The Only thing that Truly Matters

Hey there mi familia....

 

How fun that Mo and the kids got to come up for a little while and visit! I got her picture and the kids look really big. But I think it's been a really long time for me without seeing them. Mo looks really good too! Oh mom thanks for the recipe I just got it today, but I'm gong to buy the ingredients so I can make some goodies for the members here in Linderos. We don't have an oven in our house so we have to use the oven in the restaurant owned by the members that we live with, but I would just rather make something super easy and delicious in our house without having to bother people. So I have a surprise for you mom...I only hope that it works, I'm going to send two letters!! Wow I can't believe that everyone is getting married right now, good luck with all the work! :D

 

So this week was really pretty good. We had some drama with our fechas this week, Orlando, his mom Gloria and her husband Josè. They had fechas and then they fell because they didn't go to church, so we put another fecha and then they told us that they didn't want to get baptized, but still want to have the lessons and then we just put another fecha with them for the 8 of July.  Ok, well remember the story about the woman who hates me and didn't want us to teach her husband? This woman is the neighbor of our fechas. We haven't had another lesson with her family since, but a few days ago she was at the house of our fechas and she stayed to listen to the lesson. She was alot more cooperative in this lesson because she was actually listening, most of the time. But it turns out that she has been telling Josè and Gloria lots of false doctrine about the church.

 

So we show up for our lesson, and Josè tells us that he doesn't want to say the opening prayer because he doesn't want to be a part of our religion. We start to ask him questions and really the only reason was because he believed everything that this woman had told him about the church. We talked with them for a long time and ended up teaching the word of wisdom...which was most of the debate..and in the end told us that wanted to keep working towards their baptismal date. :D YAY!!! 

 

 

Really I think the only thing that we need to help them with is a testimony of Josè Smith. haha I wrote Josè instead of Joseph...Anyways, really so many people tell us that we talk about Joseph Smith way too much, but in the beginning this is the key in knowing if The church of Jesus Christ was restored and is on the earth. This is the only thing that they need to know right now, because if yes, then this baptism is essential because we have the authority of God on the earth. And we can receive modern day revelation like the Word of Wisdom which is essential in keeping the constant companion of the Holy Ghost and receiving more light and knowledge directly from a loving Heavenly Father. 

 

 

This is my struggle with them is trying to help them feel the spirit and recognize the truth. They have lots of opposition in their way, and false doctrine, but I KNOW that when they receive their own witness of the truth it doesn't matter what is said or what questions they still might have. The church is restored and they can receive all the blessings of the Atonement through faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and then persevering until the end. Sometimes I feel like I don't have enough experience in the mission and I'm not doing things right and I'm not teaching my companion anything, but then I think the only thing that truly matters is that they can feel the spirit and that we love them.

 

We have two other investigators who I just LOVE!!! They are absolutely amazing. The only thing is that they aren't married and living together. Their names are Claudio and Yoselyn (Joseline). They are 24 and 25 and are just so open to the gospel. Yoselyn has attended chruch twice with us already and the only reason that Claudio hasn't is because he has had to work the last two Sundays....blah..pero bueno. They are sooo amazing. We just taught them about the Book of Mormon and before we taught them they were asking questions and telling us that the Book of Mormon had to have been written in the same time as the Bible and it's obvious that there were people here in the Americas! It was like, "WHAT!!! No one has ever explained the Book of Mormon to me without me teaching it to them first!" We are soo excited for them and are planning wedding and their baptism...well, without them knowing! We are going to teach the law of chasitiy this next lesson!! But as far as life goes....I love my sector, my companion and my mission!!! I don't think I want to come home....Sorry I do love you all, but you can come visit me in Chile! We can eat empanadas and completos!! :D

 

Les Quiero mucho. I still haven't gotten my packages, but that doesn't mean that they haven't arrived. Tell everyone hi for me and tell Keely that yes I received her letter and she should be getting one form me in the mail some time!!

 

Todo de mi amor

 

Hermana Thacker

 

 

(Recieved June 25, 2012)

Yes it is a Little Bit Difficult. . . AND I LOVE IT!

Hola el mejor familia en todo el mundo!!

Well sounds like everyone is staying busy right now! Mom I almost forgot about wind in Montana until you mentioned it. I have to say that I don't miss that one bit!! Holy COW!! You have 13 weddings this summer! What the..? Is that like a record for you guys? I have to be honest in saying that I'm not going to miss that at all either! :D 

 

 

Anyways, THANK YOU for the money!! I finally got it! I'm going to have to buy water boots first!! Because they don't have very good draining systems and so the water just builds up in the streets like a river! Yesterday after church I was walking too close to the road and a car totally sprayed me! HAHA But it wasn't too bad and we were really close to the house anyways! 

 

 

But I have to say that I completed 7 MONTHS in the mission last Saturday! HOLY COW!! I still can't believe it! Where does the time go? But so far I am absolutely loving it! It is sooooo amazingly nice to be able to talk and have real conversations with people. I still can't understand everything, but at least now I can understand when they explain something to me. Que Bendiciòn!

 

So this week was pretty good. Bueno, it started out really really good. We put 4 fechas for baptism this week in Linderos, which is totally a miracle. 3 with one family, and another with a 9 year old girl! I think I told you about this family last week, but they are all really receptive to the missionaries and our member friend Marcela, has gone way up and over her call of duty as a member missionary. Seriously, I'm going to be like her after my mission!! I have already decided. But she has been taking the Book of Mormon cds over to their house, because the mom and dad can't read, and explaining and teaching them too. Well, we went over to their house on Saturday because it was the sons birthday, but we also had an appointment with them. We started to talk to them and then they told us that they don't want to get baptized. We talked and asked questions and we realized that they don't completely understand the importance of baptism. The dad said that he thought that he was just gong to be baptized and then go on living his life and not have to change anything. Well, it is obvious that we need to teach with more clarity and go much slower in our lessons.

 

But although it was a bummer that they told us this, they still want to take the lessons. It is actually an answer to my prayers, because I have been praying really hard that they would receive their own testimony the gospel. Because I don't just want to baptize people, I want them to understand, have a testimony, and become active members of the church after their baptism. I think that there are so many that get baptized here without knowing how to cultivate their own testimony, and after time they can't keep that burning fire of the Spirit and then they become inactive. 

 

 

I am actually really excited that we have this challenge with them because I think now we are really truly going to help them with their needs. But the best part is that ALL of them were in church yesterday, plus the sister of our investigator!!!!! AND it was raining! (It's like death when it is raining, no one wants to leave their house.) It was really neat. My comp and I and our investigators, all 5 of them, the President, and Marcela were the only ones in the capilla at 9:55. Mormon standard time is the same all over the world...go figure!! :D

 

But it was really cool! We also found two really amazing investigators. A young couple that are living together and not married (welcome to Chile :D) but are so receptive to the gospel. Yoseline went to church with us too and we had an activity in the church Friday and she came then too. The little things like this really keep me going in the mission! One of the hermanas that is in our zone asked me if I wanted to stay in Linderos for another change and I said heck yes!! And the she asked, but Linderos is kind of difficult isn't it? (We had divisions and she came to Linderos for the day with my companion) Yes it is a little bit difficult some days...but it makes the little moments of success that much more sweet!!!! AND I LOVE IT! I think I love it more because I imaging this is what it is like to work in Shelby. It's like my home. We live with members too, but we have our own little house, and they feed us when we don't have lunches. 

 

 

(Received  June 18, 2012)

Tender Mercies

Hola Familia

Well it was super fun to talk to you all. I think that one hour isn´t enough time, but oh well. It was sufficient for the time being....I guess. 

 

 

So this week was a lot more than I told you about yesterday. Each day is filled with things to tell, but there is only so much time and air to tell everything. Even in a journal you can´t capture every moment. I wish I could show a video of my life to you guys. SO, I have to admit that I am siting in the ciber in Rancagua and I forgot my cord to email my pictures...so maybe next week I won´t send a very big letter and I will spend most of my time attaching photos to send. 

 

 

UM...ok JULES..I know you will read this so I´m going to say THANK YOU FOR THE LETTERS! Wow you have no idea how much joy I get receiving and reading your letters. I seriously read them like four or five times and then tell myself I need to put them away so they don´t distract me! But I love them soo much. I am working on getting your letters sent out too so hopefully in a few weeks you can look for my letters!

