February 11, 2011

We have everything painted but the kitchen, which needs another coat. We got a bookshelf and a new dresser too. Just in time for me to have to leave! At least that´s what I think. I don´t know for sure, but ususally the girls don´t have more than 3 cambios in one sector.

I´m keeping this short so that I can have time to send pictures, but I´m still doing great! The mission is hard, but I love that I´m here. Elder Amado, the area president of Chile, came for our training meeting last Wednesday. We´ve found a lot of great families to teach, my muscles were not sore from painting, and today our zone went to Las Cascadas.

Love you all and thanks for all of your support!

Jamie

February 4, 2011

So, we´re painting our house today! I´ll send pictures later, but that also means that I don´t have much time to write. Elder Amado, the area president of Chile is coming to talk in our training meeting next Wednesday. Most of the people we´re working with are traveling this week, but everyone is still doing really well and we´re seeing a lot of miracles. It´s so exciting to hear about all that is going on at home. Thanks so much for all of your love and support. I´m glad to hear that everyone is doing well! I love you all!
Love,
Jamie

January 28, 2011

I don´t know where to start. This week has been crazy. Great, but crazy. We´ve found a lot of really great new people to teach which is awesome but very tiring. All of the missionaries in our zone came to work in our sector last Thursday which was really fun, but created a lot of work for us because they all set citas with different people for the same times for us to follow up on. Two elders found a couple who had taken the discussions before, but for some reason had fallen through the cracks when our sector switched from Elders to Hermanas. Anyway, they ran up to these Elders and basically said "We want to get baptized, how do we get in contact with the missionaries?" It turns out they were getting married the next morning, so the four of us went to the wedding Friday morning. We´re in their wedding pictures now, so we kinda have to do something significant for their lives, like bring them the joy and fullfilment of the Gospel or something. The ironic thing is that right after the wedding we went to the church for our zone meeting just as a funeral was ending there. The circle of life...



In other news, I have hit a record number of bug bites this week... 21!



We really have too many great people we are working with to give you all the details on everyone. Fernando is still doing great and preparing for his baptism on the 12th. We have this new couple and their baby, the parents and little sisters of the husband of that family, his uncle and cousin, another kid who told us after our second lesson "I feel like I learned something today. I feel like you opened a window and I´m a little bit closer to God." It was awesome. We have about 6 other families that we´re working with as well. There´s a lot to do, but it´s rewarding work! I wouldn´t trade the experiences I´m having right now for anything else I could possibly be doing at this time in my life. It´s hard, but I can already see the ways that it has changed me and who I will be for the rest of my life for the better, and I´m excited for all of the other lessons that await me in the next 13 months.



Thanks for all of your love and support!

Jamie



P.S. Please tell Afton her letter made my life. haha. I´m trying to get to writing everyone back, but I don´t have a lot of time for writing. I think about you all all the time!

Jan 26, 2011

So this is Camille, I'm taking over her blog as Bekah goes off on her own mission (!). I'm still trying to get the hang of it, so if there are any questions let me know.

Ok, so Hermana Lovell asked all of us to send her our testimony of the Book of Mormon and she´s going to make a book out of it. Since that´s probably going to take up most of my time, I don´t have a ton of time to update you on what´s been going on, but it´s pretty much the same. Fernando is still doing great, it´s a blessing to be able to witness what a miracle is happening in his life. I was thinking the other day about how blessed I have been (and currently am) in my life and I think the words of Enoch describe it best when he says "Lord, who am I to have found such favor in Thy sight?" or something like that, I don´t know it word for word, but I have realized that I have been far far too blessed in my life to use the blessings and opportunities that I´ve been given for anything other than dedicating my life to doing what the Lord wants me to do and fulfilling the purposes that He has for me. It would just be plain unfair. My companion is awesome. It´s not as bad as I thought it would be guiding the sector, a little stressful, but we´re surviving.

I´ve decided that in my rebellious nature, I´m refusing to accept that there are so many menos activos and weaker wards in Chile. Yeah, people may say it´s just the way the culture is and that there´s not much we can do to change it, but I for one have never been the kind of person to accept what society says can´t be changed. We have a calling to change it, and when you have a calling from the Lord, there´s a way. (1 Nefi 3:7)

So here´s the testimony that I´m sending to Hermana Lovell, there are probably a lot of grammar mistakes because I haven´t had a chance to ask anyone who actually speaks Spanish to proof read it, so forgive me, but here it is.

Es interesante para mi para pensar en mi testimonio del Libro de Mormon. Siempre he sabido que es verdadero, que las personas, las historias, las cosas que pasaron son real, que en realidad Jesucristo vino a las Americas para enseñar y hacer milagros por Sus discipulos aquí, pero no sé si realmente entendía porque es tan importante para mi. Porsupuesto entiendo que es la clave de nuestro religion, que es una herramienta por cual podemos saber que José Smith fue un profeta y que esta iglesia, entonces, tiene la autoridad verdadera de Jesucristo. Pero, para una persona que ya sabe todo de eso, ¿Por qué es importante para MI este libro?
Yo estaba muy preocupada en esta pregunta algunos meses antes de salir a la misión, y con mucho oración, pedí ayuda para entender eso. Él me ayudó mirar a mi vida y todo de las maneras en cual yo he crecido en mi fe en Jesucristo y las cosas que he aprendido y ahora puedo decir que sé, sin duda. En este momento, me di cuenta que todos de los principios que me han ayudado se encuentran en el Libro de Mormon. Cada desafio, problema, o pregunta que he tenido en mi vida, la respuesta está en el Libro de Mormon. Este libro es un don de Dios para nosotros, para guiarnos cada día, y para enseñarnos los principios que edifican nuestra fe en Jesucristo en maneras grandes. Tengo fe en mi Salvador, Jesucristo, que Él me ha cambiado, que Sus promesas son reales, que uo puedo tener esperanza en todo por Él. He encontrado y crecido en esta fe por medio del Libro de Mormon. Estoy tan agradecida por tener la oportunidad en mi vida de conocer este Libro y Jesucristo de quien testifica.

