October 16, 2012

what a week. i have no idea how the time goes by so fast. i`m about to hit my 1 YEAR mark! unbelievable. en serio. here`s a quick summary of the past few days at least:

i FINALLY cut my hair! i`m a little stingy with who i trust my hair with, so i have managed to avoid it for the last...11 months. yep, my entire time here in chile. but there`s a member who always cuts the hermana`s hair, and for a reason! it turned out great! the internet here is really slow here, but i`ll send fotos next week.

presidente martinez came down to our sector for a visit! he was present in our district meeting, and afterwords did a few interviews, and hna del castillo and i each got to talk to him one-on-one! i`ve had a few specific questions for him lately, and his advice really was an answer to prayer. i love that the lord puts leaders in our path to help us hear, literally, his voice - what he would say if he were here. i trust 100% in presidente martinez, and i appreciate so much that the lord loves me enough to have sent him right when i was in need of counsel and comfort. i left the interview with a renewed feeling of peace, and goals set in ways that i could improve. it was a much-needed and inspired visit.

we are going to have a miracle baptism this weekend! his name is ricardo, and he`s a 19-yr old younger brother of a recently-reactivating member (did you get all that? haha). we met him a few weeks ago and got his address, but hadn`t made it a goal to visit him because he didn`t show all that much interest. which made us all the more surprised when he showed up with his brother at general conference! we had a short lessing with him between sessions, and set an appointment to visit him the next day. he came to the afternoon session as well, and said that he really enjoyed it! his older brother is a convert as of 6 or 7 years, and was inactive until just a few months ago. ricardo said that he`d been to church before, and has always felt something special, and as we taught him about baptism and the atonement, he decided right away that it was something he wanted to do! the test was when we told him that he could prepare for the following weekend, because he`d already attended church for the required amount of time, and we could teach and prepare him in the following week. he struggled a bit with the idea, but after hearing our testimony and that of a member/friend that was accompanying us, he asked, "so, what time is my baptism on saturday?" ahh! a question every missionary loves to hear. we have seriously been so blessed with ricardo. i`ve never met anyone so prepared to receive and accept the gospel in their lives. he said the other day, "the next time i go to church, i won`t be a guest, but a member!" his excitement is contagious. i love that god is willing to bless us with miracles, even though i feel like we`ve truly done so little in comparison to receive them.

lately i`ve found a special comfort and strength in the songs of the children`s songbook, especially "i feel my savior`s love," and "i`m trying to be like jesus," it has a lot to do with what i shared last week about when we feel the love of the savior, we are more motivated to show love for others, and try to be more and more like christ every day. listen to the song and read the lyrics by clicking the link (if it doesn`t work, luckily you have the benefit of being in the real world where you can look them up on youtube!)
http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=74&searchsubseqstart= &searchseqend=74&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

sending all of my love and prayers from chile.
hermanita wright

October 8, 2012

so, once upon a time, aka a week ago sunday, i got bit by a dog (as i had mentioned last week). i went to the hospital and they cleaned it out, but didn´t say anything about getting vaccinated or anything, just to observe the dog and come back if anything strange happened at the site of the wound...uhhh ok thanks...haha. i called hna martinez (wife of the mission president, who is in charge of everything health-related), and she said she´d find out if i´d need to get a rabies vaccine. RABIES!!! i couldn´t believe it. everyone that i talked to told me that i needed to get the vaccine, and couldn´t believe that i hadn´t gone back to the hospital to get treated. i wasn´t all that worried about it at first, but when the whole world tells you that you most likey have a disease, it starts to get to you. i kept trying to get in contact with hna martinez, but she didn´t answer until yesterday, so pretty much i went a whole week wondering whether or not i had rabies...ugh.haha. luckily hna  martinez said that if i hadn´t had any symptoms for the first 24 hours, i don´t need the vaccine, which is why she hadn´t called me back. phew. crisis averted. nice to know that i won´t be coming back home as a werewolf or something...

general conference, of course, was AMAZING!!! of course, the big news is that the youth can now leave on missions at 18/19 years old! many of the young single adults here in pitrufquén will now be able to leave within a few months instead of waiting another 1-2 years! also, one of the young women who´d just turned 19 a couple days ago felt the impression to serve a mission, even though she´d never thought about it before! she started balling during the session, and said that she felt a peace knowing that the lord was guiding her to this point, where she could be willing to follow his direction. it was a great experience.


