April 8th Update

General Conference!

I sure was pretty giddy to watch conference. And to watch it English :) I think General Conference Weekend is right up there with Christmas time for me. I LOVE CONFERENCE. I'm crazy about it. I love the perspective that it gives me. I love that Heavenly Father really does want to give us the specific answers that we need to recieve from Him. I sure know that He really knows us, and wants to support us. As we make room to have spiritual experiences in our lives, we are choosing to be lead by the Lord to become the people we need to be. Who He needs us to be, to continue accomplishing His purposes.

And His pathways always lead to happiness!!

We had some serious up and downs with Clara, Luis, Jorge, and Johanna. Clara and Luis are going to get married so Clara can get baptized, and Jorge and Johanna are married. And they all live in the same apartment. Jorge and Johanna have been kind of luke warm about everything, while Clara has been really excited. We promised them that all the doubts that they had could be answered by conference. And then they didn't come Saturday! We went there in the night, and they were acting silly. Clara was saying she really wasn't going to get baptized on the 20th, but just was getting married. And then Jorge and Johanna were basically saying "no" to a baptism in the near future. They came to conference on Sunday, and it got a little better . Clara is back on for the 20th! And, I think Jorge and Johanna are really starting to try to develop their faith. You could pray for them. They need it :)

FLOOOOOR! She is still A+ wonderful. She is such a crazy wonderful woman. After the first session on Sunday, she came up to us and gave us a big long hug. (Which usually people don't give long hugs. Or real hugs. I've stressed a couple people out here when I've tried to give a hug.) And she was crying, and said "Thank you. I don't have any doubts, now. Thank you for helping me find the truth." Talk about a beautiful experience. She's going to be baptized on the 20th, too.

I'm training again! Hermana Gomez is off to my old sector! To be with the entranee of Hermana Quiroga, my old comp! Weird, right? I'm going to go pick up my new comp in Concepcion tonight.

Still working hard! Still learning how to make Christ more centered in my life.

I love you all, and pray for you. I hope you are all well!

Hermana Lovell

PS Okay all my friends! Why don't ya all just get married while I am gone!!!! Ha ha. I wish I could be there to party it up with you, but, we'll just have to wait a little while. I expect many a good time with blind dating all the friends of your spouses. Just kidding. Kinda. Congratulations, Celeste, Courtney, and Natalie!

PPS Did you guys know you can write me now? I LOVE getting letters still, but you can write me at ashley.lovell@myldsmail.net, too. Celeste, Court, and Natalie! Write me so I can tell you congratulations for reals and have your addresses. 

April 1st Update

Hey folks!
Here we are Conti. It's starting to get a little cold, here. We've got some pretty misty days because of how close we are to the ocean. 

Did you all enjoy Easter!? I actually love Easter. I love to really feel like I know my Savior, and He is watching out for me. I know He is. And I know the more we try to become like Him, we can strengthen our relationship with Him. Our Brother. 

http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng

Read or listen to this talk. I think it is so incredible. I think a lot of times we can be frustrated because our righteous desires are not fulfilled. That is has got to be because of our imperfections, our lack of faith, that we don't receive them. But it's more than that. We can have all the faith in the world, but we need to have faith in the right things. We cannot have conditional faith. We all have situations that are difficult, when we don't understand why we can't have the good and righteous things that we are trying to accomplish with everything we have. But if we can be as the Savior, to have the faith to drink the bitter cup, and "shrink not" we will not have to fear. It's okay if we aren't giddy or just absolutely excited to go through the trials of our lives, but as we have the faith to put our faith in the will of the Lord, and not the desires of our own lives, we will be able to find a peace that we can not find otherwise. 

I love you! Keep praying. Have the best day ever! Wherever in the world you are.

Love,
Hermana Lovell 

March 25th Update

So!

If I could, I would write my whole letter about Flor.

She is very much likely one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life. She has a date for baptism, and she came to church yesterday. And.... she may just have schizophrenia. One of our members that came with us to the lesson told us that her other sisters had it. She for sure is still a winner. She's just hilarious. She just is so expressive. One time, she started the conversation with, You know, I have to tell you something: I couldn't eat the bread (from the sacrament). Because I saw one of the boys touch his nose and his ears before breaking the bread. I just couldn't do it.

Aw, she's just great. But anyways.

