dear family and friends,

well, it sounds like last week was full of worries and stress. I was sad to hear that faith is still sick. FACE. YOU ARE MY SISTER AND YOU CAN´T BE SO SICK. :( make sure you pray lots and read your scriptures to keep you spiritually healthy. i have learned lots about that fact that when we are healthy spiritually, it helps us be more healthy physically as well. not that it means that we won´t ever get sick, but that we will feel better even if we are sick. and i hope that maxwell gets lots better real soon. poor little guy. i have no idea what croup is, but i think i´ve heard it named, and it sounds horrible. i´ll have to ask andrew what it is. haha.

and abby i was imagining dad´s face when you had to tell him that someone rear-ended you and when the car almost exploded. hahaha it made me laugh. poor guy. we break everything and he has to fix everything. he will earn the celestial kingdom just for his patience. haha. the good thing is that we know that material things really aren´t that important. when you can afford them they are nice and useful, but they aren´t necessary...especially for our salvation. which is the purpose of this life so in the long run those things don´t mean anything.

ok, so this week was great. the much changed and converted Miguel could enter into the waters of baptism this past saturday and sunday was confirmed. then sunday night he did some visits with us. he will be a great tool in the work of the Lord. It looks like we will be having changes at transfers the following Monday, and we are praying that he will stay strong if one of us has to leave. It is always a trying time for the recent converts when their missionaries leave. that is why it is so, so important the help of the members.

speaking of members, our prayers are being anwered and we are getting the support of our members more. our mission leader in the branch came to church this past sunday, and it seems like he is wanting to start up again with his calling and reactivate himself. that is really good because we need a branch mission leader.

so there is a guy here named oscar. he used to be an evangelist pastor a lot of years ago, and is a "dry member" as they say. i want to ask you all to pray for him. he has a testimony and knows that this is the only true church, he goes to church every week and goes to the branch activities. he knows the doctrine and is ready to be baptize. he only lacks the decision. we have arranged for him to have his baptisimal interview on Tuesday and we are hoping this will help him make his decision. so if you could keep him in your prayers, especially the family prayers, that would be very appreciated.

and, i don´t have very much time today, so i´ll write you next week!!

love, sarah

ok, as for the good news of the week...

wow. erik, i liked your email a lot about fasting and prayer. it is so true, and i´m learning a lot about the miracles that come from these two powerful tools that we have. this last week we had the opportunity to fast for our investigator Miguel (who will be baptized this coming saturday!!) and another investigator Oscar. Oscar is pretty much a "dry member" as they say. We have been trying to figure out what his worries are about being baptized. Anyway, sunday he came to church and for some reason wanted to talk with the branch president. then the branch president told us that as they were talking he told him why he didn´t want to get baptized. it was amazing because we were fasting and praying to be able to figure out what he needs. And we got the answer so straight forward it was a pure miracle. now we just need to figure out how we can help him resolve his worries. because it is a little complicated. but i know it isn´t impossible.

and another miracle. From the first day we met miguel, he had told us that he wanted to change but that he was afraid of falling. or not being able to change completely or being able to change, but not be consistent in the church and not be consistently strong to not smoke or drink. he is really humble and we told him time and time again that if he did what we asked him to do and put forth the effort, Heavenly Father would bless him and he would be able to change completely. Anyway, we stopped by not yesterday, but the Sunday before and he didn´t look so good. it showed in his face. he was really nervous and worried and told us that he came out of his house with desires to tell us he couldn´t change and that he didn´t want us to stop by anymore because he was too weak and didn´t want us to be sad when we saw him fall. anyway, we testified with the Spirit and we left him a little better. a little bit more sure. but we were still really worried for him. So we prayed and prayed and prayed for him. Then when we stopped by thursday (because of a job that he had for the week we couldn´t pass by earlier) and he came out to greet us, his face and his countenance had changed completely. He wasn´t the same Miguel that we had known for the past 3 weeks. He told us about how he "fought with God" as he put it, because he wanted to change. He said that he prayed so earnestly to be able to change. And he said that he told God that if he couldn´t change, he didn´t want to live anymore. He didn´t want to wake up the next day if he had to continue living how he had been living for his whole life. He told us that he fell asleep expecting to not wake up the next morning. He said he put his life in the hands of God. He told Heavenly Father to do what He wanted with his life. Then he told us when he woke up the next morning he knew God was telling him that he could change. He didn´t have the desire to smoke or drink alcohol anymore. He said he spent the day (because he isn´t working right now) reading the scriptures and writing his thoughts and feelings.

I will admit, I shed some tears of thankfulness because I was so touched. Those are the stories you want to hear from every investigator. That is TRUE repentance. The change has been miraculous. This is why I know the power of prayer, because it never fails. I know that I cannot help anyone, but the gospel can. The only way that I can see miracles as a missionary is relying on the Lord 100%. I´m learning every single day how to better rely on the Lord. I know our Heavenly Father is all powerful. I know that Jesus Christ is our Lord and King. I know that He sacrificed for all of us so that we could have the opportunity to experience the joy and happiness that Miguel is experiencing. And thanks to the atonement, we all will live again. How blessed we are to know these truths.

love,
hermana yingling (o sheen-leen how they say it here...haha).

p.s. a picture for fun....this is me with my hat that i get to wear. we asked for permission from the president so we don´t get skin cancer from being in the sun all day...haha. when the president saw my hat he laughed and said, "that hat is perfect" haha. i still am getting used to using such a big hat, but i´m learning to like it. haha it will be good to use after ward to teach swimming when i don´t have to be in the pool. :)

Ok, so this week was an interesting one. I´ll start off with yesterday. we had 27 people in church!! :) And this past week a family in the branch went to the Uruguay Temple to be sealed. Oh how I wanted to go with them...miss the temple lots. I hope the temple here opens up soon. I would love to go. But not just so I can have the opportunity to go, but also because there are many, many saints here in Argentina who need the temple to open up. Trips are limited to the temple in Uruguay because it has to serve many people, and it is a lot further away. Those who live in Buenos Aires have it better because it isn´t too far away. But some people that live in the other provinces have to travel very dangerous roads for a long time to get there. Once they get there. They stay for one day and go home. How greatful I am for the many temples that we have in Utah, but not just utah....the Unites States. It has been such a blessing in my life. The week I come home, we should plan a family vacation to visit all the temples in Utah...haha. That would be AWESOME!!

Ok, let´s see what else. Oh yeah, we had a surprise visit by the President Saturday. haha. The assistants called us last monday and told us they would be passing by saturday but they didn´t know when or anything. so saturday they called us and said, "hey we are coming to your apartment...do you sisters wanna make lunch for us?" men...always thinking of their stomachs...haha jk. anyway, so the president and the asistants came over to eat lunch with us in our apartment. we made empanadas (because you eat them with your hands and we don´t have any plates...haha). so easy and so yummy. i will definitely be making a lot of these when i come home because they are so practical. ok, anyway, so they came over and the president said, "lets do interviews.." haha. surprise. anyway, so we talked about the work here in Junín. he presented us a plan to help the members here work. They are used to not working. They are used to the missionaries doing it all, but it can´t be that way. i know from experience that the work isn´t working if the missionaries try to do it all. First of all, because they can´t. Second of all, because many who get baptized will just go inactive because they are converted to the missionary and not the gospel. That´s why members are so important. That´s why i get proud thinking about my brothers and how they have done so much for missionary work since they have returned home from their missions. :) hopefully i can follow in their footsteps.

and it sounds like i´m in for the long-haul. president told me that i´m staying in Junín forever. haha. i´m never going to be released. sorry. i´ll see you in the eternities. haha. jk. but i´m excited that i´ll at least be staying for one more transfer, because i feel like we are just getting the hang of working here in junín and there are always challenges and there are always things to make better. i hope i stay for a long time so i can see the change in the branch. that would be nice. but i told the president that the Lord knows best, so whatever He wants, that´s what i´ll do. i pray to make my weaknesses become strengths. I have so many. every single day i hope to achieve the potential the Lord has given to each of us, and every single day i fall short. But, with His help, I´m learning. I´m growing. and i´m improving. only to learn of more things i can improve. haha. that´s why this life is fun. because we have something to work on ALWAYS. it is never ending. but it is fun to change and set goals and accomplish and work towards goals.

i set a goal for new years to not eat anything that would be considered a dessert for the month of january (like cake, cookies, brownies, ice cream, pudding, etc.) i have a lot of stupid reasons why i decided to do that, but mostly because i wanted to learn more self control and have a challenge. the only exception is if not eating something will offend someone (because that happense here...). anyway, so far so good.

and, i got all the letters from the eigth ward!!! yay! you can tell who ever is in charge of all those, thank you soo much!! i´m very greatful for everyone that wrote me (even though all the yw thought i was serving in brazil...haha). mom, you can tell sister slothower why i decided not to take my violin, but tell her that every opportunity i get, i play the violin and i teach people too. i usually get to play like once a month (on average) and i love it. miss my violin. and i got some christmas cards from people in the ward. i´m soo greatful.

anyway, that´s all i guess.
love, sister yingling

Happy New Year 2012...weird. Oh and i´ve been a missionary for more than one year...even weirder. Time has flown.

Ok, this week has been a good one. We are working with a guy named Miguel. He has really progressed a lot. He is quitting smoking and went to church on Sunday. It was a miracle that he came to church. Because of the holiday, we only had 12 people in church. sad day! but even though Miguel went out partying for the New Year and came home not in the best conditions at 6:30 am, he got up and went to church with us. He told us that if he didn´t go, then there would always be an excuse not to go. And good thing he went to. He felt the spirit real strongly as everyone shared their testimonies. It was really satisfying to see the spirit working in his life.

It has been a real dry last 2 months. Not just because it hasn´t rained in a while here, but also because no one has been able to make sacred covenants with Heavenly Father through the waters of baptism. for 2 whole months. i will admit. i´m super concerned. usually from my experience, Heavenly Father blesses us for our efforts and a member of a family decides to be baptized, as long as we are doing what we need to do and being obedient. But, that hasn´t happened yet. I´m sure that Heavenly Father is trying our patience and our faith.

I know Heavenly Father puts challenges in our lives to bless us. To strengthen us. To develop more Christ-like attributes. I can definitely say that I have learned lots from the challenges of the mission. It has been interesting here in Junín because the members don´t know how to work with the missionaries. It isn´t something they are not used to doing. We are basically trying to restart the branch from scratch. The members that we have, are not willing to make changes in their lives to come back to church, and the few that do come are not willing or not able to do much to strengthen the saints in this area. The sad part is that like 10 years ago there was an attendance of 100 on average every-single week. Now we get about 20 on average. We are learning more and more why things have changed so much in these last 10 years, and it is a processes changing things around. I´m sad because it seems to my companion and i that I will be transfered at the end of January and i will be really sad, because we are just starting to see some changes in the members and in the branch.

But the good thing is, that i know planting seeds is the first step to producing fruit. We are at the point of harvesting the fruit of missionaries from years ago. It just shows that God works in mysterious ways. Lots of times, the missionaries will pray that an investigator will go to church, or that they´ll get married, or that they´ll quit smoking, or that they´ll get baptized. And lots of times the missionaries get sad because they don´t get to see the investigator go to church, or get married, or quit smoking, or get baptized. But little do they know, that 5 years down the road, other missionaries stopped by, and that same investigator has had a change of heart and wants to go to church, or has since gotten married, or has quit smoking, and those missionaries have the opportunity and the blessing to see the miracle of a conversion. To see the miracle of someone enter into the waters of baptism.

That is my consolation and my hope. I know that is how God works. So, I continue praying, because yes I do wish they would change now, that is always so much better, but the most important is that they change; in the timing of the Lord.

Anyway, love being a missionary. and

love you all,
sarah