alison

2010-08-31T19:08:00.001-07:00

Cal says I should start up the blog thing again. She showed me how to update the template. Let's see how part 2 goes in my blogging world...

El Fin

2010-05-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

One more day and Alison will be home!! As her mother it has been a pleasure copying and pasting the information she wanted to share with her friends and family. As much fun as this has been, I'm ready to hand off the posting duties to HER!

Al's flight will be in at 1:02 p.m. tomorrow (tues) and if anyone wants to be there to greet her, you're sure welcome... she would love it! If not, her Homecoming is this upcoming Sunday, May 9th at 9:00 a.m.

Bueno adiós!

The Lovely Mother of Alison

President and Sister Resek

2010-04-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

My last letter!!

2010-04-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, ….. I am just gonna tell ya that I think this may be the last time that I am going to write before I come home because next week I am going back to a couple of areas to visit some people before I leave. We can do that our last p-day and we will be traveling a lot, and I don`t know if we are going to get time to write much, but I will at least check my email. Juuust so you know :) I am especially excited to see Pablito and Karina. Hna. Olson told me that Pablito had to give his testimony in a baptism and was SOOOO nervous but carries around a little note I sent him a few weeks ago and had it in hand when he gave his testimony so as to give him courage. It was so cute!

Well, if you didn`t know, it`s COLD here. Actually at this very moment, it`s not that cold, but in the mornings and evenings and nights its cold. Winter is definitely knockin on the door.

This week we did divisions… I went to Baquedano (another part in Rancagua) with Hna. Pinto. We lived together in Graneros when we shared sectors and we always talked about how we wanted to be companions, but it never happened…. So we were THRILLED to be together for one day! I felt like we were walking on the clouds all day long :) We had an awesome lesson with the cutest young couple who are truly looking for the truth. We shared the message of the restoration and we talked and answered questions and testified and the spirit was very strong. They kept saying how the message just made sense, but more than that, they FELT that it was right. The dad, Juan, said that with all the different religions that he had shared with, he had never FELT like he did when he heard the message. It was awesome. I loved that moment. I love moments like that when you can feel the spirit testify of the truthfulness. I don`t know if I recognized that feeling before, but I definitely can`t deny the feeling now. Though today we had a sisters lunch for all the sisters here in the Rancagua area and I had to say goodbye to a few of my old latin companions/friends like Hna Pinto and Hna Bonilla and it was pretty heart breaking.

Though some more good news is that we are teaching a single Jovencita named Malu that is actually about a year older than us that has a little boy. Her friend is a less active returning to the church joven named Diego and last week he just showed up with Malu and she wanted to learn more. She is wonderful and is preparing to be baptized for the 2nd of Mayo. I love teaching her because she really wants to learn and we just seem to connect well :)

Patricio was confirmed yesterday and he seems so happy. He got sick this last week because the water was cold when he got baptized :P oops. But he is doing well.

Does anyone know if they sell mate yerbas en the US??

AND THE COOLEST NEWS FOR TODAY….. We just now got a phone call from the Hna. Cabezas (the Colombian Hermana that is helping us with Jairo and Monica) and told us that she went with them to the registro civil and found out that they can legally get married here in Chile with just their passports (that was the doubt) and that they have decided that they want to get married!!! They are still not exactly sure how much time they have to wait before they can get married, but there is a great chance that they will do it before we leave and be baptized too (at least Monica…. Jairo is having a hard time leaving behind a few vices…) But I am so excited for them!!!! Yesterday we had a FHE again with them and with the Cabezas and I felt so at home and with so much love for Monica and Jairo and for the Cabezas. I am very happy that the work is progressing. I even made no bake cookies with REAL peanut butter and they were a big hit.

I haven`t felt any temblores this week. I kind of miss them.

Bueno, I hope everyone is doing well. Thank you so much for writing me! I love you so much!

Hna. Jones

Patricio Got Baptized!

2010-04-13T06:35:00.000-07:00

Hey heye hye heyeyehkafdashalghajlgad

Hey, I just want to say thaaaaaat PATRICIO GOT BAPTIZED!!! There, I said it. And I am going to say this too…. it really almost didn´t happen. This was the most opposition in a baptism that I have seen and experiences in all of my mission. For about 100,023,423 reasons. I will tell the story another day. I actually spent just about all of my hour in an email to the president (I had a lot to talk about this week) , so I don´t have much time.

But Patricio is happy and it was truly a miracle. He felt overwhelmed. It has been over 5 months that he was sharing with missionaries, and years before too. He was ready and he felt that wonderful spiritually clean feeling…. and that is what I am here for. To be able to see and experience that change though the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Something beautiful that happened is that MONICA came to church yesterday with Jairo, but in a pretty skirt. That means a whole lot when the investigators or new converts go out of their way to buy church clothes. Her birthday was this week too and we did a tiny little surprise for her and she cried with joy and a gratitude. She wants to get baptized so bad. But now Jairo is having cold feet and doesn´t know if he wants to make that commitment. The hard thing is that they are still living together. She is willing to leave him until he makes a decision so she can be baptized, but is dependent on him, it´s not so easy here to go out and find a supporting job and especially when you're illegal and waiting on papers. She is trying to figure out her options while Jairo figures out his. The good thing is we have a wonderful member family that have taken them under their wings and are helping them in every form. I don´t know what we´d do without them.

Well… I love you all so much - sorry this is so short. Thanks Mom and Dad and Cal for writing me. I don´t know what I would do without your supporting love and words!

Hna. Jones

A Great Semana

2010-04-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

Weeeeeeeeellllllllp, it was a great semana. It was a crazy week. We are still learning and trying hard and praying harder for our trio companionship. One thing I love about Hna. Magalei is that she doesn`t let the crap fly like I had done a few times with Hna. Motta (because I wanted to avoid contention). She and Motta have bumped heads a few times, but I think things are getting across. We are just doing our best, loving one another, praying a whole lot, and leaving the rest up to the Lord. It will be okay. One thing that is great in the area is that we are teaching a man named Patricio. He is a dad of a member family that has been going to church for months now, but never felt ready, never felt the need to get baptized or stop smoking. Well, recently he felt strongly the need to be baptized after he took the personal initiative to read the Book of Mormon everyday. He has stopped smoking and is (we are planning) ready to be baptized this weekend. It will be very beautiful for him and his family. We had an awesome leccion with him about repentance and Hna. Magalei and I (Hna. Motta was sick that day) were jumping in our seats pretty much with excitement to see his excitement and desires to change.

Monica and Jairo went to two sessions of general conference!!! They loved it! And, the good news (and I hope permanent news) is that they have decided for sure that they are getting married (there had been doubts) and they are putting in the pilas to get all their paper work done. Today is Monica´s birthday so we are going to have a sweet FHE with them. One other thing that makes me so happy is to see the testimony that Monica has with the Book of Mormon. She loves it. Even though she is from Colombia she still has that sweet ¨oh no you di´int!¨ black attitude so it`s hilarious when we go to visit them and we ask about what we left her to read. She proudly holds it up to show us all the markings she made and does that ¨ ummm hummmm¨ lip jutting thing. If you can picture that… I love it. If there is one thing that I have felt and learned strongly in the mission is the changing power that the Book of Mormon has on the people. I know it`s because it talks of Christ, and teaches how we can apply his atonement and him in our life.

Speaking of Confernece, it was great, wasn't it? Once again I am amazed at how directly and clearly the questions I brought to be answered were answered. A LOT of things that were said were very helpful for me to apply in my companionship.

One thing that was very impactful for me this week was something that happened to Hna. Magalei actually. But it was such a strengthener to my testimony of the priesthood. Well, I am not going to include too many details, but a long story short is that Hna. Magalei was not doing so well and was able to receive a priesthood blessing from Elder Wengreen and other Elders. I could feel very strongly that the blessing wasn`t coming from E´Wengreen, but they were words that Heavenly Father wanted her to hear. She was able to feel better and is just fine now. Remind me to tell you about this experience when I get back.

We had a zone activity today and hiked a really brutal mountain. We didn`t actually get to the top because we didn`t have all day. …. But it was fun! Though I fell quite a few times and got a little scraped up. That was to be expected though. I seem to trip a lot these days.

Thanks for the pics!! I love them. Daneille is so grown up it makes me sick. I also got pics from Michelle and her baby. She is so cute!!! Sorry my pics didn`t work out. Maybe I`ll just wait till later to show ya`ll.

Well things are going well. I love the work. I love the Lord. And I love my dear dear family so much. That`s the truth.

Hna. Honez

P.S. I forgot to add an important detail to the blessing story for Hna. Magalei that when the elders were giving the blessing the assistant recieved a phone call right at that very moment just to see if everything was okay. It was President Resek that called and he had had a feeling that something wasn`t right with some missionaries and so called to check in. At the very moment that he was giving the blessing. It was really incredible.

P.S.S. I forgot to tell that last night we had a pretty decent sized temblor and I got excited... I think I was going through aftershake withdrawls... terrible huh?

It's all Good

2010-04-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

This week has been pretty awesome. I LOVE the enthusiasm that Hna. Magalei has for the work. We`ve worked hard, and invited people to be baptized. We have felt the guidance of the spirit too. We get along so great. She is hilarious and laid back but understands the importance of the work. She has had a big change in her life and feels the love of the Savior and her testimony strengthens mine and she firmly believes that we can always progress. I have felt very well with her and things with Hna. Motta have gotten a lot better too. It`s interesting being in a threesome, kind of awkward walking in the street, but it`s nice if we ever need to be in two different parts but close by because we do this cool triangle thing where one hermana is in the middle and can see us both.

So we`ve had this reference for couple of weeks but his is only available on Saturday afternoons. But the thing is he lives FAR away from where we`re working. We went last week, and didn`t find him. We went on Saturday and again, we didn`t find him. But I was thinking about what Preach My Gospel says about references and how sometimes if we can`t locate our referral, maybe there is someone else waiting and needing the gospel close by. So we started knocking doors on this street where never before would we have gone out there (because it`s so far) and knocked like 4 houses and found a woman named America. She is GOLDEN (we think). And wants to get baptized. And we had to be brought all the way out there for the referral that didn`t work out to find her, because we wouldn`t have found her otherwise. It was AWESOME. I love how the Lord works in mysterious ways. Though we only taught her once but I am certain she will progress.

And one more.... makes three!!

2010-03-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

Today there are transfers. I am sure you know what I was expecting... and it didn`t happen. In fact there are a whole load of things that Heavenly Father still wants me to learn with Hna. Motta, my last transfer in the mission. She actually leaves this transfer too so it only made sense that we would be changed. But instead, another sister came and we are going to be in a threesome. Our new companion is named Hna. Magalei from Orem Utah, but she is polonisian (how do you spell that?) she is very pretty, big, and she is HAPPY and bubbly and easy going. It will definitely be a challange being in a threesome, but she has already been an angel for me in these last 2 hours. It is definiely not what I pictured my last transfer in the mission to be like, buuuuut, when do things ever work out how we expect? This scriture is my goal: ¨let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God , and for his arm to be revealed.¨ D&C 123:17. So I am hoping for the best, willing to keep working my best and I know things will work out.

Jairo and Monica went to church again yesterday. I love them so much. Though Monica and Jairo understand that to be baptized, they need to get married. Well, Monica told us once that she is not very happy with Jairo and is thinking about breaking up with him...because she wants to get baptized so bad!! Though we`re cheering on the marriage because Jairo is such a good person too, I just hope they can make a decision where they both are happy.

We are also teaching a young woman named Javiera. She is a friend of a member and the girlfriend of another member. She is so sweet and has a beautiful cheezy smile. Though she has had a rough/rebellious past and is trying to stop smoking. Though she is making great progress! We can see a change in her countenance and the other day she took out her lip ring and hasn`t put it in since! Bacàn, huh?

So along with getting a new companion, this morning we moved out of the Wengreens apartment and upstairs with the other sisters. 2 of them left to live with other sisters in another area, but still close to their own area (I feel bad about kicking them out... but blame the earthquake for eating our home). Though we live with Hna. Jackson and Hna. Black. Remembe Hna. Black? She was my ¨daughter¨ in the mission... so that`s really nice to be back with her. My desk to study is right next to the window and I am going to like sitting with the window open catching the fall breeze and listening to the hustle of busy Rancagua below. I like our new location :) It is still quite far from our area, but we take taxis there and sometimes the elders take us in their car since we share an area. So that`s nice.

I lately am finding out a lot about how much the lord will strengethen people in their trials. I am so grateful that I am not on this journey alone.

So do you have your food storage updated and your emergency backpacks ready?

I love you,

Hna. AL

Temblorcito

2010-03-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Wow, I just want to say that I am very touched by all the prayers and concern from everyone for the people here in Chile. I don´t doubt that they are being held up by everyone's prayers. Especially those who have lost loved ones.

You asked about the temblorcito (little aftershock!). It wasn´t that bad. Though my companion and I were knocking doors at some apartments when it hit. It was actually kind of comical because just minutes before everyone that we talked to told us ´NO´ so we moved on. When it started to shake my companion and I ran out from under the buildings and wires and waited it out and so did everyone else (it wasn´t that long). The woman that told us seconds earlier that she didn´t have time ran out with her two daughters a bit scared, but ran out right along side of us. So, what did we do? We started talking to them! And then they listened to us (they didn´t really have a choice) but they invited us back to visit again. It´s true what a few people have said, how all of this could make the people a little more receptive. This week we have found a lot of people. Normally we find between 10 and 14. This week we found 24 people that listened to our message. And some of them are doing very well! A few of them even accepted the invitation to be baptized, so I am really excited to continue teaching them. I really hope we can see real progress. I feel like there is so much potential. So many people ready for the gospel and are even more prepared than ever now to receive the message so we are doing our best to get to them and help them know the great joy that comes from experiencing the atonement. I really do have that desire and I am praying a lot that we can find these people and that they can progress.

I have learned so much from Ernesto this week! He is doing so well. He wanted to show us the other day some of the temporal blessings that he has received since being a member of the church. Before he has always been a little poor, hasn´t really had a lot, very little food. But said, ¨I just want you to see something¨ and he opened up his kitchen drawers and fridge and showed us a whole load of food and food storage that he has bought. He said that this last week a check suddenly arrived in his mail from the government that he wasn´t expecting and he was able to buy a food storage. Before he said he barely had anything in his kitchen but thanks to paying his tithing and being obedient he recognized his blessings. It was awesome!

It´s true about the blackout here. I think it hit a good part of Chile, not just Santiago because it sure hit here! It was about 9 o clock pm, but we took off in a taxi as soon as it hit so we got in safe and sound. It was kind of fun, we got home and then went up to the sisters that live above us and made French toast in the dark (but with flashlights).

Rory asked if they were going to re-locate missionaries. Sure enough, tomorrow there are a handful of missionaries that were going to go to the Concepcion mission, but they will be arriving here instead. I think one sister missionary is coming in today too.

Today we had a sisters conference and I learned a lot of wonderful things. Though when president addressed us, he asked me on the spot to translate for him (there are new gringa sisters in the mission so they needed a translation) and that scared me more than the earthquake I think, but I was able to translate everything just fine :) I was surprised at how easy it was ;)

I met Sister Kelly Rasmusson this week, she seems to be doing very well! You can tell them that, mom :)

I got an envelope from Rena Peacock with letters from the achievement days girls the other day and it was so cute! Tell her thanks. Also if you could tell Bishop that the 9th is just fine to speak.

Aaaand, yes I know the Elder Canaan. He was my district leader once. I think I heard from someone that his dad is kind of famous in the music scene and that wouldn´t surprise me because Elder Canaan is a music buff too.

This next week there will be transfers. I think also we will moving in with the sisters that live above us. That will be nice. The Wengreens are wonderful (sometimes she makes cookies, other times brownies) and I have really enjoyed conversations with Sister Wengreen, but I think they need their space.

Everything is well. We are able to donate a lot of things to people, but other than that we haven´t been involved in too many service projects. The places that really need it are far from our area. I really wanted to get down and dirty re-building houses and what not… but that will all come. There is other work to be done :)

I am doing well, thank you for loving me so much. I love my family like a fat kid loves chocolate.

Sorry if I forgot something…..but CHAAAO!!

Get your food and water storage!!!

2010-03-08T23:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, before i forget, I`m gonna answer your questions: Cali, no, I don`t know those people… sorry :( How do you know people from Machalí? Mom… I still don`t know Kelly Rassmussen. When I left she went to the area San Fernando, and I was in Guadalupe, but in the city of San Fernando. They are two areas in the same city. So she lives in the same house that I lived in. I know that she is with Hna. Pastrana from Colombia. And Hna. Pastrana is INCREDIBLE. So she is in very good hands there. Hna. Olson wrote me a letter once to tell me about how things are going down there and she commented that Hna. Rass is having a hard time because she was sick in the MTC and didn`t learn any Spanish so she feels really behind. But she said that Hna. Pastrana is helping her a whole lot. But I think that`s normal in the beginning of the mission. I am sure she will be just fine. We have a Sisters conference this next p-day, so I should be able to see her then.

I`m sorry if my last email scared you, I was just thowing in the details… oops? But everything is okay, please don`t worry. It`s been an interesting week! Presidente was very hesitant in letting us go out and work in our areas so until Thursday we could only visit members and the people that have dates to be baptized. That means that we had a lot of down-time… not been able to do a whole lot. As for the service we`ve been able to help a little, donate a few things, but we can only participate in organized service projects in the branch. There are a handful of families still living in the church, but the branch has really come together to help them, they are in good hands. Luckily Rancagua hasn`t been affected as much as another part in our mission, though our area has been the most affected of the Rancagua areas. The missionaries in the south are doing a lot more service as it was hit a lot harder. Though those in Concepcion obviously are not well. I am still amazed that not one missionary in all of Chile was hurt in the earthquake.

We`re still living with the Wengreens. They are taking care of us just fine. Though I sometimes feel bad because their apartment was already small for 2 people and now we`re 4 people and I feel like we`re kind of cramping their style. But they are being so patient with us being in their home. We have to travel a lot farther to get to our area (far enough that we can`t walk) So we`ve been able to hitch a ride from either them, or the assistants a few of these days and that`s been nice. They are working on looking for another home, but right now that isn`t their main concern, so we just need to be patient for a little bit more time.

As I said we had a lot of down time, so one of the days we went to work in the office! It was awesome. The assistants have been on the phone non-stop this whole week so I said (not seriously) that I`d help them out with the phone calls. So the Elder handed me his phone and said ¨go for it.¨ So I got to call all the zone leaders in the entire mission and get some info from them and write it all up in the computer. It was pretty funny because a handful of them thought it was a joke. But it wasn`t. The best part of it was when I got to call my old district leader and be the boss for a minute. Ha. JK… or am I… It`s been an interesting week. Sadly, it seems like the earthquake just made my companion more irritable and without desires for the work. That`s probably been the hardest part of the whole thing.

But the really good news is that Jairo and Monica (the sweet black Colombian couple) went to church yesterday!! Throughout the entire sacrament meeting Jairo just cried and cried. He said he ¨had pain being there¨ Because he is very sentimental and felt overwhelmed and obviously felt the spirit in the testimony meeting. But he LOVED it at the end, participated in the classes and left happy with a handful of books and magazines that the members gave him. Monica didn`t say much about church, she just sat quietly and took it all in. It worried me a little bit because she has been the more receptive one in the lessons. But when I asked her how she had felt she said that she had felt a peace and tranquilidad. It was pretty awesome. We are going to have a FHE this week with another family that live close by. They understand that they need to get married, but they are still missing a few documents to be ¨legal¨ in Chile. So the process will probably be a long one, but they are great anyway and make me really happy :)

Bueno, thanks for everything I love you all so much. I am sending a happy birthday letter to pops today so I hope he gets it.

One thing I wanted to make clear last week but forgot is: GET YOUR FOOD STORAGE UP-DATED!!! It really came in handy, and I don`t know what the situation would have been like if the missionaries hadn`t recently updated the food storage. Don`t wait, just do it now. Spend they money, make the effort, but get your food storage. One thing too that would be nice is to always have a backpack maybe under the bed with food, water, and a change of clothes and underwear and a pair of shoes. And a FLASHLIGHT. Those are the things we needed. It seems like we did that once a long time ago, but now`s a good time to update everything.

Welp, I hope this week goes well

Oh yeah… Cali, thanks for your email!!! I love you too! are you working at the Journey then?

CHAO

Hna. Jones

Earthquake in Chile

2010-03-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, first of all thank you for all the prayers and concern, I love you all so much!

Second thing. .... the earthquake.... I don`t really know where to start or what to tell you because all the details in these last couple days would be enough to be here all day, buuuut I`ll just give you the run down starting with about 3:34 am Saturday morning.

I woke up with my companion saying ¨Sister, it`s shaking!¨ And sure enough it was, so I threw myself on the ground and Hermana Motta too (she sleeps on the bunk bed above me) We huddled down and all I had in my mind were those emails that mom and dad have sent me weeks and months ago about earthquake saftey so we ducked down by the bed ready for the worst. My companion started to freak out and started to take off so I got up to pull her back down on the ground but fell down doing it because it was shaking so much so there we sat huddled up against the bed and we prayed until the earthquake stopped. I am not going to lie, I was just waiting for the building to come toppeling down on top of us because we`re on the first floor, though it`s only a 4 story building. I kept thinking that it wasn`t real, it was so weird. So we got up, and of course there isn`t any electricity but we couldn`t find our cell phone or keys and that got me more panicy than anything but we found them and went out side.

There were people walking around in their underwear or bedsheets just dumb stricken for what had happened. The building looked okay, and it didn`t seem that bad. It looked like the people were okay too, just a little shaken up (literally!). We sat outside for a good while, not really sure what to do. And we were tired so finally we went back in and were going to go back to bed (I Know, that`s probably the dumbest idea ever but we obviously weren`t thinking. Just tired) But we only were inside for like 10 minutes when we hear at our door ¨!Hermanas!!¨ It was a member and his son that came looking for us. He told us we definitely should NOT be in the apartment but to come with them and sit with their family at a pavilion that was close by. I brought my blanket and pillow because I just wanted to sleep. So we went there and passed time with his family. It felt really nice to be taken care of. Though I felt just SICK because in the apartment in front of the office lives the elderly couple missionaries on the 5th floor, the 4 other sisters on the 9th floor and the assistants and the office elders on the 13th floor. I thought if it was bad for us, it was a nightmare for the others missionaries. And even more so I felt sick for Concepcion. I know a couple elders from my distrct in the MTC were there and all the other people that are there. It hit us I think about a 7, but as you all know it hit Concepcion at about 8.8.

So we were there for about an hour when the Elders came looking for us. These elders are the assistants to the president, but don`t live in our area because they live in the center in front of the mission office. But they have a car, so they came looking for us and we took off to another chapel and stayed there with a handful of other missionaries and members. It was nice to be with the other sisters in the mission. So there we sat in the dark of the chapel talking and waiting and talking and waiting... every once in a while we would feel a little tremble of the afterquakes. So it got light and from there they took us to the apartment in front of the office. The 5th floor there had a been a little damaged, glasses broken, on the 9th floor there had been a good deal of damage, and on the 13th floor it was a MESS. The book shelves were dumped, the washing machine was tipped over and everything else was pretty bad. Though no one got hurt. The elders said ¨it was pretty rockin on the 13th floor.¨ But the word from Presidente was that we all had to just hunker down in the aparment. Everyone came in the apartment of the Wengreens (the older couple) And there we were pretty much all day. He didn`t want any one going out. The assistants were with us the whole time, so we too heard their cell phones ringing and they were calling every 2 minutes to report that they were okay.

At this point I didn`t know how bad it was and for a long time they couldn`t get ahold of some missionaries and that was scary. The thing is here in Chile all the houses are build kind of crappy. and there are a LOT of older mud brick houses. Those are the ones that had the worst damage. There were a couple elders who lived in houses like that and their house is completely broken in half. They are staying with members and being taken care of, but that`s the worst of them. I am so grateful that everyone is okay. We finally went back to our house to grab a few things because President didn`t want us staying in our apartment just yet so we grabbed the essencial over nighters and took off again. I have to tell you, we are the MOST lucky/blessed hermanas in the mission I think because we were able to have contact with the office and the elders. We went to the office and finally they had internet and so that`s when I wrote you.

We also checked out the news on the internet and I felt just sicker and sicker. I don`t know the news today but as of yesterday they haven`t hardly had any communication in or out of concepcion. It looks like it got flattened. And the Tsunami that hit it is worse. You all see the news so you know how it is. The biggest concern for the office elders at this moment was trying to contact the families of a few missionaries that live in concepcion. It broke my heart because the elders from there kept calling in looking for word from their families. So we need to pray a lot for of course EVERYONE but for them in especial.

SO the next day we went to church not knowing what kind of meeting they were going to have, but we got there to find that there are about 10 families that are camped out on the lawn at the church. The thing is the apartments where we live are the worst built and everyone was ordered to evacuate them. Turns out that the foundation is totally screwed up and now it`s not safe to live. They are going to demolish the apartments. It was quite the sight to see our apartment in day light. Our apartment is built with brick but all along the brick there are huge cracks and I can even see the light of outside through one of them. Our window broke and our stuff got dumped, but that was all that happened. But I feel bad because for us, that is not a huge deal, we`ll just hang out with the Wengreens until they get something figured out. That wasn't our home, they are not our families, but for the people that live in that neighborhood it was everything. All along side the apartments are people camped out in their tents. What are they going to do? I have no idea. I feel so bad for them, for the members, for the people. The neighborhood from what I can tell has about 40 or 50 apartments buildings, so that`s a LOT of people suddenly without homes. Though I am so grateful that everyone is okay.

It really wasn`t that bad in Rancagua. It started in Concepcion, and I feel like the real damage just jumped Rancagua and hit Santiago bad. I know the big question is what in the world are we doing to help. I would like to know the same thing! Though the wards and branchs are in contact with the missionaries if they need help with their members, but it looks like our branch has everything under control but there are a lot of other people that don`t. So we`re just waiting for the word from President. He hasn`t wanted us to go out and work yet for various reasons, but we`re just seeing what we can do. Though having such close contact with the assistants we`ve been able to help a little in the office and we`ve bummed around with them a little bit dropping off food for missionaries that didn`t have their food storage. It`s crazy, about a month ago the pres and his wife ordered us to get a water and food supply. Right now our building doesn`t have water, but the office does so we`re just going to the bathroom and filling our water there. I think it`s like the only building here that doesn't have water, so the conditions aren`t bad. Life is going on as normal. Though we`ve driven around town a bit and we`ve seen quite a lot of those brick buildings where parts of the walls have crumbled down. I have pictures of everything, but on one of the elders camera ( I didn`t have mine with me). So I`ll get pictures out later. And a WHOLE lot of other details, but that`s the gist of it. We went and packed everything up and we`re staying in the apartment of the Wengreens right now so we`re okay. But I hope we can get some good service out there right now. But for now I hope that everyone prays like crazy for the people in Concepcion. My time is waaay up. But I love you all so much and don`t worry, just pray a lot for the other people.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

!ERNESTO SE BAUTIZÓ!

