Lifting the Hands that Hang Down

                                                                                                                               Sept. 23, 2013
Hola mi familia!!! Comó Están!! Gracias por sus cartas! Estoy muy felíz para saber que tenían una semana maravillosa esta semana pasada! My week was really great as well!!!
 

We loved celebrating the dia de independencia!! The weird thing about the holiday is that they celebrate it for a week and not for just one day.  Ha ha-- and everyone eats the same things. Empanadas are like pizza pockets but bigger and everyone makes them with carne or meat, like beef or chicken, and then cooked cebolla, or onion, and part of a hard boiled egg, and one olive. They can be baked or fried. I learned how to make them too, so I will definitely be cooking for you when I get back. They are super good, until you eat as many as I did this week. At every house we received empanadas to eat and when we tried to say no, they pushed us until we said yes. You do not want to know how many empanadas I ate in the celebration of the 18th of September.... And for the rest of my mission I will not eat empanadas!  I am now dieting and exercising harder than ever to get back in shape.  I really loved celebrating the 18 of Sept. We will celebrate it together next year. Another traditional food we enjoyed is mote con huesillo. This is when they take dried peaches and soak them in water so that they absorb the water, and then they make a juice and put trigo, or wheat pieces and you eat the dried peach and trigo with the juice. It is delicious!!!!  I wasn´t able to buy a traditional dress, but hope to get one in the future. I really want to learn the traditional dance of Chile which is called the cueka and it is so beautiful! I will have to take pics and send them to you.

This week was crazy because we worked a normal day on the holidays and we were able to contact a lot of people and had more lessons! It was great! It was also crazy because we had cambios, or transfers in the middle of the week! Twenty one missionaries from the Provo MTC arrived on Friday and so we had cambios a few days early. Guess what! Hermana V. and I are still together for another transfer in Frutillares! We are so excited and grateful. We have learned so much as Co-companeras mayores, and we are super excited to apply everything we learned and be better. 

We had a really great lesson with Sis. M. She really opened up to us and the Lord guided us to ask the right questions to better know her needs. We found out that she is struggling with the word of wisdom and has some health challenges. In our lesson we were able to testify that the Savior can help her overcome her challenges. We are going to have a lesson with her tonight and talk about how the Lord loves each of us and that He can help us to overcome our weaknesses. This is what I love about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It can help anyone and everyone, and everyone needs to hear it.

 

This week I was reminded of an important lesson...the last couple of weeks we have had a hard time finding new people and being able to really truly help them by sharing the gospel with them. I think I forgot a little that it's not just about teaching, but lifting the hands that hang down in sorrow.  It's about serving and helping people to see that the Savior is the one that can give them the ultimate joy and happiness in this world, and the world to come!  I was losing this vision and just going through the motions of desperately trying to find people to teach, instead of looking for people to help.  As we reached out to less actives and new converts by helping and serving, we felt the Spirit more and were able to share the gospel.

 

I was reminded that this is what I love most...having these lessons to help people! That is what it is about!!! We are here to help our brothers and sisters have the joy and happiness that only our Savior and Heavenly Father can give, in this life, and in the eternities. I am so happy and grateful that the Lord reminded me that this is His work and His glory, and that this is the work that I get to be a part of, and it is the most wonderful thing in the world!  

 

Thank you for all of your love and support, and for your prayers! I know that Heavenly Father is answering them! If you could please continue to pray for our investigators. I love you all so much! Have a great week! Hasta Luego!

 

Weaknesses or Strengths? I Choose Strengths!!!

                                                                                                                                 Sept. 16, 2013
Hola Mi Familia!!! Es una bendición grande para escuchar de ustedes! Siempre estoy animada para leer sus cartas y saber que están haciendo en Chicago! Les amo tanto! Wow you have all had a wonderful and busy week full of adventures! I am glad to hear it!!! 

