December 16

It feels like Christmas!

Whew! What a week. We had our Christmas conference. It’s really funny because we were all preparing the night before like what we're going to wear and trying to find something close to Christmassy and then laughing at ourselves for getting so excited over a conference. lol. But that was our Christmas for us so I guess it's okay. lol. I'm still not sure what we're going to do here for Christmas but it's in the works. So the conference was good. President gave us all pillows... but I already bought my own so. Now I have two! Wahoo! But they have a cute pillowcase with the mission emblem. Every zone put together a thing to present and that was fun to see. Our zone did a dance to the Gloria song that's like instrumental.. Mainly because it's what we had on our phone and also to a song in Spanish for Christmas! It was fun to put together. I'd send you the video but my camera got stolen so... but don't worry about it. I’m already over it. I’ll probably end up buying another one when I feel the need just so that I have some memory of my mission. Speaking of which. Can you make sure that all of the photos I’ve sent you are saved super good. I know there's not a ton but they're all I have so if you could do that that would be very nice of you.

What else this week. I went on an intercambio to maquehue. That was fun. Usually when we do intercambios  I stay in my own sector for some reason and I hate it lol but it was a good day over there in the hills.
We had a little going away party noche de hogar for Hermana Orozco who went home yesterday. It was really good to see her leave happy and with good advice but she was also good to live with. She helped me keep the other missionaries in line. lol. i'm just kidding....
Elder Reyes also went home yesterday. It kind of broke my heart because he has really been a leader that has actually made me a better missionary. I'm convinced that he stayed long enough to be my leader and that the only reason he went home is because he knew what he was doing. And you can't be a missionary if you know what you're doing. But he should be able to get better operations there in the US so hopefully everything will be okay!

So... i may or may not have opened a few things from my packages... hehe.  I just couldn't wait. But I love all of the shoes from Grandma y Grandpa!!! Thanks so much! They are sure to last for the rest of my mission! sin duda! Also I opened a very cute skirt! I love it love it LOVE IT! I've been dying for new skirts! So thank you!! It rides up a little because I think you've forgotten that I told you I’ve gained  just a little weight here on the mission... but I wore it anyway AND today we went to some hill hike thing as a zone AND I wore my jeans! So i think I’m finally leveling out again. Still quite tight but buttoning. You won't even see the difference on navidad!

I sent your Christmas package yay! It’s not as cool as I wish but it's still a little something from my home. The things that aren't wrapped are for sav rich tate y brock. Sorry mom and dad cause i didn't have time to make more. I’m  just kidding I totally didn’t make them. They just didn't have more to buy.  Anyway! Hope you get it in time for Christmas!

I love you all!
Feliz Navidad!
Hermana VandeMerwe

December 9

Well you might have snow over there but we have baptisms over here so. 

Actually we have no one with a date right now but I believe in miracles! 

My new comp, Hermana Godinez is FATASTIC! She is from Guatemala and I know that we are going to see a lot of miracles together. She has about 4 months on the mission but she knows why she is here and has a lot of love for everyone. I'm really excited to learn from her. Plus it will be good to finally be able to practice my Spanish... day and night- lol. 

The whole 5 hermanas in the house is just fine. It’s just funny having all of our suitcases in the kitchen and having to move the fan to get to different places. But really I haven't noticed that it's bad at all. It’s just kind of how we live. Our house is probably about the size of my apartment but with more room in the living room and less room in the bedrooms. 

lol. I haven't have time to read all the letters yet. But sounds like that Tate is quite the popular guy. I hope he settles down a little bit because there is no such thing as popular in the mission. 

Okay that might be a lie... I’m kind of popular too over here in Chile but amongst the common folk is all. 

This week we really worked well. We found lots of new investigators and I really felt my testimony growing as if I could see a little meter that fills up in different areas. My testimony has been strengthened in key areas many through experiences that I’d rather not have but nonetheless, apparently I’m not just here for other people. I've still got a lot to learn myself. 

LIke when we had a golden family that we can't see any more because the dad got mad. Or when the wife of a true potential told us not to come back. I learned that not only is it hard to progress without your family. You literally can't progress without your family. 

I've learned that you're simply happier when you read the scriptures from seeing the miserable state of others when they aren't reading compared to when they are. The happy state of those that keep the commandments.

My testimony of fasting was strengthened yet again as we did a fast with a menos activo so that she could stop smoking. She's been trying to stop smoking for a very long time and her confidence was low that she would ever be able to making her fall into deep depression. We finally did one simple sacrifice one day and she hasn't smoked since. I remember when she opened the door the first day we went to check on her with a huge smile on her face and bright clothes with a yellow headband. Small things bring to pass great things.

I learned that we should all have the hunger and the obedience of a child. We could baptize any kid on the street if we really wanted to. This week we found a menos activo in the street who wanted nothing more to do with the church but her dad told us week could take his grandchild to church (her son) he begged her to let him go and to come with him telling her " please mom, I want to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ" with his hands clasped and his voice sincere. 

Liken yourself unto a child. 

This week we have our mission Christmas conference. YAY! Every once in a while I get that bust of Christmas spirit when I see the trees in the houses or the lights in central Pitrufquen. It feels like when we go to Hawaii for Christmas and it's warm but yet Christmas is in the air. 

