Re: The first of many!

Que alegria verte feliz.. Ojala guardes mis palabras cuando tenias hambre, y es que una mision sin desafios es una navidad sin dulces.... Me alegro que hayas recibido el dinero y perdona la carta tan impersonal que te envie, pero tenia que hacerlo asi para que no se viera el dinero.... I hope I can see you before I return to USA July 2.  please let  me know where you are and where you live.... I know you are very blessed by the Lord, and I'm sure your mission is going to be special... one day we can be together to share all our experiences. My mission!!!  , you don even have any idea. I'm psycologist, kleenex to wipe the tears of the people,  realtor, teacher, motivator. . hoy dos de los miembros que venian a nuestra oficina (guardias de seguridad), los convenci de regresar a la U y YA ESTAN ESTUDIANDO SU CARRERA los arranque de las manos de la ignorancia y la pobreza.. te decia que hasta banco me ha tocado ser, dar dos capacitaciones cada Domingo a barrios estacas, pelear con las viejas ricas que abusan a mis hermanas cuando las contratan para aseo, o no les pagan o las tratan como a cualqueir cosa..  en fin que la lista es grande..
Me voy a dormir que hoy fue un dia muy trabajado, pero no queria hacerlo hasta saber de ti...
Rosa y tu papi deben de estar muy orgullosos de ti, al igual que mi Padre Celestial..
Te quiero xoxo
Hermana Rodriguez

On Mar 25, 2013 3:15 PM, "Gladys Ibarra" <gladys.ibarra@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hello family and friends! This week was transfers and I am writing to you from my new area called Santa Maria. Were in a little branch called San Martin in Los Andes. It´s super beautiful here and we´re right next to the Andes mountains which is sick, but cold in the winters, nothing a winter in UT can´t beat haha. Our house here is HUGE which is nice because I´m in a trio with Hermana Cacique from Peru who´s my age and came into the field the same day as me, and our trainer Hermana Cottle from Heber City Utah. I am so excited and happy to be with them both it´s going to be a lot of fun being in a trio especially with someone from the states cause we´ll have more in common. It´s pretty crazy because we´re gonna have 50 sisters in total in the mission and out of those 50, 29 came within the last 4 weeks, which includes me and the group I came with. So they´re putting all the sisters in trios to train and it´s totally nuts but I´m loving it! I´m a little sad that I had to leave Til-Til, after 4 short weeks there I met so many wonderful people and families, but I left with a big smile on my face and a heavy heart because yesterday I had my first baptism!!! His name is Manuel Ortiz, we met him our 2nd week out and from day one he knew that our message was true and felt the spirit so strong our first lesson. He´s seen so many miracles in his life as he´s read the Book of Mormon and started going to church. He has knee problems cause he´s like 74 and he got a priesthood blessing and said he felt so amazing afterwards and could walk better and do things he couldn´t before. Yesterday he entered the waters of baptism and it was kinda ghetto because the font didn´t fill up all the way so he had to sit down to be submerged in the water lol. He was baptized by a recent convert Andres who has such a strong testimony of he gospel for only being a member for 4 months and is such a member missionary and would always go out with me and Hermana Rodriguez to teach investigators and less actives. It was his 1st time baptizing anyone so he was pretty nervous but he did great! It was a pretty emotional moment for both me and Hermana Rodriguez, we couldn´t stop crying, I think in part because I was also leaving. Nonetheless, I am glad I was able to bring a soul unto Christ and that I left Til-Til having made a difference. Some good news is that I´m no longer homesick, I am loving my mission and teaching and talking to strangers and want to thank everyone who has sent me Dear Elder´s and for your incredible words of encouragment and support, you have no clue how much I needed it! The mission is full of sacrafices, especially when you go foreign, but the rewards exceed the challenges by far! This is going to be the best year and 1/2 of my life and I´m taking in every moment and putting forth all my effort and most importantly all my love into this work. Also, sorry if I haven´t sent any letters I wrote back everyone who has written me but I have yet to find a post office anywhere so it´s a bit complicated, but I haven´t forgotten you my friends and you will get my letters soon enough I hope! Peace & blessings your way!

xoxo,

Hermana Gladys Ibarra

P.S. the pics are of my last district meeting in Colina, Manuel´s baptism and some members of the branch, and my new compañeras! :)

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The first of many!

