WHOOOOAAAAA I'M HALFWAY THERE

Wow okay I was not prepared for picTURES AND NOW I´M SITTING HERE CRYING MY EYES OUT AND ELDER FELIPE BESIDE ME THINKS I´M INSANE COS I´M AUDIBLY SOBBING AND MY DISTRICT HAS BEEN QUESTIONING MY SANITY ALL WEEK AND NOW THEY´RE JUST QUESTIONING IT MORE BUT ANYWAY WOW OKAY SO FIRST OF ALL

[Photos of Elder Schomburg's homecoming were sent to Hermana Schomburg with an explicit warning... apparently, she decided to partke so I will share them here.] :)

Yeah okay so Jeffrey got home holy cannoli I cannot tell you how emotionally compromised I have been this week okay I watched the clock all day Tuesday and Wednesday keeping track of when he would be on the plane and stuff and we went out to walk around the temple for a break with Hermano Ceballos and I accidentally started crying cos just I dunno like everything is crazy and the temple is pretty and I just love Santiago and Hermano Ceballos felt very bad and I didn´t mean to start crying it just happened and then he gave me a good piece of advice. It was just something simple, but it was what I needed to hear. He told me, ´Have patience Hermana Schomburg,´ and I think I am beginning to learn more and more every day how importance patience is going to be for me on my mission. 

This week has been a bit of a prematurely trunky week, what with Jeffrey coming home and Robby turning 12 today and just everything in the world. It´s all been kinda crazy and I´ve been missing home a lot, but I can also say that there is no place I would rather be than here. I love you guys, I really do, don´t misunderstand, but I also love being a missionary more than I ever dreamed I would. 

We watched a devotional given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland at the Provo MTC on January 13th of 2009 on Sunday and it was just amazing. Behold some of my scattered but meaningful (to me) notes on said devotional;

One thing that he said that really struck me was that ´the most important thing in this universe is the salvation of the human soul,´ and that the Atonement is a testimony of that. Christ suffered and died for the salvation of our very souls; he suffered and died for the same cause that I am currently fighting for. I believe that he later used some of his phrases in a conference talk or something of the like, but he said something along the lines of, Í am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience,´ and went on to say that missionaries ´cannot be his witness and not walk where he walked.´ The words are striking on the page but I encourage you to find the original talk that they´re from and watch it, because they´re even more amazing when you hear them spoken. I guess it just got me thinking a lot. 

[Here are the links for the devotional and General Conference talk to which Hermana Schomburg is referring.]

The Miracle of a Mission 

Missionary Work and the Atonement

This is the most important thing that I will ever do in my life, apart from of course getting married and sealed in the temple. I have been entrusted with the power to save not just lives, but souls. I have been entrusted with the responsibility of some of Heavenly Father´s children and this responsibility should not be taken lightly. I am on the Lord´s errand, doing his work. I have been prepared my whole life to do this and I only have 18 months. This is one thing that I will only get to do once; I´ve got one shot at this and I am going to make it count. Elder Holland also painted a picture of being carried into your homecoming talk on a stretcher through the door we only ever use for funerals and stumbling to the stage to give a rousing speech. That´s what I want.

I want to give every ounce of strength I have to this mission and have faith that the Lord will carry me through the hard times, and through the good. I want to be one of those annoying return missionaries that starts every single sentence with, ´When I was on my mission...´ and I want everybody in the world to know that the gospel is true and to gain a testimony for themselves and to return to live with our Father in Heaven again someday and though I know that´s a little steep of a goal, that´s how I feel. I know with every ounce of my being that this gospel is true and that it saves lives and families: it saved mine. 

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

BUT I´M NOT DONE YET BECAUSE NOW I HAVE TO TELL YOU ALL ABOUT MY WWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Okay so this week has gone by SO FAST it´s insane. I feel like I was writing you literally four minutes ago I cannot believe at ALL that it has been an entire week.

We got new teachers this week, which was a big change. Our morning teachers (Hermanas Jiménez y Abarzúa) don´t speak a speck of English. Not even a speck. They told us at the beginning of the week that they only every taught North Americans that are in their fifth and sixth weeks, not their third and fourth, so we´re not sure what that says about us, but we think it´s good. 

Then our afternoon teachers do speak English but when we asked them if they spoke English, they both said, ´Not for you,´ and we all laughed but they were serious. They don´t speak English to us either, but it´s way fun. I LOVE SPANISH SO MUCH. I just love it. I just

I JUST HAVE A LOT OF LOVE FOR THE SPANISH LANGUAGE

But anyway, our afternoon teachers (Hno. Marcel y Hna. Muñoz) are really awesome. I love them.

