September 16, 2013

Holy flipping lots of rain Colorado!

dang.  I can’t deny that im slightly jealous. I’d be taking my tube out on the river for sure. haha.  from all that rain in Colorado, you could say that its being baptized by water and by fire!  I mean uh...as there were lots of fires last summer.  lol just kidding just kidding. *mission humor.  

 Well, while you are all enjoying that crazy rain, here in Chile we have a little thing called WIND.  Everyone tells us it’s only the month of September, so that is a relief.  Nonetheless, we have noticed that a few parts of our hair have bangs which we don’t remember cutting. lol.

 soooo this week was pretty cool.  Chile tied with españa in futbol, the world champs, so that makes everyone happy.  then I accidentally stepped on a cat and it went crazy. it was only a matter of time for that one!  at first, the cat and I kind of held grudges. then after 15 minutes, it jumped up next to me.  all was forgiven and we became fast friends.  maybe some cats aren’t so bad.

Cambios are in a week!  it flew by again.  sooo kinda sad. this is my fourth transfer here. love recreo!  we don’t really know what’s gonna happen till the day of...

 OH MY GOSH!!!!! ok. best. day. ever. so, we had a trio last Wednesday with Hermana Perez.  she’s from el Salvador and super awesome.  We found a menos activo named Carolina.  She let us in and we saw that she had a ton of wolf pictures in her house with like pretty mountain paintings and everything.  Plus, her house was in this cool jungle place (totally reminds of us star wars with ewoks).  I decided I’d live in that house if I lived in Chile.  I told Carolina wolves are seriously bomb and she agreed.  so yeah. calling to that house??? I think yes. hahaha.

 Rojas family!!!! ok. so this is seriously the rollercoaster of recreo.  Carolina and Martina and Francisca came to church yesterday.  Carolina has work now thru a member of the ward.  A lot of the members are really nice and welcoming to them, so that is awesome!  We went to their house this week and the atmosphere seemed much more calm.  They had found some work at last too.  We taught about keeping the Sabbath day holy, and Francisco said, usually they just fight and go to McDonalds, but he said, from now on, they’re going to eat healthy food and go to church. lol. sometimes he talks so fast it’s hard to keep up. but moral of the story, they said they’d keep the Sabbath day holy. sweeeeeet!

 Church. Well, we had cute little Nancy come again this week!  Hermana Doris said she had called Nancy on Saturday after we had visited her, and Nancy said," im great!" when Doris asked why, she said, “because the missionaries came!" she’s a cutie.  

  Rojas family.  so I said they came to church, or at least Carolina and the girls did.  they said they were coming in the morning. sacrament meeting, nothing.  After the meeting ended, Hermana Schrader suggested we go outside. right as we turned the corner, BAM, there’s Carolina don’t the girls! and they came at last!! happy. yay.

 Blanca!  Blanca is so cute.  The little old lady with Alzheimer’s.  We ate some alfajores with her and Hermana Irma (her daughter), and Blanca said, "les quiero mucho!"  we love that Blanca.  always she says to us very seriously,"Cuando quieren, vengan por aca!"  aka, when you want, come here!

  Snakes for the week. Well there’s this crazy in Recreo.  He had asked us if we wanted to go to viña a few months ago...and yeah. we told him were missionaries and were not interested and all and that was the last we heard of him.  Last week, we hear a," hey!"  and turn around to see him driving his huge dark gray creeper van, offering us a ride. heh heh heh ehhhh no thanks.  Hahaha.  gotta love those crazies. 

  I got letters from some primary kids this week! it made me so happy!  thank you sister Ortiz it meant a lot!

  We gave Javier-son of a viejita in our ward, a book of Mormon.  we wrote our testimonies in it and he really appreciated it.  Javier is a cool dude. he’s extremely smart.  he asks a ton of questions, and after we had answered a few of them, he stayed silent.  then said, "they taught you well in that mtc." 

  We saw Maria Luisa last night.  She’s a cute little old lady who is sick and can’t come.  She’s pretty amazing because she’s the only one in her family who is still faithful in the church.  it was like being with a long lost grandma because we looked at some of her pictures and read her a scripture.  

