WELL, the last week we went to Torres del Paine, the eighth wonder of the world which was probably the most incredible thing I´ve ever seen in my life. We also took the most express tour EVER because we had to get back by six to start working, and the tour guides who were driving the bus kept saying just so you all KNOW you´re not going to get to see everything, are you SURE you have to get back by six and WHY and are you SURE. But we told them that sí o sí we had to get back by six, so we rushed around the park in our bus and when they would park so we could get out and take pictures, they would give us five minutes to do it, so we RUSHED out, frantically took pictures and would rush back into the bus. GO GO GO. But it was so worth it and I hope with all my heart that I´ll have a chance to go back and go camping or backpacking there someday. Absolutely incredible. There is also a hotel there right in the middle of the most beautiful lake I´ve ever seen, but you have to be VERY loaded to stay there. Maybe I´ll just work really hard here so that my mansion in heaven looks like that. ANYWAY, many pictures to follow because I can´t describe it. there was a LOT of wind, so there is not one single picture without my hair all over the place, but STILL. The second picture is in Puerto Natales, a little town on the way to Torres del Paine. I´ll be sending more pictures.
WELL this week me and my new companion, Hermana Palma (from Santiago Chile), opened a new sector in the ward Magallanes. It was a very new experience as, normally, at least one of the companions knows where they´re going or what they´re doing. But both of us were RATHER lost, but we printed out the list of members in the ward (the majority of which are less actives) and a map and went to find them all. We were also just talking with everyone and knocking on doors and the whole shebang. One day we didn´t enter any houses or sit down anywhere, but we taught more lessons in one day than I have in any other day of my mission. All in the doors or the streets or through windows. I came back rather frozen (it had suddenly decided to become really cold the last half of the day). My companion just finished her training in the mission, so only has three months in the mission, but is quite a good missionary and very nice and so I have a feeling this will be a great transfer. The ward needs an incredible amount of help because there just aren´t people there, but I have a good feeling about it, and lots of faith. There were so many people who were so grateful that sisters had arrived because the elders can´t enter in houses with women alone, but we can, so there were a lot of really grateful women alone in their houses. There was one woman (who has a little daughter) who was alone and told us that she has depression, and hasn´t been able to do much (I also believe she has another mental issue) and her house was a complete disaster, nobody had washed the dishes or changed the sheets or swept the floor or cleaned the bathroom in a LONG TIME, and she asked us if we could help her clean because alone she just doesn´t have the energy. We did so, and it was a very long process, but she was so grateful and kept thanking us the whole time and the house looked MUCH better when we were done. Truly there comes a joy through plain, hard work. Thanks Mom for teaching me how to scrub floors, wash dishes, clean bathrooms and all that jazz. Wow, now I´ve said thanks for that AND for making me practice piano. What is this mission doing to me.
Anyway, I want to leave you all with one of my favorite quotes and the reason why I´m on a mission sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ:
“The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of the people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. … Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature” - President Spencer W. Kimball
I love you all so much!!!!!
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