Cambios pasaron....Y NOS QUEDAMOS. :D (Changes passed...and we remain.)

Hey All!

It's been a great week. We've done lots of walking and contacting and we're really excited because....we get another transfer together!! :) We were very excited Saturday afternoon when we found out that we were staying. :) From our district, we have 2 that left, but other than that we're all staying here in good ol´ Copiapó. :) It should be a great transfer.

Other than that it has been quite a calm week. Not too much different happened than normal... We have been working a LOT with less actives and their families, so that has been great. Most of their families aren't members, so as we work with them we can help them get back to church and bring their families with. I truly do have such a strong testimony about temples and forever families. I know that families are forever. The thing that most people remember, if they have been inactive, etc, is their baptism and that families can be forever. I love that! The door for us to enter is baptism, in order to make our families eternal through the temple. Those two things to remember for these people is vital; now the job is for us to help them remember why they took the step to be baptized in the first place. :)

With that thought, yesterday in Sacrament meeting, we had a high councilman speak that talked about agency. I loved a little sentence that he said. He said, "Las pequeñas decisiones toman parte, un parte vital, en nuestras vidas; nos guían al reino celestial, o hacia camino del mundo. Es su decisión." It truly is incredible the difference those little decisions make. We can choose to be happy, or sad. Helpful, or grumpy. Choose to become more like the Savior, or turn away from Him and head the other way. It's a daily, vital decision. Es su decisión. Ojala que escogeremos el Señor cada día. :)

And it was fantastic at church yesterday! Everyone's been heading back from vacations so that has been great! :) We had just about a full house yesterday at church, so that was a happy thing. :) Dah...I really wish there was a fun story or something to share from this week, but it truly has been super tranquilo here in Chañarcillo. :) Isabel's headed back this week and we have lots of follow up appointments to work with this week from contacts, so next week for sure there will be more to share. :)

I apologize for being brief! I do know that this church is true. I do without a shadow of a doubt that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that he restored the church of Jesus Christ in these latter-days. It is our job to ask our Heavenly Father, with real intent, if these things are true. I know they are true! I know that families are forever. I love my family so much and I want to be with them forever. :) Through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can be. What hope and joy that gives me! I love you all so very much. I hope that you all have a wonderful week and that you get sprinkled with a little bit of snow... :)

All my love,
Hermana Tuft
===============
Hello Mom and Dad!

Okay. I don't know exactly which line it's in, but I was on my own family history tree, on the new family search website, looking at OUR tree and I found people from Spain. So there you go. :) It wasn't the colonies from Mexico, it was definitely Spain and I was SO excited. :D That is my tarea. :D Or Kyle's or Spencer's, etc, but I will take it on if they don't... :) I'm pretty sure it was part of Dad's lines still though....not 100% sure. But it was there.... :) It was kinda fun too, because Elder James was showing us his family tree and he is related to Shakespeare and it was traced back to 200 BC more or less. That was cool to see. :) Family history is SOOO important. :) Thank you for your examples in that aspect as well. :) I also haven't mentioned Mom, but I am SO happy you're working on making your journal writing habitual. Please please please keep doing it. :) I just finished my journal last night! When I was in Arica I had a member bring me one back from the temple though, so I have another one for the other half of the mish. :) Dad, you do keep one as well, don't you?? I have seen you writing in it before, so that might be a silly question. :)

And please keep me posted about the poor Ukrainian missionaries.... That's scary.... And strange that they're still sending them there.... But the Lord is in control. :)

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to hear where Spencer's going. Chile Antofagasta Mission. Haha I would die. :D Please film it. And send it. In a month from now... :)

And thank you for the comments about the fireside! I do need to go back and read them more carefully later today, but I loved what I did get to concentrate on. :) The question you asked to end though, Dad, has got me thinking..... "If Christ visited your home, what question would you ask Him?" I would love to hear what the both of you would ask as well. :) Hna Millaquipai and I will have to talk about that one... Thank you for the food for thought! :) I would be so amazed and in awe that I don't know what I would ask... I know it would have to do with the Atonement, but I'm not sure exactly what. Or what He taught the Nephites that says that those things could not be written... Obviously they weren't written for a reason, but that always makes me wonder what else He taught them while He was here. It's also incredible along those lines to hear stories from Hna Millaquipai that are common "tales" for the Mapuche Indians in the south. They have a lot to do with stories from the Book of Mormon... It's interesting to hear. :)

I love you both lots, Mom and Dad. I was thinking this week how much I truly needed to thank you both for raising me the way you did and for giving me the chance to learn and grow, especially in the sense of being able to leave for the mission. Thank you for helping me prepare and be ready when the call came. I love you both so much!!

