Week Nine!

"As surely as the sun rises in the morning, faith produces hope-the expectation of good things to come-and brings us the power of the Lord to sustain us" -Marcus B. Nash

This week I: gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting (I wrote it all by myself too). Gave the prayer and my testimony in Spanish at a multi-zone conference (there were about 100 missionaries there). Was offered a cigarette. Explained what "then again, maybe not" means to someone who only knows English phrases from his video games. Ran up to the stand during church to get a 3 year old who was about to play the piano and explained to him why we could not do that during church (some things are the same all over the world). Ate chicken milganesas (I do not know how to spell that) at all but 1 meal served to us. It has been a busy week. 

My daily schedule is roughly this: 6:30- wake up and literally jump out of bed and exercise

7:00 shower, eat, prepare for the day, pray

7:50 personal study

8:50 set daily goals, finalize plans

9:30 pray and leave to teach

12:30 eat lunch

1:30 language study

2:20 companion study

3:20 daily planning

3:50 training on how to teach

5:00 leave to teach

9:30 return home, eat dinner if desired, write in journal, get ready for bed

10:30 pray and sleep

Next day: rinse, repeat.

It is nice and cold here. And by nice and cold I mean quite literally freezing 0 degrees celcius. Luckily I was prepared for this with my two jackets and fleece lined leggings. Sadly, I apparently forgot all of my gloves and scarves. The mission did give us a pair of gloves, a scarf, and wool socks, so I am taken care of haha. 

One fun fact about Uruguay is that everyone drives a moto. Not an exagerration. Most people cannot afford cars, so every single person has a moto. You see babies and dogs riding on them all the time. 

The work here is moving along. We have been trying to include the members in our ward in working with the less active members. Some are very willing, others not so much. It has been great to witness how much Christ can change lives, and I have only been here for a short time. 

There have been no prime picture taking opportunities so I included an awkward selfie just so you can all see that I am still alive

Love, 

Hermana Kaylee Marsh

Week Eight!

Okay, now for this week. We live in a cute little apartment on the third floor. We have all the basics: sink, oven, stove, microwave, and mini-fridge. There are actually 3 rooms and only 2 people, so each of us have our own walk in closet. Our ward is amazing with the best 4 and a half foot Bishop. We actually have over 1000 members on record for our ward, but only an average Sacrament Meeting attendance of 60. Needless to say, we do a lot of work with less active members. The people here are some of the most generous and kind people I have ever met. Almost everyone knows who the missionaries are, and we got told "hola Elderes" a lot haha, but even funnier is when we get told "Hola Elderas." 

The members feed us lunch here almost every day. The food is so good. Typically we have some sort of meat with pasta, no sauce. I have also drunk more soda in my two weeks here than I did in the previous 5 years before coming here. We cannot drink the water, so everyone gives us soda. The other day we were eating with a member and I looked down and there was a chicken at my feet. Never in my life have I been so happy to be eating beef. 

"Happiness doesnt come as a result of luck or accident. It most certainly doesnt come from having all of our wishes come true. Happiness doesnt come from external circumstances. It comes from the inside-regardless of what is happening around us." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Attached is my address for all that have asked for it. I love letters!

Love,

Hermana Marsh

Weeks six and seven!

Hola everyone! I am a real missionary now teaching real people the real Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is real-ly amazing. The last days in the CCM were long full of a lot of field training which was less than ideal but now I am out and so happy! 

On our way to Uruguay we boarded the plane, sat on the ground for two hours, flew to Uruguay, circled the airport for 2 hours, then returned and landed in a different airport in Buenos Aires. I really have no idea why because they were speaking rather quickly in Spanish. So we got pushed through customs and I was going to go with all of the missionaries travelling with me to talk to the airline to find out if they had another flight for us when the worst thing ever happened. Every other North American travelling with me was stopped at customs and taken to a back room by the police. I still had 4 other missionaries with me but they all only spoke Spanish. I was freaking out a little because I had no idea why I made it through with no problems and the rest of the Americans did not. When we got out of the airport, the first person I saw was someone who worked for the CCM. It was nothing less than a miracle. He was able to get all of the Americans out of the room and got us new tickets from the airline. For a good 30 minutes there I was on the verge of tears because I had no idea what was going on but all ended well and we got on a new flight 2 hours later. It was a long day and I got 4 stamps on my passport in one day, 3 from Argentina, so that was cool. 

