Monday, March 26, 2012

Week 9 in Chile - 03/26/2012

CAMBIO 2 SEMANNA 3
 
Place: Hualqui y Tierra Bella
Companions: Hermana SaƱchez y Hermana Brennan
Date: 26/03/2012
 
Hola Mi Familia!
 
      ¿Como estan? I hope all of you are continuing to do really well! Things here are going pretty good, there have definitly been some ups and downs this week that I´m really not too excited, first Carlos wasn´t able to be baptized this week because Elder Tueller didn´t think he was completely ready, pero to be honest I had a feeling too that he needed to wait; so we are continuing to work with him and he has a baptismal fecha for the 7th of April! It really is amazing how repentance can change a person, and Carlos is doing well, on his process to changing.
 
      The only other thing that wasn´t well this week is that Hermana Carmona is going back home to Spain tomorrow. After all the many doctors appts. and tests and stuff to see if her foot would get better enough for her to stay, they found out that she has Osteoporosis! This is so crazy that a girl her age has Osteoporosis! But it is a blessing that she has found out that she has it and they can start taking care of it now. But again it is sad when someone who grows so close to you leaves, I think we all know how that feels, but that is the blessing of this gospel is that we can all be together again. So before she left I gave her my BYU shirt that I have, because she really loved it, and freak I live in Utah and she lives in Spain, so it is so much easier for me to get one, but she really loved it, and plus I really didn´t care if I have a BYU or UofU shirt I only got it because I was in the CCM which is on the BYU campas! ;) haha oh and by the way she baptized me this week, apostasia! I was in bed and she started spraying me with water! Freak, all I can say it is woke me up quick! I´m really going to miss her baptisms! But we both know that this is the will of the Lord that she needs to go home, and we have promised to keep in touch, so it is all good! :) So for the next three weeks I´m going to be in a trio with Hna. Sanchez and Hna. Kraemer, and then after we will see what happens with Cambios.
 
     But other than that things are going well here. We continue to meet really wonderful people, and our investigators are doing really well, We have the posibility of four baptisms this coming 7th of April. Louis y Adrianna, Carlos, and Elizabeth, So hopefully they will all be able to be baptized. That would be awesome! Elizabeth though we are working with her, to see the importance of coming to church every week, but other than that she is doing well! We have been working really hard this week, and we will continue to be working really hard as always! So continue to pray for us that we can continue to find people and help people progress. 
 
     So as you probably have seen from the top, I was in Tierra Bella again this week for a mini cambio, and was with Hna. Brennan again! It was really fun, but I thought my legs were going to fall off by the end of the day because we pretty much spent the whole day walking around because either the citas fell or no one would let us in, we only taught 3 lessons the entire day, but hey sometimes that is how it goes. But the whole time I had with her was great! She is so amazing! Haha we have a feeling that there is a high possibility that we will be companions before our mission is up because she only has two cambios more than I do, so we are both pretty new. Oh for one thing I can say, and I don´t remember if I told you this last week, but I really am beginning to hate perros! Unless they are mine, or a little puppy, I really don´t like them because they are always barking at us or this week Hna. Sanchez nearly got bit by one, it is really crazy, I´m just praying I don´t get bit, but there are so many here, and we are doing our best to avoid them. 
 
    Haha I hope you all are excited for General Conference!! Because I can tell you I am!! Here for the missionarys it is like counting down to the Super Bowl! But I invite all of you to watch it this week, because I know that there is going to be amazing words spoken this week that will bless each of our lives! 
 
    Well that is pretty much it for this week I really can´t think of much more to say, oh I uploaded so more pictures, there aren´t too many this week, I really haven´t had too much time to take pics. but I will take more this week. Remember how much I love all of you, and that my prayers are always with you. Please take care, and I will have more adventures from Hualqui, next week! 
 
    Con Amor, Siempre, y Para Toda La Eternidad,
 
      Hermana Aubrey Jo England

Monday, March 19, 2012

Week 8 in Chile - 03/19/2012

CAMBIO 2 SEMANNA 2
 
Place: Hualqui
Companion: Hermana Sanchez
Date: 19/03/2012
 
Hola Mi Familia!
 
