February 6

So today I decided to make chocolate chip cookies, it's P-day and we had stuff. I bought azucár negro because it was the same price as the azucár rubia and the azucár rubia looked really light, so I make the cookies and dump 150g of chocolate chips in this recipe....they were so rich! And I'm pretty sure I ate way too many of them, and there are still some left, hopefully the other Hermanas will eat them all. They didn't burn or anything, just with the dark dark brown sugar, they turned out super dark. And rich. They were good but oh so bad. Anyway.
This week was good. On tuesday Pres. came to D to do interviews and it was really good to talk to him and all the stuff, investigators, study, ....los demas.....It´s always good to talk to the Mission President. He taught us about Nephi and how he was shown how to build the ship, and how there was some time passed between when the Lord told him to build the ship and when he actually knew how to do it. I feel like this works very well with everything, but especially missionary work, the Lord tells us to go out and find people who're ready to change their lives to be more in accordance with God, and we go out and learn how to do this. It was amazing what kind of insight you can get from two verses of scripture. Nephi probably had to go up that mountain a lot to talk with God and recieve revelation, and climbing a mountain is hard, but he did it and he built a ship. A SHIP! It took them to the promised land without any mid-way stops. That's incredible! Pres. likened that to how we're building our character everyday and learning all the time to help build out "ship" so we don't have to swim through life and worry about drowning, we can sail. Still maintaining the ship and where it goes and taking care of it, but it's a lot better than swimming.
We also found a girl named I who is SO ready for this message, she wants this and is ready. We're gonna go see her this week and help her out. C is going to be baptized this weekend! We're excited about that too, we need to clear a few things up but besides that she's as good as wet. L and his mom and grandma still have at least another week and the grandma of C has 2 more weeks, but we're still excited about them!
I'm so glad that Joseph is doing better! 35 pound vest? Oh dear. I don't think I could walk too long with that on let alone run! But I'm happy he'll be doing other things. I'm also super glad he got the letter! I have letters for your mia maids but I have not sent them because it's expensive and things close at 1 until 5, but I'll try to send them this week! I also got the packages! The first ones and then the one with deoderant and things! Thank you so much mom! Hna V is very impresses with Reeses, but she'll be going home to Cordoba soon so I'll need to send her something when I get home! I'm glad you were able to sew! Sew what? Ha ha ha :) This is one of the things you can do that makes you amazing, turing something horrible into something wonderful! I love that about you. I'm sure the lesson was fine, reaching out is something that is really important, we're always working with the ward to help the conversos feel comfortable. I actually gave a lesson on Sunday too, it was the Gospel Principles class on Agency. Apparently it was good but I still had my doubts....but I feel ok about it now. It was my first class ever where I had to do the majority of the talking (in missionary lessons here, the people do a good deal of talking). Oh grandpa, I fear that he won't know me when I get back, then again I'm not sure Jack will know me either ;) Pero bueno, que va hacer. I'm doing really well, my belly hurts a bit from the cookies but other than that I'm good! Talking and understanding a little bit more every day. Wow, it's already the 6th of Feb. Before ya know it, it'll be the end of the transfer! Hna V completed 18 months this week! We have a few things to do before the end so she's good and not wanting to leave. Anyway, Yes, letters! I'll send them! Also can I get a recipe for hot fuge sauce? sugar milk cocoa? maybe, I don't know :) I love you mom and thank you so much for your weekly updates, I was particularly antsy about this one.
LOVE!!!!!
Hermana Aubrey Pixton