This week has been full of adventures for me too! The adventures started when we all got fleas or pulgas. Yes, my goal to stay flea free didn´t last. But don´t worry, we are doing just fine and battling the fleas well. Today we hope to buy something called La Bomba! or the bomb, It will kill all the fleas! To stay safe from fleas I have been applying the insect repellant that dad packed for me, before I go to bed. Dad, I know that you were inspired to pack a repellant to combat fleas! Thank you so much! Really, I only had one bad night, so don´t worry. I am only telling you because it is pretty funny. You can all laugh, I´m laughing ha ha!!  Well, let's move on to other exciting moments.

 We are getting excited about the dia de independecia!  It is a big celebration where all they do is eat. We have been invited to countless houses, but we will be wise and I will conquer! This week we tried yogurt cake and it was quite interesting! I love trying the new food here! It is so awesome! 

We are still trying to find more people to teach, but we realize that we need to be more diligent in talking with everyone we pass. I know that if we will prove ourselves to the Lord, He will help us to find those that are prepared to hear the gospel. Maybe He already is placing them in our path and we just keep passing them. I am praying for the confidence to talk with everyone. Sometimes I get scared, and I need to change that. I am going to have perfect faith this week and talk with everyone! I can´t wait to report how I do next week! 

 

We are still working with our investigators, but they have some struggles and set backs with the word of wisdom. Please pray for them so that they can continue to learn. Thank you for all of your prayers and concern. We can see the Lord´s answers manifested in the progress of our investigators. They are doing well, and we have such a love for them and a desire to help them come unto Christ.

 

It has been a hard week, but I am so grateful for each week to be better and learn from mistakes. I am so grateful for the Savior and His Atonement that allows us to repent and change. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who forgives us and teaches us how to make our weaknesses strengths. 

 

This week I have a new challenge. Think about one of your weaknesses that you want to mejorar, or change to become a strength. it can be spiritual or temporal, such as doing well in school or praying more. Choose one and pray every day to change this weakness to a strength and to have the Lord´s help to remember and change. I know that the Lord will help you as you do this. He has already helped me in the mission to change many weaknesses to strengths and He will do that for each of you!

 

I love you all, I love my mission, I love this gospel, and I love our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

You are all so amazing! Have a great week, and just keep getting better!!!!!!!!!

We must be filled with integrity!!

                                                                                                                                            Sept. 9, 2013
Hola mi familia!!! Cómo están? Gracias por todo sus cartas! Me encanta leer de sus aventuras cada semana! Ustedes son maravillosos, y gran ejemplos para mi. Gracias por todo su ánimo y diligencia en viviendo el Evangelio de Jesucristo! ok, that is enough spanish. I absolutely love Spanish and I enjoy writing and speaking and learning the language better, but it might be a little challenging and boring to read if my whole letter is in Spanish.

We are getting excited to celebrate the dia de independencia in Chile on the 18th of September. Everyone says that they celebrate for days, and engordar, or get fatter because of all the food they eat. I need to diet so i can disfrutar, or enjoy the holiday here! They also have cultural outfits that they use on these days, and my companion and I want to buy one of the dresses for this holiday and for a souvenir.  I love Chilean food and can't wait to make some for you when I get home! I am learning to cook here!! Who knew everything I would learn on my mission! 

This week was so great! We worked harder and the Lord is blessing us with more people to teach. Paul and Josue are progressing a lot. This week we had Paul teach us lesson 3 about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We made him a little plaque with Elder Paul written on it. it was just paper with a pin on the back, but he used this, and we were the investigators. he had to teach us everything and it was amazing because we were able to still teach him as we asked questions as the investigators that he had to answer, such as what is a covenant? This works so well for him, and we are excited for tonight as he is preparing to teach us the restoration. My companion had done this before with other investigators and it is so awesome! You can suggest it to the missionaries in our Ward, if they are working with youth. Paul came to church yesterday, as did Josue, and both are progressing towards baptism and changing. I love seeing how the gospel of Jesus Christ changes people.  Please pray that they can resist the temptations that they have, and that they can be ready.  Thank you for praying for all the people we are teaching. They are so special and precious to God, and to us, as are all of God´s children. But we are so grateful that they are prepared and that the Lord leads us to them.

 

Yesterday my companion and I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting! We were able to choose our topics. Hermana V. spoke on Faith, and I spoke on Repentance. The Spirit was so strong, and we were so grateful to speak on topics to help our investigators that were there, and all of the members and new converts. I am so grateful for the testimony that I have of repentance and that I could share it with the people of Frutillares. We truly love it here!

 

This week I continued to learn about sharing my testimony, not just with those that don´t believe, and not just during the lessons, but also when we are contacting.  It is my goal this week to speak to everyone, and bear my testimony as I teach the doctrine. If we live the doctrine, we have the authority and the Spirit as we bear testimony of how living the Gospel blesses our lives.

 

I want my mission to be filled with integrity. I want to make sure that I am always working for the Lord! I want to make sure that I am doing everything I can to honor Him and our Heavenly Father. My challenge to each of us is to take a step back and look at the activities that we are participating in and ask ourselves if we are representing the Lord.  And if not, what I can I do to change, and to be a representative of Him at all times and in all things and in all places? This is something that I am trying to do every day, and perhaps it is different in the mission field as we have the calling to talk with everyone about the gospel, but it applies to members in another way. As members we are not asked to use all day every day to share the gospel, but we are asked to represent Him in everything we do. As we pray for the strength to do so, and the ability to change and repent, I know that the Lord will help us to become like Him. I know that we will become closer to Him. We will have a love for Him and for our Heavenly Father as we strive to honor Them, and we will have a love for the people all around us as we allow them to "see our good works and glorify our Father which is in Heaven." Have an amazing week and know that I love you! Can´t wait to hear about your adventures next week! Hasta luego!

Lemon Squares and Lessons Learned

                                                                                                                  Sept. 2, 2013
Hola mi familia!!! How are you! Thank you all for your sweet emails!

This week has been hard. We are having difficulty finding new people to teach and so that is what we fasted for on Sunday. But part of fasting, is doing all you can to prove that you are worthy to receive the blessings you need. We didn´t feel like we did that last night, but we are so grateful for repentance and the opportunity to change. This week is going to be so much better as we talk to everyone, and do all we can to serve and find people to teach. If we prove ourselves to the Lord, He will trust us and know that we are ready to teach those who are prepared. I am excited for a new week to work harder, and be better with the Lord´s help.

This week we taught two investigators--Josue and Paul.  We invited Josue to baptism and he knows this is what he needs to do, but he doesn´t want to feel rushed so he didn´t accept the date. He said he would pray about it and tonight we are going to teach him and verify if he received an answer. But he came to church yesterday!!! Paul seems to be progressing well. We have a noche de hogar, or family home evening tonight with him and his family and he is going to invite his girl friend. It will be so fun. Please keep praying for Josue and Paul! They are both progressing wonderfully so I know that the Lord is answering all of your prayers and ours as well. Also, please pray for Elizabeth. She feels the Spirit in our lessons, and I think she wants to be baptized but she is really evangelical and doesn´t agree with some of the things in the church and has a lot of questions. She wants to know that it is true and have answers to her questions, which we promised she could receive through pray to her Heavenly Father.  Please pray that she will have the desire to pray about the truth and ask God all her questions. I think she is afraid to pray and know that it is all true :)  

Today we had a zone activity at the beach! We played volleyball, ate shish kabobs. and also something called Churipan. It is sausage inside of bread. Kind of like pigs in a blanket. It was really good, and I had the wonderful responsibility of making an American dessert for 16 missionaries. I found an amazing recipe book in our apartment that I think one of the elders left. I decided to make lemon squares! I made 2 batches of lemon squares and they turned out pretty good! Who knew I would be doing that in Chile! it was hard to find time to make them in the little free time i have as a missionary, but I was able to do it!  The activity was really great and I took some cool pictures that I will have to send next week.

