Re: Holy Maria!

Hermana Ibarra, me siento tan orgullosa de ti, y creeme que las oraciones se elevan.
Me alegro que estes disfrutando tu mision, y que estes viviendo algo que no te imaginabas jamas... Nosotras tambien tenemos esos problemas aca en Vina del Mar, pues la cantidad de parejas viviendo juntos sin casarse es enorme, 37 y 40 anos y sin divociarse de su primera esposa, otra cosa que es impresionante la cantidad de ninas de 14 15 anos ya con bebes, dejan escuela y todo porque tienen quee cuidar su bebe. Me alegro saber de ti, y lamento que no supe que venias al Templo  para yo haber ido ese mismo dia.. me dejas saber la proxima vez, aunque se me acerca el tiempo o sea el 2 de Julio regreso a USA.
Te quiero mucho y se feliz y obediente
Hna Rodriguez

On Apr 10, 2013 5:42 PM, "Gladys Ibarra" <gladys.ibarra@myldsmail.net> wrote:

My beloved family and friends, I´ve missed you! Sorry I didn´t write ya´ll monday but they changed our p-day to wednesday because it was our yearly temple trip!!! Talk about a spiritual high this week with conference on top of that. We went to the temple as a zone and rented a mini bus and took the 2 hour trip to Santiago. We got lost and got there a bit late but they were able to squeeze all 23 of us in a session, it was my first time in spanish which spiced things up and made it a new and interesting experience for me. The temple looks small and simple on the outside, but once you enter the wooden double doors it is absolutely spectacular inside! Quality craftmanship all around as do all our temples. I went fasting for guidance for my investigators and anything else the Lord wanted to teach me in his house of instruction and I felt such a special spirit. It´s so beautiful to see how it doesn´t matter where in the world you are, the temple is always full of that peacful and sweet spirit of the Lord. As I walked to the session all dressed in white we passed by the sealing rooms with their gorgeous chandeliers and sacred alters, I couldn´t help but shed a few tears, one day I´ll be in a room similar to those with someone special, but that day is far far away and I´m not allowed to think about it right now hahaha In fact there was a bride and all of us hermanas were like "We can´t look! Hurry run! Lets get out of here!" hahaha. But seriously, it was so special to go to the temple, to think I won´t go back for a year! :( We also ate McDonalds on our way back and they had some delish Maracuya Chili wraps, McDonalds is definitely waaaay better foreign. Conference was also AMAZING, I looooved Elder Holland´s talk. To think it´s already been 6 months since I was sitting there in person with my dear friend Chase Bryan, CJ & Chelsea (how are their wedding plans btw?) time flies when you´re having fun! This saturday I will reach my 2 month mark, doesn`t sound like a lot, but it went by super fast and I know the rest will be a blurr next thing I know it so I´m trying to enjoy and make the most of every cold shower, bug in my food, power outage, appointments falling through, and creepy old men whistling at us haha. But seriously, the time on my mission is precious and I want to make the most of every second of this sacred time the Lord has entrusted me with to serve his children in Chile. Our investigators weren´t progressing which is frustrating, Mario and Pamela haven´t kept any commitment we´ve given them and we were about to have to let them go and move on to people who were actually willing to exercise their faith and want to change when we ran into them in the street and they told us they read 2 verses...AAAAHHHHH!!!!! We were jumping for joy!!!! 2 verses doesn´t seem like a lot, but it´s better than nothing and we´re still trying to work with them. Javiera is still terrified of her mom and won´t talk to her about her baptism or that we´re teaching her so we told her we can´t teach her until she does, we talked to her brother who is a member and are hoping he can help us out and praying her mom will soften her heart. Our other investigators seem hopeful but we can´t give them a baptismal date cause none of them are married...Laaaaaaame! But we are going to continue working with them to show them the blessings of marriage and get them to the font. Besides that all is well in Santa Maria, I´m eating a ton, it´s kinda crazy I don´t think I´ve ever eaten so much in my life and my companions are literally freaked out, but we walk all day and I burn a ton of energy, but I´ve gained 5lb´s which anyone that knows me knows what a miracle and joy that is to me! haha It´s starting to get chilly, fall is officially here and the leaves are changing colors which is super weird because we´re in April, the seasons have me totally twisted in South America. Also I want to give a birthday shout out to my beloved niece Bella! Girl you are 12 years old, officially a beehive in young womens, woohooooo!!!! I am so excited for you, you are going to have some of the funnest times of your life these next couple of years, go to girls camp EVERY year and make new friends and do your personal progress so you can get your YW´s medallion and get into BYU ;)! I miss and love you and wish you the best this b-day! I sent mommy (Sherlyn) a letter, there is some $ for you to buy something you like from your tia :) Welp that´s all this week! Thanks to everyone who reads my blogs and e-mails and for all your love and support! I need it because the mission is challenging, but your words of encouragment give me hope and strength :) 

peace & blessings,

Hermana Ibarra

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Holy Maria!

