Happy Thanksgiving from a Country that has no Thanksgiving!! ;)

Les Quiero!

Thank you thank you thank you for writing me and sending me pictures!! I love all of them and love seeing the sunshine in your life. The Lord has truly blessed me with an optimistic attitude that sometimes annoys my compañera, but then she hugs me and laughs too! Anyway, I have lots to talk about, so hang on tight!!

So first, I have been working on handstands, and getting splits!! I am no good at either!! Hna. Spencer was on a Drill team, so she helps me know how NOT flexible I am ;) I don´t know why I told you that. Maybe so you know how crazy I still am here in the mission. Also, the birds here are FEARLESS!! They just walk on the ground like 2 feet from us and don't fly away unless we are mean and run at them! They are so cute though, and we often just smile really big whenever a bird walks alongside us :)

More casual things: we got a new group of Gringos this week! They are replacing us and it is SUPER fun to speak Spanish with them, because they don't know a lot, so we teach them! We have also been teaching the Latinos and Brazilians Ingles, but often they just get frustrated and give up. Welcome to my life ;) except I cant give up....... ALL of the Brazilians are awesome though. We are kind of in the same boat because they have to learn Spanish and its super fun to share Spanish words we´ve learned with them. But then they try to teach us Portuguese, and Im like: ummm Spanish is hard enough.... But its just super fun. We taught them knuckle bumps and high fives, and they told us the Portuguese words for them, but I have no idea how to spell them... sorry. OKAY, so crazy thing: there is a Brazilian that looks like he could be from Utah right? but he doesn't speak ANY English!!! I sat next to him and asked where he was from, and went: Que?? I was SO surprised!! Its crazy how not everyone that LOOKS gringo here, IS gringo. Anyway, moving on.

We, as a district, have decided to have our own little Thanksgiving this Thursday since Chileans don't celebrate any Norte Americano holidays except Navidad. Its kind of weird to see snowmen in the stores, since they don't have any snow for Christmas.... Anyway. We bought a bunch of food that we will all share, and I may even end up eating sugar!! Gasp. But its okay, I have lost some weight here, so I guess some sugar wont hurt, as long as Hna. Spencer lets me run 3 miles the next day ;)

Along with the new gringo missionaries came maestros nuevos for us. We kept Hna. Ceballos in the morning, but Hno. Gonzalez replaced Hno. Antileo in la tarde, y Hno. Ceballos replaced Hno. Riutor en la noche. Yes the Ceballos are related. They are the cutest!! Hno. Gonzalez know like 10 words en Ingles, so he has to speak very clear for us and is always looking up words on Google to explain complicated things to us. But its good, I just feel my brain grow every time we get done with a long time of listening to him. Which brings me to last Sunday!! En Domingo, we had no lessons in English. For the first 4 weeks you have only Santa Cena in Spanish, but now we are in the group with the latinos, so this was our first Domingo en total Español!! Man I have never been so mentally tired in my life. I actually understood a lot, and learned a few more common phrases, which was cool, but by the end of the day, I could barely think straight!! It was awesome ;)

Oh!! So I met my mission president this morning!! He is here to bring the missionaries that are leaving Rancagua to the temple for the last time. Those missionaries that are leaving, are the ones we are replacing next Martes. Super loco!! I cant believe how fast time flies here en el CCM! I feel like is was just yesterday that Hno. Antileo was helping us memorize el Objetivo en Español and helping my pronunciation de la palabra Evangelio. Today for Pday, we just walked around and said goodbye to the city. I will maybe miss Santiago, but I am SOOOOOOO excited for Rancagua!!

So, my spiritual hunger grows everyday. I just want to stop everything and read el Libro de Mormón sometimes. Yes in Spanish, because I can understand a lot of what the scriptures say now. I discovered DyC 138 this week and the difference between forbidden paths and preparatory paths this week in 1 Nephi 8!! Not everyone is on a forbidden path!! Sometimes they are on a prep path until we bring them to the straight and narrow.

