Re: Anabella´s Baptism :)

Que maravilloso, ver tu crecimiento. la semana pasada fui a la Florida y habia conferencia de estaca enMiami Lakes, y vi a tu mama, fue por corto tiempo pero me alegre inmensamente de verla. estaba linda.
Me alegro todos tus bautismos, y admiro todo el trabajp que estas haciendo. Cuando puedas , me conyestas.
Te quiero mucho
Hna. Rodriguez

On Aug 26, 2013 11:40 AM, "Gladys Ibarra" <gladys.ibarra@myldsmail.net> wrote:

This week was THE BEST! Monday we spent out p-day once again with the stake presidents wife, she´s like my nd mom here in the mission, I love that woman to death and hanging out with her is so fun! We watched 17 Miracles, the pioneer movie, and man, it made me so grateful that I didn´t live in those times. The pioneers suffered and sacraficed so much to be able to have the same blessings we now can enjoy with ease and without persecution. We have our own sacrafices to make in these days and definitely as a misisonary in a foreign country you sacrafice a lot of comforts and conveniences. It´s a terribly hard transition in the beginning, but I´ve adjusted and know the Lord is blessing me for those things I´ve had to do without in Chile like hot water, A/C, heating, food, etc. But it´s all part of the experience and has made me grow so much both spiritually and emotionally.

We had interviews with our mission president this week which was awesome! So I must admit, interviews before the mission we´re definitely not something I looked forward too. They were scary, intimidating, and nerve-wrecking especially when those interviews had to do with some mistakes I made and I felt the necesity to humble myself and seek help from the Lord´s servant. But interviews with the mission president are the total opposite! I love love love getting to talk to him, hearing his counsel and getting his advice. I would have him interview me weekly if I could, it´s one of the things I always look forward to the most! 

As for our investigators Sebastian (the drug addict) and his polola (girlfriend) accepted a baptismal date for the 29th of September and came to church this sunday! Woohoo! We presented to Sebastian a 5 day plan to quit smoking that the A.P.´s created and today on the way to the ciber (internet cafe) he was in the micro (bus) and said he started day 1 today and hasn´t smoked so far, ALRIGHT! 

But best of all yesterday was a special day because we had Anabella´s baptism!!! Hna. Villota and I made breakfast for her family in the morning (omellette with cheese, onion, garlic, sausage and green peppers; oranges; palta aka avocado, crackers, and ecco which is like a coffee made from wheat that we can drink here) we had breakfast with them and then all went to church together in the morning. She stayed for all 3 classes and loved it, she said the time goes by really fast which was a shocker cause usually3 hrs is long for some people. Then we went to San Felipe with the other Hermana´s and some members (it´s weird cause we have to take the micro and make people work on sunday but things are different here) and the Elder´s in our zone had everything ready for us, the font was filled, the chairs were set, the TV was out and while she changed from her wet clothes we showed a short film called "Only a stonecutter" about a pioneer who helped out in the SLC temple. The missionaries played the piano for the hymns, Cesar, a young man who went to school with her and is a member gave a short talk and at the end of her baptism we showed a slide show Hna. Villota made with the help of Anabella´s mom, brother and pololo (boyfriend). It was a great idea because it got her family involved in her baptism and made  them feel like a part of the event. It couldn´t of been a more happy day for all of us. After the baptism we went to a member´s home for FHE and watched The Testaments and pigged out and had such a great time. The Lord has blessed us so much this week and we are truly seeing the fruits of our labor, diligence and obedience.

Spiritual cookie: So this week as Hna.Villota and I went to work on the finishing touches on the powerpoint for Anabella´s baptism. A brother from church lent us his laptop and we went to the chapel to work on it. We pressed the power button several times, but nothing. So I thought "maybe the batteries dead", we plugged it into the wall and still nothing, we tried several outlets...yup, you guessed it, nothing. So we called the hermano to see if there was some kind of trick to his laptop, he told us to take the battery out and put it back in and a bunch of stuff but it all resulted to nothing and the latop wouldn´t turn on. Finally I decided we needed divine help, I unplugged all the parts of the charger from the wall and the computer, took the battery out and told my companion we were going to kneel and say a prayer. I offered the prayer and asked that the computer would turn on so we could finish the powerpoint for Anabella´s baptism. I Put the battery in, pluged in the charger, pressed the power button, and it turned ON!!! Seriously people, prayer works, it is real, the Lord listens, and if He is willing to answer a small prayer to turn on a laptop, imagine all the mighty things He can do for you! I love you all!!! 

Hna. 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.

Anabella´s Baptism :)

This week was THE BEST! Monday we spent out p-day once again with the stake presidents wife, she´s like my nd mom here in the mission, I love that woman to death and hanging out with her is so fun! We watched 17 Miracles, the pioneer movie, and man, it made me so grateful that I didn´t live in those times. The pioneers suffered and sacraficed so much to be able to have the same blessings we now can enjoy with ease and without persecution. We have our own sacrafices to make in these days and definitely as a misisonary in a foreign country you sacrafice a lot of comforts and conveniences. It´s a terribly hard transition in the beginning, but I´ve adjusted and know the Lord is blessing me for those things I´ve had to do without in Chile like hot water, A/C, heating, food, etc. But it´s all part of the experience and has made me grow so much both spiritually and emotionally.

