Hello hello from Chile! Its been another (short) but really
great week.
Ok my Mom keeps getting mad at me for not sending more
details about my life, so here is a quick run down of my days: At 7 we get up
and exercise and eat and shower and get ready, and at 8:30 we start personal
study. At 9:30 we start companion study and (because I`m training) we do
another hour of study at 10:30 in a booklet called ¨12 semanas¨. At 11:30 we
have half an hour of language study and at 12 it's off to the sector! Our sector
is about a 30 minute walk from where we live so we do a lot of walking every
day. At 1:30 we have lunch with a member in the Rama and lunch is HUGE here!
Like the other meals? Not a thing. Lunch ends around 3:00 and we go back to the
house after to do stuff and leave again to work at 3:30. From then on it's work,
work, work until 9:30 when we have to be back in the house. Often we get back
closer to 10:00 because if we are in a lesson we are allowed to be out until 10.
Then its planning (usually about 30 or 40 minutes) and getting ready and we are
in bed at 11:00. And then back up at 7:00 for another day in the mission!
We do a lot of contacting when we don't have appointments, but here instead of knocking on doors, we stand outside their gate and yell
¨hallo!¨until they answer. Sometimes they look out the window and see who we
are and then don´t answer, which I find kind of funny and a little sad. They're
missing out!
For Pdays we get together as a zone and play games, usually
soccer. It's awesome and I love it. I have officially become first pick for teams
because the rule is that Elders have to be within a boundary to score while
Hermanas don't. Buuuuut I can actually shoot so I have a huge advantage. It's
great! The rest of the day we eat empanadas and helado and buy groceries.
So Conference this week! Wow it was amazing! Everyone met to
watch it in the iglesia in Guatalupe and all the gringo missionaries got to
watch it in English. I´ll be honest, it was nice to understand everything for a
change! haha. However, so many of our investigators said they would come and I
was so excited for them and NOT A SINGLE ONE CAME. Ug seriously that made me so
sad because so many of the messages could have helped them so much. We are still
working to try to help our investigators progress but assisting church is a
huge stumbling block for most of them. But its ok I have a lot of hope that
some of them will assist this week.
Anyways love you all and pray for you all and hope you have
the best week ever!
Hermana Wittwer
Story time: I've been a bit discouraged with the language and
kind of feeling super useless in the work, and it was hard, but then the other
night we visited the familia Bustamante (my favorite) and the dad is the ward
mission leader and the mom was inactive but we've been working with her. They've
been going through some hard times so my comp and I shared some thoughts from
conference to help them. As we went to leave Marisel (the mom) asked if I
was always like I am. The word she used was tranquile which means basically
calm. I said it depends on the time and my language ability haha. She told me
that every time I come into her house her house feels more tranquile and
happier. It was such a small thing to say to me but it changed my entire
perspective and I think my entire mission. I realize now it's ok if I can't
speak Spanish super well because all I need is the spirit. They need to
understand with their hearts more than with their brains and if all I can do is
bring a spirit into a home with me, that's good enough for me.
Anyways the mission life is a rollercoaster but I think I'm
starting to be more and more adjusted and I'm starting to step up more and take
more initiative and have less fear. I really have changed so much already and
know I will continue to be humbled and I am so grateful for that!