Sick But Still Okay

How are you all doing?   I don´t feel good, but lots of nice people are taking care of me and I have been blessed with the nicest, most patient companion in the world and I love her and she is nice:)  

I am not able to chop wood, but the good news is my companion has become an expert in both wood chopping and fire building so we are not quite as freezing in the mornings...I am so proud:´) except the wood is wet again, but we are working on that...

Anyway, what else can I tell you?  Oh last night I had kind of a weird dream.  I was in Southern Chile knocking doors to teach people about the amazing restored gospel of Jesus Christ!  (That is not the weird part) and I knocked one door and Beisha Hernandez came outside...then I asked her if her family was home and she was like, "Yeah!" and I went inside and started teaching the Hernandez family.  Weird huh?  I was dreaming in Spanish by the way...So now you can tell Brother Hernandez that I apparently am really excited to come home and speak Spanish with him.

I haven´t been working a lot this week but the Lord has blessed us with lots of tender mercies.  First:  Since we can´t go out and visit people all the time we are writing them little notes jammed pack with spiritualness.   We went by one of our investigators that hasn´t answered his phone for the past month and left him a note with a plan of salvation pamphlet.  Then we called him two days later and actually got a hold of him and we have an appointment with him and we found out that he has been having a hard time and this just happens to be the perfect opportunity for him to hear about the restored gospel...It is amazing how the Lord is preparing some of these people and how the Lord is helping us to find them and help them.

Some of our members invited their neighbors over for a family home evening with us and we had a great lesson and they really liked hearing what we had to say.  I think the members liked taking part in a lesson like that too.  Afterwards Hermana Núñez and I felt like the sisters in the District videos that have perfect lessons with members so that was fun.  Also one of our contacts that we have been trying to visit for a month called us the other day while I was stretching my back and said she really wants to talk to us.  She hasn´t been able to yet because of work, but this week she is going to take a day off from work so we can come talk to her.  We´ve also got more members bringing their friends over for us to teach!  We are excited about that.  It is really nice that people are bringing investigators to me because I can´t go out and tract:)  Ah, the tender mercies of the Lord.

Well, that´s all I´ve got for now.

I love you all LOTS!

Love,

Lexie

Being a Missionary is Cool!

I am being an awesome missionary.  Well I am trying to be anyway...

We went by one of our investigators this week for our appointment and she wasn’t home, but we talked to her husband.  He said his wife was at the hospital with their niece and her baby because the baby (3 months old) was super sick and they weren’t sure how serious the problem was.  He asked us to pray for them and we said a prayer right there, told him we would keep praying for them, and we felt prompted to say we would fast for them too.  He was really grateful and it was AWESOME because we haven’t had a chance to teach him yet.  So we fasted and one hour after we finished our fast the investigator’s husband drove by us in his car, stopped, backed up so he would talk to us and told us the baby would be leaving the hospital that day.  Then he thanked us again for the prayers.  It was a testimony to me that God really does know us.  He knows what we need, He knows when we need it, He listens to our prayers, and He answers them.  He loves us.  He wants to bless us, and He wants His children to know it.  And so He sends missionaries to spread the beautiful message of the restored gospel to people who need it whether they think they need it or not.

Being a missionary is so cool!  It is crazy...I am a 19 year old gringa and I sit down with a bunch of Chileans and listen to their problems and then somehow the Holy Ghost touches their hearts and lets them feel that God loves them...it is sweet!  I don’t even do anything...

Anyway, that is the most exciting thing that happened this week.  We are working really hard with all the less actives.  President Hinckley said it doesn’t do any good to baptize the whole world if nobody stays in the church...so that is our focus right now.  The majority of less actives have testimonies and they know the church is true and all the ones we’ve been able to visit have plans to return to church someday...now we have to convince them that some day is TODAY!  Wooo!  It is fun.  We have a program where we give them an assignment and tell them we need them, then they are supposed to accept and come to church and keep coming back to church and then all their nonmember family members get baptized.  Want to know something cool?  It works:o  You just have to get over the first couple of road blocks...The thing is we tell them that we need them, and it is true, and they feel it, and then they have a desire to come and serve the Lord.  Take care of your less actives!  

