Hola! I feel like it was forever ago that we talked, but just to start I want to say how MUCH I loved it. It made me realize that I miss you all more than I thought, but it´s all good. I got over that quickly, and still miss you, but not enough to come home, yet… you all looked great, sounded great and uplifted me tons!

I don´t think I thanked you enough for my Christmas package in Skype, but I LOVED it. Everything was just perfect. Gave Hna Paz a thing of hot tamales, sacrificio. And she loved them because they´re hot. But I loved everything! Thank you thank you!

We were blessed with a baptism this week! Juaquin! yay! Really, he has changed a ton, that’s one of the things I love of being a missionary is to see the change in these people! He showed up and was solo, and then about 5 minutes after showed up his WHOLE family. It was awesome. The ward support was super low, I just don´t get it. But he was happy, and honestly has changed and is now thinking of a mission slowly but surely. I think in a year it´ll seem more realistic to him! Good way to end the year!

Patricio... well, we got permission for him to be baptized which is a miracle. President approved it. Patricio wants to be baptized, likes church and everything, but doesn´t get it I feel like. He always has a TON of questions that are nothing to do with anything, but he wants it and thats what is important, just has to understand everything before he does it! The elders came and accompanied us on un cita (a discussion) with him. It was funny. With him I just need to have patience, fe (faith), and pray that he understands. He and his family came to a Noche de Talentos (talent night) (pic) and the miracle was that his ex came! She wanted to see what the Mormons were about and she liked it. Now I hope she realizes the blessing the church can be in the life of her kids!! Yay!

Alondra, she’s new. Found her, has 5 kids and is actually married. And accepted a fecha, (baptism date) we passed for her sunday morning to bring her to church and she was still asleep, but she got up, got a little ready and came with us with 3 of her kids! Her kids were tired and wanted to go home, but I honestly think she enjoyed it. Miracle that she didn´t stay sleeping. Hopefully she´ll come to see the blessings of the family the church has to offer and we can teach her esposo (husband) too. Familia!! (family) yay!

The other pueblo, elders in our district had a Noche de Talentos (talent night) in their capilla. We went because we had invetigadores (investigators) and participated in skits with the elders! It was really funny. Everyone loved them. I have them in film, but too big to send, sorry. You´ll have to wait until I get home to see the videos. But it was really good. A menos activo en our barrio (less active in our neighborhood) does magic, like, legit, and he came with his family and participated in the show. Super good that he came!

We also found an investigator there. It’s the daughter of a hermana (sister) that recently was baptized in that ward. Silvanna. She was so great, 20 years old, and wanted us to come to her house. Sunday we went and she is great. She’s met with the elders lots and has seen a change in herself since she’s met with them and wants it. She just needs to quit smoking! But we talked lots about it and she needs to talk to her dad because she lives with him. But she’s awesome, excited to see her progress!

Menos activas. (less actives) Seriously, I feel SO sad when they just don´t accept it. Or when they are too prideful to realize the real purpose of church, seriously. Sad. My goal for mission and aftermish is to HELP THEM! Mostly just need a friend and someone to invite them, don´t know why it’s so hard to do it for some people! But there are a ton here, and I love them all and my heart hurts more for them than for people who haven´t accepted the gospel because they KNOW!

I have a page full of goals for 2013, Luke 2:52 status. Thanks dad. I am gonna work on all of them!

The other day here in Chile was like our April Fools. Us hermanas played a joke on the elders and told them that the Hnas haven´t returned yet and we couldn´t find them. They were really scared and started running to the bus stop to come help us look, and we told them it was a joke. SO FUNNY. Mean, yes, but we had to. Gotta have fun on the mission.

Well, this was really scattered, but that’s how this week has been! Filled with goodness!

Love the mission.

Tonight we have permission to be out with members until 12:30. I’m gonna die of tiredness, but they have fireworks here and we can go, so I’m just gonna gut it up and do it.. only one New Years in Chile! Gotta do it right! Should be fun!

Happy New Years to you all. Where did 2012 go? Crazy fast! Can´t believe it! But it´s good. 2013 is coming and will be a GREAT year. I know. Lots that will happen.

Love you all. Thanks for everything!

Keep Smiling,

Hna Sargent

patricio and hijos and ex wife.

 otra con juaquin

 

 juaquins bautismo! his WHOLE familia came! so happy!

 

familia por Christmas Eve!



FELIZ NAVIDAD a todo mi familia y amigos que no estan aqui en Chile conmigo!(Merry Christmas to my friends and family who aren’t here with me in Chile) Sepan que siempre estoy pensando en ustedes, y aun mas este Navidad! (Know that I’m thinking of you, and even more this Christmas)

This week was just filled with goodness. I´m not sure if it’s because everyone is more focused in the Navidad, (Christmas) if it´s the warn weather, or if i´m just happy to be here. Probably a little of everything!

