August 12, 2013

Aloooooha!

I dont really know what to write you all because this week has been pretty normal.  It FLEW by super fast though.  Oh but felicidades to me I completed three months!!!!  15 more to go!

Having 4 hermanas here is officially the best thing that has ever happened to me.  We have way too much fun together (ie i havent gotten a full 8 hours of sleep in the last two weeks..)  

We had intercambios this week.  Well, i was hoping intercambios would mean a new companion for a day but turns out we were in a trio instead.  But it was actually super util.  I learned a lot from Hermana Bu and she gave us some good suggestions on how to improve in our sector.

OH and GUESS WHAT - to all of you who said i spent too much time on pinterest (aka everyone) it has FINALLY paid off!  I refashioned pretty much my entire wardrobe esta semana.  I took my three favorite cardigans, chopped off about half of the sleeve, and reattached the cuff to turn it into a short sleeved cardigan!  AND i took two blouses i have that had long sleeves but i didnt really like the way they looked and chopped off the sleeves so now i can wea them with a shade top or one of my new cardigans.  MUY FELIZ!!!!

Thats probably my biggest accomplishment this semana haha.  We are trying to come up with new waysto work with the ward and get REFERENCIAS.  If anyone has any ideas please let me know.  

And enjoy the following photos of our pday today.  We hiked up the cerro and had a photoshoot or two.  AND everyone be proud - we made patacones (i already forgot how we call them at home).

Love you all, thanks for writing!

Hna. Chil

August 5, 2013

Ok everyone heres to a very honest and ADD email!

First of all - new companion.  Ill be honest and be the first to say that at first, i did NOT like her.  turns out the feeling was pretty mutual for her too haha.  but for the first time since i got here, i actually utilized companionship inventory time wisely to explain to her that ive lived away from home for four years and during that time learned to be a fairly independent person - aka i dont like people telling me what to do or treating me like an inferior.  I think that conversation helped a lot because she doesnt use the excuse "i have more time than you" anymore (ps she has only been in the field for about 4 more weeks than me.  neither of us know what the heck we are doing).  the only issue is that we are basically polar opposites.  Shes quiet, im not.  she teaches straight from predicad mi evangelio, i do the best i can.  i try to tailor lessons to the investigators problems, and she tries to teach every point in a lesson.  the list goes on.  BUT you will all be extremely proud of me to know that i have been COMMUNICATING my feelings to work out my problems.  Who knew i was capable of such a thing????

Also, MIRACLES HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!  En serio, this story is CRAY CRAY.  (dont judge the parts where i am less than Christ like).  So my very first week in the mission we had a baptism for Felipe - 18 years old, loves to talk, and a little crazy in the cabeza.  His mom started attending church with him but refused to be baptized.  hna. salgados last weekend here we had a baptismal service planned for her b ut she didnt show up.  that night she told us that she felt super pressured and iddnt like that feeling.  thats when i realized we hadnt even taught her the restauration! (duh.  bad missionary award goes to me.)  so hna salgado left and i got my new comp, hna garcia.  Our second day together i was really annoyed with her (this is the part where none of you are supposed to judge...) so i suggested we go and visit felipe and his mom.  mostly i just kind fo wanted to shake her up a little bit and show her that its impossible and ineffective to try and teach as if you are spouting off a recorded message because they like to interrupt a lot and have lots of questions.  so as we are there, hna virginia (felipes mom) tells us that her main duda is about jose smith and the libro de mormon.  and where did all the different religions come from.  so leccion 1 of course.  (also, side note, i told hna garcia before we went in that she felt extremely pressured to baptism).  so my comp starts trying to go in sequence of the lesson and hna virginia cuts in, extremely enojada, and tells her that shes been talking and talking but hasnt answered her question.  so i took over and explained the apostasy and restoration as quickly and simply as possible.  then i turned the time over to my comp where she invited her to be baptized!!!!  bad move.  she was  TICKED and started yelling at my companion that she felt super pressured and that when i was talking she understood but she c ompletely shut down when my comp was talking.  at this moment i fetlt kind of bad for taking hna garcia there.  so we left and hna garcia was not happy and wanted to dejar her as an investigator but i said no way.  but THEN we got two more hermanas in the ward and had to divide the sectors and the new hermanas got virginia.  i was sad but whatevs.  well the next day i get a phone call from one of the hermanas saying that virginia wanted to be baptized HOY!!!!  I couldnt believe it!!!!!  turns out all she was missing was a little more understanding, someone not to pressure her , and a firm testmiony (which the newest missionary in the area who arrived two days ago managed to provide).  The point here is - MIRACLES ARE REAL!!!!!!!!  and im not perfect.  i repented of my unchristlikeness that night.