i wish i had time to talk about all of the things i learned and felt from conference, but it´ll have to wait until next week, because i´m almost out of time! also, a  miracle of the week, one of the investigators that hna nelson and i had found in caupolicán, shirley (the 20 yr old who is a cashier in a supermarket) got baptized on friday, and paulo baptized her! i was so excited when i heard, because i´d been able to teach and get to know her, and now she´s a member of the church! love it :) scriptures of the week:
john 17:3, john 14:27, john 13:34-35

this life is to get to know christ, our savior, and to follow his example. as we get to know him, we love him. as we grow in our love for him, we want to obey his commandments. his primary commandments are to love him, and LOVE OUR BRETHREN. that is why i´m here on this earth: to be an example of christ in showing love for others as he would.
gotta go
lots of love,
sophia

October 1, 2012

not much time (surprised?) so here are the hilights:
monday
went to temuco and got to have lunch with hna miller and hna nelson! it was nice to be with my "family" again, and to hear that things are going really well in my former ward
tuesday
found out that my mission credit card will arrive tomorrow, and that i´ll finally have money to buy groceries! that wsa some great news
thursday
had a really sweet lesson with eliana, a progressing investigator who just accepts everything we share with her. she´d shared with missionaries before, and feels that she wsa being prepared to accept the gospel at this point in her life. she committed to be baptized on the 13, and we´re all super excited to see her progress over the next few weeks!
yeferson, a 13 year old that had shared with my companion before i got here, also committed to be baptized the 13th, and he shared that him and his mom have been reading the book of mormon every night, and that they´re already in 3rd nefi! i was so excited for them.
friday
we had an appointment with a less active member named danielle, who´s 18. we shared about prayer and charity, and she shared a quote she´d found that says, "the fruit of prayer is the deepening (not sure of the translation) of faith. the fruit of faith is love." i really liked the imagery and explanation.
sunday
got bit by a dog and had to go to the hospital...haha that was quite the adventure. everything is fine, and i´ll fill you in on the details (with fotos!) next week when i have a bit more time.
from my studies:

read this article! :
http://www.lds.org/liahona/2012/09/sharing-the-gospel-by-sharing-you?lang=eng

that´s all i have time for! love you. you´re in my prayers always.
fifi.

How to reach Hermana Wright

I've received questions from a few of Sophia's friends regarding how to contact her in Chile. To mail letters for free, you can use "Dear Elder" and type up a letter through their website that will be routed through the mission offices. It will still take 2-3 weeks to reach her, but I know she'll appreciate it!

If you'd like to mail a real letter to Sophia (with stamps and paper and everything!), you may use the following address:

Hermana Sophia Wright

Misión Chile Concepción Sur

O´Higgins 940, Oficina 503

Concepción

Bio-Bio

Chile

 

She has a few minutes each week to email family, and those are the "letters" I post here on her mission blog so everyone can hear what she's up to on a more regular basis.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to comment here and ask, or hit me up on Facebook/email (livytay{at}gmail{dot}com). Thanks so much for all the support you've given my baby sister since she's been in the field!

September 24, 2012

every time we pass by a certain field to get to part of our sector, we get to see the horses! it always makes me super happy. and about 75% of the time there are people there riding! it makes me a little jealous, but i get by...haha



ok, so i had to use basically all of my internet time to copy my photos to a cd, so i´ve got about 5 minutes...ahh!

highlights of my life here in pitru this week:

• personal study about receiving revelation. studied the talk "how to obtain revelation and inspiration for your personal life" for about the 5th time, and was able to receive specific instructions and impressions from heavenly father in what he wants me to improve. it was really helpful.
• also studied moroni 7:45, and was reminded of the kind of person the lord really wants me to be:
•  45 And ^acharity suffereth long, and is ^bkind, and ^cenvieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily ^dprovoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
• i heard that paulo and eduardo got to bless toe sacrament on sunday! woo hoo!
• two of our investigators came to church this week!

we had a ward fireside where we shared testimonies, then had "marchmalos" as the chileans say. it was fun how excited they were for the gringo treat

well, like i said, time is short, but i´ll fill you in on more next week.

love you!

hna wright

September 18, 2012

hna nelson and me at the bus station, waiting for our new companions. 

hna nelson and me with our tongan/chilean friend, claudio. the thing is, he´s not the sligtest bit tongan, but every time hna nelson saw him, we just got that pacific-islander vibe. he´s the owner of a little bakery close to where we used to live, and he´s one of those people that knows everyone in the town, and that always talks and walks with tons of energy (which makes you wonder how he could be so chubby..) we would pass by every day on our way from the house,so we got to say hi all the time if there was any time that we forgot, he was sure to yell "HOLA HERMANAS!" it was fun. for our last p-day in caupolicán, we got empanadas from his bakery, and made sure to get a foto with the famous claudio. he was more than willing, as you can see.

