January 25, 2016 -- final post

Well, here it goes.  The last email of the mission.  That’s weird.  Really though, the mission has just been the best.  I’ve laughed so hard (for real though so hard), and cried a few times, and been frustrated with Spanish until I found out how to speak it, and felt so lucky to meet so many really truly incredible people.  It’s been the greatest thing ever, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going to miss it.  But all good things must come to an end because there are other adventures out there.

For those of you who’ve been reading my emails every week, thanks for hanging with me, haha, even when I didn’t write a few weeks, or wrote close to nothing.  Just know that it’s been fun trying to keep you filled in on everything I’ve been doing, even if I couldn’t always remember what it was :)

You know what the coolest thing of my mission has been?  Becoming really truly converted to the gospel and learning to trust wholly and completely on the Lord.  You learn really fast in missionary work that you just can’t do it without his help.  It’s been a humbling experience that’s brought me much closer to him, and it’s helped my testimony grow light-years.  That to me is awesome! :)

A year and a half compared to a life time really isn’t anything if you think about it, but I’m 100% sure that this year and a half is going to help me for the rest of forever (bad grammar I know, sorry).

For those of you reading this who are members, let me share with you, once again, one of my favorite scriptures. It’s Alma 37:6, and it says, “Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.”  Do the small and simple things.  Read you scriptures…daily.  Say your prayers…daily.  Go to church and to the temple.  All that good stuff makes the big difference.

To those who aren’t members, I share the words of the prophet Moroni when he said, “And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.  And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”  Find out for yourselves if this is all true or not.

And to everyone, I love you guys.  You’re all great, and I’m excited to see you again :)

As a representative of Jesus Christ I leave you all with the invitation to come unto Him.  Come unto to Him with fullness of heart, in your actions, words, and thoughts.  Come unto Him, and let him make you whole.  Let him make of you the person you can never become on your own.  I love this gospel and I know it’s true.  I know that Jesus Christ really lived, suffered, died, and lives again for each and every one of us.  I testify that he is the Savior and Redeemer of the world and that he leads and guides His church today.  I love this gospel and I know it’s true.  And I share this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen .

Hermana Coombs

January 18, 2016 -- She's coming home!!

There will only be two more letters from Hannah, this being one of them. Her last letter will be next Monday. She returns home on Friday, January 29th. That next Sunday, the 31st of January, she will speaking in church, telling about some of her experiences serving in Chile. If you are interested in coming, the meeting starts at 9:00 am and is located at 1320 West Schaumburg Road, in Schaumburg. All are invited.

Here's this week's letter:

Alright ladies and gents, here come the highlights of the week, and probably a lot of random thoughts:

- My comp's head isn't feeling too much better, but she's been tired of being in the house, so we got to leave a little bit more this week.

- We had a Family Home Evening with the members who live alone, the new members in the ward, and those who are the only members in their family, in the church building on Monday.  It was way fun!  We're having another one today and we plan on playing kickball.  Woohoo!

- One day una abuelita called us to help take her to the post office and we said yes!  Turns out it was a trap!  Haha, she's a really sweet lady who just needed some company.  She didn't even have to go to the post office, but while we were out we stopped to buy her an ice cream cone.  Only afterward did she tell us she didn't know how to eat it... oops!  While she was eating it she dropped it on the floor but said, "this is too good, I'm not losing it!"  so she picked it up, wiped it off with a napkin and just kept right on eating it :)  At least she enjoyed it right? Right :)

- We were contacted by a cop from Santiago vacationing here in Purranque.  He seemed really interested in the church, but was going to Santiago again.  Good thing there are missionaries all over the place!

- La familia Gonzalez gave us completos one day for dinner.  I'm going to miss them (both the familia Gonzalez y los completos)

- Had an awesome lesson with Felicita, one of our investigators, in which she bore a really strong testimony that she knows this gospel is true, and that she's received so many blessings after meeting with the missionaries.  She wants to get baptized so bad, but her pareja (sorry I can't remember how we say that in English) doesn't want to get married yet.  But once they get married she is baptism ready!

- We found a cool new investigator named Lucy!  She really likes what she's learning

- We had an awesome lesson with Manuel, a guy who's visiting from Puerto Montt, and la Hna Sonia went with us.  Members, you guys really don't know how much you can help with your simple powerful testimonies.  He's going to keep listening to the missionaries in Puerto Montt

- Hno Moll, he's a little abuelito member here, ate lunch in a member's house with us and the members this week, and HE IS SO FUNNY.  We laughed so hard.  They asked him to say the blessing on the food and he just said, "they always ask on the youngest to say the prayer."  And then he said so many other funny things during lunch. haha, sorry if you don't think it's as funny as I did.

- Our house has slugs and Hna Schroeder is terrified of them.  She found one of their happy trails in her bed yesterday and I don't think she's ever going to be able to sleep ever again

- And the coolest thing of all.... Mary y Patricio said they want to get baptized on Feb 20th :D  They've been meeting with the missionaries for almost a year and they finally feel like they're ready for baptism.  It was an amazing lesson, completely guided by the spirit.  It was cool.

Don't forget that sometimes things happen a whole lot differently than what we would like, but we just need to roll with the punches, put our trust in the Lord, and look for the blessings that are all around us.  I found a cool scripture today in my studies from when the prophet Mormon is talking to his son Moroni about all the bad things and the destruction of his people (a whole civilization) and he said, "My son, be faithful in Christ, and may not the things which I have written grieve thee... but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death... and his mercy and longsuffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever."

