Week 70: This letter might be short but I'm sending it with a lot of love

hiiii friends

this week was a little bit slower, which was nice :) it has been a long time since we have a had a quiet week. (relatively speaking, it was still a little crazy)

buttttt I don't have a ton of stories! 

Saturday was so awesome because we had the opportunity to participate in 3 baptisms. None of them were our own, but my companion has awesome piano skills, so everyone was in desperate need of our help. 

The first baptism took place here in Curanilahue. It was awesome, because it was for the wife of an ex branch president in a little town about 45 minutes away. They had been coming to church here in Curanilahue, so we knew them both personally. It was awesome for me, because I was able to take part in her conversion. She is this sweet, shy little lady, and it was so special to see her take this step and get baptized. I'm sending pictures.

Then, we took of running to catch a bus to Arauco, where the hermanas had another baptism. We arrived right on time, but unfortunately the baptism didn't start until an hour later than they said it would. As soon as that baptism finished, we took of RUNNING to catch a bus to Curanilahue, where a little kid from the Primary was to get baptized, we had to sing a musical number. 

It was crazy. 

But it was such a great day for me. I felt the spirit so strongly as the people decided to take this step, and make these covenants with Heavenly Father. I know this church is true and I am so grateful that I have this time to help people find the truth and this happiness.

being a missionary rocks.

I don't have a lot to say but this next week we will have transfers so thats EXCITING.

I love you all! Have a great week!

PS. Just wanted to say thanks to my wonderful ward for sending me cute letters all the time! They brighten my day, and make me so happy!Thanks for thinking of me. I love you guys!

love hermana poyfair

Week 69: Weakly email

sometimes I'm clever in my titles...

this week was EXHAUSTING. 

so much happened and it just flew by. On tuesday, we had interviews with President May. On Wednesday, we had our Leadership Council in Concepcion. Friday we had District meetings and saturday we did splits with the hermanas in Arauco. I'm attaching a photo of us sitting in a bus stop because that's basically all we did this week.

andddd I'm only partially kidding haha.

but a couple of really cool things did happen this week! First of all, since I got here in March, we've been t
eaching this man named Miguel. He has come to church three times, he always keeps his commitments, and he always accepts baptism. buttt he's still waiting for his answer. He has recieved a lot of answers to his prayers, but he's waiting for something BIG I think.

so a couple of weeks ago we decided that he wasn't progressing and we just weren't going to focus on him as much. We actually lost contact for about two weeks. It was really sad, but we moved on. 

this week we were close to his house and decided that we had better pass by, just to make sure. 

Andddd he was there. Anddddd he told us how he had had a dream about getting baptized, and decided that he needed to do it. our jaws were on the floor haha! The next day we had an appointment with him, and we talked about the Word of Wisdom, which is one of the challenges he has. We were there with the Wife of the District President, and she was explaining her conversion. She said, "I didn't have to give up any addictions or anything, but I did have to give up an ingredient that ALL of us have, and all of us struggle with."

she paused, and Miguel, with fear in his eyes, said, "I'm gonna have to give up sugar too?"

we all died laughing. 

The hermana quickly said, "no, I was going to say pride."

it was sooo funny. But miguel is great and is going to get baptized in May, si o si.

Also, on Saturday we had a crazy experience. We were in Arauco, and at 8 o'clock we were planning on taking a bus to Curanilahue. We sat and waited in the rain, and there were serioiusly zero buses. we started to get a little nervous as it started to get late, and this man came up and said, "you're not going to be able to catch a bus to Curanilahue at this hour, you''re going to have to go to Laraquete (a city about half an hour of Arauco) and then wait for a bus there. and you need to go now because this bus is going to leave and you're not gonna be able to get another one." Without thinking, we ran and hopped on the bus. As we were sitting there, we started to get a little nervous... so we said a prayer. We asked Heavenly Father to protect us and that a bus would pass by quickly once we got to Laraquete.