Hello family and friends! This week was transfers and I am writing to you from my new area called Santa Maria. Were in a little branch called San Martin in Los Andes. It´s super beautiful here and we´re right next to the Andes mountains which is sick, but cold in the winters, nothing a winter in UT can´t beat haha. Our house here is HUGE which is nice because I´m in a trio with Hermana Cacique from Peru who´s my age and came into the field the same day as me, and our trainer Hermana Cottle from Heber City Utah. I am so excited and happy to be with them both it´s going to be a lot of fun being in a trio especially with someone from the states cause we´ll have more in common. It´s pretty crazy because we´re gonna have 50 sisters in total in the mission and out of those 50, 29 came within the last 4 weeks, which includes me and the group I came with. So they´re putting all the sisters in trios to train and it´s totally nuts but I´m loving it! I´m a little sad that I had to leave Til-Til, after 4 short weeks there I met so many wonderful people and families, but I left with a big smile on my face and a heavy heart because yesterday I had my first baptism!!! His name is Manuel Ortiz, we met him our 2nd week out and from day one he knew that our message was true and felt the spirit so strong our first lesson. He´s seen so many miracles in his life as he´s read the Book of Mormon and started going to church. He has knee problems cause he´s like 74 and he got a priesthood blessing and said he felt so amazing afterwards and could walk better and do things he couldn´t before. Yesterday he entered the waters of baptism and it was kinda ghetto because the font didn´t fill up all the way so he had to sit down to be submerged in the water lol. He was baptized by a recent convert Andres who has such a strong testimony of he gospel for only being a member for 4 months and is such a member missionary and would always go out with me and Hermana Rodriguez to teach investigators and less actives. It was his 1st time baptizing anyone so he was pretty nervous but he did great! It was a pretty emotional moment for both me and Hermana Rodriguez, we couldn´t stop crying, I think in part because I was also leaving. Nonetheless, I am glad I was able to bring a soul unto Christ and that I left Til-Til having made a difference. Some good news is that I´m no longer homesick, I am loving my mission and teaching and talking to strangers and want to thank everyone who has sent me Dear Elder´s and for your incredible words of encouragment and support, you have no clue how much I needed it! The mission is full of sacrafices, especially when you go foreign, but the rewards exceed the challenges by far! This is going to be the best year and 1/2 of my life and I´m taking in every moment and putting forth all my effort and most importantly all my love into this work. Also, sorry if I haven´t sent any letters I wrote back everyone who has written me but I have yet to find a post office anywhere so it´s a bit complicated, but I haven´t forgotten you my friends and you will get my letters soon enough I hope! Peace & blessings your way!

xoxo,

Hermana Gladys Ibarra

P.S. the pics are of my last district meeting in Colina, Manuel´s baptism and some members of the branch, and my new compañeras! :)

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1 month out part 2!!!

Ignore the last e-mail I sent it too soon.

Greetings and salutations to all with in the sound of my voice (or with in the sight of my e-mails haha) I have officially been a missionary for a month, can you believe it?! I feel like it´s been much longer than that, but like I said before, once you´re on the mission you have zero concept of time. This week has been a lot better but has also had it´s struggles. Even though we got our new credit cards with money we couldn´t take money out of them because in til-til the only bank in this whole are doesn´t accept our cards. So we were living out of my companions earthquake emergency pack and were down to a bag of rice and 3 cans of peas ha ha! So we had to call the A.P. to save us and bring us some cash to hold us over until p-day. So today we´re gonna go to another city to take money out so we can actually do some gricery shopping and so I can also make my emergency pack which is super important. In fact I forgot to mention that on my 1st week here I think it was the 2nd night there was a little earthquake in the middle of the night, nothing crazy, but strong enough that it woke me up haha. 