All my love,
Kristen

P.S. Homework for the week: Go on the new family search and find the Spanish line.... :) It shouldn't take up too much time honestly... :)

A New House, Antofa, a little "Snowstorm" and Stake Conference

Kristen Tuft with her BLIZZARD from all the Tuft family, done back in October but she just received!

Hermanas Kristen Tuft and Millaquipai in their new apartment Feb 2014 at Isabel's place.

Hermanas who went to Antofagasta for training this week. Feb 2014

Hello All!!

It seriously feels like 5 minutes ago that I was writing last Monday... This week's been a quicky. There's been tons of stuff crammed into 7 days. :)

To start things off, we were headed out of the ciber last Monday, and we got a call from one of the assistants. He said that on Wednesday I was going to go with one of the other hermanas from the other zone to Antofa for a capacitación and that Hna Millaquipai and the companion of Hna Albornoz would be staying together for the day. I was super confused, we had no idea what the capacitación was for really, but that was the plan. So after that, we had a great noche de hogar (FHE) with Isabel and the Ubilla's (the ward mission leader and his family). It was fantastic. Isabel's doing absolutely great. :)

Tuesday we spent the day scrubbing and cleaning up the house after the remodling projects, etc, and started to move stuff in. Our bus left at 4 AM, so we worked things out for Hna Albornoz to sleep with us, and one of our sister training leaders, Hna Rodriguez went with us too. So we slept until 3ish, got ready, and headed out to Antofa. Let's just make it known that buses are not a wonderful way of transportation. I complained on choir tour if we had to go long distances in our choir dresses...but 8 hours trying to sleep on a bus in a skirt.... Naw. :) But I did enjoy driving in to Antofa on the coast again watching the lovely sea. :)

We headed over to the mission office where we learned about working with records from Chile and finding less actives from our cimi lists, etc. It was a great meeting and we learned a lot! We're going to start implementing into our proselyting over the next little while. So the meeting was just about how to use the google doc, find the exact addresses of the members (because lots of the time the addresses don't exist anymore, or the house changed spots, etc) so this program makes it lots easier and I'm really excited!! :) And it was fun because the missionary couple that taught us (Elder and Hna Pulsifer from Cordelaine, ID) are serving in Concepción and live down the street from Hna Heslop!! (MTC Companion :D) So that was fun to hear about her. :)

Hna Albornoz and I headed back at about 9 on Wednesday night (Hna Rodriguez stayed for a leadership meeting on Thursday) and I got caught up reading all the letters from my missionary friends!! I had no idea that that was coming, so that was a great suprise. I read for a couple hours and finished all of them, and it was so incredible to me to hear all their stories and how much we've all changed. :) And there's more that have since left! It's so exciting how fast the work is hastening and how many people that are preparing for missions. I promise that whoever is even thinking about it, if you do decide to go, it will change your life, and the lives of those who you will teach. If I could go again, I would go in a heartbeat. And I haven't even finished the first one yet.... :P It truly is a miracle.

We got back good and safe and Thursday we worked with Hna Brewster (our other sister training leader) because she was infermita and couldn't go with Hna Rodriguez. So we had a great day, went out with the members and Thursday night Hna Millaquipai and I were SO happy to go back and live in our little cabañita and be together and start livin' normal again. :) I am SO grateful for the past couple weeks; I have learned LOADS, but we are both happy for a little bit of normalcy. :)

Friday and Saturday were great! We found a couple new great investigators, so we'll start working more with them this week. Saturday night we had a session of Stake Conference, and it was fantastic. We had our missionary choir, which turned out fantastic and I was definitely crying in Llamados a Servir (Called to Serve), and the congregation joined us in the last verse (there's 4 verses in Spanish). It was very powerful, after great talks from the Stake Presidency and conversion stories from members. We watched a video about the camping trip the youth did a couple weeks ago (it's like EFY, but called CEM) and they were all excited about missions and getting prepared, and then we watched a Mormon Message about Tyler Haws (BYU Basketball) and leaving for his mission. Needless to say it was a great meeting. We were all in tears; the Spirit was really strong.