Well we got there, and waited and waited and I kept thinking, "If only my parents knew what I was doing right now" we stood in the rain, in a dark city, alone, at 9.30 at night. ADVENTURES. 

But a bus quickly pássed by and we wer able to take it and arrive safely in Curanilahue which was awesome.

Basically the theme of this letter this week is that Prayer WORKS. haha. God always answers our prayers, according to our faith of course.

Butttt yeah. 

Its starting to get REALLY cold here, my fingers are basically numb haha.

have a great week! love you all!

love hermana poyfair

Week 68: Chile has more holidays than any other country in the world I think

Hi friends, 

its tuesday and I'm writing because literally EVERYTHING yesterday was closed. Everything. LITERALLY everything. 

My companion and I were walking around looking for thing to do, and then a bus going to another city in our Zone, Lebu passed by, and I had heard lots of cool things about Lebu, and that the beach there is super pretty, so we hopped on a bus and spent a day on the beach! It was super cold and rainy but it reminded me a lot of Oregon, with lots of pine trees and cold water. I enjoyed it a lot, my first time seeing the beach in my 16 months here in Chile! 

This week lots of really cool things happened. First of all, we have been having to travel ALOT. Like, almost every morning. Anddd.. the buses have started to take a toll on my back... I have been having a lot of lower back pain, which hasn't been impiding me from working hard everyday, but did have me and the Mission Nurse a little bit worried. In our District Meeting on Tuesday, my Zone leaders could tell something was wrong, because they said, "Hermana Poyfair, do you need a blessing?" I quickly agreed, and I am so glad that I did. Over and over again in the blessing, this elder promised me that my back pain would disappear completely, that this was just a trial of my faith, and that I was going to be able to finish my mission without any problems. It was probably the coolest priesthood blessing I have ever recieved, and my back pain is already starting to go away. How could the church not be true??

Also this week my companion and I had to eat in a restaurant for lunch one day. We were sitting there, eating completos and french fries, when a family of six walked into this restaurant. They reminded me so much of my family, four kids, two boys and two girls. They were seriously so CUTE! my companion and I seriously could not focus, because we just wanted to talk to this family. But we couldn't figure out how... 

We prayed and ate really fast and then got up and ran over and talked to them. It was a little nerve racking, to do that in a restaurant with lots of people, but they were so nice and we set up an appointment with them for this week. The spirit told us to talk to them, and I am so glad we did. It was a really cool experience for us. 

Also this week we had a big zone conference with a couple of other zones in concepcion! 

on the way back, we had to pile into this bus that was made for maybe 50 people, and was stuffed with about 100. I kid you not. We were the last to pile in, and it was about a 2 hour drive. I was smashed up against the window, and did not recieve a heads up when the door was about to open, and I almost fell to my death. I mean that might be a little dramatic but definitely felt that way. It was so crazy. The things that happen in chile are just so funny.

But thats basically my weeeeeek.

it was a crazy one, but this one is going to be crazier. I can feel it.

I love you all! have a good week!

love hermana poyfair

Week 67: This week I met an apostle

Hi friends.

I wrote my letter today inside of the bus terminal in Concepcion because being a sister leader is just full of craziness. Today we had to bring about an emergency transfer. Don't worry, Hermana Curtis and I are still together, but the other hermanas here got transfered and we recieved a new hermana here. Lots of problems happening in the mission, but its all good now I think. Pday passes really quickly when you're in a bus all day! :)

The week was incredible. One of the most unforgetable weeks of my mission. On friday I, along with 400 missionaries from our mission and from the other mission, had the opportunity to meet PPresident Nelson. Every single one of us had the opportunity to shake his hand, he said our names, and told us he was grateful for everything that we are doing. SO COOL.

We did like a huge IMAGINE THIS kinda thing. He said, "Imagine this. The book of mormon doesnt exist, and you dont have any of the information or knowledge about anything that it says inside. What are you missing in your life?" A lot of different answers were given, about Jesus Christ in the Americas, the proper form of Baptism, etc. Then, President looked at us and said, "There are literally MILLIONS of people living without these amazing truths that we just take for granted." It was really cool, it made me stop and think about how important the book of mormon is, and how really it is our job to help others see how important and amazing it is!

