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