Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeey everybody! 

So this week we had to do interchanges with other pairs of missionaries. I stayed here because I have more time in the sector and my companion went to the other sectors. A lot of missionaries hate interchanges but I actually really like them! I like being able to know more people and have a better relation with the hermanas in the zone. Tuesday I was with Hermana Garcia (from Colombia) and Wednesday with Hermana Leal (Mexico). As much as I love interchanges, it felt good to be with my companion again after 2 days apart. 

We have been able to see a lot of progress with a few people this week. Juana Salas (the one who talks a LOT) is now waiting for us every time we visit, with her Book of Mormon open and with questions to ask us, and she LOVES going to church. We usually go pick her up Sunday mornings, and this Sunday she called us (because we were running 5 minutes late) and said "hey where are you guys? We got bored of waiting here, we will meet you half way to the church." Haha she also goes to EVERY activity that there is and takes her daughter with her. She is great and I hope to still be here to see her baptism in April!

Nicolas is the other person who is progressing a ton. He is 16 and came to church with his cousin one day and since then hasn't missed a sunday. He is also always waiting for us when we get to his house and has a lot of really genuine questions for us. He is super nervous about his baptism in March and is scared he won't be ready but he totally will. He makes me think of my brothers a lot :) 

So although we also have a lot of other people progressing, we decided to make our goal this coming week to find new investigators and spend more time contacting. So hopefully next week we will have lots of new people to teach!

Love you all,

Hermana Wittwer

Oh also this week in English class we were learning about families and I wrote things on the whiteboard like "Mom" and "uncle" and "cousin" and "nefew". Turns out "nefew" is written with a "ph." Good thing the people I teach know more english than I do and can correct my mistakes... 

Wow guys this week has been a week of MIRACLES!

So I have a new compañera named hermana Reynoso. We get along super great. She is 21 from Argentina and we both have lots of new ideas and things we want to do in our sector and I'm excited for this change with her. 

Our sector is progressing a ton. We now have 3 people with baptismal dates and they are all attending church regularly which is the best! And not only that, but they are also attending every single activity there is in the church. They love it and are excited for their baptism. We have been slacking a little this week in finding new investigators but don't worry, we have plans to change that this week!

Sorry Mom don't kill me for writing a short email again buuuuuuuuuuuuuut I got to go love you all bye!

Hermana Wittwer

Hey guy sorry this week is going to be a short letter. So we have changes and Im staying here in Guadalupe and my companion Hermana Rojas is leaving to Talca. Hermana Reynoso (from Argentina) will be my new companion. Wish us luck, this change is going to be a good one!!

Hermana Wittwer

So the last few weeks have been super good. We have been finding tons of people and teaching tons of lessons. But this week for some weird reason everything just stopped. We stopped finding people. None of the investigators were home and every lesson fell through. We felt like we were working harder than ever but everything was just going randomly bad. By the time Saturday came my companion and I were just tired. I turned to her and said "This week has been so bad. Its probalby because all the miracles are just builing up and tomorrow everything good will happen." Which is exactly what happened. 

Sunday morning in the church we had 4 investigators who came:

1. CARLA: Sunday morning we were in church and a old investigator named Carla walked in. We had stopped visiting her a few weeks ago because she was avoiding us and not answering our phone calls... but sunday morning she came in, looked at us and said "Hermanas, I recieved my answer. Im ready now and I want to be baptized. When can I do it?" You can probably imagine how excited we were haha. 

2. NICOLAS: Nicolas is a young kid of 17 who just to come to church with his cousin last week. Since then he has been to every single activity we do in church and he came again this week. He was pretty standoffish at first and didnt want to give us his information or anything but this Sunday he told us we could visit him and teach him on Monday. He is absolutely golden and so prepared.

3. DIEGO: Diegos parents are both members less actives who we are reactivating in the church. He is only 12 years old but he is soooooooo smart. He understands everything we teach and wants to be baptized BUT before his parents always said they wanted to wait until his grandpa could get worthy and baptize him. Which, they said, could be in april or may. But then this sunday in church they turned to us and said "We talked to Hermano Venegas and we were thinking about having him baptize Diego earlier." I dont think our mouths were hanging open but they might have been. 

4. JUANA SALAS: Juana is the investigator who talks a lot. A lot a lot. But this Sunday she came to church with her daughter and they boths LOVED it. After the church she was just so happy and from what she told us it sounds like she should be coming back next week too. Now we just have to work on teaching her the lessons and making her listen to us!

After church Sunday we decided to pass by some people we talked to the other day. By the end we had like 5 new investigators. All in All it was just a day full of miracles. I think sometimes we just have to have bad weeks so we can recognize just how good the good days are :)

Hermana Wittwer

Mom note: I asked Ky to tell me something I didn't know about her.  Her reply, "Did you know I put socks in the freezer?"  What?! She said, "It's so hot in the night that i get my socks (long socks) wet and put them in the freezer and in the night take them out and use them as a cooling pack. totally works. our freezer is full of socks." 

So there are some huge fires here in Chile and things are getting a little crazy. Where I am there aren't any problems but a town kind of close is up in flames. It doesn't affect us at all except for the smoke which is covering the town. All my clothes smell like smoke and it's a little smoggy but besides that we are all good. Unfortunately the smoke seemed like a good reason for a few investigators to not come to church so that was the worst... 