This week I was focusing on the service that was given to us as missionaries. It was incredible to see the smallest little things that people do for us make the world of difference. Really, I don´t think we as missionaries focus on the service that others give to us because we´re always trying to give it to others, but when we accept it and realize it, it´s amazing.

This week we had to go get something notarized for Hna Paz and her visa. We went to another Pueblo (town) to do it and we walked in and it was SO full. People waiting outside and everything, and it´s never full, usually empty. So we walked in and grabbed a number, it was number 76 and they were on 50! Ugh... we only had about an hour too, but these places take forever! We were waiting there for about 5 minutes, or less, and this young man, our age, walked up to us and introduced himself. Told us that he just returned home from his Mission to Asucion Paraguay the week before, found out that he met Shauna once... he arrived with the group of Hna Jara... I think, when you were training, and then he gave us his number (55) and told us he could come back in the afternoon. It was honestly such a miracle. One he had a number WAY ahead of ours so we didn´t have to wait too long, and two he knows Shauna. Christmas Service, number 1.

We were in a area of our sector late one night, it was like 9:30 and we left from the lesson, walking is about 30 mintues and the latest we can be in our house is at 10. We decided to go in a collectivo. (taxi) We asked him the closest he could take us and he brought us right to our neighboorhood, it was out of his course, but he did it and didn´t charge us anything extra like others usually do! Christmas Service, numero 2.

It was raining, all day one day... kinda weird because the weather has been warmer and then it was just a day of winter... I unfortuntely had to use my coat.. ugh. But we were visiting this menos activa (less active) family, the familia Tapia. We shared a message with them and then had to leave to get back to the house. In the rain. But after walking all day in it, I was used to it, but still, not my favorite. As we were packing up our bags to leave, Hna Tapia tells her brother, Rodrigo, to get the keys for the car and they´ll take us home! It was SO nice. Plus more time to share with them. Christmas service, numero 3.

Our house has a small yard in front of it, and it was OUT OF CONTROL with leaves and weeds and who knows what else. 2 hermanos from the ward, with permission, came and weeded TODO. (it all) Seriously, our house looks so different and it was SO nice because we didn´t have to use our time to do it, plus we don´t even have the things that we´d need to do it. Christmas Service, numero 4.

We as a ward went and sang to a retirement house. It was so special. I was on spot selected to sing a solo, but during the song I was just watching all these people, who have lost their minds, have bad health, and are celebrating Christmas without family, without anything, just each other. I had the most overwhelming feeling that these people are close to Christ. That they, just like us, are Children of God. They may have thought that it was service to them, but I felt like it was a blessing and service to me to be able to go. Christmas Service numero 5.

Those were just a few of the things that happened. But it really made me more focused in the true meaning of Christmas and think more of Christ through the week,

Patricio and his kids can´t get baptized. Found out this week that Patricio is divorced but his ex and him still live in the same house, and the wife has all the rights for her kids and doesn´t want them to be baptized. But they are progressing, reading, coming to church and everything! Just more time and patiencia (patience) with them.

Erika, still good. Went to the north with her family for Christmas so we won´t be seeing her until the next week. Kind of a bummer, but she’s good. Just needs to read more. She believes it, but needs to keep her compromisos. (promises)

Juaquin, had his interview and will be baptized this Saturday! YAY! Finally. He honestly has changed a lot and is talking about a mission. The BEST thing for him would be to just GO!! He has a tough family situation at home, so that makes it hard, basically is the support for everything, but he has a great understanding of the Gospel and can see the blessings in the lives of the people who have it contra (them that don´t have it!)

We had a Christmas conference... it was SO good. Learned a ton. Presidente told us Hnas that in Feb there are like 15 hnas (sisters) that are coming and then when April comes there will be about 50 hnas... I asked him what we´d do for training and all and he said some sisters will have to train 2 sisters at once... wow. Our zone did a FLASH MOB. It was bomb. I had to start it, but we did the song, 12 days of Christmas and changed the words... ha! It was awesome. Also watched the Christmas devotional. LOVED IT. The music was amazing.

Well, I can´t wait to talk to you all tomorrow. Yes, 3 your time! I am excited to see you all and be able to hear your voices.

Remember the meaning of Christmas and why we are celebrating it. Look to share your testimony of Christ with those who are around you and I know that your testimony will be stregthended. He Lives. Without Him, the Prince of Peace, there would be no way to have peace in the world. Through Him, everything is possible, and Christmas isn´t Christmas if Christ isn´t in your hearts like President Monson said.

Love you all. Feliz Navidad!

Keep Smiling,

Hna Sargent

 our zone this morning!!

 

the Hnas at the Christmas conference we had this week!

there are cherry trees here. I love them!! just ipick them off and eat them all up :)



 

Hola familia!

