Tired...Success...Unity

This past week has been wonderful. I will start where we finished.....Sunday. There were 6 investigators in the church with a baptism date :) The ages range from 11-70. A group of people we found from just about ever finding way. Old investigators, part member inactive families, street contacts, member references; It has be wonderful seeing all of the results of the word after 4 months here in Hualqui. 

The mission has a great program that helps us get the ward motivated with the work. We are required to have at least one lesson with a less active or recent convert with a member every day and one lesson with an investigator and member activo every day and then a lesson with an active family every day to be able to get a point for the day. It is called a vision point! There are some missionaries who are good at points and others who understand the purpose of the vision, can earn points but at the same time find and bring people to church. The temptation with this system is that at times if your plans fall through there is always the opportunity to get the vision by bringing the member to a house of a less active or investigator that never ever progress but that always receive you. 

But we have seen in Hualqui how very blessed we have been for having CHOOSEN members leave with us for specific people and see and feel how they can help them make commitments.

Hermana Heaton only has 3 weeks left of her training and it shows. She was a bit frustrated the other day with feeling like she talks sometimes in lessons just to talk and she wants to be more productive. So we talked about why we teach people certain things in the first place...to be baptized....and how do they get to their baptism....by repenting through the commitments we leave them with. So we teach with the end goal of them accepting the compromiso. 

So I made this game. She had to draw from 3 piles a piece of paper. One group had the type of person she was teaching, investigator, less active, active family or convert. The second group had a theme or lesson she was going to be teaching. And the last group had the compromiso she was going to extend. Then with those 3 pieces of information she had to present the lesson and commitment, or teach a part of the lesson and I had to guess what was the commitment she was going to take to me. We had to adjust it a lot as we went but it was fun. 

I love teaching so very much. And planing for specific people! Having Hermana Heaton is great. We get along so well and she is very obedient. And not having to deal with problems of unity or obediencia we have been able to focus so much on the work and see so much success. Now we just have a responsibility to guide them all to their baptism. 

As for the pictures this week. As missionaries we have to talk to everyone. So you may as well include the man selling cotton candy :)

Bad News or Good News First?

Bueno....that baptism we were going to have on Saturday got canceled one day before. Dina has been taking care of this 90 year old man for over 20 years. They are like family. He got very sick on Friday ONE DAY BEFORE HER BAPTISM and she had to leave town to go get special care for me. It was heart breaking and especially for the Ward. And she will not be back for 10 more days. So will be maintaining contact by phone with her but it will be hard. She feels horrible for not keeping her commitment but we are not going to give up on her. It is so very frustrating though.

I am not going to say that being a missionary was getting easy but maybe I was a bit too comfortable and then we got something crazy thrown at us. I think I get the most frustrated when it is out of my control. Of course one always trys to think and analyze what did I do wrong; did we miss something. It only makes me crazy nervous to have such a big break of 10 days without seeing her and just phone calls. The Ward will be in contact with her as well for support.

It was a bit frustrating because it was the first time in over 3 months that we did not have someone in church with a baptism date. But we have 6 more days to change that :)

It is so interesting because the week before someone gets baptized WITHOUT fail there is a big trial for them. I guess I should not be too surprised anymore but it only goes to show that they are doing the right thing. That someone is working extra hard on them so that they do not achieve what they need to do and more importantly what God wants them to do.

BUT there is good news! In the pictures this week there is a sweet older lady. She is a less active with depression and the winter months really bring her down. We made a chain of blessings with her and we left her with papers to keep adding on when we are not there. She also taught us how to make pan (bread). I may have dropped a few by juggling but just like my dad always says there is more fiber that way. Anyway...she is doing very well. One of the very first to get to church now :) 

6 More Weeks In Hualqui!

I will be finishing the training of Hermana Heaton. She was pretty nervous that I was going to leave and I was pretty certain I was going to leave too. But to be honest I am pretty sure it was just because I wanted to see a little more of Chile. I thought that if I got changed I could see two more sectors of Chile but now I am pretty certain there will be just one more. But we are happy to be staying together. Especailly because we have a baptism Saturday.We also have a matramonio with a baptism date too!