2010-02-22T19:02:00.000-08:00

Welp, I don`t have a ton to say this week, except that !ERNESTO SE BAUTIZÓ! And it was wonderful. He was soooo nervous! This whole week leading up to his baptism he`s been so nervous, but excited. Les cuento una historia… We told him about the interview that he was going to have to have with our district leader before his baptism. So he would know what to expect, but even though we did that he thought about it too much and just about made himself sick of anticipation. We went to see him the morning of his interview and he told us about how he was so worried about it that he was up until 1:00 in the morning praying that everything would be all right…. Oooh! This just about broke my heart! But we reassured him that everything would be alright. He told us he felt like a bride before her wedding (haha, I got a kick out of that, but he was serious!) He passed his interview with flying colors and proceeded to his baptism el Domingo. And it was wonderful. Though I sat by him in the baptismal program and I noticed while we were singing he was shaking. But you can see in the picture that I sent that he is such a sweet old man, and I have really enjoyed seeing his change and excitement to take this important step in his life.

Other great news…The other day we were knocking doors and found ourselves at the apartment of two little black girls from Colombia. There weren`t any adults there so we set an appointment for another day. Usually if they are little kids, we don`t set up appointments because it doesn`t really work out. But I REALLY wanted to teach them, because how often are you going to run into black people from Colombia?? They were cute too J So we went back yesterday and to our surprise the little girls were there, but their aunt and uncle (Monica and Jairo) were. And they invited us in!! And we taught them and it was a wonderful experience. They are smart people and very interested and especially interested in how the gospel helps families be happy. Sounds like they`re looking for some spiritual guidance and they felt that it was more than a coincidence that we were able to stop by. So I`ll keep you updated on them, I hope to meet the little girls too!

AND In 2 weeks Elder Scott is going to come and speak to OUR stake. And just our stake. Woohoo! I am excited for this J

ANNND, well that`s about it for this week, Thank you for writing me, I love my family so much.

Hasta luego!

Hna. Jones

Villa Teniente

2010-02-16T09:07:00.000-08:00

Howdy howdy howdy

Okay, so here I am in Villa Teniente. It`s been… a really long week. Probably the longest one of my whole mission. Buuuuut, that`s alright, because I`m learning a lot of stuff being here with Hna. Motta.

And good news is that we have a baptism this next weekend! It`s of an old man of 66 years named Ernesto. He is so sweet, and is so happy that he`s found the gospel. He`s only been listening for a couple weeks now, but he always says how his life has already changed a ton. I don`t think I`ve met anyone quite so determined to do whatever it is that the Lord asks him. At the end of one lesson, we left with him a Word of Wisdom pamphlet to read so that we could talk about it the next time. When we got there and asked him about it he said that the day earlier he was reading the pamphlet and it just happened to be right before he had eaten breakfast. Like everyone else here he`s big on coffee. Though when he read it, he decided for himself that he wasn`t going to drink any more coffee so he had something else for breakfast and got rid of his coffee. We didn`t even have to commit him to live it!! He says that when he goes to church he feels like he`s walking on the clouds. He feels the spirit so much and recognizes it. He has had a lot of personal spiritual experiences and confirmations with prayer and his heart has been so deeply touched. It is wonderful! Right now he is struggling with the dilemma that he wants so badly to tell his 4 kids about his decision to be baptized and share the gospel but he is scared that they are going to reject him for his decision. So he`s praying for this and has the faith that everything will work out well. He is a great example to me and I am learning so much from him.

We also just started teaching a family and all are members except the Dad and daughter. Right from the beginning I took a liking to this family because they are so open and warm and the Dad, Milton reminds me SO MUCH of MY dad. He even looks like him…quite a bit actually (I showed them pictures of Dad and they were like ¨WOOOWW!! He`s the same person!¨ Well… Milton has listened to the missionaries since years ago but is so hard hearted (says everyone) and for this he hasn`t accepted the gospel. But recently he has started to accompany his family to church and every time we leave him something to read he reads it! The first time I left him Alma 7 and he loved it. He said that the scriptures about the atonement really got to him. He gets excited about what he`s read and the honest truth is I see SO Much potential. I see him thinking and I see him receptive to the message. I really want to continue with him though my struggle is that Hna. Motta doesn`t like their family for something that the 16 year old daughter said (she got offended) and she says that there is no way Milton is going to progress….and so I have no support from my companion. So it`s obvious when we`re there she doesn`t want to be there. When we teach them (and a lot of other people in fact) I feel such a lack of unity. It`s so hard. I really don`t know what to do. Keep praying I guess. This has been my struggle. I think also it`s because I came from Guadalupe with Hna. Olson and she`s been like my right arm and such a support and right now it`s just so different. In fact one day I thought about writing president and telling him I wanted out… haha. That was a thought for like 5 seconds and then I remembered a story that Dad told me in one of his letters that he had a rough time with one of his companions and they fought it out a couple times and went to talk with president because they wanted out and he told them ¨Tough¨ Everytime it goes bad in the life you can just call quits, you gotta work it out and keep being strong. That`s what I`ll do for the next little while. I have felt a lot of help and strength from praying. But really things are going alright. The area is awesome. It`s definitely a lot more ¨ghetto¨ than all my other areas. The Branch is also very strong and the chapel is really pretty. It really is, it`s got pretty palm trees in front and I really like palm trees, so… yeah.

We also found a little family (though they aren`t married) that is desperately looking for help because they are stuck in drugs. They are Vanessa (17 years old) and Jonathan (22 years old) and little baby Benjamin. They immediately felt that we were sent to their home to help them and are very faithful that through Jesus Christ and his gospel they will find help and hope. I feel the same way too.

Funny thing… last night someone asked me if I was from Spain. Ha ha… if not Brazil ( and people still say I sound like I`m from Brazil), then I`ll be from Spain.

Well, I hope everything is going well over there. I love you all so much. There is an Hermana here who`s husband died of a heart attack at a church campout just a couple of years ago. When she told us the story it broke my heart so deeply and I cried with her. It made me think of my Dad, and my mom and family and how much I love you all so much, I don`t know what I`d do without you. So as I will take care of myself, you all too need to take care too! I love you so much!

CHAAAOOOO

Transfer to Rancagua

2010-02-08T14:24:00.000-08:00

Alrighty then... I have a lot to tell ya`lls...

I`ll start with the baptism of Carolina. It was beautiful! Her whole family went and it was very touching. Though with her baptism came a little drama. But only personal deep down drama.... Let`s flash back to my time in Graneros. Remember Sergio? The very special cute old man that wanted so desperately to get baptized, but couldn`t because he couldn`t get a divorce? Well, If you don`t remember it was really hard for him and for us too, but he continued working for his divorce. ...Now flash forward to last Wednesday at about 10:30pm. I get a call from the assistants to the president with good news. That things got all worked out and that Sergio was going to be bapized that Saturday. At 6:00pm. And I had permission to go back to my old area and be there for his baptism. I nearly died. Because the baptism of Carolina was going to be Saturday at the exact same hour, so I couldn`t go. I got all stressed out because I knew how much it would have meant for Sergio and Ilda for me to be there, AND I wanted to support them. Okay, I thought, We`ll just see if it`s possible to change the baptism of Carolina to Sunday So I could go to BOTH. Easy cakes, I thought. Hna. Olson and I prayed and crossed our fingers and prayed some more as we talked with the mom of Carolina. When we presented the new schedule, she simply said ¨No, It will be more comfortable for us to do it Saturday...you haven`t already changed it right?¨ What Carolina´s mom didn`t know was the ¨why¨ for the schedule change and I didn`t have the selfish heart to tell her that I want to change the baptism of her daughter so that I could to go another baptism. I am sure they would have felt bad and not important. So I didn`t say anything. Just ¨Okay. Saturday it is.¨ But inside I was shouting ¨No! But you don`t understand, it`s SERGIO, it`s GRANEROS!!¨ `But... in the end it all worked out well. The baptism was absolutely beautful and I am so grateful we could be a part of it. Though Hna. Black yes, went to the baptism of Sergio and since she lives with us she showed us the pretty pictures. He looked so happy! The sisters from Graneros baptized a little girl also at the same time and the person that baptized the little girl was LEONARDO!!! (The dad of the family that we baptized). Hna. Black said that everyone was asking for me and Yessica cried because she thought I was going to come. When Hna. Black told me this and when I saw Sergio and Leonardo in the pictures I started crying too. I don`t know why, really, in fact it was one of the most beautful things that has touched me in the mission - Sergio being able to be baptized and Leonardo being able to do a baptism. Though my heart hurt so deeply because I couldn`t be there, and because they felt bad that I didn`t go. I cried a lot. A lot a lot, but I am incredibly happy for them and touched and overwhelmed with gratitude.

....My other news is that I have left Guadalupe this morning. I don`t think it has sunk in quite yet. I hate, but absolutely HATE saying goodbye. I actually only said goodbye to a couple people because it`s a terrible feeling. Instead I just left letters. Though last night we had one more lesson with Karina y Pablito. I was so nervous telling them. Karina cried a lot, and that was painful. Right when we got up to go, Pablito ran upstairs and came down again with his stuffed fozzy bear and gave it to me. That was even more painful. Then he gave me a hug (shhh, don`t tell anyone).... I don`t remember anyone telling me about this part of the mission. Leaving people that you love so much. Or maybe they did but I don`t think I believed it could be so bitter-sweet. Wow. I`m all choked up right now writing about this.

Well, if you were wondering I am in Rancagua now. In an area called Villa Teniente. It`s PURE APARTMENTS. I don`t know anything about the area or the ward yet, but I hear it`s a good one. There are a lot of people. My companion is Hna. Motta. She is from Peru. I`m excited, but kind of nervous. Presidente only puts companion with Hna. Motta when he trusts them a lot. I guess it`s been hard for her to work hard and be obedient, but I know this transfer will be a good one. I am just going to love her a lot :) Also, we`re sharing the area with the assistants to the president. I`m a little nervous about that one too... I really can`t mess up now!! (jk...hopefully...) Anyway it`s kind of nice to be in the main stream of things again (being in Rancagua).

Well, I think that`s about it for now. Everyone tells us here that there is a whole load of snow in the USA. Is there snow there? It`s still hot here.

Okay, I love you so much, thank you for everything. Be good!!!

!CHAAOOOOOOO!!!!!

Hna. Alison Jones

Manuel and Victor

2010-02-02T19:11:00.000-08:00

Bueno…

This week was definitely a lot better than the previous week. The whole thing with Manuel and Victor turned out to be a very interesting situation. In the end Manuel ended up getting cold feet and turned around half way to Pichilemu and came back. We had a couple of awesome lessons again and everything was going well... until ....well, let`s just say we ran into another problem. We probably wont be teaching them for much longer. Which is terribly sad. But like you said, I am sure it just isn`t their time yet, and the seed has been planted. We`ll leave the details of that story for another day...

We had another awesome lesson with Elena... She is so awesome! I am convinced that Heavenly Father has prepared her and it is definitely her time right now to accept the gospel. Everything has just worked out nicely. She got a new job this week (she says at her anterior one she was suffering) She just broke up with her boyfriend who was living with her (woohoo! He`s out of the house!) and she is LOOKING for the truth. It was awesome, she had read and prayed and feels all together better since she started investigating. She said it was really weird how she suddenly has desires to read and pray and GO TO CHURCH, whereas this never happened before. She is very receptive to the spirit, and she recognizes it when she feels it. Things are going so well with her. The only thing is we can only teach her a couple times a week. But things are going well!

This week we have a baptism of a little girl 11 years old named Carolina. Her family is returning to activity in the church and she is very excited for her baptism. We are excited too!

Francisco regularly goes on divisions with the Elders. This makes me happy. He is doing very well.

There are transfers this week. This means that most likely I am going to leave this area. I think I will cry. But there is also the chance that I will stay here another transfer NOBODY KNOWS ooooohhhoooooo....

It has gotten so hot that they changed the schedule to studies in the afternoon until 5 o clock instead of studies in the morning... that`s weird being in the house at this hour but it`s good because I just about die at 3:30 working outside.

I am doing well, I love the mission, I love this work. I know it`s 100% the work of the Lord. I love my family too.

LUCI HAD BABIES!!! (Little Ricky, Bow, Wow, and Blanquita)

2010-01-25T19:33:00.000-08:00

¡Hola!!

First thing… Muchas gracias por las fotos!!! Me gustan mucho! I especially got a kick out of the old school pictures that you sent. And thanks for writing me! Yes, dad, I am getting down wit da groov groov dawg thang. Don`t you worry your little head. Looks like everyone is doing just fine and dandy. I can`t believe that Danielle is going to be in college next year either! And I am so proud of Erik for fulfilling his goals and dreams in the career field. We`re just a pretty cool family, huh? I like my family a lot.

Well… I don`t really know where to start… I am going to be honest when I say that this week has been one of the hardest. It has been difficult physically, EMOTIONALLY, and spiritually. We`ve had some big time downers. Oscar won`t be getting baptized any time too soon (turns out he was lying about the word of wisdom) and that was really hard for him, which made it really hard for us. Manuel and Victor have been doing great, but in a couple weeks (before they would be ready to be baptized… Manuel is in the process of quitting smoking…and drinking…and it might take a little time ) they will be moving to Pichilemu for summer work (at the beach) and they have been in Pichilemu this weekend so we haven`t been able to talk with them. I am not sure why exactly, but it`s been a really hard hit for me. They (liders, preach my gospel) always say that we shouldn`t get discouraged, and I`m not discouraged but definitely very sad. Hna. Olson and I have developed a genuine care and concern for them. I love them like they are my brothers and I know this gospel will bring them such great joy, relief. Though all hope isn`t lost, once we talk to them we`re going to find out where exactly they will be staying so the missionaries can find them in Pichilemu. We have had a couple problems with the Elder in our sector. Things were done, and things were said that weren`t very pleasing. And that has been hard for me. But everything is alright now. BUT EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT NOW. It`s like that talk that Elder Uchdorft gave in an Ensign that talks about how above the dark rainy clouds, there is ALWAYS sun shine and good weather. And today I feel happy, it`s a new week. We actually had a wonderful experience yesterday with a family (Mom, and 2 children) who want to get baptized and we found a woman of GOLD. Shiny GOLD actually. She is looking for guidance and felt such a peace when we shared with her last night (We found her knocking doors at the very last minute of the day… ya gotta endure to the end!) And Hna. Olson has been an angel for me. She has a lot of patience for me. I am glad that we`re going to be friends forever too.

AND LUCI HAD BABIES!!!!! The other day we left the house and Luci and Ricardo were standing at our door waiting for us, to share the good news. We followed them a couple houses down to a house that no one lives in to find 4 chicitios. They are named Little Ricky, Bow, Wow, and Blanquita. We (with the help of a neighbor lady) we built a makeshift tent so they could have protection from the sun. Don`t worry, it didn`t take as much time as it looks.

I love you so much, thanks Danielle for writing me too! (I`ll write you back next week). I love you love you love you so much!!!! Thanks for your words of encouragement and love. I don`t know what I`d do without my family.

Chao

Hna. Jones

Pablito and Karina Update...

2010-01-18T21:04:00.000-08:00

¡Hola hola hola!

Alrighty Pablito and Karina are doing SO WELL!! It was the cutest thing ever when we went to visit them a couple days after their baptism and confirmation. Turns out Pablito has a terrible fear of the dark and of being alone. He can`t sleep alone, and he can`t go up the stairs alone, but always ALWAYS has to be with someone. Well, the night after their confirmation he and Karina read the scriptures before bed and then Pablito said that he was going to go and sleep by himself. He said that he could do it now because he had the holy ghost their to protect and comfort him and that he wasn`t actually alone. How awesome is that!?? He has slept alone ever since  It is very special to listen to him and his testimony. We were talking about Christ and he said out of nowhere ¨I can`t wait until Jesus Christ comes again¨ I asked him why, and he said that he want`s to see him and be with him (physically). It was very touching.

We have started teaching a couple of brothers named Manuel (he`s 24 years old) and Victor (he`s 21). They both are very interested in the message and want to be baptized!! It`s awesome because they both are kind of like ¨cool guys¨ big and muscley and Manuel`s arm is covered in tatoos. But they are like humble little children when they listen, with lots of sincere questions. It`s hard to find them both together though. The other day we had a lesson with Manuel and the ward missionary Alex came with us (he`s a recent convert of about 8 months). We read 3 Nefi 11:14-15 with him, and talked about how Christ wants us all to come unto him, and how he loves everyone of us and that we too can come unto him, and ¨touch¨ his hands and come to KNOW him. We talked very shortly about this and then asked Alex to share his testimony of Christ. When the missionaries (Hna. Alvarenga was one of them!) found Alex, he didn`t believe in Christ or God. And wasn`t a very pleasant person (as he says). But obviously he has had a mighty change of heart. Alex testified to Manuel a simple but powerful testimony of Christ and the power to change through him. I felt the spirit so strong. We confirmed his desires to be baptized and Manuel answered with a definite ¨SÍ¨.

We are also teaching Oscar. He is very special and is bursting with excitement about his baptism this weekend. ....

Did I mention that is is HOT here?? Well, it is. I actually don`t think it has gotten much hotter than 90 degrees, but the HUMIDY is killing me. The air feels so THICK. I often think it would be more efficient to make swimming strokes with my arms as I`m walking. Or maybe not. People would look at me funny. But they already do look at us funny so.... Okay, okay, so maybe I`m being a little dramatic. But I feel like I`ve been pretty good at not complaining too much this summer (It`s summer here!). I won`t complain about the heat for a while now ;)

Today we are going with the other Hermanas to ROME!! There`s a small pueblo in their area called ¨ROMA¨ and supposedly it`s really beautiful. So we`re going to go and have a picnic. Right on, dude.

After arriving home last night and planning Hna. Olson shouted ¨It`s FRIDAY NIGHT, WOO!!!¨ Because as a missionary ya work all hard up until Sunday night and the following day is like Saturday because it`s P DAY. It was funny. Though we don`t seem to party like Friday nighters. I made no-bake cookies and we went straight to bed (exhausted).

Wow crazy, huh? I didn`t know they sent flight itinerarys so early. But I guess that`s pretty cool, huh? Thanks to you both for sending me emails. I love hearing from you. I feel your love for the Lord and for Me. I love my family so much. I love you mom and dad so much. I truly couldn`t ask for better parents. And brothers and sisters (even though they don`t really write me...I know, wo is me, huh?) Nah, truth is I am exceedingly happy. I am loving life in the mission, even if it has thrown me a few lemons :P

Ok, mucho amor les mando. !Hasta la proxima semana!

CHAOOOOO!!!!!

Pablito and Karina got baptized!!!

2010-01-18T20:46:00.000-08:00

Pablito, Pablo, y Karina

The ¨just baptized¨ are a little revealing, but I love this picture the same.

Me!
Hno. Arriagada (lider misional), Oscar, and Diego

Luci and Ricardo

Tiger spider. Yes, that is in our house, no, it wasn`t killed because NO ONE WOULD KILL IT!!! Supposedly it kills the ¨bad¨ spiders. Hna. Olson Named it FREDDY. And Freddy supposdely still lives because it is going to save us from the bad spiders aka the RINCÓN spider.

Okay… bad news first… JK there isn`t bad news!

KARINA AND PABLITO GOT BAPTIZED!!!! It was the most beautiful thing ever. They were both really nervous, but more anxious. They had a lot of support from their family. Karina right now is ¨seperated¨ from her husband. They have just had a rough time together. But he came to support them as well and he came to their confirmation. He has listened to us before but hasn`t really had much of an interst, but their baptism was really touching for him. He became emotional in the service. The elders from another sector here are going to be teaching him and we`re hoping that this can bring them together again and that he can be baptized too!!!

But more importantly it was VERY special for Karina y Pablito. When pablito was baptized he left the water saying ¨!Me siento bien! !Me siento bien!¨ or... ¨I feel good! I feel good!¨ It was so cute. He walked around the chapel for the rest of the baptismal service with a goofy smile and a goofy walk because it was like he was walking on clouds. When Karina was baptised she left the waters and gave Pablito a hug (she was baptized last) and then she broke down and started crying. She felt such a relief. She felt so overwhelmed with joy. It was very touching. I love this. I love seeing these people feel the Savior`s love. I love seeing them so happy, changed, touched.

We were pretty much walking on clouds too the rest of the day.

And then there is Oscar. Remember him? He was the one that served us broken bread and a small glass of water in a lesson becase that`s what we like in our church. He goes to church every Sunday but in the end he didn`t want to be baptized becasue he didn`t want to obey the word of wisdom. But he has had a mighty change of heart after seeing a few baptisms and told himself ¨Basta con tè!¨ If everyone else can be baptized, why not him too? He is OVEREWHELMED with engery and excitement to be baptized.

We also met another woman named Elena. She also wants to be baptized and had shared a year ago with Hermanas, but they left her because she just couldn`t quit smoking or reading tarot cards. Yes, tarot cards. Just days before we found her she had commited herself to stop reading tarot cards and is on her way to be baptized too... it`s really interseting teaching her but she`s hilarious so I love it too. I`ll keep you updated on this one...

And Luci and Ricardo are our friends. Ricardo slips in our fence every night to sleep on our lawn. Luci sleeps outside the gate because she`s too fat to get in. But they`ve been staying with us every night for a few whole weeks now. It`s hilarious!

Aaaannnnddd.... I want you to know that I love you so much family!! Thank you for writing me, thank you for thinking about me. I love you with all my heart.

CHAOO!!

Feliz año nuevo‏

2010-01-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

When the time comes I am going to miss these people. I will have to live it up good right now because I only have this transfer left here in guadalupe before they change me again. And time goes by so fast. I am still so excited for Pablito and Karina. They are more excited than ever too! She had a few problems with the word of wisdom, but she has been living it faithfully for a while now! Woohoo! So they are doing well. They will be bapized this Saturday. Hna. Olson and I are trying to find more people. We have found quite a few people that are really great, receptive but in the end it seems like they all have to leave on vacation for 2 months or work every day and don`t have much time, so that`s been a little difficult but we`re still workin hard!

I mentioned that we were going to have two elders in our area now. They are both from the USA. They are good workers. We started this week all excited about the changes. Though the truth is, this week has been...interesting... I think one of the elders ( who is also our district leader) has had bad experiences with Sister missionaries before or something like that becuase it feels a lot like he sees things as a competition...who can find more, has more success. We haven`t felt a lot of unity. It`s weird. I shared an area in Machalí and Graneros wih sisters and not once we felt the need to compete. We felt a lot of support from the other sisters actually. Who knows. We`ll just have to show him that sister missionaries are not all that bad after all...whaddayathink?

Some REALLY happy news... Fransisco, who was baptized in November was just called as ward secretary. It`s happy because Fransisco is perfect for this calling and to serve. He is nervous, but really excited for his call too. I love hearing him share his testimony with investigators or in lessons. He can`t describe the change and joy he has felt since his baptism just a month and a half ago. It`s sa-weet!

I had a good new year. We (Hna. Black, Pastrana, Olson and I) ate lots of food, played ¨UNO¨ and stayed up until 12 (woohoo!) to celebrate. The next day we had an activiy just like the christmas activity with our zone and played water balloon vollyball. Because it`s hot here....not like there....

2009-12-30T10:02:00.000-08:00

Matias and the branch president

Matias got baptized!

2009-12-29T10:27:00.000-08:00

Wow. Another transfer has come and gone. I can`t belive how fast it went by. This last transfer was like a dream. Matias got baptized!!!! Oh, it was so special. Though kind of sad because his family didn´t come to support him. Though nothing could have wiped away his smiles yesterday. Matias has the purest heart. I have decided that Sundays are the craziest day of the week in the life of a missionary. Actually I decided that clear back in my first transfer. It`s incredible the roller coaster that you ride as a missionary....one second you`re on top of the world, in the very next 20 seconds you`re about as low as ever and then in the same hour something incredible happens and everything hard about the day is made up and life couldn`t get better. Sometimes I feel like I am floating on clouds. It`s incredible.

Have I mentioned Karina y Pablito?? They are a mother and son that are preparing to be baptized. They are incredible, I always leave jaw dropped from the sharing with them. Pablito is 8 years old. He is so cute and the only thing he wants to do is get baptized. We taught them on Saturday about tithing and when we finised Pablo asked if he could pay his tithing. We told him he didn`t need to pay it because he still isn`t a member. But when they got to church he came proudly with his tithing envelope in hand ready to pay his tithing. They stayed for the baptism of Matias (the husband of Karina actually came too!!). Pablito said that when Matias went in the water he felt something in his chest, ¨like happiness!!¨ Oh! He is so incredible. We`ve been teaching Karia for a while and she keeps having crazy cool experiences with the Book of Mormon. It has answered a lot of her questions. Though she has still been looking for a more definite answer. She reads from the beginning of the Book of Mormon with Pablo every night and she said that the other night she wanted to read something that reached her more. So she opened the book and landed in Alma 32....and she LOVED it. It couldn`t have been an answer more obvious to her. She said she read the chapter like 3 times and every time she found something new that she said hit her.

And some new news... Today arrived two elders that will be working in the same sector as Hna. Olson and I. There has been a lot of growth as a branch and the area is HUGE so presidente put two more missionaries here. I`m really excited, but it will be interesting sharing a sector with elders.

Hna. Bonilla left, but came Hna. Pastrana. She was the ¨daughter¨ of Hna. Olson. It`s funny because we live with Hna. Black too and she was my ¨daughter¨ of the mission. It will be fun.

It was GREAT talking to you. It`s true, it seems like you`re just around the corner. I really loved it. It`s good to hear you`re all doing so well. Tell Grandma thanks for the christmas money. I love you all so much. I really really do!!! I hope you have a great new year! !

CHAOOOO!!!