This week was pretty good and not pretty good. It was kind of a weird week for us and in the middle we went to Santiago. I like going to Santiago because I get to see a little more of Chile when we ride the train but then I also loath it because it takes an entire day and we are soo tired afterwards. We only have so much time to work and teach and when an entire day is taken away the work only doubles and we have to work that much harder to get back our day we lost. 

 

 

This week it was really hard for us to find members to come out with us to our citas. And only one of our investigators came to church this Sunday... I don´t know what happened and maybe now that it is getting colder the people aren´t as willing to sacrifice to leave their warm homes and go to church. Who knows, but we also struggled finding new people to teach. Lots of people listened but either the person didn´t live in our sector or they didn´t have "time" for us to return. Or in other words they really don´t want us to come back. We did talk to a couple of golden contacts and we are really looking forward to our citas with them. Once again yesterday we talked with an older woman who has cancer, and she was so sweet and really wants to have the missionaries teach her, but she was visiting her son and doesn´t live in our sector.....dang...well, we found a golden contact for the other hermanas!

Even though this week was kind of.....I don´t know the word..a little difficult...I think what I learned is that everyday Heavenly Father gives us little miracles and tender mercies. One day this week we had lots of time to knock and contact people. Well, we received a list of references so we decided to go and find them. The first person we were looking for lived in a house that didn´t exist on this street. So in the process of finding the house we found two really amazing contacts that have great potential to be great investigators and then great members of the church. We didn´t actually contact any of our references, but the Lord placed people in our way that needed to hear the gospel and that were prepared in this moment to listen to us.

Our investigators are at a stand still right now and I´m not really sure what we can do for them. Ivan, our fecha, is doing amazing and we had a really amazing lesson with him about the Atonement and he was in church on Sunday and is just eating the gospel up like peaches and cream.... :) But then we have other investigators that want to be baptized, and tell us they want to be baptized but then won´t come to church..or read the Book of Mormón..ugh...The hardest part is that I don´t want to drop any of them. Anyways we have some good plans for this week and hopefully with our plans and faith we are going to see a lot of little miracles take place!!

Well, sorry about the pictures again...I really am going to send them next week....sorry mom I know you are rolling your eyes at me right now... :)

LOVE YOU ALL SOOO MUCH!!
Hermana Thacker

LIST OF THINGS TO SEND
Maybelline Dream matte mousse pressed powder
Beef jerky--a cd of the primary songs in English (if you can find one, this is for my companion for her birthday..she really wants these songs in English but I want to surprise her with a cd (if you can, if not it's totally fine!).
Olay original face lotion
Neutrogena face make-up remover (in a blue bottle)

 

(Received May 14, 2012)

More Pictures!

Pictures!

Ok here are more...so i cant remember which ones are which but there are some of my companion and I in Santiago, when she cut my hair, and also of a chicken and a little girl. This house was always so crazy to teach in and we almost always had the chicken with us...poor chicken I just know it is going to die soon!!!! But I love this family and I hope that I get to be there some day during the baptism of the mom Paola because she is awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

(Received May 28, 2012)

New Area: Linderos

FAMILIA!!!


So my new sector is totally amazing!!! I love it here in Linderos and my companion is really amazing as well. I was really nervous about being her companion because she only has 6 weeks in the mission and I only have 4 months here in chile, but I know that we are going to learn lots from each other and we are going to see lots of tender mercies here in Linderos. Dad I dont know what you saw on google earth but I am pretty sure that they weren't swimming pools, this I know for sure.  But the town is super small, like Shelby. We only had 47 in Church on Sunday and when I got up to introduce myself to the branch I had already met most of them the week before. haha. But it reminds me a lot of home and I understand a little bit of what it feels like to be a missionary in Shelby! I don't want to say that this sector is difficult because it really isn't. It's just that we are going to have to be more creative in teaching and finding people. In the beginning I was a little desanimada because I felt like  no one wanted to talk to us. NO ONE. It is still like that, but now I know what to expect. This is what happens in a normal day of work.

 

We have about 5 lessons scheduled for the day and we plan to do a little bit of knocking to find new investigators. Well 90% of the time our lessons fall through and we have to do a lot of knocking. Which is fine, now I love knocking doors and talking with people, but what really makes me laugh is that we know that people are in their houses but they don't want to leave because they know it's the missionaries!!! haha But we haven't knocked all of Linderos yet, maybe this week we might run out of houses! :) But there is a lot of work to do with the in-actives here because there are a lot of in-actives!! But really I love this sector with all of my heart already! We live in a little house that is rented out by members who also own the ciber that we send our emails. They are like our parents here in Linderos. They also own a little restaurant so maybe I can get on their good side and get a few recipes for you mom. Ok, on the side be expecting letters in the future, I'm not sure how long it will take to get you guys!

Well, this week we set a fecha with a woman named Gloria! I have been told that it is difficult to set fechas with the people here in LInderos and I believe it, but we are going to work really hard with Gloria. Right now she is pregnant and this means that she is not smoking or drinking. 2 problems down. She is also married which is usually the hardest part for people here in Chile. So, it should be easy right? She told us she is going to pray and that she wants to know that truth. But her husband is really controlling and she told us that he wont let her leave the house without his permission. Well, now our job is to soften the old man! :) No problem, who can deny two sister missionaries!! :D

I was reading this week a lot about faith and for good reason. But I learned a really amazing lesson in Helaman 10:4-5. Wow the scriptures have a brand new light to them as a missionary and I love it. But I know that we are going to see miracles here in Linderos because we are obedient and dedicated to the work we are going to see the Lord's hand in all things. There is never a difficult sector only different people with different needs and all of their needs can be taken care of by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ok, so a funny story this week. We stopped by one of our investigators that I hadn't met yet and they let us in for a while. Well, it turns out that only the husband is taking the discussions and the wife wants nothing to do with the missionaries.  I had no idea and thought that the whole family was open to the missionaries and I was trying to talk with everyone especially the wife. Then she looked at my companion and our friend who came with us and said, "She doesn't know anything about me does she?" And they both looked at me like...uh oh...and said, "Nope. Ella es tan pesada."  (Look it up, I don't know how to express this in English.) Well the whole night she was trying her hardest to put down every word that I said. And she almost didn't let us have a lesson with her husband. I actually felt spiritually beaten up. It turns out that it was just a joke, but she didn't tell me. My comp did after the lesson. It was such a strange feeling. I have never been in a situation that my very presence angered somebody...I HATED IT!!!! But I don't have any fear, I'm going to go to the next lesson with a white flag of surrender. I hope at least she laughs or something!!!

But everything is great. It is getting colder...but I don't think that I need anything from home. Thanks for the money I haven't gotten it yet but I will look for a place to pick it up. I love you all. I thought about how blessed I am this week to have parents that raised me in the gospel and taught me the principles that I need to have a life centered in Jesus Christ. Mom and Dad you are the best!! Thanks for choosing to raise in the true Gospel of Jesus Christ!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

mucho cariño

Hermana Thacker

(Recieved June 4, 2012)

A Talk with My Mission President

¡Mi querida familia!

Wow! A lot has gone on this week for everyone! We went to Santiago this week and then had interviews with President and yesterday we spoke in a JAS (young single adults) activity in Rancagua!

Ok, so I have my camera cord today to send pictures, but my battery is dead.....go figure. I have so many to send home too. But today we had a birthday party for President in the mission home and I used my camera a lot, so I think if had we not gone I could have sent them home. Oh well. I guess you just have to wait one more week. It's not really that big of a deal because the weeks go by so fast!

This week was a busy one. First of all we had some pretty good lessons this week, but then also we had some disappointing things happen as well. Our fecha Ivan is doing amazing. He is eating up the gospel and now we are helping him quit smoking! He actually told us a week ago that he wasn´t ready for baptism because he smokes and drinks and we hadn´t taught him the Word of Wisdom yet! So we got on that this week and he was already committed him before we started to teach him. ¡BACÁN poh! He came with us to a baptism this week as well and thought it was pretty neat. We gave him a Liahona...which is like the Ensign...the conference addition and left him one of the talks to read about repentance. He read the whole thing and even took like two pages of notes. WHO DOES THAT!?! He is awesome...enough said. 

