September 19

Yay! I got your package on Wednesday (we had our district reunion that day, which is usually on Tuesdays and we get our mail those days)! I'm loving the little Belles that you sent me! They make me smile every time I look at them :). And the peanut butter was a warm hug from home, and the gummies reminded me of you, and what could be better than that!? And you found the pictures! I totally wasn't expecting that! But now my zone leaders know what you look like and my companion and company totally know where Jack was coming from with not know if I was his mom or not. Hna. Vaughan was so funny with that too, she was all, You all look the same! It was great.
Ha ha, Yes I'm still eating crackers, we eat them with jam and cheese, or just jam, or crushed into our cereal, they're kind of vital here. We do consume a good amount of fruit though as well and canned veggies are the safer and more convenient form for veggies. So yes, I eat food :D I did have to buy apples to go with the peanut butter though, we don't have a microwave but it was good all the same. It is getting warmer! There is a great deal of wind and that keeps it rather cool but it's no longer freezing when we wake up. I asked Hna. Clark if there are any regulations on packages and she said probably, but we'd have to ask the district or zone leaders for what they are. Oh! We got to our district meeting (we have three districts in our zone) and guess who I saw! Elder Sonderegger! Yeah! He's in our zone this translado! He's not in my district or Hna. Vaughan's district, but the other one. It was nice to see him.
This week was good, lots of walking and lots of working with Menos Activos, Converso Recientes. MACRs for short. We finally got a hold of the Flia. Carbonara. We've tried to contact them a lot of times but this was the first time they contestado nostotros. They were very friendly and talked about the war (there was a war for those islands off the coast of Argentina a few years back, like 30ish probably.) It's kind of a tender subject to those in the war and we don't call the islands by their actual British title here because of it. So that was good and hopefully we'll get to teach them a little and rekindle the fire in them. We've also been working with the references of members a lot. There's this lady in our ward named Tita, she's probably late 70s ish but she's still hopp'n. She took Hna. Arancibia y me (Hna. Vaughan can't walk) to this other lady named Tita. I think she was a pirate in another life! She has two gold plated teeth, portholes in her doors, and ships everywhere, and ship steering wheel things as her chandeliers! She's pretty awesome. At one point in the lesson I asked her if she believed these things (the Book of Mormon, the message of the restauración, y otro cosas de la lección) were true. She answered me with a resounding Sí! It was great. She didn't get to church on Sunday and so we're going to go see her today to check on her. We're still working to get Sofi to church too. She feels she can't leave her husband and we tell her to bring him along but it's a bit complicated. I believe she knows she needs to be baptized but she is held back by something. We're going to do all we can to help her.

*mom editing here, just to keep things clear**

(regarding a Jacobs ecent audition for the HS play)
I remember when cast lists would go up and it was super hard for me to focus on anything because yes, the anticipation had been built and my hopes were high. Life goes on and it's actually better when you don't have a lead, you can be with friends and not focus on the play drama as well as high school drama.

Joseph's papers! Gah! That's so crazy to me. I think that letter thing they gave to be read was more a precaution because some parents can get a little too crazy about where their child goes and when and all that jazz. And you're not crazy, so you don't need to worry about that ;) He'll have his call in no time....aw, he's all grown up ish and stuff :D Let me know how that goes!

Oh! Laura! Half way there! Crazy crazy. (regarding a new baby coming)

Oh, and apparently you don't have to be completely strict with the button up shirt deal. Yeah, but whatever. I still fit into mine so I'm happy :) I would love new pajamas :)

(I asked her what to send for Christmas)

I may have to wait until march or april to wear them but I'd have them and that would be happiness. I'll let you know if I think of anything else. Ok, I've got to go, but I love you and hope everything is going really well with all. Give them my love and I'll try to bear both the names on my chest well.
Love!
Hermana Aubrey Pixton

 

