Ahhh
so much to tell you! I am in CHILE!!! It is summer here and it is
AWESOME! My first area is called Quilpué (Retiro and El Sol), and I
think it´s a little southeast of Viña del Mar... But yeah it´s a little
city and it´s really awesome! I live kind of in the country more, where
there is a lot of green! Lots of plants and trees and flowers and PALM
TREES! My favorite. We have to walk a little to end up in the place
where we teach, where there are more houses, where it´s a lot more
crowded.
Ah
let's see! My companion is Hermana García (22 years old), and she's
from Panama! She of course is a native Spanish speaker so we speak
Spanish aaaalll the time. In the morning when I'm not really thinking
clearly, I always start speaking in English, and she just gives me this
look like, "What the heck are you saying?!" Haha And then I realize that
it's English and switch back to Spanish. Haha. But anyway, she's been
here in Chile for a year, and was in Valparaíso for most of her mission.
She is suuuuper funny and kinda reminds me of a Panamanian Justyna.
Haha. But yeah she is super fun and an AMAZING missionary, and I want to
be just like her!!!
Ok
so let's start at the beginning. I left the MTC at 3 in the morning,
took a bus with 20 other people that i didn't know, to the Salt Lake
airport. We got on the plane to Dallas/Ft. Worth. It was humid there and
we walked around for a bit and then got on a plane to Miami! Miami was
beautiful and SUPER humid and we had to go through a lot more security
and lines to get our ticket to Santiago. On that side of the airport, no
one spoke English so it was funny. But after we got through security
and everythiing, we got to call home! I talked to Mom and Dad and
Camille for like 3 or 4 hours! It was sooo good to hear their voices and
to talk to them. By the time I was done talking to them, we didn't have
much time to do anything, so we got some food and got on the plane to
Santiago!
This
plane was the bomb. Suuuper huge and fancy! They all spoke Spanish, and
the stewardesses were super pretty! They were all latinas and wore red
lipstick and black and red uniforms, and they were so sweet. I didn't
get a window seat - sad. But it's ok cuz I got to chill in teh awesomest
plane ever! Every person had a personal touch screen tv in front of
them, and we could watch movies or tv shows or listen to music or play
solitaire and other games. So we listened to whatever was mission
approved haha. We listened to Handel's Messiah, the soundtrack of the
Lion King and other Disney music, and I watched Toy Story 3! We got 2
meals on the plane, and they were pretty fancy! For dinner we had
ravioli with cream, salad with asparagus, crackers and Brie cheese, and
cheesecake. For breakfast we had omelets, hash browns, honeydew and
grapes, and a roll.
Everyone
slept on the plane, cuz they gave us pillows and blankets. There was
also a moving map that showed us exactly where we were. I remember
waking up and we were flying right over the Panama Canal! It was
awesome. But yeah, we got to Chile at about 7 am! We went straight
through all the lines, through Customs and stuff. We paid some fee for
landing there and no one could understand how to pay it. So i went up to
the lady and I was speaking in English and she was trying to explain
it, but couldn't in English, so she asked, "Is there anyone that I can
talk to who speaks Spanish?" And I was like, yeah! Me! And she was super
surprised but started speaking in Spanish. So I totally understood and
told everyone else what they were saying. It was cool.
But yeah as soon as we got through everything, the
mission president and his wife were there to greet us! Their name is
Kahnlein, and it's German, but it's pronounced Kenline. So we took
pictures and left for Viña. We had a bus for all the new people waiting
outside, and the weather was suuuper nice! Super warm! And Santiago
isn't that pretty...it kinda looks like New Mexico. But as we were
driving to Viña, it started to get super pretty! Super green and stuff,
and it got really foggy! We took pictures next to the coast and at the
flower clock, but everything was foggy and it was drizzling. The
assistant that was there with us said it hadn't been so foggy for 3
months! So we didn't really get a good view of the coast or anything.
But Viña is super pretty and there are HUGE ships in the harbors. Like,
huge.
But we took pictures by the flower clock and then
they divided us into pairs, gave us an address and a Book of Mormon, and
said, "Give the Book of Mormon to someone, get their address so the
missionaries can visit them, and ask them for directions. Good luck!"