Our ward will be all Gringa Sister Missionaries now. 

So you guys need to meet Pedro. He is the man in the tiny store. We found him about 2 months ago. We thought he was our investigatore for a while but turns out he was a member. Happens more than you would think. But he is doing so well. Whenever it is raining he will wave us in his store and tell us some odd joke and send us off with something sweet to eat. He dominates the Sunday School classes and just wants to answer everything. Even if it is completely wrong. 

Hermana Heaton is a great missionary. Nothing gets her down. Even when she interprets everything completely wrong. We were talking with a family the other night and they were telling us how their dog had gotten into the house and eaten their pet turtle. Hermana Heaton said, "Que Bakan" meaning how cool! The poor little boy almost started to cry. Ha Ha :) But I love being able to finish her training. 

365 Days Latter

 My goodness I can not believe I have been gone for a good year. But it may be way ovious and showing in my photos to you all. As far as style and weight goes.They say for the Sisters that they have 12 months to enjoy Chile as far as eating everything you want and then 6 months to loose it all. It is actually called 6 months to sexy. But I am a little frustrated with my self because I only started enjoying it just a month ago (as far as eating). I think 3 months to sexy is a little more realistic for me.

I read back in my journal to when I first started the mission.....I have gone from being so stink-in frustrated with Spanish to absolutely loving it! My comp tells me I talk in my sleep in Spanish now and it drives her crazy because she cant figure out what embarrassing things I am saying. I never thought I would ever dream in Spanish. It is also funny to think that I have not slept passed 7am in 365 days either.  A year ago I also never thought I would see my own breath inside our own house.  

Hermana Heaton is the best new missionary. One reason being that she goes for all of my crazy object lessons and she test them out for me first. As you can see from the picture. I also have the best quote book going from her in my agenda. They may not be too funny to you all but I love them. Some are her funny way of trying to make English phrases work in Spanish but I will share a few: 

- Nuca le he visto....en la carne.

- That was a very climatic moment in my life. I got out of the way, screamed. and stepped in dog poop all at the same time. 

I guess something a little more serious that I could share after being a missionary for a year is that I have really gained a testimony in the way God guides us all perfectly in our path here on earth. That we can be frustrated with where we are at in life or with the situation we were chosen to face but it is only because we can just see  a few feet in front of us. And only takes 6 weeks, 3 months, or maybe a year to be able to look back and see how well God was preparing the happiness awaiting us. 

I remember before the mission saying how excited I was for hard days, trials, and moments to bend and break and grow so much....even though there were so many times in my mission when I wanted to take those words back....at the same time if I could go back....I would not change one thing. It was everything I needed and need and will need to be who God wants me to be and find so much more out about myself and strengths I never knew I had. 

Siempre,

Hermana Lance 

Below is a picture of ONE house.  It looks like two because of the fence and different styles, but it is one.  There is a lot of houses like this in Chile.

180 Flip

Last week we were on a high with the success we were being blessed with. Not only meeting all the goals but by going even past them. This week....not so much. We had a full week all planed out with all the news we had found and progressing investigatores but a lot of plans fell through.....A LOT! We were still able to meet our goals but it was difficult. We were planning "a for sure visit" every hour because no one wants to get stuck in the rain. But we found ourselves out side in the rain without entering a house until 8 in the night....bueno there were only 2 days like that but it is okay because we still have people progressing and there was an investigatore in church on Sunday with a baptism date but we just lost a family and were not able to see everyone as often as we need to, to help them go from just an investigator to a progressing investigator.

The great family I talked about called us and told us to never come back. It was a huge surprise because it went so well. They asked the best questions and we just had to answer. But turns out the mom does not want her kids or the dad to be so closely associated with others from another church even though they do not go to her church. BUT we saw the dad and 17 year old boy in the street just the other day. I told Hermana Heaton, "Look it is our 2nd chance!" But they just reminded us to never visit them and that it was the choice of the mom not theirs. Just rubbing some dirt in the wound.

