Sunday, August 18, 2013

12 August, 2013

Heyyy.

 Waat up family.  I'm shocked to hear about Justin(*), but i'm glad he is okay so far.  I'm praying for yall every night.  It helps knowing that God tests us in life and whatever happens, it will help you be stronger if you put your trust in Him. Im grateful also for the knowledge of the Plan of salvation and that we can be strengthened through the atonement.  a blessing of being a missionary is teaching other people these things, you really teach yourself too.  I know God loves us individually and has planned out everything exactly accordingly.  

 This week in Chile was good.  Its crazy to think that i've been out for six months in a week and a half.  And Recreo for 3 transfers.  Transfers are this wednesday and to be honest, i have no idea what on earth will happen.  So i'm just going to work and wait and see.  

 We taught Hermano Rave this week again.  He is a little hard of hearing, and we were reading the scriptures, practically yelling so he could hear.  Then, he said, "can i be honest with you?" we said, of course.  he said," don't be mad, but you guys talk really quietly."  Lol.  we got a good laugh out of that afterwards...hahaha. so cute.

 We had ward conference yesterday.  ward conference in chile is a much bigger deal because everybody pins little papers to their shirt that the relief society gives them, and then after bishops meeting, we all got cookies and hot chocolate, etc.  sweet.  so theres some ideas america...for the future...lol.  

  Hermana schrader, me, and leo all sang in sacrament meeting.  it was pretty cool because we sang a childs prayer-we sang the first verse in english and leo sang the second in spanish ,because we didn't have the hymnbook.  we also sang i'm trying to be like Jesus, and a lot of people complimented us saying, " the choir was beautiful!" or "i felt the spirit the most when you sang."  sooo that was pretty cool.  

 We taught Juan again this week.  He really likes what we have taught him and i gave him the invitation to be baptized but he wants to learn more first.  still though, pretty sure he will get baptized in the near future.

 We had our encounters of drunk guys for the week. Lol grandma's letter made me laugh!  as for that, one of the latina hermanas says, "if you put a dress on a broom, guys would whistle at it here."  haha.  One drunk ran up to us and said, "hey!  look at my poodle!" and picked up his dog and told us to feel it.  Um...great guy...hahahahahhaha.  Another guy at the bus stop said he was a member and we asked if he assisted a lot.  He said,"totos los domingos." which means, every sunday...hahahaha as he has trouble keeping his feet.  so that was fun.

 okay..well this week, we probably had the best day ever!  not even kidding you.  it started about by studying some really awesome stuff.  Our minds were both blown and we were pumped for getting out and sharing the gospel.  We also have a neighbor who was playing imagine dragons above us...so that was cool too. (i love imagine dragons).  We visited a menos activo, did NOT feel overly filled after almuerzo, and we contacted a ton of people, including a guy who is an investigator from santiago and wants to come to our ward.  the best part goes like this=

  We visited the family, rojas family.  they're the ones with 4 kids and the parents are married (miracle!)  we entered into their house which is super far away up a big hill, and we asked how they were.  It  was a little tense and Francisco, the husband, said, "not too good. "  He then explained to us that they are having troubles financially because he can't find a job, they are looking desperately for a different house too because the house they are in just has a bad feeling about it and a weight.  I could see the worry in that mans eyes for the sake of his family.  

   We started teaching about the plan of salvacion after this to help get their minds off that.  Part way thru, I could see Carolina was crying and the kids had sort of calmed down.  Francisco told us that before we had come, they had been fighting about something and that we had arrived at the perfect timing, it couldn't be more perfect he said.  They both listened so well.  They said they don't have many friends because they live so far away and they have just been pretty unhappy the last two months.  

