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Kylee flew back to St. George on May 10, 2016 to a waiting area full of family and friends who were so excited to see her!  She looked the same but talked with a strange accent, especially when praying.  It was so great to be all together again!

Marissa and Bailey waiting for the plane to land.

Bailey!

Bizzy Esplin!

Family Hug!!

Dad!

Mickelle!

Nonni!

Poppi!

Rhonda Lee!

Teegan Trent!

Grandpa, Scott McNeil and Grandma, Kathy McNeil

Who is the tallest?

4 girls together again!

The whole fam together again!

They went straight to the trampoline together!

May 8, 2016

Kylee has made some wonderful friends in Chile!  One couple has reached out to her family through Facebook. They send messages and pictures to show us how much they enjoy her and how she is doing. Today they traveled to her area to say goodbye. Hector's English is quite good and his messages make us smile. He sent this message today and it seems to sum up the mixed emotions we all feel as she leaves her mission:

Hello my dear, good morning, it was a beatifull morning for us , we went to see Kylee...she was so happy , we cried, it was a nice surprise for her and more for us , we really love her, she is so special, we seat together in the general reunion, side by side with my wife, the bishop ask her to share the testimony and it was so special to hear so nice inspirated words...

Thanks for everything , thanks for let her come to this country to bless so many people with her job, i know that i was so difficult for you to get separated from her for year and a half but, believe ...it was the best desition for her and for us , she will be always in my mind and my soul , some day i will see her again i know that, so now is time dor you guys to enjoy, give her all your love and be so happy with her, time to start new things, take care 

May 3, 2016 - Last Blog Email

Well, the day has come. I've been here set apart as a missionary for over a year-and-a-half, and this is my final email.

I've learned a lot about our Savior. I've learned a lot about His Father's plan. I've learned a lot about how to love, how to serve, how to repent, and how to endure. I've learned a new language. I learned about the restoration of the Gospel. I learned that God truly does love every single one of us. 

In the mission, I've never run out of things to do. There have always been people to find. There are always people to teach. I've never run out of scriptures to study. I've always had characteristics and attributes of mine that I've needed to improve. There has always been something that I've needed to counsel with the Lord. Truly, looking back, I realize that spiritually, I've never run out of anything in the mission. The only thing that I will run out of is time. 

I will miss being a full-time missionary and hope for the best for all of the people that I have served and those that have served me. Family and friends from the United States: I will see you soon! Thank you for loving and supporting me and praying for me. Family and friends from Chile: My hope is that one day, we will all be together again. 

So, I will give all that I can this last week, trying to bring souls unto Christ, because He is the only way. I've loved the adventures I've had here in Chile. I love the good people here. I will never forget them. I will try to give it all that I've got. But I know that in the end, I'll really give nothing compared to what He gives to me. He is the Ultimate Giver. I also realize that if not even one other soul was brought unto Christ for my efforts here, at least I know that mine was.

-Hermana Martin

Hola Hermana Tracy, soy Hermana García, compañera de Hermana Martín. Estoy muy agradecida con Hermana Martin y no solo con ella sino que con ustedes sus padres también. He aprendido mucho de ella, tiene cualidades y atributos semejantes a los de Cristo que me han ayudado a perseverar, y adquirir esos atributos en mi vida también. Agradezco que ella haya extendido, y siempre le digo a ella que se quedo por mi, porque me ha ayudado mucho, en mis primeras semanas en la misión, me ha fortalecido y brindado animos para poder seguir adelante en la obra del Señor.  Ella es una gran misionera, ahora que ella regresa a su casa, bendiciones extraordinarias les esperan a ella y a ustedes como su familia. Sé que Nuestro Padre Celestial les ha bendecido a ustedes con unas hijas maravillosas y muy espirituales. Estoy muy agradecida con ella y con ustedes también, aunque no les conozco pero se que son unos grandes padres, porque en hermana Martin se reflejan los esfuerzos que ustedes han hecho por criarlas en el evangelio. 

