Can´t beleive it´s September this week. This week I will hit my 6 month mark in the mission. Crazy!

 

This week was good, Hna Parada was sick again, some ovary infection, they thought it was appendisitis at first, but luckily it wasn´t and now she is feeling much better, however we weren´t able to work for a couple days so that was a bummer, but igual tuvimos buenas citas!

This week we saw some success with menos activos. Really, my heart just hurts for these people that they don´t have the knowledge or understanding, but at the same time i just love them. I really do just love these chileans and want the best for them!

Familia Astudillo, we´ve been visiting them for a few weeks now and teaching there granddaughter, Ivana off and on when she´s there! good news, they can´t go to church because her leg is bad, can´t really walk (the grandma, not Ivana) but we talked to the ward and they decided to bring them the Sacrament every week. So they are now able to take the Sacrament! ah, it made me so so happy to hear that. They have such strong testimonies and I was so happy to hear that they can take the Sacrament. They will reach there goal for an eternal family, i just hope all there family can be reactivated.

Ivana is solid, she always reads when we leave her something and is praying. The other day we asked her why she wants to listen and what she expects to get from us teaching her. She said, to know that todo es verdadero! Que Bueno! She wants to know and this week shes gonna come to mutual with the mujeres jovenes. She´s great, i think she´ll accept a fecha soon, just paciencia y fe with her! :)

The other menos activa family is the Familia Tapia (reminds me of the fish that we eat sometime, Talapia?)

We passed by last monday night to visit them and they accepted us right in there house!

We shared something short with them and really just wanted to get to know them better, they have a large family, live in a humble home, and just kinda lost there animo to go to church, and they live seriously, 30 seconds from it! but we had another cita with them this week as well and the mom told us, ¨quiero y necesito regresar, este Domingo! ¨(i need and want to return, this sunday) but she didn´t come... bummer. Her Husband did though so i know its just with time and she´ll come too. they are so willing to let us visit them and really enjoy it!

Silvia and Pedro, Siliva is menos activa that came to church sunday! We put a fecha with her son, Pedro (yes dad, i thought of you and my bracelet). The only thing is, he is an alcoholic, so its just harder to find him sober, he didn´t come to church because he was drunk, but everyone can change! and we have a cita to teach him this week.

Elizabeth, she read 14 chapters of el LDM in one week. 14 CHAPTERS! I honestly just couldn´t believe it! I was like... what? Shes not ready to accept a baptism date yet, not sure why because she beleives it, but that´s our goal is to find her need and then resolve it with baptism. She´s also a physical therapist and works with the respiratory system lots with niños. She just soaks everything up when we teach her. I just am not sure if she really understands why we´re there or if she likes to hear the word of God. Either way, shes good. Told us that she´s gonna come to church, so i really really hope that happens! Gonna pass by for her!

oh, este semana we met a lady in the street named Rosa, she is almost 90 but seems like 75... she was talking to us for a while, kinda crazy, but she was so pleasant and kind to me and then she turned to my companion and goes ¨tiene un alma terrible¨ she then goes off how she needs to learn to be more humble and that she´s worked with lots of people in her life and knows when she´s met someone who has Satan in them and that she´s gonna pray that satan can leave her soul... it was SO weird. Hna Parada and I were both just trying not to laugh because she was just loca! ha. needless to say, not going to return to her... Hna Parada felt a little sad, but mostly just was funny!

I was studying Mosiah 2 this morning Rey de Benjamin! i loved verses 25 and 26, 25 says something like... Can ye say more of youself? No. and then says that we´re created by God and everything. Then vs 26 Rey Benjamin dijo, Not even I, your king is more than you. I just loved it because these chapters are tan poderoso and really he is speaking the word of God so strongly but in vs 26 shows how humble he is ahd knows that really we´re all the same and all hijos de Dios. I loved it. Just a reminder to really be more humble and not think that I´m better than anyone!

oh, here in Viña there is a chucky cheese.. how funny is that! I want to have a zone activity there the next change. it´d be hilarious! and a starbucks.. big surprise, huh? Everyweek i find something that makes me feel right at home!

dad, i was in a members house for lunch and i went to the bathroom and they had perfume and cologne, I almost always smell them in every house, not sure why but i do! ha! But i smelt a cologne and it was the same as dads! made me think of him and i told the Hermana and she was so pleased to know that people in USA have the same cologne. yes, her husband is....¨Classy"

Well, that was about this week. Lots of good. This week i´m really hoping and praying for lots of work. Fill the week with investigators for the next change. Transfers are next week so P-day should be on Tuesday, I think. If neither of us gets changed i think it´s still Monday though. not sure what will happen, but either of those two days! The church is true family. Jesus Christ Lives. God loves us. It´s simple. I love this Gospel and this opprotunity I have to serve a mission and the things that I´m learning!

I love you all, miss you, and pray for you always!

Keep Smiling,

Hna Sargent

p.s. oh...michael buble just came on the radio over the internet place... love!

