Changes!

Hola!
So a new change has come and gone and I am...staying in my same area as before! This will be my fifth change (a change for me is six weeks) in Cristobal Colon, and my hija has left to everybody's surprise. Everybody thought I was going to leave, but the Lord has other plans for me! Besides that, I have now been made hermana capacitadora (I think in English it's called sister training leader) for my zone. My new companion, Hermana King, also has never been hermana capacitadora, so we are going to be learning together! It's going to be so much fun.
This past week we had our ward party for the Chilean Independence day! All of September is full of Chile celebrating and flags are everywhere. There were a lot of people who weren't from our ward at our party enjoying the food, the dance, the bouncy houses, and the trampoline they set up for everybody. Hermana Hirchak and I helped pass out alfahores and cuchufli to everybody who came. We also got to see people dance the cueca, which is the traditional dancing in Chile.

We now have a Chinese investigator! She came into the church basketball court with her little girl when we had our zone activity and were playing soccer and basketball, and some of the other missionaries got her number. We passed by with a Chinese Book of Mormon, which she was really grateful to have. Other than that, we couldn't talk much because she doesn't know much Spanish and her English is survivable.  So we went back with a member who speaks Chinese and are planning to meet her more often! Her name is Dina and she has the cutest two year-old girl named Ming Ming. Her husband works so much we haven't gotten to meet him at his house. But we saw him at the ward party and got to know him there! But the Chinese member is also really excited to share the gospel, so we've asked for a couple more Chinese Books of Mormon for her to share.
We also have been able to share more of the gospel and meet more and more people! It's been crazy how we've been able to find people, but I know it's not only because of me. Not to mention one of my favorite scriptures lately is Joshua 1:9.
Exito!

Hermana Reed

Las Condes and Cristobal Colon

This week has been crazy! Hermana Lewis, the missionary who came to live with us unexpectedly, ended up staying with us until Friday. We tried to work in her area and our area. On Tuesday we did splits with a sister in our wad, who is actually from Australia and doesn't speak any Spanish. Hermana Lewis and Hermana Hirchak went to Las Condes to go to a couple citas that were planned earlier, and I stayed with Sister Clay to go to the things that were planned out in Cristobal Colon.
Hermana Clay was awesome and super brave to go out with me. She moved here with her family to work in the Australian Embassy, and they have been struggling a bit in church because they don't know how to speak Spanish. But she still goes, and the members are trying to figure out ways she can also get something out of church. She came out with me, and I helped her a bit with the Spanish she's been learning. We actually got to contact some tourists on our way to a cita.
One cita fell through, but she got to come with me to another cita. She was mainly silent as I taught, but I got the thought to ask Diego (the person we were teaching) if he understood any English. When he said he understood some, I asked Hermana Clay if she could share an experience she's had with the Holy Ghost. She was really surprised, because I had only helped her write her testimony in two sentences in Spanish. But she shared a great experience and it changed the whole lesson. Even if Diego didn't understand everything, I could tell he was touched by her testimony. He was so sincere as he asked questions and I answered. Hermana Clay was also happy after the lesson and laughing. I was glad I was able to help her and help her adjust to living in Chile.
Besides that, we had intercambios and had to go back to Registro Civil to help Hermana Lewis get her visa card. It was super fun with her around and getting to see some of her sector and letting her see some of mine. We worked hard, going to citas, contacting, until she got a new companion this last Friday. Now things have returned to normal. At least she's in the same ward building, so we get to see her Sundays.

Hermana Reed

New Companions and Crazy Weeks

Hello family!
This week was going somewhat normally until President called us this past Friday, asking if we could do him a favor and have another companion for a couple days. A hermana from our district was going home because she had a herniated disk in her back, and her companion needed some sisters to be with until she could get a mini missionary. He also thought we would be the best pick because we actually both had church in the same building.
So we have been with Hermana Lewis since Friday, until she gets a mini missionary, which should be this Wednesday or so. She was actually in the CCM with me, but she was with the gringos and was there for six weeks. She is also from Utah, so when we tell people where we three missionaries are from, we all say the same place: Utah, USA. Which doesn't help he stereotype here where everybody says all missionaries are from the United States. At least half are Latinos... But she's awesome and it has been a party with her around.
So this past Sunday was interesting too, because we had to go to two sacrament meetings. We had some meeting before church, but then we went to her sacrament meeting, and then our sacrament meeting. Nevertheless, both were great. And in my ward's sacrament meeting, Hermana Hirchak and I sang. And because Hermana Lewis can play any hymn imaginable, she played for us, which was a blessing in disguise.
And because we can't leave her area alone, we have been working to do splits so we can work both in our area and her area. She might be with us until Wednesday or until the next cambio, depending on the mini missionary.
It was an interesting week, but also a really fun one! Hope all of you are doing well!

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!

Primavera en Santiago

Spring is beginning to appear in Santiago! Trees are budding with flowers, birds are singing in the streets, and the days are slowly becoming longer and warmer. It's beautiful, but I have been warned about the heat of summer. I'll let you know when it comes.
I am still in my area, but my limits are changing. The new elders in my ward are the secretaries of the mission, so they have even less time to proselyte and work with members. But they're pretty awesome and one of them is my companion and I's district leader. It's a little different because the elders who were in our zone before were our zone leaders.
There was another baptism in the ward this past Saturday, but it was not actually an investigator or a person in our ward. A family came from Utah to see their family for three weeks and their eight year-old daughter got baptized while they were here. They came to our church building because the mother has a connection with our ward. The parents are both converts and the rest of their families were non-members. They asked me to play piano (which was brave of them). It was a great opportunity to get out and meet people and have them see a baptism. A lot of them have no clue what we believe, so we got to speak to them a little about the church.
And because the limits have changed a bit, we have walked even more and tried to get to know the areas we don't know as well. It's fun because we get to see new places and get to know more people!

Hermana Reed

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.

Earthquakes and English

This week I got to feel my first earthquake! And to be honest, I was awesome and not scary at all. It was super small and just shook my building a little bit during companion study. My companion and I were pretty excited. 

And we had a pretty sucessful Noche de Hogar this past week! A lot of people came and we learned about eternal families! We are promoting this upcoming one and hopefully we'll get some more investigadors there. 

This past Thursday my companion and I went on intercambios to Pocuro, which is the ward with the temple in it. I actually got to do a temple tour with Hermana Andersen with a primary from another ward. They were so sweet and cute. If I never get transferred into Pocuro, at least I've done a temple tour!

Because me and my companion always try to talk in Spanish, our English is getting worse. I have realized that more and more because we have a couple people who are from the United States and Australia in our ward. And occasionally they say Australian words that I don't understand. We had lunch with an Austrailian family, and occasionally they will say a word like "mince," "vegimite," and other words they use that we haven't heard. We got to try some Australian food, which I never thought would happen in my mission. I also get to teach Spanish because of the families that don't speak Spanish and want to practice with us. We were thinking of starting an English/Spanish class because of the number of people in my sector that don't speak Spanish. 

There are also a lot of people from Haiti that are moving to Chile to work. I've ran into a couple of them and contacted them, and its actually super hard because a lot of them have been here for a little time and are learning Spanish. And they don't know any English. With one contact, he was actually translating what he was saying and what I was saying in his phone. But from what he understood, he wanted to learn more! Too bad he doesn't live in my area, but I am sure wherever he is there are great missionaries. I would want to start learning French, but I think Creole is a little different than normal French. Which is funny because some people have told us we have French accents (and apparently we look French) when we speak Spanish. 

Have a great week!

Hermana Reed