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

CCCCCCCCCCCIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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!

CCCCCCCCCCCCIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"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

If you ask a Peruvian a question...

be ready for an hour long answer. 

Okay, that's not true in every case, but PERUVIANS REALLY LIKE TO TALK FROM WHAT I HAVE OBSERVED. I don't think I¿ve really mentioned this before but we have A WHOLE LOT OF PERUVIANS in our sector and in our ward. The other day we had a couple of lessons with some Peruvians and with both of them, we asked one simple question. Just one question.

'¿Cómo está?' 

but that was a mistake. 

They talked for literally an hour both of them and we didn't really get the chance to share very much, but part of the reason that I am here also is to help the people, and if they just need to talk for a while, then that's okay every once in a while. 

Hermana Ferrin and Hermana Schomburg

BUT NOW

ASK ME HOW GREAT OF A WEEK WE HAD

it was

GR9

That's how great it was. So gr8 it turned gr9. 

We had so much success this week! I have a feeling it has to do with the fact that we fasted twice, haha, but also that we are working SO HARD JUST ALL THE TIME. We found 14 new people to teach.

Let me repeat that:

We found 14 new people to teach.

HOW AWESOME IS THAT??

AND ALSO WE HAVE A STOVE AGAIN WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WE MADE BROWNIES AS SOON AS WE HAD THE STOVE AGAIN AND IT WAS JUST REALLY REALLY WONDERFUL WE LOVE HAVING A STOVE THERE ARE SO MANY MORE FOOD OPTIONS LET ME TELL YOU

Hmm... what did we even do this week... we just worked a whole lot... sometimes, well most times, that happens. We had intercambios on Thursday and that was fun; I went to the ward Independencia and we taught at an old folk's home by accident... ALSO ALMOST GOT KILLED BY DOGS LIKE FORTY TIMES THIS WEEK HOLY CANNOLI I DONT KNOW WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO THE DOGS LATELY BUT WE CANT GO ANYWHERE IT IS INSANE

And... hmm...

On Monday night we taught a family of less actives and we started talking about height and stuff and about how tall people are generally respected more here (we are the lighthouses of society after all) and then I stood up when we were done and one of the kids in the family said, 'Ella es tan preciosa!' [She is so precious!] and that was on a day when I was feeling mas o menos [more or less] about how tall I am haha so uh there's my prideful story of the week

what else...

Well, we showed up to our consejo de barrio [ward council meeting] at 8:00 in the morning on Sunday (after having walked 30 minutes in the rain) and nobody was there.... haha.... and then when the 1st counselor in the bishopric showed up, he was confused too and called the bishop and the bishop said, 'Oh, we cancelled it,' so... we just hung out in the capilla [chapel] for a while until church started....

I don't even know what else we did... We contacted a drunk man and he invited me to come back after my mission to marry him... he apologized several times for drinking and told me he would stop though, so there's a little hope... 

Also, like I said, we fasted twice this week, so I have a list of foods that I miss from the states:

Buffalo wings

Beef jerky

Pumpkin pie

Sweet tarts

Banana bread

There are more but I'll spare you all.

[Click here to learn more about why and how we fast.]

ALSO TODAY WE WENT TO PORTILLO AND WE WERE IN A BUS FOR 2 HOURS TO GET THERE BUT LET ME TELL YOU A STORY

I AM 99% POSITIVE I AM IN THE TRUMAN SHOW BECAUSE THE COUNTRYSIDE OF CHILE LOOKS ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE THAT OF COLORADO IN THIS MOMENT AND THE MOUNTAINS AND EVERYTHING AND JUST HOLY CANNOLI except the mountains

On the bus...

on the bus....

the mountains

let me tell you a story

the mountains are so very large here

they are SO LARGE

REAL LIVE CHILEAN/ARGENTINIAN SNOW

BUT THE COUNTRY SIDE IS THE SAME except for the palm trees and vineyards

BUT REALLY IT IS MUCH MORE SIMILAR THAN YOU WOULD THINK

It kind of was making me afraid but also it was SO COOL. I LOVE IT. LOVE CHILE. LOVE EVERYTHING. WHAT BEAUTY.

Portillo is a Chilean Ski Resort in the Andes
(the missionaries did not ski - it was a day trip)

CHILEAN ICICLES

Hermana Schomburg was here...

and here...

and here...

I AM IN THE PLACE WITH THE WHAT

Also, something that I have been thinking a lot about lately.

As a missionary, I have the opportunity to share my testimony with people on a very regular basis, but unfortunately, sometimes I feel like it goes in one ear and out the other. And other times I feel like the people just really don't care, or that the people don't understand. That is always a bit difficult, but I know that I have done all that I can if I have born my testimony and told them what I know to be true.

But that's not the point; the point is that I am here, 5000+ miles away from anything I have ever known, from my family, from my friends, from all my things, speaking a different language with a different people and let me tell you, I didn't come all this way to preach a lie. This is not just pretty words that I have been programmed to say; although the words are pretty and some of the phrases memorized (I'm speaking another language, darnit) the knowledge and burning testimony behind them is no lie. I know without a doubt in my mind that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of God on the earth today and I am not ashamed to say it. I love this church and I love this gospel and I love Jesus Christ and I will NEVER deny those things. 

This is REAL LIFE PEOPLE. And I love it a lot :)

But that's all the time I have today: I love you all so sosososososososSOOOOO MUCH and I will talk to you later.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hermana Schomburg and the mission nurse

Hermana Schomburg and her CCM companions
(They are now in her zone/area)

Hermana Schomburg and Hermana Nielson
who is headed home

Hermana Ferrin and Hermana Schomburg