  Carolina said she feels good when she reads the book of mormon. I told her that was the Spirit. We invited them to be baptized and they both accepted!!!!! Francisco said, "all of us?? the whole family??" we then explained that only 8 and above, but he looked at us and shook our hands saying he accepts.  Soooo there ya have it =) they said of all the people that could have helped us from whom they knew or prayed to, we were the ones who showed up.  praying praying praying all will go thru and be well with them!!!!!!
 after the closing prayer, caroline and francisco looked at us.  carolina said," can you feel the weight being lifted?" or something like that to francico and he nodded.  i felt relief too and the atmosphere had changed.  by far the coolest thing EVER.  

 We left and under my breath i said, "wait wait wait...." until we were out of earshot.  then we hit the main street and again and were like screaming with excitement. hahahaha.  it was the best!  and they're a family!!!!

  Right after that lesson, we tried contacting a guy.  He said," i have my own beliefs.  people here are catholic and evangecos. you  won't convince anybody.  "  but that was the last thing that could get our spirits down!!!!  sorry to see that guy reject the gospel, but it so happens that people do listen to us.  

  so that was so cool.  I don't know if i will be here for the baptism, but i was so glad to be in that lesson.  so cool.  

  k thats all i got. les quiero.

hermana emily hanks

*Emily’s brother Justin was recently diagnosed with cancer and will start Chemotherapy on August 19th. Please keep him in your prayers!



1. chile public bathrooms!!! dont you wanna go use one right now? lol. gross.


2. hahahahahahahhahaha. translate this. made me laugh. 


3. okay...found some underfed puppies and they were so cute.  dont worry, street dogs are smart, so im confident they will find some supper.  so flippin adorbs.  totes had fleas, but i couldnt resist!






4. chile.



5 August, 2013

sooo....just while its fresh in my brain....I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY ARE PUTTING IN A THRIFT STORE RIGHT NEAR MY HOUSE!!!!!! i can't believe this good luck!  Man, adding that to my list of stuff to do when i get home.  i'm keeping my fingers crossed for a nice savers or d.i.  that is so very exciting!
lol.

also, lets give a shout to harry potter whose birthday was last wednesday.  crazy how the kids grow up so fast.
Well this week was awesome!  A lot of stuff happened.  I can't believe how quickly the weeks pass.  Maybe emailing once a week seems very little to some people, but the time flies like crazy.  This saturday i'll have been in chile for like 4 months.  crazyyy!!! and this month will be my 6 month mark.  its crazy.  BUT AWESOME!!!   i'm so stoked.

Ok. so for starters, crazy stuff that happens in viña.  we were going to the registro civil or something and on our way to the collectivos and buses, we passed this guy who was all burned up.  he was asking for money and just sitting in the middle of the sidewalk....kinda sad.  then, we were walking in calle valparaiso and this crazy clown guy came up to hermana schrader and i as hna schrader was putting a little bit of money in her coin sack.  i kinda laughed and he was asking hna schrader to give him the money.  we both just laughed then he pulled a toy gun on us both. hahahahaha twas entertaining.  don't worry it was calle valpairaiso its loaded with people.  entertainment...lol.  he then walked away and said, "hermosas."  which is "beautifuls."

   we were greeted by dear rosaria again this morning!  hahaha. she is so crazy.  "hola hola mi hitas como estan como estan?"  hahaha. everytime we see her, she asks how hermana ortega, my old comp is, and then i always ask, "you gonna come to church this week!!??" and she says," ah no tengo tiempo!" lame. hahaha. but still a funny crazy lil lady.  we were also greeted by a crazy guy wearing a hollywood shirt on the corner saying we were pretty. (shes nuts!  -finding nemo.)

I ate hard boiled quail eggs this week. they really tasted the same as chicken, but they're a lot smaller. still...i think i prefer chicken eggs.

This morning i was kinda just spending my last few minutes in personal study looking for something in the bible dictionary, when i see the words,"lost books." OK definitely caught my interest.  so mysterious right??? makes me think of like the lost city of atlantis or something epic like that.  turns out hermana schrader came across the same thing and we were both like, "Whoa what are these lost books!!!!???"  

