Week 24: I being transfered out to the Boonies!!!

3/10/14

Hola Familia,

So I have about 10 minutes so this will be really short!! Well I am being transferred out to an area called Bulnes and my new comp is Hermana Phelps! I have heard she is super super hilarious!  I have met her a few times and she seems awesome! She has a little over a year in the mission, the exact same as my past two comps.  

I am excited for what the future will bring but, really really bummed to be leaving my Villa Acero Barrio.  This barrio has become like my home and I have so many friends in this ward and mini moms that have taken care of me!!  I am going to miss it so much!! And Monica my investigator is going to be baptized this Saturday...and I can`t be there!! And her daughter Valentina who is 18 is going to be baptized on the 29th.  I just love Valentina so much and I am going to miss them!  And Leonardo is going to be baptized on the 15th as well!!! Ahh I am going to miss it all!!! But the more important thing is that they are all going to be baptized. Oh and Leonardos whole story is super awesome and really funny so I will make sure to tell it next week!!

I am glad that it is starting to look like spring there! We are heading into fall right now, which in Chilean terms that means rain!! Rain is not in the spring here, it is every day for all of fall and winter. Or so I have heard!!  And for all of you that know me, I hate the rain!! Okay I don’t hate, but really really dislike!  I am a sunshine baby! So these next 8 months are going to be really fun!!!

Also Grandpa and Grandma, I got your package! Thanks so much! I am sending a letter back to you today!!

Okay and now the best pictures from the Zoo last week!! There were so many but here are the best!! I love tigers!!!

So just a few last minute things fo the package.  If you can't find them or don't have time dont worry.  

-Brown Sugar (I dont know if you are alllowed to send this, but brown sugar is the only thing that does not exist down here for Chocloate Chip Cookies.

-The Recipe for chocolate chip cookies

-slippers what ever kind, only thing is they need to have a somewhat good bottom.

-hot fudge for ice cream (Also don't know if you are able to send this because it is in a glass jar) If not don't worry

-Fotos!!! Still have been wanting some from the beach. And I need one of Me and Katelyn and Amber.  And also a good one of Just me and Mariah.  I have a bunch of us on my Laptop.

And lastly,

-I really don't need this urgently but eventually.  White down east tees.  And the Small size, so brand, white u-neck tees. 

I think that is all!!!

Thanks so much for always thinking of me!! I love you so much!!

Xoxo Hermana Corbett

Week 23: I love 9pm

3/3/14
Hola Familia y Amigas,

Sorry about the downer letter last week and I am sorry that you all had a hard week as well!!  This week was probably even harder but in completely different ways, but today I am doing great and I just love being a missionary!  This week the main thing I have learned to that really when no one else is there, the Lord is.  And we just need to get on our knees and pray and we will be able to feel him.  He will give us the peace that we need that the world can´t give us!   For all of you, no matter what difficulty you have, Jesus Christ is always the answer.  I will never be able to understand exactly what my investigator is going through or needs, but I am there to provide them with someone that can.  I am not the answer.  As a missionary I am just the guide to the answer.  I love Jesus Christ and I know he loves me, and each one of you, and everyone here is Chile and everyone of Gods Children.  I love this gospel and it has brought me so much peace, direction, and pure joy in this life.  I am excited for what the future brings!!! 

So about the subject!  3 times this week we have found new investigators that are really great and have had really good lessons at 9pm.  It is after a long sometimes really hard day and then the Lord rewards us for our diligence in the last hour of work!! I love this work!

Also we went to the Zoo today for a Zone activity!! It was so so so cool and we were so close to the animals. A white tiger breathed on my head! That is how close I was.  And one of the workers let us go behind the fence to feed the giraffes!!  They don´t have the same rules here for zoos so really anything goes!!! so fun!

I have a bunch of pictures, but this computer is not letting me download them!! I will send them all next week!   And next week is cambios again!! What we just had cambios!! I think I might train!! But who knows!

Love you all so much!!

Con amor,

Hermana Corbett

p.s. Thanks for all of your letters!! I hope your spring breaks were all great!  Everyone here in chile started school again after summer break, so that stinks for them but is great for missionary work.  Also I hope it stops snowing for you all!  It is getting colder here!  No no no!!

