I got to sit down and read through some of my "yearbook" from my mission today...I kept a black book and whenever I was to get changed out of a place, I had people sign in it-fun times. Thanks, to all you who wrote SUCH nice things! I read through them, thinking; "was this really who I was??" "did I really do all that?!" Of course! What I mean, is that in the mission, the Lord blessed me (and those who serve Him) TREMENDOUSLY. I wasn't myself-I was "Super Monika"! I did things that I never knew how to do, or could do. I guess that's what it's all about, when the Lord says He will stretch us-or qualify us for what He calls us to do. I can't say that I was a perfect little missionary. I never have been perfect, and never will, at least not for a VERY long time. But I hope I'm always "willing" to serve Him.

I liked what a missionary wrote in there-"remember when we'd say; "Heavenly Father must love us today to hide the sun!" lol-silly stuff, but true. We were SO grateful for a bit of shade, and we indeed were able to see the little things in our daily lives of proselyting that the Lord would do for us. Ok, so maybe He didn't really hide the sun so that it'd be nicer for us to walk around in, and so that we wouldn't stink when we would talk to the people, but I'd like to think so! ;-)

We had our crazy times...but all in all, the mission was great. Why was I so blessed to have had that time to serve my brothers and sisters in far away Santiago, Chile?! I have no idea. They taught and did more for me than I can ever repay them. I always felt that I would and needed to serve a mission. Even when I was as little as six years old, I'd tell everyone that I was going on a mission someday-to China-ok, so I totally missed that China/Chile thing, but who cares?! Oh, how I miss them...

Arturo, who would walk us sisters home late at nights, because he was so protective of us. His mom, Hna. Antileo who would sing to us when we were discouraged...Justo, who had a million questions about the church and wouldn't commit to anything, and yet he was already a "Mormon" at heart and in his actions...the reluntless dogs FULL of flees and bald spots and guts hanging outside of their bodies they were so sick...(ya, sorry, I just had to throw that in!)-the zone leaders who were always on our case to teach more! The nights my companion and I would sit and cry because the mission was "too hard"...the nights we'd stay up just talking about boys and "when we get home"...(sorry!) the leggins and knee highs (I know! lol) that would come down so low when we'd run to get to people's homes and appointments on time...we felt SO ugly...but hey, those men still whistled and yelled out; "HEY! WHAT'S YOUR NAME, 1, 2, 3, I LOVE YOU!" so then we felt sort of pretty and felt that we had hope once we got home to the states! (lol) The kids who would throw rocks at us...or people who'd ignore us when we'd try to talk to them...or the families that fed us all that they had-or even better foods that they could afford and eat themselves, so they would sit and just watch US eat it and not them...the family who could have bought a small (and I mean SMALL) house, but instead, decided to buy a car so that they could help others, and give rides to and from church, all the while they stayed in a ONE bedroom shack with their two growing boys...the ward that fasted with us missionaries, so that we could soften the heart of a young man deciding whether or not to become baptized...the sister missionaries dancing Brittney Spears at a youth conference held by our president-we were so "cool" (lol)...or the RIVERS we'd have to walk through, whenever it'd rain...and almost getting washed away everytime...lol we were so frozen cold!! The time we thought we were being robbed cuz someone was in our apartment...turned out to be one of the sisters staying home sick...lol The lies I told that my companion was SUPER hungry...so that the families would give HER more food than me cuz I really couldn't handle anymore food!! (sorry!!! lol) The millions of cinnamon rolls and cookies my companion and I would make to deliver them to member's and less active people's home...and starve the rest of the month. lol the plays we did to motivate the members...OH MAN, I really could go on forever...

would I do it all over again? NO. At least, not until Ronny and I'm older- It was way too hard! But despite the small mistakes and minor regrets that I have, I'm grateful that I can say that I think I served to the best of my ability....not trying to boast...I love them, those people. I hope I can go back soon. I thank each and every Chilean person I met. They are so dear to me. I also thank each and every crazy companion that I had. (that's ALL of you!) I learned a lot from each of them. What a special gift that the Father gave me--I didn't do much for Him, it was a gift to me, and I will never forget it...

"Richan"