Oh Dad, can you send me the recipe for oatmeal cookies that are soft please? They make these oatmeal cookies here that really aren't that good. They’re like making a granola bar and we put it with jam or something. There is a menos activo who wants it and I thought I had it but I don't. So that would be great! 

Well that’s all I’ve got for now! 

Love you!

Merrry Christmas!

December 2

Cambios are here! Hermana Horan is leaving. I'm really bummed about that cause we worked really well together and I learned a lot from her. My new companion is Hermana Godinez or something like that. I'll I've heard about her is that she's from Uruguay and she has a little less time than I do. We are also bringing Hermana Wiegal into the mix. She got her with me and she is going to be in a trio for two weeks until Hermana Orosco goes. So that means 5 Hermanas in the house that should be for 2. Whew that will be fun.  Our landlord  is building a new house. I think she got scared when we told her we were going to leave. But now we just have to wait until supposedly mid- January. 

This week for thanksgiving we got together with the zone and ate a nice dinner of Chicken and potatoes. All for you Brock. We did pretty well I must say. Bought a bunch of rotisserie chickens. Someone made some jello. We had corn and even cheese cake for dessert. Oh and gravy. It was super fun. This has been a really fun zone and at thanksgiving we went around and said what we were thankful for. It was a good way to invite the spirit. I'm very thankful for Thanksgiving. 

Your thanksgiving sounded super great! I'm glad you had fun together as a family and I hope you made a list of all the things you are grateful for.

The next day we had a conference with an Elder from the 70. He talked a lot about repentance and having a testimony for ourselves. That we can't teach it until we know it. It's very true. I'm trying hard to deepen my testimony of all of the principles so I can teach them with more power and have more of a desire for them to know if for themselves. As far as repentance. That is a very hard thing to do but every once in a while we need a self-evaluation to really find what we can do to come unto Christ. 

However you know what conference means? Packages!!!! I received 2 the one from Savannah and Richard and the one from the Family. To be honest I haven't opened them yet cause I was waiting for today and then haven't had the time yet but I’m going right now and I’m excited! Sorry I haven't opened it to tell you how much I love whatever it is but I’m sure I’ll love it and I’ll tell you about it next week! 

How is 3rd Nephi coming along?

So the bad news of the week is that Elder Reyes went back to Santiago and it has been confirmed that he has lost his vision permanently. He's decided to stay on the mission which I’m really happy about. He is a great example of valiance and for putting the Lord before anything else. 

I'm really sad to hear about Aunt Judi. I will for sure be praying and fasting for her. Please keep me updated and keep up the faith. Bring forth actions of your faith and we will see miracles as a family. 

So do we have just 2 elders in our ward now or how many missionaries do we have in the stake? As in serving there? That's pretty cool we even have missionaries in sacrament meeting. We never have missionaries in our meetings! 

Continue reading 3rd Nephi and sharing the gospel with everyone! Go above and beyond what you normally would to bring someone to Christ this Christmas! I love and miss you all! Can't wait to talk with you soon! 

Love, 

Hermana VandeMerwe

November 25

Baptism of Marcelino! He is absolutely adorable. I keep forgetting how much I tell you about him but he is so cute. He has so much trust in us as missionaries and in the people of the branch as they get to know him. He just moved into his home for old people... how do you say that? Old folks home. Oh ya. That's it. One day this week we spent a good 2 hours doing nothing but walking from one old folks home to another trying to find him because he hadn't shown up for his app for 2 days. But we found him thank goodness. Then on the day of his baptism, luckily we went to make sure he was ready to go for that because it was raining and said that he couldn't leave. Whew! Thank heavens we went before so we could tell him we'd take him in a taxi.

The baptism was the best ever! An elder played the piano for the musical number and the talks were great. The font overflew but I didn’t know about that until I walked down to see him.. I was wondering why all the missionaries were suddenly all wet... but all went well. Marcelino very slowly put his hand to his nose and then was very slowly put down into the water.  He wasn't closing his eyes, I think the baptiser just decided to do it really fast in the end. It was a double baptism with a joven from the branch in another sector. They don't have a chapel there so they came to ours. That one was cool because an elder got to do it. We have a rule in the mission that the missionaries can't baptize unless it's their first and I think their last... Afterwards Marcelino got up and bore his testimony and on Sunday received El Don del Espiritu Santos.

 Saturday night we had a talent show. It went well. They had a lot of acts so they ended up cutting ours but it’s okay- we were just going to do a dance with the gringos. Like cotton eye joe or something from efy that we all knew.

 Oh but our district leader made it to the baptism! He’s alive! Just got back from Santiago. But he has to go back next week.

 Went to the campo this week and it was absolutely beautiful. I love my sector right now. We are a cute town surrounded by nothing but fields and trees. But you wouldn't know it unless you left town. There is a member that we went to visit with the elder’s quorum president and they took us around their farm. I loved it. Then we learned how to make sopaipillas.. I don't know how to spell that but they're kind of like scones. The president is really funny. He’s like 80something and when he invited us to go to the campo he asked us last Monday to come to the plaza because he had an invitation for us. He then took us to get ice cream and explained what a great day we could have in the campo.. lol. He reminds me of Grandpa. Mainly because he took us out for ice cream but he's also always explaining some scientifical magic 'amazing' thing.

 Thanks to Sav I now know the word for Turkey. And who would've known that it would show up so many times this week?  I had it for lunch one day and saw one in the campo. So I will try to get some for Thanksgiving. I think we're going to do something as a zone during planning or something.