and that is basically the most interstnig part of my week thus far.  having 2 more hermanas upstairs from us is the best thing thats ever happened to me.  we have so much fun together.  which is especially nice since my comp and i are still learning how to be friends.  

also, we had a ward talent show.  SO FUN.  the best part was when the primary boys did a dance to one direction thats what makes you beautiful.  REAL music!!!!!  I have a video of the skit we did but i cant send videos por email sooo ill show you all in 15 months (three month mark this week!)

love you all and thanks for writing!

hna. chil

July 22, 2013

I dont even know where to start with this week!

I had my first interview with the mission president this week.  I was so scared, I was shaking!  But it actually turned out pretty good.  Out of the four hermanas that were interviewed I was the only one that didnt leave crying so I would consider that a good sign!

Im un poco con gripe at the moment and its not fun.

Robin (who got baptized at the beginning of this month) told us that he wants to serve a mission!  I was so excited when he told us that!  I have seen such a huge change in him since we first started teaching him.

We had to dejar Sicinio como investigador yesterday.  I almost started crying right in front of him I was so devastated.  He was my favorite investigator!  But he wasnt coming to church or keeping commitments so finally we just had to tell him that we would stop by but we cant keep teaching him until he decides to make some changes in his life.  

I learned that I become a lot more domestic when I am sad or frustrated or upset or stressed.  I was sad because we had to dejar Sicinio, stressed and frustrated because my companion is trying to convince me that we should be baptizing children without their parents so we can meet our zones goal, and upset because our zone leader is trying to kill everything that is fun about me.  The asistentes told me they loved my personality and wanted me to keep being who i am but every time i try my zone leader tells me to stop talking and study.  So basically our apartment is spotless right now and i made breakfast for my companion this morning haha.

And one more item of bad news: they are changing our eating situation so that instead of eating with the same people every week, we have to rotate through ALL the members.  So that we can meet more members and get more references.  This means that i wont be spoiled anymore and im going to have to eat all sorts of craziness.  Im so scared!!!!!

BUT you will all be proud ot know that i ate fish the other day.... and i actually kind of even liked it!!  the mission really does bring about miracles.

michael-ann goes home this week (shout out!!!) and i cant believe im not there!  but its ok.  i really do love being a missionary!  the preaching the gospel all day every day part and making friends with complete strangers is the best part of the mission and i wouldnt give it up for anything.  I just dont like district/zone meetings - thats where all my stress comes from!

Sorry this email was all over the place but thanks again to those of you who write me!  It means a lot and i love getting updates on your lives!

Love,

Hermana Chil

July 8, 2013

Aloha familia y amigos!!!  Happy pday!!!!  K im just going to walk you all through my week:

Tuesday: K so if were being honest here, tuesday started out rough for me.  we had a district meeting and verification of 12 semanas training with our zone leader e. jacobsen.  basically i just spent the entire meeting  crying.  im pretty sure he thinks im a pansy now.  but no worries, all is well now!  we had lunch with hermana mercedes who i LOVE and for once i actually enjoyed the food.  

Wednesday: Hermana Salgado was sick.  There are disadvantages and advantages to this.  Advantages: i get about four solid hours of ALONE time.  its amazing.  she sleeps wwhile i work out ALONE eat breakfast ALONE study ALONE and i absolutely love it.  except then 11 oclock rolls around and shes still sleeping... which means im stuck inside.  thats the disadvantage.

Thursday: FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!  I woke up singing the national anthem.  complete with a red ribbon in my hair, white shirt, and blue skirt.  i dont even want to know what you all did on the 4th of july because i might just cry.  BUT i thoroughly enjoyed my day.  we pulled a prank on the zone leaders and had h. salgado text them and say i was packing my suitcases and wanted to go home.  apparently they called the assistants, who didnt answer, then called us to see what was goign on.  we gave them some sob story and then said HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!  except then the assistants called them back so they had me freaked out saying that i had to go to the office at 3 that afternoon.  thankfully, that part was just a joke.  but THEN we had a baptismal interview for robinson that night and elder garzon finished the interview and came out and told us that robinson would have to wait a few weeks to get baptized.  I ALMOST CRIED.  but i tried to ekep my cool while they finished the paper work so it wouldnt be awkward.  right as we were about to leave elder garzon was like "so what time is the baptism at?" i  was so confused then i realized they were just getting us back!  i was ticked but at the same time quite impressed.  so never fear robin got baptized!

plus hermana navarro took us up to the roof where i sang the national anthem and pretended to watch fireworks.

