My week in some pictures

Hello all!

This week was a great week because of all the things we got to learn! 

First we had a zone conference, and it was a pretty awesome one. It was focused on the scripture in Alma 37:6-7, on teaching simply, which is what we have been doing this past cambio. It works by the way. I have a lot of proof of it in my sector. 

We also had concilio de liderazgo (Leadership Council) in our mission presidents house. They taught again how to teach simply and everybody bore testimony of how its been helping our areas. This is about my 10th concillio, and maybe my 4th or 5th in his house. Our President likes to have us in his house and I realized this past council that it may be our last one in his house. We always have it outside in his backyard, and in the summer its nice, but recently its been really cold. This past Friday was the coldest day of the week, and we happened to have concilio that day. My companion forgot to bring a jacket and by the end of it we were running home to put a coat on. It was so cold!

Also this past Saturday we went to the temple with a menos activo and her family to go to the devotional of Principe de Paz (the Prince of Peace). There were special prepared musical numbers and they showed us a preview of the video that the church has prepared for Easter. At the end was the best, because they passed a balloon to everyone in the audience, and we tied a card of Principe de Paz at the end of it with a note of a principle of the gospel. Everybody let go of their balloons at the same time and we all watched them fly up and away into the Santiago sky.

 Everybody loved it. Right after we came back to our area and went straight to the general women's conference.

Have a great week!

Let It Go

Hola!

So this week we seemed to lose everything. We got our keys last Tuesday, but then we forgot our phone in the house of a member. We had intercambios the following day so we didn't have our phone for two days until we could get it first thing Thursday morning. The day we got back and got our phone, our lider misional called us and asked us where exactly did we drop off the face of the earth...and that he had my companions missing hymnbook. So now, every time we leave our house, we double check ourselves to make sure we have everything! And it has been working the past few days. 

Intercambios was fun. We went to La Dehesa, where it has a mix of rich and poor people. The past intercambios that I have gone there, I was on Cerro 18, where the houses are very crowded and the roads have all the same name. But this time I got to go work a little bit in the rich part, and it reminded me of all the past memories that I have working in Las Condes. We had a couple lessons with some investigadors and got references. It was a good working day. 

In one of our recent coorelation meetings with our lider misional, he said to my companion and I, "You girls have a song prepared for us, right?" My companion and I looked at each other and asked him what we were supposed to sing when he said, "Let it go! Let it go!" So now our lider misional has given me and my companion a nickname: Frozen. My companions hair is long and blonde like Elsa, and mine is brown, not so much like Ana, but he thinks its close enough. But he's not the only one. A lot of other people have said we look like the princesses from Frozen and we have heard plently of people singing Let It Go as we walk past. 

I also attached some pictures. The first one is my district which is pretty awesome. We have some great missionaries in our district with lots of laughs and good times. Also I get really impressed with a lot of the graffiti I see. Its pretty awesome.

My companion and I are also trying to be healthier by eating healthier and running in the mornings. I hate running, but I do it because I know its good for me. We usually run two miles, but this morning we ran four and I nearly died. I'll get used to it though in time. 

Chao!

Teaching Simply, Charla Fogoneras, and Keys

Hola!

Our mission right now is focusing more on teaching simply. And its awesome because we are learning so many fun ways to teach simply and fast. Yesterday we had district meeting and it was so much fun because we shared all the cool ideas that we have and I was so excited to leave and start teaching the world. My companion and I have a goal to teach a lesson in each contact we make, teaching about the restoration super simply or the plan of salvation. And since yesterday its been working super well!

This past week we had a charla fogonera (a fireside). Our mission president tries to do them in every stake in our mission at least every month. The first one this year was in Las Condes, and this past one was in Vicuña Mackenna. Knowing our president, my companion and I prepared a song to sing, and I used a copy of Be Still, My Soul in Spanish, which is called Mi alma, ten paz. The song doesn't exist in Spanish hymnbook, but I got a copy from a member a while ago who has a lot of different music of hymns. This copy was also meant for a choir, so we talked to two elders in our zone to accompany us singing. This past Tuesday when we came to the chapel to practice, another companionship came and joined us. So it ended up being four elders and us. A lot of people really liked it in the charla fogonera. 

