Hello all!!
I can´t believe it´s been another week already! The week has flown by! Just as a random note, I realized today that it´s been 2 months since I left! CRAZY. I love it down here in the Southern Hemisphere, and up here in Arica. :D It´s not easy by all means, but oh so worth it. :)
I have so much to write this week, I´m not sure where to start! I want to answer a couple questions from last week I realized while reading Mom and Dad´s emails that I didn´t respond to! So sorry!! So my Mamita! She´s absoulutely great. :) She´s a member here in Zapahuira ward (my sector/area) and she´s been a member for 21 years. She has 2 kids that live here in Arica, and one recently got married and before, he was living in her house so she housed elders for a couple years, and now that he moved out she has us sisters! So it´s been that arrangement for about a month and a half. Her husband works in Iquique, so they switch off visiting each other on the weekends. I didn´t meet him until this weekend and he is just as great! :) We live upstairs, and yes all the other missionaries have similar arrangements. Not all live with their Mamita, all the Mamitas make lunch for us Monday through Friday (and for our Mamita Saturday as well) and then Sundays are with members. For siesta, we don´t get to take a nap unless we eat fast and sleep until it´s time to study. :) I hope that answered the questions!!
So I wanted to talk a little about the city and food and culture and whatnot. :) There are soooooo manyyyy doggsssssss. Holy smokes. And they seem to clump together and it´s a little intimidating sometimes.... I have named them dog mobs. :) They don´t bother you unless you look at them, so I just ignore them altogether. But I do still carry my little doggy protection device Mom. Just in case. :) (Kristen has a doggy stun gun if one is coming at her in attack mode.) The people here are really accepting, and are really interested in the church, but not very good at committing to things. They will listen once, and then we never hear from them again/they don´t answer the door when we come back. So that´s a challenge we´ve been facing this week especially. :) We did have 2 investigators at church though, so we were really excited about that!! The food. MMMMMmmmm. Me encanta emanadas con queso. A lady makes them on the street here and we get them every once and a while at night. Delicious. :D And the produce is to die for. I wish I could bring tonsss of mangos back for Mom and Lindsay. They are delicious. And they say they´re even better in the Summer. So I´m even more excited. :D I am so glad that I got that coat right before I left, because if not I literally would have frozen to death by now. It´s so cold at night!!! Not Logan cold, but cold when you´re used to the hot during the day. Which makes me 0% excited to return in the winter. Because it will be 5000000x colder than it is here right now. BUT I know there will be snow to greet me. I HOPE THERE WILL BE SNOW TO GREET ME! :P Hahaha I´ll be praying for that. In 16 months from now of course.... :P It is definitely a city here in Arica, not a little town. Most of the little towns are in the middle of the desert, and there aren´t missionaries clear out there. We have, I think 5 or 6 cities in our mission, and there literally is nothing in between but dirt. SOOO much dirt. I didn´t think it was possible to have this much dirt/sand in one place. It´s crazy. :)
So we did get to meet President and Sister Dalton finally on Saturday!! :D They´re so great. We had a meeting with 2 of the zones here (there´s only 3 in Arica), and our 3 month interviews. Sister Dalton is learning Spanish as well, so we talked a little bit about that. Her Spanish is much better than mine though, because they were on another mission here for the past few years working with the Area Seventy I believe... Not quite sure because it was all in Spanish, but almost positive. :P They have 8 kids, and the oldest is 30, youngest is turning 21 soon, and getting back from his mission to Mexico in September. So that´s exciting for them! He´ll come visit in November, I believe. I can´t believe how hard that must be for both of them to not be there when he gets back! I really am so grateful and humbled by the sacrifices all of the missionaries, their families and especially our leaders make for this great work. So thanks to you all as well!!! I honestly couldn´t do this without the love and support I feel from my family and friends. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
