Week 30 (Buin w/ Hermana Irrazabal)

hey nothing too interesting this week, just a lot of drunk people because of 18 and everything

sorry i wasnt watching the time and its already time to go but i love you all so much! i was going to send pictures but my comp was using my memory card the whole time and i was reading emails etc. things are good though! tomorrow i have a doctors appointment in rancagua for my ears, i think i have an outer ear infection (that would explain my ears always itching) ill let you know how that goes next week. again so sorry for this stinky short email, the good news is that there is always next week! lol Family, i love you so much! you are the greatest in the whole wide world!

be good!

lean las escrituras como familia! les extraño MUCHISIMO!
[read the scriptures as a family!  I miss you SO much!]
so so so sorry!

Week 29 (Buin w/ Hermana Irrazabal)

OK, so time is short but I have so much to send!  It's been a crazy week! ...lots to share! ...including pictures.  The bad news is that they are SUPER slow loading, but I'll see what I can do.

OK, where do I start?

Tuesday my companion had a meeting in Rancagua because she's the Sister coordinator.  I stayed here in the sector with Hermana Garcia. Wednesday is our normal district meeting but this week President Warne came and visited and afterward he gave my companion a Priesthood blessing.  It was an AWESOME blessing!...pretty much we're going to be running around like mad the next 3 weeks (the LAST three weeks of my compi's mission:( )  She is SO awesome!  I hope I can become as great a missionary as she is!  So after she got a blessing, I asked for one too... IN ENGLISH! it was AWESOME!

The Lord (obviously) knows all of our needs, worries, you name it!  Even when WE don't even recognize them.  My blessing was SO SO SO perfect and especially and exactly what I needed to hear from the Lord.  I'll admit, I cried just a LITTLE bit... OK, maybe a lot.

Thursday, DIVISIONES! my companion went over to a near by sector and I got to stay here with another hermana.  Fun stuff!  It went well :) OH! another one of our families that we teach is going to get married!  We had a very heart to heart, "tell them what they need to hear" lesson with them and yesterday they told us that they decided to do it!!!  wooohoooooooo  ..When?  Well, we are still working on that.

Friday, President Warne called to have us come to the mission home (Hna Irrazabal and I) because 5 guys from Salt Lake flew in to do some interviews with some sister missionaries from our mission and to ask us some questions about Elder Archuleta.  We go to the mission home and they wanted to interview us immediately because dusk was about to fall and the lighting outside was perfect for the CAMERAS ...that's right ON CAMERA INTERVIEWS. I almost died! lol  The president asked my compi and I (and 2 other sisters from the mission) to come and talk and be interviewed.  One of the guys who came is the guy who makes all the Mormon Messages, another was the personal film agent guy that went with President Hinkley for all his on film stuff all over the world (including with Larry King), another is the assistant to the President of the Mormon Tabernacle who schedules all the stars and people who come and perform with the Mormon Tab Choir.  I don't remember who the other guys were.  Supposedly they are working on something to put between the sessions of conference and maybe some Mormon messages and some kind of documentary on Elder Archuleta. They asked us questions about the mission, our experiences, our testimonies, and also a couple questions about Elder Archuleta.  They had us sign release forms and everything.  What stinks is that we won't really know if/when they use our stuff... I guess we'll  just have to start watching out for it.  Who knows, maybe my comp and I will randomly show up on the TV or the internet!  It was a CRAZY experience!  I'll definitely never forgot it!  It was so cool being with these people and hearing all their stories from working with people high up in the church, people like Andre Botticelli and everything! After we finished filming we all ate dinner together in the mission home. Definitely an experience I'll NEVER EVER EVER forget!

Saturday, the branch killed our WHOLE day proselyting because we had our Sept. 18 party and it went ALL day and they needed our help, but it was SUPER fun and we 4 hermanas dressed up in traditional "cueca" dresses in the China (or chinita) style (YouTube: la cueca chilena) la cueca is the national dance.  It was so fun!  I took LOADS of pics!