This week was really good, we´ve been running like crazy I feel like, but have found some solid people and have enjoyed working together!

6 changes, 6 comps, 6 reunions de cambios... I´m basically pro. It´s crazy. HOPEFULLY I´ll have this comp for 2 changes.. with my track record though, who knows!

My new Comp is Hna Paz from Mexico! She’s 23, 5 years in the church, and has a desire to work! I love that about her… always looking for ways to find people and talk to people. I feel like she already has lots of time here in the mish because it´s way different than with Hna Smith. Hna Paz talks lots, Hna Smith, not too much… just a funny difference. But she´s great. We get along well and I´m excited to cook some comida mexicana (mexican food) with her… I miss it SO much! Ha!

So last Tuesday we went to the mission home to pick them up, met with president and his wife with the nuevos. (new ones) I really do like seeing them. Sometimes I feel like we NEVER see them, but when I do I just feel love for them. They´re great. Solid members and obedient children of God. President told me as we were leaving. ¨hermana, tengo mucho confianza en usted, gracias por todo¨ (Sister, I have lots of confidence in you. thanks for everything) made me feel good to hear that from him! But we finally got back to Limache Tuesday night, and had about one hour to work and went on the hunt! Found a mom and her daughter that first night that accepted a fecha, (baptism date) but then we could never find them in their house through the week… reoccuring problem in the mish, never can find people! But I know that this week we´ll find them! They´re golden. But it was a good first day and I was glad to be back in Limache after 2 days away… I felt lost and like I wasn´t where I needed to be! Ha!

This week we saw a miracle, one of those stories that you´d read in the Ensign.. ya, it happened to us... prepare yourselves....

So we´re sitting in Ward Council and we hear somebody call out and yell, ¨hola?¨ The bishops counselor went to see who it was. He came back in a few minutes later and called us out to go talk to her... we went and she told us basically she wants to participate in a church and she has passed by this one lots and it’s always closed, but when she saw it was open she decided to pass and see... so we put a cita (appointment) with her that night, last night I guess. We went to her house and she let us in we began talking to her and asking about her life, ect ect. Then we asked her why she decided to come to our church to find us? She told us that the other day she prayed to ask God which church she should go to... and she felt ¨the Mormons¨. She told us that she was looking for us the past couple days to talk to us in the street but never saw us like she usually does, so Sunday she woke up and felt like she needed to go to the church and look. She went, and that’s when she found us. We taught her lots about Jesucristo (Jesus Christ) and she has so much of a desire to follow Him. She accepted a fecha for 30 of dic (baptism date dec 30) and was SO happy. It was a miracle. Erika is her name. We have a cita (appointment) with her tonight and I´m excited to go back. It´s just a huge testimony builder of 2 things.. This is the true church, she wouldn´t have felt that if it wasn´t, and that there are people who are ready for the Gospel NOW! No need to wait, people want it, they´re hungry!

Patricio, Bruno and Tomas vinieron (went) to church yesterday! We haven´t been able to teach them yet and they´re coming to church. This is another miracle. Everytime we´ve gone to teach them something happened that we could teach them or they had to go.. I think it´s Satan, but this week! When they get baptized.. I have the faith they will, just to tell you as a heads us, Patricio will need at least 2 people to baptism him. He is a big boy! But I think it´s awesome, good story at the least! I think his kids think church is so-so, but they just need to have friends in the church! and our ward is not that great at befriending people!

Yesterday we had ward council and it was the only church meeting I think in my life I have felt that much sadness. It´s sad. Seriously, I was thinking, this ward needs help. How are we as missionaries going to help people come to Christ when the ward has its problems. The leaders that were there were like, bickering, there was contention, and these are supposed to be the LEADERS! This ward is great, I love the members, but what they haven´t come to realize yet is that a ward is a team, there were so many times said, well I did that, and that other thing is your responsibility I just sat there in awe. thinking... no wonder that there are so many menos activas (inactives) en chile. Super, super sad. Sometimes I feel like they need Priesthood or elders to maybe help with those priesthood responsibilties, but we´ll see. Pres and obispo (bishop) have their own revelation!

This week I feel like I came to understand the Atonement better. So many times we hear people say.. ¨God understands that I need this thing¨ (cigarros (cigarettes), alcohol, café (coffee), Sunday to shop, ect) but it’s NOT TRUE. God does not understand because He sent His son, Jesus Christ, who felt every single thing that we´ve felt. It doesn´t matter if we smoke or drink because we´re stressed or sad, what we need to do is look to Christ for that extra lift of support and love to overcome what we´re feeling.

As for others, we have lots progressing and lots of people to teach, just gotta get them to understand the Restoration because honestly its the most important! It’s why we have our gospel.

It´s decided.. I will NEVER have a dog. I hate them.

In Eter 9: 19, what are cureloms and cumoms. It says they were most useful along with elephants, but what are they? anyone know? I was thinking maybe llamas or something??

