nobody knows tan lines like a sister missionary

and if you think you do, you are mistaken.

you are very mistaken

but anyway

okay

let's talk about how this week was SO SLOW but also SO FAST at the same time

and I just am really tired

just really i am quite tired

i dont even know what to say so i'm just going to answer all the questions that my momma asked me and then go to sleep forever

okay

so

how am i? 

i am doing well gracias i just am SO TIRED

my hair... i have thought about a thousand times that i want to cut it all off forever but i will not do that no no

i have thought about trimming it as well but there just isnt really time to do any things and i worry too much and dont trust chilean hairstylists so i just

mejor no [better not]

what is entailed in training a new missionary?

a lot

of

talking

AND STRICT OBEDIENCE

and also a lot of very uncomfortable silences

and also an hour of something called '12 semanas' [12 weeks] before we leave every day and it is HORRENDOUS but it's okay, it's okay, it's all fine and we're alive 

but uh, yeah... that. Basically, you can tell a new missionary as many times as you want what they need to do, but they dont really learn to do it until they do it. and for that, there are many awkward silences. because really, to get a missionary out of their comfort zone and into the missionary zone (because i am A THOUSAND PERCENT POSITIVE that the comfort zone is something VERY FAR AWAY from the missionary zone) you have to just stop talking, even though you already know exactly what should be said next and exactly what needs to be done and look at them

just look at them

and they arent going to want to say anything

and theyre going to make a face like 'save me' and maybe a few times youre going to give up and save them

but there comes a point when you have to just say

'save yourself hahahaha' (but not in a menacing way like i just wrote it in a caring way DO EVERYTHING WITH LOVE) 

and then you'll wait a few more seconds and the missionary inside of you is trying to physically escape and climb into the body of your companion but they have to find their own missionary self inside

and then theyll keep looking at you

and youll just keep looking at them

and it's a game of stubbornness 

and then

after a lot of stubbornness

the new missionary

will realize that they are not going to win

and then...

THE MISSIONARY INSIDE OF THEM EMERGES AND THEY DO THE THING

AND SOMETIMES IT'S A LITTLE SLOPPY BUT HEY WE'RE ALL A LITTLE SLOPPY SOMETIMES RIGHT

and then

buff, polish, repeat

everyday always woohoOOOOOOOO 

what does our day look like?

every morning we wake up at 7 and then do a half hour of exercises and then we get ready and eat food and at8:30 we have personal study and then at 9:15 we have companionship study and then at 10:00 we do the hour of 12 semanas (it's a 12 week training program and there are videos and lots of reading involved) and then at 11:00

WE LEAVE FOR THE STREETS AND WE WORK AND KNOCK DOORS AND TALK TO PEOPLE IN THE STREET AND AVOID THE HORSE POOP BECAUSE THERE IS A LOT WE LIVE RIGHT BY THE HORSE RACE TRACK THING I DONT KNOW WHAT ITS CALLED IN ENGLISH HIPODROMO 

and we work and then at 1:00 we have lunch

and then at 2:00 we have an hour of study of the language and yes, i do try to remember english and teach my companion what little i know

and then at 3:00 

WE LEAVE FOR THE STREETS AND WE WORK AND KNOCK DOORS AND TALK TO PEOPLE IN THE STREET ETC ETC ETC and the afternoon is probably the hardest part of the day because it's hot and also youve just eaten a chilean lunch and here the lunch is the biggest so it's like have a three course meal and then trying to not die BUT IT IS SO WORTH IT AND SO GREAT AND I LOVE TO BE A MISSIONARY EVEN THOUGH IT IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE HARDEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE

and then at 6:30 we have an hour to rest (this does not mean sleep) and maybe eat something and then at 7:30 we leave again and work until 9:30 (10:00 at the latest) and come back to the apartment, plan for the next day, and then go to bed 

that is a day

and unfortunately in our sector, a lot of people are not very receptive or work in the hipodromo so theyre never home at regular hours, stuff like that, so we spend a LOT of time in the street looking for new people to teach. 

but something great about our ward...

we always have lunch

i have not had to make my own lunch a single time since i've been here, the members are AWESOME and we always have lunch always always SHOUT OUT VIVACETA 