Sunday we had a broadcast of Stake Conference, it was the Area Conference thing. The Spirit definitely carried over from Saturday night as we got to hear from Elder Cook, Elder Coorbridge, and Elder Arnold. They were actually broadcast from Salt Lake, so that was different, but it turned out great I thought. A question that Elder Cook asked was, "Si Cristo viniera este noche, ¿quien visitaría?" (If Christ came tonight, who would He visit?) He talked about how we need to ask ourselves that question with our friends and family who aren't members in mind. Who would Christ visit that doesn't have this Gospel in their lives? I loved that thought, and how truly this work is for the members, just as much as the missionaries.

I wanted to end today with my testimony of the Plan of Salvation. I know that God has a plan for each one of us. He knows. We need to put our trust in Him above all else. He will make our burdens light, lift up the heavy laden, but also it is our responsibility to be His hands. It makes me think of one of my 2nd moms, Mamita Patti Quezada, and her talk when I left. His hands went through it all. He suffered for our sins, died for every one of us, but He also conquered death, and through that miracle, we all will live again. I know that this is true. There are so many that are suffering so much because they don't have this knowledge in their lives. We are witnesses of Him in cada momento, y cada lugar. We are headed to a funeral tonight of a girl in the ward who passed away last night. Her boyfriend isn't a member, but the elders have been teaching him, and I know that because of this experience, no matter how hard it will be, he will see miracles in his life, because of Him who is Mighty to save. I love you all with all my heart. Know that I truly am praying for you all. This church is true!

Love,
Hermana Tuft
================
Hey Mom and Dad!

Mom, you can add Natalie and Jenny, and Isabel too cause I think she should be on there...? We helped her add us... :P Thank you for keeping up on that! Yes, Jenny is the convert hace una semana. :)

It sounds like Valentine's day went great!! It is celebrated down here, but not as much I think....not quite sure because everyone's been on vacation anyway so... :P But we had a very peaceful, definitely boyfriend/finance/spouse-free day. :D I could almost smell the roses. :) BUT they do have roses here in Copiapó. :P I can't think of anything else that I need for the time being, unless you could maybeee get an Ivory 204 cream foundation from Karin Patrick and squish it in there... Just for the future. I'm on my last one, but I've only used one anyway, so I think if I had one more it would last. :) Thannkkksss. :)

I also loved hearing about Steven!! I am so happy to hear that he did great on his mission and he is back and well. :) I was wondering why you went down to St George.... :P AND I ALMOST JUMPED FOR JOY HEARING ABOUT DARREN AND JAMIE, and kids!!!

(I'm just scanning through your letters to be sure to respond to everything..... :)) I hope that they get things figured out about your knee, Dad!! I don't know if I'd ever go back to that doctor.....kinda sketchy sounding.... :) If I could play the organ, I would never be able to use that talent because they don't really exist here. :) But I do play our piano in Sacrament as the organ setting. :)

Isabel has been great!! We were so sad because she couldn't make it to Stake Conference. She's been planning on this vacation por el sur since the beginning of the summer, so she's actually gone for the week. She left on Saturday and will get back this coming Sunday or Monday. So I am hopinggg I won't get transfered because if so I might not get to see her, aaand I love my little Chañarcillo.... But I will go where the Lord needs me to go if that is the case....with a smile on my face. :)

We did have our district meeting with the family history specialists and it was great!! We're planning an activity for the ward in March to work on their family trees. Did you know we have Spanish roots?! I was super happy to find that line aaand I can work on that line with those records in Spanish when I get home. YAY!!! :D The new family search is incredible. :) Keep me posted please on what happens with Elder Shurts. :) I hope it all works out!

Thank you as well, for the thoughts on "work". It's been quite the week, but at the end of the day, all we can do is pick ourselves back up, go to bed, and wake up when that alarm goes off with smile on our face and ready to find new people in a new day. :) Mom, we don't have too many bad experiences with contacting, but lots of people shyly close the door saying, "Oh no, gracias, soy Catolica, gracias, gracias." Haha so at least they're mostly pleasant. :)

I love you both so very much!! Give everyone hugs, share your testimony with someone this week, give the missionaries a hug if you see them, and tell everyone in the fam THANK YOU FOR MY BEAUTIFUL BLIZZARD. :D I loved it. :D Thank you thank you thank you.

