Merry Christmas crazy extended fam!

Family,

     Merry Christmas from the bottom of the earth!  We are enjoying lovely summer weather and I am so happy. Right now, I imagine you all sitting comfortably together, well fed, and poking fun at someone (probably my dad...)  I love our family.  We really do have something special.  I've never met a group of more stubborn, smart, hilarious people, who, after endless experiences (good and bad) together, still have such great love reside in their midst.

On the days that I remember I have a family, I am overwhelmed with love and gratitude.  Every single one of you has influenced me or shaped my life in the some way- whether great or small- and  I love you for it.  I often have flashbacks to the happiest times of my life up to this point- and they almost always involve the fam-the BNC with the Wilde sisters, learning how to waterski on the celebrity, skiing into the cabin at Alta, sneaking into the Ricky Martin concert in Italy, learning how to play bridge, dinners galore, hearing tale of someone trying to touch Lance Armstrong, finding a "genuine" arrowhead (that Aunt Steph left for us) family fasts, seeing Halsy in Guatemala, weddings, church history trips, Hawaii, new babies, conference in Midway...my list of memories could fill a million more pages.

  My mom and I always joke that our family "mission statement" is "We're the Bournes...we're not much, but we're all we've got..."  Family- it's true... We are all we've got.  OK since I don't get jammies this year, I'm asking for something different.  Let's all give each other a huge break, live the principles of the gospel like we know we should, and just enjoy this time we have together.  I've only been out two months, but I've learned that the only two things that matter in life are: the Gospel and the family.  I thank Heavenly Father every single day for you guys- nobody has a family like this- it's incredible.  Fam, the gospel  is true.  The church isn't some club or a way to make people better- it is the only manner in which we can progress in this life to eventually become like and live with God.  Jesus Christ was exactly who He said He was- our Savior and Redeemer- the literal son of God.  He left us no other option.  I love what C.S. Lewis wrote about Christ-that He was either exactly who He said He was- or He was the devil of Hell because if He was just a really good guy or incredible teacher, He wouldn't have proclaimed himself the son of God.  He left us no other options.  Joseph Smith is the exact same way.  Elder Holland said something like "An evil man couldn't write the Book of Mormon, and a good man wouldn't. 

 Aside from these logical points- I know the truth of these things, because I have studied, pondered and then asked God if these things are not true- He has responded and I know with upmost clarity that they are.  Of course I don't know everything (although I'd like to!) I know the path dictated by God is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism by the correct authority, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and then perservering in faith until the end of our lives.  I don't know why it is like that, but I know it's true and I'm taking the rest on faith in my Heavenly Father- that He has all knowledge and power and knows what He is doing with my life.  Fam, I love you all so much.  Thank you for your lives well lived.  Thanks for your love and support my entire life and especially now that I'm down her in Chile.  There's not another big group of loud, happy people with whom I'd rather be stuck with for eternity.  I love you all!  Hna Emily Bourne 

Padres and bloggers:
Familia, I´m already calling you tonight but I just want to write to say...see you in a few hours BRAU! I´m glad Christmas is commencing without me back in the states. The Chileans really don´t do ANYTHING for la Navidad and it´s really, really sunny and hot so Christmas hasn´t been on the mind at all until a few days ago when we sang in the main plaza in Osorno a bunch of hymns. A crowd of 200 people gathered and I saw a bunch of people from Camino Real--My heart just burst open with absolute LOVE for these people. I met a man from Spain who followed us to the chapel after we sang and he´s searching for something more in his life. He said, ïf it´s possible, I´d really like to go to your church on Sunday.¨ I´m sure we can pencil him in... We walked around our neighborhood all day yesterday and sang carols to people and some people even entered a few houses and met some really great new people! Singing with the Salvedorenians is always a hilarious experience because they are completely tone deaf and have no shame...it´s a combination for the Spirit :). 
PS Hal Waldo, I love you more than you know. I´ll be praying for you as you go back to Guatemala and baptise that girl you taught. The joy at seeing people you taught choose to get baptise is indescribable. I saw a girl we found and taught in Camino Real at the choir in Osorno and she has a FECHA! She´s getting dunked in January...JOY.
I don´t know what else to say. What the congrats to Brooke Wagstaff and CJ Miller!!!! That was something I didn´t know about until today! CONGRATS YOU TWO! We always knew you´d get married. Bwah ha ha! Thank you to EVERYONE who sent letters, emails, and packages. Family, you are the best. I love you all more than anyone else on earth. Everyone else, I love you too. Thanks for your examples,thanks for your love, thanks for your testimonies. It´s an immense privilege to be here in Chile serving. I love the Savior, I love to study His life, teachings, plan, sacrifice, qualities...everything. Jesus Christ and His atonement are everything. I fall into bed every single night here completely exhausted, but full of love and joy for the Savior and for the people here and for all of you. There is joy in the gospel, wickedness never was happiness, we are here to experience joy and progression. Simple. Merry Christmas everyone...love you all.
Hna. Bourne

"Seeing..."

Journal Dec 17
Its been a really interesting few days. For about a week now, I´ve been so disappointed in humans. With the reality of it all...the fact that we always take the easy way out or don´t do what we should because its easier. I feel like I see human nature...the natural man...more clearly than ever before and I don´t like it. God has given us everything...and we live so far beneath our privileges. 

My disappointment basically got to the point of despair...how could we all be this bad when the gospel of Jesus Christ is so good? How can we..even though we´ve been given the formula for perfect progression, joy, and peace...let stupid and petty things blur our vision and obscure our path? I didn´t understand. Luckily, I had my interview yesterday. President´s calling is directly from God. He shared with me Moses 7 in which God looks at the world and weeps. Enoch can´t believe that the God that is all powerful, the God that made the worlds who is full of glory, can weep. He asks God and God gives the painfilled response that these, thy bretheren, are the workmanship of mine own hands and I´ve given them a commandment to love one another and to choose me...but they are without affection and hate their own blood. And that Christ suffers and pleads on their behalf and yet they remain wicked. God then tells Enoch of the doings of the children of men and Enoch understands and he weeps. 

This understanding and this sight...the ability to see and understand other people comes with a horrible price...the price we pay is to weep bitterly..to have our hearts swell wide as eternity, to have our bowels yearn...I feel like I´ve experienced the beginnings of this sight. To know, to see, to understand the ugly nature of man...selfishness, pride, apathy. The cold things of the world are more black, more obvious, and more cause for sorrow than at any other time in my life. I´m repulsed and saddened when I encounter these things..and that is the price we pay. We hurt. The amazing thing is, however, that this sight comes with joy, peace, and light that can and will outweight, brighten, and illuminate any dark parts. The all consuming fire and joy of rising above the dark..of fighting against it for the greatest good...to not ride the easy wave of apathy but to actively and brightly seek the Savior is a joy and peace beyond description.

 Of course I want to ¨see¨of course I want to understand because although it hurts, this pain I feel has been swallowed up in the joy and mercy of the atonement of Jesus Christ. He has plead before the father for everyone of us and it is ultimately our own decision whether we will love one another and choose God. I hope my knowledge of the world, of God, of everything can continue to grow because I know I´ve only been introduced to the topic...

Anyways, that´s what I learned. I think you two understand. I´m still trying to wrap my head around it. With your calling especially, dad, you see. It hurts. I love you both so much and have never been happier. Merry Christmas! Be waiting by the PHONE! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Love you both!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

First of all...HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES. YOu are incredible. The biggest holy shrapnel of the week goes to Grandma Cynthia and Grandpa Hal. I got Christmas in a box from the fam. THANK YOU SO MUCH that package just brought a big smile to my face and to my comp´s faces! We LOVE the pjs and there is a picture of us enjoying the package! The other picture I love because we were running by the bishops house to ask to have a lesson there, and he opened the door in full santa regalia. We died laughing and subsequently took pictures. THANK YOU kort and jasy-poo for the letter. I thought about the two of you this week and hoped I´d hear from you! This blog entry is lame, but just know that I´ll be sweating the Christmas down here at the bottom of the earth and I´m loving it. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

SUMMER IS ON IT'S WAY!

