Chile - Pucòn - Week 21 - I'm going to die here in Chile...

Hola,
   
 On the contrary folks, the last volcanic eruption has effected us quite a bit! More than the last one! Wednesday we saw the news of the Volcàn Calbuco eruption six hours south and thought... oh wow crazy another angry volcano and then didn`t think anything of it after that.  On Thursday we got up and it was dark as usual, but then it was around 10:30am and it was still so dark outside!  We thought we had gotten up way too early or something! Then the Elders called us and told us to look outside at all the ash........What? We walked outside and it looked like it had snowed! There was ash EVERYWHERE! A good inch of it too! It was crazy! We didn`t have light outside that day until almost 1:30pm in the afternoon! The thing about the ash is that it's toxic.....wonderful....so we have been walking around Pucòn for 4 days with doctor masks on.....super cute....but really though, it's bad stuff, my throat hurts pretty bad today and I`m coughing a lot. Even better, today is super windy so it's blowing all the ash around again into the air and it's all brown and ugly. The ash has traveled as far as Uruguay and Buenos Aires! Nuts right? We`ll see how long we suffer here in Pucòn before the air clears up! 
 

    Other than that this week was good! We went and talked to our investigator Magali about how Juan liked church. She said that she was surprised that he even got up and went for one, two it was his birthday that day! He came to church with us on his birthday and she said that the rest of the afternoon he spent reading the restoration pamphlet! Awesome! She also told us that after they left sacrament meeting she told him that after sacrament we have other classes and he said "Why didn`t we stay for them?" Again, super awesome! We are going to have another lesson with him this week and invited him to be baptized! Magali told us he has always wanted to be baptized by immersion! (I don`t remember how to spell that word in English) Perfect! That`s how we do it!  

 

       Also this week has been full of walking and exploring new roads, trying to find new people to teach! We have had some success here and there and we are looking forward to going back and teaching the people we have found! Hopefully we will be able to invite more people to be baptized this week! 

Hermana Segura

We woke up to this...

More ash..

This is what it looked like around 1:30pm in the afternoon...

This is going to be my ride home if we keep breathing this stuff...

We walked around looking like this for a week.

Chile - Pucòn - Week 20 - Back in Pucòn !!

¡Hola, Hola!

   This week was super awesome! The perfect way to start back up again in our sector! The first half of the week was kind of hard. We weren`t finding a ton of people and we walked A LOT. We were struggling a little.

Thursday we had a zone conference with Presidente Obeso and that changed everything! He talked to us about what are role really is as missionaries, that we are not here to plan ward activities are fix our branch, or do everyone's calling in the church. We are here to find, retain, and reactivate. That's it. We get too overwhelmed sometimes with things that aren`t necessarily our responsibility and it affects our work. So true! It was so nice to have things put back in perspective a little bit. He also talked to us about the importance of asking for references, which is something I struggle with. Its not that it is hard, it is just that we forget! He told us that we aren`t finding new people to teach because we haven`t been asking for references....also true.

After the conference, my comp and I realized there was a lot that needed to change. We were doing a good job in our sector, but not a great job or an excellent job. There was a lot we could improve. We went back to our sector and made goals to apply all the things that we had learned, into our daily work. We started asking for references and dedicated a lot more time to trying to find new people. I am happy to say that these little changes completely changed everything! We received so many references this weekend and found so many new people to teach! Everyday we are so excited to go out and find even more people! It's awesome! We are looking forward to making more improvements!

     One of the many miracles that happened this week was with our investigator Magali. Magali was the first person I invited to be baptized here in Chile, so she is super special to me! We have been teaching her for a  long time and she is so ready to be baptized, but she isn`t married and her husband doesn´t want to get married right now. We have been trying to find a time to teach him, but he works a ton. Finally Saturday we had the opportunity to teach him about the Apostasy and the Restoration. He is really bible literate so we were prepared with some serious bible evidence of the apostasy and restoration. The lesson went super well! In the end he committed to pray and read a little bit of the Book of Mormon. We also invited him to come to church with us. He wasn`t too sure about it at first, but right as we were getting ready to leave he said "I'm going to go. I'm going to go to church with Magali tomorrow." The spirit was so strong! And he came to church!! Even better the topic for the speakers was the importance of the Restoration! I was asked to speak so the talk I prepared was basically for Juan! The whole meeting was perfect! We didn´t get to talk to him much afterwards, but I am so excited to hear how he liked it!

     I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary! I can´t believe I have already been out 6 months! Everyday it gets better and better. I can´t wait for the miracles and experiences to come!

¡Chaupo!

Hermana Segura

My zone

This is the face I make when people are speaking Spanish to me and
I have no idea what they are saying....
pretty sure this is the look on my face all the time...

me and my favorite volcano

I'm pretty sure I'm having way too much fun here!

In front of Lago Villarica with some cool lookin boats

More of Lago Villarica and my favorite volcano.....

I tried mate last week....it was gross....

