Ahhh, lo siento everyone!! I had this whole thing written out on Saturday, and then the internet shut down and I couldn't send it. So this is the original email that I wrote, I'm too lazy to make changes, but just so you know, Jorge and Lourdes were baptized and it was super awesome chevere bacan champu. Okay, love you all, bye!!!
Jorge and Lourdes are getting baptized in like 2 hours!!!! YAAAAAAY!!!!! After 2 months of working with them and patiently answering all their doubts and fears and seeing them at church every Sunday, they´re finally getting baptized. I´m so excited I could just explode, and what´s even more exciting is that they´re even more excited than I am!!! They´ve invited their whole family, a lot of the ward members are coming and it´s pretty much going to be the best baptism ever. NICE!!!
Anyway, so this week was pretty normal. We´ve been teaching a lot of the family members of Jorge and Lourdes and his mom actually has a date for the 12th, but we don´t know how it´s going to work because in order to go to church someone has to carry her down 5 flights of stairs because she´s in a wheelchair. So she´s only been to church one time and we don´t know what we´re gonna do about that. But we´ll figure it out. We found out that Jorge´s niece, Yoconda, found the BOM that we left them, took it home and read it!! So we started teaching her too. Then remember this lady that we found, that we were an answer to her prayers?? We started teaching her "husband" Fabian too (her name is Arreli). He was very anti the idea of prophets first, until we asked him what moses, abraham, joshua and pretty much everyone who wrote the bible were. He was like . . . oh. They were prophets. But then he got confused because we have this example that we use to show that Jesus established his church on the foundation of apostles. We have plastic cups with the names of the original 12 apostles and we put them on the bottom, and then on top we put all the principles and ordinances of the gospel, faith, baptism, priesthood, etc. and then we put Jesus at the top because he directed his church. Then we take Jesus off because eventually He died and was resurrected and went to live with HF, but wasn´t on the earth anymore, but the church is still okay because it´s got the apostles. Well we know what happened to the apostles, so we tell them to take one of them out (and they ALWAYS look for a way to do it without making the whole thing fall down, it´s hilarious) but as soon as they do, the whole church falls down, showing what happened in the great apostacy. Anyway, the cups have the original 12 on one side and the apostles today on the other, so we can show that the church was restored with apostles as the foundation, so we rebuild it with their names and pictures showing, and then we put the Jesus cup back on top, but with the prophet´s face showing to show that Jesus is still directing His church through the prophet. Well Fabian flipped out a little because he thought that we worship the prophet, but we didn´t figure this out at first so he was arguing and HNA Foster was like you need to pray about it and then the lightbulb went off in my head and I took the cup and said, we do NOT worship the prophet. We worship Heavenly Father. This picture of Thomas S. Monson could be a picture of Moses, of Abraham or of any other of the prophets. They have the same purpose-to teach the gospel, to receive revelation from God for us, to interpret the scriptures and so on. So then Fabian said, so wait, this man is like a messenger??? HNA Foster was like yes!!! exactly!! So I said yes he is, he is a messenger from God. He teaches what God wants us to know and from then on we have the choice to accept or reject what he says. But it always goes better when we do what he says, because he´s receiving revelation from God. But like HNA Foster said, it´s very important that you pray to know for yourself that this is true, because if you don´t you won´t know. I don´t know if you heard me hno, but I didn´t say that I believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet, I said that I KNOW. After that, he calmed down and looked very thoughtful, and then he nodded his head. So then he told us he would read the BOM, and HNA Foster was like, oh, and on Sundays we go to church, and before she could even say anything else he was like, oh we´re going!!! Nine o clock right?? So we´re very interested to see what happens with him. But how grateful I am for the Spirit in this moment!!! Who knows what could have happened without it!!!!
Hmmm, what else this week. Oh, we taught Jorge and Lourdes about temples on Thursday, about vicarious baptisms, because they had heard about it in church and were asking a lot of questions. Well, when we explained why we needed to do them, Jorge listened very intently, and then when we told him that he could be baptized for his father who died a few years ago, he was very very happy. He even told us that, Hermanas, I´m so happy to know that I can be baptized for my father. We told him that maybe his father had already accepted the gospel in the spirit world and had been waiting for someone to baptize him for a long time, and for this reason we were sent to his family. And you know what?? I really believe that it´s true!!! I think that his dad´s been waiting up there for a long time, waiting for someone in his family to accept the gospel and do his work.
Well, that's about it for this week!!! Felicidades a Daniel y Emily this weekend!! I loved the Conner and Jensen stories. Those kids crack me up, they remind me of the bishop's kids in our ward now. Until next time, be good and don't do anything stupid!!!
MUCHO AMOR
Hermana Chamberlain
An excerpt of an email to her dad:
It´s actually cooled off a little bit here, it´s in the high 70s and low 80s, and at night it cools down a lot. It feels very nice, the word they use is "fresco" which means fresh, and I think it´s very appropriate. We all feel much fresher, considering we´re not sweating buckets all day and feeling disgusting!!
Of course I am writing the names of my converts in my journal Dad!! This is probably the most up to date journal I´ve ever kept in my life, I´m ashamed to say. I´ve already figured out a lot of things that I´m going to do better when I get home, like reading my scriptures, writing in my journal, picking my friends and paying attention to the little promptings of the Spirit. I used to think the Spirit didn´t talk to me, but then I realized that He really does have a still small voice-and if you´re not paying attention you can miss things, and if you´re not following the quiet promptings, you´re never going to get the huge revelations. I´ve gotten better, slowly but surely.
An excerpt from an email to her sister, Abby:
Anyway, my week was super!!! Jorge and Lourdes are getting baptized in about 2 hours, after a huge struggle trying to help Jorge see that yes, he really can keep going after his baptism. He was so scared that he was going to sin again, and we were like, of COURSE you´re going to sin again!!! That´s why we take the sacrament every week!!! And moreover, that´s why Jesus Christ came to this world, to take care of us when we mess up!!! It was a long battle but now they are way excited to get baptized, probs even more excited than we are, which, of course, is as it should be.
Well love, got to go write the big email. Love you so much and miss you too, but don´t be too sad. Remember that it´s only a temporary separation, and that our family is already sealed together forever. A lot of people here don´t know that that´s possible, and I have to go find them. I have to!!!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
"I Was a FORNICATOR!" Not me... Hermano Jorge
Hola!!!
So Linda and Andrea FINALLY got baptized!!!! YAAAAAAAY!!!!!! But of course it was completely ridiculous like all my baptisms. The bishop forgot to announce it so there weren´t very many people that came, then the guy that was supposed to baptize them ended up not being able to come so someone else had to do it and we almost had to fill up the font by ourselves because the ward mission leader turned off his phone all week (then he walked in right before we started the baptismal service and said, oh hermanas, you have a baptism today??? UGHHH!!! And then he didn´t even stay for it!!! Ridiculous.) Anyway, it was crazy. But they got baptized and confirmed and even stayed for all three hours of church, which it´s like pulling teeth to get any of our converts to do that. It was awesome, even though their Sunday School class acted like barbarians the whole time (Grandma, I understand you better now and I´m sorry. So sorry.) But it was good.