So in chile....i'm not really a fan of the dairy.  I don't remember if i mentioned that...but not a fan!  Their ice cream tastes like foam to me...i try to keep the image of the ice cream from byu creamery and all out of my mind on hotter days...sniff sniff.  The milk too.  what i would do for a glass of fresh cold milk.  the milk here is in cardboard cartons, sealed, and probably on the shelf for months...maybe years. =/  not a fan.  i look forward to the day when we shall be reunited, girl and her cold glass of milk recently extracted from the cow.  

you remember that guy named gonzalo who was making fun of our spanish and saying how we are so wrong about everything?? (cough...diablo...)well he crossed the street to come talk to us again and said, "do you remember me?? yeah she don't remember me!" pointing to me.  hm.....well....sad to see people like that. it'd be cool to see a guy like that change.

yesterday during our principios de evangelio (gospel principles) glass, milo, once again was the teacher. milo ROCKS at teaching. i learn too much from him.  our class consisted of alejandro, pablo (missionary), us missionaries, and to our surprise, a guy named robinson who came to church, invited by a member.  (MEMBERS ARE KEY IN MISSIONARY WORK SO GO DO IT!!!!!)  we were talking about the sacrament, and alejandro got on a ramble about "quemando los cuerpos."  aight. this is to say, "burning bodies."  hermana schrader i could see was covering her face with her hair trying not to laugh.  I was in the position where everyone could see my face, so i immediately looked at my lap because i could see milo holding back a laugh, as well as pablo. alejandro is so funny and awesome!!!!   if there is an example of perseverance if i've ever seen one, its alejandro.  I love that guy!

Now for the investigators: to explain. a TON of couples you run into, and families, are conviviendo...aka they're living together.  BOO.  caroline has a husband, the lady i mentioned we found last week.  THEY ARE MARRIED!!!!!! hallelujah!!!!!!!! we felt like flying after we found out about that. what's better, is they have 4 kids all under the age of 10.  we taught them last week.  the kids were a little crazy, but carolina and her husband francisco are both interested and want us to come back.  they said they believe God sent us there...it was cool to hear that.  Shes been reading the book of mormon, and my goal this week is to get all of them to church.  They are really poor and said they have been really sad because he is out of work and her mom is on the hospital and all.  They need the gospel so bad!! Hoping.

We did teach Juan again this week!!! oh such a silly old man.  We love Juan.  He wants to get baptized, but really, he hasn't really read the book of mormon, and hermana jacqueline wants him to have an answer of his own.  It was funny because she was trying to explain prayer to him and she said for example, she prayed to see if juan was the one for her...(ooop there it is!).  then juan was like, " well am i the one for you?" lol. so that was fun. hopefully he prays about the book of mormon too and joseph smith...hahaha.

we found a part member family pretty receptive.  the wife isn't a member they are living together unmarried...unfortunately. but working with that!

We met contacted some drunk guys.  One last night was especially interesting because he said he wanted to change his life and his life was so messed up. felt bad for the guy.  I told him to leave the alcohol, and he started crying and all....it sort of reminded me of winky in harry potter 4 when she gets super drunk and is crying.  Yep. but he lives in con con which is north of viña and we gave the contact info to the elders there.  
the guy who came to church, robinson, we had contacted before. we couldn't find him afterwards, but then a member invited him and he came.  he has problems with memory because he had an accident a few months ago from drinking. he said he needs friends and stuff. hes a lil crazy, but we have a cita this week. he forgets stuff the next day, so i guess we will see how that goes. hopefully he will remember we wrote him a note  about it too.....
another encounter with a drunk. we pass. he says, " hey! how are you!  hey i live down there!  come teach me the bible sometime!" hahaha. crazies.

