Week 41: Just call me one-transfer Kate!

HIIIIIII

whats up everyone

first things first, we got our TRANSFERS on Saturday! and you'll never believe it, but I am getting transfered! I am heading down south, to the city of TEMUCO! I've never been to Temuco but I have heard its a city bigger than Los Angeles and smaller than Concepcion. I'm super excited, I am going to be companions with Hermana Loor from Ecuador! She just finished her training so its going to be fun. Hermana Freitas is being transfered too! She is going to serve in Avenida Alemania, my first area. Transfers are crazy but I am excited to finally see another part of the mission! Wooooo. Temuco here I comeeeee.

This week was so so so crazy. So much happened! First of all, We had an open house this Saturday at the church! It was a big deal, all of the organizations set up these stands, there were refreshments and banners and it was a HUGE SUCCESS! We had about 100 people (members, less actives, and non members) come through the doors! We were so suprised because they have done this huge open house in lots of different wards here in Chile, and they haven't had too much success. But, ours was definitely a success. As the Sister Missionaries, our job was to bring the people into the Sacrement room, and give them a brief overview. Then, we walked with them around the Cultural Hall and taught about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. I was super nervous at first, because some of the groups had like 20 people! But, it was actually super cool. My spanish was okay and I was able to teach and testify and the people understood. What a cool experience!

The next day was Sunday, and the missionaries got to do a special sacrament meeting. We took a vote to see who had to speak, and OF COURSE I got voted to do so. I had been having an emotional day, because transfers are HARD and its super sad to say goodbye to everyone, and so as I was finishing my talk, I said, "well, I feel like I just got here (because I did) and I'm super sad that now I have to say goodbye" And as I looked out into the audience, I saw this cute 9 year old girl who's been a member for about 6 months. She's the cutest and follows us around everywhere and is always hugging us and she's just a doll. Anyways, I make eye contact with this cute little girl, and she bursts into tears. Which makes me start crying. So I'm up on the stand, crying, and then I can't remember any spanish, so I say "Thank you, Amen" hahahhaa it was so embarassing. So I sit down and Catalina comes running up and sits by my side and she wouldn't stop sobbing and it was just the most tender and sad moment of my whole entire mission.

but its okay, because once we finish writing we are going to eat lunch with them. :)

I'm actually super sad to be leaving San Martin! I have only been here for about a month and a half, but I think its my favorite ward so far and its been hard to say goodbye to all the members. Thats whats lame about the mission, once you get comfortable, TRANSFERS.

but, I know that Temuco is EXACTLY where I am needed and that there are lots of new adventures waiting for me there. its going to be so exciting.

 

I love it here SO MUCH. The mission is the greatest thing in the world and I can't believe that I have already been out for 10 months. AHH!

peroooooo espero que todo esta bien y tendran una buena semana.

con amor,

hermana poyfair 

ps this morning we went bowling and I won

Week 40: Cleanliness is next to... well you know..

hi friends!

what a week.

okay so lets see.

So last monday after pday we went to visit the mom of this missionary that left last week. She was SO sweet, and is missing her son ALOT! We made pancakes and she cried and told us stories about her son and it made me so sad. But the pancakes were yummy and it was a real good time. We told her that we could be her daughters while her son is gone. 

This next Saturday we are going to be doing a open house in our Chapel! We had a ward activity this last week to clean that whole church, and 10 people showed up, and six of us were missionaries. hahah. We cleaned about 300 chairs and were there for about 6 hours. it was crazy but they look great and the church is going to look beautifulllll

After we finished cleaning, we had a lesson with an investigator that we found about 2 weeks ago. Her name is Diana and she is AWESOME! at first, our lesson was awkward. like, we were fighting to find the words and weren't sure what to teach her. I was praying SO HARD for the Spirit. It was so cool to watch the lesson change, as the spirit started to guide us. We talked about the Holy Ghost and how we as members of the church came to know it was true. We were all crying as she said to us, "i'm going to pray, and I think I am going to find the answer I am looking for." THIS CHURCH IS TRUE

We have also been teaching English here in this ward! Our first two weeks, we had about 2 people show up. But, on Saturday, there were 11 people in this class! Thats a lot. English is a complicated language and i am glad I am learning spanish and not english. 

Yesterday we had lunch with this family that lives out in the countryside. They are like super super rich. They have a pool and a MANSION seriously. this lady is the sister of one of my favorite ladies in my old ward, and they suprised me yesterday! They were all there, waiting for us. It was so fun. We ate and then made bread and cake and talked and enjoyed the RAIN.

I dont feel like its ever going to stop raining here.

oh! and today we had a zone activity. it was called "Christmas in October". We made gingerbread houses and had a white elephant gift exchange and It made me SO STINKING EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS.

two more months!

hope you all had just a great week.