*Fredo... hmm... well, we were going to have a lesson with him, but he forgot and didnt show up. And the other day we saw him in the street and told us he was going to be at church but didnt go... and just... well, okay, we're gonna see what happened exactly... hopefully he still has interest and just something came up... we'll see soon enough

also holy cannoli

everybody is all

casándose [getting married] and stuff

WHAT EVEN

EVERYBODY IS GETTING MARRIED LITERALLY EVERYBODY I KNOW IN THE WORLD IS GETTING MARRIED maybe not but like

close

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU AND FELICIDADES 

what else

this week during one of our lunches, i had a tickle in my throat and i couldnt help it 

i coughed

and my mouth was full of salad

and it all landed on my arm and then i just looked at it in shock

but dont worry the member had left the room for a second and i was only with the other missionaries so we're okay but whoa that was an experience

also somebody that we were talking to this week told us that he was a 'Christian Atheist' but i'm not sure how that works exactly...

ALSO I'M LEARNING FRENCH. I can read pretty much anything but haha

literally who knows how to say the things

literally who

i think the french just make it up every time

they all just pretend theyre speaking a language but it's just for show

but anyway, i need to go now but have a great week everybody and talk to y'all next week!

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choo choo

A photo (finally)
She is my beautiful companion Hermana Cabrera! She has two sisters and five cats
and all the other animals because she lives in a field!
 Is super cute and super extremely witty and she is my only daughter! <3
[She wrote it all in Spanish, so this is the best translation I could manage.]

OOOOOOKAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY so let's get down to business

first of all, NEVER SEND ME A PICTURE OF BUFFALO WINGS AGAIN I AM SITTING HERE ALMOST ACTUALLY CRYING IN REAL LIFE BUT NOT QUITE BUT ALMOST BECAUSE SOMETIMES I REALIZE THAT I MISS AMERICAN FOOD PLEASE DO NOT DO THAT TO ME EVER AGAIN LITERALLY THIS IS THE WORST

okay not the worst

it's not that bad

but i did find buffalo wing flavored chips today

(it's not the same)

This would be the offending photo of homemade Buffalo Wings from Jeffrey's birthday over the weekend.

BUT ANYWAY, back to business 

SOOOOOOOO training

I am doing the train boop (hense the choo choo). I am training my little daughter missionary and we are having fun and doing LOTS OF STREET CONTACTS and also guess what we found

just guess

we found

A REALLY AWESOME DUDE THAT WE ARE TEACHING HIS NAME IS *FREDO 

let me describe him to you

picture William Shatner

now picture William Shatner as a Chilean.

There you have it.

We are teaching Chilean William Shatner and he is SOO COOL. He actually was our first contact as a companionship and he invited us to teach him (I repeat, he invited us) and so we went one day and taught him and he was very interested but didnt want to share in his house (he rents a room in a place where there are a lot of rooms and a lot of the other people are Catholic and he didnt want to make them feel weird or us feel weird) so we said, 'Well, we can talk in the church' but he didnt know where the church was, er, well I told him where, but he wasnt familiar with the area (how do you say ubicar??) but we secured another appointment (I DONT KNW HOW TO SPEAK NOMRAL ENGLISH) anyway and he said he would find the church, but i was a bit doubtful because he lives on the opposite side of the sector from the church, but so we were in the church for a meeting and then

suddenly

HE SHOWED UP

SO FAR FROM HIS HOME

IN THE CHURCH

AND AS IT TURNED OUT I EVEN HAD WRITTEN THE NUMBER OF THE CHURCH WRONG AND HE TOLD US BASICALLY THAT THE SPIRIT GUIDED HIM TO THE CHURCH

SO WE HAD A LESSON

AND THEN HE WAS LIKE 'so you will have church here on sunday?' but we had stake conference so we were like 'no its in another building this sunday ' and he didnt know where that was either and he doesnt have a phone and there just was no way to explain it clearly but he told us he would find it

and we told him about the adult session and that he could go on saturday too and he said 'i'll be there' but in spanish 

but i was doubtful again

but then on saturday we're sitting there and after the meeting

from behind us

comes

FREDO

HE SHOWED UP

HE FOUND HIS WAY TO THE STAKE CENTER ALL BY HIMSELF FAR FROM HIS HOME WALKING

HE

I

WHAT

LITERALLY

HE

AND HE WENT ON SUNDAY AS WELL

AND HE ACCEPTED A BAPTISMAL DATE ON THE FIRST LESSON THING

AND HE LOVES ALL OF OUR DOCTRINE AND EVERYTHING AND READS HIS SCRIPTURES EVERY DAY AND PRAYS AND JUST

EVERYTHING

EVERYTHING

EVERYTHING

he is SO COOL

I really really really really hope and am praying that he is able to continue learning and progressing in the gospel. 

