Running In Rancagua: 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