¡Mi Misión!

This blog was initially intended for Chile-only related posts. But, since Chile cemented my desire to serve a mission, I suppose this is entirely appropriate. In the months since my return to the States, I’ve submitted my papers and received my mission call. And so (drum roll please), I report to the Provo MTC on June 23 to begin my 18-month mission for the Norway Oslo Mission. That’s right. NORWAY. No joke.

My feelings on this? I think surprised sums it up pretty well. But, I love it. Honest. I’m so excited and I feel good about it. But, Spanish was no cakewalk, so I must admit that I’m terribly nervous about this Norwegian language business. I don’t know how to count to ten, or how to say “hello,” or even how to say “Jesus Christ” in Norwegian, but I do know the Lord qualifies those He calls. Entonces, me voy a Noruega. Woop-yeah!

Right: Eli and I with my call. Surprised faces all around. Left: The "Where in the WORLD is Sister Stevens Serving?" guess poster. (Pun off of "Where in the WORLD is Carmen San Diego, and a sweet alliteration if you ask me.) The closest anyone got was Germany, and when I initially saw that guess I thought to myself, "you jerk! Don't write anything in Europe!"

There and back again

The day I've been both looking forward to and dreading finally arrived: my return date. So many emotions crammed into one day. Opposition in all things, right? I'm just glad I got to say all my goodbyes and enjoy one last day in the Chilean sun with friends y familia.

'Twas my last Sunday as the Agua Santa Ward Pianista. This is also the ONLY picture I have with the entire family. Entonces, esta foto es tan precioso.



Fun in the sun with my ham hermanita Dania. Que tierna!

Las tres amigas para siempre.



Waiting in the Santiago Airport to leave Chile. It was a good time to reflect and think on my experience. At this point I wasn't too excited to leave.



I have a proclamation for the world: Air Canada is the best airline! It's by far my fav, largely because of the personal TVs. These TVs include FREE music, movies and TV. They help the ten hour flight go by much faster.



It was such a blessing to be on the same flight to Toronto, Canada with a fellow UVM student, Lauren. We got to sit next to each other and we watched "UP." The movie was perfect closer to our time in South America as well as a great pep talk for our next big adventures. But regardless of future adventures or no, ten hours on a plane gets pretty long (left: before; right: after)



But of course, the layover and 14 hours on a plane were definitely worth it in the end. My wonderful dad picked me up at DIA and I must say, it feels good to be back.

La Campana

I distinctly remember the first time I really perked up at church. I believe it was my second Sunday in my ward and I was in an interview with the Ward's First Counselor, Esteban Gonzalez. He asked me if I liked hiking. He might as well have asked me if I liked hard-blue skies or chocolate. YES. In fact, I love hiking. He told me that he would organize a group to climb el cerro (hill) La Campana at the end of the year. I told him to count me in. And so, the hike I've been looking forward to my entire time in Chile finally happened today.

Here's a couple things I learned about La Campana. It's called a hill, but I must tell you that that beast is not a hill, it's a mountain. Also, hikes can be hard! Multiple people told me multiple times that La Campana was a difficult, all day hike. Strangely enough I would get more and more excited when they told me these things. That thrill left me about 15 minutes into the hike. Yao! It was HARD! Really hard, straight up the entire 4 hours...but I loved it. As Megan O'Brian would say, "it hurt so good."

Our group of six met up at 6:30 this morning (6:50 Latin Time) to take a Micro a La Campana. Pictured above: yo, la Giselle, y el Esteban.

My first time wearing Chacos on a real hike. I can't remember the last time my feet and legs have been so dirty. They Chileans thought I was crazy, and I had to give up trying to explain how cool the shoes are when I started to get some hot spots (which of course I didn't mention because I wanted them think Chacos are flawless).

Por fin, la cima (summit)!

Sights from the top. Check out the snow-covered mountains in the background.

The crew (left to right): Niko, Esteban, Kevin, Yerko, y la Giselle

La Campana. We went all the way to the top. WHO-RAH!

Finished the day with completos (Chilean hot dog with all the good stuff). Have I mentioned lately how much I love my life?

Splits with the Sisters

Yesterday I finally worked out a time I could go on Splits with the Sister Missionaries. One of the Sisters was sick and I went out with her companion so she could get some rest. May I please explain why this is so cool? We set it all up via phone conversations (meaning I can talk on the phone in Spanish), I figured out which Micro to take to get to a town I'd never heard of (Quintero, about an hour away), and then I did as Sister Missionaries do for almost five hours. If that's not progress from four months ago I don't know what is. Okay, well, don't think my Spanish is bomb, but it was fun to help out and get a taste of the Missionary work in Chile.

Mi nueva amiga, Hermana Rivera de Honduras

Southern Chile

It's a well known fact to Chileans that Southern Chile is beautiful. It's not a well known fact to everyone else. But now that I know I'll share it with the world. Southern Chile is incredible!!! I wish I had more time to go into detail, but the pictures will have to suffice for now.

