Merry Christmas

12/25/2006

Merrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy christmassssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. Hope everyone has a very very Merry Christmas. We celebrated Christmas last night at a house of some new members. We ate dinner; we were there with the elders in our ward too. They have been members for like 7 months or something, not very much time. We ate dinner, sang Christmas songs, shared a scripture, hung out, took pictures, ate a little dessert, they don’t eat deserts like we do. It was really good. We stayed out past curfew but we live really close and plus it is Christmas, but it really doesn’t seem. Like Christmas really. At alllllllllllllll .


Oh and with ward leadership, i don’t know with all the elder stuff, as far as things in our ward and in general, all the missionaries, girls and boys, go to ward council. Every month we go. There are areas where the elders are Branch presidents and counselors the Branch presidency. That is all i know as far as that goes, not here in Punta Arenas but in other places.

So i was reading erica´s blog that she sent me, it is amazing how much alli really looks up to me with her soccer and well with everything. I don’t know what i did because after i left for school i hadn’t even been around her that much. But it is really cute.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, i opened my presents!!!!!!! Thanks you for everything. Thank you soooooooooo much for the uggs, I have been wearing them all over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are soooooooooooooooooooooooooo darn comfortable. I loveeeeeeeeee them. They made me sooooooooo happy. A couple members gave us presents too, that was really nice.

Field Trip this Week

12/18/2006

Well hello family. It is a little late to hear from me today. We are going to hear from me very quickly as well.

I got Tara’s invite last week. I can’t believe that Paige has my room now, that is crazy. I also got a letter from Nelson and Di which is amazing, well on email. It went a long way because Nelson isn’t much of a writer, so I appreciate it. And no, I haven’t gotten anything stolen yet since I have been here. Oh yeah, and thanks for telling me all the good things you all eat that I can’t eat here that are my favs.

So I have a request, you guys need to send my all the church music you have and send it to me. You need send my xmas music and whatever else. That Would be great. Thanks. .

I opened the present from LeAnne because she doesn’t believe in waiting for Christmas and so I opened it today but it was the only one. Thank you for those LeAnne, that was nice of you to think of me. J

We had our conference this week. It was really really really good. We have a lotttttt more work. Before the goal was to have 15 lessons every week and now we have 30 lessons everyyyyyyyy week. We were having a hard time with the 15. they have practically doubled our work. We worked sooooooo hard this week. We need to have 5 investigators at church every week, 5 with baptism dates every week and 10 new investigators every week. A ton. we are doubling our numbers and our faith at the same time. We saw a lot of miracles. We went on my first splits, it was awesome. I loved it. I went with a sister in the ward who is a member one year and she is awesome. Her testimony was so powerful, it was so awesome. I love going on splits, a small break from my comp as well. She was doing so awesome this week after the conference. The conference is always such a lift. So she was teaching all over the place and taking initiative. But it has kina of died off a little bit. So we are back we were. She teaches awesome, she is a great teacher, she just needs to open her mouth. She just needs to teach, but she always makes me talk. She is so good though. I don’t know how to get her to talk to the people or to talk to me. Now I know how hna agurto felt with me but it is not my language. Pero, bueno. Esta es la vida.

Pres Faulkner always talks with such power, if I could just have the faith he has. You can feel the spirit so strongly with him. He promised us there are people in our sector to find, teach, baptize, and they Hill be leaders in our ward, it was so powerful – we just have to be obedient and receptive to the spirit to find them.

So, hna agurto sent a card for me with hna Faulkner. It was so nice. She said so many nice things about me and how we are a lot more than comps but close friends because we went through a lot together. It was so nice, she had a lot of good things to say about me. It made me feel really good, we really did go through a lot together and had a lottttttt of really good times. It was awesome, she sent my a Christmas present too.

So we went to a place called fuerte, i don’t remember. It was a little far away and on the water, it was a lot of fun. I hung out with the other gringa. It was a lot of fun.

So i really did realize that I absolutely love teaching about the restored gospel. It is so simple and so perfect. God{s plan really is so completely perfect. The more and more i teach it the more and more i know that it is true. It is perfect. I don’t have words to describe it other than that, that it is perfect. And we are so blessed to have it.

Give Tara my congrats and mike too

I don’t know if i can email this next week with being Christmas because i don’t know if they are going to be open or not. I will do the best I can to write. I hope everybody has a very happy holidays and remembers really what Christmas is, it is about Christ, and not just his birth but everything that we can accomplish through what he did. He did everything for us and what do we give back in return, one day of the week, one holiday of the year, i am realizing how much i lack to return and live with my heavenly father. I have never seen so many of my faults before, we have so much to work on to return to live with him but what is great, nothing. Just think about what Christ really means to you and if he really means something, than do something with those feelings and show him through your actions and obey. It is so simple. The gospel is simple and narrow. That lord lives, i feel his love everyday. I witness to people everyday that we are truly representatives of him as members and missionaries, but do our actions really show that we are. We teach and bear our souls to the strangers in the street. But yet i have never felt so confidant in the thing that i am saying and sharing because i mean it with all my Heart and soul. We have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I feel the spirit every day and i know others do around me, especially when they act all awkward and don’t know what to do. We are privileged in this live. Show that you are really grateful. Don’t forget why we are really in this World, not to work or have Money or have things. Love ya all.

Merry Christmas to all.

I will talk to you on Saturday……….. awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. I am about to have been on my mission for 6 monthssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. The time has gone sooooooooooooooooooooo fast. Incredibely fast, and 4 months in chileeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Awwwwwwwww, i need to get work, this is going wayyyyyyy too fast.

It's Still Cold Here in Chile

12/11/2006

Well family, yet another week here in the cold cold Chile. I didn’t read all of what you guys wrote me, I will read it afterwards. I usually have my planner with me to remind me of everything that I want to write but I forgot it at the house today. I sent your Christmas present just now to everyone. I don’t know how long it will take to get it but it should be there in about three weeks or so. So not a whole lot has happened. We have had just about nothing this week. Nobody is at home, nobody will receive us into their houses. I walked soooooooooo much this week. We walked almost all day everyday. It Is really hard this transfer.

Thank you for the Christmas package with the Christmas stuff, we have the stockings up in the house and the mini tree, the cookies and all were really really good, well there are still some left. The hot chocolate too because they don’t have hot chocolate like we do. And with how cold it is here, it I so nice to drink something hot and yummy .so thank you so much Erica, it was really thoughtful of you.

I hope that LeAnne and Justin enjoy their new house. I have to say it would be really weird to live in the house you grew up in with your husband and family I wouldn’t want it but I am happy for them. They are really lucky and will really enjoy a hugeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee house. You know that LeAnne will take good care of it too. She is good like that. I got a letter from nelson and Di today but I haven’t read it yet.

So we had a really special lesson this week. It was with new members; about 6 months ago they were baptized. We were talking about the goal of going to the temple as a family and how it is making higher covenants with god and how it is the way to enter in the kingdom of god. We got talking about a lot of other doctrines. We are so focused on the basics of the gospel all of the time, the intro of the gospel, which I love. But there was a spirit there that was so different that we don’t normally feel. It was so much stronger and powerful. We were taking about the mentally sick and how they don’t need to be tested on this earth and they don’t have sins. We were also talking about being able to be married in the temple. My comp has only been a member for five years and the only member in her family .so it was a good thing that I understood what was going on because other wise they would have been teaching false doctrines. But that is not important. It was amazing the spirit that was there in that house. It was so powerful; we left like we were walking on air. Like we were so happy and just felt so good. Seriously, it was such a different spirit. It was the highlight of the week.

So the president emailed me last week, I am going to give you what he wrote. Because it was really powerful. Seriously, I have felt like I have been doing everything, I know how hna agurto felt with me now, but I at least didn´t know the language.

Hermana Pratt,

Help sister Moreno understand that negative thoughts and conversation about the ward, members, or others is not productive and will offend the Spirit. Help her realize the affects of positive feelings.

Don't get to worried about what the ward is not doing and focus on what you two need to accomplish with or without their help. You were sent there to find, teach and baptize.

Perhaps, the Lord sent sister Moreno to you to help her overcome her negative perspective of others?

Con Carino,
Carl Faulkner


I am learning a lot. The people are telling me now that I used to never talk and now they can’t shut me up, which is true. Because I actually understand what people are saying to me. It is seriously a huge miracle in my life, the lord has helped me so much. I can’t believe how much i can communicate with the people here, obviously I still don’t understand everything but soooooooo much better than before. It is a miracle. We have our conference tomorrow with the pres. it will be good. but hna Faulkner told hna agurto that I don’t want to work, hna agurto is like, ummmm, she knows me better than that, I think she got a little confused with my companion . Yeah, so it is really hard this transfer for me because before when I would get tired or lazy my comp would push us and when she was lazy I would carry us. This time, if I slack off, we don’t do anything. I think she is trying though. Some people just don’t work as hard as others. i think she honestly thinks she is doing her best and isn’t doing anything wrong. some people just see things differently. That is life.

Yeah, I hope you guys are all great and that all is well, tell all the kids hi for me and there is something for everyone in the mail. something small but still, something. I will write next week with more info about calling, like with the number and everything. we are still here and I am trying to work as hard as I can without slacking and to find those people waiting, patience is accepting the timing of the lord, I am working on accepting the timing of the lord. Until next week. cuidense.
love, Jamie

Mission Drama!

Look at these skies in Punta Areans. Pretty Pretty

12/4/2006

Well family, it is yet another week down in the ole mission.
Mom, I got my package last Monday, thank you sooooooooooooo much. Are you sure I can’t open my presents, how difficult, a full month with them and I can’t do anything with them. Thanks for the brownies and jerky and chapstick and total, my favsssssssssss, it made me smile huge thank you so much. You are too funny with the clothes, that is for sure.

