So first week in my new area, it was awesome! I'm still getting used to it, but I love it so far. My companions name is Hermana Rivero, she's from Aregentina and she's the best. Our personalities are very similar in that we're both super laid back but we know what we need to get done and we work hard! Also, everyone from Argentina drinks mate. It's like tea but not tea and you put the mate in a special cup and drink out of a bombilla (special straw) that filers it and it's sooo good. The tradition is that everyone drinks out of the same cup and same straw and you just drink your part and then add more water and pass it down to the next person. It's like a social bonding experience. But we drink it every morning and every night together to bond as compañeras(; We also do lots of exercises every morning which I love! My companion has a bunch of those insanity exercise videos so we do those every day.

As a sister leaders, we have leadership conferences with all the zone leaders, the sister leaders, our mission president and his wife and his assistents. We had the conference this last Thursday and Friday and it was super inspiring. We learned a lot. We will have a zone conference tomorrow so I hope we as well as the zone leaders will be able to convey everything that was taught! One thing our president focused on was keeping up our animos. I say the word in spanish, animos, because I cannot for the life of me think of what it is in english haha. Animos is like the desire to continue on, to always be happy and stay positive. If we don't have animos, we're not going to see miracles in the work we're doing. But if we keep our faith, stay positive, and animos animos animos we will see the good in everything! We will see miracles! I know this is true with anything in life. We have to keep our head up, even when trials come. We have to keep our faith firm in Christ. There's a scripture in the book of mormon that says..

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

(Helaman 5:12)

Keep your faith in Jesus Christ because he knows us and understands what we're going through. Trials in this life are inevitable, but with Christ they are bearable.

Take care folks!

Hermana Celardo