Puerto Varas - Week 2

Dear Friends and Family,

There are dogs everywhere in Chile.  There are tons and tons of dogs and cats all over the place and the dogs are super loud.  I really can’t quite understand...It is kind of funny.  If you walk by some houses the dogs go nuts and start barking and then sometimes it sets off all the other dogs in the neighborhood and then all the dogs start barking and then you can’t hear anything.  Sometimes you don’t even have to walk by the house they just start barking if they see you.  Yesterday we were talking to one of our contacts and setting up an appointment with him, but there were three dogs behind him that were trying to eat each other and I was trying really hard to focus but I couldn't stop looking at the dogs.  Then we left and I was like, "Oh my goodness Hermana Wood, get your priorities straight.  What is more important, a son of God or a couple of dogs trying to eat each other?"  So now I am going to try to be a little more focused and not get so distracted by the giant dog population here.

It is supposed to rain here about 90% of the time but I got here during the 10% of sun fortunately.  Isn’t that nice?  I hope it lasts a couple more weeks, but I don’t know.  My nose is red. I need to buy some sunscreen.  One of the reasons I am glad it hasn’t started raining is because our apartment has problems.  The shower leaks, the toilet leaks, and yesterday something from the ceiling started leaking, so as you can imagine there are certain parts of the house that just don’t ever get dry.  I don’t know what we are going to do when it starts raining ... haha.  Speaking of my apartment, I told you the ceiling is really low right?  Well I hit my head on it A LOT.  Isn’t that sad?  There is a board that stretches across the ceiling and it gets me every time...I can’t decide if it is affecting my brain or not.  I know I am clumsy, but I feel like I have been extra clumsy lately.  This week we were walking in the street and there was one part of the sidewalk that had a bunch of little rocks and I guess it was just too much for me to handle because I totally slipped and pretty much did the splits in the middle of the street.  How embarrassing is that?  Then right after that we tried to talk to some people in the street and they didn’t really want to listen to us but they were like "Be careful walking!" and I was like...ugh...yeah...You would have all found it very funny.

Anyway, as a new American missionary fresh to the mission field I never know what is going on.  I try really hard to figure out what is going on, but I really just don’t know most of the time.  Sad huh?  It is pretty funny sometimes.  People would be shocked if they knew I was actually smart.  There is one investigator that talks to Hermana Zortman and I like we are the dumbest little girls in the world.  He is so funny, I love him.

Oh speaking of investigators, there is one guy we met this week that is super obsessed with family history.  He is crazy.  He has these enormous family trees in his house and all these little artifacts from Puerta Montt and Puerta Varas.  He is super funny.  I have a pretty good future planned for him.  First, he will get baptized.  Then in a year he will go to the temple and love it and then he will become a temple worker.  It’s perfect because he goes to Santiago all the time for work so he doesn’t even have to move!  I am so excited.  He doesn’t believe in God though, so we have some work to do but I don’t think it will be a problem.  He went to Santiago this week but he has a Book of Mormon and we showed him the cool genealogy parts so he will probably have read it by the time he gets back and then boom!  Hahaha, I love being a missionary.

I better go.

Love,

Lexie

I'm in CHILE!!!!!

I am in Chile!!!!  Isn’t that crazy?  I am trying to figure out how to type in English on this keyboard...It is tricky.  Anyway, except for the fact that I have no idea what is happening most of the time, I am doing really well.  But I'm serious I almost never know what is going on.  People try to talk to me and I just smile and nod and hope that they aren't asking me a question...

So Chile...it is super beautiful here.  I am in Puerta Varas near Puerta Montt and it is right by a lake with a couple of big volcanoes in the background and everything is green!  Weird!  It is seriously so beautiful I am so lucky.  Since there are so many Hermanas some sisters have to train two of the new hermanas instead of one...so I am companions with one of my companions from the MTC (Hermana Zortman) and my trainer Hermana Cartagena, that poor patient soul.  She is from Hungary and fortunately she speaks English but unfortunately I do not speak Spanish so I feel like she is kind of a solo act right now while Hermana Zortman and I figure out how to open the milk cartons and light the stove.

When I got here I just wanted to talk to everyone right away and then I realized I had nooooooooooo idea what to say.  It is really interesting to find out how much I don´t know.  Of course I knew that would happen, but it´s always different in the moment you know?  Also Chileans talk so fast...and they mumble...and they don´t say the s a lot of the time.  Even the Hermanas from Mexico have a hard time understanding some people.  Not that hard of a time obviously, but it is comforting to know.

