01/16/23 Smores, little old ladies, and an identity crisis, ya know, the usual

Heyyyyyy happy p day 

Monday was a super fun day! We had a tranquilo morning talking to family and cleaning up, and then we went to centro ro find new shoes for hermana Sorenson (we did not succeed), after that we had this idea to make smores! And so we went to a store to buy marshmallows and chocolate and cookies (Graham crackers don't exist here) and we also bought bananas. Our bags were pretty small, so thr marshmallows and the bananas didn't fit, so I was just carrying them and we decided to go to this pizza place and we walk up kinda awkwardly because it's a pizza place that happens to have a bar, and so we're like can we sit outside to eat? 

And the dude is like, uhhh let me go ask. 

So then this lady comes from where she was and she was like, you want to sit outside to eat? 

And we were like, yeah? 

And she told us, well the truth is that you can't. But it's okay just this once, but if more people come we'll have to send you away. 

And I said, wait. We can't eat outside? We're not gonna preach or anything... 

You wanted to eat that food that you have, right? 

And I was like uhhhhhh no we wanted to eat the food that you sell here. Ya know, pizza. 

And suddenly her entire countenance changed, and she invited us in and apologized a ton. 

I can't get over the fact that they legit thought we were there to eat the bananas and marshmallows I was holding on their little patio  that would be so weird??? 

After that whole experience we made smores in the capilla with the stove in there and one of the elders put like 3 or 4 pieces of chocolate on every single one, instead of like 2 pieces which covered the cookies. So, as always we ran out of chocolate really fast (I feel like that literally always happens with smores), and the chocolate is the most expensive part too! 

During work hours, Maitte came and did the missionary work with us and it was super fun! We were mostly knocking doors and talking in the street, which is not my favorite, and we didn't really find anyone who gave us their number nor invited us back, but we were able to answer questions maitte had! 

Tuesday we had intercambios, and I ended up going with hermana Pérez, so it was just like the old days in calama. It was a super long day of finding because all the lessons and visits we had planned fell through. We walked a ton and just didn't find nearly as much as you might think considering we were trying to all day. 

Wednesday was a cool day with some cool miracles  

In the morning we had a bunch of meetings, and then lunch, and then we did social media, and then Maitte wanted to go with us again, so we went out and this time we actually had things planned and everything. The first one kinda fell through, so we went a little early to the second thing we had planned, which was service with this little old lady named Milena. I love her so much, she's super funny in that whenever we come, she doesn't want us to leave so she'll do cualquier cosa (whatever thing) she can to get us to stay longer. So first we had to fix her lds.org account, which she was locked out of, and the recovery email was an email she no longer had access to. I've been working on this for weeks if I'm being honest. I had to go talk to the ward clerk, and he had to go talk to somebody in santiago who had to talk to somebody in Utah, and then we had to call the people in Utah with the member present. But! I was able to communicate, IN SPANISH, exactly what was happening and what we needed fixed. I was very proud of myself haha. 

So we got her account fixed after 2-3 weeks of figuring stuff out (miracle!!!)! And she doesn't want to do the work herself, she wants us to do it for her. But there is sooo much to do, and who knows how long I'll be here, and if the hermanas after me will continue to visit her?? So, I convinced her to learn how to do it. And then we had to leave, and we said ok hermana we have a lesson we need to go to, and so she started showing us a bunch of old photos and newspapers from the 20s, which are very cool, but we had a lesson to go to! 

We arrived like a half hour late to the lesson  but actually it was ok, because for the first time, her husband happened to be home when we came by. He was in the kitchen making a coffee, and we invited him to listen as well... and as it turned out he was super interested and had a million questions (another miracle!!!). And so we changed our lesson plan a little bit to talk about the restoration, which was really good because our amiga didn't remember most of what we had taught previously anyways!! It went really well. 

