Stephanie got baptized!

Hey there! I bet you are all just sitting there in front of the computer right now waiting anxiously for my email to arrive, right? Yeah, that´s probably right.

Hey guess what! Stephanie got baptized! She is just so cute. She is sixteen and so incredible that she read all of the pamphlets we gave her like three times before her baptism interview and is already sharing what she learns about the gospel with her friends! WOO HOO!!!! It went really well! Her family who are non active members and non members even came to support her and you could tell she felt really good. Now we are starting to teach some of her family, so we´re really excited about that! We´ve been especially teaching her aunt Maria Ines who is twenty five. She is practically like Stephanie´s sister, the way they act together kinda reminds me of how me and Misty are sometimes. Sometimes I just start laughing at them. Just keep their family in your prayers, they are seriously incredible!

I really already love the ward here, they are so awesomely amazing! We have been looking for opportunities to help them and just have been serving them like crazy! Non of the missionaries in the ward have been here for more than a cambio so we have had to start from square one to gain their confidence, and let me tell you it has been working! A little bit of service goes a long way. This next week we are going to initiate the sticky note plan and I have no doubt there will be miracles.

Well, I feel like between Christmas and now everything has been said! It was great to see you and talk to you! You´ll be hearing from me again about this same time next week! Love you!

Loveth, Hermana Woodenburg

It's almost Christmas

Hey guess what! It´s almost Christmas! I actually kinda forget that alot because it´s really just way too hot to be Christmas time. Every time I sing a Christmas song I think "why am I singing a Christmas song in the middle of summer?" It honestly has me a little weirded out. BUT HEY I GET TO SKYPE YOU GUYS!!!! :D

Alright I sure you are all DYING to know about my new companion and area, so I will just tell you about it! My companion is......... drum roll, please....... Hermana Canchan, from...... another drum roll, please....... Guatemala! I am also living with two other Latinas, so goodbye English for me! AND one of the other Hermanas just happens to be Hermana Garcia (yes, this is the same Hermana Garcia that trained me)! Sometimes I just like to make up words and see if they understand what I´m saying.

Sometimes when I am walking around this area I almost feel like I´m in the United States. I almost expect people to start talking to me in English. Most of the houses have TWO STORIES here, and I havn´t even seen one shack. Maybe I´m used to being in the ghetto, but I almost forgot that places like that exist. People even sing on tune at church!

We have an awesome investigator named Stephanie who is getting baptized this Friday! She is super cute! She is sixteen and her dad is inactive, she actually had no idea he was a member until after she started taking lessons with the missionaries!

We had a Christmas Conference this week which was pretty great. I was part of the "special choir" that sang for it and I sang the alto part in a trio as well. It was fun to be able to sing in a choir again.

Anyways, I just want to let you know that I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and that plums a yellow here. Love you guys!

Con amor, Hermana Merrissy

I´m going to Talcahuano

Well, I finally got out of that green mold box and now I´m being transferred! I´m going to Talcahuano which is still pretty close to Concepcion. I forgot my companion´s name, but I do know that she is Latina and that she´s been in the mission as long as my daughter so I will be finishing up her training! It´s going to be really weird not to be in Chillancito anymore... I´m actually a little bummed I won´t be here for Christmas. Oh well, I know I will love the people in Talcahuano too!

Hey remember Hector? Yeah me too. Well on Tuesday we met with him after he had gone home for a couple days and apparently his family is VERY Catholic. He told his parents he wanted to get baptized and they told him they would have preferred it if he told them he was gay over that he was meeting with the Mormons, and prohibited him from meeting with us again. Chuta. So we asked him what he thought about it, and he said that after he talked to his parents, he decided to pray about it and ask if he should keep meeting with us, and then he read eight chapters of the Book of Mormon and it gave him a really peaceful feeling despite what was going on with his parents. So he decided that he was going to keep meeting with us! He´s got some nerve! Then later this week we met up with him, and when he saw us, the first thing he said was "I got my answer!" With a big smile on his face. He had been reading a pamphlet we gave him that has baptism in it, and once he was done he went to wash his face, and his catholic necklace with a cross on it fell off of his neck. He thought it had broken, but the latch on it was completely intact, and the only way it could have fallen is if someone unlatched it! He took that as a sign that he shouldn´t be Catholic anymore and he needs to get baptized. Incredible right? Who is this guy? Why do I have to get transferred right now??

Merry Christmas from Chillancito!

Loveth, Hermana Woodbury

WE MOVED!!

I am happy to announce that the move was a success! We are now living in an apartment building. Instead of annoying fluorescent green, we have a nice soothing lavender color on our walls! No mold, no spiders, no slugs, and enough space so that I won´t go insane! I am now living in luxury!

Okay I just really want to tell you guys abut this super awesome investigator we found this week! His name is Hector! The first time we went to his house was a little awkward, but he committed to prepare for baptism and read the pamphlet about the restoration and pray about it. Yeah, well just so you guys know, almost everyone commits to do all that stuff... They just don´t. So we go back the next day and he had read the whole thing AND highlighted things that caught his attention AND had questions! WHA???? What world are we in? I was so shocked I didn´t even know how to respond! I´m pretty sure my eyes were bulging out of my head and my mouth was hanging open, maybe with a little bit of drool dripping out of my mouth or something. So then he pretty much taught US the restoration. Now he has been reading the Book of Mormon and he highlights all the scriptures he likes and marks the pages with sticky note tabs! AND after his first time at church yesterday he stayed after for ward choir practice! Who even does that?? AND he was asking us about missions the other day! Future missionary! Sorry, I feel like that was just about the most confusing thing I´ve ever written, but I am just so baffled. WOO HOO!

Well this week we finally put together a Thanksgiving ward party! Only a week late but every one loved it! No one knows what Thanksgiving is here so they liked to experience something from a different culture.  We basically played games, shared a message and ate pie! It was great. Don´t worry, Hector went to that too.

Well, That probably just about sums up the week! I´m happy to hear that is snowed! Now you guys can go skiing and do cool tricks off the jumps! Don´t be too crazy! Love you guys!

Loveth, Hermana Woodbury

I'm moving!!!!

Alright, I have big news! The Hermanas of Chillancito are going to move to a different house! This might not be very significant to you, but trust me it is a big deal. I have been living for the past six months in one of the worst houses in the mission, I will proceed to tell you why..

