Janelle's e-mails to her family

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Hey there family...

I have had a very satisfying week this week. Full of surprises, full of miracles. Well I made a list of the things that I need to tell you all because I don´t have much time, and I don´t want to forget anything....here goes. Wish me luck.

SO first of all, Thanksgiving was great. So great. We started with a zone activity early in the morning---TURKEY BOWL!!! It was way fun...just so you know...threw one touchdown pass and caught two. :) Not to brag or anything...I´m working on developing more humility ;) So that was great. Then for lunch we went to mamita´s house and I ate a seaweed stew of sorts. There´s this thing here that is called Cochalleulleu...it´s seaweed, and they cook it and eat it. This was the first time that I had ever tried it, but they sold it all over the place in Ancud...I´ve heard mixed reports, but it wasn´t that bad...wasn´t that good, but wasn´t that bad...Gratitude right :) But, yeah that was my thanksgiving dinner. :) Oh gotta love the stories to tell on the mission.

Secondly, FELIZ CUMPLEANOS HOY DIA PAPA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you like crazy. I sent you a postcard, I hope that you have gotten it or will get it soon, but I love you tons, and I hope that this day is awesome for you, I hope that you feel well enough to party it up like crazy :) Do a crazy dance or something...and then send me pictures. :) I love you papa. Thank you for all that you do for me, for all the advice, and all the encouragement. You´re just perfect. Keep up the hard work. I love you. I´m praying for you always.

Also. Yesterday my Zone leader called me and told me that I´m leaving Magallanes and going to Ovejero. I will still be in Punta Arenas, but I´ll be taking Hermana Aponte´s spot in her sector. Big shoes to fill. I´m nervous, but excited. I feel very sad to leave Magallanes though. It is definitely the hardest that I have seen so far in the mission, but I love it so much. It is very tender to me...I think it´s because it has been the hardest, actually. Go figure. But it´s hard to leave because we are starting to see a little progress, but there is still so much to do. I am trusting that Hermana Campos and her new companion Hermana Neubert (I worked with her at BYU before the mission!!!!!! I trained her in processing!!!!! She´s incredible) will keep up the good work and help make the needed changes to progress. I love the work that I am in. I don´t feel prepared to leave yet, but that is just part of the mission, I guess. My new companion will be Hermana Byam. She´s from Canada. She is just awesome. I already love her and know her. We are going to see some miracles together.

This week my companion and I gave talks in Sacrament meeting, and we had many members come up to us and thank us for giving them hope and faith for the great work that lays ahead of them. I spoke on the obra misional and Hermana Campos spoke on baptism. I promised them that if they really have faith and if every one of them is working as hard as they can and praying as hard as they can they will see 100 people attending every week, in one year from now. We invited them to start with their families--activating them and helping them. The biggest problem in the ward is that many are tired and lack faith and hope for change. We are trying to change that point of view. It was a great meeting, and I hope that the members understand how much we care about them, but more than that, how much their Father in Heaven cares about them. It was a great meeting. The Spirit was strong.

Also, this week we passed by and talked to Obispo and we were talking about Christmas...I confessed that I have never tried Pan de Pascua...a bread here that is VERY popular during Christmas...I think it is a lot like fruit cake, but I´m not really sure, as I have never tried that either. Anyway, he was very concerned that I had never tried it. Then on Sunday he came up to me with a HUGE pan de pascua and he told me, with a smile..."para tener una oncesita con su companera en la noche." He´s so great. Love him.

Also, please pray for Hermano Diaz. He´s a 79 year old man that always goes out with us on Thursdays. We call him our other companion. He´s so faithful, and says really funny stuff sometimes. We passed by this Thursday and he wasn´t there. The first time ever that that happened. He´s always excited to go out and be a missionary for a few hours. We passed by a few days later, and his wife told us that he was in the hospital. They think he has cancer. Please pray for him. We went and visited him, and he has all his church books there at the foot of the bed. He´s so great. We just love him. Keep him in your prayers.

Serve the missionaries in our ward. Spoil them. They will love you for the little things. Have Family Home Evenings with them and their investigators. It makes all the difference, the members.

Que mas que mas....OH thank you all so so much for your letters. I loved hearing from you all. I love you all so much. I hope that work, school, family, etc. is and continues to go well for you all. Love you all tons. I´ll be writing letters next week :)

Welp, that is all for now. I love you all. Happy birthday, daddy.

All the love in the world, from your girl down south,

Hermana Bertagnole

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