-Hermana Gebara

January 19.

¡Hola! ¿Cómo están todos? Today in Osorno it is raining. A lot. I have a feeling it will be like this until next December. Wednesday was Cambios so I now have a new companion, Hermana Larkin. She is really sweet and I am really excited about this cambio, it´s really scary being the one who has to know where everything is, who everyone is, and how everything works, but I´m surviving. Hermana Larkin got in without a problem, but Hermana Baum´s (the missionary in Ovejeria) new companion was stuck in Punta Arenas because Wednesday they started a protest because the government raised gas prices. They weren´t letting anyone in or out so the missionaries had to walk for two days (something like that, I´m sure the story has been made a little more dramatic by now) around the barricades to the airport to fly up here. In the mean time, Hermana Baum was with us in a trio. It was fun, but really difficult to balance teaching and to always stay together. It was cool that we got to switch off which sector we worked in though. Hermana Baum is great and Hermana Bertegnole finally arrived last night safe and sound, I´m really looking forward to getting to know the new Hermanas because they all seem really awesome.

So we had a lesson with Fernando yesterday. One of the first things we did was ask him if he had any questions that he´d like us to help answer. He then said, I kid you not: "Yes, what do I need to do in order to get baptized?" Yeah. Awesome. We´ve got his baptism planned for the 5th of February! I don´t think we realize the effect that we can have on people just as members. Everytime we talk to him about something, he says something to the effect of "Oh yeah, I already know about that. Caituska told me." By now our lessons pretty much consist of him explaining to us what he understands about a certain principle and us saying "Exactly." It helps that Caituska is amazing. I always joke with her that I want to be her when I grow up, even though she´s 18... Anyway, don´t forget the great help you can be to the missionaries and investigators!

So also, random cool moment yesterday. I had a Ricky Ricardo moment where I just went off in a rant in Spanish. Then it hit me... "Oh my goodness... I speak Spanish!" It was cool.

It´s been a really crazy week with cambios, we´re still working with a lot of great people and I´m really excited to be working in this sector. I love being a missionary. I love the ways I am able to grow every day. I love being able to see Heavenly Father work miracles in peoples lives. I love being able to see more clearly the love that the Lord has for me. I´m trying to follow the direction that Christ gave in Matthew about "Lose your life to find it" and I´m trying to do that one step at a time.

A mission is a miracle. It´s not always easy, but everyday can be a lifechanging experience if you make it.

Love you all,
Jamie

January 10.

So today we went down to Llanquihue to spend the day at the house of the Hamiltons, a missionary couple that is serving here, but also own property here individually, it was amazing, we had an amazing view of volcan Osorno, I´ll try to send pictures!

Our miracle of an investigator, Fernando, is still doing great. We are so excited! He´s going to try to stay home from his trip this weekend to go to church with us because he really wants to know 100% that it´s true. Honestly, I always heard stories about these golden investigators, but now I get it, prepared by the Lord does not even begin to describe it. We also found 3 new people who we are really excited to start teaching, and another one of our investigators is starting to really progress. Ah the life of a missionary, tiring but amazing. I was walking around Friday just super excited and happy even though I was exhausted. I love it. Not that it´s always easy or always fun, but I will be VERY sad when it´s over. I still have plenty of time to not have to think about that, but I´m glad that I still have a lot of time to take advantage of here. Things are really picking up in our ward as well, I´m so excited to see the progress!

Cambios are this week which means Hermana McShane will be leaving and I´ll be getting another companion. I´m sad to see her go, and very scared to have to be the one who knows how to get places, because we all know how I am with directions, but that´s why we have faith, right?
I´m going to miss our zone, but I´m sure that I will grow to love my next zone in its own special way.

Thanks for your letters! I finally got some Christmas cards and letters this week. I really appreciate all of your love and support!

Love,

Jamie

December 24.

Bueno, casi nadie me escribió esta semana, sino Dad y Grandma y Grandpa, gracias por su fielidad. Pero no tengo nada nueva para decir, entonces voy a escribir en español porque no importa si pueden entenderme y quiero practicar. Todavia estamos trabajando con la familia Sandoval, y tenemos 6 otros familias en que estamos enfocadas. Tuvimos un milagro esta semana, en serio, fuimos por la casa de un contacto y ella no estaba, pero su hermana estaba. Enseñamos la Restauración y ella nos dijo que nosotros somos la respuesta a su oración. Ella estaba orando y orando la noche antes por paz y entendimiento, y de alla, nosotros estabamos allí. Nos dijo que sentió el Espiritu con nosotros mucho y que quiere leer y orar sobre José Smith porque ella está buscando una manera a acercarse más a Dios. Ella es de oro, en serio. Tenemos un otro investigadora quien es de oro también, ella tiene MUCHOS preguntas. Ella estaba esperando este Evangelio, la unica problema es que tiente tantos necesidades que no sabemos dónde empezar porque cuando enseñamos algo, ella pregunta algo que tiene que ver en un otro principio. Es super buena, pero es muy overwhelming (I don´t know that word in Spanish) a pensar y planear por nuestras lecciónes. Pero es la obra! y es buenisimo. Soy super feliz.