So now we´re ready for Jorge and Lourdes next week!!! More importantly, they are SO ready. We went to visit them this past week and they told us that for Mother´s Day they had gone to visit Lourdes´s parents and had gone to their church. They told us, we did NOT like it. THIS is the true church!!! We were like, YESSSSSS!!!!!! They are so excited for their baptism and Jorge brought his mom and sister to church and they both loved it, and now his mom wants to be baptized and we´re going to put a date on his sister when we can find her to teach her. We´re way excited. They´re not even baptized yet and they already are member missionaries!!!! NICE. Hermana Lourdes is pretty much our mamita on Tuesday now, and she seriously makes the best food ever. It is WAY good. It´s so amazing to see how the gospel has changed their lives. Lourdes quit drinking coffee in one day. They both accepted the tithing and fast offerings and are even excited about it. Hermano Jorge has really changed a lot. Funny story. One day we were there and he started telling us about his past life, which was a little babylonish. Jorge is VERY open and VERY direct, he´ll tell you straight up what he thinks and isn´t embarrassed about it. So he´s talking and all of a sudden he says, hermanas, I was a FORNICATOR!!!!! Do you know what that word means??? That means I was with LOTS of women!!!!! We were like . . . . . uhhh this is kind of awkward!!! Totally didn´t need to know that!!! So then he goes, but you know how I justified that?? I said, well Jesus said to love one another, so I love her, her, her, and her too!!! Well I about lost it then bc that was just too much, but we were just like, well hno, the important thing is that you´re not doing it anymore (which he isn´t, don´t worry). But all the rest of the day we would just randomly say to each other, I was a FORNICATOR!!!!! and laugh. Mom if you think that small children who don´t need to know what a fornicator is just yet are reading this, I guess you can take it out, but it´s so hilarious!!! So I hope you just leave it. Anyway, Jorge has repented of his sordid past and is now a devoted family man, ready to be baptized into the true church. Cheverisimo no??
Ohhh, and this is way cool too!!!! Remember Maria and Nayely?? Well we´ve been trying to get the missionaries over there pretty much forever, but all the elders were saying that it wasn´t in their sector so finally Hna. Foster got out the map of the mission and looked at it, then called the elders and said, you have GOT to go visit them ASAP. They kept asking when they were coming and we´ve taught them a lot of the lessons because they´re friends of the familia Mendez so they´re over there a lot when we come. Well the elders FINALLY found them, taught them the first lesson . . . . . and they´re getting BAPTIZED!!!! June 12!!!! We´re gonna get permission to go because even though we´re technically not their missionaries we´re still considering it our baptism because after all, we saved Nayely´s life!!! But isn´t that like the coolest thing EVER?? (Plus we´ll finally get to see Guasmo like we´ve been wanting too-NICE.)
We had a cool experience yesterday. We´ve been hurting on new investigators because we´ve been spending so much time with the people who are getting baptized, so yesterday we did some door knocking (or window creeping). We knocked on the door and this lady came to the window and when I saw her at first I was like, there´s no way she´ll let us in, because she was very made up and looked a little weirded out by the sight of us. But then we started talking to her and I thought, wouldn´t it be funny if she did let us in??? And you know what??? She did!!! And we taught her the first lesson and she was VERY receptive. It turns out she´s been having a lot of problems with her "husband" but they just had a baby so she´s hoping that that will help fix things (usually doesn´t work but now she has us to help them too!!). And she loved the idea of having a prophet to guide us in our families today. At the end she prayed and said, Heavenly Father, you knew that I needed to talk to someone and you sent the hermanas. We were like . . . . WHAAAAAT?! SWEET!! She really wants us to come back and talk to her "husband" too, and to go to church. Obviously the chastity lesson will come soon after plan of salvation but if she obtains a testimony there won´t be any problem with that!!!
Hmmmm, I don´t really know what else to say. Sorry I don´t have a lot of fun Ecuador stories. Next week will probably be better for those. Hope everyone is doing well and that you´re all being good and doing what you should be doing!!!!
MUCHO AMOR
Hermana Chamberlain
So Linda and Andrea FINALLY got baptized!!!! YAAAAAAAY!!!!!! But of course it was completely ridiculous like all my baptisms. The bishop forgot to announce it so there weren´t very many people that came, then the guy that was supposed to baptize them ended up not being able to come so someone else had to do it and we almost had to fill up the font by ourselves because the ward mission leader turned off his phone all week (then he walked in right before we started the baptismal service and said, oh hermanas, you have a baptism today??? UGHHH!!! And then he didn´t even stay for it!!! Ridiculous.) Anyway, it was crazy. But they got baptized and confirmed and even stayed for all three hours of church, which it´s like pulling teeth to get any of our converts to do that. It was awesome, even though their Sunday School class acted like barbarians the whole time (Grandma, I understand you better now and I´m sorry. So sorry.) But it was good.
So now we´re ready for Jorge and Lourdes next week!!! More importantly, they are SO ready. We went to visit them this past week and they told us that for Mother´s Day they had gone to visit Lourdes´s parents and had gone to their church. They told us, we did NOT like it. THIS is the true church!!! We were like, YESSSSSS!!!!!! They are so excited for their baptism and Jorge brought his mom and sister to church and they both loved it, and now his mom wants to be baptized and we´re going to put a date on his sister when we can find her to teach her. We´re way excited. They´re not even baptized yet and they already are member missionaries!!!! NICE. Hermana Lourdes is pretty much our mamita on Tuesday now, and she seriously makes the best food ever. It is WAY good. It´s so amazing to see how the gospel has changed their lives. Lourdes quit drinking coffee in one day. They both accepted the tithing and fast offerings and are even excited about it. Hermano Jorge has really changed a lot. Funny story. One day we were there and he started telling us about his past life, which was a little babylonish. Jorge is VERY open and VERY direct, he´ll tell you straight up what he thinks and isn´t embarrassed about it. So he´s talking and all of a sudden he says, hermanas, I was a FORNICATOR!!!!! Do you know what that word means??? That means I was with LOTS of women!!!!! We were like . . . . . uhhh this is kind of awkward!!! Totally didn´t need to know that!!! So then he goes, but you know how I justified that?? I said, well Jesus said to love one another, so I love her, her, her, and her too!!! Well I about lost it then bc that was just too much, but we were just like, well hno, the important thing is that you´re not doing it anymore (which he isn´t, don´t worry). But all the rest of the day we would just randomly say to each other, I was a FORNICATOR!!!!! and laugh. Mom if you think that small children who don´t need to know what a fornicator is just yet are reading this, I guess you can take it out, but it´s so hilarious!!! So I hope you just leave it. Anyway, Jorge has repented of his sordid past and is now a devoted family man, ready to be baptized into the true church. Cheverisimo no??
Ohhh, and this is way cool too!!!! Remember Maria and Nayely?? Well we´ve been trying to get the missionaries over there pretty much forever, but all the elders were saying that it wasn´t in their sector so finally Hna. Foster got out the map of the mission and looked at it, then called the elders and said, you have GOT to go visit them ASAP. They kept asking when they were coming and we´ve taught them a lot of the lessons because they´re friends of the familia Mendez so they´re over there a lot when we come. Well the elders FINALLY found them, taught them the first lesson . . . . . and they´re getting BAPTIZED!!!! June 12!!!! We´re gonna get permission to go because even though we´re technically not their missionaries we´re still considering it our baptism because after all, we saved Nayely´s life!!! But isn´t that like the coolest thing EVER?? (Plus we´ll finally get to see Guasmo like we´ve been wanting too-NICE.)
