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!