Last Letter from The Mission!

The last one......

It seems to be passing by so fast, it seems like just yesterday it was Monday! This week was so good and full of crazy things. We really have been working hard to find people and help the investigators that we do have progress. We have really found some amazing people that we are teaching right now and I know that in the next change they will progress a lot and be baptized so that is pretty exciting. We are teaching a family and this week they excepted a date to be baptized in April. But the saddest thing happened this weekend. One of the kids, that is 16 went missing on Friday. She never came home from school. So right now they have everyone looking for her and they are so worried. We are praying for them but it is frustrating because we can’t really help them. And they are such an amazing family. :( So pray for them please so that they can find her.

Also this week the pulgas have been biting me like crazy! I wake up multiple times a night because the bites itch so bad! I think I started getting bit again because we had a pretty big earthquake the other day, like a 5.9 or something and it changed the temperature. So my theory is that aggravated them. lol 

Also the other day somebody stole our gas tank... it was so lame because then we had to shower with cold cold water for like 3 days. It was a little rough but we did okay. :) Our area is very interesting to say the least. I have some good stories for you when I get back. 

So this week we have so many appointments, it is awesome! The only thing is they all want to feed us ¨once¨ so I think I am going to gain some weight this week. But that is the Chilean way to show love so it’s okay. :) I will just need to take up running again when I get home.

But this week should fly by because my last working day will be Saturday. Then Sunday I leave La Serena during the middle of church to get to the bus terminal. Then a 8 hour bus ride to Viña del Mar. Monday I have my last interview with the President and then that afternoon I will travel 45 mins to Villa Alemania to visit converts. Tuesday morning super early we travel to Santiago which is about 2 hours from Viña to visit the temple and then to the Airport for about 18 hours of airplane time. lol SO I am going to be traveling a lot and I might be a little tired when I get home. :) 

But I love you and I am very excited to see you all!

Hermana Lichty

2 Weeks 2 Days left

Hello,

Everything here is going good. Trying to stay focused these last couple weeks. The trio is going good, its a challenge, but we are handling it very well I think. We had the conference which was really good. I met the doctor that is in charge of the missionary health here in Chile. His name is John Welch and his is from Lovell and he knows grandpa. He and is wife are from there and they know his whole family. He said that the Nicholls boys were ¨free spirits¨.... that they were very spiritual but did what they wanted to. lol His wife really talked highly of them and said that the Nicholls were a very good family. John Welch said to tell grandpa hi. He said that he worked for Aunt Jennie and her husband for awhile. So that was a fun experience, it's such a small world. There are pictures of them here    http://web.me.com/richandann/GillespieMission/Mission_Blog/Entries/2012/3/6_North_Zone_Conference.html  at the conference. :)

The weather here is getting cold! I think you guys stole our warm weather.. its kind of a bummer. I like being hot more than I like being cold as a missionary. I really haven't gotten very far with the book because I am trying to write all of my converts before I leave and I have a couple of other papers that I have to fill out and have ready for my final interview with the president. So I am working on that. Although it is pretty easy for me to speak in Spanish writing it is whole different thing. lol 

This week was so interesting because the first half of the week was so trying! We were walking all day everyday for three days.... but because we were diligent and because God loves us the next couple of days we starting finding all of these new people to teach, and they are so good! SO I am really excited to start this week. It is funny how our trio works because out of all of us I have the most dominant personality and am the least timid. So I have noticed that all I have to do is initiate a conversation and then my companions follow and finish it for me. lol The other day I told them that I needed them to initiate things more because I was feeling bad that I was directing everything and Hermana Carcamo said that it was a good thing because it is keeping me focused and not trunky, :) That could be true...

I am glad that everyone is doing better and feeling better. I like the picture of the quilt that you sent, it is really pretty. I hope that everyone continues to do well! I love you all and I am looking forward to receiving the very last letter of my mission from you next week. Ahhhh how fast the time goes by.

Love you all,

Hermana Lichty 

Week 3

Hey!

