September 24th Update

Hey everybody!

I´m still in Chile. I´m still preaching the gospel. It´s still pretty great here. 

Spring is starting to come here, and then summer! It´s funny when people talk about how HOT it is going to be here in December, but I´m excited. I like hot rather than cold. I´m probably saying that now because it sure can get cold here.

This week has been good for me how to love people a little more. Everything is better with that, right? This probably sounds a little bit silly, but I think people forget to show their love sometimes. 

The Spirit is in our lives to clarity, to enlighten, to simplify. We can feel the Spirit stronger when our minds our clearer, too. Satan tries to distract, to clutter our lives with things that take us away from our purpose. It´s our job to make sure we take some time every so often to take a step back, and realize what things actually matter, and what things don´t. This gospel is all about happiness, right? Sure there are hard times. But there´s not really a reason to not choose to be happy. Because the hard times are going to come either way. You might as well find a way to smile through it. 

One of the ways I´ve figured out to make it through the hard times is to focus on the love Heavenly Father and Christ has for me. Letting it fill me up. Think about this life, and about the life to come. It´s great, and marvelous, and breathtakingly exquisite. So why  not choose to be happy? Maybe for just for this day, or this hour. But why not? :) 

Still not fluent. But I´m working on it. 

I love you all. Keep being awesome. Hold on to the good things in life as tight as you can!

Hermana Lovell

For 18 de Septiembre we weeded our lawn. Weeded? Or took out our lawn? Something about that it will make us not have as many bugs. I´m still not really sure why we did it. Sometimes stuff doesn´t really cross the language barrier, but for some reason it was part of the cleaning. 

I´ll have more pictures once I figure out a way to upload them faster.

September 17th Update

Happy 18th de Septiembre!!!

It´s tomorrow, but it´s HUGE here. Chileans love to party, and there´s
basically just Chileans here, so the country is prepping to close up
stores and go crazy. I know how to dance a bit of the Cuaca, the dance
of Chile. Look out, I´m almost Latino.

I still am not fluent, but I can get my point across. Probably a bit
better than a 5 year old, but hey, it can only go up from here, and I
have way more time to get better!

I got to see VERONICA WILDEN, which was pretty crazy. She is like my
sister, and she´s going to be LIVING here, in my ward boundaries! Talk
about a miracle.

Don´t ever forget the words of our Savior

¨Peace, I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: Not as the world
giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let
it be afraid.¨

Love you! More next time, promise :)

Hermana Lovell

September 10th Update

Hey everybody!

Another week done and gone. This one went a little faster than the others. It´s probably because I´m starting to be able to understand people better. I´m still not fluent in Spanish, but the gift of tongues sure is real. I compiled a list of some of the things I´ve learned this week, and I´d like to share it with you:

1 The times where the night is darkest and it´s rainy and cold, that´s the best time to give everything you have. You have to make room for miracles in your life, and they´ll come!

2 Sometimes there´s a whole bunch of clutter that can cloud up our minds. It makes it hard to think, and hard to remember the things that matter MOST. That´s the time to take a step back, and get on your knees. And that´s where ¨your spiritual balance can return¨. (Elder Andersen)

3 As long as we´re trying to make every day our best, and doing all we can to follow Heavenly Father, we can be happy with our efforts everyday

4 Life is a zillion times better when you´re a hardworking optimist

5 Be an active listener, and really seek to understand what people say with and without words

6 Even if you don´t agree with other people´s points of view, you can still teact them with love and respect

7 Pride stinks. Get rid of it STAT. 

I memorized this and say this sometimes.

¨If only we could glimpse what the Lord has in store for us, not only in this life, but in the next. Our hope would be unshakable and despair would never overcome us.¨ 

President Uctdorf and ¨The Infinite Power of Hope¨

This helps me see all the wonder and magic that´s right in front of my face everyday. There´s no reason to fear, because I know everyday that Heavenly Father knows me. He sees me. He loves me, and as long as I do my best to follow His will, my life will always be something incredible. I know this is true for you, too. Pray. Love. Enjoy this life to the fullest by keeping the commandments. 

I love you, and I´m praying for you. 

Love, 

Hermana Lovell

PS Shout out to Bailey for being the first person to utilize Dearelder! Bailey, you´re crazy! And my companion thinks I´m a little crazy too for how much I laugh when I read your letters! I´m not sure how long letters take from here to there, but you better believe I´ll write you back. 

Me and Hermana Almaeda! We are bffs for life. She can speak English and she knows American culture. Who knew I´d miss having girls around me who knew what pinterest was, and understand all my super funny English jokes? :) <

September 3rd Update

Hey everybody!

Another week has come and gone. I´m starting to get a little more used to things here. I´m sure not fluent in Spanish, but I´m working hard at it, and it´ll come with patience. I struggle with the patience aspect of it sometimes, but it´s going okay :) But, no matter how many things I do NOT know around here, I do know and will always know one thing for certain: Heavenly Father knows I´m here. He knows and watches over me, I´m sure even more than I realize now. In 1 Nephi Chapter 1 in the last verse, Nephi closes by stating in The Book of Mormon he´s going to point out the ¨tender mercies¨of the Lord. I want to just mention a couple of mine since I´ve been here in Chile:

-The first day I got here, there was a street performer playing ¨Nearer, My God to Thee¨ on the Cello. I love that song, I love the cello, and we sang this song as a district right before we left to Chile. Is that not incredible or what!?

-My first member almuerzo I went to, the kids were watching Harry Potter 2. No! I didn´t watch it. But it was good to see my good friends Harry, Ron, and Hermione for a second! It was nice to see something familiar.  

Life really is good here. Sure, some things can be super super stressful, but really it´s just like normal. It´s all what you focus on. And there are many incredible things here to love. The work is awesome. It´s different than I thought it would be. There are so many people that tell you about their missions, and you start to paint a picture of what you think yours is going to be. It´s like life, right? But, like missions, life really never is the way you picture it to be. But there is always the opportunity to make it greater than you even thought it would be. 

Prayer is incredible. Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. There is incredible power in prayer. Heavenly Father is always there for you, if you open your heart and are willing to listen. 

I live in a little house with three other Hermanas. It´s really another tender mercy the way our living circumstances are. I pretty much speak Spanish all day, but Hermana Almaeda from Brazil speaks English, too. That way if something rather urgent needs to bridge the language barrier, there´s a way it can happen. Sometimes she explains my jokes. I feel like the humor is different down here, but I´m trying to aclimatize to it :)

My sector is Rauquen, near Curico. It´s at the tippy top of my mission. I tract in basically Chilean suburbs. Some places are definitely more well off than others. Some people have floors and nice things and some don´t. I have hot water, I eat cheerios like nobody´s business. Spring is on it´s way! :) Just learning, here, in good ol´ Chile. I´m still trying to figure things out, but I´m figuring out a little better every day. I hope you are doing top notch! 

I´m definitely glad I am a missionary. I´m still figuring things out, but I´m starting to see how some of the happiest times of my life so far can be here. It´s coming :) Keep being wonderful!!!

Hermana Lovell 

Our Hasta Ver, for all of you familiar with MTC traditions :)

Our District 2A with our Branch presidency and their wives

 The wonderful wives of our Branch presidency!

Me and some good looking mission presidents at the MTC!

Me and Hermana Almaeda, my English speaking buddy

Me and Hermana Risco. Why yes, there is a tad bit of a height difference.

Our lovely house