Well, since I know you´re ALL dying to hear about my new companion I won’t make you wait any longer!

Hermana Tamayo, from Panama City, Panama, She has a year on the mission, leaves in December and really is great. At first I was nervous to change companions a little, not nervous, just curious to see who it´d be and honestly, super sad to see Hna Riggs go, but after the first day with her it just felt so normal, like how it was suppossed to be! She is a convert to the church for 4 years and about a year of that was menos activa, one day just decided to go to church and felt super strongly about serving a mission. So she followed that prompting and has been here in Chile for a year! So crazy. Only her and her mom were members when she started her mission and now 18 miembros de su familia (members of her family) are members! Talk about mission blessings.

She is a professional dancer and has one year left until she graduates as a Chef! I want her to make me some food ;) Really though, we get along super good, she helps me a TON with my Espanol and I help her with her English. It´s just good. Yesterday we were walking and she told me that President was really inspired with this companionship because she needed someone with the excitement that I have and just someone who can bring out her personality because the cambio antes (companionship before) she was just really serious she said, but I told her it’s my goal on the mission to work hard, but have fun and share my personality while doing it, so I´m glad I could help her!

It’s definitely weird without Hna. Riggs though, not so much as the companionship, but with the work. I realized after she left that she just always took the lead in things, which was good because I was and still am learning. But she left and I was left with the area. I had to step it up and take the lead! It was hard at first, and still is hard because we´re still lacking progressing investigators, but really it´s super good for me becuase it makes me want to really work to find new people. I also didn´t realize how much I learned from Hna. Riggs until she left, I think that’s just how companionships are. You don´t realize something until it´s gone! Sometimes I feel like I´m training myself. Hna Tamayo has never trained and estoy acostumbrada a training and just kinda explain things how we did it before and if she wants to change it, that’s fine because I´ll learn more from her! I just have noticed with her I´m speaking more in lessons, doing more of the compromisos (committing people) and I think it´s good. Definitley is gonna help me be the type of missionary I want to be!

Mom, yes I got you package! SO NICE. I can´t believe how quickly packages get here... seriously, took 13 or 14 days. That’s like nothing. Must be cause I´m not in Paraguay! ha! But really, thanks a ton. Scarf has come in handy, as well as the snackos, and I gave Hna. Tamayo the shirt because Hna. Riggs mom sent one to me. Super great! Thanks a ton. Also, family, thanks for all the dear elders... the elders have started to notice the pattern of lots of letters for me! ha! But I just say, ¨tengo mucho personas que me quieren¨ (lots of people that love me) es cierto (true), I can feel the love from all of you all the time! ;) gracias.

The other day, well it´s happened a few times, there has been no power so we got into our house to plan... no power! ya! Lit some candles, got a flashlight and got at it, but it’s kinda fun when it happens, we all decided to eat a bowl of cereal in the dark in candle light. Super fun! ha!

Our reality show episode had its season finale... with Hna Riggs that is! It was HILARIOUS. Ok, so cambios (companionship) here, when someone in the companionship is leaving, you go to Vina in the office. So Hna Riggs and I were headed there with ALL her stuff. (btw, she went to Limache) She had TONS! 3 FULL suitcases, I swear one of them weighed a good 70 lbs. and you know me, that packing nazi, I was in awe... I really don´t know how she has stuff, but she did tell me she can´t throw things away easily, which is not my problem! But anywho, we had 3 bags, her pillow and coats and scarfs in hands. We walked to the metro (subway) but to walk from our house it´s a dirt path, and it was kinda soft dirt cause of the rain, but not quite mud, so super hard to pull through the path. We got on the SUPER crowded metro to Vina and then, pushed and pulled her stuff through the city of Vina del Mar (which I LOVE... totally NYC vibe) and finally arrived to the mission office. Seriously though, I´m sure we looked ridiculous, two gringas with bags and pillows and everything... one man asked me if I was tired because I brought my pillow. ha! So funny. Really though, good last episode, we just laughed the whole time basically!

I was supposed to give a talk yesterday in the ward 15 minutes of every member a missionary. I was kinda excited to give it, but when we got there they told me I didn´t have to give it because we had 3 confirmations and two people from the stake spoke, so no time. But oh well... that´s so Chile, they don´t think through things until 5 minutes before Sacrament meetings!

Dad.... guess who I met??? PEDRO!!! ha! We were walking in la calle (the street) and this guy came up to us and stopped us and was like, ¨where can I get more of your books?¨ so we were just talking about the church, we asked for his address to come talk to him, but he told us he wasn´t interested in meeting with us, only wants to read and compare to other religions, but his name was Pedro. I´m still convinced that I´ll baptize a Pedro on my mission! Mi meta. (my goal)

Yesterday Hna Tamayo wanted me to teach her in English so she could listen and practice, so I started to teach the Plan de Salvacion en ingles (plan of salvation in English) and it was SO hard. Honestly, I like couldn´t do it. I think it´s because I´ve been memorizing the lessons in Spanish and then to switch to English was super dificil. (difficult) Verdad. No podria hacerlo. We got some great laughs out of it. It´s fun to help someone with their English and have her here to help me with my Spanish. I really hope it just improves a ton these next weeks with her. Sometimes I think, my Spanish should be better, but I just have to remind myself.. I´ve only been here for 7 weeks. Patience with yourself!

As for investigators, we don´t have any really progressing. We have some that we teach, but don´t understand fully yet, but I think it´ll be good to really just focus on finding new people this week. We both just really want to teach because when you aren´t teaching the days are harder, but this week all we are gonna do is FIND!! I know people are there, and we have people, they just kinda get brushed aside when you have people with fechas (dates) and baptisms, but we really want to work with the members and menos activos. (less active) There is this family, familia Brito, who are all members except the dad, but menos activos, so we really want to try to work with them more and also we found another lady who got baptized 4 years ago, but never felt accepted in the church and she has 3 kids and a spouse that aren´t members. So there are definitely people to work with, it´s just a matter of finding! I hate to even write that we don´t have any progressing, because we really have some great people, it´s just a matter of teaching so they understand better the importance of our message, but that is the mission, I know it´ll just take off here soon!

