The Dream Team!!!

So this week has been the funnest with Hna. Thomas, seriously, I`ve always wanted to be companions with her ever since we met in Los Andes so it`s like a dream come true!!! In fact when the missionaries heard we`d be together as sister training leaders they started calling us "The Dream Team" hahaha, we just have this fame for being hard working and all around awesome I guess ;) But being with her this week has been such a blast and I`m excited for the next 3 in the transfer but praying for many more, so cross your fingers that she`ll "kill me" as they say in the mission (It means you`re with a companion when they finish their mission). She is upbeat, happy, diligent, obedient, and her love for this work radiates in her constant smile. We laugh all day, work hard and there is always a huge spirit in our lessons together. We talk to everyone, extend committments without mercy, and teach with power and authority. I love training, but the work is so much easier when you have a full contributing companion who is exactly on the same wave length as you. Renca won`t even know what hit it! The best part is that she`s been in the sector before and knows it well as well as the converts and former investigators so we are just running around all day, and there is never a dull or unproductive moment!

This week it poured on thursday and the temperature dropped drastically, it`s officially winter and I`m cold all the time, but this year I`m super equipped and prepared since now I know what to expect, this`ll be my final trial haha at least this year I`m not in Los Andes!

This week some pretty cool things happenned with our investigators, a part member family we`ve been teaching came to church and really liked it and we extended and committed 5 people to baptism this week which rocked! We also had 9 less actives in church which was a huge blessing we weren`t expecting. Also, Gloria, our investigators wife who tried to committ suicide is out of the hospital and home! We went to go see her and it was crazy to see how totally changed she is after this experience. She shared with us that the 3 days she was unconscious she was in the "in between". Her grandmother and aunt that passed away picked her up all dressed in white. She said the peace there was incredible and that they taught her many things. That the placed they lived in was one of joy and peace and was governed by many laws that were irrevocable. But they showed her another place, a place they couldn`t enter because there was a darkness so thick that if you tried to go in to save someone you wouldn`t find the way out. They told her that those that committ suicide, murder, or deny the holy ghost go there. That it is a place so terrible, the people there are walking around lost in darkness and can`t see eachother and that she could feel their torment and pain. They said they had been given permission to teach her these things so she could go back and turn her life around. When I met Gloria she didn`t know if to believe in God, remembering that time she told me "Hna.Ibarra remember when you asked me to pray and ask God if He was truly there, I finally got my answer." The spirit was immensly strong- no doubt she had visited the spirit world.

Then yesterday was pretty interesting for a sunday, when I walked into the chapel I saw the entire stake presidency there visiting the branch and thought "something`s up!!!!" And that`s when we all got the shocker that the entire branch presidency was released and they called a whole new presidency! WOW! No one saw it coming because the branch president has only had his calling for 1 year or 2. But there was a lot of disorder in the branch and with this new presidency (2 members of which were in the stake high council) things are not only going to get done, but get done right! This is going to help our missionary efforts A TON because we haven`t been able to have our meetings and coordinate our efforts with the branch. Plus now I know a TON of members are gonna come back that became innactive because of personal problems with leaders, so Hna.Thomas and I are super pumped to be serving the branch in this time and help them progress to one day become a ward! That night I got a surprising call from Pdt.Essig that Hna.Ireland would be coming back to our sector for her last week with Hna.Thomas and I...WHAAAAAATTTT?! I couldn`t believe it! I was already sooo happy to be with my dream companion I don`t know what I did to deserve to be with one of my closest friends in the mission Hna.Ireland as well in a trio! Seriously, right when you think nothing else could possibly happen in the week, it gets better! We are the Dream Team cubed haha Everyday I thank God for the oportunity he`s given me to serve Him, for my experiences in the mission- hard as they may be, for the people here who`ve touched my life, and for the priviledge of representing His son Jesus Christ. There`s nothing greater than this moment :)

Spiritual Cookie:"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Philipians 3:6-8

XO,

Hna.Ibarra

It was the best of times it was the worst of times

This week has probably been one fo the most difficult and crazy of the mission...it just always surprises me how every week is something different but I never expected this...I was actually hesitant to even write today because when I write about my experiences I relive them and feel what I felt in the stories I share, but here it goes anyways...

