Buddhists, bus robberies, and baptisms!

This week was soo crazy......CRAZY AWESOME! A funny highlight was that we contacted a Buddhist guy, he`s Chilean, we were walking past his apt and the door was open and I saw huge pencil sketches of dragons and asian art on the wall. I told him I thought they were cool and he told me he`d like to talk more with us but that he can`t come to church with us because he`s made certain vows and is a Samurai....uhhhh....ookaaayyyyy??? Hahaha!

Later in the week we had an exchange with our Sister Training Leaders in Compañia. On the way to the city I was chatting with Hna.Fullmer about the dangers of Chile because she mentioned how she thought it was safe and not a lot of robberies. As I began to correct her and tell her stories of things that have happenned in the mission pertaining to robberies, break-ins, and missionaries getting jumped the bus stopped at a stop and when the doors opened some guy reached over the crowd of people, ripped of Hna.Fullmer`s Young Women`s Medallion and jumped out running!!! Her plaque flew off in the air and the people on the bus all started to yell that there had been a robbery and we`re freaking out! It all happened so fast that I didn`t even have time to react! NEVER in my year of being in Chile had someone ever tried to rob me  (I guess cause I got the tough miami look on my face ;P ) but I guess there`s a first time for everything...where`s the Samurai guy when you need him?!

We had an awesome ward activity we put together as missionaries with our ward mission leader, it was called C.C.M.M.-Centro de Capacitacion para Miembro Misioneros (MTC for members) and we had them live a day in the life of a missionary through games. They all got mission calls, divided into different missions and got plaques. Then they started with their morning exercices and we tied their legs with their companion and did a 3 legged raced finding candies around the halls of the church, then study time where the different missions had to answer questions from the Book of Mormon, then they had lunch and had a race between the missions of who could eat a donut hanging on a peice of string without hands the fastest. At the end we had a spiritual aspect and saw a video called  "The Work of Salvation" and then they wrote their testimonies inside a Book of Mormon to give it to someone they felt impressed to share the gospel with. It was a hit, everyone had a ton of fun, plus I made brownies and got lots of compliments haha! 

Then sunday we finally had Carolina and Benjamin`s baptism!!!They looked so beautiful dressed in white. David came to support, he doesn`t feel ready for baptism yet, but he`s almost there. He`s seen the changes the gospel has made for his family and the blessings it has brought them so we`re going to keep working with him. It all turned out great and Carolina shared her testimony in the end and in tear said said "Yo se que esta es la iglesia verdadera." No other words can make a missionary happier besides hearing someone accept a baptismal invitation or that you got mail hahaha!

Later that sunday the Catholic church had this Quasimoto procession parade thing with horses and wagons and people on horses and bikes with flags and banner and jesus and virgin mary pictures, it was pretty cool. 

Lastly, we met some cool people this week, a contact named Elizabeth who was walking home from work. I talked to her and she said that she was having a bad day and felt it was a sign that I talked to her. She said she once knew a priest who would shake her hand and this great peace would come over her, she said she had this same feeling when she was speaking to me. Also, today we were in the Metro and Hna.Fullmer and I saw 2 tall gringos and thought "they`re not from around here." That`s when the woman yelled "SISTERSSS!!!!!!!!!" and gave each of us a HUGE hug and pulled out her camera and started talking pictures with us, LOL! Almost died laughing! They`re from Kaysville and have a daughter serving a mission in Georgia now, they are in Chile trying to start a pinewood durby local and use it as a reactivation tool and are also doing contacts and have handed out tons of pass-along cards and church DVD`s and we were talking to them for a while and it was just incredible their personal iniciative to embark in the Work of Salvation, what a wonderful example of member missionaries! It`s my personal goal in life to do small things like that to share the gospel with strangers.All in all it was a crazy wonderful week!

"Spiritually mature obedience is “the Savior’s obedience.” It is motivated by true love for Heavenly Father and His Son." Elder Robert D. Hales

xo,
Hna.Ibarra

Wedding Bells!!!

This week was THE BEST for soooo many reasons! Starting with David and Carolina`s wedding! We went to the Registro Civil early Wednesday morning to witness the ceremony. With us was the couple that was helping us fellowship them, Obispo Contrreras and his wife Margarita as well as David and Carolina`s fathers and 2 friends from work who were the witnesses. The ceremony was simple but meaningful and their first step towards becoming an eternal family. Afterwards we had lunch with the wedding party and had Peruvian food (David is Peruvian), ceviche, cancha, pollo asado, calamari, DELISH! Carolina and Benjamin her son are ecstaticaly awaiting their baptism next sunday and we`re trying to work out some social doubts David has, but I know that in the Lord`s time he will follow suit.

Things are going super great with Hna.Fullmer, she learns tons daily and my favorite part of training is just to see the process of a greenie learning and growing and gaining confidence in their abilities as they blossom into a missionary full of power and authority. Speaking of authority, I read Elder Oaks talk in the priesthood session about the priesthood...AMAZING!!!! Answered a lot of questions I had and it was cool to hear from the words of an apostle that women in the church are given priesthood authority to capacitate them in their callings and responsabilities and how as sister missionaries we are given priesthood authority, such as the sisters in the temple, to perform a priesthood duty. I felt so empowered by that and truly know that we are all equal in the Lord`s eyes and have the right, such as the Elders, to proclaim repentance, preach the gospel, and bring about miracles through our praeyers of faith.