We had a cool experience yesterday. We´ve been hurting on new investigators because we´ve been spending so much time with the people who are getting baptized, so yesterday we did some door knocking (or window creeping). We knocked on the door and this lady came to the window and when I saw her at first I was like, there´s no way she´ll let us in, because she was very made up and looked a little weirded out by the sight of us. But then we started talking to her and I thought, wouldn´t it be funny if she did let us in??? And you know what??? She did!!! And we taught her the first lesson and she was VERY receptive. It turns out she´s been having a lot of problems with her "husband" but they just had a baby so she´s hoping that that will help fix things (usually doesn´t work but now she has us to help them too!!). And she loved the idea of having a prophet to guide us in our families today. At the end she prayed and said, Heavenly Father, you knew that I needed to talk to someone and you sent the hermanas. We were like . . . . WHAAAAAT?! SWEET!! She really wants us to come back and talk to her "husband" too, and to go to church. Obviously the chastity lesson will come soon after plan of salvation but if she obtains a testimony there won´t be any problem with that!!!
Hmmmm, I don´t really know what else to say. Sorry I don´t have a lot of fun Ecuador stories. Next week will probably be better for those. Hope everyone is doing well and that you´re all being good and doing what you should be doing!!!!
MUCHO AMOR
Hermana Chamberlain
Monday, May 17, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Adventures in a Chinese Restaurant
Hola Hola!!
I just loved talking to everyone on Mother´s Day!! The only bad thing is that we were so wrapped up in other things that I forgot to tell mom Happy Mother´s Day. How embarrassing!! So mom, Feliz Día de la Madre!! I have a picture that I want to send you, but I forgot my cable, so I´ll send it later. That´s hilarious also that you think I speak English with Spanish inflections. At least you could understand, I guess that´s what matters.
So we have a baptism TODAY!!! TWO baptisms, actually!! Linda and Andrea Sanchez are finally going to take the plunge (pun intended) at 4:30 this afternoon. Andrea finally came to church like she was supposed to, which was the only thing keeping her from getting baptized, and so everything´s all good. Their mom signed the permission slip and is even going to come, and their grandparents, whom they live with, are very excited. So are we!! Not a bad way to start off the new change, huh??
So the time has come. I was hoping it never would, I´ve been dreading it ever since I came to the office, but it finally came. Hermana Foster gave me . . . . . THE CELL PHONE. Which means I have to answer it when it rings and tell people what to do for their medical problems. To be honest, so far it hasn´t been to bad but I´m sure it will get more stressful. I´ve found that a lot of stuff has been shoved so far in the back of my mind for so long that I need help recalling it to memory. Hopefully when I get home they don´t make me take the NCLEX again. I would just cry. But the cell isn´t terrible, just that sometimes it´s hard to understand the Latins over the phone. Hermana Foster said that even for her at the beginning it was tough, and sometimes they had to give the phone to Hermana Montenegro to translate. But so far I´ve been doing okay, I feel. But I am really glad that Hermana Foster will still be here when President and Hermana Johns leave and the new president comes, because from then on we´ll be taking ALL the calls-there won´t be any Hermana Johns to take the other half. That will be stressful. But it will be fine.
Speaking of difficult to understand, we had a HILARIOUS experience on Wednesday. We were walking home and Hermana Foster says, hey I want some chifa (chinese food). I know, chinese food in Ecuador is a very strange concept, but all the chifa I´ve tried here has been REALLY good. Anyway, so we started looking for a chifa and finally found one and went in. So this chinese lady comes out and Hermana Foster asks to see the menu in Spanish. Chinese lady: Blank stare. She had NO idea what we were talking about. So finally this Ecuadorian lady who was eating there gets up and shows us the menu. So Hermana Foster looks at it and decides she wants shrimp lo mein. So this other Chinese guy comes out and Hermana Foster tells him that she wants tallarin con camaron, which is shrimp lo mein. The guy goes, pero es camaron PEQUEÑO!! ES CAMARON PEQUEÑO!!!! (It´s little shrimp!! LITTLE SHRIMP!!!) He keeps on saying that in Spanish, and Hermana Foster is like I KNOW!!! I STILL WANT IT!!! So then the guy tells her that she doesn´t speak Spanish very well!! We're like what!!!! YOU don´t speak Spanish!!! So finally Hermana Foster´s like, fine, if you won´t let me have shrimp lo mein, I´ll get something else!! So she pointed to something else on the menu and they guy goes, CAMARON!!! CON POLLO!!! Y CARNE!!!! (shrimp with chicken and beef!!!) He kept repeating that over and over but finally went back to make her food. So we´re sitting there waiting and laughing at what had just happened, and the lady comes back out and starts putting aji sauce in these little bags from a squirt bottle. Some of the aji dripped out of the top, and she wiped it up with her FINGER and scraped it back into the bottle. So I told Hermana Foster not to get the aji because . . . . eww!! So the guy comes back out with the food and opens it for Hermana Foster to see and says look!!! Shrimp with chicken and beef!!! Then he grabs her hand, pulls her index finger out in a pointing motion and STICKS IT INTO HER FOOD!!!! I was DYING, I was laughing so hard. So then in his broken Spanish he asks us how long we´ve been here, and Hermana Foster says, I´ve been here more than a year. So then he goes, ohhhh . . . . poco tiempo . . . . y poco español!! (Little time, and little spanish!!) So then we asked him how long he´d been here in Ecuador and he says, very proudly, 15 years!!! I´m from Hong Kong!!! We were like, I cannot believe you´ve been here for 15 years and you STILL can´t speak or understand Spanish, but you have the audacity to tell us that WE can´t speak Spanish!!! So then he says, you came in airplane (and he made his hand fly up into the air with a vrooooom noise so it was even more hilarious) and then said where are you from?? We said we were from the united states and his whole attitude changed!! His face darkened, he shoved the food into Hermana Foster´s hands and said, CHAO!!!, making a "go away" motion with his hands. It was the absolute funniest thing EVER!!!! Definitely a mission highlight. Seriously, who thinks that they´re going to go to Ecuador and have to talk to Chinese people . . . . in Spanish?? Now I want to go to all the chifas to see if they all have issues with the language!!!
But at the same time, I have been able to see and appreciate the gift of tongues. I learned how to speak pretty good Spanish within 6 months of coming here. It´s not perfect but it´s pretty good and I feel a lot more comfortable in conversations and lessons. That guy had been living here for 15 years and still hasn´t learned the language, and there are people from spanish speaking countries in the united states that never learn it. I´m very grateful to the Lord for blessing me with this gift so that I can take His gospel to the people in Ecuador. It´s still a little difficult sometimes but it gets easier every day to speak and to understand. Just one more evidence that this is the true church!!!
Anyway, that´s about it for me. I LOVE Craig´s pants and I forwarded the pictures to everyone in the mission. What are you gonna do Craig?? I´m in a different country!!!! MUAHAHAHAHA. Just kidding, I didn´t really forward them but I did love them and I´m glad he finally got them. Until next week, be good and don´t do anything stupid!!!
