September 24, 2012 Talcahuano

This last week has been good, just working like crazy. I am trying and a lot of times I feel really small and not able to do the work in the right way but I am trusting that God will teach me how to be better. We have a baptism on Saturday of a girl named Belen. Her dad got baptized about five months ago and he will be baptizing her. It was great to be able to teach her. We are trying hard to help people progress but it has been a challenge. The work is not easy!! but it is moving forward and it’s so amazing to be a part of it!!

My kid is doing well. He is learning. It’s interesting cause I feel like I have spoken Spanish my whole life when in reality I couldn’t speak either 8 months ago… Actually, when I was really struggling in the mtc with Spanish a district president there made me a promise. He said to me If you push through the hard and leave on your mission you will not only speak good Spanish but you will speak perfect Spanish. That promise is coming true. I can speak and without an accent haha. So I know that God will help Elder Durrant as well and help me to not feel so insufficient for the work because it is His work, not mine. So we are doing well.

I felt frustrated yesterday because we were really trying to get an investigator to church and they didn’t come. I started to wonder if I was not doing well or working bad. Well after church we went to Marcos, our friend who has multiple sclerosis, and we were doing exercises with him, throwing a ball and talking to him. We asked him if he wanted to meet our families and he said very firmly yes!! And then he stuttered out can I go to the United States with you and your companion? And we told him if he does his exercises and gets better and walks we will find a way to bring him to the states. And then he said really loud "¡Vamos!” which is let’s go!!! In that moment the Spirit came down upon me and my companion. I literally felt the love that God has for Marcos and for the service that we could do for him. It was such a strong feeling of peace and comfort that I knew that it was God telling me that He is happy with our hard work even if there are challenges and not a ton of baptisms. Even if I don’t baptize one more person in my mission I know that at least I could help Marcos progress and feel happy and most importantly feel the love that God has for him. I really love Marcos and that was a very sacred and touching experience. The feeling and power we felt were NOT from this world. It was the love of God. 

Thanks for all your prayers and support. I love you all!!

Chile National Holiday! September 18, 2012

Well I gave birth to an elder from Utah!! from Milfred Utah! His name is Elder Durrant! He is a very cool kid and we had a good first week together. We were supposed to have two baptisms this week but they couldn’t make it to church so now we are waiting for the 29^th. But it is interesting being a trainer! I didn’t even notice but I speak fluent Spanish!! It is interesting to see my comp cause he is just starting to learn. It is a pretty hard experience but it is worth it. They also put another sector in my district so I am really busy and I got a little overwhelmed and scared but I realized once again that I just need to trust in the Lord and do the very best that I can to help him my district and my sector. 

We are looking for people to teach. It’s pretty hard because the people are really hard these days but we have found a lot of people to teach before. We just have to find them again. Sometimes I feel like I am not good enough or something because I don’t have a ton of success but then I remember what our beloved prophet said, "Do your duty that is best leave unto the Lord the rest." I am constantly trying to do better for him and teach him all that I know and leave the rest unto the Lord. In the end even if I only baptize the six that I have and nobody else, as long as I worked my best with what I have I am ok. Because the Lord will never take away the agency of someone to give me and my comp a baptism. So we are doing really well, working hard, and loving it. 

So something really funny about Elder Durrant is that his first and middle names are Nathan Allen.... and at home everyone calls him Nate. So I am pretty sure President  just looked at our names and said "well that was the easiest revelation I have ever received!" and put us together, haha. So we are doing good, working hard, and trying and trying to find those that need this gospel in their lives. That is our goal and my goal for the mission is to find at least one family that will make it to the temple one day.

I have grown to love the scriptures even more ( if you can believe that...) and I have a goal to memorize about four hundred and thirty scriptures by the time I get home. That will help me a lot with my teaching for seminary later on if I get to do that. I have about thirty five so far so that’s pretty fun!

And today is the national holiday here in Chile so for that reason I am writing today and we have a big activity with the whole stake today so that will be fun!!! We are going to eat a lot... I love you family and I hope all is well!!!

September 10, 2012 Talcahuano

Hey fam holy cow crazy week! 

Today I went to see one of my best buddies go home.  He finished his mission. His name is Elder Clark! Really great guy and the comp of my trainer went home too so I got to see Elder Corliss too!!!! Actually he is right by me writing his family. This is his last transfer so Mom and Dad he will be in Utah on the 20^th  of October and Dad he is a crazy BYU fan so if you took him to a game I am sure he would love it!! He is so awesome.  We want to room at BYU when I go so it’s cool. 

And other news... I will be a trainer this cambio!!! Ah!!! I am very scared and it is mostly white kids that are coming in too so most likely I will have a comp that does not know any Spanish.  Elder Corliss was freaking out.  He kept yelling “I am a grandpa!!!”  haha So in the mission we say that when we train we have a kid so right now I am pregnant!! I really hope that it goes well tomorrow I am going to be placed with a new Elder so it will be interesting! Elder Castro is going down south so I won’t see him for a while but it’s all good. He is an amazing Elder. I learned a lot from him. 

I also got my package with my glasses and tie! Thank you!! I love the tie Dad and I can finally see good!! yay!! I won’t lose these ones.... But that’s the big news for this week and we are still trying to finalize 3 baptisms that we should have this month. 

I love you all and go BYU!!! ya!!

September 3, 2012 Talcahuano

Well this week was hard but good. Satan is trying to kill off our investigators with sickness but pills and blessings are stronger than him!!! So we might have to change our baptisms to the next week but we will find out.

We have transfers this week and I hope Elder Castro does not leave but he might cause he has a lot of time here. Also the national holiday in Chile is coming up on the 18^th of September and they have a huge week long party in all of Chile!! There will be activities in the church and it sounds pretty cool!! I don’t know how much the people are going to want to listen to us on that day but it will be cool to see all the families together having fun!

So this week we were contacting and we started to talk to a lady and she was like well my brother is really sick. Could you guys come in and pray for him. Her name is Isabel and her brother is named Marcos. He is like thirty years old and an infection attacked his brain and he now has no strength in his body and he isn’t normal and his parents are very, very old and can’t help him so his sister moved in with him because none of her other sisters or brothers wanted to help her. So she, by herself, has given her life to help her brother. It was a very touching story. We gave him a blessing and offered to come by every day to do little exercises with him to get him moving his body to try and help him get his strength back. It is very hard but it’s fun to see him smile when we encourage him to move his arms and legs and see him happy. He likes us cause its someone else that he has to be with. And since you’re not here to play catch with me, Mom, me and Marcos play ball!!! I throw him the ball and then he has to use is hands and arms to throw it back! It’s pretty fun!! He is a really nice man and Isabel is such a huge example of patience and sacrifice. The mission does not seem hard when we think in the sacrifice that some people give and the sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. She helps me realize how blessed I am and that I never have a reason to complain. I am a representative of Christ and I have his gospel in my life. What else do ya need? Well that’s about all this week and we are going to work hard to find more people to teach. Bye!!