We had interviews with our mission president this week which was awesome! So I must admit, interviews before the mission we´re definitely not something I looked forward too. They were scary, intimidating, and nerve-wrecking especially when those interviews had to do with some mistakes I made and I felt the necesity to humble myself and seek help from the Lord´s servant. But interviews with the mission president are the total opposite! I love love love getting to talk to him, hearing his counsel and getting his advice. I would have him interview me weekly if I could, it´s one of the things I always look forward to the most! 

As for our investigators Sebastian (the drug addict) and his polola (girlfriend) accepted a baptismal date for the 29th of September and came to church this sunday! Woohoo! We presented to Sebastian a 5 day plan to quit smoking that the A.P.´s created and today on the way to the ciber (internet cafe) he was in the micro (bus) and said he started day 1 today and hasn´t smoked so far, ALRIGHT! 

But best of all yesterday was a special day because we had Anabella´s baptism!!! Hna. Villota and I made breakfast for her family in the morning (omellette with cheese, onion, garlic, sausage and green peppers; oranges; palta aka avocado, crackers, and ecco which is like a coffee made from wheat that we can drink here) we had breakfast with them and then all went to church together in the morning. She stayed for all 3 classes and loved it, she said the time goes by really fast which was a shocker cause usually3 hrs is long for some people. Then we went to San Felipe with the other Hermana´s and some members (it´s weird cause we have to take the micro and make people work on sunday but things are different here) and the Elder´s in our zone had everything ready for us, the font was filled, the chairs were set, the TV was out and while she changed from her wet clothes we showed a short film called "Only a stonecutter" about a pioneer who helped out in the SLC temple. The missionaries played the piano for the hymns, Cesar, a young man who went to school with her and is a member gave a short talk and at the end of her baptism we showed a slide show Hna. Villota made with the help of Anabella´s mom, brother and pololo (boyfriend). It was a great idea because it got her family involved in her baptism and made  them feel like a part of the event. It couldn´t of been a more happy day for all of us. After the baptism we went to a member´s home for FHE and watched The Testaments and pigged out and had such a great time. The Lord has blessed us so much this week and we are truly seeing the fruits of our labor, diligence and obedience.

Spiritual cookie: So this week as Hna.Villota and I went to work on the finishing touches on the powerpoint for Anabella´s baptism. A brother from church lent us his laptop and we went to the chapel to work on it. We pressed the power button several times, but nothing. So I thought "maybe the batteries dead", we plugged it into the wall and still nothing, we tried several outlets...yup, you guessed it, nothing. So we called the hermano to see if there was some kind of trick to his laptop, he told us to take the battery out and put it back in and a bunch of stuff but it all resulted to nothing and the latop wouldn´t turn on. Finally I decided we needed divine help, I unplugged all the parts of the charger from the wall and the computer, took the battery out and told my companion we were going to kneel and say a prayer. I offered the prayer and asked that the computer would turn on so we could finish the powerpoint for Anabella´s baptism. I Put the battery in, pluged in the charger, pressed the power button, and it turned ON!!! Seriously people, prayer works, it is real, the Lord listens, and if He is willing to answer a small prayer to turn on a laptop, imagine all the mighty things He can do for you! I love you all!!! 

Hna. 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.

Once a tour guide always a tour guide!

This week we´ve been working hard to organize and prepare everything for Anabela´s baptism next sunday. It all started by taking her to the temple with the branch and some of our recent converts. We started by watching the movie "The Lamb of God" and sharing our testimonies. She broke down in tears as she expressed her feelings for the Savior and his sacrafice for us, her testimony was so tender, it made me tear up a bit, too. Then we took a tour around the temple and it´s gardens, and talked about baptisms for the dead and sealings. We had several couples getting sealed that day which was perfect and she had a lot of great questions! I was totally in tour guide mode like in my BYU days, it felt great! We went out to eat, did a little shopping around Santiago and then headed home for the day. Yesterday at church we had another fight between Pit (the neighborhood bully) and the branch president´s dog George, only get this, this time it was INSIDE the church and to top it all off it was in the middle of when they were passing the sacrament. George´s screetches of horror totally killed the spirit, half of the priesthood stepped out to try and stop the chaos, one brother got pit and had to go to the hospital and the branch president stepped out as well and never came back. Soon after I had to give my talk...awesome...LOL! We were also able to see Isolina and Sebastian and finally Brother Victor Vargas was able to come and we had a good lesson. Isolina feels that we were an answer to her prayers and she shared with us that she had been praying to know if she should keep meeting with us and that she read a scripture in the Bible that confirmed to her that yes, she should! It made my heart jump, truly I can testify that the Lord hears and answers our prayers, He loves us, this is His gospel, this is His true Church upon the Earth, and this work is true. There are chosen people whom He has prepared to recieve these truths and it is our mission to work, sweat, cry, and labor diligently until we find them.