Ok, so seriously, this week was really awesome. I ended up singing the soprano part for the coro on Sunday, but the cooler part was that we did it again on Wednesday in the plaza downtown as part of the concert put on by the city. Amazing. It was weird because as we were waiting to go on stage I couldn´t believe my luck that I come all the way down to Chile as a missionary to live my dream of being on stage and singing in front of hundreds of people. It was a strange feeling, somewhere between being Jamie and being Hermana Gebara, but I loved it. I´m glad it´s over because I had to sing a high A flat and my voice was getting really tired, but I loved it. Someone took a video of it, I´ll try to find it and send it to you. Hermana McShane and I sang "O Holy Night" in a zone activity this morning at a Christmas party for a school. yeah, we´re doing lots of singing. Of all the things in the world, this would probably be what would distract me most from the work we´re doing, but I´ve been trying to be really good about staying focused on being a missionary and not a singer.

Tonight we´re having a sleepover with the girls in Ovejeria and Hermana McShane promised to make french toast in the morning, and then our whole zone is getting together for lunch at the mission home, and then I´ll get to talk to you! Tomorrow is going to be a good day. I already opened the presents because I didn´t know if the other girls were going to get anything so I didn´t want to make a big deal out of opening things on Christmas morning. It´s a good thing too because I´ve already been able to use some of the stuff. (Grandma and Grandpa- the poptarts were a brilliant idea, thank you SO much, the other missionaries were super excited when I told them I got some!)

December 16th

So, it turns out I´m no longer backup for the soprano part in that quartet, I´m doing it. Tomorrow. Wish me luck, I´ll need a lot of it. Yesterday all the missionaries in our zone went to the sector of the assistants for two hours to work. It was cool to have a little change from the routine, but I really love our sector. We still have a lot of really great people we´re working with, but not a lot of news. I´m giving a talk in Sacrament meeting tomorrow! As excited as I am for all of this, I´m looking forward to tomorrow being over. It´s almost Christmas!

So this week we´ve been focusing a lot on a talk by Elder Cordbridge called "The Fourth Missionary", I hope you can find it, because it´s amazing. It completely changed the way that I go about each day. Even though it´s written for missionaries, it´s a good lesson for everyone about how to be happy in the Gospel. The bottom line is that there´s a difference between being obedient in your actions and wishing you did not have to be, and really giving it 100% of your heart, and that only the latter will really do you any good. I started memorizing scriptures in Spanish to give my mind something to do when we´re just walking so that I don´t think too much about missing home and singing. I love my zone so much, all of my leaders are amazing examples. Elder Moncada (one of my zone leaders) bore his testimony in our last zone conference because this is his last cambio, I cried. I know, miracle of miracles, right? It was basically about who you become on your mission. A mission is an amazing thing, I love it. That´s all for now because we have to get to the stake center.

Love,

Jamie

December 11th.

Ok, so another week has flown by here in Osorno. Crazy. On Tuesday we did intercambios, I was with Hermana Baum in Ovejeria. Their house is gigantic. Seriously. It has two floors, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, a full size bathroom, a living room, and an alarm system. I felt very pampered. Hermana Baum confirmed that we live in the 2nd to worst house she's seen. So otra vez, as long as I don't go to Rahue, it can only get better. It's not so bad though, I'm kinda used to it. I really missed our sector when I was gone. Ovejeria has a lot more campo, it's not as much of a city as our sector is. We have a LOT of people we are teaching. Sadly, none of them are really progressing, but we're doing a lot of teaching and finding nuevos. Everyone in our new zone is really cool. Next week I think we're all going down to a vacation house that the senior couple serving here owns, so that'll be fun.

Today Ilse (Elizabeth's mom) taught us how to make empanadas. Hopefully I will have time to send the pictures, they turned out really well! Mine were a little deformed, but they still tasted good. If I do get to send pictures, the little girl in the kitchen with me is Esperanza, Elizabeth's niece. Patricia (her mom) is really excited about the Gospel and asked us to start coming by later so that we could teach her too when she gets home from work. All three of them came to church last Sunday! I think there's another picture of Viroska and I, she's a member from Rahue that likes to come and work with us. Notice that she is in regular not-super-warm clothes, that's because it's summer, yet I've worn my coat everyday since I've been here, ha. We're in the Christmas chorus for the stake. The performance is on the 19th, and there's another one in the plaza  downtown on the 21st. The director asked me to be the stand in for the soprano in a quartet, so it'll be fun to learn a solo part in a week... in Spanish. I'm excited though, it'll be great.

Love and miss you,

Jamie

December 6th.

It´s Teletòn day here in Chile. It´s nation wide and everyone is really into it. I think it´s to benefit children with disabilities this year. Anyway, it´s pretty cool because today all the stores are donating all of the revenue they receive to the Teletòn, so just by doing our grocery shopping this morning we were able to help out. There are people in the streets playing instruments, doing face painting and making balloon animals and stuff like that to raise money to donate as well. It´s really crazy outside (we aren´t allowed to do contacts today because it is expected that everyone will be a little drunk), but really awesome. I´m not sure what to say about this week, I feel like it went by pretty fast and not a lot of new stuff happened. It´s a new Cambio this week, but Hermana McShane and I are still together in Barrio Ecuador. I´m excited for Christmas! It´s strange seeing advertisements for Christmas stuff next to swimsuits and sunglasses, but as far as the weather goes, it´s still colder here than it is in California on Christmas. I wish I had more to say, hopefully this week will be more eventful. I have a bruise on my ankle from chopping wood for a lady in our ward. The wood flew back and hit me when I chopped it. Oh the dangers of being a missionary. Not really. I´m fine. I miss you all tons!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!  We were with Elizabeth for her birthday on Thursday, so we were able to celebrate a little something as well. She and her family are so amazing and wonderful to us. They gave us extra birthday cake to take home (that´s what I had for breakfast this morning, don´t judge.) If I have time after I write this, I´ll try to send some pictures.

