Letter #47: November 26, 2012

Dear Fam Jam,

Ok I have to write in response again or else I’ll forget the questions....Sorry.  Sounds like Thanksgiving was fun for you guys!!!  Thanks for the pics!!  Everyone looks so happy!!  :)  Was Lyndsie with her dad for Thanksgiving?  Shoot! She will probably be on her mission next year....Thanksgiving was just a normal day here for me. Ha. Ha.  But that’s ok, a normal day means a day of fun and talking about the gospel with people and having people think that we are crazy and laughing way hard with my companion while walking the streets of Chile (which by the way are getting WAY hot)! Ha! Ha!  I’m a nerd.  

Yes, I did know that Brandon and Lindsy are living at home.  Way cool, fun, awesome, etc.!!  I’m jealous!!!  I have not received any packages yet.  The only package I’ve gotten since being here was the first one that I got a few months ago..... But thanks for thinking of me and sending stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My teeth are hanging in there! My one is getting crooked still. Ha! Ha! No worries though!!!! I’m perfectly fine waiting.  :)

The “elders” blogs:  The only one that I know was Elder Griffeths!!  He’s way cool!!! We are missionary friends.  :)  He’s from Lehi and we were in the same zone in Quillota for 3 transfers. He started his mission when I was in my 2nd transfer. Rachel, what every happened with my memory card? Did you get it figured out or save my pics?  Also, Rachel, sorry I’m taking forever on the letter for your young women.  Just wanted to let you know that I’m still working on it and I haven’t forgotten!!!

Ok, now onto the real letter part. :)  So the topic that has been on my head a lot lately is the topic of real life and marriage, etc.  Since my comp is still not 100% better from her operation, we have to head home early (I think the hot sun has been affecting her a little much since she still doesn’t have all her strength back), which leads us to talking about life.  I’ve learned some cool things that I would like to share with you.  

First, remember how I always said that I don’t think a missionary in the field is able to receive direct personal revelation for their personal lives?  Well, I re-tract this statement in term with certain conditions.  A missionary CAN receive personal revelation and direction for their lives, when they are not seeking it directly.  When a missionary is seeking only the will of God, God mysteriously in turn gives them the answers to things they will need in the future.  It’s weird and funny, but I have found it to be true.  The more I focus on being here in Chile, the missionary work, having the spirit with me, and seeking God’s will, the more answers and personal revelation I receive for my own life. The answers are conditional, of course, like all things, but I know that if I follow the promptings that I get, everything will work out as it should.  Interesting.

Now, on the topic of marriage... So a companionship is basically a marriage and the same principles apply to have a successful relationship in them both.  I want to share with you all a secret.... :) I have found out what the key is to having a great relationship with anyone... Spouse, brother, sister, friend, companion, etc..... That key is mutual sacrifice, forgiveness, and laughter. Sacrifice is the ultimate symbol of love and when two people are sacrificing for each other, the love that they have can grow.  Sacrifice permits feelings of gratitude to bloom and the pure love of Christ to be made manifest.  Along with sacrifice, forgiveness is always necessary.  We are ALL human and make mistakes.  Forgiveness is essential if happiness is the desired result.  On top of everything, don’t forget to laugh :)  I have yet to find a better medicine than laughter. Laughter heals wounds and helps us to enjoy the moments that we want to last forever. Laughing is good for the soul and brightens any cloudy day.  Also I believe that laughing together is one of God’s great tools that He uses to bond people.  Forgive, forget, keep moving forward, sacrifice, laugh, love, and grow. :)  I invite you all to apply these three simple principles to whatever relationship you have right now that may be struggling.  And if you don’t have a struggling relationship, apply it to your relationships anyway to achieve a deeper, richer, more meaningful and happier relationship than you have now.  I promise you that it works.  :)

Anyway, that’s all I have to say for today!!  I LOVE YOU ALL AND I HOPE ALL IS WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana Hermansen

P.S.  I had to give a 15-minute talk yesterday in sacrament about Joseph Smith.....IN Spanish.... Ha! Ha! It turned out not half bad.  :)

P.P.S. I have more pics to send next week. :)

Letter #46: November 19, 2012

Dear Family,

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!  Today’s purpose = answer your questions :)

Firstly, is Rachel doing ok now???  I sure hope so!!!!!  I finally got her little package!!  It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you soooooo much, Rach!!!  I LOVED it!!  Especially the pics.

