Now I translate!

10/27/2007

Mom, someone was talking the other day and they were making me think. We should get hooked up so we can go and see the glaciers that would be way cool. We should try to do that. Or do whatever it is that we can do.

So it was funny, a couple of weeks ago we were in the church and next week is stake conference and the general authority is coming, he is a part of the area presidency in Chile and the stake pres asked if I could translate for his wife. I thought that was funny. I was like, um me, but, okay, it is just really weird that I really can speak another language. I forget that other people can’t understand them here. It is weird because I understand. I just think that everybody should.

So, it is interesting being with a newbie. There are there pros and cons. She is funny because she does everything I do. She just says that she will obey me! JJJ don’t worry, I don’t take advantage of that, I am not like that. But the bummer part is they think sooooooo much about their family. Los Latinos never have been away from home before in their life and so this is the very first time and they miss home like crazy. And I don’t understand that, because I have never missed home. I have never been home sick. But things are great.

Mom, will you send me Christmas music. Last Christmas I didn’t have anything to listen to and I would like to this Christmas, that would be great, thanks.

Erica, don’t worry about you guys coming, there are no problems with that. I would love to see you guys. You don’t have to ask me permission, but granted if I want to go and do something, I can, like go running and exercise, I will need to be doing a lot of that when I get home.

thanks for making fun of me lael that I don’t know what a wii is. nobody has explained it to me still!!

So, because I had just barely written I don’t have a whole lot of news this week. I have decided that because our sector here is so incredibly difficult we need to do something different. So I copied what Melanie says that she does all the time. We have stopped people in the streets, as always, como siempre y hemos cantado, cantamos tengo gozo en mi alma hoy, imaginese, yo! It is so funny. Pero a la gente le gusta mucho y hemos sacado muchas direcciones, asi que funciona, solo tiene que tener el valor de hacerlo. Ya, so we have been stopping the peopel in the street and we have been singing to them there is sunshine in my soul today, meeee, ya me, but it has been really good and they want us to go to their house afterwards. It has really worked because when you sing hymns you really can feel the spirit. It was great.

yeah, it is funny with my comp, teaching her about the culture too, the food, stores, Spanish, their slang, their words, their everything. it makes me laugh because I think, what do I know, I feel like I am still new and people are teaching me. it is sooooooooooooooooo crazy, I can’t believe that this is my second to last cambio on the mission, boy does time fly by.

thanks for everything. appreciate all you guys do for me. I took out money to buy shoes. see you guys later!! nos vemos!!

A Fresh Start for My Mission

10/24/2007

hello to all. Can I tell you how exhausted i am today!!!!!!!!!! ay ay ay!!
bueno, les cuento entonces. pero voy a contar en español para que no entientan!! soy mala. bueno, todavia estoy aqui en osorno. mi compañera se fue, it was a relieve. no podia hacerlo mas, fue una prueba tannnnnnnnnn grande. estoy entrenando otra vez. crazy! no puedo creerlo. mi comp es de el salvador, how cool is that.

Yah so I was just saying that my compaino left today and I am in osorno. But my comp needs to write her family even though it isn’t p-day, so I will be writing on Saturday too, lucky bums. It is an exception today because my companion is new and just got her, I am training again. She is a newbie and is from El Salvador. How cool is that. She is awesome. You can just feel it when you meet your comp how it is going to be and it will be awesome with her, we are going to have a great time. I am going to be able to teach her a lot of Chilean things. She says I already have the Chilean accent, and I said of course, I was born in punta arenas and am Chilean already. I love saying that to the people because nobody believes me. I am pumped to be with her, I think I got the best one of the bunch. we had two sisters stay the night at our house last night because one was training and was coming from way far away. It was a lot of fun, something different, a little sleep over. But I am exhausteddddddddddd today. It was sooo hot here yesterday, like 20 degrees but not in what we use, Celsius. It was warm, I don’t´ know the conversion, or maybe 22. Today it is way cold, windy and rainy, I left yesterday for the first time in foreverrrrrrrrrrr without long johns, I think like 5 times on my mission I haven’t worn long johns and my jackets, pocas veces. So I am a happy camper, we are going to have a great time. It was great to see the other hermansa, one that I am going to end with, she is awesome and so much fun. So I had a bunch I was going to tell you guys but now I don’t remember I wrote it all down but now I don’t have it all with me.

Tough Week

10/20/2007

Well, where do I begin. First of all. Thank you nana and papa for the prayers and putting my name on the temple roll, that was nice of you.

Well, with my week. I don't know what is going on with me. We all know that I have never been a stressed person, I think before the mission I had never been stressed before. I always critized mom and couldn’t understand how she could be stressed. I have been stressed for a long time now, in this cambio. I feel the stress everyday, I feel the tension in my body in my mind, everything. I have had a constant headache for two weeks now. I am having one of the biggest trials of my life inside of me. Trying to give things to the lord and let him take care of me.

I did have a special experience this week in my personal studies. I had gotten all worked up about something; my companion has changed in a couple of things but keeps going the same in most things. So she did something and I got a little hot, and we know I really never get mad either. So that is also something foreign to me that I am learning how difficult it really is to deal with these feelings and emotions. Anyway. So I have prayed, fasted, and studied and then some. Saturday night last week I didn’t sleep at all, our neighbors had a party and I heard things nobody ever wants to hear. I didn’t sleep. Then the time changed and nobody told us that it was changing. So we got to church at 10 but it really was 11 and we got there for the end of the sacrament meeting, and I was sooooooooooo looking forward to sacrament meeting. Well, the story goes on and on. So Tuesday morning I was fried. I needed comfort, peacefulness in my heart, a comfort, something, I needed the spirit again, I was longing for it. So I was studying and prayed and studying and praying. As I was doing that I heard a small voice tell me, I will take care of you and all the bad feelings in my heart went away. I was left with that peacefulness that I was looking for. I was able to go to the district meeting with the spirit and feel it strongly and participate in the meeting this week. I was soo comforted. I have also learned that Satan is strong and those feelings don’t last forever unless you work at it. I have just been so down in the dumps. I am sick of working by myself. I have written down everything I am thankful for and tried everything to be happy. The elders keep telling me what I need to do to make things better. For the first time in my life I feel like I have reached my limit. I am being stretched sooooooo much this time. I feel like the little things they are asking me to do are things that are not within my limits anymore. The AP called me last night to ask how we were and how things are doing and I asked him if he was calling and asking and giving me advice because we need to work things out because we will be staying together, they are in the process of doing the cambios right now. And he laughed but can’t say yes or no. but still. I cried myself to sleep last night because I don’t know what else I have in me. I am so tired. I know that Satan is working on my soooooooooooo strongly. I was meditating again yesterday a lotttttttttttttttt and I just put my head down on the table and just prayed and poured it all out to the lord. It was amazing. I felt such warmth around me and pictured the lord with his arms around me. I know he knows what I am going through; I know he is there for me. I don’t want to carry my own burden and then I give it to him and then something happens. It is a constantttttttttttttttttttttttttttt battle. I know I am going to come about a better person in the end.
Today, I was studying and I had no clue what to study. I just sat and opened my triple wherever it would open and read whatever popped out, the lord real was communicating to me through those scriptures. I really found comfort in what he was trying to tell me. Something’s seem impossible for me to do, but I know with him they aren’t impossible. The part really stuck out just ENDURE TO THE END, to the end of everything. That means, I have no clue if I will be with my companion for a few more days or six more weeks. I don’t know. But if it is only for a few more days then I am going to make them the best few days ever. I would hate to look back for the rest of my life and leave things on a bad note and remember that I had just given up in the end, that I got worn out and just pooped out. No, I want to remember that I went fighting to the end and that Satan didn’t win us over to ruin the work of the lord. That is the last thing I want. I just pray that my headache goes away, that I can find more peace in my heart and joy. And that I can get rid of this stress that I have and feel.
So, in a nutshell that is me for this week.
So Wednesday are the cambios. If I stay here in osorno I will not write on Wednesday because it is not our p-day. If I get transferred and go somewhere else I will write on Wednesday. But if I stay, even if my companion goes or stays I will not be able to write. You will all just have to wait.
Thank you for all that you guys do for me, your love, prayers, letters, thoughts, everything. I really appreciate it. I am so blessed to have the family that I have and to have the friends that I have. I am so lucky. I don’t know what I have done in my life to receive so many blessings and to have so much. I know that god really is our heavenly father and I know that he really does love us more than we can imagine. I know that god lives and so does Jesus Christ. I love my heavenly father and am soooo grateful to him. I love Jesus Christ and the happiness and hope that he gives us in this life. I am so grateful for the scriptures and how god can communicate with us through them. I am so grateful to be on the mission and to learn soooooo much and see sooooo clearly what I have to change and how I can be a better person. I love this work. I love really and truly what I am doing. And I love getting to know the people here in Chile and doing all I can do to help them to be happy. I love the power of prayer and that through the Holy Ghost we really can receive answers and have personal revelation. It is real, I know with all my heart it is.

Mom, dad, thanks for teaching me all of these things so that I could be so blessed to share them with other people.

Take care all.
Love, hna Jamie Pratt

Osorno

I always have done a little write up on the city where Jamie is living at the time. I am a little behind with the info on Osorno. What's new huh? So here goes!

Osorno Volcano

Cathedral desde Plaza de Armas

Osorno, city in south central Chile, capital of Osorno Province, at the confluence of the Rahue and Damas rivers, in the heart of the lake district. A road hub on the main railroad line, it is a tourist center and gateway to the numerous lake and mountain resorts to the east and southeast and to the Argentine national parks across the Andes Mountains. Called the Pearl of the South, Osorno is a trading center of agricultural valleys in which wheat, oats, livestock, and timber are raised. Industries in the city include meat processing, flour milling, sawmilling, brewing, and the manufacture of agricultural equipment and dairy products. Osorno was first founded in 1553, on the site of the Native American village of Chauracahuin, by Spanish conquistadores under Pedro de Valdivia; it was originally called Santa Marina de Gaete. After the original settlement was abandoned, the site was resettled in 1558 and named San Mateo de Osorno. Destroyed by the Araucanian tribe in 1602, it was reestablished (1776-1796) on the orders of Ambrosio O'Higgins, Irish soldier of fortune and father of Bernardo O'Higgins. In the late 19th century an influx of German settlers spurred growth, and in 1895 the railroad reached the city. Population (1998) 141,468

More Trials then Miracles Happen!

10/13/2007

Yeah, dad thanks for your advice but we are the only sisters around here. The closest ones are about an hour away. So that makes things difficult to do divisions or splits. But such is life.
So what is this thing that dad has this, wii, I have nooooooooooooooooooo clue what on earth it is. I am out of the loop, I have no clue. Sorry, I am a missionary bien enfocada en la obra del señor. Anway. Erica, I go the blog this week and the picture of Allison, it was really cute. Thanks for the blog, Ii was really cute, I read through it and looked at all the pictures, there are some good ones on there.

So, I thought that I was going to die this week. It was one of the hardest things ever. I am soooooooooooooooooo sick of talking to the president, I am sick of interviews and going to his house. I had three interviews with him this week, talked to him on the phone like every day. I am soooooo over it. My companion is incredible sometimes. Lets just say that I have never been insulted and treated so poorly like I have been by some of my companions on the mission, the worst Is that you live together and you are supposed to have the spirit and how does that work out. I was dumbfounded by some of the things that she told me. I just took it and let her say what she wanted. Then the pres chewed her out pretty good I am sure. I asked her why on earth she said all those things to me that were jus t lies but most of the below the belt and hurt a lot. She said she didn’t know. Pres says it is like laman and lemuel with nephi. They knew the truth, they had testimonies, were just wicked. He say s that my compaino is my most important convert. I told him that if she was an investigator I would have left her already and stopped going by . she hasn’t been willing at all the take the blame or responsibility and shoves everythingggggggggggg off on me. But anyway, I don’t want to sit and complain about her, maybe when you have a few hours one day I can tell you all about it and you wouldn’t believe me. So, she has been good for a couple of days. I have been sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo stressed in everything and we all know that I am not stressed person, frustrated and upset and we all know that i don’t get mad either. A lot of things have happened in this last month. We know I don’t yell either but I was talking to her fairly firmly and stern. But the pres talked to her for a long long time and I think things will be moving up.

We had a miracle happen this week, it was so awesome because I have missed soooooooooo much doing what normal missionaries do and working by the spirit and seeing the small miracles every day. So we went on divisions, my companion went t with an hna and the hna allen, the senior missionary that we lived with , she went out with me and her husband with the elders. So we were way far away from the house and here you just walk and it was getting late and all of our appointments had fallen through, nobodyyyyyyyyyyyyyy was home . so I decided we would walk back towards home and go by a lady name veronica. So we headed down. One of the elders over a month ago was teaching a couple that lives in our sector and we have tried for over a month to find them and teach them. We were walking down the road to the other lady’s house and we had passed the house of this couple, but really passed it, one or two houses down, and all of a sudden I turned around and said, lets see if they are home and there is light on. So I went all the way back and their light was on. So we knocked, It was such an impulsive decision. They were there and let us in. hna allen doesn’t speak Spanish and she doesn’t understand it either. But we had theeeeeeeeeeee most spiritual les son and talked about the restoration. When I repeated the first vision It was amazing, the spirit was sooooooooo strong, hna allen bore a testimony so powerful. It was great. It was one of the best lessons I have had in a really long time, the spirit was sooooooo strong and they were so receptive. The wife is five months prego and they have only been together for a year and have kids with other people and aren’t married. So she walks us out, like they always do. And there on the doorstep she starts crying. She thanked us for going by because we were an answer to her prayer. She said before we got there they had been fighting hugeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, and that s he was going to leave him for good but was waiting for god to give her an answer if that is really what she needed to do and that is when we got there and she knew it was her answers and that more and more she is seeing the our church is the true church and the book of mormon really is the word of god. It was so awesomeeeeeeeeeeeee.. to think that really god answered her prayers through us and that I listened and did what the spirit told me to do w hen I needed to do it. It all worked out soooooooooooooo perfectly. It was so awesome. It was such a spiritual experience. God really loves us and takes care of us. After a month of trying to find them and then right in the perfect moment we found them at the end of the day when we were heading towards the house and going to some one else’s house. It was awesome. I loved it, it pumped me up huge.

Mom, I was told by someone that goes to punta arenas all the time, the hotels here just aren’t the same like at home. And if you buy tickets for inside of chile instead of chile it is cheaper, but if you buy them from the states they charge you more. So if a Chilean buys them they are cheaper. Interesting. I don’t know where I would like to go to church here in chile. Just wherever we are going to be will be fine I am sure. It would be fun to go with Alejandra and her family but if it Isn’t´ like that it is no big deal. Whatever is fine with me.

mom ,thanks for all of your hard work, thanks for all you are doing for me. so that i can be able to see all the awesome people from here again before i won’t know when i will be able to see them again. thanks or your help. hope all is well at home. until next week, next Saturday. love , hna pratt

Learn from Trials

This is hard to see...but these are her shoes with holes in the soles and the small pebbles (rocks) she has removed from walking.

I have sent her a new pair of shoes that she requested!

10/06/2007

Well, I am sorry I don’t write longer letters, there are just less new things. Things are the same ole same ole. Lately I haven’t really wanted to write much because I haven’t had too many good things to say. I have really had some hard times since I have been here in osorno. I have had a really really hard time with my companion this go around. It has been terrible. I have never talked to the president so much. The other day we even went to his house so she could talk to him. So it is just better not to mention much. I have never met anyone so incredibly dependent. And we all know how independent I am and how I just don’t have patience for that. But in the last two days things have gotten a little better. I have had a huge struggle within myself. Because I know that the bad feelings are my fault. When I get frustrated, when I don’t have the spirit, when I let her bug me. It is just so hard. But I am doing better. She is gotten better with some things too. On top of it all it is so hard when your companion takes away your agency, if she doesn’t want to work, neither can I. so that is why I have been so frustrated, I told her to quit wasting my mission, she can waste hers but not mine too. But things are much better.

Osorno is very very difficult. We have walked and walked and walked. It is incredible how much we have walked. We are in our own house now. It is cold again. It got a little warm and now cold and rainy again. It is spring time though. I miss the Allen’s, the couple missionaries. They are so awesome. They were like family, I miss chatting with them, they are great. I was very blessed to be with them, they helped me sooooooo much. It was amazing. They have taken care of us so much. I loved getting to know them. Yeah, so really I have zero time today because we have conference and it takes away our entire p-day but what can you do.

This time in my mission, since I have been in osorno has been one of the hardest times yet. For me, I have been stressed a lot. I am doing my best in doing here what the lord sent me to do. I miss teaching. We really don’t have investigators. I miss helping the people, focusing on them, studying for them, sharing my testimony with them, my love for them and the love that god has for them. I miss the normal things that you do on the mission other than just walking. Yesterday we didn’t even enter a house, we walked all afternoon and evening. But after the trails of your faith come the blessings. I just want to be happy again and be able to have investigators. I know the lord has protected us from these people here these last few weeks because we weren’t prepared for them, he didn’t want to ruin their chance. Hopefully we can get our act together so the lord can lead us to these people. We have seen a few small miracles. It is amazing how the lord puts us in people’s paths or how he puts them in our paths so we can find them and help them. I have never talked to sooooooooooooooooo many people in one day at a time. It is incredible. But I do love the mission. It is interesting how my challenges on the mission have changed in this year. A year ago I was in putna arenas and my challenge was with Spanish and I was with my good friend hna agurto. Now, the lord is refining me more and more by the trials I am faced with. But that is why we are here on the earth. I recognize it and accept it and only want to get through it with his help, he is working on me so much, and softening my heart.


happy birthday to kaylee!!

happy birthday to tracie!! tracie you have the same bday as my friend alejandra here!!