Hola familia y amigos,
This week was great, went by really fast. and it was Christmas! Wow. I can't
believe a whole year has passed since my first Christmas in Punta Arenas. My
best Christmas gift was being able to skype my whole family and meet my baby
nephew for the first time! But it was very difficult to speak English and not
Spanish. Sorry if I said some things that you didn't understand.
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| A four-way skype with the entire family! |
On Monday we had a branch choir practice. President Vargas asked me to
organize something for our Christmas activity on Wednesday. Hna Villena was sick
with a bad cold on Monday and part of Tuesday so we couldn't do much, but it was
still a good day.
Hna Villena and I are doing well; we get along great and she's really
excited to work hard. She`s super funny and we are already acting like we've
been companions for more than one cambio. It was really easy to get used to her;
she`s really chill.
On Tuesday we had district meeting. We have a new district of all elders.
We're the only hermanas and I'm the only gringa! It's crazy to think about that.
But it was fun, the elders become like you`re brothers. We had a white elephant
gift exchange for Christmas and ended up sharing all the chocolate and treats
with each other.
We were able to teach a lot of lessons this week. We taught our mamita Cecilia with Hno Aldo and she really doesn't want to progress so we`re going to
be dropping her as investigator... as mamita no, we still need to eat! Haha!
We helped a member do yard work in her house. I`ve never done so much yard
work in my life like I have here in Chile.
On Wednesday the branch had their Christmas party dinner. A ton of people
came and we sang in a choir and it turned out really well. Marion, familia
Fuentealba, some menos activos and friends of members came.
On the 24th we worked normally all day. We spent all day contacting because
our mission came out with a new rule/ meta. We have to do 30 contacts everyday.
Before, it was only 10. It's a lot, especially for San Pablo. It's so small here
that there are not a lot of people walking around in the street and lots of
people were not in their houses this week. We were able to do 34 contacts on
Thursday! We felt pretty good. In the nighttime we ate once with Hno Aldo and
his family.(Familia Muñoz) then we found out we were able to stay out until 11pm
so we stayed and ate dinner with them too. Here in chile they eat dinner at 10
or 11pm.
The familia Muñoz gifted us Chile keychains and mugs and we came home, I
opened my christmas stocking from home (thanks mom!) and we went straight to bed
haha.
Christmas day it was pretty hard to work because everyone was sleeping all
day long. But we were able to visit an elderly lady named Hna Ena, that was
baptized but never signed her baptismal registro (license, paperwork, document, I can't remember the word) bueno, in the end it was like she was never baptized
and she got offended and never went back to church. But now she`s on her death
bed and there isn't more we can do for her. We visited her and we were able to
share the Plan of Salvation with her family and I sang her a Christmas carol and
some hymns. It was awesome when we sang because the Spirit filled the room; it
was super strong. A couple days later the family told me that after the songs
Hna Ena was finally able to relax and sleep so it really helped. We visited them
all on Sunday again and when we asked if there was anything we could do for them
they asked me to sing her more hymns because it really helps her to rest. The
power of song!
The rest of Christmas was skyping my family, eating Christmas food and
contacting.
This week ended really well because Sunday morning I received a huge
surprise. We walked into the church right when the meeting was starting and I looked back and saw a woman sitting in the last row.I thought "wait...I know
her" It was Hermana Lidia Contreras, the mom of my ward mission leader in Punta
Arenas! In my head I was like "what is she doing here all the way in San
Pablo?" Five minutes later I looked back and my ward mission leader Johnnie walks
in!!!!!! I wanted to scream I was so shocked! but I couldn't because the meeting
was starting.
After the meeting ended I greeted them. It was so crazy wonderful to see
Johnnie after all this time.I was speechless haha. They were traveling from
Punta Arenas to their new home in Rancagua and they thought to stop by and visit
me in San Pablo. I never thought that I would ever see Johnnie in San Pablo
haha. It was great to talk and catch up with them. I felt really grateful for
the visit. They stayed all 3 hours and we took photos and then they left to
drive back up to Rancagua, which is only 45 minutes outside of Santiago.
Best surprise ever haha.
Thanks for all the Christmas wishes and emails and support. I love you all
very much. That's all I have to really share this week. We were able to contact
and find lots of new investigators so we are pumped.
I know that Christ lives and I'm grateful to be His servant.
love, hermana williams
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