Quick Note...

We ran into the Internet for just a couple minutes, but we will get back on in a couple hours. But i just wanted to tell ya that I AM getting transferred! Im going to ARICA, training, so we are opening the sector together, Im pretty sure there were elders in my place before me. Hna Tuft is training too, so we get to go to Antofagasta together tomorrow night to go pick up our companions. Then she will come back here, and Ill continue on to Arica! Its a good 20 hours from here, so quite the difference ;) 

Talk to you soon! love you!!! 

How Great Shall Be Your Joy

Hello Familia! ;) Let me share you a little about our week. 

We had a less active/recent convert tell us never to come back. 

A son of a less active telling us through the door that his mom was sick and sleeping, and slapping his little brother telling us "moms fine!"

We had 9 members planned to go leave with us, and none of them did. 

We had a low church attendance, because of summer vacations. 

People dont open their doors because they know its us, and we can clearly hear them inside. 

A great investigator we have seen, with her hoping we didnt notice her, also not opening the door or calling us or answering the calls. 

There are dogs barking all night long, keeping us up. 

BUT. You know what? that could happen all day, all week, all mission. And I wouldnt care. Because there are the moments that make it all worth it. Those moments that overpower all the sadness, all the frustration, all the stress. When we can feel this true happiness as missionaries, we remember why we are here. To invite people to come unto Christ. And when they accept, THAT is what we live for. Now, after all those "negative" parts of the week, let me share with you why this week was one of the BEST, one of the HAPPIEST, one that reminds me of our truly GREAT JOY we have in this Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We met Isabel. She is great! She has a little house behind her house that we are going to rent. We went over to have her sign the contract, and thought before hand "ok, we should try to teach her after, see how it goes". we finish the signing, and she says to us "ok, what do you guys do? tell me!" OK! so we taught her the first lesson, the Restoration, and she LOVED IT. It was amazing! and she accepted to be baptized on the 25th of january! and she is ready! its people like her that help me remember why were are here, and that there are people PREPARED and PREDESTINED for the gospel! ahh shes amazing. 

the next day, we wanted to have a lesson with her, and she was leaving or something, so we couldnt. but we gave her a book of mormon. she was SO excited, and said "oh!! this is the one the pamphlet talked about! i wanted one!" then she came to church, and loved it, and is just perfect! She calls us her best friends already (only talked to her maybe 3 hours in total.... one of those being church), talking about how she always wants to go to church, preparing for her baptism...!!! <3

Between us to companionships, we had quite a few investigators and less actives to go church. It was a happysunday all day, everything went perfect! it was the best! 

We took a chance and set a HIGH goal for lessons this week, higher than we had ever done before. And it was iffy because of New Years. BUT, we met that goal, and exceeded it by one lesson! And i know it wasnt us at all. It is the Lords work, and us being willing to work hard, and doing all we can to do it! and now, we know it can be done :)

We had New Years! We ate with a member, Maria Lydia. SHe is a great lady, and they have a great family. She and her husband served a mission in Viña Del Mar, Chile a few years back, so they are always helping us with the work. They are great!! We came home, watched the fireworks, and went to bed. Happy 2014! :) 

This one, I give no credit to us. All of this is the Spirit of the Lord. But, we have had so many people tell us about peace. That they like talking to us, because they can feel peace, and they want it. Its just amazing to me how something not tangible, can be seen. I know that only through Christ, we can have this ultimate, fullness of peace. Everyone, its a free gift to all. 

We got a house! Like I mentioned earlier, with Isabel. But we have one! We just have to wait until Feb 1 to move in! 

We have gotten a lot of family member references from Less Actives too. Really, if you just put your mind to it, and DO IT, miracles happen! Its great!! 

A random thought... this week, we went to a family in the ward that speaks really good English, the mom is an English teacher. They ALWAYS ask us to say the prayer in English.... and this time, it was my turn. IT IS HARD. probably the most awkward prayer ever. Everything I thought to say, automatically went into my head in spanish, and i had to really think of the english words! haha its funny, because we speak english together, we speak spanish together, we always pray in spanish.... youd think praying in english would be the same. its not. haha wierd experience! 

we went hiking this morning as a district, to Cerro La Cruz (Cross hill). theres a big cross at the top of the "mountain" and we went to hike to it! after, we stayed for a little bit and read our scriptures. it was really cool!! A fun activity. 

Us 4 missionaries were asked to speak in Church next sunday. I think we are going to do Faith, Hope, Charity, and Love. I really dont mind anymore speaking... kinda got used to it how many times I had to speak these last few years ;) 

We have transfers again this next week! AY! we will find out Saturday night again what happens. I would really like to stay here in Chañarcillo..but we will see!!! 