• It´s TINY. I seriously don´t know how I have survived for so long enclosed in such a tight squeeze with four or more people living there. I always feel like the walls are closing in and it is impossible to plan without being interrupted in some way by the other hermanas, considering that we are sitting two feet away.
• Bugs. Considering that our doors have a half inch gap above the floor and there are cracks in the ceilings, windows, and doors, it is quite easy for little critters to find their way inside. We sometimes wake up with weird looking spider bites, and kill an average of three spiders daily.
• Slugs. The cracks in the windows and doors also permit huge nasty slugs to come in. Since they are nocturnal, we usually only see them at night or early in the morning. Sometimes we find them on our food when we wake up, and since Hermana Phelps hung her rain poncho on the door, it is now covered in nasty slug slime. We even have a frozen one on the back of the fridge that no one is brave enough to clean out...
• Plants. They grow like crazy one the out side AND inside of our house. Since we don´t have any thing to cut the grass, the out side of our house looks like a jungle. No to mention the little plants that keep growing up from the bass boards. It is impossible to grab THOSE up by the root, so no matter how many times you pull the out, they grow back in a couple days.
• The shower. Our gas system doesn´t work very well in order to turn on the hot water, so in order to have a hot shower you have to... turn the hot water knob on and off four times in the kitchen and knock on the wall, then the person in the bathroom turns on the hot water knob to shower and knocks on the wall, then the person in the kitchen turns off the kitchen water. I mean it´s simple enough, but sometimes I just miss turning the knob in the shower and having it work.....
• Mold. It´s such an old house, and Chile is so humid that there is mold every where. We had a cleaning party and scrubbed the mold off the walls and ceilings, but there and still lots of stains and it grows back quick. Not to mention the mold that sometimes grows inside of our suitcases and all the stuff inside....
• The walls. They are a hideous fluorescent green color with crimson red doors and floors. I might as well be living in a Christmas tree. Too bad we will be moving right before Christmas...

I mean things could always be worse, and I have definitely enjoyed all the adventures of our house, but maybe moving will be a nice change... And now that we are almost out of there I thought it would be fun to let you know where I live!

We really learned why it´s so important to work with the bishop this week. We dropped in to his office Tuesday to see if he needed help with anything and he told us of a less active member that he wanted us to visit. We dropped by the less active members house with a member the next day, and during our lesson she started to cry and say that our visit was exactly what she needed and she knew she had to return. We´ve been having a lot of great spiritual experiences like that with less active members lately and I know that it is the will of God that we find them and help them have the desire to return.

We found another less active member that wanted a blessing for her sick grandma that lives with her. So we called a bunch of members to come give her a blessing and seriously NONE of the men that lived near by and had a car could. So then we remembered of a couple RMs and called them up. When they came, she was seriously glowing. It just so happened that the were the exact two guys that had befriended her when she became a member. It was so meant to be I couldn´t even believe it! Just one of those simple miracles that God shows you when you are diligently dong all you can to help someone. 

We have actually been doing a lot of work with less actives lately, and have found some incredible people. It is amazing when someone realizes that they´ve left behind the biggest blessing they have ever had in their life and start coming back to church. I just love it!

Well, hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend! Time to whip out the Christmas stuff! Love you guys!

 

Loveth Hermana Goodbury

 

p.s. pitanza means doorbell ditch

What I'm THANKFUL for

HEY HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! I was actually a bit disappointed that There wouldn´t be any sort of festivities here in Chile but don´t even worry because we were invited by Hermana Arrington to cook some fun Thanksgiving food at her house today! So, I celebrated a bit early but I DID have a Thanksgiving! Every time I go The President´s house it just reminds me of being in the US again because its just so nice! It really made me realize that I have a LOT to be grateful for!

I am thankful for:

• Garbage can lids that prevent cats from ripping through your garbage and getting it everywhere.
• The pilgrims and Indians for sharing their dinner and creating such a great tradition
• Rain ponchos
• Name tags so I never forget my companions name
• Sunscreen
• Feeling like you are a servant in the Lord´s hands
• Refrigerated milk and eggs
• Sticky notes
• The Future Chile Concepcion Temple 
• Home made rolls
• Normal teeth
• Sweet looking mission shoes
• My mom for letting me cut the fat off my meat

• The pound for getting rid of rabid stray dogs
• The Book of Mormon
• Black Friday!
• Saltines that have salt, and salads that don´t
• Popcorn
• Planners.... Maybe I´ll use one when I get home? ;)
• Chalk Art (PS. Have you seen the video of the missionaries in NYC doing a giant chalk art of the plan of salvation in Union Square? look it up if not)
• Kitchens with counter space
• My dad for rubbing my shoulders when I´m sore (rain check?)
• The Chilean remedy for everything- Lemon and salt.
• Priesthood blessings
• Hermana Arrington for inviting her to her house today to make mini thanksgiving
• The ability to make turkey napkins!
• The letters you write me and love that you send
• Cold pure water

Hope everyone eats lots of good food! Save me some pumpkin pie! :D

Love you guys!

Love, Hermana Woodbury

Where the river meets the ocean

Well here I am again! Not TOO much has happened that´s new. My companion still usually has no idea what is going on. Every time any one says any thing I have to repeat it so that she can understand. She understands my Spanish, just not Chilean yet. 

Let me tell you about Sergio and Claudia (Yes, another Sergio). Sergio is a less active member that has recently been coming back to church. One day, we taught him and his family which consists of his wife Claudia (well not really cause they aren´t married) and her daughter Camila. Well, When we found out that they not only had to get married (Yes, another Sergio that has to get married) but they both still needed to get divorced to their previous spouses, we gave up hope a little and didn´t visit them more... Then this week I get a call from president saying that he randomly found them with some elders in another area and taught them. What the? Since when does stuff like that happen? Well, he thinks Claudia is super great so now we´re teaching them again. Who knows, maybe it´ll even have a good ending!

As missionaries, we always find it very affective to sing to people. Usually people that wouldn´t normally let us in, are willing to listen to us sing, so once we´re in we can take advantage of the situation and teach a lesson. Well one day this week I had the hiccups like all day, so we ended up entering this house to sing them a song, and just about every time I open my mouth I would let out a super loud hiccup. I personally thought it was hilarious and so did my companion, so every time I hiccuped me and my companion´s voices would tremble because we were trying not to laugh. Meanwhile the couple who we are singing for just have this look like the are loving the hymn we are singing because it is just the best thing they´ve ever heard. I just havn´t decided whether or not I am too embarrassed to go back to that house to teach them again or not... But then again they seemed not to mind...

We had an activity today where we went to "where the river meets the ocean". For some reason m zone always like to have activities where you go to the beach and you don´t swim. It was pretty great though. Here are some pics.

Me and my hija!

The four gringas of Chillancito!

We found the pirates.

 

We´re in a cave. With a Moses staff.

 

 

"Festival Gastronómico"

Well, I have good news! My hija (daughter) is still alive! I will now proceed to tell you what happened. When we go to pick up our children, they give us a little class about all the things we need to do when we train. After that, all the trainers and newbies eat lunch together and chat while the suspense builds and everyone is wondering who their companion is. There were 12 sisters that came in this cambio, so plenty to choose from! Surprisingly though, only four of the new sisters were gringas. After lunch we went into the chapel, where all of the new missionaries bore their testimony in Spanish and all of the trainers tried to receive revelation about who they would be training. After that FINALLY came the moment where we got to know who our companions are. They would call up the new missionary and then tell them who their trainer is, which is followed by the trainer happily running up to the front and giving their new companion a big hug (me included). Well, there you have it. That´s how it went. And my companion is..... (drum roll please)..... HERMANA LEES! She is from Seattle, Washington! Wahoo! And just in case you are interested to know, Hermana Phelps is ALSO training a gringa! So we´re all gringas here in Chillancito! That's crazy. What are the chances that two of the four gringas came to Chillancito? Yeah, it´s pretty great. We like it.