Ok, let’s get to it then.....

I am in city Villa Alemana.  It’s more “suburby” and a lot nicer than where I was before.  It’s a little bit closer to Viña, but only by 30 minutes or so.  Viña is about 35-40 min away now by train.  All mail will always have the same address.  It goes to the mission home and from there they distribute it.  Always.  That’s why sometimes it takes forever for me to get things because the mission office keeps our junk just to spite us!  HaHaHa  JK!  There are 200 missionaries in this mission and in a couple months, we’re going to have 250 missionaries! My zone is called Villa Alemana Oeste and my ward is Villa Norte.  

The weather is spring, but some days are sooooo hot!  And we still have some rainy days, too. But apparently there is a hole in the o-zone directly over Chile and nothing else so the sun rays penetrate and you burn more easily here.  Summer gets super hot, so I hear.  Summer starts in December.  This is going to be a way weird Christmas!

My companion is Hermana Ramos from Peru and she has one year in the mission.  She is the older companion, but we don’t act like that.  We’re equals. :)  I sure am learning a lot from her!!!!  She’s an incredible person and missionary!!!  We’ve become best friends. :)  She’s finally recovered from her surgery and we are working at pretty much normal pace again!  I love when we work.  :)  Thanksgiving doesn’t exist here, but almost everyone is familiar with American holidays and so some (very few) people celebrate it.  Christmas is normal-ish, I believe, but hot weather. 

And now is time for my official opinion about the age change for missionaries..... HeHeHeh...:)

Firstly, I know with all my heart that it was inspired of God.  I know that there wouldn’t have been such a drastic change like this unless the apostles and prophet had not been fasting and praying to receive this specific revelation.  I also believe that is was the answer to MANY of the young women’s prayers.  The need for missionaries is always increasing and this change will fulfill the demand.  God knows how to get things done.

Secondly, I also know that there is opposition in all things and so with this change, there are also downsides.  One of the greatest downsides is that there will be many missionaries completely unprepared for what they will face and the missions in which they serve will face periods of complete and utter misery.  The need for missionary preparation now literally needs to start in primary.  I think, just because the young people CAN go earlier they will, and a lot of them will go into the mission not knowing or perhaps not understanding what they are getting themselves into......I know I sure didn’t understand completely and I don’t know what I would have done without the MTC experience that I had....

With increased number in missionaries, this means less space and less time spent in the MTC. Missionaries are going to need to enter the MTC pre-trained.  I heard a quote yesterday in sacrament meeting from our ward mission leader and he said, “There are many people serving missions, but few missionaries.”  After being in the mission for 8 months, I can tell you that this is 100% true.  It takes a lot to be a good missionary and what it takes comes from one’s personal desires and preparation to serve the Lord.  In concluding this opinion, I know that the Lord trusts His beloved sons and daughters to step up to the plate and that’s why He made this change. Because the Lord has put his trust in confidence in the young people of today, we can too, because we can ALWAYS trust in God. This change is one of the greatest blessings and miracles that God could have given to His children in this time.  And that’s what I think.

Well, I´m just about out of time.  I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!  So far in my life, this has been THE BEST decision that I’ve ever made!!!  No worries, Brandon, I know how lucky I am and I am enjoying EVERY second that I have here!! :)  I actually already feel nostalgic for Chile when I think about the day when I will have to come home... Ha! Ha! Ha!

Thank you for all your support and love!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

-Hermana Hermansen

P.S.  CONGRATS LYNDSIE-LOO for choosing to serve a mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You’ll NEVER regret it!!!!

P.P.S.  Keep the letters and packages coming. :)

P.P.P.S. Pics: One is what my area is like now and the other is with my companion in the hospital before her operation.  Enjoy!

P.P.P.P.S. Happy Thanksgiving!!! (To be honest, I totally forgot about Thanksgiving..... Ha! Ha! Enjoy St. George!)

P.P.P.P.P.S.  I love you.

Letter #45: November 12, 2012

Dear Family,

We don’t have time to write today because we have a district activity in 20 minutes and we just got here to the internet place.... So really, I just wanted to say “Hey” and let you know that I’m doing great and I’m living by the Spirit.  We didn’t really leave the house this past week to work, but my companion is doing a lot better.

I LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH!!!

