Cultural Celebration

"The Celebration was so wonderful. They had dances from all of south America and all the youth participated. It was amazing. 5 missions from Chile were there. Santiago East, North, West, Rancagua, and Vina del Mar. All of us as missionaries sang a part of "I´ll go where you want me to go" in spanish. It was great.

We actually had an adventure after the celebration. The Celebration was held in a stadium outside our mission. It takes us about an hour to get there from our house in subway. Anyways, the celebration ended at 10:30 and the subway stations close at 11:00. So we booked it to the subway station and were able to get on a train. But the subways closed when we were about halfway home. So, we were stuck in a subway station in the middle of Santiago at 11:00 at night. We had no idea where we were or how to get home. But we asked some people directions and we got on a bus and somehow ended up on a street we knew. Then we walked to another street we knew and were able to take a bus home. But we didn´t get home till 12:30. We were some of the first missionaries to leave the stadium, so there were a ton of missionaries behind us who lived even farther away. Our poor zone leaders didn´t get home until after 1:30. We were all sooo tired the next day."

"This week flew by. I can´t believe next week I´ll complete 6 months in the mission and be a third of the way done! It goes WAYYYY to fast.

This week was good. We met with Lourdes on Tuesday after fasting with her on Sunday. She had a great experience and wants to continue with the lessons and get baptized. We´re hoping she will get baptized on the 30th or the week after. We´re going to try to set a date with her this week. But it was another huge testimony that God always answers prayers and the power of fasting combined with prayer. We're really excited for her.

On Wednesday we had interviews with President. Those are always so special. Hes so nice. He gave Hermana Windous and I an assignment for the Christmas devotional. We are incharge of the musical presentation. We´re not really sure exactly what it entails yet but we´re excited and hoping that means that her and I will be companions at least through Christmas!!!"

Chilean National Holiday Celebration

"We understand the National Pride that Chileans feel for this beautiful country! As we watched these breath-takingly beautiful Chileans perform through music and dance on September 19, we were filled with emotion and love. The Chilean people are stately and majestic. We love them, and we honor their culture and heritage. We feel so blessed to be able to get to know them and to feel of their royal birthright. They are truly wonderful in every way.

During the week of the 11th through the 19th of September, we were able to see and participate in many beautiful celebrations of this amazing Country. We pray for the Lord's choicest blessings to be upon this Country and her dear people." Sister Laycock (Mission President's wife)

Nunoa Stake Primary Missionary Activity

"Our Missionaries in the Nunoa Stake were blessed in the month of August as we were invited to participate in a training for all Primary Students and their parents. We taught the children what they need to do to prepare to become representatives of Jesus Christ as full time Missionaries. We even held a mini zone conference in which they could all to participate. What a blessing for these children to prepare now while they are so young! Excitement filled the air as we worked together to teach these young people what they need to do to prepare themselves in every way to serve full time missions." Sister Laycock (Mission President's wife)

"It's really cool-- Birds of Paridse and Calle Lilies grow naturally here. They are everywhere and now that its spring they are all blooming and its so beautiful."

Funny Stories

"I already new the people in Chile were very supersticious, but I found out this week that there is a new superstition. They really believe that if you go outside when its cold without covering your mouth and neck, your mouth will become crooked! Kind of like if you cross your eyes they´ll stay that way... but they really believe it. How funny.

"Besides the Catholic church,alot of people in Chile are Jehovah Witness. They are called Testigos de Jehovah here. And they send out missionaries two by two just like us but they have a bad reputation because they are supposidly really pushy and mean. So a lot of times people mistake us for them which is not good. So one day we were knocking, and not having a lot of success. No one would let us in. Finally, we got to one house and we saw the woman in her kitchen hiding from us. So we rang the doorbell over and over, but she wouldn´t answer. Finally, in our desperation, I yelled out ¨Please answer the door, we´re not Testigos!¨ Hermana Windous about died laughing. Unfortuantely the woman still didn´t answer the door.

"We were walking home one night this week and saw this woman in this cute little outfit with this cute little curly ponytail trying to unload this big, heavy bag from her car on the other side of the street. She was really struggling so we decided to go help her. There were a few cars so we had to wait to cross the street. We were trying to hurry so we wouldn´t miss this service opporunity so we quickly ran across the street and as we ran I called out ¨Senora, do you need help?¨ As we got closer, she turned around. That's when I noticed her very large and nicely groomed mustache and realized she wasn´t really a ¨she¨ at all. We quickly booked it in the opposite direction and have been avoiding that street ever since.

"We were knocking the other day and most of the houses here have big gates with intercoms. So most of our knocking consists of us pushing the button on the intercom and talking with the people through the little speaker. Anyways, so we were knocking and we pushed the button on the intercom of this one house and Hermana Windous explained who were were to the woman who answered and asked if we could share a message with her. The woman explained that she was in a ¨lucha" which means like "struggle", kind of like saying "I´m in a pickle." Wanting to help, Hermana Windous explained that we could offer a prayer with her to help her through this tough time. However, the woman replied "Senorita, No, estoy en la DUCHA" which means "No, I´m in the shower." Hahaha! Hermana Windous had misheard and offered to say a prayer with her to help her with her shower!!"