Hello friends and family!!
I received lots of emails this week!! Thank you all so much for writing me!! It means more to me than you know!! :)
So
they do this really interesting thing here to all of the students that
are starting for the first time in a University. They take all of them
and they cut up their clothes and paint them and put a bunch of food
that smells REALLY bad all over them in their hair and everything and
then they all have to go out into the streets and beg for money for
school!! It is so gross!! And they are EVERYWHERE right now because summer is ending so school is starting. It is one of the weirdest
traditions I have ever seen!!
Another
thing that you may not know about South America is that the people here
are not exactly the best in the world when it comes to music. And the
wards are not quite as big as they are in the United States so every
week I get to lead the music in Sacrament meeting and Relief Society and
Hermana Jenkins plays the piano. I don't know what we are going to do
when she leaves because no one else in the ward knows how to play
piano!! I might end up regretting all the years that I didn't practice
piano!! haha I mess up even when I'm leading the music because I don't
know all the words to the songs in Spanish so I lose my place every now
and then as I am leading and just sing non-sense trying to follow what
the congregation is singing as I try to find my place again. Haha So
fun.
They
also don't really have pie here. They make one lemon pie and that's really it for pie so on pie day we made some chocolate pudding pie for
the activity with the substitute ingredients that we could find here in
Chile (a cream that they put on the cakes that is almost a pudding
texture and oreos!). You would not believe the way they were raving
over this pie!! haha it was hilarious!! it was gone in seconds and
everyone was asking for the recipe so we had an activity on Friday to
teach all of the women in relief society how to make chocolate pudding
pie! haha It was funny.
In
other news!! We were knocking doors the other day and trying to find a
few people that had said that we could come back in another moment to
share our message with them and had three doors slammed in our faces. So
we decided to just talk to some people in the streets because we had
already passed for all of the houses that we had in plans for the next
hour or so and as we started walking down the street, we saw this old
lady walking carrying a whole bunch of groceries and we decided that we
were going to go help her. So we went up and asked if she wanted any
help and her response was "no no. my house is just over there. I'm
alone. (she started crying in this moment) My husband died a year and 3
months ago and now I am all alone." So we took her groceries, which were
actually pretty heavy for this poor little old lady, and we helped her
across the street and into her house. Then we sang to her the song
"Families can be together forever" and shared with he the message of the
Plan that God has for each and every one of us and promised her that
she would be able to see her husband again. She thanked us over and over
again and said that ever since her husband died she has never really
been alone because people like us always pass by just when she needs
them the most. It is amazing how the Lord can work through the people
here on this earth!! I am so thankful that I can be a tool in his hands
here on this earth to help others to receive the message of the
restoration of the gospel!! OUR MESSAGE CHANGES LIVES!! And when people
come to know that our message is true, there is a difference in their
lives. There is a light and a hope that comes that helps them through
all of the challenges of this life!! I am so thankful that I can be a
missionary to share this gospel and this hope with the world!! I know
that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true!! That is
why I am so happy! That is why the people that we teach are so happy! We
are here to help the people to feel the spirit of God testify the
truthfulness of our message to their hearts. We help people to find the
answers for themselves!! Once again... I would like you all to know
that I AM SO HAPPY!!!
I love you all!!! Thank you for all of your support and your emails!!!
Hermana Harvey
We always have the BEST rainbows I have ever seen in my life here!! Really big, noticeable, complete ones! And it is not uncommon at all to see double rainbows! So beautiful!! |
Hmmm... Hermana Jenkins and I thought this sign was funny... we ALWAYS walk down this street but we had never noticed it before... they're inviting the homeless to sleep in this little park? haha |
Do you want me to send you some pudding/pie mixes so you can continue to wow your members, or do you have access to enough "substitutes" that you don't need them? Our selection was so limited in Armenia that we learned to substitute the strangest things for what we couldn't find and somehow, they didn't turn out too bad! But would be happy to send you some mixes! Love your upbeat letters! They make my day! Love ya, Sister G
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