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO THREE CHEERS FOR STREET CONTACTING

but anyway

that... 

ummmmmmmm

this week we were talking with one of our investigators (like leaving the house saying goodbye) and my spanish was failing somewhat and i was thinking abuot other things and so she was like 'Oh chiquillas, siempre les voy a recordar' (which means, literally translated, 'oh little girls, i am always going to remember you') and I went to say 'nunca le vamos a olvidar' (we are never going to forget you) but instead I said 'nunca le vamos a odiar' which means

ready

'we are never going to hate you' 

and then i couldnt stop laughing long enough to explain myself and we just all stood around laughing and being confused and it was so funny

maybe it doesnt seem that funny

but IT WAS HILARIOUS 

also my companion does this thing where when she feels like she's going to sneeze, she whispers 'achoo' and she told me she doesnt remember why she started it or why she does it

food for thought

what else.... hmm.... i am missing chocolate covered pretzels if anybody was wondering

also today found betty crocker frosting in Lider

and you better believe that i bought it

but what else? i feel like i'm forgetting something so large and big and grande... 

who knows, BUT OKAY I HAVE TO GO NOW

HOPE YOU GOT THE ONE PICTURE I SENT 

LOVE YOU AAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

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*I've changed the name of the investigator in the interest of privacy

literally I SPEAK SPANISH

one of my pet peeves that i REALLY need to get over is that everybody EVERYBODY EVERYBODY assumes immediately that i dont speak spanish because i am a gringa

but they are wrong

sometimes they even assume that because i am a gringa i am not all that smart

BUT I AM BILINGUAL YOU POOPS

do not worry

i am working on it

i am making it better

i am calm

I only say that because this week i had the privilege to work for a couple of days with a group of Latino missionaries that just recently left the CCM and almost EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM doubted my abilities from the very beginning, but, in their defense, they did just leave the CCM and none of the gringos there speaks spanish

none

i thought that i did

but i was wrong lol

but anyway

that kind of has been giving me a weird new perspective this week

i thought that once i had learned spanish and could speak it well and understand well and all of that that people would stop asking me if i spoke spanish or stop assuming that i dont and start talking to my companion instead, but i was wrong

i was so wrong

and that made me think of my struggles with that, as a metaphor of life

sometimes we think 'well, when i know this or when i have this or when i go to this place, then i'll be happy, then i'll be complete'

but that is not how life works. 

Life is always ALWAYS changing: everything around us, and if we spend all our time waiting for some moment to be happy, we are NEVER GOING TO BE HAPPY. There are so many things happening in the world; nothing nothing nothing is secure. Anything could happen at any time to everything that is around us; everything we know.

And for that reason, we need to be able to find the one thing in this life that is secure. We need to base our lives in Christ. It is ONLY through Him and through His gospel that we will be able to find peace and happiness in this life, and better yet, when we are firm in the gospel and in our faith, we really can find happiness in any moment. We dont have to wait until people stop treating us like we dont speak spanish, we dont have to wait until we've bought a new car or house or yacht, we dont have to wait to be happy, and we dont need things to be happy. 

God has a plan for us; a plan of happiness! This earth, this life, everything that we experience is all to help us be happy! The happiness is everywhere, but we're all too busy looking for it that we dont realize that it's right under our noses. Base your life on Christ and I promise that you will find the happiness that you are looking for. Base your life on Christ and the trials and difficulties that come (because they will come) won't shake you so much. Base your life on Christ and experience blessings you've never imagined. 

I love this gospel so much! I love being a missionary! I love Jesus! I love being a member of his restored Church! And I testify of his church and of his glory and especially of his gospel. 

And that I leave in his sacred name, even Jesus Christ, amen.

