DOG ATTACK!

So as a little girl I have always been afraid of dogs and coming to Chile where there are about 6 nasty dogs on every street changed that really fast. But now it is back. My comp and I were stopped in the street looking for a house number when this huge dog ran right at my comp. She grabbed on to me so hard she could have pulled blood if I did not have like 3 coats on from here nails. But the dog did not stop at her but right behind us where there was a little doggy and they had this huge fight...like FIGHT FIGHT. They were not playing but picking each other up with there teeth and throwing them far and staining the street. I had no idea what to do being only a foot away. We got away from the mess and then found the owner of the big bully dog but it was super scary. 

Also.....my sector Hualqui was actually a Country for one day. There is some crazy story but all I know is that it was a real country for just one day.

I feel like the people here are a little more stubborn. I have never really gotten my feelings hurt before from people not wanting to hear our message or are rude to us or don't give us the time of day but the people here are a little more rough and I have had to bite my tongue a few times. Actually I find it easier to be overly kind to someone that treats us meanly to help me not say how it really hurts. It bothers me more for Hna. Antileo. She tries so hard to contact people with so much hope and she makes me laugh so hard when the contact leaves and she says what she was really thinking.

But we have some great futuros this week. And we are working so hard with the members. We are gathering so many references and helping the members have contact with there reference before we meet them, joining us in the lessons and following up even when we are not there. We spent 2 hours last Sunday with a Hermano visiting the families he has been preparing. 

 Text message from a convert in Nonguen :(

A chilean lunch 

Bueno! Carlitos got baptized!!

It was a beautiful service and the majority of the people that came thought he had been a member for awhile. He also chose not to take the job that was going to pay him double but make him work on Sunday. He is 25 and knows so much about the gospel. He has seen almost every Mormon Message video and almost is taking the words out of our mouth before we teach him. He has prepared a reference for us too. He wants us to go visit a few of his friends with him to teach them.

Training Hna. Antileo is a ton of fun. I have learned how to shoot off 3 tongue twisters in Spanish and she is really quick with the English Wood-Chuck one. She wants to learn English so much and we have even done a few planning sessions in English and one session of her training in English.

We did not have investigatores in the church this past Sunday. But we got the assistance up to 178. Last week we only had 140 or so.

My mind is kinda blank right now. I think I am just a little tired. Our Zone and another Zone got together to go to the beach and hike, play volleyball, and ultimate Frisbee. It was a pretty stinky bus full of Elders and just 4 Hermanas on the way home. But our Frisbee team won :) Have you ever played ultimate Frisbee with Latinos......that is an experience. They can kick our Gringo bums when it comes to soccer but any other sport is just the funnest thing to watch happen. 

HAPPY MOTHER¨S DAY

I hope all the mom´s had a wonderful day especially all the women who have influenced my life in such a positive way. I got a mother´s day card too. Considering that I am finishing the training of Hermana Antileo....she calls me mama. 

She is amazing!! In our ward there are 4 sister missionaries and we all live in the same house. They are all Latinas and I know my dad would be happy to hear that to know that I will be speaking nothing but Spanish for the next 6 weeks at least but.....my comp speaks basically fluent English. On our first day together she said "English Time" all of a sudden and started speaking fluent English I about died from shock. She has a British accent when she speaks English but she is teaching me the funnest words from Chile like yeta and jote and jotiar. Good luck finding those words in a Spanish dictionary. 

But more, Hermana Antileo had been freezing every night. She would heat up water and put it in a water container that is used to put on an injury and sleep with that in her bed. Now that she sleeps with my electric blanket she wakes up sweating. I love being her companion and helping her be comfortable here and learn about the missionary life...I really just like teaching :) She said she had learned more in our one week of being together than in her first 6 weeks. It is such a blessing to be working with someone with desires to grow. 

We are teaching a lot of part member families. One sweet lady is studying English and wanted me to help her with her assignments but she was afraid I had forgotten English. I told her if you asked me to spell in English it would look like it. 

But the most exciting news is Carlos. Even though I will be missing a few baptisms in Nonguen Carlos should be getting baptized this weekend! He is from Santiago and moved here in Augusto. He had moved to get away from the bad influence of friends that he had and to change his life. But he had been listening to the missionaries since he got here and just a week ago he accepted a baptism date! For the 16th of Mayo. He has a few hard choices to make still though. The whole time he has been here he has not been able to find work and just a week or so ago he finally got offered a job and just recently he got offered another.....for double pay....but working every Sunday. His mom just stopped working and he feels a huge responsibility to take the job. But we know that is how Satan works. Presenting us with opportunities that seem to bless us more if we sacrifice our standards when we know that if we ALWAYS put God in the first prioridad we will never falt anything. Keep him in your prayers. 