Also, I have had the prompting to make sure my ¨emergency kit¨ is ready for an earthquake this week, often. So I have it all ready, but the weird thing is, randomly last night Hna Tamayo and the other Hnas that live with me were talking about how they feel an earthquake is gonna come soon! SO Weird. who knows... it´s been a while since there has been a temblor, only one since I´ve been here and usually there are about 2 a week people say, so I think everyone is thinking it´s all building up... kinda scary. But I´ve always imagined myself cleaning up stuff and doing service on my mission! We´ll see.

Mom, did Maritza add you on FB? She told me she was going to... just curious to see if she did or not! ha!

Well family, all is well here in Chile! I am happy, I am working, and I am learning. Isn´t that what a mission is all about!

The Church is true, no where else I´d rather be that right here serving the people of Chile!

Love you all,

Keep Smiling,

Hermana Sargent



 

 

 

 

service for a ward member, painting! yay!

 

yes i am lots taller than her! ha! but Hna Tamayo and I

 

Happy Fathers day yesterday to all the Fathers in the Fam! Really, look up to you all and apréciate all you´ve done for me in mi vida! Glad you got the card and the video dad! Super cheesy video, i know… I´m a sister missionary singing Called to Serve for my dad, but hey, that´s what I´m suppossed to do! Glad you had a fun day and felt celebrated J

Yes… all the baptisms happened yesterday! It was SOOOOOO great. Oh man, just to witness first had the gospel coming into peoples lives. They were all there at church, and then alter we had the service and so many members stayed which is awesome. They were all dressed in white and were all smiles. A little anxious, but once the service was started, i think it calmed any nerves they had! The service was great. Two spealkers, there favorite hymns ¨joseph smiths first prayer¨ and ¨Dios da valor¨ (can´t think of it in english… maybe God Speed the right) Then they were baptized. I just felt so much joy and love for them, and I was thinking… If I feel this much love for them, how does God feel? This is the key to enter into the Kingdom of God and they just did it. I love them, and its just amazing to me to think of really how much love God has for everyone! Then after the baptisms they all bore their Testimonies. Super fuerte. They just really testified of what they knew, how the BOM has helped them and how they never thought they´d find or join into the Mormon church, but through people, examples, and seeing how people were happy they just couldn´t deny it. That was probably my favorite part of everything. Just watching them bare testimony to all the people who were there, so simple but you could feel the Spirit and that´s all that matters.

There has been more rain this week…just see photos. It´s crazy. Think I´m gonna buy some rainboots because really… my boots are fine in the rain, but this isn´t rain, it´s like lagos in the calles. I need to build an arch like Noah sometimes. Ha! Fun tradition here though, whenever there is rain here the people make these things called sopaipillas. Super rico. Basically like a scone but it is made with squash in it. I can´t eat too many though, but it´s just fun to see everyone cooking them when it´s raining.

Some sad news… Hna Riggs is leaving! It´s super rare for someone to leave in the middle of training, it happens, it´s just rare, but it´ll be good. I´m gonna miss her for sure, but I am also excited to see who my next comp is and I know I´ll love her just as much. I have gotten the feeling the past couple weeks that Hna Riggs is going and that I´m gonna get a latino. Which i´m excited for because my Spanish will improve a TON! It is totally stressful though, because I have to be the one who leads my new comp everywhere and find the people. It´s the mission, but i was thinking in another 6 weeks (after training) I would be doing that, but all is well. The Pres knows best and I have been so appreciative of the time I had with Hna Riggs. She isn´t going too far so I will see her in conferencias and stuff! They don´t tell us who our companions are until we meet in Vina and get them. just to avoid gossip and stuff, so I will find out tomorrow when I take Hna Riggs to the office and i´ll let you all know next week!

This week we´ve found some good people! There is this one family I just wanna talk about... ok, so we were walking on this street and we heard kids in this house and decided to knock... well, yell. So we yelled and these 3 CUTEST children opened the door. (11, 10 and 7) There mom was sick but we asked them if we could sing them a song and so we did, they learned it too! and then we asked if we could come back another day and they said tomorrow!. So we went back the next day and the mom came out and talked to us. She was sick but told us to come back after the weekend. kinda a bummer cause we wanted to see them more often, but anywho, we were walking by that street 2 days after and the mom was outside hanging laundry. we were just going to say hello but she was like... ¨pasen pasen¨ so we went into her house and just started talking to her. She NEEDS the gospel. she is solo with these 3 kids, don´t have a ton of money, but seriously, she just kinda vented to us about how she sees people that are happy and wonders why she isn´t and why God puts her through hard times, ect ect. She takes her kids to a church because she wants them to have good morals but doesn´t even really beleive in it. We just testified to her that God loves her and that our message can bring her the happiness she is looking for. She agreed to let us go back so tonight we have a Cita with her! I just know that she can benefit from the Gospel. She´s sad, but wants to be happy, she doesn´t drink or smoke because she knows that only temporary happiness and wants to be an example for her kids. me siento que she will soak up our message like a sponge. I really am praying for it atleast!

We had a conferencia on Thursday, ultimo con Pres and Herm Gillespie. It was good, I don´t feel too sad to see them go, they are GREAT people I just haven´t had the chance to really get to know them, but they talked about the new Pres. I am really excited to meet him. I just feel like we already have a connection because he served en Tempe! It´ll be different for sure, especially because su esposa will be tending to their 4 kids lots and he´ll probably travel to things solo, but thats ok with me! I really don´t know much different. I just am excited to see if things change a ton!