Last Saturday as we were walking home, we passed by one of our investigators´ houses and noticed that something was a little different, it had burned down. Everyone was okay, but they had to move to a different part of the city and now they´re outside of our sector! Bummer, but at least they´re ok. I´m thinking it might be a blessing in disguise because her biggest obstacle was that she and her husband aren´t actually married. That´s a really big thing here because Chile has a program for single moms that helps them get a discount on houses or some sort of subsity or something like that, so what ends up happening is people live together and just never get married in hopes of getting a nicer house. They were waiting for that to go through for them for a house in Ovejeria when this happened. We went by their new house today to take some cookies and help clean everything thismorning, and the new house in Franke is a lot nicer and has a lot more room, so maybe they´ll stop waiting on the subsity for the other house and finally get married? Who knows. Also, her husband was never there when we taught her, but the missionaries in their new district are Elders, so he´ll have to be there in order for them to teach her, and I really think that´ll be the key for them.

We did divisions yesterday, which means we split up and worked with members. This was the second time we´ve done it this cambio, but the first time it was only for like an hour and the member I was with was an English teacher, but yesterday it was me and a 17 (Today is her birthday, so I guess 18) year old girl named Viroska from another barrio who doesn´t know any English. This really put my small talk abilities to the test... in Spanish. We made it work though. Her family isn´t really active, and when I asked her what it was that helped her to stay active, she told me it was because she had been going out with the missionaries since she was 14. I love hearing stuff like that. She is really sweet and loving and just all around awesome. There are two other girls in our ward who we´ve really connected with, Valentina and Antonia. Their mom is really awesome and we´re going to try to start teaching their dad on Thursday. (Keep that in your prayers!) There is another couple who we really thought we were going to have to drop because the wife was never there and the husband understands everything we teach, but just really doesn´t want to stop being Catholic. We decided to give it one last chance and bring Hermana Paulina (as in Paulina, Freddy, and Cristobal) with us. Yeah. The wife now has a baptismal date and the whole family is planning on coming to church on Sunday because Hermana Paulina is amazing.

This is the last week of the Cambio, so our zone will be changing at the start of next week. We went by the mission home this morning for something and got some insider info that both Hermana McShane and I are going to be staying here for another Cambio. I´m so glad because I LOVE the people we´re working with. I get to be here for when Cristobal and Elizabeth (and hopefully her sisters) get baptized! Amazing.

It´s beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in Osorno. It´s an easier adjustment for me than it is for a lot of the other missionaries because in California it doesn´t snow at Christmastime anyway, so it kinda just feels like home. We´re singing in the Stake Christmas choir and we helped Paulina and Freddy and Cristobal (hereby to be known as La Familia Azocar-Vidal) put up their Christmas tree this week. It´s official!

November 22nd.

Not much to say about this week because I feel like it FLEW by. I still have high hopes for La Familia Sandoval (Elizabeth´s family). We´re now teaching the whole family, it´s just a trick of getting them all together at the same time. A lot of times we have to teach something two or three times because different people are there. Their teaching record looks crazy. They are a really REALLY awesome family and I´m excited to see the blessings that the Gospel will bring to them. I feel like we have a lot of people that we are teaching, but not a lot of people who are really progressing, which is a little overwhelming. We´re constantly finding new people to teach, but sometimes that´s rough because I feel like we´re only able to put a little time and effort into a lot of people instead of a lot of time and effort into fewer people who will really embrace and apply what we teach. Really we just have that family, a wonderful woman named Ana who really likes what we teach and is constantly asking great questions, but is still hesitant to fully embrace all the changes necessary to have all of the blessings of the Gospel, and maybe 2 or 3 other families who seem to really be understanding, but probably 15 other people who like meeting with us, but aren´t really getting it. We´re working with a less active family and some friends of theirs, and that´s been SO amazing to see how often times even when someone is less active, when they are explaining the Gospel to a friend, they light up and get really excited to share the blessings they know are available through what they have. It´s also been really cool to see how when we explain that the real goal of everything we are teaching is to have the blessing of being with our families forever, and that our purpose is to help people achieve that, our lessons are so much clearer. Everything we are asked to do in the Gospel leads to that end, ultimately. I think it really helps people understand why all of the other things are important. It´s not necessarily what they teach you to focus on, but I´ve really seen a difference when people understand that that is the real goal.

I really love Osorno. I hope I get to stay here for a few more cambios, if for no other reason than to be able to know enough Spanish to finally really express to the people here how much I love them. I have 4 things that I´m really working on learning right now. 1) How to be better at developing relationships with people. I´m terrible at the whole getting to know you small talk thing, but I´m getting better! 2) How to listen better 3) Spanish (this is a bit of a hinderance to #2) and more than anything 4) To recognize and follow the Spirit. I know that in order to really get good at that, you have to act on what you´re given, which is a little scary because a lot of times that requires me to be much more bold than I am accustomed to being, but as I´ve tried to just go for it, I´ve seen the way it has guided our lessons to get people to really open up and feel the Spirit. It´s awesome. I feel like I´ve learned SO much in my short time as a missionary, about the true meaning of faith, about relying on the Atonement, about a lot of things. I´m excited to keep learning more!

