There and Back Again, a Sister Missionary's Tale : May 27, 2013

alo folksies!

Okay....so love the wedding pictures. so cute! erika{s hair looks super long! yall look super handsome and beautiful. also, matt looks so big next to justy! you both look handsome in those pants. (im not even mad...thats amazing!) love jenns dress too. I was thinking about you on friday! so crazy. the pictures are great!

soooo this week in chile was pretty crazy. right now, its dumping outside rain. we woke up to rain! it was kinda fun. here, when its raining, people make sopapillas. delish. we ran to the ciber and my backpack is drenched. when it rains here, it can go crazy. i got a new companion! hermana ortega got transfered near valparaiso (more south of me). she was a good missionary and we were sad to see her go so soon. One of our last lessons taught was really interesting. After an almuerzo, my comp randomly asked if I wanted to go see two menos activos in the ward. We had seen them less than a week ago, so I didn't really know why, but figured, eh why not. We contacted one guy on the way there and he said his daughter was at home, so we came and taught him the first lesson. or at least tried to. He said he was a historian, and I was a little confused. Part of the time it looked as if he was laughing at us and didn't really pay attention. It's interesting. I think some people here think we are here to argue, but we're not. We are here to invite them to come unto Christ. Sometimes we need to be very clear about that. I still don't know why we went over there, but it was an interesting experience. Still not sure what to think about that. kinda weird.

My new comp is named Hermana Schrader. If you looked up awesome in the dictionary, her name would probably be listed underneath that (quoted from the amanda show back in the day) We found out within like the first minute of meeting each other that we're both from colorado. shes from loveland! crazy right? We know some of the same people even. Its funny seeing people try and pronounce her name around here because its super German and sometimes it just turns out as a mouthful. hahaha. so cute. We get along super well. She's actually 22. (She loves Harry Potter and LOTR as well, although mostly Harry Potter. It pleases me.) I also saw she has gryffindor socks. so cool.

SO. She has only been out one transfer more than I have. She definitely understands a bit better, but we are definitely learning together. It's super fun! It's kinda nice too because I know the area better, but she knows the language better so it meshes well. I'm super psyched.

We had troubles with our gas because we have to light it in order to get hot water. yeah. took the coldest shower of my life. haha. it started out super hot, its rather bipolar at times, and then went cold within a minute. by then, youre kind of in a trap and have to finish your shower. freeeezing.

We taught Cristina and Valentina this week twice. Valentina is so awesome! She has read all we tell her, and is starting at the beginning. She even has matched up the pictures at the fronte of the libro de Mormon and was telling us all about it. I seriously wish i was that cool when I was 11! It was a little nerve racking at first because I felt super nervous about the language and had no idea what to expect for my new companion. We went up the day after Hermana Schrader got here to teach again and I think it still went well. Cristina asks a lot of questions which is good, and a lot of them are for clarification. It helps at the same time, being beginners togteher because when we are teaching, we dont really have much of a choice. like theres no companion that takes over the whole lesson, we both contribute. If that makes sense??

I liked the first transfer because i could kinda see how its done and start out small.

We have a ward list of people, and we have a ton of menos activos to go see. There are a ton of menos activos, and we pretty much see if they moved and such. lots of work to do with them. I love keeping busy! Seriously, theres so little time I feel. I love speaking spanish (or at least trying too...haha). We do lots of walking and we are usually pretty tired by the time we come back to our pension (well...duh.)

Lots of our citas fell thru again this week which really is a disappointment. My companion and I both really want to get people to progress. Sometimes its a little tricky to get people to church here.

It's still dumping like crazy. My companion is an animal lover. Weve given some nicknames to dogs we see in certain parts of town. Its always a good laugh. I don't touch the animals still...

I'm really excited for this week! Seriously. Not only is personal study awesome, but my companion gets into book of mormon stories as much as i do so it makes for epic discussions sometimes. I am reading about Amalackiah right now. He is a giant piece of scum, but clever nonetheless. and then captain moroni is just so cool too! its cool to think these are real people. I lve the scripture about captain moroni being so righteous that if everyone were like him, the devil would never have power over the children of men. the book of alma would be such an epic movie. wowza.

Okay I could talk your ear off about that, but i just love the scriptures. Its so much fun! ahhhh! ok.

I hope all is well. I bought an awesome sweater with llamas on it. Ill send a picture.

I love you!

peace and blessings

hermana hanks