Hi

                                                                                                                                              July 28, 2014
Hey guys, sounds like a fun and exciting week with the Greens. It is so weird to hear about the cabin because I don't really know what it is like up there. 

This week has gone by so fast. I can't believe it is already Monday. Time goes faster and faster with each week and it freaks me out a little bit! 

This past Saturday Suyay had her baptismal interview and she passed! Also this past week we have being working with our ward mission leader to get this ward more involved and excited about missionary work. Our Ward mission leader, Cristofer, served his mission in Lima Peru about a year ago and helps a lot. It amazes me how much better missionary work is when it is done correctly, with the members. Things go so much smoother and it is a lot more fun as well. The other day we had a family home evening with a recent convert and an hermana in the ward on food storage and all that stuff and I felt bad because our mission has a rule that everyone needs to have an emergency backpack ready at all times in case of a tsunami or earthquake and I definitely don't have one but today my companion and I have been going around collecting stuff for ours, especially since that tsunami scare a couple months ago in Arauco. 

Yesterday we found an inactive members while looking for someone else. His name is Hugo and he said he is one of the pioneer members from Angol and used to be the branch presidente when Angol was a branch. He had all kinds of deep doctrine knowledge. He told us about the signs of the coming of Christ, the 3 different kinds of ministering angels and what happens in a celestial appearance all in like 20 minutes, but it was pretty sad because he doesn't come to church anymore because people made fun of him and got freaked out when he would teach at church about things like that and he got offended and stopped going. He told us that he sees members that got baptized at the same time as him but don't know anything about the wild deep doctrine that he knows and says they haven't progressed at all and aren't receiving revelation but the sad part is that he himself is the one that isn't going to church and they are. We had to be pretty hard with him because you could see that he was judging all of the people that hurt him and forgetting to worry about himself and what he needs to do to progess and repent. It's interesting. Afterwards I was thinking about how in the scriptures it says over and over to preach faith and repentance, the doctrine of Christ. With reason. Those are simple things that we can study forever and it is what we need and what helps us to strengthen our testimonies and progress more than anything else.

Pray for Suyay (SOOO-YAI) this week!

I love you guys! Thanks for the emails and keeping me updated on your lives.
Love,

Hermana Chalms 

A sleeping rat on the roof of our old house.
Hna Rosdahl threw a rock at it and it ran right inside the ceiling of our house.

Angol

Moving to a new house

                                                                                                                                             July 21, 2014
HEY. It has been a pretty crazy week. We ended up moving out of the rat house on Monday because one of the hermanos in the stake came to look at it and told us we couldn't sleep there because it was unsanitary and dangerous... Haha. So we are currently staying with the hermanas in the area next to ours for the time being. There are six of us Hermanas in a house that before only had two so it has been pretty wild. We live a little far from our area so we either have to walk far or take a taxi that is a little expensive, but other than that all is well. We are just on the lookout for a house to rent that is in our area right now. 

Also, because we are so far from our area we got permission to borrow the Elders bikes for a couple days. I got to ride a bike!! Haha but it only lasted for about 15 minutes. The first night we got them Hermana Troncoso and I started riding them home and when we were about halfway through downtown one of the pedals on my bike flew right off right in the middle of the street. Haha we had to call an hermana from the ward that owns a truck to come help us out. Later on in the week the other bike got a flat tire and then the next day the assistants called us and said that the hermanas can't use bikes so that party ended real quick.

Suyay came to church yesterday but we were really confused because a member went by to pick her up and her mom said that she had already left but she wasn't at church. In our ward we share the chapel with the ward, Los Confines, and they have sacrament first while we have relief society and principles of the gospel first. Suyay walked into Gospel Principles class when it was almost over and we all asked her what had happened. Turned out she had walked into Los Confines sacrament meeting. Haha she had even gotten there like 10 minutes early. 

This week has been pretty tiring with moving and all the traveling and such, but I have been learning to be grateful and have patience especially when it is hard for me. I know that the Lord is trying to teach me a lot of things right now. Especially how to follow the promptings I receive from the Spirit. Something I think I never really understood before the mission but am learning a lot about now. It has blessed me a lot and I have really gained a testimony of the fact that when we act on the revelacion and inspiration from God, we recieve more and continue learning. Yesterday on our way home to our temporary house, we were walking and had almost gotten to the house. We weren't in our sector anymore and we passed a house that I felt like we needed knock, but I didn't want to because it was time to go home and we weren't even in our sector, but we did it and we found this really cool couple. They let us in right away. The guy, Marco, has a brother that is a bishop in another city in Chile, Los Angeles, and we were able to share with them for a bit and then when we got home we passed the reference to the Hermanas in that sector that we are now living with. I am grateful that God is giving me chances to learn and to strengthen my faith because I know that a lot of times I doubt or worry with all these "what ifs" but when our faith and confidence in God's plans overcomes that we see miracles and we do things that we wouldn't be able to do on our own. 

I love you guys! TAKE LUCK

Hna Chalms

RATS!

