Monday, January 31, 2011

Hello from Belloto

Hello from...... Belloto 2 otra ves :)

That's right I am here again with the same compañera Hermana Amaya. That means same pension and everything. But there is a little twist, the other Hermanas in our pension are leaving! Triste :( They have to close their area today and hand it over to Elders. That means Hna Amaya and I will be the only Hermanas in the Zona starting tomorrow. Also that means we have the pension to ourselves which is going to be very weird and quite.. well for the most part. :)
I am so exctied for Ramona! Woot Woot! I loved the pictures, they are amazing. It is too bad I couldn´t have gone to it. But I actually got to attend a baptism that night too and I felt a very special feeling. I am sure that what how her baptism was too. I will try and to respond to her letter after I finish. If I don´t have time I will hand write her. Awesome Awesome ;) I really like the picture of you and Ramona, you should frame it or something.
Thank you for sending the package with everything. I am really looking forward to getting them. Something has to work with these pulgas. I had to call Hermana Gilespe again because I have been getting attracted again by the fleas. It is very frustrating. The hard part is sometimes when they bit I get huge welts that itch like crazy and that happen a lot this week. One day I had like 15 or 20 welts all over my stomach, back, and upper legs.. no bueno! But the last couple of days they have just been the normal bits that only swell a little bit, but itch like crazy. I am trying to endure this trial well so I have stopped counting the bits each day and I am getting use to the vinegar and eucalipase smell. It is so funny the things I have to try and protect myself from them. I have tree branchs from a Eucalipase tree in my bed, a flea coller, I spray Raid and TANAX, also baby power.. pretty much everything. lol It is okay though, it could be much worst right? ;)
And tell Dad that once my name tag comes off that nice gentle Tiffanie will go away if you plan a trip to the Zoo. Also I am sure he will be alive when I get home because God loves me and knows I need someone to carry my suitcases back to the house. Jk jk Tell him I pray for him every night and I am sure he will be alive and well when I get back. :)
Oh and that drink your friend was talking about- Mat- is here. I know exactly what it is. But we as missionaries are not allowed to drink it because it does get passed around to everyone in the house. We tried something that is similar to it in a tea bag but I really didn´t like it. lol I wonder why it is so popular here. We do drink a lot of Ecco though. It is like coffee but not, it does not have caffeine it is. It is not like decaf coffee though, it is something different, they roast a different bean to get it. It is really good though, I drink it every morning with my Cheerios. :)
As for the question about the donkeys and the lamas. They do have them here but not for the transportation. However I have seen them using horses to pull things around and to get to places, not very often though. I am sure it is different in every area though. From what I have seem so far we have kind of a poor area. We were looking for new investigators last week and we climbed this mountain. No joke it was a mountain we climbed it in the form of the hugest hill you have every seen in you life.. that never ends. Some times the hills are just so ridiculous I just shake my head and laugh. I just have to think to myself ¨You have ran a marathon before, you can do this´. It is funny because when we go up these hills in the heat of the day my companion and I don´t usually talk. We just focus on making it up. lol Anyway about this mountain we climbed... at the top there is this little village. If you were to try and imagine a really poor poor country that doesn´t have running water that is what it looked like. It was crazy. My companion and I were like ¨where are we?¨ We tried knocking doors but nobody would answer and any time you wanted to get to another house you had to walk farther up this mountain. It was good, we actually made a really good contact and handed out a Libro de Mormón.