I forget to comment on things sometimes, but G-pa Jim WAS on my mind this week and in my prayers. No se preocupe [So, don't worry] lol  I'm really glad to hear he is recovering well.
I love you mommy, thank you for your email, please do have Zoe tell me EVERYTHING EVERYTHING EVERYTHING about her first dance.

I'm writing you an actual letter (believe it or not).  The only problem is that the mail system here is on strike right now, as is the registro civil lol gotta love CHILE
CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE...VIVA CHILE!!!!

I RAN OUT OF TIME TO SEND  PICS...NEXT WEEK!!!! SORRYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Week 28 (Buin w/Hermana Irrazabal)

HEY!  How's it going?

SO, this week we had our mission conference with Elder Viñas Thursday (they divided the mission in half and had two conferences one for the south part and one for the north).  It turns out Elder Enchilada [David Archuleta] is in the north half of the mission, so I saw him there and shook his hand.  The conference was AMAZING!  I received SO many answers to prayers and questions I'd had for a while. Seriously, it was AWESOME!  The Lord hears our prayers, every single one! ...and He answers them!  I LOVE IT! 

Otra noticia, tengo piojo. [In other news, I got lice].  WOOOOOOOHHHHH!... :P  SO FUN!  Victor and Vivi's kids had them this week and despite my effort to avoid it, they passed it along to me!  To be honest, getting lice was kind of my phobia of being here in Chile, but now I've passed through it and am realizing it's not that huge of a deal.  I really thought that if I got it I would freak out & die or something dramatic like that. I'll admit, it was kind of a downer when I found out, but then I just did what I had to do and started striping my bed, throwing all my clothes into bags and hauled it all down to the first floor to throw in the washer. I am also SUPER grateful we have out own washer because if not, it'd  be a REAL pain. This morning Hna. Garcia ran the lice comb through my hair for me and before coming to use internet we ran by the pharmacy and bought lice killing shampoo. Thank you mom for teaching me (through example) how to deal with situations like this.  I don't know what I'd do with out you and all I've learned from you (whether you knew I was watching or not).  Once again, I'm all out of time to send pictures, but SOMEday soon I will send them. Spring is blooming here and the trees are covered in blossoms it's so beautiful.  The baptism we were going to have fell through, supposedly because they were repairing the baptismal font this weekend, I'll keep you updated. 

I love you so much family!  I LOVE CHILE! The 18th is coming (Chile's Independence day AND TRENT'S B-DAY) I'm super excited because here it's a much bigger deal than Christmas! lol  I think my comp and I are going to buy cueca dresses to wear.  You should look up the dance "la cueca" and their traditional costumes and everything.  It's super cool!  Chile is great...BUT of course, I miss you tons, family!  Be good!  PLEASE take care! Start the school year off strong!  I LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH!

ALL my love,

Hermana Davis

Week 27 (Buin w/Hermana Irrazabal)

LA SEMANA DEL CHORRO [The week of the burglar]

SOOOOO we had some crazy adventures this week :) :) :)

