Week 52! 1 YEAR!!!

Hello Friends and Family!! 

We've been looking for houses this week but haven't found anything within our sector so we're probably going to be moving soon but we're going to be going outside of our area to live in a house where Elders are living right now that's more safe than our house. And it has a wood-burning-stove!! whoo!! 

We have been working to try to find new people to teach and also with a sheet of names that the bishop gave us to find that are inactives that are on the list of members but no one knows who they are.  I love it because we know that our bishop really wants to help us and is looking for ways to help in the missionary work! :)  It's great!! We haven't seen all that much rain lately!! It has been beautiful!! :) 

Short story.. we were walking down the street one day after a lesson that went TERRIBLY where the inactive woman that we were teaching just wanted to yell at us telling us that she was fine and that didn't need or want our help.  So I was feeling pretty down and obviously, so was my companion.  It was late so we were headed back home.  As we were walking down the street, there was a man walking next to us and my companion started to talk to him about his work and family and everything and he said that he was going to the store to buy a few things.  So we walked and talked all the way to the street where we live (which everyone in all of Collico knows where we live because it is a pueblito muy chicatito) and then he stopped with us and we found out that he is a member of the church and that he went inactive when he was about 18 and that he wanted to come back.  When we said goodbye, he headed back in the same direction that we had come from.  He had been walking with us for all that time because he really has a great desire to come back to the fold of God.  God knows what people need and when they need it and we can be his instruments here on this earth but only if we are ready to listen to the spirit and follow where it leads us.  I am thankful that my companion was listening to the spirit in this moment and talked to this man who was walking by us.

I love you guys!!

Hermana Harvey

1 year mark!!!!!

We went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders... I got to go with Hermana Bretón :) Oh, memories.

I'm learning how to make Panchos!! Or, as they call them here, mantas.  our mamita is teaching us!! I already finished one but I'm not going to send a picture because it is a surprise ;)

I bought this manta from mamita :) It's pretty, right?

Week 51 - Valdivia

Here are a few fun facts about my new area...

1. My area is actually a little pueblito called Collico down by the river Calle Calle.  It is gorgeous and fun because we are outside of the city of Valdivia just enough that there are not a lot of people in our area.  There are no colectivos (like a mix between a taxi and a bus because it's a car that follows a certain path and picks up all the people waiting in the street until it is full and people just tell the driver to pull over when they get to where they want to go).  There are only micros (buses) so we always get to take the bus to get to civilization :) haha So my sector is really pretty and green because it rains a lot and there is a lot of country-side in my area! :) 

2. There are some really nice bus drivers that know the missionaries so sometimes we are just walking and they pull over and ask if we are going far and if we are they give us a ride for free!! :) I like those bus drivers :) haha 

3. There is a small village about an hour from here that speak Mapuche, an ancient language that was spoken by the Indians that lived here and now they continue speaking only Mapuche. They don't speak Spanish.  It's interesting because my companion is from Guatemala and she was explaining to me that it is the same in her country... Her uncle lives in a village where they only speak some Mayan language.  She told me that there are 22 different Mayan languages in Guatemala and they don't speak Spanish either.  And they live their lives very different from us... like... they don't wear clothes because they aren't that "modernized" and the children play in the trees like monkeys... Hermana Sarceño said that she went to visit her Uncle and was shocked when she realized that the monkeys playing in the trees weren't monkeys... they were children! Weird, right?

Welp, I'm already just about out of time! :) I love you guys!!

We walk on this old rail-road-track to cut through our area more quickly and I wanted to take pictures with these chickens :)

look... cows. On our way to an appointment, we decided to stop to take some pictures :)

Hermana Sarceño with the cows.

Week 50

Hello Friends and Family!

It has been pretty difficult for me to adjust to a new area, new companion, new ward, new house (which is FREEZING cold because we only have an electric heater in our room and that’s it), new people, new language (my companion is from Guatemala and apparently the Spanish in Guatemala is a lot different from Chilean Spanish) but I know that it is all part of God’s plan for me! I have been called of God to serve in this area in this time and God doesn´t make mistakes :) So that just means that I have to find my purpose here.  

