10/20/23-10/24/23 The End!

Hermana Griffin and Hermana
Chavez eating Sushi

  it all happened so fast...We're already here and I'm already packed and ready to go. As I'm writing this I'm actually currently on a bus on the way to antofagasta for the last time. I thought I would take a little bit of time to write out the things that have happened this week and the way I'm feeling. This is gonna be a long one, so buckle up ladies and gentlemen. 

So my last p day was an absolute whirlwind of things that we did and we actually got home exhausted  but then we left again. I'm pretty sure in my last letter I outlined the day pretty well so I won't go over it, but we literally got home to where we live on the beach, dropped off our groceries, and turned around to go climb the mountain that is our sector. Literally 35 minutes of quickly walking uphill (very steep). Yeah so that was exhausting and we came home and went right to sleep  

Hermana Griffin the airport 
7 hour layover in Santiago

On Tuesday I had an exchange with Hermana SORENSON!! We've served 8 months together (3 months as companions, 5 months as roomies), so it was pretty easy to get back into the rhythm with her. We had a lesson in which one of their friends was kind of resistant to the whole religion thing, but she had been learning with them for a while and the hermanas have been trying to figure out why she isn't progressing but also they don't feel like they can give up on her yet. 

Elevator with Hermana Chavez

And this was so humbling because that's when I got to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. 

We started to go over why it's important to have prophets and apostles and the priesthood (to help her strengthen a doubt that she had--> she had already received all the lessons), and somehow that brought up another question she had about the plan of salvation, and basically we ended up going over the plan of salvation. 

I think that our Father's plan of salvation is maravilloso, absolutely brilliant. I love it, I love to teach it, I love to explain it, and I love to help people understand it. Evelyn did not understand it. They had taught it to her but she hadn't received a testimony of it and she couldn't comprehend what our purpose is here and the importance of agency. So hermana sorenson and I (having done this together a million times) were able to go through the plan of salvation with her, and help her to truly understand why we're here, why bad things happen, why the Lord lets us have agency, why it's our greatest gift, and also why Adam and Eve had to fall. It was beautiful. And then she had so many questions and we got to explain all of it. When we talked about how the Lord lets us make mistakes because we can't learn and grow and progress without them, she started crying. 

She told us that she had grown up under so much pressure to be perfect and everything she made even the smallest mistakes she was punished. We explained that our Father in Heaven is a perfect, loving father and when we make mistakes He gives us every opportunity to overcome them and be better. She just cried and cried and spilled to us all the many problems she has in her life... which are many. Her husband has a brain tumor that's making him miserable to be around (they had to remove his frontal lobe, and so he can't control his emotions and things), her dad passed away not very long ago, financially they're struggling, she's without a job and can't find one, and so many things. I moved over and gave her the biggest hug. She said she needs God's help to overcome all these things and she said she would go to church (and went!) She was really able to overcome her doubts in that one lesson, because we discovered the big doubt beneath all of the questions had to do with why God allows bad things to happen to good people and she hadn't really understood the plan of salvation. 

Waiting at the hospital.One of the sisters 
was sick. 

Anyways, the rest of the day was a lot less interesting, but it was nice to catch up with hna sorenson and talk about what we're doing after the mission. 

On Wednesday I had another exchange but with hermana Morales which was so fun  and we also talked about trunky things. She only has one transfer left, so it was really just us talking about post-mission plans. Actually we talked a lot about dating and about the standards and ideas we have for our future families. It was entertaining. 

Also that day: 

-a dog peed on her shoe---> it was a sandal. 

-we had a very delicious lunch but it was very small. And included the first cupcake I've had in a year and half 

-we had to go pick up a cellphone that got confiscated from an elder... and the elder got sent home. I'm not really supposed to know  

-we found a store with American and Brazilian candy. I bought reeses pieces 

-knocking doors in apartments, we found a guy that we had contacted not too long ago. He was still not interested. 

-an inactive member gave us crocheted things... she gave me a duck!!!!!! 

-we went to an activity from hna sorenson's ward and saw Evelyn, the plan of salvation friend 

Thursday was a normal day!! With my own companion  except that it was soooo long. Like, walking and contacting and knocking doors for hours on end and being met with pure rejection. Hermana Chavez said its the Lord's way of reminding me that I still had 3 daaaays left, not just 3 days. The good news: we are now good friends and all is well :) 

Friday i had another exchange in alto hospicio  

But this time with hermana Valesquez! I didn't really know her beforehand, so it was awesome to get to know her! Recently hermana Greenwood (the hermana in training that lives with me) has been teaching me sign language. She's apparently fluent and it has been really fun to learn with her in the nighttime before going to bed. It's like a secret language cuz no one else understands. 

