Hermana Glazier . . . SE VA

It's really really happening. My first time moving to a new area in the mission! I kind of expected it, because I've been in Tomé for 1/3 of my mission. A THIRD. So, uh, hey, who can explain to me where that 6 months went? I sure don't know. All I know is that tomorrow I will be in Cauquenes! Don't know much about Cauquenes. Only that it's hard to spell and it's in one of the farthest zones from here. One thing I do know - the ¨Lord wants me to go there and I will be able to continue progressing at mission-speed. 

I'm sad to be leaving Tomé, but it's probably for the better because I'm starting to be famous here. We always go out jogging in the mornings and every once in a while someone recognizes me. Not sure how, considering how I look first thing in the morning compared to once I shower and put on a skirt. Sometimes it's hard to share my testimony with someone after they say "Hey I see you jogging in the mornings!" Just a little embarrassing for me. 

Not quite as embarrassing as our other prime experience, though. This week in a trio was absolute insanity. I've never seen so many ups and downs in my life. One day we went to leave our dirty clothes with one of the sisters in the ward that washes them. She always has us just throw it over their giant gate and leave it there because she gets home from work really late at night. We did that as usual and went running to an appointment. Afterwards, as we were walking 30 minutes late to lunch, we were talking on the phone with another sister in the ward who informed us that the sister who would supposedly be washing our clothes had recently gone on vacation. We were then faced with the choice: find a way to get our clothes back, or live without them for an undefined period of time. We opted for the first. Our only option besides climbing over the 10 foot wall for all the neighbors to see was pulling our clothes out from under the gate, one piece at a time. We tried to do it as fast as possible but a good 15,697 people passed by in that time. Having to rob your own clothes isn't something they prepare you for in the MTC.

I don't know if anyone will remember my work as a missionary here in Tomé, but I have the feeling I will be remembered. That is also evident by the note one of the hermanas put above the kitchen sink, pleading that others wash their dishes because now Hermana Glazier won't be here to do it. 

This computer doesn't work with my camera so sorry for the lack of pictures. But expect lots next week! Can't wait to tell you about a new companion, new people, new area, new ward (actually I think it's a branch). Love you all and pray that I won't get lost in the travel process. 

Con amor, Hermana Glazier

Adios, Pues, Adios

There's a hymn that says that. I think it only exists in Spanish and it's really good. We sang it this week because Hermana Suarez is already on her way home! She's a great missionary and I was lucky to be her last "hija."

 There's one week left before cambios, so the three of us in our ward will be in a trio. I'm feeling legitimately nervous like I haven't ever felt in the mission. Never been in a trio before, and I literally have no idea where I will be in one week. Everyone says that when you love your companion you get changed sooner. I hope there are exceptions to that rule.

So I was trying to think of things that you would all be interested in hearing about, and only a couple stories came to mind that have happened recently. 

Most of the people here either pretend they're not home or just make up an excuse if they don't want anything to do with the church. I can only remember a couple times when people have actually been hostile. Before coming out here I thought those people would probably make me cry, but they actually just make me laugh because the things they say to us never make any sense. One guy we contacted started immediately saying "No I don't like your church, I don't believe in the Mormons. I don't believe in your Joseph Smith." When we addressed him as "brother," he said "WE AREN'T BROTHERS" (it makes more sense in Spanish). We asked him if he had a religion and he said "Yeah, I believe in the BIBLE. I study the BIBLE. I don't believe in prophets, I only believe in Jesus." I knew in that moment that there would be absolutely no point in explaining that the Bible is literally just writings of prophets or about prophets, and that Jesus himself was also a prophet. So I tried to offer him a pass-along card with a picture of Jesus on it, because he said he at least believed in Him. But to my surprise, he had something else to say about that - "I don't believe in that either!" he said. "In what? It's a picture of Jesus." "I don't believe in that WHITE Jesus! I'm brown, why couldn't he have been brown?!" We then tried to end the conversation but he told us to wait and listen to what he had to say. He wanted to test our knowledge of the Bible and asked us what John 3:16-17 says. My companion recited it perfectly and then basically just said "I know what we're teaching is true CIAO" and we went home. Those few spare minutes before it's time to go home are always the most interesting.

