Patti Riggs this is for you

Hermana Talbot and Runnells eating cookies Patti sent in her Christmas package!!!

27th B-Day Christmas in Santiago, Chile

27th B-Day 

Christmas in Santiago, Chile

This message is from Hermana Talbot:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! 

I hope we remember the reason for this holiday. It doesn't matter what presents you get... it's what you give to others that really counts... 

Now what gifts have we given Christ this year for His birthday? 

26th B-Day 3 days shy of the 6 month mark....

26th B-Day 3 days shy of the 6 month mark....

A new companion for Hermana Talbot

Hey family.


I love you. I miss you. I will get to talk to you all soon!!


So I think this past week was one of the longest of my life. I am not 100% sure why, but I think part of it was all of the changes that I knew were going to happen with Hermana Rivera leaving to go home to Honduras and such. So we went to her Despedida on Sunday night for people to come say goodbye to her and take pictures.... then after she went to go sleep at President Wright's house because her plane left at 6AM this morning. It was sad to see her go, but I am ready to get working to start changing and learning from my new companion Hermana Diaz from Argentina. 

We had a little bit of a Christmas together before Hermana Rivera left this past week. And it was a good thing we did it because Hermana Jennings and Hermana Runnells also left. So in our ward is me, my companion Hermana Diaz (previously in the ward but in a different sector), Hermana Leishman, and Hermana Leishman is going to get a new Hermana straight from the MTC. =) 

So this weekend in Chile there was a concert at the Santiago Temple. I guess it is a yearly tradition and it's amazingly wonderful. There is A LOT of work that goes into it. The music and dancing is very well done. Elder David Archuleta sang this year and I have some videos for Tiffany (haha). It was a wonderful experience for us as we brought someone who is less active in the church and his fiance who we are teaching right now. I hope they were able to feel of the spirit as we were there. 

I was thinking this week about Christmas and the real meaning of this celebration that we all have. I got wondering what would happen if everyone stopped giving gifts to eachother... would we remember our Savior a little bit more... I loved the invitation of the 1st Presidency of the Church in this December's Liahona... for every member to gift a Book of Mormon with their testimony written on the inside to one person before Christmas. I hope we all took them up on this invitation and have done it... if not... go do it! The missionaries always have copies of the Book of Mormon!


I can't wait to talk to you all on Christmas Day or Eve. It is going to be slightly weird to see you all again and to talk. I am hoping I don't have an accent!!! Don't make fun of me too badly.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

25th B-Day "Christmas in Santiago, Chile" ¿¿¡¡What up y'all!!??

25th B-Day "Christmas in Santiago, Chile"

¿¿¡¡What up y'all!!??

I cannot believe that by this time next week I will have a new companion. I am scared half to death, but know that it's coming so I can at least prepare myself for it. I do not know if I will be training someone new or not... I guess we will see. We packed Hermana Rivera's stuff up this morning and were weighing her bags and such. It was quite a process. I am so thankful for my time with her. I have learned soooo much and she was a wonderful trainer with my Spanish and teaching the gospel in lessons!!! I will miss her.

Our zone Las Condes... we are amazing. 

I GOT MY PACKAGES!!! 2 of them the same week!!! 

It was like Christmas! =) Literally. I haven't been so excited before in my life to open a present. Mom, I have been eating the peanut butter in the streets with my finger. Hey I couldn't help it!! Dad and bros, the flag is on my wall and everyone is so jealous! You all couldn't have sent me anything better than what you did!!!! 

 Me and Hermana Agle. =) 

I think when I get home I am going to look into Nurses/Doctors Without Boarders. Yaaaa. This girl's gonna do some work in Africa.


