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!

Carry On, Carry On, Carry On

There is a really funny version of Hello by Adele made for missionaries. You should find it or something because my companion has it in her music. I don't know who made it but its funny so you should find it.

I had such a great week! Wednesday was full of miracles! One of our investigadors accepted a baptismal date and is just the best ever. Her name is Miriam Pardo and it would be great if you guys could pray for her. She has cancer and she finished her chemotherapy a couple weeks ago. Her tests came out really good, but she is going to continue to have tests and everything. She has been reading and came to church one time, but will just have to keep coming to be baptized. She's awesome.

We also had another miracle happen with one of our other investigadors named Astrid Cerda. She has a daughter who has the mental capacity of a 5 year old. She's suffered through a lot of hard things in her life. When we first started meeting with her she didn't want to come to church. But a while ago we made a huge step in finding out the real reason is that she has trauma with large groups of people because of her daughter and people harrassing her. We promised to help her out and everything. This past week we taught the ten commandments, and she recognized that she does not live the Sabbath day. So we invited her to church and she committed! We brought her to church, and it happened to be fast Sunday full with testimonies and a baby blessing. Everything was just so great and she even talked in Gospel Principles and Relief Society. It was awesome and she really liked coming.

Also another small miracle that happened this week that I find pretty significant. I was in intercambios with another hermana in my zone when it was near the end of the day. I consulted with her on whether we should go try to find our investigadors who live on the other side of the area, or stay in the area we were in and visit someone closer. She suggested we stay closer, so we went to visit some neighbors of some members. As we were on our way, I noticed a family I had talked to, so we took the opportunity to talk to them again. They hadn't been receptive before, and that day was no exception. Silvia, the abuelita who lived in the house, said she respected us and everything but didn't want anything more, but then somehow we ended up talking about the temple and the promises of an eternal family, and set up another appointment. When we left, the other hermana and I talked how we viewed that the granddaughter was more receptive and everything, but there was still a hope that even someone super Catholic like Silvia, to listen to us. 

So we went back on Sunday to talk to them with two of the kids of the LDS family who lived right in front of them. We started teaching and the member kids testified of how they gained their testimonies. It was so great! They could see how much the kids had grown and immediately let us know their needs. They had even asked the father of them to give blessings to their own child who had cancer, and the following day the child was 100% better. As Silvia shared some experiences I could see how God has slowly opened her heart. I left the cita feeling amazed seeing a completely different person that we had known previously. This is how I see that God is Almighty. Like the experience of Elias, he stayed behind the rock and refused to come out not for the storm, not for the earthquake nor the fire, but for the still small voice. God really shows his power in the small things he does to open our hearts again. 

It also bore testimony to me to keep working hard. Sometimes I get frustrated trying and trying, but the more I lose myself in the work and the joy of serving, the more I can see God's miracles.

Something that has made me know even more the power of God is the testimony of our investigadors. When they come to church, they have had the opportunity to bear their proper testimonies and have testified how we as missionaries appeared in their lives when they needed us, and how we have made a difference to them. 

I love the mission and I love you guys! 

With one of our investigators

Two kids of a member that we've helped reactivate

Christmas is Coming

Dear Family,

This week was pretty great. We had a couple of great miracles, one being a less active that came up to us the other day in the street, saying he wanted to come back to church. We visited with him this week and taught him about repentance, and then we saw him in church. Everybody welcomed him back with smiles, and he even joined in on the group who sang a special musical number in sacrament meeting. It was the first time that he came back to church in years and he says he wants to stay for good. Which makes me so happy. 

This week we also had a lot of citas set up, but as usual some of them fell through. Saturday was one of those particular days. We had five citas set up and didn't have an hour to spare, but as we walked to each cita nobody was there. We visited a lot of other people who weren't there, and it turned into a day were we walked all over. But we still took every opportunity to talk to people on the street and share the special Christmas message. 