I am really excited about this change! We have set some really good goals for our area and we have some investigators we will baptize. We just need to work like crazy these next 6 weeks and pray a lot. We have very high hopes and with God all things are possible. It is going to be great! We are planning on 5 baptisms this change. We have so many good investiagores and we had 5... yes 5 of them come to church with us Sunday. I felt like pure joy when that meeting started. We had to split up with members of the ward so we could go pick up our investigators. It was sweet because we worked so hard for them to come all week. Not only that but we had a bunch of inactive members come. We have been trying to focus on the new investigators and inactive members these last couple of weeks. The meeting started and my companion leaned over and said, ¨you never going to guess who is here¨´ and then she started to point out these members we have never seen at church but visited this week. It was good.
Oh and I have a good story for you: So we have this lady we have been teaching for the last 6 weeks. We visit her at least 2 times each week and I have never been able to understand her. It is weird because I try so hard to understand her every time we talk to her and she talks a lot. I never understand anything she says... nada. Anyway at the end of the week we were teaching her a lesson about the atonement and it was a long lesson-visit and we were there for about an hour and a half. My companion starts to tell her how much we love her and pray for her everyday and that we really want to help her.Then all of the sudden like ten minutes before we leave I start to understand her... like all of her words. This was a miracle! I was like whoa whoa whoa... what just happened. We ended the lesson and I start to talk to my companion and tell her what just happened. Hermana Amaya said she saw her whole face change in the last ten minutes of the lesson. It was so awesome, something in her heart changed. Now I can understand her... she is going to be a member this month I am praying for it :)
Anyway how are things at home besides the weather that I am jealous of? It is so dang hot here! How is everyone doing? Zach how is school and driving and the girls that just can´t resist you car? lol Dad how is work going? What do you do with your time since you and Zach are done with his car? Mom how is the business and the primary? I miss teaching primary. Stephanie you really need to get on the ball and write me. lol Tell me what is going on in you life por favor :)
Tell me what is going on with everything.I like hearing about everyone.
Love you all,
Hermana Lichty

Monday, January 24, 2011

Week 5 Chile

Hello!
I am doing very well :) And guess what..... I FINALLY got the package you sent in November. I received it on Friday afternoon. It was so sad because they stole the M&M´s out of it :( I was kind of upset about that because I saw the packing list of what all was in there and when I realized what had happened I was like dangit! It was so obvious they took it out too because they taped it back up with tape that had the Chilean Mail logo on it. Lame! So when you do send a package don´t use those little mailer things because it is very easy for them to steal things out of them. I heard from other Hermanas if you tape the crap out of the box they won´t mess with it because it is too much work, or put picture of Mary on it. lol Oh dear... the things that happen on a mission.
But thank you for the ¨Christmas¨ package. I loved the Wyoming shirt, I am wearing it right now :) It fits perfect! I find it funny that all the shirts you have picked for me have worked so well and everyone loves them. lol Remember that purple shirt that you sent that I was telling you about before? The one that everyone loved at the MTC? Well they all love it here too. lol I wore it yesterday and people were talking about it. But anyway thank you for everything thing. It was a great day to receive that package.
It sounds like you have long Sundays just like me! But I am probably a lot more use to them them you are. lol I actually don´t mind it because that means we are inside out of the sun and heat of the day.
We had changes twice this week because all the the senior companions and leaders had a two day training. It was crazy because they put me with Hna. Szuch the first day. I don´t know if you remember her from my MTC letters but she was there with me and Hna. Norton. That was an interesting day because we don´t know Spanish. lol Actually it was really good because I realized how much Spanish I do know. I was really surprised because Hna Zsuch took a Spanish class before the mission and her companion don´t speak English yet I know more then she does. It made me laugh because we were in her area the whole day and all the members were looking at me to translate things to her. lol I was explaining to a couple of the members that we were in the MTC together and have only been here a month and they all were complimenting me on how well I speak. It was nice to hear, but I still need a lot of help. I still struggle with a lot of things. But it is coming, day by day :)
The next day I was with a native and we didn´t have any problems and we communicated just fine :)
As for Dad and the Zoo question.... I have no comment on that at the current moment. As a missionary I need to be as positive as possible. When the name tag comes off I will tell you all about it. lol
Oh and tell Dad and Zach thanks for the support with the flea problems I am feeling the love. lol It is good, I have just gotten to the point that I laugh about them because that is all I can do. I don´t count and I don´t want to know. Esta bein
That fundraiser thing sounds like it was fun. I am excited for that kind of stuff when I get home. For all of the foods that I am familiar to. lol
How come Ramona's baptism got pushed back? I was thinking about her this week and I am still very excited for her.
Things in Chile are pretty much the same except we have changes next Monday. I am a little nervous for them. It will be week 6 next week and companionship's change every 6 weeks. I am going to buy a new suitcase today just in case I am going to another area so look of that to come through. Yeah I was looking at the suitcase with my Hermana Amaya and it is so busted. I don´t know what the airline did with it but they were not gentle that is for sure. Dangit anyways. lol  But anyway pray for the changes so I can either stay with Hna Amaya or get a good new companion.
Thank you everyone for all the prayers and help with the fleas. It really means a lot to me. I think the flea collar on the foot of my bed is helping out a ton because I mostly get bits on my legs during the day now. It is a huge improvement. I am looking forward to the packages though so I can try new things. Those patches sound really good though too because the members say that misquotes are going to be here soon and that they give you huge welts when they bit... yeah I am not looking forward to that. lol One investigator said that I am the fleas candy. haha
We have a lot of investigators that we are working with right now. Also we are teaching and English class to try and get new investigators. It is kind of fun and it help me work on my Spanish at the same time. I am greatful that a can understand more when we are teaching our investigtors so when I feel like I have something important to say that relates to what they are saying I can insert myself into the conversation. I did that the other day and my companion like my comment so much she asked me to repeat it in the next lesson with a different investigator. AND it was all in Spanish because my companion refuses to translate to me when we are with people.. that was really frustrating at first and still is every once and awhile but its okay. I really focus me to pay attention and focus at all times.
Oh so I was going to tell you about the yogurt. All of the yogurt here is like milk and you just drink it. I actually like it. Sometimes I use it on my cereal instead of milk. Weird huh? lol