To answer some of your questions, no I am not senor comp but I am pretty much having to do everything because my comp is a little lazy and not taking any initiative. I am learning a lot this transfer with her. There are a lotttttttt of things really really different.
So I have talked with some more gringos and just other latinos too and I am realizing that I am learning Spanish with a little more ease than some of the other people. It is hard. I am realizing that I have been really really really blessed with how much I know, people in the ward are saying to me all the time now that I am a whole different person, and I tell them, yeah it is because I can actually talk and understand things, that is why. so really, I need to count my blessing more with how blessed I really am with it.

So I am learning that there is even drama on the mission amongst the hnas. I found out that hna morphis talked about me all the time and how we are friends. It made me feel good, even as crazy as she is and even as hard as it was for me, I am glad that I was able to treat her well enough that she would still think nice things. Nothing bad happened with us, just she drove me crazy. I don’t want to talk about the drama but let’s just say my comp is a lot more difficult this go around.

How is chan, I never hear from her or the Powell’s either, they can all email me. I want to know how it is all going. Chan would be proud of me, I floss almost everyday.

Mom you would die, we ate, clams, raw, and I had to chokeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee it down, it was almost one of the worst experiences of my life. Terrible to say the least.

There is an inactive sister in the ward who can barely walk and can’t read. She has her patriarchal blessing and she wanted us to read it for her, it was really weird reading someone else’s but it was one of the coolest things ever at the same time. It is amazing how powerful they are and how many promises we can really have if we live our lives correctly, it was weird in Spanish too but I understood it. It was so awesome. Seriously, the work that we do In this life is so important. We have so much we have to do. The people on the other side are waiting for us to help them, even in the next life we need to help them. Our ancestors are relying on us and the things that we do here and if we live our lives righteously. We have so much work to do here.

So we had two investigators this week tell us that they know the book of mormon is true but they aren’t married and he is not divorced because it is too expensive!!!!!!!!!! Satan works in all ways. It is one of the saddest things ever. Seriously, we also had another lady tell us that she wants to be baptized, but she lives with a guy who is not divorced either. My heart hurts for these people but it is ssooooooooo hard to get divorced here. So hard.
I have also realized how much the members really need to work and how we need to be proactive. We had a sister come with us this week and we found an inactive, it is amazing how much better is was with her there and not just us as missionaries. The ward members are the key to the mission work. Seriously. Our work is in vain without them.

So yeah, I am having to do everything here. The president emailed me this week and told me that I have to be an example and be positive and show my companion that she can’t complain and stress about how bad our ward is all the time. When we are with other people she doesn’t want any thing to do with me. It is so hard to stay strong when your companion isn’t that strong. So he told me I have to be tough and there is a reason the lord put us together. I was a little taken back because it is always a little scary to hear from him. I am fine though. I am learning a lot and really learning to love the people because they are who I constantly think about. My mentality is really changing and I am losing English and so when I talk to you at Christmas oh noo.

The gas, I forgot dad, I will look at it for you. But you all need to do me a favor. Please stay close to the church. I have seen so much t hat just kills me when the people fall away. Things are so much better when we are close to the lord. At times I can’t believe that theses people lives are so terrible. I have learned so much about the lord. At times I can’t believe how much faith the people have either. They have so much more than me. Seriously it is absolutely amazing.
sorry that i am not too exciting. i am just going day by day, trying to be as obedient as i can but it is hard when your other half is not encouraging you to do so. Really, the church is true and Christ works miracles in our lives every day. he is working in mine every minute and he is blessing me with the ability to share these things with the people here in Spanish and that i can understand them. i need more faith in him and all things are possible through our faith and our actions of faith. What a marvelous work it really is. we are blessed with this great knowledge in our lives.

love ya all. until next week.

New Companion!

Hermana Pratt and Moreno

11/27/2006

Well I don’t have a whole lot to report this week. We have had a few days with my new companion is all. I don’t have a whole lot of pictures. Seems like thanksgiving and the moving went great. The house looks awesome and I knew it would. House like that here are one in a million, they just aren’t here. They don’t have the money to do it. It looks awesome though. we are so very very very blessed in the states.

So I have had a very very interesting last couple of days. My companion is hna Moreno she is from an area close to viña del mar, where it is hot and with all of the tourists. It has been the longest few days of my mission. It has gone by so slow. She is the senor comp and should do everything but she is very quite. So I have started all the lessons, had all the conversations with the people, set up appointments with the members, and done everything. I am exhausted. It is hard for me to because I don’t always understand but enough to get things done. It is good for me on the flip side too because then I have to learn to speak. I have to learn to be independent with my Spanish.

I am a little lazy to send more pictures your way, sorry. My comp right now is a little crooked too. She isn’t exactly into following the rules. I knew that before and so I have to have the strength to stick to the rules. Because it is so easy to be lazy and not motivated but we have a lot of work to do the ward. The ward needs sooooooooooooo much help and our bishop left for Antarctica and isn’t coming back because they are moving close to concepcion. So things are a little bit tougher here this cambio. I have fasted though and the lord always answers your prayers. He has helped me a lot already. I just need strength and confidence and faith in him. I am practically teaching all of the lessons now. She is a lot different than hna agurto.

Hn agurto could read my mind and I could read hers, we never had to finish our sentences because the other one would do it first, so when I didn’t have a word, she had it for me, and funny enough I would find words for her at times too and it isn’t even my language. It was funny. It was really really hard to say goodbye and I didn’t anticipate it. I was shocked after she left. I felt sick, she has been my mom for the past three months, my mamita. Seriously. She did sooooooooo much for me and helped me with so much and had so much patience for me. There is so much I don’t know about being a missionary and she just taught me piece by piece and supported me the whole way. I miss her a lot. We had sooooooo much fun together. We laughed all the time and made fun of each other. We will see each other at the end of my mission and the life here afterJ.

So our first lesson together, me and hna Moreno, she didn’t help me much and I fell on my face. A humbling experience to say the least. I need so much help from the lord right now, I really need to focus on having the spirit. I can have so many problems but yet the only one who can help me and comfort me is the lord. I know that and that is what we always teach. I just have to get used to not having hna agurto because I won’t ever have her again. Who would have thought we would have become such good friends. She wrote me and said she had cried the first couple of days with her new companion. Breaks my heart, she is with another gringa.

Erica thanks for alli´s and ethan´s letters, they were way too cute and made me think that their English is like my Spanish. We are on the same learning level. Everybody comments to me that I talk wayyyyyyyyyy more than before and they can tell, yeah before because I didn’t understand a thing.

Yeah for cambios, they tell you like 24 hours before you have to leave, well for this cambio, like at noon and then hna had to leaven at 6am the next morning, not much heads up, just go.

Yes, it is still cold here, don’t you worry. So, yeah I am doing great, just have to have my own self will and motivation to do what we are supposed to do, to follow the rules and be righteous. It is going to be a good learning experience.

Staying in Punta Areans

11/22/2006

Well big news. I am still here in punta arenas for another cambio. I am going to celebrate Christmas and thanksgiving here, well they don’t have thanksgiving and so I am not going to celebrate anything really. But that is okay. Hna agurto left this morning for Osorno, she is going to be in the sector of the pres and hna Faulkner. She needed to leave, six months in one sector is a lot. She was excited and nervous. It was actually really sad. We had become really good friends and really close. Obviously since we have spent every minute of every day together for three months now. It is really weird that she is not here. It was hard to say goodbye and to know that we aren’t going to see each other again until I finish my mission and even at that it will only be at the temple in Santiago when I pass through on my way home. Such is the life of the mission. People come and people go. I learned a lot from her though, a lot. She has helped me so much. I feel a little empty today though a little sad. But I will get over it. My new companion is hna Moreno, she was hna morphis´s comp at the beginning who has been here in punta arenas for one cambio but in the other sector of hnas. It is going to be interesting. I am a little nervous and don’t have much confidence with it but I know that is really bad of me. I know I can’t be that way. I know I am not trusting in the lord. I am going to learn a lot of Spanish in this cambio because she doesn’t talk very much with the people. It is going to be the exact opposite of what hna agurto is. Hna Moreno is Chilean also. So I just need to pray hard and have faith in her and the lord and that he has put us together for a reason. It will be great. It is really weird not to have hna agurto. Mom if you are feeling really nice and want to send hna agurto a Christmas present she lovessssssssssssssss corn nuts. Just send it to the mission to Carolina agurto. It would be awesome if she got that from you. She loved them. So that is me. I am with my new comp already because she only had to move across town. That is me.

Hna agurto and I finished reading the book of Mormon out loud in Spanish. First time I have read a book I didn’t understand. J Well I can understand it a little bit better now but not too much. It was fun.

The pumpkin patch sounds awesome LeAnne, I bet it was so much fun. So awesome. Mom, the pictures of the house look great. I hope you had fun moving over the weekend. It is coming along it seems. You guys are probably pumped.

So I am getting better at Spanish. I had to give another talk in church on Sunday. It went well I think. I had two people later quote my talk or tell me it was good. I understand so much better. I have really improved in the last two weeks. I just have to keep practicing. It is funny I have translated a few things for people and people will stop me in the street to have me translate something for them, I had one guy track me down, running to have me translate something for him. It is funny.

If anyone feels nice they can send me their weekly forecast from here so I know what the temperature is, I know it is cold and that is about it. It always rains without clouds here, it is really weird. In the harbor now that it is summer, well kind of, there are always cruise ships there. Yesterday there is a hugeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee one from the USA, so today there are tons of gringos in the streets, it is funny.

What else can I tell you guys. Oh yeah hna was sick last week so we didn’t work to much. It sucked, I hadn’t realized how much I like to work. It was super fome to be in the house with nothing to do. I wanted to go out and do something. I realized I really like to teach the gospel, I really like to talk to the people, practice my Spanish and try to express my feelings about Jesus Christ and how he has made it possible to return to our heavenly father. I like the days we just walk and walk and walk because we are doing our best to find people, we are dedicating all of our time to the lords´ work. I love it. Being in the house made me a little homesick and bored really. But she needed her rest and to get better. Such is life I suppose. It was a good realization though.

