Hna. Peña finished her mission yesterday and she’ll be returning home tomorrow. 🙁 It makes me a little sad and a little trunky, but as they say in “Meet the Robinsons” Keep moving forward. As you can see from the title this week we have cambios and they called us Saturday night after we returned home from the baptism. We knew that Hna. Peña was finishing her mission so it was pretty obvious that I would be staying in Santa Juana, or at least that’s what we thought, but then they told us that I’ll be changing sectors as the senior companion in Tolhuaca. I leave tomorrow and my new companion is a gringa from Saratoga Springs her name is Hna. Fritcher, she has 1 less cambio than me. I cried a little bit (a lot a bit) on Sunday when I had to bear my testimony and say goodbye to everybody. Continue reading “Cambios!!!”
Hurrah for Israel
Holahola!
This week was a little crazy. Monday the 11th of September right after my last email our whole zone went to play paintball together. I gotta say I was a little nervous because it was my first time, but it was really fun and I did really well. I only got hit once and it was right at the end. somebody shot me in the hair. I say the hair because it literally didn’t touch me at all it just touched my hair and exploded leaving me a little bit blonder than normal. 🙂 Monday of this week was the 18th of September and everybody had the Chilean flag put up in their yards and we got to eat some barbeque with Fabiola and Yoan a recent convert couple and their son Benjamin. They are literally the cutest family and it was a ton of fun. They finished off our day by taking us to a small river where we threw rocks into a stream, ate some cookies (even though we were over stuffed), and explored an abandoned schoolhouse with a random painting of a creepy clown inside. It was pretty great.
Liven la Vida Loca
Holahola!
This week was not the most exciting, but I have a few things to tell you guys about. Friday of the last week I think, I don’t remember for sure, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t tell you guys about it, we had a mission activity for the whole branch, and we invited everybody to bring a food with an ingredient from the earth. We then had a competition with judges who decided which was the best, but here comes the best (spiritual) part.
Bautisando Santa Juana!
I love you all a ton! Sorry because again I don’t have a lot of time to write. Next week I think I’ll print your personal emails and respond the following week. Also because I’m sure that I’ll forget to tell you next week. I won’t be writing you guys Monday the 18th because it’s the independance day of Chile and the library will be closed, but I will write on Wednesday the 20th instead. It’s really weird to write in English and it gets harder and harder every week because I’ve grown so accustomed to Spanish. 🙂 Nobody came to church again yesterday, but something interesting happened to make me feel better. We were in the sacrament meeting and they had just blessed the bread when I had a coughing fit and I left the room to avoid disturbing everybody. After giving the bread to everybody in the room Hno. Peña (Our branch mission leader) with Hna. Peña came to the door of the bathroom and knocked on the door so when I opened it I was a little surprised but I got to partake of the sacrament from the bathroom. It was kind of funny, cuz I’m pretty sure that would never happen in a ward, but it was pretty cool. #blessingsofabranch 🙂
Testimonio
Holahola!
Testimonies are interesting things. (I started writing in spanish and had to translate it into English.. haha) Before my mission honestly my testimony was simply that I knew the church was true because in Costa Rica I prayed and asked God if it was true or if my parents were crazy and moved us down there for the foolish imaginations of their hearts (Sorry Mom and Dad) but I received a response that I can still remember, for those of you who know me my memory isn’t very good so that should mean something, I felt the spirit. It was like a calmness and a peace came over me, it was a warm feeling in my heart if you will, and in that same moment I received a knowledge that this is the true church. It’s hard to explain that part, but the spirit testifies of truth and in that moment the spirit testified in my mind that it was true and I couldn’t help but believe him so it became a part of my knowledge, or in other words my testimony. Here in my mission I’ve received a more specific testimony of various things, for example the importance and power of The Book of Mormon and the fact that prayer really does work and that God is listening and will answer, (In his own time) and also that with repentance and the grace of Jesus Christ we can truly do anything which is righteous and respecting of the agency of others. Hna. Peña gave a talk on Sunday about the importance of sharing your testimonies with others. She shared some insights that were given in talks by various prophets and apostles and I can’t remember who it was but one of them talked about how we really aren’t fit to judge who is ready to receive the gospel or not, our job as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or in other words as latter day saints is to share what we know to be true with everybody. So please don’t hold back your testimony no matter how simple it may be is important. Even if it’s only a knowledge of one thing, (Like how I went on a mission only knowing that the church was true and God wanted me to serve a mission.) it’s worth sharing. As they say in Spanish Cambio y fuera (Over and out).
3rd Cambio
I get to kill Hna. Peña! WOOHOO! Just so you know that doesn’t mean anything negative it means that I’ll be sending her home at the end of this cambio that we’re starting because she’s reaching the end of her mission. I was really hoping that would happen and that I wouldn’t be training because I just finished my training. I’m officially a missionary! It’s kind of weird and kind of the same, but I’m going to miss watching the district. Continue reading “3rd Cambio”
Trainee Todavia
So I have 1 more week of being a trainee. I’m not sure how to spell that word… But I’m grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to have Hna. Peña as my trainer for my last 3 weeks of training. She’s the bomb digity. Writing in English is legitimately very hard now. I want to write in Spanglish or just plain old Spanish. I feel like that’s a good sign. We got 4 new investigators this week 2 of which are pretty much already dropped cuz they said they weren’t interested in our second lesson but their daughter and her friend decided that they really do want to listen to the message we have to share so hopefully that goes well. It’s raining a ton here and it’s super cold, but we try to go out well dressed. I’m really sad that we don’t have a better translation for the word abrigado in English, but oh well. I apologize because this email’s going to have to be a little short this week because I’m already over the limit but I’ll make up for it with a few photos if that works. Continue reading “Trainee Todavia”
Emergency Cambio
This week was a little bit nuts. Me and Hna. Clark finished our p-day and had a family home evening lesson with our investigators then returned to the house. At the house Presidente May called us and told us that we were going to have an emergency cambio. Hna. Clark is now in Curanilawei and My new companion/ trainer for the last 2 weeks of this cambio is Hna. Peña who is super sweet and smart. I’ve already learned a ton from her and feel like we were best friends in the pre-existence. Sadly her last cambio is the next so we’ll probably stay together for about 8 weeks and I will have to kill my missionary father. 🙁 It’s all a little crazy. On top of that we haven’t been able to get a single person to accept a baptismal date or be a new investigator. So number wise we have pure zeros and spiritually speaking Santa Juana is rejecting the blessings of the gospel. But we’ll continue forward and hope to find the people who are ready and slightly hidden, with the help of the Lord all things are possible.
BAPTIZED!!!
Millaray got baptized on Saturday! Out of her family only her mom came but I don’t think she minded, because a ton of the members and missionaries showed even the mission president came. It was amazing! Her mom felt the spirit so strongly that she started to cry at the baptism and she said that she wanted Millaray to continue to grow closer to God and then somehow that is what all the musical numbers and talks were about. God is smart. She then cried again when Millaray was confirmed on Sunday. They tend to have a hard time getting along but they seem to have grown closer with Millaray’s Baptism and on Sunday after the meetings Paola (the mom) said that she wants to start coming so that her younger son can go to primary because she thinks it would be good for him. She tells us that she’s Catholic and she won’t convert but she loves it all so much with just a taste I have a feeling that she’ll be baptized someday.
2nd Cambio
Millaray has an official baptismal date and she’s been to church 2 times. We’re aiming for the 22nd of July because we can and she’s met with our district leader and her mom signed the papers for him on Saturday so the ball is rolling. First baptism here we come. Now we just need to work on getting more youth there to create a sort of support group cuz if you have a bunch of kids who can be friends you have a pretty solid branch. That’s our goal. Continue reading “2nd Cambio”