Trick or Treating in April...

Family,

A. Katie! You look incredible and happy and wonderful.  It´s funny the physical changes that happen when you make changes inside.  You know that creepy glow that returned missionaries have?  I was looking in the mirror a few months ago and noticed that the color of my eyes have changed and they are creepily clear.  Also, I am now creepily white.  Ps, guess which sister is me in that photo.

B. Haven is the most beautful child on the planet.  Well done Mike and Ash!

C. CALLIE WHITE! I got your wedding announcement this week and just died of happiness! Congrats my love, you have a letter coming!

D. Dad, what the heck? You HAVE to write me a letter next week. Not a talk. A Letter.

E. Lizzie, you would. Have the best time in Europe...SLOW.  Keep your head, follow the Spirit, do the right thing (like always) and wait at least until March to wed! :)

F. Jess, I busted out the Sasquatch this morning for my comp and we died laughing. I love you.

G. Mom, you are the best. I love you and thanks for the updates and the pictures.

H. Hilarious thing happened yesterday.  We went to the Twilight Zone.  It's a really dead, but rich area and we were searching out a less active.  It looks like Holladay down there.  There were crunchy leaves on the ground, red and orange trees, menacing clouds and a light breeze.  I turned to the McCllelster and said, ¨Compi, it´s Halloween today, just look at these trees.¨ At that very moment, we both looked, and a dog that was right in front of us turned to look at us with one milky eye that was at least twice the size of its other eye.  We died laughing and then ten seconds later a creepy man pushing a wheelbarrow crossed us muttering to himself. Then we contacted two devilish people.  It only helped that we were going from door to door ringing doorbells.  Trick or Treating was fun yesterday!  The whole ¨opposite seasons¨ (we´re in fall in April and May) is throwing me for a big loop. I´m expecting Christmas in June.

I. We´re baptizing the cutest 9 year old named Tamara this weekend.  We reactivated her parents and her dad is going to baptize her. It´s amazing what a little obedience to the commandments of God, reading the scriptures, and going to church can do.

J. GRANDMA! I got your incredible package.  The best part was that I finished the LDM in Spanish a few weeks ago and have been really wanting to start it again.  I got your package during zone conference and I´m officially doing the Bourne Family Challenge. Count me in!

K. Hal, te quiero igual.  ¿Porque me escribiste en Espanol? siendo gringo....eres muy blanco, cierto? Ojala que Liz y Clarkie se casen en Marzo para que podamos estar alla juntos. (juntos para siempre = worlds best video).

L. Someone get me Sam Spafford´s address, I´ve been wanting to write him for quite some time now.

M. Everyone reading this, drop me a line! emily.bourne@myldsmail.net

N. Sorry this email was kind of lame everyone, but I love you and know that this gospel will go forth to every corner of the earth (including mine!)

O. Bouchdial, Send me the wedding invite!!!!!! I´m so happy for you two.

P. Chao! Hasta la proxima semana.

Q.  If anyone is contemplating serving a mission, DO IT and thank me later.  Best few months ever. Not a sacrifice at all. I find joy here every single day.

Hna Bourne

FALL HAS ARRIVED IN CHILE!

Family/Friends...You're all family...!

BAPTISM! Melisa is the best person on earth! The baptism was beautiful.  She wore the temple dress of her neighbor and when she came out of the water we just cried together and shared a big, wet, hug and she thanked us for bringing this to her.

Short this week, but we have zone conference.  Well, fall has arrived...I smell wet dry leaves and it gets dark at 5 now.  I wear at least four shirts, a sweater, a jacket and then my parka to stay alive and we are LOVIN iT!  You know how when Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and he described him as being above the whiteness of the snow?  I´m pretty sure Moroni lived in Punta Arenas.  We are translucent here.  I´m gonna go out on a limb and say I´m pastier than Sophie (love you honey).  Happy birthdays to dad and Adam Case and Tanner!  Way to go everyone!