Hna. Jones

2009-12-24T21:45:00.000-08:00

Miranda family

Matias, Matias, and Mauricio

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T21:25:00.000-08:00

Okay so this week was CRAZY!!! But it ended. Whew! Just kidding... kind of.... But really. It was crazy. The sad thing is Matías didn´t get baptized. Acutally it`s not too sad because we moved his date to THIS weekend. He should be ready then. We almost didn`t have another baptism, but everything worked out. I`m not exactly sure how but everything always seems to work out in the end! I have really seen the hand of our Heavenly Father in this work. Working miracles! I have been thinking a lot lately about my blessings. I know my Heavenly Father loves me, and I feel this blessing muy grande en mi vida. I know he loves everyone of us. I feel so strongly that this is certain, though sometimes I don`t do well at sharing a love for everyone. What a great time it is to start a new year, with new goals...eh?

Yesterday in church we kind of had an interesting experience. We had a lot of investigators in the sacramental meeting, but one of the members brought her daughter that is about 40 years old and has a mental problem. That`s great that she came, but she got up in the middle of the meeting and started walking even up in on the stage and then started shouting and crying but crying in a really scary way... I felt so bad for her, and for our investigators that went for the first time.

We had a Christmas devotional yesterday...which was incredible!!! It was with the whole district and everyone sang Christmas music (even the missionaries!) A youth orquestra came too, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I am really enjoying my time with Hna. Olson. I laugh a LOT with her. It`s actually fun knocking doors because... I`m not sure why... But it is. We get a kick out of the crazies (that I love, not judge) and we work well together. Transfers are this next week, so I am praying that we can have another transfer before I leave Guadalupe. Oh! This next week they are going to put a pair of elders in our branch, so we are going to be 4 missionaries here!! I am so excited. Guadalupe has needed more missionaries for a long time because this area is giant and right now we`re on fiiiaaaaaa!!

Well, I hope we can all remember CHRIST in our crazy busy holidays. And that everyone has a sweet-dog Christmas. Speaking of dog, the other day when we got up in the morning we found a dog in our front lawn. Just laying down, being lazy...The thing is we have a fence around our house so I have no idea how how she got in! It was funny.Okay, I`ll be talking to you all in a few days! I love you all so much!!!

Hna. Jones

Actividad de la Navidad

2009-12-15T16:14:00.000-08:00

Hola!

I got the package!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was squealing with joy when I saw the box full of knee highs. I was becoming desparate...hehe. But thanks a lot, and thanks for the CD`s dad... (hehe), and the christmas candy. I am going to share it with my district mañana. I also got the package from Grandma.. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I Love you grandma, and i Love eating christmas fudge and caramel...yumm! Thank you for thinking about me.

Okay. Whew, that was a lot. But I want to talk about what happend this week... Like I said last week Javiera and Valentina had plans to be baptized on Saturday. Right? Everything went so well in their preparations. They had prayed and recieved testimonies, they have felt the spirit and reconized it. They LOVE church and read their scriptures everyday...So Saturday in the morning we went to review the baptismal interview questions before their interviews. Everything went well with Valentina (who`s 10 years old), and then we talked with Javiera (who`s 12 years old). She answered all the questions with confidence and shared her testimony. And then in the last question that asks if they are ready to make this covenant with God, she answered ¨Actually, Hermanas, I want to talk to you about something...¨ And then told us about an experience she had just days earlier when she was visiting her grandma and Dad. Turns out they totally tore her down in her testimony and her desires to be baptised. Told her things about how she`s doing something dumb and doesn`t understand. She told us how she left so confused and had been praying for an answer to her confusion but still didn`t feel anything. But she had her interview with the district leader, though decided that she wasn`t going to be baptized in the end, at least not right now. We felt so sad.. i didn`t know what to do. So we supported her and prayed with her and for her and fasted even and then came the day of her baptism. When she got to the church with all her family she saw us and said, ¨Hermanas, I`m going to get baptized!!!¨ OH! I jumped and squealed and she did too. It was wonderful. She said that she had been praying so much, but right when she got to the church she felt GOOD and she felt like it was right after all. Turns out more than anything she got cold feet... but she was baptised with her little sister and it was beautiful. They were both so happy and explained how they felt so happy and light. She was giddy even. It was awesome (not so awesome leading up to it, but in the end it was sa-weet! I love this family so much.

We are planning a triple baptism this weekend! Three little boys... Well, two 12 year olds, Matias (the friend of Mauricio) and Yoni, the missionaries have taught him since 4 months ago! But now he is ready and his mom is returning to the church too!! And another boy named Christopher, he is 11 years old. His family is returning to the church too. It`s BACAN!!!

I am so happy with Hna. Olson. I feel like we make a great team. She helps me a lot if I worry or get stressed out...(it doesn`t happen too much)

Yesterday we had the actividad de la navidad with the whole mission!!! It was awesome. We just played sports the entire 5 hours together. I got sun burned on my lips. Ouch. That stinks it is so cold there. Did you know it is HOTTTTT here? It doesn`t feel a thing like the Christmas season. Not a thing. But the people seem to be more receptive to the message, to hearing about Jesucristo.

Okay, that`s all for now.

CHAOOO!

Hermana Jones

Refreshment

2009-12-07T13:19:00.000-08:00

!Hola, todos!

No, I haven`t recieved the Christmas package yet… but I am sure it has arrived. The only ¨down part¨ of being here in the south of the mission is that mail doesn`t come that often. But there is a christmas activity next Monday in Rancagua, so I`ll be hoping to get it there. Woohoo! Is it really Christmas time? It feels like… summer. The hot weather has come and it`s staying…I come home and the only thing I want to do is shower the dirt and sweat off. Nice, huh?

Alrighty then. Last week…is over. It was rather rough (ruff!). Mauricio has had a few things happen in his life this past week that have weighed him down quite a bit. This has weighed us down a bit. He has been suffering too, and it hurts my heart so much. But he is going to get through this trial and thankfully he has a lot of support from the church leaders and the youth. But you know what? Matias, the friend of Mauricio is doing so well! He went to Church for the first time yesterday and is more exicted than ever to be baptized.

AND guess what??! You remember Andres and Gabriella and their hijitos?? Well, the not so great news is that they are not going to get married right away like they planned. But for a handful of reasons that I don`t feel like explaining they will be getting married in a few months. And there Gabriella will be baptized. BUT her two daughters Javiera and Valentina are going to be baptized this weekend!! Oh, they are so special! I feel so good when we teach them. They have taught me so much, they are just little girls but have so much faith, and love and desires to do good. Also Gabriella. She can`t stop talking about the change that the gospel has brought in her life, in all aspects. And Andres and his kids too. I love this family so much! Tonight we are going to have a family home evening, and they have all of the assignments. I love family home evening too. And speaking of family home evening this last Friday we had a ward family home evening and hna olson and I had to do the lesson and I was terrified! But it turned out alright.

Funny story… we are teaching this kid named Oscar. He is actually about 19 years old but has a mental disorder and he acts a lot younger. But he is absolutly hilarious. The other day we went to teach him and when we got there he went to prepare a ¨refreshment¨. With all sincerity in his heart he came back with a bowl of three or 4 pieces of broken bread and a cup of a tiny bit of poured water…. Because that`s how we like our refreshements… I guess you had to be there…

MAURICIO SE BAUTIZÓ!!!!!

2009-11-23T10:43:00.000-08:00

This week we aren`t doing anything special for Thanksgiving. I think we`ll buy a pie or something. But next week for district meeting our zone is going to have a Thanksgiving lunch.. with turkey and all ;) And for Christmas-we`re listening to Christmas music now!!- The mission is going to have an activity on the 15th I think .

Okay…guess what???? MAURICIO SE BAUTIZÓ!!!!! Wow, it was incredible his bautismo. It was very special for him too. It was even better than I expected because Hna. Flake was able to be in attendance (the assistants are usually really strict with letting people go back to areas for baptisms… so it was awesome!!!) Mauricio became very emotional during the program and even cried a whole lot…but was crying because he was so moved. It was very beautiful to see him baptized. His mom and sister (who usually don`t care much for what is the church) came to the baptism and they were also moved to tears. They were also able to come to his confirmation the following day.

I want to tell ya`ll a story about this other kid named Matias (he`s in the picture with Maurico coming out of the font).

This week we were walking along the street (walking in the complete opposite direction of the church) when we see Mauricio headed toward us in the opposite direction. When we stopped to ask him what he was up to. The conversation went something like this…

Hey!, where`re you headed?
To the church!
Oh, okay, why are you headed there?
We have an appointment
With who? (we thought it was with a leader in the church or something)
With my friend Matias (That`s weird we thought…who`s Matias?), Oh…with who, Hno Raymon?
No, with you guys
With us? We don`t have an appointment today.
No, but My friend Matias wants to learn about the church too, so I told him to meet us in the church at 6, so he should be waiting so let`s go.
But we`re not even headed to the church, how did you know you would find us there?
I don`t know, I just knew we`d find you, that`s all.

And so he did. He found us. He had the faith that he would run into us somehow at church. Do you know how big San Fernando is!??!! The odds of us running into him are very slim… but look what his faith did. Wow! So we started to teach his friend Matias (he`s 12 years old) and he is totally set on getting baptized!! He is so adorable and has many desires to learn. We compromited him to read and pray about it and he did and said that when he prayed and asked if Joseph smith was a prophet and if the Book of Mormon is true, he felt peace and joy… woo whoo!! Mauricio practically taught the entire lesson to Matias.

Even on the day of his baptism, we met up with Mauro because he was going to accompany us in an appointment with Matias and he came wearing his shirt and tie and carried around a briefcase bag with all his church books in it. As we taught this lesson to Matias we listened to Mauricio share his simple but powerful testimony of Jesus Christ and the trufulness of his gospel. I felt so happy. I felt so overwhelemed with joy. I truly can`t describe the joy I have felt here in the mission. I feel so blessed.

Welp, tengo mucho mas, pero el fin del tiempo se acerca…les quiero, les AMO mucho mucho, y siempre les tengo presente en mis pensamientos y mis oracions… Que tenga una buena semana!!!

CHAO!!!

Chocolate Covered Garlic!

2009-11-22T16:41:00.000-08:00

So transfers came and went again. Crazy huh? All during this transfer Hna. Flake and I talked about how happy we are to be working together in Guadalupe with this branch, the members and investigators. Everything was going too well….They decided to change Hna. Flake to Rancagua. We were certain that we’d be together another transfer because she only has 3 months here in Guadalupe. I know changes are good and all, but it was truly heartbreaking to be split up….(haha sounds like a break-up, no). Pero, de verdad!! The truth is I am a little worried about some of our investigators, some of them took it a little hard that Hna. Flake was going to leave. I know it`s about the gospel, not the missionaries. This is obvious, but it can still be difficult to see a missionary leave, testimony and all. But everything will be alright! Know who is my new companion?? Hna. Olson!!! Yes, my dear sweet companion from the MTC. We’re back together to make our mark in Chile  This will be fun….! Mauricio and Matias both are doing so well!! Matias is happy with his baptism, and we were able to teach his dad two times this week (he`s never before listened to us!!) . Mauricio is well too! (He`s the one in the picture… and yes, I am aware of the swastika too...they said he looked like hitler...?) Mauricio had a really rough week. He is experiencing a lot of adversity from family, ¨FRIENDS,¨ school and whatever other thing… But he is really excited for his baptism and hasn`t lost his excitement.

And… FRANCISCO SE BAUTIZÓ!!! Oh is was so bonito su bautismo!! He is SO CONTENT. He feels good. It was so beautiful to hear him describe his feelings when he was confirmed. He is so happy, so excited for this new road that he has taken. Andres and Gabriela are so well too!!! And GUESS WHAT!!!?? Gabriela and her two daughters are going to get baptized!!! She told us after going to church this last time how good she felt. She is Catholic and would go to mass every once in a while. But she said when she went she would come back the same person. But she said that when she went to the church of Jesus Christ, she felt something very different. She felt GOOD, and left a better person, with desires to do better. She felt changed even after one time. Her daughters (Javiera (12) y Valentina (10)) say they LOVE church! Valentina said she felt like Jesus was at her side the whole time they went. They even all of them with Andres and his kids went to church yesterday too! We set their baptism date for the 19th of Deciembre. Because Gabby and Andres need to get married… and they are going to get married!! Though Gabby cried a lot when Hna. Flake told her that she was leaving … though we`ve been praying a lot for them. For all of them in fact.

There are a bunch of other exciting things going on… I`ll keep you tuned in on the details…And guess what we did to our zone (hehe!!) Well, we had an activity with the zone the other day and so we decided to make a ¨treat¨ to give to the elders. So we bought a little chocolate and a little garlic and melted the chocolate and made chocolate covered garlic. They all thought they were eating chocolate covered peanuts! It was great!

Well, I realized that I never conversed with you guys about my leaving date, but still things are not set in stone.

I love you love you so much!! And thanks for updating my blog!!!!

CHAO!!

Hna. Pena, Hna. Bonilla, Hna. Flake y yo!

2009-11-15T20:14:00.000-08:00

Matias and Nicolas

2009-11-15T20:01:00.000-08:00

My favorite weekend so far...

2009-11-10T06:47:00.000-08:00

Hi hi hi

This week has been incredible! And this weekend was one of my favorite weekends in all of my mission so far. Since I didn´t get to write in my journal about it all I will do it right now…how lucky you all are to read my journal ;) Though it wont be any different than my other emails…

Here goes.

WOW. I can`t believe the miracles that are going on here in Guadalupe. I am going to start with the lesson that we had with Mauricio the other day. Hna. Claudia (Mauricio`s teacher that introduced him to the church) accompanied us in the lesson. Before we could teach him anything we followed up in how he`s doing with the law of Chastity… He confirmed that he is doing great and then proceeded to tell us a story… (keep in mind he is 14 years old). In his behavior management group his religion teacher didn`t show up for class. He said that they were all just sitting around bored so he decided he would teach them. So he got up in front of everyone and started to teach the gospel. He started out with the Plan of Salvation and using the pamphlet (that he carries around with his book of Mormon) he drew the outline (but made it more interesting so the kids would get into it) and then taught them faith, repentance, and baptism. And to top it off he taught them all the law of Chastity and eternal marriage. He said that they all started to tease him but he told them that this is really serious and important for their happiness. They all went quiet and he taught them. And testified and introduced to about 35 kids something that they have never before heard of. As he told us what had happened with such sincerety and excitement Claudia cried with happiness. I felt such a joy!! The next day Claudia and he went to Santiago and saw the temple. He told us about how incredible it was and made him feel to just be there. Amazing no?

The next day Matias got baptized! It was a beautiful baptism. And know what? His DAD CAME!! His dad would never listen to us. When invited he would just laugh and tell us his ¨diabolic¨ and then leave the room. But his dad came. Right after the actual baptism he quickly left even though we still had the other half of the program to do. We thought maybe he didn`t feel comfortable being there and we were confused. But when we went to their house afterward Fanny told us it was because he got emotional and even began to cry…he couldn't explain it and got embarrassed so he left. But the next day he and his entire family came to church for the confirmation. And let me tell you, it was one of the most wonderful sacrament meetings! The primary did a program and the songs and the ¨talks¨ they gave were pure and full of love for Heavenly Father and their family. I felt so good! It made me love my family even more.

And you know what else? When we got to church and I shook Franciscos hand he looked at me with a huge grin on his face and the first thing he said was ¨I gave a Book of Mormon to my daughter!! ¨ He did! And he was so excited about it. He has been preparing for his baptism and he is so HAPPY and changed. We challenged him later on in an appointment to move his baptismal date up to this weekend instead of the next and he said he wanted to!! Also, we have been teaching a family muy especial. The dad was a member but made some not very good choices in his life. His ¨pareja¨ his girlfriend and he are living together and have 4 young kids together. She is very catholic but says that she always feels something special when we share with them. We love them so much and are so excited for their progress She has been sincerely looking to see if the church is true but hadn`t gone to church yet. But yesterday one of the most beautiful sights was to see all 6 of them file into the sacrament. All during the church the members talked to them, befriended them, invited them to activities and family nights and talked to her (Gabriella) about her doubts. Oh it was heavenly!!

This branch has been incredible to help us with the work. We have members that are so willing to come with us to lessons and help us teach. We have a mission leader who is excellent and hilarious. Hno. Arriagada. Yesterday he came with us to a couple of lessons. As we were walking along we came across a ditch of water that we needed to cross. Hna. Flake and I jumped it no problem but he had his nice shoes on and he didn`t want to chance it, so he backed up about 10 steps and ran and then jumped! It was a hilarious sight because he`s 50 years old and about half the size of me! …you just have to know him.

Later we went and visited Alex. He is a ward missionary and a recent convert. He comes from a not very good home and was really sad yesterday in church so we all visited him. And it was a very special experience.

Oh I am so happy.

Times up I need to go. I love you all so much so much!!

I love you all so much!

2009-11-02T16:52:00.000-08:00

This week continued very well. Matias continues with his baptismal plans this Saturday. Whoohoo!!! He is doing so well! Francisco also is doing fantastic. He is so eager to learn and obey and everytime we go he is more and more excited and enthusiastic about his baptism! He has learned how to pray because he never before did. He`s getting to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ like he has never before done. Mauricio also is incredible. The members of this branch are incredible to help and come to the lessons and are really befriending and supporting him. Yesterday we had a lesson where we had only officially invited one member to accompany us but when we got there 3 other members just showed up to support and share their testimony and help teach. It was incredible. We couldn`t do the work without the members. As we were in this lesson I couldn`t help but feel so much love for everyone of these members and Mauricio! I want to share my love and concern better. Though sometimes I feel like it`s hard to do that and that I don’t do it very well. When I went to bed last night I felt an overwhelming gratitude to my Heavenly Father for blessing me so much. I feel like I haven`t done a single thing to deserve so many huge blessings… To have the gospel in my life, to be here in Chile, to know these wonderful humble people to know who I am, to be able to be clean of sin when I repent, to feel this love and to have my friends and especially my family supporting and loving me. For having been raised and taught well the good things from the bad. I don`t know what I did to deserve it all, but I am very grateful.

I love you all so much!

Matias...Mauricio...Yonathon...Francisco

2009-10-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

Hola hola!

¿Cómo están??

How´s it going???

It´s going well here in Guadalupe!! Matias is doing so well. He is really excited for his baptism on the 7th. We have been focusing a lot on his family too…his mom and brother that are menos activos. Diego smokes a lot, and has been a little reluctant about returning to church. He didn`t know if he really wanted to repent of everything, because it´s a lot easier to not do the right. He has been really struggling inside, but we`ve been lucky to have a lot of youth in the branch befriend them and encourage them. The other day we got to their house and Diego was more than excited to see us. He had been thinking about everything and decided to ask Heavenly Father if he should follow in the church… and he said that he went outside and looked up in the sky and asked him. He said he walked inside and it was like he heard a voice or a distinct thought telling him that yes, he needed to make this change. The answer is obvious, but he needed the confirmation… and that got him so excited he read all of the faith, repentance, baptism, etc… pamphlet and even answered the questions that are found on the back. And he was SO excited to show us (because he usually never followed up with the commitments). It was awesome!!! Haha, and then He said Hna. Flake and I are like ¨good witches¨ because when he does smoke we get all sad and disappointed and that makes him feel bad but it´s like we´re good because it´s like we`re happy at the same time because we always smile… it was pretty funny, I`ve never been called a good witch before…

And then there is MAURICIO!! Mauricio is a young lad of 14 years. He goes to a school that is right in front of the church. From what I understand it`s like a school or place similar to ¨The Journey¨ because there assist teenagers from rough backgrounds and little support. But one of the Hermanas from the church is a teacher there and introduced us to Mauricio. He is such a special kid!! He is definitely someone really prepared to receive the gospel. We taught just one lesson and committed him to read and pray to see if the message is true. He had never in his life prayed before but said he`d do it. We saw him the next day and he was SO HAPPY!! He said that he kneeled down and ¨conversed with God¨ and he felt happy and full of joy. Since then says he feels different and is really excited and determined to be baptized. When we taught him for the first time I really felt something special. We asked him to describe how he felt in that moment and he said he felt relief. … and he is hilarious!! It´s really fun teaching him. I am really excited for him.

Also… The Hermanas were teaching another youth named Yonathon. He has gone to church a few times and has really liked it, but wouldn`t be baptized because his family didn`t want him to be baptized because they said he is too young to decided what he really wants. We were able to teach him AND his mom this week and were able to talk to them both about it and she decided to give him permission!!! He is really excited. This is one of the sweetest most tender hearted kid.

And… last but not least there is Francisco (Felix Francisco Valenzuela Pinto to be exact). He is a 45 year old friend of a new convert here in Guadalupe who has had contact with missionaries before but never really was taught. But he had a Book of Mormon and decided to read it. He read the whole thing in 6 days! He is what he calls an ¨intellect¨ but recognizes this as a weakness and wants to learn more and even wants to be baptized. He believes that it is all true but wants to feel it more profoundly in his heart so he is just starting to pray. Because he has never prayed before either. He said that when he read the Book of Mormon the first time he read it to read it, but now he`s reading it to understand Jesucristo. !O que bonita la misión!

Our Zone is a lot of fun. It´s quite small so it`s pretty united. Though Hna Flake and I and our Zone leader are the only gringos, so all the latinos call it the ¨Black Zone¨…interesting, but entertaining being with them all. My companions Peña and Bonilla are still really crazy, and Hna Flake and I are doing great. I feel like we are growing a lot together because we both seem to trip up on the same things, but then we are working to be better and learn from our mistakes. I know I wouldn´t be able to do any of the stuff that happens here without my Savior and his love. Today we had a conference de todas las Hermanas in the mission and we sang ¨I feel my Savior´s Love¨ from the primary songs. This song always touches me so much.

But that`s about all I`ve got for ya this week.

Oh yes, I haven`t sent in my answer (about the departure date) but I am thinking more May instead of March. Está bien??

1 year down!!! (but who's counting.... mom???)

2009-10-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

Hola hola!

I am doing well here in my area San Fernando. Last week was kind of rough, but it all seems to work out in the end. And this week will be better. But we are still preparing Matías for his baptism on the 7th. He is doing so well! His mom and 16 year old brother (who have been inactive) went to church on Sunday and are ready to come back!! Diego (the 16 year old) has an addicion to smoking, but we have a huge group of EXCELLENT youth in this branch that have just taken both Matías and Diego under their arms and are becoming good friends. We have a leccion with them today and 3 of the young men want to come to help out with the leccion and to support Matías and Diego!! It´s stinking awesome!!

There is not a lot of new news but I am doing well. I even played soccer again this p-day. By the time I get back I´m going to be pro ;)

Well, I`ve really not got much to say, but things are moving along well... I am happy and I love the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that he lives and loves us and that this is HIS work! I love you all mucho

Playing soccer - a bucket-o-fun igual!

2009-10-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

Hola familia

So this week (like any first week in a new transfer) has been crazy! I always thought that Machali and Graneros were big areas, but turns out Guadalupe is the biggest sector of the Hermanas in the mission. My companion has only had 6 weeks here and so she still hasn´t learned the area very well…. Which means we did a lot of walking around in circles (to say the least). But we had a lot of fun doing it! And Heavenly Father is patient with us because he´s helped us a LOT even though we´ve been a little disoriented (but don´t worry Dad, we´re being smart). The other day we were walking around trying to find a house of an investigator (that I still hadn´t met), and found ourselves walking along on a certain block. There we found this little old lady with a cane in one hand walking a tiny little poodle in her other hand. So we stopped to talk to her. We quickly realized that she wasn´t quite all together in her mind but we listened to her anyway tell us about her son and his work in the military a few times. We invited her to listen to the message and as we tried to say good bye to her she would just keep talking about any old thing that didn´t really make sense. We said good bye like 3 times and even tried to walk away but she just sped up and started hollering after us. About 10 or 15 minutes had passed by and my companion and I started to get curious why this lady wouldn´t let us go. Maybe there was a reason? We both felt this so we both listened to her once more and then out of now where her daughter and granddaughter came walking around the corner. That´s it!! We both thought that the reason we had to be talking to this old lady was because we needed to find her daughter and granddaughter. We started talking to them for a minute and they agreed for us to write down their address and stop by some day. A few minutes later we said goodbye and started to walk down the street and not 10 steps later a woman had just left her house to go somewhere and bumped into us. She said, Hey, Hermanas, my son wants to get baptized, is that okay??... For real! We found out that she was baptized years and years ago, her and her son - but they went inactive, but wanted to come back to the church and her 12 year old son, Matias, wants to be baptized! We taught them right away and it was awesome! He wants to get baptized the 7th of Nov because it´s his mom´s birthday. And you know what? We never would have found them if that old lady didn´t talk to us for so long. The timing would have been off and we would have not ran into this woman. Miracles happen every day and it makes me know with more and more firmeza that this is the Lords work, these things aren´t just a coincidence. We´re also teaching a woman named Maria Elena. She is the sister in law of Elder Zeballos… he´s the Area President here in Chile. He even spoke this last general conference… how´s that for pressure?? Eee…

But it´s exciting. I am really happy to be here in the mission. This time in the mission is incredible. Sure there are stinky moments, days… but the good all out weighs the bad. I am so happy, so grateful to be here. These experiences, relationships are priceless. It´s quite warm here. A week ago it was still winter. But now it´s like summer. I love it! Today being p-day we played sports with the Elders. Since they ALWAYS want to play soccer, I usually just chill out and write letters. But today was different. I decided to not be a party-pooper and play soccer too. It was quite the sight I´m sure (to see me chasing after the ball) but a bucket-o-fun igual. Welp. I am praying for grandma and grandpa and you guys and everyone. I love you all so much. Keep being good.

CHAOOO!!

San Fernando Transfer

2009-10-05T15:22:00.000-07:00

¡Hola?

How`s it going?? It´s going well for me… Did you go to conference? I did, and I enjoyed it to my heart`s content! We were able to get a few investigators at the conference, so I ended up watching a couple of the sessions in Spanish this time (I watched it all in English last conference). It was a lot of fun, though it just isn´t the same actually listening to the actual voice of our prophet and apostles. I loved, loved, loved it! I had a few specific questions sitting in my heart and they were clearly answered by a few of the speakers. I am so grateful to have a modern prophet!

