October 27, 2015

Summary:

The first week of transfers always flies by! My new companion is Hermana Parra from La Pampa, Argentina. She's also about 4"10' and 90 pounds. My companions just keep getting smaller and smaller! Haha she's super fun to be around and our first day together we were already laughing so hard we couldn't breathe. She's way dilligent and humble.  It's going to be a great transfer.

Monserrat was baptized on Sunday. She didn't think her whole family was going to come, but they all did! For the first time, I saw her mom open up a little bit and start to understand why Monserrat wanted to make this covenant as her grandma did. I think this will be a great turning point for their family.

Yesterday we had a zone meeting and Hermana Parra and I taught about "Good Conversations." The things we think and things we say really do affect our salvation. We also learned about having a vision of baptism and the temple and miracles. Miracles still exist!

Spiritual Experience:

Yesterday we were in lesson with an investigator that says she has been praying to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. We read James 1:5-6 with her and it really hit her hard. We testified that faith is hope, not a knowledge, and preaying with real intent is the willingness to act on the answer, not just to know the answer. We all just sat in silence for a couple of seconds and all the sudden she's like, "Well there it is! That's what I"m missing! I was just praying to know."

Funny:

We were in a lesson with another investigator named Beatrice and her little son Martin. Martin was laying there half asleep and Beatrice was sharing a personal experience and said something like, "Somtimes I'm just really strict with my children because I love them." All the sudden, Martin perks up and goes, "It's true. SUPPPPPER STRICT!"and then lays back down and goes back to sleep. It surprised all of us and we all just cracked up laughing. 

October 20, 2015

Summary:

This week has been a busy one! We had a great family night with Franco's family, and he is getting more and more excited about having the gospel in his life. We went to the temple with a recent convert, Patricia Medel, to receive her endowments. It was great! We had two days of exchanges. On Wednesday I was with Hermana Delgado from Peru and on Friday I was with Hermana Rodriguez from Guatemala. They're both really great sisters and I learned a lot from serving with them. On Saturday there was a stake activity that was awesome! Each ward put on a skit of something from Doctrine and Covenants and I was really impressed with how much practice they must have put in. They did a great job of using everyone's specific talents. We went with a less-active member that we met last week and she had a good experience. On Sunday, Monserrat's baptism fell through because of something that came up in their family, I'm not sure what. This coming Sunday, though, she'll be baptized.

We got word this morning that Hermana Alcantara will be getting transferred and I will be staying here in Cordillera with a new companion.

Spiritual Experience:

During exchanges with Hermana Rodriguez, we had a lesson with an investigator named Mario. I don't think I've ever met someone so prepared in my whole mission. At the end of the lesson he just paused and looked at us and said, "I've never read any of these books or anything like that, but for some reason I feel like I've heard this all before. I feel like you two have told me this and now we're just reviewing." We told him that he has heard all of this before. 

Funny:

We were sitting in a lesson with a less active member named Iris and she left the room to grab her hymn book. Hermana Delgado says, "I'm gonna let in a little light..." and opens the curtain a little bit and the whole thing falls off the wall. haha We both jumped up and put everything back really fast and sat back down RIGHT when Hermana Iris walked back into the room. Then during the hymn we were trying so hard not to laugh. Haha 

The Cofre Family

October 13, 2015

Summary:

This week flew by! We were able to fit in a lot of lessons and find a couple of new awesome investigators! Monserrat has everything set and ready for her baptism this Sunday, but the baptismal date of Valentina fell through. It'll get back up there though with some more patience and testimony of the Plan of Salvation. On Wednesday we had exchanges and I stayed in my sector with Hermana Jones. I really enjoyed serving with her for a day and learned a ton from her! She's from Salt Lake and her family has been through some crazy things. She's one of the prettiest hermanas I've ever seen and yet so humble. We found two new investigators that day and ended up running into Stake President, Presidente Escobar. He accompanied us to two lessons and they were both powerful. On Saturday we went to do a tour of the temple gardens with Rosita. We taught about the Plan of Salvation on the temple grass and it was such an incredible experience. We all felt the Spirit so strong. Today we get to enter the temple with a recent convert because she's going to recieve her endowments. Such a great week!

Spiritual Experience:

In the temple tour with Rosita, we were able to enter through the doors and look only at the entryway. Right when she stepped through, Rosita just started crying. She said she felt chills all down her back and really light and relaxed. I recognized that to be the Spirit, even though I knew that she maybe didn't. It was just a testimony to me that this really is real and true. It's nothing created by man, and it's not our imagination. 

