Wow, what a crazy week it has been. I have been getting to know my new ward little by little. This ward is amazing. There is a unity that screams ZION! and I love it. I know that part of that has to do with the fact that there are four missionaries in the field from this ward right now. The missionary blessings aren't just for the family. They are for the entire ward. I hope my home ward is receiving these same blessings of unity too. I sure am grateful for all that my ward at home does to support us out here in the field. Thank you all so much!
When I changed wards right before Christmas I didn't really know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. I have felt such a great love from all the members and investigators here, and like always they are showing their love in food. haha. I'm sure you all are realizing from my fotos that my cheeks are getting fuller and fuller. haha. good thing I only have one more year or my clothes might stop fitting! (I can laugh but no one else should be laughing! :) and no one should be forwarding pictures to Caleb so he can laugh too!)
Christmas Eve was wonderful. We had mission conference that started at 8 am and lasted until 5 pm. It's a good thing Hermana Argueta and I practiced all the Christmas hymns in the bus ride to the church because when I got there I was asked to lead all the music for the entire day and then later I was asked to sing a solo in the conference! I think the Lord is trying to tell me something about my future in music...I may be returning to a previously thought about major directing music. I absolutely love doing it. Well, we will see in one year how I feel. When the conference ended we worked and then went to the house of the family Osorio, a young couple with a little baby. They are both return missionaries and we had so much fun listening to them talk about their missions. We even had permission to be out until 11PM! WooHOo! haha.
The next day, Christmas day, our zone got together, all 20 elders and me and my companion, to cook breakfast, watch a movie, and play dodgeball. The dodgeball part was super interesting. haha. Then we went to sing Christmas carols in a nearby hospital. It was a beautiful experience. We all had Christmas hats(Hermana Arguetta and I wore ours all Christmas Eve evening and all Christmas day!) Then Christmas night I got to talk to my family! Yay! It was so great. Hard to talk in English...but still great. It's weird to think that I have been away from them for 6 months already and that in 1 more year I will see them all. I got an email from my companion, Hermana Barre, that is now in her house in Ecuador and that was even stranger...to think about my companion at home. Really though, I was a bit scared to talk to my family. I thought it might distract me, but it was all the opposite. They gave me the energy and strength that I needed to push on and do what the Lord has called me to do, to teach the people of Chile about Jesus Christ and His restored church in the earth with a baptism that is authorized by God. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to share such a wonderful message during this beautiful Christmas season and every day of my life! I love my mission! I love every minute of it. Its not always easy, but I am learning and growing to love my Savior Jesus Christ in a way I never thought possible. Thank you all so much for your love and support. It means the world to me.
Just so you all know, this Christmas I celebrated Halloween with a package from Janay, Thanksgiving with a package from my memaw and Christmas with a package from the Duncan family. haha. I guess the mail between the states and Chile isn't the greatest, but that's ok. It was super fun and I loved it ALL. Thank you so much! If you sent packages and I did not get them yet, don't worry, maybe I will get them for my birthday in March!
love
hermana Canal
Hermana Canal with President and Sister Gillespie
In front of the clock in Vina del Mar
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Feliz Navidad
Wow...I could write a 5 page letter full of all that I have done, felt, and learned this week, but I will try to contain myself...where to start?!
Last Thursday my companion went home...it was really weird. Wednesday we had a group family home evening in the kitchen of the church with our three converts and their families. Also one of Hermana Barre´s converts and his family from La Ligua came (that is an hour and a half drive for a family home evening! wow) It was sad but fun at the same time. Everyone was saying their goodbyes and crying and eventually when I just couldn't handle the tears anymore I went to wash dishes. haha- my stress relief. When it was all finally over and we got to the house I was up until 2 am with Hermana Barre packing. It was fun to talk to someone who knows they will be home in the next 24 hours after a year and a half without seeing family, giving all of your time and energy to the Lord. Her thoughts are probably a lot like mine will be in one more year. Hermana Barre was a great example to me and I hope to finish my mission having learned as much and become as close to my Savior as possible, like she did.
The weekend was super interesting. I did a lot of splits because we were left with 3 missionaries in a ward with 2 areas. I still needed to be in my side of the ward and so I spent part of Friday and the entire day Saturday with one of the 21 year old girls in our ward, Valeria. This day I learned so much about so much and I feel like I still have so much to learn and will never learn enough! At least I am improving... I hope. haha. A lot of what I am learning is more like relearning and refining. For example, Valeria helped me remember how it is to be a member of the church and not a missionary. She has a boyfriend who is not a member and they have been dating for a year now. She has talked to him a little bit about the gospel, but is scared to really bring it up. I had forgotten about this fear that members have about sharing the gospel with their loved ones, but I hope that now that I remember I will be able to use this experience to help the members understand how to be missionaries. I really hope Valeria decides to serve a mission. She would be an amazing missionary.
