Merry Christmas!!

I think I am the happiest person on earth.  Sorry everyone else.  Me and the Chilean comp are buckling down, focusing our unmakeuped eyes on the work and glory of God, letting our uncolored, unstyled hair fly, walking our gross, caloused feet to the bone and WORKING! That sounded really gross.  I seriously hope I´m not as bad as I describe.  I´ve attached my most recent photo to this blog so you can all get an idea...:)

People, Merry Christmas.  My favorite part was going to the local old folks home and singing Christmas carols to the ancianos. The blind one clapped all through ¨Silent Night¨ and the deaf one talked through ¨Angels we have Heard on High¨.  The tiny little grandma with crippled hands said she wanted to knit me a pair of socks and I can come get them on Friday.  They are such wonderful children of God.  ON Christmas day, HEavenly Father put us in the path of Ana...A little old lady with flaming red hair that lives alone because her daughter died 4 years ago.  She lives in a one room house with a broken wood stove in a mudfield.  We sang Christmas carols and taught her about the Savior and gave her pictures of Christ (I´m pretty sure it was her only Christmas present) She expressed her desires to follow Christ and commited to be baptized 22nd of Enero.  It was so wonderful.

I feel joy in serving Heavenly Father and His children. It is THE greatest blessing of my life and sometimes I just can´t contain the gratitude I feel.  I feel like everything is so clear.  It´s like Elder Uchtdorfs talk in Conference about slowing down and focusing on the basics.  That´s the only stuff I focus on out here and it really brings JOY.

Big Congrats go out to ALEXIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No way Paul.  What a wonderful couple....I love freshman year.  Tambien....HILARY HDAWG congrats on your matrimony tomorrow.  I went to Coyhaique and the elders had this gigantic envelope and I walked in and said ¨who the heck is that for!?¨ (but in spanish obviously) I was exceedingly pleased to discover it was for me and even more pleased to find out that you are getting marriaged tomorrow! AHHHH. yay. And luz and jess....I love you both.  Make sure you take lots of pictures with my creepy mannequin.

What else? Really great to talk to you fam.  You all sound wonderful and it was nice to hear your voices. I really don´t have much to say because I´d rather be working.  It sounds like you all have my future pretty well planned out and I´m super happy about that.  YOU all can worry about my future...I´m going to be thrusting in my sickel.   I LOVE YOU ALL.  Grandpa Hal...good luck in that toe and vein pageant...I´m rooting for you!

Hermana Bourne

Merry Christmas!

Aysen is the only place I´ve ever served where there is the simultaneous threat of earthquake, tsunami, volcano explosion, blizzard, flood, and dog bites. I. LOVE. IT.  Merry Christmas to all.  Remember that we are celebrating the birth of the Savior of our souls. Independently of any other person on earth, I know that Christ lives.  I will be in His service for the rest of my life because I desire to please my Father in Heaven.  We chopped a bazilion pounds of wood, so we´ll be toasty and happy all week.  People, I love you all, but writing home is so lame.  Parents, I will call the 24th at 1 or 2 my time....


Merry Christmas, I love you!
Hermana Bourne

"I'll probably never come home...."

People, my mission could NOT be cooler.  People are progressing, I´m turning more into a ¨sister¨ every day, the relief society goes and visits our investigators without even being asked, EVERYONE wants to eat Sunday dinner with the new Hermanas. I love being a missionary.  A lady we taught once stopped us in the street and said she got an answer to her prayer about the restoration and wants us to come by.   I´m the only gringa within an hour busride.   It rains every day all day, I got emails from RAMROD and teef! .  I think I saw a Trex come down from our coniferous mountains and I. AM. LOVING. IT. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Every second of every day I can see and feel and hear (and taste sometimes) the blessings that Heavenly Father is constantly pouring over my head....it´s ridiculous.  What a happy, growthfilled, solid, wonderful time of my life.  I´ll probably just never come home.   Sorry.

This week we solidified a bunch of stuff in the sector.  We have a handful of really wonderful investigators (two of which came to the branch....miracle!!!!) who understand what they are working for.  The branch president and his wife are the best people I´ve ever met and trust us completely.  The sisters are just dying to come out with us....I haven´t even really seen my comp because we´ve been in divisions almost every day.  We got the house all clean and liveable and ready for the next few months.  We bought a meter of wood to keep us alive and have been chopping to our hearts content.  I broke down and finally bought an umbrella....my first one since Ovejeria in January.  We solidified a bunch of worthy goals....spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, and yes, physically. We raised the ¨Estandarte del cuerpo celestial¨ .  It says ¨in memory of our health, our pride, our friends, families.¨ We are giant nerds....but seriously...what would happen to YOU if you ate 2 potatoes and 3 pieces of bread at lunch every day for more than a year....uh oh. :)

I´m kind of all over the place in the email because we are in Coyhaique and our bus is going to leave.  We came to eat an all you can eat buffet of pizza with the elders.  It was so hilarious.  We have hands down the best zone this cambio.  They all rode a mechanical bull after.  We declined politely.  Wouldn´t be appropriate for hermanas...pucha. 

