Week 17

Hola!

(May 17, 2017)

This week was incredible! I was able to FaceTime my family on Saturday for Mother's Day. It was awesome to see and talk to everyone!  We talked about Chile, a lot of the nursing stuff, my mission, home, etc. it was great! My family is incredible, and I have the worlds most amazing parents! Thanks everyone for taking the time to be there to see me! 

I also had permission to call Jen, she is amazing and I'm so glad I got to talk to her also. At the end her entire family sang "Praise to the Man" first verse in English and second verse in Spanish. When I was 12 years old Jen took me to Nauvoo for the first time. It was then, standing in Carthage Jail, at the end of our trip that I gained a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. In the tour of Carthage they play "Praise to the man", and ever since it's been my favorite. It was a fantastic weekend. 

On Friday I had my 11 week training in preparation for my training to be over.  Next week I will most likely have a new companion and a new area! Crazy how fast time flies! After the training we had lunch and I was sitting across from my mission president. They served us pink punch and he refused to drink it because it's pink. Thinking he was kidding we looked at his wife and she said, "Can you imagine 40 years of this? He cooks for himself now..." we busted up laughing. Following presidents refusal Hermana H----- (Senior Missionary) added that red coloring is the leading cause of cancer because your body has to get rid of the dye...I then said, "That's why my dad says Mountain Dew is healthy, you don't have to change the color..." I watched as my mission president thought about it, smile grew on his face and he simply shook his head. I told my dad about this during FaceTime and we all got a good laugh.  

Today I finished the Book of Mormon. It's the first time I've read it from cover to cover. I read it and simply marked the Godhead. It's incredible to see where and when the Godhead is most referenced. Some pages contained almost no references while others were filled. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. There's not a single doubt in my mind. And what a blessing it is for us to have it, and the guidance it contains. If you haven't read it, I urge you to start now. I waited far too long to make it a priority in my life.  So don't make the same mistake that I did. 

Many times before my mission I was told or heard from people that "the mission was their biggest blessing and greatest experience". I've often wondered, especially now that I'm serving, "Why?"  Right now, my ward is falling apart and the bishop shoots down everything the missionaries suggest, I've taught one lesson in two weeks, knocked doors, passed out hundreds of pass along cards, prayed like crazy and.....Nothing. I've found myself thinking, "how could this possibly be the best thing you've ever done?!" Then, by inspiration I'm sure, I came across a six minute clip of President Erying speaking. In the video, he says, "...and when you look back on what seems like trying times of service and sacrifice...the sacrifice will have become a blessing and you will know that you have seen the arm of God lifting those you serve for him and lifting you."  I watched this video over 10 times while my comp was talking with her family. In video form, it seems as if President Erying is talking about missionaries, but after reading the talk I learned he is referring to any calling in the church, not specifically missionaries. If you can do one thing today, I ask you to give the Lord 6 minutes. Watch the video and tell me your favorite line. 

The Lord Always invites. Nothing is a rule, it's a simple invitation or a council to guide us to the best lives we can have. I read the story of Christ walking on the water. His disciples are first scared thinking he is a spirit, but then the Lord says, "Be of good cheer. It is I; be not afraid." Peter being filled with faith asks the lord if he can come to him on the water. The lord says, "come." Peter too began walking on water, but when the wind gets bad he doubts his faith and begins to sink. I find it interesting that peter gets a lot of crap from this story because he doubted his faith. But remember, Peter is the ONLY one who got out of the boat. All the others stayed and watched. I think to myself, do I have the faith to leave the boat? Or am I just along for the ride? 

Video of Erying- Rise to The Call

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M8xwRIO_qMY

Henry B. Eyring - Rise to Your Call m.youtube.com Henry B. Eyring - Rise to Your Call. Given October 2002 General Conference.

Also, my dad is awesome! He starred on Jimmy Kimmel Live Last Night! Here's the link to enjoy my dad talking about our family store! Dad is the second person in the video!

https://youtu.be/128E6-M-Vsk

Jimmy Kimmel Talks to Owners of Oddly Named Stores youtu.be In an effort to shine light on the entrepreneurial spirit of this country, we scoured and found some interesting businesses that have multiple specialties an...

