B.O.M. All The Way Through In Spanish

Dear Familia,

Lunes: This week started out with Hna. Cabral and me buying all the goodies we want to send to the family for Christmas. They are all packaged and ready to go! Today we're planning on writing the letters and sending them on their merry way!

Also on Monday we had a Noche de Hogar with Javiera. Javiera is an investigator that is currently studying at the college and lives super close to our apartment. She's absolutely AMAZING and has accepted to be baptized!!! WAHOOO!!! The only problema is she works every Saturday and Sunday...but don't worry, these things can be fixed with a little teaching of the amazing power of the sacrament!

Tuesday: ....I didn't write in my journal and can't remember what exactly happened, but I'm sure it had to do with building the kingdom of God.

Wednesday: Today I finished Reading the Book of Mormon for the first time in Spanish!!!! I wasn't able to understand every word, but I was able to understand that God loves me, Jesús is my Savior, and I can return to live with them again if I live worthy of the covenants I've made. It was an amazing testimony of how the Spirit testifies of truth no matter the language!

Thursday: Patricio has been sick this past week so Hno. Arevala accompanied us today to give him a blessing of salúd. It was awesome to see the difference it made to have a member talk to him and testify of what he believed.

Friday: Sofia accompanied us today, and we started teaching Sidney, one of the workers in our building. The lesson went really well and I'm excited to see how things go with him. Today the wind was CRAZY!!! I was picking things out of my hair for at least 25 minutes. Hna. Cabral, Sofia, and I had a fun time trying to control our skirts while knocking doors. I don't know why, but lately I haven't been as patient as I should be with Hna. Cabral. She's a fantastic campanion and helps me so much with Spanish! I'm learning so much from her and she is always so patient with me. I need to remember that she only has a couple weeks more than me in the misión, and we´re both learning together.

Saturday: Well, we have 6 people who have told us they're going to attend church tomorrow!!! Hna. Cabral and I have are arms crossed that they all can attend! One of them is a man named Oscar who we met about 2 weeks ago while we were contacting. He was handing out pizza flyers and we traded a flyer for a pass along card. Today he passed by us on his motorcycle and asked if he could attend our church meeting! OF COURSE! We gave him the directions to the church and time of the meetings and are amazed that he remembered us! It was a neat reminder of the seeds you can plant with something as simple as a pass along card.

Sunday: Today was a devastating reminder of agency and nobody attended! It was super sad because it was the Primary Program and the kids did a Fabulous job! The spirit was super strong and I'll admit I shed a tear or two. While looking at all those little spirits I couldn't help but think of all the cute little spirits in the Santa Clara 14th Ward. Boy oh boy do I love the good old Santa Clara 14th Ward! Right now the branch I'm in is fighting super hard to become a Ward and I hope I can be here to see it happen.

English Update:

Hna. Cabral loves to say, "I know where you live" whenever we get lost in the streets...ha it helps lighten the mood and reminds us that at least we know where we live!

Also, whenever it's raining we sing "I like to look for rainbows" in English and Spanish. When we have a baptism we want to do a duet of the song.

Fun Facts:

All the milk is in boxes with expiration dates in 2015...huh?  A little questionable!

They have armored trucks in the streets whenever there is a soccer game.

Some random guy in the street gave me a ring...I told him gracias, but no gracias, I already have a ring!

I ate an entire fish! Yes, that includes the head, scales, gills, and fins!!! And to tell you the truth it wasn't half bad!

Love,

Hermana McKenna

A recent convert and our lovely orange

The crazy soccer games!

Javiera and Iride! Iride is a member that is friends with Javiera!

Mom, I'm In Good Hands

Hola Famila!

This week was packed with amazing faith building highs, and devastating heart-breaking lows. I had my first interview with the President with actual missionary experience under my belt (not counting the interview when I first arrived). We had investigators attend church!!! We lost 3 investigators. And we found a snake hiding in our investigator pool.

The President:

Wow, he is such a spiritual giant! I loved every minute of the interview and the opportunity to just be with him because of the spirit that emanates from him. The past weeks I've been a little down because our investigators weren't progressing and I didn't know what to do to help them. I felt like it was my fault and that I wasn't doing what I needed to. During the interview he assured me that the Lord was proud of the effort I was putting forth and if I continued to work hard and be obedient I'd be blessed for my efforts. He also gave me a blessing after the interview, and in the blessing he blessed me that I'd have the courage and gift of discernment to drop the investigators that weren't progressing. I can't even express the feeling of peace I felt when the interview was over. I'm so grateful to have a President like President Kahnlien; don't worry Mom, I'm in good hands.

