There and Back Again, a Sister Missionary's Tale : 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!