Week 4 at the CCM!

One of the most amazing things that happened this week was watching the Brandon Flowers "I'm a Mormon" video!! We watch these videos all the time in class so that we can use these people as investigators in our role plays and we got to watch the one with Brandon Flowers!!  Watching these videos is always amazing because, first of all, they are always inspiring and, second of all, it's the closest we ever get to watching TV or movies! :) (Other than the video that we always watch on Sunday nights that is always a short church movie! It's so great!)  But anyway it was great because we got to hear real music, not just my district singing as loud as physically possible, and it was amazing music and it reminded me of home and especially of Mom!  So pretty much I almost died watching it.

Another funny thing that happened this week was that I was talking to my companion and we were working on our Spanish so I told her. "¡Si, nos podemos!"  Which means "Yes, we can." and she turned to me and said, "Don't be so negative." Haha!  She thought I was saying no we can't because she heard "nos" and thought I said no! It was really funny.

Read Isaiah 28:20 :)  This is a scripture that an elder in my district shared with us to describe his sleeping position.  He is about 6'5'' and this scripture is perfect. 

One thing that is great about going to serve in South America is that I am going to feel so tall!! All of the Latina girls here are TINY!! There are some of them that I walk past and I realize that they come up to about my arm pit!! It's great!! :)  I may actually be normal sized for once in my life! :)  And Elder Hamilton (the 6'5'' red head)... he's going to stand out a little bit :)

Speaking of adorable Latina girls... There are a couple of girls who moved into our casa and they are the sweetest little things I have ever met!!  First of all, they do not speak any English at all so they were coming over to get our help with a watch that they have that was all in English so they couldn't figure out how to set it then they asked us to help them to translate a journal that they got from the tienda that is all in English.  It was pretty nice to be able to help them translate! :)  Then I went over to their room the next night to ask for help with my talk for Sunday because I wasn't sure about my translation and they helped me to re-write the entire thing because there were so many mistakes!!  It was so nice!

I ended up actually giving that talk that the Hermanas helped me to correct (the branch president picks speakers randomly every Sunday so you don't know if you're speaking or not until during the meeting when he calls your name.  So you always have to be prepared)   I ended up going first and it was super short but I think it went pretty well.  After the meeting my Branch President kept telling both my companion and I how wonderful I did.  Haha it was super sweet.  ... Side note... I found out that Super is a real word in Spanish! They use it all the time here in Mexico and it makes me laugh every time! Not sure why :)

Last night we came home for the night and my roommates and I were singing hymns and we decided to sing them in Spanish because Hermana Hash said "They sound better in Spanish:" and after we were singing for a while the Latina girls came over and they were crying and said that they had been thinking about their families and how much they missed them and then they heard us singing and it was so beautiful and they were comforted by us and they felt the spirit really strong as we were singing.  It was so adorable!! We gave them the biggest hugs ever and told them that we loved them and they told us that they loved us and then they went off to bed.  A couple minutes later they pushed a note under our door that said ...

"Ustedes son nuestra familia.  Les amamos. -Hna. Ake, Hna. Siza"

Which means "You are our family.  We love you. -Hermana (Sister) Ake, Hermana Siza."

It was so adorable!!  It is amazing how the Lord uses us as tools in his work even with the tiniest of things like comforting some girls when they are missing their family.  I am so thankful for this church and the comfort that it brings to me and the support that I receive from the Lord on a regular basis!  I love this gospel and everything that it brings to my life and I am so excited to go out and be a tool in the Lord's hands in bringing this happiness that I have to everyone that I possibly can!!

Apparently there is an Hermana here who used to be a cross-fit instructor so we are going to be doing cross-fit in a little bit!! Super fun!! Hermana Snyder is super athletic so she's been kicking my butt a little bit during gym times.  She is definitely good for me!  We have been playing volleyball a lot when she is not kicking my butt with exercises and I think I'm actually starting to get better at it!! It's so great!! :) I am learning to love volleyball!!  Especially because that is the only sport that we can play with the Elders (no contact sports of any kind) and I love playing with my brothers! (I often times call my district my brothers by accident because I feel like they are my brothers.  I love our Elders so much!)

We have been telling our stories about how we came to the decision to serve a mission in our district and one of our Elders shared an amazing story last night about a couple of incredible experiences that he had.  I can't tell his stories because they are very sacred and they aren't my stories to tell but I just want to say that my testimony has grown in the knowledge that God loves us each individually and will help us in our times of need.  I know that as we seek for his help and are in tune to the spirit, we will be guided in what it is that he would have us do.

So as I have already told you, it rains a lot at night and a couple of nights ago we had a pretty crazy rain, thunder, lightning, hail storm!  I didn't want to ruin my shoes because I haven't waterproofed them and they are leather so I took them off to walk to our TALL classroom and as soon as we got outside of the comedor I slipped on some paint on the road.  I caught myself and we were dying laughing but then as we started to walk again I realized that my toe was bleeding.  I though it must be bruised under the nail and it would probably end up falling off but then it started bleeding more.  When we got to the bathroom of the building we were headed to, I looked at my toe and realized that I had cracked my toe nail and that there was a good chunk of my toe nail that was hanging by a thread.  So I'm missing a little bit of my toe nail now but it is healing really well and quickly so nothing to worry about!  I just thought that was a humorous story to tell.  It really didn't hurt all that bad.  Just looked pretty gross!  I'm gaining lots of great memories here in the mission field! :)  

One rather upsetting thing that happened this week was that we invited one of our investigators, Cynthia, to read Moroni 10 and to pray to know for herself the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  She said that she didn't feel anything at all as she read and prayed and I was just soo sad to hear that!  With our previous investigators they had always felt the spirit as they read and prayed so this was new to me and I wasn't sure what to do.  I realize that this is probably going to be more realistic to what will happen in the mission field.  People won't always get their answers right away.  Faith is gained little by little and although I love this gospel so much and know that it is true more than I know anything else in this life and I love Cynthia so much and want her to understand the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and how the gospel of Jesus Christ can bless her life, I had to realize that I cannot force her to believe.  It made me so sad and I couldn't think of anything to do other than to bare my testimony to her of the truthfulness of the gospel and that God does hear and answer our prayers but we can only receive a witness after the trial of our faith.  She isn't even a real investigator but my heart still aches for her to gain a testimony for herself and to become as happy as she can possibly be in this life.  I just want her to understand that there is nothing on this earth that could make her more happy or bring her more peace in her life than the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I want all of my loved ones to know that God desires them to come unto him and to become happy through him.  He is always there for us and watching and waiting for us to come to him no matter our circumstances.  Jesus Christ has suffered and died for each and every one of us because he loves us each individually and we must take advantage of that sacrifice by coming unto him in faith, repenting of our sins, bring baptized by the authority of God, and enduring to the end.  I have such a testimony of the truthfulness of these things and pray every night that my loved ones at home and all of those whom I already love in Chile will come to know of this truthfulness and find great happiness in their lives and through all of eternity.

I love you guys so much!  Thank you for reading! :) Have an amazing week!!

--Hermana Harvey

The package that I got from Gram and Grandpa!! Thank you!!

Okay so we see these guys all the time around the CCM!! They wear these big creepy red suits when they are edging the grass and it always freaks us out! haha  I took this picture from in our room looking out the window so it's not the best picture in the world!

The map outside of our classroom!! Chile Osorno!!