Week 64

Nashville day zzz:)

I'm here! Sorry it took me so long I spent the day at the zoo!:D 

So I don't have much time but here are some highlights. 

I planned a Family home evening and it was too stressful! I thought I would like planning activities, but I don't. It wasn't the best and we didn't get any investigators there so it was a but disappointing, but then Hno Rodriguez came up to me and cheered me up. He said what mattered was that I was building up the branch and pretty much just told me how thankful he was. It made it al better:) so in the end it wasn't such a bad job. 

Hna Rudolph got the stomach bug we had a couple of weeks ago this Saturday. It was awful but she survived. :) 

Today! We had a member named Kelsey show us around the recording studios in Nashville. She had some connections so they let us in back stage and we had some fun looking at all the cool equipment where famous people record. I don't know half their names because most of them are country but it was exiting non the less. :D Then we got to walk down this hipster street, eat some hipster Popsicles (that were pretty disappointing) and eat some hipster catfish. I realized I can't be hipster... They are just too expensive and not worth it. At lead the fake hipsters are, because the real thing would be more food for cheaper deals and real authentic food. Anyways:) I have decided the hipster life is not for me! At least the fake hipster. :P 

Then we got to go to the zoo! I saw all sorts of animals and it was so much fun! :D I can't remember the last time I went to the zoo because I probably never have been but ether way it was awesome!! I think my favorites was when I got to pet a lama and a tortoise. And I really liked the monkeys and feeding the birds. :) 

This week we also had some amazing trainings for Zone meeting! Every time we have meeting like that they motivate me to work harder. They remind me that time is precious and I need to use every second I have. 

I love you all! 

Hermana Orellana

-my roomies being strange:D hillbilly style

-our activity

-us

Week 63

New Transfer :)

Hola!

New transfer! New companion! Welcome Hna Rudolph:D Hna Rudolph is from Cody, Wyoming. She is 5'7, blond, used to work at Walmart, is secretly competitive, likes turtles, her favorite colors are blue and green and she loves spicy food!!:D  she's pretty funny and knows some pretty random facts, which is awesome because I love to learn random facts. She also eats my leftovers!:D that's a first!

Transfer meeting was pretty great:) I got to see a lot of my friends and we said good bye to a really big group of missionaries and hello to some new people. We had some new Spanish elders but no Hermanas:(  

This week we went around trying to look for new investigators. We had a lot of fiding but not a whole bunch of success. We will keep trying though, we know those prepared people are out there. :D We also got to help our ward with their Father's Day activity. We helped decorate and practiced a musical number. We sang "Oh my Father" and Hna Rudolph accompanied us with her Ukulele!:D oh yeah! Back to the uke! I think this is a sign that I am meant to be a ukulele player for the rest of my life. 

This weekend we also had an amazing Stake Conference. We had Elder Wilford W Andersen come speak to us! He had given a talk last General Conference about "The Music of the Gospel". In his talk this weekend he expounded more on D&C 121:41-42. He talked about worldly power, which tends to come from someone enforcing high rank or authority by intimidation, anger, threatening, fear, embarrassment and other things. I have seen that in homes a lot on my mission; when parents want their kids to listen they get angry or threaten and then you see rebellion and fighting and then the spirit is gone and the child gets lost. Instead Elder Andersen talked about applying the gospel in our home and using the kind of power that Jesus Christ taught, "by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile". Saying "I love you" more often even if it's strange at first and just over all showing love by using those powerful love attributes. Anyways, my parents were really good that that. Specially my mom. I obeyed her because she loved me not because of fear. My home was a place where the spirit dwelt and I was able to learn to hear the music of the gospel. My daddy taught me the dance and my mom created an environment where I could listen and practice. 

I am so thankful for so many things. Specially my friends and family!:) I hope you all had a great Father's Day. This weekend I was especially thankful for my dad. What a great opportunity I had to be with him for the time we were given. This Sunday I remembered the times I was little and tired at church. When he would carry me as I slept though Sunday school. It was a strange memory I had hidden in the corners of my mind but it was a special one for a special day. 

Love, 

Hermana Orellana!

Also I have a new mission address!:D Its: 1646 Sunset Road Brentwood, TN 37027

Unless you have my actual address then you can just keep using that until they transfer me:) if you want my current address just email me. 

-flashback to when there was five of us

-the beauties #eastwood #gamble #baben

-my tall friend and I

-Hna Gambles last words... She really does love me!

-Hno Rene stole my hot sauce and made me stop eating it for a couple days... The worst diet I have ever been on!! It started Wednesday night and I only lasted till Friday night. #toobrowntocare >:D

Week 62

Transfer week!

Dear friends and family,

I am staying in Goodlettsville!:D God really does answer prayers! Hna Gamble is leaving and we have no idea with who or where but she is pretty much all packed since Sunday morning. It has been an emotional two days. Today they will throw her a party at the park with soccer and pizza:) I'm going to happily sit in the shade with a cold bottle of water and keep score... In the shade... Lots of shade. People are starting to think I'm black down here... It gets a little awkward... The sun does mean things to me okay! I put on sunblock twice a day!!:P the other day I walked around with an umbrella...

So there is a stomach bug going around. Hna Gamble and I got it on Thursday. It started as soon as we woke up and the vomiting lasted 24 hours. We are still trying to recover:P Sister Schenk got the worst because on top of the stomach bug she got dehydrated. It was supper scary because we thought we would have have to go to the emergency room. She's okay now though and sister Gus showed some signs of a little bit of it this morning but sis Schenk and her still took the day to go to Nashville... So we are praying that she doesn't come home sicker. 

