concrete jungle

welllllllllllllllllllllllllll

so

i had cambios

and

I'M IN THE CITY AGAIN WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO

but

the city

like

santiago centro

like

we had 9 lessons yesterday and they were every single one in an apartment

there are no houses

there are no doors

only buildings 

and intercoms

and cold hard pavement

The view from Hna Schomburg's new apartment.

hahaha, so yeah, I'm in the ward Compañía in the stake Huelen with my new companion Hermana Molina from Mexico!!!

I LOVE MEXICANS SO MUCH I AM SO EXCITED THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST THING EVER IN FOREVER and there is another companionship in our ward that has Hermana Mardones from Argentina and Hermana Rivero also from Mexico and yesterday during our dinner hour they were like 'we heard a rumor that you carry ají with you always' 

and i pulled out my bottle of tabasco

and they Mexican screamed (i'm not saying that being horribly uncultured, i'm saying it because they have a scream in Mexico that they do like real life and they did the scream)

Hermana Molina is from Chihuahua and is 20 like me and has a couple months more than i do in the mission and has been in this sector for like 6 months, but it's her second to last cambio so we're going to see if we stay together for 2... but anyway sooooooo

it was REALLY HORRIBLY DEVASTATINGLY SAD TO LEAVE CURACAVI LET ME JUST TELL YOU

but I had been feeling for quite a while that the Lord had another place that he needed me to go, and it must have been the spirit getting me ready, because now I am here in Compañía and I am SO PUMPED to get to work. I love it so much already :D and I LOVE HERMANA MOLINA. She's amazing. We are going to SACAR LA MUGRE this cambio, I already know it. 

I was feeling really quite odd with the cambios and everything because there wasn't a good logical reason to take me out of Curacaví; I hadn't been there for long, and Hna Petramalo also left Curacaví and they put elders in the other sector and moved one of those hermanas to my old sector and it was all just crazy and it seemed so much more logical to just keep me there since i already know the sector and the people and teach it to somebody else and for a while Satan tried to tell me it was because i had done something wrong or because i wasnt qualified to be there or something

but as soon as I saw my picture with Hna Molina's in Compañía, I knew, I just KNEW that that is what the Lord had been preparing for me and that I need to be here right now. Now, who knows what'll happen tomorrow, maybe I'll be here for a week and they'll take me out again, but I know that right now in this moment, where I am is where I need to be and with whom I need to be and I am SOSOSOSO grateful that I am here. I just have got a really good feeling about this. I am very excited to see what happens and what the Lord wants to teach me this transfer.

Hna Schomburg and Hna Molina

Hna Petramalo by the way is now in Quilicura with another gringa misionera that just left her training; I am sure that she is going to learn a ton ;)

and what else can i tell you?

just basically that I cried SO MUCH when I left curacaví... and I havent cried that much in a while. That ward is SO special; all of the people, all of everything. I am very blessed to have been able to serve there for 3 months. I learned a type of Christ-like love that I have never before felt. I love love LOVE the people of Chile; I love the people of that ward and I love the Lord and give thanks every day that he has given me such wonderful opportunities here in the mission to meet and love new people and a new culture and to do things I never would have done otherwise and finding new treasures of knowledge that I never would have found. The Lord is amazing! He does amazing things! I love the Lord!

And well, that is my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

and now, i dont have more time to write because i need to send some pictures, so i'm signing off; until next week!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hna Schomburg's zone

The District
No explanation for the hats. :)

District Hernamas

Hermanas again with Paulo - the ward mission leader

Hna Schomburg in Curacavi

Curacavi

Hna Schomburg loves the sky

Saying, "Good bye,"

More goofy good byes.

Last Family Home Evening in Curacavi

All the love. 

hello from...