Also, we have one night teacher, Hermano Díaz and I have found that usually the night teachers speak mostly in your native language because that´s when they teach you more spiritual things and, not that you can´t be spiritual in Spanish, but at this point in our knowledge of the language, it´s best for us to do that in English.

I just really love it here. The teachers are awesome and I seriously have the BEST COMPANION that has ever lived. 

We have a new roommate, however. One of the Latina hermanas in our room had to go home because of some issues at home, entonces, we now have Hermana Flores! She´s a ball of sunshine all the time; it´s way fun. Also a tad bit frustrating all the time when we can´t figure out to communicate, but most of the time we do pretty well.

We had a way fun FHE [Family Home Evening] activity the other night where the North Americans taught the Latinos English and then they went head to head in a translating game and it was just loads of fun. 

It has been... well, to be honest, the new missionaries have been a bit of a trial of my faith but I am TRYING SO HARD. Hna. Paulson and I are seriously trying so hard to be so nice and having a lot of patience and the new missionaries are great they really are we really love all the missionaries wow love ALL THE MISSIONARIES WE LOVE THEM WE REALLY DO.

WE.

LOVE.

THEM.

ALSO EXCITING THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK:

Hna. Paulson and I always take a daily run outside Alcántara and yesterday we were running and there are a couple ladies that walk their dogs every day and we see them all the time and so we decided to stop and talk to them and so we talkED AND THEY ASKED ABOUT THE CHURCH AND WE GAVE THEM ANSWERS AND IT WAS SO AMAZING AND WE DID IT ALL IN SPANISH AND ALSO IT TURNED OUT THAT ONE OF THE LADIES WAS BEING TAUGHT BY SOME SISTER MISSIONARIES IN THE ESTE MISIÓN [Santiago East Mission] AND SO WE JUST TALKED AND I DUNNO IT WAS SO AWESOME I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT SO MUCH HOLY CANNOLI

Also, I forgot to mention that we didn´t feel the earthquake at all. I said that out loud when I read it and everybody in the lab went, ´there was an earthquake?´ so yeah. No. We didn´t feel anything.

Also you asked more questions let me find them....

Ah yes new missionaries, talked about, also General Conference oh man I AM SO EXCITED FOR THAT. And I believe we stream it but I don´t remember what I was told. I apologize.

ALSO THIS TIDBIT IS FOR MY BROTHER ANDREW: ONE OF MY TEACHERS HERMANO LEIVA IS GOING TO BE AT CONFERENCE AND YOU NEED TO FIND HIM AND TALK TO HIM COS HE IS SUCH A COOL DUDE AND ALSO JUST YEAH YOU SHOULD DO THAT I TOLD HIM THAT HE COULD FACEBOOK STALK YOU IF HE LIKES

Also I don´t remember if I mentioned this but the other week we were doing a daily planner exam thing where one of the teachers takes a picture of a planner and puts it on a screen and we all look at it and see how we can improve our own and they chose mine but we had all done this funny thing since we knew it was coming and written ´get rid of that rash´ in our weekly goals and when the teachers read it we all just burst out laughing but then none of them knew what a rash was so we had to explain and it was just so hilarious and just yes. Many funny things happen here at the CCM in Chile. It´s quite the place and I am quite grateful to be here.

Also my teacher Hermano Díaz is a ginger. And looks very gringo. In fact, you could say he´s the Chilean version of Mr. Belk. So that´s a thing. 

Also I keep forgetting to mention that the Latinos can´t sing to save their lives, but at the same time, there is no better sound than all of them singing Called to Serve in their own keys on a crowded bus, no better sound in the world. But anyway that´s not what I keep forgetting to say. What I keep forgetting to say is that ever since they found out I can sing they´ve made me sing publicly many times. Hermano Antileo and Hermana Ceballos made me sing for the class one day and then Hermano Marcel as well and I´ve sung two Sunday´s in a row with my district, so that´s a thing and it´s way fun and I´m so grateful that I didn´t have to give up all my music coming down here. 

Also I said the closing prayer in sacrament meeting on Sunday! In Spanish!

