Week 7-Republica!

Wow! I do not even know where to start. This has probably been the craziest 2 weeks of my life. So, as you all know I left the CCM and that was super hard. I never thought I would say that but I really did love the CCM. You get to sit all day and learn how to bring others unto Christ. Sounds pretty nice now that all I do is walk around in the heat all day. Ha Ha! I left the CCM Tuesday morning and headed off to the Mission Presidents home. I love my mission president and his wife SO MUCH! He speaks a combo of Spanish, Portuguese, and English so it is hard to understand him but he is so great!  After meeting them, having lunch, and a learning all of the rules, we headed off to Maipu (yes my poo) to meet our trainers. To say I was sick to my stomach to meet my trainer would be an understatement. Deep down I was really hoping for a trainer from the U.S. who would understand how hard it is to learn Spanish and be sympathetic but God had other plans for me. A 4’ 10” super sassy Argentinian who speaks zero English and has no sympathy. Ha Ha! She is amazing though and has taught me so much!! I met her, the elders took my suitcases, they gave me a backpack and we started proselyting right off the bat! Please read Matt 10: 16-20 to understand how I felt my first day. After 5 hours of proselyting, we returned to our ‘home’. I live in the ghetto and my apartment is something else I tell you. Let’s just say it makes me miss home….. a lot. My area is Republica which is right in the middle of the city. It’s by Navia on a map. We are the first and only Hermana’s in this area because it has been known to be dangerous. Don’t freak out, I will be fine. But really it’s sketchy. Ha Ha! It is incredibly rough and everyone is so poor. The elders treat us like gold though because we are the only sisters. My companion and I have HUGE goals and already have 3 investigators with baptismal dates. Please pray for Javier, Juan, and Edwin EVERY DAY. Juan and Edwin are from Peru and are in Santiago for work. They send money home to their families every month and live apart, it breaks my heart. I am so blessed!! I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to come home sometimes. This is hard stuff. My feet were so swollen the first night I couldn’t even get my shoes on the next day I kid you not. I had blisters on top of blisters. Ha ha! We walk at least 10 miles a day because our area is so big! I am so happy though. Nothing easy is worth it. You know that saying, Obedience brings blessings? I love this quote but I believe exact obedience AND sacrifice brings miracles. So I wake up 30 minutes early in order to study Spanish more. I know if I sacrifice the Lord will bless me. Funny stories of the week. I hope this doesn’t make you fly down here and get me but some chicks threatened to kill me yesterday. I wouldn’t have cared but they had a knife. Ha ha They started screaming horrible things at us and I didn’t understand so I was just sitting there smiling and my companion runs off so I hurry and follow her. We get around the corner and my companion told me they were saying, Let’s kill the North American. Ha ha Girls these days. Also 5 minutes into my real mission and some man with no teeth comes up to me and grabs me in a hug and refused to let go. My companion was trying to pull him off and his wife was smacking him in the head and he still wouldn’t let go. I was terrified. The first night with my companion I was just kind of sad. Kind of wallowing in self-pity because it was 100 degrees and we have no AC. I was just lying there thinking about Circle K. The next day we had our first lunch at a members house and it was HUGE. They don’t have dinner here so lunch is a combo of both. Anyways I am struggling to get this meal down when in the distance I hear the song Don’t Stop Believing by Journey. That gave me strength to finish. Ha ha I gave my first talk in Spanish to my ward yesterday and I sound so gringa my heavens. I asked them to pray for my Spanish and they all died laughing. I need all the help I can get. I LOVE YOU ALL!!