On one particular street, my companion and I were walking to a supposed cita, when I felt like there was somebody behind me that would pass me, that I felt like I should talk to. As they came up to my side, I turned around and said hi to a very tall Colombian named John David. We got to talking and he turned out to be a very respectful open young man who lived in our area (yes!). We invited him to church the next day, and he accepted. 

Also, on Sunday, I walked out of ward council and who should I see but Neil and Shawn in the living flesh. I was very surprised and very happy to see them. Mom, you liar, you told me they didn't have time and I willingly accepted your excuse  A lot of the members were surprised to see that the two gringos that showed up were my brothers, but the bishop invited them to come to the lunch that they were already going to have with us. They got to eat a traditional Chilean dish that I am sure they will show you a picture. Its called pastel de choclo (corn cake, very similar to shepherds pie). They got along really well with my bishop and their family, and the ward really liked them visiting. A lot of people have asked me about them afterward too and were very happy for me to have my brothers visit me. 

I guess even being a continent away won't stop someone from visiting me. 

And also thank you a lot for the Christmas present. My companion thought it was hilarious that Shawn said he traveled with the garbage over the mountains. It was fun to see them for a brief time. 

Miracles

Hermana B. Silva from Brazil and I. She's from my zone and she's awesome.

Hola!
This week was pretty great. First things first, we had some investigadors come to church! Their churchs are Jose and Juanita. Juanita is about 77 and Jose is her son who is 51 who lives with her and helps her out. Jose has had problems with drugs and was clean for two years before he fell again. He knows a lot about the gospel and likes to talk to us. Juanita helps him out but suffers a lot because of his past addictions. But they finally came to church, and it was fast and testimony meeting. After the first two testimonies, Jose got up and went to the pulpit. He started out saying, "Hi, my name is Jose. I am Evangelico Protestante (Protestant) and I believe a lot in Jesus Christ." He then continued to tell about the problems he suffered from, but how he was grateful that the missionaries passed by his house and how we help him and talk to him about Christ. It was a really great testimony. When he sat down, his mom asked him why he bore his testimony and he told her the Spirit came over him. She was so happy and at the end she said it was a big and good step for them.
We also had another miracle. One of our recent converts recently received the Melchizedek Priesthood and is doing well. His whole family was baptized before I came to the area and the first Sunday I was here his dad blessed the sacrament. This past week we met with a member who was really sick so we called the elders to give her a blessing. Because there wasn't a man in the house they came with Matias, our recent convert. It was his first blessing and the Spirit was there so strong. The member felt it too, and was really grateful for us for passing by and helping her out.
Also, we had a great privilege this week to have a special devotional from an apostle, Elder Rasband. But not just him, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, Elder Craig. C. Christensen and his wife, and a Seventy, Elder Jose A Teixeira and his wife. Elder Rasband's wife didn't end up traveling with him this trip. Elder Christensen actually served in our mission, so he was really excited to tell us some of the history of what happened before we came. He's pretty awesome. But it was the best to be able to listen to an apostle speak to us, and only to our mission as well. He invited the missionaries from the MTC at the last minute, so they were there for the last bit of it.
He also shook hands with everybody there, which was a lot of missionaries (I have never seen the whole mission together before). He told us about the great calling we have to preach repentance by the Holy Ghost, and to baptize converts. He is a really inspired man and I know he is an apostle of the Lord. I feel so grateful for the chance that we had to meet with him and the other leaders that were with him. It just confirms to me that this is the Lord's church that is restored again on the earth. I know He lives and He guides this church through revelation.
I love this gospel and I love serving the Lord in the mission! I know it's true and I can literally see the changes the gospel has made in the lives of the converts here, and how it improves the lives of others.

Hna. Reed

An awesome sunset against the mountains.

I was on TV!