Saludos, 

Hermana García

April 26, 2016

Summary:

It's been a great week! Hermana Garcia and I set a goal not to return to the apartment until we've taught about the restored gospel to somebody. Even if we didn't have scheduled appointments we just knocked doors and talked to everyone in the street until somebody would give us a few more minutes to explain the restoration and why it was and is necessary. It's been awesome! We also had exchanges with the Hermanas Capacitadores and Stake Conference this past week so it's been pretty jam-packed. The temple president and his wife,  president and hermana morgan, and our stake president all spoke. 

Spiritual Moment:

As we were leaving the chapel after stake conference, we saw a man making his way up the isle to shake the speakers' hands. He caught our attention because he wasn't in sunday clothes and was wearing a bright orange beanie. I took a good look and it turned out to be a man that Hermana Garcia and I had contacted on the street and invited to the conference. I was so surprised because it's the first time in my whole mission that a street contact has gone to church after only being invited one time! He told us that he loved the meeting and felt something so special and wanted to go every week. I felt such guilt afterward because I realized that, at some point, after inviting so many people to church and not seeing them there I started doing it without faith. After some amount of months I started to invite "just because." It made me realize that that's just not how it is! I'm here to help people come unto Christ! I promised myself that I will never again invite anyone else to do anything in the mission without the faith that their life can be changed through Christ.

Funny Moment:

There's this couple in our ward that are ward missionaries. The hermana is Chileana and the hermano is from England. She speaks english and he doesn't understand much spanish. He's the best though because he's always just so happy and it doesn't seem to bother him when he can't understand. Anyways, he participated in the ward chior on Sunday. Hermana Garcia and I looked up at the stand and everyone was all singing passionately and Hermano Clark was just there sitting with a lost look on his face. Later he told me that he didn't know the hymn in spanish and he didn't even know how to fake singing in spanish either but at that point there was no escape. He was already up there. Haha There are some great members here. 

April 19, 2016

Summary:

This week has been crazy! We've done a lot of traveling in the bus and the underground metro. We went to the Santiago Centro to do my passport and legal stuff and I got stuck with the same lady that gave me a million ridiculous problems last time I went. She lived up to her reputation and gave me a million problems again... oh man we were there ALL day long. It's alright though because I like being in the registro civil. There are all kinds of foreigners there and it makes me feel at home in a weird sort of way. There are also a lot of people bored and waiting in line, so it's the perfect opportunity to share the gospel. They can't run or say they're busy! I also had a self-reliance class and and interview with my mission president. On the weekend, it rained like crazy! A lot of people were actually in panic and they shut of the running water in Santiago. Luckily, in our building they had a reserve, so they never shut our water off. 

Spiritual Experience:

Yesterday in the morning, I was organizing the papers and talks I have and I came across one that I had never seen before. It talked about suicide. I think it was by Elder Nelson, but I'm not positive on that one. I thought, "How strange..." and then I read it. Later that day, we contacted a lady on the street. She kind of did the whole, "Ah yeah thanks! See ya later" kind of thing and kept walking, but then stopped and turned around and said, "Wait! I have a question for you. What happens if my brother recently commited suicide? I just don't know where he is... or what to do." We were able to give her a short, comforting answer that came straight from the talk that I came across in the morning. She started to cry and gave us a big hug and said, "Thank you so much."

Funny:

We were in a lesson the other day when it started to rain HARD. Our sweet investigator, Rosa, wouldn't let me leave her house without putting on one of those blue plastic rain poncho things, like the ones they sell outside of splash mountain. Haha... Long story short I ended up walking down the street in that thing when a car drove by and splashed us from head to toe. I turned around and lifted up my arms in the "Seriously?" position. I turned around and my companion was laughing hysterically. I realized that with my bag and the hood of the jacket, my poncho was all weird-shaped and I looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dam walking down the street. I, too, busted up laughing all wet and dirty in a blue plastic poncho. 

This is a noche de hogar we did with the Familia Martinez and Hermana y Hermano Mora, two of my favorite families! 

April 12, 2016

Summary: 

It was a good week! Hermana Garcia is doing awesome. I have to say that I've been blessed with great companions my whole mission. I really feel like I've been out here serving my Savior with my best friends for a year and a half. 

We've been getting pretty creative with our contacting methods lately in Ñuñoa because of the very small percentage of people that will even accept a pass-along card and much less stop to talk to us. haha! It's been pretty interesting. We've also been going to the feria the past few Saturdays to hand out laminas and pass-along cards has really been helpful in finding people. I've always had a fear of going to the feria because there are so many people in one small place, but my companion helped me conquer it! It's true, we are here to invite PEOPLE to come unto Christ, so I guess it makes a lot of sense that we need to go to where there are people.