November 15th.

Our sector has a mix of more wealthy and less wealthy people. There is a neighborhood called Bella Vista that I LOVE going to. The houses are so cute! and there´s a Lider (Walmart) and a little bakery within walking distance. This is where more of the members live, It´s just that we can´t spend our days there because everyone who lives there works all day so there aren´t people to contact or visit, so we usually have to wait till after 6. There are some really great people there that we are working with though.

Paulina and Freddy and Cristobal are so awesome. There are a ton of awesome people here. Paulina and Freddy were just baptized in September and Cristobal is going to be baptized December 11th. Paulina was just called to be the head of the primary. (There is only one class because there are so few kids.) Talk about an intense first calling. The primary program is in November, so we´re all looking forward to that. Also, I think you would really appreciate our Bishop because he works almost as hard as you do, haha. He´s been the Bishop since like, 2002, and he doesn´t have any councelors or anything, not even a mission leader, just him. He´s also our ¨landlord¨(Our house is an attachment of his) and his wife is our ¨Mamita¨, but she recently got a job so he usually makes us lunch everyday. He´s awesome, their whole family is.

Lunch is really fun. We eat with two of the other Elders in the sector next to ours. My Spanish is coming along more or less, I´m working on it anyway.

I tried empenadas and Berlines for the first time this week. Berlines are like a cream filled pastery. I was not a fan, but Hermana McShane made me try it for the experience. There is a lot of German influence here, lots of German bakeries. EVERY meal has bread, bread and more bread. It´s everywhere, you can´t escape it even if you wanted to. It´s pretty delicious though. All the food here is good. Dangerously good.

Some of the Elders in our zone had a baptism last night and Hermana McShane and I sang ¨Señor, Te necesito¨ and we´re singing ¨I´m trying to be like Jesus¨ (I don´t remember the title in Spanish) for Primary graduation tomorrow, so that´s fun!

I think I´ve figured out that I really have a soft spot in my heart for the mujeres jovenes (young women). Their program (and each of the girls) is really strong. They have SUCH strong testimonies and are always happy to help us out. They constantly amaze me with how ready and willing they are to share their testimonies and I´ve realized that I really want to have a goal of strengthening them and their families and making sure they know how wonderful and beautiful and strong they are. I know that sounds super cheesy, but it´s something that I learned about who I am as a missionary (and probably as a person in general).

I´m not sure what else there is to say. I´m liking it here, it´s growing on me as I settle in, I´m finding more and more things that really just make it charming and give it a lot of character, which I love. I´m really striving to love the people more, prayers are appreciated. Thanks for all you do!

Love and miss you tons, as always.

-Jamie

November 8th.

So I´m realizing that the weeks here are LONG and a lot of times I
really can´t remember all of the things that I thought throughout the
week that I wanted to tell you, but here it goes.

We had a noche de hogar with la familia Sandoval which was honestly
one of the most amazing experiences ever! We had been teaching the mom
and one of her daughters, but the other two daughters joined in and we
watched ¨The Restoration¨ and played ¨Cuantos Pecas.¨ It was a really
awesome experience to see the way that the Gospel brings families
together. I loved it. I´m seriously so excited for them. They believe
what we´re saying is true, and I really think they´re starting to
understand the importance of it and how it can change their lives.
Slowly but surely. Also, they promised to teach me how to make
empanadas, I´m excited.

Speaking of food, we have 3 Elders in our zone from Honduras, so our
activity for P-day today is to learn how to make classic Hondurian
(?) food. I´m really excited because I hear it´s amazing, sort of like
a breakfast burrito of sorts. So the food here is amazing, but you
only get lunch. Breakfast and dinner, if you choose to have them,
you´re on your own. So pretty much I live off of peanut butter and
these really good oatmeal and granola cookies that I´ve become
slightly addicted to.

I think something that´s really frustrating about working in Chile is
that people are willing to believe everything you say, which seems at
first like a good thing, but it´s hard because they´re not really
gaining a testimony of any of it because they just are like ¨Yeah, ok,
it´s true.¨ My trainer told me that Chile is the #1 country with the
most inactive members, so our goal is to really help people understand
not only that all of this is true, but why it´s important to them.
It´s really tough, for example, here is how a lesson might go...

Us: So did you read (whatever chapter from the Book of Mormon)?
them: Yeah
Us: Awesome! How do you feel about what you read?
Them: Good
Us: Did you pray about it?
them: Yeah
Us: Great, do you feel like you´ve received an answer to that prayer?
Them: Yeah
Us: How do you feel about that?
them: Good
Us: So do you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet?
Them: Yeah
Us: And why is that important to you?
Them: I don´t know.

You get the idea, but we´re working on it! I´m almost wishing people
would have problems with it because at least then we could help them
resolve those doubts and questions, but nobody ever really has doubts
or questions, they just believe us, and that doesn´t really build
strong testimonies. However, that´s why we´re here, to figure out how
to help them understand why this Gospel is so important, not only that
it´s true, but how it can change their lives through living it.

I´m going to try to attach some pictures with this
e-mail from our trip last week and just of some of the cool things
that I´ve seen around Chile.

