35th B-Day short BUT SWEET

35th B-Day 

short BUT SWEET

Hey everyone!!!


I have over 40 emails this week. Some just photos (Mom keep them coming). Other emails from friends and of course my family. I feel so loved. Thank-you all. I am so sorry if I have not had the opportunity to write you back; however, I promise I will read them tonight before I go to bed and soak in the love. My family is telling me to take the time to write back to you as they talk to me every week, so we'll see how many I can get back to. =)


Caitlin and Tiffany. I hear through the grape vine that it was your birthday!! Happy belated b-day!!


Isaiah 1:6 ---- a missionary's body... not joking.....
Deut 32:14 ---- I am thanking God for Chilean food from now on.


So we have a new goal in our companionship right now... inspired by President Wright and Hermana Leishman..... to talk to 20 people everyday. Or attempt to. Not just to say hello (as we always do), but to literally stop and try to talk with them. Then the count after how many listened, rejected, or accepted a time for us to come visit. We'll see how it goes!!!


I am going to get 2 cysts cut out of my arm and back this week. Doctor Johnson is going to do it. I am praying he as something to numb me up. hahaha. My companion is grossed out. She can't even think about it without shivering. Needless to say, she will not be in the same room as I think we will have another patient on our hands if she is. I will let you now how it goes. (Mom: they just kind of appeared all of the sudden and I know I have to get them out cause they're just getting bigger and bigger and are gonna scar something fierce if I don't do it now.)
 

Me eating a guilty pleasure (thanks to you Mom) peanut butter and apple. YUM.

We went to the temple with Graciella 

I have been studying a ton this week... about the Atonement of Christ and such. I am hoping to share some of it with you all after I write some emails.


So I wrote a book last week, but this week is a short one. I am hoping all is well at work, home, etc. Take care. Love you all.


MWAH

EXTRA PICTURES

We have me after popping popcorn in a pan for the first time. Didn't burn it Mom. You better be proud.

 Also on Valentines Day... Graciella (investigator from Spain) who gave us apples with hearts on them.

Anndddd... my agenda from this past week... completely blank (as it should not be) however this is the life of the nurse!!! not knowing when she's going to the office to chart.... =)

We have us eating heart shaped crepes for Valentines Day.

  We have Hermana Tingey being funny. Hahaha. (this is for her future days in the internet reading my blog... cause she's says she's going to... and she's going to run into her face... GOT CHA GIRL!)

 We have a banner that's hangin above my bed from Patti Riggs. "Pattern your life after Christ."

We have the moon with Costanera Center (big mall). Beautiful.

My new bag that I bought being that we cannot use backpacks anymore. I am waiting for it to turn black being th

34th B-Day RATS in the street... GROSS

34th B-Day RATS in the street... GROSS

Hey Family.


It's amazing to me how time flies and yet it's so so so slow sometimes. However, I know it is going by fast as I think of my happy month birthday is in 2 days and I will have 8 months in the mission. Almost half way through. Isn't that insane?!?!?


So this week. I don't even know. Good thing I make a list every week of what to write. I tell you what, I am getting old. I just know it. I have no brain capacity at all.


Soooooo... had an interesting experience this week... on the bus.... well you have to pay to get on the bus right? you do it with a card that you pre-pay and when you pass it by this box it takes money off and you've paid to ride the bus... well I did not have any $ (bip) to get on the bus and it was almost past our curfew so we didn't have any other option. So I get on the bus and ask "permiso" or permission to get on the bus... the bus driver just glares me down... I was like "sorry dude". Anyway... so we get walking further onto the bus and I realize there are two police officers standing right next to the door. Needless to say, I was praying as hard as I could and trying not to act like I was a criminal. Oooppss. I felt so terrible and frightened and everything. But all is well. I am not in jail. That's all that matters.



Mom, Hermana Diaz says she is sick and tired of hearing "well, my Mom taught me" or "my Mom says"... hahaha. Too bad so sad. I am my Mother (scary thought).


IT RAINED THIS WEEK!! MIRACLE. LITERALLY A MIRACLE!! I miss the rain so much. It's just dry, hot, sweating, and sticky here. I can't wait for it to change. But then once it changes I am sure I will want the heat back. =)

One is with... Sebastian... our missionary leader left for his mission this week. We will miss him so much. He literally was the best mission leader in the world. No doubts about it.

So there is a picture of us 4 with him at his setting apart to be a missionary. It was wonderful to see his face after and to know he was legit.... a missionary.

Another picture is with the cups. This is because his mother calls him "pollito" and us "chanchitas"... pollito is a chicken and chanchita is a pig. So she bought us these here cups. Hilarious. Apparently when we leave this sector we are taking them home with us. 

