December 30, 2013

¡Hola Familia!(Hi Family)

Another year is coming to an end, and I am pretty sure I haven't gained any more wisdom or experience. But here I am anyway.

So I really have to write for almost 2 weeks, but I will try and keep it brief.

The farthest back, about 2 weeks ago, we discovered that we could put a bunch of Mormon messages onto our pen drives and use these in most peoples houses. And so we did, and it has been awesome. Especially for Christmas. We got to share some of our favorite Christmas videos. Especially my favorite of The Piano Guys with the song "O come O come Emmanuel" ¡Super Bacan!(Super Cool!)

Y super chistoso aqui en Chile(And super funny here in Chile). Durante el tiempo de Navidad(During the Christmas season). Cada persona(Each person) that we visited, gave us food. So we had a lot of food. And everyone here loves pan de Pascua(bread of Easter, or Easter Bread)which is pretty much just fruit cake, but it’s not black like the brick stuff that is in the states. So, we ate a lot of that. And there is so much fruit! We got a whole bag of cherries one day, which were so good!

And then guess what, Saturday the 21st. I felt my first earthquake. When it started I could hear it first and it sounded like a big truck. But then we saw the tree start shaking and we knew it was an earthquake. It was louder then I would have imagined and only lasted for a little bit. They say that there are always more earthquakes around Christmas time, but no one knows why. Who wants to research for me!?!

I think I already told the story about the child throwing up so we will just move one from that. El 24 de Diciembre, tuvimos almuerzo con los matrimonio misioneros(On December the 24^th, we had lunch with the married-senior- missionaries). And the day before while we were fasting we helped Los(the) Walls prepare all the food, which was totally American, good times.

The next thing that happened was changes. I am still in the same place but my compañera Hna. Welch se va(my companion, Sister Welch is gone). Eso es muy triste(that is very sad). Mi compañera ahora se llama Hermana Cox(my companion now is called Sister Cox), ella es de Idaho, y es super bacan(She is from Idaho and is super cool).

Ok cool story. So as many of you might know, I recieved my patriarchal blessing en español(Spanish). And the very last part of my blessing makes it my responsibilidad(responsibility) to one day read the blessing in the language it was given. Well the other day, guess what I did. That’s right, I read it in Spanish!!

It’s crazy how much our lives can change in just a short time. But really all the changes are from the Lord, and many times they are very hard, but we simply just have to trust our loving Heavenly Father and keep moving forward.

I hope that everything for your Christmas was grand and that your new year’s is a smashing good time.

This first picture was taken in the train station right before Hna. Welch left, and yes I cried.

Second picture is when I opened the package from home, yes I got a sock monkey, his name is Tanner and he is so cute!

Third picture is of a little box man that we found at a members house, we shared a few scriptures with him too.

¡Les Quiero Mucho!(I love you all so much!)

Hermana Monsivais

December 23, 2013

Hola Familia y Amigos!! (Hello Family and Friends!!

Lo siento que yo no puedo escribir chistes en mi otro carta, pero yo estoy aqui ahorra para tener un buena tiempo.(I am sorry I did not wirte funny things in my last letter, but I am here now and I am having a good time).

First thing that I can remember, which is hard not to remember in ingles(English), which is a good thing right? Honestly I have been having a lot of trouble this week writing and thinking in ingles(English), yet I still can't communicate very well en espanol (in Spanish). La vida es un gran proceso (Life is a grand process), y a veces es dificil(and sometime it is difficult too) , pero nosotros sabemos que esta vida es una gran prueba(But we all know that life is a grand test). Ok sorry about that, never mind I am not, now everyone can learn Spanish!! Though I'm sure that my dad will translate this before everyone else reads it. 

Anyway, interesting story from yesterday. We were in the home of la Familia de (the family of) Elizabeth Escobar. Her husband passed away Friday morning and the funeral was Saturday. He had a brain tumor that kept growing even though he had surgery several times. So it was expected, but still hard. So if you could please pray for la familia Escobar(the Escobar family).