My beloved family and friends, I´ve missed you! Sorry I didn´t write ya´ll monday but they changed our p-day to wednesday because it was our yearly temple trip!!! Talk about a spiritual high this week with conference on top of that. We went to the temple as a zone and rented a mini bus and took the 2 hour trip to Santiago. We got lost and got there a bit late but they were able to squeeze all 23 of us in a session, it was my first time in spanish which spiced things up and made it a new and interesting experience for me. The temple looks small and simple on the outside, but once you enter the wooden double doors it is absolutely spectacular inside! Quality craftmanship all around as do all our temples. I went fasting for guidance for my investigators and anything else the Lord wanted to teach me in his house of instruction and I felt such a special spirit. It´s so beautiful to see how it doesn´t matter where in the world you are, the temple is always full of that peacful and sweet spirit of the Lord. As I walked to the session all dressed in white we passed by the sealing rooms with their gorgeous chandeliers and sacred alters, I couldn´t help but shed a few tears, one day I´ll be in a room similar to those with someone special, but that day is far far away and I´m not allowed to think about it right now hahaha In fact there was a bride and all of us hermanas were like "We can´t look! Hurry run! Lets get out of here!" hahaha. But seriously, it was so special to go to the temple, to think I won´t go back for a year! :( We also ate McDonalds on our way back and they had some delish Maracuya Chili wraps, McDonalds is definitely waaaay better foreign. Conference was also AMAZING, I looooved Elder Holland´s talk. To think it´s already been 6 months since I was sitting there in person with my dear friend Chase Bryan, CJ & Chelsea (how are their wedding plans btw?) time flies when you´re having fun! This saturday I will reach my 2 month mark, doesn`t sound like a lot, but it went by super fast and I know the rest will be a blurr next thing I know it so I´m trying to enjoy and make the most of every cold shower, bug in my food, power outage, appointments falling through, and creepy old men whistling at us haha. But seriously, the time on my mission is precious and I want to make the most of every second of this sacred time the Lord has entrusted me with to serve his children in Chile. Our investigators weren´t progressing which is frustrating, Mario and Pamela haven´t kept any commitment we´ve given them and we were about to have to let them go and move on to people who were actually willing to exercise their faith and want to change when we ran into them in the street and they told us they read 2 verses...AAAAHHHHH!!!!! We were jumping for joy!!!! 2 verses doesn´t seem like a lot, but it´s better than nothing and we´re still trying to work with them. Javiera is still terrified of her mom and won´t talk to her about her baptism or that we´re teaching her so we told her we can´t teach her until she does, we talked to her brother who is a member and are hoping he can help us out and praying her mom will soften her heart. Our other investigators seem hopeful but we can´t give them a baptismal date cause none of them are married...Laaaaaaame! But we are going to continue working with them to show them the blessings of marriage and get them to the font. Besides that all is well in Santa Maria, I´m eating a ton, it´s kinda crazy I don´t think I´ve ever eaten so much in my life and my companions are literally freaked out, but we walk all day and I burn a ton of energy, but I´ve gained 5lb´s which anyone that knows me knows what a miracle and joy that is to me! haha It´s starting to get chilly, fall is officially here and the leaves are changing colors which is super weird because we´re in April, the seasons have me totally twisted in South America. Also I want to give a birthday shout out to my beloved niece Bella! Girl you are 12 years old, officially a beehive in young womens, woohooooo!!!! I am so excited for you, you are going to have some of the funnest times of your life these next couple of years, go to girls camp EVERY year and make new friends and do your personal progress so you can get your YW´s medallion and get into BYU ;)! I miss and love you and wish you the best this b-day! I sent mommy (Sherlyn) a letter, there is some $ for you to buy something you like from your tia :) Welp that´s all this week! Thanks to everyone who reads my blogs and e-mails and for all your love and support! I need it because the mission is challenging, but your words of encouragment give me hope and strength :) 