ALL my love,
Kristen

Hurrah for Israel!!

Kristen with a plate of  "Once."

Hna Tuft and Millaquipai on Caldera Beach 10 Feb 2014

Hna Tuft and Millaquipai

Ward dance Jan 2014 with Kristen and Hna Millaquipai.

Kristen writing in her journal.

Hnas Tuft and Millaquipai out working. 

Hna Tuft & Millaquipai's beds in Isabel's living room temporarily until their place is finished.

Workers working on Kristen's new place they are renting from Isabel.

Hna Tuft, Millaquipai, Isabel, Jenny, Elder James, Elder Oribe; 8 Feb 2014

Eating dinner with Isabel, February 2014

Hna Millaquipai, Isabel, Kristen Tuft

Kristen on Caldera Beach today with other Hermanas and Isabel, who was recently baptized.

Hey there!!

It's been a fantastic week here in Copiapó. Absolutely crazy insane, but we got through happily and are looking forward to this next week. :D Time has FLOWN by here. We're in week 5 of the transfer and Hna Millaquipai are here looking at each other scratching our heads and wondering where the time has gone! But in a great way. We've had a great transfer together so far. Can't wait for the next little while. :D

Speaking of Hna Millaquipai, we had a funny this week. :) We were looking through the primary song book (because we wanted to sing "Cuando me bautice," Dad, for the baptism! Thank you for reminding us of that song. :)) and we ran across "Oh what do you do in the summertime?" Hahaha so Hna Millaquipai starts singing it and gets to "¿Qué hacemos en verano?," started laughing, and said, "Well, as missionaries in the MCA, we knock on doors while everyone heads to the beach!" Which is so very, very, very true. :) I bet the summer in lots of missions have similar situations... But we've changed tactics accordingly, so no, we don't literally knock on doors, but we do lots and lots of contacting. Which is great! :) Sembramos semillitas. :)

Also a little bit of fun news! We were in the house of a less-active member named Carmen. She is fantastic, and we just barely met her, but Heavenly Father sure does have a way of preparing people, even when they've been baptized and have fallen away. He always gives us second chances. Anywho! We were talking to Carmen and she was telling us about her son that lives in West Valley, when the phone rang. And it just happened to be her son in West Valley! She told me to talk to him for a couple minutes, so that was super cool and weird and fun. So I got to talk to her son in West Valley this week. :) Small world. :)

And for the best news of all. :D We had 2 baptisms this weekend. Isabel's and the Elder's convert named Jenny. AND remember Benjamin that lived in our sector and then moved and Hna Severtson and I were super sad? Well he got baptized 2 weeks ago!!! I heard that news from our ward mission leader, and I just about jumped out of my seat from excitement!! :D So this next week we'll have Stake Conference and I'm excited to see him there.

The baptisms went great. Isabel was so so so excited all week long, counting down the days. She is learning so much, and we're working on getting her own family history account started, so we'll get that up and running for her, but we showed her ours and she started telling us about all her family and her grandparents, etc. The Spirit of Elijah really is a powerful tool. Tomorrow we are having a distict meeting where the stake specialists are coming to teach us, so we're super excited about that. When I saw Isabel in the baptismal font, that was one of those moments where I just thought truly, "Hurrah for Israel!" She was radiating. After the baptism, Isabel got up and bore her testimony. She was so happy and just radiating. She has had a really hard past ten years, and I know that we were led to her house because our Heavenly Father had prepared her to receive His Son. There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus Christ lives, and that He loves each and every one of us. He not only suffered for our sins, but He knows our joys and moments of happiness. He is always there to lighten our burdens and carry us in moments of need. I am always reminded of the poem of Footprints in the Sand; truly we are blessed to have a Savior who loves us infinitely.

