July 6, 2015 Swimming in a New School [of fish]

(note from Mom:  This letter is long, because Annamarie wrote it on paper and emailed pictures of the pages.  Then I typed them up.  That's why she wrote wild scribbles to describe her feelings in the first paragraph.  That's also why it's out of order--it took me a while.)

Family,

To put it plainly, I was a little more nervous for this cambio than I expected.  I realized I had eased into a bit of a comfort zone this past cambio, and being thrown back into this sector with a few crucial items taken out, my comfort zone turned into a bit more of a [wild scribbles] zone. I was feeling overwhelmed and afraid of failing.  On Tuesday night, I prayed to Heavenly Father and asked Him to comfort my worried mind.  And I got an answer!  What came to mind was, “Don’t worry, Annamarie, you know how to swim.”

The first time we went tubing down the Snake River for the Olson family reunion, I think I was about 10.  So I ended up going with the “women-and-children-plus-Uncle-Greg-and-Dad” group.  What fun it was just floating our way down that shallow river!. . . .until Dad yelled out “Waterfall!!!!!”

I, imagining a 1,000 foot drop off, started to panic.  I realized the water was deeper, I was far from the sandbar, and I was already caught in the current. . . Needless to mention, I was on top of a GIGANTOR tractor tube!  I was very afraid.  Dad and Uncle Greg were the only men in this whole flock of children and helpless moms with babies on their laps.  I remember Aunt Rose, Sara, and Mereoni were already at the brink, just holding onto a cable thing.  Dad passed me as he was trying to help the rest make it in and I remember yelling out to him in panic and tears, “DAD!! WAIT!!”

Dad didn’t bring me in.  Instead he told me, “Don’t worry Annamarie. You know how to swim.” So I swam.  That was my option.  When I made it to the dock thing, trembling and almost taken over by a traumatic shock, I looked behind me at that river, only to realize that the deathly, plunging 1,000 ft waterfall I had been imagining in the midst of the river’s current and chaos of my fear-filled brain turned out to be just a dinky 5-ft rocky waterfall thingymabob (over a wall built by the city).  Sure, I would’ve gotten a few bruises and such going down it, but it wouldn’t have led to my certain death!  I sat there embarrassed at my own self and still in a bit of shock, while my cousins played in the sandbar and went down the waterslide at the park we had come to.  I remember sitting on a swing staring at my toes completely unaware of the leaches that would be having a party on me the next year (but that’s beside the point J)

What I’m getting at is this.  Sometimes we might feel that the current of life is leading to a 1,000 ft waterfall and it’s nearly debilitating to paddle against.  But we have the gospel.  We know how to swim. And we aren’t left helpless if we can’t.  I’m sure if I had been caught too far in the current, Dad would’ve been there to bring me back.  Dad was there.  But I’m glad he trusted in me and my potential to make it through.  Then when we look back, we might realize our 1,000 ft waterfall of a trial was just a dinky 5-ft one all along.  So in the end, or I guess I should say, in the middle of it all, we don’t need to worry.  We know how to swim.

And I’m here, swimming and advancing little by little.  Elder Amachi and Elder Linton are the new elders here in Patagonia and Hermana Mota is my new companion.  It’s pretty neat, actually, to be here in my sector/ward with 3 new missionaries.  It feels fresh like a new school, or maybe a better way to describe it would be a new school year—same school, but new classmates.

They all have a lot of refreshing enthusiasm that has created a new atmosphere with lots of progress.  Elder Amachi is my district leader, he has been in Punta Arenas for 1 cambio more than me.  Before that he was in Valdivia and only Valdivia for an entire year!  So although he’s been out on a mission for 1 year plus some, he and I are in the same boat of places we’ve served.  He’s from Lima, Peru and is a very hard worker.  His comp is Elder Linton from Wyoming.  He’s been in the field for 7 months and began it all here in Punta Arenas!  So Patagonia is his first sector that is different, he is really excited to be here too.

Hermana Mota is awesome!  She’s from Goiana, Brazil, is the youngest of 3 (older sister & older brother), she’s been a member for 5 years and is 23 years old.  She’s the only member of her family, but has faith that the church will make its way over to her family (her family lives 8 hours away from the nearest church building and Hna. Mota joined when she went off to college, where the church exists).  Anyway, she’s been out for 7 months and had been serving in Osorno this whole time.  So she has A LOT of enthusiasm to be working here in the end of the world!  She also has a lot of enthusiasm for EVERYTHING.  When she found out we had a washing machine in our apartment she screamed because apparently there are only 3 in the entire mission. (Ha! How lucky we are!)  Other perks I may not have mentioned to you all from serving in the end of the world is we have heaters, which don’t exist in any other part of the mission.  Everyone north of Punta Arenas uses combustiones, which requires chopped wood and building a fire every day.  I forgot about that!!  Haha.  I had also forgotten about the existing of FLEAS! Hna. Mota reminded me about that and I had the biggest smile telling her they don’t exist here!  I had completely forgotten about that miserable state of food I was!

