Week 44-June 1, 2015

Week 44-June 1, 2015

wow sounds like taylor leaving was quite the adventure!!! also it is obvious that he will be a lot better at writing than me :P haha but hopefully you guys can forgive me. glad he got to england safely and is doing great!

anyway this week here in chile all kinds of crazy things happenes! haha basically i found out my entire ward is crazy and we also found lots of people with mental problems contacting this week, but they are awesome. one of them, a 20 year old guy who had an accident and as such has a few challenges mentally, mostly just with his memory, is super awesome and came to church this week!! he is totally going to get baptized, we just have to help him remember the stuff he needs to know and help him keep quitting smoking. we have another investigator we found that has a lot of potential but he wont stop making jokes about marrying us during the lessons so we might have to leave him until someday the elders find him or something.. also another investigator whose daughter just got interned for drugs and bipolarism but she is awesome and her mom is super receptive and acepted a baptism date. we finally figured out how to teach the first lesson more simply because literally nobody understands. ever. so now we just talk about the power of God that Christ had to heal people. we dont even mention prophets haha and it worked!  the Spirit was there and she understood what we were saying. 

also this week Jorges mom taught us how to make sopiapillas!! so that was fun :) she is super nice to us even though she is super catholic. i think she really respects her son and the progress he has made. its awesome :)

also they took out two of the elders from our ward so now we have part of their old sector, so we have been getting to know it this week. super evangelical. there are literally at least 20 churches in our sector alone. every block has an evangelical church in someones house or something. crazy. also there is a part that is super poor. the poeple can just go and build a house there with what they have. its crazy to see. but the people there are super humble. its true what they say about the more humble people being more receptive. 

also we found a menos activo this week (finally) we basically told us that there is ALL KINDS of drama in our ward and things the people have done or are going through secretly that seriously challenged our faith in families and marriage. but hopefully we will get over it. but i wont go into detail because its not necessary. long story short, some of the people here have literally gone through the inimaginable in their marriages or lives and have lived to tell the tale. some of the people here are stronger than i could ever be and have TONS of faith.i learn every day from their examples...

anyway, love you all and have a fantastic week!

pretty part of our sector but not very successful because its richer. so basically we knocked some doors, took some pictures, found pomegranates and left. haha

Week 43-May 25, 2015

Week 43-May 25, 2015

wow sounds like taylors farewell was a success!! its crazy to think he leaves this week...doesnt seem real for me.. but he will be awesome.

also sounds like backpacking was fun!! and allie came! bet it was fun to get to know her finally :P 

anyway, i am doing well, sent some pictures this week :P

tried a new food this week that is absolutely divine. Sushi frito. fried sushi. literally delicious. and so chileno because they literally fry everything. but they put cheese and avocado and fish or chicken in the sushi and deep fry it. we have a family of menos activos who sell sushi and now its an addiction.. haha if you find it there, try it.

also this week we found a puppy (1 month old) in the street and ended up knocking doors looking for a home for it. it was so cute haha it was such a tentation to take it home... but anyway we finally found a member whose little dog had just died and they took it in. ill send a picture the next time we see it. 

also we got in the middle of a marital fight the other day with a family we found knocking doors. basically the wife was super jealous and tryed to argue with us about everything we taught and in the end told us "of course my husband let you in, he talks to and lets in all the women and young girls here" oh my goodness it was so awkward. the husband is actually really good, he just listened. so that was an interesting experience. 

also this week i learned a lot about how hard salvation really is and how real the devil really is. lots of weird experiences with stuff like that and stories about spirits in other pensions and from the people. basically one of the things i have gained a testimony of here is that is God is real, Satan is too. and that there really is another world of people without bodies, good and bad. anyway, that has also been interesting. i have decided latinos are especially sensitive to these things, so im grateful to be a gringo :P haha  oh and a challenge for dad: can you find a scripture that says that God the Father loves us (in the present, not that "God so lovED the world..")? it has been our search recently. basically it turns out maybe God already did everything He was going to do with this world..interesting to think about.

love and miss you all! have a great week!