Now to Uruguay: it is the best country in the world!!! I love it here so much. I am in Mercedes, which is beautiful.It is a pretty classic South American town and everyone is soo nice. Much nicer than the people in Buenos Aires. My companion is Hermana Cabrera and she is from Mexico City and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Her personality is much bigger than mine, but we have worked so well together so far. She knows a little English and obviously is fluent in Spanish, which is exactly what I wanted in my first companion. We mostly teach less-active members of the church, but also have quite a few investigators who I already love so much.

One of the investigators I am teaching is named Joaquin and he is 7, turning 8 next week. He is the cutest 7 year old I have ever met. We left his house at 9 a few days ago and he was sooo worried about us walking home alone it was adorable. Anyways I asked him to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized and HE SAID YES. Okay I wish I could describe it but I cannot. I almost cried I was so happy. And after we left my companion and I just hugged and screamed we were so joyous. It was the happiest moment of my life. He is from a part member/ less active family. Yesterday he and his mom (who up until yesterday was inactive) came to church and I almost cried I was so happy. I just know how much having the gospel is going to bless their lives. 

Things here in Uruguay are great. One classic moment is that we met a man with a met monkey. It feeds and dresses itself and is toilet trained. It also tickled my feet. I will try to attach a picture but I do not know how good the internet is. It was so cute. 

Yesterday in church I was asked to direct the music...in the middle of church. With no notice. So I went up there to lead the music and it turns out the pianist nor the congregation really knew the hymn. The pianist stopped playing and every single person stopped singing. I had never sung the song before in Spanish, nor am I know for my amazing singing voice, but I stood up there and belted the song and directed trying to get everyone else to start again but it did not work. So I stopped too and the pianist tried again. The same thing happened. And then again. It was so awkward. The Bishop then stood up and changed the song. I was just laughing so hard. How many times in my life am I going to be standing in front of a group of people I do not know, leading a song I do not know in a language that I do not know, and have the pianist and congregation all go silent? It was great and definitely one for the books. After, my companion and I could not stop laughing. 

On Saturday we celebrated the 4th of July by making hamburgers with all of the Elders in my district. My companion is the only non-American. It was great and nice to have an hour to speak English haha. 

I love being a missionary. Everyone says the first week is the hardest and if that is true, these next 16 months are going to be the best months of my life by far. Everything here is so great and at night it takes me a few minutes just to stop smiling before I can go to sleep. The people and food and culture and just everything is better than I ever expected and better than I can explain. I hope all is well with all of you and you are all looking for miracles every day because they are there. 

Love,

Hermana Kaylee Marsh

Week Five!

This week's email may be a bit shorter because I am running out of things to talk about. We do the same thing in the CCM every single day. The good news is that I will be leaving for Uruguay this Tuesday! Most likely I will leave around 2am, so right around when all my American friends and family are going to bed. Be grateful that you get to sleep that night, because I won't haha. I may get to email on Tuesday when I get there, but it may not be until the following Monday. So if you don't hear from me know that I am still alive. 

First of all, thanks for your prayers. For about 2 and a half weeks I hadn't had over 5 hours of sleep a single night, and this last week I was about to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep almost every night. Prayers are answered and your faith is amazing, all of you. It really was nothing short of a miracle for me. 

