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

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

"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

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