Thanks!! Tell Matt that I approve and welcome him into the family even though I don´t know him!! I am so excited for them!! I need there address! I have a letter for Heidi!!

Week 22: Only Spanish for a whole week!

2/24/14

Hola Familia y Amigas,

So this week has probably been one of the hardest of the mission so far.  Now having a new companion, that only knows a few English words, I have really had to expand my vocabulary and learn how to describe things in the weirdest ways. For example I described having a sharp pain in my shoulder as the light that is in the sky when it rains is in my upper arm.  Yeah she got the idea.   But it has been real fun with her and really can communicate pretty well.  She has taught me so much about how to be a better missionary.  

Also other than that it has been hard because I have been the one that has had to lead the sector and pretty much do all the planning, because she doesn`t know the sector. So that has been hard. Planning at night takes forever and literally I brush my teeth and fall into bed afterwards and then do it all over again the next day.  Another thing is that we have had a bunch of set plans this week and have had a lot of the young women able to come out with us (Our little ward missionaries, which is just another sign of the hastening of the work).  But our entire plans end up falling or the people just aren`t there.  The beginning of the week we only entered in one house each day out of the 5 or 6 set plans we would have every day, which was really really hard.  We were being rejected person after person after person.  It was so hard to not want to just yell back at them and tell them that "Really I am only trying to help you, because I love you, and I know this gospel will make you really be happy and really have the joy and peace that you need in your life."  And the hardest part was that is was not just the people on the street, it was the less actives too and even a few of the members.   Then when I was at my point of breaking down because I just wanted to help these people and they wouldn`t let me and felt like I was failing as a missionary, because we were not making our goals.  This is when Hermana Najera reminded me that our job as missionaries it just to invite and the rest is up to them and their agency. So even though we were not making our goals, we are still fulfilling our purpose to invite.

The other thing I have learned this week is that our invitation as missionaries is an invitation to repent.  Every commitment that we invite someone to make is an invitation to change a little part in their lives to live a life closer to the life of Jesus Christ. That is repentance right there.  As a missionary, I invite nonmember, investigators, less actives, and members to repent and get a little better every day.  Do you know how it is to tell someone to repent and do it in a way that will not offend them? It is hard, but Hna. Najera is such a great example to me and is helping me to be a better missionary by her example every day.

Although the miracles did come by the end of the week and we had two of our investigators attend church.  It was such an awesome experience for them I knew they could feel the spirit and they both want to come back.  

Oh and the funny story of the week. Our gospel principles class that is right after Sacrament Meeting for all of the new members and investigators is always a hoot, because there is much more of a diverse group in that class.  We have our ward mission leader leading the class, and then the patriarch always comes to and then all of the investigators that come mostly from Catholic back grounds and their ideas.  It is always funny and everyone has something to say.  And yesterday was especially was interesting because we were talking about the Fall of Adam and Eve.  Yeah...  Anyways one of the recent converts Matilde, who is 70, asked at the end, "Well my question is where was Adam when Eve was tempted.  He should have been right there by her side and helped her to not sin."  And everyone had to chuckle a little at that. She is the best! 

Oh and I have letters here for a few of you but I still don`t have your addresses...so please send them to me!!!

Also I was wondering what are Leisha and Matts birthdays?

Can`t wait to hear from all of you next week!!

Love you guys,

Hermana Corbett

p.s. sorry don`t have time for pictures this week.

So this week has probably been one of the hardest weeks of my mission, and I really need a pick me up from my family, and I didn`t get a single email from you guys this week.  I know what it is like to be on that end and having lives and having one million things to do and I know that it is not that you guys don`t think about me often, but I don`t know that unless you write me.  Even if it is just an “I love you “ or a small paragraph.  I need to hear from you!!!  I love you guys!  

-Hermana Corbett

Week 21: I guess I really just like kicking people out!

2/2114

Hola Familia y Amigas,

So as in the subject we had an emergencia cambio 2 days ago.  It was really sad to send Hermana Taylor away.  Now between the 4 that were in the house 3 weeks ago, I am the only one left. Well anyways my new Comp. is Hermana Najera. She is from Mexico and has one year in the mission.  She is super great!!  but since she is Latina, I have been only speaking Spanish for the past 3 days. It has been hard sometimes, but we can communicate pretty well.  It has definitely been hard without Hermana Taylor, with me having to lead the sector and all, but it is sure helping me to learn a lot fast!!

