Week #76 *January 11, 2016

   

One of the most amazing weeks

Hey Everyone,

Wow this week has been just one full of amazing things and I don’t have a ton of time so I hope I can get to everything.

First of we started the week off in an amazing way, as I go to the temple.  The temple here in Chile was absolutely beautiful and it just felt like coming home after soo long.  We are so blessed to have a temple close by to get to go whenever you want.  We take it so much for granted. I just want to go back as much as I can when I get home.

When I was in the temple waiting, I was able to finish the Book of Mormon as my mission President had challenged us to read it .  It was a very special experience this time and I was newly assured of the truth of the Book of Mormon. It is such a powerful book and I am loving reading it again. Each time I just feel like I have a completely different perspective.

So this week we put 4 baptismal dates with a family. They didn’t come to church and have a lot of changes to make, but the have the desire to change. Their names are Vasna Michele Valentina and Nicolas. They are really special but need a lot of help please pray for them.

Right now we are teaching the most amazing family, Jazmin and Erik, that I told you about. Wow we went by this week to teach the word of wisdom and they instantly accepted it. In fact Jazmin said she really feels like it is true and she immediately went to the store after to buy some other types of drinks they can drink instead of tea and coffee. She is awesome.  Last night we went by to teach about the law of chastity and they aren’t actually married. So it may have come to a surprise to them that they need to get married, but the agreed and they are going to talk about it,  but they still want to be ready for that date and their kids were cheering them on to get married too. So that was cute. They told us we can be the witnesses at their wedding so that is really exciting.  They are just flourishing in the ward making friends. Their daughter Coni is already in 2nd Nephi after one week and is only ten years old.  Each time we go buy she has a new scripture she wants to share with us.  I just can’t explain the spirit that is in the lessons with this family they are so amazing and I love them so much please pray for them.   Erick is a less active and he is trying to give up smoking. He hasn’t smoke for 3 days and is praying a lot so please pray for him.  my companion and I are both giving something up with him.  My companion is trying to stop biting her nails and I have given up all sweets and sugar up to the baptism date with the sugar and honeslty it has been hard, but it has been so special doing it with him.  the baptism is on the 24th with Jazmin and Coni, my last Sunday here and they are just so excited, but we still have a lot to teach so we could really use your prayers.

Wow so I am running out of time, so  just to sum things up we had 7 investigators in the church, which was a huge miracle I will tell you more about them next week.    They are Marcelo which I have told you about, Fabiola and Carolina and Carla and Gustavo. So pray for them as well.  Today we went to 7 tazas to visit some water fall. It is so beautiful here in the mountains I will have to send pics   Well I am just about out of time, so I love you all so much and I will share more with you next week.

Love ya,

Hermana Stringham     

Photos *January 11, 2016 - Siete Tazas

Hermanas Stringham, Bishop, Blake, Prien, Bishop,
Revelo, Diaz, Morales
at 7 Tazas

Santiago Temple *January 5, 2016

Hermanas: Ribeiro, Wainright, Bradshaw, Vorwaller,
Boully, Makin, Stringham

Week #75 *January 4, 2015

Hey Everyone,

So this week has just been another amazing week here in Curico.  I am just loving working in this sector with Hermana Bishop. Seriously our sector is doing so good, and Hermana Bishop well she is just awesome she is such a blessing to have as my companion.

Our sector is doing amazingly well.  So Jazmin and Erik are doing so well. We went on Saturday and taught them the plan of salvation and we invited Jazmin to be baptized on the 24th and she said yes without hesitating and then they all came to church and loved it they already downloaded the church app and wanted to new manuals to be able to prepare for the lessons each week. They are just golden I am so excited to work with this family they are just so prepared and the spirit is just so strong in every lesson.  

Marcelo is doing pretty good he keeps asking really good questions and the Elders went by last night and they told us that he said the closing pray and asked God if getting married and baptized really is the right way to go.  They are so awesome.

It has been so amazing. Actually working with families in this sector is just such a huge difference because they are all together and they are more motivated as they all have the goal from the start to be sealed in the temple. Oh I just feel so blessed to be a part of all of this.

This week we had an awesome lesson with Fabiola, one of our investigators. We went with a member and it went really well. Then Fabiola told us that she has been searching all over for the true church and nothing has filled her and she feels like this actually fills her.  We read in the Book of Mormon and she just asked, “why doesn’t anyone else have this?” And she suddenly realized why. It is just so important, the work we are doing, and so we invited her to be baptzied on the 24th as well and she said yes and promised to come to church, but she never came. So please pray for her as she really struggles with making it to church on Sunday.

Gabriela is also doing pretty well she gets really emotional every lesson and comitted to being baptized but without a date.  She struggles a lot to feel worthy to pray and she is scared to go to church because her parents will make fun of her so she could really use your prayers as well.

