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

Baptism

Hello! 
We had our baptism this week! Oh my goodness it was the hardest week yet too! i think it is just like that when you have a baptism though. It is just like Satan does everything he can to hinder it from happening. It was like everything we planned went wrong, we had a lot of problems with our companionship, and then at the end the day of somebody died in our ward and their body was in the chapel all of Saturday and Sunday. it was a roller coaster of a week if there every was one. But yeah so when people here in Chile die they have this tradition of letting everyone view the body for and entire 24 hours or more. They got special permission from the area authorities to keep the church open all night so people could come and view it. Also all during church they had the viewing in the room behind the chapel( you know the one that they open up if there are not enough seats in the sacrament room). it was kind of weird to me. But that was crazy when we found out about that the day of at like ten in the morning. We were running around all day trying to change everything and get permission from the Bishop and stake president to have it at the stake center. But finally when it was time to have the baptism at 8 that night everything calmed down and went exactly right for the first time that week. It was such a surreal experience. It is impossible to explain all the feeling and thoughts you have when someone you have found is walking into the font and then when they come up out from the water. i think only Hermana Amaya and I can fully understand and see the change that has taken place it this family. It is nice to be able to see that all the hard work that we do everyday, all the sweat, blisters, and tears have made a difference for someone. In the end the funeral was good because the family asked us to come and hand out pamphlets, Book of Mormons, and talk about the plan of salvation because a lot of the people attending were not members. They even mentioned us in the service and said the Siser Missionaries are here and can teach you about this plan and everything, it was pretty good. 
It sounds like you guys have had a busy week with things to do. All of those activities sound fun! I am a little jealous sometimes because I just miss the life I am use to in the United States. :) As for who feeds us it is the ward members. We get feed the one big meal that they eat(Lunch) everyday except for on Monday. It is kind of a hit and miss though because lots of things they eat really aren't too bad but sometimes its a little rough. That is one thing that is really hard for me here, not being able to have a choice on what I get to eat and the portions. i miss that so much.  I love Mondays because I get to choose :) Most of the families are really awesome though. It is only sometimes that they forget or fed us something that is gross. We eat a lot of rice and tomatoes and mayonasa.  As for snacks I eat a lot of fruit and different candy things. The candy is hard to explain because it is all very similar but different at the same time. I will have to send some home to you guys or bring a bunch back in my suitcase. lol
Spanish is still coming along slowly. It is still very frustrating at times though. We had interchanges on Wednesday and I was with Hermana Morales, she is from Argentina. Very very nice but doesn´t know any English whatsoever. It was really good though because we talked all day and were able to understand each other. We even stayed up a little later than we were suppose to because we were talking. She is really quite though so I ended up talking a lot and I was so happy with how much I could say in Spanish. She was so nice and complemented me a lot on how good my Spanish was especially for it only being month 4. It is so nice to be able to understand more and more every week. It make things not feel so different.
Thank you for everything Mom!  Love you all and miss you a lot!
Hermana Lichty

4 month mark!

Hello....

It has been I crazy week full of ups and downs. No earthquakes yet but we heard that the United States made and official announcement about a big earthquake that is suppose to happen this month in Chile.. hmmm Yea we are getting prepared.

So lots of snow huh? That is crazy. The weather here has been weird, pretty cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon. Lots and lots of clouds. Our pension is freezing in the morning and none of the houses here have heaters or coolers. Only little space heaters so in the winter I might just freeze. :) It is kind of crazy to me about their houses because they don´t have insulation either it is just like brick or wood that they use and there are lots of cracks in the houses because of the earthquakes.

I have some REALLY good news about the pulgas :) That lavender oil is working! It has been so nice to not stink all the time like vinegar. lol It is so funny too because they really don´t like the lavender so they bit my companion instead. She is a little ticked about the situation but I think it is funny. Every night she shows me the bits that I should have. lol I told her to use my stuff but she is being stubborn. I put like 5 drops of it in a big thing of lotion and use that all over my body every morning. Those fleas are smart though because they find where I don´t put it... but I am not going to go into details about that :) So now I only get bit on my hands and feet where the lotion gets washed off and rubbed of during the day. And I am going to try and experiment with those patches this week and see if they work. Oh Mom, Hermana Gillespe wanted me to tell you thank you from her for all your help with the fleas. When I told her about the lavender oil she was SO exctied and happy. She said that is is very grateful that I have been able to figure out a solution since I get it the worst out of all the missionaries here because know she can let all the other missionaries know. So thank you Mom and to everyone else that has helped with the problem :)

We have a baptism this Saturday that we are really looking forward to and then 2 or 3 more on the 12th of March.  It is crazy to me how hard Satan works to get our investigators off track. It makes for some really hard weeks but definitely worthwhile. Most days we get back to the house and are just completely exhausted and ready for bed. It definitely makes time fly by though. I was four months in the mission yesterday... can you believe it? So crazy.