 The week was good. We are working a lot with the ward right now trying to help retain the members that we have. We are planning an activity for the end of the month that should help the members to be more involved in the missionary work and recent converts to stay active. In Chile retaining the members that we have is a battle. But we are still working really hard with that. :) The ward of Brillador is huge so with are working with all of the organizations to pull it off. The only sad thing about this activity is it will be the night that I leave, so I won’t be present to see it. But it is okay because the activity will go on and the purpose is for these people to stay active for all of their lives :)  We had a very humbling experince this last week that really made me feel grateful for the blessing that I have to be able to serve. We have a convert who has cancer pretty bad and is not doing very well. She called us the other night and asked that we stop by because she was not feeling very well. So we went and after teaching her she told us about how she was in a lot of pain because of the cancer and needed to take meds for it but had not eaten all day because she had nothing. When we saw her it was our last cita before heading to the house because it was 9.15pm. After talking to her and realizing her situation we looked at one another and told her we would be back. In silence we rushed to the pension and collected our food and then returned to her house with it. I felt very humbled and a sense of gratitude that we were able to help. Being able to serve those around you, bring a happiness that is very hard to describe and I can only pray that more opportunities like that will present themselves so that I can help.

I really hope that Steph is feeling better and that she will be able to make it to Casper. Thank you for all of the updates on everyone. I hope that Dad recovers fast too. How is Zach doing? Is he still a little depressed or has he bounced back already? lol

We have a mission conference tomorrow that should be good. It is a little sad though because it is my last. Dang it.

Everyone is starting to remind me of the time I have left which makes it hard to focus but I am doing my best. I got the book Daughters of My Kingdom so that will be something to help me keep my mind here in the mission for the next three weeks.

:)

I hope you are all having a great week! Thank you Mom for everything that you have done and everything that you are still doing! Love you

Hermana Lichty

4 week mark!

Hello hello,

Everything here is going good and passing by really fast! I can’t believe that we are already entering the third week of the change! Being in a trio is definitely something different. I like to think of it as a refiners fire. Like from everything I have learned in the mission about getting along with my companions and being a good companion I have to apply right now, and then take it a step further. It is a challenge but something I know that is helping me become a better person. Also my companions are really great so we are all learning a lot. 

The work is progressing and we are walking a TON! We are planning a big activity for the end of March to reactivate all of the converts of the last two years. I have been able to see how the Lord works though us to answer the prayers of his children. I find it very interesting that nothing is ever just a coincidence and that things happen all because heavenly father planned it to. I was in divisions with a one of the young women in our ward this last Wednesday and we were looking for inactive members when we knocked on a door looking for someone and ended up finding an entire family of inactive members. They said that just days before that they had said they would like to go back to church and then we ¨just happened¨ to knock on their door two days later. Kinda cool how that all works out. That day we were lost in a neighborhood that I had never been in before and the girl that was with me was new to the area too. It is nice to know that we are guided in all that we do even if we don’t always know it.  

I hope you are all starting to feel better. Being sick never is fun. Luckily we are all healthy and doing really good. Even though we are physically drained by the end of the day the morning always gives us more energy to continue. Sundays are the same as any other day but I like it because we focus a little more on the members and the recent converts. It is funny that you mentioned about my talk because I was just thinking about that the other day and how I am really not looking forward to it. lol It is so hard to talk about gospel stuff in English. I might need an interpreter on the stand to help me. :) And thank you for talking to Jana, I am very excited about that appointment. Have you talked to the stake president about an appointment to release me? Thank you for everything Mom!  Love you all,

Hermana Lichty

5 Week Mark

Hello!

So being in a trio is a little complicated. but I am learning a lot more from it than I was expecting. I think that Heavenly Father put me into a trio because I was praying for patience. lol But I have good news because our new companion is Hermana Szuch. She was in the MTC with me and she is the most patient person that I know. SO that has been wonderful because when I start to lose it I just have to take a deep breath and when she talks it just calms me down. But it has been interesting having such a huge area to work in. We have been physically exhausted at the end of everyday because of the amount of walking we have to do. I wish we had a car or a bike or something. I feel like we lost so much time because the distances are so far. But we have a lot of really good investigators that are progressing so that is exciting. Also we are trying to do divisions everyday with the youth so that we can cover more area and see more people. And an interesting fact that I found out yesterday that I never really realized.... Our ward and area is the farthest away from the mission office and all the other areas in the mission. And our Zone is in an area called Las Compañias and our sector takes up half of las Compañias. So when everyone asks how our area is and we say huge they just shake their heads and agree. lol

