Week #17

Hey Everyone,

This week has just flown by.  It has been a little bit of a harder week, as we didn’t have anyone in church Sunday and a lot of our lessons fell through, but this just gives us the opportunity to work harder to find new people to teach.  This week we are going to have Changes and I will be sending my companion home Monday.  I am so sad to see her go home and to be honest a little nervous to find out who my next companion will be.  I am hoping to have a latina companion to help me more with my Spanish, but I guess we will see.  I know that the Lord will send me a companion that will be the best for me.

This week we had ward conference so we had an activity with the ward almost every night.  We had once (dinner here but it is really small),  with the ward, family history night, and a family home evening with the ward.  It was really fun to work with the ward and spend time with the members.  The family history activity was fun to see here because their family history is a lot different. Where we already have a lot of information on our families on family search, they have to start at the very beginning, as a lot of them our converts or their parents were converts.  I hope that I will get the opportunity to work with family history more here and help people to do theirs.

Everyone here is starting to put up all their Christmas stuff and there is a lot of Christmas music in the stores.  It is kind of weird to see all the Christmas decorations up without snow and in the heat.  I am looking forward to see what Christmas is going to be like here in Chile!

As I am coming to the end of my training this week, I have  been looking back on these past 17 weeks and I have changed and grown so much.  I know that I am not the same girl that left Utah 17 weeks ago.  When I first got here in Chile I could not hardly understand anything that anyone said let alone speak the language.  Although my Spanish is not perfect, I can now at least communicate and I understand almost everything that people say.  I know that I would not be where I am today were it not for the help of the Lord.  More than anything my confidence has grown a lot.  Learning a new language is hard and it definitely made me a little more timid than I would have been if I were speaking English, but I have grown to be a lot more confident and as I have done that, my Spanish has become a lot better.  It is amazing what a difference confidence makes.  I have learned to rely on my Heavenly Father a lot more as I have had to trust in Him, that he would help me to say the right thing when I needed to say it.  I love being a missionary so much and I cant wait to see what other adventures and trials are in store for me now.  I know that I have a lot more growing and learning to do here in Chile.  I love the people here so much and am so grateful for the opportunity that the Lord has entrusted me with to teach and to serve them. 

I love you all so much and am so grateful for your support for me while I am here on the mission!

Love ya,

Hermana Stringham