Week 49 Overcast Skies, and a HUGE Sector

Well, here we are at the beginning of another week. I really enjoy recieving emails from all of you every week, it brightens my day to know that things are still moving in the real world. Time is interesting here. It feels like everything should be put into pause while I am here, and then I get back and everything starts up again. But the world moves on. I was very concious of that this week when my little sister sent me pictures of her Graduation dress, and my other little sister danced in a dance recital. I dont know what the deal is with my little brother. He is super bad at writing me. But no one said he died. So Im sure he´s great, haha.

Things in Antofagasta are much different that things in Tocopilla, and even more different than El Salvador! This city is HUGE. Seriously. I have never lived in a big city before. Because you really cannot count Provo as a big city. But everything compared to my home town is big I guess. Our sector is relativly new. It used to be two sectors for one ward. But they recently spilt the ward into two wards because there were so many people that they couldnt all fit into the building for sacrament meeting (and it is a good sized sacrament hall). So the ward Las Rocas, is now Las Rocas, and Cerro Moreno, which is my sector. And the name really gets you, because cerro means hill. And it is one of the flatest sectors in the mission. Of which I am grateful haha. But our sector is in the extreme North of the city. So we have to take a city bus into town to go to the downtown to shop and write. But good news is that there is a Lider (Walmart) about 20 minutes walking from our apartment so I have access to peanut butter and maple syrup at a moments notice. And our sector is huge. Literally walking across our sector would take the entire day. In order to get to church we have to take a bus. It is a looooong distance. Never again will I complain about the largness of sectors. Haha.

My new companion is Hermana Jimenez, I was a little nervous when I heard that she would be my companion because I have a strong personality and it was even worse in the MTC because I was nervous and uncomfortable a lot of the time, and apperantly I frightened some of the Latinos.... But getting off the bus in Antofagasta and seeing Hna Jimenez, I knew that we would get along. This week has been lovely withy her. We have worked hard but not just as companions. We have become friends. Which I think is very important. Some of the missionaries that I have met here seem to think that if you open up to your companion and become friends it means that you are not being a missionary. That you are not focused. But I feel and have learned the exact opposite to be true. When you are friends with your compaions, when you are willing to open up and to share. That is when the miracles happen, not just in the work, but as people. As companions. You are all each other has in a world that more often that not rejects you. And if you feel alone with your companion, you will have a really hard transfer (been there, done that, bought the T-Shirt and outgrew it).

But seriously, I can tell that Antofagasta is going to be a wonderful time in my mission with many miracles. There are different challenges here to learn from and overcome, but there are also many people who are prepared here. Who are just waiting to hear the truth before they can follow it.

And that is why I am here. 

I love you all, I hope that you have a great week and that all of you are doing whatever you can to grow closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Sometimes we overlook the obvious things like reading the scriptures, praying, and going to church. These things are incredibly important when done in faith. And they are very easy to discard as unimportant or basic. They are basic, but never unimportant.

Les quiero mucho,

Hermana Randall