Last pictures from the mission- December 3, 2012

December 3- How do you measure a year-and-a-half in the mission?

How about Love?
 We are having a good amount of success right now and I'm so happy, I didn't want to leave this area nor the mission completely dry, needing to start over. We have 2 beautiful new progressing investigators that came to church yesterday with their member (less active, inactive) parents and they all LOVED it! The kids (our investigators) have a baptism date for the 22 and we're working to help them get their answer. We're also hoping to strengthen the branch a bit more before we have to go, the branch president is incredible but he doubts that sometimes, so we want to help him, we also are going to leave with the youth to help them out too. This week was really good, we had some good talks with our district leader and we're all working well.
Some funny things that happened this week: 
I finally got nipped by a dog, in the bum.....yeah no damage, it scared me a bit though. We went to Liliana and she thinks a lot and talks and this time she recognized how that is somewhat funny and said, I wasn't taught bad etiquette, poor thing my mother, she has nothing to do with my craziness. I thought it was funny.
We were talking with a recent convert about some of her fears and doubts, and she has a great imagination. She was asking us, what happens if we have an atomic bomb and we take all the bibles and keep them safe, so that when we all die from the bomb the new species of humans can find the bibles and...and and....and.... Hna Alvarez cuts in, Chica, God is all powerful. The girl thinks about this a bit.....oh yeah.
This is cute, not funny, A man in our branch said that the hardest thing to bear is not sickness, it's not what man or nature can do, it's seeing his wife without a smile. We all sighed.
We're getting a good amount of rain too, it's really hot in the morning and so it does stuff with the pressure and we get a lot of wind, a good deal of our skin gets exfoliated off, and sometimes it rains. We may need to see these waffles......
Ah Navidad, did you get to see the Christmas devotional?!! We heard that is would show and we all wanted to see it. Oh the joys of being young and in primary....and teaching primary :) I wonder what we can do to help grandpa...... rolled butter mints! As long as I can make the peanut butter balls we're good! Retail therapy! I finally found something for Kim that we probably won't find in Utah to wear, but it's kinda weird, so if we need to I may need a plan B....we'll see how it goes. Reuben sandwiches and carrot cake...can we do this again one day? New game!....uh...Guestures!
We have our last meeting Wednesday and then I'll be in the office next week until I get home, so I hope it (the package) comes in time. From all accounts this will be my last email because we do an FHE with President next week, we'll find out all of the details on that one later on in the week, everyone's worried that we'll get trunky. I figure that this is the last bit I have and I don't have time to be trunky, there's a million things to do! I'm glad I have this last week.
We started packing today and it doesn't seem real. I feel like I'll be going to another area or I'm helping clean or something, it doesn't feel like it's time to leave, but I know that this is when I need to be done, I received that answer long ago. I would like to ask something, when I get home I won't be perfect. I'll still have a lot to grow and a long way to go, I ask that you all keep that in mind. I am humbled to be called a missionary for our Savior Jesus Christ and to bring the world His truth, I feel I should be greater, but I know that God calls the weak things of the world to do His work. I am proud to be a weak thing.
Thank you so so much Mom for always supporting me, it's been a good run and I'm not done yet, every email, every prayer has helped me in this great journey. I will always remember this and I'm so glad I listened and obeyed. You have helped me and I hope to one day show that to you. I love you and I'll see you soon!
LOVE!
Hermana Aubrey Pixton

November 26- 18 months!

Hna Alvarez wants me to write you a note from her.

Dear Momma Pixton

Your daughter is dead!

Cry cry cry, and more crying.

All of that she wrote herself in English

Yes, she is very happy for the fact that I end my mission in the mission and she ends her mission in her house, so I am now "dead". Bueno, technically I'm a zombie because I keep walking and talking and stuff even though I'm past my date. But I'm good! Alive (olvio) and very excited to start this next week, we did the activity with the branch this last week and they are super excited to work with us, we also got 5 less active/inactive members to come to church! We were ecstatic! Our numbers aren't great this week but we feel like we've worked and that God is satisfied in that. We will do all we can to get more lessons in and everything but we've stopped looking so much at the numbers and more on the people, and sometimes that makes you step down before you step up again, it's another focus, and it's the one that I feel better working towards.We are working with a great part-member family and they are really excited to come back to church and help their kids find the Gospel too! We're excited. We also have a lot of the members giving us references of their friends and praying for who'll accept the Gospel and...it's AMAZING!

The week sounds so great! Full of, I'm sure, Family Friends and Fotos.

We've had a lot of sun, and wind, and some random really cold nights, but we have blankets so it's all good, it's like the climate at girls camp, really hot in the day time but then really cold at night. Megan got married!!!!!!!How old is she!!!!!! I thought she was Jacob's age! I'm so old!!!!!!!!

YES! I got the A-team package and it was so great to get the letters! My companions were ALL OVER the stickers and I was happy with the candy and fruit snacks(yes, they are different). Ha ha, poor Brock, elders can be funny sometimes. I've yet to get the hymn book one, but I'm lookn'.

Yeah! Clean garage! In winter too! Good job family!

Aye, esta piba! I've been waiting for an announcement for about 9 months! Maybe they're .....waiting.........name that movie!

I am healthy, I still have some side effect from that horrible chicken the elders gave me but I'm good. They're gonna give me a purgative when I leave so I think I'll be ok. It's so good to hear that everyone is ok. Hna Alvarez just lost her grandfather. 2 weeks.....she learned it today. If you could add her family to your prayers that would be great!

Thank you so much Mom for everything!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Hna. Aubrey Pixton

November 19- Buff and Creepy Frogs

So my companion is deathly afraid of frogs. I found this out last week when it rained, there are a lot of frogs here and we were leaving the church to get back to the apartment and she screamed and wouldn't move. I looked down to see a frog, and said, oh how cute! and she looks at me, horribly surprised, and says, no! it's not cute! they're horrible and disgusting and.....etc. I thought it was rather funny the three days that we had a good rain storm, though she is getting better, she'll let me walk by her with the frog on one side and her on the other, clinging to my arm. I love my Hna. Alvarez! She also learned in English "buff and creepy" from someone earlier in her mission, and has been calling me this for a few weeks now, ja ja ja ja.