Raquel moved out of the member’s house she was living in back into her own house which is barely in a different ward.  But she is still going to church every week and the Elders and members in that ward are taking really good care of her!  So that is great! But I do miss her!!! 

We have a new investigator Leonardo that is awesome and has made some pretty bad decisions in his life, but I really know that he wants to start clean and just be a new person and he has so much faith. He is so great!  He also went to Church and this past week all the youth went to efy so they all went up and bore their testimonies about efy and the gospel.  It made Leo cry and I just love the youth so much and that have such strong spirits and testimonies. More than we give them credit for.  Love the youth in this ward.

Love you all

Have a great week!!

Con amor,

Hermana Corbett

Week 20: And I am 20!!

2-10-14

Hola Familia y Amigas,

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes!!

It was such a great day.  Hermana Taylor kept telling me that it kinda stinks because it is just a normal working missionary day, but she said she would try to make it the best. And she and you did and the ward did. It was just so fun!!! 

So first I woke up and got ready and then Hermana Taylor set up all my presents and a sign and I opened all of them in the morning. It was so fun.  I will be adding tons of pictures this week from last week as well!!

So thanks for the clothes and the candy and especially the necklace. I don´t know if you did this on purpose, you probably did, but you put 3 things about me in the necklace;  An infinity sign, which shows my love for math and the fact that I will be able to live with my family forever,  The starfish because the beach is my favorite place on earth, Then my purple birthstone. I also put in a one peso from Chile, because I just love my mission so much and the one pesos are so tiny!! Well thanks so much!

Then at church the elders told everyone that came into church that it was my birthday and the news spread like wildfire and I was sung to in Relief Society (The relief society pres. said, ¨You are really far from your family today, but today we are all your Moms¨ I almost broke down because they really do just love us and are so caring. I love this ward.) and then I had to go around to everyone in the room and salud them and give them a cheek kiss.  That was a little to many kisses for my taste, but it was fun.  

Then for lunch we ate at the Coronado house.  Their daughter Vicki, who is 23, is like my favorite person in Chile!! I love her so much! She added Mariah and me on facebook. So Mariah you need to accept her and accept her on my facebook. Please!!! Also the rest of you can add her and also see the videos and pictures from yesterday. She said she posted them!! I don´t know if here name on facebook is Vicky, Vicki, or Victoria. Well anyways we got to their house and we call Alo and then they didn´t answer for a long time and but we hear all this noise inside. Then the mom shows up in the window and is like wait one minute. They finally opened the door and there were a string of balloons and they have cake and they start singing when I come in.  And they are recording the whole thing!! They are the best.  If I ever come back or if you mom and dad come pick me up, this family is who I would stay with. They are the best.

Then we had a normal working day and then we finished planning really fast at night so that Hermana Taylor and I could have a fiesta. It was so fun and I have tons of videos, but you guys don´t get to see them for another year or so because the videos are always to many megabites for the email or something. But you will get to see them one day.

And then President and Hermana Arrington called and all of the elders in my zone called throughout the day and sang to me!! It was really fun!! Then today we met up with Hermana Ayuso and went to eat with here! It has only been two weeks but I missed her so much.  She is thinking about coming to study at BYU after the mission and I am continuing to convince her that she should!! 

Also one of the best parts was that it was warm and I am tan!!! That has never happened before on my birthday. I am already promising myself a birthday present in the future to come back to Chile on my birthday in like 5 or 10 years and go to the beach on my birthday!! I have never been able to do that before!!

Anyways it was so good!! And thanks for all of your letters and the package. I am glad I waited to open half of it for my birthday. 

Anyways for the rest of the week.  It was interesting. I have been kind of sick since the first week I have gotten here, just problems with the food and my stomach. I have kind of just gotten use to the pain and tried a few different pills and some help but not a lot, but this past week got pretty bad to the point that we had to come home early, so we called Hna. Balden the nurse and Hna. Taylor has been feeling the same way the past week, so Hna. Balden suggested we take ¨The Bomb¨ which I guess wipes out everything in your stomach and is a three day process and everything is just suppose to come out on the third day.  Gross I know right!!  Probably too much info. but I was really nervous for it this week, but I got super lucky because it worked and has made me feel better, but also I didn´t have to go through the whole third day.  It just felt better. I am still not one hundred percent but way better than I was and so is Hermana Taylor.  Well that was an interesting few days haha.