Hna Riggs cumpleanos fue Sabado! Super fun! She felt celebrated and the memebers new about it so whoever we saw would wish her happy birthday! I couldn´t get her anything because she´s always with me, but i made her a card and we´re gonna go to the street vendors today and I´m gonna get her something she likes, along with some dulces at this place thats super rico. She totally felt loved though. 3 birthday cakes in a 2 day period. really fun! we also had another dance party for our exercises that morning.

People always tell me that Makenna looks like me from the family photo I have here. They say she could be your daughter! So precious. :)

What is this dating game Robbie won... hilarious! already living up the BYU experience... who you taking dude?? WRITE me!

well, I´m doing good here in Chile. I´m sure this week will be different with a new comp and everything, but that´s just the mission and I know whoever it is I will be able to learn from her and we will find people. Hopefully i do a good job on taking the lead of where to go all the time until she gets comfortable with the area and knows who the people are! It´ll all be good. Goal this week... find people to teach TWICE!

La iglesia es verdadera. La Expiación es real. José Smith fue una profeta, Tenemos el LDM que puede traernos felicidad y consuelo. Dios nos ama, realmente. Me encanta la oportunidad que tengo a compartir mi testimonio cada día con alguien. Es maravillosa. Familias son eternas y el evangelio puede bendicir todas los personas! Cristo vive.

les quiero muchisimo!!!

keep smiling,

Hermana Sargent



 

 

 rain rain rain... Thinking i might buy some rain boots....

oh. just some cows on the streets in Chile! ha.

view from my area!

back of some sweatshirts our jackets made! and hna Riggs braid... i did that. :)

the zone... love this photo.

my zone!

 

Familila carlson (there son who got baptized 2 months ago, baptized them)

Hna Riggs and Maritza and me

Maritza with her Cousin (stake pres)



Sounds like you´ve all had a crazy week! Kinda fit into mine too. We just had no time this week, lots of meeting, conferences, etc. But it was all fun and good so I´m happy about that.

Wow, Ribbie´s call… still can´t get over it. Definitely wasn´t expecting that one but SO happy for him. Really, it´s just right. I can feel it. I´ve heard of some GREAT success stories from the Philippines, and I think the weather is pretty nice… ya? Not sure… if i have time today i´ll get on LDS maps and look at it.

This week we had a conference with Elder Richards… over Chile, it was SO good. Orly him and his wife Spike and it lasted about 2 hours and i just didn´t want them to stop! His wife talked about Change and how we really always need to trust in the changes that are made here and how the misión presidents are set apart by an Apostles and that's just about the closest to our Savior and how every little change is for a reason and just Trust in God and call to him in times of trouble. Loved it.

He talked about just ways to teach in simple ways. It´s so good to learn and hear about that because really, when you just talk, the people don´t understand, it´s all just about the simple facts and the Spirit that they need to feel. He told us, not to use examples to explain something, just scriptures and doctrine. Kinda hard because honestly examples are the best to help people understand, but this will make us rely on the Spirit more! It was fun to meet other missionaries from the Mission, it was basically just a party! haha! Really though, super good and very though provoking. made me want to be a better teacher and missionary!

Hilding and Magali had their interviews yesterday and are getting baptized next Sunday!!! YAYYYYY. they are SO ready, we had a FHE with them on Monday with a family in the ward and the family was talking about how to be an eternal family and they were explaining the temple and in a year (I´ll be here!!!) they can go and get sealed... They just both started talking about how it´s there 50 year anniversary next august and how that´ll be so great to be sealed forever there 50th year of marriage. It was amazing to hear that they actually understood and realized the importance of it! Also, they are having family prayer... how wonderful is that. They both have powerful testimonies of the LDM and read it daily. Love them. Can´t wait for Sunday.

Maritza, hasn´t had her interview yet, but it´s on Tuesday... sometimes I feel nervous about her, but she´s ready, really, has a testimony, knows its true, i think her personality just is funny... kinda scatter brained.... but i love her for it. She´s special, her baptism isn´t set for sure until the interview, but we should have hers on Sunday as well.

Just amazing to see people really accept and understand the importance of our message. Its so true and SO good! ´

Reality show episodes.... Yes, I should probably not call them that, but really, it´s just hilarious now.

OK, so we were in lunch and we head our phone vibrate in our bad (ya, we have cells here in our mission... HM STATUS) anywho, we look quickly and see Jean has called TWICE. immediately, we think... oh my gosh! Has he had a King Limoni/Alma experience and received his answer and wants to be baptised ASAP? we call him back and all he says is ...Can you come by sometime today? We fit him into our already hectic day and all day long.... thinking of why he wants to see us. We decide on 3 things.... 1. his mom has a gift for us 2. he felt awkward and bad about our DTR and wants to apologize or 3. He got his answer.....

so we show up to his house SO EXCITED. just really wanted to know why... unfortunately he didn´t have an Alma or King Limoni expereince... it was just his mom had bought us these light pink boot slippers... yes, they are rather ugly, but very warm so they were appreciated. that was all he wanted. Super nice of his mother, but he is not gonna be getting baptized any time soon. (see photo for visuals)

episode two: We go to teach this one lady... Patricia, we immediately find out she has NO belief in God, at all... she´s studied all forms of science and just doesn´t see how it could be possible... yadda yadda yadda... anywho, within this cita with her the following things happen...

1. I try to testify that really there is a God and how she can know, and I said something along the lines of, I prayed and i have received my answer that there is a God and that he loves me, and you. She immediately interrupts and starts laughing saying, you can´t receive an answer... it´s not tangible, then Hna. Riggs tries and she just is laughing at us.

2. she then tells us we need to do more drugs.. no joke.

3. She tells us that she hopes in the next 10 years of our life we can find something different

4. We then ask her to say a pray before we leave and she really doesn´t want us to, but gives in and during the prayer... she lights up a cigarette.

it was just crazy. way too much bad in one lesson. WE left just feeling bad for her though, and then thought she´s gonna have a shock in the next life. needless to say, we won´t be going back to her...

