The mish mish

Hey fam!

So this week was a bit interesting, but it was pretty good! I had the wonderful experience of being sick.... My darn cough still hasn't gotten better and I think I picked up the stomach flu as well :( But I got the drugs, and I am feeling much much better!!! We had a bunch of different meetings this week, so I don't feel that we were able to teach all the people that we could have.... hopefully this next week is better! It is FREEZING here! I learned that I am in the coldest sector of the whole mission... because we are South (colder in south america) and the east (close to the mountains) So I am dying a little bit. The worst part is that our little heater doesn't put out enough heat and the homes here do NOT retain heat like they should. They are made of cement so it makes it even worse... I just keep on adding more and more clothes and hoping that it gets better! 

Right now we have a lot of investigators that say they know the church is true, but they won't committ to baptism. The most frustrating thing ever. We just keep praying for them a lot and try to find out their doubts and the reasons they won't be baptized.. it is really hard. Also everyone keeps changing around their appointements and canceling them and we ended up teaching like barely any lessons this week.. I am praying that this week is a lot better! Not really much to talk about... that is when you know I had an unsuccessful week.. when my email is this short.. sorry!

Anywayzz.. we went to the worldwide leadership conference thing.. It was completely in Spanish, but I understood everything..!!!! A sign that my spanish is improving.. still can't really speak it, but I can understand most of what people say.. It probably helped that the translator spoke A LOT slower than the Chileans.. Really though.. they speak so fast it is insane... Like those auctioneers at a county fair.. but in Spanish! LOL. Anyway, if you went you know that they talked a lot about missionaries at the conference. It made me more excited to be a missionary in this time, but also it made me so excited that you guys at home could get more involved in missionary work! There are so many ways that ward members help us.. we really could not do this without them, and I am excited for you guys to find ways to help the missionaries! Really this work is for everyone, and I know that as you strive to find people and introduce them to the gospel, your testimonies will grow and you will find an even greater love for the Lord and for this church. I feel blessed to be able to be on my mission right now! It is so fun to see all the sisters that are coming and how much all the missions are growing!

I love you guys so much!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hermana Sommerfeld

No soy una testigo Jehovah!

Hello everyone!

I hope that everything is going well in the U S of A :) Things are pretty chill down here.. and I mean cold. I want summer soooo bad right now! but I will have to wait until September..  weird that my birthday will be in Spring! kind of cool though. This week was a really good week spiritually, even though I had some challenges. We got our first baptism date, and I hope hope hope hope hope that she will continue to progress and to get baptized while I am here, and that her husband will too. She is an older woman that has stomach cancer, and she was searching for answers about what happens after we die.. she was raised catholic, but she couldn't find all the  answers she was looking for so she started to open up a little bit to hearing from different religions. We talked to her about  the temple on her first lesson and about baptism, and she accepted a date before we even finished talking about the plan of salvation.. She reminds me soo much of Grandma Gardner, and I love her so much!  Also this week we had about a million people think that we were Jehovah's witnesses....  NONONONONONONONONO NO! I am kind of tired of telling people that we are not Jehovah's witnesses.. I guess that the group of J.W are very faithful of going and knocking on doors every sunday, so when we do people don't want to hear from us, because they get people wanting to talk to them all the time. I don't blame them, but I wish we could have a plaque that says  we are mormons.. so I don't have to say it so much lol! Besides that it has been pretty good. I had a migraine for this whole week off and on, which makes it really hard to concentrate, so my spanish is still awful, but I was able to teach lessons without a problem, so I feel blessed for that! Another fun experience this week was having no hot water. LIterally felt like the ocean in January when I took a shower.. but after a couple of showers like that I started to microwave some water and then used it in my shower... everyone laughed at me.. but i was warm, and I could hear them crying when they tried to wash their hair. .Moral of the story.. Mom, I now respect you for looking bad in public because of the clothes that you wear to keep warm.. I now know that it is worth it to look stupid and be warm. Thank you for those life lessons haha ha. I love you guys so much and I miss you! I send hugs and kisses over email to all of you!

Mwah!

Hermana Sommerfeld

I just wanna watch futbol.

Hola! 

How is everyone doing!!?? Everything here is going alright.. A little bit of a harder week then the other weeks, but I have been learning from all the challenges! It has been a really warm week thank goodness! However, it seems like no one has been home and is busy, so all of the appointments that we got were pretty much cancelled and we didn't teach very much.... I had a few experiences this week that I learned a lot from even though we weren't very successful this week, I think it is okay because we spent our time with people that really wanted to listen to what we had to say and that really really need the gospel in their lives.

