Merry Christmas!

Hello... tanto tiempo! :)

It was great to talk to you all yesterday! It was great to hear from you all. Just remind dad that if we go to the zoo I am going to start talking in Spanish to him. lol I am glad that you guys had such a relaxed Christmas, but a bummer that Steph didn´t want to drive down for it. Hopefully she is doing well. I still think that is weird to hear about Zach and his girlfriend. How long have they been dating? So is Steph dating this guy in New Orleans or are they ¨just friends¨. It is going to be so interesting to meet all these people when I get back home.

So as I told you all on the phone last night we had another baptism yesterday. It was a boy named Ian. It was a good service and the other Hermanas had a baptism too so we had a double baptism. It was a really neat way to spend Christmas. Also there were a lot of activities that they had in our ward.

We taught the pastor Christmas eve and showed the José Smith movie and he felt the Spirit so strong that he changed..... AND he can hardly wait to be baptized next month. That man is like a walking miracle for us. I have never met nor taught a Pastor that was so humble and ready to receive the gospel. He is still teaching a lot of people at the evangelical church so we are going to see if he will let us start to teach them. :)

Other then that everything is going good. This is the last week of the change so it will be interesting to see if I get a new companion or not. I am hoping not. :)

I love you all and it was great to hear from you all!

Love,

Hermana Lichty

Christmas Week 2011

Well Christmas is coming fast here in la serena.. We can´t believe that it is this weekend! But we are excited. The package that you sent with the Christmas presents arrived this week. We are very excited and it is a huge temptation not to open them. My companion is really happy about it too. It is so good that you sent her a Christmas package too. It is the only one that she will have this year. Nobody sent her anything. :( But she has been talking about this present that you sent her and how she is going to write you a thank you card in English. She is so nice. So today we are going to do an interchange in the morning so I can go buy her a Christmas present, I am thinking of maybe filling a stocking for her or something. I planned it with the other Hermanas so that it will be a surprise.

The work here is going great. It is fun to be here during the navidad. There are a lot of programs that the ward and stake have been planing so that has been fun. And we have our Christmas conference tomorrow. It is so crazy that I have been in Chile for an entire year! I remember last year we had the Christmas conference three days after I got here and I didn´t understand anything! So this year it will be a very different experience, I am looking forward to it.

The ward here is doing good and we are having a lot of success as a companionship. I am really happy about everything that we are doing and the progress that we are seeing. We are planning a baptism for the 24th and two confirmations on the 25th. So that will be part of our Christmas. ;) And the pastor that we are teaching is doing so good! We had a stake activity Saturday that he went to were we watched a video with Thomas S Monson and did some Christmas things. Then the next day he came to church again AND accepted a baptismal date! SO crazy, but everyone is so excited about it. He is still teaching people at the evangelical church, BUT he is teaching them the lessons that we are teaching him. So this is going to turn into something great. :) My companion and I are amazed and so excited!

We have some other people that are progress too and one that should be baptized new years eve, so that will be fun. Our ward is huge so there are two companionships working the area. My companion and I have the smaller poorer part and the other Hermanas have the other part that is like 3 times as bigger and closer to the beach. But I really love our little area! The people and families that we have here are wonderful. Also we got a new ward mission leader that is so much better. So I know that is really going to make things easier for us.

Hmmm.... I am trying to think what else.. the weather has been getting hotter. I have never been in a place with so much humidity! I thought is was bad in Viña. In our house we have to been really careful because mold grows very easily everywhere because the walls literally get little drops of water, because of the humidity. And there are always clouds that surround our area keeping the heat and humidity hanging in the air. Sometimes it is a little miserable in the afternoon, but it only lasts for an hour or two. But I love la serena there is always something new to see and someone new to teach. :)

Do you have a lot of plans for Christmas? Who is all coming to the house? I was thinking you guys should make a list of questions again so we wont run out of time. They want us to plan on only talking for 30 minutes this year.. so we will see. I still need to figure out all of the details with the other hermanas but I will let you know sometime this week. Is there anything else happening this week or for the end of the year? How is Stephanie doing.. is she still dating that guy with the dreads?

Love you all,

Hermana Lichty

12-12-11

Hello!

It has been a really fast week! We are doing really good here in Brillador! I really like this area. We had a baptism yesterday of a lady named Mabel. It was so great to be able to help her. She was someone that the Elders had found almost 2 years ago but at the time wanted nothing to do with them, or any of the other missionaries that passed by. But with time she was prepared to receive the gospel through a lot of personal trials and things. It has been amazing to watch her change! I have never seen a change so dramatic before! It was very humbling to see her at all of the appointments because she was always changing and talking about her experiences reading the Book of Mormon.

Oscar is doing good. We had two really good lessons with him this last week and he is thinking about being baptized because he realized that he wasn't baptized with someone that had the authority. It is crazy because we are the first missionaries to teach him that although he has talked to a lot of them. But from the beginning when we first contacted him he was very humble and had a real interest. But the last appointment that we had with him he showed us pictures of him baptizing groups of people so it will be amazing if we can get him to fully understand and he can be truly converted. So I am looking forward to watching him progress more this change.
The training that we had this week was good. Very long but we are learning a lot of things that will really help us to help the people. My companion and I are doing really great together. I am harder to get along with then she is.. lol So I am working on becoming a better companion.

So Jasper is doing a lot better with his manners. lol I am excited to meet him because he sounds really funny. How long were his classes.. like 6 weeks or something? Is the weather getting really cold? I am really loving the weather here :)

The pulgas here are not too bad, although I think that I am just use to them now. lol They have really liked biting my feet and ankles lately but it could be a lot worse. There is a hermana that lives with us that has this oil.. its called thieves oil. It smells like Christmas and it is suppose to help keep all the bugs away including the pulgas. So if you see any of that I think it would be fun to use on my bed. We have lavender spray that we are using from that lavender oil that you sent me. It seems to work but I am kind of sick of the smell. lol

We have a conference on the 20th so I am hoping the mail gets here before that!

Well I have to get going but thanks for everything!

Love you all,

Hermana Lichty

December 2011

Hello Hello!

It is so weird that I already have 2 weeks here in La Serena and that it is December! Ahh it is going by so fast! I feel like that next time I blink I am going to be in my last change. It has been a pretty crazy week. First of all I would just like everyone out there reading to know how much I hate lice and I never want to go through that again! We were up until two in the morning last Monday treating our hair and cleaning out the pension and we just finished getting all of our stuff washed. We are all paranoid now and are starting to wear our hair up more. Now when I go into bathrooms the first thing I look for and have seen are lice combs. I have a feeling that it is something very common here, that a lot of people have because they don´t wash their hair as frequently as we do. But I think right now we are doing good.

My companionship has been going very well so far and we are having a lot of success. I have been so surprised at how many doors are opening and the people we are meeting. The people here in La Serena are great! We are teaching a Pastor from and Evangelic church and he came to Church with us this week. It was sweet and he is reading like crazy the book of mormón and taking notes as we teach. I am really excited to see how he progresses. Also we had the best contact and lesson the other day. We had received a reference from someone last week and when we found the house and knocked on the door a lady came out. We found out that the person we were looking for didn´t live there but we started talking to the lady. We have a card that has a bunch of questions on it so I passed it to her and said, ¨have you ever had one of these questions before?¨. She looked at it for awhile and then said, ¨I know the the answer to this one already... (Is there life after death?).. we just die and that is it. There isn´t anything more.¨ I looked at her and then I ask ¨Did someone close to you pass away recently?¨ Then she said. ¨Yes my dad died two months ago and I know that I will never see him again.¨ I then said, ¨As missionaries we share a message about this plan that our Heavenly Father has for us and part of that means that we will be with our families forever, in this life and the life after this. And in this book, called the Book of Mormon it can tell you all about it.¨ She just  looked at us for a minute and then wiped a tear away from her face. At the end of the contact we left the book for her to read about where her father is now and made an appointment to visit her. Yesterday we went to her house and she let us in right away. We sang families can be together forever and then started sharing the plan of salvation. At the end of the lesson we went back and focused on where her dad was right now. Then I asked her, ¨If you knew that these things we taught you were true, how would that change your life?¨ She paused for a minute or maybe two, it was awhile, and then said, ¨How would it change my life? It would be a joy so immense that I couldn´t even describe it.¨ Then I started to testify telling her that I know these things are true, that she has a Father in Heaven that loves her and because of that he created this plan so she could live with her dad again. And as servants of the Lord we promised her that if she prayed sincerely wanting to know if it was true she would have a huge feeling of peace and calmness come over her. When I finished testifying she started wiping away the tears again. When we left the house I said to Hermana Cárcamo that I think she(the lady) felt something in that lesson. Hermana Cárcamo said when I started testifying at the end, the Spirit entered the room very strongly and she could see it in my eyes. It was such a powerful experience, something I wasn´t expecting.

But anyway it has been a good week and we are expecting an even better one this week. Senor companions have a training this week for two days, so tomorrow and Wednesday Hermana Norton and I will be training and our companions will be out working. Did I tell you that we live in our area this change. I am so happy because for the last 7 months of my mission I have had to do A LOT of extra walking because we lived outside our area. So this pension and area have been a huge blessing in my life. :)

Well I have to get going! Love you all and I hope you are all enjoying the snow!