  Last night, I said,"my hair smells like beer and cigs." weekend drunks outside. but boy do they need help.
  Aight, now for something a little more serious.  Hermana Doris, the one i mentioned last week i think who ROCKS at ward missionary work and talks to everybody she knows about the church (best example ever!!!) her neighbors father was in bed, and had been sick for quite some time.  Doris wanted us to come sing to him a hymn, so we did.  She said that he had taken the missionary discussions a few years ago and had accepted the baptismal challenge, but the caretaker lady didn't let him because he was too sick or something like that.  sad.  His son is catholic, and his grandson{s mother was a member, but the grandson no.  They were all there, including the caretaker.  Cute little old man in his bed.  We couldn't understand what he was saying because his words were few, but doris was telling him we were going to sing for him.  He wasn't really all there obviously, but i don't really know.    We sang "Mas cerca Dios de Ti." nearer my God to Thee.  and then we shared a scripture with Marco, the grandson and gave him a book of mormon.  I think people in that room were touched.

  We got a call from Hermana Doris the next day, saying Aurelio, the old man whom we had sang to, had died that morning.  We went to the funeral at the "madre de Dios" church behind our apartments and it was definitely one of the more interesting experiences i've had.  We saw him at the viewing and i thought to myself, he has the opportunity to accept the gospel on the other side.  We almost wonder if he was holding on just a little longer to hear that song sung to him.  cool stuff.

Love you all!  have a good week.

hermana emily hanks.


1. coloradoans chillin in chile.  


2. rollin on the bus to con con with our pday clothes. yeahhhhh dog.


3. remains of my glass bottle after it shattered in my face. note the wet shirt too. hehehehehehe. 


4. yeah dunkin donuts live here too!!!!


5. i ate quail eggs....


6. abuelita martita!  oh she is so adorbs


7. pretty refreshing to see your first name on something sometimes when your a missionary and leave it behind. ha. 


8. REAL LIFE. our chapel at 9:51. haha. where are the people??


9. DREAM TEAM!!!! obra misional!!! happy dia de hipster


10. forgot about them dang membrillos for a few weeks....pobrecito.

29 July, 2013

Alo!!
Diggin the pictures.  Lake Chelan looks awesome and i love the sunglasses on Erika. lol.  Sounds like super fun.  I remember the apple cup!  It makes me think of good ol american breakfast.  We were talking the other day about how good bacon sounded with pepper.  Delicious.

 GUESS WHO FINISHED THE BOOK OF MORMON TODAY.  This girl.  Okay....Moroni is freaking awesome!  Chapter 9 though is super sad though.  I like though how Mormon knows it will grieve Moroni to hear about all the horrible deeds the Nephites and Lamanites are doing to each other, but he tells him he is praying for him and to go forward with hope and do what God commands him to do.   

 For my studies, I usually study Preach my gospel the majority of the time, but for the last 15 minutes or so some days, I read my own personal study.  I don't think there are enough hours in a day because theres so much to study and so much to do!   

 Transfers are in two weeks...so we won't know.  People are saying that I'm going to leave Recreo =(  which makes me sad!  I've been here 3 transfers, so i wouldnt surprise me either way.
 
 Sorry i'm lame about answering your questions.  The spanish is coming along.  Somedays i can say stuff and not even think about it, it just comes out.  but only some days.. haha.  its coming along though!  i've been reading the libro de mormon aloud in spanish and i'm in helaman 7.  Soo.....its comin along.  

   For almuerzos, we usually eat rice, lentils, some sort of meat occasionally, fried potatoes, vegetables, eggs, etc.  I'm not a fan of the chicken here to be honest.  its kinda slimy and the smell and seeing of the carnicerias is enough to make me never buy my own meat.  bleh.  I think my favorite is rice and lentils and the vegetables.  There really isn't any flavor in the food a lot of the time, unless you are lucky and find some aji (chilean hot sauce).  Usually they give you soup, then a platter of food, and veggies, and then bread in the middle of the table to grab and take as you please.  not too much cheese around here, but plenty of frying stuff sometimes.  

