Just a note

HI mommy! Yeah I've definitely felt the beatings of "I'm not good enough". When people don't respond how you want them to to this message it`s hard not to reflect on yourself and list of things you didn't do right. I have to remind myself and we bring the message "unto the hearts of men" not into! If they`re ready to accept the gospel they'll accept it regardless of my terrible Spanish because the spirit is the ultimate teacher!

Daddy, hahaha I just picturing you sleeping in your missionary lessons with your eyes open haha, that hasn't happened to me yet but I'm struggling to stay awake during personal study and in my morning and night prayers too. My companion as sores on her knees from praying, I think I'll get them too. Osorno isn't too big, not even quite has big as Salt Lake I'd say. We travel by collectivos and public buses. I'm getting really used to the area now, its feeling more like home. I'ts soooo beautiful here. I'm jealous you have snow! I want a white christmas sooo bad! A and L are progressing, slowly, but surely! the last lesson we had we watched the restoration video and A said "I'm just like Joseph Smith! I'm searching for the right church too" and "I didn't really have a desire to learn from you guys before to be honest but now I really do want to continue meeting and learning for myself" they still want to take there time but we`re teaching them again tonight and re-inviting her to baptism. 
So say a little prayer in your heart for us! yeah C is hard to teach, when we met with him he doesn't quite let us lead a discussion, he get off topic really easy but he loves to met with us so not really sure where he'll go. Spanish is still hard for me but I can see how everyday I'm getting better. Yesterday my companion did a part of my training where we talked about the struggles we have in common in my training now and her training a year ago, it helped me realize that everybody struggle with the language at first and I will learn eventually!

love you dad!

WUT UP?

wut up. 

This week. so good. so crazy. so hard. all the above.

AND I'M LOVING IT. 

on Martes we only worked a half day, we left at about 530 to go to Puerto Mont. We had to stay there for the night so we could be on time for the devotional with Elder Nelson the next day. We stayed with another set of sisters and went on splits with them for a couple hours. It was really great!! It made me excited (and a little nervous) for future transfers and all the things I`ll learn in those times. the next morning we woke up a 430 in the morning to head to Osorno! It was such a beautiful devotional! We all were able to shake hands with him and his wife before they began (i wonder if he recognized me or my name...). Both Elder and Sister Nelson talked about how to make the most of our mission. They talked about how we need to use every moment wise so we don't look back and think "I could have done more!" and how the people we`re teaching here are like our babies and we need to "follow up with commitments" for the rest of their lives. 

When we got home later that day we opened the door to find the floor soaking wet! I guess the power had gone out and our fridge was melting haha. Also our toilet struggles so we`ve had to have a bunch of people come in to figure it out. ohhhh la lucha. 

This week we met with L and A again; L said he wants A to take her time so she can know this stuff for herself and not do things out of obligation. We assured them this is what we and the Lord wanted to and went over Moroni`s promise again but I don't think they'll be willing to come to church anytime soon. They will definitely be a slower process but I still have faith in them! 

We also met with C, he is super hard to figure out. He works a lot so when he meets with us he wants to use that time to eat as well so we met at a little cafè in our sector (owned by someone from Washington!). He has lots to say about random things so it`s hard to stay on topic but he loves to met with us so yet another investigator progressing slowly but I have faith in him as well! 

We`ve been doing a lot of reactivation work, this ward struggles a little bit. But they are the most wonderful people in the world! 

We watched finding faith in Christ with a sister and her daughter who`s about 6. Afterward we talked about how she could live with her mom forever and you should have seen the light in her eyes, oh my heavens, it was beautiful. She said the pray and thanked Heavenly Father that she could live together forever with her mom. 

I also had my first full day of intercambios with the hermana training leaders! It was a lot of fun. I love to obverse every ones different teaching styles.

Love you all and thank you for all your support! 

praying for everyone back home. 

xoxxo paz y bendiciones

hermana meacham

This week went fast!!!!

This week went so fast, but none the less it was a great week! my companion and I are working hard. We made goals this week to do better with our street contacting so we made a goal to talk to 120 people (the standard of excellence in 70). We figured we could each talk to ten people a day. well... we didn't reach our goal, BUT it helped us realize we can and we should be talking to everyone. When we make plans for our days and present them to the Lord, He then can take those plans and allows things to happen so they become the plans He would have us do. For example, if we say we`re going to teach B at 4 o'clock, He then can help place someone in that path that needs to hear the message of Christ. And maybe we won't even end up teaching B but it happened how the Lord would have it happen, as long as we`re listening to the spirit and do all we can. 

One lady we contacted in the street really needed us. Her husband had died two months ago, she was out of work and hungry. She said she would rather take her life. We were able to give her something to eat and teach her about Gods plan for us. We invited her to attend church with us and we got her address. We`ve tried since to find her but haven`t had any luck. The addresses are so messed up here and often people don't even know their own addresses. I really hope to find her again but I do know the Lord brought her in our direction the first time and we`ll be able to find her again if it`s His will. She helped me to recognize how I should be working out here. The first couple weeks were hard for me with a new language, new places and people and I was maybe feeling bad for myself until we talked to her. My reason for being out here became clear again. I`m so grateful for the Lords plans for us and the people he places in our lives.

