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.

Week 2 and last at the MTC!

So I've been in the MTC a week and 2 days now!!! It was crazy to think, as all the new missionaries came in on Wednesday, that I was in their shoes only a week ago. It's felt a lot longer than that, as they all say, here the days are long and the weeks fly-by! I leave in 3 shorts days to Santiago, Chile, and as I look back at my experiences here I have grown and learned so much. The MTC has been so fun, it's pretty much like EFY only there's ZERO free time and no dances, (haha) I have grown to loooove my district, there are 6 girls and 4 boys, everyone comes from and is going to different places, but we all get along so well and have so much fun, maybe too much fun! The youngest in our group is Elder Henriquez (the chubby one with glasses in the pic of my district at the temple) and he is very immature at times and always very hyper and has a hard time focusing on anything and can be kinda distracting during study time, but he brings a lot of much needed comedic relief after long hours of being inside the classroom. He is one of the funniest kids I've met, and constantly quotes a scripture in 1 Corinthians 13:11 when he's a little out of control to help himself. I've grown to love this scripture a lot as I've tried to adjust to missionary life and behavior. There's a lot of old habits we must now change in order to fit the image of being representatives of Jesus Christ and the Church, saying dude, bro, & guys to other missionaries and "what the crap" are among some of the things I'm trying to stop doing and it's so hard because it was just a part of my everyday vocabulary in my "past life". But I'm getting better and am sure it'll be easier once I'm in Chile speaking spanish full-time.

Something I thought I'd never say is the fact that gym time is my favorite time of the day at the MTC! Who am I?! haha, but it's really great for many reasons #1 I get to wear pants- as a sister missionary there are few times you can put pants on, gym time, bed time & p-day and I've come to cherish and appreciate the moments I don't have to be in a skirt. #2 We can't be competitive when playing any sports cause missionaries get hurt so no one takes the game seriously and it's actually fun! #3 None of the other girls are that good at sports either so I feel right at home :) On Tuesday we had to clean our residence halls for our service that week. Glad it's the last time I'll be doing that! Me & Hermana Brewster had to clean the girls showers...it was worse than any horror movie you've ever seen. I think we cleaned up about a head full of hair at each shower, I pretty much wanted to gag the entire time. But then I thought about how sister's must also clean the showers on my floor and how much I appreciate showering in a hairless bathroom, bless their hearts...lol.

Sunday was probably the most spiritual day of the week. The sisters get to watch "Music & the Spoken Word" first thing in the morning (cause the Elders wouldn't appreciate it and would probably just fall asleep ha) and then we went to Relief Society. It's just one GIANT relief society meeting in the gym for all the sisters at the MTC and we had the privilege of hearing one of the Relief Society Counselors in the general presidency. As we all sang as Sisters in Zion & Called to Serve as a congregation the spirit was incredibly overwhelming. Although the age change didn't effect my decision on serving a mission, it has had a great effect on my mission as I serve side by side with so many amazing girls!!! Apparently President Uchtdorf came to the MTC sunday, I didn't actually see him, our Branch President's wife did, but it was still so cool to think I was in the same building as one of the greats! My favorite part about sunday was Temple Walk. It's the only time we're allowed to leave the walls of the MTC (besides attending the temple on p-day) and we just get to go and take pictures and walk around the temple grounds. It was crazy cold and cars were honking at us and people were shouting with excitement, who knew you could have so much fun just crossing the street! Hahaha!