My favorite part about being a missionary is telling people that they can be with their families forever. We taught a man on Saturday who was pushing his son in a stroller so I asked about him and his family. His son was turning two the next day so I told him that I have a niece that's turning two next month. He asked if I missed her so I told him of course, more than anything, but right now I'm here in Argentina to help others have the opportunity to be with their families forever through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because I already have that opportunity. He seemed so interested after that and he gave us his address. Other missionaries will be teaching him from now on but it was so amazing to see how happy he was when he heard he could be with his son forever. It is just the best. 

There was also a crazy dog fight while we were out on Saturday. A woman threw her bike on them to stop it. Yep, her bike. 

I have managed to stay healthy so far, but everyone has been getting sick so it may hit me right before I leave here. I did have an ingrown toenail this week which I got cut out yesterday. It is healing well and the doctor said it shouldn't be a problem if I keep taking care of it. That is all on my health haha. 

I can now out-eat everyone here. One Elder in my district said "You are a fat girl in a skinny girl's body" So for anyone worried about me, stop haha. I'm sure I'll be fine. I may end up gaining a lot of weight while I'm gone though because already my portion sizes have increased exponentially. 

Update on my Spanish: I can now understand pretty much everything. I even translated the devotional into English a few weeks ago for those who couldn't understand. Oh, unless they're Peruvian. Then I cannot understand a word they say because they talk way too fast. No joke. I can also express myself much better in Spanish now. Overall I feel so blessed because I know I could not do this on my own. 

One day this week the lights and water were out for 3 hours. That was a fun adventure.

Well, that's all for this week. I love being a missionary and I love Argentina and I can't wait to get to Uruguay next Tuesday because I know I am going to love it there even more. Love you all! Thanks again for your prayers and encouraging words.

Love,

Hermana Kaylee Marsh

Week Four!

Hello everyone! It is a crisp Thursday morning here in Argentina. It is currently 6 35 am here so please forgive any grammar or other errors in this email. Also, speaking of me being tired, I have been having a ton of troubles sleeping this week, due somewhat to roommates not going to sleep on time but also my body has just not been falling asleep. I have new roommates now and would really appreciate prayers! Days are much harder when you only get four hours of sleep at night.

First of all Happy Father's Day dad! I am at lease 90 percent sure it is this week. We asked our teacher to be sure but we are so cut off from the real world that it could have already passed and if it did I am terribly sorry. I'm sorry that I can't call but just know I'll be thinking of you!

This week's proselyting went so much better. We were in a much, much poorer neighborhood, which made the people a lot more receptive. In the first hour we were there, we met a super nice man and were talking to him and I apologized about my Spanish and told him I had only been in Argentina for 3 weeks so he was just like "oh well I speak English too; I grew up in Canada." So we taught an awesome lesson in English and he seemed really interested. We also taught 3 drunk men who were more interested in telling us how pretty we were and how brave it was to come to Argentina alone. We left that area pretty fast haha but don't worry there were always other people around. We also saw some little boys and talked to them for a bit, and then saw them later and they flipped us off...they were only 7. Anyways we gave them a pass along card of the temple and one of their faces just lit up. Long story short this week went much better.

All of the Latinos moved out this week, so the CCM has had less than 30 people. Which is amazing. This week my roommate projectile vomited all over the floor. There was also some sketchy business with one of them leaving in the middle of the night alone. So we are glad to have new ones. 

My favorite part about Argentina is the Dulce de Leche. On bananas, chocolate cake with Dulce layers, filled donuts, coated on every breakfast pastry, pudding, brownie frosting, everywhere. It is so amazing and I plan on making billions by changing the American lifestyle to include it in their diet after the mission. It will be everywhere. 

The food this week has been especially good because there have been so few people here. It is a lot easier to cook for 30 than 90. So I had 4 brownies yesterday, boneless meat which was a miracle itself, and mashed potatoes. I have been a happy camper food wise. 

Funny quotes of the week:

"Learning Spanish is like Jack the Ripper. You learn part by part."

Not sure if I included this one last week or not so I am sorry if it's a repeat:

"Su padre murió"(your father died)..."wait his name is Murio?"

