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