Christmas Conference

Hola todos! 

Wow, what a crazy week. there is so much that has happened this week. This time of the year in the mission is crazy. We went to San Fernando this week to have a christmas conference and it was so great. We started by having a devotional and then we all changed into sports clothes and the two zones played handball with an excercise ball, kick the can and kickball. We had lots of fun. 

This week, we saw a miracle. We are teaching a menos activo who is waiting to get married in January and her son and his girlfriend live just down the street from them. For these last two cambios, I have passed this girl, Kote in the street every week, and we'd say hi but not much more than that. But this week, in my first division as coordinadora, I decided to pass by to visit her. At first she was like, I don't share your ideas but we started talking about Jesus Christ and the love he has for every single one of us and her heart softened. And at the end of the lesson, we invited her to church and she said she was going to come! And she really did show up at church this Sunday and stayed for the 3 hours. She also participated in the classes, It seriously was a miracle! Also at the end of the lesson, we gave her a Book of Mormon, and the smile she had on her face was so big. I've never seen someone be so greatful to receive this book. I am so excited to be able to work with her more. She really is super special. 

Also this week, we had an experience super traumatizing. We were leaving one of the poblaciones with our menos activo Nadia, and we saw a man sitting on a bench covered in blood. I asked him what happened and he didn't say anything but Nadia went to go tie his shirt around his arm because we saw where the blood was coming from and it was his arm. He lifted up his arm and he had a huge wound and I seriously have never seen so much blood leave a persons body before. Its like someone had turned on a faucet of blood. And then my companion goes, we need to leave and we started walking and I saw a women running after this man with a knife. Her face was really beat up too. And then they started fighting in the middle of the street, it was horrifying. My companion and Nadia were alright but it sent me into a little bit of shock. We arrived at the capilla and all of the hnas said that I was super pale. It was horrible. But now I'm alright. And don't worry, that was something really out of the norm. Santa Cruz is super mellow.

 

My comp is doing well! She is from Guatemala and was the first to baptize in her family as of 9 years ago but then her mom, dad and brother followed after her. She is really great, she has lots of ganas to work and that is the most important. I feel like a giant next to her. 

We have a couple of conversos under our cargo that haven't been going to church and haven't been very receptive, actually they've been avoiding us. But, we are trying a new approach with them. Every Saturday, the elders and the people from the ward play soccer and our conversos love soccer, so we've decided to start playing so that maybe we can gain their trust more. I've found out that I'm actually not that bad at soccer. All of that playing when I was little has payed off. One of the elders was calling me Forlana the other day. Supposedly there's some soccer player from Uruguay named Forlan. I don't really know, I don't really know if he's good either. Someone told me that Uruguays soccer team isn't very good. 

Well, I hope that you all have a great week! I know that our Savior lives and loves us. He is so aware of every one of us and is waiting to bless us, all he hopes is that we obey him. 

Con amor

Hna Ayre

Training 12/1/14

HOla!

Wow there was so much that happened this week. Its crazy how time flies. But this week we received our cambios and I am freaking out. I will be training so I don't know who my companion will be until tomorrow which is nerve racking also this transfer I was called as coordinator which is a whole lot of weight on my shoulders this transfer. The good news is that there is another coordinator who is super great in this zone who will be able to help me a whole lot. I've been a little sick to my stomach these last couple of days for the stress, but I know that all will be ok I just have to trust that God knows what he is doing.

So Im sure everyone has heard about he is the gift iniciative that the church is doing but if not go search it up and then be an active participant. I know that we will see miracles if everyone shares this video in this time of the year. It is such a blessing to be able to help people understand the true meaning of Christmas. 

So this week our new leader misional surprised us 6 missionaries with a thanksgiving dinner. It wasn't really a surprise, we saw it coming but we acted surprised. It was really really sweet of them they cooked a turkey and then we ate a bunch of Chileno salads with it. It was kind of awkward because none of the elders are gringos and so it was like, why are we celebrating this, but it was fun. El Hermano started playing our national anthem which was funny and even funnier is that none of us could remember the words to the song. Hopefully one day that one will come back to our memories. Also this week the members surprise attacked us again with a going away once for the people leaving santa cruz and they made us sing the song we sang Come unto Christ for them and it was just so awkward. I didn't remember half of the words, neither did Hna Truman or Hna Gracia so Hna Butler like led the team but I do not do good in situations like that, I just wanted to laugh, and i did a little bit, I tried to hold it together. 

Well we are still trying to find investigators but we saw a miracle yesterday, our menos activo that we have been teaching blessed the santa cena yesterday! It was such a blessing to see him be able to use his sacerdocio again. I am so grateful for the mission to be able to help others receive their blessings. 