Later in the day was mostly rejection in the street and no one answering doors, but its ok we're used to it 

Thursday i was feeling kinda homesick, and therefore was kind of struggling to feel motivated to talk to anyone in the streets. I was feeling frustrated with the whole people checking up on us 24/7 and feeling like everyone is judging and watching my every move and nothing I ever do will measure up to the expectations of the people who are in charge of me and sometimes it's so frustrating because when I was at home I never really felt such a lack of confidence and like such a failure, but here it feels like I don't have that same type of confidence and control over my life and it's just really hard. But the Lord has a way of using our weaknesses as a way to build up His kingdom. Everything we had planned kinda fell through, and in spite of my lack of motivation to leave the house, my comp convinced me to do so anyways  and so we were on this street, and I was kinda just stumbling along, and then without even thinking about it I started crossing the street, and my compi was like ??? "Que haces loka??" And I was like "ni idea" (what are you doing crazy? No idea) 

And so we went up to this door, the only door for like miles on that side of the road, and I remembered that there was someone we had talked to forever ago named Milagro who lived somewhere in that part of town but i didnt know where, and so when this little kid answered the door, I was like, Does Milagro live here? And he ran back to the house without saying anything... so we're standing there like, ok?? Is that a yes or a no?? 

And then before we could even finish that thought, this car pulls up right in front of us and an old dude gets out and is like, who are you guys looking for? Cuz there's no way it's me! And we were like, does Milagro live here? She's from Venezuela? 

And he was like, yeah, I'll go get her! 

Well, the little kid comes back and is like, she's not here! 

So we're like, ok maybe we'll come back another day. So we cross the street using the crosswalk which was like a block up, and then start back down the street, and we had to pass in front of the house again to get where we were going (but like on the other side), and then the old dude comes out of his house and starts talking to us from across the street (i should mention his accent is really hard to understand), and then he crosses in the middle of the not crosswalk part and keeps talking to us, long enough for Milagro to arrive at the house! But she was busy and didn't wanna talk to us. But the whole thing was so crazy that I feel like the Lord needs us to keep bothering her for a while 

Friday was a really tranquilo day, the highlight being a fire lesson we had in the evening with this part member family. The spirit was so strong!! 

Saturday we had a little fiesta with this family we've been teaching for a while, and also with the Pierces (the senior missionaries), we had arepas which were delicious and very Venezuelan. I was talking to hermana Sorenson and honestly, I personally have taught way more people from Venezuela than from chile, and it's like, my real calling would be in Venezuela except Venezuela is going through some crazy stuff right now, so I was sent to chile to teach all the Venezuelans 

Anyways. One miracle here is that there's this little girl who's a cousin of this family, and I've been praying for a long time that her parents will let her come to church and receive the blessings that her cousins have seen. And she wants to! Whenever she's over while we're there, she listens so intently!! And so the miracle this time was that we were able to teach her ENTIRE family!!!! And they invited us to come to their home next Saturday which is the next time they have off work!!! 

In the evening, we were just finding and not having a ton of success, but then hna Sorenson was like, let's go visit Viviana, who's this little old lady who we haven't been having much success with, so we went to her house, and we were able to teach her about repentance and that she can let go of her backpack full of rocks (mistakes she's made through her entire life), and be free of the weight she had on her shoulders. It was really beautiful. 

Sunday we had church and we had a few amigos come, and then we had a lesson with Maitte!! I'm still so amazed by her testimony, she's incredible! 

In the afternoon we visited another little old lady and she gave us these peaches which were kinda bitter, but a kind gesture. She didn't want us to leave, it seems like she gets lonely. I wish I knew how to help her better, because we can only visit her so much. 

Something I've thought a lot about this week is the identity crisis that I'm gonna have when I go home... because I feel like "Hermana Griffin" and "Katie" are different people that do different things and feel differently and one day I have to figure out how to take the good things from both and combine them... and also how can I bring my personality into the mission, because not having my personality is not amazing for my mental health sometimes haha. So that's what I'm exploring lately  

Love you all!! 

xo-hna griffin