Curauma and Placilla. VALPAISO!

Heyyy everyone!

Sooo news: I am now in a new area with a new companion. I was only trained for 6 weeks cuz they need the trainers for the newcomers! Sooo I am co-companions in Curauma/Placilla with another 6-weeker, Hermana Plothow. She is from Orem Utah and...we are very different people. But we both have the same goal in the mission so hopefully itll work out. My trainer is in Quilpué still and I miss her so much! And everyone there! So much! 

Curauma is a lot colder than Quilpué, but it is very pretty and calm here. We have a BRAND NEW apartment in Curauma, new appliances and beds and everything. We have to furnish it up a bit but it is gorgeous. Everything is just white and new. :) Our area is shared with Elders. We both have the same ward! They have a section to preach in and we have a section to preach in. Haha. The ward here is absolutely incredible and I love them all so much already!

We have walked the streets looking for people to teach, and everyone is really nice and receptive. The people here talk better too! I can understand them better and me and my companion arent always super lost. Haha. Sometimes they cant understand what my comp says cuz she has a super gringa accent, so I have to butt in a say it for her and then theyre all like, OOhhhhhh! Thats what she said! Haha its fun. 

But we are really lost and tring to figure things out and it is an adventure. Really fun and really hard and always learning new stuff. We are seeing miracles and are going to continue to see miracles! Next week I will add pictures! I am writing in Valparaiso, which is like an old fashioned NYC!

Sooo I gotta go. Lame, I know, Im sorry.

But I love you all and please write me!

Hermana Amy SChrader

GENERAL CONFERENCE!

Hey everyone!

So...Happy Birthday to my Dad! His birthday was April 7th, yesterday! The lucky guy got to listen to the prophet and apostles on his birthday... :) Happy Birthday Dad! You are the greatest Dad anyone could ask for. Thank you for being such a wonderful example to me and for being so fun and kind and for playing football with me and driving dirt bikes! Thank you for watching football with me during Thanksgiving! A tradition that will continue, no doubt. :) Thank you for supporting me and being proud of me, and for always being there for me. You are the BEST. I love you.

General Conference, people! Did you enjoy it or what?! I got to listen in English! It was aboslutely everything I had hoped for! I felt like every talk had something that was meant just for me. I received so much comfort and revelation! I hope you all did too! I know that everything they have to say applies to each and every single one of us. We are so lucky to have a living prophet and his apostles on this earth today! We are so lucky that we get to sit and listen to them from ALL OVER THE WORLD as they comfort us, warn us, help us, and cheer us on! 

These were a couple of my favorite lines from Conference. Of course they are not word for word, but they are what I wrote down! 

"Just trust in the Lord. Don't worry about the rest." -Packer

"You will receive a real, lasting conversion, and a continued assurance, if you do the things you should." -Davies

"Rely on the power of prayer. Always." -Dalton

"Heavenly Father knows YOU personally and loves you. You matter to Him!" -Dalton

"Understand who you are, and Whose you are." -Dalton

"How great is your role, how marvelous your contribution!" -Dalton

"Be different from the world." -Dalton

"If there is ever a moment of doubt in your life, turn more fully to the Savior. Trust in Him and follow His teachings. He is the light and life of the world." -Ballard

"This is His Church." -Eyring

"Peace comes from knowing that the Savior knows who we are, and loves us. Let your rejoicing never cease, for in Him ye shall have peace." -Cook

"Obedience to law is liberty!" -Perry

"We have reason to rejoice! Put your trust in the Lord, and He will help you, through whatever may be. Have faith that He can guide and bless you in your life. He hears the prayers of humble hearts." -Monson

Ok, that didnt even scratch the surface! There was sooo much more that I absolutely loved. I hope I get to read it in English soon, so I can get the exact quotes! :) But I know you all loved it just as much as I did. :) I just get so pumped after Conference! One of the biggest things I got from Conference was to pray always, and read the scriptures! Never stop looking toward the Lord and trusting in Him. And if you do those things, there is no need to worry! Everything will be ok. :)

My district celebrated my birthday, Elder Sliffe's birthday (ZL), and Elder Gremlich's birthday! For our district meeting Wednesday, my companion made Tres Leches cake, and Elder Umbach made oreo cheesecake! It was awesome. I also celebrated my birthday with Hermana Flor, a lady in our ward. Her grandson's birthday is on April 30th, so we had a party for both of us! I will include pictures. Her grandson, Kevin, is so adorable. He is 15 and is so much fun. Hes crazy. Hermana Flor also made me a navy blue and white scarf and some gloves! BYU colors! YEahhhh!

We visited Rafael one night this week. It was a little dark outside but we decided to go past his house. We got to his gate and saw that it had been locked up. So we started to walk away, and we heard a rapping on the window! So we turned around and little old Rafael was hobbling as fast as he could out of his house to unlock the gate. !!! Awww. It was so awesome that he wanted us to visit him. :) Hes great. 