Hahaha...yeah i was scared to death. I was with a girl who is suuuper
gringa and couldn't understand very much Spanish at all, let alone
Chilean Spanish. So we set off and there was a guy with whom we tried to
ask directions, and he told us, but it was barely even Spanish!!! Haha
so we just look confused but said thanks and walked away. When we looked
back he was totally laughing at us. Haha. We ended up giving the Book
of Mormon to an old guy who just mumbled everything. Before we could ask
for his address he just kept mumbling and hobbled away. Haha it was
funny. We asked this guy for directions, he was actually really cute.
lol. But he walked us like 3 blocks til we got to the door of the
Mission home! He was super nice but wanted nothing to do with religion.
Whatevs.
The mission home is really pretty and white and has
lots of flowers. We had pizza and juice and took pictures and had our
interviews with the mission president. He was suuuper impressed by my
Spanish! And he is super nice. We only spoke Spanish in the interview.
But yeah! Then they took the Sisters to a hotel down the street and told
us to get some rest and they'd be back to give us Once. Once is what
they have instead of dinner. Lunch is the big meal of the day, and Once
is just bread (sometimes with jam or ham and cheese) and fake coffee.
It's called like...Eco or something like that. But yeah you add sugar.
It's not bad. The bread is super good. The bread here has a super
awesome reputation cuz it's always made fresh and it's delicious. But we
had Once downstairs in the hotel parlor and then slept til morning!
In the morning we went to the chapel which is really
pretty, and we went to the institute building for orientation. We sat
there for a long time just listening to them explain everything and
stuff. For lunch we had Empanadas full of cheese, and others with cheese
and ham and olives and stuff, and salad, juice, and some kind of
Chilean candy. Finally at like 6 pm we had Cambios, which means Changes,
and its the meeting where everyone in the whole mission gets new
companions and areas and everything! It happens every 6 weeks. So us
newbies were super nervous cuz we were all gonna get our new companions!
There were so many people there and they all sang so loud and good and
it was impressive! Once they called out who your new comp was, the both
of you got up and left the meeting to go straight to the mission area!
When they announced that Hermana Schrader was with Hermana Garcia,
she came up to give me a hug and said, "Que grande!" Haha she is short
and I am suuuper tall compared to all these Chileans and latinos! But we
left the meeting, got all our stuff, and left with our zone leaders for
the Metro! We walked a while in Viña del MAr, which is a huge city and
there are so many people walking everywhere and big building and crazy
stuff going on! But we got to the Metro and got on and we were on the
Metro for 20 minutes before we got to Quilpué. When we got to Quilpué,
my suitcase broke. Sad. The wheels don´t work anymore. So we had to drag
it until we could find a Colectivo, which are like cheap taxis here.
But we got in a colectivo, (the drivers all know that we are
missionaries and always use the colectivos), they packed my stuff in the
car and drove us to where I live! We live on a property with a
nonmember named Cecilia.
She is super rich and her house is really nice. She
has 2 dogs and like a billion cats, and a pool, and they live by a pond,
and its really pretty. We live on a tiny little hill right next to the
house! It is called a pension. Its really small and white, and has a
living room and kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. The bathroom is really
pretty and has a brand new shower and innovative sink! I will send
pictures for sure. Sometimes when we have study time in the afternoon,
we go sit outside by the pool and study. The dogs are Motita and
Benjamin. And the cats are Josefina, Luma, ... and lots more. Haha.
Cecilia is 54 and super fancy and tan and has 2 daughters, Javiera and
Fernanda, and a son, Ismael. They are all in their 20s and they are
super nice. Sometimes we see Cecilias husband or dad walking around and
they are nice too.
I LOVE the people in Chile! Everyone is so short and
so nice and always smile and welcome you. The way we greet females is
with a kiss on the cheek and a hug. ANd we just shake guys hands. haha.
One lady looked at me and told me I looked like a Barbie! And everyone
says I have yellow hair. Haha. Everyone is impressed by my Spanish
accent, cuz most gringos that come to Chile have a horrible gringo
accent. But they like my accent!
