Week 2 in Chile

¡Hola everyone! ¿Comó estan?

Oh I miss you all so much!! I really do think about you everyday!

Mom you asked a lot of questions at the end of your email which is great! So I´m just going to answer those real quick first.

1. I´m living in an apartment. It´s a pretty nice apartment. It´s 2 bed 2 bath although one of the bedrooms is only used for storage. We have a washer in our apartment which is nice so we can do laundry whenever and we have a small kitchen. It strange but one of the things I miss is warm water coming out of the tap. That doesn´t happen too often here.

2. The food... It´s fantastic!! we have lunch with members everyday and it´s always SOOO good and there is usually a lot of it. It is a little difficult to eat gluten free here. I feel like I´m starting the process all over again, and I´m so bad I have eaten a couple of things with gluten. It´s just that I never have the time to cook things that are gluten free. The members are so great at it though. I usually eat trix for breakfast, yes they actually have it here, it´s not quite the same but it´s the only gluten free cereal here, I still love it though. I was very sad when we went to the store today and they didn´t have any. It´s really so hard when I can´t have the things I can have.

3. Nope I don´t have a maid as I mentioned we have our own washer so we do all our own things. (even including hand washing the dishes) :)

4. Each companionship has a cell phone it´s nice to have so we can get a hold of members and other missionaries whenever we need to.

5. We don´t have a car. We walk everywhere which is fine by me. The streets are always crazy here and I think I´d rather walk. Also our sector is pretty small, for driving anyways. I don´t know if i mentioned in my last letter but the entire mission in only 20 miles by 7 miles and there are a lot of sectors within there.

6. What is my day like?... We wake up at 7:30 nice I know. Then we exercise and get ready until 9 and 9 we have personal study. At 10 we have companionship study. 11 we have language study. At 12 we finish our studies and go out visiting people or contacting until lunch at 1:30. Lunch is suppose to be an hour long but a lot of times it goes longer. Then after lunch we go teach, knock, and all the regular missionary things until 10. We return at 10, plan, get ready for bed, and go to sleep by 11:30. Compared to my sleep schedule before my mission this is pretty nice but somehow I never really feel rested.

This week has been much different than my first week, it´s still been really tough but it´s been much more enjoyable. We actually have investigators now and I love just spending time teaching them. My first week here we spent most of our time knocking which I did not like so much. Almost everyone rejects us. There was one house we knocked and the woman said I don´t have time right now come back Wednesday. So we did, I was expecting her to have forgotten, or maybe not even let us in. But when we got there she had totally remembered she opened her door right away and invited us in. We asked her why she was so willing to receive us and she said it was because she wants to have a religion she just doesn´t know which one is right. I was so happy. I really hope things go well with her and that she does come to know that many of us have that this church ARE true and that it really does bless lives and families. That experience gave me a whole different outlook on knocking. It may not be fun or easy but it´s a way to show my faith to heavenly father and my dedication to serve him.

I love this gospel and this opportunity I have to serve, to learn, and to grow. Most of all I love my Heavenly Father.

-Hna. Howe

First Week in Chile

Hola! ¿Comó estan?

Well Chile is a very different place. I´m so glad that I´ve been out of the country before it´s not an entire culture shock this time. Everything is different here and it´s hard to even compare it to the US. The climate here is basically the same as Salt Lake just with a lot more population. In case you didn´t know my mission is the smallest mission in the world but there are approx. 3.5 million people that live in this area. The sector I´m in right now is called Ñuñoa 1. I have two companions Hermana Wojciechowski (would-cha-cow-ski) is my trainer and then there´s Hermana Widous (wind-es). Right now we´re whitewashing the area. In other words we´re basically starting from scratch here. We´ve been knocking a lot and have been rejected just about every time. A while ago Chile had a real boost in converts so the church has the strength for numbers but unfortunately a lot of people went inactive so a big part of our mission is reactivation. The less actives here are a lot different than in Utah. They still believe everything, they´re happy to see the missionaries and will even offer the prayer for us when we´re there. It´s like they would be faithful they just don´t have a full understanding.

Ok so Chile is cold, ha ha. It´s fall right now and I really wasn´t expecting it to get as cold as it does. All the homes and apartments don´t have heating they might just have a little stove so a lot of times it´s even colder in the homes than it is inside. As you have heard I lost my jacket on the plain I bet by now you have guessed which one, my grey banana republic one that I wore in all my mission photos. I´m so sad about it and I probably will never see it again. Today we went and looked at jackets but I´m a lot taller than the average person here and therefore have longer arms so none of them fit.

I don´t know what I really expected of the mission field but I can tell you this is very different than anything I thought of. It is hard in every way possible. I´m not going to lie I have got a little depressed and home sick. I miss everyone at home, and I miss everyone at the MTC. I wonder a lot if the other missionaries in my district are having as hard of a time as I am. Sometimes I think can I really do this for a year and half. My companions just keep telling me the first transfer is the hardest and it goes by fast. I feel bad wanting my mission to go by fast because I have a feeling I really don´t want it to.