Friday: hermana salgado was still sick so i read a bagillion conference talks and about halfo f the book of mormon.  

Saturday: robins baptism!  you guys will never believe how much i have to sing here.  in public.  basically we start every lesson with a hymn and have to do a musical number for every baptism.  the bright side is that everyone else here sings just as good as me, so all is well

Sunday: robin brought his two little brothers to church.  it was so presh.  and we had tuna for lunch.

Food situation: Mondays are the best in regard tofood because its pday so i can eat whatever i want!  Tuesdays are next ni line because hermana mercedes cooks for us and only makes us food we like and if we dont like it she doesnt make us eat it.  this woman is heaven sent!  wednesdays are pretty good too because hermana navarro cooks for us and shes super relaxed.  plus her husband served a mission and understands our fear of scary food.  then it just goes down hill from there.... thursdays are the worst. i have yet to enjoy a meal in that house.  fridays are managable.  saturdays are yet to be determined because we have only eaten there once.  they are pretty poor though so i have to be careful.  sundays are sketchy.  yesterday was fast sunday and i was STARVING but so nervous about what she was going to feed us.  you know things are bad when im relieved to see tuna on the table.  and no soup!

Anyway so as i mentioned, robin got baptized on saturday!  that was the most exciting because i feel like hes the first baptism i really had a hand in.  i was the one who invited him and earlier this week we talked to him and he said he was scared and wasnt sure if hefelt ready.  we talked to him, prayed with him, shared some scriptures, and after that night every time we talked to him he said he was more than ready!  he even came to his interview, baptism, and church in a white shirt and tie.  i almost cried it was so precious!!!  

Then theres sicinio.  Sicinio is 54 years old and we contacted him one of my first days here.  hes special to me because again hes someone i personally contacted and shared my testimony with.  his wife is extremely terrifying but he is the sweetest person ever.  he said he didnt feel rady to go to church this sunday so we set the goal for him to come next sunday.  hes been reading the book of mormon and really likes it so far so were just trying ot help him develop enough faith to act!

and finally, yesterday we met max.  max is a total dry mormon.  38 years old.  hes read the book of mormon 4 times.  FOUR TIMES.  he has a testimony of everything.  the only reason he hasnt gotten baptized is because he hasnt been able to quit smoking.  SO i gave him a picture of the temple, we took down his phone number, and set goals with him.  we are calling him tonight to see if he smoked today.  i decided i was meant to be a missionary because  basically our job is to stalk people and meddle in their lives - two things i am great at!!

Everything is pretty good so far.  I have my good days and bad days but overall I am loving being a missionary!  Even on my bad days, theres always at least one experience that helps me remember WHY iam here.  i love it.

And I love you all thanks for writing me!  remember my pday is on mondays now!  and email and dearelders are probably the best way to write me.  so write me!  love you all.

love,

hermana chil

picture 1: my 4th of july pic.  that blank piece o paper ac tualy has a flag drawn on it but you cant see it.  so use your imagination.

picture 2: robins baptism!  with his mom.  we are teaching their whole family now and they are SO PRECIOUS!!!

July 15, 2013

FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!!

It is now legal for me to write friends.  ALLELUIA!!!!

So this week was a little rough because my companion was sick all week soooo we were under house arrest/mission office arrest.  It was the WORST.  BUT there were some good parts

- Ive been reading the Book of Mormon like my life depends on it.  And I am obsessed!!  I encourage all of you to read it and apply it to your lives!  I love reading about Alma and Amulek and Ammon and their lives as missionaries.  It really makes my trials seem manageable haha.

- I got to see Hna. Shaw!  She was in my district in the CCM and it was soooo nice to see her again!

- Our first day back to work  (Friday) was the best.  We invited 16 people to church and every single one of our investigators to baptism.  So fun.

- We watched the Together Forever video with Robins family yesterday.  I forgot that I used to watch that with my mom and sharyl waaaaay back in the day when we lived i Steeplechase.  I started crying!  Haha sometimes I just really miss home.