The bishop is awesome, Bishop Nuñez, and he is
absolutely hilarious. And really young. His wife is really pretty and we
had Once with them once, and the whole time they called eachother Amor.
They have 3 daughters, and they are really pretty and the 9 year old is
really talkative and smart. the oldest is turning in her mission
papers!
We usually have lunch with the members. Most of what they serve is
some kind of meat with rice. Always rice. haha. Usually with either
chicken or steak, and sometimes soup or salad or bread, always juice,
and always fruit. The juice here is awesome! there are so many flavors
that everyone drinks! We've had watermelon juice, honeydew juice, papaya
juice, mango, green grape... everything! My favorite so far has been
the green grape juice. It's super delicious. The fruits here are sooo
fresh and good and always my favorite part!
No one speaks Spanish. No one. It's Chilean and I
can barely understand anything! Hermana Garcias ALWAYS turns to me and
translates to me in normal spanish. Haha I feel so stupid! But I will
learn it eventually! We have visited a lot of members and inactives,
cuz there are no investigators. They all just got baptized! Haha. So we
are looking for an investigator. There is an old guy named Rafael that
we teach, who really likes to talk a lot about random things, but he
doesn't really have teeth so I cant understand. Haha. So I just sit
there in the lesson and smile at him and talk when Hermana Garcia looks
at me. Haha.
We taught an inactive named Lorena, who has 3 kids
and her boyfriend doesn't like missionaries. But we came to her house
when he wasn't there and taught her the restoration. She has a Book of
Mormon but never reads. She is always super overwhelmed with kids and
other stuff and says she has lots of trials and nothing helps. We told
her to read the Book of Mormon adn PRAY! cuz praying always always
always makes you feel better. She promised she would pray and that she'd
read and then we wanted to leave with a prayer. We asked her who she
wanted to say the prayer adn she asked Hermana Garcia. Hermana Garcia
asked if there was anything she wanted her to pray for specifically, and
Lorena said, "Yes, but I don't want to tell you in front of the kids."
So Hermana Garcia (she told me later) prayed to know what to pray for!
So she prayed, and she prayed that Lorena would feel comforted through
all the overwhelming trials, and she prayed that her relationship with
her boyfriend/husband would get better. Right when Hermana Garcia said
that, Lorena started crying. We ended the prayer and were leaving, and
Lorena was just sobbing, and Hermana Garcia hugged her and told her
everything would be alright. It was really sad but Im so glad we could
help her feel hope. We are going to visit her again on Thursday, cuz she
told us we could come back then.
All the kids here think its soooo crazy and cool
that I speak English, and that I'm super tall and have green eyes and
yellow hair. Haha. They always run up to me and stare at me and want me
to kiss them on the cheek! Its adorable.
I showed a lady a picture of me and Jenna and
Camille (one from last years Christmas) and she said, You are the
oldest? And she said that Jenna looked oldest, then Camille, then me.
Hahaha. And a old guy in the street looked at me and asked how old i
was, I said, 21. And he said, You look 16. Hahaha so weird! I do not
look 16! But everyone thinks I am way younger than 21. I dont mind. :)
We are going to visit an investigator tomorrow, who
is teh boyfriend of a member. And they want to get married, but she said
she wont marry him unless hes mormon. So he asked us to teach him.
Haha.
The money here is weird! its all colorful and smooth
and 1,000 Chilean pesos is like 2 dollars. The clothes here are really
cheap but really cute!
Well thats all I got for now!!!! I cant think of anything else! I will try to attach pictures! If not, maybe another time!
I love you all and miss you so much! Please write me
on DearElder.com! It is still free! It will take a while to get to me,
but please write me! I will write you back for sure!
I hope you all have an awesome week! See you next Monday! Pray for me! I am praying for all of you. :)
Ciao and les quiero mucho!!!!!
Hermana Schrader
P.S. My mission is Viña del Mar Chile, and the address of the mission office is:
Hermana Amy Schrader
4 Norte 1112
Viña del Mar
Chile
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