Familia,
Im in a short sleeve shirt today! SUCH BEAUTIFUL WEATHER! Finally!
Once again, too much to say and no time to say it. Shout outs to the fam, to Noah for the dear elder and to the spaffs and the Bagster! Thanks Brookie, it was awesome to hear the update! Hal...I love you more than you know. LOZ you have a letter coming. Mikey and Katie THANK YOU! Mikey and Ash...Love you I pray for you two and the baby all the time. Katie HOLY SHRAPNEL YOU GOT 99% on your anatomy final. Smarty pants....I´m so proud. James, I love you and pray for you every single night. You are amazing and such an incredible example to me. Keep truckin along...ps you have a letter coming for your bday!

Family, I can only send one...maybe two pictures per email and I can only send one email every pday so thats all you´re going to get. Love you! Ah yes, the phone call. I´m going to call on the 24th at 7pm my time (I´m pretty confident that would be 4pm your time) I´m stoked to talk to you all! Let me know if that time works. I have one hour to talk.

Dad I love the theme! The first commandment is to love God. Since reading that commandment, I have wondered how to love God... what can I do to show Him that I actually love Him? The way we demonstrate this is by serving his children. Simple. Ill think more about this and get back to you.

Okay, people...I had my first dream completely in Spanish! It was amazing. It was me and two Testigos (Jehova´s witnesses) chattin it up over lunch in my dream. In real life, we´ve had some run ins that are just wonderful. I woke up smiling. And I smiled when I read that Soph prayed I´d have good dreams!! Thanks lovebug. The thing with the language is...when I focus on the people we´re teaching and their needs as opposed to my own...I understand everything. I´m not translating anymore and it feels so great. Yes, there are hilarious moments in which I don´t understand anything, but I´ve found that the Spirit is my most powerful tool to understand and be understood.

Some funny things went down this week. I have had the soundtrack to Hercules in my head NONSTOP. Someone watch that movie for me. 
JOKE: one day, a missionary was walking along with a Book of Mormon in his pocket. A man shot the missionary. The bullet hit the Book of Mormon and stopped in the Isaiah chapters. Bahahaha! This is the kind of hilarity you can expect on the mish!
Chilean equivilent of the week: mom, I found the chilean equivalent of A BIG HUNK, ate it, and thought of you. It was gross and wasn´t as good of quality but I still thought of you!

My comps are constantly breaking social norms. I don´t know if its a centro-americano thing or what. THey love to blow their noses during lessons or tell random people that they should serve missions too or describe one of our members as ¨la gordita¨ (the little fatty) who lives down the street. Ahhh....Salvedorenians. Gotta love em.

In companionship inventory, I asked what I could do to improve and Guevara said ¨Gringa...ARREPIENTESE!¨ (Gringa...REPENT!) We died laughing. I can´t even describe the trio. The first few weeks were a tad difficult...but we´ve really figured out how to work in this trio. We´ve seen so many miracles...especially this week and I am so lucky to be here with these two sisters. I have never been this happy in my entire life. In Kathy´s Christmas letter, she said that parts of her have been filled and there is a depth to her testimony that wasn´t there before. I feel the exact same way. The experiences out here are irriplaceable (once again, I don´t know how to spell). 

I feel like Im starting to understand human beings out here a little more than before. I´ve seen selfishness and apathy absolutely destroy a family´s chance at true happiness...I´ve seen pride drag down a once incredible member into daily bitterness and resentment...I´ve seen so many people just throw away their opportunity to progress in this life because there was an easier option. I´ve seen some really ugly and cold things out here pertaining to human nature. Watching literal children of God refuse blessings that I know God is yearning to give them has been my biggest struggle out here. Apathy, pride, selfishness, hatred, laziness. These are all such powerful tools that destroy, desensitize, and drag down. On the other end...my greatest joys I´ve felt out here have been when I´ve seen people rise above these horrible things, even though it´s hard or uncomfortable, and reach for something better. To rise above that which is easy, that which is comfortable, that which is normal is incredible to see. It has cost these people their pride, comfort, work, friends, and even family in two cases. I´ve seen the stone face of one mother turn into something full of softness and light. I´ve seen a father rise above his comfortable apathy and lead his family back to righteousness and now they´re walking towards the temple. I´ve seen a woman excommunicated from her evangelical congregation...her life...because she testified that the Book of Mormon was the word of God. I´ve seen two young women rejected by their families because of their faith...and yet they press on in joy. To see what human beings are capable of (both the good and the bad) has been a blessing and a curse. It is so easy to not to what is right...It is so easy to be too busy...it is so easy to fall into the comfortable arms of apathy. But from what I´ve seen...its those who understand that there is ALWAYS time to do what God wants, those who lose themselves actively in what they know to be right and good and true, those who REALLY understand the gospel...these people live brightly. They receive all. Their lives are full and moving and beautiful. That´s the kind of life I want. 

It is so beautiful to be a missionary. I can´t believe I haven´t been preparing for this my entire life. 
Thrust in your sickels! :) Love you all

the pictures (if they show up) one outside my chapel with carolina and vicky (their families have either rejected them or threatened to kick them out of the house) and the second my area Ovejeria on a good day. It´s gorgeous!

"Pure Gratitude"...

Familia! 
I have officially burst through my first skirt...I think I´ll celebrate with some more food! JOKE! But seriously, my skirt ripped as I sat down this morning...Don´t worry mom and dad! Diet starts Monday! 
Birthdays! Auntie Steph-happy birthday! You have always been amazing. Hunter-happy birthday buddy! Love you!
Shout Outs- ELIZABETH ALDREDGE! I cried when I heard your are going to LATVIA. OH MY GOODNESS! I´m going to try to get you a letter! LOVE YOU! oooo....call to repentence to EVERYONE but my parents and the grandparents Bourne. Thanks for the emails. But the biggest shout out goes to.....MY MOM! HOly shrapnel, I received TWO packages this week with a record 8 dirty looks from the other elders in my zone. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! The Christmas newsletter was phenominal and will continue to be so for the rest of my mission. Mom, the tights were exactly what I needed and I love the picture book (it makes me trunky). Wow, the hymn books and liahonas are flying out of the box thank you mom thank you mom! YOu are amazing!
Wow, a lot to say. We had our first really good weather two days in a row this week. I sweated for the very first time and it was beautiful. I am in Ovejeria which is a lot more beautiful than Rahue Alto...Still kind of dirty, but a lot more campo (fieldish). That picture of me with the cow is at the very end of our area in la calle averena. That street is FULL of investigators who are amazing.

People, I´m not going to lie, my comps have the awesome combination of LOVING to sing at every cita and absolutely NO singing ability whatsoever. They also have no shame either. This makes for super awesome slash awkward moments with me deciding whether I should follow THEIR tone or the tone of the song...still haven´t decided which to follow yet. Wow, I could draw so many spiritual parallels from this example about obedience to what we know is right, or about the atonement...but I won´t. YOu can all draw your own spiritual conclusions from my parable of the singing latinas.

BLob LeBlaron. I saw the Chilean YOU walking down the street the other day. (Ps you are still on my call to repentence list...get me your address,... or a letter)

I had my favorite day of the mission this week.This week was a week of Little miracles. Monday through Thursday we did everything we could to help members, serve them, share with them, and have them come out with us. When Thursday arrived, we had TWO lessons with member (around this time we should have around 10). I was so discouraged and didn´t understand. We had also fasted for Viky (the cute 18 year old who was taking discussions in secret) who spoke to her parents. We called her 5 times on Thursday but she didn´t answer because she had lost her phone. I did everything I could all morning on Friday to be perfectly obedient and learn and serve and then when three o´clock hit, we prayed that somehow we´d run into Viky and headed for the church where we were going to meet Carolina (most recently baptised amazing woman) to do divisions. To our surprise, Viky was standing there next to her with the biggest smile on her face. I felt like crying for joy! We all hugged. They told us that Caronlina had fasted for Viky the same day we had and Viky had spoken to her parents and they are changing. They didn´t forbid her anymore to listen to us and she couldn´t be more excited to be baptised on the 26th! We asked her why she came down to the church and she said ¨so you could teach me more.¨Wow. Its moments like that that make all the walking and rain and wind and closed doors completely seem like nothing. That moment when we saw viky at the doors of the church with a huge smile filled me with pure joy and I´m so grateful I got to have that experience. My favorite part, however, is that Carolina has taken Viky under her wing and they are very close now because they are in the same situation. (Carolina´s grandparents still haven´t spoken to her since the baptism). To see this kind of love and support between people just fills me with such joy. I´ve never been this happy (or stressed, tired, discouraged, or FULL of happiness and joy!) This is why I´m out here!