Spiritual Experience:

We met a lady the other day that let us into her house to share a message. At one point in the lesson, she told us a story about one time when she wasn't feeling well. She said she was walking in the street and saw that the doors to one of our chapels was open. She had heard of blessings for health before, so she entered the church and asked one of the brothers that she saw about it. They gave her a blessing. She felt better, and she felt the Spirit. It made me think of Elder Renlund's talk about the keys. The keys of the priesthood really are in this church. The keys really do open doors to many blessings, from the very smallest to eternal life.

Funny:

While leaving the house of a less-active hermana and an investigator that we are teaching , we somehow got ourselves locked inside the gates of an apartment complex. It was getting late and we were running out of options. Then, I remembered that there is a man who is always drunk that always sits on the street corner outside of the apartments. I've seen him go in and out a few times, so I knew he had keys. Haha... so we went up from the inside of the gate closest to where he always sits. We could only see his tennis shoes so we just guessed it was him. We weren't sure about what his name was either. So we just sat there contemplating and whispering for about three minutes about what we should do. My companion finally whispers, "Jorje! Can you open the door for us?" He had no idea we where our voices came from and his name isn't even Jorje, but instead of getting scared or looking confused he just goes, "Ah yeah I've got keys how are you guys doing where are you from...." as he staggered to open the door for us. We just yelled "THANKS!" and went running as fast as we could to our apartment. haha

April 5, 2016

Summary:

It's been a great week! General Conference is definitely the Lord's Conference. We were able to invite lots of people! Unfortunately, there was a Coldplay concert here in Santiago the same weekend and only and two of them found time for conference. But hey, two of them went! I especially loved the first and last talks, President Eyring and Elder Holland. It's such a blessing to know that we have a living prophet! I got to thinking, it's crazy to think that God's prophet on the earth stood up to speak and the majority of the people here had no idea. That's why we're here, I guess! To tell the world! 

We were also able to clean out the Area Book last week and contact lots of people that have recieved the lessons a while ago and some of them showed interest in recieving us again!

Spiritual:

Junior, the man that stopped us on the street a week ago, went to church and read a lot of the Book of Mormon. We asked him if he had been able to read and he said "Yes." We asked him what he was able to read and he responded by telling us the whole story with every detail from the crossing of the sea and the language of the Egyptians, to how he imagined the sword of Laban, to Sariah's murmuring and Nephi's faith! First time in my whole mission that an investigator has read and remembered so much of the Book of Mormon after just one visit. We were with a sister from the ward and all three of us actually just started laughing as we listened to him because we couldn't believe how he remembered every detail. 

Funny:

So we have a neighbor in our apartment building that REALLY wants to use our storage closet that's in the basement of the apartment building to store her Christmas tree. We've explained to her about three times that we have no idea even which closet number is ours nor how to open it. She wasn't getting anywhere with us, so she called the owner of our apartment and asked permission. Anyways, they gave her permission and we had to go down and try to open the closet with her to put her tree in there. We tried all the keys and at one point one of them got stuck. The lady all the sudden starts moving her wrists and saying a spell... like casting a magic spell on the lock so that the key would come out. haha... oh man and at that point we realized that we were with this crazy lady in the basement of our apartment and she was saying a spell on the doorhandle of our storage closet...  haha

March 29, 2016

Summary:

We've been getting creative lately with finding new investigators. As I'm writing this letter there is this guy standing behind me and my companion smoking and trying to tell me us his life story in English... so it's a little hard to concentrate... But anyways, so we've been trying to work a lot with the members. The ward is full of awesome members! They're just really not used to working with the missionaries. It's kind of like the missionaries do their own thing and work hard and then if someone gets baptized the ward realizes they need to become friends with them. So we're trying to change that! It's something I wish I would've know before serving mission!

Hermana Garcia is doing awesome. I sometimes can't believe she's only been here for a month, especially when I think about how I was doing when I was a month into the mission! We get along really well and I'm learning a lot from her.

Junior (The man that stopped us on the street last week) went to church on Sunday. After the Gospel Principles class he asked which church is the true one. The Mamani-Leon family got wrapped up in their work and school and really haven't been reading or praying or going to church. :( We really don't want to lose them, but sometimes you've just gotta do all you can do and let it ride from there. 

Spiritual Experience:

Yesterday we taught a man. He didn't let us talk much, but he had SO many questions and all of them are answered by explaining the restored gospel. I was thinking about it afterward, and I realized that I've probably acted the same way with the Spirit. God always has the answers, but sometimes I just don't stop to listen and hear it. 

Funny:
Here  on the weekend they have la feria, which is like a giant fruit market where everyone goes to buy their fruit and vegetables. We thought it would be a good idea to go contact in la feria because there would be a ton of people and we could give out all the pass-along cards, pamphlets, and pictures of Christ that we have in our closet and never use. So, we set up a little table and started handing the things out. It was going alright, but we couldn't really hear anything because all of the the sellers were yelling about how cheap and awesome their fruit was. "BANANAS 50 CENTS!" "WATERMELONWATERMELONFRESHWATERMELON!" and stuff like that. Later, the elders showed up. Next thing I know, I look over towards the table and Elder Tehani, an elder from our ward that's from Florida was holding up the bible images and yelling, "Amor de Dios. Gratis!" I don't know if it's because he didn't know how to speak much spanish or what, but later I was thinking about what I would do if I was in the United States buying fruit and some foreigner was there yelling "Love of God! Free!" haha Hermana Garcia and I were laughing so hard that night thinking about it. Everyone all yelling about fruit, vegetables, and fish and then out of nowhere they hear, "Amor de Dios! Gratis!"

March 22, 2016

Summary:

It's been a good week! We found some good people, but I think one of the 

biggest struggles here in Nunoa is the fact that the people are so busy. Generally, we will visit investigators and then have to wait a week or two to see them again. 

We were able to go to the temple today! It really is such a blessing to have the temple in our mission. I live only about 20 minutes away!

Spiritual Experience:

After a looooong day of contacting and LOTS of atheists, we were finally headed back to the apartment when we heard a voice say "Excuse me!" I looked over and saw a guy walking toward us from a street corner that was kind of dark. At first I was a little scared, but then he said, "Sorry, I don't mean to scare you, but I need help. I need to improve my relationship with God." I've waited a year and a half to hear somebody say that! He continued saying that he recently seperated from his wife and felt sad about it so he started to drink. He knew it was a bad decision and wants to stop before it gets worse. We have a lesson with him on Thursday.

Funny:

Here in this area there are a ton of buildings and apartments and they all have a little shack with a guard that watches the people go in and out of the gate. There's always a button on the shack that opens the gate to leave. The other day we were leaving a lesson, and my companion didn't see the switch that opens the gate and goes, "There's not a switch here to open the gate... Oh! Here it is." and reaches in the window and turns off the light. haha! I was behind her and saw it all coming and tried to stop her, but when I realized I couldn't I watched the face of the guard that was sitting in the shack. He looked so confused and scared! Some girl just came up and turned off the lights on him. haha.

March 15, 2016

Summary:

This week we had Zone Conference and it was awesome! We learned about the importance of studies and listening to the Spirit. We also learned about how to overcome pains and afflictions, both physical and emotional. One of my favorite parts was a message that Hermana Morgan shared about the Lord's promises. She made me think about many of the promises that the Lord has made to me in my patriarchal blessing and other blessings. I realized that a lot of them have already been fulfilled or are being fulfilled as we speak! We also had a Stake Conference on Sunday. Elder Russel M. Neslon spoke in Spanish! He spoke about the Sabbath Day and keeping it holy. 

We were able to find a couple of new hermanos to teach this week! Another random thing is that we ran into  Maria Jesus! She's the lady we were teaching and she had accepted a baptismal date and then we completely lost contact with her. She's moving to the U.S.A. in just a few days and wants to recieve a blessing before she goes.We also met a man that was baptized a couple months ago in another city and wasn't able to review the lessons after his baptism. His name's Manuel. We also contacted a lady that just happens to be the good friend of one of the ward missionaries of our ward! She wants to go to church on Sunday and told us that all she really wants to do is come closer to Christ. There really are no coincidences. (Is that how you spell that?)

Spiritual Experience:

Lately, I've been trying to improve the charity that I have towards others. It's an attribute of Christ that I know need to work on. While trying to keep an eye out for service opportunites, we spotted a lady that was carrying a bunch of bags of groceries into her house all alone. We ran to help. As we got to her doorstep she says, "Why don't you guys stay for a little while and talk to me about Jesus?" We responded, saying that we would love to. She turns out to be a very sweet, humble lady, and she is truly looking for the truth.

Funny:

There's a less-active family in our ward that is always willing to give us lunch. I think every single time I've eaten lunch with them, they've told their 5-year-old son, Cristobal,  not to spill the beans on what we're going to have for desert. I don't know why, but his parents just really like it to be a surprise for us. Cristobal always tells, though. The first thing he said when we stepped into their apartment yesterday was, "Today I'm not going to tell you what we're giong to have for desert." Ten minutes later he talks to himself and says, "I just want to finish my food so that I can have my pineapple ice cream.... Oh woops!" haha!

March 8, 2016

Summary:

It's been a weird but good week! It really is a blast working with Hermana Garcia. I can't believe she's in her first transfer. I wish I would've come to the mission field as prepared as she was! Everyone's starting school and college here in Santiago, so a lot of the lessons were cancelled. It gave us some good time to find new people to teach! We also did exchanges on Wednesday with our Hermana Capacitadores! I learned a lot from Hermana Reynolds. Spending the day with her made me realize that we've both changed a lot since we met each other in the airport almost a year and a half ago. On Sunday, Sion and Gsunming (two of the Mamani-Leon girls) went to church. They are still progressing but we're going to have to visit them less frequently now that they're in school and the university. 

Spiritual Experience:

Yesterday, we ran into a lady that's a Jehova's Witness we contacted about a week ago. She was walking into her house and we stopped her and asked if we could share something with her. She said yes! We were able to explain a little of the restoration of the gospel and set a new day to come back. Right after that, we ran into a Catholic lady that we contacted I think on the same day that we contacted the Jehova's Witness. She also let us into her house to share a message. Then right after that, we went to look for an address of a reference. The reference didn't live there, but we asked the guy that answered the door if we could come in and share a message with him. He said yes! He said he's Atheist, but was very, very nice and receptive. Anyways, in the nighttime last night I was laying in bed thinking, "Man. Today, in less than three hours we were able to share a message of the restored gospel with a Jehova's Witness, a Catholic, and and Atheist. And to me, it really has all of the answers to all of their questions." There really is nothing better than sharing the good news of the gospel with all the world!

Funny:

The other day, we finished a lesson a little late. We had to run to get to the apartment on time. We were literally in a full sprint when this random guy passed us and says all casually, "Hermanas. I invite you to a party." We've been laughing about it all week!

Hermana Gonzales and Hermana Christensen moved out, now we live alone. 

Exchanges with Hermana Reynolds and Hermana Mendoza. 

March 1, 2016

Summary:

My new companion is Hermana Garcia from Guatemala! I took a picture, but this internet hut doesn't have a cable thing to connect the camera. There's only one other missionary in this mission from Guatemala, so I always tell her she's a delicacy. haha. She's 20 years old and just the greatest. She's also the second oldest of four children of all the same ages, with the difference that the youngest is a boy.  Honestly, the new missionaries are coming into the field way more prepared than I was. On Wedesday, we had a satalite-trasmititted meeting with Elder Bednar. It was so inspiring! He said so many things that I really needed to hear. The kids in Chile started school this last week, so everyone was running around really busy. We weren't able to see the familia Mamani-Leon, but we did lots of street contacting! 

Spiritual Experience:

In our meeting with Elder Bednar, they talked about talking about the Atonement of Jesús Christ and how it applies to literally every problem. Later, in a lesson, we came to a point where neither of us knew what to say. The words from the meeting came to my mind, so I pulled out a pamphlet about the Atonement and we just started explaining a Little bit about it to the Hermana. Her whole attitude changed and she finally felt something different. I think all of our testimonies were strengthened that day. 

Funny:

The other day we were eating lunch with some members. The littlest son just stood up and left the table and the dad says, "Brace yourselves. He's incredibly tired." All the sudden we hear his voice, "SOMETHING IS HAPPENING TO ME!!!!!" and we look over and he's got his hulk outfit on and he's jumping from couch to couch knocking over all the furniture. The hermano was all, "Seriously... he always acts like this when he's tired."

Here is a picture with Hermana Martin, Hermana Bartholomew, Hermana Christensen, and Hermana Reynolds who all started their mission together on Oct. 8th 2014.  They go home on March 28th. Kylee will return 5 weeks later in May. 

Februrary 23, 2015

Summary:

It's been a crazy week! We had a family-home-evening with the Mamani-Leon family at the house of one of the members on Monday and it was awesome. We talked about the Restoration. The girls had lots of questions and we all felt the Spirit. Family, you'll be happy to know that afterward we played our favorite game. The one where you splash a lid of water on the person if they guess wrong. haha!

We were able to meet some new fun people and do exchanges on Wednesday. We knocked doors and did a lot of contacting, too. 

Yesterday we got word that Hermana Saez has transfers. We packed up last night and she left this morning to my old ward, Trinidad. I'll be staying here in Ñuñoa and my new companion will be a sister that's coming straight from the MTC! Right now I'm on exchanges with Hermana Pelliza, who will also be training. After we write, we're going to go to the mission office to meet our new companions! I'll tell you who it is next week!

Spiritual Experience:

We were in a lesson with a less-active member and an investigator the other day. They're two ladies that are good friends, and they both have a testimony that the church is true. We've taught them a couple of times, but thought about leaving them because they never go to church no matter how many times we invite them. We felt like we'd tried everything and they just didn't progress. We decided to share the talk "Faith is a Choice" (Not exactly sure what it is in English) from last year's General Conference. They both just sat there silently for a few minutes after listening to it. The first thing the lady said who's investigating was, "On Sunday, I'm going to church." It's wonderful how the Spirit really is the only thing that let's us know what we need to do.

Funny:

Hermana Saez and I set an goal to go to the gym that's in our apartment building every morning to do exercises on the ellipticals and bikes. The other day, we rolled out of bed, went down the elevator and walked up to the desk where the lady keeps the keys to the gym. My companion I guess was still sleeping a little bit because in her head she asked for the keys to the gym, but in real life she just got really close to the lady that works at the front desk and held out her hand. I tried to cover for her and ask for the keys, but in the mornings my voice is scratchy and sometimes it doesn't come out. The poor lady was so scared! haha! Finally my companion realized that she never actually asked out loud for the keys and started laughing and explained the whole situation of why we came up to her in silence and just stared at her. haha

Februrary 16, 2016

One of my favorite couples here in Santiago. los mora!

Summary:

I can't believe another week has gone by! It was a great one. I had an interview with President Morgan, who gave me lots of advice and was an answer to many prayers! 

We were able to find an awesome family, the Mamani-Leon family! The mom, Agelica, is a member of the church but has been less-active for over 20 years. Her three daughters, Sion, Sumi, and Mae aren't members, but they are all so fun and nice and really want to learn more about Christ. We went to a Valentine's Day fireside on Sunday with them and they loved it!

We were also able to meet other less-active members of the church last week. The Spirit must be working hard here in Ñuñoa because five of them showed up to church on Sunday. Other than that, we were able to do a service project and leave with lots of members, too. 

Spiritual Experience:

Last night, we had 30 minutes left before it was time to go to the apartment. We decided to go around the block one more time and contact people. As we walked, we saw an older man sitting alone eating a sandwich and drinking beer. At first I was a little hesitant, thinking he might be drunk, but when I said "hola"and he responded, he didn't seem to be. I asked if we could share a card with him. He said, "Yes." We asked him about what he believed and talked to him about what we believe. I don't know if I've ever met a more humble man. He said he has two sons but neither of them ever call or visit. He was grateful for his work, but still feels really lonely and sad.He believes a lot in God. He talked about how he's looking for the truth, for a place to go to find Him.  Talking with this man really put me in my place. I realized how blessed I am. I have a family, I have friends, I'm healthy, and I know God's truth and have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share it with the world. 

Funny:

We invited this guy in the street to church the other day and he responds, "Ah man! I'd go, but I'm super lazy!" I didn't know how to respond, so  I finally just said to him, "Well... at least you're honest." haha. My companion just cracked up laughing. 

Februrary 9, 2016

Summary:

It´s been an eventful week! Unfortunately, Juan stood us up two times and we all feel that it will be best to give him space and stop working towards his goal of being baptized at the end of February. We weren't able to communicate at all with Maria Jesus, Nicolas, Maria Teresa, and Pablo. (The family that accepted a baptismal date last week.) We were feeling pretty down on Sunday. Amazingly, we had a zone meeting yesterday that really motivated us! We talked about contacting to teach, not just to get an appointment. We were able to go out and walk all afternoon yesterday with a new spirit and talk to all kinds of different people. This will be a good week for finding!

Funny:

The other day, we found some lists of old investigators and less-active members and called all of them to see if we could pass by to visit. Later that afternoon, one of our investigators called us. His name was saved in the phone as something we didn't recognize. My companion, thinking it was one of the numbers we had called of people we don't know, answered the phone and started to introduce ourselves. "Hi! I'm Hermana Saez from the south of Chile and my companion is Hermana Martin from the United States! We're new here in Ñuñoa and wanted to know if we could pass by and share a message of Jesus Christ..." There was just this long silence, and then he says, "Wow Hermana...very good! I'm David!" He's never gonna let  us live that one down. haha!

Spiritual Experience:

The other day, we stopped to share a card with a girl that was sitting on a park bench. My companion introduced ourselves and everything and the girl just sat there and didn't say anything. Hermana Saez started to share her testimony of the Plan of Salvation. She started crying and said, "Sorry.. It's that my dad passed away just under a month ago." It hit me right then of how incredible it is that the Spirit really puts the words in our mouth and guides us to those in need of them. 

February 2, 2016

Summary:

Another week has flown by! I'm getting more used to serving here in Ñuñoa. 

We met two great families this past week and some new less-active members, too! Maria Jesus and her family accepted a date to be baptized. They're a family of four and they are FULL of faith. We'll keep you updated on them and the others. Keep them in your prayers because they are awesome people! I saw the guy that was singing "Äll Is Well" in the metro in the street the other day but I didn't realice it was him until he had already passed by. We also were blessed to be able to go to the temple this morning! That was the best gift of all. 

Spiritual Experience: 

Lately I've been studying a lot about how to make decisions and why it's important to be genuine. I started to ask myself: Why do I go out and contact people on the street? Why do I was to organize the area book? Why do I want to find people to teach? I realized that if my first answer to some of those questions isn't "because I love Christ" then I am out of line. 

Funny:

One of our investigators the other day asked us if we would mind if she smoked. Her mom goes, "Obviously not! They believe that cigarrettes are the tail of the Devil!" 

January 26, 2016

Summary:

We decided to give both Juan and Patricia, (the investigators that had accepted a baptismal date), some time without missionaries lessons. We were a little bit sad and felt left without any soon-to-be-reached goals, but then the miracles came pouring in!  Two other investigators that we met last week accepted a baptismal date. Maria Jesus and her son. We also met a great family of four, Maria Louisa and her three kids! We also were led to find two less-active members of the church this week that expressed to us their strong desires to go back to church and feel te spirit there. Their names are Beatriz and Gabriel. 

On Wednesday we had a general meeting with all of the missionaries in the whole world watching. They talked about "Teaching Repentance and Baptizing Converts." Elder Oaks, and Elder Bednar spoke, along with other general authorities. On Friday, Elder Spitali came and spoke to us as a mission. It was a week FULL of personal revelation.

Spiritual Experience:

In a lesson with an investigator, my companion held up a painting of John the Baptist baptizing Christ. The investigator looked at it and just said, "I feel like I need to do that too. I don't really understand, but I just feel that I need to." 

Funny:

We met a lady who's kind of deaf and she let us go into her apartment to teach her a little about the gospel. We had to speak way loud the whole time. Afterward, we got into the elevator and my companion looks at me and yells, "I don't know how we're going to teach her!!" I covered my ears and my eyes got all big as I reminded my companion that the lady is deaf, not me. She just cracks up laughing and goes, "OH true. Sorry." 

January 19, 2016

Summary:

My new companion is Hermana Saez from Los Angeles, Chile! She's 24 years old and a convert of three years. Our personalities are actually really similar and we get along great! My new area is a lot different from my old one. It's a lot richer and more city-ish. The good news, though, is that there are good people everywhere. We've already been able to meet some new investigators and get the area book into order. We were also able to go to the temple to do a tour with a less-active member. Also, I was happy to see in zone class yesterday many familiar faces, including Hermana Bartholomew from St. George! 

Spiritual Experience:

Last week, we talked and felt like there are some people here who have been recieving missionary lessons for a long time, but aren't progressing much spiritually. We didn't necessarily want to spend all day walking and walking because of a lack of appointments, but we prayed about it together and took a leap of faith, trusting that as we leave those souls who aren't ready to progress, we will find the ones who are. And so it was! We were lead to them! We found some very special and prepared people this past week, including Maria Jesus, Rosita, and Enzo. I'll let you know how it goes with them later on!

Funny Story:

My companion the other day was talking about where all of her companions are from. She goes, "Hermana Penrod is from Cornflake, Arizona." I said, "Snowflake?" She's all, "Yep... Oh woops did I say cornflake?" 

January 12, 2016

Summary:
What a week! We've had District meeting, a Zone Activity in a place called Pirque, Zone Conference, Exchanges in Vicente Valdez, Leadership Counsel, and then we just recieved word that both Hermana Parra and I will be getting transferred, as well as the two sisters that we live with. They're going to do what's called a "White Wash," which basically means all the current missionaries leave the area and new ones come in. They're going to put elders here! I've honestly loved serving here in Cordillera and have learned so much from both of my companions and all of the people.I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything and feel confident that the elders who come will be lead to know how to help the people here who are progressing in the gospel and find others who are prepared. Fortunately, I don't feel that there is anyone who will stop progressing just because Hermana Parra and I are leaving. I will miss Hermana Parra, though. She's the greatest. I know right now is that I'm going to one of the richer stakes of this mission and my companion will be Hermana Sanz. All I know about her is that my companion from the MTC was her trainer and that she's Chilean! I'll tell you more next week I guess!

Funny:
A couple weeks ago we were traveling in the metro, which is the underground train they use here. People are always getting on and singing and playing their instruments and then asking for coins and stuff. Anyways, a couple ladies got on the metro and started singing a song and dancing and stuff and I turned to my companion and said, "Wow, they're so brave. Nothing in the whole world could ever make me sing on the metro." 

Well, last week our Zone Leader tells us all we have to be early to the metro and we were all going to travel to Zone Conference together and that we were going to sing hymns for the people on the way. Of course, a bunch of people got on and I got trapped in between a group of like five people away from the rest of the zone. I caught eyes with my companion and she was just laughing so hard because I was alone in the corner with a my little hymnbook singing quietly. Later she goes, "Nothing in the whole world, eh?

Spiritual Experience:
This actually happened as we were singing, too. I looked over and there was a guy with his wife-beater shirt, flat rimmed hat, and huge headphones. I thought he was listening to his rap music or something but then I looked closer. He was mouthing the words of the hymn that my zone was singing, "All is well, all is well..." He knew every word! I couldn't get to him because I was trapped by people but we made eye contact and I mouthed, "Are you a member?" It looked like he got a little emotional and he just smiled and nodded. 

January 5, 2016

Summary:
It's been a crazy week! We've done two exchanges, celebrated the start of a new year, took a trip to the temple, and had a zone activity in a pretty place called Pirque.

Funny:
We were in a lesson with a less-active family that is just hilarious. They're a couple that lives with their grandson named Mosiah. The grandma was telling a story about how her maid had an encounter with a devilish spirit in her house. She was saying, "... she turned the corner and saw it and it scared her." Mosiah says, "Who? The maid?" The grandpa replies all sarcastically, "No, the devil." We all just cracked up so hard after that. 

Spiritual Experience:
On Saturday, we were able to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead for Rosita's parents and her brother that passed away. At first, she was all worried because there weren't any men to do the ordinance for her dad and brother. Right on time, the president of the temple showed up and was able to be baptized in their names. I don't think I'd ever seen Rosita so happy. There is nothing better than watching the face of someone who is beginning to see that families really can be together forever.