Anyway back to the story, so Hna.(Sister) Welch can sing muy muy muy bien (very, very, very well). And so Hna. Elizabeth had asked that Hna. Welch come over to sing to her. During the song ,which had a lot of spirit, a little girl started throwing up. And not just a little, it was bad. But after they left, Hna. Elizabeth said that she knew it was so that we could be alone with their familia (family). They really needed that.

Other than that, it was just a cool week. We had a lot of good lessons with other people and this week we felt the spirit a lot.

Oh other funny story. So in one of my first letters home I said that I have trouble with Wednesdays. Well it is true, the past 3 weeks on Wednesday, my companera o yo estabamos enferma (my companion and I have been sick). What bad luck, but its ok. We are feeling better right now and are helping the matrimonio misioneros cocinar por manana (married-senior- missionaries cook for tomorrow).

Well I have to go I don't have much time today to write but I will be talking with my familia(family) tomorrow!! I am so excited y despues eso yo voy a escribir mas(and after that I am going to write more).

Les Quiero!(I love you)

Feliz Navidad!(Merry Christmas)

Hermana Monsivais

December 16, 2013

¡Hola Familia y Amigos! (Hello Family and Friends)

This is probably going to be a short email, but hey that’s ok,- right? The reason it is shorter is because mi compañera fue enferma esta semena. Que triste, yo se (My companion was sick last week. That is sad, I know).

Funny thing really quick. When I start writing in Spanish, it’s because I can't think of how to say it en Ingles(English). Entonces, lo siento. Pero es super bacan (So, I am sorry.  But it is super cool).

Any horse, mi compañera estaba enferma (my companion has been sick). She is doing much better now but for this week, we spent a lot of time in the house. ¡Casi 4 dias! (Almost 4 days!)

But on Thursday I had an amazing spiritual revelation.

There is a Mormon movie called "Saturday's Warriors" and for the longest time it has bothered me why it was called that. I had no idea. But on Thursday I was listening to this song on my ipod. And the spirit hit me so strong.

It is Saturday, because Heavenly Father created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th day. This dispensation will NEVER end in an apostasy. So that means that this is Saturday. 

Now in a talk by a woman from Utah named Diana Holscher, she shares a quote from Pres. Benson where he said that we were held in reserve all these years because we are the ones that Heavenly Father has chosen to lead the army. Which means that we are the warriors.

I had been praying to know exactly what my purpose was here on earth especially here en(in) Chile on my mision. There is one part of the song that says "First they must learn why they’re here and who they really are" This was exactly the questions that I have been asking about myself for years, the next line after this, along with the spirit, answered my question. "These are the few, the warriors saved for Saturday. These are the strong, the warriors rising in their might, to win the battle raging in the hearts of men on Saturday."

I'm sure there are lots of people who understood this song long before I did. But at this point in my life and especially en mi mission (on my mission). This was what I needed to hear and learn for myself.

With all this said I can't fight this battle on my own, I need your help.

Please pray for Hermana Ruz (Sis. Ruz), she is the relief society president, but her entire family is opposed to the church.

Please pray for Rueben that he can have the strength of God to make the decision to be baptized.

Pray for la familia Navarro (the Navarro family) to remember the spirit that they feel in the church and return every Sunday to feel that again.

And please pray that I can find the people who are ready to hear the gospel.

Thank you all for your support and love. I have funny stories to tell you about this week but they will have to wait for another letter. Because I felt that this was more important for people to read.

I know this gospel is true. I know that Christ was born in Belen(Bethlehem) (sorry I can't remember how to spell it en ingles) and I know that he died for our sins. In this time of Christmas, remember the greatest gift that was given. The life of our Savior, that one  day we might all have eternal life. And if we live all our days righteously we can have that eternal life with our families, our Savior, and our loving Father in Heaven.

Happy Christmas to you all. Les Amo mucho y yo espero que ustedes estan feliz con sus familias esta Navidad. (I love you all so much and I hope you will be happy with your families this Christmas)

Hermana Monsivais

December 9, 2013

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

¡Como esta?