All of yesterday was sunny and breezy and lovely. I had about a million moments of pure gratitude and love for people or my comps or Heavenly Father and then we ended the day with an enormous Noche de Hogar (Family HOme Evening) in the house of an investigator who lives where the cow picture is (thats what the other picture is). We had the best time and the neighbors were bumping Enya´s ¨Sail Away¨ for hours. I loved it. Perfect day. It´s funny how something as small as someone wanting to listen, or someone who comes to church, or someone like Carolina who takes someone new under her wing and helps her grow while she herself is growing! Pure joy comes from the simple, happy things.

I love Ovejeria, I love my companions, I love to serve the Lord, I love a lot of the people out here, and I love you all. This morning I read in Luke 10 about the good samaritan. I love vs. 34-35. CHIRST is the good Samaritan and SAVES the people. We are the host who is expected to ¨take care of ¨them and whatsoever we spend more, Christ will repay when He comes again. Christ has essetially given me a blank check out here. I realized that I need to ¨spend more.¨ And I aim to do it.
President Lovell spoke about Samuel in the last conference and how he said ¨here am I¨ every time the lord Called. I love that and plan to be a ¨here am I¨ missionary. Dad, that´s my vote for your awesome Ebeneezer idea. (or you could just carve ¨bah, humbug¨ on it. Love you and your crazy ideas.
I have Pday on Saturdays because we are in the zone with the office elders and they have to work on mondays. If I get transfered, Ill have pday on monday. But for now...Saturday. All of us hate it because saturday should be our last push...but we have pday. LAME.
Well, my time is up. Sorry I can never write all that I want to or all that Im learning or all that jazz. But know that I love you all and am happy and working down here in the extremities of the earth. And please pardon me for all my spelling errors...the Spanish keyboard combined with limited time and the fact that I can´t speak Spanish OR English anymore all contribute...and I never was a good speller anyways. Love you all!
Hna. Bourne

E mail Emmy!

sister.bourne@myldsmail.net

I Love Chile!

Family!
First call to repentence…MYSELF! We changad p day to today because its Hna. Guevaras birthday! We didnt know last week so I couldnt forewarn you, but p day is right now. From now on, p day is on Saturday and you can expect another email from me this Saturday. Dad, I got your email about the ebeneezer just seconds after you sent it. I think its a great (although slightly hilarious) and very YOU idea! It was special to be in the same cyberspace as you at the same time.

Friends, Family…thanks for your support! Big shout outs to gma and gpa bourne YET AGAIN! WOW. Thanks for you love and support. Shout outs to TEEF Today is five days after thanksgiving day…everything seems to be going my waaaaaaaaaay! Love you teef. Thanks to cam king! (I can only write one email a week to my family and thats it, but Ill be sending off a nice little letter to you no worries!get me your address!) Andy, you are the best! I want to hear about the five month adventure asap! (maybe you will learn how to speak spanish!! BROMA!) 

Great week! Im in this trio, and while I absolutely adore my companions, I really dont like the set up of a trio for missionary work...but Im learning! This week we saw a few miracles! Viki is this 18 year old golden woman who is in the process of defying her parents to be baptised. We are fasting and praying for her all the time and she CAME TO CHURCH this Sunday. It was a miracle because her parents have forbidden it...but she came and had a wonderful experience. Carolina (the baptism picture) is golden too. the missionaries hardly did anything and she is so stalwart...Im amazed at people like her. Ah...my testimony of: where there are female members of the chruch...there is offense grew this week. Thats a whole other story...but all is well.

I have more Chilean twins to report! I eat lunch with a baby Thayne Davis every single day...his name is Martin and its just creepy how much they look alike. Also...my Zone leader (who is Chilean), Elder Cuadras is JAMES BOURNE. Check out the picture of my zone painting a nearby Jardin and see if you can spot him!

Family, Friends... I love you all. Thanks for your support, prayers, emails, and influence on my life. I did nothing to deserve all of you. The gospel is true. Its SO easy to forget and fall into a routine of mediocrity. We need to be on our game. This week, my testimony that the "Sunday School answers ARE the answers" grew. I am bearing my testimony out to every person to just read, pray, and go to church. We see miracles when the people do these things. SO simple. SO powerful. SO easy not to do. SO commandments from God. READ, PRAY, GO TO CHURCH. If we do these things daily (and church weekly) well have an added measure of the spirit and greater capacity to do what we need to do AND what the Lord needs us to do. Read MOsiah 2:41. Well be blessed in all things spiritually AND temporaly. I lvoe you all, I love my Savior, I love my father in Heaven. I love Chile. 
Love, Hermana Bourne

Thanksgiving Week in Osorno!

Familia!
Once again, not much time. Oh yeah, my p day is now on saturdays and I wish I couldve heard from you guys but never fear! Big Shout Outs to Bundial (I love you bund, write me more!!!), Sierra (amazing woman!), ButterSlice, Grandma AND Grandpa BOurne WOW!. YOu are all amazing for writing to me early. Bien hecho. MOm, dont feel guilty that I didnt get a letter from you this week, Ill get it next saturday and the aps told me I have a package waiting in the office with some letters....YAYAYAYAYA! Thank you all.
Okay, people, I had my first cambio as we all know, and I got sent to Osorno! Im in the richer part of Osorno and my barrio is called Ovejeria. Im in a trio with two sisters from El Salvador and they ROCK. Hna. Rivas and Hna. Guevara. Rivas has 3 cambios left in the mission and is 26 years old. AMAZING Woman. Guevara was born in Camino Real and We know a ton of the same people. Rivas is HILARIOUS but sweet and GUevara has the strongest personality Ive ever seen. For sure a different vibe, but Im ready to learn. OUr house is cuico (rich) and absolutely ginormous! Im still getting to know the sector, but from what Ive seen, there is a lot of good to do and we are the ones to do it! I do, however, miss Hna. Alvarez a lot. We lived this celestial existence where we were 100% in the mission and thinking about investigators all of the time or teaching or bearing testimony. These two are a little loosey-goosey-er...hmmm..But absolutely wonderful! 
I have to explain the pic with the poster. The guy who looks like a gringo is Chileno and running for public office in Osorno, there are posters every five feet. I contacted him yesterday! It rocked! Hes not interested (dang great and spacious building!), but was very nice and sent us on our way.

Speaking of CALLIE CLARK! Felicitaciones on your call to the best country in the world where no one is married, dogs run amuck, and they dont speak spanish...they speak Chilean! You will be insanely amazing. What a blessing to have you so close. Please get me your addresses asap. STUDY PREACH MY GOSPEL. Everyone told me to do it before coming out...didnt do it...still regret it. HAGALO! Cal, you will love it. Bring a sleeping bag and LOTS of tights. Other than that, you are golden. Ps DONT WORRY, I found digestive buiscuts here yesterday…YAY! You have a letter coming love! I cried when I got your email. YOu will be incredible and they need your in concepción to prepare all those people for the temple! HOly shrapnel and congrats to big K dawg too. What a blessing. I love you.

Grandma Cynthia, you are amazing. I have two comps now. You dont have to send pjs if you dont want to. Your love is enough. But if you do. ONe is tiny (think Cara status) the other is WAY short and about a size 8 or 10. You are amazing. The address for packages is in my last entry. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Thank you so much. I sent a letter for the Christmas party to my mom to read to you guys, and I{ll try to get a personal letter to you too. I love the calendar and look at it every day. Send me updates on Sammy!

Family, friends, I love you. I forget I have family and friends until I read your emails on Pday. I am happy, exhausted, and happy. Today we had a baptism of Carolina. A friend gave her the BOM and she read and prayed and went to an FHE at the presidents house and announced she wanted to be baptised…no one had taught her or nothing! It was beautiful…she will be faithful to the end. What an amazing woman. We have Viki, an 18 year old who is taking the discussions against her parents wishes. She CAME to the baptism today and had a great experience…man, we are blessed.

Today we went to the misión home to decorate, eat, and do stuff for Navidad. Its weird not to have snow or anything. It doesnt feel at all like Christmas so I dont think Ill miss home or anything...TOtally forgot Thanksgiving is this week sometime. I am thankful to have every single one of you in my life. I have been blessed WAY beyond that which I deserve and I hope you all know how much I love you. Thanks for everything...Im grateful for YOU!

