The Best.

After more than 6 weeks in the field, the moment you've all been waiting for has come.

First baptism moment!

On Saturday, Dilan was baptized. (If you don't know that story, read the email from a couple weeks ago). It really was so amazing to see a person take that first great step. Everyone needs these amazing covenants in their life, whether they realize it or not. And the confirmation yesterday in Sacrament meeeting was equally amazing. They aren't kidding when they say ''how great shall be your joy.''

I was so happy about the baptism that this whole week was fantastic. Most of our weekly goals and plans went up in flames, but I didn't care. Attitude is everything and I believe that when we look for the fun moments, we will find them. 

The truly funny moments in the mish haven't been in great abundance so far, mostly because I've been trying to find the balance between being myself and maintaining the dignity of a missionary. But this week has some moments that I think are worth sharing. 

First off, Victoria got mixed up in her reading assignment. We've been meeting with her for a long time so we usually just leave her a chapter in the Book of Mormon and talk about it the next time. We left in a hurry one day, putting a bookmark in Ether 12. It's a fantastic chapter about the essentials of the Gospel and the importance of faith. However, when we returned the next day, she was extremely confused. ''I read the chapter,'' she said. ''Puro guerra!'' (or ''nothing but war''). She thought we left Ether 11, which just talks about wars and rejecting the prophets. She said she thought maybe we we  were preparing her to have to fight in the church and that she had her whole speech ready for the Relief Society if necessary. Oh goodness, we laughed and laughed and laughed. She now has read Ether 12 twice, so everything's been cleared up.

Then, we had a Family Home Evening with a less active family. I was about to say the closing prayer, and the kids wanted me to do it in English. I was all happy for a minute, like ''wooo this'll be great! I haven't prayed out loud in English since 2 months ago!'' But my excitement dissipated when I realized that I literally couldn't remember how. I can still talk in English, but praying for some reason was nearly impossible. The kids started laughing when I said ''we thank thee that we had this noche...no...family home evening'' and from there I just couldn't do it. I gave up and finished in Spanish.

I'm still learning so much every day here. There are so many basic concepts of the Gospel, scriptures I've heard every week since primary, things I thought I understood that I'm just barely starting to get. I am so grateful to be here as a missionary. The Lord gives us so much more than we can even recieve if we are willing to do what he asks. 

The other Hnas bought us a celebration cake! Or, in other words, we look for any excuse to enjoy the amazing creations of the panaderías of Chile.

 Love you all! Stay strong and don't forget what's most important! 

Love, Hermana (I was going to put a nickname here but I read yesterday in the missionary handbook that we don't use nicknames) Glazier

Independence Day

I have officially completed my first transfer in the mission! Wow! As I expected, I will not be following the legendary example of my cousin Hermana Oldroyd. I will have 6 more weeks of training before switching companions. The other Hnas who live with us are staying too, so nothing really feels different.

Big news - I finally ate empanadas in Chile!

September 18 is Chile's independence day, and it's a huge deal. Basically a week long empanada-fest. The missionary work part was a little slow for a couple days in there, but we actually accomplished more than past weeks. I know now, more than ever, that it's all about your attitude (how many lessons you can teach, how many empanadas you can eat, it's all important). 

We're finally figuring out how to work with the members more. People back home, this is my invitation/encouragement of the week - find any way you can to be involved and help out with the missionary effort. Every member of the church has something incredibly valuable that needs to be shared.

Today is the first p-day of my mission that we didn't have to go to Concepción for a leader retreat, something for new missionaries, visa stuff, or whatever else. We went to the beach in Cochologue. So gorgeous. Maybe someday there'll be a beach in my ward boundaries and I'll be able to go swimming . . . 

I want to share a scripture with everyone this week. In my personal study I'm reading the New Testament. In Mark's account of when Jesus was calling his apostles, it says:

"...and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder"

- Mark 3:17

I have no idea what the significance of that is, I just thought it was pretty cool. Reading the Bible (especially in Spanish) is quite the adventure. 

I am improving every day with Spanish, attitude, staying awake, and being a missionary in general. And I am so grateful for the decision I made to serve a mission! Woohoo!

Have a great week, everyone. 

Love, Hermana Glazier

[way more than 17] Miracles

Before I explain the title, I have some shout outs!

S/O to Laurence, my Elder brother (get it? older and an elder? don't judge me just cause my humor's a little rusty). He goes home THIS VERY WEEK!!! He had an excellent 2 years of missionary service in Brasil, and I look up to him a lot. Miss you bro. Say hi to the fam for me. Give them 90 million hundred hugs. 

S/O to America for having peanut butter (I have literally been searching for weeks. Even the biggest stores in Concepción don't have it). 

S/O to the people who've written me *cough cough* that means "whisper in" for those who haven't. Joking. I really do appreciate every email and letter so much though. Love you people. 

Aaaand now, my week!

This week was truly miraculous. Hna Suárez told me the first day I got here - "Vamos a ver milagros." (We will see miracles). I was in this dreamlike crazed-happy state because I had just gotten to Chile and I was all "YEAH! I CAN'T WAIT! LET'S GO SEE SOME MIRACLES! I'M A MISSIONARY! WHERE AM I?!"

                                                                                     Slightly-sunburned-selfie from a normal day.

But she wasn't kidding. 

To be fair, basically everything here is a miracle. The fact that we ever find where we need to go, that anyone lets us into their house, that we are able to do this work in general. But sometimes a really big thing happens and the only word to describe it is MIRACULOUS. 

Let's start with Victoria. We met her one night when we were on our way home and we just stopped her in the street. Any missionary will tell you - street contacting rarely goes anywhere. But asked us to PLEASE visit her. WOW. That basically never happens. She was going through a really hard time and we showed up at a prime moment. That was a few weeks ago. We've been meeting with her a lot since then and the change in her countenance is dramatic. We know for a fact that the Lord put her in our path that night.

