"Trick or Treat!!"

                                                                                                                                     Nov.4, 2013
Hola mi familia! I was so excited to read all of your letters and to know that you are all doing fabulous! I am doing amazing as well because this week was incredible! I have so much to tell you! But it all starts with TRICK OR TREAT!

I had many experiences this week in which none of them were tricks, I have only had treats! Last Monday we received news that we would be having mini missionaries come to stay with us for 4 days. Mini missionaries are youth from a different stake that come for some time to serve as missionaries. They are literally missionaries without their official call, but they do everything that missionaries do in order to learn. So Hermana Valdiviezo and I split up and we were each with a mini missionary. I was with Hermana París, who already has her call and will be leaving soon to serve in Peru. I had the amazing opportunity to teach her all that I could about missionary work for 4 days. We saw so many miracles as we found new investigators to teach and truly lifted others by bringing them unto Christ. I think our biggest miracle was Patricia, who is now a new investigator. She was a contact before, and never answered the door when we went again, even though she was home one time and we knew it haha. But this time with Hermana París she did answer. She desperately needed to feel the love of God and we were able to testify how special she is to her Heavenly Father. The Spirit was so strong and we could feel the love that Heavenly Father has for her as His daughter! It was amazing! We continued to see miracles the whole 4 weeks, and I learned so much! I hope that Hna. París did too! She reminded me so much of myself when I first started, and I was so grateful and amazed to see how the Lord has qualified me to do His sacred work. It was such a treat! We were together for Halloween and yes, the children do go trick or treating, but not as many go as in the states. I bought a lot of candy and we were able to speak with a lot of people as we gave out the candy to the children! Best idea for contacts ever!!! haha but it was so fun!

 

Maria/Noelia are still progressing, but there are always trials when people are preparing for baptism. Please continue to pray for them and for Marcela and their individual trials! 

 

Thanks for all of you prayers. We have a lot of new investigators too. Please pray for Carlina, Mariaelena, Patricia, Valeska, Nataly, Carolina, and Aura. We found them all this week!! I will let you know how they progress as we continue to teach them! Especially pray for Aura because she is passing through some really big trials and is preparing for baptism the 24th of Nov. but she needs Heavenly Father´s help so much! Thank you Thank you! 

 Ok, now for the big finale of treats this week. We found out the transfers this morning, that will take place tomorrow. I wanted to be with Hermana Valdiviezo for another transfer because we are the best of friends, but the Lord has another plan for me. Hermana Valdiviezo will be opening a new area and so she will have a new companion and won´t be too far away! We will be in the same zone which will be so fun! I will be staying here in Frutillares and....drumroll please!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I will be training a brand new missionary!!!!

 

 I am so excited for this opportunity that the Lord has given me! I am scared out of my mind, but I know the Lord will qualify me so that I can handle this responsibility. It will be hard, but it will be so worth it. Yay, I'm going to have my first daughter. That's what they say here in the mission! When we start our mission, we are born in our first area and our trainer is our mom. Well I get to be a mom now, and train my first hija (daughter) I am truly excited, and I can´t wait to let you all know what she is like. I won´t meet her until tomorrow!

 Ahhh so many changes, and so many treats this week! I have learned so much. I know that this is our Savior´s and our Heavenly Father´s greatest work and that They work through us! They will qualify us for every calling that They give us. We can do everything when we walk with Them. I testify that They live! And that they love us!

 

Thank you for all of you prayers! I love everything about my mission, and I am so proud of each of you and the missionaries that you are! I hope you have a fantastic week and remember how much our Heavenly Father and Savior love you!!
Hasta luego!!!

 

Happy Halloween!!

                                                                                                                                      Oct. 28, 2013
Hola mi familia maravillosa!!!!!! Cómo están? Están animados por Halloween? They don´t celebrate Halloween here like they do in the united states. They have the day off because it is an evangelical holiday that is completely separate from Halloween. I think they might still trick or treat a little bit here in Chile, but I will have to verify that and let you know next week.

