Week 7

Anyways, where to start? I´ll do a brief recap.

So when I got to the mission home from the CCM to meet my new companion, I was thinking, ¨Gringa? Latina?¨ Nope. Neither. There was an Elder announcing the new companionships over the pulpit and he´s like ¨These missionaries are from Idaho and Sri Lanka. Hermana Darley and Hermana Rajapakse!¨ (Pronounced Rai-Juh-PAHK-See) This short dark girl who stands about 4 foot 10 stood up and waved at me. I stood up and waved back to her thinking, ¨Oh my gosh I don´t even know if you speak English, but this is flippin´ awesome!¨

Turns out, she speaks perfect English. Heck, she speaks it better than most people. She lived in Sri Lanka until she was 8, then she moved to Maryland. And - this is the best part - She learned to speak English from watching The Simpsons. I'm not kidding!!! HAHAHA So she´s fluent in sarcasm as well. Oh, how I love it. hahahaha! She makes me laugh all the time. She´s taught me how to say a couple things in Sinhala, too. If I come across anybody else in the field who speaks it, I´ll be sure to teach them The Restoration in Sinhala.

Speaking of the field, my first area is called Paine (PIE-nay). It´s super dusty. We walk everywhere, too. Sometimes we take a cab, but most of the time we just walk. I have a couple nasty blisters, but Hermana Rajapakse has moleskin, so it´s all good.

I´ll break things from here down into a couple categories so that I remember what I wanted to tell everyone about this week:

Last couple days in the CCM:

SO. MUCH. EMOTION.

Oh my gosh I cried so much. Sooo so much. My district was so close. We all had one last little district meeting in our classroom and just sat together and cried and bore testimonies and wished one another luck. The Elders offered to give me a sendoff blessing of comfort - which was offered by Elder Johnson - and then I cried some more. There was so much love, encouragement and mutual support in our district. I know that everyone in my district is going to be super awesome in their sectors. They each have a special spirit about them that the people are going to be drawn to. 

I miss them and pray for them every day. GO DISTRICT 6! 

Anyways, moving on to things that don't make me cry:

My Roomies, Apartment:

I arrived in the afternoon after taking two buses to get to my area. Hermana Rajapakse and I live with two other sisters named Hermana KiniKini (Utah/Tonga) and Hermana Peralta (Peru). Hermana KiniKini is super funny. She speaks Spanish super well, she has the loudest most awesome laugh, and she sings really pretty, too. Hermana Peralta is hilarious, too. She speaks Spanish more clearly than the Chileans do, so most of the time I can understand her pretty well. Sometimes we have to play charades if we want to get a point across. It´s fun. Everyone is super encouraging and they help me along with my Spanish all the time. They´re so patient with me. hahaha

So as for my apartment, I think it´s sufficient. Not great, but it´s good. Haha I ¨showered¨ out of a bucket the first night because our water was on the fritz. So we just boiled water and put it in a bucket with a cup to pour it on ourselves. Adventure! ¡Bienvenida a el Mision!

There´s an upstairs room and a downstairs room: One for me and my comp, and one for the other companionship. Yay! Space!

When we sleep, every single night there is this dog that sits parallel to our window and just howwwwllllls. For hours. At first I couldn´t sleep, but I´ve come to a point where I can sleep like a rock. And once I´m out, I´m OUT. Apparently there was a small earthquake a couple nights ago, and I didn´t even wake up. I´m pretty sure that after the mission, I´ll be able to sleep through anything. We go to sleep at 11:30 and wake up at 7:30. It´s a rule that we can´t go to bed any earlier even if we´re done with planning and everything, so I´ve trained myself to pretty much pass out cold the milisecond my head hits the pillow.

Food:

Ah, food. As for the food, I live off of Quadritos and some kind of almond fitness cereal for breakfast and dinner. The church members feed us lunch every single day, and that´s super awesome. And sometimes people will just give us food to take home. Even total strangers sometimes. One night, Hermana Rajapakse and I were walking home and we passed a fruit market. A man was carrying a watermelon past us and Hermana Rajapakse jokingly said, ¨Oh! For me?¨ We kind of laughed and kept walking, then one lady was like, ¨Wait! Yeah, for you!¨ 

Seriously???? Watermelon is expensive here! But the lady came out of the shop with half a watermelon and gave it to us for free. AWESOME!

Paine is actually famous for their watermelons. In fact, for the past week, there´s been a big watermelon festival thing going on. People walk by wearing these giant watermelon hats drinking watermelon juice, etc. It´s awesome.

Anyways, back to food.

We eat a lot of potatoes, pasta and bread. Lots o carbs. hahaha And the weirdest combos. They really like hotdogs and will put cut up hotdogs in most everything. And they put mayonaise on everything. But the FRUIT. Ohhhh my gosh the fruit. It´s huge, and it´s delicious. Soooooo stinkin good!

The Weather: 

 Okay, I didn't know how evil the sun could be until I came to Chile. Hooooly wow. I got so sunburned. I should have listened to Hermana Rajapakse and bought some sunscreen the first day. But I did purchase a parasol. All of the Hermanas have one because the sun is so brutal. But I burn even with the parasol. Hahaha I need like spf 100,000. Pretty much between the hours of 11 and 5 is sunburn time. And it´s hot. But every other time of day is cool and pleasant. =)

I need to get some pictures with us and our parasols. Haha

The People:

So there was a certain someone - I can't quite recall who - that told me that sarcasm doesn't translate well in Spanish. LIES! Chileans are some of the most sarcastic people I have ever met. And it´s so stinkin funny! They´re so much fun to talk to - or in my case, attempt to talk to. Hahaha!

Most of what I can do right now with my Spanish is testify and teach small parts of lessons, but people understand me, so that´s good. =) I love teaching lessons. It´s so awesome when you see the look in someone´s eyes and you just know that they´re feeling the Spirit. We've committed a couple people to baptism, and we're still trying to get them to follow through. It´s tough, but I know it´s going to be worth it. It´s already worth it! I love the people and I love their spirit and I love sharing my testimony! 

Hermana Rajapakse is so funny when we go Contacting because she tells everyone that I´m going to be a famous singer after my mission, they she has me sing a Hymn for each person we talk to. I sing probably six or seven times a day, and the people love it. If I´m never famous in the US, at least I´ll be famous in Chile. haha!

Jokes aside, I love singing for the people because it brings the Spirit in so quickly. And I know that they can feel it. =) It´s so great. I´m grateful that my talent can be helpful. =)

Anyways, I´m running out of time. More to come! Much more to come!

I just want to finish off for now by saying that I know that this Gospel is true. I KNOW it. With all my heart. God´s plan is perfect and there is no better work that I could be doing right now than missionary work. I love every bit of it. I love the people and I am so grateful that because of Jesus Christ´s Atonement, we have a chance to live with our families forever in God's presence. 

I´m so grateful that Joseph Smith was ready and willing to do whatever it took to help restore the truth to the earth. The knowledge of the Restored Gospel is such a huge blessing in my life, and I know that it can bless the lives of others. This is why I'm here in Chile. This is why I´m over 7000 miles away from my family and friends. Because I know these things to be true, and other people need to know it, too.

If anyone is considering serving a mission, I would highly recommend it. Pray about it first to know if it´s right for you. And if it is, GO FOR IT!

I feel the Spirit all the time and seeing people happy and progressing in their knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is so rewarding. I love this experience so much and I wouldn't trade it for anything. =)

Until next week...I LOVE YOU!!!!!!! Stay strong, be happy, and always know that God is there for you if you will allow Him into your life.

Hermana Darley