The Island Juan Fernandez!!!!!!!!!!

lol joking 

hahahahahahahahahahaha

nope 

still here 

in Curacaví

with Hna Petramalo

BECAUSE well, so remember that time when i got a week added to my mission? WELL, they had to add that week on in some place and they were going to do it the next cambio, but the new missionaries arent going to arrive until next week, so they decided to just add the extra week to this cambio, so we STILL DONT KNOW IF WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TRANSFERS BUT WE'LL KNOW THIS WEEK FINALLY and NEXT week we might be in different places but who knows :S i'm FREAKING OUT

because just like what even

what even is going to pasar

who even knows

just only Pres

and God

they know

but so anyway, what are some things I can tell you about this week?

OH BEFORE I FORGET

i am very ashamed

a few weeks ago i made a title of an email 'En La Valle del Rechazo' but 

i was wrong

because it's el valle 

valle is a man

not a woman

BUT HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW IF LA CALLE IS A WOMAN

anyway

so this week was an interesting week because the ENTIRE WEEK we were freaking out about what was going to happen in cambios and stuff and like trying to visit people and take pictures and all that stuff, including at the end of district class we all took tons of pictures of the zone and the district and stuff and DANGIT THE ONE WEEK THAT I HAVE THOUSANDS OF PICTURES TO SEND YOU I HAVE THE COMPUTER THAT CANT CONNECT TO MY CAMERA

dangit

dangit dangit dangit

but okay

i'll just have a real ton to send you next week at this time...

but anyway

so, it's been an interesting week. 

and yesterday

yesterday was an awesome day

because last week we found somebody

i mean

like

we found

somebody

we found somebody that wants to hear the gospel and listen and of course he has doubts and things but he invited us to come back and when we came back 

he was there

and it is the first time that i have felt so really excited and like he's going to progress here in this sector. He is awesome. We went to teach him the second time yesterday and without even bringing up if he had read something from the Book of Mormon he says, 'i was reading a little bit in that book you left me'

and we were like

'wut'

because some people here have real problems reading and keeping commitments

and anyway

so he's like 'but i wasnt able to read much, i didnt have that much time this week, i only read like 15 pages or so'

and we were like

'wut'

because 

THAT IS SO AMAZINGLY AWESOME

AND IT WAS SO EXCITING AND SO AWESOME AND HE HAD QUESTIONS AND WE ANSWERED THEM AND HE COMMITED TO A BAPTISMAL DATE AND THINGS AND HE IS JUST REALLY AWESOME AND I AM SO EXCITED TO BE TEACHING HIM 

it's a little bit sad because I have felt kind of like I'm going to be transferred... that's not official, I just have felt like I'm gonig to be transferred from this sector, but anyway, I just...

well, whatever happens, I am ridiculously happy to have finally found somebody, even if it was only one person in my whole time here, that wants to hear the gospel; somebody who recognizes that they need it and that has questions and is willing to change and do things... 

it's just

awesome :)

i love the gospel SO MUCH and i love to see the difference it makes in other peoples' lives and to see the difference it makes in my own life. 

Also let's talk about the scriptures for a second.

I dont talk about the scriptures enough, but let me just tell you, one of my favorite parts of the day is the hour i have in the morning to study the scriptures. That time is SO PRECIOUS and the scriptures EVEN PRECIOUSER. There are so many wonderful things in the scriptures; we can find revelation and significance in every single verse if we are searching with the Spirit. I encourage ALL of you, if you are not reading the scriptures, TO JUST DO IT. You are truly MISSING OUT because the scriptures are amazing. They are a gift that God has given us, a holy tool to help us get along in life. The scriptures were written specifically for our time period, for our generation, for these last days; how on earth do we think we can live without them?

My mamá told me something interesting today that I actually had been thinking about during the week; she talked briefly about Mary and how she didnt recognize Jesus at first when she saw him after he had resurrected and then posed the question 'What if I don't recognize him?'

Mary Magdalene Hears Christ's Voice

And this very week I was talking to somebody about that. I asked the person how their relationship was with God and Jesus and he said he didnt know. That he felt that he could pray and tell Jesus and God lots of things but how was he supposed to know them? And I testify that the answer lies in the scriptures.

