Week 9

Hola! 

Firstly, it’s a hard day. I woke up early this morning and the thought crossed my mind, “I wonder if gma is still here?”  Then saw the email from my mom around 9 this morning.  Thanks to the honesty of a friend and my mom about gmas condition I was able to get permission to call gma last week.  My mission president gave me permission to call her as much as I wanted until then end came.  I was able to talk to her 5-6 times this last week. I will never forget those short but perfect calls with her.  While it is a hard day I am at peace knowing she is in a perfect body, with gpa, and all who passed before her. Yesterday I was talking to my mission president and he told me, “If it's her time to return to the father, then now is your time to put your faith in action and teach what you know to be true. You will see your grandma again.” I know grandma wouldn’t want me anywhere else, and I know she will be watching over me.

On a mission side of things this week has sucked. All our lessons fell through, no one came to church, and we have no new investigators.  However, in church, on Sundays here if the speakers end early, then they just close the meeting early and leave.  Sacrament is last and this week we got out 15 minutes early! Who knew they could do that!?

A little about my area, we live in "Departamental" in a little yellow house.  This part of Chile is really poor and kinda dirty, but the people are so humble! We live outside our sector so we walk...A LOT. Its 3.5 miles to the building that we have zone/district meetings and interviews in. We live about a 15 min walk from church, and 30 minutes or more to most our lunch appointments, the metro, or any real store. Here the houses are super close, some are broken down tiny shacks that barely have a roof, others are quite nice.  There are very few trees and dirt on the sides of the roads, so when its hot it really sucks because there is very little shade. Its kinda fun walking and getting to see all of our area, but we do spend a lot of time just walking that I wish we could spend teaching, but that's okay, I love it here! There is graffiti everywhere, but some of it is really cool pieces of art. On every corner is a little tiny store called an Almacen, its super convenient when we forget lille ingredients to cook or need ice cream. My favorite thing here is the Feria.  Everyday there is a a street fair somewhere in this part of the city that people line up tents and sell food, clothes, cleaning supplies, etc.  It is the cheapest place to buy fruit so we have permission to go on Tuesday/Fridays. Its really cool, kinda just a street fair to buy stuff you need for the lowest cost.

My comp had interviews this week and a few of us were talking about the CCM with Hermana G---- and out of know where she says, "The CCM is a psychological experiment of sorts, you put people from all over the world together, different ages, give them tons of rules, tell them to sit in a classroom for 12 hours, and expect everything to go perfect"....I was laughing so hard. That is the truest statement i have heard my whole mission!

We have an investigator named W-----.  He lived in New York for 25 years so he speaks pretty good English and wants the lessons in English, which is convenient for me cause I can actually say everything that I want to.  W---- is a unique person, he is super goofy, little weird, and gets distracted SO easy! During our very first lesson with him we asked if he would like to say the closing prayer. He said, "If i were to say the prayer i would say something like this.... So he tells us what we would say and we told him that it would be great! We made it a goal to kneel for every closing prayer in our lessons, so we invited Willy to kneel and he said no because he has bad knees but told us we could.  So we get down on our knees and say, "would you like to say the prayer now?" He said, "I already did.... " We had this super awkward moment when we realized that what he told us his prayer would be about, was actually his prayer...so we awkwardly stood back up...we got a good laugh of it afterwards.  During our second lesson we asked about his life and what he hoped for, and he told us all about how he wants his own house, he lives with his mom and brother. So during our closing prayer he asked me to pray and as i was praying, getting near the end, he adds to my prayer and says, "And please bless me to have my own home." I awkwardly add it to the prayer and end.  W----- is so funny, but he is a great investigator and even calls and reschedules if he can't make it to our meeting. 

Because of my role as nurse we visit the office usually about once a week, which means we get to know President and Hermana G----- really well and also the office Elders.  We have learned that if we give the office Elders treats through "pouch" (system for mailing and getting mail within our mission) we can get just about anything, such as, nice pens, sheet protectors, and help with translating medical papers from English to Spanish.  This week the Elders really wanted a treat so they came and dropped off some cooking ingredients and a hand beater (gift) at our house, but because we weren't home they had to jump the fence. Elder K----- hit one of the spikes on his hand, so then he had to call me and ask what to do because it was a pretty good puncture in his hand.  I told him to send me a picture and he titled the email heading, "I impaled myself for cinnamon banana bread!" We were laughing so hard! Needless to say, his hand is fine and they got banana bread this week, I also got my medical documents translated....nothing quite like sucking up!

For people who have served missions. My first two weeks here we had two investigators; E----- and J----.  We realized they weren't going to progress, they don't keep commitments, wont come to church, and one is a teacher at his church and isn't willing to give that up....so we decided to "drop" them, and spend that time finding people who are prepared.  After a week and a half, at the chapel open house, they came and they brought 6 friends! We didn't invite them, they were invited my a member friend. What do we do, we don't want to teach them if they aren't willing to do their part and progress, but they came and listened....

In my mission there are a ton of "lost members". So President G---- made a program we call, "5 minute visits". We have a list of all members in our ward and we visit every house, pray with them, and verify who still lives at the address.  It is a more organized and effective way of contacting. A lot of people have moved, so we find new people to teach, and if they still live there we invite them to come back. Well, Monday night we went to a business/house that we thought a less active lived at.  As we talked with J--- He said, "Oh! you guys are the missionaries from my church?" However, later in the conversation we asked how long he has been a member and he said, "No I am an investigator..." WHAT! He called it HIS CHURCH!

Quote for this week: "God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability; and if we prove our dependability, He will increase our capability."

-Elder Maxwell

Some of my favorite scripture sections/stories:

• Jacob 7:9-20 (Sherum & Jacob)
• Mathew 14:15-21 (Feed 5000)
• Mathew 14:23-32 (Peter & Christ walk on water)
• Luke 1:26-38 (Mary is told she will concieve)
• 1 Nephi 17:7-17 (Nephi builds the ship)
• 3 Nephi 11:8-17 (Christ returns)
• Alma 22:4-23 (Aaron teaches king Lamoni)

Work hard, love life, and learn as much as you can!

Love,

Hermana Sullivan

P.s. Sorry my emails are so long, because we spend so much time walking we stay out as late as possible, so its hard to find journal time, my emails are sort of my way of remembering the important things....