We Can Help You With That!

We found real milk!

Holaaaaaaaa! What a wonderful week!

First of all, the Concepción Chile temple was dedicated and it was so awesome to be a little baby part of it! By a little part of it, I mean watching the broadcast from a chapel here in Santiago, BUT STILL! It was the 160th temple to be dedicated. I think that is amazing. Now, fun fact, 85% of all members of the church are within 200 miles of a temple. What a blessing! Something Elder Stevenson said in his talk is that the world was created so that man could be given the power from God to seal families. Families are so incredibly important - to us AND to Heavenly Father - and desperately need the blessings of the temple. I have been able to feel the power of these blessings my whole life, but especially now as I am far from my own cute family and sharing this powerful message everyday. I am grateful that God has given man His power to be able to unite families for eternity. That is truly a reason to rejoice!

AND we have so many friends that are so happy to be learning about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ!!! 

There is Patricio, the cutest little grandpa who started out coming to our English class and now he's learning English and gospel truths. His wife passed away and he especially likes that we have the opportunity to live with our families for eternity. 

There is Franco, whose brother was baptized awhile ago (I think I have mentioned him?). This week we walked into his house and he said "Hermanas, creo que voy a hacerme Mormón!" Translation: "Sisters, I believe I'm going to make myself a Mormon!" Correction: "Sisters, I believe I am going to make myself a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!". Listo Franco, we can help you with thatI 

We have Pablo who was a little lost before but he is doing everything in his power to make changes in his life now! 

We have Lindsay who is so sweet and so great and told us, "Without a doubt, I am getting baptized before the year's end!"

I could keep going for quite awhile, honestly, there are so many amazing people here, but what I want to point out is that HOLY COW I have a testimony that the work truly is hastening and the Lord is preparing His children to receive the message of the restored gospel. He wants everyone to hear it!! Your uncle, your neighbor, your friend, your mom, literally everyone. And he uses us as His messengers. Not just missionaries, ALL OF US. So get on out there and share your testimony! A member told us yesterday "I cant read the scriptures too much anymore, and if you ask me a question about the gospel, I might even answer it wrong, but I have my faith, and I cannot deny the blessings that I have received from my Heavenly Father through this gospel." Maybe we don't know everything yet, but we have our testimonies and we should never be afraid to express and share them with those around us.

I love y'all so much! I hope you're dancing and smiling and happy. Hug your mom or make cookies for your neighbor this week. O los dos! You decide!

Besitos! Un abrazo grande!

Love, Hermana Siebach

Prepping for our zone activity

Cutie! <3

Zone activity

Preparation for the entire month of November!
There are four of us in the apartment so this turkey is gonna have
lots and lots and lots of 'thankful' feathers, lucky guy!

The sweetest garbage chute you will ever see :')

FELIZ😊!!

Another wonderful week here in LA FLORIDA!!!! 

Firstly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARNIE YOU ARE THE GREATEST AND I HOPE YOU HAVE THE HAPPIEST, MOST DANCE AND SMILE AND HUG-FILLED DAY! Sending little love waves across the miles; do you feel them? 

Well. This week an old man tried to kiss me right on the mouth. I have not come this far just to be kissed now, UH UHHHH ☝

We also have seen some crazy things in the streets. Hermana Hawkes and I just kinda stare in awe sometimes and then we look at each other and there's nothing to do but laugh.

We had a zone conference with our zone plus one more and it just so happened that it was the zone where all my cute happy past companions are!!! So I got to see them all and give 'em some tight squeezes. This transfer as a mission we are focusing on receiving revelation in the work. There is a quote by Joseph Smith that says something like "You can not have received the Holy Ghost without receiving revelations". I thought that was so amazing!  I think sometimes we see revelation as something huge or something that only the prophets can receive, but I love love love the emphasis that we have seen - especially since the last General Conference - on the need to seek personal revelation and to do it frequently. Also with this quote, we know that if we have been baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost in our lives, and are living worthy to have him as our companion, there is NO WAY that we are not receiving revelations. I love that and it has really made me stop and think. Looking back, there have been so many times that I have received revelation and guidance in my life, but I didn't even recognize it in the moment!!! Heavenly Father truly loves us and wants to help us and give us the answers and the guidance we need.

I love y'all and I hope you have a super duper week. I hope you hug more people than usual!!!! <3

Love, Hermana Siebach

My whole posterity, woah!

 Here's a whole bushel of pictures!! Mostly of my friends:)

¡¡¡La Semana de Mil Milagros!!!

Oh my STARS I cannot even tell y'all what a wonderful week this was!!!!

I love my new area with my whole heart and Hermana Hawkes is a superstar. We have come home dead tired every day but so so happy because never have there been so many miracles in one tiny little week! 

Here is a list of just a few:

- Probably a month ago Hermana Hawkes and her last companion got a reference for a man named Franco. They passed by every day for weeks and could never find him, so they moved on. BUT! We got back on the reference page and saw that his number was there too! So we called him and he said in english "Oh yes, you can come tomorrow at three o’clock.” Long story short, we taught in spanglish!!! Franco is a cute little old man whose brother got baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints six months ago and Franco is trying to figure out why his brother is so happy now. WE’VE GOT THE ANSWER! IT’S THE GOSPEL!