Every night we have a bedtime story in our district. It is a fun tradition. Yesterday our funny night teacher gave it and he told a story about Spongebob Squarepants. The best line of it was "Spongebob was called to serve in Bikini Bottom South Mission."

One thing I have been thinking about this week is how people say they give up 18 months of their lives to the Lord to serve a mission. I'm not giving up anything. Honestly I can already feel myself growing and learning and be blessed at least one hundred times more than I am sacrificing. Right now, I know that I am where God wants me to be, and because of that, this is not be "giving up" anything. This is me gaining everything. Some people have been struggling this week but I am so blessed to know that this is exactly what I am supposed to be doing. I have received that confirmation from Heavenly Father so many times. I just feel so blessed every single day. 

Pictures attached the one with the four flags in front of the temple is the view from my bedroom window. It doesn't get much better than that.

Week Three!

Hey everyone!

     I hope everything has been good back in the States. This week instead of trying to send this email and reply to everyone's individual emails as well, I read all the emails before hand and noted all the questions and am going to try to answer them all in this email. Everyone asks similar questions and this way everyone will hear from me more. Lucky ducks. Also while here at the CCM I can print emails, so I print what you all say to me each week and read them over and over. So thank you so much for telling me about your lives and the words of encouragement; they mean so much to me.

     This week I got new roommates. Let's just say I am not as close to them as I was the old ones. No major problems, they just are not interested in trying to talk to my companion and I, and did not realize that I could understand everything they say in Spanish, so I heard them talking about us a few times. We are trying really hard to be friends with them but they break the rules and it's just been a struggle. They are leaving this Tuesdaythough because they only stay 2 weeks because they already know Spanish. So we will start fresh next Thursday.

     This week was the funeral for Elder L. Tom Perry and we got to watch it broadcast live from Salt Lake city. I love Elder Perry so much. His last few talks in General Conference have been about eternal families and how grateful he is for the promise that he will be with his family even after this life. I am also so grateful for this promise.

     On Saturday we went proselyting in Buenos Aires, which pretty much means that they dropped me and my companion off in a random neighborhood about an hour away from the CCM with a map and said "be back in 5 hours" and we were supposed to just go out and teach about Jesus Christ. It was so hard. If anyone has any tips on that it would be much appreciated. I cannot tell you how many doors I got slammed in my face. My companion and I worked so hard the whole time but people recognized our nametags and would not even look at us as we walked by and asked how they were. One man did actually talk to us (okay a total of 3 people in 5 hours) for about 5 minutes and he kept saying he already had his religion so we said that is awesome what do you believe? to which he responded some hurtful things about us... anyway I basically just said "I am here in Argentina to teach you about Christ. This is the message that I love with my whole heart. I am only 19 years old and I realize that I still have a lot to learn about the world. There is much I do not know. However, I know that Jesus Christ and His Gospel can bless your life, because it has blessed mine. I know more than anything else that the Book of Mormon and the Bible together will guide your life and bless you." I then handed him a Book of Mormon (which he tried to refuse) and said this is a gift for you. Please read it. And thanked him for a time, wished him well, and walked away. It was powerful.

    On a less serious note, some of the rejections were rather comical. We knoced on a door that had the window open so we saw a lady watching the Simpsons. She answered and as soon as she saw us just said "no time I'm working" hahaha okay can I have your job to watch tv? Also almost everyone here has large fences around their house so you cannot get to their doors, so you have to ring a doorbell and they shout out the window to you. At first it was frustrating, but then I realized it was a blessing because I got a lot fewer doors slammed in my face. Moral of the story if anyone sees any missionaries try to talk to them, even if you're not interested in their message at all. It will make their day.