Well, that was part of the good that came out of this week. One of our other fechas Margarita kind of fell off the face of the planet. She was all excited about getting baptized and we were getting excited for her date and then we saw her smoking with her friends one day in the street. Dang it.  But we taught her the Word of Wisdom and she accepted the challenge to quit. The lesson after that we talked to her about setting a date that she could work up and completely stop smoking. We wanted her to pray about it and choose a date to be her goal. After this lesson she disappeared for a while. All of a sudden she wasn´t home for our lessons and then she lost her phone and we couldn´t get a hold of her for almost a week and a half. We thought for sure that she was avoiding us. Finally we set another cita with her daughter and she was there. We talked about her goals and she knows that it is going to be difficult to quit but that she still wants to! YES! It was a little touch and go for a while there! But the key is to stay in touch with her throughout the week...not seeing your investigator for like a week and a half is like death! 

This week we had interviews with President. I love talking with President! He is so cool. My interview went a little like this: "So Hermana Thacker how is it going?" I talked to him for like 30 seconds about me and he said, "Yup, I know what to do you are leaving Graneros and going to Linderos with a newbie from Argentina......"  "......WHAT!?", was my response.  I told him that I take everything back that I had just told him. SO I am leaving Graneros in a week and going to Linderos in the north. I have heard that Linderos is a little more difficult of an area, but that it is amazing. Next week I will let you know exactly where I end up. I am also farther away from Rancagua which is kind of a bummer but oh well, it will only take a little bit longer to get your letters and packages. 

I was talking to my companion this week about how blessed I truly am to have the most amazing people put into my life. My companion is amazing....amazing and I knew the moment I wished I could have another change with her it wasn´t going to happen. But I am so grateful for the time I got to have with her. I don´t know why I am soo blessed I just know that I am. For one, my parents raised me in the gospel of Jesus Christ and gave me a chance at a young age to come to know my Savior and Heavenly Father. Two, there are so many people in my life that love and support me on my mission, those in my branch, my friends, my family! I wish I could put more that just thank you because those words are so lame in comparison to how I truly feel! Ruth and Dan I hope all is well and that things will get better real soon! Grandmas and Grandpas I love and miss you!!!!

Les amo muchisimo, más que muchisimo pero no sé una palabra que es mucho mejor. :)

Hermana Thacker

(Recieved May 21, 2012)

6 Month Mark

Querida Familia mia

 

¿Como estan? Wow well the weeks keep flying by like seconds in the day and I really don´t like it. This next week I will have hit my 6 month mark in the mission. WHAT!!!!¡¡!¡! Ya that is so crazy! Life seems to keep moving for you guys though. Mom sounds like life is only getting busier for you in catering. I guess that's a good thing though. 

 

 

Ok, so there is one thing that you can eat this weekend with the family in memory of me on my mission. The pictures are of completos which are Chilean hot dogs...and I´m never going to eat a hot dog any other way but this way for the rest of my life!! That is a little over the top, but they are so good. I thought that this is a good start for moms recipes since I don´t have to work so hard to translate things! But anyways for the Completos

You need home made buns..this is key..

Then diced tomatoes..yup i said it..

Next avocados.

Mustard.

Mayo. 

Ketchup.

Salsa verde!! 

So the mustard here in Chile is different..it's more sweet, but not like a honey mustard. Anyways, then you can have home made french fries and you all can have your Chilean once (ohnsay). It's like a late dinner.

This week was pretty good. We had some really amazing miracles happen this week that just were sooo awesome. First of all we are teaching this little family of women. A mom, Margarita, and her two daughters Anais and Denis. We found them in the Area Book because they were old investigators, but Margarita has had a really strong desire to be baptized from the beginning and right now we are working with her daughters so that they can have the same desire as their mom. This week we taught the Word of Wisdom, because we saw her smoking the week before and if she is going to be baptized as soon as possible she needs to start living the WofW right away. When we taught them about the things they shouldn´t drink or eat she just started to laugh and said, "Oh no, I smoke and drink tea and coffee."  IN our minds we were like, 'Ya we know!'  But we had them all make goals at the end of lesson on how they were going to overcome their difficulties. Before the lesson we purchased herbal tea and Ecco (which is like a substitute for coffee) and then we traded with them their coffee and tea! It was super cool! Now the next step is to get them in church. They have been before but keep leaving to see their grandma every Sunday because she is sick right now. But I have tons of faith in all of them.

Then we met, Ivan who is 29 years old, and we happened to contact him in the street one day. We had a lesson with him that was really amazing, but when we invited him to be baptized it was a little weird and my comp and I still don´t know why. But he accepted and then after the lesson he told us we couldn´t see him for a whole week. But in the next days we passed by his house just to see how he was doing or if he needed anything and he was never home. We thought for sure we had just scared off a really golden investigator. So this Thursday when we showed up to the church for our lesson we were waiting for like 20 minutes and then we decided that we should just go to his house. Right at this moment when we were leaving he was walking up to the church. HALLELUIAH!! :) And he was happy!! We had another good lesson with him and invited him to Church an activity for young single adults (that was yesterday). He went to both with his daughter who 6 and they both loved it. 

 

Yesterday we had the activity for the young single adults in Rancagua because Elder Zabellos, the area 70, spoke and we had an amazing musical number by one of our famous missionaries! But we had a challenge to bring an investigator with us. It was truly a tender mercy that Ivan came with us. I think that it was a really good experience for him as well. We also brought an inactive member with us who I absolutely adore her. Anyways, it was a really neat experience.  Elder Zebellos talked about reaching our potential and how we need to climb the hill in front of us first before we can take on the next challenge. We have to walk before we can run! IT was good. And then we got to listen to Elder Archuleta sing a couple of songs. And yes I got to shake his hand...just throwing that in there. haha

Ok, time is up and I couldn´t get the pictures attached. Sorry, the card wouldn´t work with this computer.

LOVE YOU ALL!! Talk to you later!! literally!

 

Hermana Thacker!

 

 

(Received  May 7, 2012)

Cat Contact

¡Hola po!

Oh, I always forget to tell you. I think grandpa asked this along time ago, but the word ´po´ has no significance, but the Chileans put it on whatever word they like. It's like an emphasis. There are so many Chileanismos it makes it that much more difficult to understand--and then my companion is from Colombia, but was living in Spain and so some of her words are different too.  But I love learning the different things. Well, Dad I have to say that I miss you guys but I don´t  miss hauling in food after a long night of helping mom. It makes me tired just thinking of it.


Right now it is starting to get cold here, in the mornings we can see our breath and at night we put so much clothing on it's like we are camping! I actually really enjoy it...for now! :) The only thing is I really hate getting out of bed in the mornings because the house is cold, but my bed is soo warm.  Once I´m out of bed I am totally awake. It rained pretty hard a few days ago, but today is really beautiful and now there is snow on the mountains and it looks a lot like home.  Leaves falling and brisk sunny days. I love it.

Wow, this week was another really good week. Busy like always and there are so many people to visit and teach. Sometimes I think that we might be missing somebody and I worry that we can´t do it all. We have this project to find young single adults because they are trying to start a singles ward program here in Chile.  Part of our weekly goals is to find and teach so many young single adults.


Yesterday we had lots of time to knock doors. But yesterday happened to be the Super Bowl of Soccer games in Chile. The two rival teams in Chile played and we knew that no one was going to want to talk to us for about a 2 hour period. So we decided to contact (chase down) any young person we saw. We would stand on the side walk and wait 'til we saw a group of young adults and then once we knew what direction they were going we would walk after them. How fun. Who else has tactics like this? haha Missionaries! LOVE IT! It was actually quite funny and awkward at the same time, but we talked to a bunch of people. The only thing was NONE of them lived in Graneros. It was like after a while the first question we would ask people is if they were from Graneros, and then if they lived in our sector. There were actually 5 that I think were really good kids and I really hope that they attended the activities in Rancagua and get exposed to the young single adults there.

So another really funny story about contacting, except this has nothing to do with people. Actually a cat. Well we knocked this house, well you don´t actually knock you yell. But the only person that came out was this cat that was desperate for attention. I don´t like to touch the animals here because they carry cualquere tick or fleas or whatever, but I was scratching the kitties head with my pen to give it some kind of loving. After about a minute of waiting for someone to come out of the house we decided to leave. Just as I turn and leave, the cat leaps into the air and digs its claws into my jacket like I am a tree. My hands were in my pockets so I couldn´t do much but scream because I was so shocked at what just happened. The cat let go and fell off of me. Oh my heck, my companion and I laughed for about the next hour about that cat. There also were people in the street that saw everything as well and were laughing. Wish I had that moment caught on camera.