We had an English class on Saturday, I prayed in English and it was the worst thing in the world. I am not going to speak very good English at Christmas time, heads up, it is going down hill. Oh, a gringa is arriving in punta areans, an ex comp of hna agurto. It will be way fun with her on pdays. We can talk trash about hna.

So we found an awesome menos activo family, they are in the pictures, with four kids. The mom was smoking, drinking tea and coffee, she gave it alllllllll up, cold turkey because she wants to get back into the church and give it her all and be an example to her kids. She is so awesome. She had the best conversion experience last week. She prayed the entireeeeeeeeeeee night and pleaded with the lord and talked with him. She has dedicated herself to do all that is possible to live the gospel now. We are teaching her daughter now so she can be baptized. She is so awesome, eva is the mom. Like eve, adam and eve but is Spanish eva. She is awesome. We were really pumped with her. They are so awesome, the little boy reminds me of Nate.

Happyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy birthday pageeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I can’t believe that she is so old already, it is crazy how fast time goes. Super fast.

So, yeah I am a little worried about this cambio. I have butterflies in my stomach. I know my weakness with the language and I don’t understand a lot, there are a lot of dichos, in English, slang, there is a lot of slang that I don’t understand and slowly learning. I need a lot of help still with the language. I just need more faith. It is going to be a trail of my faith. The people here really loved han agurto, I just hope that we will be able to fill her shoes, hard to do because she is awesome but still. When she left she even told me she loved me, it was huge for her. Well in Spanish there are two ways to say that you love someone le amo and le quiero and amar is stronger and querer is a little softer, I don’t know how to explain it. She said querer but still it pretty much means the same.

I am really going to miss her but I will get used to it in a week or so, I need lots of prayers right now. I am feeling a little week and I don’t like it. I couldn’t sleep last night. It was hard to say goodbye and I didn’t want to. The downfall of Latina comps is that I will probably never see them again. There is always the next life though. But pray for me and hna Moreno. We need a lot of the lord’s help and I know my attitude is not fair to her. Not at all . I need to change and I know it. We have a lot of work to do in this sector. A lot. Life will be great. The lord has a reason for why we are together right now in this sector and I have faith we can make a great companionship. Just a little sad and mixed feelings. Have a great thanksgiving. Enjoy it, eat some pie for me, some cream cheese pie with cherries and broccoli casserole, mmmmmmmmmm. Peace out. Love ya all, tell everyone hi and happy thanksgiving for me! We have pday on Monday again of next week.

that is me. i am great really so don’t worry about me, prayers no más. we will be in touch next week.

The Penguins!!!!

Hey, friend in a tux! Let me tell you about the Book of Mormon!

Jamie at her best!

See, we can teach any one or anything!

11/13/2006

Well, we finally went to the penguins. We went this morning. We just got back and now we have all of our time to do all of our stuff. I will try to send as many pictures as I can but the computers being stupid and I might not be able to. It is not letting us sign in. it is stupid. The penguins were awesome, it was cold and windy. There were quite a few, they were really close too. It was cool. We were so pumped, plus something different for us. It was like an hour out of town out in the boonies were there is nothing. It was dirt road for like 45 min. It was a lot of fun but I am exhausted!!! Such is life.

I finally got a letter from Chan, thanks Chan!! Short and sweet. Yeah mom, my comp and I get along well. It was awkward maybe twice in our three months. And not really even. We are pretty good. I am ready for a change though. Ya know how you get comfortable in a situation and assume your role. Well that is what I have done and I feel like to grow and learn more it is time for a change to make me grow and learn more because that is always what I have to do, learn things the hard way. Yeah dad thanks for your Maori, you are funny.

So cambios are next week, the 22nd. That means I won’t be writing next Monday, you will have to wait to hear from me Wednesday. I have no idea if I will be leaving Punta Arenas or not. The only way you will have an idea is if I write in the morning no and if you don’t hear from me the normal time, it is more than likely that I hopped on the plane and on my way somewhere else. So you will hear form me on Paige’s birthday. More than likely hna will be leaving because she has been here six months, but anything is possible, anything.

Oh yeah, I have been meaning to tell you that it rains here with out clouds, always. Because the wind is so strong and frequent. Also, I have seen more rainbows here than I have ever really. So, I had one of the most interesting experiences of my life. It was one of the biggest miracles in my life really. I had my first inter cambio. Hna went to the other sector with the hna there and the other hna came to my sector with me. So I had a different companion for a day. I was so nervous because I had to carry the sector and do everything. I had to take the initiative, start all the lessons, talk with the people, understand them, the works because she doesn’t know anyone in our sector. So, first of all there were more people in the streets to contact. We talked to so many people. I contacted more people in that day than ever and got lots of address. The real miracle for me was how much I understand and talk. I started all the lessons. I talked to them about what was going on, how they are, if they’d read, blah blah blah. I understood sooooooooooo much. I still can’t believe the difference it was. I taught the lessons and the other hna supported me. Usually what I do is support and don’t say much. It was so awesome. I can’t tell you seriously the difference it was. I was so nervous before, I didn’t have much confidence in my abilities or faith. I did it, I mean the hna had to help me a lot still, she is Chilean. It was so awesome. I was so pumped, it was really weird not being with hna agurto because after three months of being together and never being apart, it is odd. I was so incredibly pumped, I can’t even tell you how awesome it was. Just this week alone my Spanish has sky rocketed. I understand so much more. I really feel like I can learn so much right now because I can understand so muchhhhhh more, it is such an awesome feeling. It was really good for me to say the least. It was funny the other day too because I understand more and we were at the house of the family that is menos activo and they are in terrible shape. They were talking and I understood and said something slightly funny and they all laughed hugeeeeeeeeeeee because they are so used to me not saying anything and then I pretty much made fun of them. Well, ya know, my specialty. It was really funny.

Yeah, so too much information I know but I don’t really care. So the water here is terrible. I am assuming it is the water. I have drinken it since I have been here but something happened. I think I drank too much or something. I have had been sick for like four or five days now. I don’t know what happened. Seriously, it is the worst thing ever. I have started boiling the water for me now or I am going to buy bottled. I assume it was too much of their water. It has been terrible, I think it is finally going away now but I don’t know.

So that has pretty much been my week. We are just winding down yet another cambio. Not too many days left. It is still pretty cold here. As usual. Seriously I have seen so many miracles here, just with myself. It is awesome. The lord has helped me so much with the language. I still have tonssssssss of room for improvement but I am so much more comfortable. My stories are still slow because I can’t always think of the words or how to say things but for the most part. Like I am more comfortable to just jump into a conversation. Still not great but practice is what it takes and for me I always have to learn things the hard way.

Mom, please already with the recipes, it is embarrassing to say that every week I say that I will bring them and for three months I have to say no I am still waiting. Please send them to me. And the address for the missionary. The house looks awesome, it is night and day. It is really coming along for you. How exciting you will be moving this week, good luck with that. That is me this week, I don’t really have anything else to say.

I will try to send more the next week, the penguins were awesome, great change but now we have to go.

love ya all, thanks for the package, I got it last week. I couldn’t look at the pictures today because of the internet, next week I will look at them all, thanks a bunch. aquí son los photos de los penguinos. fuímos hoy día. hna agurto quería que yo mande estas fotos a usted. disfrute. Chao

Ok I just have to say how funny she writes her letters in English and then goes to Spanish and signs off in Italian! I also think it is really cool when you think that we recieved this letter around noon and she had just taken these pictures in the morning and we get to see them same day! Thank goodness for email and digital camera's!

Short Note!

Well, I don’t have that much to write as usual.

Sounds like Tara’s wedding is coming along, that is so crazy. Tell her I was thinking of her and that is great, and not to forget to send me an invitation. Don’t forget, I want one.

And Erica to answer your letter. Yeah it is getting warmer here. You need to check the weather here, it snowed yesterday. We had rain, snow, hail, sun, wind all in ten minutes. It was terrible. The wind is so strong in blew my plaque off my jacket. It is so strong. And super super cold. Summer never comes here, always have to have your jacket on.

Mom, it was great that you said te ano. Hna really got a kick out of it because ano means anus. Just be careful when you write Spanish, it is te aMo! We thought it was pretty hilarious to say the least.
(Ok in my defense I was only copying her writing and telling her that I loved her. I looked at the letter and that is what it said. I can’t help it if her handwriting is really bad! At least she thought it was funny!)

Erich an dnate, thanks for your letters and pictures, they were great, loved them. Got a letter from gran too.

Something weird here, the people are too lazy to point to things with their hands, they point with their lips instead of their hands. It is funny.

Yeah, so since we have had anything for a really long time, I have never fasted so much in my life. We fast almost once every week, this week twice. We had some problems this week. We had a really great week though. We met almost all of our goals, which is a miracle in itself. We really never even come very close. It was an awesome week. We found a bunch of new families to teach, some more ready than others and a bit more promising, but it was awesome. A miracle as well, I finally understood a lesson from one of the sisters in the ward and I NEVERRRRRRRr understand her. So that was a miracle.

We had a ward activity with singing, dancing, and the words. That is the picture of me and the hna, the other is in the supermarket with halloween wigs.

Oh My! Scarry Girl!

Yeah so we contacted a lady and she seemed awesome, well not a lady only 24. But she gave us the wrong address, we were super bummed. Then she was at the house at a menos activo we were teaching. We had the kids take us to her house but we didn’t realize she was the one who gave us the wrong address. We got to her house and she told us and it was a shocker but hilarious. So funny. She came to church, to the ward activity, to everything. It was awesome. We also walked 56 miles this week, our max for sure. A lot.

It is so stinking strong, the sun that is. We had an awesome week this week. I don’t know what else to tell you.

