Soeur Schomburg

Source: Andean Trails. Adventure travel and culture blog, Chile’s Fiestas Patrias.
Posted by Alan, 12 September 2012.

WELL so

this week

what did i do?

WELL, I KEEP FORGETTING TO SAY SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT

September in Chile is like, THE BIGGEST MONTH THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED. Which is really weird because in the states NOTHING HAPPENS IN SEPTEMBER. But here, in September, THERE ARE A THOUSAND HOLIDAYS.

First we start with the scary one. on the 11th of Chile, everybody is really angry and I don't remember the reason why (sorry I am uncultured even though I'm living in a different culture) but everybody is mad and dangerous and light fires and blow things up and so we had to go in early on that day. It was super. [See 1973 Chilean coup d'etat for more information.] We have two pairs of sister missionaries in our ward so we went with the other hermanas (they live in the same building) and made a whole bunch of desserts and had a party because the 11th also happened to be, as my mother mentioned to me, MY SIX MONTH MARK

literally what

literally what has happened

i have been here for 6 months

i have already completed a third of my time here in chile

LITERALLY

LITERALLY WHAT

THE TIME

HAS GONE BY

SO

FAST

also the fact that I am already in my 4th week with Hna Alonso and we feel like we only just got our cambios. But also, she is going home after this cambio, so the time is just flying more rapidly for some reason

but anyway

YEAH I COMPLETED SIX MONTHS AND WE ATE DESSERTS TO CELEBRATE HOW COOL WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO

What else

oh yes, the title

we are teaching some Haitians

they speak French [soeur = sister]

it's.... 

an adventure that is for sure

[Neither Hermana Schomburg nor her companion Hermana Alonso speak French]

Also, I don't remember what I said in my last email but everybody emailed me like 'PLEASE DONT BE SAD PLEASE BE OKAY WE ARE SORRY' but please do not worry for me

i literally do not even remember what it was that maybe was making me sad last week [see how quickly she forgot the slammed door? haha]

i actually am almost positive that i was not sad

so really

no se preocupen [do not worry]

but anyway what else 

how are my feet? AWESOME. They are feet. They are still attached and that is a good thing. 

OH I FORGOT TO FINISH TALKING ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS

So, the 18th is when we have Fiestas Patrias which is basically the 4th of July, but America... I think you have some patriotism competition because the people here

are

SERIOUS.

So basically, this week is going to be a whole bunch of crazy especially because the 18th is a friday, so everybody is going to be partying for all of their lives. For at least 40 years. And so yeah, THAT. [Chile's Independence Day]

Now (this is a question from my mother), what advice would I give to a brand new missionary who is thinking they can't do it?

That is a really good question. 

I would tell them, no. They can't do it. None of us, with all our imperfections and disabilities; with our weaknesses and struggles, no, not a single one of us can do it. Not alone. The first thing that we have to remember is that this is the Lord's work. This is not our work; not our mission. This is the mission of the Lord and if we expect to be able to do it, we have to do it with Him. We can't trust only in ourselves to be able to do it. Forget yourself; this time isn't yours. This time is reserved for the Lord and He will do everything He can to help you if you put your trust in Him and let go; so get to it! 

Something I love about Chile? THE ALMACENES

There are little stores everywhere. Literally everywhere. IT IS SO CONVENIENT. Also the vegetables are so good. Everything. I love the food. Empanadas [fried meat pies]... cazuela [casseroles]... sopaipillas [fritters]... mote con huesillos [maize and peach drink]... YES TO ALL OF IT

What do I dislike? Good question... golly... well, I don't know if i've mentioned this, but I am in the city. Like the city city. And there are so many buses and they are so loud just like the kind of loud that makes you want to yell back at it when it passes just like

UGH

STOP

DO NOT BE SO LOUD

but uh... that... haha, i think that's it to be honest. 

Also what zone am i in? I am in a zone called Independencia! In a ward called Vivaceta! It's pretty cool. 

hmm...

what else can i even say about this place? It is a place. A city. There are humans. Many humans. And more dogs I think. There are like 12 dogs at least.