Spiritual cookie: The Lord does not ask our ability, only our availability. And when we prove our dependability he increases our capability. 

I Love you all!!!

xoxo,

Hna. Ibarra

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Llay Llay

So this week I did exchanges with my sister training leader, Sister Peck from Blackfoot, Idaho who´s in Llay Llay which means viento viento (wind wind) in Mapuche. It was a lot of fun and I learned some cool things about her way of teaching and proselyting which is the fun thing about exchanges, you learn new methods from other missionaries. So this tuesday I´ll have 6 months on the mission, maaan, that went by so quick! Time is such a weird thing on the mission, the days are long and the weeks fly by. I try really hard not to think about time or count down the months, but people make it really hard cause they´re constantly asking us how long we´ve been in Chile or until when will we be here, haha. But I´ve been reflecting a lot this week on these past 6 months and how far I´ve come. I´ve changed so much not just physically (cause I´ve packed on a couple extra pounds lol) but also spiritualy, moraly, and emotionaly. I have such a different perspective on life, the world, and most importantly the gospel. So much has happened the short time I´ve been here and it´s hard to imagine what more can Heavenly Father throw at me the year I have left, but there is so much I still need to learn and change. The mission has been one of the most life changing experiences I´ve had in my life and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone willing and able to serve, in fact, I think it should be mandatory, it´s like a spiritual boot camp for the soul hahaha. This weekend my companion and I decided to fast for our investigators so they could come to church on sunday, it´s the biggest challenge about our area, I´ve heard any and every excuse to not come and truth is, people are just lazy!!! But we had the magnificent blessing of having Sebastian (the druggie) and his polola Isolina come to church! It was an answered prayer to us both and we´re hoping to help save their relationship and get him out o fthe hole he´s gotten himself into. The gospel is so perfectly planned and outlines, the Lord has a back-up plan for every possible situation and gives us so many opportunities to change and turn to him. The church is true ya´ll!!! This is the church of Jesus Christ, the same church he organized in ancient times, with Prophets and Apostles, modern-day revelation and the priesthood authority to provide us with the ordinances that will bring salvation and exaltation to all mankind! Like my bestfriend Nathaly once said "it just makes sense!" haha. 

DISCLAIMER: the mail in Chile is protesting soooo for those of you who have sent me letters and are waiting for a response I am so sorry, I´ve gotten nothing and they don´t know how long it´s gonna last, literally a missioanaries worst nightmare besides going home and being socially awkward (I´ve pledged that it won´t happen to me!)

Spiritual Cookie: Moroni 10:32-33

xoxo,

Hna.Ibarra

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Hitch-hiking and mary jane

So you can probably tell from this weeks title that we had a couple crazy experiences, but I´m gonna start out giving my nephew Eric a Happy Birthday Shout out! 10 years old, into the double digits, YEAH! Love ya! So, many appointments fell through this week, nothing new, just a typical day in the life of a missionary. We had to go far for lunch one day in a nearby town called Santa Filomena, we missed the bus like 3 times cause it passes by so fast and wouldn´t even see us! It was crazy, the bus passes once every hour so we were at this sisters house for like 3 hours just trying to get home, lol. We got a reference from the Elders in San Felipe, his name was Sebastian, they just said he lived on a street called Guillisarti in front of a "galpon azul" or metal overhang, the house didn´t have a number and that he needed a lot of help. So we went walking for like 20 mins down the road outside of Santa Maria, until we found the place, we talked to the neighbors and they confirmed that Sebastian lived next door but he wasn´t home, we had an activity we needed to get to so we hitch-hiked back into town so we could make it on time. We went back sunday and found him and his polola outside in the dirt yard. When he came to greet us it was obvious he was drunk so we were just gonna go back another day, but he insisted we come in. He was very polite, got us 2 chairs, and started telling us about himself. He has serious drug addictions, he hates his life and who he has become because of his drug abuse problems and wants to change, but he realizes he can´t do it alone. He went to the church looking for help, and met the missionaries who passed on the referal to us. He told us about how happy him and his girlfriend used to be, and how things we´re different before a friend introduced him to the addictive "pastabase" drug, it´s basically the leftover residues of when people cook crack. They both broke down in tears as they reminisced on the past and how  miserable their lives are now. She misses the old him and has tolerated a lot of his behavior because she loves him. We offered a prayer and taught them about the plan of salvation and how all things are possible through Christ, that because of the atonement he can change, repent of his mistakes, and not only that but erase them completely through baptism.  This brought even more tears to his eyes, he was gonna light up a cigarette and just threw it across the yard in anger and is so determined to change, and his girlfriend wants to support him. Hna. Villota and I feel incredibly blessed to be an instrument in the Lord´s hand and be a part of Sebastian´s change and rebirth. We have another appointment with him today and Victor, a member who was a convert and had drug problems in the past, is going to help us out. The funny part was that he is growing weed in his backyard and made a little house for his weed plant and everything hahaha! Soooo if we get busted by the cops this next appointment ya´ll will know why! Anyways that was this weeks crazy story, love you all, take care and write me dear elders :)

Hna.Ibarra

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