- We were walking in the street and about 20 yards in front of us, a woman stopped walking, turned around and waited for us smiling. When we got to where she was she asked us what we believe about the resurrection. We told her that we believe that everyone will be able to be resurrected and ademas we have the possibility to live with our families for eternity! She said that she loved that and that she would see us at church on Sunday :)

-Arepas. Oh my goodness. There is a Venezuelan hermana and she made us arepas and they actually changed my life. It’s all Hermana Hawkes and I are going to eat anymore

- We were walking in the street and a man came up to us and said, "Hey I know about your church!!" Turns out, his name is Waldo, he was baptized 27 years ago, has been inactive for a long time, but has been wanting to go back to church. Vamos Waldo!

-Ingrid is our friend who has been listening to the missionaries for eons. She lives with the father of her 3 children, but doesn’t want to marry him because of the benefits the government gives to single mothers. Well, ya can’t get baptized if you’re living with someone that you’re not married to, so we were very direct with her and testified of the blessings of eternal families. We cried, she cried, and then she said she would see what she could do to get married now. Vamos Ingrid!

- We had 4 lessons with a member present in one day!! 

-Hermana Karstulovic (my companion from Viña who went home in March) came to Santiago for the weekend. She just HAPPENED to wander into the sacrament meeting of the ward next to ours. She asked the missionaries where I was, they gave her our number, and she came to be a missionary again with us for a few hours!!! It was so so so so so happy to see her!

I could keep going but I gotta stop at some point!! I have really gained a testimony of trials and the faith and hope that we always need to have present. We are going to see and pass through hard things in our lives, but there is always hope, and we learn and grow as we go. I wouldn't trade my trials and challenges for anything easier, because I know that I would not progress without them and I wouldn't recognize the greatness that is life either. I hope that we can always keep an eternal perspective, look for the good in every situation, and remember Heavenly Father's immeasurable love for us.

I love y'all! I hope you have a super week!!!! Let someone know how much you love and appreciate them!

Love, Hermana Siebach

The Happiest Place

Last General Conference without our Gracie Gurrl!

BREAKING NEWS: Hermana Siebach will be released on December 12th and she will give a report of her mission on December 16th. Home for Christmas with the family--Yay!!

Hellooo!!

I am in the happiest place!!! This past week was tough. I was taking care of my sweet companiera until she went home Saturday afternoon, and a lot of that time she did not want to be taken care of. But what am I to do when she is my companiera? I stayed with her even when she didn't want me to. I am praying that everything works out for the best for her and that she will get all the help and care and love she needs at home! We spent the whole week in Apoquindo (to be closer to the offices and president and everything) with two other hermanas who are two angels sent from heaven quite honestly. I felt so lifted and like a huge burden was taken from my shoulders just not having to be alone all the time. Blessings :)

My old area, Enrique Olivares, was white-washed again when I got, newsflash...transferred out! I really love the members and all the people there. I will miss them!! Right now I am with Hermana Hawkes!!!!! She's my new companion. She is Hermana Ence's (a companion I trained) trainee here on the mission, which makes her my granddaughter in mission lingo, and she is the cutest thing. We are going to work so hard and have so much fun here, I could not be more excited! 

Now... CONFERENCE!!! Last week you asked me if I would be watching it live so that we could watch it together and the answer is yes!! We were basically sitting right next to each other I'd say! But I didn't get to cuddle or eat any of the tasty things y'all were eating...la proxima!!!

• I really loved Elder Andersen's talk -- it really spoke to me. Like really. As he was talking, parts of my patriarchal blessing came to mind.
• Elder Holland's talk was really good. Heal and be happy. We don't need to carry around old sufferings and past mistakes. We can repent, we can forgive, and we can let things go and our lives will be exponentially happier.
• I feel like Elder Gong's talk was directed right at me, that was happy :)
• I really liked Elder Rasband's talk about fear. I fear so many things, but when I really think about it, and remember whose side it is that I am on, there is nothing to fear.

Something that I wrote in my notes was Don't give room for demeaning thoughts; instead do the work necessary to make yourself worthy, able, and qualified to do the things that the Lord has asked of you. Sometimes I am scared of things that are asked of me or I think, How the heck am I supposed to do that, I am just me. But I can trust in the fact that if the Lord is asking me to do something, it is because he knows that I am capable of it, OR I can be capable if I make a few changes in my life. There is no need to fear, there is no room for negative thoughts.

President and Hermana Brotherson are two angels who saved me multiple times in the past month. They came to the rescue! I love them so much. They are also really concerned about me right now, even though I don't think they need to be, but I am grateful for their concern. I know that they love me and each of the missionaries here.

I love y'all! Thanks for everything!

Love, Hermana Siebach
grace.siebach@myldsmail.net