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