2/29/16 Hello from Argentina!

So it is going to be a short one.  Sorry!  Ha.  I have continued being ill with Dengue Fever and it's effects, but I feel I am hoping to be up and out.

This week we were able to be spiritual fed so well!  Elder Bednar came down this week and spoke with all the missionaries in the Southern part of South America :)  It was just what I needed!  I feel so very blessed to have living prophets, seers, and revelators on the earth today!  I know that each of these men have been called of God.  I love them. I sustain them.  I am getting so excited to hear from them next month!  

It is amazing how he was talking to a group of thousands of missionaries, yet I could be taught personally by the spirit!   This was one of the focuses!  We are not the teachers, and we never should be.  The teacher is the Spirit.  If it is not, you are doing something wrong!  I cant wait to get out and put it to practice!  This is something that I majorly need to focus on!  I am just the mouth piece of the spirit.  I, Hermana Fox, I, Starlee, have GOT TO GET out of the way and let the spirit teach what these people need to hear!

I love you all and hope all is well!

See you soon,

Hermana Fox

starlee.fox@myldsmail.net

Sorry, there are no pictures.  The internet connections are not strong enough here.  I did take some though.

2/22/16 "Oh ye of great faith."‏

Hello Family!  I hope all is well on the other side of the woods!  Well this week has been a week filled with faith....meaning I have been pondering about faith, experiencing the faith of others, and questioning the faith of myself.  :)  (No worries...I'll explain!)

So first of all, Elder Bednar is coming to South America and we are having a transmission this Wednesday led by him!!!  Im so excited!  In preparation for this, we have been asked to study 3 of his talks (STRAIGHT FUEGO!).  There has been an overall focus of Faith.  In one of them, he shares the story of Joshua in the Old Testament.  God had made a promise that the Jordan River would be parted so that they could pass through on dry ground.  When Joshua arrived with his people...NOTHING happened.  But that did not stop them.  They trusted in the promise that God had made them and started to walk into the river, actually getting their feet wet!  This is when the promise was fulfilled and the waters were parted, NOT when they were just sitting on the edge of the river waiting for the miracle to happen.  It was necessary to act in faith and actually get a bit wet!

This story had such a great impact on me that we decided to share it with an investigator.  She is struggling to overcome smoking, and so we shared this story with her and left the commitment to stop smoking.  We said, "We would like to help you put a goal and take a small "step into the water".  She was a bit weary about it and got nervous to put a date.  Then she looked at us and said, "Give me until Monday."  Both of our jaws dropped and we looked at each other.  We were both thinking of giving her a couple of weeks or a month!  But oh how great is the faith of this special sister!  She was willing to take a step into the water!

So then this Friday, I came down with a very high fever (39C) again with body aches, and well just about like I felt like I did when I had Dengue.  So that gave me quite the scare!  We waited it out a bit Saturday, but I just kept getting worse, so we traveled back down to Posadas and spent the day in the hospital with tests and doctors. :) Good thing, they tested it NOT to be Dengue.  Bad thing, they told my I'm perfectly fine.  I don't know if I just don't understand life when it is in Spanish or what, but when you are burning a fever that high, I would say EVERYTHING is not just DANDY! HA!  

I did receive a blessing and it was repeated over and over again was that I will be healed according to my faith.  So my question is,  How will I take my steps into the river and get my feet a bit wet?  I know that God gives us these trials in our lives so that we can prepare to return to him.  I would like to hear from Christ, "Oh ye of GREAT faith" as I would imagine all of us would, but are we ready to face the trials He puts in our paths so that we can have this  GREAT faith?  

I love this Gospel, I love the knowledge it gives, I love my Savior and I'm grateful that He has enough love for me to give me ways to increase my faith.  This gospel will change your life if you let it.  Please let Him in.  Please invite Him.  He is there waiting.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Thanks for everything, I love you tons!  

See you soon,

Hermana Fox

So here are some of the pics from last week :) 

A group from our zone

My and my companion-speaking of her...she is the best!  Honestly, I could not be more blessed!  She is an angel especially through this wack transfer with all my special needs!  SHE IS A CHAMP!!!