Other news… and significantly big news… I am no longer in my cozy little place in Graneros. I`m in another cozy little place in a city called San Fernando reeeeeeaaaalllllllyyyyyyy faaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrr awwaaaayyyy from anyone else. They call the San Fernando Stake a whole other mission because if is so disconnected from the main stream of things. During my whole mission I have been so close to Rancagua that I would see a lot of people and there is the center of the mission. BUT I have heart GREAT things of this stake and area. My companion´s name is Hna. Flake. She´s from Vernal Utah. She´s really nice and we seem to have a lot of the same goals and desires for this next transfer. We are determined to help each other progress and be happy in this transfer. I am really excited. Though like every transfer into a new place brings a little bit of intimidation… But it´s going to be a great transfer… I can feel it in me bonez…arrrr! Also, we live with two other missionaries in our house. One from Argentina (Hna. Bonilla) and one from Ecuador (Hna Peña). They are both CRAZY! So this will be a fun transfer. Geoff, which mission did you serve in Ecuador? She says she´s from the Guayaquil South.

Though arriving in a new area obviously means leaving another… This is the stinkiest part of the mission. They don`t tell us that we are leaving until a day before so I tried to slip out of my home and ward family as quietly as possible, but I had to at least say ¨good bye¨ to a couple of people. Like Mercedes. And I almost didn`t say good bye to la familia Pizzarro because I knew it would be too hard, but they came and found me last night. It was horrible. I disliked every moment of it. They were crying, I was crying. Mercedes cried. I cried with Natty (a member here that I got really close to). Blah. Blah. Blah. No one told me about this part of the mission… leaving the people you love so much. Or maybe they did tell me, but I didn´t listen. I just feel a big pain in my heart, these people mean so much to me and I am going to miss them so much…la familia Suàrez, Sergio y Ilda, Obispo y Natty….aahh I have learned so much from them and they will ALWAYS be a part of me. But I guess that`s a part of life, huh? Right now I will focus on the people here in Guadalupe and I´m sure I will love them just the same. I just hate the thought that I may not ever see my friends from Graneros again…until heaven (a little dramatic?). Or facebook. Haha, jk. But not really, everyone has facebook…miiiish!

Whelp, I`ll let you know how it goes in my first week of my new home ;)

I love you all so much. Muchisismo in fact.

Chaooo!!

Cristina

2009-09-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

Hola!!!

Spanks a million for your sweet sweet emails!! I weawe wuv wu gwuys…

That`s pretty awes that you could see a little bit of Chilean culture with that program. It`s true about the vineyards! There are a lot, and they're huge!! I am getting really excited for the summer because that`s when they start selling grapes again and the grapes are incredible (and ginormous!). Dad, I am sad to say but I don`t think I`ll be able to go to the seaside during the mission… There is only one sector on the shore and there are only elders over there  But I`m right tucked up in/near the mountains, so I get the best of the other world . The rainy days are getting farther and fewer between and the sun is showing itself more. I have a very VERY faint but noticeable watch tan line. Muahaha...let the farmers tan begin!!

I`ll start with last week (since I wasn`t able to send the email with last weeks events)

Cristina got baptized!!! It was so awesome! But a bit crazy too…okay, it was REALLY crazy. Remember how I`ve mentioned how our baptismal font is super fome (dumb)? Well, it did the dumbest of all dumb things for her baptism. Someone went about 3 hours earlier to fill the font. We got there about a half hour early to check on everything and all was well. The font was filled and even a little warm. So we went to work for a minute. But when we came back at the hour of her baptism we went and checked on the font. The scene, when I looked down in the font, was worse than the scene of a horror movie because it had completely drained. THE FONT DRAINED ITSELF!! (we still don`t know how it happened) I am sure my face warped in terror and panic because the bishop just kept saying ``Don`t worry, don`t worry`` as he ran around the corner with the fire hose. Yes, the fire hose. So we ended up blasting the ICE cold water and filling the font in less than a half hour. I was so worried for Cristina, but she said that she didn`t even feel cold even though our bishop who baptized her was shaking like a dog! She was so happy and it was very special!

Mercedes was confirmed this last Sunday too. Since her confirmation her countanence has changed 100 percent. Before she was often very sad and depressed but now she walks around with a new bounce in her step. Her family says it`s like she`s glowing  Mercedes told us she is `contentisima` that she got baptized. I love her so much and she makes me so happy! It is amazing to see the changes that gospel of Jesucristo brings into the lives of people. It`s really incredible. But the trial is, she still has her many health problems. Yesterday we had quite the big scare. In church after the sacrament meeting I went over to accompany her to the next class and she stood up but said she didn`t feel well and passed out in my arms. It was terrifying, but luckly there were a ton of people there and they all ran to help. They quickly took her to the hospital and there they gave her something to help. She is going to Santiago today to do more tests. She gets tests taken like every week to figure out what exactly is wrong and what they can do, but no one seems to have the answers. We talked to her yesterday in the night and aside from the scare, she was doing very well and had a lot of animo (I can`t think of a better word in English). And she only asked for our prayers. I love her so much and I feel so bad when she is sick, but she seems to be handling things better than she ever did before.

We`re also teaching another family, Gayardo Navarro and they are so incredible!

So the Chileano independence day came and went. They are crazy about it and decorate entire streets with streamers and balloons. The missionaries had p-day that day and our zone decided to celebrate Chile`s independence playing PAINTBALL! It was awesome, and I still have a couple fading bruises...

But everything is well. I love you all so much!!

CHAO!

Mercedes se bautizo!!!

2009-09-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

Hola

¡Sí, Mercedes se bautizó!!! Yippeeee!! It was so special too! Once again we were worried about the water being hot because that was Her biggest concern for her baptism (since she is very elderly). When the bishop went to fill up the font he forgot to turn on the water heater, so it was freezing cold about half the way up until they realized it was wrong but by then it was too late to drain it and re-fill it because it fills really slow… So she had to be baptized in luke warm water. I about had a heart attack because I was sure MERCEDES was going to have a heart attack! But it all worked out alright because she said the water didn`t bother her at all…( I was thinking of the story you told me again dad, about the old lady you guys baptized in freezing water!) It was an experience really special for Mercedes and for all. She got to the church a little early and so all she wanted to do is sit there quietly and read her Book of Mormon before her baptism started . None of her family wanted to support her in her decision to get baptized and she was very sad for that leading up to her baptism, but yesterday she said she wasn`t sad at all because she knows that all though her family wasn`t with her, she wasn`t alone, but was with Heavenly Father. In her testimony after she kept saying ¨!Estoy felíz! !Estoy contenta!¨ Ooohhh, it was so beautiful and very touching.

We are planning another Baptism this week, her name is Cristina and she is 31 years old. She has 3 kids and they are all investigating the church too, but just Christina will be baptized this week. She was an investigator of the Hermanas. She is incredible!!!! And we`re very excited for her and she is too 

Last Friday we all had to enter our house 3 hours early because it was el día de rebelde de los jovenes… adolescent rebellion day… apparently it is really dangerous, but nothing bad happened, we were safe inside our house….This week they have their independence day on the 18th. This day is HUGE they have been preparing for it since weeks ago. I am excited to see all the festivities (we get p-day that day too).

The "downs" get lower, but the "ups" get HIGHER...

2009-09-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

We've taken some ¨hits¨ lately and they have been kind of stinky… As time goes by it seems like the ¨downs¨ somtimes get lower, but the ¨ups¨ by far have gotten even HIGHER. This week I have felt so touched by the spirit, but from things that would be considered so small and insignificant to others. By the simple acts or testimonies of the members or the sincerity of an investigator in their search to feel complete in the Love of Christ. I have felt very strengthened in my testimony of Christ and his love for me and for others. I really can`t begin to understand it all, but I have at least felt it, and seen it manifest in others. I have also felt a very strong convicion that these things are true. I have always known it, I have felt it, but just yesterday as I was sitting in the testimony meeting listening to these people testify of the simple truths, I knew it is true all over again. Few times have I felt so strongly that this IS the church of Christ. That I`m not just doing something good, or even something right, but that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the things we teach, are TRUE.

Remember Mercedes?? She`s had a lot of complications with her health, but she is moving forward and is excited to be baptized (it should be this weekend if she doesn`t get sick again). She was able to go to church yesterday and even bore her testimony!! It was awesome, but kind of funny too… her testimony had a very ¨Evangelical¨ swing on it because she kept saying ¨señor, SEÑOR!¨ in her testimony. Hehe. But I couldn`t stop grinning, she makes me so happy.

Also, SERGIO and ILDA are doing SO WELL!! In the beginning, Ilda didn`t want to get married even if Sergio could get his divorce, but she has had such a change of heart and now says that she will get married. She even went to church and liked it. Sergio has an appointment with a Lawyer today para averiguar como puede tener su divorcio. WHOOHOOO!!!

So a couple weeks ago it was really hot here (during the day). There was a lot of sun, I even left the house with a short sleeve shirt a couple times and everyone thought that summer was just about here, but it looks like the weather was just playing dirty tricks on us because the clouds and rain have made encoré entrance. Winter is still definitely here. I have officially had 3 umbrellas die on me. I will have to show you the picture of how my last umbrella died next week (I don`t have all the means right now to send pictures again).

If there is ever a break in the rain all the kids are outside flying kites. It`s such the ¨hip¨ thing to do here. Though the kites are really different. The barrel of string is like 20 times bigger, and they are made to put your entire hand inside so you can move it around and do funky tricks with the kites. It remindes me of when the ¨yo-yo¨ fad went down when I had about 11 years. Or when I was 11 years old (same thing, Stewart). But even the ¨cool kids¨fly their kites, it´s awesome.

Transfers Stink!

2009-08-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

Hi hi hi
Hola hola hola

Okay. Where do I start? I´ll start with today. Transfers stink.

They came today and took away our other half. Hna. Pinto and Hna. Bartholomew have left our area and have only been gone but I already feel a huge emptiness in my heart. I don´t think I ever anticipated the bonds I would make with my companions, I never thought I would make such friendships with my latin friends... It´s one thing to say good bye to another gringa knowing that in months I´ll be seeing them in reunions in Utah, but it´s another thing saying good bye to my companions from different countries! Who knows if I will see them again? I will see Hna. Pinto in conferences coming but Hna. Muñoz (my comp from Machalí) left for her home today and I don´t know If I will ever see her again  I will see what I can do about that in the future... Okay, sorry for being dramatic. But....

I guess I didn´t tell you the reason why they closed out one of the Graneros sectores. It´s because a lot of sisters from the mission left for their homes and very few came into the mission. Which means there are a few sectores left without anyone so they closed a lot of the areas where there were 4 missionaries. I am not going to lie, I´m a weeee bit nervous for this coming transfer!! This last transfer has been for me probably one of the busiest tranfers of the mission. We have never worked with so many progressing investigators (which is a GOOD thing), and now the whole mission is putting a huge emphasis in the less active members trying to re-activate them that there was hardly room to do contacts, but now with the investigators of the hermanas...less!! But I know we can do it... Heavenly Father trusts us. We can do it. Pero...yikes...

Rember Sergio? Well.... We found out that he isn´t married to the woman that he is living with  It turns out that he is married to someone else but his real wife left him about 25 years ago and took a lot of stuff... like his house and a whole bunch of drama is with that but he says it is very unlikely he will be able to get this divorce. He is really sad. Because he wants so badly to be baptized... But you cant get baptized when you're living with someone without being married and he and his pareja dont want to separate, they´ve been together for 30 years. I have never found someone so sincere in his desires. He has read about half the book of mormon and is so excited about the things he is learning. It breaks my heart to see him discouraged about it all, because it´s something that he wants... But he is going to work with lawyers to see what he can do about his divorce.

Mercedes is doing well... She is the CUTEST most dearest old lady next to my grandmas. I love her so much, but she has had some pretty crappy health stuff going on but is so earnest in her desires to learn also.

We are teaching another family. Pamela y Hans and their 3 little kids. They are really great, though have had some really rough times in their marriage. Hans used to always leave on the weekends and drink and do other stuff and it´s been so hard on Pamela. She has wanted to give up so many times. But we started teaching them and things are progressing. Even though there are still problems with Hans, they are progressing!! They started doing Family Prayers and say they can see a difference in their family! Hans called us ¨little angles¨ that have come to their home but it´s not a thing we´ve done, it´s the miracle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It´s learning repentance and patience and love and respect. And these things and only through Jesus Christ that we change and are made better.

There is a lot more going on but I will keep you updated on these people!

CONGRATULATIONS mommy on getting the new job!! I had no clue that you were looking so intensely. You need to keep me updated on how that all goes. Do you like it? What do you do? Do you work with the patients? And congrats on Geoff graduating! That´s pretty sweet. I enjoyed the pictures. Send more! Of danielle and erik too! If you want...Gracias...  I think it´s funny dad that you asked about the elders being ¨flirts¨ with the sisters. Because I have actually been quite surprised to see it. Usually only between the latin missionaries. It has really surprised me. Nothing bad happens but I would definiely call it flirting. Though they wouldn´t admit it. Except Hna. Pinto had a crush on our district leader. It was hilarious. But the Chruch is true.

Oh how I love you. My heart is full I feel so much for you all I never thought my heart could love my family and my companions and the members and the people we teach so much. Incredible.

I love you!!!

Hermana. Jones AKA: AL

Graneros II is closing in one week!

2009-08-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

HOLA

I am doing well here In Graneros. It´s rained a bit this past week. This makes everything more fun!

Luis and Mercedes are doing so well. The elders from Codegua don’t have a baptismal font in their church, so they have their baptisms in our chapel. So we took Mercedes to their baptism yesterday and she liked it a lot. Before the Jovencito that was going to be baptised wanted to take a big picture of all the people that went, his friends, members and the missionaries so I was about to take the picture for them all when Mercedes hobbles in the photo shot right in the middle of everyone. It was really funny because they don´t know her, she doesn´t know them, but wanted to be in the picture. She is so sweet. But she is going to have to have heart surgery in a few weeks and she is really nervous for that…

We were able to meet another Man named Sergio. He is about 75 years old or more. We taught him and his wife once ( she is a member, but not active) and I was sure that he wasn´t really listening because he kept making comments that didn´t have anything to do with anything (but were really funny)… But we left him a Book of Mormon and marked 3 Nefi 11 So we showed up to their house a few days later and Sergio had finished reading 3 Nefi! He is fascinated by it and kept talking about how the book clears his doubts about all his religious questions… He kept saying how into the book he is and just wants to keep reading more. We invited him to church on Saturday and he came! And he liked it  We taught them again yesterday and He said he wants to be baptised. And he is so excited about! It is pretty darn awesome. He and his wife Ilda are so sweet and I have already fallen in love with them both. I`m really excited for the journey to come!!

So, do you want to hear the news? Maybe this news doesn`t mean much to anyone but it is a pretty big deal here for the missionaries in Graneros. Turns out that few people arrive in the mission this change and many leave. This means that the mission has to close a handful of sectors. They are closing Graneros II in one week. This means that Hna. Bartholemew and Hna. Pinto will be leaving without replacements and THAT means that Hna. Black and I will be taking over all of their investigators and work. And their work is HUGE. These missionaries do a lot. I am a bit nervous for this because we already are really tight with our own work, but we will have to do all that they are doing too, and I´m honestly not sure how that`s all going to work out…but…. What can you do, take it with a grin? I just hope that we will be able to maintain everyone, I really don`t want to kill their sector because they are working great things right now…

Buutttt…. How are things? What will be your new email address mom? That`s really crazy that everyone is starting school again. Time flies and I don`t like it!!! I cant get a grip at how fast time goes. But I love you both so much and I want you to know that!!!

CHAOOO

More little miracles

2009-08-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

This week has been interesting!! My companion has been really down, and it has made things a little difficult. I don`t resent that, I just feel bad because I want to help her but when I try talking to her about why she`s sad she kind of closes off. It worries me, but yesterday she seemed a lot more cheerful. I think it´s just been a hard adjustment. I think she`ll come around. She really is incredible but she`s really hard on herself. She admitted that she`s a perfectionist and so when things fall through or if she doesn’t understand perfectly she gets upset. But the truth is she is incredible! And she speaks well and teaches well but wants to be the perfect missionary right now. I hope I can at least help her! I know your advice would be to just love her and be patient, and that`s what I`m doing.

But We`ve been able to teach another couple this week named Luis and Mercedes. They are about 65 years old. They are a reference from one of the members that lives across the street. Luis and Mercedes have lived through a lot of really rough things in their life and right now Mercedes is going through some pretty serious health complications. She will have to have a second heart surgery here soon. The first time we taught them they both just cried the whole time. It was heart breaking to hear how Luis loves his wife so much and he just wants her to be happy but feels like God has abandoned them and at times questioned his existence. Mercedes is just tired with life and depressed and doesn`t really feel like going on. But we were able to teach a little bit about Christ and His atonement and how they can find the strength and comfort only through him. The second time we were able to bring one of the members to their house and taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about everything and when we invited them to be baptized Mercedes said something like ¨Well, I would think that first of all I would need to repent of all my sins¨ As if that was something impeding her… but that`s just what will prepare her!

The Hno Roman and Sandra (the members that gave us the reference) went over one night to give Mercedes a blessing of health. She said that when she received the blessing she literally felt like something was being taken away and immediately felt a great relief from much of her pain. She said that she had a lot of faith when Hno. Roman gave her the blessing. Luis became very emotional and described how he felt at that moment as well something warm in his chest. The next day when they told us about this Mercedes was hobbling around so content! It was incredible.

They both said that they probably want to be baptized, but that everything depended if they liked going to church or not. So they went to church…and liked it!! They seem a lot happier, and in just a few days.

It´s incredible to see these miracles. I know that Christ lives, and that his power is being made manifest in the lives of all of us. I feel so blessed to be a part of this work!

There is a talk given in this last Ensign (I think) called ¨Opening the Heavens¨ … read it!! Sometimes we have so much inside of us and know that we need to give it all up to the Savior, but sometimes we don’t necessarily know how lay our burdens, our struggles, our feelings at the Savoir´s feet, but this talk really helped me see the first step of how we can do that. By putting aside personal time with the Lord, I am lucky enough to have an hour extra of study time because my companion has her greenie hour. I have been using some of that time to have ¨personal time¨ and it has been very special to me.

Little Miracles...

2009-08-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

This week we`ve had a lot of adventures, we`ve been able to see a LOT of little miracles, a lot of things have been very touching to me.

The other week The familia Suárez wanted to go to church (they are the family with the little girl Jocelyn that just got baptized). But they live a good 25 minutes away from the church. They don`t want anyone to give them a ride but would rather walk. But the other day it was raining pretty hard. When it rains in Chile, everyone becomes a little home hermit and doesn´t go out for anything. I don`t blame them, really. But you can imagine it is hard getting people to go to church when it rains (not many have cars). But this particular Sunday just about a half an hour before church started it stopped raining. And I didn`t even think twice about it, really. But later when we went to a lesson with the Familia Suárez. Juan, the dad told us how they really wanted to go to church, but didn´t want to go out in the rain, so they said a prayer and right after the rain stopped just long enough for them to arrive… and then it started up again. It was so touching to see how much faith this humble little family has.

The other day we were trying to find this family that we had taught one time. They were really receptive and really good but weren`t there on the second visit. So we kept going back and back trying to find them. We found them once and set an appointment and when we went again they weren`t there. It was sad… but then we said, ¨there´s probably a reason we keep being brought out here¨ I was determined to figure it out and so we started knocking doors and the second door that we knocked a young mom answered and let us in. We were able to teach her and she told us that the message was an answer to her prayers because she`s been going through a hard time. We have only taught her that one time, but we`re excited to see what happens next!!

Also, the other day we were looking in la carpeta de los ¨muertos¨ or the folder of all the investigators that have died…or the missionaries have stopped passing by for one reason or an other. We found one lady that the missionaries taught a while ago, but stopped because they she wasn´t really progressing and also wasn’t married and didn`t have plans to do so. We stopped by her house one night and there was obviously a big party going on so I asked her if it was someones birthday and she said they were celebrating a wedding. But she told us to stop by another day in the morning. So we went back like 3 weeks later (because I had almost forgotten about it) and taught her. Turns out that the wedding that they were celebrating her her home was her own wedding with her husband. She also said kind of the same thing how she has been praying a lot for certain answers to her prayers and the very day she had been asking for something we showed up. She accepted a date to be baptized in a few weeks and we are so excited for her! Her name is Mabel and has so much faith in Christ and is a good example for me. It really amazes me how Heavenly Father prepares his children to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have seen too many small little miracles like these to doubt that this is the Lords work, we are merely the little wheels that keep it rolling.

I feel so blessed to know who I am and what my purpose is. I know that Christ loves me and I can be happy through him, through repentance and forgiveness!!

I am happy to be with my companion. She`s been a little homesick this week, but she`s okay…. I had to eat some food off her plate the other day during lunch at a members house because my poor little companion couldn´t eat it all. She`ll get used to it soon…

Some recent pics...

2009-07-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

The P-day - usually a bunch of missionaries gather at this place called "Lasagnas" to eat Empanadas! They are tasty.

This is Hna. Hatch, Hna, Descalzo, y Yo!

La Familia Pizarro-Guzman

Yessica, Kata, Lucia, Leonardo

Yocelin and Sebastian

She's here!!!

2009-07-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

¡¡¡It´s a CALIFORNIAN!!!

Yes, I am a mother. She´s a healthy little blonde with much enthusiasm for the work of the Lord. I almost wanted the sister from columbia for my companion just so I could say I have a Columbian baby...ha.... But really I am very happy with my new compaion. Her name is Hermana Black and she´s from San Jose California. She is so sweet and has this angleic little voice and a pleasant way of teaching. And she speaks a good amount of spanish. It´s just hard for her to understand, as it is hard for any gringo whether they speak spanish or not. It reminds me of my first days when we walk out of a lesson and she tells me she didn´t understand a darn thing. But just like I mastered early on the art of laughing and nodding at the appropriate times, she also does well with this. I definitely feel a greater responsibilty being a trainer, but Hna. Black is pretty awes, and love her and I know we will have a good 3 months together.

I really feel happy in the mission. It seems like with every transfer, or compaion or maybe just with time I feel happier and more and more enthused to do the work. I feel very much that my savior loves me, that I have a purpose in life and He wants me to be happy. I can see that in the people here too. It makes me sad when people don´t feel loved and don´t think that there is much hope left in the world, because that clearly is not the case. Obedience is the key. When we find people that are unhappy it is always because there is disobedience to God´s commandments. If we obey, we´re happy. The concept is simple. I love the parable in John 15 ... Jesus talkes about how he is the vine and we are the branches. We can not live with him, we are nothing, we are dead without him. But he pleads with us to stay with him, and the way to stay with him and in his love is by obeying his commandments. There´s a lot more that someone could pull out of this parable, so read it, it´s good.

We´ve been lucky enough to have relativley pleasant weather thus far, but it sounds like we´re going to see a lot of rain this week :P We keep finding really good people, but then something happens and they aren´t home or are busy... But we keep working the same and are hoping to see some progress in a few of them.

Sounds like you guys are having a good summer. Is it really July? How weird. I am doing the right things to keep warm, don´t worry. I´ve got this water heating pad thingy and I put it in my bed at night and it´s like a little space heater for my blankets. It´s cozy warm...who needs in-door heating anyway ? My prayers are with Grandma and Grandpa. I hope they can both find the relief they need.

Thanks for everything.

I love you all dearly!!!

I'm going to be a Mother!!!

2009-07-13T16:39:00.000-07:00

Rumor had it.

I am going to be a mother.

Or as the rest of the mormon world knows it, a trainer.

I think I denied it long enough that I was sure that it wouldn´t happen just yet, but it appears that my subconcience knew it all along and all last week I was eating a lot more than normal. When my district leader called me to tell me the news he asked if I have been feeling strange lately becuase I am going to me a “mom” and Hna. Pinto yells “ she´s been eating like a pig!” What´s even more ironic is that on Wednesday I complete 9 months in the mission...just enough time to have a kid. Turns out that I don´t get my new companion until tomorrow, so yesterday and today I have been staying in Tupahue with Hna. Olson (my old companion from the MTC) until tomorrow because she too is going to be a trainer. All we know is that one comes from the USA and one comes from Colombia. We´re excited but also really nervous. Okay, I´m REALLY nervous. I feel like I am still a baby in the mission and there´s so much I still need to learn. But I´m going to follow your advice, Dad, and just do my best. I feel now more than ever the importance of being worthy of the spirits guidance. I hope I can be a good example to her and that it can be a good experience for us both.

Yesterday we had a stake conference. It was really good. One of the speakers talked a lot about Chist and his Atonement. It got me thinking a lot about what I am doing so that the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ wasn´t in vain for me. Anybody can be an “active member” of the church, learn things every Sunday and even teach lessons, but we don´t all actively live the gospel of Jesus Christ somtimes our understanding of the Atonement isn´t more than a superficial knowldge. Let´s face it, no one will ever fully understand exactly what and how He did what He did. We can study it and read about it and teach about it all we want, but if we aren´t living the gospel, our understanding and faith in Him will be just that- very superficial. How do we live his gospel and apply the atonement then? Repenting. Washing ourselves with his blood. Changing and becoming better people through His grace. I´ve always had this knowlege but now I have an even stronger desire to live his gospel and understand better Jesus Christ and what he did for me and for everyone. I feel like I have barely only skimmed the surface, that my life is just starting on the journey to undetstanding.

It was the last week of Hna. Descalzo´s mission. I cried when she left. I seem to get more and more attached to my companions as they go. Also, we have an investigator that we´ve been teaching since the begninning of this transfer named Fabiola. I have come to love her and her two little kids very much. One Monday we had a Family Night with her and some members in the ward, and the very next day we got a call from the same members that her house had caught on fire and burnt down during the night. We were so worried but were relieved to find out that she and her kids are okay. That someone noticed the flames from her house at about 1 in the morning and went to wake her up. If they hadn´t waken her they would have been gonners. She has moved to live with her parents in Rancagua so we can´t teach her anymore. I didn´t realize how much I had become attached but I´ve felt kind of an emptyness in my heart when I think about her. Though we´ve been in contact with her through phone. Though her progress is going to be a lot more difficult because her parents don´t want anything to do with the chruch. But she plans on moving back if she can get her house built again. I am hoping for this!!

Welp, I´ll let you know how it goes with my new companion. EEKK!!! Okay, I am okay.... It´s okay.

I love you so much ! !!

Chaoo!!

Yocelin

2009-07-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

Flamilia

Thanks for your email, Dad… sorry you had to go through all that just to get an email out before I check my email. I love you so much! Reading what you said about Mom and Erik and then that experience with Erik made my heart swell with such emotion and love for Him and my whole family. Although I´m about as far away as away can get (which really is far, I just discovered yesterday that the star constellation ¨Orian¨ is upside down), I love you as though I was right there, or…something like that, but the point is my love for my family has only grown!!