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Week 4 Chile to the Zoo!

Haha.... Hello!

As for the Zoo.... I had to go with my companion, I don´t really have a choice on those kinds of things. lol  No the Zoo was alright, I am not going to say amazing because lets face it, I am not really a Zoo person. lol But it was fun to hang out and do something different as a Zone :)
I am glad everyone is enjoying my letters. So for the pouch mail I am still not sure. I know that you can send things from DearElder. You just need to know my name and Mission I think. I got the DearElders that you send before Christmas the other day. lol But that is all I have received. Make sure that you only send the mail to the mission office. We usually get mail every months or so from there. It was this:
Hermana Tiffanie Lichty
Mision Chile Viña del Mar
4 Norte 1112
Viña Del Mar, Chile
Yeah the bits are getting better but I am still getting them. I have tried everything I have been given and Hermana Gilespe gave me some Eucalyptus spray stuff and other pills and creme. They want me to be the Guinea pig for it all because I get the most bits out of all the missionaries here. Just my luck. lol It is just one of my trials here I think.
As for the Empenadas they put a lot of things in it. But usually you will find cheese ones, bean ones, and meat ones. The place I was in in that picture was Lider.. it is Chile´s Wal-mart. lol And yes when you talk about food it makes me hungry because none of the food here is the same. lol Totally different here. But it is okay. Oh and the soda here is kinda the same.. the only things they have though are like fanta and coca cola but as a mission rule we cant drink the coke-. oh and most of the pop is in the glass bottles.
And yes I am getting really good at lighting the gas heater and stove because I am always first to take a shower in the mornings. lol
Anyway how is the snow going for you all? Right now I am in a small Internet cafe and sweating everywhere! It is gross! It is SO hot here....especially since we are walking everywhere! Oh my heck I have never drank so much water! Its good though. I don´t even care if it is cold or anything. Usually it is warm. lol
We have been contacting a lot lately because our appointments have been falling though. It is so frustrating. I think it is because it is summer here and people are sleeping or gone and feel like they have more important things to do. It is sad to me. I am praying all the time that someone will let us teach because we are just so hot walking and walking and walking. But we finally found an amazing family to teach in the middle of nowhere. It was kinda crazy because part of our area goes off to this area with nothing but trees and dirt and some homes people have tried to build. We found this family back there that had nothing. Like the walls of there house are sheets and a couple pieces of wood. Very humbling but great people.  They were so interested in our message and we are going to go back with our zone to help them clean up the leaves and such around their house. I am so excited :)

I will explain the bridge picture when I come back to the states. lol
And yes... I finally broke down and bought a flea collar because I hate the fleas that much. lol
 
We have changes these next two days because all the trainers and senior companions have a big conference to attend, that should be interesting. lol One day I am comp´s with Hermana Boud who has been here 4 weeks longer than me so our communication skills should make things fun. lol  The next day I am with and Hermana that is from Chile and speaks no English.. at all. Oh dear. Wish me luck these next two days. My Spanish is coming along but it is not that good. I understand almost everything that happens in the lessons and I can teach a lot of things in Spanish but trying to have a normal conversation is still hard. They speak so dang fast. Even my companion who´s first language is Spanish couldn´t understand them her first couple of weeks. We also had a lady we are teaching from Bolivia say the same thing.... she couldn´t understand anything they were saying at first. DEAR! lol I am just praying a lot but everyone has been telling me how good my Spanish is getting and that I am progressing really fast. It is just frustrating because I want to understand and communicate everything like I speak and understand English. My mind is just constantly thinking Spanish Spanish Spanish. But it will come I know I just need to work on the patience.
We are starting to teach an English class every Thursday evening. Random people have been stopping us to ask about it. We are praying for the best it would be such a great way to teach and spread the gospel. People here really like English.
I think being such a gringo crazy things just follow me and my companion. It is kind of funny though. This week people have been crazy. They always blow me kisses and try and greet me in English.. I respond in Spanish. lol  Unless they are getting on my nerves, then I respond in English and they go away :)   oh the crazy places we go in life.
What is new in the world? I feel so cut off from everything... anyone else getting married? lol Did you hear back about dad´s job? And Stephanie where is this letter you were going to write me? lol I am waiting to respond to it¨:)
Oh and I finally got to another place to send letters. I don´t know if I told you but we don´t have a mail place in Belloto. We have to travel to the nearest city for that. It is so different.
We had that mission conference and Hna Gilespe made cookies and all the gringos were going crazy because it was something familiar. lol Oh all the little things that make you happy.
I was wondering if you send something you could include TUMS and Benidrill... pretty sure I spelled that wrong. But you know allergy pills that put me to sleep (for the stupid pulgas... oh sorry that was spanish, fleas :) Thank you thank you
 
Love you all,
Hermana Lichty

Most of these are from the Zoo... when I am in the pink shirt... these were taken today :)
The other is when we were lost looking for a contact that ended up being that sweet family I was telling you about!
 
 Oh and yeah for Ramona! I really want to see a picture or two! I am excited for her. Woot Woot!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Week 4 Chile

Hey Mom,
I don´t have a whole lot of time.. we had our p day changed to tomorrow so everyone in our zone can go to the zoo. lol  Just my luck, everyone I know loves the zoo. lol Its okay it should be very interesting. I will respond to you letter and everything tomorrow probably around the same time as normal.
Love you all,
Hermana Lichty
 
MOM   You lucky girl!
 
Yea everyone is pretty excited about the monkeys. haha

Monday, January 10, 2011

week 3 de Belloto

Hello!
 