Again a week has passed, and I feel like its only been a day. Life is a funny thing, and so are sheep. Have you ever wondered what a sheep does all day? All I have ever seen a sheep do is just stand there and eat grass, and occasionally make noise, but other than that. What do they do?

Any how, that really has nothing to do wi

th my week. It was just what was in my head when I started writing.

First off yesterday, Domingo! Nothing happened.

Ok thats not true, we did a little bit of christmas caroling mi compañera y yo. But only at 2 houses, and one of the houses was that of a menos activo familia. We had called 4 or 5 times because we could hear them inside but they still wouldn't come out. So we started singing. Right after the first verse of "Come all ye faithful" la hermana came out of the house and warmly greeted us and let us in. ¡Score! We had a great lesson with them and are excited to use this tactic as much as we can this week.

Sabado-We spent the afternoon with a member who is a returned missionary, and she knows everything. She knows about all the transfers before the missionaries do. Needless to say we will be calling here to find out about those when transfers get closer. (she wouldn't defulge her secrets to us though)There was also a baptism of a 9yr old boy named Bejamin, he is super awesome and right after he came out of the water he cheered, he was so happy.We spent the morning in la capilla cleaning. After we finished I spent some time playing with a little boy, here is one picture of the 2 of us. (Hna Caño (who lives in the same house as I) took my camera and started taking pictures). When we finally had to go, the little boy started crying because he didn't want me to leave. And to be honest, I didn't want to leave either.

Viernes-In the morning we went to la capilla to help prepare food for the acitivity for married couples that night. All the rest of the day my hands smelled like tomatoes. They use lots of pesticides here so you have to peel the tomatoes, I am now a little better at peeling foods, but still need practice. But quick note about last Viernes, I hate cooked animal stomach.  It look like brain, tasted like rubber and at the end of the meal, I could sit back satisfied to say "I have some tummy in my tummy"

Jueves-I had the chance to lead my sector, we did divisions this day and I stayed and was in charge. How did it go? All my appointments fell through. Was it a good day? Yes, because I decided it was.

Miercoles-I woke up sick this day. I don't know what it was but it was really only bad for one day. Not much more than this to say about this day. We had 2 NDH that night which were really cool.

Martes-this day I was sick too, really bad allergies I think but I don't really know.

Lunes-We bought food today and then sat around the house reading the book of mormon and eating food. I also had fun doing my laundry, which, Yes mother, is something I never like at home.

As for this Lunes, I started the puzzle that I got a few weeks ago in a package (sorry Mom I couldn't save it any longer). It is a picture of the nativity and I love it!! It is so cool and I am almost finished. I can't wait to see the finished product, and then to do it again.

Now the other pictures. One is of the type of decorations that we also see here in Chile. Poor Santa. The other is of a christmas card that I made for an Hermana who is here in Buin. We are doing a secret santa sort of deal with all the hermanas in this area. I love the job I did on the window of the card that I almost don't want to get rid of it, so I took a picture.

I hope all is well for all of you and that you are getting excited for Christmas.

I invite all of you to make a big effort to share the true message of christmas with everyone around you this year. Christmas is an amazing opportunity to serve others, but most of all to remember the greatest gift that was ever given. Christ the Savior of the world. For God gave his only begotten son, that whosoever should believe in him should not perish but have ever lasting life.

¡Les Amo!

Hermana Monsivais

December 2, 2013

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

Another week has been swept out of the house into the land of yesterday, and I think I accidently swept out some of my marbles with it(see Hook). But thats ok, I have actually found some marbles on the street, and decided that since I can't find mine that I will just borrow other peoples.

Any how, first off the cool story of the past week. We had a baptism!!

The crowd goes wild! Toot Toot! (see Disney's Hercules) The first pic

ture is of the hermana dressed in her beautiful white, with a smile on her face, ready to be baptised. Her name is Patricia, and her family says that she was baptised when she was 8 but there is no record, no pictures, nothing anywhere to support that. Her husband and her 3 children have all been baptised but are not active. But she wanted to start coming back to church, and she wanted to make sure that she had a baptismal record. So we started teaching her and this past saturday she was baptised and just yesterday confirmed. She was so happy and we are so happy for her. We are going to work now on keeping her active and reactivating her family. If you could pray for them it would be great. Patricia is the new convert, her husband is Danilo and their kids are Camila, Matias, y Paula.

Second cool story of the week. Yesterday we had our christmas devotional. It was a big deal for everyone in this area, and it was wonderful. The second picture is a very poorly taken, and poorly timed picture of Elder Archuleta. I was to preoccupied listening to his amazing voice and the incredible piano player accompaining him (Elder Hoff is his name) that I didn't care much about taking pictures. The other picture is of my compañera singing, she has an amazing voice. And after the concert muchas muchas personas came to congratulate her, almost as many as congratulated Elder Archuleta. I had an opportunity to thank Elder Archuleta for his amazing talent and for his desire to share this with other people. He is a performer, a singer, but most importantly he is a missionary here in Chile, serving the Lord.

Funny story!! So right before the devotional began Elder Hoff came and talked to my companion, and he started talking to her en ingles. After a few sentences he turned to me, switched to español and told me he was sorry that he wasn't thinking en español. He then proceed to repeat all he had told Hermana Welch en ingles a mi en español. Super chistoso. Pero, el es super simpatico y puede tocar el piano super bonita, mejor de mi.

As far as the rest of the week, I don't remember a whole lot of it to be honest. I haven't had frosting in almost over a month and I think it is starting to take its effect on me. 

Oh we got 2 new missionaries in our area, they are an older couple from Lindon, Utah. Se llama Elder y Hermana Wall. Ellos son muy amable y quiere ayudar toda  la gente aqui en Chile. Y Elder Wall puede hablar mas o menos en español, pero Hermana Wall...not so much. But hey, its a process. 

Spanish lessons! The chilean word for "hey" is "oja" (oh-jah), use it, it sounds funny and cool all at the same time.

Thanks for all your support and letters. Keep sending them they are great!

Sorry this letter is all over the place, but I'm  sure you have come to know that that is just simply how my mind functions. 

T.T.F.N.

¡Les Amo!

Hermana Monsivais

November 25, 2013 Email

¡Hola Todos!(Hello Everyone!)

Right now, you know what I miss. Pumpkin Pie. Because I know it is Thanksgiving time and everyone is going to be getting together to eat pumpkin pie.

So last time I started from the farthest away, but this time will be the other way around.

But first, I invited you to tune in for awkwardness. Here is the awkward story, which actually happened multiple times this week. We almost ran into (and I mean that literally, we sometimes get distracted walking down the street) a lot of people while walking down the street. But it was always the same people that we almost ran into. And we were always awkwardly laughing hysterically about something.

Alright, the past week.

Domingo (Sunday)-I woke up this morning with a lot of energy though I didn't sleep very well last night. But I woke up so ready to do things. And the first thing that popped into my head was. "I am going to go do the dishes!" So I spent the morning doing dishes. We have a problem of kind of letting them stack up, so sometimes when I wake up angry (which yes for some reason has been happening, I think it’s a lack of frosting) but I have been trying to keep the dishes in check, they can be nasty little buggers if you don't keep an eye on them.

Funny story, people here in Chile like to eat lemons whole. So I decided to try it with half a lemon this day during lunch with the members. Lemons are sour, but it actually tasted good. This could possibly become a weird habit.

Sabado(Saturday)-Not much happened this day. People are starting to sell Christmas stuff in all the fairs, which is awesome to see. And we had a baptism this day too, for a family. They are now all baptized and are anxiously waiting and preparing to be sealed in the temple.

Funny story from this day. They love ketchup here en Chile, and most of the foods here have a mix of English and Spanish. So at lunch this day on this package of ketchup it said "Sabor Heavy" which is to mean "Strong Flavor" they use the word heavy to mean strong or serious and they say it the same way we say it in English. It’s really funny.