Mom, I love you--thanks for your letters of encouragement and for everything you do for me. Keep praying for me. Dad, your counsel is always what I need to hear. Keep it coming. I love you. I dont need anything worldly, I need your advice and counsel. MIkey and Ash, you are amazing and little baby is in my prayers. James, congrats with everything you are accomplishing...pixar...a new woman! BRAU. Please write to me! Butterball, loved your email. Keep me updated. I love your talks, but I don{t have time to read them. WRite to me your words and stories about people! and keep being amazing!!! Sophie, you are ALWAYS in my prayers and thoughts. I want to hear from you. I LOVE YOU! (Mom, could you send me my converse shoes? I would DIE to have them here...I love you!) LOVE YOU ALL more than you know. BEST FAMILY EVER.
HNA EBOURNE

CONFORT!

Ah, familia. I can´t send pictures this week. SO much to tell everyone. First of all a call to repentence for BLOB LEBARON. Get me your address. I have a letter for you. Second order of Business. Mom, a brother in my Ward needs you to send him Pictures of a Ward building, Ward activity, historic places, Salt Lake and other Pictures like that so he can teach a class on how the church is the same in all places. He teaches on Sunday, so you need to do it STAT. Thank you so much! His email is fonluis_@hotmail.com. Somebody help her with that.
Shoutouts: Liz, Jess, Katie. Every time I eat a fiber pill, I think of you. Happy birthday AAAASSHLEY! I love you and thank you for your letter! Uncle Bob, Bette and Bubba, Katie THANK YOU for your emails. I LOVE THEM. Dad, thank you for your letter--I love your talk about the Liahona. I was reading in Nef. 17 and in v. 14 is says AFTER ye have arrived in the promised land, ye shall know that I, the Lord am God and that I, the Lord, did deliver you from destructionñ yea that I did bring you out of the land of Jerusalem. I love this scripture because the Lord didn´t say, and EVERY STEP OF THE WAY, you will know that I the Lord and leading you by the hand. We need to have faith. Mom, you are incredible and I´m so excited to get the newsletter! I know you are package happy, so while you are in this state, I´m going to ask for one more! I need TIGHTS (black and nude)...lots of ém...I wear one or two pair every day cause it´s freezing and they are expensive down here. Also a colorful scarf would be nice to spice things up and some big, paperback himanrios (hymn books) would rock because every time we want another one, we have to call Santiago. Careful with the candy...I weighed in today and it´s not looking pretty....maybe some diet pills next package. 

Okay, now that shout outs are over, I have some news. In my interview with President he said there would be a chance that Camino Real (my sector) would change to Elders when Hna. Alvarez left...We got the news yesterday that indeed it is changing...BOO! So sometime today prez is going to call and let me know where I¨m headed next! It´s sad because I don´t want to leave, but exciting because it´s like Camino Real was a little gift. Last night I imagined what it would be like if I were STILL in the MTC and laughed. I´ve learned more out here than I would have ever learned in a year at the MTC... Loved it, but I´m so happy to be here.

More news, for letters (in envelopes...you dont have to send them pouch style) and packages..send them to:

Hna Bourne
Casilla 7-0
Orsono Chile

Simple, no? They are sure to get to me. Wow, this week I had my first intercambio. Nobody knows why we had this intercambio, but we changed with another companionship in another zone (I have a feeling it´s because I´m headed there) in Osorno. I had an awesome experience with Hna. McClellan. I learned to just speak. My language is actually progressing quite nicely. I can understand most everything now and people can understand me. Hna McClellan gave me more responsibility than I´m used to, but I was able to do just fine. We commited a couple of eternal investigators to marriage AND baptism. It was amazing. I missed Hna. Alvarez, but I learned that I´ll be just fine with whatever comp I´m assigned to next. I´m enjoying being Junior comp for now because I don´t have to think about or be responsible for every single little detail...but I´m learning.

Funny happenings:
A lot this week. We were quite ill all week and continue to be so. We can´t sing hymns in the morning anymore because we die of laughter because we sound so bad, we have a lot of trouble sleeping because of aches and congestion, and we are exhausted, but happy. We think we have sinus infections slash allergies slash fleas. Well, I KNOW we have fleas...
In the house of the mamita, I heard gangster´s paradise, started rapping, remembered I was a missionary, and sang a hymn to myself. Tiff, I love you.
I am officially native. I can successfully fend off any perro (mangy mutant dog)that barks my way. What you do is turn around really fast and crouch and pretend like you´re going to pick up a rock to throw at the perro and it runs away. Seriously, there are more perros than people and they are all dirty and mean.
I ate curanto. At the ward activity, we sang (I played the piano for them) about curanto (a mixture of clams, mussels, sausage, and chicken), and then we ate it. Gross. 
Any young woman can be known as ¨la tia¨. It means äunt¨ All the young women call me ¨tia¨and it´s adorable. I love it.
Everyone in Chile is late. Well, at least all of our contacts in the street are late to something...LIes obviously. NOthing down here has EVER started on time. LIke right now, I´m in downtown Osorno, and the missionaries that planned this big asado at the church at 12:30 are sitting right behind me, chatting. It´s 12:48. Nice.
My favorite one is the story of confort. People, whenever I don´t know a word in Spanish, I use an english equivalent and pronounce it in spanish or add -o or -a at the end. Usually it works...however. Dun, dun, dun! We were in a lesson my first week and I was bearing my testimony about the Spirit. I said ¨Hermana, yo se que el Espiritu Santo puede darle confort por toda su vida. Es un bendicion hermosa¨. I thought I said Sister, I know that the Spirit can give you comfort for the rest of your life, it´s a beautiful blessing. WRONG. Consuelo means comfort. Unbeknownest to me, ¨confort¨ is the most widely used brand of toilet paper in Chile. Luckily it was my first week and only my comp could understand me. She told me after and died laughing. How sweet would it be though if the spirit really could give us confort the rest of our lives...without price. I wouldn´t say no!

Family, friends. I just love you. I love Osorno and can´t wait to see where I get sent on Wednesday. Hna. Alvarez is having a hard time saying goodbye to the mission. I´m having a hard time saying goodbye to my sector...and I was only there for 6 weeks. The gospel of Jesus Christ is real. No doubt in my mind about it. OH yeah, one more funny happening. Mom and Dad, my ipod was on shuffle the other day and what song should come on but ¨turn around¨, that lullabye you always sang to us. I had a feeling of just overwhelming love for you guys. Thank you for your prayers, letters, packages, support. It means so much and lifts me up at the beginning of every week. 

Ps- dad, your idea is awesome. The wording was hilarious and I died in the colectivo reading what you wanted to do...it reminds me of your water feature. DO IT! Did you ever get my letter to you? Hna Alvarez really is great and doesn´t need anything.

pss-JAMES I really want to know how the interview went and how its going with this chick! What the shrapnel.

psss-Katie, you leave so soon for israel. WOW. Read preach my gospel chapter 3 before you go. I´m serious. LOVE YOU!

Wow, I love you all. Bette and Bubba, thanks for reading the blog. I love to hear from you. Gma and Gpa Bourne, thanks for everything as well. I don´t deserve the family I have. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVEL OVEL VOELVOELVEOVLEV CHAO!
Hermana Bourne

RAIN,RAIN, GO AWAY!

> Familia! 

> Man, you know it rains a lot when you wake up to a rusty umbrella! Rain, rain, go away, come again another day! This week was really interesting. Rain every day and nobody opened their doors all week! No biggie though, because the work progresses! 
Okay, happy birthdays to Rebecca and Bill Fox and happy Birth to Rachel Stewart! Congrats!!! I received all of the dear elders anyone has every written this week and THANK you all so much. Big shout outs to Liz, Jess, Grandma Cynthia, Grandpa Hal, Teef, Andy, Halsy, Sierra Bear, and my repentent brother Mikey! Well done everyone. It was so great to hear from all of you. Grandpa, had no idea you had foot surgery...happy healing and grandma, YES I absolutely adore the calendar! It is so fun to look at everyone´s advice and pictures...I love it! Thank you! 

