My mission offering is that I use the Lords time wisely whether it is becoming better at the missionary schedule, or always studying the Gospel and the Spanish language. I also want every member, investigator, contact, missionary, companion, and my family to know that God loves them and that I can show them through my words and actions.
This week we have been working a lot with people that don’t believe in God. It is sad that they haven’t been taught or understand the love that their Savior has for them. They are missing out on all this knowledge and happiness that I have known all my life. I’m so grateful for such good parents that always taught me the gospel. My parents have always put a priority on us girls learning the gospel whether it was signing us girls up for EFY or Girls Camp. They taught me to love this gospel by example. I don’t remember a day were I didn’t want to go to church or attend Mutual or Achievement Days. My parents made the church schedule our family schedule which made the ward members my second family because we learned, studied, cried, laughed, and played together. My parents have always been an example in their church callings. I especially remember how much time and planning they put into their Family Relation class. They were always studying, making posters, watching a zillion talks on CD on the topic, and inviting the other couples in the ward over to play games and have a date night. My parents called prayers and studied the scriptures together on a regular basis. I’m not going to count the times we didn’t but what I remember is the times we did and how I felt a great love for my family as we made that effort together. I’m so blessed to have such a wonderful family who is so in tuned to the Spirit and knows of the love that God and Jesus Christ have for each one of them. I wouldn’t change anyone of them for someone else.
Juan, Iris and Camila are investigators that we have been teaching on our street. This week it was really special because we taught a lesson just to the mom about reading the scriptures because she hasn’t been and we taught her by example by our excitement to read the scriptures. She really liked the lesson and that was manifested in her closing prayer as she cried and thanked Heavenly Father for sending us to her house to teach her family. She feels a very strong connection to me and said that we knew each other before this world. Oh how I love this family!!! They are super talented and I know that Juan picked up his talents to create beautiful things and work with his hands just like his great ancestor and Prophet Adam. Juan has been confused by man and we are here to make things clear again. He talks a lot and shares his feeling a lot and my companion and I have been able to guide him. It was really cool this week because the wife said that she sees the change in him and that he is coming around. He is a sweet gentleman that loves to work outside in the dirt and previously was a military man. He is a romantic too, and I just about died when he came home and gave his wife a rose and a kiss just because he loves her! :D AAAaaawww!
My companion was sick this week so she stayed with Hermana Guzman as I took her daughter Karolyn out preaching with me. It is a good learning experience to go contacting with the members because they have a special testimony.
I’m enjoying everyday. I love seeing the progress of the members and the investigators. I love feeling the love and the savior. The church is true. God and Jesus love us on such a personal level.
Te AMO PARA SIEMPRE!! Thanks for the pictures they are awesome! I’m praying for all of you. I’m doing great! The winter has started but I feel like I’ll be just fine because all the Chileans are like one big family and gives us scarfes, and the people always invite us into their homes for a hot cup of herbal tea or coco and always gives us vitamins to keep us healthy. I can’t think of anything I need but I love all of your emails!
LOVE HERMANA WADE
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
March 15- 23
This past week was great! I have the best mission president in the world! My zone conference was phenomenal! I felt like it was just for me. And that is the way we should feel about all things. The president said that when we are focused on the faults of others we can’t see our own weaknesses. But when we are focused on the things that we need to fix, it is harder to see the faults of others. I loved this because it is so true! It was all about goals and that is what I want to work on.
We contacted our new investigators in their house. It was very special because we shared the first lesson with the wife, Iris, and she received it really good. Since she lives on our street she has listened to the missionaries before but once the missionaries asked them to be baptized the family said no so the missionaries stopped passing by. My companion and I feel a special connection with them and are teaching them step by step. The husband doesn’t even believe in God but he is SUPER SUPER SUPER!! I love talking to him because he has good questions and is actually listening to our message that the Spirit teaches through us. It is so special I am able to share scriptures that I haven’t thought of for a while but it popped into my head and it related perfectly to his doubt. The scripture about the serpent on the staff and how the prophet just asked them to look at the serpent and be saved, but the people wouldn’t do it out of pride or no faith; it is the same for this man because he doesn’t see the need to pray. There are things that the Lord asks us to do that are simple and he says that he will help us keep all the commandments that he asks he just have to look unto Him with all our faith. It is the same with the leper that was told to wash in the river Jordan 7 times he doubted at first but then he followed through with the help of a friend that said why not wash in the Jordan, would you do what the prophet said if it was a great task? Then in another visit we talked more about prayers the Book of Mormon and the Bible. It was special because the wife gave me a big hug and started crying and kissed me numerous times on the check she said she felt so good talking to us. I am so thankful that I can see that change of heart in people and that I can feel the great love of the Jesus for this family.
