Monday, April 25, 2011

6 Months in to her mission!

Yeah! Si 6 months down.. oh how the time flys :)  We found out about the changes this morning and guess where I am going................. Viña! Yeah the coast, the area all the missionary's want to go! And my new companion is from El Salvador, again. haha But I am really excited because I have heard that she is really funny and always smiling. She doesn't speak anything except Spanish but that is alright because that is my life right now. :) I am really excited about this change. But when I heard that I was leaving on Saturday night I was so sad! I started to pack a little bit and just started crying! I am going to miss Belloto so much. It is such a crazy change that has occurred in the last 4 months here. The first couple of weeks were really rough because I missed all of you guys and everything about the United States and now I am so sad to leave everyone. I just love all of the people in this ward and my converts and all of the families and people we have been teaching.  It is a good change but hard at the same time. I hope that makes sense. And I am excited because the new apartment is warmer then this one.. yay! And no se but I think I might be living with Hermana Nortan again because it is the same pension that I had intercambios in a couple weeks ago :)
So yes this week was ¨Semana Santa¨, yeah sorry about the whole English-Spanish thing. My mind sometimes has a hard time remembering which language is which and I have a hard time remembering all of the words I need. lol But its okay :) ¨Semana Santa¨ means Holy Week in Spanish and it is basically Easter for the people here. But they don´t celebrate it the same way. It is more of a time to remember Jesus and that he was resurrected, people visit their families, lots of people get time off of work, and they have parties. I am convinced that they just look for every excuse to have a party. It is fun though. :)
We had a really good week as far as the missionary work goes. We had a ¨Family Home Evening¨ as a ward with the primary where we talked about the missionary work and (oh no, I don´t remember this work in English)ahh ¨aminarles¨ like to encourage them or make them excited about the work and a mission. It was really good, and we had a couple non members attend and I was able to talk to them and set up times to visit them. And they came to church on Sunday which was awesome because I was able to talk to my ward for one last time and bear my testimony to them :)
Oh and we had a really cool lesson this week with a women that is reading the Book of Mormon. I am not sure why but every time I have shared the 1st vision with people crazy things happen. This time after, she started by asking us if we believe that dreams are significant too because you know vision and dreams are both ways to receive revelation. Then she started to tell us that she had this dream with this grand tree that had a fruit on it, fruit that she had never seen before and everything was this bright white.... Sound familiar? The dream of Lehi! My companion and I started to share glances as she started to explain more of this dream. Then she asked us what it means! I was like, ¨Well lots of times our God uses various ways to help us recognize the truth...¨ to end the lesson we assigned her to read about the dream of Lehi and the following chapter that interprets that dream. I am bummed I won´t be here anymore to watch her progress. It is crazy because for the first 4 almost 5 weeks of this last change we just walked, and walked and walked, contacting all day. I remember being so tired sometimes at the end of the day that I could feel every muscle in my body when we would sit down to end the day in our pension. But this last 2 weeks we have been seeing miracles in the work here. I feel good, like all the diligence made a difference in the end :) It is crazy how many people have been put in our path to teach in these last 2 weeks, people that are prepared to hear our message.
I am glad you had such a good week quilting and such. It sounds fun and the food sounds amazing! And you colored Easter Eggs! That is one of my favorite things to do. Dang. haha Zach... mi amado hermano jaja... Estoy esperando su carta... I am waiting for your letter man! haha I know you miss me :)
Hey I got mail again... thank you Kellie for you letter! I was so excited to read it. Our zone leader told me I got a letter from a ¨Kelly¨so when we arrived at the church I took is backpack and searched though it to find your letters :) He was like ¨Hermana my backpack is private, why do you think it is okay for you to go through it?¨ I told him that since we were friends it was okay. He is from Peru and we are always making jokes lol Anyway my point is I was very excited :) Thank you! And Ramona I got your package too! Thank you for the purse. All of the Hermanas loved them and thought they were super cute :)

Thank you Mom for sending another package. I am really looking forward to it. For the thing for the dogs and for the fleas. They still love me. lol
Thank you for everything,
Love,
Hermana Lichty

Monday, April 18, 2011

The Pulgas are at it again.

Ahh los pulgas! They really like to bite me. I still haven´t figured out why but this week I have been getting a lot of bites again and they are the big ones that are like welts. No Bueno! But it is okay, usually I don´t notice it too much during the day, just at night or when we are sitting still. :)
We had a zone activity this morning so that is why we are at the Internet so late. I am going to miss this zone when we have the changes. We find out about the changes this Saturday.. I am not going to lie, I am ready for this change. I have been trying really really hard to work on this companionship but I am getting tired. But 1 week left, I can handle 1 more week. I just need to muster all the patience that I have left. :)  We have a lot of activities going on this week which is really good since this is the semana santo. I guess that most people are pretty busy celebrating this week because all the members have been asking us what are plans are and if we have lunch's for all the days. We have a district activity, a primary activity, and ward talent show( which our whole zona has planned a dance to.. it is SO funny)
That is great Zach is doing so good.. it sounds like he has become really handy. So school ends next month.. what are his plans? As for Stephanie, yes she needs to write me. I haven´t heard from her since I left! But that is good that she is doing okay. Is she planning on moving back to Casper or anything like that?
I am trying to think of things that happened this last week.. Oh we have this new investigator that is deaf (But for the most part she can read lips)-- We taught her the first lesson in the chapel and it was crazy! We contacted her and she ask to meet us at the church because the people in her house didn´t like us. So we said of course! But it was super hard to understand her because deaf people try to talk but for the most part you only hear sounds and bits of words. But she is wonderful. I have never met anyone in my life that as more of a desire to learn about our message. I wish you could have seen the look on her face when we gave her the book of morman, it was like pure joy. I was sharing the part of the first lesson about Jose Smith and when I got to the first vision I felt impressed to let her read it so she could understand more easily. Then I began to bear my testimony on it and the spirit was so strong. I had to pause a couple of time to keep back the tears and my companion just started to cry. It was a really special lesson and the investigator is amazing. We are very excited to teach her again and are looking for ways to communicate better with her.
Oh also another crazy/sad thing that happened this week is we found out one of our investigator families daughter is pregnant. That was an interesting lesson. The mom starts off telling us about this and how upset she is for like 10 minutes while the girl is sitting there looking at us. Then they both stop and look at us for advice and answers and then my companion turns and looks at me too! My mind was completely blank.. what do you say in a situation like that? Part of me was like , why in the world is my companion looking at me, Spanish is her language and she has over a year in the mission. But then I remembered a scripture about just opening you mouth and having faith that words would be given to me. So that is what I did and it actually wasn´t too bad, I don´t remember a whole lot about what I said but I know we had the Spirit and that is all that was important.
Thank you for the pictures of the dogs with Zach and Dad, that was fun. :) And thank you for the update on everything. I am glad everyone is enjoying my experinces. I am for sure learning a lot about myself and others. I will try and get a picture of the outside of my pension for you guys. :)

Monday, April 11, 2011

Almost Chilana

Hola Family!
Today I am doing good :) I am almost Chilana, only 2 more weeks and I will have my Chilano ID. It has been a crazy week to say the least. Thursday night we were at the house of this investigator when all of the sudden all the power went out. I was so confused for awhile there trying to figure out what happened. lol So we finished up by the light of candle and walked home in the dark dark. No street lights or anything. Then once at the pension we lit candles that I had bought in the case of a big earthquake. It was so good we had them because we had absolutely no light at all in the pension.Then for the rest of the night we planned and filled out forms by way of the two candles and my little flashlight. I still have no idea why we had no power but it definitely made things interesting. But when we woke up in the morning everything was back to normal. It was kind of funny because the lights did come back on for the people that live below us after about 3 hours but it must have been a low voltage or something because nothing in our upstairs pension worked. Probably it is because our pension is ghetto! lol
But these last week we had intercambios and I loved it! I went to Viña for the day with Hermana Nortan. It was so great to teach together and see how far we have both come in the last 3 months. I was so happy because we went to all the appointments and talked with everyone teaching them lessons and the language was no problem. It was great to not be worried about the language. I am far from fluent but I can for sure get my point across and say what is on my mind and so can Hermana Nortan so it was amazing. Also being able to talk to someone that understands me and knows me from before was awesome too. I think we both needed that intercambio. I have a lot more confidence in my Spanish and abilities as a missionary. I feel like if it was necessary I could teach and do all of the things needed with a companion that is like me and Hermana Nortan. And Viña was beautiful! We got a couple really good pictures in her area. Ahhh I miss her! Oh yeah it was crazy because one appointment we had this girl was super awesome and the lesson went really well. I gave the first Vision of Jose Smith and after she started to tell us about it. She said she has this ability to see Spirits, good and bad, and in those moments when I was reciting the 1st vision a spirit entered the room and everything was clear and white and she felt a peace inside. It was crazy but awesome, because then she started talking about a lot of other experiences she has had and it just reaffirmed everything that we believe. Oh and she said always when people start to talk about Jesus and mention His name a couple of times good Spirits come. I thought that was really cool.
Oh so I received the package you sent on Friday! Thank you so much Mom! That was an amazing surprise, with all the candy and fun things. I have been sharing the candy and my companion and others love it :) The church things you sent are great too! Thank you thank you!  And I am excited about what you have gotten me for those fleas ;) I do have one other request if you haven´t sent that package yet. I think this is a job for Dad. Dad can you look for a thing that repells dogs? The Elders let us use one they have called a Dog Repeller. It is this black thing and when you press the button the dogs stop barking and calm down. It is really helpful so we don´t have to shout so loud and we can press the door bells without worrying about getting bit. lol
That is too bad about Stacy.. did they say about how much time she has left? But that is good you guys now have Jasper :) I am excited to met this little guy! It sounds like fun at the house with those dogs. I am totally bias to the dogs in the US. All the dogs here have fleas and disease that slowly kill them and make them look really ugly. Lots of times I tell my companion, I really hope that dog dies soon so it wont have to suffer anymore. Its true! lol
Yeah, it is getting cold here in Belloto! I have a lot of things to layer with so that is good and I have bought a couple of thick tights for under my skirt so that helps a lot. And at night I layer too with sweatpants and a sweatshirt, socks, and my hood. lol I am hoping for a transfer this next change so I can go to a pension that is warmer... not just boards put together. Cross your fingers for me. lol
This week was really rough with our companionship.. when had a couple of very heated discussions but I am hoping the worst of it is over. We are working on our communication. I had a breakdown at a members house before lunch yesterday because of it, that was no bueno but they were so good about it and told my they loved me and to be strong and have patince. I am hoping it is all better. My companion is really good and showing her love for me, that is one thing I really like about her ;)
The people in Chile seem to like us. I haven´t had any bad experinces. The members have this twisted view about us though. They think we are all rich, have been members all our lives, and that life is just really really easy for us. That is a little difficult somethings. And the men are always honking their horns and making kissy noises when we walk by. We always ignore it. lol
Thank you for all the updates... I love reading about them! How is everyone in our family doing? It sounds like everyone is keeping busy! 
Thank you for everything Mom!
Love you all,
Tiffanie

Monday, April 4, 2011

April 4

Hola!
Can you believe it is April already! It is crazy to me but good at the same time. We have been working like mad this week. It is awesome I really like it but at the same time it wears me out. lol So we are really excited because today after we get done at the store we have a couple of hours of free time to just sleep or whatever. Yay! We have been talking to everyone in the streets and ¨knocking¨ doors like crazy. One really good thing about my companion is she likes to work so we just go and go and go. Usually in order to make it back to the pension at the right time we run! In skirts and heavy backpacks we run until she needs to stop for a break. lol
Spanish is starting to get fun because I know enough to tease all the Spanish Elders, which is the majority of our Zone. It is so easy to get them all flustered.. all I have to do is mention the name of different girls in their wards and their companions start laughing. It is great. lol I still have a lot to learn but it is coming along well. The lessons are going well too. I am adjusting to taking more of the lead on most things because my companion is so shy and quiet. But one good think I have noticed from all the Latins is they all have a really good sense of humor.
Oh this week we got mail again which was awesome.. I got a packet from Aunt Ora and her whole family! It was so great to hear from them all. It made my day! They were all so positive and encouraging and I loved it! Thank you thank you! I am going to have to find some time to write them all back because all of their letters were great :) And I got a letter from Ben that was awesome.. he told me he received the Melchizedek priesthood just recently.. how awesome is that? So thank you all for the letters ;)  And Kellie I am really excited to hear from you!
Oh yes the Conference in English was great. I watched it with 4 other Elders in a small room in the back of the stake center. It was nice because the Elders are a little more relaxed then Hermanas are so I got a little break. Because I wouldn´t consider myself the most ¨church¨ person in the world and that is probably why I have a hard time with my companion sometimes. lol But I learned something very good from this conference. Because I have been worried so much about the lessons and saying everything right and not forgetting something. I learned that it is more important for the people to feel the Spirit that we have and to help them to understand the love that the Savior and God have for them. So I am feeling a lot better about that. :)
And about those recipes that you are trying out... Mom I miss the food in America! We need to start a list of foods to eat the week that I get back. lol I have made the peanut butter cookies her 2 times for the Elders in our zone and they loved them. But that is the only taste of the US I have had. Bummer :)
Yeah this week we had a little more luck but still a lot of walking. It is okay with me though, I really don´t mind walking.
The class by Brother Smathers sounds like it was good. One thing that they have said a lot to us as missionaries is that the Spirit is the teacher in this work and the Spirit knows all the people better then we do. So it is super important we follow all of those promptings no matter how small they may be.
Tell Zach to write me or something. What does he do all day? lol
The stuff you learned about reprimanding a child reminds me of the talk in the last session of conference Sunday that started out ¨To be or to do... what manner of men ought you be?¨ That was a really good talk. I liked it a lot. It was so funny to be in the room with Elders for some of those talks because when they started talking about women or marriage they would start talking or give each other looks.. so i would happily remind them to take notes for their future wives. haha
How are things going for you and Dad at work? Did Dad find anything out about the other position? Are you pretty busy? How is Stephanie doing? Is she planning on moving back to Casper?
Yea, taxes don´t sound very fun. I wouldn´t be very motivated either. lol How is everyone else doing in the family? Have you heard any new news?
I learned how to make Arepas, it is something that Colombians eat all of the time. They are pretty good. We have been doing a lot of service projects recently. Last Friday we planted flowers at a school.. that was fun since I am not the gardening type. lol But all the students wanted to talk to me because I am a gringa. :) Oh and as for the fleas your right I just need to not count them and it will be alright. I think they are just going to be my grand trial during my mission. I am still using the oils in my lotion and I really think that helps a little bit.
Thank you for sending me another package.. I am looking forward to receiving it. Thank you for everything Mom :) And I am sending some pictures now..
Love,
Hermana Lichty  :)