Other than that we worked on the activity for the branch so that we can work better together. Two families showed up so our branch president said we need to do it at the end of the normal block of meetings this coming Sunday. We worked a lot on it and a lot of our appointments were canceled so it didn't look like we did a lot of work but we were pretty tired by the end of every day. We also found a man who, when we knocked, he came out and said, I've been searching for you, and I need something. Turns out he has been reading the Book of Mormon for some time but because his wife is super de un otro religión, he doesn't want to cause problems and become part of the church. He was great though! It showed me that the people are being prepared, maybe I'm not the one to help him but he is being prepared.

Ha ha, I read the first line from s that was all, YOUR COMING HOME SOON! and I though...I'll reply to Mom's letter first. No but really I'm ok, the people here have been saying how much time I don't have for about 3 months so I'm mas o menos used to it :)

I had a dream that Hna Cruz was with us for thanksgiving! It was weird.I can understand your feelings about the show, besides being unfamiliar is was strange and hurtful to see Jacob like that for you. I'm very very glad Jacob talked to you about things, sometimes we don't understand all of what's going on, but how could we, we just see what is in front of us, but God sees more, He knows what will help and what can help heal. (For now I realize that good can come from bad?) Yeah, it's a song worth analyzing. I'm so happy it all turned out ok. Give me mountains to climb!

Ha ha, take only one piece of bread, words of wisdom right there. I still remember when I was an ankle-biter and took two, rolled them into balls and played with them, then I lost them to your cleverness and said, what happened to the little balls? Good rule! You are the best friend to everyone, you can always help someone! I'm happy you have such lights in your life.

YES Knock and run adventures!

Christmas is coming...weird no?

April or March, or April. I guess it is all between him and God. The gap will be very much smaller between when our family will all be together again.....again! OH WE ARE WARM! I baked today some VERY late gifts and thankyous and sorrys....our apartment was an oven! We were all sweating, and all I could think of was "good for the pores, good for the pores". We are doing well, we're working and trying the best we can to not run in circles with the amount of work we have, but I guess that's why we have weekly and daily planning!

I love you so much Mom. Thank you for your offer of help, we always need all the prayers we can get and I love knowing you are always praying for me/us.

Keep each other close and remember I love you!

Hna. Aubrey Pixton

 

November 12- being eaten to death by mosquito

Do you remember the part in Other Side of Heaven where they're walking through the jungle and Elder Groburg (I can't spell the other name) is driven mad by mosquitoes and runs ahead of his companion and throws his bag on the ground and shouts? Yeah, that happened yesterday. They're savages! Savages I tell you! We were talking to a man who didn't really want to listen but we were trying anyway, and there were more mosquitoes there than I have ever seen in my life, and they all wanted to eat poor Hna. Cruz. We got back to the house and she had big welts of bites, it was pretty bad I have repellent and we bought more today, but these things are really "blood-thirsty". (Yes, I ran crazily in front of my companions, threw my box on the floor and shouted (quietly)).

Other than that we are teaching a woman who needs to get married before she gets baptized (but in W this can happen in 20 days), and a man who has a lot of fear of failing, of not enduring to the end. We're trying the best we can to be worthy of the Spirit so that we can teach these people. We also need to find a lot more. But the members here are awesome and are giving us the contacts from their cell phones. We're getting a lot of help and we hope to have three baptisms before the end of the year.

Working in three is different. We need to listen to each other a lot more and to the Spirit to know when to speak and what to say so as to help the lesson run smoothly. This is the 4th trio that Hna. Cruz has had, so she's relatively used to it.

This week we're working more on the Tree project we started in July, we're planning a lot and doing more work with that and we hope it pays off. We won't be here for the end of the year so we're doing all we can to help the next missionaries and members have success.

I'm so glad to hear your birthday was very happy! YAY!!! My Daddy won't be in Germany when I get back! (happy dance in the ciber) I was thinking what if he came in the same day as me.....Que cosa no? God has His bag of tender mercies open, (it's always open, this one is just easier to see :) ). 

*Personal situation of an unnamed person.* Has he prayed about it? If not, ask him to pray about it and tell Heavenly Father, pay attention to how he feels and what God wants, then go forward with faith, let you know and whatever he chooses, he'll learn. I remember I had a line in college that was to swear and I felt horrible and dirty saying it, my teacher saw it and I asked if I could change the word, he said I could and it worked out the same way. I personally don't want to marry a man who swears or yells, more now then ever. These are my thoughts and feelings.  I want to help so so much but I feel like I'm blocked from that kind of communication and help. Maybe I'm supposed to be home for him, but whatever God's time table is, I will accept it gladly.

 

We're getting more attention now us missionaries, no? I love your ingenuity with your little kids :) Weather here is hot, we all got burned, but we're being more consistent with the sunscreen now. Ha ha! A serger! Que bueno! You can sew........a dress........or a rug, I'm just throwing out ideas...

More for the box.....carmex for Hna Alvarez.

It's true, a lot of the time we are very conscience of how we are seen but most of the time we are happy because we desire to serve and help others be happy, if we're not happy to begin with, how can we invite others to be happy? I am personally happy because every person is a child of God and He loves them, I need to show His love. There's a line from the Veggie Tales Sweet Pea beauty that I've been thinking about a lot. "It's God that sees the beauty in all things, I just chose to agree with Him" I really like it because it's true, God sees things how they are, He created them and they were good. True there are things vile and evil but we focus on the good and the right. Man are that they might have joy. :)

Thank you for being my Facebook detective :) I love you so so much Mom and hope everything is going well. Keep praying, keep reading and let God tell you His will. He loves you and wants the best possible for you and our family. I love Him and I love you. Thank you for your prayers and your love. I'll never forget it!

LOVE!!!

Hna. Aubrey Pixton

November 5- Trick or Treat?

So we were just waking up on Wednesday this week when we got a phone call, it went something like this:

Hna Alvarez: Hello

Elder Galan: Hey Hnas, how're you doing?

