A New Ward....

Well, this week was quite a week.  Sitting in sacrament meeting and the Stake President announces that our Ward is going to be split! Wow, it was quite the surprise.  Us, Hermanas didn't know about it before hand so we were in shock. so, I am no longer in Trinidad Ward.  You are looking at one of the two -first Hermanas in the Jose Miguel Carrera Ward.  So crazy right? My little tiny sector is now three times as big. so, my feet are going to be pretty sore this next week.  The other 4 Hermanas are going to be in the Trinidad Ward and we are all gointo live with each other still.

As for other news:
1. Evelyn got the Holy Ghost this past Sunday and her daughter has a baptismal date!
2. I had divisions with Hermana Martin and Hermana Alvarega.
3. Afther living in the apartment for 3 months, I found out that there is a gym!

But that is pretty much it.  Just a typical week filled with highs and lows.

Love you all. Happy late birthday to Mya and Grant!

Love Hermana Showalter

P.S. Next week Pday will be on Monday.

A Paragraph from an email she sent me thought I would share..

Another busy week for you.. Shocker! But hey now you get some vacation.  So exciting.  Idaho is the best!  I sure am jealous of the weather.  Winter is..just..great.  Wow, looks like everyone is having a blast.  Man - Heavenly Father is so good to us.  Our lives sure haven't been perfect but we can't complain.  I see and hear a lot of problems and Mom it just breaks my heart.  There are people who are really struggling, financially, emotionally, spiritually, or with their families.  God really blessed me.  I guess a mission is how I can show him my gratitude. 

Super Heroes and FIRST BAPTISM!

A late Happy Father's Day to my BATMAN DAD!

Some awesome murals in my sector!

Hola a todos,

Sorry for the late emails but last Tuesday we were informed that our P day would be changed to Tuesdays for the next two weeks. Not really sure why but just a heads up for all. This week was full of activities at the church because the 21st was our ward conference. Tuesday we had a noche de hoga ( Family Home Evening) as a ward. Wednesday was a special youth activity. Thursday was temple visits. Friday was a marriage activity. Saturday was lunch as a ward and Sunday was ward conference. It was a lot of fun and really helped to bring together the ward. 

Big news this week... Evelyn was BAPTIZED on the 21st. That's right I got my first baptism. it was the most amazing experience.  We only taught her for a month and then she was baptized. She was so willing to follow the commitments we extended to her.  Seeing her in all white and getting baptized was the most amazing experience in my life.  Doctrine and Covenants 18 is so true.  Now her 11 year old daughter is taking the lessons and she wants to get baptized. The lord is hastening his work.  I am so grateful to be a part of it.

Yesterday Hermana Stokes was sick so she wanted orange juice but the orange juice they have here has more sugar than any other ingredient. So, you see there is an orange tree right outside of our apartment so my companion wanted to get some oranges.  The only problem was the oranges are really high up.  Well, it so happened to be a huge stick right next to the tree. My companion REALLY wanted oranges so like a good companion, I take the stick and start whacking the tree so oranges will fall.  Well it was a lot harder than it sounds, those oranges didn't not want to the leave the tree. I whacked the tree for ten minutes and I only got five oranges, only five!  Yeah, it was pretty funny.  Picture Hermana Showalter, five foot three inch missionary at ten o'clock at night hitting a tree with a big stick.  My companion thought it was pretty funny!

Today half the mission had a BBQ with our Mission President at a Park.  he leaves this next week so he wanted to do something with us.  Yeah... well our mission leader gave us directions and they were not a 100 percent accurate.  it took us 2 hours to get there.... But that is OK.  We had a BBQ and ice cream sandwiches. We played soccer, volleyball and an egg toss.  It was a lot of fun and it is so sad to see them go.  I will for sure go and visited them in Oregon after my mission.  I hope for all those dads out there they had a GREAT Father's Day.  Dads are the best... Super Heroes!

Love you all!
Hermana Showalter

Happy Father's Day and more...

MY Zone

Hey EVERYONE!
Well, it has been pretty “CHILE” down here. HAHA but really, we have just
begun winter and as you can imagine I am so happy. It just so happens
that winter is not one of my favorite seasons. Well here is the happs
with me:
1. Last P day we went to Santa Lucia. It is a big bizarre where
there are lots of little shops to buy stuff. I didn’t get
photos but I promise to get photos next time. I bought some really
nice gloves.
2. Tuesday I went to the temple with a menos activo and we had a tour -
it was awesome!

Temple with Marcelo.

3. I had a division and the last two hours of the night we just walked the
streets because nobody wanted to talk because everyone was watching
the Copa America and Chile was playing. I can’t blame them because I
would watch if I could too.
4.We cleaned our chapel. It was so dirty and it took like 5 hours. But
I got to wear pants which was a nice change and our investigator Evelyn came
and helped! It was fun.

Cleaning with the Hermanas and Evelyn. We cleaned over 300 chairs!

