Chica in Chile: Semana dos

¡Hola!

The days are long but the weeks are short. Sorry my letters are kind of all over the place; I feel so scatter brained. We just got back from walking around the city. So last week were able to attend the temple, man what an experience! I got headphones so i I could listen in spanish. Super powerful. The spirit hit me like a brick. The CCM is not easy and sitting in the celestial room just brought so much comfort and peace to my soul. The Lord has called me to do his work and he will provide a way for me to do this. I must endure to the end. So usually on breaks Hermana Truman and I walk around the temple grounds; the garden here is unbelievable!

OH goodness, we have had some crazy investigators recently. We have a 17 year old that wants to move to california and have a "gringa" girlfriend. Therefore he was very interested in what we had to say... haha he giggled like a school girl. We have another investigator who just likes to give us a hard time and ask hard questions... we work through it in very broken spanish. We did have a class outside last week and so we sat on the grass by the temple and our teacher had us go talk to kids that were there WAITING. It was kind of awkward lol "Hola me nombre es hermana Thompson" lol; my spanish is awful, but hey that's what I am here for! Spiritual prison lol literally though. Our classes are in the basement so there are no windows, just white concrete walls. haha it's fun though, I love it!

Hermana Traverso was telling us about how the hermanas tend to gain a lot of weight here... yay. She is from here and served in Rancagua and gained 50 pounds, yes 50!! Lets just say i lost my apettite for lunch. I went to put my tray back (with the food i didn't eat on it) and yeah it slipped and the plate broke. Talk about embarrassing! haha. Luckily they said it was no importante eek. Im a klutz.

Hermana Truman and I were walking into the dorms at temple square to meet Elders in the lobby and the temple president stopped us and said, "You ladies have such sweet spirirts and you don't even know it." sweetest thing ever, made my life!!

We watched a talk from, Elder Holland in 2011. He told the story of Peter and John after Christ dies. Peter is fishing and they see a man on land that says to cast their nets to the right of the boat. They do, and the net is so heavy they can't lift it into the boat. John says "It´s Him." I invite all of you to come to Christ and be able to recognize him in your life. I know I want to be able to say "Hey, I know i cannot do this alone, but through Christ it is possible." Look for Christ in all things. Let us be changed through Christ. We need to allow Him into our lives and allow Him to shape us into who are meant to be. Life is hard, but I know if we follow Christ's example it will be easier. The atonement is real. Redeeming, Strengthening, and Healing Power.

I gave a talk in Relief Society on Repentance. There is an anology of holding a pen. Pen=sin, there are 5 steps to repentance: 1. acknowledge 2. be sorrowful 3. confess 4. restitution 5. don't do it again. Each step corresponds with a finger; when you do each step you loosen the sin and when you have completed all five steps, you no longer carry the pen (or sin). Kind of a cool anology to explain repntance.

My spanish is coming along though, slowly but surely. I can pray in spanish, say the mission objective, as well as the invitation to baptism. If you haven't read the Mission Purpose, READ it. It is for everyone. We must feed Christ's sheep forever, even when we are not out serving a mission. Also watch "finding faith in christ" if you haven´t already done so.

I love it here. The days are so long; 10-10 everyday, but we still manage to have fun! District 5 is also a N. American district and they live at Alcantara with us so we have all become like family...it is fun. Elder Brock and Elder Hansen are hilarious. Don't worry, I am working hard but it is nice to remember we like to mess around sometimes. We sing a lot and crack jokes.

Sorry this is so long haha. There is so much that happens in a week. I love you all!!

Stay Strong. Whatever you are going through, I testify that you will get through it. Life gets rough; it is not always uphill, but we have to learn and keep going. Even if you are on the right track, if you are not moving, you are still going to get hit by the train! SO KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Much love, xoxo

Hermana Thompson

PS: The fires have really been affecting the air quality, we can smell the fire when we go outside and it is super smokey/smoggy.

PSS: Elder Brock's mom is fron Cali, Colombia (although Cali wasn't in my dad's mission, his trainer was from Cali) AND Brock's dad love the Giants! I think they would get along well together with my parents;)