So we have a new investigator! His name is C. A couple weeks before I arrived in Chile my companion found his number on a sticky note in the apt. For about a month the sister missionaries have been trying to set up an appointment with him and he sounded genuinely interested on the phone. We met at a members house. HE TALKED SO MUCH. I couldn't catch everything he was saying but I could tell how much he knew about our church already and religion in general! He said missionaries had passed by his house a few months ago and he had turned them away but he couldn't forget that they had said "we have a message that can help you". Since then he`s wanted to learn more. We gave him the restoration pamphlet, a Book of Mormon, and the talk by Elder Bednar addressed to non-members. He said he was willing to read in all three! He has been so prepared by the Lord to hear this message! I'm so greatful for those first missionaries that spoke to him, and even though it might have seemed like an unsuccessful contact for them they left an impression on him to want to learn more. An elder in my district said on average converts are hear about the church 6 times before they finally accept to hear the message. This has built my confidence in all those we talk to, that every contact is a successful one. And even if C or any other of our investigators choose not to accept the message now at least they`re one step closer.

What else is new:

On friday I had my first zone conference! It was great. Our district sang the theme song for the youth this year "Come unto Christ". It was so pretty. One of the elders translated it into Spanish and a bunch of us took turns singing solos, one girl sang in Portuguese and I sang my part in English. It was really fun. I totally butchered the lyrics in my part but its cool 'cause most of the people there don't even speak English. hahaha. 

ALSO um guess who is coming to speak to us?! ELDER NELSON! We so psyched. He`ll be speaking in ENGLISH. yeeee.

I have to give a talk in two weeks. eek. 

side note: I think I might as well change my name to Barbie. 

READ YOUR SCRIPTURES, THEY´RE BEAUTIFUL. 

love you all 

xoxo Hermana Meacham

Bonus info: (we, the family, love these sweet words, thought the reader would too)
HI MOMMY

So great to hear from you!

So good to hear about 

Weston! he looks so happy! Sad I missed it but I really do think my time will fly here so I'm not to upset about it. I`m gonna soak up my time here. Glad to her grandad came to church!! I want to hear Weston's talk! I MISS YOU GUYS. Sometimes I'm like, uh i wanna go to cafe rio with mom or watch doctor Phil with Mal SO BAD. But then i tell myself. hey guess what, you can't but you can in a year and a half and in the mean time you get to have the BEST FREAKING TIME OF YOUR LIFE AND HELP OTHERS TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. then its all good, still hard, but good.

HI DADDY!

great to hear from you. Sound like you guys really had a great week! I love hearing about everything from you. and I love hearing about your experiences on your mission. I can telll your learned a lot from your mission and you really appreciate it.

Sound like Westons talk was awesome! Hug weston for me. The work is good and i can tell my Spanish is getting better. Just more refined, i can understand a lot better though its still difficult. most people say it takes them about 6 months before they feel fluent. most of our work is between 5 and 9. The rain hasn't been terrible! Though my umbrella always turns inside out in the wind. 

Thinking about you all everyday. Thank you so much for your example of hard work dad. Thank you so much for all you do for me and your support. Miss you! 

xoxox

RAINY BUT BEAUTIFUL!

¡HOLA! 

Everything's been great here! We`re working really hard everyday. It`s still pretty cold here and yes it`s raining almost every single day! That`s the price you pay for the beauty here though I guess! 

The work is slowing down for us though, which stinks. One of our investigators, M, had a baptism date for November 22 but she dropped us. She first said in was because her dad didn't want to her be baptized in every church but then she said in all honesty she didn't know if she really wanted to. We`re still trying to make contact with her everyday but she`s not really willing to talk to us anymore. Like I said in my last email our other investigators either can't be baptized or are progressing really slowly. We`re trying to talk to lots of people in the streets but none are receptive so it`s hard to continue. It`s hard to jump into an area that`s not having much success but I know if I keep doing all I can with faith in Christ, He`ll bless me with the things to say to help bring others to the Gospel of Christ. My companion and I do have a glimmer of hope though! We got a reference from the Elders of an inactive and his girlfriend who isn't a member: L and A. We taught them and L remembered a lot about the church! He said he wants to start coming back to church and he wants A to be able to learn more. A is super receptive! She grew up Evongelica but never quite understood her pastors and didn't like that they didn't live what they taught. She totally understood that there's a prophet in the earth today! We really have a lot of hope for them. We`re planning for them to have a Family Home Evening with a family in the ward, Family F. This family is awesome. G F, the mom, has been a member for just 2 years but she's soooo willing and excited to work with us! She always asking about our investigators and the inactives in the ward and giving activity suggestions to do as a ward. YOU GUYS. BE MEMBER MISSIONARIES! They really do help bring forth the work of the Lord more than you could imagine! We also have another great member missionary in the ward. He`s only 17 but he`s so excited to share his testimony with others. He wrote his testimony in a Book of Mormon and asked us to give it to an investigator; we gave it to A and L. I hope they cherish it!

I`m getting to know the area a lot better and I`m understanding a lot more Spanish! Not enough to add much to the conversation but at least I can tell whether they`re talking about the gospel or making fun of my red boots! Hahaha. The members really are great. One less active family is starting to come back to church! They`ve been through a lot this past year and finally sought to come closer to God. The wife works on Sundays so she's not coming to church but the other day we read in the scriptures with them and you could tell they really were just soaking it up and really believed they were the words of God. Their kids are so cute too! 

Thanks for you prayers and support out here!

XOXO

¡paz y bendiciones! 

Hermana Meacham

Bonus info: 
 I'm starting to get use to the routine! our hours are a little different than all the other missions. we wake up at 7 and go to bed a 11. don't know why. we start personal study at 8 and companion study at 9 then language at 11 until lunch then another 30 of additional study then work until 930! we currently don't have anyone with date. Our numbers aren't doing too well. I'm starting to understand better. I wish it could come quicker! but i just need to remind myself to be patient with myself and trust the lord. The Spanish is a little different. i don't know what it is, it just sounds a little different.