     At the CCM we teach ïnvestigators" who are actually just our teachers pretending to be people learning about the church. After three weeks we switched, and both of my first two were baptized! And we have had amazing lessons with the new ones this week. It has just been going so good. In one of my lessons we were teaching about prayer. I asked "if God was in the room right now with us, what would you ask Him?" I then explained that we all have the ability to ask Him anything we want or need, and we do it through prayer. I encourage you all to ask yourself the same question and then ask our Heavenly Father in prayer. He wants to hear from you, I promise.

    This week I finished all of my meal about 7 times, which is incredible. When I first got here I had a hard time even finishing half, but now I can finish all of it. It is a miracle. The cooks even stopped automatically giving me smaller portions! I am going to gain so much weight but it is so worth it because the food has just gotten better and better.

    The weather here is indecisive. It has been getting pretty cold because winter is starting in a few weeks, but two days this week it was blazing hot. The humidity here is something I do not have words to explain. I wake up in the morning and my pillow is wet from it, and I go to sleep at night and it never dried. My hair, which is normally naturally very straight, is curly every single day. It is crazy.

    A few funny stories: the CCM President was teaching a lesson on Sunday and he said "I'm going to play you a...a....what's it called? It used to be a film strip?" It was a video. He forgot the word for video and we all thought it was hilarous.

    This next story is a little gross so Mom you might not find it super amusing. In Latin America is is very common to throw your toilet paper into the trash can instead of the toilet. Here we throw it in the toilet but most girls do not realize that because it it different than from where they are from. Our roommates would just throw it in the trashcan, so I explained to them it is done differently here. They did not change. The next night I explained again. Same problem. Finally I gathered them all in the bathroom and pretended to use toilet paper, threw it in the toilet, and then flushed, and explained again. Problem solved. And that is how you explain to Latins to throw their toilet paper in the toilet.

    That's all for this week. It is great to hear from all of you. Thanks for your encouragement again, and I hope you all have an amazing week!

Love,

Hermana Kaylee Marsh

Week Two!

Hey everyone!
This week has been awesome! On Sunday I taught in Relief Society, which was in English thank goodness. My Spanish is coming along well but sometimes I just cannot remember the word I am trying to say so a whole lesson would be pretty hard. My lessons in Spanish always turn out fine though,  because I rely on God and the Spirit and not what I know.
   The food is still so good. I am not withering away into nothingness. There is always some sort of pastry at breakfast and twice it has been pie. So if nothing else I will gain a lot of weight while here. And every single bite is worth it.
   My roommates left for their missions this week. They all already knew Spanish so were only here for two weeks. It was so hard to say bye to them. The new ones moved in today, so we had a quite two days with only around 30 people here at the CCM. It felt sooo empty. On their last night we all gathered in the hallway and sang Hymns together. It was amazing experience and the Spirit was so strong.
  Here at the CCM many languages are Spoken. The main three are English, Spanish, and Portugese. The girls from Brazil looove everyone from America. They love teaching us words in Portugese as well so I am actually learning two languages instead of one.
    My favorite peope here at the CCM are the cooks. They now know me and whenever I come up in line they say "ohhhh muy poquito" because I ask for smaller portions. They all like me though because I'm one of the only people who talk to them as they're serving us. They are all so nice.
   So now for some funny stories: the Spanish word for sins is pecados, and my companion was trying to tell someone that our sins can be forgiven. She accidently said pescados instead...which translates into our fish can be forgiven. It was so funny and we still both laugh about it.
    Another language mishap. Our teacher asked who gives the closing prayer and someone in class said "la papa" the teacher then said "That means potato. Hello Mr. Potato, could you say the closing prayer please?" That is how Americans learn that accents are very important in Spanish'.
    Another thing is someone was asking our teacher how to say "body of water" in Spanish, as in lake or ocean. Apparently it doesn't translate well and his response was just "That is weird. Please don't ever say that."
    I am so sorry this letter is so scrambled, a lot has happened and I am trying to remember it all at once! I promise next week to gather my thoughts before I write. I think that's all for this week! It's amazing to hear from you all. I love you and thank you to everyone for supporting me in my time here!
Love,
Hermana Marsh