The other bummer or the week was that yesterday none of our investigators came to church and they all promised the day before that they would. That stunk. It is hard when that happens to not think that it is my fault and that I didn´t work hard enough. I know I can always be better, but others have their agency as well.  Although the really good news was that we had 3 less active families in church yesterday. That was awesome. One family we had visited for the first time on Saturday, because a member had told us about them and went with us to their house.  They had not been to church in like at least a year.  They went to all the classes and participated. It was really cool to see that, I know it strengthen the member that came with us and her testimony that she can make a difference and help others.

Also funny story. I woke on Saturday Morning and realized I still had my plaque on.  Went to sleep with it still on!!! YEAH 24 hour missionary.  And I have started having dreams where I am teaching lessons in my dreams...it is super weird! haha

Lastly, Happy Birthday Today Sister Goodfellow!!!  Love you!

Anyways this letter was a long one this week, so didn´t get to write any of you back, sorry!! Have a great week!

Con Amor,

Hermana Corbett

Week 19: Chile and their water

2-3-14

Hola Familia y Amigos,
So we did not go into Concé today, so we are a crappy cyber internet place here in Hualpen and so it is not letting me upload photos, but don´t worry I will send all the ones from today next week. 

So the two main photos I was going to send...

The first was from this morning when we went to the park to do our morning studies and it was the best!!!

So nice to just lay out in the sun.

The second picture was of his guy in a really construction looking outfit.  You will have to just wait and see, but it is a really weird outfit. And the first time I ever saw a guy in this outfit, I though they must have a really cool job.  Well I have realized that the job that this guy has and all the others you have to wear this dorky but kinda cool outfit is water the plants...seriously...just water the plants is all they do all day and they have to wear these really crazy full body protector yellow neon jumpsuits.  It bewilders me. I just don’t get it. I thought maybe they trim the trees and pull weeds and stuff like that too, but no they just water the plants.  Also Chile wastes so much water they seriously water everything till it is drowning in water. They even water just the dirt. I think it is because the whole country lives right along the Andes Mountains, so they have continual water runoff all year, so their water is really cheap.  All I know is that if the world ends up in a water shortage I am coming to Chile!! haha

Well not much to write this week.

Only that with the other Hermanas gone in our house, it is a lot quieter and we have been able to focus so much better.  So we have worked our bums off so hard this week and we have been lucky to get to be 30 mins early a few nights because we are just so exhausted. But we have seen the fruits of our labors and have found a family to teach this week and another man, Leonardo, who started to cry when we invited him to be baptized because he really does just want to be completely clean and change his life around and follow Christ. It was such an awesome experience.

Everyone go read Alma 26 because it is so good and probably my favorite Chapter right now.  Also we are expected to contact 140 people a week and everyone has been slacking the past few weeks, but this week Hermana Taylor and I got 202; which was probably the highest in the mission for this week!! So yeah, take that Satan.  haha

And by contacting was how we found Leonardo. He was waiting for a bus at a bus stop. Almost didn’t talk to him, but then I knew when it is the hardest and scariest to talk to someone, that is when I most need to do it.

Anyways love you all and got to go!! 

Choa,

Hermana Corbett

Cambios cannot split up the Dynamic Duo!!!

1-29-14

So cambios are tomorrow and we found out today what is going to happen and me and Hermana Taylor are still together, which will be our 3rd cambio which is pretty long in this mission!!! So crazy!! 

This cambio is going to be so much easier in some ways and so much hard in others.  It is going to be harder, because the six missionaries in our ward we have all gotten so so close, but one elder went home and the other hermanas were taken out of our ward, so it is just me and Hermana Taylor in the house and only hermanas in our zone, so if I ever need a break and talk to another hermana or ever another person I won´t be able to. We are really good friends, but still 24/7 can be really hard to be with anyone really.  I guess just preparing me for marriage.  The easy part is that Hermana Ayuso and Hermana Snyder had quite a few problems with health that we always had to help them with.  Hermana Snyder actually went home last Wednesday and that was really hard for all of us.  All four of us had gotten so close and I have realized looking back now that this past cambio has really been about helping Hermana Snyder.  So it will be easier to just focus on the work now!!  I am excited for this next cambio!

