#letter53

[quirksofquito2]

Jokes in the Offices:   We raced the secretaries back to the offices. Whoever lost had to buy juices. We hid so they wouldn't see us. Then, when they came in they thought they won and then went and hid. We jumped out at them...this was their reaction!

[quirksofquito2]

Letter #53 - Fotos - 3.7.2016

My Companion Hermana Salas and I  

Beautiful Park in Quito

Picture of all of the Missionaries in our Ward

[chileconcepcionsouth]

Letter #53 - Nothing without the Spirit - 11.9.2015

Hey,   

I hope that all is well in North Salt Lake. I am sure that there are a lot of things to prepare for Thanksgiving. The Relief Society was talking about how terrible we are in the United States because after Thanksgiving we go out and shop and fight over clothes and objects. Then they talked about how material objects are not important. I laughed pretty hard. A lot of time the Chileans think that what they see on the TV is how we all are. For example they think that we worship the devil for Halloween. I love to see what other cultures see about us. It is so fun. I thought that Chile wouldn't have big cities or that it wouldn't be so advanced as it is, but look, it seems like Google didn't show me how it really is.  

This week we learned a lot about the Spirit. 

Tuesday - We moved our house. Moving missionary houses is very interesting because missionaries are always leaving Preach my Gospels, old clothes and whatever other thing they do not want in their luggage in the houses. But this house was much better than when we moved houses in Los Huertos. There was a lot less junk. We took the beds down, and arranged our books. I have so many books. If I take them out of my suitcases I have so much room . I'm guessing I have a lot  because I have them in English and in Spanish. Plus, I literally have the biggest obsession with reading out here in the mission. Three men in the ward with a truck helped us lug our stuff and carry it to our new gated apartments, they are really nice. We have a guard! Poor men had to help us carry our stuff up 3 flights of stairs. We were so tired, not as tired as when we walked an hour on the beach to the other part of our sector but we were still very tired. But almuerzo did its magic and we went to work! We went and had almuerzo with a Colombian family, family Suarez. She organizes our almuerzos for us and she has a cool accent. It is really similar to a Costa Rican who lives with us. Sometimes it is hard for me to understand them. They talked about the fruits in their tropical countries that don't exist in Chile or in the US. I finally understood how latinos must feel when a group of gringos start talking about the baked treats we have that don't exist here. Brown sugar doesn't exist here, their horizons are limited. 

Later we taught an investigator we had found the week before. Her name Is Araceli. She is a big woman with thick make up that looks like she loves punk rock music. We watched the Restoration movie with her and she was very emotional. We told her that the Spirit was there. I felt the Spirit very strong. It really guided our words. Later we taught a part member family. They are a young couple who have their younger brother living there with them. He is looking for an answer to his prayers. We are praying he'll be able to recognize them. Wednesday -  We started with our district meetings. Our district leader E. Morales taught us about how to share scriptures as it teaches in Preach my Gospel. We did a scripture chase and Hermana Garner KILLED IT! One person would write a subject on the board and investigator would need and whoever found a scripture that applied first won, she won three times. In Chile they say Machina, which is MACHINE. Like she is a machine. Just imagine me yelling "Machina" with a Spanish accent snapping my fingers.   We ate with the Relief Society president Hermana Parra and she talked to us about how she didn't get married until she was 30 and how we should focus on school and that it worked good for her. But we all know that we want to get married young. I'm pretty sure almost every family talks to us about marriage at lunch and it is really funny. A lot of the members in our ward served missions, the women and men are all return missionaries. We prayed to have the spirit with us and taught a part member family in this Sector named Rosario. They are named the familia Benovente. We felt the spirit so strong as we shared with the mom and prayed in our hearts she will find a job. I am learning that when I pray in my heart during all of the lesson that is when I feel love for the people and I feel the spirit a lot stronger. 

Thursday -  We taught our investigator Paulina in the morning she is a small woman who has lived with a member for 11 years and listened to the missionaries the whole time. She is getting married to him in a few weeks and we are helping her to get married, but the problem is the government of Chile was closed, Literally! I didn't know it was possible but no one could get married for about 2 months because it was closed... it also messd up a bunch of stuff for the missionaries with their Visa. We ate lunch with a part member family who just had a baby. Their names are Carriet and Felipe. My last district leader E. Castro baptized their son Benjamin last cambio, but the dad Felipe is not a member. We shared with him and he was very receptive: We felt the spirit very strong.  

Friday -  We roamed around the part of our sector called Lomas Antiguo for a good time. My companion has had some foot problems because her feet are very wide. It hurt her a lot, we asked a bunch of people here in little negocios if they had duct tape so we could tape her foot but it doesn't exist here in Chile. haha  We were like "cinta de duck?" they had no idea what we were talking about. I learned this day that love and service kill contention because we were both so tired and grumpy but we decided to put smiles on and keep working and we felt so much better. 

Saturday - This day was so interesting... We had lunch with a young family and we talked to the  Dad about how his brothers are not active and I asked how he was going to help them and he said pray for them diligently because that is what the father of Alma did and it really will change hearts. I learned from him that I need to pray more diligently for my investigators. Then it was time to apply it because we went to a recent convert's house in Rosario named Maricel and her husband is a bit fed up of listening to us. But he shared with us, He started to yell about how the Catholic church is true, and they both started to yell at the doctrines we were telling them and at their 3 year old daughter. We both prayed in our hearts that the spirit would be there and it was so strong It was so strange because all of this turmoil was in front of us but we felt the spirit sooooo strongly and it gave us every word we needed. I do not even remember what I said other that asking, "How would you feel if you were to be judged by God this very moment?"  Then we gave our testimonies that in Christ and his Gospel we can be redeemed from our sins every day and have confidence in front of  God at all times. I felt the spirit so strongly and it was an experience I'll always remember. Prayers in our hearts are always powerful, and Christ commands us in 3rd Nephi that we should always keep a pray in our hearts.  Later we taught our other investigator the Plan of Salvation and she gave me boots!  Sunday -  Paulina came, Felipe came and the investigator who gave me the boots Senovia came. She felt very uncomfortable for her first time. No one came up to say "hi" to her other than the members I told to say "hi" and they only said "hi".  She wanted to go after sacrament meeting. She said the chapel reminds her of a hospital. But I prayed during the whole meeting that she would feel the spirit very strongly. We are going to see today what she thinks. 

It has been a great week. We are truly nothing without the spirit. 

I love you all, Hermana Pemberton