So I heard that this week in Canada you guys got a dumping of snow!! Yikes! It'll be great for snowshoeing and skiiing though!
This week has been a scorcher! Every day has been about 30-35 degrees and there is no such thing as AC. Despite that, I'm quite enjoying the heat. I'd rather sweat than freeze!
This week has been really hard finding people in their homes. It might be because it's so hot. Everyone has either left for the big cities to visit family or are swimming in the Rio (river) .
Gracias to Grace, Kira and Kaylee for the wonderful letters you sent me! I have them hanging up on my wall in our apartment!
This week we've been praying to find someone who could have a future calling working with the YW (young women's organization, ages 12-18) here and for a future priesthood holder (there are only 4 priesthood holders in our Rama {branch}). God answered our prayers! We saw miracles! We had a "Noche de Hogar" (FHE - family home evening program in the church where families spend one night a week connecting and doing things together. Usually Monday night) with one of the part member families here. After, their daughter said that she wants to get baptized! (That is the girl with the baby in the pictures from last week) It's a miracle because the missionaries have been working with her for about 4 years and she wasn't interested in the gospel or the church. I'm so happy that Hermana Ruth will be able to have her family all together now!
We also found someone very promising for YW! Her name is Natalie and she was a member in a different city. She's super spunky and adorable but, when she came to Curacautin, she wasn't able to find a job that didn't make her work Sundays. We're working with her on the Dia de Reposo (Sabbath Day). I'm hoping everything works out.
Gloria's baptism was this week! It was so beautiful! The people in her family are either not members or menos activos (less active). Despite that, 23 of her relatives came out to support her!
Her baptism was supposed to start at 4:00pm but Gloria's sister, Marixa, was stuck on a bus. Gloria is really close to her. Marixa practically raised her. There's no way we could have started without her sister. So... the service ended up starting at 5:00pm. It was beautiful to see the chapel full of people! Gloria cried when Marixa gave the talk and when Hermana Rimmach and I sang "Asombro Me Da" (I Stand All Amazed). The Spirit was really strong in the chapel and many of her non-member families commented on the beautiful feeling they had when they were there!
(English version of the song "I Stand All Amazed" put to video on Youtube)
I have to start talking on the cell phone now. I thought it was hard to understand people in person. It's even worse on the phone! There's a lot of "¿Que dijo?" (What did you say?) going on.
So there's this thing that Chileanos do down here when they are running out of minutes on their phone. It's called a "Pinch." They call you and as soon as it starts ringing, they hang up. I was wondering why we kept getting dropped calls from people. I thought it was just bad service until Hermana Rimmach explained.
Today we celebrated Natalia's 17 birthday! YAY! We ate almuerzo (lunch) with her family. After, the Elders played the guitar and we sang along to songs by Nickleback, Paramore, Extreme and Oasis. They love English ballads here!
We gifted Natalia with her favourite chocolate "Mantecol." It's like a bar of pure peanut butter with layers of chocolate in between! Pure deliciousness! I'll bring some back in my suitcase at the end of my mission! Promise!
The two pictures are of us with Gloria and Natalia, the other is the two of us at Hermana Paula's house for a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening). She made AMAZING sopaipillas!
Love you all! Que le vaya bien (Hope everything is going well for you)!
Hermana Jakob
Love reading about how well Eden is doing on her mission. I am keeping her in my prayers. Miss& love her with all my heart!
ReplyDeleteSister Brown