Week 30: I AM GOING TO BE A MOM!!!!

Hola Familia y Amigas,

Congrats Heidi!!!!!!  Also congrats Amber!!  I hope your days were so special!!  I am so bummed that I missed out!  But I have been blessed beyond belief here in Chile!!

This week has been the best week ever on the mission!!!!!!

Hna. Phelps and I have worked so hard but even more than that we have been trying to work really smart too.  And it has been so great, we have been doing the work, but have been making it fun too!!! Our main focus this week has been the recent converts and getting them involved with all of the other members and already visiting our other investigators with us and having family nights with them and other families. Also the branch is growing like weeds!! When I got here to Bulnes we had 40-45ish in the church.  Last Sunday we had 68 in church!!! It has been so great to see the progress of the branch!!!

The news is that we have cambios tomorrow and I am going to get an hija!!! I am going to train!!  AHHHAHAHAH! This is a scream of excitement and of me freaking out!! I don´t know if I can do this, but I guess God thinks I can.  So I will be relying on him a lot this next cambio.  This also means that I need prayers now more than ever before!!!  I don´t know if I want a gringa or a latina more. I am freaking out.  It will all work out!!!

Thanks for all of the pictures of the wedding!!!

So now I owe you guys.

Week 29: Miracle after Miracle!!!

4/14/14

Hola Familia y Amigas,

So I don´t have any time left like every other week because I like to read and write back personal emails!!  Next week I will start with my main email.

So this week will be very condensed versions of 3 miracles I have seen this week!!  If I can even write condensed!! haha

So first I was really wanting to get my package last week (the last time someone in my zone would be going to the office to grab all the mail before the wedding) so that I could wear the bridesmaid dress on the wedding.  Well it was not to the office yet, so I was out of luck!!  Well miracle is that one of the Elders in my branch right now got a spider bite and had to go to Concepcion to the doctor and they stopped at the office and my package was there so they brought it to me this week!! I am so grateful for SPIDERS!!! haha

Second, Eva our investigator, if you remember,  lives solo with 5 kids and lives 3 minutes away with an extra 50 minutes of walking to the church.  She came again to church with 4 of her kids, all under the age of 9, and had stepped on a nail a few days previous and had a very hurt foot.  She is a champ and I love her!!!

Third, I lost my agenda a week ago on a bus which had like my whole life in it.  Like everything.  I prayed to find the next time we rode that bus.  I had the faith to find and it was not there.  Well I also had the faith to except God’s will.  But then yesterday I thought about it again and I was like.  I could still find it through a miracle.  I still have the faith to find it!!!  Well in Church, Evas oldest daughter tells me that one of her friends found an agenda that looks like the ones we have and I was like that is mine!!!!!  She is going to get it from her friend today and give it to me tomorrow!!!! MIRACLE?  DUH!!!!

I love this gospel and I love all of you!!!!! Have a great week at the wedding!!!

XOXOXOXO Hermana Corbett!!

I have a butt load of pictures to send next week, but only if I get a butt load of the wedding in return!!!!  Mom is not the only one responsible for sending pictures!!

Week 28: False Alarm

4/7/14

Hola Familia y Amigos,

  So we got a call at 10:15 Wednesday night (I think) from our district leader and he said, "Are you guys in the house?" and we said "No but we are headed there."  Our schedule is that you have to be home between 10 and 10:30, no earlier no later.  Well anyways he goes on to say that there was an earthquake up north that was really big and it was going to hit us at 11 so we need to be in the house as soon as possible.  Well we obviously went straight to the house and did our planning and got ready for bed and I was in my bed by 11 writing in my journal waiting for this earthquake.  I have only felt one so far in Chile and I wanted to feel another one.  Well it never came.  Not even a single shake.  I was a little bummed, but I guess that was actually a blessing that nothing happened!   So the earthquake was really far away up north so don´t even worry about me!!! 

  So conference was so good, right?  I didn´t get as much out of it as I normally do because I listened to the whole thing in Spanish but I still really enjoyed it. My favorite this year was by Bishop Gary E. Stevenson, about the Bobsledding and your 4 minutes here on Earth.  It is pretty much the best Plan of Salvation analogy ever!! I also really like David A. Bednars talk on the Atonement and Repentance.  I can`t wait to get the ensign to read them all over again!!!

I am glad you all enjoyed conference too!!  That is too bad that the Lake was cold.  It is getting pretty cold down here too! We were freezing in the church building almost the entire conference.  

