hey everyone!!!

this week was slow still but better than last week because it wasnt a holiday. (and it helped that i wasnt sitting around for 2 afternoons while my companion was sick :) that was only one day and that was bec i was sick but im better now!!)

But so today we went to this town called irigoyen.  We have a less active family weve been working with bec the kids are all non members and we are trying to get them baptized.  But the one daughter is married and a member but it is her birthday this week and the same day is my comps birthday. So we went to celebrate it was a pretty fun day but i now am all peopled out. really peopled out haha. Thats just me.

But while we were there we made empañadas which are probably my favorite argentine food. they are really good but so they are a little tortilla/bread type thing that you flatten and put in meat, potates cheese etc. theyre itty bitty and then you fold it over kinda like a calzone and fry it. i think some people bake them too i like those better but when you fold it over everyone folds it in a way that it looks like a little braid and i cant do it for the Life of me. Looking at them all before theyre cooked you can tell exactly which ones i made. the ugly ones but they tasted just as good! and then we had mango. Everyone has mango trees here. and ive eaten a lot of mangos. they are so good! but the first day i ate one i was there and they handed me a knife and a whole mango and i was like uhhhhh how do you eat this? finally Hermana Callejas took it and cut it open for me.  Every one just cuts a slice eats it. Manners here are so different. I feel bad at meals with families bec i am trying to hard to adjust to the culture and food and i concentrate on how to eat things so im afraid sometimes it looks like im not enjoying the food. Which is sad because it is always really good.

Anyway... So this week we had a lot to do so we had divisions where i went with one sister in the ward and Hermana Callejas went with another one and no one was home or wanted to talk to us. The one investigator that was home told us she didnt want to talk to us anymore. I was kinda really sad. But so finally we started to knock on doors and I found like 3 new investigators! by myself! im pretty excited about that. My spanish is getting better everyday. I actually understand whats going on in conversations now. but now sometimes i get so caught up in the excitement that i know whats going on, i forget to say something.... oops

So i learned something really cool I was reading in 3 Nephi (Love 3 nephi) but chapter 14 talks about how not everyone who says "look at all the good things ive done" will make it into heaven and it actually says that christ will say "i never knew you" and i thought that was a little harsh. they did good things in his name... but so i started to read the cross references. and the parable of the 10 virgins kept coming to mind. and in seminary (i think) we watched a video of it. and the 5 wicked virgins after trying to find oil went to the house of the bridegroom and he opens the door and they tell him that they are his friends and he says to hold up their lamps so he can see their faces to make sure and they couldnt so he sent them away.  So i think thats kinda what that scripture is saying (im not sure so dont hold me to that doctrinally) but just because weve done a couple good things doesnt mean weve done all that we can.  The 5 virgins had some oil in their lamps and they were waiting anxiously for their savior. but it wasnt enough. they didnt do everything they could to remove the darkness from thier faces so their savior would know without a doubt who they are. 

I think sometimes i catch myself doing this in my life. i justify the things that i dont do with the things i did do. And ive realized here that diligence is key for anything. If i want the results I have to do the work. All the work.  NOt just part of it. Not justify not having any lessons because we were doing service (service is good but it should be helping us further the work and plan better) not procrastinate. which has been one thing ive always done. yeah i learned Diligence this week.

And thank you everyone for your letters today. And ive had a couple people ask about care packages. And i am not opposed to care packages. but... Argentina has a tax on packages that come from other countries. and it is half of the dollar amount claimed on the items sent (i think) and then you multiply that time 4 for pesos. so a $50 package is a $25 tax and so its 100 pesos. and the mission has a rule that the missionaries pay the tax. and i have a budget and cant afford a whole lot of packages. soooo if youre going to im grateful. but keep it as inexpensive as possible or combine things with other people. yeah.... so thats my deal with packages.

but i am grateful for letters!!! i love letters and emails and they dont have a tax. i just need stamps to respond.

but thats about it for today!!! love yall

les quiero
hermana applegate