Hoy es Lunes

This week was a bit of a slow one.. but some super good things happened too!

A ver.. we contacted a reference that we received from the Zone Leaders and had a lesson with him last Wednesday. We talked with him for a really long time about a lot of different things and were able to teach him The Restoration as well. He had a lot of questions and basically wanted to know what he needed to do to become a member of the church.. so that's pretty awesome! He'd like to meet with the bishop so we are going to try to set up a lesson with the bishop sometime this week! 

We also found another woman knocking doors and singing hymns. When I asked if we could sing a hymn for her and her family she looked at me like I was crazy, but we explained why we wanted to share the hymn and were able to enter her home and get to know her. She has A LOT of questions about religion in general, but is looking to find the truth. She told us that she's really analytical which was super evident, but we have another lesson with her scheduled for Thursday and we're hoping to be able to teach her and help answer her questions. 

V came to church again on Sunday so that was super awesome! She really likes to run right after sacrament meeting though! Hermana Levrino was directing the hymns again and I turned my head for two seconds only to turn back around and hear her say, "choa mamita, hasta miércoles!" ..uh yeah, okay.. "choa! nos vemos miércoles!" I really tried to get her to stay, but she's a sneaky one.

Sunday afternoon was the baptism of the bishop's older daughter. It was so special and the spirit was so strong!! I don't know what it is, but I don't know that I'll ever be able to attend a baptism without shedding a tear or two. Some kids from the primary sang "I'm trying to be like Jesus" and it was just too cute! lloré un poquito.. and my companion thought I was losing it. I think it's because it's still such a recent memory for me.. I don't know I'm trying to justify the uncontrollable tears. 

Other than that.. a stray dog followed us for a good 30 minutes today. He even followed us into a few stores.. or waited for us outside and then continued to follow. I was really trying to be patient, but he was really starting to get on my nerves. So I was humming "I'm trying to be like Jesus" and resisting the urge to kick him, que horrible! 

I hope that you all had an amazing week! Que tengan una semana maravillosa!! Love you all SOoOOoOo much! 

besitos!!

Hermana Sessions

(here's an ugly photo of my super fun tan lines.. just for kicks! enjoy!)

Blueberries ...

this week...

We had a lesson with our investigator V. She is 80-something years old and is too cute! She really is super great, and she even came to sacrament meeting this week! Hermana Levrino was directing the hymns during sacrament (something I really can't do.. haha) and I sat with V near the back of the chapel. WOOT WOOT! Lessons with her are always really spiritual.. but we have to be patient with her until she feels that she's received her answer, knows that it's true, and understands the importance of baptism. I know that it'll all come together.. the Lord's timing is always perfect! ..even when it might not seem that way at first.

We've also received a few really interesting references with a lot of potential! So we're super excited to see where things go with that!  Other than that, I have been eating SOOOOOOO many arándanos (blueberries)! Seriously I love them so much! I eat them for breakfast pretty much every day, and on top of that our mamita has been serving them for dessert, so basically I'm just waiting to turn blue and blow up like a balloon like Violet in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I really think that there's a high possibility.

I think that's really all that I have for you guys this week. SUUUUPER fome, I know! ..but I'm out of time and my companion wants to get her haircut before our p-day ends!

I hope all is well back in gringolandia!! Please remember how much I love you all and most importantly that Heavenly Father loves you ..EVEN MORE! ..I know, right? He is always there for you, and is waiting to hear from you everyday, don't forget to tell him what's up. He's there to help you always.. and "He's your biggest cheerleader" -Hermana Ruiz!

besitos!

Hermana Sessions

Thursday marks 6 months.. COMO!?!

I cannot believe that I have almost been gone for 6 months.. then again, in some ways it feels like it's been years.. but most of the time it feels like I just left! It's super weird to think that I am almost a third of the way through my mission. Time flies! I still feel so young on the mission.. and I still have so much to learn and SO MUCH room for improvement! I still really need to learn how to speak Spanish well too! Luckily I have a Latina companion! woot woot! Anyway, it's super crazy, I really can't believe it. I have a year to work my butt off. 