 Whenever it rains, people make sopapillas.  oh dang are they delicious.      They make them with like a syrup dulce kind of thing with cinnamon.  I don't know how to describe the flavor, but its like the best thing ever.  on top of a nice crispy sopaipilla.  Its winter so its not uncommon to eat them here.  Martita la abuelita dropped a container of them off for us last week.  then hermana sonia did too.  yummy yum.

   Someone served us fried fish eggs this week.  Its not that it tasted bad, but when you see the guy selling fish in a shopping cart on the street, it makes you very glad that you bless the food before you eat it.  

    We had a zone activity that was super fun!  We played frisbee and we both scored some goals.  so much fun!  pday activities are the best.  we also ate pizza, then wrote letters to ourselves in a year.  i thought it was a cool idea!

  So story time.  we were walking back from an almuerzo that was really far away.  We had to go down a big hill, when a collectivo (cheaper taxis we take to vina)  came up and offered us a ride down to the bottom.  After almuerzos, we usually feel like we might tumble down the hill anyways, so we accepted.  he dropped us off and before we could pay him, he said,"just a little thing for the Lord."  it was cool.  

  The people in chile really are nice and good people.  I really like them, but they are definitely crazy!  For example, we had ward council yesterday. Ooo man lots of chilean gibberish that i could mostly understand!  people aren't afraid to speak their mind here. or tell you about their entire life after 5 minutes of knowing them. haha.  

  We don't have a good heater in our apartment, so we tried putting water in water bottles and in the microwave.  its proven to work because it keeps us warm, but the other day, mine was making these crazy noises after i look it out.  Yes yes...i should have NOT kept the cap on during the microwaving.  I tried to take it off with a towel and ka BAM. idiot moment of the day.  the bottle flew against the wall and shattered and got me all well.  we had a good laugh about that.  bahahahahahhahahaha

 JUAN!!!!! okay remember juan from like my first week here??(probably not but maybe)  he's the boyfriend of hermana jacqueline who does our laundry.  Okay Juan is cool.  He is blind and like 85 years old.  maybe more.  We stopped teaching him because jacqueline went to the hospital, she has cancer on her eye.  Then she told us this weekend he wants to take the lessons again.  SO PSYCHED!!!!! We need to get him to read though, so we're trying to get an audio player for him to listen to the book of mormon.  Hopefully we can keep it animated!  He fell asleep last time. hahahaha.  Hes a silly old man.  He came to church yesterday with jacqueline and he was wearing her purple gloves.  hermana schrader said,"son bonitas!" like theyre pretty.  Then he said," ohhh yeah.  Ella es bonita."  referring to jacquline i think.  then he said "no veo."
lol.  aka he can't see.

  So you know you're in a spanish mission, when you're looking up "holy spirit" in your bible dictionary, and you're looking in the "e" section. Lol.  Espiritu in spanish....  happened this morning.  Took me about 3 minutes longer to find that page?

  We found 5 new investigadores this week!!!  They're pretty cool too.  Se llaman Felix, Carolina, Ricardo, y Guadalupe.  Felix and Ricardo.  Felix we found my first transfer.  He is awesome!  He one day randomly sent us a text, apologizing for not saying hi after we had said hi to him.  We then called and he seemed interesting in hearing our message.  He had awesome questions!  He wasn't really set in his ways, but rather really wanted to know.  The thing is,l hes going out of town for a month. Pucha.  

 Next is Carolina.  We were just contacting near the overview of vina and i asked her if we could share.  She opened the door and she let us in.  She told us she usually doesn't let people like us or testigos de jehova in her house, but her mom is dying and in the hospital, so she agreed.  she has four children and is MARRIED!  YES. okay but seriously...sometimes families with married parents is a rarity down here.  sad but true.  anyways, she said we could come back.  I almost invited her to baptism, but her kids started getting rowdy at the end so maybe next time.  

  Ricardo is cool too. Another guy with awesome questions and curiosity.  It seemed to make sense in his head about the book of mormon and all!  yayyy.

