yeahhhhhhh......

HOLA MI FAMILIA Y AMIGOS. LES EXTRAÑO MUCHO. YA PO.

I LOVE YOU GUYS. Thanks for the emails!!! I love love love them!!! ALSO I'd like to make a public statement to my favorite Cambodian, Sistaa Davee--Chloe, you can use lines from Nacho Libre whenever you want. 

SO. This week. Let's start with the fact that I hit FIVE MONTHS in Chile!! (Well...okay...technically tomorrow. But five months ago today I boarded the plane and left Mexican soil.) That is crazy. Missionaries talk about how their missions fly, but I never bought it...well. Here I am. Living it. I know my mom will never say that the time passed in the blink of an eye, but you would not believe how little time feels when you're doing something you love...and also doing the thing that has challenged you more than anything else in your entire life! 

I'm loving being companions with Hermana Kenney. We laugh all the time...BUT, may I just repeat that we work really hard, too. I truly am enjoying the mission! Something that I really love about our companionship is that we are always trying to change things up. If we're not having success one day, we just turn to each other and figure out what we're going to change in that moment, then we change it! And it's a pattern of changing, changing, changing...

The best change we've made has been in...our exercise habits. (Hear me out.) 

As missionaries, we have thirty minutes of exercise every morning, right as soon as we get out of bed. We have gone running a few times (twice,) we've done some lifting (chocolate into our mouths,) and we've stretched a lot (laid on our backs and stared at the ceiling.) (I call these my "guilty-conscience-parenthesis.") Anyway, one day I put on a skirt that's always bothered me because it sags...and guess what? It fit me just right. That was the moment we decided that something must be changed about our exercise habits. 

We were contemplating what to do while we were proselyting, and Hermana Kenney asked me what motivates me. I told her chocolate. 

Wednesday morning, we started from the thirteenth floor down the stairs to the first, and on every floor we left two fun-sized snickers bars. We then made the ascent to our room by the stairs, gathering the snickers as we climbed. The end result? We made it. WE MADE IT. THIS IS MY LIFE PEOPLE. I RAN UP THIRTEEN FLIGHTS OF STAIRS WITH AN ARMFUL OF SNICKERS. THIS WORKED. 

(Hey, Mom.)

Speaking of chocolate, there is this cupcake thing here that is a crappy mimic of hostess cupcakes (yes, I just said a crappy mimick of hostess cupcakes...like hostess cupcakes aren't crappy to begin with...) They're called "penguinos." Anyway, one day we were starving, so Hermana Kenney and I bought snacks. I chose penguinos, and she bought this chocolate bar that we thought was going to be good, but it actually tasted like 90-year-old bubble gum. Anyway, there were two penguinos, and I had already eaten one, so I offered her the other. She said she didn't want to take my food, but I insisted, and she finally took it. Then we took a few steps more, and I sarcastically said, "...hey wait have you seen my other penguino...?" 

There was a little struggle, but in the end she managed to smash this penguino cupcake on my face. Very thoroughly. I guess I deserved it. I'm a punk.

Sister Kenney and Sister Thomas.

As for the people we've taught, we've had a few break-throughs. One of our conversos recientes opened up to us about some problems she's been having with the Word of Wisdom, and we were so happy that she chose to confide in us. She reminds me a lot of my little sisters! We're going to work with her on that. It was a really cool experience, because it was my turn to share the scripture, and while I was flipping through my Libro de Mormón, the scripture about "men are free to act for themselves, and not to be acted upon" came to my mind. I haven't read that scripture in a really long time, but I'd marked it near the beginning of my mission for some reason...if I hadn't done that, I don't think I would have been able to find it in spanish! But after we shared that scripture, the spirit moved her to share with us this challenge she's been having. She even asked us if we'd planned that scripture to share. When we told her no, she said that it was exactly what she needed to hear. I know that the Lord is working through me--and every other missionary in the world--to help his children on the earth through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I had another experience this week that I absolutely loved--Hermana Kenney and I randomly decided to put a whole day aside during the week to just contact and find new people to teach. We chose Friday, and we decided not to plan any citas fijas on that day if we could help it. Before Friday came, however, we found ourselves with seven new people to teach already! That's a pretty good number to have by that time of the week. Anyway, as soon as we started out Friday morning, we got a call from Hermana Jett (the mission nurse) asking if we could hurry to the hospital and stay with an hermana who was going in for surgery later that day. She didn't have a companion, and also didn't want to be alone for the hours leading up to her operation...she was nervous! So Hermana Kenney and I went over to the hospital to be her companions. We spent about four hours with her while she was a little drugged in her hospital bed, just talking with her and singing hymns. I think she really liked us by the end, because she turned to us, and in her druggy-state, said, "you guys are fun." (In Spanish.) In these few hours with this hermana that I'd never met before, I really developed a love for her. When we had to leave at night, we each took her hands and gave them big squeezes and assured her that everything would be fine, that she didn't have to worry. She said thank you about a million times. I learned how just serving and being there for someone is the best way that we can feel Christ-like love for even strangers. I loved that day so much. As we were walking back to our sector, my companion and I were talking about how amazing it is that we just happened to have this whole day wide open, and how the Lord had already blessed us with new people to teach the days before. I know He prepared us to have the time and ability to give this service to one of His other valiant missionaries.

The Lord is in every aspect of the work! I know it. In these six months I have seen so many miracles and I've seen His hand in every one of them. I wish I could put exactly what I want to say in this email, but words can't express how grateful I am to be an instrument in the Lord's hands, and to share this happiness I feel with the people here in Chile.

I feel like this was one of my less-eloquently-written letters...sorry about that! I'm a little tired. BUT HEY. ARE YOU ALL READING THE BOOK OF MORMON? I'm not just talking to my family...I'm talking to everyone reading this letter! Mormon or not! Go read it. Why not? Try it out. I promise your life will be blessed, and you can have a little taste of the happiness I have felt every single day for the last...six months and ten days! 

I LOVE YOU ALL WITH ALL MY HEART. Keep reading and praying and going to church and being AWESOME and also emailing me please!

LOVE, Hermana Thomas!

That sloths going down.....:-)

Well, well, well. Another week, another letter to write, am I right? Let's get down to the nitty gritty. (Sorry, Chloe. Let's save the Nacho references for someone qualified to use them.) (Just kidding. I got a kick out of your last letter.)

First of all, I have had two dreams interesting (THAT JUST HAPPENED. THAT JUST HAPPENED. For those of you unfamiliar with spanish, the noun always goes before the adjective. THAT just happened...) ANYWAY I have had two INTERESTING DREAMS in the last week. I had the first one on Tuesday...I dreamed that I completed my full mission and I still only spoke spanish as well as I did after my first transfer in the field. So that was a big NIGHTMARE. Then my second dream happend on Saturday night...I dreamed that I went home after my mission but it had only felt like six months instead of 18 months. And while I was excited to see everyone, I WAS SO SAD. I wanted to be back out in the field! When I woke up, it felt so real, I laid in bed and just soaked in the disappointment of it all. Then I realized...YAY! I still have another wonderful year left! 

NOT that I don't miss all of your GUTS, but...wow! That was the first time I've honestly felt like I didn't want to go home. And it was actually a really good feeling. I've been waiting to want to be here forever! This last change has really been incredible, I've learned so much and grown a ton...I can't believe I've been out for a full third of my mission!

Kenna's 1/2 pound Reeces Peanut Butter Cup. Merry Christmas to her--nice that she shared!

 So, the nitty gritty we were talking about before...we had a baptism this week! His name is Joaquin, and he's thirteen years old. The only word I can describe him as is...a punk. But not like a "punk" punk with the colored hair and the dark clothes and all that...he's just like...a rascal? I don't know. For example...when we were teaching the Ten Commandments and we said "thou shalt not lie," he immediately said "me llamo Jorge." ("My name is Jorge.") Then when we said "thou shalt not steal" he grabbed my hipster glasses and hid them in his shirt. (Yeah, his shirt.) 

BUT this kid is a genius. (Please PLEASE tell me I just spelled genius right. I asked my companion and everything. I feel so dumb right now. I went from "genious" to "geneous" to "genius" and I think I just got it right...?) ANYWAY ANYWAY ANYWAY the point is, this kid understands everything. He knows everything we have to teach him. When we ask him a question to see if he understands/is paying attention, his answer is always better than what we have even said. But we were really struggling to help him recieve a TESTIMONY. We wanted him to feel the spirit and really know for himself that this church is true. 

Then we had a few lessons last week that were really different. The spirit was there. He felt more comfortable with us. He started to be really excited about his baptism. When we asked him if he understood what "perseverar hasta el fin" means (endure to the end,) his answer really helped us feel like he was ready to be active. Like...he planned on being active, even if his parents weren't. It was really cool to see a kid undergo these changes through the gospel. (No one is too young. Or too punk-ish.)

I'm sure you're all wondering about the font...well, we knew better this week. The baptism wasn't going to start until seven this time, so we went over at 12:30 and started the water going...and guess what? IT WAS HALF WAY to where it needed to be when we got there at SIX. What up, font?? Why the probs?? So we threw that emergency hose in again (wait, it gets classier) and we got THREE BUCKETS (at my suggestion/insistance) and started just...dumping water in! I'm happy to say that at the rate the water was rising with the combined forces of the font, the emergency hose and those three buckets, that sloth MIGHT have drowned this time. (For clarification on the drowning-sloth reference, see last week's letter.)

The baptism itself was really beautiful. Hermana Kenney and I sang another special musical number, and Joaquin's mother was crying through the whole service. And he was glowing afterwards...you could tell he felt really good about his decision to be baptized. The spirit was strong again. Afterwards, his mom came up to Hermana Kenney and told us with tears in her eyes that we must have been the "chosen ones" for Joaquin, because missionaries had taught him before and given up on him after the first few lessons. I'm just so grateful that we could be instruments in the hands of the Lord to help this thirteen year old boy and his family come closer to God and start again on the right path.

 

 

On Sunday, I was looking at Maria Elizabeth and Joaquin in sacrament meeting, and just thinking to myself, "look how bright they look! We have the cutest little converts in the world. I love them so much." I really do love them so much. I love all the people we are teaching. I want them all to succeed. I want them to feel this joy and peace I feel through the gospel. I really believe the Lord has allowed me to feel a part of his perfect love for them through our efforts as missionaries. 

On a lighter note, I'd like to let everyone know that on January 17th, 2014, the six-month mark of my 18-month mission, I, McKenna Leigh Thomas, being born of goodly parents, GOT POOPED ON AGAIN. I WILL NEVER. EVER. STAND UNDER ANOTHER TREE FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE. HAVE I MENTIONED THAT I ABSOLUTELY despise birds. 

I love you all so much! Share the gospel! Help the missionaries! Pray for opportunities to serve! Read the Book of Mormon! Pray every morning and every night! Go to church! You will see blessings poured upon you more than you could ever imagine. 

I LOVE YOU ALL. KEEP EMAILING ME. 

Love, Hermanita Thomas!

Hey Thur My Peeps......!

¡Hola!

Well! I'm just going to be completely honest from the get-go, I did another awful job at keeping up my journal this week. So I guess you can all just stop reading this letter now.

Just kidding! Keep reading! I'll come up with something to say...hmm...nothing happened this week. We just had a BAPTISM!

Yeah, lots of stuff happened! It really was such a good week! I'm going to try to get everything in this letter...

Maria Elizabeth got baptized! It was so awesome. She had her interview on Tuesday, and our District Leader (Elder Nelson) said she passed with flying colors! We were preparing the program for the baptism, calling people to speak and direct the hymns and give the opening or closing prayers, etc....we also asked someone to fill the baptismal font for us in the morning. The bishop told Hermana Kenney and I that the font had to be filling by 12 in the afternoon...one o'clock at the LATEST. We repeated this very clearly to the person in charge of it.......well........at 1:50pm we get a call from the person filling the font...looks like he can't get into the chapel...which meant that he hadn't even tried to enter the church until almost 2pm...needless to say, we had a heart attack. (The baptism was supposed to start at five.)

Anyway, the font started filling at around 2:30, and let me tell you, I think that if a sloth had been sitting in the middle of the font when the water turned on, it would have made its way out of the tub before it even got wet. THAT is how slowly the water was coming out of the faucet. I started having a mild panic attack (it was internal, don't worry. I kept my cool.) Then...my companion spied an emergency hose...like...next to the fire extinguisher...as in, only to use during EMERGENCIES...WELL IF EVER there was an emergency, it was this! So we pulled it out, cranked the water, and let 'er rip! And...........I still think a sloth would have beat the water. But it was slightly better than before.

Anyway, people started coming to the chapel at 4:59pm (Chileans take "mormon-standard-time" to a whole new level) and the water level was just high enough to baptize a large frog. So Hermana Kenney and I turned away from everyone else and said a prayer begging that the water would rise high enough that she could get baptized before this year ended...then we bravely walked into the chapel (after taking a few pictures) and began the baptismal service. 

The talks were great, the spirit was so strong, and Maria Elizabeth was beaming! She was so excited. Her two daughters and three granddaughters had come to see her. They are not members, and haven't shown much interest in learning about the gospel, but as far as we know, they have been supportive in her interest in the church. Hermana Kenney and I did a musical number (without laughing....miracle...) We sang "Come Thou Font" in Spanish! It was so pretty. But the whole time, I had this little thought in the back of my head...baptismal font...baptismal font...

Then the time came for her actual baptism. Everyone filed into the room, and we opened the doors to see what we were working with water-wise...and MIRACULOUSLY the water had increased to a mid-thigh height! (That really was a miracle.) However, it was not high enough for someone standing to be immersed entirely under the water. We asked the bishop what we should do...should we wait an hour? Should we start throwing buckets of water in there? But the bishop said nope, we're just gonna baptize her right now! Elder Nelson (the one going to baptize her,) lead her into the knee-deep water, and they both knelt on the floor of the font. Yep! Our investigator got baptized on her knees! But she was so cool with it. Here's this 70-year-old lady, getting baptized on her knees in front of her nonmember daughters and a bunch of strangers, but she was as happy as ever to do it! 

And it worked! When she came out of the water, she was smiling the biggest smile ever! We helped her change in the bathroom, and she was so excited to get out and greet everyone, she hardly dried herself off! Her clothes were a little soaked when she rejoined everyone for the closing hymn and prayer. Afterwards, everyone came up and congratulated her, and you could just tell she felt so happy! The relief society had prepared some refreshments in the gym, and it was just a really good baptismal service! 

 

The next day she got confirmed, and one of her daughters came to church to support her mom. Then we visited her in the evening, and I'm serious, she was GLOWING. She was so happy. She also told us that she had come straight home after her baptism and tried to wring her clothes out into a bowl so that she could save the water from her baptism. Then she just decided not to washer those clothes again so that they would always have that water on them...she's so dangin' darnin' adorable.

We've got another baptism week coming! It's with a thirteen-year-old kid named Joaquin. Sometimes...he's a punk. But I think he's excited to get baptized, so that's awesome! His parents are members, but they are less active, and I'm so grateful that we found them so that Joaquin can have the opportunity to be baptized like his parents! We are going to work hard so that he can stay active.

Everyone! Everyone read this letter! Listen to me!! The church is true! I know it with all my heart. Sometimes I wonder how I could have ever known it without these experiences I've had on my mission so far, but you know what? YOU CAN KNOW IT, even without a mission! Because I've seen someone come to know it after a life time of believing something completely different, and now she's seen miraculous blessings of health and peace in her home. I continue to see these blessings in the lives of our other investigators, and more personally in my own life. 

Want to know how you can know? Three things: Pray, Read and Go to Church! I promise your testimony will grow!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. KEEP WRITING ME LOVELY LETTERS. I LOVE THEM.

KEEP READING THE BOOK OF MORMON AND PRAYING EVERY MORNING AND EVERY NIGHT.

Con Amor, Hermana Thomas!

¿Hola? :)

HerMama Thomas' note: And with this post, I am officially caught up with blog posts! We LOVED talking to Hermana Thomas on Christmas Day. She looked beautiful and I was comforted to feel how at peace she is in her life right now! I miss her every single second but am so thankful she is healthy, happy and still full of FUN!

HOLA FAMILIA.

¿Como estan? Les extraño mucho. Y ¿como fue su año nuevo? AND THAT'S ALL THE SPANISH I'M GOING TO DO because I feel like if I do any more, the Spanish speakers that are reading this are going to judge hard core my imperfect spanish. So.

This week was interesting! It was good, but just...interesting. We got humbled. We had about two days straight of pure contacting. "Hola, ¿como esta? Bueno, queremos presentarnos porque somos misioneras...de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos días. ¿Usted ha hablado con misioneros antes? Oh, ¿su hija esta enferma/usted va a salir ahorita/tiene visitas? Esta bien. ¿Podemos regressar otro dia, entonces? ¿Si? ¿No? Bueno, esta bien, pasaremos, entonces. ¡Chow, Gracias!" Literally...no one was letting us into their house. We usually offer to just enter their house, sing a hymn and offer a prayer, which pretty much gets us invited in at least half the time. But these people were not havin it this week! We felt a little down for these two days, since we had such a rocking week last week! But we just kept on rollin and we ended up having some pretty good success in the end. But still...those days were a little rough. Go ask any missionary if contacting for two days is fun.

Also, ¡Feliz año nuevo! Holy cow, we're in 2014!! I can't believe it. It doesn't feel like I've been in the mission for (almost) six months. Time really flies. Hermana Kenney and I were talking about how these last two weeks have been the absolute fastest of the mission.

Speaking of New Years...the missionaries in our mission had to be in their casas before 7pm that night, since I guess the Chileans go a little crazy with the fiestas and the drinking and all that. So we had a nice little dinner with our new roomies (Hermana Gonzales and Hermana Villareal.) It was really nice! Then we planned and updated our carpeta, and got ready to sleep. 

The next morning, I turned to Hermana Kenney and commented on how surprised I was that I hadn't heard any fiestas, loud shouting, chanting, music, or ANYTHING the night before. In fact, I felt really unusually rested. She agreed with me, that it was weird we hadn't heard anything. We decided between ourselves that Chileans don't really care about New Years Eve after all. Well, then we walked out into the living room to find a very frazzled Hermana Gonzales, followed my an extremely drowsy Hermana Villareal, both sleep deprived and seeming to be falling apart from exhaustion. They said they MAYBE got an hours sleep in the night before, due to all the HARD-CORE PARTYING that was going on from all sides all night (above us, below us, next to us, in the plaza, etc.) But Hermana Kenney and I had been dying of heat in the night, and we'd even slept with the window WIDE OPEN. AND IT'S A BIG WINDOW. LIKE, A HUGE WINDOW. LIKE IT'S SLIDING DOORS. (I guess I could have said sliding doors from the beginning.) The Hermanas said that they'd shut both their windows and covered their faces, but the noise was so loud. Personally, I had kicked off all the blankets I had on me during the night, and I really had no ear protection at all. But Hermana Kenney and I had slept the night away like little rocks! 

Working really REALLY hard pays off, people! You can sleep through anything, apparently! 

I've also had some classic moments this week with my companion. We went looking for an old investigator who was living with her boyfriend before, and when we got to her boyfriend's house, we shouted "alo!" and a drunk old lady shouted "¿Que quieres?!?" So we said we wanted to visit Flor, to which the old lady shouted, "¡No vive aqui...no más!" (This is really good news, since the boyfriend was the person telling Flor that she should drop the missionaries, so obviously, we wanted to know where she lived now so that we could continue teaching her!) So Hermana Kenney asked where she lived now, and the old lady grumbled something. (By the way, we can't see this lady because of this huge wooden gate.) Hermana Kenney asked again, and again the old drunk lady grumbled something again. Hermana Kenney asked one more time, and this time, clear as day, the old lady shouted, "NO. VIVE. AQUI. PORFIADA." ("Porfiada" is a word that chileans use to describe someone super annoying and super persistent.) Needless to say, we have no idea where Flor lives now.

My companion also grew up without any TV. I keep forgetting this, and quoting TV commercials. Anyway, the other day I told her a joke with the punchline "Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids," and she just stared at me like she was still waiting for the end of the joke. So this began a big long discussion of catching her up with the popular phrases of almost everyone's childhood. Then we started a guessing game, where I would say the catch phrase and she had to guess what product it referred to. We were doing things like "it's magically delicious!" or "looks like cookies, tastes like 'em too, but it's a breakfast cereal!" or "the taste you can see!" or "cinna-man is the winna-man." And she was actually doing really good at guessing...then I got to "they're grrrrrRRREAT!" She looked a little stumped, then innocently guessed, "...grape-nuts?" I think I died three times from laughing so hard. I am such a punk.

Maria Elizabeth is getting baptized this Saturday! We are so excited. This has been the first person who has progressed to baptism in my mission, and it has been amazing to watch her life be so blessed, and for her to find so much joy in learning about the gospel of Christ and drawing nearer to our Savior. She is so enthusiastic for her baptism. The other day she bore a simple testimony of gratitude to us in a lesson, and I felt this emotion well up in my chest that is indescribable. I am excited to take pictures and send them to you next week! Please pray that everything will work out well in these next coming days!

The gospel is true. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and loving Older Brother. Every day I learn a little more about the atonement, and how he really did suffer for each and every one of us. He is in the details of everything in our lives. He has a hand in everything. There is no such thing as coincidences. I know that every good thing that comes to a person comes through our Father in Heaven and his Son, Jesus Christ. I know that I am preaching the only true gospel in the world. I know I'm exactly where I need to be, and although I'm weak, I know the Lord will help me magnify this calling..."For I know in whom I have trusted" (2 Nefi 4. Read it.) 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. I REALLY DO. Oh, and a very happy 39th birthday to my Auntie Chelle! 

KEEP READING AND PRAYING AND WRITING ME AND ALSO GOING TO CHURCH. Because it's all important. Especially the reading and praying and going to church part.

KEEP ME UPDATED. Love yas!

Love, Hermana Thomas

¡Hey thur!

¡FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!

How I've missed you all this week. I can't believe that's one Christmas down...and maybe only one more to go! (Who knows when I'll be home...) It was a little sad to think that the family was at home in a temperature other than scorching, with a big ol' tree and a reason to drink hot chocolate...but then again...I'M IN CHILE. And when I remembered that, everything was good again. 

Really, this Christmas was one to remember. We didn't really do much...first of all, we really did have a Christmas miracle. Hermana Kenney and I woke up to a "white" Christmas--every day up until the 25th had been absolutely smoldering with heat in the mornings, but that morning the entire sky was white with cloud-cover, and it was nice and cool outside! No one was in the streets. Everything was quiet. We baked cupcakes for the people we'd visit that day, then we decorated them, had a little devotional as a zone, went and ate some delicious food...then I talked with my FAMILY! THAT WAS AWESOME. Hey I miss you guys! That might have been the shortest hour of my life. But it was so fun to see you! And I agree, my mission-timing is perfect...I'll get to talk to you again at about my year-mark, and by next Christmas, I'll practically be home! That is so weird to think about. I don't want to think about that.

This week was really, really awesome. Hermana Kenney and I worked so hard, and it really paid off. I know the Lord had a huge hand in our work! Tuesday was probably my favorite day. We went out to this little campo-part of our sector, Olivar. (I think I've talked about this place before. It's pretty golden with people wanting to listen to and learn about the gospel.) Anyway, we decided to try a specific prayer that day. We decided that we wanted to find a family of five who where waiting for the gospel and that they'd have a way to get to church. (Olivar is super far from our chapel.) Anyway, we promised that we'd contact two streets, and literally talk to EVERYONE we saw, and invite all of them to church and ask if they'd ever heard of or seen a Book of Mormon (something practically unheard of in this town.) If they said they owned a Book of Mormon, that would be the way we'd recognize that this was the family we'd prayed for. 

Things got crazy pretty fast. Before we prayed our specific prayer, there was hardly anyone in this street...but as soon as we said amen, people flooded it! I swear, it was like people started just dropping out of the sky! But we'd made a promise to contact EVERYONE we saw......! So....we did! There were times when two or more people were walking in different directions, and without seeming too desparate, we basically had to chase after them individually to contact them. There was one point when I thought Hermana Kenney was going to eat it running after this guy on a bike. Anyway, we contacted, contacted, contacted, taught a few lessons...but no one had ever seen un Libro de Mormòn! But we kept going, going, going...and then we contacted this lady with her kid, and they seemed a little...grumpy...but we asked her if she'd ever seen a Book of Mormon, and she said, "¡si! ¡tengo uno en mi casa!" Well, we were pretty shocked. But she told us we should visit her another day because she was leaving, so she asked for our number (yes, she asked for OUR number first,) and then we got her number...and we're going to visit her the next time we go up! 

That was really cool, because we really felt like instruments in the Lord's hands. Maybe she might not be the exact answer to our prayers, but we have seen the Lord's blessings poured upon us every day since then. First of all, it really changed the way we contact with people--we've been a lot more creative and sincere when we talk to people in the streets every day after that. We also proved to ourselves that we can work really hard and not burn out, and that at the end of the day, we feel SO GOOD. Being a missionary is great.

We're going to keep it up this next week! I know we just need to keep depending on the Lord and working our hardest.

WHICH REMINDS ME...YAY! I GET TO STAY WITH HERMANA KENNEY! We are so psyched, because we both had a feeling that we were going to get switched...I don't know why. But I am so excited, because Hermana Kenney is such a hard worker, and we laugh together and work together really great. We also got two more sisters to come live with us...Hermana Gonzales and Hermana Villareal, both Latinos! So I'm hoping my spanish wont suffer too much...

Side-note: this morning, Hermana Kenney said that when she doesn't brush her teeth soon enough in the morning, her teeth feel like they have "little sweaters on them." So...this is my companion. I laughed for a good five minutes.

All our investigators are progressing well! We had all three of our people with fechas in church this week, which was a miracle! Maria Elizabeth is still good for the eleventh of January! (HOLY COW. JANUARY?!? How is it almost January?!?!?)

You guys! I love being a missionary! I really do. Although I still think of home and how fun it will be to see everyone again, every day I feel that feeling a little more...that feeling that missionaries always talk about, how they don't want to go home by the end? That feeling. It just keeps growing. 

I love you all with all my heart. Keep reading and praying and writing me because i LOVE GETTING YOUR LETTERS so much. Also, of course Taylor won that Ticket to Ride tournament. Come on, guys. We had a good to years prep for that. What happened.

I LOVE YOU.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR. I'M SERIOUS.

Love, Hermana Thomas!

Ooops...it was a little busy last month! Kenna's letter from 12.23.13

¡FELIZ NAVIDAD BABABABABAAAAAH FELIZ NAVIDAD BABABABABAAAAAAH FELIZ NAVIDAD AJIBÑPESHAIBÑA FELICIDAD! ("AJIBÑPESHAIBÑ" represents the amount of spanish i understood before the mission. I think the song says "prosperos años, felicidad"? That's what someone told me.)

DID YOU KNOW THAT IT'S CHRISTMAS SO YEAH THAT MEANS....IT'S CHRISTMAS. 

So, I'm not going to lie, I wrote one time in my journal this week. I just was lazy with it. I'm getting to that point where the days blur so much together, I don't even realize when a day ends and the next one begins. It's just working and loving it and sometimes you lie down and close your eyes for a minute, but then you get up and take a shower and get out there and boom there goes your day. Then you close your eyes again for a minute. 

First of all, just so you all know, I'm still LOVING the mission! I'm loving it to death. I'm also loving my companion!! Hermana Kenney and have been getting along great. I really like working with her in the lessons, because we both want to follow the spirit more than just teaching the lesson, so it's easy to lend to the other person and work in unity. I've been learning a lot about working hard, and how much better you feel at the end of the day when you feel you've done your best. It's awesome.

 

This Tuesday we had our Zone Christmas activity, which was really fun! But I had to leave near the end to go to Santiago again to get our test results. But when we got all the way up there, it turned out that the doctor wasn't in his office that day...so we had to go back the next day. (But that was okay, because I got to se Hermana Pineda again!) So Wednesday was another trip up to Santiago...not much to report there. The president and his wife drove us all up there both days, so we sang them himnos de la Navidad in the car to thank them. :)

Hermana Neira left early Thursday morning for her home! That was the first official day that Hermana Kenney and I worked together solo. We decided to take a half hour bus ride to a part of our sector that is super far...this place is cool, because the people are so accepting of the missionaries! Hardly anyone there has heard of the church, and they are eager to hear more. Right now we have someone there with a baptismal date for the eighteenth...the challenge is that she lives so far from the church, and she needs to attend at least three times before her fecha. We're going to work with her. There is a member family that lives two houses away from her, but they really are not interested in helping us. (HELP THE MISSIONARIES.) (YOU REALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT MEANS AND WHAT A HUGE HELP IT IS WHEN A WARD MEMBER IS WILLING TO HELP THE MISSIONARIES. Also, sorry to break it to ya, but it's kinda your duty as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...okay. I'm done.)

As for our cute little lady investigator, Maria...she is doing awesome! She went to church with us again and loved it, but apparently she was afraid to ask us if the church had a bathroom, so her stomach bothered her afterward. Oosp. She's the cutest little lady ever. Oh my word, I love her. Our leaders really wanted her to receive the Palabra de Sabiduria (Word of Wisdom) and Ley de Castidad (Law of Chastity) lessons by the end of the week, so on Friday we talked about her giving up tea. She said that she'd stop that moment. On Saturday, we brought her a big thing of Herbal Tea to trade with her black tea, and she happily switched us. Then we proceeded to teach her the Ley de Castidad, which she accepted, and we managed to escape that lesson without hearing too much about how her "body doesn't even work that way anymore." She's the darn dangest cutest.

As I've described in previous letters, menos activo miembros here in Chile are almost as common as the dogs. When we were buying the tea for Maria, a man started talking to us. Turns out he's LDS, served a mission, but doesn't go to church because he travels six months at a time to different countries for work. But that's SO SAD because 1) the gospel and attending church are more important than work and 2) HE IS SO FUNNY. Seriously. This guy was cracking me up. He lived in Utah for seven years, and he speaks pretty good English. He was going between that and Spanish the whole conversation. And he was being SO sarcastic with us! It was...like...the first time I've heard sarcasm here in Chile. At one point Hermana Kenney was talking about how we need more money as missionaries because she's always running out of money to buy food, and this guy says, "don't cry, Sister! PEOPLE GIVE YOU FREE FOOD ALL THE TIME." Oh man...I could have died. I was laughing so hard.

A funny story while contacting...we were knocking door to door, and one guy opened the door. We waved at him, and he told us to wait just a second. Then he returned to the door and said, "are you bringing the word of God?" Smiling huge, we happily replied "si! Si!" He took a second, and said, "I have a Bible," and slammed the door on us. Awks. We had a good laugh about that.

You guys, I'm loving the work! Christmas really is meaning more to me this year, I think. I want you guys to read Doctrine and Covenants...45:3-5 (or 6...) It's about Jesus Christ pleading for each and every one of us before God. His love is so unconditional for each of us. He's rooting for us to make it home to him and our Father in Heaven. He didn't just suffer for the sins and pains of those who would choose to come unto Him and repent--He suffered for the sins and pains of the world. It breaks His heart when we don't take this opportunity we have to repent and draw nearer unto Him. I know with all my heart that He is my Savior and Redeemer. I know and can feel His love. 

Merry, Merry, FELIZ, FELIZ NAVIDAD. Sometimes I so wish I could be at home for just this day and spend it with my family with the beautiful tree and all, but then I think...how many times am I going to get to do this? I LOVE WHAT I'M DOING, AND I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. KEEP PRAYING AND READING THE BOOK OF MORMON. Hey, email me verses that you like. I'd really like to hear them!

LOVE, Hermana Thomas

ps: prayer is the bomb. This morning we had a Zone activity where we had to prepare a dessert from our country, so Hermana Kenney and I made brownies. Well, we couldn't get the oven to turn on. We have to light a match and use the gas and all, and we tried a million times, and it wasn't working. So we called someone else in our zone to ask how they do it in their apartment, and she said, "have you tried praying?" We were both pretty shocked by this answer, but we decided to try it. I had to say it, and I'm not going to lie, I started laughing pretty hard asking for the oven to work so that we could make brownies. and BOOM it worked!! the first try! Don't ever think that someone isn't listening to your prayers. If He cares about brownies, He sure cares about your needs.