Maybe we can't do a 20 questions to God and Jesus and ask them their favorite icecream flavor or sports team (the Broncos duh) but we have something EVEN BETTER. We have four books of scripture; the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, all of which testify of Christ and of the Father. If we want to really get to know our Heavenly Father, if we want to really get to know our Savior, we will find all we want and need to know in the scriptures.

And more than that, if we really REALLY want to get to know God and Jesus, we will strive to become like them; strive to develop the attributes of Christ and strive to become perfect as he was and is. We will serve other people and be witnesses of him; we will use his saving atonement to wipe away our sins and we will be examples of the believers. If we want to understand the atonement of christ, we have got to be willing to experience a little bit of it; offer our own little sacrifice. We will never fully understand all of those things, but we can always believe and have faith in them. 

so everybody, read the scriptures! Get to know the Savior! And then act on the knowledge you recieve and you will get to know him even better. 

I love the gospel! I love Jesus Christ and I know that he lives and that he loves us. I testify of him and of this gospel and of the power that the scriptures hold. I know these things are true. And this I leave you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

sooooooooooooooooo

we'll see next week if anything has happened to our humble companionship in our humble sector

i dont know why i put the word humble in there lol

anyway

HAVE A GREAT WEEK AND HAPPY EASTER AND EVERYBODY REMEMBER WHY WE CELEBRATE EASTER AND CHECK OUT THIS SUPER AWESOME VIDEO AND SHARE IT WITH EVERYBODY IN THE WORLD BECAUSE IT MATTERS 

followhim.mormon.org and if that doesnt work because i dont actually know if thats what it is in english you can always watch it in spanish at siguelo.mormon.org hahahaha

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The Resurrected Jesus Christ 
by Harry Anderson

Do you read the scriptures?

Panqueques - Chilean pancakes

What did I even do this week?

I feel like I start every week this way, hahaha, but seriously, this week has been so long and so short and so stuffed and so crazy I feel. Or maybe every week is like that... 

who knows

all I know is that this week we did a lot of things and found a lot of people and it has been a lot of work and I have been loving and enjoying the mission and just everything and the people and the area and just

Chile

do I ever talk about how much i love Chile?

Because 

i

love

chile

and I love Chileans and I love their food and their language and their culture and all the dogs in the streets even if they try to bite me half the time and i love the feria and the almacens and the gates and permiso and empanadas and humitas and just everything

I LOVE CHILE SO MUCH

CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE

VIVA CHILEEEEEEEEE

that's how i feel

what else can i tell you, hahaha, this is a lame email sorry...

well, cambios are coming up (this coming Monday) and we dont know what's going to happen but it is likely that there is some sort of change in our companionship and if not in our companionship, in the other one. But it's pretty likely that actually a lot of us will change. Actually who knows what am i saying i dont know anything WHO KNOWS WE'LL FIND OUT LATER and you'll all know next week when I write again

so also this week i completed a year in the mission

what

what

what

what

what

literally this is so weird it cannot have been an entire year that i've been here

everybody was like 'YOU HAVE TO BURN A SKIRT FOR YOUR ONE YEAR'

and i was like

heck no i need my skirts i've still got 6 months fools

so i celebrated doing good old missionary work the whole day in a skirt that i still have because i didnt burn anything or do anything except be a missionary because that's what i'm here to do and that's what i love to do :) 

I LOVE THE MISSION

Seriously, there is nothing else that makes me as happy as the oportunidad 

that is spanish

the opportunity to bear my testimony without shame to all the people that i come in contact with. I love bearing my testimony. It is one of the things that strengthens it more than anything else. I have a testimony of Jesus Christ! I testify of him and of his sacred atonement for us! I testify of the truth of the Book of Mormon! I testify that we have a living prophet! I testify that this church is true and I do it with all my heart! I love the gospel; I love the mission; I love Chile; I love my Savior. 

I was thinking again about the Atonement and repentance this morning as I read in Mosiah about how all the people got baptized in the waters of Mormon and i started to think

these people were following the example of Christ without him even having shown up yet. They were acting on so much faith from only the words of the prophets. And that gave me two more thoughts

1) how important then are the words of the prophets! THEY ARE TRUE THESE THINGS ARE REAL THIS IS NOT A JOKE

2) how infinite is the example and atonement of the Savior. It is and was infinite enough to save everybody that came before Christ and now all of us that have come after. What a sacred and amazing privilege we have to use such a tool! 

