¡Viva la Viña!: All Day In The Street, Just Like The Dogs!

March 23, 2015

Hola familia!

This week was great! But the work was a little slower. I don`t really know what happened but no one was home....

As for being in a trio, it`s not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I actually don`t mind it that much. More friends! And the Hermana is a good missionary, she just made a lot of dumb decisions but she told us about it and is repentant of it all. I think we were able to help her and I`m grateful for the opportunity because it helped me learn a lot too.... Cambios are on Wednesday so we`ll see what`ll happen.

Last week we got a reference from a menos activa who just took in 2 kids. She told us she wants them to get baptized, so you know, we`re down to help. We taught them and they`re great. Pretty ¨flite¨ (fly-te) as they say here, which is like ghetto? I don`t know, that sounds kinda bad but that`s about as close as we`ll get... Matias has 13 years and Barbara has 15. They`re into drugs and all that. The Hermana told us that Matias has been in the drugs since he was little. That just made my stomach drop because I`m like he`s 13! That`s little! They want to change though or at least find a way to have a better life than what they have right now. They`re good kids. I just think they grew up in a home where they were never taught how to make good decisions. It`s really sad, but at the same time it makes me more excited to teach them about the gospel of Jesus Christ because I know that is the only thing that can help them overcome these problems for good. It`s also cool because it`s a menos activa that`s initiating all of it. She shared her testimony of the Book of Mormon and it was really pretty. I think it`s awesome how even though she`not the most faithful member, she wants to help these kids in the best way she knows and it`s through the gospel. I think this will be a great experience for all of them.

Tuesday was crazy! The assistants call us way late Monday night and tell us that the Hermana in our trio needs to be in Achupallas at 8 in the morning for her zone conference (we already had ours). We have no clue how to get there and we honestly relied straight on prayer and faith because no one really knew how to help us either. We finally got there to drop her off but it was so stressful. Then we had to return to pick her up in the afternoon. And the transportation here is so bad. I think we traveled about 7 hours in total just to go to the area next to Viña. AH! But it`s fine. I think the bus drivers don`t realize that they`re bus drivers and not the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland but it makes it all a little more fun right?

We`ve been visiting Teresa. She has just about all her lessons now! But she`s really sick. The medicine that she`s taking just makes her weaker and she wasn`t able to come to church yesterday because it makes her tired. It`s sad because she loves coming to church but since she missed it the last week it was like the excitement about it died down and then she didn`t come again yesterday. I`m sure it`ll all be fine and I know that she`ll get baptized at some point but it just worries me still because you never know what`ll happen. She said though that tomorrow she has an appointment and she should be getting different medicine so I hope that helps and she`ll be able to come to church.

Olga didn`t come to church either. So weird, so I guess her son drove her by during sacrament and there was a Hermana from church by the door and she gave the Hermana her books and said that she`s not going to be able to come anymore but she still wants us to visit her. I don`t know what happened, but I want to know what whoever said to her to make her not want to come to church. She`s not sick, she`s just old. But so is everyone here so that`s not even a good excuse. Ah!

Sometimes I really just feel like we`re fighting against the adversary here. He always has to get in the way and mess things up. I know, opposition in all things, but it just gets frustrating sometimes when the people are progressing so well. We`ll see what happens this week tho. I hope everything will work out. Well ok,.... I know everything will work out in the end.

Saturday was like the longest day of my life. Literally no one was home, or in the streets. We spent the whole day in the streets, just like the dogs. We passed by investigadores, future investigadores, menos activos, recent converts, everyone. Nothing. We did do the mormon.org stand in the plaza which was fun. We were able to give 3 Book of Mormons. I also received a wedding proposal from a crazy man, and then a lady came over and literally talked to me non stop for more than a half hour. I know just about every detail of her life down to her favorite perfume, her last grocery store receipt, and how she likes her oatmeal in the morning (she soaks it in milk overnight and then eats it with strawberries in the morning. She highly recommends it.) It`s so funny how the Chileans literally will just start telling you their life story in the street.

Then in the night we were out in the street again. We contacted this man in the last 10 minutes before we had to be back at our apartment who is awesome though! He doesn`t live in our sector but is really interested and I just felt really good about him. Just finding him made it totally worth walking through the streets for hours. Honestly, being a missionary is the best.

That`s about it, this week wasn`t too eventful. Which means this next week is going to be crazy. That always seems to happen so we`ll see.

I love you all and think of you often. You`re always in my prayers!!!

XOXO

Gossip Girl

Just kidding..

con todo el amor en mi corazon,

Hermana Evans