> Interesting experience, my comp and I woke up to mooing the other morning, only to find a stampede outside our casa. It was hilarious. Other than that, not much news. Dad, don´t´worry so much about stuff. My answers are yes, fun, and no. LOVE YOU! I love the work. Me and Hna. Alvarez have an awesome time together and laugh constantly at my awesome language skills. Speaking of awesome language skills…guess who gave her first talk in a foreign language yesterday? Emmy! People, it was hilarious. I walked up to the pulpit, talked for ten minutes (no idea really what I said) and sat down. I had some members of the Ward tell me they were impressed they ould actually understand me…not the powerful spiritual experience I would´ve hoped for but, meh!, you have to start somewhere! 
> This week was a really interesting one for us. Definately a bit of a downer slash great learning experience. This week I just felt so dissappointed in human beings. Why don´t the members welcome the converts more? Why don´t people want to hear the restored gospel? Why do people turn on their mouths and shut their ears when we say anything about ¨religion¨? Why do people say they are going to do something (like come to church or be home when they say they are going to) but then don´t? Why can´t people do what they know they should do all the time? How can someone receive their answer and then still refuse it? I had so many experiences with flakiness and lies that just made me feel disappointment in people. In my favorite book (besides the scriptures, of course), one of the characters says that ¨there´s only one kind of folks…folks.¨I love that. Because along with moments of disappointment, we had some moments of pure joy...like the baptism of Mariela and her confirmation or that one contact who treated us so kindly or a member showing up to help us out or the family we met who is MARRIED! We really are just all folks and we make mistakes. But that´s why the gospel is so great, because we CAN repent and be better. And although I´d love to make everyone make good decisions, the only person I can control is myself, so I´ve commited to being better.
> Sorry this is a little shorter this week. I love you all and hope everything is really well!
> 

YOU CAN E-MAIL EMILY!

Emily's E mail address is: sister.bourne@myldsmail.net

First Baptisms!!

 Mosiah 12:21 should read ¨How horribly caloused, dry, white, and desperately in need of a major pedicure upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings.¨Seriously people, I caught my first glimpse of my leg yesterday. Can we say hideous? It´s okay though because I´m not called to be a leg model, I´m called to preach. Great great week. People, anyone can send me an email. We print them off before we go into Osorno and read them in the taxi. Entonces, Redding emails takes no time away from my emailing time. I haven´t gotten any dear elders here…so maybe that isn´t the way to go. So email away! I can only, however, write one email a week (to the fam) so you´ll have to wait for my responses. Done Sean and Blob, I need your addresses to send you your letters!
> Okay, mom, nix what I said about the Package. I got my first one last Tuesday during district meeting. Halleluja! Happiest day of my life! Can we say Reese´s Puffs. Wow, you are the best. Thank you thank you thank you! Birthdays!!! A big happy birthday to Butter Slice who turns 20 today, a big shout out to Blob hte big 24 holy shrapnel, and to my uncle Jonny B! Feliz Cumpleanos!
> Dad, all Business is taken care of. Seriously. Thank you.
> Zabet: January 2nd! Do you not remember that if you marry before year end you can file with Flamm and reap the lucrative tax benefits of filing a Joint tax return???!!!
> Best news first...first baptisms this weekend! Victoria and her daughter Deisy. All completely due to the loving patience of my comp, but it was so wonderful to see people enter the gate. We had such a sweet experience. I´m excited for the opportunity to be here helping these people. After all is said and done, my favorite part of every single day is sitting in the tiny houses of these people and sharing my testimony with them. Easily the best. 
> Now for more secular things.
> I have noticed recently the physical Chilean equivalent of just about everyone I know. Grandma Cynthia, Bonnie Winterton, Hilary Holland, and Tanna Fox you all have identical Chilean twins here. I´ll keep you all posted on who I see next.
> Cultural note. I know I write about how fast they talk here every time I write, but I don´t think you understand! They talk as fast as they can until they run out of breath, and then they actually continue saying words while they are breathing in! I don´t know honestly how they do it. I tried and just started choking. These Chileans LOVE to talk.
> Cute anecdote: I forgot to write about this my first email. My first day with Hna. Alvarez was awesome! My favorite part was seeing my very first contact...I basically ran at these people with my arm outstretched to greet (and subsequently baptize) them. Hna. grabben me by the arm and whispered ¨tranquila¨. It was awesome. She said it happens with all the greenies their first time. It´s become a running joke between us and whenever I get too excited or frustrated she just says tranquila and everything is better!
> Embarrasing anecdote: Last email I said we run everywhere. I really mean we are scooting all over the place! Last week, we were running to our casa to make it in time for curfew and I tripped, scuttled about trying to catch myself, and totally fell while sliding to the ground. Doing this in a skirt makes is way more embarasing too. Luckily, the only spectators were my comp and a pack of dogs that ran at me as soon as I hit the ground. I´ve only fallen over one other time... it was in the house and I was wearing my sleeping bag at the time and my arms were inside the mummy bag so I had no way to catch myself as I slid across the wood floor and hit the bed.
> Oh yeah! This weekend was Halloween. Contacts were awesome because we bought a big bag of candy and yelled ¨tenemos dulces¨. All the kids (and their parents ha ha ha!) came running. For my Halloween present, the first counselor of the bishopric gave me my first speaking assignment on November 8th. Someone pray for me!
> Mom, I don´t know how you want me to do the newsletter. I´ll write something specific next week, but it´s going to be way short. If you could just cut and past stuff from my letters, that would rock. Love you!
> Shout outs. Jamesy! Good luck tomorrow in your interview. I´ll be praying for you and know you´ll be just fine. You are an amazing artist and characture and I know you are exactly what Pixar needs--don´t be nervous! Andy, thank you for the email. I died when I read the sleeping bag part...you were right all along. Mikey, thanks for the letter. I loved it and am so happy to hear all is well with little baby and wifey. Halsy, good letter! It´s about time. I absolutely LOVE and Adore you. Thanks for YOUR example of missionary work. I need you to send me your address so I can write to you! Love you all!
> Explanation of the pictures:
> we painted the home of members who just moved into our area. It´s me and Hna. Aguilar (she has 1 more cambio in the mission) who´s from El Salvador. NO one here can say my name correctly...they pronouce it ¨BERN¨. but that´s okay. The second is Victoria and Deisy. Hno. Chaipul baptised them. He is such an incredible example of service. Last night, after bishopric meeting, instead of going home to his family, he was out till 10 pm visiting menos activos and giving a blessing to one of our investigators and walking all over the place. His mission meant everything to him and he works so hard (I think he is a janitor at the beach) for his family and for the church. Such an incredible example of joy in the gospel. I think he´s punching Hna. Alvarez in the picture...he´s hilarious. The baptism was such a sweet experience. I love how the Chileans smile all the time except in pictures. Deisy and Victoria were glowing all day, but the picture doesn´t show it! Well, my time is coming to a close family. I love you all. Thank you for your letters, prayers, support, and emails. I think only the RMs understand how much it means! I understand now. Thank you thank you thank you.
> I just realized that my letters probably sound really secular. I just don´t have anyone to tell my hilarious experiences to except you guys. I love the mission. I love thinking about nothing but bringing others to Christ. I love sharing my testimony, I love serving, I love in infinite simplicity and mercy of the Gospel. I love studying and understanding the scriptures with a capacity beyond my own. I love feeling constant peace and warmth in my heart from the Spirit. I love my Savior, I love God, and I love His plan. It´s perfect, and in it, we can be perfect too. Joseph Smith was a prophet. Thomas S. Monson IS a prophet. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. How lucky are we to have pure truth, pure reality, and pure assurance that our lives, accomplishments, families, and deeds, are in the right direction and MEAN something. Thank you for your examples to me--you are all incredible. Love you!
> Hna Bourne
> 

Holy Shrapnel I'm Building My Own Fire!!

Family!
Once again…say it with me…HOLY SHRAPNEL! What a phenominal week. First things first…Happy Birthdays to D. Spaff and the infamous Done Sean. You are both just wonderful. Done, you have a letter coming. No worries! 

Great, great, great week. Oh yeah, confessions this week. Katie- I totally stole your ensemble sweat pants and that green striped shirt you love from platos closet…I´m asking forgiveness. Mom, I stole from you an abundance of leggins....they have served me well because it´s freezing here! Family- EMAIL is the best way to reach me. The only family member I heard from this week was dad. BOO! Another cry to repentence--mike, ash, katie, james, sophie, mom! Hope you´re all well. Love you.
 