I also learned this past week, little by little, how to be more humble...I don't know how many of you know this but before the mission I was very proud...I'm sure you all know. I am sure it was obvious to everyone but me...the sad thing is I had no idea! Now that I am realizing I feel absolutely ridiculous. I hope you will all forgive me for the ingrate that I was and the stubborn impatient prideful daughter, sister, grand daughter, niece, or friend that I was. I will not promise that in one more year I will return much better, but I want you all to know that I have realized, I am sorry, and I am praying for help and working my hardest to improve.
Something, more like someone, that helped me to realize my faults is Elsa. This lady of about 55 years is absolutely wonderful. I love her. In our first lesson with her she cried with joy when we explained the restoration and living prophets and she accepted the book of Mormon immediately as the word of God. In her second lesson we presented and she accepted a baptismal date for the 22 of January. Ithe her third lesson Valeria and I explained Joseph smith more in detail and taught more about prayer.When I told her at the end of the lesson that she needs to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet she looked at me and said, "like I'm doubting?" ...WOW. amazing. This is all possible because in her first lesson Elsa felt the spirit, we were able to explain what she felt, and she recognized it for what it was. She feels the spirit testify to her that what we are teaching is the truth and has such great faith that she accepts without doubt all that we teach. Her humility and faith is astounding. I have so much room to grow.
Sadly I will not be in San Francisco to learn more from Elsa and watch her progress and change her life...I have been changed. Tomorrow at 8am I will be leaving San Francisco for Vina and then for my new ward in Trunk al uno Quillota. It's like 3 hours from Vina. woohoo! I am excited for the bus ride. haha.
Not gonna lie, it was a big surprise to me that I am moving, but the Lord knows best. I am trusting in him. My new companion is Hermana Arguetta. She is from El Salvador. I know her a little bit already from a few days we had together in my first month here. She will be a wonderful companion and I will learn so much from her I am sure, but it is still sad that i am leaving a place that i love so much. i didn't want to cry in church so I didn't say anything to anyone, but somehow in the primary Christmas presentation last night the word got out...I was crying, everyone was crying, it was horrible. haha.
Well next week I will let you all know about my new ward and companion and everything, but I am out of time and you are all probably tired of reading.
lots of love,
hermana canal
Last Thursday my companion went home...it was really weird. Wednesday we had a group family home evening in the kitchen of the church with our three converts and their families. Also one of Hermana Barre´s converts and his family from La Ligua came (that is an hour and a half drive for a family home evening! wow) It was sad but fun at the same time. Everyone was saying their goodbyes and crying and eventually when I just couldn't handle the tears anymore I went to wash dishes. haha- my stress relief. When it was all finally over and we got to the house I was up until 2 am with Hermana Barre packing. It was fun to talk to someone who knows they will be home in the next 24 hours after a year and a half without seeing family, giving all of your time and energy to the Lord. Her thoughts are probably a lot like mine will be in one more year. Hermana Barre was a great example to me and I hope to finish my mission having learned as much and become as close to my Savior as possible, like she did.
The weekend was super interesting. I did a lot of splits because we were left with 3 missionaries in a ward with 2 areas. I still needed to be in my side of the ward and so I spent part of Friday and the entire day Saturday with one of the 21 year old girls in our ward, Valeria. This day I learned so much about so much and I feel like I still have so much to learn and will never learn enough! At least I am improving... I hope. haha. A lot of what I am learning is more like relearning and refining. For example, Valeria helped me remember how it is to be a member of the church and not a missionary. She has a boyfriend who is not a member and they have been dating for a year now. She has talked to him a little bit about the gospel, but is scared to really bring it up. I had forgotten about this fear that members have about sharing the gospel with their loved ones, but I hope that now that I remember I will be able to use this experience to help the members understand how to be missionaries. I really hope Valeria decides to serve a mission. She would be an amazing missionary.
I also learned this past week, little by little, how to be more humble...I don't know how many of you know this but before the mission I was very proud...I'm sure you all know. I am sure it was obvious to everyone but me...the sad thing is I had no idea! Now that I am realizing I feel absolutely ridiculous. I hope you will all forgive me for the ingrate that I was and the stubborn impatient prideful daughter, sister, grand daughter, niece, or friend that I was. I will not promise that in one more year I will return much better, but I want you all to know that I have realized, I am sorry, and I am praying for help and working my hardest to improve.
Something, more like someone, that helped me to realize my faults is Elsa. This lady of about 55 years is absolutely wonderful. I love her. In our first lesson with her she cried with joy when we explained the restoration and living prophets and she accepted the book of Mormon immediately as the word of God. In her second lesson we presented and she accepted a baptismal date for the 22 of January. Ithe her third lesson Valeria and I explained Joseph smith more in detail and taught more about prayer.When I told her at the end of the lesson that she needs to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet she looked at me and said, "like I'm doubting?" ...WOW. amazing. This is all possible because in her first lesson Elsa felt the spirit, we were able to explain what she felt, and she recognized it for what it was. She feels the spirit testify to her that what we are teaching is the truth and has such great faith that she accepts without doubt all that we teach. Her humility and faith is astounding. I have so much room to grow.
Sadly I will not be in San Francisco to learn more from Elsa and watch her progress and change her life...I have been changed. Tomorrow at 8am I will be leaving San Francisco for Vina and then for my new ward in Trunk al uno Quillota. It's like 3 hours from Vina. woohoo! I am excited for the bus ride. haha.
Not gonna lie, it was a big surprise to me that I am moving, but the Lord knows best. I am trusting in him. My new companion is Hermana Arguetta. She is from El Salvador. I know her a little bit already from a few days we had together in my first month here. She will be a wonderful companion and I will learn so much from her I am sure, but it is still sad that i am leaving a place that i love so much. i didn't want to cry in church so I didn't say anything to anyone, but somehow in the primary Christmas presentation last night the word got out...I was crying, everyone was crying, it was horrible. haha.
Well next week I will let you all know about my new ward and companion and everything, but I am out of time and you are all probably tired of reading.
lots of love,
hermana canal
Monday, December 13, 2010
Monday, December 13,2010
2 weeks till Christmas!
So this past week has been really interesting. We have been climbing lots of hills and meeting lots of new people in an area where the missionaries before didn't have time to visit, or maybe they didn't want to because of the hills! Now that there are four missionaries here we have the time to go and find people out there in the sticks. It really has been such a blessing. The only hard part is that it is so far from the chapel and the people here don't have cars...how are they going to get to church on Sunday? They could take the micro (like a big bus) but it is expensive and these people are super humble in their living standards. Well, I guess this is where the faith comes in. I truly believe that we will find the people here that are ready for the gospel, ready to sacrifice a little in the beginning to receive amazing blessings afterwards. The Lord's will often seems like a sacrifice to us, but he knows the bigger picture. He knows that as we choose to do His will we will be blessed with happiness and joy temporally and spiritually (Mosiah 2:41). We just have to have the faith to do His will without knowing the consequences beforehand.
So yesterday we finally got a Christmas tree in the house! It is super little and doesn't have very many ornaments, but all the same it makes me feel very happy. I even made a paper chain to count down the days! I guess in Ecuador they don't make paper chains though. when I started ripping off a link every day Hermana Barre was a little distressed. She was like, "you made a Christmas chain so beautiful and now you are ripping it up!" haha. I had to explain and now all is well.
we have been singing Christmas hymns like crazy and they are always stuck in my head, well when feliz cumpleanos isn't...Hermana Barre had her birthday last week and we sang feliz cupleanos all day long. haha. she also taught me another birthday song in Spanish about being old and wrinkly. I will have to translate and send it later. Its awesome. She is 23 years old now...super old. haha. Just so everyone knows, when i have my birthday in march i will be completing 21 years again. this year and every year after. I have decided to be 21 forever. thank you all for cooperating.
Well, time is short and Ive got to go. If you have a chance, watch the first presidency Christmas devotional online. It was wonderful. absolutely wonderful.
So this past week has been really interesting. We have been climbing lots of hills and meeting lots of new people in an area where the missionaries before didn't have time to visit, or maybe they didn't want to because of the hills! Now that there are four missionaries here we have the time to go and find people out there in the sticks. It really has been such a blessing. The only hard part is that it is so far from the chapel and the people here don't have cars...how are they going to get to church on Sunday? They could take the micro (like a big bus) but it is expensive and these people are super humble in their living standards. Well, I guess this is where the faith comes in. I truly believe that we will find the people here that are ready for the gospel, ready to sacrifice a little in the beginning to receive amazing blessings afterwards. The Lord's will often seems like a sacrifice to us, but he knows the bigger picture. He knows that as we choose to do His will we will be blessed with happiness and joy temporally and spiritually (Mosiah 2:41). We just have to have the faith to do His will without knowing the consequences beforehand.
So yesterday we finally got a Christmas tree in the house! It is super little and doesn't have very many ornaments, but all the same it makes me feel very happy. I even made a paper chain to count down the days! I guess in Ecuador they don't make paper chains though. when I started ripping off a link every day Hermana Barre was a little distressed. She was like, "you made a Christmas chain so beautiful and now you are ripping it up!" haha. I had to explain and now all is well.
we have been singing Christmas hymns like crazy and they are always stuck in my head, well when feliz cumpleanos isn't...Hermana Barre had her birthday last week and we sang feliz cupleanos all day long. haha. she also taught me another birthday song in Spanish about being old and wrinkly. I will have to translate and send it later. Its awesome. She is 23 years old now...super old. haha. Just so everyone knows, when i have my birthday in march i will be completing 21 years again. this year and every year after. I have decided to be 21 forever. thank you all for cooperating.