January 30, 2012

Ok, so we never fished....but we're missionaries so we....fish.....Yes. We found a lot of people this week! It was super good and I'm rather excited. I am not excited about this transfer ending in a few weeks and the probability that I may train. I'm not that cool yet! Anyway, Yes, I completed 8 months in the mission on wednesday :) woot! I've still yet to figure out if December or October is better for the home date, and I think I'm thinking about this because Hna. V is going home in a few weeks......that's scary too. But! We're having a good deal of success. D, G and L and finally being able to be found! L was hanging out with a kid who....isn't the best kid ever. We haven't been able to teach him for a week and finally last night we found him and a sister in the ward was talking to his grandma about the other kid and we think all is better now. We're not sure if G needs to be baptized so we'll ask the elders and maybe pres. about that. But C, L and E (C's grandmother) could very well be baptized on the 18th! That's what we're shooting for! It's not baptizing every week but I'm happy with it. Today we got ice cream and made brownies, and I did laundry, and didn't have any time (somehow) to write any letters! ¿Donde esta el tiempo? But I guess so it is here. We didn't have our interviews with Pres this last week so hopefully those will happen this week. Other than that, we had an activity for the missionary forces. We played volleyball and tejo(?) and the Argentines drank matte. It was really good for our investigators to be with the ward and have fun. We're really hoping that we can help this ward! I have hope :)
What else.....I did take more pictures this week so those are 1000 words each so we're good! Ja ja ja ja. I did have a little kid tell me "Chau hija" (bye daughter) That made me happy. And the wolf-whistles are almost non existant here! It's amazing! I'm happy about that one too. This is kind of short but I'm out of time! I love you!
-Hermana Aubrey Pixton

I love you all, stay close together and remember I love you.





Later that day
What do we do when the going gets tough? We've got our Father and Mother, Sisters and Brothers, pulling together we can work it out.
aubrey


It's probably good you didn't call, I may not have been able to speak, (emotional :) ). I don't think I can "instant message" but I would like to know how everyone is doing, how this week works with that, and how Joseph is feeling (and jaker, I haven't heard from him in a while). Christ's been there before. He knows everything we feel and want to help with everything. Know that you're in my prayers and I love you!
-Hermana Aubrey Pixton

January 23

Yeah, it's rained a bit here and is raining still, but not SO much, but I still love it! Bueno, este semana we went to T for our district meeting and ended up getting completely soaked by the Argentine rain! We were visiting some less actives/recient converts in that area while waiting for the bus and we left one house and it was POURING!! Soaked in seconds, my companion and I ran to the terminal to call the elders to see if they could bring our stuff from the church to the terminal (it was a bit far), and those good elders brought them in a remis and we were able to make our bus in time! It was an adventure. We also found a grandma and her grandchildren to teach, bueno, her grand-daughter to teach. Her other grandchild has a mental handicap and their family is so full of love for her. We also are still teaching G and L and also the grandma D! D is so funny sometimes, she'll tell us she wants to take her time and that we can't go too fast but then she's reading ahead in the scriptures while we're reading them, it's funny. But G is still trying to stop drinking. We'll work as much as we possible can to help them. We went one day and brought her 4 liters of juice/soda stuff and asked her for her alcohol which her son delivered to us. We taught them until we had to go or we'd be late, so we have this almost full bottle of alcohol, two missionaries running down the dark roads trying to get home before curfew...yeah, I thought it was funny, and Hna C drew a picture of it. The other picture is what I did today:letters and knitted another pot holder! Yay! Sorry for the lack of pictures, but this week I'm going to complete 8 months in the mission so we're bound to take some sort of grand picture montage. OH! I also worked out that our area is about 1x1.5 miles. That explains how everyone knows everyone! I get it!
Temple. Yes! Planned. I have a Samsung digimax S500(?) I'm assuming we can get a larger memory card or the same one....I'm actually not saving all the photos......I figured they're all on the email so I can download them from my sent mail later....But I've been saving most of them since the last transfer in P. More birthday ideas....You know how I said I'm not wearing make-up? I took a picture today and realized I probably should be wearing make-up. Some regular black, non-waterproof mascara of any brand (maybe maybelline?) some of the face powder stuff that I think Kim has, probably the same, or close to it shade, and an eye shadow that has black in there, (like black blue light blue....I don't know :) ) Music...Hna V has some instramental that I realized are missionary appropriate, so it doesn't have to be only traditional things, anything that is inspirational and brings the Spirit! You never got dad's letter!!!!!! I wonder what happened!!!!!! Oh.....Can you tell him I wrote him a really good letter? I'll write another one too!
We actually have to move their baptism to next week because they didn't come to church this last week! That was a sad lesson that night. But we're still moving forward, slowly but surely. Joseph gave his talk well!!!! Oh good! I know he'll do great things and learn so much! Two missionaries in the family......que raro. I remember this time last year, well, it was in may but still, there's a lot of thoughts and feelings and I didn't really know what to expect but I knew I was doing the right things so I knew I didn't have to worry. I'm glad Joseph got to do sealings! I did those in the MTC and it was so great to be a part of. This gospel is so great! We have the promise of an eternal family and that God loves us and wants the best for our lives! I love it mom! I'm not sure what else to write about so I'll take better notes this next week! I love you and I hope that Joseph is doing great with this next step in life!
Love you!
Hermana Aubrey Pixton