Okay, now for mission stuff. I find myself ¨backpack running¨all over the place. Blob will appreciate that. For those of you who don´t know, backpack running is awkwardly running to your destination while frantically pulling down on the shoulder straps trying to steady your backpack...it looks ridiculous. This behavior can be most frequently observed at BYU. Speaking of Blob, the most hilarious letter I have received from anyone is from Mr. Bob LeBaron. I think only Zabet can top it. Back to the backpack run. We are SO engaged in the work we are just running all the time in between things. It´s awesome! Also, the weather here is SO strange! Every five minutes it rains like its never going to stop (katie, liz, jess...like Guatemala) five minutes later wind like the apocalipse blows us away and almost broke my umbrella this week, five minutes later we are sweating and five minutes after that FREEZING. brau.

 
I´m going to explain the pictures now. The fire one is my first fire that I made all by myself. That´s our source of heat and there is nothing better than doing personal study with a hot drink in front of our fire. WOW!

H

The next picture is of a crazy old man. He is our papito. The mamita cooks us lunch every day and does our laundry and loves us. The papito is exactly how he looks. Super mischeivious and ALWAYS laughing and having a good time. I absolutely LOVE this man. Him and mamita joined the church like 16 years ago when they were living in Santiago and are super strong. They´ve been feeding missionaries for 15 years. 
The next picture was of Sunday, yesterday. Best day EVER! We reached our goal of 30 lessons taught with 50% with a member. It was a miracle! I never thought seeing people change their lives could be this happy! Every day here I learn just how much I do not know. I can and should be better in so many ways and in my knowledge of the Gospel and scriptures and in my relationship with God and the Savior, my comp, and the people. But my small knowledge is growing. This week, I learned that you can know something by it´s fruits. If the Gospel of Jesus Christ were imaginary, I wouldn´t feel the miraculous increase in peace and happiness that I have felt in my heart recently... I wouldn´t feel joy at kneeling with the familia Azocar and listening to the father pray for his children...I wouldn´t fall into my bed every night with immense satisfaction and happiness KNOWING, I mean knowing, that this work will go forth because it is God´s work and I am just a little instrument in this part of the world. It´s absolutely phenominal to take a step back and look at this work for what it really is. On the most intimate level, we are singing with, teaching, loving, and helping these people take steps in their lives that bring them closer to Christ. On an eternal scale, these people...these sons and daughters of God are gaining their eternal exaltation and taking a step in their eternal progression in become like God. I absolutely love it. We have our first baptism of Victoria and her daughter Deisy this Saturday. Please pray for them.
Dad, I don´t know how much more you could want. With the whole language thing, I really am not good. I´m not being falsly modest either. The Chilean accent is ridiculous, and I have absolutely zero patience with myself because I want to understand NOW and speak NOW and give some huge, eloquent discourse NOW. But I am learning line upon line and learning how to be patient and focusing on the things that I CAN do rather than on those that I CAN´T (thanks for that advice dad!) It´ll come one day. For now, I am content to bear simple testimony and teach parts of the lesson. Dad, I don´t need anything. Don´t send packages because they probably won´t get here and I can buy anything I need. There isn´t really that much to tell other than work, work, work, work. I never liked when missionaries gave huge histories of their investigators either because I didn´t know them. But we have a bunch and are working with wonderful people every day and hopefully helping them. Sometimes I look at my life right now and think how strange it is to be living in a dump house with and Argentine and working with her 24/7 and talking to random people in a country that I know little about in a language that I stink at. But it´s wonderful. In fact, it´s the best decision I´ve ever made in my life. I have so much of myself to work on. Infinite ways I could improve and I feel inadequate to even attempt the Lord´s work sometimes. Everything good that I´ve had, have, or will have in the future comes because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I read Isaiah 53-5 this morning and just sat in awe for like 10 minutes. EVERYTHING...family, accomplishment, life, love, happiness, possessions, forgiveness, experiences--come by and are 100% meaningless without the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am in awe that someone as undeserving as me has been this blessed. That I am loved eternally by my God. That although I don´t understand the way things REALLY are completely, He helps me. He really does. Everyone reading this, thanks for your examples--I´ve been overlyblessed with extraordinary people in my life. Keep doing what you´re doing and maybe ask the missionaries how you can help them this week. They are working really hard. LOVE YOU ALL! WRITE ME AN EMAIL SOMEONE!
Love Hna Bourne

SISTER BOURNE

Emily has been in Chile 3 weeks now and her mother is keeping this blog to keep friends and loved ones updated.  Thanks for your love prayers and support! Judi

WITH PRESIDENT LOVELL AND HIS WIFE

After 26 hours of travel I meet my dear President and his wife!

From the Mission Home!

Family,
I have just arrived after about 26 hours of traveling since leaving the MTC.  I hardly slept and was completely uncomfortable until touching down from my third flight into Osorno.  Dad, flying inhere has nothing on the Happy Valley. Joke! It is the happy valley to the extreme! It is the happiest of all the valleys...Today is a beautiful, sunny, chilly, Chile day and it is green and I mean GREEN!  About 6 Elders, two office people, President and his wife met us at the airport.  I have felt absolutely terrified since stepping foot into the advanced MTC class until the moment I saw their smiling faces at the baggage claim.  Everyone has been nothing but so kind and welcoming.  President Lovell is such a gentle, calm, tender soul and Hermana Lovell is just a spitfire sasspot- I adore them both. President has everyone's names, hometown, and random facts memorized- he is awesome. We are just chilling in the mission home after a delicious lunch and President just informed me that I'll spend my first cambio here in Osorno with the "best sister" in the mission.  He got teary just talking about her.  She is from Argentina and this is her last six weeks, so I am so excited to start my mission working as hard as I can with a native in the city I'll probably end my mission in- he also said I am living in a small house with the best mamita in the whole mission(she cooks, cleans, and does laundry for us)- when the AP's found out they were jealous!  Anywho, it was so great talking to you at the airport yesterday.  I couldn't say everything I wanted to because I knew I wouldn't be talking to any of you till Christmas so I was kind of weird.  But seriously, thank you for your love and support and letters- they helped me so much in the MTC to work my hardest and to remember that although I feel like I am doing this completely alone, I have the best family on earth cheering me on and praying for me.  Mom and dad, you really are both phenominal people and thank you for having testimonies I've been able to lean on for so many years.  Even in these last three weeks, my testimony has been victim to my own thoughts and my own attacks on it.  Luckily, because of these atatcks on my testimony- it is stronger than ever.  I know this work will go forward because it is God's work.  I know that this is real.  That the reality in which we live is the one where God is God. Christ is not only the Son of God, but our Savior and Redeemer- the Atonement  was actually necessary and actually completed.  I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet who saw God the Father and Jesus Christ and the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through him.  I know the adversary is real and cunning and it is so easy to be distracted and led away by him.  I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is everything and I know that I have stepped over that line into lifelong discipleship and I'm never coming back.  I love that statement by Henry B. Eyring when he says "I will give till I drop , preach till all know, go till Christ comes and when He comes He will have no problem recognizing me, for my banner will be clear."  I aim to spend the rest of my life making my banner clear.
I love you all and still can't believe that the next whole year and a half will be spent here.  I can't wait.  Sincerely, thank you for everything you all have done, do and will continue to do for me.  It's ridiculous how lucky I am.  I love you all so much.  Sophie, be good because we have the best parents on earth.  I love you all more than  anything on this earth (besides the gospel, of course).  The gospel is true!
Hermana Bourne

B-R-R-R-R! MY SECOND WEEK IN CHILLY!

