Let it be spring again...

HOLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I greet you from a VERY happy morning in Concepcion....because...I AM STAYING IN HUALQUI!!! After a week of crying at the thought of leaving this week...I`m not! I get 6 more weeks in Hualqui!!! I will be here for Navidad!! I am so happy!!!! 

Sad thing is that my little daughter is leaving! Her training is all finished...she is all grown up and will be using her wings and moving out! I will miss her a ton! We have had so much fun together and she has been so great with me and all the issues I constantly bring haha.

But. 

I`ll get a new daughter! I`m training again! Daughter number 3! I`ll be picking the little baby up tomorrow! I love training! I`m super excited!! 

Also I learned that my first daughter...Hermana Ardnt...is going to be a sister training leader! I am so proud! Oh my little family here in Chile is growing! 

Okay enough of that stuff. 

Oh one more thing! Hermana Razeira is leaving Hualqui too which is super sad because I love her a ton...but Hermana Linu de Peru is coming in her place!! Hermana Linu is my favorite and I love her to death! We have always dreamed about the day when we could finally live together! So I am very very happy!! Hualqui for 6 months!! Ahhh so much love!

Other news...I had to go this morning to the mission home and say good bye to my dearest Hermana Tejerina. It was super hard knowing that I wont see her for years....if that. We cried a lot but ended by just feeling super blessed that I was able to know her and learn from her and have her in my life. One day I`ll get to go visit her in Bolivia. Also hermana Lopez goes home tomorrow too and hermana De Leon! Its all super sad. 

This week was good. I cant really remember anything that happened but it was all good....lets see. 

Nope I dont remember anything. 

My emails will have to be shorter from now on because they shorted our internet time by a half hour. 

But I am good! My leg has been behaving perfectly for 2 weeks now....So I am feeling very hopeful! We`ll see. 

I love Hualqui!

I love Chile!

I love food...especially empanadas and papas fritas and churros con manjar and helado and pan con palta and pescado frito and pollo frito and all the unhealthy foods of the earth!

I love Hermana Piriz!

I love the other hermanas in my casa

I love my Presidente

I love my mission

I love Aracely

I love all the people of Hualqui

I love the sun

I love the roses of Hualqui

I even love a bit more the endless dogs

I love being a missionary!

Hermana Orchard

p.s. Yay for weeks when no drunk men try to enter the house and when our freezing cold shower gets fixed!! 

Roses

Hola Hola from the rose covered hills of Hualqui! 

I think this place gets more beautiful every day. Literally every inch of this land is covered in flowers...mostly roses. All different colors that I dont think I´ve ever seen before. 

The people get more beautiful too every day. I dont think we can know a person without loving them. The more we know a person...know their stories and why they are the way they are...the more we have to love them! I think thats my favorite thing in the world....learning people´s stories and getting to really know them. 

There arent any coincidences in anything. We were walking through a more hidden part of Haulqui the other day. We found this house in the middle of no where...we were trying to contact a reference close by that ended up being fake. Anyways, we saw this man just sitting in a chair outside his house...so we went and talked to him. He started telling us about his life. How his wife left him for another man 5 years ago and stole all his stuff. How his only son died 3 years ago and now he is completely alone. How he had a stoke 2 years ago and cant move the left side of his body at all. He said he just sits there everyday waiting to die. And is mad at God that he is still alive.

I think sometimes its hard for us to find purpose in our lives. When everything goes so wrong...its easy to feel that God has forgotten about us. That He has just left us here to suffer. We meet people a hundred times a day who feel that way. Its hard. Because we are just here..we can only see this moment that we are living right now. We cant see before...or after. And it takes an extreme amount of trust to believe that there IS a plan to all this. God really IS in charge and hasnt forgotten about any of us. There IS a reason for every fall, for every heartache...for everything. And we and our lives and plans are cared for with a detail and love and attention...that we cant imagine! 

That is my favorite part about being a missionary. Sharing with everyone that God really does love us! He cares for us and he is always watching over us. Every moment of every day. And His angels are always around us...and we are never ever forgotten. 