So it's been pretty hot down here. A lot hotter than it was last year and a lot more humid. It's been rough walking and biking BUT God has been looking out for us. We had five investigators at church yesterday. A part member and a whole family! Things are looking good for next transfer and we hope to get a couple baptisms:)

Paola was set apart to be the Relief Society secretary yesterday. It feels great to be able to see her progress. I love her so much! She is the most amazing person. I know I will for sure be back in Tennessee when she goes though the temple and is able to be sealed with her family for All Eternity. 

I will be receiving my 11th companion tomorrow. I have only missed two transfer meetings my whole mission! Whoooo! I'm on a roll! No, but really it felt great to have been able to stay with Hna Gamble for a little longer. Also it has been way fun to try to figure out where everyone is going:) for the last couple of transfers they haven't given out all of transfer information. All they tell us is if we are going or staying and if you are training or being placed in leadership. There are currently 17 Hermanas on the mission and 7 areas. I have already served with 5 Hermanas so it's pretty easy to figure out my options.... We have spent all weekend trying to figure out who is coming in and where everyone is going:) it's frustrating to not be able to know but it also opens up a guessing game and I love those types of games:D  Right now I have narrowed it down to three Hermanas; I could get Hna James, Hna Brown, or Hna Rudolph. My final guess is Hna Brown:D... I already love her... She's ones of my besties:D BUT I will let y'all know for sure next week. :) 

I also perfected my pupusa making skills...:) 

Well that's that:) 

Because everyone has been asking me about Elder Orellana. He is doing great!:D we talk ever week and he has a cool car and a native trainer who is trying to learn English:) he ready has some cool stories about street contacting:D I am one happy sister! California has gotten one amazing missionary. 

Until next week,

Hermana Orellana

-The Garcia and Bustamante family played mean tricks on us and got stuff on our faces:P

-the crazy district!

Week 61

On the mends :)

Its been a good week:) pretty regular, and by that i mean we still saw

miracles and door slams and people dropped and people picked back up.

The regular week:)

First of all, last Monday was a great P-day! We really wanted to go to

the carnival last week but it was raining at around 4 and so we had

driven by and it wasn't open so we sadly went back to our apartment.

As soon as we got there though I made a big riot about how I didnt

like to just sit at home on P-days and convinced the sisters to take a

trip to the little "lake beach":) It was tons of fun! We got (just)

our feet a little wet and walked on the sand and laughed and hna

Gamble even ended up catching a little fish with her hands! Well then

we were on our way home and from the distance we see that the Ferris

wheel is on! We couldn't ourselves so we spent the last hour on some

of the carnival rides. We went on two, the Ferris Wheel and another

really fun one;and then the workers saw that we were missionaries so

they let us ride one ride for free:D It was soooo much fun!

Unforgettable. :)

On Wednesday I got to train at our District meeting about working with

member and how to be effective when we asked them to come out with us.

Man! It was a struggle! "Member Presents" have always been challenging

for me. But in the end my training went well and everyone seamed to

like it and our number went up so that was good:)

Recently we have been teaching a family who is supper awesome! They

are from Cuba and were a referral from Hna Daysi. They came to church

with them a couple Sundays ago and then hna Gamble and I passed by to

see them this week. They are solid! Specially the husband:) They could

definitely tell that there was something different about us and they

told us that they wanted us to come by more often to teach them the

gospel and to help them with their English!:D The problem though is

that they are on the Elders side and so we will have to hand them over

to them but they are so solid that I don't even care as long as they

get to join our little branch. They would be such a strong addition to

the little part of heaven we have going on here. They were our miracle

this week:)

On to some sillier things... this week we also met "Billy the Thug"

(he called himself that) For some reason he was very offended that we

had showed up to share our message with him. He knew that God had sent

us and the thought that God wanted him to learn something from us was

really offensive for some reason. He pulled out his Bible and

proceeded to Bible bash to prove to God that we were not worthy to

preach to him. We had to back out when he kept asking us how many days

the world had darken when Jesus Christ had died.... We had no idea

where he had gotten that... We asked him if he had read the Book of

Mormon... in response he shared with us a chapter from Job and kept

saying that he was a Thug... "okay listen.... I'm a thug". I finally

had to tell him that I had no idea what that even meant and that we

were not here to judge anyone because we were all children of God.

Then Billy goes, "no, you don't understand! I AM A THUG!" and I kept

saying, "I don't know what a 'thug' is!" Hermana explained it to me

after... Billy is not a thug, he is a child of God that is not

interested in listening to the message of the Restoration of the

Church of Jesus Christ.

This week we also went to one of our investigators Baby Shower and we

would have gone to two Baby showers but the other one was going to be

on a Sunday. And last night we had a accidental intervention with

Natalie (a youth member) about her going to Girls Camp. All the young

women showed up at her house. Everyone shared powerful testimony about

their experience at girls camp. In the end everyone in that room

including us, her mom, and her mom's boyfriend were ready to pack up

our bags and head to girls camp that very moment... except for

Natalie.... Ugh! Teenagers!!!!

Well, that's that for this week:) Another transfer had come and gone.

We get transfer calls again on Saturday. Pretty much all the options

are up in the air right now. I could leave or Hna Gamble could leave

or we could stay together for another transfer (meaning we would be

together for three transfers, which has never happened but could). Who

knows! Ill let y'all know next week:)

I have too many pictures to send yall today!:D Brace yourselves!!:D

-Hermana Orellana

Here are some pictures from a couple weeks ago!

-our trip to Andrew Jacksons house:)