 



Hola Familia,

 

This week was good, we were in the apart lots i felt like, Hna Parada just isn´t so good with health, sometimes i wonder if she´s trunky, or really sick because once we leave, she seems fine for the most part and it´s just in the mornings or when we don´t have citas planned so who knows. Lots of lessons to learn and patience to be tested, right? Kinda a bummer to be in the apart lots... I just want to work. i love this area. lots of people just waiting, i know it!

this week we´ve taught a few people that are still accepting us and reading.

Isabel- we went and she told us that the mom of her nietas doesn´t want them to listen and participate and that they need to be reading their school books and not the LDM. SO SAD. she said that they all read 3 chapters together and felt really good about it. But she had to stop because her daughter. She promised us that she was gonna come to church, but no. Triste. She´s really good though, i think with more lessons and time to really teach her that it´ll come. The other good thing is that her daughter works in the shop our Bishop owns. I gave him homework to win her over! ha!

Elizabeth- she´s the one who called us.. which i still find incredible. She can only be taught sundays because she works far away all the other days. but we were teaching her and she told us that she understands why the LDM was written and that it makes sense people were here in the americas. We explained Joseph Smith and asked her to read the LDM and pray to find out if its true, she said she believes it. i was just like woah! super bien,still is gonna read and pray and we´re hoping the next lesson to put a fecha with her! She´s great. super inteligent in the bible and all, but understands that Christ had his church and all... there is definite hope with her!

Conny- Conny was baptized a while back and went menos activa fast... sad, she´s just not animated to have anything to do with the church. We taught her Lesson 1 again and were talking about it all. she just told us she doesn´t know anymore if she believes it and doesn´t really want to because she wants to return to her old life... my heart just hurts for her! The YSA people are so good to her though, she goes to the activites and all, just not to church and doesn´t want to live the gospel anymore. I´m hoping it´s just for a short period of time and that we can help her realize that this is TRUE!

Omar- no one else is a member in his fam, and we passed by the other night to see if he was home, he wasn´t so we shared something short with his family and when we were leaving he showed up, i just got the strongest impression that i need to teach him and that he is gonna except! His family is so great to him, always helping him in the gospel but i just had this feeling! Hna Parada feels like we can´t be too persistent in teaching him but i honestly feel like he will except soon! I just have the mind set with him... be bold. He knows alot already. go and read the LDM with him and ask him to pray!

Everytime we have a cita with a miembro it falls through. well, almost everytime! It drives me crazy. I just know it´s because these people are perfect and they have something to say that will help the investigator. I just know its Satan because he knows it as well.

 

We had a zone meeting the other day and President showed up for about 15 minutes. he was watching Hna Parada and I teach, it´s always so intimidating, but afterwards he paid me some compliments so that´s good. He is so nice. I don´t even know him that well, but i just feel love for him and for his desire to help us improve and see success as missionaries! I love that he is a go-getter! just do it type attitude. it´s great! I wish i could know his wife more, but she is always busy with the children, they have 4 under the age of 11... crazy life for the next 3 years, right?

 

We had a ward activity that was great. we had a few investigators and menos activas come as well :) It was Lehi´s Dream. we had different rooms of tempations and everyone had a blindfold and had to ¨hold to the rod¨ when the arrived to the tree of life they could take a ¨fruit¨ marshmellow and eat it. Then we gave a little short lesson of 1 Nefi 8 and ended the night with a festival de postres! everyone seemed to enjoy it. Some people fell away from the iron rod and it was really sad to see that. seriously, so easy to intice them to come to a party or to a room with lots of sports stuff, ect! Thats life though, we always have to be strong and firm to hold to the rod!

I was reading earlier this week in 2 nefi 5 when the nefitas y lamanitas split and the nephites were all happy and i was looking for the things that made them happy and i found 7.. 1. Familia (vs 6) 2. Obediencia (10) 3. Scriptures (12) 4. Preparation (14) 5. Work (15) 6. Temple (16) 7. Church callings (26)

I was applying these things to my life and when i have these 7 things i really am happy and when i am accomplishing them all i´m even more happy! Just some food for thought!

oh funny thing.. the other day it was raining and we got in the bus and it was packed people standing and everything. I was really close to the driver and inbetween 2 men, and my umbrella popped open and the driver was like... ¨what the heck?¨ the two men looked at me like i was a crazy gringa! which might be true. but i just said ¨lo siento, no creo que hay lluvia en el micro¨ (i don´t think there is rain on the bus) and they all just started laughing. easy way to start a conversation with them all! ha.

Hna Ramos got this quote this past week that i liked... ¨sometimes were in an area to invite other people to come unto Christ, to invite our companion to come to Christ, or to invite ourselves to come to Christ.¨ Super good, right?!

Also, people have asked for my breakfast food i eat... ha! Either oatmeal with blueberries and banana or Cheerios and Herbal Tea! :)

 

the weather also is starting to get warmer. i love it!

Robs.. mission prep. Read Our search for Happiness. Just started this week. LOVE IT!