So my glasses have been really loose for a while. In Valdivia, every time I tried to take them somewhere to get them tightened the people would always tell me that they don't fix glasses unless I were to buy a pair from them. Well the other day my companion took me into an eyeglasses shop in centro and I was doubting that they would fix them and had kind of a bummer attitude about it, and what do you know the lady took my glasses, tightened them up, fixed my frames and handed them back.. free of charge! I was so happy I could hardly see straight! I still need to write that lady a letter and buy her some chocolate or something because I really didn't have faith that she would fix them, and she just did it like it was nothing! It was such a good day haha! 

We had intercambios on Wednesday and I spent the day in our sector with Hermana Parkison, who I met in Valdivia! She is just sooo great and I had a lot of fun with her, and learned a lot from her example! She's gringa too, from utah but she has a bit more time on the mission, so it was really neat to have her share experiences with me and to feel a little better about where I'm at with my Spanish right now and all of that. Love her!!

Then on Friday we went to Puerto Montt so I could see someone about getting inserts made for my super lame rabbit feet. Puerto Montt is 3 hours south of La Union so it was a day full of traveling.. a total of six hours. Anywho.. the bus ride there was super interesting. Trunkiest bus ride possible, I'm certain. They had 80's love songs playing the entire time, it was just too much! The best was that we were on the phone with our Zone Leaders.. and they were like, "uh, hermanas.. where are you??" haha! Oh my goodness it was too trunky. I've only been out six months.

What else.. I feel like so much has happened, but I'm having a hard time remembering this past week. It has been a super long week. We passed by for an older man in our ward who is less active. I wasn't feeling super great that day so I was leaning against a post by his front door trying to understand what was going on, but basically he was mad that we couldn't enter his house because he lives alone, and it's a mission rule that we can't enter without a woman. He was just upset about a lot of different things and we tried to reason with him and solve his problems, but he wasn't really having it. After about 40 minutes of talking to him outside of his house and having him tell us that he'd prefer that we don't come by to visit him we finally asked if we could at least leave him with a prayer. He agreed, and we offered a prayer and suddenly we all felt a lot more peaceful. We said goodbye and told him if he really doesn't want us to visit that we'll respect that, and he totally had a change of heart and asked us to come by. We are now going to find hermanas in the ward that are willing to come to citas with us on Tuesday nights so we can teach him. For me it was a huge testimony builder of the power of prayer. It wasn't until then that I could feel the Spirit working through us and he was calm and cared to listen to us. Next time we'll be sure to start with a prayer even if we're outside on the doorstep.. but really!

Oh the mission.. I'm out of time, but I love you all so much! Tengan una semana muy buena por favor!! 

besitos!

Hermana Sessions

LA UNION ...

Well.. here I am in La Union! I actually have loved it here so far. It is really pretty here, even though everyone I talk to here says that Valdivia is prettier.. and in some areas, maybe it is, but I really think it's beautiful here. I definitely don't know my way around yet, but hopefully that will come soon. The capilla (uh church building) here is really nice too, and the ward is AWESOME! The bishop is super young and has a cute little family. Two daughters, the oldest is 7, and his wife is expecting again.. I believe a boy this time around. The members here are super awesome.

We have a little house here. It's super chiquitito, but really cute. This seems really big to me right now, but I honestly can't tell if it's bigger than my last or not because I'm so unfamiliar with it all. We have a mamita that feeds us every day except for Mondays and Sundays so hopefully I don't gain even more weight here.. but I guess I can't do much about it if I want to eat. My companion’s birthday was the 11th and we had GIANT hamburgers and she was planning on us eating two. Seriously it was bigger than my face! I ate one.. and then thought I might die.

My companion, Hermana Levrino, is super sweet! She's from Argentina and her parents served as mission presidents there a few years back. She just turned 20 on the 11th.. has two brothers who are 18 (I'm pretty sure they're twins), a younger sister (not quite sure how old she is), and a little brother who's 11. She made me cupcakes and decorated the wall above my bed for me when I first got here! She is so cute! She doesn't have quite the accent from Argentina though.. and it's a tad bit difficult for me. I need to really learn the language though, so hopefully this will be super good for me!

