(from December 2)
I am LEAVING Antofagasta! It was a huuuuuuge surprise! I found out I
was probs leaving on Thursday and a Thanksgiving dinner that I accidently got
ourselves invited to at President´s house, and I was pretty sad about it.
I visited a woman in my sector that I just love so much and I was so sad
to have to leave these people. Antofagasta is not my favorite city in the
mission because it is really big, but it has been a landmark place in my
mission, because here is where I have really learned to love. I love these
people so much, and it broke my heart that I was probably going to leave them,
especially right before Christmas ;). On Saturday there were tons of
rumors going around, but we waited and waited and waited without anyone calling.
Hermana Kennedy (my mtc companion) called me before 9pm because they already had their
cambios, but no one ever called us. At midnight,
our zone leaders called and said that the assistants weren´t going to call the
last two zones because it was too late so they would call in the morning.
Sooo lame. I was up forever. But the next morning the
assistant finally called and told me my cambio.
I am going to ARICA, opening a sector and TRAINING!!! I am so excited!
Arica is the cheapest city in all of Chile, it is always hot and the people are known
to be really nice. I am so excited to be opening a sector and training
too! I seriously never saw that coming. There´s a chance that my kid
will be someone who got reassigned to this mission, but it´s exciting anyway.
I´m especially excited because this is exactly how I was born, opening a
sector in a city VanMeter basically knew nothing about. I love it because
you have to figure everything out together and there really isn´t a senior
companion.
The most interesting part of the story is that this is the THIRD time I have left a
sector, and the THIRD time that I´ve dreamt about it beforehand. When I
was in Iquique I dreamt that I was going to Copiapó. When I was in Copiapó
I dreamt that I was going to Angamos with Hermana Nuñez. And so I told
some of the office elders this transfer that I would know if I was leaving if I
dreamed about it, because I never dream about leaving when I don´t. That
week I dreamt that I was going to open a ward in Arica with my new (reaaaallly
new) companion. I told one of the assistants about it on Sunday, but I was
joking around because I thought it would never happen. The first thing he
said to me about my cambio was, ¨Hermana Catron, your revelation was right.¨
Haha. Crazy! I´m becoming a real Chilean!
So I leave on Wednesday for Arica, a twelve hour bus ride. It´s kind of weird
right now because I´ll be in a trio with Hermana Carranza and her new companion
today and tomorrow just sort of tagging along, but it´ll be fun.
This week was THANKSGIVING! We, as previously mentioned, went to President´s
house with all of the office and the food was SO DELICIOUS! I have never
enjoyed Thanksgiving food quite so much. It was a pretty short event, but
it was delicious.
A few weeks ago we went to visit a family where only the eldest son was active,
and there, we met the active son´s younger brother, who is 16. We shared a
scripture and talked about the gospel, because the parents made excuses to not
share with us, and he had a LOT of doubts. Claudio is super intelligent
but lets that get in the way of feeling the spirit. He is not arrogant,
but incredibly serious and correct. We talked with him about the gospel
and shared our testimonies and I thought that maybe he was someone who could
return to the gospel with a lot of effort. That week he showed up at
church with his suit and talked to the bishop, who offered to make him a priest,
but Claudio refused, saying that he wanted to take the investigators class again
first to prepare himself. This week he came again and bore his testimony,
which he had typed out beforehand. It was the cutest experience and it was
the only time I shed a tear as I was saying goodbye to all these people
who have changed my life. As he stood up there declaring to the
congregation that he was ready to come back to Christ´s church, I realized once
again that helping people to return to the church is an incredible experience
that God allows us to have. I still have no idea why he chose to come
back, but I feel immense joy to see him returning to his Father´s fold. I
pray that his parents will realize the example of their sons and decide to
become an eternal family. I love this gospel. I am so grateful for
the chance to be a missionary. This gospel changes lives and can help us
become clean. I know our Savior loves His children. He will always
deliver us. He wants to bless us with revelation. All we need to do
is look for it (dyc 121:33).
Love you all!
I am LEAVING Antofagasta! It was a huuuuuuge surprise! I found out I
was probs leaving on Thursday and a Thanksgiving dinner that I accidently got
ourselves invited to at President´s house, and I was pretty sad about it.
