Wow. what a week. But first shout out to Dyan, happy birthday this week! i hope you have some fun plans! Also ROBBIE, my little gus gus is leaving in 2 days! WOWWWWW. I honestly can´t believe it. I remember i was here in Chile when he got his call and i thought, that day will never come and now, it´s here. Wow. Robs, good luck. know that i love you and i am thinking of you and praying for you all the time. The MTC is the best. take advantage of it, the language, the spirit and everything. do work boy!

Now onto the week here in Chile. Sometimes I just feel so normal here I don´t even feel like I'm in Chile. or maybe i´m just used to it now, who knows but this week we have been blessed with finding people, the language, and everything!

So I´ll start out with the investigators this week:

Alma and her cousin Genesis. I love them. really, can they just be mi sobrinas? they´re precious! From the ward we have direction to teach them slowly so that their abuelo can come back and stay active in the church to baptize them, so it´s a longer process, but we taught them this week Sueño de Lehi (1 nefi 8) and it was so funny! they were SO into it and thinking what could happen and it totally reminded me of reading this story with los sobrinos. loved it. They are progressing and their abuelos are regresando a la iglesia tambien! This family is coming back and i love it!

Next.. Irma. Seriously, my heart grows more and more for her everyday. I am sad when shes sad, happy when shes happy,etc. To be honest I was nervous to go to this cita, 2 gringas, one who doesn´t know Spanish all that well, and Irma has a hard time understanding sometimes. but this lesson was awesome! I was just really upfront with her because she needs that, she is so frank so to be frank is good sometimes i´ve learned. maybe not frank, but bold. She told us, when she feels like she needs to be baptized, she´ll tell us. but she also told us that she´s felt different when we´ve been teaching her. but we taught Dia de reposo and she came to church and all and totally understood the importance of this day! Love Irma. Funny thing.. she´s reading the LDM from the principio and she was asking where was Lehi when Laman y Lemuel we´re bad to Nefi? Then she asked... does Lehi die? and said maybe but that she was close to finding out and had to keep reading to find it! about 20 minutes after the lesson, Irma calls us.. and only says.. I know that in 2nd nefi, chapter 4 is when Lehi dies. that was it. so funny. she just had to keep reading to find it! also, she asked me to record a CD of hymnos for her.. so i think we might do that one day.

Luz. We found this lady Luz, started teaching her, and she was really confused on if Jose Smith was higher than God. We clarified and taught her all of lesson one. She accepted a fecha! She read what we left her, and she didn´t come to Church. but that's OK! We just have to teach dia de reposa again so she understands. but she had lots of questions about ley of castidad y Word of Wisdom and totally agrees with us! Gonna teach her again this week and put another fecha!

Fabiola. this work her divorce should be finalized so that she can get married! yay! She is so ready for baptism.

Franchesca- we found this lady on the street and she couldn´t talk much then but said to come by any day after 7, so we went a couple days later! She let us right in and just started telling us about her life and her concerns. Her mom died 5 months ago of cancer of the face, at age 56, super young, and i guess it was really bad. She told us that a month after found out that shes pregnant with her 5th child. and she´s married.. that's huge in Chile. but then she tells us that she´s mad at God and doesn´t want to be that way because she knows she shouldn´t be. She asked what book we share and how it could help her. She´s gonna read it and everything because she is looking for how not to be mad at God. We have a cita Tuesday with her and I´m really excited. She need the Plan of Salvation in her life big time!

Victor- Menos activa. Told us that the missionaries have passed by for years and he NEVER has talked to them and always said he is busy... but when we showed up he felt like he needed to talk to us. He hasn´t been to church for about 15-20 years and lives with who knows how many people in this house, but said that he has given up, we talked about his purpose! it was good.

the elders in our district found a family in our boundaries and put a fecha with him. Eduardo, I don´t know who he is, but we have a cita tonight to meet with him and his family!

whoooo.. that isn´t even all the people from this week but the ones that I can really see progressing! I really hope they do because every single one of them needs the gospel in their lives! The mission is the best when there are people to teach and help.

Hna Smith. everybody has been asking! shes great. I think shes really overwhelmed at times with the language and everything. but she is willing to try. Really she hardly speaks at all. she told me that she didn´t use language study in the MTC like she should have. DO IT ROBS! but she´s great. always has ideas for the investigators and wants to be obedient and everything. People ask if we´re sisters all the time and you should see the looks we get in the streets from people. ha! I think it´s just different here. Chile, the mission schedule, and everything, but she is adjusting well. The hard thing is to know when to speak Spanish and English to her. I want her to learn Spanish, but I also want to have good unity together. that's probably the hardest thing to figure out. Also i have lots of the responsibility in everything because her language. but the Lord is blessing us and together we´ll see miracles! I really like training because I feel like I can help her live how she wants to live her mission and It´s making me better everyday!

Mom, the mamita. She washes our clothes and that's about it. we pay her every change and every week she washes them. She loves the missionaries. sometimes she wants to be super involved with everything, but she´s super helpful. A lady in our ward about in her 30´s.

This week the quote of the week was from Hna Smith. She´s amazed by the dogs her in Chile and she said ¨We don´t have any dogs on my street, well i´m sure we do, but they´re pets, not wolves.¨ we were laughing SO hard. it´s true. Chile and it´s perros. still don´t understand. never will.

This morning I read a talk from Elder Packer in the Octubre Liahona. have you read it? SO GOOD. LOVED LOVE LOVED it. read it.

Well. This work goes on. always people to help and things to preach. The Church is true. God loves us. The Atonement is real. LDM is true. I love the Gospel.

Love you all, I will pray extra hard this week for everyone of you as Robbie leaves. Really though, it´s the BEST thing that he could be doing with his time. Nothing else in the world is better for him at this stage in His life!

Keep Smiling,

Hna Sargent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 foto de el coro con Elder Oaks! 

 

 Alma, Genesis, y otra primas!

Hna Smith y yo



Feliz Cumpleaños a Alexa mañana! whoo.who! 10 years old. Hope its a good one lexi!

 

Wow. this week was different! Just gonna go day by day because there was lots that happened everyday!

 Monday, we had our zona activity. It was this lago, and we played dodgeball with socks because we didn´t have balls. it was hilarious. and the man who took us to the place, stranded us so we had to walk lots to find a bus to take us back into the city. it was just funny! Then that night we had a noche de hogar with our mamita because it was her birthday! She was very happy and does lots for us as missionaries so it was a way to pay her back!

Tuesday: We were in the middle of planning that night and the zone leaders called us and told us that they had cambios. We thought it was a joke because cambios are ALWAYS Saturday. but they were serious and told us that i´d be staying and Hna Gatica would be leaving. She was super sad. Its hard to leave areas because really we love these people and get attached to them, but I think that's the good thing about the mission is that there are changes so people can progress or not. But i´m glad to be staying. Honestly i was like... 5 companions, 5 transfers. what in the world, but I just have to have trust in President and I think there are lots of hnas with problems so he has to move them around lots.ç

Miercoles: We were just about the leave for the day and the phone was ringing and said Assitantes. They called me and informed me that I would be TRAINING this change, TRAINING? I honestly was really surprised. Usually people don´t train until there in the 2nd half of there mission and i´m still in the first part. I was just really shocked. But he told me that this was revelation from President and that it was a sacred calling of God and that i was one of the best and this is my time to teach the nuevo to be obedient and enjoy the mission. IT was a good phone call with him, but I really was more than anything just surprised. I actually had to feeling a couple time the last transfer that I would be training, but I just pushed it aside and didn´t think much of it because I´m young still in the mission and gringa who doesn´t always understand every Chilean word!

Thursday: Went to Viña to drop off Hna Gatica, she went to La Serena, it´s in the north! We had the reunion de cambios, then choir practice for the choir and then a training for the trainers. Hna Gatica left and I was with Hna Riggs because she too is staying in Limache and training. We then came back to Limahce and worked in our areas juntos for the night. Cleaned up our house, we figured out the dirty ones left, and now it´s LOTS cleaner :) IT was great to work with Hna Riggs. I really love her. Can´t wait for BYU with her and others that I´ve met here in the mission!

Friday- We left after our lunch in Limahce to go to Viña to pick up the nuevitos. went to the mission home and met with PResident and got our ¨hijas¨ I will be training Hna Smith from Alpine Ut. She came straight from the MTC and speaks very little Spanish. I was at first nervous because shes gringa and i was afraid i wouldn´t understand everything but honestly I have been blessed with the gift of tongues big time since she´s got her! I can speak Spanish, but at times i feel frustrated with it. I think its all about patience. Its hard to know the balance of Spanish and English with her because i don´t want her to hate me if I only speak Spanish, but i want her to learn so we´re still figuring that out. Shes really great though, has the desire to learn and to speak and wants to improve everyday! also she is my height, strawberry blonde and played b-ball in a junior college, so we get along just great and everyone stares at us! ha!

Friday night we stayed in Viña with the senior hermanas for the night. there house was deluxe status. and to stay with them.... it was HILARIOUS. we got there late and they go to bed at 9 so we couldn´t even leave to work because we had to be in there house when they went to bed. They ordered us pizza and it was fun to talk to all of them about there lives. We stayed there in Vina because Saturday we had a conference with Elder Oaks!

Sabado: conferencia!!! wow. amazing. Presidente spoke and the area 70 Elder Arnold and their wives and then the choir sang. Everyone said it was really good and it was good to sing for all the missinoaries! :) then la esposa de Elder Oaks spake and then he spake! He spake all about revelation and it was a open mic thing. He wanted to hear what we had learned about revelation and then he would comment and teach us more on that and I felt like i needed to say something so I did! I just talked about how we won´t receive revelation if we aren´t willing to act upon the answer that we´ll receive. I learned lots from him and it was just amazing to be in the same room as an apostle. they are special people for sure!