How is everyone doing? It sounds likes it is really cold with a lot of snow there! Dear it is so opposite of that here. I am getting use to putting on a layer of sunscreen every time I leave the pension and I still I am getting tan. lol Sun sun sun all the time.  It sounds like you have busy weekend ahead of you with sewing, primary and a talk! What is you topic for the talk? I view public speaking so differently now. I have no idea why I was so afraid and nervous to give that farewell talk, it was in English and everything. :) I feel like I could give like and hour long talk in English right now if it got me out of speaking Spanish. lol But my Spanish is getting better and better everyday. Yesterday my companion had a migraine so we went and visited a family that just got baptized in October.. the one I talked about in our last email. Anyway while she was laying on the bed sleeping I listened and talked to the Mom for like and hour and I probably understood around 85 percent of what she was saying. It was great. Such a huge improvement from 3 weeks ago! I don´t even know how it is happening. We are suppose to study language for 1 hour everyday but this last week we have been so busy with other things like lessons, plans for investigators and others stuff like that that I have probably studied for maybe like 1-2 hours total the whole week. It is the gift of tongues I know it!
This last week has been crazy! I don´t even know where to begin... hmmm, well I will start with the fleas. SO the fleas love me for some strange reason and by like Tuesday night I was so covered in bits that I couldn´t really handle it anymore and I had a break down. Because they bit me all over my feet and heels so my shoes were rubbing the bits all day and it just hurt. So I received a blessing with the oil and everything because it was so bad. We counted the number of bits I had that night and it was 267! It was the worst. But since the blessing I have been doing a lot better and I can handle them. I have like everything you can imagine to try and combat them. Everyday and every night a rub myself down with apple vinegar- nasty smelling stuff but it seems to be helping a little bit. I also use that deet stuff. I still have been getting bits everyday but not nearly as many. The funny thing is I have never felt them bit me, felt them on me, or seem them on me. Weird... but don´t worry all is well. And in the blessing it said through my faith and diligence the bits would stop. :)
So we contacted the craziest lady I have ever meet in my life! I my heck. We went to teach her and it was crazy! She talked and talked and talked for 1 and 1/2 hours straight! I am pretty sure my companion got like 5 sentences in the whole time. Then she tried to feed us and I was like umm... I can do that. She gave us this carbonated water and when she turned away my companion and I switched glasses and she just chugged it. lol They she tryed to feed us this brevia things. I have no idea if I spelled that right but anyway it is like this green plant that looks kind of like a apple or something that you peel like a banana. The inside kinda looks like a banana too. Luckily my companion was able to convince her that I was full and couldn´t eat one right then because watching my companion eat that thing was so gross, and funny. Her face after the first bit almost made me start laughing out loud! It was so good that the women was turned away for that. lol After she ate it the women told her she had to wash her lips right away because if she didn´t she would get blisters from it. We where just like what the heck. lol SO the women brings our the huge bowl with DIRTY water in it (it had like hair and dirt.. gross) and a napkin and told her to wash around her mouth. Oh man it was rough. lol But my companion did it. Then we were trying to end the appointment with a prayer and my companion told her I would say the pray. We all stand in a circle and I start to say the prayer in Spanish... the lady starts talking like saying her own little pray while shouting amen and crazy stuff like that . I lost all train of thought and started laughing because she was also raising her hands in the air and on my gosh it was just so crazy. So then I am trying to contain myself and remember some Spanish words.. it was just the worst, but so funny. So I said like ¨thank for the opportunity to serve a mission¨ and other lines I always say with my companion and ended very quickly because I couldn´t be serious. Then she was like okay okay my turn. Oh my heck her pray was insane. We left the house and were just silent for like 3 or 4 mins. lol
Tell Jessica and Grandma thank you for thinking of me. And Jessica thank you for sending the package! I am really looking forward to it :) Who know when I will get it but I am excited. I still haven´t gotten any mail since I have been here. We have to travel like 30 mins by bus just to find a post office to mail things. And all of our mail sits at our mission presidents house until Zone meetings. So to Kellie, Jessica, and the Flanigan´s I am really going to try and get letters out to you within the week! I have not forgotten. I have just been so so busy. I hope all is well with you all!
I hope everything works our with the job Dad is applying for.. I will pray for him :)
 
Our investigators are doing really good. We have like 4 with baptismal dates and at least 3 that we know will get baptized. They are all really great. We had 4 come to Church yesterday. It was such a great feeling. It is like we work and work and work all week long so that people come and even when 4 out of 20 of the people we visit and teach come it feels like a success.
Any other news about people I know. I really love the updates and everything. Everything here is so different and unfamiliar that it is nice when I hear about things and people I know... in English. lol
Okay now for pictures....
In Chile they love Empanadas, so when you get food instead of fries or with fries you can order empanads.
 
Also there is this place we cross to get to the other side of our area.. I call it the Jungle  :)
 
In the red is Hna. Amaya and me waiting for an appointment that never showed :(  Notice all the freckles all over my face from the sun.)
The last one is after a joke we played on our Distinct leader. It was SO funny. Next week if I don´t have any crazy stories I will tell you about it.
 
I hope all is well with everyone. I miss you all and love you!
Oh and Mom what paper are you talking about that used to help the people at hospice? You said it was from a book of mine or something. I am jealous about you getting help and make cookies. I would love to do that.
Oh and I don´t think I will gain weight on my mission.. a lot of the food here doesn´t like me very much... yeah kind of gross. lol
 
Love,
Hermana Lichty

Monday, January 3, 2011

other half of her letter recieved in the afternoon!

So how are things going with everything else? How was your guy´s New Year? Did you do anything special? Oh and Happy Anniversary! Woot Woot :)
 New Years here is intense! They party it up all night! It is such a huge deal and they light fire works, have huge dinner parties, and listen to their music really loud. It was hard because nobody wanted to plan appointment with us and nobody stayed at home. So we have been walking and walking and walking! We went to the stake presidents house for New Years Eve and they were fixing all this stuff to eat. They gave us Choripanes which are like mini hot dog things only found in Chile. But the hot dog is kind of like this sausage thing. And they put it in a bun with mayonnaise on top of it. It was actually really good. I am attaching picture of that. :) 
Anyway they stay up all night and then don´t really get up for the next two days. lol That was really difficult for us these last two days because we were trying to work and talk to all of our contacts and investigators and nobody was at home or would answer the door.. hence all the walking.
Oh so I have a funny story for you. We visit this family that just joined the church in October. They have 4 boys between the ages of 15-8. We were with them eating ´´once´´ meaning 11 in Spanish but in Chile it means like a late snack comparable to dinner around 9 or 930 at night. Anyway that is what we were doing and one of the boys about 11 years old was trying to cook something on the stove. He was trying to light the stove because all the stoves here are gas and he burnt is finger. He started jumping up and down so I was watching him and then he yelled ¨Sh··¨´. My eyes got really big because I was thinking... did he really just say what I think he did. He looked at me and realized I could understand the word he just said and he freaked out. lol  His eyes got huge and he put is finger up to is mouth to shush me and starting saying ´sorry... sorry... sorry Hermana Lichty por la palabra¨  Oh my heck I was laughing so hard I almost died! lol And nobody but us two could understand what just happened. It was great. Funniest thing that happened all week!
Oh so we do have a Momita that does our laundry for us. It is really nice .) She hang drys everything because they do not have dryers anywhere in Chile and then she irons it ALL! It is great. And we only pay her like $20 for the whole transfer which is 6 weeks.
 
Oh yes.. so the pictures... In the pension I an sprinkling salt on out beds to try and prevent the fleas from eating me.. It did not work. When we were cooking and eating the Choripanes and the stake presidents house.
 
Anyway I hope all is well in Casper. It is weird the things you miss when you are in a place where everything is completely foreign. lol
I love you all and you can all write me though email if you would like :)  I get 1 hour and 30 mins on the computer on Mondays at this time.
 
Love Hermama Lichty

Mission Blog

Here is an addresss that she sent for her mission blog.
ttp://web.me.com/richandann/GillespieMission/Mission_Blog/Entries/2010/12/21_Welcome_to_our_new_missionaries.html

Chile 01/03/11

Hey Mom,
Yes 2 weeks in Chile now... it is crazy! I am starting to catch more of what people are saying but it is still crazy hard to pick up on anything. I know I am learning a lot though because for the most part I can understand my companion when she speaks in Spanish to me. For the last week it as been pretty much Spanish all the time. It is so hard.. there is SO much I do not know. Yeah the fruit cake is very different and no nuts, so you wouldn´t like it either. lol
Oh my heck I am being eaten alive, no joke! I counted the number of bits I have gotten these last 4 day and it is around 180-200. They itch so bad and it looks like I have the chicken pox because the bits all puff and get red like the chicken pox. It is the worst! There are almost 100 on my legs alone and the rest are on my arms, stomach and back. We put this TANX stuff all over our mattress´s today and on the floor and we are going to the store after this to buy some more stuff. I need anti itch cream to help with the bits and some allergie pills to help also. I am also going to try the Deet repellent we bought. Something has got to help! So yes if you here of anything just send it.. I am desperate and anything you send will take 1-2 months to get here anyway.
Yea I am pretty sure you don´t want to send food. They have a lot of restrictions here about that especially when we were getting off the plane. So just to be safe I would say no.
It sounds like it is getting really cold there... I actually don´t miss that. lol Poor little Josie :) It is good that Zach is a good driver though. It is just hot here all the time. I am getting pretty tan and all the freckles on my face are showing up. It is kind of a funny combo of flea bits and suntan lines. lol  I hope that Grandma´s back starts to feel better!
So the address here
 4 NORTE 1112, Viña del Mar, Chile 
I think all of that info is in my mission call packet and it had phone numbers and such as well. I send the packet home in one of the box's.
Mail here is the worst and I am pretty sure that anyone I write it will take about 2-3 weeks to get there and then another 3-4 weeks for me to get it. So I am going to try and get permission to write a couple of people through email once a week.
Oh could you send me a link to my blog :) It would be fun to look at every now and then :)