It was raining so hard on Saturday I had to pull out my rain skirt.....super fea.
When we look like this the elders call us "Mormonjas" =) (Mormon Nuns)
Ignacia came with us on a visit so we decked her out in raingear too!
Super divertido!

Chile - Villarica- Week 19 - Aaaaaaaand we are back in Pucòn !!

Hola,

   

Bueno! after three weeks, we are back in Pucòn! Its been a rough transfer, but I`m excited for the opportunity I have to start another fresh transfer here in Pucòn. It's going to take a few days to get things started up again here, but I`m excited to apply all the lessons I learned in Villarica, here! 

Not much to say today, but I`m looking forward to teaching our investigators again this week! Hopefully we can get some new baptism dates!

Hermana Segura

Chile - Villarica- Week 18 - No Blog letter this week.. Still in Villarica

Me and Hermana Marinho  (Brazil).
Church activity for "Viernes Santo"

Me y Hermana Wyatt

Our investigator Magali came to Villarica from Pucón for the activity on Friday.

Me, Hna. Marinho, Han Wyatt, y Hna Torres.

Got the package !! Thanks.

Helping one of our members paint her house.

Chile - Villarica- Week 17 - #GraciasaqueÉlvive

¡Hola!

We are still in Villarica. We have no idea when or if we are going back to Pucón. It´s kind of a  bummer, but I really like it here in Villarica too! There are a lot of great people and there is a lot of potential to find new people to teach! 

This week is the Semana Santa, so it is a perfect time to talk to people about Jesucristo! I love talking to people about the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Even better the church came out with the video Gracias a que Él vive (not sure what its called in English.... Because he lives or somethin like that.) and its super good! We are sharing it with everyone and I hope you guys are too! Post it on facebook and share it with EVERYONE!!! Also check out Youtube 5 of April, the church is taking over the home page! Super cool!!

Take the time to remember Jesus Christ this week and all that He did and still does for us.

".....No está aquí.... HA RESUCITADO...." 

¡Yo se que Él vive!

Hermana Segura

When the volcano has a "hat" it means it will rain.. and it did. - Pucon

Sunrise in Villarica

Sunset in Villarica

Bus Station in Villarica



Welcome sign from the Sisters in Villarica.

Chile - Pucón - Week 16 - Escape to Villarica - Part 2

Hola,

   Bueno, we are in Villarica......again...... Wednesday morning we got up, did our studies, and headed to Villarica so that Hermana Wyatt could do some paperwork for her Visa. On the way we saw that the Volcano was releasing a lot of black smoke again. I said to Hermana Wyatt "5 bucks says we are gonna get a call from someone telling us we have to evacuate to Villarica again." Elder Biggs told us a few days ago that if anything changed with the Volcano, we would be taken out of Pucón faster than you could say "Panguipulli". Sure enough, a few hours later we got a call from our zone leader telling us that the Volcano alert was on Orange and that we needed to pack our bags again.

We would be in Villarica for at least a week, or until the Volcano explodes.....So we´ve been here in Villarica since Wednesday night with  the other Hermanas here  in a different sector than we were in last time. The Volcano is still smoking like crazy every day so we have no idea when we will be able to go back to our sector.....pucha...

    It´s been good though, I´ve had the opportunity to improve my Spanish a ton! We are with Hermana Torres de Argentina, y Hermana Marinho de Brazil, so the only way to communicate with them "obvio es en Español!"  I´ve been Hermana Marinho´s comp for the last few days. She is awesome! She´s been out one more cambio than I have but her Spanish is amazing! I feel like Portugues is kind of like Spanish so maybe that´s why? I dunno but I want to speak Spanish like her! But the poor thing has been sick the whole time we´ve been here. She has problems with low blood pressure and has had to go to the doctor a few times this week for some tests. Because of this she hasn´t been able to go out and work, so I´ve been in the house with her all week while Hermanas Wyatt y Torres are out working. I´ve just been hanging out there while she sleeps. I´ve had the chance to read and study A LOT (and maybe sleep a little myself....). One of the days we just talked for like 4 hours, that was super awesome for my Spanish! She went to the doctor again today to do some more tests so hopefully she will be feeling better soon!

     Other than that, nothing to exciting has happened. We left all of our investigators in Pucón so I have no idea what´s happening with them....I´ve been able to call a few of them and talk with them a little bit, but not much. It´s a little frustrating, but I´m sure we are here in Villarica for a reason...Hopefully we will be able to pick up where we left off when we go back....whenever that is... 

      Pray that the Volcano will just explode and get it over with so we can go back to Pucón!

¡Chaopo!

Hermana Segura

Chile - Pucón - Week 15 - No blog letter this week..

Hna. Segura and comp are back in Pucón safe and sound.  Still a little nervous, but ready to get back to missionary work.  She mentioned that it was exciting working with other missionaries while they were out of Pucón.

We got this picture today as they go out and about during their P-day..




She is doing so well, she already opened up her own "Tienda".