Well family,

I love you all, know that i pray for you all lots and that i am happy here in the mission. IT´s a time of trail and faith, but so much more learning and love that comes from those trials. We are blessed to have this gospel.

Love you all.

Keep Smiling,

Hermana Sargent

 

 

 

                                                                 last two from the activity!



Hola Family!

Today i´m emailing later because we had an activity at the beach today! SO Fun. We played ultimate freesbee and baseball. couldn´t touch the water, but being in the sun and so close was good enough for me! Love activities de zona/distrito. They are always just fun!

So this week we have passed by lots of menos activos/inactivos and part member families as well as others.

Lets see...

We found one menos activo, name Alicio. He lived in AZ for about 3 years and then for 40 years or so in CA, super super nice. We were talking about AZ and all. He was sealed to his spouse in the mesa temple. We asked him if we could share something with him and we started with the BOM and he said, ¨I have no problem if you want to come and converse, but dont use the BOM, i have found that there is NO evidence of that book and i don´t want to talk about it so your minds don´t change.¨ I was like... WHAT?? how about your sealing to your spouse in the temple or your baptism! Seriously it just made me sad that he was thinking that way, but igual, we shared a message from the bible with him and reminded him of church Sunday. Didn´t come, but the good thing is we now have contact with him.

Omar- his wife is a member, super active with her two daughters who i feel like are just my friends from home because we all have the same age, mas y menos. But we taught him the Restauración on monday for NDH. Fue genial. He isn´t reading the LDM which is fome, but i know it´s only because he knows he´ll recieve his answer and is scared. But his family is going to try to help him so he can read for a little everyday!

Isabel, Alexandra and Anahise- They are so great. Isabel is the abuela and the others are sus nietas. But the grandma has custody over them it sounds like... but the kids are so receptive and Isabel was assisting with the grandparents of Ivana (menos activos.. was bishop) a while back. They just ate up the restauracion and Alexandra just started reading the LDM when we gave it to her! The only thing... didn´t come to church and were SO EXCITED to come. UGHH! That is definitely the hardest thing for people here...

Ivana, still good. Her process will be longer i think but it´s good to teach her and her grandparents. Hergrandma has some problem with her leg and can´t walk to church so thats why they´re menos activa, but i know that people would give them a ride if they needed it.

This week in our reunion de zona we talked about the sacrament and how important it is for us as missinoaries to repent every night and be 100% worthy to partake of the sacrament. It was SO spiritual. There was one point that it was just silent because everyone was feeling the Spirit. For a good solid minute, silence. Honestly was a nice reminder of the importancia of la Santa Cena and to focus on the purpose and not ¨where are my investigators?¨

Also, Hna Parada is off and on sick this week. Sometimes we have to come home early because he head hurts or she doesn´t want to leave or wake up. I try to be like... one more house, another street, ect. But she´s persistent at times to return early. And one day she couldn´t get out of bed. The other hnas that live with us, one of them was sick too (has been for about 3 weeks.. some stomach thing) So they stayed at home all day and Hna Ramos and I went out to work in their ward. This day was SO GOOD!

We were walking and i just felt like we needed to talk to this one lady, so i started talking to her, ends us she accepted a fecha to be baptized. That very morning she had a LDM in her hand while looking for something else and didnt think much of it but doesn´t think it was coinscidence. She wants to know so is going to read and pray. I know she will. She was awesome. I was jealous that she isn´t in our ward. We taught 4 lessons this day. We just both wanted to work work and work so that´s what we did. SO nice to have that energy from her this day. She is awesome! I really hope that one day we´re comps!

Yesterday we had a contact, this man and we were talking about the LDM and he says... ¨Si Padre Celestial hizo mujeres tan linda como ustedes, leeré¨ (if Heavenly Father makes women as beautiful as you guys, i´ll read it) It was hilarious! I was trying not to laugh to finish out contact!

Quote of the day from Pres. Eyring ¨The words ¨come unto Christ¨are an invitation. It is the most important invitation you could ever offer to another person. It is the most important invitation anyone could accept.¨ I love it. this is our purpose as members of the church. Invite. No harm to invite!

FHE Idea: have one of your kids do a ¨cultural moment¨ and research something from another country and then teach it to the fam. definitely doing this with my future fam!

Well family, I hope all is well. I realized this week that i really love love love the people here. I hurt when they aren´t keeping their covenios o compromisos when they don´t come to church, ect.. but i am SO happy when they do these things. It made me think of the love our Padre Celestial tiene por nosotros. I just can´t imagine how he feel about ALL the people in this world. it´s amazing. The Church is true. We are blessed.

I love you all. Pray for you all the time and think of you all often!

Keep Smiling,

Hermana Sargent

 

 

presidente showed up to our district activity for about 2 mintues,

 we got him to participate in our unity building experience! ha!

my day with Hna Ramos. BEAUTIFUL here

 

 

 

activity

 

hna parada and i

 

las hermanas! 



