I Called Home!

Lots of exciting things happened this week.  The most interesting thoughts that crossed my mind were:  "Oh my goodness, I am running to my cabaña in a foreign country in a skirt with my gringa companion to look for the legal papers of my Peruvian companion who is in the hospital."  Who would have guessed my first time rushing to the emergency room would be in Chile?  Not me...Fortunately the hospital is pretty close and we found all the important papers that we needed and my companion is doing super duper.  She has a "preexisting medical condition" but I am not exactly sure what it is and like I said she is better now so there’s not much else to say about that.  Except that I was scared.  She had to take a rest obviously this week so we went on splits with the other sisters in the zone.  It was good practice to be in a normal companionship with only one other person.  Although I had a little bit of separation anxiety without Hermana Zortman.  Haha, just kidding, but seriously I have never been a missionary without her and transfers are in three weeks!  What am I going to do??

Anyway, this week we got to call home!!!!!  As you all know obviously.  I was in the call center waiting for Hermana Zortman and Hermana Arias (for their 5 minute confirmation calls) and this guy started talking to me.  First he asked me what university I go to.  I told him I didn’t understand so he repeated the question and then I tried to explain that I am a missionary and then he just rolled his eyes and asked me in English where I am from.  Then I told him from the U.S. and then he asked me what university I go to again...so then I said I went to BYU but I am not in school right now because I am a missionary and then he rolled his eyes again and just asked me what I studied...I don’t think he understood the whole missionary concept...But we also think he was drunk so it’s okay.

Speaking of alcohol problems I think our investigator was intoxicated when she came to church...looks like we are going to review the Word of Wisdom concept again...sigh.  I am not sure why Sunday morning before church seems like a good time for anyone to drink actually...but it’s okay we’ll work it out.

Ooo, this week I have been studying 1 Nephi.  Good stuff.  I really like how the first section of the Book of Mormon is all about a giant family divide.  As a missionary I am learning about lots of families that have that problem.  It is really hard for people to watch the people they love make bad decisions and reject the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I think that is why I like 1 Nephi so much.  Nephi and Lehi pray for Laman and Lemuel all the time.  I am sure both of them would have liked for Laman and Lemuel to soften their hearts and come unto Christ and repent and receive all the blessings of heaven.  But the Lord gives us our agency and he can’t give us those blessings unless we are obedient.  You should all go study 1 Nephi.  Oh and go study Find the Lambs Feed the Sheep by Pres. Hinckley.  SOoooooooo good.

Love you all!!!!!!!!

Love,

Lexie

New Apartment

WE MOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh it was so great.  One of these days I will get around to sending the pictures of our old house and the new house and you can see for yourself how wonderful this news is.  The bathroom is twice the size, the shower doesn’t leak or have mold all over the curtain, the toilet flushes the first try, the beds are in the bedroom instead of the kitchen, the tables and chairs aren’t made of plastic and we haven’t had a single slug yet.  And best of all I don’t have to duck every time I want to walk across the room.  Haha.  It is actually really good because winter is fast approaching and it is already cold and wet inside the house and would have been hazardous to our physical health in another week or so.  Phew...

We are seeing some great progress with our investigators.  We talked to one this week who is about 70 years old and is trying to quit smoking.  She said this week she tried to smoke a cigarette and she couldn’t, it tasted awful to her.  I was so excited to hear that!  Then she asked what she should wear to her baptism and it just about made me cry because 2 weeks ago she wasn’t sure she wanted to even continue taking the discussions.  She is so much more alert in body and mind and it truly is a miracle.  The blessings of the Word of Wisdom are so real!  Just picture this: 70 year old woman that has been a heavy smoker all her life, and boom the blessings of the gospel and she is a new woman.  It is amazing.  She is walking faster, communicating better, and altogether just more alert and happy.  Ah:)  She said she had a dream about me last week.  She told me that I was all dressed in white and then she said I started blessing her like a Catholic priest...She is funny...