Family, friends. Admirers, countrymen!
Wow. Holy shrapnel. It´s only my second week and I have absolutely no idea where to begin. I only have like 20 minutes left on the computer. Okay. First of all, shout outs to SBLOOOOOOD! Soon to be Mrs. SBLOOD! Congrats on the engagement! I wish I could be there. The two of you are amazing and I wish you so much happiness!!! YAYAYAYA. The temple is honestly the single best place on earth. Enjoy it! Second, thanks to Tucker, Noah, Mary Evans, my mom, dad, and james for the dearelders and letters. Everyone else, I´m crying repentance to you! REPENT!!! Especially HAL and MIKEY (not to name any names or anything) (and send me a dear elder because I don´t have your addresses). People, dearelder is the best way to reach me. I promise I´ll try to write back, but right now I´m sort of focused on the eternal salvation of the souls of the people of Camino Real....so....I´ll try. 
This weeks theme was rejection...hard core rejection and the most hilarious contacts EVER! We are expected to make 20 contacts every day where we walk up to random people and bear our testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. This week we had a guy so drunk he couldn´t stand up or talk, one guy with absolutely NO teeth (SIN DIENTES for all you Spain peeps), one guy opened his door, yelled ¨son falsos¨and slammed it, one man said the book of mormon was ¨dirty¨and I was tempted to ask if he needed a new one, one guy said ¨sincerely, you are of the devil¨, and a few even ran away from us. There was one day where every single thing we did DIDN´T work! It was awesome though because while these people were scorning the truth, my heart just felt a little sad for them. Hopefully they can have to opportunity again later down the road. But, the thing I learned this week was that hat ONE moment you have with an investigator where they take one step closer to Christ is worth an entire weeks worth of exhaustion, tired feet, study, slammed doors, and insults. We had a moment like that with Victoria, her children, the bishop, and Hno. Chaipul. It was incredible. She´s working towards baptismo and we are stoked!
Cultural note. It is super difficult...near impossible to get divorced here, so the chilenos have found a solution. They just don´t get married! No one here is married but EVERYONE has children and is living together which makes the law of chastity a tad dificult to follow. One woman named Maria (she´s wanted to get baptised for a while) had a blessing in disguise when her partner hit her and left. Of course its a horrible, horrible thing abuse, but now she has a date, is changing and repenting, and moving on with her life. Another cultural note...there are Callalillies in ALL the yards here. My favorite flower EVER! (I think its a little tender mercy). Osorno is in the middle of the happy valley, but all the neighborhoods are pretty trashy....so the flowers help. Another thing...I hate the dogs here. There are more dogs than people and these things are feisty! We had to run as fast as we could the other night to escape the wrath (and probably rabies) of a little guy. Another thing, the people here speak SO fast. They do not move their lips. Everyone reading this say something as fast as you can so all your words slur together and no one can understand you....thats what I´m trying to understand every moment here, but in a different language. BRAU! The people really are so awesome though, if you can get into their houses. One more fun fact and I´ll move on to the gospel. If anyone gets called down here the number one thing they need is a sleeping bag. I wear that thing all the time in the house because our wood stove is pretty good at keeping us warm but not really. My comp loves it because I hop around to the kitchen and bathroom like a worm.
Okay, so we had zone conference this week and it was INCREDIBLE in every sense of the word. The mission is falling behind in baptisms and continued attendence so we have a mountain of work, but I know that with the Lord, we can do it. We are expected to teach 30 lessons a week and 50% of those with a member present. I don´t know how that compares to the rest of the world, but I feel like it´s a doozy! (Dad, that´s for you). We had 19 total last week and 22 this week, so we are getting there. It´s my personal goal to work up to the standards and then exceed them every week. Pray for me please! I can´t even begin to describe the kinds of experiences I´m having here. The actual relationship that I have with God is growing. It´s more real and consuming than ever. Things I do have purpose and meaning. I feel like I¨m actually helping people eternally and it´s marvelous. The ways I study and pray are 100% different than before because its REAL. The reality in which we live is that God is our Father, we are his Children on the road back to him. We came to earth to receive bodies so we could progress, but we can´t without the Spirit. There are eternal laws given to us that we disobey—this is called sin. Because we all sin, we can´t have the Spirit with us or progress. Literally, we CAN´T. But because of the infinite wisdom and mercy of Heavenly Father, He sent His son to feel and experience every single thing we have, are, and will experience so that He could stand between us and justice IF we have faith, repent, are baptised BY the proper authority, receive the Holy Ghost, and continue to have the holy ghost by our perservering until the end of our lives. HE gives us everything for nothing. It´s quite marvelous. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to spread this message of hope and mercy with these people. It´s a gift.
I love you all. Mom,Dad,mikey,ash,james,katie,and Soph. I don´t really have time to write much, but I show everyone the picture of our family. Family is the most important thing and whenever I feel discouraged or frustrated, I remember how blessed I am to have you guys. Thanks for everything. You too other family and friends, I can´t express to you how infinitely blessed I am to have you all in my life...I can´t. I love you all. Go do good things.
Love, Hermana Bourne

Family!
Guess who chops wood and builds a fire every night to stay alive...guess who hasnt heard english and wont for the next 11 weeks...guess who lives with and Argentine angel who speaks silly (sho me shamo...shout out to elder davis)...guess who is going to be completely spherical when she rolls off the plane...guess who has been FREEZING since she flew over the border...guess who lives on $150 a month? HERMANA BOURNE! This is the life, family (and friends)
Dont even know where to start, holy shrapnel. I am on a mission. no, business first. I have one hour a week to email. I have to email prez lovell and then can only send ONE other email to the family member of my choice. Sorry everyone, the blog is it. I have not received any mail because we are not that close to the presidents house, but the APs called and I DO have mail. The dear elders are the best because they print them off at the office and bring them to zone conferences and stuff. So Ill get them on thursday I hope. I cant really read emails and stuff before I send you guys anything, I print them off and then read them later today or whatnot. Thats about all the business I have.
Okay, the mission. We flew overnight to Santiago and I talked with the people in the airport and in the next seat a lot. No conversions or miraculous stories, but I bore my testimony and had a good time. It is SO cold here. Literally, when our plane flew over the border into Chile, my blood FROZE. It is humid and really cold here. My everyday outfit cosists of the gs, pantyhose, pants, slip, skirt, undershirt, shirt, sweater, fleece, and waterproof shell. BRAU. We arrived at the airport the day after we left and prez and the aps were there to greet us. I was SO happy to see sister lovell. She ran right over and gave me the biggest hug (hugs are hard to come by in the mission field when you cant really touch anyone). It was wonderful because I had been traveling with a pack full of elders since salt lake. Sorry I sounded so tired on the phone. A. I was and B. It was more of a scared-tired than anything else. But thank you for what you wrote in your email, dad. Ive decided to do just what you told me. To focus more on what I CAN do than what I CANT. Thats the key. ANd this week, I decided to make the theme of my mission -lift where you stand-. pretty good, eh? I will never be exceptional in the language or cultural shrapnel, but I can lift, I can bear testimony, I can teach (kind of), and I can encourage...so thats what Im going to do. It has been SO frustrating to not have ability in the language. All I want to do is say normal, simple things, and I cant. But I am learning, and my Castellano (Spanish :) ) gets better every single day.
Onto the comp. She is an angel straight from heaven (and Buenos Aires). I swear when she floated into presidents house, she was glowing. She is the epitome of meekness, kindness, and patience (which I never really developed, but because of her, I do) simultaneously, she is bold and knows what she knows. Hermana Alvarez speaks absolutely NO english which is awesome, yet hilarious sometimes. I taught her the word for -freckle- yesterday and we died laughing because of her pronunciation. We work hard, and we are progressing as comps. Ive been so blessed to have her as my comp.
The work is nothing like I expected. I have no clue what I was expecting. We really do contacts. We are required to do 20 per day, teach 30 lessons a week (50% with a member), and baptise every month. Pretty lofty goals considering NO ONE here is married and very flaky. But I have met some incredible people here. One example is Hermano Chaipul, the ward mission leader. Heard the gospel when he was 10, got dunked, served a mission in Vina del Mar (Chile) and has never looked back. Has a beautiful family and job, but spends SO much time with us teaching and bearing testimony and trying to pronounce the Ss in the words because no one pronounces them here. Really weird, but beautiful accent here. He told me yesterday that it is his DREAM to see the Salt Lake Temple and feel the strength of the members and pioneers inside. He got kind of teary and then said, well, if I cant in this life, I will in the next. It was so tender and sweet. He is such a good man.
FOOD. Okay, people. Im going to be huge. Our mamita (every companionship has one) cooks for us and does our laundry and loves us. Ours in a member and apparently the best in the entire mission. Her meals are just huge heaps of LOVE. So we wake up at 7, drink herbal tea or have a slice of bread, study all morning and then go to the mamitas at 1230 for HUGE portions of deliciousness and prosolite until 930 or 10. plan, drink somthing, sleep. Im not in osorno, osorno. Im in rahue (raw-way) alto in barrio (neighborhood) camino real. It consists of huge neighborhoods full of two room houses that are TINY and dirty and smooshed, but its great. Hna alvarez said Ill probably be here for 2 transfers. So im trying to get to know everyone I can here because when she leaves (this is her last cambio), I have to show my new senior comp around. AHHHHHHHH. 
Shout outs real quick. Mom and dad, you are my biggest supporters, and you do NOT understand what your letters and encouragement means to me. It means Im not alone out here and that I have you guys cheering me on up north. Sincerely, thank you. I love you both so much. MIkey and Ashley, BABY! Love you both, Im happy you are settling into your life in the chester and baby is swimming around well. Cutie pants. Mike! Congrats on the test. Dominate EVERYONE. James, get married! JK; I want to be there for that. But I hear that you are quite the ladies man...keep it up! Love you. Katie...what the 93% on anatomny! HOLY SHRAPNEL. do the junior core. Jk...mine! You are so smart! Say hi to nate and andy for me! Sophie, I tell EVERYONE about you. YOu are such a good little sister, thanks for writing to me and I hope you are good in school. I love you babe.
Bette and Bubba, Im sorry I cant write you an email, but I love you both so much and would love to hear from you.
HAl and Cynthia, your words of encouragement helped me so much in the MTC. THANK YOU, sincerely. Love you.
Halsy. BRAU CHICA BRAU BRAU! Cambiamos. Sera un misionero por todo su vida. le amo muchisimo. quiero sepa que estoy trabajando mucho y ohala que puedo un misionera como tu. I LOVE YOU and welcome home. Dont get married yet.
Everyone else, you are the best! Thank you for your prayers and letters and support. Its someones birthday this week but I cant remember because Im a bad person, but I love all of you and Im happy to be here! 
ps, i tried to send pictures, but its being weird, So ill try the next time. Love you! Hna Bourne
pss, SOMEONE get me kathy jones address!!!!!