Our musical fireside went great last night. A few technical problems with the videos, but all is well. The Spirit was felt and that's what was most important. I think the investigators who went really enjoyed it.

Last night i was standing at the front on the ground, right next to the front of the Chapel, and i just hear a kid behind me go... ¨woah, que alta!¨ I turn around and I was the SAME height as him and he was on the stand. it was really just funny. he was probably like 10 or so... not a 4 year old. ha!

we had a lesson on obedience last week in our Zone meeting, those are the BEST! i just really like this quote... ¨El Espirit es en los detailes¨ (the spirit is in the details) it´s so true. exact obedience brings the spirit, blessings, and miracles,

this morning i was reading Alma 29... one of my new favorite chapters in the LDM. read it.

Our major struggle right now is just finding people, we´ve taught tons of first lessons and stuff, but it´s just hard to find people who have the desire to really listen and understand the importance of our message. But we know those will come, we just need to be grateful for those that we´re teaching and that we have people being baptized. Sometimes i wonder, what am I not doing, why aren´t we finding more, but this week I´m gonna work on my faith and really just talking with EVERYONE in the streets, also, hopefully the members can be a support and find people to teach. That´s the biggest struggle though, I think sometimes it´s just i feel like i need to be doing SO MUCH MORE but sometimes we just can´t do that and there is a reason for everything!

Side note.... the lady next to me has head phones on and keeps singing really loud... it´s funny! and I hear Adele playing outside.. last week was Michael Buble.. I like this computer place!

well, family, thanks for love and support. I honestly feel it and couldn´t imagine serving without the support of my family. We are blessed to have a family like we do. I hope everyone realizes that! The gospel is true, missionary work is great, we´re ALL missionaries. don´t forget that!

well, love you all, thanks for everything! I´m doing good here in Chile, just trying to stay warm :)

Keep Smiling,

Hermana Sargent

p.s. sorry if my spelling is awful, this Spanish to English thing is hard sometimes....

 

 FHE with the Font family. (daughter is 25)

 3 month mark... thanks Hna. Riggs for my sign :)

 these awesome slippers that Jeans mom gave us!

the herd is still with me... always!

 Hilding, Magail, Ivens, and us

 

Las hermanas... they all live in my house

Well, this week Hna Riggs and I decided that our mission is like a reality show. Yes. I just said that. It´s honestly just so entertaining in everyway.

Let me just start off with all the tall comments I have recieved this week....

Bishops son: tiene 8 anos and is autistic. He looks at me and then yells ¨usted es GIGANTE¨ (you are a giant) and then he starts climbing me, like the nieces and nephews do, but we aren´t suppossed to hold children so I was like.... ugh, but he´s autistic and doesn´t know so it was ok. SO funny though.

Then we contacted this guy on the street who said ¨don´t wear high heels unless you´d be huge!¨

This is the best.... We walk into the house of Hilding and Magali (Carlson familia) and Hilding comes to shake my hand and goes... ¨Hna Sargent, todavia sigue creciendo¨ (still growing) It was SO FUNNY. We have a good relationship so I know he meant no harm at all. ha! Love all the tall comments, I´ve started writing them down so I have them post mission. Im sure I´ll have at leatst 50 in the next while.

Ok, this week, honestly, it´s been a little harder. Last week was just so good. Lots of people and dates and this week has been hard to find people. Seriously, it probably doesn´t help that the past 3 days have been a DOWNPOUR of rain, really, hardly stopped, but it was just harder. No one is en la calle and people don´t want to open their doors to talk to us because of the rain, so they´ll just shake their hand through the window and shake there head no. So it´s just harder. But honestly, we just want to teach people, that´s all. Find, teach, and convert! We are staying positive and the rain has stopped today so I think we´ll be able to find more people. Thank goodness.

Ok, Friday was crazy... reality show story. We were walking to the chapel because we had a cita and then there was a ward activity we went to, and we were walking in the downpour, we turned on this street and were walking forward, all of a sudden we notice this drunk man, with a cane walking quickly towards us, yelling at us, we are getting closer to him and look to the street to cross but there is this HUGE HUGE puddle of water, and we werént in boots, like huge. We look back at the drunk man who is pretty close and back to the puddle, I say to Hna Riggs, should we jump? One last look at the drunk who is right by us now and yelling louder... and she goes, ya, jump. So we jump off the sidewalk, land in this puddle and book it to the other side of the street. we then are greated by this other man, some construction worker who has a chain saw type thing in his hand (ok, not really, but some piece of dangerous equipment) and he yells something and keeps walking, we then look back, drunk man stilll yelling at us, trying to come and we turn and keep walking to the capilla, we then hear a SPLAT and turn around and the drunk man has fallen, so now we´re in this dilemma of, what to do? help him, or get to safety and not let him follow us? Luckily someone goes over to the drunk man and helps him so we can continue to walk to the capilla. Through this swamp (yes, my swamp talk came out if you´re wondering) and then finally made it to the capilla in safety to wash our shoes off from the swamp. It was really just a crazy 10-15 minutes. So funny. Oh the mission....

Ok, now onto the more spiritual stuff.

1. We had a cita with Hilding and Magali this week that was so spiritual. Hilding just told us ¨yo decidí¨ (I´ve decided) about baptism and he is for sure doing it!! He told us that he hasn´t found anything like the BOM and he just really knows that it´s of God and wants to be baptized because he´s never had anything feel like it. Then he said the closing prayer, which he usually does and he always blesses our families and thanks God for having you let us come to Chile to teach him and then he started crying and said, ¨help me that I can have the same relationship with you that these Hermanas have.¨ It was just so powerful. I was just smiling because I was happy. He gets it! The ONLY problem is getting him to church... ugh! But he will. I know it.

2. Maritza is progressing. she just gets it. Clicks with her, and we have permission to teach her in this ward! Yay! She told us that she needs to talk to the Bishop about some stuff, not sure what, but I think something with her ex-husband, but I just am praying whatever it is, doesn´t delay her date of baptism! Really though, she´s great.