      How are all of you doing this wonderful dia? I hope that things are going really well! First off just heads up on a few things, first no pictures this week because I am in a computer place again here in Hualqui, but I´ll upload them next week, and two this letter is going to be somewhat short because I don´t have much time to write, because we have to get back to the house really soon to change back into our missionary clothes. Pero today was really fun! Our whole zone (minus Hna. Kraemer and Hna. Carmona because they had a dr. appt.) went up to Tome and we played soccer one the beach right next to the ocean, it was so beautiful! Hermana Sanchez and I took some really nice pictures too, pero it was really fun, we played, and ate, and played some more. Haha something really funny though is I was taking a picture of Hna. Sanchez and a huge wave came in and I couldn´t move fully out of the way in time, because a perro was behind me so my whole right shoe got soaked with water! I promise I wasn´t trying to swim! :) I did my best to get out of the way, but alas there was no hope for my right foot. :)
 
    Things have been going pretty good with our investigators! We have found some pretty good people this week, especially yesterday we met a lady named Fidelina, she is really nice, she actually make her own chocolates and when we saw her yesterday she was in the process of making some chocolate bunnies, they were really cute. But she was accepting to the message that we had for her, we taught her about faith, repentance and baptism, and then we share a scripture with her, and catch this, she didn´t know the scipture that we share with her, because is was in the LDM, and so when she asked what scripture it was, we explained to her about the LDM and how it is and Otra Testamento De JesuCristo, and she seemed pretty intersted in the book, so we gave her a copy and a part for her to read, which she said she would! So this will be exciting to see how things work out this week! I´m excited to teach her! Well We were suppose to have a baptism this coming Saturday for Carlos, but now I don´t know if we will, because just yesterday he confessed to us that he has been seeing someone other than his wife, entonces we are in the process of working with him and trying to help him fix things in his life, so I don´t know if it will be this saturday or later, but we are going to see what happens, I´m just glad he told us now instead the day of the baptism or not tell us, because I have heard stories where that has happened to, which is sad.
 
  Well things are going well in our home, not too much too exciting, scratch that, we did have a mission conference this week, which was a lot of fun, and I learn a lot of things, oh and guess who had to get another freaking shot, that´s right me! Another flu shot, I tried my best to get out of it, by telling the dr. that I had one not that long ago in Oct. but he asked where, I told him the U.S. and he told me well you´re in Chile, you need this one, WHAP! ouch! actually it didn´t hurt too bad, but my arm was sore for about a day, haha welcome to Chile! :) Oh one more thing so offically I am "8 years old" mission wise, and we all know that 8 years old is the age of accountability right? and what else happens when you turn 8 for those who are members of this church, one word, Baptism! I´m am so scared right now because I think Hna. Carmona is planning something and hasn´t said a word which scares me even more, I guess one good thing is I can run right now, and she really can´t because of her ankle, but we´ll have to see what happenes this week, please pray for me! haha I really don´t know what she is thinking! :)
 
   Well that is about it for this week, I have to get going here, because we need to go change out of our jeans about back into our missionary clothes, Remember how much I love you all, which is so much! You all are so amazing  and thank you so much for all of your letters and love! Know that my prayers are always with all of you, and I think about you all the time! Please take care, and I promise to have more adventures next week! Take Care!
 