I hope everyone's week was as great as mine! 

Te Amo Mucho!

Hermana Sullivan

Week 16

Hola!

Most importantly Happy Mother's Day on Sunday! I am so grateful for all the role model mothers I have had in my life especially my mom! I cannot wait to talk to her on Sunday! My mom is hard working, funny, adventurous, intelligent, and loving! I love you momma!

I've been given this advice before, but never put this way: "Here's how life should be lived: when you walk into a room, decide if your the smartest person there. If you are, you can be content, but don't become prideful. If your not, decide who is and stand next to them, talk to them, and learn something." Can you imagine how different the world would be, if this is how we all lived?

So this week our lesson with J----- and his family fell through but on Sunday we went and visited with them for a bit. And a little mission miracle happened...A----- was talking about how this week was especially hard and she was really sad because of the war that's going on in Venezuela and her son is still there. They are trying to save up the money to bring him to Chile. Anyways she told us that the other night she woke up, really worried, and couldn't sleep. She then proceeded to get out of bed and read from the Book of Mormon!! And she was really excited because she had found the answer she was looking for! It's incredible how the Lord softens the hearts of those who are truly ready for the gospel. She didn't want a baptismal date because she doesn't want to feel pressured, however, all by herself to find comfort she chose to read from the Book of Mormon. She has progressed and her testimony is a lot stronger than I think she realizes. I am so excited to see them be baptized they are going to be a "power couple" in the church!

I read a talk this week about the atonement. "Atonement, Agency, Accountability" by Boyd K Packer. In it he talks about the scriptural uses of the word "Atonement". So I did a little digging, it is used in the scriptures very little:

Old Testament- 94

New Testament- 1

Book of Mormon- 40

Pearl of Great Price- 1

D&C- 9

As Elder Packer talked, I am also marveled at the fact that the word is used only ONE time in the New Testament. As Nephi taught in 1 Nephi 13:24, the Bible once contained the fullness of the gospel. But over time we see the formation of the great and abominable church. While the New Testament contains only 1 reference and the Book of Mormon 55, we see another witness that the Book of Mormon is truly another testament of Jesus Christ. It is the only book that contains the fullness of the gospel and the atonement of Jesus Christ. How blessed are we to have it! On my mission we are told to be cautious of who we give Books of Mormon to. When I was first told this I thought to myself, "why?! I'm a missionary and we give free copies to people all over the world!" But here, the sad fact is, people use the pages to make joints, to do drugs. Sacred pages disregarded and disgraced. I thank the father daily that i was born into the family I was, and so, being born into the covenant and taught by example the importance of The Book of Mormon. 

The phrase, "the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people" has always been an interesting statement to me. For most my life I always thought that that meant that He worked through visions, priesthood authority, missionaries, personal revelation, etc. As I have studied my scriptures this week I read in Alma 24.  This chapter is talking about the Lamanites coming to bring a war upon the people of the anti-Nephi-Lehi's.  In verse 19 it says, "...we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried their weapons of war for peace." Those who have come unto God, quite literally put all evil aside and came to God for peace. When the people saw that the Lamanites were coming they went out to meet them, swordless, full of faith and they began to pray unto the Lord. The Lamanites killed 1,005 of the Anti-nephi -Lehi's.  The Lamanites were astonished that these people would lay down their lives and praise God even at the very moment of perishing under the sword. Because of this act of faith, in verse 26 it says, "And it came to pass that the people of God who were joined that day by more than the number who had been slain; and those who had been slain were righteous people, therefore we have no reason to doubt but what they were saved." The Lord looked at 1,005 people and knew that they could all die and come unto him and because of their faith and sacrifice more would join the church than had died. In verse 27 it says, "....thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people." Now I don't know if we will find anything this extreme as a way to convert people in our day, but either way it gave a whole new aspect to God knowing the bigger picture and knowing what is needed of his children. 

Love you all!  Hope you have a great week!

Hermana Sullivan

Week 15

Hola!