Anyway, I love you all, find someone to love this week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hna. McCubbins

An amazing sunset we saw behind the temple (Santiago)

Our last group that left last week!!

This is what my classroom and desk ALWAYS look like.

Elder Hadlock is the Elder that looks like he speaks English, but doesn't and Elder Bennett is his sweet
companion that looks like he is from Idaho, but is from Altamont Utah.

This is a yellow star that one of the Brazilian Elders said I could have.

A selfie of me and Hna Spencer cuz we love each other ;)

Letter from Hermana Spencer, Jessica's CCM Companion

To the Beautiful Family of Hermana McCubbins!

I just wanted you all to know how much I love your daughter (or sister)!  She is such an inspiration to me, from the minute she taught a Russian man on the plane to teaching people in the park, she hit the ground running when she came to Chile (literally, it is impossible to keep up with her when she runs)!  I love her to death, she is like my best friend and I couldn´t have asked for a better companion!  She brags about you guys all the time!  She´s a burst of energy and she brings a smile to my face every day.  She is a beautiful daughter of God and she´s already one rock star of a missionary!

With Love, Hermana Spencer

(P.S. WHO does she get her obsession with veggies from?)

Study the Atonement!!!

Hey Mom and Family in Tooele!!

First, thank you thank you thank you for all the pictures and funny faces!! I love to see you guys so I know Im not just dreaming that I know other people outside of Chile!! Also, I received your letters and can I just say, hand written letters are the BEST!! It felt like Christmas when Hna. Doll gave me them at Breakfast and I carried them with me all day!! Oh, and Mommy, you are the best!! I havent received the books yet, but thank you!! Also, if you could possibly send me an English Dictionary, that would be great. The bible dicitionary is great for finding out what scriptures say, but i´ve been wanting to know what simple English words mean too, especially since im losing my English..... Its bad. Sometimes I want to pray in Ingles and I cant remember what Querido Padre Celestial.... Anyway. Also, I have come to the conclusion that Spanish is the way it is because you can say things really fast and its super fun. I do that all the time with phrases I know, like: Estaria bien si pasamos otra vez? I say that ALL the time and Hna. Spencer laughs at me!! Its okay, she loves me craziness... 

Oh!! So I LOVE the breakfasts here!! They put yogurt in the cereal instead of milk!! Seriously!! You guys should try it! Its like heaven in your mouth! It takes some time to get used to, but I may never have milk in my cereal again.... yes. 

Also, the trees here are purple... I dont know if you can tell in that picture, but they are purple, and it is one of the coolest things of my life! I also sent a pic of a recipe for Lindsey to make some awesome cookies if she wants. Hna. Doll makes the BEST cookies, and yes, I have eaten them. But I repent after, so its okay. 

This week I found out that Elder Porter here, knew Elder Fivas in Ohio!!! If you dont remember Elder Fivas, he is Kelsey Fivas´s older brother, and Sadie Johansen´s man. My mind was blown when Elder Porter and I found that out!! This world is SO small. We also found out nuestro maestro Hno. Antileo knows Elder Porter´s cousin from his mission in Tennessee!! I just keep thinking about how awesome the gathering of Israel will be and how many people we will get to be reunited with again! I think the true hope of Israel is that we never have to say good bye to anyone again! I HATE goodbyes, but I know they are necessary for growth and gaining new experience. 

So, know I wish to share something super cool I learned this week. We had an awesome devocional con the President and Hermana of the Santiago Este Mision. They had so much energy and the fire of this work in their eyes! Anyway, President Wright talked about 3 things the Atonement does for us. it strengthens us in our weaknesses (Eter 12:27), helps us overcome sin, and heals us from the suffering caused by other persons sins. Pres. Wright also talked about how we access these 3. We must be humble and have faith to overcome weakness, we must repent to overcome sin, and we must forgive others to be healed from the suffering they may have caused us. Now, here is where it gets interesting. I was reading and studying Eter 12 the morning after that devotional, and came across the classic 3 words we see all the time in the scriptures: faith, hope and charity. Then I pondered on the 3 aspects which the Atonement helps us with, weakness, sin and suffering. So I put 3 and 3 together! Faith to overcome weakness, hope that we may be forgiven of our sins, and charity to forgive others of the suffering we have gone through because of their sins!!!! Now, I havent completely formed this theory, and I want to study more, but it was so cool that Padre Celestial showed me this little golden nugget of awesome information to build my hunger for knowledge. I wish we had more than 50 minutes for Personal Study. I´m not just hungering for the words, Im STARVING for the words!! I see the feast in my scripture case and just want to devour everything God has for me!! 