Clara and Luis are having some rough times. Clara is having a rough time quitting smoking. But! She can do it. I just know it! The trick is if she can have the faith to do it, too. 

I'm still learning loads here! One of my favorite things that I'm learning this week is the importance of gratitude. It's incredible really, how much BETTER your day can be with gratitude. My morning prayers, I focus on saying basically everything I'm grateful for, and then 1 or 2 other things. And the day is just so much better. Try it out! 
 

Thank you for all your support and love! I just love you all, and pray for you.

Love,

Hermana Lovell





PS THANKS so much fam for the easter package! It was sweeeet! Who knew Cadbury eggs are so tasty!!! :)

March 18th Update

Wow!

Here we are. Another week in Chile.

This week, I've really got to think about the "knock and ye shall receive" principle that is everywhere in the gospel. How many times is that mentioned in the scriptures, and how many times do we actually have the courage to ask for it?

I know that God really does want to give every righteous desire of our hearts. I know that as we work hard, and are diligently working to obtain our goals, Heavenly Father will provide us with a way to obtain it.

Clara is wants to get sealed in the temple! But first she's got to quick smoking. I've gotten some crazy stop-smoking ideas for some Elders, but we'll see which ones we actually try out.

One thing that I've really been focusing on is gratitude. We can be so unhappy if we forget how to be grateful. Heavenly Father gives us so much, but if we don't acknowledge it, we don't really get anything out of it. Even if we had everything we could possibly ask for, and we were ungrateful, it wouldn't mean anything.
I'm sure grateful that God loves us. I know that EVERYTHING we recieve in this life is for our growth. Even those times when we can't understand why things happen at the time, the experience will only make our future sweeter as we learn what Heavenly Father wants to teach us.

I love you guys! Keep being wonderful :)

Love,

Hermana Lovell 

PS Hey! I met a boy just like by crazy nephew Nick Templeton! And I met a little girl just like my niece Emmie! I sure love my family!! :) 

March 11th Update

Well this week went super fast! 

Fall is coming here in Chile. It's getting a little chilly. Bah ha ha ha. Thank goodness that Constitución is a bit on the relaxed side when it comes to weather. It gets super windy sometimes, though. Not exactly conducive for us skirt-wearing folk. We get by :) 

Clara and Luis and still super fantastic! They are super funny. Luis is a Menos Active, and we found out yesterday that he and is sister were orphans when he was like 15. That's when they got baptized, and it helped them grow up with good principles. And now Clara, his girlfriend, is hooked on reading the Book of Mormon. She's so blunt and honest, and she's hungrier and hungrier to understand more of the gospel. They've got a little 10 year old named Ignacia that is wanting to get baptized, too. They have got to get married first, and then they're planning on the 6 of April to get baptized. They sure are wonderful!

Something a little funny about life is that there's a lot of time when we run around asking everybody else for answers. Maybe our friends, or family, or leaders. But you know what? We've really just got to get on our needs and have the faith that we can recieve answers from prayers. That Heavenly Father really knows, He really cares, and He really wants to teach us something. There are some times when you just have to say, "Well! It looks like I still haven't learned what you wanted me to learn...because this still is really hard." But, it'll always get better. But! The mission rocks. Life is great. Still learning loads here in good ol' Chi-Le. 

Love you folks! 

Love,

Hermana Lovell 

March 4th Update

Well, I’ve made it through the first week of training, can you believe it!? Me either. Things are definitely different now. Hermana Gomez, my comp, is from Peru. My trainer was from Peru, too. But really, it’s fine with me because Peruvians know how to work hard! Ha ha. We’ve been opening this sector for hermanas. That’s been great. The Elders were not exactly 100% squeaky clean with their area book……. But it’s okay J

We got two families to teach! What!? Isn’t that great? J Clara, Luis, and Jorge and Joanna. They all live together in an apartment. Clara and Luis have got to get married, so they want to get baptized in April. The other couple wants to wait for them. We’ve just got to keep them on the straight and narrow until then! Out of nowhere, we found the brother of Jorge yesterday contacting, and we got to teach him a lesson. Heavenly Father really does have a hand in everything.