  So....Jesus the Christ.  IS AWESOME.  you could say it’s like harry potter as missionaries.  we each have our own copy and whenever we have a little time to spare, we read.  James E. Talmage is pretty much beast at writing too. 

  hahaha. Hermana Schrader is reading in 2 nefi this week.  chapter 24, 12-15. we got a bit of a laugh because Satan thinks he’s really cool and will be better than all, but really? oh wait. read verse 15.  idiot.

  We talked to a half drunk guy. his name was Oliver.  

  the zone leaders called this week and I answered. they said I sounded Latina!  that was excitement. 

  Well there ya have it.  I hope all goes well with Justin.  you’re all in my prayers.  and congrats about the new stake presidency!  crazy!

this week is Chilean independence day!  18. lots of empanadas and craziness. 

hey mom if you are sending a package anytime soon....you should totally send some good ol welches fruit snacks. haha.

well love you guys!

Hermana Emily Hanks

September 9, 2013

Bueennnnnaaaasss tardes.

   and happy lunes.  life down here is going well.  Por fin we have had warm weather this week, including in the night.  We’ve gotten some sun this week that’s for sure.  September is a crazy month.  basically it’s really windy sometimes, but at least it’s sunny!  vina winters. not too bad.  

  I’ve decided Septembers in viña?  I’m a big fan.  18 de septiembre is the independence day here.  people here go nuts with the national flags, a ton of empanadas, and a ton of pebre (pico de gallo!)  I’m psyched.  I might be entering into October with a few extra pounds to spare, but you only live in Chile once right?  errrr I mean, you only experience September in Chile once!  haha. 

  We had zone conference this week. It was awesome!  it was pretty much exactly what I needed to hear.  Patience in the mission is key.  Diligence and patience and obediencia.  (alma 32).  I liked zone conference because part of it talked about how we all have individual talents which we can develop and use as missionaries.  I also liked it because we talked about how we should try to find more families.  we want to live with our families forever in the presence of God.  It was super good. 

  We waited in a collectivo for 45 minutes before going. that was super stressful for sure!

  We taught Milena and the Rojas family the word of wisdom this week.  aight it went a lot better than I thought it would go!  I was psyched.  The rojas family said that they really only smoked when they got stressed, and don’t drink.  they said they would do everything possible to live the word of wisdom!  yay fam rojas!

  milena was cool too.  I felt I could be bold as we were teaching it and I think it helped.  Milena understood too and told us that when she was younger, she smoked and did things against the word of wisdom.  after her dad died, she said she wasn’t going to do those kinds of things anymore.  I thought that was pretty amazing.  I love that girl!

  Oooo. futbol game this week.  Chile beat venezuela 3-0.  atta boys.

  So....pretty much everybody here thinks gringas are just the most gorgeous thing on the planet.  for example:  we were walking through the plaza esperanza and one guy says, "miren a el!  El es un pecador!  Quiere salvarse!" lol. translation.  Look at him!  he’s a sinner!  he wants to be saved!   then the same guy walked past chuckling to himself,"  preciosas...me salve!" with some kissing noises.  lol.  these chileans!  Hermana Schrader and I were talking about what would happen if we brought our families or dads to vina and see if there would be the same reaction...lol. 

  We are sad that Milos gone.  We don’t have a new ward mission leader yet, so we are awaiting to hear that.  he comes back in a month.  

  I finished the libro de Mormon (in Spanish) en alta voz. ah disculpe.  out loud.  I’m starting in the book of Mormon again and the new testament.  

  Rojas fam.  On Saturday, we saw them walking...yes walking the 3 miles to the stake center in vina for an activity there!  they didn’t have money for a bus ticket.  them with four kids.  we were so psyched!  all the kids ran up to us to greet us.  ahhh love that family!  then as they were walking away, Francisco says, "two more domingos until we can get baptized right?"  well...yes.  unfortunately, they didn’t make it to church yesterday because daylight savings spring forward confuses folks.  Hermana Schrader and I had no idea until like 5 the night before. haha. 

  We decided to reinstall English classes in recreo again.  we had 4 students.  javier-an investigador who is the son of an elderly lady in our ward.  then Hermana monica from primary, and Hermana sonia.  oh, and marcello.  Marcello already knows English really well so I don’t really know why he’s in the basics class, but all are welcome to come!  soo yeah!

  we had another crazy come to church.  we had invited him the day before and he showed up.  he pretty much fought with the gospel principles teacher the whole time. so that was interesting. 

