(that's what we say instead of knocking doors) Everyone here
has gates around their houses so we stand outside the gate and call. My
favorite is when people pull aside their curtains, make eye contact, we
smile, and they just shake their finger at us and shut the curtains. Or
another favorite, we walk up and can hear voices or the TV inside, we
call and everything goes silent, we call again nothing, a third time,
still nothing... as IF we don't already know you´re there! lol
Another week in Chile! Woooooh! Everyday I get a
little more accustomed and I understand a little more. I had my first
Zone conference this week, it was awesome! I love conferences!
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| With Hermanas Holland & Call @ new missionary conference |
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| Our table of Hermanas at the Zone Conference |
One of
the things that made it SO awesome is that at the end of lunch, about
the middle of the conference, my companion came up to me and told me she
loves me (not super unusual when she's happy) and THEN she apologized
for everything that had been bad. We talked a little bit about it then
and she said that she wants to try to do better, especially with the
schedule but that she is scared because it's really hard and she doesn't
want us to fail and then feel even more down about it. As a result,
this week has been better! We've been putting a lot more effort in as a
companionship, not only to follow the schedule but also throughout the
day in doing our best and using our time wisely. Of course, it´s never
all rainbows and sunshine, but we are learning to work TOGETHER more.
This week's companionship inventory was SUPER hard for me, I guess a lot
of the little things I do wrong have been building up. It was a SUPER
humbling time, but the Lord is helping me a lot to put my feelings aside
and realize that everything happens for a reason. Something I learned
this week, there are two main parts of missionary work (which can apply
to countless other things in life) and they are obedience and charity. Both are key to the work, but it´s a very delicate balance! There´s one
extreme where you just push to be obedient even when your companion doesn't
want to, etc. but you enforce it nonetheless, as a result you're obedient
and you have success because you´re being blessed for your obedience,
but there's no love/charity between you and your comp and one or both of
you will be hating the other and their time there and wanting to go
home. Then there's the other extreme where you and your companion go
easy on each other and are besties and have SO much love for each other
and can't help but enjoy your time together, and you´d never want to
make your companion feel bad or uncomfortable, or do anything that they
wouldn't enjoy, thus the rules aren't so important to you. The result is
that you have fun, but you don't have much success. (Hermana Joglar and
I talked about this yesterday, in relationship to being a trainer, and
this is the conclusion I came to :P) She was asking, what's better? As I
thought about it, I thought of my AMAZINGLY PERFECT parents, and using
their example I talked with her about how, in my opinion, it takes
both. As we discussed it we came to the conclusion that it's a tricky
balance. Obedience is crucial, but you have to help them learn and
understand the importance of it and show them your LOVE for them (be it
trainees, investigators, what ever), or else they will have no desire to
be obedient/change. It was a HUGE blessing from Heavenly Father that
he helped me see/understand that and helped me see just how AMAZING my
parents are! So, Mom and Dad: THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH for teaching me with
SO much love the importance of being obedient. You're love and example
are without price to me and continue to bless me everyday even when I'm a
bazillion miles away!
We've had some fun adventures this week! The rain
started, but as of yet it's still really mild and it only
rained/showered for two days. I was kinda disappointed it didn't full
out Chilean rain, I was like ¨Come on!!! IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?!?!¨ ...
I´m sure I'll eat my words later when it REALLY does come... and NEVER
leaves...I'm not going to think it´s so cool then... lol
Last night Hermana Joglar and I went out to the
farthest part of our Sector (like 30 mins in bus) called Sagrada Familia
- it was just opened back up to us, there are over 100 menos activos [less active members]
there so we are going to hunt them down and get them to come back to
church lol. We visited last night to check up on some investigators we
found there the other day. We got there somewhere around 8:30 and had to
be back in our house by 9:30. SO, we visited these people and came back to
the bus and stood waiting there for like 15 min when some drunk guy
walks by and asks us like TEN times if we are waiting for the bus (kind
of laughing at us), we say yes, and he tells us that there aren't any
coming, then walks away. So were like, ¨That's weird! Crazy drunk guy!¨
About 10 more minutes of waiting, a bus going the other direction
stops to let passengers off and the bus driver calls to us and tell us
that there aren't any more buses tonight going back toward Lontué. It's
dark, chilly, and we are in creeper town. We're like, AWESOME! We´re
stranded in creeper town! So we call the Elders and they don't answer
because they're in a lesson. Meanwhile cars are passing, whooting and
yelling things at us like ¨Hermosas!!! [beautifuls]¨ etc. We finally get a hold of
the Elders, the Elders call the branch president, who lives like 30-40
mins away, and the BP has to come get us! We felt SOOO bad! but how were
we supposed to know that buses only went ONE direction after a certain
time! It was crazy! But super duper funny!
Today we had our zone activity, we went up to Molina and played
soccer than had a barbeque out back behind a church up there. It was
super fun! But I´m starting to think I´m a little too cocky/competitive
to play with the Elders (like I overestimate myself). What keeps
happening is that I´m not afraid to go after the ball or to get right in
the way between an Elder with ball charging toward the goal and the
goal and stand firm... next thing I know he crashes into me, I get
kicked, or the ball comes flying full force toward my face. I pulled a
lot of matrix moves today lol. I almost DIED like 3 times! lol jk I´m
slowly learning to defend until they're moderately close, then still
stand firm, but cover my head/face with my arms and scream like a girl
lol. Es muy divertido!
Thanks so much for all the updates! I always want to comment more on everything but there´s just so much to read and comment on and then a weeks worth to tell about on my side
of the world. Sorry I don't comment more, just know that I love you
SOOOO much and I can't even express how much I appreciate every little
detail you tell me! Seriously. ...and pictures are the BEST! I'm going
to try to take more and send more as well.
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| After soccer |
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