Sixty-Five

Hello Everyone,

To answer right now....sì I am safe and sound.  As you all have mentioned in your letters..we had a big surprise this last Wednesday, but I am so grateful for the experience and I will explain por què.  

So Wednesday for the majority of the day we had a mission conference, where all of the missionaries were together.  We had a great day, with a visit from Elder Viñez from the seventy, a chilean lunch with a concert (we watched the typical dances from chile...search a video of the queca), and we learned a lot from our leaders.  It was interesting though because the first thing that was mentioned in the conference was about the importance of having a emergency backpack.  Which was interesting because last Sunday the wards here received a letter from the area presidency about the same thing...and this week also I was feeling really strongly about the topic (even had a dream about an earthquake in the mission) so my comp and I reviewed the emergency instructions and everything.  So when it happened we were not that surprised.  

It is amazing to think how Heavenly Father and the Spirit gave us time to prepare.  He guided us and calmed our hearts.  

Yes, I am living on the 14th floor of a apartment complex, but we were out in the streets pretty far from our house when the first temblor hit.  It was super weird, an experience that hopefully I will not have to experience again, but one I can check off my list as things that I have done in my life …right?

So we noticed that the cables above began to shake, and than the street was moving side to side, and than we began to move.  We picked a site in the street that was not close to any cables, grabbed on to a fence, and waited it out.  It felt like eternity....we are use to small temblors here 3 seconds here and there, but this one kept on going.  Then the lights all got cut.  Al tiro we felt the need to go to our apartment (thanks to the emergency plan).  In camino we tried to call our hermanas from our group to make sure they were okay, but the phone connection got swamped so it was impossible to get through.  When we got to are apartment everyone was outside.  We thought we needed to enter our apartment so we started to enter the stairwell to do so (because the elevators were not working) but we felt strongly again to wait for a second...and right after we paused, another aftershock hit.

From this experience I learned to trust even more in the spirit...the spirit literally is our companion to protect us from harm ...not only spiritually but also physically.  

Still we are having after shocks (for example this morning we felt a big one..especially because we are in an apartment).  The only harm is that we still are walking around a little dizzy, but grateful for all the miracles that we saw.  

A funny thing that happened was that I decided that night to randomly open up the Book of Mormon to read one scripture right before I was going to bed, and when I pointed to a random scripture it ended up being Alma 12:1.....I could not stop laughing.  It was a gift from my Heavenly Father to calm my mind.  Read it to see if you get the joke.  

I have soooo much I want to tell you guys from this week, but you guys will have to wait to hear the rest.  

In the conference with Elder Viñez we talked about the chosen spirits D&C 121.  Love this topic.  We are here to search for the people who are going to build up the vineyard and to be the leaders.  It really changed me in how I am doing my contacts and my attitude.  We are not here to just increase the numbers, but literally to prepare this earth for the coming of Christ.

I love the mission.  I love the Spirit and the peace I feel every day.  

El Evangelio es mi vida y punto- a quote from Elder Holland.

love ya

super abrazo

Hna Duffy