Can´t believe I hit 9 meses (months) this past Friday.. really weird. We celebrated with pizookie. Hna Riggs hits 16 months today! CRAZY!

Well, life here in Chile is good! We decorated the tree mom! Thanks! Love it, and with the polarbear on top..it´s perfect. Christmas is rapidly approaching!

The gospel is true, we are so lucky to have it in our lives! Love you all a ton!

Keep Smiling,

Hna Sargent

sister missionary tradition here in chile. should be self explanatory!

love this photo. my ¨mission mom¨

hna Paz and i! from mexico!



Well, this week has been kinda crazy. Just lots and lots of different things that happened.

 

Well, first we had cambios.(transfers) Hna Smith left. Super weird because the training program is 12 weeks in total, and she left halfway through. But all is well. I am training again. I don´t know who my comp will be, I´ll find out today at 4:30ish. I do know that she is Latino though. I´m excited. Sometimes I think the Latinos have a more relaxed way to be a missionary, just more problemas con obedencia con exacitud.(with obedience and punctuality) not all. There are stellar ones too, but I´m excited to have a Latino so she knows that it’s good to have a schedule and follow every rule! So next week I´ll let you know who she is and where she’s from. Plus I miss Spanish so it´ll be good! You should be able to get on the mission blog this week and see pics. Usually they have them up! Yesterday Hna Smith left and I stayed the night with 2 other Hnas that will be training. We were working in one of their areas, they´re awesome. I felt that they were training me. Both are in their last 2 cambios. Awesome missionaries.

Hna Smith was super sad to leave. She was just getting the hang of it and was really progressing, but it´s good to have 2 trainers. I loved it. It was awesome. Because the first part was just getting used to everything, and then when Hna Tamayo came is when I felt like I really took off and was able to progess more and feel more confianza. (confident) I´m happy for her! We hope we´ll at least live together again one day! I was sad to see her leave, but am also excited to start again and help the new missionary get the hang of the mission!

Well, onto the week.

Investigadores. This week was really hard to find people in there houses for some reason. All of our investigators just weren´t home. So thats always frustrating a little bit, but I know that we were also blessed on finding others. I just don´t get why people don’t want to listen to the gospel all the time! It´s just such a blessing in their lives.

Irma. We had to drop her. It was SOOOOO hard. But I just felt like it was what she needed. I´ve been feeling it for a few weeks now. It´s hard though because ya, she had a fecha(baptism date) and was reading and all, but her desire to be a real member just wasn´t there. I think she was doing it for us. It was hard. I cried. Hna Smith cried. Irma was mad that we couldn´t come anymore, but for now I think it´s right. Sometimes I wonder and am seeking revelation to know what we should REALLY do.

Patricio, Tomas y Bruno. This random guy stopped his car one day to talk to us and said that his 2 boys needed help in English. We went by the other day and taught them a little English and talked about the BOM with them, invited them to church and put another day to come back and teach them. Sunday morning, guess who showed up to church and stayed for ALL 3 HOURS? They did. I was in shock. Patricio, the dad really liked it. Told us he wants to come next week. I think the sons were a little bored, but probsies didn´t understand all of it. But it was just incredible that they came. Patricio said he has always been looking for the truth and wants his family to be united and have good examples. He has some weird views, but really just needs the Gospel to help him! After church Sunday, he called us and asked what scripture in the Bible they used in the class. Pretty Solid!

Veronica- this lady is living the gospel with her family, just doesn´t know it yet. Has so much family unity, wants her kids to be happy. Eternal life is inticing to her, it´s awesome! We just have to go back this weekend to teach her!

Juaquin- still progressing. He is changing. He is way more alert in classes and honestly his aura has changed. His eyes have a light to them. Pretty sure he´ll be getting baptized soon, just gotta make sure it´s ok with President because he is younger than 18!

This week there was a RS once.(activity) It was all Christmassy (view fotos) it was really really good. I realized here at this activity what it means to be a member of the church. At this RS activity though, it was sad. There are lots of ¨cliques¨ in the soc soc here and it’s totally noticable. When there are investigators, it’s like pulling teeth to get them to sit and talk to them solo. It really makes me sad. We have these people there who are SO excited and people say hi and greet them, but they don´t talk to them, don´t ask anything about them, don´t invite them to their house por un NDH, es triste!! (for a Family Home Evening, it’s sad) It´s really made me realize that the mision is teaching me how to be a member of the church and how to be more Christlike and really help people come unto Him. That is why the church has so many menos activas, (less actives) mostly it’s because they don´t feel welcome, they don’t have friends, they don´t have a calling. We have to make sure they´re included and involved in the church and not just floating by!

This week we were talking and I realized that... to believe isn´t sufficient enough. We always need to be doing more than just believing. We need to act, we need to show God that we´re willing to do everything possible and when we are doing that we´ll believe more and our faith will grow.

