Week 55 Happy 4th of July!

Hello there World, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

It is so sad that there wasn't any kind of celebration yesterday.... I didn't even have my P-Day :(

But we were able to meet our new Mission President! First of all, I really think that I am going to like him and his wife a lot. Our last President was very good and I love him a lot. He is someone that has taught me a lot about myself and my life. Presidente Ferreira emanates love for the work and for his missionaries. I felt that President Dalton loved and cared about me. But I KNOW Presidente Ferrerira does. And with only meeting him once I think that is a pretty good deal. I have my first personal one on one interview with him tomorrow, so we will see if the feelings remain the same (which I'm sure that they will).

He´s already changed a few of the main rules here in the mission. Before we could not play any type of sports or talk between Sisters and Elders. He first began by telling us about the Law of Moses, how it was super strict because the people of Israel couldn't handle a higher law. But then when they were ready they received the Higher Law. Which he said we were now ready for. That we had demonstrated our maturity and we were ready for the Higher Law. 

The Higher Law means that we can talk between Elders and Sisters of course not flirt or send letters or anything. But that he trusts us to be mature. All the Elders got really excited all of a sudden too. And then they were more excited about the next announcement. The announcement about being able to play team sports. He told the Elders that they could play soccer and the whole room cheered. I never understood Latinos and their NEED for soccer until I was a missionary here in South America. Haha. But it comes with a couple rules. Only on P-Day, 5 on both teams only, and there HAS to be an Hermana on each team, at least 1. Because....... HERMANAS ARE THE ONLY ONES THAT CAN SCORE GOALS. That changed the dynamic really fast. Usually the Elders play to be The Best. But now, the team that is the best is the one that works with the Hnas. I didn't want to play with the Elders before. But now, they make us feel like a needed part of the team, because we are needed. We played for the first time today :) I scored 7 goals. :) There was a type of team unity in the zone that wasn't there before. It was a super fun activity, and now I cant move my legs! Haha, it´s going to keep me in good shape at least. Because they cant play without the sisters :) Haha. 

Anyways, we had a fun morning. And I didn't take one photo because I was kicking butt. So I will take pictures next time. :)

My companion and I are getting along just fine, she´s still learning a lot of things about who she is. So we have our moments of deep contemplation and sharing, it takes time to find who you are. And sometimes we just need to talk to someone about what we already know so that we can realize it more fully. 

But we have had a great week in our sector. We walked a lot, but I think that it is because I am still trying to plan more effectively at night. But it helps because my companion has a couple weeks here now and can help me more. But Vanessa came to church this week for the 5th time. She smiles now, and she even came to the Relief Society meeting on Wednesday. She told us that she knows the church is true because of how being in the building with all of the sisters and everything makes her feel. Her daughter is still working on receiving her answer, but she is truly seeking, and that makes all of the difference. 

I hope that you have all had a good missionary week. I know that God lives, and Jesus loves us. If we just listen to him and follow his spirit, we will find more happiness than we already have. If you are sad, there is more happiness waiting for you. And if you are already happy, then imagine how much more your could have! It is amazing this Plan that God has for each and every one of us. 

I love you all, I know that we are children of a loving but just God. I know that we are his supreme creation, and that he does everything for our good, just like the scriptures testify. Remember that God loves you this week. I hope you remember it always, but especially remember it this week. And remember that I love you too.

With all my heart,

Hermana Randall

Week 54 ¡Campeones del Mundo!

Well hello there world! Speaking to you today from Chile, who just so happens won the Copa America yesterday for the second year in a row. Yep that's right. Some people would be disappointed that my very own country didn't win anything (4th place) but then I respond with the fact I didn't even know that we had a soccer team. Until this year the United States didn't care much for soccer. However I cant wait for the day where we WIN. Haha. But basically Chile exploded last night. The poor Argentinians that live here........ There were fireworks, confetti, cannons, loud singing, cheers, shouting, the whole shabang. The moment that was my personal favorite was when a man from somewhere in the night shouted, ¿ÄRGENTINA, COMÓ SE SIENTES AHORA?¨ Or, ¨Argentina, how do you feel now?!¨ That gave both me and my companion quite a laugh as we lay in bed trying to sleep.

I say trying, because everyone partied for a long time, and then at 2:00 the evauated our apartment building because someone had a gas leak in their stove. They live above us, so we didnt smell anything, but we worke up to the alarm blaring and we had to throw on shoes and a jacket and stand outside in the cold for about an hour so the firefighters ould come with a large fan to blow all the gas away. It was an adventure, and we are really tired today. But ¡VIVA CHILE!

