9 for the miles we ride on our bikes

This week rain welcomed in the winter. It`s rained almost everyday which makes proselyting super fun because it`s something different and because not just anyone is walking around in the rain, only the super special souls the Lord has prepared for us to preach the gospel to! But of course with the drop in temperature I caught a cold and lost my voice so it`s been a little hard to contact and teach. I don`t know if the people are looking at me all wide-eyed because I`m teaching with such power and authority or because they`re trying really hard to understand what I`m saying, hahaha! Nonetheless, whenever my voice gives out my trusty companion Hna.Thomas jumps in and saves me, this is why we preach in two`s!!! Also I`m happy because my feet haven`t hurt at all this week, so either your prayers are working or it`s so cold my feet are numb and I can`t feel the pain, either way it`s awesome! Also, we got a letter from the owner of our house so we have 30 days to find a new place and move or were homeless...awesome! It`s been a good excuse though to talk to random people and contact!

This week we did a couple exchanges with the sister`s in our group. Our first was with Hna.Carhuas from Peru. It was an incredible experience because originally her companion was gonna stay in my sector to work with me but they got confused and Hna.Carhuas brought her stuff to spend the night so we just went with it, little did we know it was a blessing in disguise from the Lord. We went to several appts that night and Hna.Carhuas` powerful testimony and personal experiences helped our investigators and converts so much, they were so grateful for her words and were so uplifted! I knew then it was no accident at all! Then Hna.Quintana came to Renca, she`s my homegirl so we had such a blast together! She`s been struggling with some depression but it did her so much good to work somewhere new and I was able to see that she truly has the ability to do the work, she just needs a companion to love, support and motivate her. Love her to death, she rocked in our lessons!

Besides that this week I`m working on the attribute of Hope which is perfect cause there`s been several challenges with our investigators that were GOLDEN and I need to increase my hope that they`ll progress. David has stopped progressing and has been going out with his buddies to drink and smoke and hasn`t come home until the next morning and things like that. Carolina is super upset and they were thinking of sepperrating. I read Moroni 7 with them about having chairty and loving eachother with the pure love of Christ and that sepperrating was not the solution to their problems. That night I went home feeling guilty...I told myself "I didn`t convince them to get married so they`d get sepperated! Maybe I made a mistake. Maybe I shouldn`t of told them to get married. Now they`re gonna get sepperated and it`s probably my fault in the first place!" I really didn`t know what to think, but I prayed that the Lord would help them look beyond their immperfections, forgive eachother and have the pure love of Christ. The next morning during my personal study the Lord answered the secret pleadings of my heart when I read Ether 12:36-37  "And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the gentiles grace, that they might have charity. And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me: if they have not chairty it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore, thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place where I have prepared in the mansions of my father." I knew then that I didn`t do anything wrong, I invited them to keep a commandment of the Lord and that I did was I was suppossed to do as a representative of Christ and that I shouldn`t feel guilty about that. It`s always a special experience when the Lord speaks so directly to me through the scriptures. It`s happened to me countless of times and each time it`s another testimony that I have a Heavenly Father, He hears and answers my prayers, He loves me and guides me, and the Book of Mormon is His word. 

Today for p-day we went bowling with other sisters in the mission, it was so hilarious, we`re all so rusty! It was even funnier to see the latina girls try to play, it was many of them`s first time ever bowling so I was trying to teach them how to throw the ball down the alley. After a couple of gutter balls, slips, falls, and laughs we finally got the hang of it again. My goal was to get one strike which I did so I was happy after that! Hna.Quintana got like 3 and we we`re joking about how this is good preperation to go dating again haha! Oh dear! Can`t even think about that right now, so much to do, so little time! We have a conference with a member of the quorum of the 70 this week, 3 exchanges, and Chile is playing in the World Cup so we have to go in early that night incase they lose or win and the people get CRAY in Renca. People here get drunk on weekdays so I don`t even want to know what it`s like when a soccer game`s on! 

This is the last week of the transfer so I`m pretty nervous! I really love where I`m at and my companion Hna.Thomas and don`t want any changes, but it`s what the Lord wants not me, so I`m just trying to enjoy every second I have this week and opening my heart to change for the last time in the mission...kinda nervewrecking to think it`ll be my last transfer. I just want an awesome companion who can work hard and push me even harder to give every ounce of spirit and testimony I have left to these people!!! Love you all!

