June 6th, 2011

Hi Family and who ever else that reads this,

 

How are things crackin in good ol´ Idaho? That is crazy about all the flooding and jazz! But at least it´s warming up. I hope things are good!

 

Transfers were today but I got the call last night and I´m staying where I¨m at. Which is crazy! I thought for sure I would leave because I have 6 months here but now I will have 7 and 1/2, and if the new President is overwhelmed and forgets about me I might just have 9... haha!! (I hope not, that is way to long to be in one place) but it will be good to be here this change because Jorge Urrea (the family that was living in Mexico that are reactivating) will be baptized here in 3 weeks so that will be exciting. So ya, there is not too much that changed.

 

 

Yesterday morning we had a little shake of an earthquake, it was a 5.6 and its not an earthquake til it gets to 7. But it was at about 6 in the morning, I woke up from my bed rocking a little bit and thought, is it really un temblor? then it kept going, and so I told Hermana Player ¨It´s shaking¨ she was still half asleep, and it wasn´t getting worse so I was like, ok well l´m going to go to the bathroom and if it gets worse we will get up. But then it stopped and we went back to bed. I was supprised that I woke up. This is only the second one I have felt since I have been here and there has been a lot. Everyone is talking about the volcano that started errupting in the South of Chile so that is pretty interesting too.

 

But last Monday we went to the hill of San Cristobal, where there is the Virgin Maria and a good lookout of the city. We knew it wasn´t going to be very clear because it hasn´t rained for a long time and the air is just like smog everywhere. But Maria (who got baptized in Jan) gave us 4 dollars to ride the cart thing up the hill, so we deecided we should go, so we went and just our luck, the cart was broken, so we decided to just hike up there. Its not a bad hike but when you are in a skirt and church shoes (well, missionary shoes) it´s a little weird. But we got up there and we are walking around and I look and see some people that look like they are from the US then I look again and it´s a girl, Lauren, that was in my ward at USU in the summer of 2009 when I lived below Old Main. I couldn´t believe it! It was so crazy and she was with a kid that I had seen before there but didn´t know. She is from Logan but just after that summer went to BYU Hawaii and now is doing study abroad in Valparaiso for 6 months for her minor in Spanish(she goes home in June). I was freaking out I couldn´t believe that of all things I run into her. It was cool to see her for a few min. The view was kinda lame, we couldn´t see much but we at least went.

 

And like many of you already know. On Wednesday I hit my 1/2 way mark!!!!!!!! HOLY Tostidos! 9 months!!! It seems like I just left, and I¨m a baby in the mission but then it seems like I haven´t seen you all in forever and that this is what my life is, was, and always will be. It´s all sorts of weirdy. But I´m excited. We are going to celebrate with ice cream or something. (I know, it sounds a little risky, but that´s as risky as it gets in the mish... haha:)

 

Oh, on Saturday morning we went to an Elders area in our district to help them invite non active people to an activity. So we went and visited this one lady Betty who is an angel! She wasn´t going to let us in at first, so we were just talking through the fence then after a few min, she said, well let me go get my keys. So we went in and she said she hasn´t been to church in 3 years and there have been so many Elders pass by and teach her everything but she was excited to have us there. She opened up her heart to us and we had a good lesson. She said she would come to church on Sunday with her grandson who isn´t a member but should get baptized. :)  When we went to leave she started bawling and told us we HAVE to come back, and when we had to tell her that we wouldn´t be at church it seriously broke my heart. She took my face in her hands and said, ¨I will never forget you.¨ I didn´t want to walk out her gate because I don´t know if I will ever see her again but she is so great! It made my day to teach her.

 

That is pretty much all that happened to me this week. I took a lot of pictures because I thought I was leaving so I attached quite a few. I hope you enjoy :)

 

 We ate at subway after our hike up San Cristobal and it was pretty much amazing! (it´s really different than at home, but still good!)

 This was the best view of Santiago that we could get on the hill, but at least on this side you could see the mountains, the other side of the city was just a smog all over.

 Lauren and Me (I can´t remember her last name)

 The PMS parking sign. I have no idea what it means in spanish but it was funny!!

 Brooke sent me a rub on canada tatoo so I put it on last night while we were waiting for the call about transfers. Love representing Canada even though I´ve never been there... haha:)

 

 

Well, I hope you all have a great week and I will talk back to yalls later.

CON MUCHO cariño!

Steph