This week was fun, not a ton of success, but we still had fun. One thing we did was we took a whiteboard down to Gran Avenida, the busiest road in our area, and we wrote the questions, "Que le hace feliz?!" (What makes you happy?") We set up the board right next to where people come out of the metro. It was interesting to see how people reacted. Some were excited and took no convincing, others glared and shook their little pointer finger at us as they walked away, and the best people were the ones who said no, but then as they read the board they convinced themselves to go back and write something. One mom first said no but I offered her little girl (maybe 3 or 4) a marker and as she watched her daughter get excited I offered her another pen and they both wrote something. People wrote everything from friends, family, music, rainbows, playing, spouse, Sleep, soccer, food, life, my mom, etc. We also passed out "pass along cards".  We got a couple of referrals but for the most part we just planted a bunch of seeds. If all we did was help people take a moment to think about what makes them happy, then that's exactly why we're here. To share the joy.

This week we taught A----- (J-----'s wife) the first lesson, "The restoration of the gospel."  She pointed out a cool fact. No other church has the restored gospel, this is a well known fact. This is why we are the only true church, we have the restored gospel which includes the keys to the priesthood. "Restored Gospel" is a common phrase for all of us to hear, but do you realize what it means?  When I was growing up my gpa Merlin had an old chevy truck he used on the farm. With holes in the bed of the truck, paint worn off, and parts and pieces falling apart this little truck pushed on.  Years later when I was in my teens gpa decided to "restore" the truck. The truck was taken apart, repainted, new engine, new bed, spiffed and shined up. He restored the truck back to its prime, the way it was when it was brand new on the car lot. Restore literally means to bring back the original quality. Now, in gospel sense "restore" means to bring back the original truths of the words of the prophets. Now, we believe that there was a long time when the gospel and the priesthood keys were not on the earth, this was because of the great apostasy.  And thus the reason the church had to be restored. Many others believe the gospel never left the earth, and therefore no reason for it to be restored. What a blessing it is to us to have the restored gospel, the truths of all the prophets who came before us, and who received revelation directly from Christ and his apostles. Like the little old chevy was made new again, so was the gospel through the divine revelation to Joseph Smith. The gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter where you go, is the same. Truth never changes, and neither will the foundational principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

So last week we were working on the "Kieffer" list, trying to verify addresses and members when we found the M----- family. The mom seemed very annoyed at us being there but agreed to let us come back, although she didn't seem too thrilled. So this week we went back, and ashamed to say, we didn't have much faith of her letting us in.  But they let us in! The whole family was there and we were able to verify their records and visit with them including leaving a scripture and a thought. They also invited us back next week! It was cool to see, something changed during the week, and we are ready to help them in whatever way possible.  I can testify that the spirit changes the hearts of those who are ready to accept help. This family seems ready, so we're going to have faith and see how next week goes!

The Lord Always invites. Nothing is a rule, it's a simple invitation or a council to guide us to the best lives we can have. I read the story of Christ walking on the water. His disciples are first scared thinking he is a spirit, but then the Lord says, "Be of good cheer. It is I; be not afraid." Peter being filled with faith asks the lord if he can come to him on the water. The lord says, "come." Peter too began walking on water, but when the wind gets bad he doubts his faith and begins to sink. I find it interesting that peter gets a lot of crap from this story because he doubted his faith. But remember, Peter is the ONLY one who got out of the boat. All the others stayed and watched. I think to myself, do I have the faith to leave the boat? Or am I just along for the ride?

So on Monday we were riding the bus to district meeting. Somehow we ended up on the same bus as 4 elders and 2 other Hermanas. All of us were joking and laughing when the other hermanas got off the bus early...an elder asked, "Where are they going?", as they were headed in the wrong direction. I said, "probably to the bank to pull out their money." And out of nowhere, Elder M-----r says, "HUH! It's closed!" We all busted up laughing then called them to remind them that it was closed. Monday was Chile's Labor Day so everything was closed! It was really funny how M----- said it. 