The week was a good one though. I'm leading the sector right now, and when leading I realize just how HUGE it is. My new companion is super sweet. Although, I feel like the older sister leading my little sister. She´s very sweet and wants to be a good missionary. And she needs a lot of love. I am more than ready to make her feel important and loved. :)

Also, this Wednesday we are receiving a new Mission President! So due to meetings and interviews, my P-Day next week will be either Tuesday or Wednesday. So don't worry, you´ll hear from me, read an old email until you get the new one. Re-runs are never the same, but they can be just as entertaining while waiting for the show to return. :)

Hope all is well where ever you all may be (I write people in many different countries now....), know that I love you all, and that God loves you even more. Have a great week! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Hermana Randall

Week 53 This Week on: Misiòn Chile Antofagasta

Hey There World!

Hope that you are all doing well and that you had a wonderful Father`s Day! It is weird to think that for the last Father´s Day I was in the MTC, and now here I am a year later with 4 sectors and 7 companions. Shout out to my Dad and my Grandpa`s for being the very best of all the Dad`s and Grandpa`s! Also shout out to my cousin Lynette who returned home from her mission in Norway this last week! Congratulations Lynette! I love you!

This week in Cerro Morreno we have worked harder than ever. We have seen many miracles in the form of progressing investigators and a Recent Convert who was slipping into inactivity being friend-shipped and finding his place once again in the ward. He is becoming really excited about the gospel again. We have him connected to many Young Single Adults that are helping him to leave behind his bad habits and move on through the process of repentance. It is a beautiful thing to watch, the Atonement in action. 

We also have two investigators named Vanessa and Andrea. They are progressing very well, and Vanessa this last week asked us what she needed to do to be baptized, she still needs to get married, but she is progressing towards her baptism, and her daughter Andrea is also very excited. She says that she no longer feels like she is the only young adult that has these standards like Chastity and not drinking. We have many people as well that are reaching out to this family and helping them to progress as they are. It is true, working with members not only helps us to teach, but it helps the investigator progress faster, and it gives the members this fire for the Obra Misional! 

Missionary work is something that gives everyone energy and allows people to connect to the gospel in an interactive way. That is one of the reasons that God has blessed us with a church. So that we can find a support system in our beliefs. A friend when one is needed. And a hand to lift us up when we fall. If you are struggling with your testimony. If you are wondering if you really KNOW that it is true. Then go do missionary work, go bear your testimony to someone. Maybe just your Mom, but go do it! A testimony is something that if you do not share it, it will not grow. If you do not show what you believe it may change from a belief, faith, to something passive. A shallowly rooted plant that can be changed, burned, corrupted, or strangled by whatever passes by. Share your testimony. Help others feel the love of Christ. So this is your homework for the week. Share your testimony. Share it with the world. Maybe share a video about Jesus and a short comment about why you liked it. Share. Jesus has his arms open to all of the world, but sometimes we need to help others to open their eyes to see the arms extended and waiting. SHARE YOUR LIGHT.

To end I just wanted to say that there were Transfers this week. I am staying here in Antofagasta in Cerro Moreno, but Hna Jimenez has left me! I instead have another companion, named Hna Samaniego. She is from Asunciòn, Paraguay, and has 7 months in the mission. I met her about 3 hours ago, and she is very sweet. I can`t wait to get to know her more and see the work progress here in Antofagasta! 

Love you all, remember to share you light, share the happiness that the gospel brings. I love you! Have a great week!

Hermana Randall

Week 52 Miracles, Memories, and Milestones

Well hello everyone! I hope that you are all well and ready to sit back and relax with another tale of adventure from Antofagasta Chile!

This week was fun filled, it seemed to take forever, but it actually went by really quickly if that makes any sense. 

We started the week off at the beach for P-day which you all heard about, and the next day we began to teach and teach and teach. We didn't reach our teaching goals this week, but we did feel good about the lessons that we had and the people that we were able to teach. There is a young woman here who received her mission call to Brazil this last week, so she is more than excited to come out and help us teach lessons. She also is going to work in a Subway restaurant that is opening in our sector (hello American lunches. She is a great person, her name is Gabi and she is awesome.

We taught a couple lessons with some people that are incredibly prepared to receive the gospel.We found many miracles around every corner. We had about three citas with a certain investigator and every time something came up and she wasn't available to meet with us. But when we called Saturday to invite her again to the baptism that the Elders of Las Rocas were having, she told us, that although she couldn't come to the baptism, that she was planning on coming to church the next day! And she came! It was her second consecutive assistance and this time she brought her daughter who we have also been sharing with as well! They loved the meeting and even participated in Principios del Evangelio. It was a great thing to stand by them and watch as all the members excitedly greeted them and welcomed them here to the ward. 

We were also blessed to teach a lesson to an investigator named Fernando. We´ve been trying to find him for awhile again, but he has many health problems and it is difficult to meet with him regularly. But when teaching The Restoration we had a great discussion about The Atonement and the love of Jesus Christ. I love being able to teach and everything, but the thing that I most love to explain is exactly how the Lord feels about each and every one of us. It is something special to look someone in the eyes and tell them that God loves them individually. 

We also were at a members house. She was cutting hair, she asked if I would like her to cut the ends off that were dead. I said yes. She ended up taking me to her professional salon sink in the backyard, washing my hair, and giving me a COMPLETELY new hair cut............... I have bangs...... I do not like bangs........ To be fair my hair looks about a million times better and has shape. But it is big, and reminds me of the 80´s a little bit.... I do not have one good photo to share. So you will all have to wait with anticipation for next week. Haha.

Well that´s my week, another faith filled, miracle packed, week of a missionary. I love you all! I hope all is wel

l, if you all ever need anything just let me know! LOVE YOU!

Hermana Randall

Week 51 Yes. One Year Later.

Well Ladies and Gentlemen. This marks my 52nd week of my mission. I have been here a year. Never has a year gone by so fast IN MY LIFE. I think it is because this year wasn't my year. It was the Lord´s year. You don't really experience a year in the same way when you give it to someone else. :)

I want to also give a shout out to my amazing little sister who graduated from High School this week! Whoooohoooo Cassidy! 

Anyways, we had a great week here in Cerro Moreno! We were talking to a man that as been sharing with the missionaries for about 9 years, with almost no progress. Well, turns out that he has been having dreams about the temple and the angel Moroni. We had a very spiritual lesson where he realized his own answer. He finally told us, ¨Sisters, I know that I am going to get baptized. I don't have any excuses any more.¨ It was a great lesson. 

This was my moment of the week. The problem with being in a big city is that there are things to do on P´day, so we don't have a ton of time to write sometimes. Next week I plan on being here for longer than an hour. Haha. 

Talk to you all next week! LOVE YOU ALL!

Hna Randall

Week 50 La Portada, Another Week, Another Life Changed

Well, here it is! Another week come and gone! They are going by all the faster now.

I stick to what I said last week, I love my companion. She is amazing. I also stand by that I love this sector. It is a great sector that definitely has challenges that are new to me. Like the people that stand at the guard stations of the apartment buildings, and if you don't know someone, and they aren't waiting for you, you don't get in. But there are a bunch of young women that are preparing to go on missions and they are all excited to get out and go tracting with us. It is amazing to see the missionary work through their eyes. 

Yesterday we had a great lesson where I really felt the spirit. But not the spirit in a way that we all left crying or anything. But where my companion and I knew exactly what to say. And more importantly what to ask. There is an improv game in theatre where all you are allowed to do is ask questions. That is basically what we played. We did nothing but testify and ask questions. It was amazing to have the spirit be the one to fill your mouth with the words that you didn't know that you had. 

Haha, this week we also received a new ¨security system¨ for the sisters in the mission. It is a really loud emergency air horn. Not automatic or anything. We need to push the button. Its actually pretty funny. But a lot of the apartment alarms don't work, so we have these in the apartment now. I will attach pictures next week because I forgot to take a picture. Haha. 

And today we went to La Portada. That is the super famous rock formation here in the North of Chile. Everyone comes and takes pictures. And our very first thing that we do when we get to the mission is that we take photos with the mission president in front of it. So it was really cool to be able to come back a year later and take pictures with my companion. To be honest we went a little nuts with the photos, but it was fun. :) 

It has been a good week filled with many emotions and many miracles. I love you all! I ask that you would add to your prayers the people of Ecuador. They were hit by another earthquake this last week, and they are not a country prepared for this type of natural disaster. My companion is from this beautiful country, and she is concerned. If you could keep them all in your prayers it would be much appreciated. 

I love you all!

Hermana Randall

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