We had lunch this week with a Hna en the ward. Real yummy. But that’s besides the point. We shared a message after lunch, like always, and her menos activa daughter was there. During the scripture, on prayer, she started crying and then was just opening up like crazy. Telling us everything she felt, how she knows the church is true, ect ect. it was AWESOME to hear from this one simple scripture that she felt so strongly the Spirit and that she was opening up to us. It taught me that the morning studies are so important because Hna Smith and I both were thinking that we should share prayer with them, and then this happened! Revelation is real everyone!

Oh my gosh... Hna Smith would kill me for saying this... but I´m gonna tell you anyways. She was walking and her 2 fingers brushed up against a cactus. She got all these little thorns in her fingers. So we went to find some tweezers to take them out. It was so sad, but so funny too.

Also, this guy who owns this store we always pass by invited us to go to the ¨aguas verdes¨ in Valparaiso. We told him that we couldn´t and he was like... don´t you want to go swimming with me? Ya, gross. We´re gonna try to avoid him the best we can!

The mission is emotionally hard I decided. So many ups and downs. One day it’s awesome and then the next, no one wants anything to do with you. You start loving these people, whether its companions or investigators or miembros (members) and then they just sometimes get ripped away from you. But that’s just how the mission is. I am learning tons and really figuring out how I want to be in my life with my family and as a miembro de la iglesia! (member of the church)

Well, time is about up, but know that I love you all dearly and miss you all. The church is true. The priesthood is on the earth. Stay worthy of it men! It´s powerful. I love the gospel. The mission is changing me for the better and I´m so grateful for that!

Love you all.

Keep Smiling,

Hna Sargent

 

found this oasis! lovely

 

 best present of the year to all of you :) (just remember who your favorite is!!)

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS :)

 

don´t know how this happened. you think it would have hurt.. right?

 

 

Hna Daine. love this lady. reminds me of Aunt Suzanne lots. 

Where does time go? I swear, it was just October about 2 seconds ago.. or maybe March.. who knows. Dad always says, time passes, I guess it’s true. Sometimes too quickly I think! But all is well here in Limache. This week we were blessed with milagros (mriacles). Mucho. God is kind.

 

Well, the investigadors that we have:

Irma, the famous Irma. So we went to our cita Miercoles (appt. Wednesday) to drop her. That means tell her that we can’t come back. I felt good about this decision. I felt sick to my stomach because I knew she wouldn´t like it, but it´s what needed to be done. So we go to her house and she sits down and goes “I have two things to tell you¨ which is normal. We listen..the first is about her daughter or something, don´t remember.,and then she goes... ¨Voy a bautizarme!!¨ ( I’m going to get baptized). WHATTTTTTTT????? I was TAN FELIZ. (SO happy) seriously, had the biggest grin on my face, trying to control my happiness cause I just looked like an idiot I´m sure. Hna Smith started to cry, it was awesome. We asked her why she decided and she just said that she prayed to God, Catholic or Mormon and she´s just felt Mormon since that prayer. It was honestly a miracle. Just as we were going to drop her, she tells us this. I was then thinking, why did I feel like we needed to drop her then? And I honestly think it was a test of Faith. To trust in God and he´ll bless us. Amazing. Now we´re preparing her for her fecha(baptism). Helping her with Diezmo (tithing) and the importance of it. Ya, basically it was awesome. Love being a missionary when things like that happen.

Juaquin- not sure if I´ve mentioned him, but he is the bf of a YW in the ward here. He´s been coming to church for about 3 months now and stays for everything, all 3 hours. Last week he came up to us and said, “I want to be baptized.” It was like, woah, ya, well, when can we visit you?? The only concern is now that he is being baptized for his girlfriend and not for himself, but that’s why we´re here. To help him develop his own testimony. He is 17 and the goal is to get him ready to really serve a mission in a year! That´d be awesome!

Michelle- ya, talk about an ivestigator of GOLD. Seriously, we found her and we started talking to her. She told us that she just barely has had time to sit and think about her life. Just graduated high school, 18 years old. If we would have gone a day earlier she wouldn´t have had time. She was telling us that she has a desire to go back to her church that she always went to, but it’s just really far. She has SUCH strong belief in God, tons of faith, seriously I felt like she was teaching us! She was talking and saying things literally that I was going to say. Shared about the LDM (B of M) and she said that she knows God can give her a response. She committed to read and pray about the Book and then accepted a fecha (baptism date). Also wants to go to church with us Sunday. She’s amazing. God has prepared her to accept the Gospel. I know that she´ll progress.