A few funny nurse conversations I had this week:
         Elder: "Hermana, I think I have an eye infection...".
        Me: "Elder, what happened?"
        Elder: "Well I climbed in a stack of tires and then everyone pushed me over and some crap got in my eye...."

    Elder: (while on the phone) "Hold on a second Hermana, I'm trying to put my pants on and talk at the same time..."
   
        Me: "Elder, on a scale from 1-10 how bad does your knee hurt?"
        Elder: "12 like the apostles, it's really bad"

Well it's been a fun week, I've laughed a lot, and had fun. Life is good and the love of God shines forth. Take a moment to realize what makes you most happy and have a great week!
Love you all,
Hermana Sullivan

Ps. The elders try to tease me about being from Kanab....I'M NOT! Sorry mom and dad, it's just not Leeds.  Anyways my nicknames as of right now are Queen Kanab & Hermana Enfermera.

Hermana Sullivan

Mission Nurse Specialist 

Chile Santiago South Mission

Week 14

Hola!

This week has been crazy!  For starters, Elder C----- got switch mid change to be an office elder to help his knee heel, so he's gone.  Elder S----- joined us in Departamental, and he is great! He will bring a lot of energy to the ward!

We had 3 earthquakes in 3 days.  The first I was laying in bed super late and everything started to shake.  When it finished i asked an Hermana that lives with us and no one else felt it. The second was on Sunday during lunch at the bishops house, little stronger, but still just a little shake. During the third we were visiting a less active 86 year old who lives alone.  We found him while doing the "Kiefer" 5 Minute Visit list.  This one was a lot stronger, America said it was a 7.1 on the rictor scale.  I was way too excited about it, but funny thing is, here all the locals freak out about a tiny shake.  I'm sure its because they have lived through a really big one, but the poor guy was a little scared.  I think we found him in just the right moment that he wasn't alone, I think it made him feel a little better.

The nursing side of things has picked up a ton! I'm currently helping 17 missionaries, which isn't a ton, but its hard to keep track of everything.  The office elders finally got my iphone, so that will make communication and setting up appointments so much easier.  But I love being the nurse and getting to know all the different missionaries. One missionary got chickenpox and because not many people in Chile are vaccinated for chicken pox, he has to stay in his house until they are totally gone. We wouldn't want to start an outbreak, bad PR for the church...anyways he is going a little crazy at home, its been 5 days already and he still has a couple more, so my comp and I decided we are going to take them some treats tomorrow.

Also, our mission, health wise, if having a lot of issues because people aren't eating enough fiber....So I created a competition for increasing fiber.  It's zone vs zone and the winning zone gets brownies and popcorn, and a movie on pday with the projector.  But the results are great!  One elder came to me and said, "Hermana Sullivan, I bought wheat pasta and crackers with lots of seeds in them!" Another hermana was eating an apple and i told her that i liked her snack choice and she said, "Gotta Increase that fiber".  The missionaries all have a list of basic food that they get points for eating, all super healthy options.  And on Sunday the first round of scores came in, every zone is within 100 point average of each other.  The WHOLE mission is participating!  Anyways its been fun.

Last night we were visiting a very less active family, and one of the sons who is struggling with church and connecting with people pulled out his guitar, and we messed around on it for a little bit.  We played "Im Yours", and he was so happy.  I by all means cannot play the guitar, but the three songs i can play we had fun with. The family is in the Elders sector but they respond a lot better to us, so we decided it would be best for us to work on them, and i think we had enough fun that when i asked if they would come to church, at least the one said yes, but we will see on sunday!

Today for Pday we went to the stake center and had an activity with a bunch of different missionaries. We played basketball for 2 hours and it was basically the best day of my life!  Also my team played 7 games....and we never lost. So that was also fun.  Then we mae hawaiian leis out of candy and watched the movie Moana....SUCH A CUTE MOVIE! The office elders brought the movie for us and one said, "Sister Sullivan i brought the movie in english for you."   YAY FOR ENGLISH!!

Spanish....well my spanish sucks, but its fine, life goes on and learning is increasing....