Love,

Hermana Lichty

La Serena

Oh what a week it has been! Can I tell you the worst news ever! Not only do we have a flea problem here but yesterday we found out that..... some recent converts have lice AND the other Hermanas think that they have it as well. So all morning we have been washing everything in our pension and when we get back we all have to use the special lice shampoo and comb. Yeah I am not too excited about it I'm not going to lie. We stripped all of our beds and sprayed them down, some members are helping us wash some of the clothes, we are hand washing clothes, and we have a lot of stuff in big trash bags tied up and sitting in the sun(to fry them), and all of our hair stuff in a big bucket of bleach water. Oh the things that happen in South America!  But I would like to clarify that  I am like 95% positive that I don´t have it. We are just trying to be cautious. :)

But other then that things have been going really good. My companions name is Hermana Cárcamo and she is really nice. I think we are really going to enjoy our time together. This area is great! I have been so surprised because the people here are different then those in the interior. They seen to be much nicer and receptive. I love it because almost everyone stops to listen to you. So that has been great. We had a lot of success this week and even my companion who is going into her 3rd change here was surprised. We already have a couple of people that are progressing and will be baptized this coming month. But we are looking for a couple more :) The bus ride was good,but a little long. It was great though because we got to see so many parts of Chile and the coast almost the whole way. We only stopped once for lunch and a bathroom break but it was good. I was the only Hermana coming here so I got to know a couple of the Elders. Out of the 200ish missionaries that we have here only twenty are here in La Serena.

La Serena is wonderful! It is so beautiful. It is the coast. That is the only way to describe it. It think it is like the size of Casper. You can see the sea line from everywhere in our area. But when you look in the opposite direction it is mountains and hills. It is great! The temperature here is a lot different here. It doesn´t get so hot like the interior. It usually is cloudy because of the sea so it is just a cool temp. Perfect for a skirt, short sleeved shirt, and a sweater. So that is going to be amazing for the summer! I am looking forward to that.

I loved the thanksgiving pictures. It looks like it was fun. I don´t ever remember making rootbeer though. But that's cool too. I totally noticed that Steph was wearing my shirt! Did she take all my clothes. Oh dear, what will I have to wear when I get home? Well it will be okay. How is everyone doing? Zach is getting bigger!

Well I have to go do a lice treatment.. lol

I love you all, thank you for everything!

Love,

Hermana Lichty

Happy Thanksgiving!

That is so funny you already heard that I was leaving Villa Norte! But I am really really bummed about it. I thought I had least one more change here. I almost started crying when we heard the news! I just sat there at my study desk staring at my wall. Both me and Hermana Garcia have been in a state of shock about it. We had talks yesterday in church that went really well but at the end when I told everyone that I was leaving I had to take a couple moments to collect myself so I wouldn’t start crying in front of everyone. It is so sad. I am just praying that I a can have a positive attitude about where I am going right now because I just don’t want to leave. Everyone in the ward has been really sad to but really good about it.

But on a different note I a going to La Serena! It is the most talked about Zone in the mission. Every that goes loves it there and everyone that hasn’t gone wants to go there. So it will be good. I will be with another companion from El Salvador. It is kind of funny because she will be my 3rd companion from there. I have heard I lot of good things about this area so I am excited. But it is far from here. It is like 7 hours by bus. So I will be traveling all day tomorrow to get there.  I think almost for sure that this will be my last area because it is so far from everyone that the president keeps the missionaries there for a longer amount of time.

But this week has been a good week in Villa Norte, we found a lot of new people to teach which means the Hermana that will be taking my place is very lucky. :) This morning I was starting to pack all my stuff and it is so hard for me... I have too much stuff. SOO I am going to try and mail 1 package home with my coats and some other random things.

So are you all excited about thanksgiving? They don’t celebrate that here so it will probably be another normal day here in Chile. I actually forgot about it. lol But you will have to send me some pictures of everyone that comes to celebrate with you guys. Then send me them on Monday.

Zach got is wisdom teeth pulled? How is he doing with that, no swelling or anything? How unfair,when I got mine pulled I got so sick and swollen. lol How is he doing with the girls? Tell him that dating is overrated and he should just focus on something else, like another project with dad or something. I was telling a member about how my brother had started dated and how weird It thought it was and he asked me if I was jealous. I was like.. what?? No no. haha But it has been weird because random Elders that I have met throughout the mission have started trying to write me. It is kind of funny but weird at the same time. One from Mexico and one from Peru.

That is crazy it is already getting so cold there. I can’t really remember that type of cold because it has been so long and it is getting so hot here. But I have heard that la serena is not as hot because we are right next to the beach. How sweet it that. It is a very touristic lugar because it is so beautiful and because of the beach. I will have to send you fotos. Also I have heard that the pension is sweet! Like a castillo(castle). SO I have a lot to look forward to but a lot of people to say bye to as well.

I am glad everything is going so well! I hope you have a very happy thanksgiving!

Con amor,

Hermana Lichty

Last week of the change

Did I ever tell you that I love Villa Norte? We had another baptism this weekend and it went great. Everything just fell into place and I really feel like it was just Camila´s time to get baptized. I am so happy for her because she is going to be such a great example to her family. Right now her parents don´t want anything to do with the church, but I feel with time that will change. Camila has been changing for the better since we started teaching her and her grandpa told us her mom had noticed what a positive effect the church has had on her. So anyway I am praying for at least one more change here so I can continue to help my converts and the investigators that we have. I don´t feel like my work is done here yet. I think there will be at least one more baptismal service here before the end of the year. 
I have been learning to trust more in the leaders here, especially the bishop. He has been the key to all the success that we have been seeing here. Recently we had a big problem come up that could have turned our really really bad and the bishop was able to handle it very smoothly, I was very impressed and grateful. It is one of those stories I will have to explain in person because it just has so many aspects to it. But it gave me a greater appreciation for all the rules that we have as missionaries and a better understanding to why we have so many. It is to keep us protected.
Elder Cook came and talked to us. It was really good, he talked about how we are ¨branch builders¨ and we need to be helping the members first and from there we branch out and help their families and friends. He talked about how we need to be more loving and gracious in our words and actions so that everyone can see that and have a trust in us. It was a really good conference and the whole mission came. It was so fun to see everyone from my old Zonas.
I can´t believe this change is coming to an end, this is the last week! It seems like just yesterday I picked my companion up from the office. The time is passing so quickly. But I am really happy because my Spanish continues to get better and sometimes I have to tell my companion what the people are saying because they talk so fast. lol
I am glad you are having such a good time in California, it sounds like you found a lot of good food to eat! Oh how I miss the good good. But its okay, before I know it I am going to be back and in Casper and missing the food here. lol I am starting to really love sunscreen again. It is getting hot! The good thing is my companion is use to the hot weather so the only comments about the hot weather come from me. :)
How is everything else going? Anything new and excited happening? I have been hearing a lot, from the members about new movies that have come out since I have been gone. I feel that I am going to have a pretty good list of thing to watch when I get back. haha
Anyways, sorry this letter is so short. I will try and make the next one better.
Love,
Hermana Lichty

Nov 7 2011

What.... Ashely´s dad got baptized? That is so crazy! I would really love to know how that all happened, the story behind that and how the sister missionaries started teaching him. I don´t want to brag or anything but the Sister missionaries bring a little something different to the table. lol We can touch people´s hearts a little differently than the Elders can. :)
The work here is going very good. We are preparing for a baptism this Sunday. I have been very humbled by the work here these last 5 months ( can you believe I have been here since June??). I have been noticing more the work of the Spirit in the work and how much we are being directed to knock certain doors and ask certain questions. I have really been trying to humble myself these last couple of weeks. This week especially I have been trying to become a better teacher, to focus more on listening and asking questions. I have been very touched by what a difference it has made in the work. The people we have been teaching and talking to have really started opening up and talking from their hearts. I have noticed that it is really our job as missionaries to show people the love that God has for them. My companion and I have made it a goal to share that with all the people we teach and talk with and it really makes a difference in their attitudes and words.
Camila the investigator we have that will be getting baptized this weekend has completely changed since we started teaching her. We hit a point with her where she just was not progressing anymore, she stopped going to church and stopped ¨having time¨ to see us. So we had a very straight forward talk with her. While we were talking we shared about the love that God has for her and why we were here as missionaries. We told her how much we loved her and how huge of a plan God has for her in her life. After that she just opened up and has been progressing so fast. We are so excited and happy for her.
I am trying to think of anything else that is going on here... Oh we have a conference on Friday and Elder Cook is going to be the guest speaker. SO we are very excited about that. It is a long conference from like 8 in the morning until like 5 at night so that should be fun.
It is getting really hot outside! But its good, the evenings are really nice to work in.
I like all the pictures that you sent. Zach looks so different and so does Steph! That is so crazy. Thank you for all of the updates and everything. SO much seems to be happening!
We /I have to get going but I love you all and I am glad that you like my letters :)
Hermana Lichty

Halloween! 2011

Hola Hola!

