Week 13

Hello friends and Family!!

This week has been great!! I have buried myself in the work this week and it just flew right by! But Spanish is a LOT better now.  We have had more time to study lately and it has really been helping! We are going to start English classes in the chapel every Saturday because there are soo many people that have been coming up and asking us if we can teach English. I am surprised by how many people here want to learn English. It's actually really funny.  So I've also been studying English!! Okay... Rather I've been studying how to teach English by studying Hermana Figeredo's (Another hermana who lives in our house) books to learn Spanish. It's actually pretty entertaining to see how they learn English and has been helping me a lot to understand not only how to teach but I have also learned things about Spanish in studying a English textbook for Spanish speakers :) It's pretty great haha

So pictures aren't working on this computer... Sorry! Next week!

Another thing that was great about this week was Ivonne!  She has so many great questions and honestly, if you were just listening to the questions that she has, you would think that she is trying to argue with what we believe but as we were teaching by the spirit, we could tell that she truly wanted to understand what it is that we are teaching her.  I also found that my favorite questions for people to ask are those that I do not have the answers to.  Strange right? Never would have thought it would be this way but the amazing thing about these questions is that it forces me to teach by the spirit and to bear testimony of the things that I do know.  I have found that when I don't know the answer to a question is often-times when I can feel the spirit guiding me and testifying through me the strongest! It is so great!! And all in Spanish!! I never would have though that with just six weeks in Chile I would be able to teach and testify with the power that we have as a companionship.  I have learned a lot of humility over the past few weeks because i know that when the spirit is testifying through me, and not when I am just trying to teach a lesson, is when the people can feel of the truthfulness of this gospel.  I LOVE being a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!!

I love you all sooo much!!

--Hermana Harvey

Week 12 (Week 6 in Chile)

Hello friends and family!!

My Spanish is getting better!! Wanna know how I know? I can barter prices (or however you would say talk people down in price...) in Spanish now! :) Which takes a lot of talking and understanding what is going on and the money system and everything. So it's pretty exciting! :) We went to these shops that they have here with a bunch of memorabilia types of things and I had lots of fun bartering :) It's called Angelmo if you want to search it on google to see where I have been :) Oh and my sector that I work in is Valle Volcanes if you want to look that up and see the streets that I walk on a daily basis :) We also go down to Pichi Pelluco at times to visit a few investigators down there who are women who live alone so the Elders can't visit them.  We have to go down the "questa" in order to get to Pichi and that isn't all that bad but getting back... It's a little tough haha  We also have to go down and back this... hill (i guess the questa is just called a hill in English) to get to church each Sunday.  So we probably go up and down this questa about 5 times a week sometimes more. 

This past week has been a lot of walking in a LOT of rain! I haven't been bringing my camera around with me because it has been raining so much that even with a covering for my backpack I am scared that it would get wet! So I don't have any great pictures for you this week.  It's funny because at times there isn't really all that much rain but we will be walking in it for hours so we are COMPLETELY soaked.  I actually find it pretty fun.  I love the rain!  Oh!! We saw a double complete rainbow when we were walking the other day!!  It was beautiful!! Wish I had had my camera to take a picture but now you're just going to have to believe me that it was beautiful :) 

We got a... referencia... from a girl about our age who was baptized just a couple months ago and is starting her papers to go on a mission!! She is so awesome and super sweet and I can tell she is going to make an AMAZING missionary!  The reference (I think that's the word in English... or referral? Yeah... that sounds right... referral) that she gave us is her older sister who is I think 23 and she is amazing as well! And she is really receptive to the things that we are teaching her and she told us that she has seen how happy the church has made her sister and that her sister told her about her experience with how she prayed and asked if these things were true and she received an answer that everything the missionaries had been teaching her was true! And Paula (that's our investigator's name) said that when she heard this all she could think was "wow!" Even when she was telling us about her sister´s testimony it was really powerful! So pretty much we have lots of investigadores de oro ahora!! (golden investigators right now) 

I am sooo happy out here!! Just a little scared because today we find out if we are being transferred... AHH! But most likely I will be in this sector for a good 6 months because Presidente Obeso is making a lot of changes and one of them is that we will be in our sectors for a lot more time.  Which is great! But also means it will be a lot harder to leave the sectors because I already LOVE our investigators and I don't know how I am going to be able to leave them! But I am so thankful that I have been able to meet so many amazing people and feel the spirit so strongly from each and every one of them!! I am so thankful that I am here because I am having so many wonderful experiences and really learning and growing every day.  I have learned soo much about myself while I have been here and I am just really learning how to grow in my faith and to be a much better person.. The mission is truly a humbling experience but in a great way! In the mission, it is easy to see all of your strengths and weaknesses so that you can build upon your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses.  It's great! :) I have never been so close to the spirit in my life. Now I truly understand that the Holy Ghost can truly be our CONSTANT COMPANION! It makes sense now! I can feel it! He is with me in every moment to lead me and to guide me and I now cannot picture my life without this gift. I am so thankful that I was raised in this gospel so that I can know of the blessings that we can receive and the peace and the joy that comes with the knowledge of this gospel!

I love you all so much!!

