29 April 2013

Kami Letter from Iquique Chile (dated 4/29/13)

HEYYY!!!! This week was a good week! Things are getting better!! We have transfers this week, we find out Sunday night (usually) what is new or not and monday is travel day. So who knows, maybe next monday I´ll have a change, and maybe not. But i´m pretty sure i´ll still get time to email.... i hope!!
ok, i´m dying to know... WHO DID PORTER ASK??????? ahh i´m so proud of him <3 haha 
also, when is mother´s day? is it the 2nd or 3rd sunday in may?
Thanks for the birthday wishes too! we´ll see if i have time to buy something this week, or next. but i´ll let you know. thanks ;) one of the other girls i live with has her bday on friday, so we´re going to have some fun in our apartment this week!! :) 

so president went to a mission pres conference, and was told we aren´t supposed to wear much jewelry. so my ctr ring that i´ve worn for like 5 years, i can´t wear anymore! my finger feels weird!! haha but whatever, i´ll get used to it. 
i also got lotion from the pres and his wife for my birthday. smells yummy! and was perfect beause i was wanting to buy more anyways ;) good thing i got it before i did! 
so here, may 1 is labor day, so if i lived here, i´d never have school or work or anything on my birthday! haha 
we did a "sector attack" on wednesday. the whole zone goes to a sector to help them find new invstigators, it was pretty fun! we just were assigned a street and knocked doors. i´m pretty sure they got some new investigators too, so that´s nice!
we did another intercambio on friday, we did it all day, including conp study and stuff, so that was cool to see other ways to do things. pres likes when we do them and said we can do them about once a week, so we´ll see if we can find a day this week to do it too. 
I FINISHED THE BOOK OF MORMON IN SPANISH on saturday!!! ahh it feels so good! haha i´ve read in english a little since then, and it´s SO much easier to understand now. ha and i´m glad i get to study other things now, that i´m supposed to be studying. like preach my gospel, jesus the christ, liahona magazine, other talks and stuff... ;)
how is your little competetion going?
we had a baptism this weekend for a girl who´s 12 and a boy who´s 14. they were super excited to get baptized(had the date for about a week and a half or so), then on tuesday, both of them deided they didn´t want to. for no particular reason. just didn´t really want to and were´nt exited about it. so we were devestated!! my comp kinda started pestering them about it a little, asking why why why how can i help why why why???!!? and it wasn´t effective. we had read a couple scriptures in 2 ne 31 with them, and i felt like we should assign them the erst of the chapter and to pray if they need to get baptized. so i did. the next day, they didn´t do it, and still didn´t want to be baptized. so we assigned it again, and prayed they´d do it. thursday we didn´t get the chance to see them. then friday morning, they called us, telling us they wanted to be baptized!! we asked them what changed their mind..and guess what?? it was the chapter!!! they read and prayed, and wanted to be baptized!! oh i was so happy i got the prompting to assign that and followed through in my broken spanish. they´re kids, adn the girl can´t read, so i don´t know why i felt that. but something in that chapter touched them and helped them decide to be baptized!!
so anyways. here they do daylight savings. we got an extra hour of sleep on sunday night... it was super nice! so, i don´t know anymore if we are 3 or 4 or 5 hours different from you... right now here it is 4:30 ish... so depending on when you read this.... but yeah..anyways. :)
oh also, ya know how i was looking for a seahorse necklace? well, bentley knows. i always wanted one. anyways. one of the girls i live with ( h vanmeter) had one, and she´s finshing her mission this transfer/this week, and she knew i liked it, so she gave it to me!! <3 aww i love it it´s so ccute, she´s so nice! haha 
anyways. that´s about all for today. 
more next week!
¡¡les amo!! 
love and miss you LLOOTTTSSSS!!!! <3 <3 <3 
--hermana severtson!




22 April 2013

Kami Letter from Iquique Chile (dated 4/22/13)

Hey dad!
That´s fine about sending the package normal. And I´ll buy a jacket here and use my other Preach My Gospel in Spanish (i bought a mini one in the mtc). If it´s too expensive to send too much, don´t worry about it. I can get stuff here. Or use my credit card if I have to ;) As for money though, there is a way to wire me some money..not sure how. so we don´t have to worry about it. i´ll just use my credit card if i need anything. 
as for going out to dinner or something though, we aren´t supposed to. only on pday we can go to restaurants, and we don´t have time. so it´s okay though! ;)

There was a fire at a couple of the houses down the street from us the other day. It was super sad, but we went over there to see if we could help. my companion and i couldn´t stay long because we had an appointment, but it was cool to see how everyone came together and helped. the other 2 sisters stayed and helped longer, and they said it was cool, i wish we could have, but whatever. i did get a little part of the "bomberos de chile" tape though, so that{s cool (firemen).

we did intercambios this week too, splits. it was neat to get a chance to work with another missionary and get another perspective of things. 

we had interviews with president too on friday. Which was SUPER awesome! I got a lot of questions answered and got to finally actually talk to him. He and his wife are just amazing. I´m sad they only have like 2 more months here, but also excited to get to know another president. 

as for paying monthly/all at once for my mission, either works. I originally wanted to do monthly so i had that transaction on my savings account so it doesn´t get inactive fees, but as long as you can transfer back and forth or something, that´ll work fine ;) 

it was kinda an uneventful week! oh, we did have a couple more baptisms, which was cool. I´ll try tosend my pictures today and see if it works. it looks like it is, so they´re attached here!

well, sorry, super short for today, but that´s about all

love and miss you guys LOTS!!!! 





15 April 2013

Kami Letter from Iquique Chile (dated 4/15/13)

I was going to send some pictures today, but this computer isn´t letting me for some reason! Sorry, so i´ll have to send them next week.
It´s good to hear from you all, sounds like everything is going good for all of you. can you believe it--Saturday was my 2 months!! 2 MONTHS ALREADY!! It´s crazy! 1/9 of the way done...not that i´m counting. I sure love it here, but I sure miss all of you too!
so if you haven´t sent a package yet, which I hope not, I heard pouch is easier. because it´s to a US address, so it´s tons cheaper! I don´t know taht address, but it´s in my call packet, which is in my filing cabinet in my room. can you send me my Spanish Preach my Gospel that I sent home? Copies of some of my piano music (not the originals, in case I lose them... joseph smith medley, i stand all amazed, i know that my redeemer lives). and some CD´s copied of efy music and motab? we´re allowed to listen to taht stuff ;) um.. snacks and chocolate ;) no cash, it gets stolen in the mail, and my sd card I sent home too? also, some of those nylon socks for flats, if youcan find any cheap. thanks guys! ;) 
i realized i never answered your questions from last week! the bus ride i was not alone, i was with another sister who i live with, another new elder, and an elder that knew what he was doing to help us ;) our companions were waiting for us at the bus station. 
that´s awesome you and caleb are having a BofM contest!! Who´s winning?? ;) 
I hope everything is going okay with your work too. But i guess whatever ends up happening is supposed to happen, right? ;)
tell micah and julee that "the butterfly´s wings are not blue" or whatever means David Archuleta is not here ;) haha it´s that other mission we thought. ;( haha
I´ve been getting used to the food, it´s not as weird as I thought, but I did get sick wednesday and thursday. a really bad stomach ache, head ache, andd a little fever i think. i keep getting little stomach aches here and there, but i´m fine. they´re bearable ;) could be worse, right?? ;) 
one thing that´s hard to get used to is the traffic. everyone drives like maniacs! haha even all through the night (we live right off a busy street) we hear cars, horns, car alarms... so many loud cars drive past and make the alarms of cars parked on teh side of the road go off. it´s kinda annoying! ha
i´m getting used to the walking too. just my shoulders hurt from my backpack. I want a massage from Porter SO BAD!! haha 16 months, right off the plane, you know what i´ll be asking you for dude! :) 
the weather is not always hot like we thought. the nights are starting to get chilly, because winter is coming. but as for now, the days still get warm. i heard though in the southern most part of the mission, even during the day in the winter is FREEZING!! lets hope if i ever go there, it´s in the summer season ;) i got lucky though and have pretty much stright winter from provo here, and leaver in the middle of winter too! haha ;)
did you get the insurance form i sent home from the MTC? it was in one of those packages too. and all the gum.. i´m not allowed to have gum on the mission, so you all can have it! first gift home from me! ;) haha
things are getting better with the language and stuff...slowly starting to understand more. it´s super frustrating though, because i can listen to a converstaion and know the main idea of it, but when someone says something directly to me, i have NO idea what they say. and they look at me like i´m crazy! haha but whatever. it´ll come with time and practice.
money is different, but pretty simple. not too different. easy to manage. i´ll try to have extra to bring home to show you guys.... haha it´s pretty cool looking!
we had an investigator get baptized againt his weekend. THIS one I consider my first. haha it was that guy i thought we should talk to in the street..Manuel. It was so cool! I lvoe the baptisms here, they´re amazing! even though I cant understand most of what people are saying, the spirit still is so strong! 
so we´ve had kids in the ward here get mission calls, one to ecuador and the colombia MTC. and at least 2 sisters are witing for their call. it takes over a month here to get a call after you submit the papers!! i could barely wait those less than 2 weeks!! ha has anyone else there got their call?
so turns out, i CAN tan. cool huh? my watch tan line has gotten better. i can´t wait til i´m home how great it is ;) my arms are getting pretty dark. maybe i´ll start to look chilean before I come home. besides my blonde hair. which still bothers me with the attention it brings ;) 
we went to lider today..teh walmart place. a lot like walmart! haha they even have the great value brand. it´s imported from the US so it´s kinda expensive though. i bought peanut butter today. MMMMmmm missed taht stuff! it´s been over 2 mo without it! haha i´m not sure how long it´ll last me, but it was decently cheap, so i´ll just have to buy more ;)
the gifts we get are for us both. i got another pair of earrings this week. and people give us food all the time!
as for the water, yeah, we can´t drink it. we have to buy it bottled, or drink coke. there´s a lot of juice too. the juice is SO GOOD. i think it´s like koolaid kinda stuff..but it´s delicious!! haha i gotta get grandma a coke bottle too, once it´s closer to my returning ;)
the dogs are a lot like you said, havasupai. but i think worse! the other day, 2 dogs followed us all the way from the chapel to our mamita´s house for lunch (oh yeah, she´s kinda like our maid, but not really. she just feeds us). then from mamita´s to oru house. then after we studied the language, followed the other sisters the rest of the evening. they waited for us when we were inside! apparently they always follow the elders in the other sector next to ours, and we got lucky after our meeting and they followed us instead! but the next morning, we woke up, and they wre gone! we don´t know where they went. but it´s okay, i don´t care. it was annoying. haha 
the activity today was to go up to the mountains and go sand boarding. i wanted SO BAD to go, but it was super early in the morning, and i had a stomach ache through the night. and my comp didn´t want to go, so since i wasn´t feeling good, we decided not to. turns out, only 5 people went anyways. i hope we do it again though, because it sounded super fun!
our adderess here is 
Chile Antofagasta Mission
Casilla de Correo 70
Antofagasta
Chile
it´s different for packages and pouch though, just so you know. those are all in my call packet like i said.
anyways, i´ll try again to send pictures, but for now, that´s all i got!!
¡les amo!
--Hermana Severtson <3

08 April 2013

Kami Letter from Iquique Chile (dated 4/8/2013)


hola! here}s more pics for ya! some of iquique, outside my window. we went to the beach this morning as our zone activity and played futbol, which was SO FUN!! ill send that pic once i get it from someone else. i think she{s sending it right now. and me in front of the church building after conference!
i{m slowly starting to understand spanish. gringo spanish is SO much easier to understadn! we had a dist meeting the other day, and i was able to understand the whole meeting my DL put on, because he´s gringo. haha but for the chileans, it´s coming. hey, i even had part of my dream in spanish last night!! FINALLY!! haha i don´t remember what i was doing or what was said, but it was in spanish! haha
people here are super nice. ive gotten so far earrings, two keychains, and a little statue from easter island, a little tiki guy thing. haha it´s funny :) 
it{s weird. here if people are "conviven" which means lives together not married, we aren´t supposed to teach them at all. once we find out, we´re done. i guess it{s super hard to get married if you aren´t already. espeically if you´re not from chile. so that´s kinda sad, because it´s a LOT of people!
mostly to find people, we just walk up adn down the streets and talk to people outside their house. or talk to inactive members from the ward list. we knock on teh door or fence and yell "HALLO" (ah-low)! but mostly we just hand out pass along cards, actually, not even mostly. not that much at all! ha mostly we search for the inactive members! 
i do have a mamita. she cooks very good! we had pizza the other day, which is different from the US pizza, but still super delicioso. i think i want to get the recipe sometime ;) we do wash our own clothes though, for the most part. she CAN wash our clothes, but it{s expencive. and she cant do garments ebcause she´s not endowed. 
so the bread here is super good. like SUPER good. it{s homemade, and cheap!! haha and the little chocolate i still have... yum... that´s what gets me through my days. bread and chocolate. so i´ll ´probably gain weight ehre. haha 
dogs are EVERYWHERE: literally everywhere. and tehy smell. and follow you. and have fleas. and i have already seen 2 dead. just laying ont he side of the street. one has been outside the church building for at least a month.. kinda nasty. ;P
one girl we are teaching, fabiola, asked me the names of my siblings the other day, because she wanted to know gringo names. when i got to jonah, she and my comp laughed ;) thought you´d like to know jo! haha ;) nah, it´s because the j sound is super hard for them to pronounce :)
i already don´t do my hair. it´s humid, so it´s pointless. i just braid my bangs back and let it air dry! haha i guess "dry". ha and i{m alraedy tsarting to tan!!! i have a ltitle tan line from my watch. tiny, but still. makes me happy. and on my feet from my shoes. i´ll come back with the craziest tan lines youve ever seen. for real. my roomate hma vanmeter is in her last cambio (transfer) and has basically another watch imprinted on her wrist, and looks like she´s wearing white flats ;) haha it´s the best! but i´ll be the same way! 
i hear pres (i´ll be getting a new one though) sends people home early all the time for school. so the transfers should be end of july. i think...? so plan on me being home then!! haha }
there´s SO much american music i hear all the itme. i heard YMCA today on the radio in the taxi, and gangham style a few days ago ;) haha it´s funny, because no one understands what it´s saying, but they listen anyways!
i met a little boy named joaquin the other day. he is 12, and was talking to us (he´s a member, but inactive. hasn´t been to church since they moved to iquique 9mo ago) but anyways, he grabs a soccer ball, his "futbol gloves" and starts playing with everyone he could find! totally reminded me of caleb! he asked my comp adn i if we have a face (fa-say) facebook. so maybe next time i see him i will have him add caleb! depends ;) i{ll see. would ya like that dudey?? :)
they drink hot drinks here all the time. like i said, ecco, but also te. the te is herbal, so it{s "okay" to drink. i´ve had it a fwe times... it´s weird. but the mint kind is pretty good i geuss. not like i´d drink it all the time, but decent. 
conference was AMAZING!!! us gringo missionaries had our own room where we got to watch it in english. so that was a blessing. we ate snacks, and just had a bunch of fun.. like you said, it´s the best on the mission! i already can´t wait for the october! 
so much has happened since teh last session, it´s so crazy!! i loved hearing all the new missionary stats and stuff! and i´m part of it!! ;)
my feet are better. completely. don´t know what it is! so yep... whatever i guess! haha 
have you ahd a chance to get those temple names done? i thought about that again during the conference
can you have bentley write zach for me? he sent me a letter in the MTC and i didn}t have a chance to write him back. and now i´m in chile, and it takes like 2 months to get letters and/or packages. so.. yeah... just tell him if he can email me. and i´ll try to get back to him ;)
anyways, i love getting your emails! its what i look forwarad to every pday!!
con amor,
hma severtson









01 April 2013

Kami Letter from Iquique Chile (dated 4/1/2013)

GmailToby Severtson <severtson@gmail.com>


Hola familia!


Kami SevertsonMon, Apr 1, 2013 at 1:13 PM
To: Toby Severtson
CHILE!!
I LOVE IT!
It´s hard for sure, but amazing! i didn´t have much time last time to write about the travels, so i´ll do a little more now. i have an hour today. so yeah, ended up not having any time in LA to call you, we had to go through a lot of security through the international part of LAX, so you were smart to have me call in SLC instead!! ;) anyways, that was a long flight. we did stop in lima for a while, which was cool too. the international flights are so cool! they had televisions on every seat, with almost anymusic, movies, games, etc you could imagine. buta s missionaries, we weren´t supposed to use them. the lady next to me kept watching shws like cinderella, tangled... so it was hard! but i slept and read ;)
we landed in Santiago and had to go through immigration and customs (btw had to use my credit card for the tax!) which took a long time again, so we missed our flight to antofagasta. luckily a member in santiago served his mission in antofagasta, so he helps mis. pres with helping us find our way ;) so we werent too lost! he helped us get a new flight and everything. remember how on the phone i said it was hard to pack because my carryon could obly be 17lbs? yeah, never NEVER did they weigh it. i could have packed SO much more!! oh well. i guess i learned what mypriorities are ;)
finally in antofagasta, like the presdient sent you pics of, we had a meeting, dinner, took pics at the ocean... then went on our way! 6hr bus ride to iquique later, i met my comp, hma garbin. she´s pretty cool. it´s hard to communicate with her sometimes. but she´s learning english too, so we help eachother. she lost her dad 3 years ago, so that´s kinda neat to share that experience with her. except her mom is less active and her dad wasn´t a member. so it´s amazing that shes here on a mission! ;)
the people here are super nice. they talk super fast, but i´m slowly startign to get the hang of it. they´re so different than i expected. the houses are reallysmall, cement, barely a door or window--small. but they all have nice cell phones and cars. apparently the cars in iquique are super cheap. most people are missing teeeth, and here up north they´re darker, not white. so there are SO many people that love me because i´m blanca and blondie. haha it´s so weird, and i don´t really like it, we walk down the street and people awww and whistle and look at me... ;P then my companion laughs and wants to keep talking to them, but it makes me uncomfortable, because they´re creepy men like 50,60,70 years old....but i odn´t know how to tell her i don´t like it. haha
i´m starting to learn spanish. i can speak, and read. and everyone tells me i have a good accent and speak really well, so that´s nice. i just can´t understand them when they tell me that! ;)
the missionaries are cool. we meet with our zone a few times a week, so that´s fun. there are a lot of latinos. but it´s cool, they´re usually a little older, because they went to school. our assistant to pres is a DOCTOR. like if we have problems, we can call him and he can write perscriptions and such. and he´s only like 25 or something.
the food here is way different. salad has no dressing, just oil, lemon juice, and salt. kinda weird. then the food is bland, lots of rice, mashed potatoes (like a half a plate stakced!), fish (eww we ate fish that still had the bones in them the other day, and apparently you´re supposed to eat thebones too..but i couldn´t. luckioly my comp eats EVERYTHING, so ate it for me!) umm... yeah. that´s about it for the foodnow. the bread is super good. we had completos today with our zone, basically a sorta chorizo hotdog, delicious bread, ketchup, chili sauce... good!
it´s super hot!! like closer to the sun. i´ll send a pic of my foot..i think it´s from teh sun. it doesn´t hurt or anything, but it´s kinda weird looking. red and splotchy. the pic was a few days ago, and it´s better today. i hope it´s nothing. and goes away soon. but if it´s not, i´ll have to call the AP ;) haha
did you get my packages i sent? keep all i sent, especially the letters i got. i wish i could have brought them with me, but i just had no weight and room..or so i thought ;)
so i`´m the first and only 19 year old here in iquique..that´s pretty cool ;)
we had a baptism!! hma garbin taught this guy (pedro) for 2 weeks, but he got baptized on saturday. and it´s sorta considered "my" baptism! ;) itw as cool, also the other day, i told her, we should talk to that guy (named manuel), she was kinda reluctant, but since i´m unable to communicate, she did. turns out, he was looking for a new church, quit smoking and drinking recently. he came to church with us yesterday, and saw the confirmation of pedro, and asked for a priesthood blessing because he can´t walk verywell. after, we asked if he wanted to be baptized, and he said yes! 13 abril! ;)
i keep typing Ñ= for a smiey on accident, because the keyboard here is different, and i´ts habit! ;)
we use taxis and walk. the taxis remid me of that game, crazy taxi, becaus the drivers here really are loco! they swerve around each other, don´t wear seatbelts, ... kinda scary. but its cfasteer.
tell everyone i´m allowed to email anyone! so can you put my email on my blog? and the mailing address is different too.. it´s in my call packet. but just have people email ;)
we´re supposed to read the whole BofM in april. americans in spanish! so i´m putting to the test the promise from pres hinckley that if we read the bofm in a diff lenguage, we´ll be fluent! ;)
churhc was cool, i was able to understand most..kinda. my mind wanders a lot when i don´t understand Ñ= lots of people wore jeans and tshirts. i had to introduce myself. luckily hma richins (the sister of the hma richins in my mtc district) is brand new too and in my same area. we share a ward. so she had to introduce herself too.
one thing i need to get used to here is the greetings. lots of kisses ;P haha it´s weird!! mostly form the women, but sometimes the men too. it´s way different from the US and i hope i get used to it soon. but not a habit, because that´s be an awkward habit in the US ;) haha
ok, well i´ll writ emore next week!
love and miss youall!!!
PS my house, my foot, some from the mtc
today eating completos
my companion and i
i think that´s it ;)

love an dmiss yaaa!!!

PPS if you think you know whats wrong with my foot, let me know ;) haha i think ti´sf rom walking and from teh sun, but i´m not sure! 
¡adios!