 

Ok, now that I mentioned the lemon squares, it is time to talk about the lessons learned. This week we contacted different houses, and sometimes we contact people who don´t believe in God. In this instance we contacted a man who didn´t believe in God, and he talked to us for a while. I didn´t want to argue, and i didn´t want to listen, i just wanted to leave in this instance and so i watched as my companion testified that she knew that God lived. Afterwards we were walking away, and she said why didn´t you say anything. I felt so bad because I had had ideas come into my mind that I know were from the Spirit and I didn´t open my mouth. She then told me a story about how she had had a teacher once who didn´t believe in God and was arguing about it. She was with her friend and her friend defended God and shared her testimony that she knew that He lived, but my companion didn´t open her mouth. She said that she felt horrible and from that day she promised that she would always bear her testimony to those who don´t believe in God because that is all we can do, and testimonies are powerful. I am so grateful for the example of my companion. Now and forever I will always share my testimony and defend God because I know that He lives. I know that our Savior lives!! I have received a witness from the Spirit that this is true. I will never remain silent ever again. I will always defend our Heavenly Father and our Savior because I know that They live! People can argue with all the logic in the world, but that will not weaken my faith, and the witness I have received from the Spirit. We must walk by faith in this world, but faith is stronger than anything. I am grateful for the Savior and for the forgiveness that we can receive from our Heavenly Father through Him. I am grateful that I can repent for not opening my mouth, as I go forth now and testify of them in every moment. I am grateful for the lesson I learned this week, and I challenge everyone to do the same. I challenge everyone to promise that they will always defend Heavenly Father and the Savior and bear testimony of them when others say bad things about them. We must be firm in our testimonies and unshaken in our faith.  

 

This week we also had a conference with Elder Gonzalez of the 70. He talked about the 3 aspects of missionary work. Bautismo, retencion, and reactivacion. Baptize, retain, and reactivate. We have brothers and sisters in all three of these areas who need to hear our testimonies of our Heavenly Father and our Savior. Without us they might not have the opportunity to accept and live the gospel in this life, and if they don´t the price might be their salvation. This week I was thinking a lot about how sometimes i worry a ton about the health and safety of others, and how horrible it would be if they died. But think about how horrible it will be if they die spiritually. Protecting them spiritually and helping them obtain salvation is so much more important, because death is part of the plan. Everyone will die, but we need to make sure that no one will die spiritually. we want all of our brothers and sisters to be there with us partaking of the Salvation that our Heavenly Father and Savior offer us. Our brothers and sisters who don´t have the gospel now, those who have been barely been baptized, and need to receive strong testimonies to remain firmly in the church, and those who have become inactive and left the church. Everyone is important and we need to work hard in each of these areas. The members can help by visiting investigators, new converts, and less actives with the missionaries. We must be friends to everyone and make sure they all feel welcome in the church, have a social conversion, a spiritual conversion, and a calling. These are just a few of the lessons that I learned this week! I am excited to learn more and to share with you the things that I am trying to implement into my life! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week full of adventure and miracles. Love you all so much!!! Hasta luego!

Look for opportunities to serve!!

                                                                                                                                Aug. 26, 2013
Hola mi familia!!! Thank you all for your wonderful emails. I really needed the support this week that I always get from your emails!  So, today is my 6th month birthday in the mission. That means that in exactly one year from today, I will be arriving home! Crazy right! Well there is no time to get trunky, I have so much I need to do still! I want to make the most of my mission and help as many people come to Christ as I can because I only have 1 year left! Ok, birthday celebration is over, time to get back to work! Ha ha!!

This week has been a lot better than last week. Sometimes it is hard to find new people to teach, but we know as we keep working with diligence, the Lord will bless us to find the families and people that are prepared to hear the gospel. This week we had the opportunity to visit a kind elderly man named Alfredo. He is so kind, but it is so sad because he doesn´t believe in God. We tried our best to teach him, but he refuses to pray. if you could please pray that he can have the desire to pray and ask God all of his questions, and that he can receive and recognize his answer, I know that the Lord will help him. We've also been teaching a fifteen year old boy, named Paul. He came to church yesterday and has been learning more!!! Last night we challenged him to get baptized on the 7th of Sept. He was unsure so we invited him to pray about baptism, and especially about this date. We are going to call him today and visit tomorrow. I will let you know what happens, please pray for him to receive his answer!

This week I have enjoyed getting to know people and finding out their needs. I love that I have the opportunity to minister to people everyday just like the Savior did. But we do not need a mission call to do this. I wish I had learned this before, but I needed a mission to learn it. We can minister to everyone everyday. Thank you for your examples, for your service and the little things you can do for others, and for sharing your testimony.

In the mission we are studying Preach My Gospel together as a mission. Today I was reading about going out and doing good. As missionaries we strive to do a planned service project every week. But what is more important are the unplanned service opportunities that we find, such as carrying someone´s groceries, or talking to someone. I know that if we pray to recognize these opportunities to serve, we will see that they are all over the place. As we listen to the Holy Ghost guide us to those that need our help, they and many others will see our examples, and our service will glorify our Heavenly Father and our Savior. We will have the opportunity to share the gospel with those we serve and with others who see Christ in us.

My challenge to all of you this week is to pray for and look for the little opportunities to serve, and when the inspiration comes, act on it, even if your natural mind might think, "no, it will be weird if i offer to help". it wont be weird! it will be wonderful! Take every opportunity you see to lift another, to smile at the children of God all around you, and to help them come closer to Him and to their Savior. I love you all! You are all amazing!! Have an great week! Hugs and kisses!!

Hello Beautiful Frutillares!!

                                                                                                                          August 19, 2013
Hola mi familia!!! Gracias por escribir! Estaba muy animada para recibir sus cartas y leer como estan! This week has been kind of long, and I am so grateful for this day to rest a little, and hear from all of you.
 

The baptism last Monday was amazing! It was all really special, and gave me the opportunity to say goodbye to all the members in Cauqenes. I loved working with the people and was sad to leave, but know that Frutillares is the place where I am suppose to be!!

Hello Beautiful Frutillares!!


Frutillares is gorgeous!! It is a smaller part of Tomé, and consists of many hills. I'm excited because my legs are going to be super toned--haha!!

Tomé is the center, so we do our shopping there, and the beach is there. We went to the beach today to see how it is, it is amazing! But it is still winter here so it is kind of cold. Frutillares is colder than Cauquenes, but I have everything I need to stay warm.  My sleeping bag is my best friend!!



My companion, Hermana V. is from Argentina! She and her family are converts to the Church and    her testimony and experiences are amazingly powerful. She is also super obedient, and we are going to get along great! I am excited to work with her this transfer and learn from her. We both have 4 months in Chile, we arrived here together on the plane, so we are co-senior companions ha ha. it is awesome! We replaced the elders of Frutillares and are both new to the area. Frutillares hasn´t had sister missionaries for about 15 years, so we both feel very honored to be here.

 

The rama (branch)  in which we serve is fantastic. The members are excited to help visit investigators, new converts, and less actives. They have such an amazing spirit of missionary work, and the leaders magnify their callings tremendously. I am so grateful and excited to work with them. They have taken care of us so well this week. It was hard at first because we didn´t know any members, and we weren´t sure about who the elders had been teaching. But we went out and worked. We have many new investigators and are excited to share the wonderful message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 We are excited for the challenge of a new week, to be better, work harder, and help others come closer to the Savior and our Heavenly Father.

This week I learned that the Lord knows us perfectly, has a mission for each of us, and will always help us fulfill that mission. We can do whatever He asks of us, because He will magnify us and help us do His will. I am so grateful to be a part of this work, to proclaim the truth, and testify of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Come what may, they are with us always, and will always guide us if we turn to them.



I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! Good luck with school starting, I will be praying that everything goes well. You are all so amazing and I am so grateful to be at peace and always know that the Lord is taking care of you and blessing you. Love you so much!

Hasta Luego!

Transfers: Miracles in Cauqenes

                                                                                                                             August 12, 2013
Hola mi familia!! Como estan todos? I am doing great!!!

