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