I had a couple of funny experiences with people trying to talk to me in English. One day me and Hermana Garcia were walking along a street in the sun, past a guy working on his car. When he saw me he said, "Hi princess. How are you?" And I said, "Bien, gracias, como está Ud.?" And he said, "I am good!" Hahaha. He really wanted to speak English. Another guy in the colectivo asked, "When you back to your country?" And I told him, "June of 2014." And then when we got out of the car he said, "Goodbye, honey!" 

We had an awesome time in the chapel in El Centro for General Conference. There were so many people there, and we had one of our investigators, Mariela, come! She looked so happy, and was there with all her Mormon friends. :) Inbetween sessions on Saturday, me and my district got to go get some food. We had Churrasco, Chorrillana, and fries! It was so good! We went back to the chapel and all hung out in our little room for the English people. Elder Umbach drew a picture of all of us, which I have attached to this email. :) Its awesome! I love it! I am holding a JB doll and little Ricardito is behind me (the African chicken that Cecilia has). 

Another funny story. One night we forgot our keys at HErmana FLor's house, so we had to crawl through the window of our little casa! In skirts! It was loads of fun. 

We had a couple of young women come up to us during General Conference and tell us that they wanted to come with us one day to work! So thatll be awesome!

Oh, awesome story:  There is a guy in our stake who is...lets just say hes not all the way there. He met all of us missionaries and was really nice! But apparently, before me and Hermana Garcia arrived at the chapel for the second session of Conference, he went up to Elder Araya and Elder Umbach (Umbach is DL) and asked them who I was and what my name was. And they wouldnt tell him. They said, "She's in our district and it's none of your business. You don't mess with the hermanas." And then he got super angry and said, "I dont like you guys!" And stormed away. Later when they told me that story, they were like, "Be careful! Hes kinda scary." And I was thanking them that they didnt tell him my name and thanking them for sticking up for me, and they said, "Dont worry about it, Hermana. Youre safe with us. We got your back."  !!! I love them! I have the greatest Elders in my district. I am so lucky. I will never forget my very first district. :)

Today was P-DAy, obviously, and we had a district activity! We all hiked to a little lake outside of Quilpué and ate lunch and played Capture the Flag. It was hot and windy outside and we definitely had an adventure getting there. But once we got there, we had so much fun! We have the best district! But the lake was laaame. Haha. Well, compared to Colorado standards, it was super lame. It was tiny and the water was brown. But there were lots of rocks to play on and we entertained ourselves. :)

And Wednesday morning we find out what happens for transfers! And transfers are Wednesday evening! I am so nervous! I hope everything happens for the best! I bet that it will be. Everything will be just fine. :)

Well! I wish I could write more but I really gotta go! 

I hope you all realize how lucky you are to be here on this earth and have families, and have a Heavenly Father who loves and cares about you so much! Always turn to Him and trust in Him, and everything will be ok! Prayer is the greatest thing ever! I love praying so much! I dont know what I'd do if I didnt have a Father in Heaven there listening to my every word and knowing exactly how I feel in everthing I do. We are so lucky! Never forget that. :)

Keep in your heart everything that has been said at Conference, and more importantly, put it into practice! In the words of Dallin H. Oaks, Jesus' teachings were NEVER intended to be theoretical. They were always meant to be acted upon. :)

Have a great week everyone! Enjoy the Spring in the USA!

I love you all!

Hermana Amy Schrader

Happy Easter and Happy April Fool's Day

I hope you all did something for April Fool's Day!!! We almost did something...but chickened out. Last night at like 1 am (we couldnt sleep), Hermana Garcia thought it'd be funny to have me call our Elders (DLs) and tell them that I went to the bathroom and when I came back out Hermana Garcia was gone. Man they wouldve freaked out! But we decided not to do it cuz they were probably asleep. Haha lame. I know. But if you guys did anything cool, lemme know! I looove hearing prank stories. :)

I also just heard that BYU was ranked #1 in "Colleges Where Students are Hot and Smart" http://www.businessinsider.com/colleges-where-students-are-hot-and-smart-2013-3?op=1

So that was pretty awesome to hear about! Of course I think it's true. I thought I was an overachiever until I went to BYU! And yeah, everyone is really attractive! And more than anything, everyone is friendly and ready to accept you, no matter what. So true! They're all for it. I miss BYU! Can't wait to get back! BUT Im having the TIME OF MY LIFE here in Chile! And this is seriously going to be the greatest year/years of my life! 

Happy Easter! Wish I could've gotten the usual Easter basket with beef jerky and lip gloss :) But it's ok cuz I'm on a mission, and that's more awesome than anything. haha. The people here didn't really talk about Easter much! It's definitely a bigger deal in the U.S.  Here in Chile they just have Semana Santa, and it's super crazy and all the other religions besides Mormons have weird cult-like gatherings in the plaza that freak me out... Lots of creepy singing and huge signs and gigantic statues of Christ on the cross. Friday or Saturday night, when most of it was going on, we stopped at a shop nearby to get some Churrasco and fries, then booked it home!  But Sunday was good because we just had regular Sacrament meeting, but the topics were centered more on Christ and his Resurrection. It was beautiful.