3. Jean, he is the hard one... just doesn´t have an open mind or heart honestly, we had a little break through with him on Wednesday I think, and he really wants to know, just hasn´t found out yet in his manera! it´s kinda frustrating but it´s all good. I just hope he can continue to progress. He just needs support from the ward and they aren´t the best at that to be honest.

4. The other hermanas in my house have been a little sick lately, pretty sure one had pneumonia, last week, at the grocery I bought clorox wipes and have been wiping everything! I don´t want to get sick! I don´t feel it, so I think it passed. I sure hope so.

5. last night we had a noche de hogar with this family, our investigator didn´t come because of the rain... but it was so great. They are a solid family, just makes me want to have a family like that one day. Reminded me of our FHE´s at home. Just lesson, song, treat, game, ect. super normal. I loved it. Felt right at home :)

6. This week I read a talk by Ezra Taft Benson, its Beware of Pride in April 1989, seriously, SO GOOD! You should all read it. It was just powerful, man, I don´t realize how many things deal with pride, something I think everyone can work on!

7. I´ve gotten questions about the ward and the support. I really think they just think missionaries are suppossed to do everything. They don´t realize that these people need friends in the ward so at times is frustrating, but it´s ok. We are doing what we can for the ward and us. The mission is really trying to work through members to find people, so we are trying to do that. But yesterday morning, it was raining, hard. It was our ward conference and serioulsy I think only 20 ward members were there.. you can really tell who the fieles are. Only had 9 women in R.S. it´s just crazy. I can´t believe it. It´s just rain, yes, I know it´s a lot of rain, but COME TO CHURCH. It´s SO important. Oh, South America. Also, none of our investigtors came because of the rain which is a let down, but all is well. Next week!

8. Really the mission is good. This week was hard, I´m still new so I don´t know what to do when no one is letting us in and we are trying to find new people to teach, but I know that we will be blessed through diligence and obedience! I knew coming into this that it wouldn´t be like all roses, but I am grateful for those harder times because it make me rely on the Lord and really try to get guidance!

9. I am thankful for this opprotunity I have to serve a mission. Really, it´s just a blessing. I have already learned so much and still have 15 months left, my brain might explode. Spanish is coming, I just want to be perfectly fluent in 2 days, but that won´t happen, but it´s going good. I´m not struggling too bad. I just have to focus harder with others when I´m too tired to understand, but I can get most of it. It´s good!

10. Robs, had a dream you got called to Baltimore and this morning I woke up with the song ¨Good Morning Baltimore¨ in my head and thought if you go there you can sing that every morning. I still think you´re gonna come to Chile though... :) you will be called where the Lord needs you because you´re gonna be BOMB!

Well, I love you all so much. I think of you all the time and am so thankful for the support that I have from each of you! I really feel the prayers here and hope you can feel the ones I give for you!

Love the gospel, Love the mission, Love my companion, Love the Chileans, Love the food, Love Spanish, it´s just all good!

Sounds like you are all doing well and busy now that summer has started! So weird because my winter is starting...

Love you all lots!

Keep Smiling :)

Love,

Hermana Sargent

 this is for dad :)



 ya, my mission is beautiful



This is Jean, and that was him when he was a child...
this photo. we laughed about it for a while

the zone walking to the picture place..
what a sight of 12 LDS missionaries all together. ha!

Well, this week Hna Riggs and I decided that our mission is like a reality show. Yes. I just said that. It´s honestly just so entertaining in everyway.

Let me just start off with all the tall comments I have recieved this week....

Bishops son: tiene 8 anos and is autistic. He looks at me and then yells ¨usted es GIGANTE¨ (you are a giant) and then he starts climbing me, like the nieces and nephews do, but we aren´t suppossed to hold children so I was like.... ugh, but he´s autistic and doesn´t know so it was ok. SO funny though.

Then we contacted this guy on the street who said ¨don´t wear high heels unless you´d be huge!¨

This is the best.... We walk into the house of Hilding and Magali (Carlson familia) and Hilding comes to shake my hand and goes... ¨Hna Sargent, todavia sigue creciendo¨ (still growing) It was SO FUNNY. We have a good relationship so I know he meant no harm at all. ha! Love all the tall comments, I´ve started writing them down so I have them post mission. Im sure I´ll have at leatst 50 in the next while.

Ok, this week, honestly, it´s been a little harder. Last week was just so good. Lots of people and dates and this week has been hard to find people. Seriously, it probably doesn´t help that the past 3 days have been a DOWNPOUR of rain, really, hardly stopped, but it was just harder. No one is en la calle and people don´t want to open their doors to talk to us because of the rain, so they´ll just shake their hand through the window and shake there head no. So it´s just harder. But honestly, we just want to teach people, that´s all. Find, teach, and convert! We are staying positive and the rain has stopped today so I think we´ll be able to find more people. Thank goodness.

Ok, Friday was crazy... reality show story. We were walking to the chapel because we had a cita and then there was a ward activity we went to, and we were walking in the downpour, we turned on this street and were walking forward, all of a sudden we notice this drunk man, with a cane walking quickly towards us, yelling at us, we are getting closer to him and look to the street to cross but there is this HUGE HUGE puddle of water, and we werént in boots, like huge. We look back at the drunk man who is pretty close and back to the puddle, I say to Hna Riggs, should we jump? One last look at the drunk who is right by us now and yelling louder... and she goes, ya, jump. So we jump off the sidewalk, land in this puddle and book it to the other side of the street. we then are greated by this other man, some construction worker who has a chain saw type thing in his hand (ok, not really, but some piece of dangerous equipment) and he yells something and keeps walking, we then look back, drunk man stilll yelling at us, trying to come and we turn and keep walking to the capilla, we then hear a SPLAT and turn around and the drunk man has fallen, so now we´re in this dilemma of, what to do? help him, or get to safety and not let him follow us? Luckily someone goes over to the drunk man and helps him so we can continue to walk to the capilla. Through this swamp (yes, my swamp talk came out if you´re wondering) and then finally made it to the capilla in safety to wash our shoes off from the swamp. It was really just a crazy 10-15 minutes. So funny. Oh the mission....