  We have an awesome bishop here.  He helps us a lot and really wants to help the missionary work here in recreo.  Him and a counselor went to visit the rojas family yesterday.  We did service with maybol his wife, at their house a few days ago. super fun!  plus...gotta love wearing jeans and a wolfshirt.  Plus diego was there so we got the low down on ninja turtles and everything else awesome!  

  Saturday and sunday night drunks.  so much fun to contact sometimes?? I think yes!  they can barely stand straight.  Stories of this week.  well. Saturday morning, we see our friend with the poodle heading up the road 20 yards away as we are leaving our apartment carrying two bottles in his hands. that can’t be good...then. next day. at the exact same time, we see the exact same guy doing the exact same thing!  lol. love those drunks.  but really. they tell you they want to change their lives and give the honest truth.  sometimes they’re the ones who need the most help. 

  We met a nice little treasure named Mario last night.  we see  guy standing at his door holding a bat.  we’ve seen him before and the first time it freaked me out.  but this time, we just said, "hola!" really friendly.  then he talked to us for a minute.  my comp put out her hand to shake it and he wouldn’t let go of it for a minute.  then she kinda yanked it away and we got out of there.  

  It was Hermana sonias birthday this week.  she looked super cute!  we bought her the game uno because she loves that game.  

   I’m excited for this next week.  I’m grateful for the emails and prayers I’ve received and more than all, I’m grateful for the Savior and His atonement. 

   I love my companion!  She is awesome.  She’s like my sister.  

  love you all

Hermana Emily Hanks

1.  So sad milos gone!  back to colombia.  till october.

2. chilean dogs.  

3. lol.  chilean cats.

4. proof that brad wilcox did in fact serve his mission in vina del mar!  we were at a members house who was friends with him when he was in chile.

5. crazy neighbor theif. guess he likes our backyard more.  

6. happy pday today.  and this is our aparment....ma o meno

7. map of recreo

8. found the longboards at lider!!!!!!! happiness. 

9. alfajor. delicious.

September 2, 2013

WOOOOOOo dang. 6 months flies by when you’re having fun being a missionary.  Even if it’s hard and seems long some days, I can’t believe I’ll be home in less than a year. That is nutty.  And happy September! 

lol. So mom asked if Hermana Schrader and I are planning on having a lotr marathon or harry potter marathon when we get back.  My answer to that?  Most definitely!  That times 100.  Add spiderman, batman, superman, star trek, and everything awesome about Colorado summertime. Oh and a goofy movie with the playing of some Barbie’s too.  This vision helps us get thru those hard moments! haha. Joke. And she goes to byu.

So.....most happy thing on my mind right now...or at least one of them. 

GUESS WHO CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  familia rojas.  POR FIN!  it was so epic.  I’ll just give you the run down.  On Saturday, we received a call from Francisco, the dad.  he asked what time the ward fhe activity was and what time church was the next day.  this was new because usually we remind them.  then, the next morning, we called Monica, whose husband could take the family to church, and she said he is at the church and to go confirm plans with him.  time was ticking because he had to pick someone else up too and we might miss him.  we sprinted to the main road and saw someone honk their horn at us. luckily it was Juan guillarmo-monicas husband.  he said he would go get them.  then we got a call from Francisco, saying they were waiting for us!  

  Hermana Schrader and I were waiting out from of the church to greet people, when all of the sudden, we see Vicente, come in at a full run towards us.  oh love that little kid!  (he’s one of the little rojas boys).  then we see Martina and Francesca, the two little girls, and finally, Francisco.  Carolina was home with Lincoln, the other little boy, but hopefully next week.  So that was probably the highlight of my day yesterday.  Plus, we saw Nancy-the menos activo who came last week, come again, along with another named eliana!  so many people there yesterday it was awesome!

  It was cool too because it was fast Sunday and people bore really good testimonies.  People were so excited and kind to see a new family at church too.  