Sunday. Hna Irrazabal sees some dude out the window who is walking around checking out the neighborhood. She explains to us how she got a really bad feeling when she saw him, that she thinks he was looking around planning to rob. As she explains this, one of the other Hermanas, Hna Jaramillo remembers a dream she had the week before that a thief broke into the house to steal. So at this point, we all start joking about chorros [Argentinian slang for: burglars]. The next night Hna Irrazabal and I arrive at the house first, so we decide to play a prank on the other Hnas. We lock the gate behind us, instead of leaving it open, lock the front door, and don't turn on any lights, so that they think nobody's home yet, and we hide behind the front door to scare them. Long story short, this started a chain of jokes, scares, and pranks all having to do with chorros.
Wednesday, Hna Irrazabal and I are sitting in our lunch appointment chatting with the sister that had made us lunch when the phone rings. Its Hna Garcia and Hna Trujillo. They didn't have a lunch appointment and had gone to the house to make their own lunch. They had finished cooking in the kitchen on the first floor and headed up to their room to eat on the 2nd floor.  They ask us "Did you come in the house?"
Hna Irrazabal: "No."
Hna Trujilllo: "No seriously, you didn't come in the house?"
Hna Irrazabal:  "No! Seriously! ...Why?"
"Hermana... we heard the front door close."
Hna Irrazabal: "Maybe it's the other hermanas, did you call them?"
Hna Trujillo: "no, they had a lunch appointment today. It's not them. Hna, I think someone came in the house. We can hear noises coming from the first floor. What do we do?"
"Where are you right now"
"In our room, we shut and locked ourselves inside!"
"Yeah, are you sure you hear something, it's not just your imagination?  Why dont you go and check it out"
"NO! Hna, seriously! there are noises coming from below"
"Yeah, stay put then, we are going to call the Zone Leaders so they can come and check it out."
We call our Zone Leaders, they don't answer.
We call our District Leaders.  No answer...they're all in their lunch  appointments.
We call the Zone Leaders from the OTHER zone. They answer. We start trying to explain to them what's going on when we see that the Hnas are calling from the house.  So, we hang up on the ZLs to answer the hnas.
Hna Trujillo: "The noises stopped. We're going to go down the stairs to check it out, but we want you to come with us, so we're going to put you on speaker phone. Ready? (whispering very softly) OK, we're going down. listen!...."
.... everything is silent. Then we start hearing them go down one stair at a time. then the noise stops again. We start hearing noises that we can't really identify and the line goes quiet
Hna Irr: "(whispering) Hermanas?... (a little louder)Hermanas... Almost yelling at the phone HERMANAS?"  The line cuts out. We try calling again. The phone is turned off. SO we start freaking out.  The sister we are eating lunch with calls los carabineros (the police here in Chile) then Hna Irrazabal calls the other zone leaders again and tells them roughly the situation and tells them to RUN to the house and find out whats going on.  About 3 mins later the phone rings again.  The hermanas.
They explained that they are OK; that they went down stairs and there was no one there.  They tell us to tell the ZLs not to come but we tell them they are already on their way... along with the carabineros. Hna Trujillo then explains to us that she turned off the phone for fear of it making noise while they went down. She also explains that they know that there was someone in the house because the back door that enters into the kitchen was left open when they had left it shut, and that when they came down the stairs they heard the grocery bag hanging on the door handle make noise, as if someone brushed by.  A little while later the ZLs arrive (very winded) and explain to the Hns that they saw some guy jump over the back fence of one of our nearby neighbors.  A little later the carabineros arrive and some of our neighbors come out of their houses to talk with them as well because they witnessed another guy (team attack) trying to rob their house...but since they caught him, he ditched his backpack full of their things and bailed. LUCKILY for us, that very same day in the morning the other two hnas that were living on the first floor had moved into the house of the senior couple that just went home to the states; so it just so happens the first floor had absolutely nothing. SO nothing was stolen YIPPEE!
Later, the Assistants to the President passed by to drop something off and gave the Hnas a blessing of comfort and blessed the house.
All turned out fine but it was quite the heart racing adventure!

As for the work, everything is still going good!  This week we struggled a bit more with getting the members to actually follow through with their commitment to come to lessons with us (aka they all bailed in the last minute, but that's normal lol). But little by little, our investigators are progressing and even though they fall from time to time, they pick themselves up, dust themselves off and keep trying. Turns out over coming addictions ISN'T so easy. lol.  Who knew??
We have a baptism this weekend AND a member of the 70 is coming to speak to the mission this week! Updates later!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you baby sis! You are so beautiful! I miss you tons and thought about you this week. Be tough! Don't be dumb even though all the kids around you in the High School are. HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU'RE MY BESTEST FRIEND FOREVERRRRRRRRRRR! I MISS YOU!