Also he talked about how an elder (from AZ) was in his house once and he said that he missed his horse more than his girlfriend. then he said, those arizonians love there horses! it made me laugh because it´s true. love the herd back in AZ!

We finally came back to Limache Saturday and left to work! First day for Hna Smith. I think she feels a little overwhelmed, but it´s good together!

Yesterday at church the Fam Apablaza came, the Hna and her husband! and Alma and another of their nietas we are teaching that wants to be baptized. its so great to have people come to church. makes a huge difference because when they come to church they know that they are doing good and will receive their answer!

ahhhhhh... time is running out! my computer wasn´t working so i couldn´t write everything I wanted to about the people we´re teaching, but this is how the week was, just kinda running from place to place! so sorry it´s a little scattered but at least you got something!

quickly, this morning i was reading in Helaman 10: 1-5 and i loved it. It was talking about how Nefi was meditating and then he received this gran respuesta de Dios en versiculo 4-5. read it! I loved it! I think we can all take more time to meditate because that´s when we´ll receive more revelation for our lives!

The mission is great. I feel honored to be training and know that it´ll help me be a better misionera! I know Christ lives and thanks to Him we can be happier everyday in our lives. The church is true! God loves us!

I love you all and think and pray for you all the time! know i´m happy and hope you all are as well.

Keep Smiling,

Hna Sargent

 

 

 dogs sign, ugh...

Hna Smith and I

really can´t believe it´s half way through Octubre. donde fue el tiempo?? LOCO. the mission passes quickly. sometimes i think... it´s forever, but honestly, so fast. get ready Robs. take advantage of every minute!

 

This week was good. we are teaching lots, and i love it. Still don´t have people with Fechas. well, we did, but they didn´t come to church, surprise, so they lost it! bummer, but this week we´ll get them back!

Monday night we were at a NDH with Pedro. and we were playing a game and eating treats and Limache had a black out! it reminded me of in the heights! ha! I started singing it but nobody got it.. but it was SO DARK. pitch black, but honestly it was kinda fun. we planned in the dark and then the lights came back on! ha. so funny. love south america.

also this week there was a Temblor, pretty big too. 5.7, not a earthquake though, but i FINALLY felt a temblor. now i know what to expect if it was a real earthquake!

Tueday we had interviews with Presidente. He came to our house and had interviews in our cuarto de estudios. It was honestly really good. Sometimes i feel like it´s so rushed with him, like he just wants to leave or something, but the interview was good. Just gave me excitement and everything to work more! I know that he cares and everything, but his life is hectic. 4 kids, and 256 missionaries. crazy. but he is a powerful president. Really his desire and visions for the mission are good. things have changes since he´s arrived, but nothing huge. oh ya, he told me i could wear my rings. yay! just the elders cant.

Tihs week with Investigators:

Alma. i love this girl. we were walking with her to a house to watch the testaments with Irma (felt like i was with Skye the whole time because the actor in that movie) but as we were walking i asked her if she had the chance to read and pray and ask God if she needed to be baptized. She told me. ya, i read and prayed. What happened? She told me that her heart and her stomach hurt. I said, hurt? and she described it like lots of pressure in her chest that couldn´t leave. then she told me that she prayed again because she didn´t think that she´d recieve an answer. and the same thing happend. I told her that it was the Holy Ghost and that it was talking and testifiying to her. She then told me she´s ready for baptism. She is so great. We talked to bishop and he told us that it could be a ward baptism, but he wants it for a convert baptism because she has really not much support from her family. He is working with her grandpa to be able to reactivate to baptism her, so we´ll see this week how that goes! But shes so GREAT, love her.

Irma: watched the testament. She cried. Definitely felt the Spirit. She knows what she needs to do, just scared to accept it I think. But it{s so great because finally we got to see some emotion from her! With her its just paciencia, need to keep loving her and helping her do what she needs to to progress!

Silvana- she is just filled of questions and lots of knowledge of the Bible. Makes me wish i knew more of the bible. but Hna Gatica knows it so it´s good. and i know more of the LDM so it´s good together. She is now living with her boyfriend, so we gotta teach the ley de castidad with her. She is going to return to Peru in Deciembre, so now it´s even more convinent to live with her BF. So we´ll see.

AHHH, an amazing thing happened. Hna Apaublaza came to CHURCH. it{s the grandma of Alma and hasn´t been in about 8 years. we walked in and it was like... WHAT? I was shocked because she always says shes gonna go, but never does, but she CAME. it was like christmas morning, but better. ah, she bore her testimony in RS and everything. i was so happy to see her. the work is paying off, all the visits, songs sang, scriptures read, ect.. she is in the process now of coming back! yay. and i hope it helps her family.

this week we did a NDH with the familia Alamos, whose children are addicted to video games. if there is a stronger word than addiction, use that. but we used the talk from conference of Ann Dibbs and then we all wrote our slogans and shared why it was our slogan. It was so good and everyone paticipated. not one was playing video games, it was just great. (view photo of all the slogans)

Pday next week is Tuesday, para que sepan, i´ll write tuesday and i hope i´m still her in Limahce, if i leave again after one change i´ll have questions for presidente!