We have another couple we are working with named Carla and Gustavo. They are awesome and have a ton of interest and want to be baptized, because they say that they feel like it all just makes sense. But they struggle going to church due to their busy lives. We taught about the commandment of the Sabbath day and they understood a lot better and comitted to come. But they also didn’t show up, so please pray for them.

Well that is about it. I am just loving the people here and working with them. Oh also on New Years day we went contacting in the morning because there was nothing else to do and as I was on divisions I forgot sunscreen. It is burning hot here and lets just say that I just burnt my back and the rest of me so that was fun hahaha.

Also I forgot to tell you that I will be going to the temple tommorrow! I am so excited. I miss the temple so much and I have never been to the temple in Chile.  We only get to go one time in the mission right before we go home, so I am just so stoked.

Well that is about it but, I love ya all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love ya,

Hermana Stringham

Companions *December 2015

Hermanas: Morales, Stringham, Bishop, Porter

Hermana Stringham, Nicol, Hermana Morales

Week #74 *December 28, 2015

Merry Christmas!

Hey everyone,

It was so good talking to the whole family on Christmas and seeing just how much everyone has grown up. 

This week has been an amazing week as the Christmas spirit has just been so strong, although I must admit it is just not Christmas really when it is burning hot outside.   

Christmas was a blast. In the morning of Christmas eve we went Christmas caroling with the primary which was so special.  We felt prompted to go to several houses of members, who are passing for a hard time and they just loved hearing the primary kids sing. So that was just so special.

After that we had such a tender mercy because we had been invited over with a family in the ward, but when they found out how early we had to be home it didn’t work for them and so we were a little disappointed and worried as we weren’t going to have anywhere to go on Christmas and no one was going to want to receive us. But our sweet Bishop overheard us talking on the phone and immediately asked what happened and without hesitating told us to come over to his house.  We had a great time and it was so sweet of them to allow us over and she just how hard they worked to make it a special night for us even last minute.

On Christmas we spend the majority of the day at Marcelo and Jeanyras house, where we did skype. It was a lot of fun as we were able to just talk with them and get to know them better and play with their cute little kids.   It was a really special Christmas. One that I will never forget.

This week we also had a lesson with Jeanyra and Marcelo, which went awesome. We taught them about the plan of salvation and Marcelo had a ton of questions.  He asks a lot of really good questions and just has such a strong desire to know these things for himself.  He still doesn’t want to commit to baptism or marriage as he says that he wants to make sure that he gets his answer first, because if he gets baptized he doesn’t want to just go inactive.  Please pray for him as he keeps praying for his answer.

So I think  I told you about Jazmin last week. We were able to go back this week and teach their whole family. They have 2 kids. One who is 10 and the other 4 and they are so awesome. They both broke down as we taught about the restoration and shared a lot with us.  Erick her husband is awesome.  He has been less active for like 14 years, since he was really young. But recently feels like he needs to return to the church, but is just embarrassed, as he needs to change a lot of things. Jamin loved it and said that she really wants to learn more and feels so good and feels like this is what she needs in her life right now.  We invited her and her daughter Coni to baptism and they both accepted, but Jazmin didn’t want a date yet, but her daughter coni said yes and Jazmin said that she would support her in that. So we are really excited to work with them.

This Sunday  Macarena, one of the hermanas less actives came to church. I think I told you about her right.  Anyways we had worked with her so much and she never came, but she finally came this Sunday and so I was so excited.  It is so awesome being in the same ward still, as I see the fruits of our hard work paying off and I can still see all of these people I love.

Oh, also we had a huge miracle this week on Saturday. We had a day full of really really important appointments and every single one of them canceled which was frustrating, but we decided to just take a moment and pray because their had to be a reason why the appointments fell.  Well I kept getting the impression that we needed to contact and so even though it was blazing hot we went contacting and we got to the first house and it was obvious that they were home but no one came out and so we started to leave when we both felt like we needed to stay so we stayed and waited a long time and finally a 19 year old girl came out and immediately brought out two chairs and started chatting with us as they had company over inside.  Her name is Gabriela and she is from Venezuela.  We just chatted with her and she opened up so much to us and in the end asked us to come by another day because she felt something different, that felt good to her.  We are so excited she is so awesome.  She thanked us because she said it was the first time that she was able to talk to someone about Religion and her feelings without feeling attacked and she felt like we really cared for her.  She is so special and we are so stoked to start teaching her.

I hope you all have a great new years. We are so excited for this week as with Christmas coming to an end we will be able to work more. I cant wait to see what this week has to bring.

I love ya, all!

Hermana Stringham

*December 2015

Cynthia, Hermana Stringham, Hermana Bishop

Gospel Principles Class