The language... It´s difficult. The chilean accent is very difficult they speak really fast, mumble, and put all their words together. I´ve heard that if you can understand Chilean spanish you can understand all spanish. I am understanding more and more each day but I still can´t say much. I´m trying but I know I could try harder.

Well I love you all and I miss you all so much!!! Hna. Howe

Mision Chile Santiago Este

Pedro de Valdivia 1423

Providencia

Santiago

Chile

Sister Howe, Santiago Airport

Six wonderful new missionaries arrived on Tuesday May 17, 2011. We loved them instantly. They are dedicated and happy. They speak Spanish really well already. Sister Howe lost her jacket on the plane, so President loaned her his jacket to stay warm. (copy from the her mission's blog)

I'm here in Santiago.

Ultimo semana!

Hola!
It's my last week here at the MTC!!! Oh my goodness! It's so crazy I'll finally be going to Chile!!! I am so excited to go. I have to leave the MTC at 10:00 in the morning even though my plane doesn't leave until 1:50 I don't know when I'll be calling. It will probably be sometime between 12:00 and 1:50 though when I'm at the airport. I'm planning on calling mom's cell phone. SO MOM keep your phone on you and ANSWER it :) if you would like me to call a different number write me a dear elder with the number and who's it is because I really don't remember anyone elses numbers. I have copied my travel plans and I will be sending it home this week.
Ok so for the big things that happend this week... We had our tuesday night devotional last night and the speaker was.... .... .... Elder Neil L. Anderson. It's so crazy that we have had 3 apostles come in 1 month. I have heard that rarely happens. He gave an AMAZING talk. Oh it was perfect for me and so many other missionaries in the MTC. He focused a lot on the atonement. Which he should it is central to everything else in the gospel. He talked about what the Merits, Mercy and Grace of Christ were. I really enjoyed that because I have actually been wonder how to explain those three things to investigators and he did it perfectly. I will expand more on what he said in my letter home. After the Devotional my district and I waited outside to see him leave and he actually took the time to come over and shake all of the missionaries hands. I appreciated that, it was a small gesture but it shows that he really does care about the missionaries.
One of my favorite things here in the MTC has been playing volleyball in gym. My zone gets togeter and just plays and we have so much fun! This last week since the weather has been nice they opened the field outside. Out there we can play sand volleyball with out bare feet it is SOOO NICE and SOOO much FUN. I love my district and zone it's going to be so hard to say goodbye to them.
I love you all! I am excited for next week when I will actually have more time to email. Thank you for all your Love and support!!!
-Hna. Katie Howe

I love these sisters

One last picture of my MTC District

Fun times at the MTC

Sistere Kitto and Sister Howe

Week 7

Hola Everyone!

Alright so first off no travel plans yet. I was really hoping they would have come by now but they haven't. I would be really surprised if they didn't come today though since we only have a little over a week and a half left. Usually people get them two weeks in advance. Ojala hoy dia.

A few days ago I woke up at two in the morning and heard Hermana Van Patten talking. She had talked in her sleep the night before but I couldn't remember what she had said so this time I was paying close attention so I could tell her in the morning. As I was listening I couldn't understand anything because... she was speaking in spanish. It was hilarious!! I wish I could dream in spanish. My spanish is coming a long pretty well now. Hermano B. started a game with my district yesterday called El Nativo. Each person draws a piece of paper and if you get the one that has "N" on it you're the native and can only speak spanish for that day. At the end of the day everyone votes who they think the native is. If you're not the native and you get voted for your points are doulbled. Do basically the point is to speak as much spanish and much as you can to make people think your the native. I did such a good job yesterday. There were only a few times when i was just with my companion that I spoke English, the rest of the day it was ALL Spanish. It was pretty hard and my spanish was way simple but it was really good practice and I learned a lot. It's crazy how much Spanish I've learned in just 7 weeks.

I have been really nervouse about contacting. I've just gelt really shy and contacting just seems really generic and not personal. Almost like I don't really care about the person. In class on Friday Hermano B. taught us a different way to contact which I like SOOOO much more and I'm a lot more comfortable with it. Instead of just the generic I'm a missionary from the church of Jesus Christ and I have a message for you.... The way he taught us was to ask the person one of the questions of the soul from PMG ch.5. After we ask the question we validated the response, relate it to the atonement, testify, ask when we can come by, and ask for referrals. In class we went outside to practice our contacting. However, we couldn't contact missionaries. I really thought I was going to be really nervous and that Hermana Kitto was going to have to take the lead. It was actually quite the opposite. I was outgoing started the contact and Hermana Kitto was shy and quiet. I was really grateful for that experience. I have expressed a desire with Hermana Kitto that I want to get all my fears out here so that when I get to the field my trainer doesn't have to worry about that and instead we can just get to work.

I am so excited to go to Chile!!!! It's not too much longer now!!

I just want to say to my mother that I love you so much!! I'm very sad that I can't call you on Mother's day. You are so incredible!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!! LE AMO MUCHISIMO!!!

LES AMO MUCHO!!

Su Hermana Katie Howe.