OH YEAH WE WENT TO PORTILLO AGAIN THIS MORNING AND IT WAS WAY FUN

we sledded in trashbags

que divertido [much fun]

Photo from the previous outing to Portillo

i have like 50000 pictures but for some reason THIS COMPUTER IS NOT DOING THE FUNCTIONING THING AND IT IS NOT WORKING AND I CANNOT SEND YOU PICTURES but know that i am alive and that my face is here

what else did i even do this week I'M SORRY I KEEP FORGETTING UGH WE JUST KEEP DOING THINGS SO MANY THINGS AND YEAH JUST I HAVE A LOT OF THINGS TO DO BECAUSE THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE HERE THAT STILL DONT HAVE THE GOSPEL AND DARNIT I AM GOING TO BRING IT TO THEM

but anyway, that all happened and I love you all very much and I am so happy to be here and happy to be working and happy to be alive and that is just how it is :) HAVE A GREAT WEEK AND EAT MANY EMPANADAS ON FRIDAY 

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FIRST SLAMMED DOOR

Hermana Schomburg sent this photo while
she was at the Chile CCM.
It's the way missionaries prefer to find doors.

Okay, so here in the mission, usually people dont want to talk to you. So, you knock their door and try to talk AS FAST AS POSSIBLE SO THAT YOU CAN SAY ALL THE WORDS BEFORE THEY CLOSE THE DOOR and usually theyre polite-ish and just very slowly close the door like you arent going to notice if they do it slowly

but

we had a REAL SLAMMED DOOR THIS WEEK

we knocked the door

and it opened

and there was a little old lady inside and she was like 'QUE QUIERES' [WHAT DO YOU WANT] and i was like 'hola soy hermana schomburg soy misionera de la iglesia de jesucristo-' 'PERO QUE QUIERES' 'queremos hablar de dios y jesucristo-!' [Hello, I am Sister Schomburg and I am a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and IF YOU WANT TO we would like to talk to you about God and Jesus Christ.] AND THEN SHE SLAMMED THE DOOR SO HARD IT LIKE SHOOK THE WHOLE WORLD. 

But so... that happened. 

Love the mission so much though, really :) also we had lunch with a menos activa [less active] and her son started cleaning things with a soapy sponge and a bowl of soapy water and he was cleaning the fridge

and decided the sponge wasnt big enough

and dunked his head in the bowl

and started cleaning the fridge with his face and hair

it was quite entertaining

the last time he made some juice with a WHOLE LOT OF AJÍ [chili peppers] in it and was VERY disappointed when we didnt want to try it

Also, fun fact, chileans LOVE PRESIDENTE KENNEDY

not sure why

but they all just love him

ALSO WE WERE IN A LESSON THIS WEEK AND THE INVESTIGATOR ASKED ME TO START TALKING IN ENGLISH AND IT WAS SO HARD AND THEN IN THE END

SHE ASKED ME TO PRAY IN ENGLISH

AND 

I 

ALMOST

COULDNT

LITERALLY HOW DO YOU USE THEE AND THOU AND THY

I DONT REMEMBER

I LITERALLY WAS HAVING TO TRANSLATE FROM SPANISH TO ENGLISH I NEVER IMAGINED THAT THIS WOULD START TO HAPPEN TO ME

I NEVER IMAGINED

THAT I WOULD START

TO LOSE

MY

ENGLISH

THIS IS PROBABLY THE SCARIEST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED IN ALL MY MISSION FORGET ABOUT THE GYPSIES AND THE EARTHQUAKES AND THE THOUSANDS OF DOGS THAT WANT TO EAT YOU

I AM FORGETTING ENGLISH

I NO LONGER FLUENTLY SPEAK ANY LANGUAGE

HELLO DARKNESS MY OLD FRIEND

Also Hna Alonso is learning english and we try to talk in english when we make calls and stuff and she just is so funny, I cannot even tell you guys. She is the actual best. She was thanking Elder Adcock for something the other day and told him 'I VOTED FOR YOU' and also here in Chile we say 'a donde' sometimes which basically is like a response to when people exaggerate like 'i have forty million dollars' 'a DONDE' or like 'i am the best driver' 'A DONDE' stuff like that but literally translated to english it doesnt make sense, but so, our district leader said something and hermana alonso just said, 'WHERE' in english in the 'a donde' tone and it was SO FUNNY CANT EVEN TELL YOU

but anyway

sorry this email has been a bit lame and not very informative

please send questions so that i am not lame and un-informative the next time haha LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH

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[In defense of Hermana Schomburg's un-informativeness, she did not receive an email from home before she wrote, so she was a bit worried about her momma. All is well however, and I'm sure she will be much more informative next week. haha]

grilled cheese

WELL THIS WEEK HAS BEEN SUCH A ROLLER COASTER AND SO COOL

so, my new companion, I don't remember how much I said about her but she is SO COOL she should be the star of a cool superhero TV show, literally she is so amazing. Hermana Alonso is from Mexico and she got baptized when she was 19. She also is a doctor (SURPRISE) and she speaks English SUPER well and she is just SO AMAZING. Her story is amazing and she is so funny and we both LOVE AJÍ [chili pepper] and I'm pretty sure we were friends in the pre-existence. 