 

 

 

Can´t beleive that its Pday again... SO FAST!

Las P-day, fuimos a la mall with the other hermanas. this mall had an ALDO!!! WHAT? I felt like i was in America. Way better than the mall in Paraguay to say the least. ha! Didn´t buy anything, just was window shopping.

This week seriously has been super fast. Hna. Parada has been a little sick and sometimes couldn´t work too hard, as well as another Hna has been sick for like 2 weeks so we did a couple interchanges so the two that felt good (Hna Ramos y yo) could leave and work in one of our two sectors! We actually found some people as well :)

As for our investigators.. this is the rundown on them:

Ivana, the nieta de los abuelos. She is SO GREAT. doesn´t want to have a fecha yet, but she is reading and praying and she feels good she says. she is so cute, always asking us, Did you guys do this... read and pray to know if it was true? She is definitely trying to figure it out and i just want to help her. I also love teaching her grandparents. Their testimonies are super strong. Just don´t go to church! I don´t get it.. he was a OBISPO. ah, i just want everyone to come to church and expereince all the joy and blessings that come from attending!

Tomas... yes, we made him a calendar of things he needs to read EVERYDAY. and he is doing it... so thats good. At the begining it´s just a little, a few verses and then this week it starts getting more. Sad news... not gonna be baptized this Saturday. We just don´t feel like he is ready. he has the lessons and todo pero he doesn´t have his testimony yet. but i know that through reading more and more he´ll do it. I just don´t want him to get baptized for his wife (who is a member). And she doesn´t either. Because she knows he won´t be faithful to the church if thats the case. but still working with him!

We found a man named Carlos in the street the other day. We started teaching him about the LDM and bautismo. He accepted a fecha on the street. I couldn´t beleive it. I hope he really understood. I think he did. He wasn´t like... si o si, baptize me, but he said if he comes to know that the LDM is true, he´ll be baptized. We haven´t taught him since then, but have a cita martes con él. I´m excited. and i think he lives with his wife and maybe grandkids.. who knows. here there are always a TON of people living in the houses. grandparents, aunts uncles, sibllings, friends, and their dogs. it´s crazy!

Elizabeth, we taught her once, and she had such good questions and everything! We set another appointment for sunday night with her, and we went but she wasn´t there. Bummmer! But this morning we had a message on our phone, and it was her and apoligized that she wasn´t home a family problem in Limache, but she wants us to call her and come back! It´s just crazy that she called us, we´re always calling and asking, ¨cuando podemos reunirnos??¨ but she called us! I know she´s a keeper..

 this week our martes and wednesday and filled with citas. SO good! we´ve just been contacting lots and putting citas so i hope they´re all home!

I just want all these people to come to church. I´m sitting there in sacrament meeting stressed that they haven´t come and wondering if they´ll come before the sacrament and then during the sacrament i try to think of Christ but my mind is on all of the people we´ve invited and i just am like... ¨why didn´t you come!?? please, come! ha! .i decided my goal this week is to study more on how people can really feel like they need to come to church!

 

Saturday Hna. Parada was super super sick.. her head and stomach hurt.. i think it was like a migrane or something, but we went to the clinica and they gave her an IV and everything to give her meds.. she felt better. off and on her head still hurts, but she says thats normal. The assistantes came and picked us up and brought us to our house.. they are seriously so great. Such good missionaries, men, stong testimonies, I was thinking of Robbie and how maybe he´ll be an assistant in his mission!

I was studying a talk by Elder Bednar in the Abril 2012 Liahona... on the Atonement. SO GOOD! oh my gosh.. i am gonna study it again this week. he was just talking about how sometimes we think the Atonement is only for sin, but it´s not. He then went on to give so many examples from the LDM and everything. REad it.

Also finished the bom this week... i´m always sad to finish, but excited to start over again! I was reading in 2 nefi 15:4 and i love the question and thought to myself.. What more can i do in this ¨viña del mar?¨ food for thought... everyone can apply it to something!

Our zone meeting this past week was 4 hours long because new president, new norms and todo. nothing too big has changed. just i can´t wear rings unless its the typical CTR ring that i don´t even like.. but thats the only thing that was really different. If anything it was just going over the rules that maybe before hand weren´t being kept super bien de la mision. But president gave us all our personal Liahona with ways to find nuevos! the new 8 ways...

1. Part member families (have a cita with one tonight!.. noche de hogar baby)

2. Menos activa familias

3. Recent Converts

4. Actual investigadors

5. Old investigadors.. in the carpeta de area

6. Young single adults

7. YM/YW

8. Returned misioneros.

With these we are supposed to pass by 5 Menos activas and 5 part member families every day! lots of work and planning but i love it. Genious way to find nuevos. these people already have the support, just have to find them and encourage them. and the others we are just supposed to pray that when we ask for references that people will come to their mind. I love it. my own liahona a encontrar!

