So I would be lying if I didn’t say this has been the hardest week of my entire life. My flight to Atlanta was with Elder Lambert who was going to Brazil and accidently missed his earlier flight and Elder Campbell who was going with me to Santiago. We were all waiting to board the plane when some man covered in tattoos and earrings came up to us and thanked us for everything we did as missionaries. SO COOL. So we board the plane and start talking to this man who is from Brazil. And guess what?! We were able to give him a Book of Mormon!! So we totally knew Elder Lambert was supposed to miss his flight for a reason. It was amazing. Then we land in Atlanta... 5 seconds after walking around we get bible bashed by some pilot SO hard. He starts telling us we are brain washed and we need to leave the church so we can be saved. And not going to lie, it kind of hurt. But we had so many good experiences earlier that we decided to just ignore him and keep going. The flight was soooo rough. I didn’t sleep more than 20 minutes probably. When we landed in Santiago though and I got so excited. This is my home for the next almost 600 days. This is where I will have people change my life and I can hopefully change theirs. It’s crazy to think about. So Santiago is gorgeous. I live on temple square though and wake up to see the temple every morning. Nothing better than that am I right?? I live with 5 other girls and it is so much fun! The food is not my favorite. Chileans have 4 four food groups. Potatoes. Bread. Pasta. Rice. CARBS CARBS CARBS. Every Saturday night everyone weighs in and cries basically. hahaha It’s okay though because getting fat at this point is the least of my worries. Spanish is kicking my booty! The CCM is a lot like spanish class with Mr. Borba except everyone around you speaks spanish and you are in Chile and now you are learning spanish to save souls and preach the gospel not just pass the class.. We wake up at 6:45, do personal study for an hour, eat breakfast (no milk here for cereal, just yogurt...) then we go work out at a park for 30 minutes which is so fun and therapeutic. Then we have class from 10 in the morning til 10 at night. I have never been so emotionally/physically/spiritually exhausted! But I really am so happy here. I cry at least once a day just like every sister here because I AM SO HOME SICK. I miss you guys more than I can say. My heart sometimes actually physically hurts. But if I can save just ONE person while I am here, it will all be worth it. My companions name is Hermana Rockwood and she is an angel I tell you. She is never sad! She is adopted and has 9 siblings. She is from Thousand Oaks, California. We basically are just best friends now because you know.. we are with each other literally 24/7. But she pushes me to be better and we love each other a lot. My MTC presidents are amazing and it is so cool that we are so close to them because there are only 50 of us in here! Smallest MTC in the world. Hermana Doll (president’s wife) hugs us every night when we come back and comes and says goodnight before we fall asleep. I want to be her when I grow up. Hermana Escobar, one of my maestros here in the CCM, always tells us that is someone needs to be happy its missionaries. So I repeat that every night before I fall asleep and every morning when the dang alarm clock goes off and I die inside. The MTC is a revelation center!! Also side note, there is this ice cream popsicle thing here called a frambuesa.... No words. I only allow myself one every 2 days. We watched a devotional on Sunday from Dallin H. Oaks and his wife and she said the most amazing thing. She said 10 out of every 100 people who have joined the church said they knew the church was true just by passing the missionaries. I cried like a baby when she said that. I love this gospel. I love that people all over the world speaking a million different languages all learn the same things every Sunday and still believe in the same things. I love this gospel. I know I need to be here right now. Please pray for me, I need the prayers. Please keep me updated with you guys! Thanks for your earlier emails. I LOVE YOU.