One of the things that I love so much here is all of the colors. The
houses have so much character, it´s charming. Me gusta mucho.

Jamie and Missionary Friends in her Area

Companions!

Cute.

Osorno, Chile

Viva La Chile!

November 1st.

Hola Todas!

Ok, so here are basically the stages I´ve been going through. My first two days or so I was like ¨There´s no way I'm going to survive 18 months here¨Then it was ¨Ok, I know I can do it, but I´m still kinda miserable¨ and now I´m really starting to like it. The mission president promised me that if I work hard, I won´t have to just endure my mission, I will really start to love it. It´s coming in small steps, but It´s coming. I was sick this week, really sick. Couldn´t get out of bed for 3 days sick. It wasn´t fun at all, but I´m feeling a lot better now. This morning our zone took a trip up to a national park with something called ¨Aguas Calientes¨ it rained the whole time, but I loved it. It was gorgeous. My camera ran out of batteries, so I can´t send pictures today, but I´ll try for next time. I just realized It´s a little frustrating to try to type on a Spanish keyboard when you´re on a time limit, but I will learn!

Ok, international mail is super expensive, so even though I love all of you at home, don´t expect a ton of mail.

We have some really great people we´re working with. It´s easy to get discouraged here because there are so many menos activos that sometimes I feel like it´s hard to get excited when people accept commitments because I´m skeptical about how long it will last, I guess I just need to stop being so pessimistic.

One thing that I learned this week in training that I really loved was when president said (he was quoting someone but I don´t know who) ¨ Humility isn´t thinking less of yourself (as in tearing down your self-esteem or thinking you´re not good enough), true humility is thinking less ABOUT yourself, and thinking more of what you can do for others¨. I think, well actually I know, that as I start having more of that attitude, that the time will fly by and I will love it here. I think one of the things that I´ve learned this week is that when we say ¨All things are possible with God.¨ It doesn´t only apply when it´s for something we want. If we have faith in miracles when it´s for something we want, we have to have faith that things are possible even when we don´t want to do them. For example, saying ¨It´s impossible to get 20 contacts a day¨ but then saying ¨I completely believe that God can give me a miracle for whatever it is that I want¨ is a little hippocritical. If we expect the miracles for the things we want, we have to be willing to have the faith to act on them even when it´s something we don´t want.

I´m not sure if any of that made sense, but I´m tired and still wet from this morning, so just go with it.

I still love my zone, everyone is so awesome and I love my companion a ton. She took very good care of me when I was sick, you would be proud.

I´m starting STARTING to get more used to the weather. I´ve still got a long way to go.

I´m tired and cold, but much happier. Discouraged, but hopeful because I know everything will be ok because my Heavenly Father loves me and I know I have His support. I know I probably won´t write back much, but I would love letters! They really would help me out. We only get them on Tuesdays though. Also, I found out everyone, family, friends, whoever, can e-mail me, I just can´t e-mail back. So let everyone know they can feel free to shoot me an e-mail if it´s easier.

The mail system here is fine, things will get to me. Just don´t ups or fedex stuff, it costs me money when they deliver it. USmail should be fine.

Well, I´ve got another 15 minutes but I´m out of things to say. If you get a chance ask how Scott is doing and let him know I am thinking supportive thoughts for him constantly. Dan and Ryan too if you see them, let them know I miss them!  I know that I´m in the right place and that everything will be ok. It´s 18 months of work for an eternity of blessings.

Love,
Jamie

Aguas Calientes

October 22.

Hola from Osorno!

Our trip down was really long. We ended up missing our layover in Santiago, so we had to wait an extra 3 hours before finally getting to Osorno. 

 Right now I´m in the actual city of Osorno in a sector called Ecuador. I´ll be honest, the first day I was here I kept saying to myself << no sé porque estoy aqui! >> (Just wait till you see the pictures of our house).

 It was pretty rough and I had no idea how I was going to survive for 16 months, but it´s been getting better everyday. My trainer is awesome. Her name is Hermana McShane and she´s from Washington. This is her 5th cambio and I´m learning a ton from her. She is really encouraging. My second day was absolutely amazing. I think she and Heavenly Father both knew I really needed a pick me up, so on my second day she took me around to meet some recent converts and members who live in Bellavista (that´s a neighborhood in our sector) and they are SO great! Honestly, we probably have the best ward members in the entire world. We are teaching Cristobal, the son of Paulina and Freddy who were just baptized a month or so ago. He turned 8 yesterday, and he´s probably the funniest kid ever. I´m so excited to see him be baptized on Nov. 6th! Actually, he reminds me a lot of Cole. He´s super smart and just really funny and sweet. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and the importance of obedience. I drew him a little tarjeta to help him remember some of the blessings he´ll recieve by being obedient and he seemed to really like it despite my inability to draw well. Another plus, he speaks English, so I was able to be myself a lot more because he could understand what I was saying even when I had to resort to English. His grandmother was there too. She´s a devout Catholic, but I think she´s starting to come around because she´s seen how happy the Gospel has made her family. 

We met some other families in the ward and it just inspired me so much to learn Spanish so that I can tell them how wonderful they are! I met two of the young women in our ward, Valentina and Antonia, who are very very patient with my Spanish and were really loving. It was honestly one of the best days ever. Yesterday was pretty good too. I learned how to chop firewood for one of the older women we are teaching. It was fun. We have a meta of 10 contacts a day per person. We do the contacts together, but the number goes to the person who starts it. My trainer said at first as long as we get 20, she´ll do a little more than her half, but I did my entire 10 yesterday! I was proud. We are teaching some really great people and I´m so excited to get to know them and work with them. Tomorrow is Stake Conference so I´m looking forward to meeting more of the members. I think that´s going to be the highlight of my week. The members here are so awesome.