There isn´t really anything major that happened this week. Our Cristina was confirmed yesterday and Miguel passed the sacrament for the first time! That was actually really cool to see. Also one of our investigators, who has been investigating the church for a long time came to church with his wife and kid who are members. We are trying to reactivate his wife, kid and then get him baptized. It was cool to see him there yesterday because this was the first time that I felt like the whole family came on there own, without the missionaries calling constantly or passing by there house multiple times in the week. I mean I don´t mind doing this, whatever it takes to get them to church, but then when they start doing it because they WANT to....this is the part about missionary work that I LOVE the most! When you watch your investigators or less actives gain a testimony for themselves and starting living the gospel. You know once this has taken place it doesn´t matter if the missionary leaves, the person is going to live the gospel because they have their own conviction of the truth. I love this part because I know that the Spirit is working inside of them and helping them to change and become better. This is conversion and it is truly amazing.


Actually here in Chile I can understand a little bit why it is difficult to go to church. For some going to church means a thirty minute walk. And if you have small children it makes it that much more difficult. But then when you see the family in church together and you know that getting there was difficult.....wow..how completely amazing the gospel is. Because I know that they are receiving so many blessings, and even more because they sacrifice a little bit more!

I love you guys and I can´t thank you enough for sending me on this mission! It makes me that much more happy when I hear all the blessings that you guys are receiving. Thanks for the pictures....I LOVE SEEING YOU GUYS TOO! No worries I´m going to buy a camera really soon. But first polar leggins and long sleeve shirts! It's getting cold!

All my love from Chile and back!!

(Received April 30, 2012)

Cristina's Baptism

¡Hola familia mia!

Sounds like life keeps moving on and you can´t find any free moments. How are grandma and grandpa? I received your letters last week and was really excited to read all of them. Mom, I didn´t know that you had a problem with your face that was so bad. I thought you had toothache problems and earaches and it is that you have some kind of nerve damage! I hope everything is better now. ¡Que loco! Anyways, I hope grandpa is working in the greenhous and grandma is still busy with the blankets. I bet everyone is going to love them. Well, I have yet to go and pick up my moneygram--we have been really busy and we haven´t made it to Rancagua in the last few weeks. By any chance is there a reference number that came with it. I was told that I need a number that you should have gotten after you sent the money. But if not I think that I can still get it. I hope that you used my full name though because I have to used my name from my passport and if you put it in as Cori I might not be able to get it. Anyways other than that Everything is fine.


So, yes, the word is out in Chile, at least with the members, that David Archuleta has arrived. He is being trained in the old area of my companion. She was excited to come to Graneros but disappointed that she missed out on the famous missionary. He is going to do a special musical number in Rancagua during a devotional, I think, of the area 70. This is actually really cool because the Chile Rancagua Mission is the only mission in South America with this special young adult program. I think Heavenly Father knew what he was doing sending a young famous singer to Chile Rancagua! Lets just say I won´t be surprised to see a lot of people wanting to attend special devotionals with an amazing musical number!! I have yet to meet him, but that doesn´t mean I won´t get to!


This week was absolutely amazing!!!! I LOVE MY COMPANION!!!!! AND..............WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!! Se bautizó la Cristina!!!! I have a feeling that this change we are going to see a lot of miracles. I feel like she is the companion I have been waiting to have. She has the same desires that I do about the work. I think both of us understand that we are willing to work together or change something in order to be a more unified companionship. She is so amazing and not just because she is helping me with my Spanish!! She is teaching me how to be a successful missionary and how to love the people with all you heart. And it helps that we both have really good senses of humor!


This week has just been so amazing and filled with lots of work! I have realized that when I work hard and feel good at the end of the day, this is what it means to have fun on the mission. It's not about getting the work done and moving on to other things. IT'S about dedicating my time and effort to everyone of our investigators. I am so excited that she is so amazing!  I have learned so much already from her.


This week was soo cool! We had so many tender mercies and opportunities to meet and help people. There are two people I want to tell you about. 1. Cristina, our baptism. 2. Paola, our investigator.


1. Cristina
She has a huge fear of water. And in the past this stopped her from being baptized. So we had to practice with her in the font a few days before hand so that we could figure out the best way for her. The night of the practice she was in the water for almost an hour with our ward mission leader trying to figure how she could be submerged under the water without having a major panic attack. Well, we got things figured out, and decided that we would need two priesthood holders in the water to get her under! The day of the baptism was a little crazy but with 2 men, 1 Cristina, 1 chair and a font FULL of water she was baptized. It was probably the coolest thing to watch how her faith carried through every moment of it.

In the begging when we first started to teach her I thought that she was only doing things because the missionaries told her to and not because she had a real conviction of it herself. Well, this week those feelings completely washed away! IT WAS SO COOL!!


2. Paola
Paola has been an investigator for a long time. She is not married to the man she is living with because they want to wait to receive her money from the government to receive a house. If she gets married she can't get her money.  In the beginning she was really difficult to teach because her kids are crazy and she didn´t really like us. But with lots of patience on both ends we really have a good relationship with her. One day she taught us the Word of Wisdom and told us that she lives it now because when she is baptized it will be easier to live it. WHOA!! Que bakan! On Sunday, in class, we were talking about prophets and the importance of prophets. The question was asked, "Why is it important to listen to prophets?" She answered in the class, "Because we want to have the Spirit with us always."  I started to cry because in that moment I knew that her conversion was in the Lord and not in the missionaries. I think this is the best part about the mission. We are a part of their conversion because we are the only ones who can invite them to be baptized.  But to watch them gain their own relationship with their Heavenly Father is amazing--and then to desire the Spirit. TOTALLY AMAZING!


This is all I have time for, but I love you guys and hopefully in the near future I will be sending more pictures since I had to take these with another Hermana's camera.


Oh funny story. This last Monday we had another little earthquake in the middle of the night. Well, long story short, my companion woke up in a panic and yelled at us all to go downstairs. The next morning she didn´t remember much about it!! haha!


Oh, to answer your question mom: I am living with one of the Hermanas that was in the house the last few changes. Hermana Hunsaker from Idaho. She is really cool and a lot like me! I love all the Hermanas in the house with me, they are all amazing!


Love you all!!!!


p.s for mothers day i get to Skype......so hopefully you will have a computer with you guys on this day!!


(Received Apr 23, 2012)

A New Companion: Hermana Hincapie

¡FAMILIA MIA!

¿Como estan? Wow 6 more weeks under my belt in the mission! Talk about crazy! So I have a new companion!!! Her name is Hermana Hincapié and she is from Colombia. She is super cute and super, how do you say in english, 'animated'? I think we will make a great team and she is going to really help me with my Spanish. She speaks a little English as well, so when I don´t know something she fills it in for me.


Before changes I was so nervous because I am left in the sector to be in charge, since my companion doesn´t know anyone and she doesn´t know our investigators either. Wow, I am really feeling the weight of my calling right now. It makes me nervous because; yes, I can understand better and talk a lot more, but I still can´t communicate like I would like.  Such is life and I will learn really quickly. I just have feelings of inadequacy, but I am trying to get rid of those as well since I truly am never alone and especially in this work. The Lord won´t leave me alone to do anything by myself. Its just a little intimidating--ya that's the word. Its really intimidating, but I do know that I am going to learn A WHOLE BUNCH!!


Ok, Mom, so don´t worry I am working on the recipes. I just have to go back to this one lady and she is going to give me all the recipes that I want. The thing is that the recipes will be in different measurements but I will leave that up to you to figure out!! :) It might be a grand adventure, but you have a while to practice up for me. Sounds like everyone is pretty busy once again. ¡QUE BAKAN! (it is like ´that's awesome´) And grandpa´s got his tomatoes a'growing! Well hopefully next year he will have some good ones too because right now I think I eat tomatoes everyday and mom you might die after reading this, but I might miss eating tomatoes sometime in the future or be soo sick of them I hate them worse!


Well, this last week was a pretty good one. Hermana Dutton has been in Graneros for the last 6 months so it was a shock for a lot of people that she was leaving and we had to visit lots of people this week. We did have a baptism planned for Sunday but it fell through. It was for Cristina, the one who is afraid of water. We had a practice all set up and everything for her but she was sick and then was afraid to be baptized without the practice. SO this week we have another practiced planned, and we are really going to work with her to get her baptized this next Sunday. We also have 3 other people with baptismal dates which is really cool and 3 more who are really close potentials. Unfortunately we only had one of our investigators with fecha in church yesterday.


