Um.......Phenomenal?

This week felt like every other week. I don't think it was good or bad. Like most weeks here on the mission, it's a rull thrill - ups and downs. Super great fun/spiritual experiences and also so many times when I'm ready to not be a missionary anymore.

Sorry to say there just isn't much to report. Except that Mexico experienced its largest earthquake in 100 years. I guess you might say, it really.... shook things up around here. :}

I probs shouldn't joke about it because the entire planet is in turmoil right now. Know that the missionaries pray for the people all around the world everyday, and we are all very grateful for the prayers of the members. It's because of faithful prayers that Hermana Ellis and I didn't even wake up. Our empty water bottles didn't fall, and nothing in our house or around the MTC was damaged at all. In fact, the earthquake alarms didn't even go off here. I guess miracles are real, and the church is true, or whatever.

But there has been an awful lot of talk about all the events around the world - we get pretty excited to hear about what is going on outside The Wall. Here's what's going on inside The Wall:

• Our district set a new record for most bowls of cereal eaten: Elder Mitchell ate 17 bowls of cereal, Elder Souter had 14 bowls, and Elder Clare had 12. Every member of our district. We all (the remaining 6 of us) had a bowl of cereal out of respect and honor. That was a rather dangerous amount of cereal. It was also really kind of terrible to watch. 


• Our district set a new record for the most number of windows broken in the same amount of days. Just guess.


• Our district set a record for most cups stacked without falling. probably close to 23.


• Our district set a record for most new records broken/set. Also maybe most dumb challenges. 

Hermana Ellis and I are really great friends and also companions. She really is the best. She's a cosmologist and she always looks amazing. *see photos* She even cut my hair today! 6 inches off! it feels so healthy and happy. She's fun and always has great things to add to our lessons and study time. She's from Alpine, Utah, and lived right across the street from me last year. I didn't even know it. Small world.

I can't even imagine not having her as my companion, but we're almost done with our first transfer! ¡Que Extravagante! It will be weird to say goodbye. But I'm positive we will see each other again because we will both be living in Provo and also speaking Chileno.

Our investigators are doing so much better, and we're not really sure if it's because the Gospel has that effect on people, or because we're learning everyday, or because they just had pity on the dumb Americans.

I really love the Spanish language even though I'm pretty remarkably bad at it. Here's a spiritual tid-bit from our Rama 9 Presidente [Branch 9 President], Iván Betancourt:

"Remember that to be humble is to recognize gratefully our dependence on the Lord—to understand that we have constant need for His support. Humility is an acknowledgment that our talents and abilities are gifts from God. It is not a sign of weakness, timidity, or fear; it is an indication that we know where our true strength lies. We can be both humble and fearless. We can be both humble and courageous."

That's pretty neat.

Have some one photo. It's Hermana Ellis. She's really too fabulous to capture on film, but we did the best we could with what we had.

The bonus photo is Hermana Ellis at the CCM. I'm standing right behind the Camera.

Hasta luigi -

Hermana Baer