Video of Amanda CCM

No Temas, Cree Solamente

Hola Everyone! 

I hope this letter finds everyone well. All is great here in San Fernando. We are working really hard, day in and day out we are seeing miracles. Right now we are struggling to have progressing investigators and are trying to find new people who are more ready to hear this message at this time. I know that the Lord is in charge of this work and He will direct us to the people who need this message if we are being obedient and dilligent. 

I had my first division this week! When we got the call saying that we would be having divisions, I got so scared. I was so terrified and literally stomache sick. I recieved a handout in the CCM from one of the mission presidents in Chile and it says No Temas, Cree Solamente it is found in Mark somewhere. I have it taped to my wall right now. In the midst of my panic attack, I looked at the wall and read that scripture and it reminded me to not fear and only be believing. My whole outlook changed. I realized I shouldn´t be scared to go on a division. I should be believing and know that the Lord is going to help me. fear is the lack of faith. This has become the theme of my mission. No temas, cree solamente. I am nothing without my God, but with the Savior, I can do everything and anything. 

I went on the division and it was so great. My companion who I was with was so sweet and we laughed a lot and I learned a lot from her. Everything was fine. I also met a sister missionary on the division who met mom and dad when they were visiting Rancagua. Her name is Sister Rojas. She is so sweet and said that you guys were so nice.

 

Funny moment of the week, everyone here is shocked when they hear my last name for the first time. Some say oh how beautiful and others laugh and make jokes about it. My two favorite nicknames I have received since I have been here are Hna Respiracion and Hna Oxygen. People always say where is Hna Ayre, I need some fresh air. Its super funny. 

We have started in our weekly meetings teaching the Latinos english, and they are so funny. I never realized how hard english was before. Teaching english is even harder. I am so glad that english is my first language. 

Well, I hope everyone has a great week, I love you all.

 

Oh also, I invite you all to think about people who you could share the restored gospel with. This message really changes lives and brings people a happiness that they have never had before. Everyone here on this earth are our brothers and sisters and deserve to have the happiness we have. 

Mountains to Climb

Hola everyone! 

I hope all is going well for you wherever you maybe. You are all always in my prayers. 

This week went by so fast! We had district meeting, zone conference and general conference all in one week. It was great! I feel so ready to get back to our normal schedule this week and share all the things that I learned. 

Mom, dad, this past week we were eating lunch at a members house and we started talking about you guys and she said that she met you. She was in the temple the day you guys were in Santiago and she said that you two were the only two that shook her hand. How crazy is that! 

Well I thought I would share with you all one of my favorite things that I learned in conference. It was the talk of Elder Scott (I think) he said the way we can help people is by loving them and putting our trust in them. The last part about trust really struck me. I believe that it is so essential. We need to let the people we love feel that we have trust in them. Those that know they are trusted are more likely to act in the way we want them to and more importantly the way the Lord wants them too. 

I also wanted to share with you something I learned today. Today we decided we were going to go to San Vicente as a Zone and hike to the top of this mountain that had a cross on top of it. When we arrived to San Vicente and I saw the mountain and I thought there is no way any of the sisters including me are going to be able to hike this mountain. It was huge. Well, to my surprise, all of the sisters were able to climb the mountain. We all made it to the top, but it was not easy. In fact, it was killer. At one part we were almost literally rock climbing.  When we got to the part when we were done rock climbing, we found a trail. If we had used the trail from the beginning it would have been a lot easier. 

This made me think about our life on the earth. There are two paths we can take, the path of the Lord or our own path. Like the mountain, both are difficult to follow. There are going to be parts that are really hard, but the trail on the mountain is much easier than trying to create our own path. Likewise is the path of the Lord. The Lord's way, even though it is still going to be difficult, is much easier than us trying to create our own paths in this life.  And when we get to where we want to go, we will reap the rewards of  the path we follow. 

Sorry that was cheesy but I felt I should share. Love you all.

First Week in San Fernando

Wow, I am just overwhelmed by all that has happened to me in this past week. I still can´t believe I am a real missionary. Life in the CCM and in el campo are completeley different! My companions name is Hermana Clawson, and she is great! She has been in the field for eight months! 

One thing that I have learned since I have been out in the mission field, is that missions are not easy, and people have their agency and sometimes things don´t work out the way you want them to. But something else that I have learned in the mission field is that miracles happen everyday. I know that God is leading this work and that the days work out the way they do because the people we talk to in a day are the people that need to hear from us. So far, out of the time that I have been out in the field, only probably 3 or 4 of our set appointments actually happened. The rest fell. By the end of the day we have just been so tired, but everyday we have found someone who for sure needed our help and our message at the end of the day. 

On friday, we seriously had one appointment at three and the rest of the day we were just knocking on doors and no one let us in. It was so cold that day too and there was lots of wind and it was for sure going to rain on us. It was around 8:15 and we had an appointment at 8:30 and the person called and said because it was going to rain they didn´t want to meet with us. It was heart breaking. We didn´t know what to do, we had almost two hours left and no one to meet with and it was dark and no one wanted to open their doors. We decided to say a prayer and just ask for guidance. Right after we said the prayer, the wind stopped and it warmed up a little bit. We knocked on a door and it was a non acitve member who for sure needed to hear from us that night. He was the only one there so we just talked on the porch, but it was super great. Afterwards when we returned to the house, no more then ten minutes later, it started pouring down rain. It was a testimony to me that God answers prayers and looks out for his servants. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!