  Guadalupe is another old lady.  I invited her to baptism, but she said she wants to know for herself first.  Her daughter is a member in esperanza.  

  Yesterday at church, alejandro (always makes us laugh. always!)  was mumbling something about the folleto about the gospel of jesus christ.  He then pointed to repentance and said something.  Then was like, "arrepentimiento yo!"  Like..."i repent!" ok maybe not that funny, but if you know alejandro, you would be laughing too. hahaha.  

  I'm psyched for this next week!  always, we are reminded to keep animated and happy. It really does make all the difference if you're excited about your message or not.  People really are more likely to listen to you.   

  We had intercambios and i went to renaca, vina centro for friday and saturday.  I was with a hermana from colombia.  She is an awesome missionary!  She really is good with words and it was cool because she was a really good listener.  I'm trying to work on my patience because its definitely something i struggle with as a missionary.  

  haha. we met a drunk named locorafa.  his name is rafael, but that's his nickname. he was a nice fella.  super crazzyyyyyy
  Ok well thats pretty much sums it up for this week.  love you!
  Chao.
Hermana Emily Hanks

22 July, 2013

Hey whats up you crazies in the Tetons?? That sounds like fun that you are riding bikes and having fun with summer.  Some days its like summer here too, but some days its just dang cold.  Mostly the wind.  Last night I was freezing, but my sweatshirt was in the wash...didn't have that layer of warmth.  =(

 So.  this week was pretty cool.  We definitely worked hard and it was a busy one.  For starters, someone in our ward informed us that Chile means "fin del mundo".  aka end of the world.  coolest thing ever?? kinnndddda cool.
 We had to go to the PDI this week for my companions visa, like the dmv with its long lines and stuff.  We were waiting for a while, and then we all heard a thump.  A guy had a heart attack and it was really sad!  It took him a while to come around and there was like emergency people in there.  He was luckily still alive tho. poor guy.

 We worked some more at hermano raves on tuesday and got to mix some cement and fill it in.  Now, THAT is some fun stuff.  Our arms were a bit sore the next day. haha.  Hermano rave is da bomb.  We tried to take a picture of us with him and the fence, but my camera died. lo siento.

  So....our studies continue to be awesome!!!! OH man. Sometimes Hermana Schrader and I entertain ourselves by talking in really feo gringa accents, like....awful, on occasion.  It is seriously the funniest thing ever.  hehehehehe.  #missionhumor#

  I've studied a lot of predicad mi evangelio (pmg) and its the best!!  its seriously like everything you need to know to be a good missionary.  I've been reading a lot in chapter 5 about the book of mormon.  I will tell you, from all the studying we do, our scriptures are really quite glorified with color.  and we still have a year to go!!!! PSYCHED.  

  We had zone conference last week. It was awesome!!  Its always good to kinda remind ourselves of our goals and try harder.  I decided that I want to talk to more people.  I'll be honest, sometimes I don't want to talk to people because either they talk your ear off and I don't understand some of what they say, or they're intimidating, or some other stupid excuse...butttttt... Elder Holland has it right when he says,"this is eternal life." soooo. there ya have it.  Gonna try and talk to more each day!!  

  I think the biggest miracle for us is how much we feel like we have improved in so many ways with the Lords help.  We don't feel quite as lost anymore, and we still have a lot of fun and laugh a lot.  Our teaching skills together has gone well, and overall, its pretty awesome here!!!  I still have a ton to learn, but at least I feel like I have progressed.

  Let me tell you about Abuelita Martita, as well like to call her.  She's our little chilean grams.  She is the wife of Hermano Santiz, but she is inactive.  Whenever we go see her, she answers saying,"quien es?"
 "las misioneras!"
  "awwwww pobrecitas! Entren!"  hahahaha. she is so cute.  A little crazy but awesome. I showed her a picture of da fam and she thinks justin is handsome. lol.  I'll send a picture of her in the future.  She is seriously adorable.

