Hello
Everyone,
My time is SHORT
today, so I apologize in advance for the brevity of this week´s report.
New Year´s is a HUGE
holiday here. Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) has a barbecue (asada) with
their family. There was a visible haze in the air from all the barbecue
smoke on Monday night, and our whole sector smelled like barbecue and beer.
They don´t start eating until like 9 or 10 at night and then they stay up
until all hours. We worked until 10 as usual, then planned as usual.
Then we ate peaches (duraznos) and queso fresco (which is a kind of fresh
cheese that I had never seen before coming here, but which is really good),
while we watched a couple of scenes from the Church film Togeher Forever
(Juntos Para Siempre) while we waited for it to be midnight. Then we went
to give New Year´s hugs to Hermana Myriam, the member who we rent our house
from (there are two houses on the same lot - she lives in front and we live in
the small one in back). She gave us Coke and Pan de Pascua (like
fruitcake, only SO GOOD), because if they don´t give you food when you are in
their house, they aren´t Chilean. That was our awesome and very low-key
New Year´s celebration. The next day they had fireworks going off while
we were planning and we could see them out our window, which was fun.
So it´s a new year!
Remember my letter from last week? Well, I really needed to
remember it because it turns out I have a really hard time being perfect as a
missionary! Can you believe that? But even though every moment is
hard and I always seem to be doing something wrong, we were truly blessed by
our Heavenly Father this week. We met some really incredible people whom
I hope to be able to tell you a little bit more about sometime.
But - this is very
exciting, so put on your seatbelts and prepare to be proud - for the FIRST TIME
since I entered the mission field, we MET OUR GOAL for finding new
investigators! In fact, we even exceeded it by one! It was a
miracle from the Lord and we are so grateful. We also had the most
investigators in church we´ve ever had as well. It was very exciting
doing weekly planning last night and getting to write down our accomplished
goals and just feel so blessed to have been able to do a little bit more this
week than I´ve ever done before. I know Heavenly Father is looking out
for me and for these people whom He has sent me to teach. When we don´t
meet goals, it just means we haven´t been inviting people to come unto Christ,
and so seeing a little improvement helps us to realize that we are doing a
little bit better at fulfilling our purpose as missionaries!
Anyway, I REALLY have
to go. The time for me to be on the computer is "Far Spent," as
the hymn says. But don´t forget that I love you all!
Your commitment this
week is to think about someone who blessed your life in the past year by their
words, actions, or example and thank them for it! You can write a note,
give a gift, make a phone call, or even do an act of service for them.
But find some way to show your gratitude and love for them.
I love you all and I´m
ever grateful for your love and support!
Lovelovelove,
Hermana Burgess
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