and like I'm doing a crappy job as a missionary, but I actually felt pretty good.  My main take-away from him was that we need to be more patient with ourselves.  Something he said was along the lines of: I've lived 2 more of your lifetimes and I'm still not perfect.  I liked the emphasis on the fact that we have some much potential.  I have so much potential to be a better person, have more gospel knowledge, etc. and I can't expect to get to my full potential all right now.  I'm only 20 years old, but I do need to make sure that I'm trying as hard as I can to be the best I can be right now.  It was so good!

He said is that we need to be studying the life of Christ (because we're in the South especially) and we can do that by reading the New Testament.  That stuck out to me because at the beginning of my 2nd transfer when I wasn't sleeping well, I got a blessing from Elder Clark.  He said that I would start to sleep better if I studied the life of Christ.  So I decided to start reading the New Testament every day to do that.  So cool to hear that said to me again! 

This week, I studied the Atonement.  I really like in 2 Nephi 9:26 when it says, "and they are restored to that God who gave them breath", because of the word restored.  I think a lot of the time when I think about the Atonement, I just feel a little bad about how imperfect I am and how far I need to go before I can be like our Heavenly Father.  But I like the word restored because it implies our potential.  It reminds me that our Heavenly Father doesn't see the imperfectness in me he sees my potential and all that I can become.  And I really like that!  

Love you all!
Hermana Keller

P.S.  Since we'd never met a couple of the other Hermanas before the big Mission Conference with Elder Anderson, Hermana Thornton and I decided to text the them to let them know how excited we were to meet them.  You know... #hermanasrock...

As soon as we hit send, we realized that we weren't positive if the number we had used was for the Elders or the Hermanas...  

 

LOL!!!!  #mostawkwardmissionexperienceever

Seems like a good place to put this picture!  LOL!

Have a great week!

Milagros pasaron!

I've gotten so much better at biking.  I'm not dying on all the long roads with hills. 

We biked to Claudia's house this week.  It was raining when we got there, so we were SOAKED!  I felt so bad sitting on their couch!  A few minutes after we got there, Claudia got there and she was telling us about how her 3-year-old, Dayana has an ear infection.  They went to the hospital and no one spoke Spanish so they could't really help her.  So we ended up going with her back to the hospital to translate.  Soaking wet.  And me with a mud stain on my shirt from the puddles :)  We looked ridiculous. :)  Hermana Macfarlane did a great job translating, but then we just sat there.  We really needed to get back to our apartment yet.  But she still needed a translator, so we couldn't just leave.  After about 3 1/2 hours, at 10:00 pm, we went to ask the nurses 1) when the doctor is coming out and 2) if anyone else spoke Spanish because we needed to go home. And they were like, "Oh yeah, sure!  We can just call our translator."  And we were like, "Wut?!"  So the Viveros came and got us and we got home at 11 from our translating-but-not-really, just-freezing, looking-ridiculous-at-the-hospital experience.

We were cold!

Hermana Macfarlane does exchanges a lot.  This week we ended up with Hermana Bacerra coming with us to the Benitez's for dinner.  When I first got to Little Rock, Hermana Thornton told me that I'd better 1) eat a lot and 2) like spicy food to keep up our good reputation at the Benitez's.  At the time, I thought she was a little weird for that, but then tonight I felt the same way about Hermana Bacerra, a don't mess this up feeling!  :)   I am so grateful that the Benitez's feed us every Tues. 

Elder Jorgensen said yesterday that they saw Gustavo on Monday that he kind of dropped them.  So we went to see him, he told us that he's not sure about the Book of Mormon and Revelation 20 and stuff. That was kind of hard to hear, but he said that he knows that the Book of Mormon isn't bad, he knows it's good, but that he just hasn't received his "official" answer yet.  We asked him what he thought his official answer would be like.   He said when he was reading the Bible, he just had a strong desire to read more and that's what he is expecting.  I told him about getting answers a little bit at a time and I told him I think he's getting his answer.  Hermana Thornton promised him that tonight when he's reading, if he prays specifically for an official answer and waits for a minute after he's done praying, he will get his answer.  We both feel really good about that promise and I hope he does it! I 'm glad we stopped by and visited Gustavo this week.

