Week 27-February 2, 2015

Week 27-February 2, 2015

wow sounds like everything is great! way to have a fhe and invite people! who are anthony and vanessa though? also happy birthday lydia!!! sounds like you had a good one :) i thought about you yesterday and hope you got my letter!

thats crazy that mom and dad are going to germany! with aunt sonja!! super cool!

and taylors leaving in may?? cool im just happy we will get to talk on skype before he leaves!

also dont worry mom, the cream helped a little but my feet are still a disaster lol but its ok im not sufffering they r just ugly :P and i bought new shoes today!

this week was good, full of miracles as always! haha hna flores was sick the last weekend and all this week though so we spent some time in the house (i coooked and decorated packs of cigarettes with scriptures instead of cigarettes inside for an investigator and such while hermana flores slept). she had a fever and a cough so bad she couldnt sleep much until we found a magic medicine thing that a member gave us. funny cuz the mission rule is not to accept medicines from members and such cuz they might give us all kinds of weird stuff, but the mission doctor couldnt do anything except tell us to find a super sketchy pharmacy where they would sell us some medicine with codine to help her sleep (you need a prescription technically but the mission doctor cant give us one because she isnt a doctor in Chile), which we never found. haha so turns out the members were a lot more helpful...

also our apartment flooded this week so that was interesting. also flooded three apartments under us, which is a big bummer. thats kind of a long story, but the short of it is that our floor is damaged now, which is a big bummer. 

but as for miracles this week, we taught a contact we did named Mauro this last week and he was awesome!!! we had a member come with us (sometimes that is the most frustrating part of missionary work.the members lol) and it was fantastic! then he came to church this sunday!! and the members were awesome and sat with him and invited him to play soccer tuesdays and such. we were super excited!!! we have a lesson with him tonight.oh and funny story, like i said we always invite to baptism and set a date the first lesson, especially if its a good one, so of course we invited him to baptism on the 22 of february and he said he wanted to come to church first, so we said ^^ok but if you know its true by 22 de febrero will you be baptized that date? can we set it as a goal?^^ , like usual, and the member after he left the room was like ^¨haha i forgot how direct and persistent you guys are!^¨ haha she was kinda shocked that we had invited him to baptism and i thought about how dad said that other time that he was suprised that the missionaries invited the family you guys had a fhe with to baptism too. haha seems pretty normal to us now, although i was pretty scared of doing it before. 

also in answer to dads questions, patricio didnt come to church this week so we went to his house after and had a super direct talk about his priorities and such haha and ortencia is pretty scared of being baptized and doesnt reaally want to go to church so we might have to leave her...and ya we teach lots of old ladies but i always feel weird cuz we are supposed to be looking for young families and priesthood and old ladies dont really fit in those categories :P and sometimes i think they are just being nice to us because we are in the street haha

anyway, all is well! have a great week! my camera has a virus or something so i may never send pictures again..:/ we will see... love you all!

Week 26--January 26. 2015

Week 26--January 26. 2015

wow congrats to sam for his call the rancagua! my comp from the mtc is there right now! maybe if we go to the temple at that time we will run into him..

and thanks mom for the info on athletes foot haha im not sure what it is but my feet are a disaster lol oh well

ya javieras baptism was great, also i got to go on divisions again this week and meet a woman whose husband i contacted while on divisions with the same hermana the transfer before. she is getting baptized next week! cool to meet her :)

so many divisions are crazy and we are never together in our own sector but its fun to teach and be a part of everyone elses sector too :P

also Alfredo ( the nine year old) is awesome but his grandma has been out of town this week so we havent met with him in a while. but we cant baptize him anytime soon since hes only 9 and his family doesnt want anything to do with the church. he will hav to wait a few years at least :P oh well. i am trying hard to have more faith in everyone and its working :P Patricio came to church and told us he feels like maybe he does need to be baptized, Ortencia has started crying in every lesson and tells us the things we teach ¨´llegan a su corazon¨´ and that she feels a peace when we are there in her house. pretty cool to hear... also yesterday was church and we found a guy in the street on the way to church who started talking to us and we invited him to church and he came for all 3 hours and loved it! unfortunatley he doesnt live in our ward... by the way ortencia is an investigadora that is like 80 years old and Patricio is a man with 58 years that we have been taeching for a couple transfers now. he has lots of questions but felt the Spirit in the sacrament this week...them and 2 others have baptism goals for 22 of febuary. lol sorry im writing in english but with spanish grammar...