Just the other day Hno. Antileo blew our minds about temple worship in the Americas alongside temple worship in Jerusalem, and how it proves the BoM is true!! I dont want to go into too much detail because I havent studied that at all, but just trust me that there are some things out there we have NEVER even considered. I just have to trust in God that I will learn what I need when He needs me to know it, and that through diligence, and feeding on the words of Christ brought by the Spirit, I can gain awesome knowledge of God and serve others with this knowledge and testimony I build for myself. I love my Padre Celestial and pray to Him all the time! I love my Savior and am so greatful for the Atonement!

Anyway, I hope you guys strive for a hunger for knowledge too. There are so many super cool things in the scriptures! Just sit down, pray for the Spirit, and spend some time in the words of the Lord :) It is one of my favorite things to do here and I want all of you to experience it too. 

I´m going into my last two weeks here at the CCM, and I cant wait to see Rancagua and get out of the city. We´re technically Spanish Speakers now!! 

I love you all and hope this email made sense because it was written super fast! Love you Love you Love you!

Hna. McCubbins

Hermanas McCubbins, Spencer, and Williams

Purple trees in the springtime.

"I love all the people in these pics! I hope you love them too! (Her. McCubbins second to the last row in the middle)

I love all the people in these pics. I hope you love them too!

Hermanas McCubbins and Spencer with HerMONO Antileo. He looks like a mono (monkey)

Selfie or Hermana'ie'

Awesome cookie recipe for Lindsey, my sister.

Mommy!

Mommy!!

I love you so much!! I hope youre okay. I know this work is what im supposed to be doing right now. Elder Nelson came to our mission along with Elder Christensen of the 70 and another 70 General Authority. E. Christenson promised our families at home were okay and to just keep being obedient and put everything into this work. That is what I want to do, just throw everything I have into finding those people who need this amazing gospel!! Anyway, I have some stories for you!!

I have started to forget English words!! I will be talking with my cute companion in Spanglish, and then completely forget what word I need in English!! Most of the time we end up playing a quick game of charades so she knows what Im talking about... Also, now our room companions are talking spanish with us all the time, so I wake up having to speak Spanish, and go to sleep talking spanish to myself or mi companera. Its so crazy, hopefully i will still know English by the time I get home... 

Another story, my companion LOVES singing and is 100 times better than me, but our voices mesh super awesomely when she sings alto, and i sing soprano. So one time we were asked to sing for FHE totally last minute, like we were sitting, and they just said (in spanish) now we will have Hna. Spencer sing with Hna. McCubbins!! So we had to choose a song quick which we chose Asombro Me Da, and she gave the beginning soprano note, she has perfect pitch, and we just went. All the latinas were smiling and gazing in awe at us, and the Elders were paying attention, which is a miracle in itself. It was a very awesome experience, but i was shaking with nerves after that... But I loved it!! I want convert tons of people through song on my mission!! Its the best!!

More short stories. Mi companera y yo are super crazy and try to talk to anyone Chilean during exercise time in the park, or on the street during prep day. I have no idea what they are saying 95 percent of the time, but most of them are super loving and understand. One cute old man was excited about the pass along card we gave him and knew where the temple was!! He said we were muy joven (very young) but thanked us for the service we did for people. I think he had a little experience with missionaries, but he said he was Catolico, catholic. We also talked to a girl in the park who was waiting for her sister. We invited her to come to the temple sometime if she wanted. She was also Catholic, and while we were talking to her, I had just got done with a 3 mile run, so I was almost dead!! We hugged her good bye though, with un beso en the cheek, and she was smiling as we left, so we must have done something good.