Investigators:

This past Sunday we had 2 investigators attend church, and one of them was RAUL!!!! When Hna. Cabral and I got off the micro and saw Raul walking towards us to go to church I thought I was hallucinating! I couldn’t believe it! He's been taking lessons from the missionaries for years and this was his first time ever attending! Thank you so much for your prayers back home, I know they have helped soften his heart to the gospel.

Also this week we put a baptismal date with one of our investigators!!! His name is Patricio and he's a saint! He's 70 years old and lives all by himself, but takes care of the 2 little boys that live in the house behind him. Their mom is a drug addict so he does everything for them...provides food for them, clothes, everything!

Snakes:

This week we were teaching Andres, a 22 year old college student that has a huge interest in the church...or at least we thought he did. We found him about a week ago when we were contacting and he was super receptive! We planned on putting a baptismal date with him this week during our lesson and when we extended the invitation for him to be baptized he told us he had no real intention of joining the church. He apologized for leading us on, but he told us the only reason he was taking the lessons was because he thought we were cute...

When he told us that it was like a slap to the face! In the misión it's the equivalent of having a boyfriend cheat on you! I wanted to go all soap opera on him and yell, "I thought I could trust you!" But instead we thanked him for his honesty and dropped yet another investigator.

Besides Andres, we dropped 2 others, one of them being Kimberly. It was pretty depressing to see our investigator pool shrink so fast, but it was also amazing to see the hands of the Lord help us find 5 new investigators to teach this week!!!! Hna. Cabral and I are super stoked to start working with the new investigators! Please keep us in your prayers and pray that our new investigators can start to progress.

XOXO- Hna. McKenna

English update:

Hna. Cabral is learning English and loves to say:

 "I am the master of my destiny"

"Sleep Tight or the bed bugs will bite"

And when we walk up the hills she always sings, "This girl is on fire...my legs are on fire"

I'm currently teaching her how to sing, "I love to see the temple" and the phrase, "ready spaghetti"

Photo Comments:

I got the packages!!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

The closest thing we have to sunflowers here in Chile, I love them!

Hna. Cabral and me enjoying our goodies!!! Yum!!!

Sofia (a member that is top notch!) and me enjoying the last rays of the sun as we knock doors!

A companion that is almost as NEW as me!

October 13, 2014

HOLA!

This week was a little crazy, and unusual, but fantastic non the less! I was in a trio for the first part, and then received my new trainer for the last couple of days.

The Trio:

Ha Hna. Chaves and Hna. Blooth were both super fantastic! It was super fun to be with them and see what it's like in another area of the mission, and how other companionships work together. Both of them have a lot of spunk which made things interesting and also really funny. While I was with them they brought out my rebellious side and I cut my hair! We were in the house of a member and she said she knew how to cut hair. I asked her if she could cut my hair sometime. She was like, "Sure I can do it right now, I have everything I need in the house." Perfect! She then proceeded to the drawer, pulled out a pair of paper cutting scissors, and went to work…not exactly what I had in mind, but hey, it works!

The New Comp!!!

Hna. Cabral is my new companion, and boy oh boy is she FANTASTIC! She's from Mexico City and has only been in the mission 6 weeks more than me, so I know she won't be transferred for at least one full change! This is comforting seeing as my past two companions both had less than a month left in the mission. Because she's also pretty fresh in the mission we're learning together which is a little challenging, but also a huge blessing to continue to grow and stretch ourselves. We can understand each other for the most part, and she's super patient with my Spanish! Also I love how slow and clear her Spanish is! I wouldn't mind if the Chileans took some pronunciation classes from her!

Investigators:

We've been able to get a pretty good sized teaching pool going in this new area, but the problem is none of them are progressing...meaning none of them are going to church! We have one investigator named Kimberly who we're really trying to get to go to church. She's 15 and both her parents are less active, but want her to get baptized. At our last lesson she said she really wanted to go to church but she didn't have a skirt. We said we'd pass by her house to go with her and bring a skirt that she could use. Yesterday we passed by her house to go to church with her, we had a skirt ready and everything! But unfortunately agency was poorly used and she wouldn't answer the door! When we finally got a hold of her in the afternoon she said she forgot and spent the night at a friend’s house. Curses!