Hello!!!!
This past P-day we had a meeting with all the people from the MTC. We ate completos and fruit kabobs with chocolate and it was awesome. 
One of our investigators, Jessica, is doing great! She came to church last Sunday and we had a fantastic lesson with her this past week! She has been connecting so many things herself. In our lesson, she connected with the member and noted that because the Holy Ghost makes us feel peace and tranquility, that makes us happy because we are not worried about anything. She came to church and this Sunday was the Primary Program, and she loved it. I feel so great about her and I always feel the Spirit so strongly in our lessons! I might get a little too excited sometimes because she is going so AWESOME. She's the best!!!!!!
We also received another miracle investigator this past week! Someone texted us during the week, saying her name was Lesly and she wanted to learn more about Christ. So Hna. King and I were like, "Por su PUESTO vamos a enseñarla! Cuando?!" And we met up with her and that's when I realized that I was the one who contacted her in intercambios this past week. And she wants to learn a lot and has promised to come to church next Sunday. We can also only teach her on Sundays because she is a nana who lives in her work. But she seems super ready and really open to learn anything!
Also last tidbit...we were on TV! We were crossing Subcentro (like a mini strip mall underneath the road. It's what we usually take to get across the road to one area) when I noticed that they had huge blackboards with the question: "What book do you suggest to read?" As I was going to write the Book of Mormon on the blackboard, a guy who worked for Subcentro came up to us and asked if he could film us suggesting the book to read. So we did, and told the camera to read the Book of Mormon! I didn't think anything about it after that, until on Sunday one of the members came up to me and mentioned she saw me on TV in Subcentro. A little weird, but you gotta share the gospel everywhere!
Éxito!

Hermana Reed

Intercambios, Papa Johns, and Miracles

Hola family!
This week was crazy! I felt like we only had one normal day to work in our area. we had P-day, but the following day we went on intercambios in La Dehesa, where the Hermana Entrandadores are. I was with Hermana Gonzalez that day, and we got to teach lessons, talk to people, and work hard. Nothing is better than a day of work and lessons! And Hermana Gonzalez is awesome. She used to live with me in the same apartment we had when she worked in the area next to mine.
We had a normal day to work the next day, so we taught a lesson and tried to find new people. But then the next day we had Concillo de Liderazgo, where we got o listen to our president and try to help out our zone. It was great. One thing I like is that I get to learn more from him (our president). He is a very inspired man. We also got to go with a member to teach a menos activo, and it was a very awesome lesson. Her grandma gave us juice, which is blended up fruit and was pretty good. And she was very adamant about her healthy juice and how it helps people stay healthy, so she gave us a bottle to take home. When we left, the member found out that we hadn't eaten yet, so she took us to Papa Johns and treated us to some good pizza.

The following day we had intercambios in our area with some of the Hermanas from Pocuro, which is the sector with the Santiago Temple. My companion for the day was Hermana Dariano, and she is from the Philippines. This is her first cambio in the mission, and she is learning Spanish. She has good Spanish too! She was awesome. We got to see a lot of miracles that day, like meeting a referral that we have been trying to meet for a long time! We had been trying to call him and pass by his house, but because his phone belongs to the house, it has been hard to talk to him. But we finally got to see him, give him a Book of Mormon, teach him a bit, and set up another appointment. I don't know how much I can teach him, because his wife came outside and started to ask us where we were from and about our religion, and he started responding. She asked if we had rules, and he answered saying, "Yes, they can't drink coffee or tea or alcohol. But I like that." Any other questions she asked, he answered, but he sounds like he likes us a lot. He has also been reading the Book of Mormon on his phone. We left them with a prayer, and they were very grateful.
We also had a fireside in our ward, and a lot of people and non-members got to come. We had a lunch with a great family in our ward earlier that day (who are going to move and I am so sad about it!) and told them about the charla. The mom told the daughter to invite her friend and he came! Along with the whole family. We also asked them for references, asking if they knew anybody who needed help. They mentioned their neighbors lost their abuela recently, and said they were very strong in their religion and were mentioning that they might not accept us. But then the dad remembered us and said, "They need to go visit them! I had a dream where the dad was doing family history for the abuela." So we all agreed that passing by would not hurt and we could help them with their recent loss.
It was a good week, despite not having a ton of time. Miracles still happen!
Disfruten su semana!!

