15 July, 2013

Sup.

SO this week was cool.  But first of all, congrats to Rachel!!! so cute.  

May I just say, thanks for going to all the cool places without me!!!! moab and now yellowstone??? ok have fun!!! =)

well...to be fair (erika...haahhaha)....

But for reals. Lets see.  Ok, funny story while its on my mind.  My companion and I got asked out by a guy on a motorcycle...lol.  He was nice, but we were like...uhhh what?  bahahahahahha crazy.  He says he works at a bread store. 

It has been some pretty good weather this week which is a definite plus.  Like in the 70s or 80s.  It felt like summer last night...soooo maybe this isnt so bad if this is the dead of winter.  At least during the day, but the wind at night can get really cold.  Walking out of our apartment without gloves at night is like walking outside without pants (or in our case, skirt).    

So this week.  Well, for starters, we had an investigadora come to church yesterday!  So hard to get people to come here sometimes.  We have a member here who is a STUD and literally talks to all her friends about the gospel, and she brought her.  Her name is Silvia.  She is about 83 years old.  Taught her the plan of salvation first half and she liked it. 

     We also have another investigador named Evelin.  I especially like Evelin because she was the first contact i ever did by myself...a few months ago and we had trouble finding where she lived for a bit.  She is awesome!  She believes in the restauration after we taught it to her, and liked what was said about the plan of salvation.  it worked into her life too because she has cancer, and it doesnt sound like things are going well for too much longer =(  she has a problem smoking, but she is so sweet.  She said she wants to come to church next week, and it helps that she lives near our chapel.  

     Taught Alejandro again this week.  hahahaha he just makes hermana schrader and i smile.  He is such a goofy old man and he is really forgetful at times, but it was cool. we visited him and he told us he feels in his heart these things are true, and he stayed focused really well this time too.  (somepeople are hard to keep on topic...especially if you dont know the language very well. lol)

     We saw Cristina and Valentina for the first time in like a month.  Theyve been hard to get ahold of, especially since Cristina doesnt work at the members house anymore.  Not much happened, just that we want to bring a member, probably Milo, to help us out with that at least one lesson. 

     It was a good week.  We taught some good lessons, and Ive been trying to make a habit of all my free time reading the Libro de Mormon aloud to help my spanish.  Im almost finished with alma, so hopefully, ill be fluent here soon?? ive been able to understand a lot better which is awesome.  it defintely helps. 

     I think one of my favorite experiences was contactng a guy named Juan.  He was from the inland and his accent was harder to understand.  He seemed uninterested at first, but eventually he let us share a simple scripture and accepted a book of mormon.  One thing that was interesting is that after we read it and bore testimony, he stayed silent and kinda just looked pondering at the scripture.  It was pretty cool. 

    Oh right. so yesterday, Hermana Schrader and I were assigned to give talks in our ward.  15 minutes each.  Ive done this once in english, so definitely an adventure in spanish.  It went well though.  Hermana Schrader shared a cool story about her dads conversion, and a lot of people really liked it, myself included!  I shared about how to work more together to bring others unto Christ thru missionary work in the ward.  Its true, as Gordon B. Hinckley said, 'there is a better way' for missionary work.  

     Doris, the one who brought Silvia to church, like I said, is awesome.  Her mom and sister arent reallly as active.  Doris helps us a lot though!  They saw the bottom of my companions boots and gave us each a pair of boots. hahaha.  it was cute.  now i have cute little white boots.  super stylish here though!  

     Saturday, we got to do service....IN JEANS!!!!!  we went with the priesthood to go dig holes for posts so make hermano ravé a railing.  im so excited!  not only did i feel like i was in the movie holes, but it felt like i was hiking int he desert again. hahaha. dirty and sunny and sun.  yay.  oh man.  hno ravé is so cute too.  I love that man!  He said, i feel bad! i want to help, but i cant.  

He is paralyzed.  Poor guy =(.  I love our ward.  All of them are just the best!

    We contacted a guy who spoke english this week.  We offered the missionary lessons to him ¨(he also told us he is familiar with mormons because he lived in utah).  he responded, ýeah...but i like my alcohol.  and there are not good alcohol in utah.  lol.

    Ok well thats pretty much it for the week.  Hope all is well.  

   OH wait.  reading the book of ether this week.  its crazzzzzzy. ive nicknamed it the book of captivity and destruction because really thats the essence of that book. so epic!!

   Peace out!

ps. next week ill have been out 5 months. 

   Hermana Emily Hanks

July 9, 2013

haaaai.  