I visited a woman in my sector that I just love so much and I was so sad
to have to leave these people. Antofagasta is not my favorite city in the
mission because it is really big, but it has been a landmark place in my
mission, because here is where I have really learned to love. I love these
people so much, and it broke my heart that I was probably going to leave them,
especially right before Christmas ;). On Saturday there were tons of
rumors going around, but we waited and waited and waited without anyone calling.
Hermana Kennedy (my mtc companion) called me before 9pm because they already had their
cambios, but no one ever called us. At midnight,
our zone leaders called and said that the assistants weren´t going to call the
last two zones because it was too late so they would call in the morning.
Sooo lame. I was up forever. But the next morning the
assistant finally called and told me my cambio.
I am going to ARICA, opening a sector and TRAINING!!! I am so excited!
Arica is the cheapest city in all of Chile, it is always hot and the people are known
to be really nice. I am so excited to be opening a sector and training
too! I seriously never saw that coming. There´s a chance that my kid
will be someone who got reassigned to this mission, but it´s exciting anyway.
I´m especially excited because this is exactly how I was born, opening a
sector in a city VanMeter basically knew nothing about. I love it because
you have to figure everything out together and there really isn´t a senior
companion.
The most interesting part of the story is that this is the THIRD time I have left a
sector, and the THIRD time that I´ve dreamt about it beforehand. When I
was in Iquique I dreamt that I was going to Copiapó. When I was in Copiapó
I dreamt that I was going to Angamos with Hermana Nuñez. And so I told
some of the office elders this transfer that I would know if I was leaving if I
dreamed about it, because I never dream about leaving when I don´t. That
week I dreamt that I was going to open a ward in Arica with my new (reaaaallly
new) companion. I told one of the assistants about it on Sunday, but I was
joking around because I thought it would never happen. The first thing he
said to me about my cambio was, ¨Hermana Catron, your revelation was right.¨
Haha. Crazy! I´m becoming a real Chilean!
So I leave on Wednesday for Arica, a twelve hour bus ride. It´s kind of weird
right now because I´ll be in a trio with Hermana Carranza and her new companion
today and tomorrow just sort of tagging along, but it´ll be fun.
This week was THANKSGIVING! We, as previously mentioned, went to President´s
house with all of the office and the food was SO DELICIOUS! I have never
enjoyed Thanksgiving food quite so much. It was a pretty short event, but
it was delicious.
A few weeks ago we went to visit a family where only the eldest son was active,
and there, we met the active son´s younger brother, who is 16. We shared a
scripture and talked about the gospel, because the parents made excuses to not
share with us, and he had a LOT of doubts. Claudio is super intelligent
but lets that get in the way of feeling the spirit. He is not arrogant,
but incredibly serious and correct. We talked with him about the gospel
and shared our testimonies and I thought that maybe he was someone who could
return to the gospel with a lot of effort. That week he showed up at
church with his suit and talked to the bishop, who offered to make him a priest,
but Claudio refused, saying that he wanted to take the investigators class again
first to prepare himself. This week he came again and bore his testimony,
which he had typed out beforehand. It was the cutest experience and it was
the only time I shed a tear as I was saying goodbye to all these people
who have changed my life. As he stood up there declaring to the
congregation that he was ready to come back to Christ´s church, I realized once
again that helping people to return to the church is an incredible experience
that God allows us to have. I still have no idea why he chose to come
back, but I feel immense joy to see him returning to his Father´s fold. I
pray that his parents will realize the example of their sons and decide to
become an eternal family. I love this gospel. I am so grateful for
the chance to be a missionary. This gospel changes lives and can help us
become clean. I know our Savior loves His children. He will always
deliver us. He wants to bless us with revelation. All we need to do
is look for it (dyc 121:33).
Love you all!
(from December 5)
My new companion{s name is Hermana ARENAS de PERU! When we first saw them, I
made eye contact with her right away and knew immediately that she was probably
going to be my kid. Then they said she was the one from Peru and I got all
confused, because I predicted the Mexican or the Chilean. But I was right,
and here she is! I think I jumped and screamed the loudest out of all of them when she read out my
name. :) Probs freaked her out.
Shining her shoes!
My new companion{s name is Hermana ARENAS de PERU! When we first saw them, I
made eye contact with her right away and knew immediately that she was probably
going to be my kid. Then they said she was the one from Peru and I got all
confused, because I predicted the Mexican or the Chilean. But I was right,
and here she is! I think I jumped and screamed the loudest out of all of them when she read out my
name. :) Probs freaked her out.
Shining her shoes!