Yeah mom, don’t worry, we are doing great. We had a fantastic week and got lots of blessings from the lord. We are really improving and working on being better people and better missionaries, small things at a time. Things are great though. This week really turned around for us, even though the wind is stronger than we want, really really strong. My Spanish is improving. I was able to talk with our investigator during relief society band answer her questions about it and then I got called on to answer a questions because I was talking....my point is mom, thinks haven’t changed, I am still the same old Jamie you have always known and loved. Always talking when I am not supposed to and never talk when I am supposed to. Funny how things are, I think of when Tara and I were in YW and always got in trouble for talking. Such is life. hope you have fun moving next week, have you gotten the cd that I sent yet_

We might go to the penguins next week. cambios are the 22 of November. More than likely hna will leave and I will stay but anything can happen. You never know.

Hope all is well with everyone.
Love, hna jamie pratt

Carry On, Carry On!

Hey, so I haven’t read any of your letters yet. But from last week I will answer things. I don’t really have that much to share this week. We have had a really slow and hard week. All of our new investigators have fallen through again and we are back at square one. One day we walked nine miles and that was us walking the whole time. We ended up with 47 miles all week. A munton de caminar. Papa’s trunk is awesome, good ole pops, he loves stuff like that. Erica if you sent me pictures last week I didn’t look at them and I think I deleted them, oops, because I didn’t notice. Sorry. Way to be Alli, student of the week. I am proud of you that is awesome.

Oh man, I am so tired from this week. My comp broke down a couple times this week. It is hard when she breaks down because she cries and it is all lagite, I just don’t know what to do. I found out that in the past she has suffered from depression. I understand a lot more know why she complains a lot and whines, so now I have more patience with that because I know it is something that is hard for her. It isn’t super bad, just something that is hard at times. So we had a rocky week but good at the same time. Always good so don’t you worry. We just are getting lots of exercising. Are time together is almost up. Three more weeks in this cambio, it never happens that hermanas are together for three cambios. She will probably be leaving soon. So we have to make the best of our three weeks left together. We have been together for two months and we have a lot of fun together and have become friends. She wants me to write her despues we are together, I laughed and told her I don’t know Spanish so don’t count on it. I’m so nice. No but she is from Santiago so after the mission when I go to the temple in Santiago I can see her. That will be cool.

So I got a letter from pres Faulkner, not my pres here, in Oroville, the high council letter. It was really good, I enjoyed it. I get random letters from people in the stake, especially Gridley, people I don’t know.

This week we taught a girl who is 24. It was a lot of fun because she is just like us, well kind of. It was so much more comfortable for me to talk, the stress wasn’t on with the language. I was at ease and didn’t care if I messed up. Now I am to the point where for the most part I can understand the conversation and so I can talk. Life is so much more interesting being able to understand. So now I am talking a lot more because I know what is going on. So much more interesting and I don’t have to fight sleep so much because I can listen and understand! Obviously I don’t understand everything, the old people and people who talk fast. We visited an old folk’s home here and I had a hard time understanding some of them and this place was dirty and gross. It was like an orphanage in the movies. All the people in the same room and all they have are their beds. I felt so bad for them, and they’d been there for years.

My life is so sad. Sorry, I don’t have very many pictures this week. And motels here on not the same at our house, they are houses of love, to say the least. I said the pres and hna Faulkner could stay there on the water and it would be pretty, to say the least, no mission president should ever go to a motel in Chile. Oops.

Yeah so we taught one family and I was able to talk a lot. I recited the first vision and the spirit was so strong. It was awesome. So strong, I talked to much I was so proud of myself, well so grateful that I was able to. We taught our crazy investigator Maria and she told us how her boyfriend robs for food because they don’t have anything and blah blah blah. Hna was so frustrated with her she couldn’t say anything. I ended up teaching like the whole lesson. Hna said, is this my companion, who is she, what happened to my comp. it was so funny. And Maria would not say anything or interrupt me like she does hna, she just listened. I talked so much and understood so much. It was awesome. I was pumped. I have realized that I just need to have the courage and talk or I won’t learn. I need more practice. I need to have faith in the spirit, faith in the lord that he will provide for me when I need it and the people need it. It is my calling to talk to everyone here about the gospel of Jesus Christ and so I need to do it. I need to swallow my pride and just talk, open my mouth. I have more capabilities with the language now and am doing contacts alone, and having conversations solo, I can do it. I can understand enough and talk enough.

Oh so we were teaching Luz and I broke her pig on her shelf it fell and crashed in pieces. During the lessons we were talking about sacrifices and she said I sacrificed her pig. It was so darn funny. She cracks me up, she left me speechless, she is hilarious. She is the one who wants the recipes that mom has to hurry up and send. It was hilarious.

We also went to the bday part of the bishop, pretty much just him and his family. They are leaving soon it is so sad, the family in the picture is him and his family. They are awesome. We are going to miss them. They made clam chowder for us, the sister lived in utha for three years so she makes a lot of American food, but the clams were hugeeeeeee and you could see the black lines and pink and it was like stringy off your spoon. I love clam chowder but only when you can’t taste the clams!!! Then we had salmon yesterday, mom I am dying but just eat it and don’t say anything, pretend like it is the best thing ever.


We had a miracle this week. We found a single mom, member, with four super young kids. They came back to church this week after a year. They are so adorable, her kids are so loveable and so cute. We don’t have investigators but we were so pumped that they came back to church. It was so awesome. We also went to the elder’s baptism, Cecilia, she is in the photo. She came to our baptism and that is when she decided she wanted to be baptized and so she loves us. We see her around and loves to talk to us and invited us. She said she will never forget us but we didn’t really do anything, only be nice to her but it was great.

I got letters from nana and Lael from 17, 24, 25 of September this week. Thanks for the letters, loved them!!

I got a letter from Stacie Powell too!! I was pumped. That is pretty much me this week.

Temple Worship

"The Punta Arenas Chile Stake is the Church's southernmost stake anywhere on this planet, its outermost borders stretching toward Antarctica. Any stake farther south would have to be staffed by penguins.

For the Punta Arenas Saints it is a 4,200-mile round-trip bus ride to the Santiago temple. For a husband and wife it can take up to 20 percent of an annual local income just for the transportation alone. Only 50 people can be accommodated on the bus, but for every excursion 250 others come out to hold a brief service with them the morning of their departure.

"Pause for a minute and ask yourself when was the last time you stood on a cold, windswept parking lot adjacent to the Strait of Magellan just to sing with, pray for, and cheer on their way those who were going to the temple, hoping your savings would allow you to go next time? One hundred ten hours, 70 of those on dusty, bumpy, unfinished roads looping out through Argentina's wild Patagonia. What does 110 hours on a bus feel like? I honestly don't know, but I do know that some of us get nervous if we live more than 110 miles from a temple or if the services there take more than 110 minutes. While we are teaching the principle of tithing to, praying with, and building ever more temples for just such distant Latter-day Saints, perhaps the rest of us can do more to enjoy the blessings and wonder of the temple regularly when so many temples are increasingly within our reach."

Jeffrey R. Holland, "Abide in Me," Ensign, May 2004, 31

Adventure's in Chile

10/23/2006

We went a really long ways a way from our normal area this week, we were desperate for people to find to teach. It was probably a mile or two walking from where we normally go, rio de los ciervos. It was a lot of fun; it was like we packed up and headed out for our adventure. It was hot that day too which was nice. But the bad thing is that here there is a hole in the ozone layer and the sun is way intense. Today we are going to buy sun screen because I can feel a huge difference in the sun here. It pounds your face. Luckily it is cold enough here that it is only my face and I will have blonder hair too. That is always good. We found an old lady out there and we are going to visit her tomorrow. It was a lot of fun. That is when we walked by the beach too. I wanted to touch the water just so I could say that I did at the most southern point of the world. Ya know. This day was so awesome though.

We hadn’t had pretty much anyone to teach for two weeks, no new people. In this day we had five!! A family too, an awesome family we are visiting tonight. It was so awesome. After our famine and draught of having no one to teach, the lord blessed us with a ton all in one day. We were working on having trust in the lord and courage in talking to people. It is hard at times for me to have the courage to talk to people because of my weaknesses with the language. I learned and realized that when I have fear, I am not trusting the lord, I am not having faith in Him. Entonces, I have been working on that and having more faith and that if I open my mouth he will provide me the things I should say, unfortunately it is easier said then done. What do I have to lose, only everything to gain, right.

So something super funny happened. The doors here to the houses don’t have a door knob outside, the only way you can get in is with a key, no matter what. Well, I am not exactly used to that still. So I went in the house first and was being funny and shut the door on hna before she could come in. so I went about doing my thing in the house and was thinking, why is she still outside, I opened the door said something to her and then shut it and did that like twice. The last time I did it, I closed it and she gave me a look and it hit me!! There is no door knob and there is no way she can get in, she wasn’t even trying to get it. We laughed sooooooooooo hard. I was crying. it was hysterical. I locked her out and had no idea of what I had done. So funny. So funny.

So we had a surprise this week. We had our zone conference with the president and hna Faulkner. It was like, they called us that morning and we had interviews. We also had stake conference this weekend and the area authority was there. Lots of conferences this week. We had to sing in our ward choir and it was terrible, they don’t know how to sing, I don’t know how to sing, bad. Oh well, what can you do. The conferences were really good though. Our mission conference was more of a okay you need to work harder, be better type of thing. It is exhausting to have so many conferences. it was so funny my interview with the pres. I am so used to speaking Spanish, not that I am good at it I just have to do it. so I was talking to him and said a word in English that sounds the same in Spanish but doesn’t have the same meaning ,direction in Spanish is address, it didn’t make sense, it was really funny but a bit embarrassing. He understood. He is great though he always reminds you that the lord loves you and this is where he wants you and that he loves me too. He is great.

Teeter Totter Week

Well, it is another week, unfortunately I don’t have a whole lot to write about this week, I am boring. First things first. Thanks LeAnne for the letter last week, I enjoyed it. Erica I will read yours after I print it out. It was fun to hear about all that is going on. And good for Justin, sounds like he is doing awesome. That is great. It is crazy you are having the baby blessing soon. It is still somewhat unreal that there is another baby in the family.