Good, what's going on?

Have you ever trained before

Yes...

And Hna. Pixton

No...

Oh, well you both need to be in the office before 9:30 because you're training! The same person!

Hna Avarez freaked out and I felt faint.

We get to the office and we find our 3rd part! She's Hna. Cruz from Colombia Bogata.....algo así. She's a bit shorter than the measuring tape and is 30. She's super sweet! It's relly different to have a third person! Oh, and we're not really training her, she has 6 months in the mission already but she was waiting for her visa, but this is her mission. So we're three until the end of our days. It's made me think a lot about family life, before you just have your spouse, then you get a baby and it's different. I assume it's like that but I don't actually know. So I'm learning all about Que Chevere things are, and Que te digo! It's quite fun.

We had stake conference and no one came! Ok, the members came, but no one that we were stressing about! We were rather sad and I could hardly concentrate on the talks. We're wondering if this is the trial of our faith and we're pretty darn sure it is. We'll keep working and hoping, fasting and praying. It's all we really can do. We'll find our three-groove.

Halloween in Argentina was very uneventful....other than I got another companion.......that kind of uneventful....

Silly Jacob, don't you know that you eat with friends with Mom?! I completely understand how you feel! I hope to always have a good sense of respect if nothing else, I have a lot to learn still but I'm working on it. I LOVE your sunbeams! Kids make your heart melt and spirit sore! The discussion on your book made me think of 2 Nephi 4:27-30. I love to think of Nephi as a great example and these are some great words of council. I'm glad your trip was fun :)

Ha ha, We're more western but less...big...SECRET SANTA SILLINESS, DO IT! I'll be your elf! If you need one taller than your sunbeams that is.

Jacob is into politics? Hmmmmmm :E I can't complain about these elections either because once again I did not vote. But we'll see and it'll all be ok in the end. We just need to know who we serve and what He asks, and do it. NO importa los cosas en el mundo. I did hear about the storms! Everyone who found out I'm from the States had a terrified look and told me about them. Ha ha, On the news giving platelets, that's my mom!

I was ok the last week, it's been a while and I've gotten used to being in missionary mode so it was more I as in missionary mode talking with you! Hna. Alvarez is very excited about "su marillo"

I know of Elder Forkey, that he comes home with me,  Elder Forkey, Elder Kitchen, Elder Peterson....and more, OH! And Hna. Bingham sayed for this transfer so she'll be coming home with me too!

I totally forgot my camera in the house! But next week! I'll have it.

I Love you Mom! Have an excellent week!

Hna. Aubrey Pixton

Oct 29- A W ending

I'm finishing my mission in W with Hna Alvarez! We're all pretty excited, though the branch isn't too excited about losing Hnas. But it's not really our plan, is it. 

Well we did divisions this week and I went to an area called H to work with the hija of Hna. Alvarez. She's a great missionary and has only been a member for 3 years, but she knows that it's true. We worked and walked a lot, her area is bigger than W, and we had a good deal of fun. I got back and my body decided to get sick again but after a days rest I was fine. So we're back and running for this last 6 weeks, we're both setting goals of things we want to focus on and be better at. It's really funny actually, there we're a whole lot of changes this last transfer, Hna. B is going home this transfer and we also have different elders in our district but all the Hnas, basically stayed the same. 

We have a YM in our branch who is a convert of 9 months who goes with us to appointments and things, he is such a great kid! Great testimony and always willing to help us. He is 15 so he has a few more years until his mission but my companion and I think he'll be a great missionary

Yay! Baby! Out here we had a wedding! To be completely honest they are kind of anti-climatic, but it was very cute anyway! The groom shouted "SÏ" when they asked if he wanted to be married to her. We all threw rice at them and they are very happy now.

I want to go to the temple with y'all! 6 weeks...here we go......6 weeks! What! 

OOOooooooo, birthday in Houston! Nice and warm :)

Ha ha, JC will always be JC but maybe we'll just call him Jack-attack, Jack-jack, or .....Bloobee. I will get the hammer to Hna Alvarez, ha ha, the elders came to check our house for normal maintenance and they found my hammer and were SO happy with it, unscrewing all the little parts to find more screwdrivers :) Thank you So So much for your help Mom! You are awesome with the sunbeams! Such a great idea! Ha ha, dead people and extraction....You're so great :)

Do we know anything about Joseph's entrance date? He said he'd have news this week but maybe not.

I love you so so much Mom and hope you have a happy Harry Potter, pizza filled Halloween, and a great birthday!

LOVE

Hna. Aubrey Pixton

Oct- 22 I feel like I've been a Mormon my whole life!

K was baptized! Yay! Now we just need to help her family keep her active, she's 10 and her parents aren't active (but her dad came to her confirmation and her baptism, he said he wasn't going to) and her grandparents don't want to pressure her, so we'll help them help her without the pressure. 

I weighed myself this week and yes, missions in Argentina make you fatter. I'm slightly working on it, more I'm waiting for this transfer to be over to start (not the BEST plan but hey). Oh, I forgot, Happy Argentine Mother's Day! it was yesterday. A lot of the youth here call their moms Momoo :) L taught her class for the youth this week for the first time and was very happy.

We're all guessing about the transfers but there are so many changes that will probably happen we can't even try to guess. I may be moved because I have 4 transfers here, but we'll see.

Poor Daddy, traveling so much and without frozen yogurt....Yay Laura! Did my letter arrive? I sent it a while ago for birthdays because I completely forgot to send things at least 3 weeks ahead of time. I'm so happy you all had fun! And that the boys are workers! Here we've had really hot, then really cold and rainy, but I guess that's October in Argentina. We'll see more sun in November for sure! Don't worry about not writing a ton in emails, I'm happy to see that I have email! and photos! I love to watch Grandma and Grandpa with each other, it's one of the best things :)

 Ha ha, Primary is so cute! And their examples are good people(personages?) so that's good too! I bet you're a great teacher for them! Oh yeah, Halloween is super soon, they don't do a lot here for Halloween, already we're seeing fruitcake and Christmas candy out. I also learned (sad to say) that in many Latin countries, the day of the dead is 2 Nov. I apply it to elections. 

Prep day! Yay! It's almost better than the actual Thanksgiving! I thought of sticky tac that you could send me! We can't do anything to the walls so it has to leave without residue. Uhhhh, colored envelopes, I am going to take out another 50 from my account today so that should cover other things. Thank you so much for always being willing and wanting to send me things :D 

Thank you so much Mom for your words of courage and strength. I often tell people this but it's always harder to apply it to your own life, you know? Thank you again.

With school I was thinking about doing something medical so intro to anatomy or something like that would be great, I'll call my president today to figure things out, this week I was praying a lot and thinking a lot and I was about to skip this time for school, but then just barely I got the impression to stop and pray, ask what I need to do and I got the answer that I can go to school this semester. I really wanted to and it was hard during the week to make the decision not to go, but this reminded me of Isaac and Jacob when Jacob first had to make the choice and almost go through with it, then the Lord stopped him. I feel that now, so I'll do all I can on my side and maybe let you know in the week. I would like to take dance but I'm worried about transfer credits.....I'll try to look at it. I think I left all my info in a jar that I happened to leave on the side of your bed when I left,  my license my be in that jar, if not it's in my bookself I'm almost positive. 

I'm doing better in health. I'm letting go of the stress a lot, I've tricked my mind into thinking I'll finish in May with my elders. That helps. Also having other people to focus on helps too.

I love you Mom and thank you SO much for all that you do, it's a lot.

LOVE!

Hna. Aubrey Pixton

"I was shoved over to that Elder-- I wasnt trying to touch him"

Oct 15- "20 lbs of brown sugar"

This week I got a bit sick and head achy, Hna. Alvarez thinks I'm stressing out about not having enough time to baptize all the people that need to be baptized. I'm inclined to think the same. We have a goal to baptize 3 by the end of the month but the prospects are looking thin. We still have K, and we're hoping to find some ex that already have assistaces(I think that's the English translation of that word). We also heard from a few people that we have less actives that want to be active again! I'm excited to find those! We're working with L and A still and, seriously, L es increible! She's so great, she was sustained yesterday to be the new teacher of the youth class! We're stoked! Yesterday in the fast and testimony meeting all of the youth, all of them, and our newly baptized L bore testimonies! I was so happy to see all of them up there! We were also helped this week in finding a family who all excepted to be baptized! We're really excited about what we're doing.
Oh! Side note, we found the little "c" cereal that you like the other day, I thought of you :D
I'm so glad it was a good week for you! I'll bet! Family and Disney, a mix for greatness right there! Random question, who was driving the tig? 
Oh! Mamá mia! Blisters! 7! No! I hope that other than Doc and Happy the others didn't reflect their names! 
We're all over the world aren't we? Dad, me, Steve, you all....people, yes. You people! Yes! Retail therapy for the win! YES!!!! 
You are awesome to turn a 5 minute update on a missionary into a great talk! I want to see you teach the little kids:)
Ha ha, thank you for the warning. -Oh Megs! Heart melting words right there! She's so sweet! I'll be crying in the airport too, don't worry Megs.
I'm  needing to finish my assoc. degree there, as far as I remember I need another science and somethings else.....I'm not sure how to get that information. The UVU website.....a councilor.....I'm not sure, I need to talk with my mission president to see how much I can do out here, I would like to do an assoc. in science I think.......It's one that I almost have everything for. I'll try to get permission to get more info to you but while I try, if you could see what you can do for me in this situation, if you can talk to a councilor or log into my account on UVU.gov (I think that's right).......I'm not sure. It's been a while since I was on there.
NO!! Yesterday was the broadcast and we had appointments so we didn't get to see the Relief Society goodness. I'll see what damage I can do to get it....It did get really warm and then today with rain and slightly cooler.
Ha ha, trunky...ha ha :) Hna. Alvarez and I make jokes about how everything is trunky, the food, the weather, music. But we're good and focused in working still, don't worry. Joseph is a trooper, I'm so very proud of him.
I love you Momma and thank you so much for your help in these "after-life" details ;P
LOVE!!!!

Hna. Aubrey Pixton

October 8- Fedriado

So, sometimes, Argentina has holidays where lots of things are close, only fair, it's a holiday. The only misfortune falls on the missionaries who want to use said holidays (they usually are Mondays) to buy things. Today is one such day.

But it's ok, we always have more time. The girls in the M Family just passed and they said to say Hi! They're great. Can just say that I LOVE the branch here in W!? They are so great and they work so hard!

This week I feel went really fast because we had Zone conference on Monday, interviews and writing families on Tuesday, intensive planning on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday conference! I love conference! Elder Cook, Holland, Pres. Eyring, and Uchtdorf's talks were SO GOOD! Yes, I cried during elder Holland's talk..... I also loved the new relief society president! We'll see the world wide broadcast this coming Sunday! And we are planning K's baptism for Saturday but we need to verify a few things before we'll be sure she's ready to be baptized. We also have a goal as a mission for 1000 baptisms this year and we're lacking about 300, so 100 per month, sí se puede! We're pretty excited about it all. You know, helping God save souls........ I love this work, I really hope that I've done at least a portion of what I was supposed to do here, there is SO Much WOrk to do and we need all the help we can get. We were SUPER excited about the missionaries with 18 and 19 years! It's so crazy! We may, or may not, be planning the missions of everyone in White.......

 Intense week eh?;) We got to watch all of conference but the priesthood, (here it starts at 9 so even the elders didn't see it) and yes, the info, as far as I'm concerned, was perfect! When you said cold, I thought, but it's October, it's supposed to be getting warmer, then I remembered...oh yeah....we have snow and stuff for Christmas. :P Silly Aubrey. Ha ha! I can totally see you run into the house cheering your hear out! On the screen they showed the audience, it was so fun to see all their shocked faces! I thought about Joseph and Jacob coming back around the same time, within a year of each other and just cried! Yes! It's cool to go on missions! I knew it! I'm living it and I still love it! I thought of my family a lot in this conference.

