December 10, 2012 Happy dia de la Virgen! It was the 8th, and really made working difficult because the buses barely ran and we had to wait a couple of hours just to get to and from our area.... My idea of a holiday :) Lets see.... Well some of the pictures. I love jello! It is cost effective, very healthy (the sugar and fat free one of course) and its so tasty! Definitely a summer food though. Although this one was mostly liquid because I put too much water in it.... Elder Gutierrez was peeking out the window of our apartment... Probably looking at one of the 2 huge crashes (no big injuries outside of post-accident, police-showing-up-influenced neck pain) that happened in front this week. Side note, this morning, we all heard about 5 seconds of screeching brakes, and we all got up and started to run to the window, and when we didn´t hear a bang, we kind of groaned with disappointment and walked back to our seats.... I later realized we probably should have been grateful that no one was hurt, and not disappointed. This is the Christmas tree we have. A recent convert we are trying to activate gave it to us. We have tons of really great ornaments. ¿O no? Anyways, this week was pretty good. Something we have been learning from president in different meetings is how we can help people become converted to the Gospel. Elder Resék came to counsel us instead of Elder Arnold, so that was great. He is a good teacher because he has worked for CES down here forever. He is the coordinator for a pretty big chunk of Argentina. Besides that, I have been studying a lot this week about the Spirit. It is so amazing! We always talk about how much the Father loves us, and His Son, but maybe sometimes we discount the amazing and godly love that even the Spirit has for us. He is after all a personage of Spirit, who must be like the Father. and therefore wants us to be successful also. I always used to think of the Spirit as that one Greek god from mythology, I think his name is Hermes, who is just a messenger. I thought he just transmitted what needed to be said, and then he leaves and goes elsewhere. But I have learned by many experience here in the mission to recognize Him, and have learned in the scriptures exactly who He is. Every member in the Godhead loves us more than we know. They equally want our success and that is the driving force behind all that They do. Helping people to understand how to recognize the Spirit by telling them what to expect is kind of like trying to describe what salt tastes like....Salty....... what else can you say? So we have been working on making a spiritual atmosphere in lessons, and then when we feel it, we pause the lesson, and ask the investigator, "what do you feel right now?" We then tell them that it is the Spirit. After enough of that, they soon learn to recognize the Spirit and have their testimonies built and fortified. I have seen a lot more success in helping people recognize the Spirit, than in telling them what they should expect, in feelings or words or dreams or whatever. Anyway, I am doing rill rill good. My comp hit 22 months and so we are trying to hang in there :) Thanks for your prayers! ummm.... well, see ya on Christmas! Love ya Elder Daybell