5 Month Mark!

Hey Family!
I am doing pretty good this week. It has been and adjustment for me to be with a companion that doesn´t know any English. It is really really good for my Spanish but hard too, because when I don't know how to say something I really have to think hard in order to express myself. But Hermana Arcos is a really good missionary. She is one of those people that is really quiet but knows a lot a lot about the gospel and has a very strong testimony. I am really glad that I have an opportunity to learn from her. It is funny because all the members ask her if she knows English and she always says yes, but every time I try and say something in English or have a question about a word she gets confused. But it is okay I am trying to figure out the best way to help her learn English while I continue to learn Spanish. lol
I am learning a lot more about being humble in this change. She is just really nice about everything so I am trying to do the same. :)
It has been a really weird, we've had tons of earthquakes. I think they counted like 15 or something like that in 36 hours. Three of them were really big, it shook our pension pretty good. And one lasted like 20 seconds, that one was a little scary. My companion and I got scared every time one of them started. The president of the mission and the zone leaders have been asking us to have our ¨to go kits¨ ready this last week so we are not quite sure what to think. The week before we had a little scare with the tsunami but nothing ended up happening here. But that entire day that is what everyone talked about.
Oh and my stomach is much better. Since I found that special kind of milk everything has been great. And I have my companion on a diet... again. Every Hermana that has heard that Nutrition is my major has asked me to put them on a diet. It is kind of funny. Hermana Arcos has almost one year in the mission field and has gained around 20 pounds, so yea we are going to work on that this change. lol I am wondering if it is only the Latina´s that gain a lot of weight because the North American Hermanas don´t seem to have that big of a problem. But we run every morning so that has been a good change. With Hermana Amaya I got kind of lazy and my exercise consisted of me getting out of bed and walking to the sofa and laying down for the proxima 30 minutes. lol
Mom your long days kind of sound like my life right now. lol I just go go go all day everyday! Sometimes that is the hardest part, not having time for a nap or anything. But it is okay because we are doing a lot of good in Belloto. So yes I think you should take a day off and take a long nap.. and don´t get dressed up just wear some sweatpants and a t-shirt for the day. That sounds like a really good idea I think :)
Oh yeah for those oils, the kind that Aunt Becky sent are really good! I put it in my lotion and don´t have too many problems. I think it really just depends on the day and how many fleas we pass by. lol But I think it is safe to say that most of them don´t like the oil and lotion mix. (If you happen to run across a bag of Fireballs I think it would be okay to send them too... they are good for people on diets. lol) I almost forgot to tell you.. I got the package with the Advil and Ibuprofen.. Thank you! I was excited to get it and glad because that should for sure last for the rest of my mission :) And the tierras will be good for some of the niñas we teach.. they can be loud sometimes. haha
It is starting to get a little cold in the morning and in the night. We are going to look for some pants to wear under our skirts today and maybe another sweater. Oh my debit card doesn´t work here. I am not sure why so yeah I think you are going to have to ship me my new credit card when you get it because that is the only card that works here. I don´t know why because it is the same bank and everything. Weird.
Yeah can you believe I have been out for 5 months! It is crazy to me.. it feels like I have been in Chile for a month maybe, not 3 months though. AHH! Tomorrow I have a intercambio with a new Hermana from the states. It should be interesting because she only has one week here. That means she won´t understand ANYTHING.. just like me my first change. So tomorrow my Spanish and teaching skills will be put to the test. Lol I am only a tiny bit nervous. I get the jist of everything and most times I understand maybe 80 or 90 % of the conversation. I figure if I ask the right questions I will only have to share scriptures and spiritual thoughts. :) - and teach a lesson or two. Nothing too hard right? haha
Thank you for all the advice on the fleas.. It is good to know and try when I have bad days and get lots of bits. Could you text Stephanie and tell her to write me? She has my email right?
Tell everyone I say hi and I love them too. It is nice to hear about everyone at Church too.
Thank you for everything!
Love,
Hermana Lichty

6 more weeks in Belloto!

Hey there :)

Wow it sounds like you are having a very busy week this week, thats good :) Yes found out about the changes this morning. I am staying in Belloto 2 for another 6 weeks and Hermana Amaya is leaving. My new companion is going to be Hna Acros- she is from Columbia and doesn´t speak English. This will be fun. lol I am not too worried because really I can express mostly everything I want in Spanish it just needs a lot of correcting still. haha It will be really good though for me to become fluent. And I have only heard good things about her so I am excited. I have learned a lot in the past couple weeks about humility and pride in the companionship and really if I work on that in all my changes everything will be just fine.

We had the baptism of Alejandro this past week and all went well. He is now a Mormon :) But we still have a lot of work to do. I will send some pictures of it. Oh and don´t worry about the clothes for him. We have been talking to the members and the missionaries and found him a couple of things to wear on Sundays. We even bought him underwear, socks, and all that fun stuff the day of his baptism... that was kind of awkward in the store. :)

I have so many crazy stories from this week! Hna Amaya told me I have bad luck because all of the stories she has are from our two changes together. I think she is right though because really crazy stuff happens to me all the time. She said everyone is going to want to be my companion just so they can have stories to tell after the mission.lol

For example this week the day of the baptism we were cleaning the font... very logical right? We scrubbed the walls and everything with soap and filled the font with a little bit of water. Then we go to drain the water and it DOESN'T drain. We were like ¨seriously¨. After calling around and receiving no help from the bishop, the maintenance person, or our leader misional(he told us ¨good luck¨) we had to resort to taking all the water out in buckets! So bucket by bucket dumping it into the nearest toilet. And it wasn´t a regular bucket it was like this little bucket they use to hold the crayons for the primary. lol Oh what an afternoon that was. Just wait til I get home so I can open up my journal and tell you everything. That is just like the cream on the top. lol

 

Oh and don´t be jealous of the hot weather and humidity that Dad had in Texas.. It is not THAT great:) That family reunion sounds like it will be a lot of fun. You will have to take a lot of pictures so I can see everyone. Were is it going to be at? And thank you for finding my journals! I will be anxious to receive them. I think I have enough room in my journal to last me probably another 5 or 6 weeks depending on what a happens in my life. lol
Tell everyone that I say Hola back! It is so great to hear about them. Thank you for all the updates Mom :)

Have you noticed how blonde my hair is getting! It is crazy, I looked in the mirror yesterday and I barely recognized myself. It is craziness.

How is everyone doing? How is Zach and Stephanie doing? Have you heard from Kellie or Jessica lately? How come you were up so early Sunday? I have been getting up lately in the middle of the night because I itch so bad. I have been putting vinegar on my bits because that seems to be the only thing that really helps. But it is okay I only have maybe 10 or 15 bits at a time so a lot better and something I can handle. :)

I love you Mom! Thank you for everything and for all you support. I couldn´t do this without you :)

Tiffanie

Packages have arrived!

Hola!
Yes I got the letter and the recipe.. thank you! I am excited to make cookies because they don´t make cookies here. I am not sure why because they make so much bread and pastry all the time but no cookies :( So yeah!
I got a letter from Alicia and Jessica,the package you sent with the Tums, allergy medicine, candy, and the Jose Smith picture, and the package from Uncle Wayne and Aunt Beckie with the other kind of oil. Thank you everyone for all of you thoughts and updates. I love to hear about everything going on your lives ;) And the oils have been good too because those fleas are crazy smart and after about 2 to 3 weeks of using something they just don´t care anymore and start biting again. So it was perfect timing to switch the oils in my lotion. I still get bit everyday but I can handle the amount of bits now ;) And Mom thank you so much for the picture I don´t know how you knew but I actually needed that exact picture for the lesson so thank you! And Hermana Amaya and I were very excited about the candy.haha
We had interchanges again this last week and I was with and Hermana from Utah. She has been out for 14 months and her Spanish is amazing! She didn´t speak in English to me the whole day and she talked a lot! lol I have a lot more hope for my Spanish now because she said her Spanish was exactly like mine is at that point in her mission and she didn´t take any Spanish before the mission. I am a little worried though because I heard her try and leave a message on a members answering machine in English and it was horrible. lol I was like what happened to your English! It is because she thinks in Spanish and talks with a Spanish accent. I am already starting to do that every now and then especially when I try and say a prayer or something in English... it is so bad! Ahh I think when I get back I am going to need a little time to re-learn English. haha
Oh but it was kind of crazy because this week I had to take a shower with only a pan of warm water. That was interesting and not as bad as I initially thought it would be. At first I was like you have got to be kidding me but it actually worked out pretty well. lol We didn´t have any gas so the water was freezing at 7:30 in the morning! Then that same day we went and helped an investigator clean her house. Her family is the family I wrote about before that their house consists of wood pieces, cardboard, Styrofoam, and blankets. It is so hard for me to imagine living like that. We washed their dishes and because they don´t have a sink or anything it was with two buckets of cold water from a hose in a porch like room because it only had two walls and a blanket over for the roof. Very very humbling. They are very nice and happy people though. It makes me view a lot of things differently.
I think it is funny how much snow you are getting in Casper, I can only imagine right now because it is still summer here. However it is turing to fall really quickly because the mornings are really cold and so are the night. It is a different kind of cold though because of the humidity. I have learned to enjoy hot drinks in the morning to keep me warm while we study and the little space heater is one of my best friends. :)
We have the baptism of Alejandro this week on Thursday so we are very excited about that.. we have been teaching him since December :)
All of the food you talk about sound so good! I am excited to eat all of these foods when I get back. lol How is everything else going? How is Stephanie doing, is she feeling better. Tell Zach that during his spring break he should write me a letter since he wants to just be a bum all week. lol Anything else new and exciting going on? I am glad everything is going well with you and Dad´s jobs. It sounds like you are sewing a lot of stuff! lol Are they all for presents or what do you plan to do with them all. :)
I hope you are all having a good week!
Love,
Hermana Lichty