I feel like I stick out even more here than I did in my last sector. Maybe it was because my other companions spoke English, I can't be sure, but I really feel like an alien, haha. Our ward mission leader has three daughters and the youngest is probably like 6, if I had to guess, and when I first met her she was immediately obsessed with my hair, haha! Every time I've seen her since then she always says something along the lines of, "hi, prettiest hermana" haha! She's too cute and I just have to laugh!

Oh my goodness.. funny story kind of. The other night we had correlation with our ward mission leader where we talk about the people we're teaching and how the ward can help. Anyway it ended late and we had to take a collectivo to get home before 10:00, which is 30 minutes after we're supposed to be home, but we have until 10:00 if we're teaching a lesson or in a meeting.. like correlation. Anyway we finally flagged down a collectivo and it was kind of sketchy, but we had to get home so yeah. There were these weird blue lights inside and the driver and I think his friend.. who was trying to take selfies of us the entire way to our house. Then when we got there we had them drop us off a couple houses away so they didn't know where we lived and we felt a lot of relief. Then just as we got to our house Hermana Isom called and wanted to talk to me about my feet and caulquier problema that I have haha.. so I'm talking to her in English, meanwhile my companion realizes she doesn't have the keys and is freaking out and speaking Spanish, but my brain can't handle both, so I'm trying to keep calm so Hermana Isom isn't worried.. and luckily the collective happened to pick someone up and pass us heading the opposite direction so that my companion could flag him down and get the keys.. and somehow we made it inside before 10:00, but I just have to laugh. My brain definitely doesn't process both languages at one, and poor Hermama Isom was trying to check up on me and I wasn't even giving her my full attention. YAPO. 

I was surprisingly really sad to leave Valdivia and to leave my sector. I was really sad to leave Cata because she is just SO special and I want the absolute best for her! I know that Heavenly Father has been preparing her to be baptized and make the decision to follow Jesus Christ! But, I'm super excited to be here in La Union. I'm excited to find people to teach and to work with the members here because they are amazing! I love that the gospel is always applicable in every situation. I love that we can be talking to someone about caulquier cosa (something random) and somehow we are able to relate it to the gospel. I love being a missionary and I love sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the people here in Chile! I'm excited to work hard here to be able to find the people that are being prepared to receive the gospel here in this sector! Being a missionary is something so special, but we are all here on earth to spread the gospel.. we are all missionaries here to aid in the Lord's work. So just do it! Share at every opportunity and try not to be timid like me, haha! 

Love you all so much!!!

besitos,

Hermana Sessions

Choa Valdivia!

So this week has been mas o menos uneventful, but.. I do at least have one pretty funny story for you all! On Tuesday we were knocking doors (shocker right?) and an older lady answered the door and immediately asked if we were from the US.. we told her yes and she basically went off about how racist we are without even letting us get a word in and then finally just said, "UGH.. NO. No, no, no.. and went to slam the door- I was all stoked because it would have been my first door slam, except for she kind of ruined it because little did she know there was a little piece of wood acting as a door stop and it took her a solid minute to actually shut the door while we just stood there smiling. I was not impressed. haha!

Anyway! Big news! I'm leaving Val-lluvia!! ..but I'm not going very far. I'm going to an area just outside of Osorno called La Union and I'm going to be companions with Hermana Levrino from Argentina!! I'm stoked, but I'm going to be forced to speak Spanish all the time, so wish me luck! I know it will be super good for me though and is going to help me learn the language so much better than I could on my own, or with a gringa comp. Surprisingly I'm actually really sad to be leaving my sector.. Angachilla II has been good to me. BUT I'm SOoOoo excited for my first cambio! woot woot!

I don't have any pictures from this week, but I'll be sure to send some pictures of my new companion and sector next week! This week I have just felt overwhelmingly grateful to know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each and every one of us, and that He really knows what He's doing. He always knows best. So trust in Him. 