Katie, thank you for your emails...Loved them.  Ummm...advice about getting answers to prayers.   I had a hard time with this at the beginning.  How do we know when its us or God speaking? What if there are 3 great options and we´re confused?  What I have found is to stop worrying about it, DO what is right (aka, pray, study the scrips, serve), and in the course of being a good person, God will lead you for your good.  Obviously, we have to actively SEEK the answers...but in the meantime, be a good person...keep your covenants and you will be led for good.  The Spirit is the most delicate thing in the entire world.  OH! I have a good example.  We are teaching this 9 year old daughter of a less active family who´s returning to church.  We spent hours studying and planning and worrying about how we were going to teach her a specific concept.  We came up with about 7 analogies, stories, examples, or pictures and prayed and went in there not knowing what or how we were going to teach her.  Right after we said the prayer, my companion started with something completely different than ANYTHING we had even planned and I suddenly knew where to take the lesson.  It ended up being one of the best lessons we´ve ever taught and she´s ready and prepared for her baptism.  Yes, we didn´t use ANY of our planning, but it wasn´t wasted.  I believe that our preparation QUALIFIED us to have the Spirit, which then showed us what to do.  Whatever you are planning on doing this next year....think about it, pray about it, talk to mom and dad about it and then just live right (or, be qualified to receive the guidance of the spirit, of light!.  You´ll be great.  God expects us to create our own lives (check out D and C 58) and to do many good things of our own free will.  Use what you learned in Jerusalem as a jumping board to now make these next four months even better.  You´ve obviously experienced a lot of improvement and wouldn´t want to lose any of it.  keep going at this pace!  I´m really proud of everything you´ve learned and how you´ve changed and whatever you choose to do (I secretly hope a mission) will be just wonderful.

Fam, I love you all.  Lizzie, remember you promised to wait till March :)  Mom, I will be fasting on the 22nd for Bette and she´ll be in my prayers.  Just remember everyone that even in times when we don´t understand what´s going on or why, there is a living and loving God who does and sometimes we just have to rely on that. Love you all! Keep up the good work!

Hermana Bourne

Mom, I´m praying for you and love you so much.  Dad, have a blast in LA and happy birthday...I baptised the best convert I´ll ever have here on the 17th and she was confirmed on the 18th. I don´t know where the time is going.  I want to slow it down. I have 7 months already and I have interviews with president tomorrow so we´ll see who my new comps going to be.  LOVE YOU BOTH.  Ps, james, that painting was phenominal.....was a bit of a shock to see a naked man as a missionary, but you are ridiculously talented! Love you all!

PICS FROM THE LAST 6 MONTHS IN CHILE!

CONFERENCE WEEK!

(pictures coming next week...)

And the best mom award goes to........ (drum roll).....MOM! Best package EVER! You are so sweet...thanks for thinking of me!  Thank you SO much.  The thermals came just in time (it is FREEZINGer than ever and it´s started getting dark at 5)

Thank you Mikey and Ashley for the emails and the pictures of Havey baby...she is just beautiful and already starting her career as a baby model.  Haven...so hot right now.

Well people, week three of the cambio is over and it was a DOOZY!  Melisa (our evangelical turned hard core Mormon baptism this weekend...(happy birthday DAD! That one´s for you) got up in testimony meeting and called the whole congregation to repentence and then bore a powerful, but very humble witness of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  This woman has the whole Bible memorized and yet has humbled herself to listen to two gringa missionaries and acutally ACT of the promises we´ve made to her.  Every time we come over, she thanks us profusely and asks when we can visit her again.  Now we are just working on her husband and two kids (temple bound family!!!!) and we are just dying with excitement all the time for them!  She´s getting baptizled on the 17th and confirmed on the 18th.

I just can´t believe how beautiful it is day after day to be a missionary.  Me and the McClellster are working really hard.  Yesterday, they asked me to play the piano for sacrament meeting and it didn´t turn out very good.  EVERYTHING was against me. The pedal is broken, they made me play songs I´ve never played before, AND the latinos love to make up how songs sound...so when I played it right and they sang it wrong...I was in the wrong.  But, as I sat there and looked over this faithful congregation of people I´ve loved, served, listened to, and taught...I almost exploded with gratitude and joy at the absolute blessing it is to be here.  I just can´t believe the joy that sharing the gospel brings.  I didn´t know about it before my mission and I still think I don´t understand it completely now.

Anywho, everyone... I love you all, I really do.  It´s a blessing to be your daughter, granddaughter, sister, or friend (or niece, or second half-cousin or whatever I am)

Love, Hermana Bourne

HOLY SHRAPNEL, katie gets home from Jerusalem this week! LOVE YOU KATIE!!!!! 


(Email from last week!)

