Chile is CHILLY- Sept 9, 2013

Wow what a week! There is so much that I want everyone to know about and to express, but time is limited and this keyboard is hard to type on, so I`ll do the best I can.

So basically Chile is the best. I`m exhausted after working everyday and it sure seems like we only sleep for about 2 hours and then get right back up and go and work again, but it`s so great. The people here are so loving and possibly the most passive agressive people I have ever met. When we contact in the street they hardly come out and tell us no, but rather they just make up all kinds of excuses, rather funny ones too, but at least they are nice. It was quite cold when I got here and I use lots of layers, but today it is warming up! My first day it rained soo much; however, my comp and I`ll still got up and went running in the rain. A little water doesn`t hurt right? Luckily now, the rain has stopped for the most part and the sun is out so it´s a great day!

My companion is amazing. Her name is Hermana Lovell and I actually read her blog before coming out here to prepare myself so that was crazy, but you can look it up and read more about our area! She is so awesome and is the BEST trainer. We are super obedient and work our tails off everyday. She is one of the Sister Missionary Training Leaders (equivalent to a zone leader) and so she`s a rockstar. I`ve learned so much from her already and we are a lot alike. She says I`ll for sure be one of the sister missionary leaders too someday, but I kind of set that talk aside. Our goals we made together as companions is to work more with members to be more effective, workout everyday, eat healthy, keep our room clean and be more punctual. I couldn`t be happier with my trainer.

Our apartment is super tiny. We live with two other Hermanas named Hermana Snyder (from California) and Hermana Ayuso (from Chile). They are all-stars as well! We all sleep together in I guess you could say the living room and there is basically no room to really walk around much. In our shower you have to hold the hose up to bathe, but at least we do have hot water! It`s way different than anything I`ve ever lived in before, but it is great and I wouldn`t be anywhere else!

So before I got here I thought I understood Spanish perfectly...wrong. The Chileans are quite difficult to understand and it`s such a different accent. By now I can understand probably about 90%, but the first 2 days was hard. They say if you can understand Chilean`s speaking Spanish, then you can understand anyone speaking Spanish haha. Everyday Hermana Lovell and I have lots of "too friendly friends" as we call them. They are the men who make creepy kissing noises at us or yell "Barbie" as we walk by. We try and talk to everyone on the streets except for our "too friendly friends", we stay clear of them.

So many awesome and spiritual experiences have happened with our investigators this week! Mariana has her baptism date for this Friday the 13th and she is incredible. She is young and kind of a hipster, she just needs to leave the smoking and drinking completely behind. She reminds me a lot of my friends in Monterrey actually.

Mariela(24) and Francisco(18) should get baptized next week and they are both gems, a little bit flighte (gangsta), but amazing. We had a super spiritual experience with a 70 yr old named Carlos. We were knocking on a less active`s door and he came out of his house asking if we were looking for him, which of course we replied yes to. He invited us into his patio area and he told us that his wife had just died 3 months ago and was crying his little eyes out. We got to tell him all about the plan of salvation and baptism and he has an interest in being baptized, he just wants more time. The spirit was so strong. He was so glad that we came by and we`re going to see him again this week.

I have already gotten to invite 3 people to baptism and 2 accepted and then Carlos isn`t quite sure yet. So in our mission we are really trying to focus on baptism, retention, and reactivation all at the same time. That means we work with lots of less actives and recent converts trying to teach them and get references from them. The ideal scenario would be to teach a less active family with members who aren`t baptized yet with a member present. It`s a lot to try and do, but it has been working great so far! It`s really sad because the retention rate here is about 10%. There are about 570 members in our ward boundries, but only about 70 of them come to church. Really sad, but we are working to try and help with that.

The work is hard, but so great. D&C 24:10-12 gave me a lot of comfort to know that God is on my side and will give me strength. I want to share more, but I´m all out of time. I love this gospel sooooo much and I see the hand of the Lord everyday here. These next 17 months are going to be incredible. Love you all.

Hermana Romney

Thanks everyone for the emails!! Keep them coming!!

Hermana Brooke Danielle Romney
Chile Concepcion Mission
O'Higgins 940, Oficina Casilla
2210 Concepcion
CHILE