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

SUCCESSFUL WEEK!!

Dear Family,

I LOVED talking to you guys so much. Thanks for the family prayer, I miss those. I hope you LOVED Christmas, because Hna. Ribeiro and I definitely loved it. There is a true spirit during the Christmas time that softens the heart of the people. This week, we invited 9 people to be baptized!! It was SO awesome. Only 2 accepted dates, but that is okay. Our purpose is to invite, and we did that! It was so cool because when we invited them, we felt the love of the Savior there and knew that it was really Him, not us, that was inviting these people to change their lives and follow Him.

The two baptismal dates we have are named Bernarda and Jorge. They are super nice and like to listen to us. They accepted on the condition that they recieve their answer before the 23rd of January. Today we are going to go teach them about the Restauracion and the authority and power of God and what really was the apostasy. It was so cool because this morning, when we did our practices in comp study, I was testifying of the fact that they can pray to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ and He will answer their prayers. It was SO amazing because when I said ´´en el nombre de Jesucristo´´ I felt the Spirit testify to us the truthfullness of those words, and the true power that come when we use that name in the right way. It surprised me that we could feel the Spirit so strong in just a practice, but I feel like it was God telling us He will be there testifying through us. I LOVE following the Spirit ;D 

So this week I actually have a couple of awesome stories. First, we found a complete family!! Mom, Dad, they are married which is a miracle, and FIVE sons!!! It was SO amazing because when we taught them in the first lesson, the Spirit testified to them that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and now the parents and their two older sons all want to read the book of Mormon. We gave them 5 ;D So each could read. It was cool because Hna. Ribeiro had contacted them before, but now was their time. The bad thing is that they are going to be in Santiago for the rest of January, so we are praying that missionaries knock on their door, and that they read the BoM. As we were filling out their registro for the carpeta, I was writing about their sons, and I suddenly had a feeling ALL FIVE WOULD BE MISSIONARIES one day. I turned to my comp and told her and the Spirit also told her the same thing. I LOVE the Spirit. 

We also taught a new investigator named Alejandra who has the desire to be baptized, but she is living with a man who isn't the most faithful and doesn't want to get married, but she has two daughters and doesn't want them to grow up without a dad. I couldn´t believe the love she has for her daughters!! We testified to her that the power of prayer is real and God would give her the answer she needs. I wanted to tell her to dump the guy, but we followed the Spirit :) 

Now, a couple of funny stories. One morning (the mornings are super hard because hardly anyone wakes up before 12 if they aren´t working) we weren´t finding anyone who wanted to talk to us. I turned to my comp and said, its okay we are going to find un milagro (miracle), and we kept searching. Then, she remembered a future, but had forgotten this woman´s name, but they had given her our phone to call her daughter because she was locked out of the house. When we passed by and I asked the lady her name.... she says, Milagro. D: I just look up to the sky and laugh. I know that God has a sense of humor, while at the same time truly leads us to the people who will listen, because even though she couldn´t receive us then, she told us to come back!

The other funny story is that we were in divisions one day and were contacting at the end of the day to take advantage of every minute we have to serve the Lord. We called at one house and a man came out and started talking to us. I thought he was drunk, but he just talks slow. As we were talking and explaining who we are, he suddenly starts saying he doesn't like churches. Then, he says I don´t believe in Jesus. And at that moment, the wind blew and his door shut behind him!! He didn't have keys and his fence was also locked so he couldn´t leave! It was SO funny because we told him it was a sign he needed to come to church! After a while, my comp realized that he had a side window open, so he could enter and be safe, but it was pretty funny. Be careful what you say. 

Well, anyway, that was my awesome week. I love the mission and the chance to learn every day. I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and that you found someone to serve :) Have an awesome week!

Love, Hna. McCubbins