Week 25 (Buin w/Hermana Irrazabal)

YIPEEEEEE!!!!! I finally got my packages! And lots of letters! BIG HUGE thank you to Alton and Debbie, the Whitakers, Nicolee, and Cynphony! You all are the BEST!!!! I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, the letters! SO I with my packages I finally got my credit card, yipeeee!...and thus I bought a new camera today...SO I have a camera again YIPEEEEE!!! With the birthday package stuff :)(cake mix, frosting, streamers, birthday hats) I think we are going to have a mini-party in the house today and next week I can start sending pictures! WOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! So cambios [transfers] are tomorrow, but we found out Saturday night that I GET TO STAY WITH HNA IRRAZABAL!!!!!! :D :D :D :D La voy a matar! [I get to kill her off] (in the mission of course). lol Initially I WAS SUPER excited because those who are in their last cabio [transfer] get to go to the TEMPLE with their companions, BUT it turns out with the new mission president, the "dying" missionaries all get together and go to the temple and leave their companions behind. FOME [darn]!!!!  I miss the temple A LOT! haha I LOVE THE TEMPLE! but all's good, my time will come lol. :)

How cool we have bears in the yard [at home in CA] again! haha Practice up! ;) ;) ;)

This week has been a good one, except that we found out that as foreigners, we can't actually be testigos [witnesses] in the wedding, BUT we will be able to be there, and THAT is the important part... actually the important part is that they're GETTING married lol, but we are super happy to have the opportunity to be there, AND to be together for this cambio [companionship transfer] too! This week we had interviews with our mission President.  Man, he is SO inspired. It's like he's called of God or something that like... weird ;) lol  He told me EXACTLY exactly what I needed to hear, for example that I am right where I need to be at this point in my mission. It was a huge relief to hear that because I'm always worrying too much lol. He also explained to me that this time in my mission it's normal to pass through this phase where thoughts of home/family creep into your mind more because as missionaries we start really adjusting to the mission life and get into a rhythm so we don't need to think quite as hard all the time and with this teeny little extra space in our mind, other things start creeping in. But that it's completely normal and it's just a phase, just don't dwell on it, it will pass and you'll get a 2nd wind that'll carry you through to the end.

OM GOSH that reminds me, tomorrow I officially have SIX MONTHS in the mission! HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!?!?!  ¿Como que tengo 6 meses?  No lo puedo creer! en serio! [How can it be that it's been 6 months? I just can't believe it! Seriously]. Time really flies in the mission!

¿Que mas? ¿Que mas? [What else? What else?] We decided to leave our investigators to come to church by themselves to see what would happen and measure their growth etc. (instead of passing by their houses to make sure they were up and getting ready/help them if they needed something/walk with them and wait with them for the bus to pass). It was scary! lol We were sitting in sacrament meeting tapping our feet. The meeting started and we had 1/8 that had arrived. But little by little (one family/pareja [couple] at a time) they started trickling in until we had 6 of the 8 investigators and their children there. The only 2 that didn't come were Viki and Waldo una pareja [a couple] with 3 little kids. They had called us the night before with some excuse I didn't quite catch for why they couldn't come. I think what really happened is they didn't have money to take their family in colectivo or bus to the chapel again (it's about a 15 min bus/colectivo ride away). We were SUPER stoked though to have the investigators and Menos Activos [less actives] that arrived there because they did it all by themselves. We were SO proud AND we really just felt the love and mercy and blessings of the Lord being POURED/DUMPED out in very large quantity over us. It really is amazing to me, incomprehensible the love and mercy of our God. It fills my heart with joy and peace. It's memories and faith building times like these that I will FOREVER be grateful for and will NEVER be able to forget. I love the Lord! I feel so very blessed to have the OPPORTUNITY to serve this time as His representative and share His gospel. It is SO SO SO true! I just love it! Querida [Beloved] familia, I love you all SOOOO much! thank you so much for your emails, your love, support, and your PRAYERS. They don't go unanswered!!! Sigan adelante, crezcan sus testimonios. Lean como familia, oren siempre. [Keep moving forward, grow your testimonies. Read together as a family, pray always] 
 I LOVE YOU! XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Hermana Davis

Week 24 (Buin w/Hermana Irrazabal)

Howdy!