How goes? Ummm happy late cuatro de julio!  Obviously they don't celebrate it down here, but  I think i can be honest when i say i prefer that holiday in the northern hemisphere with sunshine, swimming pools, and bbq's as opposed to lots of rain, cold, boots and little heat. hahahaha.  us Coloradoans down in here still wore red, white, and blue though!

this morning, i was getting ready for the day, and heard a huge bang from the kitchen.  it sounded like literally the heater had crashed to the floor and water was going to everywhere.  I ran into the kitchen and saw my companion looking shocked at what had happened.  she showed me her arm, "hermana...look at my arm. the hairs are singed off!".  the water was running while she had tried to turn on the gas and BAM flame envelops, hermana hides with her arm(thus resulting in singed  arm hairs), so she does not burn. oh man....it was slightly terrifying, but i have to be completely honest, i am still laughing to this minute as i write about that.  all is good now, no worries  =)

Ok crazy week.  We had some goods and bads.  Goods first.  Well, Milena.  IS FLIPPING AWESOME.  We went by and taught her the importance of scripture study because she hasn't really started reading.  She seemed really into it and after we taught, she wanted to read in alma 32 about faith.  She really liked that chapter too!  She is totally starting to having a testimony of her own.  We still have some work to do with her.  She wanted to come to church, which is amazing because getting people to church here is like the downfall.  she reminded us, but said she was going to the south to see her family and wasn't sure if she'd be back.  she wasn't, but next week hopefully she will come.  HOPEFULLYYYYY!!!!

She also made us lunch one day. that was pretty sweet too! and we got her to pray. I like Milena!  We also have a lot in common too.  Like, shes outdoorsy too.  We are apparently friends on fb too now, and she said she likes to do a lot of what i like to do. so thats cool.  

We have visited an older woman in our ward Hermana Mataluna, the one who cristina cares for.  Cristina doesn't care for her anymore, so we have had trouble finding her lately =(  .  Hermana Matalunas son is not a member, and really questions a lot of stuff-in a fair manner. they're good questions, but answering them in spanish??? such as the laws of justice and mercy of God, etc, yeah...  he has been at her house the past few times we have talked to her  and has started participating more. Some of his questions, i can't remember them too well, but were about like i said, the laws of God.  I then asked him if he has a book of mormon.  he said his mom did have a few.  I then told him to read alma 42 to explain because it would explain it better than we could.  He wrote down the verse and i'm hoping he will have read that when we see him next.  

We passed another church this week.  they were singing onward christian soldiers. it was kinda cool.

We seriously have the bestest friends ever. Yin and Yang! they are always in their place by the church and always come greet us. i sent some pics with my bruddahs.  adorbs.  they have gotten in the habit of walking us home too. they're such gems.

Now for the bad!

I almost got bit by a dog this week.  Some little satan dog(there be LOTS of them down here.) was jumping on me, like ,"pet me pet me!" and to be nice, i reached down, and it barely missed me.   soooo thanks for that.  my comp got bit by a different dog this week too.  NOT A FAN.  the street dogs are cool, but other than that, most of the ones that have owners are super annoying.  

We contacted a vieja named malva.  she was very sweet and talked our ears off, but we were excited because she was interested to learn more.  we came back and she took a while to come to the door.  She came outside and shut the door behind her.  She told us how her kids were in town and didn't like the missionaries-they had shared before.  She also said how they make her decisions and she seemed sad, but said she would call us in the future.  it was sad.  I hope she does!

We were contacting (yes, we contact a bit door to door).  One lady came to us at her house and asked where we were from.  We told her the states, and then she said, "vayanse a su propio pais!  No quiero nada con ustedes."  aka go back to your own country.  so...yeah.  

Andd.....the best for last.  We were on the streets one night and my comp was talking to someone on the phone.  I said greeted a guy walking the opposite way of us and he stopped and greeted back.  I told him were missionaries and all, and man.  I want you to compare that man to zeezrom in the book of mormon.  it was exactly like that!!!!  read alma 11 and that will give you a little feel for what this was.  (hmmmm even some v. 23 was running thru our heads)

I don't even know how to describe all that happened.  He questioned every little thing, as if to make us question what we are teaching.  we simply stated what we knew for a fact.  he kinda made fun of me a lot too because my spanish still isn't very good. We both bore testimony tho, he wouldn't let us talk much, and it was a bit hard to walk away because we didn't want to be rude at the same time.  When i was trying to bear testimony, a few times in there, i had to say,"espere! (wait) espere!" because he kept interrupting me.  It was frustrating at the time...haha.and seriously emotionally exhausting.  

we walked away and we knew we had at least stood our ground, even if we dont speak as good of spanish as him.  we didn't fight, even though he tried with his wise and crafty ways.  he left us saying, "think about what i said when you've returned" and my comp saaid, "same invitation to you."  yeah right guy!  creep. i think we did the best we could. If anything, we both agreed that it strengthened us!  