I still love the ward. everyone is great. lots of support. dad... some main streets... San Jose, agua santa.. i live in the street Camino real, but way way arriba, closer to another chapel, the barrio Recreo.

well family!

all is well her in Viña- its gorgeous here! The Church is true. The mission is a time of lots of learning and trial, but more than that time of love and success. Even the smallest things are miracles. For instance, taught our collectivo driver today on our way to internet. Just planting the seeds are miracles!

Love you all. sounds like things are going good! can´t beleive summer is over!

Keep Smiling,

Hermana Sargent



 

 



 

 

 

 

 

hna parada and i en la calle

 

 

hna Ramos and I

 

 

Hna Parada and i en the clinica

Hola Family!

before i forget, we have a mission blog... misionvinadelmar.blogspot.com check it out!

Still loving Viña, I just can´t get over how beautiful it is here... honestly we have a vista of el mar from almost everywhere! and sometimes we are SO close to it! I love being close to it.

This week was good, seemed to go quickly!

Well, when I got here really we had one investigator, one. So we´ve spent alot of time looking! And honestly it´s paid off... here are some of the people we´ve found:

Isabel- passed on the street and then turned around to talk to her, turns out she used to go to church and that she really liked it. She had her nietas with her and they are all SO GREAT. honestly, the kids here are so so receptive! Can´t wait to teach them more. I see progress with them.

Tomas- he is the one they had earlier, reminds me lots of Jean from my last area, very intelligent, a little quiet, but his wife was a menos activa and now has been reactivating and they´ve started to teach him. His main hold up is that he hasn´t received his answer. But the other morning I was studying and thought, really if he is reading the LDM he´d want to be baptized, so i asked Hna Parada if he is reading and she said... not really. So we decided to focus on the LDM with him. I KNOW that if he reads it EVERYDAY he will receive his answer. the LDM can change lives, i know it. I´ve seen people testify. But Tomas accepted a fecha de bautismo. yay. 18 de agosto. I hope that he can really do it, it´s just him feeling the Spirit.

Fresia- We were on a street and i heard a house that was playing beethoven SUPER FUERTE. I said, we need to knock here. so we did and this lady came out and she ended up letting us in and we sang her a hymn and taught her basically about bautismo. She felt the Spirit. i know it. I could see it in her face and how she acted at the beginning to the end of the lesson. She didn´t accept a fecha, becasue she´s ¨already been baptized¨ but i know that she can progress.

Ivana- Granddaughter of some menos activas. The WHOLE family is baptized except for her. her grandparents really wanted her to meet with us and she´s great. gonna read the LDM and we have a cita with her! I hope that her hearing about the gospel can rekindle something in the grandparents to return too. The grandma has a leg that doesn´t move and thats the only thing thats stopping them porque ellos tienen testimonios!

Those are the ones that i can really see progressing! We just need to keep finding and keep working and being obediente!

The ward here is GREAT! I seriously just feel love from them and i feel like there are a handful that are trying to help us in the obra misional! One of the hermanas told me if I bought the fabric she´d make me a dress... how nice is that?! I think i´m gonna do it.mom, what fabric would be good?? ha! The bishop reminds me of the Actor Alec Baldwin (i think... on 30 rock) and is just funny. This ward is more financial stable than Villa Norte. The houses are nicer, lots have cars, ect.. but still really nice humble people.

MY Birthday was great. We had a zone meeting and they all sang happy birthday to me (once the hnas told them all it was my b-day) and then i got a package from mom with letters from everyone, shirts, candy, MK stuff, ect! THANK YOU! I LOVED IT. I opened it that night and shared some treats with the roomies! They all made me cute little cards... and i also recieved a package from Q with a dreamcatcher, earring, letter, and candies! So sweet and thoughtful. thank you!

I felt loved this day, I just wanted to work and thats what we did. Nothing better to do on a birthday here in Vina! and i was close to the beach so i can´t complain! Thanks for all the wishes from you all :)

In the ward 10 BYU-I students are here until Dec for an intercambio. Its so funny.... all these gringos and me. 5 girls/5 guys, some live with the members and others solo... it was fun to have them there, lots speak spanish, but not all. I felt like i was in a student ward with them! my first sunday and their first sunday as well. ha! they might be here the whole time i´m in this ward. But it´s fun to have them here!

The area is lots bigger than Villa Norte and lots and lots of hills. Honestly I like it though, I feel healthier just walking up the hills all day. Sometimes i feel like i never decend. ha!

This week i was reading in the Liahona de Julio in understand our covenants with God I loved this quote... ¨We should remember that keeping our covenants is not merely a list of things to do, but a commitment to become like the Savior.¨ I loved that. REally, our goal in life is to become like Him, everyday. And we can always do that just by just doing the simple things that we know we should do!

Well, Family, that´s about it for now! this week was good, adjusting to the new ward, different companion, new area, ect, but it´s all good! I hope i can just continue to jump in and work! Know that i love you all and am thankful for everything that you do for me!

The Church is true, Christ lives, the Book of Mormon is the word of God. This can bring us happiness everyday!

Love you all,

keep smiling,

Hermana Sargent





Hola Familia!

