Some weeks are crazier than others...

Oh my! What a week!

First off thank you to all who fasted for me thursday! I definitely felt all the prayers! I am feeling much better today!

I dont know where to start...

Last monday night I couldnt really stand...or even sit up. Tuesday morning I got up and we walked to zone class. Once I got there I started fainting and throwing up. It took me a while to figure out that it was from the pain. I dont know if I have ever really reached that amount of pain in my life. Ive broken like what...9 bones? And I dont think I ever cried during that. But this pain..mixed with fainting...throwing up..and just pure frusteration was enough to get me to cry.  I got a call from the president telling me to stop working and to rest for a few days. So I took some pretty strong pain drugs and sleept in a dazed drugged state for two days. I woke up feeling much better and we got to work. We just took a lot of taxis and took it pretty easy. But I was able to walk without too much pain again. 

My new companion has been having some difficulites. President said she would be a hard one...but its more than either of us thought. She has lots of meltdowns...all day long. But its okay! We are getting through it together. Saturday night we had to stop and sit down in the street while she cried for about 3 hours....and I was able to see how far I have come! I never sat down and cried in the street but I felt like an old grandma missionary counseling a baby one. I have now completed over half of my mission! Can you believe that?! I cant. I feel like I jumped off the plane just yesterday. So crazy!

Thursday night the other crazy thing happened. I 40 year old less active member that I have been teaching for about 3 weeks called me up to tell me he was in love with me. Charmed...maybe. But unfortuneatly that meant I had to call president and ask for an emergency transfer. Because he knows where I live and has bipolar and frankly the whole thing just creeped me out. 

It was kind of the icing on top of my already falling apart cake. I have had 5 different companions these last 5 weeks. All of them have had some...pretty major issues. I have pretty much been in nonstop pain this whole time and well i wont go into everything else...but it has been hard. And I feel like my resolve to stay here and finish has kind of been eating away. I dont know if its all my resolve....or maybe just my acceptance. 

Everyday I teach others about God`s plan for them. And that this plan is different for every person. And that His plan is different than our plan...but its better.  And one night when I couldnt sleep because even the strongest pain meds I have werent doing anything to the pain...my Hermana Lorea (who I probably would have died without) asked me....is staying on the mission during this sickness....my plan...or Gods? I told her my mission ended in 9 months. She said my mission ended when God said it did. I didnt like that. I like being in control. And not being able to work...or even walk..when I want to is..frusterating. And the thought of going home early makes me...sick! I dont want to. But then again....is it about what I want?

I know I`m making it sound like I decided to come home. 

Dont worry. I didnt. I`m not. But I did learn an important lesson about my willingness to follow God`s plan for me. Sure I`m willing to follow it when it goes the same direction I want to go....but when it doesnt? And I had to reevaulate who is really in charge here. I had to be a little more humble.

I had the same lesson after I got the in love call from the member. I waited 3 days to call the president. I called the zone leaders and everything...dont worry. But I knew I needed to call president. But I didnt want to be transfered. Not now. Not with everything else going on. So I put it off...and after not being able to sleep for 3 nights straight...I called. And felt much better. I`ll probably be leaving tonight. It breaks my heart to leave another place full of people I have come to love....but its part of accpeting God`s plan for me, right? 

Okay...now it sounds like I am in really bad shape. I am okay. I had to come to conce today to meet with the doctor. He told me I had to meet with a chiropractor and everything will be okay. And I believe him. My mission isnt done. But when it is...I promise to accept it more easily. 

My leg doesnt hurt at all today!

I arrived at the mission office to see a package from dear from Chillancito (convert of Hermana Lees). He is basically the most awesome person ever. Who speaks english!! So he read my blog...found out my leg hurt and sent me just what i needed...manjar! (and hot and cold packs and medicine) Thanks Hector!!

I wont lie and say that these last few weeks havent been super hard. But I do feel myself growing and changing. And growing and changing isnt it a painless process. 

In almost every blessing I have received in my life has said that I have angels protecting and helping me. Even down here in Chile...thousands of miles away from home....in a different language....from a man I only knew for 5 mins....I got a blessing that talked about these angels. I know they are with me here. I literally feel like I have been carried. And I am thankful for these people that I cannot see....but seem to have so much interest in my well being. 

God loves us so much. He gave us this wonderful gospel to help us come back to him! And people need to know about it. So I will stay and help them learn. And more than anything....help myself learn all these priceless lessons....that I never knew I needed to learn. 

Love you all!

Hermana Orchard

ps. It is 25 degrees in our house. Thats what happens when heaters dont exsist! 

pps. I tried to explain our awkward parties to someone today in spanish...they sound a lot weirder than they are in spanish..

All the medicine I have acquired or been given on my mission

Mission Doctor (my best friend)

How do I condense this...

Hola!!!! From a freezing almost snowy day in antarctica! 

This week....as all....has been crazy. But first I have to say congrats to Steven on his mission call!! South Africa!! That is absolutly insane!! I have never heard of anyone going there. That will for sure be a crazy and unique experience!! I want to go!!!

Anyways, I have some things to catch up on from the last few weeks so I´ll just jump into it. 

Last week we had the wonderful opportunity to be judges at a high school english contest. Us three gringos from our zone went. They gave us three seats in the front and little cookies and stuff. They did little dances and speeches in english and we just judged it all and tried not to be too mean (I really couldnt understand hardly anything) It was fun! 

I eat lunch with the hermanas that are in the other branch. And they have 8 missionaries in their branch! So all 9 of us ate lunch together everyday. I thought that with 6 other elders at lunch everyday the members would feed us hermanas less....but no. All equal. It is super fun to eat with all the elders though! 

So the world cup is going on now, right? Everytime Chile plays we have to stay  inside all day because it gets dangerous. Basically its a party. We normally paint our faces, sing chilean songs and make a bunch of food. Of course we cant watch the game...but there is never any doubt as to if Chile has won or not. Lets just say the streets get very....festive. 

So basically how I have survived without a companion...

I study and eat lunch with Hermana Lorea (Argentina) and Hermana Alverez (Nicaruaga) and then have a member accompany me for the rest of the day until the night when we all meet up and make a switch. Its pretty much the best thing ever. I still get to have companions to study and talk with....yet I can do everything on my own! And have a new member companion every day! I loved it soo much! Hermana Lorea and Alverez are two of my favorite people ever and just so easy going and wonderful. We worked a bit in their sector some days and I just fell in love. They work in the country closer to the andes and I would just walk along in a dream. We had a lot of fun togther....and everything was going great until president showed up. Again. He said he had a new companion for me since another sister is going home early. So two days ago I got a new companion. I was a little upset. Things were going along just fine. But oh well. I guess missionarys are supposed to have companions so I will try and accept it....

My new comp is a little newbie from Utah. We get along pretty well. 

We have been having increasingly worse problems in our little branch. Some of the stuff I see here is almost unreal. Its more than just members being lazy...but downright apostasy! And I have just wondered....how have things gotten so bad here? What happened here?

Well we learned a little secret about the place. 5 years ago our little branch (of about 80 attending people on a sunny day) was a whole STAKE! With 6 wards!! But the members misbehaved. There was some tithing stealing...and other things. And ..oh yes....the members started KILLING each other! Elder Holland came here just to excommunicate a ton of people. And now the problems we are dealing with here make sense. 

The other four elders of the branch have been really frusterated as well. After a pretty awful incident that happened saturday we got together as missionarys and decided that basically it was time to take over. We called our mission president and now basically we are in charge of the branch. I´m the new relief society president and so on....We´ll see how it goes. But it has been hard on all of us. It is a really negative situation and its hard to just see no progress at all. 

And now to the not so fun part of this email. I have been having problems with my leg again. I can still walk and work...but with my leg kind of dragging behind me. I dont quite have the strength to pick my leg up all the way. Well I can...but with excruciating pain. I´ve never really experienced anything like this. I did about 8 sessions of physical therapy and at my last one on friday my physical therapist told me not to come back because she didnt know what was wrong...and I am just getting worse. I am going to go have more x rays done this week and see a traumatologist again. But it looks like the problem isnt in my back...its all in my leg. I will just go into detail in case anyone reading this knows whats wrong and can offer some help. 

The pain comes and goes but is a lot stronger at night and in the morning. Most nights I cant sleep because any movement just really hurts. Its kind of like a constant charly horse. Sometimes I can walk with only mild pain..and sometimes I can hardly walk at all. Sometimes the pain is more in my hip and sometimes down closer to my knee. Buts its always in the back of my leg. Not walking as much seems to help a bit but not completly. I have been taking strong pain killers but stopped because they just made me really tired and didnt even cover the pain all the way. I have been stretching a lot. And trying to have better posture...but I dont think thats the problem. I really just dont know what is. 

Anyways, my leg was really hurting a lot last night and I was limping along at an incredibly slow place. I really just wanted to go home but knew I had to keep working. I felt like we should go to a less active but really just didnt want to because she lived far away and well...my leg hurt. But we went and taught her. It turns out that she was thinking about killing herself that night. She was having so many problems with her husband and just everything..and was just done. She is a returned missionary of about 20 years and such a wonderful lady. We were able to talk with her for close to two hours and had just the most amazing lesson I have ever taught. We read 3 Nephi 17 together where Christ blesses all the people one by one and then DandC 58; 2-3 about not being able to see the eternal plan of God. It was really good....for all of us. 

And so..even though some days it is really hard to work..or even just to walk. Its all worth it. Because people need the gospel. People need missionaries...and I need the experiences I have as a missionary. 

This week I will reach the half mark point in my mission! I only have 9 months left...and if I have to finish those 9 months crawling or in a wheelchair...I will do it. But I would rather finish walking without pain. So your prayers would be greatly appreciated. I will also be fasting this thursday for anyone who would like to join me.

Have a great week! I will try and send all the pictures I am behind with today! 

Hermana Orchard

Blessing

I don´t have too much time today. Thank you for all the emails of love! Everything helps! I would love to say this week has been easier...but sadly its been just a bit harder. But I know this week will be WONDERFUL! So dont worry! 

I wish we could all understand just a little more deeply the love Heavenly Father has for us. I say it everyday to almost everyone I meet. God loves us. He is real. He knows us PERFECTLY! But maybe I didnt fully understand that til this week. Despite everything that happens all I can feel is so blessed. Every moment this week I have had the scripture running through my head ...remember the worth of EVERY soul is infinetly important and loved by God. (i changed a few of the words haha). 

God gives us people to help us. He gives us challenges to help us. He gives us times of rest to help us. Everything is for our good. And sometimes he allows us to help other people too. 

I have had the most blessed life. Sometimes I dont realize that....but I really cant think of anyone who is more blessed than me! 

I have two parents who have always loved me and supported me in everything..together. 

I have a mom who read to me every day of my life...who fed me classical music and sacrificed all of her free time to homeschool and give me everything I could possibly have.

I have a dad who is the funniest, most loving and hard working person out there! Who took me on countless adventures in the snow, mountains, who tried to teach me to surf endless time..who put up with all my fits and gave me the courage to do...well everything (my courage alone would never have been sufficient)

I have a brother who has been the perfect example of obediance and diligence his entire life. He also has taken care of me my entire life and has literally lived to serve others and God. I cant think of anyone who could ever be worthy to be his wife. 

I have a sister who has taught me everything about loving unconditionally and being true to yourself. Without Emily...I dont know who I would be. 

I have another sister who is sweeter than manjar and has always reminded me to be kind and gentle

I have another brother who is just a rockstar. And who is so thoughtful. 

And just living with them my entire life would be more of a blessing than I could ever imagine. But there is more!

I have grandparents who have always showered me with love and wisdom! They have been the perfect examples of true disciples of Christ! And have always cared for me so well!

I have aunts and uncles who cared for me for months when Emily was in the hospital and who are just...well good examples!

I have wonderful cousins.

I have had amaing friends my entire life. I have always been amazed that I was able to have such great friends my whole life. 

I had a great education and was able to read all the books in the world I wanted.

I have been more or less healthy my entire life

I had my life´s prayer answered when I was called on a mission....and not just that...but to a spanish speaking country! 

I have met the most amazing people here and have had so many amazing experiences. 

I have had lots of challenges that have helped me grow and learn and become better

I have always had the gospel in my life. I have always known I am a child of God. And that is the greatest blessing ever.

I learned lots of things from my companion this week. But most of all I learned how much I take for granted. 

Through some good discussions with her I learned that she doesnt have a family. At all. She literally lived on the streets for three years. She joined the church and decided to go on a mission. She had a pretty hard mission. She had some hard companions that didnt understand her (like me) and always felt like she was just getting in the way. Also, one day she took off her shirt and I was painfully shocked to see that she has had open heart surgery. 

I dont know how to explain what happened the last few days. We talked alot. And she started changing. She came out and worked with me. She got up in the moring. She stopped yelling during lessons. She even said she wanted to stay and finish her mission. She told the presiden this. It shocked both of us. Then the president came to visit us. He knew I had been having a hard time and well my companion always is..

The presidents wife talked to me for two hours. Then the president. I wish I could express the love they have for me, my companion and all the missionaries here. 

We talked about how we couldnt give up on my companion...because God never gives up on us. 

The president said he had a lot of faith in me and knew I could help her. He gave me and blessing and I was ready!

But my heart broke when my companion decided to go home. She said she couldnt do it anymore. And she felt bad being disobediant with me. And this time the president let her go home. We stayed up the whole night packing while she tried getting ahold of her mom. She didnt even know what city her mom lived in. We took a four hour bus trip to Concepcion and I dropped her off and I felt my heart break...more than I think it ever has. 

She is going to Peru to no family...no place to live..no money...and says she doesnt even plan on going to church this sunday. 

She is one of those people who has just been bruised and torn a little too much with not sufficient love to heal. I tried to give her love...I really did. I wish I could have helped her more. I really do. I cant shake the feeling that its my fault she went home early.

After I got a little mad. Why would God entrust me with someone I couldnt even help?  Why didnt he give her someone who could have actually helped her and made her stay?

My mission president is so kind. He gently reminded me we cant really see the effects we have on people. That I shouldnt doubt his inspiration to have given me her as my companion....that if anyone could have helped her...it would have been me. But people have to accept help. And we can only do what we can do....and let God do the rest.

I have learned in my mission to look for the miracles in all circumstances. And the miracles I saw this week..

I loved this companion more than I have any other. I know all that love came from God...not from me

After 3 days of fretting and worrying about my companion...and feeling just completely awful that I had failed I got a letter from her today. Basically she said that she was sorry she went home. She had decided weeks earlier that she was going to leave but that she was thankful for our time together and had gone to church sunday..because I told her to.  

And the other miracle...I got to see and really feel with my whole heart the love God has for each of his children. 

Now I dont have a companion. I know what you are thinking....you have to have a companion! But I dont. And I wont for four more weeks. The members in my branch are my companions! We will see how that goes this week. 

There is more that I want to say (like always) but I will finish next week. 

Just remember...to love a little more. To be a little bit more understanding. Remember God´s love for you. And to pray for my old companion. And to send thoughts of health to my leg that is misbehaving again. 

Love you all! 

Hermana Orchard

All over again..

Well I am here to say that it is possible to have a worse week than my first week in Chile (which I look back on as a dark dark nightmare).

Quick recap first....

I lost my friend and companion.

My leg seems to be having troubles again

Our branch president called to yell at me

The other elders in our ward called to yell at me and said I stole their investiagtor

The relief society quit coming to church and said she was done

The branch president basically did the same thing

Only 9 people came to church sunday (the normal attendance is 140)

It rained every day

I think I have frostbite again

We all got scabies again

I got bit by a dog

We shower in freezing water

Someone saw my convert of two weeks smoking in the street

I had to eat intestines

I can see my breath inside our house its so cold

My new companion made me a list of everything she didnt like about me

I plan every night alone and study every morning alone

My new companion refuses to work in the rain (it rained all week)

My wallet got stolen

My best mission friend went home suddenly and I didnt get to say goodbye

I dropped my scriptures in a puddle

I woke up with a huge spider hanging above me (the worst part!)

and pretty much cried myself to sleep every night

But...the work goes on and even though I´m ready to get on a plane and come straight home (I have never felt like that before on my mission)..I know this will all pass and that every moment is wonderful in its own sometimes weird way. The mission is still great..and this church is still true!

One night (well the only night we actually worked this week) we were walking along in the rain. I was sopping wet all the way down to my underwear. It POURS here! We were shaking and super cold...walking through the street that were filled with water all the way to my waist! My companion was super mad that I was "making" her work in such conditions.  I was pretty discouraged and wondering how it was possible to be so cold...when I saw a sparkle floating in the air. It landed on my face...then there were more! The whole sky was filled with sparkles! I was really confused until I realized....it was snowing!! It only lasted for about 30 seconds but it was wonderful and magical! And finally made sense why it was so cold too....

The next morning we woke up to some powdered andes! That I got to look at from inside the house since my companion refused to leave again.

I could say a lot about my new companion....but I will just say a little. My companion only has three months left before she heads home...but if she has it her way she will be home by wednesday. In fact today she didnt buy any food because she said she doesnt want to take it in the plane....

She sleeps a lot...talks about boys a lot, yells a lot....asks for my american money a lot...chews people out a lot. 

We have lost almost all our investigators and trust of the members in our short time together. For the first three days she didnt say a word to be and completely ignored me because she said she couldnt understand my spanish. Then she saw a picture of Jacob and decided to be a little nicer to me so she could marry my gringo brother. 

Its been an adventure. Not exactly a fun one though. 

Its been a great opportunity to learn patience though!

I really tried to learn her life story...and its a sad one. I do love her and want to help her. But I feel like she needs more help than I can give. We will see what happens...but based on this week I dont see this lasting very long. 

I started feeling really bad last night that I couldnt do more. Everyone said "you can change her mission and her life"...and I was feeling really bad about the lousy job I was doing at that...because no changes were happening. Then I saw a quote I had put up a few weeks ago to help my companion

All you can do...is all you can do

And all you can do....is enough. 

Sometimes its really hard when we dont get the results we want. But we cant do more than our best. We arent expected to do more than our best. And if our best is what we give....then God will make up the rest. 

I´ve also learned a valubale lesson on agency this week. We cant help others if they dont let us...

God always wants to help us...but are we letting him?

I expect this week to be just as hard. But hopefully I can learn something from all of this and not just go crazy. 

Have a great week!

Hermana Orchard

Cambios

I remember my first week here an hermana came up to me. She was a missionary who was going home like 2 weeks later. She said that there would be many really good and really bad times on my mission. But that neither of them would last too long. 

Thats turned out to be very true. There are times here of so much happiness! Almost pure bliss when everything goes perfectly and its almost too much joy to handle. And they are cut off quickly by well...just the opposite. I feel like that way today. 

Yesterday I got a call from the president. Its always a little scary to get a call from him...especially the night before cambios. He said he had a new assingment for me..one he has fasted and prayed about a lot. There is an hermana here who is almost at the end of her mission. She only has two cambios left. But in the time she has been here....its been quite the headache for president. I wont go into details. But president said that he was giving her to me as kind of her last shot. I am to teach her how to be obediant and well...be a missionary. 

I got off the phone to my crying little daughter who knew she was leaving. My time with hermana Arndt has just been too easy. Well it wasnt at first...but now it is....so obviously its time for a change. 

We went in to tell the other hermanas what had happened...I think that was the worst part. One of them started crying...and literally screaming...when she heard who was coming to be my companion. I´m a little scared. 

I woke up this morning hoping it would all just be a nightmare. But its not. We packed up my little companions bags and will send her off in the morning. 

I know I should be grateful for this opportunity to really help another missionary and to grow in my patience...but I´m not. I´m just scared and already counting the days till the next cambio. Which is totally not the right attitude. I guess I have tonight to straighten things out in my head. 

Other news...we had the all hermanas conference wednesday. It was super wonderful. I loved every min of it. I dont really feel like writing more today though. 

Have a great week!

Hermana Orchard

ps...good news is my new companion is from peru...which means I will have  absolutly no one to speak english with for a quite awhile! I´m always grateful for opportunities to grow in my spanish! 

Raining and stalking

Hollla Hollla Hollllaaaaa!!!

I am so happy today!!

For mulitple reasons. 

I´ll give you a few of them.

First, I just found out that we have a conference this week with just hermanas...and ALL the hermanas in the mission!! Its going to be a party. I admit I almost CRIED tears of JOY when I heard. I´m still a little shaky about it. That conveys just how much I love all my companions and mission buddies here! 

Second, my roommates (from Argentina and Nicarouga) made us an awesome lunch of very interesting foods today. It was great because I ran out of money so I cant buy food...and they are just so wonderful. They are hilarious. I dont think I am never not laughing. Sometimes its a problem even. We cant sleep at night because we just keep laughing. Oh well...there could be worse problems in life. ha But really life here in our little yellow house is so fun!!

Third, the Andes that tower over us are officially drenched in snow. Its beautiful. And really cold. That only means more time around the fire (every house has a indoor fire pit) and tea!

Thats good for now.

This week we got our first batch of rain. I never imagined rain could be so powerful. Or cold. It rains so hard that in about 5 mins the streets are completely flooded. They are rivers that carry dogs, branches and trash in them. Its kind of gross to wade/swim through them, but we dont have much of a choice. This week our little rockstar Julia who just got baptized last week accompanied us in the rain! That just shows how awesome she is! Being wet and freezing all day is fun sometimes...I´m hoping for a few dry days soon though. The amazing thing is we still havent gotten sick! That is a straightup miracle!!

We had a interesting lunch this week with a member who relayed to us some information about an hermana missionary serving here. The information was so shocking and bad that I had to immediately call the president. Thats never fun. I just wish every could be obeident and good. Oh well...the work goes forth!

Our house has been infested with fleas or something again. As much as I try to clean I just cant keep up with the dogs here. My poor companion has little bites all over here. I wont explain what it looks like. But we really enjoyed our time being itch free while it lasted! I think we need those flea dog collars....seriously. 

We have been teaching this lady who is really awesome. Let me tell you about her. She has two kids and lives with her boyfriend who has serious depression..and just about every other kind of problem in the book. She has the strongest testimony. She bought a Preach my gospel and goes out and proselytes by herself! She contacts, tracts and teaches people. The only reason she isnt baptized is because she cant marry her boyfriend because he needs to divorce his other wife before he can marry her..yeah. We are working on that one. But she could teach our members a few things about missionary work! 

We also are teaching another family who needs to get married. They have three darling little boys and are so fun to teach!! The mom has so many questions! Most of them bible related so I have really had to study up on the bible lately. She has been looking so hard and diligently for the truth. She is really unhappy and just wants to know the truth! We have tried and tried to help her see that she has to show some faith and keep the commandments before she can know the truth of them. It makes me so sad. Some people I feel just have blindfolds on. She is looking for and wants what we have...but just cant see it! OPEN YOUR EYES! I want this so bad for her and her family! Its devastating for us to experience. But a good reminder of the importance of faith BEFORE the answers.

One funny story...

So we saw a black lady and a little son walking along the street about two weeks ago. We pretty much never see black people here and I got really excited and ran to contact them. She wasnt super interested but said we could pass by and visit one day. Except she didnt want to give us her address. She just said her house was "over there". I thought this experience was too precious to pass up and was determined that she get baptized...well at least that we get the opportunity to teach her. So...I made a split second decision to secretly follow her to her house. Just kind of casually walk behind trees and see where they went. Then this week we decided to contact their house. We asked if she was there and were invited in to wait for her in the kitchen. In my mind I expected..I dont know...amazment and pure joy that we had found her and were there to teach. But she entered in...looked amazed...but only asked.."how did you find my house?" She didnt really ask it in a happy way...so my companion said "oh you told us where you lived remember" ..."NO...I did NOT! I told you it was in this direction. How did you find me?" Awkward silence. I guess thats why you shouldnt follow people to their houses. She left the room after that and we ended up teaching her friend. Our lesson with her went really well so I guess it all ended good. We laughed a lot about it. 

I know I was really frusterated with our little branch last week. And this week I tried really hard to find the members that were willing to help and figure out what we could do to help them. I prayed a lot about it and was blessed with what I needed. More love for them. And even though the problems are still there...our attitude about it is different. And we found that there are lots of people here who want to help and want to be good and faithful. They just need a little help and motivation. And a little more unity and willingness to work with each other. Its all going to work out. 

Thats pretty much all I have to say today. 

I cant believe you all are at Sly Park today. This is the first year I have missed. Oh well...I am cold and in the mountains too (with lots of firepits) and walk all day long so its pretty much the same haha We´ll sing some argentinan camp songs tonight to really have the whole experience. 

Have a great week!! 

Hermana Orchard

Everyone hangs trash on the fences here.

Actividad de Zona

Walk run walk

Hola!

This will be quick since I have lots of pictures to send home today. I have been avoiding doing that since each picture out here takes about 5 mins to load (cherish the pictures haha)

This week was one of the craziest buisest ones yet!

I am going to fit in a nap today or I know I willl just drop down dead soon!

I cant really remember what happened the whole week except that we were running around like headless chickens. We had a lot of success...but it was sure tireing. It an exhilerating way of course. 

About my leg problem real quick...

I decided maybe what I was lacking was a little faith. So I decided to work harder and do some intense stretching in the morning (haha) and its totally fine. Last tuesday morning I woke up with no pain at all and I am able to run everywhere again. Its great! Just now I can apprecaite my health all over again! Also I went and met with a traumatologist and he looked at my x rays and said my back is just very curved. So walking puts a lot of pressure on it or something...I´m not sure exactly..it was all in spanish (my medical vocab isnt that awesome yet). But he said all I needed were a few sessions of physical therapy and I would be "happy as a clam" as grandpa would say. I dont know where I am going to find a physical therpaist in this little town but it sounds like the funnest thing ever! So...good news there!!

Saturday we had two baptisms which was....well fun isnt exactly the right word. Baptisms wouldnt be baptisms without some nice crises and intense stress. 

We got to the church building to find it completely full of people. Mostly youth and some little kids. They had rap music blasting everywhere and kids just running and screaming in every direction. There was some stake youth activity or something. I dont know. All I know is that it was supposed to end at 6 because our baptism started at 6. But it didnt. Also every single person that was supposed to give a talk...or do something for the baptism just didnt show up. The families of the people who were getting baptized arrived in very bad moods and wanted the baptisms to start that instant (rap music in the background and all) or wanted to started a full heated debate with me about the bible....our lack of spanish abilities...the horribleness of America..and basically every other subject. One of our baptism personas didnt want to change into her white clothes....because she wanted to keep playing soccer outside!! Basically it was a mess. Somehow or other it all came through. (but if I look like a dragon in the picutres...you will know why).

What else...I gave a talk in church yesterday. It was a last min thing. I got to fill up 30 mins. I wasnt too excited about that. I started talking and just looked out into the audience to see a bunch of squinted eyes (signs no one was understanding anything). But as I continued talking and used more of the spirit more than my own mind...they started understanding better. 

We have been having lots of problems with our little branch. With the members, the president...and basically everything. It has not been functioning as a branch should. The members really dont like us missionaries either. (there are 6 missionaries in the branch). Every week in relief society the president gets up and threatens to take away people temple reccomends if they dont start feeding the missionaries. Its extremely awkward. 

Its also hard to bring people to church...because the members are unfriendly if not outright rude to the investigators. Its a huge problem. And we have really been trying hard to love and serve the members. To gain their confidence. To try and get them excited about missionary work. But I realized that what we really need is a huge bus to go and pick up EVERYONE for church in the morning. Becuase when it is raining...literally no one shows up. People dont pay tithing because they dont want a calling.   There are so many problems. I cant even get started on them. And it has been really frusterating to try and work in this branch and work with these people..and to try and love and be patient with them too. Because honestly me and my companion have to have a destress time after church because we get so frusterated and angry about what happens every week. Okay..I´ve ranted way too much. 

I was talking to my district leader last night about the problems we and the other missionaries were having here and he reminded me of something very important. He said..hermana this is the Lords work. And nothing is going to stop it. Of course we are going to have opposition from all sides...especially from the ones who are supposed to be helping us most. But they wont be able to stop or slow down the work either. So just keep working. Because progress will be made...even if it feels like we are only moving backwards. 

Shall we not go forth in so great a cause?

And thats true. 

Sorry this letter wasnt very inspiring or great. Better luck next week! haha

Also I received the saddest letter ever when I heard that Hermana Lees went home before I could even say goodbye to her! Then I realized I dont even have her home or email address! But if you happen to see her..take her in! Jacob you can even marry her!  

Okay...thats all for this week.

Have a great one!

Hermana Orchard