HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Sorry to anyone who may read this letter, but it is specifically for the best mom in the whole entire world.

Hey, I just wanted to write you and congratulate you on completing 25 years of age!! ;D You are really the best mom on earth. If you don´t believe it, just look at your first two kids, both are missionaries serving the Lord and working hard to bring His children unto Him. :) I love you SO much. You have supported me in EVERYTHING I have wanted to do that has been good and even more than support me, you have been my best friend in every single moment.

This week we have been helping a less active family that is going through some tough things. The mom said that the missionaries never gave her a Book of Mormon of her own, so we gave one to her and she has been reading every day!! Which is a miracle because she never got past the 4th grade and doesn't like to read. She even told us that they have been reading in the family too!! It was a small miracle that blew me away and it gave me hope that her kids will be like your kids one day. Your example and love for the gospel and loyalty to the Lord for your whole life have impacted me in ways I am still discovering.

Thanks mom for being my mom and my best friend. I know I don´t say it enough, but I love you :) I know my Savior thanks to you and dad. I stayed active in church thanks to your stubbornness and love and support and willingness to listen to me. I went on a mission because I knew you would support me 100% and even now I can keep serving because I feel safe in the fact that you are rooting and praying for me. I love you mom :) Thanks for everything and being a disciple of Christ for 25 years of life ;D 

Love,

Your Shacka Lacka ;D

A ladybug landed on me!! Here they are called Maraquitas... I think ;D 

Hermana Sarmiento made us lunch... She is SO cute!!

Weaknesses and Work

Dear Family,

So, just a small favor to ask. If everyone could just stop mentioning that I am going to come home soon, that would be great. My companion already tells me everyday that April 19th I will be in my house and she will cry because she will miss me, so if everyone else could just stop mentioning anything and everything to do with me coming home, that would help a lot. Love ya! Thanks :) 

This week we saw miracles!! An evangelical investigator who is SUPER active in his faith came to church instead of his church this Sunday!! It was a miracle! He was a little nervous because he is super humble and from the countryside, so doesn´t have all those people skills. But he said that one of the talks really got to his heart because it talked about how we need to be us and not try to be like other people. He also said that he has been reading the Book of Mormon and felt something in his chest while he was reading. I fell like he is a chosen!! It is awesome! 

Also, one of our less actives came to church out of no where! He had been telling us he would come, but never came. Then out of the blue he just showed up and said he came for Hermana Sarmiento! I was almost bursting of happiness! I love Sundays.

Anyway, I love you all. Look for the miracles and blessings this week and I promise you will be happy. :)

Love, Hermana McCubbins

Trials that make you feel like you are going to die, Keep You Alive

Dear Family,

Today I am going to introduce you to Hermana Sarmiento. She is my new companion from Barranquilla Colombia. When her mom was pregnant with her, she got sick and when Hna. Sarmiento was born, she couldn´t hear, and she could barely see. As a child she couldn´t talk, only sign to communicate with other people. When she got a little older, her parents put her into therapy so she could start recognizing sounds and use a hearing aid to learn how to talk. After about a year she learned. At this point she can talk and hear if you speak loudly, but she talks a little differently. Also with this weakness, she is a little slower at learning, but when she learns or memorizes something, she never forgets it.

She has the faith to move mountains. Her prayers penetrate the heavens. And everytime she bears her testimony to people, they know she is a messenger of God, a representative of Jesus Christ. She is 35 years old, convert of 13 years, the only member in her family of Catholics. She studied and obtained 3 degrees, her specialty being mechanical engineering in electrical systems. She also had to work 3 jobs before the mission to get enough money to go on the mission. She is exactly obedient and loves the Lord more than anyone else.

Last week, as we were waiting for the new missionaries to arrive, President Warne wanted to talk to me privately. There, in the mission house, in President´s office, I was told about my future companion and the things I would have to prepare for to help her adjust to missionary life. Coming out of President´s office, I honestly had no feelings, just numb. And to be honest, every single day this week I have cried and prayed to Heavenly Father to strengthen me and take care of the things I cannot do, because there are a lot. As I have come to know my new companion, she has become my best friend. I can honestly say that she speaks with the power of the Spirit and I know she is a literal angel from God. I feel like she is teaching me more than I could ever teach her in a lifetime. She LOVES EVERYONE that she comes into contact with. I wish you could all meet her because you would never be the same again. When you are with her, you KNOW God exists. This week has been hard, and I know every single week of this last change is going to be hard. But I am grateful for my Heavenly Father who has given me an angel to be my companion, who will change my life and the lives of those that let her into their hearts. I hope you have the chance to meet an angel here on earth. I have the hope that one day, in the Celestial Kingdom, when she is perfect, we can be neighbors in the mansions of our Father because I know she is going there and only by the grace of God will I ever even have a chance to get there. 

I love you all tons. Have an amazing week. Pray everyday, and Feast upon the Scriptures everyday. That is how you can come to know God. He loves you. I love you. Until next week.

Hermana McCubbins

This is my new companion, Hermana Sarmiento. She is ALSO from Colombia,
like my last companion Hna. Garcia. :D

New trainers meeting.

From the Mission Matron's Blog, can you spot her?

The side of Jessica's head as she helps a missionary.

Airplanes and Dads

Dear Family,

Miracle for the week: two less actives we have been teaching came to church this week!! Marcia and Sebastian are super awesome, a little crazy, and at one time they were super active, but their faith got a little weak and they fell away. But they came this Sunday! That was probably the coolest thing that happened this week. We also went to Rancagua for a meeting for the new missionaries and they talked a lot about being consecrated missionaries. I realized that being a consecrated missionary is just acting on our love for the Lord. If we truly have love for Him, then we obey the mission rules, and we serve the way He would serve. It is as simple as that :) 

This morning during companionship study we were talking about a family that has been having problems between the dad and his son (one because the son is 15 and thinks he knows everything... and two because the dad is a convert from the evangelical church so he always talks about the gospel in that way and it bugs the son). We were talking about what we could do to help and it reminded me of a time my dad and I had a fight that was really bad. I don´t remember why we were fighting, nor what happened to make us fight, but I remember that after about an hour of not talking, dad just came into my room and asked me to forgive him. Even just remembering that moment brings tears to my eyes because it showed me that he really loved me, even to the extent of humbling himself and talking to his prideful 18 year old daughter at the time. All I can remember is hugging him and now that I think about it, love is always the answer. LOVE IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER. There is a reason that the Bible says God is love. The invitation for everyone this week is to just love the people you have in your life. No one is perfect, we are all trying to be good people, but we always fall short and mess up. Just love. 

Also this morning, I received my flight plans to end my mission. Man, time flies by super fast. Enjoy every moment you have because time flies by in the blink of an eye. I know that this life is a time to have joy and prepare to meet our Heavenly Father and Savior. So  enjoy it! Love ya guys tons.

Hermana McCubbins

These two Hermanas went out together and will come home together. This was taken near the start of their missions.

My Red Head Lovely Running Man

Dear Family, especially Scooter,

Hey!! Who told you you could turn 16 when your best older sister was out of the country?? I just hope you know that turning 16 doesnt mean you can go out with girls or drive or anything, until I get home ;D Just kidding... You can do that stuff, but I am going to be thinking about how you are still 2 feet tall with chubby cheeks and super ticklish. :D I hope you love life Scooter. Being 16 is awesome! Just live it up and enjoy every moment. Enjoy every tough run and opportunity to laugh and learn from Coachie. I had a dream about you guys running and I was trying to catch up, but then I got tired and layed down, and that was my whole dream :) You were running on the gold course by Coachie`s house. Any who, dont grow too fast, your head is going to start making holes in the ceiling. I love ya dude. If there is one thing I could tell you, it would be read the scriptures everyday and pray to Heavenly Father. A lot of people here think it is something old fashioned, or only their grandmas do it, but it is SO awesome when we have a close relationship with Heavenly Father. He understands us perfectly and will help you in anything you need. Something super awesome that I learned this week was that I can write a question in the margins of my scriptures, wherever I am reading at the time and search for an answer in what I am reading. I am serious when I say, it TOTALLY works. Of course you cant ask questions like, what am I going to eat for breakfast, but you can ask things like, What can I do to be more happy everyday? Or this week I asked, How can I have more courage to leave awkward situations? It is amazing what happens, there are scriptures that just jump out and hit you in the face. Just try it! And read everyday. I promise if you do that everyday and pray also, you will be the happiest person ever. :D 

This week was also cool because we had a training with Elder Bednar and he LITERALLY BLEW MY MIND. I don't know if you guys can see it since it was only for the area South America South, but I learned SO much, especially that we need to pray in faith, which means that we are willing to act on what we pray for. For example, if I am praying for a family member or friend to come to church, I have to go invite them and tell them how amazing church is!! It is that simple. Or, if I am praying to get a good grade on a test or in a class, I have to study a ton and know my stuff! If we pray for something, but dont do anything to get it, we are praying in vain... And that isn't good. 

Also this week, we found a miracle family! It is the family Marín Valenzuela. They have 4 kids and are a couple, not married, who have been together for 20 years. The mom was recieving the missionaries 4 years ago, but the dad would throw away the pamphlets. But this time, when we knocked on their door, the dad came out and actually invited us inside immediately!! It was awesome. You can know that someone is ready when they invite you into their house without knowing you. :D They are going to read about the plan of salvation and we are going to teach them next saturday when the dad gets back from working in Rancagua for the week. 

We also taught another new investigator that is a new teacher of history. He has maybe 25 years and is super animated and loves learning. We taught him the Restoration and he said he believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet. IT WAS AWESOME!! He is super prepared. 

Anyway. I love you all. Have an amazing week. LOVE LIFE. There is so much to learn and explore and enjoy, just give thanks for everyday that Heavenly Father gives you to live and experience what life has. That is why I love that His biggest promise is the Eternal LIFE!! We exist so we can gave joy. Dont forget that :D 

Love and Animo,

Hermana McCubbins

Killed Miracles

Dear Family,

So this week I learned how awesome Heavenly Father is in giving us miracles, and how quickly Satan tries to kill our faith by throwing a curve ball that looks like it is going to kill the miracle. Out of all the miracles we saw this week, I am going to share one, but ask me about the other ones later because they are awesome too.

So, this week we went on divisions and Hna. Garcia directed the sector for the first time!! (One of the miracles was that they didn`t get lost in the 17 poblaciones that we have ;D). And as she was working with Hna. Bingham, they found one of our future investigators that works alot so we haven`t seen him since Hna. Garcia´s first week here. They started talking with him and he had actually been trying not to cry. He has passed through a LOT of hard things in his life, one being that his wife divorced him and took EVERYTHING, including his two kids who he cant see because of some other complications. They shared with him the fact that Christ can help him and took out another time to go see him. But... what cute little Hna. Garcia forgot was that we don`t have his address!!!!! And that day when I came back and we had the cita with him, HE WASN`T ANSWERING HIS PHONE!! Poor Hna. Garcia felt so bad!! But I had the feeling that if we just started contacting and searching, we would find him (that was all the Spirit because I was ready to just leave...). So we went to where we first saw him and started looking. After about a half hour, we were done. I, trying to be a supportive and animated trainer, just turned to Hna. Garcia and said that God can turn messes into miracles. Then I looked behind us, and guess what... HE WAS THERE!!! God had placed in the right place at the exact right time!! It was AMAZING!! We found out where he lives, which was that street, and went to see him yesterday. He is reading the book of mormon and progressing and God works miracles, I know it. 

Believe in miracles, they are real!! I love you guys! Look for a miracle this week!

Hermana McCubbins

Tough Times

Dear Family, 

This week was HAAAARD. You know when you have those weeks where you feel like you are working hard, but things just keep getting worse and worse until you explode?? Well, sometimes that happens in the mission. And it is super hard because in the mission we strive to be exactly obedient, stay focuse 100%, and seek to serve the best we can, and it NEVER feels like it is enough. Hna. Garcia and I had one of those weeks. Every single day our appointments fell and now our 4 investigators that have baptismal dates have DISAPPEARED!!!! It is incredible how much opposition we have. However, this week is a new week! All we gotta do is work hard and the miracles will come. Hermana Garcia is SO amazing. She is a better missionary than I am :) And speaks Spanish a LOT better too. The Spirit is SO strong when I hear her speak. It is SO awesome. I LOVE being her companion. And she has been helping me stay sane this whole week. :) Who is training who?? I have no idea honestly.

This week we did see two little miracles. We found 3 less actives that are SUPER receptive. They aren´t willing to come back to church just yet, but at least they are willing to let us come and teach them! It is so sad because 2 of them who are 20 year old boys, who should be on the mission helping families become eternal!! But because of some things that happened in the branch, they both fell inactive. But we are going to help them!! Homework for the week: If you find a son of God falling a little inactive, or not too excited about the gospel, BE HIS FRIEND!! We need men of God who can build up the kingdom of God! There is a hymn that talks about that, but I can´t remember what it is called in English. Satan does not want worthy priestholders passing the sacrament, nor serving missions, nor blessing their wives and daughters in the home. Strength a future dad, PLEASE!! :) 

I love you guys SO much! Keep the faith strong! 

Hermana McCubbins

How to Begin the End

Dear Family,

This week was great! We have been working super hard and have TONS of appointments EVERY SINGLE DAY!! I don`t know how, but I think it has something to do with the fact that my companion just works miracles with her faith :) We have a LOT of future investigators that we feel really good about and everyone seems to want to talk to us! I think it is super cool and am blown away everyday when someone wants to let us come to their house, and we have to put the appointment like 3 days after because we are so booked! It is awesome. Also, our three progressing investigators Bernarda, Jorge and Ignacio are doing SO good! They came to church for the third time this week and the branch is taking notice! They actually had a meeting after church and the branch president talked about how we need to take care of them and make sure they have lots of friends! It was so awesome because lately I have been feeling like the branch was a little bit asleep... But I feel like they are slowly waking up and it makes me excited! We are trying to make sure we have a member in every lesson with this family, because member lessons are MIRACLES! And people become a lot more converted when we work closely with the members. Invitation for the week, if you see the missionaries, make them take you to one of their lessons with investigators! Sometimes they just don`t know which of the members have time or are willing to go with them to investigator`s houses, so reach out to them! 

Anyway, I hope you all have an AMAZING WEEK. Enjoy every moment you have to live. And remember only the good moments, the happy ones. Learn from the hard ones, and move on. ;D Les quiero mucho!

Hermana McCubbins

P.S. My favorite watch, that I have been using all my mission is breaking! But I fixed it with staples ;D I will send pics next week!

This is Jessica's response to how blonde her hair is and "Tell us about your new companion/greenie."

MY HAIR IS SUPER BLONDE!! I usually end up putting it in a ponytail, because also, it is VERY LONG!! We will have to cut it when I get back though, because I don`t trust Chilean barbers. :) It is calling a lot of attention and my companion told me would should dye it. :) She is 20, about normal age for a new missionary. It is interesting training, because I always have to be checking both me and her, to make sure we are being obedient, and focused on the work. She is super awesome, really converted and willing to do anything I tell her, like contact weird people in the street :)

One of our members came with us to visit three future investigators, and ALL of our citas fell!!
It was sad, but we had fun taking pictures of her as a missionary. Hermana Nilsa :)

This is the famous Piedra de Mono. I didn`t know it was famous until we found it and an elder told us...
Cool! It looks like a monkey!!

No word on if this particular arachnid is still with us. Needless to say, he is very large.

Is it a stick or a bug? The jury is still out.

Patience, More than just Waiting

Dear Family,

Wow this week was amazing!! First, we had changes and now Hna. Garcia is my companion! She is from Colombia and has an accent like screams, Spanish is the language of love. ;D That is the best I can describe it :) She is a super hard worker and reminds me a lot of Hna. Ribeiro because she loves all the people and is super sweet. The only difficulty we had was that she doesn`t really know how to ride a bike!! ;D It was so awesome because we spent about a half hour practicing and she was SO scared! But after a lot of practice, and a lot of scared dogs, so is riding straight and clear and smooth!! She is a little timid, but we are working hard to kick that out of her, to be bold and courageous in inviting others to come unto Christ! She is an amazing missionary!

This week our three investigators with baptismal dates came to church! Their names are Bernarda, Jorge and Ignacio. It is so amazing because without us telling her to, Hna. Bernarda has started creating a habit of reading the Book of Mormon every morning and praying and she takes notes as she reads because she has a hard time understanding (a car hit her a couple of years ago and after a lot of time recuperating, she has never been the same). Ignacio always reads the chapter the day we give it to him and Jorge read the BoM on the way to work. They are amazing! They are going to get baptized the 13th of Feb.! We are praying for a miracle that they feel ready, because they still aren`t sure.

Anyway, love you guys lots. Have an amazing week. Love EVERYONE you come into contact with. God put them in your path for a reason. 

Love,

Hermana McCubbins

This is my new companion from Colombia! She is awesome and I LOVE her accent. We are working super hard and having lots of fun too.

This is what happens when we don`t shave in the mission.

Lots of love from Hna. Ribeiro.

My companion said I looked Chilena with this hat... So we took a picture.

Faithful to the End

Dear Family,

So this week was eventful. It was Hna. Ribeiro´s last week of being a missionary, so we worked SUPER hard, taking advantage of every single minute. We found SO many good future investigators and even invited 3 of them to be baptized! They said they would pray about it and we are going to go see them this week. Also we had a baptism!! It was such a tender mercy because Hno. José, the first thing he said when we contacted him was when he could be baptized! He had been waiting for this chance for over a year and finally he could take this important step and follow Christ. It was amazing because the elder who baptized him, said that when he left the water, Hno. José just stood there for a couple of seconds and said that he felt clean, and pure and he felt so so good! Then, when he was confirmed, he wanted to go shake hands with the whole congregation! It was funny and super tender. The branch president had to finally ask him to sit down and Hna. José just had a huge smile on his face. He is so converted and the other day almost cried when he couldn't read his scriptures. He has some problems with his eyes, but that is understandable because he is 86 years old! It is a miracle he can even walk on his own! We teach him with big pieces of paper and marker. It is amazing to see that even though we don't say anything in the lesson, we can still feel the Spirit! He LOVED the scripture we shared one time, found in DyC that is when Christ asks the Father to forgive us when we sin. I can't remember the reference, but he keeps the piece of paper we wrote on and loves to read it from time to time, because he loves to remember that Christ loves us so much that He is ALWAYS willing to forgive us, if we just repent and stop doing the bad things we do. 

I think that is my favorite part of the gospel too. Hna. Ribeiro and I had a goal to testify more of Christ this week because we noticed that it invites the Spirit super quick. People RECOGNIZE when they aren't doing something good, and deep down they WANT that promise of forgiveness and acceptance after making an error or mistake. Jesus Christ gives us that promise and also the chance to start over everyday if we want!! Really it doesn't matter how many times we fall down, or how hard our fall is, or if we fall into super thick, dirty stinky mud that takes forever to get rid of. NONE of that matters. All that matters is that we get up again. All that matters is that we seek Jesus Christ out and plead for Him to take the mud stains out and make our clothes white again. All that matters is that we keep trying. :) That is probably the biggest thing I have learned here in the mission, and even more than that, I have learned that I need to allow others to also fall down, without judging them. Our only job is to help them back up again, not kick them while they are down. Before, I was super judgmental. And I can see now that part of the process of true repentance, is allowing others to repent as well, and not just that, but to be like Christ, when He not only defended the adulteress, but also consoled her and invited her to start over. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US IS A SINNER. :) Just remember that and this week, reach out to someone that has fallen and offer to help them start clean again. Love is always the answer. :)

Love you guys tons. Have an amazing week!

Hna. McCubbins

This is Hno. José, and this is the crazy fruit he gave us to eat one day!! It looked SO gross! Like brains in a zombie movie! I was trying to figure out how to open it, and Hna. Riberio just slit it open in my hands and I almost threw up! But then I tried it.... IT IS THE MOST DELICIOUS THING I HAVE EVER EATEN!! And that is all :)

This is our crazy district! Our district leader is also ending his mission.

Más Milagros!! (Many Miracles!!)

Dear Family,

This week was super amazing!
Here is part of my letter to president,

To President,
This week was super amazing!! We worked SO hard and saw a lot of miracles. One, we passed by a future investigator named Carolina, who turns out to be part of a complete catholic family. But she wanted us to pass by her abuela who started to talk about her depression and that she recently lost her husband, but that she has a lot of faith in God. I thought at the beginning that she was going to be a typical little catholic lady who really doesn´t want to change, just likes that we visit her, but then when we offered to sing her a song, we sang Conmigo Quédate Señor, and she started crying. She then seemed more open and we taught her how to pray. Then, she told us she felt we were sent from Heavenly Father because she hadn´t been able to go to her church for her hips and had been praying for someone to come teacher her. We listened and started How to Begin Teaching. Then, we talked about how she would have a desire to be born again, o sea, be baptized in the church of Jesus Christ, and she said she wanted to!! We invited her to prepare for the 20th of Feb. and she accepted! She is going to pray to soften the hearts of her family so they will let her, and we are going to find a member that can take her to church. It was a miracle morning and it ended in all 3 of us crying. The Spirit was SO strong and we were so awestruck.

Also, another miracle was that 3 of our investigators, a family, came to church, and LOVED IT! They are named Bernarda, Jorge and Ignacio. Ignacio especially loved it because one of the jovenes invited him to go to the other classes and they invited him to the youth camp that they are going to have. Before, they told us they were only going to be able to stay for one hour, but they ended up staying all three hours! It was a miracle!

This week Hna. Ribeiro and I are determined to just work as hard as we can. José, one of our investigators, is going to get baptized this Saturday and he is super excited. It is another little miracle because he is understanding a lot more of what we teach now and his testimony is rock solid. He is F3, and we are just going to go over all the baptismal questions to make sure he is SUPER prepared.

Also, this week is the last week of Hna. Ribeiro´s mission. She is going to be back in Brasil next Tuesday!! That is so crazy to think about, especially she basically has profesied that I am going to live in Brasil one day with her. We are going to work super hard just so she can go out with a bang!! I love her so much! Actually this morning I was studying about marriage this morning to help one of our less active who is a little discouraged because she had an unfaithful husband, twice!! We are going to talk about the family with her and me di cuenta de que we need to LOVE our companions!! Right now it is Hna. Ribeiro for me, but for all of you at home, that is your spouse, or your parents and brothers and sisters! Just LOVE them TONS!! Do service for them, make them food, tell them you love them, anything!!

I love you guys SO much. Have a week full of miracles!!

Love,
Hermana McCubbins

We went paintballing!! It was awesome. I have a big bruise on my thigh!!

Hna. Nilsa makes the BEST bread ever. It is called Pan Amasado.

Also, I tamed a crazy dog that was going to bite us!! Love is ALWAYS the answer.

MIRACLE WEEK

Dear Family,

So, this week was amazing, and I wrote to President about what happened so here is a little of what I wrote to him.

Letter to President:

This week was full of work. We weren`t able to work in our sector for a few days because of the trip to the temple, but we had even more energy to work in our sector and we saw two amazing miracles! One is that the little abuelito named Josè accepted a baptismal date and is completing with all of his commitments, trying to read the BoM even though his glasses aren`t very good. He understands the basics, but has a testimony super strong that this is the true church. Also, we were going to have to drop one of our investigators because she wasn`t progressing at all and in fact started sleeping in one of our lessons, but we called her and she said she was trying to read the BoM but wasn`t understanding, so we invited her to take notes as she was reading. The next day when we went to visit her, she had been reading the Restauraciòn folleto and had prayed for about a half hour because something scary happened. She didn`t tell us what, but she felt a lot more peace and now is SUPER interested in listening to us and actually wants to come to church next Sunday with her husband and son!! It was a change super drastic and I know it was the Spirit that changed her heart. No one else could have done that. Now they are progressing once again and we have a TON of animo to work super hard.

To explain a little, Hna. Ribeiro had to go to the temple because she is ending her mission and I went to a different sector to work for 3 days. It was fun and amazing because we saw miracles, but it was also hard because I just wanted to be in my sector working and helping our investigators. What was super fun was that I got to see some of the converts that I helped with Hna. Rajapakse in Talca La Florida that were less active, and right before I left the inactive hermano promised me he would return to church. Well, I got to verify his promise and found out that he is President of the Young Men and they are going to get sealed in May!!! It was a tender mercy that I got see because that sector was super hard and I was happy to see that all of our work paid off a tiny bit. Or maybe a lot of bit ;D

In that sector over in Talca, I worked with two super new missionaries, and it was such an eye opener. It brought back memories of when I was just starting the mission! One had 6 months in the mission and the other 2 months, in her training. I couldn`t believe the changes I could see in myself and what I used to be like. It is something that can`t really be explained, just experienced. I feel like I have a lot more confidence in Heavenly Father now and I listen to the Spirit a lot more than I did before. It is such a small change, but makes a HUGE difference. My invitation this week is to just do all you can to be obedient to everything God tells us. That truly is the way He molds us and makes the necessary changes so we can become like Him one day. I was reading in the 2000 stripling warriors this morning and it says that because of their EXACT obedience, not one of them died in the war. Yes, they got super hurt, and a lot fainted from loss of blood, but none of them died!! If we are exactly obedient, and have faith in God, we will be wounded by the adversary, but God promises us that he will not have the power to kill us ;D I love you all SO MUCH!! Have an amazing week.

Love, 

Hermana McCubbins

This picture is from the start of her mission. She is eating her first completo. Now she is a seasoned missionary who doesn't send pictures of herself eating food. Oh how far she's come.

Love First

Dear Family,

WOW!! What a week! I don´t have a lot of time. I watched the video you guys sent, so that cut out a lot of the time I had. But I loved the video! Thanks SO much for making it for me!! You guys are SO amazing and made me cry, a LOT. :) Don´t worry, they are happy, i Love you tears.

This week was kind of sad because a lot of investigators, actually all, didn´t come to church. There are 4 that are reading the book of mormon, so we are going to see if they progress this week. We did find a miracle in that an old investigator recently separated from his pareja, so we are going to go visit him and see if he wants to be baptized!!! He comes to church every week!! So we are excited for that ;D

The new year was awesome. We were so tired that we went to bed for an hour, and then woke up to see the fireworks for 5 minutes, hugged each other, and went back to sleep ;D Sounds a little lame, but it made me happy ;D

I just want to invite everyone to put goals this year! I will explain more next week, but I LOVE goals, and they help us SO much. You can even put a goal to share the gospel more ;D 

Love you so much! You guys are in my prayers,

Hna. McCubbins