I hope that you are all doing well! I pray for you all every night and sincerely hope that you are all happy.  Don’t forget me now that I’ve been gone 8 months... can’t believe I’m almost halfway done....

Anyway..... I shall bid you farewell for now!

Farewell. 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Hermana Hermansen

Letter #44: November 5, 2012

Dear Family,

First, let’s clear up a small error from my last letter.... The scripture “If ye love me keep my commandments” was written by John, NOT Matthew... Ha! Ha! Ha!  Sorry about that.  The direct scripture reference is John 14:15...or perhaps 15:14... I blame getting the name wrong on the fact that all the names in Spanish are different.... Hopefully Rachel caught on and fixed it before publishing that letter to my blog for the world to see and making me look like an idiot... but if not, oh well, we all make mistakes!

Anyway, let’s move on with things..... So my companion had to have surgery last week.... She had a gallstone of 14 mm and so they took out her gallbladder.  She’s been having problems for the past couple weeks and we spent some time in the emergency room last week and I was going to write you about it last week, but I ran out of time... But now you know.  She had surgery on Halloween, so this night as all of you were having fun, eating candy and thinking about me preaching the gospel, I was actually spending the night in the hospital with nothing but the clothes that I had on, being woken up every 15 minutes due to my frantic, drugged companion.... Ha! Ha!  It was one of the longest nights of my life....

Hermana Ramos has never had surgery before or ever been seriously ill and she was freaking out and crying all night long.... Oh man, I love that girl. :)  We’ve pretty much been in the house ever since.  She can’t walk very much, so I am actually writing you from the house of our mamita. (Mamita— the lady who does our laundry.  BUT, our mamita just happens to live directly behind us and therefore is a little more than just a mamita.) She is always at our house and she feeds us and helps us with everything that we need.  She’s great! Also, she is absolutely crazy! Hahaha!! I love her.  She has a personality that is super loud and kind of obnoxious and she’s always making inappropriate jokes and laughs super hard.  For example— (side note first: earthquakes are very common here.  I’ve probably felt at least 20-30 upon arriving. They are super small and everything just shakes for a bit and they usually happen in the night.)  So, there were like 3 earthquakes last week and they were all during the night.  The mamita was in our house one morning so I asked if she felt the earthquake and her response was along the lines of “I didn’t notice because it’s always earth-quaking in the night with my husband.... Hahaha…..gross.... :)

Anyway, all is well with me.  My health is doing well!  I’ve just been taking care of my companion and we’ve been watching a lot of church/mission approved videos during the past couple of days.  I don’t know for how much longer we will have to stay in, but I am looking forward for the day when things get back to normal.  Nothing is as satisfying as doing the Lord’s work and being out in the street talking to people, no matter how tiring it is.

Yesterday, we went to a different ward because it’s closer to our house and my companion wanted to bear her testimony... this meant that I had to bear my testimony, too.  Ha!  As I was sitting there, I had no idea what to say, but I went up anyway.  As I started talking, the words just started coming.  I bore testimony about repentance and living the basic principles of the gospel. It was short, but I know that it was inspired of God.  I can always tell when I’m speaking by the spirit because I don’t have to think about Spanish grammar; the words and sentences just flow. As I sat down the scripture that Bishop Reams told me at my farewell came to mind... “Oh that I were an angel and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth with the trump of God and cry repentance unto every people!” -Alma 29:1 (I’m not sure if I quoted that right because it was purely from memory, but you get my drift).  

Sometimes, I get feeling like my mission is completely changing the course of my life.  Not that I was headed in the wrong direction before, just that certain things, perspectives, and out-looks have been cleared up, strengthened, and bettered.  It’s weird but at the same time, it’s incredibly cool.  The workings of the Lord and the Spirit are extremely detailed.  Those are two of my favorite things to learn about, 1- The Savior and 2- How the Spirit works in and through me.

Well, upon finishing up this e-mail, I want to leave you with my testimony that God is involved in the details of our lives. That He loves us more than we can even understand and no matter is too small to talk to the Lord about.  He is waiting for us, ready to listen, ready to respond.  The Savior loves us.  That is why He died for us, so that we can bring our burdens to Him and He will make them light.  I love the Savior with all my heart and I want nothing more than to be His servant, be His disciple and do the things that He would have me do.  These things I share in His sacred name. Amen.

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

-Hermana Hermansen