This letter was sent 7/5/2010
First of all, we survived transfers once again and HQ and I are going to be together another transfer. Us and the zone leaders are the only companionships that weren´t changed in our zone of 14 missionaries, so it´s going to be really different this transfer. My gringos are leaving! Hermana Montandon, who came with me, is going to Antofagasta, and her companion too, because they´re closing their area for Hermanas and Elders are coming. But we´re getting 3 other gringo Elders. We´ll see how that goes.
Yesterday, being the 4th of July, I woke up singing The Star Spangled Banner. We now have a new mission president, named President Bruce, from California. HQ and I decided to call him and sing the national anthem. Luckily it´s in my English hymnbook so HQ could read the words. It went pretty badly, because it´s really high and she´s really bad at singing in English, and it was 7:30 in the morning. But he appreciated the thought. Also, he only wanted to talk to me in English because he said it´s been really hard to remember Spanish after all this time (he served his mission in Puerto Rico, but a long time ago obviously). We´ll see how that goes too. My district leader and my zone leader as well called first thing in the morning to wish me a happy 4th of July.
As for the hamburgers, they ended up not making them, so it was a 4th of July without celebrations, except for HQ and I both dressed in red, white and blue for church. Those are also the colors of the Chilean flag, so I´m not sure if anyone noticed. But we were excited. I´m attaching a photo.
Saturday we had the baptism of Jorge (that is a translation of a sentence in Spanish, sorry)! It was good. I´m not sure how much I´ve told you about him, but he has been a super great investigator and we´re really happy that he´s finally baptized. He was a little sad, because he´s from Paraguay and his kids still live there and they´re little and they don´t understand why he´s not with his wife (they´re separated) and they couldn´t be at the baptism and he feels a little lonely I think. But he was happier on Sunday when he was confirmed, and hopefully with the support of the ward he´ll feel better soon.
HQ and I sang at the baptism! Just us two! I´m sure you´re all shocked, considering my intense hatred for singing in front of people ever since that one horrible recital when I was like 11, but I do things as a missionary that I thought I would never ever do, and that was one of them. We sang that one Primary song about baptism, with parts in Spanish and parts in English, and I´m not going to say the singing was wonderful, but overall it turned out pretty well.
I don´t know what else to write about in general. We have good people that we´re working with right now, but we don´t have any baptismal dates and no one came to church yesterday. That is by far the biggest challenge we have. But we´re going to work as hard as we can and do everything we can to get these people to church and surely we are going to baptize this transfer.
I can´t remember if I wrote about Jessica, the girl that took care of Silvia, but we went to visit her this week and she was soooo happy to see us and said that our visit brought her a lot of happiness that she´s been missing. Saturday we had an appt with her and we went to her house and she wasn´t there so we called and she said she had slept at the Donoso´s house so we went there to teach her. Her and Jannett, Silvia´s daughter, are best friends now. We had a short lesson but she said that she wants to get baptized! And she came to Jorge´s baptism on Saturday night. Unfortunately, she didn´t come to church yesterday and we don´t know why. But we´ll get on that.
Anyway, I´m here for at least 6 more weeks, and we´ll see what happens after that, because HQ only has one more transfer after this one. Iquique is getting pretty cold, but apparently it´s colder in Antofagasta and MUCH colder in Copiapo, so I´m grateful.
I love you all! Thanks for the letters, I hope you´re doing well. I´m praying for you always.
Hermana Coppins
P.S. The subject line is something someone said in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. What the heck??
First of all, we survived transfers once again and HQ and I are going to be together another transfer. Us and the zone leaders are the only companionships that weren´t changed in our zone of 14 missionaries, so it´s going to be really different this transfer. My gringos are leaving! Hermana Montandon, who came with me, is going to Antofagasta, and her companion too, because they´re closing their area for Hermanas and Elders are coming. But we´re getting 3 other gringo Elders. We´ll see how that goes.
Yesterday, being the 4th of July, I woke up singing The Star Spangled Banner. We now have a new mission president, named President Bruce, from California. HQ and I decided to call him and sing the national anthem. Luckily it´s in my English hymnbook so HQ could read the words. It went pretty badly, because it´s really high and she´s really bad at singing in English, and it was 7:30 in the morning. But he appreciated the thought. Also, he only wanted to talk to me in English because he said it´s been really hard to remember Spanish after all this time (he served his mission in Puerto Rico, but a long time ago obviously). We´ll see how that goes too. My district leader and my zone leader as well called first thing in the morning to wish me a happy 4th of July.
As for the hamburgers, they ended up not making them, so it was a 4th of July without celebrations, except for HQ and I both dressed in red, white and blue for church. Those are also the colors of the Chilean flag, so I´m not sure if anyone noticed. But we were excited. I´m attaching a photo.
Saturday we had the baptism of Jorge (that is a translation of a sentence in Spanish, sorry)! It was good. I´m not sure how much I´ve told you about him, but he has been a super great investigator and we´re really happy that he´s finally baptized. He was a little sad, because he´s from Paraguay and his kids still live there and they´re little and they don´t understand why he´s not with his wife (they´re separated) and they couldn´t be at the baptism and he feels a little lonely I think. But he was happier on Sunday when he was confirmed, and hopefully with the support of the ward he´ll feel better soon.
HQ and I sang at the baptism! Just us two! I´m sure you´re all shocked, considering my intense hatred for singing in front of people ever since that one horrible recital when I was like 11, but I do things as a missionary that I thought I would never ever do, and that was one of them. We sang that one Primary song about baptism, with parts in Spanish and parts in English, and I´m not going to say the singing was wonderful, but overall it turned out pretty well.
I don´t know what else to write about in general. We have good people that we´re working with right now, but we don´t have any baptismal dates and no one came to church yesterday. That is by far the biggest challenge we have. But we´re going to work as hard as we can and do everything we can to get these people to church and surely we are going to baptize this transfer.
I can´t remember if I wrote about Jessica, the girl that took care of Silvia, but we went to visit her this week and she was soooo happy to see us and said that our visit brought her a lot of happiness that she´s been missing. Saturday we had an appt with her and we went to her house and she wasn´t there so we called and she said she had slept at the Donoso´s house so we went there to teach her. Her and Jannett, Silvia´s daughter, are best friends now. We had a short lesson but she said that she wants to get baptized! And she came to Jorge´s baptism on Saturday night. Unfortunately, she didn´t come to church yesterday and we don´t know why. But we´ll get on that.
Anyway, I´m here for at least 6 more weeks, and we´ll see what happens after that, because HQ only has one more transfer after this one. Iquique is getting pretty cold, but apparently it´s colder in Antofagasta and MUCH colder in Copiapo, so I´m grateful.
I love you all! Thanks for the letters, I hope you´re doing well. I´m praying for you always.
Hermana Coppins
P.S. The subject line is something someone said in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. What the heck??
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