BUT ALSO LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING REAL FAST haha cos i'm almost out of time

so i'm TRAINING

my companion is Hermana Cabrera and she's from Los Angeles... CHILE!!! My companion is a wonderful little chilean and I love her SO MUCH :) 

BUT I HAVE TO GO AHH SORRY I DONT HAVE ANY FUN STORIES FOR YOU ALL THIS WEEK SORRY SORRY LOVE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEK CCCCCCCCIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

IT'S A GIRL

hahahahahahaha

yeah so

lol

as it turns out

I'm going to be training this cambio!

HAHHAAHHA LITERALLY WHAT

LITERALLY WHAT

LITERALLY

WHAT

I AM KIND OF FREAKING OUT BUT ALSO SO SO SO SO SO EXCITED BUT LIKE HOLY CANNOLI I AM GOING TO BE TRAINING A BRAND NEW FRESH FROM THE MTC MISSIONARY AND LIKE

LITERALLY WHAT

I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS LET ME JUST TELL YOU

but also, this week has been the CRAZIEST WEEK OF ALL OF EVER. I practically wasnt in our sector all week because we've been doing lots of special things and we've had lots of special meetings (that's what happens when a missionary goes home). 

So, Monday we worked! Because Tuesday was our P-day, and then on Wednesday we had our last district class of the transfer and then on thursday I had to go to the capacitation [training] (i am not 100% sure that that is a word i am just spelling the spanish word in an english way haha but anyway) for the trainers 

because i'm training

literally what

but anyway

and then on friday Hna Alonso and all the rest that are leaving went to the temple and I was on a special exchange in other sectors the entire day and then on Saturday we had conference all day (here it starts at 1 in the afternoon) and Sunday also and even this morning we were running all over Santiago to do some last minute papers so that Hna Alonso can actually leave the country and now i'm in another exchange for the day because our 'children' will arrive tomorrow :)

so

that. 

I AM SO TIRED LET ME JUST TELL YOU. It has been a LONG WEEK and also i may or may not be getting sick but IT'S ALL FINE it's okay i'm okay dont worry JUST HOLY CANNOLI THIS IS A LOT THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS

I'M TRAINING??????????? I'M GOING TO HAVE A DAUGHTER?????????? [missionary lingo for a new sister trainee]

but also

let's talk about General Conference for a second

IF YOU DID NOT SEE GENERAL CONFERENCE YOU SHOULD GO AND SEE IT RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IT SERIOUSLY WAS SO GOOD

We really have NO idea how lucky we are to live in a time when we have a prophet and apostoles [apostles] to lead and guide us. God loves us IMMENSELY, so much that he has shown us EXACTLY the way in which we can return to live with him again. All we have to do is find the way, and once we find it, to keep on it and not falter. God really does call prophets in these days and if we are seeking happiness or courage or advice, we will always find it in their words, which are the words that God wants us to hear. 

I am always amazed at what I learn in conference and how every single person that speaks seems to be speaking directly to me. I especially enjoyed the talk by Russell M Nelson about how the world needs strong women to lead it and that we need to be those women. I think that talk really spoke to all of us as sister missionaries, but i think it applies to all people. Really and truly, we are in the last days; we need to be preparing ourselves and our families for what lies in wait. We were chosen before this life to live in this generation; we were chosen to lead these people in the ways of righteousness and we have so much more potential than we can ever imagine. We need to see ourselves and everybody else through the eyes of God and realize that every single one of us is valuable and deserves to return to live with God after this life. Every single one of us is a child of God; every single one of us matters; and every single one of us deserves to be happy for all of eternity.

So open your mouths people! Look for the truth and when you find it, don't let go! Help others to find it as well; don't deny yourself and others blessings because you're a bit timid. THIS IS OUR ETERNAL DESTINY WE ARE TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE don't be ashamed to shout it from the rooftops; if somebody has a problem with it, blame it on God. He has commanded us to spread his gospel and if that is what we are doing, we need not be ashamed. 

I love this gospel with all my heart and I am extremely grateful to be a member of Christ's restored church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that we have a living prophet and that his counsels are directly from God. I know that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us infinitely and eternally and I leave this testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

I love you all and am SO EXCITED for all the changes that have come and are yet to come. HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK LOVE YOU ALL

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