Another cool thing that happened was that yesterday we had In-Field Orientation. It was the longest day of my life, 8 hours straight of different orientations on how to use our planners, work with members in the ward, paperwork for ward council and a ton of other things that we'll have to use and do once we're out in the field. But they made it really fun! There was a big poster of my friend Sergio Mendoza which I took a pic of (Katie please show him the pic and tell him that they hang it up every week for In-Field Orientation at the MTC to teach us about how to talk to people in public settings) I also got to meet some of the Korean missionaries who are here, one of them kept offering me eye-drops, I kindly denied him like 5 times LOL And we even got to see one of the Elders from "The district 2" movies, Elder Christiansen! I think the biggest thing I've learned at the MTC is how to teach lessons that touch peoples hearts and not just straight up facts and doctrine. One of our "investigators" from the TRC his name is Jose, he's from Guatemala and has a wife and 5 kids. He said his parents were divorced and his step-dad was abusive and that because of all the horrible things he went through he didn't think God loved him. I Shared D&C 29:39 with him and that bad things happen to good people so we can learn from these experiences and cherish the happy moments in our life, not because God is trying to punish him or hates him. I assured him of God's  love for him, and this brought him to tears. Hermana Brewster and I invited him to be baptized last week and he was very emotional as he said he was ready to turn a new page in his life. Even though these investigators are payed actors, a lot of them tell their true life stories as they work with us at the TRC and it was very touching.

Today we got to go to the temple and it was so cool to go with people actually my age that aren't snoring mid session or have white hair. haha. It was our only and probably last time for a while  since the temple in Chile is not in my mission are.Well next time I e-mail you'll be hearing about my adventures halfway around the world! Love you all and please write me some Dear Elders up until Saturday the 23rd. Love you Familia & Friends!!!

Con amor,

Hermana Ibarra

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Re: Week 1 at the MTC!!!

Be  prepare mi nina linda, pues ahora no toman mucho tiempo en MTC, pues de una vez envian los misioneros(as) a practicar el idioma en el pais que les toco servir.... Hoy estuve en el Templo en Santiago y me sonaba viendote recorer esas calles tan bonitas alrededor del Templo.. Se valiente y sirve de ejemplo a todas, recuerda el lema FE Y OBEDIENCIA..
Te quiero..
Hermana Rodriguez

On Feb 16, 2013 12:50 PM, "Gladys Ibarra" <gladys.ibarra@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hello my beautiful family & friends!!! I miss you all so so much and am so grateful for all the letters and package I got on my first time getting mail! (if Ian Patton is reading this write me a letter, I got a package from your Hawaiian friends and I need to tell you about it!)  I had convinced myself I wouldn't get anything just in case so I wouldn't be dissapointed but I was jumping for joy!!! I've only been here for 3 1/2 days but so  much has happened in that little time. I feel like I finally understand God's view of time here because here time does not exist. You wake up, get ready, study, have class, go to gym and eat lunch and it's only noon! I feel like it's the end of the day and we still have 9 hours left,  you just have no concept of time. My first day was a blur really, a bunch of people are just pulling you around and telling you where to go and what to do and where to pick up what and drop of this and next thing I knew it was the end of the day and time for bed! I'm finally getting used to seeing myself with a name tag on, and I can't express how powerful the word "missionary" is. Just before entering the MTC when I had just arrived in Utah I had total strangers start conversations with me, cry and even give me money just because I said "I'm a missionary". It is a title of honor and I am so proud whenever I have my plaque on. Without it I'd just be a girl who was way too over-dressed (haha) but with it I have power and authority as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

When I 1st got here I was in a trio with Hermana Cannon and Hermana Luccion (Sherlyn Hermana Luccion knows Cynthia & Mirta!) but then a girl from the beginers class was transfered to our district so now  I have my own companion Hermana Brewster from Bountiful and I am so blessed to have her. They assigned me to be the senior companion and I've been doing everything I can to serve and love her, helping her pack and move her luggage to our room, getting her mailbox & key changed, and helping her with her spanish. She was feeling sick so I took her to the clinic and then gave her some of my medication which the nurse said she should take. Nurse Gladys to the rescue!!! Our zone leaders gave her a priesthood blessing and after going to bed early last night she is feeling a lot better. I know heavenly father gave me Hermana Brewster for a reason and I find joy in helping her with whatever I can, we're a great team! We've taught out investigator "Martha" (who's really just our teacher) 2 lessons and today will be the 3rd and we will be inviting her to be baptized. These teachers are incredible, they should win an oscar for their acting skills, they play the role of investigators so well and really make it feel like a real experience, awkward pauses and all!

I've also ran into a million friends here from BYU and back home including Elder Gallo & Elder Workman who both send their love to So Fla.