This week started out great, Monday we went to go visit Ricardo with the branch president, everything was in place for his baptism: the invitations, the clothes, who was gonna baptize him, etc. We did the pre-interview and everything was good to go and we all congratulated him for his preperation and that he and his partner were gonna get married that Thursday, he was ecstatic, he´s been waiting for this moment for months and was countingdown the days! But that thursday morning instead of being at their wedding at the Registro Civil, I found myself at the hospital with Hna.Ireland who I had an emergency exchange with for the day because Ricardo´s soon to be wife had attempted suicide by taking over 100 perscription pills for depression and they didn´t know if she was going to make it. We got the news tuesday night while on our way to an appointment and that very minute on the street Hna.Fullmer and I prayed in a secluded park and began a fast for her. We got more information the next day that she was on a breathing machine in a medically induced coma and that they didn´t know how she would react or if she would have full brain function and that she might be a vegetable. I´m a strong person over all, especially when it comes to medical things, but it´s different when it´s someone you know and love and I couldn´t hold back my tears. God knows how much I prayed that morning to help me function normally throughout the day, especially when training a greenie who has almost no clue what´s going on most of the time I knew she couldn´t take charge and lead the sector, I had to motivate her and myself to get us both through. The Lord answered my prayer and we were able to teach with the spirit and I was able to keep the saddness in. It was so great to be able to see Hna.Ireland again and to be together during that moment, it helped Ricardo a lot since he has no family here, he says we´re his daughters and that he was so grateful Pdt. Essig let us leave the mission boundaries to be with him in Talagante. The good news is that Gloria is doing a lot better now, the day we went to he hospital she woke up and now she doesn´t need the breathing tubes and is speaking. But it´s going to be a long recovery process, mentally most of all, and she´s going to need a lot of help psychologically. I´ve faced all types of opposition when trying to help other come unto Christ, but NEVER something like this nor have I seen satan attack someone so hard like Ricardo. I´ve been teaching him since I got here 6 months ago, and there have been so many trials, but I know that he´ll make it someday soon!!!

Besides that we had changes!!! WHAAAA!!!! President called me saturday morning to tell me he needed me to be a sister training leader again and asked my advice on somethings for the changes...one step closer top being the first Hermana AP!!!! Hahaha, joking. But I knew that if I was gonna be a sister training leader that I wouldn´t be training anymore! So it was all up in the air with Hna.Fullmer and who my new companion would be. But the news couldn´t of been better, Hna.Fullmer went to Los Andes with Hna.Ireland (who has 2 weeks left) and Hna.Dodds by other trainee!!! So her big sister is gonna finish her training...nuts!!! And the bigger surprise yet was that I was gonna be with Hna.Thomas!!! She is just the love of my life! I owe her everything because she was the one who was with me when I got super sick with tonsilitis and was so drugged up I couldn´t even think straight (she´s also the one who practiced her nursing skills on me and gave me an injection of penicilin in my rear! TMI? so sorry :/ haha) But I am so grateful to be with her because after being so long in a sector and elading it´s nice to get a fresh perspective on the area, ward, and investigators and how we can help them all out! We are just gonna kill it these next 4 weeks!!! Oh yeah, this transfer got cut short so it´s gonna be weird and super fast! But doesn´t mean we´re not gonna make some miracles happen in that time, we totally will :D

Love you all, thank you for your constant uplifting messages and prayers in my behalf, they are what keep me going!!!

XO,
Hna.Ibarra

Re: Saving souls, one at a time!

Increible, q ya casi terminas, q felicidad oir de los exitos del Senor por medio de ti. Yo tuve un horrible accidente de carro q por poco me cuesta la vida, con dos vertebras fracturadas, pero esos son los desafios despues de la mision. Deseo termines con exito y recibas muchas bendiciones.
Abrazos,
Hna. Rodriguez

On May 13, 2014 11:14 PM, "Gladys Ibarra" <gladys.ibarra@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Family I loved seeing all your faces one last time- great to know the next will be up close and personal! This week was full of so many miracles and blessings!!! We had interviews with President Essig monday which is why our p-day got changed to tuesday) and it was my last interview with him since we´re getting a new mission president end of June. And yes, he gave me the whole marriage prep discussion...very informative...but trying to keep my mind focused on the mission still!!! I know everyone´s so pumped for me to come back (believe me I am too) and keep saying how I´m coming home soon, but I keep telling everyone 3 months is a loooong time and here´s why:

This Thursday we have Ricardo´s wedding!!! We´ve been working with him since we got to Renca and he´s made great strives since we met him and has truly seen the blessings of the gospel in his life. He wanted to get sepperated from his partner who´s a less active member, but by helping them love eachother with the pure love of Christ they´ve learned to forgive their imperfections and together strengthen their relationship with God by praying and reading the Book of Mormon together. Sunday he will be getting baptized!

