Re: The church isn´t true when it rains...

Mi amada hermana Ibarra, que historias mas lindas, me imagino que este blog va a ser conservado para tu posteridad.... hace 5 meses vinieron aca, un grupo de  misioneros(as) que habian servido mision aca hace 20 anos, se reunieron aca todos con sus esposos y esposas, fue algo tan lindo, el reencuentro con su miembros que bautizaron y que ahora son grandes liderees, asi te va a suceder a ti tambien...
Te cuento que en Chile cuando llueve todo se paraliza.Consejo, hazte amiga de las personas a cargo delcentro de Recursos de Empleos, pues de alli se sacan cantidad de referencias, yo saco referencias para los misioneros de toda mi mision 4 y 5 por dia de las personas que van en busca de empleo y eso ha sido de gran ayuda... prueba o consulta con tu presidente de Mision o tus lideres, pues aca trabaja..

Animo mi nina que lo estas haciendo muy bien, me siento muy orgullosa de ti, pero mi Padre, mucho mas que yo.

Te quiero y cuidate

Hna Rodriguez

On May 28, 2013 3:24 PM, "Gladys Ibarra" <gladys.ibarra@myldsmail.net> wrote:

You´re all probably wondering what in the world is up with the title for my e-mail this week, don´t worry I´ll explain later on in this e-mail...cliff hanger...dun dun dun...This monday we had interviews with the mission president Pdt. Essig and what a blessing that was. He is such an inspired man and knew exactly what was troubling me and exactly what to say to give me the comfort that I so desperately was seeking. He cares so much about all the missionaries and their well-being and not only takes the time to listen, but to write down the most important details of our interviews and truly loves us. I am so grateful for his guidance and wisdom and for the daily sacrafices him and his wife make to serve us in any way possible. That being said, this week was cray! (But what week on the mission isn´t ?!) We had Capacitacion de Zona where we get together with all the missionaries in the stake of Los Andes to learn new things and pracitce techniques to get our converts in the water! It was fun to see all the new sisters in our zone, most of which came to Chile with me! One sister´s name was Hna. Dutson who started out her mission in Til-Til after I was transfered and she was able to update me on the branch and our investigators Kathy and Fransisco who finally got married and baptized last sunday!!! Also our recent convert Manuel who received the priesthood and is preparing to do baptisms in the temple, wow! I am so proud of them all and the progress they are making in the gospel! This week me and Hna. Dodds continued to work hard to find people to teach, we got into a lot of doors which was great, but the majority of the people either don´t understand our message of the restoration or don´t care enough to act upon it which is soooo frustrating!  But after weeks of prayer and searching we got a reference from the Elders in another ward, her name is Ingrid she´s 14 and super interested in learning more. This was the miracle me and Hna. Dodds had been praying for!!! We called her the next day to set an appt. but when we arrived only her mom was home. I asked if we could share something with her and she kindly let us in. We came to find out she (Doris) was baptized when she was 16 but hasn´t gone to church in years and remembers close to nothing. We began our lesson (as usual) with a hymn and a prayer and then expressed the love that heavenly father has for her and the special plan he has for her and her daughters life. Tears streamed down her face and there was such a powerful spirit in the room. I don´t think I´ve ever felt the spirit so strong in a lesson before. We shared with her the miracle of the restoration and gave her a book of mormon to remind her of the beautiful feelings she felt the day she decided to be baptized. Just as we were about to walk out the door Ingrid was coming in and we were able to meet her! She had her Book of Mormon and pamphlets of the discussion in her