Well anyways, Hermana Raquel is still doing as great as ever and literally is the greatest!  Her visiting teachers are already visiting her, we are working on getting her a calling, and we keep visiting her and she just keeps suprising me ever week.  

Also Brooke asked me what a normal week is like. So I will try my best to explain. 

So almost every day is the same so here is a normal day!

7:30 wake up and exercise

8 get ready for the day

9 personal study (study PMG, conference talks, and the scriptures)

10 companion study (call members, and investigators, read the handbook, and then practice for our investigator lessons) Practices are so helpful but I hate doing them so much! This subject can be a whole other email.  "The pros and cons to practices"

11 Training Study ( done with this so now I do language study here)  I am a real missionary now!!!!

12-Work for an hour 

1- head towards lunch

1:30 Lunch

2:30 Head home form lunch

3- Language Study

3:30-10- On the street working!

10- Daily Planning

10:45 get ready for bed and eat dinner

11:30 lights out!!!

This is almost everyday accept P-day we had 2 hours of study in the morning and then have the whole day in Concepcion central and then work from 6:30 to 10

and then Tuesdays we have district class from 11 am until Lunch.  And then Sundays we have Church from 11:30 until 3ish and then lunch until 4 and then have weekly planning for 2 hours. And then go work until 10. So always working everyday!! But lots of other stuff that we do as well! 

Well I am out of time and I will end with a few pictures!! 

Love you all!!

Chao,

Hermana Corbett

Week 17: Raquel was baptized!!!!

Hola Familia y Amigas,                                                  1-20-14

So our investigator Raquel was baptized on Saturday and it was so awesome.  A few things went wrong, but we figured them out in the end.  Things always go wrong on baptism day, because Satan is going to try his hardest to make it not happen, but when they are truly prepared and ready it will happen and it did. Satan did not win or as Hermana Taylor says, "Take that Satan"  It has been so awesome to be a part of this experience to see someone change their life around and really want to do God's will and then get to see the happiness that comes into their life as a result. The gospel is true, and it really works!! Our convert Raquel is so awesome and she already has such a strong testimony. I know she was chosen. One thing that I have learned about those that are chosen is that we need to help them and teach them like every other investigator, but for the most part they are super easy and willing because they are ready to accept the gospel and change their lives.  

We have not found another apt. yet, but we are working on it.  We have been lucky this week because they have only come over like twice for a little bit.  So it was easier. 

My Spanish is coming and coming every day.  This past week, I think on like Tuesday, something just clicked a little more and I can talk pretty fast without even translating it.  Also knowing conjugation and tenses is coming faster too.  It just comes little by little. It don't get much time to study it because lunch always goes late, but I have realized the fastest way to learn a language is just by speaking it as much as possible.   

Yep I have almost 4 months, and sometimes it feels like I have been gone almost my whole life, but most of the time it feels like I have only been out like 2 months.  Time really just doesn't exist on the mission.  

And what is this whole thing with this Grant kid.  Mariah is always getting all the boys.  Mariah stop being so beautiful and awesome!!  haha just kidding...but really...

Also Mariah that is awesome that you get your license soon.  Practice driving on the freeway a lot and learn to parallel park like and pro like your older sister. They quiz you on that!

Raleigh sounds fun!!  I miss my niece and nephew, not that I have ever met Amelia or anything but I miss them and just being with kids in general!

Also is it still freezing up there, I heard that Niagara Falls froze is that true, because that doesn`t sound believable.  Anyways I hope you are staying warm while it is perfect weather down here in Chile.