 To answer some of your questions. They don't really play board games at all.  I haven't seen any. The kids do the same things. Sometimes they watch TV but they are outside playing or on the bikes a lot too. I think everyone has some type of computer I would say... actually I don't know. Maybe not. I don't think they have as big of a use for them. But it's not like a luxury I would say. They just use their iPhones. And it's funny you should ask about the Books of Mormon. We have some now. actually we just ran out... but that's because we haven't ordered them but probably this week cause we have a conference so hopefully we can get some more. And I’m still at the same internet cafe as well. I'll think about the Christmas party.

 I love you! Have a happy Thanksgiving. I am very very grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and for having the gospel in my life. I'm thankful I was born in the covenant. I'm thankful for my family and for the relationship that we have with one another. I´m thankful that I grew up in a home built on a rock. I'm thankful that our family is and can be founded on Christ because we have lived according to the principles found in A Family Proclamation.  I´m thankful for the amount of support I have from my family because there are too many missionaries that don´t have any. I'm thankful for every hour I have to give to the Lord. I'm thankful that Christ is my best friend. I'm thankful for answers to prayers. I'm thankful that we can change. I'm thankful that I have the power to help others make this change. I'm thankful for prayers on your knees. I'm thankful for the words from God. I'm thankful for order. I'm thankful for responsibility. I'm thankful for the potential we've been given. I'm thankful for understanding. I'm thankful for love. I'm thankful to know that I'm a daughter of God, a representative of Christ. I'm thankful that we can all return to the presence of our Heavenly King.

November 18

Hello Family!

So... Great Week! We should be having the baptism of Marcelino next Saturday and are anxiously awaiting that. He is so awesome. He has no family and never received an education. At the beginning of teaching him. I was concerned he wouldn't remember everything because he told us it was hard to remember everything. But the more we teach him the more he remembers... just waking up the spirit within him. I love it. 

 I’m not sure what we're going to do for the talent show.. really i never know what we're going to do for anything or how they do things until after so I’ll let you know about thanksgiving and Christmas and the talent show after the act. I'm sure I won't know when I'm calling for Christmas until the week before but ya I’ll be skyping. We take it a day at a time to make an inspired week.. Anything beyond that is just crazy. Way too much can change. lol. I don't play the piano. I've always been with someone else who could so I've never had to do that. 

We are extending the rama a challenge that I want to extend to you all as well. To read 3 Nephi in 30 days. It’s only a chapter a day and it's a perfect prep for Christmas time. I know it will increase your desire to share the Book of Mormon with others and bring you closer to Christ. There is really something to be found in every single chapter of the Book of Mormon. I know that it's true and that it has answered my questions many a time. Many that i didn't even know I had. I wish you all the luck with the person you are going to share the gospel with before Christmas and hope I can hear about all of your experiences... even the bad ones, lol. It might happen. Can't lie to ya. I love you all so much! Happy Thanksgiving!

November 11

WAHOO! I just got an email saying that the ground for the Concepcion temple will be broken in the next upcoming months (don't have a date for it yet) YAYA!! That is going to be amazing!! I was hoping that I could be here for that! Sadly I’m not close to Concepcion at the moment but you never know where I might be at the time or if I can travel there. That is really really good good news and real proof that the work is progressing!

So we are teaching Marcelino. He is 75ish and just adorable. He doesn't remember a lot so we have to teach him really slowly but he wants to be baptized so he can follow the Savior and keep coming to church.

We are also teaching Jaquelene who is awesome... she just has to get married. Haha. Classic last words...

We also haven't been able to find Hector again because he travels a lot to family but we'll keep trying. Same with Luis y Lorena.

  We haven't moved yet... The lady was taking too long to get the house ready and so we decided we didn't like it and then the Elders that approved it told us that they didn't really feel good about it... Thank you elders for letting us move into an unsecure area. Anyways. Our landlord is building another apartment thing that is going to be bigger. We just have to wait until January. So. I will be moving in January. ... Hopefully.

 Elder Reyes is doing well. His operation went well and he'll be back in2 weeks but he gets to go to the temple like every day so he's fine.

We want to do a Thanksgiving for the branch... oh. I just remembered we put a talent show for that weekend... i guess i probably won't have turkey. I haven't even seen turkey here... huh. Interesting. I guess I’ll have to look so i can at least have a turkey sandwich. I don't know how to say turkey in Spanish...

Hope all is well!!! I love you all so much! Have a great trip!

Hermana VandeMerwe

Novermber 4

Whew! Good week. We found some new investigators. Put down some baptism dates and had a party for Halloween! Now on actual Halloween (or night of witches) we decided to fast… we didn’t realize that until after. lol. No we didn’t have any candy to eat anyway. So now I can answer your questions as to what they do on Halloween. They do leave the house and go trick or treating but not very many and everyone knows it’s very American. I think the missionaries brought it down a while back. And that's about it. We saw the kids in their costumes trick or treating. Not many people let us in..haha. They have like Halloween things to buy in the stores but it's not a huge thing. And a lot of people don't celebrate it because they are Christian. so... naturally since we aren't we had a great party at the church. Many people think it’s kind of a dark holiday plus it's also kind of like their memorial day so they all go to the cemetery (not however like day of the dead). One of the Hermanas found some costumes so we were all princesses. I was Fiona from Shrek. That was fun and then we played a good round of musical chairs and pop the balloon and wrap the mummy.