There was also another family there who came and talked to my companion and I. They are from a stake where there aren't any sister missionaries (because its dangerous for us to be there) and they told us they come to every charla fogonera that our President puts up. They said they annoyed him, because they are his biggest fans. My presidents the best anyway so they were just saying a truth :) . The mom talked to my companion and I separately, explaining that her daughter was listening to the missionaries. She said her daughter liked more of the sister missionaries because we are more loving (en español seria que somos mas de piel pero eso no se traduce muy bien en ingles) but she can't listen to the sister missionaries because there aren't any in her stake. So she asked if we could talk to her. Apparently we've sung a lot in charla fogoneras that she felt more connected to us. After the charla, we talked to her for a bit and said what she needed to hear. She cried at the end and gave us a great big hug. Actually several hugs. Its always the best when you get to help someone when they need it, even if they aren't in your area. 

We also had a situation with our keys this past week. Yesterday, we worked and got home at 9:30 as usual, but realized we didn't have our keys. We called our investigadors and they told us that we left it in their house. We hurried and ran to their house and our lider misional gave us a ride home, and got home before 10:00. #blessingsofhavingasmallarea. But today, the same thing happened! My companion had the keys today since I lost them yesterday. We went to the temple (which was awesome I love the see the temple) but got back home to realize that we couldn't find our keys in my companions temple bag. We dumped everything out, called the temple, and weren't able to find them. But we are ok, because our mission president's wife has two copies of our keys, and our mission president is coming to our zone tonight for a meeting with our stake president, and he will give us the extra keys. #blessingsofhavingasupersmallmission #bestmissionpresidentever #thatoneconferencetalkaboutkeystothepriesthood 

Sorry I can't add pictures right now. My camera cord got stuck inside my pension and I'm going to get the keys tonight. 

Singing

Hola,

So this week was awesome. Hermana Hair and I have been working a lot in teaching, helping our investigadors with what they need and so on. We are teaching a very special family and this weekend in particular they have been waiting for one of their daughters (who is going to get married soon) to have a baby. She's overdue, so every time we meet with them, they tell us about the stress of waiting for their daughter to have the baby. We are also praying that the baby will come soon so everybody can be healthy and well. 

We had concillio de liderazgo this past week, which was great as usual. Our mission president is really funny and very caring of us. During one part of the meeting, we were talking about teaching simply when I shared that we could sing with our investigadors, no matter what our talent is. Our president smiled and told the meeting that when he was deciding on transfers, he said as he put Hermana Hair and my picture together and he "felt peace, and I could almost feel the music." Hermana Hair also sings well, by the way. We both felt very complimented about what he said, but when he continued saying that he could see us singing in every house, Hermana Hair and I talked later and said, "Well we need to start doing that!"

So we started doing it, and have seen a lot of miracles sharing our talents with everybody. 

I would like to write more, but I ran out of time and my computer is slow. Exito!

Pictures por fin!

Hola!

We had cambios again, and I am still in the same area but now I have a new companion named Hermana Hair. She is also from Utah, also from a family of seven, who also did choir, and a lot of other things that we seem to have in common. She seems awesome and I am super excited to see how we work together in the area. And for those who are wondering, yes I am still in the same area that I have been for a while now. Next week I will complete one year in the mission and its gone by really fast. 

This week we had a meeting with the area seventy President Jose Teixeira and it was awesome and inspired the whole mission to work even harder. As leaders, we also had another meeting before where he instructed us how to be good leaders and it was also awesome. He taught us a new way to teach and help find people that I had never done before in the mission. We left from that meeting feeling inspired and put what he said into practice, which was awesome. We were able to have a lot of success from that. 

And now I have a cord for my camera to send pictures! Enjoy!

We had lunch with the young women's president, her mom, and her friend. She is the best!

My companion saying goodbye to our investigators.

Our president wants us to have a new logo, and here is an example from one of our missionaries.