short on time!

Sorry i'm short on time! But I wanted to tell you all that we had a lesson with E yesterday and she accepted a baptism date! the 26th of september! She is so incredible! She said the last time we taught her there was something that told her she as to get baptized and she wanted to shout it to us! She has a lot of habits we'll have to help her drop but she's already making small changes and has so much faith, i know God will help her. We left our appointment and we were literally just beaming. sooo giddy. It was so amazing to see Hermana C so happy to have her first investigador with a baptismal date. She was radiading light as she testified of the happiness of the gospel to some contacts we did after the lesson.

the gospel really is happiness.

sorry for a messy short email but i love yall.

hna meacham 

Longest week of my life!

LONGEST WEEK OF MY LIFE. 

transfers came and monday night at about 1030 they called us to let us know we would have to leave at 630 am to go to a meeting in pangipulli. It was a long travel and we got back home at 300 and had to catch another bus at 400 to go to Osorno for transfers. and on top of it all the main bus transportation is on strike. SO it was a crazy couple of days full of uncomfortable bus rides. But it was so great to go to the mission home and meet my new companion! (and hna Davis was there! i missed her so much)

Hermana Cordoba. She's great, seriously. I forget I'm training her because she already just rockin it. She extended her first baptism invitation to our investigador Emilia. It went so well! I visited her with a member and we were so happy to hear that she had read the restoration pamphlet we left her and she had prayed! For the second time in her whole time! And she asked if what we had shared with her was true and she said she felt the spirit so strong! Her family and friends and her boyfriend don't support her and make fun of her for listening to "the mormons" but she said she doesn't care cause shes the one who's learning and feeling the spirit. Yesterday she finally relized that she's had faith all along without realizing it. She's going to be praying about baptism and this thursday we hope to be able to help her accept a date. 

Also, our ward mission leader finally came home after a 2 month vacacion! i can't wait to meet him. we'll also have our branch council meeting this saturday for the first time in months! yay for progress!!!

I love my mission you guys. I love Chile. I love the Lord. I love the Book of Mormom. I love the gospel. I love my family. I love you all. 

In the words of our drunk friend here in Pucón who likes to practice his english, "take it easy. slow down. love bobby brown"

or in this case

love, hermana meacham

New companion Hermana Cordoba

Hermana's Davis and Meacham

yesica y damian and fam

pucon y  hna alonso

Hola mis chanchitos!

hola mis chanchitos.

it's been a crazy week. but that just the mission for you. We taught Andrea (less active), she really is progressing so much. She's taking it so serious, which is so cool. She really understands what it means to partake of the sacrament to renew our covenants and what's even cooler is that she's totally renewing them. We're working a lot with the youth of the branch. They're so excited to be missionaries and it makes me so happy. I seriously love missionary work. I wish everyone could serve a full time mission.

but we've got some sad news too. Maria, our progressing investigador, is moving... ): she really opened up to us this week. she could use some prayers. She's really sad to leave us but we'll make sure the missionary make contact with her in her new home. It stinks because she's on the brink of baptism but I know it's what she needs to progress in all honesty. I wish I could be the one to see her walk into the waters of baptism but I'm just here to do the will of God. 

but

guess what? i'm a trainer. eeek! I'm super excited. Nervous too, but mostly excited. Something I've really learned on my mission is how God qualifies the called, not the other way around. My companion is from columbia. (and i totally already forgot her name. oops, terrible mom). NUEVITA.

pray for us please.

sorry for a short email. asi es.

Love you all so much

hna meacham

Al Punto de Milagros

 So yesterday, the beautiful day of fasting and testimonies, I was sitting in church and I felt just this overwhelming love that God has for His children. As missionaries, we're blessed to get to know so many people and God blesses us with the ability to love them almost instantly so that we can teach them and help them. I had this feeling that if I continued to work in charity and love we'd see miracles here in Pucón. After church an elder in the ward said, "the chapel was different today, I think we're about to see some miracles." Needless to say, we're getting ready to work our tails off to make it happen.

   This week we were able to visit Maria, we talked about the plan of Salvation and she told us she's scared to commit to baptism because she's scared of failing. Her family and friends put her down for not being a "saint" but wanting to join the church of latter-day saint. This morning I read an amazing talk from the last conference, "Latter-day Saint Keep Trying" or something like that. I'm excited to share if with her. But she got terribly sick and couldn't attend the baptism in Villarrica with us ): ): but Yésica and Damian were able to come! It was incredible! So beautiful. Hermana Orlando got baptized. His wife was baptized in march and his son was baptized last year. They waited and prayed for this day to come and it came. Yésica said it's motivated her and Damian fasted a full 24 hours! AND they came to church with us. I think we're hitting a turning point with them

   Also, we're teaching a less active, Andrea. She's great. She's really opened up to us. and she came to church too! Which was seriously a major step for her! yay

   ALSO we taught Emilia yesterday! remember the girl that add the experience with prayer but desn't know much about God? yeah her. She is so excited to learn. We talked about Joseph Smith. But she has lots of questions about what faith is and what it means to have it. So will start there with her.