Con Amor, Siempre, y Para Toda La Eternidad,
Hermana Aubrey Jo England

Monday, March 12, 2012

Week 7 in Chile - 02/12/2012

CAMBIO 2, SEMANA 1
 
Place: Hualqui
Companion: Hermana Sanchez
Date: 12/03/2012
 
Buenas Tardes Mi Familia,
       How is everyone doing? I hope everything has been going well! Things here this week are going great! Good news! MARYORY SE BAUTIZO!! Woohoo! I uploaded the pictures from the last two weeks, and there are pictures from the baptism as well. Her baptism was really great and she really enjoyed all of it! I actually played the piano for her baptism, we needed a special musical number, and we hadn´t practiced a hymn like we usually do in the morning, so thankfully I had the music for the song "The Power of His Love" in my scriptures and I was able to play that for her, and they whole congregation loved it, it really brought the Spirit very strong before the baptism. The whole thing was amazing! Just like every baptism is! 
      We are continuing to teach the same amazing people, we are preparing Carlos and also Elizabeth (Jeremy´s mom) for their baptism on the 24, and they both are continuing to do very well with everything! We are also still teaching Adrianna y Louis, who are doing great! They are so receptive to everything we teach them, and are willing to do the commitments that we leave them, they are gold! Then there is Maria y Cristen that we have been teaching for the past few weeks, we were only able to see Maria this week, but oh boy this lady is pregnant, she is due any day she is that pregnant. She was due around the second of March and we didn´t go to see her last week cause we thought we was going to have the baby, but when we went to go see her this week, she still hadn´t had the baby! You can see the baby kick and move around and I was at least 10 feet away from Maria! We are hoping that she has the baby this week because she is definitly due! But we have asked Hna. Erica to help her, who works in a hospital her in Chile, and she has her number and everything, but please pray for Maria that she can have the baby this week and that everything will go well. But there are many wonderful people here, and we continue to find more people each and every day! :) So there is this really cute little girl named Antonnella, this is a different Antonnella, this is the daughter of one of our ward memebers, there are some pics. of her, but we love playing together, and on Mon. we had a Noche de Hogar with them, and she drew a picture of a house for me, and told me it was my house at home, and she also wrote her name and drew a little heart, and told me that the picture was "con amor" from her, but here is the cutest part, she asked if looked like my house at home and I told her yeah it looks a little bit like my house, and I showed her the pic. I have in my scriptures of you guys, then before I put her picture in my scriptures, she told me to wait, and then took the pic, she handed it back to me, and I saw another heart, and this is what she told me, the other heart was "con amor" for all of you! Isn´t that so cute! I love her and just letting you know she loves all of you! :)
      Things are going well with all of us in the house. Hermana Carmona has been sick this week, on top of her ankle, which hasn´t been fun for her, on Saturday I stayed home with her for a few hours while Hermanas Kraemer and Sanchez went out to teach, haha I was ironing the baptismal clothes and listening to music, and let´s just say Hna. Carmona likes a lot of the songs from the singles ward! :) Probably cause she hasn´t hear them before, and she liked the upbeat hymns, especially because it had her favorite hymn "Come, Come Ye Saints" But after I was done ironing I was sitting there studying, and Hna Carmona asked if I knew any jokes, so I told her quite a few and she really loved it, she loved it so much that she keeps asking me for jokes and I have to really think hard of all the ones I know, so if you know any please, help, cause I´m running out! :) Oh so Hnas Carmona and Sanchez have hit their nine month mark in the mission! haha so they drew a sign, grabbed a couple of the pillows from the couch and took a pictures as if they were pregnant! :) These two are crazy but I love them and I thought it was really funny! :) Oh something really cool, since I have gotten here, I have lost 7 kilos! (Mas o Menos 14 lbs.) haha lets just say the Hermanas keep asking me how I did it, and to tell you the honest to goodness truth I have no idea, I haven´t really been doing anything special. But we have been talking it out and we think this is why, so I get my cardio by chasing after Hna. Sanchez cause she walks super fast! and also playing with the little kids in the ward. Then I get my muscular work out by again chasing after Hna. Sanchez but you have to remember I have a 15 or 20 lb. backpack, and then there was the fact that last week I had to boot Hna. Sanchez over a 9 foot gate, because we forgot our keys! :) Again I really am not doing any special, but I´m not complaining! :) this week though Hna. Kraemer and I are going to start running though! So wish us luck, hopefully I won´t die! I´m not a runner, but this will be good, we are going to start slow and build up.
     Ok well before I end this letter, here comes the weekly spiritual thought from your favorite missionary! So this week I have been reading a lot about Christ and the Atonement, and we have also been teaching a lot about it this week too! but I would like to share with you something that I read in Elder Ballard´s book "Our Search For Happiness" (which just a side note, is a great book) but I would like to share a few things from this book that I marked, first a story and then a explaination by him:
     "I remember reading about a firefighter in the eastern United States who ran into a burning house to rescue several children from an arson-induced fire. While his colleagues battled the blaze to keep it from spreading to other structures in the neighborhood, this man dashed into the building again and again, each time emerging with a chiled in his arms. After rescuing the fifth child, he started back into the inferno once more. Neighbors shouted that there were no more children in the family. But he insisted that he had seen a baby in a cradle, and he dove into the intensifying heat. Moments after he disappeared into the fire and smoke, a horrifying explosion shook the building and the entire structure collapsed. It was several hours before firefighters were able to locate their colleague´s body. They found him in the nursery near a crib, huddled protectively over a life-sized -- and practically unscratched -- doll"
    "In a very real sense, all of humanity -- past, present and future -- was trapped behind a wall of flame that was fueled and fanned by our own faithlessness. Sin separated mortals from God and would do so forever unless a way was found to put out the fires of sin and rescue us from ourselves. The way would not be easy, for it required the vicarious sacrifice of One who was sinless and who was willing to pay the price of sin for all of humanity, now and forever. Thankfully, that most significant role was heroically played by Jesus Christ on two different stages in ancient Jerusalem. The first act was performed quietly, on bended knee in the Garden of Gethsemane. There in the quiet isolation of gnarled olive trees and sturdy boulders, and in some incredible way that none of us can fully comprehend the Savior took upon Himself the sins of the world. Even though His life was pure and free of sin, He paid the ultimate penalty for sin -- for your sins, my sins, and the sins of everyone who ever lived. His mental and emotional anguish were so great that it caused him to bleed from every pore. And yet He did it, willingly, so that we might all have the cleansing opportunity of repentance through faith in Jesus Christ, without which none of us would be worthy of entrance into God´s kingdom."
     "The second act was performed just hours later in the torture chambers of Jerusalem and on the cross at Calvary, where He endured the agony of inquisition, cruel beatings, and death by crucifixion. The Savior didn´t have to go through that. As the Son of God, He had the power to alter the situation in any number of ways. Yet He allowed Himself to be battered and abused, humiliated and executed, so that we could receive the priceless gift of immortality. The Atonement of Jesus Christ was an awful yet indispensable part of Heavenly Father´s plan for His Son´s earthly mission. Because Jesus died and then conquered death through His Resurrection, all of us will have the privilege of immortality. This gift is given freely through the loving grace of Jesus Christ to all people of al ages, regardless of their good or evil acts. And to those who choose to love the Lord and who show their love and faith in Him by keeping His commandments, the Atonement offers the additional promise of exaltation, or the privilege of living in the presence of God forever." 
    "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me. I tremble to know that for me he was crucified. That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died. Oh, it is wonderful, that he should care for me, Enough to die for me! Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!" 
     As I have been studying about this topic this week, my understanding of the Atonement and been strengthen, I don´t have a full understanding, and I don´t think I ever will, but it is stronger, and I´m very grateful for the sacrifice that has been given to me. Remember He has given each of us a piece of his heart and has a spot for each of us, what are we willing to do to show that we will give him a piece of ours back?
     Remember how much I love you all! And again I really hope things are going well for all of you and that you continue to have lots and lots of fun! :) Until next week, with more fun adventures!
Con Amor, Para Siempre, y Toda La Eternidad!
Hermana Aubrey Jo England

