April 6, 2015

Hope everyone had an awesome Easter!  I love this time of year because it focuses on the most important event in history. Christ really lived, really died, and really was resurrected. He lives and he is present in our lives.  I know it. 

General Conference this weekend was incredible.  I loved the focus they placed on the family and the importance of families.  I'm so incredibly grateful for each and every one of the family members I have.  You guys are the best!  I know that the messages were inspired for each and every one of us, and if you have the chance to read them or listen to them again take advantage of it!  Try to find ways and set goals to apply what you learned in your everyday life.

The decorations turned out well for the activity, and it was an awesome :)  We all had a really good time.

Last but not least we found out cambios.......

Hermana Espinoza and I are staying together for at least one more cambio :)

Love you all tons!  Keep on doing the small things every day. "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass."  

Con amor,

Hermana Coombs

March 30, 2015

I don't have a ton of time, but I hope the pictures make up for it.

Highlights from this week

- Still haven't died from the volcano

- Intercambios with Hna. Pettitt 

- We got to chop wood for an Hermana en la Rama

- We're preparing an activity for Easter, and Hna Espinoza and I are in charge of the decorations (even though we are the least creative people on the planet), but the good news is that one of the Hermanas en la Rama is helping us out a ton

- We've laughed a ton this week :D

As you're all preparing for Easter take time to think about Jesus Christ and what his sacrifice means for you personally.  He lives and is present in our lives.  This weekend in the General Conference His prophet and apostles will bear testimony of Him and give us counsels that will help us grow closer to Him.  I am so thankful for all that He has given me thanks to his sacrifice for me and for each one of you.

Have and awesome week!

Love you all tons!

Hermana Coombs

March 23, 2015

I hope you all had an awesome "Dia de Felicidad" the 20th :D

Also, it's a week late, but I hope your Pi Day was well celebrated, because 3/14/15 (Pi = 3.1415) only comes around once every thousand years.  Hermana Espinoza and I celebrated with Pie de Limon, even though she didn't know Pi Day was a thing.

This week was a super awesome week.  We saw a lot of small miracles and we're seeing a lot of progress in the Branch.  We're visiting some really awesome people who are super interested :)

Hermana Espinoza and I have been practicing English in the house during this week, and I am now pleased to report that I don't sound like someone who is learning English.  Haha, we even taught a lesson in English this week, and it went really well :)

The Volcano is acting up again, and everyone says it'll probably explode again (but it won't do anything to us here in Villarrica).  Hermana Espinoza and I have our fingers crossed that if it explodes we'll be able to see it this time.  Haha, lots of the members have said that they'll call us if anything happens so we don't miss it this time.

The funniest part of the week was when Max, a member, did his impressions of the missionaries in the Branch :D  Haha, he nailed them all!  It probably won't be funny to you all because you don't know him, or the other missionaries, but trust me, it was funny.  Haha, we were all crying we were laughing so hard :D

Appreciate the small things in life.  Laugh everyday.  And as an apostle once said, "Come what may and love it."

Stay sweet,

Hermana Coombs

March 16, 2015

Well things have calmed down here, and pretty much everything has returned to normality.

Yesterday in church there was a couple visiting from the States.  He served his mission in Villarrica 35 years ago, and said that things have changed a ton!  Haha, I talked to his wife in English for a bit, but when I try to talk in English it's a disaster.  I'll be talking in English (or trying to at least) and then suddenly I'll through in a few words in Spanish or start talking in Spanish.  It's pretty funny.  

We're still working hard, talking with everyone we can, and enjoying the heat while it lasts :)

¡Que les vaya bien!

Hermana Coombs

Villarrica Volcano erupts

Haha, this week has been LOCO.  

Tuesday morning Hna Espinoza and I went running in the morning along the coast, and we passed by a bunch of people taking pictures of the volcano, which looked a little different, but we didn't really pay much attention because we were half asleep and we see the volcano every day.  A little later in the morning we had a meeting with Presidente Obeso and the other missionaries in Villarrica and Pucón, and when we got there the Elders in our rama asked us if we'd heard about the volcano.  Haha, Hna Espinoza and I said, "well people have been talking about it a lot the past few weeks....." and then they told us, "No, it exploded last night!!"  Apparently while everyone in Villarrica and Pucón were watching the volcano and taking photos Hna Espinoza and I were happily sleeping in our house without the slightest idea of what was happening...... I was so sad that no one woke us up to see it :(  

The Elders y Hermanas in Pucón had to evacuate around 3:30 am and they couldn't go back to Pucón until the red alert changed to yellow alert, so for a few days Hermana Segura y Hermana Wyatt were living with us in our casa.  Haha, it was quite the fiesta in our house.  I haven't laughed as hard as I did this week in a long time.  Hna Segura and I were compañeras for the week, and Hna Espinoza and Hna Wyatt were compañeras for the week, and the four of us had a ton of fun.

My story of el volcán isn't too exciting, so I'll tell Hermana Segura's story instead because it's cooler.  Around 3:15 she heard her neighbors talking and saying "grab the backpacks", but she was too tired to see what was going on, but a few minutes later the elders called and said, "look at the volcano!"  She and her companion opened their front door (because they live 12 miles from the volcano) and saw it exploding, and she said it was like she was in a movie or something.  They had to pack their backpacks superfast and go to the house of a member who lived in a more secure part of the city until they could evacuate to Villarrica.  They said it was super crazy and pure adrenaline when they saw the volcano exploding. Loco!

Long story short it was a super fun, super crazy week, but I missed all the initial excitement.  We're all safe and the Hermanas de Pucón are back in Pucón.  

Keep on keeping on,

Hermana Coombs 

The following is the email we received from the Mission President Tuesday morning:

Dear family,

Overnight there was a volcano eruption of the Villarrica volcano in northern Chile.  All missionaries are accounted for and safe.  The missionaries who were serving in Pucon closest to the volcano have been pulled out to a safer location until further notice.  We are monitoring the situation.  Please rest assured that your missionaries are safe and protected.

Con las Hermanas de Pucón

El volcán after it exploded.  The black lines are where the lava was

March 2, 2015

Buenas Tardes a todos!

Ojala que hayan tenido una semana excelente!

This week in Villarrica things were pretty chill.  We have some new missionaries in the zone, but for the most part things stayed pretty much the same.  We're still working hard and finding new people, so that's the good news.

This week the Branch President's son had his ninth birthday, and he invited us to his birthday party, but we couldn't go.  Haha he was pretty bummed when we said we wouldn't be able to make it, but we promised him we would visit him earlier in the day to bring him a present.  He really likes cereal, so we bought a box of "Chocopic" for him, and his reaction was priceless :)  Haha, he was REALLY excited about his cereal.

Fun fact for the week: The Volcán Villarrica is the third most active volcano in the world, and the number one most studied.  ¡Que genial!

Things are going swell here in Villarrica :)  ¡Que les vaya muy bien! 

Keep on keeping on,

Hermana Coombs

Villarrica

Walking down the street and found this fellow

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