- As for the bad news... Elder Jacobsen got transfered today.  I am devastated.  He was our zone leader and he helped me a lot during the couple of weeks that I was having a hard time.  Plus my companion leaves in two weeks.  I guess this is the time for me to FINALLY learn how to deal with change in my life!

Well thats about all Ive got.  Thanks for all your love and support, means the world to me!  Keep praying for our investigators that they will keep commitments and be truly converted please!  We want converts, not baptisms :)

Love,
Hermana Chil

June 11, 2013

HI FAMILIA!!!

 

This will probably be the most random, uninteresting email but I get really stressed around email time and then my mind blanks on what to write!

 

1. MOM, please tell Sister Reid that my piano playing skills have been discovered and I had to play for sacrament meeting and relief society this sunday.  I completely botched There is Sunshine In My Soul Today (as always, i have never been able to play that song) but it was fun to play the piano again.

 

2. We had a directing music class and finished with Called to Serve.  They called me up to the stand to lead everyone and it was SO FUN watching everyone leading the song, singing, and marching to Called to Serve.  I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

 

3. The elders in my district tried teaching me some skills on how to get a boyfriend when I get back from the mission.  I basically needed them to write out a word for word script on what to say to boys when I meet them.  One month in and my awkwardness is already kickign in!

 

4.  Saturday was our ONE MONTH MARK!!!  One down, 17 to go! 

 

5. I finally learned how to do a REAL sock bun in my hair.

 

6. Silvana found me at the temple today!  Just in time because it was our last p day.

 

7. We head to Ecuador next TUESDAY!!  Which means I probably wontemail next tuesday, just be aware.

 

8.  We met a man at the tmeple today, I think hes a mission president in Cusco, but he takes group pictures of the missionaries and then calls our parents to let them know he met us and send you guys the picture.  SO I gave him both of your numbers mom and dad so expect a phone call from him.

 

9. I have been focusing a lot on developing Christlike attributes this week.  I was kind of annoyed earlier this week because I felt like I had really been trying hard to be patient with myself, my companion, and others but when I was reading the informe ourteachers write about us, my morningteacher said I needed MORE PATIENCE.  Im not going to lie, I was in a pretty bad mood for the rest of the morning about that.  BUT I finally decided that I need to start not only praying for patience but also be willing to accept whatever trials the Lord wants to give me to increase my patience.  The next morning I woke up and it took me ten tries to get my sock bun in my hair.  Haha i just laughed becuase I figured that was only the beginning.

 

10. Mom, I think I definitely take after you in the teaching department.  I have basically become the official before and after hours Spanish teacher for my district and other missionaries who want to learn Spanish.  I teach the spanish lesson we are going to do in class before  class twice a day.  Its fun but I get really passionate about it and end up yelling CONFIDENCE to my students about a billion times a minute.  They KNOW the stuff, they just are too scared to use it!  I push my companion hardest of all because she def needs the spanish help.  But they are all improving a lot.  makes me proud.

 

11. My new favorite word is confidence.  Its amazing to me how many girls here struggle with confidence - confidence with their looks, their teaching abilities, their learning abilities, etc.  And almost every girl Ive talked to has had some boyfriend or family member who has done them wrong and basically killed their confidence.  And it makes me so sad!!  I am convinced that if we all had more  confidence in ourselves, we would be more willing to build each other up and more eager to share the gospel.  So my new motto among the hermanas is "we are beautiful, we are smart, we speak spanish!".  I cant decide yet if they love me or hate me for it haha but I just love them all and I want them to be confident in themselves!

 

K well sorry if this email didnt make any sense.  I love you all!

 

Next time I write I will be in Ecuador!

 

Love,

Hermana Chil

June 24, 2013

Ok I dont even know where to start.  First things first - I AM IN ECUADOR!!!! This officially marks country number TEN for me (k im cheating a little bit because im counting USA and Sweden... just let me have this one please).

So turns out Im way more hardcore than any of you ever thought. Please allow me to describe my living situation for you all:

1. no hot water.  cold showers errday.

2. i have a yet to be determined number of mosquito bites

3. i ate tuna fish for lunch my first day here.  TUNA.  FISH.  and some other food that i have yet to be able to place a name to

4. i have to brush my teeth with the filtered water from mywater bottle (ps this water bottle is GOLDEN.  i love it)

5. toilet paper doesnt go in the toilet here.  It goes in the trash can.

