La Obra Misional es Maravillosa!!! ES VERDAD!!

HOLAAAAAAA!! Familia!!!!!

Hello! I am now in the feild!! I have a latina as my companion! She is from Honduras and this is her first time training! Es muy muy loco! When Presidente assigned us our companions the assistants were reading who we were with and the said ¨Hermana Durfee with Hermana Flores¨ And I just had this feeling inside of me that I was going to be with a latina. Padre Celestial was preparing me. I am very greatful for the opportunity to be with her cause she doesn´t really know English so I have to speak Spanish to her to be able to communicate. And so far we have been getting a long great! Su nombre es Hermana Flores. Ella es muy genial. Genial es cool en ingles. Ella es muy patiente y el mejor entrenedora en el mundo. The best trainer in the world.

So, I have had the opportunity to teach lessons with people and to bear my testimony countless times. It is so cool! Two of my favorite lessons so far have been with Oriana we taught the Plan of Salvation and with Alejandro we taught El evangelio de Jesucristo. The gospel of Jesus Christ. Oriana asked me where I was from and I told her that I was from Estados Unidos and so then she asked me to translate this ¨Me gusto conocerte¨ Which in ingles means I want to get to know you. Haha! She wants to get to know me which is a good thing! :) lol. I love that everyone here is so kind I really appreciate that about the people of Chile. Especially the members. Anyways so we had a lesson with Alejandro on Saturday and it was super genial. I loved it. I got to teach like half of the lesson this time, and it was a struggle cause sometimes I will accidentally sometimes say english words and the person I am talking to will just smile kindly and wait for me or try to guess what I am saying. Haha! Which I appreciate cause most of the time it is what I am trying to say.

Yesterday, was my first Sunday in the feild and it was so cool cause el obispo, the bishop asked me if I would bear my testimony. And of course I did. I feel that it went really well and that the Holy Ghost was able to communicate to them in the ward my desire to work with them and for them. In my patriarchal blessing it says that I will be able to bear testimony to others and they will want to change because of my testimony and I have only been out for un mes y media and I have already been seeing the results of my testimony. I am so greatful that I have that blessing from Padre Celestial. It is on of the thing estoy agradecida por.

I love this work so much. I am living my childhood dream. I feel that I have the opportunity that not many people have. Oh, I forgot to tell you all Alejandro came to church yesterday!! Any Elder White is my zone leader. Garret White from South Jordan. Garret is this kid that I grew up with for those of you who do not know and I have experienced an earthquake during my fourth week in the Ccm. and I saw Daniel Argyle who is also serving in Santiago Oeste. But Elder White being my zone leader, whoa!!! WHOA!! CRAZY!! When I saw Elder Argyle I really wanted to hug him but of course could not, because Soy una misionera!! lol :) Entonces lots and lots of crazy things!! Ahaha! I am so excited to just work hard. Mi papa es el mejor porque el enseno me este principio en me vida. Trabar duro. DURO, Work hard!!

I love you all very much!! TRABAJA DURO!

Hermana Durfee. :)

P.S. La obra misional es maravillosa. I am so blessed to be a part of this amazing work.

...So yeah, Kidney Stones... cont. And A Little More.

So last e-mail I got kicked off so I'll quickly finish then tell you all about how awesome this week was!

Wednesday, while passing the kidney stone, Sister Mendenhall (my mission president's wife) came to check up on me. After a little bit she says she needs to talk to me about something other then my kidney stone. She then tells me that both her and President Mendenhall feel inspired that I should go back to Spanish... but here is the big part... that there are three Spanish sisters coming in my last transfer and that they want me to train. Honestly that didn't help me feel any better. Here I was having served a whole year in English out of my year and a half. They're asking me to go back to Spanish for my last two transfers and my last one they want me to train in Spanish. I felt sooo... whats the word, unqualified. Why me? Why was I called Spanish? Its been so hard for me to learn. I want to be able to teach. She asked me to pray about it and let her know.

After she left it wasn't even an hour later (and I hadn't even prayed about it) when I felt this crazy strong feeling of "You can do it! I'll help you! You'll dominate this next transfer and when it comes to your last you'll be ready to train!" I knew that was my answer to my unasked question. I called her to let her know and she was so happy! It so cool to see how the Spirit will help us in our lives. I suggest all of you work toward getting that haha. ;)

Come Friday, I felt really bad for Sis Claros. She just seemed so bored. So Sis Pitchforth asked Sis Mendenhall if we could watch Disney movies and she said yes! So guess what I watched?! Frozen! hahaha It was really good! Saturday we watched: Prince of Egypt, The Jungle Book, Ice Age, and a little bit of Up. It was pretty enjoyable (made me feel less of a missionary but again I was really sick soo... haha).