January 16, 2012

D! Again! Still? No se. Yes! And there's a street here named Dip. No joke. It made me think of my brothers :) D is very small town-ish, lots of people are family, como, whole neighborhoods, and there's cobbled streets! I kind of want to run down them in a ballgown with only one shoe on! We went to the post office and the bank today and the buildings are relatively old! It's really cool actually. We found two of the investigators the elders left us and they came to church yesterday! There's some family tension, not about the church but still tension. We're working with them for a baptism on the 27th! They both liked church a lot and they tell us this is what they believe and that makes me happy for them, not only do they like it and want to believe it, they want to be a part of it! It's so great! There aren't a ton of people on the streets, they're all on vacation apparently but it's good anyway. We've been finding people and teaching lessons and we're going to rotate between all of us teaching the gospel doctines class because there's not a teacher, we and the investigators make up this class. It's a small ward but they're all very nice and some even very funny. It's a very different feel here. Hna V is great! She's a really good teacher and I hope to learn how to teach like she does and how to talk to people the same. We did figure out that since Hna. S was her "daughter" and I'm Hna S's "step-mother" and I'm going to be the companion of Hna V when she finishes the mission, I (the step-mother) am going to kill the mother of Hna S just after the birth of her grandchild. It's all very dramatic. Talking about killing, one of our investigators killed us, yeah, already! She's having family tension too. Jo! He's going in super soon! I hope that letter gets there soon. KAYLEE JANE!!!!!!!! I was expecting in a few more weeks! How crazy is that! She's so beautiful! Ja ja, how's Jack handeling this new event?
LAME. SAUCE! Who's saying junk about my brother!!!!!!?????? No one deserves to be talked badly about. I know I'm not perfect at that either but there are some things......grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. That just makes me upset! Tell him that he knows who he is and that no one can make him feel bad. He is a son of God, a brilliant young man who is such a strength to me! LOVE YOU BUD!!!!!!
I'm glad Joseph knows how to change a diaper, that's one of those things you've gotta learn before college. You're a great teacher mom! Don't doubt that! And your calling is because you can touch these girls in a way no one else can and there's something in this deal for you too! Love you mom! And it may be that I was in and out of the house for a few years before, that really could be it. Birthday.......I thought tights, garment bottoms, shoe glue (I'm not sure how is best to send shoes, suposedly one at a time, but that seems risky, plus I'm not sure on which size I orded of the unstructured clarks and I like those the best.), clothes.....I'm not really wearing make-up any more.....maybe another memory card, but you'll need to hide it in a pack of sweetish fish or crackerjacks or something. Uhhhhhhhh.......cds of music? Missionary approved of course ;) and maybe more reeces :D. That's all I've got for now but I'm gonna try to get more letters mailed off this week! Love you mom and I hope you have a great week!
-Hermana Aubrey Pixton