  We had one crazy guy at church whom nobody had ever seen.  he bore his testimony and said he had been baptized 12 years ago.  He came to principios del evangelio with us after sacrament mtg, with milo as the teacher.  milo taught a freaking awesome restoration lesson and the crazy guy kinda started interrupting-with his doubts, like questioning how we knew this was true and all.  so that was fun.  milo just firmly said, if you really have these doubts, you need to ask God and receive an answer for yourself.  he handled it really well. 

  So.  I love Chile!  people here are hilarious, even if I don’t understand every word.  one guy in our ward is a really goofy guy named hermano Gonzalez.  for example, the other day he was like, Hermana hanks I didn’t recognize you because you cleaned your hair!  lol. Chileans are super blunt.  (no worries, I promise I wash my hair!)  Chileans also talk a ton and change subjects every five seconds from one topic to the next, but at least that helps us learn the language right?

  We contacted a mailman named Rodrigo.  I’ve kinda been trying to ask more questions, even if they’re simple, like, " hey wanna be happy forever?" that kinda thing.  we did that to Rodrigo, and we ended up talking for like 2 hours about the book of Mormon and the whole time he was like, " wow never knew that!  whoa never knew that either!"  he gladly took a book of Mormon.  he was then looking in the index in the back and saw Lucifer.  then asked us, “oh is there a book of Lucifer?"  lol. book of Lucifer.  

 Hermana Alejandra, a member in our ward, does our laundry now.  She is so sweet and went to all the effort to make us comfortable laundry bags.  she says, " when you go back home, you can remember Hermana Alejandra!"  well I think yes!  If there is an example of a Christ like person, it’s her.  She loves the Savior so much.  She is in very humble circumstances, but I’ve never once heard her complain.  She shared us her testimony this week and it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.  What a great example she is to me.  so dedicated to the gospel and the Savior.  she always offers to fix our clothes if they rip or have holes, and she found one in my comps skirt, so kept it and said she would give it back on Sunday.  yesterday, my companion and I were talking to somebody and out of the corner of my eye; I see Alejandra put the skirt in my companions backpack, unnoticed.  She’s amazing, she is. 

  I found Chloe (doggy) hairs in my scriptures this week. lol.  I knew it was Chloe because it was my English scriptures and those never leave the pension.  it brought me joy as you can imagine. hahahaha.

  Milo goes to Colombia this week.  we are sad!  he was an awesome ward mission leader. but I’m happy that he gets to go see his family at least.   nonetheless...buen amigo that milo. 

  I studied a lot about the priesthood this week because I really don’t know that much.  It’s super interesting to me, and there’s so much to study about it!  I want to study it because hopefully it can help Francisco and the rojas family sees that they can have the blessings of the priesthood in their home too.  

  With that said, ummm can I just say how awesome is joseph smith???? can you say probably one of the coolest guys ever???  I was reading the obituary in doctrine and convenios-i think written by john Taylor.  my mind was blown.  This guy we are talking has done more, than any other man, save the Savior. there have been so pretty amazing people who have lived on the earth.  So much sacrifice there and learning for him.  

  I found a cat in my room this morning.  I sent a picture.  super random...lol

  OH.  our bishop’s son Diego is seriously the coolest little kid ever.  he is like kinda sassy and loves ninja turtles and star wars. obviously we all get along.  my comp has a ninja turtles shirt that she wore once to an activity, and Diego came up to her once in a low quiet voice and said," I know you have a ninja turtles shirt."  and the trust all started there.

  Last night, we took a small shortcut and I got to practice some old Colorado trailblazing. it was kiiiinnnnddddaaaa awesome.  Chile has lots of hills in certain parts and it’s pretty exciting. 

  I feel like haven’t said much about the culture here, so I’ll try and give a little bit.  the food here is not spicy at all.  I prefer spicy, but at least it’s edible.  not too bad.  sometimes I would do anything to eat some homemade Chile or buffalo chicken though. lol. 

  people here don’t really use too many cars.  we mostly use collectivos or buses and depending on the driver, we really feel like we are in harry potter because it’s like the night bus on a highway next to the coast!  so epic.

  we get lots of weird looks for being gringas saying hola to everybody.  a lot of people kinda point or whisper sometimes, and when that happens, we will pretend one of us is telling a really funny and joke and just start laughing like we are having a good time. lol. we’ve gotten really good at it...hahahahaha. 

  we played telephone at the ward activity. aight I’m not bad at that game in English, but Spanish?  I was the downfall of the team for that matter. hahahahaha. 

  there are empanada shops on every corner and completos and chorillana.  completos are bread, palta, tomato, hot sauce (for Chile), and a hot dog. chorillana is French fries, eggs, chorizo, meat...delish. delish. 

  we use gas here to heat everything.  so of course, there are little gas trucks that run around playing different songs. last week we heard some Christmas music so that really got us in the season!  oh wait, not for 3 more months. so deceiving those gas trucks. 

  okay well that’s it for this week! 

love you chao chao.  

