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

May 28, 2013

HI FAMILY!!!  I would like to start off with a gigantic THANKS to everyone who writes me.  Like really, I don{t think you understand how much it means to me.  K so here is a rundown of my week:

 

1. We have new roommates.  Its really kind of annoying because we went from two g irls to four girls in one room so now our bathroom is always crowded and theres a TON ofstuff. I mean, these new girls are quite high maintenance. The only item of mine on thecounter is my face wash and theyhave like five billion bottles of hairspray and makeup and who knows what else. And the other day i found my tooth brush on the GROUNd.  I was quite disgusted.  but other than that they are great girls.  Its kind of nice being the more experienced missionary to help them out.

 

2. So every week we have to create a talk on a specific topic and pray our little hearts out that they wont call on us to speak on sunday.  When we went to church I had this bad feeling that i was going to get called on and lo and behold i did! Sometimes knowing spanish is a curse.  But I think it went pretty well.  Mycomp and I also taught sunday school (ps sorry my grammar andspelling is so bad, these computers are terrible!)

 

3. I have a wart on the back of my knee.  I didnt know what a wart was until the elders in my district started telling me I could get cancer from it.  Then Idiscovered they were joking.... #notnice.  Haha but yeah so right now the doctor told me to put duct tape on it and see what happens

 

4. I have bruises on my knees from kneeling to pray ALL THE TIME

 

5. Oh so earlier this week one of myteachers pulled my aside and said that he and the other teachers thought i was good enough in spanish to switch to one of the latino districts and leave the CCM two weeks earlier.  I was so conflicted  because part of me really wanted to but the other part of me wanted to stay. We listened to this talk by Elder Bednar called Character of Christ and he talked all about being more like Christ and turning outward - thinking of others rather than yourself.  So this week i have been trying really hard to do that.  Like I have been helping my companion a TON to learn spanish.  I give up my own personal study time to help her with flash cards and memorizing the first vision, etc.  It has been SUCH a blessing because it has made me happier and made her more confident in her spanish abilities. So after some praying i came ot the conclusion that i was better off staying in the district i am right now.  I am obviously here for a reason and right now i think that reason is to help others the best i can to improve their spanish.  By the wayMom, I think i get this from you - i get VERY passionate about teaching.  Like I get really loud sometimes because im so excited about it.  Im constantlyyelling out the word CONFIDENCE.  haha but its so fun.

 

6. I love my district.  Like I cant even begin to explain how much i lovethem!  We have TOO much fun together.  The other night for our district meeting we each showed pictures of our family and friends to each other and talked a little bit about our pre mish lives.  It was so much fun.  But they are just the coolest, I am really going to miss them! When I was deciding between moving to a latino district elder funk came up to me one day and was just like "hermana chil, i really hope you dont leave our distrcit.  i understand if you want to, but it would be cool if you stayed" haha it was so precious.

 

Last night i had a little freak out session. Not crying but the whole being confined to the walls of the CCM with the same exact person doing the same exact thing all day every day really got to me and i went nuts.  So I was running up and down the stairs (with my companion watching of course) to release some energy then i did some of my fitness buddy workout in my room.  Then I showered and straightened my hair because thats therapeautic for me haha i felt better by the time i went to bed but really having a companion al the time is ROUGH.  Like if I could have one wish right now it would be for just ONE HOUR of pure solitude.  And some music.  Music would be nice.  BUT Im tring to refocus and keep thinkingOUTWARD and less about myself so that I can remember why i am here.

 

Overall, I really do LOVE being a missionary.  There are always those moments when we are teaching our investigators that the spirit is so strong and I just dont have any doubt about why Im here.  This gospel is amazing.  The Atonement is amazing.  And I am so excited to be here to share it! I just wish I could stop being a whimp and actually muster up the courage to talk to people when we go out into the real world on P Days.  Im hoping eventually it will happen.

 

Well I really love you all!!! Thanks again for writing me. Im sorry if I dont get to write all of you back, time here goes by really fast.  But I read your emails and they mean the world to me.  Love you all and hope you have a great week.  Dont forget to write dearelders!