Soooo yeah.  My companion and I are learning a lot though!  We love brainstorming new ways to do things and love studying the scriptures!  AAGHHHHH mormon 8 and 9 is the best thing ever. man.  we have a bad day, there is alwaysalways always something good in the scriptures.  

Okay. to end on a good note....TOTALLY WAS SURPRISED YESTERDAY!!!!!!  we were sitting in church, and all of the sudden, i see a red haired gringa go sit two rows in front of me.  I see her turn around and thought i recognized her.  I patted to the seat in front of me. IT WAS VALERIE! i was so shocked hahahahahahahahaha. she came to my ward it was insane!  shes here for 5 weeks! so surprised. i nearly wet myself. lol. not really.

Well...I believe that is mostly the wrap for this week.  We made some good arroz con leche! supessss good.  

It was cold during studies like every day,and we started singing "tengo frio en mi alma hay" instead of of "tengo gozo en mi alma hay." (there is sunshine in my soul today.) hehehehe we are hilarious.

I notice more and more each day how God really is.  I was definitely so blind before! dang.  its seriously insanely awesome!  he blesses me each day and i know he loves me.  

Well, I love yall.  I love the gospel!  Its seriously the best thing ever.  It brings me so much joy.  

Peace out. imma gonna go eat some sushi.

Chao!

Oh, also, if anyone wants to email me, DO IT!!!!! emily.hanks@myldsmail.net

love getting letters.

hermana emily katherine hanks

1. la plaza vina.  be jelly.

2. gnarly murals make me happy. 

3. dont worry mumsy.  safe from the tsunamis. not safe from the temblors!!!! lol lol. 

4. Hahahahaha. on the ward bulletin. 

5. yin and yang are seriously insane i tell ye

6. PIKES PEAK. in thrift store here!!! my life rocks. 

July 1, 2013

Hey hey hey.  soooooooooooooooo ok.

This week was loco.  So, random moment of the day, I woke up this morning with a strange desire to watch a goofy movie. i told hermana schrader and she agreed that watching that does sound like a wonderful thing to do right now.  hahahaha. ummm. anyways.  back to the missionary life!

So if there has ever been a rollercoaster week in my life, this would probably be on the top 3.  maybe even top 2.  After the broadcast, we were super pumped up as you can imagine, like every other missionary out there.  the broadcast was kinda the best thing ever!  

Tuesday took quite a plummet.  It started okay with teaching Francisco.  We taught him about Ammon and cutting off the arms and being a good servant and all.  I realized at the beginning that yes, I know this story in english very well!  Spanish?  litttttle bit rusty there.  We did the best we could and I think he understood for the most part.

After that, we went to go see Daniel y Gabriela.  Ok about them now...so (they were the 15 and 16 year olds).  They seemed real positive when we saw them and all.  When we came back at lunch earlier when we had set the cita, nobody had answered.  It sounded like somebody was home, but nobody replied.  We decided to stop by later and this time, Gabriela let us in the house.  She invited us to sit down, then went to go get her brother.  He was in the other room, and from the tone of his voice, we could tell something was off.  he said (in spanish) 'tell them 'chao' no más!  I think they were suppose to come here earlier and they didn't.  we aren't suppose to let them in the house when mom's not here.'  

The girl came back in the room and invited us to sit down.  I felt bad because I think she knew we had overheard what was being said.  She sat down with us and then her brother came in the room. He respectfully shook our hands and then told us that they want to talk to their parents first and they would converse and see if it was okay for us to come back.  We understood that and decided to just leave them with the restoration.  As we were handing it to her, the mom walked in.  We stood up to greet her, but she was actually quite furious we were in her house.  She told her daughter she wasn't suppose to let us in and that she has read a lot of our mormon bible and doesn't like it.  she wouldn't really let anybody say anything else, and she asking them where the bible was because they wanted it out of their house and to return it to us.  the little girl said, ' mom just leave it', but she didn't listen.  

As we were getting up to go, I just said, 'i just want to leave you with my testimony that I know this is the truth.' and she said ' we don't want to hear any of your testimonies around here.'  gabriela then walked us to the door and said goodbye to them.

If there was a really horribly sad moment on my mission so far....that one wins.  I wasn't angry, just really sad and speechless after that.  It stirred my emotions for sure, and I could see my companion cried a little bit.  

So yeah...theres a sad story for y'all.  but on a happier note, happy story time.