I´m emailing Tuesday because yesterday were transfers and I got transfered. I am now in Agua Santa, in Viña! It´s the city of Viña del Mar, I can see the ocean from our apartment and i just already love the feel of the city. It´s a mini NYC. Definitely a city girl.. like the country for a while, but my heart is all city! MY comp is Hna. Parada de the south south of Chile, city name, Victoria. She leaves in December, so shes older in the mission. She´s great. She has a mentality to work hard, so i really hope thats what we do. She told me that last change wasn´t all that good and that they didn´t leave the apartment for about 3 weeks because of her comp was sick... i don´t want to know more, not sure if its the whole truth I didn´t ask questions, but it´s kinda like starting over. Not many people they have here it sounds like, but honestly, I just want to be 100% obedient, work hard, and i know juntos we´ll see success! The area is super nice, everyone has like big houses and more money, so it´ll be different than Villa norte, but every change is necessary! Funny thing both Hnna Tamayo and Riggs served here before Villa Norte! ha!

We don´t live in our area so everyday we have to take a collectivo (taxi) to get there, we can walk, just takes longer and yes, everything is UPHILL. my legs will be in good shape after this transfer, but the views are worth the pain sometimes of walking uphill. I´m sure it´ll get more and more normal, it´s only been a day! ha! We live with two other hnas. one from Peru and one from Mexico... my spanish better improve this change in this cambio! haha

The liders de zona nos llamaron on Saturday to tell us the changes... I REALLY thought that I was staaying with Hna Tamayo in Villa Norte so when the leaders call they say.... ¿Que piensa, se va o se queda? (go or stay) this is how the conversation was...

LZ: Hna... se va o se queda?

Me: me quedo!

LZ: no hermana, se va

Me: QUUUUEEEE???? mentira!

LZ: no hna, usted se va!

Me: Elder, este es un broma??

LZ: no, se va hermana!

Me: Ya, gracias elder... chou!

I was totally not expecting it, and then monday all the people who were getting changed came to the office and our president callled out the cambios, it was fun and when he called you name, you stood and then your new companion stood and then he said where and we left! super simple, but fun to see where everyone was going! Hna Tamayo is training a new missionary that comes today! She´s nervous but she´ll do GREAT! I´m gonna miss her, last cambio was just way way too fast for my liking.

It was sad to say bye to the people in the ward... especially Hilding and Magali, they are seriously like my Chilean Parents. So great, but asi es la mision, Change is always good!

I don´t even know what to say about the last week, lots happened with our area, it was a good week, but now i´m not there..

but Tania is progressing well. she´ll be baptized one day, i know it! Super sweet.

Alejandra and her family, she is progressing the most, i think her husband isn´t too fond of us, but allows her to meet with us and she still has lots of questions.

we just met lots of people this past week, one named Sergio, he lived in upstate NY for 12 years so we were speaking in English because he wanted to practice... so hard to teach in english for me now.. it´s horrrible! but he was super great. Told us that he was catholic, but left the church about 4 years ago and now that he doesn´t go he feels closer to Christ than ever and that all of his prayers are answered.

Also, visited a menos activo family and the mom isn´t a member... it was a miracle that they let us in because the other times we´ve passed they aren´t really receptive, but we passed by and taught them, trying to plan a Noche de Hogar with them. I hope they all progress and come to realize that no matter what mistakes they´ve made they ALWAYS have the Atonement of Jesus Christ and can ALWAYS come back to church and feel that joy and happiness they´ve once felt.

Last week hna Tamayo and I set challenges for us to accomplish everyday! It helps us just realy stay focused and get work done! We didn´t accomplish all of them because some where harder than others, but we tried. it was really great.

oh my gosh.... last thursday, when you all were eating Cheese Shop or something, i ate the grossest lunch yet on the mission. I honestly don´t know what it was but just a mixture of too many things... kinda like the Christmas goodies we get when there are more than one thing on a plate... ya, not too good. but it was SO weird. The Hna who cooked it for us had us sitting at seperate ends on the table (like beauty and the beast) then she left to her own room and was watching TV for the WHOLE TIME! so weird.. but ok, this is bad, but we dumped some juice thing she gave us down the drain because we couldn´t drink it... it gave me the shivers. Hna Tamyo picked up the glasses, tip-toed into la cocina and dumped it down. ha! SO funny. we were laughing but trying to do it silently because we didn´t want her to come out of her room!

Sounds like LJ was heavenly! It always is, lets just move there.... ya?? you all look beautiful in the photos. And super exciting about Dyan and Mark! Love how they told you all. super cute!!

On Friday, we were studying the language and it was silent for a second and all of a sudden I heard the voice of Barry White... so i opened the windo more to listen and it was our neighbor was playing ¨can´t get enough of you love baby¨ made me think of dad and that he was probsies listening to it on the beach the same time! 12.00 pm my time.. so maybe like 8 or 9 there... it was super funny!