The other thing that came to mind also has to do with prophets. We've been teaching a lady that used to go to an Evangelical church. We were explaining about the Restoration of the Gospel, and what it means to be a prophet. She was really interested in that - revelation, someone called by God, all of that. She asked us if prophets suffered a lot, and we told her that yes, they normally do because the people reject them. She then said that she has suffered a lot and told us about a revelation she had. We realized then that she was so interested in hearing about prophets because she thinks that she also will be a prophet. The next lesson we decided to simply explain that a prophet has to be a man. She was like "wait, it can only be a man?" "Yes, because men can have the Priesthood and women have other responsibilities." "But, like in the scriptures it always says men but means men and women . . ." "It has to be a man" "Wait it really has to be a man, not a woman?" We went in circles like that for a few minutes. We still don't know if she understands or if she just thinks the church is discriminatory. We'll see what we can do there. 

Well, just wanted to say that I love you all and thanks for you prayers, letters, emails, examples, everything. This time is going too fast and I'm still learning so much!

Con amor, 

Hermana Glazier  

Photos:

Going-away party in the church for Hermana Suarez!

Delicious cake.

My approving thumbs up for empolvados - something that I will attempt to cook for you when I come home. They are the best of the best that Chile has to offer. 

Future missionary ward amigos.

Someone can translate what it says on the chalkboard...

Hermana Harris can communicate how we all feel.
My 2 dear companions!

Not to be THAT Missionary, But.

I always said I wouldn't be that missionary that gets lazy with their weekly emails and just says "yeah things are good, we worked this week, yeah, miss y'all see ya". 

I won't do EXACTLY that, but be prepared for a less-exciting email. 

The great moments of the week include:

Playing "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head" on an Elder's ukulele that he brought to the zone activity last week. At first I couldn't remember the chords and I was really mad. But after playing around with it for a while I remembered. It's just a sign that I'm focused on the mission, right?

Today we went running to the beach for our exercise time. That's one thing that Utah doesn't have on this place - every day we're looking at an incredible view of the sea. I love love love the view here. 

This is the last week of my trainer, Hermana Suárez. I can't believe that she's already going home! I will now be truly orphaned here in Chile. I won't even have my mission mom to look out for me. That also means that I will be in a trio for a week. (Hermana Suárez extended her mission so she's leaving before the end of the transfer). Keep listening for news on the trio experience...

Thing that I want my family to be grateful for this week: washer and dryer. We don't have one in our house so sisters in the ward wash our clothes. Sometimes we have to wait longer than expected to get our clothes back. I hope the people of Tomé don't notice when I wear the same outfit a couple times in the week...

Tip for people who interact with missionaries on a daily basis: don't talk about marriage. Hermana Rodriguez and I have noticed that all the members here love bringing up the subject of marriage with us. Like "oh do you have someone waiting? at what age do you think you'll get married?" etc. etc. It's like hey, people, let's talk about missionary stuff. I can't be thinking about men right now!

The Lord really answers prayers. And He always prepares the way. The Gospel is true amen. 

Love yaaaallllll, 

Hermana Glazier

The Best . . . 1 Year!

Welcome to 2014 people.

Did you know that I will spend every second of the year 2014 as a full-time missionary in Chile? Pretty cool, no?

I'm ready to have the best year of my life, and we've already started out pretty well! New Year's Eve and New Year's Day were normal work days, with supposedly the same schedule. We had a little mini-celebration from when everyone finished planning until 11:20 (it was like 15 minutes long) so that we could still go to bed on time. It consisted of guacamole I made the day before, a little bit of food our neighbors gave us, and whatever random Christmas food we still had lying around. Then we were so tired we just went to bed.