the week in a flash:

• monday
• the machine at the grocery store ate my credit card from the mission, so i no longer have a mission card...oops. made a few phone calls and worked with the secretary, but it looks like they´ll just have to order me a new one, which should take about a month. thank goodness i have my emergency money to be able to buy food over these next few weeks! 
• we had a lesson with a 20-year old girl named shirley, and paulo came with to help. every time i am so impressed by his testimony, and his ability to share it fearlessly with any- and everyone. he´s SUCH an example of what it means to be a member missionary. i hope to be like him when i get back from the mission. he said that he´d be willing any day to come down from temuco (a 45 minute ride in bus) to help out with lessons if we needed! he´s the best. 
• tuesday
• i made it alive to pitrufquen! i spent the whole day wandering around completely lost as my companion tried to help me meet the ward members, recent converts, and investigators, but this town is so confusing! there are a million diagonals, and random fields that you have to cross to get from one neighborhood to another...i´ll probably figure it out the day before i leave...
• my companion´s name is hna del castillo. she´s from peru, and she loves to laugh, so we´re having a lot of fun together!
• wednesday
• met the zone! it´s called nueva toltén, but there´s a tradition of calling ourselves "nueva sión" (new zion). yes, we´re very humble. we are only a little group of 12, those that are on the most southern tip of the mission limits (from loncoche to pitrufquen), and it really does feel like a family here. my district leader is chilean, and he´s been in the mission for a long time and seems to really know what he´s doing, so i look forward to learning a lot from him.
• thursday
• had lunch with a member naed juan, who´s about 75 years old. during lunch he mentioned that he´s been studying a bit lately. he then went to look for his books, and brought out an ancient 7th grade science book, and his little notebook where he´d written out and drawn the process of photosynthesis! the little old man had taught himself, and was SO excited to explain it to us. he also had some sketches of geometry he´d done. it was really adorable. i love his example of continual learning. i hope to have that same enthusiasm when i´m his age. there´s just so much to learn!
• friday
• a little girl in the branch (se´s 8), who´s parents are less-active, decided to be baptized on october 8th! she´ll be a baptism for the branch rather than the missionaries, but we´re excited to help her and her family get prepared.
• saturday
• shared a really great lesson with a less-active family, based on d&c 121:7-9, and "prayer" in the bible dictionary. look them up!
• sunday
• my first day at church in the branch! there was hardly anyone there because all of the children were in the 18 de septiembre parade in the morning, but those who were there were very sweet and welcoming. it was also nice to have paulo there (he was visiting to participate in a special musical number)
• the district president mentioned that he´s good friends with our mission president, and that he´d spoken to him just the night before. he welcomed me to the area, and mentioned that president martinez had said that he was sending two of the best missionaries of the mission to the area, and that he had no doubt the sector would improve over these next few months. what a surprise! even though i´m pretty sure those aren´t the exact words president martinez used, it´s nice to know i have his confidence in taking care of the sector with my companion.
• monday
• yesterday was a normal work-day because of the holiday today




just a taste of the 18 de septiembre preparations. in pretty much every neighborhood there are flags, banners, and even these little paper flowers (the national flower of chile, copihue  (co-pee-way) )


• tuesday
• today i got to hang out with my new BFF berta. she´s 5. she´s the daughter of one of the members of the branch, and while my companion was doing internet, we had fun singing, drawing, and playing other little-kid games. i LOVED it. 

lesson learned from personal study this week:

CHARITY! 

how do we obtain it?

• obey the commandments, which also shows our love for god (john 14:21)
• give your heart to the lord (helaman 15:35)
• do EVERYTHING you can to serve and help others receive the gospel in their lives
• preach my gospel: "you will develop charity as you look foropportunities to serve others and give of yourself for the well-being of others"



we saw a rainbow! it´s been pretty rainy these last few days, but at least we caught a quick glimpse color in the yucky, cloudy sky.



favotite scripture of the week:

alma 7:23-24

23 And now I would that ye should be ^ahumble, and be^bsubmissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

 24 And see that ye have ^afaith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.

i felt like this was a letter written from the lord personally to me - what he wants me to do and who he wants me to be. as i diligently obey and exercise faith, hope, and the pure love of christ, i will be able to do and be the recipient of good works constantly.

time´s up. lots of love from the south.

hermana wright

September 10, 2012

CAMBIOS!!!