So Til-Til has been good, I am beginning to love the people and the members more as I get to know them personally. We talk to a lot of drunk guys on the street when contacting and some have even kissed my hand and it´s just so hard to not crack up laughing in front of them. The branch president is finally back after 2 weeks of being on vacation and me and hermana rodriguez has a looooong list of things we needed to talk to him about. Our main challenge is that the branch lacks unity and for this reason many have become inactive. People just come to church on sunday, participate a bit in class and then go home unchanged until the next week. A lot of the leaderds like the R.S. president and Y.M. president asked to be released and it seems like no one wants to make any effort in building the kingdom of God. But me and my companion want to organize some activities and make better use of the chapel to help the members actually get to know, befriend and love one another and we´re hoping that this will not only unify the branch but help the less actives return. But this transfer ends next week, it´s super short because of all the sisters and new missionaries coming in and so I´m not sure how it´s all gonna go down, but I´m prepared to stay and work hard to edify this little branch and amp up the members as well as to go somewhere else the Lord may need me.

I´m also loving Chilean culture and Chilean food! I know that was my primary concern "what do Chileans eat?!" But luckily during these past weeks of starvation the members have fed us and they eat pretty normal hispanic food. But I´ve also had some of my first traditional foods like completos, choripan, mote con huecillo (looks super gross but is yummy), cubos, and sopaipilla! You´ll just have to google this stuff to know what it looks like and what I´m talking about, but it´s all so good and I feel blessed that I´m not eating anything crazy. 

I also have a couple funny stories, one of our investigators is a very hard working woman who literally works all day peeling onions and tying cardboard boxes to be packed and shipped. She is constantly on the go and doesn´t stop so we decided to do some service and help her   peel some onions, we were super slow and bad at it in fact I knicked my finger and then our hands reaked with the smell of onions for days which made us super hungry cause we didn´t have any food haha But it was super fun and we still teach her while she peels her onions, she just doesn´t stop! We also had a rough day when we ate with a member who the entire time was telling us how depressed she was and all the problems in the ward and with themembers and drama and it just made me an my companion feel so discouraged, then all of our appointments were falling through, no one was home and no one wanted to let us teach them or hear us and on top of that we were starving, my companion had some coins and used it to buy un cubo which is basically a home made otter-pop cause it was all we could afford (125 pesos= .25) We were walking down the street to try to contact some referals cause it was the only thing we could do when all of a sudden I hear a "PLOP!" and when I look at my shoulder a bird had pooped on me!!! Me and my companion just started cracking up and it helped lighten up the mood, God has a sense of humor. Also this week we met with a members friend who´s name is Jose. His family apparently abandoned him, they found him in the street and took him in and take care of him. He doesn´t believe in God or anything really because of all the hardships he´s experienced and because he can´t believe in something he can´t see. We taught him that God is our loving heavenly father and that although we can´t see him we can feel he is real and his love for us. We taught him how to pray for the first time and his plee was simple "Heavenly father, thank you for the family that I found, I ask that you take care of them" and when I looked up tears we´re streaming down his face. I gave him a hand hug because I couldn´t give him a real hug but I was so proud of him and felt the love heavenly father has for him. I´m super eager to work with Jose and help him feel God´s love for him as a child of God. Welp, that´s all for now!!! Pray for me!!!

Peace & Blessings,

Hermana Ibarra

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1 month out!!!

Greetings and salutations to all with in the sound of my voice (or with in the sight of my e-mails haha) I have officially been a missionary for a month, can you believe it?! I feel like it´s been much longer than that, but like I said before, once you´re on the mission you have zero concept of time. 

