hermana mannewitz : Sun: 1, Hermana Mannewitz: 0

That´s right. I thought I was bigger and better than the sun and received my first good sunburn here in Argentina. And don´t worry mom...I learned my lesson and that will be the last burn!

Did you know . . .

· Here in Argentina, it’s really cool to put fish on top of pizza

· The lady at the hot dog stand knows my name

· There was an earthquake in Argentina

Bueno, those were just some fun facts of the week!

WOW WE HAD A CONFERENCE WITH ALL THE MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!! And it was absolutely amazing!!! Elder Christensen from the Presidency of the 70 and his wife came to visit our mission so we got to reunite as a mission and be uplifted, edified, and take a mission picture. Some highlights of the conference were:

· Saw Hermana Norman! I can´t believe that she is going home at the end of the month. Time really flys by in the mission! But she is doing great and working lots of miracles in the heat of Santiago. I´m super excited to see her in a quick 11 months.

· I saw other great mission friends ' Hermana Tolson, Hermana Oliviera, Elder Guarteche, Elder Vigil and other great missionaries that have made a big difference in my life.

· Elder Christensen spoke about the Holy Ghost and the power of Holy Ghost in conversion. He had about an hour to speak and only spoke on the Holy Ghost. I think that explains a little bit about the importance of the Holy Ghost in the work of the Lord. He gave great tips and tricks on what we can do, like imperfect missionaries, to be worthy of the spirit in every single second of the work. I sure have a lot more to study and a lot more to work on but I am grateful for the guidance I received.

· Hermana Christensen was a special mailman. In the conference, every missionary had the opportunity to greet Elder and Hermana Christensen, but since this was a special conference, we were limited to a handshake, nothing more. When it was my turn to give handshakes to them, Presidente Orquera walked over and said ¨This is Hermana Mannewitz¨. Hermana Christensen immediately threw her arms over me and gave me a great big hug. Then she pulled a card out of her bag and said this was a letter from Granny and Grandpa Priday. She explained how much they loved me and then gave me one more hug with a big squeeze, special request from Granny.

· Angels are protecting us! Presidente Orquera told a story and explained the miracles of missionary work. A couple days ago, there was a fire in the apartment of some elders. There are 4 elders who live in this apartment and they were all sleeping in one bedroom (the bedroom that had air conditioning of course) and a fire began in the kitchen. But bueno, the mission is hard work so the elders were fast asleep and didn´t have any clue that there was a small fire in their kitchen. A mother and son happened to be taking a nightly stroll at three in the morning and looked through the small window of the elders and saw the fire. They knocked on the elder’s door and immediately called the fireman. Fireman quickly arrived and the elders were lead to safety. The fireman said that the fire was small enough that it wasn´t going to kill them but the carbon monoxide would have killed them within the next hour. Presidente testified of angels. We are doing the work of the Lord, so He is going to protect us. Of course this was a pretty intense experience, but now all the apartments will be receiving fire alarms and carbon monoxide monitors in the apartment. And all the missionaries walked away with a stronger testimony in the power of angels. I can also testify that angels are around us to lift us up, make us work a little harder and be a little better.

And there’s a quick wrap up of the conference we had this week!

Pray for Exiquiel! We are preparing a baptism for the end of November and we are really excited! Exiquiel is the boyfriend of a member but told us that he has desires to be baptized, not because of obligation. He has been attending seminary (que capo) and the church for the past couple months and is finally ready to take upon him the baptismal covenant and receive the blessings that God is preparing. Also keep Aron in your prayers! He has so many desires but only lacks the support of his parents!

Bueno, in the conference Hermana Bragg talked about the tools that we have been given to receive eternal life. I love the example of Nefi (really spelled Nephi – her Spanish is peeking through) in the Book of Mormon. At the beginning of the Book of Mormon, we read about the trials he faced and the murmuring of his brethren. Despite the challenges, Nefi maintained his hope and confidence in the Savior. And just when Nefi thought he couldn´t handle anymore, the Lord commanded him to build a boat. A BOAT!!!! How often does God ask us to do things that seem almost impossible? But I love Nefi´s positive attitude and trust in Heavenly Father´s plan for him. He knew that God had a perfect plan of happiness for him. And bueno, sometimes we have celestial oceans to cross but God will always provide a way and all the tools we need to keep his commandments.

1 Nefi 17:50-51

“And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done.

“And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of me, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?”

I testify that with God´s help, we can keep the commandments, we can be happy and we can do hard things.

Thanks for all the prayers, support and love!!!! Have a super great week!

HOY ES EL DIA!

♥ Hermana Mannewitz