Mom just send my stuff. I just want my scriptures, you can say a bunch of prayers that it makes it. The nylons thing is going to have to be a continual thing, just send them every month or I don’t know how often but often, warm ones. Long johns the Works. The summer here is like winter in Oroville. You always have to wear long sleeves. It is a little nicer here though, what is the temp there? I don’t know. Yeah, nana and papa, thanks for the letters too. You guys always have interesting things to say. But it is fun to hear from you too, you always keep me updated with the fam. Hope the Mitzel’s are doing great. Oh and the picture of me kissing the foot is a huge statue in the middle of town, everyone, tourists come into town and rub the foot and kiss it. It is a tradition, so I had to. That is all, everyone does it.

Hope Alli is having fun playing soccer. It would be super cute to watch her play and the boys play football. How fun!

Dad you would be in heaven here. They have what they call completos. They are a hot dog with avocado, tomatoes, mayo, mustard, the Works. We went somewhere last week where they had hugeeeeeeeeee ones. You would love them. The food here is up your alley, meat and potatoes. I have never eaten so much. Oh, the lord is blessing me with being able to eat things I hate. I have never eaten so many mushrooms in my lifeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee and we had fish yesterday, my favorite. It wasn’t too bad though, I didn’t know it was fish though until I was finished because I didn’t understand what they were saying.

Mom I have another question. Hna´s family are converts and they have lost contact with the missionary that baptized them. They have the address of the dad of him but not of him. Could you contact him for them and try to get the address of the son so they can get back in contact with him.
The dad, ron keith 520 anderson st, dhather, Arizona 85552, and the missionaries name is Jim, he is like in his late 30s now I think. Thanks mom. If you could get that. I know I ask a lot

Okay, so this week was probable the hardest week yet. Everything that we have had as far as investigadores has gone, fell through. We have dropped all of our investigators but one.

We have spent an entire week trying to find new people to teach. We have walked about 20 thousands steps everyday this week, like eight to nine miles a day. My body has never been so exhausted. Every part of my body aches. I am starting to get used to it. We walk from 3 in the afternoon until we go home at 930. Nobody will let us come in, nobody wants us. It is a trial of our faith to say the least. We are doing our best. We haven’t worked so hard. Holy cow, we have done everything we possibly can do to find new people, with members, with people in the streets, knocking on doors. Everything. We are working on faith, courage, and hope. Those are our goals with finding people. We have hope for this week because we have worked our butts off and eventually when the lord sees fit he will bless us. We are just waiting for those blessings to come our way. In time. We walked to places I hadn’t been because our sector is huge. We went everywhere. Oh with the transferres, hna morphis´s comp CAME down here and hna morphis got transferred to a different sector in Osorno. She is with a gringa now. There are only three gringos here in punta arenas now, lucky me.

Oh can you send me those wixmax socks too, they are super warm and really good.

Yeah so we have found a new meaning to obedient, not that we are bad but we are trying to do everything perfectly so we can have inestigatores. Obedience here on the mission has a whole different meaning than before in normal life. Things are so simple, just follow the commandments and the rules. Things like keeping the Sabbath day holy or whatever are so simple for us. This week though we were teaching a menos activo and we realized that the lesson was for us. Teaching about faith and how we need to act in our faith and then we can receive blessing from the lord. That is us right now since we don’t have anything or anyone to teach. It was really funny, we totally started laughing.

Oh one of the photos is a teeter totter we found in a park while we were searching for people and needed a bit of a lift in our day. We contacted a guy and went back to his house and he is young and he was having a hugeeeee party with only guys. They all invited us in and were drinking smoking, it was really funny because they were young and only guys and wanted us to party with them, super funny.

Oh yeah, the time changed I think we are now five hours ahead instead of three. Like it is 1130 here right now instead of 1030.

Oh we have a new elder in our ward, he is super nice, a new change in our ward. Which is good. Good for changes.

Oh some of these pictures are of Puerto Mont and the volcano in Osorno, I don’t know if I ever sent them.

We did have a miracle this week, we had one investigador and her family come to church. It was great. We didn’t really think they would come. She is crazy, she talks and talks and talks about things that I have no clue. Crazy and they aren’t married and she only wants to be with him for Money because her daughter is sick a lot. But they all CAME and they liked it and it was great it was awesome. We were super pumped, so that was our miracle for the week. Yeah so that is awesome, solamente walky all week long. We are working as hard as we can. We are having fun though, well most the time. It is hard to keep good spirits, she breaks down more than I do, so I try to stay happy and be positive with it all. It is hard but we will be rejuvenated after today. My Spanish is coming along slowly, better every day. That is always good.

But really, I am learning a lot about everything. It is amazing how our lives are so dedicated for other people and it just happens. I am finally having more of a relationship with the people because I can talk more. We go to members houses to do service and I can talk and make more jokes because I have more Words. Usually I just make fun of myself that I don’t know the language and am always lost in the conversation. That is me. Super boring, sorry. Hope all is well. Thanks for the Picture of my pay poo.

Until next week, peace out.
Love, hna Jamie Pratt

New Address!

Sister Jamie Pratt
Casilla 7-0
Osorno, Chile

This address works for packages and letters or you can just use the pouch addres for letters only at:

Sister Jamie Michelle Pratt
Chile Osorno Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150USA

First Baptism!

More Pictures with No Lables Attached!

She says labels are coming!

We can enjoy and make our story until then!

I am a little late posting this. We received a hand written letter from her this week also dated 9/25. I will post it when I get a chance to transcribe it. Her handwritting is hard to read and very very small!

10/11/2006

Well hello there, it is another week. It has been a long week without a pday but now Wednesday and we are a threesome waiting for another Hermana to fly into town. Today is days of cambios, transfers. My first real transfer in the mission. Hermana Agurto and I are staying here. We are not going anyway. We are safe here in Punta Arenas in sector fitz roy for 6 more weeks. This will mean at the end of this transfer she has been here in the same place for six months. I am excited that we are staying though. The gringa of the four Hermana’s left for up north this morning. They had to stay the night at our house and we are exhausted. Hermana Morphis´s companion is coming to be comps with the other sister aros that came with me new when we first got here. She is a Chilean. I will be the only gringa Hermana here in the south. I won’t have my walking dictionary. Now many grigons left down here right now. It is weird that hna morphis isn’t staying with her comp for one more transfer, we will find out what happens with the other hna arrives.

Last week on pday I died hna´s hair, well I was safe because her hair is so dark the is no way I could really mess it up, we just lightened it with brown and you can barely tell. My first time dying someone’s hair so it was fun.

Oh and Erich, no the people here don’t really have yards, everything is really close together, all of the houses. They have big parks though, not like what we have, they are a lot more poor and aren’t the same. They have skate parks though, not super goods ones but not bad either. They play at the parks or in their houses.

We walked so much yesterday, I swear it was over 12 miles. We were in every part of our sector, it is huge and we walked almost every corner of it. It was nice yesterday, well for here. We have heard all year round here you have to wear long sleeves. That is fine as long as the wind doesn’t chill your bones.

So we get 130 dollars and 60 cents every month to live off of. It is way plenty, for food, supplies, total. Things are a lot cheaper here but at the same time things like candy or photos are super expensive.

Oh we had to make invitations and programs for our baptism. I looked at the blog super quick just to show my comp. it was weird to look at it, I just glanced at it because I don’t know if I am supposed to be on it or not but it looked great. I probably won’t look at it again but send me the address to it in case I want to give it to other people. Thanks

We were super pumped for our baptism. It was one of the best experiences ever. It is sad though because it is the family of the hna that was here before me. Anyway. It is the family that he was a stripper and had an affair a year ago. They are so awesome. They were so nervous but so happy. We had it all planned out perfectly for them. We had the speakers and all. They were so cute. The best is I got to see their 8 year old son change. He was so stubborn and didn’t want to have anything to do with anything. He just needed attention and love. He never wanted to pray he was too embarrassed. Now he always wants to pray, answers every question we ask even if it isn’t directed towards him. He is whole different person. It is awesome. He is happy doing great in school, and has a ton more personality. They were shining at the baptism and the sprit was so strong. Sergio, the dad, bore his testimony afterwards and it was one of the best things ever. He asked for forgiveness of all of his sins and he has repented and this has changed his life. Everyone was totally crying, it was so sweet. The best was all of Paula’s family was there and could see the change in their daughter and their family. Jean, gave his testimony too and it was so cute because it was like a prayer. They thanked us and the other hna for helping their family and making them stronger. One of the elders translated a song to sing and it was super pretty. There were tons of people there, the ward really supported them a lot. It was so awesome. Paula said her goal now is to go to the temple and baptize her brother that died a year ago. It was so awesome. It was one of the most spiritual experiences because they have changed so much. They bore their testimonies after their confirmations, jean bore his testimony again in primary, the boy that wouldn’t even talk to you and now is getting in front of everyone and telling them what he feels and how grateful he is to our heavenly father. It is so awesome. They are so happy now, they are glowing. They have so much excitement to press forward in the church. Their family is more united, you can see there is more love their, they are praying together everyday we are going to have a family home evening with them. Total. they learn slowly but they took one big step and now the lord is really going to bless them. The yare seriously glowing, sticking up for the church and proud to be able to say that they are Mormons now. Paula has tried a lot of different churches and she said that she knows this is the right one, this is the one with the correct baptism and with the correct way to return back to our heavenly father. It is awesome, I can’t describe it. I wish the other hna could be here to see the effect she had in their lives. It is awesome. I wish I could have seen w hat they were like to begin with. I can only imagine the changes they have made.

We have also seen a huge change in a recent convert gone inactive, Monica. She is coming to church now with her family, they are having family home evening every week, and she is so much happier. She admitted their was something wrong and she has learned from her mistake. It is so awesome, she is so happy, their family is so happy. The gospel of Jesus Christ is amazing and if people will just let it and him into their lives, the differences it can make. Just to be faithful and keep the commandments, it is amazing.

