The Gift of Tongues is INCREDIBLE!

Hola Familia!

Wow this week was AMAZING!!!!  Divisions were so great!!!!  I was super nervous for divisions and I stayed in our area and Hna Redford went to the other area.  I was super nervous because I wasn’t sure if I knew the area enough to be able to get Hna Henao and me everywhere we needed to go.  But I did!!!  I am feeling a lot more confident now because of this experience.  I was nervous also because this Wednesday when I receive my new companion, even though I am still in training I am the companion who served in the area before and knows the area and will be responsible for getting us everywhere.  But, now I know that I can do it!!! 

I also didn’t get too frustrated with the language barrier.  We were able to communicate just fine.  It was amazing!!  She was able to help me with Spanish and I helped her with her English.  This is the same right now with Hna Sanchez.  She is helping me with my Spanish and I am helping her with her English.  The gift of tongues is an INCREDIBLE gift!! 

Other than that this week has been pretty interesting.  We were doing a lot of things to get ready for Hna Redford to leave us.  She leaves tonight.  We said goodbye yesterday and I have been with Hna Sanchez since yesterday afternoon in Santos Lugares.  Wednesday after transfers I will return to Caseros. 

I am SO excited to hear that Dad went with the Elders.  I didn’t understand before when I was going with the sisters how important members are missionary work.  We as missionaries are able to teach and be their friend for a little bit but we are constantly changing.  Our investigators need someone in church who will be there always to answer their questions and help them through their conversion journey.  Their journey to conversion is very hard and difficult and a member friend is really important in helping them stay active and go through their journey with them.  Also, members’ testimonies are so important and powerful.  Thank you for going with the Elders and please continue to go with them.  Members are KEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have really liked the food but it really isn’t unusual.  It is really similar to ours so it has been super good!!  Lots of pasta and beef and flan which is a really good desert, it really hasn’t been that different than what we have.

We did have a ward Christmas party that was so fun.  Josefina and Angel brought a daughter of theirs.  They have another daughter and two sons.  It was great and I think they had so much fun.  I am still praying for them.  Yesterday we went over to their house so Hna Redford could say goodbye to them.  And Angel said "well we will have to send you a picture when we get baptized."  Oh my goodness, he said WHEN!!!!!!  They are so great!!!  I am praying for them!!  Also yesterday in church we had Andrea with us!!  It was amazing it was her first time and she seemed to really enjoy herself while in church!!  It was a really neat experience!!  Also we had lunch with our stake president, Pres. Catron and he said that we could come and to his house to skype.  So I have a place but I don’t have a time.  So what time do you want me to skype you guys and I will just tell my companion what time you guys want me to skype?  This church is true and Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father live!!!

Con Amor

Hermana Kent

PS  I just found out that there will be two new missions made next July.  That is so cool!!  The work is moving forth!!!  Our mission will be reduced by two zones!!!  OH my!!!!!!

She is Golden!

Hola Familia!!!! 

This week was really good!!  We got a new phone so that is kind of fun!! 
We are super sad again.  Angel and Josefina were supposed to be baptized this weekend but it is not going to happen, again.  The hardest thing is that we can do so much and then it comes down to people’s agency and whether or not they want to be baptized.  But I still have faith that they will be baptized.  They are so great!!  We are praying hard for them and working hard with them. 

We had our first appointment with Lourdes on Friday.  She is the women who just decided to come to church a week ago.  She is golden!!  She has a baptismal date for the 27 of this month!  However, she isn’t married and is living with her boyfriend.  She has three kids and then her and her boyfriend has 1 together.  She is totally willing to be married so we are praying that he will be open to marriage as well so that she can be baptized on the 27.  She is so great! We taught her about the restoration but didn´t do much of the lesson!!  She did a lot of it!! 

I am still struggling with the language.  But it is coming little by little.  We are going on divisions tomorrow until Wednesday.  I will be with Hna Henao who is from Colombia so I am praying that I can learn a lot from her the next couple days.  Also because Hna Redford leaves next Monday, Sunday night until Wednesday morning I will be staying with Hermana Sanchez who is from Peru.  Hopefully I can learn a lot from her as well. 

I LOVE this gospel and KNOW that it is true!!  I love and miss everyone lots and lots and lots and lots!!!

Con Amor,

Hermana Kent

I'm Legal Here in Argentina!

Hola Familia y Amigos!!! 

 I still can’t believe how fast time is going!!  I can’t believe I have already been here in Argentina for a month!!  It feels like yesterday I landed here!!  It is SO crazy!!  Anyway, first off because I forgot to mention last week that Christmas came early to us missionaries in the Buenos Aires West Mission!!!  We were all given very nice, new pots and a frying pan about a week and a half ago!!  It was AMAZING!!! 

This week was also great!!  We had lots of lessons that were just great!!  And yesterday we had Angel and Josefina in church for all 3 hours with us!!!  It was AMAZING!!  We also had Hernan and Malvina with us in church the whole time but they are already good about staying with us the whole time!!  And we had a woman come who just decided to come to church!!  Her name is Lourdez!!  Her cousin is a member over in Uruguay!!  It was amazing!!  So we are excited to start to teach her this Friday!!!  Unfortunately, none of our baptisms are going to happen!!  But we have Lourdez who we start teaching this week so we will see how we can help her!!  And Josefina and Angel have accepted baptism but not set date yet so we are praying for them and working with them!!  And Hernan and Malvina are going to be getting married in about a month and a half and then he will be able to be baptized!!  Many good things are happening!!

There is a new initiative “He is the Gift” that started this week!!  It is AMAZING!!!  I LOVE it so much!!  It is so incredible!!    

The language is coming very slowly!!  I wish it would come faster but I have faith that it will come little by little!!  I just focus on how far I have come and how much I have learned regarding the language instead of how far I still have to go!! 

It rained A LOT Saturday night!!  It was amazing!!!  I was absolutely drenched because I wasn’t prepared!!  Neither Hna Redford nor I were prepared!!  All of the sudden the clouds came and the rain started hard and then before we knew it we were drenched!!  We laughed about the whole thing!!  However, were very blessed!!  We had an appt with Josefina and Angel that night!!  When we got to her house she noticed how drenched we were!!  She have us a towel and then some of her shirts to change into so we had dry clothes and then gave us mate cocida and some warm bread!!  She was so great!!  That was the first time I have had mate cocida!!  It is actually pretty good!! 

 I have been really good!!  The only thing that has been hard is my legs hurt a lot all of the time from walking.  Like remember Disneyland?  It’s like that every day.  But it’s getting better and my body is getting more used to it, I think!!!  Hermana Redford told me the other day that the temperatures right now are already not as hot as last year.  This spring hasn’t been that bad, so I think I can make it through this summer. 

Oh and I am now legal here in Argentina!!  Wednesday we went to a bunch of different places and filled out paperwork!!  It was such a great week!!  I LOVE being a missionary!!  I LOVE the spirit that is always right with me!!!  Love and miss everyone lots and lots and lots!!!

Con Amor

Hermana Kent

Stake Conference Was Great!

This week has been great!!!  It sounds like it has been great for all of you as well!  We had a baptism scheduled with our investigator Cristina for this Saturday, but is not going to happen.  Herman Redford and I are so sad!!  She hasn’t been able to have us over as much as we needed to be with her.  But it is ok!!  Heavenly Father has a reason for everything!! 

Hopefully next week we will have a baptism for Josefina!!  I LOVE Josefina and her family!  They are so great!  Josefina and her husband have been at church with us the last two weeks!  They are just so great!  We are praying for them! 

This week we had our stake conference.  It was so great!!  I didn’t understand much but I do know that it was about missionary work.  And collectively between the Saturday night session and Sunday, we had seven people there with Hermana Redford and me!  Josefina and her husband Angel and Cristina (also investigators) and Hilda who is recent convert came with us Saturday night.  Sunday we had a Malvina and Hernan and Jonathan and Hilda!!  Malvina is a less active and Hernan is an investigator.  Jonathan and Hilda are both recent converts.  It was a great couple of days!! 

It rained a couple days this week!  The temperature is perfect right now.  It was a tender blessing from Heavenly Father because it was getting really hot!  At least for me it was really hot.

Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday!!!!

Love everyone lots and lots and lots!!  I’m really good!!!

Con Amor,

Hermana Karina Kent

 

 

 

 

Hermana Kent, Hermana Llerena and Hermana Redford



Hermana Kent, Hermana Llerena and Hermana Redford
 

Josefina, Hermana Kent, & Hermana Redford

 

Missionaries Are on a Different Time Table

Wow!!  I cannot believe that I have now been in Argentina for two weeks already!!  It is amazing how time goes by so fast!!  I definitely feel as a missionary I am on another time table!!  Time goes by way too fast!! 

Anyway, this week has been great!!  Elder Christofferson came on Saturday and spoke to the north and west missions!!  It was really good!!  He talked about repentance and how central that is to our purpose as missionaries!!  Repentance and Jesus Christ!! 

I didn’t understand a ton unfortunately because I am struggling with the language.  But it is ok!!  I have only been here in Argentina for two weeks!!  I have faith that it will come and that I will be blessed with the gift of tongues!!  It is amazing the spirit that is always with me!! 

We have 3 investigators with a baptismal date right now!!  Hermana Redford and I are so excited!!  We are just praying that it will happen!!  I am really good though!!  I have had bad days and good days!!  Bad days being that we walked around all day and not one investigator was home or one contact opened the door!!  Good days being that most of our investigators were home and we had lots of lessons!!  Those are good days!! 

Ok I have to tell you something else though before I forget!!  There is another Mormon clip coming out I think like the day after Thanksgiving called “The Gift.”  It is AMAZING!!  I saw it in the MTC.  The person over the church media showed the rough draft to us.  It is AMAZING!!  It is like the “Because of Him” clip!  It is super good!!  The clip is going to be advertised like crazy all over time square and yahoo!!!!!  Super cool things happening!!!!

Con Amor

Hermana Kent

P.S.  Um, BTW I LOVE that even Kenai has gotten into the show business!!!!!!

I'm In Argentina!

Wow!!!  What a week!!  I'm in Argentina!!!!!  It is SO pretty here!  The movie Evita does not do it justice.  I saw my first Eva Peron bill board last night as we were walking back home!! 

 

Well Hermana House and me are no longer companions which I am so sad about.  But, my new companion's name is Hermana Redford.  She is my trainer.  She is from Colorado and will be leaving in the middle of December to go home!!  She has finished her mission!!  We are in a city called Caseros.  We have been working really hard so that she feels like she finished out strong!! 

The Spanish is super frustrating.  But, because Hermana Redford has been here for 17 months she is basically fluent so she has been helping me a lot.  I have started lots of contacts since I've been here!!  It's been pretty cool!!  And Elder Christofferson is coming this Saturday to speak to us!!  I'm really excited to hear from him!! 

I got to go to ward conference yesterday morning and then the bishop asked me to bear my testimony yesterday to the ward.  I was pretty nervous.  It is amazing to me because I felt, like everyone else has said, leaving the MTC that I knew some decent Spanish and turns out I didn't know that much.  But that is ok!!  Everyone here I have talked to has said that they felt comfortable after about three months of being here and than were like basically fluent at like 9 months. 

I really like the food here.  The few meals I have had here have been pretty good only I don't know what they were called!  I have corn flakes for breakfast and then members feed us about everyday except for Mondays and Thursdays for lunch.  We don't really eat dinner because they don't really eat dinner here.  So if we are hungry we wil have a little something that we have in the apartment at night when we get home.  

 

It's hot here, so I'm trying to drink lot of water.  Right now I'm ok with the heat; however, I know it is just going to get hotter, so we will see.  I am praying that I will be ok when it gets hot.  (Karina does not like the heat...AT ALL).

 

The apartment is kind of gross so I wear socks or my flip flops.  I am never bare foot.  And washing is done by hand unfortunately, but that is ok!!  

 

I LOVE the people here!!  They are so nice!!  There is not a lesson that we don't go into where somebody doesn't offer us a drink or some food.  Everyone has been really welcoming of me.  They have liked practicing their English with me but are also allowing me to practice my Spanish and help me with it.  They are very encouraging of my Spanish!!  

 

Right now I have about 4 hours of studying in the morning and then we are out and about teaching and contacting until about 8:30 pm are home by 9:00 pm and are planning the next day and than in bed by 10:30 pm.

 

I didn't get a chance to email Omi and Opa, but tell them I love and miss them a lot too!!!  I have to go now but I love you lots and lots and lots and lots and lots!!!!!!

 

Con Amor,

Hermana Kent

Hermana Kent and Hermana Redford...Looks like Hermana Kent already found a new favorite treat!
 

 

Safe Arrival

Hermana Kent departed from Salt Lake City International airport on November 3rd and arrived in Argentina safely on November 4th.  In speaking with her before she boarded the plane her family was relieved to hear the excitement in her voice.  Hermana Kent worried about becoming homesick before she left home, this has not been a problem for her.  She has had some more difficult days, but loved her MTC experience.  Her family waited impatiently for her call, and when asked what took her so long to call, her response was, "I was doing missionary work."  This response was reminiscent of the Savior responding to his parents when he was found in the temple that He was about His Father's work.  We (her parents) paged her several times to call the "white courtesy phone" several times.  We have not learned patience yet through her serving.  Hermana Kent never heard the pages.  She and Hermana House were engaged in a conversation with a young man who had a lot of questions about sister missionaries.  They were about their Father's work.

Missionaries see miracles!  The expectation for the luggage check-in fee was roughly $100.  None of the missionaries leaving yesterday morning were charged luggage fees and those whose luggage was over the weight limit were waved on through.  I don't know if this happens for every missionary, but Hermana Kent recognized the miracle in that moment.

President and Hermana Robertson sent an email assuring us of her safe arrival.  To a mother, there is no other relief.  We are grateful for her sacrifice, testimony, and dedication in serving the Lord, for she is about his work.


President and Hermana Robertson with Hermana Kent in front of the Buenos Aires Temple