Ah let's see! What happened this week...we have a new investigator! Named Alex, and he's in a wheelchair. Super sad story, his nephew died and then a month later his wife died, and then a while later his cousin died, and then a couple weeks later he got in the accident where he lost his leg. So we listened to it all and told him we wanted to help him. I shared part of Romans 8 with him, and I didnt know it at the time, but Hermana Garcia told me later that while I was reading, he had tears in his eyes. He knows that God loves him and that everything will be alright. I just can't wait for him to find out that he can live with his family for eternity in the next life! He will be so excited. I hope so anyway, who wouldn't be! 

We had a dog follow us all across town. A cute little white dog that was afraid of all the other dogs. Every time we would pass one, she'd hide behind our legs. And she really did stay right by our side from one side of Retiro to the other. We named her Vanilla. lol. Yes yes it was my idea. Hermana Garcia thinks that every time I name an animal, it leaves. There was another dog near the little tienda down the street that was always there! I named him Taco and he was adorable. But then the next day he wasn't there. And I haven't seen him since! Sooo apparently I shouldn't name the animals haha.

Ive enjoyed walking around Retiro and El Sol, which is my sector. This place is just adorable. The streets are empty a lot, but when there are people, they are sweet and happy and always smile and talk to us! But most of the time we walk about, looking for contacts and heading toward appointments. It's always so calm and beautiful and sunny, and the houses are painted such bright colors! Whenever we get the chance, I always choose to walk home instead of taking a colectivo. One night this week we walked home, and it was warm and breezy and there was a full moon! So gorgeous. Of course we dont get to walk home every night, cuz repetitive paths might get dangerous. 

It is definitely getting colder here! Yesterday, Easter, was freezing! The sun didn't come out all day and the humidity was crazy. My hair was loco! 

I've been getting frustrated with the Spanish. I've been here 5 weeks and a lot of times I still don't understand! It has gotten a lot better, but when I'm tired, it's just so hard to focus on every single word and syllable that they say. Sometimes during Sunday School or Relief Society, I just take out my scriptures and start reading. But honestly it has gotten a lot better. IT used to be that when I heard Spanish on the streets or on TV in America, I just heard a jumble of consonants and stuff. But now it actually sounds like a language. Now I can get the gist of what people are saying! But during lessons or contacts when I don't understand, I just smile and agree with what my comp says. And share my testimony when I get the chance! If there's nothing else I can do, I can always do that.

Transfers are next week! I am soooo scared! We find out on Saturday if we are leaving or staying or training or whatever. I have heard that us newbies might have to train! Which scares me to death because I haven't even been fully trained yet! I really really really hope that I get another transfer of being trained. Otherwise things will get a LOT tougher. But whatever happens I know  I will be fine, and everything happens for a reason! 

Well, I'm still addicted to Chocapic and Sahne Nuss, and I am definitely enjoying the Churrasco and Chorrillana! Family, I hope one day we will all get to come back to Chile :) Dont worry, by that time I'll be able to translate for you guys. :)

We had New Beginnings in our ward, and it was adorable! There are only 3 young women...but they are such awesome girls! And the meeting was really cute too, PLUS there was a chocolate fountain with strawberries, and a cake. :) Yesss. 

Oh! I ate horse meat again! One time with the bishop's daughter, and it was really good....  And then another time with some lady from the ward... and it was dis.gust.ing. lol Ugh I dont wanna think about it. 

Rafael came to church! Hes 82, and he was all decked out in his sky blue suit... How adorable. But something sad happened with Carolina, one of our investigators. Her son is a member (Raxy) and is suuuper loyal to the church. So we taught her during Sunday School and she was so ready for baptism and so excited! And she wanted to be baptized by her son, and she wants her daughter Patsy to be baptized too! So it was just awesome. Then we called her later on Sunday to finalize the plans, and she said something had happened at home and she said that the decision had been made that she and her kids aren't going to have anything more to do with the church. We were sooo sad. She didnt want to talk about it anymore but said she would see us later. So we are pretty sure that it was her husband's doing. He often comes home drunk and we are guessing that today was one of those days. Hopefully it will get better. Raxy is an incredible example for his family.

Today was a really awesome day! It was PDay and we had Pizza Hut with our District! All 6 of us went and ate pizza near the mall, and spent a long time there just talking and hanging out. It was so fun! Then me and Hermana Garcia and the DLs (Umbach and Araya) went shopping in that Portal. They bought shoes and we all bought food and everything. They are going to have a birthday party for me and Elder Gremlich! We both have our birthday on April 28th, and they wanted to do something for us before the transfer. Hermana Garcia is going to make Tres Leches cake and Elder Umbach is going to make cheesecake with oreos! Sooo itll be awesome. 

I love my district! Especially my comp and my DLs! They are soo awesome and so fun to be around. We have a lot of fun together. And Umbach's from Canada so we get to speak English to each other! HAllelujah! lol

Well, until next week everyone! We shall see what's in store for the next transfer! I love you all TANTO and hope you all have a fantastic week! 

Les queiro!

Hermana Amy Schrader