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Week 2 Til-il

This week has been looking up! I know sometimes the Lord has to drag us down and humble us in order to bring us back up and give us his incredible blessings. We found a special mom and daughter, their name is Danitza y Betsabe. We taught her the 1st discussion and when we told her she could have proof of the restauration of the gospel in her hands with the Book of Mormon she asked how much it costs. I told her it had 2 prices, first, will you take care of it?She said Yes. Second, will you read it? And she said yes. So I told her it was all hers. She was like, really?!?! She grabbed the book and hugged it and could barely believe it. It was such a humbling experience. She and her daughter have been reading it together, accepted a baptismal date, and we caught her reading it when we went to visit her for our 2nd appointment. After having sucha  hard 1st week that was my 1st glimpse of the blessings to come in Til-Til and gave me the strength I needed to press forward and find more people like her. The branch needs a lot of support, I´m currently the piano player. I haven´t played in months and am totally regretting not practicing more like my mom would tell me to haha. Something else fun we did this week was help a less active family who washes our clothes, the Hermano drives buses and we helped him clean them saturday so he could come to church on sunday. We also had Fase Uno, which is when all the new missionaries and their trainers meet to get more training and rules. This transfer is only 4 weeks so it ends in 2 weeks because we have so many new missionaries coming in, 30 to be exact next transfer on the 24th. It is very likely that I´ll be training in 2 weeks and that freaks me out!!! I hope I´m ready and can do it because I still feel like I have so much to learn and don´t know what I´m doing half the time! Also today we had a Zone Activity and played volleyball and ate choripan which was super good! It´s fun when I get to see other missionaries because I can relate more to the American Elders than my Ecuadorian companion, but I still love her tons she is super sweet and takes care of me and is helping me get ready to train soon. This has been a great week, both spiritually and temporally now that we have money haha. Also, send any packages through U.S. Mail please (fedex and UPS charge for delivery and have an arrival fee when itgets to Chile) I love you and miss you all a ton! I know the Lord has placed me here for a reason and we are trying extra hard to find the special spirits he´s prepared with the little resources we have. Keep me in your prayers!

xoxo,

Hermana Ibarra

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Re: Til-Til

Querida hermana Ibarra.
Me alegro tremendamente de saberte ya en Santiago..
Ya empezaron tus desafios, pero quiero aconsejarte, que esa es la vida de los y las misioneras, y a veces mucho mas grandes que esos, te voy a enviar manana por correo una carta y te enviare undinero para que resuelvas mientras tanto, pero lo que me preocupa es que eso llega a la oficina de la mision, y no se hasta cuando llegara a tus manos, de todas maneras tratare de que esto llegue lo mas pronto posible por Chile Express....
Me alegro que hayas superado la diferencia con tu companera, pues eso es natural, ya llegaras a amarla profundamente, recuerda que vienen de dos culturas muy diferentes. En cuanto a los miembros inactivos hay 600.000 en todo Chile y el trabajo es arduo, pero vale la pena, casi todos se quejan de lo mismo, ese es uno de mis desafios, pues voy de barrio en barrio en todas las estacas de nuestra mision, dando capacitaciones, las cuales atraen muchisimo a los menos activos y regresan a la Iglesia, ya tenemos un testimonio grandisimo de este tool.. Encomiendaselos a mi Padre Celestial y veras el resultado.
Los apartamentos de los misioneros, eso es standard, mas vale que te vayas acostumbrando, son adorados y amorosos, pero perezosos y desordenados!!!! como ellos solos!!, no se que aprenden en sus hogares, y ahora va a ser mas dificil con los bebes que vienen de 18 anos a la mision, no quiero ni imaginarlo..
No llores y se fuerte, solo piensa como salieron los apostoles primitivos a su mision, los apostoles y misioneros de la restauracion, y te dara consuelo; una mision sin desafios es como una navidad sin dulces.. Disfrutala y hazlo todo en amor al Senor, que yo se vas a ser una gran misionera...
Te quiero mucho
Hermana Rodriguez