To be completely honest, I don't really know what to say this week.  Another good week!  We continue seeing many mini-miracles along with lots of opposition from the adversary.  Apparently he doesn't like what we´re doing.  Who´d have thought? ... Ahh! that reminds me, something else that surprised me about Chile that I don´t exactly love.  They are pretty superstitious... or I don't know what you´d call it but they are like hyper aware of evil spirits and things like that and they talk about it a bit much for my liking.  They talk about people being possessed, seeing/hearing/feeling cosas feas [ugly things], etc etc. It´s something I hate to hear about lol. You know how I handle it?  Plug my ears and sing "LA LA LA LA LA LA LAAAA IM NOT LISTENING!" LOL now, of course I don't literally do that but mentally I do. I just start telling myself that people who've experienced things like that let their imagination get to them or their mind was playing tricks on them or that they are medio loco no mas [just half crazy]. lol  For example, we found a new investigator this week who is really special, like if you take the time to talk to her you can feel it.  I´m not sure if she is 100% there mentally, but she really is a sweet spirit.  She grew up an orphan and was bounced around from one orphanage to another.  She shared with us an experience she had when she was little where she was supposedly possessed, and that since that moment she prays ever night before going to bed so that she can go to sleep peacefully (because she gets spooked a lot).  She lives alone, just her and her dog, Toby.  When we talked with her it was so cool to be able to share with her and feel how much Heavenly Father loves her, and that she is a daughter of God.  We shared with her how to pray (because she recites prayers) and explained to her that she can really just talk with God and express her feelings.  She explained to us that she feels alone a lot and she doesn't really have a lot of people to talk to or many friends, so it was a blessing to be able to share with her our personal testimonies of the power of prayer and experiences that Heavenly Father really listens and answers our prayers and when we pour our heart out in prayer, he can take away our feelings of sadness, loneliness, etc.   It is amazing to me, and really such an amazing blessing to serve as a missionary and have the opportunity to share with God's children His love for them and be the vessel through which He shares His message and have the opportunity to feel at least the smallest portion of the great love that He has for each one of us.

This week we have our interviews with the mission President.  That means I´m going to FINALLY get my letters and birthday packages WOOOHOOOO! AND that I can buy a camera next Monday.

Love you and miss you a ton!  ... seriously! I am so happy here and really enjoying the work, but nothing replaces family.  I hope you all are doing well, thank you so much for the letters Trent, John, and Lucien!  I love you SOOOO much!  Be good for mommy!  Read your scriptures, SAY YOUR DAILY PRAYERS!  Be good boys, I know you are.  Love you to the moon and back times infinity (and you too Zoe) lots of loves and snuggles.  Your favorite sister in a foreign country,

Hermana Davis

Week 24 (Buin w/Hermana Irrazabal)

Answers to questions you asked me in your e-mail:

1) We still don’t know much about your companion or any of the sisters you are sharing the apartment with…who are they & where are they from? 

My companion is the bomb she is from Argentina and the next transfer is her last (we´re hoping we stay together for her last cambio) we get along super well; we work hard and have a good time together.  The other sisters are Hna Trujillo from Peru who has one cambio more than Hna Irrazabal left in the mission and her trainee Hna Garcia from Chile.  The other companionship is Hna Jaramillo (or Jarami‘SH’o) also from Argentina but hasn’t lost her accent she has the same time as me in the mission but more time in Chile because she only had 2 weeks in the MTC and she is with her trainee Hna Opazo also from Chile.

2) How often do you get opportunities to just gab away in your native language?

            As you probably figured out from the last answer, I am the only gringa in our house so I don’t ever get to gab away in my native language, but don’t you worry,  I still gab away, just not in my NATIVE language LOL but I’m really ok with it because the few times I have been able to speak English recently, (for example when my DL (District Leader) called for our numbers/statistics) it comes out really awkward.  I get like half way through a sentence before I have to pause and remember how to say something in English, but even then sometimes random words come out in Spanish mid-sentence and it feels really weird and awkward to speak in English.  I feel like I sound like an idiot, SO i just answer most of the time in Spanish or Spanglish when people try to talk to me in English.  The sucky part is that I haven’t MASTERED Spanish yet so I can’t really speak either language... its rather comical

3) Who do you get along best with?