Well, anyway, this week we made some pretty great goals.  Hna. Mota was telling me about a talk she read about Olympic swimmers and how they would swim HASTA VOMITAR or until they would throw up.  And with a sweet smile on her face, she asked if that could be one of our goals.  So we’ll be throwing up this week supposedly. J

Hna. Mota has never met snow in her entire life.  There was a bit of ice when she showed up, but no snow.  I told her to just wait until Sunday because it ALWAYS snows on Sundays (it’s true!) So Sunday came around and guess what!  It was. . . SLOOSHING!  It had snowed late Saturday night, but when it was time to walk to church, it was freeze raining!! . . .and very very cold (what’s new?).  But since all this type of weather was new for her anyway, Hna. Mota kept asking, “Is this snow?”  like a little school girl. J

The trek to church was a bit rigorous for her. There is one part on the way that is a large expanse of dirt, but in Sunday’s case it was freezing cold sloshy mud.  Hna Mota’s boots had holes in the sides and she was suffering a bit and a little disappointed in her “first snow experience” so I offered to give her a piggy back ride.  I carried her through the mud and we finally made it to the bridge only to realize it was full of 2-inch puddles.  So she decided she’d just walk it no mas.  And we made it to church.. .muddy, wet, and cold.  I felt sorry that she had such a dramatic experience her first Sunday, but she managed to keep a smile on her face the whole time. She said “it’s a good one for the journal!”

The mission is the best place to learn how to suffer with joy!

None of our investigators showed up, but a little bit into sacrament meeting, Angel and Joyce walked in with their two little kids!! Ah! They are so great!  Angel was baptized a year ago and his wife was less active and somehow they drifted out of activity in this past year.  Last week, they had told Hna. Parkinson and I that they want to prepare to receive a Patriarchal Blessing and told us they haven’t been paying their tithing.  We taught them about the blessing it is to pay it and they were both very excited to begin paying it even though they don’t have very much and are in a point of financial difficulty.  This week I wanted to pass by to teach them about fasting, but when we knocked on the door Joyce answered and said she didn’t have time.  And then before anything came out of my mouth, she got the biggest smile on her face I’ve ever seen and said, “Oh and just so you know, we are going to church this Sunday. We are going to pay our tithing, and we decided to fast for the first time too!”

IT WAS SO AWESOME!!

We had a FHE last night with a family that is going to be sealed in the Santiago temple at the end of this month.  They offered their support to Angel and Joyce to help them make their way to the temple too!  And they are so motivated!! It’s amazing to see families work together to attain the greatest happiness EVER!  Really though, I love being able to witness progression to the temple.  Heavenly Father sure loves us.

Miracles are always happening. My favorite this week was Joana.  Saturday morning we went through all the plans AND plan B’s of 3 hours within 45 minutes.  So we decided to do contacts . . .and no one was around!  It was just gentle rain and gangs of dogs and cats.  We went up to Joana’s street to knock her door.  For the past 3 ½ weeks we have been trying to meet this girl.  She’s a reference from a girl in our ward who was contacted by using OUR phone, but we haven’t been able to find her in her house or in el kiosko where she supposedly works and her phone number suddenly didn’t work either. . .It was taking forever to meet her!  I had talked to her briefly once on the phone 2 ½ weeks ago, in enough time to set an appointment, but for whatever reason, the appointment didn’t happen.

Well, we went to her house de nuevo today to try to find her and no one answered besides her angry little dog thing.  I was feeling bad because we hadn’t done anything the entire morning besides walk. . .(and also wander a bit because I was trying to feel my way around the streets).  I was just worried that Hna. Mota was feeling the same aimlessness in work that I felt in the beginning of working in this sector. . .but I stayed positive.  We decided to walk home and see if we could find a few people to contact.

We turned out of Augustin Barrientos (the street where Joana apparently lives) onto the next street that spits us out on the way to our apartment.  When we reached the corner of this street, a thought popped into my mind to turn around and try to re-contact a person that lived on this street a few houses down from where we were standing.  She wasn’t in the plans, but we turned around and knocked (“a-lo-ed from the gate) and no one answered. . .I felt so weird.  I didn’t understand why I had felt I should turn around  if no one even answered.  What seemed pointless just made us turn back around and start home again.

This time we reached the same corner, ready to cross the street and a girl crossed our path very hurriedly.  At first I was thinking, “Oh good!  Someone to contact!” But I hesitated because she was walking really fast and on the other side of the pasaje so instead I just decided to say “HOLA!” with a smile so I wouldn’t bother a hurried person.

She smiled back and said Hola too, and we both continued to walk in opposite directions but suddenly before I even realized, I was turned around and the question, “Are you Joana?” had left from my mouth!

This stranger stopped, turned around a little bit startled, and said “Yes.”  And I smiled really big and said, “Hi!! We’re the missionaries!” She ran up to me and gave me a big hug!  She said she had been trying to get a hold of Nicole (the girl in our ward) all day yesterday because she had gotten a new hone and wanted to talk to us.  She said she was in a hurry but gave us her new phone number and told us to come by on Sunday.  I said it was nice to finally meet her and she said she has been waiting so long to meet us too!