  Ok so super weird story.  We were trying to find a menos activo and it was like deep in the jungle.  We literally felt like we were in star wars when theres all the little ewoks because we looked down at this hut and there was like a fire going and a crazy dog that was gonna eat us, and like 5 children, two of them trying to restrain the dog.  It was seriously the weirdest thing ever.  hahaha.  they kids told us to come down and their grandma came out and said they knew the menos activo we were looking for.  She said to one of the little girls, " coni, take her to Soledad."  So we followed this girl even further in this crazy place to a different shack and found Soledad.  It was so strange...hahaha. but super cool cuz we had been trying to find her house for a while.  The numbers on the street here are hardly ever in much order.  

 Cool story.  We were walking to lunch and we saw an old lady carrying something heavy.  We asked if we could help, and she graciously accepted.  We helped carry the thing that was quite heavy, and she said, "I think the big guy upstairs sent you two to help me."  Turns out she was a neighbor to a miembro and said we can come back in the future.  She showed us a ton of her family pictures and liked to talk a lot, but really nice lady!  We are going back this week.  

  We had interviews with president.  the asistentes and him and the mechanic or something came.  You can imagine how nervous we may or may not have felt because neither of us have ever had president come and clean check our pension.  We cleaned and passed and it was fine.  Our interviews both went well, and I think above all, i'm blessed to have an awesome mission president.  i told him about our last transfer and a half and how much we really have learned and had to learn ourselves being good missionaries.  i spoke in spanish the whole time too and he told me my spanish was improving "tan rapido!" so that made me feel happy. haha.  I really feel like President and his family care about me and believe in us.  It makes me want to be all the more obedient missionary.  

 We met a crazy drunk two days ago.  usually most of them i just say, thanks if they complement, and keep walking. The guy stopped us and said, "can i tell you girls something??  don't get mad now!  you're really pretty!  Like really really pretty!"  we both kinda were like, thanks and tried to keep walking.  then the guy asked a girl passing by, "  arent they pretty?" and the girl passing just ignored him really.  Then he said, " mentirosa" under his breath (liar).  hahaha. ummm he was nuts.  Our friend Jessy from the internet cafe was signaling from behind him to just keep walking. lol.  it was crazy.  

  Silvia came to church again yesterday.  YAY! but.  It was funny.  Milo was our gospel principals teacher and watching those two was great.  Turns out Milo cleared up some stuff like what the Holy spirit is, and she wants him to come with us next time we teach her. haha.
  Yesterday we were walking home and there were evangelicos out singing all over the town.  not really sure why, but maybe its a holiday of some kind. interesting stuff!  
  Well, this week has lots of good to come.  Gotta go shopping.  Sometimes when we are low on funds, we get really creative, and you're talking to a girl who makes pretty creative stuff at college.  Mission is even crazier stuff!  we don't have an oven in our pension.   
  Well....have a good week.  gonna go play some soccer and maybe eat an empanada or something.  CHAO I love you all!


1. This ones for erika  =)


2. Nuestra zona vina del mar oeste. sweeeeet.


3. stepped in some playdough. i guess thats an improvement from dog poop.


4. Servicio


5. shoveled some cement yall.


6. Doris, me, Silvia, Adelina.  Silvia is an investigador. we love them!  other two are members.  Noche de hogar.


7. Hahaha. Us and Alejandro. So cool.

Chile Scenery: 