A few interesting stats for you all from our mission! In 2009, there were 500 baptisms here in one year. The next year there were 670, 2011 there were 1,039 (HOLY COWWW) and last year there were 1,047. This year our goal iss.......drum roll please..... 1,400. And thus far we have 689, and we have 6 months left. So we´re right on track, and will just have to work a little bit harder this end of the year. It´s sooo exciting how fast the Lord´s work is hastening. There is hardly a person here that hasn´t heard about the church. Some are not so good things, but we´re there to help them see the blessings and resolve the rumors they´ve heard. We met a golden investigator last night. She´s been to church 5 times, was taught by the missionaries, but then she moved and didn´t know where to find us. (She lives right across from the chapel though soo.....) But she is only 11, so está bien. :) Aaand she´s been reading the Book of Mormon! Her parents are divorced though, so she lives the weekends here with her dad, and the week with her mom in Arica Centro. So that might be a bit of a challenge, but we´ll work something out because she is so ready for this gospel. :D
This week´s challenge: go back and reread Nephi and Lehi´s dreams about the tree of life. I KNOW you will find something you haven´t noticed before, and I would love to hear about those experiences. :) I realized this week (it might seem simple, but I never realized it) that the great and spacious building had no foundation. Think of the difference between the Tree of Life and the great and spacious building. I imagine the Tree of Life as the most grand and magestic tree you´ve ever seen. Think of the roots it has, and all of the wonderful fruit it produces! Then think, just across the river is a building so large and dark and full of evil, that they look at that beautiful, magestic tree and mock the people there. How is that possible?! Just remember to never heed their mockings, just like Nephi and his family. Because if you notice, when the people would listen to them mocking, that is when they fell away and followed. We can´t be followers anymore. We must be leaders. In a world full of filth, and darkness, and evil, we are called to arise and shine forth, that our light may be a standard to the nations. The talk, ¨Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep,¨ by President Hinckley helped me realize all of this while I was reading the dreams of Nephi and Lehi at the same time.
I can´t think of anything else I need to say this week!! I love your letters, and it´s crazy to be reading letters of summer activities, but it´s cold here, and totally not summer! :P We did have a little 4th of July ¨Celebration¨, but it consisted of singing the Star Spangled Banner at our zone meeting, the 4 natives not understanding what was going on, and the elders wanting to get a game of baseball going. We didn´t think that was the greatest idea however, because we would have been using a golf ball and club. So we ruled out that idea.... :P It´s so great to hear from you all and your wonderful weeks!! I love you all so much and I am so grateful for your love, prayers, and constant support. This is the true church. I know it with all my heart. I know that we have living prophets on this earth, and I was called by my Heavenly Father to be here in Northern Chile. Some days I´m not quite sure why Heavenly Father trusts me enough to come here, cause I don´t speak the language, and it´s a totally different culture, and everything is completely new, BUT I know that this is where I am supposed to be. And I am so excited for all of you preparing to serve. Know that it´s hard, but since when was anything that´s actually really worth it been easy? :D
Lotttsss of love,
Hermana Tuft
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Hello Family!!! :D
I love you. I love you all soooo much. It´s great to hear about all of your summer adventures and the things you´re doing and learning!! I can´t wait to hear about the family vacation in Midway/Heber City. I love it there. It´s so green and little and wonderful. :) Here, it´s definitely not green or little. Wonderful? Definitely. :D But not clean or green. :P
It´s also great to hear about your 4th of July happenings! Haha I was missing the fireworks that night, but from what I hear, and Megan reminded me, is that the Independence Day here in September is crazy awesome. So I´ll be excited to tell you all about that and get to spend TWO of them here! :D Spencer and Lindsay, I can´t wait to hear about EFY!! You´ll love it. And you won´t read this until you get back, but watch out for each other. :) I loved EFY. :D A mission is like EFY in the sense that you learn and grow so much in such a short amount of time, but for a much longer amount of time as well.... :P
Happy Anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa Tuft!!! I´m going to write them personally, cause I was going to anyway this week and then I got on and Grandma had beaten me to it! :P Tell the family I said hello! And Happy Birthday to Aunt Julie and Uncle Scott!! I would love to know all the birthdays each week, cause I don´t quite remember everyone´s but I like to know... :) Aaand congrats to Natalie & Ryan and Kim and Chris on their new additions! Very exciting for them. Mom, do you have a picture of little Edward Wolfgang?
