Specialized Training in Every Zone in November

"I can't believe I'm almost halfway done with my mission!"

"Time has gone by so fast. I can't believe I'm almost halfway done with my mission!

We've had a good week. We are so busy because since they left just two of us in our sector and we really have the work for four. It's crazy, but we have a lot to do. It was kind of lame, because 5 of our investigators committed to come to church on Sunday and not one showed up.

They did the rebroadcast of the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and our choir sang at the end. We got there early to practice and waited for everyone to show up. Everyone got there except for two elders, so we waited and waited. Finally, we called and they had gotten the time wrong and thought they didn't have to be there until 8:00pm...the devotional started at 6:00pm. They got there half way through the devotional and we sang at the tend and it turned out really well. They said there are normally 5 or 10 people there, and this year the chapel was packed full. Our stake president was so pleased.

Hermana Gallardo and I are getting along well. We're different. And she gives me "talks" sometimes. Like, that we need to tell the Relief Society President that we can't drink soda because it's against the Word of Wisdom. The members serve us soda at lunch every day. She also promises homeless people on the street that the church will buy them a house! But, we are working well together and that's what's important.

Lourdes is going strong in the church. She's like a totally different person. It's amazing. And Matias is getting ready to get baptized. Things are good. I'm happy."

Transfers!

Well first things first, we´ve had changes (transfers). Hermana Loza (my companion I was training) and Hermana Windous left. Hermana Loza went to the temple to an amazing companion named Hermana Palmer. I´m so happy that at she is in a great sector with a great companion. I cried when I found out she was leaving.

Hermana Windous´s hija, Hermana Gallardo, is now my companion. I´ll finish training her this change. We have the whole sector to ourselves now which is going to be interesting. Now, just the two of us have to do the work of two companionships. We have so many people to work with, it's nuts!

Anyways, this week has been good. We´ve been working like crazy. Christmas time is an awesome opportunity we have to talk to EVERYONE about the gospel. Whats nice, is that Chile isn´t like the United States because the offical state religion is Catholicism. So there are Christmas decorations everywhere. There are tons of beautiful nativity scenes. I love it. I love Christmas.

I actually had a really cool experience this week that I´d love to share with you. Hermana Loza and I had two appointments back to back, but they were on opposite ends of the sector, so we had to take micro. As we were waiting at the bus stop after our first appointment to go to our second, a bus pulled up and I felt a very strong distinct, impression that we should not get on the bus. But I was nervous we would be late, so I ignored it and got on anyway. The bus started going and I noticed a woman standing close to me and again I got a very strong impression that I needed to talk to her. Unfortunatley, there were a lot of people in between us so I ignored the prompting again. After a few minutes, I noticed she was staring at my nametag. Finally, I smiled at her. She immediately asked where we were headed and when I told her the street, she quickly explained to me that the bus we were on was an express bus that went straight to San Bernardo (which is about an hour away and in another mission!) without stopping. I immediately kicked myself for not listening to the Spirit and thanked her for her help. We were able to talk to the bus driver and he let us off the bus at a red light. We actually got off the bus right next to our appointment. I learned a huge lesson. I was reminded that the Spirit is always guiding us and we need to ALWAYS listen to his council. But also that God blesses our lives through other people. Even strangers. And finally, that you never know when a smile will quickly come around to be a blessing in your life.

I´m grateful to be here, to have the right to the guidance of the Spirit, and recieve confirmation everyday that God loves me and is very aware of where I am, where I am going, and who I need to be.

"It always get's better."

We've had another good week here in Nunoa. We've been teaching a lot. We´ve taken huge steps in working with the ward council and our ward mission leader as well. I finally feel like our ward mission leader is finally here to stay and in it to win it. And things have already started getting better.

My poor companion has had a few hard days. Last month she didn´t watch her money so she ran out of money about a week and a half before we were going to get anymore. I ended up having to buy her groceries the last week. Then, we finally got money last Thursday and she lost her card from the mission on Friday. Plus, the first part of the mission is really overwhelming and I think she feels really inadequate like everyone does at the beginning. Plus, those first few weeks are brutal on your body because its just not used to the work we do everyday. Sometimes I end up carrying her bag by the end of the day because she's just so tired and her body hurts. When we left a lesson the other day, she just broke down in tears. It was the saddest thing. Heartwrenching. I think my heart broke into a million tiny peices when I saw her so sad. I think it must be something like what a parent feels when they see their child suffer. I just wanted to take away all her problems and all her pain and give her the perfect, happy, easy mission.

I think she's a lot better now. It always gets better.

But we´ve been teaching alot this week. We´ve taken huge steps in working with the ward council and our ward mission leader as well. I finally feel like our ward mission leader is finally here to stay and in it to win it. And things have already started getting better.