It’s been really rough sometimes. Because now it’s feels like I’ve got a lot more responsibility on my shoulders. I got frustrated for a little bit that I couldn’t have great numbers after a few days into the week. Sometimes, when hard things happen, we forget perspective. It just feels like we’re going to be in this situation that totally stinks for. Eh. Ver. But that’s where hope comes in. And remembering that really, Heavenly Father is aware and sees you. He knows you, and He really is just trying to bless you. I can honestly say that every trial I’ve had, in the mission and in life, has blessed me to enjoy life better than I could have before. Because without the bitter, we really can’t understand and enjoy the sweet. The perspective is the key, right? It’s just about taking a step about, and realizing, “Why yes, I’m still breathing. There’s still a fight to be fought, here! And it’s not going to be forever. And God and my Savior still love me, and They’ll still support me just as much as I will let Them!” It’s really true, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. The anticipation and worry of bad things happening are usually ten times worse than the actual event.

So yeah. I’m still here. Still working hard, and learning loads. Trying my best to be my best. It’s pretty great I highly recommend a mission for all you folks out there. There really is nothing like it.

Thanks for your letters, your prayers, your love and your support. I love you so much, and I’m so grateful for all of the things I’ve learned from you. Keep chasing your dreams. I’m praying for you J

Hermana Lovell

Pretending to work out. Just kidding. We went running.
Do you work out?

When I was in the house for a week for an ingrown toenail.
It was fierce.

LOOK OUT FOR GERMAN SHEPARDS!
First dog bite of the mish. And the owner didn't even care it happened.
Every time I see it, I feel so hard core. I hope it scars.

February 25th Update - Changes are coming!

Hermana Chavez and I are training together!!

So, we all know that there have been some pretty incredible changes in missionary work. The age changes, and now the increase of missions. It's SO incredible, right!? Well, one of the side effects of this is that there are a WHOLE lot of hermanas that are coming. Tomorrow, there is going to be 10 more hermanas coming. The next cambio they'll be 16 more coming. This means, that basically every hermana here is training. Hermana Chavez and I are so pumped to be training together. They're going to be gringas. Which means that most likely they'll be just as I was when I first got here. But I'm so excited to be on the other side of situation, and help them out as best I can. 

Also, our mission is going to get split up. The new Santiago South mission is taking part of Rancagua, and in turn Rancagua is taking part of Concepción. So if I'm still in Constitución in July, I'm heading out to Mission Rancagua! Which is weird, because I didn't really look up anything about that region of Chile. But, I think it's pretty crazy. And it's probably pretty possible. We´ll just wait and see :) 

This has been so incredible, these three weeks here. It's felt like my mission started over. But I bet it feels that way every sector change. Hermana Chavez and I have been figuring stuff out, and trying to better shape what type of missionaries we want to be. We've worked super hard and meeting our goals, and finding. We're still working on a solid focus group, but there's this couple named Alejandra and Alejandro that are so awesome! And they're already married, which is a big plus. :) Also, there's this other couple named Roberto and Marcela. We've only met with Marcela, but we've talked on the phone with Roberto a couple times. A great thing about Chileans, is that they just lay out everything on the table. If they have a problem with something, they'll just say it. If they don't understand you, they'll just say it. And they also like to pick out something to make fun of or compliment you on to start building trust. Maybe that I'm making that up, but anyways. Roberto. He gave me the WORST time about my Spanish. I think it was a bit of a joke, and a bit of he seriously couldn't understand me. I hung up the phone and said "He's going to be my least favorite convert ever!!" But, whatever. 

I don't really write about the funny stuff that happens. But there's a LOT of funny stuff. We've had a sweet time with snakes, (Boys that aren't super interested in the gospel, but at least they give you free stuff), super impressive evangelical prayers, crazy investigators. The works. And it's all so wonderful and hard. But I know that God watches over the smallest details of our lives. I know that the more humble we are, the happier we can be. I know that it's better to travel light, travel humble, and travel happy. To not worry so much. To work hard with everything you've got, but to look for how to be happy while doing it. Like Hermana Humphrey said to me "Of course it's great to strive for perfection, but you didn't come on a mission to get translated!" Life's about making mistakes, and getting messy (Magic School Bus reference), and becoming better while you do it. 

I love you guys! Thank you so much for your support and prayers! I can't believe how fast time is flying. I've got basically half of my mission done and gone! With the MTC and the 3 weeks they took away. It's pretty crazy. Keep being incredible! I pray for you guys, and I hope you're so happy. We've all got mountains to climb, and it's hard. But, it's so so worth it. 

Keep living the dream!

Love,

Hermana Lovell