So here in Chile the nickname for people from France just happens to be "Pancho". Literally every time we talk to someone new and my companion (Hermaña Pancho) introduces herself we get some kind of comment. Usually it's also like "Pancho? Did you know that that's a Francisco?" Or "Pancho? Do you have family from France?" or the good old "Pancho? Why Pancho?" Hahaha my poor compañera is just resigned to live with it. And the other funny thing is that the missionaries find it hilarious too, so every time there is a reunion she gets called on to say the prayer. 

So every Thursday we play soccer in the church with investigators and members. Thursday there also happened to be some meeting in the church, so all the leaders stayed after for a bit to see us play. Then Sunday in the church like 5 people came up to me and shook my hand and said "Wow hermaña, congrats on your soccer skills! You're the new Messi!" Haha the best way to get people´s respect in Chile is definitely being able to play soccer. They second best way is to make them brownies. 

This week has been an interesting one. Magically ALL of our investigators went out of town or got sick. But it's ok, it just means we had a lot of time to find some new people! A few people we found:

Yanina y Sebastian: Yanina is the daughter of a member here. Her husband Sebastian used to be religious and knows the bible really REALLY well but kind of dropped his religion a few years ago. We talked to them about the Book of Mormon and kind of blew his mind. It was awesome. They both committed to read a little in the book and agreed to let us come back during the next week :) 

Pedro Muñoz: He is an old investigator from like 3 years ago. We passed by to see how he is and we talked for a while. His wife died a few years ago and he has been pretty lonely and has had a lot of problems, but he is interested in our message and wants to learn more. Hopefully things will go good with that! 

There were lots of other people but we will see if we can find them again this week. Sunday at church was a little rough because we had like 6 people promise to go to church and none of them came... but thats alright we will just work on getting more people this week! 

Anyways love you all and love the work! 

Hermaña Wittwer

This week we got a new record in the church: 129 people!!! Us (the missionaries) and the branch president were all pretty excited about it. If we can keep it up we will be a ward in no time! (the dream of  every branch is to someday become a ward). Now all we need is for people to pay their tithing and we will be set. 

Happy story: So sunday morning we went to find an investigator and help her come to church with us. We got there and she said "Hey is it ok if my daughter and son come too?" YES! So we all went to church together and it was awesome. Her son is 25 and was only there visiting for a day but I'm hoping we can find him again or see if he wants missionaries to visit him where he lives. 

Sad story: Our super awesome investigator named Francisco (who had a baptismal date in December) talked to us and said he would be living in Rengo for a while because he is working there. Which means we wont be able to teach him. But good news: he said we could send the missionaries in Rengo to visit him! So hopefully everything will go good for him, but we are going to miss him :(

Ok sorry this is such a short email. Mostly its because my computer went crazy for a while and would only let me write in Spanish. I didn't know how to fix it because technology still hates me... But i love you guys and hope you all have a fantastic week!

Hermaña Wittwer

Earthquakes, creepy bugs, and a baptism!

Friday morning the Elders called us and said "Hey hermañas, you need to prepare yourselves because there is going to be a huge earthquake today." "Really??" we replied. "Nah we are just messing with you haha. We just called to tell you that we have lunch with hermaña Ponce today." Yeah thanks.... 30 minutes later we were walking down the street and the gate next to us started shaking like crazy. "Its the earthquake" my compañera yells. "No, don't worry, the elders were joking. There are probably some kids playing behind the gate is all." was my calm reply. Turns out it totally was a 6.something earthquake. I think in any other country that might be a big deal or something, but we are in Chile so nobody reacted at all haha. 

So our sector has been taken over by these bugs. But they are like the creepiest mix between an earwig and centipede, and all of the other creepy bugs in the world. And they are everywhere. In the street, on our table, in our shower, in my food, everywhere. I am not scared of a lot of things. But I HATE these bugs and they freak me out! Luckily my companion Hermaña Pancho is from the Philippines so she doesn't have a problem killing bugs. She has come to recognize my "There is a creepy bug and I need you to come kill it for me" yell and she always kills them for me. (Other benefits of having an asian companion include, but are not limited to,: her making me rice for breakfast, her walking in the street with an umbrella to block out the sun, and much more.)

So on Wednesdays we had intercabios with the Hermaña Coorinadores (or the sister leaders) and I went to their sector with Hermaña Janzack (I got there and opened up my backpack with my clothes, and a creepy bug crawled out). It was awesome because their sector is the centro de Rancagua but we went out to a part that was far away in the campo. It was like the most peaceful and beautiful place I have ever been to. I love my sector, but I miss the campo! 

So we have a fairly new mission president. And this week things have started changing even more. He and the mission leaders got together and set a bunch of new goals for the mission, and made plans to reach them. Basically it's going to be super hard, but I am determined to make our sector reach the goals! As part of this, he decided that as a mission we need to contact more. So he made one goal that every compañerismo has to give 2 libros de Mormon every day with a return appointment, or a reference for someone else. I love the goal. Just imagine, that's about 200 Libros de Mormon every day as a mission! 

This Sunday was the BAPTISM OF ANDREA!!! We had her baptism Sunday right after church and it was so special. Her husband baptized her and they were so happy after! They are already talking about how their son is going to be serving a mission, and how they will be sealed in the temple in a year. I honestly love them so much, and feel so blessed for being able to help them find the happiness and joy that only the gospel brings :) 

Guys, there is NOTHING like being a missionary! The experiences are amazing. And crazy. 

Hermaña Wittwer

(This is from Oct 21,2016)

Hi everyone! 

This week Andrea (our investigator) called us and said "I want to do a family home evening with just my family and you guys! If you do the lesson I will plan everything else!" Which she did. And it was awesome. She even tried to make cupcakes like the ones I did (they turned out a little differently but that's alright, it was a first try haha). She is going to be baptized this week and we are so excited for it!!! There is seriously nothing like seeing the gospel change people's lives. But as much as it's changed the lives of all my investigators, I still think the person I've seen it change the most is myself. 

This week we had about 23985607appointments planned. And one by one almost every one of them fell through. It was almost weird. But you know what? It was because God had some people he wanted us to find, so he just decided to give us some time to do some looking! Next weeks report will be full of new people and fun miracles :) 

Oh, also I hit 9 months this week which was weird.... I still don't really believe it and don't think I will until I'm on the plane ride home. The mission is amazing and I'm loving life!

Hermana Wittwer