Monday, December 29, 2014

Prospero año y felicidad!

Prospero año y felicidad!

Wow, where to start...

This week was full of Christmas activities, which was way fun.  I can't tell you how many times we (the missionaries in Punta Arenas) sang Christmas carols in the Plaza and other places, but it has to be at least 12398720938509128 times.  Haha, it was super fun to sing the songs in Spanish, and we coordinated some dances too :)  We got to sing in a retirement home and visit some of the residents in their rooms.  That was always something I did back home so it made me really happy we could do it here in Chile too.

Christmas Eve Hermana Revelo and I decided to have an adventure and go where our feet carried us in Punta Arenas.  We visited the coast, ate Ice cream, listened to a drum band in the Plaza, and then we went to the Mesias's house to celebrate Christmas Eve.  Hna Revelo and I got to play the guitar for a bit which was the bee's knees because I've missed it a ton. 

With the other Hermanas in our casa we had a sleepover in the middle of the house Christmas Eve, and when we woke up in the morning we ate cookies, opened presents, and had a little dance party.  Haha :)  One of the Hermanas was super awesome and decorated the house while we were sleeping so that when we woke up it was all Christmas-y.

Also, highlight of this week for sure was skyping with the family :D  We had to make some last minute changes with the time we were going to skype with them (there was interference with an activity we had with the mission president), and we had to call our families to tell them so they would know.  Calling your family on the phone is super uncommon, so we decided to pull a joke on them.  I called Hna. Revelo's mom and told her that I was with the international police and that we found some illegal documents from when Hna Revelo was in Santiago and that she was being detained until they could come to Santiago and sort things out.  Haha, a mean joke, but her mom was really nice about it when Hna. Revelo told her it was a joke.  We did the same thing to my family, but we told them I was being detained for visa problems.  Haha, I don't know if I explained it well, but we thought it was pretty funny, and our families were just glad it was a joke :)

But yeah, Skyping was awesome!   Seeing the family and talking to them was a little weird at first, especially because I was really struggling with my English at first, but it was super fun and funny to talk to them again.

Hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year.  Next time you hear from me it'll be 2015! Woohoo!

Keep on keeping on,

Hermana Coombs







Friday, December 26, 2014

"Happy Christmas Harry"

MERRY CHRISTMAS :D

Woohoo Christmas is finally here!! :)  We won't be having a white Christmas here in Punta Arenas, but we'll still have an awesome time :)  We're all getting pretty excited, especially to Skype with the family :D

This week has been a tad loco for Hermana Revelo and I because she spent most of the week in Santiago renewing her papers so she can stay in Chile.  Usually you don't have to go to Santiago to do it, but things are more complicated when you're from Colombia, haha.  For most of the week I was being passed around between companionships of Hermanas here in Punta Arenas, and it was pretty exciting.  Different, but exciting. I even got to spend a day with Hermana Williams (my companion in the CCM)! :) That was pretty cool because we've both improved A TON with our Spanish and our abilities to teach.  

Other fun things that happened this week:
- Sang Christmas carols to people in the street
- The members put together a Christmas activity for the missionaries :)
- We decorated the casa un poco
- Other things that I can't remember right now

Big shout out to Mama Coombs for the Christmas package.  She's a nice lady.  

Also, Happy birthday to Katherine this Sunday.  17 años of being one of the coolest kids out there! Feliz Cumpleaños!

FELIZ NAVIDAD TODOS!! And in the wise words of a wise fellow...

"Happy Christmas Harry" - Hagrid

Stay sweet,
Hermana Coombs


Monday, December 15, 2014

Funny Happenings of the past week

This week flew by!  It's still hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner!

Haha, this week has been pretty interesting.  Hermana Revelo and I spend most of our time laughing, which is the bee's knees because laughing is the best.  Just a few of our experiences from this week:
- A drunk guy chased us down and talked to us for approx 20 min without any real conclusion or purpose to the conversation
- We contacted a guy in the street and were talking for a few min.  When we first started talking I shook his hand, and he continued shaking my hand until we left
- Hermana Revelo is teaching me to talk with a Colombian accent
- I'm the only gringa in our casa and the other Hermanas are on a mission to teach me how to dance, and it's super funny because I dance about as well as a plank of wood
- the same two dogs have been following us around for almost all day every day this week
- We were teaching una abuelita the other day, and after we both bore our testimonies she looked at us and said, "oh no, I didn't hear a single thing you said"

hahaha, other funny things have happened too, but I can't remember any other specifics right now.

This time of year is super fun in the mission because the Christmas activities are starting and it's super fun to participate with the members.  There was an activity for the niños in the church the other day, and all the missionaries in Punta Arenas got to sing "Angels We Have Heard on High," "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer," and a few more.  