10:00 a.m.church is really difficult for people in Chile. It's not like the states where everyone just jumps in their cars, people have to walk ways and I think this discourages them a lot!  One of our investigators actually told us that she knows she will receive blessings if she goes to church, but she is just lazy! Haha, Oh man I love these people so much and I get so frustrated with them at the same time.  Just come to church!! :D


We have soo many really good investigators right now I hope that I don´t leave anyone behind! This is what makes me the most nervous! That I will forget one of our investigators or that I won´t lead the sector like I should. I think my new companion is going to be really good for me. She only has a little bit of time in the mission too, like two more changes than me, but we both just want to work really hard and get things done.


Funny story: (mom you will enjoy this) yesterday was my companions last day and so everyone wanted to see her and say goodbye. Well, this means that they all made food for us. I just want to tell you what I consumed yesterday--For lunch at 2:00 we had pastel de choclo, soup, salad, and bread. Except I received like three people´s portions worth of pastel de choclo ( its like a corn hot dish). I ate so much at lunch I was in major pain! I was still in pain when we went into our sector at 4:30. Then like an hour later we ate completos, or hot dogs chilean style (super good, I'm never eating them like before ever again) and the people made us eat 2. You would think that I had a choice, but not here. After that we went to another house an hour and a half later and ate pasta with some weird sauce on top. I almost didn´t make it through without gagging. I was sooooooooooo FULL! Today I haven´t eaten like anything because I am still full! Chileans are a lot like you mom, they want to share there love with you through your stomach. Reminds me of home, but I can´t keep it up it is always going to be like this!!


Well, I love you all! I am soo glad that everything is going well for you guys. I haven´t gotten your packages yet, maybe next week. Oh, I forgot to tell Grandma Lois that my package was broken into and whatever she sent me that was from Spain or something wasn´t in the package. That kinda sucks, I hope it wasn´t something really special! Such is life, I guess!


¡Les amo mucho! Estoy animada a hablar con ustedes en el futuro. No sé que va a pasar, si yo puedo llamarles o si yo puedo usar el Skype. Pero bueno. Que le vaya bien siempre!


con mucho cariño,


La Hermana Thacker


(Received April 16, 2012)

Easter a Deeper Relationship with God

Wow sounds like life at home is pretty crazy right now. I´m glad you had a good Easter though. Sounds like the food was delicious, as always. Mom I was talking to this lady we had lunch with one day and I told her that you like to cook and want to have some recipes from Chile. I think that she is going to hook me up with the details, she seemed pretty excited about it! The only thing is that the measurements are totally different and I don´t really think that they use measurements anyways. Sound familiar? Ya well anyways, ¡voy a hacerlo y recibir recitas para ti!


Hey Grandma I have been thinking of you this week because we teach this older woman who loves to crochet things. She asked if we did things like that, and in that moment I wished I would have had you teach me. Well, there is still time left!!


The Chileans celebrate Easter a little differently. The different religions all celebrate in their own way but mostly everyone celebrates the life and resurrection of Christ for the whole week. On Friday they only eat fish and in the evening they don´t listen to any music. Which was really strange since there is music everywhere, in every street or block someone is blaring music. But for the missionaries Easter was just another day to go out and work! But today we had a fun activity with the whole mission playing, painting eggs, and eating chotipanes (it's like a short little sausage they grilled over a fire in the back of the church, haha, with fresh toasted bread and the Chilean mustard which is amazing!).


This last week was pretty good. We got to go to the mission home for an Hermanas reunion with all the hermanas in the mission. I just love going to the mission home because I just love my mission President. He is just so cool. He is literally the best mission President in the entire world and I am so excited that I get to keep him for my entire mission! But I got to learn a lot of really great things during the reunion and just get another boost to do the work.


There are some really great hermanas here in Rancagua. And next week I am going to have another one of them as my companion. I am pretty sure I will have a Latina but that is all I know. It is really funny some missionaries get really wrapped up in the changes and who is going where. I don´t really care, I am just a little nervous to be left behind to run my sector since I´m pretty sure I will be in Graneros for another change. I am ok with that because we have some really good investigators that show a lot of interest in the church. Sometimes they start out really strong and then ya they stop progressing, but I think that whatever happens is necessary for me to learn what I need to learn to help me be a better missionary.


This work is not easy. The challenges are so different from what you could ever expect. The one thing that I have come to completely understand with all my heart, is even if we can´t understand the reason behind our struggles we can know that in our struggles, if we turn to Heavenly Father, our relationship with Him becomes deeper, more personal. No longer is He someone that I talk to in the mornings and nights, but is someone I confide in, the person I can find relief and comfort. This is why I am a missionary. Because other people need this relationship. Being a member of the church and having a knowledge of the gospel doesn´t take away life's difficulties. It helps us to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ that with them all things become possible.


This week we taught this amazing little family. There is a mom and two daughters and they are super cute. Our second lesson the mom wanted to say the opening prayer, which we had just taught them the previous day. Then at the end the oldest daughter asked to say the closing prayer and if we had meetings that they could attend on Sunday. WOW! Who are these people and where did they come from? I am really excited to focus on them and get  them in the water. Unfortunately, they left on Sunday and didn´t come to church, but I have no doubt they will get there. They are just too curious about the gospel to not come! And there are many others like them here!!


Well sorry this is short and sweet, I´m running out of time and have to write Pres. still!


LOVE YOU ALL!!

(Received  April 9, 2012)

Being Sick on the Mission

¡Hola po mi familia!

Bueno, esta semana pasada yo estaba enferma también. ¿Que suerte, cierto? ¡¡Entonces, tuvimos un terremoto ayer!! Era super bakan.

Ok, I want you to understand so I´m not going to type in Spanish anymore, but maybe grandpa can look up some of those words and learn some more. 

 

 

Anyways, I was sick this last week. EWww. We had to be in the house for almost three days. Actually the first day we went to a few appointments and came in early, then the next day was worse. It almost felt like I had mono again, because I had a fever, my back kind of hurt when I was breathing and all I wanted to do was sleep. But today I feel so much better and only have a cough and the sniffles. I have even tried a few Chilean remedies because when you tell people you are sick here they want to help. I drank this drink thing with what looked like some tree bark and leaves, with some lemon and a little sugar for taste! Haha, I don´t know if it helped because I didn´t take it 'til the end, but ya it was fun to try.  

 

 

This week was super sucky. In my life I have never really had a purpose until now, and now I have a huge purpose and only a certain amount of time to do it.  I don´t want to be stuck inside--sleeping!!! But what do you do? 

 

Yesterday was my first official day back in the field for the whole day. We had planned to visit lots of people because we cancelled so many appointments this week. We were out for a few hours just stopping by and seeing how everyone was doing when we decided to go check on this young girl we used to teach who sort of disappeared. Well, just as we were knocking on her door the ground started to move. My comp and I looked at each other and we were like, "Is this a templor?" A templor is like a mini mini earthquake, one that just shutters. But then it started to get bigger! We looked up and saw all the power polls and line swaying back and forth and the trees were moving.  So, we decided to go into the street in  case the power lines fell. It was soooo cool to watch the street literally moving. 

 

 

It really is the strangest thing to experience. It was a pretty strong one and it lasted for about 45 seconds to a minute. When it was over we went back to the investigators house and her parents let us in and we talked with them for a good little while. It turned out that it cut out the electricity and cell phone towers; so once again we were forced to go back early to the house. That sucked. But almost all of our sector was completely dark and our cell phone didn´t work. It was big but not that big, I´m not exactly sure what caliber of earthquake it was, but it didn´t knock anything off our dressers or anything. Some people have told us that they are expecting a bigger one to come pretty soon. I wouldn´t be surprised because we had one in the middle of the night a few days ago too and it was at least big enough to wake us all up in the middle of the night.

This week just feels like a bust for me when I think back on what I can tell you. The little inactive lady didn´t come to church and we´ve gone back to her house, but she wasn´t there. But that doesn't mean we are going to stop. We are going to be more persistent than an avon lady! HAHA! 

