4 Months, and No More Training!

WE HAD AN EARTHQUAKE!!!! Oh my gosh it was so awesome! They said it was like 5.9. We were pretty far from the center, but it lasted 8 seconds and it was during our comp study. It felt like there was a big bear in the earth that was sleeping, and decided to roll over because of a scary dream! ;) But yeah, that was fun.

HAPPY BIRHTDAY SCOTTY!! I can´t believe you are going to be 15!! Just don´t steal ALL the girls at the dances, and dont kill anyone when you drive ;) That is my advice. Also, Hna. Hellbusch says, ´´Hope you dont die! Hope you get to live until you are 16!´´ I love my companion.

This week there is not much to report. Long story short our other companion decided to go home this week after some heated events. We didn´t work because we simply did not have the Spirit and I was not going to pretend to be a missionary like that, without my Father´s Spirit with me... :)

I really can´t tell all the details because I still have hope that she can change, but needless to say, I have learned much about the power of the adversary in relation to our agency. Let me say this: The Spirit will NEVER tell you that you need to be mad or angry with someone because they have wronged you. Even if someone did something horrible to you, it will prompt you to turn the other cheek, and repond with love and acceptance, NEVER anger or pride. Also, contention is always two sided, never one sided. Heavenly Father only gets offended when we harden our hearts and refuse to change.

I pray that each of you can recognize the value and importance of YOUR agency to CHANGE, and never stop wanting to change and make yourself better. I love you ALL SO much :) 

Jesus Christ is my best friend, and Heavenly Father is my amazing dad who listens to all my problems, I testify of this to you. Just turn to them in EVERYTHING and you will find peace, love and the assuring witness of the Spirit that you are doing what is right in His eyes.

I love you SO much!! And here is a picture of something funny I found in the scriptures ;) it says they were surrounded by llamas of fire ;D 

Love you guys tons!

Hna. McCubbins

Jessica's District

Elders in Jessica's Zone

"llamas de fuego" or "llamas of fire"

END OF TRAINING!!!

Okay so I am horrible and dont have a lot of time to write.

I officially end my training this next week. I have now had almost 3 months in the mission!! And my cumplimes is the 22nd, so I will be 4 next week!! WOOOOO

The mission is amazing!!

This week I have been learning a lot about el Albedrio, or the Agency. Helman 14: 30 y 31 talks about how we are FREE to choose for ourselves. This is hard as missionaries because we MUST respect the agency of the people, and love them at the same time. 

The biggest thing about the mission, and about life, is that we much CHOOSE freedom and eternal life, in every moment of our lives. If we arent always striving or pushing forward, the gravity of temptation or laziness drags us backwards, against progress to the tree of life. I have been experiencing a lot of what is truly means to not CHOOSE the straight and narrow path.

I hope and pray for you guys everyday. Smile for me, laugh and play for me ;) This life is a time to prepare to meet God! And God is love, and we are that we might have joy! So choose!!! Just choose to do the things you know you are supposed to!

I love you all!!

Here is a Chilean saying for you all: Està dando jugo!

It means you are wasting time ;)

LOVE YOU!!!!!

Hna. McCubbins

Awesome watermelon!!

Where has the time gone?

Dear Mom,

AHHHHHHH!!!!!! Okay, so that letter last week!! (Sorry I dont respond to your letters on the day you send them. We print and read letters in the morning, then write in the afternoon, so if you send them later in the day, I dont read them til night and respond the next week.) I got the goosebumps in 100 degree weather when I read that thing about you envisioning my matrimony in the back yard. (Matrimony?? What is it called?? No sé.) I seriously freaked out, not sure why, perhaps that is the house we need to live in, not sure, but there was definitely a spiritual feeling here in Chile about that house, and I havent even seen it........ So yeah.

So this week. I have been thinking a lot about a letter that aunt Robin sent me last Lunes. She said she prayed to have spiritual growth, and she got it and more. (It was in the form of trials. I can send it to you if you want.) Hna. Hellbusch and I have a joke that you NEVER pray for more patience or more humility or really any of the Christlike attributes because He will give them to you in the form of the hardest trials of your life. (Its a joke.) But I was seriously thinking about that this week and decided to pray for that spiritual growth. I have yet to see any big trials, but something tells me they may start to come in the changes that are coming up in 2 weeks. I will be an official, full fledged missionary, out of training and ready to take on Chile with my Savior in 2 weeks, and it is kind of scary. We have no idea if I will stay here in Tupahue Rancagua, or if I will transfer, or what will happen. I hope it will be fun though. I have been on a spiritual high lately and am just waiting for that big trial of growth and spiritual awesomeness to hit me. Really, it is awesome :)

We have 6 investigators right now (YEAH!!!! That is a lot for here guys...).

Ana is trying to dejar a fumar ahora, y café. Her date for baptism is the 28th of this month and her two weeks is this week before she cant smoke anymore. We pray for her, but she hasnt been reading because of her work that makes her tired. I hope hope hope she makes it. We made her a cute calendar to mark off everyday she doesnt break the word of wisdom. Sorry I dont have pics this week, the computer doesnt have the program for flash drives.

Tomás and Noemi are an interesting story. They were a reference from one of the couple missionaries here who met them in a taxi. Tomás is 15 and Noemi is his abuela. He is interested in the fact that we are children of God (which is awesome, cuz he just needs love!!) and Noemi pulled us aside the other day to tell us he has had a hard life and thanked us for the work we do for him. (Missionary Work is SO worth it!!) However, when he came to church yesterday, he didnt feel very welcomed... That is one thing we have to work on with the members. (PLEASEEEEEEEE if you see an investigator in church, go be friends with them!! They are already tentative enough, without people not getting to know them. I swear they are real people and just need the love we feel every week at church.) But other than that we are good friends with them and Noemi wants to come to church next week ;) YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

We also have Rosa, Karen y Carola (Chatchi). They are 3 very strong women, especially Chatchi, who were suprised to find out we were mormon!!! When we first visited them, we only used the real name of the church, and they felt the spirit, so invited us back. Then when they found out the were mormons, they said they hated Mormons!!!! It was HILARIOUS because we had already created that bond, so they let us keep teaching them!! I cant wait to go back and talk to them. Chatchi especially is very religious, and all of them LOVE Jesus Christ, they just hate all the churches here in Chile, but have NEVER attended the TRUE church ;) They all have LdMs ahora and Rosa is going to have her 8 year old grandson read it to her because her eyes arent very good. IT IS SO AWESOME!! 

Yesterday we had a baptism!! It wasnt ours, but it was in our ward. One of our ex-comunicados got rebaptized and it was amazing! He had to go through a 15 year process, and now has plans to go to the temple with his amazingly sweet wife in a year. Hno. Sandoval is probably 75 years old, and already has the Spirit so strong with him. I couldnt stop smiling after his baptism because I could see the impact his choice to come back had on his family. His wife couldnt stop smiling or crying and his kids (who are like 50 years and up) were all crying. It was SO AMAZING!! I love the Gospel.

Here in the mission, yes we teach people. However also, a lot of our work has to do with KEEPING PEOPLE ON THE PATH!! I feel like the dad on the Incredibles at the beginning when he is like: I just cleaned up this mess, can we keep it clean FOR 10 MINUTES?? ;) We visit MANY menos activos who have testimonies, but arent doing what is required to build that knowledge, or keep it. What is required? Orar, Leer, Asistir!! We use the acronym OLA (like Hola ;) ). Many of the problems that come up are because people dont think they have to read the scriptures and pray every day, AND go to church every week, and those are just the beginning steps. I have seen MIRACLE changes in people that just do those 3 things for 2 or 3 weeks. It is AMAZING and I wish everyone could see it. These 3 things are essential because they keep us following the GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. Faith, Repentence, Baptism, Holy Ghost, Endure to the End. Those 5 steps are what we need to make if we want to get to the Celestial Kingdom.

Sorry I kind of went off right there, but I almost feel like Elder Holland when he gets going in the Spirit, I LOVE people so much, I want to force them to follow the path, but I cant. I can only help.

I love you guys SO much. FOLLOW THE PATH.!!!!

Hna. McCubbins

Picture from before her mission, since there are no pictures today.

SEMANA DE NUEVOS!

Dear Family of Mine,

There is much to tell you. First, yes I have received every little yellow note you hid in my stuff ;) And today I received all the pouch letters from back in December and everything. Our nice district leader called us this morning and was like... So Hna. McCubbins has like 8 letters... I was super excited!! Thank you! 

So we found 6 new people this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 of them were a family, all strong, Christ loving women who love Jesus!! AND THEY HAVE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF US MORMONS!!! Its amazing cuz now all we have to do is tell them this is His church and they already want to come attend the church to test it out. I CANT WAIT!! They are named Rosa, Carolina y Karen.

Also, my testimony in the Lord putting us where we need to be is super strong. We met a lady in the street while running a tad late, but she was in distress. We stopped, having faith in the Lord and asked what was wrong. She said she felt ugly, and all we did was hug her and she started to cry. You guys, LOVE IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER, because God is love, and He is everything ;) Her name is Nancy and we are going to visit her this next week.

Also, we met Thomas, a young boy at around 16 years old, with TONS of questions about who God is and what He means for us. It is AWESOME but he lives super far away, and we cant always find him at home, so that is a little frustrating, but we have faith he will be in our path when Heavenly Father has him ready.

Also, we found out 2 of our investigadors are friends!! CRAZY! We are thinking of teaching them together so they can learn and grow in the gospel juntos! Their names are Lissett y Gloria.

Also, one of our menos activas had her baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She and her fiancè named him Joaquin and plan to get married soon!! They are doing awesome and we cant wait for everything awesome to happen to them. They are beaming with happiness and I cant believe the change in her fiance after becoming a dad, its like he is an actual man now ;) 

And the last I wish to share with you guys is an amazing spiritual experience we had this week with Ana Castilla, nuestra menos activa. She is having some super serious health problems and cant work to get the money for her medical bills. The day we visited her, we were in divisions, yo, hna. Rodriguez, y una hermana that has like 3 weeks in the mission, ALMOST no help, but excited to work nonetheless. We called the elders for a blessing, but they didnt answer, neither did the bishop. Finally we just kneeled down and prayed with our hearts for her to be strengthened to work or anything that would help. The Spirit was so strong!!! And she is doing way better! Women have power in prayer guys :)

I love ya tons. Hope all is well. Send more pics of you guys!! I love pictures!!

LOVE,

Hna. McCubbins

In front of the church with an investigator

Companions Rodriguez and Hellbusch

The mouth open picture is spreading to her poor companion.

YUMMY Empanada

Eating the YUMMY Empanada

Breakfast and planning all in one