We have had a really hard time finding investigators, so this last week we decided to try strengthening the ward and gaining their trust.  So we passed around a sign up paper on Sunday, and for the members that sign up we went to their house and shared a 15 minute message including a 5 minute Mormon message and a few thoughts. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and we have had great response from the members.  Still no investigators, but we are definitely building trust with members.

Well that's it for this week!

As my mother would always say, "Be Good, Have fun, Remember who you are, and Return with honor"

Hermana Sullivan

Week 13

Hola Familia y Amigas!

J-----'S FAMILY ARRIVED IN CHILE!!!!!!!

I have to start with this!  It's been a really hard week since J-----'s family was denied coming.  For his family to come it is a 10 hour drive to the airport and the first time they were denied leaving the country of Venezuala.  Well, Saturday they tried again and were able to come!  Sunday on our way to lunch J----- said, "Hello!" We didn't recognize him cause he was in casual clothes but the second we did we both freaked out! We met his wife and daughter who are both so beautiful and they are both really excited about taking the missionary lessons.  J----- looked so happy.  It's really cool to not only see his happiness but share that same happiness with him.  

First, we have this super cute lady we visit every week.  She is older and can't really leave the house anymore.  Her name is R----- and she is a convert of 2 years.  She is so cute, she used to be Catholic and whenever someone asks why she joined the church she always says, "well my church was 3 blocks away and yours was only 2...." But she loves the hymn book and the Book of Mormon!  And when we say a prayer, she always adds, "Si Senor" after every sentence that she agrees with, and sometimes at the end of the prayer she just starts praying, adding her own little thoughts.  She is so adorable and we love visiting her!

This week Hermanas D----- and H----- moved in with us, after they set up their beds they found out real quick that one bed was warped and the bars to hold up the mattress just fall through....after them complaining for a while.  I got frustrated and got a piece of wood that came from an old dresser and I pulled out my pocket knife, which conveniently had an inch and a half long saw on it...I sawed a 2.5 foot wide board in half, using that ridiculous saw.  As I was sawing the Elders called and one said, "What is going on? It sounds like someone is sawing...."  My comp starts laughing and says, "well my companion is doing exactly that."  Finally, 45 minutes later I finished.  And my companion said, as I was going to put it on the bed, "watch it be too long.... " IT WAS 0.5 in TOO LONG!!! So I started over, meanwhile the Elders came to bring us some stuff from our old house and we gave them rice crispy treats.  I enlisted them in helping me cut the board cause I was getting a huge blister.  In the picture they are eating treats while I was cutting and because they can't come inside but we needed the light they are standing on the board in the doorway to keep it from moving....and my comp took the award winning picture of the elders eating treats and the Hermana working...well, finally got done and the bed was fixed....2 hours later and a big blister.  Next time someone says that the hermanas are spoiled, just remember, I fixed the bed. And thank you Zak for telling me to bring a leatherman....

Saturday the Elders called and wanted to meet with us because we are all struggling to find people to teach.  They had a couple ideas to bounce around and I'll say, I'm pretty stoked for our plans.  First, on Sunday we passed around a sign up sheet to the active members.  We want to go share a 10 minute thought with each member that's active to help build trust and get to know people better.  We got about 16 appts, which is way worse than we thought we'd get, but that's still 16 people we will get to know better.  Then Sunday night we went "Easter Caroling"....we went to J-----'s house and sung to them for Easter and introduced them to C-----i (we refer to them as the "Power Couple").  After we took the "Prince of Peace" pass along cards and rode the metro!  We passed out 500 cards in about an hour.  We didn't want to bug or trap people into listening to us, so instead we told them Happy Easter and that the card was for a cool video of Christ.  People were actually a lot more receptive than I thought they would be.  Also we wrote our number on the back of each card, it will be interesting to see if we get any calls....

I am officially the only nurse for our mission! Its so nice! I feel like its been a little chaotic up until now, but things are going good.  Also just found out that our area medical adviser has been reassigned to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Ill still be able to contact him....just not in person and there will be a time change, so that'll be fun.

Cool fact.  I hit 3 months on the 17th, crazy how fast time has gone!

Stay safe! Love you all!

Hermana Sullivan
Mission Nurse Specialist