 

 

The good that did come out of this week was in my studies. I learned a lot about repentance this week and it was totally awesome. I wish I could tell you everything, but I can´t because of the lack of time.  I just feel soo much more blessed to have the opportunity to repent and become better. It truly is an opportunity to apply the cleansing affect of the Atonement. It truly is a call of love, repentance! Without repenting we couldn´t stand in the presence of God because our own guilt won´t allow us. We are never going to be perfect in this life, for this reason it is soo tender that when we mess up we have the opportunity to change and then to feel the immense love of our Heavenly Father. The thing is the road of repentance is not easy, for this I am grateful as well. For if it were I think we would make the same mistakes more often. 

 

 

Hey how is the scripture reading coming? Where are you all at in the Book of Mormon?

 

 

Mom I don´t like making requests because I feel like you give me so much already I feel a little selfish when I ask for more. But there is a face wash that I have fallen in love with because my comp gave me some, but I can´t get it here. It is Neutragina brand and I think its just the original facewash. The bottle is kinda big and it is orange. If you can´t find it, don´t worry its not a big deal. But I was thinking about getting you some Chilean things to cook in but I´m not sure if you will like them. They are like clay bowls and pots that you can make things in. Tell me what you think because I know you like what you like. :) Oh and here's the thing about my camera, it's old and I have another card but the card doesn´t work because it is new or too big. What I might do is buy a cheap Chilean camera so I don´t have to keep buying batteries and then buy a small hard drive to put everything on there. Tell me what you think because I might not do it because I am cheap and I don´t like to spend my money. I have looked at some cameras and they seem to be about the same price as ones in the states. This is usually my thinking, just use what I have and deal with it. But I´m thinking that having a hard drive and a camera that takes better pictures will be better. Most of the pics I have sent have been from my comp´s camera. So ya. 

 

 

Anyways I think about you guys all the time and I miss you. Changes are coming up and I think I´m going to have a Latin comp!! I´m nervous and excited all at the same time! Tell Elder Moya, "Hola y ciao," from me. I thought he had been there for a while, but good things always come to an end, but I know that Heavenly Father always wants to give us something better.

That is crazy that Sandi is coming home already. I hate to think that that will be exactly what we will be saying this same time next year for me. Time just needs to slow down for like a year and half!! But I have to go and I have yet to receive any packages, but hopefully next week. I think Grandma Lois sent one a few weeks ago but it hasn´t gotten here yet!

LES AMO MUCHO MUCHO MUCHO

Cuidense también.

con cariño,

Hermanita Thacker

p.s. I´m attaching another pic of us and Miguel. I think it might be better. Oh and tell Brent i couldn´t email him this week but i will next week!! LOVE YOU ALL!!

(Received March 26, 2012) 

When You Ask for Help

¡Hola po!


Mi familia, como estan. It sounds like you guys are all trying to get sick or something!! I hope you guys are starting to feel better. And I´m also glad that the crazy week has ended for catering. Is this one going to be a little better? Well, I´m glad to hear that Brent is home, sounds like it was a pretty sweet trip for him. Can´t wait to get an email from him...cough cough!


I have some really good news.....we had a baptism yesterday for Miguel! ¡Por fin! This last week we had a really powerful lesson with him, and he really felt that he had received his answer. Yesterday was the baptism service and it was really neat. We tried to get his brothers to come and support him but his entire family is against him to being baptized. But there were lots of people from the ward that came and some other missionaries too. Hermana Dutton and I sang, but it was really pretty bad, but that's ok because it didn´t matter at all. Basically yesterday was just an all around amazing day.


Later that day we were supposed to have a lesson with Anjelica but she couldn´t come. So as we were leaving the church we felt that our back up plans weren´t what we needed to do. We said a prayer and afterwards we just kind of stood waiting to see what we were feeling. We decided to just start walking and knocking on doors. Well, turns out the second door we knocked on was this little old lady and right away she invited us in. This usually never happens, so Hermana and I looked at each other and gave each other the, this-is-cool-look, and followed her into her house. It turns out that this lady is a member and she has been inactive for many years and just before we came to her house she had been praying for someone to come to her. When you ask for help, chances are Heavenly Father is going to send the missionaries!! Haha. Well, it was so cool to talk to her and to re-invite her to church.


Later that same night we found like 7 more people that we really felt like we needed to find. All of them have citas (appointments) this next week!


There was another really big day this week that I have to tell you about. We went on divisions again this week, or "splits" I think is what they call them there. My companion is in charge of divisons among the sisters in my zone and on Tuesday she told me that I would be going with Hermana Johnson who is brand new to the mission. She has been here two weeks tomorrow! When my comp told me that I about had a panic attack. This meant that I was in charge of our sector, finding our appointments. . . oh ya and talking to everyone and leading all of the lessons. Did I mention that Hermana Johnson doesn´t speak a wink of Spanish. I was so scared I can just barely understand people and my speaking skills are way less perfect and then I had to be in charge of another missionary, who I was in her shoes no longer than a few weeks ago. 


I am here to tell you that I survived the day and we even had some really good lessons. I still couldn´t understand everything that the people said, but I think my companion was trying to show me that I know enough. I still have a ways to go, but I learned that I´m going to be ok.


The other day I was reading the Joseph Smith story. The part that stuck out to me this time was right before Joseph saw the light, he says that he was at the point of almost losing complete hope of being saved. Perhaps he felt like he was at that point right before the edge of the cliff and the next step was over the edge. Well, at that moment when we feel like we just can´t do anymore, and it might just be too diffcult, when we might sink into utter despair...´I saw a pillar of light´.....are his words. Sometimes we have to take steps into the darkness to receive the light. I know that no matter the trial or struggle the light always comes and Heavenly Father is always there to pick us up when we feel like we can´t do it anymore. The Light always comes, the blessings will always come when we are obedient.


These pictures are from the hike we went on last week. Isn´t is so pretty here!?! The town behind me is my sector. That's Graneros.

Then the baptism picture with Miguel and the Bishop who baptized him. Miguel is the shorter one! Ok, so I tried to send the better baptism pic, like the one where I was looking at the camera, but it wouldnt work sorry. Maybe next time I can get a better picture!

Well, LOVE YOU GUYS SOOO MUCH!!!!!!!! Have fun in Utah with the family!! I MISS YOU GUYS!!!

p.s. I got Grandpas letter and it was soo cool!! My companion thought it was the sweetest letter ever. OH and wow a meth lab in shelby huh? crazy!!

con cariño,

Hermana Thacker

(Received Monday, March 19, 2012)

Tender Mercy

Hola Familia

¿Como estan? Yo creo que todo esta bien. Yo espero que ustedes sea felizes siempre. ¡Hay mucha obra en Chile y en Graneros, pero vamos a cambiar las vidas de todas las personas aqui!

Ok, that's enough for the Spanish, but I figured I could give grandpa some words to work on! How is everybody? Mom I was super excited to get your email today because before we went and printed things off my comp and I used her recorder to record a little of my voice--there is about12 minutes worth, but at least you will get to hear my voice. I haven´t listened to it, so hopefully I don´t sound stupid. I hope it works too because I also want to send some pictures with this email as well. And there are even going to be some with me smiling. I really hate those ones though. There´re just not me. haha

That is super cool that there is a whole family in Shelby that the missionaries are teaching. Tell them congrats for me. They even have them coming to church. Mom and Dad, as a missionary I´m going to tell you to help the missionaries as much as possible and help to make those people feel comfortable and welcome in church. You really cannot imagine how much easier it is to have the help and support of the ward. Truly most of the members are amazing in Graneros and are so willing to help. Our ward mission leader is the BEST. Whenever we ask him to come with us to a lesson he never refuses. I just love him. He truly gets the meaning of missionary work. Its not just for those people with tags on. Anyways, I´m sure that the missionaries appreciate everything you do for them but just keep in mind their investigators as well!!


I am really bummed that I had to leave our internet place and you guys were both there waiting for me. I feel really bad. My comps trainer ended the mission today so we had to plan around going to the office when she was there to say good-bye and such. Actually, I´m really glad we did because her suitcases were too heavy and she left behind her fitted sheet which I took as a tender mercy because I was trying to find a fitted sheet the other day and they were kind of expensive; so, I thought I could just tough it out with a stupid flat sheet that I have to re-tuck in everyday. But no longer!!


