Monday, April 29, 2013

Taking the COLECTIVO

Alright, how about I tell you about what's going on in Chile? Yeah that's a great idea! We had two investigators at church, Neither of which was Teresa from last week... Chuta. But don't give up hope! We are still working with her! Everytime we meet someone who is willing to hear the gospel I am just amazed at how it happened. One of our Investigators is Liliana. We met her a couple weeks ago when we were knocking doors. We had "halo"ed at her house a couple times and were already a couple houses down (the houses are really close together) when she came out and asked us if we had called at her house! ( at least I think that's what she said... sometimes I'm just not quite sure) So we introduced ourselves and found out that she had had discussions with missionaries like twenty years ago and that SHE HAD A BOOK OF MORMON! WHA??! Talk about prepared!!! She's super great. She is currently committed to baptism, as well as the other investigator we had at  church, so we're just REALLY praying super hard for them!

I actually just have a really funny story about our other investigator. So we met her while we were walking home at might and set up an appointment for the next day (Saturday). During that lesson she said she would be baptized and come to church with us so we told her we'd be there around nine fifteen to walk with her. The next day (Sunday) we were there right on the dot! So she comes out and she's like "Oh I thought you were coming later! I'm not ready yet! I thought you were coming at nine fifteen!" ..... Uh what? It is nine fifteen... Turns out there was a time change that night! (you know like daylight savings?) So really it was EIGHT fifteen! Oops. That's awkward. Sometimes I wish we knew when stuff like that happened....

This week there was a conference for the new missionaries to I got to travel back to Concepción and see all the hermanas from my MTC district! (It's about four hours south of where I am) It was just super great! I learned a lot of great things to help me become a better more affective missionary. Now I just need to learn how to speak spanish! One step at a time.... No I actually am becoming a lot more comfortable with spanish. 

I always love it when people try to speak english to me. They find out I am from the U. S. and they automatically try to say something they know in english... I usually think they are still speaking spanish because they can't pronounce things well, and I can understand their spanish better than their english. My companion does this to me all the time. She'll be talking to me and she'll just slip an english word in there so that she can practice her english but it just really throws me off! Then I just laugh about it in my head.

I ate something pretty great this week! Usually when something seems kinda sketchy I just don't ask anyone what it is because I figure it's easier to eat if I just don't know, right? Well we we're eating this kinda strange, but kinda good dessert and one of the other hermanas asked the member what is was. This is what I understood... Uncooked egg whites, apples, sugar. Sometimes I wish I knew even less spanish. Oh well! That's why we bless the food! I figure I've had plenty of cookie dough in my day, so uncooked eggs in Chile shouldn't be a problem right?

So to get around We usually walk, but we have a pretty big area so if we are in a hurry we get a "colectivo" which is kind of like a taxi, but only kind of. So what happens is these "taxi's" all have a special route around the city kinda like a bus. So when you see one with the route number you need you hold out your hand with the number of people who are with you (which is of course always two) and if they have room in the car they will stop and if not they just drive past. So Everytime you get in a taxi there are other people in there! This is pretty good for contacting sometimes because they can't run away or shut the door! They have to listen! Usually the people in there aren't from our area though, so we have to give them to other missionaries.

Well, I think that will have to be all the stories for today my friends! So much to do, and so little time! Hope all goes well!

Con Amor, Merr.

ps "equis cero" means "tic tac toe"

Monday, April 22, 2013

Check it out....OH Dog

 My second day in Chile my companion said something to me about ¨running¨ and ¨tomorrow morning¨ sounded good! so I said, Si!  We ran the short distance it took to get to these. Top notch exercersing equipment right here! They have parks with these things everywhere and I never see anyone using them... :)


Hey there! Alright so I have WAY good news! We had an investigator come to church! It was a miracle! We really didn´t think that any of our investigator would show up, despite all our efforts. This lady´s name is Teresa and she is SO cute! She just has the most sincere questions about the church. We met her the Sunday before while she was doing yard work, and pretty much taught her the first lesson in her front yard. Then every time we went back she wasn´t there! Except once, when she told us she was busy.... So we tried to pass by again Saturday with no luck. We decided to write her a sticky note reminding her about church and stick it on her gate! IT WORKED!!! Today I am thankful for sticky notes! Keep her in your prayers!

