New Companion: Hermana Rodriguez

Week #61 *September 28, 2015

Hey everyone,

Well so this week we had transfers and now I am in my new sector in Curicò, with my new companion Hermana Rodriguez and so far I am loving it here.  But at the same time I absolutely miss San Vicente.  It is very different here, as the ward is huge especially in comparison with San Vicente.  So far everyone has received me so well and they are just so loving here and I just love it.  Also our apartment is a huge step up from our last house, other than from being on the 5th floor  (what an adventure with 2 huge suitcases and no elevator...hahah).  Our sector is also pretty big so it looks like we are going to get a lot of exercise in, as it takes a while to get there. Also we have 5 flights of stairs to get to our apartment each afternoon and night, but it has been fun. 

So this week I saw the biggest tender mercy with the sisters here.  My first day here I noticed that my companion was struggling to walk, as the only shoes she had were a really worn out pair of boots (we are in spring and it is hot some days) and I was really worried about it, but that night we received a call from the relief society sisters who had also noticed.  The invited us over to their house and presented my companion with several new pairs of shoes and a new outfit.  It warmed my heart to see the kind hearts of these beautiful sisters that made such a huge difference for my companion.  Seriously the members here are so sweet.  I am just loving it.

I am just getting to know everyone here, so I want to share about two of our investigators for now.  We have two investigators with baptism dates.  The first Loreto is so awesome. She is a 21 year old single mom who is studying in Santiago and lives here on the weekends.  She is so awesome.  She has a baptism date for the 24th of October and she is so excited.  She honestly is so great and I am so excited to work with her.  The second one is Alejandra.  She has a baptism date for 29th of November.  She has been receiving missionaries for years and attending the church for quite a while.  Her daughter was baptized not too long ago and her husband who was an inactive member was just reactivated.  Right before I came she made the decision that she finally wants to be baptized, but she wanted to choose the date so it would be close to her husbands birthday. When I asked her why she made the decision to be baptized she told me that it was because she wants to have an eternal family, which just touched my heart. They are seriously just the sweetest family ever. I just love them so much and I am so excited for them in Alejandras decision to be baptized.

Well that is pretty much it for this week I am just so excited to work in this sector and get to know the rest of the people next week.  

Love ya,

Hermana Stringham

This and That:

With cambios, I am working with different hermanas. There are just 2 in this zone whereas my last zone had 10, so that is different. 

Curico is way different the past ward is huge, but I am loving it here.  I so miss San Vicente though.

Marjorie wrote me the sweetest letter this week about how much she misses me and how she never wants to loose contact, which really touched my heart. I am going to miss her so much but I am excited to be here.

Funny story:  We have bikes now, but we aren’t using them.  So it has been a whole lot of walking.  Our area is huge, but my companion doesn’t know how to ride a bike.  She has tried and it just didn’t work so we’ll will be doing a lot of walking. This is her last transfer so were just going to walk and wait to use them next transfer

Pictures of San Vincente

People!

Divisions with Hermana Peralta from Peru!

 "Us with Hermana Rosa & Camila.
They have helped us so much in visiting investigators and members,
including in the pouring rain. They live about a half hour away and don't have a car.
Camila is preparing to go on a mission."

"We made Marjorie a journal.
We put her baptism photos in it and wrote her letters.
She loved it."

"Lunch with the Allendez familia.
 They are seriously the best. I am going to miss them!"

Completos

"Completos. I cant believe I like this now.

There are a lot of different types, but basically it is a hot dog with cut up tomato, avocado, & mayo.  They can put a whole lot more stuff like onion, relish and even bacon depending on the type."

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18 September Food and Dancing

The celebration included Dancing "Cueca"  and lots of Food!

Of course the missionaries couldn't dance!

Week #60 *September 21, 2015

Hey everyone,

Well this week has gone by so crazy fast and I can’t believe that this transfer is coming to an end.  We received transfers this week and I will be going to Curico, to a big ward. So thats will be a really big change.  I am so sad to be leaving San Vicente and Hermana Diaz.  I have truly loved it here so much and I love working with Hermana Diaz, but I am also excited to see what new things are to come.

This week was honestly the best way to end the cambio.  It was 18 September, which is independence day here.  San Vicente is the place to be for 18. They had a huge fair that lasted three days. They had all sorts of rides, games, food, and booths. It was crazy too see how much construction and work they put into it.  They went all out.  We could hear the music and everyone at the fair all night long for the past few days.

In our branch we had a party where we ate empanadas and bbq. Also we were able to borrow some of the traditional dance dresses, although of course we couldn’t dance.  The members played games and danced cueca, which is the traditional dance here. I will send a video.  It was so fun.  Although we weren’t able to work a lot for the past few days with the holiday since no one really wanted to listen to us, so we were able to visit a few members and eat even more amazing food.  I will send a bunch of pictures.

This week we also had zone conference.  It was really good. It was really focused in making goals and how we can use goal making to have more success in the mission and life.  There was a quote that I don’t remember who was by, that said something if we don’t make goals in the future we will look back and see that we didn’t meet our potential.  So my invitation this week is that you can take some time and make a specific goal in something you would like to improve in the gospel.

I had to give a 20 minute talk about goal making with Recent converts and I talked a lot about helping our converts make it to the temple which turned out alright.  Also I had to give another surprise talk in church this week, which I must say didn’t turn out too bad, considering.  I am so grateful for the Spirit, as I know I couldn’t have given either of my talks without it.  In the moment I didn’t really have anything prepared, so I quickly took out some scriptures I had read in the moment and just went with it and the Spirit did the rest.

This week even with all the stuff going on with 18, we were able to find a whole bunch of new people and I am so excited to hear how it goes with the hermanas.  I am so happy  to know that I will be leaving the sector with a lot of potential for my companion and the new hermana.

Well that is pretty much it for this week. 

Love ya all,

Herman Stringham