October 29th Update

Hello everybody!

Did you know that there are bars around most of the houses, and instead of knocking, we need to yell Allo! At every house? Fun fact about Chile number 1.

We had our first set of interviews with the President. It was pretty great! He got to see Mom and Dad in Buenos Aires for an Area Conference. He and Sister Humphrey said they are such good people, they´re probably already translated. I´ll agree with that :) 

We´re teaching this family, Manuel, Juan Pablo, and Victoria. They´re doing great! They came to church yesterday, and Juan Pablo is all set to do activities with the Young Men.  Members are SO important in missionary work. As missionaries we can do all we can to  teach people of the gospel, but it´s really difficult for both missionaries and new converts if there´s not a good support group of members to help them understand more about being a member of this church. 

We also are teaching Juana and Pedro. They´re a nice old couple. Half of Pedro´s body has paralysis, maybe from a stroke, but they´re learning more and more about the gospel. 

There´s no time for craziness in this world, folks! We can get discouraged, but we never should stay down for long.  There´s too much joy and beauty in this world that we can embrace instead of clinging on to our problems and the past. Also, something else that I´m learning is that there should be a lot more "doing" in this world. Sometimes, I´ve got to make sure that I have everything niiiiice and plaaaanned out before I feel like I can try something out. But there´s really not time for that, sometimes. Sometimes you´ve just gotta go with what you know and feel is right at the time, and make it happen. No matter how long you plan, life will never be perfect. But it can be pretty incredible if we work to enjoy every minute of it! 

Read the Book of Mormon. It makes everything better. :)

Love you all, a whole lot.

Hermana Lovell

PS Happy Halloween! I´d love to see your costumes!

PPS Celeste, Camile, and Kat! I just got your letters. I´m pretty far away from the mission home, but I got them, and I´m sending you letters today!

Press release statement about lowering the age for mission service:

“As Church leaders had anticipated when the change was announced, the number of individuals who have begun the missionary application process has increased significantly. Typically approximately 700 new applications are started each week. The last two weeks that number has increased to approximately 4,000 per week. Slightly more than half of the applicants are women."

Can you believe it!? I sure can. It´s pretty exciting to be apart of mission work right now :)

October 22nd Update

Holan!

That`s Chilean for hola. They´re craaaazy around here. But I love them. One thing pretty funny about Chilenos, is that most of them will just start bearing their heart and soul to you about all their problems even when you don´t even know them. I´m getting some good practice in how to tactfully cut people off. Jaja :P 

But! Things here are good. We were teaching this family, Tito, Elana, and Moses, and it was going pretty great! Then they called us Saturday night and told us that they "loved us a lot", but they didn´t want to waste our time. That they talked it over as a family, and decided that they were Evangelicals. I answered the call first, and I was pretty sad. I confirmed with Elena twice, "But you know it´s all true, right?" She said yes, but didn´t want to divide the family. ¡Que foame! It was rough, because that meant we really didn´t have anyone really progressing. But during the tough times is when we can humble ourselves and focus on the things that matter. Block out all the other distracting things, and just do what the Lord wants us to do. That night we found this AWESOME 15 year old, Natalia, who came to church yesterday. And last night we found a husband with his two kids that are great, too. His wife died a year ago, and he loves her so much. It was really beautiful to teach about the Plan of Salvation to him and his family. 

We´re just working in here in good old Chile! Britt, I bet that rain is no match for your red raincoat! I just am sporting my green one here pretty often. And it rains here, IT. RAINS. But I love it, because right now it´s not super cold, windy rain. It´s just a lot of rain. I actually love contacting in the rain. Can you all believe it´s almost Christmas!? Well yeah, there´s November, but it feels suuuper close. I have over 2 months in the field. I can´t really believe that, either. 

Love you all, you hooligans! I hope everything is fantastic and wonderful in your lives, and you find happiness in each day. Because why in the world would you wait to be happy later?

The Savior lives. He knows us, and loves us. The atonement is perfect, and can heal our broken hearts and give us courage to surpass who we are now to become who we want to be. Who Heavenly Father knows we can be. If there are times you can´t quite see who that person is, get right down on your knees and pray. Because Heavenly Father knows you better than you know yourself. As we trust Him, and have the Holy Ghost to be with us, we cannot fail.

Have fun with your fall! I´ll stick to my spring down here :)

Hermana Lovell

October 15th Update

Well! It was another week.

We had a zone conference with President and Sister Humphrey. It was awesome! It´s pretty inspiring to be hear them and talk with them. 

We had a bit of a crazy time with Raul. He´s 84, and he is the dad of one of our new converts, here. He wants to be baptized, but he just can´t quite understand things because of his age! Plus, he and his wife are topsy turvey about moving or not moving this week. We´ll see how that plays out. 

We´re teaching a mother and son, Tido and Elaina, too. They have a lot of questions, but they both got an answer that what we were teaching is true. 

It´s mid October! ¿Que raro, verdad? Time is so fast here. It´s still working up to being super hot... ha ha. Rumor has it that my part of the mission is the hottest part! I´ve already bought my sunblock to prep for it. 

