Chile Week 30

Wow so much has happened this week really. We have cambios tomorrow and I am staying here but Hna Usma is transferring so my new comp is going to be Hna Jorgensen. Who is the sister of Blake´s (my cousin) fiancé is what I have heard. I am super excited because I have heard such great things about her so I know we are going to be a great team. Also, Hna Clawson is going to be training crazy! and I got bad news about Hna Thomas, she lived with an hna in her first area who had tuberculosis or something and so almost all the people who lived there have it as well including her. But, I think most of them have like and inactive type I don´t really know but they still need to be treated but they don´t have the medicine herein Chile. So she was reassigned to the Tampa Arizona mission. I was so sad when I heard that because we were in the same group from the CCM so we are all a family. I got to call and talk to her and I cried she has such a great attitude about it. She leaves tonight. She just one of several that have already been or just recently were reassigned for the same reason. It just helps me realize how much I really want to be here and how much I actually LOVE serving a mission. 

 In other news we are still teaching Francisca... remember she´s the one I feel i knew before and we have the best lessons with her.  the other day we were teaching her about the plan of salvation and we were focusing on the purpose in this life and what we need to do here and we were focusing a good portion of the lesson on baptism. So finally we decided to invite her to be baptized because we felt that we should. So my comp invited her to be baptized and she was like, ¨Okay I´m going to tell you a little story¨  and so she continues by telling us about back in 1977 how her husband and her had a horrible relationship and different challenges she´s had in her life, which are many. So she was telling us how one day her husband left her and he came across to men in white shirts in the street that day and he talked to them and so he went back to her house and let them as well and they began teaching them and things in their relationship were a lot better. So her children and husband decided to be baptized... Then... she was baptized! I am pretty sure my mouth dropped open! My comp and I were like, ¨So... you´re a mormon?!¨ and she was like ¨yep...¨ She said that she was only active for 3 years until her husband left her with her neighbor. She said that she was nervous to tell us and she was just going to be baptized again but she felt she needed to tell us. My comp and I had these huge smiles on our faces and we just kind of looked at each other and busted up laughing. She said for several years she saw the missionary pass and wanted to talk to them but didn´t because she felt that we pick who we want to talk to. So finally when we talked to her she said that if we feel like we need to come back we could. So yeah now she has come to 2 Sundays and 2 relief society activities and wants to come back to the church. The whole experience was awesome. A lot of missionaries were like wow that sucks you lost a baptism but honestly it has taught me that baptism aren´t important it´s the person who is important. If you want baptisms go to the temple. The worth of souls is great in the sight of the Lord. That´s something that I really love about our mission here is we focus a lot of the inactives because it is just as important for them to return to the gospel as it is to baptize new people. The whole experience was really awesome and she is going to be such a strength to the branch here. 

 

We also are still teaching Frescia and she has a date for the 12 of April to be baptized. Can you believe that conference is only in like 2 weeks?! What?! It was JUST conference I am so excited to hear what the prophet and apostles have to say. I never realized how amazing conference is until my mission. Actually I didn´t realize a lot of things really. I love being here and serving and learning so much. The Lord has truly blessed me with this opportunity to know these people and testify to them everyday.

 

I love you all and hope you ave a great week. 

Love, 

Hermana Fast

 

 

Chile Week 29

No letter this week.

Chile Week 28

Almost no one in my family has written me in a really long time except mom and dad...write me people

 

This week was very uneventful to be completely honest but I did go back to pick up my carnet. It was a ton of fun to go back there and feel like I was back in my ¨home¨. I miss that place and the members so much. That ward was seriously the BEST. Anyways the whole way there I was praying that I would see one on my favorite families or my convert just in town because we can´t go visit. We were in the chile walmart because I was buying peanut butter and a couple of other things that don`t have near me and I was in the check out line when I looked up and all of a sudden I my eye contact with a familiar face! Sandra and oscar Robles! Who are like my absolute favorite family. We all ran and I gave her a hug and shook his hand and we talked for a while and I wrote their daughter a little note cause she wasn`t with them. It was seriously a tender mercy of the Lord I almost started crying and I was super happy the rest of the day. It was awesome. 

