Chile! Hermana Thompson

Hola from Chile!

I made it safely and man I could not love this place more! It is beautiful, not what I was expecting. SO much has happened. I feel like I have been here forever. I don´t really know where to start. I live off of campus but we come to the CCM everyday. The first day we were here, (1/1/14) we spent all day at Alcanatara (my new home) settling in, studying, getting the swing of things. The next day was the first real day at the CCM and we hit the ground running. We wake up at 6:45, have personal study for an hour and eat breakfast. Oh man breakfast is weird here!! They eat yogurt in their cereal! No cold milk, only warm, so i avoid that... Every meal is pretty much the same every day. They eat a ton of bread! but it is so good. We run around the city every morning. Then we take a bus to the CCM and have language study (rough)! We have 3 investigators right now and let's just say i struggle understanding what they even say... but I just let the spirit guide me and somehow it seems to work out and I can get my point across in as few words as possible.

My companion is Hermana Truman. She is from Las Vegas. Sweet girl and man she is patient with me and my spanish!! Oh, there are 4 of us girls who share a room and we have 40 minutes to get ready in the morning... yes that includes showering. I am a hot mess everyday!! Hermana Truman and I are the only hermanas in our district. Elder Litza is from Citrus Heights! Elder Daniel, Texas. Elder Gamboa, LA. And Elder Jepsson, Idaho. Elder Chuquel, Brazil. Elder Gambo, Daniel, and Chuquel are going to my mission! There is a district 2 weeks ahead of us that also lives at Alcantara and they are all great! 2 elders and 2 sisters from North America the others are Latinos. Elder Hansen, Elder Brock, Hermana Ardnt, and Hermana Weist(she is from Roseville, same birthday, same hospital...Crazy!).

MY days are all mixed up, but Friday was a really rough day. I was struggling big time with the language and was getting so frustatred with myself. It was bad. We taught an investigator and I just did not even know what he was saying, so I pretty much just sat there. But this was my motivation to try so much harder to get the language down; not for myself, but to benefit my investigators so I will be able to teach them the gospel. Since then I have learned how to pray and bear my tesimony in spanish. POOF! I have the best teachers! They are so great because they relate to us on a social level as well as on a spiritual level. They have so much valid advice, it's great. 

This life is not a ladder climbing competition; we all progress at different rates in different times of our lives. BE patient with yourself and always remember to only compare yourself to yourself!

The church is true and book is blue! 

I love you all and I testify that this gospel is true and I am doing the Lord's work. There is no other place i would rather be. 

Much love From Santiago,

Hermana Thompson

I am doing well. I love this gospel so much, it is great!

P.S. there are so many Latinos here in the CCM, and we are surrounded by Spanish! They have to translate for us few north americans haha. FYI, we can only take pictures on Pday while in the CCM :(

My district!

The other missionaries staying at Alcantara