How is everyone doing? How was your week?  It sounds fun. Everything here is going very well. We are still looking for people to teach but the people we have right now are really good. We actually got a really really good reference from my converts this week. They have two cousins that are amazing! We went to their house to check up on them to see how they were doing and to teach a lesson and their cousins were there. They just happened to move into our area a little while ago and live really close to the church. There mom was there too and so we started talking to her first just to see who she was and what kind of things she knew about the church and everything. Come to find our she is a member but inactive so her kids found out about the church because of the their cousins( my converts). She wasn´t to interested in hearing us because as she was leaving she said to her kids, ¨okay if you want to be baptized like your cousins you have to listen to the missionaries really well and understand what it is they are teaching, you have to know what you are doing.¨ My companion and I were just like.. whattt... It was sweet so we are looking forward to helping them and getting their whole family active and baptized into the church. I know that their cousins are huge example to them and I am very proud of them. :)

I have been noticing more how the Lord has been directing us this last week. It has been very humbling to recognize. I think that sometimes as missionaries we don´t always notice the Spirit because it is always with us therefore we can´t distinguish our thoughts from those of the Spirit. One morning this last week we were getting ready to leave to work and at the last minute the thought entered my mind to look for a few more people to visit. I found this page that was from 2009 of people that the Elders had contacted with their directions. So I wrote down like 5 names from this list of like 30. Then latter that day we were working and a couple of our plans had fallen through and we happend to be walking through and area that was close to one of the names. So I said to my companion lets go look for this person she lives close. We found the house very easily and when we approached it I yelled .. ¨aaa-low¨. This lady came out from the door, saw us, and then started walking towards the gait. That was kind of a surprise because usually they make us yell from the gait to them. Then I said, ¨Hi we are the missionaries from the church..., and we are looking for Maria¨. She said I am Maria. So I said, ¨oh great, I while ago you talking to two Elders, those boys that walk around with white shirts and ties.¨ She said, ¨Yeah I remember , but that was a really long time ago because after that I left to go live in the United States. I have been living there for the last two years and I just got back yesterday because my sister died.¨ There was a pause and then I said,¨we are really sorry to hear that, I am sure that must be difficult. As missionaries we share a message about how our families can be together forever and we have this book that testifies of our message. Can we leave you with something to read about the life after this and come back later when the funeral has passed and share this message with you?¨ She said, ¨Yes I would like that because I just got into town late last night and we have to plan the funeral and everything but I would like to read your book and listen to your message.¨ It was the craziest experience. After we finished talking to her my companion and I started to walk away, in silence just thinking about everything that had just happened. It was amazing to look back on everything that had just happened that day that lead us to knock on her door.

But everything is going good. The weather like I said has been getting hot! And no we never got any snow, that would have been horrible since we only have a little space heater to heat our house with. lol I forgot that today was Halloween. But from what I heard Halloween is growing into a big holiday here. The idea here is still pretty new because all of the little kids seem to know about it and are excited about it. It will be fun to see them in there costumes tonight. :)

I am glad you guys got a little vacation this weekend. I am looking forward to seeing all of the pictures. How is everything else going? Are there any new engagements or anything that I don´t know about. lol How is Grandma Norma and Grandpa and Grandma.

Thanks for everything! I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Lichty

One YEAR Down!

One year down......

I can´t believe that I have already hit the one year mark! I am feeling so old right now! But its okay. The day after I celebrated my one year, my companion completed one month in the mission. It is crazy being a trainer. I understand now why it is when you are training the missionary you are training is called your kid. It is because they are just like a baby in the sense that they really don´t know much about what is going on. They follow you and do almost everything that you do. You know how babies just pick up and everything you do really fast, especially the things you don´t want them to pick up on. Yeah it is like that here in the mission too. lol So I am trying to be extra careful so that my ¨daughter¨ doesn´t pick up on any of my bad habits. She reminds me a lot of my first change when everything was new and different. I find it so weird that all the stuff she has is in English. haha Like her lotion, shampoo, body soap, everything and I keep finding myself reading it and then thinking to myself.. hmmm that is so weird to see it in English. But it is good. Sometimes it is tempting to ask her about the outside world because she has only been out a month so she knows everything still, but usually I do pretty good.

The weather here as gotten hot! I am already getting a good tan on my legs, feet, arms, and neck. But I am doing really good remembering about sunscreen so that is good. If you could just send me one more medium bottle of sunscreen that would be really nice and I know it would last me the next 6 months. We have been walking a lot this week contacting and looking for new people to teach. Right now we have a couple good investigators that we are excited about but we could use more. Last change we baptized all of our investigators so we are on the search yet again. :) I really enjoy talking to the people on the street. Although most of them are busy or not too interested, they are for the most part very nice to talk to and we are doing our job giving them a chance to learn about our message.

For my birthday yesterday we went to church and a lot of the members remembered it was my birthday and wished me happy birthday. A couple of them brought gifts. The family with Santiago gave me a present on Saturday night and Sunday morning in church. Then that night they had a cake for me with candles and sang happy birthday. I just love them. It was so nice to be able to celebrate with them. They are the family that we reactivated like 2 months ago. Yesterday they both got set apart for callings and gave classes that went along with the callings. It is so rewarding to see how far they are coming. Also Ignacio has started to prepare and pass the sacerment so I have really enjoyed watching his family progress too.

The area that I am in right now is a little smaller than Belloto is and the people have a little bit more money then those in Belloto so it is different but I love it. The pension that we are living in now is SO much better then the Belloto pension but it is actually in a different sector then Villa Norte. So we have to cross an underpass everyday to get to our area, but I like it. We live with another set of missionaries and they are both Latina. We sometimes talk to them but not too much. It is a little strange but we are here to work so its okay. Our pension is about 30 minutes walking distance from our Church and takes about an hour to walk to our farthest investigator from our pension. SO we do a lot of walking but I really don´t notice it that much any more. It is just normal for us to walk long distances. I am sure my companion notices but she is holding up very well. :)

We live pretty close to stores, that is really nice. As far as clothes go.. I am doing pretty good. I bought like 3 summer shirts a couple weeks ago and some new shoes because mine are slowly wearning out so I am hoping the two pairs that I have right now will last this last 6 months. If you see any cute knee length skirts that would be kind of nice to have but if not its okay. Did you know they changed the dress standards for the sisters so we can wear knee length skirts. It is really nice! And remember those two shirts you sent me in the MTC the blue and red one from Maurice's that were the same shirt but different colors? If you find one or two of those they were really good for the summer. One of them got lost and the other is getting worn out.

I am sorry to hear about Stacy.  That is sad but a least she doesn´t have to suffer anymore. How is Zach doing with that? I am glad you are going to hang out with Steph tomorrow. Tell her I said hi. Try and take a picture together so I can see you two. I haven´t seen her in a really long time. How is your work going? How is dad? Have him and Zach found anymore projects to work on? Is Zach still working on the weekends? Anyway I gotta run! Love you mom! Thank you for all the updates on everything!

Love,

Hermana Lichty

Happy Birthday!

Oh how the time flys!

Can you believe that I will be a year in 3 days! It is so crazy to me and that my birthday is this week. In someways it feels like I have only been out here for a couple of months. But I am officially old in the mission now. lol

My new companions name is Hermana Garcia and she is from Texas. Her first language is Spanish which is sweet but it is a Mexican Spanish. It makes me laugh because Mexican Spanish and Chilean Spanish are very different. During lessons she says words that I have never heard before and I know it is because they are Mexican. I just have to keep my laughter inside though. lol The Mexican accent is so different though! I like listening to her speak in Spanish. But she is learning very quickly because Chile has A LOT of its own words. It is funny because sometimes we will be in a lesson and she will say how do you say this or that.. and usually I know, but its funny because Spanish is her first language. But I need to take advantage of that so I can better my Spanish with her. Training is fun and it reminds me of my first change here. I remember being so lost about what was going on and what we were doing. But I am trying to help her feel more relaxed about everything and letting her know how well she is doing.

On Saturday we went to Santiago for the 50 years of missionary work celebration. It was so good! Latins love to dance and so they had youth from all over Chile dance the dances of all the Latin countries. They all had different costumes from the countries and dances for a good 2 hours. It was cool. They had all the missionaries that could come from the 4 missions in Santiago and then us from the Viña mission. We all sat together and sang I´ll go were you want me to go. It was really good. The Area Presidency from Chile came too and gave three talks about the missionary work. 

Oh and guess who I saw there.... Elder Croft. What a small world. He was pretty excited to see me there so we took a picture together. 

It weather is starting to get hot. It has been a nice change. I am slowly putting all my winter stuff away. Probably I need to think about giving it away because it is going to be hot here until I go home. It is crazy to think about.

But our area is doing really good. We have a couple people that we are working with and we are on the search for more. But I am not worried because I know there are people here that are waiting for us. We just have to find them. One thing that I love about training is that we have more study time so that my companion can feel more comfortable and have the knowledge needed to teach. It has really been helping me too. I am so happy to be training :)

It looks like you guys had a very successful trip. I loved all the pictures! I am excited to hear more about it when I get back. How is Stephanie doing? What is she doing for her Birthday? I need to write her a letter or two. Will you tell her happy birthday for me and I will have a present for her someday. lol Most likely when I get back. lol  How is dad doing? Have they started any new projects. It is still really weird to me that Zach has a girlfriend. How is all of that going?

