Lifting the Hands that Hang Down

                                                                                                                               Sept. 23, 2013
Hola mi familia!!! Comó Están!! Gracias por sus cartas! Estoy muy felíz para saber que tenían una semana maravillosa esta semana pasada! My week was really great as well!!!
 

We loved celebrating the dia de independencia!! The weird thing about the holiday is that they celebrate it for a week and not for just one day.  Ha ha-- and everyone eats the same things. Empanadas are like pizza pockets but bigger and everyone makes them with carne or meat, like beef or chicken, and then cooked cebolla, or onion, and part of a hard boiled egg, and one olive. They can be baked or fried. I learned how to make them too, so I will definitely be cooking for you when I get back. They are super good, until you eat as many as I did this week. At every house we received empanadas to eat and when we tried to say no, they pushed us until we said yes. You do not want to know how many empanadas I ate in the celebration of the 18th of September.... And for the rest of my mission I will not eat empanadas!  I am now dieting and exercising harder than ever to get back in shape.  I really loved celebrating the 18 of Sept. We will celebrate it together next year. Another traditional food we enjoyed is mote con huesillo. This is when they take dried peaches and soak them in water so that they absorb the water, and then they make a juice and put trigo, or wheat pieces and you eat the dried peach and trigo with the juice. It is delicious!!!!  I wasn´t able to buy a traditional dress, but hope to get one in the future. I really want to learn the traditional dance of Chile which is called the cueka and it is so beautiful! I will have to take pics and send them to you.

This week was crazy because we worked a normal day on the holidays and we were able to contact a lot of people and had more lessons! It was great! It was also crazy because we had cambios, or transfers in the middle of the week! Twenty one missionaries from the Provo MTC arrived on Friday and so we had cambios a few days early. Guess what! Hermana V. and I are still together for another transfer in Frutillares! We are so excited and grateful. We have learned so much as Co-companeras mayores, and we are super excited to apply everything we learned and be better. 

We had a really great lesson with Sis. M. She really opened up to us and the Lord guided us to ask the right questions to better know her needs. We found out that she is struggling with the word of wisdom and has some health challenges. In our lesson we were able to testify that the Savior can help her overcome her challenges. We are going to have a lesson with her tonight and talk about how the Lord loves each of us and that He can help us to overcome our weaknesses. This is what I love about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It can help anyone and everyone, and everyone needs to hear it.

 

This week I was reminded of an important lesson...the last couple of weeks we have had a hard time finding new people and being able to really truly help them by sharing the gospel with them. I think I forgot a little that it's not just about teaching, but lifting the hands that hang down in sorrow.  It's about serving and helping people to see that the Savior is the one that can give them the ultimate joy and happiness in this world, and the world to come!  I was losing this vision and just going through the motions of desperately trying to find people to teach, instead of looking for people to help.  As we reached out to less actives and new converts by helping and serving, we felt the Spirit more and were able to share the gospel.

 

I was reminded that this is what I love most...having these lessons to help people! That is what it is about!!! We are here to help our brothers and sisters have the joy and happiness that only our Savior and Heavenly Father can give, in this life, and in the eternities. I am so happy and grateful that the Lord reminded me that this is His work and His glory, and that this is the work that I get to be a part of, and it is the most wonderful thing in the world!  

 

Thank you for all of your love and support, and for your prayers! I know that Heavenly Father is answering them! If you could please continue to pray for our investigators. I love you all so much! Have a great week! Hasta Luego!