I'M IN CHILE!

Emily arrived in Osorno Chile on October 4th.  She met with her mission president and met her new companion Hermana Alvarez.  Her president said Hermana Alvarez was, in his opinion, the finest missionary in the church!  High praise indeed, and lucky Emily to be trained by such a wonderful sister!

19 DAYS IN THE MTC - AND I'M OFF TO CHILE!!!

mmmmmmmmmm

First things first. (And there's a LOT of first things). I'm going to be an AUNT of a little girl. Ash, that just made my day!!!!! I'm doing the David Archuleta dance right now. Congrats to mike and ash on the whole birth-giving business.

Okay, so much to tell all of you. First of all, shout outs. Shout out to everyone who has written me here. I've officially received more mail than my entire district of 14 people COMBINED. We also learned about having investigators make commitments this week...so will you, family friends and others, help me receive DOUBLE the mail this week? Just kidding. But a shout out to Tanna Fox who is absolutely incredible and inspiring (thank you for your prayers...I NEED them), Blob LeBaron (I need your address BLOB. dearelder it to me so I can write you properly), the fam, the grandparents, my MADRE (amazing encouragement thank you and love you), but most of all HALSY--who gets home a day after I leave. Halsy, I just absolutely admire, love and respect you for your service and love. Thank you for being so incredible.

Business Paragraph: Dad, I'm flying American Airlines and I DO NOT have the number so have it ready when I call you on Monday @ 2pm. (Mommy, I'll call you too. Have the cell ready!) Okay I'm going to tell you about the week.

I only know TWO things. One, that I am completely and utterly unqualified to represent the Savior in every way possible. Two, that stupid knee-highs make my feet stink to high heaven. Back to the first one. My feelings of inadequacy are just growing exponentially. Not only is my whole district native Spanish speakers...but they are incredible people as well. They bear testimony like no other and it's such a privilege to know 'em. They exceed my expectations of 19 year olds in every way and I learn so much from them. Sorry this is so scattered, but there's a red countdown feature at the top of my screen so if this isn't coherent...my bad. The theme of this week is weakness! All of you who know me at all know that I LOVE to be right or the best or first or anything like that. I hate being weak. Don't get me wrong, I love my MTC experience and can see ways every day that the Lord is blessing me even though I deserve none of it--it's just really hard. Zabet, picture first week of Junior Core over and over and over again except people's eternal salvation is your responsibility. (Speaking of Zabet. MARRIAGE! I love you Zabet and Flamm. Flamm, nobody on earth could do better than Zabet Zenger. You are a lucky man. Congrats. Also, Zabet you haven't written me. Also, I see your brother all over this place and he is just the most adorable thing on the planet. Him and a bunch of Russian elders sang at our Sunday night devo and blew the roof off the place.)

Okay, back on track--weakness. I was sitting in my 8th hour of class for the day when my teacher asked if we'd like to study some Christlike attributes. We decided on patience and I know that was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father just for me. I feel so frustrated with myself all the time because I just want to express my deepest feelings and convictions (or sometimes just tell a simple story) but CAN"T because I really don't speak Spanish. I'm frustrated because I think I thought that if I gave my best here every day the Lord would loosen my tongue and by this time next week, I'd be jammering away with the natives. I expected this blessing in my own time--and that's not the way to go! I need this experience because it tests my faith that the Lord will bless me in HIS own way and HIS own time. I need this experience because I needed my confidence in MY own abilities to be brought down. I needed to be the absolute worst at something to completely turn to the Lord and trust that I'll be okay. If that beautiful tender mercy wasn't enough, I was reading Ether 12:27 the classic that I always kind of brushed over (because COME ON, I'm Emily Bourne...joke!) I am coming to the Lord in a whole new kind of way over here and because of that, He has definitely shown me my weaknesses. Many, many of them. I am just humbled to the ground to think of how horrible I am in so many aspects of my life. I need to be so much better if I'm going to represent the Savior in Chile. I need to improve in every single possible way if I even have a shot. Luckily, I had the sweetest experience in the temple today. I just apologized to Heavenly Father for how bad and weak I am. My answer was the feeling of "It's okay, I can make you what you need to be." SUCH a great answer, NO? I've just been glowing all day with the strengthened hope and confidence that I'm not going to impede the work because God can make me something that He's going to need me to be so I don't need to worry so much...just keep swimming...just keep swimming. I think the whole "being in the MTC for only 19 days before getting shipped out" is a blessing that I needed. I know that if I would've been in intermediate, I'd have been just comfortable and fine--but I don't like that...so I'm taking this opportunity to be stretched as thin as I think I can be and then a little more. I'm so grateful to be here.

Holy cow, you're having a GIRL ash. I LOVE YOU.

Ummm....funny little things going on. I have had the hymn "Scatter Sunshine" in my head ALL WEEK and I'm going crazy. Ramirez knows I hate that hymn so she keeps picking it in class to sing!!! She's awesome. Also, I am definitely fatter than I was two weeks ago--no big deal. I'm sure there's a nice, juicy tapeworm waiting for me in Osorno. It was pizza day a few days ago--Andy, you know what that means! OH yeah, we sang Called to Serve for the very first time last week. It took SEVEN days until I sang that at the MTC...I feel jipped. Dad, Bill Murray (or his twin) taught us about Baptism being central to our purpose as missionaries and I just pictured him saying "well it's groundhog day again..." and other such hilarious lines.

 People, write to me! emails are great but I can only check them on Pdays--dear elders are the best AND dear elder goes to Osorno too! I'm box 92 and every dear elder sends me your home address so I can write you a good letter back. Funniest letter of the week...definitely BLOB. You need to tell me more about what happened with you know who and I hope you aren't too injured from your car accident...I'll pray for you, you fragile boy. Cutest letter, SOPHIE girl you are amazing. I cried when I got that. Family, I hope you know I love you. Mom, thank you for the hymn books (from my whole district) they love 'em. Family, I do love you though. Thanks for praying for me and thinking of me and writing to me. I can't wait to get out of the MTC (Heavenly Father knew I couldn't be in here for 9 weeks and He knew I needed to learn these lessons) on Monday. I'll be calling. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE you all. (mom, pics are coming in the mail, I can't send them over email at the MTC. Poor Sam, I see him ALL the time. He's absolutely incredible (well done Sue and Dave!), but really wants to get out. Welp, my time is coming to an end. I hope you understood any of this email...I'm sweating because that DANG countdown clock (and probably because I'm getting HUGE from this food ;) ). Love you all. Thanks for the prayers and letters...

LOVE YOU. Em

mom and dad... I love you