The Power of Prayer...

Wow I can't believe another week has come and gone! The days are long here but the weeks fly by its crazy. Some really great things and some really sad things have happened this week!

 First off, all the Spanish speakers who are only here for two weeks left, and along with them went District 6, which was the older group of gringos. I am going to miss them so much they have been so nice and so great! I'm especially going to miss my Latino roommates. Sure I can't understand most of the things they say but they are so funny and I really do love them! We got a new batch of gringos this last week and get this: its 11 hermanas and 2 Elders. That's even worse than my district! So now the entire CCM is composed of 20 Hermanas and 4 Elders. Luckily we get some new Latino missionaries in a few days so that will hopefully even things out a little more. 

 So the most amazing thing happened on Friday. Elder Bednar was in Santiago to meet with stake presidents and have meeting and he was in the building next to us but he didn't have time to come see us or anything so we were all pretty sad. Most of us had never met a general authority and wanted to so so bad and so we prayed that we would by some miracle have the chance to just shake his hand or something. Hermana Hilburn wanted it most of all and she was the one who said the prayer and everything. So then that night Hermana Brady (our mission president's wife) ran into our class and said that Elder Bednar would be driving by and that if we lined the drive way we would be able to see him pass. We all sprinted outside and all the missionaries in the CCM (there were a lot more than 24 of us back then before everyone left) lined the road. As his car came towards us it slowed and then, to our surprise, it stopped. Elder Bednar and his wife got out of the car and, even with their super busy schedule, took the time to shake every single missionary's hand. It was so amazing the spirit he had with him! You could just tell that he was a man called by God, there was no doubt in any of our minds. And the best part was that when he reached Hna Hilburn he randomly stopped and asked her questions and just talked to her for two minutes. Guys God really does answer prayers and wow are the General Authorities so in tune with the spirit! 

 Besides that its been a fairly normal week in the CCM. Lots of Spanish, lots of teaching, and lots of learning. I really am so happy here and I can feel the Spirit every day. Anyways I love you all and miss you tons but there is nowhere else I would rather be than where I am. One month down see you all in 17!

 Love Hermana Wittwer 

Why hello again everybody! This week has been just another average week in the CCM. Lots of lessons, lots of teaching, lots of learning. I'm loving my lessons. The spirit in the CCM is so strong and everyone is so nice and fun it's great! 

Unfortunately this last week our President made a new rule: no contact sports. Which means no more soccer. Its understandable because people keep getting hurt but still sad! Its alright though because now we all play a new fun game during physical activity, the Latinos just don't worship Hna Barnett and me anymore.

My companionship lost our old roommates and got new ones who don't speak any English and it's crazy! Trying to communicate is such an adventure. Lots and lots of sign language to say the least. One of them is from Spain and she is more calm and easier to understand but the other one is from Colombia and she is crazy!! I absolutely lover her she acts like a 7 year old its hilarious. 

So on Sundays we don't have classes and instead we have church and watch devotionals and do other things, and every Sunday night we do something fun together with everyone in the CCM (The CCM is very small so there is maybe 50 of us max). This Sunday everyone wrote their favorite hymn on a piece of paper and we drew them out and sang the first verse in Spanish and the second in English and it was so funny to hear the Latinos try to sing in English is was a blast! We also had them try to say the Apostles names like we do in the USA and its was hilarious. 

Ok got to go but I hope everything is going great for everyone I love you all!! 

 

Love Hermana Wittwer 

 

Ok I have very little time so I'm going to keep this one brief. Things here are great still! It's super busy and I'm learning a lot and feeling the spirit every day. We had the opportunity to go to the temple last week and it was amazing. I seriously received so much comfort and peace, and because of that experience I know that I can be a tool in Gods hands. I know that if I keep working I will be able to learn Spanish and everything will work out! 

So while we were playing soccer the other morning (we play every day I love it) Hna Richards got hit in the face and got a super bad concussion. She was soooooooo out of it. When the Elders asked for her full name to give her a blessing she said "do they need my street name too?" She is so funny and I love her! 