Yesterday we spoke in church about putting our trust in Christ. (Confiar en Cristo, I think that's how it's translated....) I was reminded about the talk President Uchtdorf gave in October's General Conference. He shared a story about how he was skiing with his grandson and fell. He shared that he had no idea how he was supposed to get back up. It seemed absolutely impossible. His grandson came by, and he tried explaining it, but his grandson wasn't interested in hearing his excuses. All he said was, "Opa, you can do it now!" He put out his hand, and President Uchtdorf says he instantly stood. Christ always has His hand outstretched to pick us up. We have the responsibility to grab His hand as tight as possible, stand up, and allow His Atonement to help clean us off and keep walking forward. If you get the chance this week, I urge you all to go read that talk! I'll even put the link... :) http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/you-can-do-it-now?lang=eng

I know this church is true! I have seen it change Isabel's life, and many others. I love you all so very much. Have a fantastic week, enjoy the snow and rain, and love every minute of every day. :)

Con cariño,
Hermana Tuft

P.S. Mom, you can print pictures from the baptism on from Skydrive if possible! And the whole family can look at all of them with my mission email and password. :) XOXOXO :)
======================
Excepts from emailing back and forth before Kristen sent her main letter:
Hey Mom! We're just getting on for today! :P I printed off earlier, but we went to Caldera with Isabel and just got back. It was a fun day, but it's been an insane week and we're moving into our house on Wednesday. I couldn't be happier. :) It's great living with Isabel, but I HATE living out of my suitcase. Anywho. We're doing great though! Off to write and send pictures of the baptism!! I think I'll just send them through skydrive... :) LOVES!! :D

Regarding where I should send her bday package: 

Transfers are in two weeks, so yes they'll be before my birthday. The only thing I would say I would want is a bunch of those fun little pictures of paintings from Deseret Book. They're the little tiny ones, about 2x3 inches... Just a bunch of pretty ones of Christ. :) Lots of love!! I don't have time to write you and Dad separately today.... I am so sorry! Nor to respond to Megan!! Sending all my love, thanks, and lots of hugs and kisses. :) I love you all lots!!! Give Dad a big hug for me and tell him thank you for the story and sharing his experience again about my patriarchal blessing experience. :) I love you Mom! Happy Valentine's Day!! :)

In Between Houses...

3 February 2014
Hello all!!

It's been an absolutely crazy but fantastic week. We met some great people, moved, had Isabel's baptismal interview (YAYAYAYAY!!!!) and can I just say I love Chañarcillo. :) Hermana Millaquipai is fantastic and I love her lots. She is learning SO much faster than I did when I started and is helping me so very much. :)

This week we had a great district meeting and practiced the whole time making baptismal invitations/commitments, whatever that English word is.... It helped us a lot! We talked a lot about agency, and how if the people say no, it's their free agency, gift from God, to say no. We are here to invite people to come unto Christ, and they have the agency to accept the invitation or not. So that kinda helped me lots to not get nervous or anxious to extend that invitation. Obviously, it is the MOST important for them to see the importance and to accept, but they can say no, and then one day they will look back and say yes. One day they will. :) So we decided it was time to try it again with Roxana. We called the ward Relief Society president to go with us, and we REshared the first lesson with Roxana. The Spirit was so strong, and I was so very grateful for the testimony of Hna Clara. We invited Roxana to prepare to be baptized in March, and SHE SAID SHE WOULD PRAY ABOUT IT. Last time we asked her she said straight out NO and no she would not go to church, etc. But she said she would pray about it and I just was the happiest little girl. :) She actually is out of town for vacation now for the next 2 weeks....so we will see how that praying went. Please keep her in your prayers. :)

So I'm flipping through my planner looking at what to share and I just want to share all of it.... That is a problem. :) We did have a great experience with two less active ladies. Their names are Nevenka and Lidia. Their mom joined the church when she was 30, and raised all the kids in the church. They were all baptized and sealed as a family. Their dad passed away a few years ago, and their mom passed away at 50ish, two years back, just from a sudden heart attack. The kids all kinda stopped going to church when they were in their early 20s, but they do not deny that the church is true... We have been visiting them for months and they never have been to church since I've been here, but we got down to the bottom factor of why and we had an amazing lesson with them. Lidia shared a dream that she had about the tree of life, and that her mom was there beckoning to her to the tree. She shared that she knew that her mom was just waiting for them to all return to the tree and she said she thought it was time. We were just full of gratitude hearing of their experiences and truly how the Lord works miracles in each and every one of our lives.