Hermana Reed

General Conference

Hola familia y amigos!
This week was General Conference! So pretty much the best weekend on the mission because we get to listen to the prophet and get spiritually fed. Though I do prefer to listen to Conference in English instead of Spanish. My ward has a room for the English speakers to listen to Conference, so we get to go in there except when we have an investigator come. So the last session I watched in Spanish with one of our investigators, Jessica. There were some things that I missed (like I had no idea what the word for firecracker is in Spanish) but it was great anyway. Jessica enjoyed it and thought a lot. She's been reading the Book of Mormon and says she has felt a change in her life. Hopefully for all who listened you got to learn something new. And for those who didn't, you are always welcome to see them!
We got to have intercambios with Apoquindo B this week, and I got to spend time with Hermana Thompson from Mississippi. She's awesome. We got to teach a lesson together and save a pigeon that was stuck under a fence. So that pigeon must be pretty grateful and telling all his pigeon friends about the missionaries. 
I am really grateful for the chance that everybody has to listen to the prophet. It's amazing that we get to receive revelation as often as we do and help that we can use for our lives and our families. I know God is still a God of miracles because I see them every day on my mission. I have talked to so many people who think God has abandoned them or done awful things. I wish people could see what I see, and witness all the miracles all the miracles that happen. Miracles have not stopped in Santiago. And they haven't stopped anywhere else.
Ciao!

Hermana Reed

Visa

Hola family!
Sorry I didn't write much last week, due to the cyber (computer place) closing unexpectedly. I didn't have much more time to write.
This week we didn't have a lot of time to work, due to the fact that we had zone conference Wednesday and I had to do my visa on Thursday, and most people want to meet with us during the week. Zone conference was great! I loved everything we learned and got to listen to. Doing my visa was...good. It's like the DMV on steroids. We had to go to three different places to get three different things. First the immigration office, then we had to walk 15 minutes to the police department, and then a 50 minute walk to Registro Civil. The immigration office was fine. We had to wait four hours in the police department which seemed like it had all of Santiago there, there being very little seats and even more people standing, including all the missionaries. But we got to contact and talk to people and missionaries from the other three missions in Santiago! Registro Civil closed at two, and to get there before it closed, my companion and I had to get a taxi, which was a miracle because hte doors closed right after we got there. A lot of missionaries have to do their visa work in two days. I was lucky to get it done in one.
Besides that we have been able to see small miracles in Santiago. One of them happened when we went to try and visit an old investigator. We usually pass by buildings and try to see if the person is there or we call them. In this case, we went and saw the conserje and asked if Enzo was there. When he said no, we turned and started walking out the door. We opened the agate to let some people through, and my companion said hi to the second, an older lady with her dog. She hugged my companion, kissed her, and started saying, "It's been so long!" like they were long-lost friends. My companion hugged her, of course, and asked if she had seen missionaries before. The women, taken aback and offended, said touching my companion's placa, "No, I was confused!" and walked into the building. But she gave us enough time for Enzo to call the conserje and tell us to wait. So we waited for him to come down and meet us. So I am pretty sure God influenced the woman to hug my companion so we could meet Enzo.
Another miracle is we happened to be walking in the street and we said hello to a man who came up to us. When we told him we were missionaries, he told us that he had a son who was LDS. He also told us that when we were walking towards him, he had the feeling we were from his son's curch and that he needed to talk to us. And he lives in our ward area! MIRACLE!
Well, I don't have much more time! Have a great day!

Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked

This week we walked and walked and walked! We are trying our best not to use the subway and bus systems because it uses a lot of our money. One day we had four citas in four hours in four different parts of our area, and we made them all! The following day other day we found a pedometer and we counted that we walked 20,567 steps in that day, which is around ten miles. 