As for the primary song.. there is a primary song that the kids her are practicing that talks about a heart or something.. do do do do en el corazón. lol But they have not done a program yet. I think they are practicing for one. lol  The plugas are okay. Still am using that lotion that you sent me and I can buy other lotion here so no worries. I think I am good.

Thank you for all the updates and everything!

Love you!

Hermana Lichty

Hi -Villa Norte

Changes....
So we just found out about the changes and I am............... training! I am really excited about that because that means that I will most likely have another two changes here in Villa Norte. I won´t know who I am training until tomorrow afternoon but I do know that there are only two new Hermanas coming in and they are both coming from the Provo MTC. Our pension has been kind of crazy the last couple of nights because one of the other Hermanas is ending her mission today and Hermana Ellsworth is trying to pack all of her stuff up. I totally feel their pain because packing is the worst! It is crazy because you start packing and think.. wow I don´t have that much stuff but then as you continue all of that little stuff adds up and all of the sudden you don´t have any more room in your suitcases and still a ton of stuff. It is a little rough. lol
Anyway this week was a little rough for us. My straightener broke and I was really bummed about that. I had to take a minute to mourn about that. I am just going to have to wait until I get back to buy another one. And then the next day my mirror broke. Remember the mirror that we bought right before we left. It was like a dollar mirror from walmart but I used it so much. They don´t have any mirrors like that here. So if you could look for one like that to send me I would really appreciate it. Pedro finally had his baptism but it was horrible. He got into the water and then couldn´t bend far enough down to go completely under. The bishop and our dirstrict leader tried like 3 different things and nothing worked. And then he started choking on the water. It was so bad. Hermana Ellsworth and I cried and cried. We just walked back to the pension and cried. But Pedro is doing okay, we have been visiting him and is back to normal but I don´t know what we are going to do. It was bad and I don´t know if he can do it again.
But I am still really excited for this change because you never know what will happen. I am happy for a lot of different reasons. I am glad to have had two changes with Hermana Ellsworth because I learned a lot. I learned more about Jesus Christ and my testimony has really grown. I am really grateful to be here learning about all of the things that are the most important.
I am glad that you had a good weekend with Ramona. Tell her I said hi. Also how is Stephanie doing? Does she have a new boyfriend or the same one with the dread locks? Who does she live with right now?
The pulgas are okay.. I am getting bites still but I think I have learned how to cope with it better so it is not such a huge deal. lol The weather is starting to get nice. We had two cold nights this week but it was kind of random. Also we had a little earthquake again this week. It is so funny how that is become normal too.
I hope that you have a really good time with Grandpa this week and that you guys take some pictures!
I love you!
Hermana Lichty

October 3rd

Hey....

I am glad everything is going well for everyone! It is fun to hear all the news. That trip with Ramona sounds like it will be fun. Is it only on Saturday- Sorry I don´t think the question mark on my computer works or if it does I don´t know how to use it. lol Sometimes I have problems with technology. Today has been a bit of a cold day which is weird because it has been pretty hot this week. Yesterday it was so hot outside but it was alright because we were inside watching conference all day. That is sweet they are building a temple in Wyoming. I was pretty excited yesterday when I heard them announce it on Saturday. Did you know that I am the only one in the mission from Wyoming- Kind of crazy and whenever any of the people here ask me where I am from they always think that I say Miami. This computer keyboard is really hard to write on so I don´t think this letter is going to be very long... sorry!

But this last week was really good. We are working on getting Pedro baptized this week. That last baptism kind of wiped out our pool of investigators (which we are really excited about), so we are in the finding phase again. I actually like contacting and talking to people so it is good. We found a really good couple last night that we are really excited about and we are finally getting references from the ward. I think it took a little while to win their trust but we have it now and the members are calling on us to teach their friends. It is great. I am learning a lot about love and how important it is in this work. And if we love people we will call them to repentance even though it is hard and they might get upset. If we love them and are not thinking about ourselves we will ask them the hard questions and help them to feel the peace and love that we feel. This last week on Thursday we had a lesson with this family that I just love but they are not all members because the parents aren´t married. They started talking to us about being frustrated in the church because they felt that they could not progress. My companion tried to make them feel better by telling them they could still have ¨asignments¨ and be of help. I was quiet for awhile just listening to them but I could not stop thinking about their situation. So finally I spoke up and started telling them very bluntly but with love that they were right and they can not progress if they are not living the commandments of God. God is a God of order and He gives us laws and commandments to help us to learn and grow and to be able to return to His presence. They are for our benefit and because He loves us, and never will He give us a commandment or law that we can not keep. He will always provide a way. It was quiet afterwords and they didn´t have much to say but I feel good about it because I told them something they needed to hear. Even if it was very uncomfortable to say. BUT we don´t come on the mission to be comfortable so its okay.

How is everyone else doing-  Are you and grandpa excited for your upcoming trip-

Tell everyone I love them and miss them

Hermana Lichty

11 Months in!

This last week went by so fast! We were literally running from cita to cita again this last week. It is a lot of work to get people prepared and to still have time for all the other appointments and meetings that we have. But we loved it. The baptismal service went SO good too. There were more people that came to the service than come to church on Sunday. It was amazing. We normally have around 45 people that come(including 6 to 8 investigators) and that number was more that doubled at the service. It was crazy because when it was time for the actual baptisms I felt like I was directing traffic in and out of the font. I have never experienced anything like it before. It was a little hectic but at the same time there was a calm that filled the air. And our new converts really felt the spirit. Right before the service ended they had a chance to bear their testimonies and it was so amazing to hear them talk. We held the service in the chapel because there were so many people and when they got up to the pulpit and started talking I was so proud of them. Ramon, the older man got up and was pretty emotional. He talked about feeling like a burden had been lifted from him and that he just felt happy.

Then on Sunday they were all confirmed members and received the Holy Ghost. I am so excited because in Ignacio´s confirmation they talked about him going on a mission and serving the Lord.  It was really cool to hear that. They are all such good people and they are all so excited about the church and love learning about everything and coming on Sunday.  My companion and I have been seeing so many miracles here in Villa Norte. I still remember when I got here and we had nothing. Not one investigator and not one cita. We didn´t even have a study desk, chairs, blankets for our beds, or a place to put our clothes. This ward had been closed for months because there had not been progress for almost 2 years and all the members were known for being a ¨cold ward¨. It is crazy because I never once sensed that. I have loved every day here and we have been experiencing so much success. I love this ward and I love our investigators, the ward families, and our converts. I am crossing my fingers that the president will leave me here for a least 2 more changes. :)

It sounds like you guys have had a lot going on lately. That well be fun to get new carpet upstairs and to tile in the basement.  Thank you for all the pictures of everybody. It is fun to see how much everyone is growing. It is crazy that I have been gone so long! It sounds like the ward vision is really good! Here in Chile we have a really hard time with people going inactive... we could look for and teach less actives and inactives all day everyday and never get to them all. It is really sad. But it is good the ward is working on that because it is so much better for the members to bring them back so that they will stay.

The earthquakes are becoming a little bit normal, but not big ones like last week. They have little tremblers like everyday but big ones that last more then 5 seconds are a little bit stressful for us.lol

Saturday night almost the whole country of Chile lost power for like 3 hours. It was pitch black and we could not see a thing! We were literally running in the street when suddenly everything went black. It is was alright because we have all of our emergency stuff which includes flashlight and candles. lol

Anyway sorry I am pressed for time and I still have to write the president. Love you all,

Hermana Lichty

Celebrations in Villa Norte

Well hello hello!

We are so excited for this week! Almost all of our investigators are getting baptized this week and the ones that aren´t this week are getting baptized next week! It as been such a wonderful week. We have been so so busy getting everyone prepared for their interviews and making sure everyone had white clothes to wear and everything. This week is going to be the same way. It is just great. And the ward is getting so excited. Did I tell you Villa Nore has not had a baptism in over two years and that is why they closed the area? Well anyway we are pretty happy and are going to have to do some service work to get the baptismal font clean and shiny for the baptisms.

The celebration this weekend was pretty fun. Usually they do a little more as far as activities go but this year they didn´t do so much because next month they are having a big celebration of the church in Santiago. But they eat a lot of food during this holiday. Tons and tons of BBQ. So that was really good and of course everything had mayonaise on it. But I am actually really starting to like mayonaise. Also the weather was so so nice! They also have this food that is dried peaches in this sugar water with this wheat rice in the bottom. It is something that you have to get use to but it is good. Also a lot of Choripanes which are really good, especially with mayo. lol Also I am learning a lot about the fruit that they have here. They have a lot of fruit that we don´t have that I have never heard of. They have one that they call of sweet bell pepper but it is not like a bell pepper at all and inside it is kind of like cantaloupe.

They are all about games here too during this celebration. They love flying kites here. They have places that only sell kites and there are just tons of them flying around in the air. Also they make their own kites that resemble the Chilean flag, those seem to be very popular too. It was really cool though because they have a lot of Chilean pride here and there were flags in every single house. Little ones, big ones, banners of flags that go across the window, flags and ribbons on almost all the cars, and just about every other thing you can think of that they can put flags on. It was funny because one day my companion wore the flag colors and the next day I did and EVERYONE commented on it and how we were looking so Chilean. haha  Also they have this game where they have these tops(you know like the spinning tops) looking things... but they are heavy duty wood and metal bigger then your hand tops. You spin them with this long piece of string and they have different object games your can play with them. They have another typical game but I don´t really know how to explain it with out using hand gestures. Just remind me when I get home to explain it.