MUCHO AMOR
Hermana Chamberlain
I just loved talking to everyone on Mother´s Day!! The only bad thing is that we were so wrapped up in other things that I forgot to tell mom Happy Mother´s Day. How embarrassing!! So mom, Feliz Día de la Madre!! I have a picture that I want to send you, but I forgot my cable, so I´ll send it later. That´s hilarious also that you think I speak English with Spanish inflections. At least you could understand, I guess that´s what matters.
So we have a baptism TODAY!!! TWO baptisms, actually!! Linda and Andrea Sanchez are finally going to take the plunge (pun intended) at 4:30 this afternoon. Andrea finally came to church like she was supposed to, which was the only thing keeping her from getting baptized, and so everything´s all good. Their mom signed the permission slip and is even going to come, and their grandparents, whom they live with, are very excited. So are we!! Not a bad way to start off the new change, huh??
So the time has come. I was hoping it never would, I´ve been dreading it ever since I came to the office, but it finally came. Hermana Foster gave me . . . . . THE CELL PHONE. Which means I have to answer it when it rings and tell people what to do for their medical problems. To be honest, so far it hasn´t been to bad but I´m sure it will get more stressful. I´ve found that a lot of stuff has been shoved so far in the back of my mind for so long that I need help recalling it to memory. Hopefully when I get home they don´t make me take the NCLEX again. I would just cry. But the cell isn´t terrible, just that sometimes it´s hard to understand the Latins over the phone. Hermana Foster said that even for her at the beginning it was tough, and sometimes they had to give the phone to Hermana Montenegro to translate. But so far I´ve been doing okay, I feel. But I am really glad that Hermana Foster will still be here when President and Hermana Johns leave and the new president comes, because from then on we´ll be taking ALL the calls-there won´t be any Hermana Johns to take the other half. That will be stressful. But it will be fine.
Speaking of difficult to understand, we had a HILARIOUS experience on Wednesday. We were walking home and Hermana Foster says, hey I want some chifa (chinese food). I know, chinese food in Ecuador is a very strange concept, but all the chifa I´ve tried here has been REALLY good. Anyway, so we started looking for a chifa and finally found one and went in. So this chinese lady comes out and Hermana Foster asks to see the menu in Spanish. Chinese lady: Blank stare. She had NO idea what we were talking about. So finally this Ecuadorian lady who was eating there gets up and shows us the menu. So Hermana Foster looks at it and decides she wants shrimp lo mein. So this other Chinese guy comes out and Hermana Foster tells him that she wants tallarin con camaron, which is shrimp lo mein. The guy goes, pero es camaron PEQUEÑO!! ES CAMARON PEQUEÑO!!!! (It´s little shrimp!! LITTLE SHRIMP!!!) He keeps on saying that in Spanish, and Hermana Foster is like I KNOW!!! I STILL WANT IT!!! So then the guy tells her that she doesn´t speak Spanish very well!! We're like what!!!! YOU don´t speak Spanish!!! So finally Hermana Foster´s like, fine, if you won´t let me have shrimp lo mein, I´ll get something else!! So she pointed to something else on the menu and they guy goes, CAMARON!!! CON POLLO!!! Y CARNE!!!! (shrimp with chicken and beef!!!) He kept repeating that over and over but finally went back to make her food. So we´re sitting there waiting and laughing at what had just happened, and the lady comes back out and starts putting aji sauce in these little bags from a squirt bottle. Some of the aji dripped out of the top, and she wiped it up with her FINGER and scraped it back into the bottle. So I told Hermana Foster not to get the aji because . . . . eww!! So the guy comes back out with the food and opens it for Hermana Foster to see and says look!!! Shrimp with chicken and beef!!! Then he grabs her hand, pulls her index finger out in a pointing motion and STICKS IT INTO HER FOOD!!!! I was DYING, I was laughing so hard. So then in his broken Spanish he asks us how long we´ve been here, and Hermana Foster says, I´ve been here more than a year. So then he goes, ohhhh . . . . poco tiempo . . . . y poco español!! (Little time, and little spanish!!) So then we asked him how long he´d been here in Ecuador and he says, very proudly, 15 years!!! I´m from Hong Kong!!! We were like, I cannot believe you´ve been here for 15 years and you STILL can´t speak or understand Spanish, but you have the audacity to tell us that WE can´t speak Spanish!!! So then he says, you came in airplane (and he made his hand fly up into the air with a vrooooom noise so it was even more hilarious) and then said where are you from?? We said we were from the united states and his whole attitude changed!! His face darkened, he shoved the food into Hermana Foster´s hands and said, CHAO!!!, making a "go away" motion with his hands. It was the absolute funniest thing EVER!!!! Definitely a mission highlight. Seriously, who thinks that they´re going to go to Ecuador and have to talk to Chinese people . . . . in Spanish?? Now I want to go to all the chifas to see if they all have issues with the language!!!
But at the same time, I have been able to see and appreciate the gift of tongues. I learned how to speak pretty good Spanish within 6 months of coming here. It´s not perfect but it´s pretty good and I feel a lot more comfortable in conversations and lessons. That guy had been living here for 15 years and still hasn´t learned the language, and there are people from spanish speaking countries in the united states that never learn it. I´m very grateful to the Lord for blessing me with this gift so that I can take His gospel to the people in Ecuador. It´s still a little difficult sometimes but it gets easier every day to speak and to understand. Just one more evidence that this is the true church!!!
Anyway, that´s about it for me. I LOVE Craig´s pants and I forwarded the pictures to everyone in the mission. What are you gonna do Craig?? I´m in a different country!!!! MUAHAHAHAHA. Just kidding, I didn´t really forward them but I did love them and I´m glad he finally got them. Until next week, be good and don´t do anything stupid!!!
MUCHO AMOR
Hermana Chamberlain
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Dancing Clowns, Road Rage and Killer Taxis--Just Another Week in Ecuador
HOLAAAAAAAAA!!!
Excellent week this week!! We FINALLY found Eduardo and he FINALLY accepted a baptismal date for 29 May!!!! YAAAAAAY!!!! And we were gonna go make tacos at his house tonight, but his mom´s not there so we can´t go. BUT, they were going to go to Milagro this weekend but now they´ve decided not to. So he´ll be in church tomorrow!!!! YAAAAAAAY!!! I just love it when people do what they´re supposed to be doing. It just makes life so much easier. Plus it makes the Savior happy. That´s the best part of all.
So changes are tomorrow, and even though we´re not supposed to know anything about them (all the other office elders know, but they won´t tell us) we always know because Elder Thayne leaves them out on his desk for the whole world to see. So we found out what´s going down with all the hermanas last night and GUESS WHAT??? Hermana Montenegro is leaving to go back to Loja where she started the mission (she´s been in this sector for almost 8 months now) and one of my first companions, Hermana Laime, is coming here to be Hna. Castillo´s companion!! She´ll be in our same ward and everything. I´m way excited but Hna. Foster is even more excited than I am because she trained Hna. Laime and hasn´t seen her since she left Huancavilca. So yeah, this is pretty awesome. I´m super sad that Hna. Montenegro is leaving but I´m way excited that Hna. Laime is coming here!! That´ll be so sweet!!!