It was pretty hard to sleep on New Year's eve, though. At midnight everyone goes outside, honks their car horns and does fireworks. That's more or less how we celebrate at home. The thing that's different is everyone starts enormous bonfires all over the place. It was actually kind of scary . . . doesn't seem like a very safe activity for a bunch of drunk young people to be doing. The good news is that our house didn't get burned down. 

New Year's day we did service in the morning because everyone was sleeping. The New Year holiday was less productive than Christmas Eve, which was kind of a surprise for me. But we had a good time just working like normal. I feel weird when we do too many fun things because it's kind of hard to get back into the missionary mindset. Wow, weird, I'm starting to talk like a missionary. Before you know it I'll be back at home saying "When I was in the mission . . . " (we constantly joke about that here. Someone only has to say "when I was ____" and we start laughing). 

Today we had a great zone activity. We walked to a tunnel here in Tomé. The last time we walked to a tunnel it was really really far away and I got really sunburned and it was terrible. But this time was better. Plus we went to eat after at a great Churrasco place in Tomé. 

I hope this less-than-exciting weekly letter has been all that you hoped and dreamed. Hope you're all starting 2014 with as many great and reachable goals as I am!

Love, 

Hermana Glazier

Photos:

                                                                                      New Year's Eve "fiesta"

                                                                     With Ana and her stellar Christmas tree

                                                                 Remains of a bonfire in the middle of the street

                                                Last lunch with Hermana Suárez and the De La Concha Marko family!

                                                                                           Chillin in a tunnel

1 down, 1 to go

Did you know that I will actually have one more Christmas here in Chile? Ha, no, I'm not actually already thinking ahead to next Christmas. But this one was miraculous. 
It was actually really humbling to see how Christmas is here. The people don't celebrate it like the world is ending next week and we have to do as many activities as possible. I always loved having Christmas gatherings with my friends, doing all kinds of things for the sake of it being Christmas-y. Here everyone just eats dinner with the family, and they celebrate a little and open some presents, and then it's not really a big deal. I was happy because we still got to visit a lot of people depite the holiday. I pictured missionaries trying to visit my family on Christmas Even and I was just thinking haaaaa yeah right. But here it was no big deal. 

The 25th was okay. I mean, I had to spend a whole 1.5 hours talking with my weird family. 

Jokes - that was the best! 1.5 hours flew by like nothing. I felt like it hadn't even happened afterwards. But I loved talking with my family and I loved seeing their lovely faces (except Tyler...he was just making weird faces the whole time). 

 

The Orellana fam

Then after we had an activity in Concepción with all the missionaries. So I got to chill with my cousin for Christmas! Woohoo! We played futbol a little bit. We were rotating teams and there was only one team of hermanas. All the elders were like "ah what a joke, the hermanas can't play" and some of the hermanas were really mad. So they kept playing to prove their skills. I decided to stop embarrassing myself and went for the other football instead. That way Hermana Oldroyd and I got in our Turkey Bowl and Christmas celebrating at the same time!

                                                                                      Activity w/Hna Oldroyd

The best Christmas present I got this week has to be what happened on Saturday . . . Victoria was baptized!

There is no way I can possibly describe all of the feelings here. We have been working with Victoria for almost the whole time I've been here in Chile. Some other day I will explain the whole story because it's long and complicated. But the important thing is that she was finally able to enter the waters of baptism and make an important covenant that will help her throughout her life. I have learned so much from working with her about the influence the Atonement can have in a person's life. When we contacted her in the street one night, she had been contemplating taking her own life. She says that if it weren't for us finding her, she wouldn't be alive right now. She has immense financial problems and family problems and every other kind of problems that you can probably think of. But after her baptism the Bishop asked her how she felt. She said that she felt renewed. Like all of the bad, heavy things in her heart had been erased. She feels peaceful and happy despite all of her challenges. And that is the amazing power that the Gospel has. 