So what all is happening with Stephanie... how do you get a Kidney infection. That is a bummer. Tell her to write me please :) That sounds fun about the Chili cook off thing.. I wish I could have been there..do you have pictures?

I am jealous you all have a day off. lol Sometimes all I want to do is sleep in and it is all I can do to get out of my bed in the morning. But its okay.

Spanish is still coming along but defiantly hard. I love that I am understanding more and more though. It is nice to know what is going on in the conversations and to be able to comment.

Oh and I have some pictures from a conference we had on Friday. It was actually pretty good. We had to give 8 minute talk about any subject in the gospel and it went really well( considering I forgot my paper with the talk on it :) I can do I talk all in Spanish on the spot without practice... Yeah haha

http://web.me.com/richandann/GillespieMission/Mission_Blog/Entries/2011/2/18_Zone_Conference_in_the_Interior.html

But yeah I can´t really think of anything else at the moment... It has been a busy busy week with our investigators and finding new investigators :)

Thank you for everything... I love at miss you all,

Hermana Lichty

And yes I got that email about your uncle.. that is so awesome! Please tell him thank you for me. It has been amazing to see how the lord blesses his missionaries huh? ;)

Valentines Day 2011

And the earthquakes begin....

It had been a week full of a lot of interesting things including earthquakes. Yes we have been feeling earthquakes. The one Dad is talking about was a 4 on the scale, it shook us like twice in like 20 seconds. The next day they had another big one in Concepcion that was a 7 I think and then the day after that we had another baby one here. It is kinda freaking us out because they announced that there is suppose to be a big earthquake this month in Valparaiso and Belloto is in Valparaiso. They say that the last really big earthquake they had here was in 84 or 85 and they are expecting it to be as bad as that one. Like it is suppose to be huge. So we have our emergency kits ready and our emergency supply of food and water. The earthquake that was in Concepcion last year affected Belloto too. They said they were without electricity, water, food, and any form of communication for 3 days, so yeah we are waiting for something. It is kind of nerve wreaking because every time we have lunch at a members house they are talking about the earthquakes and yes I understand almost everything they are saying about them and it is not good. But we are prepared :)

Hermana Amaya was really sick on Monday night and Tuesday so we had to travel to Viña for the morning and get her medicine. We found a MacDonald´s there and it was so good. lol I had the Elders in the office drop us off there. It was funny.

Our investigators are doing okay. I have some pictures of Alejandro because we did this service project at his house on Saturday. I am so sore from it. We cleaned up is front yard and hauled all the tree branches and bushes into a hole in his back yard. It was kind of random but that is what he wanted. I think he was surprised at how much we really just want to help him. It is just so sad because he really has nothing, not even running water for the toilet or a shower. Sad sad We are trying to find some Church clothes for him at the moment.

Another investigator is having a really hard time. Her husband almost cut 3 of his fingers off,had to go to three hospitals and had a 4 hour surgery to try and fix it. They have not idea how they will pay for it our how he is going to work. It is a test of their faith. I am praying for there family because they are so good. We went over and had a little family home evening and made cards for him and ate Flan and Flac cookies. I hope it helped them.

As for the milk we can´t find any Soy milk in any of the stores but I found this special kind of digestion milk that seems to agree with me a lot better. lol It has been nice to have a break from being sick and having a stomach ache every morning.

That is awesome about Zach and the letter. Hopefully they respond or do something with it- Since he is such a good writer maybe he should try writing me a letter :)  Oh and thanks for the picture.. I was wondering about them. What is the date for their wedding?

As for the package from grandpa and grandma they can wait and send it in a couple of months. I am doing pretty good with everything right now. Thank you thank :) I actually got another blister yesterday.

Oh did you get all the pictures I sent last week because I got an email that said they failed or something. I will send them again.

