I'm losing my "momma" of my mission (first companion)

July 26, 2010
Another Cambio is OVER! I cannot believe how fast the time flies. President called my comp Tuesday and told her that she is being transferred to Punta Arenas. I´m really sad, but it was bound to happen sometime. My new companion will be a Hermana named Hna. Kelly. Obviously she is a gringa. I have heard really good things about her so I´m excited. I am a little nervous as I will have to show her around the 1st week until she gets used to the new sector. I´m a little nervous because I still feel like I got here about a week ago. But all is well. Oh esta, todo bien.

This week was a great week. It´s been a little crazy trying to get Hna Aponte set to leave. We had to run many errands and things and begin the goodbyes, so it´s been a little sad, but good. I think I might be leaving the next transfer, so it´s been sad to know how it´s going to feel. This is the worst part of the mission I think. UGH. Oh well.

Thank you all for all your letters this week!!!! It sounds like things are going so great. Keep up the updates. I loved getting the letters. They were really cool ones this week. Not that they aren´t always cool, but they were especially great this week. Keep em´ coming. In answer to your questions. I am in 2nd Nephi also.....It takes a really long time to read in Spanish. I am trying hard though to have a good balance of Spanish, speed, and significance. Other question, we have a stove that is gas that we burn during the day for 2 hours at a time, and then we have a fireplace kind of stove, but it seals. We burn that at night and in the mornings while we are studying. Just so you know, I´m learning how to build a mean fire, and also how to picar lena....aka chop wood. How quaint, cierto?! We have all sorts of CO2 detectors and fire detectors, and the members make sure that we know what we´re doing, so it´s all pretty fool proof. We´ve had about 5 members come to our house at one point or another to help us and lecture us on the safety factors for all this. It´s sweet. I am going to be pro. Speaking of being pro...crocheting is not going to be something that I will excel at. You asked if I had a project? No. No time. Never enough time for all the missionary stuff we have to do, much less for fun stuff...maybe after the mish.

As far my life goes, we had great success this week and hopefully more to come this next week. Right now most of the students are on vacation, so we lost 2 of the people we were teaching for three weeks. They are in various parts of Chile visiting family, but they come back this week (including Marcelo and Daniela)!! We are teaching a young woman (20) right now who is awesome. We contacted her in the morning, in one part of Ancud, and then we contacted her Mom that night in a totally different part of the city. They were both so great, and eventually we made the connection that they were mother and daughter! It was a miracle. Unfortunately, she goes to school in Puerto Mont, and so we´ll lose her as soon as school starts again, but she says she comes home almost every weekend. Hopefully we´ll still be able to teach her.

We had many activites this week with church, and our investigators Yeni and her mom Susana came to all of them and 2 weeks of church in a row!!!! This is a huge step for them. I´m so proud of them, they are starting to make friends in the church too! Susana is not married to Marcelo (the dad of Yeni and her "husband"), but we taught them the Ley de Castidad last night, and we are setting goals with them to get married and be baptized. I love this family. They are hilarious. They are so so, so great. I love them so much!!!!!! I am going to miss them TONS when I leave. So good.

I taught a lesson to a menos activo this week practically solo---and my comp just sat there and was shocked that I could speak so much and understand so well in Spanish. It was outside and she couldn´t really participate because of how we were standing by the fence...it´s hard to explain, but I basically was the one that had to speak. But I felt great to know that my Spanish was good enough to get my point across, and teach with boldness and power. Yay, success! (But with much room to improve, obvio)

I taught Paola and her kids (our neighbors) how to make smores during a family home evening that we had with them this week. It was great and the kids loved it. I love our neighbors. They are so, so kind to us. We are working to get the kids baptized, they are so great. The little boy Pablo is 10 years old and he is in charge of directing family prayer. He loves saying prayers, it is so awesome.

Well, that is all I really have time for this week. Sorry if this letter is a bit choppy. I was trying to write it all really fast to get it all in.

I am happy. I love this work. I am trying to become the missionary that the Lord wants me to become. I love this Gospel and the truth that it has. It is so, so perfect. Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers. I couldn´t do this without you. Thank you, and I love you all A TON. I miss you and I am praying for you all. Keep up the goodness.

-Con Amor
Hermana Bertagnole

Time is flying by!

July 19, 2010

Hello my beautiful family. Thank you for your letters this week, I am so glad that things are going ok.