September 12

Yes, you guessed it, I got lice! It was really interesting actually, I've never had them before so I didn't know what they were, but we bought some stuff and I think they're all gone. That's only part of the love, weirdy men tell me I'm beautiful everyday. I may not like that phrase much for a while.....Ha ha
Anyway! Yesterday Laura was baptized! Yes! Satanas didn't kill her and she is SO happy! She'll be confirmed this coming Domingo and I'm muy excited para her. Yes, castiyankee happens a lot of the time :) But yes, we're still working with Sofi, and we found another lady who is less active but wants to come back to church! She's the mom of another less active member so that was a nice connection to make! She has so many questions and it sounded like she has been pondering for a long time about things and wants to know exactly what the answers are. She's in luck ;) No, I know that Heavenly Father knows all things and has His eye on all the people that we teach and even contact. No one is forgotten. This work is so good. That thought has helped me these last few weeks. I may not ever see these people again or get to teach them anymore, but God doesn't forgot His children. I'm not worried when I realize this a nuevo.
Ziplocks!!!!!! Jaker, you may need to do an intervention. That is so funny. Ah well, I guess it's also that time of year, how did canning go? OH! Tanner! If you see him again tell him congrats and that I'm so excited for him! I think I'll be ok with sheets, I have the liner and the flat sheet from an old comp de Hna. Clark, but if I need to get some I can probably buy them here, hopefully.
Kim went repelling?! Upside down!?¡¿ Woh. I'm so glad she's doing well, and not falling on her head while repelling. And the MTC!!! Gah! When is Joseph gonna cut his hair? He needs a photo for his papers doesn't he? Hmmm.
I'm super sorry this is so short! But I absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED the family email! I don't think I have time today to reply to everyone individually, perhaps I'll escribir actual cartas para vosotros! Maybe, we'll see how next week goes. Thank you for that! Thank you for the advice and the love and everything! I love you and hope this email isn't TOO disappointingly short. BUT! We have a lot of work to do this week and some very potential baptisms. I love you!
-Hna. Aubrey Pixton

September 5

Creo que este semana pasada fue mi cumple-mes. The 25th? Yes? No se, PERO, I've officially been out on the mission for three months! I sort of speak castillano, I enjoy crackers and jam a lot now, and I have seen miracles. It's so amazing mom! I often took this gospel for granted, that we had the knowledge of where we came from, who sent us, how we can be forgiven of our sins and what we have to look forward to in the future. We have hope and the promise of a better life when we follow the commandments of God, a loving Heavenly Father who wants us all back with Him again. It's so amazing, I can't even describe how it is. I haven't the words (in english or castillano). This week we're most likely going to have a baptism! L, the woman we're working with is so excited for her baptism! I don't want to say we will for sure have a baptism and condemn her to death or something with those words so I'm saying we'll most likely have a baptism! We also got a lot of help from the Elders in our zone with our area, they came and contacted here for a day and gave us A LOT of referenes. We've also been able to find some other people to teach and so far all is progressing. It's still hard, I can't imagine it ever being easy, but it's so worth it. Hna. Clark had another cumple-mes ayer, we were going to make brownies today but no one has brownies right now! The stores were all out! It was sad. Sorry for my lack of time last week! I have time now so I'll respond to last week's and this week's letter. Thank you so much for the points by Elder Bushe! They´re great and really help with times out here. So what are the 4 class periods Jacob has with Miss Nelsen, I'm so curious. Let me know how the casting goes! And tell him not to freak out too much about it. There are, oddly enough, greater things in the eternities. I´m so proud of my brothers! They're growing up so well and being all awesome like that. Joseph can put his papers in this month!? Has he started them? Gah! Let me know about that too. My advice there would probably be, read Preach My Gospel. Read it and study it, you use it every single day out here. It may not seem so applicable to you right now, but if you have that knowledge with you before you enter the MTC, you´ll be so much the better. Go in with lots of faith, be completely clean (nothing that would keep you a step away from God), and know that it will be hard. It's the best thing you could do for your life, and it will be hard in ways you don't expect, it's different for everyone but I know that I am a better person now than I was 3 months ago. Other advice will need to be requested in writing and specified ;) Oh! If only dad had brought a pocket knife to church! Oh! My shoe broke. It was the klog brand one, the metal ring the allows the shoe strap to be adjusted snapped. We were about....we were a long while from our apartment and still had people to contact in that area AND we were with one of the ward missionaries. So I threw a bobby pin in there and there it has stayed to this day. There is apparently a shoe repair place here that can fix that (Hna. Arincibia says) so we'll try that. My other shoes are still alive (and they're more comfortable than the klogs) so I'm perfectly fine. Woot to Brock! Hopefully he has hermanas in his district! Apparently we make a big difference in the elders. What a great thing for the boys to experience (the oil consecration). The elders in my zone at the MTC did that their first week there and I was very happy about that. The priesthood is incredible, to power there is so real and you can feel it. The meshies (F and M, they're ward missionaries that I think have their papers in) gave L a blessing and I could just feel the power there. It was a great experience. Kim's in provo? Do you know what complex? Actually, tell her to tell me, because I don't have her address. Oh :) How is roxberry. I think of that place sometimes. They don't really have smoothies down here. And I don't have pictures but maybe Hna Clark does. I'll ask her.
Ok, I've got to go now but I love you and hope you are getting all the frozen yogurt you can before it becomes slightly unreasonably cold to get it. Love!
-Hermana Aubrey Pixton