                                    

Hey team!                                                                                                              July 14, 2014

 It was fun reading about all your Lake Powell stories. I laughed when you told me about the little mice you found around the houseboat because we have been having similar problems with our house. Oh man, you guys would fall over and die if you could see where I am living. It is pretty hilarious. So I will tell you the story of what happened yesterday-

We went over to help our investigators, Elvira and Suyay, fix up their backyard and get it ready to plant some vegetables. After we taught them and had a really awesome talk with Suyay about how we feel the Spirit. It was really powerful for me because I feel like I really relate to Suyay in that aspect. She doubts herself and the answers that she has received from God and was telling us about how she hasn't had any huge experience or felt this crazy feeling like some people say but she feels good and is happy with the changes she has made in her life. We shared Ether 4:11-12 with her and talked about how The Spirit is a still small voice. How it works in simple ways and sometimes it isn't some huge thing but little feelings and decisions we make that help us to know and feel that what we are doing is right. Seeing how much the gospel changes Suyay and how much she really doesn't even notice is amazing to observe. I love her a lot. So ANYWAY, we taught them and then hurried home to change back into skirts so we could go back out and work. We entered the house and prayed and then Hermana Rosdahl ran upstairs and I started walking towards the kitchen to fill up my water bottle and before I entered the kitchen doorway, which was open, I noticed two skinny long black TAILS hanging from our water heater that is up on the wall right by our sink. I yelled to Hna Rosdahl to come and see and when she came we threw some clothes pins at them to see if it really was what we thought and sure enough when one of the clothes pins hit the water heater we saw a huge black rat run out and up the wall. AGHHHH. I didn't think rats really freaked me out, well that's beacuse all the ones I have seen were in a cage and not huge and LIVING IN MY HOUSE. Hahah. We called the other Hermanas and they were with a long time investigator, Aida and her daughter Beatriz who is a recent convert. So they came over because Aida has some experience in rat catching, I guess. She brought a metal bar and rat poison and started some hard core investigating of our kitchen. Hermana Bluth saw our house and told us that she thinks it needs to be condemned. Haha. We are currently on the look out for houses or apartments for rent. For the time being I think we are going to go be staying in the house with 2 hermanas in the area next to ours. It has been quite the experience. But don't worry about me, we are fine, just hoping to live in a sanitary house sometime soon!

Also- tell SJ HAPPY BIRTHDAY this Wednesday!! and that I love her!

Love Always,

Hna MEGS CHALMS

I like turtles!

Hna Rosdahl and me, drinking yummy smoothies

Elvira and Suyay's backyard all ready for veggies

Suyay, me, Elvira and Hna Rosdahl

Go Cougs

Gross mayo in bags, Chileno style

Hnas en la zona

Mariana, one of our great investigators

Aida checking out the rat sitch

Happy 4th of July

                                                                                                                                  July 7, 2014

Happy Summer over there in the United States. Chile is FREEZING!! It was the weirdest 4th of July of my life. We made s'mores and natural juice to celebrate America. My companion is American (from Idaho) but the two other hermanas that live with us are from Argentina. We made them celebrate with us anyway.

This week has been great. It definitely had its ups and downs though. Since it is winter over here all of the missionaries have been getting sick. Such a pain! We had a day that we weren't even able to go out to work because we both had really bad colds and fever but now all is well again. We finally met our mission president and his wife! They are awesome! Turns out Pres. Bluth didn't serve a mission before so it is all pretty new to him but he is awesome, definitely a change from Presidente Martinez. I would say Pres Bluth is more on the spiritual calmer side and Pres Martinez was more intense con FUEGO. I asked Presidente Bluth about the dentist in St George and he said it is his cousin or something like that! Small world.

Today in my studies I was reading in the Book of Mormon and I read something that made me think of you guys with me and Cam on missions. It is in Alma 19:23 - it is talking about how Ammon was protected by the Lord when people tried to kill him as he was serving his mission among the Lamanites because the Lord had made a promise to his Dad Mosiah that he would protect them because Mosiah had the faith to entrust his sons in the Lord's hands. It makes me think of you guys and how even though it is hard that we are all apart, Heavenly Father is taking care of Cam and I because He understands the faith it took for you guys to send us off. I thought that was pretty awesome.
Also, tonight we have a family home evening with a recent convert, Jannette, and her daughter and husband who aren't members. We are going to talk to them about eternal families and give them a Proclamation to the World and share experienecs of things we have learned about the gospel from our parents and our families. I was filled with such gratitude as I thought of all the things I learned from you guys: the importance of family unity, of going to church, of prayer, of gratitude, of the worth of souls, of patience, of optimism, of service, ETC ETC ETC. I LOVE YOU GUYS! Thank you for making it so easy for me to be a member of the church and helping me to learn and grow every day. Those things have helped me in the mission and strengthened my testimony as I testify of eternal families and the plan of salvation (my favorite thing to teach!)
Love always,
su hija, Megs

Hermana Rosdahl and me

In our backyard celebrating the 4th of July

One of too many Chileno dogs

Our awesome ghetto house