Week 17

DAD!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Yes mom, I did get a new backpack. I pondered a lot. I thought, 'hmmm, I have a super nice backpack. Why would I need this other one?  Don't wanna be 'that missionary' that has this weird backpack, nooo!'  But indeed, the crackling of my back in the morning told me I needed this backpack. 

And it told Hermana Jesus also. 

And we are both now 'that missionary'. 

I LOVE IT!!

Hello!  It was awesome to finally see some great success this week...having lots of lessons, especially with less actives...3 lessons and 5 others!  It was good to see blessings.  We finally found Paulina from like my first 3 weeks here and she seems to be much better, so we'll see where that goes! We just came from a lesson with our great investigator Mariela.  She's Peruvian (which means she's almost perfect...says Hma Jesus about all the Peruvians) and super chill and has grown a lot.  Our first visit with her she said she does not like churches, but now a month later she's obviously changed her mind because she's committed to come with her children this Sunday!  She's reading her Boof of Mormon and just opened up about problems with her husband and it seems like she's seeing the need for the gospel like the simple truths of the gospel in her life.  We'll see how that goes! But I wanted to share something...when we started to sing, her baby (7 months) was just grinning and giggling so much and I was literally understanding where this child came from recently.  With his smile as we sang 'I Know That My Redeemer Lives,' I felt as if Jesus was personified in this little baby saying, 'YES! I DO live!'  It was super sweet. Speaking of babies and their expressions, yesterday we ate with Yunia, where we eat every Thursday and Friday, and it was a little 'miracle of the day' that her baby Florcita did NOT cry the whole time during lunch--she's always entertainment!  Recently, I just point at her when she wants to whine and command her to 'BE HAPPY', repeating over and over 'SEA FELIZ!'.  The other day she woke up from a nap in the middle of lunch as was like a complete zombie! She didn't smile, cry, move...just stared at anyone who would look at her.  So I thought I should try 'SEA FELIZ!', with all my enthusiasm...but NOTHING!  She just stared.  It doesn't seem too odd, but for Lil' Florcita, it WAS!  Today she was super happy and I didn't even have to give my command.  Speaking of demanding people be happy...it reminds me of a few things:  When I was little, Chris would sing the Primary song (with the angriest, most dramatically mad face, in the lowest voice possible) 'NO ONE LIKES A FROWNY FACE, CHANGE IT FOR A SMILE...QUICKLY TURN IT UPSIDE-DOWN BY SMILING ALL THE WHILE! (I think that's it).  It made me laugh to remember that!  Why can't we sing that for every investigator and have them be happy?  or better yet, everyone in the world, why can't they just be happy. Oh yeah, because people have their agency! So many scattered thoughts, AHHH!  But yep, literally our purpose is to be happy, so just do it!  That's what I'm learning.

Sunday, most of our investigators that we hoped for didn't come to church...Mariela had a sick baby, Monica's phone wasn't turned on, Paulina was probably sleeping.  At times like that, it's tempting to think, ok, what did we do wrong?  I think our worthiness definitely affects our blessings, but it's key to not forget that you can't control people and their agency.

And also, we heard from Salt Lake in a broadcast to Chile and we learned a lot about how reading the Book of Mormon is the key to our conversion.  I'm learning more and more how seriously important that book is if you want to grow super tight with God, or if you want to understand what Christ did for us, or what He taught, or what we need to do TODAY and EVERY DAY to be truly happy.  It's all we need.   The conference was a little bit interesting...like a Plano Stake Conference broadcast memory type of thing with lots of technical difficulties :D  We got there early and they'd already started with singing and such and we saw our less-active John and his wife Patricia and 2 kids in front of us...we were super excited.  But then starts the broadcast transmission...in the middle of the musical number...oops!  Then, it's still in English...I was pretty uncomfortable...Stake leaders running around to fix it...eventually resolved, but John's little boy decided to scream at the top of his lungs...every 5 minutes...but all is well...Johnny and Patty are super joyful people!  

Another interesting experience, a first for me, after correlation Friday night we were headed to the bus stop and all of a sudden in front of me was a woman crying all lost and looked at me and said, 'Hug me!'  I was a bit scared and awkward during that hug, but then I felt super sad for her as she talked about how sad she was...from what I understood, she'd dropped off her son at the dad's house because they separated.  They're all members and she said they'd been working toward a temple marriage and then he left her for another woman...and, ugh!  The family/relationship system here can be super whack...few people are married, most living together or separated.  It's depressing.  So Hma Jesus and I have loved watching 'Together Forever'...super old/cheesy video, but it gives us hope and reminders of the blessings for families/couples/individuals that come from gospel living.

We have a new investigator named Dominique who's in her 20s, funny, young, alive, like crazy cheerful, and she's stoked to read the Book of Mormon, and I'm stoked for her to just fall in love with it!  We're having family home evenings with members and our investigators and they're MAGIC.  Everyone needs to have FHE with the missionaries. Do it!!

Today, I'm grateful for:  
(1) lessons with members, particularly Hma Elizabeth who was baptized 3 years ago, only member of her family, recently entered the temple, and is always making someone's day brighter saying ' peace, blessings, love'.  She's the best Mormon Hippie!  
(2) Bastián Pino, my very own teacher from the MTC, in my ward!  How intimidating, right?!  But he's super awesome and told me my Spanish has improved so muchooo!  
(3) I get to learn from so many different people...my trainer, leaders, members, and even investigators!  And from these, I get to take all that I like and make it my own, good as new ooh. 
(4) Haitianos...even though most all of them go to the church that speaks their language (called Haitian Church literally), they're all so cutely dressed up for church with their bible and songbooks in hand, all smiling and AWLAYS saying hello back to us!  We had a super fast lesson with one named Robertson to get to know his religious background and self and he tried to explain in Spanish how hard it is to communicate his feelings in another language and just how hard it is in general to be in a country where, in comparison to your own, is not so homey.  And I love to empathize with them.  Haha!  I learn how much I love my country and customs and culture often, but like the examples in my life like I mentioned before, I get to appreciate/take the good!  For example, I love how family-oriented/tight-knit latinos seem to be, always eating together, living close or visiting their family, simply being proud to spend family time.  
(5) Cleanliness.  I got to organize/cleanup our mess of an apartment a little during 'once', and I'm definitely learning to not make messes and to be cleannnnn.  It's a happier life!  
(6) Arriving home on time!  The last 2 weeks Sunday night we were super late and it wasn't good. So I'm super grateful to have had time to prepare the numbers of the week, plan, write in the binder, and do all the weekly reports. Now, so much free time...what will I do with myself!  

AAAAND, no we haven't had transfers yet, but we find out about them Thursday or Friday. We're not freakin,  but we're so curious what'll happen.  It could be anything, but I think I'll be staying here in Quilycura ..which I'm alright with!  It's a good area. We've been spending time in these super rich neighborhoods and it's interesting! We found a good family, but I´ll let you know when we have our lesson with them!  My 4 month mark is on Thursday and I'll probably be leaving my trainer, heading off into the real work ha! It's been a little stressful to realize that, but I know if I'm worthy, the spirit will always be guiding me, so ehh, too blessed to be stressed!  But for real, I'm happy! Ready for Fall, but I'm happy, haha.  Have a wonderful week everyone! Pray for missionary opportunities!  If you aren't a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, find out more!  It'll make your life 10X happier, promise.  I love you all!