Jan 9 Picture

January 9, 2012

GAH! I left P! Yeah, I'm in D now with Hna V de Cordoba Argentina. Hna S is also in this area but she'll be training so she doesn't have her companion yet, we'll be a trio for a bit. So that feeling that you had that I'd be moving, yup, moved! I got here this morning! I don't really like transfers, mostly because of the traveling and being super tired, but there is work to be done and I can sleep later. I'm not sure how much time I'll have so I'll try to be fast and thorough. Bueno. This last week in puerto was really sad, I got sick and was told to go lay down/stay in bed until I felt better, this happened to be for two and a half days! It was horrible! I got out of the house to get a blessing from our elders and to go to lunch on saturday, at which I made poor Hna G very worried about me because I was coughing so much, but I'm doing a lot better now so I'm not worried. We got the news of the transfers on friday night and Hna S was in shock because she'd be training. I was......out of it. There will also only be two hermanas in P and there is four in D. The house is huge! each companionship has there own room and we have a larger kitchen and study room and bathroom and a backyard! Que loco! Those are some of the pictures I sent. OH! I got the letters from the young women a bit ago, can you tell them thank you so much! I left all my letter things in p so I'll see what I can do until I get them back. But besides being sick, the last week we visited a lot of new members and less actives. It was really good and I think that's what we'll be doing this next little bit, is strengthening the ward and helping out there as well as finding others. D is SUPER small compared to P, I don't remember where our house is but I'm sure it wouldn't take me long to find. We're surrounded by fields and the mar is out of sight by about an hour in car. I'm glad you were able to talk with M a bit! He leaves the day after Joseph for the CCM, (that's what the MTC is here), yup, he and his brother are going to Chile and it's weird to me that they'll be gone the same amount of time and Joseph. It's weird to be in a new area, I don't know the people, I don't know the streets or how to go about having a district meeting in Tres Arroyes....lots that I don't know, but I'm not too worried, I have a lot of help on my side. I hope to grow a lot in this area. OH! yeah, this is Hna V last transfer, "I kill her", as it goes in the mission. So we'll be working as hard as we possibly can. Ok, I'm not sure where to leave this off because I feel like part of my brain is still in p when the rest of me in in D. But I'n so glad that things are going well! Thank you for the updates! I love hearing about the week and what was done and all that Jazz. OH! The pictures of the members I sent, the couple is the familia M, P and R, amd I think I sent a picture of the Familia G. The kid J is who wanted to add you on Facebook a bit ago. OH! I saw all the other Hnas in my district in the MTC today! Yeah! Hna V is still training, Hna J and Hna B are companions now and I'm still living with Hna S! I hope that we can all circle around each other! Oh and the old man I have a picture with is I who I want to know in the next life because he's so awesome! This letter is a little spastic, but I guess every letter on transfers gets a little weird. Woot! I still have some time! OK! I love you so much and I'l try to get a letter off before Joseph enters into the MTC. Thank you so much for being such a great mom and for all your support! LOVE!
-Hermana Aubrey Pixton