<3,

Hna.Ibarra

 

10 for the Ten Commandments

Not gonna lie, this week was super trunky...SOOOOOO trunkyyyy!!!! But mainly because we had to kill Hna.Ireland who is probably landing in SLC as we speak!!! Our goal was to have to give her all and work her hardest this week, which she did, to the point where she went home with a cold...poor thing. But it`s like Elder Holland told us when he spoke to our mission last november, we need to go home in a stretcher because we gave everything we had! I think I`ll be going home with amputated feet they hurt so bad, I pray every day and night that the Lord may bless my feet with the strength to get where we need to go. Another reason this week was trunky was because yesterday I had my last Zone Conference and so I had to bare my farewell testimony to the missionaries. I had been pondering and praying about what I should say so that my words could sink into the hearts of the missionaries still in the middle or just beginning their missions and have a lasting impression and motivate them to continue in so great a cause. It was bitter sweet having to do it, especially since I still have another transfer left so I don`t feel like I`m leaving anytime soon whatsoever!!! But The spirit spoke through me, their hearts were pricked and my testimony was the spiritual punch I wanted it to be. So enough trunky talk, now for the rest of our power week!

We visited our investigator who`s GOLDEN- Maria Pinto! She went to church this sunday and shared with us in our appt that no instead of going home and watching TV she reads the Book of Mormon. She shared with us an incredible experience of how the house she`s building in Valparaiso near the beach was left abandoned with the doors opened. She was super anxious and worried that her things would get stolen so she opened the Book of Mormon and read a verse that brought her so much peace, she said it was a burning in her bossom, something she felt only once before when a family member passed away and she prayed for them. We testified it was the Holy Ghost and asked her if she felt she received her answer- she said yes, I know the Book of Mormon is true. Music to a missionaries ears!!!

Our other investigators have been dealing with a lot of opposition...nothing new...Eli had an accident at her job and a iron rod penetrated her hand and she had to get stitches. She`s been taking very poewrful pain medications that make her loopy so she hasn`t been able to read her Book of Mormon or go to church yet, but I have faith she`ll get there!

We had a powerful lesson with Enso on the Book of Mormon. We watched Elder Holland`s testimony on the BOM and then testified ourselves of its truthfulness. He still hadn`t received his answer so we read Alma 22 where King Lamoni prayed fervently to know if the gospel was true and invited him to kneel and pray with us. The spirit invaded the room...when I opened my eyes after the "amen" he was still moving his mouth and praying in his heart, his eyes were scrunched, there was such real intent in his face. He opened his eyes, red with tears. I asked him what he felt in that moment, he said "a lot of peace and emotion...I feel the Holy Ghost" and we testified that it was his answer. But it blows my mind how after such a powerful spiritual experience satan attacks. That weekend Enso didn`t go to church. We saw him yesterday, but when I saw his face there was an obvious absence of light...an absence of the light of Christ. There was darkness in his eyes, and it was such a strange feeling, something I`d never felt or seen before in a person. He was bizarre during the appt. We went over the baptismal questions and he was being bery sarcastic and said he had doubts about Joseph Smith, didn`t want to commit to keep the law of Chastity, and said he still wasn`t sure about the Sabbath day. My jaw dropped...WHAT?! After all the immensly powerful lessons we had to resolve his doubts where he felt it was the truth he was denying it all. Then he confessed that that weekend he went to "carretear" meaning party and drink and smoke with his friends.Then I knew, I knew why there was an absence of the spirit in his countenance. Something like that had never been so evident to me before. It was a sad realization, he has the desire to change, but lacks the will so we`ll see what happens.

Today for P-day Hna.Thomas and I went to an ancient art museum that had artwork of all the indigenous tribes in Latin America which was pretty cool! It`s weird being only 2 again, but it`ll still be fun fersure! Things are going great over all and just jumping over every hurdle the Lord throws at me. This week I`ve been reflecting a lot on my change as a missionary. No doubt I`ve come a looooooong way since I first began, the spiritual mountains I`ve climbed and conquered have been great...but have I changed enough? So starting this week I decided to work on the Attributes of Christ listed in Chapter 6 of Preach my Gospel, one for every week I have left, it`s perfect! I know I am so much more like my Savior now than I ever was before, and I just want to continue to change more and more, do my all, so the Lord can make me who he wants and needs me to be. 

spiritual cookie: "For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy." The joy and glory of a missionary are his converts -1 Thesalonians 2:19-20

xo,

Hna.Ibarra

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