Saturday we also found out what was happening. I was indeed transferred to Spanish, back to my old area where I was before the YSA with my mom (trainer) Hna Espinosa. I was super excited. (still am!). AND that night when I woke up to take my pills i wasnt in pain so I waited for next alarm. Still wasn't in pain. Well! That was seriously anticlimactic. haha. So I went to church. The Branch was so sad to see me go. President Lloyd (second counselor) cried and had me bare my testimony which in turn made me cry. President Johnson, the stake president (my stake president for a whole year), was there as well and wasn't happy I was leaving either. BUT, the Lord knew that I needed to be here.

Its been so amazing to be back in Downtown Denver. Always a party like usual and since its Hna Espinosa last transfer we have all of our p-days planned with crazy fun stuff so I'll have some exciting e-mails coming up. (Speaking of that and not at all truncky comment ;) After this only 10 more e-mails). We have been working on finding investigators that "inquire of us diligently" instead of us "inquiring of them". Its been pretty awesome to see the crazy miracles that happen. We found... 4! investigators that already inquire of us. Its so cool! Plus I have been able to teach in every lesson and then last night we had an AMAZING lesson where I totally killed it! I wanted to cry because of how amazed I was. The Lord truly has helped me this last week.

One of our new investigators of this last week isn't so new to me. His name is Justino (can't exactly remember if I told you guys about him since that was 6 months ago). He's amazing and he had to drop us because his wife was getting jealous but he came to church tour (loved it) read to 1 Nephi 11 (loved that as well). He was doing so well but then had to stop seeing us. When I left the missionaries tried to contact to him but with no success so they put him aside. Well my first week back, guess who we were able to contact and see? Justino. He's still as amazing as ever and is getting a divorce with wife (which is not the best but he was really unhappy). And even remembered me! (The reason I say that is because hahaha there are a handful of people that remember the quiet missionary that was with Trujillo. Not even the Bishop. Dont worry I'm not upset about it but this time its going to be different.) Espinosa really likes him so I'm really happy and excited to see what happens.

Then on Friday unexpected we get a knock on our door. I opened the door too see a package and didn't even pick it up and ran to the window. It was my wonderful mom and dad who were in town for my cousin/sister's daughter's baptism. All we got was a wave at each other but it made this amazing week even better.

Alright friends and family. I love you all! Sorry this is so long(:
Stay Sweet
Dont Do Drugs
Write me if you can (1250 Main St, Broomfield CO 80020) especially since I only have a few more weeks left!(:

Hermana Charlene Durfee

...So yeah, Kidney Stones...

Man guys, I can't wait to go back and read in my e-mails how many times I say this but, missions are crazy!!!

Last week starting Monday I was feeling a little weird but I didn't think too much about it. Of course slowly but surely it got worse. I thought maybe it could have been... that time of month (haha sorry). We go to FHE and it was so sad because here it is my last FHE with the branch (I had a very strong guess I was being transferred) and I couldn't even play volleyball... I pretty much was laying on the stage stairs curled up in pain. It was awesome though to see how the branch took care of me. The following day I was still in a lot of pain. I took some ibuprofen and we went to have lunch with Justin.

When we get there he had taken his dog to the vet but Sis. Pitchforth was there. She happily let us in and made us lunch (which actually I didn't eat). She saw how much pain I was in and told me to go lay down downstairs. I did but that wasn't helping. Justin came home and started taking care of me. He got me water, midol (just in case), got me a hot pad, made me toast, played games with Sis. Claros. Around 3 I was still in a lot of pain and Sister Mendenhall told me to go to the hospital. Sis. Pitchforth sacrificed going to the temple to take me to the ER.

They took a blood test and urine test, and we waited... and waited... and waited. Keep in mind I'm still in a ton of pain. I thought maybe I was just being a wimp and here I was at the ER making a big deal out of nothing. Then they came in and took me for a cat scan because my white blood cells were high. Then we waited some more... and waited. Eventually Sis. Pitchforth pushed my pain button because I didn't want too. They came in and told me I had a kidney stone. That it would take 2-7 days to pass and I would be in a lot of pain during that time. So they gave me drugs! Oh thank goodness for wonderful technology haha. (Promise I'm not still high on them).