The weather here in Chile, or at least in the Rancagua region is really confused. One day it will be freezing cold, it pours rain all day and it seems like the whole world is coming to an end, and the very next day it´s blue skies and feels like early spring… I´ve heard some people say it´s a sign of the times…

I feel like all the hard word in Machalí is paying off here in Graneros! We were blessed enough to see another person baptized last week! Her name is Yocelin and has 11 years. I love her so much! I don´t think I´ve ever met an 11 year old with so much wisdom and understanding of spiritual things. She has such a sincere heart. At her baptism she shared her feelings in the chapel and described her baptism as something very special, that she felt something very special but couldn´t describe her feeling exactly. And yesterday she was confirmed with the Spirit. Her parents are very supportive and want to be baptized too. They come to church every week but they need to get married and Juan (the dad) still doesn´t want to get married for some reason he always says ¨más adelante.¨ meh. But they are well. Also Yéssica and Leonardo are doing great, Leonardo received the priesthood yesterday. They are very happy and it makes me happy.

During the week we made no-bake cookies and we gave some to their family. Kata kind of poked the cookies around because I guess they don´t look very appetizing but when she finally tried it she couldn´t stop talking about them. They want to have a family night to teach them how to make no-bakes…haha… at least the one thing I know how to make without an oven are making it big here in Chile.

Also something really neat…The other hermanas are teaching a family but are not married. The mom wants to get baptized and I guess she´s been going to church for about 6 months now, but her husband still doesn´t want to get married (it´s a problem here). But Lea is very patient and knows that one day she´ll be able to be baptized. Yesterday during the testimony meeting Lea got up and bore a simple testimony of Christ all the while with a huge smile on her face. She has the most beautiful smile and it was so touching to hear her feelings for the Gospel. I feel so blessed to be able to experience these things so simple but so significant and building.

Hna. Descalzo leaves this Sunday for her home . I am really nervous for the transfer. There has been this terrible rumor going around that I will be training a newbie next week. Now don´t get me wrong, training isn´t bad. It´s good. But it´s better when you have more time in the mission and feel better about your Spanish. Oye, I´m really hoping it´s just a rumor. I think I´ll be ready to train in about November or December.

Welp,

!Chao!

La familia Pizarro-Guzman se bautizo! Woooo hooo!!!

2009-07-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

Well, hello there.

La familia Pizarro-Guzmán se bautizó! Whooohooo!!! The days and moments leading up to their baptism were a little crazy. Just about all that could go wrong did go wrong…needless to say I was a little stressed out and had a small emotional break down just minutes before the service started. But it was in the privacy of the primary room so no one saw and it only lasted about 1 minute. I consider that good since I haven´t had a break down since my training (I´m still an emotional girl) But amidst all the adversary, it didn´t stop them from being baptized! I enjoyed your story Dad, about the 80 year old lady that you baptized and how the water was ice cold…because the same thing happened with the family Pizarro!! Though the water wasn´t quite ICE, it sure wasn´t a pleasant hot tub. But it all worked out so beautifully. Yéssica was so nervous and Kata también. But they were all very content and happy. They were filled with emotion and so happy. I can´t explain how they were, but it just warmed my heart to see them so happy and squeaky clean (hehe). The ward here has played a big role in their progress and are being so good to support and help them along the way. We´re happy for this. I wanted to send pictures today but there is some kind of holiday and everything is closed so I couldn´t print them.

You asked me Dad how my shoes are holding up. I haven´t been wearing my shoes much lately because it´s cold, but the boots I bought here to keep me warm died last week so just now I bought another pair that I think will hold up for the winter. They have a slight heel, which makes me even taller. I´m already about a head taller than everyone here.

Yeah, well I want you to know that I love you so much. It was incredible to see this family take this step together. It made me think of how much I love my family. Heavenly Father knew EXACTLY what I would need in my life to help me along the way and to give me happiness so he let me be a part of our marvelous family. I am so grateful everyday for this and so grateful to be here in this moment. Do good things and say your prayers always.

Chao!!

Alison

Elder Oaks

2009-06-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

Hola

Sup

So this week has been pretty amazing. We´re seeing a lot of miracles in the sector here in Graneros!!

But I´ll start with the conference on Tuesday. Elder Oaks came and talked to our mission and Santiago East Mission. It was so cool!! One thing good about being a sister missionary is that we get privileges that the elders don´t (neener neener!). Out of the 300 missionaries that went we being sisters got the front row seats and center at the conference. My compañera and I were seated on the second row… and it was in a stake center so that is REALLY up close and personal. Elder Oaks wanted to shake hands with everyone but since there was a handful of sick missionaries he didn´t want to contaminate everyone so he had this great idea to shake elbows. Yes, shake elbows. As my turn came to shake elbows elder Oaks looked me straight in the eyes and said ¨Hello Sister¨. And I think I said ¨hola¨ or something like that. It was pretty awes. As we had seats so close to the front we were able to watch him greet every one of the missionaries. With every single one he would look them straight in the eye and would pull a goofy grin as he said hello. It was very entertaining this part… but the COOLEST part of the whole ordeal was the advice and counsel and spiritual motivation he gave. Before the conference I had been thinking about questions that I would like to get answered. Questions that had to do with the missionary work but also questions that pertained to my personal spiritual wellbeing. I wrote down my questions, being very specific with some of them. I was absolutely amazed at the results. I felt like he had read some of my questions and was answering them directly for me. I felt so blessed to be in the presence of this apostle of the Lord and to be so edified. I could really feel my saviors love. I know that the true church of Christ. It was all the more testimony building to hear from a true apostle of the Lord.

Yessíca and Leonardo Pizarro continue the same…excited for their baptism. But the GREAT news is that their daughter of 9 years has decided to be baptized too. This Saturday their whole family will be baptized and I am so excited!! It´s been amazing to see the changes in them. AND the have a little baby named Lucia that is 1 year old. She is the most adorable funny little baby girl I have known in my life. I think I will name my daughter Lucia… hehe.

The other Hermanas in the house had a baptism this sunday. His name is Domingo Roman and he is 80 years of age. His wife (83) got baptized 30 years ago and has been faithful ever since. She´s been patiently waiting for her husband to follow her into waters for 30 years and yesterday I have never seen a happier couple. Hna. Roman shared her testimony at the baptism and it was one of the most touching things I´ve experienced. She expressed her love for the husband and her love for the lord and the joy in her heart and it brought me so much happiness.

I think that my senses are all messed up because of the cold weather because I´ve been singing Christmas songs this whole week. It feels like the Christmas season and I forget that you´re all enjoying the heat. This last week has been especially cold and it will only get colder yet. Friday I got to experience the true beauty of missionary work because it rained and it POURED and the streets flooded and we all got soaked (even with our rain coats and umbrellas) and had to change our clothes half way through the day. Haha. It was fun… Speaking of Friday it was my birthday. I didn´t want to make a big deal about it so I didn´t mention it to anyone. Sure enough it came and went unnoticed by anyone. It was funny… but the following day my companions figured out and threw me a ¨surprise party¨ after lunch with birthday hats and cake and everything… ALSO today I received the package! Thank you SO MUCH mom and dad. I feel bad that it costs so much to send me a few things everytime, but it will all come to great use and I LOVE the pictures. Also it seems like Jessie hosted a letter writing party and I got an envelope of letters from my pals. The letters made me laugh a lot.

I´m so proud of Erik and Danielle and Cali for all of their big accomplishments these days!!

Today we had a sisters conference in the mission home and it was so nice to see all of the sisters in the mission and eat a lot of good food.

I am really happy to be here in the mission. I think I will be really sad when my companion leaves this change because I really like serving with her. It seems like every change (or transfer) gets better and better.

I love you all so much.

Chao!

Ugly Dog Contest!

2009-06-21T18:10:00.001-07:00

Contestant 1

Contestant 2

Contestant 3

Contestant 4

Contestant 5

Contestant 6

Contestant 7

Familia Pizarro

2009-06-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

HI HI HI

Thanks for the emails, you´re great, really. No, really!

Things are going well here in Graneros. We are teaching a familia named Pizarro. Yéssica and Leonardo (and their daughter Kata, but she´s not usually there). I really like this family. They have a goal to be baptized on the 28th. Since they´ve known the gospel they have made a lot of changes in their life and are so happy and excited. It makes me happy to see them so excited for their change. Everytime I can see a change in the hearts of people I am so happy and amazed. It has become obvious that any change for the better that happens in a persons life is done through their faith in Christ and his power to heal. It all comes down to the atonement of Christ…when we can try to understand who Christ is and what he has done for us we want more than ever to do the right and love others. I feel so blessed to be here and to be learning. I feel like in my understanding of what Christ has done for us I haven´t even skimmed the surface. But I know that somehow he did what he did and made it possible for me to be clean and happy if we live his gospel. And that I can be happy forever. I know Christ lives today and loves us. I hope I can always be learning about him and striving to know him.

You mentioned Dad that I am close to my hump day in the mission. Am I glad, sad, mad? I haven´t actually thought about it much. Probably because it doesn´t seem like it´s so. I still feel like I am barely starting, just learning the ways, getting the hang of things etc… Get what I´m diggin chicky dude? But I´m happy to be here, I´m glad to have had the experiences that have passed and hope I can make the next part of my mission the best eva.

Sounds like you guys had a good time in Moab! When I went with my friends the last summer I liked Dead Horse Point too. I think it was my favorite part. I could look out forever on the beautiful creations of God. Like you said it is pretty incredible. We can´t even comprehend for a moment the power and love that God has for us. Men are that they might have joy. Amen to that!

As for the swine flu… I didn´t know that Chile has been hit the hardest. But the mission sends us emails like every week reminding us to do just what you told us. To be super duper clean, carry around hand sanitizer, wash up every moment we can and so forth… Don´t worry, we´re aware and being careful. You can rest your smelly little head tonight ;)

Good to hear Erik´s not going to take off to be a brave little soldier just yet. And good luck to Norm. My prayers will be with him.

I regret to say that I still haven´t gotten the package. I am sure it´s just fine though floating around somewhere in chile waiting to arrive in my hands. Like they say, belated birthdays are the best. I actually don´t think anyone said that, but… it´s okay.

Hna. Pinto, the other Argentinan that lives in our house tells me that my accent (besides sounding gringa) sounds like I´m from Brazil, or that I sound like someone that speaks portugese that trys to speak spanish… My companion concured her acusation. So that´s the word on the street these days. I really like the ward here in Graneros. I don´t know if I mentioned in my last email the the newly called Bishop is only 24 years old, but has a lot of enthusiasm for the mission work, so we get a lot of support.

Oh! And that conference that I told you about with Elder Oaks is going to be something a little different… He is actually going to be speaking with our mission and the Santiago East mission tomorrow in Santiago! I am so excited, it feels like Christmas! But this means that we have to get up at 5 tomrrow morning to make there with time to spare… ick. But Yay!

I love you!

The smell of coffee... makes me want to eat toast!

2009-06-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

¡Hola!

Here I am in Graneros. I´ve been here a week and so far I LOVE it!! Graneros (like Machalí) is a really big sector, but the streets are more organized and it´s not as confusing (the directions). Right here in the city of Graneros and about 5 blocks away from our house is a Nestle factory. This means that the air almost always smells like coffee. They say that sometimes it smells like chocolate, but I have only smelled coffee. And for some reason it makes me want to eat toast. I don´t know why, I´ve never eaten toast with coffee, but it just seems like it´s what you would do. We live relatively close to a mountain range called ¨Cordillera Costal¨ and I´m already in love with the sunsets over the cordillera. It´s very beautiful. But we´re not in the mountains like Machalí so the winters aren´t as terrible….though the cold that we feel supposedly isn´t even the beginning. I found a nice cozy coat for pretty cheap the other day that will keep me toasty warm.

Yesterday we arrived at church a little early so I was playing around on the piano before people were really there. But the bishop must have thought that I played so he asked me if I would play the piano for the meeting because they don´t have anyone to play the piano in this ward. I told him that I actually don´t play, but just the top hand on a few of the hymns so he asked me if I would do at least that. I consigned thinking ¨how bad can it be?¨…. it was a DISASTER!!! I don´t think I´ve been so embarrassed in my life. At least the first hymn was disastrous, the other 2 weren´t as painful. But still kind of painful. But it must have been sufficient because Bishop assigned me as ward piano player. Shoot dog. This will be interesting…

I am really happy to have my companion. She looks like Sammy Lira (Michelle Lira Chestnut´s little sister…CONGRATS ON YOUR BABY SHELLS!!!). We are working with some really good families and I feel very content and happy to be here. I feel like I fit well with Graneros and I am really excited for what´s to come! Yesterday was the baptism of Ester. My companion also had a baptism yesterday at the same time so we weren´t able to travel to Machalí to see the Baptism of Ester. I thought that would be okay, since that´s just what happens sometimes. But for some reason I felt so sad Saturday night that I would be missing it , I just laid in bed and cried. I couldn´t figure out why I was crying, since her baptism is happy and all. It was probably a mix of being an emotional girl and because Ester has come so far and I just wanted to see her happy face on that day. But it´s good. I sent a letter to her today. I also sent a Birthday card to Danielle girl and an envelope full of pictures. Hopefully it makes it. I still haven´t gotten the package, but they always seem to take longer than letters.

Looks like you had a hip hoppin´ time in Vegas. That picture of you and Cal is hilarious! It worked well to send the pictures like that, you should do it more often. If you want to…

Oh! Elder Oaks is coming to Rancagua on June 16 (Dani´s b-day!)!!! He will be talking exclusively to our stake and another and we get to go and listen. I am really excited for this.

More next week…

I love you dearly!

Bye bye Machali... Hello Graneros!

2009-06-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the pictures!! And just today I got Erik´s graduation announcement. He´s so grown up! It amazes me how fast time goes and all the growing people do in such little time. And speaking of growing up… I got the pictures of Danielle and my mouth DROPPED. I don´t remember her being so grown up and womanly. What´s happening to my family? It´s a good grown up, but holy cow! She looks so beautiful…did she get hair extensions? Sheesh. It´s Bud, and Babe…but they´re big kids now.

Okay, for the news… I´ll start with Machalí. We ALMOST had the baptism of Ester yesterday. She arrived at chruch but told us that she didn´t want to get baptized that day because she had just started her period and that it was very heavy and didn´t feel comfortable being in the water. I know, ugh. I´m pretty sure it wasn´t a cop out, but it was all kind of anti climatic. But I am used to it now ;) ha… Nah, it´s okay. She´ll be baptized this Sunday. I wont be there to see it  But that´s another part of life, right? Yes, I moved from Machalí this morning to a place called Graneros. It´s a little bit north of Rancagua. I really am going to miss Machalí, but more than the city, the view, the streets, the dogs... I´m going to miss the people. It was heart wrenching saying goodbye to some of the members. They´ve been my family away from my family for the first 6 months of my time here in Chile. I really hated saying good bye and only told a few people in the ward because I knew I would have turned into a basketcase if I told the others. I´ll just be sure to write them letters from here on out. We had a lesson with Daniel and Ester yesterday and at the end took a few pictures. I don´t know if I mentioned that Ester has a kid. His name is Jordan and is 5 years old. Jordan was really sad that I was leaving and wanted to tell me yesterday that he had fallen in love with me, but was too shy. Instead Ester told me and Jordan gave me a big hug. It was probably the cutest thing I´ve seen yet.

So, like I mentioned earlier I moved to Graneros. We will be living as 4 missionaries again. It was really nice living just me and Hna. Muñoz the change before, but I really like living as 4, it´s a lot of fun. My companion´s name is Hna. Descalzo. She is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I know, the Presidente Resek must like me because he´s put me with really good companions! I feel so blessed. Also, in the house is Hna. Bartholemew, she was in my district in the MTC and also Hna. Pinto, she´s also from Argentina. I´m really excited for this change. I feel really good so far (even though it´s only been a couple hours), I feel like I am going to be really happy here with Hna. Descalzo. AND she´s a little bit taller than my other companions. Still shorter than me, but at least I won´t feel so giantess.

Mom and Dad I know you are very concerned about my well being, physically and spiritually. Don´t worry, I´m healthy (though I think I gained a few this last change, we ate a lot…) and I´m doing what I can to edify my mind and spirit. I wont be liar pants and tell you that it´s been all fun and games, but I´ve not ever been unhappy. The poopy times (there were quite a few) have been good for my learning and all I can do right now is look forward and keep feeding my soul with good things by learning and loving and serving the Lord. Everyone is different, I´ve realized that the missionary that has the language down to a point before his training is over and the missionary that has seen 4 baptisms in one change are not better of a person than the missionary that has struggled a little more along the way. Heavenly Father loves us all the same and is happy with what we can do and what we´re striving to do.

I love you so much, I am so proud to be your daughter. You´re all really swell.

Keep saying your prayers.

Chao for now.

Hna. Jones (Honez)

Bien, bien, bien...

2009-05-25T22:59:00.000-07:00

Bien, bien, bien…

This week in church Daniel was confirmed. It was really a neat experience, and he is really happy. His sister, Ester, has made a world of changes in the past month. She has struggled to stop smoking, but this week we had a fast with her and Daniel to help her stop smoking….and she hasn´t smoked since! She tells us that she´s had enough of her old life and is ready to make this change. She and Daniel moved here as of a few months ago from Antofagasta (it´s really north in Chile). We don´t know the half of what she´s been though, but it seems like she´s been through a lot, and I mean a lot of really crappy stuff before. She recognizes that all of these changes that she´s made in such a short time (about 4 weeks) has only been possible through the power of Jesus Christ. She knows it and is so happy for it. She is such an incredible example of faith humility to me. I love Ester so much and it makes me so happy to see her happy in Christ! I know our Savior lives and only through him can we change and become happy and better people. I know it because I have experienced it in my life and have had this marvelous opportunity to see the power of his love manifest in the lives of others.

Though you can never be certain with the coming changes in the mission, we´re about 99% sure that I will be leaving Machalí in a week. I had to give a talk in church yesterday (it was terrifying! But now it´s over…phew!) but while I was up there in the stand I could look out and see the faces of everyone of the members in the ward. I am really going to miss them and I am going to miss Machalí. They say that this sector is one of the most beautiful in the sectors where the sisters serve, so I will most likely be looking at not as pretty scenery for the rest of my mission. It´s been quite the crazy first 5 ½ months in Chile. Plenty of ups and downs and all arounds. For example… Recently Juan Carlos (the deaf mute that we have been working with since January) hasn´t been going to church, nor has he been in his lessons…it was almost like he has been avoiding us. We found his wife the other day and she told us that the most probable reason that he hasn´t been around for us is because he´s got a deaf mute friend who´s a Jehovah´s Witness and he´s been learning from them…as his friend can actually speak sign language better. Yeah. It was painful to find out. I left the conversation with his wife dumbfounded and heart broken and even cried a little bit. But what do you do, you pick up and move on, right? And you keep spreading this message of hope and happiness with others. Though I am going to miss Machalí and the people and the experiences, I´m happily awaiting this change of area. 6 months is a long time to be in one place…I´m running out of places to knock doors 

I´ve had a really good time with my companion too. I´ve learned more from her in 5 weeks than I thought I would.

Rory sent me an email the other week with an idea of something to do to make contacts more fun. He gave me the idea of picking some random word that doesn´t relate to anything (like hummingbird) and try to work it into the contact. We thought why not, and as I flipped through the dictionary I found the word ¨compota de manzana¨ That means ¨applesauce.¨ It´s been really funny trying to figure out how to use the word ¨applesauce¨ in a contact.

The other day just at the end of the night we were about to head back to our apartment. We were walking in the street and there didn´t seem to be anybody around to see us, so for no good reason we decided to run the remaining block. Just to run…maybe because we hadn´t run in a long time or something… I´m not sure why we decided to… any way we started running. I thought ¨hey, this feels good!¨ so I tried to pick up speed and took about 5 steps and PLOWED it on the ground. Pretty hard. I took a big slide on the ground, but luckily hands first. It tore a giant hole in my gloves. I felt a little embarrassed but we laughed it off. I didn´t realize how bad it was until we got back to the house and realized that my nylons were pretty much shredded and my legs were all scrapped up and bleeding. How´s that for graceful?

My First Baptism!

2009-05-18T18:07:00.000-07:00

This is the moment you were all waiting for… Okay, at least I was waiting for it… We had a baptism!!!! WooHoo!! Remember Daniel and Ester? They are the brother and sister that we met a few weeks ago. They both had plans to baptize, but Ester wants to wait a little more time. I don´t know if I mentioned before but when we met Ester 3 weeks ago she was smoking 20 to 30 cigarettes a day. That´s a lot. And she´s only 22! Now she´s down to one a day and can´t quite kick that last cigarette, but will do it because she´s pretty determined and really wants to change and take this step to be baptized. Daniel was going to wait to be baptized with her, but told us that he couldn´t wait anymore so he was baptized yesterday. It was incredible. Every part of it. Though yesterday they arrived at church about a half hour late. That really scared us…thinking that they weren´t going to make it for his baptism. Turns out Daniel had to work the graveyard shift and almost didn´t get off on time to make it to church… but he made it and everything worked out so well! It was such a good experience and after his baptism Daniel kept saying he felt ¨super tranquilo.¨ He is really excited for everything and kind of seems like a little kid in his enthusiasm for the gospel (he´s 26). He can´t wait for the next week when he gets confirmed. It was really rainy yesterday and the inside of the chapel was a bit cold. When they opened the baptismal font, the mirror to see Daniel was all fogged up so they leaned one of the youth out over the water to wipe down the mirror and he almost fell in. It was funny… But the whole baptism was pretty darn awesome. This is definitely cooler than anything else I could be doing. It was all one more confirmation to me that this is the true church and that we really do have the plenitude of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We had a lesson with Daniel and Ester later that night and I just felt so happy to be with them and to know them. I love these people more than I imagined I would. I want for them the best. This is just the beginning for them and I hope that they can always continue growing in their faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Like I mentioned, it´s gotten a lot cooler. The people here are hilarious because they put clothes on all the dogs to keep them warm. I´m not sure why, but it really strikes me as funny to see the dogs behind the fences barking their heads off trying to be all ferocious but are wearing some frilly outfit. I´ve even seen some of the street dogs with clothes. Poor things.

I hope things are well on your vacation Mom and Dad. You deserve a break. That´s pretty awesome that you ran into elders that knew Becca! Are you going to the BYU Polynesian center? I heard that is pretty sa-weet. Bring me home a souvenir (hehe). I love you so much and I hope your week is good!

Al

Starting to get colder here. Glad I brought the fuzzy slippers!!!

2009-05-04T22:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, I´m going to start with the good news… Hna. Muñoz and I are going to have 2 baptisms on the 17th!!! Whooohooo! Daniel and Ester. They are a brother and sister. Daniel is 26 years and Ester is 22 and they are so excited for their baptism!! Daniel says that he´s actually been looking for the truth, but never felt good about all the other religions that he´s tried out. But he said that when he read from the Book of Mormon, things just made sense. It´s interesting to hear what people have to say about the BoM when they had never been introduced to it before. He said that he has never found anything that explained so clearly the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ and outlined so simply what we need to do to be cleansed from sin so we can have eternal life. We´ve only been teaching them for a little over a week but he says that nobody could take away from him what he´s learned about the plan Heavenly Father has for us. Ester is pretty awesome too. She´s had a pretty rough past and is ready to start new. She´s had to quit smoking and she says it´s been relatively easy to stop because every time she has desires to smoke she picks up the BoM or says a prayer. Awesome, huh?

We´ve had a pretty great couple weeks. Some neat experiences with fasting too. We´ve had kind of a drought in Machalí, so we decided to do a fast together to find someone that could get baptized. It was the very next day of our fast that we Daniel and Ester told us they wanted to be baptized. And then the beginning of this week it was going a bit slow. We fasted for the fast Sunday (yesterday) and we did it with the purpose to find new people…since we hadn´t found many during the week. And yesterday we found 9 new people in different homes and taught them. Cool huh? I know the numbers don´t matter, but it was a testimony builder to me that when we fast Heavenly Father really does bless us.

We´re still working with Juan Carlos. He struggles with the whole smoking thing. Does well for a couple days, but then gets nervous at work and smokes… He may need a lot more time, but we´re not going to stop teaching him, he is a very special person.

So it has come. The dreaded cold weather. Dad… Remember that Christmas like 5 years ago and you bought everyone fuzzy lounge robes to wear around the house? Well, I didn´t ever wear it, but I brought it here on the mission and when we´re inside the house I live in that thing. And also those fuzzy boot slippers you bought me. That was a really smart move. So thanks! And yesterday it rained for the first time. It was a terrible rain, and still it isn´t super cold, but it will get there…

Comment and question answering time:

My companion and I get along great. I´ve been really blessed up until now. She´s super patient and a good teacher and helps me out a lot with my Spanish and teaching skills.

No, we don´t drive cars here, just walk. Walk walk walk walkwalksalkdfsdaklfjksaf. Lots of walking. I´m surprised people gain weight here, but they do. Lots of it. Hna. Alvaregna has gained 30 pounds and has only been in the mission 8 months. I don´t think I´ve gained anything because my undies still fit me. But, who knows.

THANKS FOR THE PACKAGE!!! I got it today. It made me super happy. That other video seems pretty great to use, so thanks for thinking of that.

I know the Savior loves us and has overcome the world for us. Thank you foryour testimony of him and his love. It really strengthens me.

I love you family so much. I love you with all my heart, and always pray that you´re happy and healthy.

But I have a question real quick… did Jessica Waite ever come home from her mission? Also, how are those oranges in California, Chris?

Okay, that´s all for now. I think.

Chao!

The Bus

2009-04-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

Hi there. So here I am. I´m with Hna. Muñoz and we´re staying here in Machalí. I will be here for one change more and then me voy. I am really excited to be comps with her because she is excellent. I´ve already learned a lot from her. I think will see good things this change. There aren´t any significant updates with the investigators right now, just that as of lately we´re really having a hard time bringing them to church. I can´t count how many times we´ve passed by early Sunday mornings to bring them and they don´t answer or are not home, or how many people would promise to us with their life and first born child that we are going to see them in the church, but never make it. Sometimes that gets a little old. But like I said, I´m pretty certain good things will happen this change. I thought that with Hna. Alvarenga we walked a pretty good pace, but Hna. Muñoz flies. This will be good to get to where we´ve gotta go, and I´ll burn some more calories while I´m at it. She´s been on the mission for a while and doesn´t seem a bit tired of the week. I´m really excited.

