"¿Crees en los milagros?"

Dear Familia,

Well, my dear friends, this week has been a week of miracles. First, we have our lovely Monica, Paula, Marcos (Paula's 14 year old brother) and Franklin. Hna. Moreno and I had a good long conversation with Monica and Franklin on what it means to be baptized and how important the convanent is that their daughter is making. We talked a lot, and at the end of the conversation they were both willing to support Paula with her decision to be baptized this upcoming Sunday and want us to start teaching their son Marcos about the church. They also had an interview with the bishop and when we taught the Word of Wisdom they told us that they are going to start living this mandamiento in their house to help Paulita.  And to top it off, this past Sunday Monica and Franklin attended church with Paula for the 1st time!!! Wahoooo! Please keep praying for this family that they can become an eternal family and that God can keep showering down these miracles! 

And speaking of eternal families, we've been teaching the Familia Fuentes (recent converts) how they can best prepare to be sealed for time and all eternity. The husband, Victor, was baptized a year ago and his wife, Graciela, was baptized 2 years ago and yesterday was their 1 year anniversary! Yes, my friends, they got married so that Victor could be baptized (THERE'S HOPE FOR MONICA Y FRANKLIN). A year ago they made the plan to be sealed in March of 2015 and the ward is going on a temple trip the last week in March. However, they have had a lot of financial problems and problems in their marriage (Victor works shifts in the mine and has to spend a lot of time away from the house) and told the Bishop that they couldn't do it and that they wanted to postpone the date. We passed by to visit them and we had a super powerful lesson on temples. We talked about how in the history of the church the saints have always had to sacrifice to receive the blessings of the temple. By the end of the lesson Victor was crying. We challenged them to pray and pick a date that they could work towards as a couple to be sealed for time and all eternity. Victor looked up at me and said, "¿Crees en los milagros?", "¡Sí!" le dije (Do you believe in miracles?  Yes, I told him), He then said, "So do I, we're going to be sealed the end of this month." His wife started crying, and he told us that he doesn't know how their going to do it, but that he knows that God is a God of Miracles and that he needs to just close his eyes and trust God. I honestly can't express how powerful the Spirit was and how much I learned from them in just that short lesson. 

I want to share my testimony that I know God is a God of Miracles. I have been so blessed to see miracles everyday in the mission. Big or small, simple and silly or great and powerful we witness miracles everyday!  Please keep these sweet families in your prayers! 

XOXO-Hna. McKenna 

Fun Facts:

About 40% of the houses we contact still have their Christmas lights up...yes this is a very lazy country.

I'm going to get my haircut today...stay posted for the pictures next week! 

The people like to put signs in their windows and sell whatever they're cooking that day...churrasco, empanadas, etc...Well yesterday Hna. Moreno and I looked like a couple of dogs sniffing around trying to find the source a wonderfully haunting aroma coming from one of the houses. 

Graciela is in love with the St. George temple because it's so white and I told her that she and her family are always welcome to visit our house and visit the temples of Utah. 

The famous Paula with her brother Marcos!!!! We haven't really taught Maros but he's a faithful student in the engish class I teach in the church every Friday. I seriously LOVE the kids of Chile! 

 Some signs in Chile that I thought you guys might enjoy, and a sweet less active member that reminds me a ton of Aunt Marlene, her name is Rosa but everyone calls her La Rosita. This is a tiny corner of the garden that she's in love with! 

More photos in the country! My area really looks nothing like this...

Chile Country Style! 

this is the house of a member that lives about 30 minutes from the city. We had lunch with them after church and enjoyed fresh watermelon, and watermelon, and more watermelon...needless to say Hna. Moreno and I spent most of the afternoon having to use the restroom, but the watermelon was SOOOOOOOO good! 

Victor and Graciela