backpack and was eager to know when would be our next visit, we have an appointment with her today and will be inviting her to be baptized the end of June :) Another miracle we saw this week was when we went to go contact a reference someone gave us. No one was home and I felt we should knock on the door in front. A 15 year old boy came to the door and said no one was home but his 16 year old sister. I asked if we could meet her and when she came I asked if we could share a message with her. Hna. Dodds gave me a puzzled look but went with the flow as I began to ask Anabel about her life. She´s a 16 year old teen mom who is originally from Argentina. She has a lot of faith in God but doesn´t practice any religion in specific. We taught her about the restoration and asked if she had ever asked herself which of all the churches is true. At this point of the lesson most people say no and it totally kills our transition into Joseph Smith, but she said YES! She said she´s always had that doubt, that she´s gone to many churches and studied with Jehova´s Witnesses and never felt satisfied with anything. We tried not to jump uot of our seats as we talked about Joseph Smith´s search for the truth and testified to her the miracle of the restoration. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes! We´ll be seeing her today also and will need to work a bit with her because she lives with her baby-daddy. This sunday was one of the most uplifting I´ve had in the mission. It all started at church when Javier our recent convert passed the sacrament for the 1st time. The 2nd counselor Hno. Victor Vargas gave him a suit and I was just so proud of him that I couldn´t help but smile all during the Santa Cena. Later that sunday his little sister Camila was baptized after threats from her father that he´d never see her again if she did risking the possibility of it happening. But she did it all on her own, no one forced her or made her, she simply told us it didn´t matter, that she knew she has to be baptized and it was amazing to see such a little girl with such a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ. And now for the explination of this weeks title!!! We had an FHE prepared for the branch to present the Branch Mission plan and to help the members help us in the work so they can get their chapel built. As we arrived from the interviews from president it was raining like crazy!!! The streets were literally rivers of brown water and by the time we got to the chapel we were cold and wet and sopping. It was 30 minutes until the activity was about to start, we had already passed out the invitations on sunday and all that was left was to set up a scavanger hunt we had around the chapel to make it fun. Eventually 7:00 came and no one was there and the rain didn´t stop, 7:15 still pouring, 7:30, and someone walks in, it was Hno. Victor our biggest ally and advocate in the branch. We sat around the gas heaters drying our feet and clothes as we told him we were just going to leave an find someone to teach with defeat written all over our faces. He said "wait, what did you come here for?!" and we said "FHE" and he said "Lets have FHE then!" he made us prepare a spiritual thought while he ran for treats in the rain. When he came back, we started with a song and a prayer and Hna. Cottle and I shared scriptures and spiritual experiences about how the Lord builds us up through trials. Hno. Victor shared a personal experience as well and by the end of it all we were all in tears. We knelt in humble prayer thanking the lord for the spirit we felt that night and the spirit testified to our hearts the truth of our words and the purpose of our sacrifices and moments of dissapointment on that rainy day, in an old leaky chapel, soaking wet, with 5 missionaries and 1 member in an empty chapel. A sweet spirit was felt, and although we don´t always have the members support I know our efforts don´t go unnoticed because the lord is always looking down on us. 