Today we found out transfers for where we are going to work for the next 6 weeks. I am being tranferred out of Cauquenes after 4 amazing months. I am going to be serving in Frutillares, which is on the Coast, and will be serving with Hna. V. I don´t know her yet, but am excited to meet her tomorrow. I am going to miss the people of Cauquenes so much. This past transfer was 8 weeks and in these two months, I really learned to love the people here. They are amazing! And now I am excited to meet new people and love them in Frutillares. It is going to be so hard to leave Sis. L. and Sis. N., but I am so grateful that we can still write them. They truly are amazing! 

Okay, it is funny story time! So the other night we were sleeping and the sirens for the bomberos or firefighters went off at about 1:30 in the morning. I woke up of course because I am a light sleeper, and was really annoyed by the loud noise :)  and also really confused as to why it was sounding. I thought they were having a funeral for a bombero because I had heard the same kind of noises before in the parades they have when a bombero passes away, but they would never have a funeral at one in the morning. They stopped and I went back to sleep. In the morning I talked about it with my companions. All 4 of us live together, but the other 3 sisters said that they hadn´t heard anything, and that it was just a dream. We live really close to the firestation so I don´t know how they didn´t hear it. So, I thought I was going crazy and couldn't tell the difference between dreams and real life. Later I asked our neighbor about it, and he said that they did go off because a fire started. HA! So I was right and wasn´t dreaming and I am not going crazy!! Ha ha, I just don´t understand how they slept through that! Other funny story. This week I was helping a young women named Sis. J. with her english homework. I had to read a paragraph out loud for her so she could learn the proper pronunciation. And I couldn´t say the word communication! I kept saying comunicacion, and the pronuncation is way different. She had to reteach me how to say it in english haha im not going to be able to speak english when i get back! 

 

This week we had a funeral for a less active man who passed away. His sister and father are less active as well, and his sister´s husband and son are not members. The whole chapel was filled with non members. I was invited to sing, "Yo sé que vive mi Senor" (I Know That My Redeemer Lives.) I hope the wonderful people could feel the sweet Spirit that was in the chapel!

 

This week we also had a minicambio and I got to work with Hna. S. who is our group leader. She is so amazing, and I learned so much from her in the mini cambio! She is getting transferred to the same zone as me, so she will still be my leader! We are still working with Sis. V. and her son. Sis. V. who still needs to stop smoking. We have tried to help her all we can. We have fasted and prayed, had members in lessons who had the same problem, and last night we gave her a pack of "cigaros" which were really pieces of paper we had rolled up to look like cigarettes, and we wrote scriptures on them. We found the case to a pack of cigarettes, and decorated it with good pictures and sayings to help her. Whenever she has the temptation to smoke, she is going to take out one of these cigaros, and look up the scripture :) We are praying that she can stop smoking this week so that she can be baptized. Please continue to pray for her! 

 

And now for the amazing news!! Do you remember Cristina? I was able to teach her with Hna. C. for a little. Well Hna. C. and Hna. S. kept teaching her and Alex. They were not married, and didn´t want to get married because of fears and other problems. One Sunday about 3 weeks ago, they came to church for the first time since we began teaching them about 4 months ago. She decided that she wanted to be baptized and be with her family forever. I am pleased to announce that she and Alex were married this morning at 9:30! And she will be baptized tonight at 7. We are so excited for them, and it has been amazing to watch the change in her life as she has learned to trust in the Lord and give up her fears, and follow Him. I know that this gospel is true and that it is the Lord´s gospel. He has the power to change hearts and lives, and He wants the best for us. I know that our loving Heavenly Father has created an eternal plan of pure joy for us, and that through the gospel of Jesus Christ that has been revealed in His true restored church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we can live this plan and be able to return to Him and our Savior with our families!

 

I am grateful for Cauquenes, for the experiences I have had here, for the amazing people the Lord has prepared, for the love that I have for them, and for the opportunity that I have had to serve them, to witness miracles, and to watch my own testimony grow. Thank you for all of your prayers. These people were truly blessed because of them. I love you all, and hope you have an amazing week! I will let you know about Frutillares next week! Love you all! Hugs and kisses for everyone! Hasta Luego!