Kathy Jones, can I just say how much I love you? Thank you for being a phenominal friend and fellow hermana all this time.  I prayed and fasted for you while you were out and loved your lettters.  I was thrilled to hear about your hard core (other religion) baptism who is going to serve a mission.  What a giant blessing.  I know YOU were that change your last sector needed.

Well family and friends, I´d invite you to the phone call on Christmas, but my family is escaping to the mountains of Idaho for Christmas sorry! LIZ AND JESS, I WANT PICTURES. I LOVE YOU BOTH and was thinnking about you today. less than a month! wow.

I´m sorry, we got to run...have a beautiful day.  I enjoy every second down here....what a lucky hermana.

Hermana Bourne

Holy Shrapnel!! I'm in Jurassic Park!!

HOLY SHRAPNEL!

So much goodness!

1.  I am in the best sector of the best rama of the best zone of the best mission IN THE WORLD! (Sorry beckron and Ramrod).  I lied about Coyhaique.  I´m more isolated than even that!  After arriving in Coyhaique after a whole day´s travels..me and my comp took a bus through a wilderness for and hour and a half to the beautiful pueblo of Puerto Aysén.  Oh. My. Goodness.  I feel like I´m in Jurrasic Park.  Chile is so weird and different.  I am, once again, FREEZING.  It rains 400 days of the year here and the giant mountains that surround us on all sides are always snowcapped and all mysterious and GREEN.  We have a river that runs throught the pueblo with a puente that looks like the one in San Fransisco.  There are signs that says ¨tsunami danger zone....run to higher ground¨ I´ll take a photo and send it out as soon as my suitcase comes.  My comp is from Santiago and reminds me of a statue...she´s really noble, but hilarious and wants to be perfectly obedient and wants to know everything.  We have the best time together.  Yesterday was incredible.  There haven´t been sisters in this branch for 15 years and so EVERYONE is taking really good care of us.  The branch prez is INCREDIBLE and is wife is even more so.  I don´t think I´ve ever fallen in love with my sector and the people so fast.  My sepulture is beautiful and I will die happy and working.

2.  Beckron, thank you for writing me! wow.  I can´t believe it.. It´s like yesterday you pulled out your calling and shouted in disbelief ¨WHAT?!¨ Taiwan...wow. I love you.  Call my family because Katie my little sister is on board to live with me next year...we can coordinate :)

3.  Mom, I love you.  Thanks for your emails.

4. Okay, someone has to talk to Presidente Lon Packard because my comp knows him and we both agree he´s awesome.  Hermana Donoso has 9 brothers and sisters and they are ALL members in Santiago.  The world is so small.  Remember how my seminary teacher´s brother baptized my comp?

5. Opening a sector is hilarious...we only have the carpeta (uhhh...notebook of the area..something like that).  I´ve reverted to thinking in Spanish and dreaming again. LOVE IT! We´re meeting random people all over the place and we have to create some more stability this week...but we are getting to know everyone and I love it.

6.  So I´m reading in Lucas in the Bible and I think it was in cap. 14, but I was so impressed with the Joseph Smith Translation.  It says something like ¨settle this in your hearts, that you will do what I teach¨ I can´t get it out of my mind. In D and C 58:29 I think it teaches us that even if we obey, we can still be condemmed because we obey with a doubtful heart.  Our hearts MUST change to desire what God wants, or He can NOT change us.  If we do everything that we are supposed to but still secretly hold these desires in our hearts, we will not become like the Savior because it is not possible.  We need to even give the secret desires of out hearts to God or we will not be capable of being saved because that´s not how He works.  He doesn´t want to make the natural man inside of us better or change it.  He wants to kill it.  Then He wants to give us a whole new heart.  I have a testimony that when I have honestly tried to give my whole heart and mind (MY will and desires aka obey with happiness)  not only my strength and might (aka..obedience maybe with a little resentment) to God, He has made something SO much better of my efforts. Just some thoughts floating around...

7.  I have a compromiso for all of you. DON¨T BE TRUNKY.  I don´t like it.  If you are trunky I´ll just stay down here and buy a little piece of campo and live here the rest of my life.  Chao no mas with the rest of you!  Nah, it´s all a big lie.  But seriously, write me about your testimony...what helped YOU on your mission...how you helped someone else today or what you learned while studying the scrips!

8.  If you are debating...go on a mission.

9. Best christmas package ever mom! Thank you so much, thank you thank you thank you.

10.  We are doing okay infiltrating the man zone.  The Elders down here are the sweetest in the mission and are really taking care of us (even though they ALL live between 1 and 5 hours away)

I LOVE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU.

Hermana Bourne