Man, here on the mission, I have never participated in so many ward activities before. We have to sing in the choir because their aren’t enough members. Yeah for me. All is well, that is what we are here for, support the ward and the members.

Oh we had a great lesson with a family, the ones who got married at the catholic church. It was super spiritual. Everybody was so relaxed and warm inside. I got speak with ease and speak from my heart and I know they understood because if I have the spirit then the spirit with speak to their hearts. It was so awesome. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough and this family still isn’t´ praying or going to church or anything. They know and feel the difference when we are there, they tell us there is something special about us but don’t do anything about it. It is said. The whole world has the excuse of time, they don’t have time for god. Time is a tool of Satan. When is time, nothing, solely an excuse. Everyone has time, do you have more time for worldly things, money, work, what, but not for god. I know I did the same before the mission. But really, do we have time for the person who has blessed us with absolutely everything or distractions of Satan. It really hit me hard this week with this. Bur really, It is everyone’s excuse. Sad but true. That or they are catholic, which means nothing, only they were baptized as a baby and never done anything else.

The family of the bishop is moving close to concepccion in about a month. Our ward will be so sad when they leave. They are the root and keeping everything good. They are so much fun too. They thought I always understood what was going on and I told them no I am just a good actress at faking that I understand. There are still a lot of things I don’t understand. I hear the words though, not just noise, so I am working on vocab and learning. I can follow a conversation for the most part and have more of a conversation. It is coming along, better and better day by day, it is hard to do things in English at times, my mind is more geared toward Spanish. The lord is blessing me with it. Slowly and surely. I have a long long long way to go still. I am not totally comfortable with everyone in a conversation because I am still not always sure what exactly they are saying but my comp is great at talking with people and caring about them so it is great.

So I know why Sims is a dentist. After his mission here in Chile he wanted to be a dentist because no one here has teeth and he wanted to help people because of all that he saw. Tons of people are lacking their teeth, it is really funny at times.

so, Sundays are either the best days or the worst days because either you are super super happy that your investigators came or super down because they didn’t. this week they all crashed on us and so we were sad about that. It was a super bummer. It is amazing how your emotions are so up and down. hna breaks down at times because she is so connected to the people and then they let us down, themselves, and the lord. Like we are not here for them to do it for us but we want them to have the same joys in their lives that we have. There was one lady who tried to give of the bom back, it was kind of funny but really sad at the same time, we wouldn’t take it. so yeah, with the best comes the worst. we have seen the best things and the worst things in this last 6 weeks together. we have six more to come. I am excited we are staying. it was scary though because the pres called hna and he neverrrrrrrrrrr calls missionaries, only the assistants. and we were thinking there was going to be three of us together, luckily now, she just has a calling like I had in the mtc, over the sisters here if anything bad happens.

I don’t have Erica’s new address

send me recipes of apple crisp, cinnamon rolls, and anything else super good.

we made empanadas de manzanas with luz the other day. Like apple turnovers, by far my favorite. we stop by the panederia a lot on the way home for them. mmmmmmmmmmm. anyway, I think that is all. keep the emails coming on this account. packages will be nice too, any sweets for my comp, she loves them from the states. hope all is well. we can email again on Monday like usual. this is the season of the penguins and so this cambio we think we will get to go!! yeah!

hi to all
love, hna jamie pratt

The Work is Good!

Pictures from Chile's Independace Day Celebration!

10-2-06

Hello family! How was your weekend with Erica and Jake moving. They are moving a ton. I hope that it went well and that you got tons of stuff done and they don’t have to move again. So on dear elder express. Sent 9-12 and 11 I received 9-25, dear elder 8-28, 9-4 received 9-30 and 9-5 I received 9-25. What happens is it gets sent to Osorno and then it gets sent to me. It takes a lot longer for everything here in Punta Arenas. Everything goes through Osorno and we are the last to get everything because we are the furthest away. Such is life for being at the end of the world. So just email me directly, I copy and paste and can print them. Well you can do both but every week I still want a email.

So, we had our conference this last week. There are 20 missionaries here in Punta Arenas and porvenir. There are 4 sisters and the rest elders and 12 Latinos and Latinas and the rest of us are gringos. There is one sister who is a gringa besides me. The pres and his wife came down and had a conference with us. It was great because I understood like everything. That is always great, they also just talked about missionary work and that is my vocab. Such is life. It was really weird because I could talk English with Hna Faulkner and the other gringos but for the life of me I couldn’t have a conversation with her. I could not think of words in English. I couldn’t think of anything, I could understand obvio and todo but I couldn’t not think of things to say. My life is sad, I don’t have a language ,only a few words in Spanish and a few in English. Que triste mi vida.

So I have discovered something else. They write letters differently here. Like their q´s are way funny. Who would have thought that we would write letters differently. way weird. We were laughing the other day too because 3 months with your companion is like 30 years with your spouse because we spend soooooooooooooooooo much time together. Like, it is so weird, when she is not right next to me it is really really weird. Like I am uncomfortable. Like I am missing something. Granted I am missing my person who can talk for me, no but it is really weird, especially since I have always been so independent too. Life is weird as a missionary, definitely different than anything I have experienced before. That was expected though. I didn’t think I would start losing English so quickly when I don’t even know Spanish yet.

We fasted to find a family this week and the next day we found a family. She said that when she saw us on the street there was like light above us and she knew that we were angels sent from the lord and that we had the truth .yeah, so that is great but there is always more to the story. We were pumped but she is crazyyyyy. I mean crazy but she is super eager to learn. She is very in tune to bad spirits and every time she gets close to the lord something bad happens so she doesn’t know what to do. Paciencia no mas. The gospel and Christ can change people and help them in their lives. That is what it is all about. So we are going to slowly teach them and nurse them along. It was weird though, she wanted me to speak English, she doesn’t understand it but just wanted to hear it. It was really really weird. I couldn’t speak. I had no words to say and thought of words in Spanish first and then said them in Spanish because I bore my testimony and I am used to doing that in Spanish. I didn’t like that but I didn’t know what else to do. Weird experiences to say the least.

So yeah, I had my interview with the pres. He really stressed to me that I am here to teach and teach through the spirit and not to worry so much with my Spanish. I am a perfectionist we all know and want my Spanish to be super good but when I try to talk well the spirit leaves. I just need to say what I feel and the spirit will teach them in their hearts, it is their feelings that are important anyway, not my words. You can’t have faith and believe without feelings, that are what converts and brings people to Christ. So, I am working on that. He is a good pres. We had practices of teaching in front of the pres. I was nervous but then I was like, okay, I just have to say what I felt. It went really well, there is a big difference. He even quoted me later in his talk about what I had taught about, heck if I know what I said. But it was good, apparently I am on the right track.

Yeah so we met with a Jehovah witness. Wowwwwwww that was an experience. They have some interesting beliefs. She really just wanted to ask questions and bible bash a little. It was not a good experience. My comp did really well with her though. They have interesting beliefs to say the least. It was a lot different than our other lessons. She just wants knowledge, she doesn’t want to feel anything in her heart. It is sad what they believe. Everyone here is either Jehovah witness, catholic is the big one, or evangelico.

So our mission has a goal to double baptisms by April, that means we have to work harder and have more faith. More faith that we can be lead to people who are ready to change their lives and accept Christ and his gospel. We are working hard for it. We have a bet about our contacts each day. We are supposed to have 20 each day. It is really hard in our sector to have that many but we are doing our best. There aren’t many people on the streets. But we are trying to do it. I even made my first contact alone the other day. I turned around and she was gone, I had to talk to them and do everything on my own. I even understood them it was great. Nerve wracking but great. But still, step by step. There was one contact who started talking to me in English and I didn’t even realize it, took me totally by surprise, good English too. Everyone here wants to talk in English. I was trying to tell him where I am from and north of Sacramento. I used the worsttttttttttttttttt English grammar of my lifeeeeeee. I kid you not, it was absolutely terrible!!!!!! I couldn’t believe it! I have no language. It was really funny though but sad because he started making fun of me big time.

The sun rises early now, in the summer sets at 11 and comes up around 3 or 4!! Lots of light.

We are visiting a menos activo, is 16 years old with a baby, their mom physically abuses them, anyway, a terrible terrible life. She came back to church last week and tried to come to conference but didn’t have a way to get there because there was only one building showing conference by the internet. She is really trying, I have seen such a big change with her since I have been here. She wants to have a good life but everything is against her .she is so cute but she needs love and something good in her life.

It is cool too, we have a baptism on Saturday, the stripper’s family. They have changed so much. The wife today said, I fell this is it, I have been baptized before but this is right. It is so cool. The son is stubborn but he is praying and wanting to learn and his prayers are the sweetest things I have ever heard. It is so awesome. The gospel is real and is here to change people and have them in their lives. It is awesome.

Conference was good, they showed the sac temple. It made me miss home. I hoe you enjoyed it, I watched it in Spanish and didn’t understand much. I hope you enjoyed it for me. It was good I think. I can’t wait for the ensign so I can actually read it and know what happened.

Next week is transfers. I don’t know what is going to happen ,I could go or stay. It is Wednesday the 11th. That means we will not have pday on Monday, it will be Wednesday the day of cambios.

Happy late bday to gran. Send me a list of bdays and recipes mom!!!!!!!!! Hope you sent me long johns, I don’t think it will ever be warm here.

Sorry to hear about Justin’s sun glasses, he is a weenie!

I am great. I have a cold and couldn’t sleep but such is life. No importa. My Spanish has it’s ups and downs. We are excited for our baptism this week and hope to have another family this month. I don’t have much more time. Thanks for the letters. Sorry I don’t have to time write everyone. Hope Chan and her fam is great. Hope they are enjoying life and her school is going great .pray for you all even if you are on the other side of the world. Until, Wednesday!!

Enjoy the pictures, next week I am putting them all on a cd and will email them home with what each one of them are. You will have to wait like a month but you can have patience. Hope the house cells. Congrats to Tara. Peace out

Snowmen Everywhere!

Jamie and her companion and unknown little person. We (LeAnne) sent strict intructions last week to label the pictures she sends. Guess she either hasn't gotten that letter yet or she is ignoring her sister. Usually the later! :) We received a registered letter today from her Mission President and wife with a picture of them and Jamie. That was really nice. I can tell you I am loving the email for blog purposes. I can cut and paste and add pictures. No more three to foue hours of trying to read her handwriting and typing it into the blog! Yeah for email!
Chile looks chili!


9-25-06

Well it has been awhile since I haven’t heard from all of you and you haven’t herd from me. Sorry about last week. It was their independence day and so they party for like three days, entonecs we had the entire day free and not just part of it. But we couldn’t email, I don’t know why. I had the sister in law of the bishop email you. She is super nice. She lived in Utah for three years and knows English as well as her son. She and her family are super great. They make more United States food. Which is good because otherwise we eat a lot of chicken and rice and potatoes. It was really nice of her to do that. I knew you would be super worried if you didn’t hear from me otherwise. So it was good. So last Monday we spent the entire day at the chapel. Our ward had an activity. They had so much food. They bbq´d. their bbq´s are like fire pits that they burn wood and then use to wood as the coals. So it takes a really long time. We ate so much food, so much food that is typical for here. It was good, different, but good. Tonssssssssssssssss of meat and you know how I love meat. I think the lord is blessing me with being able to eat all food, even though I don’t like it, like mushrooms and tons of meat! It was fun though. They also had a group come and dance their national dance. It was cool. I have pictures that I will try to send you of all of it.

Oh yeah, and we had like two inches of snow over night. It snowed like two days. I thought we were going into spring. It has been rainy and yucky all week. Apparently they didn’t even get this much rain in the winter, just cold. So it has been snowing, we are so lucky. We just bundle up.

So I actually had a lunch with the family of the bishop that I was able to have a conversation with them at the table. They were telling me how terrible robbery is here. And everyone and their brother have dogs to keep people away from their houses .their are more dogs here then people. Like a kid will be riding a bike and someone will push them off and steal their bike. Or if you have dangly earrings they will tear them off. They said here in Punta Arenas it is not the same but anywhere else in Chile it is terrible. Wow. They said we are okay here, better.

Dad you would love their empanadas, it is a mix of meat and onions and I don’t know what else because I don’t always understand. So good. They have them of cheese too. Super good of cheese and apples, they aren’t the typical ones though.

Oh man, when it snowed, everyone was out in the streets making snowmen. I haven’t seen so many snowmen ever and they were huge and really good. Everybody was outside. It was really cool. It is never as cold outside when it snows but still, snow nonetheless.

They have a ski resort here in Punta Arenas, it looks super tiny but still they have one. It made me want to go snowboarding. Oh so I learned a few manner things here. Like w hen you are eating at the table you don’t have one hand in your lap. I always do and didn’t even realize it was a manners thing, apparently so. They have both hands on the table at all times; otherwise it is rude or bad manners. They also always wear s hoes in their house. It is gross and rude for them to take their shoes off in their houses. At the same time not very many people really have carpet, some kind of indoor outdoor carpet but not like we do. Or their floors are just wood or I don’t know what it is. Since they always wear their shoes, most the time the floors are really dirty because lots of the streets are just dirt. So you guys would be grossed out at some of the houses. Sometimes I am and am just grateful I don’t live their only teaching. I have dad’s eye now, look at this, look at that. But there are too many things to look at.

We were supposed to have a mission conference last week but they didn’t come so we are having it today and tomorrow. Interviews with the pres and then tomorrow a conference. Hopefully I can understand some. general conference is this week and they are not playing it in English, so that will be interesting to say the least. We will see how it goes.

We went and taught this couple, she is a member he isn’t, he is 86, and she is like 76. It was like Wednesday or Thursday, and for the first time I actually taught a lot, I talked a lot. It just was coming out. I was sooo pumped. I was way pumped. It was a great day because I talked so much more than usual. We have really been trying to be obedient this week because the week before my Spanish wasn’t too great. As long as we are obedient the lord can help us. So we have made an extra effort to strict to the schedule. It has helped so much. I have noticed a huge difference in my Spanish this week.

We were teaching jean, a nine year old who’s family is getting baptized. He wasn’t receptive to us at all and stubborn. He finally prayed with us, before he was too embarrassed. It was the best prayer I have ever heard. It was so sincere and so sweet. I loved it. It was so cute. Seriously, he prayed for us and was grateful to learn from us an d for his family .it was good. So good, a miracle in itself this boy, he has really opened up, just needed a little attention

Our other investigador, luz, has been taught by missionaries forever. She straight up said, no al churches are the same, I am catholic and don’t want to change my religion, I is just a name. she won’t even pray and ask if anything is true but she comes to church and does her reading in the bom. Patience, no mas . we were a little taken back. I feel really comfortable with her and can talk with her pretty well. She is stubborn.

So we fasted this week for our investigators to progress and to find new families because we have been having a hard time finding new people to teach. We have had great days ever since. We taught soooooo much everyday since then. It has been awesome. We found a family that is super receptive. She said when she saw us she knew we were angels of the lord and that we have the truth. She has a lot of things in her life to work on, like she has kids because she was a prostitute, but that is why we have repentance. But she is perfect, she said she would read the whole bom If she has time. She is super receptive. It was great, and then we found an old lady, knocked on her door because she had one of our chruch´s pictures of Christ in her window. We found another family where the lady was super receptive. She just looked deep into your eyes while we talked, super interested and really wants to learn more. It has been great.

Oh so, transfers are every 6 weeks, October 11. Anything could happen, I could stay, we could both stay, I could leave, she could leave ,we have no idea.

We went to help one of our converts clean her house and she said, yeha you never worked at your house and then you came here and had to work. There is a stereotype that gringos never work. So I had to clear that one up and that I have always worked.

I can’t believe I have been here for four weeks already and in Chile five weeks. It has gone by so stinking fast. It is incredible.

So we sing, a tonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. We sing in every lesson. And I am such a great singer t hat is for sure. It is a good thing hermana arguto likes to sing and is good at it. And it is in Spanish so the tone is a little different. Sing a ton

Okay, so the moment you have been waiting for. I gave a talk in church yesterday1!!!!!!11 yes me, the one who doesn’t speak Spanish. They said that they understood everything that I said. Margot was in the audience, the one who knows English and when I would say a word incorrect and I would correct myself she would shake her head yes, like good job, yeah. It was funny .the funniest was that I said family instead of familia .it was hilarious, everyone laughed to themselves, I said sorry. It was really funny. I was really nervous .everyone congratulated me afterwards though. It was taught but I felt different afterwards. I felt more confident. I did my best not reading my talk. I didn’t a fairly good job not reading it. We had 6 investigatrd at church too so I wanted it to be good but it was good because they were cheering me on at the same time. They were really nice. Church was exhausting because we had so many investigators and my adrenaline form the talk. It was great thought. I talk a lot more then I did. I am feeling a lot more comfortable with it. My comp has the gift of interpretation of tongues which is good. I understand a ton more eat the same time. I actually am having conversations without hna agurto which is hugeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Holy sow is huge. But it feels so good .it is a miracle. I pray for help with it everyday. After the take, I felt so much more confidant.

We did service the other day and wore jeans, I felt so weird, almost uncomfortable.

We did service the other day and wore jeans, I felt so weird, almost uncomfortable. It was really weird, I haven’t worn pants in a month or more.

So my comp wants some reeses, she loves it, and soft chocolate chip cookies.

Will you send me two fitted sheets. I don’t know why they said no to begin with.

The most important is will you send me my other set of scriptures, my blue ones. They have so many notes in them that I want now. They are in a box somewhere. They have notes about the history of the church and in the church there is not much info in Spanish. I really really really want that. Please.

I got some letters from you today and one from Tracie, I will read them later. Tell everyone hello. Send me a list of everyone’s b’days. Have you gotten my letter yet, I sent it when we first got here and sent lael one about two weeks ago and am sending another one today from last week when we could only write by hand and you can find out what happened last week in about a month or however long it takes for it to get to you. Sorry about last week but you will have to wait.

I am doing great though. It is going fast and they feed us a ton. This week I have done a lot better with the language, miracle and blessing from god that is for sure. Hna has been surprised how much more I talk. I still have tons to learn and tons further to go but still. It is great. it is cold here but I wear tons of clothes. You can send my more nylons, knee highs though, more long johns, mom yours are big on me but I will probably fill them out by the time I leave here because we eat so much. Apparently only here in Punta Arenas they feed to gosh darn much. The lord has blessed us this week with lots of work and lots of teaching and me with understanding soooo much more. The photos aren’t really working today so sorry you didn’t really get to see anyway. I will try more tomorrow and eventually will sned you a cd with them all. Take care hope al is well. Can’t wait to read your letters . I am forgetting more and more English, had to look in my dictionary for an English word, my life is so sad. Well, I’m out, love Jamie, how weird, someone said my first name the other day and was so weird.

No Letter this Week :(

Mom - I´m sorry but we are not allowed to write by email this week because it is 18 de Septiembre and it is dangerous to be out because of drunks. We have the entire day off. I´m having a member write so you won´t be worried.
I´ll write next week. I´ll write by hand this week.
Love,
Jamie
DON´T WORRY!

(She had said earlier that Sept 18 is their Independence Day. )

Life is Great!

Our Jamie! She looks Good!

Puenta Arenas

Jamie Kissing Toes

She found a Pratt Street! She looks Cold!

