Oldie but Goodie

Dear Family,

Just so you know, your body has a clock inside and knows when you complete a year in the mission. I don´t know how it knows, but everyone says you kind of go through a crisis when you complete a year in the mission, and it is true!! I just got hit with a wall of fatigue and it felt like a bunch of bricks just fell on me! We not only age 10 years spiritually, but 10 years physically also. But its all good. I am fine now ;D 

This week we have been working a lot with our little branch to get them excited about mission work. They are having some difficulties and we have a strong testimony that sharing the gospel is what can help them the most. If you want to keep your testimony, you gotta share it right?? ;D So we have been giving Books of Mormon to all the members and inviting them to share it with someone, and that we would be checking on them to see if they did it. There are actually a lot of members that get excited when we give them a book of mormon and they say, I know exactly who I am going to give it too!! It is so awesome! We are hoping that this will help us to get references because, igual, we have been finding a lot of new people, but it is even more awesome when members find and we teach because then the new investigators have a friend and everything! 

Also this week, the reality that I only have six months left just hit me and I have been thanking god for everyday and every chance I have to be in the mission. I have grown a big testimony in enjoying the time the Lord gives us to live, to go through hard things, to grow, and especially be in a mission. I invite you all to just enjoy your life because it will never be the same again! Things will always be changing and you will never get some things back. You guys are awesome. Go give a book of mormon out this week to someone you can introduce to the missionaries! 

Love ya!

Hna. McCubbins

This is what happens when you have time in the mission. A LOT of time.

We went and got hair massages last Monday. My hair is SUPER soft.

After results.

Sunshine and Butterflies

Dear Family,

This week was a week full of miracles! We ended up finding 5 new investigators and 2 new families to teach and begin working with. The people here are so humble and receptive. They just need a little help keeping their committments. We also found a menos activa that is really receptive, but commitment is a desafío for her also. However, she felt the Spirit when we read 3 Nefi 13 with her and now she needs to put God first more in her life. She is super sweet and I feel like she is going to progress a lot. We are also working really hard to help the branch here. I feel like we aren´t progressing as much as we could be because of basic problems like reading the scriptures personally and praying, then doing that with the family also. So, we have a plan to visit the members in our sector and invite them to share the gospel with the people around them. This helped a lot when we invited our other menos activa to do it and it has helped her have more of a desire to share and be active in the church. Marcela our recent convert didn´t come to church because her WHOLE family came to stay this weekend. It made us worried so we went and visited her. She is ok and felt really bad that she didn´t go to church. In fact she gave us cake to make up for it... However, in the two weeks since we invited her to read the book of mormon in six months, she has read all the way to 2 Nefi 25!! She loves to read and it is a huge testimony to me that this book has divine power to change lives and our nature. Since she didn´t come to church, she wasn´t able to have an interview for the temple, but we are going to try to get her an interview this next week. She has a son in Santiago so it will be super easy for her to find excuses to go to the temple and do ALL her family history work. She is staying strong and told us that this week, when she had a little thought to not read the book of mormon, she was reminded of when we told her that Satan would try to get to her, so she just said a prayer and kept reading and felt a ton better. It is amazing how the armor of God works! It is also super amazing because now her husband is interested as well. He won´t accept us to come teach him yet, but he has a book of mormon and read the beginning and listens to Marcela talk about what she learns. I have faith that the Lord will lead him to listen to us when it is the correct time. He is super nice and repects Marcela a lot for her decision to be baptized and told us that he has seen a huge change in her. They are super in love and have almost 35 years of marriage. It is super cute. 

So hey, something super cool. Last night at about 11.45, we had a little earthquake (temblor is little, terremoto is huge) of about 4.5 and the epicenter was in a little pueblo about 30 minutes away from San Fernando, where I am. It was super cool because we woke up and it lasted for a while, about 15 seconds. It was a little scary because it was building, or getting stronger for a good 7 seconds, then started dropping after that, but Hna. Hellbusch told me that if an earthquake builds for longer than 8 seconds we need to seek shelter, so when I was counting and it wasn´t dropping, I thought the world was going to end!! It was super awesome. If you want to know what an earthquake feels like, just go on a roller coaster and its about the same, but not as extreme. Earthquakes are only scarier than roller coasters because they aren´t planned and cause damage. :) It is also cool because the weather changes whenever there is an earthquake. I don´t know why but lately we have been getting sunburns from the tons of sunshine and there have been a ton of orange butterflies everywhere. But today, there is nothing but rain and clouds!! I think all the butterflies died... :(

