May 23, 2011

So I don´t have a lot of time today, but my new companion's name is Hermana Bertagnole and she is AMAZING! I had known her from when we were in the same zone in Osorno, so we're already off to a great start. She is the epitome of the missionary that I want to be, so I am very excited for this cambio. We have found some really awesome part member/less active families this week, and we've had some really good lessons with them as well as with Sofia, who has SO many questions, but is really excited to learn. I'll try to include more details later, but we are working hard here in Villarrica!

Love you all!
-Hermana Gebara

P.S. I am still healthy.

May 13, 2011

So let me just tell you about some of the funny things that happened this week. First of all, we bought some wood. We weren´t freezing before because we were using our hair dryers for heat, but just because it was Mom's birthday, we bought some wood. It´s cheaper if you buy it in the neighborhood up top, so we asked two of the young men to help us carry it to the bus stop and then to our house. They, anxious for service opportunities, agreed. We bought the wood and these two kids nearly killed themselves carrying it, but be it male ego or whatever, they refused to let us help. We get out to the main street where a collectivo( like a taxi, but only with a set route) took pity on us and agreed to take us down directly to our house for the same price. Ramón, however, did not hear and kept walking to the bus stop. We were yelling after him "Ramón! Stop! He´s going to take us down! Ramón! RAMÓN!" When he finally got to the bus stop and noticed that we were not behind him, he turned around, saw the taxi, and said "Well why didn´t you say anything!?" Anyway, we have wood now. Part two of funny miscommunication moments happened on Saturday. We were teaching Fernanda, one of our investigators, and Ramón came to help. Just some background to set this up, Ramón´s family is less active and his mom has just started wanting to have family home evenings with us. So anyway, we were setting another appointment with Fernanda and Ramón whispers to us "Family home evening, my house, 7." I said "Great idea! Fernanda, we are going to have a family home evening with Ramón´s family and he wants to invite you, I don´t know why he´s whispering..." She agreed to come, and he just smiled and explained how to get to his house. After we left he turned to us and said "I was just telling you that my mom wanted to have one, not to invite her!" We had to call and reschedule...

Anyway, things are still going pretty well here. We had a movie night where we watched "Legacy." I´m pretty sure it´s my new favorite movie.

Thanks for all of your love and support!

Please send pictures.

Thanks!
Love,
Hermana Gebara

May 2, 2011

It´s been a pretty good week. I heard Prince William got married, our Mamita was very excited about that. Apparently a few years ago Prince William took a trip to southern Chile, so the people here are very fond of him.

I am in the process of writing letters to everyone, but week after week something happens and I´m just not able to get it done. Please assure the family that I do in fact love them and miss them very much. I haven´t heard from Kerrie in a while, how is she doing? Is she mad at me? Please apologize for me if I said something in one of these e-mails that offended her. I really miss you all!

Hermana Kelley is ending her mission in 2 weeks, it´s interesting being with someone who is so close to seeing their family because it makes me feel like I´m close to seeing mine as well, only to remember that I´ve got another 9 months... but anyway, I love you all very very much and I am very sorry for my inability to communicate often.

Anyway, talk to you soon!

Love,

Jamie

April 11, 2011

So basically I love what amazing examples the youth are here. I am constantly amazed, they are by far the strongest part of the church and an amazing influence on me. Yesterday in testimony meeting, Cata, the seminary teacher (she´s only 20 and is also a sunday school teacher, and the district family history coordinator) started crying when she talked about how faithfully all of her students show up looking so tired but so excited to learn and study the gospel. So what happens is that Ramon will walk to her house in the morning, and then they´ll walk from house to house to get all of the students and then take taxi´s down to where the church is (it´s way too far to walk.) She said that just in the first month she and Ramon had spent something like $80 each in taxis getting everyone there, but they are so willing to make so many sacrifices to help others grow in their testimonies. It´s amazing. It´s difficult to see families that can´t get to church because they don´t have the money to pay for the bus ride, and how faithfully the youth save their money so at least they can get there once a week. We´re trying to organize some sort of carwash or bakesale to raise money for them. We´re even considering buying a sheep to have a BBQ from one of the families that has a farm. I´ll let you know how that goes... Apparently some of the Elders think they are skilled sheep killers.

Hermana Kelley and I are now in charge of girls camp ideas because we are the only people in the branch who have actually been to girls camp before. I´m excited. We´re organizing a few different young women´s activities to really strengthen their sights to be set on the Temple. One of the hardest things we deal with here are women that got baptized, have testimonies, but never really understood how important temple marriage is, so they marry non-members who discourage them from going to church and living the Gospel and they end up being less active. I never realized just how much of a blessing it was to have a temple so close, even when we were in the San Diego district, going to the temple was never something too out of reach. Just having a temple close by helps so much to remember what your goals are and where you want to end up. I will be SO excited when the Concepción temple is finished! ... in 3 years...

