June 24

HOLA FAM!

Okay so i didn´t have time to read all the emails like usual but i will read them later it sounds like other increbly spoiled week. don´t let it get to your heads. So that´s interesting that they sent you the addrss for the mission home. I don´t nknow when you should start sending it there. Our mission home is changing because of the new missions in chile so ours is being shifted down... a little bit colder! Also means i won´t be able to come to this city - concepcion any more. but i´m lucky to be by it anyway. it´s not really in our mission but it´s where the office is so we can come and do shopping. I´ll be sure to buy some boots and hats and what not before incase i ever get transfered to the snow! I have recieved 3 letters from janie. every week? how sweet. ya ´brock and fam. just use email cause i get emails every week and not always dear elders and i won´t always be this close to the office. or whatever else you have been using. haha email is great. but i think written letters get here faster than dear elders.

ya my card doesn´t work at the atm. it has worked at stores in the past but not the one that you probably7 got the notice for. so if there´s something i should do differeent for the atm let me know.

do i get the chance to exercise. yes but not really intense haha. we just do things in our house in the morning and i kind of do the same thing every day and get board pretty fast. sometimes we get to run home if weére late... that´s my excercise. no in all actually i try but let´sjust say we are in jeans today for a zone activity and ya... they don´t fit any more. i´m not joking.

This week has been pretty .... i don´t really have words haha. not good haha. but we had a ward activity. ecco concert- it´s like a coffee concert but with ecco y hot chocolate and kareokee.. i guess it´s what they like to do here. haha. no. i´t was really fun. i was in the kitchen cooking but there were lot of inactives so that was good. the purpose was to recieve references but we didn´t get any... and none of our investigators went..oh wait what investigators_

Yesterday I had horse. ya you´´re right dad. it tasted no different. I liked it. i also talked in church. talked might be a stretch but you know what i mean. also there was a world wide mission conference! with tons of the apostles and the prophet., it was available for all members did you go? i´m guessing no. but you should have! I´m sure it was really good in english! lol

The comp is great. as latina as the get but i´m as gringa as they come so what do you do?

Love Hermana VandeMerwe

June 17

Gosh The time just flies! 

Sounds like you´ve had quite the week as well! Seriously crazy! What an amazing life you are living it´s really quite out of this world but hey- the scriptures say to live out of this world so way to liken the scriptures unto yourselves.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!!!! I sent a letter but it doesn´t sound like you got it. Hopefully this week. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! and you are the BEST DAD ever! You of all people I know seriously know how to Work Hard and Play Hard!!! I´m trying hard to be just like you! 

Brock! you are going to be a chef one day. I can´t beleive you just whipped up a great meal! The food here is so good and I want to learn how to make everything. I feel like it would take hours for all of these meals. But seriously I need to be more careful because I´ve gained a lot of weight already. I´m not joking. haha! sigh... It´s not that funny. Shoota. -- (Spanish for Shoot. Do you get extra credit for that)

transfers are every 6 weeks. Trainging is 3 months or 2 transfers so I´m in the same place with the same companion and the other two girls are the same to so not much of a change. but there´ll be new people in my zone and district. I´m doing great! There´s always something you can learn from different companions. and we are supposed to do interchanges every week. you switch companions with someone else in your zone for one night and work in their sector or they in yours. We´ve only done it once but I liked it! Everyone works a little differently and I like hearing new ways I can explain things in spanish. haha. 

Gosh. I never have the time I want. This next week is going to be full of miracles. Just you wait and see. I can´t wait to tell you all about it! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH SO  SO SO SO MUCH: I need a bigger font!

Happy Anniversary! 25 years down. Eternity to go.  

Hermana VandeMerwe

June 10

Hola! 

How is everyone doing?  Sounds like the perfect summer life back at home. How fun! I love summer and strawberries too! I had strawberries and cream yesterday. not fresh though still delicious. and I hate to break it to you but we don´t have much of that cafe rio stuff it´s usually carne y papas. always cooked different though. I´ve never had it the same. sometimes we have this speggetti type stuff... it´s not spegetti but it is. also we put mayo on seriously everything and I love it! it´s not that strange. there´s usually ketchup and mayo always on the table so it´s kindof like fry sauce. They just don´t mix it. I haven´t recieved any dear elders but I´ll let you know when I do. 