Yes I want those texts!

I loved the pictures! Indian food! I miss that a lot, more just the variety of food....Ha ha, I love the game! It's like bingo but intense! I'll BET Dad was the best at it! 61 years, what a goal and pattern to follow! Ha ha, funny cat! NO!! You're going to Disneyland without me! Ah well, I guess this makes up for when you didn't go last may. Hu hu, I don't like being alone with Oz either...

I loved Elder Eyring's talk about how we need to be available for God to tell us things, He'll do it, we just need to listen and WANT the answer.

Fwa! I thought about Joseph SO MUCH in the conference! God was speaking very powerfully. Nov. 14! Crazy stuff! I'm so excited! It's hot then it's cold out here, rain then wind then sun....it's weird, my body may go into shock when I get home, get out the blankets!

I love you Mom and thank you so much for your great letter!

LOVE

Hermana Aubrey Pixton

October 2- Teeter totter fun

So we did the Mormon Hands that Help service again out here and we cleaned a park, afterward we were playing on the park stuff, notably, the teeter totter. Hna. Alverez is about half my weight so I was doing a good amount of work to play with her on these toys. The seats, leveled, are a bit higher than my hip level so getting on and off was an adventure, with that said, I was preparing to get off and I thought I had my weight well enough balanced so that I could get off and Hna. Alverez could level the toy, I slide my body off, still with my leg over the seat, and Hna Alverez either couldn't reach or freaked out and lifted her legs but she went down, my leg went up and I was more or less hanging there while my companion was freaking out! The best part was to see the elder's faces, they couldn't really help us as they cannot touch us, but their body language was such that I knew they wanted to help. In the end someone came and leveled the teeter totter so that I could get off as well as Hna. Alverez. Such is my case right now that I feel I should be skinnier and shorter.

Other than that we're doing great! A was baptized on Thursday as planned and confirmed on Sunday. L is very happy and Presidente Ramos already has a calling for her! We're excited. Now we're working toward K's baptism, she's planned for the 13th and she's so cute! She's 10 years old and wants to go out teaching with us! We're still working with her dad, but Presi says we can't wait on him to baptize her, so we're planning for the 13th. We went to teach them and we were talking about scripture study and how the scriptures give us answers and help. R (her father) said he's been a member for years (inactive) and has never read more than a verse per week. He did the flip-through-the-pages-and-see-what-scripture-your-finger-lands-on deal and it came to be something that he looked up at us and was all, Aaaaaaaaa. Like, yeah, you're right, this does help me. K did it too and exclaimed, It spoke to me! It was a great experience and the Spirit testified to them both that scriptures are holy and from God.
Hey! I'm doing well, healthy and happy. Yeah! Family yakking! or is it yacking? I feel like the first one is hunting yaks....General Woman's broadcast! We'll see that soon! 

Throwing the ball is the best thing after all :D I'm so glad you are the amazing grandma to them all! It'd like the movie "out of the mouth of babes"! It's a great movie. *** (referring to me teaching the 3 yo primary class)

I was reading about the sacrament and how it's a way for the men to become more like Christ because they are literally doing what He did. The primary is so cute! Yay! Hanks! That should be super fun! 

Thanks Mom for the photos and, you won't believe this, I don't know where my cable is for my camera. We're positive it's still in the apartment, we just need to find it, so I don't have pictures....again. Epic fail. (One of the office elders played WOW out here in Argentina so we shared a nerd moment.) I feel lame writing such a short response but I don't have a lot of time. I love you and I hope all is well at home! I pray for you all and I know the my Father is taking care of you.
LOVE YOU!!!
Hna. Aubrey Pixton

Sept 24- Oh glory

I'm not sure where or how I picked up this phrase but I say it a lot now and Hna. Alverez thinks it's hilarious. 
To be honest I couldn't think of a lot to say as a tag line and thought "oh glory" so I decided to put it. OH! Just in, Hna Alverez's mom went to the temple for the first time! She's very excited. Oh...and to my everlasting shame, I forgot my camera again, BUT! we have a baptism this week so I'll send Mother-Daughter baptism photos next week! A worried us for a bit that she wouldn't be ready but we had a few lessons and she went to primary and she's really excited! We spent the morning with L to help her a bit and then she made us bread! She's amazing! (Not for the fact that she can make bread). We're working with another family so that the father can baptize the daughter, but he needs the priesthood first, so we're in this right now. We didn't get to work a ton because we had a sprained ankle of my companion and the Doctor said to stay off it, but we still got some good work done. Mom, seriously, W*** (the city she is in)**** is amazing! The members here are so ready to help us and they want part in missionary work and they do stuff! I'm seriously amazed every other day by things they do! 

The week was good, fast but good.

 Ohhhhhhh, I thought that bed looked familiar :) ***(she saw a picture I took in her room, where there was a new for her bed.. it was Eryns her cousins)   What's Eryn doing? So I can fall out of bed and have a good night's sleep still? Yes! 

What! You were released! But you're teaching your grandchild's age! How cute! I can understand the change of calling, it's tough but you just gotta find your groove again :D.

I didn't know Jess was pregnant! How was the dedication? Who was there to do it? I just had one so I'm very interested. I thought about Jason's Deli today and the ice cream cone competition, did Jim participate for his birthday? Si no, que fome ;P. 

Thank you Mom for your never-ending support. I really appreciate it and I don't know where I'd be emotionally without it, thank you so so much!  

Ha ha ha ha, I've secretly thought about this plan a lot, I think I'll work until May, start summer semesters at UVU to finish that degree, then in fall I'll need to figure out what to do with my life.....just now it occurred to me that I need to send in applications, ah well, I'll get that done in January...maybe, can you ask around in the family to know how transferring schools works, I don't really know what I'll do but I'd like some basic knowledge. And I've been looking forward to watching stuff with you for a long time, I hope to be busy working, Mark said I could have Roxberry back and then I'd look for another job too. If by all accounts it's better for me to go to school in January I'm down with that too, I'm just worried about the money aspect of it all, I know I'm living out here on you guys now so I'd like to give you a break, but if we're planning cool things during the summer or if transferring is easier if I have credits done, I'll do whatever is best.....we'll talk :) I want to finish my associates degree in science, maybe minor in Spanish and have that at least under my belt. I'm not thinking about continuing theater as a career. So if you could ask around and see what's best then let me know we can plan better for the "next life" he he.