Here we do a lot of work with inactive members because there are A LOT! We run into people every day who say they were already baptised in our church, that we didn´t even know were members. Some of them like to talk and are nice but others are kinda bitter towards the church for one reason or another, usually because of somethinganother member said to them. It is really hard to see so many people who have fallen away. One of my goals is to make sure that my investigators are sincerely converted to the gospel,and will really endure and stay active. Baptism isn´t the end! I just KNOW with all my heart that the church is true and it is just so important in my life and I hope I can help others realize that for themselves.

There are also tons of dogs here... They are seriously everywhere! I can never tell if a dog is a stray or if it´s someone´s pet because everyone just lets there dogs wander around and the people just LOVE them. One less active members we have visited a couple times has probably at least seven dogs. We were trying to talk to her and the dogs just kept barking and barking, and one of them kept jumping on me and my eyes were just hurting SO BAD because of my alergies! I´ve probably seen more dogs these past two weeks than I have in my whole life before this. Sometimes they follow us around for really long distances since we walk every where we go... Oh dogs :)

Yesterday my companion asked me what ¨ouch¨ means. Do I say that a lot or something?? That was a fun one to describe! I like to act things out sometimes when I help her with words. I have been teaching her how to have a conversation about her family in english.It´s pretty great. The other two misioneras that live with us speak english so I can speak english evey now and then, don´t you worry! I´ve gotten to the point where I actually understand my companion pretty well,and I can understand her spanish explanations of things usually! When it come to the Chileans... Man they speak fast. Not only that, but the  drop there S´s and ad the word ¨po¨ at the end of every sentence! I´m getting there though! 

When you greet people here they kiss you on the cheek :) Since we´re sister missionaries we are allowed to greet women this way :)  It´s pretty funny because anytime you go into someone´s house you have to great EVERYONE and when you leave you have to say good bye to EVERYONE. It´s considered rude if you don´t kiss everyone (or give them a handshake if they´re male) Sometimes our street contacts even give us a kiss on the cheek!

Everyone here is catholic. We go to someone´s door and tell them we´re missionaries and they say ¨¡soy catolico!" (I´m catholic) One time we were let in to someone´s house and at the end of the discussion we were inviting them to act and they said that they were catholic but we seem like nice girls. Cool. But they gave us grapes! That was nice! It seems like just about everyone here grows there own grapes. Members give them to us all the time too :) I like grapes.

Well that´s all for now peeps! Until next week! Love you all!

Loveth, Mis Ris

ps. ¨Chuta¨ means ¨shoot/dang/darn barn¨
pps. For anyone who is wondering about letters around here, simply write the mission home and they will foward it!

These are from the beach activity!
 The whole clan! (minus half because they were taking pictures)
 Me and my Comp enjoying p day!
 I am just so blessed that I was able to see my cousin! My first transfer and his last! What are the chances... :D

Monday, April 15, 2013

What does that mean???

Well here I am in Chile! I am serving in Talca (which you apparently already know) I just don´t even really know what is going on around here! My compaion is SUPER great! Her name is Hermana Garcia and she is from El Salvador (Yes, this means that she doesn´t speak any english... Except for the words I have taught her). She is fascinated by the funniest things! Her favorite chilean food is hotdogs because they don´t have them in El Salvador and everytime she sees an airplane in the sky she says ´´Mire, mire!´´ (look, look!) They don´t see may of those in El Salvador either. She is super patient with me and my lack of knowing the language. It´s kinda funny because I will ask her what things mean (because she says a lot of words I don´t know) and then she explains it in spanish. Sometimes this works, but sometimes it really just doesn´t work at all- this is when we both just start laughing becuase we know it´s beyond hope. :)

Chile is super awesome, the members here are just SO LOVING. They seriously do everything they can to help us and they are very welcoming to investigators and new converts. We go to a members house every day for lunch because that is the big meal of the day in Chile. One of the members favorite things to feed the missionaries is spaghetti. Their spaghetti usually consists of noodles with unseasoned tomato sauce and unseasoned ground beef, pretty yummy!They always give you TONS of food and you have to eat it all or else you feel bad because they will think you don´t like it, 

We had a baptism on Saturday! It was actually my compaion´s first baptism (she´s been here three months).Her name is Albina and she is just the sweetest lady! I felt a little bad that Hermana Garcia´s old companion couldn´t be there with them... It was a super neat experiance though. It is really awesome to see how the church can change someone´s life. I am just SO glad I have this opportunity to share with others how great this gospel really is.