Think of all the little flowers in the world. All the little birds and rocks in the stream...all the little fishies in the ocean. God cares for each of them and knows each of them....and if He will care for each of them with all His perfect love and attention...how much more will he care and love US! His children! And maybe this life is a little hard sometimes (its supposed to be really hard!)...but there is so much good stuff ahead!

For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven. Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time,the design of your God concerning those things which shall comehereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore theday cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour isnot yet, but is nigh at hand. D&C 58:2-4

We also contacted a man who was walking in the street....he invited us right into his house. We started teaching about Christ and love and all that. And he admitted that God had indeed sent us...because he was out walking to go kill himself! So our timing was good. God is watching over all of us!

I love my little daughter so much! She is all grown up now and we will probably be seperated this next week...which breaks my heart. She has been my favorite and we have just had a ball together. I think that has been one of the greatest miracles I have seen....the change she has made. I literally do not know a person happier than Hermana Piriz! 

After two wonderful weeks of steriods (wonderful as in pain free....my emotions have not been the most wondeful ...endless crying and laughing attacks...I´m quite the comic show) I will be going off them starting today. So we will see this week how my back deals with that. 

Okay, its time to leave you all. But have a Beautiful week. If you want to make your week more beautiful....look up how to make manjar and eat that,

Love you all!

Hermana Orchard

Day of the Dead

Wow! Can you believe we are in November?!

I can...because I am sweating again and the ocean so close is so tempting...

I experienced my second Day of the Dead here in South America! Last year I was in Mexico for it and I remember we ate tons of bread with chocolate and sugar and they had fireworks going off for 3 days straight (we didnt sleep at all!!) Here in Chile its a little more low key. I actually forgot all about it until we were walking past the huge cemetary we have on our street (yes we have a cemetary on our street) and we were greeted by a huge party! They had bounce houses and cotton candy and emapanadas and completos and churros with manjar and flowers to put on graves. It was the strangest thing ever. Everyone dancing and eating around the graves like we were at the beach! 

But we ate lots of deep fried churros with manjar and enjoyed all of it (yes I gained like 10 pounds the last week....you would too if you were here!!)

It was kind of dangerous at night so we had Aracely spend the night in our house as our protection. She could not protect us from the anger of the children though...when we did not open our door at three in the morning to give them candy....they threw like 20 eggs at our house. All the eggs are fried onto our door and ewverywhere and we cant them off!

We had a pretty mild week as far as people trying to break inside our house. We only had one attempt. Haha we are pretty good at getting our defenses ready now. I can wake up at the sound of a pen dropping...run across the room to wake up hermana Raziera..turn on the light...grab the metal rods we sleep with and make a base with my daughter in the bed of hermana Vawdrey and call the elders...all in about 15 seconds. The elders can arrive in about 2 mins and have our house searched and cleaned out in anouther 2 mins. One call to the bishop...a quick visit from the police... And ten mins later everyone is back in their houses sleeping. Its gotten to become quite the comedy show. Dont worry though...this week we really should be changing houses. Its fun though...the four of us are super unified and there is never a boring moment. Before we go to sleep our joke is "and what time will we be calling the elders and bishop tonight?"

Hermana Razeira had to go on a mini transfer this week...she was only gone 2 days but our little family felt so lost and empty without her. We decorated her room with confetti and balloons and had a little party when we returned. I have learned here on the mission that we just need to celebrate every little thing! Every day there are reasons to celebrate and have parties! There are always sufficient things to be stressed and sad about....so we really just have to amplify the good things and squeeze all the happiness and love out of every little thing we can!

So thursday I got my MRI results back. The mission doctor didnt want to talk to me about it but I got it out of her...

The main doctor of all the missionaries in Chile determined that I need surgery in my spine pretty much immediately. I said I would wait. Sadly Salt Lake is involved now and if they say I have to go...I have to go. But I am okay. I know it is all in God´s hands now and He will do what is best. He knows how long my mission is supposed to last and where I need to be. Its been a good lesson in humility and trust for me. For now I am just enjoying each day as a missionary and a chilean even more than normal!