Ok, now onto the more spiritual stuff.

1. We had a cita with Hilding and Magali this week that was so spiritual. Hilding just told us ¨yo decidí¨ (I´ve decided) about baptism and he is for sure doing it!! He told us that he hasn´t found anything like the BOM and he just really knows that it´s of God and wants to be baptized because he´s never had anything feel like it. Then he said the closing prayer, which he usually does and he always blesses our families and thanks God for having you let us come to Chile to teach him and then he started crying and said, ¨help me that I can have the same relationship with you that these Hermanas have.¨ It was just so powerful. I was just smiling because I was happy. He gets it! The ONLY problem is getting him to church... ugh! But he will. I know it.

2. Maritza is progressing. she just gets it. Clicks with her, and we have permission to teach her in this ward! Yay! She told us that she needs to talk to the Bishop about some stuff, not sure what, but I think something with her ex-husband, but I just am praying whatever it is, doesn´t delay her date of baptism! Really though, she´s great.

3. Jean, he is the hard one... just doesn´t have an open mind or heart honestly, we had a little break through with him on Wednesday I think, and he really wants to know, just hasn´t found out yet in his manera! it´s kinda frustrating but it´s all good. I just hope he can continue to progress. He just needs support from the ward and they aren´t the best at that to be honest.

4. The other hermanas in my house have been a little sick lately, pretty sure one had pneumonia, last week, at the grocery I bought clorox wipes and have been wiping everything! I don´t want to get sick! I don´t feel it, so I think it passed. I sure hope so.

5. last night we had a noche de hogar with this family, our investigator didn´t come because of the rain... but it was so great. They are a solid family, just makes me want to have a family like that one day. Reminded me of our FHE´s at home. Just lesson, song, treat, game, ect. super normal. I loved it. Felt right at home :)

6. This week I read a talk by Ezra Taft Benson, its Beware of Pride in April 1989, seriously, SO GOOD! You should all read it. It was just powerful, man, I don´t realize how many things deal with pride, something I think everyone can work on!

7. I´ve gotten questions about the ward and the support. I really think they just think missionaries are suppossed to do everything. They don´t realize that these people need friends in the ward so at times is frustrating, but it´s ok. We are doing what we can for the ward and us. The mission is really trying to work through members to find people, so we are trying to do that. But yesterday morning, it was raining, hard. It was our ward conference and serioulsy I think only 20 ward members were there.. you can really tell who the fieles are. Only had 9 women in R.S. it´s just crazy. I can´t believe it. It´s just rain, yes, I know it´s a lot of rain, but COME TO CHURCH. It´s SO important. Oh, South America. Also, none of our investigtors came because of the rain which is a let down, but all is well. Next week!

8. Really the mission is good. This week was hard, I´m still new so I don´t know what to do when no one is letting us in and we are trying to find new people to teach, but I know that we will be blessed through diligence and obedience! I knew coming into this that it wouldn´t be like all roses, but I am grateful for those harder times because it make me rely on the Lord and really try to get guidance!

9. I am thankful for this opprotunity I have to serve a mission. Really, it´s just a blessing. I have already learned so much and still have 15 months left, my brain might explode. Spanish is coming, I just want to be perfectly fluent in 2 days, but that won´t happen, but it´s going good. I´m not struggling too bad. I just have to focus harder with others when I´m too tired to understand, but I can get most of it. It´s good!

10. Robs, had a dream you got called to Baltimore and this morning I woke up with the song ¨Good Morning Baltimore¨ in my head and thought if you go there you can sing that every morning. I still think you´re gonna come to Chile though... :) you will be called where the Lord needs you because you´re gonna be BOMB!

Well, I love you all so much. I think of you all the time and am so thankful for the support that I have from each of you! I really feel the prayers here and hope you can feel the ones I give for you!

Love the gospel, Love the mission, Love my companion, Love the Chileans, Love the food, Love Spanish, it´s just all good!

Sounds like you are all doing well and busy now that summer has started! So weird because my winter is starting...

Love you all lots!

Keep Smiling :)

Love,

Hermana Sargent

A member gave me all these paper things... I LOVE them. sticky and all.

Bishops wife and kid, with Maritza!



.Hna Riggs and I on the Micro (bus)




Hna Riggs and I found these beauties in the house..
Definitely from the '90's. Ha!  Wore them last
week to our district meeting!



Our zone meeting game ¨quien es su papi?¨



Hola Familia!

Wow, what a week! It´s just crazy, we do the same thing here, everyday basically, but it´s so different because honestly we NEVER know what is gonna happen.

I have been good though, lots of success this week, and Hna. Riggs and I are getting along GREAT. We are really similar so it´s super fun!

Well, last Tuesday we found 6 new investigators. It was just a whirlwind, people just accepting us left and right. It was awesome! Totally made me realize what missionary success is like. 9 nuevos on total :)

One was a family of 4 and they have two others, but they haven´t been home. We taught them again later in the week and they seem semi-intersted. Not really the dad, but the others do. They couldn´t come to church yesterday, but they said next week, so HOPEFULLY they really do. It´d be great.

Another one is Alejandra and her adoptedish daughter who really has lived through a lot and is only 13. Just abusive parents and all. Awful stuff. But they are reading the BOM and progressing! I sure hope they find the truthfulness of it. Alejandra is very religious, just not in the LDS church. Ha!