 The letter from the boys was great! It made me laugh. Especially brock's giggle. I miss your little giggle brock! LOL! I’m giggling just thinking about it and the word giggle. Giggle.

I wear boots all winter. That’s why it’s just becoming a problem this whole shoe thing... the boots lasted until just in time and I plan on taking them to a little shoe fixer down the street so they’re ready for next winter. hehe. Whoever thought I'd take my payless boots to a zapatia.

 LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!! Enjoy the holiday season!

Hermana VandeMerwe

October 28

Well this week has been… really just kind of interestingly hard. Our zone was just hurt like no other. I think it’s because president told us if we met our baptism goal this month he would take us to Villarica. But instead my comp and I were in the house all week. Except when we went all the way to Temuco for the doctor and shots for tonsillitis. Then my zone leader came down with something the other day and was inside too and then my district leader was chopping wood and got a metal piece in his eye and we’ve just been praying and fasting all week so that he doesn’t lose his vision. He’s already had one surgery and he’ll have another the next week in Santiago.

I guess we’re not going to Villarica.

But HEY! I got the package! It came just in time. Brockton you are just a life saver! I made some squishys for us to play with while we just talked for 5 days straight. She couldn’t sleep much and didn’t have much to do so now she knows everything about me and all of you too! lol. I did get to clean the fridge.. That’s always an adventure. Also I gave some to the elders because I knew he was just inside with his comp too. And I gave them some army men so they could make an attack plan for our zone. We’ll see what they came up with.

The letters were the best part. I’m so glad that none of you have changed much! I got some good laughs and smiles from all of your notes and from the photos. Brock looking like a real stud becoming a teacher. I’ll be showing that to everyone now when I talk about the priesthood. I found a good place for it in my scriptures. Also where is my family reunion shirt!

Well that’s all for now! I love you all so much! I know this church is true and that God loves all of you super much!! I hope you find someone to share the gospel with this week and that you pray for the same! DON’T go changing now.

LOVE;

Hermana VandeMerwe

October 21

Good morning starshine! Transfers were today but we have no changes. I’m still with Hermana Horan in Pitrufquen. Wahoo! Another 6 weeks here and I was thinking I’s likely I’ll be here for Christmas as well but you never know. Transfers are so funny. They´re like the closest thing we have to a soap opera for missionaries.

This week my comp was sick so we had some time in the house. It’s kind of a bummer but I enjoyed my time getting caught up in the Book of Mormon. I´ve been really lucky not to get sick at all.

Lol. I just looked over at the wall of the internet cafe that we’re in and there’s one of our pass along cards. Those things are seriously everywhere. Even the members have them hanging up in their houses.

We had a brother and sister come to church this week. They are hilarious. We pretty much just invite them to things and they always say yes. It’s like they just already know they have to do it but to be honest we’ve never even had a full first lesson with them because he’s usually solo so we just invite him to family home evenings and stuff.  He’s like 21 and his sister is 19. We found some other new people this week so I hope they progress!

I’m not sure when we’re moving. The house is ready. The mission is a bit slower. So we’lll see. I’m thinking this week if all goes as planned. That will be nice because I’m starting to go crazy. We just have piles of things because there’s no other place to put them and the other two sisters are still living out of their suitcases.

We did some more shopping for skirts and clothes today. My comp got a skirt but I didn’t find anything. It’s kind of expensive- we just have to take turns lucking out at the ropa americana' -- American clothes. It’s like the DI. Probably where the DI sends all of their clothes actually. haha.

Oh also today we ran into Elder Morley at the food court of the mall so we had lunch with them. That was fun. Talked about how we had Spanish class together in the 7th grade and even when to Spanish festival together. Now look at us! lol.

Love you all so much!

Hermana VandeMerwe

October 14

Hello Family! Thanks so much for the pictures!!! I set some your way as well. Brockton freaks me out a little bit. He’s like spitting image of dad. I never realized before.

This week we had interviews with our president. That was fine. lol. It was good. He’s a very insightful person. Very very. He just needs to see you and knows exactly what you need and what is going on. If you're happy or sad if you like your companion if you’re having success. So it was good. And yes I’m doing great. I know you were wondering.

This week we had an activity with the branch. Hermana Horan and I did some minute to win it games and we played do you love your neighbor. Sav you have great ideas. We’re always saying how activities in the US aren’t {t like this at all. We don’t just get together and play games but we always have so much fun and the people love it. I’ pretty sure they do Halloween the same way. It’s a very American holiday so I think they do it the same just not to the extreme.

We also found some new investigators this week. One of them is this old man whose 81 but he’s so spry and amazing and I’m determined to baptize him. So we’ll be looking out for him. The problem is soon he leaves for 10 days to go take care of his brother. I’m telling you, he is sweet. So full of the spirit already just because of his love and the service that he gives and the good he sees in everyone.

Today we went bowling and I looked for new shoes. All my shoes are goners. I’m not sure if I should have you send some to me or not cause I look around but it’s hard to find some that are comfy and won’t fall apart. I found some sketchers but they were a size to big so I didn’t think it was worth it to buy them but maybe you could go find some ugly sister mish shoes I don’t really care what they look like they just need to last longer than a week. And I figure it’s better to buy some good shoes than $10 shoes every week. lol. I did buy some shoes and they literally lasted one week. my oh my. I’ll look again next week if we have time to come to Temuco (the nearest big city) but we probably won’t.