5. We had a Noche de Hogar (family home evening) with the
Tolozas and we ate SMORES. Which if you know me is my favorite!
6. This Sunday is Evelyn’s baptism which I am so every excited about.
She is so awesome. She hasn’t missed a Sunday at church or a church
activity. She was already ready. God put her right into our hands. I
didn’t do anything really, this is the Lord’s work and I am simply an
instrument in his hands.
Love you all so very much. For all you fathers out there Happy Father’s
Day! You are all the greatest and so under appreciated. Keep up the
good work and for all your kids out there thank your dad and give him a
hug because he is the best.
EVERONE SAY YOUR PRAYERS AND READ YOUR SCRIPTURES
Church is true!
Love
Hermana Showalter

Our dog that we adopted and named Pancito.

Enjoy the Sun!

 

Well as you guys are all enjoying the warm sun, I am down in Chile NOT enjoying another winter. Don’t worry I am not murmuring, I am just becoming more grateful for the sun and summer each day.
So we have the best investigator ever. I think I have mentioned her before. Her name is Evelyn and she is going to get baptized the 21^st, fingers crossed. She is so amazing. She is a mother of 3 kids and is recently separated from her husband.  Her brother is dying and she decided she needed to find God. We didn’t find her, she found us. God is so amazing the way He works. She comes to church every Sunday and to every activity in the church. She wants this gospel so bad and it makes me realize what a blessing it is in my life. I would like all of you to reflect on the blessings that this gospel has given you. Wow, I am such a missionary giving compromisos in my email. Sorry... but please do it.
I had divisions with my  bestest friend Hermana Martin. She is from Saint George and the awesomest. She is my dopple ganger. No joke we lived like basically the same lives and we are always accidently twinning with our clothes.

 

 We had our last reunion with President Wright, so sad. He is so
amazing and I am so lucky that for these 3 months I got to know him. He is so smart and he has been a great example to me. The theme of our reunion was FEAR NOT! This is something that I am really trying to work on. My goal, fear no man. Contacting is soooo hard for me. I don’t really like talking to strangers but just like the scripture…. through
Christ weak things can be made strong. I am a believer because now, I am not perfect at contacting but I am sooo much better. I fear no man. If any of you have a weakness make a goal to improve and improve. I have realized the importance of goals and following through
with them. DO IT AND FEAR NO MAN. Love you all!
Enjoy the sun!!
Hermana Showalter

I got my packages!!!

President and Hermana Wright with Hermana Stokes and I

Hello everyone,

Well this week was full of meetings. I had clase de distrito,
conferencia de zona and reunion de nuevos. With so many meetings, the rest of the time we were on the go, go, go because of all the people we had to see.
So some interesting stuff that is on the happenings
-well my English is getting worse
- we started English classes at the capilla
- we had a super fun noche de hogar (FHE) with the Tolozas and played dress like a Nephite.

Did Nephites wear sunglasses?

 

- Had lunch with a Hermana and her conversion story is Alma the
younger. No joke! She is so awesome and the spirit was so strong as she told her story. God is amazing and works so many miracles.
-We have the best investigator ever. Her name is Evelyn and she has already come to church twice and wants to get baptized.
- for a funny story, we knocked on the door of one our investigators, Monica. Her husband answered and he screamed kind of, "ahhhhh" and then he was all like "oh sorry I thought it was my wife" haha we had a pretty good laugh about that.
- and on a spiritual note there are two things I want to share
1. In one of my meetings we talked about "faith without works it dead" How it is important ser y hacer. Which means to be and to do. We cannot simply believe we must be examples of what we believe through our actions, words and thoughts.
2. I love the quote by Neil Maxwell "We cannot do the lords works in the worlds way" We must live in the world and not of it. It is so easy to get caught up in the way of the world but doing the little things like reading scriptures, praying and going to church help us keep on the straight and narrow.
Love you all,
Hermana Showalter

MY LETTER FROM MADDIE

I GOT MY PACKAGE AND OH MY GOSH TIM TAMS (our favorite Australian “biscuit” cookie that they sell at Target now!). I treasured them and savored every bite. Anyways not to sound greedy but for the next one ..some shades under shirts and some staple shirts would be nice. Mom I didn’t bring any scarves or gloves either. Whoops.
THANK YOU THANK YOU
 

I loved the letters and the candy I have already shared with the
little kids here and as you can imagine I have become quite popular.
Tell Aunt Jo thank you as well.
That is awesome that Aunt Jo is going to help and I will pray for you everyday because Read is quite the handful but just so stinking cute. I recommend bribery.

I also got a package from Idaho! Grandma, Aunt Sarah and Aunt Jesalee and your kids – you rock!

YES, I love that quote. ( I shared this quote with Maddie. “Strong eternal families and Spirit-filled homes do not just happen. They take great effort, they take time, and they take each member of the family doing his or her part.  Every home is different, but every home where even one individual seeks for truth can make a difference." Cheryl A Esplin 2nd counselor Primary Presidency ) Mom everyday I see broken families and dysfunctional homes. The quote is so true. Eternal families filled with the spirit do take work but the blessings that are received are well worth the sacrifice. I am so grateful for the blessing I had to have such a choice childhood. Thank you for your sacrifices.
I sure miss ya and a love ya a lot!
Thanks momma,
LOVE YOU
Maddie