I am really starting to wonder if there will ever be a week when I just do normal missionary stuff all week long. It really doesn´t seem like it!
But before I tell you about my week, here´s an update on the "hastening of the work" here in our mission: In order to accomodate the shortening of the training schedules at the MTC, this cambio is only three weeks long. That makes this week that last week of the cambio! And really crazy stuff is happening after that, since we have 10 new sisters coming next Tuesday (and none leaving) and then 16 coming the transfer after that. When I was in Conce all those days with Hermana Lish, I was able to see the board that shows the numbers of comings and goings of missionaries in the next few transfers and I did all the math. It´s really intense. At the beginning of this transfer, we had 26 sisters, with 9 of them in training. Then we get 10 more and don´t lose any. Then we get 16 more and only lose 2. So on April 9, we are going to have 52 sisters, with 35 of them still in training! I don´t know how they are going to do that, as some sisters who have not completed their training yet are going to be expected to train! Aaaah! They are also going to be opening 13 new sister sectors in the following two transfers. That will double the number of sister sectors there are now! Hermana Fajardo and I are gearing up for the change and know that we do not have much time left together as companions - 6 more weeks at the very most before we both are going to be expected to train. Yikes!
Anyway, back to our week. Here in San Javier we don´t have a member that does our laundry like we did in Chillan, instead we have a lavadora (washing machine) in our house (or rather, on our back porch - nobody puts their washing machines inside here). So last P-day we were all excited to wash our own clothes and we bought our laundry soap and started a load and then left the house to do something else. When we came back, the clothes were soaking wet, but there was still soap sitting on top of them. Clearly something had gone wrong. So we fiddled with the settings and ran it again. Still didn´t work. The third time we tried to run the lavadora, we finally realized that there is a tube that comes out of the back which drains the water after the wash and rinse cycles. If the lavadora was installed the same way they are at home, this tube would be connected to a pipe in the wall that all the water would run into. Here we have a drain in the pavement next to the washing machine. Well, turns out that if this tube isn´t pointing up while the washing machine fills, all the water just drains right back out again. Sheesh! So after we finally figured that out, we propped the tube in an upright-ish position and let the machine run while we did things in the house. Well we were equivocadas (wrong) once again, however, because when it was time to drain the water, the tube was not pointing well enough at the drain. Instead it was pointing right at our kitchen door, and by the time we realized, we had water all over our kitchen and living. It was a really great adventure and now we have the tube properly situated so as not to drain in inappropriate moments, nor to flood our house.
Then we had a conference for all the missionaries who had arrived in the mission anytime in the last three transfers. It was in Conce and we had to leave Tuesday afternoon and be there all day Wednesday and Thursday. Hermana Fajardo and I, having the exact same mission anniversary (though she has one more transfer in the field than I), both attended this conference. We were the only complete companionship there, however, and everyone kept commenting on how strange it was to have such a young companionship. Anyway, it was a really great conference and because some of the missionaries there were less than a week old in the field, they separated us into two groups and taught everything in our native tongues. So I spent two days speaking English with Hermana Frandsen this week. It was interesting though, because there were a few times when we could not find English words to describe what we were trying to say! Wednesday night after the conference we did splits with the sisters who work in Lirquen, about a 30 minute bus ride from Conce. It is beautiful there - many hills and close to the ocean. It reminded me of San Francisco a little, but I knew I would never be able to ride my bici there!
So after almost three days without working normally, we had only three days left in our week and SO MUCH work to do! It was crazy trying to do a whole week´s work in only three days, and truly we weren´t able to do it. But we worked hard and even had a miracle in church when one of our investigators, who we thought wasn´t going to be able to come, arrived in sacrament meeting!
Your commitment this week: How are you doing with family history? I never had much interest in it before my mission, but I have really been bitten by the Spirit of Elijah since I left for the MTC. This week I want to encourage you to either work on family history, perform a temple ordinance for a family member, or read or re-read one of the stories of your ancestors. I didn´t know this until I had to collect family history stories to bring with me on my mission, but I have an ancestor who was in Liberty Jail with Joseph Smith, and who was the first Presiding Bishop of the Church. I thought that was pretty cool! And for a zone activity today we watched 17 Miracles and I realized that I really don´t know anything about how my family got to Utah. I am really excited to get a better start on my family history when I get back home, but you can do it now! Hooray!
Anyway, I am out of time to write now. P-days (and especially email time) slip ever so quickly away! But I love you all and hope that you are happy and well.
Lovelovelove you all,
Herman
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