I've been feeling pretty stressed about the whole quadpanionship thing.  <Her companion is a Sister Training Leader, so when the two STL's go on exchanges, that leaves Arianna back with a new companion.>  It's been hard for me to try and adjust to a new companion every couple of days and I've just been feeling on my own in the area.  Every time we go into a lesson, I'm explaining to whomever I'm with what happened the last time and I'm making a lot of the decisions about what our investigators need.  I got a blessing for Elder Jorgensen and I feel MUCH better about it now.

I was also able to talk to President Wakolo and ask him, "What am I supposed to learn from having my companion be an STL?"  I told him about how it's just been hard/uncomfortable to be adjusting so often and that I don't want to miss what I'm supposed to be looking for just because I didn't know what it is.  This was his answer:

              * Trial and error, but no error
              * Consider it a blessing of learning from whomever you are with
              * These learning experiences you see, hear and feel will be great for you in the future
              * Pay attention to all of the little things
              * Write stuff down!  If you have doubts, say them!
              * You are a great player with this. :)
              * Catch it now and look to the future.

This wasn't 100% exactly the answer I was looking for, but I guess I'll take it. :)  He talked about how he always takes the opportunity whenever he's been with a general authority in the past to ask questions and use the whole time he gets with them to learn from them. 

We finally took care of the tree we gave to Maria Padilla a month ago!  We went over this morning to take the tree outside and we talked to her about the Mi "Familia" (My Family) booklet that we gave her.  I told her I don't know a whole lot about my grandparents either, (specifically Grandpa Dallas), but that I know that he was a missionary like me in Uruguay, and that I know he learned Spanish too. And then I told her about how Dad went to Puerto Rico on his mission and learned Spanish too. And I told her that knowing those 2 little things have helped me feel not so alone when I'm having a hard Spanish day. Because I know my dad and my grandpa know what it's like to learn a new language. And so I feel like I'm not so alone because I know that. 

Our neighbor, Zobe, came to the Relief Society activity this week.  Hermana Olivares brought her nonmember friend, and the teacher of the class is a nonmember too! (Hermana Robles's niece).  It was sooo cool to see the members invite nonmembers. 

Here's a recipe from the activity.

                                          Sociedad de Socorro (Relief Society)

                                         Crema de Aguacate (Avocado Creme)

                                                            1 avocado

                                                            1/2 lemon

                                                            1 teaspoon of olive oil

                                                             a little salt

                                                             pepper

                                                             cayenne pepper

                                                             paprika

                                     Eat with bread, turkey/ham, spinach, bell pepper, 
                                         hemp seeds, tomato, onion, hard boiled egg.

Milagros pasaron!

Yesterday, we were in the foyer of the church, waiting for people to come.  About 5 minutes til, people started showing up!  Everyone came!  Claudia and Margarita, the Espinosas, the Viveros were early, the Benitez's , the Sarao family, etc.  They were all there by 1:05.  We were even waiting for the English ward to be done with sacrament meeting so that we could start the classes!  It was so cool.  I kept thinking that it wouldn't get any better but then another person would show up!  I think Yader said we had like 78 people at the beginning of sacrament meeting!  Hermana Macfarlane and I played "Lord I Would Follow Thee" and "Beautiful Savior" for the musical number and that was really good.

Love you all!
Arianna

I'm turning into a regular domestic diva!
Mashed potatoes again!  

Kiara Rivera...

  

I miss pants.

P-day is my favorite and a big part of that is because I get to wear pants.  I miss pants.  I miss being warm.  Oh, well.  I thought wearing skirts every day would be a lot harder for me than it is.  I'm really thankful for that.  