And Jose is still fighting his addiction. After a week and a half clean he fell. But now he his getting medical help so it should help him with more. He has the desires spiritually but it is hard to beat what his body asks of him.

Last week I sent a picture of me in front of a red car with a bunch of ladies. I just realized I never even explained it. It was a surprise visit from Nonguen!!!! 3 wonderful ladies from my last sector that just decided last Sunday to go look for Hermana Lance. They wanted to do it before I got transferred again because sometimes the connections get lost. It was brief but full of so much care and gratitude visit!

So having a hard week is never too bad because for the most part it means you are going to have a rocking week to come so we arent too bummed for a second. Just excited for another week together. 

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!

 I spent my 4th of July cheering for another country as they won La Cupa America. It was such a great game! I just think I may have left a hole in the ground from where I had been jumping up and down.

Maria did it!! She got baptized on Saturday and her spouse said he is basically just waiting for us to tell him his date and that he is never touching alcohol again. So far he has kept his word. He just has to keep doing so and hopefully this weekend he will be baptized. Maria was so stink'in happy. She was almost giggly. She wanted to share her testimony after she was baptized and it was so nice. She shared how even though the process was a hard one she has never been so thankful to make it there and the only thing she wanted was to stay strong and faithful in the choice she had just made.

Hualqui is doing  so great! We feel so very blessed we found another wonderful family. The same second that we sat down they said now tell me about your church....and Joseph Smith....and coffee...and so many more questions. They just wanted to learn so much. It was a great lesson because they already have a religious background. We cant see them till Thursday or so, but we feel so blessed to not only have a great group of investigators that are progressing but to always be finding as well.

OH AND I JUST REMEMBERED!!! Hermana Ponce, my companion from Nonguen, informed me that an investigatore that we found together is finally getting married so she can get baptized and is going to do it with her 8 year out daughter the 25th! Her name is Ileny.

Hermana Heaton is so great! Sometimes I feel like a walking dictionary in the street as I hear, "como se dice," cada rato. But it is all good. She kills me with laughter when she asks me how to say all of these English phrases that do not work in Spanish. But my favorite has to be when she asked me, "how do you say, you nailed it" and in the middle of a lesson with a convert to! I just said, "uhmmmm lo calvo???" And the best part is that the convert said that is is actually a phrase in Spanish.....se dice, dio el clavo.

Blessings of Technology!

It was a bit of a challenge to teach Maria and Jose about The Book of Mormon knowing that they would not be able to read it. But we still wanted them to have one because it is important. They had been looking at the pictures that are found inside of it and we had been working on a little gift for them. We put the audio of The Book of Mormon on the pin drive and gave them a little music speaker so that they would be able to listen to it instead. We gave them it Thursday night and they finished it on Saturday night. They said they loved it. When we were talking about how they felt and the things they learned they said that they had been praying before to know if it was true but now they are certain!

It has been amazing being able to serve them. The Ward has been a huge help! They go and read with Maria and Jose on the days we can not see them. And they have helped them step by step get over their nervousness about praying in public. And they always go and pick them up in their cars to bring them to activities or church. Maria has a bad foot. She was in a car accident and has iron from her shin down to her toes. So she walks with a limp and it really hurts her to walk for a long distance. This past Sunday familia Cartes was in charge of picking them up for church. It is pretty stink'en cold in the mornings now and their car didnt start up. But Maria and Jose still arrived at the church. Right on time too! She had to use Jose as a support but she said she was not going to let anything prevent her from being there and preparing for her baptism.

Maria will be baptized this weekend...without Jose. Who is still fighting his addiction of alcohol. She is a huge example for Jose and she is always keeping him in line.

There was a lovely house accident this past week. Hermana Heaton forgot about the difference between the american bathrooms and the ones here. And I may have forgotten to remind her how we cannot flush our toilet paper. So a very long story short.....our bathroom, living space, and kitchen got flooded with dirty toilet water....we had to use an afternoon to disinfect everything. Poor Hermana Heaton almost pulled half of her hair out for feeling so bad. It was pretty funny walking around the house in our rain boots but we got it all taken care of. It is funny because here there is a homemade solution for everything. The Latin girls were working on some soda, hot water mix to fix the problem and poor it all down the toilet but it just made for a smoky, hot chocolate looking toilet mix.....and now our house smells like bleach. 