Keep writing me and sending me dear elders as you travel and have fun this summer! I truly need your words of advice and encouragment if I´m to get along in this great work. Your prayers are always appreciated and I pray for you all in return. Until next week!!!

Hna. Ibarra

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The church isn´t true when it rains...

You´re all probably wondering what in the world is up with the title for my e-mail this week, don´t worry I´ll explain later on in this e-mail...cliff hanger...dun dun dun...This monday we had interviews with the mission president Pdt. Essig and what a blessing that was. He is such an inspired man and knew exactly what was troubling me and exactly what to say to give me the comfort that I so desperately was seeking. He cares so much about all the missionaries and their well-being and not only takes the time to listen, but to write down the most important details of our interviews and truly loves us. I am so grateful for his guidance and wisdom and for the daily sacrafices him and his wife make to serve us in any way possible. That being said, this week was cray! (But what week on the mission isn´t ?!) We had Capacitacion de Zona where we get together with all the missionaries in the stake of Los Andes to learn new things and pracitce techniques to get our converts in the water! It was fun to see all the new sisters in our zone, most of which came to Chile with me! One sister´s name was Hna. Dutson who started out her mission in Til-Til after I was transfered and she was able to update me on the branch and our investigators Kathy and Fransisco who finally got married and baptized last sunday!!! Also our recent convert Manuel who received the priesthood and is preparing to do baptisms in the temple, wow! I am so proud of them all and the progress they are making in the gospel! This week me and Hna. Dodds continued to work hard to find people to teach, we got into a lot of doors which was great, but the majority of the people either don´t understand our message of the restoration or don´t care enough to act upon it which is soooo frustrating!  But after weeks of prayer and searching we got a reference from the Elders in another ward, her name is Ingrid she´s 14 and super interested in learning more. This was the miracle me and Hna. Dodds had been praying for!!! We called her the next day to set an appt. but when we arrived only her mom was home. I asked if we could share something with her and she kindly let us in. We came to find out she (Doris) was baptized when she was 16 but hasn´t gone to church in years and remembers close to nothing. We began our lesson (as usual) with a hymn and a prayer and then expressed the love that heavenly father has for her and the special plan he has for her and her daughters life. Tears streamed down her face and there was such a powerful spirit in the room. I don´t think I´ve ever felt the spirit so strong in a lesson before. We shared with her the miracle of the restoration and gave her a book of mormon to remind her of the beautiful feelings she felt the day she decided to be baptized. Just as we were about to walk out the door Ingrid was coming in and we were able to meet her! She had her Book of Mormon and pamphlets of the discussion in her backpack and was eager to know when would be our next visit, we have an appointment with her today and will be inviting her to be baptized the end of June :) Another miracle we saw this week was when we went to go contact a reference someone gave us. No one was home and I felt we should knock on the door in front. A 15 year old boy came to the door and said no one was home but his 16 year old sister. I asked if we could meet her and when she came I asked if we could share a message with her. Hna. Dodds gave me a puzzled look but went with the flow as I began to ask Anabel about her life. She´s a 16 year old teen mom who is originally from Argentina. She has a lot of faith in God but doesn´t practice any religion in specific. We taught her about the restoration and asked if she had ever asked herself which of all the churches is true. At this point of the lesson most people say no and it totally kills our transition into Joseph Smith, but she said YES! She said she´s always had that doubt, that she´s gone to many churches and studied with Jehova´s Witnesses and never felt satisfied with anything. We tried not to jump uot of our seats as we talked about Joseph Smith´s search for the truth and testified to her the miracle of the restoration. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes! We´ll be seeing her today also and will need to work a bit with her because she lives with her baby-daddy. This sunday was one of the most uplifting I´ve had in the mission. It all started at church when Javier our recent convert passed the sacrament for the 1st time. The 2nd counselor Hno. Victor Vargas gave him a suit and I was just so proud of him that I couldn´t help but smile all during the Santa Cena. Later that sunday his little sister Camila was baptized after threats from her father that he´d never see her again if she did risking the possibility of it happening. But she did it all on her own, no one forced her or made her, she simply told us it didn´t matter, that she knew she has to be baptized and it was amazing to see such a little girl with such a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ. And now for the explination of this weeks title!!! We had an FHE prepared for the branch to present the Branch Mission plan and to help the members help us in the work so they can get their chapel built. As we arrived from the interviews from president it was raining like crazy!!! The streets were literally rivers of brown water and by the time we got to the chapel we were cold and wet and sopping. It was 30 minutes until the activity was about to start, we had already passed out the invitations on sunday and all that was left was to set up a scavanger hunt we had around the chapel to make it fun. Eventually 7:00 came and no one was there and the rain didn´t stop, 7:15 still pouring, 7:30, and someone walks in, it was Hno. Victor our biggest ally and advocate in the branch. We sat around the gas heaters drying our feet and clothes as we told him we were just going to leave an find someone to teach with defeat written all over our faces. He said "wait, what did you come here for?!" and we said "FHE" and he said "Lets have FHE then!" he made us prepare a spiritual thought while he ran for treats in the rain. When he came back, we started with a song and a prayer and Hna. Cottle and I shared scriptures and spiritual experiences about how the Lord builds us up through trials. Hno. Victor shared a personal experience as well and by the end of it all we were all in tears. We knelt in humble prayer thanking the lord for the spirit we felt that night and the spirit testified to our hearts the truth of our words and the purpose of our sacrifices and moments of dissapointment on that rainy day, in an old leaky chapel, soaking wet, with 5 missionaries and 1 member in an empty chapel. A sweet spirit was felt, and although we don´t always have the members support I know our efforts don´t go unnoticed because the lord is always looking down on us. 

Keep writing me and sending me dear elders as you travel and have fun this summer! I truly need your words of advice and encouragment if I´m to get along in this great work. Your prayers are always appreciated and I pray for you all in return. Until next week!!!

