Hola!

This week has been a good one for sure! Lots of contacting because our lessons fall through a lot, but hey that's the mission life. 

So even though it was my third Sunday in the field, the first two were broadcasts for the whole district so this Sunday was my first with my rama. Because it was my first President Orsua introduced me to the rama and I got to introduce myself and share a short thought or scripture with the ward. It went pretty well but I was super nervous because both the mission President and the District President were there for some reason. Talk about pressure! Anyways the second hour of church we have a gospel doctrines class for new converts and investigators but the teacher didn't show up so President Warne asked me and my compañera to teach it. Aaaaahhhhhhh! So Hna Aycho and I just winged it and whenever it was my turn to teach I just asked questions and made the Elders (there are two Elders in our rama too) and President Warne and his wife answer them haha. Overall it went pretty well though.

However, none of our investigators attended church this Sunday which was really sad because the baptism dates we had fell through. We don`t have any progressing investigatory right now but we are working with a lot of new people and I think a lot of them have a lot of potential so I`m excited for them! 

I`ve seen a noticeable difference in my Spanish this week. Don't get me wrong I still can't talk well and still don't understand a lot, but I`m definitely starting to understand more, and I can feel God helping me through each day. The mission life is crazy but its a great one and I`m loving it! Guys the church is true and we are so blessed to have it. Don't take it for granted and make sure to enjoy general conference this week (I feel like general conference is like missionary Christmas. Everyone here is counting down the days and I`m getting excited for it haha). Love you all! Have a great week! 

Hermana Wittwer 

More mama answers:

Ok:

My companion is hna Aycho de Peru. She has one more cambio in the mission and then she is out of here (crazy!). She is about half my height and a mix between a mother hen and a 7 year old but I love her.  She is also very touchy which, you know, I love, lol. I am learning a lot from her about how to love the people though, so she is great for me in that way. 

I'm in San Fernando working in the Centenila sector. Try google mapping villa independencia and see what happens. 

The people are all very different. We have a lot of new investigators but not a lot of progressing so we are working on that. For the most part every one here is really nice but also every one here is catholic I swear! 

The food is amazing. Members feed us lunch every day and it is usually about 2 hours. People here eat very small breakfast and dinner but lunch is huge. I'm a little scared I'm going to gain like 27 lbs to be honest.

Hasn't rained yet.

I forgot it was Easter for most the day, it was pretty normal. We live with two other sister missionaries (gringas) though and one of them shared her peeps with us! Your package still hasn't come yet but hopefully this week is the week. 

Answers to some of the mama's questions....

ANSWERS:

The best treat is empanadas. Not a dessert but amazing!

Just send my letters to the mission home because I think that's the right place. We get our letters and packages once a weekish but I haven't gotten yours yet. My roommates got some packages so I ate their food, which was nice.

Yes members make me lunch every day and its heavenly! It also lasts about two hours and they feed us sooooooo much food.

My potential baptisms didn't come to church and I'm so so so sad about it. Also I don't think Robert is obeying the word of wisdom...

So on Saturday we had a district conference and I sat next to Elizabeth, a member of our rama, and she gave me candy during it which reminded me of you. I think you guys would be friends, but she is kind of controlling and bossy so you wouldn´t be best friends haha.

There is a family here that I love (the Aedo family) and they are so so great. I want to be able to speak Spanish so bad because I want to be able to teach and make friends on a deeper level than my Spanish allows, but I know it will take time so I'm being patient and trusting in God.

You have two minutes to ask more questions. LOVE YOU!

 hermana wittwer

Hola everyone!

I`ll start out with the funny story so you guys can read it and quit if you want. This week we had a zone conference and while we were walking to it my compañera turns to me and says: oh hey by the way we are singing a special musical number, what should we sing? WHAT?!? So yeah we sang (I can`t remember which hymn) in front of everyone (!) and if you have heard me sing before you can imagine how that went. Good thing my compañera at least has a good voice haha.

So wow week two flew by! My spanish isn`t great but its better and better every day. I think my sign language gets better and better every day too. People weren`t lying when they said that people in Chile talk fast and cut lots of words short! A lot of times old people are really hard to understand and when talking to them my goal is just to have the right facial expressions haha.

We have a few really promising investigadors right now and are working a lot with menos activos as well. One investigador we have is Samuel.

