Love Our Missionaries: EeAaRrTtHhQqUuAaKkEe!!!

Written by Sister Hannah Avery, serving in the Chile Vina del Mar Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

Hola familia y amigos!

Fuimos muy bendecidos esta semana! (We were SOOO blessed this week!) First of all, we have THIRTEEN new investigators to teach! WOW! I am still in shock! And, we have three people scheduled for baptism the end of November. AND, we are hoping to schedule two more tonight! The work is progressing SOO much here in Ovalle, Chile! WOO HOO! The Lord has truly prepared the hearts of these people to receive our message of the Gospel of Christ! It is incredible! ¡Que chevere! (How terrific!)

I have a super scary, but spiritual, story to share! On Halloween, Hermana Mori and I were out contacting in the streets, and I kept having the thought to go and visit a member's house around 6 or 7 at night. It was really bizarre, and I kept thinking, "No, we have appointments and people to teach!" But the thought kept coming, so I told Hermana Mori and she said, "Okay, let's do it. And we can help them pass out candy!" haha! Anyways, so we went to their house that night, and guess what!??! We had a 6.6 earthquake!!! If we had been in the streets, who knows what would have happened. It was a HUGE testimony builder to me! We always need to listen to and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, even when we don't know why, or even when it seems dumb. I am SO glad that we were in the member's house and not elsewhere. The house was literally moving back and forth for about a 20 seconds. We couldn't walk straight, and the people in the streets were running like crazy! I have never seen so much chaos, and yet, I was calmed by the Holy Ghost and knew I was in a safe place. The Lord really looks out for His missionaries!

We had an earthquake on Tuesday too, but it was super little and not bad. So that probably shouldn't count, but I count it because I have never been in earthquakes in my life, so they all freak me out! haha!

So, we had lots of people to teach this week, which is super awesome. And we are doing just fabulous! It has been really hot all week, but today it is cold, which means that we could have another earthquake! BLAHH!! No me gusta! When the weather gets bipolar, that is like a warning that we are going to have one.

We had Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) with Sofia and Catalina's family again this week, and we made completos! They are hotdogs on homemade buns with everything on it! They are SOOO good! I am sending pictures for you! We are going over tomorrow with them, and we are going to make tacos! My first ones in Chile! haha! I think tacos must be a Mexican thing, because they don't eat that stuff here. Just rice, bread, more rice, more bread...you get the idea :)

Tomorrow we will find out if Hermana Mori or I leave Ovalle and move to another place! Can you believe it has been six weeks already?! Time is flying! I almost have 100 days in the mission! At the end of our next transfer, I will be a fourth of the way done! Crazy! I am praying that Hermana Mori and I remain companions for 6 more weeks so that I can finish my 12 week missionary training program with her, and so we can see our 13 investigators baptized! And whoever else comes along in the future! haha!

Well, I love you all soooo much! Thank you for all of the love, support and prayers! You are all in my thoughts and prayers everyday! I hope that you have a super awesome week, and I will talk to you next Monday! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

xoxoxoxo,
Hermana Avery (aka: earthquake expert! haha!)

My First Baptisms in Chile (October 28, 2013)

Three Months in the Mission (November 11, 2013)

(Remember, you can click on the images to make them larger!)