Lastly I would just like to tell a little more about Raquel.  First off she is 53 and she already is a great grandma.  She was married at 14 and had her first daughter at 15. Crazy right?  She her husband left her when she was younger.  She has two daughters and then a son that passed away about 10 years ago.  She has smoked her whole life, but it got really bad when her son died. She has tried to quit smoking a few time over the past few years but it was never successful.  But through God she has been able to quit.  She also a big big jokester...so without further ado, here is the funny story of the week.  On Wednesday. Raquel had her interview for her baptism with our district leader Elder Jensen. They were in the interview for about 20 minutes and as she was coming out and down the hallway I asked how it went.  We had already gone over the questions with her and we didn't see any problems, but still this was really nerve racking. Well anyways she says Bad really bad.  And my heart just drops and I was like what! okay okay. It is okay. Then Elder Jensen just casually was like yeah she didn’t pass. There is just one small problem and it can be fixed easily and we will have another interview in a week.  Me and Hermana Taylor look at each other and we are like okay. awkward.  Then Raquel screams I passed and like falls over in here chair and almost falls out and I like almost screamed because it scared me. But it was so funny!! I guess Raquel said to elder Jensen right as they were leaving the room.  "Tell them I didn’t pass" And he went right along with it.  It was really good. I totally believed them!! We were all laughing for a while!!  Well anyways. Elder Jensen also baptized here and when he did her feet slipped out from under her. And she came up choking on water a little. But she was fine. It was pretty funny though.  The funniest part is that Elder Jensen is a really tall BYU football player and she is just a short little thing that I thought he would have been able to help her not slip, but I guess not. Maybe the height difference was the problem in the first place.  

And then we heart attacked her door because she was feeling really sick the night before and we wanted to give her some love and not let Satan win. 

Love you all so much and I love all the pictures!!!

Con Amor,

Hermana Corbett

p.s. I need all of your addresses, so I can send you letters for real!!!

Week 16:Nightmare en Chile!

Jan 13, 2014
Hola Familia y Amigas,

   So this week has been crazy crazy crazy.  For the first half of the week we hardly got to leave the house because our landlord is going all crazy and wants everything in our house to be fixed all at once.  Our house is really really gross and has so many problems, but I don´t know why he all of the sudden wants to fix everything.  Well anyways since we have like 4 different men coming over at random times throughout the week, we cant leave them in our house alone, and we can´t just have two of us hermanas there with him/them alone, so all four of us have to stay home.  We get members to come over for a couple hours at a time to stay with one of us while the other companionship goes and works, but it is hard enough to have members come out with us for a lesson for just an hour, imagine trying to get them to come over for a couple hours.  But we have been lucky in at least getting a member to come for our planned lessons with our investigators.  Also I think our landlord is doing this because he wants to kick us out after it is all done and rent it to someone else that will pay more.  So we are in the process of finding a new house.  

Also this week our investigator Raquel quit smoking!!!! Also she is getting baptized this Saturday.  So pray for her because she needs it and the strength to continue to not smoke and especially because this is the week right before their baptisms that Satan pulls out all the tricks.  She is really great though and I can see a light that is coming into her eyes as she changing things in here life to be more in line with the teachings of Christ. 

   Oh and by the way Move Along by All American Rejects is playing right now in the cyber.  It is so hard to not sing along.

   The Hermana that you said knows the Elder in your ward is Hermana Dunn and is coming to the mission next week. She is in the MTC right now.  I met her on facebook before I left. She is so great!

Mariah made a really good point this week that I would like to share a little bit about. The purpose of a missionary is to invite others to come unto Christ. The main word in that is "Others" it does not say non members, but others, which means that when we are friendshipping less actives and strengthening and teaching other members and serving our family, even in just the smallest ways, we are doing missionary work.  That is a big focus in my mission especially because here in Chile only 10 percent of the members are active, so we have a long long list of people that are baptized but that have not come to church for years.  We run into them on the street all the time. It is quite funny actually.  We will be contacting them and after like 2 minutes they will be like oh I am actually a member. And I am like why didnt you tell us that in the first place.  So here we focus on finding new people to help them to make the covenant of baptism, but helping to reactivate someone is just as important, because everyone’s salvation is equally important. And there is no point in only focusing on new members because then we are just creating more less active members.

  Oh gosh Kelly Clarkson "My life would suck without you" is on. Ahhh this place is killing me!!!

  Oh and by the way I vote for moving to St. George!!  If it were my way you would move to St. George but you would wait until I get home, because I want to go home to VA.  But we all know that my way or your way is never the best. God´s way is always better.

Logan: I always love random thoughts, so keep them coming. My letters are always just a bunch of random thoughts.

Mariah: I want to help out Connie at here ranch when I get back too. It would be so fun!

Austin: Parcour Hardcore

Well I love you guys a lot and thanks for all of your love!!!

Con Amor,

Hermana Corbett

p.s. Mom can you send me the bishops and stake presidents emails and send me all of the emails of all the missionaries in our ward that are out right now!! thanks!