Hermana Valdiviezo and i are going to be frutillas for halloween! This means strawberries haha. The reason we are going to be frutillas is because in the beginning of our time here in Frutillares we bought some frutillas and when handing them to my companion, I accidentally said, "Here are your frutillares!" She laughed so hard. I hate making mistakes in speaking spanish haha. Also, when we have our weekly district meetings, each companionship presents there numbers and in the end they say, "and we are...and then the name of their sector. For example, we always say, "and we are Frutillares." But this week for halloween, we are going to say, "and we are Frutillas!" haah it is going to be a fun week! I hope you are all doing well! This week was crazy, I think every week is crazy, but crazy is a good thing. 

Let me give you the update on our investigators. Marcela wasn´t baptized this week, but we were able to understand her needs better and we will continue to help her progress towards baptism. She is smoking less and learning a lot! Maria/Noelia (she likes them both, i prefer maria!) and Rámon are doing great! He wants to be baptized too, and they want to get baptized on the same day, so they are preparing for the 16th of November! We are so excited for them! They loved going to church yesterday, and today we are going to have a family home evening with them and a few member families. It is going to be awesome!! We also called Camila and she answered. she got really sick, and was in the hospital here in Tome and then was transferred to a better hospital in Talcahuano. she has been in the hospital for 3 weeks and we didn´t even know, thats why she never answered the door, or her phone. We sent the elders to give her a blessing, and we hope and pray that they did so. She had a horrible illness and can´t hear out of one ear now. Please pray for her recovery! We hope she returns home soon so that we can visit her. We found a family yesterday! Alicia and Miguel both accepted the invitation to be baptized and are praying about the 23rd. I will let you know how they are doing. They are great and we are excited to keep teaching them. We continue to find a few people, but we have a goal to find 10 each week, because that is the key indicator, and that is the number of people the Lord has prepared each week. We are only going to find them if we follow the Spirit, and are diligent in speaking with everyone. This is the goal, and it is hard sometimes, but we are called to do it. That is what I will be doing this week, and I hope to write next week about all of the miracles we see as we are faithful and diligent. Thank you for all of your prayers in behalf of us and our investigators. They mean so much to us as the Lord always answers them and helps us, and our investigators. Our investigators are so precious to us and to the Lord. We know that they need this gospel and the blessings it brings. Thank you, thank you! 

 

This week we had interviews with President, and it really helped me in so many ways. Before the interviews we took turns sharing our testimonies about why we are in the mission. As I was able to remember the why, I felt so much better. All desánimo left, as I remembered that I am here to help others come unto Christ because I love Him and I love them. I want them to receive the happiness that I have received from following Him. He is everything, and will help us in all. Without His help, I am nothing and I can´t do anything. but with Him, i can do everything! And i want to help others realize this as well! He is the Savior of the World and will always help us as we come unto Him! We can come closer to Him by studying His life and gospel to increase our faith, and by being obedient to His commandments. I promise that as we do these things we will see a difference in our lives. We will be so happy! Only He can give us peace and happiness. This week I want to give you all the challenge to remember. Remember the spiritual experiences. If you are passing through a trial, remember the strength He gave you to overcome other trials, He will do the same. Remember the warmth His love. Remember to take time to feel the love He has for you. He lives, and He wants you to remember, and to remember always. I love you all! I hope you have a great week, and that you have a ton of fun adventures, but that you take time to remember and come closer to Christ, and help others do the same. Love you!!! Hasta luego!

We must have hope in order to have the Spirit!!

                                                                                                                                           Oct. 21, 2013
Hola mi familia y todos!!! Graciás por sus cartas ésta seaman!

On Wednesday I received an amazing package of letters from Sister Mueller and the Young Women in the ward! It was exactly what I needed this day, and I am so grateful for each of them and the love that I felt as I read their sweet letters. Thank you so much!!!! I hope to respond more in individual letters that will be sent in the mail a little later.

This week was quite crazy!! Let´s begin with the funny moments. Well, my black boots are absolutely dead ( I will try to fix them) but last night as we were walking my zipper on one of my boots completely broke, and I had to walk with my boot open all the way. I don´t know if you can imagine it. I will try to send a picture next week, but it was just a little bit embarrassing. My companion and I were laughing the whole way to our next lesson. Good thing our investigators didn´t seem to mind.  

Speaking of investigators! Remember how I told you that we are teaching Maria (she told us she likes to go by Noelia, so from now on i will be calling her Noelia). Well, she is progressing perfectly! She came to church yesterday, even though it was raining and not many members came. She is preparing to be baptized the 9th of Noviembre because she really wants to change her life around. Her husband has been baptized 3 times in other churches and we tried to explain why he it is important to be baptized in this church, but we might have to re-explain that again. But last night we had a lesson with both of them, and he said that they want to be married in our church. We haven´t explained about temples yet, but we are excited to teach them about that tonight, and even more excited that he has this desire because baptism is a necessary step to achieve it! :) We are still teaching Marcela who is preparing to be baptized this week. It is still not for sure, but we have faith that the Lord can help her be prepared, and so we will do our part so that we can witness the miracles of the Lord. Josue came to church, but is only progressing a little, and his daughter Nicole still hasn´t come to church, but we won´t lose faith. We never were able to teach Daniela. She didn´t answer the door again :( But we went to contact Camila, and it turns out that she has been sick for a while. We hope to start teaching her more this week! I will let you know how it goes. 

 

This week was really hard for us. We didn´t find anyone new to teach, and I think it was because we were desanimadas in the beginning of the week. Last night we talked to our district leader about it, and he said something I really like. He said being desanimada is the same as being without the Spirit. This not only applies for missionary work, but for life in general. If we are sad, and we lose the hope, this is the same as losing the Spirit. I know that this is true and that no matter what trial comes, all we need to do is turn to the Savior. He will carry us! He is the answer, and he will give us the strength and the excitement and the energy we need to get going, and we will have His Spirit to be with us! I learned a great lesson this week and I am so grateful for everything I learn in the mission! 

 

The other thing I learned this week is that when we as missionaries visit investigators without members, we are only doing daño, or harm. This is because our investigators only become attached to us, and don´t have a social conversion as well as a spiritual conversion. Then when the missionaries leave, they don´t remain active because their only friends at church were the missionaries. We see this all day everyday. Because of this there are so many less actives that were baptized and then stopped going to church. The key is to visit the investigators with members ALWAYS!!!! but this is super hard if the members can´t go with us, or they cancel. We need to work together as missionaries and members! The Lord´s work can only progress if we do what he has asked us! Mom shared that you are praying about who you can invite to learn about the gospel!! I am so proud of all of you for doing this!!! You are following the prophets and apostles who gave the invitation to each member to invite a friend to learn about the gospel before Christmas! If everyone does this, think about how the Lord´s work will progress! Also, you can tell the missionaries that you would like to go with them to teach investigators! If they have an investigator that they need to visit, you can help them by being a friend to that investigator and inviting them to come to church and the activities WITH YOU!!!!! I know that part of the blessings of serving a mission is that have learned how to be an amazing MEMBER of the Lord´s church! I have learned how to share the gospel with my friends! I have learned that I want to always help the missionaries, and if they ask me to help them teach a lesson, i want to drop everything i am doing, and go with them. This is the Lord´s work! It is the most important work!!!!!! there is nothing in the world more important!

 

My challenge to everyone this week is to think of a friend that they can invite to a Family Home Evening with the missionaries, or offer to teach with the missionaries! Will you do it! I know as you follow the invitation of the prophets today and each of you invite one person, you will see a difference in your lives. You will see the blessings come.! This is the Lord´s work! He is with us, He will help us know what to say to our friends, and who we should talk to! Thank you for everything you do to help the Lord´s work! I love you all!! Have a great week! And remember to choose Ánimo and Good work, instead of daño and desánimo! Love you!!!!

 

"Tunnel Journey" - The light of the gospel leads us!

                                                                                                                                     Oct. 14, 2013
Hola mi familia maravillosa!!! Como estan? Gracias por sus cartas! Su semana fue muy bueno! Mio tambien! prospering! 

 

Today we had a zone activity where we went on a hike to an abandoned tunnel. There used to be a train that passed through Tomé and so there are a few tunnels here, so we went to one of them. I thought it was going to be a little strange. The activity was suppose to be 2 hours and I was thinking, how long is the tunnel? And if it is short, are we just going to walk back and forth for 2 hours haha but it was really fun. The hike was super long so that took up most of the time. I took a lot of photos that I want to send, but the computer doesn´t want to work. Well, while we were walking through the tunnel that was completely dark, we were following one elder who had been smart and brought a flashlight. In the beginning he a few other elders walked way faster than us and we couldn´t see them or hear them, when suddenly they jumped out and scared us haha it was fun, but i have to admit that my  heart almost exploded. Elders... they think they are so funny haha well they are.


Being missionaries and always thinking about the gospel, when we were following the light I thought of a metaphor and commented about how this was kind of like life, and the light of the gospel helps lead us. Thinking about it more, there is only one light that can lead us safely through this life and He is our Savior, Jesus Christ. We must follow Him and follow the gospel that He has given us. It is so important that we are members of His true church, the same one that He established when He was on the earth. In the beginning of the tunnel when the elders hid, we lost the light. I can´t imagine how hard it would be to live without the light of the gospel to guide us. But there are so many of our brothers and sisters who do just that. It was hard to walk in the tunnel without the light. We were scared, we couldn´t see what was up ahead, and it was dangerous, we could have gotten hurt. But with the light, we had an assurance that everything would be okay as long as we were with the one that had the light. We knew where we were, where we were going, and all fear left. As a representative of Jesus Christ, I testify that this is His true church and that only by following Him can we return to our Heavenly Father and live in peace, knowing He will lead us through the dangers, and the darkness and give us His light. This experience helped me realize even more how important it is to share the gospel with others. I got to taste for a second what it is like to be in the dark, I don´t want anyone to be there. We are the way in which they can find the light! This is what I learned this week! 

This week was amazing! We worked way more with the members and had 8 lessons with investigators in which a member accompanied us. Last week we had 0! The Lord blessed us to be able to work more with the members.

This week also had other miracles! Remember Camila? She is so prepared and we were excited for her to come to conference, but she didn´t come :(  Well, we visited her again and it turns out that she tried to come to conference but she couldn´t find the church! :( but this is also good news because she is really excited to learn more. We taught her and the lesson was amazing! She didn´t come to church this week, but we know that she is prepared and I will let you know what happens this week! Marcela is doing great and she read for the first time, the chapter that we invited her to read. She is doing everything to prepare for baptism and find a house. I told you about that right? Well, she is doing everything! We are going to eat ice cream with her today!! She is awesome! Josue also came to church and is still progressing, His daughter Nicole couldn´t come because her baby was sick, but she is awesome too! We are also teaching an abuelito named Carlos, and he knows he must be baptized, but he wants more time. Please pray for him! Yanet is still progressing, but we will work with her more. We have a lot of people to teach and the Lord continues to bless us to find more. This week I really wanted to find someone who needed the Lord in that moment. I was feeling a little discouraged because i love to help people and I know that this gospel can help everyone, but usually the people we find don´t realize that right away, and don´t realize that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer to everything! I was praying that we could find someone who really needed the Lord to lift them in that moment, and after I finished my prayer in my head, we knocked on a door and a woman came out. We started talking with her and she listened but we distracted. She then told us that she wants to listen, but that her son was sick with Bronchitis for many days and that she was waiting for the doctors to come. She didn´t have the animo to listen in this moment. My companion and I both had the same inspiration to ask if we could offer a prayer with her for her son. We did this and the Spirit was so strong, She said that we could come back another day and share with her. Her name is Daniela. I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows all of His children and sends us to them right we they need Him the most. I am grateful to be an instrument in His hands to lift His children. I know that He loves us and will always lift us. Thank you for your prayers, I know that this week was amazing because of all of your prayers in our behalf. The Lord is blessing us and the work is

Real fast, I will finish with a few funny stories. Last week when we were sick (we are much better, thanks!) we ate lunch in the house every day, and not with the members. Well one day the gate to our house was locked and this gate is huge! Really high up and we cant climb it from the outside. Well the other sisters had the keys and we called but they didn´t answer. So, I decided I would attempt to climb over the wall. I asked my companion to push me, and she is a lot smaller than me ha ha, but she tried, and fell back a little ha ha sad. But the second time I got up there and then climbed down. It was a fun adventure, as I was in a skirt ha ha. Every day is a new adventure!  Love you so much! hope you have an amazing week! Hasta Luego!

P.S. Look at my tiny Chilean cheese grater!!  Life is great!!

I Love Learning!!

                                                                                                                               Oct. 7, 2013

Hola fabulous familia!!! How are you all doing? I hope you all had a great General Conference weekend! I watched conference for the first time in all Spanish. We couldn´t get it to work in English. The songs were in English and they would begin speaking in English but a translator would then begin speaking. The true church of Jesus Christ is so amazing! The Lord has given us the technology to listen in all parts of the world! It was an amazing experience, as I was able to use the gift of tongues that Heavenly Father has blessed me with, to be able to understand the messages from our prophet and apostles and other leaders of the church. I started off the weekend watching the rebroadcast of the relief society meeting. It was so powerful and I loved the message about how we become stronger through trials and they are given to us because the Lord can see our potential, and all that we can become through them, just like He knew that the Provo tabernacle would become a temple! What were your favorite messages of conference? If you could please write me a little summary about them that would be awesome. I understood most of the messages, but I´m still not fluent in Spanish—haha. 

 

This week was full of adventures and I learned a ton. Hermana V. and I both got a stomach flu this week that lasted for a while, but we received priesthood blessings and were able to work even though we were sick. I know that the Lord blessed us with the energy to work, and we saw this through the number of lessons we had. The number of lessons we taught was way higher than any other week. The miracles of the Lord are amazing! 

We are still working with Marcela, and Josue, and Paul. They still have struggles so please pray for them and I know the Lord will bless them. We are also still working with Sandra, we found a young woman named Camila who was excited to listen this week to conference and hear the prophet. She wants to know if he really is a prophet, and in the lesson we had with her, she had a ton of questions. Also, Josue´s oldest daughter is going to be living here for a while so we are going to start sharing the gospel with her. Sadly, none of them came to see conference. We were so disappointed as this week we truly proclaimed with joy that our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ, have called a prophet and apostles to lead and guide us today. Our investigators were not able to hear the glad tidings, but we are going to share the messages with them these next couple of weeks, and we hope to keep teaching them all. Thank you so much for all of your prayers in behalf of each one of them. 

This week we had a lot of funny adventures while we were sick, but usually my embarrassing moments are the most funny. We always say alo outside of the houses, it is like the doorbell of chile. Occasionally I accidentally say hola and that is super embarrassing. This week on a minicambio for a day, I was relieved to know that my sister leader sometimes does the same, so the embarrassment was long gone. That is what I thought, until one day when i passed by someone in the street (we always say hola to everyone we pass) I accidentally kinda yelled alo at them haha, it was so loud and embarrassing. My companion couldn´t stop laughing and I couldn’t either. Luckily I think the lady I yelled at had headphones on. Que verguenza!! Or, how embarrassing! haha i love laughing at the little things.

This week we learned so much from conference and also from our leaders. I love each week, each day, each minute, because we always have another opportunity to be better. And we get to apply what we learned! We have so much to apply this week and I can’t wait to let you know how it goes.

The two talks from conference that I absolutely loved in relation to missionary work were given by President Uchtdorf and Elder Ballard. Mom shared about your desire to share the gospel as a family. I invite you all to read these two talks and remember how amazing this gospel is and why everyone needs to hear it. Don´t fear, only go forth and share with everyone. You will rejoice as others are blessed. Today I was reading in el Libro de Mormón because I am reading it completely in Spanish for the first time, and I read my favorite missionary verses! Jacob 5:71,72 It says: 71 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might with me ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself unot myself against the time which will soon come.  72 And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things. 72 And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things.I love this because this is what the Lord says unto His servants and in the verse before it says that His servants are few. We may be few but we have a great calling to bring the gospel to the rest of the world, and this scripture prophesies how we will work.We will go forth with all of our might, and obey in all things. In verse 75 Jacob describes what happens after we, the servants of the Lord, do all we can do.75 And it came to pass that when the ^aLord of the vineyard saw that his fruit was good, and that his vineyard was no more corrupt, he called up his servants, and said unto them: Behold, for this last time have we nourished my vineyard; and thou beholdest that I have done according to my will; and I have preserved the natural fruit, that it is good, even like as it was in the beginning. And^bblessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have brought unto me again the ^cnatural fruit, that my vineyard is no more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have^djoy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard.The Lord comes, The Savior comes and says that we will rejoice with Him because we shared the gospel with fervor. We will rejoice with the Savior at His coming! This is a prophecy, but in order to receive the blessings of this prophecy, we must do our part. We must share the gospel with all diligence and with everyone, and we must be obedient to all of the Lord´s commandments. Then we will have these promised blessings! I know this to be true. I am grateful for our call as members to bring the gospel to all the world. I am grateful that I can work along side of each one of you in the vineyard of the Lord, and that we can work alongside Him. I love you all and hope you remember this as you go forth as proclaim the restored gospel without fear! I hope you have a fantastic week! Can´t wait to hear from you next week! Love you! Chou!

The Lord prepares them, but we must find them!!

                                                                                                                           Sept. 30, 2013
Hola mi familia!!! Gracias por todo sus cartas! Me encanta leerlos y estoy feliz para escuchar de su semana pasada. Todos dijeron algo que yo necesitaba escuchar. Thank you for helping me to always feel great and renewed and energized to work hard every week--especially this week.

I have to admit that this week has been a little hard. We always learn a lot every week, but our biggest challenge is finding new people to teach. I know without a doubt that the Lord has prepared many people in Frutillares to accept the gospel and be baptized. We just have to find them!!! I know as I continue to be more diligent and use the Lord´s precious time every minute of every day, we will be able to find them! The Lord teaches me so much! I just need to remember to apply everything I learn.

Today I was reading Preach My Gospel in the first section about what I can do to be a successful missionary, and then I began to read about missionaries from the Book of Mormon.  I read about Nephi the 3rd, and his success as a missionary. In Helaman 10:4,5 the Lord is talking directly to him and says, "Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done: for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but has sought my will, and to keep the commandments. 5. And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy work, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will. 

What an amazing scripture. My greatest desire is to hear the Lord say this to me. I am grateful that the Lord helped me find this scripture today because it is what I needed to hear. I need to declare the gospel with unwearyingness, without fear of the people and of talking to them, and I need to make sure that my will is exactly in line with the Lord's will. This is what I am going to work on this week. I think as members we can do the same. We have been called to share the gospel with everyone, to share with friends, to make new friends and share with them, to do everything, and most importantly, to live the gospel in every way so that others can see our example and happiness and want what we have been blessed with. When we do this we have the promise of the Lord that He will bless us forever, that we will be mighty in word and deed, in faith, and in works, and all things that we ask shall be according to our word because we will not ask for that which is contrary to the will of the Lord. We will do His will and He will bless us in our own lives and will bless us to be able to share the gospel. I know that this is true, and so this week Hermana V. and I are determined to work our hardest, speak without fear, and find those that we know are prepared! This is my spiritual thought and scripture of the week. I invite you all to read Preach My Gospel chapter 1 together as a family! It is awesome! 

This week was awesome! We had some really amazing lessons and I absolutely love feeling the Spirit in our lessons, and knowing that the investigators can feel it too. We found Sandra this week one morning when we were knocking on doors. She is so great! She really felt the Spirit, and we tried to return but she wasn´t home. I will let you know what happens, but please pray that we can teach her again and that she can receive an answer about what we taught. The same for Evelyn. We tried to teach her, but had to reschedule for today so we will finally pass by and see how she is tonight. But she is a lot nicer and warmer as we explained why it was necessary for a restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ

Sis. M. still struggles with the Word of Wisdom, but she continue to progress as she attends church and learns more. We had a wonderful lesson last night for family night with our ward mission leader. He and his family invited Sis. M. and her son, and another family that recently joined the church. We shared a video that is on the dvds for seminary for the book of mormon. It is called the Mediator and it is so great! It shares a story about a young man who wanted something that he couldn´t afford in his life and so he borrowed money to buy it, and he worked to pay the debt, but he never could because while he worked hard, sometimes he would go off with friends and leave the work, and he just never earned enough to pay it back. When the time came to pay the debt, the man that he owed wanted justice, and he couldn´t pay it. The young man wanted him to show mercy, but mercy and justice could not exist at the same time, and so the young man was put in bonds and about to be taken to prison. But there was one way in which mercy and just could exist together, and it was through a Mediator. His friend came, and said that he would pay the debt if this young man would work for him by the principles that he sets. This is exactly the plan of God for us. We wanted to come to this earth in order to be like Him and receive a body. He has already given us so much, but in order to return to Him we must be free from sin. But we fall so many times, we sin all the time, and we can´t pay the debt. Well, the eternal law of justice must be satisfied, God has to be just, but He knew we wouldn´t be able to pay the debt to return to Him, and so in His mercy, He sent His Son, and Jesus Christ willfully came to be our Mediator. He suffered for our sins so that we can be clean, and He died for us so that we might live! He paid the debt that we could never pay alone, and He set the principles by which we can work for Him. It is by living the gospel of Jesus Christ that we can receive the mercy of the Great Mediator. I absolutely love this video!!! There is so much to learn! I absolutely love the perfect plan of our Heavenly Father and our Savior! I know it is real! When we shared this, the lesson that followed was so great. Sis. M. noticed the friends that called the young man to leave his work and go with them, and she recognized that this is like the temptations we have that cause us to leave the path. This is exactly what I was hoping she would say. I am so proud of her progress! I am hoping and praying that she learned a lot more about the Savior and His sacred Atonement, and that she can apply it to her life to help her quit smoking. Please pray for her!  

Josue came to church too, and he was suppose to work on Sunday but told his boss that he had to go to church. So he was able to come, and he told us that he knows it is important to go to church because it is what God wants, and because He blesses him for it. That is Big progress! We are still working with them, but it is difficult. Bro. P is really struggling. We were really bold as we followed the Spirit and taught the plan of salvation and what will happen if he isn´t baptized in this life. Please pray that he will really truly pray with earnest about baptism. Thank you for all of your prayers and the love you have for our investigators! 

This week I ran every day!!! Well not on Sunday of course, but the other days I did! I am in Concepción today!!! And i will be going to Lider for the first time, this is the equivalent of Walmart! I am super excited!! I am trying to think of funny adventures of this week. Sometimes when we knock on doors, we don´t actually knock, we yell Alo, outside of their door, and them come. Sometimes my voice cracks when I yell Alo, and sometimes I say Hola by accident. Or, I will be speaking to people in Spanish and then I will say something in English, which is really embarrassing. These are my every day embarrassing moments from the mission. It's so fun! But life is wonderful! I love you all so much! Thanks for your examples and the light you shine! Keep being amazing! Have a great week!! 

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!