But this past week has been interesting with the changes. I was with Hna.Cluff for about a week and a half before she left for her home today. I really enjoyed being gringas together. It was a different experience all around, but I learned a lot from her and had a lot of fun. We had a few interesting experiences with the buses. One time we were running a little late for our lunch appointment and the bus that passes for where we were going only passes 1 time an hour (because it is really far away). We were about half a block away from the bus stop and we see a bus that looked just like the one that we needed to take turning the corner. The panic rushed through us and without checking the number on the front Hna. Cluff motioned for it to stop for us. So it did, but you could tell the driver was very hesitant to stop for us, but we booked it anyway. When we arrived at the door out of breath and sweating the bus driver informed us that he is just a school bus driver, but would give us a lift anyway because he was headed in that direction. So we climbed the stairs of the bus only to see about 20 little 8 and 9 year olds silently sitting there, looking at us like we just crashed their party. Hna, Cluff and I bashfully made our way in the back and giggled all the way there about how goofy we must have looked to the bus driver… two white gringas flag him down and then charge after him when all he´s trying to do is take the kids to their homes. He must have felt bad for our effort. That was fun.

The other notable experience with the buses wasn´t quite as fun, but a little more embarrassing. So there we were, headed to an appointment on a hot crowded bus when the driver takes a sharp turn. I play ¨corners¨ with Hna. Cluff and squish her a little bit against the window as the bus makes the turn. Ha ha, funny right? A good 3 or 4 minutes passes, I´m lost in my thoughts, not paying much attention when the bus makes a relatively sharp turn again, but the other way. Hna. Cluff hadn´t forgotten what I did to her and in fact wanted to play the game too. It all happened so fast, I honestly don´t remember how it happened but before I knew it I was on the dirty aisle floor of the bus, shocked and even more shocked at what had happened. I think I yelped a little bit so every head turned in time to see me awkwardly sitting on the floor. Yes, Hna. Cluff did shove me off the seat onto the floor. Though she promises that she didn´t think I was actually going to fall off the seat, and I probably wouldn´t have if I had been prepared. It was just the unexpectedness of the whole push that caught me off guard enough to actually fall. Don´t worry, I´m not so pesada that I didn´t have a good laugh too. After the matter.

I haven´t been snapping as many pictures lately for the ug dog contest. Ithink the uglies have become more normal to me. I´ll keep my eyes pealed. I know I need to print more pictures, it seems like there is little time on P-day to get everything done, especially when everything is in Rancagua. I´ll try to get it done in the next couple weeks.

It hasn´t rained yet… Turns out the good weather we´ve been having is super unusual in this time of year. Somehow they figure by the weather and the way the ants have been scurrying around the winter is going to be a harsh one. We´ll see. I put an extra blanket on my bed last night. The nights are getting cool.

Thanks mom and dad for your constant e-mails. I don´t know if you know but to read the supporting words means so much to me. I can see your love for the family, for me, and for the Lord. It´s incredible this chance we get on the earth to live and do good things. Thanks cal for your e-mail! And thanks to friends when I get an e-mail here and there. I really feel like the luckiest gal around. I´m learning about a lot about stuff…like life, and Jesus Christ and what makes a good person.

Mom, you asked for the play by play of my day. I´ll give you a quick run down, since I´m running out of time.

6:30am - I try to wake up early and study language. It happens about 60 percent of the days. 7:00 - Comp prayer, make bed, stomach crunches
7:30 -Breakfast, get ready for the day
8:30 - Personal study
9:30 - Comp study
10:30 – Embrace the world and work
1:30pm – Lunch, travelling to and from
3:30 – Leave to work again
9:30 or 10:00 – Enter the house and plan
10:30 - Eat food, prep for bed
11:00 – Sleep.

Okay, time. Family, I love you so much. Thanks for being you. Remember to say your prayers. LOVESSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

This is Jon. He's the one that reminded me of Erik when he was little. Jeremy is the one in the back that would only close one of his eyes during the prayer. Cute little guys!

Juan Carlos Part 2.. "Fuerte! Fuerte!"

2009-04-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, I´m going to start with Juan Carlos. He didn´t get baptized. I know, He´s killing me. Turns out he went to a party with his buddies when Chile played Peru and got drunk. All that fun stuff. It was pretty disappointing. Because they have to be clean two weeks before baptism, we´ll be waiting a little longer. But the good news is, he´s definitely growing. Yesterday in church was fast and testimony meeting. Juan Carlos told us that he wanted to go up there and bear his testimony and have Hna. Alvarenga translate for him. He was soooo nervous. But he kept pointing to his muscles and gesturing that he is ¨fuerte! fuerte!¨ (which means strong). So he did it. It was pretty incredible. It put all the old ladies in tears. In the following classes everyone was talking about Juan Carlos, and how he´s a great example to them of faith. That even though he doesn´t hear or talk, it doesn´t matter to him. He´s doing this, he´s trying to follow Christ. I really think he helped the ward out. Right now we´re trying to get down to the bottom of it all. He´s been so close so many times and something keeps happening. We´re trying to figure out if there´s something bigger impeding him, but at times it can be a little challenging the communication. But good things are happening.

We have taught this kid named Francisco 2wice now. He is a cute smart 17 year old boy that has incredible desires to learn and do good things. His dad doesn´t like the mormons, so we´re teaching him in the house of one of the members. This kid is pretty awesome…it´s really cool to me to see a 17 year old teen with this kind of interest in the gospel when all his buddies are out doing not so good stuff. We´re really excited about him.

The other day we had a couple hours to knock doors and found ourselves in this pretty little farmland area. The sun was just setting and it had a handful of homes scattered here and there with big fields as property. It was an older area so there were a lot of trees that were taller and as it is autumn here there were leaves all over the ground. As we walked along knocking doors I could hear all the leaves crunch under me, it was a fresh cool outside and I could smell APPLES. Fresh apples. My companion and I weren´t talking much, just walking and looking and listening to our surroundings. To me it was the essence of fall, and it made me excited for the cool weather. But more than that everything just felt good. I always know that I am loved, but in that moment I felt a little more than usual the love that Heavenly Father has for me, and that he loves all of his children. And we´re blessed enough to have this beautiful marvelous world to enjoy. It was just nice.

And yes, the results for the changes have come. They are doing some pretty funky divisions this week to get everyone settled, but when all is said and done, this coming Monday I will be staying here in Machalí with my new companion Hermana. Muñoz. She is a native CHILEANA. This is good. Because she is good. She seems like an incredible missionary and is very nice. Among all the nervousness and the bit of stressfulness of joining the two huge sectors, I´m really excited for the change. Hna. Muñoz will help Machalí a lot. Hopefully together we can do a lot.

Time.

Grr… so much I could say.

Know that I love you so much. Dad, the Pastel de Choclo is definitelya staple chileano food. With corn and beef and eggs and potatoes and about whatever else they want to throw in. It sure is tasty. I love you mom, I love you dad. And Cali and Geoff and Erik and Danielle. I wish I had more time to do some more responding… I´ll talk to you later!

Conference Weekend

2009-04-06T19:58:00.000-07:00

Hola!

Conference weekend passed…I absolutely loved it. I always like conference, but it was about 100 times cooler being here in Chile and listening to it (Jessie, I saw your mom and thought about you!!!). First of all, it was cool because in the stake center they had set apart a "gringo room¨ where all the gringo missionaries ate candy, talked in English, and watched conference in English. But the coolest part was that 3 of our investigators came with us to watch :)This is happy because it´s about an hours travel to the stake center. That was very exciting. Recently we´ve set a baptismal date for a girl named Camilla. She is 13 years old, but seems like she is a lot older. She has a good mind and is a very noble person, with really good values. She´s wonderful, and has a great desire to learn. She is living here in Machalí with her Aunt for various reasons, but she hasn´t gotten permission from her parents yet. Juan Carlos should be getting baptized this weekend. I think I will burst with happiness and excitement to see him take this step! He is very excited, and it´s incredible to see him and his testimony of Jesus Christ grow. I really love our investigators. A lot of time I wish I could express my feelings of admiration for them and what they are doing and my love for the Savior better. My Spanish skills and ability to do just that are growing, but I still have such a long way to go!

My companion and I are learning a lot from each other, about the missionary work, and about being a good person in general. I´m really grateful to be with my companion. Turns out that this change 5 sisters are leaving home and we´re only getting 2 more, so they will be taking out one of the Machalí sectors. This means that there will only be two sisters in Machalí as of 2 more weeks. We will be combining the investigators in one sector. This is….not the best news in the world, but I think it´ll be good. We´ll be doing a lot of divisions this week so that we can all get to know one another's investigators. Nobody (like always) knows what´s going to happen, who´s going to leave….but by process of elimination, we´ve figured out either Hna. Olson (my companion from the MTC) or I will be the ones staying in Machalí holding down the fort with a new companion. I don´t know why, but I´m already nervous!

Mom, Yes, they are still shoving greasy stuffs down me. We get fed for lunch by the members and it´s a lot of food. I don´t have any recipes written down. Mostly all I need to do to make Chileano food is to cook a bunch of stuff like fried meat and rice and noodles and tomatoes and throw it all together on a plate and put spaghetti sauce and olive oil on top. There. That´s about what the food is like. Oh, and lots of bread. Though it can be tasty. I´m not ungrateful.

I think the flea and lice problem of our companion has been taken care of. They have good shampoo for that stuff here.

Thanks for sending me a package! I´m excited. I hope the vitamins wont be a problem. Did you find out if it would be okay to send them? Oh, so ya know…because of daylight savings time and because I´m on the other hemisphere of the world, now we´re only two hours difference…just so ya know.

I love you so much, I´ll talk to you later. Time. Up.

Chao.

Independencia... I'm a legal citizen now!

2009-03-31T17:19:00.000-07:00

Juan Carlos didn´t get baptized. He keeps smoking. But he promises this time he´ll stop. The wife of the family we met last week called us before our appointment and told us that she´d been talking with her pastor and after talking to him she felt like she was sinning to listen to us and asked if we wouldn´t come back. And Roberto (the super promising dad) just hasn´t been in his appointments. Blek. BUT we found another family that seems even MORE promising than the other. And we ended up finally finding RITA the other day. I was so happy to see her again. Turns out just about her whole world is falling in on her right now, so she´s had so many difficulties lately, but wants to continue, but much slower this time. I sure hope so. I know planting gospel seeds is great and all, but sometimes I would like to reap the harvest too, ya know?? But we´re working on it. We found more people this last week than we have in a LONG time, so we´re excited to work with them.

This week we had to go to Santiago to get my visa. It was quite the adventure/process to become legal. Santiago is huge! There are a lot of people. I really enjoyed watching the people voluntarily mash themselves in the metro tren. I enjoyed it so much, I tried taking a picture. I thought I had taken off the flash so the people wouldn´t notice, but it turns out the flash was on and I got a couple of unwanted looks and I felt a little foolish…but hey, I got the picture.

I love being here, it´s a pretty great feeling to share a testimony of Christ and his gospel!

A few pics

2009-03-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

Taking a break to smell the flowers... or kiss them...

Ha ha!

This is the beginning of a pretty steep hill...

My companion and a roomate walking to a lunch appointment.

Juan Carlos

2009-03-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

We didn´t see the baptisms of Rita, Nohemi, or Juan Carlos this Sunday, it seems like we´ve had quite a large amount of opposition lately… We have almost lost contact with Rita, a lot of it has to do with her husband, he is forming quite a large obstacle, but we´re certain that good things will happen with her. La Nohemi…bless her heart… The day before her baptism, she had the interview. Turns out she had a slip up with the word of wisdom either that very day or the day previous, and they need to be clean for at least two weeks before baptism, but she will be baptized, I feel a special caring for her. Annnddddd JUAN CARLOS. I only mentioned him last time, but he is incredible! We´ve had quite the week… It started off with him telling us that he couldn´t be baptized after all, and felt terrible for it, but couldn´t tell us why not. He said he was super embarrassed to tell us anything, so all we needed to know is that he wouldn´t be getting baptized and didn´t think he could continue learning from us. He finally wrote us a note and it just said that everything about him contra el evangelio de Jesucristo. But if we HAD to know more, we should ask his wife (who is deaf too, but can hear a little and can talk a little more). So what did we do? We asked her what was up, of course! She told us that indeed, quite a bit of things were going on in his life that aren´t so lovely. We ended up talking to him soon after that and he told us about all the alcohol and cigarettes, pornography, and abuse to his wife that have been dragging him down. In this moment, I think he felt a bit of liberation and determination to change because he went to his bedroom and brought out all his pornography videos and smashed them to pieces on the table and tore out all the tape (yes, they were VHS) Then and there he brought out his coffee and ciggs and dumped it all out. It sounds dramatic (because it was) but he was so sincere and I´ve never seen anyone look so relieved…and although it´s only been a few days, I KNOW he is going to stick with his change, he wants it so bad, he wants this change. He´s read so much, we gave him the Joseph Smith Sunday school lesson book thing that the Sunday school teachers use to teach from and within a week he´s read the entire thing. He taught us a thing or two about the gospel yesterday it was pretty cool. I´m learning a lot more sign language too! I don´t know if it´s different than American sign language… hopefully I can remember it throughout my mission.

I´ve never really been good at expressing my feelings about stuffs, but Know that I am so grateful for this experience. That the feelings I have when I see Juan Carlos with a broken heart and contrite spirit fill me with such hope and joy. There´s so much more with this story that I can´t even touch on, but know that it´s pretty amazing, and you all should be jealous ;) But I know that these changes, his desire to be good, to be happy, to love have only come through Jesus Christ. I know my Saviour lives. I Know He loves everyone of us and that the power He has to change lives and to bring happiness to people is real.

OH! Real quick because I'm out of time! Changes came and went and I ended up staying right here in Machalí with my trainer! (though I'm not being trained anymore, the extra hour of study time is officially gone…yikes!) But we´re super content. I think Heavenly Father knew that I wouldn´t be able to handle the stress…

ciao!

Digging up "Dead Investigators"

2009-03-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I´m just going to say this first thing, but we´ve had a bit of a rough week. Rita was supposed to be baptized yesterday, but all week we´ve had all kinds of problems. Satan has been working super duper hard to keep her from baptism, but we thought it was all going to be good. She had her interview and everything but the day before (Saturday) we called her to comfirm our last appointment with her before the big day and she informed us that she wasn´t going to be able to make it to her baptism. She´s had problems all her life with depression, and something from her past got brought up and she´s fallen into really bad depression again. So much so that her husband was taking her to the doctor. But since Saturday when she told us she wouldn´t be baptized we haven´t been able to talk to her or find her in her home. Perhaps she wasn´t quite ready, though everything was so perfect and she was SOO excited. I don’t really understand how it all happened; it kind of feels like a bad dream and we´ve been super worried about her. But we´re hoping to find her today or at least talk to her on the phone. Just to talk to her and see how she´s doing would calm a lot of worries and anxiousness.

But on the bright side, we´re team teaching (with the other hermanas) this man named Juan Carlos. He´s deaf and mute, but he is SO COOL! He can read lips really well, so we can jump that obstacle, but it usually takes a long time to teach him because for not being able to talk he sure does talk a lot. He signs everything he says and by his actions we can figure out pretty well what he is saying, and if not, we write what needs to be communicated. He is super funny, and a really happy person. We´ve been teaching him for about a month or less and already he had read in the Book or Mormon until Alma. He tells us he can´t put it down and he has a date to get baptized this Sunday, It´s pretty awesome, I really like teaching him, though I don´t do a whole lot… My companion is pretty much amazing because she knows a bit of sign language and picks up on the signs really fast (I´ve even learned a few things!).

I´m a bit nervous because we have changes this next week. It´s about 99% likely that my companion will be leaving the sector and I´ll stay and show my new companion the ropes in Machalí. This scares me a little bit… Or maybe even a lot bit… I didn´t realize how big our sector was until we had our district leaders come in and help us find more people one day and they said ¨your sector is GINORMOUS!¨ Some members told us there are about 80,000 in Machalí. I don´t know how correct that is, but we´ll see what happens. Ha, you´d think with 80,000 people we´d find more, eh??

Moms and Pops….I forgot to answer a couple of questions in my last email… I don´t know anything about the big earthquake down here. It must have missed us, so no worries. Though the first few weeks I was here, I felt a couple baby earthquakes. It was kind of fun. The other hermanas that I´m living with right now are from Utah. One of them, Hna. Olson was my comp in the MTC, so that´s been nice. I can´t believe I didn´t mention that before. And I´m super sorry to hear about Erik´s car. What poop brains ( the robbers). I feel a little better knowing that he´s just doing National Guard instead of the Army, but keep me posted. I know you will. I´m super proud of all Erik and Danielle are doing (with junior miss, council, debate, track… sheesh! Remind her to take a breath once in a while!), and with the person that Cali is... I´m so blessed to have this family, and for mom and dad that express and share the love they have for me and all of us kids. I couldn´t ask for anything more. No, dad I can´t read your blog... stinky, huh? And Yes. I´m pretty sure I´ll be all set for Mexico in a little while… but don´t make me trunky now, I just started ;)

I told my comp that you replied to her letter, and tells me she wants to reply again to you guys. But remember who your daughter is… haha, jk. So she knows a little bit of English, right? It was super funny, the other day she turned to me and said ¨I want to make pee pee¨ haha. Directly translated it works. But we got a kick out of that one.

Last week we had an activity in the ward called ¨cosechon.¨ We dug up a bunch of ¨dead investigators¨ and tried to revive them. We invited the entire ward to be a missionary for a couple hours and accompany us on splits to find these old investigators. We only had 5 people show up… but it was just enough to do splits with the 4 of us missionaries, but I´ll tell you what, I was TERRIFIED to take Hna. Mery around our sector, because I still don´t understand her Spanish super well. She speaks about chileano as you can get, but it was actually really fun! We didn´t get into a single door, but it was a good experience for us both ( I hope).

Yes, mom, I know the Elder Horlachaer from Aunt Nan´s old ward. He´s my district leader! Small world, huh?

Rita, Maria, and the familia Suazo

2009-02-23T19:37:00.000-08:00

Okay, I want to tell about a few things that have been special to me lately.

First of all, Rita. She´s really amazing, and is doing so well. We had the FHE last week and it was perfect for her and her 8 year old daughter that will be baptized with her. I´m so grateful for the members that help the mission work, and especially this family. Rita has been struggling with depression, and she told us that just the day before we taught her for the first time she and her husband were talking about getting a divorce. She was really struggling, but she told us that since we´ve came there has been a peace in her house, that she is content and happy and things are good with her family. She calls us her ¨angels¨ but the thing is, its nothing that we´ve done, it´s what SHE has done, she prays everyday and strives to understand the Book of Mormon. She´s invited the Savior in her life and he has made changes and helped her to be happy! I am very content to see her and see her and her relaionship with the Savior grow.

I don´t know if I´ve talked about Maria Nohemi yet, but she is another lady we´re teaching, she´s really old and about 150 terrible health problems. She has (I don´t remember what it´s called) I think a colonoscopy or something which makes things difficult, terrible arthritis, psoriasis( I can´t spell that) all over her body, is really overweight and can´t hardly walk, but does with a cane. Also, she lives alone and doesn´t have any family to care for her. That´s just the surface of it all. But long story short, she has an incredible desire know Heavenly Father and Jesus better and to better herself. Even though it´s hard she´s come to church with us the last two weeks with the help of members to take her. But her problems would be reason enough for anyone else to not go to church. Her faith is incredible. The other day we were with her and at the end of the lesson, my comp asked her if she felt up to say a kneeling prayer, I thought for sure no, but she told us it was no problem and that she wanted to. I was a little worried, but she knelt down anyway and said a prayer. When it was over, she couldn´t get back up. It was terrifying! We were trying to help her, and she was exhorting every bit of strength she could. Hna Alv and I were nearly in tears to see her struggle and we felt really guilty... But when she got up, she just wanted to lay down on her bed for a minute. As she laid there we talked with her a little bit and asked her what her favorite food is, the most tastiest food she could think of. She thought for a long time and finally she told us what sounded the best to her. Pizza. Haha. It was so precious to hear her after thinking it out so long to tell us she wanted pizza. We brought some to her the next day and hope she can forgive us for putting her though that physical struggle. But I know she will be blessed. She tells us that she feels happier to have Heavenly Father be more a part of her life and wants to get baptized. I think she´s 80. I´m really excited for her.

One more thing I want to share... There are some advantages with living with two other Hermanas. Together we are team teaching a couple people and one family in particualr. The familia Suazo. The mom and dad aren´t married because the mom is still married to another guy, but he wont let her get a divorce. They have 3 little kids and they are being prepared for baptism, but everytime we go to teach, the whole family listens which is really great to have the support of the parents because usually we don´t have the support of BOTH parents. They are really interested and always have good questions. This family never really prayed, not even in their personal prayers, but they´ve been taught how and the importancia of prayers and are really trying to say their prayers as a family. The other day we taught a lesson and at the end, we asked the dad, Omar; to give a prayer. The whole family knelt down and the mom passed the book of mormon over to him because we always write the steps of the prayer in the back. But she she passed it over, Omar kind of patted it down like ¨I don´t need this anymore¨ and proceeded to say a prayer. What a special experience. I have never heard anyone give a more humble prayer. Omar really was talking with Heavenly Father. He understood his relationship with him and was trying to express his love for him, and his family. I peaked a little bit and noticed him using his hands as if he was having a conversation with someone and wanted them to understand. This experience and a few others that I´ve had with complete families praying is so incredible. I don´t think there is anything more beautiful than a family praying together.

Homemade Peanut Butter

2009-02-18T07:41:00.000-08:00

Still preachin it up here. Ha. Yup, it´s great, we found one of the most beautiful families in the world. They have 5 little kids, the youngest just a couple months old. There are 3 girls, and the two little boys. One of the boys, Cristofer is 3 years old and is HILARIOUS. I want to keep as my own. They came to church yesterday (without the dad) but LOVED it, and are excited to come back next week. But guess what? They're not married. Kind of like everyone else here. We are teaching a couple other families that are progressing but just don´t have plans in the near future to get married… which makes things difficult… But we´ll see what can be done.

Rita is sooooo gooood! She is reading, and praying, and loving church and has a testimony and is a little timid about baptism but is excited. We are going to have a family home evening with her and this family in the ward who has been so supportive of the mission work. I´m so grateful for the ward members that are willing to help us out. It makes a WORLD of difference to have them be-friending the members. Rita´s daughter Barbara (yay mom!), who is 8 years old wants to be baptized too. We´re hoping to have their baptism together, it will be incredible.

No dogs came to church yesterday:(, but no one has thrown anymore rocks at me:). So it´s been a good week. It seems like I had some kind of interesting news to announce, but turns out I can´t remember it. See what happens when I don´t write things down? Oh yeah, I rememberd! Mom, and Dad, if you weren´t proud enough, know that I make my own peanut butter now (it´s VERY expensive here). It´s tasty too.

I Love you!

Hna. Alison Jones

The Roller Coaster... ups and downs

2009-02-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

Today we spent nearly all p day in Santiago. My companion has had pretty bad back pains and now she´s getting the doctor to check it out. Why they send us so far away for the doctor, I´m not sure, but it was kind of fun to see a small part of the big city. People weren´t lying when they say how populated it is!! We got on the subway and it was shoulder to shoulder packed tight! We had to go to the doctor at the MTC here in Santiago, which means that we were right next to the temple…which means we took a couple pictures by it! It´s closed on Mondays, so we didn´t get to go in, but it was pretty neat.

Rita is doing quite well! We taught her about the word of wisdom most recently and though she has a few problems with it, without hesitation she told us she would stop smoking and coffee. My heart is so tender for her and her willingness and desire to learn and to follow Christ. These last couple times that we´ve been with her I have felt so content, so happy. I noticed that this happiness is something that I haven´t really felt to a great extent before… I really like it.

So things are going well, but there´s still the roller coaster… The other day we had kind of a downer one and at the very end of it we were doing a contact with a dad and daughter through their fence. Without noticing it, the little girl who probably only is 6, managed to find a rock about the size of an apple to throw at me with all the might her scrawny little arm had. It hit me on the arm… no big deal really, but it was kind of shocking, and a little embarassing and was kind of the last straw of the day. On the way home I was feeling kind of down but ended up sitting next to a random lady. Usually during contacts I am on the street with my companion, so if there is anything I don´t understand, she helps me out, so contacting people by my very lonesome is still scary. I was so nervous, but I talked to her and it was just fine. She didn´t want to hear more, but the good news is, I did it! Then the rest of the night I was super happy, see? Roller coaster…but a fun one.

It sounds like you are all doing so well. That´s super exciting that you got go up to a race with erik. GOOD WORK ERIK!! That´s pretty awesome. I´m definitely proud of my little bro! And tell Danielle to write me an email or something… I want to hear about these adventures…

Shoot dog, I can´t respond to all your comments, but I read them and I cherish them all in my heart :)

And I love you all so much! I´ll write next week!!

XOXOXOXOXOXO

A Dog Came to Church

2009-02-02T20:01:00.000-08:00

Hola!

How are things up there? You know, up ¨there¨… in the U to the S to the A??

Last week started out kind of rough, but it ended up super good after all! Hna, Alvarenga and I have thought a lot about how we could improve and have been trying to change a couple things in our teaching method and things have really looked up! We found new people and this time I´m serious, I KNOW they are going to progress, because they are actually progressing and following through with commitments. We promised to pick up an investigator for church yesterday because she lives pretty far and doesn´t have a car, so we had a member drive us. Thing is there was only room for 4 in the car. The member, us and Rita (is her name). When we pulled up to her house, we didn´t even have to get out of the car because she nearly came running out all dressed up ready to go… AND had a friend with her and her friend brought her two daughters!! We put one of the daughters on her lap, my comp sat on my lap and we put the other daughter in the trunk (things like that fly here). We were BEAMING. The whole ride down neither Hna. or I could wipe the grins off our faces. She really liked church and is reading and praying and always feels good when she does so and wants to be baptized. So church was good, people came. During the sacrament hymn a dog walked right in because the doors were open and just walked around for a while until he plopped himself down on the ground in about the 3rd pew back. It took a while to get him out. It was really funny… haha.

We found another lady named Nataly who has a hard time reading, my guess is she is dyslexic because she says that she gets the letters mixed up and she´s always had a hard time learning but we taught her about the Book of Mormon. When we went back to visit her, she was able to tell us everything she read and told us that for some reason she could understand the Book of Mormon. It was super cool and definitely a miracle. The only problem is, she is leaving on vacation this week for an entire month (people do that here, they´ll leave for a really long time to visit family), so we wont be able to teach her for a long time. I really hope she doesn´t forget, but I think she wont because she asked for more stuff to read. :) It was a testimony to me that when the Lord has a work to do, he will always provide a way to do it, he somehow helped her understand. I know the Book of Mormon is true, my testimony of it has grown so much.