Along with all my mail I got my flight itinuary!!! ALREADY!!! And I'll be leaving to Chile with Hermana Ostler in 9 days on February 25th!!! I feel so blessed because I've only been here 3 days and already know my departure date, most of the missionaries here have been here for weeks and still have no clue when they're leaving. So Keep sending me snail mail to the MTC until the 24th after that send it to Chile. I'll actually be connecting through MIA and will have a 3 hour layover there, but I unfortunately cannot have family and friends visit me so it'll be so hard! But I was made the group leader for the group of us traveling to Chile so I have to be an example to the other missionaries.

Well everybody stay tuned for week 2's e-mail next friday!!! I love you all so much and just want you to know that I have received many witnesses and confirmations while at the MTC and know  I am exactly where I'm supposed to be in my life right now and I couldn't be happier.

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.

Week 1 at the MTC!!!

Hello my beautiful family & friends!!! I miss you all so so much and am so grateful for all the letters and package I got on my first time getting mail! (if Ian Patton is reading this write me a letter, I got a package from your Hawaiian friends and I need to tell you about it!)  I had convinced myself I wouldn't get anything just in case so I wouldn't be dissapointed but I was jumping for joy!!! I've only been here for 3 1/2 days but so  much has happened in that little time. I feel like I finally understand God's view of time here because here time does not exist. You wake up, get ready, study, have class, go to gym and eat lunch and it's only noon! I feel like it's the end of the day and we still have 9 hours left,  you just have no concept of time. My first day was a blur really, a bunch of people are just pulling you around and telling you where to go and what to do and where to pick up what and drop of this and next thing I knew it was the end of the day and time for bed! I'm finally getting used to seeing myself with a name tag on, and I can't express how powerful the word "missionary" is. Just before entering the MTC when I had just arrived in Utah I had total strangers start conversations with me, cry and even give me money just because I said "I'm a missionary". It is a title of honor and I am so proud whenever I have my plaque on. Without it I'd just be a girl who was way too over-dressed (haha) but with it I have power and authority as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

When I 1st got here I was in a trio with Hermana Cannon and Hermana Luccion (Sherlyn Hermana Luccion knows Cynthia & Mirta!) but then a girl from the beginers class was transfered to our district so now  I have my own companion Hermana Brewster from Bountiful and I am so blessed to have her. They assigned me to be the senior companion and I've been doing everything I can to serve and love her, helping her pack and move her luggage to our room, getting her mailbox & key changed, and helping her with her spanish. She was feeling sick so I took her to the clinic and then gave her some of my medication which the nurse said she should take. Nurse Gladys to the rescue!!! Our zone leaders gave her a priesthood blessing and after going to bed early last night she is feeling a lot better. I know heavenly father gave me Hermana Brewster for a reason and I find joy in helping her with whatever I can, we're a great team! We've taught out investigator "Martha" (who's really just our teacher) 2 lessons and today will be the 3rd and we will be inviting her to be baptized. These teachers are incredible, they should win an oscar for their acting skills, they play the role of investigators so well and really make it feel like a real experience, awkward pauses and all!

I've also ran into a million friends here from BYU and back home including Elder Gallo & Elder Workman who both send their love to So Fla.

Along with all my mail I got my flight itinuary!!! ALREADY!!! And I'll be leaving to Chile with Hermana Ostler in 9 days on February 25th!!! I feel so blessed because I've only been here 3 days and already know my departure date, most of the missionaries here have been here for weeks and still have no clue when they're leaving. So Keep sending me snail mail to the MTC until the 24th after that send it to Chile. I'll actually be connecting through MIA and will have a 3 hour layover there, but I unfortunately cannot have family and friends visit me so it'll be so hard! But I was made the group leader for the group of us traveling to Chile so I have to be an example to the other missionaries.

Well everybody stay tuned for week 2's e-mail next friday!!! I love you all so much and just want you to know that I have received many witnesses and confirmations while at the MTC and know  I am exactly where I'm supposed to be in my life right now and I couldn't be happier.

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.