Hna. Ibarra

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The joys of training!

Man does time fly, I can´t believe we´re on our 3rd week of the transfer! Things have been giong great in Santa Maria, we taught 17 new people this week! But none of which accepted the invitation to be baptized. However we´ve been working hard and found some hopefuls and have appointments with them this week. Training has been the most humbling experience of the mission so far. All of my flaws, weaknesses, and mistakes are just magnified and it´s helping me learn a lot, to be an example to my companion at all times and to work and be the best missionary I can be. I know if the Lord has given me this calling it´s to continue to stretch me and help me progress and mold me into the woman I need to become. Something I like that I learned this week is that in the topical guide of the scriptures the definition for humility is to be "moldeable" or moldable. My companion Hna. Dodds is the best! She is so positive, has a lot of energy and hasn´t cried once (which is common for a sister missionaries 1st week)! She is so strong and such an example to me, I want to be more like her :) Also last tuesday I gave the "EDPER Historico" or historic district meeting becuase I was the 1st sister missionary to teach in district meeting in the whole mission! It went well, I taught how to work with members and our maps and everyone liked it and learned a lot. What more can I say about this week? We´ve been working hard and trying to find new investigators, fall is upon is and it gets pretty cold at night, I´m in a coat and scarf and ear warmers and the leaves are all changing colors which is weird because it´s May!!! Trippyyyyyyy! Mission life is great, and when something exciting happens I´ll let you all know in my next e-mail.

Love you all! Send me letters and pics and uplifting and funny stories to help me along :)

Peace & Blessings,

Hna. Ibarra

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3 months out, 1/6 of the mission in!

It´s kinda funny to have to write you guys after talking to you all on skype, but I am so grateful for technology and that I was able to see all of your beautiful faces without any glitches or bad connections. Me and my old companion Hna. Cottle were laughing at the fact that we skype our families just to see eachother cry over the computer hahaha I´m sorry for the emotional wreck I was, I really was just so happy to see and talk to you guys! So don´t be fooled, they were tears of joy and I am loving being in Chile so much and the experiences I´m gaining here, they are changing my life forever. This tuesday was exciting because we got to go to Santiago to pick up our greenie missionaries that we we´re going to train!!! As they walk into the chapel the trainers are all standing and singing Llamados a Servir and it is such a special moment to see their faces light up and their hearts race as we stare into eachother´s faces and think "one of you is going to be my companion" The mission president first calls out the name of the trainer and then the name of the trainee. He called my name last and it wasn´t that big of a surprise that I´d be training the only gringa missionary who came in the bunch, Hna. Dodds, who crazily enough I know from facebook!!! We gave eachother the biggest hug and sat together and began to talk about how small the mormon world is and how excited we we´re to be together! As a trainer I´m conscious of every little thing I do now, which is great because it makes me want to be the best missionary I can because I know that Hna. Dodds will copy everything I do and that how I train will have a lasting effect on the rest of her mission...no pressure! We split the area of Santa Maria and are working on the other side of town where we only had 1 investigator who wasn´t progressing so once again I am opening a new area this transfer and we´re starting from zero. Thank goodness I´ve done it twice before and have a good grasp on how to do it, but it´s still challenging. It seems like everyone we´ve contacted on the street has been totally psycho and against the mormons, we got yelled at and had doors slammed in our faces a couple times which is always fun, some lady gave us the excuse that she had a sick dog to attend to and couldn´t invite us in hahaha! Me and Hna. Dodd´s just laughed! But we did find a couple good contacts and hopefully we´ll have some luck there. This week we´ve been working on getting our maps and directories organized which was the 1st thing the spirit told me to do in order for us to work efficiently. Then thursday our District Leader Elder Chung (from peru) called me and said that with much prayer and fasting he´s felt prompted to have me give the EDPER (enseñar,demostrar,practicar,evaluar,repracticar) in District Meeting tuesday and that it´s going to be historic because I´m going to be the 1st sister missionary to teach a district meeting in the history of the mission!!! WHAAA!!! No pressure, I´m only peeing in my pants, haha but I´m sure it´ll all turn out great and I´ve been preparing all week so pray for me that it all turns out well. As I continue making history in the Chile Santiago North mission I realize the special plans and purposes the Lord has for me here. I was born on January 28th 1992 so that in February 13th 2013 I could serve a mission in Santiago Chile and touch the lives of Manuel Ortiz, Javier Lopez and many more of my brothers and sisters in spirit that I will teach the everlasting gospel to and lead into the waters of baptism. How marvelous is my calling! I hope to live upto my leader´s, mission president´s and the Lord´s expectations everyday and pray that he can forgive me in my moments of weakness when I want to give up and give in. I love you all and pray for you daily, I know that my being here is also blessing my family in ways I can´t understand or know of. I love you all, and another Happy Mother´s day shout out to my mom, sister, and sister-in-law Nahomi since I couldn´t really speak over skype yesterday cause I was too busy crying like a baby lol. Love you all!!! Write me letters and send me pics :)

