Hermana Lovell in Chile: 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