02/19/16 O está todo bien :)‏

Hello!  I hope all is well way up there in the North.  All is just dandy down here in the Southern hemisphere.  Thank you for all your prayers!  I am feeling so much better, and Dengue has cleared my system.  We are back to normal work and it is just so GREAT!  It is so happy to be working!  That is why I am here and I just enjoy it so very much!  I love to see the miracles God is working in the lives of all!  It is just a pleasure to be a member of the Greatest Work on Earth!

I have told you all a bit about LA. , I believe.  Her husband has not been up to listening much.   Hermana. Ehlert and I have prayed, fasted, pondered, and studied for him and we truly feel that he is going to come out of His little, "I don´t need religion man cave".  When we went and visited her on Saturday night.  We sat down, and without even asking, the whole family brought chairs, came and sat down and listened and participated!  It was such a exhilarating spirit filled lesson.  Before CN., (the husband) had never sat down, but he would stand in the room and kind of listen, but walk in and out.  When we were talking about Christ being resurrected he said, "Ya and then He went and visited the people in Jerusalem and in America, like you guys said before, and probably went and visited His other children, but we just don't have records".  Both of our jaws just dropped!  I love watching when testimonies of people start to grow!  It is the funnest thing to watch! 

It was so much fun to teach a complete family.   This was maybe the second time in all of my mission to teach a whole family!  The gospel is perfectly formed to help families!  We have focused on trying to find and teach families, but they are so hard to find! 

 The Gospel of Jesus Christ is such an incredible plan God has created for us, and it works beautifully for everyone, no matter the situation!  I have seen it work over and over again in my life, as well as in the lives of many others.  I invite you to live it, love it, and watch the miracles fill your lives!

Yael, (pronounced shy-el) has been the highlight of my week! The hermanas had taught her 2 times before, and when I got there and sat down for the first time with her, she brought out her Book of Mormon and literally started teaching us the whole thing from the introduction!  As she was talking I just kept thinking she is going to end soon, but she continued, from Lehi to leaving Jerusalem to Nephi returning to the ship to entering the promised land.  I was literally awestruck!  I finally stopped her and asked how far she had read..."Oh just right here (pointing to 2 Nephi 9)!"  WHAT?!  And she understands it, I'm afraid better than me!  I started to think it was too good to be true, so I said, "Well, ya this story is great, but it doesn't do us much good unless we can apply it into our lives."  She stopped me and then went off and all the things she had learned and how she was starting to apply in her life!  I love HER!  Literally her story is filled with miracles, but I don't have time to share them all!  For now her spouse is not letting her come to church and is laughing and making fun of her for "becoming religious".  So for now we are praying out little hearts out, and acting in all that we can.

So it is a humid mess down here.  I walk out side and literally I'm just soaked in my sweat.  I have never sweated like this in all of my life!  There has been lots of rain.  Basically, Im just a walking ball of mold.   HAHA!  All is happy and great and good!

I love you all and hope all is well.   Remember I love you, but more importantly God loves you.

See you soon,

Hermana Fox

starlee.fox@myldsmail.net

So today we went to the San Ignacio ruins. They are from the ancients? Ha.  The story is that the are the Catholic missionaries that came here.  We went in their temple.  :)  (That is why the providence is called MISSIONES...from the catholic missionaries that came) Sorry for the History Class :)

PS. SORRY.  pictures arent sending...so you can just imagine me taking goofy pictures at the ruins!

2/9/16 ZZZZ...

Well, hello again!  I know it is a bit odd that I am writing on Tuesday, but yesterday was a National Holiday, so everything  was shut down in our tiny little town.  That means our "cyber" was closed, but also the bus system out of Corpus was closed.  So we finally were able to get out today!  Ha.  That explains a bit about my new area!  It is crazy little! 

So this week...I will call my Dengue week.  Blood results came back positive for Dengue Fever (Zika Virus) on Wednesday, and so I was out all week!  Dengue gives you a really high fever, body aches, 0 appetite, and you have ZERO energy to do anything!  I literally slept about 20 hours a day, every day this week.  My companion had to come wake me up every 6 hours to take a pill so that my fever would stay down.  Thankfully I didn't pass out anymore, but when I woke up I felt like it, so I was confined to the bed.  So basically my week in review...sleep, wake up, take a pill, go to the bathroom, and sleep again. It was slightly pathetic!

On Saturday I felt alright in the night, so we went out for an hour.  It was so great to get out of the house,  (BUT hard to leave my air conditioned cave. ) We met with Lorena, who is an amazing woman! What I love about her is that she thinks, she listens, and comprehends, and then thinks for herself.  She wants to be baptized and realizes how important this promise is with God.  I am so excited to keep working with her!

Sunday we went to church, and it was all going really great, we actually had a big group of 17!  In the end of 2nd hour, we were teaching the youth and we heard a bunch of commotion outside.  When we opened the door our room filled with smoke, and then we ran outside.  The AC that was recently installed had caught on fire!  WHAT?!  Ya, so we put that out and then President came and told us we were going to finish church with a prayer.  (Our members are a BIT dramatic!) HA.  Needless to say, I was exhausted, so it was perfect, I went home and slept the WHOLE day!

I am feeling much better, and I am so grateful for all the prayers that are coming my way!  My fever has gone away and we started working again yesterday!  I have high hopes for the week, and I am so grateful to be back at work and see the miracles start pouring down! :)  It is so hard to just stay in the pension (probably a lot harder for my companion than me), all day. My mind wanders and I kinda wanted to just come home.  I dreamt so much about all of you guys, and thought lots about my life, after the mission.  BUT, oh how amazing what a little work will do, when we get out of ourselves and go help others!  It truly works miracles!

Love you all and hope its a good one!  Enjoy the snow, because I only get to dream about it!  

When it comes down to it, I love my Savior, I love the gospel, and I feel so privileged to be able to share this special message with my brothers and sisters.

See you soon,

Hermana Fox

starlee.fox@myldsmail.net

Saturday night, and waiting in the bus stop :)

2/1/16 It's a great day to be alive!

I have arrived in my new area!  I am serving in Corpus Cristi and Roca.  We actually have 2 areas and 2 pensions,so we split our time at both!  I am so very excited for this transfer!  Corpus is just the smallest little town you have ever seen.  Everyone knows everyone.     We have a small branch and it doesn't help that everyone is on vacations.   We had a church attendance of 7, including us. Ha Ha.  That was different, but I am really enjoying it.  

My companion is just a doll!  I am so happy to serve with her, and we both have so many expectations for the transfer.

Leaving Eldorado. That was hard to say good bye.  It was hard to say goodbye to Ca., but it was so rewarding to see her conversion.  On our last lesson we taught the law of Chastity.  She was wearing a mini skirt and tanktop, and when we finished the lesson, she hurried and got up and changed.  She is just the greatest! 

 

 I am loving my companion.  We have clicked so well, and I just feel like she is my friend! We traveled to our new area on Thursday morning at 3:00 am.  All was fine until Friday night.  My whole body just hurt, then Saturday I had a really high fever...like 39.4°C.   I had slept all day, and then when I woke up I passed out and was out for about 25 seconds.  We went to the hospital and they gave me a shot to control the fever and some pills.  Today we came to Posadas to the bigger hospital.  I was still burning at about 39°C and so I got another injection and blood draw.  We are going in just a bit to find test results.  We are pretty sure that is  Dengue/zika virus ( it is really wide spread right now),  but I will know tonight.  If that is the case I have to stay in bed for 1-2 weeks.  My body doesn't hurt so much right now, but lymph are swollen, and I have a rash on my stomach and back.  I don't want you to worry.  All is fine.  I feel very taken care of.  My companion has been helping and serving me with everything.  I am so taken care of! 

 

I'm so greatful to be able to take part in this work.  I love watching the conversion of others and the difference it makes in their lives.  When we accept Christ in our lives we are changed.  Life is more fully lived.  Joy is more fully felt. I am so grateful for my Savior!

Thank you all for you support, and your letters!  I so appreciate it!  I am so blessed to have such great family and friends.  I am sorry am not able to respond to any letters today.  Thanks again. 

See you soon,

Hermana Fox

starlee.fox@myldsmail.com