Wednesday, February 25, 2015

We had some really great visits! And visitors...., February 23, 2015

This will probably be disconnected like always...

Sergio is amazing - even though he still hasn't recieved a testimony of the Book of Mormon, he told us that he wants us to know we're not wasting our time with him, and he really does want to discover if it's true. Pray for him to feel like reading and praying!

Ivonne - I love her so much. Us three are going to have fun in San Francisco today. (not San Francisco California... obviously). Seh cried when we taught the law of chastity because she wants to get married so badly. YAY Spirit! I hope that Juan Pable will start being a little receptive to the gospel too. Pray for their marriage papers!

We did so many great things this week. Like with our huge weekly FHE, and this cute little recent convert named Alma! Alma means soul in spanish.... We went their to see her grandparents who are getting ready to be sealed in the temple, and Alma isn't ever very happy to listen to the missionaries, but when we cam in the house I saw Alma sitting there on her computer, and I asked her if I could show her a video on youtube. (sneaky way to catch her attention haha). We watched a cute video about temples and then it aaaaaaaaaall came spilling out that she has so many questions about the plan of salvation, and it was such a great opportunity to help her learn and grow! always knew I was a weeve for something.... Happy day for little promptings, because then she asked us to come back and have a FHE with the family! We had a great little FHE a couple of days later, and it was so cute. I love tiny little whisperings of the Spirit. Even being a missionary there's doubtful thoughts like 'she never wants to talk to us, if you talk to her she'll just get irritated and go to her room.' BUT! Then the Spirit comes in with 'but she likes youtube! and she already has her computer out!' And it worked! 

Also, it was super hot one night, so we had all the windows open. It's safe because there's bars on all of them, but some of our neighbors were frolicking amuck in the street, which made it hard to sleep, so I closed our bedroom door to not here them. Anyways.... when we woke up, I opened the bedroom door, and my worst nightmare was sitting there staring at me! There was a CAT IN OUR HOUSE! I screamed and slammed the door because it ran towards me, and I think that scared it because when I made Hna. Stahly go out and see where it was, it was gone. It was terrifying haha.

Also, there was a moth the size of a mouse in our bathroom.... I almost died hahahahaha

Happy 9 months to princess Taylee this week!

I am so grateful to have the gospel. The Lord makes it clearer every day! It's like this part of his talk from President Bednar:

The Savior has told us in our day, “That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.”13
The more we incline our hearts and minds toward God, the more heavenly light distills upon our souls. And each time we willingly and earnestly seek that light, we indicate to God our readiness to receive more light. Gradually, things that before seemed hazy, dark, and remote become clear, bright, and familiar to us.
We had two tiny earthquakes this week... kind of old news now. I'm used to them.
There is the big '40 hour Virgin' festival going on for the Catholic Church this week, so that makes things a little crazy. I don't even understand what it is, but I'm glad people have the right to believe whatever they want. 
Love you all soooooooooooooooooooo much! I am doing great, my awesome comp is doing great, and the gospel is true. I love to be a missionary!
Love Hermana Coray
Sara and Sister Stahley

Grape vines!

I found these pictures just to add illustrations to Sara's cat attack story!

Your Four Minutes, February 16, 2015

Ok, I am not in a trio. That is an Hermana that was taking us to the train station haha.

This week my companion and I read part of the talk 'your four minutes,' and oh my goodness... it is wonderful. It went right along with the theme of our zone conference we had this week, having real intent. You ALL have to watch the Young Adult Broadcast. It was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our time as missionaries an din general is the most limited resource we have, and we shouldn't spend it getting the Lord's thigs done as fast as we can to be able to do whatever WE want to do. Wrong.

Real intent is doing the right things for all the right reasons. Elder Ridd gave 'the parable of the oranges' and it made so much sense!

One thing I hear repeated so much is 'I respect all religions and beliefs (good) and there's only one God (good again) so we're all going to arrive in the same place (WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). HE is the way, and there is only ONE way to do it. By wanting to be obedient. We can't love God without loving His commandments.

God is good. 
Alma 34

Me and my AMAZING companion, Hermana Stahly (stay-lee) from Kansas are doing fantastic! We have found some amazingly prepared people. We're still working with Sergio, Ivonne and Juan Pablo, and this week we found an amazing new investigator, Margarita. She is extremely sincere, and we hope we can teach her nice boyfriend and little boy too! We have a lot of great people we are teaching, but there's just too many to name.

The biggest miravle of this week was.... drumroll... 42 MORE PEOPLE came to church than last week. There is usually about 100 that come, but if we keep this up we can become a new stake in CHILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't even nkow what happened. This whole force of working well as a ward council is bringing forth good fruits. Not a single one of our investigators came "BUT! Am I upset?! NO!...well... a little..." haha

But two cam eto uor WONDERFUL FHE we had last night in the ward mission leader's house. It was so great! There were 25 people of new converts, less-actives, and investigators with ward missionaries too. It was great, and about service. 

I love my area. I love when it's so hot and hard to find people because it makes me humble and patient. We are in the Alma chapters in the reading of the Book of Mormon with alma, Amulek, and the sons of Mosiah, and it is so great to see the trials and triumphs. 

It's like Aunt Lacey said, missionary work is the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. BUT i have also realized that even the lowest lows are blessings in disguise. The Lord provides. Like yesterday when my companion was hungry, but an old lady's blood sugar was really low, so she gave her her granola bar, and a little bit later someone gave us a bag of homemade bread. Please.... the Lord is mindful of us.

There is so much great stuff! Now I understand why the scriptures say 'and we cannot write a hundreth part,' because I'll jsut have to tell you all about it someday!

Thank you for being my forever family!

Favorite scripture of the week:
"for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo.' Alma 26:36 

That's misisonary work!

I love you so much! I hope you all had a happy Valentine's day! My package didn't get here, but I'm sure it will soon:) All the other ones have made it ok:) 

Have a great week!

Be missionaries!

Love
Hermana Coray

Family home evening at the ward mission leader's house.

I See My Mother Kneeling, February 9, 2015

Ok, I'm sorry I caused everyone so much alarm... I thought I made
everything sound pretty positive about the toes, but I guess not.
Anyways, I still have my toes and nails and everything intact.
Actually, the doctor was really nice and calm and great. He showed me
this little thing to do with cotton and a toothpick to put under my
nail to help it grow out better. I really think it will help.

We have zone meetings tomorrow! I love them! And also, I'll get the
package you are all so excited for me to recieve. The next day is
transfers, so we'll see what happens! This was Hermana Pau'u's 4th
transfer here, so I'm thinking she'll go and I'll stay. It's funny
that I've had all my companions for one transfer except one... two
transfers. Being my companion must be a trying task, and I guess the
Lord knows it.

This week we had some really great things happen. There are a lot of
youth here that are preparing for missions, and that is so exciting to
see them getting so excited! We went to go find this one inactive
family, and share a message and ask for references, and this Sunday
they came to church! A less-active returned missionary and his cute
little girlfriend and baby came to church too! We have a new
investigator, well, he's not that new, but he just hasn't really
'investigated' much since he's known the missionaries. He's 21, and so
smart, and he came to a ward baptism this week and also siad he will
read the Book of Mormon! His name is Sergio, and he is so wonderful. I
love to hear him pray. You can tell he's really talking to someone.

Also, we were looking for a contact yesterday, and we happened to know
on the wrong door, but she let us right in and started talking about
how much she loved it when she went to 'the Mormon Church!'  She is
older and lives all alone, and I loved to see that the small bit of
contact she has already had with the church has blessed her, and given
her a sweet spirit of understanding. She doesn't have some of the
confusions that maaaaaaaaaaaaany people in Chile have.

We also went to see another endowed inactive member (I'm guessing
you're seeing the pattern of the emphasis they're putting on
re-activating endowed members. It's a great way to find new
investigators! We're hoping....) She is only like 24, and struggling
with many things in life. At the end of our short little message, we
were getting ready to pray. Ilooked at her two little tiny boys, and
the words 'I see my mother kneeling' came into my mind. I saw two
potential misionaries, that need a strong example from their mom. We
kneel down and pray with lots of pèople, but especially as I asked her
if we could kneel down and pray, I felt like it was so important for
those teeny tiny boys to see their mom praying. I helped them kneel
down and fold their cute little arms, and Amado was SOOOOOO cute,
smiling at  his mom so much after she said the prayer. It was
something so small, but extrememly significant.

I love to teach families how to be families. And I feel so blessed
that I was taught how to have successful family relationships. I am so
glad that I learned scripture masteries.... I can even translate them
into Spanish in moments when I need them, even though I haven't
memorized them exactly. There's a reason we need to be educated in how
to progress in the gospel. I am so grateful to be a part of the
church.

I love you all so much! I am recieving EVERY blessing you all pray
for. They come in the exact way that the LORD wants them to come. I
love being a missionary. I love serving like Him so that I can know
Him and be like Him.

Also, Dad, I only sent this to mom's address because this computer is
archaic and only let me send it to one person... weird.

Have a fantastic week! Activate EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And
ALWAYS visit recent converts. They are in a whole new world.

xoxoxoxoxo
Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana Coray

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Mankind Was My Business, February 2, 2015

First of all, I mom asked me if I was making any friends in Chile, so I thought you might like to meet a few of them. I know they're a little rough around the edges... and everywhere else. But if you don't get too close they don't bite:) And there's one of us with a couple of recent converts too.Oh and the other picture, 'a happy heart and smiling face put sunshine in the darkest place:)'
 
This week, well, transfer is a little difficult because school is out and everyone is on vacation. It has been harder than ever to help people come to church and keep their committments. Well, it's been hard to find people more than once even. But there are sweet little tender mercies in the middle of it all. IT is hotter than can be, so I wear SPF 50 everyday. The sun is so strong, I think I eed something stronger, because I still got a little burnt on my neck the other day. 
 
Our ward mission leader has a bunch of apple trees! And he gave us a whole bag the other day, and it was wonderful, because the apples in the supermarket aren't always awsome, but his are soooooooooo good. 
 
Yesterday as we were sitting in testimony meeting, a recent convert that was visiting from another town (that never happens here. If you're not in our place to go to church, the chances of attending somewhere else are almost nothing). Well, she got up and gave the sweetest, most powerful testimony, and it made me want to work so much harder to find more people like her. She's been a member for two months, and she is more converted and strong and living the gospel than 95% of the members I have met. 
 
I also hope we realize how important and what a blessing it  is to have a living prophet. And that the prophet and apostles will always lead us right. Those who dont believe or choose not to listen don't have any sort of freedom or benefit from 'choosing their own path,' they just don't get the blessings. Lost of people didn't believe Noah, but that didn't stop it from raining. Pharaoh didn't listen to Moses, but that didn't stop the plagues. Few listened and followed Christ, but that doesn't change the reality that He is the Savior of the world. We need to listen to the prophets. It's a fanatastic choice.
 
This little town, I know there are people here waiting for me. I pray that they aren't just waiting to listen, but that they're waiting to here the Savior's message and change their lives. We found a cute little couple this week, Ivon and Juan Pablo, and they were so cute about inviting us into their house right away (rare), and listening. They are out of town this week, but we will se them when they get back! I am excited! They are respectful and kind, and I appreciate that so much. We also started teaching the aunt of one of the recent converts, and she has gone through soooooo much in her life. She had her first child when she was fourteen, and I hope we can do an effective job of helping her see that the gospel will help her be happy and safe. 
 
I love that in this ward we have so many willing ward misisonaries. They come with us a lot, and it is a great blessing. 
 
Always remember what the first priority is:) The Lord loves us. He really does. Sometimes I have to remind myself of how mindful He must be of me. Because there are times when I walk the roads He walked. The road of disappointment, the road of temptation, or the road of sorrow. I try to depend on Him when I feel like my energy is gone. I guess I really should have a never ending supply if I can learn to rely on Him better. 
 
February I am focusing on hope. I hope I can see past my natural tendency to be negative or 'realistic,' and realize that Jesus lives in a different reality. That can be mine too if I can just choose to see that way. 
 
Be missionaries. Be happy. And be believing. I believe in miracles, becasue I believe in YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And you are all miracles to me. 
 
Pray that we can improve. Pray that the Lord will keep custom-making our trials to make us into He wants us to be. Well, who we really are. 
 
Also, my toenails have grown back in. Yay! they still have the ability to grow! The bad part is, that they grew in in-grown again. So, pray that this proceedure will go well. I have no idea when it will happen. Probably this week, and I think that Hermana Kähnlein is setting it up through the hospital. So, a Chilean. Pray. Just pray. I can be tough. I told you, I'm not coming home unless it's in a box or after 18 months. Whichever comes first haha. 
 
Pray for my sweet companion, Sister Pau'u. We need a whole lot of prayers this week. :) And that I will be good at focusing even though the toes insist on being a problem.
 
I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always! Forever and ever y family you'll be!
Love,
Hermana Coray
AND.....Remember, mankind is our business:)