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