Every day we meet people on the street who are so hurt in every way. There are always drunks passed out in all different parts...children asking for food and money....people stressed and crying...families torn apart...people without any real sense of love or worth. Its heartbreaking. People need the Lord. They need the healing that can come only through Him. Not just people who arent members...but all of us...we all need to learn to accept our Savior more into our lives. To accept that we arent perfect...and that we dont need to be perfect to have the love of God. He loves us today, He loves us today as we are. With all our inperfections...with all our weaknesses and things we do that we know we shouldnt. He still loves us. And we would be well to love others with this love that God has for each of us. Because we could all use a little more of this cleansing and healing love...in our heart...and in the hearts of others.

I love you all! 

Please do not pray for me. Pray for the people here...they need your prayers so much more than I do. 

Lets make it a great week....shall we! There is so much to be happy about and celebrate!

Hermana Orchard

Vamos ya po!

Hola Familia!

Every week is just a tad more crazy here! This week was no exception. For lack of time (like always) I will just touch on a few brief things. 

So after someone climbed on our roof to break into our house last week we have had an interesting time sleeping. Or not sleeping I should say. All our mattresses have been on the floor for a week now in front of the door and we sleep with iron rods next to our hands. We used to take turns staying awake and listening for noises but that was driving us crazy. We all just sleep very lightly now. Luckily dear Aracely was able to sleep with us every night so that helped us feel better. That and putting hymns on all night and lots of prayers...we made it through the week. Now we have bars on all the windows and a new door.....hopefully that does the trick! We will probably be getting a new house soon though. But its been a fun adventure and has brought lots of hermana bonding time! I seriously love the hermanas I live with! I always love the hermanas I live with but the four of us right now are super close. Its fun. We have lots of fun always! 

I dont know if I have talked about them yet. 

There is Hermana Piriz...from Urugauy...my darling little daughter. She is a calm little thing but loves to laugh and scream with me.

Hermana Vawdrey is the new little gringita from Utah. She is super sweet and learning how to handle my constant singing and pranks. Its fun sometimes to have a fellow american in the house. 

Hermana Razaiera is from Brazil and one of my favorite people in the world! She is hilarious and we have fun planning our trip around south america together. She is also teaching me portuguese! 

I love them all and we are all fully planning on staying in Hualqui together for the next 5 months. 

Well Thursday night we had a fun outing to the city at midnight....because...I had a doctors appointment at midnight? Oh the health system of Chile

I thought I was getting an x ray but it turned out I got an MRI. That turned out to be the worst experience of my life. WHY DID NO ONE WARN ME THOSE THINGS ARE SO HORRIBLE? 

Well I guess for the normal person it wouldnt be so bad. But I walked into a big freezing room alone with what looked like a lit up coffin. I almost fainted when the doctor said I would have to lay inside it. I imediately started panicing but laid down and closed by eyes and tried not to think that the ceiling was 5 inches from my face. As a clausterphobic person it was not fun. It actually turned out to be the worst 40 mins of my life. But I prayed a lot and sang lots of hymns. And when the doctor finally came and got me I stood up and passed up from all the stress. 

oh my...

But I should have the results thursday so we can finally know what this is...after 7 months it will be nice to know. 

We started teaching english classes again! So thats fun! The elders here are also teaching cooking classes...which are hilarious. 

Summer has come and kind of hit us hard in the face. Its actually still spring but the heat is unlike anything I have ever experienced....I dont know if I want to see what the real summer is. But Haulqui is still gorgeous and I love it with all my heart!

Last night my leg was really hurting a lot and there was a lot of drunk men in front of our house yelling and doing stuff. We were all really scared and no one could sleep. Finally everyone dropped off to sleep except me. Between the pain and replays of that man entering my bedroom three months ago...I could not sleep. As my pain and stress grew I started praying really hard. I was pretty sick of weeks without sleep with all the fear and sick of all the bad things that have been happening for so long. I dont like being scared at night and was confused why I was having so much fear. But I started praying and thinking about all my blessings that say I have angels protecting me. And all of a sudden I could feel their presence. Like all the angels just came and surrounded my bed and for a little but I was allowed to know that they are there. I know they are always there....but to be able to really feel them helped a lot. And all my fear was taken away. I dont think I will be scared again. 

