BURZACO!!

Almost exactly a year ago, I arrived in Argentina and came to my first area: Burzaco. Today, I write to you from the same. How deliciously nostalgic! I have been asked to train a new missionary, and so while I await her arrival, I am working with the Sister Missionaries in Burzaco. Once my new companion arrives, it´s back to Monte Grand! The city and I will miss Hermana Hill like crrrrazy, but I know she´ll keep working miracles in LA PLATA! (Another of my beloved Stakes here in La Argentina.) As for me, I´m cramming anew, reading the mission manual along with the other books and manuals that describe the mission and its rules, and I´m going to do my best to read through all of Preach My Gospel anew, so that I can help this new Sister Missionary get off to the best start possible.

Excerpt from letter to President Stapley (our amazing, loving, and faithful Mission President):
We have an investigator in Monte Grande who was very excited for his baptism and had studied everything and was quiting smoking and everything great, so it seemed. We stopped by his work one rainy evening last week and he told us he didn´t want to learn anything else for a while and that it was clear it wasn´t the right thing for right now. We were shocked. After much internal prayer and calming words, Hermana Hill and I were able to convince him to meet us again in his home. When we went to that cita, it appeared he was still a bit ¨desanimado¨, but we started off reading Helaman 5, with an Hermana from the ward who accompanied us. The investigator mentioned that he´d need at least a couple of months before being baptized. A bit after reading, I felt my companion needed to speak, and I needed to keep quiet to let her. Keeping quiet is hard for me. But when Hermana Hill opened her mouth, I realized why I had felt to do it. She taught simply the doctrine of Christ, that the hermano needed to have faith, repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost. The Spirit entered the conversation. The investigator started speaking and again began making excuses and straying to other conversational topics. I looked at him at one moment, opened my mouth, and the Spirit filled it. I testified to him of what my companion had said, explaining that he already had faith, and he already had repented, and that he could not resolve his problems - personal, familial, etc - without living the Gospel as he had learned it. I felt and knew that the Spirit had revealed to me his thoughts, in a way. It was amazing. He looked at us and said, ¨No se preocupe, hermana. Entendí. Me bautizo en dos semanas¨ (Don´t worry, Sister. I just understood. I´ll get baptized in two weeks¨). Rarely have I felt the Spirit so strongly in teaching. I learned that it has to do with being humble and allowing the Spirit speak. I hadn´t any idea how to resolve this problem, neither did Hermana Hill. There in our most desperate need to know how to help this beloved brother, Heavenly Father could use us best. I need to be a better instrument in the Lord´s hands. Working on it!

And HEY! Happy birthday DAD!!!! We had preparation day today (Wednesday) instead of Monday, so I didn´t get to tell you beforehand. But hey, you get the whole year! So FELIZ CUMPLE!!! And guess who else cumplirs soon....Brandon too! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! October sure is a good month. :) You know who ELSE? Marissa Gardner! FELIZ CUMPLE AMIGA! If I´m forgetting someone right now, my apologies. And to you too, happy birthday!

Thank you, family and friends, for all your goodness and enthusiasm for life. Thank you for your prayers, thank you for your letters. Thank you for working hard and living every day with faith. That in and of itself is HUGE. Así que, les felicito, y más, les agradezco. MUCHAS GRACIAS!! (So, I congratulate them, and more, I thank them. MANY THANKS!!)

UN ABRAZO GIGANTE Y MIL SONRISAS, (A GIGANTIC HUG AND THOUSAND SMILES)
Hermana Lindquist

Hello young lovers wherever you are.....

....lovers of missionary work, that is.

I love missionary work so much. Hermana Hill and I have been fighting this week, like loco. So many people are kept from salvation, because they´re simply afraid of ultimately minor, temporal things. Satan is so astute. Sometimes I just want to shout repentance (like Alma wanted! In chapter.....I´ll get back to you on that). People cannot be truly happy under the weight of sin. That´s what makes the Gospel such a tool for peace. Through faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, people are cleansed from sin and at PEACE. Peace and joy and love. That´s what everyone wants. It´s amazing.

Thank you all for your love, support and prayers. They are felt and very appreciated. I hope you can feel my prayers, and the prayers of many investigators and members here who ask the Lord to be with you, my family and friends. The Gospel makes the world a network of love!

I love you!

Hermana Lindquist

Loor al Profeta!

Raise your hand if you´re happy that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ restored the true church to the earth again! Is your hand up?? Get it up there!! And if it´s not, send me your address and local representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be humbled and grateful to visit and explain why your hand should be up. For ¨what do we hear in the gospel which we have received?¨ A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven; and a voice of truth out of the earth; glad tidings for the dead; a voice of gladness for the living and the dead; glad tidings of great joy...Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.
Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! (Doctrine and Covenants 128:20-22)
And let everyone reading this letter raise their hands!!!
Haha, okay. You can put your hands down now. :)
Besides, you are an agent unto yourself. Man, this last week, I had studied so many themes that were beautifully analyzed throughout the General Conference. One of the greatest was of agency. My favorite study: Ephesians 6:12 (10-18) + Alma 48:12, 24 + Amla 57:20-27 + 2 Nephi 2 + D&C 58:26-29 = We fought before this life, and continue to fight now so that we may be free to anxiously engage ourselves in good causes. If we don´t act, we will be acted upon. Heavenly Father created us for greater things than that. Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins and took upon Him our weaknesses and infirmities (physical, spiritual, emotional, etc.) so that we could be free to follow Him into eternal life, eternal perfection, and eternal happiness. I know the Church is true and that Christ lives, directing it from above and within. He has called Thomas Monson as Prophet for these years. His voice is the voice of the Lord. What a statement, ¿no? But it´s true! God Himself said so. Ask Him about it. :)

Gotta go! Smiles and thanks to you all!

Hermana Lindquist

And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers! (D&C128:22)