OH MY GOSH! This week was just NUTS! Seriously so much has happened, where do I start?! I guess with interviews with our new mission president, Pdt. Videla. He told me "Hermana, you`re going home soon so I`m not even gonna ask you any personal questions to try to get to know you, but I would like to hear what your mission experience has meant for you." I looked at the picture behind him of Jesus and just broke down in tears, it`s hard to find the words to express my feelings and how significant this experience has been to me. I bore him my testimony of who I came as and who I`ve become. He asked me only one question, "Did you give everything to the Lord" and as I reflected to myself I was proudly able to answer "yes". He shared his experience about being called as a mission president and it was a tender moment for the both of us, I`d say the interview went well. hat same day in District Meeting an Elder shared a story during a time we share experiences that increase our faith. He said there is a less-active brother they`re focusing on to reactivate who works as a taxi driver. This brother has run into us in Renca several times asking for directions to places he needed to pick people up from and one time told me "Man, you guys are always working hard, more than the Elders!" So this Elder shared that this brother told them on their last visit "I always see the sister missionaries in Renca working so hard, knowing they do that to try to help people like me have the gospel in their lives motivates me to come back to church!" The Elder thanked us and it made me feel so happy inside to know that you just never know who`s watching you when your out on the streets proselyting, but people notice if we`re being diligent.
Well the biggest news of all is that Pdt.Videla called wednesday night. The conevrsation over the phone went something like this, "Hna.Ibarra, a little angel told me you`ve been in your sector for a really long time!" I replied "Yeeeaaaahhh???", "Well I`m calling because a sister has gone home due to knee problems and the Lord needs you to be with her companion in Catemu the last 2 weeks of your mission." I about fainted hahaha! It was CRAZY HUGE news, Catemu is in Los Andes, out in the boonies! But I was so pumped and I gladly accepted the call. So the next day I worked my guts out, packed, and then Hna.Stanger (the office secretary) and my new companion Hna.Clark came to pick me up. I only had a chance to say bye to Carolina and Benjamin who are some converts. When I told her the news that I`d be leaving Renca sooner than I thought she couldn`t believe it and broke down in tears. She thanked me so much for everything I did to help her be a better mother and wife and she just cried in my shoulder. It was one of the hardest things I`ve ever done to just dissapear from a sector like that, something similar happenned in Curacavi, but I think it was for the best to just rip the bandaid off, it`ll make my rael departure a lot easier.
We slept over Hna.Stanger`s apt that night and the next day had our Leadership Council Meeting with president and the AP`s. The president and his wife decided to change our scedule to the international missionary schedule which was a huge shocker for everyone! Right now the scedule is to wake up at 7:30 am, study until noon and proselyte until 10 p.m. with an hour for lunch and bed at 11:30. But now we are gonna wake up and sleep an hour earlier and have lunch and study hours throughout the day after lunch and what not. It`s a huge change cause we`re just used to being in the streets all day so it`s gonna be weird to return to the house so many times a day, but they feel it`ll be the best for our health.
That night after a trip to the temple grounds for a sister who had to see the doctor at the MTC and being stuck in traffic for 4 hours singing hymns and talknig about every subject imaginable we got to Catemu. I`ve been spoiled the past 9 months so it`s a big change to be back in the country. We basically live in a wooden cabin, dirt roads, the smell of chimney smoke from the peoples fireplaces, and the gorgeous view of the sunset everynight is just breath-taking. If I had to return to any part of my mission it would`ve been here so I`m happy! We have to take a 20 minute bus ride to church ni Llay-Llay which is the branch we belong to. This sunday was great cause Pdt. Perez (stake pdt) was there to release the branch president who`s moving and had the biggest smile on his face when he saw me, he gave me the warmest handshake and said "my family and I were just talking about you yesterday!" It was a great reunion and he and his wife invitde us over for lunch next week before I leave.
After working 2 days in Catemu I can see that Hna.Clark needs a lot of help, she has 9 months in the mission but still a lot to learn and I`m super pumped to help her sort out through the investigators that have potential and those that don`t and leave a solid foundation for her to build upon when I`m outtie.
So basically that was my crazy week! I`m ni the ciber in San Felipe, it`s been so nuts walking around and seeing so many of the places I went to a year ago when I was a greenie, so happy to end where I started :)
Peace & Blessings,
Hna.Ibarra
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