peace & blessings,

Hermana Ibarra

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more pics

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Santa Maria- week one

Another week in the mish flew by! Things in my new area couldn't be better, Santa Maria is a gold mine! Our 1st day here the 2nd counselor (hermano Victor) of the branch took us around to contact less active members, recent converts, and investigators the previous missionaris we're visiting. The last sisters here got injured and couldn't work so I am once again opening an area for sisters and there hasn't been missionaries in a couple months here. Opening a new area has a lot of challenges because you don't know anything, and you're starting from square one with all the investigators and everything, but thanks to the help of Hermano Victor we are flooded wih work and people to visit. As soon as people heard there we're new sisters in the area they we're calling us begging us to come over and visit them and we are so excited for all the work there is to do here! (nothing like Til-Til). Some special investigators we have are Mario and Pamela. They have a 4 year old boy named Esteban who is crazy hyper and they are havig a lot of problems in their relationship, but we're workig with them with the faith that the gospel will strengthen their relastionship. Pamela wants to get baptized and we invited her to beb baptized the end of this month and she agreed and says she feels the need to be baptized. It's a bit complicated with Mario because he commited a serious crime and he doesn't think he can be forgiven. We can't invite him to be baptized unless he feels the true desire to do it and would need a special interview with the mission president. But before any of that can happen they need to get married! A big issue here is that people cohabitate and have kids so we have a lot of work to do with them but I love them both and see the potential happiness this message can bring them and their son. Another investigator that we have is Javiera who´s 16. She also accepted to be baptized the end of this month but she's 16 and we don't know if her mom is gonna give her permission cause she was very hard on her older brother when he wanted to get baptized, but she gave in with him and we're hoping she softens her heart with Javiera a well. We have a lot more families to work with and invite to be baptized but I'm happy with  done in just 1 week and our names appeared in the Mission News because of our numbers, woohoo! Being in a trio is a lot of fun, but also challenging. Me and Hermana Casique we're trained differently and she's learning a lot from me and what I learned from Hermana Rodriguez and we get along great and laugh so much, we crack eachother up mainly because I speak spanglish ad make up words in spanish ha ha. And Hermana Cottle is just a sweetheart, I'm trying to seve her in any way I can because she's only been here 3 months and even though she's training us her spanish needs work and she feels self-conscious all the time of her spanish and unqualified to train us, but I am constantly supporting her and telling her what a great trainer she is and helping her improve her spanish any way I can. I'm used to be a tour guide and presenting information with a lot of energy and excitement, but Hermana Cottle is teaching me to teach with the spirit and to be more tender and loving during the lessons in order to invite the spirit and she is a great example to me. The house we live in is HUGE, the only bummer is that it's crawlig with spiders and we we're having problems with the water heater so we had to take a coupole cold showers. We have 2 bathrooms and 6 rooms including the kitchen, dining room, and bedroom so it's possible that some more sisters might move-in with us and that they divide the sector, but as of now we don't know. Also Fall is here! The weather is getting chillier and the leaves are falling and I'm sweating less which is always awesome! Anyways, love you all! Send me Dear Elders and tell me what's up in the states!

 

xoxo,

Hermana Ibarra

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Re: The first of many!

Que alegria verte feliz.. Ojala guardes mis palabras cuando tenias hambre, y es que una mision sin desafios es una navidad sin dulces.... Me alegro que hayas recibido el dinero y perdona la carta tan impersonal que te envie, pero tenia que hacerlo asi para que no se viera el dinero.... I hope I can see you before I return to USA July 2.  please let  me know where you are and where you live.... I know you are very blessed by the Lord, and I'm sure your mission is going to be special... one day we can be together to share all our experiences. My mission!!!  , you don even have any idea. I'm psycologist, kleenex to wipe the tears of the people,  realtor, teacher, motivator. . hoy dos de los miembros que venian a nuestra oficina (guardias de seguridad), los convenci de regresar a la U y YA ESTAN ESTUDIANDO SU CARRERA los arranque de las manos de la ignorancia y la pobreza.. te decia que hasta banco me ha tocado ser, dar dos capacitaciones cada Domingo a barrios estacas, pelear con las viejas ricas que abusan a mis hermanas cuando las contratan para aseo, o no les pagan o las tratan como a cualqueir cosa..  en fin que la lista es grande..
Me voy a dormir que hoy fue un dia muy trabajado, pero no queria hacerlo hasta saber de ti...
Rosa y tu papi deben de estar muy orgullosos de ti, al igual que mi Padre Celestial..
Te quiero xoxo
Hermana Rodriguez