Say it with me people...HOLY SHRAPNEL. Good things are happening here down where the penguins roam and the wind blows you across the street.  All of it. All of it is just beautiful and wonderful and happy. It all started out last Tuesday when we sat down with the mamita to almorzar.  We started off the week with a big plate of sardines and onions--a combination for success if I´ve ever seen one...especially in close contacts.  (Dad, I thought you´d enjoy that..I finished off every last one).  This was followed by multiple visits to Jose Lopez who got a really bad cold from his freezing baptism (dad, at least he didn´t die like your little old lady....)

 ¨Then THAT was followed by Melisa (our golden woman) fracturing her foot in a big car accident but STILL hobbling into conference to sit on the front row and hear a prophet´s voice.  She has a cast but told the Bishop that she will not move her date to be baptized so we´re figuring that one out.  THAT was followed by Elder Ballard´s talk about mothers and daughters.  My comp and I caught each other´s eyes and just KNEW our mothers were dying thinking of their poor little babies all the way down here. 

 Then, P day comes and I am flooded with a ridiculous amount of incredible thoughts and hilarious anecdotes from the fam, rich, halsy, katie, and BLOB.  Thank you all for writing to me. BLOB, I am dying still. most. hilarious, letter. ever. You´ll have a letter coming for that one.

I don´t know people, I love the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  I officially finished reading the BOM in Spanish out loud today and had such a beautiful little experience.  I have found that the Spirit usually doesn´t overwhelm us with big waves of emotion or tears.  As I read the words of Moroni out loud in a now-familiar language, I couldn´t help but feel that the central message of the Book of Mormon is the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  I closed the book and knelt down and sincerely, in the name of Jesus Christ, asked God if this book really would bring us closer to Him.  Nothing extraordinary burst from my heart, but the familiar feeling of peace came to me and the words "you already know this, every time you open that book you know it" passed through my mind.  I am grateful for the small, consistent, and beautiful feelings and confirmations I receive from the Holy Ghost.  These whisperings tell me that although there is so much I don´t understand or even know,  Jesus is who He said He was.  I think all the praises I could sing or poems I could write or testimonies I could bear could just be summed up in: Jesus is the Christ.  With that knowledge, I know that everything else is going to be alright.  That I can use the shield of faith to cover any other part where I´m getting hit by the adversary...that if I just stay in the strait and narrow, one step at a time I´ll arrive at eternal life.
 

I´m so happy to be in this state where everything is focused on the Savior.  I used to roll my eyes at the weird RMs (and I appologize if I ever did this to any of you), but I think I understand now.  To have the Spirit is a very delicate, but very real thing and we can loose it´s influence with one thought.  I´m thankful for the miracles I see down here, I´m thankful to be an instrument in the hands of God day after day, I´m thankful to see people humble themselves and accept the good news of the gospel...it´s really a marvelous thing a mission.

I had a few impressions from conference. One. That I´ve been blessed with two wonderful parents who love the Lord and their family.  Two. That my familiy is (right below God) the most important thing to me.  Three. That what I´m doing here is of eternal worth.  Four.  That I am scared to have to raise kids haha! Maybe I´ll just stay out here forever and be Hermana Bourne till I die!   I love all of you reading this blog.  The mission sharpens your memory (those of you who know me know my memory is worthless), but every once in a while one of you will run across my mind and I´ll remember something I learned from you or something I admire about you.  Keep doing what you´re doing, help the missionaries, pray with love, read with purpose, think of someone else and DO something for them, go to the temple, have a good laugh, eat a hot dog with avocado and think of me.  Love you all! Hermana Bourne

 

Mom and Dad,

 Every single talk during conference about kids or parents or the rising generation I couldn´t help but think you two did it right. I want to be like that.  Write a parenting book and give it to me please.  hehehe.  I really do love you two and during the conference I pictured you there in the conference and felt really far away for a little bit.  But really, the happiness of the work overwhelms me and I can't wait to get out and do it again today and every day. The time´s flying by too fast and I just want to relish every second, the good, the bad, the annoying, the stinky...  (there´s a LOT of that !).  Can´t write how much I love you, but I hope you feel it.  You two are the best and biggest influences in my life. Love you both.

Em

 

HOLY SHRAPNEL!

Family and Friends,

Wow! Thank you for the outpouring of love and letters this week!  I was ridiculously pleased to get testimonies and good news from the fam, Mikey, Katie, grandpa,  Noah, Teef, Brookie, and the Porters! WELL DONE EVERYONE. Seriously, that stuff just strengthens me. Katie, those pictures from Jerusalem are astounding! and Mikey and Nick and you mommies look SO great with your huge-bow-accesorized daughters! Congrats to everyone.

