Week 49 - "Marianela is now the Secretary in the Soc Soc and is progressing very quickly. She is already starting classes to prepare for the temple and she desperately wants to get married so she can be sealed to Milla."

July 7, 2014

The day I got sick. Before I got really sick. Claro

Also on the way, front view. Wooh!

This week has been sort of frustrating. You feel very much useless in the house. Very much. And worse when you have a week inside. It is terrible. I recommend not getting sick. Because you will feel guilty and a lazy and slothful servant.

Marianela is now the Secretary in the Soc Soc and is progressing very quickly. She is already starting classes to prepare for the temple and she desperately wants to get married so she can be sealed to Milla. Pray for her, folks, so she can find a man inside the Church. Tamara is struggling a bit with all the temptations in the world and for how young she is. We will need to pass by more for her during the week because she  mentioned she almost stopped asisting to the Church. Pray for her as well. She need support from every side of the world. Send lots of prayers her way, all right?

On the way up. You'll notice there is an army man. We 

were directed to the top by some soldiers because they

didn't want the pobre sitos gringuitos to get lost.

You wouldn't believe the extent of my exhaustion in this moment. I have been in the house since Thursday because I have been sick with an advanced form of the 'gripe' (not sure how it's called in English), and this morning, we as a mision decided to hike it to the very tip top of a minimountain that is called ´Cerro Chena' ('Hill Chena', I dunno). We united in San Bernardo at 8 in the morning, walked a mile to arrive at the bottom of the hill at 9 roughly, then were directed by stake to the very tip top of this hill. It is a HUGE hill. I think we were mountain climbing straight up for half the time. It is incredible how many times I almost couldn't continue. My muscles aching and throbbing with fiery pain, my lungs burning from lack of oxygen (and still recovering and being in the house all week), my body unwilling to reach it while my spirit longed to see how it was from the top. It is wonderful to me how every experience I have in my mision is very much physical, but every time I learn something very important spiritual-wise as well. 

Look at the mountains!!!

I admit, I kept thinking of the last time I had climbed a mountain and my attitude back then and how I complained the entire time. I am sure my mom just wanted to yell at me to tell me to shut up or wanted to ignore me. I am sure she ended up doing just that. I must admit as well that I complained this time. Except this time, I complained from the inside and between the grunts of exhaustion and exasperation, I gave up a little prayer of gratitude to my Father for permitting me to learn what I needed to learn. My compañera stayed at my side, we motivated oe another to continue, we helped each other up

I thought the silhouette against the smog was pretty cool. That is the
 smog we are breathing here in Santiago Sur. Beautiful, right?

the tough parts, we were really there to show the imporance of companionship in life. And we laughed at the fact we couldn't walk anymore and complained together. Twas great fun. As we arrived a the top and I could see almost the entire country of Chile, I couldn't help feeling exhilarated and thankful to a Father in Heaven that loves me enough to allow me to experience things like this in my life. I wanted to die. I couldn't breathe. My body was exhausted to a level I have never experienced. I wanted to purely sit myself down with a tall drink of ice cubes and water. But as we descended, my thoughts were centered on two things: how this hike aplied to my life and my Savior.

There we are. We get asked a lot if we are
hermanas de verdad (real sisters)

The first because there are ups, there are downs. We walk alone and we walk in groups. We slip, we tire, we bore, we complain, we forget to bring water bottles. We live imperfectly. And it is beautiful. I find it a great blessing as I look back for all the trials I have lived. Because without them, without the memories of how we fell or tripped or shouldn't have stepped there, we cannot progress. Because we will repeat the same mistakes over and over. We suffer for experience. It isn't easy going up, and it isn't easy going down. But it is worth the wait and worth the complaints and worth the sweating through your three shirts and hat. Because there is more for us as we ascend. There is always a goal. There is always a point God needs us to get to so He is able to push us further with more challenges that are diferente in dificulty.

You see the little sticks pointing upward toward the sky?
It is believed they are electrical poles. That is where we
hiked up to. Cool, right? Pretty sweet

Second because He is TODO. He is everything. Without Him, we would have to do all this aforementioned alone. (look at me and my vocab! :D) Thanks to Him, we only have to bare our cargas with half the weight. Because He's got the other half of the yoke. He has promised to bare our yoke, we just need to allow Him to take it.

Trust in God. Believe He has all power and that He is real. He wants to help us and He wants us to help us as well. We just falta action sometimes. Act on your faith. He's got a high-five for you - don't leave Him hanging. He loves you and has the tools to do it better.

Love you all. Hugs!

Hermana Castleton