15 July, 2013

Sup.
SO this week was cool.  But first of all, congrats to Rachel!!! so cute.  
May I just say, thanks for going to all the cool places without me!!!! moab and now yellowstone??? ok have fun!!! =)
well...to be fair (erika...haahhaha)....
But for reals. Lets see.  Ok, funny story while its on my mind.  My companion and I got asked out by a guy on a motorcycle...lol.  He was nice, but we were like...uhhh what?  bahahahahahha crazy.  He says he works at a bread store. 
It has been some pretty good weather this week which is a definite plus.  Like in the 70s or 80s.  It felt like summer last night...soooo maybe this isnt so bad if this is the dead of winter.  At least during the day, but the wind at night can get really cold.  Walking out of our apartment without gloves at night is like walking outside without pants (or in our case, skirt).    
So this week.  Well, for starters, we had an investigadora come to church yesterday!  So hard to get people to come here sometimes.  We have a member here who is a STUD and literally talks to all her friends about the gospel, and she brought her.  Her name is Silvia.  She is about 83 years old.  Taught her the plan of salvation first half and she liked it. 
     We also have another investigador named Evelin.  I especially like Evelin because she was the first contact i ever did by myself...a few months ago and we had trouble finding where she lived for a bit.  She is awesome!  She believes in the restauration after we taught it to her, and liked what was said about the plan of salvation.  it worked into her life too because she has cancer, and it doesnt sound like things are going well for too much longer =(  she has a problem smoking, but she is so sweet.  She said she wants to come to church next week, and it helps that she lives near our chapel.  
     Taught Alejandro again this week.  hahahaha he just makes hermana schrader and i smile.  He is such a goofy old man and he is really forgetful at times, but it was cool. we visited him and he told us he feels in his heart these things are true, and he stayed focused really well this time too.  (somepeople are hard to keep on topic...especially if you dont know the language very well. lol)
     We saw Cristina and Valentina for the first time in like a month.  Theyve been hard to get ahold of, especially since Cristina doesnt work at the members house anymore.  Not much happened, just that we want to bring a member, probably Milo, to help us out with that at least one lesson. 
     It was a good week.  We taught some good lessons, and Ive been trying to make a habit of all my free time reading the Libro de Mormon aloud to help my spanish.  Im almost finished with alma, so hopefully, ill be fluent here soon?? ive been able to understand a lot better which is awesome.  it defintely helps. 
     I think one of my favorite experiences was contactng a guy named Juan.  He was from the inland and his accent was harder to understand.  He seemed uninterested at first, but eventually he let us share a simple scripture and accepted a book of mormon.  One thing that was interesting is that after we read it and bore testimony, he stayed silent and kinda just looked pondering at the scripture.  It was pretty cool. 
    Oh right. so yesterday, Hermana Schrader and I were assigned to give talks in our ward.  15 minutes each.  Ive done this once in english, so definitely an adventure in spanish.  It went well though.  Hermana Schrader shared a cool story about her dads conversion, and a lot of people really liked it, myself included!  I shared about how to work more together to bring others unto Christ thru missionary work in the ward.  Its true, as Gordon B. Hinckley said, 'there is a better way' for missionary work.  
     Doris, the one who brought Silvia to church, like I said, is awesome.  Her mom and sister arent reallly as active.  Doris helps us a lot though!  They saw the bottom of my companions boots and gave us each a pair of boots. hahaha.  it was cute.  now i have cute little white boots.  super stylish here though!  
     Saturday, we got to do service....IN JEANS!!!!!  we went with the priesthood to go dig holes for posts so make hermano ravé a railing.  im so excited!  not only did i feel like i was in the movie holes, but it felt like i was hiking int he desert again. hahaha. dirty and sunny and sun.  yay.  oh man.  hno ravé is so cute too.  I love that man!  He said, i feel bad! i want to help, but i cant.  
He is paralyzed.  Poor guy =(.  I love our ward.  All of them are just the best!
    We contacted a guy who spoke english this week.  We offered the missionary lessons to him ¨(he also told us he is familiar with mormons because he lived in utah).  he responded, ýeah...but i like my alcohol.  and there are not good alcohol in utah.  lol.
    Ok well thats pretty much it for the week.  Hope all is well.  
   OH wait.  reading the book of ether this week.  its crazzzzzzy. ive nicknamed it the book of captivity and destruction because really thats the essence of that book. so epic!!
   Peace out!
ps. next week ill have been out 5 months. 
   Hermana Emily Hanks