Hna. Gladys Ibarra

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Javier´s baptism!

This week was so amazing! It was the last of the transfer and so we were awaiting anxiously the dreaded phone call saturday night to hear where we´d be going, I was in the shower when the call came and ran out in my towel to hear the news, I was leaving to La Marcoleta which in El Centro aka downtown Santiago! WOW! I couldn´t believe it, I thought fersure I´d be staying in Santa Maria! I soaked in the news as I changed and then a second phone call came, that Hna. Cottle will be training a greenie from the MTC and so would I!!!! WHAT?! I was to open the sector in Marcoleta for me and a greenie missionary from the MTC and train, holy cow, I tried not to pass out and a million thoughts rushed into my head, but I´ve opened areas every transfer, it´s hard, but I got the jist of it. About a half hour later a call from President Essig came for me, he said that he decided I will be staying in Santa Maria, but will still be training. He said that they have never in the history of the mission asked someone with so little time out (almost 3 months) to train, but that the Lord needs me to train this transfer "Will you do it?!" he asked, how could I say no?! Our whole zone is freaking out about the news, I later got calls from my district and zone leaders who were all confident in my abilities and said they knew I was ready. I´ve been praying a lot these past couple days for me and my trainee who is most likely flying to Chile as I type this e-mail. I pray I can develop attributes of humility and patience and that I can lead her with my example, I pray that we´ll get along and not have conflicting personalities, I pray that we´ll be able to work with the spirit and together bring the light of the gospel to those who are prepared and waiting for it. So family and friends, wish me luck and pray that I don´t blow it! I´m confident in my abilities, but also am aware that I´m not a perfect missionary and have a lot to learn, but if the Lord has put his confidence in me to train a new missionary (which our mission president said that with the huge influx of missionaries coming in that training is the most important calling in the mission, more so than being a zone or district leader) that it´s for a reason and I feel so honored that he´s entrusted me to train so soon. Besides breaking records in the mission we had the baptism of Javier this sunday, which is always a special experience. Our "casa capilla" doesn´t have a font so we had to all take the bus to the stake center in San Felipe to do the deed. Meanwhile the font was filling up (because our branch mission leader has no clue what he´s doing and forgot) we took Javier´s neighbors who aren´t members on a tour of the chapel. You best believe I went into tour guide mode and am definitely missing my golf cart days!!!  While I was explaining the classrooms and what we do after sacrament meeting Luz, the mom, said "Permiso, puedo decir algo?!" I let her speak and she said "Anoche yo soñe que yo estaba aqui y que usted me estaba explicando todo esto." An incredible spirit filled the room and I tried to hold back my tears infront of this stranger all I could say was "en serio?" and she nodded and said yes, I dreamed about you. It was such a special experience, and it truly testified to me that the Lord has prepared and is preparing chosen people for me to meet and touch their lives. She even asked how long the process is before someone can be baptized! Hopefully we can see her progress in the gospel and help her enter the waters of baptism. Well family, it has been a week of mayhem and miracles, but as always I´m grateful for this opportunity I have to be an instrument in the Lord´s hands and to see his tender mercy´s in my life and the life of those I meet daily. Today as I prayed for guidance as I train this transfer the Lord answered me in D&C 67:10, the Lord hears our pleadings and is watching over us at all times, It´s so beautiful to feel his presence in my life daily as a missionary, and He can do the same for you :)

Prayers your way,

Hna. Gladys Ibarra

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¡Sacándonos la mugre!