Well, this week was so, so great. Hna. Aponte and I decided that this week was going to be different. We decided to work and focus focus focus on being as exactly obedient as possible (which is a lot harder in the field than in the MTC. In the MTC I heard "be exactly obedient" about a million times, and I always thought to myself..."how hard can that be...just do what you´re supposed to do!"....well, I am learning that it is much more than that. I am learning to try as best I can and then forgive myself when I fall through. One of the hardest parts about the mission for me right now is it really just seems like there is not enough time to do everything. It seems like I wake up and an hour later I go to bed exhausted. The days fly by so fast. It really is a day full of constantly trying to figure out what is most important to do, because you can´t do it all. Prioritizing is HUGE. I love this work, though. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever done. Definitely the hardest and most exhausting thing I have ever done, but I never want to quit. Que triste! Anyway, we saw amazing results this week and I know it was a result of our efforts to be better missionaries. The Lord blesses us when we improve for Him and His children. I am serving His children right now and I need to be the best for them--they deserve the best, so I need to always be aware of what I must improve to be better for them.

We found this 15 year old kid this week that came to an activity with one of his friends. His name is Marcelo. He is de oro. (Golden!!!!!) We talked to him a little bit and he is amazing. We set up a time to teach him and invited him to come to church. I think as a joke his friend gave him a copy of Our Heritage (the history of the church) that was lying on a "free" table, and told him to read it. When we taught him on Monday, we were teaching about the Restoration and he began to recite the church history right down to how many pages of the manuscript were lost!!!!!! He had read almost all of that book in 2 days!!!!! We taught him about baptism and he accepted a fecha to be baptized. I can´t believe him. So great!!!!!! Right now he is on vacation visiting his Abuelita in Concepcion, but he comes back in another week and a half, so we will proceed teaching him and hopefully his family then. I know that he is going to be baptized and be a great missionary some day!!!!

We learned how to make fire this week! Everyone here uses a fire stove to heat their house. The air smells smoky always, but I´m used to it now. But anyway, we didn´t have time and didn´t know how to make fire, not to mention we didn´t know how to buy wood. Anyway, a member and the Elders taught us how to do it all, and with practice, I made a very legit fire. It heated the house for the whole morning. I was very proud. I may or may not have bragged about it. It really is a lot harder than it sounds. Trust me.

Also this Saturday we had interviews with President, and Hna Lovell taught us how to crochet. It was a great morning! Then we got to go to some menos activos with President to visit. It was so great to get to teach with him. He can teach with incredible Spirit and boldness with understanding....this is my goal. I want to teach like this someday...I´m going to work on it.

Fun facts about Chile:

They use a broom to do everything here...mop the floor, wash the car, clean the windows, etc....oh, and sweep the floor. But it´s so funny the things you see people doing with brooms.

Also, in relationships age seems to have zero significance....at least in the people that we are teaching. Our neighbor is has a daughter that is 20 years old, so I´m guessing that would make her about 37 at least...she´s dating a 24 year old. Her other daughter is 14 and is dating a 20 year old. There is another investigator of ours who is 11 years old and she is dating a 17 year old (this one actually is a huge problem and legally the 17 year old boy isn´t allowed to be near her, but the mom says that they are still sneaking out together, and we see them together sometimes too.) Oh and there´s a couple in the church that she is 10 years older than the RM that she just married, who got back from his mission about a year and a half ago......Oh man. This is one part of culture shock that I wasn´t expecting, but me and my comp are always surprised when we hear about this stuff. What?


Well, I am happier than ever. The language is coming along pretty well. I love the mission. I miss you all tons, but I´m so, so happy. You are in my prayers. I love you all more than I can say. This is all that I have time for this week. I wish I could write you all individually but there is no time and it´s not allowed, but I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!


-HNA BERTAGNOLE

Hey everybody,

We went to the "campo" this week to visit a member and spend time on their farm/ranch. It is GORGEOUS there!!!!!! But we spent too much time there and now are having to rush to write emails before our meetings start. So I am going to have to make this short. This week was a good one...it had its tough moments, but it had its miracles too.

Like I said last week we are working with a lot of inactives to reactivate. It´s a challenge but a big blessing. I liked A LOT what Dad wrote about every soul counts. It´s very easy to get caught up in the numbers and baptisms, and forget that we can have "bautismos inactivos" tambien. So far we haven´t seen tons of success, but I have faith that these people´s hearts will be softened and they will remember that their covenants should always come first.

I am making lots of friends here in Ancud. We have some great investigators right now. They are so great. This Sunday, however was a little frustrating in the sense that no one really came to Church, but we´re going to visit and inquire as to why tonight and tomorrow. I know this work has its ups and downs, but right now we are trying to just do everything we can and be in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. I feel like the time goes incredibly fast here. It scares me. Honestly, when I was in the MTC, I thought...."wow, a whole day to do nothing but preach the Gospel! We´ll be able to get so much done!"....and right now is seems like a day lasts for about 30 minutes. I cannot believe how fast it goes. We are trying to focus this week on making EVERY minute count, and have more short and powerful lessons.

The weather is getting pretty cold (colder) here. But because we are so near to the ocean, we don´t see snow ever. It rains pretty frequently, but the good news about that is that we see rainbows casi cada dia!!!!! Son lindos. Mom, we did a good job shopping for clothes. I stay pretty warm. Sometimes when it rains really hard the water gets in under my two coats, but for the most part that´s unavoidable. The mission gives us waterproofs, but I am still waiting for my size to come in...I am hoping that this week during interviews with pres. they´ll bring them! Cross your fingers. Oh, and the withdrawals from my bank account are correct. I bought a pair of extra boots. I don´t really use my other shoes right now, it´s too cold. So I got another pair of boots. My comp bought some too, but I paid for them with my card, and then she paid me back when we got to the house. So that´s why there are two.

Also, I lost my agenda this week, which is also really sad. I am hoping that someone will give it back someday in the street. Pray for it. I know it sounds lame, but that had some really good and important stuff in it. Ugh. I´m lame sometimes :) But I am keeping the faith that I will find it!!!!!

Sorry I can´t write much this week, but as for the pictures: the ones with the puppies were today in the campo with Familia Huencher. She is the RS president and she is the bomb.com :) I may or may not bring a Chilean puppy home. Oh, the other picture is of a door that we tried to knock, but we didn´t have much success there. :)

That is all for now. Thank you all again for your letters. I love hearing from you all. You all are the best!!!! Thank you for your prayers and examples.

Until next week.
Hna. Bertagnole

Hola familia!

Well, I can´t believe that I have been a missionary for 4 months. I cannot believe how fast time is flying by....que triste. So much to do and so little time!

I am trying to practice being bold without overbearing, but we are working with a lot of inactive people right now and they are inactive for reasons that are honestly kind of chistoso...the worst reason that we heard this week was a lady that had dogs that were dangerous and they needed to be watched carefully. I gained a strong testimony this week of the blessings that we receive when we attend church and take the ordinance of the Sacrament seriously. I think that if we understood how sacred this ordinance is and that we can literally start fresh and be perfectly clean every week, if we take it seriously with real intent...if we understood that we would crawl to the Church if we had to. It is very sad to me to see that there are such problems with inactivity here in Ancud. So many covenants are being broken. To paint a picture for you...There are 1,000-ish members in Ancud...enough to have a stake, and there are 50 ish members attending every week...enough to have a branch, no mas. It´s sad, but we are trying hard to help this branch out so that they can receive the blessings that come with the Gospel. We are praying that people´s hearts can be softened, and that they can understand the sacred and eternal things that they are sacrificing because they don´t want to walk to Church when it´s cold, because someone was mean to them 7 years ago, because their children don´t want to go with them, they don´t want to have a calling, they have to chop wood, or because they need the extra little bit of money that they could earn on Sundays....etc. This was the frustrating part of the week, if you couldn´t tell :) But I am happy to be trying to help. I know we have a lot of support in the Rama, and I am really grateful for that. The past few years have been very rough for this Branch. A lot of problems have happened, so right now we are in the healing process I believe.

Anyway, some good-ish news this week is that we are teaching our neighbor Paola and her son Pablo. I know the missionaries have been working with her for a long time, as we live next door to her. She is always super receptive, but she´s never really accepted any sort of date for baptism. The other day we felt that we should reteach baptism and set a date for her and her son (10 years old...he´s perfect!!!!) and as we were teaching her, she began to cry and then "confessed" that she was baptized when she was 18 years old. What! It was like a secret to her; she was so ashamed that she hadn´t been attending, and when she was married, her husband objected to the Church. Right now they are separated, and she wants to change. I hope that her heart can be softened through repentance and obedience. Her son is so great. Pablo came to church one week by himself, because he wanted to! He wants to be baptized, and we hope that his mom can help him make right choices and stay active in church. But she was so relieved after she told us "her secret" and she told us she needs and wants to change. So it turned out really well.

Also, happy 4th of July...one day late. Don´t worry, the other Elder gringo, and 2 sister missionaries (that finished their mission and were back visiting), and I all belted the National Anthem in the street outside one of the member´s house yesterday. Afterwards the member came out of their house and told us that they thought it was the Jehovah´s Witnesses singing outside their door…so funny. We are going to have a barbeque and make brownies today to celebrate (we are also celebrating for Argentina (mi compi) because their special day of the year is the 9th of July.) I can´t wait for Chile´s day (18th of September---shout out to Chelsea for your birthday :) I hear it´s a huge, huge deal...bigger than Christmas. Lots of meat :)

Well, that´s about all I have for this week. It was a very tiring week. I came home last night compeletly exhausted. Phewww. It´s nice to have this Pday, but we have a big week in front of us. Thank you for your prayers. I need them lots. And thank you all for your letters and emails. They are so great. This is why I love Pday! I get to hear from you all, so thank you muchisisismo. Also, thank you for the pictures everybody! (Mom, from the family reunion, and Jimmy for the pictures of Sean and Abby´s wedding!!!!!) Congrats Sean and Abby! Abby, your dress is beyond words gorgeous. :)

Love you guys.