Enso is another investigator who was participating a lot with the Adventists who worship the sabbath day on Sunday. When we taught the 10 commandments we got stuck on #4 and even though we explained that the sabbath day was on Sunday because it was when Christ resurrected he wanted biblical proof. So that week I prayed and meditated a lot and asked the Lord for guidance on how we could help Enso understand better the sabbath day. That´s when an idea popped into my haed to teach him the law of Moses. So I prepared a special lessno for him in which I made a T-chart, on one side the law of moses and on the other the law of Christ. I Explained with scriptures how Christ came to fulfill the law of moses and give us a greater law in things such as sacrafices, swearing, adultery, justice, etc. Then I got to the sabbath day and how he gae a new covenant-the sacrament and how the apostles would get together the 1st day of the week to partake of it. The spirit was so strong in the room and he felt it and knew that what we were saying was true and said that he finally understood now. It was incredible! 

We also taught an investigator named Mitchel and his less active girlfriend. I have contacted several times sice I got here and now with Hna.Fullmer we met his wife and were finally able to get an in! When we taught him the restoration he was so taken back...we taught with a lot of "asombro" like it says in Alma 18 and he wanted to have this same faith that we have that makes us want to give 18 months of our lives to preach the gospel in a foreign country and pay all our own expenses! jaja! It was so great! He prayed and read the Book of Mormon with his polola and is progressing and really opening up.

Yesterday we taught Luisa who we found contacting near our house. She suffers from panic attacks and ever since began to question her catholic faith, she felt that we were an answer from God and she is reading the Book of Mormon and has a lot of interest. Yesterday we took a member, Hna.Janet and Luisa told us how yesterday she had a huge panic attack and was in tears. Janet testified to her the healing power of the atonement and how the gospel can guide us in bad times. By the end of her testimony both Janet and Luisa were in tears and the spirit in the room was so intense!

We found 2 GOLDEN investigators! One is Eli who we found contacting, she was having a bad day, but said that when I said hi and spoke to her that a great peace came over her and that the only other time she had ever felt that was when a catholic priest would take her hand to greet her. She was dissapointed by her catholic religion (like so many) and felt that the restoration was true. We left her a Book of Mormon and upon our return appt 2 days later she had read 59 pages!!!! AMAZING!!!! Hna.Fullmer and I were blown away, not even the members can do that and understand so well like she did! She accepted a baptismal date for June.

Our other golden investigator was Maria who we also found contacting. She had talked to missionaries before but didn´t have a lot of time cause she´d work a lot so they stopped coming over. But she still had her Book of Mormon and now has a lot more time cause she just takes care of her grandkids. When we extended the baptismal invitation she said that just that morning she was thinking how she would like to get baptized, "What do I have to do to prepare, what are the requirements?!" she asked. It was incredible!

Truly the Lord is guiding us to amazing people who are eager and ready to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. So many souls to save, so little time! But I know that in these next 3 months the greatest miracles are going to occur, cause the prize only comes at the end of the race!

Love you all!!!!

xo,

Hna.Ibarra

Saving souls, one at a time!

Family I loved seeing all your faces one last time- great to know the next will be up close and personal! This week was full of so many miracles and blessings!!! We had interviews with President Essig monday which is why our p-day got changed to tuesday) and it was my last interview with him since we´re getting a new mission president end of June. And yes, he gave me the whole marriage prep discussion...very informative...but trying to keep my mind focused on the mission still!!! I know everyone´s so pumped for me to come back (believe me I am too) and keep saying how I´m coming home soon, but I keep telling everyone 3 months is a loooong time and here´s why:

This Thursday we have Ricardo´s wedding!!! We´ve been working with him since we got to Renca and he´s made great strives since we met him and has truly seen the blessings of the gospel in his life. He wanted to get sepperated from his partner who´s a less active member, but by helping them love eachother with the pure love of Christ they´ve learned to forgive their imperfections and together strengthen their relationship with God by praying and reading the Book of Mormon together. Sunday he will be getting baptized!

Enso is another investigator who was participating a lot with the Adventists who worship the sabbath day on Sunday. When we taught the 10 commandments we got stuck on #4 and even though we explained that the sabbath day was on Sunday because it was when Christ resurrected he wanted biblical proof. So that week I prayed and meditated a lot and asked the Lord for guidance on how we could help Enso understand better the sabbath day. That´s when an idea popped into my haed to teach him the law of Moses. So I prepared a special lessno for him in which I made a T-chart, on one side the law of moses and on the other the law of Christ. I Explained with scriptures how Christ came to fulfill the law of moses and give us a greater law in things such as sacrafices, swearing, adultery, justice, etc. Then I got to the sabbath day and how he gae a new covenant-the sacrament and how the apostles would get together the 1st day of the week to partake of it. The spirit was so strong in the room and he felt it and knew that what we were saying was true and said that he finally understood now. It was incredible! 