We do a lot of contacting here in Chile, especially going from door to door. When you go someone´s door you don´t knock, you yell, ¨Halo!¨ It´s actually really great! I think we should start doing that in Utah and see how people respond! We have a new investigator named Teresa. She has a lot of sincere questions about the church which is a really great sign so we´re REALLY praying for her! I really pray that I we can find people who are prepared for this gospel. I have so many blessings in my life because of it and I just want to share it with everyone SO BAD!

Hey! So today I got to go to Constitucion for a little duel (dual? Looks like I can´t speak english or spanish) zone activity at the beach! It was SO pretty! I liked it. Well that´s all I really have to say! Love you all! I love being a missionary! :D

Con Amor, Hermana Woodbury (Bood-boo-dee) or (Good-boo-dee)

ps ¨claro¨ means ¨of course¨
pps almost every word in this email is underlined in red on this computer..

Friday, April 12, 2013

I Have Arrived!

President and Sister Humphrey
10 April 2013

Dear Brother and Sister Woodbury:

Sister Humphrey and I had the great pleasure of welcoming your daughter, Hermana Woodbury, to the Chile Concepción Mission. After we met her at the airport when she arrived on Tuesday, we enjoyed lunch together with the other missionaries. We held an orientation and testimony meeting and Hermana Woodbury met her first companion, Hermana Garcia A, who will train her to be a missionary. They will be laboring in the sector of La Florida A #29 and located in the zone of Talca Centro.  

A mission is a wonderful experience filled with challenge and success that strengthens the testimony and spirituality of each missionary. The greatest support you as a family can give your daughter during her time as a missionary is that of uplifting letters. Missionaries look forward with great anticipation to each letter from home. In addition to using email, you can send packages and letters to our address. The U.S. Postal Service and the Correos de Chile do a good job of delivering packages.


Hermana Merrisa Woodbury
Misión Chile Concepción
O’Higgins 940 Oficina 502
Concepción, Chile.


 You may also send letters (and only letters taped shut; no envelopes) via the "pouch.
                                  
                                                Hermana  Merrisa Woodbury
                                               Misión Chile Concepción
                                               POB 30150
                                               Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150
  
We invite you to look at our blog.  www.chileconcepcionmission.blogspot.com

It will be our privilege to work closely with Hermana  Woodbury as she serves here in Chile.  We are blessed to have her join us in this mission and know that she will have many life changing experiences as she proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for your support and for sharing your daughter with us.

Attached are photos and a map .

Sincerely,


Neall Weston Humphrey                                                                                         
Mission President

Friday, April 5, 2013

Goodbye MTC (on Monday)

Alright, I am kinda freaking out right now... I just don't even know what to think! I am leaving so soon! This week has FLOWN by. I really don't even know where it went! Easter was great. We had a MTC wide sacrament! 3,000 people all getting the sacrament at one time! We had a great guest speaker for it too... Bishop Causse...? (I think that was his name... He is in the presiding bishopric :) THEN that night for our Sunday devotional, Sheri Dew came to speak to us! That was way amazing. One thing she said that I thought was incredibly awesome, was that you should pray to ask for help recognizing how the spirit speaks to you. I never really thought about doing that before, but doing this has really helped me to recognize the spirit so much easier! NEAT-O!!!
Hey mom!  I GOT THE KEVA!!!! That was probably the best thing I have ever tasted in my life. Maybe send me one when I get to Chile?
On Wednesday I got the privelege of hosting new missionaries! It was so great! It was kindof weird to be taken back to that day though. All the girls were so cute and sweet and kinda overwhelmed. (understandable) So I just tried to be extra nice but I probably talked their ears off and I don't know if that made them more overwhelmed or less overwhelmed.
Yesterday we had in-field orientation ALL DAY LONG!  That is where they just overload you with information about being a missionary in the field. They had a lot of ways to make it more fun thought so it wasn't boring. It was good, just a lot of information.
I CAN'T WAIT FOR CONFERENCE!!! it's going to be so great! I just know it! I think I might even get to watch it next weekend in spanish too! That's the rumor at least... Who really knows! The mission field is still just a mystery! But I am so excited to get there! I feel like I know spanish... But at the same time I feel like I really don't know it at all. That should be interesting! I am just going to accept the fact that I'm not going to know what is going on for awhile. Hopefully it won't take me too long to catch on to things though!
Hey you guys are super great! Enjoy conference this weekend and try not to fall asleep! :D
Sincerely, Hermana Woodbury
ps. "sonrisa" means :)