So even though we´ve been having a good week, we are a little bit sad because we´ve had to change all of the baptism dates for this change. Jorge and Lourdes are really excited to be baptized, so excited that they want to make it a huge deal and have their whole family there and have a party afterwards, which means that they don´t want to get baptized this saturday because no one can come. But you know what?? I think it´s great that they´re making such a big deal about it because it´s a very big deal!!! So I´m cool with that. Catalina and Esther still have this thing with the fear of what everyone´s going to say when they don´t participate in the Catholic stuff at their school, plus one of the priests that works there came up to Catalina (her of ALL the people that were there) and said, There´s a lot of people leaving the Catholic church and getting baptized into other churches, but I don´t understand why they´re getting baptized again when they´ve already been baptized. We were like OHHH MY GOSH. How many times have we explained this to you??? So we read this awesome scripture in D&C that says it doesn´t matter if you get baptized a hundred times, if you don´t do it the way God wants you to, it doesn´t count!!! We´ll be working with them a lot more, but they will be baptized. I just know it.
So yesterday we had a really weird afternoon. We had just gotten out of a lesson and we had to go with Elder Jackson one of our zone leaders to get his ingrown toenail taken out (sidenote: if anyone wants to see the pictures/video, let me know lol) so I was like, well I want to get some water before we go. So we went to a store and saw a clown outside. Hna. Foster was like, we should get a picture with him!! Now you all know how I feel about clowns, but this one wasn´t too frightening, so I said okay. Well we went out and got a picture with him and crossed the street. As we´re trying to get a taxi, I look over and the clown is DANCING. I started laughing and pulling out my camera so I could get a video, but then I was distracted by a car and a motorcycle not too far away from us. Apparently they´d had some kind of disagreement because they guy in the front seat of the car tried to get out while it was still moving to go fight with the guy on the motorcycle. So finally the car stops, they guys get off and they stalk over to motorcycle guy and all three of them start yelling at each other. We´re watching them, very entertained, when the traffic control guy shows up on his scooter and all three of them start yelling at him. He pulled something out from his hip and Hna. Foster goes, just shoot em, just shoot em all. So then I started laughing hysterically, but finally these two guys got back in their car and drove away, and then the motorcycle guy got back on and followed them!!!! I was like oh man, they´re gonna go somewhere and finish what they started, and Hna. Foster says, they´re going to Guasmo!!! So we cracked up laughing all over again, then finally got a taxi that didn´t try to rob us because they think we´re just stupid gringas that haven´t been here very long. Well we start off down the street and get to an intersection and this car pulls out RIGHT in front of us, so our taxista SLAMS on his brakes, screeching tires and almost hits the guy. So we´re like, hmmmmm, we should put our seatbelts on, but although there were two belts there was only one buckle. So I was like, okay Hna., you can have it, I´ll just die. I didn´t die obviously, but there was a real chance. But all of that happened within the same hour!!! And then, we were with Elder Jackson and the doctor is taking out his ingrown toenail, and his phone goes off . . . . . and his ringtone is the theme song from the Halloween movies. We were like uhhhh . . . . . we´d like to leave now. Creepy!!!!
Well I can´t think of anything else to say, so I´ll talk to you all at 6 Ecuadorian time tomorrow!! Not sure if that´s 7 Indiana time but I think it is. Make sure everyone is there so they can all talk to me and to those that have to wait for my next email to hear what´s going on, be good and don´t do anything I wouldn´t do!!!
MUCHO AMOR
Hermana Chamberlain
Excellent week this week!! We FINALLY found Eduardo and he FINALLY accepted a baptismal date for 29 May!!!! YAAAAAAY!!!! And we were gonna go make tacos at his house tonight, but his mom´s not there so we can´t go. BUT, they were going to go to Milagro this weekend but now they´ve decided not to. So he´ll be in church tomorrow!!!! YAAAAAAAY!!! I just love it when people do what they´re supposed to be doing. It just makes life so much easier. Plus it makes the Savior happy. That´s the best part of all.
So changes are tomorrow, and even though we´re not supposed to know anything about them (all the other office elders know, but they won´t tell us) we always know because Elder Thayne leaves them out on his desk for the whole world to see. So we found out what´s going down with all the hermanas last night and GUESS WHAT??? Hermana Montenegro is leaving to go back to Loja where she started the mission (she´s been in this sector for almost 8 months now) and one of my first companions, Hermana Laime, is coming here to be Hna. Castillo´s companion!! She´ll be in our same ward and everything. I´m way excited but Hna. Foster is even more excited than I am because she trained Hna. Laime and hasn´t seen her since she left Huancavilca. So yeah, this is pretty awesome. I´m super sad that Hna. Montenegro is leaving but I´m way excited that Hna. Laime is coming here!! That´ll be so sweet!!!
So even though we´ve been having a good week, we are a little bit sad because we´ve had to change all of the baptism dates for this change. Jorge and Lourdes are really excited to be baptized, so excited that they want to make it a huge deal and have their whole family there and have a party afterwards, which means that they don´t want to get baptized this saturday because no one can come. But you know what?? I think it´s great that they´re making such a big deal about it because it´s a very big deal!!! So I´m cool with that. Catalina and Esther still have this thing with the fear of what everyone´s going to say when they don´t participate in the Catholic stuff at their school, plus one of the priests that works there came up to Catalina (her of ALL the people that were there) and said, There´s a lot of people leaving the Catholic church and getting baptized into other churches, but I don´t understand why they´re getting baptized again when they´ve already been baptized. We were like OHHH MY GOSH. How many times have we explained this to you??? So we read this awesome scripture in D&C that says it doesn´t matter if you get baptized a hundred times, if you don´t do it the way God wants you to, it doesn´t count!!! We´ll be working with them a lot more, but they will be baptized. I just know it.
So yesterday we had a really weird afternoon. We had just gotten out of a lesson and we had to go with Elder Jackson one of our zone leaders to get his ingrown toenail taken out (sidenote: if anyone wants to see the pictures/video, let me know lol) so I was like, well I want to get some water before we go. So we went to a store and saw a clown outside. Hna. Foster was like, we should get a picture with him!! Now you all know how I feel about clowns, but this one wasn´t too frightening, so I said okay. Well we went out and got a picture with him and crossed the street. As we´re trying to get a taxi, I look over and the clown is DANCING. I started laughing and pulling out my camera so I could get a video, but then I was distracted by a car and a motorcycle not too far away from us. Apparently they´d had some kind of disagreement because they guy in the front seat of the car tried to get out while it was still moving to go fight with the guy on the motorcycle. So finally the car stops, they guys get off and they stalk over to motorcycle guy and all three of them start yelling at each other. We´re watching them, very entertained, when the traffic control guy shows up on his scooter and all three of them start yelling at him. He pulled something out from his hip and Hna. Foster goes, just shoot em, just shoot em all. So then I started laughing hysterically, but finally these two guys got back in their car and drove away, and then the motorcycle guy got back on and followed them!!!! I was like oh man, they´re gonna go somewhere and finish what they started, and Hna. Foster says, they´re going to Guasmo!!! So we cracked up laughing all over again, then finally got a taxi that didn´t try to rob us because they think we´re just stupid gringas that haven´t been here very long. Well we start off down the street and get to an intersection and this car pulls out RIGHT in front of us, so our taxista SLAMS on his brakes, screeching tires and almost hits the guy. So we´re like, hmmmmm, we should put our seatbelts on, but although there were two belts there was only one buckle. So I was like, okay Hna., you can have it, I´ll just die. I didn´t die obviously, but there was a real chance. But all of that happened within the same hour!!! And then, we were with Elder Jackson and the doctor is taking out his ingrown toenail, and his phone goes off . . . . . and his ringtone is the theme song from the Halloween movies. We were like uhhhh . . . . . we´d like to leave now. Creepy!!!!
