Cute little stores

Halo! I say that so much here :) It sometimes gets confusing because we yell halo at people's doors and say halo when we answer the phone, but when we greet people on the street we say hola.... They are very similar and I have definitely switched them a couple times.

Well, all is well in the land of Chile! The month of June is President Humphrey's last month here with us and we have a goal to baptise 150 people that month. (in the whole mission... Not just me and my companion ;)) We have been working hard on finding buenas personas to help this goal happen! President Humphrey asked all the missionaries to ask our families and friends to fast with us on Sunday that we will be able to meet this goal. So this is me inviting YOU to fast with us to help us achieve this goal!

Here in Chile, a lot of times when people answer the door they just say, "¡Digame!" (talk to me!) It's just so great. No need to waste time, right? Since they talk so fast I always just think that everyone is in a big hurry but then I realize that's just the way they talk! I´m getting WAY good at understanding them now though... After I ask them about five questions about what they just said :) Ha but I really do usually understand people pretty well unless they talk about something really out there like bungee jumping- how am I supposed to know the word for that?¿? 

They have cute little stores everywhere with things like fruit, candy, freshly made bread, and other food and provisions. You never know what they're going to have in the store... These stores are usually part of the people's house and they have one in almost every neighborhood. Its just super great and cute and I just love it! 

Well that's all for today! Love you guys! I hope your dreams come true for the week! Let me know if they do! Let me know if they don't!

Con Amor,

Hermana Merrbury

ps. concuerdo means I agree!

I SURVIVED a transfer!

Holy Canoli! It seems like the weeks just fly by! I swear I was just barely writing you guys an email..... Well I survived a transfer! No change! Same area, same companion! I am SO HAPPY about it! Alright now some of you might be wondering about what is going to happen to my mission since they are creating a new mission in Chile, therefore I am going to tell you about it! So when the mission boundaries change, the northern part of the mission (Curico and Talca) are going to become part of the Chile Rancagua Mission. Right now I am in Talca which means my mission could change, BUT I still don´t know whether or not it is going to! We thought that wherever we were after this transfer would determine who stays and who goes, but apparently there is ONE MORE TRANSFER in four weeks before we know! So if I´m still in the northern half of the mission after this next transfer (which is very likely) my mission will no longer be Chile Concepción.... I just have mixed feelings about this. But hey! Wherever I end up is where the Lord needs me right?!

The work has been a little ruff lately because we have had to say goodbye to a lot of investigators who weren´t putting in their part so that we can find new people who WANT to act. But do not despair we are finding some new great people! We are also putting in a lot of effort in strengthening the ward to get them more excited about missionary work. Also here in Chile they are putting a strong effort in finding the inactive members. there are a lot of people here who got baptized and thought that was the end of the road and never came back to church. We have been given a list of names (with addresses) to find and invite back to church. The problem is a lot of people have moved or the address is incorrect, but we´ve been promised that whether we find those members or not we will be able to find people to teach by going to these houses. YEAH!

It´s starting to get pretty cold here... That means it´s almost Christmas right? A lot of people heat their houses with little fireplaces so when we are outside (which is most of the time) there is a ton of smoke from the chimneys! I´m pretty sure that my clothes are eventually going to permanently smell like smoke... If I smell like smoke when I come home I promise I havn´t picked up any bad habits!

They think that cough drops are candy here... I got asked if I wanted a candy and they gave my a cough drop... This has happened more than once. The first time I actually had a sore throat so it was pretty great!

Well that´s all I have to say right now! Hope all is well! Hope you have a great summer water skiing, swimming, hiking, and doing all those fun things you do when it´s warm!

Love Hermana Woodbury

Touring the COKE factory?

 The whole clan!

At the Coca-cola factory! They even gave us little mini bottles with coke in them!

Hey guess what?! I got to skype you guys yesterday! That was just a great time! I'm not going to lie, I already felt weird speaking english for so long. Sometimes I just wanted to throw a spanish word in there because when I speak english with the other missionaries we just throw in spanish words here and there. Well, I will just tell you some things that have been happening! Sound good? 

We had an investigator at church this week! His name is Renan and he is a member reference! WOO HOO! We haven't had the chance yet to ask him how he felt about it because he only had time for sacrament meeting, but we are going to teach him more this week with the member! He's like eighty.

Just a fun fact about Chile- they LOVE potted plants. Some houses (most), instead of having flower beds just have a bunch of pots with cactuses and flowers all over their little lawn. I just like it.

Today we had a combined activity where we went to the coca-cola factory here in Talca and learned how they make Coke! Except I still don't know how they make it... Gotta love that spanish! I usually get about like half of what's going on :) I try to talk to the members a lot to help me learn faster. They're very understanding :) 

Well I don't really have anything else to say right now... So I hope everything goes well with all you people who read this! And all you people who don't... I still hope everything goes well :)

Loveth, Ris

ps. bacan means cool (as in awesome... not cold)

Am I blonde???

I have an announcement to make!!! I am officially blonde! Don't you worry, I didn't actually do anything to my hair, people just keep telling me I have beautiful blonde hair... Sometimes I tell them it's brown... But usually I just say thank you. :) I just have some bad news. We didn't have any investigators at church this Sunday. Let me tell you what has been happening with the investigators I told you about...

Teresa- Everytime we go by her house, if she's there she just says she's busy and she doesn't really want to talk with us about our church, but if she has time she might stop by the church in the future.... hmm

Marlene- Her dad found out about our disscussions and told her a bunch of false rumors about the church like polygomy, and that we worship Joseph Smith, and we don't believe in God... Stuff like that. And she believed it eventhough we had already taught her about that stuff... So she won't ever talk to us. 

Liliana- Don't worry she is still great! She has a strong desire to learn more and loves everything we teach! She also seems to be keeping committments pretty well! She has a complicated situation though because her husband is bed ridden and she can't leave him alone for that long and has a hard time finding someone to stay with him Sunday morning. That's really hard because it's hard to progress if  you don't go to church, but she really wants to go to church, she just can't...

 

So this week we had a Mission Conference with the president here in Talca, which included the missionaries in the northern half of the mission! It was super great! We were all challenged to read the Book of Mormon together in two months! Isn't that super great?! Hey if you want to, you can do it too! Just read about four chapters a day! (Not a joke) It's really awesome to read it at this pace because you can just see everything that's going on and you just understand it so good! If I can do it in spanish, you can do it in english! :D

I think I might have eaten moldy cheese this week? I'm not quite sure but I think it was a little moldy... But I havn't gotten sick so don't even worry about it!

Something kinda fun that happens a lot-  We offer to say prayers with people a lot so that they will let us into their house and we can teach them. There are a couple different faiths that whisper things during prayers. I can never tell what they're saying though, some times I hear a soft halleluiah I'm pretty sure. I always just try and talk REALLY LOUD when this happens :) 

Well I hope all is well!

Hermanita Booboody

ps. cierto means right (as in correct)... unless it's in the scriptures, then it means verily!