"tenemos una nalca.."

I don't have very much time, but I just wanted to mention a few things that have happened in the past couple of weeks. 

Two Fridays ago, we had an activity/noche de hogar in the capilla. Two brothers taught the lesson and I sang 'A Child's Prayer' with the youngest brother. The activity was super great and our investigators M and G (her son) came and really enjoyed it. They also came to a baptism that we had in the branch this past Saturday and G assisted church on Sunday.

At the beginning of this week, the branch went to the temple in Santiago.. it's a 12 hour bus ride there and back. Hermana Chilan and I really wanted to go, but then we took a bus to Osorno (like an hour) and already felt awful so probably best that we couldn't, haha. Sometimes I forget how far people have to travel in other parts of the world to be able to attend the temple. Then I heard some of the members say that it wasn't even far and there are a ton of other people who have to travel days.. it's just really humbling. A family from the branch was sealed during the trip and they came back absolutely full of the Spirit. They were all literally glowing. It was such an amazing experience to be able to hear their testimonies and hear them share their experiences. I will definitely never forget it. The gospel is incredible and I truly know with all my heart that families can be eternal.

On Sunday there was also a baby blessing in the branch and so many people assisted sacrament meeting. We didn't even have electricity and I think it was the fullest I've seen the chapel. There were 8 investigators and my companion and I died and went to heaven basically. We were overjoyed. Sunday evening we did divisions with Hermana Rivero and Hermana Jones and we had an activity in Llanquihue to pass out invitations for the open house that we are going to have in the capilla this coming Saturday. Hermana Rivero and I went out together and it was super fun to work with her again. We got talking with some guys that were selling Nalca (giant rhubarb).. and they ended up giving one to Hna. Rivero.. so we walked around with a giant stalk of rhubarb and it was hilarious. It looks like the arm of some creature.

Anyway.. that's all I've got for you folks this week! Que tengan una buena semana! 

Love,

Hermana Sessions

Si es que dudas pide a Dios

Well.. we did lots of divisions with members this week and I stayed in the house with Hna. Carol (there's a photo of us together) and a migraine. Yesterday I played guitar for the YW so they could sing "Ask of God" from the EFY album this year. It was cute! 

More next week!

Love,

Hermana Sessions

No time..

We were able to find the sweetest 15 year old girl this Friday.. and to be honest I was having a hard day. After my meltdown (yes I melted down) we didn't have anything super planned and were going to contact or knock doors (even though my eyes were super red and puffy and I would have probably scared the people away.) As we were walking near the capilla we found a member with her friend on their way to the church to play basketball. Since we noticed that her friend wasn't a member we decided to join them. **WE ARE TERRIBLE BASKETBALL PLAYERS. They creamed us! I don't even remember what the score was, but it didn't matter much because we started to do a CCAE while we were playing and when we finished we taught the Restoration. 

It was one of the most spiritual lessons we've taught in several days, and maybe even one of the top three most spiritual lessons that I've taught on the mission. She was so attentive the entire time and the Spirit was so strong and we were just sitting out there on the court in the sun sharing the most beautiful message. She told us that she had felt something super warm and special when we shared with her the first vision and she didn't stop smiling the entire time. At the end of the lesson she said the closing prayer and she thanked Heavenly Father for having met us and for the things that she was able to learn from us and then prayed that she would be able to have a wonderful experience on Sunday (because she said yes to our invitation to attend church and be baptized.) After such a bad day, we were literally overjoyed!

Up until.. Satan got in the way and we received a text message from her Saturday night saying that her parents didn't give her permission and someone in her family told her that if she was baptized Evangelica then that is her religion and she can't be baptized again. Then she apologized for deceiving us and thanked us for our time and for sharing the gospel and playing basketball with her. She wasn't able to come to church on Sunday either. I've felt so sick to my stomach. UGH! I really just want to be able to help people in these kinds of situation because it was such an obstacle for me, but I can't take away the agency of her parents, I can only empathize with cute V and pray that their hearts will be changed and that everything will come to pass in the Lord's due timing.

More next week.. (we sure hope haha)

Love, 

Hermana Sessions

(I do have lots of food in my mouth in the picture but also I'm just a little puffy)

¿como están?