hope lydia has a greatbirthday!!! (and gets my card)

congrats mandy on her gymnastics ruotine! and natalie with her 4.0!

and cool story about the vaughans...looks like all the visiting teaching mom did really helped change some lives..

anyway, love and miss you all!

Week 25-January 19, 2015

Week 25-January 19, 2015

wow sounds like the most exciting thing this week was taylors mission call! haha and why didnt he skype while opening it? haha oh taylor... 

but i hope natalies bday was awesome!! glad she got my card!! send one today for lydia...hope it gets there..

anyway i fought with my camera for like 20 minutes today during our time in internet so now i have less time to write AND it still isnt working to send pictures...oh well. maybe you guys wont see any more pictures of my mission., :P 

also the guy next to me keeps asking me stuff and complimenting me so thats awkward and distracting. especially when i cant understand young men very well... haha one of the sisters said one time that she doesnt try to look good anymore, she tries to look more ugly because then less men yell at her. lol me too. i never do my hair anymore :/  also im offically blond. the man cutting my hair told me so. but i guess its nice to know that no matter how much weight i gain, there will still be people here that shout things at us in the street...lol

this week was a little harder for me personally. ive been pretty frustrated about the lack of baptisms in this sector and trying to figure out what we are doing wrong. also i never realized how much a mission would try my faith and testimony. when we listen to people tell us it doesnt matter what church we are a part of, they are all the same, or that men are imperfect and so no church is right and such its hard to not let it get to you when you hear it 100 times a day. nobody actually understands our message or they listen to the first lesson of joseph smith and such and then tell us its no different that any other church.. what?! God came down from heaven in our day! haha. but my testimony is just fine, dont worry. haha just a little frustrating so i had a mini breakdown the other night and hna flores had to testify that YES there are prepared people waiting and suchy. but all is well now. sunday was a sunday of miracles! we had a inactive man named Juan come that we had randomly found the other day and he was so happy to see us and come to church again. we also had one of investigators come and he liked it! that was super cool. also we went to the baptism of Javiera (the girl i helped on divisions) and it was super awesome! the Spirit was super strong and she was so happy. 

so in the end, it was a good week :) 

anyway love and miss you all!

Week 24-January 12, 2015

Week 24-January 12, 2015

hey everyone! sounds like everyone is doing well :)

this week was interesting for us. it was great and busy. but i like being busy, so it was good :)

today was change meeting and it was in English! haha that was fun. but president decided to call me out for something i had written in my email to him last week so that was interesting. the past few weeks weve had quite a few tests of our obedience. they say ¨obedience brings blessings and EXACT obedience brings miracles^ so we have been trying to be obedient with everything but it seems like the Lord is trying us to see how obedient we are willing to be...but we are excited because if we pass the test hopefully we will see some miracles in this sector! we certainly need some...

anyway we had a few experiences that left me wondering if we had done the right thing because our obedience had left a member crying and the elders mad at us and i ended up asking the president what he thought and he decided to answer me in front of the entire mission and to thank hna flores and i for our obedience. i wanted to hide and then afterwards i wanted to cry. it was an interesting experience..haha but we have been asking everyone about their ideas on what exactly is the ¨´spirit of the law´when it comes to mission rules. many people claim to follow it but hna flores says this is apostasy.haha pretty funny. anyway, does dad have an opinion? or mom? haha just curious...

but also, funny story, the other day in the street a man came up to us while we were contacting another man and shouted at me ´tu eres pobre?´¨ haha i was like, what? no! why? haha so he went on to tell me i didnt look like a gringa beacuse my shoes were viejos.he told me i couldnt be from the US because i was poor.  lol super funny. i guess my shoes are more of a disaster than i thought..haha he offered to give me shoes and i turned him down saying, no no no i have money i just like these ones! haha also im pretty sure i have a weird disease on my feet or something.maybe mom could look up athletes foot and how to cure it for me? haha

also im trying a new diet of mate, which is a weird herb drink they drink in south america that i really dont like but am forcing myself to get used to becuase it helps you lose weight :P we will see what happens..

also the other day was crazy because one of the menos activos that we visit had a panic attack and we had to leave in the morning from our pension because she posted on facebook that she was alone and needed help. it was kinda crazy. guess she had an arguement with her husband and was so stressed out about everything in her life than she collapsed. luckily the members beat us to her and were already helping when we arrived. it was super funny because all the ladies helping were like, sisters dont worry marriage is a good thing!. haha we decided God is trying to teach us something about men here or something. one of the main things ive learned in the mission is that men are bad and marriage is trying. haha

also im in the sector for another change with hna flores, so we are excited about that! :)

but anyway, glad everyone is good! love you all!!! miss you!

also if taylor gets his call someone needs to video it on their phone and send it to me!!!

Week 23-January 5, 2015

Week 23-January 5, 2015

hi everyone!!! sounds like christmas break was a success!! our news years was good :P we went to bed early and in the morning i made cinnamon rolls :P our apartment was super quiet and chill since everyone left to parties and such in the houses i think. we had to be in the apartment early  ( at 8) so we were pretty excited to sleep :P but the rest of chile danced all night (until like 7 in the morning)! 

and wow taylor submitted his papers!!!! exciting!!! let me know when he gets them!!!!!

and about printing emails, i think its ok for now but im definitely going to print them all out at some point to save them all in my journal..

and what is mandy planning on saying about me? haha

by the way i found root beer and brown sugar here!!! good news:) 

anyway, this week was good, lots more divisions and such but its fun to get to know the other sisters. the only thing is that there are still some people i cant understand super well in spanish or things i dont know how to say so that was a little frustrating. also its super hot. haha but im much happier with sun than clouds so its really a blessing :) its just that the pool outside our apartment is so tempting...haaha no just kidding. anyway, about the people. we have a 9 year old boy who is AWESOME and is reading the book of mormon and comes to church with his grandma who is reactivating and he plans family home evenings and invites us, so it has been super fun to teach him lately, but we cant baptize him cuz hes only 9 and his family doesnt want to participate in church.  also we are helping one of our investigators quit smoking right now and this week we are teaching the law of chastity and he told us his weakness is women, so that will be interesting :P haha but he is super awesome.

anyway, the other thing we thought about alot this week was the influence of members. we have been really frustrated with the members here lately because they tell us they will accompany us and then cancel and its super frustrating for us since we literally cant teach some investigators if we dont have a member. its so hard to find people who can come with us. its like the talk in general conference about how there is a church of the missionaries and a church of the members and unless they become one church nothing can happen. our investigators cant progress without the members!  the funny thing is that recently reactivated members are the BEST for missionary work. all our recently reactivated members are much more willing to accompany us and invite people to listen to us and such. it makes me think about how us members sometimes take for granted everything and forget what blessings the gospel has given us and why we should share it and people like Hermano Borquez and Veronica and silvia understand everything way better becuase of their life experiences...i hope someday i can be more like them.

anyway all is well and have a great week everyone!!!

Week 22-December 29,2014

Week 22-December 29, 2014

hi everyone!!

it was so fun to talk to you guys this week!!! i was so happy we finally found a computer and such :)

and yes dad we invite people to be baptized ALWAYS. haha almost every lesson, even if we dont even teach lesson 1. and sometimes in contacts too. haha but 1400 is a ton!! and ya every mission is different, like mom said. i would love to be able to serve for a week in a few other countries just to see what they are like  :P the people here have so much love and are very social and love to listen and let us in, but they have a hard time with commitments and sometimes convert for the missionaries or something, which i think probably doesnt happen as much in the states. 

anyway sounds like you all are doing well and that you all had tons of fun in big bear!

also toffee sounds like she is getting spoiled...haha}

this week we had a miracle when one of our menos activos came to church, all three hours. for the first time in like 10 years! it was awesome :)

and mom, maybe there are some fields nearby, but our sector is all houses  so we just run in the neighborhood next to our apartment :)

anyway, i just wanted to thank you all for everything. i just felt so so so grateful christmas day when i opened the package from you guys and knew i would get to talk to all of you and i just want to thank you all for your support and love and just everything. i just feel so lucky to have the life i have and a family like you guys. so thanks thanks thanks thanks for everything :)  

love and miss you all!!

Week 21-December 22, 2014

Week 21-December 22, 2014

you got a dog??? in the HOUSE?? haha wow i guess dad really is getting older....haha older and more relaxed :P haha i knew it would happen someday, but i didnt think so soon! haha 

wow thats awesome that you guys helped the missionaries like that! and of course they talked about baptism, we invite people to baptism in contacts!! if we dont invite people in the first lesson, the president said we dont have faith! :P and you guys should definitely follow up with them, maybe invite them to church and stuff:P

our biggest frustration right now is that the members love the missionaries but never have timeto accompany us and reallyhave no idea what our purpose is sometimes. and honestly we cant even teach some of our investigators without a member and we have to leave them waiting and not show up because they are men who live alone ( for example a man named Juan whos wife commited suicide a few weeks ago). so frustrating when this happens. we call the entire ward and no one answers or they cancel at the last minute. im trying hard to develop more patience and charity as my ¨´gift para el Señor´ for christmas :P  but we have reall,y seen alll kinds of miracles lately. a couple examples:

i have been frustrated lately cuz i feel like my testimony is based on the fact that i just know the book of mormon and the church is true. i just know it, ive never had a huge spiritual experience from praying like i promise investigators that they will have 10 times a day. i have just seen and felt the fruits of the gospel in my life and there is no way they are from Satan, so it has to be true. but anyway, i was on divisions the other day and we visited an investigator that has been investigating for a lonnng time (many missionaries have taught her) and she had been fasting and waiting for an ánswer´¨ but in the lesson she said straight out that she knew it was all true at  one point and i was able to bear my testimony about how the Lord is only going to give us the knowledge we need to go forward in faith and we are never going to have a perfect knowledge in the beginning and that if we know its true we have to act and then our testimony will grow. it was awesome because afterwards she agreed to get baptized and we set a date in a couple of weeks and she wants me to be there (even though she only met me that day in the lesson!). it was awesome and a huge testimony strengthening experience for me.  

also we are teaching a family who has tons of questions and who are reading the book of mormon and everything and we are so excited for them! 

we also set a baptism date with a couple (also on divisions but i was here in our sector with another hermana) and theyaccepted immediately and even said in their prayer to end the lesson that they were willing to do whatever God asks them todo, including be baptized. unfortunately they were sick this sunday and couldnt attend so we arent sure if their baptism date is going to work and such and they are going to argentina in a couple weeks so who knows what will happen. seriously the biggest challenge here is just getting people to come to one hour of church...kills me every sunday

but anyway, excited to talk to you guys this week!!  love and miss you all!

i have an hour to talk on skype but we have yet to finalize a place with internet and cameras to do it so here is the tentative schedule for now.

christmas day: 3 pm  your time( 6 my time)

if this doesnt work or i never call,  i will try for 3 pm your time the 26th and if that doesnt work out 1pm your time 27th. haha i hope christmas day works out but we have to find a server with cameras that will open for us christmas day and the elders found one but they arent answering their phone right now, so we will see.