And more than that, what a sacred and amazing privilege we have to share such a tool! We have been commanded by the prophets and the Lord himself to share the gospel; share this happiness and joy that we have. How selfish we would be if we didnt? We are all in this together as a human race, trying to get back to our father in heaven. We cant afford to lose any time or lose any brother or sister. So share the gospel! Dont be ashamed of the gospel that you love! Bear testimony with power and tell the people what this is all about! Tell your friends, your family, your neighbors; you always always ALWAYS have a reason to talk with people, and it's the gospel! Dont miss a single opportunity, a single prompting from the holy ghost. The Lord is hastening his work and we are ALL a part of it, not just the missionaries. 

And if you think you are not included in this ALL, let me ask you a question.

Do you read the scriptures? 

[Click here to receive a free copy of the Book of Mormon or Click here to receive a free copy of the Holy Bible - King James Version.]

(warning, Abinadi moment coming up)

If you answered yes to that, then you don't understand them, because they surely testify of Christ and they surely command us to share the gospel. This is the work of every single member of the church, PUNTO. 

I have a testimony of missionary work. It is hard. But it is so worth it.

This is my testimony and I leave it with you in the sacred name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen. 

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT SEMANA AND HAPPINESS AND ALL THAT STUFF SORRY YOU HAD A TIME CHANGE HAHAHAHAHA #chilelalleva

love you all <3 <3 <3 <3

besitos

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

-Hermana Schomburg

we're not going to talk about how much time I have been here

The hermana bikers -
 helmet and shades mission approved for safety.

HEEEEYYYYYYYYY I HAVE A KEYBOARD THIS WEEK #hallelujah

soooo, I havent been able to explain a lot of things that have happened, but i received a question and have been meditating on things that I want to talk about more than I want to explain what has happened so you all are just going to have to settle for some spiritualness this week, hahaha, sorry :P

so, this week I have been thinking a lot about the atonement of Christ... seems like I think about that a lot, but really it is kind of an important subject.

I read an article in the Liahona that really got me thinking. It talked about the idea of weakness and of sin and that they are very different things. Weakness is not a sin; it is something that God gives to every single one of us. We are weak beings; we all depend on somebody, no matter how much we think we don´t, we all depend on God. '¿No somos todos mendigos?' that's a scripture that I dont remember where it is but it's somewhere and it's good and it says something like 'Are we not all beggars?' [Mosiah 4:19] We all depend on one supreme being to give us all that we have; we are weak. 

But that is not a sin. I think that for some time now I have been focusing too much on all of my weaknesses, which maybe isn't so bad because I want to be better, but I have been seeing them as some stain; some mark of shame that I have, but really, they are what makes me human. They are what make all of us human. We are inherently weak beings; we are born into this world depending 100% on other people to take care of us and sometimes it takes us a long time to get out of that phase. 

I think that sometimes we think, how on earth could Jesus understand me and my trials and weaknesses? But that is because we are not separating weakness from sin. Jesus was weak. He came into this world the same way that we did and for mucho tiempo

ugh

spanish

and for a long time he also depended on somebody else to care for him 100%. He has always depended on the Father just as much as we have for all of his needs. He felt weakness and was weak just as we are, the only difference is that he was without sin. We give in to our weaknesses, but he did not.

I read a scripture this morning in Mosiah 8 that says basically 'The Lord will not comfort his people in their sins' and that is because he does not understand sin; he understands everything we will ever go through except for sin. And that is why we must repent. He can help us in our sorrows, he can help us in our difficulties, but he cannot support us if we are sinning. 

AGH THEYRE KICKING US OUT I HAVE TO SAY THIS FAST

Jesus walked 100% alone, even asking the Father in the end why he had abandoned him. He did that so that we dont have to, so that in every situation, no matter what is happening, he will be able to be by our side. We dont have to do this alone. But we do, when we make mistakes and sin, have to repent and humble ourselves; bring ourselves back to the Savior's side. 

