A Trip To Hawaii

This week was a little off for us here in Arica. For Friday all of the missionaries traveled to Iquique for a zone conference with Elder Spanuas (a 70 from Argentina) and the mission president. We left Arica at 11:30 and filled an entire bus with missionaries. The five hour drive to Iquique dropped us off there at about 4 am! We were all so tired and then had to walk to the chapel. Once there we all crashed on the pews trying to take advantage of the last hours of sleep before the conference. When the confrence started we were all still tired, but I learned a lot. It was great. The main topic was prayer. President Dalton talked about the mission goals that we have, and said that he was thinking about why we hadn't seen the progress that we wanted. He prayed about it, thinking that maybe the goals were too high or something, but his answer was that the mission isn't accomplishing the goals because we are not praying for the goals. I thought that was really interesting, and it is actually true. Then he talked about how we need to pray with faith and trust that we will be granted the things we want and need in time. Elder Spanuas and his wife then talked about praying with a specific plan. They said that we would see more of the Lord's hand if we prayed, not only for the goals, but thought and prayed about a plan. It could be something simple like "prepare the owner of the bread store to accept our message today when we go and buy bread" or something more involved when we need more help.

Their advice really struck me because we are really struggling with the V family. They want to be baptized but have not gone to church. Plus the mom´s bipolar depression has made some situations complicated. In Ward council the bishop asked what help we needed with them, and I was completely lost. I didnt have an answer because we had done everything to try to get them to church. When I Heard the advice  in the conference I knew that that was something we needed to impliment. We need an inspired plan and then we need to pray to see results. We are going to put this in action soon! (once we have the plan ready). It was a really great conference and I was glad we could all go.

When we returned to Arica on Saturday we had to hurry and get our missionary activity underway. The Elder's had planned a Trip to Hawaii activity for the two wards that attend our chapel. We worked all saturday getting the chapel transformed into a troipical Paradise complete with a movie theater, club, smoothies, soccer, a mini chapel, and video games. The visitors received leis when they entered and could visit all of the attractions. It was really fun and those who went said it was great! We enjoyed it and are already planning our next activity.

We got our transfers that night as well, and after many heart attacks for people saying I was going to leave Arica, I learned that I am staying to finish training Hermana Alonzo. I was soo happy to hear that! I am not ready to leave my beloved Tarapacá still. Hopefully, at the end of this transfer I will be... but not yet.

Last night we said goodbye to Hermana Delgado who has lived with me since I got here, but she is now finishing her mission. She should be home on Wednesday. It was sad to see her go, but hilarious to see her try to pack up all of her things. I am sure she will enjoy being home, but she is awesome. Today I am in a trio until Hermana Fernandez´s new companion gets here in the morning. It has been fun, and soon Hermana Christensen will be joining us in our Little apartment.

I hope you guys enjoy this last week of school. Send me pictures of the finished product of the kitchen. Sounds like it is going to look great! What is the color scheme exactly? I think you should use pastel Green. I like that color hahaha. I love you all. Ciao!

Hermana Biggs

Emilee's missionary plaque came in and is proudly displayed at our ward building!  However, Emilee was quick to remind me that her release date probably won't be until July 15, 2015- not June.  I'm not sure how I feel about that!