We had a zone meeting this week and they were talking about Hyrum and Joseph Smith and how they were incredible missionaries. there was this quote but it was in spanish so i tried to translate it. hope it makes sense. ¨if you have a day of discouragement, visit in your mind, Hyrum and Joseph in Carthage, then ask for the Lord to sustain you, just as He did with them¨ I loved it! super powerful. It{s so true, they suffered so much so we can have this Gospel in our lives. and what am I suffereing in comparision to them. hardly nothing so i have no excuse to not give it my all.

I love the mission. I really do. I am almost always happy and when I´m not happy, all i have to do is loose myself in the work. It´s great. I´m so excited for robs to serve. super soon. I was thinking the other day about the monday before i left when dad had the great idea to go around and have mom, dad, and robs say the thing they´re most excited for about my mission and the thing they´ll miss the most.. talk about tears that night. but I remember Robbie saying that he was most excited to be serving at the same time and how we can share experiences together. Now that I am here and he is so close I am even more excited for him to be experiencing the mission at the same time!

This is a little shorter today, but we have an activity today. Dodgeball. I´m stoked. should be good. Know that I love you all and that I am happy here in Viña del Mar.

This Saturday we have a conference with Elder Oaks. Super excited for it. I know it´ll be great!

Love you love you love you. besitos a todos.

Hna Sargent

What a week. First off. How amazing was conference? I really can´t believe the age change for the sisters, for the elders, ya, that´s good. get them out, but 19 WOW! I was a little shocked. I think there is gonna be a wave of sister missionaries getting ready to serve. I think it´ll be good and yes, i thought after that was announced, i think I´ll be training a 19 year old in the mission a little later on, but honestly, the Lord needs more missionaries, and this is a way that they can do it and more people will want to serve and leave and then return when they´re 20 to really start school and such. Great revelation!

 

Conference was amazing. Really, it was the fastest conference of my life. i didn´t want it to end. Here are some of the recaps of conference so I can get to the rest of the week as well.

They have a room of Conference in English, it was so great, i saw a little in Spanish, but its just not the same. the voices, it´s harder to focus, so it was great that Hna Riggs was there because we went to all sessions in English. I want to write commentaries on all of them, but here are just some of my favorites that really helped answer some questions I had going into conference. Elder Nelson (thought it was great for those who were watching for the elections in USA), President Uchtdorf, Elder Anderson on Faith, Elder Holland- talk about power, wow. Elder Bednar, loved the 10 virgens parable, I loved Elder Perrys love for his parents. It made me think of you mom and dad, and honestly, i feel the same love. I am blessed to have you as my parents. Really, all of them were amazing. I really felt like a good theme was Be a disciple of Jesus Christ by love. Such a simple message, but sometimes hard to do.

During the sessions we left to do contacts on the streets and invite people to come watch. We were super close to my first area Villa Norte because the stake center is close to the centro we went to do contacts and found MARTIZA, from Villa Norte. It was SO fun to see her and talk to her, she is doing so good, has names to go to the temple, is proud to be a visiting teacher, and the cutest thing, she pulled out her cell phone and it was a picture of me and her grandson playing the piano back in June when we went to a baptism! how cute is that. Definitely a highlight to see her and know that she is doing ok. Also, mom, she told me to tell you to respond, so maybe you can have shauna help you and write to her via FB :)

 

Irma, our investigator also came to conference, that was great! she brought us in her car, which almost broke down and we had to pull over in the rain to check it out.. ha. so funny. but she enjoyed it. sadly that´s the only investigator who came of ours, it´s far from Limache, the stake center, so it was hard for people to come, and it was raining and the people her think the rain is gonna burn them or something because they will NOT leave there house. but conference was great. loved every second of it, and the solo singer in one of the songs, that was something i´ve never seen in conference before, pretty cool :) Sad its over, but i know i´ll read it. Mom, when the Ensign comes out, can you mail one to me.. we don´t get them here until a month later than everyone! thanks!

Now, onto the week. We´ve had a good week. We´ve taught alot, but i just feel like no one is progressing. I think it´s time for new people. Sometimes its hard in an area because you get in a routine of going for the same people, but we´ve found lots of new people and its our goal this week to really pass for them and start teaching them. sometimes i wonder why these people aren´t progressing, or if they are progressing, they don´t want to be baptized and make a committment (Pedro y Irma), it makes me think if it´s me, our companionship, or just the person! who knows. But they are all great people, just not sure how much longer will be teaching them. Quick update:

Pedro: told us that he´d be baptized, but in years. lame. why not now? he still wants to learn and i think we´ll keep teaching him, just not lots, maybe one time everyweek because it´s taking time from another person who wants to make los convenios with God.

Irma: I love this lady. she is probably the most frank and upfront person i´ve met, but i love her for it. We had a lesson with our District Leader about profetas y conferencia. She finally PRAYED aloud for us, this was a first. she has a saliva problem and always says she can´t, but she finally did. she is making progress. I think she may have received some sort of answer in conferencia with Elder Hollands talk :) Can´t wait to go see her and see how she really felt about it.