Thank you so so much Mom for all you do!

LOVE YOU!

Hna. Aubrey Pixton

Sept 17- Mild your head

Momma!
L was baptized! We're very happy and she is very happy, but we had a slight bump....to be exact. She is about my height, rather tall, and when she was in the font, the brother lowered her down but she hit her head on the wall of the font! She reacted by pulling her body lower into the water she wanted to be baptized so bad! But after she said something about being hard-headed so we all kind of laughed it off. Her daughter didn't come to church so we are moving her baptism to the next week and not this one.


Other than that we had an interesting week, I found out that my body is rejecting me eating many forms of oil/fat and milk (it's relatively common for the Yankee missionaries to be lactose intolerant out here). So I stayed in bed for an afternoon and ate soup and fruit after that, (hey, I'll get skinny right?), no but my stomach is better now, though I am starting to watch what I eat more so that I don't die again. Also, Hna. Orton is dying today, she'll be home probably Wednesday  which makes my group the oldest Hnas in the mission! Crazy stuff huh. Hna Alverez also sprained her ankle so I may be going with a member to visit a lot of people tomorrow. 

Oh yeah, I'm still in W with Hna. Alverez! We're both very excited about this, we feel like we can do almost anything together so we're happy. I don't have photos of the baptism with me but I will send them next week!

We're experiencing a lot of the heat of spring and Hna. Alverez could not be happier, but with the heat and the water come the mosquitoes! They're huge! ok, not THAT big but they're rather large. 

Ha ha, I'm glad come pros did the chain sawing, 
***(We had some limbs cut off some tall trees in our backyard)****
I'm not sure how I feel about either of my brothers, (let alone my MOTHER) with a chain saw. 

Oh, good chocolate chip cookies...I miss those. Conferences are always fun, it's a chance to not move so much and to listen well. If you did go somewhere it was probably awesome! 

I promise to hide your keys and close up all the pies as to not have any accidents. **** (referring to me taking ambian while David is out of town)***

To Payden:
You're getting baptized! I'm so happy that you're so happy to do it! It is something that will last your whole life and forever too. This is the first step on this great path and I know there are great things waiting for you further on. We just had a baptism out here in Argentina and it's the exact same promise in the whole world, it's such a special feeling to see someone walk into that water and I feel the Spirit strongly when the person is confirmed. That is one of the greatest gifts of all eternity, the gift of the Holy Ghost. I know you will learn to listen and love the Spirit. Keep doing the things you know are right and you will feel the blessings come. I know this to be true, 
congratulations on your baptism!
***(Letter to Aubreys 2nd cousin for her baptism book)***

I hope that's ok.....
Ok, I need Joseph to write me and tell me what's going on. Jacob has a good head on his shoulders, he'll have a lot of fun his senior year. Aaron wrote me this last family dinner and I was very happy about that. I'm happy he treats my dear sister so well and I'm excited to meet him. 

I'm doing well, things that I crave now are things that don't ship well so I'l just wait it out. I love you Mom and thank you so much for always writing me and keeping me up to date. I love you!
Hna. Aubrey Pixton

Sept 10 Temple Dedication!

They dedicated the temple in Buenas Aires yesterday! It made me so happy to think that the people here can have the blessings of the temple again in their lives! It makes me antsy to baptize so that later they can go and do work or be sealed or receive the blessings that are there for them! Pres. Eyring was there and he is one of my very favorites! I love him a lot and it was so great to hear his expiriences and everything!

Other than that we are preparing for the baptizm of L! She's really excited and we're doing our best to prepare her more. We have her, then her daughter, than another chica, and we are looking for someone else for the next week!

Oh, Hna. Alverez wants you to know that I have a Super Companion! Ha ha ha, she's asked me to put it in the email since the creepy man part one happened.

I thought that about Hna Clark but I thought it better for you to see that for yourself :) Oh little Carter, I'm glad he's doing well. That' so great!

You made cheese!? I need to do this! I am also very happy to not be in the country for this election, I don't think I can handle it, but then again....Ah! That was the news thing, cool cool. I never met Elder Hair, but he looks familiar, it may be easier for the elders to know the sisters than for the sisters to know the elders :P  ( I met up with a recent BB Argentina RM at the Argentina store in Orem so I sent AJ a picture of him and I together)  

Greek Feastival! No way! 

Hna Vaughan! Oh! I have some letters that she's recieved in the mission recently and I forgot what she said to do with them, do I bring them home with me? Oh Hna Vaughan. She's so great and I'm so lucky to have had her in the mission. Yes! They are from Highland the Squires! They know who I am? That letter I wrote a while back but the price for letters went up and as it was the end of the month I hadn't the money, but this way ended up being better!

Babies!  (referring to babies coming to our extended family)

Yes! I'm doing well, I have little time to write today so this is all very fast.Yes! I got the package! And I'm going to be good for this next stretch. Thank you so so much Mom, oh! also, I took out 618 pesos,(about 150 dollars or something like that), just so you all know.I'm so very happy to hear of God's blessings to my family, He loves you all too :D I love you so much mom! I'll let you know how this next week goes and what happens with Transfers! I've not gotten any sort of trunky papers but I'll let you know! 

LOVE!

Hna. Aubrey Pixton

Sept 3- Trunky air freshener

So we have a neighbor who smokes, so we got air freshener that said anti-tobacco. It smells like man! We call it the "novio" (boyfriend). We always feel bad using it but it works really well!


So this week we were working a lot with L, we went to help her get ready for her daughter's birthday party so that she could come to church and not worry about it, and we ended up harvesting lemons! It reminded me so much of the picture of the boys with the peaches but we didn't have my camera! But let it be known that we did some extreme lemon harvesting, (lemon trees have thorn/spine things). We did all we possibly could and in the end she was able to come! We were very very happy. 