There are lots of things to tell you and I don´t have very much time so I will do my best and if none of this makes sense that is why...Anyway, there isn't really any central heating so everything is heated with a gas stove or a fireplace or something.  All of the houses have enormous piles of firewood out front or in back and they told us that at some point we will be chopping firewood.  There are also lots of dogs in Chile and almost everyone has a gate around the house with a dog to bark really really loud at anyone who even walks by.  So imagine this if you will.  Three missionaries standing outside the gate shouting at the person inside the house about the message of the restored gospel and three dogs barking so loud that all the other dogs in the neighborhood also want to bark and then the Chilean inside the house shouts something back and the two confused American sisters looking at each other hopelessly.  It looks pretty funny. Haha.

I love being a missionary.  It´s so cool.  Obviously I have only been here a week but we just go out every day, knock on doors, get rejected, try to understand what people are saying and whether or not they are happy to see us or not, and then there is someone who says, "yeah sure come on in my house and teach me and I will be awesome and super receptive and make you so happy."  It is cool.

Oh I just remembered another thing about Chile.  Everything is small.  The people, the houses, etc.  In our apartment there is one panel of wood that is super low and I have to duck or I hit my head.  Super sad.  Because then I am always bending over and then the one time I stand up straight I hit my head on the ceiling.  Haha.  Dad would DIE here.  Seriously.  I don´t think he would be able to stand up straight in our apartment.  Maybe in most of the houses, but I won´t make any promises.  We were leaving one house and it is on a slope and I didn't really see the house next to it and then I ran into the roof...how funny is that?  And everything is little except lunch.  We eat so much food.  It is insane and I have to eat it all or I will be rude and it´s like...uh...I´m going to get fat.  We have a mamita that cooks for us every day.

Hermana Wood

MTC Week 5

I leave in a week!!!!!!!!!!!!  AGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That is scary.  I am pretty sure I am not going to be able to understand anyone when I get to Chile.  Awe well...Sometimes when I talk to people in Spanish I think, "Yeah, I am so cool right now I am talking to you in Spanish" and then about 2 seconds later I realize I have no idea how to talk for more than 20 seconds at a time without about 5 minutes of thinking in between.  But, that's not really all that surprising since I have only been here for 5 weeks after all...

 

Anyway, this week I have a funny story to tell; I am kind of excited.  I already wrote that I took my skirt to alterations because the hem came undone right?  And I will also remind you that the lady I gave it to was not the kindest woman alive and she may or may not have treated me like I was a shameless hussy for coming into alterations to get my hem fixed...So after about 2 maybe 3 weeks I figured, "Hey my skirt is probably done by now I am going to go pick it up!"  I went to alterations, picked up my skirt from a much nicer woman, took it to my room, noticed that the slit was sewn down, but the hem was still not sewed up.  Then I was like, "What the heck?  Why is that lady so mean?  All I wanted was my hem to be fixed!  Why is that too much to ask?  I am a servant of the Lord for crying out loud!"  Not really, but that's kind of how I felt.  Anyway, it was kind of funny.  Apparently she was really concerned about my modesty and it distracted her so much that she couldn't listen to what I was saying to her about the unraveled hem.  And apparently everyone else was so worried about my modesty they couldn't see the long flap of cloth coming from the bottom of my skirt.  I just think it is kind of ironic.  It is also ironic really because as coordinating sister it's my job to tell other girls when they are immodest. 

 

Mom sent me pictures of our family:)  My companions were pretty excited to see them.  One of them was like, "Wow, I'm so glad you showed us pictures they seem so much more real to me now."  So does that mean you didn't really believe me when I told you I had a family?  Oh ye of little faith.  Haha just kidding, but it was kind of funny.  Then my companions asked me about the picture where you are all holding me up and I am the center of attention and they were like, "Why are they all picking you up?"  And I was like...uh...I don't know...how did that happen?  I think it's because I am the favorite, but I can't really say for sure...haha.  Then they told me they didn't really see me being the center of attention, more just the quite peace maker that doesn't fight with anyone and goes with the flow.   That was kind of funny too.

 

I am excited to go to Chile.  Except I am scared and it kind of seems unreal...but someone said to me the other day that we only have about 17 more fast Sundays left and I was like, "Oh my goodness that is not very much time..."  So I am trying to make the most of everything.  It's hard to believe I have already been gone a month.

Hermana Wood

 

MTC Week 4

Hello!!!!!!!!!!