This week was actually a tough one for me. It was the last week of the change (transfer) and I was thinking about all our investigators that we have. I was so excited to have baptisms in my first change but then they both fell through. Cristina, our other fecha, has difficulty with tea and she drank tea a week before her baptism. I was really bummed especially because she had been doing so good. This week it all just hit me. Like maybe I could have done something more to help them understand. I just felt down and couldn´t shake it--which is lame as well. One night Hermana and I came back for the day and just decided that we needed a pick me up. We read out loud Alma 26 which is one of my favorite missionary chapters. It actually helped a lot to remind me of my purpose. It also had many words of comfort for those trying times.


Everyone always said that the mission was going to be hard. I didn´t expect it to be like this though. I can handle the physical. If I have to walk up a mountain everyday to find people I could do it. But this is so different from what I imagined as difficult. It is a struggle to know if I am doing enough. Alma 42:27 has been another scripture that I have looked to a lot lately. It says something along the lines of those who will come, can come and those who choose not to come are not obligated. I can only do so much, but people still have their agency. Dang it! :) haha just kidding. But now I know how it feels to know the right answer and watch people walk away from it.


With that said I have so many goals for this next change. I am going to do everything, everything that I can possibly do to be obedient and  hopefully my obedience will bless my investigators. We have soo many investigators and we keep finding more. This is going to be a great change I can feel it!


I have to tell you about my week; it was a good one besides those few stupid moments of feeling down, but we had some good lessons and I have no doubt that our two fechas that fell through are going to be batpized in the near future. We had really good lessons with them this week and they both were in church on Sunday. That's the real test. If they come to church they are golden. We have another fecha with this young single mom but she has yet to attend church so we will have to work with her on that. 

I have to go! I love hearing from you guys and mom you don´t have to worry about sending packages to me all the time.  I know they are expensive and I´m well taken care of here. But since you are sending one could you throw in some fruit roll ups for my companion she loves them and they don't have them here!!

LOVE YOU GUYS SOO MUCH!! Thank you for your prayers I feel the effects of them everyday!!

con cariño, 

Hermana Thacker

(Received Monday, March 5, 2012)

My First Changes (Transfer)

¡MI AMORS!

 

Hey, sounds like you have been having a busy week up there in the northern country. How sad about that guy from Sunburst. We actually just had a member here in Chile pass away as well. I guess he was the Rancagua area institute guy. It was kind of tragic; I guess because people think that he killed himself. I´m not sure what happened, but I do know that the Area Seventy for Chile spoke at the funeral and none of the missionaries in the area got to go. I guess it's kind of a big deal. 

 

 

Wow, it sounds like Brent and Blake are doing awesome and the whole family! Happy to hear that Brent´s little misfortune turned out to be alright. I can´t wait to hear back from him and all his travel adventures. Hopefully he was practicing his spanish. I know I have been! HAHA

 

 

How's the diet coming? I´m on one too! It´s called eat all the fresh fruit you can diet because it tastes soo much better here than at home! :) I swear I haven´t eaten this many peaches in my entire life. People give us so many and when we eat at their houses we almost always have peaches for dessert! We also got this giant bag of plums and I´m just in fruit paradise. But it's starting to be fall time here, thank goodness, so I´m guessing fruit season is almost over..bummer.

 

 

I got a letter from Grandma and...YOUR PACKAGE!! I was so excited I just picked it up today. Grandma, mi abuela, hang in there it sounds like making blankets will help get your mind off of things. Maybe if you have time you could make one for me before I come home! :) Thanks for the letter and I´m sure it was Grandpa who put the little comic in! I loved it, it is so cute. I will have it taped to my wall so I can see it everyday! 

 

 

Sounds like the weather is getting pretty cold up there. The weather is just now slowly turning into fall and is starting to cool off. I love having to wake up in the morning and put a sweat shirt on and wear my slippers. It just feels better to wake up to crisp air. My companion said that winters here are really cold. But what makes them cold is that they don´t have indoor heating. So everyone just basically bundles up and toughs it out for 3 months. She says that it is so hard to get up in the mornings because sometimes you can see your breath in the house!! HAHA.  I´ll let you know how it goes when that happens!

 

 

This week was interesante! Miguel called us this week and told us that he doesn´t want to get baptized. WHAT!?! Well, don´t worry we talked to him and he still had his interview with my district leader, but we decided that he needs some time to work it out with himself. He knows everything, he just needs to know in his heart that he knows. If that makes any sense to you. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks. 

 

 

We have a baptism this Sunday again for a different investigator named Cristina. We have so many investigators right now my goal this week is to get batism dates with them all!! 

 

 

So, we have changes (transfers) this week but I just found out that I will be staying in Graneros with Hermana Dutton for another change!!!! YAY!! I was really excited because we have so much work to do, I didn't want to leave yet! Everything has been going really well with her. She is teaching me some really good things, and truly is an amazing teacher. She just has the type of personality that people are just drawn to.

 

 

I went on my first division this week. I think they call them exchanges in English. So, we live with two other Hermanas in our house and we split Greneros into two sectors. I got to go with Hermana Martinez for whole day. She is from Mexico and is this cute little Hermana. I have to be honest though I was super nervous to go with her. She seems just kind of quiet and my spanish is horrible.  I thought that it was going to be a really silent day. Plus I´ve never taught with anyone but Hermana Dutton and I didn´t know any of her investigators. But it was a really great day!  We talked the entire time! WOW, I understood everything and she could understand me! It was great, I just love her now she is so funny! I want to be her companion in the future, she is just a good missionary!

 

 

So something else that was completely awesome about this week. The day Miguel told us that he didn´t want to get baptized we went to meet him to talk about it. We were standing outside the hospital waiting for him and this little lady started walking toward us. I said hello and she came and gave me a beso on the cheek like she knew who we were. I thought that maybe she was a member that I hadn´t met yet but Hermana didn´t know her either. Turns out she talked to the missionaries at one time, if I remember correctly, and obtained a Book of Mormon. She told us that she has read it three times and knows it is true!! That just doesn't happen in real life does it? Well, it did. I wish I could tell you all the amazing things that take place during the week but thre is jsut so much.

 

 

Thanks mom for the scripture reference I´m definitely going to look it up later! My studies lately have been a lot about change and what it really means to be converted to the Lord. Something that has taken over my studies these last couple of days is what it really means to take upon the name of Christ. In D&C 20:37 says that when you want to serve Him with your whole heart and self--I wish I had my scriptures right now cuz I´m just going by memory, but then I also thought about the Anti-Nephi-Lehis. 

 

 

After the Anti-Nephi-Lehis had been converted unto the Lord they no longer wanted to be associated with their past and so they took on a new name and became a new people living in peace and happiness for years. This same change happens with us after baptism, except the name we take upon ourselvs is Christ´s name, no longer associated with the person we once were. Well, it turns out that this change of self is a huge process and right now I´m trying to learn about this process and what more we need to do to be called children of Christ! Cool huh? I´m reading the Book of Mormon too mom, but I´m reading it in Spanish.

 

 

Anyways, just because we are trying to become better everyday doesn´t mean that road is going to be easy. Actually, I know it's only through the rough patches that we can chipped and shaped into the person Heavenly Father needs us to be to build up the kingdom! Know that I love you all with all my heart and so much more! I miss and love you and am SOOOO GRATEFUL for everything you have done and are doing and will do for me!

 

 

ciao ciao (chow chow) cuídense! (take care)

 

todo mi amor,

Hermana Thacker

 

 

ps. I´ll send the other letter from last week!

 

(Recieved on Monday, February 27, 201)

We Sing To Everyone

Hey Familia

I can´t believe that my first change (transfer) in the mission is coming to an end! WOW! This next week will be the start of week number 5. I´m not quite sure how I feel about it yet, because it makes me nervous to think that I might have a new companion in a new area and I will have to start all over again.  I guess welcome to the mission right?! I love this quote by one of my teachers in the MTC, I think about it a lot, she said, "There is no comfort in change, and there is no change in comfort."  So, I guess bring on the discomfort. 

Dad, I would try to explain where I live to you but I only know how to get there by walking. I´m still not sure about directions here. Maybe I´ll figure it out this week and let you know. 

Anyways, so my week was pretty good. Ok so I must have missed typed last week but we only had 9 investigators last week in church, not 14. But this week we had 8 which is so amazing.