Obediencia!

So I learned a good lesson this past week. Coming to Hualqui was un poco mucho hard. There was some rules that were forgotten and some bad habits already there. It was very hard to be the new missionary and have to speak against the other opinions of missionaries and even members that were enjoying the way things had been going but that were not correct with how the time was being spent by the sisters. So being the new sister and not having the confidence that the other sisters had with the members I found myself in an awkward position often. But as we read in the white hand book we know that our loyalty is to the Lord first, president second, and THEN your companion. Long story short I received one of the best thank yous I have received when the night before Hermana Antileo left, she looked me in the eyes, with tears in hers and thanked me for teaching her how important the principle of obediencia is. 

This past week as well a Brother from our ward thanked me for the same thing. He was with us about 3 weeks ago to go visit a future investigator. We had called the investigator to make sure he was going to be there and to remind him that his wife needed to be there so that we could come in and teach him. But as we got there and entered his house we found his wife no where to be found. He had set up the table and prepared some juice and was already for the visit and when I explained again how we could not be there it really upset him. After he had set up so much and prepared and served the glasses he was so frustrated that we were not going to stay. Having a member looking at you like "maybe just once" was killer. I had no support in the choice that I knew was right. As we finally gave our thanks for the hundredth time we were able to leave. 

We went to visit this ward member this past week. And he thanked me for honoring my name tag. He said that he was ready to make the exception that one time because he once was a missionary too. And it is hard to find people that will let you in the doors and he said he would of justified the situation like that and was willing to do it even against the mission rules. But he told me to never loose that confidence in the principle of obediencia. 

Now I am walking the streets in Hualqui with Hermana Heaton. She is from el Sur in Utah and is 19. She always always says......Oh galllll. But she works so hard. She never gets down on herself only when we feels like she isnt helping me enough which is crazy because she has only had a week here. But she is so willing to learn. Her group of missionaries went through the MTC in Santiago so she knows an okay about of Chile Spanish. Better than most. We always talk in Spanish. Unless I am explaining what happened in a lesson or in a conversation that she did not understand. But it has been a lot of fun. Kind of a long week but we have just another busy one a head of us. 

HUBO CAMBIOS!!!

So Hermana Antileo is headed out to the country and I will be training again. There are only two new Sister missionaries coming this transfer. One is from Brazil and the other from Utah. So you can take your guess on who will be my new companion. I am super excited. It is way different to get the phone call that you are going to train when you are just finishing the training and you find out right then and there who she will be. But now I get to wait for the surprise and find out tomorrow. It will be my birthday and it will be a ton of fun. The trainers always get to eat pizza from Papa Johns so that will be a great birthday treat in itself. I also got a WONDERFUL package from my family full of so many fun goodies and a lot of fruit roll ups. That was the funnest experience sharing them with the Latin girls in the house. Hermana Antileo ate the clear wrapper without noticing it wasnt part of the food and the tongue tats blew their minds. It was a good memory of elementary school box lunches.

 It looks like I will be spending my birthday with a cold. The funnest part about being sick in Chile is all the funny drinks that everyone makes you take when you walk in their house. For the most part they have to do with orange peals and lemon juice and some herbs. You just drink it.

And great news! Richard (a convert in Nonguen). Word is he is going strong. Never missing church and saying his prayers and reading the scriptures. :)

Jose and Maria are doing well. But we found out Jose has a drinking problem. BUT he has not drunk anything since last Wednesday!

Now we are in the time of the Soccer tournament in South America. We have permission to watch the games of Chile with an investigator or less active or convert and our ward got together and put the game on a big projector screen for everyone. Because if you are not watching the game you have to be in the house. It was loud and fun and CHILE WON! 2 - 0! 

