Winter is Coming!!

So I will try to write this letter without crying.

Mario, our fecha, fell. He didn´t come to church and he hasn´t been reading and doesn´t really want to listen to us as missionaries anymore. We are still good friends with him and his mom who sits in on the lesson, but we are thinking that is all it might be now... This is the life of the mission. It was so sad, because his mom told us he felt a difference in his life when he went to church, and he was so excited about learning more, and then he missed ONE Sunday at church, and it all went downhill. It has strengthened my testimony in attending church because even if we miss just one tiny Sunday at church, it can make the biggest difference in our lives and we put ourselves in jeopardy of damnation, which is to say we will stop progressing. It kills me to think about the situation now with Mario because it has come to a stand still, like a limbo. We still visit him and his family, but they hardly ever let us teach and we almost feel like we are wasting time now. It is hard because as a missionary, you question everything about what you are doing, if you have the Spirit, if you are being obedient, if it is a failure on your part, all that stuff. And while yes, we are not perfect at all, sometimes it is just the person´s albedrio, or agency and we have to respect that. We give him compromisos, and he needs to decide to keep them or not. Our next idea for him is just reading the BoM with him and helping him to have spiritual experiences with us so that he will want to have them when we aren´t around. Thank you for praying for him Derek, I know every prayer Mario can get will help.

On the bright side, IT IS RAINING!!! I LOVE rain and though things don´t look too hot for us right now, I somehow have a hope and faith for the future and look forward to the cold. 

So yesterday, something super funny happened. Right after sacrament, el primer consejero wanted to talk to us for a little bit. I started to feel a little sick as he was talking to us, but I didn´t think too much of it. Suddenly, while he was talking, my body just let a little fart out, WITHOUT my permission!! Hna. Darrington was next to me and looked over with shock all over her face and a little tiny smile like she was going to laugh. I suddenly felt really sick and knew that something was going to explode out of my body one way or the other. Hna. Cook asked if I needed a trash can and all I could do was nod. She ran, I breathed, and just as she came back, I threw up everything I had ever eaten in the past week in that trash can!! Oh it was horrible! Long story short I had to go home and stay there for the whole day..... Nurse´s orders... The bright side of that is that I read tons in the book of mormon and now I am in 3 Nefi 13, reading the words of my favorite person ever! Jesus Christ is my Favorite! I love when He talks about how we should pray to Heavenly Father, and when he says if someone hits us, we should turn the other cheek! It is amazing! I don´t ever want Him to leave now! (I loose myself in the scriptures sometimes and think I am actually there listening to Him.) Anyway, the scriptures are amazing.

Advice for the week: Go to church Every Sunday, read the scriptures Every day, pray Every day. That is all ;) 

Love ya!

Hna. McCubbins

This is what my agenda looked like at 6 months ;)

That day, we just happened to find a graffiti that celebrated 6 months ;)

One of our new investigator´s sons made us little playdough figures and this is what he did for me. It is a house and a husband for me.... because he thinks I need to get married.... he also made a little button for me to push so I can become small... This kid is SUPER creative!! He also made a little button for my playdough husband to get big in case we wanted to do that... ;) Ahaha!

Hna. Rajapakse HATES pictures ;)

We had divisions in our house, and Hna. Bishop came to stay with us! It was super fun. We only have 6 Hermanas in our zone, so we are all super close and really good friends.

April 22??? ¿Qué significa esta fecha?

WE HAVE A BAPTISMAL DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His name is Mario, and he says, jokingly, that he is more Mormon now than we are because he thinks he knows everything about the gospel and he only lacks being baptized.... He is funny ;) His date is 2nd of May!! He loves to go to church, and whenever we remind him to read or pray or asist church, he says ´´obvio, necesito irme´´ which means obviously he needs to go. He has a huge amount of righteous desires and loves to learn anything and everything about the church. The only two problems now are a family problem that has been keeping up so he is tired and can´t always read his homework, and he might need to go to Germany soon!! Es tan fome! But we know that whatever happens is the Lord´s will. We have a lot to teach him in the next two weeks, and we are just praying the spirit teaches him better than we ever could. 

Other than that, we had to stay in for 3 days while Hna. Rajapakse was throwing up all day :) She is so funny because she would have a sick face on and come up to me (about two feet shorter than me) and say with puppy eyes, ´´Can we please go work?´´ Sadly, I had to be the companion that followed the nurse´s orders and keep us inside. I think Hna. Rajapakse got a little mad at me for that, but at least now she is better and healthy! ;) 

We also went paintballing for pday today! Basically I got killed tons, and have lots of bruises now. Do not EVER run out into a battle field, thinking you can run faster than flying paintballs!! It doesn´t work.

This week we have been focusing really hard on having the faith to put baptismal dates with people. Our zone conference with President, we talked about how we are here to invite people to come to Christ, and the only way they can do that is through baptism! I pray super hard for Mario!!

Anyway, you guys are awesome! Go find someone golden for the missionaries to baptize this week! They will love you forever!

Hna. McCubbins

Someone wanted to get the tree ready for winter to keep it warm ;) 

Paintballing for P-day

So.... Ironically, we live right in front of a Catholic church... ;)

Hna. Cook doesn't like to take pics when she barely gets out of the shower...

Hna. Rajapakse is SOOOO cute!

We made Chile Deviled eggs one day cuz we didn´t want to eat what the member gave us for lunch..... oily chicken. :)

WE FOUND THE MOTH ON THE LORD OF THE RINGS!! We swear that this was the moth that went to get the eagles for Gandolf.... It was SO cool, and still alive!!

This my ring, to show you how big the moth was ;)

Foggggggg!! Its so thick, you could probably swim through it.

Beautiful day in Talca Chile!!

Awesome Sunset

New House

New House

We found a trash chasm!!

Hna. Rajapaske wasn't as enthusiastic about the trash chasm.

Don't EVER Smoke Marijuana and Forever Be Good

So this week the ward activity girls sent me letters! And here is my response to them..

Dear Tooele 26th Ward Activity Girls,

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all your sweet letters and notes to me. They make me super happy that you guys spent time to write letters and ask me questions about Chile! So I don`t remember all of your questions, but here are some answers. Chile is VERY different from Utah! There are mountains just like Utah, but they are even bigger than the Utah Mountains! Also, they don`t have snow on them. There are a lot of dogs in the streets here. Sometimes people don`t want to keep their dogs, so they just let them loose on the street! It is sad, but its okay because Heavenly Father is watching over the dogs. We teach a lot of people here in Chile, even people in different religions! Some of them are Catholic, others Evangelists and others are Jehovah`s Witnesses. And some people don`t think God exists at all. My favorite part is that we, as missionaries, just get to share our testimonies with EVERYONE, no matter who they are or what they believe. And, if they want, sometimes they like what we say and feel the Holy Ghost, so we can teach them even more! I have made a lot of friends here in Chile, because even though I don`t speak Spanish very well, I just share my testimony, and people recognize that we have a light in our eyes when we talk about Jesus Christ! I want to just tell all of you that each of you has a special light in you because you love Jesus Christ. And with this light, you can go tell EVERYONE about how much you love Jesus and how happy it makes you to be in His church. That is what I do everyday as a missionary, and it is super fun and awesome! This last week we talked to a woman and her daughter who don`t believe in Jesus Christ, and when we shared our testimonies, they felt the Spirit and wanted us to come back and teach them more! Missionary work is very fun. Sometimes it is hard if no one wants to listen to us, but a lot of the time, we just get to talk to nice people and be their friends!

I love all of you, and hope that you go make a friend and tell them about your best friend Jesus Christ!

Love,

Hermana McCubbins

Chile Rancagua Mision

I LOVE missionary work and talking with lots of people about Jesus Christ. This week we just started talking to a guy in the street and it turns out that he was Jehovah`s Witness the WHOLE TIME!! And I didn`t even notice because we were just talking to him like a person, and sharing our love for God! I have made up my mind that we are not here to cause contention or prove to anyone that this is the true church. We are here to testify of the things that are closest to our hearts and share our love for Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. We are here to speak by the power of the Holy Ghost and give these people the chance to accept the message or not. Sometimes when the answer is NO, we get people waving their fingers at us, and yelling, and some can`t say anything but shake their head and slowly go back into their houses..... ;) and EVERYTIME that Hna. Rajapakse and I get rejected, we laugh super hard (because sometimes they do it in funny ways) and just say to ourselves that it is not their time yet. One time this week, all that the woman could do, after she saw our plaques, was wave her finger above her head and say, NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!! NONOOOOOO!!! ;) It just makes me laugh because if I didn`t laugh, I would probably cry. 

This week with our investigador has been awesome! We didn`t get to teach Mario because he wasn`t there, but he came to church for the second time!! And during Principles of the Gospel class, all he wanted to do was read the Book of Mormon and the book for the class. We are starting to see a growth of desire within him to learn more of the gospel. I JUST WISH THIS WOULD HAPPEN WITH EVERYONE!! But this is only happening because he is keeping his compromisos and asking us questions and all of that. Compromisos are the key to know who is progressing and worth the Lord`s time. It is hard to say that some people aren`t worth our time because the Lord is supposed to love everyone right? Well, that is true that He loves everyone, but He calls only those who choose to follow Him, His blessed and choice people! And then He also condemns people that do not have ears to hear or eyes to see, simply because they choose to not do those things. So while yes, He loves everyone, there are people He has chosen. So to know these chosen people, we see if they keep their committments or not. Like one investigator Gabriel, he reads EVERYTHING that we give him, because he has decided that it is important, and the words in the Book of Mormon, he has chosen to let touch his heart and now he wants more and more and MORE!! The only thing with him is he is never home, so we can never go teach him, but once we find him, we will invite him to church, and we feel he will want to be baptized. 

My scripture challenge for you guys this week is to read Alma 38, and 40 through 42, because I LOVE THEM!! These are the words of Alma to his sons, and I just love both the palo and love and awesomeness that he tells them. Especially the principles of the Plan of Salvation. So anyway yeah. 

I love all of you guys, and hope you grow in your desires to keep your committments to Heavenly Father in reading the scriptures and praying and going to church, and doing all that, because really, these things are for us!! They are for our benefit! They arent meant to be hassles or burdens for us, but light and knowledge and ways for us to be closer to our Heavenly Father and Savior and become who we are supposed to be as children of God. KEEP PUSHING FORWARD!! 

Anyway, sorry if my letters seem like rambling, because I do not have a gift for writing, especially since Spanish is dominating my brain!

Hna. McCubbins

PS I don`t like the smell of marijuana, don`t EVER smoke it, okay? Just promise me that and we will forever be good ;)

To the Best Mom Ever

Mom,

I just wanted to let you know that I did not forget your birthday, I just forgot to write to you about it. In fact, I dedicated a whole 2 pages to you in my journal. I agree that we don`t have to age anymore. I will stay 19, and you stay 25 ;) I am SO happy that they did an awesome surprise for you back at home. I was definitely thinking about you all day and when someone made an April Fool`s Day joke, I almost cried. But I am all good now, no se precupe :D

I just wanted to write and tell you how much you have meant to me for these past 20 years of life I have. I can definitely tell a difference in my mission and in who I want to be because of how you have raised me and loved me tons. 

First, I am so grateful that you married dad and we have a complete and sealed family that will be eternal! 

Second, I am thankful you raised me in the true and restored church of Jesus Christ!

Third, I am thankful you are tall, cuz now I am tall ;) And I like being tall.

Fourth, you always tell us kids that we are the special spirits that Heavenly Father sent to you to watch over, but as I have learned in the mission, Heavenly Father only trusts His special spirits to the most amazing spirits that are capable of taking care of them and loving them and teaching them :)

Fifth, I am so grateful for the example you have set of hard work with us and in becoming a seminary teacher. Your love of the scriptures has fed my love for them.

Okay, so I have lots of things to tell you, but not a lot of time because I had some friends I needed to uplift today in email. However, you guys deserve a funny story. One night Hermana Rajapakse was showering, and the shower window is over our balcony outside in our apartment. So.... after I finished writing in my journal, I went out on the balcony, and knocked on the window super loud!! and she SCREAMED!!!! Anyway, love you guys!!

Hna. McCubbins

Hermana McCubbins and Hermana Rajapakse

New Zone in Talca. Hna McCubbins is in La Florida

Hna Squires and Hna McCubbins: Stansbury High Cross Country is well represented!!

Hna Hall in Hna McCubbins' old zone

New Sisters in a new Zone: Hna Rajapakse is Hna McCubbins' new companion (floral shirr, fourth from the left)

Landscape is beautiful in Talca

This is supposed to be fall........you be the judge.

Hna. Rajapakse showed this to me, and my mind was blown!!