ALSO I ACTUALLY HAVE TO GO SUPER FAST BUT I KNOW THAT THERE IS SOMETHING I´M FORGETTING POOP OH NO I CAN´T REMEMBER OH NO THIS IS BAD THIS IS BAD OH NO OKAY WELL MAYBE I´LL REMEMBER LATER I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH MORE THAN YOU CAN EVEN IMAGINE AND I PRAY FOR YOU CADA DÍA [daily]

CIAO FOR NOW MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Until we meet again, 

Hermana Schomburg

The entire population of the Chile MTC
32 missionaries strong

Street in Santiago

Sassy mannequin at the mall

Santiago

Palm tree :)

Santiago

Missionary must haves
Marzipan, gummy worms, and tobasco

Hermana Schomburg and Hermana Paulson

HOLY COLORADO

HELLO MY MOMMA HELLO HELLO HELLO I AM TRYING TO ATTACH SOME MORE PICTURES TODAY BUT IT TAKES APPROXIMATELY FOURTEEN HOURS FOR EACH PHOTO AND YOU CAN ONLY ATTACH SO MANY SO THIS EMAIL IS GOING TO BE BROKEN INTO MANY PIECES AS I SEND PHOTOS AND WORDS AS THEY ARE UPLOADED BUT ANYWAY let me try to tell you so me meaningful things that happened to me this week.

So this week and last week as well (I just didn´t mention it) we taught investigators and have had so much fun and done so many things and just YES IT HAS BEEN SO MUCH YES.

It feels like the days go by so slowly but the weeks fly by. Today we are the only district in the entire MTC because LITERALLY EVERY OTHER DISTRICT LEFT FOR THE FIELD THIS MORNING. We are alone here in the CCM and it feels a bit like the zombie apocalypse is coming, but it definitely isn´t, don´t worry. I don´t have pictures from today´s P-Day because we haven´t gone out yet; we´re writing first, but I will send pictures from last P-Day and also I don´t know my thoughts are very scattered and it is very hard to type on this keyboard and all of the above but anyway. Let me set out a little plan real quick so I´m not screaming random thoughts out everywhere.

First I´ll talk about our investigators. Then I´ll talk about the food. Then I´ll talk about my district and also my companion. And then maybe some other things we´ll see.

Okay, so we have (had since we get new teachers and investigators tomorrow) four investigators: Hermano Marcos (we never found out his last name oops), Hermana Carolina Castillo, Hermana Flora Navia, and Hermano Sebastian Díaz. Marcos was our very first appointment before we knew anything so we didn´t do anything right and it was really quite terrible and we ended up just asking if we could come back later. Flora we did somewhat the same but we at least shared a scripture with her, and then Carolina was an amazing lesson and Sebastian was not too shabby. 

Then, however, we had the trainwreck.

The Marcos Trainwreck, that´s what we call it. 

Hna. Paulson and I went in very prepared and everything and started talking with Marcos, getting to know him and it was all fine... until I mentioned prophets. And he was confused. And rather than following the Spirit and teaching about prophets, we decided to trudge ahead and continue teaching the Restoration and long story short, by the end of the lesson Marcos was thoroughly confused and we tried to commit him to read the Book of Mormon but he said he didn´t want to and I literally pleaded with him to read it; I begged in Spanish for him to read it and made him take it and it was terrible and at the time Hna. Paulson wasn´t super confident in her Spanish so I would teach most of the lesson and she would testify and pray and so we tried to testify and he was walking out of the room anD IT JUST WAS TERRIBLE AND WE REALIZED WE HADN´T PRAYED WITH HIM OR PRAYED BEFORE WE CAME AND WE MADE ALL THESE TERRIBLE MISTAKES AND IT WAS SO BAD BUt now we give ourselves some more slack because, well... that was our second day at the CCM. At least we messed up then though; at least we have the CCM to mess up in at all. It was just a really bad lesson. It was bad. And we agreed when it was over that it was because we were relying too much on ourselves and our own capabilites to speak Spanish. I think the most important thing that I´ve been learning the last two weeks is not to depend on yourself. I don´t know this language. I don´t know how to teach the gospel in this language, I don´t know all the Chilean customs and whatnot and I don´t quite know how to be a missionary yet and I need to rely  on the Spirit more than anything else right now, and for the rest of my mission, and for the rest of my life. The Spirit will never lead me astray.

Okeedoke, now let´s talk about the food.

So, basically, we have breakfast at Alcántara and then we bus over to the CCM and have lunch and dinner there. Breakfast is usually cereal (very similar to what we have in America) but instead of milk, we have yogurt on it. I haven´t had milk in two weeks. I AM DYING. Not really but I really love milk and it makes me sad to not have the milk oh ugh I don´t want to talk about it.

Also the water is safe, I drink a lot of water and a lot of strange juices that I don´t know what they are.

We eat lots of bread.

Oh yes, I didn´t finish with breakfast. We have these little breakfast sandwiches (which apparently are strange in Idaho because none of the Idahoans understand sandwiches I guess) and also lots of fresh fruit. And hot chocolate. And hard boiled eggs. SO MUCH YES.