Lastly, today we got to go to our yearly temple trip (which is why our p-day was today and not Monday) and WOW! I left there spiritually recharged and rejuvinated, it`s a shame they don`t let us go more often. The new session is INCREDIBLE!!!!! There is no was anyone can sleep through that one! hahaha! But in all seriously, the spirit of the new video is incredible and pulls on your heart strings, I absolutely loved it! Being back in the house of the Lord was such a blessing to me personally. Since my childhood, my mother always instilled on me the importance of temple attendance. I would monthly join her to our stake trips in Orlando, although I wasn`t yet old enough to go inside, I`d enjoy hours of solitude playing and singing in the gardens of the temple. When I was older, I would join her on these monthly trips and would then do proxy baptisms and confirmations. I`ll never forget the first time I entered the Lord`s house and was able to perform the baptism of my grandmother Gladys, a long awaited ordinance that my mother had  especially saved for me and a moment I had been preparing for all my childhood. My strongest spiritual experiences and testimonies we`re acquired in experiences I lived within this holy edifice´s 4 walls. When I was 18 I decided it was the time to prepare to one day make further covenants in the house of the Lord, I took several temple prep classes, studied my scriptures carefully and continued to make temple attendance a part of my weekly habits since I then gained the blessing of having a temple only minutes away in Provo. Temple Tuesday I`d call it! And every tuesday after work I`d make the 30 minute walk to the Provo temple, sun or snow. It was a small sacrafice compared to our efforts to attend the temple in Florida. With time the moment finally came, when I`d be able to receive more of the blessings the Lord had for me in the temple, a day I had been waiting and preparing years for, it was one of the happiest moments of my life, and I was even happier to be able to share that moment with my family and again with my grandmother as I once again performed the vicarious work in her behalf. Through the years I`ve learned that Temple attendance is a family matter, although a place where we can find peace and seek personal revelation and council, it is a place where you don`t want to always go alone, but with your family and loved ones by your side. With time I`ll continue to make more covenants and receive all the blessings the gospel and the temple has to offer me, a day that I know the mission is also preparing me for (that`s as trunky as you`ll ever here me speak, haha!) So thank you mami for teaching me of the importance of Temples through your example. 

Till next week everyone!!!

"Practice your faith, proclaim your faith, manifest your faith." Elder Nelson

Hna.Ibarra

The Treats of Training

So I´m training Hermoine Granger from Harry Potter hahaha no but seriously she looks so much like Emma Watson! Her name is Hna.Fullmer from Michigan, 19, and has the CUTEST clothes (as do all the new sisters when they first come to the mission) which means I can borrow them...YES!!! haha. She was studying Rec therapy at BYU So I´m glad to add another life long friend to the BYU connections list, and she loves to bake (made me pancakes this morning...p-day treats!!!), sing with me and serve the Lord! I am so happy to be training her, when we first got to the office I went to the bathroom and actually saw her in there before I knew who I was training (strange things like that always seems to happen to me and my trainees). Her spanish is rough but I have the patience and she is learning so much everyday, she is seriously so brave and speaks and waves her hands around and communicates how she can without fear so that the people can understand her and I love it! Best of all she´s not a cryer, which is seriously soooo awesome!!! hahaha, a lot of sisters cry when they come on the mission (If it doesn´t happen to you at the MTC it will hit you in the field) I think it´s just the culture shock and the realization that you are so far from home and everything is so new and the mission is just not what you thought it´d be (especially in Chile). But she is so great and willing to learn and do, I love it!

Our district is super sweet and it´s gonna be a way fun stransfer and I am looking forward to so many things! This week David and Carolina will be getting married (wednesday) and sunday will be there baptism!!! David still has some small uncertainties which we´re gonna straighten out the kinks and help him make this important step in his life with his family.

We got to go to the office for a traning they do for all the greenies called Fase Uno. It was fun because I got to see my other friends in the mission who I hadn´t seen in months and catch up. Also, so funny, but one of the greenies who came with Hna.Fullmer is my long lost brother Elder Ibarra!!! Hahaha, well he´s not really my long lost brother, BUT it´s so funny because I´ve never met someone with my same last name EVER!!!! He´s from Washington state, also a latino gringo like me but his parents are from Mexico. Pretty cool B-)