I forgot to tell you, dad, we live on I guess the south end of the street… but guess what? I sent pictures today! So you´ll finally get some, I guess in about 10 days. Sorry it´s taken so long. And with those pictures is a letter from my Companion. She´s been wanting to send a letter to you since about the first week, though Geoff will have to translate it for ya. She´s funny though because I think she wants me to send her family a letter… I´m not sure why… Though I´ve really enjoyed being her companion. She has no fear and is super bold in sharing her testimony. She´s been a good example to me. AND she´s a total spaz. I can be my goofy self and do goofy stuff around her and sometimes she beats me in being a weirdo. So we have fun and laugh a lot. But we get some work done here and there too, don´t worry ;)

Flamly: I love you all so much. My heart is so full of love for you. It makes me so happy to know that you are happy and that you love each other. I know our savior lives and that he loves us. His redeeming power is real. I love him and I am so grateful to be a missionary. You know? It´s kind of exciting being a missionary, Yes, quite often it´s exhausting, frustrating, and awkward, buuuut when I really realize my purpose here, to invite people to Christ, and when we do that it makes everything worth it. I´m excited to learn more gospel and learn more Spanish so I can do this better. I still struggle… but I´m trying to be more brave in the lessons...

Yikes, time to go. Sorry Dad and Mom that Planty has given you troubles. I told him to behave himself, but you know how they (plants) can be at times. Just give him some space, and I´m sure he´ll shape up.

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

Love, Me.

Johana

2009-01-27T17:48:00.000-08:00

These past couple of weeks we´ve been teaching a girl named Johana. She is 16 years old and gradually lost her hearing due to a tumor, but can read lips. When we met her she was sad and angry and didn´t believe that God was there or loved her. Just this week she´s made a compete turn around. Her countanace has completely changed and says that she has been praying and reading the book of mormon and felt an answer to her prayers that the BofM is true and that God loves her. She couldn´t stop smiling, It was incredible. She said she wanted to be baptized. I was so content and happy for her, but yesterday when we went back her mom, who is an inactive member for probably 20 years told us that she wont give us permission to baptise her because she thinks her baptism was a mistake because shortly after she was baptized and stopped going to church a bunch of bad stuff happened to her. It was devastating. Hna. Alv and I are pretty heart broken, but for Johanna. Though I think she´ll continue to pray and read. This week I´ve really thought about my testimony a lot, about what I´m doing here. If this church isn´t true, then what am I doing all the way down in Chile, right? I know it is, I feel it in my heart. I know Christ lives and that he loves us. I know we can find peace and direction and purpose through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, there´s so much more I want to say and write about, but my time is up.

Letters are on the way!

Hna, Alison Jones

These icky hormigas are EVERYWHERE!

2009-01-19T10:43:00.000-08:00

It sounds like you´ve had quite the adventures with the sundance film festival! You should frame the cigarette butt and hang it on the wall right underneath frankie´s paw print… haha, jk. Really though that was super nice of the vet to do for frankie´s passing. There are dogs EVERYWHERE here in the streets. We started a contest to see who can snap a picture of the ugliest dog. It´s…fun… Though everynight at about 12 there´s a dog that barks and his bark sounds almost identical to frankie´s… it´s weird…But I´m glad Kola is enjoying the attention! Okay, enough about dogs…

This week has been interesting, we lost everyone of our baptismal dates. For various reasons, there´s always a reason. That was sad, but last week we´ve been praying and looking for and focusing on finding families. And guess what? We found some! One even came to church with us yesterday, it was great! We´re really excited about this and pray that they will have a desire to learn and progress. It´s weird the feeling I have when we´re teaching lessons. I want so badly to tell them, ¨it´s okay! You ARE a child of God, and you can find so much happiness through His son Jesus Christ!¨ And I do tell them, but for some reason sometimes they don´t always want to listen or let Christ into their life. I understand that by doing so, changes need to be made, but these changes are worth it. I wish people could understand this better. Or maybe they do understand, they´re just not ready right now.

Hmmm, My comp still gets a kick out of things I say, and then I do too when she tells me what I said.. BUT I figured out that this can be a two way thing… We taught my companion to say ¨I wet my pants¨ when she´s full. Tee hee…

Up until now I´ve done okay with the insects, but I´ve had it up to here (as far as I can reach) with these icky hormigas (ants) They are EVERYWHERE! One of the other companions that we live with thinks it´s funny the way I talk about them because she says I talk about thim like they´re a bad roommate or something. But really they are. No matter how well I clean the counter, I only have to turn around in 10 minutes and there they are, making a mess. They walk on everything like they own the place. And I´ve had one too many run ins with the spiders, I´m still not any braver with handling them.

Thanks for the emails. Thanks mom for the update on the fam damily. I nearly cried laughing reading about the ¨incident¨ with grandma. Haha. And thanks for your support, love and testimony. I love you all so much. I wrote letters today, hopefully we will be able to go to the post office to send em. Hopefully they will get there! I put Jesus stickers on the envelope, so it better. Did those directions work on google maps? I realized the name of the street is Manual Rodriguez, Psje. 6 …if that makes a difference. I forgot to mention last email to dad that he doesn´t need to worry because it´s a rule that we can´t go into a lesson alone with men, there has to be another person with us, that keep us safe there, and I´m being smart and safe, okay? You don´t need to worry. Tell Erik thanks for the birthday wish and Happy Hanukah.

I love the gospel, I love Christ, I love Chile, and I love you all so much!

Take each day... poco un poco

2009-01-12T16:21:00.000-08:00

Moms and Pops: That´s pretty cool you can see the city of Machalí from google maps! I totally forgot about that thing… It surprised me when dad emailed and said he could identify some of the streets because I walk some of those streets everyday! Especially Arturo Prat. The chapel is on that street. You should look up the street El Esfuerzo (I think that´s how it´s spelled) and I live in the villa Las Americas. Pasaje 6 to be exact. Though I´m not sure what number our little house is, I couldn´t find it on the house. Yes, Machalí is a bit more exclusive. It´s not at all city like Rancagua. I might say it´s about the size of Spanish Fork (but I could be totally off, I´m not good at that stuff) and it´s all residents. No big buildings or anything like Rancagua. A lot of the houses are tucked up in the base of the mountain like you noticed dad, which means somedays we do a lot of hill hiking. It´s pretty awes. Though, also pretty rough if it´s about 3 in the afternoon because it´s so HOT here. I sweat a lot. But I do have a nice tan… hehe.

Here´s some more answers to your inquires :) My p-days thus far have been a little messed up because of the recent holidays, so I only had one REAL p-day up until now. That´s why I haven´t written many letters (oops), Though we´ve had time to email and shop. There are only little food stores here in Machalí so, like today, we´re going into Rancagua to do our shopping. I haven´t had to buy rain gear yet. It doesn´t rain a drop in the summers, so I´ve got a few months until I have to worry about any of that. And no, Erik, haha, I haven´t seen any pink granny cookies here. I don´t think they sell them. Sad day, huh? I think I got all the q´s. It looks like you're having a good time at least with the Sundance thing, let me know if you meet any supa fly celbs, eh? Oh, my friend Chris asked if I´ve gotten any fake addresses yet. Of course. Maybe a few a week. It´s great.

I wanted to mention really quick about this family that we met. They have two little boys that are sooooo hilarious. One is 4 and one is 3. The first time we told them about prayer, my companion asked them if they would close their eyes during the prayer. The 4 year old, said ¨maybe one¨ and then proceeded to only close one eye during the prayer. And the 3 year old reminds me so much of Erik when he was little. He has those dark eyes and chubby face and even has that ¨ bed head¨ hair that sticks straight up. He has such a likeness. Though we are going back, I don´t think the mom is very interested in hearing about the gospel. They have their religion and are pretty closed. Most of the people here already have their religion, which is good! Really, anyone that seeks to know Christ through any religion is good, and are doing good things. Though it´s so hard for people to realize that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is here to bless their families and bring more happiness through living the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge of eternal families. We met some more people that commited to be baptized, though they never seem to be around the second, third, time that we go back. It´s hard to get people to church too, because a lot of the people are pretty poor and it costs money to transport. Though we met a couple of families this week that we are excited to go back to, and seem to have open hearts and a desire to learn more. I feel like I am talking a wee bit more in the lessons, though I´m not sure if I make any more sense…

Dad, I am doing my best to take a minute to look at where I´m at and enjoy the view, the smells, the tastes. It really is beautiful here. Like that John Denver song you mentioned in a couple emails prior…I look around and find myself in a dream… I can´t remember the words, I can´t pull up your email for some reason, but sometimes it feels like I´m in a dream, I can´t believe I´m here, I can´t believe I´m one of the Lords Missionaries. There´s so much more I have to learn to be a good teaching, loving missionary. Poco un poco. Little by little. I need to breathe more, and trust more. I know the Lord can use me as an instrument of showing people the way to happiness is through Jesus Christ. I know Heavenly Father loves all of his children, I know Jesus Christ lives. I know his gospel is on the earth!

I´m so grateful to be here, I love the gospel, I love you, my family and friends. I love you so dearly. I´m hoping today I can finish writing letters to you, family, but I don´t know if I can get them sent off this week, sorry…

Mom, at the moment, I can´t think of anything that I need. Thank you for everything!!

I love you.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

Mom, as I went to print off the letters to read at later time, I noticed the subject title of ¨Frankie¨so I had to read it just now. I know you don´t want to give me the news, but I´m glad you did. It´s funny I was going to ¨check up¨on him again in this letter, more as a joke… Not thinking he was actually going to die. I guess it´s not funny. Pretty sad in fact. I´m still crying a little. I really did like that guy. But you´re right, he´s comfortable and happy enjoying the company of grandpa :)

Thanks for your emails! They are happy for me :) Yes, I believe it is okay to email me, though I don´t think I can email friends back, just family. I think I will be able to send a few letters off today, but I am working on some good letters that will be more personal for the family, so it might be a while before I can get them sent. I heard it takes about 2 or 3 weeks for travel too, so… Mom and Dad, thank you SO much for your emails. They mean a lot to me, I find so much comfort in your words of love and encouragement. I love you so much, so so very much. I love my family, Cali and Geoff, Danielle, and EVEN Erik ;) I hope you´re all doing well. Thanks friends for your support and love. I think I´m pretty much the luckiest gal eva.

This week has been better. We had some previous investigators of Hna Alvarenga drop their date for baptism, and it was sad. But we found some new people who want to be baptized and seem excited about it. I hope we can keep good contact and can keep teaching them the importance of this step. A lot of times we´ll go and they seem pretty promising the first lesson but are never there when we go back for appointments. I´m still learning lots, I still struggle major in the speaking department. I have come to conclusion that oh well, I´m just going to have to feel like a dumb dumb for a little while longer. Who cares if people give me funny looks when I talk, right? I probably should have concluded this the first day I got here. But feeling dumb and sorry for yourself doesn´t ever do anyone any good. I had a funny experience the other day… We were on the street doing a contact with an old Chilean man, when a woman walked by and Hna. Alv, for some reason, stopped talking to the man and just started talking to the lady. Which leaves me alone, trying to communicate with old man farmer… remember what I said about the old men and how I can't understand a darn thing they say? Well, this man was no different, in fact it was a little worse because he didn´t have any TEETH.- I don´t think- because I looked! So he´d say something, and I´d take my best guess at what it is, and I´d say something, and he'd take his best guess at what I said and he´d say something…We were conversing, and neither of us had a clue of what the other one was saying. Hna. Alv said the spirit was probably carrying the message but I´m pretty sure it wasn´t. We laughed about it, she thought it was pretty funny, she seems to get a big kick out of some of the things I say… as she should. In a year, I´m excited to get a kick at a greenies expense ;) We meet a lot of people every day and sometimes it´s intimidating to invite ourselves into their homes to talk to them about Christ. I´m really grateful that my companion is so bold, or else I don´t know how far I´d get trying to teach with my level of aggressiveness. I´m learning a lot from her.

I´m so grateful that I am here, and I´m grateful for my purpose here, to invite people to Christ. It´s a wonderful thing.

PS HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Sorry it was kind of a sad one with Frankie´s passing. How is Kola without her other half? I had a good one, we stayed up till the hour new years eve (our bed time is at 11:30 so we didn´t stay up THAT much later) and then had a pillow fight to kick off the near year. Though it was hard, we all just wanted to go to bed…it was pretty pathetic. Haha, but I hope it was still a good one for everyone.

Time is up, but I love everyone so much! I will try to print off some pictures to send, okay?

Po yapo thispo everything is po po....

2008-12-29T18:09:00.000-08:00

Hola Dearest Flamly and Friends. Thanks for the emails, though I only printed them and plan to read them later since there´s an allotted time to use this. So Mom and Dad, I will reply to your emails next week… if that´s okay?

Week 2 in Machalí. It´s wonderful. Most of the time :) I imagine how much more I will enjoy myself when I can communícate… I still get funny looks when I talk, I´m very used to the response ¨No entendí nada¨ after I say my stuffs. My companion firmly believes that (and she´s been saying this from the day I got here) that I will have learned spanish in 3 weeks. Which, by my watch, gives me about 1 week left to learn it all… haha She´s funny ;). I feel like I understand a lot, or most of what she or other missionaries say that aren´t Chilean, but I am still struggling with the chilean accent and slang. And my speech is still really shakey. I think it´s funny that when we have lessons I´ll do my 2 cents and then she´ll kind of repeat what I said to make sure they understand. We had a LOT of lessons set up this week, but nearly all of them fell through. I think I was expecting everyone to let us in their houses and everyone was going accept baptism…but….no. But I shouldn´t lose the faith, right? We did get a baptism date set this week and there are a few that seem right on the edge of accepting … There´s so much to learn as a missionary, so much to learn about people, about love, about faith, about patience, about the atonement of Jesús Christ. It´s pretty incredible. I have learned that I am probably one of the most impatient persons eva. This stuff takes time, yo. Po. And po yapo thispo everything is po po. EVERYTHING. It´s funny. They will slap ¨po¨at the end of nearly any sentence or word. I think I already wrote it in my previous letter but instead of knocking doors we yell ¨HALO!¨ and wait for people to come out. My companion is like an angel when she says it, she almost sings it. Then she makes me do it. I sound so silly… tengo verguenza… And it´s true, for lunch the members feed us and they FEED us like we´re not going to eat again. Like I told you mom, I already had a couple gag refelex moments because I don´t believe I can fit another fried hotdog sausage thing in me belly. I can see how people gain weight here…but I have a plan to not, I´m not going to come home as Sister Gordita.

Oh, my dearest family, it was so good to talk to you Christmas. I loved it, but I am glad it was only an hour…sorry for being a cry baby. I imagine next time in (6 months), the phone call will be different. I will be a little stronger, a little wiser, and know a little more spanish. Hopefully ;) I love you all more than THIS much (imagine my arms wide open :)) yes, cheesy. But I hope yerall doing swell. Make some good goals for the new year, yapo? XOoXxooxXoxO

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T21:06:00.000-08:00

So we got to talk to Al this morning. She actually called yesterday with instructions to call her this morning at 8:00 (noon her time). She gave us a phone number and told us what to say to the lady who answers the phone, who doesn't speak english. I said, "Hablo con Hermana Kety?" (I'm sure I sounded like a stupid gringo trying to speak spanish). The idea was to make sure I had the right phone number so I can call her back today. The lady was supposed to say either "si", or "no". Instead she said something I couldn't begin to understand so I repeated myself... pause... I said, "Si?". She said something I didn't understand, then said "Si". So we called back this morning right at 8:00 and Alison actually answered the phone. So it was the right phone number, and we all had a very nice visit with our girl! Cali, Geoff, Erik, Danielle, dad and I were all able to talk to her for about an hour. So our Christmas started off great! It's amazing how well the reception was. Sounded like she was right next door. She seemed happy but a little frustrated with the language. It's only been 10 days in Chile so she needs to give it time. It'll come.

She said her mail will come to the mission home and she gets it every 6 weeks or so. But e-mail, she should be able to check it once a week at an internet cafe. If anyone would like to contact her, her e-mail is:

alisonjones@myldsmail.net

Write! Write! Write! She would love to hear from you!!

Help!! They don't speak Spanish here!

2008-12-22T21:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Peoples…

Hola! How is everyone? Oh cool! That´s great, yeah! Okay so here I am… I don´t know why, but it is always so hard to start emails, I don´t know how to jump into things… Okay, so I might have written some information wrong on my last email about my companion (oops). Her name is Hermana Alvaranga and she is from Honduras. I think I said San Salvador or something… Anyway, like I said she is a native so communication can be a little hard sometimes. But she´s trying to learn English and I am trying to learn Spanish, so we help each other. I´ll admit, I was a little worried about who my first companion was going to be, but I am sooooooooo blessed to have her! She works hard, and is such a sweet heart. She is an incredible teacher and has a very firm testimony. Though it´s probably frustration for her to just have me follow her around like a little puppy dog that doesn´t know anything, doesn´t speak hardly anything she is so patient and understanding. She takes care of me but is pushing me too… so that´s good news, eh? And about that Spanish thing…yeah, did you know they don´t speak Spanish here? They speak CHILEAN. Which is totally different from Spanish  My native companion said she didn´t even understand the Chileans here when she first arrived. Especially the old men. They talk like they have a mouth full of cotton, and a bunch of other stuff…like paper and marshmallows, I don´t know. But it´s great. And if I can understand the old men here in a year and a half I´ll consider it a miracle ;) But really, it´s been a little hard not being able to communicate. There have been moments when my heart is just overflowing with feelings that I want to share, but can´t find the means to do it sufficiently. There are times that I feel a bit foolish when I´ll say something that feels like decent Spanish and the people will look at me funny and look at my companion and say, ¨what did she say?¨ A couple of times people (usually the old men… hehe) will tell us they don´t want to listen to us because I have bad Spanish. Though already I´ve had moments frustrating enough that brought me to tears, I´ve had moments good enough that bring me to tears in the happy way  It feels great doing something good. The Lord is humbling me  I just need to take things one step at a time. PATIENCE, right? My companion, I think I mentioned is simply wonderful. She is super positive, is such a help for me. Nosotras somos un equipo!

Machali is the town and it is so beautiful in it´s own humble little way. I love it. I love it love it. I haven´t had any rocks thrown at me….yet…but it´s only the first week  Though one man told us he didn´t want to talk to us because he doesn´t like Canadians. Haha, I thought it was funny. The people for the most part are very amiable. All the women greet with a kiss, it´s so much fun. And YES I am working on a nice tan right now, while you´re all freezing your hinds off. Yes, be jealous. Even if it is a farmers tan. There are a handful of hills here in Machali, and I can already feel my calves toning up. Look out.

The Mission President is really nice, but intimidates me a little…eeee. But really nice and funny. We had our ¨actividad de navidad¨ today and it was a lot of fun, our mission is HUGE! They had a fun little welcoming skit thingy for the nuevos. That was nice.

Can you believe Christmas is 3 days away? I can´t. This will be a Christmas to remember with 90 degree weather! I´m not exactly sure when I will be able to call home, so don´t worry about gathering people, because I´m not sure when. I am not even sure if it will be Christmas day, but maybe Christmas eve. We have to coordinate with a couple other missionaries and members, so sorry I can´t tell you exactly when. Though it will most likely be in the morning, since we are 4 hours ahead of you. I am so grateful I get to have this opportunity to serve a mission and to invite others to better know Christ! And that I may know him a little better myself. This church is so true, I know it. I feel it. Everyone should serve missions. It´s a lot of fun, too! A lot more fun than the MTC. (don´t get me wrong, the mtc was great in it´s own way)

Oh, I love you all so dearly. I love you all so much. Happy Belated Birthday Eeek, I thought about you on your birthday and love you mucho. I hope everything is well!

Greetings from Chile!

2008-12-17T10:01:00.000-08:00

Greetings from afar... No, really! I'm super far away! Sorry I couldn't write earlier today, we just got to a computer now. I don´t have a lot of time, but I´ll just say it´s all been a whirwind of coolness. A little bit of scaredness too, but It´s all super exciting, no. Oh, dear forgive me if the text is weird, I don´t know how to use these key board.
So, it happened, I arrived and realized I don´t actually know the language. BUT my companion speaks it really well... she´s from Puerto Rico! She´s really nice, and in fact doesn´t speak much english. I´m guessing that is a good thing, maybe I can learn faster... It´s pretty different down here, but I think I am going to like it. It´s also very beautiful. I'm in a town called Machali and it´s so beautiful, so humble. I´m afraid I need to go, but I am safe and sound and ready to preach the gospel (in horrible spanish), but it will do. for now.
I love you all mucho! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE you so much. I can´t tell you enough.
Be safe.
Hermana Jones

Oh, really quick! We´re a four hour time difference, so it´s 10 22 right now, cool huh I think I´m forgetting something else, oh well. I love you!

Arrived Safe and Sound...

2008-12-16T06:55:00.000-08:00

Alison was able to call her dad, me, and Cali yesterday while she was at the airport. She was very happy and excited to get to Chile. And it was soooo good to talk to her!

We've been tracking her flight trip and the plane arrived this morning at 8:46 (5:46 our time?) So at lease we know she's there now. I've posted her address to send letters. Packages requre a different address, which is listed also.

Only 4 more days....

2008-12-11T20:02:00.000-08:00

This is where she thinks she going!!! Ha ha ha! (never did do well in Geography)

OK... Now she's got it right!

2008-12-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

gah! I just wrote a whole bunch but this crazy computer froze and I lost it all... and it used up a good amount of time, so I'll just be sure to write you letters with everything I wanted to say... Instead I'll just give you my flight plans for now... So Monday is the big day! My flight takes off at 1:55 pm...which means sometime before that I can call you and dad! (if you want me to :) AND if we have time. I really hope we can find time to call, I'm sure it will all work out) But that also means I will need your cell phone numbers because I don't remember them. And a calling card? I'm sure you already know this though. But I am very excited about this! We will arrive in Georgia at about 5:30 ish our time. And then a couple hours later we'll take off to Chile for an 11 and a half hour flight...ugh. That's a long time. Plenty of time to ponder and pray about how everythings going to go down in a foreign country... I can't really believe it. I have tried to picture what exactly will go down, but I have come to the conclusion that I have absolutley no idea what it will be like (being in Chile, being a missionary). How can one accurately anticipate something they've never experienced? So instead I just don't. Yes, of course I'm still excited. I just don't know what or how I am going to do what I'm about to do. But I will go and do, and it will all work out because the Lord provides a way and He knows I can do this.

Just so you know Flam, I recieved your packages, mail, and goodies! THANK YOU SO MUCH. I feel like a little bum for giving ya'll a hard time for not getting any mail for a while... If only I had known Dad just doesn't know the difference between Chile and Provo I probably wouldn't have said anything. Haha, that is so funny Dad... It will be a pleasant surprise to get your mail in a week when I'm down there! Sorry though, I can see how it would be confusing since the pouch mail address is to SLC, not Chile. My time is nearly up, So I will just be writing you letters later today and you'll get them in a few days I guess.

I LOVE you LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU ALL! Excited to call on Monday. Make sure you answer your phone :)

Mom, don't try anything sneaky, okay? ;) I love you!

2008-12-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

I don't have much to say today, except this week I've learned a lot and I am Soooooo excited to take this work to Chile! I only have 1 p-day left and I'll be shipped off to South America (two weeks from yesterday). Don't worry, I'm not trunky. Though we get our flight plans on Thursday :)

They have put up Christmas lights on outside some of the buildings and they are so pretty! It doesn't seem like Christmas time at all though. I've decided that Christmas hymns are 100 times better in Spanish. I'm just so excited to be in Chile with the people there. This is a marvelous work and I know it blesses families.

I guess I haven't talked much about my companion, huh? She's from SLC and her name is Hermana Olsen. She's pretty awesome. I am very thankful for her because after seeing other companionships here I realize there are a lot of people that don't want to work. She's a hard worker and we are able to get things done, which is a good feeling.

The MTC is great! I'm a lot happier than I was earlier for some reason. I guess it has just been a struggle, but I'm not sure why, it's such a priveledge for me to be here, serving the Lord. I couldn't be doing a better thing right now. I know my joy will only increase when I'm out Chileaing it up! Stewart wrote me and talked about how much he loved the MTC because no one rejected him. Ha ha, yeah I guess it's true we've got it pretty good here. Though they have a program here where missionaries can sign up for a "progressing investigator". These people are recent converts to the church and reply with the same concerns and with the same knowledge they had when they were being taught. Instead of just teaching them once, we go back multiple times-trying to actually "progress" the investigator as we try to find out their needs and teach for them. They don't give us any feedback, so if we're doing something wrong, it's up to us to figure it out. Also, they can reject commitments, or even our message... It's almost as close to the real world as you can get w/out being in the real world. Hermana Olsen and I taught Allessandro for the first time yesterday.... It was pretty grueling.... We didn't get where we wanted - this guy means business, but I'm sure as we continue teaching, we'll learn a lot. Oh... and it was in Spanish! So it was even more of a challenge.

Spanish - is - coming - hopefully.... Slowly, but surely. I can teach the whole 1st lesson in espanol (though it's pretty choppy).... Next Monday we will teach the second lesson, the Monday after that we will teach the second lesson again and then the next Monday or Tuesday we'll be flying out! So crazy. I think we'll get our flight plans next week hopefully..... And rumor has it, we can call home when we get to the airport!

Hey Thanks Dad and Mom, for giving me this opportunity to be out here. I'm so spoiled, I'm so blessed to be here and so blessed to be in our family. I'm grateful for you all, to know that you've always loved me so much, that you love me now, and that you always will. I'm grateful for my health. Did you know I haven't gotten sick the whole time I've been here? At the moment, probably about 40% of the missionaries are sick at any given time. But I'm not! (knock on wood). I'm grateful I live in America that I have wealth and that I'm able to share my abilities with others. I'm grateful for my knowledge of the Savior, to know that through him, I'm good to go! That through Him - even though my heart wanders, he reaches out to me with an incredible gift. You talked about it in one of your letters, Dad, how the Savior's gift is completely free, we just need to turn to Him. I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father. I know he loves me, that he hears my prayers and my pleadings and somehow knows me and everyone else on this earth. I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon. I know it's true. I know it is from God and I know it answers prayers. That it comforts and I know Joseph Smith translated it. I'm grateful for this restored Gospel and I'm grateful for the people in Chile that will listen to this message and I'm grateful for those who won't. I don't know how I ever managed to make it here at this time and that I'm here doing the work of the Lord. This is where I need to be.

