Here is a picture of me....with my hair a lot lighter...what do you think? And one of my companions...she isn't my real companion, but I live with her. Her name is Hermana Nava. She is from Mexico. She, along with her other 6 sisters, are all serving missions. All within Central America and South America. Amazing right? We had training this past week. I chose to sit in front and for that the President (of my mission) called on me. He said, ¨Hermana Cornelius, you have had a lot of success in your mission; what has helped you to be able to make bautismal dates (with people who want to join the LDS church)?¨ What a compliment! Wow, and he said it in front of everyone. It felt REALLY good afterwards. The freakin' Mission President told me that my mission has been a success. Woo hoo!

We watched a video with our investiagators this week. There is a scene when Christ is carrying his cross and the people are spitting at him, people are mocking him after being whipped, etc. I realized in that moment that I have nothing to complain about. I had had an experience this past week when someone made fun of me for my spanish and for being North American. It hurt. I have been mocked a lot on my mission. But all that pain went away when I realized what Christ went through. What a privilege! To walk the footsteps of Christ! Even though our scale compared to his is VERY small, but still, I am doing this for Christ, and what a priviledge it is to walk in a part of his life. So, we have an investigator that has massage beds...2 bucks for 40 minutes. Its like this jade rock or something. Wow. I was/am so relaxed. We went this morning. I really needed it. I think it relaxed me too much though, haha. I didn't really care about anthything today. I was in bed most of my pday (my preparation day to prepare for the rest of the week)....just relaxing and resting. I need it so much!

Today I went to buy food at the local UniMarc. They didn't pass my credit card right, so I had to wait for like 20 minutes while they tried to fix it. As the situation was happening, a human being would want to get annoyed and frustrated. I felt it, but didn't show it. And moreover everyone was watching me. One, because I am a blond and stick out like a sore thumb and two, because I am a missionary. I realizad I had the opportunity to be a representative of Christ. I remained calm. When the problem was fixed, I told her thank you, that it was ok and not to worry. I would not have done that without the (Holy) Spirit…without saying my morning prayer. The Spirit is so wonderful…it is the only thing that helps us progress, without it, we don't progress. I am grateful for this opportunity to have been a representative of Christ.

I thought yesterday would be just a normal day, a normal Sunday. At church we had the priviledge of hearing a great talk. For awhile, I have been praying for something, and have not yet recieved the answer, until yesterday. I just haven't felt the love of the Lord in my life, that he loves me. I have been praying to feel something of His love, like a hug or something. I haven't felt it each time I have prayed. As he talked, he said something that answered my prayer and the Spirit started to grow inside of me. He shared a story about how much God loves his children. I started to cry...but not just tears. I was crying hard…but from happiness and the Spirit that was in me. I felt SO loved. I can't explain that all encompassing feeling of love that my spirit felt. I was trying not to cry afterwards, but I felt so happy. Members were coming up to me, asking me if I was ok. It was a wonderful experience. The Lord always answers our prayers…but not always in the way we expect. I wanted to feel like a hug or something…He gave me much more than that. Answered it in a much more powerful way. I can't deny now that He loves me…nor will I ever be able. That feeling made such a lasting impact on me…never to be forgotten.

"I went to lunch yesterday and the hermana (the lady we were eating with) asked me where I was from. I told her the US and she was surprised because she said my Spanish was so good! What a compliment...that made me feel awesome.

"Well where do I start? With the festivities? The 200 year mark in Chile wasn't that bad. The festivities lasted for four days. So the first night, there were losts of people out in the street. One group invited us to dance with them and some guy gave us cheezits on the street. Haha. Then I'm thinking, "Wow, this is only the first night, tomorrow, the actual independence day will be worse." Haha, I was wrong. I think people got tired of the festivities, because it really quieted down after that.

"So, last Monday night, well, I should say Tuesday morning, I get a call at 1:50 in the morning from the Hermanas (the other sister missionaries) that sleep in the room right next to mine. I thought to myself how strange that they are calling. I didn't think much of it and didn't answer it. I put it on silence and wanted to go back to bed. But not long after, both Hermanas came into our room and told us that someone was downstairs. They had been hearing things for like 10 minutes: drawers opening in the kitchen, rustling in the living room, etc. Wow, your mind just goes crazy fast in those types of situations. I was super calm (thanks to the Spirit of the Lord), and we closed the door, tried to put a chair under it, and said a prayer. We felt that we needed to call our leaders, so we did. Then we waited, listening. We heard nothing. About 10 minutes later, we go down the stairs (me, with a comb in my hand to protect myself). No one was there, except they left the sliding glass door open. Nothing was taken. It was obvious that someone had looked through a couple of the drawers in the kitchen, but nothing was out of place. I didn't feel fear. The next day, we called and told the Mission President what had happened, and the Elders (the male missionaries) came over to see what needed to be done in the apartment. We left them there and went out to work. As we came back in the night, probably about 6 of the neighboors were bundled outside of our house. They asked me to explain what had happened. I did. One neighbour just says, "It could've just been a cat!" They tried to convince me, being a little contentuous, that nothing happened, that the guy couldn't have gotten in. I had to be patient and calm with them. No one believed us! So the Elders, being awesome, re-inacted the "break-in." They got in from the street and into the house…perfectly. Totally possible! So, I have been living in another area all this week, taking the bus everyday to my area. Then, the landlord wouldn't answer his phone…so we couldn't do anything to secure the apartment more. Finally, on Saturday, we got a hold of him. In about an hour I will be moving back in the apartment. No worries, it is safe and secure and I feel at peace about it. This week has been crazy."