Nelida’s baptism was a success! It was wonderful because all of her friends and family came to support her first covenant with God. After the baptism her sister Victory pulled me aside and said that she saw angels in the chapel during the services and during the baptism and now she wants to be baptized also!! Crazy cool!
The Campos family that is less active said that they are going to come back to church YAY!! We had an awesome lesson with the member Hermana Loreto, which is just what we needed because she wasn’t attending church because of the members in Santiago. I think it is going to be great for her to make lots of friends in the ward. It has been neat to see her attitude change and her heart soften as we have shared the pure love of Christ the Spirit was able to touch her heart. She started crying because she remembered what the spirit felt like and remembered her Savior and God.
I’m helping organize the ward better by putting together a program that includes the sacrament meeting, a calendar of activities and meetings, and a directory. The bishop loves it and my Papito is helping me type it up on the computer!
Fernando is still progressing and is just the coolest! We have been doing our lessons by phone because he works on a plate form in the sea for 7 days, and then he has 7 days on land so he can only attend church every other Sunday so we are not sure if he will be baptized this transfer but the most important thing is that he enters.
My companion and I have been working out with other missionaries in our zone every morning at 7-o-clock. It is a fun way to exercise by running and playing Chilean Soccer!
CHI-CHI-CHI! LE-LE-LE! VIVA CHILE!!
I taught English classes for the first time it was a great success with 11 people. The cool thing is that only three people were Mormon! I know this will be a great way to help those who think that they are not interested in the church. :D
Hermana Wade
We contacted our new investigators in their house. It was very special because we shared the first lesson with the wife, Iris, and she received it really good. Since she lives on our street she has listened to the missionaries before but once the missionaries asked them to be baptized the family said no so the missionaries stopped passing by. My companion and I feel a special connection with them and are teaching them step by step. The husband doesn’t even believe in God but he is SUPER SUPER SUPER!! I love talking to him because he has good questions and is actually listening to our message that the Spirit teaches through us. It is so special I am able to share scriptures that I haven’t thought of for a while but it popped into my head and it related perfectly to his doubt. The scripture about the serpent on the staff and how the prophet just asked them to look at the serpent and be saved, but the people wouldn’t do it out of pride or no faith; it is the same for this man because he doesn’t see the need to pray. There are things that the Lord asks us to do that are simple and he says that he will help us keep all the commandments that he asks he just have to look unto Him with all our faith. It is the same with the leper that was told to wash in the river Jordan 7 times he doubted at first but then he followed through with the help of a friend that said why not wash in the Jordan, would you do what the prophet said if it was a great task? Then in another visit we talked more about prayers the Book of Mormon and the Bible. It was special because the wife gave me a big hug and started crying and kissed me numerous times on the check she said she felt so good talking to us. I am so thankful that I can see that change of heart in people and that I can feel the great love of the Jesus for this family.
Nelida’s baptism was a success! It was wonderful because all of her friends and family came to support her first covenant with God. After the baptism her sister Victory pulled me aside and said that she saw angels in the chapel during the services and during the baptism and now she wants to be baptized also!! Crazy cool!
The Campos family that is less active said that they are going to come back to church YAY!! We had an awesome lesson with the member Hermana Loreto, which is just what we needed because she wasn’t attending church because of the members in Santiago. I think it is going to be great for her to make lots of friends in the ward. It has been neat to see her attitude change and her heart soften as we have shared the pure love of Christ the Spirit was able to touch her heart. She started crying because she remembered what the spirit felt like and remembered her Savior and God.
