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.