Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Kristen with her new favorite candy - MILO!

It snowed this weekend after heavy rains, and 50-80 kph winds. She LOVES inclement weather!!

Hnas Albornoz & Tuft in snow in Calama!

Hellooo!

It has been quite the week weather-wise.... Bahahaha. Pobrecita la Hna Albornoz.... Her welcome to Calama was winds of 50 to 80 kilometros per hour. And snow. :D I was just beamingly happy this weekend! Although it has caused a few problems for some houses, it was a fun thing to see. There were lots of people that had water leaking through the roof when it started melting on Sunday... But I'm getting ahead of myself! :)

Okay. So Hna Albornoz is fantastic!! I have been blessed with such wonderful companions. I love them all loads. The funny thing about Hna Albornoz is that I knew her in Copiapó, de hecho, she went with me when we went to Antofa for a training meeting. So we had been companions for a day. :) When I left Copiapó, I wrote in her book of recuerdos, "I'll wait for you in Calama!" So truly, we knew this would happen. :P No, but it was funny to read again and have her saying it was my fault that she was suffering in this frío.... :P We've had a good week. :) On Tuesday and Wednesday, we had a little bit of a struggle of a time because nobody was home. We did lotsss of walking, but we were happy and just kept walking as door after door didn't open. :) With sacrifice, truly comes the blessings. And with lots of faith and prayer brings miracles. We got to see those miracles this weekend.

Thursday was the day that I had my cold that I've had accumulated, and I was absolutely exhausted. So after our study, my companion sent me to bed for an hour, and that ended up being what I needed, just a quick recoup because I've been great since then. Snow and all. :) Friday was when the winds started. And they weren't just a little bit of a bluster, it was knocking-stuff-over power-outage wind blowing... But that helped us out a little bit to have people let us into their homes... :) Blessings come in all different forms. :D

Saturday, we continued with wind and big stormy clouds, but nothing started to fall until 4ish when we were getting ready to leave. And then the rains came pouringgg in. Luckily, I have been carrying my handy dandy little umbrella around. For a whole year....without hope to ever use it. But we definitely had a need for it. :) We headed out and over to the chapel for a baptism of the elders, and it was fantastic. There were only a few people there for culpa of the weather.... But it was very nice. :) As we walked out, we were greeted by snooowwww. Something I thought was impossible in the Misión Chile Antofagasta. :)

Apart from the snow, we truly have been very blessed this week. Yesterday was a very exceptional day as far as finding investigators goes. I have been praying for quite some time that we could be led to the families that are ready to hear this message. Darling and William were one of those blessings, as well as Jazmin and family, and yesterday we were very blessed to find two new families of 4. Also, as we were sitting in Sacrament Meeting, a sister from another ward arrived during the meeting just to pass a reference off to us. She was whispering it all to us, where they lived, about their family, etc. It's a family of 7 from Paraguay that just recently moved here and the family of the hermana had given them a Book of Mormon with assignments and everything. And wanted to arrange a family night for this week. So we got all that set up and are VERY excited and feel very, very blessed. Heavenly Father truly does answer our prayers and deepest desires.

With that thought, I truly have felt so very blessed this past week in reading the Book of Mormon. I have always read the Book of Mormon, knowing that it is true. But this time I have a deeper purpose in reading, as I mark and study all the references of Christ, His Atonement, and His Doctrine. It has strengthened my testimony greatly in how truly it is another testament of Him. It also has been incredible to learn so much about His life from the prophesies of Lehi & Nephi, and from the teaching of the prophets that were written on the brass plates. One of my favorite findings from this week is the following in 1 Nephi 21:

14 But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not.

15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget,yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel.

16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;

I loved that part!! Truly, we will never be forgotten, nor forsaken. We are written in the palms of His hands. I know that my Savior, Jesus Christ lives. He loves us and he suffered for my sins. I am so very, very blessed to be a special representative of Him, that I can learn more of His life and bear witness of what I know. This church is true.

Lots of love,
Hermana Tuft
==================
Hello Mom and Dad!

I loved seeing all those pictures from the week. :) They always bring a smile to my face. :) I had to laugh that Megan and Mom had their title as "Happy Memorial Day!" and they came in right next to each other. Like mother like daughter. :)

I enjoyed reading your letters, thank you, as always, for the time you both spend to write me what's been going on there at home and how the family has been. It's crazy that Spencer and Lindsay are finishing up school for the year. That Lindsay's going to HIGH SCHOOL and that Spencer's ending it.... How strange. And the fact that he leaves in a month. What? Please put a little plug in for me so that he'll write....preferably this week, because if not it won't happen before he heads out... If he gets his passport. :P Naw, bromita. :)

Before I forget!! I have been meaning to ask about the little bunny creature and how she's doing. No one's mentioned her lately and I would greatly hope she hasn't left the fam. That would not be very happy.... ALSO I was reading about how you're all heading down to St. George in a couple weeks and will spend time with the family/cousins... Did Katherine get married....? Didn't know if she and Cody were still together and what was up there. If she did get married....someone forgot to tell me.... :)

To answer about Hna Albornoz! Whoops, forgot that above... But she's from Santa Fe, Argentina and has been a member her whole life. Her parents are both converts, and her mom served a mission about 25ish years ago. She's the oldest of 3 and she's 22, turning 23 here in August which we could still be together for.... :) We shall see. She has 15 months almost in the mission, and no we don't have senior/junior companion distinguished as sister training leaders, just like it would be for zone leaders type thing. :) Our sector is HUGE, but I have felt very blessed, Dad, that I learned the sector really quickly. We still might have to do a little bit of exploring, but nothing too crazy. :) And it would've been even crazier just being two gringos there in France wandering the cobblestone streets... I'm just imagining Spencer in big ol' Tegucigalpa and imagining what it might have been like for the 2 of you Elders in France. :)

I'm glad to hear that for the most part, every one is doing better health-wise! I always have grandma and grandpa in my prayers, so I hope they will continue to do better. And I hope you all survive the hot temperatures!! Hahaha - please remember us huddled up next to our heater when you're sweating like crazy outside. :) Crazy how that works! :P

I also started to read Elder Bednar's comments, but the other 3 hnas were chatting lots and I couldn't focus like I would have liked, so I would like to get back to you with that next week. Thank you for the thoughts that he shares though. I am excited to read them... :) I also would like to hear both of your thoughts and insights on what you read and studied in PMG last week with the Restoration! I loved hearing about Sharing Time and that the primary kids were writing new verses about the prophets to Follow The Prophet

I had better get going, but send my love and saludos to everyone that way. :) Have an extraordinarily fantastic week. :D

XOXOXO,
Kristen
. :) We are SO very blessed to know there are living prophets that guide us today! What a miracle we have, the knowledge of the Restoration.