On Mar 4, 2013 2:28 PM, "Gladys Ibarra" <gladys.ibarra@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hello family & friends! I´m so happy to be able to write this e-mail to you all right now, I´m literally crying right now its kinda embarassing, but I just miss you all so much! My 1st area is a little town en el campo (in the country) called Til-Til. It is literally the middle of nowhere, but very beautiful in it´s own way. It´s a combination of Honduras and Utah (only with cactuses and olive trees), so I don´t feel so far home. The mountains look just like Utah mountains only not as tall and the houses and buildings remind me of Honduras a lot. The people here are super nice and everyone knows everyone, but at the same time that is the challenge.Challenge #1 There is a huge amount of inactives in this area, and those who aren´t members have already talked to the missionaries and have like 5 copies of the Book of Mormon in their house and they think they already know everything about the church and want nothing to do with it. The Jehova´s Witnesses are our fierce competition here, mostly everyone is catholic or evangelist and are very stuck in their ways. We met the branch this sunday, There were about 20 people there, but we´re pretty sure most of them came to see us, the sister missionaries, because me & my companion Hermana Rodriguez (25 from Ecuador) are opening this area for sisters so we are the first ones a lot of them have every seen, it´s kinda funny, most of the people here didn´t know girls can be missionaries, too! haha. Challenge #2 is the branch. Our area is very vast some neighborhoods are very nice but with very humble towns in between. So the two social classes seem to clash at church and many of the inactives have left because they´ve been offended by some of the more "prideful" members. And a lot of the humbler folk live far and don´t have enought money to catch the bus to the chapel (which is super tiny, probably the size of an apt with just one big chapel and 4 doors sticking out of it that lead to classrooms). It´s funny cause the branch presidency met with us and wanted to tell us what towns are worth visiting, who´s worth teaching and how we should do our job, but me and Hermana Rodriguez are well aware that this is the Lord´s work and that we are only guided by the spirit and not the members of the ward or branch presidency. This week has been crazy challenging, people said they cried their 1st night at the MTC, I was so happy there to me it was like EFY, but my 1st night in Chile is when the tears came streaming down my face. It just finally hit me like a ton of bricks how far away from home I was, how different my life was gonna be this next year, and how much I´m going to have to adapt and change, but I am happy to be here at the same time, I´m excited to be doing the Lords work and to change lives! It´s bittersweet. Challenge #3 I had my 1st tiff with my companion. I had just poured myself a big yummy bowl of granola, peaches, and leche cultivada (which is basically yogurt but more watery) and was going to eat it during my personal study time when my companion said I couldn´t eat while we study & plan...I told her it wouldn´t distract me during my study time and that I´d be quick but she insisted so I had to put it in the fridge, I was so furious & annoyed! What a joke! I couldn´t even consentrate enought to study cause I was so upset, but I´ve come to accept that rule and got over it. I was just more upset that she made it seem like I was being a disobedient missionary and breaking the rules the mission president set, but I was new and had no idea what the rules were or even the daily schedule because here in Chile everything is 1 hour ahead than normal. We wake up at 7:30 and go to bed at 11:30. Besides that though me and my companion are getting along great! Challenge #4 our gas ran out (all our heating is by a propane tank to cook & hower with). Challenge #5  our power went out cause a truck ran into a light post near our street. Challenge #6 we´re pretty much broke. They didn´t give me any money cause our mission is changing credit card company and so they´re waiting for the new cards to come and my companion lost her card so we´ve been traveling and buying food with the little money she had left in her wallet, luckily the previous Elders left a bunch of change in the apt. But we´re getting our new cards tomorrow, yay!!! So I´ll be set then (mom is probably like I told you so! She told me to exchange money at the airport and I didn´t listen) Challenge #7 the previous Elders left everything a mess! They left the apartment disgusting, full of dust and dirt, old clothes, and half their stuff. Ontop of that they were apparently robbed so the area book we use to know about all the previous investigators and people they´ve been visiting and recent converts is missing, so it´s been super hard to visit people because half of the houses here don´t have numbers on them cause they´re in the middle of nowhere so it´s extremely difficult, we´ve been spending more time walking and finding people than actually teaching so that is no bueno, and we´re left to fix all the damage they left. But things are looking up now and we bought some gas and the power came back. But it has just been one challenge after the other here in the mission field and I know that´s just what it´s going to be like for the next year cause missions are challenging, but oh so rewarding :) I know we´re gonna make big changes in this little town, I have very high hopes and really believe that being sisters is going to give us a different advantage here. Love you all and hope all is well in the USA, God bless America, ain´t no place like it!!! hahaha

Also here is my address for any PACKAGES or LETTERS:  