Well, I´m not going to lie, I was a little stressed out this week- You know going from junior companion to trainer, and then on top of all that, our ward had activities every single day this week because of ward conference! Here in Chile, ward activities aren´t just like in the states where everything is taken care of by the ward, and the missionaries can show up when and if they want. No, you HAVE to go, help set up, participate in the activity, and help clean up. And if you don´t, the ward will probably think you are the worst missionaries in the world.... So I was a little stressed that we weren´t going to get ANYTHING done this week. BUT with sacrifice brings miracles. Our members were seriously awesome and invited their neighbors and friends, so half of the people there were less active members, and we even had a few non members in there! We were able to make appointments with referrals and all that great stuff that missionaries live for! We are very enthused to work with these new people this week!

Well, as part of our participation in the ward activities, we were in charge of the "Festival Gastronómico" Which was a food competition! Everyone made some sort of food or dessert, and shared it. As missionaries we decided to make no-bake cookies, and let me tell you, they were a real hit! No one had ever tried them before, and most people had never even tried peanut butter, so it was a completely new taste and they loved it.

I´m happy to say that sticky notes never cease to work miracles. We accidentally offended one of the families here in the ward because we usually have FHE with them, but we couldn´t go two weeks in a row. So then at the beginning of the week, at the ward activities we noticed that they were glaring at us. Chuta.... So we decided to make amends, we would just stop by their house with the four missionaries to say hello and tell them they´re great. Good idea right? Right. Well, they weren´t home. So we decided to just write a sticky note, it said the following, "We passed by because you guys are INCREDIBLE, Love the missionaries". Yeah well that night they came up to us and were super happy and acted like they were never even offended. Then yesterday the husband went out to work with us and gave us a bunch of referrals. Yeah.... I think I´ll be writing sticky notes to members a lot more often.

Okay you guys are probably sick of reading but I just have one more story! Remember the family that named their rabbit after me? Yeah well I was eating at their house and the husband was like "Hermana Goodbury, what does your name mean in Spanish? Good means bueno, but what does bury mean?" Yeah, "wood" and "good" definitely sound the same to them.

Alright that´s it. hope no one is expecting a personal email today, because I just used up all my time! Love you guys!

Love, Hermana "Bueno"bury

I'm a TRAINER!

Hey! We have cambios! Don´t worry though, I am just staying here in Chillancito. :) But my companion sure isn´t! I actually am freaking out a little bit, because I officially am going to train. AH! I remember when I first arrived, I thought that the hermanas that had been in the mission eight months were just WAY experienced, and now that I´m here... I just still have SO MUCH TO LEARN! My poor daughter. (In the mission we call the missionaries we train our children...) The other crazy part is that me and Hermana Phelps are STILL living together! WOO HOO!!! I really got lucky with that one! And she will be training as well, so everything is just SUPER locisimo! (loco means crazy... locisimo is like loco, just super exagerated).

Well it turns out that people here really do celebrate Halloween! I saw like eight people dressed up in costumes to go trick or treating! It was pretty crazy! Actually they celebrate "Evangelico Day" on the thirty first so I got to see a few evangeilco armies marching down the street and singing praises to the Lord! One even gave me a pamphlet called "The Biblical Teachings of Hell," That´s what I want to read!

Well... Considering that I´m just freaking out right now, I forgot everything that I had to write you guys about this week. So I´ll just include some pics!

Here´s half of the seminary class! Usually I´m pretty sure they don´t learn anything and I am just talking to myself. If they were investigators we might have dropped them by now...?  (Notice that one is STILL texting even in the picture... I mean looking up scriptures. I´m pretty sure that was the longest period of time they have ever been quiet) Niños....

 

Chau compañera! Enjoy your next area!

 

 

 

Here´s our church! And a guy on a charriot! and some houses!

 

Yeah I know him. He´s famous. 

 

Love you guys!

De, Hermananana Woodbury

p.s. "dulce o travesura" means "trick or treat"

Nuts for nuts!

Okay remember how we had that miracle last Saturday with Elizabet who we found like a half hour before conference? Yeah, well the next time we found her she broke up with us. Not gonna lie it was a rough breakup. I´m super used to people rejecting us but it was different with her. She invited us in her house and then told us that she didn´t want us to teach her anything, and she didn´t want to go to church again because she didn´t want to have anything to do with God in her life right now... Well, now what? So we kinda discuss what´s going on with her life, and try to share a scripture that can apply to her situation, but she seriously would NOT let us share anything gospel related with her. So finally we´re like "Well... Can we leave you with a prayer..?" Yeah she didn´t even let us pray. I just don´t understand what happened there! She was SO awesome the day we taught her and then all of the sudden she didn´t want anything to do with it! Anyways... New subject

Here are a couple great things that happen in Chile. One thing you should understand is that evangelicos are SUPER devoted to their religion and they think that EVERYONE needs to hear what they have to say whether they want to hear it or not. Therefore, they sometimes stand outside of houses and yell scriptures and stuff REALLY LOUD at the house. I have decided that maybe we should start doing that? Yell at a house and count it as a lesson? We would teach a lot of lessons that way! Yesterday, we also witnessed an army of evangelicos walking down the street singing hymns. It actually kind of made my day a little bit... Next ward activity coming right up!

Here in Concepcion, they have a bunch of nut stands all over the place that you can buy fresh candied nuts. The part I like best is the fact that they are usually called "nuts 4 nuts." It´s a good pun right? Yeah, well no one here actually knows that because they all speak Spanish and "nuts cuatro nuts" doesn´t really mean anything to them, so every now and then you will see a nuts stand that says "nuts 5 nuts!" Because 5 is obviously better than 4 right? Yeah, pun ruined... :)

Well I just don´t have to much to tell this week! Hope everything is going superb and that everyone has great costumes for Halloween! I´m thinking when I go door to door that night I will yell, "scripture or treat!" That way if they don´t have candy, they will have to listen to a scripture. Then again, I could always just yell a scripture really loud at their house if they don´t let us in, right?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! :D

Con amor, Hermana Woodenbury

p.s. sombra means shadow

Ditched at conference

Okay, first things first. I am really kind of sad because we might have to stop teaching Janeth and Sergio. It is like the biggest heartbreak of my life, but they honestly aren´t doing anything more to progress more than they did like three months ago. They told us that they are going to keep going to church, but that they just have a lot going on in their lives right now and need some things to fix themselves before they get married. We talked to our leaders about it and they said we should probably let them go for a little bit. It is seriously the hardest thing EVER because we know that they are super awesome and that they have stranger testimonies than a lot of the members... Anyway, enough about that.

This week our zone had interviews with the mission president at his house again! I always like going to the President´s house because it´s kind of like being in the US! Me and a few elders sang a musical number there, which I just loved because I got to sing alto and I havn´t been able to do that for a while! Mostly because the melody always needs a little help...

We had stake conference this week, so we had the option to bring people to church Saturday night because of the adult session. Anyways, we were contacting a street about a half hour before the Saturday night session, and happened upon an eighteen year old girl named Elizabet walking along, so we started to talk to her, and she accepted to go to the church with us! At the church we taught her a small lesson and she said she wanted to get baptised in our church because she´s never felt so much peace in her life, and then she stayed for some of the adult session! I was seriously amazed. It was a true miracle.