I love you all! 

Love

A Surprise Dinner

HOla! 

Wow there was so much that happened this week. Its crazy how time flies. But this week we received our cambios and I am freaking out. I will be training so I don't know who my companion will be until tomorrow which is nerve racking, also this transfer I was called as coordinator which is a whole lot of weight on my shoulders this transfer. The good news is that there is another coordinator who is super great in this zone who will be able to help me a whole lot to learn what to do. I've been a little sick to my stomache these last couple of days because of the stress, but I know that all will be ok I just have to trust that God knows what he is doing.

 

So I'm sure everyone has heard about he is the gift iniciative that the church is doing, but if not go search it up and then be an active participant. I know that we will see miracles if everyone shares this video in this time of the year. It is such a blessing to be able to help people understand the true meaning of Christmas.

 

So this week our new leader misional surprised us 6 missionaries with a thanksgiving dinner. It wasn't really a surprise, we saw it coming but we acted surprised. It was really really sweet of them they cooked a turkey and then we ate a bunch of Chileno salads with it. It was kind of awkward because none of the elders are gringos and so it was like, why are we celebrating this, but it was fun. El Hermano started playing our national anthem which was funny and even funnier is that none of us could remember the words to the song. Hopefully one day that one will come back to our memories. Also this week the members surprise attacked us again with a going away once for the people leaving Santa 

Cruz and they made us sing the song we sang Come unto Christ for them and it was just so awkward. I didn't remember half of the words, neither did Hna Truman or Hna Gracia, so Hna Butler like led the team, but I do not do good in situations like that, I just wanted to laugh, and i did a little bit, I tried to hold it together.

 

Well we are still trying to find investigators but we saw a miracle yesterday, our menos activo that we have been teaching blessed the santa cena yesterday! It was such a blessing to see him be able to use his sacerdocio again. I am so grateful for the mission to be able to help others receive their blessings.

 

I love you all! 

Love

Hna Ayre

Week of Thansgiving

Hola Todos!

Wow another week gone and by. My companion and I are dying with how fast the time is flying by. This next week we will have cambios and we're not thinking we will be together this next cambio and we are pretty sad about it. Also we are sad because we know that there will be some change in the house and our house is the best.

Yesterday we six missionaries ate lunch at a member's house who gave us a lunch that was rotten. It was some sort of salad and we're not sure what type of meat it was but it was not good and it had rotten egg in it too. We had correlation last night and one of the elders felt really sick and then we got home at night and Hna Gracia felt super sick and threw up. Then it hit Hna Truman at like 11 and then my comp at like 1 in the morning and me at like two in the morning. You could say we had a long night. We called the elders in the morning to see how they were doing and both of them got hit too. All of us got food poisoning bad. Only Hna Gracia and Elder Cortes were throwing up though. But we're doing a little better now.

Other than that its been an interesting week. We are in the process of finding new people nuevamente and its been a week of God testing our dilligence in the obra. We're not discouraged but we are praying that we can find someone who is prepared. Other side note, we have two conversos who we are pretty sure are about to ask us if we can stop visiting them. A member told us that they told her that they no longer believe in eternal families and don't want anything to do with the church. That was heart breaking but hopefully we can talk some sense into them this week.

We are pillows for niños for an activity in the relief society and I never thought that i would have to do anything to do with arts and crafts in the mission but I was wrong. I'm making a soccer ball and it has been a very long process. I'll send a picture when I am done.

Also on Sunday we sisters sang Come Unto Christ in Spanish in the sacrament meeting and all of you would be very impressed with how well I was able to sing. Ive been practicing a whole lot. 

We found an investigator last week whose name is Maria Jose. She is 21 and has 3 kids under the age of 5 and one that is due this week. She lives with the three of them alone during the week and on the weekend her boyfriend comes to visit her. It is a testimony to me of the importance of the law of chastity. Here in the mission I have seen so much the importance of the family. It is so sad to see these young girls who have kids and don't have anyone to support them. God's plan and HIs commandments are so much grander then our ways.

Well, because this week is Thanksgiving week I want to end with the things that I am grateful for. 

1. The blessing of being born in the gospel and raised with the knowledge of the plan of salvation, that there is so much more to this life than what we are living in right now. 

2. My family who is the best example to me of service and love to others and God

2. To be able to serve a mission and serve my Lord and thank Him for everything that He has done for me.

The best way to show our gratitude to our Lord is not through our words, rather through our works. This week I invite you all to serve someone else. To find an opportunity to share the blessings of the gospel with someone who doesn't have them.

I love you all! 

Con amor 

Hna Ayre

11/17/14

Devil Bug Bits

Made Ann's Oreo Cookies

Visit of Elder Christensen 11/11/14

Hola!