Hm so this week. Today we had our return and report meeting cause I´ve completed a month in the field! can you beleive it? I can´t. It went by WAY super fast and there are many things that I need to improve and it should not take this long to do it. Ay ay ay how the time flies. 

This week we worked on a lot of less actives and had a lot of them in church! big improvement! The problem is you need to continue to visit them all the time and call and it´s hard cause we have other investigators too. Infact. Our mission is changing things up a bit. Since we have so many missionaries there are sometimes 6 missionaries in one ward so we are initiating Operation Alma. Each companionship will focus on specific people. For example menos activos and incomplete families or references or recent converts. Pretty sweet. That would really be nice i think. We only have the two of us in our ward so it doesn´t effect us but I´m sure I will be affected by it in one of the many transfers. Really the ward should be helping us with menos activos and recent converts so if we can get them going that will be good too. We just called a bunch of ward missionaries yesterday so that will be a big help.

Thank you so much for all of the games. That´s going to be fun to look through and use!! THANK YOU! also thank you for your detailed letter! I like details especially since I don´t get many here. LOL. They always think i have too much emotion my companion is always telling me the things i say that they don´t say like ¨how exciting¨¨ or ¨That´s way cool¨¨ i asked what they say instead and she said nothing so... if i get home will no emotion... don´t worry i can´t be that boring. We need fun too! Work Hard Play Hard right dad?! 

 LOVE

June 3

HOLA MI FAMILIA!!!

Como estan? This week has gone by really fast. I can´t believe I´ve been here for a month! I still have lots to learn if I want to serve even more. There is always things we can be improving though. This week we had a ward activity for the married couples about eternal marriages. We didn´t do much for planning that but helped cooking and cleaning and during. We are planning a breakfast party thing for the ward soon too and I was thinking about doing sometime of banana split party for the ward with the articles of faith like we did in primary becuase we really need references from the memebers but we need the references to be prepared first so we are trying to help teach the members how to teach and fast and pray and do all these things before giving their names to us. Really it would be nice to have names at all but I think that that will be a good way to help them because everyone should know the articles of faith. Only problem is I don´t think they really know what a bannana split is. haha. we might have to  change the desert. crepes or something... I don´t know why i thought of that. they don´t have crepes either. Anyways We are always looking for ward activities and ideas for family home evening so please send them to me! or mom all of your object lessons in young womens would be perfect like the chocolate thing (not exactly perfect cause i don´t think they have dove but you get the idea) and also can you send me a list of just games like the one where you pick up the m&m and put it in a cup with a straw or... i don´t know games like that. That would be a great help! 

So... no baptisms. Yup satan is one strong nobody. We will keep working with Alejandro & Leila as well as our other investigators. We have a lot of new ones again this week. We´re really good at finding new investigators.... haha but we´ve reevalutaed our teaching and hope our numbers and effectiveness will go up this week. 

I bought rainboots today just plain black but they will be good for the swimming pools! 

Also I haven´t been to the office today so I don´t know if i received anything but we´re going after this and I hope I do cause I want to hear more from ALL of you! We have been printing out our letters since we don´t have that much time so if it´s easier just to send an email that is great too. 

I Seriously can´t beleive it´s summer there! SERIOUS! CRAZY for me to think about. Soak up those rays. I really wanted to bring smores for everyone on the beach the next time but the idea will not go in vain because I might use it for an indoor ward activity. don´t know where we´ll get the fire but i don´t know it´s a spark of an idea. I don´t think they know what they are... how sad.

I love you all so much! I´ll see you in a jiffy. mmmm.. jiffy muffins. dang it i don´t have an oven. Lol. maybee I could microwave it. first i´d have to find it... okay time for me to go!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

Hermana VandeMerwe