Oh ya!! The last picture is for Brandon. A dead rat inthe street. Gross huh? I started the extermination process. Just for you. Hahahaha. Oh ya and another one from Hermana Jennings. We ran into her in the bookstore this week. =) 

There was a guy who was laying in the street the other day. With a bike next to him and two motorcycles a little bit down further. I have no idea what happened, but he was laying flat out in the street with his helmet on. Well his knees were bent. We were on divisions for 24 hours so I wasn't with Hermana Diaz. I was with Hermana Maciel... and I said to her, "should I stop and help him? what should I do". We just decided to keep walking. Not long after we heard the ambulance and police sirens. Needless to say, this was a total nursing moment, but I did not know what to do. I am going to talk with President about this coming week. I need to know what he would like me to do. I do not have a license in Chile. I am not protected by the Good Samaritan Law like I am in the States. Etc. I will let you know what he says, but man I missed out!!!


We had Stake Conference this past week. Man is our Stake President powerful... or rather, isn't the Spirit of God powerful! Saturday night the message was entirely about missionary work and how the members need to assist us in this work because we cannot do it alone. He had all of us missionaries (26 of us in the stake) stand up on the stand with him and he said to the members "look at them! they are sacrificing their lives to make Chile a better place... how dare we not help them?" I cried. Literally cried. By the end of the conference the Elders had brought a box of Books of Mormon to give to all of them. 36 copies. They were gone in 5 minutes as the members took a copy to write their testimonies inside and give to someone. Then Sunday we had a conference from Utah. It was a closed circut broadcast only for Chile. Wow. There were two 70s who spoke, the second couselor in the general primary, and Elder Cook. It was also about missionary work and to get our butts moving. They talked about so many wonderful things like picking our friends wisely to the family to marriage... etc... But one of the things that stuck with me was the invitation to "go find the lost".... less actives... nonmembers... etc. Go share with them what you know. Go give them the hope that we have. They said there is no time to wait... our time will be up before we know it.. and we will have regrets for not sharing what we know to be true. I challenge each one of you members who read my blog to go ask the missionaries in your ward or branch for a Book of Mormon. Write your testimony inside. Then pray and fast for who you need to give it to. Then listen and act. Simple as that. We contact people in the street all day. I know you can do it! Go take a look at this website. Maybe it will give you some motivation! =)
http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/archive/worldwide-leadership-training/2013/06?lang=eng


Alright I have written a book. I will try to send some personal emails.

I love you all!! MWAH.

Brooklyn wants to clarify a comment from her last blog

About the cross that I mentioned last week. I feel the need to clarify (for the blog too Mom if you put it on there).

From a friend:
What you shared about the cross, made me go wow. I think that the cross is the most important part of our lives as Christians. If he didn't go to the cross then all of us would still be living in sin. I rejoice that he is alive, that the grave could not hold him. The cross is reminder that we no longer are headed for eternal damnation after this life. If the cross isn't important why do you have sacrament every week? Communion is there to remind us that his body was broken for us on the cross. The cross matters.



My Response:
I hope it wasn't in bad taste that I told you all that (about the electric chair). But for us, the cross isn't our focus. Yes, it was crucial. Without the cross he would have never died and hence never been resurrected. But, our focus is one that he lives... that he can perform miracles and that we can be resurrected because he was after 3 days... and two that his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane was his sacrifice for us. that is why we take the sacrament weekly... it was in the garden that he atoned for my sins, sicknesses, weaknesses, etc. I was not saying the cross wasn't necessary, because it was. I was saying that our focus isn't on the cross because there he released his body to Heavenly Father not atoned for our sins. 

Sorry if that wasn't clear or insensitive.

33rd B-Day This silly girl will never change! "I HOPE"

 33rd B-Day This silly girl will never change! 

"I HOPE"

WHAT A GOON!!

Hey Family,

So this week was.... really hot.... hahahaha. I am wearing sunscreen and still getting burnt. Imagine that. I could put it on nearly every hour and I think I would still feel like my skin was burning off.

I got an email from the office this past week letting us all know to tell our families to not send packages through FedEx or DHL as they are not getting to Chile. For some reason those companies expect extra payment upon deliver. Sooo. Don't send through anything other than the regular USA postal as you have been doing. I really like packages and I would rather them get to me than to see the FedEx or DHL people eat my chocolate and peanut butter. =)

Sooooo we got notice this week that we can no longer wear backpacks in the mission... as an official rule... Sooo chao to my backpack... good thing I didn't buy a camelback!! I have yet to find something that I can actually use that will not hurt my back. I am on the search though!!

For something for me to remember, this week Hermana Diaz decided she was going to talk to me in a Buenos Aires, Argentinan accent. It was horrible!!! It was for no longer than 10 minutes and after I had a headache. I hope I can talk to you guys in the different accents that they have in South America when I get home so you can understand how different the Spanish is. In Argentina, it is very up and down with your tone. Like in English it would sound like the person is fake... but anyway. She will never do that again because I seriously did have a headache after. SMH.

I ALMOST GOT TO PULL OUT STITCHES THIS WEEK!!! But then I didn't. I was so disappointed. It would have been my first nursing moment. Bummer.

Some kind of prayer wall near the Virgin Mary Statue

Celebrating Hermana Tingey's Birthday

Making empanadas with Hermana Diaz

So we talked about making habits of faith in church this week. Habits like scripture reading, prayer, family home evening, etc. It is so easy to have a habit to have our phone in our hand or pocket 24/7... so why is it so hard to do those religious things? Because we don't do them long enough to make them a habit and we do not have the desire to continue them. Let's make habits of faith!!!

