Hermana Hess en Chile: Para Siempre Dios Este Con Vos (God Be with You Till We Meet Again)

The CCM has been under attack for about two weeks now... don’t worry, I am fine and I’ll be okay. This is what’s going on: there are some disobedient missionaries here and at night when we are asleep, the Chubracabra comes and carries them away. Not too scary, right? Just be obedient and you’ll be safe... HOWEVER we found out that the Chubracabra has a sweet tooth... our district leader has been really tired the past week and when we asked him why, he related to us the horrifying tale... in his own words...

"It was a normal night. I was eating my cookies and at 10:30 I went to bed. Then at 2 a.m., I heard a noise out my window. All of a sudden, the Chubracabra crashed into my room and went straight for my cookies!!! I jumped out of bed and thus commenced the two-hour fight for my cookies.

“Finally I was able to shove him out the window and lock it. I thought that would be it, but every night he has returned for vengeance...and my cookies!! That’s why I’m always tired."

So the moral of the story, Joey, be careful and don’t leave candy in your room!! Especially Halloween candy. That’s his favorite! The Chubracabra will come and try to eat it!!

I leave in 4 days!! So crazy! We got our flight plan and water filter two days ago. I leave Monday afternoon at 3:30 from Mexico and arrive in Santiago at 6:45 Tuesday morning. Then I go from Santiago to Puerto Montt from 10:35 to 12:20.

I can’t bring weapons on the plane so I guess I’ll have to leave my nunchucks behind, as well as the lucky machete I got from an orphan boy (it was his Mom’s lucky machete).

Yesterday there was a worldwide missionary broadcast, first ever in about a decade. Elder Anderson spoke. There were awesome speakers. I love being a missionary!

This week I have grown a lot in Spanish as well as my testimony about faith. I am able to speak more and more and some of the grammar rules that have been hard for me to understand, I am starting to understand (like dang por v para, direct and indirect object pronouns).

My Spanish is coming along great! The Gift of Tongues is so real! I had an amazing experience with it last night. The Spirit does bring all things to your remembrance, but you have to learn them first for it to work!

We were talking with a woman named Mercedes and she spoke soooooo fast. I was trying to understand her and this thought came into my mind, “You’ll only understand if you love her and want to help her.” I prayed for help in understanding and began to really try to understand what she was saying so I could help her. Then I could understand all the words she said that I knew or had learned. Even though she was speaking extremely fast, I could understand perfectly what she was saying. The words I didn’t know, I obviously couldn’t understand, but I was able to listen and love her and I felt real concern and pain for her when she told us that her kids left the church. I was also able to conjugate correctly and convey all the desires I wanted for her. Sooooooo cool!

Faith is such an interesting concept if you really think about it. It is so powerful. You should read the bible dictionary definition on faith it is amazing.

This past Sunday, we watched an old Christmas MTC devo from 2011 by Elder Bednar. It is probably one of the best talks I have ever heard, we are so lucky to know English. We are so blessed that every conference, devo, you name it, we get to listen right from the mouths of the prophets. Here, whenever we listen to an English address, the Latinos have to wear headsets that translates the words. They never have been able to hear the prophet’s real voice. On top of that, if you know English, you can get a job that pays almost $30,000 more a year here in Mexico than if you don’t know English. We are sooo blessed, and we take it for granted.

Also another great talk to listen to! 10 things to know on the mission by Richard G. Scott. Mom can you email it to me so I can hopefully print it off? Gracias! (I haven't been able to find Elder Scott's talk, but here's a great article to read)

Funny thing this week...

So dinner was either burritos or tacos. I took a taco and Elder Tidwell took a burrito. We were all shocked to see what was in the burrito... a couple days before, our teachers told us of a popular street burrito they sell in Mexico is burrito de perros (DOG BURRITOS). Luckily, no perros in this dinner burrito, but there was something we weren’t expecting. Elder Tidwell bit into the burrito and it was full of.........

…..mashed potatoes!! That’s all that was in it! A corn tortilla and mashed potatoes. Elder Tidwell is from Idaho and being the potato expert he is, he decided it was unfit for consumption. (And yes Joey, he has a potato brother whose name is Tate, but they call him Spuddy.)

I don’t know if I’ll be able to write next week since I would have just missed the Prep day by two days... I’ll probably get to call or email an “I’m still alive” email though.

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and pictures. Send me more!! (Friends included!!) I want to see your faces!