Well, we baptised Jackie Chan this week.  His name is Jose Lopez and we are just so excited about this one.  He is a 42 year old soltero who has been investigating for four years. Count em. Four years.  He finally quit smoking and is just gung-ho about the whole thing.  We were so excited to get him baptised that we flooded our whole chapel! As you can see by the photo, we make a 1 inch deep lake in the carpeted hallway of our chapel an hour before the baptisms.  Luckily, we found yet ANOTHER use for the broom here in Chile and we were able to sweep the water back into the overflowing font and in some way dry the carpet enough to walk on before the baptism.  Jose is a character! He gave himself a haircut and wore his white karate pants and chewed his gum (the way he has stopped smoking) right on into the font full of ice cold water.  The elders finished off the program with an impromptu musical number in English that was really just special.  It was so Jose Lopez I can{t stand it!

I have a list of HOLY SHRAPNELS this week:

Madi you are having a baby! ANOTHER oly couple is getting married! We baptised Jose Lopez! We flooded the whole chapel! I saw a huge rainbow this week.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to go.  Winter is coming. Holy Shrapnel.

People, I just love the mission.  I{m not going to lie, this week was a toughie.  Before my mission I thought it was all rainbows and penguins (like my pictures show), but to be so involved in the spiritual progression of other people is big.  We love these people, we pray and fast for these people, we sweep floods out of chapels for these people, we walk through wind and rain to get to them, we plan and study and worry about them, we work ALL day EVERY day to just help them feel desires to wake up and go to church on Sunday and then when they dont because they are tired just dissapoints me.  We had this with about six great investigators this week. " Work, work, pray, fast, rain, wind, study, work, love, help.....NOT COME TO CHURCH. " I love each of these people so much and when the effort is not made on their part, I just feel dissapointed.  I understand now, more than at any other time in my life, that living the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way.  There literally is NO other way.  To be distracted, to be dispondent, to be apathetic...these are not options.  There is nothing else.  We are here to become like the Savior and help others in their journey too.  The only way is the atonement of Jesus Christ.

We have a sweet way of teaching this now that we came up with this week.  Im drawing on my skydiving experience with Cepta Jones in Hawaii.  We are all in an airplane that is pointed down (each of our lives...thanks to sin).  Everyones angle pointed down is different (according to how grave the sins are).  But it doesnt matter the angle, because eventually...we will crash.  There is no gas left in the plane and we dont know how to fly the plane.  We are all in this state in life.  A state where we are separated from God because of our own sins.  There is NO solution, we can"t save ourselves.  The only way to jump out of this crashing plane without dying is a parachute.  Christ has given us this parachute (aka, the atonement) so that we can use it and be saved.  But, just like a real parachute, there is only ONE way to use it correctly.  We can't look at the parachute and say...oh, thats nice and then jump without it.  We also cant use the parachute in ¨our own way¨.  We can´t grab it by the strap and, holding it in one hand, jump.  No.  We read, we study, we put on the parachute and strap in in the way it is designed to work.  There is only ONE way.  

Same thing with the atonement.  We study, we pray, we learn that the only correct way to use the atonement is through faith...real faith that leads us to action...to repent and really change how we are in situations.  With that in mind, a baptism by the correct authority is absolutely necessary and commanded, so is receiving the Holy Ghost.  With that, we endure (or persevere) to the end...constantly renewing our covenants.  Without that, its like jumping correctly-but without pulling the cord--useless!  I love the paralell.  Yes, God does love ALL of His children.  Thats why Christ has given us the paracaida...its our responsibility to USE it in the correct manner.

Anywho, I know you all don´t want a sister missionary preaching to you...but for all you RM's, you know how it is.  I am so focused on the only thing that actually matters and I´ve never been happier about it and I just want to share it with you.  I really do love you all and am still in awe of the friends and family God has allowed me to have.  I dont deserve it, but I am nonetheless ridiculously grateful for all of you.  Keep up the good work, babies, testimonies, grades, prayers, service, and all that good jazz. I LOVE YOU ALL!

Hna Bourne

 

PENGUINS, EARTHQUAKES,TSUNAMI'S, CRAZED DOGS, VOLCANOES...BEST PLACE ON EARTH!

My new favorite sweater AND a sword made out of a swordfish.

  Lame pictures this week...I know.  SORRY!