Bike ride in the rain

Penguins on Chiloe Island
(which turned out as tiny white dots in the pictures)

Trekking

Saltos Rio Petrohue

Canopy

Volcanoes - the one pictured is Osorno

Another bike ride in the sun

Sights in Puerto Varas

Lovely (of sorts) bus ride back to Vina

Mendoza

I traveled over to Mendoza, Argentina a couple days this last week with eight other international students from UVM (Universidad de Vina del Mar). It was a short, two day and one night trip that was rather relaxed, but still fun.

The most I probably have to talk about are the bus rides. Uuuuuuugh. Both times we left at 10 p.m. which sounds like a good idea on paper: "leave at 10 p.m. and arrive at about 8 a.m. refreshed and ready for the day." Ha! I forgot to take into account crossing the boarder and going through customs and such at about 2:30 a.m. Not my fav. But, I did have some things I really loved about my bus experience...like my face mask for my eyes, the Presidents of the Church lectures on my iPod, and staring at the stars when the rest of the world seems to be sleeping. Priceless.

This picture was taken before we even started to move. This face only got better as you can imagine.

Plaza Independencia

Meet Alfie: the Hostel dog. I was struck with puppy love.

Seven of our group decided to go paragliding. A-ma-zing. It wasn't quite the adrenaline rush I was expecting, but I definitely enjoyed it all the same.

Life is wonderful.

Back in the Saddle Again

On Friday I went horseback riding with the University on the beach. Yeah, totally bomb. It was seriously one of my favorite things I've done here. Because of Badger Creek, I was the most experienced rider there and it took me down "horse wrangler/workshop lane." The instructors didn't do anything beyond stick us on a horse and lead, so I enjoyed teaching people how to hold the reins and steer. It felt so, SO good to excel at something besides washing the dishes. And can I just say that their rules (or lack thereof) made Badger look super paranoid. Helmets: no. Particular horse order: nah. Running: sure. Galloping: absolutely. I loved it. I can't think of many things that are more exhilarating than galloping through sand dunes or on the beach. Truly it was an experience I won't soon forget.

My horse Pompero. He liked to be up front and to go really fast. We got along great.

The dunes.

Santiago

This weekend I went to Santiago with Holli and Emily for a couple days. It was such a nice little getaway trip complete with culture and new experiences. We went to Santa Lucia (kinda like a big garden), a Contemporary Art Museum, the Moneda, the mall, a market, a Don Quixote Ballet, and also figured out the different Bus and Metro system. The three of us had lots of good laughs and enjoyed our stay in the capitol city, rain and shine.

I had my first Hostel experience with our stay at the "Hostal Forestal." It was actually pretty nice.


Making a wish on a peso at a fountain in Santa Lucia...I believe that wish is only worth 1/200th of a penny. Pucha.

The Ballet: incredible everything. It was a gorgeous building, I was amazing by the grace of the dancers, I loved our seats (yea for being a student!), and I got just as much out of the show as everyone else (yet another universal language). Did I mention that it was beautiful?


The Moneda, which is like the equivalent of the White House.

I must explain this picture. We left Santiago on a Saturday night; a Saturday night in which there was a World Cup soccer game on. Yikes. Everything was closed and it felt like a Ghost Town without any cars on the road. There were carabineros (police) lining every street in armored buses for crowd control, and we felt a bit anxious from the sight. To make matters worse, a couple Metro Station entrances were barred shut and we didn't know how to get home without it. We managed to fine an open entrance, but the Red Line to leave was not to be found. What! After a nice lady showed where to go we glowed with satisfaction upon finding it. That feeling didn't last long. The Metro intercom announced something about Pajaritos (the Station were we going to) a couple times and made us nervous. What was going on? They made it sound really important. In the end, all they were saying was to exit on the left rather than the right. Oh boy, this is when knowing Spanish would help out a lot. Anyway, this picture is when we finally reached Pajaritos and were joyous beyond words.

Mejor Dia!

This weekend mi familia took me to the beautiful campo (countryside) with them and I had so much fun to get away from the city for a day. I loved the drive out where we could see the mountains, green hills and trees, and even sand dunes. And our motto of the day? "Mejor dia!" (That is mi familia's condensed way of saying, "this is the best day ever!" *Yea for Badger!*) I met members of mi padre's extended family, toured a "green house," skipped shells at the beach, tried new seafood, and even ate some famous Chilean dulces (sweets). Even the language barrier couldn't put a damper on my time en el campo! The day ended with a Church dance in Valpo--which is another story in and of itself--undoubtedly it was a day full of sights and adventure.

Lemon trees and "beehive" at mi tia abuela's (great aunt) house where mi familia gets their honey.

Inside the "Green House" at tia abuela's.



Country Roads, take me home...



La playa.



Viva Chile!



Alina y Dania making some tough choices...they were only allowed to pick out five shells each from their beach collection.



Trying a new kind of seafood (alas, the name has entirely slipped my mind) con mi padre. Despite my disgusted look, it really wasn't that bad.