I loved being able to Skype my family. This time I could say bye without crying....until I closed the computer at least. I am so grateful for my family and for the happiness that comes to the families that live this simple but true gospel of Jesus Christ together. 

A mix between a dog and a bear and lino and something else weird looking. 

Saying goodbye and hello.

My New Companion - Hermana Antileo.

Fall in Chile

It is so beautiful here in Chile in the Fall. Bueno, other than being freezing in the morning and night it is great. We just had transfers and my comp Hermana Ponce is going to train a new missionary and I am going to Hualqui! It is still close to the city but it is like the country of the city. I am going to finish the training of Hermana Altelio! She just has 6 weeks as a missionary but her whole life is in Chile. She is from Santiago. 

It totally stinks having to say goodbye to Nonguen. It is definitely not the same Ward that was here when I got here but the changes have been positive and I just pray they all stay.

Luis Munoz calls us a TON!! He has like 60 something years of age but he has not had anything to drink since Thursday!!!!! Super super bien for him! Hermana Ponce and I put a few goals on ourselves to help us try and support him in his process to stop doing something that he has enjoyed so much. They may sound funny but they are just bad habits we like but want to change. She wants to stop picking at her nails and I said I would stop eating in the nights when we get home. We have been studying this book of helping people conquistar addictions and that is what it suggest. To not do it for one day then one week then one month. The first night after planning Hermana Ponce went to shower and my weak stomach made its way to the kitchen. But we both confessed that we did not complete it. I will be changing my goal to something I will actually cumplir :) But as you can see from the pictures. We have a lot of completos in the house. 

I love you all so much and CAN NOT WAIT to see my great family next Sunday :) via Skype.

We lost Pumba....

So at the start of this transfer we were put into a trio and Hermana Shupe who loves The Lion King called me Simba, Hermana Ponce Tamon, and herself Pumba. Hermana Shupe went home today this Monday. With the many talks with the president and even a few calls from home it was decided that it would be the best for the mission and her happiness. She was suppose to head out this past Friday but with the volcano that erupted in Chile her plan was canceled and she had to return to our trio and stick it out in the awkward middle ground with us for another 3 days. But we know she is so much more happy now and that she will be working hard in her own Ward with many more new goals we helped her create before she left. 

BUT! We had 2 investigators in the church with a baptism date for the 16th of May. Daniel and Luis. Luis is much more interesting so I will share about him today. He is a heavy alcoholic. He drinks 6 liters EVERYDAY. This was his 3rd time to come to church and he has never been able to make it through a full church service because of his need to drink. But Saturday before church he expressed how he just wants to stay. More than anything he wants to stay but something is pulling him out every time. So on Sunday when he could not bare it anymore and he got up to leave Hna Ponce and I followed him out. We talked with him for another 30 minutes helping him see how he can over come it and beat it and have the control to stay just a bit longer and make it just a bit longer before his next drink. But the conversation ended and he basically told us that he can not do it and that alcohol already had beaten him and he is going to have to live that way. He said he wanted to do it but it is too hard. That he had already drunk 2 liters that morning and received test results from the doctor that he was going to die if he did not stop so he asked us if we would bring a flower to his funeral and if we saw him in the street to not even bother to say hello....and he left. 

BUT! When we were out working Sunday night guess who was staying in the church doors...LUIS MUNOZ! He waved and so we went to talk to him. He apologized and asked if we could go in and sit and talk. He told us that after he left he went home and slept....ate.....DID NOT DRINK....and came back to the church. He started asking everyone if they had seen a little short tiny girl and tall rubia walking around. They informed him that we were the missionaries he said yeah them and then justo we passed by the church...he waved us down and there we were talking to him :) And for the first time he let us start with a prayer :) Goodness. It is going to be so much work but with his desires to change and the trust he has in us and more importantly his relationship with God, Luis Munoz has a lot of changes coming his way. And I feel nothing but blessed to see him every step of it. 

Oh and do not be alarmed with my pink streak in the picture. A lady in our ward wanted to work on my blond hair. She does hair but never sees anyone with my color so we let her and it came out blue........like so dang blue. The pink was actually her correction for the time because we did not have the time get all the color out. (This was last p day). But no worries it is already fixed...kind-of :)