Sister Michelle Christine North: Pretend like it's the weekend now

Thanks to this lovely winter weather, Chilean style- sunny and bright one day and then freezing and rainy the next day, I spent my weekend as Sleeping Beauty, sick in bed. It was such a bummer, but things are looking up because I am almost to that point of feeling better. No worries though, everyone here is taking really good care of me. I can't tell you how many phone calls I have received from my investigators and the members in the ward, calling to make sure I am doing okay/ making sure I am resting, in bed. Also with the amounts of times that I have had to call the Medico since I have been here in Chile, we have become good friends. She emails me each week of things in her week and she sent me pictures of the coast here in Chile. Making friends even when I am in bed sick = winning. Just had to throw that in there. It made me laugh when I got her email this week.

Hermana Fuentes and I have had one of those super great weeks as missionaries. I don’t really know how to explain it, but maybe I can explain it through some of our experiences from the week. So as you guys probably know, as missionaries, we have a schedule that we follow every day. Wake up at 7:30 AM, exercise, get ready for the day, study until 12:30, have lunch, and then teach people until 10PM, it’s the same routine every day, which can definitely get boring. For that reason, it is so important for missionaries to find new ways to find people to teach or to have fun while working at the same time. Something that Hermana Fuentes and I are really good at is finding those little things in the day that give us Anima to keep on keepin’ on. The other day we found these magical leaves on the trees where you can break them apart to make what is like confetti! They are the coolest leaves…needless to say, that day we had little tiny leaves all in our hair and in our blouses. And later that night we were laughing so hard because of how ridiculous we probably looked, but it was an exciting discovery for us at the time. No judgments, we like how we play, just gotta find those little moments in the day to change things up-

“This is how we do it!” (Love that song)

We also had such an awesome week with Jaime. We continue to learn and grow along with him every visit. He is so excited for his baptism on June first. When we were talking about it with him, he told us that maybe one day he can become a bishop, YUP! That’s my investigator, already thinking big. ;) When we were at church, he was talking with everyone and I could totally picture him as a really strong member of the church. He has the most loving personality and loves going to church each week. This week was the first week that he was able to stay for the last hour of church, the Elders Quorum. It was such a precious little moment for Hermana and me because when we were dropping him off to the class, it felt like we were dropping off our little at his first day of school. But really, I stood in the door way watching him, looking at what seat he would choose, hoping that he would make good friends and feel comfortable in the class. No worries though, our ward is so awesome and he fit in just like any other member of the ward. After Relief Society, Hermana Fuentes found him in conversation with some of the Hermanos of the ward and it just made me so Happy! He told us that he has such an amazing time.

Something that I absolutely love about Jaime, is something that I learned from him this week. When we were teaching him about the word of wisdom, we were talking about the blessings that we can receive with our health physically and mentally when we follow it. This conversation brought our relationship with Jaime even closer. He told us about how he has been battling prostate cancer for the past 2 years. That the only cure that he can has at this point is to have an operation, but he said that he doesn’t want that because he wants to die a Man. Ha ha. And he doesn’t even want to try chemo because his sister died while she was doing chemo treatments…Yeah, I know, wow! When I first heard this my heart broke. I just felt sad because I felt that cancer has been a sickness that has been haunting so many people that I love right now. But something that lightened my mood was right after Jaime said that he had cancer, he told us that he was Happy. That he is sick, but he doesn’t feel sick. (Which is why he never told us about it before, nor does he tell anyone about. Shhh. This is our little secret). He told us that he wants to live the rest of his life as normal as possible and that in the Lords time, he will go. He feels so strongly that the Lord has blessed him with so much and he is grateful for Hermana and me for the comfort that we have brought to him since we met. He said that we came in the exact moment that he needed us. I just love his optimism through so many afflictions. I know that the Lord has so many blessings in store for him and his family. We are going to take Jaime to the temple here in Santiago for one of our lessons this week. We are so excited!

On Saturday, while I was sick in bed, it rained and rained and rained! I have never seen it rain so much before! I loved it, it was just the medicine I needed to relax and get some sleep. Don’t you just love the sound of a good rain storm? And to put a cherry on top to my sicky day, Hermana Fuentes made me some Banana Pancakes (Jack Johnson style) to cheer me up. She is the best! And so is Maple syrup. It has been so long since I have had it, I think that I could have eaten the whole bottle! They only sell maple syrup in the foreign goods isle of the supermarket. What a sad joke for the Chileans. Anyways,I hope that you guys have a great week! Thanks so much for all of your love! I love hearing from you guys. Soak in some sun for me! Heaven knows that I need it! Everyone here thinks that I am white. (It’s probably true by now).

xoxoxoxoxox

Mucho Amor, Hermana North

picture 1: Jaime :) He makes the best hot chocolate