My companion is AMAZING! I love her so super much but she’s most likely leaving next week. But we often talk about Disneyland. It comes up about once a day. Usually with the weather or time of day. ¨this is perfect Disneyland weather-ya until the sun goes down and then it gets “chile” And you won´t believe this but she has had the strawberry bisque that I always talk about! Because she went on the same cruise! CRAZY

There are two other missionaries in the house. One speaks English really well and the other understands a little and can say some but really no. So we talk Spanish when we’re with them but when it´s just us we speak English. But we always pray in Spanish. Our church building is an actual building and super nice. It depends on how much priesthood we have to make it turn into a ward. We don’t have much. our elders quorum president is like 85 and his councilors are the elders....

I love and miss you all!

Hermana VandeMerwe

October 7

I Love conference! I think I actually go through a depression when it´s over. It´s like better than Christmas and it´s a great jump start for missionaries to be able to invite people to come listen to a prophet this very weekend. You know just mix it up a little. There was a lot to get out of this conference but I personally learned a lot about following the spirit through humility and knowledge and of course obedience. There is nothing that a missionary could need more than the promptings and love of the spirit.

We listened to conference in Spanish. They sometimes have it in English I think but they had a hard time getting the satellite for Spanish so I don’t think they cared about English at that point. It’s alright though. I think the only voice I missed the most was elder Holland of course. Also we didn’t get to watch the women’s conference because they couldn’t {t get the satellite in time. sad.

Conference was super awesome. It’s funny cause when we watch it at home I feel like I’m in the conference center like they’re all so close but this time I felt so super far away. It was weird seeing motab and feeling like I had to stretch my ears to hear them.  I did loved singing called to serve picturing everyone in the world singing it at the same time in their own language including my family dressed in their Sunday best at home.

I hope you all listen to the prophet and continue to help the missionaries in a bigger way than ever. This work is seriously impossible to do by ourselves and the only time I have ever said ¨wow, this is hard¨ is when I didn’t have the help of the ward. The church is designed to help the individual person because God loves us all individually. I know more than ever how important visiting teaching and home teaching are. The best way to help the missionaries is with the work. I would give up lunch every day of the week if you would just go do your visits. I´m excited to hear about your missionary experiences! Just think Tate could baptize them all before he even leaves for the mish! And don’t wait until Christmas! People need the gospel now! Also we totally stayed for the priesthood session. What? It was perfect for missionaries in every which way and I learned more about how to teach during that than in any of the other sessions. I’m excited to study deep into the articles of faith. I hope you are too!

So the place that I’m in now isn’t dangerous at all. It’s a cute town surrounded by fields and I still love it and we can take out the camera. Ha-ha. A lady in the ward does our laundry and we still and always will have 4 sisters now here in Pitrufquen. The work is growing! The other two are from Mexico and Paraguay. Hermana Orosco y Hermana Leon. It’s getting warmer but just kind of sporadic- I never know what I should wear. But I have broken into my spring apparel for 2 of the days. I don’t think I’m going to like the heat as a missionary to be honest. Being outside in that is not fun. I’d rather just buddle up.

So... big news!! We bought a house! YUP! Okay we found another house because ours is too small... I feel funny saying that. We’re not very humble I guess. But the new house is great! It’s huge! And super cute. It looks just like a cabin. I’ll take pictures of the inside when we move in in about 10 days.

Love you all so much! For real!

Hermana VandeMerwe

September 30

Wahoo! We had our baptism and confirmation this week! I love this family. Super awesome. We are going to work with him so he can get the priesthood soon and then become branch president and then his kids will grow up and go on missions and he’s going to be mission president and it’s just going to be great!!!

So I don’t think I told you but I am working with plan Alma now that I’m in a branch with 6 missionaries. So we are working with less actives and recent converts. The thing is they just made changes to the plans and so now we can also work with investigators if we find them. And the other people can work with the inactives if they find them. The thing is, it’s a great great great plan that would work super well but I think there’s just too much pride. Before others would turn in complete families to us and we would give them our investigators but now they only give us the less actives it’s just a race to find the family home first. But moral of the story is I do a lot of work with inactives and the conversos, but I like it a lot because I’m excited to help lots of people work toward the priesthood and the temple. We always focus on the men. Men men men because we need priesthood to get a temple here so we contact all the men ever but the problem is they never make it to that point. Just baptism. So anyways. The work is progressing

I’m so glad Tate is doing so well in his concerts and dances. I want to see some pictures!

I haven’t heard about the ski resorts but I know there are some. Some people took little trips to the ¨snow¨¨ also I didn’t know we had a rugby team here. No one talks about it. I didn’t know dad played rugby in college.... but I kind of remember saying that the last time I found out. My memory is as bad as moms sometimes. LOL. I’m just kidding mom. I´m just walking in your every footstep and I like it.

Thanks for cleaning the church! That is such a big help! I wish we had people to clean our chapel! Really bad actually. I almost just started crying because of how great that would be if a family came to the church to clean. lol!

Love you all to the moon and back!

Hermana VandeMerwe

September 23

WOW! I have so much to tell you and so little time! Thanks for all of your letters this week! It was fun to hear from everyone. Okay so I guess I’ll start from the beginning. 