Sorry, I forgot to say last week that our p-day was changed to today. Yesterday we had a mission wide conference in Rancagua. One of the seventy's, Elder Christensen and his wife, came and spoke to us. It was awesome to be with the whole mission. I got to see my comps and the other missionaries whom I love that I haven't seen for quite a while. I loved this conference because they talked about the work of salvation and that the vista shouldn't just be on baptism rather that they will be able to go to the temple and receive all of the blessings that are theirs to have.

Elder Christensen talked a little bit about how the mission is like a mini life. When we start the mission, we are like little kids who have lots of questions and want to know about everything and then we pass through a phase as if we were teenagers when we think we know everything and then one day we arrive to become adults and we realize that we don't know anything, but if we rely on God, we realize that we can do all that we need to do. That really hit me, because it really is como asi. I have hit that point in my mission where I feel that if it weren't for the Espiritu Santo and his guia, I wouldn't be able to do anything in this obra.

So good news bad news this week. I'll start with the bad. Our cellphone got robbed on Monday. We're not exactly sure how it happened. I normally have the cell phone in my bag, but we were talking over the phone on speaker phone outside and one of the members in our branch came up behind me and pretended to grab my bag and I got all frazzled. My comp was talking on the phone still but I just was really out of it. After that moment we went to go meet up with another member to go to a cita and as we were walking, I realized that I didn't know where the cellphone was. I searched all through my bag and I couldn't find it anywhere. My comp swares she handed it to me but I don't ever remember her passing it to me and we went to go back and find it but it was gone. I had to pay for a new one. The good news is that its just one of those wlamart phones and not like an iphone or anything. I don't really know whose fault it really was that it got lost but I decided its just better to act as if it was my fault even though Im not really sure. The only bummer is that we lost all of our contacts which is like a ton of missionary work over the time that this sector has had that phone.

The good news is that for the first time in like 5 months, one of the recent converts went to church here. It was such a miracle. When I arrived, my comp said that they just read with Camila when they go to their house because supposedly the other missionaries tried lots of things to get her to go to church and she never went. But in this time a lot of things had passed in her life and we finally got her to go! I really hope that she can continue with this same animo para ir a la iglesia. 

Also this week we had a menos activo tell us she was super upset with us because she felt like we were attacking her to go to church and that we didn't understand that she isn't going because her toe hurts. I tried to apologize and help her understand, in our eyes by inviting her to come to church, its the way that we are showing her our love for her. But she now feels better that she could tell us all of our feelings. Hopefully she now can feel that we really do love her.

Well I love you all and hope all is well!

Con amor

Hna Ayre

Nothing Better Than the Mission 11/3/14

Hola!!!!!!!!!

How is everyone doing? I'm doing good here in Santa Cruz! I love it here a whole lot. There is nothing better than the mission. The time is just passing before my eyes. I don't know how its possible that I am almost half way through my mission.

We have a recent convert that we visit whose name is Oscar. He got baptized the transfer before I got here, but we are working with his mom and sister who are just two of the most amazing people ever. Maria (the mom) has a son who is in jail right now and his visitng hours are Sunday right at the time of Sacrament meeting and she and her daughter Maribel want to get baptized but they don't know what to do because they feel that it is important as well to visit their son. They are so cute, when we taught dia de reposo, we talked about baptism and Maria said, I don't feel comfortable getting baptized because I cant complete with Gods commandment's right now. But ever since that lesson, they have shown up for relief society without fail so that they can complete as much as possible with God's commandments. Her son will possibly be getting benefits this month and they will no longer need visiting hours and they will be able to go to church! We are praying that he can get these benefits because these two hermanas are just two of the most wonderful people that you will ever meet. 

This week we did an activity for halloween as the obra misional that was super funny. We did an obstacle course and everyone that showed up got blindfolded and had to follow a rope and it was compared to the iron rod and the tree of life. We had people of all ages crawling on the floor, climbing up on top of things. It was so funny. It was the best activity that I have had on the mission. Also side note, here in Chile, on halloween, everyone has school and work off. They just started celebrating this holiday as of some 10 years ago. The kids also throw eggs at the houses that don't give them treats. So in the night, we planned with the lights off so that the people wouldn't know that people were home because we didn't have treats to give out. 

As a spiritual side note, I've been thinking a lot about the talk Elder Uchtdorf gave in the conference about being grateful in all circumstances. That we shouldn't only be grateful when things are going well in our lives rather that it's a disposition that we should all have. There is no reason to stop being grateful. I also think if we strive to always have a disposition of gratitude, the moments dificiles won't be so hard to get through.

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

Love 

Hna Ayre