That same day while I was at Fase Uno I made a phone call to our investigator Ricardo. As you know we´ve been teaching him since we got here, he´s a dry member, goes to church every sunday, reads, prays, his "wife" is less-active since she was a teenager and they have 3 kids and a grandkid. Even though he has every desire to get baptized he can´t because he´s not married to Gloria, they just live together, and when we first got there had no desires to make that decision. In fact, Ricardo wanted to seperate from Gloria and move out and they were having a lot of problems in their relationship. But we started inviting her to the lessons, slowly she began participating, praying, asking questions, and eventually came to church! Their problems began to decrease and the gospel helped them improve their relationship and love eachother again! We had a special lesson with them at the temple and after a Regional Stake Conference for Chile where several general authorities spoke via-satelite about the importance of families and the law of chastity Ricardo came upto us and said "Hermanas, I´m going to get married." We jumped for joy!!! However, since those words have slipped out of his mouth satan has put any and every obstacle to impede them from taking that step. In Chile you need to go to the Registro Civil (Civil Registry) both the man and woman with their ID and pick a date to be married civily. But everytime they tried to go their car would breake, their grandson would get sick, she had to work and couldn´t go with him or he had to work and couldn´t go with her, etc. For weeks we´ve been calling him in the morning to see if he was able to go and for weeks one or another excuses emerged that stopped him. It was THE MOST frustrating thing ever. But finally I called and Ricardo gave me the wonderful news that they were able to go to the Registro Civil and will be getting married the 15th of May, just before the last sunday of the transfer which is the 18th!!! I immediately (after my little victory dance) said a prayer in gratitude for this miracle and blessing. Like I´d mentioned before one of my goals this new year was to help an investigator couple get married so they can get baptized and I´m am overwhelmed with joy that the Lord has used me as an instrument in his hands to bring these miracles and blessings about in the lives of others...no other work is more fulfilling than this...the work of salvation :)

xo,

Hna.Ibarra

p.s. Good luck to all my cougs taking finals this week!!! Rock em!

If Moses were on earth today...

...would you be interested in what he had to say?

That`s  the queston I made to all of my investigators this week as I prepared them to join us at General Conference and bore testimony to them of living prophets on earth today who lead and guide us as special witnesses of Jesus Christ. The conference was INCREDIBLE, starting with the hostorical General Women`s meeting saturday! There were so many incredible doctrines and principles discussed that no doubt answered the questions and prayers of our investigators and mine. My favorite talk I`d have to say was Elder Hollands talk on defendng our beliefs no matter the consequences, persecution or criticism we may receive from others. As he told the story of the sister missionary who had food thrown in her face I think many missionaries, including myself, could identify with that situation. I don`t talk a lot about the negative things that happen on the mission, most of them I try not to take seriously and just laugh about. But no doubt there have been moments in the mission when like Christ`s appearance to Saul I`ve asked "Why persecutest thou me?" The little black plaque we wear is heavy, it`s the cross we take up to follow Christ and be his representatives. But I like to compare those experiences to when the apostles were being persecuted in Acts 5. A pharisee named Gamiliel of much reputation spoke up as the council conspired to kill Peter and John and said in verses 38 and 39 "And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." I know with all my heart that this work is not of man, but of God. It can`t be stopped, it has no end, no matter what trials and tribulations we face the Lord with give us the strength to overcome them because He overcame the world and I carry the same attitude and perspective as Peter and John in verses 41 and 42 "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." It is an honor and a blessing to wear His name upon my heart.

Well that was my spiritual shpeal for this week. Besides that we had changes, I`m staying in Jose Miguel Infante Branch another transfer and training a greenie!!! Oh boy!!! But a little sad that Hna.Ireland won`t be by my side :( We had 3 crazy but great transfers together and we`re gonna live next door at BYU so we`ll be seeing eachother around plenty! She`s also going to a new sector to train and it was fun being sister-training leaders but are happy to be able to rest a bit and take on a new responsability to finish the mission strong, to run and not walk through the finish line, that`s my goal!

I also called our recent convert Franco to see how he was doing since I hadn`t seen him around at church much and he said it was cause he was going to his pololas ward to interview with her bishop. I though "oh no! What happened?! What did you guys do?!" But my worries were soon calmed as he shared with me his plans for them to be sealed next February!!!! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I literally screamed over the phone and was jumping in the street like a crazy person!!! These are the fruits of missionary work and blessing people`s lives with the gospel!

I also want to give some shout outs to my neice Isabella who turns 13 tomorrow!!!! GIRL I cannot believe it! When I left you were in primary and now you`re a teenager!!!!! (uh oh...fun years ahead sis ;) Also to the only boos cool Gabe, Erik, Mikkel, Leilani and Aliah who I am always thinking about and praying for! Thank you for your cards, letters, and drawings, I hang them on my wall where I study and always make me smile, I love you all bunches and can`t believe how much you`ve grown up!

Also, I want to thank my mom for blessing my life with the Gospel, for being the pioneer in her family, for being a shining example of the pure love of Christ to others and her children and for , like Elder Eyring, preparing me for all the covenants I have and will yet make with the Lord. Your legacy will live for generations no doubt about it mami!!! :)

Also, I am still alive I know everyone was SUPER concerned about the earthquake in Iqique, and tsunami warnings and what not. But we didn`t feel anything at all in Santiago. We`ve felt little shakes, nothing out of the usual, 5.4 friday night, Hna.Quispe`s first, she was ecstatic! But all is well and we are equipped with emergency packs and etc. for these things. But thank you for your prayers in my behalf they are so much appreciated!!!

xo,

Hna.Ibarra