Thursday, March 28, 2013

Letter #62: March 26, 2013


Hey Fam n´ Friends,

(Ha.  Sorry, I was trying to think of a funny way to start this, but there are only so many options left that I haven’t used...  Anyway...)

So, it seems like there a lot of questions to answer, so I will try and get those answered....  

Sorry, I’m bad a describing Chile and the work and people and stuff.  It’s just that everything seems so normal now and I’m always explaining the progress of our investigators and people we are working with, daily with my companion, with our Elder leaders, with the Bishop, with the ward mission leader, and members even, so when it’s time to write you guys, I forget to because it’s like “free time”.  Also, the progress and people are always changing so that gets complicated too....

Anyway... I’ll answer questions now and see what I can describe about Chile and such... Yes, I am still planning on coming home in September.  September 24th is my official finish date, more information to follow (what time and date exactly) as the time is nearer (like a few weeks before that date).  Yes, I am 2/3 (The number of how many of the people chose to follow Christ and come to earth!) of the way through with my mission.  (What? I’m a missionary, I have to make gospel connections in all that I do...) Crazy!  Never thought the day would come.  

I have only been in 2 different places.  There are like 13-14 zones and within each zone 3-4 districts.  Zones are usually stakes.  Districts are just a group of 3-4 pairs of missionaries in the same zone or stake.  Every pair of missionaries is designed to work in a specific ward.  So I’ve only been in 2 areas/zones/cities/stakes/wards.  (My first area = Quillota (name of city, zone, and stake), Ward= Troncal 1.  My second area = Villa Alemana (city name, but there are two zones here so my zone´s name is Villa Alemana Oeste or Huanhuali (what the stake is called), Ward= Villa Norte.)  Make sense?  It is possible that I will get to serve in Viña, Viña, but honestly, I have no idea.  I will probably only be in one more area, but once again, I have no idea. There are certain assigned areas where sisters can serve, so the options are more limited for sisters than for the elders.

I also have no idea what they are going to do with all the sisters since there are about 20 companionships of sisters in the mission and 23 new sisters are arriving the next transfer and then 25 new sisters are arriving the transfer after that.  I do still live in the same pension that I lived in with Hermana Ramos.  It’s really little, but sufficient.  :)  I’ll try and send pictures sometime.  

Weeks been going good!  We have a Zone Conference yesterday with the Mission President, so that’s why I didn’t write and why we are having our P-day today.  I am loving my companion right now!!  It’s just such a stress relief to not have culture differences in our relationship... For example, we don’t have to always be hugging and touching and it doesn’t offend either one of us :)

Anyway, I found that secret letter that dad put in my b-day package.  Good one, dad!  Ha! Ha!  It actually did make me laugh quite hard.... He asked about what we do on p-days and about the culture and country and members.

Well p-days are basically just like any other day... We wake up and exercise and study.  Then we come to the internet place.  Then we buy groceries.  Then we go back to the pension and clean or nap or write letters or do whatever (I usually make cookies to give to members & investigators, we have an oven, which is not come among the pensions so I’m taking advantage of being able to make other cookies besides no bakes). Then at 6 PM, we leave and do missionary work the rest of the night. They always go by way to fast and we never get everything done that we want to.

Our Mission President is pretty strict with activities, so we hardly ever have them... And when we do have permission to have them, we aren’t allowed to leave our area.... In the beginning of my mission with our other president, we did go to the beach once with my district.  It was cool!  I have seen the beach and the mountains.  The beach can be seen when we are in Viña and we can always see mountains.  It actually reminds me of Utah a lot in that aspect.  The mountains are of similar shape and size.  I don’t really know what to say specifically about the country or the people... Could you be more specific with those questions?

The people here are ridiculously lazy and laid back!!  The stores close every day from like noonish to 3 or 4 for lunch and they open late and stay up late.  Being on time is pretty much non-existent here....

Yeah i need more specific questions about the people and culture.... Let’s see, investigators..... We have 4 with baptismal dates for right now... They accepted them all pretty much within the last week or two.  If God provides a miracle, then we will be having a baptism this Sunday!!! That would be awesome!  His name is Jean and he pretty much used to be an atheist.   His heart has changed drastically in the past 2 weeks!!  It’s incredible to see the Lord working in him. You guys could pray for him if you want. :)  My companion and I are going to fast today for another investigator to help him quite smoking.  His baptismal date is May 4th.  He was smoking 20 cigarettes per day, but now he’s down to 10.  So he’s doing pretty good! (side note: SOOOO many people smoke here!!!! Worse than Las Vegas...pretty much everyone breaks the law of chastity too... so many young and single mothers and people cheating on other people or living together... nasty.)  

Anyway, that’s all I have time for!!! LOVE YOU ALL LOTS!!! Thanks for thinking about me and writing me and loving me!!!! Until next week!

-Hermana Hermansen 

P.S. Any news from Lyndsie???  Her pic was way cute!!

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