Our other investigator with a baptismal date is 13 and we had a really good talk with her parents this week.  She has to make a few changes in her attitude with her parents and around the house and show a bit more maturity before they give permission for her to be baptized but I am confident that it can be done.  She is so prepared and she loves church.  She went to church once before we had even taught her and started talking about joining our church right there and then.  And this week she brought a friend!  It was awesome.  She and her cousin who is 9 (who will probably also be able to be baptized soon) were walking down the halls showing their friend all the classrooms and the chapel...it was beautiful.  I love children.  They are awesome.

I am trying to remember other things that happened this week but I didn’t make a list...Oh, someone tell Alex I FINALLY got her letter and I forgive her and I love her:)

Well...I think that cover’s just about everything this week.  I love you all sooooo much!  XOXOXOXOXOXO

Love

Lexie

English to Spanglish

This week Hermana Zortman and I got a new companion Hermana Arias.  She is great.  She is from Peru, she does not speak English, she has been on her mission for 5 months, and she has been a member for almost 4 years.  Isn’t that so cool?  She is also really, really short and has no problems with hitting her head on the ceiling so that´s good news...

Dad wanted to know how I travel.  I walk.  I take the bus when we go to Puerto Montt for transfers and when we eat lunch really far away in Braunau on Sundays but other than that I walk.  Hermana Arias says our sector is huge and has lots of hills.  This is the only sector I´ve ever been in but I am glad that it is huge and has lots of hills because I don´t want to get fat.  Also, I have seen way more Germans since I´ve been here.  This part of Chile is a lot like Europe I think.

Yesterday we were eating lunch at the house of a member and it was super yummy and I ate all the food and they were like, "Here you need more."  And I was like...uh...no thank you?  But it was too late.  They gave me more and I had to eat at least some of it so I wouldn´t be rude.  And then the husband was like, "I know that you missionaries always say you don´t want any more when you really do."  :/  Ugh...And then to top it all off our mamita had a huge meal prepared for dinner because it was her daughter´s birthday.  And I had to eat that too!  It was awful.  I woke up this morning full!  Everything is cooked in oil and salt...but it is soooooooooo yummy so I can´t complain:)

It is getting harder to talk in English...I mean, I talk in English but with Spanish grammar and so now I just don´t make sense in either language...It is sad. And funny...I bet God has fun listening to my Spanglish prayers... Also one of the sister missionaries here is from Santiago and we were talking about how it is difficult to understand Chileans and she was like, "Yeah people in the south have horrible Spanish...I can´t even understand some of them..."  So now I feel better about myself.

This week we found another family to teach!  They are awesome and they have so many great questions.  The head of the house asked us, "How could God ask His beloved, perfect Son to suffer so much for the rest of us?"  That´s a good question right??  I don´t know how much it must have pained God to watch the Savior suffer for us, but I am grateful that both of them loved us enough to create this perfect plan of salvation and redemption.  I am not sure I am really teaching anyone here. I think I am just learning.

I love you all loads and now I´ve got to go.  BYE I LOVE YOU!

Love

Hermana Lexie:)

I'm Beginning to Understand

Dear Friends and Family,

Today I got to go on an excursion!  Isn´t that cool?  We went to go see the volcano and some beautiful spots around the lake and I took lots of pictures and we just got back!  It was fun.  So this week was great as usual.  Except crazy as usual too.  Our trainer got called to be the secretary to the assistants to the president.  It is a new calling in our mission because of the large number of sister missionaries.  Cool huh?  She is going to train trainers and she has only trained once...with us!  And we aren't even finished with our training so she has trained 1 transfer...it is crazy.  But she will be great and Hermana Zortman and I will get a new trainer who will probably be great too.  Except she might not speak English so I really need to learn Spanish pretty soon.

Also, good news...we might move!  It is a small chance, but we will see.  I would love to move...sigh.  Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful to be living in a house with a roof over my head and running water...it would just be cool if we had a higher roof and the water ran a little less all over the floor:)

This week I had a wonderful opportunity to witness the gift of tongues in action.  During one of our lessons with a family there were lots of very talkative people talking all at once and I had a really hard time following a lot of the conversation.  At one point the mom turned to me and started talking and even though I normally have a hard time following everything she says, I knew exactly what she said.  She said they have let missionaries from other churches in before, but with us she just feels more calm.  Her son had been asking questions the whole time and he had never done that before.  I think she really likes that.  I told her those good feelings were the spirit telling her our message was true and I think as we have been teaching this family she is really starting to understand that more.  I have been struggling with understanding people a lot this week, but I also know that when I need to understand, I will understand.