We also have lots of carbs and unknown meats, so that´s way fun. Sometimes they tell us what the meat is and sometimes they don´t and sometimes they say words that I don´t even try to understand but none of it has been bad so I´m sure it´s all fine (though I did hear that a couple weeks back the meat was cow stomach hahahaha COOL). We had these little noodles and ham/cheese type sauce the other day that made me think of kaspatzle or however it is you spell it. 

ALSO THERE ARE ALWAYS DESSERTS AND THEY ARE ALWAYS WEIRD AND I DON´T KNOW WHY BUT THERE ARE PRUNES IN EVERYTHING. WE HAD THIS BRIGHT PINK THING THE OTHER DAY THAT WAS LIKE A WEIRD ROOM TEMPERATURE MOUSSE THAT TASTED LIKE A BABY BOTTLE POP AND IT WAS QUITE STRANGE AND I DIDN´T EAT MUCH OF IT AND WHEN YOU ASK THE NATIVES WHAT IT IS THEY ALWAYS SAY ´no sé´ which is quite comforting but in all reality I eat three meals a day and even though the other girls have a problem with a lot of them, I think they´re fine. What can I say? I like food.

ALSO SPEAKING OF NOT BEING ABLE TO SPELL

I am forgetting how to spell and it´s very disconcerting because I have always been a very good speller but now it´s just all gone. It´s okay though, I´m not super worried. Also I wrote a list of things that are different here in Chile, let me write it to you.

The tissues here are so small. They are for people with small noses.

The ranch is not ranch. It is ranch, but it is not. Do not be fooled by the ranch, it is not ranch. But it is.

Flan is quite bland.

Chilenos talk SO DANG FAST

Everybody and their cousin likes to hug you and kiss your cheek.

Chilenos don´t point with their index finger; they point with their lips. They just kind of kiss in the direction that you need to go and it is strange.

Everybody honks. EVERYBODY. 

Chilenos are actually mostly of European descent so their skin isn´t super dark like most other people, but they all have long black hair.

We have dulce de leche with literally every meal.

Also there are many universities nearby and there has been a lot of hazing lately so that´s been interesting.

Motorcycles drive wherever the heck they want to like in between the cars and on the sidewalks and I haven´t seen a single motorcycle not driven by a man wearing a suit.

1 in every 30 people here is a Mormon

Don´t call people sassy in Spanish here because it is actually somewhat offensive (glad I learned that here hahahaha)

You must ALWAYS practice good table manners because it is VERY rude not to. 

People are very friendly also :)

What else was I going to talk about? 

Oh yes, my district and especially my companion!

I love my companion so much, Hna. Paulson is the actual best. We have so many similarities and so many differences but we work really well together. I am afraid for when we get out of the CCM and I have to get a new companion :( I love Hna. Paulson so much.

She is from Idaho Falls and she likes to run and she plays piano and we are going to perform on a Sunday before we leave :) she looks like a Chilena but doesn´t have any Chilean in her family whatsoever, but it´s useful when we´re out on the street on P-Day. She is allergic to all nuts except peanuts so we have to ask everywhere we go if there are nuts and I dunno it´s just fun and she is so awesome and I dunno I´m just super glad that she´s my companion. She went to BYU-I for a semester before coming here and she´s studying to be a dental hygienist. I just spent four minutes trying to figure out how to spell that but I am done no more I give up.

ALSO EXCITING NEWS.

So, we´ve been staying in the Hinckley room as I told you before, but as of today, we have been moved into what is notoriously known as...

THE BIRDHOUSE

It´s this little attachment off the side of the house and up some stairs that is super cute and just yes I love it and I am very excited to live in there even though it is QUITE warm in there. We think we got moved because there are 26 new missionaries coming to stay at Alcántara tomorrow.

Haha.

TWENTY-SIX

We had 15 in there before today but then all the Latinos left to their missions and for today we´re alone, but tomorrow we are going to total 34. In Alcántara. Because President and Hermana Doll are going on vacation or something like that so all of the missionaries have to stay at Alcántara. The new North American hermanas are getting the Hinckley room and we more experienced hermanas are going to the Birdhouse since we´ve been here longer. Hna. Paulson and I are getting two more roommates: Hermanas Heeb and Cornejo, both Latinas! So we will be learning Spanish very quickly after this. I am QUITE EXCITED.

ALSO I KEEP FORGETTING TO TALK ABOUT ALL THE SMELLS HERE BECAUSE WHOA SMELLS

First of all, Santiago has a very distinct smell. I noticed it when I got off the plane, but I don´t really notice it anymore. It used to be quite stinky to me, but it´s okay now. Though still quite stinky every once in a while. 