We went to one family's house who had been taking lessons from the elders before, but they stopped for one reason or another. We walked into the house and there was the mom, Rosaria on the couch and she was in a lot of pain because of her foot.. (there is something wrong with her veins or something like that and her whole foot is purple and black.. she can't even walk on it) and her brother was next to her in a wheel chair.. (I think CP, but not sure..and he talks very little and is very dependent on the family) and then her daughter, maria was there too. We began to talk to them to find out their needs and we found out that their son died a little while ago. The daughter said she doesn't believe in God because of all the suffering that happens in the world, especially her family.. She asked a lot of questions like Why do people have to die? why are we even living? Why does all this have to happen? She works all day on her feet.. (she also has a problem with her feet and is constantly in pain)... in order to pay for her college and for the family's needs. As she talked about all the family's suffering she got emotional and you could tell she was angry with God. We tried to explain about the atonement and how it can help in their lives, but we had a hard time teaching the plan of salvation to them.. It is exactly what they need to know. I felt so strongly that this family NEEDS the gospel... I started to cry when we asked Maria if she wants to live with her family forever and she said she doesn't even care anymore, she just wants her mom to stop hurting. I know that the gospel can answer all of the questions they have and that they can gain an understanding of the atonement of Christ and how it can help them... I am just praying that I can be able to teach with the spirit on next sunday when we talk with them again, and that they can gain a testimony that there is a God, and that he loves them so much. Being here really has opened my eyes to the suffering that goes on in the world, and how much people really do need the gospel to help them answer all of the questions that they need. I feel so blessed to be able to know the answers to their questions and to have a testimony that God loves us, and that whatever trials we go through are to help make us stronger so that we can return with Heavenly Father again. 

I love you guys so much and I challenge you this week to find a friend, or anyone that you think could really use the gospel in their lives, and to share it with them. Invite them to church, to read something from the scriptures, or whatever. I know it is hard.. I never would have been comfortable inviting someone to learn more about the church before, but I KNOW that everyone needs the message that we have and that we have the fullness of the gospel.

i love you all! Have an amazing week! I love hearing all the fun stories you have and about your summer fun! 

Hugs and Kisses!

Mwah! 

Hermana Sommerfeld

Greetings from Chile baby..

Hola familia y amigos!

So this week was a pretty good week! I can say I am worn out... and when you are in the mission I guess that is a good thing ha ha it means that you have been working hard ;) This week we got some new investigators and taught a bunch of inactive families... That is the hardest thing about our sector is the amount of people that come to church... literally like 7 families. It is something we are working hard to change though! One of the families that we taught has 2 little girls that are adorable! One is Aubrey's age and the other is 4... While my companion is teaching their parents, I just play with the girls ha ha... my spanish is closer to their level then anything. If I don't understand them I just say si si si and nod my had like I know what is going on lol! Anyway one of the little girls gave me this cute little blanket and told me to sleep with it every night! It was adorable.. and her mom quit her job so that she could come to church! This was a huge deal! i am so excited that their little family will be coming to church with us and that we were able to help remind them what it was like to feel the spirit, and to have the gospel in their lives. These are the things that keep me going! Alright what else? Oh! I met a family in the grocery store today that is from Utah.. kind of. I heard a little girl speaking Engish, and I turned around and her dad was liike "Oh! Elderes!" We just smiled and said yeah we are the missionaries! He asked where I was from and then he got all excited because they were from Utah too. I guess he is from Chile, and his wife from Michigan, but they lived in Utah for a long time. He isn't a member.. he is a born again Christian, but he did work on the temple in Mexico and worked at BYU. He and his wife are super nice and invited us to go over to their house on P days.. since it is out of our area.. and have some American food!!! Yay! It was really fun to have a conversation in English and to have a little connection from home ;) 

The rain finally stopped... Halleluja! But I hear it is supposed to rain again soon.... I didnt bring rain boots so I have been using a pair from the mission home that are a size too small... but it is worth it when the streets all flood! What else? Oh yeah the hardest thing for me right now is cleanliness.... thanks dad for passing on your OCD genes. I am dying. I think I will get used to eating off of dirty plates and drinking bugs though... it shouldn't be too hard! ...................... I am starting to get a little more used to the food.. it is hard for me to not have all the yummy things that we have at home, but i have found some good things here too! Empenadas for one. are. amazing. I mean fried bread with melted cheese? umm.. yes please! Also at night we are fed Sopapillas all the time... Like scones kind of.. with Ecco (the coffee kind of stuff). I also like that I can buy doritos at the grocery store to get in my little unhealthy fix. One of the other sisters that lives with us is from Cancun in Mexico, and she is dying without cheese here! We both talk to eachother about the yummy mexican food that we miss ha ha.. I know how to say those words.. Taco. Burrito. Enchalada. 

Anyway, I love you all and I'm sorry that this is a short message! There is a lot to say, but it all blends together in my mind and I can't remember what happened when and la da da... Oh yeah!!! One more story...

The moral of this story is to follow promptings of the spirit. 

So we were walking home late one night and we were arguing about whether or not I should talk to the next person about the restoration.. in spanish.. I was saying no, because I don't know how to say all the words yet and I needed an example.. Anyway we ended up talking to this girl that was at the bus stop instead of talking to other people. She was there with her Pololo (boyfriend) and the bus was on its way.. so it really wasn't the best time to walk up and talk to them, but we did anyway because that is what we were being told we needed to do. Well we interrupted her and her boyfriend and she didn't even get to kiss him goodbye because we were talking to her.. At first she was a little frustrated but then she got really interested in what we were saying.. We walked her back to her house and we stopped by the next day and talked to her Mom. Her mom is now taking the lessons and she is the sweetest person I have met down here. She had all sorts of questions like what happens after we die? What is the purpose of life? Things like that... Things that the gospel is PERFECT at answering! I really hope that we can have more good lessons with her and that her and her little family will be able to join the church and realize the amazing things that the gospel can bless them with! Crazy that if we hadn't stopped to talk to Karla, we never would have been able to meet her mom and her family. Makes me wonder what could have happened the times I ignored those little promptings.. also makes me want to make sure I am always listening to the spirit! 

Love you guys with all my heart!!!!! 

XOXOXOXOX

Hermana Sommerfeld