Everyone! Shalom from the bottom of the world!  I hear the baby blessing was simply a wonderful experience and it´s a shame I missed it...but I´ve just been truckin away down here. I´m just happy here.  I woke up this morning just bursting with gratitude for everything.  It was as though all of the wonderful blessings I´ve had and do currently have rushed through my mind this morning.  I just started praying, overcome with the thought that 21 short years of life could hold so much happiness and so many beautiful experiences with family, friends, leaders, and most importantly the Savior.  I feel that I have been very fortunate to feel the hand and the love of God very early on in my life.  It´s like in Mosiah 4 when King Benjamin says, ¨that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls.¨ I feel like I have tasted of THAT goodness and that love.  He reminds us to remember our own unworthiness and nothingness before God...I feel like now, more than ever in my life, I feel my own inadequacies...ways in that I am NOT at all like the Savior (and, wow!, there are a lot of ways...).  I am reminded of my weakness on an almost minutely basis and am forced to rely soley on HIS merits, HIS mercy, and HIS grace all of the time.   I call on His name daily and I´m trying to stand steadfastly in faith of that which will surely come.  I think I´m starting to experience the beginnings of the promise that I will always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of my sins and I will grow in the knowlege of the glory of him that created me.  I have never been more deliriously content or happy in my entire life.  I have 100% confidence in God.  He knows all, He does all.  I feel like Alma or Nephi and I just want to shout from my rat-filled rooftop the goodness of God....the peace, love, joy, and happiness that CAN be ours when we submit ourselves to Him.  THere is no other way or means to have it.  I love God.  This work is joy.

Birthday shout outs. MOM! I love you and happy birthday.  I´m sorry I can´t really send anything down here, but I´m thinking about you and just pretend you get a breakfast in bed from me this year! (I´ll make up for it next year!) Ava FOX...you are so cute.  Susan Spaf...happy birthday! Send Sammy my love too! LUZ.  21! HOly Shrapnel.

Received two...count ém, TWO packages this week.  Way to go family!  One was a delicious reminder of LOVE from Gma and Gpa. THANK YOU! the other from the Waldos.  Thank you for the cards!!!! Steph, you are adorable.  Thank you.  AND HAL, that book of talks has already changed the way I´m serving my mission.  YOu have NO idea how much those have helped me. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

Okay, down to the serious stuff.  I stepped on a dead chicken this week...my comp pushed me into it. other than that, nothing else happened. PSYCH! (I lost all ability to spell anything).  We are currently working with a slew of incredible people.  We have two nine year olds (Martin and Tamara) who come from less active families who want to return (nothing like baptising your child to remind you of your baptisimal covenants!), a soltero named Jose Lopez who gave himself a Doris Day haircut (he´s guileless and only needs to quit smoking), and Melisa (an Evangelico who now KNOWs the BOM is true and is working for her baptism the 18th of April (my birthday gift to you dad!)).  Melisa is going to get baptised and we just KNOW her entire family (husband and two kids) are in tow. Punta Arenas is basically the best place on earth to serve.

It is the most hilarious place on earth.  We got penguins, volcanos, earthquakes, tsunamis, gusts of wind that blow you across the street, rain, snow, a hole in the ozone, cows, giant sloths (discovered here!), flamingos, antarctica...and don´t forget the dogs.  MIllions and millions of dirty, evil, street perros that hide behind the cars and wait for you to pass by before attacking you.  I love to serve here.

Like I said before, I´m just happy to be here.  I love my comp (we get along famously), I love the family that we live with (we live behind their house in a one room apartment) (the mom knocked on our door last night with completos), I love the bishop here (absolutely phenominal), I love the members, I love the Gospel, I love to talk to random people on the street, I love to feel the Spirit, I love to study the scriptures, I love to be an instrument in the hands of God to help people develop faith in Christ and receive the ordinances necessary for their salvation.  I´m ridiculously happy to be here.  I love you all! 

Hermana Bourne

Mom and Dad,

I love you guys.  Still working!

Katie,

EVERYONE IN THE FAMILY BUT ME! LAME!!! I want a good email from you missy.

Yep, I got nothing else, We´re going to go eat lunch.

Ash and Mikey, Haven is BEAUTIFUL.  Wow. Can´t wait to meet her.

Jamesy, I love you!

Everyone,

I have arrived as a missionary.  I now am the proud owner of a Jody Dress, the one thing that I swore to myself that I´d never, ever wear.  My humility has reached a point where I can proudly walk from door to door in a red potatoe dress made of 100% polyester and smile. 