--Hermana Harvey

Week 5 in Chile

Hello friends and family!! 

This was a big learning week for me.  I learned a lot about what it really means to be a missionary.  Ya know how before my mission I was really sensitive and had lots of emotions?  Yeah... there is something about being a missionary, my companion says that it is a gift that comes along with the responsibility of being a missionary, but you just feel things differently!  I can love someone after spending just one hour talking to them, and even before that! And really love them!  Not just want what is best for them but have a deep desire or even a need to help them to understand the happiness that they could feel.  There is no way to describe the feelings that a misisonary has during these two years or year and a half for us ladies, but just to say that we love more deeply than I have ever felt in my life.  And at time it hurts.  It physically hurts how many emotions we can have all at one time but at the same time we can feel more joy than we have ever felt in our lives!  This is what I learned this week.  We have lots of amazing investigators who really want to learn the truth and it is great!! But I would ask all my friends and family to pray for a few of them that are in need right now.

Here`s a list of names that you might include in your prayers if you could:

Cecilia and Christan

Javiera and Constanza 

Hermana Cecilia

Ivonne

Carla

Thank you guys so much!  

Another thing that is weird about Chile is that everyone is called by their first names in the church because the women don't change their names or something like that... I don't really understand it. But we call them Hermana Cecilia, Hermana Nuri, Hermano Christian, Hermana Camila y so on.  It's weird.  And harder to remember people's names because at home it's just remember the family's name but here there's more to remember!! Ahh! But I'll eventually get good with names :) None of them can remember my name anyway because it is sooo hard to pronounce let alone remember :) haha

I love you all so much!! 

Our Casa is beautiful :) And we have a space heater if we are dying of the cold :) But we also have blankets.  Warm blankets :)  We are definitely blessed to have this beautiful house considering the other houses we see.

Quiero vivir en una de estas casas!

Tunnel that we found on our hike :)

The little waterfall at the end of the tunnel!

pretty much, our mission is GORGEOUS.  We went on a little hike last monday and this was at the head of the trail.  This is a daily view for us.

The sunsets here are gorgeous.

Another sunset picture.  I think the clouds that we ALWAYS have make them more beautiful.

We did a little service by painting a house number for a family in our ward.  With the help of an Hermana in our ward.

Week 4 in Chile

Hola mi familia y mis amigos!

Well, I took pretty much all my time sending pictures this week but I have a couple things to say still!! :) 

I have actually had a couple of pretty hard times this week.  Not even full days but hard times.  The hardest was this week when I was sitting in the Sunday Morning session of conference and I could understand absolutely nothing that the prophet was saying and I just got really frustrated and mad and homesick and wondered for a short moment what in the world I was doing all the way in Southern Chile where I don't understand the language and I thought... What good can I do here? What is the point? 

So pretty much I was just feeling really sorry for myself and wanting to be able to just watch my prophet speak in ENGLISH!  But after the session was over our bishop let us watch a few of the talks in the chapel in English!! I was so happy!! And while we were watching conference, I forget which talk it was but they were talking about personal revelation and how we can receive knowledge and help from God at all times in our lives and I just got an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for this gospel and for the many blessings that I have received from it.  I know that I am here for a reason and that God will direct me in the things that I need to know and do.  Although I CANNOT do this on my own, I know that the Lord is always here for me helping me every step of the way!

This was made clear to me during the second session on Sunday. We had the most amazing investigator in the world (Ivonne) with us and every single talk was perfect for her! The spirit was so strong and the most amazing thing of all during this session... I COULD UNDERSTAND!! Just earlier that morning when I was feeling bad for myself and feeling homesick I was able to understand nothing at all from conference but when I had the spirit back and was feeling happy and concentrating more on our investigator than on my own needs, I could understand!! I know that the Lord blesses us in our times of need and he knows each and every one of us individually!! It's funny how in the times when you are feeling the lowest you can learn so much more!  This experience as a missionary is definitely humbling... and I am so happy that I made the choice to come out here! Even in the hard times! :)

I love you guys so much!  Thank you for all your emails and your support! It really does mean a lot!!

The lake with more of our sector... or section in English?

More of our sector at sunset

This one is for mom cuz I know you're interested :) this is a typical meal here.  French fries (EVERYTHING seems to be fried here... they really like fried foods) and chicken with some veggies and we always have some sort of fresh veggie with lemon juice, olive oil, and salt.  We also eat white rice a LOT rice and chicken.

Fiestas Patrias BBQ

Campo! I think this word is like... the country in English.

Chickens!  There were also sheep.

FUN! A zipline thingy in their backyard. (Note from Mom: I think she sent the wrong picture because I don't see a zipline in this picture.) :)

Puppies!! They were so cute!! But the dogs here eat EVERYTHING and when I say everything.. I mean everything :/

Part of our sector with volcano Osorno in the backround.

In front of a lake in our area

Volcano Osorno in the background

check out the TV in the background.  Yeah.  They live in pretty much just a shack but they have this TV!  Oh and this guy was really good at playing accordian.  He and his wife are investigating the church.

He let us try!  It was very difficult...

We made these for a couple of our investigators (9 and 11 years old) and they didn't even come because their mom told them they would be bored :( We were very sad.