So dad asked what we eat here.  Well, we eat a lot of rice, potatoes, meat, a lot of soups, and salad.  Except the salads are usually just tomato or lettuce covered in oil and salt so I am not sure how healthy it is.  We don’t eat a ton of seafood here in Puerto Varas but I hear the closer to the ocean you are the more fish you eat.  We are by a lake so we only eat the fish from there...Anyway, yeah...I don’t know how well that answers your question.  The biggest difference I think is how much oil and salt they dump on everything.  It is yummy, but I might also be fat when I come home.  I can’t decide...I am doing better on my push-ups though!  This morning I did 42 man push-ups...you would all be very proud.  Although, in all honesty my nose did not touch the floor.  That was too gross...but they were still good push-ups I promise.

I was studying a few things this week that I want to share.  So in Mark 5 it talks about the woman with an issue of blood who touches the robes of Jesus and is healed.  Jesus immediately felt "that virtue had gone out of him."  Virtue means power or strength here.  I am guessing then that to heal and to bless was more exhausting than we might imagine.  And yet the Lord healed again and again.  After being tempted by Satan angels were sent to minister to Him, at which point he probably could have used the ministering of angels, but he sent those angels to John who was cast into prison.  After the death of John the Lord probably wanted some time to be alone.  John’s death was gruesome and sickening and I am sure the Lord mourned not only for his beloved cousin, but for the wickedness of his murderers.  And yet with infinite compassion he continues to minister to the sheep of His fold and feeds the 5,000 and teaches and loves and ministers to His people (Mark 6)  There was never a moment in his mortal life in which he acted with selfishness.  He continually turned out in love when we as the natural man would turn in.  And the greatest manifestation of his love is His infinite and eternal sacrifice.  The Lord begs the father to let the bitter cup pass (Matt 26:39), but he humbly submits to the will of the father and drinks.  At any point He could have said no.  He could have changed His mind about being the Savior of the world.  He certainly wasn't going to but sometimes we forget that Christ had his agency too.  And after suffering for the sins of all mankind, being beaten, betrayed by his own apostle and nailed to a cross He cries "My God my God why hast thou forsaken me."  No one understands the feelings of abandonment and pain more than the Savior himself.  He really truly knows our pain.  He really truly can heal our troubled hearts.  He wants us to be happy, just as our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy.  How painful it must have been for God to withdraw His presence from His beloved, perfect Son.  "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life."  

Love,

Hermana Wood

Spreading the Gospel in Chile

So the news for this week:  First, not too many calamities with the apartment this week, but we are still looking for a new apartment to rent.  We were talking to the zone leaders about it and now they feel bad so they are going to stop procrastinating and find us a new apartment.  We didn’t even exaggerate that much...we just told them about the ceiling, and the slug, and the bathroom, and the giant hole and the towels we shove in the cracks of our door to keep the wind out, and the general lack of space...hopefully that didn’t sound like complaining.  I mean, at least we have a house.  That is a blessing.  I’ve got to be honest though...I have cried twice my whole mission, once at the MTC and once out in the field and both times were about people I love who are making bad choices...I got really close to tears this week because of the bathroom...And then I realized how dumb that was so I started laughing instead.  I really like Sister Hinckley’s quote about how you can either laugh or cry and she laughs because crying gives her a headache.  It gives me comfort:)  

Now for the good stuff:  We have a couple of investigators this week that are really progressing and we are helping them get ready for baptism next month!  Our little old lady is trying to quit smoking and she got a priesthood blessing and she is physically and mentally better every single day.  It is a miracle.  I seriously didn’t do anything.  A bunch of other missionaries prepared her years before for the one day that she would be ready to change.  How cool is that?  Then we taught a lesson to the family of one of the teenage girls we are teaching and I had nooooo idea what was going on for the second half of the lesson, but apparently it was fabulous and we are hoping the rest of her family comes to church with her one of these days.  There is this one area of houses with all these ridiculously receptive children and they are all so excited when they see us and they introduce us to their cousins or aunts or parents and it is awesome.  Our dream as a companionship is to build Zion in that little neighborhood.  Every Sunday there will be a swarm of people walking down the road for church.  Sigh...I am so excited.  And then since they are all family they will probably all go to the temple together!  Oooo that will be cool too.