Anyways, while I was with hermana Valesquez I was able to teach her a bunch of signs and so we practiced all day while doing a whole bunch of contacts, and being rejected. But it was a good time, we bought verlines and we practiced sign language and we had a really fun lunch. 10/10 exchange. When we went back to iquique, we went with the Pierces which was wonderful cuz it was the last time I got to see them  until Utah. They're so cute. We met up with them in the church building and they were finishing up their temple prep class (we thought it was an English class, so when we walked we were surprised to be met with images of temple marriages and all that). 

Then we rode home with them, it's like 45 minutes so we had a nice long chat about post mission stuff, and my comp asked for advice on how to pick a good husband. Awkward 

Actually it's been my comp's favorite topic lately to talk about my future husband and how I go home soon. Like everytime there's a lull in the conversation she'll be like, so how does it feel knowing you go home in 5 days, or something to that effect. It's funny but also makes it hard to stay focused sometimes. 

So excited to bring treats home.

Saturday was similar to Thursday and Friday, but with a few lessons, and in the evening we bought sushi!! Chicken sushi, and they also had banana chocolate sushi!!! So I said permiso and bought some haha. It was actually really good. I gotta learn how to make sushi so I can be creative about what I put in it. I don't know why but I love eating with chop sticks! 

Hermana Chavez, Hermana Griffin
Hermana Sorenson, Hermana Greenwood

sunday i had to give my last testimony in church and something funny about that is that as everyone was leaving i was shaking everyone’s hand and this old guy came up and started telling me how much he loved and appreciated me, to the point where he started crying and then gave me the worlds most uncomfortable hug and then left. As he left I was like, i have no idea who he is … and i asked my comp and she was like, uhh we definitely have never talked to him while you’ve been here. so yeah 

my last day of work was pretty fun! we just did the usual things and got to visit some special people, including hermana Susana Blanca who is like a chilean version of my mom’s mom who passed away when i was little—-> artsy, crafty, everything was pink and we had a little tea party with her! we talked to her inactive daughter and i think we convinced her to go back. she basically just stopped going because she felt really alone in her new ward, but that was 8 years ago, so now she’s gonna start going, in theory. 

 

on tuesday i traveled all day on a bus! it was mildly entertaining cuz i was with 7 elders and so i kept deciding which one was my compañera (that became a theme while i was traveling) 

Visiting with Hermana Susana

when i got into Antofa, i spent a couple days in the girl ap sector with the girl ap’s and i’m glad that i was never a girl ap cuz that was stressful. 

Banana Sushi

my last full day in chile was chaotic! we had to drop off a sister so she could go to her new sector, hang out with another sister while she was waiting in the hospital, then we went to lunch and we looked at clothes, wandered around the mall, and then we went back to the office and met up with all the elders who were going home with me and we went to la portada which is this cool rock thing in antofagasta, and then we went to the temple and took a bunch of pictures. it’s not quite done yet… but it’s getting there!! 

after that we went to an expensive chinese food dinner, and all this time the elders were in a big bus and i was in the car with the mission president and wife and the girl aps so after dinner we went to the grocery store to buy dessert! we got a red velvet cake, a lemon pie, and a cheesecake with maracuyá. the red velvet cake was the most popular. afterwards we went downstairs and had a beautiful testimony meeting and sang together, and then they gave us these cool plaques painted in copper. and then the next morning we headed out on my 30 hour travel adventure. 

La Mamita Catalan and her dog

traveling was exhausting! 

the first flight was pretty normal, antofagasta to santiago, 2 hour flight and they gave us chilean peanut cheetos. then we had a 7 hour layover in santiago  it was very long. i spent the time reading, eating mcdonald’s, using my normal non mission phone for the first time in forever. it dies very quickly. i also talked to this guy named Teddy who’s from Ghana and traveled to chile in order to go to a conference for neuro surgeons (cuz he’s a neuro surgeon). he showed me pictures of his family, and it was so precious to hear him talk about all his kids and wife. he ended up being on the same row as me in the plane. i invited him to talk to missionaries, and he said he would think about it on the 10 hour flight. 

afterwards we got to atlanta and i was sooo excited to be in america! i ate chick fil a in the airport and we ran into other missionaries who were serving there in atlanta who spoke spanish but obviously served their missions in the states. they were asking us tons of questions about chile and how foreign life is. it was very cool! 

Elder Cuttiani and Elder Castillo

in the plane i  chatted with the couple next to me. they were on their way to visit st george, or Ivins more accurately. they weren’t members and neither were the friends they were sitting by. i started telling them how they need to go to the temple open house and see the new temple. i told them how beautiful it was and also how it was originally built in 1871, and basically they just sounded really excited to go see what all the excitement was about!!

after that i had the arrival which was pretty crazy!! and that was that! i’m home!! can you believe it? 

i think the hardest adjustment for now is deciding what i’m gonna do for these 12 weeks before going back to school, and not speaking spanish all the time. i miss it  

love you all!! thank you for everything 

xo-hna griffin