First I took a 5 hour bus ride to Temuco. It was horrible. I was sick the whole time. i took Dramamine but I guess I just don{t react to that any more. golly. So I mainly slept or tried to. When I arrived I met my new companion, hermana Horan. She’s super awesome and laughs all the time so she’s super fun to be around and we get along just great. We took a 40 min bus ride to Picrtufquen and here I am! It’s so darling. Every house is like one of those houses that people are always looking to take pictures in front of, like rustic and colorful. I love it love it love! Our house is laughable not as colorful but still cute. We walk down like this hallway thing to go to some backyard and then up the stairs. The other sisters hate it but I think it{s fun. It’s like a treehouse. (kind of-really it’s just upstairs but whatever) plus it comes complete with a dog and a baby. We have some gym thing downstairs. Looks a little deserted but I hear there are people that use it.  And we just got 2 new sisters for this area so they just squeezed them in with us. Our bunk beds have about 18 inches in between them. lol. But it’s a lot of fun. We workout and dance in our 1 foot space each in the morning. 

Our sector is really big but it covers one branch. It has about the same assistance that our ward in la marina covered. But we’ve just got to get the priesthood!! We have 6 missionaries. 4 hermanas and 2 elders. I love everyone in the ward so far. There are a few leaving on missions soon so that’s really fun. Our yw president is 19, her mom is the RS president and the primary president is also the seminary teacher. There’s lots of multiple calling people. 

Whew okay so now for the 18th!!! Super fun we spent the day with our adorable family.... wait for it... our investigator.. that is.... GETTING BAPTISED on Saturday!!!!!! His wife got baptized a few months back and he just needed a little more time but we’ve got him now! They’re super adorable. Young and have a little 2 year old. They are super great with the missionaries and already act like members making sure we have food and everything. So we went to the parade I told you about. Really it was just all of the school kids walking in a line in their uniforms. They didn’t look very happy about it. Followed by a few fireman and a line of taxis. We ate lots of empanadas which I really don’t think are that good at all but oh well. And then went to the rodeo! The rodeo was fun! It was just like ours except that at the end of the catch the pig game they said “and now your dad can come over and get it” they just threw it in a bag and that was the prize. They did it again with the moms. “You’ll have dinner tomorrow!!!” lol. Just throw the pig in a bag and there you go. We didn’t work that night but instead went inside early to do lesson plans. 

The next day was crazy. Everything. EVERYTHING was closed and there wasn’t a soul on the street. We didn’t really get in any houses. But we visited a converso reciente who gave us a ton of Chilean food. Like more empanadas, shishkabobs, and mote with huesos. This was right after our lunch that we made ourselves... it wasn’t very good we were scraping for things in the house but somehow managed to eat a ton. Later that day we saw our Family Fray in the street and they gave us a sandwich. Then we went to a FHE where we ate more empanadas and more cookie things which also aren’t very good.... 

The next day we spent the entire day at the church for the 18th activity there. Super fun! I learned the cueca which is super fun to do. We had a competition. I think I would’ve won but they didn’t want a gringa to show them up so... 

We also played lots of games like the jump sack game (I totally won) and relays then did lots of karaoke and more dancing in the night. They somehow turned on cotton eye joe and were just amazed at the 3 gringos (me, hermana horan, elder ricks) that just started doing it. They loved it. lol. Ate some more empanadas and lunch and that was that.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana VandeMerwe

September 16

National Holiday in Chile this week--Cambria was unable to write! :)

September 9

I¨M LEAVING!!! Goodbye North, Ocean Breeze, Marina, Rain Drops, Candalaria, Sector La Marina. Hello South, Campo, Trees, spring, Sector Pitrufquen!!!

I´m being transferred to the furthest south we go. Funny because right now I´m as north as we go so it will be quite the change. I leave tomorrow. I´m not sure how long the bus is but probably like 5 or 6 hours. My new companion is Hermana Hernan- at least that´s what I heard from the Latinas. She´s another gringa and I hear she´s great! I also hear it´s beautiful and getting nice and warm. By the way today I have only one layer on-- :O   I will let you know all about it! 

This week I found out that it´s a law that we have a Chile flag outside for the 18th! We better buy a flag! lol. They also said it wasn´t enforced so I´m not too worried! We´ve also had some people tell us we´re all creatures or that we´re all devils. Of course the missionaries are angels... yet they still don´t listen to us. hmm where have I heard that story before? 

I learned a little bit of the national dance- la cueca but I need to practice a lot more if I´m going to be ready for the 18th! 

I haven´t received my package yet but I´m sure soon. I also haven´t heard about problems at all for packages to Chile so don´t fret. We have the mission home where the president lives and the mission office. The mission office looks like a church and has a sign in the front. No it doesn´t look like whatever you saw on mapquest. As far as organization we carry around our planners with us everywhere we go all still paper down here. 

We haven´t started our English class yet- slackers I guess you could say but I´d rather not think of it like that we just put other things above that! I´ll go see if there´s one in Pitrufquen. 

Thanks for your letters! I love you! 

Hermana VandeMerwe

September 2

So we write our emails from an internet cafe thing and right now there´s a bunch of people screaming things as they play their little games... ugh thank heavens I can easily tune out Spanish. 

Yesterday at church there was a mom during our quite relief society lesson playing Gangnam Style for her baby to watch to keep him from crying... LOl. I´m not sure which one is better. And there was drum practice outside so that was just grand. 