On Mar 25, 2013 3:15 PM, "Gladys Ibarra" <gladys.ibarra@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hello family and friends! This week was transfers and I am writing to you from my new area called Santa Maria. Were in a little branch called San Martin in Los Andes. It´s super beautiful here and we´re right next to the Andes mountains which is sick, but cold in the winters, nothing a winter in UT can´t beat haha. Our house here is HUGE which is nice because I´m in a trio with Hermana Cacique from Peru who´s my age and came into the field the same day as me, and our trainer Hermana Cottle from Heber City Utah. I am so excited and happy to be with them both it´s going to be a lot of fun being in a trio especially with someone from the states cause we´ll have more in common. It´s pretty crazy because we´re gonna have 50 sisters in total in the mission and out of those 50, 29 came within the last 4 weeks, which includes me and the group I came with. So they´re putting all the sisters in trios to train and it´s totally nuts but I´m loving it! I´m a little sad that I had to leave Til-Til, after 4 short weeks there I met so many wonderful people and families, but I left with a big smile on my face and a heavy heart because yesterday I had my first baptism!!! His name is Manuel Ortiz, we met him our 2nd week out and from day one he knew that our message was true and felt the spirit so strong our first lesson. He´s seen so many miracles in his life as he´s read the Book of Mormon and started going to church. He has knee problems cause he´s like 74 and he got a priesthood blessing and said he felt so amazing afterwards and could walk better and do things he couldn´t before. Yesterday he entered the waters of baptism and it was kinda ghetto because the font didn´t fill up all the way so he had to sit down to be submerged in the water lol. He was baptized by a recent convert Andres who has such a strong testimony of he gospel for only being a member for 4 months and is such a member missionary and would always go out with me and Hermana Rodriguez to teach investigators and less actives. It was his 1st time baptizing anyone so he was pretty nervous but he did great! It was a pretty emotional moment for both me and Hermana Rodriguez, we couldn´t stop crying, I think in part because I was also leaving. Nonetheless, I am glad I was able to bring a soul unto Christ and that I left Til-Til having made a difference. Some good news is that I´m no longer homesick, I am loving my mission and teaching and talking to strangers and want to thank everyone who has sent me Dear Elder´s and for your incredible words of encouragment and support, you have no clue how much I needed it! The mission is full of sacrafices, especially when you go foreign, but the rewards exceed the challenges by far! This is going to be the best year and 1/2 of my life and I´m taking in every moment and putting forth all my effort and most importantly all my love into this work. Also, sorry if I haven´t sent any letters I wrote back everyone who has written me but I have yet to find a post office anywhere so it´s a bit complicated, but I haven´t forgotten you my friends and you will get my letters soon enough I hope! Peace & blessings your way!

xoxo,

Hermana Gladys Ibarra

P.S. the pics are of my last district meeting in Colina, Manuel´s baptism and some members of the branch, and my new compañeras! :)

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The first of many!

Hello family and friends! This week was transfers and I am writing to you from my new area called Santa Maria. Were in a little branch called San Martin in Los Andes. It´s super beautiful here and we´re right next to the Andes mountains which is sick, but cold in the winters, nothing a winter in UT can´t beat haha. Our house here is HUGE which is nice because I´m in a trio with Hermana Cacique from Peru who´s my age and came into the field the same day as me, and our trainer Hermana Cottle from Heber City Utah. I am so excited and happy to be with them both it´s going to be a lot of fun being in a trio especially with someone from the states cause we´ll have more in common. It´s pretty crazy because we´re gonna have 50 sisters in total in the mission and out of those 50, 29 came within the last 4 weeks, which includes me and the group I came with. So they´re putting all the sisters in trios to train and it´s totally nuts but I´m loving it! I´m a little sad that I had to leave Til-Til, after 4 short weeks there I met so many wonderful people and families, but I left with a big smile on my face and a heavy heart because yesterday I had my first baptism!!! His name is Manuel Ortiz, we met him our 2nd week out and from day one he knew that our message was true and felt the spirit so strong our first lesson. He´s seen so many miracles in his life as he´s read the Book of Mormon and started going to church. He has knee problems cause he´s like 74 and he got a priesthood blessing and said he felt so amazing afterwards and could walk better and do things he couldn´t before. Yesterday he entered the waters of baptism and it was kinda ghetto because the font didn´t fill up all the way so he had to sit down to be submerged in the water lol. He was baptized by a recent convert Andres who has such a strong testimony of he gospel for only being a member for 4 months and is such a member missionary and would always go out with me and Hermana Rodriguez to teach investigators and less actives. It was his 1st time baptizing anyone so he was pretty nervous but he did great! It was a pretty emotional moment for both me and Hermana Rodriguez, we couldn´t stop crying, I think in part because I was also leaving. Nonetheless, I am glad I was able to bring a soul unto Christ and that I left Til-Til having made a difference. Some good news is that I´m no longer homesick, I am loving my mission and teaching and talking to strangers and want to thank everyone who has sent me Dear Elder´s and for your incredible words of encouragment and support, you have no clue how much I needed it! The mission is full of sacrafices, especially when you go foreign, but the rewards exceed the challenges by far! This is going to be the best year and 1/2 of my life and I´m taking in every moment and putting forth all my effort and most importantly all my love into this work. Also, sorry if I haven´t sent any letters I wrote back everyone who has written me but I have yet to find a post office anywhere so it´s a bit complicated, but I haven´t forgotten you my friends and you will get my letters soon enough I hope! Peace & blessings your way!

xoxo,

Hermana Gladys Ibarra

P.S. the pics are of my last district meeting in Colina, Manuel´s baptism and some members of the branch, and my new compañeras! :)

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1 month out part 2!!!