  -Hermana Emily hanks

1.hermanas de recreo

2. aight diego is the coolest kid ever.  he is the bishops 6 year old son and he wants to be a missionary too. what really brings us all together is our love for star wars and other cool stuff like that

3. took a detour.  got a sweet view.

4. valparaiso.  VIEW NEVER GETS OLD!

5. yo. y valpo.

6. sometimes when you are a  missionary in chile...you find cats in your room. under your bed...just for fun.  yeah the little bugger.

lol.

August 26, 2013

Hiiiii.

  So. Happy day today!  I’ve been a missionary for exactly six months.  At about 7 o’clock tonight. Crazy.  And yesterday, I am 19.5 years old.  Everyone here really considers me the baby because I’m the first 19 year old that’s been in Recreo. 

  Sounds like things went relatively well for Justin’s chemo.  Glad to hear that...so far.  I’m praying for yall everyday don’t forget that.  it sounds like he’s keeping really positive too and I wanna hear some of these jokes!  It’s still crazy to me and doesn’t really sink in until I see the pictures.  But I know that this will only make him stronger!

  As for the mission...last week on pday, we played soccer in Con con.  IT WAS AWESOME.  I got a gnarly bruise shaped really weird, so that was pretty cool.  Love playing soccer with those elders.  Our district leader is crazy good too.  We also read our patriarchal blessings in a park and I enjoyed it because it was really peaceful, and I actually felt like I could breathe and have time to myself.  That doesn’t happen much as a missionary (except unless you dream well. haha.).  also, of all places, Chile has dunkin donuts!  we ate some of those too.  oh my goodness how I have forgotten the reality of how delicious a donut is.  Most of the pastries here are deceiving.  they look like heaven and then it turns out to be bread with chocolate, or bread with manjar.  surprise!  lol. not the same. but it’s all good.

  We kicked the ball over the fence and into the street, but luckily, the crazy guy from the coca cola decided to risk his life and jump out of his truck to save our ball from certain death.  what a gem.  a few cars were backed up behind him, honking their horns at him to go too. took him a few tries but he kicked that ball over the fence!  gotta love Chile.

  The next day I woke up and was super sore from playing soccer.  It was funny because in district meeting, all the elders said they were sore too and I seriously had to waddle Tuesday morning to work. 

  We went to Jumbo.  It’s like Wal-Mart but a little bit less walmartish and more like a giant grocery store.  when we were walking last week, I said to my companion, " remember when we used to have sams club and Safeway?" hehehe. you would never see that in recreo.  jumbo has the best granola on this planet!  ok...I can probably make granola better than it, but..... (message here. I eat granola for breakfast.). people at jumbo are nice too. the lady bagging our groceries before we left said, "why is it that you girls are always pretty?".  cute little ladies here make me smile.

  LOL!!!! okay so we went to hermano Raves and helped iron a few shirts for him.  guess what was on TV???? he was watching nacho libre...lol. aight I didn’t watch it don’t worry, but I did over hear a little bit of it.  let’s just say nacho libre in Spanish is probably hilarious and it’s all we quoted in the mtc. (that and pitch perfect).  

  I was wearing my csu sweatshirt in vina after we played soccer and some random guy came up and said, "no way you go to csu?" I said, "no I’m just from fort Collins. we are missionaries."  he said, "whoa cuz I go to cu!". it was super random. and his name was Jason.  nice guy.  (baddddd judge of character! lol lol quote from the Grinch.)