I am glad everything is going well in Casper and that Zach is having fun with his car. Do you have any plans of the next couple of months? Oh yeah you have that honor flight right? That will be fun.

OHHH I almost forgot! So we had an earthquake this last week. Did you know that right before an earthquake there is this noise. I can´t really explain it but its like the earth screams right before it happens or something. Anyway, I woke up to this sound like 30 seconds before it started to shake. It was 4 in the morning. So I was just laying there and my bed just started to shake, pretty hard, I could hear all the dishes in the kitchen shaking too. And it lasted like 30 or 45 seconds. It was crazy and in the morning everyone was talking about it. They said it was like a 5.9 or something and they technically don´t classify it as and earthquake until 6 so we didn´t have to deal with them shutting off all the electricity and water for days so that was good. But it was for sure interesting. We are wondering if anything else is going to happen or not.... hmmm who knows?

Anyway thank you for the letter mom and for all the updates. What is this stake vision thing for? Does it have to do with missionary work?

Love you,

Hermana Lichty

Summer in Villa Norte

Its summer here! All of the sudden Saturday the weather turned into summer and it is hot! We are loving it! It is nice because September is the month of wind here, so even though it is hot it is not miserable because we have a nice little breeze. And this next weekend it is a huge weekend in all of Chile. The 18th of September is like our 4th of July but from what everyone said bigger. When we ask people about it they all tell us the same things. That there is going to be lots and lots and lots of food all weekend, lots of parties, and lots of drunk people. I am excited because it is all of the typical food from Chile like the Empanadas, and Choripanes.

We are so excited for the week though because we have so many  investigators that are progressing and three different baptismal interviews for this weekend. So please if you can keep these three people in yours prayers this week especially Saturday that would be wonderful: Ignacio, Alicia, and Cathalina. We are so so so happy with Villa Norte and all the miracles that are happening here. This last Sunday was wonderful because almost all of our investigators are coming to church which is one of the hardest things for the people here in Chile. The best thing happened at church though. We greeted two lady's that we had never seen at the church and when we started to talk to them they told us they were not members but would like to be! When things like that happen you know for sure that this is the work of the Lord and He is always preparing people to receive the gospel. These ladys are wonderful and when we stopped by their house that night they were so happy to receive a Book of Mormon. We are very excited about them and about the other investigators that we have. We have literally been running from cita to cita because just don´t have enough time during the week. It is the best feeling!

Even the ward members here have been and are amazing. They have been the biggest help and are so excited about all of the investigators and how they are all progressing. And they just love us. It is funny because they are just like our family and they get mad at us if we don´t have a coat on, if someone forgot about lunch and we didn´t come to their house so they could feed us, if we are out late walking around, or if we are sick the entire ward knows and they are all asking about it. They are just great and they are always trying to help us in every possible way.

Oh yeah and because of the 9/11 yesterday we had to be back in the pension early, I think it was just to make sure everything was okay. But it was good for us because we were able to catch up on some forms and projects for our investigators. But I am glad everything is going well at home and everyone is doing good. Did you like the candies? I am happy that package finally got there. Those candies are really popular here and you can find them in almost every store.  The pulgas aren´t too bad yet..... but as it warms up they get worse. I think I should be okay with things. I found that lotion works the best and also a flea coller at the foot of my bed. I know that people reading this are going to laugh about the flea coller but that's just because you don´t understand how unpleasant those bites are! And the itching lasts for at least a week and the actually bite marks don´t go away for a least a month. But its okay I handled it last summer, I should be good this summer too. I think it is more of a patience/endurance thing. lol

Thank you for the songs mom! We are very excited to listen to them this week.. it is going to be an Enya week!  And thank you for all the updates and for the letter! Love you all,

Hermana Lichty

Villa Norte is Amazing!

Hello Hello....

Things in Villa Norte are amazing! I love it here. We are seeing so many miracles here it is unreal. I could be on the computer all day telling you about all the things that have been happening in our ward. It has just been wonderful. We have so many people that are progressing, preparing for baptism, and coming to church. In the last week we have seen such a changes in our investigators and their families. There is one family that we are working with that at first was very awkward to teach. Every cita was hard for us because we just didn´t know what to teach or what it was that they wanted from the church or from us until this week. All of the sudden the lessons started to change and all the members of the family. They have all started to participate, talk, ask questions, and have started preparing for baptism. I am sorry that really doesn´t do the story justice because really it has been incredible but it is just like everything has changed with them. We are so happy and excited for them. Also this week we have been teaching Pedro,,, remember that older man that I sent a pictures of? He came to church this Sunday with his wife! It was crazy because the missionaries have been teaching them for years and years and they have never once came to church. Right now Pedro´s health is the worst it has ever been, he can barley walk, has very very high blood pressure, and he cant talk. So we communicate with a notebook. It really has been such a huge blessing to teach him. He is also preparing to be baptised so we are very excited for him!
It is really funny that you asked about my feet mom because actually I had 6 blisters this week! It was kind of rough but it was manageable because of the first aid kit that grandpa and grandma got for me. I use that stuff everyday. It was just because it is getting warm here so this week was the first week in about 4 months that I have not worn tights so my shoes were rubbing directly on my heels and toes. But they are almost gone today so no worries. And I got 3 packages this week. It was like my birthday or Christmas. lol I got two from you, the one with the shirts (which my companion and I love), sticky notes, chapstick(I shared one with my companion and she was really excited and says thanks), the socks ( thank you so much for them.. I love them), band aids (which was like pure inspiration to put in there due to all the dang blisters I had), and all the other fun little things. Thank you mom! Really good job picking stuff out. It is funny because all the stuff you picked out I wear the most and that is what my companion borrows too.  And then I got a big package of popcorn from the Morris´s! It is SO good. Hermana Ellsworth and I love it. We just eat it and eat it so right now we are trying to control ourselves so when the world ends the 27th of this month we will have something good to eat. :) No... really the world is not suppose to end but we have been hearing a lot of weird stuff about something happening on that date. Normally we wouldn´t think anything of it but in the last mission conference the president started the conference talking about how we need to be prepared with our emergency kits and backpacks. So we are prepared... no worries. But it has been interesting. I guess we will just wait and see. But anyway the popcorn came with a bunch of letters from everyone too! It was so nice to hear from everyone. I am assuming that during the 4th of July lots of people wrote me notes so that was really fun to get :) SO thank you Aunt Ora! I love the popcorn and all the letters!

We have a busy week this week again which we love and are looking forward to all of our lessons. Finding new people is a little bit of a struggle but we are working on it. Thank you for all the updates and everything. I am glad that Zach is doing good and that he got his truck up and running. That will be fun to see when I get back. How is everything going at you and Dads work? So what are you singing this song for.. is it just a musical number or for something special. What song are you singing?

Thank you for everything!

Love you!

Hermana Lichty

p.s I was going to tell you..... the plugas are back.. I am kind of bummed about that but I have a lot of stuff to try and manage them.

August in Villa Norte

Last Day of the Change....

I have GREAT news! President Gillespe left Villa Norte open AND Hermana Ellsworth and I are companions again! We are very very excited because in the last change we got everything set up for lots of success this change! We have so many investigators that have so much potential and we just know this change is going to be amazing. It is crazy to me because 6 weeks ago tomorrow I was just getting to this area and we had nothing. No investigators, no citas, nothing in our area book, not even blankets or chairs or study tables. But now we are so so busy and we know everyone in the ward and they all want to help and we have people that we are teaching and members that ask us for citas. Sometimes we don´t even have time for everyone so we are just squeezing citas in as we can. I love it and I would love to stay here for 6 months if I could. Thats my goal right now.

So much happened this week for us. We had interchanges with Hermanas in this mission and I was put with a new hermana from Panama. Her name is Hermana Tamayo and she was so fun and it was fun to kind of answer her questions and help her to try and feel comfortable in the mission. It has been raining so much here this last week. We got pretty wet but it was fun to use my boots again. lol Yesterday it rained and rained after church and all night so we were soaked. We went to a family home evening with some members and investigators and got a lecture about walking around all wet. So before it started she gave us some of her tights and shoes to wear. They just love us here and we love them. We are suppose to get some more rain at the beginning of this week and I am hoping that will be the end for awhile. We should be starting to move into summer.  Lets see... what else happened..

We had a zone actividad today for the end of the change to find out our changes and to have a little lunch. It was fun, we went to this lake that was like back in these woods and the Zone leaders hid our changes and we had to look for them. Hermana Ellsworth and I never actually found ours but it didn´t really matter because we knew there were no changes made to our companionship. haha But there was so much mud because of all the rain! So we are very dirty right now. It was funny because this morning Hermana Ellsworth got up an hour early on accident and didn´t know it until I got up (at the right time) and told her. She was so mad. lol SO we are going to go home so she can take a nap. lol It is funny because I have noticed during the night or early in the morning I always wake up speaking Spanish.. it is just like this sub conscious thing.. weird. lol

Anyway I am glad everything is going well and that dad and Zach have something to do. So that will be fun going to an institute class with Ramona. How is she doing. You should tell her to write me. I love getting her letters they are always so good. Did you get that package yet- Love you!

Hermana Lichty

10 months down!

Hello!

How are you guys doing today? This last week has been a bit rough because I got sick. I got some sort of a stomach virus that made my stomach hurt so bad! And then I got a fever and now I am just congested. It was a bit much so needless to say we stayed in the pension for a couple of days. I slept SO much for almost three days straight. I don´t think I have every slept that much continuously in all of my life. And it wasn´t like I was just sleeping because I didn´t have anything else to do. I was so tired. My poor companion was so bored just reading all day and trying to find things to keep her busy. But I am doing a lot better now. My stomach still isn´t 100% but it is getting there slowly. And I don´t have a fever anymore. :) But even though I was sick it was really hard to stay in and not work. I remember before thinking about how nice to would be to be sick for a day and just rest but it wasn´t like that at all. We have so many citas and investigators that it is really hard to not want to work. And they are all so wonderful and are progressing so we love working. Also my companion and I love to contact people and talking to them about the Book of Mormon. It is one of our favorite things to do. Saturday mornings are great because we try not to schedule appointments at that time so we can just talk and contact the people.

The ward here is doing great. The bishop pulled us into his office this Sunday to tell us that he asked the stake president to talk to President Gillespe about keeping us together and in this area another change. He said he is going to send and official email about it too. So we are excited about that because we are having such a wonderful time together. This is the last week of the change so we are working really hard and praying that we can stay together another change. So pray for us :) We had interviews with the President this last Friday and with his wife too. They are such great people. I told him how much I love Villa Norte and his reaction was funny. He was just like ¨Hermana, thank you for saying that! There is not such thing as bad areas or bad wards, it is the attitude that we come it with.¨ I think he is very happy with the work that we are doing here. I love telling all the leaders about our area and all the progress because they are all so surprised. lol

How are things going in Casper? How is 4th ward doing? Are there any new missionaries going out soon? How is your work going? Are you staying pretty busy? Did you know that I have over 10 months in the mission now? How crazy is that? It is going by so fast. I love it though because the more time that I am here the better my Spanish gets. I can say more and understand more. It´s great! It is nice to be able to catch all of the the little things everyone says. And I am excited because if I can understand the people in Chile then I can understand anyone. lol  But I love the people here. They are so lovely and so nice!

Have you heard anything from Bishop Geddes. I haven´t got anything from him and so I am wondering if he really wants me to be sending him updates every 4 or 5 months. Any Ideas? Its not really that big of a deal just a question.

Well I don´t have a whole lot more to say we are really excited to work this week and we are praying for warmer weather. :) Have a great week

Hermana Lichty

Como estas?

¿Como estas?

We are doing so good here! We had an unbelievable amount of success this week. We had a conference all day Thursday and a couple of days we had to go home early for different reasons and we still had tons of appointments!  Everyone has been blown away with the amount of success we are having. We went to talk to the bishop last night and we were telling him about some of our lessons, and things we have been doing and he just sat back in his chair and said... I can´t believe it, you guys are working miracles here. But really I think the success has to do with the members here and the faith that we have that God has people here prepared to receive us. Heavenly Father had literally been putting people in our paths on the street to talk to. It is AAmazing! Our planners are just packed with citas.

It sounds like you guys had a really busy and fun week! You will have to say hi to everyone for me and tell them I am doing just great! So the weather is starting to cool down in Wyoming? The weather here is warming up little by little. It is a little hard to know what to wear because a lot of the times it is hot during the day but when the sun goes down it starts getting cold! But I am sure that is going to end and it is just going to be hot at the end of this month! Yay I am ready for warmer weather. It is easier to find people when it is nice outside :)

The Honor Flight sounds really cool. Was it something that you signed up for? I bet Grandpa is excited to go with you! How many days is it? Did Zach take pictures of us truck so I can see it. I bet that is a really fun project for them. How is Zach's work going? How is he going to work when he starts school? Part-time at night or on the weekends? I am glad Stephanie is doing well and you guys could visit her. I got the letter from her. It was really nice of her to send it. I really enjoyed reading it. I need to find sometime to write her back. We have seriously been SO busy! I go to bed and wake up thinking about investigators and sometimes we skip exercises in the morning so we can prepare for lessons and fill out forms for them. It is so nice to be so busy. We have no time to waste and I love it! We are just busy busy busy!
Hermana Ellsworth is from Colorado Springs which has been fun because we have a lot in common. It has been funny because I lot of people ask us if we are sisters. lol It is crazy how blonde our hair is getting and we stick out so much. haha We had some pretty crazy contacts this week.

We contacted this lady that I am pretty sure had some sort of metal problem. We stated teaching her in front of her house (sang a song, said a prayer) and she just keep saying really random things. She said a word that I didn´t know and so I was like, I am sorry but I don´t understand that word. Then she was like that is my name. I was like ohh okay.. so I start talking again and she just starts saying like random names. It was hard not to laugh. Then we had her read a part of the book of Mormon that explains what it is. Then I ask: so what is the book of Mormon? and she was like.... blah blah blah to clean my mouth. I was like what? Then my companion was like how? and she was like, like this. Then she starts to wipe her mouth with it. It was so weird. So we took the book back and I asked her why her mouth would be dirty and she said because everything green is dirty. It was such a strange contact. We walked away and just walked in silence for a little bit processing what just happened. Oh the people you meet!

 I am trying to think if we got anything interesting to eat this week... hmm I don´t think so. For the most part we get rice with chicken and mayonnaise or this spaghetti kind of thing. I don´t really know how to describe it but it is not like spaghetti they just use the same noodles. But it is not too bad. I think I am just use to the food here so nothing really phases me anymore. lol

Well I have to get going but thank you for the letter and updates Mom! Love you all,

Hermana Lichty

Villa Norte Week 3

Hola familia!
How are things going- Things in Villa Norte are going SO well! We are seriously in shock with how blessed we have been. We are finding so many people to teach and to help and we are loving it! I am like 99% positive that the president is going to leave this area open after this change if we keep working. I just love how many connections we have been making with the ward, the investigators, and the people here. I use to hate the fact that we stick out so much with our blonde hair and accents but I am really starting to like it because people really notice us and want to hear what we have to share. People have been coming up and talking to us on the street. It is great and we have been getting new people to come to church EVERY Sunday and the ward has just been buzzing. I love it!
It sounds like a fun trip you guys are planing to go to Ft. Collins to pick up Zach's truck. Tell Zach to take some pictures so I can see it.
Yeah Sunday was really good! It is crazy  because in all my other changes Sundays were like the worst because everyone is sleeping or resting and we always just walked all day with little to no luck. But here Sundays are great because we have been visiting a lot of people that are wonderful on Sunday. Our most recent convert, that was baptized over 2 years ago lives in a rest home and on Sundays we go there and sing for everybody, teach a lesson, and just talk to them for a little while. We only spend about an hour there on Sundays but all the residents love it. They are so cute! Then we have a couple less actives and part member families that love love love us that we have been visiting on Sundays as well. They are always making us food and trying to give us things to eat at the pension. One of the couple that we have been working with came to church for the 2nd time in a row this change and the husband got up and bore his testimony. He talked about how grateful he is for us the missionaries because in two weeks we were able to do what he has been trying to do for 18 month, get his family to church. It was a great to be able to hear that, to know that we are making a difference in people lives. Now this same member, me, and my companion have talks this next Sunday in sacerment meeting. lol
They weather is getting better... still it is a little cold but for sure better. The mornings haven´t been so rough which is really nice. It rained yesterday a little bit but not too hard. I am pretty sure the worst of the worst weather I will face in Chile has past and for that I am very excited! It is funny you asked about the ice cream because I actually just finished eating some like 5 minutes ago, i love it! Yeah we still get ice cream for dessert but it is not the most common thing. The most common thing is fruit all cut up in a bowl with either yogurt or cream on top, it is pretty good, but ice cream will always and forever be my favorite.
I cant think of anything that I need right now but thank you! I will look forward to this ¨suprise¨ package. lol
Thank you for all of your prayers and for all you thoughts! I know that is a big part of the reason why we are having SO much success here in Villa Norte!
Thanks you for everything,
Hna Lichty

August 1

Hola hola...

Things are going good this week. Hermana Ellsworth and I have been working really hard in Villa Norte and we have been finding people to teach! There has not been one day that has gone by that we have not taught something. It is wonderful. I love this ward, the people are so great and they just love us. Everyone is always trying to feed us and asking us for appointments. It is crazy I have never had members asking us for appointments, and all the appointments that we have, members want to come with us. It has been a lot of work but everything is looking good. I found out that us being in this area is really a test test because they are not even counting our numbers in the system.... so keep praying that we can keep this area alive because we love it! We have 4 different activities planned already for this month and the support of the ward, so we are doing good. We just have to keep working hard.