In chile when someone says that their "sacándose la mugre" it means their working super hard, and that´s exactly what me and Hna. Cottle have been doing this week! This week still had it´s challenges, we were able to return to our apartment and leave injured Hna. Casique at the house of a member so me and Hna.Cottle could go out and work, but about an hour later she called us to come back cause she felt horrible, she took the wrong medication and was shivering and throwing up, and as I helped her out of the bathroom she fainted on top of me, it was totally crazy, I thought we we´re going to have to call an ambulance or something, but we layed her down in the bed and she knocked out the rest of the day. The next day Hna. Jhonson from another area called San Felipe who was sick with the flu came to stay with her and then Hna. Cottle got the stomach flu and was throwing up, but she really wanted to work so we went out and while making some copies of our progress reports for our meeting with the branch mission leader she felt super light headed and couldn´t even ride her bike. So I insisted we go home and she slept from 5pm until the next morning at 7:30 am. So instead of being Hermana Ibarra missionary extrordinaire saving souls one house at a time, I was nurse Gladys stuck at home with 3 sick sister missionaries, oi vay! It was totally crazy, but it did give me a lot of time to write letters :D The next couple days Hna. Jhonson & Casique left for San Felipe to be closer to the doctors and me and Hna. Cottle have been able to work the hardest we ever have this whole transfer now that Hna. Casique isn´t holding us back. We love her to death don´t get us wrong, the Lord has helped us develop patience and compassion with her, but she still has a lot to learn about missionary life and it´s been hard but we´ve been trying to teach her by example. Even though we had all these crazy challenges the Lord blessed us this sunday with 3 invetsigators at church and this week we invited 3 more people to be baptized who all accepted to do so this month!!! We also found a wonderful family who is already married (FINALLY!) and the husband has drug problems and he saw how a close friend of his completely turned his life around with the gospel and is curious to learn more about how it can be possible for him. His wife seems less interested but I know that this is their shinning moment, he accepted to be baptized and keep meeting with us and he said that he didn´t know why he let us in his house, that he always rejects the people out on the street evangelizing, but that there´s something different about us and he is curious about the Book of Mormon. That was the greatest blessing this week! Something I learned a lot this week is that sometimes as a missionary I feel like I can conquer the world, I wake up with so much motivation and energy to teach the gospel and change peoples lives, I see all the wonderful talents the Lord has blessed me with and how so many events in my life have prepared me for this moment, but other days I go out and feel overwhelmed by our investigators who don´t progress, who don´t understand what we´re teaching them, who have so many personal problems I´ve never experienced, and I see how small the branch is and how much help they need to continue going strong so that they can have their chapel built, and at those times I feel like the dust of the earth, to lowly and piuny to help anyone and make a difference. But this week while I was studying my scriptures in the morning I came across Jacob 4:6-7 (I started reading the BOM again from the beginning and am learning so much!) and these verses just pricked my heart and the Lord explained to me why I have to go through these up´s and downs. He´s given me power and authority to command people in the name of Jesus Christ to act,show their faith, and be baptized, but at the same time he gives me experiences that humble me, that I may know that it is only through Him that I can make these miracles happen and not by my talents or knowledge of the gospel. What a beautiful thing it is to be a humble servant of the Lord at this time. I´ve learned more these 2 months than any EFY, girls camp, or sunday at church combined. The Lord is molding me to be a Gladys I didn´t even know I could be. Before the mission I knew with all my heart that I not only wanted this experince, but that I needed it, and I didn´t know why, but now I understand the why. My patriarchal blessing tells me that I have the potential to become an elect lady, and I never understood that, I thought I already was elect that I was living the gospel and doing everything I possibly could to be a righteous person, but I never could have imagined how much potential was still left in me until now. The Lord has big plans for me, he´s promised me that I´ll be an instrument in his hands and I am allowing Him to mold me and change me into that elect lady he knows I can be, so that I can be an amazing wife, mother, and magnify my callings in church and help serve all those around me. In summation, the mission is challenging, but oh so rewarding, and I love it :)

