Janelle's May 24 email

May 24, 2011
From the beautiful beach of Villarrica

Hey family,

Got transferred.

Somehow, I have managed to be in the prettiest sectors of the whole mission...my whole mission. Suerte. President must like me or something :) Villarrica is just GORGEOUS. It´s built at the base of a volcano and there is a huge beach from a beautiful mountain surrounded lake. Wow. And I get to work this sector every day. There is a lot of touristy stuff here, but being as it is winter, there aren´t that many tourists. Gosh. You all are just going to die when you see this place.

Well, there isn´t much time to write, but I am just happy as a peach. I am not going to lie though, it was a hard goodbye to Osorno for me. I think it was some of the hardest goodbyes for me my whole mission. I just can´t believe the love that some of these people have there. I was given some very beautiful recuerdos from some of my very special investigators.(I´ll show you sometime, and probably bawl as I do it). I can´t believe these people´s generosity. What an honor to know them and share these miracles with them.

Best news of all, though, is that Roddy´s baptism was just exceptional. The baptism was combined with a baptism of the elders from another ward. We had it in the Stake Center. Over a 100 people came. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. Almost our whole ward showed up. And even President and Hermana Lovell came. President gave the closing remarks, and he called it a "perfect baptism". He thanked the members for being so supportive, and he gave them the call to help them progress. It was so great. So powerful.

Here in Villarrica, things have been struggling in the work quite a bit it seems like, but we have seen some great progress already in just a few days. We have found 7 new people to teach, including 1 part member family. The work is beautiful. I am loving more than anything, working with Hermana Gebara. She is just spectacular!!!!!!!! We are already best friends. And making plans to remain that way after the mission. For all my O.C. loving friends out there...she is basically Marissa Cooper. Hahaha. She is from So. California. and beautiful. We are hitting it off great. I love her tons! I call her "Coop". Jajajaja.

Well that is all I got for now. Sorry it´s so short, but I gotta run. I ´ll write more next week. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Hermana Bertagnole