I miss the rain!!!!! I realized yesterday that I miss rain! I want it to rain so badly here so I can just get soaked! But I hear in the winter that it rains all of the time. =)


Funny slash terrible story. So last night around 1130pm I am laying in my bed. (Side note: we all know I have problems with sleeping....sooo... my bed is on the floor because I have found I sleep better on the floor because it's not as hot.) .... so laying in bed going to sleep and I hear Hermana Jennings just screaming... screaming... screaming my name HERMANA TALBOT and she's freaking out... then I hear laughing, so I figure everything is fine and I can just sleep... WRONG. The screaming continues... so I get out of my bed and the first thing my feet feel is water... lots of water... I run out of our room to the bathroom and one of the pipes burst under our sink... there is water EVERYWHERE... it's just spraying out of the bottom of the sink. And what are the rest of the Hermana's doing... they're videoing it and running around in a panic. (I just shook my head.) They're like "what do we do? what do we do?"... um, you turn the water off to the sink???!!! Hahahahahaha. So I turn the water off to the sink... then start telling them that we have to get towels to get the water off of our wood floor... oh my goodness it was craziness. THEN the conserje comes up to the apartment because Hermana Jennings called him and he comes and turns the water off to the entire apartment. Needless to say, I was like WHAT?!?!. We needed the washer, showers, toilets, etc. So I just went to bed... made them turn the water back on this morning... and we are waiting for them to come fix the hose under our sink (hopefully today)... Ya it was HORRIBLE. My bed and sheets and everything were so wet. *Memories of being the Mom, Plumber, Maid, etc. =)*

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, and a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past....we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one thing we have, and that is our attitude....I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. *I am working on this*


The 4 most un-used but most important phrases in the world: I'm sorry. Forgive me. Thank-you. I love you. USE THEM!!


I love you all so much. I will see you soon! It's almost my 6th month mark. 

Stop counting down (family).

LOVE LOVE LOVE

24th B-Day "One Week Closer to the 6 Month Mark!"

24th B-Day and....

One Week Closer to the 6 Month Mark!!!

Hey

I think today is my laziest day ever. I just sat all morning and did nothing. Literally nothing. Didn't sleep. Didn't eat. Didn't talk. Didn't read. Nothing. I didn't sleep well last night because it was really hot on the top bunk, sooo I put my blanket and pillows on the floor and slept for about 2 hours with the fan on my face. Good thing it's P-day and I can sleep later today. =)

This week's photos... 

me eating banana bread

mmmm M&M's

 my wall currently with all of your faces!

me holding a sewing needle that I used in a surgery with Hermana Rivera's ear [yes she was as scared as she looks as she's buried herself in my shoulder]It's Hermana Rivera's last week before she goes home and I get a new companion! I'm freaking out just a little bit. 

 bird pooped on me

Okay, so the bird that pooped on me. We were just walkin' down the street. Talking. Walking. Then I felt something wet on my head and arm.... I just looked at Hermana Rivera. Needless to say I had poop on my WHITE SHIRT for the whole afternoon... 2 spots on front... on my nametag... on my back... on my backpack... GROSS!!!

I drank "cherimoya juice" this week  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherimoya It was delicious. Honestly do not know what it is in English or if it exists there at home, but it was good none-the-less.

Our investigators are doing well. Our recent convert, Elvira, is moving back to Paraguay with her family. We will miss them A LOT, but have hopes they will return. Violeta (eternal investigator) is doing well too. She has a baptismal date the 5th of January because she will not get baptized in 2013 because she has a superstition with the #13. 

We talked about Christmas yesterday in Relief Society and what gifts we can give this month to remember our Savior and what gifts we can give him. There was a list of some really good ideas. (1) the gift of time, (2) the gift of being a good example, (3) the gift of acceptance, (4) the gift of seeing the best in people, (5) the gift of quitting a bad habit, (6) the gift of privacy, (7) the gift of teaching, (8) the gift of listening, (9) the gift of being grateful, (10) the gift of forgiveness, (11) the gift of letting others give to you.

I challenge each one of you to pick at least one gift to give to the Savior for the celebration of His birthday this month. I know it will make this month a brighter, happier month if you do so.

I found these wonderful quotes this week in my reading and thought they were absolutely profound.

"Dare to be a Mormon.

Dare to stand alone.

Dare to have a purpose firm.

Dare to make it known."

"The sun never sets on righteous missionaries testifying of the Savior."

"When the time for decision arrives, the time for preparation is past."

Have a wonderful week. Ponder about life a little this week. Are you doing all you can to build the kingdom of God and your own testimony of Him? Can you be doing more to prepare yourself for that day when you will see your Savior face to face?

I love you all!!! A LOT.