Hmm, okay, so... let's talk about how we're opening this sector.

Basically the first day we had NO IDEA what was happening or where to go or what to do, so, we got out the list of members and started visiting them and also contacted EVERY PERSON WE SAW. It was crazy and awesome and just GREAT. 

And let me tell you...

props to Vivaceta because this ward...

THIS WARD IS SO COOL AND SO WONDERFUL AND IT'S JUST SUPER COOL. The bishop and his counselors and all of the leaders are really young... like... Andrew's age. But that's because it's a ward of older folks :) there are two sets of missionaries in Vivaceta and we have the more flaite [gangster] half of the ward, so that's super cool too :P I'm the first gringa on this side of the sector since sister missionaries started coming here, so that's been fun! I'm lined up to teach about 40000 english classes...

What else... Literally this week just has been a lot of work and has gone by super fast, but I love Hermana Alonso and I love working with her and I love the sector, even though it's weird to be so close to my old area... yet so far... haha, yeah, that...

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

Hna Alonso was telling me about one time in one of her sectors, they had a food festival thing and all the missionaries were from different countries so they all brought different foods from their countries and she says, "And the sister from Brazil brought this special thing and the elder from Peru brought this thing and the elder from Honduras brought this and I brought this and there was one gringo and he brought just cheese on bread and cooked it" and I COULDNT EVEN TAKE IT BECAUSE I HAVE NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF THAT SHE WAS LIKE "is that really a food you have in america? it was like he didnt even try...?" AND I COULDNT STOP LAUGHING FOR A LONG TIME BECAUSE LITERALLY WHO ARE WE

WE PUT CHEESE ON BREAD AND COOK IT AND THAT IS A TRADITIONAL DISH FROM THE UNITED STATES

THAT'S WHAT I CALL FREEDOM

But anyway...

I feel like I have so many stories from this week but in this moment I literally cant think of a single one... pucha... we bought cotton candy in the street one day... and for some reason, I have heard the song 'Back in Black' about 400000 times this week, not sure why it's so popular in this sector... it's kinda weird... 

What else have I even done?

We have put quite a few people with baptismal dates, so we'll see how that goes... we're also teaching some Haitians and they are SUPER super dooper cool. This ward is considerably smaller (is that correct grammar??) than Los Olivos, but it's really great as well. The bishop seriously is so great; we had a coordination with him and he asked if there was anything he could do for us, so I jokingly said that I needed chocolate and I would expect it the next time and then on Sunday HE BROUGHT ME CHOCOLATE. 

Also, brownie points here are very real now. People know that I can make brownies now and they are starting to demand brownies. But, if you get brownie points, you are more likely to recieve brownies. 

Hmm...

What else...

Sorry I'm a bit boring this week. I'm just pretty tranquila [quiet].. Not much to report; we're working and it's getting HOT OH NO I THINK I'M GOING TO DIE ACTUALLY FORGOT TO MENTION THAT IT ALREADY IS GETTING HOT AND IT'S NOT EVEN THAT HOT BUT I ALREADY AM DYING BUT IT'S SUPPOSED TO GET UP TO LIKE 38 AND I AM POSITIVE THAT I AM NOT GOING TO SURVIVE. I'M TOO WHITE TO BE SUBJECTED TO THIS KIND OF SUN, I AM GOING TO BE A DIFFERENT COLOR WHEN THIS SUMMER IS OVER

Also, the 18th of September is coming and that means PARTIES EVERYWHERE BECAUSE IT'S CHILE'S 4TH OF JULY WOOOOOOOOO

And... um... I don't know... what else... I wish I had something more meaningful to say but I just... don't. 

I just know that I seriously am so happy and grateful to be here. Every day that I'm here, I learn something more. Sometimes it's something small, but sometimes it's something big, but it's always something. And the longer I spend here, the more I realize that learning doesn't come standing still. When we're comfortably standing in one spot, we're not learning anything. We have to step out of our comfort zones to learn; we have to make mistakes; we have to fall sometimes, that's when learning comes and God knows that best of all. I was starting to feel comfortable in Los Olivos, and then I had cambios, and now I have learned more. The first step to learning is to TAKE A STEP. DON'T JUST STAND THERE. DO SOMETHING. 

Yeah, I dunno... I've been thinking about that lately... learning is always harder than staying put, but the payoff is always better, and if we have the gospel, even more precious. 

To conclude, I would like to just say that I know this church is true; this is the church of Jesus Christ, the very same church that he established when he was here and that God has a plan for every single one of us. He loves us so much that he sent his son to pay for our sins and sorrows; he gives us our families, everything we have. I know that my redeemer lives, and I know that he loves me, and I know that he loves you :) and of that I testify in his sacred name, amen.

OKAY SO TALK TO YOU ALL NEXT WEEK I REALLY LOVE YOU ALL A LOT AND JUST

BE WELL EVERYBODY

BE WELL

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 

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View of the Hipodromo Chile

Night view from apartment

More pretty view

View, view, view

I'VE LEFT THE COOP er nest what even is that phrase what is english

The view from the apartment in the new area

WELL GUESS WHAT

WE

HAD

TRANSFERS WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

and I am now in the ward Vivaceta! Which is also in the same stake as before! AND I HAVE A NEW COMPANION FROM MEXICO: HERMANA ALONSO! And, unfortunately, I'm killing her :/ this is her last transfer before she leaves, but I already know that we're going to SACAR LA MUGRE [remove the dirt] and have a whole bunch of fun this cambio. She is so WONDERFUL :D but also, we are opening Vivaceta 2nd Ward, haha, she was in a different ward before so we've both just arrived and we just kind of wandered around for a whole lot of time trying to find a place to do internet and all that and it has been an adventure. This week is going to be GR9 [gr9 is one better then gr8] AND WE ARE GOING TO GET LOST SO MANY TIMES HAHAHA YES

Hermana Alonso and Hermana Schomburg

For those of you wondering about my feet, we have been on reposo... rest... is that the word? I have no clue. But anyway, we have been on a bit of reposo and last week we went to have special arch supports made at a special place outside the mission and they should arrive on Thursday and everything will be great again and we will work and work and work and work and BAPTIZE

Speaking of, we had CUALQUIER persona with baptismal dates in Los Olivos and they should (most of them) get baptized this cambio! SO THAT'S REALLY COOL and a little bit of a bummer that I won't be there, but all the elders and Hermana Ferrin promised me to send pictures. So... that

What else...

This week we had ward conference in our ward and it was really great! We had a talent show on Friday and I sang with Matias 'Beauty and the Beast' the song thing tale as old as time but in spanish

haha

that was an adventure

WE PRACTICED LIKE TWICE HAHA

And then sang divina luz while Hermana Ferrin played the piano. ALL OF IT WAS SO AMAZING. AND THEY ALL PLAY GUITAR LIKE NOBODY'S BUSINESS AND I HAD SEVERAL MOMENTS OF REALLY BEING LIKE 'holy cannoli i'm in chile i am in south america i am in a different country and i am speaking the spanish i speak the spanish i do the things i am doing the missionary literally what even' BUT SO YEAH THAT WAS MY WEEK AND NOW I'M HEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEE IN VIVACETA 2 WOOOOOOOOHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I AM SO EXCITED TO OPEN THIS SECTOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRR

but anyway

LOVE YOU ALL TALK TO YOU NEXT WEEK CCCCCCCCCIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (also, i am aware that everybody here spells it 'chao' but it just doesnt feel right i just like the italian way better)

Elder Adcock's birthday cake

Success!!

Santiago North hermanas activity

MAC N CHEESE!!!

CUTE PUPPY!!!

PIES [feet]

This is a pre-mission photo but
since she forgot her camera cord again
you get one of my favorite photos of
Hermana Mather (mentioned below)
and Hermana Schomburg

WELL, okay, so, I have a few things that happened this week.

Don't freak out... but...

I had to go...

to...

the medico.

Obviously it's nothing grave or you would have heard something earlier, I imagine, but I have been having some problems with my feet lately... as in... thEY HURT SO BAD but I mean, we walk a lot, and it happens to a lot of missionaries, all that, we're working on fixing the problem, no se preocupen, todo está bien [do not worry, all is well]. So, let's do a day by day

1) Monday: P-Day! I don't remember what we did haha

2) Tuesday: OH YEAH, I COMPLETED 5 MONTHS WHOA I HAVE BEEN HERE FOR FIVE MONTHS?????? literally what even this is so crazy what EVEN (also happy birthday shout out to Hermana Mather <3) 

(just realized i was numbering the days also and that doesnt make ANY sense haha sorry lol okay anyway)

Wednesday: We have our district class every Wednesday, so we did that and it was SUPER cool and gr8 and also

OH YEAH THIS PART IS

OH DARNIT

I DON'T HAVE THE PICTURES

WEDNESDAY WAS ELDER ADCOCK'S BIRTHDAY SO WE MADE HIM A CAKE AND IT WAS SO PRETTY MOM MOM MOM I MADE A CAKE I MADE A WHOLE CAKE AND IT WAS ACTUALLY SO CUTE I CAN'T EVEN TELL YOU GUYS I MADE THE BEST CAKE well okay the best cake possible seeing as I am in chile and things are different here (also our oven is JUST LIKE I DON'T KNOW IT IS REALLY STRONG REALLY FUERTE NUESTRO HORNO PROBABLEMENTE ES UN PORTAL AL INFIERNO NO ESTOY SEGURA QUÉ PASÓ [PROBABLY OUR STRONG OVEN IS A PORTAL TO HELL I'M NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENED] JUST ONE DAY IT STARTED BEING SO SO SO SO STRONG AND WE CAN'T GET IT TO CALM DOWN) but anyway you should all be proud of me. I am proud of me. 

Thursday: on thursday we had a lesson with a woman that thinks that all gringos are extraterrestrials. 

I didn't know how to tell her that she was absolutely right, didn't want to scare her...

Friday: On Friday we went to the doctor! Woohoo! And it was quite interesting because the foot doctor is from here in Santiago and speaks only spanish and the other doctors (a pair of missionaries that are married i dont know what the term is in english) are from Utah and only speak english, so, we had to translate what the foot doctor was saying to the regular doctor so they could get me a perscription and stuff and it was quite an experience. I had to explain my problem in english and I almost couldnt... I know that sounds weird because I am writing just fine in english right now but we are ALWAYS talking in spanish to the point that now english feels weird in my mouth, like... i cant get the words to come out... it's easier with a british accent but still... speaking english is so strange

what even is english

who knows

but anyway, so we did that and it was really great and tomorrow we're going to get some super special  (shoe inserts... is that what they are called??) [orthotics] made to fit my foot and it's going to be super great and just don't even worry about it for one second because it's all great 

so that

also had coordination with our mission leader and a whole bunch of the elders from the office and we were having once as well (like dinner but at any hour) and we had completos and Elder Vizcarra (who is from Peru [they like ají {which is like spicy pepper cosas}]) ate so much ají that he started crying real tears and it was all good fun 

Saturday: on saturday... i dont remember what we did on saturday... probably something... haha yeah i dont remember #missionlife

Sunday: OKAY WHOA OKAY SO SUNDAY WAS SO JAM PACKED FULL OF THINGS SO MANY THINGS

So, actually, some of the things are a bit macabre but also just... the truth. It's all what happened.  So, we show up at church and first actually, we have a new pair of missionaries that are married in the office and they are from utah and dont speak spanish so hermana ferrin and i had to translate with them and their bishop also so that was fun, then we went to relief society and in the middle of the meeting, the bishop and some other people showed up and were telling us that we needed to move the chairs and stuff and so we ended the meeting really fast and then everybody was standing on the sides of the room and one of the sisters told me that i needed to lead them in a hymn so i started leading us in a hymn not knowing at all what was happening (but it wasnt just us, nobody knew what was happening except like three people and they werent saying anything) and so we were singing and then DE REPENTE (all of a sudden) ALL THESE BROTHERS CAME UP THE STAIRS WITH A CASKET AND WE HAD AN IMPROV FUNERAL

DIED YESTERDAY AND WE HAD THE FUNERAL YESTERDAY

IT WAS SO WEIRD

AND THEN WE WERE LIKE 'do you want us to round up all the people and have them come up here?' (we have two floors in our building; the chapel and cultural hall are upstairs and the rest of the classrooms downstairs and we were having relief society in the cultural hall) AND THEY TOLD US 'no, the classes are going on as normal' AND THEY HAD THIS CASKET IN THERE ALL DURING SUNDAY SCHOOL JUST

HANGING OUT

I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT TO THINK

IT WAS SO STRANGE ALL OF IT

and we had to teach gospel principles, so we taught gospel principles and it was just all really crazy...

but our lesson went well. We taught about the obra misional [missionary work] (hahaha) and we used an example with brownies (everybody loves my brownies let me tell you) and I HAVE TO EXPLAIN IT NEXT TIME BECAUSE IT WAS REALLY COOL BUT I DNOT HAVE ANY MORE TIME but yeah just know that 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH THE CHURCH IS TRUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEE JESUS LOVES US AAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

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Hermana Palo

No photos this week - so it's a repeat

That's me.

INTRODUCING THE NEW AND IMPROVED 

HERMANA PAALLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

and for those of you who don't get it, palo means stick in Spanish. 

That doesn't actually clear much more up, okay, let me explain. There is a phrase that we use here in the Spanish speaking world that is dar palo. To give stick. And I am having trouble thinking of how to explain it in English... when somebody dar's palo (haha Spanglish tho) they say it how it is; they don't hold back, and not in a romantic way, more of like... well.... LITERALLY HOW DO I EXPLAIN THIS. IT'S JUST

DAR PALO

DI PALO 

I DON'T KNOW

LIKE

IF SOMEBODY IS BEING SILLY AND DOING SOMETHING SILLY AND I CASTIGAR (WHAT IS THAT IN ENGLISH) [punish] THEM THEN I HAVE GIVEN PALO. That is how palo works.

You give the palo and then people fear you.

And I am the new Hermana Palo. So, when you read that, fear should strike your hearts and there should be screams.

But don't worry, it was all in love. 

Without giving a whole lot of details, our ward has been having some trouble working with us as missionaries to bring to pass the work and all that... and so, during our ward council, I had the opportunity to give some palo. And I didn't exactly know that I was going to do it and I don't exactly remember what I said, but Hermana Ferrin and Hermano Vergara (our ward mission leader) were very impressed and called me both 'Hermana Valiente' [Brave] and 'Hermana Palo', so, I think that it went well. We were talking a little bit about the numbers of church assistence in all the stake and that our ward had the best assistence in all the stake and somebody used the phrase, 'estamos bien' (we're okay) to which I gave a bit of palo. 

Let me explain to you why no 'estamos bien' even though we have the best assistence [attendance] in the stake, [a stake is similar to a diocese] and why no ward [a ward is a local congregation] should ever say 'estamos bien' just because their assistence (not sure if that actually makes sense in English, I am having English problems today) is better than anybody else in the stake. 

In any given ward, I imagine that there are a handful of less actives that everybody knows, and a mountain of less actives that nobody knows about, and until every single person on that list is in the church on Sunday, praying every day, and reading their scriptures, and really coming unto Christ, NO ESTAMOS BIEN. We cannot fall into Satan's trap of thinking that because we have done a little bit of work and have seen some results that everything is fine and we need not work more. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die, that's what we're saying when we decide that because we've done a little that we don't need to do more. Eat, drink, and ignore the things that are hard to do because nobody else knows, the numbers are high, don't worry about it! 

How about....

no.

How about we all buck up and SACAR LA MUGRE [remove the dirt - get to work] because tomorrow we really do die and I'm going to die trying darnit. We need to get ourselves out of our own heads, thinking that our salvation is secure because we're doing all the things that we need to be doing, because if we're not helping out the rest of the people, we AREN'T doing all the things that we need to be doing and our salvation is no longer secure! And if that is the only thing that can motivate us to work with the missionaries and be the member missionaries that we're always talking about, then remember that, but if you want to go a step further, remember simply that we are all children of God and all of us needs to pitch in to help one another. We're all in this together, so for humanity's sake, if you haven't seen somebody at church in a while, find out what's going on! Follow the promptings of the Spirit to find the people that need help; be the Savior's hands on the earth and do what he would do: don't wait for somebody else to tell you to visit somebody or to call somebody; do it yourself! Pretty sure there's a scripture about that in Doctrine and Covenants, but ANYWAY, we're all children of God and we've all had rough times. We've all gotten a little lost from the rest of the pack, so at least try to help those people who are struggling. The least we can do is try.

But anyway, that's a little parte-cito of the palo that I gave.

Now you all have it too. congrats :)

But I have to go now, and I love you all so much! Talk to you all later!

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"Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;" Doctrine and Covenants 58:27