The weather has been HOT! I am not sure why this week the temperature seems to have gone up but that has been a little tricky to work in. I am trying so hard not to burn but it seems almost impossible. But its okay I have only gotten one bad burn in the last couple of weeks. My tan lines are ridiculous. lol Good thing it will be a little chilly when I get back so I can hide them a little bit. :) And I have really good news I took the ¨bug bomb¨ this last week and my stomach is feeling a lot better and is not so swollen anymore.. I am parasite free ;)
Thank you for all the pictures this week, they are always fun to see. I am glad everything is going well. I hope you start to feel better. Being sick is never fun. SO do you all have the day off today? Love you all,

Hermana Lichty

Happy Valentines Day 2012

This week has been crazy... So our ward is huge and the other Hermanas side of the ward is SO much bigger then ours that there are places they have never been until last week. There area goes clear out to the beach into this little area called San Pedro. You have to take two taxis to get there and it is really hard to find transportation out, but its huge. There are so many houses and people that live there, they are all fishermen. Anyway we decided to go down there and open the area and it was amazing! We were there for 3 hours and we didn’t even make it down one street because everyone was talking to us. Nobody down there has ever seen missionaries so they were very interested in who we were and what we were doing. It was sweet! And the beach is just right there. Just picture being in Hawaii with little beach houses and the white picket fences, and sand full of broken white seashells. It is amazing!

Also Hermana Boud left this week! It was so hard to see her go. We had to take her to the terminal yesterday in the middle of sacrament meeting :( She was in the MTC with me... it is crazy how the time passes. AND then there are the changes. We got the biggest shock ever when they called about changes. SOOO they put Hermana Carcamo and I in charge of both areas of the ward making it our 3rd change together WITH another Hermana that is coming tomorrow. Yeah that’s right... we are going to be in a trio in charge of of the biggest ward I have ever been in. CRAZY These next 6 weeks are going to be so interesting. I am not sure what to think about it all right now. I have not heard any good comments about trios in all of my mission but I think we could really make it work. Also there is this new rule that we don’t get to know our new companions until they arrive and we are face to face. So Hermana Carcamo and I won’t know who our new companion is ‘til tomorrow. I have a feeling it is Hermana Szuch, she was in the MTC with me, I am praying for it. :) So a lot has been happening and these next 6 weeks are just going to be busier.

Also my trainer, Hermana Amaya wrote me last week and she is engaged! SO crazy because she just got back three months ago. Oh and they split the zone up here in La Serena. So now there are two and we are in La Serena Norte.

And I got the package from Grandma Nicholls this week. Thank you so much for the package. It was awesome. It had candy, sunscreen, shirts, the medical refill, and socks. It was perfect and I was able to share with my companion too! Thank you thank you thank you! I loved it!

Thank you for everything, Love you all

Hermana Lichty

Super Bowl Sunday

Hola!

 How is everyone doing this week?  It has been a week of trials for me so I am really glad a new week has started. :) We are going into the last week of the change. It is so crazy how the time is passing by. I feel like the days have gone by slow but the weeks are gone in a blink. I am working on staying focused on everything that is happening here.  This whole ending the mission is a lot harder then I thought it would be. I want to be here and focused on the work but during the day when we are walking my mind starts to wander back to a small little town called Casper.  So I have taken up reading lots of different things besides the Book of Mormon to keep my mind busy. D & C has been good and I am also reading Our Heritage. We are contacting a lot and looking for more people to teach. But although its been a week of a lot of walking I still have to smile because our converts are doing so well! They all came to church this Sunday and Oscar is progressing so much. He is the talk of the ward! During testimony meeting people were bearing their testimonies about how much his testimony had affected theirs.  It was great. I am so proud of him, and he should receive the Priesthood this coming Sunday.

It sounds like you have a lot of projects going on at the house and Jasper sounds like fun. I am very excited to meet him. How is Zach and his girlfriend doing? Hopefully he can get is truck fixed fast. And Dad is looking for another car? How many does he need? lol I am glad that Ramona is doing so well! I would love to go to the temple with her. When is she planning on going? 

I am sorry my letters just seem to get shorter and shorter every week but I feel like I am running out of things to say and everything has become so normal I don't know what to talk about. lol Thank you for all the updates with everyone that is having babies and everything, it doesnt make me feel old or anything. j/k 

Well I hope you have a great week! I will try and think of something good to write next week since this week was a little lame. 

Love you,

Hermana Lichty