Today we went over to the Rivera's to start "teaching" Jaelyn.  Yader ended up teaching the lesson and showing us the Powerpoint he had put together.  It was really cute.  :)  And then we did our activity, which was a puzzle that we had made from the picture of Joseph Smith reading a bible.  We wrote on the back of the puzzle pieces things that we have because of the restoration, like the priesthood, primary, missionaries, etc.  I think the girls liked it.  Or maybe they just liked using the tape we were using to tape the puzzle together.  Or both.  And then they fed us, which was really great.  I like it when people feed us.

                 

We went to Nury's house for dinner this week   She told us her conversion story and then just about her life in general.  While she was opening up and talking to us, I just felt like I should share a talk I have been planning on sharing in a different lesson.  It's called God Shall Wipe Away All Tears.

I shared with her the last part where it talks about it we have done our very best and endured in faith, then God will lift our burdens and wipe away our tears.  And then she bore her testimony about how she knows that that is true, which was so cool.  Then Hermana Macfarlane asked her to share that testimony next Fast and Testimony Meeting.   I hope she does!  

A little excitement...but not really.  We also drove up to NLR to cambiar (change) companions.  Hermana Brown apparently had bed bugs in Batesville a couple of weeks ago so they all have to dry their bedding every day and stuff.  Elder what's-his-name-that's-in-charge-of-bed-bugs said that they aren't cleared to do day exchanges until next week.  So, we drove back.

We had a day where Hermana Thornton and I were on fire!  Like for real, with the Spirit.  We've both gotten a lot more bold.  We had an investigator share with us James 2:19.  She told us that she understands that since it says Dios es una, that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are one person.  We then talked a little bit about how we can all interpret the scripture differently and we need the Book of Mormon.  It can help us understand what is really being said.  We then asked her what she had hoped to get out of meeting with us and why she let us in the first time we came over.  She said she was just interested in knowing what we believe and that she had thought that we were Jehovah's Witnesses.  She then asked us what our purpose is.  We told her that we are here to invite others to come unto Christ and to help them increase their relationship with their Heavenly Father, specifically, through helping people make covenants like baptism with God.  We told her that that is why we have asked her to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.  We told her that the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our church and that that means that if it's true, then the trinity are 3 seperate people and everything else is true.  And if it's not true, then nothing else is true.  We told her it's important for her to read with an open mind and pray sincerely to know if it's true because that's how she's going to know if it's true or not.  We were bold but told her that we want to share this with her because we love her.  She seemed willing to really read and pray before we come back.

We were able to visit Monica again.  While we were studying for her lesson this morning, I asked Hna M if she thought Monica would get a big answer all at one time or if she thought it would come a little at a time.  And then I thought of the Modelos de Luz videos with David A. Bednar.  And as soon as I asked that question, Hermana Thornton asked if I had ever seen the Modelos de Luz videos with David A. Bednar... so we decided that Monica needed to see them.  :) 

The next day Hermana Selles came teaching with us!  She opened right up when we got there and told Monica her whole story and helped her feel more comfortable.  We read in the Book of Mormon and Hermana Selles shared her testimony of the things we read.  We sang I Love to See the Temple, and explained eternal families and baptisms for the dead.  I loved teaching with Hna Selles!  I can't wait to do it again.  I think the Selles family will really help the branch be a ward!

I got to play my flute in Stake Conference.  I played prelude tonight and I killed it.  Bro Oistad was floored becuase everyone just sat there and it was quiet for the most part.  He said, "That was the first time ever that people were just quiet for the prelude!"  So that made me feel really good.  (This video is the practice beforehand.)

I ALSO TRANSLATED TONIGHT!!  I translated the closing prayer and it was so scary but I did it and I am so proud of myself!  I'm super excited to be better at translating one day.  :)  I loved playing in Stake Conference too.  I love playing my flute and so I'm so grateful that I got the chance to play.  After, Bro Oistad told me that they were going to find someone for me to marry here and that I would never leave.  haha  It was so weird... but it felt really good to play.  I am so grateful, Mom, that you made me play and practice always and that President Wakolo is letting me keep my flute here.  He was at the Conference last night and told me, "Good job."  I was pretty nervous to play for him.  :)  But it worked out really well. 

