9 de Diciembre
This week i was deeply
considering writing you guys in spanish, completely, but....weeeelllll...
Anyways. Happy
Christmas Harry! Happy Christmas Ron. Well. Almost. These
next few days will be nuts. Why? Well. This friday, we are
going to the most northern part of the mission. LA SERENA!!!! aka the
mermaid. Im flipping stoked. and so is all of our district.
Elder Svec of the 70 is going to come and its going to be 4 zones.
since we are the most southern zone of the north, we probably will leave
a day early because its 5 hours to la serena. dang. so psyched!
then, is transfers next week. crazy how time flies. THEN is
christmas...and we all know what that means!
so some funny stuff
that happens in the life of hermana hanks. hermana bravo and i have
noticed a pattern. whenever we go to bypass-where its super poor with
lots of dogs and all, we started walking towards the house, one dog begins to
bark, and then follows us, and then all the other dogs start barking and
following us. by the time we arrive at the house, we have a parade of 20
or 30 dogs following us and barking. not sure how to take that one.
but i do find it quite funny. dogs are so dang nuts.
There was a fire in
salamanca! not like a colorado fire, but definitely smoke and everybody
was telling us about it. luckily, everything was okay that we know
of.
You know how they say
that it gets super weird when you start dreaming in spanish? the problem is, i
can never tell if im speaking in english or in spanish in my dreams. i
think my dreams are in spanish because i remember saying," me gusta sus
lentes." dreaming on the mission. weird stuff.
oh man! thanks
for the new skirts. they are literally celestial kingdom. i love
them! i will probably wear them after the mission too-trekking skirts.
quality stuff. they are the best!
i realized that im
pretty sure im closer to argentina that to the pacific ocean.
also-everybody loved
the fruit rollups here. Jordan-12 year old convert-in his prayer prayed
that i would bring him more sweets the next time we visited him. hahaha.
speaking of Jordan, he
finally recived the priesthood yesterday! just in time too before
transfers. we hope that he will pass the sacrament next week!!
the heat continues to
be hot, but praying for strengthn in the sun has helped a lot too. and
buying lots of water. a few days ago, i bought a 1.6 liter bottle of
water and drank it in an hour or less. And i have definitely felt the answer to
prayers because ive felt like i can keep working in the dreadful heat. we both
decided that we are getting used to it.
we contacted a TON of
people this week. the goal for the mission is 7 families each day and 20
contacts total. we contacted up to 15 families for a few days and have a
ton of futures for this week. here is some of those experiences with
them=
vicentte- a guy who
contacted us. he told us he was a gypsy and had some questions. we
explained a little about the restoration and he told us he is very interested
in our message. he has a family. BINGO. anyways, we tried to find his house and
couldnt find it or he wasnt home.
Elicia-my companion
and i contacted her outside of her house. we talked for a little bit and
schedudled an appointment. just before we left, she asked us what happens after
we die. we went into her house for a little bit and she told us how her 18 year
old daughter who had recieved the missionary lessons before, had died about a
year ago. she was very interested. My companion and I both had a
similar sensation that her daughter had accepted the gospel in the other side
and is waiting...but we have an appointment for next saturday because she went
to santiago. We taught claritza again! shes been super busy lately, but
we finally taught her a little bit. she said the closing prayer, and thanked
God for us. it was a really good prayer. she thanked that she felt
better, and she told us that she really loves the prayers-not of memory, but
communication with God.
we have a new
investigator named alfreo. and guess what? HE CAME TO CHURCH! we taught him the
plan of salvation. the only thing is, he isnt married to the women he lives
with, but we can fix that. what was better is that he knows like the entire
branch here and has lots of friends already. soo that was awesome!
we tuaght our
investigatr cristina the word of wisdom and she wants to keep it and said she
would do so.
progress is slow a lot
of times, but we are seeing changes in these lives. We are definitely
being blessed by our Heavenly Father!
OOO keep in your
prayers that i wont get any spider bites. there is a poisionous spider on
the lose here-"rincon" or something. My companion found one in
the tub the other day. the effects are nasty.
My companion continues
to do well! Weve grown a lot. shes like my colombian sister and we are
both hoping we will have one more transfer with our district. Hermana
bravo is awesome! to say alittle about her. shes a convert of 6 years.
her parents got baptized in september (nice little presnet for her!!) and
her brother got baptized 2 weeks ago!!! im so happy for her. they can go to the
temple when she gets back!
life is good here in
chile. we are exhausted at the end of the day, but your not doing the mission
right if youre not exhausted at the end of a day! luckily, cold water
showers are amazing.
love you all! psyched
for Christmas.
-hermana emily hanks