One sad thing is all the stray dogs!! They look so sad and we saw 2 dead ones today. I cant look at them cuz i almost cry. They are the cutest things ever, but we dont pet them because of fleas and they might follow us home... which is not good.

A really funny thing is the drivers here. During classes, we, at least once a day, here either a car screech and honk, or something that sounds like a crash!!! Its kind of scary, but we laugh it off and keep studying. We always keep an eye out for cars, because they are crazy drivers here!!

Also another funny thing: one of our maestros, Hermano Antileo, kind of looks like a monkey to me... I told him this back in October, but then yesterday, we went to teach him as an investigator named Andres, then when we came back in, one of the Elders had written on the white board: HerMONO Antileo!! We laughed SO hard and still dont know who did it... I suspect Elder Hadlock though. If you dont get it, mono means monkey... :)

Anyway, now I want to talk about my companion, beautiful Hermana Spencer. She looks like a walking Porcelien Doll!! I tell her everyday that she is super gorgeous, but shes such a sweet heart that she just laughs and gives me a big hug. I just look at her and love that shes my companion!! She is AWESOME at singing any type of music from pop to opera, to classic to modern, everything, and she is ALWAYS singing so I get songs stuck in my head ALL the time!! I love harmonizing with her, and since she has perfect pitch, we sound pretty good!! When I dont mess it up.... ;) One thing about her perfect pitch is she can name what note it is from just hearing it!! CRAY CRAY!! One of the poly elders tested it and she named every single note!! I was in awe! She also has an awesome talent for the piano and can rock any hymn, even ones she has never played. She usually picks the hymns in class because we cant read the spanish names, but she can read the music. Shes also super good at working hard and being the mother of our distrito. She makes sure the Elders stay in task, and answers all my dumb questions that are obvious. We work super well together and can give honest feed back lovingly after lessions and if a problem comes up. I am SO lucky to have a companion thats close to perfect. Shes not always perfect, like sometimes she yells EARTHQUAKE when I turn over in the bed... hahaha!! I have the top bunk, so whenever I move, the whole thing moves and she makes fun of me!!! We have set a goal to eat no sugar and not a lot of bread since thats how you get fat. We follow the Word of wisdom (WoW) so we are WoW!! ;) Shes the best companion ever, sorry to all the other missionaries, but mine is the best.

So, I have to go now. I love you mommy!! I didnt have enough time to write everyone who wrote me, but tell everyone I love them and they can write me anytime. Also, real letters would be awesome too!! ;) I LOVE LOVE LOVE you all!! There are two ways to say I love you here in Chile. Le quiero is just I love you casually, so you can say to anyone. The other is Le Amo, which is deep love for only select people.

Le amo :) 

Hermana McCubbins

Jessica and her companion. They could almost be twins. You can almost see her missionary tag in this one.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Hi Daddy!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Ive been thinking all about you this week because ive been forgetting english words and will soon be speaking fluently ;)

My companion is cute hermana Spencer from Washington D.C.! We get along super well and hug everytime we pray together as a companionship!

I wasnt able to read your letter!! Im working on it though. I learn more everyday and am starting to understand the scriptures. Commands are killing me right now, but im working and Hermano Antileo says i just need to talk to every chilean i see so i learn faster. He had to learn english cuz he went to Knoxville Tennesee on his mision. Its awesome cuz sometimes he will talk in a southern accent mixed with his espanol accent. 

I dont really need anything, but im regretting a little about not bringing Jesus the Christ and the other books that came with it. That would be the best Christmas present.... if you want to send those to me, itd be awesome. 

I love you tons too daddy! I squeeze your pillow every night and your guys faces get distorted which makes me laugh and cry sometimes haha. The CCM is very nice and so are all the maestros. I miss you guys, but know this is where im supposed to be. 