I’m helping organize the ward better by putting together a program that includes the sacrament meeting, a calendar of activities and meetings, and a directory. The bishop loves it and my Papito is helping me type it up on the computer!
Fernando is still progressing and is just the coolest! We have been doing our lessons by phone because he works on a plate form in the sea for 7 days, and then he has 7 days on land so he can only attend church every other Sunday so we are not sure if he will be baptized this transfer but the most important thing is that he enters.
My companion and I have been working out with other missionaries in our zone every morning at 7-o-clock. It is a fun way to exercise by running and playing Chilean Soccer!
CHI-CHI-CHI! LE-LE-LE! VIVA CHILE!!
I taught English classes for the first time it was a great success with 11 people. The cool thing is that only three people were Mormon! I know this will be a great way to help those who think that they are not interested in the church. :D
Hermana Wade
Sunday, March 15, 2009
March 9-15
Last week I was walking with my companion and I was singing the camp song that goes like this, “I said a BOOM CHICKA BOOM! (Repeat…) I SAID A BOOM CHICKA ROCKA CHICKA ROCKA CHICKA BOOM!! (Repeat…) OH YA!! (repeat…) AUHH! (Repeat…) ONE MORE TIME!!!!! (Repeat…).” HA HA HA LOL!! It was so funny! And then that night we had a “Festival de Cancions” a night were all the members shared their musical talents, and Hermana Aguilar asked me to sing it for them at the last minute to entertain the audience as all the musical numbers were getting ready. It was kind of embarrassing but of course I did it…you know me!! We sang it fast, then slow and then girly-girly style!! Haha the girly-girl part was more like a solo…but everyone enjoyed it! Now my companion and my Zone Leader, Elder Benitez, calls me Chicka Boom!:D One night my companion had fallen asleep as I was writing in my journal and my companion started talking in her sleep and said “I said a Boom Chicka Boom.” LOL haha Then for the ultimate zone party Elder Benitez insisted that I teach all the missionarys! What a curse! This song might follow me for a while… I would like to take a moment and thank my dad for this special moment, (wipe a tear…sniffle…sniffle) for all the crazy camp songs that he taught me! Haha
Wahooo! Hermana Aguilar and I are together this change too! She is super! We are working hard and I’m learning a lot! The mission is difficult and I feel like there is never enough time to do everything that is expected on a daily schedule plus all the extra. Especially because of the language barrier it takes me twice as long to understand everything. My President gave me some good advice to not let the barriers that the investigators present scare me! I’m going to apply the advice to the language barrier too. I’m going to t I’m remaining calm and trying not to let it get the best of me. It is difficult to serve a mission, but I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! There was one day that I was talking to my companion about all the things I needed to work on, and I felt so useless that I thought it would be better to go home. But in this moment I felt the comfort of the Spirit, and the love of my Savior. I felt that everything was going to be ok and that he loved me more than I knew and that he was pleased with my work. In reality I need to be pleased with all I know and understand with only being here in the mission for 4 months. Wow 4 months in Chile, and 6 months in the mission! Yikes! I’m almost a third of the way finished! I understand what everyone is saying and understand the stories in general. It is hard to understand when people are joking and laughing, or using slang when I don’t understand and I don’t want to stop them having fun to explain everything to me, but then it’s bad to just sit there and stair too so I’ve come to the conclusion to learn the freakin’ language. Really it’s so difficult. I don’t have much time to study, and having time to study the language is never a priority for the Latins so everything I have learned is in the homes and streets of Chile, and reading the Scriptures, and walking around with study material in hand to study any chance I get.