Silvana: not sure if i´ve mentioned her, but she lives with a menos activo who served a mission, not married.. but she really wants to learn and is open to do things to change, the problem with her is that her time is short so it stinks a little. but i really do see progress with her and i hope we can help her boyfriend come back too.

Dyanira: found her last night and she let us in. 21, has a 2 year old, and seems more mature, but she was so kind and willing to listen. taught her about the BOM and shes gonna read and we have a cita este semana con ella.

Mariana: this lady is stellar. we met her in the grocery store one day and finally found her house to teach her. She´s very very smart, but wants to listen and learn, i hope this week that we can teach her and put a fecha. we talked lots about baptism with her, but she doesn´t really understand why she needs to be baptized so we left her 2 nep 31 to read and she said she´s read it and write down all her feelings to discuss the next time!

We definitley have people to teach, I just want them all to progress more, but with patience and faith i suppose!

Funny quote of the week: A lady that we were teaching asked me if my mom sends me special clothes because i´m tall?! I was just laughing, yes i realize i´m tall, but i´m not a GIANT! there are tall people here in chile too. ha.

This week was the birthday of Hna Gatica! She turned 24, and she told me that she´s never really celebrated her birthday before, how sad huh? her family just never could because of finacial issues and problems with her parents, but us Hnas woke her up at 12:00 (we set an alarm) on her b-day and sang her happy birthday and she doesn´t remember it! ha! so funny. but then throughout the day we had random celebrations. Investigators knew, we had a NDH that night with lots of b-day things, and then in our house that night we celebrated some more! just a day of parties :) She was very grateful for it and felt really loved i think!

tomorrow Presidente is coming to our pension to do interviews with us, i´m excited. Should be good.

Well, time is about up, too fast sometimes. But Know that i love you all. I am so happy to be here in Chile serving these people of Limache. The mission is great. The smallest milagros mean the most and i just know that the Lord watches out for everyone of his Children. Jesus Christ lives. We are his disciples and need to really follow His example in everything. We are blessed to have this Gospel in our lives. keep doing the basics and you´ll be blessed.

Love you all, Keep Smiling,

Hna. Sargent



 

 

 

 

 we did servicio to help the RS president set up her daughters wedding reception

always with the herd...
 

Hna Gatica cumpleaños

misioneros en conferecia!

 

Where has this year gone? Really, October. CRAZY!

 

I wish I could just pick up the phone and call you all to give you an update, but can´t so this email will have to do!

 

This weeks rundown!

Last tuesday in our Reunion de Zona, President was there... we had our weekly planning in the capilla as a zone and The asistants, president, and zone leaders all came around to help us! It was good to get there help. They are all just good people. I really wish we had more time with President to get to know him better. He didn´t even say anything in our meeting all together, which i thought was a little strange! but we talked to him for about 5 minutes or so during our planning. I think he is still figuring out how he wants to be on the Mission. Time will tell, but really he is a great person!

Investigators:

Fabiola, I think i´ve talked about her, just needs to get divorced to get married, to be baptized. She´s in the process! finally! But we taught her this week about the Temple and Family History. During the lesson i just felt like it was all over the place, we had a member there who would talk to long sometimes, just not a good lesson and i just wanted it to finish! I could tell that Hna Gatica felt the same way. We asked her to say the prayer and i was just thinking, Did she even understand this lesson? Honestly, just felt frustrated, but she started her prayer and it BLEW ME AWAY. She understood everything! She asked to have the chance to go to the temple, make convenios, help her family recieve the Gospel, and whatever else you can think of, she said it. I was in awe at the end of the prayer. It was a lesson to me that the Spirit really does speak to people. Maybe I wasn´t feeling it, maybe my hard was hard that day, but her heart was open to listen, and that is whats important! Thats the number one lesson I feel like I´ve learned her on the mish, People will never recieve there answers, or change, if there heart aren´t open to the Spirit and to act on whatever impressions they recieve.

Irma, the abuela. She is so funny. Kinda fiesty, but i love her because she just says what she´s thinking. for ejemplo, the other day she said something along the lines of.. ¨how are the other future mormons?¨ hahaha. And she was dead serious about it. she is finally opening up! POR FIN! everytime she tells us a little more about her life, she is reading, praying... not so much, but she understands and wants to learn. Eventhough she doesn´t want a fecha for baptism, i just know it´ll take one thing and then, BAM, she´ll want it. she´s been looking her whole life, and now she just has to accept it.

Pablo- He got baptized about 6 weeks ago, we were teaching him and he expressed the biggest desire to be sealled in the temple. yay! now his girlfriend just has to feel the same way. She´s not a member, but slowly meeting with the missionaries. I just love that people get it! and realize the blessings that can come!

Pedro- Still progressing. He told us her has a problem with committments, and i think that is part of the reason he doesn´t want to be baptized, it´s a life long committment. but he told us that he has recieved answers to prayers since he has started meeting with us, so with him i just know it is time!

Alma- doing great, just need to talk to bishop about her to get a plan to make her stay active in the church!

Victor- menos activa we found in the street, about to knock on his door, he was drinking before and openly told us he is in the wrong and knows it, and needs help. He was sobbing, and really i think has the desire to change. We have a cita with his this week on Friday! yay!

We also found lots of nuevos this week, we found a lady, named Teresa (shout out Grandma Sargent!) and we were talking to her and she told us that she´s always thought about coming to Church, she´s Catholic, but she met missionaries a while back and they invited her to church and she´s always thought about coming ever since that! Amazing how just a simple invitation can really make a difference. She seems like she could progress. If she´s thought about coming to church, just needs a little extra push.

The work is progressing. everyday i just feel like we´re running because we´re busy and sometimes i just want time to think and really do my best! but i love being busy so if the people keep coming, I´ll keep running! :)

This week Obispo asked Hna Riggs and I to talk in Mutual about EFY, because they are doing one here in Chile for the first time and he wants all the youth to attend. Talking about EFY made me realize how awesome it is. and really how it prepared me for my life, and now i´m applying things I learned in EFY on the mission. I also decided that the mission is EFY on steroids, minus the little romances! It was really fun to talk to the youth about it, i think it got them really excited!

I love the practices we have to sing for Elder Oaks! It´s been ever Friday and Saturday in the mornings in Viña, it´s about an hour of travel, but it´s so worth it! and just to know that I´ll be singing for Elder Oaks in a few weeks is great! I am trying to focus my studies on Jesucristo these next few weeks so when I sing ¨I believe in Christ¨ I can sing with my testimony! funny thing though, one of my zone leaders is in the choir too, there are only about 10 of us total.. and he called one morning and asked me to help him find his notes, so over the phone we were practicing. ha!

also, hna gatica and I were thinking how funny i´d be to have a dance party with the missionaries. all from different countries, different personalities. one day...

I heard something the yesterday in church that I loved. ¨We know Jesus Christ, but the question is Do we believe in Christ?¨ then he was talking about how we know the things we should do, but do we have the Faith in Christ to really do them and know that we´ll be blessed from doing them. Really the example that Christ showed to us are the things that we should be striving to do everyday. and we can better ourselves everyday through His Atonement. We can repent everyday and we we receive perdon if we do so with a sincere heart and have the desire to change!

The mission is incredible. I seriously learn something new everyday and am so happy I decided to serve. I love the Chileans. I love helping people recognize the truth and seeing light and purpose in this life. At times it´s hard, but the littlest blessings are always there. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God loves us. The Priesthood exists. We have this knowledge. Lucky us!

I love you all. thanks for all the love and support that i feel from letters and prays.

Enjoy conference this weekend. Know i´ll be watching all 4 sessions thinking of all of you and looking for those of you who will be there! :)

keep smiling,

Hna. Sargent



 

Here is what Limahce looks like... mas y menos! :) 

Hola Familia!

 

This week was full of festivitites for all of Chile, i really think this holiday is bigger than Christmas here. People were off of work and no school for practically the whole week! Crazy! it was fun to be here in Chile to celebrate with them though, really really hard to find people to listen, but igual, we had a good week!

So last Monday was the ward activity! we had a blast. Really it was fun to interact with the ward in their prime. Everyone was happy, eating, playing games, dancing Cueca, the typical chilean dance, i learned how :) and it was just fun! Great way to spend my P-day. Sometimes i want to be selfish and spend it doing things for myself, but i realized that honestly, way more fun when there is an activity going on. It´s just like a party, and i think being new to the ward it was good to interact with the members in a more relaxed setting for the first time! We even had a couple investigators come which was good.

Tuesday was the real day, 18 de Septiembre. Honestly it´s just a huge holiday. i can´t believe it! we didn´t have lunch that day so we decided to go celebrate, there was a carnival type thing that had the typical chilean food, lots of meat for this holiday, and we ate lunch there! it was so fun. We have 1 1/2 hrs for lunch so we utilized that time to celebrate. There were tons of little stands, like a flea market, but huge, with cualquier type of stuff that was being sold. Lots of kites being flown (one including ours)! We thought we should have done our own stand that said ¨porque mormones no toman el 18 de Sept, pero igual tienen un buen tiempo!¨ (why mormons don´t drink this day, but still have fun) hahaha. Not really, but it was a joke. I really think we could´ve found some people by doing it though. May have been drunk, but still... they need the Gospel too, right? ha! This day was really hard to find people because everyone was partying with family and friends. Luckily we had a service project for a family in the barrio and we still looked for people and tried our hardest to teach!

Wednesday we had intercambios, I was with Hna Riggs! It was so fun to be with her again. She´s such an example to me of someone who can have lots of fun but is SUCH a good missionary. She loves the people, the people love her, and her knowledge and love for the Gospel is just huge. I really look up to her and can´t wait to be in BYU together after the mission. We taught people in her area that seem to be progressing so thats good! Yay for investigators that are progressing!