We also taught an investigator named Mitchel and his less active girlfriend. I have contacted several times sice I got here and now with Hna.Fullmer we met his wife and were finally able to get an in! When we taught him the restoration he was so taken back...we taught with a lot of "asombro" like it says in Alma 18 and he wanted to have this same faith that we have that makes us want to give 18 months of our lives to preach the gospel in a foreign country and pay all our own expenses! jaja! It was so great! He prayed and read the Book of Mormon with his polola and is progressing and really opening up.

Yesterday we taught Luisa who we found contacting near our house. She suffers from panic attacks and ever since began to question her catholic faith, she felt that we were an answer from God and she is reading the Book of Mormon and has a lot of interest. Yesterday we took a member, Hna.Janet and Luisa told us how yesterday she had a huge panic attack and was in tears. Janet testified to her the healing power of the atonement and how the gospel can guide us in bad times. By the end of her testimony both Janet and Luisa were in tears and the spirit in the room was so intense!

We found 2 GOLDEN investigators! One is Eli who we found contacting, she was having a bad day, but said that when I said hi and spoke to her that a great peace came over her and that the only other time she had ever felt that was when a catholic priest would take her hand to greet her. She was dissapointed by her catholic religion (like so many) and felt that the restoration was true. We left her a Book of Mormon and upon our return appt 2 days later she had read 59 pages!!!! AMAZING!!!! Hna.Fullmer and I were blown away, not even the members can do that and understand so well like she did! She accepted a baptismal date for June.

Our other golden investigator was Maria who we also found contacting. She had talked to missionaries before but didn´t have a lot of time cause she´d work a lot so they stopped coming over. But she still had her Book of Mormon and now has a lot more time cause she just takes care of her grandkids. When we extended the baptismal invitation she said that just that morning she was thinking how she would like to get baptized, "What do I have to do to prepare, what are the requirements?!" she asked. It was incredible!

Truly the Lord is guiding us to amazing people who are eager and ready to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. So many souls to save, so little time! But I know that in these next 3 months the greatest miracles are going to occur, cause the prize only comes at the end of the race!

Love you all!!!!

xo,

Hna.Ibarra

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of...

This week was pretty fun, I guess the highlight was doing an exchange in downtown Santiago and working with one of my best friends in the mission Hna.Withers who came with me to the field from the MTC. I contacted a couple crazies who tried to get fresh with me, almost got hit by a bus, and Hna.Withers almost got hit by a car! Lots of dangers in the city, I`ll stick with Renca, kthanks. Also I met a member who recently returned from his mission in Concepcion who has contact with my trainer Hna.Rodriguez who I`ve been trying to get in touch with but the e-mail she gave me doesn`t exist anymore :( So I was happy to be able to get in touch with her. Lastly, while we were walking down the street contacting a guy was walking towards us while covering his face with his bag of groceries...I looked at him confused and when he got close enough he put the bag down and it was Federico Martinez aka Fede from Curacavi who helped us a lot in Jose Miguel`s conversion process and baptized him! He moved to "el centro" to be closer to his job, so it was such a treat to see him again! One of my favorite things about the mission is all the connection you make and all the new people you meet. You make life long friendships with your investigators, converts, members, and companions and thanks to facebook it`s so much easier to keep in touch after the mission, too! I seriously couldn`t imagine my life without the mission, so many people have touched my heart and changed me for good and I couldn`t imagine not having met them, life just wouldn`t be the same!

Another highlight this week was that we went to the temple with David, Carolina and Benjamin and got a tour from the sister missionaries there. It was such a great experience for them, David had awesome questions and Carolina is soooo excited to be able to go in and do baptisms! She and Benjamin got confirmed sunday and she said the whole day she felt this incredible peace come over her and was with her all day-we testified that it was the holy ghost. When an investigator is confirmed the words "receive the holy ghost" are pronounced upon them. This is not a command for the holy ghost to enter the life of that person, but rather an invitation for the person to live their life in such a way that they can have this constant guide and companion. It is part of our responsability and objective as missionaries to help these people receive the holy ghost after baptism by continuing keeping their committments and the commandments. Sadly some people after baptism go inactive and although they were confirmed never really received the holy ghost in their lives. These people are seldomly truly converted to the gospel and never had the opportunity to truly FEEL the difference of this comforter. So I was so happy to hear they are feeling the changes of the gospel in their lives, David is witnessing them too and comments about them and I know that pretty soon he`ll have the courage to take this same step of faith.

Well folks, all is well in Renca! Excited to skype you all for the last time next sunday!!! 

"The way you feel in the temple is a pattern for how you want to feel in your life" 

-Neil A. Anderson

xoxo,

Hna.Ibarra