I try really hard to not let dogs and cats distract me here.  We were contacting the other day and I was shouting in the ear of a lady at her door and her dogs were barking so loud and she told us to go away because her children we studying and the dogs were distracting them...and then I was just like, "Uh, and why do you have so many dogs exactly?"  Then one day we were talking to an investigator outside her gate and there were a couple of wet muddy dogs fighting over who was going to jump on me and I was trying to listen and smile and pretend that I was perfectly fine, but the thought still crossed my mind that I should hit them with my umbrella...Sigh...cats aren’t bad until we get inside for lessons and they try to crawl into my bag...

I have met a lot of people that have someone in their family making bad choices.  It is sad.  I really liked the talk by Elder Cook this conference about agency.  We knew before we came to this earth that people would abuse their agency, but we also knew the atonement would cover all of it.  Agency is essential for our progression but it also causes pain.  I imagine that when Satan and his angels were cast out of the presence of God there were people that we knew and loved.  They were our brothers and sisters.  They included 1/3 of the host of heaven.  That must have been hard for us and even though we probably didn’t comprehend the pain and sorrow God felt, I am sure we mourned with Him.  God doesn’t want to lose any more of His children.  Not everyone will accept the message of the restored gospel, but great blessings are in store for those who do.

I love you lots, I’ve got to go now!

Love, 

Lexie

Musical and Brave

So this week was super crazy.  One of the sisters in the ward passed away so we had to help with her funeral.  She had been in the hospital for a while so I didn't ever meet her but we met with her husband a lot.  The funeral was planned and canceled about 3 different times.  The second time the zone leaders called us and said the funeral is starting right now!  So we ran from our house to the church in the rain and then we got there and they said, "It´s tomorrow..."  Sigh.  But by the time we actually had the funeral it was very nice.  I helped with the music and played lots of prelude and such so that was my contribution.  I am grateful that I can play the piano.  I can´t say much, but I can play and that is better anyway.  Plus it makes me feel useful because I don´t always feel very helpful at church.  People ask me questions and I stare at them really hard and try to figure out what they just said and then I turn to my companion and the person who asked me the questions decides to just ask her instead.  Haha.  Oh, except my companions brag a little too much about my musical abilities.  At the viewing the sister missionaries wanted to sing a few songs and they all started talking to me in Spanish really fast and asking me questions and I told them I didn't know what they wanted me to do and then my companion helped me understand that everyone wanted me to be in charge and direct everyone as to what to do about the music situation because I am "musical."  I really don´t think putting me in charge of anything is a good idea since communication is still a very large stumbling block, but there you have it.

 

So, I am a little wary to tell you more about my apartment again, but this is kind of  funny.  The other night there was a giant slug crawling up our kitchen wall.  Our apartment is gross as it is, a slug just did not make things better.  So one companion just crawled into bed so she wouldn´t start crying and my other companion made all sorts of less than helpful comments as I tried to scoop up the slug and throw it outside.  I am kind of wondering what they would have done if I hadn´t been there...but then when I went to bed I started having all kinds of anxiety that slugs would start crawling up the walls of my bedroom and there would be an infestation of something and I feel like I am only being mildly paranoid.  Today I cleaned the bathroom...but we are supposed to be positive in our letters so I don´t think I should talk about that...

 

Anyway, Conference was so awesome!  I got to watch all of it and in English too!  It makes me want to go be better...I need to repent.  Sigh.  One of our investigators came too!  It made me happy.  It is really hard to get people to commit to doing things that require effort...which includes just about everything.  She is 75, she smokes, she drinks, she lost everything in a fire in Santiago years ago, and has listened to missionaries before and this week she commited to be baptized and was just absolutely in tears over it.  We have lots of investigators, but I will tell you about one more.  She is 13 years old, went to church one time and now she wants to be Mormon.  We hadn´t even taught her yet.  Crazy right?  We will see how things go with her parents, but those are my manifestations that the Spirit is a whole lot more powerful than I am.  It is also amazing to me how the gospel is for everyone, at any stage of life and everybody deserves to hear the gospel no matter what age or circumstance they are in.

