AIGHT. soooo this week....TRANSFERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yup. i finally left Recreo. 6 months on the coast flew by quick. I kinda figured I would be leaving after this transfer, but you never know. I will miss Recreo lots, but at the same time, I am always ready for something new!
Tuesday, we said our goodbyes to everybody.
I said goodbye to the Rojas family and pretty much just bore my testimony. I told them that even if we both get transferred or whatever to continue letting the missionaries in because its the gospel thats important. this is eternal life yall.
We had a packed day on tuesday. We also said goodbye to Milena (our baby), and soledad, a menos activo. I dont remember if i told you all about soledad before, but she was a less active. Her house was really hard to find, but when we finally found it, she didnt want us to come in really. Eventualyl she warmed up and asked us continaully to come back. Shes a cutie and we will miss her. I sent a pciture of us with her too! She has a daughter named Amy, the same as hermana schrader. =)
So overall, i felt like it was a good way to leave things, and I will continue to pray for those in Recreo.
aight transfers time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! prepare yourself. im still in shock. So we recieved the phonecall at like 9:30. Our zone leader said, "hermana schrader se queda (you stay). Hermana hanks.....(long silence) se va! (you go)". and from that moment, i began packing all i could to cram into my suitcases and cleaning the pension and everything. so dang weird i tell you. 6 months near the mission home and coast surrounded by thousands of people.
anyways, we went to say goodbye to hermana sonia =(. ill miss her dearly, but we made a deal that before i return home, ill come back and play a round of uno and drink some juice before returning. then we said bye to francisco and there wasnt much time for anything otther than that. i was stressed out before because my card wasnt working and wouldnt let me take out money. i was afraid of getting transferred north and not having money to do so. finally, i just gave up because it wouldnt work and we went to vina anyways. as we were walking up to the stake center, we saw some other hermanas and one of the assistants told me to put my stuff in a certain room. the other hermana said," oooo somebodys going north!" so.
transfers were fun because i got to see hermana zimmerman and hermana call briefly, from th mtc. also, we got to see our old district leader elder faught! but sad at the same time because hermana schraders not gonna be my comp =( we both decided we had learned a ton together and shes definitely one of my best friends!
president called my name and said id be going to salamanca. i looked around after. my companion wasnt there because i was going to meet her there. i started walking out and one of my hermana friends said,"thats where all the witches are!" lol. so i guess i was entering witch country. hahaha. i got that from a few other missionaries as well.
but yeah! we got on the bus which turned out to be a bus for the mission so we didnt have to pay. that was a blessing. and seriously, getting on that bus was so fun but so dang weird. i have only been to viña really and all.
we spent the night in our zone with the other hermanas because buses dont go to salamanca at night. and for good reason. the road out there is super curvy, and theres really only mountains for a while. we are about 1.5 hours from the coast or so]? either way. its gorgeous and here and super calm. i already love salamanca!
we cant drink the water here because its contaminated. aka, we have to buy bottled water now. yummy.
Along with the new area, i have a new companion too. Her name is hermana bravo, from colombia. she doesnt speak any english, so its all spanish. which is good because even in the last few days from transfers, ive felt my spanish improve immensely. we contacted a guy yesterday who told me i have "bastante castallano". aka i speak a lot of spanish well. something like that. so that made me feel really cool...haha.
there are two recent converts here. one is named ramon and he is from ecuador. He got baptized about 2 months ago and we are trying to help him get the temple. HE IS SUPER COOL! he totally has a testimony. he told me the story of how he came to know the missionaries and its awesome. he had a lot of problems with drinking and stuff like that before, then the missionaries came on a day when it was really bad and taught him the plan of salvation. he had started to cry (hermana bravo was one of the missionaries) and was baptized within 3 weeks. flipping awesome right??
the other is a 12 year old named jordan. he is so cute! we are working also to get his mom baptized, and his dad. they arent married, but like the church and are getting married soon we hope.
we knocked a door the other day and the guy let us teach him out front of his house. left with a baptismal date! yay.
our ward mission leader is a stud. his name is mario, and he is a convert. the first time i met him, he expressed his love for missionary work and how badly he wishes he could be a missionary. hes probably around 40 and its cool because he really loves the gospel. plus, he wore a freaking awesome wolf and indian shirt. probably a sign for me to trust him. lol.
we have a branch here in salamanca. the branch building is tiny, with a sacrament hall and probably 6 classrooms or less. We have half of salamanca and the elders have the other half, so its fun because we have two latino elders in our ward too to conquer salamanca with the word of God! woot.
our branch president is awesome, and his wife too. Hermana calderon! oh how i already love her. a lot of people were really sad to see the hermana before me go, and hermana calderon too, but she made me feel really welcome. my first day she came right up to me and gave me a big hug. not only that, but she has a rockstar testimony. she has lots of pain in her body, which i dont know too much about still. Hermana bravo tells me she feeds the hermanas a lot because only a few people sign up and our branch is tiny. she tells us," if you dont have almuerzo, call me! please! ill fix you something up, even if its simple!" shes a saint. i love her! definitley a chilean mommy. she also sends you her love.
two gringos came to church yesterday (yeah-weird...kronk =)). they had served missions here like 15 years ago or something and were from utah. haha. weird. it was funny because they were so much taller than all these cute little chileans and one lady we talked to yesterday was talking about how big their arms were and their feet with their big man boots. lol so funny!
that brings us to another matter. without hermana schrader, im probably one of the tallest people in salamanca! so weird. its like princess leia and the ewoks. lol. so cute. i can pretty much see over the top of everybodys head in our ward, including all of the elders in our district. they all level at a heigh probably about 4 inches shorter. well this is the first. i definitely stand out here. haha.
soooo to conclude, ill express my feelings fromt his week. i mentioned last week about how hermana schrader and i finally learned to really love missionary work, and it carries to this day. not everyday is easy for me, but i finally feel like i love being a missionary and want to go talk to every person in sight and see lives change. I think im starting to see why people say its the best thing ever because in all honesty, it really is! the best part is, I HAVE A YEAR LEFT!!!!!! sweeeet. im stoked to do the Lords work. I know it wont be easy, but I know the Savior is alongside of me every step of the way as long as we repent and stay humble.
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!! yeah love the gospel and being a missionary!!!!!!!!!
con amor,
hermana emily hanks!
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