Sometimes I wonder why we have different trials in this life. When we try to be good...and things just get worse...its confusing. But thats when we really have to put our faith in God. That He really does have a plan. And we should plan on His plan being completely different from our plan...because about 99% of the time it is. Oh but isnt it just so much more fun that way! Never having any idea what is going to happen....how these crazy situations happen and how they will ever get resolved. But I am getting better at just kind of sitting back and letting God show me all the other plans that He has as surprises. 

The people here have such hard lives. And sometimes I get kind of mad that they have to suffer so much. But I know God loves them so much..because I love them so much. I cant even imagine the love God has for them...and I know He will take care of them when I cannot. 

Can I ask you all the pray for my little Aracely? She is one of the most special girls in the world who has the hardest life. And she needs all the help we can give her right now.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Orchard

Round and Round

Well well!

Welcome to a week of repeats. It hasnt been the best...but I´ll try to focus on the more interesting and good parts. 

First thing---things with my leg have pretty much gone down the drain. Right when I always think I am healed things collapse again. It was especially bad this week. I tried walking and working but starting Tuesday I just kept kind of falling down in the street. I had to have hermana Piriz on one side of me and Aracely on the other...both holding up half of my body so I could kind of walk. We went around like that for awhile but once I started crying from the pain my companion said it was time for me to rest....and she didnt let me leave the house again. 

But I got lots of visits from members and friends and got to hang out at the houses of my favorite people and practice cooking...so it wasnt all bad. And in the mix of that I decided that my time was done...I have an insane desire to stay and finish my mission...but my willpower is not enough to supply me the support and strength I need to walk. 

So I cried myself to sleep everynight and started packing my bags. Friday the pain was just too much to handle. I couldnt sleep all night and woke up in too much pain to even walk to the bathroom. So I called my favorite doctor who was out of town...but returned home early to see me (the awesome Dr Loyola). He seemed pretty shocked to see an hernia causing me so much pain and did some more tests on me and changed his mind...because maybe it wasnt a hernia but something worse. And so I got an appointment with a spine specialist. 

Okay....well Saturday we had to do something for the 5th time on my mission....that would be disinfect the house of scabies. Its weird how I am so not grossed out that there are tons of little bugs living under my skin. I know YOU are probably grossed out by that and never want me in the same neighborhood as you again...but Chile has been working its magic on me :) We even have a little dance and chant for la sarna. Its fun!

So for the last week or two I have had a lot of trouble sleeping. Not just because of the pain in my leg but from just waking up and feeling scared at night. I have a panic attack almost every night that someone is in the house. I have been fine for so long after the break in so I wasnt  sure why all of a sudden I was getting scared again. Saturday night I mentioned it to hermana Razeira and she said that she too couldnt sleep at night and felt weird and scared. The other two hermanas admitted the same things too. So that night we slept with all the lights on. 

And then last night (we are still talking about repeats)...another man tried to enter our house. It was only about 11:30 but we heard noises on the roof. At first we thought it was a cat or something but we decided it was too heavy..and it was dragging something too....maybe a ladder to drop into the backyard and get in through the back window. We all freaked out and went running into the front room and did our now routine calling of the elders, bishop and President. All of which were at out house in a number of mins. The elders came in in their pjs with brooms to attack the intruder with. They found us four hundled in a ball shaking and crying. But the police came and checked everything out and I called Aracely who was over in about 2 mins to protect us. 

We ended up putting all our mattresses on the floor and eating ice cream and talking the whole night. I literally fell alseep at 6:45 in the morning. My poor little hija was crying the whole night. It didnt help that a group of drunk teenage boys were outside our house all night chanting something and screaming. Oh the mission....always something exciting! But dont worry...it was the last night we spent there. We are getting a new house! 

This morning I had to get up after 15 mins of sleep. Aracely got up with me and we caught a bus to Conce (Aracely took time off work to come with me so my little comp could go to a zone activity at the beach...she is the best!!). I had my spine specialist app and guess who took me to it....President and Hermana Arrington! The whole thing took about three hours but it was really good. President told me that no matter how complicated the solution to my problem could be....we know there is a solution and that I can finish my mission...because thats what my blessing said. So I was able to fill with new hope that I can finish and I can stay in Chile!! All those tears for nothing!! 