The lemon harvest day we were talking to her before and she opened her bible and started crying, she looked at us and asked, what do I need to do to be baptized? We were in slight shock. We explained about the lessons and the interview and the attendances and she said, ok good, I'll do it then. The scripture she found was when Jesus was baptized and the Father said, behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. It was a very sweet moment. 

Other than that we had a run-in with a very upset lady. We stopped by P. to use their bathroom and while we were in the hall waiting to use the elevator, we were talking (probably a bit louder than we should have been) and an older lady pokes her head out her apartment and starts yelling at us. She said that we need to go talk in our church and not bother people (I think she thought we were nuns), it scared me to death! Just the way she was talking to us scared me, but now we have a renewed resolution to talk quieter in P.

My day is going good, other than the scary lady incident, we're doing good (and wet) over here. Ha ha, the elders know and if anything happens again we'll tell President but we're keeping an eye out and we're fast runners! 

Ha ha, I can imagine labeler fun! Oh! I'm so happy that he's so great! Are the sisters going to can or just go nuts eating them? ( referring to the peaches we got from the tree) Both good choices. 

OH! The office elder that handles the mail (materials) said I have something but he couldn't remember if it was a package or not. Just FYI.

 I have been thinking about Joseph a lot this week and I really want him to get on the mission as soon as he can. It is the best thing in the world and he will have so much help. I would love to see him but if he's ready before that happens, full steam ahead!

I think Hna Vaughan is from Farmington but if she's getting you the information it'll probably have the exact address. Hna Vaughan was and will be one of my best friend from the mission forever. She was never my companion but we were in the same house in Mar del Plata and then after she was in P, but we always found each other. I love her a lot.
***(Sister Vaughan came home a tiny bit early due to foot complications, so I got to go to her welcome home. It was such a delight)***
 Yes! Cookie brownieing! You're so great Mom! Ha ha ha, why-eye-eyes-ya, all the live long day. Fieldtrip! I think I'll be ok until December, but I'll let you know if something comes up! I love you Mom and thank you so so much for all your help, letters, prayers, thoughts, all of it! 

Give the family my love, also, I can't write Dad or Kim back this time but I'll get that out next week!
LOVE!
Hna. Aubrey Pixton

Aug 27- And of course, that will throw the girls in the path of other (creepy) rich men!

So remember "look into my eyes" man? Yeah we were walking down the median and this man was there. Hna Alverez was all NO! Creepy men! We walked and he stopped us and asked for our number and a time to meet, I pulled out a pass along card to write down the direction of the chapel and the hours and his friend who must have had at least 60 years comes over and starts talking drunken vulgarity to us, (I'm so glad I don't understand that type of Spanish but from what I understood and the way my companion acted it was pretty bad). Creepy man number one was trying to hush him up, Hna Alverez was saying to me, Hna, we have to go now! I gave creepy man one the card and he took my hand to shake it and then wouldn't let go! He says as I'm trying to leave, Go out with me. I say, no, we're missionaries and we don't do that. I continues to hold onto my hand. Hna Alverez grabs my arm and yanks it away and says, Ok chau! and we half run away. We had a therapy session afterward. "Creepy men" as Hna Alverez calls him, seems to be making random appearances but don't know where we live nor is following us so I'm OK. It does make me laugh when I try to get Hna. Alverez's attention and she thinks I'm telling her "creepy men" is following us :D Not that funny but I'd rather laugh than be paranoid. (And yes, other than drinking, this man is wealthier dressed, just to apply to the tag line more).
ANYWAY! Other than that we are still working with D, he is reading! He's waiting for an answer and we're doing all we can to help him but really it all depends on what he does to receive the answer and how he listens. We can't do much in that respect. We have a woman named L too who came to church yesterday with her daughter (who really liked primary and asked us for a Book of Mormon), L really liked church too but she was almost a nun, so she's taking the decision very seriously (as she should) and told us that she's taking this week to read and pray and meditate and she'll find us when she has her answer. We're excited! We're also trying to find and help all the recent converts from the last two years that aren't coming. I LOVE White! It's an amazing branch and I'm so grateful to have this time here.
OH! other story really fast, we were rounding a corner in the dark and this dog comes running at us (running away from another dog, they're everywhere here) and I'm thinking oh, a dog, he'll turn. No. He hit me dead in the shin and as I'm falling other I say OOOOOOHHHHHHH my gosh! Stupid dog! Yes there are bruises. Hna Alverez thought it was hilarious and keeps saying, stupid dog :)
We are getting spring! Hna Alverez is very happy as she hates the cold and we-re excited to not wear coats, we-re not excited that our bodies are to be slightly more exposed as they are larger. ;D I realized that I would miss a fall in Utah and I was very sad. But what do you do. OH! Hna. Vaughan went home this last week (I think I told you about her foot), I gave her a letter for you and Joseph so that should be coming soon. Hows Aaron doing? Ive hear NOTHING from the jury and I'm dying. Jacob! That's so great! With everything! Keep your head up and down Jakers!  I cant believe that so many other people are leaving too! Hey! Frozen peaches for green smoothies? We go to the panaderia a lot to buy a bed called minoñes, its like a bagette, french bread thing that everyone eats down here. I'm thinking about making alfajores this week, or maybe the next, we'll see.
I love you Momma and I hope that all is well this week! (Whats up with people not telling me when they get married?)