Well, that is all I’ve got this week I think...I love you TONS...I think my letters sound scatter brained...do they sound scatter brained?  I don´t know.  I like it when you email me and write me letters:)  It makes me happy:)  

LOVE YOU!

LOVE

Lexie

Waterproof Coat Improves Quality of Life

How are you all doing? I am good.  Except my fingers are cold and it is hard to type fast...noooooo!  It has been sunny this week.  Which means it has also gotten colder.  It makes it really hard to get out of bed in the morning when it is 4 degrees (Celcius) in the house.  Because then I have to get up and start the fire with our green wood that some very inconsiderate person sold to us.  (I wanted to use a different word there but it didn´t seem appropriate as a missionary). It might be because I am a gringa, but I think it is because all of his wood is terrible...he sells green wood to the other missionaries too.  Argh:(  The good news is I bought a wonderful, warm, waterproof coat for...140 dollars I think.  It is AWESOME.  AND WATERPROOF!  Did I mention it is waterproof?  Lots of coats say they are waterproof and aren’t actually waterproof but this one is.  

It is getting hard to write to you people in English.  I have to translate some words in my head from Spanish to English...sigh...But when I am frustrated I talk in English...it is funny.  Yesterday at church we called one of our investigators to confirm that he was coming to church and then he told us he wasn’t coming and then when we hung up I started mumbling about the excuse that he gave and Hermana Núñez was like, "Uh, Hermana Wood?"  And then I realized I wasn’t speaking Spanish...sigh...

This week we visited one of the members who was one of the first to join the church in Puerto Varas.  His wife died a few months ago (the first funeral we planned) and he’s been in Santiago with his daughter ever since.  And now he’s back and he is living with one of his grandkids who is not a member and who has received lots of missionary discussions.  I wanted to go and teach the plan of salvation and subtly find out when his grandson is home so we can come teach him.  The problem is this beloved member is practically deaf and there was nothing subtle about it.  The good news is I think all of Chile must have heard us teaching the plan of salvation and we’re expecting all kinds of new investigators to show up at his door:)  Then he came to church 2 hours early and we had just finished up with a meeting and he wanted to wait in the room with us...how do you tell a near deaf man that you can’t be alone with him while there are other very spiritual and important meetings going on in the room next door?  We didn’t...we just took a really long bathroom break...poor Hermano:(

Brett, I AM SO PROUD OF YOU RIGHT NOW.  You can put that on the blog mom...everybody should know Brett is a genius...in Calculus...We´ll pretend the World History thing never happened;) I am practically in tears. (Editor’s note: Brett scored 5 on the Calculus AP test—highest possible.  He scored 2 on World History—2^nd to lowest possible.)

Ok bye I love you:)

Love,

Lexie

Inspired Piano Playing

Well, this week we had another funeral.  I played the piano for like an hour.  It was very nice and everybody felt the spirit which is really good because the majority of the people there weren’t members.  My companion and I left and she turned to me and she was like, "Ah, that was awesome the spirit was so strong the whole time you were playing and now everyone is going to get baptized!"  Ok she didn’t say that last part but that is what we both want:)  I also played in church on Sunday and everybody loved it and some people cried.  I like making people cry.  Is that okay?  They are crying for a good reason...I think it is okay.  Except I feel like somebody has to cry now for me to feel like I did a good job on the piano...But if they don’t cry does that mean it was awful or are they crying because it was awful?  I don’t know.

It has been cold and rainy here.  I need to get a warm waterproof coat...that doesn’t cost 300 dollars...Hahahaha....oh...sigh...I am just always cold!  Mommy would DIE here in July.  If you ever go to southern Chile mom, pick December.  Cold weather and a ridiculous number of dogs?  Not possible for you.  I hate dogs.  If you think I am adapting to the large number of dogs you are wrong.  Our neighbor’s dog chases us and barks at us when we are trying to get into our house.  Then I swing my umbrella at him and he runs away.  One day I would like to hit him but that would not be very Christlike and I have to be good...

Well that’s it for today.

I love you LOTS!!!!

Love

Lexie