   This sector is challenging me in a lot of ways but I'm growing to love it for it's challenges and all.

Thanks for the prayers and the love.

xoxo hna Meacham

well I caught the cold. We ended up staying in the house for almost another full day. But I had enough of that and we went back to work by, although I didn't feel so top-notch.

Well we're teaching this new guy. His name is F. He took the lessons in Argentina a while back with his son and they both wanted to get baptized but F had to leave suddenly and come back to Chile. He lives in the countryside and didn't know there was a church here but one day he was talking to this lady and he said he's "catholic but more like a Mormon". Long story short for some miracle we came in contact with him! He's old and almost deaf. It makes it pretty hard to teach him but he has such a sweet soul and lovvves the Book of Mormon.

We also have an investigador named M. She is INCREDIBLE. She's so receptive to all the principles of the gospel, like it's so common sense for her. She's hilarious. Every time she opens the door she yells "Hola chicias!" and she's always dancing and singing hymns. The other day she told us that last year she was hospitalized and should have died. She said God gave her a second chance and she knows it's to accept the gospel and be baptized. She was a little uncertain for a while but yesterday she came to church and she had an amazing experience, she even cried! She never cries! AND she bore her testimony in Sunday school! She said she's more certain than ever she needs to prepare for baptizm. We'll attend a baptism in Villarrica with her this Saturday and she said after seeing the baptism she'll decide whether to accept the 22nd of August2as her baptismal date!!! I love her so much.

It was seriously such a beautiful weekend. 

I've been studying "Our Heritage". It's incredible what the early church members went through. They all gave EVERYTHING. Like nephi/lehi style and crossed countries to build the Church of God. Some shared pairs of boot and coats to go on missions. With the prophet, the apostles and other church leaders all over the world, without text messages or gmail, it's proof that God really does direct His church through men called by Him who hold the sacred preisthood. I'm so grateful I've been given so much and had to sacrifice so little. I'll never complain about having cold feet every again.

to answer a few questions from the pops:

-I don't chop so much wood now because we don't have a wood burning stove. We use a little gas powered thing. If you sit close enough you don't feel the cold. haha no just kidding, i'm fine. it's not as cold here in Pucón. Although my equadorian companion is dying of cold. poor thing.

-no i didn't preach from the doorway while my companion was recovering. Good idea, I'm make sure to do it the next time. I ended up cleaning, studying, painting, and writing in my journal.

-My spanish is improving with Hermana A. I'm more acustom to hear it, full speed and everything. But believe it or not, the times my spanish really improved was with gringas, white girls. You gotta step up your game.

MUCH LOVE AND PRAYERS

HNA MEACHAM

There's a lot of work to do here in Pucón and it's definitely going forward. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it. To tell you a little more about the sector, we're a branch, a really small branch. Last week there was 16  of us. Four of which are missionaries. It's also a touristy city so sometimes we're lucky to have visiting members.  We're doing a lot of work with the members and recent converts to help strengthen the branch. They are incredible. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to get to know the pioneers of Chile. 

We're working really hard to find new people to teach. We've found a couple of new people that are really receptive. One is named E. She lives with her mom and her two sons. She doesn't have any religious backround. But she told us of an experience she had when her son was sick. She said she didn't know what to do and she began to talk to God for the first time. She said "i have no idea what i said but the next day he was healthy. I don't know anything about God and Christ but I know He exsit's because he answered me". SOO COOL. I hope she accepts the gospel. cross your fingers and say a prayer. 

My poor compy got sick and we were stuck in the house for a few days. Lucky we were able to do division yesterday with some sisters in the ward. I was starting to go crazy in the house.

LOVE YOU ALL.

hermana meacham

p.s. LOVE YOU SO MUCH ELDER MEACHAM! I'M SO STINKING PROUD OF YOU. GET READY TO SEE SOME MIRACLES. YOU COULDN'T BE MAKING A BETTER DECISION IN YOUR LIFE RIGHT NO

Hola Familia y amigitos

HOLI FAMILIA Y AMIGITOS

i'm short on time but i wanted to tell you guys how important the family is to God. Being here in the mission I've met a lot of people and a lot of families. The gospel was given to us so we can  have happy, healthy families but FOREVER. I have seen the diference the gospel makes. I have seen it actively work in the lives of people to change them for the better to be more like Christ. 

(I'm just super giddy to have a new niece and because my brother goes on a mission in like a week)

This week we had a lot of conferences and meeting. There are so many goals and expectations as missionaries (and as members too) it's hard sometimes to feel like we're adaquete (spelling?) to do the job. But the thing is we're not, neither can we every be. And the Lord doesn't even expect us to be. For this very reason He came to earth. So that WITH HIM and only THROUGH HIM we can reach our goals. I know His grace really "is sufficent". But we must submit ourselves to Him and His will. 

As a missionary I've had to humble myself, turn to Him and ask for strength. I have felt His hand on my shoulder guiding me and filling in for my weaknesses. Grace isn't a factor that only comes into play as we stand at the jugdment bar. It is an on-going gift that began the moment we were born.

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH

Hermana Meacham