A couple questions. How is Uncle Glenn doing? Did they ever find out what was wrong? And how Miranda doing? I haven´t heard from her since I wrote her back in the MTC. And is Britney back yet?? How was her trip to Africa?! :) I also was wondering, I don´t believe I´m getting any calcium in my diet these days, because the milk is always warm and is powdered and I don´t know if I should find calcium pills to take or what...? Not super important, just curious. :) And when is Mar´s wedding??? So exciting, and I can´t wait to see pictures!! (Yes, I do get pictures, I keep forgetting to say that :) And it looks like the Trek was great. And that Spencer and Lindsay had a great time in the rain!! I miss rain, that is definitely for sure. :) But I don´t pray for rain, because if it did it would ruin everyone´s houses. They´re not waterproof, and lots are just tarps over cinderblock walls. So that would be a very large problem. And it would be awfully muddy and gross. So please don´t pray for rain down here. :)
A couple last things, just so you know, the orthodics are saving my life. I think my feet would have fallen off by now if I didn´t get them, so thank you Mom and Dad for being wiser than I, as always, and helping me get those last minute. :D Aaand last thing that I had.... Is it possible to get a pancake recipe Mom? :) I want to make pancakes.... :P
Condolences to the Walker Family with Grandma Colton passing away... She is such a sweet and wonderful lady, but I know that she is in a much better place, and I KNOW she left now just in time to be there for Megan as she leaves on her mission. She will be there to help out on the other side. SO exciting for Megan! She emailed me, so I´ll shoot her a quick note back. :) And I hope Janet´s mom is doing okay.... Is she still in the hospital, or living with Scott and Janet now...?
LOTS OF LOVE FROM CHILE!!! You are the best family in the whole wide world and I mean that with all my heart. Talk to you soon and have a fun weeeeekkk!!! :D
Love,
Kristen
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And now for my Mommy and Daddy. :D
The best is always last. :) I am so grateful every single day for both of you and the things that you have taught me and continue teaching me from thousands of miles away. I love you so so much. To the moon and the stars and the sun and back times 1000000000. :D
My heath is great. I drink bottled water, but I brush my teeth and they cook with the tap water, but it´s not a problem. No one drinks from the tap anyway.... I do have a little cold that´s been going around, but no big deal. :) I also had to tell Mamita that I can´t eat as much, cause when I do my stomach goes crazy. It´s still a TON of food, but she was very nice about it and didn´t have any problem feeding me less. :) Facebook is on hold for now, I don´t think we´ll be using that during my mission.... Little by little it will be introduced throughout the world, but for now we´ll just wait to hear from the church what they want us to do. :) (She's referring to one of Kyle's friends, Rachel who was piloting during her mission and using Facebook to contact and proselyte.)
Thank you for that little tidbit on Peter Shirts, Dad! That´s a fun little tid bit of information. Please keep me updated on what Jack says. President Dalton is a really big family researcher too, so when he was talking about that I couldn´t help but think you two would hit it off really well. :)
I´ve got to run, but I really will send pictures next week!! An hour is just not enough time!! And tell Spencer and Lindsay I´ll write them next week as well, and I´d love to hear how their week at EFY went. :) I´m sorry if I´m missing anything!! I try my best to answer everything and it´s helpful that your questions are in one spot. :) Saves a little searching time.... :P I love you both. I am so blessed and I know this church is true. Thank you so much for the examples you are to me, and the love I can feel every day. I can´t help but smile whenever I think of my family, and when I read your letters. :)
Lots of love from your daughter,
Kristen
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