How are all of you?  I am good.  I like the MTC and I like being on a mission but I am getting weird and sometimes I miss being normal.  If I shake somebody's hand for too long I feel wicked.  Haha, no I am just kidding I'm not there yet, but I probably will be by next week.  I leave for Chile in two weeks!!!!!!!!  Agh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I get my travel plans Thursday or Friday.  Isn't that scary?  In two and a half weeks I will be in South America singing hymns in Spanish at church with a bunch of Chileans.  I think I am going to miss speaking English...I have a very nice Spanglish going on though right now...Fun, fun...

I am the coordinating sister so I have to make sure all the little Hermanas are taken care of all the time and some of them are pretty emotional and not coping and need to change, but can't...So I never get to bed on time because I have to visit them every night and half the rooms are on different floors.  Plus nobody tells me anything about my responsibilities so I am expected to know everything and everybody asks me questions, but no one has ever informed me of the answers.

As the coordinating sister I get to meet all the new districts and talk to them a lot.  There is one kid in the newest district that is just so weird.  He is funny, but he's so awkward that I just don't know how to respond.  Like, today I walked past him and he was staring at me creepily in the breakfast line and I was like, "Oh...hi...um..." weird...I just don't know what he expects people to do when he is so awkward...haha...it is funny.  It is interesting how often I am reminded that the missionaries are little 18/19 year old boys and 19-21 year old girls because they certainly act their age.  Did I mention that 3 out of 5 boys in my district are 18?  And one of my companions is 19.  Pretty cool huh?

I sang in church this Sunday.  I sang "I Need Thee Every Hour."  First I was going to accompany a girl on the piano and she was going to sing, but we started practicing and she was like, "This is a hard song.  Hey do you sing?  Do you just want to sing something a cappella with me?"  No...no I don't just want to sing a cappella with you.  But I did because I am nice and it sounded alright so it is just as well.  It is kind of ironic though because the Mission President just "happened" to be there that day because they released one of the counselors in the branch presidency.  But at least we have a branch and so there weren't very many people there.

Well I kind of need to go so I am going to go.  I love you though:}

Love

Lexie

MTC Week 3

Ok so one of the hems on my skirt...or one of my skirt's hem?  I don't know, but the hem came undone on a skirt and so I took it to alterations to see if they could fix it and all the old ladies here keep telling me how nice the old ladies are at alterations, but I just don't see it.  I brought in my skirt and the lady looked at me soooooo sternly.  I don't really understand, but maybe she thought I was immodest or something because she treated me like I was a shameless hussy...which I did NOT appreciate.  After I went in there I really wanted to say, "Look sister, I am a missionary on the Lord's errand and if you don't want to help me hem my skirt I will do it myself."  Now whenever the senior sisters tell me how nice those ladies are I have my doubts.  My companions noticed it too, I'm not just being overly emotional here...Maybe she was just having a bad day...

On Sunday I was called to be the new coordinating sister.  My job is to visit all of the sisters in my zone at night, talk to the needy ones, tell them if they are being immodest, and go to meetings...kind of a funny job really...Actually I do the orientation for new missionaries so that actually is kind of important so that the new sisters don't feel scared.  It's really funny because I feel like the people that have been here a week are so much more experienced than me, and I feel like I am more experienced than the girls that came a week after me...we count our age in number of days at the MTC...

IMy companions (I am in a threesome) and I are getting along really well.  Except one of the districts got broken up and I have a different companion during class this week and then my normal companions during the rest of the time.  Weird right?  I don't really like it just because I don't like switching back and forth but it is only for a week...which in MTC terms is like a month, but still.  It is good for me to experience teaching with just one other companion instead of two.  But when they asked for a volunteer from my companionship to leave the companionship it felt like the Hunger Games and after I volunteered we were all like, "I volunteer as tribute!"  It was kind of funny.  I am doing so much better with my companions and we have been growing a lot together.

Ok my time is up I've got to go.  I will try to hold back on my awesomeness so that people won't be intimidated;)

Hermana Wood

February 12, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

I have been at the MTC for two weeks and I think I have gotten into the schedule better.  Missionary life is pretty fun.  We study, we eat, we teach, we study more, we sleep; 24 hours a day.  Not much to tell really.

Except yesterday I was riding the exercise bike in the gym and the bike is on the second floor right by a window.  So I was riding and it was snowy outside and I was looking down over the trees and I was imaging myself in E.T. and riding over BYU Campus and then I felt sad because I can't go anywhere...It was pretty cool though...

Sunday the sisters had an orientation and we were told what we can and can't do here. We have been commanded to wear lipstick, banned from skipping, commanded to look beautiful and do our hair, and banned from all unladylike conduct. I didn't even have the desire to skip until she told me I couldn't...what can I say?  I'm a rebel without a cause...

Anyway the language isn't too bad.  I am very obedient when it comes to studying.  Obviously I am not fluent, but I am learning fast...sort of.  Well, the thing is Chileans talk REALLY fast apparently and so even though I understand the language in theory, in pratice I have my doubts whether I will really know it until I talk to Chileans for the next 18 months.  I learned a few things about Chile this week!  First, my teacher's sister went to Osorno and he told us that fleas are inevitable.  So I am going to get fleas...woot...Second, the mission president lets us do lots of service so we will be pretty busy I am guessing.  That will be fun.  And it makes sense because on the mission president's blog there are a lot of pictures of them helping out with flood and volcano areas...Well, we'll see in a month, won't we?  Oh, and third I will be able to trap a penguin and take it home with me when I am done with my mission!  Ok that last part is not true...but I will take pictures if I see any...

I am doing well, learning a lot and having a wonderful time.  Thanks for the letters and please send more!

Love,
Hermana Wood

First P-Day

My P-Day is on Tuesdays just so you know.  Also, If you can write your emails through DearElder.com that would be awesome.  It is the same as writing the email but 1) I don't have to wait for my P-day and 2) I will have more time to email you. Okay now for the good stuff. 

First...I got on a plane with about 10 other missionaries.  Then I got on a shuttle with about 5 other missionaries.  Then I got to the MTC with like about 1000 other missionaries.  Ok I'm just kidding it was barely over 600...Ha.  Ok so then I went to my classes got moved in, met my awesome district and my awesome companions, etc.  The first couple days were pretty crazy and intimidating, but now I am doing pretty good:)  Except I have to complain about the bed...I am so grateful that I have one, don't get me wrong, but it is was a rough couple of days.  First, it is as hard as a rock...second, the pillow is super puffy and I have to strain my neck to put my head on the pillow...Crazy right?  And then when I tried to sleep without the pillow the rock hard mattress was crushing my jaw.  I had a hard time sleeping the first couple of nights...and then one night I hit my head really hard on the nice little cinderblock wall and I fell asleep great after that...When I woke up I started to get ready and suddenly I just had this really bad headache and then I remembered why.  I'm not kidding by the way.  I hit my head again last night too, but it wasn't as bad.  And my neck is adjusting to the pillow.  But I seriously woke up with neck pain last week and it hurt.  But I am being good and stretching so hopefully my back will not suffer to much from my bed...It'll probably be worse in Chile so...yeah good news.

Well, like I said my companions are pretty cool and I love them, but I will admit they are way more emotional than me.  It makes me realize how much I miss Karrie.  I LOVE YOU KARRIE BECKSTEAD!!!!  Because I am just not that emotional.  Of course I am really worn out by all this business and spiritual enlightenment, but I feel like I am not really overwhelmed like other missionaries are...And nobody will practice Spanish with me:(  Because by the time we finish class they just can't handle it and it irritates them when I try talking or praying in Spanish.  And I'm just like, "Uh...well we are going to Chile so..."  But I need to be more patient with them so that they don't get mad at me.  And I really do love them, they have taught me so much.  Also, the elders in our district are pretty fun.  I feel like we aren't keeping very good focus lately and the sisters made everyone go around and talk about boyfriends and girlfriends and how many people they've kissed, etc. and I was like, "Wow...seriously?  I'm really the only one that followed the prophet?"  Haha no I'm just kidding about that, but I think it is something that makes us lose focus because then we aren't doing our work...because we are talking...about our significant others...but it's okay...It technically hasn't even been a week yet so hopefully we will be repremanded enough that it won't be a problem.  And we probably will be.

We have AMAZING teachers.  They are studs.  I feel like they have taught me so much and they told us we were going to be the perfect district so we have our teachers and the resource teachers constantly giving us help (or telling us the rules) which is good too.  I inadvertantly break a rule every day...It is amazing...But I will have six weeks to get it right so no problema;) 

Ok well I think I have to go soon...I told you the most exciting things.  Oh wait, no, did I tell you there is not enough fruit in this place?  Cause there isn't...at least it is better than BYU Creamery;)

Lexie:)

I mean Hermana Wood....

Yeah:)