Funny:

Last night we had a family night with and investigator named Franco and his family. His grandma and cousins are members and want him to have the gospel in his life. We finished a spiritual message and my companion asks him, "Franco, do you have sincere desires to know that these things are true?" The room when silent. We were all hoping to hear a "Yes." It was seriously like five seconds of pure silents with Franco sitting there, thinking all deeply and then his stomach does this huge growl. It was like "WHHAAUUU!" We all just busted up laughing so hard. haha

October 6, 2015

Summary:

What in the world! I can't believe another week has gone by! General Conference was incredible. I'm sure that's what all missionaries are saying, but it really is true that you can see everything with a whole different light here on the mission and I felt like it charged my energy for being here and doing what I do. We also had Zone Class this week, which I had to teach a part of. I truly love all of the missionaries in my zone, too. We learned about strengthening our weak parts and having a vision of baptism. Speaking of baptism, we were able to set another baptismal date with one of our investigators, Valentina, for the 25 of this month. She's the best and I know that the gospel will not only bless her own life, but the life of her family as well. Pray for her and Monserrat that things will all go well and they will not lose the spirit that they have felt!

Spiritual Experience: 

The whole week has really been a spiritual experience, but I'll share one of my favorite moments. In Zone Class, I asked an Elder that's still in his training to tell the zone how he feels and what he and his trainer have been doing to strengthen their companionship and area. I expected just a short little answer because he's just starting to learn the language and all, but like a champ, this young, new elder stood up and said he'd like to share an experience. He talked about how much of a challenge it's been. How he wants to be able to talk to everyone and share the gospel and not feel sick because he's not used to the water and food here and everything. He came home one night frusterated and just started to cry. It was taking him so long to explain all of this as he was translating and scrambling to find words but he bore his testimony that he knew all this would pass, and that weak thing really do become strong through Christ. It's hard to explain through writing but I think we all felt the spirit so strong as this elder spoke. A lot of us even started crying.

Funny Story:

Valentina has a four-year-old sister that is hilarious. She always likes to sing the hymns with us, but she can't read yet. She just sits next to me and when we start singing she starts singing really loudly just whatever words come out. It always makes us laugh, but we have to control it because if we stop singing, she stops singing too and waits for us to start again. So it ends up just this singing and holding-in-your-laughter type battle. haha It's so cute. 

September 29, 2015

It's been a great week! On Wednesday I was able to go to Pirque for exchanges. I absolutely love going to that sector because it's up in the mountains and all green with fresh air. Getting out of the city gives me a breather sometimes. The houses are all spaced out and they're just really humble, great people that I met up there. I met a young mom of 18 years that is investigating the church and she was very receptive and ready to receive the gospel in her life, a less-active that really wants to go back to church but she's addicted to cigarettes, and a few other less-active members. On Saturday it was my companion's birthday and I think we ate cake or Peruvian food at every single house we went to and were running late to get home. We ended up both throwing up that night and feeling way sick the next day. Church, though, was excellent and we were happy to see many investigators, less-active members, and recent converts all together in church, right where they should be on a Sunday morning.

Spiritual Experience:

On Sunday morning, we passed by to walk with Monserrat to church. Her grandma and brother were getting ready to leave the house and said they could drop us off at the chapel. We had planned on walking but accepted the ride and ended up getting to church like a half an hour early. At first I was all stressed out thinking we should go out and use this time to contact that I forget to just look up and look around. One by one people starting walking through the chapel door until there were about seven or eight of us standing in a circle talking. I looked around and realized that every single one of them were a recent convert, an investigator, or someone that didn't attend church when we came to the ward. Hermana Alcantara and I have been blessed enough to serve all of them and just thinking about where they were when I first met them and where they are now, first ones to church on Sunday morning, smiling and ready to hear the word of God, was such a great moment. 