We also had a super successful noche de hogar this past Friday, and about four families came.  I think my favorite part was the last prayer, when 6 year old Magdalena Luna said, "Thank you so much for this marvelous Noche de Hogar." I could not stop smiling and gave her a big hug! And her mom afterward says that she won't stop talking about it. Not only that, but they were talking about it in Ward Council and I think they like the idea of Noche de Hogar more. 

The elders in my ward had a baptism this past Saturday. His name's Diego and he's pretty awesome. He also wants an eternal family so his next goal is the temple. He was super happy. I love that this gospel makes people so happy. 

We also were walking in Vitacura one day when a man fell down in the street. He was a little large and lost his balance. Some guys immediately came over to help, but they were having a little trouble lifting him up. My companion, who was a CNA, tried to help at first, but since they said no, we stood back. But as we saw them struggling to lift him, she came over and said in her best Spanish, "Underneath the arms!" A few guys moved for her and she practically lifted him up herself and helped him to a nearby bench. My companion is pretty awesome. And we got to help someone!

Have a great week!

-- 

Hermana Reed

P.S. Pictures! First one is a cool fountain in my area and the second is the last district picture before some missionaries go home.

Cambios!

Wow, some big changes and milagros have happened this past week! First of all, I am staying in Cristobal Colon and my trainer has left to go to Nunoa, which is further south in the mission. But I have also been called to train a new missionary. I haven't met her yet, but I will tonight, and then we are going to start working and meeting new people! We're going to work hard and happy! It's a bit alarming having to train right after my training, but I know that the Lord will help me and miracles will happen this cambio.

Speaking of miracles, a big one happened this week! First of all, about a month ago I lost my missionary tag when I was getting off the bus. I tried to look for it, but we had to get back to the house because of curfew. So I had to accept that my poor placa was lost. But yesterday when I was in the missionary office for the cambio reunion, I saw a placa with my name on it. I thought it was a new one, but it was actually my placa! It also had a note on it from another missionary that said: "Thanks for dropping your placa! A less active found it and found us - and now we're teaching her and her family." :) My placa is such a good missionary.

I really don't know what else to say besides that! I'm excited to train but also excited to work some more! Nothing makes me happier than sharing the gospel.

Hna. Reed

MILAGROS (miracles)

Hola familia y amigos,

So it's been hard to get investigators in my area, or contact anyone at all. Most of the time we call people and they don't answer, walk to houses and nobody is there, or go outside to contact and nobody is interested. But last week a member introduced her friend to us and invited us to come teach her last Tuesday. We arrived and she invited us into her work, where a bunch of people were obviously glad that the day was coming to a close. She had told all her friends about us. 

At first we couldn't feel the Spirit because everything was so loud, there was music and we sat there as everybody moved around us. I started talking to one of them named Ignacio about what he believed in (he believes in energy like everybody else who isn't Catholic here), but then one of her other friends who briefly left for a second came back and told us she wanted to know everything. Her name is Macarena, by the way. When we asked her what, she just said everything, she just said she wanted to know everything. 

So we taught the first lesson and the whole room changed. Everybody who was left listened, and I seriously couldn't believe how strong the spirit was! We invited her and everybody else there to our family home evening which is every Wednesday in our chapel. And Macarena came! She actually ended up being the first one there, before the members or we arrived. We invited her to church too, and she came to that and said she really liked it! She is so amazing and has such a strong desire to learn! We had set up a lesson with her but it didn't end up working out because of her work, but she really wants us to come back and teach more.

Also another miracle that happened this week is that we finally met a family we have been trying to meet from the beginning. Her name is Sully and she's less active, and her husband isn't a member but he's interested. We had probably stopped by at least twice a week, and called her, but nothing happened. This week we stopped by again and the building attendant told us that we could meet her at a specific time and told her we would be coming. When we came to meet her, she said she was really happy that we didn't give up on her and we set up another time we could meet. She's awesome. And she's Colombian which is better because my companion is Colombian and they are now great Colombian friends. 

Hope everyone had a great week!