The other down side to conference was that we had like 20 people (investigators, less actives, recent converts) committed to come to at least one of the 4 sessions.  And we only had 3 of those show up.  And only one was an investigator.  Most of investigators right now live in Santa Clara the little town that is 20 minutes away. So they always have a hard time coming.  A few of them tried to come, but then a bus never passed on the freeway for like 40 minutes and then we have not been able to get a hold of them again.  So that is too bad.  I kind of broke our hearts yesterday, because they had already walked the 30 minute walk to the freeway and Sunday morning session would have been so great for them and they never came.  It is just a little frustrating!  At least they can watch it later on the internet...

Well I am glad that everything for the wedding is coming along!! I am excited to hear about everything coming together!! And can´t wait to see all of the pictures!!!

Love you tons,

Hermana Corbett

p.s. sorry if my English is horrible. It is getting harder and harder to talk and write in English!  Hopefully that means my Spanish is getting better!

Week 27: The Panda Express...not what you think!

3/31/14

Hola Familia y Amigas,

So MARIA AND ELIBETH WERE BAPTIZED!!!!

It was so awesome!!! They are so great!!! It is wierd because I am so excited that they got babptized and I have been so excited for them! Although I will be honest I have not felt like I thought I would for all of the baptisms I have had.  I am just not as happy as I thought I would be for it.  This has really confused me, and then I realized something, it is just a different happiness.  I thought I would feel this extreme happiness and be super proud of all of the hard work I had done and feel the happiness when you win an award or something.  But that is not it at all!!  That is such worldly happiness and comes from praise for hard work, which is great.  But the happiness that comes from baptisms and seeing children of God change their lives is a eternal sweet spirtual joy.  And it really is not from my extra hard work, but their hard work in changing and following Christ.  It am just the guide and they do all of the work and I just get to be in the front seat to watch it.  And also I feel like it is not my sucess because I work just as hard when we have no one to teach, as when we have 20.  It is really humbling and none of this is my sucess. It is all the Lords!!!

Valentina was baptized this last Friday too!!!  Leonardo I guess was not baptizd in the end and Hna. Najera can´t find him anymore.  Ahhhh  Snap Leonardo get your head in the game!!

Anyways prayer works. There is a talk by Elder Holland he tells us that the most quoted phrase in all of scripture from Genesis to the Pearl of Great Price is "ask and ye shall recieve." Its time to stop quoting it and start living it. Do we ask expecting to recieve? We put Elder Hollands challenge to work this week. There is a single mom named Eva who lives in none other than Santa Clara (A little town with nothing other than houses about 20 minutes down the freeway from Bulnes). She has 5 kids under the age of 12. It was POURING and freezing on Saturday. We called her and asked her how her animo was for church. She said if its still raining they probably wouldnt be able to come. So I told her we´d pray for sun. We did. Sunday morning we woke up to a sunny crisp day. We called her at 8:20 (remember she lives in Santa Clara which is a 20 minute walk, 20 minute bus ride, and another 30 minute walk to the church from the freeway). She said the kids weren´t waking up, and she didnt sound out of bed either. We invited her to remember the blessings of church then said see ya later. Right after that, I felt like praying. I prayed that she would find the animo and desires to make it to church. I got a call at 10:00 from Iris, the 9 year old, "we´re on the side of the freeway waiting for a bus" AHHH how great was my joy!  I excitedly told her that the next bus passes at 10:20 ( We know that from the day that Natalia missed the 9:20 bus). They said they´d wait until 10:30. We were sitting in church and realized that we have to do OUR part too, expecting that God will answer our prayers. The chapel was FILLED, so we went around and set up more chairs and opened up a divider. They took a taxi to the plaza, but didint know where the church was (2 blocks away) so we ran and found them. How great seriously was our joy! They made it jsut in time to say Amen to the closing prayer. I was so humbled, I lacked the faith, when we called at 8:20 in the morning, I thought there was no way that she would be able to wake up, dress 5 kids, walk to the freeway with those 5 kids and get to church. But I also believe in the power of prayer, and I know that God was listening and he keeps his promises. Ask, and ye shall recieve. He provided the way to help His children accomplish the task that he had asked. He provided the sun too.