Last Wednesday we did intercambios as well... just within la pension. But i went with Hna. DeMille to her area! It was really fun! Learned good things and it´s always fun to see other areas!

KAYLA...HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON THURSDAY!! too bad we aren´t there to celebrate together, but know that i´ll be thinking of you! Go LEOS!

Mom, haven´t recieved the packages yet, but it´s because mail is different when there are transfers, but Thursday we have our Reunion de Zona and we get mail then, so i think it´ll be there! And if not, it´ll come! Its probably better i don´t have it as the temptation to open it! ha! but Thank you in advanced because i know it´ll be so great! thanks for the early b-day wishes family!

Efesios 4:22... i like this scrupture lots, when it talks about the ¨hombre viejo¨ (don´t know what it is in English) but it made me think to always be thinking Am I better than my ¨old self?¨ It´s just a scripture to always do a self check... always be better than the day before! we can always progress. at times we may feel like we´re in a stand still, but we can always progress. I know that.

Well, I am happy here in Viña! To be honest really happy. Even though it might be harder to find people just because the rush of the city, more money, ect, ect. I KNOW that we´ll find people. I know that i am here for a reason, even if it´s just to plant the seeds for people! The mission in the best, seriously, everyone needs to go on one! The opprotunity i have EVERYDAY to share my testimony with people is amazing. I know this church is true. We are blessed to have this gospel in our lives. We need to share the gospel with others. Challenge: Invite a menos activa or non member to a FHE, doesn´t have to be anything crazy spiritual to start, just so they can see what it´s like!

well, this week I am gonna work work work. I just want to see people understand the importance of our message. I want to build the unity with my new comp that i had with Hna Tamayo and Hna Riggs and I know that we can have that! just with time.

Love you all, so so much! you´re all the best!

Keep Smiling,

Hermana Sargent



 

 

 

granddaughter of a menos activa

 hna demille and i in intercambios

Hilding and Magali... :)

 

Hna Tamayo and i

we were sad... :(

new apartment

 

(top bunk baby.. hope there isn´t a huge earthquake)

 

view from balcony... i´ll try to get one better when there aren´t clouds this week

Hna Parada and I this morning!





Hola familia de mio,

Yes, I thought for a second to just email a short email because I have to admitt, i am a little jelous that you´re all in LJ, and i´m not. but it´s all good. Really, if you´re gonna be in a place, nowhere better than LJ, right??

This week was good! Seemed super fast and short because our p-day was last tuesday, but here i am again, starting the LAST week of this change. Honestly, where does time go? I can´t even believe it!!

We were able to teach Alejandra this week, her husband was at work, but honestly, she has the desire to know, full of preguntas, she didn´t come to church which was kinda a bummer, but this week I know she will. it´ll be SO good if she comes because she´ll feel something different. She told us that she wants her kids to have an understanding of God, but doesn´t really know how to go about teaching them...helllo, primary! ha! I just am praying that she´ll continue to progress, she is reading and had lots of question sobre oracion so that´s good. When people have questions, they have interest and that´s all we can ask for!

Camila and Millaray... haven´t seen them this week, everytime we have a cita, it falls through and they´re sick, the baby is sick, not home, algo asi, but it´s just keep working with them, might be a slower process, but hey, as long as they can accept it, it´s all good! I think because they had fechas and just didn´t show up to their baptism they have embarrasment/verguenza, but it´s ok! I just want them to understand and really feel the Spirit and the affect that it can have on their lives! Camila is 24(has a child) and Millaray is her younger sister that has 10 years!

Tania--- es nuevo! There is a familia en la barrio that is super great. active and all, they have 4 sons, and one of their sons has been menos activa for sometime... but he started coming to church and he brought his GF, tania, she´s been to church 4 times already and at first DID NOT TALK, seriously, it was like pulling teeth, but the past couple weeks shes been way more talkative to us, and she took our her nose ring, no body told her to, honestly, she just looks different than the first day i met her, but this past week we were able to teach her a little, and this week we have a FHE with her boyfriends family to teach her. I really think she is gonna accept, with time maybe p/q su familia es evangelica, but i can already see something different in her so it´s just time! I´m excited for her though!

This week we were walking in a street and there was this group of 4 girls 17 years old (Paige, KG, Q, and Me) ha! but anywho, I felt like we needed to talk to them, entonces, fuimos and we started talking to them, turns out, two are members, one menos activa and the other active, we asked if we could share something with them, and the active one was like... YES, PLEASE! so cute, so we shared with them. it was really cool because two of their friends are members and were able to talk openly about the church with us and them. Only one lives in our area, the menos activa, but we got the addresses to the other girls and the menos activa, Daphine, came to church! we have a cita to visit her and her mom viernes. yay!

Mom, I got the dear elder about Sam Kastigar, not sure if you got am email i sent, but she is the trainer of Hna. Ahlmann from the MTC in Argentina! Small world because Hna. Ahlmann and hna Riggs are besties and Sam Kastigar is training Hna Ahlmann. Crazy! So cool though Heather San Diego is serving as well. Happy for her! She´ll be great. I love that so many hermanas are serving! it´s so great. When we all get back we´ll have so much to talk about!