   We’ve been speaking in Spanish like almost always lately.  it’s awesome and helping us a lot.  it kinda started with intercambios with latinas.  we were so used to it; we just decided to keep speaking it.  yay!  I can understand other accents, but Chileans are so dang fast. hard to keep up there my friends. 

  aight....so again. familia rojas didn’t come to church! hardest thing here for us is getting people to come. like seriously just come! you tell us you’re coming and we have a ride for you and everything come come come!!! ok overreaction, but really.  just come to church.  we taught them the plan of salvation when we were on intercambios and they understood it really well I think.  still working with them though.  

  Ooo our lights went out this week. one night we were walking up the stairs to our apartment and a lady said, "no hay luz." so the electricity was out or something and it was time to pull out the emergency flashlights. sweeeeet. 

  abuelita martita wants me to tell you all that we are in good hands and that we have a Chilean grandmother.  I love that woman.  she also sends you her love.

  Milena returned!  our investigador from before.  She wants to come to church and we are going to continue working with her.  

  we went on Saturday to a less active member named Nancy.  she’s an older woman, has about 80 years or so and hasn’t been to church in a long time. we talked to her about the temple. we invited her to church and offered to accompany her.  she said she would go alone, and the next day, we looked down the street and saw her and Hermana doris coming to church!  it made me happy. we had some menos activos there yesterday and maybe the family didn’t come, but menos activos there was an awesome sight!

  During intercambios, we visited a man named jose.  we found out that his mom had died 15 days before and he was really sad.  We taught him the plan of salvation and were about to close with a prayer when we asked if there was anything we could pray for him for.  he immediately started crying and shaking and it was really sad.  like he was holding it all in.  He wanted us to come back next week which we are going to do for sure.  he can’t walk very well, and his sister doesn’t really like the missionaries.  but it was a cool experience to meet him. 

  ooo! ok this was exciting...sorta...we went with Doris to teach la familia rojas.  outside we saw this short little drunk guy just kinda stalling in front of their house.  I asked him, “do you want to be happy?" and we started conversing with him about the gospel.  he said he feels alone and needs help and wants to be better.  he was holding a beer can and swaying on the spot, and got so frustrated with himself that his face twisted up and he threw the beer as hard as he could into a nearby field.  lol. thought it was coming for me at first.  then we invited him to church and he said he would come about 40 times.  on our way down, we saw him on the stairs...sure enough he remembered 10 minutes later. haha but I guess it was hard to remember that till the next morning because he didn’t come. sad day. haha. love those drunks. 

I’m trying to use more visuals in my teaching because it’s easier to explain and it’s easier to learn with them I think.  I made a few this week.  

language is good. I like speaking Spanish! 

love you all. keep me posted with Justin. 

also....GROUNDBREAKING ALRREADY??? ok flipping awesome. psyched!

Hermana Emily Hanks

we live on camino real. 

story. our mamita put some jeans that werent ours in our laundry and i just had to try them on. it was all too tempting. oh...and may the wolves be with you. wolfiest wishes from chile.

 schrader and i at church. our lovely little piano.

intercambios

this is recreo.

August 19, 2013

Heyyyyyyy. 

  First of all, I’m glad everything with Justin sounds like its going ok so far.  I love the pictures too!  That is awesome.  I’ve been praying and will continue to pray for Justin.  (In the words of matt: big boy.) 

  Second off.  I did not get transferred!! Everybody said, "Oh Hermana hanks you’ve been here, you’ll probably get transferred." but nope!  We were both surprised hearing we were both staying one more.  People were happy to hear and see that we are sticking around another 6 weeks so that’s good!  We are stoked because we will be here for Independence Day on 18 de septiembre.  

  Hermana Schrader and I are super excited for this cambio!  Every day is a learning experience.  Even every transfer.  I kind of have goals in mind for each transfer.  For example, I really wanted to get better with the language last transfer.  I feel like it improved a lot and I tried to work at it a lot more.  I’ve almost finished the book of Mormon reading out loud!  About 90 pages to go.  Sweeeeet.  

   I’ve been thinking about goals for this transfer, and I want to learn to love people the way the Savior did.  Wave figured a lot out, how to make good use of our time, speaking, teaching, etc., but actually listening and loving people is something I’m going to try and be better at.  I read in about it in PME this morning.  It’s awesome!  1 Corinthians 13.  Super good. 