We have to teach alejandro all of the lessons again and lesson five because he is a new member.  He LOVES to talk and the thing with chileans is you have to be very careful about the questions you ask here because it can go off on a rant for a lot of them.  Oh man.  We went and taught him the plan of salvation and it went awesome!  Oriana was super involved and asked questions when she had them.  alejandro only went off on one rant for about 5 minutes (something about a king buying a lady or something nuts).  We felt good about it though, and it was under an hour and the whole plan of salvation.  We also go to teach him about the priesthood this week.  It was a little stressful because i've never taught that before, but we did it.  

Okay, awesome thing!!!! we saw alejandro practicing passing the sacrament before the noche de hogar for the ward.  He is such a funny old man!  We committed him to live worthily for the priesthood the rest of his life and he said he would.  Then, on sunday, we saw him all dressed up in his suit and tie (unlike jeans) and he got to pass the sacrament.  Oh man it was so cool.  I just think of how far he has come-even since he got married, just less than a month ago.  Its cute because hes a little nervous about a lot of stuff, but just does it anyways.  After we taught him about the priesthood, we were leaving and he warned us, 'be careful.  you are like my daughters'.  it so sweet.  

We visited a menos activo this week who was only baptized 5 years ago.  I don't think the elders who taught her did a very good job because as we were leaving she said, 'cuidese (take care)!  pray to jose smith or whomever you pray to!' . hahahaha. loco. we reminded her that we do NOT pray to jose smith.

We went on intercambios this week.  it helped us a TON.  The sister i was on exchanges with liked to run and i like to run, so we went running.  best thing ever! got to see chile at a dead hour of the day but soooooo pretty and quiet.  i haven't run outside forever.  

So for some funny stuffs now.  If you're a gringa around here, you get attention more than you'd ever like.  from literally everybody.  the ones who creep on missionaries are called 'snakes.'. lol.  so we contacted this guy.  he has a motorcycle and always drives by and waves.  hes a really nice dude for sure and makes bread. hahaha.  soooo last night he stopped by and started talking to us on his motorcycle (super coooo right!? lol.)  my companion was just nicely saying she likes his motorcycle just to be friendly.  before he said goodbye, he said, yeah i'm not free for 3 more weeks, but after that, i'll take you girls for a ride and we will go leave. ummmmm hahahahahaha we kinda just looked at each other and laughed.  don't worry of course we won't. just a funny story!  

hahahahahahaha.

our bishop gave a really good talk yesterday about members getting involved in missionary work.  NEEDS TO HAPPEN.  it was awesome.

yesterday morning, we walked outside on our way to church and down a few stairs in our apartment complex, we saw a smashed bottle of liquor. someone was partying a little too hard saturday night i think! sketchhhhhhy.

okay finally, MILENA IS AWESOME.  our investigator.  we watched the restoration with her and she said, yeah i really feel like this is true! she  came to the ward activity and met a lot of people.  i think she really liked it!  only problem is, she has a boyfriend...conviven. but we are working on it!  she is great!  hopefully we will see her baptism in the near future.  

okay well....dat is all. have a good week.  we are safe!  congrats to josh and arden way to go guys!  they will love the mission life i am sure.  that is awesome!

chao!

hermana emily hanks

1.  ok....so i literally fell for this little pup here.  i dont like touching dogs here....BUT IT WAS SO CUTE.  and another dog was being a bully so i loved on it a little bit.

2.  my boy yin. (actualy shes a girl, but wahtever).  so lazy.

3. we learned that recreo is half and half. half valpo and half viña.  this is the valparaiso part.  SICK MURALS!!

4. yeah FLIPPING LOVE THE COAST.  este es chile mis amigas!

5. of course, mi vista favorita en recreo.

6. otra vez. 

7. En Chile, hay un alimento delicioso se llama semola.  Es como pasta, pero es chicitito round balls.  Semejante crema de wheat, pero es un postre aca con fruta o manjar or carmel. Es rico!  

8. Panadería.  Donde las personas compran pan.  Pastelería es similar, pero más dulces.

9. Feliz día de preparacion.  Este es Viña conmigo.  Me encanta.  Mi ciudad.  

June 24th, 2013

Ok so about the crazy subject title.  We have taught Milo some american slang lately and that´s one that he has come to master.

this pday is pretttyyy dang awesome so far.  We did our studies, ate some pan, heard the elementary school out back pound some reggatone...kinda sounded like a dance party,  and then took the cab to viña with a collectivo driver who was very friendly.  sometimes they're really grumpy and get peeved because we don't know good spanish...hahahaha. Things to know about collectivos : the first time you ride them or a microbus) you feel like you might die.  after that, its like the most epic thing ever.  (its like mitch driving on trail creek road...but 10 times crazier!! joking...joking...)  imagine driving through all the concrete chilean houses in their curvy roads, few stoplights, many hills, and seeing the sahweet pacific ocean out your window. yeah be jealous!!  i love chile!!  (plus they were playing bon jovi and sweet child of mine on the radio...soooo that was cool. shhhh.)  

anyways....ok YES the broadcast last night was like the greatest thing ever.  I don't know what the effect will be while i am down here, but i think its awesome.  Like for reals, that is awesome.  Plus, I love Elder Holland´s "buenas tardes" last night.  ohhh man i thought i had a bad gringo accent.  we had a good laugh about that here!  That broadcast seriously pumped me up!  