We also got 2 dates for baptism. One is Jean, who I wrote about last week. He is gonna try to prepare, but I need to have more faith in him and his own decisions. I just don´t know what else to do with him. He accepted a date which is GREAT but he always asks Why is baptism necessary? How will it really change my life I´m living now when I get baptized? I swear, we´ve tried everything! Ha. But really he WANTS to know. We´ve had some pretty powerful lessons with him the past week and he is just searching, I think he´s received his answer, but just hasn´t realized it! Actually, I know he has. He just has a very logical mind, not really open to feelings.

The other one is GOLDEN. Maritsa. She is basically a Nancy Russel. ha! Maybe not quite as good, but pretty close. Ok, so we taught her. She works with the bishops wife and came to church last Sunday so we met with her twice this week. The first time was great. She asked, What happened in the Americas during the time of the Bible... insert Libro de Mormom!! and then she´s had a priesthood blessing before so she realizes and has a testimony in that which made it super easy to have a testimony in Joseph Smith. So we left her with a pamphlet of the resturation and on the back there are some steps like.... 1. meet with missionaries 2. pray about and read the BOM 3. Set a baptism date 4. visit mormon.org..... ect.. So we go into our second lesson and have the goal to set her a baptism date, and SHE pulls out her pamphlet and was all concerned because she didn´t have a date! It was the easiest thing ever. She´s great. The ONLY problem is she doesn´t live in our area, but she is just living with her Aunt right now, so it´s not her house and she doesn´t feel comfortable with the elders teaching her, so we have permission to teach her. I just hope she can get baptized in our ward.... gotta figure that out. But so great teaching her!

We have another couple of families we´ve found. Haven´t taught them tons yet! But I´m hoping it´ll all work out with them. Our ward needs some family support with good leaders. But really, prayers are answered because we have been in contact with lots of families.

Yesterday in Church we had 2 investigators. The Carlson family, I told you about last week with the family problems. The MOM came to church. not the dad, he was sick, so now we have to move his baptism date back because you have to be at church 3 times, but I was so happy to see Magali there, and she enjoyed it which is awesome. Oh, loved seeing her walk in!

Friday we had intercambios! I went to a place called Limache! It was fun. My comp for the day was Hna Moncada, from Chile. It was nice to switch it up. All SPANISH, all the time because she speaks no English. I basically understood everything so that was good. She´s only been out 1 change longer than me so we were both in the training stages still. ha! but honestly, she´s a really good missionary. I learned a lot to ALWAYS talk about baptism and how we have the authority that Christ had. It was just good. Like a sleepover in Chile!

Mom, I ALREADY recieved your package. It got in here 13 days. Can you believe that? Fastest thing EVER. THANK YOU. Love everything inside :)The hot tamales may already be gone..... ha!

And yes, Tuesdays we receive letters on Tuesdays and district meetings!

I learned why in South America they greet with a kiss on the check.... read 1 Thes. 5:26. Everyone should abide by this rule.

This week we´ve been really focusing on getting down the first lesson, it´s going good. Not where I want to be yet, but it´s only been 2 weeks! Gotta have patience and faith that it´ll come :) But it´s really good to master because it´s what you teach the most.

Ok, the music here.... when singing with Chileans. Awful. ha. Really, bad. But it´s ok. They all sing their hearts out, I just need to volunteer to try to play the piano, at least the right hand so people are in the same key! ha

Robs... start finding music to put on your ipod now, it´s the best to have a great variety of all :)

Ok, in Seminary we played this game called. ¨quien es su papi?¨ I´m sure Skye can explain it to you. But us Hna´s are in charge of teaching the lesson tomorrow in our zone and district meeting and we´re gonna play it! The elders are gonna LOVE it. ha!

Really this week has been good. Missionary work is different than I thought it would be. But it´s good. Really, I love it. It´s weird to think I´m gonna be doing it until next August or September, but it´s just gonna FLY by. It´s a lot of finding people and talking to EVERYONE. That is the way to find people, just talk. But I love it. I´ve learned a lot about working with people and especially the members. I challenge all of you to OFFER to go out with the missionaries to a lesson. They are always needing members and really pray and think about people to refer to them. Members are the BEST tool to finding people to teach. Really, one lesson, they´ll ask you to bare your testimony probably. We can all do that. It´s such a blessing to the missionaries, the investigator, and to you!

The rest of today consists of groceries, back to the house, we want to play ping-pong in the church so if we have time we´ll do that. Write some letters maybe.... I just feel like it´ll take FOREVER to get letters to the states. but I should do it anyways. Maybe to the MTC buddies :)

Tonight we´re doing a Noche de Hogar (FHE) with the Obispo and fam with Marista (baptism date) NDH are the best. Super fun. We´re taking rootbeer and ice cream to do rootbeer floats. ha! Should be rather tasty.

I just sent off some pics so I hope you got them!

Well, love you family! I really appreciate all the love and support I get from you everyday. Seriously, I can feel it. Makes is so much easier to work hard and keep going when I have a supportive family. The Church is true. Jesus Christ Lives, We have the priesthood on the earth today, what a great blessing. Joseph Smith was a prophet who restored this wonderful church. we are blessed and lucky to have it! Missionary work is the work of God and he blesses those who try their hardest to do so!

Love you all, miss you and think and pray for you everyday!

Keep Smiling!

Hermana Sargent

Hna. Riggs and I :)

Intercambio companion- this area was a lot more campo, like fieldish. A little poorer than my area, but i Loved it.

Tiny turtle

Just another turtle pic.... hahaha

Familia Pucshell. The younger guy got baptized before I got here and then they have 2 inactivos. just a little visit with them!

Ok, let me just start by saying I LOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEED skyping yesterday. I always think it´ll make me homesick but it never ever does. I´m always just so happy afterward. I think it helps that we´ve had so many missionaries in our fam so it´s like, oh they´ve all done this…. I can do it! It was sooo fun! I felt like I was talking the whole time and couldn´t even ask you all questions, but I hope everyone is well. I assumed so by the looks and comments of everyone. So great.