So I know that you maybe are a little sick to hear this, but READ THE BOOK OF MORMON EVERYDAY!! And don´t just read it, but study it, absorb it, dive into it, eat it!! (maybe not that last one). Because I am never happier in life than when I read the book of mormon and feel the Spirit testify to me of truth. Life has meaning and makes sense and I get super excited to do what is required of me when I read this amazing book. Make a promise to read it everyday. One of the speakers in general conference talked about ponderizing a scripture every week, and I can testify that he understands the importance of scriptures. Can you imagine how good of an impact it would be if everyone read the scriptures everyday and applied them to their lives?? Our less active Susanna, after we read 3 Nephi 13 with her, made an awesome comment when she said, El creer in Jesucristo es demasiado bueno. Su vida va a ser demasiada buena. It is super funny because she basically saying that it will make too much of a good life to live the gospel. It is just TOO GOOD. And why not want that? :) The challenge for this week? Make your life TOO GOOD and TOO HAPPY by reading and praying and going to church. :) Just fill your life with Jesus and be happy ;) 

I love you all. Have an amazing week!

Hna. McCubbins

Jessica will have been on her mission for one year this Thursday, October 22, 2015. These pictures look back at the starting points of her mission. She has grown and learned so much this year. It's been an amazing journey for her.

This picture was taken when Jessica first got to the mission field.

This is the first picture of Jessica with her missionary name tag on. 

Stay strong and Smile!

Dear Family 

So, sorry for not writing yesterday. We had a holiday here in Chile where none of the stores open, so we had no way to write!! But it is okay now. Our president is super good about making sure we write every week, sí o sí. ;) 

So, the other night we saw a miracle. We were in a part of our sector that is safer than other parts, but at night and for some reason they had cut the lights and it was super dark. It was maybe 8.45 at night and all three of us had a feeling we needed to head home because it wasn´t safe without the lights. We got into a colectivo and headed home. On the way home, we started talking with the driver and he seemed to know a lot about us missionaries, more than normal people. He ended up being a less active that should be going to San Fernando 2, a different branch close by, and he actually had desires to go back to church. He started telling us all about the miracles he had seen when he was active and that he really didn´t have any excuses for not going to church besides laziness. It was a miracle to see someone who recognized that because not many people notice when they make excuses but that their actual reason is because they don´t want to go. As he was talking I had a feeling that we just needed to listen to him and invite him to go back to church so he can continue helping others accept the gospel. I felt it was a miracle because I think he really needed to voice his thoughts and start to want to go back to church. It ended up that we arrived at the house right on time and happy because we followed the spirit´s promptings. I think it is super cool that when we listen to the Spirit and act on the promptings we have, the Lord helps us both change people´s lives AND be exactly obedient to the mission rules. It was cool also because he taught me a principle that kind of hit me in the heart. He said Querer es Poder. This saying means when you actually want to do something, that desire gives you power to do it. The fourth missionary also teaches us that, so it was super cool to hear that there is a saying for that in Spanish. ;)

Also, yesterday, we found a new investigator named Olfelia, and her sister Yanet and Yanet´s son Alvaro José. They are a family from Colombia and have been here in Chile for almost 4 years. They are amazing!! We were talking to Olfelia, just getting to know her and find her need, which requires a lot of help from the Spirit, like all aspects of mission work, and she started crying when Hna. Silberman asked her what is the most important thing in her life. She answered that it was her daughter that is 33, and lives back in Colombia. Olfelia came here to Chile only to get to know a different place and now she is kind of stuck here because of money. She says she sometimes feels alone and that God isn´t with her. I almost started crying too (because I am a sympathetic cryer...) and all we did was listen to her and invite her to read a pamphlet to prepare for our next visit. I felt that the Lord loved her SO much and was sad that she felt alone. Haha, and now I am almost crying just thinking about her. I don´t know if it is her time yet to accept the gospel, but I do know that the Lord needed us to be there to comfort her and get to know her family and bear testimoy of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. 

