Jueves, September 6th
Hey guys! Here I am sitting on my bed Thursday night writing to you guys on my comps alphasmart! My comp told me I could use her alphasmart to write my mass email this week! This is pretty much the best invention ever for missionaries who don’t have tablets and don’t have time to write out good mass emails everyweek. So mom, an alphasmart is what I would like for Christmas this year.
Yesterday, we went to visit Thalie. She is a recent convert from Haiti who has been struggling to pay her tithing. She lives in a small room with a little stove, bed, couple shirts and dresses hung up on the wall to wear,and a bucket which functions as her bathroom. She really wanted to go to the temple this month but didn’t pass the interview because she didn’t pay her tithing. It was a commandment really hard for her to understand the importance of because of how little she had and how much she needed that money. Last week we were able to teach her about what a privledge we have to pay tithing because we need those blessings from our father in heaven! We reassured her that it would take a lot of faith from her and that Heavenly Father would bless her with big blessings even for how little she had to offer. Yesterday,she was so cute, right as we entered her house she told us that she has decided to pay her tithing this Sunday! Even though she does not make enough to pay for everything she has, she has faith that He will provide a way.
Also, this week I put a goal to do more things that scare me.Its weird because I feel like the mission is making me more inverted so I decided to put a goal to do something out of my comfort zone everyday. Today,I started off my goal with a bang and approached a group of gangsters playing ping pong in the park. We challenged them to a game with the prize if we won being that they had to go to church with us on Sunday. They instantly accepted and then we instantly lost the game and then lost our dignity when they posted a video of it all on youtube 5 minutes later. So you guys can go check that out.
Viernes
Today we told Catherine that her and her boyfriend have to get married before she gets baptized. Right when the words left our mouth, her jaw literally dropped. It broke my heart but I feel that I have to have just as much faith that teaching her the hard things will be difficult right now but will bless her for the eternities. We are praying that she can understand what Heavenly Father asks of her will bless her forever.
Also, really weird thing happened us tonight. When we walked into our building and got on to the elevator )im living in an apartment right now= a drunk guy got on the elevator with us and started asking us a bunch of weird questions. I instantly got a feeling that this guy was not from our building and had different intentions for being on that elevator with us. The spirit made me act so fast that I tapped floor one again and said that [we forgot to get our bills down below.[ My companion was so confused and a little annoyed with me because she just wanted to go to bed but I was not about to turn my back on this guy. I have seen way too many kidnapping movies to let this happen to me. So we stayed in the elevator where there are cameras and the guy got off on the top floor, went to the first door he saw and [looked for his keys in his pocket.[ We got back home safe and said a prayer and felt that instant comfort we needed to go to sleep without being scared. In the morning we made the report to the conceptionist and he wasn’t surprised at all. There has been someone coming in at night trying to rob the people in our building and at the moment are trying to catch the guy. Super scary stuff but its weird how protected I feel here. Not to scare you mom but we are all alone walking in the dark every night but ive never felt so safe in my life!I know that it because the Lord really does watch over us here and we can feel His hand in every step of the way! And thank goodness for that because I seriously got scared back home for the littlest things ]good times Gary and Linda=.
Sabado
Rodrigo passed his baptisimal interview! He was so cute, he raced over to the church on his bike before our district leaders could get there so that we could go over the interview questions. He was so nervous to get to answers right but he did stellar.
We didn’t have lunch today so we walked over to the plaza and a big party just happened to be in town! 18 of September is Chiles [4th of July[ except they celebrate it all month long! They were having a big dance and one of the Chilean men grabbed me and pulled me to the dance floor. I honestly resisted and told him no ]believe me= but he literally forced me to dance. AND right as this guy is making me do the Chilean dance I hear [Hermana!!! Look over here![ … The young womens president took my photo and ws laughing her head off saying [Wow, youre so patriotic![ Even when I try to follow this [no dancing rule[ the Chileans just force me to disobey.
Interviews with President!
Today, we cant leave the house because it is basically purge day in Chile.In the past they have killed police and lit buses on fire. Super super sad.
But today, President came by the house to have interviews.I feel like maybe I am a little too positive in my emails but the mission is actually really hard. Like the hardest thing I have ever done. Before the mission, I had all of the confidence in the world. I could do whatever I set my mind to. But here, I feel like my weaknesses are more apparent and expections from others are higher. I talked to president a lot about how hard it is to feel like I am doing [enough[ or if I am [enough[ to do this work. I told him that sometimes I feel like I am not the best missionary and I am not meeting the expectations of myself or others. But today he helped calm my thoughts. There is this expection of the [perfect missionary[ for a reason. It is an image we have to help us improve a little bit everyday. Some people view this image and think they can never reach it and so they just shut off and don’t try. And there are other people who use this image to give them motivation or something to work towards. We are never going to reach perfection but what is important is our desire. God knows and sees our intentions and best put efforts. If we are humble enough to recognize our weaknesses and ask for His help, He will help us turn those weaknesses into our strengths.]ether 12.27
But it is also important that we look back at how much we have already accomplished.If we are hiking up a mountain and only focus on how much we lack before getting to the top, we will always be unhappy and disappointed. But if we can look back on how far up the hill we have already gone, we can always find joy and motivation to help us to keep moving forward.
Even the perfect of the perfect still had people turn away from them. Jesus Christ was the best teacher and was rejected by many people. Heavenly Father was the best father but a third of His children denied His plan. We may never reach perfection in this life but what we can do is try to be a little better everyday. And cut yourself some slack because its not easy to be a member of the church, a mom, a good friend, spouse, or missionary but our intentions and desires as we WORK to do our BEST are pleasing to the eyes of the Lord.
Little details. Yesterday the recetionist in our apartment building took us to the top of the roof! He was so cute, he took our photos and gave us a little tour of Santiago! Today for pday my comp and I threw a party for the zone and we had an open cereal bar and played mafia. Then we hit a pi;ata after outside and the latinos almost got us kicked out. Us gringos werent accustomed to how hard they go with the pinata. I also hit a little more than 9 months! Its tradition to take a pregnancy photo when you hit 9 months... enjoy!
Sarah Pulsipher