We parted ways and were walking for a little bit when Hermana Mota asked, “So who is she?”
“Joana!”
“The reference you’ve been trying to find?”
“Yeah.”
“But you already knew her?”
“No.  . .now I do!”
“You didn’t know her?”
“No”
“Then why did you ask a random person if they were her?”
“Oh! I don’t know.”
“But it was her!”
“Yeah!”
“And you didn’t know her?”
“Yeah!”
“HERMANA! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT JUST HAPPENED?”

And then I realized the miraculousness of that little encounter.  What a blessing! We would have missed her if we hadn’t “pointlessly” turned around to knock that door no one answered.  It was a pretty neat 4^th of July experience.

BUT HEY THAT’S NOT ALL THAT HAPPENED ON THIS FOURTH OF JULY. Well, to be quite honest that’s basically all that happened as far aw proselyting goes because 4^th of July ended up falling on the Copa America Soccer Championship between Argentina and CHILE!! So of course, it was a dead zone outside and absolutely NO ONE wanted to receive missionaries!  Haha.  We haven’t been allowed to watch any of the soccer games because there was still (obviously) work to be done, but lunch time came around and Elder Amachi called us to let us know we had received permission to watch the championship!!!

But we didn’t have anyone to watch the game with!  Our original plan for the day (knowing there would be no one to find in this dead zone) was to pick up trash for 3 hours because there is A LOT of trash everywhere.

We ate lunch with a sister from the ward and she invited us over.  We asked her if she likes watching the games and she said “No, but if you guys come I’ll enjoy it!” with an adorable little old lady chuckle.  So we said Yes!

5 pm came around and we left to head over to her house and it was pouring!  So we were turning and suddenly a bus pulled over (the only vehicle around in the time of the game and opened the door.  And this man gave us a ride over to the little old lady’s house!  Haha!  Her daughter was there and the daughter’s newborn baby was asleep on the couch.

THE GAME WAS INTENSE, but we watched it so calmly and quietly so as to not wake the baby!  Haha!  After double over time and even up to the very last penalty kick WE WON!!!!      

We took some pictures with the Hna in front of the TV with the screen that said “Chile. Champion of America!”

And Ah!  The pictures were so awesome!!  And it is how it is!  Chile is the champion of America!  It had been 29 YEARS since Chile had won a Copa America!  And I’m lucky enough to actually be in Chile when they win, in their own country! (The cup was hosted in Santiago.)

Hna Mota and I were so excited, but we didn’t want to make much noise because of the sleeping baby.  As soon as we opened the door and heard all the vecinas yelling and celebrating, we ran down the stairs screaming “WOOOOOO!!!!”  and then squished our way out the main door frame because we were bumping into each other trying to get out as fast as we can with so much excitement!

Then everyone else started leaving too and the streets became alive again with SO MANY  cars and people making NOISE!!

It was so cool!! Everyone was out in the rain waiving flags and horns and smiles!  It was so awesome!! I have determined that THE BEST WAY TO CELEBRATE THE FOURTH OF JULY IS BE IN CHILE WHEN THEY WIN THE WORLD CUP FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 29 YEARS!

Everyone was dressed in red white and blue too!  Haha.  Hna. Mota and I decided it was too monumental of an experience to just go sit in our casa!  So we turned around and recorded the coolest video ever of all the cars and people (even the firetrucks were sounding their sirens from the station!)  It was SO SO SO cool to be in a country where literally everyone was so happy all together!  Haha.

Elder Amachi called us about 20 minutes later to let us know all missionaries have to stay in their house for the rest of the night because it was going to get crazy.

We got home and ate our entire chicken an Hermana gave us on Wednesday.  Hna Mota was too excited.  She said we had to eat it with our hands!  She said it was something she had on her bucket list so she ran to take a picture of this too, only to realize she accidentally deleted ALL of the fotos on her camera.

And that was a really big downer.  She lost 4 months worth of pictures L.  Her entire old sector was lost!  How sad.  I still have a pit in my stomach from this.

Hermana Parkinson lost her camera 3 days before she left.  That had ALL of her mission pictures, 10 months. How sad! It also had the majority of pictures taken with me here in Punta Arenas. 

AAAGHGH!  Why do things like this happen to poor missionaries!

Anyway, just imagine that I sent you all the coolest pictures of our fun experience of watching the greatest championship with a sweet old lady and a sleeping baby.

I was really excited to show you the video of Punta Arenas celebrating. . .

I feel so sad for Hermana Mota though.  I can’t imagine losing so many pictures.  I need to start using my own camera more because I don’t’ have pictures either. J

But nonetheless, this year’s fourth of July was pretty darn amazing.  I can’t believe we were just going to pick up trash!  My favorite worldly experience on my mission haha J And well. . .I guess you will all have to wait until we are all seated around on our comfy celestial couches watching Family Home videos with Heavenly Father to watch it. J

Other things. . .

I’ve been eating lots of honey roasted peanuts this week with your fun road tripping to the family reunions in mind.  I love you all!

I’m excited for this snowy cambio with my Brazilian companion.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY IN CHILE!

With lots of love and hugs,

Hermana Olson