ANDA CONMIGO

Hna Kristen Tuft with her birthday cake made by Elder Taylor DeGraw (with special request from her mom to his mom to him.)

For some reason this scene reminds me (Pam) of Letters to Juliet. :)

Hermanas at Zone Conference in Copiapo 3/11/14 - Hnas Carranza, Millaquipai, ?, Tuft and Howell

Hello All!

Okay I had better write fast... :) It has been a fantastic week!! :) We have been blessed to meet so many people, learn lots of new things, I had a fun birthday, and here I am today, forgetting that it's St. Patrick's Day, so no, I did not wear any green... I'll pinch myself from all of you. :) It has been a great week though, we really did have some wonderful things happen. :)

Last Monday night, we had company at our apartment! Haha that was a weird feeling... :P Hna Howell and Hna Carranza came to stay at our apartment because they were coming from 4 hours away for our conference with President Dalton. So that was fun for them to stay the night, and then on Wednesday we had our conference. It was so great! Elder Ballard was here a couple weeks back visiting Chile, so in Santiago, all the mission presidents and wives from the area had a conference with him. We got to hear a lot of great suggestions and requests that Elder Ballard made and talked about with the mission presidents. Something that he challenged us to do is to talk to 10 people in the street per missionary per day. We have been trying to work our way up there, because that's 20 street contacts per companionship per day which is a LOT! But I know we can do it, and what's more, an apostle of the Lord asked us to do it, so it's our job to show the faith to do it. :) We do try to talk to everyone we see, but with 20 people as a goal it has made it more of a reality... :) I know we will see many blessings from it though!!

Wednesday was a fun birthday. :) We got a few different calls throughout the day which included birthday songs sung in Spanish and English, so that was fun. :) It was a pretty normal day, but it was great! :) On Tuesday after the conference, my district surprised me with a birthday cake, so I did have a cake! :P Hahaha we were using the ward list to confirm addresses of members we have listed, and we found a less active's house in the which the dog bit me (he did not break the skin) and I have a fun bruise on my leg. :P That was a new experience for me, that I hope will not happen again!! :)

We were also headed to a member's house that night to help her with a service project, and a lady stopped us in the street and asked for a pamphlet. We of course gave it to her, and started to teach her, and she invited us into her house! :) Love it when that happens. :D Her name is Grace, and she is fantastic. She lives with her pareja, but he is interested too. We just met him yesterday, so we will start working with Marcelo and Grace. We're really excited to work with them! :)

On Thursday, we were walking super fast because we were late for an appointment, and we passed a mom and her 3 little kids walking on the other side of the street. As we said "Hola!" and kept walking, I heard the mom say, "She speaks English." to the which the little 5 year old girl yelled, "Hello!!" :) I turned around, waved, and yelled hello back. :) We kept walking, and we heard someone running up behind us. The little girl had run about a block and a half to catch up to us, and as she was panting she asked if we taught English classes. We stopped, walked back to talk to her mom, and as we were walking back I remembered that I had a bunch of CTR rings! (THANK YOU MOM!! :)) I pulled 2 out and gave them to the little kids, and we explained them. We walked with the mom (Jarol) and talked to her about what we do, our message, and learned more about her. Turns out that she and her pareja live in the Elder's sector, but the moral of the story is that miracles DO happen and that yes, tomorrow we are actually starting English classes, and we are PRAYING that Jarol will come. :)

Which leads me to a quick thought for this week! :) I was thinking about that experience from Jarol, and how we were walking so fast, that we didn't realize the experience to teach that we walked by. Luckily, Heavenly Father gives us second chances, and we did get to go back and talk to Jarol. Our mission phrase has been, "Camina Conmigo," (Walk with me) that comes from Moses 6:33-34. It says,

33 Say unto this people: Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you.
34 Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me.

What a beautiful promise that is! As we choose to serve the Lord, His Spirit is promised to accompany us, our words will be His words, and "the mountains shall flee before [us]", and "rivers shall turn from their course." He literally walks with us. I know that that promise is true, and not only just to the missionaries. It is a promise to all. :) I know that my Savior, Jesus Christ, lives. I know He loves each one of us in a very personal way. I am so blessed and grateful to be His special witness. I know that this church is true!! I love you all lots. Thank you for your love and support! I hope you all have a fantastic week!!

Con mucho cariño,
Hermana Tuft
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Hello Mom and Dad!!

Okay.... I have been writing lots of people back today, so this will be a shorty.... :) BUT I LOVE YOU BOTH. Just so you know. :) Dad, we did get to talk and meet with Tamara this past week, and we hope to have a baptismal date with her this week. Pleaseee keep her in your prayers!! We also had a lesson with Roxana. She called us on Tuesday and asked us to not come back because she didn't want the lessons anymore, she said she had gotten her answer about if she should be baptized or not. We asked if we could come on Wednesday one last time, and she agreed. We went with a member, and had a great lesson, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that later on in life she will let the missionaries back and it will be her moment. She even said it herself.... :) I did want to thank you both though for keeping her in your prayers and thoughts. I know it wouldn't have gone as smoothly if not...

They do have institute classes here, yes! :) We have about 15 YSA kids in the ward right now! We are also loving our new apartment. It is fantastic. :D This past week or so, we have been studying the first lesson intensively, and still haven't finished. It has helped us a LOT!! I have done something similar with the second lesson in my personal study, and it has been great to learn so much. Something we do need to keep in mind though is that as we share our testimonies with others, we shouldn't share all we know. They should been shown the means to find out for themselves. :) That is something beautiful about Preach My Gospel and the scriptures, is that they allow that kind of teaching and learning, which of course comes from the Holy Ghost.

I am sorry I've got to run so quickly! I promise I did read everything and thank you both for always keeping me updated with everything! I love hearing it all, so please don't stop. :) Give my love to everyone back home! Congrats to Spencer with soccer and NATS (National Association for Teachers of Singers-Spencer went to semi-finals which put him in the top 4 finalists) and I hope Lindsay and Kyle will get feeling better this week...

All my love,
Kristen