My backpack finally died this week and I had to buy a new one. My old one did really good and lasted almost ten months but... all the seams were ripping and the front pocket started ripping all the way across. But I found a really cute black one that is smaller. I am hoping that will help me because my back has been hurting a bit lately but nothing I can´t handle. And I got to use my boots the other night because it rained again, all day! I have never experienced so much rain before but it is kind of fun.. until you get soaked. lol There is a ton of mud from the rain though. Villa Norte is not a poor ward but it is not rich either. We have a lot of dirt roads and unlit areas so we are sure to be really careful at night. But I am not worried because we have the Spirit and we are on the Lords errand so all is well. I am really excited because it is suppose to be getting hotter out this month and I really would rather be hot then cold. Here the cold is different because you can´t really get warm inside a house because the temperature is the same inside and out. They don´t have heaters or anything they just use little space heaters. You should see what I sleep in... you would all laugh. I have on SO many layers.. thermals, sweatpants, long sleeved shirts, sweatshirts, a hat, the hood to my sweatshirt, and 4 wool blankets. I woke up this morning at 6:30 and the temp. was 50! SO cold! Hermana Ellsworth says I am a baby about it but I think she is just crazy.. she gets cold too, she is just not as verbal about it as me. lol

Hermana Ellsworth and I are having such a fun companionship! She is so much fun to work with and her Spanish is getting a lot better.
How are things going at home? Did grandpa and grandma find everything they needed at Sams Club? Did they get my letter? I am really excited to meet Jasper, he sounds really funny. Tell everyone I say Hola and I miss and love them all.

Love,

Hermana Lichty

Oh and I got the letter from Stephanie and from one of your primary classes.It was really cute. I will try and respond promptly :)

Villa Norte

Week one in Villa Norte....

So this last week has been so good. We started the week off with nothing! No appointments no investigators, nada. But it was an amazing week to say the least. Hermana Ellsworth and I love contacting and talking to people on the streets and our planners are FULL of appointments for this week. We are very excited to watch this area grow. It is kind of like our ¨baby¨ because we started out with absolutely nothing. We are working on the members too because they don´t have a whole lot of faith in this area.... yet :) And we found out that us being in this area is like a test to see if we can see/have progress. So we are working really hard because we don´t want them to close this area next change.

It really has been a week full of miracles. Between Hermana Ellsworth and I, we know Spanish but there is still a lot that we don´t know so it has been amazing to see how much the gift of tongues is real. We haven´t had any problems with the language. Also all of the ward members were telling us how everyone that lives in this area have lived here for a very long time and the work here is very hard because of that. BUT almost every single person that we have contacted is new in the area, all of them recently moved here. Its crazy how much we can see that the Lord is directing us. Even in the lessons that we have had with less actives and new people the scriptures that we have shared and the questions that we have been asking have really affected people for the better. Hermana Ellsworth and I have been so surprised and grateful for all the help that we have been receiving and the Spirit that is with us.

We have had a couple of funny things happen to us too. We were contacting this man and his wife and it turned out they were super into their religion and their children had served missions for it and everything. But none the less we really tried to share with them about the Book of Mormon. At the end this man was like ¨I am really grateful for you sisters because your are in the work of the Lord trying to help the people and I really want to say a prayer for you¨. So all of the sudden he starts praying in the middle of the street, but like super loud. Imagine the voice of a preacher, preaching to his congregation.. that is what it sounded like. Hermana Ellsworth and I were just like ¨what the heck¨ but we just kept our heads bowed until he was done. It is funny the people that you meet in the mission. We walked away and just started laugh. Hermana Ellsworth was so confused because she is still learning the language so she didn´t catch everything that he said. lol

It sounds like you had a really fun weekend and the reunion and everything. I am glad it all worked out and that you have pictures and everything from it. That is crazy that I have a relative that opened the mission in Chile. I will have to check out that article in the Ensign. Can you save it for me to read when I get back? I am glad everybody like the pictures that I sent last week. I don´t have any new ones from the last week. We have been kind if busy but next week we will have something.

It rained SO hard last night.. pouring! It was raining so hard that all four of us woke up because it was hitting the roof so hard. We were up from 4.45 until like 6 or 6.30. I looked outside and it was just like a river of water going down the calle. But we don't get snow here... just a lot of rain. But from what I have heard this month is the coldest of them all so it should start warming up next month. Yay... I am kind of a baby about the cold weather here. It really isn't that cold it just seems like it when you are walking outside all day in a skirt. :)

But anyway we are super excited for this area and I love my companion. She is great and we are really excited for this change :)

And yes mom I got that package so we are good! Thank you for the letter and the updates!

Have a great week,

Hermana Lichty

The half way mark is here!

Changes changes changes!!

I am SO excited! I am going up to SENOR companion and I am going to be opening an area that was closed because it hasn´t seen baptisms in like 2 years! But that doesn´t matter because it is going to be awesome and me and my new companion are going to win the hearts of the people there. I am going to be companions with Hermana Ellsworth and I am so excited. I had interchanges with her like 2 weeks ago and it was so much fun. She is so cute when she tries to speak Spanish.. lol It will be fun to help each other on the whole language thing :) SO yes that is that.......... I am stoked! The only downside is the pension is freezing! So I am going to go buy this thing that you put hot water in at night and it stays warm all night so I can sleep with it. :)

This last week has been really fun because I have been with Hermana Norton for the last  4 days! We have the worst of luck when we are together but it is so fun. The first day we leave from lunch and right when we walk out the door the rain starts. And it rains and rains and rains... all day and it was windy. Nobody let us in and we just walked in it for four and a half hours straight until we were tired and very wet and cold. Then we went to my favorite members house and they fixed us ¨once¨ with hot chocolate. But we were soaked! So the next day we bought rain boots.. cute ones! And it was such a good thing because it rained again!

Lets see..... que mas que mas... umm oh so the craziest thing happened this Sunday. I really struggled in Agua Santa, with the area and with the ward and I just felt that hadn´t made much of a difference. But then when everyone found out I was leaving they were so sad. Everyone was coming up to me and thanking me and asking me why I had to go and if I could ask for an extension. It was so unexpected but a very nice compliment I thought. They weren´t even that sad when my last companion left and she had double the time I did in that ward. I am just glad that I was able to leave the area better then I found it and now the ward is a lot more open to helping the missionaries with the work. :)

Having the mini missionaries was fun. They were so tired by the last two days, it was funny. They were falling asleep at church on Sunday and at night they seemed like Zombies. We just told them welcome to the mission. But we did make it fun by making pancakes and pizza two of the three nights they were here.

That is awesome things are going so well for Zach with his job! Does he really enjoy working there? It sounds like you are really busy at work too which is good! How are things at church going? Anything new happening?

Well I think that is everything for right now..

Love you all,

Hermana Lichty

Hello Hello!

Hello hello....
How is the summer going? I am not going to lie.  I am a little jealous you are in summer right now because mean while I am here freezing in my cute little skirt outfits and tights. lol No it is not that bad but sometimes at night it does get a bit cold. That is when we get really motivated to talk with more people so we can go inside their houses and teach them. haha Actually this week wasn´t too bad. My companion was sick for three days thought. That wasn´t very fun. That was the first time in my whole mission I have stayed at home for more then one day. It was kind of crazy but a good chance to catch up on some sleep and finish the book of Alma. :) She had like a stomach virus or something, but luckily it happened last week and not this week. This week her and Hna Amaya are getting mini misioneras from Thursday hasta Sunday which means..... Hermana Norton and I are going to be companions those 4 days and we are going to bouncing back from my area to her area. I think it will be a lot of fun. And our pension is going to be crazy with 6 Hermanas. I don´t know how that is going to work but it will be and adventure. haha
And yes I got your packages! Thank you so much! The MP3 player is amazing, we listen to it all the time! The tights were very needed and I love them too! So thank you, thank you, thank you! And I also got a package from Kellie! Thank you Kellie, I was super excited about your package too! It was like Christmas opening up your packages :)  All the chocolate has been really good :)
 I love all the pictures from the 4th of July. It looks like there were so many people there! I missed out! That means we just need to have a big party again next year so I can come too! I loved the rice crispy treat picture with Aunt Ora and Val... they learned well. :) That picture with Zach and the Diet Coke bomb was pretty sweet too. So what happened to the side of Tyler´s face? lol What kind of a firework was it? What was it that Aunt Ora was sewing? I really liked all the pictures.. that pig looked kind of sick though. lol
So this is the last week of the change, it went by so fast! This next change, from what I heard is the coldest of them all because it is during the middle and end of winter and Julio and Augusto are the coldest months. If I get changed to the interior it is going to be SO cold.lol Well... we will know for sure next week.
Hmm.... not much else happened that I can think of right now. I am getting really good at making pancakes. lol That is pretty fun and we eat them with Manjar, peanut better, and jam. It is a great snack right before bed to warm us up :) I think we are going to make them again for the mini misioneras so they will have a really good experience and want to serve. We need more sisters! It is fun because I just make up the recipe every time and everyone loves it. All of those cooking classes did come it handy. :)
Anyway los vamos hasta la proxima Lunes!
Love you all,
Hermana Lichty

