First and foremost, a very happiest birthday to my dearest mother (feel free to send her dark chocolate and/or fruit trees), and a very very happy Father`s Day to my wonderful father, both whom I love very much.  Dearest familia, I have been sworn to secrecy with regards to my secret agent of cakes and rootbeers, at least until my mission is over.  You will all just have to wait six more months to find out.  

Anywho, since I was running low on time last week, I`ll share a little bit about what happened. FIRST OF ALL, as an early birthday present to me, we found the most GOLDEN investigator ever.  We received a reference from the mission office, and the same day we went to contact her.  When we knocked, her dad answered the door and told us that she wasn`t home, that she wouldn`t be home for a couple of hours.  Well a couple of hours later, we went back and she answered the door.  As soon as she saw us, she came right outside to open the gate for us and shy away her absolutely huge, man-eating dog that barking madly and spitting saliva all over us.  Well we went right inside and as soon as we sat down, she came over and sat down and said "I`ve been waiting so long for you to come!!"  Well people don`t say that to us every day, so my companion and I sat staring at her in silence for a few seconds (we`re so VERY on the ball), until we had processed that she wasn`t joking and that she really was excited to see us.  

She then proceeded to explain that her older brother, (she`s 18) had been baptized a couple years ago after he started dating a member.  He went to church once, and from there on out, started coming home every day with more and more books from the church in his backpack and reading and meeting with the missionaries until he was baptized a month later (also golden).  He`s now on a mission in Cordoba, Argentina and comes home next year.  She said she saw the huge change in him, that he stopped doing drugs, drinking, smoking, that he changed his personality and very being completely when he joined the church.  She said that he was always talking to her about the church and always inviting her to come (and once she went to General Conference) and showing her movies from the church, but that at this point in her life, she didn`t feel the need really to know more.  She said that it was only recently that began to feel that she really needed to know what he was talking about, as he has been writing her continuously throughout his mission.  At this point, my companion and I were sitting there dumbfounded, with our mouths hanging open.  We invited her to read the Book of Mormon and ask her Heavenly Father if she knew these things were true, and that if she came to know if they were true, if she would be baptized.  She said of course and immediately accepted a date.  My companion and I drank hot chocolate that night in celebration as we tried to dry ourselves off by the fire (that really wasn`t a fire because our wood is aboslutely drenched).  BEST DAY EVER.

Anyway, for my birthday, our Mamita, (the woman in the ward who we eat with every day except for Sunday and Monday) made an incredible cake for me.  She studied cooking and specialiezed in dulces y pasteles y tortas.  Oh dear.  The cake was a giant alfajor.  Which is something very chileno that I haven`t ever described.  An alfajor is a type of cookie sandwich with manjar (also something very chileno that doesn`t exist in the United States, but is one of the most delicious things I`ve ever eaten - a type of caremal sauce) in between to crackers made of flour and eggs.  I did NOT just describe that very well, but you can all look it up.  Imagine an alfajor but BIG and with lots of layers.  And that was my cake.  Very delicous.  I`m going to bring manjar to the United States and be a millionaire.

Anyway, this week we had our very last zone conference with President Rappleye and Hermana Rappleye, who finish this transfer.  At the end, they let us just ask them whatever questions we wanted, and at the end, one of the missionaries asked him what was the last thing that he wanted us all to know.  And he said, "that it`s true."  I wish I could express to you all, through a very rapidly-written email how much I know that it is true.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not simply just another church, nor is it the Mormon church, no matter how much it`s called that.  It is the Church of Jesus Christ.  Of that I am certain.  I know that God has called a prophet, just as He did in times before, to restore the same church that Jesus Christ established, with the same authority and power that was used to create the worlds of the universe.  I know that the Book of Mormon is palpable evidence that we have of this Restoration, and whoever reads it with the intention to truly know, and asks God to know if it is true, will receive their own answer.  If I can know, anyone can.  It is true, and no power in heaven or earth can change that.

In other, rather very important news, transfers have come again.  My companion, Hermana Estrada, will be going to another ward, and for the next three months, I will be training a brand new missionary here: Hermana Rojas from Bolivia.  In the same transfer that I begin training, my sister Kate will go to the MTC and start her own training in the mission field.  I will do my very best to train Hermana Rojas exactly as I hope my sister will be trained.  I`ll let you all know how it goes, and I hope you all have a lovely week.  

I love you all!!!!!!!!