  So stories for this week.  Haha.  We have decided living in a small town like Recreo is like a video game. We see some of the same people every day.  For example, the friendly guy from the gas station who always says, "como esta!"  and is super enthusiastic. We love that guy!  He says we make his day whenever we see him.  And he’s not a snake either so that’s a plus.  We also see Rosario each day almost.  Trigger: we see a purple jacket and white hat.  Rosario.  I sent a picture with her.  We see like the same people in the spot where we expect to see them each day if you know what I mean.  

  One thing we are sad about is that our district leader got transferred to the north at transfers.  He’s a zone leader now so that’s pretty sweet!  He was so cool though and we will miss him!  He taught us a lot and got us really animated for the work.   He told us cool stories like how he got rocks thrown at him one night for example.  He will be missed.

  I got to see my mommy (in the mission world) last week!  Hermana Ortega and Hermana Schrader’s trainer, Hermana Garcia came and saw us before they went home.  So good to see them!  Crazy they’re back home.  Dang. 

  Funny story. That crazy drunk with the poodle, he wears swoosh pants.  (the pants that like make a swoosh noise when you walk. lol).  He’s nuts.  He ran across the street and I said, "you said you were going to come to church last week!  why didn’t you come!?" and he was like, "well..uh. my brother was in town!". then I said, "hm...but this week right??" he was like,"yes of course."  crazy guy.  guess he forgot. again. hahaha. He asked what our first names were, and just to mess with him (super drunk), when he asked me, I told him my name was, "shaneequa."  hard to hold back a laugh because he believed me and all. lol. 

   We visited cute little blanca this week.  Blanca is the little old lady I sent a picture of a few weeks ago I think.  She has Alzheimer’s, and her daughter Irma takes care of her.  Irma is in our ward.  Every time we are there, Blanca repeats every few minutes, "just whenever you want!  come to our house!  you both are so pretty!" and it’s so adorable.  then when we leave, she watches us until we are out of site, walking down the stare and waves to us as we walk back onto the main street.  it’s cool because Irma said Blanca doesn’t like it when other visitors come and usually asks, "why are you here?" to others. cute little lady.

  haha. so everyone here thinks Adele is a really good singer.  why? well, you hear Adele everywhere.  I’m not saying she’s bad, but not such a fan after hearing her all the time.  sometimes we will accidentally catch ourselves singing some Adele and its bad!  I think the worst was yesterday in church, somebody’s phone went off playing Adele during the closing prayer.  I was trying to hold back laughter and could tell Hermana Schrader was doing the same. lol.

  We had zone conference this week.  I could actually understand it!! it was awesome.  Wave been trying to get people to progress...we can find people, but it’s getting them to church that’s the problem here.  I’ve been praying a lot about how we can get people to progress here and the zone conference talked a lot about it.  It was really good!

  Rojas family. DIDNT COME TO CHURCH yesterday.  it was sad.  apparently somebody was sick, but we are still going to work with them.  it was a bummer!  but we will go see them tomorrow and hopefully some more this week. they need to go.  Francisco found a job, and they’ve been reading the book of Mormon, so they’ve received some blessings and it’s been cool to see.  

   We have a date for baptism with Francisco, the 14 year old....sort of. but I’ll write more about that next week!

  saw abuelita martita last night.  we were talking a little bit about the stars and planets before and then shared alma 30:44 about the planets and the stars (alma proving to korihor that he has all the proof there is a God before him).  she squealed in delight how cool that was because we had just been talking planets and all.  she wanted to finish the entire chapter.  Her husband is super active, but abuelita martita is not.  she smokes too. haha. but she’s coming little by little I think!  

 Well love you all. keep me updated on Justin!

Chao. 

Hermana Emily Hanks

aight this is our friend rosario.  those apartments are similar to the ones we live in.  Rosario, everytime we see her walking around (which is at least once a day haha) she says, "hola hola mijita como estan como estan??" Lol.  we had to get a picture with her. 

our chilean mothah.  hermana sonia!!!! oh how i love her.  and her purple pants!

 bought some purple pants for the cold.

the restaurant we go to a lot of the time in recreo has a new chef.  he just got baptized and gave us a ton of free food. this is some of the samples we had.  delicious.

had zone conference in con con. nice ride along the coast of chile.  ITS SO FREAKING SWEET. 

more beach.