January 2, 2012

Yes, slow but at the same time so very fast. It's the end of this transfer this week and that in itself is super weird. Hna O completed 10 months today and Hna S and I only have 10 months ish in the mission so that was also weird to realize. We didn't get to teach ANY lessons at all this week except to our recent converts and a few less active people. It was rather depressing to realize that and then realize I'd need to tell the elders our numbers for the week, or our lack thereof. But Elder T was really good about helping feel ok. He said the numbers were like this last year too and to not worry about it too much. It was good to know that our leader has confidence in us. We still felt bad because he has to tell the zone leaders. But....que va hacer. But! I was happy that I bought my first matte this week! Yes, it says MP on it. I'm not sure if I'll get transferred this next week but I don't want to be surprised and have no recuerdo from the area I've spent my first third of my mission. But I feel very calm about this transfer. I'm not sure if that means nothing will happen or that it'll all be ok anyway, but I feel ok. We did get some pretty rock'n references this week from members so I'm excited to teach them. A lot of people want to wait to listen to us for another week because of the festivities, but we'll find someone! The first hour struck of new years and the fireworks started all over the city! People were setting them off in their backyards, in the streets and off someone else in the distance. Apparently the streets were packed a few blocks over but we wouldn't have known it. We were happy to sit on our beds and watch the fireworks (we couldn't have slept if we had tried). We did finally get to sleep a bit later out of exhaustion. ;) Today we went to a cool park thing and I really need to wear sunscreen. I also tried waxing today....I don't think I'll ever do it again if I can help it. One, I'm not good at it. Two, it hurts! But I had to take a picture cause I looked funny.
Oh Kim Kim! I do love cake pictures, sometimes it looks like the cake is on fire, sometimes it looks like the person is on fire. I prefer the cake being on fire ones :D Slow weeks are good sometimes, but it is nice to get back into a routine and have some work to do. I was thinking about mother's day and how, if we can time it right, we could skype with Florida, Colorado and Highland. That could be fun. I always admire you when you tell me you've taught the young women. Especially tough subjects. It's gotta be revelation for you to be in that calling; you always taught us so well :) Thank you for the friend updates :) As far as I know that's not breaking any rules. Aparently it haled in parts of this mission and it's threatening to rain so I'm pretty excited! Hope this beginning of the year is good to you (and you all). OH! Also, I read a talk that was given at BYU called "His Grace is Sufficiant" by Brad Wilcox and it was SO GOOD!!! People should look it up, it's wonderful. I love you and I hope you get more from the pictures than from my emails :S LOVE YOU!
-Hermana Aubrey Pixton

Dec 26

A AND N WERE BAPTIZED!!!!! I'm not sure how big this is to anyone else but it's super big to me! I went over to their house a couple times with Hna. Clark and he was very unexcited and a bit sad with how much hope he didn't have. We went over and found A who has 11 years and REALLY wanted to be baptized, (he knew he had to have 4 discussions and come to church 3 times, it was so cute!) And so we started planning for his baptism around the end of November, we found out that he couldn't be baptized if he didn't have someone who would bring him to church every week, so that meant either we needed to baptize his dad or reactivate his sisters. We went for the dad idea, hoping to reactivate the sisters in the process. I feel like that sounds really dry but I was actually really wanting to teach N (the father). We taught them the first two lessons in one go because A could practically teach them to us, and N was very familiar with them as well. We taught them most of the next two in the next lesson and chastity and tithing in the next one. By the end N asked us, "What do I need to do so that I can be baptized with my son?" We were so happy and so grateful for that miracle from the Lord. What a change! It still blows my mind! N got to see his son baptized and A stood in the door of the font soaking wet so that he could see his father get baptized. As N came out of the font, the doors were closing but Hna Sleight and I got to see him and his son hug each other, wet from the font and full of the Spirit. The two daughters were in tears and were hugging us and saying that it was a miracle. It was such a sweet scene. Their whole family was there at the baptism too and some of their friends! I was so happy for them! Sunday they received the Holy Ghost and N cried a little! He's a man who doesn't show a ton of emotion and so when you see it come out it's rather exciting! This week was basically all about them and Christmas preparations. We were making brownies and cards and notes and pictures and bookmarks and all sorts of things to give to ward member, recent converts and investigators. It went really fast! But a lot happened as far as eternity goes too. Oh yes, the buttermints that you sent me, I finally broke them out and they were gone within two days! and the butterscotch candies and sweet stripes, yup gone. Rapidly. Thank you so much mom! Oh, also, I told the Bishop that you guys wanted to pay for the phone call but he said not to worry about it, at all, that it was their pleasure to help us with this Christmas communication. It wasn't exactly those words but it was close :) We also got some crazy lightning this last week! It lit up the sky better then the fireworks for Christmas! We also made our ward missionaries be santa's helpers because we couldn't leave our companion's side so we needed some.....help:D
It was so great to talk and see everyone! I loved seeing you all living, that sounds so weird, it's like how watching a movie is different than looking at a poster. That was very happy for me:) I hope it was happy for you all too! I can't imagine where I'll be at mother's day! We also ended up with lots of food at our house, and fruit cake, yes I got actual homemade fruit cake this year from two of the ward missionaries. And I'm so glad the Elf is a happy thing and whose name rhymes with dip :D I can get some pretty good shampoo here, but apparently floss is needed from the states. Yes, toothpaste and deoderant would be great, Hna S is trying the different types, but I don't really want to go through that process. Generally I pull my hair up, that's one of the first times it's been down for a long time. There's lots of wind here and it's a little hot, it's just easier to pull it up. Thank you for the comment on my hair though! Sometimes I feel like it's so ugly, so thank you for the complement :) It's weird to feel pretty as a missionary :P I do want to buy myself a matte and maybe those leather scripture covers from down here, so I'll probably do that. I need to pray about when I should come home, and ask Pres and all that. But yeah, I'll let you know when I know. I should get my first set of "trunky papers" 6 months from when I go home. Yes, voy a orar. Good! I'm so happy Joseph had a good time at the temple! He'll be able to go to it every week in the MTC and that was definately a highlight for me when I was there. Weird....I might be home for the play in November.......Joseph's such a cool kid! So is Jacob, my brothers are awesome! Kim and Laura are pretty spectacular too :) So they're moving!? Que raro. Birthday.....I'll start thinking about that one :) I think as far as transfers go, my birthday will be the halfway transfer mark. Weird huh?
I love you mom and I hope this week is good and tranquilo para ustedes!
I love you all!
Hermana Aubrey Pixton