Karen and Patricio- Patricio is a member, inactivo. He is working on his divorce from his first wife, but living with Karen. Karen knows the LDM is true and everything, totally gonna progress, just has to get married first. Always a problem here in Chile. We were with them on Thanksgiving night and were talking about in many years they could go on a mission together and teach, and they were so excited. It was a great goal. Patricio, I feel bad for him, he was just a little lost, but he knows what he needs to do to come back into activity. Just with time.

We´re teaching lots. Have lots of people that can progress and understand the Gospel, just have to have the Faith to receive their answers.

Oh my, Saturday, it was super super warm. We were walking on the street and had just bought a pie thing for Irma for her b-day, but she wasn´t gonna be home for about 30 more minutes and the pie would have melted. So we walk into a business and I ask the worker if I can leave the pie in their drink fridge, ya know, where they always have like gatorades and stuff. He tells me yes after I assure him that it´s not a bomb! So that was just funny. When we leave the store we´re going to an investigators house and this lady walks up to us. Turns out she’s a menos activa(less active) from another ward and she says, your hands are red, want some lotion to help you feel ¨refreshed¨? We say yes and she then puts this cream on our hands. As we walk away from her we realize that it´s almost just like glue. Seriously, it was hot, I was sweaty, and this lotion turned into a paste on my hands. It was just so funny. We both just died laughing. Really gross. We tried to take it off with water, but didn´t have kleenex or anything so these two older ladies walking down the street are bound to have tissue, right? So we ask them, they have some and gladly give it to us and we happily wipe off our PASTE! Out of control.

Hna Smith and I played the piano for the primary program yesterday. Her right hand, me left. It was good service. Why did I stop taking lessons. You were right mom. Moms always know the best.

Another story.. this lady stopped us on Saturday as well, and she thanked us for our love to animals because there are always dogs following us. I almost started laughing because seriously, my love for these dogs consists of trying to lock them in places, throw rocks at them, and call them Satanás. Glad she can see our loving example of Christ though.

This week I am really trying to desarrollar (develop) more Fe (faith). It´s so important in missionary work and I hear incredible stories and it all depends on peoples Fe. I just gotta work on mine more! Also the mission is hard emotionally sometimes. We are doing everything we can to help these people and when they don´t want it it makes me sad. I just don´t get why people don´t want it. Maybe, they don´t understand. Even though we might not know all their needs or what they want, God does. When we are working with the Spirit, God will help us to know how to help them, and that’s when the milagros(miracles) start. Love the Spirit.

Well family. Sounds like you all had a great Turkey Day! I definitely thought of you all. So thankful for you in my life and the example that every single one of you are to me!

The church is true. It´s who we are. Share it!

Keep Smiling,

Hna Sargent



 happy thanksgiving!!!

 

 

these magazine. her face. ha!



I love being a misionara! It´s the best. I started the week with a little menos encouragment. Lack of faith or something. But I could feel it and knew that I needed to change it. I did things to help me and we saw milagros (miracles) this week. It´s great!

 

This was the quote of the week I tried to live by ¨ We don´t have time to try to convince anyone of anything. Look for those that are ready. Now!¨ Isn´t that good. So true. Was an answer to prayers and because of this quote one of my friends wrote me we´ve been dropping people this week. Always hard, but it´s for the better!

So the run down on investigators:

Nataly. She accepted another fecha, (baptism date) which is great! She honestly has the desire to be better and learn more about Christ and how with His gospel it can help her life. I also think she just wants to be a better example for her daughters too. When we went to her house the first time, she wasn´t there. But this other guy, their neighbor, was like ¨vengan¨. At first I was hesitant, either he is a snake or he is a member. So we started talking to him and he is a menos activa (less active) from Argentina. Where Brandon Walters served... but he told us to not give up on her and that she needs this Gospel. It was just kinda cool to hear it from him! The only bad thing is that every weekend she goes out of Limache to visit the dad of her kids... so thats the hardest struggle. There is a church where she goes, so if she can go there, it´d be awesome. Just gotta work out the details and get in contact with the missionaries of that barrio.

Carolina. We found her in the street one night, she was sitting outside waiting for her dad at her dads house. She told us to pass by on Saturday. So we did. She lives literally 20 seconds from the church too. It´s a sign. ha !We started teaching her and explaining to her our purpose. She was so into following God and Christ in her life. She wants her son, whose dad left them, to grow up with good morals. She told us that these past few months she’s been really far from God. She is Catholic, like everyone in Chile, but she doesn´t agree with some of the things that they do, like the confessional and such... so we were explaining to her. Taught her lesson 3 and she accepted a fecha too! It was just awesome. Can´t wait to go teach her again with a member!

The best lesson of the week was with Trinidad. It was seriously one of the best lessons in total de mi mision.(in all of my mission) We got there and she straight up told us she didn´t read. We started to read with her the chapter we left, 2 Nefi 31, all about bautismo. We talked tons about the example Christ set for us and how we need to follow it. When we first invited her to be baptized she said no because she was already baptized, but then we started explaining that her bautismo was different than Christ and how we really need to follow Him and His example. She then said. Now I have doubts that my baptism wasn´t right if it was the way Christ was baptized. She then accepted a fecha and the invitacion a orar. (baptism date and an invitation to pray) We left that lesson and just felt SO good. It was awesome.

