March 26, 2012

Hola de Santiago Chile!!

  This week has been quite a good week and things have finally started to turn around in my area. My first two weeks here things seemed pretty dead and the work was moving pretty slow. This week we have found 6 new investigators that are all pretty interested in the message of the gospel. The awesome thing is the ALL 6 of them were references from members!! It´s so much easier to find investigators when the members help out with the work and introduce us to their family and friends. One of the references is a family of 4 (3 above the age of 8) and the dad is a singer in a tribute band for guns and roses. Their house is decorated all cool and they actually have a stage in their house. Their way nice and really open to hearing about the gospel. We are working on inviting all the others to be baptized and we´re actually hoping between us and the elders to have quite a few baptisms during April.

   My comp and I had some pretty interesting experiences this week. Saturday morning at like 4:30 we woke up due to a "temblor" or tremor. We sat up in our beds and looked at each other and were like "está temblando" (It´s shaking) we sat there until it stopped and then just went right back to bed. That one I think was rated a 5.3 on the rictor scale. THEN yesterday we were at the ward mission leaders house with the elders have our weekly correlation when it started trembling again. It started off small and the got a bit bigger I got up and out side I could see all the telephone wires swinging and everything moving. It was pretty awesome. That one I think was a 5.8. In case you didn´t know it has to be a 7.0 to be considered an earthquake. Those were the strongest I´ve felt while being here and I´m not going to lie I thought it was cool. Good thing in our mission we have a thing of "if ye are prepared ye shall not fear" so we´re all well prepared in case anything were to happen. 

  Saturday Morning we went and helped someone clean up her yard a bit and harvest her almond tree. Since we were going to do the service my comp decided not to take a shower until we got back. I decided ah what the heck I´ll just take one in the morning thinking I wouldn´t get too sweaty or dirty. It turns out I was right. Well when we returned to get ready for lunch the water in our apartment building had been turned off for some sort of maintenance so my comp couldn´t take her shower. After lunch we returned again and still didn´t have any water so she decided to take a shower using the emergency water we have. Just a little bit after her shower the water turned back on. haha. Great story and it was quite hilarious. 

   I almost forgot about one of the best things that happened this week. We went to the temple as a zone!! Oh I love having the temple so close. Afterwards Hna. Barmore and I went to lunch with Hna. Ewing and Hna. Gallardo (two other sisters from my zone). 

  Well this week something really big is coming up and I hope all of you are getting ready for it. ... General Conference. I am way excited I always love to hear the words of the prophet and the apostles. As we apply their counsels into our lives we can really gain a testimony that they are truly called of God. "by their fruits ye shall know them". The tremors that I have felt this last week are just another sign that we are getting closer to the end. It is important that we prepare ourselves in all ways possible. I know that they will give us the guidance we need to prepare ourselves as well as comforting words to lift and inspire us. I invite EACH and EVERY ONE of you to listen to at least one session of General Conference. I know that it will bless your life and give you the answers to the questions that are on your mind.

I love you all SO very much and I hope that you have a fantastic week.

-Hna. Howe

Here´s a few pics of me at Santa Lucia.

March 19, 2012

Hola!!

  This week has been a pretty great week. Basically my comp and I are starting from scratch in our sector. We share the sector with Elders but we´re the first Hermanas in this sector. There is a lot to be done in the sector and I´m excited to get working on it. I feel like there are a lot of in-actives that we need to help return to church, as well as several recent converts that need continued support and understanding of the gospel, and of course we need to find some new investigators to teach. There´s a lot to do! Which is GREAT!!

  Yesterday we had a pretty crazy experience. We had just left someones house and were on our way to visit someone else. We saw a big truck like a semi pass on the street. It accidentally got some electrical wires caught on top of the truck and without noticing just continued to drive. It pulled a telephone pole out of the ground. At that point the driver realized what happen but disregarded it and just drove off. It was pretty crazy. But also the power lines here in Chile are crazy and there´s always wires all over the place. 

  Right after that we had another cool experience happen. During church we had a visitor in our ward and she said she was visiting with a cousin that wasn´t a member and that she had the reference for us so we could pass by. We went to find her after church and she had already left. She told us what street they lived on and later that night we went to visit someone else that lived on that street. As we were getting close we were talking about how we should just knock the whole street this week to try and find them. Right after that the visitor came out of the house and introduced us to her cousin. It´s actually a little family and they seem pretty receptive and open to hear. I´m really excited to get to know them and bring the gospel into their lives. God knows each of his children and is preparing them to hear the gospel and he will just put them in our paths.

Well until next week. I love you so much!!

Con mucho amor,

Hna. Howe

March 12, 2012 Los Platanos

Alright I have now been in Los Platanos for a whole week and I love it. Last transfer was the first time there were Sisters in this sector so I´m basically one of the first Hermanas to be in this sector which is well awesome. My companion and I have been getting along really well. This week we offered a lot of service. We helped a sister remodel her house so they could move in by sanding a wall, and painting. Then later in the week we helped someone else clean up her yard. I love all the opportunities that I´ve had to offer service and get to know the people more through the service. My sector is divided into to parts and there are Elders that work in the other part. The other part is more ghetto and dangerous and we´re only allowed to go there if we´ve got appointements but we´re not allowed to knock there. We still end up seeing the Elders a lot and it´s awesome to work together with them. I´m hoping I´ll be able to stay in this sector for a while and that together with my comp find a lot of people and see a lot of success in this area. It´s honestly a really great area and it´s great to be back in the stake of Ñuñoa. I´m getting really excited for General Conference and I hope all of you at home are too. This time around I´ll be making myself some cinnamon rolls from a bread mix my mom sent me to keep up with the family tradition.

I love you all so much thanks for everything.

-Hna. Howe

March 5, 2012

Hola,

 CHANGES or as they call it in english speaking missions transfers. Last night I got the call that I´d be leaving Lo Cañas which I actually knew was coming. I am sad to leave Lo Cañas because there are so many people there that I love so much, but on the other hand I am really excited for my new area and my new comp. My new area/ward is called "Los Platanos" It´s actually in the Stake of Ñuñoa. Yeah I´m sort of back in Ñuñoa!!! This area is a little bit more.. well... ghetto. It´s going to be awesome! My comp is Hna. Barmore she´s from Utah and she´s awesome and we´re going to have so much fun together. I attached a picture of me with several of the Hermanas from my mission. My companion, Hna. Barmore, is the black one in the background. :D

 Today we lost three great hermanas from our mission one of which is my old comp Hna. Windous. They are now going to go back to the normal life. I am excited for each of them to start this next phase but I am also going to miss them SOOOO much. 

 I LOVE you ALL so much and I hope to be able to write a bigger and better email next week.

-Hna. Howe the chilean :D