Basically if things aren't going your way just remember to let Christ lift you up, that his grace and mercy can help you out in whatever situation you find yourself.  There will be difficulties in life of every kind, but there are good things to come.  Just keep chugging along with your confidence placed in him.

Oh, and just to let you all know, my companion is so funny.  We get along so well and we just laugh so hard all the time.  She's great  and as she always says..."that's all autobots, let's roll out!"

Love you guys!

Keep on keeping on,

Hermana Coombs

January 11, 2016

How's it going!!

This week I was studying an awesome talk about Faith.  Check it out!

https://speeches.byu.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdf/Cook_Gene_1981_11.pdf

We almost killed a missionary in a visual lesson activity gone wrong with the Zone.  It was tug of war, with an Hermana in a chair between the ropes.  She did a back flip and almost died, but thank goodness someone had ninja-like reflexes and saved her life. That would have been really awkward explaining to Pres. Obeso what happened if she'd gotten hurt. Haha, maybe I shouldn't laugh, but she gave us permission, so it's ok. 

Other than that, we keep on keeping on, finding people and teaching the gospel.  The gospel is amazing people.  It's helped me out so much in my life.

Keeping it short and sweet this week, but I love you guys! Have an awesome week!

Stay sweet,

Hermana Coombs

La cascada!

the stick thingy was for swatting away killer flies.  and good news, I didn't die :)

January 4, 2016

Hey guys!

HAPPY NEW YEAR :)  2016.  That's cool stuff.

Anyway, my companion has been sick this week with some head stuff, but we're getting it all worked out.  The good news is that I got to study a ton this week.  I read a lot of things by the Prophet and Apostles, and one talk I really liked was "On Being Genuine" by Elder Deiter F. Uchtdorf.  He said:

"With patience and persistence, even the smallest act of discipleship or the tiniest ember of belief can become a blazing bonfire of a consecrated life. In fact, that’s how most bonfires begin—as a simple spark.
So if you feel small and weak, please simply come unto Christ, who makes weak things strong. The weakest among us, through God’s grace, can become spiritually strong.
The Church is not an automobile showroom—a place to put ourselves on display so that others can admire our spirituality, capacity, or prosperity. It is more like a service center, where vehicles in need of repair come for maintenance and rehabilitation.
And are we not, all of us, in need of repair, maintenance, and rehabilitation?
We come to church not to hide our problems but to heal them."

It's an awesome talk.  Look it up if you can.

one time this week we did service.  It was legit.  I felt like Spiderman because we were on top of a roof.  I almost fell off once, haha JUST KIDDING MOM. But don't worry it was completly safe, and fun.

Love you all tons and hope your week is full of faith, trust, and pixie dust!

Love,

Hermana Coombs

December 28, 2015

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!

I have eaten so much food this week, I don't even think it's humanly possible, but it was a really fun week igual!  Christmas was a little wierd because it's warm here, but it was still way cool. The 24th we were invited to the house of the Gonzalez Familia (they are so cool).  We laughed so hard, and then I got to skype with the family, which was so fun but so hard.  English is a real struggle sometimes.  Haha, and then we had a really nice dinner with them :)  They make me so happy, and they adopted us as their children... haha we even took a family photo with them after church on Sunday.

Then on the 25th we had a gringo Christmas with Hno Vladimir y Hna Jeannete (our papitos).  We ate cinnamon rolls and opened presents and everything, haha,  they are so gringo for being Chilean :)  

Then later in the afternoon una abuelita who lives alone invited us over for a Christmas lunch.  She's a sweetheart :)

And this week we've been talking with EVERYONE we can, haha, but it's been fun.  We even found a new family who is super interested in learning more, and they even acepted a baptismal date, so we'll just have to see what happens :)

I love you all mucho and I hope you have a fun and safe New Year!

Stay sweet,

Hermana Coombs

December 21, 2015

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

I hope you've all been enjoying the Christmas season and the special time that it is.  It's the most wonderful time of the year.  

Purranque it awesome!  I love it here!  The members are super cool and they've really made me feel like part of the family.  We have some awesome investigators, and there are two Elders in the Branch, which makes the work even more fun.  It's a pretty small, quiet town, and it isn't a tourist attraction like my other sectors, but it's an awesome area.

It was quite the surprise when I met Hna Schroeder because she told me I was going to finish her training as a new missionary, and nobody told me before I met her!  But she's awesome.  She's obedient, she works hard, and has a strong desire to serve the Lord.  Lots of good things are going to happen this cambio.

Haha, a funny story real quick.  Well actually it isn't too funny, but I want to share it anyway.  The missionaries who finished the mission last week had some REALLY bad luck.  The day they had their flights scheduled, the airlines went on strike, so they couldn't go home.  After a few days the mission sent them all to Santiago by bus, and I think that now they are finally home.  What a crazy going home story.  But in the end it all worked out ok. 

Love you all lots.  Enjoy your Christmas!

Love,

Hermana Coombs

November 23, 2015

Not too much new information this week.  Sorry.  Yanira y Danilo are progressing really well and are even sharing the gospel with their friends.  THEY ARE THE BEST!

Hna Barrios and I keep going to her physical therapy sessions, but we still don't have permission to leave the house very much.  We're working hard with what we can and the Lord is putting some incredibly prepared people in our path.  We're super excited with the progress we're seeing.  Even though it's been hard for us both to not work full power we know that the Lord has his purposes in all things.  

I hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving and that you remember all the blessings that you have in your life.  I have way too many to mention them all.

You guys are the best!  Hope that this week all your wildest dreams come true.

Keep on keeping on,

Hermana Coombs