Hermana Thornton forgot her hair stuff so she said she looked like Hermione with her frizzy hair. Haha

 We finally made one of our gingerbread houses you sent!

                 

                 

May you all be very McBlesd this week!  :) 

Love you all, Arianna

Pierced ears, transfers, and, visiting lots of people

We went grocery shopping at Target this week and that was good because I love Target!  We usually have to go to Wal-Mart.  We also went to the mall so that Hermana Thornton could return a Christmas present.  She took me to Claire's to try to get me to pierce my ears.  She tried so hard to peer pressure me and I even watched some random older lady get her ears re-pierced.  But I didn't want to do it because I'm scared!  Why would I purposefully want to stab myself in the earlobe???  I don't even ever wear earrings!  Hermana Thornton was sad that I wouldn't do it, but she was okay after I told her I wouldn't do it with a different companion.  :)

We finallly went and got a picture with Gustavo.  He's so awesome!

Hermana Thornton, Gustavo, and me

When we switched companions, it mostly just felt like we're on exchanges.  The sest thing about Hermana MacFarlane so far is that  she's super focused and nice and knows what she's doing.

















The leaders of the mission are trying out using Skype, Facetime, iMessage, and Glide.  aka my companion.  They had a Skype conference call tonight to talk about it.  Fun times!Here are all the people we worked with this week...

The STL's, ZLs, APs are trying out skype for the mission. 😁😁😁😁😁

HAHAHA  Hna Viveros gave me this picture today from the branch Christmas party and I am just dying laughing at how bad it is.  Look how yellow our teeth are.  So bad.  

They cancelled school on Friday.  This is the worst it got!  Haha

Ampara - Hermana Macfarlane said she's changed.  Like in a really good way.  Hermana Macfarland asked her why she decided to go back to church and stuff and she said she decided to forgive others and leave some stuff in the past!  She said that sometimes it's hard to make the decision to go back to church.  I really hope the branch will support her so that she can have some help as she does hard things.  I really love her and I felt like I should suggest that she listen to the Book of Mormon in the car when she knows she's going to have a busier day.  She loved that idea!  It made me feel good to be able to suggest something that would help her be stronger in the gospel.  

Emeris - We kind of just did a review on lesson 1 and checked to see what she remembered.  And she actually remembered a lot!  She totally gets Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon!  I was so pumped to hear that she remembered stuff!  And then Hermana Macfarlane was able to teach her how to pray.  So it was really awesome!

Monica - I FREAKING LOVE MONICA AND WE HAD THE BEST LESSON EVER WITH HER TODAY!  Because I love her so much, I'm going to tell you just how one of our lessons went.  She was in 1 Nephi 13 and asked about the descendants of Nephi and the books that were mentioned.  She said she loves the Book of Mormon and we asked if she had prayed about it.  She had asked God if it's true and she feels good.  She feels peace when everything is crazy and she reads.  She realized there are 2 churches, God's and the devil's.  At first she was saying that a lot of churches are good and then she asked why they don't have the book of Mormon.  We shared the paragraph from the lesson1 pamphlet about their hearts are far from me and she realized that there is one church and the others are wrong, even though they have good intentions.  She said she didn't want to go to church before but God told her she should at try so we committed her then.  We then read in the lesson 3 pamphlet and explained how the plan for Christ is central.  Mosiah 15:9.  She understood that he is compassionate and he took his sins upon us.  She understood faith to be belief and we helped her understand it's action too.  She said even when it's hard we have to keep believing in Christ and she shared a past experience.  Alma 32:21.  Proverbs 3:3-6.  She said she hasn't been repentant before but after we went through the steps [recognize, stop, confess, make restitution, keep the commandments, acknowledge the Savior] (using stolen marshmallows from the store for analogy) of repentance and she committed to repenting every night in her nightly prayers.  Explained that faith and repentance lead to baptism.  As we read through the pamphlet she felt the Spirit and read John 3:5 and she understood that it's a contract with God, not just for the church to get numbers which is what she felt before.  We explained briefly the Holy Ghost and she wants that.  We asked if she wants to be baptized.  She said before that she would have said no, but she is feeling open to it now.  We asked when she would be ready and she said she wants to wait but she feels like it might need to be sooner.  She prayed right then to ask God about the 21 of Jan and afterward she felt good and happy but didn't want to commit.  So yea.  Best lesson.