BTW Elder Nelson came to our mision and spoke to us!!! It was super crazy and awesome!! He shook ALL of the missionaries hands, and i never want to wash my right hand again! He seemed so frail and fragile, but the spirit was burning in his eyes and i loved hearing him speak about the gathering of Israel and how we as missionaries are helping that gathering. Ive been studying that and other awesome topics, and i am literally loving the time we get to spend in the scriptures all the time!! Our favorite time in our distrito is when we Leer el Libro de Mormon and just talk about it. We were in Enos the other day and talked about true prayer to Padre Celestial. I feel like He is my best friend and I love praying to Him siempre!

Anyway, I hope you have the best birthday ever! Te Amo! Nos vemos!!

Your baby girl siempre, 

Jessica

Hermana Spencer in their room at the MTC

The Santiago Chile Temple which is right next to the MTC.

Second Week in the MTC

I love you guys!!

So this week has been the most amazing!! Today we met three people on the street as we wandered around the city! It was awesome! The first was a lady that said there were missionaries staying in her house and she kept saying they were muy lindo (cute) and always nice! We loved talking to her, but our Spanish SUCKS!! So we just listened for words we knew. She was the sweetest! Also we met a man who said he belonged to another church and asked us if we believe in God and Jesucristo. We said yes and he said we were going to heaven!! Haha, I loved it!! The last man was from the beach up north! He said: Me gusta la playa. And I knew what that meant!! It also helped that he knew a little English, so we could talk to him more.... ;) He said he was interested in learning about the church because he believed all religions could be true, which means I met another Agnostic person!!!! AWESOME!! He gave us his number, so he counts as my first contact!! :D :D He was super nice, but then he went to say good bye to us with a kiss, and we had to tell him no besos, no kisses. He was a little sad because he really liked us, but I think he was okay once we explained it was a rule for misioneros. He was such a nice man, I wish I could teach him, but we´ll probably have to give his number to some other missionaries and they´ll reap that harvest :( Its okay though, I can´t wait to see him in the Celestial Kingdom! So... today I also made a fool of myself. A couple walked past and said a snarky comment, and I just smiled and said Hola hola, like how all the Chileans do, and they totally busted up laughing!! So that was my humbling experience today..... Also, I got honked at twice, whistled at once, and one worker said: beautiful girl, like those were the only two English words he knew.... I am seriously thinking of making myself ugly so I don´t get into any trouble....

I noticed as we were walking around the city that there are two to three types of ways people react to us. Either they make eye contact with us and smile when we smile at them, or they avoid all eye contact andor look snarky at us. I like las personas that smile...

Also this week we got both of our investigators to keep commitments and once to set a baptism date!! It was awesome cuz Hna. Spencer loves singing too, so we sang for him Venid a Mi, and the Spirit was so strong, but then the leccion despues that one, he was wanting to start a family and his girlfriend didn´t, so we just listened to him and bore testimony that the spirit would help him know what to do. After we said that, he said he wanted to be baptized!! Then after, our teacher said we nailed that leccion!! I LOVE when that happens. We don´t even need to know spanish!!! We just work on our broken sentences and seek for the spirit, because the holy ghost can go beyond the language barriers!! Please please PLEASE just go share the gospel with everyone!! SO many people here have no idea how much this message can do for them. They go about with downcast faces and don´t look up to see God in their lives!! He loves everyone and I NEED you guys to be at home missionaries. We have this truth and its useless if we don´t share the gospel siempre!!!! Go out and make a contact ;) Because if I can do it with broken spanish and a big smile, you can do it with your awesome language skills of English and the spirit you have within you. I love you ALL SO much!!

Anyway, that was my week and I can´t wait to write you all next week again! Seek the Spiritl, work hard, play hard, pray hard, LOVE HARD!! ;)

Amor,

Hermana McCubbins

Jessica's Companion, Hermana Spencer. Jessica is on the top bunk. Her pillowcase has a picture of our family on it.

Jessica and Hermana Spencer with two other Hermanas at the CCM

Jessica and Hermana Spencer with two Elders in their District.

FIRST CONTACT!!!

A dog bit her shoe when she tried to kick it while running.