Hermana Ball: Riding the "Harry Potter's Night Bus"

Chopping wood to get ready for winter.

We found out transfers and I am staying here in Osorno with Hma Johnson! BEST! I love Hma Johnson and this area! And I wasn’t ready to leave.

This week I just finished my second of thirteen transfers. Crazy right? And while speaking about numbers we realized my birthday is my halfway mark- crazy. September seems so soon. Boo.

But I don’t have much time. Sorry I didn’t write on Saturday- we changed our p-day to today so we could do an activity with all the Hermana’s- so we were all going to go bowling at the casino, then we showed up and it was closed. Boo. But maybe next week.

Bad

Ok lets just get the bad news out of the way.

I got sick this week- like actually pretty bad. But momma don’t worry I tried not to complain at all ha-ha. Mainly, I didn’t want Hma Johnson to worry. But thanks to the nurse and meds I am back on my feet. That’s actually a funny thing to say because I also twisted my ankle. Which is not the best because my mission is completely a walking mission. But this one thanks to prayers and just trucking through, I’m doing crazy better. I’m able to walk- it really was a little miracle. It happened Friday night and it was bad- but then I just prayed and prayed and prayed and cried and prayed and now its much better- still really sore but all good.

Spiritual

Ok this week was rough- some just strait up not good experiences, but with that also some crazy awesome experiences. I guess to have the super good you have to have the rough. It was a cool test of my faith. And 2 weeks ago I heard a quote at one of our conferences ¨for some people any excuse will do. Then for others nothing will stop them from doing what the Lord wants then to do. ¨

I promised myself I was going to live this- to not be the one where something little comes up and let something else slide- then this week tested it. It was hard to keep going when I was in so much pain but I did and I was able to see miracles I otherwise would have missed.

Ward Book of Mormon activity

One of which was with one of the girls we have been working with. Man she has it hard. And we were really progressing- when her dad just kicked us out of the house- we´re not allowed back, but we are allowed to teach her outside, which was hard. Because it started raining and getting cold. We´re working on getting a member to let us use their house- but it was so cool to have some very real and sweet lesson, humbling lessons with her out in the cold just explaining the pure love and the pure doctrine of Christ.

Oh then yesterday I gave the lesson in Relief Society. This was soooo nerve wracking. The whole 50 min just me speaking in Spanish. But if I do say so, I rocked it. Ha-ha. I know I am suppose to be humble or something, but really. I kicked that lesson's trash. It was on hastening the work and I think I was able to pump the ladies up to help us with the work. Soooo good. I’m excited to see what will come of it. I'll write more about it in the letter- we had a really darling little experience where we took a little time to do what Alma 6 says and we gathered, prayed together and wrote down names and stuff for us to get working on. Wooohooo.

José and Guisse. I don’t even know what else to say except I love them so much. And their girls- there are sometimes when its been a really really hard night and having them hug and kiss and laugh with me just keeps it going and puts everything back into perspective.

Empanadas!

José got the Priesthood so we had a celebration. We made empanadas and sang hymns. Their little girls love, love, love singing "I am a child of God"- so why they were prepping the food I sang with the girls while they gave me a hair-do make over thing- man I should have gotten a picture of the finished piece- what a gem. But I love the spirit in that house.

Oh then we had a really sweet moment with this little grandma on the street. She was just sitting in her wheelchair in the shade and we stopped to talk and she just started crying, as we were talking to her. So we leaned down and I was kneeling next to the wheelchair and she was just clinging to me explaining how we were angles and it was soo sweet. Seriously, what a darling, darling lady. Who has so much going on- it was humbling to hear her talk about life- so I asked if she wanted us to say a prayer with her. And she did- so I offered it and it was one of those moments where we were just on the side of the street and with this lady we didn’t even know, but the spirit knew what was going on and it was killer.

Oh this is crazy, so Venezuela is closed to missionaries for political reasons so they are sending missionaries this way and opening new areas- I’m excited to hear what’s a happening.

Random

Oh, then the gangs here in Osorno are the "frogs" and the "foxes". Luckily, they are harmless unless you are in them- but we live in the area of the "foxes"-, which is good because it’d be lame to be a "frog". Ahhaha. I love how chill and safe Chile is- even the gangs are chill.

Oh man, the food is wrecking me, but what is new right? Just pray for me.

Grandma sent cookie mix :)

I also love the random service we give- still chopping wood, we washed a dog and we got rid of a mouse out of a mouse trap- well, tried. I don’t know how to explain this experience but just imagine it being funny because it was.

Oh my, the buses here- Chile might be safe and chill but the buses here are completely crazy. Remember the driving in Peru? Yeah, it's like that but huge buses. We were on one yesterday and it was literally the bus from Harry Potter. So we are being pushed all around the bus and you have to stand up and walk to the front while it is going crazy and all over the place. Then you have to pretty much jump off while it is still moving a bit because they are not going to stop for anyone. Ha-ha it’s so fun. I love it.