Hola 9-11-06

I hope you guys had a great week even though I haven’t heard from this week. I can print out your letters so I can read them later and write as much as I can in my little time we have hear. We have had an interesting week to say the least. Don’t worry I am infamous, I lost my cable for my camera to download photos, but don’t you worry, we went to un franco, a mall and bought another one, they even have my mismo camera, the same one. So, I am downloading pictures to send right now. Oh yes, don’t you worry it snowed this morning, quite a lot really. Apparently it is really unusual for her to snow in septiembre, don’t worry not too cold. However we walked outside of the store and holy crap, it blew us across the side walk!! It was so strong, we had to hold on to each other as we walked, it was like walking tilted over, crazy! Que chistoso, funny.

Oh so I was going to tell you, they have this mix called ecco here, it is like coffee but without all the bad stuff. It is disgusting but I imagine tastes just like coffee. Everybody drinks it and loves it, yuck, I don’t but oh well. You should look I it up on the internet and buy it for granny!

So last week we went to lider, It Is a store like wal mart. They have everything. We ate at the furthest south McDonalds in the world. They have everything here that we can get at home, same brands even and mostly in English tambien. Es bueno, it is good. Oh they have this dulce de leche spread called manjar, super bueno. They have it in ice cream too, mmm, rico! Yummy. We met up with the other sisters in the zone, there are four of us and we did our shopping with them and hugn out. One of them is Chilean and the other is a gringa. So I could talk engilsh, which is good and bad because then I feel bad no one else can understand but then I can understand. They are super fun though, I really like them. We have like 25 sum odd missionaries here in Punta Arenas.


So, this is our schedule, at six thirty we get up and exercise for a half our, get ready, eat and by 8 we do personal study for an hour, then companion study for like half hour or so, plan the day, read the book of Mormon out loud in Spanish for me, some days service in the morning or district meetings, blah blah. 12:30 is lunch with members then back to the house for practice time of the lessons and study the language until 3. From 3 to 930 we are out teaching and visiting people. Keeps us busy that is for darn sure. I am so tired by the time night comes, holy cow, I have no problems falling asleep at night. It is good though, means I am working hard, right.

This week was the first time I had the opportunity to knock doors, nobody was home, nobody on the streets and so we knocked doors. Nobody wanted us but nobody was home either. I wore my pedometer the last couple of days we walked between 6 and 8 miles each day. I haven’t worn it too much but I am going to for awhile just out of curiosity. It is fun. My comp likes it too. Those 6 and 8 miles are dang hilly miles too. We have a very very very hilly sector. I like it though. With how much they feed me here, I need it. Man they feed me so much, I have learned the phrase, can I have less please. Holy cow, one day I wanted to vomit because they fed me so much.

So I am understanding more and more each day, little by little. When the spirit is there I can understand so much. When it isn’t I am lost. I am teaching a little more in the lessons. I can teach the lessons, I just can’t follow a conversations so if someone says something then I am lost and can’t do anything else. My comp has to have patience, she is really good with it. She is really good at listening, responding to their doubts and questions, knowing the scriptures and teaching with the spirit. We have an investigator named Africa. She has dreams, really amazing ones. Like she dreamed about things in the doctrine and covenants that no one had ever told her before. She is having a hard time believing or admitting that she knows the truth about the church. We are fasting with her and her family today. I really like their house because when we teach her the spirit is there. One day I followed the entire lesson, it was amazing. I was able too even answer questions. It was so cool. She is really patient with me as well and tries to help me and encourages me, it is awesome. Her five year old daughter loves me, as well with all the kids because of the color of my hair, she always wants to play with my hair while hna agurto teaches. Anyway, I didn’t totally know what was going on but the spirit prompted me to tell her that I know she knows the truth, it is simply recognizing it, we had a really good lesson with her last night too. I know the spirit is there because I can talk and understand. Her family is fasting with us and hopefully they will finally admit and recognize what they already know. It is awesome

We have a family with baptism date the 22. They just moved next door to us. Our house is like a granny unit behind a real house and then theirs is the other granny unit next to us. It is so funny that our investigators are right next door to us. They are so awesome. Hna says they have changed too much, he was a stripper and had cheated on his wife, and they have two kids. Now you can tell he truly cares about his family and he came to church yesterday with his kids alone. He really is a great guy, he invited us over for breakfast yesterday when they don’t really have anything. He is Sergio and she is Paula. Paula is so excited to learn; we are having them teach us a lesson on Wednesday and showed them the index in the back of the Book of Mormon to search topics. She is so excited, it is awesome. I just wish I could talk more and share my excitement. Most the time I don’t know what happened and then we leave and hna explains it to me.

It is so funny because I am one of the tallest people here, everybody is so chicatito, so tinny. The people are so humble here, they only have what they need and no more. Like Sergio and Paula have a family of four and one bedroom, kitchen and bathroom nothing else, their living room is their bedroom too. We have so much in the states, everyone. It is amazing how little they have but they don’t need anything more. Nobody has dryers, I’ve seen one and few have washers. Apparently we are the only ones in the entire mission that have a washing machine in our house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Entire mission!!! The church didn’t buy one, simply was a gift from someone moving. Way lucky!


It is so awesome when we teach someone new for the first time and they pray. Most people are catholic so they don’t really pray other then set prayers. It is so powerful and so awesome to hear them do it and how sincere they are. It is awesome, it is one of my favorite parts. It is so cool to see the little I have seen of how Christ can change people’s lives and how it can bring so much more peace and happiness into their lives. It is awesome. Most of the members in the ward are members for less than a year and to be able to see how strong they are in the church is so cool. I love it. It is really hard to learn people’s names in Spanish though.

We have members come with us to teach and it is so much fun. We have had some girls who are going on missions soon come with us. It is amazing how much better it is to have investigators know the members. Dad you should go with the elders sometimes. It is so much better to have someone other than a missionary bare testimony and share more experiences.

It is funny to because they listen to music in English, they are all old songs but it is funny because they don’t understand and sing anyway. I hear English a lot with music, they blast it. It is interesting too that it is too expensive to have real phones and so everyone has cell phones. The people here loveeeeeeeee to talk, they will tell you their entire life story on the street, I’m sure it is good I don’t´ understand. They spill their hearts out and can talk forever. Oh

Oh so with the whole kissing thing, I had my first on the lips the other day by a ten year old. It was hilarious!!!1 so funny, I think I need to be sent home. It was hilarious, he went for it and I went for his cheek. So funny. It is funny to the people are so lazy when they point to something, instead of using their hand or fingers, they use their lips, it is so funny, I make fun of hna agurto for doing it.

Oh yeah, we only have church for 2hours and 15 minutes. In all of Chile they have it shorter, it is crazy, no complaints, I don’t ,mind because I don’t understand anyway.

I am loving it. I don’t understand too much but I love it still the same. Some times are harder then others. Some people I can understand almost everything, others nothing. Depends on the person and how much slang they use. It is amazing though that I can talk all day in Spanish and for the most part get my point across. Poor hna, she has to listen to terrible Spanish all the time. I know the lord is blessing me with the language, it is getting easier to speak Spanish, like easier to form my words in Spanish, I truly know what it is like to have your tongue loosened, literally, like to be able to roll r´s. I am working at it, hna thinks I am obsessive with the language and need to rely more on the spirit, which is true when I teach. She is awesome, very frank and blunt but says what I need to hear so it is good.

So sept 18th is their liberty day, independence day I mean. We get like three days off because it is such a party, there is an all day party at the church with their dances and food and all. It will be awesome. But is dangerous for us to be out at night because there are a lot of drunks in our area and nobody is home because they are partying. We will have some fun, I bought a Chile shirt.

What else can I tell you. I really like it here in Punta Arenas, I wear six or seven layers of clothing. Oh they eat cereal with yogurt. They don’t really have milk, powdered milk and some in a cardboard carton that doesn’t need refrigerated. Weird, things are simple here, the people don’t have much. Our bishop and his family is awesome but the ward is small and really struggling with things like tithing and just having faith to go to church. A very small ward. I just keep praying to understand the language. It is amazing how far I have come though. I can hear words now, more then just noise, which is a huge step in the right direction. I may not know the words but I can hear them, apparently I said a really ugly one yesterday though and had no idea until everyday was laughing. Oh well, what can you do. I am teaching everyone peace out. Oh the son of Africa, mattias came to church with us alone yesterday, he loved it and loved primary made friends. It was great, he was so excited and can’t wait to come back. Hopefully that will be encouragement to get his parents there. It was awesome, he remembered my first name and called me it and it was soooooooooo weird. They say Jamie really funny. It is so weird they say Pratt differently and now so do it. It is so weird. I say it with a Spanish accent. It is weird to change my name and realize I do it too. Funny though. Such is life.

Will you email lyndi and give her the blog address, lyndi¬vee@hotmail.com. Thanks you are a gem Tell everyone hello and to email me I want to hear all about everyone. How all is going and what is new. I don’t have much else to say. I am doing awesome and learning soooooooooo much, about the gospel and Spanish. The investigators are teaching me things through their faith and thoughts. It is so powerful to teach a family and see it change their lives and I have seen nothing because I have been here so short. I just wish that everyone would see the importance and really understand what Christ can do in their lives and how the gospel brings you to Christ and he has a plan and through his plan we can have so much more happiness. I wouldn’t be in a country where I don’t understand anything and won’t for a few more months and put myself through humility and embarrassment because I don’t understand and can’t talk if I didn’t think it was that important. I tried to say the first vision for the first time and got to embarrassed and nervous and forgot it, what a shame, the second time I did it though. It is so hard, so nerve racking.

Oh mom, send me some of those hot chilly long johns, style hc 9400, cut 5414, womens small bottoms, they are the best and tight. Whenever you get a chance and come into season there. Enjoy the pictures, I hope they went through. Life is great, I pray for you all the time, I know the lord is watching over you and taking care of you as well as he is taking care of me!! Oh dad, we had the best nuts covered in honey, hot too, from a vender, you would have loveddddddd them, I thought of you the whole time I ate em. I am going to get fat, don’t be surprised!

Love you all, hope all is well. I’ll write next week!! Peace out, chao!!

Love, hna Jamie m Pratt