Well I can´t think of anything else to say, so I´ll talk to you all at 6 Ecuadorian time tomorrow!! Not sure if that´s 7 Indiana time but I think it is. Make sure everyone is there so they can all talk to me and to those that have to wait for my next email to hear what´s going on, be good and don´t do anything I wouldn´t do!!!
MUCHO AMOR
Hermana Chamberlain
Monday, May 3, 2010
I´M CATHOLIC!!!! I GO TO CHURCH EVERY SUNDAY!!!
HOLA!!!
So I know you´re all really sad that you didn}t get to hear from me on Saturday, but now I´m writing on Monday like I used to, so it´s not that much of a difference!! So what happened on Saturday is that we went in the morning just to read our emails because we had other stuff to do, and we were going to come back later and write. Well I had this thought that maybe I should just write you all right then, but I totally ignored it and we left. We used some of our actual P day time to teach, so we came back in the night time to write. WELL . . . . it ended up being completely failtastic. Starting at about 4 in the afternoon, we walked all over the sector and the other hermana´s sector trying to find an open internet cafe. The first one we went to said that the internet in the whole area was down and wouldn´t be up for another 2 or 3 hours. We were like . . . . hmmmmm, we´re not sure if we believe that. So we went to another one and what do you know!! They were telling the truth. So we were like, okay, we´ll just go to our other appt. and then we´ll come back. So we went to visit Catalina and Esther and then came back to that same one, but they only had one computer open. So we went to another one, but it was closed, which happened with pretty much all of the ones we went to. So finally we found one that was open but ldsmail and all the other websites that we can get on weren´t working. We were like . . . . . UGGHHHH. So we went to another one and THAT one was closed. Finally we went back to the one where there had only been one computer open, thinking that maybe someone had left. Well no one had, so we ended up using the one computer to shoot you the quick lame emails that we sent on saturday. The thing that made me mad was that the guy who was on the computer next to me obviously worked there, because he didn´t have the little counter thingy that tells you how much it costs, and he was helping other people fix their computers. But he didn´t think it was important to get off his chat with his girlfriend so that we could both use the computer. Okay, enough ranting for the day.
Anyway, this week was pretty good. We´ve been working a lot with Jorge and Lourdes, and they are just SO good. I´m so amazed everytime we teach them how quickly they accept the committments to keep the commandments.. . . . and how quickly they keep these committments. We taught them the word of wisdom this past week and found out that Lourdes drinks coffee every day. Well you know what she told us?? "Hermanas, I knew it was bad before, but I didn´t care. But now that I know that it´s a commandment of the Lord, I´m going to do it." YEAH!!!! That´s what I´m talking about!!!! Why can´t everyone have this attitude??? So the next day they invited us over for lunch, and when we sat down at the table we saw a little bag of hot chocolate. We asked Lourdes, what´s this?? And she said, that´s what I´m drinking instead of coffee. I haven´t drunk coffee since yesterday. We were like . . . . . WOW!! So then we said, well how´s your head?? because a lot of people get headaches when they´re trying to quit drinking coffee. She said, it´s good, I haven´t had any headache at all. So then we asked her this Friday if it was still going good and she said, I threw out all the coffee and bought more hot chocolate, I haven´t drunk coffee since you taught us that we shouldn´t. I haven´t had any headache at all and my daughter is really happy that I´ve quit drinking coffee too. We were just dumbfounded. What amazing faith she showed and continues to show!!!! They will be baptized this Saturday, barring any unforseen complications. Let me just tell you a little bit more about them. Jorge and Lourdes have two kids, Erika and Gabriel. Erika will probably be baptized right after her parents, becuase due to scheduling conflicts we can´t teach them all together, but Gabriel is only 4 so he´s got some time to wait. Jorge and Lourdes got married a couple years ago, just becuase they felt like they should. Jorge drives a taxi for a living and Lourdes stays at home with the kids. They both read the Book of Mormon and the Gospel Principles book faithfully, and come to church every Sunday . . . . by themselves!!! We don´t even have to go get them!!! They´re making friends with the members and doing all the things that they should be doing. We only need to teach them two more times to get all the lessons in so that they can be baptized. Please please pray a lot for them so that they can be baptized this Saturday without anything crazy or ridiculous happening. You know how it goes . . . . the week before is the worst!!!
Catolina and Esther are probably going to need some more time before they´re baptized, because they still need to get over this fear of what everyone else is going to think when they´re not doing Catholic stuff in their school. But Esther finally came to church for the first time and this girl walked right up to her and said, hey, you go to my school!!! BOOM!!! Instant friends. Why can´t all the members do that when we bring people to church?? Everyone at home, befriend the investigators when the missionaries bring them to church!!! They need all the support they can get!! Also, Andrea, Linda´s sister, finally came to church too, so when they both start coming regularly we can finally get them baptized. Their date is May 15 and I feel like we could really actually get it done this time!! We´re still trying to find Eduardo, but he´s pretty much okay, still going to seminary and stuff. It´s really frustrating sometimes because we have double responsiblities and we have to keep track of all the missionaries plus all the people in our sector where we´re working, and sometimes I feel ridiculously overwhelmed. But I´m dealing with it the best I can.
Well, what else can I talk about that happened this week?? We saw Nayely and her mom for the first time since they left the hospital, and Nayely is completely back to normal. Maria wants everyone who donated blood to come to her house for lunch, but we´re not sure if we´ll be allowed to go because well, they live in Guasmo and it´s really dangerous there, but we´re going to ask President. Our zone leaders would be going with us too because they donated, and one of them was 6th in the nation for wrestling and almost went to the Olympics, and the other one was a UFC fighter and only lost one fight before he came on his mission, so I think that even if someone did try to rob us, we´d probably be okay. But either way we have to get permission because it´s outside our area. But how cool that she wants to give us food!!