We have been teaching Mirium, a woman that was excommunicated, and her boyfriend Jaime, that is not a member yet. They are both really great people and I have great hope that they will join the church. He has a lot of great questions which is great because she teaches and shares her special testimony with him and it builds them both.My companion and I had a fun time working out this week because we went running to the church and exercised in the gym. My companion gained a lot of weight here in the mission to fast and now it is bothering a hernia that she was born with. We had a member check it out and now we are going to work out more and eat less and drink more water. Because the president gave her the option of losing weight or going home to have surgery and I told both of them that that wasn’t an option.This Sunday was absolutely amazing because my companion and I were able to see the fruits of our labors. There were so many people that attended the Sacrament meeting that it was full to capacity. As I sat in the front of the chapel that day ready for my talk, I couldn’t help but have the biggest smile on my face. Alan, Sebastian, Hna Regina, and their grandparents the Alvarez family was there as a complete family as well as Yenifer’s family. I was super content because Hermano Manuel Yañez attended the church after 5 years of not attending because of work and other things. Hermana Sandra de Yañez was so happy and gave me a big hug afterward and started crying because she has always wanted her kids to be baptized in the church and for her family to be eternal in the temple. She was so grateful that we have been teaching her family the importance of baptism, prayers and putting all their faith in Jesus Christ to find a better job to reactivate the dad so he can baptize his son Favion. We helped him remember his baptism and the time he baptized the oldest son and now he has the desire to baptize the three other. My joy overflowed because they are one step closer to baptism and having that eternal family! :D It was a fast unexpected answer to all of our prayers.
Then Fernando Astorga attended the sacrament meeting for the first time! All of the ward members greeted him warmly and he left after the second hour because of all the information and all the members that he wanted to go home to absorb everything that was said. It was super special to have a lesson with him and Hermana Loreto de Venegus because she shared her testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel through her conversion story. Lessons with him are really special because he asked us not to prepare anything just talk about the spiritual things and help his doubts as they come. I love his easy going personality and his honesty, and his questions and his desire to know the truth by reading the scriptures. I know he is going to get baptized and have a special priesthood calling in his future. He has so much potential.
This Sunday was so cold with all the rain and wind, and I was thankful that we were able to find new investigators that took us into their home and gave us herbal tea and chocolate to ward us up. The father is inactive but has a testimony of the Gospel and the church and wants his family to join. He is a marine physical therapist and works in the hospital for the elderly adults to help their strength just like my dad and I! Ha! Being a marine and a physical therapist reminds me of one patient that I was working with that always called me sergeant because I would always say “Breath, Breath!!” as she would exercise because she would hold her breath.
Love Hermana Wade
Wahooo! Hermana Aguilar and I are together this change too! She is super! We are working hard and I’m learning a lot! The mission is difficult and I feel like there is never enough time to do everything that is expected on a daily schedule plus all the extra. Especially because of the language barrier it takes me twice as long to understand everything. My President gave me some good advice to not let the barriers that the investigators present scare me! I’m going to apply the advice to the language barrier too. I’m going to t I’m remaining calm and trying not to let it get the best of me. It is difficult to serve a mission, but I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! There was one day that I was talking to my companion about all the things I needed to work on, and I felt so useless that I thought it would be better to go home. But in this moment I felt the comfort of the Spirit, and the love of my Savior. I felt that everything was going to be ok and that he loved me more than I knew and that he was pleased with my work. In reality I need to be pleased with all I know and understand with only being here in the mission for 4 months. Wow 4 months in Chile, and 6 months in the mission! Yikes! I’m almost a third of the way finished! I understand what everyone is saying and understand the stories in general. It is hard to understand when people are joking and laughing, or using slang when I don’t understand and I don’t want to stop them having fun to explain everything to me, but then it’s bad to just sit there and stair too so I’ve come to the conclusion to learn the freakin’ language. Really it’s so difficult. I don’t have much time to study, and having time to study the language is never a priority for the Latins so everything I have learned is in the homes and streets of Chile, and reading the Scriptures, and walking around with study material in hand to study any chance I get.