I just want to invite you all to listen to and act on the promptings of the Spirit. When I think about this principle, I think about our prophet Thomas S. Monson who, it has been said, always listens and acts. I have a ton of love for the prophet and I cried when we recieved the news that he has Parkinson´s (I think that is what it is?). I know he is the mouth piece for the Lord and hearing his words makes me want to be a better disciple of Christ every day. I hope you all can grow in your love for him and recognize that it is a miracle that we have a living prophet in these latter days. Millions of people died during the Great Apostasy, without ever having the priviledge of hearing the words of a living prophet, or living the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Listen to his words, and act on the promptings the Spirit gives you. I know that doing this will not only bless the lives of the people that are around you, but you will grow in your faith to have more hope in life and will start to love EVERYONE that may be around you. You guys are awesome. Stay strong and smile!! ;)

Love, Hermana McCubbins

P.S. Did I see Sean in General Conference singing in the choir of primary kids?? Or am I crazy??

Jessica's cousin Sean was in the children's choir for General Conference on Saturday Afternoon.
He's in the bottom right-hand corner of this picture in the blue tie.

I LOVED General Conference!

Dear Family, 

Answers to the questions;

So I have two companions actually... One is Hna. Darrington who is basically the boss. We got here together in the CCM and she is from southern utah. I might move down there to live with her after. We are going to complete one year together which is crazy because we completed 6 months together and will also be together at 18 months.... We have it all planned out ;D Our other companion is Hna. Silberman from Brazil!!! ANOTHER BRAZILIAN!! I also might go visit Brazil after the mission because I know 3 brazilians now ;) She is basically a gringa in a brazilian body. She speaks english and understands it, so we usually are speaking english in the house, which is hard for me because I think I forgot English.... We mix english and spanish a lot and sometimes get sentences like, I need to eat desayuno ahora! Or, I´m gonna terminate my mission soon. It is awesome! We also have come up with an english version of a portugese song that talks about pesky flies because we have flies in the house now that it is spring. 

Did you guys LOVE conference?? I LOVED it. I almost cried because I didn´t want it to end... I love to hear the prophet speak and recieved a ton of answers to my prayers. I now know that I need to get better at listening to and acting upon the impressions of the spirit and become a true disciple of Christ. I invite you all to listen to ALL the general conference talks if you didn´t this weekend. EVERY talk had an important message and the Spirit was SO strong you could have cut it with a knife. 

Invitation: Bring someone who is not of the church to church with you this next weekend. I expect awesome experiences next Monday.

Love you all!!

Hna. McCubbins

Emmi, Jenna, and Katelyn at Jenna's missionary farewell. All three of these girls were also at Jessica's farewell.

Scotty McCubbins, Denise McCubbins, and Hanna Hellbush (Jessica's Trainer) The bag has presents that Hanna brought from Jessica. We met after General Conference.

Love and Hard Work and Patience

Hey, 

I just wanted to say that I love you guys. :) This week one of the coolest things happened since I entered into the mission and it is all because of love and hard work and patience. (And probably other Christlike attributes, but I like those 3). Our investigator Marcela de Jesus got baptized!! It was so amazing and she has grown SO much. Not going to lie when I say that this week was probably the hardest of my mission because we were not only fighting to program everything and get it all done, but there were unseen forces at work too. There was one point where Marcela did not want to get baptized and Satan almost won. However, it was the Lord´s will that she be baptized, and Marcela had the faith sufficient to fight through it all and enter into the Church of Jesus Christ. 

It was almost like a movie to me, watching her struggle, trying to help her and praying a TON. It was super cool. Her son Sebastian baptized her, and he was baptized about a year ago. It was SO cute because he was amazingly happy to baptize her and he has been a ginormous help in answering her questions when we weren´t there. It was super cool too because her whole family came!! We invited her to invite as many people as she could to her baptism and her 2 sons who aren´t members came, along with her husband, also not a member, and a friend that lives close, also not a member!! Marcela asked me to talk and I focused on how Marcela gained a testimony about the gospel throught the Book of Mormon and how her meta now is the temple. She desperately wants to get there, especially to help all her ancestors get baptized too. I love her!! I really feel like her testimony is stronger than the testimony of a lot of members I have known in my life. She reads the scriptures everyday and applies them to her life right away. It is SO cool and she has taught me a lot, especially about enjoying the blessings of the gospel in her life. I can´t imagine how much the Lord has changed her, and it is all because of her love for Him, her hard work and our patience. We simply taught her what she needed to know, and she applied it to her life with the Lord´s help. 