Monday, March 5, 2012

Week 6 in Chile - 03/05/2012

SEMANA 6 EN CHIGUAYANTE

Companions: Hermana Sanchez y Hermana Lopez
Place: Hualqui y Tierra Bella
Date: 5/3/2012


Hola Mi Familia!

         How are you all doing? I hope things are going well for you all. Oh just to inform you, I can´t upload pics this week, I´m in a
computer place here in Hualqui and it doesn´t have the card reader
like the one in Concepcion, so next week I´ll upload them. This week has gone really good, we have continued to meet really wonderful people, and teaching the same really amazing people as well. This week we met two wonderful people, Louis y Adriana, and they are really accepting to our message and they came to chruch with us yesterday and really enjoyed it, and we will be teaching them again tomorrow. One thing that was really funny was when we taught them a couple days ago at the end of the lesson with asked Louis if he would pray and we taught him how and after he was done saying the prayer, a little earthquake happened, it was very little, but it somewhat scared Adriana, but it was a little bit funny that is happened right after he was done praying though. Actually that happened twice this week, we were teaching Erica and as I was saying the prayer and little shake happened durante it. It is a little weird to have earthquakes but it isn´t too bad. I´m just hoping there isn´t another Teremoto, that is what they call the earthquake that happened here a few years ago, that is what i don´t want to happen, but I´m sure that we will be safe, again the Lord always watchs out for His missionaries.


      Another wonderful girl that we have been teaching is Malyori,
and she is doing great, she is actually going to be getting baptized
this Saturday! What is awesome is that she has gone to two years of
institute! She is so ready, and loves to learn! She is really amazing!
It was funny though yesterday there was a baptism for a little girl in
the ward, and we invited Malyori to stay and see what would be
happening this Saturday for her. We it came time for the baptism part, and we were sitting there and as the little girl was put under the
water, I hear a deep breath and I look at Malyori and her eyes are
really wide, and she looks at me and Hna. Sanchez and she was like
"you got to be kidding." There are a lot of people here who are afraid of water, and we found out that Malyori is one of them, but we were able to talk to her, and tell that everything would be fine, and it is just in and out, it would be really fast, and she seems to be ok with it now; I´m just glad we found this out before this saturday.
    What else, oh I had mini cambios again this week, I went to Tierra Bella again, but this time I was with Hna. Lopez, it was a lot of fun and i learned a lot from Hna. Lopez, and i have some good pictures too! But that is why we do mini cambios is to learn from other missionaries, and I have learned quite a lot which has helped me become even a better missionary. This week also is cambios; six weeks is up! oh my can you believe it! I´m not a baby anymore, haha I´m a toddler! ;) I have made it through my first cambio! and I´m officially 6 years old! :) We are still waiting to see if people are leaving from our district, but I´m pretty sure I have one more cambio with Hna. Sanchez, because she is still training me, but you never know, so we will see.
    Oh I got my hair cut today. It have been really hot here, so i
decided to go and get it cut, and lets just say it is a bit shorter
then I thought was going to be, it is about at my shoulders, at least
I can still put it in a pony tail to keep it out of my face when I
want to, but just barely, It is going to take a while to grow back,
but I have over a year! :) Hna. Sanchez says it make me look younger and more my age, I really don´t know what I looked like before, but whatever, esta bien! I´ll send you a pic. next week.