 

Other than that not much happened this week other than I threw Hna Usma a surprise birthday party and our stake had conference which was really nice. All the talks were incredibly spiritual and all of us missionaries sang a special mucisal number which made everyone cry. One of our investigators was there and it was awesome because she could feel the spirit. We hope that she will want to come back next week as well. I had another division with Hna Cox (sister coordinator) and it was amazing I learned a lot she is such a great missionary and super chill. She will be finishing her mission in July and we both are really hoping we will be comps before she goes home. I can`t believe next month I hit my 9 months mark....What?! Crazy! I feel so blessed for all the experiences and things ´ve learned thus far. My testimony has truely been strenghten times like 500. 

Well I hope everyone has a great week and actually writes me... Okay love you all.

 

Con amor,

Hermana Fast

 

 My feet are beautiful :)

 

Chile Week 27

(I guess there were two letters this week. Both these emails had the same date on them)

I had so many letters this week thanks so much everyone for writing me you all are so amazing! This week was honestly a week of miracles. We found so many new people that are really gems and one of them right already went to church and wants to be baptized, and it´s a guy! I can´t even believe how hard it is to find guys to teach that aren´t creepy towards us! It almost never happens! I really hope he progresses because he can be a real strength to this branch because they don´t have very many priesthood holders here. Before my mission I just didn´t realize how amazing and difficult it is to find a worthy priesthood holder. It really is such a gift that the Lord has restored his authority on the earth again so that worthy men can bless others. 

Every single day this week we had a different miracle but my favorite one was with this old women that we contact last week that was super closed off when we talked to her but after we talked to her a while and softened her heart she said she would listen to us but ¨she wasn´t going to change her religion¨. We went back a few days later and we taught her. Before the lesson I sang her a song because my comp doesn´t like to sing much but it´s a good way to bring the spirit real quick. After we sang she just stared at me and was like ¨wow that´s a real gift. Not everyone can do that you really need to share that with others.¨ I thought in my head ¨have you been talking to my mom lately?...¨ haha But I said thank you and after that the lesson was amazing and very spiritual. She had a lot of great questions and she meditated a lot of things we said and she wants to keep listening and said she would pray to really know if these things are true. Everytime I look at her I can feel the spirit testify to me that I knew her before this life, it really is the coolest thing. The first time I saw her I got the goosebumps and ever since when we look each other in the eyes we both know eachother so well. I had a tough day yesterday and we went by her house but she had family over so she said that we could come back tues. And she looked at me and was just like ¨Why are your eyes crying?¨and I was like Ï´m not crying.¨ and she looked at me and then I actually did start crying. She said some really beautiful things to me that all had to do with what I was struggling with and it was amazing. I know I knew her before because I have the deepest love for her and I´ve only met her like 2 times. The Lord works through his children to help others, I have such a testimony of this. I know that this church is true and true blesses people. We all still have struggles and weaknesses but through Christ he gives us hope and helps lift our burdens. The power of Christ´s atonement applies to every aspect of our lives. I know this to be true and I am so thankful to be able to share that hope with others everyday. I love you all and hope you have a great week. 

 

Well this week was really awesome. We had lunch with the Walls (a married missionary couple) and they are the cutest. They made us hamburgers and we had packet ranch salad dressing!!!! I t was amazing.

Also, we were able to teach a lot of our investigators and see their progress. We have some pretty solid investigators that I feel so blessed that the Lord has trusted me to teach. We are teaching about 4 people regularly that have some great potential. 2 of them we taught about the book of mormon and they both were so excited to be able to read it. Their reaction took us both of guard. Yesterday we seriously had the most amazing lesson of my entire life! Remember the old women Francisca I told you about that I felt like I knew her before? She comforted me when I was crying like a week ago? Yeah well all this week it was really hard to find her until Sat. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and she was super stoked to read it but she said that sometimes she doesn´t understand things so we offered to come back the next day to read a little bit with her and answer her questions. She said she would like that so we went back to her house yesterday thinking we would just read with her. She answered the door and she was so happy to see us and ask us questions. We walked in and sat down and she was like ¨Today I´ve been reading that book you gave me and I have a few questions about Jacob 5 and also the Jaredites.¨  I asked, ¨You started from the beginning today?¨ and she was like ¨yeah I just finished Jacob and also studied a little bit from the back about the timeline of the destruction of Jerusalem¨.