6. Apparently I ate something that belongs INSIDE a chicken yesterday and didnt even realize it.

I guess President Graham was right when he said i would be a different person after the mission.

Well so far I LOVE IT.  My companion is Hermana Salgado from Honduras and she only has six weeks left in the mission.  Im still not sure what that means for me because im supposed to be trained for 12 weeks. But she is great!  She really knows her stuff but is really good about letting me talk in lessons.  At first I was super nervous and quiet but now Im much more willing to talk and open up.

When we first got here, I was so EXHAUSTED for getting two hours of sleep the night before. And what happens when I get exhausted?  Level of exhaustion is directly correlated with my level of emotionalness.  So we were sitting in the mini hotel thing by the temple where we were spending our first night and i picked up an English ensign which in and of itself is a miracle and I was flipping through and whose picture should i find other than my dear sister and sonny!!!  i almost lost it right then and there but i managed to pull myself together.  i kept the ensign justifying it with the fact that it contains a family picture.  tender mercies!!

my first night in our house with my companion i cried a little bit because i realized that somehow i left all my pictures at the ccm.  BUT its okay because thankfully i had taken out a few of my favorites to leave in my scriptures AND i have that journal that kailie made me before leaving  (thanks kales!!!).  We live in a house that is right next door to a family in the ward, the Navarros. They own the house.  THeya re sooooo great!  they have two little girls and the 11 year old already says she wants to be a missionary one day.  Theya re the best family ever! 

My birthday was GREAT.   I forgot it was my birthday until mycompanion gave me a giant hug and said happy birthday.  She was so sweet she made a card for me and proceeded to tell EVERYONE we came in contact with that it was my birthday.  that nlight we were finishing up a lesson and the zone leaders called and told us to come to the church to get the ficha for Felipe who got baptized on Friday.  so we got there and they ahd a little table set up with two cakes for me and sang me happy birthday!  THen they told me they ahve an ecuadorian tradition that i had to kiss the cake.  SO i was trying to figure out why and I leaned in to kiss the cake and my companion just slammed my face into it. How i did not see that coming is still beyond me. Haha it was fun though but the pictures are on elder jacobsens camera since i didnt have mine.  And THEN that night the navarros came over and brought me a pint of ice cream.  It was so nice, i felt so loved by all these people i just barely even met!! Thanks to all of you for all your birthday wishes, made my day!

Yesterday we watched this leadership training broadcast from SLC all about missionarywork. It was SOOOO good.  Remember how i wasnt emotional in the CCM?  im way more emotional here haha.  I cried like three times.  But i absolutely loved it.  Although for any of you who might have watched it i am here to tell you that is NOT what missionaries look like.  All those sister missionaries were all dolled up and cute and i was just sitting there with my dusty shoes, sweaty face, and frizzy hair thinking there is no way. 

Well thats about it.  My mission president is SUPER strict and not quite as loving as i had hoped.  There are a few rules that i strongly disagree with.  BUT whatever.  HOnestly, being a missionary makes it all worth it. I just realized i havent even talkeda bout the missionary work at all yet haha.  We had a baptism on friday for Felipe.  He is an interesting fellow haha but it was exciting.  WE have another one this weekend for two girls, ages 9 and 11.  Their mom is a member but not very active i dont think.  And their dad isnt a member but he sat in for one of our lessons for the first time and actually seemed really interested.  The only issue is that he works out of town and is gone for weeks at a time.  But im praying for a miracle because they are the CUTEST family and i would love to see them all go to the temple.  We met a girl who is 19 years old with a three year old daughter and one on the way and she said she doesnt love herself.  We told her about how she is a daughter of God and is important to HIm.  Im hoping she keeps ourappointment we have with her tomorrow because this Gospel could help her SO much.  Ahh i wish i could tell youa bout everyone we meet and talk to but it wouldtake forever.  Sometimes I get a little homesick or annoyed or sad or whatever but when we are talking to people and teaching them, all of that goes away.  I didnt think it was possible but i already love them so much!!!  Oh and dont worry, we made friends with a member in a different ward who owns a panaderia right around the corner from our house.  Shes officially my favorite.

K well i love you all PLEASE keep writing me, it means more than you know!!!  Pray for the people here, pray for FAMILIES who are ready to change their lifestyles to accept this gospel in their lives.  And please pray that the food will continue to taste decent and not make me sick :)

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Chil