    So here in the mission, Hna. Sanchez teaches me Spanish and I
teach her English. But it is a lot of fun, we read this book I got
from the CCM that teaches us phrases in the PMG lessons, and we have also been reading out of the Book of Mormon together, she reads in English and I read in Spanish, and we correct eachother when we say something wrong, it has been a little slow because I read 2 verses then she reads 2 verses and we go back and forth, we are in 1 Nephi 4 but it has been worth it, we have been taught that if we want to learn a language, if you read the Book of Mormon in the language you want to learn you will find it much easier to learn it! It has been really fun a little by little we are getting better and better! :) But the other day we had daily planning at night after we got home and it was my turn to say the prayer after we were done planning, but before I started saying it, Hna. Sanchez asked me to say it in English, so she could hear how to say it, and here I am thinking to myself, sweet, I can do this! but I start saying the prayer and it was difficult for me to talk in English, i had a hard time not having the Spanish words coming out of my mouth, it was really funny. Kind of like the other day when we were reading in the Book of Mormon, she was reading and she asked me how to say the names of Laman and Lemual, and I sat there for a good minute, I could not for the life of me say Lemual in English, I kept saying it how you would in Spanish, it was hillarious, Hna. Sanchez kept laughing at me, but i finally said it after a minute, but it was really funny that I´m already having a hard time speaking English, I´m going to need help by the end when I get home if it is already starting like this! :)  But back on track, every once and a while I have her pray in English and she is doing really well! 


       The other Hermanas are doing pretty good, we continue to have
lots of fun! Hermana Carmona though hurt her foot again, she had
broken it about a month before I got here, and was on crutches at  the beggining of this cambio, then she was find, and then around wed. they went out to work and about five minutes later as Hna. Sanchez and I were sitting on the couch reading, Hna. Kraemer come throug the door carrying Hna. Carmona, we don´t know how it happened, but she sprained some of the muscles in her ankle. So it has been kind of hard this week, and she are hoping she doesn´t have to go, home because of this, that is the things we are waiting for with cambios! So please pray for her, she needs it, because she does not want to go home, none of us do!


      Well I think I am going to start ending this letter but before I
do, I want to leave you with something that I learned this week. So I
was reading in an Ensign that was laying around, and a talk to return
missionaries, by I think it was Elder Scott, but I can´t remember, but
there was a part that I really loved and I´m going to quote it but I´m
going to change it a bit and you´ll see why, because it is my message to you all this week; the quote is "While (all of you do) not wear the badge of a full time missionary (you all can) possess the same resolve and determination to bring the light of the gospel to a world struggling to find its way." I know with all my heart, and day by day I have had my testimony of members doing missionary work strengthened.  Like one lady with go out with twice, a week, Hna. Erica, she is so cute, she loves coming with us and she actually bought two new dresses so she could come out with us, but her testimony is so strong, and there are times where I know without a doubt her testimony is able to touch peoples where ours can´t. But this is my challenge to all of you this week, BE A MISSIONARY, BE A REPRESENTIVE OF THE SAVIOR, SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY! You don´t have to have a black name tag like I do to
share the gospel with someone! Invite someone to institute, to
seminary, to a mutal activity, invite someone to church, do your
visiting teaching and home teaching, if you see or know someone who is having a bad day, or someone who is in need of service, help them out, BE AN EXAMPLE OF THE BELIEVERS, IN THOUGHT, IN WORD, AND IN DEED! you don´t have to share your testimony by saying "I would like to bear by testimony..." Just share simple truths that you know, by your actions, and that is why I say be an example of the believers! There is another quote I recieved from Hna. Lopez this week, "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." (Leo Buscaglia) So this week, pray for the opportunity to share the gospel with someone, and I do not only know, but I promise all of you, that you will find someone that the Lord will put in your say to help, if you look for the opportunity. Remember you don´t have to have a black name tag, we are always missionaries!


      Well I´m going to end for now! Remember how much I love you all, and remember my prayers are always with each and every one of you! Thanks for your prayers of support, I have been able to feel them!  Until next week!

Con Amor Siempre y Para Toda La Eternidad,
Hermana Aubrey Jo England