I love being in centro (where we are right now). It´s not in our sector, but it´s where the church is and where all of our meetings and p-day activities are, so we get to go there a lot. It has the downtown city feel that I love! I think my first day was so hard because I felt so isolated from the rest of the world, but that´s because we were in a not-so-nice part of our sector, after seeing the other parts, I feel much better.

So let me give you a rundown of how cold it is here. It´s Spring here, like the equivalant of April there, and in order to be warm enough to sleep, I wear tights, leggings, sweats, heavy wool socks, a thermal shirt, a sweatshirt, I have the double flannel sheet and the two blankets you sent me, plus 5 heavy HEAVY wool blankets and a little rubber watter bottle that I fill with boiling water and put under the covers to warm everything up. Yeah. However, there is hot water in the shower and that was my biggest fear, so ít could be worse. Also, Hermana McShane says that our house is the 2nd to worst house that she´s seen in the mission, so the bright side is that as long as I don´t get put into Rahue, it can only go up from here! I probably just jinxed myself. Darn.

I was getting pretty homesick yesterday, the nights are the worst. The morning and during the day I´m fine, but it´s those 3 hours from 6 to 9 that are really hard. No sé porqué. However, when I´m at our house and feeling down, I imagine myself showing Camille pictures and telling her stories and I can imagine her funny reactions and then I feel more motivated to stick it out. Thanks Camille!

My Spanish is actually coming along pretty well. Definitely not perfect, and people definitely know that I´m not from around here, but for the most part I can get my point across in contacts and lessons. One of the members who came with us yesterday, Anita, said she was very impressed. I am just really glad she was there because she was able to tell me everything that our teachee was saying. It´s funny that when someone translates for me, they don´t translate it into English, they just translate it into slower Spanish and then I can completely understand. haha.

Usually P-day is Monday, but while I´m here in Osorno it´s Saturday because we´re on the same schedule as the office Elders.

Ok, I want to have time so upload some pictures, so that´s all for today. 

Miss and love you lots!

October 15th.

So, my time at the MTC is about to come to an end, and, knowing me, nothing is ever really complete until I can summarize and make a clear and defined list of what I have learned from the experience. So here it is:

1. Obedience is the first law of everything

2. The ability to know how to follow the Spirit to be an instrument in the Lord's hands in bringing others unto Christ is the greatest ability and gift we could possibly develop in this life. I want to be able to do that even more than I want to be able to sing. I'm glad I'm here.

3. Conversion by the Spirit outweighs logic. Heavenly Father speaks to our hearts and helps us to understand the things that our minds cannot comprehend when we have faith in Him. (That's something my teacher's investigator told him, it's my favorite thing I've heard since being here). We can be sure and have faith that others can truly gain a testimony that will inspire them to have the faith to follow all of the things that God asks of us, even when our minds don't understand it.

4.True conversion comes through action. It is through a person keeping committments and promises that their hearts are changed. All missionary work is about inspiring people to ACT. We do this by having an attitude of love for the Gospel and for those around us.

5.God gives us miracles. I've seen it in the courage that I've had in things I've been able to say and do that I never thought I could. As a missionary, the Spirit works through you far more than you realize.

6. God pushes us to reach our potential because He loves us and wants us to achieve all of the great things He has in store for us. God doesn't spoon feed us happiness when He knows we need to grow. He wouldn't make us endure any hardship that wasn't necessary for our becomming who He needs us to be. It is a great compliment to be pushed to be better, it means God sees and wants greater things for us.

7. The hand of the Lord is in our lives far more than we realize. Even in the times when we think we messed up the plan, or we somehow got off course, we realize that those were significant times that our Father in Heaven used to guide us to recognize and recieve the happiness and blessings of the answers we seek. He is in control far more than I ever realized until being here and looking back on everything that brought me to where I am.

Also...

 "Called to Serve" is a great song, but that doesn't mean you have to sing it twice a week.

October 8th.

Ok, so first things first HOW AWESOME WAS CONFERENCE! En serio, so good. I loved the talk on how to be a better teacher of the Gospel, for obvious reasons. The people in our zone who were waiting for their visas are leaving Monday so things will be much less crowded.

So SURPRISE we got new roomates. Usually scheduling leaves a note on your door saying that you're getting new sisters so that you can clean and prepare their beds for them and stuff, but we did not get a note. Completely random story actually. One of the other Hermanas in our zone was sick and her companions had to stay with her in their room, but they needed to go get lunch so we switched off and my companions and I stayed with Hermana Pace. Well, Hermana Moss and Hermana Nakayama ran over to our room (it's just two doors down) to get some extra packing and cleaning in when all of the sudden they hear a knock on the door and it's new sisters looking to move in. Luckily they were there and could move stuff around for her (because when the other Hermanas left we spread out and took two closets each) I can't imagine how sad it would've been for the new Hermanas to come in if we weren't there. They're pretty cool. They're not in our zone so they don't have our schedule, we don't see them that much other than at night. One of them is from Orange and when she walked in she was like HEY! I know you! It was cool.