We had a really hilarious experience yesterday. All of our appointments fell through so we were like, let´s go knock some doors!!! Or rather, lets go creep on some windows, because everyone here leaves their windows open because there are bars on all of them and you don´t have to worry. Anyway, so we were looking for this girl that we had contacted before and we thought we had found her house, but she lives upstairs. So there was this lady sitting in the doorway of the house downstairs, so we asked her if Camila lived above her. She said no, it was another lady. So Hna. Foster said, well how are you, what´s your name?? She said her name was Nelly. So Hermana Foster says oh nice to meet you, I¨m Hna. Foster and this is my companion, so I said, hola, I´m Hna. Chamberlain. I´m not even kidding, this is the only thing we said, but Nelly FREAKED OUT. She starts YELLING, saying I´M CATHOLIC!!!! I GO TO CHURCH EVERY SUNDAY!!! I WENT TO CHURCH THIS MORNING TOO!!! I´M CATHOLIC AND SO IS MY FAMILY, AND I WILL NEVER LEAVE THE CATHOLICISM THAT MY FATHERS LEFT ME!!! I´m not even kidding, she was like YELLING!!! Hna. Foster is looking at her with this really nice, kind expression and saying things like, oh that´s so great that you go to church, and I´m standing here trying SO hard not to laugh because I just think it´s the most hilarious thing I´ve ever seen. So finally she quits yelling at us and Hna. Foster says, bueno hermana, we always invite you to listen (I about lost it at that point, it was just too much) and nelly is like, GRACIAS, in this really grumpy voice. We left and we didn´t even get out of sight and sound before both of us just cracked up laughing. It was really just too hilarious. We hadn´t even said that we were missionaries, or the name of the church or anything, just that we were hermanas, and she totally had a hissy fit. SOOOOO FUNNY. So THEN, we went to another window and found this guy sitting in there. So we go up and we´re like hi, how are you, trying to make conversation, and the only thing that he would say was que desea (what do you want). So Hna. Foster is trying to talk to him, asking him questions and all that, and he like refuses to talk to us, giving us like one word answers and all that. So we asked him if we could come in and talk to him and he was like, no, I don´t live here, I´m going to leave like right now. So finally after 4 or 5 minutes of one sided very awkward conversation, Hna. Foster says, well, maybe another day. And the guy goes, no, no other day. Just like that!!! I about laughed then too, because he was just such a jerk that I couldn´t even believe it. It was hilarious!! And then right after that we found two families that told us we could come back later. So yeah. It was pretty awesome.
As for life in the office, we had to put someone in the hospital with a collapsed lung this week, and two of the missionaries in Machala are in the hospital, one with definite dengue and the other with suspected dengue. Then we got another call this morning from Santa Rosa saying that one of the missionaries had a fever and can we give him ibuprofen because tylenol´s not doing anything. I was like NO!!!! NO NO NO NO NO!!!! Because in the States it´s no big deal but here ibuprofen with a fever is a huge no no, because high fever is one of the first signs of dengue, and if you take ibuprofen to try and get the fever down, it can cause you to hemorrhage, like Nayely did. Thanks to her, poor thing, we are sure of the existence of hemorrhagic dengue, so we´re definitely not taking chances with the missionaries. Other than that, it´s the usual . . . . . my stomach hurts, I have diarrhea, my knees, back, feet, ankles hurt-common missionary ailments. It´s always the same things (and usually the same people too, to be honest) so I´m learning faster than I thought I would. But the end of my first change in the office is nearing and after that I have to start taking the phone by myself and I´m kind of terrified. But I´ll be fine. (Sidenote: Who can believe I´ve almost been here for 6 months, and been on the mission for almost 8?? Not me!!!)
Well that´s about it for me. I hope everyone is doing fabulous. I love that Craig is possibly getting a pair of $90 pants for free, just because of the way he raised money to pay for them. You should totally send it to Regis and Kelly. Except Kelly the talk show host is super annoying. So maybe Oprah. Oh wait, she´s annoying too. Better send it to Regis. That would be amazing!!! Let me know when he gets the pants and send me a picture. I´m glad the rest of the family is doing well and that everyone is happy and healthy and being good. Keep doing that and you´ll all be set to jet!!
MUCHO AMOR
Hermana Chamberlain
So I know you´re all really sad that you didn}t get to hear from me on Saturday, but now I´m writing on Monday like I used to, so it´s not that much of a difference!! So what happened on Saturday is that we went in the morning just to read our emails because we had other stuff to do, and we were going to come back later and write. Well I had this thought that maybe I should just write you all right then, but I totally ignored it and we left. We used some of our actual P day time to teach, so we came back in the night time to write. WELL . . . . it ended up being completely failtastic. Starting at about 4 in the afternoon, we walked all over the sector and the other hermana´s sector trying to find an open internet cafe. The first one we went to said that the internet in the whole area was down and wouldn´t be up for another 2 or 3 hours. We were like . . . . hmmmmm, we´re not sure if we believe that. So we went to another one and what do you know!! They were telling the truth. So we were like, okay, we´ll just go to our other appt. and then we´ll come back. So we went to visit Catalina and Esther and then came back to that same one, but they only had one computer open. So we went to another one, but it was closed, which happened with pretty much all of the ones we went to. So finally we found one that was open but ldsmail and all the other websites that we can get on weren´t working. We were like . . . . . UGGHHHH. So we went to another one and THAT one was closed. Finally we went back to the one where there had only been one computer open, thinking that maybe someone had left. Well no one had, so we ended up using the one computer to shoot you the quick lame emails that we sent on saturday. The thing that made me mad was that the guy who was on the computer next to me obviously worked there, because he didn´t have the little counter thingy that tells you how much it costs, and he was helping other people fix their computers. But he didn´t think it was important to get off his chat with his girlfriend so that we could both use the computer. Okay, enough ranting for the day.
Anyway, this week was pretty good. We´ve been working a lot with Jorge and Lourdes, and they are just SO good. I´m so amazed everytime we teach them how quickly they accept the committments to keep the commandments.. . . . and how quickly they keep these committments. We taught them the word of wisdom this past week and found out that Lourdes drinks coffee every day. Well you know what she told us?? "Hermanas, I knew it was bad before, but I didn´t care. But now that I know that it´s a commandment of the Lord, I´m going to do it." YEAH!!!! That´s what I´m talking about!!!! Why can´t everyone have this attitude??? So the next day they invited us over for lunch, and when we sat down at the table we saw a little bag of hot chocolate. We asked Lourdes, what´s this?? And she said, that´s what I´m drinking instead of coffee. I haven´t drunk coffee since yesterday. We were like . . . . . WOW!! So then we said, well how´s your head?? because a lot of people get headaches when they´re trying to quit drinking coffee. She said, it´s good, I haven´t had any headache at all. So then we asked her this Friday if it was still going good and she said, I threw out all the coffee and bought more hot chocolate, I haven´t drunk coffee since you taught us that we shouldn´t. I haven´t had any headache at all and my daughter is really happy that I´ve quit drinking coffee too. We were just dumbfounded. What amazing faith she showed and continues to show!!!! They will be baptized this Saturday, barring any unforseen complications. Let me just tell you a little bit more about them. Jorge and Lourdes have two kids, Erika and Gabriel. Erika will probably be baptized right after her parents, becuase due to scheduling conflicts we can´t teach them all together, but Gabriel is only 4 so he´s got some time to wait. Jorge and Lourdes got married a couple years ago, just becuase they felt like they should. Jorge drives a taxi for a living and Lourdes stays at home with the kids. They both read the Book of Mormon and the Gospel Principles book faithfully, and come to church every Sunday . . . . by themselves!!! We don´t even have to go get them!!! They´re making friends with the members and doing all the things that they should be doing. We only need to teach them two more times to get all the lessons in so that they can be baptized. Please please pray a lot for them so that they can be baptized this Saturday without anything crazy or ridiculous happening. You know how it goes . . . . the week before is the worst!!!