Idaly and Mateo: ... haha... we thought her name was Italia before.  She asked a really good question of if God and Christ are separate, why did God send Christ to suffer?  Why not just do it himself?  I didn't really know how to answer those questions without getting into deep doctrine so we told her we'd study it and get back to her.

Hermana Selles - I tried to take us to go visit Hermana Rivera but we went the wrong way on the freeway, so we ended up in Bryant.  So, we just called the elders and asked where the Selles family lives so we could go visit Hermana Selles.  She told us about how she and her husband met, a little about Argentina, a little about France, and their conversion story.  We talked a little bit about the temple and she said that that's one of their goals.  I'm so excited for them!  I love them a ton and can't wait until they are sealed!  We also talked a little bit about receiving revelation and showed her the modelos de luz video because the elders said she had had some questions about answers to prayers.  We invited her to do more family scripture study because she said she studies the Book of Mormon every day, but they don't really do it as a family and she saif yes!  I am so excited to see the blessings the gospel brings to their family.  

Dulce and Wendy: We went with Hermana Bowen to go visit them and do some Personal Progress with them.  A while ago, I was studying for them and I felt like we should start working on Personal Progress with them.  Only Wendy was there so we took her and went to Panera.  I think it was really good for her.  Hermana Macfarlane asked if she wanted to go on a mission and she said:  "Actually yeah, I really do."  I'm just like okay, let's get you on a mission in 3 years.  I think working on Personal Progress will be really good for her.  We did Individual Worth #1.

Riveras: Yader and Joane called us and asked if we would teach Jaelyn the lessons because she turns 8 on Friday.  So she's going to get baptized!!  They were inactive for a while so they're concerned that she doesn't know enough.  I'm 95% sure she's fine, but I love them, so I will happily go teach her.  :)  When we were talking with them about how we are going to teach her.  When Hermana Macfarlane was asking/suggesting that they start reading their scriptures, like, as a family, every day... I just had the thought that maybe Jaelyn and Kiara could do the scripture journals that Mom made for Esther and Adele a couple of years ago.  And the more I think about it, the more I like the idea.  Like for the Lopez's, the Selles's, Hermana Hartin's boys, etc.  So I'm totally asking Mom to send me some tomorrow!!!

Thank you all for writing me letters.  I love you and I'm so happy to be a missionary.  I love, love, love mail... hand-written or email.  And I promise I'll write you back!  

Love you all!
Arianna

Our apartment door all decked out for Christmas.

 

Thank you for the pizza, Samantha!  You're the best!

 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

Zone Conference was so good today!  We talked a lot about what happened at the last Zone Conference with President Wakolo and the Baheshtis.  Last time, Elder Baheshti went over 5 things we can do right now to be a better missionary.  The third one, increase your faith, stuck out to me a lot.  I think I spend too much time thinking about how others need to use their agency better and just increase their faith and come to church.  But there's nothing I can do about that.  After I've done everything I can do to help them, I can't force them to do anything.  So I need to stop wasting my time wishing someone will change.  Instead I need to increase my own faith, because I can actually control how I change.  I need to be more faithful so that God can soften their hearts.  And I need to spend my time changing myself rather than just wishing for things I have no control over.  

We also played a game, which we won.. without the zone leaders!  #spanishdistrictrocks. 

 

Tonight during the Spanish Conference call, the zone leaders asked me to bare my testimony.  They also asked an elder who is leaving, Elders Smalley, Pickering, and Hermana Wilson.  I was really nervous because... well, Spanish... and the Elders' were all REALLY long.  Mine was short, to the point, and most of all... I did it!