But,at the same time, huge challenges kept coming up that were difficult for both us, the missionaries, and her. Just "artos" challenges (arto is a Chilean word for "a lot"). I have learned, through visiting with her, that any doubt can be overcome through an open heart on one side and a humble but powerful testimony on the other.

                                                                                  We went contacting one day to the "nueva población"
                                                                                  where it's a bunch of identical houses. They're white
                                                                                    with red, yellow, green, or blue accents. Wild.

Next is Dilan, a stellar 13-year-old. We had been praying to find people who could be baptized this month, meaning they have to have attended church in the past (they have to attend 3 times before baptism). Most of our planning was just searching the area book for people who attended before. Then Hna Suárez had a dream in which she saw a street name written on a paper. The next day we found Dilan's teaching record in the area book - the Elders before him had met with him but for whatever reason, never followed up. [enter super awesome hermanas]. Hna Suárez looked at the paper and just said, "Hermana, that's the writing I saw in my dream." We went to visit him the next day, OBVIOUSLY. He agreed to be baptized this month! And he came to church yesterday even though he wasn't feeling well. Stellar kid. The Lord really wanted us to find him. 

(Moral of that story: ELDERS!!! FOLLOW UP!!!)

                                                                        Scenes of Chile - everything's decked out in preparation for

                                                        18 of September (the big holiday here) and a Panadería sign, of course.

Anyway, love you all, keep doing good things back home. I miss you and pray for you!

Much love, 

Hermana Glazier

Hello All!

I can't believe tomorrow marks ONE MONTH in Chile. I think I need to work harder because I thought for sure by now I would have this all figured out and know exactly what I'm doing. 

Ha. Jokes. I've come a million miles from when I arrived. In fact, I reached a great milestone last night - for the first time ever, we had a lesson where I actually understood everything the person said (well, enough that I could respond with something related to the same topic) and I talked without Hna Suárez having to indicate it was my turn. 

But I'm not perfect yet. I completely zoned out during our last lesson of the night. Hna Suárez turned to me so I could talk and I froze. I literally had no idea what they had been talking about. The, the miracle of the day - the lady's phone rang and she went to go get it. That was like my warning. 1 more strike and I'm out. I'm slowly learning my lesson.

Hna Suárez and I have been trying to figure out what we need to do differently. Once again, no investigators attended church yesterday. That's the interesting thing about the work here. We keep finding great people who have a firm belief in God. Most people here do. But committing to church attendance is a different story. And Someone being home at the time of an appointment is more like a special treat than the norm. And let's not even talked about how many un-married couples living together with several children. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the people here. And I admire that so many of them have dedicated faith in God. We just have to face the challenge of explaining the importance of commitment. 

Though we're facing some roadblocks with investigators, I am really loving our ward. I've been playing the piano every week in Sacrament meeting and yesterday I even gave a talk! The program was me, the Hna Suárez, then the Ward Mission Leader. (Side note, we really look forward to correlation with the Ward Mission Leader because he and his wife make the most amazing treats that they sell in the Centro. I need to learn how to make them for when I come home!). The great part is, I wasn't even super nervous! But I know for a fact my American accent is much worse when I'm in front of people. 

Saturday we began a piano class. It was a humbling experience. Hna Suárez doesn't know piano, and I don't know piano words in Spanish. I did my best, and we're going to continue each week. My plan to become a teacher after the mission has been reaffirmed. If I can do this in Spanish, it'll be a breeze in English. 

Love you all, miss you all, don't forget to appreciate America milk in gallons!

Love, Hna Glazier

Acostumbrarse

Howdy folks.

The subject line means "to get used to". That's basically the theme of the week - I'm really starting to get used to this and feel like a missionary. 

I realized that I haven't talked about the language much, even though that's the hardest thing to get used to! I'm actually doing fine. I'm talking more in lessons, and I'm not quite as lost in meetings and everything. But Hna Suárez and I have this problem where we're really good at finding people who like to talk for a really long time and tell really long stories. Luckily they look at Hna Suárez when they're talking, because I usually fall asleep. Yes, in lessons. I know, it's bad (it's usually just when we visit members, though). I always have this huge paradox - if I use enough energy to concentrate on what they're saying, it exhausts my brain and I nod off right in front of them. But if I think about something else to keep myself awake, I have no idea what to do when it's my turn to talk. We have a goal this week to not ask questions that lead to 45 minute-long stories. We're on the Lord's time and there are people to find!

For the most part I can understand now. But people here always drop the s's in words, which confuses me occasionally. One member lady was telling us about her life and said she married a "pescador", which means fisherman. I thought she said "pecador", which means sinner. I thought we were being used as like marriage counseling or something. Turns out it was just a really long story. 

The work is ineresting right now. We have a few more people with baptismal dates, and some came to church this week! Woohoo! Some of our people have huge complications keeping them from baptism so we're continuing to work with them. 

We had another mini-cambio this week (Hna Suárez is the zone Sister Training Leader so I have one every week) and a conference with Elder Gonzalez of the Seventy. That was great, even though we had to get up at 4 and subsequently I was falling asleep the whole time.

Overall I'm doing great! My love of Sacrament meeting has increased 100 million fold. It's a great time to re-charge, receive inspiration, and just be a part of the ward. 

Today we had a super fun zone activity at the beach. No touching the water, but we had a great time playing volleyball and [of course] eating. Gorgeous. 

Miss you all! Love you all! Be good. 

Love, Hna Glazier

P.s. It appears that the mail strike is over! Some of you should be expecting to see letters soon. (Soon being like within the next several months, of course).