July 4th

Happy 4th of July!
Yes I got to the mail finally so I am pretty happy about that. ;) So nobody is running this year? That is a bummer... what about Kellie, did she run? It sounds like you guys have been having a lot of fun this weekend and that a lot of people came. I am so jealous! Next year will have to be big too! You will have to take lots of pictures so I can see everyone and all of the activities.
This week has been crazy. It rained a lot on Wednesday and we were soaked! In our last lesson my entire skirt, shoes, and tights were soaked and I was so cold! My companion was soaked too. But then the next day was really nice.
This week we had lunch one day with this old lady that is always telling us how unhealthy everything is ( I always just shake my head and smile). Anyway she fixed us this ¨herbal water¨ and we were drinking it and my companion and I were talking about how good it was and we figured out it tasted like those fruity candy canes that you get at Christmas time.  So we are talking about it and talking about it and my companion asked the lady what it was exactly and so she brings the package in for us to look at. We both look at it and continue to talk and drink it until my companion picks it back up again to look at the back of it. Then she says ¨Uhhhh.... hermana, yo creo que esta es té real..¨ (sister, i think this is real tea). I looked at my companion and I just started laughing. Turns out is was flavored black tea that she was feeding is. Needless to say we didn´t drink anymore of it and my companion was a little traumatised. We tryed to explain to her that all of the teas are against the word of wisdom but she just keep telling is how healthy it was for you. Yeah it was interesting and a little funny. My companion was talking about it all day until............. she got bit by a dog. haha  It was a little dog and it only ripped her tights but it definitely freaked her out. And as usual I I just about died laughing because I knew she was okay. It was funny because we had this appointment right then and she was telling them about it and I just had the biggest smile on my face and I could help but laugh some more. The people were like ¨ Look at your companion she is just laughing.. que mala.¨  So funny!
We also had interchanges this week and I went to the interior for a day. It was so dang cold! So if I get changed there I am going to have to buy some more winter clothes or something. But I was with Hermana Ellsworth for the day and it was great. She is trying so hard to learn the language and it is so cute to listen to her try and talk. It was nice to learn from her though and to have more responsibility in the lessons. I feel pretty good about the language. I obviously still have a lot to learn but I don´t think I am doing half bad :)

You will have to ask Tyler and Lacey to talk to you in Spanish or to send me something in Spanish. That would be fun :)
We had one kid in our ward die this last week too, he was 19 and preparing for his mission. We actually knew him too. That was really really sad. They had the funeral yesterday and the entire ward was just so sad and crying. During testimony meeting the bishop was crying the whole time along with everyone else. They cancelled the last classes so everyone could prepare for. It is crazy how many funerals I have seen so far on my mission. That was number 5. But it was a  good chance to help share the plan of salvation, and offer service. They talked a lot about the plan of salvation at his funeral and how he was now on a mission in the spirit world. It was great and a lot of non members were there to hear.
Well that is the news of the week here. I am expecting a lot of pictures from this weekend and today from you guys ;) I heard that I have a couple packaged waiting in the office so we are heading there after this to get them. I am pretty excited ;)  Tell everyone that I said I hi and I am missing them! And I am missing the weather that you guys are having ;)
Love you all,
Hermana Lichty

 

Hello hello!
I am doing good this week. The rain has stopped which is nice and the weather is a lot better. :) That is crazy you are getting so much rain still! Do you have any pictures or anything? How is Stephanie doing? I am so glad you are taking food to the missionaries! I am sure they are very excited. :) And that is great that things are going so well with the job of Zach. How are Donn and Ramona doing? That is too bad she hit an antelope.
So my companion and I gave talks this week in sacerment meeting and it went SO surprisingly well. haha I was kind of nervous because they called us at like 10 pm the night before to tell us we needed to double the time of our talks. I was very surprised though because I actually went over time..in Spanish! Isn´t that great ;) And everyone gave me so many compliments about it which means...... they all understood! Greatest news of my life. :)  j-k
Also this week I had a interchanges with Hermana Norton again, but in my area this time. It was fun because we went on a little adventure trying to find a couple of houses. And now por fin Hna Norton understands when I say that my area is pure hills( plus the side of a mountain). She said she dosen´t think it is possible for anyone that is assigned to Agua Santa to gain weight because of all the hills and how large the area is. I like that someone finally acknowledged my area. haha And I have some very good news... we found a scale the other day and I am at the same weight I was before the mission and my companion has lost a little more then 6 pounds since we have been together. I finally convinced her to take it easy on the bread. :)
We have been contacting like crazy the last week and I actually really like it. It really just makes you feel better when you are in a bad mood because there is no way to be angry or sad when you are trying to share the gospel with people.
One thing that happened this week was when we were teaching an inactive member that we found through the ward directory. We just happened to be in her area and saw her name on the list and thought we should try and talk to her. She let us in and we began to talk to her about her experience in the church. She started talking and it turns out she was one of the first members of the church here. She and her family traveled like 15 hours to the nearest temple in Brazil I think it was to be sealed and everything. As she told us her story and talked about her faith she just started to cry. I was about to talk to her boldly and with love about the importance of the church in her life and the life of her family. I was actually really surprised at how bold I was about it but she knew I was doing it out of love and so she didn´t get upset or anything. We are still working with her. I am amazed with how much people can feel of our Spirit when we are teaching and talking to them. I have never had so many experiences like that were people just start crying tell us about their life and the church. It is pretty amazing and humbling to experience.
Anyway I have been looking for your package but I haven´t received anything yet... I am crossing my fingers for it in the next week or so, the music we have is getting pretty old. lol I have a bunch of letters to send out that I have been carrying around for about 5 weeks and it looks like I am going to have to wait another week because everything is closed today for holiday. It is like Peter-Paul Day today. I am not exactly sure why that is so special but I guess it is. lol So sorry everyone.. they are coming :)
Thank you for all the updates Mom! I am glad you are doing well and that you are getting your project all finished up. I loved the picuture, it looks great.
Love you all,
Hermana Lichty

6 Months in Chile

Today I have been in Chile for 6 months.... crazy how the times flys huh? This week has been pretty good and filled with lots of different things. We had a conference this last Tuesday that was really good. It was on having more animó and not getting discouraged, it actually helped out a lot. This work definitely is not the easiest thing in the world and there are a lot of opportunities to be discouraged so it is good to have talks about it every once and I while.

http://web.me.com/richandann/GillespieMission/Mission_Blog/Entries/2011/6/14_Coastal_Zone_Conference.html

We have been working really hard trying to find new people to teach. That seemed to be one of the biggest challenges of all. We have about three different families that we have contacted this last week so we are praying really hard that we can start teaching them this week. I have noticed that the more we contact and the more we talk to people that happier we are. Amazingly it isn´t even that awkward. :) But it is kind of funny because you meet a lot of.... interesting people that way. This last week we were contacting this lady because she just happened to be locked out of her house and she was trying to get back it. In my mind I was thinking ¨what a great opportunity to talk and help her.¨ So we start talking to her and she tells us she locked herself out and she really needed to get back in because her friend was coming over and they were going somewhere and she was kind of panicking about it. My companion and I start to help her try and move this glass piece of her door. She said that this happened to her last week too and she just glued this one glass piece in and so it should just pop back out. Now I am not sure what kind of glue she used but it was stuck in there pretty good. So my companion keeps talking to her while I am trying to get this glass piece out. I wedged a key in between the glass and the wood and was trying to wedge it out when the glass just shattered and my hand when though the door. Yeah.... my companion kinda freaked out a little bit and just started saying sorry over and over again to this lady. Then there was me and  just because of the way my companion reacted and knowing that the lady wasn´t mad I just start laughing. I was laughing so hard I couldn´t even finish the contact, my companion had to. But is was okay because if I didn´t break it someone else would have. It was so funny to talk to Hermana Fawcett about it later.. she was still freaking out a little. haha
Other then that everything has been going good. We have been getting so much rain! The streets have been rivers and we have been getting soaked! Saturday the President said if it wasn´t needed, in the morning we could say home because the wind and the rain combined we were bad.It was crazy to walk to our area that afternoon though because the waves from the sea were HUGE! They were hitting the side wall and going over, getting the cars on the highway all wet. So we are hoping the rain will stop before 6 tonight so we don´t have to get all wet. :)
It sounds like you are going to have a fun 4th of July weekend! You will have to tell everyone I said hi :) That is great Zach has a job. So you guys have been getting a lot of rain too huh? That is crazy because Casper never really gets much rain. I hope everything goes well with Mickie and Ayla. She has had her for a really lot time. How many character witnesses does she need? It sounds like you guys had a really fun fathers day with a BBQ and everything. I wish I could have been there to celebrate and eat :) I actually had a migraine yesterday and we had to go back to the pènsion early. It was not fun but it was good we went home so I could sleep because I started feeling sick from it and everything. But its okay because I am just fine today :) I actually don´t mind the rain.
So do you talk with the missionaries? I was thinking that you should invite them over for dinner one night. BUT just for me you have to ask them ahead of time what they want and really make them tell you. Just cook them whatever they want something that they miss from home and then a really good desert. That is a new goal of mine. It do that for the missionaries when I get back. Because really the work is hard and they need something to get them excited or to feel really good. :)
I am glad you guys got to talk to Stephanie. How is she doing? Does she have any recent fotos or anything?
Thank you for all the updates Mom! Love you all,
Hermana Lichty