Weather:

The weather is finally starting to warm up here! We're still fighting the wind and the hills, but at least we now have the sun on our side! On Thursday when Hna. Cabral and I were knocking doors the wind was especially angry with us and kept attacking our skirts. I had about 4 “Marilyn Monroe” moments, and all I can say is I'm glad I was wearing tights that day! I think I'm going to invest in biking shorts to wear under my skirts.

Fun Facts:

Hna. Cabral dated one of the teachers I knew in the CCM!!! SUPER SMALL WORLD!

Comments on photos:

The beautiful spring weather her in Chile!

THE HAIR CUT!

Hna. Chaves y Blooth

Kimberly and her sister Martina doing my hair...don't worry I didn't get lice.

My new compañera

There's a crazy soccer tournament going on across the street from our apartment, and for the past 2 nights I've fallen asleep to Chi - Chi- Chi- Le- Le- Le- Le VIVE CHILE!

That Beautiful Gift of Agency

LA FAMILIA!

This week was fantastic! Hna. Boyd and I were able to find new investigators, teach our current investigators, and help reactivate those who have fallen out of the boat. There's nothing better than knowing you’re doing the work of the Lord! ALL day, EVERY day! This was also the first week where I wasn't trunky at all! I guess murdering two companions in the first cambio gives a missionary tougher skin.

Hna. Boyd was a fantastic companion, but just like Hna. Dalton, she's now currently on her way back home and I am now in a trio! Wahoo for having 2 companions! Hna. Blooth is from Riverton, Utah and Hna. Chaves is from Peru. It's really such a big blessing to be in a trio that has a gringa and a latina because I'm able to be immersed in Spanish, but have the help of English when I'm totally lost.

This weekend I was blessed enough to get to hear the prophet's voice in English! They set up an English room for all the missionaries, which was top notch. It's amazing how just hearing their voices brings such a strong feeling of comfort and love from our Father in Heaven. I'm so glad some of you were able to be there in person! What an AMAZING blessing! Just the fact that I was able to hear the words of God through a living prophet is a miracle in and of itself, but the biggest miracle of all was that RAUL ASSISTED THE CONFERENCE!!!!!! Yes family and friends this is the same stubborn, strong headed, determined, Bible loving Catholic that I've mentioned before in my emails...and he assisted! If the mission hadn't taught me that all things are possible with prayer I probably wouldn't have believed it was possible for him to come. But there he was! He only assisted for the Saturday afternoon session, but it was perfect for what he needed to hear. And afterwards he was saying how much he liked it. He's asked that we drop off the Liahona at his house when it comes out with the rest of the conference talks! I can hardly believe the progress he's made these past couple of weeks.

We had other investigators that promised to attend, but unfortunately agency was poorly used and nobody but Raul attended. Curse that beautiful gift of agency! But also what a blessing it is to use that agency to follow our prophet. Something that was repeated over and over again during the conference was the importance of following our prophet and gaining a strong testimony of him. This week more than ever before I have learned to appreciate the blessing of having a living prophet.

I don't know if you were able to hear it, but something that I thought was amazing was in the closing prayer of the 1st Saturday morning session.  The person offering the prayer prayed specifically to bless the missionaries parents and grandparents to have comfort and peace during the time their children were out serving the Lord. This brought a little tear to my eye to know he was praying for you. I hope you are able to feel that peace from our Heavenly Father.

I love you all!

XOXO- Hermana McKenna

Fun Facts:

I'm currently attempting to do yoga in the morning with my companions because it's still to dark to go running in the mornings. I haven't yet been able to touch my toes without bending my knees, but that's my goal for this week. (Please email some Pinterest workouts for cardio)

While I'm typing away in this Chilean internet Café I'm listening to that song "Happy" from Dispicable Me....ha I love it!

Another funny music fact is that the other day when I was contacting with Hna. Boyd we saw all these construction workers blaring music and when we walked past they started blaring Party in the USA! It took a bit of effort not to start dancing in the street! I might have raised my hands a little during the part that says "put your hands up, they're playing our song and the butterflies fly away".

Oh also I want to apologize for the picture last week of the underwear!!!!!!!! I didn't realize until yesterday that there was underwear in the background! So sorry about that!

Haven't gotten more packages...I should next week! Love you!