BYE TAYLOR!! you are going to be awesome! read your email before you go! love you tons.

our house..the land of desolation​

This morning in the city in a McDonalds bathroom at 8am

Freezing in the cold street :p

noche de talentos. this is estephania. she got baptized in january before i got to this sector :)

when your clothes are super limited and its freezing outside and you just dont even really care if things match... had to take a picture it was so bad :P  hermana espinoza says we have to be careful because if we wear enough ugly or weird clothes we might start thinking they look good...my sense of style is seriously in danger haha

Week 42-May 18, 2015

Week 42-May 18, 2015

ok well you guys didn't write (we did...not sure why she didn't get them=)) but i can write you guys i guess. haha anyway this week was good. Jorge got the priesthood sunday :) it was awesome.

changes were this week so we had the meeting today. it was hermana arangos birthday thursday so president called to tell her happy birthday and after she said she was happy with her companion he told her not to worry, that we wouldnt be changed. haha `es un regalo` he said. so basically hermana arango got chocolate and me for her birthday :P haha but we are doing great and now we will live alone because the sector of the other hermanas was closed and given to the elders of their ward. so now we will be lonely and are a little nervous about the security of living alone but president knows what he is doing and where we live is super chill so we will be ok. all we have to worry about are the natural disasters :P all kinds of volcanos and earthquakes here.. 

anyway, one thing i learned this week is the power of the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. i never understood why we have to read every day before but now we can tell and see the differences in the people who are reading and those who are not. its so easy to loose your testimony and the people who stop reading adn praying loose everything, even their memory of the gospel that was so important to them before. also investigators who read, progress and feel a desire to do things right, but those who dont never do anything to progress. ive realized even looking back on my own life that the times when i was reading i progressed and actually wanted to do good things and when i wasnt reading, i was rebelious, questioned everything, and did things i regretted later. the scriptures have power, especially the book of mormon. the simple things really work to help us progress. anyway, that is what i learned this week. also the word etiquetar, which means to tag, like tag a photo on facebook :) 

love and miss you all! have a great week!
hope dad had a great birthday!!!

Week 41--May 11, 2015

Week 41--May 11, 2015

Mother's Day Skype--Sunday, May 10th, 2015 1:00-2:00pm

it was awesome talking to you guys yesterday!!! everyone seems a little older but basically the same, which is comforting :P our family is pretty steady and constant haha

glad everyone is doing well. i will send pics. love and miss you all! have a fantastic week and HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!! you are the best!! love you tons. thanks for your example and testimony and hard work for our family. and for being super fun and for having so much love for all of us. 

Ashley and Hermana Arango at the Santiago temple

her desk...notice the neatness=)

Ashley and Hermana Arango with Jorge and aunt and nephew

Week 40-May 4, 2015

Week 40-May 4, 2015

we just had a brief email exchange arranging our Mother's day Skype...

Week 39-April 27, 2015

Week 39-April 27, 2015

hahahhaha i couldnt help but bust up laughing about the food situation. i can only imagine dad and the little girls trying to feed college boys and not knowing what to do..lol you guys should just tell them to go but in and out and order pizza :P haha but sounds like a party there..

sounds like mom enjoyed the wedding. id love to see pics :)

my week was good. we taught the law of chastity to beatriz and her husband and talked about them getting married and turns out he just doesnt think marriage is important but we talked and he said he was willing to do it for his family. it was an awesome lesson. we are trying to be more direct and we really pulled it off. it was also one of the first lessons when i felt like the Spirit was actually putting the words in my mouth and i said things i wouldnt have thought of myself. it was cool. then beatriz and her son came to a noche de hogar that we had with the wardfriday and then to church sunday!! it was awesome. also we challenged jorge to baptism again and he acepted for this saturday!! we agreed to fast with him tomorrow so that he can feel a confirmation of what he is doing from God. he also came to church but only for the sacrament because he was studying all night. but anyway, we are super excited for his baptism saturday!! he is a great guy and we keep promising him a temple marriage with a great LDS girl if he gets baptized :P 

also i got the easter card! thanks!!! and i think a package you guys sent arrived but i forgot to pick it up so now i have to wait another week and a half... 