Aaand Saturday to top things off, the elders moved into our old pension and we moved in WITH Isabel, because her little house that we are going to rent is being a little bit remodeled... So hopefully by next Saturday we will be in our house house. :) We're a little squashed in the meantime, but we're getting along fine AND can I just say it is fantastic living with an investigator? :D We knocked on her door yesterday morning to wake her up for church. :) Hahaha it was fantastic. :) She had her interview with the district leader as we were moving everything in and it went great. She passed. :) She also got up to give her testimony yesterday!! :) Unfortunately....Bishop got up at the same time to end the meeting and didn't see her start to get up...so she sat back down, but she said for sure next month. :) I love her, she is fantastic.

ALSO last thing. I have officially been the ward pianist since Hna Severtson left.... Just so that you know Mom and Miss Erlene (Hodgkinson), those lessons didn't go in vain. :) It's not perfect, but as the bishop's wife told me yesterday, the more I play and practice, the better I get so I should leave the ward playing like a pro. :) And we are singing as a missionary choir for Stake Conference in 2 weeks and as we got there to practice yesterday....the zone leaders asked me to be in charge and direct. So those singing & voice lessons and choir classes didn't go in vain either. :P I love playing and singing, so I was excited to help with that. :)

I have been so overwhelmed this week of the love of our Heavenly Father. He truly does know our needs, and I see His love in the lives of every one of our investigators. They have mostly left town for the time being, but I know that He loves them, and He is cheering them on. It is our choice to allow His love into our lives, or not. I choose to let His love in. That is through the Atonement of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. I know that He lives. I know that He loves me, and it is our job to help others feel that love that He has for them as well. Even if they may be our enemies, they are His children and He loves them. If He loves them, why wouldn't we? I know this church is true. I am SO grateful to be here serving the Lord and the people of Chile. It makes me so happy to hear about those leaving or getting their papers ready, etc, because I know what a wonderful blessing it will be in their lives and of those they will serve. (Congrats especialllyyy to Nicole Decker for her call to Italy!! YOU'LL BE GREAT!! :D AND for my little brother Spencer for starting his papers. DAH!! I hope you come here to Antofa. Can you imagine? :D)

All my love,
Hermana Tuft
=================
Hello Mom and Dad!

I forgot my camera cord today.....so I can't send pictures. If you saw the pictures, you would understand why. :) We're living in a tiny little room with our suitcases in the living room and all the rest outside in the back patio for the time being. :) It's chaos, but we're happy and doing great! :) I was so happy to hear about your cousin, Sheri Dad! That is such a happy moment, and I can't imagine the sister that first started teaching her and got to go back to see her baptism! I bet she is just SO happy. :) That is incredible. We also do the confermations in Sacrament Meeting, so no that's definitely a church-wide thing. ¿Saben qué? Yesterday we were in Sunday School and JUSTO we were talking about the creation and I was thinking about how much I miss the temple. I miss the temple sooo much. AND I realized that it was EXACTLY a year ago yesterday that I received my endowments. :) That was a great memory for me. Thank you for both being there and helping me enjoy that special experience. I will never forget that day. :) We did do some fun stuff this week with family history work, and we're planning a ward activity for March to get the ward excited to do their family history work and we're going to get the stake specialist involved to have their help. We're very excited about that. I just want everyone to be happy and excited and worthy to enter the House of the Lord. I want them all to see and feel and experience that joy that I have, and will enjoy with my family for the eternities.

The zone leaders are headed to Antofa this week so I will look for the packages. :) If they're here, which I have hope that they are... :) they will give them to me next Tuesday at our zone meeting. :) I'll check with Elders DeGraw and James about the garments. That is such a wierd question to ask elders.... Just so you know, Mom. :) Make sure to let their moms know what wonderful missionaries they are. They truly are working miracles.

Okay! I hope I'm not forgetting anything, but I love you both SO much. Thank you for your love and support and happiness that I can feel over the thousands of miles away. :) I LOVE YOU to the moon and the sun and the stars and back. :)

Con amor,
Kristen

P.S. I got my Chilean ID this week. :D Just thought I'd share that YES, I am officially Chilean (until it expires the 22nd of November...but still.... :P)