Sis Pitchforth insisted on taking me to her house and having me stay there, which Sis. Mendenhall approved. So the next 5 days consisted of drugs, sleeping, card games, Justin entertaining us and a ton of peeing. hahaha. If they were taking the dogs to the park they would drag me along on a long board to get some fresh air. I didn't feel like a missionary. I did feel lazy but what could I do about that?

Ugh. out of time. Okay so all you need to know is that I'm back to normal! (I'll finish the story next time! These computers kick us off).

Love you
Don't Do Drugs
Stay Sweet

Hermana Charlene Durfee

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

The Trio Has Struck Again

Okay kids, I don't get it. Things really cant slow down, but I think we can all agree that thats what makes it interesting and fun. (background info) On Friday, we got a call from Elder Pratt who is over the housing and he asked, "Can we fit another bed in your apartment?" Yes you're thinking correct... Trio but we werent exactly sure what was going to happen. Of course we had our predictions, we pretty much assumed he would just add someone to our companionship and not bring in two new sisters. But pretty much we had to exercise patience and wait for Saturday night. (in comes the other part) So this past week I've been getting bites and I thought they were mosquitos because we've done service there and had an activity. So in total I didn't think much of it... until I kept waking up with new bites. We were at a members home about to head to transfer doctrine and I brought it up to Sister Pitchforth. She said it could be bed bugs... so we look it up. It totally was/is. Ugh, kind of makes me sick still. So we decided not to go to transfer doctrine and to make some phone calls. We called Elder Pratt and he gave us things to do. 1st: look for a laundry mat that is open (it was 9 by that time) so we can dry heat all of our clothes. 2nd: Bag up everything else and wait for the morning to stick them in the sun to burn all the bugs. 3rd: Vacuum and vacuum like crazy. 4th: Take a hot shower.

During all of this craziness we also got a call from other sisters letting us know what happened during transfer doctrine. I would yet again be in another with trio with TWO new companions! And Sister Anderson would be leaving and going to Capitol Hill (aka Downtown where I served). It was such an emotional night. We were panicking because of the bed bugs, and then on top of it there was transfer info.

Sister Pitchforth armed us with quarters and garbage bags and we rushed to a laundry mat and I talk to the man who was going to close and begged him to stay open so we could go get our clothes and dry heat them because we had bed bugs. He was so kind and said we could. We rushed home and bagged up all of our clothes and ran back to the laundry mat. There was another lady there who suggested that we put our clothes in new garbage bags so we aren't using the old ones. So we rushed back home to get them and came back. The man said that while we were gone the lady had put an extra quarter in all of our machines. We thanked him for staying open and he said, "You guys are doing the Lords work, its the least I can do." We left the laundry mat around 10:45. Got back to the apartment bagged the rest of our belongings and then vacuumed (like crazy). We showered and then exhaustively climbed into bed.

I did wake up with more bites (Forgot to mention that I was the only one getting bit) and found a bug on my bed. BUT! This morning I woke up with no bites. (Mom, don't worry to much. ;) I know you are) The exterminator should be coming today or tomorrow. Sunday was pretty hard for Sister Anderson. This area and the people mean a lot to her. However, I know she's going to do amazing in Cap Hill(: So now, I have two new companions (they're pretty great so far), and an apartment with bed bugs. Its a handful and pretty stressful but I will continue to trust in the Lord. I know there are blessing around the corner.

So besides all that here are some random awesome things that happen this week: We totally shaved a cat, went to the branch's lake activity and had 3 or 4 nonmembers there, had some fantastic Cafe Rio with our recent convert RJ, learned a new game called "Mow" (totally going to teach it to you all when I get home), had a fantastic lesson with one of our investigators named Cierra. She is so golden and willing to learn. We also had a wonderful lesson with Justin. The spirit was so strong.

Overall it was a good week despite transfers and bed bugs. I'm nervous about this transfer (my companions are pretty young mission wise), stressed about our apartment and bugs. But! I know the Lord will take care of me. I just have to do my part.

I love you guys!
Stay Sweet
Dont Do Drugs.

Picture 1: Awkward cant touch photo with Justin.
Picture 2: Ricardo, Jose, Andy and me(: