11/24

Hna Mandy

Hola Familia!

Ok small stuff first, big stuff last. First off I killed my first cockroach and it was disgusting but I survived. I had my first temblor, like a month ago but forgot to write about it, and there were a bunch this week. They're cool, not as dramatic as I was expecting, just like a train passing by or something. Oh yeah temblor is earthquake. Next my companion is an absolute genius because usually we come home from a busy day and eat cereal or something because we're hungry but are too tired to make anything but Hna. Hughes introduced me to sliced tomato and cucumber with lemon pepper and I swear it is imported from heaven!! We eat it like every night now. The other day we saw the cutest thing, two little boys dressed up like Spiderman and Hulk playing soccer. Spiderman was winning. It made me think of Dawson. We went to Centro last week and shopped around this cool little street market that you wouldn't find anywhere in Utah and I found some cool stuff too for all of you!! So in the CCM there was this elder who always joked about how we were going to go eat chili in chilly Chile and last night we did! A member made us chili dogs because he wanted to cook something gringo for us and it was surprisingly really good. We had an amazing lesson with our fecha Nancy where we watched the Joseph Smith movie with her because she's not sure if she believes in JS but afterwards she said she believes it's true! It was a really cool really spiritual lesson and I was so excited that I fell again walking home afterwards. It was funny though because I fell onto my knees so it looked like I was saying a spontaneous prayer and I said Amen and stood up but my compa didn't buy it. Also we were teaching an investigator and talking about Christmas and I started to say the greatest gift of Christmas.. and I was going to say talking to our family but she jumped in and was like The birth of Jesus Christ right! and I was like yeah.... that too. My compa nearly died of laughter. It's so cool to see all of the mini blessings that we have during our days even if it's something as small as pretty clouds in the sky, seriously yesterday the clouds looked so heavenly we were wondering if the Second Coming was happening in that moment. We had stake conference and interviews this week, my first, and it was good to talk to our Pres. and have him answer some of the things that have been weighing on my mind. I've only been here for like 11 weeks but he says I'm a different person than when I arrived. I wasn't expecting that but it was really good to here, like I'm actually making progress etc. We also now have a fecha with this adorable girl Mayra whose parents didn't want her to get baptized so has just been waiting to turn 18 and now she's getting baptized cuz her birthday was last week!

Ok now for the big thing. My companion Hna. Hughes went home before for problems with her heart, was in her home for nine months and against all odds came back four months ago to the mission even though her doctor and everyone said she couldn't. She had a special mission and a purpose to accomplish here and it looks like she accomplished it because now she's going back to the states again for her heart. She started having problems with her heart again and it's been getting worse and worse and so now she's going home. She leaves today to go to the Temple in Santiago but isn't going to return so I'm going to be in a trio with the other Hermanas in my house. I'm not going to lie it's going to be really hard, it's already been really hard. I only had six weeks to get to know her but like Hna. Hobbs it was enough for me to come to love her and now it doesn't seem fair that our time to work together is cut short because of something outside of her control. We're not sure if she's going to get reassigned to a mission in the states or go home but either way she's leaving. She doesn't think so but I know she's made a huge impact here and she has accomplished so much. We had the elders give her a blessing and it was so cool because the elder who gave it is kind of new and awkward but the blessing he gave was really powerful and he said that the Lord is pleased with what she has done here in Chile and in Talca so that makes the situation a little better. It's difficult but this week I learned to say Para que instead of Por Qué. For what instead of Why. every trial has a purpose and I'm going to look for the para que in this trial instead of dwell on why it is happening. Voy a ver muchos milagros en el futuro. This is another bump in the adventure but I'm going to learn and grow and by the end I'll be able to look back and see why things had to happen a certain way and how it helped me achieve what I needed to achieve. I love you all so much and I'm praying for you all!! Love you!!

Hermana Boully

 

The hill we climbed is called Hill of the Virgen because there's a huge statue of the Virgin Mary and a church at the top

 

 

 

 

 

My Comp and I where we played soccer.

Hna Nicia

Hola!!

How fast some the weeks go by I cant believe that I have been in this area for almost a month! This week has been pretty busy we had divisions a meetting with all the hermanas in zone its been lots of fun but lots of buses some days Im happy i dont have to deal with car problems but other days I really miss cars when we have to get on the packed busses me and my comp decided we want a tuc tuc its a little motor car thing somedays we are really tempted to steal one! 

I dont know why but in this area the bugs love my blood the other pday we went on a hike has a district to look at a rock it was kinda cool but also really like really elders! but it was cool we were all taking pictures on this rock next to a river but didnt know that there was a aunt hill were we it was crazy we were all jumping around because they bite!! we where like ya ya one more fotos but noooo more ants!

 I know in the mission there is the ups and downs and even when we plan things out things dont work out but I also know that Heavenly Father is there helping us this Saturday we had planned a activity with the ward to hand out book of mormons and contact, and also planned to do divisions because saturdays we like to remind our Recent converts to come to church but we also have to teach investigatdors and find new ones! We were able to teach lessons in the morning but when we went to the activity only our ward mission leader showed up to the activity we were pretty bummed and also the members that were going to go out with us canceled last minute we where like really? But we made the best of it and our day and went out looking for the rc and our investadors it was a little of a mircal were where able to visit alot of our RC and teach there families so we have new invest. and also able to place a fecha it was really cool the day started out good and we had high hopes but then down it went but up it went again! I know that Heavenly Father is with us helping us its soooooo important to pray on our knees for help every day in 2 nefi chap 32 the last verse talks about dont do anything without praying and if we do he will bless us and help us! I know there are days where things dont work out and we dont have sucess but I also know our heavenly father knows best!

I love you all the CHURCH IS TRUE!

Hna Boully

 

 

District pday!! to see a rock and get bitten by ants!!

 

 

 

 

 

11/17

Hna Nicia

Hola Family!

Its been fun hearing about mandys milagros Its been fun seeing some of my own here in Gautemala. I love seeing the gosspel change people and see them be so happy to learn more we are working with this one mom and little girl that we meet on the first day we were here its soo cool seeing her change and talk about how great she feels she is always talking about the little mircals in her life they may be little but little by little. This lady and her family live a good 20 mins in bus from the church there are alot of members in this one area we are trying to get the bishop to help us get a bus becuase sometime these members have to walk because the buses are full or cant pay for them. We have been working alot with the recent converts this week we almost know all of them there is alot of little kids that were baptised but their families are not we are trying to work with them to reacitvate families the cool part was there were two families that did not  accept visits the last missionaries but they accepted us so we hope to help them!

Some days are better then others with my spanish but I realised that Im loosing my english also the other day we were teaching and they asked me to give a pray in engish and I couldnt I started in english but mixed in spanish! Me and my comp are also reading every other day in engish and some days we both dont know how to say some words its funny! At the moment i dont mind loosing english i need spanish! 

I know that its sooo important to have a tesitmony of the bom and to be truely converted this is alot of problems with people who have been baptised and stop coming to church. There is one family that is all Recent converts but they have amazing testimonies about the the bom and the gossple and they are all about sharing it with others and thats what we got to do share with everyone! I love you all hope you all have a good week!

con amor 

Hna Boully!

 

Hna Mandy

 

Hola familia!

Wow this week flew and next week is going to fly by too because we get to have another mission reunion with another seventy on friday! I can't believe this change is almost over! Where does the time go? So we had a special fast this week to help us find people who are prepared for our message and we promised Heavenly Father that we would get at least 70 contacts if he would help us find them. We hear a lot of "I worship in my own way in my own house" from people here because there are soo many churches so it's difficult to help people believe that ours is the true one but this week we contacted a woman and she said that but still let us come back because she was curious and now we both think she has been prepared to recieve this gospel because she was talking to us and already believes pretty much everything we believe in and likes what we taught her! I'm so excited to keep teaching her!! So seeing as Hna. Mandi Hobbs ratted on me and let the cat out of the bag that I fall a lot I might as well report that I did indeed fall....again. It's not my fault though I swear!! We were walking down the sidewalk and I kind of stumbled a little bit and there was a lot of people in front of us so when my companion started laughing they turned around and she said "My companion almost fell" in Spanish and then right after that we had to hurry across the street and I totally biffed it. There wasn't light and the streets here are really uneven so I totally did a penguin dive kind of a fall and my companion nearly peed her pants laughing so hard but there were a bunch of cars coming so she was trying to help me but couldn't because she was laughing so hard so I jumped up and we ran to the curb and that's when I looked down and was like "Where are my shoes?" They had flown off my feet when I fell and all we could do was watch as cars drove by and my shoes were still in the street. It was great! I have become a master at falling without getting hurt though so there's that. Here there's a phrase they use when you fall it's "Compre terrena" which means to buy land but it's basically like "eating dirt" so all the members here joke that I'm the duena (landlord) of Talca because I've bought so much land. Surprisingly though that's not the most interesting thing that happened this week. There's a rule in our mission that we're not allowed to pet the dogs because they either have fleas or they bite and the Hermana from Guatemala that I live with didn't obey this rule and got bit in the butt by a dog hard enough that it broke skin and she had to go to the hospital and get a rabies shot and now has this huge bruise on her bum it's pretty funny (only because she laughs about it too) :P We had another baptism this week (the other sisters not us) and once again it was cool to watch her get baptised but I really can't wait til someone I've taught takes that step. The other day we saw the cutest thing, there were three little boys playing with a soccer ball that had a hole in it so every two minutes or so they had to stop and blow it up but they were still having a blast. Then another funny thing is that here they like to sweep their dirt. The people here don't like it when the dirt in front of their houses is unruly or messy so they'll sweep patterns into it I love it and think it's so dang funny!! So there's a type of spider here that has venom strong enough to kill a grown man called Rincon which means corner because it likes to hide in the corner and we have spray that we use to help kill it but the one crappy thing is that there's another spider that is the only thing that eats the Rincon so we're not supposed to kill it but let it be. I CAN'T SEE A HUGE SPIDER IN MY HOUSE AND MAKE THE CONSCIOUS CHOICE TO LEAVE IT BE!!! It's unnatural. So that's my busy crazy hectic week, feel free to comment if you like. The time passes so slowly but our days are so busy I can't believe it's P-day again and next week is going to feel the same. Love you all soo much! The church is true the book is blue and Moroni is always on the ball!!

HErmana Mandy Boully

 

11/10

Hna Nicia

Hola, 

Its been a fast week Im happy to report that me and my comp know more of our area and almost all of our recent converts but we still have alot to do and know and we still dont like the derections here. There is the derections with numbers then there is the derections of Guatemala that is the second street on your left next to the cathlic church and the tenda the house with the green door thats it! Oh the mission!

We have been working alot with families and its been amazing how many that we have found this week and been working with. I know that Heavenly Father has prepared people for us to teach and sometimes he helps us even when we arent looking for those people the other day we were walking to a new part of our area with the help of a hna and walked past these girls and they asked where is your church I want to attend it. It was a moment of really? But its good the other day we started teaching them and thier parents and they have recieved us and really want to learn. 

There is a new rule in our mission that we cant baptise kids under 14 years its good because we have alot of kids who have been baptised but stop going to church for many reasons but they need thier parents to help them go to church. Its a bit hard at times because we have this one little kid who really wants to be baptised he has a uncle that is a strong member and he always goes to church with him but we cant baptise him yet we have to work with his mom and close family. Its good we are trying to reach out to more families helps us have more sucess. This sunday we had lots of milagros we had 5 families in church soo we had lots of investgadores and also were able to teach the family of this little boy it was really cool seeing all these families come to church because i know that the church strengthens families and this is what this church is about living with our families forever!

I also see people that have amazing testimonies but cant come to church because their circumstances there is a part of our are that is a good 10 ride in bus to the church but these members have big families for example one family of 6 its about 3 qets every person abou 30 quets for total and they dont have that but we are trying to work with the bishop to get a bus!!

I know that the church is true and that heavenly father will help us to all and i know that the gossple is important for families!

Love

hna Nicia Boully!

Hna Mandy

Hola familia y amigos!!

So one thing is absolutely sure about sticking two gringas who don't know spanish very well together: you're going to see miracles and boy howdy did we have our fair share this week. First, we had to go to centro for reunion de district and we couldn't find a colectivo to take us there which was frustrating because the other hermanas in our house found one on a different street and drove by us laughing and waving. Then we finally found one and turns out the driver is a member but menos activo and in our sector! He was so happy to see us he invited us over to teach his family and then drove us right to the church and we got there before the other hermanas :P We went over and taught them and his whole family are members and they were even sealed in the temple but now are inactive but apparently the mom has been praying for help to get back to church especially since she has a nine year old son who hasn't been baptized! We really both feel like we were meant to get into that specific colectivo and talk to him in that moment because apparently the dad hasn't been that enthusiastic about church and stuff but he really likes talking to us so we're hoping we'll be able to reactivate that whole family and get their son baptized!! They have a really cool daughter who is twelve and even though her family hasn't been going to church she has her personal progress booklet and has been working on it by herself and really wants to serve a mission it's soo cool. Second miracle, we have this woman who is an eternigator and has been listening to the missionaries for something like 9 months so we decided to apply a firmer hand and we went to her house ready to discontinue our lessons with her but we left her with a fecha to be baptized!!! We had a really powerful lesson and asked some tough questions and she finally admitted that she knows that the gospel is true and wants to progress. It's the first time someone I've taught accepted an invitation so I was pretty excited. Her desafio was that she wanted church and the sacrament reunions to be taylor made to her likes and wants so she wouldn't pay attention to the good stuff because there was something that she didn't really like and I really wanted to read her Elder Cristofferson's talk about how just because you don't like something doesn't make it untrue but thankfully she came to that realization on her own and hopefully she continues to progress!!! Third miracle, we were a bit hungry so we went to buy some bread and met a woman named Sandra whose trying to learn English so we started stopping by to talk English with her and then ended up teaching her a lesson behind the counter of her store, then the other day we finally had a real lesson with her and came to find out she's talked to the missionaries before and has a book of mormon and everything! They didn't teach her but apparently she was contacted on the street with a BOM by missionaries in 1996 and never took the time to read it but now she's going to start reading it. It only took 18 years but now the seed that those missionaries planted is starting to grow! It gives me hope for all of the seeds we try to plant every day. Fourth miracle, I actually gave a talk in church on Sunday!! It was a lot harder in Spanish than in English but I had the help of a member in the ward so I wrote it out as best I could and then we took it over to her Saturday night so she could correct it and help me out. She read through it and started laughing uncontrollably (lovingly of course) and said she would have to help me rewrite the whole thing to make sense :P I talked about Dawson going missing and how the power of the Holy Ghost is what led us to find him not all of the resources and stuff we had. It went well. Of course with every miracle there's a bit of a down side and we had a couple of bummer situations too this week but in the worst ways. As a missionary I have really come to dislike padres y pololos (parents and boyfriends) when they stand in the way of progress!! We have an amazing girl who loves the gospel and wants to get baptized but she's seventeen and her parents wont let her, then we taught this nine year old boy and he accepted our invitation to be baptized and it was the cutest thing ever because he was like, "Yeah I guess I'll do it but... with the nails and everything?" When we asked him to follow the example of Jesus Christ he thought we meant be crucified not baptized and still said yes!!! Which shows you how bad he wants it but his mom doesn't want to go back to church yet. Then we have a woman who also wants to get baptized but her boyfriend wont marry her even though they are living together and have three kids so she can't get baptized even though she wants to and knows it's true. It's so stinkin frustrating!!!! I find hope in the fact that their testimonies are still strong and one day the Lord will prepare a way for them but gosh dang it I don't like this part of the mission so much. So we had our big mission reunion yesterday and apparently Elder Russel M. Nelson was here on Sunday but had to leave that night so we didn't get to hear from him which was too bad but we still got to hear from Elder Christensen of the Seventy and he was really cool and really awesome. He actually served his mission here in Rancagua Chile and so his Spanish was more Chileno and he had cool stories. One thing he said that I really liked was that " A child is someone who doesn't know anything but knows that they don't know anything so they ask a lot of questions, a teenager as well doesn't know anything but thinks they know everything and will not ask questions or for help when they need it, and an adult does not know much but knows how and where to find the answers." He said that middle stage is dangerous and to try and determine how old your spiritual self is and change something if it falls in the teenager category. Some funny stuff before I close: I'm not the only one that falls, my companion fell on the bike too and was ok but skinned her knee as well and now we match. Then the next day she ran headlong into a door and I gave her grief until later I tripped over thin air and was humbled. We learned a new word this week when I was trying to say Jan works at a mine I said mino and that means she works with attractive men, the right word was supposed to be mina. We contacted a guy on the street and he asked if we wanted a cita and we said yeah and cita means both appointment and date so he thought we were asking him out. It's been a fun, companionship building, testimony building, patience building week and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm so thrilled to be here and every day I look out my window and marvel again at the fact that I'm in Chile. It's awesome, the gospel's awesome I learn more and more about just how awesome the gospel is everyday. I love you all soo much 

Cuidese y con todo el amor de mi corazon

Hermana Mandy Boully

 

11/3

Hna Nicia

Hola from Fraijanes,

Its always exciting at change meetings because you dont know where your going or who is your new comp and your waiting to hear your name and see you picture show up on the projecter. 

My new comp is Hna Izquerdo from Peru and we are opening up the area Fraijanes it is near Don Justo and its on boarder of Guatemala so we are really close to El Salvador! President Caffaro has been liking taking both of the missionaries out of the area and putting two new ones in some days I wonder why oh why he does this because its been a little hard. 

After changes we went with our Sis Trainer leaders to our area they showed us where our house was and where our comedor is (where is we eat) which is the most important right? But that was it we didnt know anything else we have been having lots of adventures trying to find peoples houses and people because our area is huge!!! and the derrections are crazy but I love this area its really pretty lots of trees and jungles but also very cold not cold like winter but cold like autum today Im getting more sweaters beacuse I only have short sleaves blouses! The cool thing also is there this sidewalks and streets everywhere in my other area there where parts where there was just dirt and rocks but there are still steep hills this week I have been so tired because since we are new we are walking around alot to find places and also there is a super steep hill we have to walk everyday to our comedor which is good we gotta work off our food!  Our ward has been great helping us out finding our way around this area we have been mostly visiting members to get to know more people and find new people to teach! 

Hna Izquerdo is amazing the funny thing is her name means Left in Spanish, but she is an amazing teacher and knows so much about the goseple Im excited to learn from her!

I love you all thanks for all that you all do next letter will have more!

Hna N BOULLY

 

Hna Mandy

 

Hola familia y amigos!!

Another fun week down here in the crazy chilean world down many more to go!!! So I forgot to mention last week when we walked downtown to meet up with our sector we picked up a couple dogs because here there are so many stray dogs that they try and force you to adopt them by following you to your destination. So these dogs followed us as we walked all the way out of down, up a highway, up the first steep hike, they followed us as we climbed along the top of several hills and then followed us all the way down the other side and all the way back to the centro and one of them was this really fat beagle and so it made me think of Tasha but in a good way and it was funny because the other Hermana's in our sector gave up close to the beginning because it was too hard but the fat beagle made it. It was super fun and I'm really glad we went but we've been sore pretty much this whole week. So today we could have stayed home and had more of a restful day etc. but no instead we rented a field and went and played soccer with all the elders. It was like coming home! I got to play goalie and it was gringos against Latinos and the Gringos totally kicked butt!! At the end all the Latinos were frustrated because I kept blocking their shots it was so funny. Especially to hear a lot of Spanish and then "Super Hermana" or "Freaking Hermana" mixed in and all the gringos were really happy because none of them wanted to play goalie anyway. It was fun, made me miss old days a bit.

We had a lot of service activities this week, so I did a lot of weeding and hauling gravel and then we helped a member paint his house. I'm the tallest so I was in charge of painting the ceiling which is harder than it sounds and I ended up spattered with paint all over. It was kind of funny too because we live with another companionship of Hnas. one from Nicaragua and one from Guatemala (Woohoo shout out to Hermana Nicia Boully) and the Guatemalateca Hna. and my companion went downstairs to help iron laundry and left me with the Hna. from Nicaragua and I can understand most people when they speak but I really struggle to understand her because she has a really thick accent and a really strong personality so it was just me and her in the room and she was painting the walls and I the ceiling and a glob of paint from my brush spilled onto her already painted wall and I started fixing it and she came marching over and starts telling me that I'm supposed to be painting the ceiling and she already painted that wall and I can't understand her but I get the gist of what she's saying but don't know how to say "Oh I am so very sorry but a sizable amount of paint from my brush dripped off onto your beautifully painted wall, there is no need to fret for I am simply rectifying a slight error." in Spanish so I ended up just saying Don't worry about it, It's good over and over and she kept trying to tell me to paint the ceiling and I kept saying don't worry about it, it was the very definition of language barrier. I know how to say it now though. So a couple cool Chilean cultural things: They wear fanny packs a lot down here and they're actually considered fashionable which is weird and today I tried a new chilean dish that I'm sure some family members will get a kick out of. It's called Ass which isn't a bad word in Spanish so it was funny to have it offered to me and then order it at a restaurant today. It's just sliced roast beef type meat on a fancy hot dog bun with tomatoes mustard onions avacados mayo and ketchup but they call it Ass so we've been walking by all these signs that say that and wondering why and what it meant but we know now so that's good. As per the usual we've been focusing a lot on Menos Activos this week, we're still teaching investigators but it's harder to teach someone whose already baptized and thinks they're good and don't have to go to church or read their scriptures or pray everyday etc. They've already done the big thing and now we have to get them to start doing the small things again which can be the hardest but the most important. It's also really tough when we visit and teach people with huge testimonies but don't come to church because they have problems with the people etc. It makes it all worth it though when we have fast and testimony meeting and someone you've been working with gets up and bears the coolest testimony or a member or menos activo talks about how there's a difference in their lives with the gospel more prominent in it, or when you teach the first vision and it the spirit fills the room so tangibly. It's really cool to be a missionary. I love you all so much. I wouldn't be anywhere else and I wouldn't have it any other way. The church is true the book is blue and Moroni is always on the ball!!!

Hermana Mandy Boully

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Snake outside out apartment.

 

 

New companion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10/27

Hna Mandy

Hola familia!!!

Sometimes it feels like so much happens here that I forget to write about it and it's as if fate is seriously trying to test my devotion to my Life is an Adventure phrase!! First off the other week when I went on divisions I forgot to mention something, remember how I said there aren't any poisonous snakes in Chile, well apparently that doesn't mean that there aren't snakes in general. We were walking out of our apartment and saw what we thought was a stick, it wasn't, turns out it was a snake that was about three feet long! We were freaking out then all of a sudden this old chilean woman comes walking out of her apartment with a shovel and a murderous look in her eye and all of a sudden we weren't so concerned with the snake anymore. She hit it and it was slithering away and was even ran over by a car but still lived!! It was so cool. So I have a new companion and her names Hermana Hughes from Arizona and she's crazy! She has this really big really loud personality and has kind of a take charge attitude which is great sometimes and other times not so much. For example I'm directing our sector right now which is a little tough but for the most part I know what I'm doing and where I'm going but even though my comp doesn't know the sector sometimes she'll just start walking in one direction or crossing the street or something and I have to be like no hermana it's this way it's so funny. Also if she's not happy she'll let you know, it wont affect her work and hasn't affected our companionship but I felt bad because this week a pipe burst or something like that happened in our building and we're on the third floor so we were fine from that but for three days we didn't have any running water and they were the first three days she was here. It was a definite adventure though because we ended up filling up buckets of water from the emergency fire fighter hose outside and showering with that but we had to ask members or other people for drinkable water. It was a blessing in disguise though because we got like three new contacts through asking for water. I'm not going to lie this week has been a bit rough, directing my sector, facing opposition etc. but the good thing is that I'm surrounded by people willing to help me, my companion, wonderful members, and unseen angels. This has been a long week but a growing week just the same and I'm starting to see the real effects of that growth, in my testimony, in my spanish, christlike attributes and such. It really is amazing. Oh I forgot today for Pday we had an activity. We as missionaries spend pretty much all of our time walking. Every day we walk for long periods of time so care to guess what we did today on our one free day? We walked!! We actually went on a hike up this huge hill just behind our house but it was pretty funny because we had to take a collectivo into the centro of town to meet up with our zone and then walk back out of town and then past campos to finally  get to the hill, then we climbed up the hill. It was totally worth it though because I felt like I was right back in Utah hiking and the view at the top was gorgeous!! We didn't mess around either we went all the way to the top. It was super bacan!!! Well that's about it for this week! We're teaching a couple of gringos which is weird because we have to teach them in English but it's given me an even larger perspective on just how true this church is! Love you all so much! Church is true the book is blue and Moroni is always on the ball!!