It is so cool to see the difference He has made in her life, and it reminds me of when Tanner got baptized too. Tanner change a TON and you could just see the light in his eyes and I just stand in awe that the Lord gave me TWO chances to witness the gospel work in the lives of people that I care about a TON. Also, I also sang for Marcela with Hna. Darrington (my new companion) and we sang If You Could Hie to Kolob, but with the Spanish lyrics, a capella. It was AWESOME, because the Spirit was so strong and I almost cried. Actually I did cry, but only a little tear. I just couldn´t stop smiling and wanting to hug everyone that was there!! 

It was also super crazy because we started the service at 5 pm and at about 5;05, President Warne and Hermana Warne walked in and my heart just about stopped. Afterward they told us that they usually choose a random baptism to go to every week and it just happened to be Marcela´s this week. It made me super nervous, but at the same time super grateful to see them and to know that President is concerned with the welfare of the converts here and our welfare. It was definitely and amazing experience. 

After the baptism, Marcela didn´t say anything. She just smiled and quietly got dressed and hugged me super tight. It is so cute because she is a tiny lady and I can just engulf her in my monkey arms and we just stayed like that for about 2 minutes in the bathroom. And I will never forget when she bore her testimony afterward. She just talked about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and how much they have helped her to change and to make the decision to join the true church. She also talked about the missionaries, us, as if we were angels sent from heaven. (And mom, she told me to thank you and Dad for letting me come here so that we could teach her, and that you two are angels also.) She is so sweet and so amazing and I don´t know if anything could make me happier than to help her to the temple. 

So, now that you have read that super long email, I want you to ask yourself what you can do with what you have learned with this experience. The Lord changes people´s lives, especially with those that are humble and need the most changing. Go and find that one friend who you think would never accept the gospel, and share it with them!! You never know, you might see them change and get baptized, and then go on a mission ;D 

I love you all, have an amazing week!!

Hermana McCubbins

Hermana Darrington, Hermana McCubbins and Hermana Silberman with
Marcela de Jesus and her son Sebastian at Marcela's baptism

 We found bunnies!!!!

¿Birthday?

Dear Family,

So.... I don´t know what you all are talking about... I don´t remember my birthday being this week.. ;) Just kidding. Hey thanks for everyone who wished me a happy birthday! Completing 20 years in the mission field is awesome and reading all your emails and life experiences makes me smile tons! I LOVED Mom´s card with you guys making the cake. I LOVED it!! I laughed so hard. It is probably the best present I could recieve. Sorry I won´t be able to reply to you all this week. My fingers are blazing at 120 mph, there is fire on the keyboard and I still won´t be able to reply to everyone! Sorry, but I love you all!! 

So this week was amazing. We celebrated 18 de Septiembre which I believe is when Chile won its independence from Spain... but I didn´t ask anyone for the history, I just ate empenadas y asado ;D We had an AMAZING activity in our rama. It was super simple and we just played a ton of games like 3 leg race and musical chairs and also flied kites (they are kite fanatics here). There were a TON of kids and I accidentally hurt 2 of them.... One got a bloody nose when I was running backward with Hna. Araujo, and the other fell to the ground when we were playing dodgeball and I threw the ball and hit him in the stomach, but he was a little overdramatic because then he just got back up and laughed again. However, I have now put a goal to not kill any children... It is becoming a joke now in the rama that I kill little kids, but suprisingly, the little kids don´t have fear for me, they in fact want to play with me now more than ever... I don´t know if they understand that we should run away from dangerous things instead of play with them.... ;) But anyway, it was super fun and it really has helped the rama come closer together. We now have plans to do noches de rama (instead of noches de hogar) every week and keep it super simple because it is helping our unity a ton. 

Oh, did I mention Marcela de Jesus is getting baptized this week??? She is amazing!! I will send pictures next Monday. Sorry I can´t write more, gotta go! 

Love love love, 

Hna. McCubbins

Birthday cake from an hermano de Guadalupe. He isn´t in our rama, but he´s so nice that he made me a GINORMOUS cake. We have now eaten 3 fourths of it and are getting fat ;D

Day In The Life of a Chilean Missionary

A day in my life is awesome!

We wake up at 7 am to the sound of the phone tone and I usually bolt right out of bed (if I don´t do that, I don´t wake up, cuz I am old) and just sit there until my eyes focus in the dark. I make my bed and then say my prayers. I usually only give thanks to Heavenly Father in the morning because it helps me to start the day off positively. Then I walk downstairs (our house has 3 floors) and put on socks and grab my water bottle, then walk down stairs again, put on my tennis shoes and start exercising. Lately I have been doing strength and cardio together so that I am never still during the short time we have to exercise. I have noticed that the harder I exercise, the happier I am during the day. Then I end stretching and put on the boiler for Hna. Aizama who LOVES to drink Mate and for my companion Hna. Araujo and I who both like to eat oatmeal with dry milk and canela (I can´t remember what that is in english). I make my oatmeal and usually around this time, Hna. Aizama comes down and I yell at her Buenos Dias to make sure she is awake. She makes a funny comment that I don´t usually understand because she doesn´t speak clearly in the morning. Its like a hmmmmmmmhmmm sound. And then she smiles. I then usually like to eat 1 fruit and 1 vegetable because we usually only eat breakfast and lunch, and I never know if the family that gives us lunch will give us healthy food (I like to think that Mom and Grandpa rubbed their healthy germs on me). Lately I have been eating a green apple and carrrot with my oatmeal. The other hermanas usually just laugh at how healthy I am. I also like to drink at least 1 bottle of water in the morning so I can go to the bathroom before having to leave into the street where bathrooms don´t exist. While I am eating breakfast, Hna. Araujo showers and then when she´s done, I go shower (I will leave out the details here), and get dressed and all pretty (that is a joke because we have like 5 minutes to get pretty and just hope that the Spirit makes our eyes shiny and that that passes as pretty). Then by that time it is 8.30 and we start Personal Studies. I LOVE Personal Studies and wish they were longer. I look at my planner at this time to see who we are going to teach and what I put down to study for them. I look up scriptures we can use and really seek for a spiritual experience. I like to write down cool phrases or scriptures and thoughts in my notebook and by the end of studies, my desk is a mess and spilling out onto Hna. Araujo´s desk. Then we start Companionship study by singing a hymn with Hna. Aizama and Hna. Bingham, saying a prayer and reading 3 pages from the Mission Manual. Then we go into our room again and share what we learned from personal studies, then call people to confirm citas, then plan for the lessons we are going to teach. Then if there is time, we do practices, watch a video from the District, or read from Preach My Gospel. After that we have language study for a half hour. I have been talking with a pencil in my mouth to better my accent. People can still tell I´m Gringa (besides my blonde hair) and I hate it! I am trying to sound like a Chilean ;D

Then at 11 we leave the house!!!! Usually in the mornings we contact, or do service because not a lot of people like us to pass by in the mornings. But there are a lot of people that are doing housework in the morning, so we just go talk to them. The other day we went and did service for an Hna. and I climbed a lemon tree for her. It was pretty fun and super funny because the tree liked to grab my hair. Then we have lunch at 1.30 to 3.30. We usually go to eat at a member´s house.

Sorry! I have to finish my day next week! Almost out of time. I love you guys a ton! Remember to be specific to the Lord when confessing to Him and repenting. Then He can specifically help you ;)

Hna. McCubbins

 Go Josh!!! I'm praying for Josh to recover.

 This was my attempt at making cookies. Number 1 and Number 2. We ate the burned ones too ;)

 Hna. Araujo completed 1 year!!! She´s so old ;)

 Hna. Bingham has an awesome wall of spiritual thoughts. I might copy her in the near future.

 Recipe for Lemon Pie

Hermana Araujo's desk after studies

What my desk looks like after studies. I get so excited during studies that my things overflow.

Hermana McCubbins and Hermana Araujo