 

I love you all lots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Love,

Lexie

Easter in Puerto Varas

Dear Friends and Family,

There are so many awesome things that happened this week!  I don’t really know where to begin.  

First, I have been thinking that people would be really surprised if they knew I was smart.  But then this week my companion was reading Jesus the Christ (the companion that isn't a native English speaker was reading Jesus the Christ in English...yeah she is a stud), and she asked me how to pronounce some of the ridiculously large words and then I kind of wondered if I am actually as smart as I think I am...

Second, I woke up with a bunch of bug bites on my arm one night this week and I was like, Agh I have bed bugs or fleas or something! But I haven’t gotten anymore so I think it was a false alarm.  Just wanted to let you know:)  Actually one morning this giant bug crawled on top of my bed and I gasped really loud because it kind of freaked me out and then I squished it with my shoe and my companion started freaking out too.  It was funny.

Third, I wore my purple tights!  They are cool.  Unfortunately I picked a very hot day to wear them so they weren't as cool as they could have been...but that’s ok.  Fourth, I only hit my head on the ceiling twice this week isn't that wonderful?  I didn't fall in the street either!  It was great.  Unfortunately, the bathroom is still flooding.  Tenemos un lago en el baño...

Okay, so more important stuff.  Did I ever mention there are 8 missionaries in the ward right now?  Three companionships: 6 sisters, 2 elders.  The other two new sisters are 19 and from Mexico.  Cool huh?  The ward is a lot like our ward at home.  Just smaller ... and not as many musically talented people.  I played the piano in church on Sunday.  The music coordinator came up to me and started talking to me really fast in Spanish and I was pretty sure I understood so I just said yes to everything he said and went and played the prelude music...and then I realized I didn't really know exactly what I was supposed to do, but it was ok because I figured it out.  Anyway, the ward ... yeah.  It is like our ward.  There are lots of good people that love the gospel and that are good members, but that need to do more than they are doing now and don’t.  Our ward mission leader is so funny.  He has a daughter serving in Santiago right now so he loves missionaries and he knows we can’t understand what’s going on half the time but he is nice and makes us feel loved.  He can’t say "Wood" though if his life depended on it.  He says "Goood."  It makes the American elders laugh...its okay I can’t say any of the names here either.

So this week was crazy!  The weekend was really slow because it was Easter and on Friday everybody remembered that they were Catholic.  I don’t think Sunday is as big a deal as Friday is though...interesting huh?  On Friday we visited one of our investigators and he answered the door and told us he read the whole Book of Mormon in one day and that he didn't like it and he didn’t think Joseph Smith could be a prophet and he didn't want us to come back anymore and he wanted us to take our book back.  It was sad.  And weird, because on his progress record it says he did the exact same thing a while back with some elders.  We were walking away from his house and my companion was looking at the Book of Mormon and she was like, "its okay we will find a better home for you."  And then we visited another family right after and asked if we could share a video about Easter with them and the husband was like "Sure but can I make you some juice first?"  Yes...yes you can make us some juice you kind, kind man.  So he made us juice and we shared the video and taught a lesson with the whole family and gave them the Book of Mormon the other investigator rejected and the husband even said the closing prayer without us having to beg.  It was fantastic.  Now, I don’t know what’s going to happen but if nothing else, that man will be blessed for giving us juice. 

It is so hard to teach the whole family because none of the men hear want to listen to the missionaries.  That is why there are never enough Priesthood holders in the church!  Yeesh.  Every time a man answers the door and tells us we can come back I am just like, "Yeah! Priesthood power!"  The good thing is as sister missionaries it is easier to teach the women and their kids because we are allowed to come into their house and then we can work on the husbands after.  The husband of one of our investigators was never really nice to missionaries, but the other day during a lesson he came into the room and tried to pretend like he was busy so that he could stay and listen a little and then he left and pretended like he wasn't interested.  But it is too late, now we know!  He is so funny.  He is trying not to like us but it isn't working.  Next month his wife will be baptized and I think in about 2 months we’ll get him there too:) 

Well I should go I only have a couple more minutes left but I love you!!!!

Love,

Hermana Lexie:)