I really am sorry it's been so long! I don't have very good excuses for you, so I'll just say I'm sorry.

I feel like this week has been super long. We had zone conference last Tuesday, but I feel like it was like a month ago. We haven't been able to get ahold of our investigator D who had a baptismal date for this coming Saturday, so we haven't taught him or his friend this week.. and well, he no longer has a baptismal date for this Saturday. Nor we have we been able to teach our investigator L or our investigator I.. and not one of them came to church this week. They're all just kind floating.. not really progressing very much at the moment. But the good news is, is that a Hna. Carol told us that our investigator I asked her granddaughter who is Mormon what would happen if she got baptized in the Mormon Church, which means she's thinking about it.

We have a new ward mission leader and he's really quite animated. He has lots of good ideas and really wants to help us with the missionary efforts here in Llanquihue, so that's great. Our last meeting with him was super detailed and we accomplished a lot. We're going to have a big family home evening as a branch so that we can invite out investigators so that they can familiarize themselves with the church, get to know the members, and feel the Spirit. We're trying to include lots of the members who don't always participate in or come to the activities, so we've put two brothers of a family in the branch (21 and 19ish) in charge of the lesson, and Hna. Chilan and I are going to do a musical number with the youngest brother. They are going to teach about the families and prayer and we're really excited because it should be awesome!

We found some good nuevos this week too and one of the investigators that went to the Capilla Abierta that we had on Saturday in Puerto Varas is from Llanquihue and she has a lot of interest, so we are going to try really hard to work with her as well. Our branch is super animated lately! The members are always offering to help us with our citas and in Ward Council they were really wanting to work hard in every aspect. So the branch is progressing.. haha! That's good news! Soon to be the Llanquihue ward. 

For now.. that's about all I can think of. Really I can't remember what in the world we did this week. It feels like it's been a lot longer than a week.. probably because I haven't written a group email in almost a month.. that could definitely be it! I really am sorry!

I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

hugs,

Hermana Sessions

p.s. enjoy the pictures of me attemptimg to be a thug (flaite) 

Long time no email..

Well hello there.. I'm sorry it's been a little while. I'm not the best at emailing. Especially when there's not a whole ton to share. It's been an interesting week for me. So as you might guess, I really don't have a ton to share with you, but we had a really great day Saturday.. that's for sure. We talked for quite a while on Friday night about the week because it really just wasn't very great. We were both really bummed out for the week we had had and we decided we needed to turn it around.

 On Saturday we worked really, really hard and were pretty much contacting all day long. But we talked to tons of people and set a bunch of citas.. found three new investigators and taught a lesson to an investigator we have named D. He has been investigating the Church for a long time. He is really good friends with the family that pretty much is the rama here in Llanquihue. He is seriously such a great kid and is really so prepared already. We taught him and his friend Francisco the Doctrine of Christ with a member who is also really good friends with them and it was a really spiritual lesson. The Spirit was so strong and I know that they both felt it. Hermana Carol (the member that was with us) said after the lesson that she would have gotten baptized haha. 

We even put D with fecha (o sea a baptismal date) for the 21st of October, and even though he's had fecha before I really feel like this could be it. That it's his time. He seemed really sure of it during the lesson and he and Francisco both came to church on Sunday and stayed the whole time. D says that his family is the problem. He has permission to be baptized from his legal guardian, but his extended family are evangelicos and he's worried they'll get mad and stop talking to him. I shared my experience and testimony with him, but I really hope that we can help him so that he can get baptized in the next few weeks. I really feel like it's his time. 

This week it was amazing to see how thoroughly the Lord fulfills His promises. When Hermana Chilan and I decided we needed to change some things and when we really put forth our full effort and all of our heart, He blessed us immensely. We went from having a pretty awful week to a miraculous day solely because we took the time to acknowledge our mistakes, repent, and change our attitudes. He always does His part.. we just have to make sure we're doing ours. 

Anyway.. that's what I have to share with you all this week. Sorry that I have been so off the map lately haha. I hope you all have an amazing week! 

Lots of love,

Hermana Sessions

p.s. I don't have pictures this week.. lo siento mucho. Also I have to sing and play the guitar in zone conference in a couple weeks.. I haven't played the guitar in over a year.. wish me luck.. or even better, pray for me. 

Feliz 18 de Septiembre

Well it's Chile's Independance Day.. so I won't be writing until Wednesday.. 

Love you all very much! 

Talk to you soon!!

Love,

Hermana Sessions

21

Well.. I'm legal. I will now, post-mission, be able to enter a bar and order a lemonade.. maybe even with two lemon wedges. Woot woot! 

This week was honestly really great. I waited for my companion for a little over two hours in the terminal in Puerto Montt, but I got to see Hermana Roney and Hermana Hanosek before they took of for Punta Arenas. When my companion showed up, I was really confused because at first glance I thought she was gringa, but President had told me she was from Uruguay so I wasn't sure she was the right one. 

Well, I guess I should tell you all a little about my hija.. her name is Hermana Chilán and she is from Uruguay. She recently turned 19 but she's sure got it all together. She plays piano really well, and can play a handful of other instruments as well.. and she speaks FIVE languages.. including English (which is probably the language that she speaks the least). Oh and she already served a mini mission for a total of 7 months in Uruguay. 

So long story short.. I'm not sure my trainee needs a trainer. SHE'S SO GOOD, de verdad. I mean.. it was a relief to know that I would be training a Latina.. because I knew she would already be able to communicate and I wouldn't have to teach her Spanish. I'm not really sure that I have to teach her anything. I'm pretty sure she's teaching me. I feel like I'm in my training. Maybe I should just resign, and she can take my position as mom.

She is a great missionary. She really amazes me! She's way more capable than me, but we make a good team. Even though she likes to talk and is capable of doing it all on her own, she's not the type to teach a lesson by herself and we've really taught in unity this past week. We taught the Restoration to a new investigator this week and it was such a spiritual lesson. She totally felt the Spirit, I could see it in her eyes, but she still didn't quite understand what she was feeling. 

I also planned five citas in 30 minutes. I've been trying to be a little bit more creative lately.. it's not the easiest thing for me, but I've had this impression/idea to call all of the numbers in our cellphone that are listed as investigators for several weeks now. I wanted to do it with Hermana Rivero, but we never got around to it. Well this week I finally gave it a try and even though more than half didn't answer and about a quarter didn't want anything to do with us.. but there were 5 former investigators that were super happy to hear from us and we were able to schedule citas with each of them. 

The day of my birthday was honestly kind of lame. I just wasn't really feeling it. One of the cute hermanas in our branch, Hermana Carol,  called me super early in the morning to wish me a happy birthday, which was super sweet. The rest of the day was just really weird. We taught a woman who was super evangelica and didn't really let us teach her. She changed the subject so many times we finally just left her with a pamphlet and a prayer. Later we were knocking doors when two women from the Red Cross in Chile came up to us and asked us if we were from the Mormon Church. We said yes and they introduced us to a cute, little, old lady who needed some company. While we were conversing with her an inactive member knocked on the door and wanted to join the conversation. It was really interesting, and I think Hermana Chilán was a little scared by him.

We were supposed to have our meeting with our ward mission leader at 7:30 and we were going to do it at his house. Well we got there and he told us that he forgot to tell us, but that he and his family were getting ready to leave. Then he said he was just messing with us and let us inside. When I stepped inside there were balloons and his cute family was there waiting to wish me a happy birthday. They threw me a little surprise get together and his wife made really good pizza. It was the cutest, sweetest thing ever and really made my birthday special. 

I'm so out of time.. so so incredibly out of time. But yesterday in our Gospel Principles class we talked about our Heavenly Father. It was a short, simple class.. but probably one of the most powerful classes we've had. We talked about all of the blessing that He has given us and continues to give, and about His perfect plan. He loves you all more than you will ever be able to comprehend. Each of you is a son a daughter of God. He knows you perfectly!  He sent His Son so that we can all return to His presence someday. He wants us to succeed. "For behold, this is my work and my glory —to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." I know that He lives, and the He loves His imperfect children perfectly. 

I love you all! Have a great week!

hugs,

Hermana Sessions