Mision Chile Santiago Norte 

Surcursal Patronato Casilla 60 

Santiago Chile

Peace & Blessings,

Hermana Ibarra

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Til-Til

Hello family & friends! I´m so happy to be able to write this e-mail to you all right now, I´m literally crying right now its kinda embarassing, but I just miss you all so much! My 1st area is a little town en el campo (in the country) called Til-Til. It is literally the middle of nowhere, but very beautiful in it´s own way. It´s a combination of Honduras and Utah (only with cactuses and olive trees), so I don´t feel so far home. The mountains look just like Utah mountains only not as tall and the houses and buildings remind me of Honduras a lot. The people here are super nice and everyone knows everyone, but at the same time that is the challenge.Challenge #1 There is a huge amount of inactives in this area, and those who aren´t members have already talked to the missionaries and have like 5 copies of the Book of Mormon in their house and they think they already know everything about the church and want nothing to do with it. The Jehova´s Witnesses are our fierce competition here, mostly everyone is catholic or evangelist and are very stuck in their ways. We met the branch this sunday, There were about 20 people there, but we´re pretty sure most of them came to see us, the sister missionaries, because me & my companion Hermana Rodriguez (25 from Ecuador) are opening this area for sisters so we are the first ones a lot of them have every seen, it´s kinda funny, most of the people here didn´t know girls can be missionaries, too! haha. Challenge #2 is the branch. Our area is very vast some neighborhoods are very nice but with very humble towns in between. So the two social classes seem to clash at church and many of the inactives have left because they´ve been offended by some of the more "prideful" members. And a lot of the humbler folk live far and don´t have enought money to catch the bus to the chapel (which is super tiny, probably the size of an apt with just one big chapel and 4 doors sticking out of it that lead to classrooms). It´s funny cause the branch presidency met with us and wanted to tell us what towns are worth visiting, who´s worth teaching and how we should do our job, but me and Hermana Rodriguez are well aware that this is the Lord´s work and that we are only guided by the spirit and not the members of the ward or branch presidency. This week has been crazy challenging, people said they cried their 1st night at the MTC, I was so happy there to me it was like EFY, but my 1st night in Chile is when the tears came streaming down my face. It just finally hit me like a ton of bricks how far away from home I was, how different my life was gonna be this next year, and how much I´m going to have to adapt and change, but I am happy to be here at the same time, I´m excited to be doing the Lords work and to change lives! It´s bittersweet. Challenge #3 I had my 1st tiff with my companion. I had just poured myself a big yummy bowl of granola, peaches, and leche cultivada (which is basically yogurt but more watery) and was going to eat it during my personal study time when my companion said I couldn´t eat while we study & plan...I told her it wouldn´t distract me during my study time and that I´d be quick but she insisted so I had to put it in the fridge, I was so furious & annoyed! What a joke! I couldn´t even consentrate enought to study cause I was so upset, but I´ve come to accept that rule and got over it. I was just more upset that she made it seem like I was being a disobedient missionary and breaking the rules the mission president set, but I was new and had no idea what the rules were or even the daily schedule because here in Chile everything is 1 hour ahead than normal. We wake up at 7:30 and go to bed at 11:30. Besides that though me and my companion are getting along great! Challenge #4 our gas ran out (all our heating is by a propane tank to cook & hower with). Challenge #5  our power went out cause a truck ran into a light post near our street. Challenge #6 we´re pretty much broke. They didn´t give me any money cause our mission is changing credit card company and so they´re waiting for the new cards to come and my companion lost her card so we´ve been traveling and buying food with the little money she had left in her wallet, luckily the previous Elders left a bunch of change in the apt. But we´re getting our new cards tomorrow, yay!!! So I´ll be set then (mom is probably like I told you so! She told me to exchange money at the airport and I didn´t listen) Challenge #7 the previous Elders left everything a mess! They left the apartment disgusting, full of dust and dirt, old clothes, and half their stuff. Ontop of that they were apparently robbed so the area book we use to know about all the previous investigators and people they´ve been visiting and recent converts is missing, so it´s been super hard to visit people because half of the houses here don´t have numbers on them cause they´re in the middle of nowhere so it´s extremely difficult, we´ve been spending more time walking and finding people than actually teaching so that is no bueno, and we´re left to fix all the damage they left. But things are looking up now and we bought some gas and the power came back. But it has just been one challenge after the other here in the mission field and I know that´s just what it´s going to be like for the next year cause missions are challenging, but oh so rewarding :) I know we´re gonna make big changes in this little town, I have very high hopes and really believe that being sisters is going to give us a different advantage here. Love you all and hope all is well in the USA, God bless America, ain´t no place like it!!! hahaha

Also here is my address for any PACKAGES or LETTERS:  

Mision Chile Santiago Norte 

Surcursal Patronato Casilla 60 

Santiago Chile

Peace & Blessings,

Hermana Ibarra

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.