Cambios -- February 23, 2015

Cambios have arrived, and Hermana Espinoza and I'll be staying in Villarrica :)

This week we've been working hard to help our investigators progress and to find new investigators.  We were finally able to find and meet with a really awesome contact we had a few weeks back, we taught him three times this week, and he's progressing a ton!  He's 17 years old, super interested in the Book of Mormon, living prophets, and the church as a whole.  Before we taught him about the Book of Mormon we asked him to read the introduction, and when we met again he said even though he really wanted to read more he only read the introduction because that's the part we asked him to read.  Haha we explained to him that he can always read more if he wants to, and he was pretty happy about that :)  

The tourist season here is starting to come to an end, so hopefully we'll be able to start visiting people more regularly because their work schedules will be more normal.

As for other happenings in Villarrica this week, I ate pastel de choclo y umitas (at least I think that's how it's spelled).  They're typical foods of the Mapuche.  Also the volcano has been pretty active and there is almost always smoke leaving from the top.  A few people say they think it'll erupt in March, but others say no, so only time will tell.  Late at night people have said that it glows red at the top, but I like to sleep so I can't say if that's actually true or not.  But don't worry, if it does erupt the only thing that'll get to Villarrica is some ash and possibly some smoke.

A scripture for the week from the Book of Mormon in Ether 12:4

Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

The faith can help us no matter what difficulties we are passing through.  God loves you and knows you personally and is always willing to help you.  Trust in him and have faith in his purposes.

Les quiero mucho!

Hermana Coombs

February 16, 2013

Marri Marri!! (at least I think that's how it's spelled)

It means "Hola" en Mapuche.  We met someone this week who is Mapuche and speaks the language fluently.  She taught us a few things but the only thing I can remember is "marri marri".

So this week was a week of adventures.  We had our Zone Conference in Los Lagos, so we got to travel to that part of the mission.  It's always super awesome when we can talk with Presidente Obeso!  The spirit is always super strong in our Zone Conferences and we learned a ton of new things that we can improve so we can keep becoming better missionaries.

We've been seeing lots of miracles in our area as well.  The members are super excited and really want to help the missionaries in our area, and we've been working a lot with them recently.  

Most of the pics from this week are from our trip we took today to see some waterfalls near Pucón.  It was SUPER pretty, but we got pretty wet too.  oh well.

We're still working hard, finding new people, and staying enthusiastic :)

Until next time,

Hermana Coombs

Visiting en Los Lagos

El volcán

El volcán -- it's smoking

Chile es desmasiado bello

6th month mark!

This week has involved a lot of walking, a lot of talking, and a lot of small miracles.

We're still walking a ton and talking with everyone and their mother in the streets, but it's super helpful that for the most part everyone here in Chile is really nice and friendly.  Haha it's pretty funny being a gringa here because on multiple occasions I've been called "Barbie" and in my head all I can think is "kids these days" haha.  

Small miracles of the week:

1. I haven't died of dehydration

2. The people who refill our water bottles and give us a snack (for real, bless their souls)

3. We almost ran out of food and couldn't buy more until today, but we had just enough to make it. whew!  Our fridge and cupboards are completely empty

4. We found/met some really awesome people who are interested in listening!

5. The members here want to work with the missionaries.  Members make all the difference in missionary work.  The people view us kind of weird, but when they see that normal people (aka the members) have a testimony of these things too it totally changes their perspective.

Keep on being awesome and looking for the small miracles that happen every day.  Make the habit to think of what your miracle of the day was and even really hard days won't seem too bad.  Life is too good to waste being negative :)

Over and out,

Hermana Coombs

Muriendo de calor

Villarrica

Volcán at sunset