So last week we went to Chillan and went to the market which has the best souveniors in all of the mission, so if you want anything I need to get it now because I wont have the chance later! It was so fun and I am already getting a few things for each of you. Well anyways it was great and Hna. Phelps told me you can´t barter them down, then someone else said I could.  I have never bartered before, but I thought I will start trying now, I mean I have the power of the Lord.  So I bartered on everything I got and I won everytime.  originally it was all about 34 dollars, but I got it down to 25 in the end!  yeah.  One lady would not drop the price for nothing so I left that shop then I cam back because what I wanted, I decided was worth the full price.  But this time there was a guy their.  I think he was in love with my eyes or something because I had him hypnotized and he dropped the price instantly for me.  I hurried and made the purchase before  the lady could come back out!! haha Hna. Phelps was laughing so hard at how I did that and was getting really good at bartering!! haha

MADISON IS COMING TO CHILE!!!!! That is so awesome!!!! the South mission has the same office as us so if she ever serves close to the office at the same time as me, we will definitely see each other!!! I will have to leave her something in the office for when she arrives!!!! Send her my email so I can make sure she brings all the things she needs!!!! Ahahah that is so awesome!!!! I am so excited for her!  Brooke you just need to get called down here as well!

So the Panda Bus story.  So we were leaving the little town of Santa Clara one day and we were waiting for a bus by the freeway.  And then a bus starts pulling up and it says Panda Bus on the front and has little ears on the side.  I was like umm this is a little non professional.  Then I see it start to slow down for us and I realized there is no one on the bus except the driver. Yeah sketchy or what?  Hna. Phelps then says, "I have heard about this bus".  And then as it pulls up she hopes on.  I am thinking, "What in the heck are you doing?"  But I couldn´t leave her so I hopped on as well!  Yeah so the driver was really talkative but weird and he got mad at us because we are not Hna. Fransen.  And then he starts pulling into Bulnes and he passes our apts. so we ask him to stop and let us off and he is like, "this is illegal, but okay hurry."  We then try to hand him our money and he wouldn´t take and so we get off and he heads on.  All I can think is, "THAT WAS NOT LEGIT AT ALL" I told Hna. Phleps that we should probably not take that bus again.  Then she said, "Yeah we are, it was free and it was fast!"

Love you guys so much!! Have a great week!!

Still need your addresses ya bums!!

Con amor,

Hermana Corbett

Week 26: 6 MONTHS TOMORROW!!!

3-24-14

Hola Familia y Amigas,

So happy half birthday to Amelia tomorrow!  Ahhahah I only have a year left!! That is so crazy!! It doesn´t make since at all in my brain.  It feels like I am about 1/5th of the way through my mission, not 1/3rd.  I am going to be home in no time!!  AHhh!

Also Monica from my old sector was baptized this past week, and I think Leonardo was baptized on Saturday and I think Valentina is going to be baptized this upcoming Saturday as well!! We are also planning on a baptism of Maria, the grandma, and Elibeth, the granddaughter this weekend!!! We are so excited for them!  And Elibets mom Janella wants to get baptized too but she has to wait for the divorce papers before getting remarried again.  This family is awesome and has so much faith!!!! They are so great!  Also we had 7 investigators in church yesterday and 3 recent converts.  For only having 55 people total in the branch yesterday, they are 1/5th of the branch! haha  It is just so awesome to see the progress!  And I don´t feel like it is even me doing it.  I cannot take the credit at all!  It is all the Lords work and these people are just amazing and it is their time to accept the gospel!  They have been prepared!

So dad has been telling me about how the missionary work is progressing so much in Manassas and also in the Spanish Branch! That is so awesome!  And it makes me so proud that you guys are doing your part to share the gospel with your friends and neighbors.  Sometimes I feel like the biggest work I am doing on the mission and biggest change I am making is with you guys back home!! You guys have sent me so many little missionary experiences you have had!  I just love it so much and it just makes me so happy!!!!

So a little more about Hermana Phelps.  She looks and has the mannerisms of Carly and Mary Blodgett combined.  It freaks me out sometimes. And she talks and laughs like my roommate Courtnee.  This freaks me out even more!!!  She is so hilarious, and I love her and we just crack jokes all of the time and teach in unity and are just really good friends.  She is the best and I love her even more because she even thinks I am funny!  Or she might just be laughing at me not with me, who knows? haha

Wow I can´t believe it is still snowing there!! That is crazy!!! Here it is starting to cool down; Bulnes is hotter than Villa Acero, so still having really nice autumn days, like today!! But I know it is going to get really cold and rainy here soon!! 

Well I love you guys so much! You guys are so great! Keep writing me!

Heidi and Amber I want to know the updates on the weddings!

Abby and Logan, I want to know how my niece and nephew are doing and of course you guys too!