We had a contact approach us and ask us a question and then continue by saying, well president Hinkley said in "this" conference that... and in his hand... preach my gospel. weird? Yes. very. He had read the whole thing and had more notes in it than I do in mine. He said his grandma collects religious books but really out of all the religious books we have that is just not one that someone would find... but he had never read the Book of Mormon so we gave him one of those and we will meet with him on Wednesday!

As far as our families go... one of them is just not interested. The other we can´t visit until this week so we´ll see how it goes. He works like 20/30 or something like that. Lots of the men work like that here. So many days here and then so many away. The other we need to find but they don´t feel the desire to learn fast so it´s just kind of like whatever-sure you can come talk to us. To say the least not much has happened with the families. We were promised we would find families but not prepared ones. lol. We´re going to have to work a lot to get them on the right path. 

How fun that you´re going to write the missionaries. I never really knew what to write when we did that but I liked it. I say all of the above. Testimonies, funny things that happened, we love to laugh, words of encouragement. Cheap ideas for ym and ym or ideas for how they would be inspired to do missionary work. 

Emily and I write back and forth a few sentences ever week. And I have heard from Rickie. 

There is a big celebration the 18th and everyone is talking about it like more than Christmas and saying how fun it is and all the food we´ll eat and how I´m going to gain 4lbs. that will be great fun also that is like right before I come home next year so then I just be extra fat. I´ve made a goal to try to eat healthier and not eat all the extra stuff they give if possible like the mayo or the bread... but the bread is really good and I really do like mayo on everything... EVERYTHING. yum! <OH also p day is on the 18th so I think I´ll be writing Wednesday. They celebrate the whole week though and everyone says it´s horrible for missionary work so... that will be so fun.

Love you all!

August 26

It´s off to work we go.

Hello my beautiful family! Once again I don´t have time to read your emails before but I will after. Another Pday is here. This week went by super fast. This transfer has been really. We only have 2 more weeks of this transfer. Crazy. 

So yesterday was the primary program. It was a lot different than ours. They only sang one song and then the teachers and presidency all gave a little spill... weird. The primary is so out of hand. I didn´t know until last week. wow. We need like 10 more teachers in there. 

This week we´re going to start a choir. We´ll see how long that lasts. And then next week we´ll start English class. I don´t really want to start English classes but they´ve been asking for it for 3 months now so I guess we´ll give it to them. 

So we were with the zone leaders (in our sector working with us yet again) but it was good this time because they got a phone call asking for someone in our sector and they just happened to be with us and what to our wondering ears would hear? A brother saying that his brother had a dream that he needs to be baptized! So we called his brother and then met him in the park right then! He told us that he is looking for the truth and wanted to come to our church on Sunday. He´s not married but he´s willing to do whatever he needs to in order to feel that it´s right. ... um okay! So guess who was at church on Sunday! He was! Wahoo! I´m excited to see where it goes! What else is cool is that there was like no break in the communication. He had a dream, told his brother, called the missionaries, called him, lesson. All within a short amount of time so he couldn´t forget this!  

I´m learning more every day. I´m hopefully becoming a better teacher. There is still so much to learn with that and I feel like it will take a lot of practice before I´m perfect... lol the pursuit of life. And when I have it down it will be time to go. A very good thing too because I know I couldn´t do anything without the help of the Lord.

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Okay, now it´s time to go but I love you!

To where the grass grows yellow,

Hermana VandeMerwe

August 19

HOLA!

 I can´t print anything today so I might spend more time at the end so I can read something from you guys! I hope your week was a GREEAAAT one and that you ate some frosted flakes. There are some Golden Crips here that I buy. They´re really good they´re like frosted flakes but coated in gold instead of silver. 

This week we saw a man worshiping his eggs and I had to talk to church yesterday. Yes I had to. I still don´t see that as a privilege. Sometimes I feel like elder gro... in the other side of heaven when everyone is holding back their laughter with pinched lips. lol. 

We had a promise from the president that if we prayed with real intention and really wanted to find a family that Thursday we could find a family. Thursday was a holiday here. For nothing. No one really knows why they have it but no one has school or work so we prayed and I must admit I was pretty excited to leave the door that day because I knew we would find a family.  So first stop, lunch! We had lunch with someone we usually don´t. She is a recent convert but also inactive. Her family are nonmembers and what do you know? They were all there and we had lunch together and they said that we could come back and we could talk more! Wooh! I was stoked. We had already found a family. I thought, “That felt great. Let´s go do it again. So what did we do? We searched and went to houses that I knew had families and what happened? We found another. That´s right! But that´s not all, before the night was over we tried with another and what do you know? 3 FAMILIES IN ONE DAY! Go big or GO HOME!!!

Our ward is great and always comes with us. One of the counselors of the bishopric was with us we picked him up at like 9:15 at night and walked to our appointment obviously late and simply but intensely taught our lesson in 10-15 min and then he ran home with us! lol! What support. It was really funny actually. I was expecting him to just keep walking while we ran but no he just ran right along side us and we closed the door at 945. whatup.

We also had one of the AP´s come with us. They are allowed to come solo without a companion. Usually about 2 times we have our district leaders or zone leaders come with us. Really I hate it when the elders come with us but whatever.... 

