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 :)