So...this week.  Until the broadcast, a bit lame.  We got sick...boo.  We both dress warm and all, but i think because everybody is getting sick this time of year.  Plus the air weighs down more because we are closer to the sea...i think.   People always say "abrigense!" which means pretty much put on the layers you moron.  I can't blame them.  it gets dang cold some days!  not like colorado, but just like this sea coldness.  I really tried to tough it out and beat it, but we went out to almuerzo and we both accepted defeat because we could hardly breath.  We went back and studied instead as to not make it worse.  i did however finish the 3 book of nephi, and started into Mormon.      

Okay....3 nephi rocks.  what a happy time to be alive for them!! man its sweet because so many people waited so long for the Savior to come, and he finally comes.  The Gadianton robbers make me crazy though.  And seriously, I love the way the Savior teaches.  Its so simple, but clear!  He is very direct, but so loving. That is a very good quality in a good missionary.  Hermana Schrader calls 4 Nefi the sad book.  Its so true.  It starts out so happy and everybody is friends, then turns into awful chaos that actually did happen.  I can't imagine being Mormon, surrounded by thousands and thousands "as numerous as the sands of the sea" who all are eventually destroyed.  so so sad =(.  Mormon is definitely the best author ever though.  I think he basically beats anybody else, and is super humble about it too.  

   Its pretty sweet that mormon is perceived as a "sober child" when he is ten years old.  shows how flipping amazing and important he is.  May I suggest a chapter to read?  Mormon 8 and 9.  YOUR MIND WILL BE BLOWN.  seriously.  i can't believe i have read the book of mormon so many times and never.  Mormon is dang direct and if you put him speaking like an Elder Holland or Monson (because he uses much boldness), its pretty amazing!!!!

  Its also really sad too.  He loves his people, but can only do so much for them.  Poor guy.  Okay, seriously i'm psyched about the scriptures!! if anyone be wanting a book of mormon discussion, when i get back i'll be the first to sign up.  

  okay so cute moment of the week.  we were at hermana sonias and sharing a scripture with her husband who isn’t a member.  she was trying to clean the dishes because she was going to meet her sister in viña to go shopping and was in a hurry.  she then came and sat down halfway through and said "soy como marta!" i am like martha.  (martha, mary, Jesus story when one is listening and one is cleaning).  it was so cute. hahahah.  she then shared that in relief society yesterday...she is awesome.

   We ate colombian food this week.  courtesy of milo and liliana, and it being leo's birthday.  chilean food is so so, depending on where you're at, but colombian food???? oh my goodness its delicious.  it was like fried bananas, rice, beans, chorizo, pig hide(sounds nasty, but its like bacon).  i'm a fan.  

  we got two new investigators this week!!!!! they are 15 and 16.  Okay so I love teaching that age because they aren't always blind (by the craftiness of men...hehe jk.)  they let us in and we taught them about the book of mormon.  it was interesting.  the girl said she didn't really like to read and kinda had that look on her face of "why are you in my house".  i briefly bore testimony of the book of mormon and the look on her face kinda got serious for a minute.  it was kinda cool.  we get to visit them again on tuesday.  so psyched!  we didn't get to see too many others this week which was super lame, but this week is last week of cambio.  dunno if i'll get transferred, but i'm kinda keeping my fingers crossed to be here one more!  Plus, my spanish is getting better each day and i can finally understand the colombians and chileans!!! (they both talk dang fast. at least down here.)  

   We saw Hermano Rave.  I make sure we see him at least once a week.  he is such a sweet old man.  Hermana sonia came with us and she gets to work.  We cleaned his kitchen, and it was sad because he really is partially paralyzed and can't do much.  we cleaned his kitchen and i trimmed his fingernails.  now i know that doesn't sound exactly appetizing, but the look on his face afterwards of being grateful for something simple...it made me feel really good.

   You may be inquiring of the pictures of us with paint on our faces.  Its a simple game we did for fhe at hna sonias.  you basically write numbers twice and put a circle around them, and count up to about 35.  then you have to draw a line from a number to the other duplicate of that number without touching any other number or line with your pencil.  it is actually super fun.  if you touch them, then you get marked with paint by your opponents.  it was crazy!

we bought empanadas this week and while we were there, what song meets my ear? concerning hobbits, from lotr song. yes.  pretty much made my day.  i kinda was super psyched as you can imagine.  