Hna Tamayo and her health are not that great. I just have to be patient with it though, I really think she has a parasite, but hopefully this week we´ll go to the doctor. She is still working, its not like we can´t leave the pension, but it´s effecting her strength to work, but she is trying to improve and honestly, our relationship is not being effected by it, so thats good. I really feel bad for her, sometimes she just feels like she´s going to vomit while walking in the street. no bueno. Is it bad I am kinda excited to go to the doctor, I just want to see how the doctors are here in Chile... ha! I´m sure it´s fine, just curious. pray for her though that she can feel better!

Robbie, mission advise... if you´re ever a district leader or anything with a leadership position and a Hermana calls and asks for a blessing, just do it! We called our DL on Saturday because she felt super mal en la mañana and he was like... well, i can, but call your bishop first and see, which is fine, but she would have felt more comfortable with him, and he only lives like 15 minutes away, not too far. it was just kinda weird. she ended up getting a blessing from a ward member, but would have liked it better with him. just advice for you. but obey the mission rules, maybe they have different ones. who knows!

we met some guy on the street this week, named Marco (we think) he was a little drunk, he is around our age and invited us to come to his Party that night and drink some Pisco Sours with him and his friends, we told him that we couldn´t and he goes... ¨para ser misioneras, ustedes son lindas!¨ (for being missionaries, you´re pretty) ha! So funny. WE have his address so maybe one day we´ll pass by and try to get him converted!

oh my word.... in RS, every week they do a music practice, to learn hymns that they don´t know. I think in Chile, they only know about 15 hymns in total because we´re ALWAYS singing the same ones.. and the ones that are SO long and slow. I don´t get it. but anywho, in RS they do this practice and the lady who is teaching is teaching the hymns wrong. I want so badly to be like... ¨perdon, puedo enseñar? But hna. Tamayo and I just laugh with eachother and accept it. mom and robs, i think of you often and think... they would DIE if they were here. it´s really bad.

My knee has been kinda weird these past few weeks, I keep thinking, ugh, not gonna say anything because it´ll go away. but i think maybe just cause it´s cold here. But it´s all good. my ACL isn´t torn, i can tell that. no worries, just kinda weird. occasionally it´ll swell up a bit, but i´m doing my exercises to help it, so we´ll see.

Last week in our district meeting we had to make up word to a hymn to give our district animo for the work! We chose a Christmas song (Christmas in July anyone??) but it wasn´t all that creative so we made up dance moves to it and sang it in our meeting, the elders were laughing SO hard. it was hilarious. oh the funny things on the mission...

mom, you asked about the dogs. Yes, they were running at us, trrying to bite us, and yes i through a rock and then turned and walked as calmly as possible in the opposite direction. (it was a brisk walk) Luckly, I haven´t seen those dogs since.

Transfers are next week... who knows what´ll happen! I think I´m staying, but sometimes I feel like I could be leaving as well. It´s hard to know because the new president, no one knows how he likes to do transfers! I´m game for whatever, he knows best and i´d be sad to leave, but also excited to see something new, so who knows. I´ll know next monday though! can´t believe it´s that time again already! SO FAST.

 

Robbie... you should visit my old work, and go visit Steve. Just to tell him that I say hello and told you to come visit him! Give him my blog address... how is my blog mom? It´d be fun for you i think... plus help me keep my job for when i return! it´s in the Health and Wellness center on 900 E and 1600 N... something like that... google it.

Also, next week, can you send me the recipe to my no bakes.... they are better than anyone elses... i don´t know why! more PB maybe or maybe it´s just the LOVE!

Well, as jealous as I am of ustedes, I am really happy here in Viña, while typing this letter I just kept thinking, the mission is pretty sweet. Obviously there are times of hardship, but mostly it´s all good and the good things totally wash out the hard times. This change we really haven´t had much success, no one progressing, but we´ve always seen miracles, even the little things. That is from God, I know it. He is kind. When we are working hard we can always recognize the little things as miracles. This Church is true. The Book of Mormon is true. This week I have been reading in 3 Nefi and just can´t get enough, I´m getting close to finishing and i´m sad to finish, but know it´s always there to just start over from the beginiing and strengthen my testimony even more. Jesus Christ lives, He is our Savior. He suffered for us so that we can live with him and with our families para siempre. I cannot wait for the day to give my thanks and a nice hug, but for now all we can do is follow Him and try to become more like him daily.

Well Family, I love you all. This is your homework this week: ride a wave for me, eat some Jeffs Ice Cream and a BLT from the Cheese Shop, go running (oh I MISS RUNNING), and laugh lots!

Thanks for everything! Know that I always am praying for each and everyone of you and that I am happy!

Keep Smiling,

Hermana Sargent

 

 

 

 

 

 

state pride

dad will understand if no one else does...

i thought it was funny! someone can translate it there!