It was great. Changed my mission. haha. I started reading the book of Mormon from the beginning, highlighting all of the names of Jesus Christ, and all of his attributes, and his own words. Its really amazing, because it shows that this book really is Another Testament of Jesus Christ. I invite you all to do it! :) 

It was also super fun to see all of the missionaries, too! IT doesnt happen very often.. One of the Elders that goes home at the same time as me said, "See you in the Airport in 10 weeksHermana Poyfair!" twas kinda a slap to the face, because I still don't think its hit me yet... but maybe its a good thing.

Alsooh my gosh yesterday my companion and I were walking in the street and on the other side of the street there were like 3 big horses! We crossed the street to take some pictures because its not every day you see three horses in the road right? So then we start walking away, and this dog comes and starts barking at the horses which scares them all, so they run out into the middle of the street! Well, the first two crossed safely, but the second was a little silly and crossed even though a car was coming. The car slammed into his leg,(luckily nothing happened) but it sure scared this poor horse, and along with his two little friends, they toook off RUNNING. In this middle of this huge city! running! We started hearing police sirens and everything and it was just super scary. hahahaha.I don't know what happened to the horses but my companion and I sure got a good laugh out of it. 

I had a lot of really great experiences this weeek, and I just love the mission. My testimony is just growing more and more everyday, I am SO grateful for my sacred calling. There is nothing greater than being a sister missionary. 

I love you all! Sending lots of pictures this week!

have a great week!

love hermana poyfair

Week 66: The Prince of Peace

this week was so so so special and awesome.

First of all, Happy Easter to EVERYONE. They don't really celebrate Easter here, actually everytime I said, "Happy Easter" to someone, they said, "oh yeah, I forgot!" 

But Hermana Curtis is awesome because her family sent her some Whopper Robin Eggs in a package so we ate those and dressed up in Springish clothes and it felt kind of normal. haha!

Tuesday I got to spend the WHOLE day in the bus station, waiting for Hermana Curtis to arrive from Temuco. I was there, talking to my bff Hermana Johnson about how great our missions had been and how we have just three short months left, when all of the sudden our FAVORITE FAMILY from Villa Obispo showed up! It was such a happy suprise, they all started crying and kept saying, "look at you guys, speaking SPANISH now!" 

always hurts a little when the people say that haha its like wait what was I speaking before..

My companion finally arrived and guys she is just SO AWESOME. We have so much in common and we get along sooo good. I love her so much already. She is really organized, which has been one of my little weaknesses  here in the mission so I'm really grateful for that. She arrived and said, alright, lets organize this binder and this area and this house and everything." what. a. blessing. Living with Latinas makes for a messy house sometimes ;)

We've seen so miracles already, and I know this is going to be such a great transfer together. I am so excited!

For example, the other day we were looking at the records of some investigators from a couple of months ago, and we found the name of this girl, Gabriela. She called our attention, and we decided that we were going to go on a hunt for her, even though her address wasn't on the paper.

That day, we were contacting houses and started talking to this man, that quickly ushered us into his house. And, much to our surprise, his daughter's name is Gabriela, and she just happened to be passing by her dads house this day and at this time. GOD IS REAL.

So that was super fun!! We are excited to work with her. 

Last night we helped with an Open House in Cañete. We were there all day, doing tours and teaching about the Restauration. We left at about 7.30, and headed to the bus station to see when the next bus was going to leave.

Well, just our luck, we were able to wait for about 2 hours for a bus. We arrived in Curanilahue at like 10:30 and it was just a mess but things like that make for great stories in the future right??

It was a great week, and I know this week is going to be awesome too, because PRESIDENT RUSSELL M. NELSON IS COMING TO CHILE. We are going to have a conference with him this Friday and I am so excited. Its going to be a super cool experience, ahhh!

have a great week! love you guys!

love hermana poyfair