I am losing my English. The last couple of times people have asked me how to say words in English I have forgotten. I still don´t remember, even Hermana Amaya is surprised with the words I can´t remember. I don´t know what is happening. :)
How is the snow there? I am praying for cooler weather here. But the members tell us by mid March it gets better. Anything else new going on? How is Dad and Stephanie doing since they haven´t written me yet? :) I have a lot of fun stuff to make for you guys when I get home. All they food here is different. I am staring to really like it :)

Good Morning

Good Morning :)

How is everyone doing this week? Yes yes I got two packages today. One was the lavender oil and the other was the medical kits from Grandpa and Grandma.. Thank you so much :) Those band aids will defiantly come in handy down here. It seems like someone always needs something. Last week my companion had a blister on her big toe that took up the entire bottom of her toe. It was sick and I had to help her cut it off. I know I know, too much information. lol But my point is those medical kits came in handy( as well as all those blisters I got from training for those marathons :)) I had her all fixed up in no time and ready for more hills :)

This week has been pretty amazing with our investigators. One of our investigators is really old, probably around 70 or so and he has been smoking since he was little. He has a baptismal date is for the 26th of this month and after teaching him the word of wisdom last Sunday we asked for his cigarettes. He said no but told us starting Monday he would stop. We made him this can thing for him to put all the money he doesn´t spend on cigarettes. AND he stopped.. just like that and is doing wonderful, he attended church with us for the 2nd time yesterday.

Another investigator we have been working a lot with gave us all her Coffee and tea this week and even fasted this Sunday with us so she can stop smoking and get the answer she needs that is the right church. It was sweet. Funny story though. Before we went to her house to collect her Coffee and tea we bought her Ecco( the stuff that is kind of like coffee but not) and herbal tea... also I bought some cinnamon tea that was really good . After we returned for the day to our pension my companion said ¨ I think we need to look at that tea we have been drinking because it just says ¨Tea with Apple¨ and ¨Tea with Cinnamon¨. Hna Amaya had been drinking this Tea with Apple and said it was really good so that is why I bought the same kind and drank it. Anyway so we look at the tea that she had been drinking and the tea that I had just bought and had some of and it is horrible! Black tea.... danget. We were just like what the heck. We have been teaching the Word of Wisdom for the last 2 days to our investigators and we have been breaking it. Hna Amaya kind of had a freak out moment but I calmed her down. lol  We took a picture with our tea, the tea and coffee we collected from our investigator and then the good stuff we can drink. It was an interesting day. And not to worry we threw the bad stuff away.

What else what else.... Oh I put Hermana Amaya on a diet. :) She has been out on the mission for 7 months and gained around 15lbs so we are working on it. Lots of fruit and no pan(bread and pastry's) for her. Sometimes it is hard for her but for the most part it is pretty easy, I just have to remind her when we are at member´s house and at lunch. Today is her ¨cheat¨ day where she can have two things. Man she is in heaven with the idea of this cheat day. haha I just think it is funny.

Oh crazy thing happened on Friday. We were at these new investigator´s house and the are the nicest people you could ever met. They have a really small small house and we are talking talking talking when out of the middle of no where this duck comes walking into the living room. They start talking to the duck, it has a name ¨Fito¨ and it listens and follow their commands. I was laughing so hard! It was the most random thing. It even gives kisses when you ask for them and it cuddles with you! Who would have thought.... a duck. lol It was so funny because it peed on the floor too. I don´t know if you have ever seen a duck pee before but it is funny. It is just like a large squirt out of their butts. My companion and I almost died laughing.

 

I think thats all the really exciting stuff going on right now. The fleas and still here and bitting.. fun fun for me :) I feel like all the stuff I try works a little bit but not totally. Vinager has been the best in my opinion, that and the flea coller on my bed.Spanish is really hard but I am understanding more and more each day.

The food is alright... I am not sure what I like best. Maybe the avocados with tuna and mayonesa also the bread is really really good. I miss so many foods from the US though. Cookies for sure, they don´t make cookies anywhere here. We don´t have any fast food or restaurants in our area. I tried pizza and this is... interesting. Oh yeah also I am allergic to the milk here. I have been trying to figure out why I am sick in the bathroom every morning since I got here and I have figured it out. Last week I tried the lactose free milk and that was not it so this week I am going to try soy milk. I am praying that will work. Mornings are never fun for me... but its okay :) Also no Diet Pepsi here... no where sad sad sad. haha

 

Sounds like there is a lot going on at home and at Church that's great. How is Zach´s job hunt going? I am glad you are so busy at the office. Anything else new? What is Stephanie up to? I sent that letter to Ramona but it is coming to our house because I didn't know her directions. I had some extra time because Hna Amaya was sick on Saturday. I am hoping I don´t get what she had it was not fun for her and we have a lot of work to do this change.

I hope all is well :) I love getting you emails

 Love,

Hermana Lichty