My companion!!!!  She´s awesome!  I tell her at LEAST 3 times a week that she has to come and visit me after the mission

4) Can you or have you ever seen the Andes?  

YESS!!!!! They are SOOOOOOO beautiful! and they are all snowcapped this time of year, the only problem is that I haven’t been in an area really CLOSE to them yet so whenever its cloudy or smoggy you can’t see them well, but on the clear days they are GORGEOUS.  En serio, me ponen feliz! :))))  (Seriously, they make me happy!)

5) Now that you are really getting acclimated, what about Chile has surprised you? 

Ha-ha I still don’t know... EVERYTHING!  But if I have to pick something(s) specifically, the animals in the street EVERYWHERE!  Chile is in SERIOUS need of a pound! there are SOOOO many stray dogs in the street and stray cats, and the dogs are DISGUSTING many of them are missing limbs, missing large patches of hair, have huge nasty tumors, etc., etc. Poor things need to be put out of their misery, not to mention a pound would seriously help with the flea problem here.  And the people here are rightly known for being flojos [laid back/slack], but like everywhere, there are people of all kinds.  Sean como sean les amo igual [They are as they are, I love them just the same].  I´m really not a fan of the food, any of it lol except manjar [a caramel sauce they put on everything].  I LOVE the people here and I love how humble they are.  son de buena onda aca en Buin (alto jahuel).   [they are good people here in Buin]

This week was incredible! The day we finished our fast with Vivi we went over to her house to teach her the law of chastity and afterward we called victor on speaker phone to talk to him about them getting married and well, the phone call didn’t end so well, it was kind of like... "Shoot, that wasn’t exactly the miracle I wanted for our investigator to see upon showing her faith in fasting..." He had said how he isn’t sure about getting married because he’s not sure about how he feels, like her loves her and all but that he´s confused and that after all their time together he sees her more as a friend (ouch). SO my comp and I (mostly my comp  tan capa! [so cool]) talked to him and told him to pray about it and think about his family their kids and everything and let us know.  About TWENTY minutes later as we are getting ready to leave, Vivi is washing the dishes, the phone rings. Victor. Vivi´s hands are soaked so we pick up the phone for her, put it in speaker and hold it up to her.

"Halo" She answers. Victor says something that Hna Irrazabal and I don’t catch because one of their kids screams right as he speaks, but we see the expression on Vivis face change to bright red with an expression of utter shock..."¡¿QUE?!" she says

So Vistor repeats himself............ "¿Te quieres casar conmigo?"  [Do you want to marry me?]

"SI." Vivi answers and the rest of the conversation gets lost amongst mine and Hna Irrazabal’s screams and we hug each other, hug Vivi and start jumping up laughing and squealing for joy in the middle of their living room.  FUN STUFF! SO now we are planning a wedding WOOOH!  For the end of September.  I think Hna Irrazabal and I are going to be the 2 witnesses to sign the certificate in the civil when they get married.  QUE BAKAN!!!! [So awesome!!!]  SOOOO we´re pretty happy.

BUT I’m out of time so fam love yall! Miss you like crazy!!! Have a wonderful week WRITE ME LETTERS AND DRAW ME PICTURES AND SEND THEM TO MEEEE!!!!!  That’s your out of school home work for this week-  XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

[An additional little tid bit Ynez added to a reply one of my letters]:

I’m sorry you were disappointed to see how much you’ve lost your Spanish abilities.  I already have fear of losing mine and I haven’t even learned the grammar well yet, but the ability to get around in everything.  It’s something think about sometimes, like what I’m going to do in the future to never lose my Spanish (ie marry someone who speaks it and teach our children etc. etc.) lol  It’s too bad that Brian gets frustrated with you trying to speak Spanish with him and wants you to speak English!  He´ll regret it when Shane comes home.  Especially when me AND Shane are home AND you are more practiced up and we blab in Spanish and he can’t keep up!  lol   Is the whole family buff and lean from all the mtn. biking or what???   Sounds like you are biking 24/7.   I’m not gonna lie I’m a little jealous lol, but I also know there will be time for all that jazz after the mish.  I love you daddy, you’re my hero!!!