 Victoria's baptism

Well, I hope you're all doing super well. I may or may not have been thinking a little bit more about all you folks back home in these holiday times. But the important thing is that I love being a missionary more and more every day. I still keep learning and understanding new things every day - mostly I just see how much I still need to learn. 

Love  you all, 

Hermana Glacier

(I've actually gotten used to saying Glacier because no one can say Glazier correctly. I hope I'm not disgracing my family).

Carta Navideña

(Christmas letter)

Because every year my mom claims she's going to write a Christmas letter, and I am always really nervous about what she's going to say about me, this is my very own Christmas letter to you all. 

This year Aubrey finished her second semester of BYU and began preparing to serve a mission. She mostly just hung out at home and made lots of hair bows and watched lots of TV and went to all the YSA ward activities and went to farewells on farewells on farewells. She had a super fun summer and July 31 she entered the Provo MTC.

Aubrey loved the MTC because she learned a lot and loved all the people there. But she was also extremely excited to get to Chile. She traveled 25 hours to get there and loved it from the very start. She was really cold at first, but got used to it after a while. 

She has tried to be obedient and focus on the work of the Lord the best that she can. There have been many challenges and growing experiences, and she has also seen millions of miracles. She loves the people of Chile even though most of them "already have their religion" and "work all day every day" so they can't listen to the message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. But every once in a while she and her great companion, Hermana Rodriguez, find people that are ready to accept the Atonement of Jesus Christ in their lives and make a change so they can be eternally happy. Finding those people and sharing her testimony with them makes her the happiest she's been her whole life. 

Most of all she is grateful for this time as a missionary to be able to know her Savior better and understand His gospel a tiny bit more. She loves the scriptures and she loves being able to feel the influence of the Holy Ghost every day in her life. 

I love you and miss you all! But I'm also extremely happy right where I am. Thanks for your prayers, letters, emails, photos, packages, and overall support. I hope you can all remember our Savior in this time of Christmas and the whole year as well. 

Love, 

Hermana Glazier

Photos: Got to chill with Hermana Oldroyd at choir practice for the Christmas Conference!

Conferencia Navideña with my comp and my cousin

Hermana Oldroyd and me sending our love to all the fam for Christmas!

Got a free haircut from Hermana Amaya this morning. (I only trusted her because she cut Hna Harris's hair the other day and it looked good).

I'll Be [in Tomé] For Christmas

You heard it, folks. The big news this week is cambios! Or, in my case, NO cambios. Of the 6 Hermanas in our house, we're all staying for another 6 weeks! We are all extremely excited for that. Mostly because we all have a secret gift person and cambios would complicate that...okay that's not the only reason. But I am extremely happy to be staying in Tomé - being transferred a week before Christmas would have been rough.

I'm also more than ecstatic to be working with Hermana Rodriguez for more time! She's awesome and we get along really well. In fact, we're almost too much alike. Our energy and attitudes are always reflections of one another. It's rough when we're both falling asleep in lessons. Speaking of falling asleep in lessons, those of you who have followed from the start will remember that I had a really hard time with that at first. Well I want you to know that I've mostly overcome that. I've become a professional at moving in small ways, squinting my eyes so they don't close all the way, focusing on what my companion is saying, and hopefully saying something relevant afterwards. That scripture in Ether about how our weaknessess will become strengths is true, eh?

Also Hermana Rodriguez is going to be a new Hermana leader, which is no surprise. It mostly just means I will be traveling to Concepción a lot . . . just like with Hermana Suárez. When will I be free?! 

Nah I'm actually really excited for her. She's an awesome missionary and it also means that we have to be the example. That'll give me some motivation to not get too comfortable and lazy. 

Anyway that's about all I have time to write this week. Keep up the Christmas spirit and remember why we celebrate it. 

Much love, 

Hermana Glazier

Photos:

Relief society activity, our humble Christmas tree, service at Ana's house gets out of hand, and our district this cambio

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