He is 27ish and evangelist and has a lot, a lot, a lot of questions about weird obscure details that are hard to answer, so I`m grateful at times like that that I can pretend not to understand the question and just let my compañera answer it haha.

Anyways I`m loving the work- thank you all for your support! I love you all have a fantastic week!

Love Hermana Wittwer

A letter for mom...just had to share. Nobody tell her.

Ok mom, so here are your details: the mission is hard. Sometimes I get really discouraged with the language barrier because honestly I can't understand anyone, and I expect way too much of myself- more than I probably should. But every time I get discouraged God provides a way to help me and I go to bed happy every single night. The mission is a rollercoaster, but hey, who doesn't love a good roller coaster right? I have noticed a change in myself. I'm still Kyleigh and still me, but I'm also different. I think I'm becoming a missionary or something. Not in an awkward way, but in a good, I want to share the gospel with everyone and have no shame, kind of way. Mom the gospel really is amazing. It's crazy all the things I took for granted before I came out here! I recognize it more now-  how blessed we are with the knowledge we have, and with everything really.

So my house is pretty nice. It's  an apartment we share with two others hermanas and they are great! Every day we eat a small breakfast and then lunch is at 1:30, and wow its huge!!! It's  hard to eat it all sometimes but you gotta do what you gotta do. God has helped me a lot with the food I think because I can eat almost everything I used to hate, and have even started liking tomatoes! (don't tell dad that though.  I don't want it to go to his head).

There are a lot of stray dogs and it takes a lot of self restraint not to pet them, but I really don't want fleas, so I'm refraining. Hey guess what? I LOVE YOU!!!!! Sorry I'm so bad at words and pictures but I will send some next week for sure.

Anyways, I love you tons and miss you and pray for you and the fam every night! Thanks for all the support you've always given me.   You're really the best!!

Love Hermana Wittwer

In the field!!

Hey everyone!

Well its official I`m out in the field! Last Tuesday we left the CCM and drove down to Rancagua. We were assigned our trainers and our first areas and then we all went our seperate ways. I was assigned to the San Fernando district and my area is Centinela. Its so perfect for me I already love it! It's not countryside but its not a big city, its a perfect medium.

My trainer is Hermana Aycho. She is 23 and from Peru and no, she doesn´t know any English, so its been an adventure! She has been out for 15 months so she has a lot of experience and a lot of advice. We use a lot of sign language to communicate haha. There are two Hermanas who live with us who speak English so they help me out a little bit sometimes.

So guess what? I`ve already issued my first baptismal invitation to two people and they accepted it! They need to attend church for three weeks before they can be baptized though, so hopefully they will be able to do it. The people here are really great. Sure I can`t understand a lot of what they say (people weren't lying when they said chileans speak fast!) but I`m learning bit by bit.

Anyways, I don`t have much time to write but I love you all and wish you the best!

Love Hermana Wittwer

Last week in the CCM!!

LAST WEEK IN THE CCM YAAAAAAAAY! I´ve got 7 more days here and then I am officially out in the field. I´m definitely not ready for it (in regards to Spanish) but I´m super excited! This week we get to go out on splits with missionaries in the area so that will be a fun practice. My Spanish is definitely a lot better than it was when I got here and, while its still not great, I know that the best way for me to learn will be out in the field so I´m excited for that. Also I´m so excited to finally get to go share the gospel with real investigators!!

 So last Saturday we had a ¨solo Español¨ day where we all only spoke in Spanish from breakfast to dinner. Every time someone said a word in English they got a tally mark and we gave punishments to them that night. Lets just say it was a pretty quiet day for District 7 haha. In one of our lessons that day we were talking to our investigator about his family and he asked my compañera if she had any kids and she she tried to say ¨no but I love my nieces¨and instead of the Spanish word for niece she said ¨novios¨ which means ¨boyfriends¨. We were all laughing so hard at her! 

 Every Sunday we watch devotionals and this week we watched one by Elder Bednar and it was amazing. He talked about how the character of Christ is to turn out in love when others would turn in and it was kind of about being selfless and always caring for others before yourself and it really motivated me to try to be more selfless and to strive harder to serve those around me every day with everything I have because that's exacty what the mission is. It's putting yourself completely aside for a while so that you can serve others in love and help them find joy and peace in this life and even more in the life to come. I know that as I stive to do this God will help me, and with his help there is no way I can fail. Thank you all for your support and your prayers I love you all! 

Love Hermana Wittwer