"I don't think I'll ever forget that moment."

HOLA!!!!It´s my first week in Chile and I ABSOLUTLY love it here!! This is seriously the best decision I EVER MADE! I email on Mondays and I AM 3 HOURS ahead of texas time. There is so much I want to say´...There has def. Been some changes in Culture. Every single female you see that you know you have to kiss on the cheek. Its funny because if you don´t say hi and goodbye to everyone you know or meet... they get offended. I love it though- we talk to hundreds of people everyday! The people are sooo loving. They are treating me like one of their own...although I look opposite off everyone in this entire city! They have not seen a Blonde in forever (I literally am like the only blonde light eyed person in this entire city) All day I heard ¨Rubia¨yelled....(which means blonde in spanish)...I love walking the streets as people play soccer (le football). Somehow the soccer ball always ¨accidently¨ gets kicked in our path so they have to run by us to get it.
In Chile its just the beginning of summer here so its HOTTTTTTT!!! We are outside the entire day from early in the morning until 10 at night so my skin is turning Brown. (so much time wasted at a Tanning Salon---shoulda just made a trip to chile haha) Currently I am at an internet place where you pay to use the internet per minute. And this keyboard is very weird...so forgive my typing and spelling errors. There is so much to tell! First off my companion is Kory Williams. She and I go everywhere together and never leave each others side. She is Blonde also, graphic design major, worked at chilis, is bff with her sister, went to byu idaho, athetic, and doesnt like dogs. I DONT think I could have been put with someone more perfect! We get along so great and laugh all day. She is my translater. She didnt know any spanish when she first got here and now she is FLUENT so she is really helping me out! It is tough being here and being the onlyyyyyyy person who has no idea what is being talked about. Haha. I have learned to recognized when she is about to laugh or smile so i know when to laugh....that way people don´t realize that I have NO idea what they just said. Haha...I know it will come! It just tough. She and I have had some awesome experiences. First the funny stuff. Obviosly being light skinned-light hair people think we are either German or American. So if were walking the streets...Chileans will randomly yell any ENGLISH word they know. Yesterday people yelled, ¨BBQ CHICKEN¨ WINDOW¨ ¨DOOR¨ !! So funny!
I am in a city 3 hours north of Concepcion called Linares. Its pretty run down...but the people are so humble and treasure what they have. Here-Lunch is the BIG meal of the day. Its like a lunch-dinner combined at 2 p.m. And um let me just say I will not be coming home skinny. We are fed everyday at 2 by a member of the church and how much food they give you is a way of showing you how much they love you. They use their finest dishes and set the table perfectly to try and help us enjoy our 1 time of day where we are sitting. They save for weeks to be able to pay for the meal to feed us. And they made everything homemade. You are expected to finish everything on the plate and when they offer you food it is rude to not accept it. Id say that I am a pretty big eater...but um How to I explain this-I have been given a new idea of the word BIG. My first day she served me a plate full of just chicken. The other plate was patatos pork and squash all mixed together. THE ENTIRE PLATE was full. The other plate is for bread and salad. In spanish the lady that fed us said to my companion (in spanish obviously) , ¨Shes too skinny-Were going to STUFF her¨
It took everything I had to finish all that food. I felt like I was eating a cow. My stomach literally looked like a basketball. Then she brings out this little plate for desert and sets the BIGGEST BANANA on it Iv ever seen in my entire life. Somehow I managed to get it down. Omg....It was hard. When we were leaving the ladies said to my roomates, ¨Good, Now you won´t have to put rocks in her pockets to keep the wind from blowing her away¨ !! haha....I can laugh about it now because Iv gotten used to it. It is like that every single day. I love love love their salads here! No ranch in chile though!! But I already have some really cool foods I can´t wait to make when I get home!

My spanish is coming along. We talk to sooooo many people. But it is extremely hard to understand chileans. They speak super fast and slur all their words together. Aldjfaldjfañlkjfdalsjdfahdfowuerouofjñlsdkmnñ....They would say all that just to say Have a good day. Haha....No not really. But thats what it feels like. So I just smile and laugh! Good thing smiling is universal. Whats helped me the most is our English classes. On Saturday i taught the whole class! It was really funy. They helped me with my spanish too...so it was a 2 way teaching haha.