My mouth literally dropped open. She read the first three books f the book of mormon just yesterday and understood everything. She then asked us different questions we had and we tried to answer them as best we could but some of them were really profound I was really sure what to say. After, she began to tell us of the different things that the book of mormon made her think about and the feelings she had while reading it. Then she was like ¨And I thought how could I apply the Iron rod in my life? and I realized that it was the word of God.¨ My comp and I were in aww when she was explaining all these things we could not believe it. The spirit was so strong as she was baring her testimony to us that she knew the book was true and she was so thankful to have all the personal revelation that it and joseph smith helped her to have. In my entire mission and possibly my life I have never felt the spirit SO STRONG. It was almost immobilizing. She later began to explain that she didn´t want to change religions though because she had been so long in hers. She told us before how since the first time she saw us she knew there was something special about us and she feels it every time we come and she was thankful for us and she asked if she could keep the book of mormon. I almost cried but I fought it back and listened to the spirit to know what to say to her. I told her not to be afraid of change and that the Lord will guide her and take care of her if she feels she is doing his will. I told her how from the moment that I looked at her I got the goosebumps and felt that I knew her before this life and she was someone very special to me. My comp and I continued to say the things that we felt inspired to say to her and we finally convinced her to let us continue meeting with her. After the lesson Hna Usma and I were in shock and we both agreed we had never felt the spirit so strong in our entire lives. We were sitting in our study room talking about it and I was like, ¨I felt the spirit so strong I almost don´t even know how to explain it and I feel t a little bit right now talking about it too.¨ and she was like ¨yeah me too. That was the most amazing lesson of my entire mission.¨ 

As I am writing this story over briefly and not giving it the justice it deserves I can feel the spirit as well. I know that she is one of the people I promised before I would not give up on and am so grateful to feel the spirit testify that to me. I know that the book of mormon is true and that it is the word of God and that it can truly change lives. I know that if we study it´s words and are humble enough to apply it in our own lives we will receive that testimony for ourselves. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and he truly did restore the gospel of Christ on the earth again. I hope that you all can read this and feel that same spirit that I did and follow the example of Francisca and cherish the words of the prophets. My challenge is for everyone to read the book of mormon and pray to know it is true. I know that you will receive that answer and receive that desire to follow Christs example.

I love you all and I hope you have a great week. 

Con Mucho amor, 

Hermana Fast

Chile Week 26

No "mass" letter this week.

Chile Week 25

This week I focused a lot more on humility and patience and have been reading a lot about the atonement. I have made my own personal goals to serve my companion more and not complain about things because it`s not being humble. This week was pretty tense but then yesterday we had an awesome day. I was feeling honestly pretty sick but I decided that I wanted to work still because I figured it would wear off. I prayed for the strength to go and work and for us to actually have success. We started out contacting for about an hour and no one would listen to us so we decided to go look for some menos activos that usually are never home but we had then in our plans. So we went to there house and they were home they were super nice and want us to come back. Then we went to look for some old investigators that we found in the area book the night before. We passed by one house but remember that we had talked to him before so we started walking towards a different lady we had written down. We passed a woman and I asked how she was doing and she said was like ¨I`m great how are you two? Are people receiving you well? Do you want to come to my house and drink something?¨ Hna Usma and I both looked at each other like Uhhh who is this women and why is she being so nice. So we ended up going to our house and gave us something to drink and we started talking to her and she told us how she had met with missionaries before in San Bernardo and how she had a book of mormon. Then suddenly someone ¨Alloed¨ at her door and she let her friend in. So we started talking to her friend and she was like ¨my name is Sarah.¨ and I thought oh my goodness this might be the women that we were walking to her house that we found in the area book because no one here has that name. So I asked where she lived and she said the street I had written down so then I was like what is your apellido and she said the apellido that I had written down. It was so awesome because no matter what we needed to find her yesterday at that time! Even though we had a distraction the Lord provided a way for us to still find her. It was amazing then they both said we could come back and they would bring more friends the next time. It was such a testimony of how important it is to plan with the spirit. Then later we were walking to our house and contacted another women that wants to hear from us. It was just a day of miracles and it was so awesome to be an instrument in the Lord´s hands again. After that Hna Usma and I made up and we are totally fine. We realized that we are a strong team and the Satan is going to try and tear us apart so that we can´t be as effective as we know we can be. It really was amazing. I also had a division with Hna Cox and it was amazing and I learned a ton. Well that`s all I have time to write right now but I love you and hope you have a good week. 

 

Love, Hna Fast

Chile Week 24

No letter this week lol.