My teacher Hno Vera is super sassy. In the beginning of class he wrote the score of the super bowl game on the board and wouldn't tell us which team was which. It was torturous and I don't even care that much about either team... No, but really I love my teachers. They are amazing and I have learned so much from them. They act as investigators and we teach them every day and our Trio has definitely improved so much from the first lesson! It makes me super excited to get out into the field. 

It's funny how every day seems to never end, but looking back at these last two weeks I feel like I must have missed them because they flew by so fast. No matter how good or bad a day might be I always go to sleep happy. That's just the mission life I guess. This truly is the Lord's work and I'm so blessed to be out here serving Him. I know that this is the true church and I have such a firm testimony that every aspect of it can bless us in our lives! 

I love you all and hope things back home are going great. Until next week!

 Love Hna Wittwer 

Santiago, Chile temple

Well hello from Chile everyboody!!

 

Chile is beautiful! The MTC is right on temple grounds so every morning when I walk out the doors or look out the window the temple is the first thing I see and its amazing. Its summer here so the weather is great and everything is green which is a nice change from Utah! 

My district is composed of two Elders and nine Hermanas. Those poor Elders! The hermanas in my group are absolutely hilarious. We all get along well (maybe too well we have to be told to be quiet a lot). We are the newest group of gringos so none of us know spanish really but we try to talk to the latino Elders and Hermanas during meals. I embarrass myself a lot trying to speak spanish but Ive come to terms with it. 

I got put into a trio companionship with Hermana Cook and Hermana Wright. They are both very musically inclined and make me feel bad about myself daily when they harmonize to every song that has ever existed. They are both absolutely crazy we have a lot of fun together. Trios are harder to work in to teach lessons because we all teach differently and we all have different ideas but its ok because I know that because its harder I am learning more than I might otherwise and its teaching me humility! 

Classes are difficult but I enjoy them. Spanish is coming along slowly but surely. They had us teaching lessons in Spanish by the second day here which was crazy! It wasn't a great lesson because our Spanish is so limited but it was a lesson all the same. We teach two or three lessons a day and we are definitely improving with every lesson!

The food here is a lot of rice and potatoes and interesting meat but I haven't had any meals that i haven't liked yet. The bread and ice cream here are AMAZING so Im doing my best not to eat my weight in ice cream every day. I've given up resisting the bread though... 

 This morning for physical activity we got a soccer game going. It was the latina Elders vs the gringo Elders and Hna Barnett and I jumped in on the latino team. I think everyone expected us to be terrible but we held our own pretty good and i even scored a goal! Our team killed the gringo team (of course) and so now every time Hna Barnett and I see the latino Elders we played with they pretend to worship us and act like we are super cool its so funny (and not sacrilegious i promise!). 

So funny story: on Sunday the mission presidents wife gave us this super long lecture about not flirting with the Elders and said about 1000 times DO NOT TOUCH THE ELDERS. Not a big problem in our district of basically all girls. But a few hours later at lunch my good friend from Colombia, Elder Martinez, came in to visit (he is serving his mission in the Santiago mission) and I ran over and almost hugged him but i caught myself and shook his hand. We are only supposed to take pictures on p day but we snuck into the stairwell to take one really quick (our companions came with us of course) and so as we were standing together and his companion took the picture Hna Brady (the mission presidents wife) walked around the corner. Of course. Elder Martinez basically ran away and Hna Brady lectured me (and my companions) about how taking pictures with elders looks bad and sends wrong impressions and stuff. I thought it was kind of hilarious but I don't know if Hna brady really likes me anymore... 

 Anyways I'm doing great and loving life. During the day i often am tired or frustrated but every night, no matter how good or bad the day was, I go to bed happy. I know that the Lord qualifies those he calls so I know that if we all keep working Spanish will come and we will be able to do all that God has planned for us. I love you all and hope you all have the best week!!

 

Love Hermana Wittwer