  Hermana sonia has recently wanted to learn a few english phrases each day.  she kinda half jokes that she needs to know them if she ever visits us in colorado. i wish you could all meet her because she is amazing!!!!!!

   Well yes. i promise next week stories will be better.  we didn't have too much luck and we need members to visit some of the others to help us on some parts.  

   hope y'all like da pictures.  chile is insane.  its still weird to me sometimes that i'm on the other side of the world, but i promise you it is flipping awesome and i love it.  

   have a good week.  les quiero.

   hermana emily hanks

1. crazy soda bottles...coolest ones EVER

2.  ferria, where i buy all my goodies and souvenirs.  yeah pretty sweet.  

3. chilean departamentos.  welcome to lamanite country

4. this bridge reminded me of lord of the rings at the very end in the volcano. love me some lotr

5. what does a missionary do when she sees a picutre of rockclimbing? why take a picture of it of course. oh how i miss climbing my rocks.

6.  mmm. sexy. found this on a members shelf.

June 16, 2013

Buenas dias.  My fingers are freezing at this keyboard!!!  sometimes inside houses, i can still see my breath when its cold.  The trek looked fun.  I enjoyed the sunset pictures (obviously).  We have sweet sunsets here too but not with those crazy mountains.  Hermana Schrader and I both love our Colorado mountains. 

Sooo stuff that happened this week.  Right now, there's a dog fight outside of the ciber.  The dogs are nuts here.  Everybody has a dog, and their dogs usually bark like crazy.  I've already mentioned where I stand with dogs in Chile ...All except for yin and yang.  did i already tell about them?  sorry if i did, but they're our favorite dogs.  Pretty much, theyre just two lazy street dogs that always always always are asleep out front of the church.  They are both black.    Yin is the smaller one (yes we named them), and she is totally just the roll over on her back and wait for you to come to her.  She also has a cute little pig tail.  We love yin!  yang is a little pushy and wants all the attention.  We still like him, but he can be a bit much sometimes.  The other animals on the street, we give them different names such as Fred or George or Crookshank.  There's a place in Recreo that has a fence and written on it is 'jardin infantil' which is just a daycare and behind it is a bunch of rubble and no building. in front of the fence are like 6 or 7 of the same dogs who just sleep all day long in the sun.  we call it the blasting zone...hahaha. 

well now that I've enlightened your knowledge about our animal friends here, let us move on to Chilean soccer games.  SO CRAZY!!! we were out proseliting one night and the Chile v. Bolivia game was on.  you can literally hear everybody in Valpo and Vina shouting when they make a goal.  man if i come back to visit, i will be sure to come in soccer season and watch a game with some Chilean buddies.  you can hear airhorns and literally, nobody was on the streets. at all.  so epic. 

We had zone conference this week with the president and Hermana Kahnlein.  it was awesome!  i could understand a lot more than i used to be able to, and what made that better?  why we watched the armor of God video of course!!! yep the seminary one.  and it was in Spanish, and it was great.  they even sang the song in Spanish too.  definitely worth watching.  it was kinda cheesy and funny ,but i will always love the message behind that video!!! so good. 

Sooo yeah!  Alejandro got confirmed this week.  He is a stud.  It was a good week in general.  we took members with us to some lessons, which proves to be most helpful because they can help communicate what we cant.  We went to go see Hermano Rave, and that dear old man is so cute.  He is in a lot of pain sometimes and is lonely and its really sad =(.  He always seems in better spirits after we see him, and i try and find something we can do to serve him while were there, even though he says he is fine.  

We visited some menos activos this week, and for the ones i dont know as well, ive just been trying to get to knw them more and be their friend.  we do leave them with a message and a prayer, but some o fthem just need to work on their testimonies or not working on sundays, etc.  

Oriana...we didn't really know how to go about with her.  We prayed and we just figured we would ask her how she felt about being baptized.  We went and invited her, but she said she doesn't know.  (BUT SHE DOES!!!!) she said she hadn't prayed about it, if the church was true, so we told her to do that.  we have to teach Alejandro the lessons over again as part o the recent convert lessons anyways, so I'm hoping that will help.  it was a bummer because she had a conflict and couldn't come to church either =(.  