Viernes(Friday)-This day was cool because we decided to have a fast. But we had a few NDH (FHE’s) planned and one with a menos activo familia(less active family) that tends to get offended very easily, especially if you don't eat food. So we decided to have a fast of English. It was a bit tough for me because there is still alot that I don't know como decir en español(how to say it in Spanish). Pero(but), we did the fast and we had amazing success this day.

Jueves(Thursday)-Today we visited with a new family of 4 investigadores(investigators). Esta familia es super bacan, y quiere aprender mas sobre la iglesia(This family is super cool, and wants to learn more about the Church). And during the leccion(lesson), the father of the family picked up the Book of Mormon (it was the first time he had been at a lesson with us) and he started reading the Book of Mormon!! It was awesome and we are very excited for this family to learn and grow.

Miercoles(Wednesday)-This day was a very silly day. We tried to talk about bacon and eggs but some how it came out as "beg y eacon". Either way it’s food, and we laughed a lot. Speaking of Food, which if you didn't already know, I love food very very VERY much. We were helping a sister member practice her English and she always has a treat for us. This time it was like a chocolate milkshake with homemade whip cream and strawberries. It was beautiful.

Martes(Tuesday)-Today we did a lot of walking. But unfortunately, that is all I can remember about this day. Maybe I will write more about it next time.

Lunes(Monday)-had a good lesson with a menos activo(less active)/part member family. They had a lot of questions for us this time and we were able to answer a few of them, but some we had to wait a few days to answer them.

So pictures. 1.Me with our lemons/limes (we don't really know) on the tree in our backyard. 2.Me again, trying not to eat the fruit. 3.A Giant rose on one of our bushes on the side of our yard. 4.Hna. Welch and I with our 2 little apple trees (yes they are planted in a frosting container) 5. My district the week before changes, only 2 people changed one going home and the other to another area.

I have decided to include a short health tip.

-Maintaining a healthy level of insanity-

Tip of the week-If you find your insanity lacking a little, take a deep breath and blow some bubbles. You will find that this simple little activity not only raises your insanity but also can relieve your stress as you pop bubbles.

¡Les Amo!(I love you!)

Hermana Monsivais

November 25, 2013 Questions/Answers

Tell me a funny story from this week.

We were at a members house for lunch. They love to eat ketchup with lots of things here. And one package of it said "Sabor Heavy" which means strong flavor. A lot of people use the word heavy, and said like we would say it in english. But it doesn't mean that something weighs a lot but usually used to say something is strong or serious. Its really funny.

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Tell me about a spiritual experience that you had this week. 

The other day during personal study Hermana Welch asked me how I gained my testimony of Joseph Smith. So I bore my testimony to her, it had been a rough morning for me but after I bore my testimony I felt a million times better. It was great.

What is the best food you have eaten recently?

The other day we were at a members house, ever wednesday we help this sister, who is just like Grandma Meservy except she is latina, any we help her with english. And everytime we go she always has a little something something for us to eat. This time it was this chocolate milk pudding stuff, with homemade whip cream and strawberries. So Good!!!!

Are transferring coming up soon? 

Transfers were last tuesday. We found out the saturday before that, I don't remember what day that was. But none of the hermanas in our house were transferred, we are still together for the next 5ish weeks. We are really happy about that. And only 2 other people were transferred out, and 2 people went home. Other than that we are still the same.

How are your investigators doing?

 Our investigadores are good. We are having trouble with one who tells us she wants to be baptised and knows how important it is but would make the effort to come to church. We set another baptismal date with her and are hoping that it will stand. If you guys could pray for Valeria, Patricia, La Familia Molina, Fabian, Lucia y la Familia Castijo it would be greatly appreciated.

How are YOU doing?

 I am doing alright, I have had a rough week because I keep having angry spells. It is that time of month so I'm not sure if it has to do with that or what. But the other day I just woke up really really angry. And no matter how much I prayer I just couldn't get myself to be happy. And it randomly comes up during the day. I'm hoping that this week will be better.