I love Chile. I don´t know why, but any other culture other than USA I just love. I love our culture too, but others are just kind and humble. I need to be more like that. But seriously it´s great. The food, the people, the eathquakes (there was a TREMOR yesterday) I FORGOT to tell you. We were just studying and all of a sudden it was shaking and then it was over. Only for like 1.5 seconds. Kinda weird. They did kinda talk to us and told us to get next to a table or something if it was bad, not under though b/c then it would crush us. But we´ll be fine. The Lord is blessing us!

Hna Riggs, as you all know is la MEJOR. We just get along well. We were both talking last night how we just feel like we are friends from before. Just normal. It isn´t ever wierd, she doesn´t bug me, it´s just good! She´s great and she LOVED seeing all of you. She told me to tell you today that she forgot to say ¨my spanish is good¨ ahahhaa. She´s kind. ha!

Well, I feel like you know all I was gonna tell you, so now I´ll just write other random things I guess!

First things first.... our goal for this change is to find a FAMILY to baptize. We just want a family with leadership skills and everything just to lead the ward. We are praying for it, so if you want to as well, that´d be great.

Also, we are focusing a lot in our mission on finding inactives and stregthening the members. So we have planned Noche de Hogars (family home evenings) and we´ll bring an investigator or inactive and then do a lesson and game and then treat! It´s fun. We had a couple this past week.

I can´t believe how many people are inactive here. I ALWAYS heard it, but just never believed it I guess. Everyone I feel like knows someone who is inactive or we find people who are. It´s good though. Sad but good people to find!

On the street we always have to make enough contacts, our goal in the mission is 140 a week. So when people are walking by we always say hi and try to talk to them, but sometimes they don´t want to talk because they know who we are! So we´ve done something different... hahaha. I drop my pen right in front of them so it´s easier to talk to them and not let them run away. Hasn´t really worked yet, but I´ve only done it a couple times.... I have faith though it´ll work! hahaha

Dad, our streets for the church are Condell Norte and Roma, thats the capilla. My area is right around there! I wish I knew more streets but those are the ones of the capilla. Get on lds.org, go to tools, then maps, type in Villa Norte. It´s the 2nd one listed. Then you can zoom in and find my actual area and stuff! Didn´t know it had it on there! But now you can search away! If you go to the top right you can make it satellite and everything!

Mom, my mission has a blog. It´s vinadelmarmission.com. Check it. I´m featured! ha!

Also mom, did you get my mothers day package with letters and stuff? Hope you enjoyed them!

Also, did you get a box with my straightner and hairdryer and stuff?? I hope it made it to you!

Night times here are deserted and it´s not really allowed to knock doors or contact people on the street because of safety, so we like to have a lesson at least 8 or 830 so we aren´t just walking...

Our schedule here in our mission is different. We go to bed at 11 and wake up at 7. It´s because everything in South America is later so it´s good. Get home at 9:30 and then plan and then have an hour or sometimes less to do whatever!

At nights though, I´m so hungry. We eat lunch with the members at 1:30, but we don´t do dinner here because they really don´t eat it. They just eat at like 8 a snack, but we don´t do that because it interrupts teaching times and stuff. So I get home and am hungry but don´t eat b/c I´m just gonna go to bed. I need to buy healthy snacks or something today.

Our investigators. The ones I told you about yesterday who were all ready for church but didn´t go because of their son. SO SAD. But I REALLY hope they come next week. The Obispo is gonna talk to their son and we´re gonna continue to teach them. Another one is Jean, he has been being taught for a while, and he likes what he is hearing but he said last week, he is getting bored just praying because he doesn´t really believe in God or anything like that and he hasn´t recieved his answer, but ALL the things he is describing to us, is the SPIRIT. Ah, he just doesn’t want it to be or something, I don´t know. Hopefully we can keep progressing with him.

There is this one family, the Magali family. They have a daughter who is 11 and is SUPER SMART. She just gets it. Her dad seems to have interest, but not sure. We go back on Tuesday so I´m excited. They are really great. I hope they can progress. Not sure where the mom is, I think seperated. But we want to get them baptism dates this week. Hopefully it´ll work out!

Oh I was reading in Mosiah 15 this morning and mom I thought of you. verse 30, just the FIRST line= there is singing in heaven. There has to be, and how I interpreted it was that they just break out in song when they are joyful. ha! All the time I guess. Your dream is coming true! :)

Well, I love you all family! You´re so great. I still have about 30 minutes so I´ll probably be on. I can´t think of anything else to write, I´m sure next week will fly by because the week will not be as new and I won´t have JUST talked to you about 18 hours ago. Really though, the mission is so great. I already love it. I have seen how it can be hard, like this week, we have had lots of investigators fall through or people we´ll have to drop, but I just can´t get down and let it effect me. Maybe since I just got here we´re supposed to start fresh and new or something! Who knows. I´m just gonna always work my best, rely on the Lord, and smile :)

Everyday the Gospel just amazes me. I learn more and more, everyday. I love the time I have to learn and ponder and teach. I can´t wait to be REALLY FLUENT in spanish and really be able to communicate ALL my feeling on this restored gospel. I can´t wait for Robbie to be on a mission. It´s gonna be so good and he will be AMAZING wherever he goes. (hopefully Spanish speaking :) ) Well, love you all. Hope all is well. Loved seeing all your beautiful faces yesterday. Next time I see them will be Christmas. So weird. It´ll fly by!

Anywho, I´m off. P-day. Gonna go to the grocery and then back to the house and who knows, write letters, bake banana bread or something :)

Love you all, I am happy.

Keep Smiling,

Hermana Sargent

Hna Riggs and I at the mission office

Hna Riggs and I first day at mission home



Un calle en mi area



                                                                                  

Study room, Hna Riggs and I

The beds in our front room. Mine is far left!

 Right when you open the front door

The kitchen- only one with an OVEN! I have to take advantage.

Front of house :)