So the Chile mail system is on strike which is a bummer cause I have letters to mail to you but I can´t. Also as of right now we aren´t receiving mail but we are receiving packages. Also everybody gets packages. I can´t imagine it lasting very long

My new address

castellon 1063
casilla 3560
concepcion,biobio
chile

Okay I have 3 minutes to read your letters! LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!

Does school start this week? Good luck!!!!! You´re always in my prayers that you will get good grades so make my prayers come true boys!

Hermana VandeMerwe

August 12

Just another manic Monday...wish it was Sunday, that´s my fun day.

Actually Sundays are quite crazy too. Yesterday I made some great music on a door and we sang leventase y brilla y da dios su gloria gloria outside of a house to wake up our investigators but we ended up just waking up everybody but them. I would say there´s always next week but what if there´s not??? Your salvation is at stake here people!! Wake UP! 

We had quite the week. My companion is awesome! She´s optimistic and loves to make up songs throughout the day with me about how the water´s freezing and I don´t have conditioner. Okay actually that was my song in the shower one day but she just continues it til our song is complete. She also brought to my attention how crazy our sector is and I guess I´ve never told you all the details. So maybe I´ll give you more today. 

I´m in the most ¨flighty¨ place as they say it here for sisters but it´s better for sisters because we´re more respected-- HA! Hate to see what it would be like for the Elders. Pretty much just rough/gang is what it means. We´re also prohibited from going to about half of our sector after dark so that´s after six and we usually don´t have a lesson before 5 so there´s a window of opportunity! I don´t have any pictures cause I’m also prohibited from pulling out my camera. But really I love it. I get the whole missionary experience. Soaking wet when buses drive by and splash us with water again. Running from dogs. And okay this is the part that isn´t true... they always show the missionaries smiling helping people carry in their groceries- we´re usually walking our drunk investigators back to their houses.  But really we are so protected it´s amazing. This week we were so privileged to be in the right spot at the right time many times in order to find the people who are ready for the gospel! I love that feeling! 

We had a breakfast with the ward missionaries who are pretty much the active youth. I love working with the youth and it´s so fun to have them come with us and knowing that some of them are preparing for their missions! It’s great. They all have preach my gospel so they can help us teach the lessons (which we need desperately). I always think of Tate and Brock getting ready for their missions! I hope you´re preparing now! Remember the Home is the new MTC! 

Talk about needing help with the language In the lessons. We told people that Noah built a bow and that prophets are people who force you to do things. Thank goodness we had a member with us in that lesson. I would tell you the other things we teach when we don´t have a member but... i don´t know. 

The language is actually quite tough for me. I still don´t understand much and I feel like I should understand a lot more. Plus usually when I don´t understand a word it´s the same word in English just pronounced different and I just can´t figure it out. LOL!! Or the other day when I could not figure out what aguita was.. Haha. Everything is little here so you put "ita" at the end of everything Hence "little water" 

We got a lot of cleaning done the other Monday. Our place was pretty nasty. I don´t think people realize how long some things have been there because no one has been there for long. People are always in and out and don´t realize that there are water bottles that have been under the sink not just for the few months that you´re there but for years and years. lol. So we´re a little bit cleaner. That´s nice. It´s also helpful having a gringa to help with that. Try telling 3 Latinas that you can´t just paint over mold...

So we heard of some missionaries being robbed on the same day that our lock suspiciously broke. lol So we moved al lof the couches and a matrress in front of the door and then made a nice obstacle course of dirty dishes and shoes so we would hear them making a ruckus if anything happened. LOL. Don´t worry nothing happened. 

We had a zone conference on Tuesday to tell us that we aren´t doing anything right and we need to change. Truth of the matter is the numbers are really down in all of the mission but we´re trying to change what we´re doing wrong. Sometimes it´s hard to pinpoint that thing but once you do, you´re set. 

I´m loving the mission and super super happy!

LOVE YOU ALLL!!!!!!!!

August 5

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Brock are you 14 now? Crazy strange. What did you do? I´m surprised I don´t have a long letter from you telling me all about it. I hope you have a great time being 14! I won´t know you as a 14 year old so pretty much you can do whatever you want and I’ll never know. But mom will so.... speed bump is all. Just remember everything I’ve told you. 

HOLA!!!

Quite a good week with my new companion. LOL. There are little squiggly lines under all of my words because it´s in English. HAHA. It usually doesn´t do that. Unless I’ve forgotten how to spell..

Anyway. Hermana Bowman is great!!! She´s from Alpine, UT and is very talented. She is very confident and smart and knows what she´s doing. I like it. I like it quite a lot. We had a family home evening-- activity for the ward and each organization did a talent. So as missionaries my comp read a story she wrote about a seed growing into a tree and I acted like a seed... growing into a tree... Lol. hahahaha. I hope it was better than it sounds when I type it. I had lots of practice from when I was playing with Savannah and Maddie. (Did I ever tell you sterling Richards was in my zone at the mtc?- side note)

We also had "Mega Domingo" where everyone was supposed to bring a friend to church, it was mission wide and our ward decided to do a lunch after too for everyone but it was raining so our attendance was worse than ever. lol. Lots of food though.  Really the people don´t go anywhere if it´s raining... and yet they´re never home. hmmm.

They also go to the hospital all the time. All the time. Like for the smallest things like a cold. It´s kind of funny. Actually it´s hilarious but I have to control my laughter. 

I´m glad to hear the reunion went so well! I haven´t read all about it yet but I’m excited to!

Thanks!

I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU!