Oh psych, guess what? Cambios happened. And I am leaving.
Well now that we have
that out of the way, THIS WEEK WAS GREAT.
Intercambios rocked my
socks off. Hermana Palma is the only girl in her family too so we had a pretty
super time with each other. We taught five lessons and all of them were
great!!!! It was so much fun! We made a lot of progress with one of our Menos
Activos and made a NEW investigator named Melisa and her entire family came and
sat down while the abuela knitted a sweater from her sheep's wool. Yeah. It's
always so rejuvenating to find new people to teach!!!! It took forever to
finally go into their house. We contacted seriously NINE people at that same
door before we finally entered the house! And all those times it was different
days, except for the first day we met the grandma in the street and she was
confused why we were talking to her and just kept asking how we knew her. And
then she gave us this big hug and a kiss and said, 'Sorry, I am practically
deaf.' and then walked away. And then about an hour later we were knocking
doors and came upon Rodrigo (Melisa's cousin) and then woopdeedoo comes the
grandma up to that door and she said, 'YOU DO KNOW ME!' hahahaha And then from
there we just met every single other person in there including the maid and
then FINALLY on Tuesday they let us in! And it was so worth the wait! This
family is very centered on living a Christ-like life and it was really cool to
be able to see that. They thanked us for what we are doing and said they love
our message and gave us a reference for their neighbor and his family too!!!!
That's pretty cool. I love them! When we were leaving a folleto for them to
read, they saw that we had about five and said, 'Oh give us all of them, we
will read them! Do you have a book?' Yeah. These people are awesome. I'm
excited for them.
We also had a lesson
with Victoria and Sandra! And wow wow wow wow! Okay so we taught the Gospel of
Jesus Christ which consists of Faith, Repentance, Baptism, receiving the gift
of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. The lesson was awesome as always
because Sandra and Victoria just have the greatest love to learn everything
they can. Hermana Palma hadn't met Victoria yet, so before the lesson, Victoria
started just introducing herself to her and giving her the background of
herself, and while she was talking about how she started listening about a
month and a half ago she said, 'And when I get baptized....' and just kept
going on about herself and investigating and stuff. And it was NEWS TO ME! She
just said it so nonchalantly! So the lesson was great! I can’t even explain it.
We were able to get out all of her doubts with everything. She said she is
mostly only nervous about being baptized because she doesn't want to take that
covenant on until she is sure that she will be keeping the Sabbath Day holy
after (which is awesome because she is obviously seeking for conversion here)
because she struggles going to church. Anyway I asked her where her priorities
are, and she said, Yeah I know. I just got to do it. And then we explained the
Holy Ghost and the Santa Cena and all of how the gospel of Jesus Christ is just
so perfect! Anyway I can't really explain all of the amazing lesson that we
had, but it was amazing! And she was trying so hard to have it all understood
so that she could teach it to Diego after (she told us that she tries to tell
him everything she learns because she wants him to progress at the same time).
Diego is her husband. He is awesome too! He is just really busy and we don't
see him as much as everyone else. Anyway we didn't put a date with her for her
baptism yet because she wants her and Diego to make that decision
together.
And getting baptized
in less than a year is a little scary because she knows she will have to change
her life a little and she doesn't know if she can do it so fast and then I
said, look at your Mom! She has changed so much and has only been investigating
for 2 months!' And then Sandra stood up and clapped her hands and said with a
little dance, ''Baje peso!!'' which means I lost weight! hahhaah (and she's
also been quitting smoking super well and there is just SUCH a special light
about her now!!!!) And we all laughed and then Victoria said that she also has
already changed so much and didn't realize it until then.
We told her to pray
about a time in June and she said she will. THEN we told her how great the
scriptures are to answers prayers or any questions too and said, 'Really? I
want to try!' And she grabbed my Book of Mormon and paused a little and then
opened it. I was thinking, '....oh...that's not really what I meant.' But I
didn't stop her and then she started crying because GUESS WHAT SHE OPENED UP
TO????
3 Nefi 11 and the
verse she read was when Jesus Christ is says, And this is the manner that you
shall baptize.
So it won't be too far
away before she gets baptized!!! We told her that we will teach her and Diego
together more. Oh it's so great! I love them so much!
Okay well...I don't
have much time to talk about much of the rest of this week. My companion and I
had a great time of power working since the moment we reunited (she jumped into
my arms....we love each other :)
And Pia is going to be
baptized soon too, we taught her the 10 commandments this week and invented fun
ways to remember them in order with our fingers.
And on Saturday during
our correlation with the ward mission leader, Jared, the elders told me that I
am leaving.
Which kind of sent me
through the craziest loop ever in my mind and I teared up ....a lot. Elder
Gomez told me that he knew how much I love the people and even though he isn't
supposed to tell us until Pday he wanted me to know then so that I could enjoy
my last Sunday instead of know so last minute and not be able to enjoy the last
bit of time with the people. It was really tough though because I wasn't aloud
to tell anyone. No one ever told me about the cambios part of the mission. No
one ever told me how hard it is!
Okay this is for all
the people that haven't gone on missions yet:
FYI: the cambios thing
IS HARD.
But really it was such
a good Sunday yesterday!!!! A lot of the less actives came back and Miguel
surprised us and CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!! I almost cried. I was so happy to see him
there. (He's Hermana Lorena's son that is less active and there is a whole
backstory that there really is no time to tell, but I seriously was so so SO
happy to see him in church!)
We weren't allowed to
tell anyone yet because they say that Presidente changes it up sometimes and
don't know if it's really for sure yet. So last night Presidente Obeso called
and called Hermana Oross to the position as the HERMANA LIDER, ...which mean
SHE is leaving and to serve in the neighboring zone in Valdivia.... which means
I stay in Valdivia! Until Presidente said that I was leaving and transferring
to the sector 'Patagonia' in Punta Arenas.
Well...Yeah so it was
a shock for my Hermana Oross and I. Everyone thought we would be sticking
around juntos for another cambio at least, or the very least she would be
leaving because usually the person that has been there the longest leaves.
...but no then we found out I am leaving, oh but then it's BOTH OF US LEAVING.
Until the Hermana Lideres called us to tell us that our house is going to be
the hermana lideres house now, which means Hermana Palma will be coming here
and working with everyone!!!!! Yeah it's crazy.
AND I AM ALSO GOING
SUPER FAR AWAY!
I am so sad to be
leaving, but I am so so so so so glad to be have worked here in the 12 weeks I
did. It's a strange feeling to leave a place full of people that you really
don't know if you will see again, but I trust that Heavenly Father knows what's
up and knows what those people need and what I need. I guess right now he knows
that I need to go to the bottom of the world and eat penguins and freeze. It
will be exciting. My new companion will be Hna. Parkinson. She's apparently
super awesome. I'm excited to meet her. I'm really sad to leave my Hermana
Oross behind. But I am so excited for her!!!!! Well....I got to go. Don't worry
my sad heart is okay, I know I'll see a lot of people again (in the Celestial
Kingdom hopefully) :) And today and tomorrow are full of plans to work hard to
the last second together in this great companionship in this great city and
with the greatest people I have ever met.
Valdivia is really
special to me. Yesterday in Sunday School they asked everyone what their
favorite part about rain is and they started the turns with me and I said my
favorite part about the rain is Valdivia. Everyone laughed a lot and I got to
see all their laughing faces. It was good. I am reeeeeeeeeally going to miss
everyone. I can't believe it. Ouch.
Well, I get on a plane
to go to the bottom of the world on Wednesday morning. I feel like I'll be
starting my mission all over again....
I LOVE YOU,
Hermana Olson :)
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