Sunday was a little bit different. We went with our investigator Irene to the conference who we have been teaching for a while and went to church with us once before and told us that she would really like to follow our religion. Anyways, so it gets to "halftime" where every one stands up and sings and Irene asks, "Hey, where´s the bathroom?" so I tell her and she leaves to room.... and never returns. That is not even a joke. She left and then texts us, "Hey sorry but I need to go home now!" Okay, what the heck? I seriously don´t understand what the heck is going on with her. Way to be all sneaky! Maybe she was bored..?

A little bit after our investigator sneaked out of the conference, someone passed out, so of course a big group of people had to carry the body out into the hall, and the speaker pretended like nothing happened and kept talking. Then to top it all off, the closing song the choir sang was a Christmas song. Never mind that it´s not even after Halloween yet! What a conference!

Anyways, that´s about it for right now! Love you guys! Merry Christmas! (or Halloween whichever one you want to celebrate this month)

Loveth, Hermana Merrisa Woodbury

p.s. sandia means watermelon

The Book of Mormon is amazing!

LAURA GOT MARRIED!!!!! I CAN HARDLY EVEN BELIEVE IT!!!!! It seems so unreal. I am just SO SO SO happy for her! Congrats Laura! I looked BEAUTIFUL in your dress with hidden pockets!:D

Hey remember how great Janeth and Sergio are and how I am always way obsessed with them and like to talk about them and stuff? Yeah, they´re still amazing. They had a FHE with their family and taught them the gospel! They are the coolest people I´ve ever met. They still don´t have a date to get married yet though... I´m kinda worried. They told us that they are for sure going to get baptised, but we need us to be patient.... Umm... We have been being patient for like three and a half months now! POR FAVOR! We are getting a little discouraged because we´ve helped them put a date of faith for their baptism like three times already when the spirit is really strong, but then it always just passes by and we don´t really know what else to do except pray that they´ll actually do something to work toward it.

The power of the Book of Mormon never ceases to amaze me. We have been teaching this inactive member for a while who is just really stubborn. Anyways, a couple weeks ago her husband who isn´t a member was there and giving us a hard time about stuff... Long story short we gave him a Book of Mormon, assigned him something to read in it, and left. Well, he went out of town for a couple weeks for work and we figured he wouldn´t read it. This week we found him again and he had taken the Book of Mormon with him on his trip, read what we assigned him, and wanted to read more so he read all the way from the intro to 1 Nephi 8. WHA???!!! We were NOT expecting that! He told us, "It´s just a really great book to read because when you´re reading you get this really great feeling right here, ya know?" (gesturing to his heart). I was seriously amazed. We are so darn barn lucky to have that book. It really does give guidance. I just love it so much.

Well..... Yep that´s about it for today! Love you guys!

Love Hermana Woodbury

Loving General Conference

Well now that it´s October, I hope everyone´s house is nice and decorated for Halloween! Unfortunately that holiday doesn´t exist here, but I´m thinking about dressing up as a rabbit that day in honor of the rabbit named Woodbury here in Chillancito.

How about that General Conference? I´m not going to lie, it is a totally different experience watching it in Spanish, than in English. It´s super weird because you see their lips moving, but there is a translator speaking over them in Spanish. Every speaker, you hear them say their first few words in English before the translator starts. It´s so weird not to be able to hear the individual voices and personalities of the speakers. You also can´t hear when everyone is chuckling in the conference center, and since the personality of the translator isn´t the same with the dumb little jokes they do in conference, nobody ever laughs. The translator for Elder Holland´s talk actually started crying a little and the spirit was really strong. I definitely kind of missed hearing their voices though. But I will have you know that Richard Scott translates his own talk so I DID get to hear his voice! Something else kind of fun is that in the middle of the session when everybody sings, the words on the screen are still in English, but everyone just gets out their hymn book and sings it in Spanish, so you´ve got the sound of the choir singing in English, and everyone else in Spanish and it´s just very interesting and great and confusing.

 We had a cool experience with our investigator Janeth in the Saturday Morning session. She told us that when Uchtdorf was speaking and said that "this church has a place for you," she felt like he was talking straight to her. I was like, YEAH! He WAS talking straight to you! Later, in the Sunday morning session, both Janeth and Sergio went and during every single talk I thought, "Oh my goodness! This is exactly what they needed to hear!" It is just so cool how everyone can get exactly what they need to hear out of conference. We are seriously so blessed to have the guidance of the prophet in our lives. 

I can´t really think of anything else to write right now my head is just so full of CONFERENCE. I hope everything is going super wonderful and that you all enjoyed conference, felt the spirit, and got a little life guidance! Love you people!

Con GRAN amor,

Hermana Woodbury

There is a rabbit named after me!

I have great news! The Registro Civil is open! That means Janeth and Sergio can progress! I am actually kind of worried about them because I just really don´t want them to loose their vision and be eternal investigators! They really just need to get married and baptised already! Oh man they are so awesome. I´ll keep on keeping you updated about them, don´t you even worry!

Here´s kind of a funny story. We were at a member´s house for lunch, and they weren´t quite done making dinner, so they invited us to go out back to look at their rabbits. Keep in mind that they have these rabbits for the soul purpose of eating them. Anyways, as they were showing us the rabbits they said that none of them had names, except one. "Woodbury!" Yeah. They named a rabbit after me that they are going to eat... Except when you think about it, the rabbits name is real Googoody because we all know that no one can actually say Woodbury.

This week I had a cool experience that really opened my eyes to how unimportant the things of the world are. We were teaching a lady that we had found a couple months ago and then could never find again. We would always pass by her house but she was never home. The first time we taught her she was just super awesome, loving and happy, but this time we finally found her and she was pretty depressed. She let us in her house and started to tell us how she had everything she could ever need; a nice house, a good job, a family, a busy life, but she just wasn´t happy and she didn´t know why. She told us that there are moments that she can feel happy but it just doesn´t last. We were able to share our testimonies about how the things that really bring true happiness are the things of God, and not the things of the world. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that brings true happiness in this life. I was able to tell her without a shadow of a doubt that God loves her and wants her to be happy, she just had to let him in. 

Well... Nothing else is new. Guess I´ll talk to you next week! Love you guys!

Con mucho amor, Hermana Googoody

Chilean Independence day

Shout out to Berkley because they are playing the song "Tonight" in the Internet place! Now that that´s been said, I will tell you guys about my mission! A miracle happened this cambio! All four of us in our house are staying together! WHA???!!! This is the third cambio that the four of us will be living together, and I really can´t even believe it because people never stay together for that long, especially when it´s four people that don´t have any drama and just get along! I´m just way glad because I really want to keep working with Janeth and Sergio. I have high hopes that there´s a chance I will be here when they get married? The only problem is that there is one place that you go to get married, that would be called the Registro Civil,  and that would be on strike. STILL! They havn´t been able to sign up for a wedding date for almost a month now! I think the mission was meant to teach me patience??

This week was the celebrations for Chilean Independence ( September 18th), but the difference is that instead of celebrating for one day by watching a parade, eating a hot dog, and watching fireworks like we do in the states, they party ALL. WEEK. LONG. It was kind of fun because we were able to go to the ward party for a bit, and and watch the members do their traditional dance that´s called the Queca in their traditional dresses. But let´s be real, the missionary work was a bit rough. Everyone was partying it up drinking all week long and when they weren´t drunk, they were hung over..... Most of our investigators were out of town for the holiday so we didn´t enter many houses. We did however find a couple awesomes though! 

We have been teaching this young couple named Stefanie and Manuel that have a cute little boy, but this week they were out of town. As we were passing by their house this week we heard some music so decided to see who was home. It just so happened that Stefanie´s mom Irene was there cleaning the house with the music blasting (first sign that we´re going to get along). So she let us in and Stefanie´s brother Rodolfo also happened to be there and we just had an amazing lesson with them and they are super awesome! And Irene even came to church this Sunday! People hardly ever go to church after the first week teaching them! Yeah. That whole family is just way awesome. I just love it.

Well, that´s about it for today! Love you guys! Love being a missionary and serving the Lord! 

Loveth, Hermana Merrisa

mini Cambios

Hey folks! Well, I´m officially freaking out! (as always... I think I´m usually freaking out about something....) We are going to have cambios (that means transfers... but from now on when I write I´m just going to write the word cambios so that I don´t have to ask the missionary next to me how to say cambios in English...) this Friday! AH! I´m way sad already because there is pretty much no way that me and Hermana Gonzalez are going to stay together for another transfer... "President! Please just let me stay in Chillancito!!!" AND, There is pretty much no way that me and Hermana Phelps (from the MTC) will be lucky enough to live together another transfer. I´ve been way too lucky. Anyways... Thought I´d let you know that I´m freaking out and that I have transfers soon.

I had a root beer float this week! Remember those??! (Just so you know that is really big news here in Chile. Stuff like that is a RARITY) I had a mini cambio in an area that right next to mine and Hermana Call somehow happened upon root beer, AND had vanilla ice cream to accompany it. WHOA! I actually really like mini cambios, it´s really great to just learn from other missionaries for a day. And you can just be way bold to people because it´s the only time you get to talk to them. I learned how important it really is to just show your love for the people you are serving. Sometimes as missionaries we just get kind of stressed out and forget to take the time to really show people that we care about them. That´s something that everybody really needs. Isn´t that why I´m here? To help people know that the Savior loves them? Yeah, That´s exactly why I´m here.

We had a zone activity today and it was just way great. So great. We went to the beach and played Frisbee and had some lunch. I really love zone activities because it´s almost like having a group of friends again! I know that sounds way sad but it´s just kind of true...

Anyways, that´s about it! Love you!

Hermana Woodbury

September 9th

Magdalena decided to get baptized! And she did it! It was a great experience, and we´re going to keep working with her. We´re also hoping that we can start teaching her son that lives with her soon. He came to the baptism and we found out that the Bishop is his same age and they know each other, and that they have daughters the same age too! We are wanting to do an FHE with their two families and the bishop is totally on board! 

 

 

We actually had a really awesome experience this week that helped us realize the importance of the Book of Mormon in the conversion of our investigators. We were just verifying with Janeth if she read what we had left her to read, and she opened it up to where we had assigned, read a verse that she liked from the lecture, and started to cry. Through her tears she started to bear her testimony that she knows that Christ lives, that she knows that the Book of Mormon is true, and that this is the true gospel. It was just an incredible feeling to know that she already has such a strong testimony. She isn´t even a member yet! They just need to get married so bad! But now the Registro Civil is on strike so they can´t even go to set up a wedding day! 

We had an awesome trizone conference where President Arrington and the Assistants did a work shop thing with our zones. It was really awesome because it was a smaller group and we could all be involved. I always really love conferences because we always leave way pumped up and enthused to work. Yep... That´s all I have to say about that! Until next week my good friends!

Con MUCHISIMO amor, Hermana 

ps. raton means rodent or mouse... but not the kind of mouse you use for the computer

September 2nd

Hey there! Let me just tell you guys what´s going on lately! First off, Magdalena is getting baptized! I think I forgot to tell you about her... She´s another grandma. Apparently we´re real good at finding grandma´s to teach! We´ve been teaching her for probably a couple months because she doesn´t really absorb much when you teach her, which means we just have to teach little simple things every time. We almost let her go... We had been teaching her for three weeks and she would never commit to go to church. We went to her house with the mind set that it was our last visit with her, and then when we committed her to church she said she wanted to go! WHA??! Then she just kept coming! And all of the sudden she can get baptized! We´ll see if it ends up happening this week or next, we have to see if she´s ready. :D

Janeth and Sergio are still just SUPER awesome. Just so golden like! They always read what we give them in the scriptures, and then when we check up on it, they ask us questions about what they don´t understand! They just want to know everything they possibly can and I just love it so much! 

Hey remember how I teach seminary? Yeah me too. I just want to apologize to my seminary teachers for all the times I was talking in class... Sometimes when I´m teaching I seriously feel like I´m talking to myself. I have honestly been wondering if they even get anything out of it. Then this week all five of them got up to bear their testimonies during sacrament meeting, and I thought "Hey maybe I am doing something." It was seriously amazing to see all of them get up there. 

This week we were teaching an inactive member, and I thought it was going pretty well, until at the end of it he told me that he wanted to marry me. What?! Who does that? We dropped him.

Well that about wraps it up! I just love being a missionary! I get to see people´s lives change. The gospel really does change lives. It´s crazy to see the changes that people can make in their lives, and how much happier they can be. Janeth and Sergio told us that ever since they have been meeting with us people tell them that they just have a really good feeling in they´re home. 

Love you all! 

Loveth, Merrissy

Six month mark!

 

We found a restaurant with normal American type food and we all LOVED it.... Funny how you take things for granted

Okay I´m really freaking out because I´ve almost been a missionary for six months and I still just feel like I´m brand new! Everyone tells you that it goes by way fast and it´s seriously so true! I really don´t like that it´s going by so fast because that means I´ll go home really fast and I just have so much to do here!

I can´t really think of anything really interesting to tell you guys honestly. It´s just the same thing all the time! It´s starting to get a lot warmer though and that´s super duper great because we can actually get people to stop and talk to us a little more. I feel like interesting things happen everyday, but I just can´t think of anything specific at this moment...

Well, that´s that. Remember to read your scriptures! Seriously. I have really found that the people who do the little things grow so much stronger in their testimony! I just love that so much. One of my favorite things to teach about is the Book of Mormon because it´s just so darn barn AWESOME and everybody needs to read it.

Well, sorry for sending such a lame email!

Love you guys!

Love, Hermana Woodbury

Ps. Mentira means lie

Postal Service ON STRIKE

Oh. My. HECK! I am just so obsessed with Yanet and Sergio! They are really like the best people I´ve ever met. They told us this week that they want to get married before September 18th. They were like "Yeah, we were thinking maybe we could get married on a Saturday at the church and then just get baptised the same day!" Well... AWESOME!!! AND that´s before the next transfer so both me and Hna Gonzalez would be there! The only thing is that they might have to fill out some sort of papers because they have an under age son, and it normally takes a couple months to do the whole process with that. But it doesn´t really make sense that they would have to do that because the son is from THEIR marriage. The bishop knows a lawyer who knows about stuff like that and is going to talk to him to see if they have to do it or not. Just pray so much for them! They seriously have so much faith and they want to be members of the church SO BAD!!