I love you! 

love hermana poyfair

Week 39: Sent from my Ipad

thats a joke. I don't have an Ipad here.

This week was definitely a week.

Ups and downs, like always. 

lets see, what happened. 

Tuesday was a little bit of a crazy day! After our lunch, we went to visit one of our investigators, this super old catholic lady. I'm pretty sure she doesn't understand anything we say, but she's nice and always sits and listens like she understands. Well, on Tuesday her niece was there with her! Her niece is this really sweet lady, passing through some real hard times. She has 7 kids, who all live in Argentina with her ex-boyfriend. She gets to see them like once a year, maybe. 

It was super awkward because her aunt began to critcize her in front of us, saying that a mom should never abandon her kids and that it was unfair and all of this random stuff. it was super sad, Janet began to cry! Well, my companion, being the smart Brazilian she is, told me to teach Janet while she distracted Maria. I felt impressed to share about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and it was seriously incredible this lesson. She began to cry and I might have too as I testified that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ everything can be made right. I gave her the Book of Mormon and she promised to read it. I don't know if I will ever see her again, but I know that we were in the right place at the right time and that God's gonna help this sweet lady. 

Later that night, a boy in this ward got set apart as a Missionary! here in Chile, they go a little crazy with the setting apart of a missionary. They have like a big confereence and both parents speak and there are treats afterwards and its crazy. So anyways, this was supposed to start at 8 and end at 9. Well, we had another appointment and arrived at about  8.15, and the doors were already closed. . 

So we start freaaaaaking out because we didn't know how to get this dog out of the church. and then, he starts BARKING because he wants to get inside the Sacrament room. I have never been so embarassed in all my life. I pulled out all of the granola bars I had in my bag and tried bribing him but yeah right that didn't work either. There were elders on the other side of the door that could see us through the window who were just sitting and laughing at us. 

so ANYWAYS. I think to myself, hey we're missionaries, lets say a PRAYER! so we say a prayer, I walk into the church and grab the neck of this dog, and even though i'm pretty sure he weighed twice as much as me, I was able to pull him out, and we were able to get into the church.

moral of the story, always always pray.

also this week we had an appointment with the family we are working with, and it was super super great. after we invited them to church, and they informed us they both had to work. lameeee.

buttttt. God blessed us with a little miracle yesterday as they both showed up for Gospel Principles and Sacrament meeting! What a blessing. This family is so great and I can't wait to see more of God's hand helping us out with them. woooo!

thats about all I got.

remember that I love you all a whole lot.

love hermana poyfair :)

Week 38:sent from my sometimes functioning computer in this sketchy cyber cafe

hi hi hi :)

just real grateful I'm not an elder

about four minutes ago I had to run up the stairs of this sketchy cyber cafe to inform the manager that my companions computer wasn't functioning. As I was running up the stairs I smacked my head on the ceiling and may have fallen down the stairs in front of about 8 other missionaries. blessings of chile. 

ouchhh

This week was pretty great! I absolutely lovedddd conference, oh my gosh. I told myself all week that I was going to watch in Spanish with my companion, but as Saturday approached, I decided that I needed some spiritual rejuvination (I dont even know how to spell that) and that I would get more out of the talks if I watched in English. And I am so glad I did because seriously, every single one of the talks was spot on! I love Neil L. Andersons and Dallin H. Oaks about missionary work! And I loved the theme of prayer. Super inspired and super great. I love conference so much. 

gringo club

We found the COOLEST family this week. The mom is a member, but she's been less active for about two years. Her husband isn't a member, but her 10 year old son is. They were a reference from the ward and so we scheduled an appointment with them. Oh my goodness, so we show up at their house, and all four of them (they have a two year old daughter too) are seated, waiting for us. We start with a song, and the dad says, "lets sing I'm a child of god! page 195" my mouth dropped open. This guy is a practically a member, seriously. He made so many comments and even said the closing prayer! Their only problem is that they aren't married, and aren't planning on getting married for a couple of more years. And, he doesn't see the need for baptism. But they are super super great and we are so excited to help see the importance of an eternal family!

almuerzo with the favs

This weekend was so great because I got to see ALL of the members from Avenida Alemania, my first area. One of my favorite little girls from this ward ran up to me and said, "look, you can actually speak spanish now!" shoot, what was I speaking beforeeeee

We played soccer as a zone on this cool turf field this morning and I scored a goal so I guess you could say I'm becoming more and more chilean every single day. woooo

This letter is short but it might be because I might have a concussion from the ceiling

(that was a joke)

I hope everyone has a great first week of October! can you believe its October? I can't. woo.

love hermana poyfairrrrr