Hello dearest everyone, 

These past fourish weeks that I have been in Alerce, it has been a bit difficult to find people to teach, and we have been constantly searching for those that Heavenly Father has already prepared to receive the Gospel at this time.  Well after a particularly rainy day, which we had spent outside the whole entire time, knocking doors, trying to talk to people in the streets in the moments when the rain would let up a little, and looking for addresses, I came home soaked, defeated and wondering what in the world I was doing wrong.  I had been asking in every single prayer that I had since getting here, that Heavenly Father would help us find the people that He had prepared.  The next day was Saturday, which is when we start our fast for Fast Sunday.  After lunch on Saturday, we say our prayer and then don`t eat until lunch the next day on Sunday.  Well my companion and I decided that we needed to fast to find the people that God was preparing, and I asked her if we could specifically fast to find a family.  Well we began our fast, and Saturday we found a 19-year old girl, who, after we had taught her the Restoration and asked her if she would be baptized if she knew these things were true, said that of course she would, and accepted a baptismal date and our invitation to come to church right away, and then said that she had been waiting to hear something like this for some time.  We couldn`t believe Heavenly Father had answered our prayers so rapidly.  Well the next day, Sunday, we visited a family that we had visited once before after we had found an old teaching record of their family from three years ago.  A member had accompanied us, despite the torrential rainstorm, and we had one of the most incredible lessons I`ve taught in my mission.  At the end of the lesson, after we had also explained the Restoration, we invited them to be baptized and the mother immediately said that she wanted to know if these things were true and that she wanted to be baptized if she did. The father then said that he thought that it was finally time for their family (they have three kids, one 17 years old, the others 8 and 2) and then they both accepted baptismal dates, as a goal to meet if they truly felt that what we had taught them was true, if they truly felt that this was the Church of Jesus Christ here on earth.  When my companion and I left the lesson, we maintained our calm until after we had dropped the member off (who was almost excited as us about the family), and then we started jumping up and down in the rain and hugged each other.  I still cannot believe the rapidity with which Heavenly Father answered our fast, and I cannot begin to describe the testimony of the fast that I have gained on my mission.  If we fast with faith, then expect the Lord`s will, we will never be dissapointed.  The Gospel and Restored Church of Jesus Christ is the most incredible part of our life and every day I learn more and am more and more convinced of the divinity of our Father in Heaven and His Son, and their love for us.

In case I had forgotten to mention, it rains AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT here.  The pictures that are attached are of a road where we used to walk to get home, which is currently now a river.  The rain comes from all directions: from above, below, right, left, front, back.  From everywhere.  Luckily, I found rain boots that someone had left in the house, and although they are just a TAD bit large, I tied plastic bags around my feet, so it all works out very nicely and my feet don`t get too drenched.  This week, everyone was telling us that Volcan Calbuco (the volcano that is just behind the poblacion where we live, has been erupting puffs of smoke and there have been several earthquakes this past week.  They think it`s possible that it might erupt and that they might have to evacuate everyone from Alerce.  My sister, Myriam, will be happy to hear this, as she has always imagined me on my mission, escaping from an erupting volcano as I ride to safety on my llama.  

Oh and also on the fifth I`ll complete one year in the mission.  Downright scary.  And on the sixth 21 years of life.  Feel free to send chocolate. 

I love you all!!!

Hello dearest everyone, 

Due to the fact that this internet is very slow and that I spent almost all my P-day deep cleaning our house, my p-day is about to end and I (again) don`t have much time.  our house had (clearly) not received a good deep-cleaning for quite awhile, so my poor companion had to wait for me as i scrubbed the floors, the cielings (they had mold), and various other surfaces as well as throw out about threee huge sacks of trash of all the unecessary and gross things in the house.  i promised her that I was only going to do this once, and that all the rest of our P-days would be much more fun. 

This week, we found a less-active who hasn`t been to church in QUITE a few years (she`s 76 or something like that) but she invited us in and we had the privilege to listen to her life story.  It was asombrosa.  She had no fornal education, but got married very early in life and had children soon after.  her husband turned out to be a horrible person who beat her everyday and did not help her with anything.  To provide for her children, she started a small store out of her house (that`s very common around here), and would stay up until the wee hours of the morning making sweets and cookies and knitting and crochetting hats and socks and other things.  Well her little store started to grow and grow and she was able to expand until she, at one point, owned three houses and two cars and her "little store" was a huge business where everyone stopped by.  let me just tell you, you have to have a LOT of money here in chile to have three houses and two cars.  Well she just kept working and working, and one day decided that she wanted to live in a house a bit smaller, so she sold her three houses, two cars and her business and came to live in a quiet little house in our sector.  a few months later, she suffered some sort of attack that left the muscles in her face grotesquely mishapen and her arm and leg paralyzed.  For some strange reason that i didn`t really understand, her insurance didn`t cover it, so she used her entire fortune that she had gained to pay for the medical treatments, which saved her life and her face.  Now she lives in a rather barren little house and sells kindling which she chops herself, but she says she is so grateful to God for saving her and giving her the life and the will to keep on working.  It was an incredible testimony to me of hard work and i resolved then and there to enjoy the work that we are given and to ALWAYS find the way to be self sufficient.  Anyway, i don`t have more time, but I love you all!!!

Pictures to follow next week!

Hello dearest everyone, 

Well I am officially out of Punta Arenas (6 months later), and in my new sector Alerce III in Puerto Montt.  Puerto Montt is huge (twice as big as Punta Arenas) and there are three companionships of missionaries in our Alerce branch.  It´s a branch, but there are 90-100 people attending, so we´ve heard that it´s going to be a ward soon.  I really quite love the branch already because I´ve noticed that everyone there works incredibly hard in their callings, and you can tell the difference.  My new companion is from El Salvador and her name is Hermana Estrada.  She´s very low-key and down-to-earth.  My new sector is gigantic (We have to take a bus for about 15 minutes to get to one part of the sector) and very green and beautiful.  We can see two volcanoes from our sector, Volcano Osorno and another volcano who´s name I have not yet learned.  

A very happy mother´s day to all the mothers, and especially mine, whom I love very much.  As a public statement, I would like to say thank you to my mother for making me practice piano, even though I said for about 15ish years that I would NEVER say that.  Thanks for making me practice the piano.  There, now all the mothers who might be fighting with their children about practicing the piano can print that out and use it as factual evidence.  

Anyway, I don´t have much time left, so I promise to have lots of good stories the next week, but I want to share my testimony with all who might read this.  I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important thing we have in this life and that the most wonderful feeling in the world is the Spirit.  I know this is the Church of Jesus Christ, and I have no doubt about that.

I love you all, and murch more next week!! Sorry it´s so short!!