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Week 2 with Hermana Arcos


This last week has been a bit challenging. I am trying to learn how to adjust to a different companion. Well I hope that is what is the problem. It is testing my patience.... a lot. We have been walking and walking and walking all week. It seems like nobody is ever at home or really wants to talk to us. But we have been able to push though it for the most part. I have some exciting news though. I was with a new Hermana on Tuesday for the day and I taught my first lesson as a senior companion that day and it went really good! I was able to understand all of her questions and comments and answers her. lol I was so nervous and in the end so happy that I was able to do it! We taught the plan of salvation to this investigator. It is funny because this investigator was actually the very first person that met and taught my first day with Hna Amaya. Crazy how much I have learned since then and how much time has gone by. It was really good for me to talk with this new Hermana so I could remember my abilities my first change and how far I have come. It is crazy, I am no longer a newbie. :)
Oh and I was able to give a short talk on Sunday for the third time in this ward. Everyone is so great and are always telling me how much I have improved and they really try to help me learn and understand. It is different to not be able to talk in English to anybody during the week. The only time I have that opportunity is at the Zone meetings on Wednesday with the other 3 gringos :) It is actually probably good that sometimes I am not able to express everything I think because it teaches me patience... sometimes. :) I have had a couple of moments though when I get really frustrated and it is really easy for me to express what is on my mind. Those are the moments that I really need to remember that I am a missionary. lol
So another dog huh? That sounds fun... kinda :) I think I will like dogs more when I get back home. Right now we pass dogs all day on the streets and all of them have sicknesses and fleas. Like there hair is all falling out and their skin is very sickly looking. Not the best of sights. But yeah how about those fleas. Goodness I have had a lot of problems with them this week again. Mostly on my legs and feet. I am not sure why some days the lotion works well and other days it doesn´t seem to matter. But anyway this dog looks very cute. You will have to send me more pictures when you get him. How old is he? How is Stacy doing?
It sounds like you are super busy Mom. That is awesome work is going so good for you. But I definitely agree that you need a day off. That is something I am really looking forward to in a little over 12 months from now. But I need to just look at it day by day right now. 
For General Conference it is being broadcast in the stake center so I am looking forward to that. And they said that one room it will be in English so that makes it even better. I haven´t been in an English meeting since the MTC. That sounds fun with Valine for the conference. I definitely miss that kind of stuff. I didn´t realize how much work this mission would be or how much I would miss everything. I feel like this mission takes everything that I have got and a little more. It tests all my limits. It is in ways kind of like running a marathon. You have to work for every mile...every mile and just when you think you can´t go anymore and you want to give up you get a new burst of energy or motivation to keep you going. And sometimes the only thing that keeps you going is thinking about all the people waiting for you and rooting for you at the finish line. Deep breaths and lots of mental prayers get me though the really hard times. Also it is good for me to keep in mind how much all of this is for my benefit and the benefit of my family and all of the lives we encounter everyday. I know that there is a lot of good that we are doing even if we can´t see it right now.
That is awesome that Zach has found some work to do! Maybe this summer he can find an actual job job working on cars. That would be good for him. How is his school and everything going? Does he have a girlfriend or anything? lol You guys should send me some pictures of everyone at home.
Yay I am excited for these letters to get here from Katie and Stephanie! Can you send Kellie    a message because I really want to hear from her too :) It sounds like Jessica is doing really good too. Her letters always make me smile. I got a letter from her this week, from your friend Janet, and my companion from the MTC. Can you tell Janet thank you for her letter I really enjoyed reading it and the story. :) It is nice to get like mini pep-talks from people, especially this week and probably this coming week. Can you pray for me to have more charity, humility, and patience with my companion. Sometimes I feel like I pray for this 4 or 5 times a day but I am still needing help. It is just really hard sometimes and I know I can only change myself and the way I look and react to things. 
Tell Grandma I said happy birthday and I wish I could be their to help her eat her ice cream and cake. If you go will you buy her some good ice cream and tell her she needs to eat extra for me :)
Thanks for the offer to send stuff to the people here. But everyone we have been interacting with is doing just fine. For Alejandro he needs more food things. So if you do run across people that want to help they could just donate money or something and we could buy food for them. :)
Yes the running is going good. I am starting to understand why all the Hermanas are having troubles with their weight though. lol They always want to snack on stuff. Sometimes it is hard for me too but I think I have pretty good self control... well sometimes. Not with the ice cream though. Everytime my companion mentions it I give in and we buy some. lol Oh dear.
Anyway family. I love you and I am really glad I was able to write and get everything out.;)
Thank you for everything Mom!
Love you and I miss you all (Dad)
Tiffanie