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

Villarrica! January 26, 2015

It's continued to be pretty roasty toasty here in Villarrica this week, and I don't think I've ever had so much water to drink in my life.  Without all that water I would be a shriveled up little raisin or something like that.  Ew, that's pretty gross.

Anywho, this time of year Villarrica is full of tourists and all the people who live here are taking advantage of this and working crazy amounts of hours, most at least 12 hours and often more.  It makes it kinda hard to find and teach people when most are at the beach, but this week we found a couple of pretty awesome people who want to learn more :)

I have some super bonito tan lines on my feet that will probably last until I'm 80 years old haha :) For real though, they are so bad...

Other than that things are pretty chill here and we keep on keeping on.  OH!  Highlight of the week:  We started talking to an abuelita in the street and she thought I was Chilean :)  Haha, I was super happy, but later we found out she had eye problems and can't see very well... hahaha, oh well.  At least for a little bit I thought I could convince the people I was Latina.

Keep working hard, playing hard, and trusting in the Lord.

Stay sweet,

Hermana Coombs

 

Saying goodbye to el barrio en Punta Arenas

Villarrica!

Our front yard

Villarrica -- January 19, 2015

Villarrica can be summed up in about three words.  Beautiful but hot.  For real, I'm dying from el calor aquí.  All I can think is, "Well Toto, I don't think we're in Punta Arenas anymore."  It's SUPER different here (in terms of temperature).  In Punta Arenas we were still walking around in our winter coats, and here we're walking around in short sleeve shirts and dying from the heat.  I guess that's what happens though when you go from the southernmost part of the mission to (almost) the northernmost part of the mission.  Haha, but it is absolutely beautiful here!  Our house is right along the coast, and we have an awesome view of the volcano.

My new companion is Hermana Espinoza from Paraguay and she has about a two months in the mission.  We get lost a lot because I'm super new to our area, and she's still learning it.  Haha, we have to ask people for help... a lot :)  It doesn't help though when almost all of the streets are in Mapuche and have names like "Currirayen" "Caupolican" "Janequeo" and "Quetropillan".

Saying goodbye to everyone in Punta Arenas was super hard.  There was a ward activity our last night in Punta Arenas so everyone could say goodbye to Elder Cleverly and I.  I'm going to miss everyone a ton, but that's the mission.  We can't stay in one place forever, and we're need in other areas.  Hard goodbyes but lots of new people to meet también.

As of now we're working hard to find new people to teach because we only have one person investigating the church for now.  It's a tad difficult this time of year because everyone is taking advantage of tourist searon and they all work approx 15614768465468741 hours each day.  Patience is a virtue and I've heard that all I need is faith, trust, and a little pixie dust.

To those of you in winter right now, stay warm and I'll try to stay cool :)  Love you all a ton!

Stay sweet,

Hermana Coombs

January 12, 2015 -- Transfers/Cambios

Hola everybody!

Cambios have arrived, and I’ll be leaving Punta Arenas…

I’m headed up north to Villarica, which I’ve heard is super pretty this time of year, and I'll be finishing the entrenamiento of Hermana Espinosa (at least I think that's her name).  Should be an exciting new adventure :)

Sorry, my mind is drawing a blank on everything because my mind is trying to comprehend and take in that cambios are happening.  It'll be hard to say bye to Punta Arenas and especially Hermana Revelo, but I know that everything in cambios happens for a reason. The sector, the companion, etc, it's all part of a process to help one become the missionary that God requires.

A few things that happened this week

- we let a dog into the house one morning when it was really cold, named him Toby, and now I'm his owner

- I was attacked by a dog.  Haha, he was just playing around, but he almost knocked me to the ground, and he tried bitting my calf

- We met someone who told us she has a third eye and that she communicates with the spirits

- A member showed us new kittens :)

- Other things that I can't remember right now

For real though, sorry this email is kind of the worst, but I hope you all have an awesome week!  Hopefully I'll have a lot to say next week :)

Keep on keeping on,

Hermana Coombs

Best. Trees. Ever.

January 5, 2015

Oops, I only have 5 min to write this, so it'll probably be pretty short, lo siento.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  2015 already... crazy how fast time flies.  New Years Eve was pretty fun.  We had a dance party in the casa, watched fireworks from the casa, and ate pichanga... yum!

You'll never believe it, but it was actually hot in Punta Arenas the other day.  I was walking around in a short sleeve shirt.

I'll try to send photos.

Lo siento that this is one of the worst emails ever.

Stay sweet!

Hermana Coombs