Well, time is short and Ive got to go. If you have a chance, watch the first presidency Christmas devotional online. It was wonderful. absolutely wonderful.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Feliz Diciembre
I am getting so excited for this Christmas season! It is super
different here in Chile, but I love it all the same. The people don't
deck out their houses like they do in the states, that's for sure and
the stores arent quite as decked out either, but at least they have
Christmas music playing! (normally in English. haha.) We listen to
Christmas music every morning in the house too, and although I am very
far from my family I have a little family of sister missionaries here
in Chile. The 4 of us in our little house are so full of the Christmas
spirit that I feel so happy and at peace, not homesick at all. Next
year though I will sure be happy to celebrate with my family and
friends at home. I hope you are all getting excited for this special
time of year and I hope you all remember the real reason that we
celebrate. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. "He is the
light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that
can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that
there can be no more death." (Mosiah 16:) Merry Christmas!
Last week was super interesting. It had its ups and downs like
always... like life. I am grateful for all the ups and downs because
they help me to grow and become more like the person that I want to
be, more like my Savior. Every time I am faced with a challenge I try
to think...I can choose to respond in a negative way and deter my
progression or I can choose to respond in a positive way and become a
better person. We all have this opportunity every moment of every day.
These trials of life are really blessings. They help us to become more
like Jesus Christ. It all depends on how we see them.
The best part of this week was going to the temple with Veronica. We
left Saturday morning at 1130 and got to Santiago about 2 hours later.
Veronica was able to do the baptisms and confirmations of her
grandmother and great grandmother and Hermana Barre and I were temple
workers at the baptismal font! It was so exciting! I want to work in
the temple every day after my mission. Then Hermana Barre and I each
had a name (one the grandmother and the other the great grandmother)
to take in and do endowments the last session of the day with our
ward. I can not express how special this was for me... to first baptize
someone so amazing and to then help her do the work for her family. I
was reminded again just how wonderful the temple is and I felt a
confirmation, like so many times before, that this church is THE
church of Jesus Christ in the earth. The one and only. I feel so
blessed to be a part of this church. I feel so blessed with the
opportunity to serve and share this knowledge with others! It is the
only way that we will ever find an everlasting joy.
Thank you all for your continual love and support. I feel it
strengthen me every day.
Love,
Hermana Canal
different here in Chile, but I love it all the same. The people don't
deck out their houses like they do in the states, that's for sure and
the stores arent quite as decked out either, but at least they have
Christmas music playing! (normally in English. haha.) We listen to
Christmas music every morning in the house too, and although I am very
far from my family I have a little family of sister missionaries here
in Chile. The 4 of us in our little house are so full of the Christmas
spirit that I feel so happy and at peace, not homesick at all. Next
year though I will sure be happy to celebrate with my family and
friends at home. I hope you are all getting excited for this special
time of year and I hope you all remember the real reason that we
celebrate. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. "He is the
light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that
can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that
there can be no more death." (Mosiah 16:) Merry Christmas!
Last week was super interesting. It had its ups and downs like
always... like life. I am grateful for all the ups and downs because
they help me to grow and become more like the person that I want to
be, more like my Savior. Every time I am faced with a challenge I try
to think...I can choose to respond in a negative way and deter my
progression or I can choose to respond in a positive way and become a
better person. We all have this opportunity every moment of every day.
These trials of life are really blessings. They help us to become more
like Jesus Christ. It all depends on how we see them.
The best part of this week was going to the temple with Veronica. We
left Saturday morning at 1130 and got to Santiago about 2 hours later.
Veronica was able to do the baptisms and confirmations of her
grandmother and great grandmother and Hermana Barre and I were temple
workers at the baptismal font! It was so exciting! I want to work in
the temple every day after my mission. Then Hermana Barre and I each
had a name (one the grandmother and the other the great grandmother)
to take in and do endowments the last session of the day with our
ward. I can not express how special this was for me... to first baptize
someone so amazing and to then help her do the work for her family. I
was reminded again just how wonderful the temple is and I felt a
confirmation, like so many times before, that this church is THE
church of Jesus Christ in the earth. The one and only. I feel so
blessed to be a part of this church. I feel so blessed with the
opportunity to serve and share this knowledge with others! It is the
only way that we will ever find an everlasting joy.
Thank you all for your continual love and support. I feel it
strengthen me every day.
Love,
Hermana Canal
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