I love you all and hope you had an amazing week! 

hugs,

Hermana Sessions

Puerto Montt and Elder Stevenson!! Can't get much better..

Well hello!

SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED THIS WEEK.. BUT ENSERIO.

The work was kind of slow this week because well, it's summer here. Southern Chile is full of tourists and most people are gone on vacation.. The youth in our ward just got back from PFJ (EFY) ..all of which is so strange to me because, well it's January. Anyway, this past week every single one of our citas fell and we finished with a total of 5 whole lessons. woot woot! But, then I remembered we traveled to Puerto Montt Thursday afternoon and didn't get back until we had to be home on Friday night anyway. 

On Wednesday there was a Worldwide Missionary Broadcast and a lot of changes were made. We used to have a total of 9 key indicators that we would report each week to our district leader, who would report them to the zone leaders, who reported them to the AP's.. until eventually they were reported to Church Headquarters.. well now we only have four: Baptisms, Investigators with a baptismal date, Investigators in Sacrament meeting, and New Investigators. It's quite the change, but I really like it. I think a lot of missionaries stress over numbers, even though it's not about the numbers. I think these key indicators help us all focus more on the people we're teaching. There was also a pretty big change in our schedule as missionaries. We now have a lot more freedom to choose when we do things during the day. We plan for our day in the morning now, rather than at night, and we have to do an hour of personal study before we start proselyting. Other than that we get to choose when we do companion study and language study during the day, and if we study for a full hour or only thirty minutes. AND on p-days we only have to do a half hour of personal study before we're free to start our day! It has made all the difference today so far!

So Valdivians always say that Puerto Montt is so ugly and that Valdivia is WAY prettier and so much better, and well I think they've been lying to me! Puerto Montt is so gorgeous!! On Thursday afternoon we had to be to the terminal by 4:30. The bus left at 5:00 and we had a three and a half hour bus ride to Puerto Montt. When we finally got there Hermana Heath and Hermana Carter picked us up because the four Angachillan hermanas spent the night with them. Before we went back to their apartment we stopped by the store to grab something to eat for dinner and something for breakfast in the morning. That night I split a cardboard pizza with Hermana Bailey and I seriously regretted it. Hermana Bailey curled my hair for me after I showered that night, and it's probably the first and the last time I'll ever curl it on the mission, but it was super nice of her and it looked cute, haha!

The next morning we had to be to the Stake Center in Valdivia at like 9:30 in the morning to be ready for Elder Stevenson. We all got seated in the chapel and President talked to us for a little bit before he showed up. When he got there we each had the opportunity to shake his hand and his wife's hand. He shook our hands and read our names as we filed through, but unfortunately my hair was covering my name as per usual, so it was a little bit awkward.. but really it only meant I got to shake his had for a little bit longer while he tried to figure it out.. so I think in the long run, it was a blessing. 

We got to hear from Elder Packer (the son of Elder Packer) and his wife, Sister Stevenson, and Elder Stevenson. It was such an amazing conference and was truly so special to hear an Apostle address us as a mission. It was also really amazing to know that he and his wife are still human, even though the Spirit testified strongly of his power and authority. He closed with his testimony, which was incredible! The Spirit was so strong and you couldn't possibly doubt that he was called of God. 

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints is the true church on the earth today. I know that it is the exact same church that Jesus Christ established when he was here on earth. I testify that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and I know with all my heart that President Thomas S. Monson is a living prophet, that he receives revelation from Heavenly Father to guide us, as do his apostles. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He and Heavenly Father love us so much, and for that reason we have been blessed with a prophet and apostles. We are truly blessed! I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you all so much and hope that you know that! Keep on keepin' on! Stay strong! 

hugs,

Hermana Sessions

Beets, beets ... the hoRRible vegetable!

HEYYY!

Hmm.. what's new here in Val-lluvia, well actually if I'm being completely honest, it hasn't rained in a couple days.. *knocks on wood of computer desk* It has actually been pretty stinking hot lately! I think it's been like high 80's, low 90's or something like that. Anyway, it's really hot and I'm way tan, which is pretty fun.. only I have some gnarly tan lines, and well.. I just hope they go away eventually after I get home, haha!