Weakness is not sin; the Lord will always walk by us when we need help with our weaknesses, but we must not give in, and if we do, we must do everything we can to get back to his side as soon as possible.

I know that this gospel is true and that the Savior and God love us SO SO MUCH. And I have a testimony of the Atonement; it is infinite and it is all for us. Use it!

This i leave with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I LOVE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEK

CCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hermana Lopez y Hermana Schomburg

Hermana Schomburg and Hermana Petramalo
Braided hair is fun!

These two young men - recent converts of one year - received their mission
calls on the same day.  Along with a young woman, there will be
THREE missionaries serving from this ward.
This is an absolute miracle for this area!!

"I will do and do" (1 Nephi 3:7)
Haz lo justo - Choose the Right

Mosiah 4:30

Doctrine and Covenants 122:7-8

An airport in the sector

More airport

Chilean Sky
Hermana Schomburg loves the sky

short and griddled with grammatical errors

first of all i want to apologize for my grammar and tge shortness of this becayse we went to the temple today and so were in the ccm writing but lol i dont have a keyboard so im writing with a touchscreen comouter keyboard and it is the worst thing that has happened to me in my whole mission but dont worry its fine

[I have chosen to spare you reading an entire post with the above-mentioned mistakes, but please note, it was a mess prior to some correction.  I didn't fix all of it. haha]

anyway so

quieren saber que estaba haciendo esta semana? [So you want to know what we did this week?]

no sean envidiosos [Don't be envious.]

we had a super cool capacitacion [training] with Elder Bednar this week! he talked to the South America South Area from Buenos Aires and it was SO AWESOME

elevated is the word they would use in Spanish and I approve of it

but anyway

what else

I don't even know

we had the chance to go to the temple today, so that was awesome. the more and more I go along in life and in the mission, the more I realize the importance of the temple. the temple is the closest we can get to God here on the earth; it's literally his house and we have it available to every one of us, if we do what is necessary to enter. I love the temple and I testify of the blessings that it brings the family

Add caption

also let's talk about families for a second

we found a family that is trying to come back to church this week and it was a really special experience because we were told to not visit them because it was a waste of time but after a few promptings from the spirit and such, we went anyway

and on Sunday they went to church for the first time in something like a year and have made goals to keep going and keep doing all that they need to so that one day they can enter in the temple and be sealed as a family here on earth as well as in the heavens

and more about families

last night I was looking through the pictures that I brought from home and as I looked I felt 

well

I dunno how to describe it

grateful

and happy

and warm

and so very very blessed

I wanted to make a collage and put the title as 'el evangelio bendice a las familias' or 'the gospel blesses families' because that's one of the main truths of which we testify and teach

really and truly the gospel has blessed my family so much, and the families of so many others that I have met here on the mission. the gospel is here to make us happy; the gospel is here to make us strong and to bind us together eternally as families; the gospel can help everybody. our message isn't limited only to the good people, or the bad people, our message is an eternal and everlasting gospel that is for all of the people and families in the entire earth and I am privileged to have that message to give

I don't know where I would be or what I would be doing if I didnt have the gospel in my life. the gospel, the knowledge of a savior, knowing that god loves me and he loves you and everybody else too is the most precious gift I have ever received and I intend to cherish and share it as long as I live.

okay now

it is DEMASIADO DIFICIL [TOO DIFFICULT] TO TYPE IN THIS THING SO I AM GOING TO MAKE THIS SHORT AND SWEET

I love the gospel

I love my family

I love the mission

and I love God and Jesus Christ

these things are the truth

and that is what I know and that is what I leave you with this first day of March, in the name of Jesus Christ amen

ps

I'm getting close to my 1-year mark in the mission

what

what

literally

what

a whole dang year

what

also still real hot but the days are getting shorter and we've felt a few earthquakes and they say we're going into big quake season and also I'm fine :)