Falling

Hola!! 

Welcome to the craziest week yet of my mission!!

It hasnt been the best...but I will start with today. 

Well last night. We were all laying in our beds talking when Hna Raziera (from Brazil...she is teaching me portuguese!) said she felt itchy.  I asked for how long she had been itching and she said two weeks. I demanded to see her stomach and turned on the light. I wasnt surprised to see a bunch of little red dots...but with whitness under and (since I am a total bug bite expert now)...I had to give her the sad news....that SARNA has hit us once again. That would be scabies. For my THIRD TIME!!! whooooooo!!!!

So this morning when we all got up and my two favorite people in the world (Solange and Aracely) came over...we teased them by kissing their faces and then screaming that they had sarna. We all ran around for a bit. It was funny. Everyone we know probably already has it. Anyways,,,,

We walked out to a country part of our sector near the river. It is the beginning of spring here and I am convinced that there is not a more beautiful place in the world. There are flowers springing up of every color imaginable. We walked out along a train track for awhile until we came to the edge of the river. It was beautiful. I stood there and cried at the beauty for awhile and then we set out some blankets and all our food (pure manjar, chocolate, flan and cookies) and ate and sang for awhile. We ended up staying for about 6 hours. We took a nap in the beautiful sun....got almost ran over by wild horses and cows and caught a ride back in the back of a truck. It was lovely. Then we came back to the house and made mini pizzas and ice cream. 

Okay....on to the not so lovely parts of the week. 

My leg has been killing me lately...wel for about 6 months to be exact. Some days I can walk pretty well without limping...and other days I could walk faster crawling...I know that it doesnt really matter how much it hurts..I just have to work. So that is what I have done. But it has progressively gotten worse. And worse and worse. Until last week I started falling down...all the strength I have in my leg (which isnt too much) would just give out. So my dear Aracely helped me by almost carrying me around. But I went in to see the doctor again. He took a look at me..saw I couldnt walk...took a look at my back and said it was all lopsided. Like all my back was in the right side of my body. Basically I have a hernia. And its rather large and between my last vertebrae and my sacrum. Not sure why it took so long to figure that out..but here we are. The doctor was absolutly amazed that I am able to walk 10 miles a day with it...(let alone to the bathroom). I asked him what to do...he didnt hesitate for a moment and said "you need to go home and not get out of your bed for 6 months". Well obviously that is not an option. And I told him that....and after some fighting and him saying nonsense like "if you dont rest now you will ruin your back and leg forever". We came to an agreement. I would rest for a week and do some more hardcore physical therapy. And then the mission doctor came and started talking nonsense about going home. And I just started to cry. I have never let those thoughts enter my head. And I told her that..I´m not going home! I have walked in pain for 6 months...I can walk in pain for 6 more months. I´ll deal with the damage when I get back. 

Sadly the mission doctor said that wasnt up to me...and she would talk to president. It was pretty much the most miserable moment in my life. We left the doctors and tried to catch a bus home...but it was raining and 10 at night and in the big city and I was lost. Then I got a call from Aracely saying that she was in Conce..and if we were still there. All I really wanted to do was talk to my parents,,,but since that wasnt an option Chelly was a close second.  She ran to us and helped us find a bus. And we went home. And I said I was not answering the phone if president called. I went to sleep miserable. 

The next morning we worked everything out. I would stay in and rest as much as I could for a week...and we would walk as little as possible. And thats what we did. And even though my little baby only has three weeks in the mission..I sent her out with Solange to do visits (because Solange is amazing and like the best missionary ever..and its only been three months since her baptism!) And it all worked out okay. And I let president know that going home is not an option...now or ever. I´m chilena and will be staying here in my home. 

Ohter news....we took Patricio (who got baptized a month ago) to Manuel (who should be getting baptized this month). They are both around 23 years old and found that they have the same drug addiction in common (it happens to be the strongest drug in the world). They both like to traffic drugs and carry around guns and stuff like that. And they have both changed incredibly!! Watching Patricio testify to Manuel that he can overcome his drug addiciton and change his life because HE did it was amazing!! 

I love the people here so much. I love being a missionary and I just love Chile. This is my home and the people here really are my family. I´m not sure exactly when is my time to come home (my plans never work out exactly as I think they should)...but the day I leave here will be....oh I cant even think about it. 

Love you all!!

Hermana Orchard

ps Aracely added all the photos that I was behind on to my facebook...so dont be surpirsed when they are there. 

oh oh ohhhhhhh!

Hollllaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!

Before I say anything else...
Dad...can you make my blog private? I have been having too many people come up to me saying that they read my blog. Like a girl from Mexico who found me...said she recognized me from my blog and started to recount countless stories from my mission. I put too much personal things about the people and places here to have it be public. 

This week was wonderful and hard like all!! Last Monday I took baby to the house of Solange for breakfast. Solange is an awesome 22 year old who got baptized 3 months ago and lives all my herself in a big house! Her house is basically our house now. We keep half our food and clothes and blankets there. Anyways, she is super awesome and accompanies us everyday. And has already started her papers for her mission!! She is so incredible! Anways, we went and ate breakfast at her house with Aracely. 
I havent talked enough about Chelly. She is basically the most amazing thing on the planet and my newest best friend! She is 20 years old and got baptized 1 year ago. Before she was baptized she would literally get into fistfights on the street all the time! Everyone knows she is super strong and no one dares to mess with her. Anyways, she met the missionaries and got baptized in three weeks. She dropped all her bad friends, drugs and what not without a second thought! It wasnt an easy sacrifice though. Her parents were super mad and almost kicked her out of the house. And in secret she just finished her mission papers! She accompanies us everyday and is basically our third companion. She´ll be getting her mission call soon and I am praying that it is to the States because I cannot live without this little chucara! I used to think I had to sacrifice a lot to come on a mission. But Chelly has to work super hard at a factory lifting bags of wood to pay for her mission. She cant talk about it with her family because they cant know. And when she gets back...she will have no where to live and no family. How selfish we sometimes are thinking that giving up 18 months of studies or fun party time is too big of a sacrifice. Sometimes we just dont understand anything! Our sight is so blurred I think...in the states. We have everything...big nice families...money..food...everyone has cars...we have minimum wage (which is the greatest blessing...I see the results of not having that down here). Yet we dont really have anything. As a nation we are empty of love...we focus so much on material things (like good jobs and studying) and altogether fail to take time for what really matters.
I hope I never forget the difference between my two countrys and can always be more chilean than american. 

Anyways, so last monday we ate some breakfast with Solange and Chelly and then went to Conce. There we met up with Hermana Tejerina and went to lunch. It was so fun seeing my mamá again and talking to her! She goes home in just a couple weeks..which breaks my heart. 
Tuesday a man came up to us in the street with a cute little 2 year old in his arms. She was all dressed up in a little party dress and the man looked a little stressed. He came up and put the girl in my arms and asked me to take her home with me. Thats not the first time that has happened. We never know if we should laugh or cry in these situations. 

Wednesday I heard noises in the night so I got up and turned on the lights....which woke up the other hermanas. Whatever it was went away but we all stayed awake the rest of the night huddled together. The next morning some inspectors of the mission came over to inspect the house. They said it was completely unsafe and showed about 10 different ways for someone to easily enter the house. Also there are some uncovered cords in the shower that I never really noticed..but they said we could easily be electrocuted in any moment, Dont worry...the house is safe now!

At night we had an awesome lesson with an investigator Manuel. He has lots of problems with drugs and everything. Here in Chile they have a special word for partiers...because they are more than partiers Its like their job and very being! Anyways...Manuel went one whole year partying every night without stop! Literally everynight he would leave and party until noon and then come home and sleep for a few hours before he went out to party again! For a year! haha anyways, getting him to give up his lifestyle and addictions has not been easy. We decided to read 3 Nephi 17 with him...about when Christ comes and blesses the people and children. Its always my favorite. Before we went I called a member to come and give Manuel a blessing. The member didnt answer so I just left a message thinking he would never show up. So we went and read the chapter and talked about how Christ didnt heal all the people at once...He had that power and there was lots of people sick and hurt. He could have just reached out His hands and healed them all at once. But He didn´t...he went around and healed one by one. Its the same with us...Christ and God listen to our prayers one by one...watch our lives one by one..and are with us one by one. 

We were talking about this and Manuel put his hand over his heart and said Ï feel something¨¨Like a jumping...or laughter from my heart!¨And he started crying and it was really wonderful...and just then the member I had called for the blessing showed up with the stake president! We taught some more of a really powerful lesson and then they gave him a blessing. And it was just...really great. I wish every lesson could be like that. 

We have been going out to some new country parts lately....trying to find a family with 12 kids that will feed us fried chicken and bread and baptize their whole neighborhood. We have yet to find them but have seen some really truly beautiful parts of Hualqui! We went to this place on the side of the huge Bio Bio river. Its almost spring and all the trees have bright pink and purple blossoms and we are just surrounded on all sides by colors! Colors of trees and flowers...colors of houses..I feel like even the sky has a different color here! Its so beautfiul!

One day we tried climbing up a hill in the rain to get to a house on top. It was super muddy and we came up to this little cliff. I decided I wanted to climb up it to see the view...only I was in half heels and a skirt...and well....dont have the strength to climb up a cliff. My foot got stuck in the mud and I lost both shoes and fell. I was covered in mud and a mess. Aracely had to climb up the cliff to help me down and put my shoes back on. The constant rain cleaned us up fast enough though! 

We found a dying dog in the street one day. It had gotten in a fight with the pack of dogs and had lost in eye and was bleeding everywhere. We knew it was going to dye soon and it was raining so we put our umbrellas over it and bought it some bread to eat and watched it die. It was really sad.  My poor companion is a huge dog lover and was sobbing hysterically. 

I have been having lots of problems with my leg lately. Well....pretty much consistently fro 6 months now. So I am used to it...but its easy to get really frusterated about it. But I tell myself the only option is to work...so I work and normally can walk the whole time. But friday night we were late coming home and I could barely put one foot in front of the other. I felt like all the bones in my hip and leg were broken and I just couldnt walk anymore. We were super far from home and we didnt have any options. I was stressed because I knew we were going to be late getting home...if we ever got home. So I prayed for a miracle...and a family from our ward pulled up next to us and offered a ride home! It was truly a miracle becuase....no one has cars...we were in the middle of no where late at night. Miracles happen! And almost everyday I am able to see at least one miracle in connection with my leg. 

Today we had breakfast with Solange and Aracely again...and then watched 17 Miracles. Then we went to hermana Cecilia´s and she made us lasagna. I havent had lasanga in a year! Hermana Cecilia is like my mom here. Always feeding us...I feel just as at home in her house as I do in my own! 

My new little hija is Hermana Piriz from Montevideo Urugauy. She thinks I am crazy but is okay with that.  We get along great!

I love Hualqui!
I love Chile!
I love Chileans!
I love this month of dancing and food (its independence month here...not day..MONTH!)
I love being a missionary!

Oh and if you see new stuff pop up on my facebook its because I gave Solange my password to add photos and stuff. We made a video today explaining what happened when we were robbed....except after it was done I realized that it was in spanish and no one would be able to understand it. But there it is!

Love you all!!!


Hermana Orchard

New

When Michealangelo was asked how he created a piece of sculpture, he answered that the statue already exsisted within the marble. God himslef had created the Pieta, David and Moses. Michealangelo´s job, as he saw it, was to get rid of the excess marble  that surrounded God´s creation. So it is with you. The perfect you ins´t something you need to create, because God already created it.

I´m not alowed to hold babies here but every once and awhile I see them. There is so much innocence and perfection in them. And then I see the rest of the world and wonder how we grow so far from the perfect state we were in.

It seems like my mission call has been to convert the drug dealers of Chile..which has taught  me more than I could have imagined. The power and importance of our small day to day decisions and the potential that all of us have to change. Not just small changes...but 100% change!

I cant look at any person the same anymore. The teenagers and drunk men smoking in the streets and robbing in the night I can now see sitting in church, teaching lessons and preparing for the temple and missions. 

God never gave up on us. How can we ever give up on anyone else?

I had kind of a hard week. I had to say goodbye to my best mission companion. I had to continue sleeping in this house after our front door broke off . I´m training again (a girl from Urugauy) which is really fun but always a little difficult. And my leg started really hurting again after the doctor said there is nothing more he can do. We had some hard things happen with the members and people here and I started to find myself wanting to change some things. I wanted to be able to write my own story and have things go MY way. I lost some trust in God´s plan for me because, well I just didnt like it! And then I thought back on all the difficult things in my life. All the stories I wanted to end my way. Would I really go back and change any of it if I could? No. Maybe I dont know all the reasons behind my life earlier...or now. But I know God loves me and all people enough to write a better story than we ever could. 

Maybe I dont want to change the story because I dont know what a different ending holds.  Theres a reason I am not writing the story and God is. He knows how it all works out, where it all leads, what is all means. I dont.

Sometimes I want to go to a safer place. Or I think of all the times after elections when we talked about escaping to the mountains and crazy stuff like that. But really that is all silly. God is in charge. There are no ïfs¨in God´s world and no places that are safer than others. The center of His will is our only safety. 

Training is fun! I always enjoy it! My new baby is a quiet thing from Uruguay. The first day I took her contacting in the cemetary. She thinks I´m  weird probably haha. But its fun! When I went to pick her up at the mission office I was able to see all my old companions and friends and it was just like a reunion in heaven! 

Last week when I was scared and needed help....I called my favorite member...Aracely...at 5 in the morning. She ran to our house in the rain and stayed with us for 5 days! She is a super strong thing and I felt super safe with her! She´s also here now reading what I am writing...she cant understand any of it though! But basically what I am trying to say is that the friends I am making here...well its just 10000x worth all the bad stuff that happens. Who would have thought I could have such best friends all the way down here at the end of the world....and in a little town hidden in the mountains. Really nothing is coincidence. I love all these people so much. Heaven is going to be such an awesome place!!!!!!

Love you all! 

Dont worry about me...I am safe! And if anyone thinks about calling president to get me moved....I will never talk to you again!! I love Hualqui and plan to stay here forever!!!

Hermana Orchard

Breaking in

Wow! What a week! I dont think I have ever been more exhuasted in my life! I´ have said that a couple of times this past year....but this week has topped it all! 

I just want to mention the past three nights....because each night has been terrible in its own way. Sorry this email is not really gonna brighten your day. 

Especially mom...maybe you should just skip over this...I thought really hard about if I should relate what happened this week or not. Everyone told me I wasnt allowed to tell my mom...but I said ¨No my mom is super brave! She can handle anything!!¨..

With that being said....no one is allowed to call my mission president or anything!

Okay.

So thursday I ate something bad..not sure what it was. But I threw up about every 15 mins through the night. The next day I had absolutly no strength and could barely sit up in bed. I was kind of out of it the whole day. And was super tired the next night. 

Friday night I woke up ( a little before 4 am)..I´m not sure why. I just kind of laid there in bed and felt weird...I thought maybe its because I had to throw up again or something. I kind of went back to sleep and then opened my eyes again when my bedroom door opened. The door to our bedroom is really old and you have to put all your strength agaisnt it and really push to open it. Our bedroom is also really small and my bed is in front of the door so we can never open it all the way. 

Anyways, I knew it wasnt the wind that opened up the door and thought it was werid how my companion was able to get up and leave without me noticing. (and that she was then trying to get back in). Thats when I heard my companion moving in her bed.

And that was pretty much the scariest moment in my life. 

About a million things passed through my head..and I laid there trying to think of a reasonable okay reason for our door to have opened by itself. 

Then I was overcome with the smell of alcohol...super super strong. And my eyes adjusted a bit to the dark and I saw the lights of two eyes looking at me. Something told me that he thought I hadnt seen him and was still asleep.

I cant really explain how terrified I was in that moment. I couldnt move or breathe. 

Then I heard some whispering...someone dropping something and running. I thought I heard the running going into our kitchen. All I could think of were the hundreds of drunk and not drunk men that have made so many awful comments to me in the streets...that have sat and stared as we walk in the house..that have chased us down the streets. 

Somehow I got up the strength to get out of bed ad reach for the cellphone. My hands were shaking so much and my brain was so fogged up from fear and being sick that I couldnt find the cellphone anywhere. I was panicing a lot. I went over to my companions bed...covered her mouth so she wouldnt scream and said "hermana...theres someone in our house¨¨. She asked for the cellphone...I told her I couldnt find it..then we realized it was charging in the opposite wall. I grabbed it and tried calling the elders...when I realized that the cellphone had run out of mins and no calls would go through. If I wasnt scared before...I was scared then!

I tried calling president and the call immediately went through. I covered my mouth with a scarf and said ¨President...theres someone in our house¨ He said he would call the police. And I realized that I was crying  We made a split second decision to jump out our bedroom window into the backyard...well its more of a back pit. Once we jumped into it there was no way to get out. The walls in every direction are about 15 feet high. It was pouring rain and we were barefoot in our pajamas. We sat in the dirt and put our backs to the window trying to hide. And we waited for about 20 mins like that..easily the longest 20 mins of my life. 

I dont really remember everything that happened after that but eventually the elders arrived and climbed over the roof to find us shaking and crying in the backyard pit. They brought iron pipes and things to use as weapons and we all kind of waited there til the police arrived and broke in the front door. They searched the house and helped us climb back in the window. The bishop and counselors arrived about this time too. A little while later the mission president and his wife arrived. The bishop put my mattress in the main room so I could lay down. I was completely out of strength. 

Then we saw the destruction of the house. The people had thrown a rock through the front window and used a latchet thing to open the window. All our books and everything were in piles around our study room. The elders had broken huge holes in the roof and there was water pouring in everywhere. 

The rest of the day was a daze. Basically the whole ward came over and made a big breakfast and party out of the whole affair. They put bars over all the windows and put new locks on all the doors and fixed the roof. We have members sleeping in the house with us everynight but even with all the that I havent really slept at all in three days. It didnt help that we had an earthquake the next night too. Basically my nerves are spent and I´m not doing to well. I jump at every noise and cant handle the smell of alcohol at all...

I´ve wondered a lot why this happened but cant help being grateful for the many miracles that happened too. 

One...the cellphone was in our bedroom. There are many nights when we leave it in our study room. 

The call to the president went through. 

Nothing happened to us and everything is okay.

I know I´ll be okay soon and will eventually be able to sleep again. 

In other news...we had transfers today! My companion is going to my old branch in Linares and I will be training again. I´m not sure who yet. But I will pick her up tomorrow. Also President is putting two more hermanas here with us in Hualqui so that we will be safer. 

I know this probably scared you but we are okay now! Our house is basically a compound now.

I cant think of anything else that happened this week. Next week will be a happier email!

Anyways, have a great week!

Love you all!!

Hermana Orchard

No time!

Hola! 

This week was great! 

Today was crazy. We got up and went on a crazy trip to the beach and ended up having to hitchhike our way back. Then we got here to email...and Hermana Tejerina was here. So instead of emailing all of you I just sat here and talked to her for two hours. She is going home soon which makes me cry.

I also cry when I think about how old I am. I wish time would slow down. I have always wished that. 

Oh well. 

I´ll catch yall up next week. 

Love you!!

Hermana Orchard

ps I badly burned my finger...the part where they took my fingerprint for my visa. Looks like they will never be able to recognize me and I´ll have to stay here in Chile forever. Opps. Oh well! Come visit!! 

Sunnny sunnny sunnnnyyyyyy!!!!!

Holaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

Thank you for all the happy birthday wishes! We plan to go out and track in the beautiful country tomorrow...hopefully there us sun!!

This week was crazy!

One day we accidently locked our keys inside the house. Luckily our investigator knows quite a bit about breaking into houses so he helped us out a bit. At least he tried. It was raining really hard and dark yet he was climbing all over the roof...trying to break in from some point. I was a bit scared that he was going to fall and die and we would have to call president and say that we accidently killed our investigator. Anyways, turns out our house is a compound and he could not get in! Desperately we called the bishop and he came over and opened the door in about 15 seconds. He didnt let us see how he did it though...

Saturday we had a baptism! It was so so wonderful!! We had quite the challenge getting him there. 

And de verdad...I have NEVER seen anyone SO HAPPY as he was at his baptism. I wish I could have that experience every day. I´ve always known that the gospel could change people...and I have definitely seen it in different degrees throughout my mission. But this was the first 360 change I have seen. It was amazing to see. 

Sunday we had the baptism of sweet Annais. THAT was an adventure. She has a little sister of like 3 years who is CRAZY! She was running around the whole chapel screaming, laughing, throwing cookies in the air...trying to jump in the font. I just chased after her the whole time. But Annais also was SO HAPPY! and it made us SO HAPPY! So I already received the best birthday presents I could possibly get! 

Have a beautiful week! 

Hermana Orchard

P.S. one last thing:

ahhhhh...I just watched the birthday video!

wow. Thanks for making me cry!!

I have to say that everyone looks so white....with such blonde hair...and everyone has such nice teeth! 

I did not recognize Caleb or Anna. Caleb looks SO OLD!!! And I thought Anna was myself! Who knew Anna sang? And played that little instrument?

I especially enjoyed Charlee and Caden fighting during the song :) 

Thank you!!!!!!

Have fun eating all the food I like on my birthday! 

I will be eating rice....and probably completos. :)

The following pictures are from Linares...I am really behind (uploading)

Si hacemos un muñeco?

Well...

There is an unimaginable power in our choices. Agency is our greatest gift but we must be so careful in how we use it. Each of our choices are like little dots on a line...they can send us shooting in one direction or the other. Last night we sat down with our investigator that is having troubles quitting his drugs and all that. He started to relate to us his whole life story. He was a star student and athlete at his school. At 14 years old one morning he slept in  bit and was late going to school. This led him to walk past a group of kids that were outside doing drugs. That morning he just stopped to stop to them or something...then the next he did the same thing and so on..Years passed and his activities of this sort grew. At the age of 18 instead of being in college and following his plans...he was living in the streets. His family had kicked him out because he had been stealing from them to buy drugs. So he walked around the freezing dirty city and was the Captain of the drug crew there. This led him to do other things he never imagined doing. 

Now he is 22 years old and lives in a little dirt shack that floods everytime it rains. He cant get a job because he knows he will just use the money to buy drugs. All he can do is sleep. Thanks to the gospel he is making some huge changes. But to see the chains of his addictions is heartbreaking.I cant help and think of what would have happened if he had made a different choice that walk to school ten years afo. But now he has the chance to make another monumental decision. I wish we could learn to look ahead and see the ending results of our little choices. 

This week was a good week where we were able to see the fruits of our labors! Thats always nice and doesnt happen all that often. 

I discovered a new talent Chile has....it can suck all the water out from the ocean...and then rain it down on this little town with a force and duration that is incredible! Sometimes I wonder if I will ever see the sun again...or be dry. It just rains and rains and I keep expecting to see an ark or something to save us in! Half the city is already miserably flooded. The rain is so loud that it wakes me up in the night and I lay there wondering how long it will be before it breaks the house! I know...its just rain. But I´ve never experienced anything like this!

I mentioned to someone that my birthday is next week...they asked me how old I would be...I said 20. The moment the word came out of my mouth I wanted to take it back! It literlly hurt to say and tasted terrible!!!  How can I be twenty years old if just yesterday I was 11???  There must be some mistake! Pray for me to handle this awful ordel of growing up. Its the worst!

We have been eating lots of completos this week because we havent had money to buy anything else. But today my wonderful mexican companera taught me how to make corn tortillas and we made them into empanadas and all wonderful different creations!

One day when we were walking along the street we saw the weirdest creature that had fallen from another planet! It was dead so we poked around at it and examined its 20 legs and how disgusting it was. The next day guess what was served on our lunch plates? Yes people eat these strange alien spider things. They bite off the head and suck out the insides and put the legs in soup. I literally thought I was going to die. It was the first time I pushed my plate back and said no. I could hardly look at the things....screamed when it almost touched me...it would take a lot of drugs and therapy to get me to put it in my mouth,

Welp thats some of the adventures of this week. 

Love you all!!!

Hermana Orchard