This week has been full of lots of different adventures! The hermanas from Pucon had to come back to Valdivia to go to the clinic so they came and spent the day working in our sector. It just so happened that we had interviews with President that day, so we had to leave our sector for a few hours, but I guess we never really stopped working because they were there to help us out, haha. I love interviews with President, actually I just really love President. He and Hermana Isom are the BEST! I got to talk to Hermana Isom while Hermana Gillespie was in her interview and it's always so uplifting to chat with her. She's just so adorable and positive and encouraging. My companion told President that my feet have been bothering me a little bit so the first thing he said to me when I walked in for my interview was.. "How are your feet? Your companion says they're kinda bad.. not sure if she means they smell bad, or what but..?" Haha he's seriously so sassy sometimes, but it's great. Like when I may have gotten a concussion from hitting my head super hard a few times getting into a collectivo (kinda like a taxi) and I had to tell him what had happened he said, "Are you a slow learner??" And then later in my interview he was talking about someone in Osorno who makes personalized shoes as a possible option to help my feet and he said, "I don't know, he could make you a pair of shoes and it very well might be the worst pair of shoes you've ever had in your entire life!" haha President! He's just too much.

Anyway.. after our interviews we got to go on divisions with the hermanas from Pucon for a couple of hours and I got to work with Hermana Hyde from Vernal, Utah. She's been in the mission 8 months and her Spanish is super good! So I'm hoping in a few more months I'll be in the same boat. She has had two Latina companions though, so I'm kind of hoping that I end up with a Latina companion next transfer or something, it would definitely make is so that I have to speak the language all the time which I think would really help me!

So earlier this week Hermana Gillespie and I were knocking some doors and passing by for some contacts we had made when we realized that we had some followers. We continued to go about our business knocking doors (or rather, rattling gates) and yelling 'halo' but after about twenty minutes we realized they were still following us. Super weird. We decided it was probably okay to discuss the situation in English because they probably wouldn't have any idea what we were saying. We didn't really know what to do and joked about telling President we had some stalkers. They were following us pretty closely, but whenever we turned around they tried to be really discrete and act like they weren't following. Finally after about 40 minutes or so we left the neighborhood we were in to go to a cita (appointment) and they stopped following us! It was super weird.. oh and did I mention they were about ten.. haha! The funniest part was that we saw one of the little boys a couple days later out in his front yard with his mom and he waved to us and we waved back and asked him how he was, his mom just looked so confused as to how we knew him.. I'm sure he had some explaining to do.

On Saturday we had a Capilla Abierta in Miraflores, another sector/ward here in Valdivia. We had lunch earlier that day with our Mamita and then met up with the other hermanas in our ward to take a bus to the capilla. This is where my experience with the beets happened ... but ... just know it was a bad experience. Enough said.

Last, but certainly not least, WE HAD AN INVESTIGATOR COME TO SACRAMENT MEETING ON SUNDAY, can I get a woot woot?? ..okay, I can't hear you from all the way over there, but WOOT WOOT. We were so excited and honestly it was a miracle. About 45 minutes or so before Church we got a call from P (her dad R’s girlfriend)-- side note, she is so awesome!! She's a returned missionary and is just the most adorable person ever--saying that she had called them to get them to come with her, but C (our investigator) had gone to bed really late the night before and they weren't going to make it. We were pretty bummed out because literally the night before we talked to R and he said they were for sure coming. We were about to walk out the door for church when we got another call from P saying that they had woken up, gotten ready, and she was on her way to meet them to bring them to church! WE WERE SO STOKED!! And the best part was that they really, truly came! It was a miracle, enserio! I know that Heavenly Father had prepared a way for them to make it to sacrament meeting and we were seriously walking on a cloud afterwards because of it. This is truly His work and He really is preparing people and preparing the way. I am so incredibly grateful to be a missionary here and for the opportunity I have to assist in His work!!

I love you all sOoOOoo much! Have an amazing week!! 

besitos & ..hugs (I don't love the word abrazos, haha!)

Hermana Sessions