Raul- this man is very evangelico. He said when he got baptized in the Delaware (spelling??) River he came out of the water speaking in tongues. So we asked more about that and he started speaking it. It was like parseltounge from Harry Potter. I wanted so badly to say.. I can do that too... ¨ihfiosfhweotghweiohfgweihghgw¨ but I didn´t. I felt so weird when he did that. Understands lots about the Gospel just not the authority yet.

Victor- menos activo que encontramos. (less active that we found) He has the true desire to change. Moved to Limache and has never been to church here, but knows he needs to talk to the bishop and come back. We have a cita with him and his wife on Thursday. He is so nice. His wife is a little scary, but just gotta win her over. A stranger is just a friend you haven´t met yet a wise man once told me :)

Irma. Best lesson yet with her. Came to RS activity too. But still in the air about seguir (follow)or dejarlo (drop her). My idea changes everyday. Excited to see what Janis wrote about her. The liders (district leaders) are telling us to follow with her, keep teaching her and stuff because she says often, I know I´ll be baptized. but she just doesn´t want a day. It´s sometimes hard when the liders say one thing and sometimes I agree but other times I feel like her time is up. We´ll see. Lots of prayer with her!

We´re teaching other people as well. Found family that is great. Pray that we´ll find them to teach them this week!

A family here in the ward, Guajardos. They´re awesome, but we had lunch with them this week and there was a missionary that served here in Limache and then came back and lived with them for an internship thing and they were talking about him and want to set us up when I get home. So funny!

Hna Smith is improving EVERYDAY! Really she still is a little low on confidence sometimes, but I know that she´ll get it and she is getting it. It´s fun to see her improve and I love her desire to really improve and want to work and be obediente! It´s the best. We get along really well.

One of the Hnas, Hna Riggs comp snores SOOOOO loud. It drives me insane. I need to buy earplugs if they sell them here. Or nose strips for her. It´s got to change.

I love studying the Gospel. Really it´s perfect. I just don´t get how people don´t get it. Everyday in studies Hna Smith and I are just amazed how true it is and it all depends on other things as well. We´re always like... ¨What the heck? How do people not get this??!!!¨

The weather is getting warmer, actually this week was kinda cold. But it should be warmer everyone says, but even when people are DYING I don´t find it too bad. The only bad thing is the pulgas.... uhhh.. fleas. They are coming more, but I have things to prevent them so I hope it works. Not a huge problem for me, yet.

Mom asked, biggest struggle. Having people come to church or really helping them understand, and if they don´t I just feel sad for them.

Biggest joy. When someone gets it and you walk out of a lesson just pumped up! Also just learning about the gospel more!

What I´ve studied recently that has made a difference in me or the work. I was really focusing on Helaman 6 this week and how it talks about how there is peace for years and then something happens and they start to have wars again. It’s a pattern in the BOM. It´s usually when people are focused on the things of the world or prideful. And how we are living on those times. If we can help people really understand the imporatnce of the Gospel/God in their lives and to not focus on the riches. Or to not be prideful and be more humble, the world would be SOOO much better.

What’s everyone saying about Obamas win? Anything?

Happy Birthday this week to Kenny. Eat some pie for me :)

Well Family, the work goes on. And goes on quickly. Can´t beleive how time has passed. Craziness. But I love this work. So grateful to be here in Chile. Thanksgiving this week will be different, especially since its my fav holiday, but I hope that this day I can help people realize the blessing of the Gospel so they can be grateful for what we have been so blessed with in our lives. The Church is true.

Keep Smiling,

Hna Sargent

 

me y Rosio. love this child. 





Hola mi querida familia. Este semana fue bueno! Mucho milagros y mucho lecciones! (Hello my dear family. This week was good! Lots of miracles and lessons!)

Love this quote by elder Holland... ¨if we listen with love, we wont have to wonder what to say¨ love it. It´s my goal to really listen with amor (love) and then listen to the Spirit to know what to say!

Bueno, it’s really good with Hna Smith. She is definitely progressing. Her language is coming. I feel so blessed to have had a little Spanish before I came. Honestly, I think it´s really hard for her sometimes and I just never felt that. Obviously there were times I didn´t understand or anything, but I was always easily informed or had a little clue of what they were saying. I think that’s her biggest struggle right now, but that just takes time. And with paciencia and fe (patience and faith), she´ll totally get it. I´m trying to help her the best that I can! We always seem to be laughing and happy so that’s good… and I´ll get to this later!

