February 17, 2014

Good news everyone! I've started taking my medication Rifampin! Side effects include reddish coloration to urine and a constant headache, but it's also killing all the TB spores in my body so I'm not complaining. I actually started a pill chart. When I finish, I will have taken 240 pills for 120 days so I made a chart and color in a space every day after I take a pill. 

This week was an interesting week. I went to the new missionary meeting Tuesday and Wednesday, which got cut short because of winter storm, "Pax". So we got snowed in Thursday. Friday and Saturday morning we got to leave, but Saturday night, we had to go home because of winter storm, "Quintus". Then Sunday, one of my companions woke up with a sinus infection and I stayed home with her. So thanks to Pax, Quintus and Sister P, I've been inside almost all week. But I'm not complaining. I got to do a lot of studying. 

The good news is despite being home almost all week, we have a new investigator. His name is D and he's from Brazil. I kind of understand him....he came to church yesterday and to an FHE! We also have an appointment with him tonight which we're excited about. He's really awesome and has a lot of great questions. 

Well tell everyone I say hi! And I'm staying plenty warm, I just got like 3 coats from the mission home and one of them is a poofy down coat. It's super warm. And don't worry, there's only like 2 feet of snow on the ground haha but they're way better about snow shoveling here than in Moscow. 

Love you all!

Hermana Hutchinson

February 10, 2014

We had transfers! Actually we just had "T-texts" which just say the transfers. This mission is weird and does transfers on Thursday. But because of that they change p day to Wednesday so the missionaries can pack. None of us got transfered. Just an elder in our district. But I've been invited and am going to the new missionary meeting so I can get an idea of what the heck they do here. That's from Tuesday night to Thursday morning which is why I now have p day today!

Today we're going to BOSTON! again. 

So my last appointment went well. I just met with a nurse lady (but she's a smart nurse lady) and we discussed treatment. She wanted to do some labs before we start treatment. I did a blood test so they can have a baseline of my blood work. They're also going to run it through the Quantiferon again to double check and today I'm going to do a chest x-ray. Katie (the smart nurse lady) is going to call me sometime soon with the final say on which drug she's going to give me. She wanted to talk with a couple doctors first. I think we're going to move forward with the Rifampin which means blood work every month, but I'll only have to take it for 4 months. As opposed to 9 months of INH. 

I've been doing good. I'm starting to get the hang of things here in the MBM (Mass Boston Mish) The portuguese is...coming. It's kinda hard because I'm not required to be speaking it all the time, so I think it will come a little bit slower than Spanish, but we'll see. I've been practicing and reading the BoM in Portuguese. I chugging along. We also got a snow storm this week. We got like a foot of snow, it was crazy! We actually had a snow day (they call it getting 'red-dotted') on Wednesday. We went to the clubhouse at our apartment and played Settlers of Catan. It was basically awesome.

Also, I was doing a bit of family history work and I found out that we're directly related to Anne Hutchinson. But on familysearch she's listed as Anne Marbury married to William Hutchinson. Look for it!! It's really cool. She's like 11 generations back or something.

This also makes us distantly related to George W Bush and Mitt Romney. 

I'll have fun in Boston for you all. 

Feburary 3, 2014

Whoa, I can't believe K is home already and S got his mission call! That's super cool! Send him a congrats from me and say hi to K for me too. Actually there's a family in one of my wards that's from South Africa. They're really really really cool. I think the weirdest one though is A. What the heck, isn't he only like, 14? You'll have to let me know where he's going.

This week has ben interesting. Sister L, P and I have been getting really close this week. I'm glad to be companions with them, it's been a lot of fun. We've been working a lot with inactives and finding 'lost sheep', or people who are, well, lost. Thursday night we were looking for a guy named J. We knocked on the door to his supposed house and a shirtless man opened the door. It was apparent that he was intoxicated. We asked him if J lived there and he asked, very confused, who J was. So we explained that we're missionaries and we're looking for a member of our church named J. He said he wasn't J, but invited us in. "I'll put a shirt on" he said. We felt a little uneasy about it, but we went in. His mom was sitting at the kitchen table, more intoxicated than he was. They insisted we eat dinner so they filled up three plates and put them in front of us (the food was pretty good.) and started talking about church related things, but it was really funny because they were drunk. They got into a really heated discussion about a church that only steals money from it's members and how it's a horrible church. Then the mom turned to Sister Lima and asked if she spoke Portuguese (this whole event was happening in Portuguese) then asked where she was from. "Mom, they're Mormons," the son replied. "Mormons?! I LOVE MORMONS!!!" She then went on for a good 5-10 minutes about how she loved Mormons and that we were sent from God. It was an extremely funny night and when my companions and I got back in the car, we all burst out laughing and asking each other what had just happened. The good news is that we have a dinner with them tonight. They promised they wouldn't drink, but who knows if they'll even remember us haha.

Everything is going well here on the east coast. It's also snowing here, but it's not been too cold. I'm doing well, adjusting to the new mission. It's a good thing I have good companions and good roommates. I'm also staying plenty warm. We're in the car most of the time, so don't worry at all.

Thanks for all your support! Love you all!

Hermana Hutchinson

January 27, 2014

Here we are with day 6 in my third mission, Boston Massachusetts. I have a ton of things I want to say, but I don't know where to start.

I guess I'll start with how cool it is that I'm in Boston! Well, I'm actually not in Boston. I'm in the middle of two towns called Framingham and Marlborough. All the towns here end in -ton, -ham, and -borough. I'm still not entirely sure as to the size of these towns, but I can tell you that there is a Dunkin Donuts on every street corner. But the point is, I still have moments every once in a while when I realize that I'm actually on the east coast of the US and not the west coast.

The mission here is really different. Everything is different. Everything. Sometimes I don't even feel like I'm a missionary because everything is so different than what I'm used to. Of course my loyalties still lie in Rancagua. It's an understatement to say that I miss Chile. But I'm really trying to give Massachusetts a chance. I want to love it. I'm just still getting over my last breakup. But everyday I put a big smile on my face and pretend that I absolutely love this mission and never want to leave.

The worst part is that I feel like a greenie again. Everything is very different. Everything. I'm getting used to the way they plan and the way they teach lessons. I'm even back to not understanding what the heck is going on when we're in Portuguese lessons. By the way, I'm over the moon that I have the opportunity to learn another language on my mission. I always said I wanted to serve more missions in other countries so I had VIP access to the gift of tongues. And now here I am learning Portuguese! It's slightly frustrating because of how similar it is to Spanish. I understand a surprising amount, but I can't say much. It's like listening to somebody speak Spanish with a crazy accent and throw in random French words. Let's just say I'm still working on it. But I've already started reading the Book of Mormon, or O Livro de Mórmon, so I should be speaking in no time.

The best part though is my companions (and maybe my apartment--it's REALLY nice) Sister L and Sister P. Sister L is from Brazil, but she grew up in Utah so she speaks perfect English. Sister P is from Utah too. They're both really awesome and we all get along well. President Packard told me he wanted to give me a soft landing so he gave me some of the best companions in the mission. We cover two wards--Framingham and Marlborough--Portuguese and Spanish speaking, which means I'm still Hermana Hutchinson, but all of the gringos call me Sister Hutchinson. In the Framingham ward there is a Spanish group. It functions as a branch, but it's acts under the direction of the ward. It's really cool. The end goal is that it will turn into a branch and eventually a ward. I LOVE the Spanish group. Imagine little Hermana Hutchinson speaking English ALL week and really itching to speak in what she presumes is really her native tongue and then showing up at the Spanish ward. I was in heaven for 3 hours! I loved talking to everyone and finding out where they're from. Most of them are from Guatemala, but Peru and Colombia are also represented and my absolute favorite CHILE!!! I met a guy from Chile yesterday. We were in the Marlborough ward, in the Portuguese class and you can imagine that even though I could understand quite a bit, I still didn't really know what they were saying. All the sudden a guy walked in and said that he spoke Spanish so I invited him to sit next to me. We muddled through the lesson, kind of understanding what they were talking about (the fall of adam and eve). Then we started talking after. He asked where I was from and I said that I'm from Idaho, but I'd been in Chile for the last 8 months and he basically said (I'm claiming translator rights here since this conversation was taking place in Spanish) Shut up! I'M from Chile. (This was actually a 40 year old man, not a 15 year old girl) (translator rights) Then we both got all excited. Turns out he's from Santiago and he's been in the US for 15 years, which means he doesn't sound like a Chilean anymore. But the good news is that he wants to feed us dinner sometime, so I'm looking forward to a delicious Chilean meal.

So this is my life right now. I'm learning Portuguese and how to be a missionary in Boston. I am really enjoying being here though, even though I still really miss my homeland--I mean Chile.

I'm glad everything is going well in the land of potatoes! Can you believe that I'm coming up on 9 months? That's happening way sooner than it should. Love you all!

Hermana Hutchinson