So when they say you get blessings from serving a mission, they're not kidding. Not that this is the main blessing I was looking for, but it's definitely cool. One of the other Hermanas on our floor I guess hears me singing all the time around the residence hall (yeah, I know, sorry) and came into our room the other night and basically said that she loved it and wanted to record me and send it to her family who owns a record company in California and a recording studio in St. George. SO AWESOME! Also, there's an Elder here, Elder Smith, who honestly has one of the most amazing voices I've heard. We ran into him thismorning and he told me to come find him after dinner and he'd play/sing with me for Hermana Gillum to record. Also one of my teacher's Dad was in charge of production for all of the church movies and one of my companions worked for BYU broadcasting. Coincidence? I think not.

I really miss the district that just left on Monday, our old roomates were in that district and some of our very favorite Elders. I miss them, but I know they are doing great things in Argentina!

So I can't even remember all of the funny things that happened this week, but there were many. Let's just say we were taught a first lesson and the main point of the lesson was that we should come to church because there are guapo hombres there, and another one where we were talking about the Apostacy/Restoration and Hermana Nakayama said something to the effect of "I look out the window and what did I see? Churches popping up everywhere!" Maybe you had to be there. Also, a lady came up to us and very sweetly said "Oh! Sisters! Where are you going?" Both of my companions, because they are smart, said "Osorno, Chile" while I replied "Uh, to our room?" Yeah. Awesome.

Well I only have a few minutes left, but I love you! Keep those dearelders coming!

Also, Scott: I have letters for Adam Calderon, Vince, Fran, Dan, Ryan, and Jacob, but I don't have their addresses! I know you're busy, but when you get around to it remind them to send me a dearelder or something with them. I might just send them to you to distribute.

Love you all!

October 1st.

All there is to say is how much I love being here and love my zone. Es lo mejor. The oldest district STILL hasn't gotten their visas for Mexico. They're going crazy, and as much as I love them, I'm starting to go crazy too because they have nothing to do all day so they just come in and want to talk to us and distract us from studying. That's one thing I'm really really looking forward to about being in the field. I won't have the distraction of trying to study in a room full of really good friends, I'll be able to focus more.

I need to mention again how much I would love to hear from you dear friends out there. Even just dearelder's. Hermana Moss and I were so desperate for mail (and jealous because Hermana Nakayama gets like 12 letters a day - she is loved) that we solicited OTHER PEOPLE's friends and family for letters. Elder Stevens' brother wrote me, and I just got a letter from Elder Jackson's girlfriend who agreed to be my penpal. It was cool, but not as cool as you! C'mon people. I want to know your lives! Scott, Vince, Dan, Ryan, CAMILLE!!!, I will not hesitate to call you out.

Bitsy just got here! I saw her at lunch the other day. Pure chance since we went to lunch early and she went late haha.

I'm not sure what else there is to say, our teaching is getting better, lots of practice. 

Love you!

Hermana Gebara

September 24th.

Hey! 

To answer your question, my schedule is pretty much class, breakfast, class, lunch, gym, class, dinner, class, sleep. Or some variation thereof. Sundays we go on Temple walks around 3:30, so that's fun, and we get to go to the Temple every Friday (we just got back). The food is starting to get a little old, but I'll survive. How is everyone? Tell them I say hello. The oldest district was supposed to leave for Mexico at the beginning of the week, but their visas haven't come through so they're stuck here. I know it's selfish, but I'm glad because a lot of our good friends are in that district and I don't want them to leave. A new district came in with 3 new hermanas, that makes 9 in our zone. Ergo, our zone is the best. Also, Hermana Moss had to go get X-Rays on her ankle yesterday at the BYU heath clinic because they think she might have a stress fracture, as sad as we are that she's in pain, it was nice to see a small glimpse of the real world. Also, we got to go during our TRC time so we didn't have to do that. (The TRC is my least favorite of everything- I dread Thursdays.)  There's not much else to write, one of the Elders in our district went home this week, so that was a little rough for everyone, especially because companionships shifted and the Elders are having to get used to new people. Our district is like a family, we had our honeymoon period where we were so excited to be around each other all the time, then we went through a phase where we were super annoyed of each other all the time, and now we're in the "I love and accept you for who you are, but sometimes you really get on my nerves" phase. Es interesante. My Spanish is coming along, if I can read something I can pretty much understand it, but listening to natives is still a little tough because they talk so fast. I love speaking Spanish so much though. I love being an Hermana! All in all, things are great. I love my zone so much. I'm still waiting on those addresses so that I can send some letters out, (Adam Calderon, Vince) tell Scott to dearelder me or something. I miss you and I hope you are doing well! Keep me updated!

Love,

Jamie

September 17th.

Things are going really well here, my companions are great and we're becoming good friends with all of our roomates. There's not much to say because we pretty much do the same thing everyday, so there's not much new to tell. The TRC was much MUCH better this week. I think we're getting better at this whole teaching thing. Our teacher says that on a scale of 1 to 10, we teach at a 4, but that most new missionaries in the field teach at a 2 or 3, so I'm slightly discouraged, but not too upset about it. I don't know what else to say other than please let me know about those skirts. 

Also, seriously people, WRITE ME! I've seriously resorted to writing one of the Elder's girlfriend because she is such an attentive writer and I was bummed I wasn't getting mail. Mom and Bekah, you are already doing a great job at this, but the rest of you (Ahem: Jeremy, Scott, Vince...)dearelder.com is super easy! You can do it! There's an Elder on our floor who looks exactly like Jeremy and everytime I see him I just miss the family. How is everyone? I'm going to check the rest of my e-mails but if I have the time I'll send a quick description of all of my friends in our zone so you can get a glimpse of how awesome every day is here.

Love you,

Hermana Gebara