Hermana Boully

 

Hna Nicia

 

Hola!

So always there are ups and downs in everything and me and comp decided nothing is for sure in the mission for example in this area most the hnas stay for about 6 mouths and I was hoping for the same but Ill be going to a new area tomorrow and getting a new companion! Im sad to leave my frist area because its my frist but also because me and my companion have been working hard this last month and we are just seeing the sucses this next month we have 3 fechas lined up and a couple other investgators who are very promising. Im also sad to leave my comp this time has gone by so fast we wanted one more month together but our Papi Celestial has other plans! Its also exciting to be going to see and know other areas and to learn from my new companion its part of the mission!

Its been a good week Im always amazed at some of the super piles members in this ward there are a few that will do anything to help us missionaries which we need and the investagators need its soo important to have friends to help out we have this one little girl she 12 the first time she went to church everyone wellcomed the whole yw loves her and she is so excited for the girls camp coming up its really cool to see her being so excited to go to church and i know this will help her in her life. The other day we gave her, her own BOM she was so excited and the yw wrote thier testiomonies in it. 

Another milagro this week we recieved a reveirce from this member who teacher seminary she has been teaching the boys of a family in the ward and two of the friends have been listening in. These boys where ready to recieve us the second time we taught them they had both recived answers about the church and about our message it was really cool when we asked them about it they talked about feeling peace i know that people are prepared for us out there just gotta find them!

I love you all stay true its the little things that make the differences every day reading and praying being prepared when others question what you believe I know this church is true!

Hna Boully!

 

 

 

For our Month mark we got dominos we also got jersies for our district!

 

 

 

 

10/20

Hna Mandy

Hola Familia!!

Man what a crazy week this has been! Hna. Hobbs is leaving today to go back to Utah and so this last week has been all over the place! On tuesday she went to the Temple because everyone gets to travel to Santiago and go to the Temple in the last week of their missions so I went on Divisions with another Hermana which was fun and interesting to see a different part of our city. Plus I learned how to make empanadas con queso! We spent a lot of this week having our last citas with the people that my compañera has taught and boy howdy has she taught a lot of people and touched many lives! It makes me want to be like that at the end of my mission. And during. And right now. Yesterday everyone was crying when she was saying goodbye to the members at church and taking pictures etc. What was really sad was that some of the people we've been teaching promised they'd come to church if at least to see Hna. Hobbs one last time but they didn't or couldn't make it or whatever. I definitely understand Nicia!! About having amazing lessons and spiritual experiences with people during the week but then not seeing them at church. What can you do though right? It's our job to bring the message unto their hearts and they choose whether or not to allow the spirit to bring it into their hearts. Last night my compañera had to say goodbye to the Dominguez family which is the family that she baptized in her mission and it was so sad I was bawling and Hna. Nellie called me her wawa grande which is big baby and totally accurate in this moment. It was neat at the same time though because we had our final family home evening with them and played a bunch of games like Jenga, charades, and Hno. Freddy played the guitar while we sang hymns in Spanish and English. It made me think of Sundays after church at home when we play games and such. On Friday Hna. Hobbs traveled to Rancagua again so I had the same companion as divisions but this time I had to direct my sector which was crazy!! We had a bunch of really good lessons in the morning and were planning on having our respective companions back and be in our own sectors by six at the latest so we had all these planned things and then mine and her companions got stuck in Rancagua so we had to go to a family home evening that was supposed to be for Hna. Hobbs but I showed up with another Hna. and the mom was so ticked and it was so uncomfortable, then later I had to go to their house without my pajamas or anything so it turned into this spur of the moment slumber party and was the     of "life is an adventure" moments. My companion wasn't able to get back until Saturday morning and then we immediately had to start packing her suitcases for her to leave. Today is also strange as well I traveled to the Miss. Pres.'s house to drop off Hna. Hobbs and now I'm going to stay in the house of my new companion until tomorrow when we both return to my sector. It should be interesting. I felt a little out of place because the house was full of all these missionaries leaving and I was just kinda sitting there like "Hi you'll be seeing me around still" While everyone else is crying and saying their last goodbyes to Pres. and Hermana Warne. The good thing though is that they totally fed us Papa Johns pizza!! It was a special thing for all the people leaving but they let me eat some too :P so I got to have some BBQ chicken pizza so that was cool. And we played ping pong against the assistants and I totally won. Life is going to be a bit different now that I have a new companion and have to direct my sector after just six weeks but at least she's a gringa so if I have to I can speak English and explain stuff to her. Her name is Hermana Hughes by the way and I just met her so that's about all I know about her thus far. The other gringa in our house Hna. Edwards also got changed this week and is going to go train so there will be two new people to get to know but I suppose I should be used to meeting new people now. Well I hope you all are happy, healthy, strong in the gospel etc. I love reading emails from home and I can't wait each week to tell you what goes on during the week. Almost every day I'll see something and think of how I can write home about something else that's new or different that I haven't written about yet. I love you all so much and seeing my companion going home has made me think about the time when I end my mission but then again I'm so appreciative of my time here that I don't ever want it to end!!! I love you all so much!! Nos vemos!

Ciao!

Hermana Mandy Boully

 

Oh also I wanted to tell you forever ago but I forgot, little things here make me think of you such as the fact that this entire country is obsessed with the Simpsons and so it's almost impossible to teach lessons when there are Simpson's marathons on even if they're reruns because people don't want to listen to us when the Simpsons is on. Also I never really liked Coke but here it's pretty much all they drink and they get offended if they give you a cup full to the brim of it and you don't down it so I'm having to learn to like it. I like hearing about that from Pres. Hutchison. He's great. And it's so true about the BOM! I've been studying it so much in both English and Spanish but every day it hits me again just how awesome of a book it really is. Give Austin a hug for me, tell him I'll see him in about sixteen months!!

Hermana Boully

 

Hna Nicia

 

Oh the adventures!!

There is always somthing going on some one new to teach or search for, actividies other people to serve unexpected things happening its all the joys of the mission and some days you just gotta laugh even when you feel like crying!

We have been working hard with this one girl we found on the street the lessons had been going good and she even came to church sunday after we were able to place a fecha for baptism with her and also talked about a youth activity to go to. That was sunday we meet with her again tuesday and it was like a whole different person she didnt want to listen or pay atention to us or nothing so the next day we brought a member who has an amazing testimony but not even that worked she felt that she recived an answer that another church was true and we were like who are you praying to? But we did all that we could and we still have faith with her one day or maybe in the next couple of weeks but it shows that satin is working hard or its just peoples agency. Im my prays Im always hoping they recive answers and that we can help them!

Its not always bad we have the good and the bads the other day we were searching for new people to teach in a area that we hadnt been in yet and we found lots of protentional there. Goodness some days I love direcions other days they are the worst. Sometimes we like to ask people where does this person and invite them to hear our message some days we make we ask for people we know where they live just to start conversion. But other days direcions are the worst when it doesnt make sence how the streets work or where this letter is its crazy we were in this one area that is pretty small but were searching for ever for one family and even the people who live there dont know the direcions ether its been fun! 

The other day we where looking for a recent converso its been raining all this week and the rc lives down this steap hill you can guess what happen being the great companion I went first trying to hold on the trees but didnt work I went sliding down the hill almost to his house Im very grateful for garments cuz everything went up! After where just dying of laughter has i was trying to clean off all the mud on me and my muddy butt! Oh the bendiciones its fun! 

Im soo happy to be here even with its ups and downs there are so many goods that out way the bads. Like sunday when we went to pick up this little girl who we have been working with she came walking down with our rc who is her age also Its so great to see the blessings of this gossple. I hope everything is going good with everyone there and I gotta say i was hoping mandy would get a latina comp but i guess she got lucky! love you all!

Hna Nicia Boully

 

10/13

Hna Mandy

So this week was a pretty cool one. I mean all of them are pretty cool but this one was one for the books. First off we helped out with a baptism on Saturday! It wasn't our investigator :( but the Hermana's in our casa didn't plan things very well so we ended up doing a bunch to help them. For instance they don't have those handy baptismal jumpers down here so the girl getting baptized (she's fifteen and super sweet) borrowed the temple dress of a lady in the ward but when she put it on you could see through it so I ended up taking my slip off right there and giving it to her so that she could wear it and they didn't have any testigos (witnesses) for the baptism so we were calling all the elders within a five mile radius trying to find someone to come witness the baptism and luckily at the last moment they came. Then we had to hurry and download a mormon message to show while she was getting changed and we sang hymns to keep people entertained and then afterwards we had to run to the store and get snacks because last minute they decided to have a little celebration afterwards. So it was really crazy but everything worked out and when she got baptized I seriously almost cried because it was so spiritual and cool. When you see bishop can you grab him and tell him thanks for being who is and being such a great bishop? In Utah you take advantage of how established the church is there and think that it's the same everywhere else in the world but here the church has only been here for 50 years so their still trying hard to work out some kinks and it can be really hard sometimes. The spirit is the same though! I was reminded of that this week with fast and testimony meeting. My companion is finishing her mission and going home this Monday so everyone was really sentimental about us and a lot of people bore their testimonies about the influence of having the missionaries in their home has made and it was a real spirit booster. It's kind of funny because everyone in the ward loves my comp. and they'll be crying and pouring out their hearts about her and then have to add something for me like "oh we love you too but Hna. Hobbs is leaving!!" The bishop here is really strict and going overtime is one of the things he hates so I was going to bear my testimony but there wasn't much time and Hno. Cornejo, the man we helped stop drinking beer without alcohol, grabbed my arm and was like Ya-po! so I went up and tried my best to say my testimony in Español and not to cry ( I failed. Epically but at the not crying bit) The same family the Cornejos has a little boy named Sebastian but we call him Sebi or Sebita who's four and is crazy! Seriously Dawson is timid and tranquillo compared to this little boy (I still love you more Dawson don't worry!!) but this week he was talking to his mom and she told us this story: he asked why Jesus always has his hands outstretched and when she couldn't answer sufficiently he went on to explain that it's because Jesus is ALWAYS sharing." If that doesn't melt your heart wait, the next time we visited him he gave us some of his cookies, juice out of his own cup, and we had been playing with this little stuffed bunny all night and when we were getting ready to go he put it in my bag and said "Este es un regalo de Sebita." (This is a gift from Sebita) and then went searching for another toy to give to my companion. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen!! Then again that's how everyone down here is, soo kind and caring and soo willing to share. Another little girl in our ward loves one direction and she made us these one direction flowers and gave them to us. Hna. Hobbs says most of the souvenirs I'm going to take home are going to be gifts from people down here. Speaking of which, Nicia!! You know how you had to direct your sector after your companion was transferred? That's what I have to do this Monday when mine goes home! And I only have six weeks! I'm a little nervous but I know I'll be allright. We went on divisions this week and I went with a Latina who doesn't know English so if my next comp is Latina I think I'll be allright though I'm going to miss Hna. Hobbs a bunch! She says she really wants to visit you guys though so if a Mandi Hobbs adds or messages you on Facebook you should accept because she's going to be bringing my Hearing Aide home to get fixed! We had Zone Conference and New Missionary training this week so I saw my Miss. Pres. and he said he has a daughter coming here in November and he'll give me her address so if you guys can get it fixed and to her that will me a lot safer than transcontinental FedEx or something. Well that's about it for my crazy week. Every time I think I've gotten used to being here, serving a mission in Chile I'll look around and marvel once more at just how lucky I truly am to be here doing the most fulfilling, significant thing I've ever done. Sometimes I get frustrated when we have amazing lessons with people but they don't want to keep commitments but then something will happen to remind me that everything happens in the Lord's time and what we're doing does actually make a difference. I love you all so much! I'm grateful to be here and every day my testimony grows stronger of this gospel and everything in it. Every day I realize how much the gospel truly does bless lives. Man I love being a missionary and watching my companion get ready to leave makes me never want my mission to end! If it weren't for the fact that I don't get to see all of you I would never ever want to come home. Love you all!

Hermana (Mandy) Boully

 

Hna Nicia

 

 Hola Family,

Since we have gotten a new President things have been slowly starting to change and he is always trying to get us to do better to work better in our areas. This last week we had a meeting of our zone and recived alot good info from our zone leaders. The mission and our president is trying to help us focus on names not numbers and about doing better about getting our recient converts come to church and stay active. Some days its kinda hard when we feel like we have so much to do and so many people to visit. Our sunday mornings are always busy picking up investigators and rc and less actives to come to church but its worth it when you think of the people. For example this last week we found a less active family this last week the mom is not a member and we are trying to work with her but the kids are adults but hadnt been to church in 4 years and they were able to come with us to church. We always have to report how many recent converts we had in church this last week we had 2 that might not seem like a big number but its been better then the last couple of weeks of only one and watching my recent convert pass the sacrament for the second time makes it worth. I like the focuzing on each person because Heavenly Father knows each one of us so its important for us missionaries to know them to. 

Its sometimes funny talking and teaching different people the mom of the family i mentioned we just started teaching her and found out she knows all about the church she knows all the lessons she knows all answers and we invited her to be baptised and she says she is catholic we talked to her daughter and she says she knows its true she has felt it when they have prayed we feel like its hard for her to change because she has been cathlic all her life she is lds in her heart but in her mind she is sticking to cathlica. We are trying to change her mind and help her see this is the step she needs to take. 

There are always ups and downs on the mission we will have great lessons and teach people perfectly that they are ready to go to church and then sunday comes around something happens. There is a saying down here Primero Dios God when we ask people if they can go to church and they say that most the time it means the oppsite. But there are others who really live that Im so greatful for the members that have helped us so much and always helping and welcoming our investigators and people who give there all. 

Im so happy to be on a mission I still have alot to learn I cant believe I have beenout for 5 months. Im talking and learning to love spanish and know how to say things right. Its been lots of fun with Hna Quinoñez her family and her ward keeps sending us food and sweets they are so amazing! I love you all so much hope you have a good day!

Hna Nicia BOully"!

 

 

 

10/6

Hna Mandy

I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never before had such a powerful experience listening to General Conference! I hope every single one of you listened and paid attention because hear we all kind of go nuts about it. It was seriously like the missionary version of the SuperBowl. We all gathered in the Stake Center, had a TV set up upstairs to watch it in English and everyone brought snacks, and their gamefaces, ready to hear from our coaches on the sidelines what we're doing good and what we need to improve on. Our Miss. Pres. told us to go to conference with questions in mind and listen for our answers and I had like 8 but every single one of them was answered! What was funny was that the talk that answered most of my questions was the one that was in Spanish! So it's a good thing I've been paying attention and learning more and more so that I could actually understand what he was saying and get my answers! It's so cool and different to watch all four sessions of conference in the stake center mostly because everyone brings their lunch in little things of tupperware and eats it in and around the chapel during the two hours in between sessions. Also we missionaries stress out up until the very minute conference starts hoping that our investigators and menos activos show up. We had this amazing investigator of ours named Mayra come to conference and it was seriously like early Christmas!! It's interesting to thing that in Utah and at home watching/listening to conference is so second nature but here you have to spend some of your crucial time reminding the members to actually come or listen or watch it because a lot of them haven't been doing it their whole lives or they think if they just go to one their good and then we lament because we'll hear talks and think of them etc. Conference is stressful as well as rejuvenating. So my companion likes to tease me that my body is having a hard time adjusting to being on the other side of the world with "different gravity" because at home I never had a problem but here I keep, ever so gracefully, eating dirt. I didn't write home about it because I didn't want to freak you guys out but my first week here I totally fell down the stairs of our apartment carrying my bike and it was seriously the funniest thing ever! I didn't scream at all so my companion thought I just dropped the bike and she looked down from the floor above and saw my legs sprawled at the top of my stairs with my skirt askew the whole deal and started screaming and then this little lady who lives on the first floor came out and they pulled the bike off of me but I couldn't stand up, not because I was hurt but because I was laughing so hard. My only injury was a bruise on my leg and the truly miraculous blessing was that I didn't even get a run in my tights! God looks out for us sister missionaries and knows our priorities. :P The good thing about my biffing it several times is that the members here now feel like that they have to especially take care of and look after the poor new gringa missionary who doesn't know the language and keeps falling down so I've acquired a nice little halo of concerned latina mamàs. It's great. And I would pick tripping occasionally to being sick any day of the week and thus far I've been the one blessed to be fine while my companions get sick, my companion had a stomach bug this week but we still managed to serve and help people nonetheless! Perserverance!! I love you guys so much! It's crazy how fast my time here is passing but I'm loving every moment of it!!

Con mucho mucho amor! 

Hermana Mandy Boully

I forgot to mention our electricity and hot water was restored this Tuesday. HALLELUJAH!! So we're loving light and life again :)

Hermana Boully

 

My Area

This is how we feel about conference!

 

Hna Nicia

 

 Hola Family!

I agree with Mandy about conference is like christmas for missionaries goondess conference was soooo amazing and with every talk I would be thinking of oh this would help this investigator or this investigator. For example we have one boy that we have been working with for a while trying to get baptised he has had alot of questions about prophets and this whole conferece was about prophets and yes the talk by David A. Bednar was just for him and lot of others here on the mission me and my companion printed out a copy and are going to give it to him! It was lots of fun watching conference with the other greengos In english there is one elder who just came this last change it was nice thinking that I am progressing at least a little bit! I loved how conference was in all soughts of laungages makes me think about learning other laugages after i get spanish down and when i am home!

Me and my companion has been working hard trying to find those who are ready and trying to be patient with those we are working with there is always somthing or opasition in people getting baptised we have placed a couple of fechas over the week but all of them have work chalengeges that make it hard for us to visit them and to go to work. The other day we just got told we have to be in our houses at 7 at night which is good for our safty but its kinda hard cuz some of our investigatores we can only see in the night. But there needs be opasesion in all things to send us to our needs like they said in conference. We keep working and make things work and have faith that is will. 

I have loved my new conpanion we have been having lots of fun together Im so grateful for her. There has been some days that I teach or talk to people and they decide when they see my blonde hair that they dont understand no matter how good I say it. My cute companion says she always understands so thats a good sign or heavenly father is helping her understand me! But the cool part about being different it starts conversaions on buses on the streets this week we have gotten so many referals but all live out of our area we are always supose to get referals but we have none not with out trying we are doing everyone elses work. 

We had one lesson this last week with the one boy I mentioned earlier we were talking about the blessings you recieve in the church and replied that he already had all of those with his church and family I was able to point out that these were all good things but he didnt know what he was missing out on. I was really happy I was able to teach and understand him even if the lesson didnt go has well has we hoped but made me think of all the things that we had and i loved some of those talkes about who do you face sometimes I get worried about saying things that will up set people but we Im not here to please people im here to please god and do what he says. I love the talks this confernce and I know that the prophets are called of god and that we need them. I also know that mission presidents are called of god Im so grateful for Pres. Caffaro and his Wife we had Interviews this last week and you can tell they care for everyone its amazing! I love you all hope you have a good week!

Hna Boully!

9/29

Hna Mandy

So you know how I say when something not so cool happens it's an adventure? Heavenly Father's testing my commitment to that phrase this week because we have had a ton of adventures this week! First off we pay for electricity by sending the bill to the office and then they take care of it but apparently something happened to our last bill because Friday morning the person who owns the building came and said he was shutting off our electricity because we didn't pay. So we haven't had electricity or hot water since then! I spoke to soon when I said I was grateful for my hot water. It's ok though because it's fun to plan in the dark with our flashlights and boil water on the stove for our showers. We're all really excited for conference this weekend it's like christmas for missionaries, especially because we get to watch it in English!! they have a separate room for all of the gringos to watch in English but the women's conference was a 100% in Español and I was shocked to realize I could understand all of it!! We also had an investigator come with us to the conference and this is the same woman who told us that she knows everything is true and she wants to get baptized but she just needed one more answer, one more sign from Heavenly Father that this is what she needs to do. Think from the perspective of that investigator and then go watch, listen to or read Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from the Women's conference, it was seriously perfect! And the spirit was so strong even though it was in spanish!! Conference talks are like gold here seriously. There's this amazing family that always jokes about how we're their gringa daughters and last night they were on facebook asking me the names of all you guys so that they could see what you look like so if they (Nellie or Freddie Dominguez) add you on facebook or something that's who they are and sometimes they post pics of us on facebook. If they send you a message though good luck because I talk to them face to face and still have a hard time understanding them. They're great though and they love to joke so they'll tease me for my spanish but it's out of love. It's kind of funny I'm looking at everything with a new perspective now. Like when we're going to church I'm stressing about who is or isn't going to come and lamenting if people don't show up and whenever we listen to a really good talk, especially at the conference, I'm looking around to see if our investigators are listening and paying attention etc. Two new culturally different things I experienced this week: instead of icecream trucks they have vegetable or fruit trucks and it's just a guy yelling into a speaker what he's selling and how much it is, you know the sirens that play in movies about WWII whenever there's a bomb threat and everyone runs underground? They play that exact same noise at 12:00 every day here. It really freaked my out the first couple of days. I love it here, I'm adjusting more to the new language and people I love you all so much and I can't wait to here more every week so write me all you want please! Here they let us print our emails so don't be afraid to send me more!! :P Love you so much!!

Hermana Mandy Boully

 

You thought I was done writing huh? Psych! There's more! Something great happened this week! We were contacting and we ran into this lady that started screaming at us in the street and telling us that we don't actually believe in Christ and God and that we're liars etc. (that's not the cool thing) So we politely wished her a good day, excused ourselves and were walking away when this lady came up to us, said she had overheard and told us not to get discouraged and keep doing what we were doing. She wasn't a member or anything but she told us to keep it up and invited us over to teach her!! It was so dang cool! It was like Heavenly Father gave us a reward right after having to deal with the difficult lady. I love being a missionary!!

Hermana Mandy Boully

 

Hna Nicia

 

Hola From Gautemala!

Oh what a week its been! So last saturday the secretaries called me and my comp about getting another house in our area for other missionaries a couple days after cambios but they didnt tell us more what would happen so we went on with missionary life we also discovered we had a blender we were making all sorts of good shakes with fresh fuirt we also found were to get coconut i have a new favorite fuirt and our shakes with piña and coco soooo much better then the shakes back home! Monday where out shopping and didnt hear our phone ringing when we checked it we had 5 missed calls 3 from the assitences and 2 from our zone leaders! They told us we were having emergecy changes the next day and we were getting split up and so was our area!! 

The next day I received my new companion Hna Quinoñez! She is from here in Guatemala. She was first called to Honderus but had to come home early because her feet kept swelling up. Now she is here with me to finsh the rest of her mission. She has the same amount of time has me so we will be finishing together! She is such a sweet girl and so beautiful to me she looks like snow white. Oh ya and she doesnt know english so here is my time to really learn spanish fast. Its sometimes funny hearing us talk but she is always helping me and most the time we understand each other! Im trying to work hard on my spanish so i can talk to her more cuz she is such a get missionary. Its pretty amazing that she came back to serve and she is here to work. Its been a intresting week because suddenly I was kinda the senior companion deciding where to go and what to teach and we are also kinda opening up an area its been lots of fun and lots of work. Im so happy that she is my companion. Im not sure who is the senior companion because she knows more spanish i know the area and we both have the same amount of time so we need each other!

Its been kinda fun having other sisters close by we always eat together at our comedor its kinda funny since we split the area we are always asking about investigadors or families that we used to work with but its been fun everyone is like more sisters!

The work has been good some times its kinda frustrating when we find great families who are nice and listen to us but they are cathlic and they dont want to change. Its hard because they have most of the same beliefs but they are missing some things its like almost but we are doing our part finding and giving them the aportunity to listen. 

Sunday after the womens conference we didnt have alot of time after but we were on our way back home and I thought of a investigator that me and my other companion had taught and so we went and visited him and we ended up having an a amazing lesson with him and placing a fecha it was really cool! Right now we are trying to work harder this cambio because these last two changes we havent had alot of baptisms so we are going to work harder and find those who are ready!

I love you all!

Hna Boully!