Dec 19 picture

Dec 19

Yes! 2 baptisms potentially this friday! We've found the father and the brother of two menos activo girls in the ward and the little boy (A, 11 años) wants to be baptized SO bad! We've been working with his father to get him baptized too, and take this first step to eternal families, and he said yes! He's stopping smoking because he feels he has a greater motive to do that now and he's sceduled to be interviewed tomorrow! It's my dream to see them both in white, then in white again in the temple. The third was going to be S......she told us she doesn't think she can live the life of a latter-day saint. She knows the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that Thomas S Monson is a prophet today and that baptism is essential, so we're going to try to bring her to talk to the elders tomorrow and see if that helps. So 2! I'm very happy about that! Thursday is Super P day which is when all the missionaries in our area (mas o menos M P) do stuff together, have a nightly talent show (I may or may not be singing with Hna O) and a devotional by the President. I have mixed feelings, I really want to hear the devotional, but I want to find new people to teach, and with the interviews and p-day and baptisms which are all great, I don't think we'll have a lot of time to do anything else. Ah well, we'll do all we can! So yea, you have church at nine for one hour that would be.....about 1 here, ok.......I'm going to call on saturday around 8 my time to confirm everything but probably at either noon or 5ish. We're only supposed to Skype with our immediate family so that should be fine.
All in all I'm doing good. It's a lot of work but I feel like I could be doing more, so I'll probably work on that this week. How lucky are you all to have a constant stream of train books! He's singing and taking!!!!???? Ah, little Jack Clark. Is the ward doing better? How's it having dad be at home so much! I bet awesome! Thank you so much mom for those special expiriences, I love those feelings from the Spirit that God loves us and that we are His children. Hna O has the soundtrack from Savor of the World and those words from the Prophets are so great, I love how they can bring such light and happiness. How wonderful :)
How's the 8 month prego sister? They get back soon right? When you see Grandpa, give him a kiss for me, or maybe just sing a little louder so that it's like I'm singing to him with you all. I feel like it's gonna be weird for the next couple of years, it's a time of much growth but that's a good thing. I love you so much and I hope you can find a time this week to relax and enjoy the feeling of Christmas. Did you hear the Christmas devotional? We read it a few days ago. It was beautiful as always. I love you mommy and I'll talk to you soon!
-Hermana Aubrey Pixton