There and Back Again, a Sister Missionary's Tale : May 13, 2013

Buenas Días!

Yes, it was swell to talk to you all yesterday! Very fun very fun indeed. I was kind of worried because everytime i talk to english speakers here, I get awkward and confused. hahaha. twas fun. And I got Justin´s announcement finally this week. I LOVE IT! It´s on my desk with a few other fam pictures. Superrrr cute. Glad justin´s getting a haircut too. hehehe. That´s crazy how close the wedding is.

Okay. sooooo let´s see. This week was swell! For the most part. On Tuesday, we have two investigators that have been investigators for over 2 years. It´s a bit complicated, but they go to church every week. Here goes: they are both widows, and because she´s a widow, she recieves a pension of money each month. She gives it to her son. Problem is, they aren´t married and are living together, and if they get married she loses that pension. They want to be baptized. It takes a while to get married here though, I think I told you that last night, because they have to take out a date or something from the goverment and it can be a few months. We have tried getting together with them, but they both work a lot. We did however try their house this week, and we saw that they were both there. Inez, the woman, was home too, which was out of the ordinary because she works everynight until 9 I think. I don´t remember the full story, but she was home because something happened to her granddaughter and her granddaughter was in a coma. We sang them a song and shared a scripture with them. They said they tried going to the church last week and ask for a prayer for that little girl, but it was stake conference, so nobody was at our building. (nobody knew what time stake conference was at...) anyways, we offered a prayer for that little girl and for them. It was very cool.

I´ve told you a little bit about Francisco. The 14 year old who has been coming to church for 2 years but his mom won´t let him be baptized. We help him with his english and he can kind of be a little bit of a turd when we share a message with him. (everyone is at that age :)). anyways, he was doing a little better this week. our bishop had talked to his mom and asked why he couldn´t be baptized, and she said it was because she wanted to see a change in him first. We´ve been trying to help him help around his house and help him mom too. He´s been a bit less of a turd this week. We were surprised because when we met with him on friday, he didnt have any english he needed help with, he just wanted us to share. We were kinda touched by that. I think he just needs to be loved. We want to get him to serve a mission someday. That´s why I was hoping you could send me one of those book of mormon reading charts and just have him read a few verses each day.

We visited a lady named Irma in our ward. She´s probably about 60 and her mother is about 88 and has alzheimer´s. She´s such a cute little old lady, but she´s sick and doesn´t come to church. She doesn´t remember anything, even if its just a few minutes after she says it. We love her though! We went and sang to her a song, then shared a message with Irma. We want to get a picture with this little old lady because she´s so cute. Her name is Blanca.

Okay, thursday....was awesome!!! I told you last week about our investigator Cristina. She has a baptismal date and said she wants to bring her daughter to the lessons too. Her daughter is 11, and flipping awesome. They really like blue eyes here, and when we first met her, she looked at me and said something like,"sus ojos!" (your eyes). We challenged her to baptism and she accepted too. What made that so much better was that she asked us how she can serve a mission and what she has to do to be a missionary. She is seriously amazing! They were going to come to church again, but they were gone in Quilpue, the interior, to visit her dad (mothers day weekend). so next week we are hoping.

After we left that appointment, we were walking past a door of a contact that we had tried, but never had much success in getting ahold of. We saw there were lights on, so we decided to try it. A lady named Nancy opened the door. She invited us in, and her granddaughters, Vania, and Alejandra, were there as well. Their mom, Nora, was the one we had contacted, but she wasn´t there. Anyways, after talking with them a little bit, we found out that nancy is a member, but menos activo (inactive). Her son was really active, and took Vania to church when she was 7, but he passed away. Vania is 18 now, and they both still have their Libro de Mormons. I think they felt the spirit of why we were there. It was really neat. They seemed interested and we are meeting with them tomorrow night.

We went to a mothers day activity at the church for relief society for a little bit before our coordination meeting. i love the women in our ward. (even if i can´t understand them a lot of the time). They´re just cute little chilean women who are probably 4´5 and love the gospel. They actually had torta-cake, which you never eat here, and a ton of bread. hahaha. oh my gosh the bread here is super good, but you have to be careful.

It was a good week. I´m psyched for this week! We only have one more week until transfer, and I´m guessing I´ll be staying here, but you never know.

I´m glad you like the pictures milo posts. hahahaha. oh my goodness he likes pictures. I´m glad you could meet me chilean/colombian familia last night. They are awesommmmee.

Did you like my reggae earrings? :D hehehe

Language is coming along. Somedays are better than others, but it takes time. I don´t think I´ve said anything embarassing at least...hahaha

I saw at least 2 people with super cool fanny packs this week. I can guarantee you right now that I will be buying one of those and wearing that all over the place after my mission. along with some crazy sweater everything. 100% serious.

I know I said this last week, but I seriously love reading the scriptures! I was reading the libro de mormon aloud for language study in isaias...okay yeah its a little tricky to read and understand in english, but i challenge you to try that in spanish. in my personal study, i was reading about alma and amulek. they are seriously missionary STUDS.

I´m grateful to be here in this part of the world! It´s awesome looking out your window each morning and knowing you´re about to go preach the gospel to the lamanites. hehehe. but for serious.

love you!

-hermana hanks