Hope you're all doing well and listening to Christmas music 24/7 :D

Que estén bien! Les amo muchisimo!

Until next time,

Hermana Coombs

Monday, December 8, 2014

December 8, 2014

Hey everybody!! Hope things are going superbly for you all and that you're getting super excited for the holidays! (I know I sure am).  It's going to be pretty weird celebrating Christmas during the summer, not that summer really exists here in Punta Arenas, but I'm super excited nonetheless.

This week I spent my last few days with Hna. Bretón :'(  but the good news is that Hna. Revelo is just as awesome.  She's from Colombia and we've already had a ton of fun together spending most of our time in the street laughing about one thing or another.  

Haha the other day we were walking back to the casa and a we met a super crazy dog, but crazy in a good way.  His face was super funny and he was prancing rather than walking, which made him even funnier.  

The wind has really picked up the last few days, which has been interesting.  There have been times it's been so strong we can barely walk, and we've given up hope for our hair.  haha at the end of the day it's a mess to say the least :)

We've been working hard but haven't really been seeing the results this week, which is super frustrating, but I guess that's life.  Practically all our appointments fell through and it feels like no one wants to talk to us.  I guess I've been a little spoiled so far in the mission that normally almost everyone will at least talk to us for a bit.  We'll just have to keep working harder I guess.

Also, I haven't actually watched it yet, but there is a short video about Christ and Christmas that I hear is super awesome.  It's called "He is the gift".  You guys will have to watch it and let me know if it's as good as they say.  Fingers crossed I can watch it too!

Les quiero muchisimo!!

Keep on keeping on,

Hermana Coombs


Monday, December 1, 2014

December 1, 2014

Happy December everybody :)

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season and the cold weather.  Haha I've decided that here in Punta Arenas summer doesn't really exist.  There are two temperatures here: cold and less cold.  Right now we're in the "less cold" time of year, but it for sure isn't summer.  OH.  And the wind is crazy.  Hahaha I've been blown off the sidewalk a few times, which is always entertaining.  It's always quite the adventure with the wind :)

Francisca and Sebastian (from the Mesías family) had their baptism this Saturday, and it was amazing.  The spirit was really strong, and they are incredible.  When we asked Francisca why she wanted to be baptized she said "No quiero que el Espíritu Santo solo toca mi corazón. Quiero que puedo tener esa buena sentimiento siempre." (sorry it's in Spanish).  Their family has been a miracle and they've really helped the ward to progress.

Earlier in the week Presidente Obeso and his wife visited us here in Punta Arenas.  They are SO funny.  Hermana Obeso was telling us about how we all need to exercise so we don't get fat, and then she turned and looked at Presidente and said with her eyes, "you too."  Later on they were joking around with all the missionaries and teasing us a bit too.  Haha, they were teasing me about my passport mishap and it was really funny.  They gave us a bunch of really awesome advice too.I love them so much and am so glad I'm blessed enough to have pretty much the best mission president ever.

This morning we found out cambios (transfers).  I'm going to stay here in Punta Arenas and Hermana Bretón is getting transfered to Puerto Montt.  My new companion will be Hermana Revelo from Colombia (not 100% positive if I remembered that right), and I've heard she's really awesome.  Woohoo!  It'll be a bummer saying bye to Hermana Bretón, but it helps to know my new companion is equally awesome.

Weekly tidbit about food:  I didn't get to celebrate Thanksgiving with Turkey, but I did get to celebrate with Pichanga.  The missionaries in our casa ordered a pichanga, but the people messed up our order and only gave us french fries, so they gave us a Pichanga for free.  Woohoo!  The only thing better than pichanga is pichanga for free haha :)

Until next time,

Hermana Coombs

November 24, 2014

I FOUND THE PENGUINS!!! :D

Today we took a trip to look for penguins, and we found a ton!  It was super cool to see them outside of a zoo, just chillin' on the coast or swimming in the ocean.  Pingüinos son mejor de todos.

Shout out to the fam for being the greatest.  I got your package and letters this week and it was super awesome.  :)  ¡Muchas gracias!

I don't have a ton to say this week, lo siento.  Punta Arenas is supposedly transitioning into summer, but I'm not buying it.  It's not as cold as it was, but it is definitely not summer.  Oh well.

I hope you all have a super awesome Thanksgiving!  Eat some extra food for me :)  I'm super grateful for all the blessings I have in my life.  I don't have time to list them all out because there are way too many. :)

Stay safe and stay warm!

Stay sweet,
Hermana Coombs