We have some other great investigators too... But nothing way too exciting that I need to tell. Something way great that happens sometimes is that people will just yell out whatever phrases they know in English when I walk by.. My favorite this week was a guy who kept yelling, "My name is! My name is!" I just wanted to yell back at him and say, "Your name is what?! PLEASE tell me your name already!" But he probably wouldn´t have understood, so I just laughed inside my head like I always do. :)

Also, it might be of interest for you guys to know that the postal service is on strike here so we don't get any letters as of right now... Yep. That´s all! I just love you guys SO MUCH! and I just LOVE it here! It is such a blessing that I get to be here serving the Lord. Something that we usually share with people the first time we teach them is about the atonement. It is really the center of our religion, and I am so grateful that I know what it really means for us. He knows us perfectly inside and out, because he went through it all. He didn´t only suffer for our sins, but he suffered our pains and our afflictions. (Alma 7:11-12) I just wish everyone could know what we know! 

Well... Chao!

Con muchísimo amor, Hermana Woodbury

p.s nublado means cloudy 

Awkward words

Our Zone together one last time with our soccer jerseys that Hna Phelps designed! Since I´m serving in a Latin country I´m suddenly supposed to be obsessed with soccer... That´s too bad.

 

Ah!!!! WE HAVE TRANSFERS THIS WEEK!!!!! But don´t you even worry because I´m staying here with Hermana Gonzalez! :D We are just so super duper happy about it because we both just want to see Yanet and Sergio get married SO BAD!!! So we might be able to BOTH be there!! WOOO! I am seriously just so obsessed with them. They each had an interview with our district leader so that he could see their progress and everything and he told us that he has never interviewed anybody as ready as they are. I´m telling you, they seriously already seem like members because they already have SUCH strong testimonies. They just want to get married and baptized so bad! I just love teaching them so much. We always have the spirit there so strong and, they just always want to do everything they can to learn more!

Sometimes contacting people on the street and at their houses gets a little repetitive, so lately me and Hermana Gonzalez have been switching it up a little. We will come up with random words that we have to use in our contacts (tree, carmel, bicycle, etc). It´s super great because you have to be creative when you talk to people, so that you can slip in an awkward word and make it seem normal.  Surprisingly enough, sometimes those are the better contacts that we are able to feel the spirit more because we aren´t just repeating the same old thing. I just really like it!

Well.... That´s all I can really think of to tell you guys right now... Enjoy summer to the very end! Love you people! Chaoito!

Sincerito, Merrisito

Reading the PMG

Hey there my dearest friends and family! How are you all doing over there (For some reason I cant do a question mark on this computer so just pretend I put one... Gotta love using a public internet!)  Well you don´t have to actually answer that, but hey, I´m doing pretty great! Honestly not anything too exciting has happened this week. We´re pretty much just working with Yanet and Sergio and trying to find other investigators. Don´t get me wrong, we have other investigators, they just don´t  keep their commitments which means we really need to find some others. This week was pretty interesting because we found a bunch of new people who we were able to teach, but for some reason they were all super crazy...

Did I ever tell you that we are all reading PMG together as a mission (question mark) Yeah well we are and it´s super great. We finished the BOM and about a week later we got the assignment to read PMG! Better that way, then I don´t have to choose what to study, I´m way too indecisive for that! It has honestly been a super great experience. My testimony has grown a ton because of it. This is seriously the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everything we do is centered in him. I am just so grateful for his love for us. He truly atoned for us. He took our pains so that we can be free.

Hope all is well! Love you all!

Hermana Woodbury

Note from President Arrington

Dear Families of the Best Missionaries in the World,
 
We are so excited to be here in the Chile Concepcion Mission serving with your sons and daughters. We wanted to take a minute and introduce ourselves. We are Kent and Michele Arrington. Our home is in Clinton, Utah, a small town where we both grew up. We were blessed with two daughters and one son. They are all married and have blessed us with eight of the cutest grandchildren a grandparent could hope for. Kent was employed by the church, working in the temple department. We are so excited that a temple has been announced for here in Concepcion. It will be such a wonderful blessing to the members in this part of Chile.
 
We have had the opportunity to meet all of the missionaries serving in the Chile Concepcion Mission.  What an impressive group of young men and women! We have felt of their testimony and love for the Lord and for the people of Chile. They have welcomed us with open arms. We are very grateful for President and Sister Humphrey. They did a magnificent work. We are excited to carry on and to serve with your sons and daughters. We love them and pray for them.
We moved into our new mission office this week.  Please use this address now when sending packages or letters to your missionaries:
 
Mision Chile Concepcion
Castellón 1063 Oficina Norte 
Concepcion, Chile

President Arrington

I teach SEMINARY

First of thank you so much mom and dad for the examples you have been to me all my life. Because of you I have been able to see what blessings a family can have by being able to be sealed in the temple. Remember that awesome couple we are teaching? Well, I was able to share my testimony with them this week about how I have seen the blessings of having an eternal family and they decided that they want to have that in their life. I am just so blessed to be teaching them! They are seriously incredible. All of the ward members ask us about them and want to invite them to their FHE so that they can get to know them. They always want to know more about the gospel, and they told us how they just feel so much more joy in their lives ever since getting to know the gospel. I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!! The only downfall is that they probably won´t be able to get married til September, so I am way scared I won´t be here for it. I just want to stay in Chillancito for the rest of my mission! I love it here!

Remember Maria? :) Yeah she came to church again. She really likes it, she just doesn´t understand anything! Also, her daughter is an inactive, and SHE came to church too! :D Technically, Maria has enough church attendance to get baptised, she just is lacking everything else... We teach her, but she is just still very evangelic...

I will have to thank my parents again now for always making sure I went to seminary.... Because now, I teach it. In Spanish. Apparently, the teacher hadn´t shown up to teach for about three weeks, but the youth always went, so the bishop asked us to teach it. Well, can´t say no! This week was our first week teaching and it was pretty great!

Hope all is going wonderfully!

Loveth, Hermana Woodbury

PS. panaderia means bakery

I dreamed in Spanish!

I HAVE THE BEST NEWS EVER!!!!!!!! I DREAMED IN SPANISH!!!! I actually can never remember my dreams, but Hermana Bollet (from Peru) told me I was talking in my sleep the other night, so I asked her if she could understand what I was saying and she said, "Yeah, you were spealking spanish." WOOOO HOOOO!!!!! That doesn´t mean that I always know what´s going on though...

We have the BEST investigators right now! How about I just tell you guys about them! Their names are Yanett and Sergio! They are a super awesome couple, and they have three kids! Two of them are grown up and out of the house but the other is just 15 and still lives with them. They aren´t married though. That´s the only thing... They used to be married and them they got divorced a couple years ago, and now they are fixing things up in their relationship and living together again. But they are so awesome! The other hermanas had a baptism this week, and they went to it and just had a great experience, and said that they are excited for their baptism! They seriously already just fit in with the ward already, they stayed at church ALL THREE HOURS and it was their first time attending! All of the members just already love them. We have really had some powerful spiritual experiences teaching them, and I just love it so much. I think I am just going to be a missionary forever. Yeah, that would be great.

Hey remember Maria? Yep she is as crazy as ever! She is just a very confused lady and has some strange ideas. We were trying to figure out what we could do to help her understand things, so we prepared a lesson to help understand why prophets are important, and we found the big problem. She thinks WE are prophets. She was like, "you guys are prophets because you teach the word of the Lord, and I´m a prophet because I can feel the influence of God in my life." We tried to teach her the difference between having personal revelation and being a prophet, but it just didn´t go very well... She really just still thinks I´m a prophet. The good news is that she talks a lot quieter when we pray these days!