(Speaking of temples, did you see how awesome the Rome temple looks!? We saw it on the report in between sessions of conference. I am so excited! After you told me what the representative from the Vatican said about Prop 8, I feel like, in some small way, I helped. Like it´s my temple too.)

So as I´m sure you´ve realized, the job of a missionary can take many different forms. English teacher, music teacher, activities coordinator, and now we can add map maker to the list. The new sector that we just took over is fairly new, so there´s no map of it, ANYWHERE. We searched the municipal building, fire department, tourism office, it just doesn´t exist. One of our committments was to draw on our maps where all of the church leaders live so that we can focus our efforts on those areas and so that when the new mission president comes in June he will have maps of every sector. So what did we do? We made one. It took FOREVER, but we finally finished it! We even sub sectioned, color coded and wrote down the names, addresses, and phone numbers of the members who live there. I feel very accomplished. Just keep in mind that there is never anything that a leader will ask you to do that you can´t do, you just may have to work a few late nights and early mornings to get it done! We´re considering selling it to the city...

So we had two people, Alejandro and Tabitha, that we were really focusing on and excited about. They both have a baptismal date and were progressing really well. So of course, they both moved this week. One to the Concepción South mission, and the other to Santiago. Those missionaries must have really been praying for a miracle, haha.

Anyway, things are still going great here in Villarrica. Love and miss you!

-Jamie

April 1, 2011

I apologize for this being late... you know how life gets!
-Camille

Hey! Thanks for offering to help, but some kids were playing on the keyboard in the chapel and it broke, so there is no more piano playing happening in our branch for now haha. As soon as the books come in from the office, I will be teaching a music directing class though! We are teaching an English class every Saturday morning and we´ve got about 20 students, so cool! I love teaching!

I love conference so much. I always get answers to questions I didn´t even know I had, but things that I really needed to hear. It amazes me every time. I was walking down the street after it ended thinking about how many people have never felt the kind of joy that I have just from having the Gospel in my life and having the privlidge of feeling the Spirit as strongly as I do in my life. I´ve realized more and more how important the skill of learning to recognize and follow the Spirit is, and how the most important thing we can do to develop that ability is to ACT! I believe it was Elder Bednar(?) who talked about that.

 In our zone meeting on Friday we read a scripture in Mosiah about the warriors who "Fought like dragons... fought like Lions for their prey" and talked about why we as missionaries want to fight like dragons. It was really cool for me to think about how many times I know that Christ has fought valiantly against all sorts of adversity to protect and save me from both physical and spiritual harm, how I depend on Him to do that constantly, and how I should, in return, do that for Him to the best of my ability.

We have some really awesome investigators and are enjoying teaching and helping other people take the next steps in building their faith in Jesus Christ. It is amazing the ways that my testimony of Him has grown through having the opportunity to use it to help others everyday. I started writing down at least 3 reasons everyday that I´m glad to be a missionary, and that seems to be a reoccuring theme, how I am so grateful that I have ample opportunities to bear my testimony, because it gets stronger and firmer every time.

Anyway, that´s what´s been going on with me. Love you!

March 11, 2011

Ok, I´m keeping this short this week so that I can really get around to sending some pictures. Some of them are from Osorno that I never got a chance to send, but the one from of the beach and the volcano as well as one of Hermana Kelley and I are from here in Villarrica. I think the ones from Osorno are of us with the Familia Lillo and Fernando, me with one of the members who faithfully accompanys us often, Coni, and me with la Familia Sandoval just before I left.

We´re teaching a lot of awesome people, I´ll tell you the story of this one guy, Alejandro, when I have more time to write, but to sum it up, he´s a miracle. He just got out of jail and I guess while he was there he met the son of a member who decided to take him in because he didn´t have anywhere else to go. Now he´s really excited about learning the Gospel and has a baptismal fecha for next month!

Love and miss you!

March 4, 2011

Sorry that it's taken so long, I've been busy... but I'm trying to catch up!

-Camille




I love this branch so much. I am now the branch pianist, which is interesting since I don´t really play piano, but we´re also starting a piano class that I will be teaching...

Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting. I really just have to tell you this amazing story of the jovenes in this branch. They all come from less active families, but a few years ago one of the girls in the young womens got a list of names and walked right up to one of the kids at school, Pato, and said: "You´re a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints... we need you to come to seminary." So he came, and he came back super strong, and brought all of his friends with him. He left on his mission about a month ago (He´s in the same mission as Allie Yost!), but before that he was serving as both young men´s president and branch secretary, and I´m pretty sure we here a story from one of the members about something great he did every day. So anyway, in Sacrament meeting yesterday 4 of these other jovenes were all lined up to bear their testimonies about how excited they are to serve missions and how grateful they were for their friend´s example and for the Gospel, and right before one of them walks up to start speaking, his mom and his sister walk in. To top it off, the next kid goes up to bear his testimony, saying that he had always been really shy and had never had the courage to get up to bear his testimony before, but his friends talked him into it and he was grateful that his mom was there to see him do it for the first time. Pretty much everyone was crying the entire meeting.

I was thinking about this yesterday, so here´s a story... About 3 or 4 months ago, after reading the talk that I told you about, the one about the 4th missionary, I remember making a dedicated effort to not only work hard with my time, but to focus my thoughts more on the work as well (I´ll admit, I was still really missing singing). As I made the effort to do so through starting to memorize the scripture mastery scriptures in Spanish while we were between appointments so that my mind wouldn´t have time to wander, I remember one day walking down the street Cervantes in Osorno feeling so unbelivably happy, so unbelivably dedicated to serving the Lord and His kingdom just completely out of love and desire to do it, not just because of the blessings I would get in return. I have made it a goal to try to regain and retain those feelings for the rest of my mission and the rest of my life. Part of my fast on Saturday was to help me to refocus and re-find that desire, and as I was sitting in Sacrament meeting, I couldn´t help but be filled with a desire to serve the Lord with everything I am and in whatever way I can for the rest of my life. I was eccstatic. I was and am thrilled for the opportunity I have to be here in Chile helping to strengthen the faith of the members of the Lord´s kingdom. I´m trying my best not to waste a minute of it. I know now I´m just babbling and my grammer has probably stopped making sense and I sound kinda crazy, so I´ll just leave it at that and send some pictures!

February 25, 2011

Ahora para todos:

So I am now in Villarrica and it is GORGEOUS! We´re right on the coast. Last Thursday we did out lesson plans on the beach. It´s the furthest sector north, so it´s really really REALLY hot, which makes the pulgas (fleas) come out in full force, but I´m surviving. I´ll try to send pictures. My new companion is Hermana Kelley. She is from Alabama and she´s AMAZING. She´s finishing her mission in May so I´ll be her last companion. Did I mention she´s amazing? I love her a ton, she´s really funny and a great missionary. The house is... bigger. Let´s just leave it at that. This cambio they joined our sector with a sector that belonged to Elders last cambio, but they took them out and doubled the size of our sector. It´s gigantic, and it´s strange because we have a lot of investigators now that we´ve never met, but I´m excited for the challenge, I think we´re up to it. The branch president asked us to think of some activities we could do that are focused on encouraging people to read the Book of Mormon, so if anyone has any ideas... please let me know. Villarrica is right under an active volcano, it´s cool because sometimes at night you can see the lava sparkling in the sky. They say we´ll get a lot of earthquakes here, but I´ve only felt one this week and it was pretty small. One of the things that amazes me about this branch is that they have so many jovenes that are so excited about missionary work, even though their families are completely inactive, they love to help us and are preparing to serve their own missions. It´s aweseome! I have learned so much about what it means to really give everything in the service of the Lord. I think from being a missionary, I´ve learned a lot about how I should be as a member.  The miracle of a mission is far more than the baptisms. There´s a lot of work to be done! Speaking of baptisms, I was pretty bummed at the end of last cambio because Fernando had been traveling so his baptism kept getting pushed back, but he came back RIGHT before I had to leave. When we asked him if he had any concerns about his baptism he said "Just one... where can I buy white pants?" He is so prepared. Elizabeth and la Familia Sandoval also said that they really felt like the message we had brought them changed the way they look at their relationship with God, and this guy Juan Carlos told us that he really feels like we helped him to find a faith that he never had before. I might not be there for their baptisms, but I will never forget the influence that Heavenly Father has allowed me to take part in in their lives. It´s hard leaving a sector and all the people that you love there, but I know that I´ll grow into that here too, and I can´t wait. Hermana Nakayama was transferred in to Osorno, so I know that they´re in good hands. I´m going to go ahead and finish this up so I can have time to send pictures, but I want to say thanks so much for all of your letters and support, it really helps!

Love,

Jamie

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