No journal, no organization! Uh oh...

Hola familia y mis amigos y everyone else... haha who am I kidding we're all friends here.

This week has been awesome! I have been so busy with learning el idioma y learning how to teach and follow El Espiritu Santo, I know there is supposed to be an accent in there Jeff, so don't correct me. Hermana Harden and I got lost today in Santiago so if you are wondering why I don't have a lot of time that is why... lol. We have been learning how to teach with unity cause that is the point of being in a companionship. If there is no unity there is no Espiritu. Anyway. So, I don't have my journal and I usually refer to that when I write emails, perro I forgot it today. I know, I know. Why did I forget it you tell me.

So, we got new teachers this week and they are muy great!! I love them so much. Hermana Araneda teaches us in la manana and she is so good! The investigator that is with her is named Lucia. Lucia is a golden investigator. She is so great! The next teacher is Hermano Cifuentes, I don't like him as much cause he has a such a great latn accent. He is great though. Then, mi favorito maestro es Hermano Ceballos! He is awesome! That pretty much sums up his whole personal ity. I love him!! He is so caring and wants to help so bad. He is always talking Spanglish which is so fun, cause he says things like muy great, and muy quick. Or like perro I am not going anywhere. He is my favorite! On Sunday we had such a great day! We had a devotional in the morning by Elder Ballard and he talked about not getting caught up in the news. One of the stories that he shared was about Joseph F. Smith and how he stood up for himself when a bad guy on a horse came up to him and asked if he was Mormon. He was like Yessiree! Diet in the wool! True blue! Through and through!! I want to be like him! I want to be that bold when I do missionary work!! We then watched the video about Thomas S. Monson  being always on the Lord's errand! I want that too, especially as a missonary! So a quick funny story the other night Hermano Ceballos was teaching and all of a sudden he was like what is that smell and no one really knew what he was talking about and then Elder Brush is bright red in the face telling him that he really needs to go to the bathrooom. It was hilarious. Hermano Ceballos explained to us that in Chile they are not that shy about farts and what not. And then we told him that in America especially if there are girls around we would not say anything! It was really funny!!! Ahhh, ay no mucho tiempo! I gotta go! I will talk to you all next week.

Hermana Durfee!! I love you all! I pray for you! And think about all of you! Have a great week!

Enferma, El Espiritu Santo, Learning, having fun.... That't the CCM. :)

Hola mi familia!

So, this week has been an emotional rollercoaster. That seems to be the theme for missionaries. One minute you are so happy and laughing so hard, and then next minute you are so discouraged. Monday I was in a really good mood. And to top it all off the latina hermanas were so funny when I was talking them. I had my¨The feild is white already to harvest¨ necklace on that a dear friend had given me. And one of them comes up to me and asks where I got it, and they immediately are all like ¨Su novio!!¨ ¨Your boyfriend!¨ And I just bursted into a fit of giggles!! They were so funny and since I have a language barrier I couldn't really explain! lol!! It was really funny!!

Here is another funny experience so my companion an I are in our discussion with Marcos (Hermano Antileo) and he is telling both of us that due to the limited time that we have been here in Chile we speak really well. And I was so taken a back that I was like ¨Gracias!!!!!¨ And if you can picture it Hermana Harden and Marcos both look at me and we all start laughing cause I was so enthusiastic!! :D

So, Then on Tuesday I had p day. I emailed y'all and then we explored Santiago. Hermana Harden and I were able to see some sister missionaries from our mission! It was the coolest thing, I don't know why they were in the East mission, but we were able to. It was really fun! We then were able to have a great opportunity and blessing to go the the temple. It was a such an amazing experience! I was so happy that we were abñe to go. Here at the CCM we are able to go to the temple three times in the six weeks that we are here. And I just felt so empowered and strengthened by being able to go to a place that is the same even in Chile. The temple whereever you are is constant just like the gospel. It is amazing! In class and at church we sing hymns and they are the same even in a different language! It is the coolest thing! I love that Heavenly Father loves us so much that He would do that for us. When we were in the temple, I was so overcome with the Spirit when I saw the Elders in white. It just cemented my testimony that I am so thankful for worthy preisthood holders.

On Wednesday I caught a cold. Those of us who live in Alcantara call it the Alcantara Cancer cause every new group of missionaries catches it. It is a little pandemic. (Today, emailing you I am almost better.) My companion knew I was sick, and the elders in my district learned that I was sick too. Elder Ludeman (one of the elders in my district) gave me some emergen C. He was so nice to do that for me. I am really thankful a kind and caring district that I have. Oh, and in class that night Hermano Riutor said the funniest thing. He is always telling us that we should not act like babies, but we do anyways. We asked him if we could go out into the real world and he was like (in his latin accent) ¨How can I let you out into the real world? When I leave for five minutes and you're having baby party?¨ It was really funny! We laughed really hard!! :D

On Thursday I feel that Hermana Harden and I are finally getting it. We are both finally getting how we should teach and how we should learn the language. It is pretty cool. Hermano Antileo had us do a role play today and I was the missionary and Elder Williams, an elder in my district, was the investigator. He totally refused to speak any English, and pretended that he did not know English. So I had to speak Spanish to him. It was really good practice. I really appreciated that exercise, and was surprised by how much I knew. We then had a discussion with Pablor Bertucci (Hermano Riutor) and after the discussion Hermano Riutor was like ¨I am sorry but it was perfect.¨very sarcastically, serious. He was telling us that we did a really good job, but he couldn't offer any advice cause we did so good. Ahh, he is really funny, very latin!! :) lol. Hermana Harden was like ¨But what about our lesson?¨and he was like ¨Well you were teaching people, not lesson, which is what Preach my Gospel says to do. If you want to go against Preach my Gospel then you can!¨ again sarcastically. It was hilarious. We both just looked at eachother and laughed! :)

So, through out the week my cold got worse and on Sunday it was really bad. I mean I was basically this fountain of germs that was streaming out of my nose and my eyes, and I was super incoherrent. So, in my district meeting I asked the elders if they would give me a blessing. It was the coolest thing that I have experienced in my mission so far, because all these 18 year old young men surround me and use the power that they had been given, by God to help me get better. I could feel the power of the Preisthood in that circle. I am so thankful to them for being worthy to do that for me.

So, basically this week I have had a great time! Thanks so much for all you guys do for me! I love you all!! You all are in my prayers!! Have a wonderful, blessed week!!

Les Amo!! (I think that is right, correct me if I am wrong, Jeff)

Hermana Durfee :D

YSA + Crayons = Too Much Fun

Last Monday was zone p-day and it was finally worth it and I didn't have to do hardly any work. YEAH! We had like an 800 water balloon fight and then with flour capture the flag and had a ton of food. So all in all it was wonderful. I think what made it different was that we have some great zone leaders right now. It was great start to a wonderful week. By time Monday was up we already had 14 lessons lined up. Which was way better then the last week. We've been doing a pretty fun lesson with our members where we ask them at the beginning to draw a castle and to fortify that castle. Its been so much fun seeing the different ideas... some slightly on the strange side but that makes it more fun. After we read Alma 50: 1-6. It talks about how Moroni protects the Nephite cities. We then ask what they do to protect themselves spiritually. I love seeing the Spirit work through them. Its also a great family home evening idea [so those missionaries serving right now... you're welcome ;)]

Friday we had a fun adventure. We were weekly planning at the church (we focus better there) and we were taking our lunch break. While we were waiting for our food to heat up in the microwave I found a toy that is solar powered. I wanted to see if it work so I go out the kitchen door and hold it up the sun. I assumed that Sister Claros was holding the door open because that door is always locked. Then I hear a door close and turn around in horror. No! Sister Claros' face drops... We were locked out! Our keys, phone... and food all were in there. We walk around the whole church. I didn't know what to do. Sister Claros was laughing so much and at first I was frustrated but I couldn't help but laugh too. We prayed and decided we needed to walk to a member's home. Luckily Iniki didn't live very far cause it was super hot. He let us borrow his phone we called our branch president who came and picked us up and unlocked the church for us. Oh man. Never again but its a good laugh. I still laugh about it.

Saturday we did service for a member who's family is putting in their own sprinkler system. We helped them fill in the ditches. It was a lot of work but I actually extremely enjoyed it. I got some nasty blisters but thats cool. ;) That day two of our members got engaged to each other... Man... thats really all I can say. I cant decide whether its a blessing or a curse that we serve in the singles ward and watch all the drama. Mostly a blessing because its very entertaining. haha.

This week the Elders who live in the same apartment complex attacked us. For 5 months we have lived in peace. Not truly know what apartment number each other lived in, so even if we wanted to do something we couldn't. Well Thursday we got a text from them saying they had a referral and asked for our apartment number so they could put it in our mailbox. I should have known better. We came out of Institute that night to find a bag with our tennis shoes we had left outside the apartment to dry hanging from our side mirror and Jack (A little jack-in-the-box that we had on our antenna) gone as well. Those dang elders, we thought. We drive back home take back Jack and head up to our apartment. They left us our referral on the door. A picture of dolphins and a sticky note that said, "The Flipper Family, they are awesome!" It was awesome. I laughed(: and the dolphin picture is totally hanging in our apartment now. I just have to come up with some sweet revenge before I'm transferred.

Honestly I hope I am because its been a long time here. 6 months. I love it, we get a lot of privileges but I just feel the need to move. Transfers are in 3 weeks. Only 3 weeks! Thats some crazy stuff!

I hope all of you are well and happy!
Love you!
Stay Sweet
Dont Do Drugs.

Hermana Durfee