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| Kristen in Chuquicamata (museum in Calama area) |
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| I'm thinking Hermana Morales here is worried about split ends, by their faces? :) |
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| Headed to a museum on P-Day! |
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| Baptism April 2014 - Hermanas Tuft and Morales |
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| Kristen and her some of her best friends on graduation day 2012 - 2 years later, Kajsia is going to school, Kristen's in Antofagasta, Chile, Kaisa is married, Megan W is in Tacoma, WA Cambodian speaking, Brooklyn is in Resistencia, Argentina, Ashley is going to WA D.C. soon, Megan M is in Washington Vancouver, and Aimee is home from her mission with some medical problems. These girls are going places! |
It's been a crazy and fantastic week. I truly have LOVED every second, although it truly has been a whirlwind. Seems like that's the norm these days.... :) Hermana Morales and I had a great last week together. It was rough to say goodbye this morning, but she's on her way home and her mom has lots of fun plans ready. So it's exciting! :) Just an fyi... Last night she was up packing....so we didn't get to sleep too much and her bus left for Antofa at 5:30, so we're running on little sleep here. :) I'm with the other hermanas, Hermana Smith and Hermana Zollinger, for the day and we've been taking it pretty chill. :) My new companion is Hermana Albornoz! She is from Argentina and I got to meet her when I was in Copiapò so I'm excited to get to work with her. :) She'll get here in a couple of hours and we'll be all set here shortly. :)
I wish I could sit and explain everything that has happened this week in detail, because truly it's been a great week. We had a great experience with contacting less actives again. A couple of weeks back we contacted a lady named Darling as we were searching for an address. We went back a couple of days later and kinda got chewed out by her husband, but he said he was fine if we came back when he wasn't there....? So we went back. But he was there... And he let us in! It was the strangest thing. We were nervous to go back, but come to find out they were both saying they hoped we would stop by soon, and there we showed up! It's incredible truly to see the Lord's timing. Darling and William have been living here in Calama for 3 years and got married last year. They have 2 little girls and they're so adorable. :) We had a great lesson with them, and are headed back tomorrow due to things that came up in their schedules... But we're really excited for them! :)
Jazmin and her family are doing great, as well as Khymena and her family. Khymena is headed to Antofa for a few months, so we won't be able to visit her for a while... :( We also have a baptism coming up it looks like in June for the daughter of a recent convert! Her name is Camila, and her mom, Linda, got baptized last year in a different ward here in Calama. They just moved into the ward and we've started working with little Camilita. :)
On Thursday, we had the incredible and unforgettable experience of hearing from Elder Spannaus and his wife. I wish I could have transported you all there, because it was an amazing day. Hermana Morales and I had a leadership meeting early in the morning with the other sister training leaders from Antofa and all the zone leaders from the zones in Calama and Antofa. So we headed out on Wednesday night and stayed the night there. (Can I just say as a little side note, even driving 2 1/2 hours away, the change in temperature was CRAZY HUGE and we were soakin' up the coastal weather. :)) The first meeting we had was pretty short, but we talked about 3 Nephi 27: 20-21 and 27. In these verses, Christ is inviting us to be as He is. We talked about "doing" and "being". Elder Spannaus asked us if we can be something without doing, and the answer is no, we can't. But then he asked if we can do and act something without actually being. (¿Se puede ser, sin hacer? ¿Se puede hacer, sin ser?) The answer is yes. We can pretend to be, with just going through the motions, but actually being someone and something requires effort and we have to work at it. Christ asks, "What manner of men ought ye to be? Even as I am."
I was thinking a lot on that lesson as we started the main meeting. We talked a lot about the Spirit and the influence that it can have on our lives, and going back to the idea of hearts, the Spirit can only have effect on us if we open our hearts to what He tells us. I loved what my Dad shared with me on this subject also this week from Elder Bednar; "In chapter 33 of 1 Nephi he says that the Holy Ghost carries the message unto the heart, not into the heart. So the Holy Ghost will bring it here (to the heart), but we have to act to bring it into the heart. That is the key." As Hna Morales and I talked about that afterwards, we talked about the difference of a testimony. People can bash and deny whatever you say, but they cannot take away your testimony. A powerful way that we have found to open the hearts of the people is just bearing a short and simple witness and allowing the Holy Ghost to bring that message to their hearts, allowing them to choose to accept or no.
Dah. I wish I could share it all, but I wanted to end with a challenge that Elder Spannaus extended to us. As a companionship, we have talked a lot about our testimonies of Jesus Christ and how we know that He lives. Elder Spannaus held up a new and unused copy of the Book of Mormon, and invited us to take the time between now and September 1st to read the Book of Mormon and mark every time it talks about Christ, the Atonement, or the Doctrine of Christ. It was such a powerful moment as he promised us that as we read the Book of Mormon asì, we would gain a testimony of Christ that we have never before had.
I know that my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ lives. I know that the Book of Mormon is a testament of Him, and that it was translated especially for our day by a prophet, seer and revelator named Joseph Smith. This church is true, and I know that as we listen to the Holy Ghost and open our hearts to Him, we can and will see many mighty miracles. I testify of the importance and power of prayer. We have a Heavenly Father who lives and loves us and answers our individual prayers. I love you all and I thank you for your prayers and love; you are continually in mine. :)
¡Hasta lunes!
Love,
Hermana Tuft
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Hello Mom and Dad!
Can I just say I loved all the fotos EXCEPT for the ones of your bone spur Mom. Thank you, that truly added a bit of queeziness to my little day... :P BUT I AM VERY GLAD THAT IS OFF YOUR HEEL. That is very happy. :D And I'm glad that it went well. I'm also glad to hear that Grandpa's radiation went well. It's incredible what they can do with technology these days, truly it is... Keep me updated on that please. :)
I'm glad seminary graduation went well (CRAZY HE'S ALL GROWN UP AND LINDSAY TOO. So big-both of them.) And little girl Audrey is not so little baby Audrey these days. Què precisosa. :D Please congratulate Lindsay on her art project! That's pretty creative and great of her. Love it. :) Aaand last but not least. Britney in front of the Eiffel Tower might have just about killed me. Love it love it love it. :) She looks so cute and happpy. :)
I GOT THE PACKAGE!!!! That has been an act of faith, truly it has. But it got here all in one piece and I am loving its content. :) The white blazer is a lot too big, but I'm trying to see if I can take it in....? We shall see. :) Please thank Aunt Chelle too! I'm in the skirt she sent today. :) I hope you can see from the pictures the other fun scarfs and dresses too. THANK YOU. AND thank you for the thick tights. Life savers. We're freezing down here. :)
Yes Mom, Paulette Carrasco is the daughter of our newly called 1st councilor for the ward. YAY!! That happened yesterday. :D And Bishop Aguilar is pretty relieved. :) Thank you for putting all our names on the prayer roll. That was something Hna Morales was pretty excited to do, is go to the temple in Santiago tomorrow. :) Thank you.
Thank you also Dad, for sharing those thoughts from Elder and Sister Bednar with me. I really enjoyed reading those. It has been a long process for me discovering that, yes, it does have to do with me and how I teach to have investigators accept what we are saying, but it has a lot more to do with how they receive it. With Maria Rojas, the baptism we had a couple weeks back, she was VERY Catholic her whole life. Her daughter is a member and whenever the missionaries would stop by, Maria would go hide in her room. Until about 4 months ago, she had been listening to the missionaries for about a year, but never accepted to be baptized. Then she had a cardiovascular problem and lost feeling to a half of her body. She received a priesthood blessing and has been recovering remarkably fast. It is incredible that after so much time, effort, and lots of prayers that the Lord helped soften her heart and now she is a strong and active member of His church. It is incredible. Thank you for sharing. :)
I had better get going, but I do love you both so very much. :) Thank you for your love and prayers and packages and thoughts that you both share with me. I would love to hear what both of your thoughts are next week on the first lesson in Preach My Gospel. It's the Restoration, and truly every time I read it I find something new, and I would love to hear both of your comments. :)
All my love,
Kristen
P.S. I did get that 120 off to Elder James. I don't know if he's in Copiapò but the office has it. :)
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