But because it is stinky, the CCM has all these smell-inators everywhere that I´m not quite sure what they are but they are little cans of liquid with a little paper boopy boop sticking out that smells up the whole place and sometimes they are very strong. We do this thing called TALL which is a computer program to help us learn Spanish and everytime we come into the lab it smells very strongly of almond extract.

OH ALSO BEFORE I FORGET 

TODAY

IT

RAINED

IT IS RAINING AS WE SPEAK

THERE IS RAIN

But the rain doesn´t smell normal. It smells spicy. Like fresh peppers. It´s kinda weird. 

Kinda a lot.

And it is quite humid before it rains. I´ve felt sticky all day; like I just got out of the shower or something. But constantly. Everywhere you walk. All the time.

OH YES BEFORE I FORGET (as you can see I am quite forgetful)

The Latinos have finally learned how to say my name! Though they just left, so now I have to teach a new group of Latinos...

But my teachers all have it down somewhat. Elder Perrier (the one from Switzerland) says it more like ´Schombu(flem)´ and sometimes to get it right he says ´Schomburgerking´ so that´s all cool and fun.

I´m sorry this hasn´t been super spiritual, I´m just really emotionally compromised because my brother is coming home and I won´t be there to greet him so I´M NOT THINKING ABOUT IT AND I NEVER WILL

But anyway, I love you all and I´m going to mail real letters now :) talk to you all next week!

LES AMO MUCHO (no sé si es correcto o cualquier cosa yo hablo) [I LOVE YOU MUCH (not sure if it's right or anything I speak)]

¡Ciao!

OH YES, Momma, please title this week´s blog post ´Holy Colorado´ because all of my district makes fun of my little sayings. Especially Holy Cannoli and Golly, so they have started saying ´Holy Colorado´ so anyway I love you so MUCH I JUST LOVE YOU HOLY COW

¿Cómo Se Dice?

HOLA FAMILIA

Okeedoke, so I kind of have a lot of things to tell you all but I don´t really have a whole lot of time so I´m going to try to make this sort of brief and also I didn´t read any of the emails I got though I did read part of Elder Schomburg´s but anyway okay so let´s start from the very beginning.

So, I thought the plane ride was going to be the most crazy part of my whole life ever but it was actually quite boring to be honest. Lot´s of sitting. Very little sleeping. It was dark outside so I couldn´t really see anything we were flying over (though I was able to make out a few islands which was super cool) and yeah so that happened and that was basically boring and I don´t really know what else to say about it. We thought it was going to be so hard to get past immigration and customs but none of the officers said a word to any of us and the only thing they took from me were mis rasaduras [my razors] so it wasn´t really a big deal.

Okay, so when we got off the plane and got through customs and everything, we didn´t really know what to do but there was this one Elder (the first other missionary I found at the Atlanta airport) who was from Canada but was born in Argentina so he spoke perfect Spanish and sort of guided us all out of the airport. Some of the girls that I thought were going to be on the plane didn´t end up being on the plane, for example, my companion Hermana Paulson. What happened was she was scheduled for a different flight; just the flight the same time but a day after ours was. I arrived with most of my district. We are one of two North American districts in the CCM [MTC - Missionary Training Center] right now, so that´s pretty awesome. There are tons of Latinos all over the place and it´s so much fun and I just can´t even explain. We also have an Elder in our district that is actually from Switzerland and speaks only French so that has been a huge but amazingly entertaining barrier. The other night we spent almost half an hour trying to get him to understand the word ´pudding´ so that was wonderful. He is very friendly; he oftentimes has conversations with random people through the window of the bus as we´re driving to the CCM each day.

Which brings me to another point; I don´t actually live at the CCM currently, hahaha yeah wow okay so yeah. When we got off the plane, there was this nice lady that didn´t speak any English whatsoever and she told us to go with her but she could only take three so Hermanas Palmer, Hokanson, and I all went with her and got in her car and drove through Santiago and it was so amazing and then suddenly she pulled up to this house and we were all confused and afraid but it´s this place called Alcantara and it´s basically an overflow from the CCM because, let me tell you, this CCM is so very very tiny. There are I think 38 missionaries here right now. We take up four of the long pews on Sunday. It´s sort of crazy. 

But anyway, Alcantara is SOOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL. It´s an old Swiss embassy that the Church bought and it looks like it too. I´ll see if I can get my pictures on this computer, but I´m not sure I´ll be able to today. But anyway, Hermana Paulson and I are staying in a room called the Hinckley room because, guess what, it was a room that President Hinckely stayed in when he visited. Also many other general authorities have stayed there, not that it´s a big deal or anything. So basically, we sleep and eat breakfast at Alcantara, and then we take a bus to the CCM which is about 15 minutes away and it is so fun and so amazing and just sO GREAT HOLY CROW. 

Our teachers are absolutely amazing. We have six teachers, two per time of day (Hermana Ceballos y Hermano Antileo en la mañana, Hermana Cabrera y Hermano Leiva en la tarde, y Hermano Ceballos y Hermano Henriquez en la noche) and they are all so amazing. They act as investigators also (portraying their own first investigator) and we have to teach them and it is very nerve-wracking but also amazing. Hermana Paulson and I didn´t have a whole lot of luck with our first two investigators, but we got return appointments, but then we were actually able to get in a door and teach Carolinia a lesson about prayer and she is very excited for us to come back ´next week´ which is actually just tomorrow. 

The food here is food. I haven´t had any empanadas yet but I have heard many good things. ALSO THIS SPANISH IS VERY MUCH CHILEAN SPANISH AND NOT MEXICAN SPANISH AT ALL. They have different words for EVERYTHING but thankfully, the basics are still the same. I´m very grateful to be studying in a CCM that has the language that I will be speaking en el campo [in the field]. And all that being said, I LOVE SPANISH SO MUCH HOLY CANNOLI. And I´m very grateful for all the Spanish I already knew because it has helped a lot. Of our North Americans, I know the most Spanish and am usually translating when the Latinos are talking to us. It´s so much fun. I thought that my main problem was going to be understanding the Spanish because I thought I could speak pretty well, but I´m finding more and more that it´s the other way around. I understand a lot, but it´s hard to spit words out. I find though that if you just spit out whatever the heck you can, it helps. The Latinos are very helpful in correcting us and helping us with our grammar.

Which reminds me.

Because our CCM is so small, we are given a topic to write a 5 minute talk on every week and then when sacrament meeting starts, whoever is conducting calles out the names of 6 or 7 people that are going to give their talks. It´s like the Hunger Games but it´s also really cool. 

I had an important realization this week that I´m not sure why I didn´t realize earlier.

We watched a devotional on Sunday given by Elder and Sister Cook and he explained how everybody receives their call and the process it goes through. While I was listening I had a thought come to mind: I wasn´t called to the Chile Santiago North Mission. I was assigned to the Chile Santiago North Mission, but I was called to be a representative of Christ and of la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]. I was called to serve, not to go to Chile. I am in Chile and that is great, but I am not here just to be in Chile. I am here because I am a missionary. I am here to spread the word of God and teach the gospel to His children. Mi llamamiento es más importante que la lugar [My calling is more important than the place]. 

I have no clue if that was correct in Spanish. I´m kind of at the point that I don´t really know English anymore but I definitely don´t know Spanish. It´s like a weird transition that is really lame because I can´t speak any languages currently, but I love learning Spanish sooooo much :) 

We had an Hermano teach us the first two days (Hermano Escobar) and he taught us about why we are here and who we are and he said, 'Bienvenidos a la misión!´ [Welcome to the mission!] a lot and he was really cool. He would talk about all the bad things that were going to happen and follow it up with ´Por qué? Porque somos misioneros!´ [Why? Because we are missionaries!] and it was very uplifting. He made the point that the nametags we are wearing are ours, not our sisters or brothers or parents and that really hit me. I´ve always looked up to my brothers for being missionaries and for doing the Lord´s work and wanted to be like them but now... now I am! But I´m also myself! More myself than them. This is my mission. This is my nametag. I am a missionary now! Soy una misionera! [I am a missionary!] 

And I couldn´t be happier. 

I don´t remember if I said anything about not being sure if I could get my pictures onto this computer but if I didn´t, I´m not sure I can get my pictures onto this computer. We´ll see what happens.

But anyway, I am so happy to be here and everything is wonderful. If I could give you one image to sum up everything that has happened this week it would probably be me standing on a table throwing food into the air and yelling, ´Cómo se dice?!´ [How to say?] because that´s our favorite new phrase here at the CCM. The Latinos are very nice though, they are even trying to learn English so they can talk with us. It´s a whole lot of fun.

Before I forget, people in my district include: Elder Taylor (district leader) y Elder Spanbauer, Elder Perrier (Suiza) y Elder Muir, Hermana Hokanson y Hermana Palmer, y Hermana Paulson y yo. They´re all really amazing. There is another district living in Alcantara and they are all Latinos and they are so much fun. 

Also, nobody can say my name.

Nobody.

Literally not a single person can say my name and they all avoid it at all costs. Always. 

I am Hermana Ese. I´ve spent a lot of time writing now so I´m going to try uploading pictures, we´ll see how this goes. If you receive more emails with more pictures, then you´ll know I´ve succeeded, but if you don´t, you´ll know I haven´t.

Oh, also, one more thing, a funny story from this week. Elder Vera was asking me at dinner how to say ´de nada´ en Ingles, but I thought he said ´gracias por nada´ so I said ´Thank you for nothing´ and then we all laughed for a long time and we told him that I had meant something else but he still says that to people and it´s really quite hilarious. It´s so awesome here. I just love it. Chile is BEAUTIFUL and so are its people. 

Okay, anyway, now I´m going to try to upload some pictures.

Nevermind hahaha I forgot my cord at Alcantara (one of the only bad things about living there).

So I guess I´ll think up some more things to tell you.

If I can.

I don´t know... I... usually have so much to say... but now that I need to say somthing... I don´t know what to say... I feel like many of my funny stories would not translate well over email, but it has been so much fun and I am so excited to have more fun.

It´s kind of crazy to think that I´ve been in Chile now for a whole week?

Okay, now I have a funny story. So, Elder Muir is not very good at the whole compañero [companion] thing and he loses Elder Perrier (who only speaks French like I said) a lot and by loses I mean that he runs away, so Elder Perrier can now say, ´Where is my companion´ in French, English, Spanish, and Guadanin (a language native to Paraguay where Elder Vera is from). It´s actually very sad but the other day at breakfast, we were going around saying phrases we had learned in Spanish and the Latinas were saying phrases they had learned in English and they were all rather generic English phrases but it got to Hermana Sarmiento and she said, ´Where is my companion?´ and it was just really funny and I feel like these stories don´t sound funny but it wAS SO FUNNY YOU JUST DON´T UNDERSTAND. We haven´t seen any creepy crawlies at all and all of our maestros [teachers] are Chilean and they said that they don´t really have creepy crawlies which is cool. 

It´s actually not overly humid here yet, it´s quite nice. It does cool off quite a bit at night though.

But it´s so great.

It´s weird to think that I´m literally on the opposite side of the world from you guys because there´s a weird phenomenon that happens I think when you travel far for the first time; you think you´re going to get off the plane and it´s going to be a different world entirely with like aliens and no ground and stuff but then you get off the plane in an airport and the words are actually all in English too because you´re coming out of the international terminal and there are humans there and the ground is ground and there are plants and a sky and even mountains (even if they´re on the wrong side). I think I had this weird idea that Chile was on a different planet, but it´s still on the earth. There´s a lot of smog, but it´s still the earth and I dunno; it doesn´t seem too far away. 

Also, for your information, my p-day is today, whatever today is... Tuesday. My p-day is Tuesday and I am writing 11-12 my time. [Chile time is three hours ahead of Colorado time.]

So yeah.

I love you guys a lot. I miss you, but (no offense) not too much. I mean, I miss you all a lot but I mean also I´m in Chile and everybody speaks Spanish but me and it´s way challenging but WAY fun. I just really love it here. 

OH BUT I found out that all of Santiago is not in my mission?? I guess I couldn´t really tell from the map I got, but I don´t have the temple in my mission D: but contrary to popular belief, Hermanas do get sent to the islands (insert smirking emoticon). We´ll see what happens from here. Soy MUY animado [I am very lively. *Not sure if that's what she meant. haha] :D 

Okay, now it is time. I love you all so much! MANY LOVES SO MANY LOVES LOVES FROM CHILE

Until we meet again,

     Hermana Schomburg

Elder Taylor (district leader), Elder Spanbauer, Elder Perrier (Suiza), Elder Muir, 
Hermana Hokanson, Hermana Palmer, Hermana Paulson, Hermana Schomburg

Is this the real life

is this just fantasy?

I{M IN CHILE AND I DON{T KNOW WHERE THE APOSTROPHE IS BUT HOLY CANNOLI THIS IS SO SUPER COOL THE FLIGHT HERE WAS EXCRUCIATING AND I WAS VERY UNHAPPY [Hermana Schomburg experiences claustrophobia] but now it is better. It is super humid and hot and I feel like I{m breathing in soup and I have a nametag and I am in Chile holy cannoli HOLY CANNOLI I couldn{t figure out how to use the at sign and it was terrible and this email almost didn{t happen but anyway I have zero time right now this is just to let you know that I am in fact alive and living and well and my companion hasn{t shown up yet; she was supposed to be on our flight but... she wasn{t... but anyway, sorry this is lame looking and on my screen everything is underlined in red but anyway I love you all very much and I am at the mission home and will talk to you later :) 

Love,

Hermana Schomburg

[This is Hermana Schomburg's mom - I will usually comment inside brackets with an italicized font. She does not have access to her blog, but I will post her weekly e-mails here as well as any other information she asks me to post.  If you have any questions about anything posted here, feel free to comment below or contact me at lkschomburg@msn.com]

Breakfast before departure

Shopping for snacks - she didn't choose 'Mission Figlets' :)

Goofy siblings at the airport

Once nice photo for Mom

Good-byes are hard

Passing on the "B" brooch that belonged to her namesake great-grandma

Hugging on Poppi

Until we meet again...