Ignore the last e-mail I sent it too soon.

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. This week has been a lot better but has also had it´s struggles. Even though we got our new credit cards with money we couldn´t take money out of them because in til-til the only bank in this whole are doesn´t accept our cards. So we were living out of my companions earthquake emergency pack and were down to a bag of rice and 3 cans of peas ha ha! So we had to call the A.P. to save us and bring us some cash to hold us over until p-day. So today we´re gonna go to another city to take money out so we can actually do some gricery shopping and so I can also make my emergency pack which is super important. In fact I forgot to mention that on my 1st week here I think it was the 2nd night there was a little earthquake in the middle of the night, nothing crazy, but strong enough that it woke me up haha. 

So Til-Til has been good, I am beginning to love the people and the members more as I get to know them personally. We talk to a lot of drunk guys on the street when contacting and some have even kissed my hand and it´s just so hard to not crack up laughing in front of them. The branch president is finally back after 2 weeks of being on vacation and me and hermana rodriguez has a looooong list of things we needed to talk to him about. Our main challenge is that the branch lacks unity and for this reason many have become inactive. People just come to church on sunday, participate a bit in class and then go home unchanged until the next week. A lot of the leaderds like the R.S. president and Y.M. president asked to be released and it seems like no one wants to make any effort in building the kingdom of God. But me and my companion want to organize some activities and make better use of the chapel to help the members actually get to know, befriend and love one another and we´re hoping that this will not only unify the branch but help the less actives return. But this transfer ends next week, it´s super short because of all the sisters and new missionaries coming in and so I´m not sure how it´s all gonna go down, but I´m prepared to stay and work hard to edify this little branch and amp up the members as well as to go somewhere else the Lord may need me.

I´m also loving Chilean culture and Chilean food! I know that was my primary concern "what do Chileans eat?!" But luckily during these past weeks of starvation the members have fed us and they eat pretty normal hispanic food. But I´ve also had some of my first traditional foods like completos, choripan, mote con huecillo (looks super gross but is yummy), cubos, and sopaipilla! You´ll just have to google this stuff to know what it looks like and what I´m talking about, but it´s all so good and I feel blessed that I´m not eating anything crazy. 

I also have a couple funny stories, one of our investigators is a very hard working woman who literally works all day peeling onions and tying cardboard boxes to be packed and shipped. She is constantly on the go and doesn´t stop so we decided to do some service and help her   peel some onions, we were super slow and bad at it in fact I knicked my finger and then our hands reaked with the smell of onions for days which made us super hungry cause we didn´t have any food haha But it was super fun and we still teach her while she peels her onions, she just doesn´t stop! We also had a rough day when we ate with a member who the entire time was telling us how depressed she was and all the problems in the ward and with themembers and drama and it just made me an my companion feel so discouraged, then all of our appointments were falling through, no one was home and no one wanted to let us teach them or hear us and on top of that we were starving, my companion had some coins and used it to buy un cubo which is basically a home made otter-pop cause it was all we could afford (125 pesos= .25) We were walking down the street to try to contact some referals cause it was the only thing we could do when all of a sudden I hear a "PLOP!" and when I look at my shoulder a bird had pooped on me!!! Me and my companion just started cracking up and it helped lighten up the mood, God has a sense of humor. Also this week we met with a members friend who´s name is Jose. His family apparently abandoned him, they found him in the street and took him in and take care of him. He doesn´t believe in God or anything really because of all the hardships he´s experienced and because he can´t believe in something he can´t see. We taught him that God is our loving heavenly father and that although we can´t see him we can feel he is real and his love for us. We taught him how to pray for the first time and his plee was simple "Heavenly father, thank you for the family that I found, I ask that you take care of them" and when I looked up tears we´re streaming down his face. I gave him a hand hug because I couldn´t give him a real hug but I was so proud of him and felt the love heavenly father has for him. I´m super eager to work with Jose and help him feel God´s love for him as a child of God. Welp, that´s all for now!!! Pray for me!!!

Peace & Blessings,

Hermana Ibarra

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