January 3rd Email

Hey family!!!

Wow. wHAT A CRAZY MONTH WEEK!  i HAVE ONLY GOOD THINGS TO SAY. To be honest im seeing a lot of changes in myself and im just really at peace..more than any other time in my life.  I have set some goals for myself to really be the best I cant be and do ALL i can do. I have realized how short the time i have here and i know i can step it up even more. I think the one really hard thing about being a missionary is you always feel like you can be doing more. It can be a little overwhelming.

I am pretty sure this will be my last transfer here in concepcion. I had an interview with my pres. on friday and he asked me if I would like to stay and train or if I would like to change sectors and train next cambio. I didnt really give him a real answer but Im kinda hoping to change and train next cambio. I only have 3 transfers left so itd be nice to spend them all in another sector even though it will be hard to leave where I am.

Christmas and New years were nice!! We had some great families help us feel right at home!! And we ate greaaaaaaaaaaaaat food!! This week I working with 2 younger missionaries. My president send them to my area so I could do some training with them. Sometimes I just feel so inadiquet ( i dont know how to spell that word haha)

I have really been able to communicate much better lately with the people. Im working on my accent..but I itll come soon hopefully.

i LOVED talking to my fam on christmas day!! It was sooooo exciting!!


I know being with a companion 24-7 will help me with my relationship with my future husband. Before my mission i was so independent and just liked doing everything on my own time and by myself. I have learned how much you can learn from other people if you let them be themselves!!

A mission really is a time to learn things I know I will be able to apply for the rest of my life!


I love you all thank you for your cards or letters!!

LOVE
Hermana Paige Conley!!

December 22nd Email

Hey Family!!
not much to say this week!
Today i went to the beach! it was sooooooo fun and sooooo relaxing!! I love the beach!! NOt a single person was there except for us! I went with my companion and 3 girls in our ward that were recently baptized. 2 of them are twins and the other one is a lil older. Bet u cant guess how old they are. the twins are 15 and the other is 19. They are sooo fun and sooo close. Makes me miss my sisssy. They just lay on each other and just are soo touchy. So i made myself really comfortable with them!!

So this week we got to one of our appointments and they werent there so we had like a half hour to spare. So we went and knocked some doors to ask if we could sing to them. We knocked about 25 doors and everyone of them said no. So finally we got to this families house and the dad with his kids said Yes.. kinda with hesitation. Then the mom walks down the stairs with this weird look on her face and so i kinda got a lil worried. But then they just like had their mouths open. When we finished she was like astonished. Shes like... I never really thought people did things like this.. I though it was just in the movies. haha. SHe was sooooooo happy!! they loved it!!!!!!!!!! I think they will be the next family we work with!
well i better get off here. LOts to doo!!!
love ya yallllllllllllll paige

December 13th Email

Hey fam!
As it gets closer to christmas and I play christmas music (carey underwood, mariah carey..ext) I just think Ahhhh id love to be with my  family! But I know ill be there before I know it. Time flies. Ill be home in 5 months. Thats like NOTHING. 5 months ago was like when you got home from school i think. Idk

One of our investigators died. His name is jose. He´s the best guy and his family is amazing. His daughters are gorgeos. GORGEOUS. they have the best clothes. They look like they walked off a magazine. Breaks my heart.

I spoke and my companion and I sang at his funeral. wow. tough to see his family. ALL in black. Sunglasses. I felt like iwas in a movie. It made me so thankful for my family. I cant imagine losing a family member especially my dad.

Things are going well in the mission.Our traveling choir travels this week around chile to sing for the christmas program the mission is putting on. Should be pretty special. We have practiced for HOURS. and I have to sing Silent night ALONE. In spanish. AGhhhh!!  The songs we sing are like very choirish. NOT country...like my voice. So one time during practice they were like ok just give it all you got. ANd i just pulled out a DOLLY PARTON voice and sang it. AND they all lost it!!!  It was so funny
I love this time of year. Its a little weird because its getting warmer and Chileans don´t really celebrate christmas like we do in the states but they try. hehe.