We DID however get another fecha!!!!! okay and this girl is awesome.  her name is Milena, and i think I've mentioned her before.  we found her and she is super receptive and very open about religion and all!  she seemed really interested in going to church.  We went back to her with Fran, a member, who was about her age, and taught her the restoration.  Then i asked her ot be baptized and she said yes!  It cant be this cambio because it ends in two weeks, but hopefully the next.  I'm hoping we will both be here to see it too!!  i think it is good though.  We left her a note on her door to remind her about church because nobody answered.  the next morning, the note was still there and she didn't come =( boooo. but she said she was going to see her uncle or something and it wasn't set in stone if she was coming back or something.  on the way to our apartment last night, we saw her and she tol d us to come by this week and was sorry she couldn't come to church because she just barely got back into town.  sooo yeah!  hopefully that all works out.  

Cristina and Valentina are tricky right now...we really need a member to come with us for them because Cristina is hard to understand sometimes.   They also have never assisted, so were trying to figure out what we can do for that.  

Church here is the best.  its always fun to greet everybody and there's such a comfort at being at the church, even if your day or week was completely awful.  

My companion and I have been getting in the habit of becoming more familiar with our scriptures.  I need to use mine more, and we've been trying to mark and learn different scriptures for each lesson.  Its actually quite fun and man i want my scrptures to be marked up like crazy when i get home!  the scriptures ROCK! mormon is seriously the best author ever.  and i mean EVER!!  I'm almost to the part where Christ comes to the Americas.  tomorrow friends...and on that note, the pride cycle drives me crazy.  I bet it drove the prophets up the wall too in that time period because it goes over and over again.  Its so sad though.  My companion is in the book of Ether, and you read about how the Book of Mormon ends...its so sad.  

I know I sound so dorky, but Hermana Schrader and i both decided the other day that it is definitely the best book in the entire WORLD!!! (yeah even beats Harry Potter and LOTR although they come in second).

Well, i hope you all have a good week.  The language is coming along.  

I love yalll.  Les quiero. (i love you)

Chao chao. 

nos vemos

peace and blessings,

Hermana Emily Hanks

1.  Pday meal.  Its called churrasco...its quite delicious and is about tthe size of a big juds burger...i could only muscle half that down.  it was quality.

2.got da package. gracias.  you would send a csu shirt!! me likey.  also, do oyu like my argile socks with flip flops? da best.  thats our 'couch' behind me too.

3. sunset....yeahhhh sweettt right???

4. happy pday today!  took this on the way to da ciber.  we walk  around this little thing everday, so i figured id send this to you to get a little taste of what a walk by...lol

June 10, 2013

Hellew! 

we get that a lot here because we say 'hola' to literally everybody and we get some 'hellews' back at us. hahahaha. 

Ok seriously it´s crazy how right now is June.  Weirdest June ever...baby its cold outside.  Its funny because everybody here sees us on the nicer days with just a sweater and they think we´re crazy, when really it is still 60 degrees.  Everybody asks us if we have coats and to go bundle up. ahahaha. theyre so cute.  

So we found a new investigator this week.  Her name is Milena, and she is awesome!  She is about 22 and she invited us in.  She really listened too, most people here talk...and talk...and talk...and talk....and a lot of the time, all you can say is, 'si, oh si!' or 'en serio?' Spanish is a very fast language and so you have to be careful about the questions you ask sometimes.  Its tricky when you dont really know how to respond in any other way either a lot of the time..haha.  We are excited to go back and teach her again.  

Chileans are so funny!  Ok, really anybody down here is, but they're so awesome.  We were talking to a member of our ward and asking how he was.  He speaks a little English, and his accent is very good, so we asked if there was anything we could do to help him. he said, 'do you...want to make a message to my feet?' but really he was asking for a foot massage.  it kind of made my day and we had a good laugh about that.  

We taught Cristina and Valentina again this week.  They´re both awesome, especially Valentina, who reads every chapter assigned to her and is super psyched about learning.  Cristina talks super fast, and I don't really know where she is at.  Their problem is, they never assist and they live really far...so its a bit tricky!  We're going to bring members more often to them from now on I think to get some help there! La soc soc had an activity with making chocolate.  yeah surprised? me too, you don't find much chocolate around here for dessert...like ever, so that was super fun.  There was a menos activo that came too, and i think she had a really good time!  If we want chocolate around here, the cheapest good stuff is negritas, which in america is probably really waxy cheap chocolate, but ooohhh man are they delicious.  Occasionally we will get ice cream, but the ice cream down here isn't that good either.  It dissolves in your mouth instantly so its kinda lame.  Chile has its food fortes elsewhere, like their bread and fruit.  

On Friday, we had a lesson with Francisco and taught him about how cool captain teancum is.  I think it kinda sparked his interest because it definitely sparks Hermana Schrader and mines interest.  The war chapters of the book of mormon are seriously the BEST!!!! aw mi favorito!  Sooo epic indeed.  We decided Teancum reminds us of spiderman.  Just read about that guy.  Sometimes I wish there was a book of teancum and his adventures of combat. ok ok. nerd. but for reals.

After our missionary coordination meeting, we went to Alejandro's to go over a few last things with him before his baptism.  he is really forgetful and is missing some teeth, so a little hard to understand.  His wife (as of last MONDAY!!!) is kind of our translator and helps us out a lot.  He just likes to talk a ton like most people here and its hard to get in and out in the time that you want.  We decided to take Milo, and he saved our lives on that one...hahaha.  We had to cover tithing, Thomas s Monson, and baptism (he had his first interview and didn't remember those, so we were just reviewing those 3 topics).  Milo is a super good teacher and we aspire to learn from him, so he helped us out there.  It was nice too because I think Alejandro, as well as Oriana, listened, and were ready.  

Happy ending?  Alejandro got baptized yesterday!!!! Best experience so far.  The guy has been coming to church for over a year now, and really until recently, has his wife started listening to the lessons.  She came with him to his interview in the chapel and we gave her a tour, and then sat in the chapel and talked to her.  I think she really felt the spirit at the church.  We sat down and she told us how she was brought up hardcore catholic by her grandmother.  Her grandma changed religions, and that left her being really confused and just really left in the dark.  With Hermana Ortega, I remember she told us she has been praying, and we know she reads the book of Mormon because she reads it to Alejandro because he doesn't have great eyesight.  At the chapel, I gave her a picture of the salt lake temple and she really liked it.  She is really receptive-she studies things and allows herself to be taught, and she is very smart.  We have invited her to baptism, but she says later.  She is coming to church next week for Alejandro's confirmation and then we're hoping the third one we can get her in the water!  

Alejandro's baptism...I didn't think it would impact me that much.  I wasn't the missionary who found him or taught him or got him to progress and go to church for a year, but it was really cool.  He was kinda nervous at first ( at least i think...hes hard to understand), but he got baptized.  Afterwards, when our bishop was talking to him, I thought about how far he has come, even in the past week, how much he has done and given to grow closer to God.  And how he is the cleanest person in that chapel too.  He went up and shared a little bit (didn't quite understand it, but i think it was about the missionaries finding him?) and afterwards, we saw that oriana had started crying.  All of the ward went up and shook his hand and hugged Oriana and gave her a greeting.  (kiss on the cheek-we all do it here).  We talked to our district leader about Alejandro as well, and he said during the interview, Alejandro told him his wife really likes the church.  So were hoping!!  Keep yo fingers CROSSED!!!!!  

It's interesting being a missionary and it has its challenges.  For one thing, you want to keep the rules and be obedient and want to know the language.  Its sooo easy to get frustrated with yourself.  Myself especially because I think I set my expectations really high.  Sometimes I really can't say what I want to say, like at bishops council yesterday.  Everybody kinda feels bad, but it can be soooo difficult sometimes!  I think the thing I'm learning though, is that were really not going to be perfect at first.  It´s a learning process that really tests your patience and receive comfort from the true comforter.  I don't really know how to explain that very well, but yeah.  My companion is awesome too because it is hard, but we can still have a good time.  We have a lot of help from people too which is definitely a blessing.  It's a rollercoaster, but I love feeling that I'm becoming someone better.  It's better to take things one at a time and enjoy them.  As grandpa says, stop and smell the roses.  Wise wise words there be!

We have some good laughs about things, like people always say, 'pero clarrrro' which means, 'but sureeeee'.  chile is so epic. hahaha.  I seriously am working to have a legit Chilean accent when i come back to the states.  be prepared.  

That's funny about the two Chileans on the trek!  They are very short!  Even to me and I'm not even that tall.  I am pretty sure most of the ladies in our ward are no more than 5 foot. probably 4'5.  Here they don't measure in feet though, so its hard to say.  I love the trek too.  That's pretty cool.

T liked the calf birth story. that's crazy!  way to gos

that still blows me away justin and jenn are married. dang.  

oh my goodness.  we saw other gringas this week.  they weren't just gringas, but they were like bleach blonde, blue eyed gringas...in Recreo of all places.  There's no tourism or anything really in Recreo, so it was kind of a surprise.  my companion and i joked that this was not okay because we are the gringas in this territory!  they looked suprised to see us too...lol.  

well have a good week. enjoy da fotos.  See you ´round. 

cuidese!

hermana hanks

took my comp to eat her first completo. yummm yall

for the kids. a little bit of chilean culture! lol 

TOTALLY AN ACCIDENT!!!

this little devil dog...we call satanas because it pretty much wants to rip your head off when you walk by. i think that chain gets closer and closer to breaking each day. yikkkkkesssss. 

ajajajjajaja