 


On Tuesday I got a package from Lorna's family.  THANK YOU!!!  It made me feel good that someone remembered me, all the way out here in Little Rock.  I just figured I would be out of sight, out of mind, for a year and a half so I wouldn't hear anything form anyone.  So yeah.  It made me happy even though it was just some Oreos and EOS stuff.  I was really happy.  :)

WE WENT BACK TO SEE MONICA!  We actually saw her twice this week.  Between the two visits, she's read 11 chapters in the Book of Mormon!  She has a lot of questions and I can't wait until she gets all of her answers.    I am so pumped for her, I love her so much and I can't wait to visit her again!  #truthseeker

We've actually been on a roll teaching-wise this week.  We taught 2x Monday, 2x Tuesday, 4x Yesterday, and 3x today.  But only 1 member present.  :(  I think part of the problem is that our branch is so small and there's 3 sets of missionaries.  Hopefully we can find those people who want to come teaching with us.  We went to visit Emeris.   She told us that she was talking to Hermana Viveros yesterday and Hermana Viveros was answering her questions.  Members are the best help for investigators!  And then Hermana Thornton and I super randomly went and got her McDonalds. haha  We love the members of our branch!

We also went to go visit the Valdez's.  I proposed to Wendy and Dulce my idea to do Personal Progress with them.  I really feel like as they do it, and as they read the Book of Mormon, they'll feel the Spirit and God's love for them.  Helping others gain their testimony makes me grateful for the parents that I have and everything they've done to help me gain my own testimony. 

  

We also taught the Gonzalez family this week.  We stopped by to see if she was still interested.  She asked what she needs to do to be baptized!  :O

On Christmas, as we were getting ready to go to the Bowen's to Skype and eat, Hermana Thornton slingshotted one of my flying chickens at me that I got from the elders.  It hit me right below my left eye and hurt pretty bad for a minute.  It was also really funny though.  :)  But, then I got this note from our kindness jar today.  "I'm sorry I hit you in the face with the chicken.  You still look pretty."  We started the kindness jar so that we wouldn't be so mean to each other.  Because we're like sisters at this point.  I always forget to put stuff in there.  Sorry, Hermana Thornton!

Hermana Bowen when we went to say good-bye for Hermana Thornton.

THE SELLES FAMILY GOT BAPTIZED!  The South Elders taught them, but we love them too, so it was really happy.  Since today is my 12 year mark of being baptized, I figured I should get up and bare my testimony.  (That's what we do here while they get dressed after being baptized.)  I was really nervous because of my Spanish.  It was really simple, but I think it was good.  :)  I'm so happy I got baptized 12 years ago.  I know the church is true and I'm especially grateful for the priesthood.  

SELLES BAPTISM:  He's from France and she's from Argentina. They lived in France up until about a year ago.

We got the transfer info tonight.  Hermana Thornton is leaving and going to Batesville (like I predicted) and Hermana Macfarlane is coming here.  I also knew that, but I didn't want to know it because I love serving with Hermana Thornton so much.  Hermana Macfarlane and Hermana Brown are staying STL's.

We tried to wake up at 11:50 to celebrate the New Year.  But we both accidentally set our alarms to 11:50 AM.  Hermana Thornton woke up  about 1:30 so we celebrated for about 15 minutes and then went back to sleep.  haha

Finally, we had to go say bye to a lot of people since Hermana Thornton was leaving.

Love,

Arianna

Hermana Barrientos - Branch President's wife, kind of reminds me of my mom.
She teaches with us the most and is super nice.

Miguel and Marta.
We put up those Christmas lights behind us for them.  

Buffalo Wild Wings with Matt and Zobe.

Amparo and Pancho and their grandchildren
with Hermana Thornton

Guerreros Family
Avari, Edgar

Esteban

Nury

Jay, Joane, and Yader Rivera

Gustavo

Chipotle for lunch.