27 May 2013

Kami letter from Antofagasta (dated 5/27/13)


Hello to the Home Front!

Kami Severtson Mon, May 27, 2013 at 12:19 PM
To: Toby Severtson 

Wow! crazy that you are all out of school!! can´t believe it! it´s cold here in Chile, and only about to get colder, so it´s hard for me to remember that it´s summer there and schools out!
And congrats to Porter in his SAT scores!! Dude, that´s amazinggg!

We had another great week. Full of lots of fun things. We had our Newbies Gringos Conference with the President and his wife on Wednesday, which was super fun. I got to see my companions from the MTC again, and learned a lot! Then, after, some of the missionaries (including my comps) had a couple hours until their bus left, so they got to do splits with us. I was with Hermana Howell, and it was so neat to work and teach with her again. Day to day here we don´t see much improvement in teaching and Spanish, but after working with her again after 2 months, we were able to see a lot of progess! Both of us spoke so much more and understood so much more than the MTC. I got to see the 2 elders from Queen Creek who were in my mission prep class too, so that was pretty cool. I also got to meet a lot more missionaries, there are a LOT from arizona right now! I met one girl, Hermana Cluff, who is from Mesa, Stapley and University area, so super close to grandma and grandpa. But I think she said she´s in the other stake.

Then on Thursday, we had Zone Conference. It was all the missionaries in Antofagasta and Calama. They had all new missionaries get up and bear their testimonies. Surprisingly, I had a lot of people after tell me that my Spanish is good! That´s SO comforting and confidence-boosting, because I don´t really feel like it so much.. haha It´s also cool, because all the Assistants to the President were there, there are 4 right now, and 2 of them are my Zone Leaders from Iquique. Yeah, they were great. haha There´s one elder who sang in the conference, and he won Chile´s Got Talent here, so he´s super good! pretty cool! Hermana Garbin and I last transfer won a "Celestial 7"... ok to be honest, I´m not exactly sure what it is.. haha I think it´s like 7 categories of things like number of lessons, investigators we brought to church... stuff like that. So we won one of them. And Hermana Bruce made us this SUPER yummy banana bread. MMmmm she makes yummy treats! haha she made us brownies and chocolate chip cookies too during the two conferences.. YUM 

Another day this week, we did intercambios with the new "traveling training sisters" they have here. Kinda like Zone Leaders, to go out with the missionaries to help them, but for the sisters. I went with Hna Núñez, she is from Paraguay, is 31, and a doctor!! She´s super sweet, and it was super fun to go with her. I learned a lot!

Along with the gringos learning Spanish, a lot of the Latinos learn English. It´s super fun to help them and hear them speak english!! We taught our English class again with those in our ward and some of our investigators, it´s so fun ;) love it! 

I FINALLY GOT THE PACKAGE!! Thanks so much for all that ;) And thanks to Grandma/pa Porter for the candy and Gma Glasgow for the card ;) the cardigan fits great, and I love it! and the music and mms ;) thanks so much! 

we had a noche de talento with the ward (talent show). Us 4 sisters did a musical number.. super fun. I´ll try to attach the video. I played the piano, and the other 3 played whatever they could find. One is shaking a jar of rice, banging on a pot like a drum, and playing a frying pan like a guitar. ;) super funnn! 

The other night, we were looking for some less actives in the ward, and we ran into this guy Sergio. He´s 77 and has Parkinson´s. and lives alone. When we were getting up to leave, he fell! Right on a shelf full of glass things, and one or two broke. and he couldn´t get up. we were super scared, helped him up and to his bed. We found a phone number of a friend on his table, and when we called the number, it was the wrong number. We didn´t know what to do! He assured us he was okay, and once we were certain, we left. but it was super scary! 

We went hiking this morning. There´s a cement anchor on the cerro (not mountain, but kinda..), and it was a lot of fun. I attached a couple pictures. 