This week we had interviews with the Mission Pres. It was cool because we got to go to his house for them! THEN today we got invited by his wife to come over and cook with her and then we ate lunch with them! It was way great. I just really liked it.

Well that´s all for now! Love you!

Sincerely, Hermana Woodita

ps. iman means magnet

My first BAPTISM!!!

Photo: Farewell to President Humphrey

What a week! Evelia got baptised! I really was pretty crazy, since it wasn´t announced in church, we were told by the ward that she couldn´t get baptised this week, because they like to have everything organized... Well what kind of excuse is that when someone´s salvation is at play? Yeah right! She was SUPER ready for baptism. So, we talked to the bishop about it and he said he would rather have it more organized (of course) but he would let the decision up to us. We were seriously freaking out because no matter what decision we would make would have a huge effect, and you know how I am with decision making.... Not the best. But luckily, we don´t have to make decisions by ourselves! We prayed and just really got the feeling that she needed to get baptised this week, and when the spirit says something to both you and your companion, you know it´s right. So we pretty much organized the baptism ourselves, and called everyone to invite them individually. It ended up being a really great experience. She is the first person I have found and taught all the way to baptism. It is so cool to see how much the gospel can help people in their lives.

I don´t know how much I´ve told you about Evelia´s friend Maria, but sometimes we teach Evelia at Maria´s house. Maria is hard core EVANGELICA. Like to the max. She whispers WAY loud when we pray, but she´s very supportive of Evelia´s decision to get baptised. the first time Evelia came to church, Maria came with her so that she would have a buddy, and then she went to the baptism And came to church for the confirmation, and stayed for the second class! It was quite a treat to have her at the church! I was sitting by her, and every time we were about to have a prayer I would say something like, " They are going to pray, so it´s really important to listen to what they say" in hopes that she wouldn´t talk during the prayer, but nevertheless she gave her praises to the Lord every time! The opening prayer, Evelia´s confirmation, the sacrament prayers, and the closing prayer. I was honestly just trying not to laugh. Some of the ward members definitely commented to us about it later on, but they´re used to it because there are a ton of evangelicos in Chillancito. 

So last P-Day we got a surprise visit from the Mission President! It was crazy, me and Hermana Gonzalez had no idea he was coming, and when we enter our house we have to hit the door way hard to get it open, so as is tradition, we just hit it with all our might, and to our surprise, Pres was inside talking to the other hermanas! WHA??!! He had this shocked look on his face, and it took me a minute to realize that it can be a little frightening when someone breaks down the door if you aren´t expecting it. Oops. He ALSO came to have a family home evening with us and the other sisters of Chillancito. He seems like a really humble guy, just really down to earth, which is super great. And of course poor Hermana Arrington just never has any idea of what´s going on. We really have been privileged to be able get to know them a little bit.

Well, I did take some pictures at the baptism, but it looks like I forgot my camera again! The APs sent us some pics of our mission conference with the Humphrys though so I will send those! :D

Love, Hermana Merrisa

 

 

BODY SLAM

Time to write my weekly email again! Hey guess what! Tomorrow is my three month anniversary for when I arrived in Chile!!!! (I´m think that sentence makes sense.. Right? It took me a while to write it because I was confused about how to say it. Geez I seriously can´t speak English or Spanish!) I really can´t believe how fast time has been going I still feel like I just got here like a week ago. 

Remember Evelia? Yeah she got up and bore her testimony in church yesterday! Yeah she´s seriously awesome. The only problem is that our bishop said we have to talk with her son because he doesn´t know anything that´s going on and he doesn´t want that to become a big problem because as of right now it´s a bit of a problem... Keep her in your prayers please!

This week we got to meet President Arrington! He seems pretty awesome. I felt kinda bad for his wife because she doesn´t really know Spanish, so she couldn´t really talk to the Latin missionaries. It actually kinda reminded me of when I first arrived...

Remember how it rains a lot here? Yeah, well because of the moisture, the door to our house swelled up because it is made of wood, so every time we want to get in we have to like body slam it! It is seriously hilarious. One night we couldn´t get in for like half an hour and I was really worried we would have to sleep outside in the rain! Oh the mission!

Some times when we contact we just have really great responses from people, my favorite this week was this man who opened his door and we´re like, "Hi! We´re missionaries!" (or something... I don´t actually remember... It was probably way different from that) and gave him a pass along card or something, and he says, " I don´t want to be Mormon." Well, there you have it! We´ll just leave now! 

Hermana Woodbury

p.s. permiso means excuse me..... But they use it here for just about everything they do. If you´re about to say a prayer, you say permiso first. If you are going into some one´s house, permiso. Like seriously they say it for everything and I really am starting to love to say it. Sometimes I even say it when I cross the street just for fun.

Sing with all Your Might and Soul!

People of America! Happy July 4!!!!! Almost.... For some reason they aren´t going to have fireworks here for the Forth, I really don´t see why they don´t celebrate it. ;) 

We´re teaching some pretty great people these days. One is Evelia. She´s just a super cute old lady, who just LOVES everything we teach her and loves going to church. We introduced her to a member who lives close to her who is about the same age, so it´s just super great! The only obstacle we have with her is her son. If he is at her house we can´t visit her because he drinks and gets really angry so we usually teach her at her best friends house (where we found her the first time, but her friend is VERY evangelica (Evangelica= different sects of religions that go to their church on the corner. You never actually know what their beliefs are, but they all whisper during prayers.) and always has to put in her word about her beliefs so we like it better when she isn´t in the lesson with us.) or at the members house.But Evelia is just super excited to get baptised and is reading the BoM and praying and everything! Yeah.

The five missionaries sang in church yesterday. It was interesting... The bishop wanted up to sing the song "My Soul Hungered" in Spanish. It´s really a beautiful song, but the translation to Spanish just didn´t fit all that well with the melody. And who knows if they could even understand because I´m sure our accents were just terrible! Everyone said it was good but that´s what people always say at church..... A lot of times though people think that we have the most amazing voices just because we can sing on tune. Not many people can do that here, but they just sing out with all their might and soul whether they can sing on tune or not! It´s so great! I just love it!

Well that´s really all I have to say right now.... I haven´t met our new mission president, and I forgot his name.... Hopefully that will change soon :)

Loveth, Hermana Woodbury

PS. I´ll send pics next time! I almost promise!

Tearful Goodbye

HI EVERYONE!!!!!!!!! I know I´m a little late emailing but I promise I have an excuse! We had a mission conference with the entire mission this morning! It was super great, and also super sad! We all said goodbye to our mission president and his wife and cried. Also, it was the last time I will see most of the missionaries I know because of the boundary change because my old zone is going to be in Rancagua!  and two of my MTC sisters are going to Rancagua too! AH!!! What a day. We also heard from the prophet yesterday! I don´t really know what you guys know about this but there was like a world wide mission conference thing that was super great! (the half of it that I understood since it was in spanish. okay I really can understand spanish well But I have to be paying attention really closely... and listening to talks for two straight hours in spanish... well you can imagine) It was about having every member as a missionary. Everything really does work a lot bettere when the members are willing to help out with the work. It made me WAY enthused to work with the members!