I just want to wish you alllllllllll a merry christmas!!  Thank you for everything yall do!

MISS YOU!

Paige

November 15, 2010

Here are some pictures from Paige's week, since she didn't have time to write.

November 1, 2010

Hola! Como esta!!
I dont have much time to write but I´ll give yall an update on everything! This week was good... A little hard on the feet but Good. I hit a year in my mission this week.. CRAZY.
Lets see. What new happened this week. I didnt get bit by a dog. But I do have 53 bug bites. I dont know why but when I get bit I get bit alllll at once! Im itching like crazy. I have cream so it helps!  Last night was halloween. Well Chile recently just found out about halloweena and so they are starting to do it. But its so sad because all the kids use all the left over costumes from the U.S from like 1992. I know you adults don´t think that that is like that long ago but It is. Sorry. hehe. But it was cute...to walk around and see kids last night in costumes.

I have realized that I am definetly getting used to chile. I feel so much more comfortable in someones house that has a dirt floor than someone that has a big house with leather couches. I guess I have just learned to appreciate how humble some of the people are. One family in particular. Just built a house. It is the size of my sisters bedroom at home. I walked in and just complemented them on everything from the sheets that were hung up to seperate the kitchen from the bedroom... to the old wood floor and tin roof. I love these people. Some of the lower class people have nothing materialistic but THEY LOVE THE little things. And so do i!!!! Most of the dads sell fruit from their trucks. AND if you know me u know I LOVE fruit. Especially strawberries. And Avacado!! I eat them by the pound! So everytime I just walk by their house the run to faucet clean off some fruit for me and run it out. I freak up and Yes I like to over exagerate. BUt its just because I reallly just LOVE these people so much! 

So yesterday in church was my favorite church in my whole mission. A bunch of the people that we recently helped get baptized were in one of the classes we have after sacrament and one of them began to bear his testimony how he never wanted to be mormon. He said he always had this fear of knowing that the church was true but he almost didnt want to know because he didnt want to change. He said with time he started to feel things he never had before and the spirit begin to convert his heart. Until one day he knew. He said I just knew. This really was christs church. I didnt look at him when He was talking because I knew i would break down and cry but I felt so great knowing I could help him in his progress. There were so many other people in there that bounced off of his thoughts and began to share how they recently have come to know that this is all true. It was amaziing!! I had chillls.

I love this gospel so much! It really mends a broken heart and brings TRUE happiness into peoples lives. THINGS...the World can not give. IT doesnt fase one with happiness for a few hours or even days... Its forever happiness.

Funny experience of the week.
So we were walking and we started talking to this 19 year old guy and were telling him a little bit about why we were here and figuring out a time when we could come by and teach him. Then these kids playing soccer kinda kicked to ball over towards us (happens everyday) So I looked at em and Im like ya wanna play? I was like bring it on!  So my companion and I dropped our backpacks on the ground and kicked butt for a little bit and then went on our way. They beg us to come back and play everyday because NOOO girls play soccer in chile. We fell like every 7 seconds though because we don´t have good shoes and we were in skirts. haha.  It was fun though!


Anyways,
thats all I got for the week! I love and miss yall!!! sooooo much!
Hope everything is going greattttttttttttttt!
write me!!

Love paige

October 25th, 2010

Hey fam! How are you all doing!! it was good to be able to talk to brit on friday and get an update of everything. Its hard wondering about everything... wishing there was more I could do from way down here. Until I can, I will continue to pray and do the best I can to send things and make calls when I can. 

Lets see. I had a rock in my soup.

Yup. Here I was just sipping away at the Typical Casuella. Which is soup basically made up of leftovers and OIL. and then I kinda bite down on something but it was big and hard. I tried to not let the lady that made it see... so I snuck it out of my mouth and looked at it. It was a rock. The size of a penny. haha. ohhh chile.

