Monday, June 29, 2009

It's cold!


Familia,

Sending photos takes forever! I don’t have a lot of time left so hopefully my cold fingers can type super quickly. Oh yeah I noticed how often I use the word "super" in my letters home now. It is because we use super a LOT here.

It is pretty cold here. The first few days last week I couldn’t sleep because I was cold. Then I got another blanket and I think my body got used to the cold. Have I told you that we have no heat? We have a small heater that we can use during the day but not at night. Yeah, it is cold. Today I am going to buy some fleece jackets, so don’t worry Mom when money comes out of my account.

It is super beautiful here, though. It looks like Provo. We are surrounded by hills and beyond the hills are the peaks of mountains covered with snow. The close mountains are in the east just like in Provo, so I can tell where I am here better than in Santiago. The air is cleaner here. But in the night everyone is using their stoves for heat and it smells like camping. I feel like I am camping all the time here, it is cold and smells like camping.

Hermana Spielmann is terrific. She is so happy and funny. She of course doesn’t speak English so it is a little different than with Hermana Cuevas. I can’t say, ¿Como se dice...? anymore. Ben’s translator is very handy now. It was before too, but now especially. Thanks Ben. You have now idea how helpful it has been!!!!

Ahhh Ben! Happy Birthday Benjammin! No se si ha recibido su tarjeta que yo envi, pero si no lo veniendo. I wrote Ben a letter all in Spanish this morning. It is so far from perfect, but hey it shows how much I have learned in three months. It is pretty incredible that I can understand, read, and talk in Spanish. Bienvenida a the twenties, brother! I am buying cake today to save for Wednesday.

We had a really fun week. On Tuesday we worked really hard and taught 9 lessons. On Wednesday we traveled to San Felipe for zone class. I really love this zone. It is smaller than my last and we get along really well. On Friday we did a service project together in Santa Isabel. The elders cut down trees and the hermanas took out tomato plants and weeded. So fun, I have pictures to send. Hermana Atkin says being in Los Andes is like the best two years except instead of tulips we have vineyards and horses. Its true.

On Wednesday night we slept at Hermana Atkin’s house and I didn’t sleep very well because it was so cold. We slept at their house because Hermana Atkin and I had training in Santiago on Thursday morning. We had to wake up at 5 am and travel on the bus for an hour and a half. It was fun to be companions with her again for a day. And to travel by ourselves and be able to get along with just our Spanish was pretty incredible. We have come along way together and it will be a sad day when we aren’t lucky enough to be in the same zone. Her companion only speaks Spanish too, so she is learning a lot right now.

I love a lot of things about Hermana Spielmann. We have a lot of fun working together. One day last week we were on our way to knock the doors of a neighborhood and we passed a field were two boys were walking on a cement tube. Hard to explain, it is like the tube in the Kuchar´s backyard that we always played in, but cement. I thought, "Hey I want to try walking on that." After discussing it with Hermana Spielmann we decided to go talk to them, why not, they are people and we can talk to them about the gospel, so we set out across the field. We talked to them for a little bit about their families, the gospel and such and then they asked if we wanted to try out the tube. I of course was all for it. I leaped up on the tube in my skirt and boots and started walking along with the tube, then of course the tube got ahead of me and I had to jump off. It was pretty sweet. Can you imagine it?

We have heard all about the death of Michael Jackson this week. All the members ask if we have heard and it was the topic of conversation at our service project last week. At least five times a day Hermana Spielmann and I ask each other, Did you know Michael Jackson died?, or Can you believe that Michael Jackson is in the spirit world right now? It is a little bit funnier in Spanish.

I think Claudio was baptized yesterday. On the mission web page it said that Hermana Cuevas and her companion had a baptism yesterday, but no name was listed. I’m going to email her real quick and hopefully will have an answer next week. My fifth baptism, yay!

There is a lot of work to do in this ward. There were only 34 people in church yesterday. We need to do a lot of reactivating. The week before I arrived here Hermana Spielmann found Juan. He is going to be baptized this week and it is incredible how ready some people are to receive the gospel. I am teaching way more than I did with Hermana Cuevas and actually feel like I am doing missionary work. It is great!

You asked me to make a wish. My wish is that we will come to Chile. This week we visited a family of recent converts and when we arrived an Hermana that just finished her mission was there with her parents. It was so special to see an Hermana that has finished her mission visiting her converts with her family. I really want you all to meet the people that will always hold a special place in my heart.

Write me a lot this week about your adventures! Have a fun week.

Love, Amy

1 comment:

  1. i just got your blog from your mom. i am so excited! i have so much to tell you, need to write you so bad! i am re-doing avi's room, i'll send you pics soon. i got the bed on ksl for 5 bucks... yeah, 5 dollars! i am making her quilt & don't worry, i am making up deal on the fabric:) i made the yummiest strawberry lemonade bars today! love you, talk to you soon!

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