Funny:

A brother of one of our investigators came out of his kitchen and gave me this mayonaise because it's American Style and I'm American. haha.

zone pday

we did a flower relay race and other typical Chile games

September 22, 2015

Summary: 

It's definitely been a week. It went normal until the earthquake on Wednesday. We were in a meeting at our ward mission leader's house when it hit. The Elders had just left because they had to run to an evening appointment and we were sitting at hs table telling the hermano about some of the people we teach. It started to shake a little. I though my companion was bouncing her leg up and down, but I looked down to see if she was and she wasn't. Then I looked down at Hermano Leon's legs to see if he was shaking his leg and he wasn't shaking either. Then the hermano looked at me all confused because I was looking around at everyone's legs. I looked up to explain to him that I thought I felt something shaking and his eyes got all big and he said, "está temblando." then it started getting strong and the hermano's wife  runs out of the kitchen screaming "earthquake" and then screaming for her son who was outside playing soccer. It kept getting stronger and I just huddled there under the door frame and watched the furniture and even the wooden floors move around.  Personally I didn't think it was that scary but my companion instantly started screaming and crying and Hermano pushed us underneath the door frame and ran to find his son. Hermana Alcantara is screaming '"oh my gosh!" and Hermano Leon's wife starts reciting really loud the Virgin Maria prayer (she's Catholic) and then I was just there in the middle of them like ... patting them and stuff trying to calm them down. It lasted a few minutes. The phones and stuff were down for a while afterward so a lot of people were worried about their family members and that they couldn't contact, but the next day everyone just seemd fine and back to normal. We've been feeling the little after-shock waves every couple hours which really scares my companion, but Chile is built to survive earthquakes.

On the 18th we had a celebration lunch with a less-active/investigator family and from then on the next two days we walked almost all day because almost nobody wanted to recieve us during the holidays. I gave a talk in church on Sunday.

Spiritual

We had a special zone fast and afterward we were in an appointment with a young investigator who has had desires to follow Christ for a long time. She just didn't want to commit to a baptismal date. She finally accepted one for the 18th of October. Pray for Monserrat!

Funny

There are always a lot of dogs running and walking around on the street here. We passed this little tiny one and I was all, "ooh how cute!" and pointed to it.Hermana  Alcantara looks over and goes "awwww!"' and approaches it and all the sudden it barks and shows these huge teeth and we both just started sprinting down the street laughing so hard. 

September 15, 2015

Summary:Hermana Valladares left and to our surprise they added a companionship of Elders to the ward. They still live in the same apartment, they just switched sectors and actually didn´t even let the poor Elders know. In the meeting with all the mission that very same day President Morgan told them they´ll be doing a "white wash" in the open sector in the Cordillera ward. They´re both good Elders though, I´m sure they´ll work hard. After that meeting we had to have another meeting with the Bishop to refine the sector limits in the ward. Unfortunately, a couple of our great investigators are now on the Elders' side. Whichever way you cut it, though, that´s how it will be. 

On Thursday and Friday we had to be in the house early because September 11 is the anniversary of an uprising that happened here in Chile so people go out in the streets and burn stuff and do crazy things. Nothing too crazy happened in my sector though and all the missionaries are safe.

This coming Friday is 18 de Septiembre, Las Fiestas Patrias! Chile celebrates their independence, and everyone is already partying and decorating and eating empenadas and dancing the "Cueca." On Thursday we´ll have our ward party and there should be some new investigators and less-active members there. It´ll be a fun week!

Spiritual:
There's a family we teach that the hermano is a less-active member and his wife is investigating the church. The missionaries have been visiting them for quite a while. They´re such a cute family but the husband is sometimes demanding and tries to always test our knowledge of the scriptures and stuff and always whines about how we come in and take off really fast and don´t spend enough time at their house. I wanted to stop teaching them because I felt like there are lots of people waiting to hear the gospel and we are wasting time being in their house every week while they´re not progressing, but the bishop asked us not to leave them because in his eyes they are slowly progressing. The bishop does have the keys, and I am here to serve him. So, I´ve been praying a lot for this family and to be able to touch them in some way as well as be obedient. We went to our appointment last week and it was so awesome! It was like a total change of countenance. Also, they had their niece over and she told us at first she didn´t want to listen. Then the hermano invited her again and she said something like, "fine but it´s only because I don´t have anywhere to sit and I´m already here on the couch." Then she started listening. Then she wanted to participate. All of her first comments she´d make sure to add, "I don´t want to be Mormon or anything... but yeah I think that´s true." haha. By the end she was asking questions and even asked for a Book of Mormon and said she was really interested. When we left the lesson, the hermano said for the first time, "Thanks for coming. I´ve learned something new today."

Funny:
There´s a less-active family from Peru that we teach and they have one of the cutest little girls I´ve ever seen. She asked me my name and I said, "Hermana Martin." Then she pointed to my companion and asked her. She said, "Hermana Alcantara." Then I asked her what her name was, expecting her to say Yeseline, but very quickly she said, "Hermana de Arianna." haha Arianna is her older sister.