Prayers your way,

Hna. Gladys Ibarra

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Stumbling stones

This week has been literally insane, full of ups and downs. The ups- we are focusing on a sector and the lord has blessed us with some future investigators that seem promising, we did a lot of service this week helping a sister who´s inactive daughter moved in and we´re teaching her kids Camila and Javier who will be baptized in May, Javier is progressing but Camila has had every excuse not to come to church...ugh. We also got a lot of things organized as faras maps of our area go, we drafted a branch mission plan and trained our branch mission leader in his calling so he can better help us. We also had a zone conference thursday and it was THE BOMB! So much fun to hear the new updates for the mission from President Essig who recently went to a big mission president counsel in Buenos Aires, they are making a lot of changes to the mission with the increase in missionaries and particlarly sisters. We had 169 missionaries in the mission when President Essig started and now we have 240, almost 100 more! They´re also gonna have sister District leaders that are going to be in charge of all the sisters which will be cool. The zone conference was also awesome case we played a ton of fun games, got to socialize with all the other missionaries (cause we barely see eachother) and they had a really nice lunch for us, it was like dinning at a 5 star restaurant, sooo nice of them, they really take care of us! We also had a lot of less active members we´ve been visiting come to church this sunday and we were so happy about that! And the biggest blessing of all was that an investigator came to church who we´ve never even met or seen, he simply walked in and said he was led by the spirit of God, how incredible! He doesn´t live in the sector we´re focusing on, but we are definitely going to go teach him and baptize his whole family! We also got to speakin sacrament meeting yesterday, I was an emotional mess. If the mission has done one thing for me so far I´d have to say that it´s softened my heart. People who know me know I don´t like crying and try to hold it in, but in the mission I seriously can´t control it, the spirit pricks my heart and the tears start flowing, but I think it´s a good thing and something I needed to learn and be humble about. My message touched the hearts of the congregation and high councilman that was present, I shared my experience about the branch I was in back home and how I was only a mere spectator to the missionry work there and not a participant and that with time my branch as closed.Now they seem more eager to help us in missionary wor so they can have their chapel built, they need 15 more priesthood holders! So now the downs- most of our appointments fell through, no one came to our english class, our numbers we´re low this week and even though we´ve been working hard at the same time I´ve felt unproductive and like we haven´t been teaching a lot and it was frustrating. Me and Hermana Cottle have a lot of energy and are eager to teach and I´ve felt like Hermana Casique hold us back sometimes because she works at a slower pace, but I´ve been learning to teach by example and be patient. This week we have had several stumbling stones as you can see and some have been quite literal. Hermana Cottle ran over a loose rock and jumped off her bike thankfully nothing bad happened. I fell off my bike, flew off I guess is a better description because it was dark and I didn´t see a speed bumb and was trying to grab my planner and drive with one hand. I landed on my shoulder and had pretty bad whip lash, my shoulder kills sometimes and I´ve just been stretching it and puting some icy hot on it, I scratched up my knee a bit and have a hue bruise but I´m mostly fine, luckily I had my helmet on cause I stratched it up, that could´ve been my head! But Hermana Casique takes the cake, yesterday biking to ward council we were bookin it through a dirt road and her bike slid and she flew off and landed on her knees, she totally biffed it and was bleeding everywhere! Next thing we knew the whole ward council was outside trying to help her and we took her to the stake president house who is a surgeon. So we´re chillin in his mansion for a couple days while he treats her wound, she might need stitches on a knee the other one is scratched up and bruised. She cried a lot and we all felt her pain, so please pray for her so she can recover quickly. I was frustrated at first because I knew this meant we wouldn´t be able to work not that we´ve got one man down, we´re hoping arrangments can be made so that me and hermana cottle can get back to santa maria, but for now we´re here living the good life, his house is huge and super nice and they have been so hospitable towards us. But part of me feels guilty because I want to be out working and sweating and bringing more souls to the Lord! Pray for the three of us and I´m sure the Lord has a plan and purpose for all of this.

Luke 4:11

Peace & Blessings

Hna. Ibarra

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