This week we´ve taught lots of menos activos. it´s a push in our mission right now to find news, but reactivate the old. Really, my heart hurts for these people. It´s just sad that they don´t get it. they think they do, but they don´t, they´re menos activas and not fullfilling the commandments. I just want them to come to church, and some of them have the strongest testimonies, but still don´t come to church! ahhhh!

We taught this family, Familila Paulaza, menos activas, and they know they are. Hno used to work with the menos activas and go out and find them and help them and now, he is one of them! super sad, his wife, Hna, wow. her testimony is one of the strongest i´ve heard. She has uteran cancer and they cant operate because she has heart problems and she really wants to go to the temple before she dies. She was in tears, i almost was too, talking about her desire to go. But her husband thinks that she´ll heal and then in more time they can go. I really just want to help them, get them to assist so she can go to the temple. This sounds depressing, but the good thing is we are now teaching their granddaughter, 8 years old, not baptized and she is so cute! I think to be able to teach her and them juntos can maybe bring them back to the Gospel. Ojala!

We got rid of the dogs! the pound came, i think it´s not really a pound, i think they just kill them, but maybe not. I´m realived to have them not following us, it was a little sad to see them get driven away in this truck, but within about 7 seconds i was over it. ha! just was a distraction and i was always scared walking in the street and contacting people with them! It was an answer to prayers that they came!

Pedro is progressing well. He told us he doesn´t want to be baptized, but still wants to learn, he is reading, praying, and came to church, so it´s just a matter of time! And his dad, the converso, we taught his Eternal Marriage this week and he has a crush on a lady in the ward but he wont tell us who! I told him we could do a NDH and invite her and him, do a little match making. he was laughing so hard! ha!

All of our fechas fell this week. So sad, it´s just getting people to come to church and this week was just hard to teach people. But this week now were healthy, no festivals, i know it´s gonna be great!

We had others come to church too, one is Fabiola! She´s been taught now for a while and wants to be baptized, comes to church every Domingo, reads LDM and prays, the only thing is shes not married! Shes waiting to be divorced so she can get married, and then she can be baptized. tan fome. The law here is so weird. if people live together and aren´t married they receive more money, its so dumb. Whoever made that law did not understand the plan of God.

I was thinking this week alot about how i can improve as a missionary and i think the thing i really need to focus on this week is what do i have to offer my investigators that can change there life? and i know it´s a lot, and i always think of this. But lots of time we teach investigators just another thing that they have to do, and promise them the blessings, which is great, but i really want to focus on how they can really see these things as a blessing in there lives and that they really WANT to do them and it´s not a burden.

Oh, Friday the assistantes called us! and whenever we can see their names its like... ¨uh-oh, what did I do wrong?¨ even though i know nothing is bad. But they called and the asked me to be part of the Choir for when Elder Oaks comes!!!! (did i tell you he is coming in Oct?) I was so excited. there are 5 Hnas and then some Elders, we´re singing Creo en Cristo, we had practice and i´m so excited to participate. I´ve had some incredible experiences singing for apostles in my mission! it´s just crazy. I love it!

also i am reading the Bible more steady and love it because it´s ALL about Christ! i feel like i´m learning lots from His life just from reading. He lives, He is our Salvador, our brother, our friend, who really cares for us, who sacrificed His life for us. He is amazing.

well family, I am doing good here in Limache! I really feel like this week to come is just gonna be successful. Nothing stopping us now and I am feeling more comfortable with the people, the ward, the area, ect. Know that I love you lots! Thanks for the letters and love. I love reading them even though i don´t respond to everything!

The Church is True. Keep Going and share the Gospel. We can´t be shy about it, it´s who we are!

LOVE YOU ALL. xoxoxoxoxoxoxx

Keep Smiling,

Hna. Sargent







Happy Birthday to my little gus gus this week! 19... what what. big year ahead. Hope you eat lots of yummy food because who knows what you´ll be eating the next birthday! ha!

 

This week has been good here in Limahce, minus that every single person en our house was sick. Started with Hna Gatica, then Hna Riggs, then me, and now Hna Mamani. So bad. and not just a little sick. We all had fevers of 101-103... no fun. and when we have fevers we aren´t permitted to leave because it can make others real sick. no fun. I just feel bad, all i want to do it go work and when i can hardly get out of bed there is no way i can walk miles a day. but today i am feeling better. not 100% but better. Still gonna take my meds and vitamins and lots and lots of water, as if i don´t drink enough already! ha! but this week to lots and lots of work to catch up for what we missed.

ok, Limache, it´s totally campo here. way diferente than Viña. I miss Viña but i like it her alot. It´s more humble and I honestly like that part of it. more people are willing to listen and try to figure out how they feel. The house we live in is good. there is just lots of disorder and the hnas i live with aren´t the cleanest which drives me crazy at times. Maybe why we´re all sick? but i´m trying to order it up everyday and they know that we need to, when we have time and everyone feels good we´ll do it good. the bad thing is that there are these dogs that are ALWAYS outside of our house. and they follow us in the day all day long sometimes. I HATE IT. seriously i have no heart for these dogs. they aren´t bad or bite or anything, just annoying. and they have an owner, but she lives in Santiago in the week and is never home so they just decided to stay with us. I think it was because before there were hermanas that gave them food and everything, but now NO WAY. we´ve tried to call the pound, but they never came, so i think we´ll just have to keep calling. ugh. but oh well. life goes on!