during interviews with president this week, he told me my changes early. i literally sad down, he said "how are you" then told me my cambio.....i´m going to pitrufquen! not that that means a whole lot to you, but still.  it´s a really small town a lot like my first sector (victoria), and it´s actually where my mom, hermana miller, started her mission right before she became my companion. the sector is only about 45 minutes south of where i am now in temuco, so it´s pretty likely that i´ll be back here every once in a while for p-day activities, cuase from what i´ve heard there´s not a whole lot to do down there in the boonies of chile...we´ll have to get creative. my new companion will be hna delcastillo, from peru! i´m excited to have another latina companion, and to hopefully tune up my spanish a bit. i´m excited! also, hna nelson´s new companion will be hermana miller! i´m SUPER happy about that because i know they´re giong to work SO well together, and that hnas nelson and miller will take VERY good care of the sector and our recent converts whom i love love love! i feel very at peace in leaving the area knowing that they´ll be here. another way i can see god´s love for me. so weird to think that after 6 months here, i´ll be leaving  at 9 tomorrow, and i have no idea when i´ll be back! crazy!

 

the week:

• tuesday
• one of our investigators, nicolas, who´s 34 and a very accomplished lawyer, got all excited because he can feel that god is answering his prayers by giving him much success, and helping him uncover some very interesting hidden talents. for example, during the lesson, he insisted on showing us that all of a sudden he could play pet-shop boys on his keyboard (yes, he played us a song), and that he can do a handstand push-up (also demonstrated right there in the room during the lesson!) it was SOOOO funny. i really had to bite my tongue not to laugh too much with that one. just another testimony to me that god answers the prayers of his children in a way that they can understand. nicolas now is 100% willing to come to church and be baptized, because he can see that god is trying to tell him something, and he wants to follow him.
• wednesday
• today we had interviews with president, which was especially uplifting because he shared his gratitude for having me in the mission, and that he trusts me to take care of my new sector. i feel very grateful to have done something to deserve his confidence, just by working hard and being obedient with all i´ve got. 
• thursday
• paulo accompanied us for a few hours to visit some investigators, and it was so much fun! i love that he is so comfortable sharing his testimony and experiences of conversion with others, and that he is so focused on helping others recieve the same gospel that´s brought him so much joy in these few short weeks. he also shared with us one of his favorite scriptures that teaches that every trial that we go through is for our own learning and experience, and only makes us stronger (doctrine and covenants 122:7)
• we had a family home evening with a less-active family, inviting two neighboring active families to join us. we had a really powerful lesson about temples, and showed a slide-show of fotos to music that invited the spirit so strong. half-way through the lesson, the 12-year old son asked, "what do i have to do to be able to go to the temple?" we talked about the importance of going to church, paying tithing, and receiving the priesthood, and he committed to do everything it takes to be worthy to go on the ward trip in november! his mom was also very motivated, and wants to take the whole family on the trip. i was so happy on sunday to see the mom with her 2 sons at church this week, putting into practice what they´d learned and felt. this experience helped me see the power of focusing on the eternal perspective, and WHY we keep the commandments every day - to have eternal life with our families through the ordinances and covenants of the temple! very memorable lesson for me.
• saturday
• we had my last lesson with yasna today, and it was AMAZING to see the changes in her since she got baptized last week! she´s been studying in her scriptures every day, and even studied in her gospel principles book, highlighting it and taking notes and everything. she said she´s felt such a difference as she´s taken the time to really study and pray, and that she just feels hungryfor more every time she does it. at one point in the lesson i held up the bible and the book of mormon, to show that they go hand-in.hand, when she said, "i think those two books right there hold all the secrets to true happiness..." WOW! that really hit me, because it´s so true! what a blessing to have the scriptures in our lives.
• sunday 
• sunday was a beautiful day, but also difficult because of all of the goodbyes. one thing that was really special was that yasna bore her testimony for the first time, and shared gratitude for all of the love and support she´s received during the process of her conversion, and that she´s just HAPPY to be a member of this church and feel the love of her heavenly father through those around her. 
• one of the most memorable experiences of the day was when the bishop took hna nelson and i aside to be able to say goodbye, and he said that he wanted to thank me for the love i showed to others. he said that i have the gift of love, and that it impacts all of my interactions with my companions, with the ward, and with my investigators. he thanked me for my dedication and for doing my part to show the  love of god, and for being such an asset to his ward. he looked me in the eyes, shook my hand, and thanked me, and i really felt it! that moment was so precious to me. i feel so blessed to have left a positive impression with the bishop, and that through simply doing my best to be a good missionary, i was able to transmit the love that heavenly father has for these people. now on to the next sector! 

so that´s the summary of the week! today hna nelson and i are going to do a little last-minute shopping, and we have the goal to eat some mexican food that we´ve been coveting for the past 12 weeks! we´ll see how that goes.

much love and prayers - keep being GOOD!

hermana wright