And of course for the rest of you I want to know anything that you are willing to tell me!!

Week 25: We are baptizing missionaries!!!

3/17/14

Hola Familia y Amigas,

So I am now in the little town of Bulnes about 30 minutes from Chillan which is a big city. I am about an hour to an hour and a half from Concepcion.  I am in Chillan right now and we are going to go to a market to look for all of the coolest souvenirs and stuff in Chile.  I guess this market is one of the best in Chile. Better than in Concepcion.  

Anyways Bulnes is so so different from Hualpen.  Hualpen was so busy all of the time and loud and rich.  And the ward was like 140 people which was really big.  Here in bulnes it is so tranquilo, and calm and the sky is so so gorgeous!!  I can actually see the stars and the moon has been gorgeous recently!  Ahahah!  

Also my comp is Hermana Phelps, she is 24 and she is from Wisconsin and has a little over a year on the mission, The exact same as Hermana Taylor and Najera.  haha Also another insanely crazy similarity of all of my comps even Hermana Weller is that there dad has had at least one other child from a previous marriage.  All of them!! That is not a common thing folks. It kind of freaks me out, but is also really cool!!

So here in Bulnes we don´t have a ward, it is only a branch and is super small.  I counted only 40 people in church yesterday, really small.  We pretty much run the church. All of the members are not super strong. Even the really strong faithful families have gone off the deep end at times and stopped coming.  I guess the president of the branch was really tired a few weeks ago and even he didn´t come to church.  It is crazy and a lot of the branches out here in the country are only held together with a few members and the missionaries.  Also to prove this, me and the other new missionary we assigned to give the talks for our first weeks in the branch.  They really are the best welcoming party!!! haha Well that was my first real talk in Spanish. It was like 10 minutes I think and it was really good I think!  At least Hermana Phelps said it was. It was actually almost easier in Spanish because my Spanish is so slow that I only have to prepare a 5 minute talk in English and then when I say it in Spanish it is magically 10 minutes!! Yeah!  I talked about Enduring to the End!  I based it off of lesson 3 in preach my gospel and the talk in this past conference by Richard J Maynes, which is my favorite talk of the century by the way!!  So you should all go read it! Or listen to it for Family Home Evening!  That is your homework this week.

Oh and Dad asked how my apt. is.  It is bigger than the last one, but like all missionary apt. in Chile, it smells so awful!  Also it is just the two of us in the house, but last cambio there were four, so there is so much junk and nasty food that they left behind. So gross!! I really just want to take a blow torch to all the nastiness in the house! haha

So our mission right now is baptizing so many 17, 18, 19 year olds right now that are wanting to go on missions themselves!! It is crazy!!!! Valentina who is 18,  who is getting baptized on the 29th of Marzo. (Pray for her).  She asked me the day she left, if it was possible for her to go on a mission in the future.  I was like "UMM...YEAH!!!!"  And then here in Bulnes, Nataila who was baptized on the 9th of March is 19 and she is planning on going on a mission. And we are teaching a 16 year old boy right now,  Rodrigo, and a 16 year old girl, Camila.  And they are not just normal people we teach, they are incredible!!  Incredible!! Camila accepted a Challenge from young woman’s to apply the atonement in her life this week and she went and she with 3 of her non member friends about the gospel and the atonement!! ahah she is great!!  And I have heard of so many other missionaries in the mission baptizing youth that want to go on missions!!  Just think if we all baptize just one youth, our missionary force will double in just one year!! Hastening of the work? Yeah I think so!

So I will end with the most embarrassing story ever!!  This is just to remind you all how dumb and blonde I am.  I am a missionary now, but I am still me.  haha   So last week, I was downloading a picture from the conference we had last week.  The email had three different pictures with everyone in the mission. And at the same time I was still sending you guys pictures, and I wanted to add one more, so I click reply to all and then sent the picture thinking I was sending it to you guys.  Two seconds later I realize that I had replied to all to the email that was sent out to every missionary in the mission!! That is 200+ people!!  I went bright red!! It was just a dumb picture of me at the zoo and now everyone in the mission has it. As I left the cyber a few of the other missionaries were like hey I just got a picture of you, I don’t really know why. Then they would just laugh, I got quite a few response this week with question marks and comments from my friends.  In the end everyone just got a good laugh at how dumb I am!!  Yeah this will go down in mission history.  Even the assistants got a kick out of it!! haha yeah!  Why was I born blonde? hah jk!

Love you guys so much,

and have a great week!! 

Xoxo Hermana Corbett

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