LOVE
Hna. Aubrey Pixton

Aug 20- Intoxicated(, I am selfish, I am wrong (it's a song))

Yeah, we ate food from a rotisserie and about all of the hermanas got sick from it, we went to the Doctor and I got a shot and I feel better, so that's good :)
How's August passing? It's getting a lot warmer down here and we're really surprised actually, it should still be cold until about October but we're ok with early heat. It's so strange, I know we did things this week but when I think about it now I can't think of anything before these last few days. OH! It's because I spent a few days with Hermana Vaughan in divisions, she has a condition in her foot where the blood is clotting and not leaving so it hurts her muscle and she shouldn't be walking. It's killing her not to work so we talked about what to do. I still don't know what she'll do but that's between her and God. Last week we went to a less active man who said he'd come with his son Sunday, now we need to track them down because they didn't arrive, we're also really worried about his wife. She was admitted into the hospital for digestion problems. We're all sick down here aren't we? We taught D again and he has lots of questions, more than less about why God does the things He does....we don't exactly know that. We know that He loves us and that all things will work out for the good but we're not sure why he gave birds wings and why wings=flying here on earth. He's really great and wants to be part of this church, he just wants his answer. We're helping him by reminding him to read and pray.
I'm glad you had a good week! When I read Brother Pola died I thought of the song Face to Face that I think brother Dixon sang at a funeral. But I love that song a lot and it's very appropriate for people so great. Dad is amazing! I have him and a few others (and others whom I've found in Argentina) to make sure I marry the best guy. I still can't believe so many people are married! But then again it's the circle of life isn't it. I'm still out of reach of that one so I'm not freaking out SO much. My brothers are the best! What an honor to do that with Veterans and everything. Oh! Steph! She's super sweet. (she still owes me choco cinn bears ;D )I'm so glad the family is doing well. It puts my heart at peace. Ha ha, I love that video! And the one of your wedding/engagement. It's really fun to remember. I hope you all have a great time this week! When does school start? This week no?
Bueno, Thanks so much Mom for the updates! I love you and I hope that you are happy and living it up!
I love you so much!
LOVE
Hermana Aubrey Pixton

Creepy Men

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Aubrey Pixton <aubrey.pixton@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 3:24 PM
Subject: Creepy Men
To: Momma <1102connie@gmail.com>


Ha ha, so story, I'm teaching my dear companion some English and one of the things she learned was "creepy men", let me tell you why; We were walking down the sidewalk and this man was sitting on the outside window ledge, we passed, said hi and he said, are you going to talk with me about you guys? And we thought....yeah! So we go sit down on some benches and we are talking about he was recently separated and how it's really hard for him and he starts asking me, not us, me, question. Then he says, I want you to look into my eyes, don't blink, look into my eyes for 5 minutes, I want you to understand something. I'm thinking.........is there something in there? Does he want to try to read my mind? I'm so confused! But yeah, I figured he wouldn't let it rest until I did it and it wasn't harming anything so I stared at him for 5ish minutes, my companion is trying to get his attention off of only me and she says, ok 5 minutes is up! He says nope, I'm keeping the time by my pulse. Hna. Alverez is a nurse and says so and that you can't tell time by your pulse but he continues anyway. He says, I want her to understand something. Hna. Alverez, and why can't I understand this? No no, no offense, I want HER to understand, I'm not sure why. He has me take his wrist so I can "keep time" He got really close to my face, I was freaking out that he was going to kiss me! (He was a bit drunk). But he backed off and asked me what I understood now.........That he is going through a hard time in his life but the Gospel of Jesus Christ can help him if he will let it. My comp takes me, gives the man a pamphlet with the church address on there and we start walking. Long story short, Hna. Alverez knows what Creepy Men means.

Other than that we're teaching a couple who are baptists and D again, he came to church and participated and everything, basically we're waiting on his answer, we're going to teach him again and help him recognize the Spirit. We also found a lot of less active members and we're working a lot with them (Thank you Steve! I'll never forget that advice!). We're going to have a conference with a 70 and it's going to be almost all of our mission, menos Mar del Plata. We're excited.

(Just as Kim stayed home, I'm planning on staying home a lot in the first week of being home. I'm not trunky, I just have a plan :) No, I've realized that I'm really excited to go home, but I don't want the mission to end. I think that'll be my attitude for the rest of my mission.) GO KIM! You rock my socks! Off! No more kneaders? I'm glad there was so much family over! How fun is that! Oh Jack! That's so cute :) I can only imagine coming home with him and having it like a little Christmas. :) I'm sure the lesson was so great! Just make sure to communicate this to the next teacher so they don't teach it again, yours had guest stars and probably was very memorable. It's really good for Joseph to be teaching. He'll learn a lot about how to help the people through that. To be honest I never felt ready ready for my mission, but I knew I'd be taught by the best Teacher there is. Every day I need to read and study to feel like I've done my part to let the Spirit do the rest. We can only prepare so much, we've received the call and the answer than we need to go. I guess it'll be like getting married, we have received the answer and we know that we'll have help along the way, so we just need to start and trust A LOT in God. 

29 years! That's so so great! I marvel all the time at how blessed I am to have such amazing parents! Thank you! I didn't get to make a card, so I hope the email is satisfactory. I was thinking about what I want in my husband, I want him to more committed to God and the church than anything else, I'll come after God, I'm ok with that. But if we're both going the same direction and growing closer to God all the time, we'll have a great marriage.

Panederia! We'll need to go so I can try all of them! The ones you tried are called alfajores. They're the most common thing in the world out here, along with empanadas and pizza. and noodles. Porbre Spencer! He's a trooper! Yes! Wedding pictures! I'm excited!

This time with Jojo may be a thing of patience, I have some idea of this but it's gotta be hard. Have I shared with you my favorite scripture? DandC 101:16 It helps me a lot, read, pray and your heart will be comforted. I love you mom and I know that you can do this! We are all growing in this amazing life and fighting a great fight. I was thinking about a line from Lord of the Rings today, "There is some good in the world, and it's worth fighting for." I love that, how lucky am I to be in a battle against overwhelming odds? We know we will win, it's a promise.

Thank you so much for the package mom! I'm gonna try to get all the family shopping done next monday, so any last requests, speak now :)

I love you so much mommy!

Hna. Aubrey Pixton

awesome pictures but none of Hermana Pixton

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Aubrey Pixton <aubrey.pixton@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 3:24 PM
Subject: they just keep coming
To: Momma <1102connie@gmail.com>


More dancing! More I'm emptying my camera so I can take more :) I think I'll send the cards home with Hna. Orton

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