9 Principles of Relationships
1. Faith
2. Prayer
3. Repentance
4. Forgiveness
5. Respect
6. Love
7. Compassion
8. Work
9. Clean Recreation

Let's take some time everyday to spend with our families! I read an article this past week asking that we all take an hour each day to turn all of our technology off (phone, TV, radio, computers, etc) and have some quality family time to play games, talk, take a walk, etc. WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!! Can you imagine how our families would grow together and have more love and unity? I challenge each one of you to start doing that.


D and C 19:23.... "Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me." Let's get us some peace... by following our Savior Jesus Christ.


I love you all! A lot. Like really a lot.
MEEEE!!!!

32nd B-Day of Hermana Talbot enjoying the summer fruit of the season!!

32nd B-Day of Hermana Talbot enjoying the summer fruit of the Chilean season!!

All of the fruit (just the fruit) we got from Hermana Pareja

Hey Family,


All is well here. We are trying to work hard. To find people to teach. To find people who will progress and will want to continue to listen to us after 1 conversation. We have a wonderful investigator right now named Graciella from Spain. She is living here for work so that she can send money back to her family in Spain. She is absolutely wonderful with a Spaniard accent and everything. =) We are so excited to teach her. We left her with a Book of Mormon last week and in 5 days she read over 100 pages. YA GRACIELLA! She came to church this Sunday and said it was long. Haha. I told her sometimes for me it seems like (shhh don't tell anyone), but when I actually am there to listen, learn, and improve myself... that's when I find enjoyment in being there every Sunday for 3 hours. I tell you what, though, she has some of the best questions I have ever heard before in my life. She makes me think about what I believe... she makes me study deep doctrine to find the answers to her questions. I absolutely love it.


Some of the questions Graciella has are this: (think about them)
1. If the Holy Spirit does not have a body, how can he be saved? (we know a part of our salvation is to come to earth, to be tried and tested, prove worthy to come back to the presence of God... salvation.)
2. Where are the 3 degrees of glory?
3. Does Satan and his followers have anything to do with the mental illnesses that people have?
4. Why the 10 tribes of Israel are important?
AND LOTS MORE....


That was the first miracle (finding someone to teach who wants to learn).


The second miracle was about 3 days long. We had a Sister in the Ward (Hermana Pareja) drop off a whole grocery store. Literally. Her trunk was full 3xs with food, toothpaste, drinks, etc. It was literally a miracle, as it is the end of the month and usually we do not have a lot of $ to spend. We have been eating so much fruit... I am so happy. She even dropped off cereal, guys. CEREAL! Miracle #2.


The third miracle.... I GOT MY PACKAGE ROSE.... AND 3 LETTERS! From Dad, Mom, and Beth. =) Thank-you so much you guys!!! I smiled all day Tuesday. I am hoping for more this week. =) Tomorrow! 3rd miracle.


Fourth. We realized this week, Hermana Diaz and I, that we do not have tempations to do bad things like we did at home. Now that's not to say we don't feel tempted to do bad things sometimes... to be disobedient to the rules of the mission... but the temptations of the world aren't nearly as bad nor strong. It's wonderful. We decided it is because we have removed ourselves from it. We do not watch TV. We do not listen to worldly music. We read the scriptures, pray, etc all day long. We go to church, no matter what, every Sunday. We try to serve with all of our hearts and souls to help other people physically and spiritually. I never quite realized it before... but it's the truth. The temptations to do those things against the commandments of God or what we know to be wrong are a lot less when we are doing the right things. When we are focused in feeling His spirit with us 24/7. Miracle #4.


Mom, I need a banana bread recipe. I have Chileans who are asking me for it. Love you.


So this is something we found very funny (maybe a little sacreligious...I dunno)... So in testimony meeting at church this week we had a lady get up and bear her testimony... well Graciella was sitting with us and asked Hermana Diaz why we did not have any crosses or statues of Christ in the chapel. So Hermana Diaz told her it is because we focus on the fact that Christ lives not that he died. Sooo then this member Hermana Gabor (convert many years ago) gets up to bear her testimony and she says "you know I had always never understood why the church members did not wear crosses as necklaces... until one day I realized it was just the way Christ died and nothing more... then I got thinking... you know, if Christ had died in an electric chair... would I wear a chair on my chest?" Hey Hermana Gabor may be right....


Here's one last thing before pictures. "Be a true friend. This kind of enduring friendship is like asphalt that fills the potholes of life and makes the journey smoother and more pleasant." Are you a good friend? Is there someone you need to call right now?

The Hermanas from Argentina got together to eat Milanesas (fried beef) with mashed potatoes (Milanesas is an Argentinan food).

Me, Hermana Fillerup (Wyoming), and Hermana Zelaya (Honduras)

The mountains... well as much as you can see of them. The air here is disgusting

Me and Hermana Adams (Utah)

Me with my package and letters!

The 4 of us exercising in the morning to a work out DVD that Hermana Wright (Mission President's wife) made for all of us

Mom thanks so much for doing my blog every week. I can't wait to read it when I get back.


I love you all!!
MWAH