I Don't Want to Write a Blog Post

But I'm going to anyway because I have something to say this week, darnit.

I've found myself in a bit of a conundrum lately that maybe doesn't make any sense to be thinking about, but this particular thing hasn't ever happened to me and that makes it relevant.

I call it 'emotional eating', or sometimes 'emotional not eating'. This may seem like a silly topic to write about, but surprisingly, it ties in with what I have to say this week.

Recently I have been asking myself way too many times if I'm eating because I'm hungry, or if I'm eating because I'm stressed, or if I'm not eating because I'm stressed, or if I'm not eating because I'm not hungry. It's been a bit of a topsy turvy week when it comes to food. I can tell you confidently that there are days that I've eaten like a Hobbit and days that I've eaten like Gandhi.

I realized as I was pondering on my strange eating schedule this week, that we sometimes do the same thing with the scriptures.

I'll admit that I haven't always been an avid scripture reader, and by that I mean only have I very recently started reading more than one chapter in my scriptures per day. Sometimes even reading a chapter is hard, or even a verse, whereas sometimes I will read the entire book of Alma before putting my scriptures down. I've discovered, however, that this approach to scripture study is all wrong.

I've mostly only ever seen scripture study as something I had to do; it sometimes feels like when you wake up in the morning and think, "I'm going to do a chore today," and then your mom says, "Would you do a chore today?" and your desire to do that chore suddenly decreases by one billion percent.

That is the incorrect approach.

I believe I've discovered the key to scripture study and I believe it lies in our ability to just do it, not dwell on it.

First of all, scripture study should not be a burden. For some of us, however, that's the way it feels and I take no shame in blaming that entirely on the adversary. If everybody read and studied their scriptures daily, he would be out of the job, so he's going to do his best to make us think that studying the scriptures is a burden. His first step to doing this is to make us think that it's a task; a chore, and perhaps the undiscovered key word in that sentence is 'think'. Satan would much rather us think about reading the scriptures than have us actually read them. He would much rather us sit around beating ourselves up because we haven't read our scriptures yet even though that's something we ought to do.

Don't let him get to you like that! You've got better things to be doing than dragging yourself down closer to his level of misery.

And one of them is to read your scriptures.

We already know that scripture study is important and that we should read and study the scriptures daily; there should not be a doubt in our minds that it is vital. In Elder Richard G. Scott's talk 'Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority' he makes this clear as day: "Don’t yield to Satan’s lie that you don’t have time to study the scriptures. Choose to take time to study them. Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media. You may need to reorganize your priorities to provide time for the study of the word of God. If so, do it!"

Since we already know it is important, all that we need to do... is it! Don't let Satan creep into your thoughts when deciding whether or not to read the scriptures. Decide to read the scriptures first so you don't have to decide when you're tired or sick or have a pile of homework to do. When we reach our final judgement, I hardly think the first question asked will be whether or not we finished all of our homework or played as many video games as we wanted or watched every episode of "Grey's Anatomy".

Decide now, wherever you are, whatever you may be doing, to read and study the scriptures every single day; to "feast upon the words of Christ" and not just because we are supposed to, but because we have a desire to know him better, and if nothing else, because "the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do" (2 Nephi 32:3).

And if you can't see how it's going to bless your life to have a regular pattern of scripture study, remember that we must first take the leap of faith and obey the commandment before we can receive the blessings.

Although we all have off days when all we can read really is a verse, we can always strive to do better and to feast every single day on the words of Christ. It's good to nibble, it's better to snack, but it is best to feast and thankfully, that's the type of feast that only enlarges us spiritually.

I know that establishing scripture study as a top priority in my life and striving my best to read my scriptures every day has blessed my life immensely. It gives me spiritual and mental energy (especially when done in the morning! *wink wink nudge nudge*) that allows me to combat the constant barrage of temptations and trials we face each day in this world. Heavenly Father has given us all the tools we need to communicate with him; why not use them as He intended? I challenge each of you to set a reasonable goal for your personal daily scripture study and stick to it; look for the blessings it brings to your life. I promise that you will find them. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.



Until we meet again,
     Elizabeth Schomburg

P.S. This is my last blog post before I leave for Chile (*SCREAMING*). T-minus six sleeps until I depart!