 

Love,

Hermana Chil

 

PS the picutres is of me and my companion getting churros outside of Metro last pday.

June 4, 2013

Hola familia!!!

 

So I would like to start off this email with a wonderful story about the grace and poise of Luisa Lynette Chil. I was running up the stairs the other day to get something from our room and apparently the cleaning lady had just finished mopping so the floor was super wet and I just completely biffed it and landed on my thigh. I have a bruise. And now I cant lay down on my right side because it hurts way too much haha oh and dont forget the fact that my entire district saw it because we were practicing contacting. I also made the mistake of telling them a couple weeks before that I took a ballet class my sophomore year and its my worst grade on my transcript. So now they all know how graceful I truly am!

Anyway this week definitely had its ups and downs:

1. We had a devotional by Elder Pino, an area seventy here, and it was SO good. Like he basically touched on everything I needed to hear , especially the importance of exact obedience. Its cool to see how Heavenly Father answers our prayers (more on that later)

2. We went proselyting again on Saturday. It went better this time than last time but it was still rough for me. Its just hard because my companion, as much as i love her, doesnt speak spanish. Like any. So i end up doing all the talking and i hate silence so i just talk way too much and dont really let the spirit do its part. And on top of that i want to provide my companion with the opportunity to practice her spanish but every time i would turn to her for her to bear her testimony or something, she just was too scared to do it. But we still did better than last time. We talked to 17 people, got 6 references, and taught 2 lessons. We met some super nice people too that I think were very receptive. Ill be honest, proselyting is not my favorite buuuut I guess thats kind of what i signed up for. I just hope its different when I have a companion that speaks the same language so we can help each other out better.

3. Ive been running every day during physical activity with Hermana Moats and it has been SO nice!! Ive been wanting a running buddy since I got here and now i finally have one. Running relieves sooo much stress and helps me be a much nicer person so I dont end up snapping at people randomly. I love running (never thought I would say that)

4. I burned my knee while curling my hair last night.... Kailie, David, and Sam, you will appreciate that.

5. Okay so here is the best part. So I have been having a lot of slef doubts lately. Like wondering if I can do this, if Im loving enough, if im patient enough, if i know the doctrine enough, etc etc. And ive bene struggling because i was feeling like i wasnt feeling the spirit at all. And heres the thing about being a missionary - you really cant do anything without the spirit. You cant teach, you cant receive inspiration, you cant know who to talk to, you cant love your companion, you cant do ANYTHING. So i was really strugglign with that. Last night one of the teachers did a coaching session with me and asked if i needed help with anything so i basically spilled all those doubts to him and told him i just really had no idea what to do. So he gave me a few scriptures and had me read some parts of PMG, that was helpful. Right afterward, we had to teach a lesso nto our investigator Juan (who is actually the same teacher) so we went in and started teaching him about the Plan of Salvation. We had already taught him the gospel principles and the restoration and we had to teach him the law of chastity because he hsa a girlfriend and apparently thats how he "shows his love" to her (super awkward lesson by the way. i was trying really hard not to laugh most of the time). Anyway so while we were planning i told my companion we should invite him to be baptized. And she memorized the baptismal invitation in spanish so i always like to give her the opportunity to use it. So we were teaching him about the Plan of Salvation and he was telling us how he just feels realy alone because his girlfriend broke up with him and all of his family is very catholic. But that he feels good when we come to teach him and he always feels happy when he prays. For the first time since we got here to the CCM, i really started to feel the spirit in the lesson. Like we had felt it before but this time it was like BAM a giant wave. I felt like I should share with him a few verses from 1 Nephi to explain to him now Nephi also felt very alone sometimes because his own family members hated him and hated the fact that he was a prophet. I bore my testimony to Juan about how Ive felt alone before too but that I KNOW with all my heart that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can help us through any trial, any challenge, any doubts we have in this life. I started tearing up as I was talking and I could just FEEL the spirit guiding me big time. And I know it was the spirit because i cant even remember half the stuff i said. But the BEST part was right after I finished I looked over to my companion and she wasnt even looking at me for confirmation on her Spanish, she just was staring straight into Juans eyes and bore testimony to him IN SPANISH (remember, she doesnt speak spanish) of how she can see that he has faith and that following the principles of the gospel will help him draw closer to God and then she invited him to be baptized. It seriously took everything inside of me not to just burst into tears. After like a minute of silence (another miracle, because i usually break the silence long before that) he said that he would pray about it and that if he felt that personal feeling that it was right, he would be baptized. I told him we had a baptismal service in two weeks and that when he received his answer would he be baptized on that date and he said YES. My point of this story is not the fact that he agreed to baptism but the fact that #1 GOD ANSWERS OUR PRAYERS. I had been praying like crazy tofeel the spirit in my lessons and I fINALLY did and #2 The Holy Ghost is REAL and he makes himself known when the time is right. I hope this all makes sense but that was hands down the best experience I have had thus far in the CCM. And it came at the perfect time because it reminded me of why I am here and the potential I have even though I am so imperfect. AND it even inspired my companion to work harder to learn Spanish. Anyway it was just awesome.

So that was the highlight of my week. We went to the temple this morning which is always fun and next tuesday is our LAST PDAY then its off to ECUADOR! So since we are leaving in 2 weeks, please send all letters, DearElders, or packages straight to Ecuador. I am getting so excited to go out to the field!!!! Im nervous but I think it will be good for me to be thrown into a situation where I will really need to apply myself with Spanish and teaching and being out there for real.

 

Picture #1 all the girls theat came on may 8th in front of the templo

#2 my burnt knee

#3 the MTC map picture ive always wanted

 

Life is good, the gospel is true, and I love being a missionary.  THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO WRITES ME!!!!  Your emails and letters mean the world to me.  I love you all and thank you so much for all your support!

 

Love,

 

Hermana Chil

May 21, 2013

HEY FAM!!

 

So basically I have been stressing about what Im supposed to write all of you this week.  I feel like every time I lay down to go to bed the events of the day just completely leave my mind.  Being a missionary is EXHAUSTING!!!  But here are a few noteworthy itesms:

 

1. We went proselyting on Saturday!!  Every other Saturday they let us out into the real world to be real missionaries.  Its so scary!!  They sent us to a part of town about 15 minutes from the CCM and itw as just me, my companion, and a teacher.  Basically, we were ringing doorbells like crazy and kept getting a whole lots  of NOs.  it was so discouraging!  Finally, one family let us in and i almost just started crying because i was so happy.  Unfortunately, they were not interested.  They basically just wanted to get into a bible bashing party and i dont know enough spanish or doctrine to do that.  So our teacher took the reins on that one I basically just tried to save it at the end by giving them a Restoration pamphlet.  So we went out ringing doorbells againa nd the most typical responses were "soy catolico" or "estamos ocupados".  I was getting so discouraged!  Finally, just about fifteen minutes before we had to head back to the church, a familly let us in and let me just tell you they were SO PERFECT.  They said they had been looking for a church and even had a friend who was a member and had given them a Book of Mormon before.  They have two sons and are trying to find ways to bring their family closer together.  So perfect.  So we taught a little bit about the restoration and I wrote down a couple of scriptures for them to read and gave them another Book of Mormon and invited them to start reading it.  We took down their info for the real missionaries to take over so I really hope they do!! 

 

2. So this past week we were teaching our investigator Gilberto (really just our teacher).  Our first lesson was terrible.  Well it wasnt that bad but it was so frustrating because i did all the talking and thats definitely not how it should be.  But after some praying and agreeing to teach more in english so that my comp could keep up, our second lesson was AMAZING.  And our third, and ourfourth.  We finally learned how to work as a companionship and really teach by the spirit.  By our last lesson, I felt so much love for Gilberto and I was beyond excited when we committed him to baptism.  Its just crazy to me how much i could love him when i know hes really just my teacher.  But when were sitting there, teaching him and the spirit is so strong, he doesnt feel like my teacher, he feels like a real investigator who really needs the gospel in his life.  Its awesome!!

 

3. Can I just say that my district is hilarious?   the combination of four sister missionaries between the ages of 19 and 23 and four 18 year old elders makes for some hilarious stories.  This last week, two of the hermanas started freaking out because of a miscommunication between us and the teachers.  Like one of them, who seems very nice and cute and blonde, all of a sudden was yelling at our teacher to speak to her in English.  Meanwhile, I am sitting there trying so hard not to laugh.  And she just yells out "this place has no structure!!!!!!!!" and one of the elders b ehind me was like "what are you talking about, this is the most structure ive ever had in my life??" haha thats where I lost it, i was DYING of laughter.  Like tears were coming out of my eyes I was laughing so hard.

 

4. Our teachers here are amazing.  its hard to explain over email but they are just so inspired and you can just feel their love for us.  One teacher specifically, hermano lazo, is just amazing.  He taught the best lesson last week from Luke ch. 8 just about the Lords love for each of us.  And it was a completely inspired lesson.  It actually made me shed a few tears which apparently is a big deal for me because something in the water here has closed up my tear ducts.  I just dont cry anymore!  ·miracleshappen

 

Okay sorry if this email makes no sense, I feel so rushed here during email time!  Basically just know that I am doing well, my companion and i are getting along, and I absolutely LOVe being a missionary.  Even when things are a little rough, I just look at my name tag and remember why Im here and it makes everything so much better :)  Thanks to everyone who wrote or emailed me.  I love you all!!!  Also, feel free to send more dearelders, they are really fun to get on Thurdays :)

 

LES AMO!!!!!

 

Hermana Chil

May 14, 2013

1. our district in front of the temple

2. me and my companion by the CCM sign

3. MY FAMILIA

May 14, 2013

ok i am so jealous you got to talk to kales.  im jealous of both of you.  OMG WE ARE MISSIONARIES AT THE SAME TIME!!!!  Hey do you know an hermana shill??  she said she went to mountain view and she is friends with makenzy and brybry and amy, etc.  Anyway we have almost the same last night.

The mtc is GREAT!!!!  it is SUPEr nice here.  weird being in peru though but i forget half the time anyway because we are behind prison walls all day. um and yeah i have to force myself not to think about how long it is until i get to see you because otherwise i get sad and then i cant focus ALL DAY haha its horrible.  but i miss you soooo much!!!!!  life is good though.  having a comp 24 7 is rough (obvs) but shes awesome so itll be good.  our district is hilarious.  let me just saying, hanging out with a bunch of 18 year old boys all day is the funniest thing ever hahahaha they seriously crack me up.  we have the weirdest conversations and always end up dying of laughter over stuff that i swear would not be funny if we werent missionaries hahaha.  so far ive only cried once, last night.  and it wasnt out of homesickness it was out of freaking FRUSTRATION that i cant teach!!!!  does that sick feeling when they tell you you need to teach your investigator ever go away??  because if not, this could be a problem.

 

k well i gotta go but is ent you my family email (sorry its so dang long) and some pics.  write me bih i miss you like crazy!  i had a nightmare last night that you didnt write me.  it was terrible.  SO WRITE ME.

 

love you. miss you. stalk you. #missionariesjuntos #mgforlife #youdiein10weeks #imanewb #cometoecuador #bemycomp

 

LOVE LUSHIE LUSH

May 14, 2013

HOLA FAMILIA!!!!!

 

Fair warning, this is going to be LONG. 

 

So basically today is the best day ever because I JUST SAW MY GRANDPARENTS!!!!  YAY!!!  Also, its pday which I decided I love because after such a long week of studying and learning and trying to teach and crying because you cant (yes ladies and gentelemtn i finally had the inevitable breakdown we all saw coming last night) it is just exhausting.  So today we got to go to the temple and go to the store to buy some snacks and then i got back just as my grandparents were talking to seguridad and i almost died i was so excited to see them!  So let me start back at the beginning.

 

So we got here last wednesday night suuuuper late and it was really weird walking out of my airport with a bunch of other missionaries instead of my grandparents like my last three times coming here.  But we basicaly just got here, found out who our companions were, and went straight to bed.  next day was already full of classes and orientations and whatnot.  We got two extra nametags with the clip things that I really wanted and I was just so excited to officially be hermana chil that i was just jumping around up and down and hugging all the other hermanas.  haha ya about two hours later i crashed i was so exhausted.  anyway we had an orientation workshop in spanish with all the new latino missionaries and they gave us headsets and a translator.  it was super hard to understand though because the poor lady doesnt speak much english but she tried her best.  here is my lesson of the week: pride comes before the fall!!!  I remember listening to her and thinking to myself omg i could do so much better than this.  Well that was definitely prideful luisa coming out and I guess Heavenly Father needed to surpress her because a couple days later I was asked to translate the fireside (more on that later).

 

Our second day here we had a welcome fireside by the MTC president and at the end of it presidente cardon looked straight at me and was like "hermana chil will you pray for us?".  ok just in case any of you dont know i do NOT like praying in public!  so i got up there and asked him english or spanish and he said eihter one so i chose english but i got up there and my mind completely blanked on all english words and next thing i knew i was praying in spanish.  haha it was crazy but proof that the gift of tongues is real and im apparently not supposed to hide the fact that i can speak spanish (which was actually my plan).  Oh and by the way, when david and i were here last year, we had met the MTC president and his wife bui i wasnt sure if they would remember me.  Turns out that they do!  They remembered us and Hermana Cardon is looking for the picture we took together haha.

 

Um idk what else to say other than that we are in class ALL DAY LONG.  Its exhausting.  I bought a bunch of snacks today to get me through the week.  My companion is Hermana Parry and she is great.  Shes from Syracuse Utah and doesnt speak ANY spanish haha but i love her.  We struggle sometimes because in some ways we are a lot alike (for example we both like to talk a lot and we both are kind of spastic and hyper.  and we run into things and trip over ourselves).  But I think most of the time we get along pretty well.  At least much better than i ever imagined myself getting along with someone im with 24 7 haha.  Right now we are struggling because i speak a lot of spanish and she doesnt speak any so i end up talking way more than either of us want and she cnat really say anything in our lessons.  So we had our first lesson with our investiagor Gilberto last night and basically we both just started crying after when we were talking to one of our teachers about it because we were so frustrated.  BUT all is well because i think breaking down together brought us a little closer as a companionship haha as weird as that sounds.  And the teacher said we could try using more english for the time  being so that we can split the lesson evenly instead of one of us dominating and the other being lost the whole time.  I will admit though I never anticipated KNOWING the language to be challenge for me on my mission!

 

The food here is actually pretty good.  There are always two entrees to choose from so I always choose the one that seems less sketchy.  And I havent gotten sick yet!!! (knock on wood).  I havent even had a major headache which is kind of a big deal for me.  Ive been drinking water like crazy in an effort to avoid getting sick so basically I have to go pee all the time which means my companion always has to come with me haha poor girl.  but i am very much enjoying not being sick.

 

K so Sunday I had to translate the fireside and I was SO NERVOUS.  All the Norteamericanos were wishing me luck and kept turning around giving me thumbs up haha.  But at the end they all said I did a great job and asked me to do it again on thursday.  So it looks like this might become kind of a regular thing.  But its nice for me because since the classes are so basic i just get really bored and feel like im not progressing at all so now I feel like i can actually challenge myself a little bit.  Also today I didnt use headphones during the temple session so i did it all in spanish.  Thank goodness i went so often last semester because i was able to understand the majority of it.  Also at the temple today I saw Silvanas mom!!  Silvana was my bestie here in Peru, remember?  Anyway her mom came running up to me and i almost started crying i was just so excited.  Also one of my teachers is from our ward here in peru so he said he would bring silvana to visit me one of these days haha im kind of spoiled around here.  Because then today MY GRANDPARENTS CAME!!!  And my tia and Ana Ximena.  It was the best.  We got to talk for about half an hour and Ana Ximena just enjoyed herself staring at all the elders and falling in love with them.  She said she wants to be Mormon now haha.  But it was nice because my grandma asked me if I was happy here so I said yes and i explained what I had been doing and what im going to do.  As they were leaving I was showing them a picture of my mission on the map, my mission president, the prophet and apostles, and a picture of jesus christ and they were very impressed.  My grandma said she could understand why I am so happy because I am in such a great environment.  The Spirit is real everyone because even my grandparents felt it!!

 

Oh and one more quick story - today while walking from the temple a bird pooped ON MY HEAD.  It was disgusting.  So right now i am sitting here with bird poop in my hair and i really want to shower.  #gross

 

K well I think that is it!  Basically life is pretty good and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here and be a missionary!!!  The spirit here is amazing and we are all just so excited to be here and to be missionaries.  I love you all and miss you soooo much!!!!!!  Oh and also, dont forget - NO PACKAGES to the MTC (but mom i will need at least one in ecuador (i have a list of things i need).  But the POUCH mail and DEARELDER work great.  I just got the dearelder i wrote myself last week haha it was kind of awkward explaining to the missionaries why i wrote myself a letter but they thought it was funny.

 

K LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!  Pictures in the next email.

 

Love,

Hermana Chil

 

P.S. thanks everyone who emailed me!!!!  I had a nightmare last night that no one wrote me haha so thanks for NOT making that dream come true.

May 12, 2013

MOMMY!!!

 

Happy Mothers Day!!!!  There are a ton of missionaries here so we dont get to call today but they gave us a few minutes to email.  yay!!  Everything is good so far.  I STILL havent cried which, im not going to lie, is really worrying me haha i thought i would be much sadder!  But I guess that is just the Lord taking care of me.  My companion is Hermana Parry.  She is from Utah and cannot speak spanish to save her life haha but I love her, she is awesome. I was worried about having a boring  companion but she is really fun and hilarious.  Are district consists of two hermana companionships and two elder companionships.  We have a lot of fun together.  I am the only one who really speaks spanish so classes are SOOOOOOOO BORING but i keep trying to stay positive and help the other missionaries as much as  ican.  I was asked to translate the fireside tonight and im really nervous about that but we will see how it  goes.  We have also been trying to eat some meals with the Latino missionaries so that we can practice our spanish.  Its so fun getting to sit with them.  They are so much fun and really helpful for me in practicing my espanol.

 

I miss you guys and I miss my friends a lot but it is much easier than I thought it would be to not think about those things and focus on the work.  I am trying really hard to learn how to teach and let me tell you something it is HARD.  But its ok, i have six weeks to figure it out!  Pday is on Tuesday so I will be writing again on Tuesday.  Also, they told us to remind you to not send packages here to the MTC.  Send them straight to the mission field.  And the best way to stay in touch is using e'mail or the POUCH system in my email of instructions or DearElder.com. 

 

LOVE YOU!!!!  I hope you have a wonderful Mothers Day!!

 

 

Love,

Hermana Chil

May 9, 2013

HOLA FAMILIA!!!!!

 

Sorry I didnt call yesterday, I didnt have time!  But I am alive and well in Lima PERU!  And surprisingly, I havent cried once since I left.  I know, crazy right?  Luisa not crying?  Im just waiting for it to all hit me eventually and i just break down in the middle of lunch or something haha but well see.

 

Anyway I only have five minutes right now to let you know im ok.  I know the most spanish out of everyone in our group so they are all kind of jealous haha.  Flying into Lima actually felt kind of like coming home.  I didnt realize how much I missed Peru!  Im hoping to get the chance to contact my grandparents soon.  oh, and I saw pardos (my favorite chicken restaurant) so hopefully I will be able to get some of that soon!

 

I will write you guys a real email on my pday (which I think is tuesday).

 

LOVE YOU ALL and thanks for all your support!!!!! 

 

Besos,

 

Hermana Chil