Another 6 weeks has passed....can you believe it. I only have 18 more weeks left. I was transferred from my area, after being there for 4 changes (24 weeks). Crazy!

I am with an Hermana from St. George, Ut. This is only her third change here (she's only been here 4 1/2 months). I am excited to work with her and that means that we will be depending on my spanish....:) Hope that goes well. It makes me feel good. The Lord has confidence in me. We are up in the mountains. I haven't seen a level part of the area yet. Oh fun, summer is arriving....I am excited to work in another area. I am up in the north of the mission...it is different from the south where I was. People are a little harder here, but its ok, the spirit is what softens them up.

We didn't have baptisms this past change; the first time that I have not had a baptism in a change. Its ok. I had to learn that it didn't mean that I was a failure. My companion from the MTC (the missionary training center) is now there, in my old area. She is going to rock it and everyone is going to love her.

We had an activity as a Stake (a geographic region of LDS members) celebrating the indpendence of Chile, the 18th of September. We had a sack race as all the missionaries in our Zone...I beat all the Elders :)

"I feel honestly good to say that I speak spanish. It is a great feeling! I am not perfect, but I feel so comfortable in it now. I haven't slept in like 3 days and we played soccer today. This week will be different for me. We have 2 weeks of training and it begins tomorrow. We do practices and focus on a specific theme, like the Book of Mormon, etc. We had the opportunity to hear from two leaders in the Church. It was very inspiring. I got to see a friend from the MTC from a different mission.

We will be having 3 baptisms this Sunday. The Family Bravo is ready. They have stopped drinking tea, and I am so excited! (In order to be baptised into the LDS church, one must refrain from drinking coffee, tea and alcohol) Ignacio said the other day when we talked to him about his baptism, he said, ¨I am decided.¨ And with conviction. It kind of surprised me....in a good way. Can you pray for them? I was praying, praying for a baptism for this change and look what we got....an entire family. How freaking awesome.

We have had weather of like 72 this week...so weird for the winter. But I like it."

"There weren't a lot of hopes for baptisms the next few weeks. I have been praying, praying for someone to be able to get baptized this week. Then on tuesday we got a reference from Elders (male missionaries) in the North Mission. A ward member has been sharing the gospel with her family and they live in our area….wow. We contacted and taught them about the Restoration (of Christ's church on the earth) on tuesday, the two teens went to a church activity on wednesday; friday we passed by and shared a short message about how the Spirit (the Holy Spirit of the Lord) will help them to know that what they are doing comes from God. Saturday we played soccer with the teens, and sunday the mom and the daughter came to church. The family consists of Tamara (15 yrs), Ignacio (14 yrs), and Claudia, the mom. The mom of Claudia is somewhat interested and the dad doesn't listen (yet). Tonight we're meeting with the family. This week we are setting a baptismal date. What a blessing! I don't feel like I deserve such a wonderful blessing! Pray for them? The mom drinks coffee and smokes occasionally. Pray that she will understand and be able to overcome these things that will keep her from getting baptised?

"A funny story. Yesterday we walked by an area where they were selling all sorts of things ( I believe every Chilean breaks the Sabbath day because of these ¨sunday markets.¨) A guy that obviously was selling fish (I could tell by the fish tails hanging off of his shoulder) said hi to me and told me that he would be my captain fisherman and that he does everything for me. Now my companion jokes that I have a capitan pescador (captain fisherman). I also got called ¨sweetie¨ by a guy on the street. This week has been full of adventures.

"I am getting tired of people that lie to us. I hope that I can have a better outlook, because I hate knocking doors now (to talk to people); it makes me just mad and sad. I get on the verge of tears. I have been in Chile for almost a year. One year of Chileans, well, people rejecting the gospel I should say. Five more months...."

How cute is La Hermanita?

"Yeah, I am trying not to think about home....only 4 more changes is weird. I have had nightmares about going home....sometimes I just want to serve the mission for my entire life.

Well, last night was a night of waiting and anxious feelings….are we going to have changes (was I or my companion going to be moved to a different area)? The Assistant to the President finally called, and after talking for a good few seconds….we found out that….we didn't have changes! WOO HOO! I am very happy to be with my companion…Hermana Romagoza. Speaking of her…we sure have had an adventure this past week….

"Last change, everyone told me to take care of Hermana Romagoza. She is just such a doll….well at the beginning of the change she told me that her foot was starting to hurt. We are missionaries…(we walk a lot)...I didn´t think much of it. Well, last week it started to get a lot worse. So, we were by the doctor one day and we went. He gave her some antibiotics and told us to wait a couple of weeks to see what was going to happen. The next day I asked her how her foot was….she said, 'Hermana, I am not going to lie, but it really hurts.' It was swollen! So we called the doctor, and he told her to rest. She rested for a day and a half and then we went back. We got an x-ray….he is pretty sure she has a fracture. Everyone told me to take care of her…and I end up giving her a fracture L I know it isn't my fault, but we do walk a lot in this area. So, we haven't been working at full pace this past week. The more we walk, the more she hurts. Tomorrow we will know more…pray for her? Diego and Andres got confirmed (they are now members of the LDS church)…thanks for your prayers. Can you pray for their father, Marco? That he will have the will to stop smoking? And Julianna and Reyel? That they will have support from their families for their baptism? Please…thanks so much. I have a lot of work to do in this sector and I don't know if I have the energy to do it. But I know that Christ will help me...."