The Three? Amigos

Dear Family,

I got two more letters from Mom this week. Keep writing! You asked if it was too much but I promise that's impossible. I love seeing the blue envelopes in the pile because it means there is something for me! We have district class every Wednesday which is when we get snail mail and Dear Elders. We have a long bus ride home and I always have time to read everything. If I don't get letters I read the Liahona on the bus but letters are so much more fun. I love every detail! Thanks for sending Hermana Dodds a four leaf clover! She is so happy! She is going to come visit you all when she gets home at the end of this month. We talk a lot about our families and she said she is almost as excited to meet you as she is to see her own family again. She’s going to come have family night with you and introduce you to popular Chilean music that we hear on the street. I think you should make her teach the Restoration in Spanish and then in ENGLISH (she won't want to).

I'm going to miss Hermana Dodds when she leaves. We were trying to add up the consecutive hours we have spent together. I don't think I have ever spent this many consecutive hours with anyone in my life. Even as a baby, I assume Mom took a break at some point in the first 14 weeks of my life. That's a lot of time to spend with the same person and we know each other's entire life story. We talk about our friends and family at home like they are mutual friends. 

I think I got too lucky with my first companion. It will be interesting to see what happens in three weeks...

Mom asked about the new schedule. Everyone who has a lot of time in the mission struggles with it because it is a change in what they are used to. I love it and think it makes sense. Before we worked from lunch time to when we came home to study Spanish, have an hour of free time, and then sleep. Now we have language study after lunch and we have an hour for dinner. Then we only have half an hour of time to get ready for bed. I like it because 1) I don't have to pack a sack dinner to eat in the street anymore, we can actually cook something at home 2) We study Spanish at an hour where I am more alert 3) We have the same amount of proselyting time each week, but it is rearranged so we are out earlier in the morning and later at night with our breaks in the middle. For me that means less sun burn risk and more time to drink water. It also means we don't have to use investigators' bathrooms or pay to use a public restroom as frequently. Menos mal. I don't know if I've mentioned yet that public restrooms don't exist here.

This week feels short because we had our P-day late and I feel like I just wrote. Thursday we had a conference with Elder Vinas from the Seventy. I wish I had the notes from his talk with me right now. I don't remember specifically what he said, but I've never been so sure that a talk was meant for me. I've said it before, but I think as a missionary I am starting to see more and more that every gospel principle is applicable to me right now. He used two scriptures in his talk that I have actually been thinking about recently and had put on the cover of my planner. Moroni 8:25-26 and D&C 42:12-14. They both talk about how diligent, faithful prayer invite the Holy Ghost and what the effects of that are.

Saturday we had intercambios and I got to work in my sector with Hermana Diaz, from Honduras. I feel pretty confident about Spanish but when Hermana Diaz tried to tell word jokes and math jokes she had to explain them and then they weren't as funny because I didn't understand the puns as quickly in Spanish. 

Have a great week! 

Hermana Eva VanCott

We found the best Mexican restaurant in Santiago on Tuesday. Chilean food isn't very spicy and we were excited to have a taco here. The owner was excited that someone appreciated his food and gave us more than we asked for.