Well this has, as always, been an eventful week!

Last week I mentioned a dessert competition that I won. Well, it turns out my cooking skills have hit low key famous. This week all the members wanted to have a Family Home Evening with me and wanted to make cupcakes! We actually did do that with the Family Torres, and Andrea and her family this week so that was awesome!

We have been teaching lots of people and meeting lots of new people too! My sector seriously has so much potential, I'm praying that I won't change sectors this change!

One person we have been teaching a lot is Andrea. I honestly cannot express my love for Andrea. We taught her this week and she expressed to us how grateful she is to have found the góspel and how she has already received so many blessing from it. She told me "The other day a friend sent me a message needing a favor, and it was something that before I would have told her that I couldn't do. But I feel different now. I decided to sacrifice a few things so I could help her out. I think that it's because of the church, and I've only just begun. I'm excited to see who I will be after being in the church more time!". This, my friends, is what the obra misional is about. Its about changing people and while doing it changing ourselves for the better. Its about being a little kinder, a little more humble every day. And its about helping people to be more happy.

I am so grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary. I've hit my highest highs and the lowest lows here in the misión. And I've grown so much for it. I know that this is God's work and that I'm just a tool down here. That what I'm doing is only a small part, a little piece of the puzzle, but oh how I love being that small part!

Hermaña Wittwer

Hey there folks!

This week we have been focusing a lot on working with members of the ward and it has paid off a ton. Between us and the Elders in the ward we had together 23 lessons with members which is like a record for me! It is so amazing to see the members working hard to befriend the investigators. We as missionaries can do a lot to help these people but it's the members that really make them progress and stay in the church!

So Friday there was a ward activity and at the end they had a dessert competition. I decided that as part of the ward we needed to make something to put in the competition, so over the course of three days I spent my morning "exercise time" making cupcakes (please don't tell my mission president!). But in the end it turned out good because we won first place in the competition! Hahahaha! They gave us a super official looking certificate and a chocolate bar. Totally worth the effort. 

This Sunday we were sitting in the church waiting for our investigators to come and in walked Andrea and Jonathan and her brother Fernando and THEY WERE ALL IN CHURCH CLOTHES! It was so cute because last week Fernando (who is 12) came and he loved it and he saw all the young me in suits and white shirts, and so during the week he made Andrea take him shopping to find a suit so he could have one too in church. I seriously cannot describe the feeling of seeing the complete family come or of seeing them so happy to be there. I think it was one of the happiest moments of my life to be honest. 

After church we visited them and we talked a lot. They described the happy feelings they had received in church and how they were already seeing differences as a family. Andrea told us that she was so grateful for this chance to have the gospel in her life and how she wished she had grown up in it as a kid. We talked to her and invited her to be baptized the 29 of October and she said "I don't know, what time will it be at? Because I wont have a lot of time at 4:00, but if you guys can do it after then yes!" She is so great and I love her so much. Sometimes you meet people and in 5 minutes you feel like you've known them for your entire life. Thats how I feel about Andrea and her family. There is seriously nothing like being a missionary! 

Love you all!

Hermaña Wittwer

This week has been full of MIRACLES!!

So first off my comp: She is awesome. Tuesday all the trainers and trainees got together and Pres. Harris taught us a little and assigned us our new companions. My new companion is Hermana Pancho. She is from the Philippines (wait what??). She is one of the first people from there to come to Chile so its really cool that I get to train her! Luckily she speaks fluent English so we can communicate good. We have been having a real good time together! I was always afraid to train but turns out it's actually a blast. The only down side is that we have to study 4 hours every morning...

side note: the meeting was in the mission office and I went with hermana Goodman. We were going to take a colectivo (taxi) but then i said "Hey we have time lets just walk!" The only problem was that I had never been there. And she had never been there. But I thought I could find it alright (I temporarily forgot that I have zero sense of direction). The place we wanted to go was about a 20 min walk from where we were. We got there 1 hour and 30 minutes later haha. 

This week we found the most golden investigator ever. We got a call from a member who told us that her daughter in law is waiting for the missionaries and that we need to visit her. So we did. her name is Andrea and she is married to a guy who is inactive. She loves the church though and wants to be part of it. In our first lesson with her we taught about the restoration and set a date for her baptism. And then she came to church the next day!! The only real hard thing is that her Husband also wants to come to church and everything but he only works one day of the week and (thats right, you guessed it) its sunday. But we are going to try to change that and see how we can help him there.

Last week I talked about Helena and her husband Marcelo and son Julio. They are doing great!! Julio is in a rehab center but we are trying to see if we can send missionaries there. Marcelo and Helena both came to church this sunday!!!! it was amazing to see them there. They are both so genuine and so great. They are a little hesitant to accept a baptismal date but I think this week we are going to be able to help them change that. 

Basically I love my sector right now. Baquedano is Zion. We are a branch right now but we are working so hard and I think that by the end of this year we are going to be able to be a ward :)


Love you all!
Hermana Wittwer

Well this week has been great! We have taught lots of lessons and found lots of new people, but I want to tell you about one special family.

Monday we got a call from a Member who gave us a reference. The reference's name is Helena. She is in her 50s and is going through cancer and has a son who is addicted to drugs. We visited her and she is amazing. She is super positive and ridiculously receptive to us and has told us that she needs us and wants to have the gospel in her life. After so many half hearted investigators is felt so nice to find someone broken hearted and humble! We talked to her the first day and set a day to some back.
The next visit we arrived to find her son and husband there ready to hear us too. They similarly expressed feelings of need for the gospel in their life. We talked a lot about who God is and that he loves us and we offered Julio (her son) a Priesthood Blessing. He readily accepted and we came back the next morning with the Elders.

Friday morning when we came by to give Julio the blessing he told us that he had been reading in the Book of Mormon. He told us that after talking to us he felt better and that he intended to read the books we had given him. We aren't going to be able to teach him because he is going to a rehab place for a while but he is going to be reading and we are going to send other missionaries to teach him. Meanwhile we will be teaching Helena and her husband.
And this miracle all happened because a member was willing to talk to her friend and then to send us to them. This General Conference many people spoke on missionary work and I want to add my testimony to theirs that Missionary work isn't just for the "missionaries", its for every single member of the church! We cannot work without you guys!

I'm sure every single missionary in the entire world has already said it but GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING. We invited our investigators and members to write questions before the conference and then listen and they would receive answers, then I realized "hey wait, I should do that too". So Sunday morning before the conference I wrote a ton of questions (including some that I didn't think would be answered) and every single one was answered perfectly. I felt the spirit so strongly during this time and I know with absolute certainty that these are men called of God. If any of you weren't able to see any of the sessions Go watch them right now!!!
Also luckily I got to watch the conference in English which was a blessing :)

So we have changes tomorrow. And terrible news. I'M GOING TO TRAIN. Aaaaahhhhhhh! Im super nervous and I feel like I'm still new in the mission, but President thinks that I need to train so thats what I'll do I guess! I don't know who I'm going to be training yet but I'm going to find out tomorrow. Hopefully someone who knows Spanish... Wish me luck!

Hermaña Wittwer