This week my comp and I have been working like crazy. And its been paying off because we have found a lot of really good people. Here are a few:

Juana Parraguez: Juana is the cutest little old lady there is and she always gives us juice and "pan de pascua" (fruitcake). She loves to listen to us and really wants to go to church, but it's a little hard because she just had a hip surgry and it hurts in the mornings sometimes. She still isn't sure if she wants to be baptized because of a few friends she has, but she is praying about it. 

Juana Salas: I have never met a person who talks more in my life. Ever. We almost can't even teach her because of it. She just talks and talks and talks about things that have nothing to do with what we are teaching. BUT she is golden and loves us and wants to go to church with her daughter, so we are just practicing our conversation skills haha.

Paula Cruz: Paula received missionaries before but was never really interested until now. She reads what we leave her and she understands everything we teach her. She told us straight up that she doesnt want to get baptized, BUT we all know that the spirit can change that. We are planning on teaching the doctrine of baptism this week with her so wish us luck! 

(Paula also has a family super similar to mine (including 3 sons who are CRAZY) so I feel a lot of love for her and her family).

Diego: Diego is 12 and his family is less active. We activated his family and are now working on getting them to the temple together! Diego was never baptized but he wants to do it. They said they want to be prepared as a family to do it, so we are working with his siblings, parents, and grandparents. They are the familia Garrido and I kind of love them a lot. 

There are some more but those are my favorites. I love seeing how people here in the mission really change so so much and I feel super blessed for all the things I've learned here. I think that's something huge that I've learned here- the power of change and repentance! I know that through our Savior Jesus Christ we can all be better everyday. 

Hermaña Wittwer

Well... honestly this week has been pretty uneventful. We are looking for new investigators and contacting a lot and getting super sunburnt and it's a blast! Holidays during the mission are hard because EVERYONE leaves. And none of your investigators are home. But that's alright because it gives us time to look for new people and the investigators should be getting back from visiting the beach pretty soon :)

So one funny thing did happen this week. We teach English twice a week in the church and we take turns among the gringos teaching it. This thursday it was my turn, so we went to the church and set up the room and everything and I wrote on the whiteboard "Welcome to English Clase" and underneath in spanish "Bienvenida a la clase de Inglés". Everyone got there (like 4 people) and we started the class when suddenly one of the people raised their hand and said, "Um... isn't clase de Inglés spelled with two S's?" ... I'm not sure if they will invite me back to teach next week haha. 

Ok I might have said it before but the best part about being back in my old zone is that I get to see people I know all the time and I get to do interchanges with my old sector. This tuesday I was in Centinela and it was a blast. We got to visit new people and old people and I felt like a newbie again. Also I was with my old compañera so that was a blast :) 

This week we have plans to find lots of new people and set up some baptisms for February so it should be a good week. 

Hermana Wittwer 

 

And this week's email.....

Hey sorry I dont have a lot of time today but a quick update on life:

This week we did interchanges so I got to go to Chimbarongo with Hermana Lund. It was out of the city and WE HAD BIKES so I got to fulfill that mission-long dream. 

Here in my sector things are picking up. This week we had more lessons than we´ve had in a long time and we found 7 new investigators. Now we are just working to get people progressing! 

Sorry mom, I know I'm the worst. I promise to write more next week. Love you all bye!

Hermana Wittwer

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!! This new years was one of the best. Why? Well this story starts about 6 months ago:

When I was in my first sector (Centinela) there was a member named Hermano Kerber who is just the absolute best. He is from the ward Guadalupe but we were best friends. The sister missionaries from Centinela and Guadalupe live together and one of the Hermanas from Guadalupe was going to have a birthday so Hermano Kerber invited us 4 to lunch in his house. But it wasnt just any lunch, it was a special lunch because he asked us all individually what we wanted. He said he would make whatever we wanted. I thought about the most gringa thing I could ask for and decided to ask for a hamburger. So he planned this amazing lunch with my double patty cheese, tomato, grilled onion, and all things good, super amazing hamburger. The day before this lunch we got a call from our Mission President saying we had special changes and that I had to leave. The bottom line is that I didnt get to eat my hamburger, and that some random missionary got to come eat in instead-so for the last 5 months Ive been dreaming of this hamburger.

So this last change when they told me I was going to Guadalupe, the first thing I thought was "my hamburger!!!!" And the first thing Hermano Kerber said to me? "Hey I owe you a hamburger-when can you guys come over?" So for New Years we visited his house and his family and he made us an asado (BBQ) and made me my hamburger. Best dinner of my life. 

Anyways I'M IN GUADALUPE IN SAN FERNANDO NOW!!! And it is so fun. I get to live in my old house with my old compañera and see people I know! Also the sector is fantastic and has soooooooooooooooooo much good potential.  My new compañera is Hermana Rojas. She is 20 and from Bolivia and she is taller than me!!! Which is new and awesome. I think we are going to get along really well and its going to be a really good change together. 

Im not going to write a lot about the investigators and people here because Im still getting to know them all but expect a good update next week. Hope you all have a good 2017!

Hermana Wittwer