Maria y Jose

It is now the last week of training for Hermana Antileo and we have a great week ahead of us. I can not tell you how many times she accidentally calls me mom throughout the day. And I may have almost hit her the other day in the street. I had hiccups that would not go away. Usually I just hiccup once, a big one, and then it goes away but they would not quit. So she tried to scare them out of me. We were waiting for the bus to come and she screamed like those dumb blond girls alone in the forest type and I came so close to hitting her....I still had hiccups.

We had 3 investigatores in the church on Sunday with a baptism date. Dina, Maria, and Jose.

Maria and Jose are a married couple. We found them through one of our less actives that we teach. Her name is Elois. She lost her job and is very lonely with a bad situation in the home so we invite her to come out with us to visit others. Half of our appointments this day and fallen through and we had to come up with a few plan C's and D's. But Hermana Elois asked us if we could go visit her brother Jose.

When we got to the house it turns out we had been trying to get a hold of this couple for a long time now. Always passing by and trying to set up appointments that always fell through. So when we went with Hermana Eloisa we entered and got to know them real well. Maria goes to another church but only because that is what her parents did and they are both questioning God right now because last Monday Jose was mugged. He is a good man and doesn't carry any money with him on the street. His back is hurt pretty badly and needs a lot of time to recover. But they said they needed what they felt when we taught them about the Savior and committed to baptism on the 27th and going to church. So when we called them on Sunday to make sure we were still good for the church they said no. Maria said he was in a lot of pain. So that was that. But about 10 minutes before we were going to leave for church she called us and said that Jose wanted to go anyway. We called a member with a car and got a ride for them both. When we went to their house they had been waiting for us outside in the cold weather. When I asked Jose what changed his mind he said that when he felt the pain in the morning something still told him......WALK.

They were so excited to enter the church. They had the biggest smiles just entering the doors and then taking the sacrament double checking with me the whole time if they were doing okay. I would pass them a few thumbs up here and there :) They may of opposed a few callings that were announced but that is alright for now. 

Our latina companions trying to make Rice Krispys 

Our house visitor

Endless Rain!

So you know that feeling you get when you get out of a wave pool after being in it for about 15 minutes and you keep feeling as if you were still in the wave pool.....that is the best way I can explain the rain here now. I most always have an umbrella in my right hand over my right shoulder and even when we enter houses I keep feeling as if my umbrella was resting over my right shoulder.

And my lovely water proof boots have taken there last walk here in Chile. I could not figure out why, in my water proof boots, I would get home with my feet completely soaked!! And that is because there was about 4 holes in them. Two were blocked by rocks but the other two were just wide open. It is also pretty funny because you can tell if you have a weird walk after walking in the same shoes for so long. By the looks of my boot heels I favor my right leg a ton. It has about half the size of the heal my other boot does. Anyway the president gives special permission to big feet gringas like me to go inside the mall to be able to find shoes that fit them well. And I am pretty sure I ended up buying one of the 3 pairs in the whole mall that had my shoe size. Just a girls 10 :)

So my comp got pretty sick this past week and we were stuck inside all afternoon and night one day. And I am pretty sure I called every number that there was in our books of records all the way back from year 2010. Old investigatores, less actives, and just street contacts. My comp slept for about 6 hours. So I put a cake in the oven for her, watched the episodes of The District and called probably half of Hualqui. So we have a great big list of visits we have to make this week.

We are doing our best to find. We are asking for reference from everyone even contacts in the streets. The Ward is helping a lot with our investigator Susana. Her husband is a member and her 12 year old daughter was baptized about 2 months ago. They are doing family home evenings with marriage couples to help them see and feel the blessings of having a marriage based and founded on the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Ward and missionaries are a great team here in Hualqui.

I get a lot of emails of people asking me if I just want to stay here forever and never leave now that I have been here for almost 11 months. And I am going to pull an "Eden" (my older sister) and explain my thoughts with 80 lyrics. Ha ha I hope you just laughed Eden. But anyway. You know that song that goes like....It's my life, it's now or never. I don't want to live forever. I just want to live while I'm alive. Yeah that's a pretty good summary. Being here has been nothing but a huge blessing but I know there is only so much more progress in store. But I can honestly say I enjoy every day to it's fullest. 

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.