So, Miguel. He was supposed to get baptized yesterday, but he ended up traveling to the south for his sisters wedding this last week.  We couldn´t do anything about it. But while he was there his family kind of placed some doubts into his heart about getting baptized. Well, we talked to him yesterday after church with a couple that I love. (They are our investigators as well but we can count them as members because they have been coming to church for like a year. The only thing that keeps them from getting baptized is they are not married. Rodrigo was still going through a divorce and it just takes along time for things like that to take place, but I will talk about them next.) Anyways, Rodrigo and his "wife", Maribel, talked to him about there experience with the same struggles, but just bore testimony of doing what you know is right in your heart. We invited him again to be baptized for this next Sunday! YAY! And then we have another baptism the week after that and hopefully one the week after that!

Let me just tell you about this new investigator we got this week. Hermana and I were waiting outside the church for an appointment with Miguel. Well, Miguel didn´t show up and we had been waiting for almost a half hour. Finally we decided it was hopeless and said bye to the member who agreed to come to the lesson. We went to go lock up the church when this guy was standing outside the church just looking at the inscription. We walked over to him and started to talk to him. The moment we started to teach him that he was a son of God and that God has a plan for him, his eyes lit up. Then when we told him that we are representatives of Jesus Christ he was said, "REALLY!?"  It was one of the coolest contacts ever. 

He told us that he has everyting. He has money, a big house, horses, cars, but his family left him and he is alone. He told us that whatever it is that we have he needs it! I am really excited to hopefully teach him. He doesn´t live in Graneros but he works there so hopefully we can work something out. It was really neat. We even sang to him on the sidewalk. We sing to everyone. Hermana Dutton has a really pretty voice and I can harmonize so it makes it fun to sing for other people.

Ok, so to answer some of the questions. I get one hour to email every Monday and we usually are in Rancagua because we can go to see the other missionaries, go to the office and pick up our mail (instead of waiting for it to get to us). I didn´t get the box today like I was hoping; it usually takes about 2 weeks or so to get to the mission office. So I´m sure by next week I will have it. I am super excited to get it.

About the language. . . ya lets not talk about it! Haha, no I´m sure I am getting better everyday, it's just slow progress. I have to remind myself that it takes time to learn a whole other language, but I just want to know it right now. I have to learn how to balance finding joy in the journey because this journey of learning a language is just kind of exhausting and sometimes depressing.  I know that everyday I can understand a little more and I definitely know that I know more than I did in the MTC....soooo slowly but surely. I will learn this language, but right now when I speak people can understand me and thats all I really need right now. 

It was cute in the cab on our way to Rancagua today I sat in back with this little old lady and we spoke to each other the whole ride. Convesation is slow but I at least could understand enough to keep talking to her. She was sweet and just smiled at my spanish. People do that alot, I will say somethign and they will just give me this cute little smile that says, "Oh, your so cute for trying". Haha...I hate it sometimes ;D hahaha

The weather is so nice here but it can be pretty stinking hot. NO air conditioning! Funny story: last night we got done teaching we were already late for our next appointment and, since we walk everywhere, we had to run...literally. Well, it's like 9:15 and still hot and sticky and by the time we get there I´m really sweating. At the end of the lesson with this family we are shaking everyone's hands goodbye and one of the boys points to his armpit and says,"Are you sweating?"  Hahaha..I was like.."Si, hace calor"..ya it's HOT... I just laughed, haha.  Good times on the mission.

Mom, I´m going to take a picture of the horno, or oven that they cook everything in like their empanadas. Maybe dad can build one for you so when I get home we can have legit emapanadas!! And then gourmet night will be that much more better! Everyone has one in their backyards. It's cool looking. 

Everything is good.  My comp and I are good, I am just so blessed.

 

I love you all sooo much!! ¡¡¡¡LES AMO MUCHO!!!! La Iglesia es verdadera. Cristo vive. Dios nos ama. ¡Todo es bien!

Hasta proximo Lunes

 

Hermana Thacker

(Recieved on Mon, Feb 20, 2012)

9 Investigators at Church!

HEY FAMILIA!!

 

Ok, so it sounds like it's getting kind of busy at home for you guys! That's good. Ok, so I´m going to have to send some good pictures next week because I don´t have any, but don´t worry there will be lots more to come! 

 

Ya about the package, thats really crazy! Don´t worry about sending me stuff on a regular basis. Chile is basically like an American-wanna-be and I have everything I could possibly need and more. But I'm not going to lie, I´m really excited to get the package. I got your letters today too! That was really fun to go to the mission office and have something waiting for you. I even got a letter from an Elder who was in the MTC with me, but I´m pretty sure I know who he is, but I don´t ever remember giving an Elder my mission address outside of my zone, but thats ok! Haha random.

 

Anyways, so Grandpa I heard that you want to know what the temperature is like here. Well, basically it's like Montana in the summertime. The sun is always shinning and there is usually a nice little breeze to cool things down which is so nice. It's probably in the high 80s or low 90s.  So, I'm sweating all the time and the breeze is definitely appreciated. 

 

Dad I wish I could tell you where I live in Graneros but I´m not sure myself. We live on Pedro Lidro, that's the street name and the house is at the very end on the right side. I think the house is yellow. Maybe. 

 

Oh and the chocolate here is definitely not as good as american chocolate but some things are pretty good. The factory just makes the town smell better!!

 

So this week was pretty good. We teach a lot of lessons and have lots of people to go and see all the time. We still have two people with baptismal dates and we were supposed to have a baptism this weekend but we couldn´t find times this week to meet with our investigator, Miguel, to get all the lessons in that he needs. But now we have it planned for this next weekend and he is starting to get cold feet. We have to try and meet with him as much as possible and just keep him excited. This is a time for Satan to work really hard on him since this is one the most important decisions of his life. But can I just tell you that we had 9 investigators in Church yesterday!!! That is amazing!! 

 

Actually that morning I was kind of dreading church since it makes for a quiet day for me, not being able to understand everything and not being able to talk to anyone besides my companion, but we went and picked up one of our investigators to walk to church that morning. I just love her and she just smiles and laughs when I can´t understand what she is saying to me, haha, but I love the fact that she still tries to communicate with me!

 

Anyways, we walk to church with Mari (investigator) and her brother who I had never met before. Turns out he is really inactive because he does drugs and drinks a lot, but he was dressed in a suit and came with us. Actually I think he was a little drunk still, but I figure the place he needs to be is with us in the Church. 

 

But while we were walking to church and I´m still thinking of myself and how I want to talk but can´t.  When we arrived at church we saw one of our other investigators with her little boy and further down the street is a part member family we had been trying to get to come to church since I have been here! In that moment all my stupid feelings I was feeling about myself melted and it was all I could do not to cry right there on the street. It was sooooo cool to see them happy and walking in through the church doors. Then we had 9 investigators in church and it was soo amazing! I love the moments when the Lord reminds me why I am here.

 

Ok, so after that good uplift I want to tell you another incident we had this week that wasn´t so uplifting. Well, we had an appointment with this little old couple we pass by everyday on our way home. It turns out that they are Evangelicals and have really strong feelings about their religion. I knew right away that they wanted to hear nothing of our message and just wanted to argue. My companion was trying to explain some of the things they had confused about our church and share some doctrine with them, but it kind of turned into this big argument. Anyways the spirit was totally not there and she kept telling me in English to testify but everytime they quit talking she would jump right in and say something, I have no idea what because when the Spirit isn´t there I really can´t understand a thing. My whole self just wanted to leave the situation because nothing was happening spiritually and they were not willing to listen at all. So when there was a pause in the converstaion I stuck my hand out and was like, Gracias por su tiempo, chow! (Thanks for your time, bye). And I turned and we left the situation. Well, my comp was not happy about that at all. So maybe it wasn´t the best ending to a lesson but we needed to get out of there. I felt bad that she was upset, because it's true we just can´t leave them with that alone, but truly I didn´t feel bad for ending the "conversation" or argument. I know we are here to preach and teach, but that does not happen when the Spirit is gone. 

 

Anywhoo, it was a good learning opportunity for everyone I think. 

 

Oh I almost forgot! In my last letter I told you that it cost $100 dollars for that package not 100 entonces. Entonces is a filler word like "so." So.......or Entonces.....make sense? My bad for the confusion.  But I have to go! 

 

Know that I miss and love everyone of you!!!!!!

 

Hermana Thacker

 

(Recieved February 15, 2012)