Chilean fruit is amazing! They selll it on every corner and it is FRESH! I had the best nectorine yesterday. People in chile are very loving and um verrrrry relaxed. For example we will go to see someone at 330 in the afternoon and they will still be in their pajamas. Brit would love this place for that rea son alone. Haha. Another example of that would be like yesterday when we left the house early in the morning and this ollld man and his friend were just sittin in a old chair out by the road and when we came back that night at 10 they were still sitting there. That happens almost everyday....
There is something wonderful about being here though. Its a feeling of protection. I know that God is watching over us and I know we will be kept safe. In fact I have never felt safer.
Saturday was wonderful day! We decided to stop by this house of an old woman. It was literally made of scrap wood and branches. As we sat on broken chairs and talked with her. She could not stop smiling. I looked at her tearfilled eyes and when I looked away I took notice of the ground. She was living on Rocks and dirt. And this was normal for her...it was all she knew. The world stood still. I though about how humble she was. I thought about how thankful I need to be for all that I have..And I wanted to make every second I had here in Chile count. I don´t think I will ever forget that moment. Here was a lady who later explained that she had prayed that someone would visit here that day because She has been alone for years. And for some reason we felt the need to stop. Tears streamed down her face as we taught her about the Love God has for her. Somehow the spanish words were poaring out of my mouth...I can´t wait to return and visit her again.
Another lady we help is a lady named Jacquiline. She has 2 children. Her husband used to beat her and whenever he comes to town she has to hide so he doesnt come after her. It is very sad. When we went by to visit her yesterday she was at work. She lives in a tiny 2 room house. There were dishes and things everywhere. So we cleaned the whole room for her. I have never felt so happy cleaning something (sorry mom) . We are trying to help her get her life back on Track.
Another old lady we visited was sitting on her pourch and so we decided to stop and talk to her. She could barely hear or walk. She couldnt really hear what we were saying so We asked her if we could sing to her. We started to sing and when I took a moment to look up she got really emotional. The song we sang was about how christ can comfort us during hard times. She told us that she had recently lost her husband and it was very hard for her-especially with the health she was in. She said that she felt uplifted and was so grateful for our smiling faces.
The funny thing is...something so simple can make someones day. Believe me-it can be tough being here. We walk all day and my back and body are killng. But it is soooo worth it.
People call me Missionary Barbie haha. Its funny! In my eyes I look the opposite of a barbie! I dress for comfort and I am like always covered (it keeps us safe here)! Oh a funny fact about chile.... If you ask someone for directions ....if they don´t know how to tell you how to get there, they will just make something up. I think its hilarious because it happens all the time. ....Because they just don´t want to sound dumb by simply saying they don´t know. Hahaha.

So heres a funny story. We constantly have to be drinking water because the sun soaks all of our energy out of us! Well....One of my roomates had to go to the bathroom so bad and not everyone has bathrooms. In fact, sometimes you have to walk forever to get to one. Well she was like not going to be able to make it and so shes like, ¨I cant do it anymore I have to go¨ She literally stood there and just peed! It was the funniest thing ever! I love her. She seriously couldnt help it! Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Oh same girl- She is soooo awesome...but i swear she has the funniest stories. So last night she was visiting someone and she was sooo exausted. She was sitting there talking to the lady with her companion and I guess she felt like she was going to fall asleep...so she asked if she could go to the bathroom (cuz she just wanted to wake her body up) So she went to the bathroom and she said she sat on the toilet and accidently FELLLLLLL ALSEEP!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHA Her companion said she was in there for like 15 minutes hahahhaha.

We were teaching this 18 year old boyfriend and girlfriend (Karin and Orlando). They are hilarious! We love them! I can barely communicate through words but we always seem to find something to laugh at. The other day I was in the middle of teaching them all I could in spanish and I was like In deep thought and all of a sudden Orlando yells, ¨Wasss YOUR NAME¨ hahaha we died laughing. He must have been thinking of how to say the few words he learned in english class and finallly he rememebered them so he just had to blurt them out! It was so funny.