This week was great for lessons and things. I just want to find people who really want it and just understand from the principio (beginning). Why is it so hard for people to accept the gospel? It totally makes sense and is true, but people’s hearts are just closed to accepting it! But we really found some good people and are teaching them!

Irma.. who knows. Sometimes she gets it. Others no. I´m praying to know what we have to do with her. I don´t want to drop her because I love her, but she´s not really progressing tons. But hopefully this week I´ll receive some revelation with her. Dropping people is the worst!!

Nataly- automatically shes awesome because of her name, right? Jaja. She is 24 years old and has 2 little girls. Not married and is really nice and open. We taught her last week and she accepted a fecha (date)so that’s always great! She lost it because didn´t come to church, but honestly I think she´ll really progress. She just seems kinda lost to me and the gospel could help her muchoooooo. She told us she was Catholic but hasn´t been since she was like 16... and when we asked her to be baptized she said, ya, I need to go to church, I haven´t been in forever! So thats great! She’s totally willing to accept.

Mirta- we contacted Mirta on the street one day and finally went back to her house. When she let us in she asked... how did you remember me? We taught her and I asked her what it would mean to her if the church of Jesus Christ was really on the earth and she knew it? she said... ¨llegaría pronto¨ (i´d arrive soon) BAM! That´s the answer I was looking for. She had lots of questions and really seemed interested. Almost accepted a fecha(date for baptism) but wants to read first! She has 2 kids and her spouse, he wasn´t there... but her kids were and were so kind. Loved talking to them!

Trinidad.. her son was killed when he was 16, she likes to learn about religion, and has great belief in God. solo tenemos que seguir no mas con ella! (We just have to keep on moving forward with her!)

We have lots of others that we´re teaching, they just need to have that desire to learn, but the elders gave us a reference of a family that they were teaching that was at the point to getting baptized and then moved and are now in our area! yayyyy! I´m excited to meet them.

We found a menos activa (less active member) this week.. Hna Jones. She was the RS pres for years and has had so many great experiences with the church. It was a miracle that we got to talk to her because she NEVER lets us in. Never. But she was outside and she told us to come in. We started talking to her and she told us that her son was paralyzed in his legs when he was young. After his baptism, he could walk and run! How amazing. Then we sang How Great Thou Art with her. She was super stubborn and was like.. I don´t remember the hymns. But as soon as we started singing, she started crying and began to sing along. She then told us that now shes evangelico... and has no intention of coming back to church. But I know she knows it’s true. She left the church because a member in the ward (still in the ward) said something bad about her kids clothing.. so bad! ugh. I just don´t know why people say things. Gotta just keep loving and supporting people. Don´t say mean things!

Okay. Just need to give a quick recap of Saturday. We went to lunch and it was the darkest room EVER! And you know me, I don´t like eating in the dark, I seriously couldn´t see my food. I felt like it was good, but I couldn´t tell you what it looked like. Plus it was just really crammed. So funny. Then, we went to a cita(discussion), we got the giggles. BAD. We couldn´t sing, barely made it through the prayer, it was just bad. Luckily the hna was super nice and was laughing with us! Then we went to a lesson with Luz, and she yelled ¨pasen¨like come in so we passed. I was first..and to get into her house we have to duck, but I noticed she wasn´t wearing pants so I turned to Hna Smith and said.. ¨she doesn´t have clothes on.¨ (she thought literally nothing) but we sit down and start teaching pantless Luz and we´re talking about repentance and luz goes ¨permiso¨ (excuse me) and starts to put on her pants right in front of us. I couldn´t look at Hna Smith because we had just came from the other lesson of laughter. But needless to say when we left and were talking about it I was hunched over laughing. SOOOOOO FUNNNNNYYYYY! and weird.

Cool LDM (B of M) insight. In Helaman 5 they hear a voice three times, also in 3 nefi 11, I think when Christ comes that we will hear a voice 3 times. I hope I am spiritually prepared enough to hear it the first time and help others recognize it.

Also, in Mark 1:13 when it talks about how Christ was tempted and how he overcame it I was super interested in this and the temptations of Christ. I started to study it and Christ could have sinned but he didn´t have that will. He wanted to always overcome it and he did. So I think when we have that desire to do something bad and we do it anyways, what are we lacking what Christ had??? food for thought...

Well family, know that I love you lots. I think of you often and am so happy to have you as my family! I pray for you all the time and look up to all of you as examples.

The church is true! La expiacion es real. (the atonement is real) Cristo (Christ) lives. Love the church and the mision!

Keep Smiling,

Hna Sargent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

doggies... completos. never thought i´d eat there.. but they were good!

its super famous here in chile!

district breakfast made by our district leader. love being the only two gringas! so funny!

 strange people or people that cant pass.. who knows. but i passed anyways!

hna riggs and i. love her!

 hna Carrasco with hna Smith!

 outside the micro to take us to stake conference with the ward!