Forgive me for not writing what the doctor said about my spine...I´m really just so tired and cant remember anything. But it will all be okay. Maybe I need spine surgery and a new hip next week.....haha jk. I´ll let you know what Doc said next week. But for now I am okay!

I love being a missionary. Every day here I love it more and more. And every trial that makes being a missionary harder....makes me appreciate it that much more...

I had more to write but you will have to excuse my sleep deprived head for today.

How did it go with the 5 book of mormon challenge?

Love you all!!

Hermana Orchard

ps. I want to go home and sleep so forgive me for not answering any of the emails this week! 

ARISE ARISE ARISE!!

Hola!!!! 

I have a little poem for you all. I didnt write it...but here it is. (Gracias a Sister Gallacher in our awesome homeschooling days)

All the water in the world, however hard it tried

Could never sink the smallest ship, unless it got inside

And all the evil in the world, the blackest kind of sin

Can never hurt you in the least, unless you let it in

I have been thinking about this poem a lot lately. Sin in all shapes and sizes is always around us. There´s really just no avoiding it. Temptation will always be there. But we have the choice to never let it into us..to never pay attention enough to it for it to have any effect. And I think that applies to all kinds of darkness...pain, fear, sadness, anger, hurt. It may all be present..but we dont have to let it in! We always have the choice to what degree we experience all these negative things. 

Remember that man who lived in the concentration camp? He was there with his son. Even though there were so many horrors going on around them...he created a beautiful world for him and his son. We can choose how we see things. How we want to react. We choose the feelings we have in our hearts..who we want to be...at all times. No matter what is going on around us...how dark it may be...we always always have the choice of what goes on in our head. Let´s make it good, shall we?

"The world becomes a creation after our own image, a reflection of our own faith or lack therof."

Most of the people here dont have much. They have more trials than we can really even imagine. Yet they are the happiest most giving, friendliest, funniest, loving, thoughtful and wonderful people ever. I will be happy to be just 5% of what they are. 

Can I stay here forever?

Last Monday I found my dear Hermana Tejerina in Conce. She goes home in 4 weeks...waaaaaaaa. We went to the doctor with my little Chelita and she had an echo of her stomach and found that everything is okay. Then we went to my chiropractor. Have I mentioned how awesome my chiropractor is? He is super awesome and said he will treat me for free for the rest of the life. He always makes fun of my spain accent. Have I mentioned that everyone thinks I am from Spain? They all say I speak with a spain accent and people are super confused when I say I am from the states. Not sure where I got the spain accent from..

I think the most progression I have seen this last month has been my companion. She came here such a shy little think...and kind of unhappy. Now she is the happiest person I know! She is CONSTANTLY laughing and we just walk around looking insane with outrageous smiles on our faces. Hopefully I can stay with my little daughter forever...

Solange,,,the girl who got baptized 4 months ago....started her missionary application!!! Some people are just so awesome!! 

One sad part of the week is that bedbugs and fleas and scabies and who knows what has hit us all again. We spend the day itching and itching and trying to kill bugs but we just cant keep up with the fleas. Have you seen how many dogs there are in Hualqui?!! To give you an idea...about every 10 feet there are at least 3 dogs. No joke. They run around in packs of 30. 

But its okay because Hualqui is the most beautfiul place in the world. To enter Hualqui there is about an hour drive in bus or train....it winds through hills and mountains and along the huge bio bio river. The trees all have yellow and pink and purple blossoms that just float in the wind everywhere and all along the river there are sunflower fields and little birdies and its all just so gorgeous!! Horses walk along the streets and people sell fruit and flowers and vegetables all along the streets in little wagons. Oh Hualqui has stolen my heart completely. 

Okay I must go. We are going to have a little picnic in one of the precious hills here. 

Love you all!!! A challenge...everyone give the book of mormon to 5 different people this week! I know its a lot but I know you can all do it! 

Hermana Orchard

Love Love Love

Hola again!! 

I have a lot to write this week so perdon me if this is choppy.

Monday was a glorious day. Sunday night we spent in the hospital with Chelly because she had severe stomach pain. But the little rockstar still wanted to come with us to the city monday. We went to the University of Concepcion. They say its the prettiest campus in all of north america. And it is gorgeous! We planned to explore all of it but ended up putting a blanket in the grass and just sleeping. It was lovely. 

Tuesday we had a mini cambio. I went to Hualpen with hermana Lopez. She is my second favorite argentinan. One of those hermanas that I am going to return and visit every year! She yelled at me for a bit about not resting with my hernia. We talked about my dilemma. I cant get better if I dont rest. If I dont get better I cant finish my mission. I cant force myself to rest...I just cant! I know I need to rest...but my desire to go out and teach overpowers everything else. That night my leg started hurting a lot. Like a lot a lot. Even breathing hurt. And I thought of the pain I have had now for 6 months...and I realized that 6 more months is a long time. I have been so stubborn about that I am not going home..I´ve never let the thought enter my head. But suddenly the words of the mission hymn entered my head..

I´ll go where you want me to go..I´ll be what you want me to be. 

I accepted that phrase so fully when I got my mission call.. God called me to come to Chile. I accepted that with all of my heart. I put all my confidence and faith in Him and came to this place so different and far from home. I came where He wanted me to come and did what He wanted me to do. And if He wanted me to go home...to start a different mission in another place..shouldnt I be just as willing and enthusiastic about that? 

So I decided..obviously God is pointing in a different direction than I am looking...I need to go home. And I cried the whole night. And the next morning we went to Presidents house and I sat in his office and I cried and said I needed to go home. 

"Do you want to go home hermana?¨" No. "Do you want to be healed?" Yes. I cant count the number of blessings and fastings and prayers I have had...but here I am..still sick. "Do you have faith that He can heal you?" Well I did..now I dont know if He wants to. He then said that God still has work for me here. And he gave me blessing and said that I would be healed and finish my mission.

And after that I felt much better in every way possible. And everything will be okay.

Once I got back home to Hualqui I learned that Chelly had gone in ambulance to the hospital during the night. So we went and visited her in her house. I have never set foot in her house before...we are not allowed even in the yard. So miracle number one is that we were able to enter her house. I was shocked when I saw her. The poor thing was thrashing around on her bed and couldnt even talk from the pain she was in. She just silently cried. I couldnt even look at her..it was awful. We stayed with her and I tried to feed her creamed rice. After a few hours she reached a level of pain that I was scared she was going to die. So I got her mom to take us to the hospital. We went with her parents and her sister....none of who I have talked to before. But we all bonded in the emergency room. We even took her sister with us and she contacted with us! It was a night of miracles. I dont know if I have mentioned just how much her family does not like the church. 

Friday while walking home and I banged the top of my head with an iron rod. I kind of passed out for a min and my comp got a car to take us home. I was super dizzy and called the doctor. I had a little concussion and my comp and to wake me up every hour of the night so see if I was alive. Poor thing! I´m totally fine though now. Still have a large bump on my head. Obviously I am super accident prone.

Saturday morning President and Hermana Arrington dropped off cinnamon rolls at our house and your package. I hadnt had cinammon rolls in  a year so I was happy! 

Sunday we were supposed to have the baptism of X. He had three interviews and was super ready. He had left his drugs and drinking and everything for three weeks. And saturday night he went to a party and when we went to pick him up for his baptism...he was drunk. We already had the font filled up and had to empty it during the conference. It was really sad. He has come so far and was so disapointed in himself. It broke my heart. But we are going to get him some better medical help and keep on helping him. But it was a sad day. 

At night the other hermanas in our house made us brownies and we all cried that cambios was the next day. But mire!! Its monday and we are all staying here in Haulqui for 6 more weeks!!!! I could not be happier!!! 

I have so much more I want to say but will save it for next week!

I am just grateful that Chelly is better and okay! and that I get to stay here in Hualqui!!

Love you all!!

Hermana Orchard

This is our 1 year anniversary.  Our ward mission leader brought us donuts.  It was the one year mark for me, Hermana Razeria and Elder Moore.

This is us with Chelly when she opened her mission call.

In front of the stake center

Last night eating brownies before cambios