Earthquakes and Census

Hola!

So just to let you know for those who were wondering, there was an earthquake yesterday that was a strong one. I am ok. I was actually sitting with my companion on a park bench, studying a bit of Spanish, her reading her Book of Mormon in English and I was reading mine in Spanish, when it started to shake. Everything just shook a bit: the windows shook a lot and there was a weird sensation of the earth moving. I don't know how to describe it, the best way is to say the earth was moving, and you could see and feel it. Its not like the movies, its even cooler. My companion is Chileno, so she just looked around and said that maybe we should get away from the trees because some of them could fall. But besides shaking for a minute, nothing else happened. She told me it was strong, so I believe her. Its her native land. It was pretty awesome. 

Everybody keeps asking me how the earthquake was and whenever I say it was awesome, they look at me like I'm crazy. I guess I am one of the random foreigners that finds earthquakes entertaining. 

Other than that we had a good week. We had a lot of miracles happen and found a couple families that are really special that are part families that want to come back to church. We also had a census this past Wednesday. So all the missionaries had to stay in their houses, and even after the census came and asked us questions, we had to stay inside and could only leave if we had lessons that we programmed before. My companion and I worked our area book, studied, and watched a movie, which does not happen often. 

Chao!

Bye Bye Javiera Carrera

So you may have noticed that by my subject line I have finally left my old area. I am also not going to say where I am now.  You´ll just have to guess by the pictures!

I was ready to leave Javiera Carrera at any time, but this last week I felt like it was my last week there and it was the week that I most wanted not to leave. We found some great investigators that were progressing really well and had a great hunger for the gospel, and everything had improved dramatically. I wanted to stay the most, but at least I know that I am leaving my area in good hands and giving the next missionaries plenty of work to do.

And I am also sending a lot of pictures, because pictures speak louder than words and I tool a lot of pictures this past week. 

Chao!

First foto: Here was one of my investigadors, Eduardo, whom I taught and was preparing to get baptized. 

2nd: Moon picture, because it's pretty. 

3rd: Here is the family of my ward mission leader. They are the best. And the dog is the cutest and jumps like a bunny every time she sees the missionaries. 

4th: Carmen, another investigador we were teaching. She's our ward mission leader's niece. 

5th: Last picture with Hermana Hair with the best view in Santiago. 

6th Last zone picture in Javiera Carrera

7th: Generation picture! In the Charla Fogonera I got the rare opportunity to see my hija (the sister missionary I trained) Hermana Hirchack, her hija Hermana Karstulovick, and her hija´s hija Hermana Cordova. So in mission language, I am a bisabuela! I´m so old! It's so awesome. 

This week...

Hola,

Besides having the tremendous blessing of having conference here in the mission (which is the best weekend and time we get to fill our spiritual tanks) this week was a good one. 

This past Wednesday we had to be in our apartments before 6:00 at night because its the anniversary of teenagers that were killed by the government. I don't really know the story, and everybody I talk to aren't really sure what happened, but every year on this day people take advantage of the anniversary and apparently its dangerous to be out. So my companion and I did studies and worked on our carpeta de area during the time we had in our pension. I actually came into the mission field on this day a year ago, so my trainer and I moved into our apartment and had the whole night to unpack and get used to our area. 

One night we had a pretty red moon and enjoyed the view of the city.

This was in intercambios this week. I happened to be taking a picture with my camera, so that's why my arm is in front of Hermana Dariano. (She's from the Philippines!)

This is the room where all the English speaking people got to watch conference. I would say gringo, but Hermana Dariano isn't gringo and is a native English speaker. There is me, Hermana Hair, Hermana King, and our zone leaders Elder Moròn and Elder Dahneke, who made cookies for us. 

We have a charla fogonera that we are preparing for Principe de Paz. My companion and I are singing in two of the songs, so I will let you guys know how that turns out. Its supposed to be a very special themed charla fogonera, and my companion and I are inviting a lot of people to come.