My companion has been having problems with her back and also has a weird rash that is spreading all over her body soooo we have been spending lots of time in the doctor’s office... Which is SUPER fun... I get to sit there and listen while the doctors gets mad at us because we walk all day and they say that she will never get better if she doesn`t stop walking... Now... that is probably very true... But Hermana Sarceño has already taken lots of days to rest and the pain just came back... so there is obviously something else that is wrong there...  I walk the same amount as her and also carry her things in my backpack so she doesn’t put weight on her back and I’m fine... It’s just a little frustrating because every time we go to the doctor, the doctors search the symptoms that she has on google and Then tell us what is wrong with her... hmmmm... that’s a little sketchy, no?  So we’re working through that process :P The good thing is that all of the people are really friendly and we’re making lots of friends in the doctor’s office! :D haha

This week, God blessed us with a HUGE miracle!  One of the families that live in our sector has been sharing the gospel with their neighbors Elena, Fernando, and their son Chrístofer (we’re going to call them the Reyes family for now until I learn what their last name is) who were listening to the missionary lessons before but kinda just lost interest and didn’t have time to continue learning.  Well, this week this family invited them to a Ward Family Home Evening that we had and THEY CAME!! THEN... The Reyes family told us that they wanted us to pass by their house to teach them more and that they would be in church the next day! And guess what!! They showed up!! So we sat by them during church and got to know them better and in the end, they said that they had to leave early this Sunday but would stay all three hours next week!! :D WOW!! So we set up an appointment to visit them this Wednesday and got their number to call them just in case and gave them the Book of Mormon, explained to them a little bit about what it was and assigned them the introduction to read before we come on Wednesday!!! AHH!! We are so excited!! They are so prepared to receive the gospel!! I’ll let you know how it goes!!

I love you guys!! Take care!!

Hermana Harvey

On the bridge here in Valdivia, the people put these locks with engravings on them! They were pretty cool.

Uach!!

My comanion "UACH!!!" I kept saying "Watch! Watch!" And she didn't have any idea what I was saying. She doesn't speak English... I thought it was funny.

So I got really close to one of the sea lions and it kinda... I don't know how to explain it... growled at me and started to Charge!! So I got scared and yelled "Chuuuta!" and ran over to my campanion. Only after all of this did we see this sign that in English says "Sea Lions. Biting Animals. Keep your distance."  Haha I almost got killed by a sea lion! Whoo!

 Me by the sea lion.

Me getting closer to the sea lion right before I almost died.

More sea lions.

Week 49

Hello friends and family!!

My trip went well for those who are wondering.  I left Punta Arenas at 1:30pm by plane then took a bus from Puerto Montt to Osorno which took about 2 hours and another bus from Osorno to Valdivia which was about another 2 hours.  With all of the time that we spent waiting for buses and for other missionaries, I got to Valdivia at 10:30pm.  I was soo tired.  Hermana Sarceño practically tackled me with excitement when I got there because she has been waiting for hours :) 

Valdivia is definitely different from Punta Arenas!! It is super green here wherever you look because it is ALWAYS raining!! My sector is called Collico which is a little town about a half hour away from the city of Valdivia.  This sector opened up about a year ago and before that there weren't any missionaries here.  We're a little tiny sector outside of everything else! FUN! And our sector follows the river Calle Calle so we are by the river all day long! :) It's gorgeous!

It's super different to have a companion that doesn't speak any English.  It's funny because I'm trying to teach her English while she has been teaching me Spanish so I have actually spoken more English than in all of the rest of my mission!! I told her that in the mornings we are only going to speak English so that she can learn.  It's funny because she tries to communicate with me in English and she pretty much just points and things and says things like ."I table..."  "I want...." haha it's pretty fun!

I feel even worse about my spanish now because usually people can understand pretty well but when they are listening to my companion speak, they have no problem at all understanding so they just relax and then I can see their face change to a strained, "what is she saying?" face as they try to understand my spanish with a thick US accent.  haha But I know I'll learn lots with Hermana Sarceño!! :)

I love you guys!!

Hermana Harvey

  

Me and my mamita!! She is great! and she has guinny pigs.... (sp?)

came to our house to find a puppy!! yeah... we can't have puppies in the mission so we had to bring her to a member's house who said that they would take him.  Apparently, the Hermana who was here before me had a soft spot for dogs and they found this little dog abandoned in the street and knew he was going to die so they saved him. haha

By the river in the morning :)