I was reading a talk, and there´s this quote by Elder Maxwell that I really like: "There is a difference between being ´anxiously engaged´ and being over-anxious and underengaged." There´s so much we can focus on and try to control in this life, but we sure can´t do it all perfectly! I know that things here are busy, but I´m figuring out a little bit that I don´t need to be over anxious in order to have things work out the way they should here :) 

Also, if we want to be better people, or if we want the help of Heavenly Father in our lives to help us change, we need the Spirit with us! The Spirit speeds up spiritual growth. It sure is difficult to grow spiritually without it. 

I love you all! Hope everything is fantastic!

Hermana Lovell 

October 8th Update

General. Conference. Was that epic, or what!?! 

I don´t think anybody saw that announcement about missionaries coming! I think that is the coolest thing ever, personally. Shout out to all my friends who now can go instead of waiting till their 21! Did that blow your minds a little bit? Not sure how to choose what you´re going to do? Well, I know how you feel. But GO! Lizzy, and Calan, and all you crazy wonderful friends. I´ll love you either way, but I know you´ll be fantastic missionaries. But of course it´s your decision. I´d love to know what you choose to do! 

Conference was incredible. There is so much strength hearing our leaders, and having the Holy Ghost teach us exactly what we need to hear. There are so many ways we can be better, find more happiness, when we actually apply what we learned! There´s so much power in faith, and in prayer. I think sometimes we forget how much we become better when we just have the faith to seek it! I want to be better at quieting my mind a little better, and taking advantage of the Gift of the Holy Ghost more.

In between sessions on Sunday, we had a baptism! Everything worked out so that Osvaldo could be baptized and confirmed on the same day. It was a little nerve wracking, but everything worked out. Osvaldo has very advanced cancer, and had to have three people to baptize him to make sure everything worked out okay. It was pretty incredible to help him make this covenant. Now he´s in Santiago at a cancer hospital. He is a pretty incredible example of faith, and the "mighty change of heart."

New companion! Hermana Quiroga from Bolivia. She is awesome. We get along pretty wonderfully. She reminds me of Jessica Ainscough a little bit, for all you Woodscrossians out there. We get lost sometimes because I don´t know the sector 100% awesome yet, but I´m working on it. And she´s great! She just laughs it off. 

I´ve been out away from all you folks for over 3 months, now! Crazy crazy, right? I´m not sure if it feels that long or if it doesn´t. But I do know that I´m so grateful to have this opportunity to grow and to change. Because that is what life is about, right? Life is about changing. Repentance is not something to be afraid of. Repentance is progression. Repentance is our ability to become better than we were yesterday. Thank goodness we have it. 

Thank you so much for your prayers. I feel them, and your love and support. I´m so lucky to have such incredible family and friends to share this life with like you guys! I love you, and I pray for you. Don´t ever forget how incredible you are. I invite you to look back at conference and pick one thing to change, how you´re going to progress in one way. I sure have a lot of ways I want to change! But I know that that is the gift of life. The ability to change. 

Nos vemos! 

Hermana Lovell 

October 1st Update

Wow! 

1 cambio down. 6 weeks of being here in Chile. Wowzas! I´ve learned so much. 

It´s kinda crazy, but we´ve had quite a few investigators find us. One of which is Osvaldo. Osvaldo is the brother of Hermana Iliana, the Relief Society President. He has really advanced cancer, and a tumor. We knew about him, because it´s been hard for Hermana Iliana. Then Tuesday or Wednesday night after we were done working, Hermana Iliana and her family were waiting at our house. Osvaldo had been sent back to live at his home because the hospital said there was not much else to do. Hermana Iliana and some of her family had talked to him about the gospel, and the Plan of Salvation. They were there waiting for us because he wants to be baptized. We´ve been giving him a crash course of teachings for the baptismal questions, and we´re working with our District Leader to make sure everything is good and proper. It´s pretty incredible. He´s very lively and happy! He and his family has some incredible faith, too. It´s so great to teach him. Everything we teach and explain, he always ¨Exactamente¨, like he knows it´s supposed to be that way.

We also are helping Raul, a 84 year old man, prep for baptism. He is the Papa of one of the nuevos conversos. He´s a character. I´m pretty good with understanding, but sometimes with the elderly, and lack of teeth sometimes.... ha ha. But one time he stood up and did this funny little jig. Do I know why? Naaaah. But he´s pretty funny. He wants to belong to a church, and have faith. Good thing we´re missionaries and we can teach him about it :) 

So it´s cambios (exchanges/changes) and there is a cambio in my little casa of 4 hermanas. My trainer, Hermana Risco, is heading out! She´s going to San Javier, and I´m staying here in Rauquen B. She has 8 months here, so she pretty much knows everything. A lot of what we did was from her memory. Buuuut! Heavenly Father never gives us trials that we can´t handle. So man oh man am I pumped to figure this all out! My new trainer is from Argentina, and I´m meeting her tomorrow. It should be just fantastic! 

Something I´ve learned this cambio is that people want to be loved. Respected. Understood. Appreciated. Yes, you can work along side people and work with people and accomplish what needs to be done, but if they don´t feel like you have these things for them, it makes things a looot harder. President Monsen was right! (Of course) "Never let a problem to be solved be more important than a person to be loved." 

Speaking of which! I love you all. I pray for you. I hope everything in your lives is magical and wonderful and special. Not perfect, because it can´t be. But I know that through this gospel, we´re able to find all the happiness we can handle. Love it! Live it! Let it become a part of you. 

Nos vemos!

Hermana Lovell 

This is our zone, right before our last cambios. What a bunch :)