Hey things here are just super great! One of my MTC sisters lives in my same house!!! :D It´s SUPER great for us but sometimes I feel bad because we just have a bunch of inside jokes from the MTC that no one else understands... We have FIVE sisters living in a tiny little house. Probably about half the size of my old little house. It´s insane. The other sisters are in a trio. I LOVE my companion! She has kinda a dry sense of humor and will just give the funniest facial expressions when people aren´t looking. She is seriously super great. 

Chillancito is RIGHT next to Concepcion. It´s pretty much the hood of concepcion.  People are still pretty closed off here but a lot more open to listen than my last sector, and when it rains it RAINS! SIDEWAYS! Why even use an umbrella? I get a bunch of rain in my face anyways! I just love it though! it´s the best thing ever. We are teaching some pretty great people, but they pretty much all smoke and drink so it´ll be a little ruff, but with faith in the Lord WE CAN DO ALL THINGS! YEAH!

Okay here´s just a fun little story! We were at a members house for lunch and all of us were done eating, except for the Hermana who served dinner, she was still eating her cake and saying that it was WAY DRY and that she didn´t like it much because there wasn´t enough caramely. We´re all like "Oh we loved it! Can we share a scripture?" So my companion is sharing a scripture, and next thing we know the hermana is pouring her orange pop on the cake to make it less dry! And she ate it! It is really a good thing I wasn´t sharing the scripture because I was really having the hardest time not laughing. 

Well. That´s all for today folks! Tune in next week for more adventures!

Sincerelito (made that word up just now, It´s not really a word in spanish)

Hermanananana Woodbury

MY FIRST TRANSFER!!!

I have BIG news! I´m being transferred! Tomorrow I go to Chillancito, which I hear is about fifteen minutes away from Concepción, which means that when when the mission boundaries change, I will still be in mission Concepción, NOT Rancagua. I feel kind of weird because I had kind of just accepted the fact that I would probably end up in Rancagua, but that didn´t happen! So now my first area won´t be in my mission anymore... But hey! The Lord knows where I need to be! I´m told my companion will be Hermana Gonzalez, from Argentina! Hermana Contreras (One of the Hermanas I live with) knows her because she´s from the same city in Argentina! Neat-o! ...That´s really all I know about her though. She´ll be great! I just know it! :D

This Sunday was a little ruff to get our investigators to church because of Fathers Day. Everyone had festivities and places they were going to celebrate, but we did have one of our investigators there! Her name is Mirella and well... I just don´t even know how to describe her, she probably one of the most interesting people I´ve ever met! We met her while she was trying to saved her sick cat... We helped hold the cat down while she stuck some sort of medicine up it´s bum. This was about a month ago and I had no idea what was going on because I couldn´t understand what she was saying! We found out recently that the cat didn´t end up living... But she´s super great! Our family didn´t end up going to church this Sunday but they´re still super interested! I´m super sad I won´t be able to work with them anymore! 

Me, Hermana Garcia, AND Hermana Rane are all being transferred closer to Concepcion, and there is only going to be one companionship in our ward. So Hermana Contreras is going to teach our investigators and her investigators. I have a lot of confidence in her, and I know she´ll be great. :)

 I just LOVE this work so much! I love seeing the difference that the gospel has in people´s lives. I am so blessed to have grown up in a family that has  the guidance of the gospel in our lives! I know that no matter what trials we go through we can really lean on the Savior and he will help us to overcome it! He really did suffer for us and with his help we can be strengthened in all that we do! Alma 26:12

Well away I go! Wish me luck in my new area! I hope everything is going well! Love ya!

Hermana Woodbury

PS. Mom, can you send me a Keva? I´m really craving one right now...

SNOW TRIP

Well, it seems like just about everyone who emailed me mentioned Megan´s farewell so I´m going to as well! AHHH MEGAN SO MUCH LUCK TO YOU IN SPAIN!!!!!!

We were really blessed this week! We had a family come to church on Sunday and the mother and daughter have committed to baptism! We´re just super duper excited about them and are doing all we can to help them be converted to the amazing gospel! Thank you so much for your prayers. They REALLY do help. Sometimes things just happen that I know really couldn´t happen with out the help and guidance of the spirit. This family seriously just fell into our hands. Now that they´ve come to church, we are just really doing all we can so that they will come BACK. The culture here in Chile is that you don´t have to really go to church to be part of a religion so after the first time someone goes to church they think that´s enough to know what our church is like. Just pray for them SO MUCH!

Today we had a zone activity to go and see snow. Most exciting thing of my life! Pretty much all of the Latino missionaries have never seen snow in real life so it was actually a pretty big deal. So we got up at five in the morning and took a bus to a mountain south of us where there was supposed to be snow. Then the road was blocked with a fence.... But was that going to stop us from seeing snow? No way! So we hiked and hiked and hiked up the mountain but when we got to the cut off point of the trail there was still no snow. We did however get pretty close to the mountain to see the snow on it but it was at the tippy top... Chuta. I felt way bad because everyone just wanted to touch the snow SOO BAD! But they still thought it was cool to get so close. So then we hiked down to a river and took pictures. Pretty great right? The way the mountain looked actually reminded me a lot of Utah. 

I just want you to know that I ate the organs of a chicken. That´s all I really have to say about that. Best of wishes to you from me and thank you for all the love and support! Choa choa!

Sincerely, Hermana Woodbury

ps. puente means bridge... I think

SO MUCH RAIN!!

 

 

Our current clan! Hna Garcia from El Salvador, Hna Rane from Idaho, and Hna Contreras from Argentina :D

 

This has been quite the week! One of the hermanas that lives with us has been really sick and a lot of times can´t work. We have been working at times in a trio with Hermana Rane her companion last minute so that she can still visit her investigators. (don´t worry we always call a member to stay with Hermana Contreras) One time we couldn´t find anyone to stay with Hermana Contreras when they had an appointment so my companion stayed with Hermana Contreras and I went to work with Hermana Rane for a bit. She is from Idaho and our Spanish is about equal so we really had to depend on each other and help each other out. It was a great learning experience for me because even though we couldn´t say everything in the perfect way, we were able to teach with the spirit, and the investigators understood.

Yesterday Hermana Contreras wasn´t able to go to church. We wanted to make sure that someone from each companionship was at the church to represent so I stayed home with her and my companion went with Hermana Rane to church. Me and Hermana Garcia teach a Sunday School class every week for recent converts and investigators and we thought that seeing as her Spanish is slightly better than mine (you know being her native language and all) she should probably be the one to teach it. Therefore, I am apparently going inactive as a missionary... I guess I need to give myself the same pep talk I give everyone else? Don´t you worry though, I was still able to get the sacrament. We have some great members here that came so that we could have it :)

 

Might as well go swimming!

Some times it just rains SO MUCH! and they don´t have a very good sewer system here so there is just standing water sometimes on the road! We get splashed a lot by cars when they drive by and since I have a nice long trendy trench coat my companion usually has me walk in the splash zone. :) All is well though! Hope everything is going great there! I´m going to go jump in some puddles and teach some people the gospel! Love you guys!

Hermana Gooboody (that´s probably the most common way people pronounce my name)

ps. salta cuerda means jump rope