I think, if we have time, I´m going to buy some new shoes today, mine are hurting my feet. So I´ll use my credit card. So just watch for the charge to come through, and transfer money over from one of my accounts ;) Thanks!

Oh yeah, so last week I forgot to tell you, but it had RAINED!! It was like 4 sprinkles.. but still. it rained. and everyone was super excited about it. 

Tell the boys a good missionary prep thing to do would be to read Preach My Gospel and study it. That´s one thing I wish I would have done better before I left. ;) That, and to go back and read conference talks, and to read the Book of Mormon over andover again! 

Have a great week! love and miss you!
--Hermana Severtson <3






20 May 2013

Kami Letter from Antofagasta (dated 5/20/13)

Heyya all! 

This week was another great week for me here! It´s tough for sure, but miracles do happen! :) We are trying our hardest to find more people to teach, because we don´t have too many investigators right now. We do SO many contacting and tracting, and only maybe 1 person would let us in. 

Funny story, one guy that we ran into was a Testigo de Jehovah (Jehovah´s Witness) and he was trying to convince us that God is named Jehovah, only 144 people are going to heaven, and that we interpret the bible wrong. I couldn´t help but think how sad and hopeless it would be if only 144 people were allowed into heaven. What would be our purpose in life? Even, what´s his purpose in studying the bible and sharing his religion with people if even he won´t get to heaven for it? We read him part of the intro of the book of mormon, and he seemed a little surprised because it wasn´t what he thought it was. But yeah, not much from him. He wasnt interested, so we let it go. 

We had a zone fast this week too, for help with finding people. Here, I really like how they do their fasts. Remember how I told you last Sunday that we eat a huge lunch, and a small dinner if any? Well, they fast after lunch, until lunch the next day. I like that a lot, it´s "easier" ;) Anyways, we started the fastWednesday after lunch until Thursday lunch. Thurs mornings we have our weekly planning as a zone. My comp and I were planning, when some elders in another zone called us and told us they found a girl for us to teach, who´s a great investigator. We decided to stop by her house. YES SHE IS GREAT! She´s been going to church with her friend in another ward for a long time, has all the pamphlets and has read them all, and is super interested in the church. Her friend´s ward is far away, and wants to go with us because it´s closer! It was awesome! We will teach her again later this week, but she is great!
Along with the fast for new investigators, I also wanted to fast for help with the language. It´s something we kinda struggle with because we´re both new. I could tell each day that I can understand more and more, but still not everything. These past few days, I can tell I can understand a LOT more too. A LOT. Like pretty much everything! It´s so nice to not be so clueless ;) haha 

We had been a little discouraged about our investigators too, because it´s so hard for us to communicate and find people. But we were doing our exercises the other morning, and a thought had popped into my head. Maybe our purpose in this sector isn´t to find that "one person" to baptize. Yes, baptism is important, and I think as missionaries we automaticallly think that´s our only purpose. But really our purpose is to "invite others to come unto Christ." I shared it with my companion and we are trying other things now too. Visiting more less actives, members, and still tracting. But since we changed our focus on not only searching for new people and not finding them, but to help others too, we had an easier week, and were more excited and happy. Not so discouraged and frustrated :) 

Wednesday night, we started an english class! we had about 10 people there, so a pretty good turn out. We had fun too! Most people were from the ward and their family or friends, but a few non-members too. We will teach every wednesday. last week we only did the basics "hello" "my name is" "i am from" "i am __ yrs old" and the numbers. They want to learn body parts, time, weekdays, and months, so i think we´ll do that this week. It´s super fun!

Funny,when we would do contacting, we would say "hi! we´re missionaries....." and they would reply that they´re not interested, busy... but when we´d say "ok, but we´re also teaching english" Theyd get so much more excited and talk to us for a bit. haha :) 

Yesterday, for our lunch with a member, we ate SHARK!! well...maybe...they told us it was shark, and were serious. even the wife who is more quiet and serious said it was too. But when we told other people, they laughed and said there isn´t shark here and that they were joking! So i´m not positive..but it was really yummy whatever it was! I´m going to say it was shark though ;) haha

Last night, we didn´t have much to do, and had like a half hour until we had to go back to the house. There´s this HUGE catholic church close to our house, and it was open, so we decided to look inside. WHOA those things are so cool!! the architecture is amazing and the stuff is really cool. The minister guy talked to us for a little while, and ended up giving us all these flyers and pamphlets. and even some extra to give to other people... haha but i like stuff like that from other churches, it´s interesting to look at. haha 

So, i´ve started to get some recipes and such.. and already have a couple ideas of stuff i want to make you all when i´m home! ;) i´m excited! but also, i have a list of food i miss and will want too. haha mexican food i miss a lot. my comp and i always talk about how good it is and sad they don´t have it really here. 

That´s crazy how the kids are already pretty much out of school,and bentley´s graduating!! that was so fast! wowww! Have a fun summer break, and at the cabin and stuff! I miss the cabin too. and just hanging out with everyone. playing cards and such ;) haha 

you kids in seminary and preparing for missions... i recommend you memorize all the scripture masteries. they´ve helped me so much here! even if i don´t remember the scripture (or not know it in spanish) i know they key words and reference and can look it up. 

also, there´s a talk by David A Bednar that´s super good. We have this binder full of talks. It´s called "Becomming a Missionary". When I read it this week, I thought of you all and thought how great it would be for you all to read it. There´s also one, called " The Fourth Missionary" I don´t remember who it´s by, and it´s not a conference talk,so I don´t know if you can find it or not. But you can read it when I´m home if not :) Study the scriptures, write down thoughts you have, read the conference talks again, apply from each one how you can improve... and look for miracles! there really are miracles everywhere. it´s amazing!

well, that´s about all for this week ;) enjoy the last week of school!! 
Miss and love you all lotss!!! 

bye!
--Hermana Severtson

13 May 2013

Kami Letter from Antofagasta (dated 5/13/13)


hheyyyaa!! AHH it was sooo good to talk to you all yesterday!! <3 you all seem so good and happy! and sounds like lots of fun things going on! 7 more months and we can talk on christmas! ;)
just so you know, i did buy a jacket today, and a backpack, i had been using my companions. and i used my credit card ;) so if you can transfer money over from my checking, that´d be great!! thankya!
the transfer is still doing good. i love antofagasta! loving it here mucho. it is colder than iquique,and the streets are more confusing,but it´s awesome. we´re getting along good with our limited spanish. ;) we both know just enough different words that we can help one another! it´s perfect! one thing i´ve learned here is everything is for a reason and that the assignments are inspired. my call to chile, my companions, my sectors, the timing... everything! i can just feel it´s part of the plan, and i love it! :)
we had a fun week again. we went to a recent converts house theother night and had pizza!! Hermana Gonzalez (from argentina who we live with) was in this sector in november/december and is back, and he was her convert from them. we made pizza with him and had a fun time. then friday night the relief society had a mothers day activity which was super fun too! they had a few little talks at the beginning, then we ate.and they did karaoke! haha oh it was super fun! ;) the activities here are SUPER different from the states! ha
my comp and i are going to start teaching english classes!! wednesday nights, so our first is this wednesday. we are hoping it helps draw in more investigators, and that members bring their friends and such. so we´ll see! but i´m excited! everyone wants to know english, so it should be pretty fun ;)
uhh.. i don´t know really what else to say since i talked to you all yesterday! but yeah! live is good, the mission is the best! ;)
¡¡tengan un muy buen día!!
más luego <3




07 May 2013

Kami Letter from Antofagasta Chile (dated 5/7/13)

Gmail


Hello from the Home Front!

Kami SevertsonTue, May 7, 2013 at 9:06 AM
To: Toby Severtson 

heyyy!! i´m here in antofagasta!! let´s plan to skype at 7:30 here. hope that works for all of you! i hope i remember my skype username and password... ha so maybe if you could email it to me just in case ;) i think it was on that list i gave you.

so i´m super excited for this next transfer!! i think it´s going to be really good! my companion has only one more transfer than me here. and doesn´t know TOO much spanish either :) haha but we´ll manage. she said president emailed her and told her that we have work to do together here and that we´ll do miracles! ;) so i´m excited!
she´s from utah, is 21, and i think a lot like me. she´s going into elementary ed too.  i´m super excited, i´ve only met her for like 3 or 4 hours, but already we are becoming good friends! 

i look forward to talking to you on sunday!
miss and love ya all lots!
--hermana severtson

06 May 2013

Kami Letter from Iquique Chile (dated 5/6/13)


HEYYAA FAMILIA!
this week was greattt!! lots of fun we had. it was full of sweets and yummyness ;) haha
last monday, for our pday activity, (i can´t remember if i told ou last week or not) we had chocolate chip pancakes and our zone leader elder hamblin made this buttermilk syrup. so it was SO GOOD.
then tuesday, one of the latino elders in my zone had given us a reference that turned to a baptism (those 2 kids) and so he told me he wanted an american cake. so we made him one, gave him part, and ate the rest ourselves. it was SO YUMMY. chilean cake isn´t that good, but we went to Lider and found a cake mix and it turned out really good!
wednesday was my bday!! man, can´t believe i´m 20. :S haha our mamita threw a party, decorated her whole house, and gave me a little headband and earrings. it was so sweet! and made lemon pie which was delicious. ha and hermana garbin made me a cake too, so it was full of fun and yumminess ;) it was a good day. i attached pictures of mamita, the gifts i got from investigators/comp/other missionaries.
thursday we had our zone meeting, and we had another party. part of because it was the last one as our zone, and part for my bday and hermana richins´ birthday (friday). so everyone brought cake or cookies or something good. and 2 of the elders got us both these star wars angry birds princess leah dolls. haha
friday, like i said, was h richins´ birthday. so once again, more cake and stuff. mamita threw another party! ahh her food is sooo good, and especially her cake and stuff!!
ok. so our transfers. guess what??
I´M GOING TO ANTOFAGASTA!! i thought for sure i was staying in iquique. i was certain. but they called us last night, and told me i´m leaving! so i leave tonight at midnight. ;P and it´s like a 6 hour bus ride. and 2 more elders are going with me, so luckily i won´t be alone!! haha i was afraid i would be. but my new comp is gringa, so i´m glad for that. i can actually talk to her for real. haha and i think i´ll learn more about how things work and learn more spanish because i can ask how to say things. but she only has like 3 or 4 transfers here! so she´s rpetty new too!
as for mothers day, as of right now, i´m not sure. i (i was so proud of myself..i went and found someone by myself for us to use their computers on sunday adn talked to them by myself!!) had planned sunday at 6, but now that i´m leaving, it´ll be differnet. i´m only goign to use part of my computer time today, so hopefully once i get to antofagasta tomorrow i can use the rest of the time to let you know. it´ll be a quick maybe 10 minutes to email ya. so as of right now, yeah, i don´t know what time we´ll skype. and hopefully it will be skype!
 
so guess what else? haha i went last week to take my money off the debit card for the month, and the atm machine was all weird. the card didn´t come out all the way and was super slow and got stuck. so i pinched to get it, and the machine sucked it back in!! so i had to call the financer and they´re getting me a new one. but it´s a US bank, so it´ll bel ike 4 weeks until i get a new one. haha i got all the money though, so i´m good there! ;)
 
anyways. that´s about all for this week. lots of fun and parties :) and next week i´ll have more to write about the new city!!
 
love and miss ya lotsss!
--hermana severtson! <3