NO WAY!

That was my reaction when I heard where I will be going my last transfer of the mission. I'm going to be in Parral (close to Cauquenes) to be with Hermana Romero. She's only in her second transfer, and came to Concepción a few weeks ago for her new missionaries conference. I don't know if anyone remembers a week when I said that we had absolute craziness, divisions with new missionaries and mini-cambios and whatever else? Well when we had divisions with new missionaries she was my companion! I loved her so much after just one day with her and I never thought I would be her companion. I'm so excited! And the best part is, no one in Parral knows when I end my mission so I'll be able to focus well.

Christmas was great! It was a tough week as far as work goes, but we tried to enjoy the most we could. We had an awesome Christmas conference with the WHOLE MISSION (first and only time my whole mission) and it was great. We spent Christmas Eve with a great family. It was a calm, classy dinner and they gave us some small gifts. We then decided to follow the Chilean tradition and stay up until midnight to open all our presents! It was a little bit anti-climatic waking up on Christmas day and not having any presents but it was still fun. 

This Christmas season I feel like I have learned a lot about my Savior and what He really means to me. What he did for all of us means that anyone, anytime, in any situation, can start over. Whenever we what, no matter what we have done, no matter how old we are. (I was reminded of that when I watched one of my favorite videos again). It also means that no matter what I'm going through, there's someone who understands. I've had some tough moments in the mission where I didn't even understand myself, and realizing that someone actually does understand was all I needed to feel better. I'm so grateful for that knowledge and I am going to do all I can to let others know the same. 6 weeks is a very short time and I won't be able to do everything in that time. But I'm going to give all I can because He deserves the best. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

I love you all. 

Hermana Glazier

Photos: reunited with all my old companions at the Christmas conference, Christmas Eve with Hermana Lorena.

Pan de Pascua

If anyone were to ask me what Christmas is like here, I would just say, "lots and lots of pan de Pascua." (similar to fruitcake). No snow, obviously, but it's actually been nice and chilly here in Concepción this past week. It even rained a couple days, so from what I hear, we've been having the same weather as Utah!

This was yet another crazy week - divisions with new missionaries, exchanges with hermanas from our zone, ward Christmas activity (the primary kids from the Collao ward did a Nativity that gave me some ideas for next year with the Glazier fam, including some fancy light effects haha) and much more! We once again are barely keeping up with everything and trying to enjoy the ride. Today we had a zone activity and rushed around to buy some gifts afterwards. Some things never change - I've never been one to buy my gifts very far in advance. I also hate shopping with all the crowds. I should probably change one of those things. 

On Saturday we stopped to talk to a man in the street and invited him to church. He surprisingly said, "Yeah, I want to go" - not just the normal "yeah, maybe I'll pass by sometimes". And he showed up the next day at church! He loved it and seemed to get along with some of the members. Hopefully we'll be able to keep on teaching him. 

I also was very excited to hear on Sunday that a relative of one of the members got baptized in a different part of Conce. (Actually from the Concepción South mission). She was at the member's house one day and we asked if she would like to be visited by the missionaries. I wrote down all her information and passed it on to the office. This was about 2 or 3 months ago and I never heard anything else. In fact, I've passed on the information of dozens of people to the office but it's not likely I'll ever know anything about what happens afterwards. Anyway, a couple weeks ago she visited Collao again and told us she had been visiting with the Elders and going to church and was trying to decide if she should be baptized. We encouraged her to keep praying about it. I was so happy to hear that she had made the decision. It feels good knowing that sometimes the smallest things make a huge difference. 

I hope everyone's been enjoying the Christmas season and have found small ways to serve others. Thanks for all the love and support. I love you all!

Feliz Navidad, 

Hermana Glazier

The only pictures I have this week are from the Zone activity. A major asado. The zone leaders went a little overboard on the grocery shopping and we ended up with a loooooot of meat. 

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

We've been teaching this classic Christmas tune to one of the Hermanas in our house. She's from Argentina but we practice English with her a lot. Her companion, who is from Brazil, is not happy with us - she's been listening to the first 2 lines of "Rudolph" for about 3 days straight. But the good news is, she still has taught me a few words in Portuguese! I love being able to learn and teach languages. It's so fascinating. I would love to be able to talk to anyone in the world in their native language - wouldn't that be amazing?

Anyway - it was a hectic week. There are times in the work where it feels like we're pushing a car uphill and for every foot we push it we have to stop at let it roll back a few inches. Then there are times where it gets momentum and we have to run to keep up, and meanwhile some other things are neglected. I often feel like I'm not keeping up with everything, but we're trying to enjoy the road anyway. I especially love focusing on Christmas and inviting everyone to learn about the greatest gift that has ever been given - our Savior.

I love recognizing and remembering that no matter how much we lack, the Savior makes up for the rest. This week I was studying a talk by Elder Maxwell called "Notwithstanding My Weakness" (follow the link at read it if you have a minute). I love it 1. because it's so well written and 2. because it's so true. Our spiritual progress is never going to be a checklist of things nor anything like it. It's about trying and constantly repenting. Right at the beginning of the talk he mentions that some of us have "false insecurity". Why do we doubt our abilitites, lose hope, or feel discouraged, when we know deep inside that we only have reason to rejoice? I can't help but love everything that has to do with Christmas because it reminds me of that. 

I love you all,

Hermana Glazier

Ramuntcho

Dang, I'm still not used to this only 1 hour thing. Next week I'll write the blog first, deal? But for today enjoy some great photos of Ramuntcho - a beautiful beach where we went for a zone activity today. 

Love you all!

H Glaz

Thanksgiving is every day, man

I chose that title because this Thanksgiving passed like any other day. I thought it couldn't get any less eventful than last year, but apparently it can! As I was eating my carbonada (typical Chilean beef and noodle soup) at lunch ton Thursday, I suddenly remembered that it was thanksgiving. I mentioned it and everybody just said "Oh yeah, that's cool," and we carried on. I didn't feel bad though in all honesty, because EVERY day is like Thanksgiving here! 1. sometimes the food portions are VERY LARGE and 2. I'm constantly and eternally grateful to be here. No matter how much I complain about being tired or how strong the sun is or whatever else, I really do love this place and these people. And most of all, I love talking about the Savior every chance I get. 

That's why I LOVE the new video the Church is using this Christmas season. If you haven't heard of it yet, go to http://www.mormon.org/christmas to watch it. We as missionaries have been invited to use this video in all of our efforts this month. I love it and it's a message that we all can relate to. There's nothing like the mission to make you realize how unimportant the gifts and out-of-control commercialization are at this time. I love focusing on the greatest gift any of us will ever receive. I'm thankful that in my family we always focused on that and that we always did something as a family to serve our neighbors or help out other people and that we always read the Christmas story from the scriptures. Keep up that focus this year and it'll be 100% more enjoyable!

Well, my last piece of news is that we have had an onfortunate occurence here in Collao. This morning I pulled my sheets and blankets off my bed in one large swoop and threw them in the washer without checking to see if any items had gone unnoticed. As were about to go out the door I asked Hermana Corbett to call me because I couldn't find my phone. She said that it didn't ring - it was just turned off. That's weird, I thought, because I had just charged it yesterday. As I went into the kitchen I heard a clunking noise in the washer. In that moment I knew what I had done. I always make fun of people for making those dumb kind of errors and think to myself "how can you just not take care of your stuff like that!" and yet here I am. It's what I get for making fun of people. We'll see if the classic rice-drying method will restore it or if I'll just have to pay for a new phone. Haha I'm so embarrassed. 

Have a great week, love you all!

Hermana Glazier