Hermana Temple's Adventuras en la Viña del Señor * : September 2014

Hola Padres y Trigo!

This has been one heck of a week! We flew in last Tuesday with about 45 other missionaries going to both Rancagua and Osorno. After 9 hrs we went straight to the mission office and from there met with our Mission President, our new companions, and got our areas!

Something funny, the companionships were announced by having the greenie stand up, and then having the name of the trainer read. I was one of the last hermanas called up and before me, everyone had gotten North American comps. I just kept thinking "Wow, it's going to be a smooth transition and they'll know what I'm going through!" Nope. I'm the only new sister who was assigned a native companion. Her name is Hermana Rodriguez and she's from Peru! She's been out for 15 months and I'm her last companion! She is so patient and so sweet and has been such a great example of working hard and being bold. She kind of reminds me of an Ewok. She's pretty short. less than 5' and walks with a lot of determination always mumbling in Spanish things I can sometimes understand. Thankfully she wants to be go to the US and become a English teacher for Spanish speakers so sometimes English is spoken but most of the time its all Spanish

The first day was insane. After writing you guys, we went and taught 3 lessons that Hma. Rodrigues had lined up. We got to the first house and I was in shock. I literally had no idea what was said by the Chilean girl we taught. The Spanish here is so fast and its reallllllly hard to make out every individual word they're saying. I knew the Spanish would be hard, but thought it would at least be better because of the experience Ive had in school, and then speaking with Mexicans all the time at the CCM. That's been a struggle. I still can't understand everything they're saying, but day by day, poco a poco its coming. It's been one of the hardest weeks of my life. Wanting to talk to people, but not being able to understand what the heck they're saying and feeling tonta all the time.......a real struggle. But the other Hmas. we live with are super great too and gave me Alma 26 to read and its helped alot.

Besides the language, there really hasn't been any culture shock. Chile is AMAZING!! The scenery is like a combination of California and Utah. The Andes are pretty close to us like in Utah, and the plants and greenery are just like Menifee when its green in the winter. It's slightly chilly or CHILE haha, but its been sunny pretty much the entire time here. The neighborhoods…I'll take pictures and send them next week, but it's hard to explain because it varies so much. Machali is one of the wealthiest areas here in the mission so some of the homes are the equivalent of smaller and nice homes in Hemet. Others, are not quite as nice but there isn't anything crazy like dirt floors here. Some things that are super cool that are unlike the US, on every street there's several shops that ALWAYS sell pan, bebida, dulces, and Coke. There's flags everywhere because deiciocho is in a few days. There's dogs all over the place. When we're not walking, we take the collectiva which is a bus and those things get crammed full of people. Whenever you greet someone you ALWAYS kiss their cheek. They don't eat dinner here, instead lunch is a huge production and you binge during that time...later there's "Once" which is like a Chilean tea time where they drink tea or hot chocolate and eat pan or another type of sweet. Also they have a juice obsession here. Every meal it's jugo de uva, or mango, or some orange drink that I have yet to figure out what it is...…its' all tasty though. And the food........que rico! Pasta, atun, pan, and chicken are huge, one of those are always present in a meal. They also like eggs and tomatoes, and those are usually side dishes . No empanadas yet, but I've heard on deiciocho that will quickly be remedied. I love South America and its been pretty easy jumping into the life style here. You guys would love it and should take a trip here or Argentina.

Those are a few things, but I promiiiiise to send pics next week to show you! There's a lot of Chilenismos too. For example if something is awesome, cool, or sweet it's always "Que bakan", if something is lame or stupid its "fome', and you always say "Ciao" when saying bye to someone.

The ward is great! It' s the biggest in our mission with about 180 members and they are some of the warmest people ever. Even though the only thing I can communicate to them is that I'm from California, they are so loving and patient. I cant wait until I can actually communicate with them and reciprocate their love. Mom, you mentioned that David Archuleta served in this area, and you're definitely right! We had almuerzo at a member's house on Thursday who was baptized by him and actually skyped him a few days before. The ward still talks about him in the highest regard.......no pressure at all for the missionaries here now. There's 9 missionaries in Machali, 4 sisters and 5 elders. When I asked Hermana Rodriguez why this is the best ward in the mission, she said it is because all of the members work hard. Missionary work really is a team effort so please help the missionaries in Menifee all that you can with fellowshipping, teaching, and of course feeding. |t makes the world of a difference in strengthening the members and the investigatores. In this area, we've been visiting alot of inactives and teaching about 8 new investigators from this week alone. This really is the work of God and there isn't any time to lose.

I'm sorry I couldn't respond to each individual email you sent. I have to write Presidente Warne as well, but I just wanted you to know how things are going and to tell you a little bit about what its like here. I'll respond to your personal emails next week! I love you so much, and pray that everything is going well. I don't just say I love you to say it, I sincerely mean it and think about you all the time.

Hermana Hall and I at the Visitor's Center in Mexico City

There's only about 10 min left to write, whiich is kind of a blessing because honestly not a ton has happened this week. Well, that's a lie, many incredible things have occurred and there has been mas learning experiences, but nothing is really sticking out in my mind right now except for the fact that we just returned from a trip to the Mexico City Temple! We weren't able to go inside since it's under construccion for apparently the next 15 months, but we were able to go to the Visitor's Center.

We were able to watch a video about families, the Book of Mormon, and the apostles and while there I just thought about what a miracle it is to have temples. We watched a movie last sunday about the construction of the SLC temple, and in one part Brigham Young relays to someone how blessed they are because they will have blessed millions through the construction of the temple. It made me think back to my own experience inside the temple and how much my own family has been blessed to be sealed for time and all eternity. Add that onto the family members that came before, that will come after, and the work that we do inside of the temple, and it's truly a miracle that so many lives are affected from the decision of a single individual or single family. Temples are the only way that it is possible for our families to be perpetuated throughout time and all eternity, and even though I'm not able to go frequently at this time, I hope you take advantage of having so many so close by.