Hey Dad, I think you said something about how cool it is when the entire MTC gets together for Devotionals or something (like missionary conferences in the field). But yeah, it is pretty incredible when we'll sing songs together . It's a pretty powerful experience that won't be forgotten.

I love you all!

Alison

(mom's note: more was written, but omitted since it's just family/personal stuff.... and stuff that would probably embarrass her if it was published.... She's a silly girl!)

2008-11-26T16:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, can I just say really quick that I hate this e-mail thing? The second I sign in the clock starts ticking and it ends up stressing me out more than teaching at the TRC! (not really, but almost). There's so much I want to say! I've learned a lot this week. A lot of spanish, a lot about my relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I'm sorry to have been such a complainer in previous letters, yeah, this is hard, but so what? It's the least I can do in return for what the Lord has done for me. I have such a unique and incredible opportunity to be on a mission and to Serve. Not everybody gets this, and I really want to make the best I can of it. I feel good when I end a day knowing I worked my hardest. The MTC is a great experience, and I am greatful for the things I've learned so far.

As for my spanish...It's coming along. I don't think I really notice the growth until someone will say something. Yesterday during our (2nd!!!) lesson in spanish at the TRC, my teacher came in the room to evaluate. After the lesson, he gives us feedback. He said something like this (in spanish): "Your spanish is really improving, when I was listening to you, I thought, "Is that really Sister Jones teaching?!" It definitely wasn't great spanish, it was just an improvement I guess. It was funny he was so shocked because he knows how much I've been struggling with it. Obviously I still have so far to go, it was just good to know that I'm actually picking a few things up. Can you believe it?? 3 weeks left. We're the old ones in our Zone now...WEIRD!!

I don't think I have mentioned in my other emails about the sweet devotionals we have here every week. Last week Jeffrey R. Holland came and spoke to us,]. Every word he said was incredible and directly from the Lord. It is incredible to know that we have prophets and apostles on the earth that guide us. I am so greatful for the comfort of my Heavenly Father. Sometimes when it is hard, all I want is for my mom or dad to hold me and tell me it will be okay. But the incredible thing is my Heavenly Father can and does do that for me everyday when I pray to him. I am so greatful for prayer. I am greatful for my knowledge of the gospel and it makes me excited to get to Chile. On Thanksgiving we are having a big service project for the humanitarian stuff and we will be having a devotional by a general authority. I am very excited :)

Okay, I have to tell you really quick about what happened on Sunday... So there I was, walking past an enormous line of people headed for my seat in the cafeteria. I was carrying my tray full of food when I passed the Natives that we teach every week. We said hello and then all of a sudden there happened to be a puddle of water right in my line of direction. Before I knew it, eveything was in slow motion and I remember thinking as my body fell to the floor, "this can not be happening to me." Yes, I crashed, and I crashed good. Food went flying, so did I, and so did the heads of about 50 or so people fly in my direction. People flew to my aid, but all Icould do was laugh, I'm sure it looked awesome... There's more to the the story, but my time is nearly out.. BYE. LOVE YOU!

ps, I have a little bit of time to write letters on Thanksgiving, so hopefully I have time to do so family!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!

2008-11-18T18:18:00.000-08:00

Dearest Dears,

Hi, how are you? Hopefully good... Hopefully I can get some letters sent out this week to you all :)

Yeah, I can't believe it either. Already past my half way mark. I don't know if I am more excited or nervous about that. Okay, more excited. But a bit nervous, though I have learned a good handful of spanish, I am going to need to kick it in to high gear if I am going to feel capable of going to a country that doesn't speak english... Especially Chile! I have heard a lot this week about how fast Chileans speak. Eek!

This week has been... quite the week. I think the MTC is great, but as you all know it can be challenging too. Most of you who remember the MTC are men, or former Elder Missionaries. Now imagine the MTC difficulties as a GIRL. An EMOTIONAL GIRL even. Kind of a scary picture, eh?? (My poor companion - She's been so patient with me when I have hard times). But the miracle is that for the hard times, something will always bring me up again. Feeling the spirit in such great abundance each day definitely makes up for the hard. Yesterday afternoon we got to teach our very first lesson in Spanish at the TRC. It was...interesting... But we did it, believe it or not. Though we didn't understand everything our "investigator" said, and he probably didn't understand everything we said (because we sound like we're 3), we did it. And we had spaghetti for dinner after the lesson, so that made up for the not so good parts of it. Every Monday after dinner we teach the native spanish speakers in spanish, and the spanish speakers teach us in English. Though it is so hard, on our part and on there's too, this is definitely the highlight of my week. I'm not exactly sure what it is about teaching with the natives, but it really makes me happy. I can really feel the spirit when these elders testify and it makes me want to do better to have more of the spirit when we teach.

Hey, Do you remember Sister Argyle from our old ward that lives by the Dixons? I see her almost every Tuesday and Sunday night because she helps out with the choir. She said if you ever need to relay any messages, she's there... And yes, the choir is INCREDIBLE. I love having the opportunity to sing in it. Brother Eggett is our director on Tuesdays, so that's pretty cool.

Did I ever tell you it's super weird to be so close to home? It's kind of an odd feeling walking to the temple on P-days or Sunday and to think, "my friends are all just blocks away from me..." Well, it's weird. Thats all. It will be good to be on the other side of the world :)

I just want you all to know how much I love you. My heart is so full of love for you. I am excited to get to know and love the people in Chile too. Hopefully I can learn Spanish before then!!!

The Church is true!

Hermana Jones!!

2008-11-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

Hola!

How did this happen? I'm closing in on an entire 4 weeks, and it feels likeI just got here... Time goes by super weird. Long days, but the weeks go so fast...

I don't know if I will be getting indiviudual family letters out this week, so I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much, for loving me and supporting me. I don't know if you realize how much I treasure Your words and encouragement and love. I think I mentioned this to Grandma (which by the way has been so fun to leave notes for her at the temple), but I just feel so overflowed with love for you, my family. It's sad to say but I don't know if I REALLY realized how much I love you. I knew it, I felt it, but I see now how much you love me and my heart is tender and full with love for all of you. Thank you for everything! And thanks for the sweet-a package. No, really, it was incredible. I doubt any other missionary in the MTC, or any other missionary who has been in the MTC has received a package quite as cool as the one I got. Okay, maybe there's been one, or even two lucky missionaries like me, but no more than that. Thank you for the dryer sheets (you wrapped them so nicely, mom!), thank you for the yummy cookies and candy, and most importantly thank you for the cell phone, 4 inch hoop earings, the batteries (they are used, aren't they?), ear plugs and 4 (or was it 5?) cinnamon tick tacks. All I can say is thank you (and that I got the biggest kick out of it, I couldn't stop laughing!). And it sounds like everyone is doing fun and good things. That's so crazy about Grandmas house! I'm so glad they're okay!

Alright, so in Rory's email, he said: "learning spanish blows." AMEN BROTHA. It is so hard! I think I forgot that learning a new language is challenging. But I am trying, and trying. I am sure I can try harder, so Iwill. I know I am not going to walk out of here fluent, because nobody does, but I would like to know more... 5 more weeks, that's a good amount of time to learn, right? But seriously, it's hard. I know though that Heavenly Father hasn't placed anything in my path that I can't do. Who He calls, He qualifies. I... just... need...to remember that!

Nanette left on her mission today. It will be sad not seeing her face around. She's been such a comfort to me! This past week has been really good one for my companion and I. We're learning a lot about how to work with each other and she's got a good balance of the strengths that helps me a lot.

An elder in my district commented on my face the other day. He said that it's funny. Yes, he did say that. He said that sometimes he'll look up and I'll have my "zone out" face (which I didn't know I had because I didn't THINK I was zoning out), which he says is hiliarous. Great.

As for the working out, remember how excited I was for it? I had even lost a few pounds since getting here, but last week I discovered the joys of 4-square and the game lightening basketball... Yeah, I think my workout schedule has changed, maybe for the worse in the health department... BUT I made it to KING SQUARE 2WICE!!

Well, I love everyone, I am so excited for the things I've learned so far, and for all the things I will learn. I'm excited to apply these things to help people come unto Christ! This work is incredible, I love it already and I know it will blow me away when I actually get to teach REAL people :)

LOVES LOVES LOOOOOOOOVE!!!!

It's kicking me off, BYE!

2008-11-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Yay... it's "P" Day!!

Nanette and Alison. Good friends that entered the MTC on the same day.

6 weeks to go! The Spanish is kickin her butt....

2008-11-04T15:44:00.000-08:00

Hey, what's up?

Well, for some I reason don't really know what to say... But things are going well! I have decided that Mondays are my favorite day of the week (except for P-day and Sundays of course). Mondays are the days that we do most of our teaching. We teach at the TRC, which for me is very muy scary (it's still in english though!), because the people we are teaching aren't missionaries, but REAL people volunteering (which still shouldn't be scary because I volunteered myself at the TRC once, and I'm no one to be scared of). But the last couple times that we've taught I have come away feeling so incredible inside. It's even kind of fun. Kind of. But I am definitely not saying that to myself right before we go in to teach. I think I nearly wet my pants the first time.

Right now I'm super worried about Spanish. Oh man, I don't even want to think of where I am with my Spanish, it will make me throw up probably.... Yesterday was the last day of being the guinea pigs by experimental teaching methods and we received our grammar books. I really hope the language can go smoother from here on out. Last night after our "teaching appointment" we had another opportunity to practice teaching the natives, or missionaries who speak Spanish. We stumbled through the first lesson, not hardly coherent I'm sure, and it only lasted maybe 10 minutes because of how little we know. Then the Spanish Elders practiced teaching us in Spanish. They were from Argentina and Peru. Boy, I didn't hardly understand a word they were saying (especially the Argentine, he spoke so fast!), but I picked up a few pieces from the Elder from Peru. And even though I couldn't understand it all, it was so powerful. Listening to this elder testify made me want to get baptized all over again. I think this experience will go with me to Chile.

It's such an important thing to realize how important a testimony can be. I know this IS the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, I know we have a prophet on the earth today and I know that through the love of Jesus Christ, everything in our lives can be made right. I love that I'm on a mission. After the lesson was taught by the elders, the Peruvian said (in broken english) "I feel something so special right now, I don't want to be here in the MTC, I just want to go out and teach!" I feel the same way, I am so excited, I just haveta drill the language down my throat for the next 6 weeks...

Lots of other stuff happens all the time too... The food's good. The days are really hard still. I still have my moments where I have really hard times, but it will all be worth it. I can't believe how fast time has gone by, but at the same time it feels like I've been here forever!

Geoff, one of my teachers Devin Harrison was in your mission I think... He says he remembers you at least.

Okay, I sent a letter today with some pics, you'll get it soon hopefully. I love you and miss you and hope you're doing well.

Write me letters, okay? dearelder.com's are good. Do it, I dare you. Please?

Hermana Jones

(NOTE: If you'd like to leave a comment, Al's lovely mother will be happy to copy and paste it in her next e-mail to her. I'm sure she would love to read any and every comment on her blog. Thanks!)

She Survived 2nd Week in the MTC!

2008-10-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

(copied and pasted by her mom... no, she's not breaking any rules...ha ha)

Hola!

Welp, here I am nearing the end of my second week in the MTC... It feels like I've been here much longer than 2 weeks! I just wanted to say first of all, that this week has been SO MUCH BETTER! The first week at the MTC kind of kicked my butt. I was confused about what I was doing, who I am (because before, I thought I knew), It was painful, and things are still hard at times, of course. However, I don't know how to explain the change from then till now, but I'm much happier. I LOVE the spirit I've felt, and I know that I need to be here. For a while, I was thinking that maybe I didn't need to be here, and that it was just going to be a waste of time and money. But I DO need to be here! It wasn't my Heavenly Father who was making me feel like that. I have felt his love and comfort so much this week. He knew I needed it. If I can make a difference for even one person, it will be so worth it. It's worth it now. I love being here, and I hear it will only get better. One of the hardest parts for me is just trusting that the spirit will guide me. But as I've let myself go freely to the Lord (which I realize is super hard for me), I feel the spirit guiding me. I know everything will work out. Another thing that is hard is motivating myself. After about hour 8 in the classroom, it can get hard to keep going. I kind of wish I wasn't such a lazy bum before my coming, because I was pretty used to doing not much... I take it back, I had a good time doing nothing before. It was nice. But it feels good to be productive. And being diligent definitely pays off.

I didn't say much about the mechanics of my mission last email, so here are some details:

My district is pretty cool. Right now we have 5 sisters, and 5 elders. Most of us are going to Chile, and a few are going other places. We had an elder last week that had to go home and that was a very hard thing for everyone. There are a couple of elders in our district that are hilarious, but can be a bit distracting too...

I work out.

Yeah, you heard me. I do. In the gym on the 3rd floor there are some eliptical machines that I like to use and a couple of them face a floor to ceiling corner window. From that window I can see right down 9th east,where my old apartment used to be, and I can see clear to Spanish Fork. It's kind of weird being so close, and yet so far...My companion and I calculated that we climb about 20 flights (or floors) of stairs each day going to and from class, gym, or bedrooms. Of all those times climbing stairs, I've only fallen up them 2wice!

So, I know a little bit of spanish. Mostly just how to testify and pray. The hard thing is, our district and a handful of others are a part of what they call a "pilot group" or, "guinea pigs" when it comes to learning spanish. They are trying out a new method of teaching spanish where we don't learn ANY grammar AT ALL until the 4th week. It's hard, but they say from here on out, our spanish is going to take off flying... I really hope so, because right now I don't understand much. But they promise good results.I 'll hold them to that promise.

I get to be coordinating sister for our district. This calling basically reminds me of being in the compassionate service committee. It's great. And so my companion and I get to sit in on all the district and zone meetings...great...too... I love this gospel, and I love testifying about it to other people, it feels good.

I still see Nanette all over the place and it is super fun. I am waiting on some pictures to be developed that I'll send next week. I sent personal letters to the Fam, that should be coming soon. Just FYI.

Oh man, my times about up. I LOVE YOU SO Much, and Miss miss mis missssss you. But I'm not homesick, don't worry. I just miss you, that's all.

Okay, bye now.

MTC Address

2008-10-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

SISTER ALISON JONES
MTC Mailbox # 252
CHI-RAN 1215
2005 N 900 E
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

Alison's estimated departure date for Chile will be December 15th.

"Hermana Jones"

2008-10-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

okay, bye now

2008-10-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

My lovely mother volunteered herself to update my blog while I'm gone. She will be copy and pasting my letters. THANKS MOM!!! Audios!

here's some incentive to write me

2008-10-13T22:49:00.000-07:00

The day before the day before I leave on my mission has been filled with last minute shopping, friends, family, and PACKING. I've managed to fit way more stuff in two suitcases than I ever thought possible. Though I'm not so sure I'm meeting the weight limit... However, during my packing I realized I am going to want some kind of stationary, you know something to jazz up my letters a bit. As I rummaged through a drawer in the big kitchen cabinet thingy I fell across one of the most priceless items ever. My Lisa Frank sticker and stationary collection. Feelings of nostalgia welled up in my heart as I remembered my pre-teen years being somewhat infatuated with pen-pals and all the stationary that went with it. One of my most constant pen-pals would have to be my dear friend Kylee. No matter the stickers, glitter, or colored paper I sent her way, I always received something back that would amount be to greater than or equal to my letter's coolness. I think I can even remember receiving a letter on Trix the Rabbit stationary that had scratch and sniff fruit all over it. Conclusion: Scratch and sniff paper trumps all. This journey I am about to embark on, what is the mission, will most definitely not be without the Lisa Frank stationary and sticker collection. What would a letter be without dogs and giant strawberries, hugging penguins, and unicorns? No really, you tell me.

Find Joy in The Journey

2008-10-12T14:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've started this blog like 4 different times, and nothing I begin with is coming out how I want it. So, instead of some kind of introduction, I'm just going to jump right in to it.

I'm really going to miss working at The Journey. Alright, organizing papers and meticulously auditing files will not be longed for when I'm done (though my office buddies will be missed), but the part of my job where I get to work with the kids will definitely hold a tender spot in my heart. These guys are incredible and are doing something much more than learning how to live and maintain a sober life. They are turning their whole world around. For some, all that was known in their lives up until now was drugs, gangs, and sex. A happy life is something of a foreign state. Others grew up in a fairly secure home, but within a short time had nearly destroyed all trust from their loved ones. Though some kids make it obvious that they have no interest of sincerely changing, there are those who understand that they have potential to regain what they lost (love, trust, futures) if they work hard and make a change. I love the kids and I am so grateful that I was able to work just a little bit with them before I leave. I have learned a lot about myself by working here, and more than anything I've learned a lot from the kids.

It is fitting that in our office we have a sign hung up that says "Find Joy in the Journey," since, as mentioned above the company is called "They Journey." And what a beautiful reminder for us to trek forward with a positive perspective. It makes me think of a talk given at a fireside by Brad Wilcox a few years ago. He said "If you can laugh with it, you can live with it." Which reminds me (even though this isn't really relevant) that my family during dinner tonight started talking about one of our former pet birds. Little bird was a finch, who, through a slightly comical and a very unfortunate series of events, found death. As my dad was telling the story of what happened he started laughing, a lot. Soon my whole family (though Cali thought were all heartless), was nearly rolling in laughter. Okay, so maybe we are heartless, I guess you just had to be there... Anyway, back to what I was saying... President Monson's talk this October's session of Conference Finding Joy in the Journey was a bright message of hope and perspective. To live each day to it's fullest. He pleads with us to "not let the most important things in life pass you by...but to instead, find joy in the journey-now." Life is ever changing, and some change, like with the Journey kids is needed, and some is inevitable. Whatever change finds us in whichever state, let us try to find joy in it.

And when I left, a couple of the kids made me some bomb art work that I wanted to share with the world.

Check out this beautiful piece. Can you find the hidden word?? It took me a minute.

one small step for women, one big step for me

2008-10-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

After much deliberation and careful assessment, I have made the laborious decision that Mr. Blowdryer/Diffuser will not make the long anticipated trek to Chile with me... gasp!! No, no, I know what you're all thinking, I in fact do not intend on being nappy Sister Ugs throughout my mission. Instead I have found an alternative way of doing my hair. Blowdryer/diffuser are just much too bulky to make the cut.

Snots (the title was supposed to be "shots", but I liked the typo better)

2008-10-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

I've had my call for over 3 months, and I put off getting my mission immunizations till now. 2 weeks before leaving. After paying 200 dollars at the health department to get shot up because they don't take our insurance, I was called into a lovely little torture chamber. What? No foldable bed with the noisy butcher paper to lay on? All there was for me to place my bottom on was a little black chair that had wheels on it. I could picture it now - the foretaste of my doom too much handle and I face plant on the floor. Or maybe ( if I have enough self control to not pass out), the nurse will lean in to poke my mushy skin...but can't find my flesh because I'd rolled away and out the door in my rolly chair...

Neither of these happened, instead as I sat there the nurse asked if I was okay, and commented on my skin color (no, she wasn't racist, I was just losing all color). My feeble response was "I just dislike shots." I wasn't surprised when my voice cracked from the strain of holding back what probably would have been a sob if my pride didn't get the better of me. The nurses reaction was simple. She stood up and grabbed a juice box from the fridge. She handed me the juice and a smile. Whether it was for comfort, or to better my chances of not passing out, I don't know. But I liked it. However, my comfort was shattered by three consecutive stabs to my arm. And heart. I felt betrayed, like a kid who is decoyed into doing something they didn't want to do. But what's done is done, and at least I wont get terribly ill while in a foreign country, right?

2008-09-28T22:30:00.001-07:00

It was my "farewell" talk in the home ward today. I tell you what, it was scary, but it's done. And I'll also tell you what, wow! I don't think I could explain to you how stinkin' lucky I am to have such amazing FAMILY and FRIENDS. I had a lot of people I love there supporting me, and it made me quite the happy girl. I really don't know what I did to be blessed with so much.

Lucky me :)

...

2008-09-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

I had a dream last night that I was playing ultimate frisbee. As I went to block the goal (which was one of those blow up toys that you bounce around in), someone from the opposing team shot me. In the back. With a gun. I was in shock and layed on the ground for a while denying that anything had happened until the ambulance came and took me away. Then I thought I was going to die. The doctor, who happened to Carlilse Cullen (Oh yeah, baby), tended my wound and wrapped me up and I was muy bueno.

It was weird. I decided to do what my sister does when she dreams of something and look it up. This is what it had to say:

To dream that someone is shooting you with a gun, suggests that you are experiencing some confrontation in your waking life. You may feel victimized in some situation.

To dream that you are shot, and are feeling the sensations of dying, denotes that you are to meet unexpected abuse from the ill feelings of friends, but if you escape death by waking, you will be fully reconciled with them later on.

Haha (nervous laugh), I don't know about this. Pretty sure my friends love me, and I wont get any abuse from them.... or will I??? Dun dun dun!!

pretty much, we're cool

2008-09-18T09:38:00.001-07:00

Coneheads + Mom's creativity and sewing skills + Halloween = freaking awesome

itsy bitsy spider ain't so itsy

2008-09-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

One of the most horrifying and potentially one of the most humiliating things (had there been someone there to witness my performance) happened to me today. When I describe my near death experience, most of you will roll your eyes and think "why is she even blogging about this?"

But all I have to say is:

BIG
SPIDER
IN
CAR

Just kidding, I have a lot to say about this... So there I am, driving my car down St. Street, minding my own business (which I'm very good at), when a big, fat, hairy, dang crap-nasty spider decided to join my little ride on the drivers side door.

Spider. Inches away. Mocking me. "What are you going to do now, you're driving?" He thinks (I'm sure of it). Let me tell you what I did. I screamed. I screamed hard and squealed and I could feel my face warp in horror as all eight of his nasty legs crept closer to me. With each minute bump in the road, the tiny monster jumped with the car. He was a jumping spider, I'm sure of it, which intensified my terror by about 10 fold. Seconds had passed, and all my frozen mind and body could do in defence was scream. I had to take action, and QUICK. It would only take an instant before he would find a reason to jump onto me!

It felt like an eternity as I cut across two lanes of traffic and clumsily parked my car in the nearest driveway.

Instead of being sensitive to the spiders sensitivity to movement, I flung the door open in haste. Bad idea, spider jumped on the seat that I somehow wasn't sitting in anymore. The only weapon of defence I had on me was my debit card. I flicked it onto the floor, and crushed the life out of him - with card (gross, I know) - because my shoe wouldn't be sufficient??

I then took a moment to breath and realized how incredibly ridiculous all the screaming had been so I started to laugh, but I was still so shaken up and my heart was still thundering that my laugh turned in to that voice-craking nervous laugh that reminds me of teenage boys for some reason. This made me laugh more and it continued for a few minutes.

That's my story. You're lucky to not have nightmares tonight.

But for reals, people. I've thought about this and I am a little disgusted at my reaction. What if there had been no way of escaping traffic? What if I caused a traffic accident? I've never really had any super traumatic spider experiences, so I can't figure out why the dorky little spider caused me so much anxiety. I won't be surprised if I wake up sore because of how tight my muscles sitffened up. And what was with the girly screaming? The last time I screamed like that I was on the Rocket at Lagoon. Wow, time to move on. Whew, how bout that.

BSB WINS!!!!

2008-09-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

Jessie just told me she is going to rig my BSB/N*SYNC poll to make N*SYNC win. Oh, no you don't girlfriend. Poll Closed!

Thanks a lot Jessie.

And now she calling me a brat.

Wow.

Dear Sister Jones

2008-09-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

When I'm on a mission, I'm going to want letters. But I've been feeling guilty, and can't really expect much, because for most of my friends on missions, I was kind of a poopy writer. What goes around, comes around, right?

But In my efforts to fall asleep last night I devised a plan. It goes like this. If y'all come listen to me "blah, blah, blah," in church (my bishop hasn't said anything about it, hopefully he forgot!), I'll have self-addressed, pre-stamped envelopes handed out. Now, stamping and addressing shouldn't be the hard part, so I'm working on some kind of MAD-LIBesque template where you can fill in the blanks and it turns out to be a letter...to me. It will go something like this:

Dear Sister Jones,

How are you? I am doing ________ (adjective). Yesterday, I went to______(noun) and visited my_______(noun/proper noun) .....you get the picture

See? Easy cakes. It could take a matter of seconds, and it doesn't even have to make sense; any letter will suffice.

What thinkest thou?

2008-09-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

I was wondering, why zinc lozenges can't come in any flavor other than cherry. bleck. I just tried to change the font back from red to normal, only I thought the normal color was white for some reason, and started to worry when none of the text was showing up.

Also, the past couple days I keep seeing shoes on the road. Random, single shoes just laying there, like they're waiting for someone to come pick it up and bring them home safe. Not gonna happen, little shoe. But what I don't understand is how that happens? I have now seen the said shoes on the freeway, highway, and here in a busy intersection. Did someone walk across the street when the "stop walking" hand was flashing and in a Cinderella haste forgot go back to save the lone soldier? Did someone get in a fight and chuck a shoe at another but the window happened to be down? No me comprehende.

I saw the Errand of Angles the other day. I made the mistake of telling my friends who disagree with girls going on missions about it. One friend said, "The devil is in that show!" Because now all the 20 year old girls are going to want to go on missions, instead of sticking around and getting married, "like they're supposed to." One of the guys kept saying " I hope *Gwendolyn (his girlfriend) doesn't watch it!" because I explained that a girl who had seen it is now seriously considering a mission. muahahaha... it's a sista revolution!!!

I would like to dedicate the following true story to Billy:

So once there was a horse named Molly who lost her leg in a battle with a pittbull terrier. To make a long story short, Molly's determination impressed a rich doctor enough that he made her a prosthetic leg.

This is the ground surface of the prosthetic. It has a smiley face embossed on the surface so wherever Molly goes, she leaves a smiley behind. This is cute, and makes me happy =) And you should consider something along these lines, Bill.

One more thing, I REALLY want this dog.

All pictures were taken from this website. Thanks, Ky :)

*Names have been changed to secure confidentiality. But Gwendolyn is a nice name, don't you think? And then you could just call her Gwen. I like it.

high school flashback

2008-08-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

So, I was digging around in my family's old yearbooks, and this is what I found...