What else...
The bads of the week.
On saturday we were walking along a main road and there were these 2 little kids that walked by us and a few others right around us. Then out of knowwhere...this German Shephard just starts moving his head like around and around and Runs up and Just Starts biting me. My thigh. I wish I could say that it didnt hurt. BUT IT KILLLLLLLLED. I was in so much shock that I couldnt even cry. Good thing is...is my thigh muscles are sooo strong. so he didnt break the skin. No.. actually it was because I head to layers on. So he didnt break the skin! And I am so happy or else I would have to go to the Hospital and get rabies shots (its a mission rule) So anyways, Everyone around ran up to see if I was okay. And then they called a bus over to come bring me to the consultorio....(the ER for the town) and they check it out and bandaged it up and everything. So that hurt.

But its starting to get better. Just verrrry bruised.

Other than that, I dont really have too many updates. Its so great because its starting to get a little warmer out and I just LOVE when its sunny out!! It just makes me That much happier
--
Hermana Conley
Paige Conley.
Concepcion. CHILE

October 18th, 2010

Hey family!
What a week of miracles.
First off...the whole country cried together as the Minors came out of the ground. What an emotional special experience that was. Many Many fathers work in the mines here and so that story touched the hearts of many of the Chileans.

The other miracle was that Sigfrido was baptized. He is a changed man. Wow! It was such a great baptism. So special. He is just such a happier man with a huge desire to keep progressing. It was very special to help him in his journey thus far. Also Christian was also baptized. Christians wife is a member of the church and so is her mother. Its been hard for them to stay strong without the support of him. For 2 years straight he has been taught by the missionaries everyweek. Sometimes 4 and 5 times a week. He just did´nt really have much of a desire to change although he knew the church was true. When I arrived here to Santa Sabina, I Saw that he had been taught for soooo long and many of the missionaries talked about baptism because that was the only step he had left to take before he really could progress. So I decided to take a different approuch on teaching him. My companion and I taught everything based around the families and the importance of the Preisthood in the Home. We worked with him for Months and Months. One day he said, I need to be baptized. I JUMPED up in the AIR LITERALLY!!! He said he wanted to be baptized Oct 14 on his birthday. Wow! What a beautiful baptism. Almost all the missionaries that have come through this mission know of him or have taught him. My mission president and his wife even came to the baptism! It was beautiful!! Now his family is complete and He will be able to baptize his daughter in a few weeks. He has a whole knew light about him, Im not kidding. Its amazing!!!!!


Sad news is my companion is leaving me... She got transfered. I am very sad to see her go. My new companion is part chinese part american. She reads the book of mormon in chinese. haha. She comes tomorrow. Im a little nervous because the President Pulled me aside today and said he put me with her so I can help her. She is older than me in the mission and knows spanish way better. Im sure he just wants me to help her be a little happier. I can do that.
I will be honest though. Im a little nervous...

Also 16 missionaries finished their mission today. We were in the office when they were all saying goodbyes. WOW! Some soooooooo sad. Some soooooo happy. Its just mixed feelings Iv heard. SO happy to see your friends and family again...but yet so sad to leave something you have lived and loved for 2 years. Two of my best friends Elder Reynolds and Elder Jaar are leaving. Elder Reynolds was my Zone Leader. Two of the best funniest missionaries ever!!

What elseeeeee....
I miss everyone sooo much! I just love my mission to death. I just also love my family and friends back home too!!
--
Also. We also have been teaching a couple.. Josue and Lyceth. They are a great couple that live together and have a son together. They have been wanting to get baptized but they need to get married in order to do because they live together. SO They asked us to be the witnesses at their marriage... And Im gonna be able to plan a lil wedding!! Yayyy a chance to be creative again!!

Every second Im not doing something I am thinking and praying for my lil sissy. My heart is broken in peices. I wish that I could be there for her...but I know that Heavenly Father will bless her even more if I continue to work hard here. This really is the work of the Lord. There is no question in my mind. We are not just teaching people about christ or serving people. We are helping people change their lives and really Come Unto Christ. I know that I need to be here... even though I cry as I write this thinking about how much I wish I could hug her. Please please pray for my sis.

beat it brit. Beat it.

Love paige


Hermana Conley
Paige Conley.
Concepcion. CHILE




*Side Note From Monica: Pictures from this week, to come soon!*