We have been teaching Mirium, a woman that was excommunicated, and her boyfriend Jaime, that is not a member yet. They are both really great people and I have great hope that they will join the church. He has a lot of great questions which is great because she teaches and shares her special testimony with him and it builds them both.My companion and I had a fun time working out this week because we went running to the church and exercised in the gym. My companion gained a lot of weight here in the mission to fast and now it is bothering a hernia that she was born with. We had a member check it out and now we are going to work out more and eat less and drink more water. Because the president gave her the option of losing weight or going home to have surgery and I told both of them that that wasn’t an option.This Sunday was absolutely amazing because my companion and I were able to see the fruits of our labors. There were so many people that attended the Sacrament meeting that it was full to capacity. As I sat in the front of the chapel that day ready for my talk, I couldn’t help but have the biggest smile on my face. Alan, Sebastian, Hna Regina, and their grandparents the Alvarez family was there as a complete family as well as Yenifer’s family. I was super content because Hermano Manuel Yañez attended the church after 5 years of not attending because of work and other things. Hermana Sandra de Yañez was so happy and gave me a big hug afterward and started crying because she has always wanted her kids to be baptized in the church and for her family to be eternal in the temple. She was so grateful that we have been teaching her family the importance of baptism, prayers and putting all their faith in Jesus Christ to find a better job to reactivate the dad so he can baptize his son Favion. We helped him remember his baptism and the time he baptized the oldest son and now he has the desire to baptize the three other. My joy overflowed because they are one step closer to baptism and having that eternal family! :D It was a fast unexpected answer to all of our prayers.
Then Fernando Astorga attended the sacrament meeting for the first time! All of the ward members greeted him warmly and he left after the second hour because of all the information and all the members that he wanted to go home to absorb everything that was said. It was super special to have a lesson with him and Hermana Loreto de Venegus because she shared her testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel through her conversion story. Lessons with him are really special because he asked us not to prepare anything just talk about the spiritual things and help his doubts as they come. I love his easy going personality and his honesty, and his questions and his desire to know the truth by reading the scriptures. I know he is going to get baptized and have a special priesthood calling in his future. He has so much potential.
This Sunday was so cold with all the rain and wind, and I was thankful that we were able to find new investigators that took us into their home and gave us herbal tea and chocolate to ward us up. The father is inactive but has a testimony of the Gospel and the church and wants his family to join. He is a marine physical therapist and works in the hospital for the elderly adults to help their strength just like my dad and I! Ha! Being a marine and a physical therapist reminds me of one patient that I was working with that always called me sergeant because I would always say “Breath, Breath!!” as she would exercise because she would hold her breath.
Love Hermana Wade
Monday, March 9, 2009
March 2-9
Monday we taught the Espinosa family that had seen a horrible car accident on the side of the road. The Espinosa family was there at the site to comfort the family of the man that had passed away. The disturbing images of the aftermath ran over and over in their heads, and they felt so sorry for the family. Of course this was a good time to talk about Jesus and His love and His Plan of Happiness, so that is exactly what my companion and I did. I was able to share my testimony of faith in Jesus in all things but I was able to share my experience of my cousins’ death because the story was similar to their story.
I focused on the blessings of the aftermath because so many people stepped in and served my family in this difficult time. The neighbors painted pictures of Steven with Jesus, his school sent off balloons in honor of a great kid, and I raised money at my school to pay for the airplane. The list goes on and on of blessings that came from this event. Everyone that knew our family was affected by this and cherished life a little bit more and realized that it is short….so endure it well! My uncle Kevin and his family have a greater will to obey the Lords commandments and stay active in the church because they know that Steven is in Heaven with Jesus. This is our goal to return to live with Him and our families!
We have an awesome new family in our ward! The Venegus are recent converts and already solid in the gospel and working with us contacting, teaching, and giving us a mountain of references! This is how it is suppose to be with all members! They invited a friend to their house and we are giving him the lessons. He is golden and super smart! I can’t believe it, they are converts of 8 months, and they only have lived here for 2 weeks and they found a new friend, Damien Roberto, and want to share the gospel!! Amazing! It was sad to see the wife crying because she realizes how much work we have to do here in this ward and out of the ward, but after talking to her and making her feel better all we can do is work. After she went contacting and saw how hard we were working she was very pleased and now she knows she is not alone. It was really special because I was able to contact a deaf boy in the street!! It was so SUPER cool! I know I’m sent here to teach him because I got his name and number but for some reason not his address, but then a few hours later I contacted his mom and dad in front of their house! It was special to find that out and I don’t believe anything happens by coincidence.