Hey! No one mentioned anything about the Book of Mormon Challenge I gave you all! Do you accept?? ;) I already have a couple ideas of a "prize" for the winner ;) So start reading!! :)

These past few weeks, we have been studying the Articles of Faith. Its great to see how basic they are, the basic doctrine of the Gospel, and they are TRUE! We especially have been focusing on the 13th. That one is about US. The others are the beliefs of the church, but the 13th, is US! We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevelont, virtuous, and in doing good to all men..... if we believe it, we need to DO IT! Its really neat! They have a lot more meaning in studying them, than memorizing them....which memorizing is another thing we are starting, in Spanish! I forgot most of what I tried memorizing in the MTC, haha so we are doing it together! 

Also, been thinking a lot about 1 Nephi this week. Especially Chapter 4, vs 6 "I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things that I should do". A lot of times, life is that way. We have a basic plan and goals of what we want to do, but we dont always know how we are getting there or what will happen in between. But with faith in the Lord, being led by the Spirit, we always get it done. The Lord has this plan for us, and it is perfect! Its individual, but it all fits into place. All of it. There are no "coincidences" there are no "chances", its all planned. 

Well, thats all for this week. ;) Remember your purpose, strengthen your testimony, and share it with others!! ;)

I LOVE YOU!!!! 

--Hermana Severtson

P.S. oh, we made grandma Porter´s home made noodle soup. ;) so there are the pictures of that too! ;) 

P.S.S. New Years Eve with Maria Lydia. She has a million wigs! haha ;)

Feliz Navidad Prospero Año Y Felicidad!

FELIZ NAVIDAD Y AÑO NUEVO!! 

This week of Christmas was a great one!! Definitely still felt the "Christmas Spirit" from 20 hours away in plane, in the heat! Its universal! ;) 

Lets see. 

So Tuesday, Christmas Eve, was a good day! We had a couple appointments in the morning, so we got those done. Then we went to the Tapia Family to help them cook. They offered that if we knew of any families that wouldnt have a Christmas dinner, we could help cook and take some food to them. We had one, and the Elders had a few, so we all went over all afternoon and helped them cook! We made probably 8 pans of brownies, and 8 pans of carrot cake. YUM! ;) It was super fun though! Then, we got to go deliver these dinners, that was the best part. It was amazing to see their excitement. 

After that, we went to Kelly and Luis Pizarro´s house for dinner. That was fun too, their house is all neat and decorated all Christmassy, so it was really fun. 

Then, we went home to sleep!! Well, we tried to sleep. Haha, it was loud all night, because here, everyone waits untilmidnight to start opening presents, so there were parties all night. Especially our college kid neighbors, partying until7am!! haha ;) but we slept all we could ;) hehe 

We woke up, opened our presents from each other, family, and members (thanks SO much everyone!!) and started to go to our District Meeting that was Christmas morning. We had a breakfast party too, so that was fun ;) gift exchange, meeting, leaving! And we found a little cat in the chapel... someone must have left it there. 2 of them, but one had died by the time we found it ;(

Next, the Lozano family invited us for lunch, so we all went there too. This ward is great! ;)

NOW, the best part of the day. when i got to talk to YOU GUYS!!! It was so great to see you all again! the best christmas gift a missionary could ask for ;) I cant believe how big you all are and growing, only in 10 monthsss!! haha 

Then we went to go work that afternoon!! 

BEST CHRISTMAS EVER! 

This week too, was kinda sad, because a lot of the college kids in the ward went home, and a lot of the families are traveling for the summer. Investigators, converts, members, its sad! But, they will all come back here in march! 

A cool story. We went last night to visit our Ward Mission Leader, but apart from mission stuff, just to talk and have a lesson with him and his family. At the end, we ask if there is anything we can do to help them. Nothing... then the little 10 year old says "can you talk to the president for me? I need a Book of Mormon to give my friend". :) awwww hes been bringing his friend to church for a few weeks now, and his friend loves to read. So he wants to give him a Book of Mormon! They are a great family, so fun! 

AND, to end off the week. Hermana Tuft cut my hair again ;) SHORT this time! But I really like it!! After she trimmed it a couple weeks back, I thought I might want it a little shorter. So I up and went for it! And I like it!! ;)

les amo muchisimo, espero que tuvieron una feliz navidad, y tengan un feliz año nuevo tambien!! Pongan metas, y hagan todo a lograrlos ;) son importantes!! ;) verdad, les amo mucho mucho. y les extraño tambien!! 

hasta la proxima semana, 

--Hermana Severtson

P.S. oh! also, i wanted to tell ya. 

i bought shoes today.. my foot was hurting again, so i bought some good ones. so theres a charge for that on my credit card. 

and, for school, a lot of the north americans went home today, two weeks early, so they could start school. we will see if pres does that again in the summer, but we will see. because i know byu and them start later than asu. so we will see. but for right now, im feeling again that i should go home early to start school that august. but i will think about it these next couple weeks, try to talk to the counselor, and see what happens! 

love you!!!

JUST DO IT

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! How does noon there sound? I hope fine! haha it will be 4 here, so right after lunch we will try to skype ya. a member invited us over, so as soon as we are done with them, we will ask to use their computers! 

Cant believe Noah is 14 also. wowwy!! everyone gets so big so fast!! but looks like he had a fun birthday party according to your emails and those blog posts! 

and bentleys callings! how funnn!! thats so sweet, how special to be a missionary and have those experiences! 

and caleb with the book of mormon... yeah ;) how awesome dude! go be a missionary!! 

This week we had a lot of JUST DO IT experiences. First, we did see a LOT of people with nike shirts :) haha a constant reminder. 

And we asked members to go out to work with us. And its not as hard as I thought! haha they really DO make the work SO much easier. an immediate friend, confidence, someone that stays, ... its great. just DOing it, gives blessings. obedience! 

I got my carnet this week... my chilean ID. Im chilean!! its so cool, im so excited ;) 

I think I mentioned service before, but one of the old ladies in the ward we got to serve, gave us little christmas presents this week ;) shes so cute! Before, she was kinda grumpy.... not really grumpy, but thats the closest word i know ;) ha but now, shes so happy and friendly to us ;) shes so fun! service really does soften hearts and open minds. she was already a member, but service helps!! 

we had lots of singing opportunities this week. 

we did another musical number in church, us 4 missionaries and some members. so that was fun! 

the zone sang in the hospital. we were only going to do 3 floors, but everyoen kept telling us to do more, so i think we did like 5. it was really neat! such a great experience! it was super fun, and so cool to hear all of us. we sang hymns, but also feliz navidad, because its in english and spanish. and im learning some good ones that they only have in spanish too! ;) fun! 

then, yesterday, we got to sing (the 2 zones in copiapo) in the plaza. the center of the city. it was cool! really fun to sing for everyone! so many people stopped and listened! so cool to be able to do this! 

after, we went to watch the christmas devotional. since live would be late here, we did it last night as a re-broadcast. and i listened in spanish! let me just say... the prophets REAL voice and native language is better ;) haha easier to focus and understand than a translater ;) 

the house.... we lost. the office was traveling for conferences, and didnt get the phone calls and emails from the guy giving us the house, so he gave it to someone else. ;( but, we are going to hopefully be moving soon anyways. there are college boys that live across the street from us..and its bad.. so we are going to move into the apartment the elders found. they will go to our house until they find something else, or february when we have a different house waiting for us. i can explain it more on wednesday if you want, because its kinda confusing ;) ha 

we are eating with a member tuesday night, breakfast either tuesday or wednesday morning, wednesday morning district meeting/gift exchange/breakfast, and lunch on wednesday. the ward is great and so loving!! i feel so happy they are inviting us all, its so sweet of them. our bishop too is already planning for us to go to his house on new years ;) haha 

well, have a very merry christmas!!! tell grandma and grandpa thanks for their little gifts too! and if they can come over to talk too, id love to talk to them!!! 

see ya in a couple dayss!!!!! <3 

<3 hermana severtson

Good Things Come to Those That Wait

Waiting brings blessings... THAT i know! 

This week, I got your package! woo hoo!! I attached a picture of our little tree and our presents ;) thank you thank you!! and for the vinyl tree too ;) WE ARE SO EXCITED!! 

so we have permission for an hour, on either the 24th or the 25th. either way will be good for us! just let me know! 

also, waiting a while transfer, we think we finally found a house! We went and looked at it, it was cheaper, and the office told us they would go ahead and try it then! So we are just waiting still for all the paperwork and contracts and all that. i have no idea how it works ;) but we hopefully got one! 

we had a great week here!! we had an investigator tell us a cool story of what happened. first off, the first time we met with her, we talked about the restoration and the peace it brings, and she LOVED that. She lives next door to members (a reference from them) and said she can tell they have a different peace, and us too, and wants it. after, we left her the pamphlet for that lesson. 

SO this week, she tells us she was having a really hard day. she remembered our pamphlet, and decided to read it with her 6 yr old son. she felt so much better, and remembered what we said about praying too, so she tried that. then, so many things that were going wrong, got fixed. she knows its because of the restoration, praying, and the Lord Jesus Christ. It was so amazing and made us so happy to hear this from her! 

We had a conference with President this week! it was great!!! Its always so encouraging to hear President, his wife, and the assistants speak. But my companion and i were talking after, and we were just thinking how obvious it is what we have to do, but its harder than it seems. I was thinking a lot about that. If its so simple, why is it hard? Then the thought came to me "just do it". It may seem hard, but it will never be easier until we just practice and do it. that applys for everything. But especially this now. if its what needs to be done in the mission, it needs to be DONE. If anyone else can do it, so can I, right? its just the fact of DOING it. so thats my motto for the week, JUST DO IT ;) 

We did our musical number there too. which was fun! it was really neat! I dont remember if I already told you or not, but it was a mix of Jesus once of humble birth and silent night. It was neat! Super fun, I miss stuff like that ;) 

Then, we did another one on Sunday too. This time, a girl in the ward sang and played her flute with us too. it was really cool! it was I know that my redeemer lives. 

President and his wife came to our ward on Sunday to speak. It was really neat! It definitely helped with the excitement in the ward. They are great. I think we have the best President and wife there are!! 

Fun too this week, we got to help a member paint their house. they are doing a LOT of remodeling, so it was fun! They are completely changing their house, and its been crazy a month or more!! haha but great to be able to help them. The elders came too to help, because they had a lot. and i think the whole family and the construction workers mentioned we paint faster and better than the elders ;) hehe of course we do!! ;) 

We ran do Caldera today again. Fun! We played futbol...eh...soccer on the beach (I think I will forever call it football instead of soccer) and took pictures. it was fun! I sure love that little town! 

one last thing. that less active we took to church last week? Hermana Tuft´s mom found her missionaries on facebook!! And have been talking to them. We told this lady, Elba, and she was SO HAPPY! She was so excited that we found them. Shes the cutest lady! 

Well, hope you all have a great week!! miss and love you all lots!! 

--Hermana Severtson

P.S. Oh, and we made cookies for our zone meeting on Tuesday. Christmas sugar cookies!! YUM!!! heres us making them, and them in the fridge!

P.S.S. My companion and I with Elba, us at caldera (bahía inglesa), and our old district.... from last transfer. but i didnt have the picture. there will be a new one soon ;) 

Primary, Musical Numbers, LOVING THE MISSION

Another fun week here! 

we had the primary program this week! And, they asked me to play the piano for them. SO FUNN!!! Reminded me of last year, when I did the same for our ward. Ahh, i miss it ;) It was great! My favorite (only) calling ;) 

We have yet to find a house! The other hermanas we lived with moved out though, to something closer to their sector. its weird living alone now, but its good. 

The elders that are now in our ward, too, managed to find something within a WEEK! we´ve only been looking for like 2 months, finding nothing! haha hopefully this week, we have a few appointments to look at houses today andtomorrow. 

Its cool to have elders in the same ward as us though. its neat. they are just different from hermanas, and the ward is really excited to be able to work with them too. 

we are doing a musical number this friday at our mission conference. and we want to do another one in sacrament meeting too, we will see if we have time! but this one we are doing on friday is cool. its a medley of silent night and jesus once of humble birth. maybe we can see if someone can film it...not sure if we can or not! :)

we have this less active, Elba. She is 86 years old, and only less active because she cant go to church. She always tells us about "her missionaries" from when she got baptized 45 years ago. and how she "has to go to her church". so this sunday, we got our ward mission leader to help us take her to church. it was so special! She LOVED seeing everyone!! Even cried because she saw so many people she remembered from when she was able to go. ahh!! it was so neat! 

Thats cool about Caleb winning the Spelling Bee!! thats so neat! ahh my hermanito ;) So proud of him!! He might have to teach me a little about spelling in English after this! I used to always be able to spell, not anymore! haha 

I still have not gotten the package. We have a zone meeting tomorrow, and the conference on friday. So either one of those days, I should get it. hopefully! ;) 

Brother Judd does go back this week too. He said he might come back here the first of the year, or stay with his family for a little bit. but this week im pretty sure hes heading back to the US! 

Hmm... another shortish one... sorry!! lo siento ;) but hey, Christmas is coming soon! you gotta let me know what time so we can start talking to members in the next couple weeks!! ;) so exciteddd!!! 

love you LOTTSS!!!! 

--Hermana Severtson

Stayin in Copiapo.. Speakin Spanglish

Im staying in COPIAPO with HERMANA TUFT!! 

This week was a good one... it went FAST again, but good. We were working busy and hard, worrying about cambios (transfers) but we stayed, so we are good!! ;) 

It was a crazy hectic week... and a heads up, this email is probably going to be fairly long. haha but its fun ;) 

So, Ill start by telling you what the cambios all were. My companion and I stayed together, in our sector. The other Hermanas we live with switched wards, the elders in that other ward, went to the other half of the sector, kicking out those elders. those elders come to our ward. So of the 4 companionships in our district, 3 are new in their sectors, with only 1 new elder in the district. so that should all be fun ;) 

So, because of this, weve been looking for new pensions. Right now the other hermanas have to walk about 45min to their new sector, and the elders about 20 to their sector too. Then, because our house is big for just 2 of us, we are too looking for something smaller and cheaper. within these 6 weeks, we have found 3 sure houses. they all were pretty certain to work out...and all 3 didnt. one we found on our own, that was on the market for like 2 months, but never answered the phone. finally did, the office called them, and the sign went down. someone else called. 

another a member in our ward has to rent. we almost had that one, but she was out of town, so the company rented it to someone else. 

another, this same member has a neighbor with a little house to rent behind hers. so we went to go look at it, and it would be perfect. the problem is, there are people living there right now. shes been wanting to kick them out anyways, but not until she had someone else to go there. so she finally told them, but they legally have a month to stay to find something else. 

so we are living in a huge house still, the other hermanas super far, and once they get a new one, just us 2. but we are still looking too!!  just fun stuff!! haha we will see what happens here in the next couple weeks ;) 

and i hope that all made sense. that was probably a little confusing! 

but another weird story about a different house! we would just call every number we saw on houses. one, a lady answers and it seems like a decent deal on her house. so i say "ok, so we are missionaries, so we are going to call our leaders and get back to you about this house" and she says "hermana! im a member too!" i ask what ward, and she tells me shes in Iquique, in Zegers... my first sector! So i tell her i was there, and she remembered me! But to me, her name sounds SUPER familiar, but I cant remember exactly who she was. crazy! 

This week was also Thanksgiving. Like you can see in the pictures i attached, we made a feast ;) chicken, potatoes, gravy, green beans, and cheese cake ;) it was quite deliciousss!! Very fun ;) Fun to be able to celebrate it, since they dont have anything like it here. Sounds like you all had a good Thanksgiving too though, enjoying time with family. thats the only thing that could have made it better! ;) 

This week, it has been harder for me than any other week to speak English! haha I have no idea why, because Ive spoken mainly english with my companions the last 4 months, but it was hard! My grammar is going away, I cant think of so many words, .... but whatever! She and all the other north americans here understand me. But Im afraid Ill go home and NO ONE will understand me! ha 

One night this week, Hermana Tuft closed the window, probably like 2am. So I woke up and saw a red flashing light from a police car. So, in spanish (Spanish is always harder when im tired, and naturally we speak english together...but i spoke spanish to her) i asked what happened outside. we had a good conversation in spanish for a couple minutes and went back to sleep. the next morning, we told each other that right as we almost fell back asleep, we realized it was in spanish, but had to really think to see if it really was ;) haha 

Another example of this, is that today, we ran into a Canadian. We were just walking around talking, and a guy comes up, "are you speaking english??" I just looked at him in shock. I couldnt believe he was speaking english! haha Hermana Tuft did most the talking, because I couldnt think of anything to say to him in English. Its hard to talk to "normal" people in English. But we made a contact out of it, and honestly, I couldnt think of the words to say. haha I guess its going to be hard for a while to speak in Gospel Terms in English! ha 

We decided that, since we are staying together, that we are going to read the whole Book of Mormon in a month. I think Im doing it in english, but we shall see. It will be a fun little challenge though! 

Another fun little thing we did this week, is that Hermana Tuft cut my hair!! I had been wanting it a lot shorter, and she wanted to try it. And it looks good! haha ;) Its nice to have all the gross ends off and be really healthy ;) 

You asked me about the food here. Its not TOO bland. well, maybe Im just used to it by now. But Its mostly rice or potatoes, and chicken. And... yup. they eat mayo with everything. but its good! Im not too against it ;) but I also am starting a list of food I miss from home, and chicken and rice is NOT on that list! 

My foot was doing better this week. it seems like now every time it DOES hurt, its just a little bit, and not for as long. so thats good! hopefully i dont have problems with it the rest of my life! 

Well, thats about all for now... I believe ;) 

Have a GREAT weekkk!! Love you lots!!