Lots of investigators here in Limache. We have 5 con fecha. thats awesome. our zone on Thursday had 24 con fecha. super bueno. recap of those that we´re teaching!

Matéas. 15 years old. Drug problem. (here lots of people have drugs problems) He told us the other day that ever since he´s been praying and reading that his life is different. He doesnt have the desire for drugs like he has had, his mom is better with alcohol, ect ect. it was so great to hear that he is really recognizing it! At first, he didn´t accept a fecha, said.. no sé, but then we explained the proposito de bautismo y he accepted and if he feels that its what he needs to do, he´ll be baptized! yay. i can just see him in a few years on a mission!

Silvana- also has fecha. she´s super smart, dating a RM, but inactivo. I just don´t get that. RM and inactivo. So sad. but she´s really really smart, and just always wants to know. she likes to read, but doesn´t want to ask in prayer. ugh. the other day she was like... ¨define perfecto¨ I honestly have never thought of it before, but she is just in depth, at times hard to teach people like her, but it´s all good.

Sandra and Javier- sandra is the mom of javier and her husband doesn´t do anything to help her. Seriously just treats her bad. pobrecita. he just wants her to do everything and he is lazy. but the problem with ella es she doesn´t have a steady work so every sunday is a huge faria (farmers market) and she goes to sell at that to have work and to have money. we passed along to her some jobs from the church so hopefully on of those works out, because she wants to be a member, but can´t just be baptized because, she needs to really understand the imprtancia de dia de reposo!

Irma- ha. this lady is so funny, but is solid. She´ll be baptized one day. She´s been looking for a church her whole life, and really likes to read and listen, whenever we ask her questions she asks the same back to us, she´s just funny. I think there is something more with her that she´s not telling us but is hard to get to open up! She sells perfume and i bought some because i needed some. super yummy!

Pedro, yes another pedro. He is a SOG. He is the son of a converso and slowly but surely we´re teaching him! ha. It´s hard because its always in his negocio with his dad and sometimes people come and they need to help their customers and such, but it´s good. he has a real interest in the Priesthood so i know that he has questions and the desire to learn!

This week we were teaching a man named Ricardo and we invited him to come to church with us and were explaining to him all about church and he goes, ya, i want to go, but i don´t want to go in a white shirt and tie, i want to go in a tunic (dress) because that´s how Jesus Christ dressed. SO funny. who thinks of things like this... i love chileans.

Lots of fiestas this week because 18 de Septiembre. today is a ward activity and tomorrow is just a huge party for everyone. i think it might be hard to find people willing to listen tomorrow, because it´s just a day to be with family and friends, drink, eat, and be merry! but it´s fun to see all the traditions here. everyone has a flag up in there house and is so excited. there is a huge carnival here in Limache tambien . it´s like 4th of july times 10!

We had a conferencia with Elder Viñas who is in the presidency de Chile. It was super good. President Kanhlien spoke first on really working with the menos activas to reactivate them and help them understand the importancia de la iglesia. it really got me excited to meet the menos activas here in Limache.

Then Elder Viñas spoke on the Atonement and the Sacrament and how the fruits of repentance is baptism and that people need to understand that. but for us as members that have already been baptized, for us the frutas de arrepentimiento es the sacrament! it was so good. He said a quote I really liked ¨ Faith in Jesucristo is the confidence that leads us to obey¨ (that was hard to translate into enlgish ha) but it´s so true. If we didn´t have faith is Jesucristo, we wouldn´t obey one commandment. It´s really our way to show our faith!

Hna Gatica is great. we get along really well. Honestly, i´m learning tons from her. She is an incredible missionary and it´s only her 3rd cambio! She just really wants to work and find those people and that i love about her! We get along well with personality as well. Also laughing and stuff! it´s good.

cant believe that is the 17th of septiembre. super fast this month. Augosto was a little long, this month, tan rapido! crazy!

Well Family, I am happy here in the campo de Limache! This week i hope to recoporate and that i can have all my strength to work work and work. I really know that people are here waiting for us and it´s just a matter of practicing our faith to find them! The mission is great. So much to learn and to preach to other people! The gopsel is true. Brings us so much happiness. and i just know people are waiting for it!

Love you lots think and pray for you always!

Keep Smiling,

Hna. Sargent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Hna Mamani, Gatica, Riggs, y yo en la conferencia!

Hna Tamayo y yo. Love her!  

hna Gatica y yo en la conferencia con Elder Viñas  

 

18 de Septiembre. our street is filled with flags. actually, every street! I love it!