Alan and Sebastian are now baptized!! WAHOOO!!! Their family was less active but they all attended the baptism and I have great hopes that they will return into full activation. These boys are wonderful and they know the commandments very well and I have enjoyed watching them bloom and grow into wonderful young men. It’s so cool they already want to serve missions! What a HAPPY HAPPY DAY!!!!
Castro family is less active and they don’t want to return to the church because of what happened in their stake in Santiago. They know the church is true and the members aren’t perfect, so we are trying to strengthen their faith in Jesus and His church. I taught them specifically about forgiveness because everyday God forgives us and we need to forgive everyone too. Alejandra the mom is also praying to the Virgin Mary idol in her house because she has been attending the Catholic church for 8 years. Before the mission I had no idea that people would actually pray to her. Isn’t that breaking the 10 commandments given to Moses? Thou shalt have no other Gods before me? I think yes. But in a very loving way I shared this with her and asked her to ask her Heavenly Father if this was right. Man it is crazy how they have the same bible but they don’t preach all the words of God. Her argument is that members preach but don’t practice. Both of these situations are bad. It was cool to see Fernando open up to us and poor out his sin because he has that desire to repent and be forgiven. Karina and her son Javier are golden because they pray and have a great desire to attend church with us. I was blessed this week to teach a lot of new people this week.
With a lot of love
Hermana Wade <3
I focused on the blessings of the aftermath because so many people stepped in and served my family in this difficult time. The neighbors painted pictures of Steven with Jesus, his school sent off balloons in honor of a great kid, and I raised money at my school to pay for the airplane. The list goes on and on of blessings that came from this event. Everyone that knew our family was affected by this and cherished life a little bit more and realized that it is short….so endure it well! My uncle Kevin and his family have a greater will to obey the Lords commandments and stay active in the church because they know that Steven is in Heaven with Jesus. This is our goal to return to live with Him and our families!
We have an awesome new family in our ward! The Venegus are recent converts and already solid in the gospel and working with us contacting, teaching, and giving us a mountain of references! This is how it is suppose to be with all members! They invited a friend to their house and we are giving him the lessons. He is golden and super smart! I can’t believe it, they are converts of 8 months, and they only have lived here for 2 weeks and they found a new friend, Damien Roberto, and want to share the gospel!! Amazing! It was sad to see the wife crying because she realizes how much work we have to do here in this ward and out of the ward, but after talking to her and making her feel better all we can do is work. After she went contacting and saw how hard we were working she was very pleased and now she knows she is not alone. It was really special because I was able to contact a deaf boy in the street!! It was so SUPER cool! I know I’m sent here to teach him because I got his name and number but for some reason not his address, but then a few hours later I contacted his mom and dad in front of their house! It was special to find that out and I don’t believe anything happens by coincidence.
Alan and Sebastian are now baptized!! WAHOOO!!! Their family was less active but they all attended the baptism and I have great hopes that they will return into full activation. These boys are wonderful and they know the commandments very well and I have enjoyed watching them bloom and grow into wonderful young men. It’s so cool they already want to serve missions! What a HAPPY HAPPY DAY!!!!
Castro family is less active and they don’t want to return to the church because of what happened in their stake in Santiago. They know the church is true and the members aren’t perfect, so we are trying to strengthen their faith in Jesus and His church. I taught them specifically about forgiveness because everyday God forgives us and we need to forgive everyone too. Alejandra the mom is also praying to the Virgin Mary idol in her house because she has been attending the Catholic church for 8 years. Before the mission I had no idea that people would actually pray to her. Isn’t that breaking the 10 commandments given to Moses? Thou shalt have no other Gods before me? I think yes. But in a very loving way I shared this with her and asked her to ask her Heavenly Father if this was right. Man it is crazy how they have the same bible but they don’t preach all the words of God. Her argument is that members preach but don’t practice. Both of these situations are bad. It was cool to see Fernando open up to us and poor out his sin because he has that desire to repent and be forgiven. Karina and her son Javier are golden because they pray and have a great desire to attend church with us. I was blessed this week to teach a lot of new people this week.
With a lot of love
Hermana Wade <3
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