Catolina and Esther are probably going to need some more time before they´re baptized, because they still need to get over this fear of what everyone else is going to think when they´re not doing Catholic stuff in their school. But Esther finally came to church for the first time and this girl walked right up to her and said, hey, you go to my school!!! BOOM!!! Instant friends. Why can´t all the members do that when we bring people to church?? Everyone at home, befriend the investigators when the missionaries bring them to church!!! They need all the support they can get!! Also, Andrea, Linda´s sister, finally came to church too, so when they both start coming regularly we can finally get them baptized. Their date is May 15 and I feel like we could really actually get it done this time!! We´re still trying to find Eduardo, but he´s pretty much okay, still going to seminary and stuff. It´s really frustrating sometimes because we have double responsiblities and we have to keep track of all the missionaries plus all the people in our sector where we´re working, and sometimes I feel ridiculously overwhelmed. But I´m dealing with it the best I can.
Well, what else can I talk about that happened this week?? We saw Nayely and her mom for the first time since they left the hospital, and Nayely is completely back to normal. Maria wants everyone who donated blood to come to her house for lunch, but we´re not sure if we´ll be allowed to go because well, they live in Guasmo and it´s really dangerous there, but we´re going to ask President. Our zone leaders would be going with us too because they donated, and one of them was 6th in the nation for wrestling and almost went to the Olympics, and the other one was a UFC fighter and only lost one fight before he came on his mission, so I think that even if someone did try to rob us, we´d probably be okay. But either way we have to get permission because it´s outside our area. But how cool that she wants to give us food!!
We had a really hilarious experience yesterday. All of our appointments fell through so we were like, let´s go knock some doors!!! Or rather, lets go creep on some windows, because everyone here leaves their windows open because there are bars on all of them and you don´t have to worry. Anyway, so we were looking for this girl that we had contacted before and we thought we had found her house, but she lives upstairs. So there was this lady sitting in the doorway of the house downstairs, so we asked her if Camila lived above her. She said no, it was another lady. So Hna. Foster said, well how are you, what´s your name?? She said her name was Nelly. So Hermana Foster says oh nice to meet you, I¨m Hna. Foster and this is my companion, so I said, hola, I´m Hna. Chamberlain. I´m not even kidding, this is the only thing we said, but Nelly FREAKED OUT. She starts YELLING, saying I´M CATHOLIC!!!! I GO TO CHURCH EVERY SUNDAY!!! I WENT TO CHURCH THIS MORNING TOO!!! I´M CATHOLIC AND SO IS MY FAMILY, AND I WILL NEVER LEAVE THE CATHOLICISM THAT MY FATHERS LEFT ME!!! I´m not even kidding, she was like YELLING!!! Hna. Foster is looking at her with this really nice, kind expression and saying things like, oh that´s so great that you go to church, and I´m standing here trying SO hard not to laugh because I just think it´s the most hilarious thing I´ve ever seen. So finally she quits yelling at us and Hna. Foster says, bueno hermana, we always invite you to listen (I about lost it at that point, it was just too much) and nelly is like, GRACIAS, in this really grumpy voice. We left and we didn´t even get out of sight and sound before both of us just cracked up laughing. It was really just too hilarious. We hadn´t even said that we were missionaries, or the name of the church or anything, just that we were hermanas, and she totally had a hissy fit. SOOOOO FUNNY. So THEN, we went to another window and found this guy sitting in there. So we go up and we´re like hi, how are you, trying to make conversation, and the only thing that he would say was que desea (what do you want). So Hna. Foster is trying to talk to him, asking him questions and all that, and he like refuses to talk to us, giving us like one word answers and all that. So we asked him if we could come in and talk to him and he was like, no, I don´t live here, I´m going to leave like right now. So finally after 4 or 5 minutes of one sided very awkward conversation, Hna. Foster says, well, maybe another day. And the guy goes, no, no other day. Just like that!!! I about laughed then too, because he was just such a jerk that I couldn´t even believe it. It was hilarious!! And then right after that we found two families that told us we could come back later. So yeah. It was pretty awesome.
As for life in the office, we had to put someone in the hospital with a collapsed lung this week, and two of the missionaries in Machala are in the hospital, one with definite dengue and the other with suspected dengue. Then we got another call this morning from Santa Rosa saying that one of the missionaries had a fever and can we give him ibuprofen because tylenol´s not doing anything. I was like NO!!!! NO NO NO NO NO!!!! Because in the States it´s no big deal but here ibuprofen with a fever is a huge no no, because high fever is one of the first signs of dengue, and if you take ibuprofen to try and get the fever down, it can cause you to hemorrhage, like Nayely did. Thanks to her, poor thing, we are sure of the existence of hemorrhagic dengue, so we´re definitely not taking chances with the missionaries. Other than that, it´s the usual . . . . . my stomach hurts, I have diarrhea, my knees, back, feet, ankles hurt-common missionary ailments. It´s always the same things (and usually the same people too, to be honest) so I´m learning faster than I thought I would. But the end of my first change in the office is nearing and after that I have to start taking the phone by myself and I´m kind of terrified. But I´ll be fine. (Sidenote: Who can believe I´ve almost been here for 6 months, and been on the mission for almost 8?? Not me!!!)
Well that´s about it for me. I hope everyone is doing fabulous. I love that Craig is possibly getting a pair of $90 pants for free, just because of the way he raised money to pay for them. You should totally send it to Regis and Kelly. Except Kelly the talk show host is super annoying. So maybe Oprah. Oh wait, she´s annoying too. Better send it to Regis. That would be amazing!!! Let me know when he gets the pants and send me a picture. I´m glad the rest of the family is doing well and that everyone is happy and healthy and being good. Keep doing that and you´ll all be set to jet!!
MUCHO AMOR
Hermana Chamberlain
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Technical Difficulties at the Internet Cafe
Hola Family and Friends!!
So, due to circumstances beyond our control, we were unable to come back and write really long emails today. I´m currently in an internet cafe writing, but I can´t write too much because there´s only one computer open and Hermana Foster has to shoot a quick email to her family too. So I´m very sorry and I know I should have written this morning when all the cybers were open and the internet was functioning in all of them and myldsmail was also functioning (more about this on Monday) but for now just know that you´ll be hearing all about our great week in two days and that I love you all and hope you´re all doing well and doing the right things and that some people will be receiving letters soon and if you don´t get one, you´ll probably get one later too. Mucho amor para todos!!!!!
More later, but just so you can see this video. Hermana Foster´s family sent it to her and the first time I saw it I just cried because it was so beautiful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0O1DV5M1ww
Hermana Chamberlain
So, due to circumstances beyond our control, we were unable to come back and write really long emails today. I´m currently in an internet cafe writing, but I can´t write too much because there´s only one computer open and Hermana Foster has to shoot a quick email to her family too. So I´m very sorry and I know I should have written this morning when all the cybers were open and the internet was functioning in all of them and myldsmail was also functioning (more about this on Monday) but for now just know that you´ll be hearing all about our great week in two days and that I love you all and hope you´re all doing well and doing the right things and that some people will be receiving letters soon and if you don´t get one, you´ll probably get one later too. Mucho amor para todos!!!!!
More later, but just so you can see this video. Hermana Foster´s family sent it to her and the first time I saw it I just cried because it was so beautiful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0O1DV5M1ww
Hermana Chamberlain
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