Those penguins last week were hilarious! I am in the weirdest place on earth...we got to a point on our walk where we could see cows, flamengos, penguins, and the ocean....

Mom and dad, the address is the exact same...you have to send stuff to Osorno and then in our monthly mail, I´ll get whatever you sent me! 

Casilla 7-0

Osorno, Chile

A bunch of happy birthdays go out to basically EVERYONE! I can´t remember everyone, I´m sorry but I know we got Grandpa, Pete, Dave Spaff, Tom Fox, LUZ...man, I´m bad...who else?......MOM and SOPHIE! 

Sophie, you are going to be SO great on Sunday singing.  Make sure you record everthing on a chip that I can put in my camera so I can just watch it from there...if it´s on cd or anything else, I can´t.  Sophie and mom and Katie and Ash B, I have something for you guys, but mail is really difficult from down here, especially after the earthquake...flights are far and few between, so I´ll send them later but know that I didn´t forget about birthdays or anything.

Speaking of the earthquake...We are one of the only southern parts of Chile that didn´t get hit by anything. Even Osorno and Puerto Mont have felt some aftershocks that knocked missionaries out of bed. There was ¨¨supposedly¨supposed to be a tsunami here, but nothing happened.  I know that the devastation is just horrible...my district leader´s (chilean) family lost everything...house and all...but he´s doing great...he´s just a quality guy.  Please keep praying for Chile. 

Mom wanted an overview of Punta Arenas...hmmmm...take southern provo and move it to the bottom of the world...add penguins and volcanos.  That´s about where I am.  My comp and I received this big letter from the kids in seminary from her stake in California that was HILARIOUS.  It was full of questions like ¨have you seen any ancient ruins?¨or ¨can you feel the Spirits of the ancient inhabitants of the area?¨ or ¨do you have running water?¨or ¨are there sharks down there?¨.  We are living in this super normal neighborhood with people with jobs and kids that go to the university...everyone here has cars and the ward feels like I´m at home. 

 I absolutely ADORE my ward. Our bishop is this 32 year old convert who served a mission 10 months after his conversion...married this awesome Columbian and his job is to fly rich tourists to Antarctica and wine and dine them.  Our mission leader is just solid and the ward members we SO great about welcoming all of our investigators to church this Sunday. 

We´ve got a few baptisms in the works, but my favorite is Martin. He is the son of a less active who is 9.  The second time we went over there he shouted ¨I´m going to church this Sunday!¨and he went all by himself...then the next time, we had challenged him to pray about Joseph Smith and he told us that he received a really warm happy feeling and he knows that Joseph was a prophet.  Then he brought his less active mother and non member father to church and they were just smothered in love by the members.  We visited them later that night and he had bought me and McClellan little gloves.  We almost started crying.  There is a reason we get baptised at 8...these kids are just so pure and unadulterated and willing and open to hear and do God´s will.  No wonder Christ wants us to become like little children....I want to be more like that.

ps, jac! Thank you for writing me.. the family sounds great and you are darling to write!

Family, I just love you and love to hear from you every week. I think my emails are getting lamer and lamer..I know.  I can´t help it.  My life is down here now and my worries and joys are down here now and I have problems speaking English- let alone writing out everything that I´m experiencing and doing in 30 minutes.  But know that I pray for you and love you and everyone in my district has seen the giant family picture and knows all of you :).

Mom and dad: still like to hear from you two the best! Thanks for your love and support and thoughts and jazz.

Mikey and Ashb and baby:  Got the baby announcement! SO adorable, throw me a bone and write me some updates!!!

Jamesy: whatever is going on, I just love you and know your life will turn out beautiful

Katie: you sound like you´re learning so much and changing in so many ways! Put your newfound knowledge to WORK and go get em! LOVE YOU!

Sophie: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You are a decade old! Wow, I love you more than you´ll ever know.  You´ll have a present coming in like a few months.

Bette and Bubba: Love you both SO much.  Keep going to church...its the only way to be happy.  I love you both and am glad you´re both doing well! Love from the bottom of the world!

Gma and Gpa: you are both so wonderful! thank you for everything. I LOVE the calendar and its so nice to get a little taste of home every once in a while. Send the family my love at the next party!

 

Welp, thats all I got. Lame, I know.  The pictures are of me in my Jody Dress and me and McClellan in the plaza in Punta Arenas.  Dad, we WILL go to Torres del Paine while we´re here.  You have to go through Puerto Natales to get there...but I´m sure you already have it figured out. LOVE YOU ALL!