oh also we had interviews with president this week so that was good. he is an amazing guy. 

and to answer what dad said about the Spirit, thats an interesting thought but honestly im not sure i would want that. the thing about the Spirit always telling you what you need to get better at is that you are more aware of your weaknesses than ever before. i think that has been one of the hardest things about the mission for me. there are constantly a million things you have to improve and so many ways you fall short every day and as a missionary you are acutely aware of it. also there is always stress about the numbers and sometimes it can be hard to feel like you are really serving the people. sometimes i feel like i am just desperately trying to convince them that the LDS church has the authority of God and they usually dont understand. But i know its also hard to see the big picture. i know its because God wants me to grow and be a stronger and better person. and ive learned so much. sooooo much. my testimony has grown and i understand the doctrine of the restoration so much better.  We dont actually understand all the blessings of the gospel i think. like really what does is mean to be an eternal family? or why is baptism with the right authority really so important? these are things i learn more about every day but i think i could study it my whole life and still not completely understand it. i just know they are important and that if God said we should want it, we should listen to Him. He made the Plan. anyway, those are my thoughts for this week. love and miss you all!! 

also about mothers day. i think we are going to try and talk at 5 our time the 9th (saturday). i think that is 2 your time but you should probably verify...if that doesnt work, just let me know. we just cant do it sunday because we have to pay for the servir and its the sabbath...

Week 38-April 20, 2015

Week 38-April 20, 2015

looks like everyone is doing well!! good to hear!

this week was good for us too. we recieved a reference of a menos activa who when we stopped by was super excited to see us and to come to church again. we invited her for sunday (the next day) and she came! even though it was freezing cold and cloudy and 9 in the morning! haha also another menos activa told me i look like scarlett johannson...haha i love the chileans. they compliment you, insult you, but at least they always tell the truth.:P also we are teaching a lady named victoria gonzalez and she told us this week she wants to get baptized but when she found out you have to go to church EVERY sunday she was a little worried. its frustrating when something so little scares people off. but anyway it was funny because she told us she had been watching TV and the He Lives video we have been sharing with everyone came up in youtube, out of nowhere, two times! haha she watched it, felt something ¨caliente en la guata¨ (the Spirit lol -how she describes it every time we come) and said ¨Que Querì!?¨ to God. lol oh chilenos. they use slang in the tu form with como estaì and que querì and such. anyway, it was super funny to laugh about how in old times God sent Moses to a mountain to talk to him and gave him stone tablets with the commandments and now he talks through youtube and watsApp...haha 

also there is a house in our sector with like 8 cats outside always and i think i mentioned it last week but if not its super funny but they put a sign outside saying ^por favor no dejar gatos , es casa no pension de animales^ haha but basically the idea of people leaving their cats in this patio of this house with a man who lives solo with his brother is super funny. i will send pics :P then you can see what we laugh about during the day while walking around for hours haha. 

also Beatriz is awesome. last night we had a lesson with her and she started crying and told us that she was studying the Book of Mormon and wants to keep learning and follow this path but then told us all about how she has problems with depression and bipolar disordor and that one time some evangelicos blessed her or something to take out the bad spirit that was in her and she is better now but she knows it will be hard for her to keep going with this. but she really wants to. so we testified a lot of Gods love and His power to heal us and help us along the path and with our weaknesses and it was amazing how strong the Spirit was. then she asked us if it was a sin that she was living with her pareja because it had come to her mind one day. we had planned to teach the law of chastity last night and it was cool to see how when people feel the Spirit they want to be better and know what they need to change, the Spirit tells them. she told us she wants to get married but her pareja no, so we will be praying a lot and such so that he changes his mind. also she told us that when we are there, she forgets about all her problems and feels peace and that when we leave it goes back to normal. its amazing to think that if we are obedient and diligent and beg for the Spirit, it comes. God can use us to give peace to others, even for just a few minutes. 

anyway, im doing well and love you all!

​a part of our sector we just discovered might be ours!! campo!! gorgeous!