Monday, September 20, 2010
Letter from Jess' companion
Hello! By way of introduction, I am Hermana Thompson, your daughter/sister/friend´s companion. I think Herman Kubly is FABULOUS. She is a VERY hard worker, very dilligent in her studies, exactly obedient, and so fun to be around. It makes it so easy to be her companion, friend, and confidant. I am really enjoying being with her and already having nightmares that I will have to leave her. We are trying to teach by the spirit, help people have thier own spiritual experiences, and find the people who need us. It is wonderful. Thank you so much for being part of her life and making her such a wonderful person so that I can enjoy her presence now.
September 13
well things here are going great, this last week was pretty rough for us but i couldnt have a better companion to have a rough week with. we are teaching some really amazing people but everything that you could imagine seemed to go wrong this week. i am starting to understand a ton more spanish and my companion can tell me what i dont pick up on which is exactly what i have been working and praying for but it is so hard to hear what is happening in some of these peoples lives and the trials they are going through. i feel so horrible and just want to fix everything for them but it is so out of my control. but on the flip side, its amazing to see the spiritulal comfort that they can recieve in these hard times. well i can tell ya a little story of a few things that happened this week. one of the guys that we have been teaching is named Guillermo, he is really amazing but unfortunately this week he told us that he is in a relationship with a married woman and her husbund does not know. we were really shocked at first when he told us but the lesson that we were able to have with him went really well. he feels really bad about his decisions but is lonely so we are trying to help him replace his relationship with this woman for a relationship with God.... a bit complicated but we are doing as much as we can. other than that we have also been teaching a really amazing woman named Cecelia who is a little spiritual powerhouse, my comp and i think she is a bit like a Uruguayan form of Whoopie Goldberg from sister act, she is so great and hilarious. anyway we went to pick her and her friend Ana Vela up for church on Sunday and Cecelia just starting crying and told us that they had absolutely no money to pay for anything to eat or pay the bills but within a little bit of time they decided to come to church with us. they really enjoyed church and felt comfort and peace from the messages that were shared. other than that we are still searchin for people to teach and looking to progress with the ones we have. we had a really great meeting with our ward mission leader this week and he was really positive towards the work we are doing in the area. he said that many ward members are impressed with us which just makes us so much more motivated to work hard, we have been working hard to re gain the trust of the ward so this was wonderful to hear.
we went to punta del este today which is i guess a little hidden treasure of the world. it was really rainy so we werent able to do much but it was really nice, i kind of felt like i was back in the states in vegas or something. i couldnt believe how uncomfortable i felt though!!!! i am so used to it here in little maldonaldo now that i was kind of a bit nervous being around that. i cant believe that there are areas of such great poverty like the area i live in and punta del este so close to eachother, its really crazy.
anyway i better go but i love you ever so much!! i forgot my little chuch magazine to leave ya with a little spiritual thought so i will have to give ya a really good one next week. but i love you to pieces and am excited to hear from you!!
JESS
P.S. P day is going to be next Wednesday
we went to punta del este today which is i guess a little hidden treasure of the world. it was really rainy so we werent able to do much but it was really nice, i kind of felt like i was back in the states in vegas or something. i couldnt believe how uncomfortable i felt though!!!! i am so used to it here in little maldonaldo now that i was kind of a bit nervous being around that. i cant believe that there are areas of such great poverty like the area i live in and punta del este so close to eachother, its really crazy.
anyway i better go but i love you ever so much!! i forgot my little chuch magazine to leave ya with a little spiritual thought so i will have to give ya a really good one next week. but i love you to pieces and am excited to hear from you!!
JESS
P.S. P day is going to be next Wednesday
September 6
mama thanks so much for all your work in getting me a package going. the pouch mail service through the church is only for letters and you cant send boxes through it so im sorry to say that we are gonna have to work the good old postal service. here is a trick that elder moffitts mom has been using when she has sent me packages... dont know if its legal. but she will put stuff in like empty rice a roni boxes and other food boxes and then tape them up and put them in the box and when she makes the list at the post office of what is in the package she just puts rice a roni, missionary supplies, mac and cheese... etc... so that no one is tempted to steal them. oh and my comp said that a good idea is to put a picture of Jesus on the box or a cross and i guess its less likely to be stolen then too.... dunno, just throwing out some suggestions... dont put anything too expensive in. one last request. if you can find an umbrella that is sturdy. i have already killed three in the fierce uruguay rain/wind... its intense. one that is short that i can stick in my backpack in the water holder. if not i can look around here but uruguay does not make things well so ya, just if you can. and then send it to the mission home. you are the best!! thank you so much!!!
poppy so sorry i get going sometimes and dont explain lingo so you all just need to tell me if i use words you dont understand so i can get ya in the mormon lingo loop haha. but comp stands for companion or the girl that is with me all the time. right now my little red head friend hermana thompson. to answer your questions we dont really get to see the seashore, saw it today because we had to go to montevideo again... story to come.... but it is really beautiful when we do get to see it, we drove right along it today on the way there and it looks like my comp and i are going to try to go to punta del este on our next prep day... look up some pics online, it is supposably beautiful. here there really isnt much vegatation but on our drive to monte its always really beautiful and green with lots of trees, but overall its a mix of tropical and desert. haha i dont really know how to describe it, not much vegetation in maldonado. thats funny that you ask about the sea food because my comp and i were just talking about that today how we really havent had any seafood here. the most seafood i have had was in a dish the members served us that was mayonaise, rice, tuna, and canned peas.... yum.... haha not, thats the worst i have had and everything else is good. the food here is really bland though. we eat alot of what is called gizo, its a soup and its usually really good, but they just throw in a whole animal, cow, chicken, whatever, and you usually end up eating some interesting animal parts. but ya they feed us well.... well a ton, and they tend to just plow more food on your plate and think you dont like their cooking if you dont want more so its interesting, we leave lunch everyday feeling like we are going to puke but its all good haha.
so this was quite the week but i am so greatful for my companion, we can always find something to laugh about even when we want to cry. it rained all week night and day and was freezing cold but today was our first day of beautiful sun!!!! well first off last monday my companion and i were just chattin and i was eating a piece of what they call miel candy, its like a hard piece of honey. and i know you are going to say i told you so, but i bit down on the candy and broke my molar so ya.... we called the mission home and the presidents wife had us set up an appt with the dentist for today in montevideo so thats why we were there today. my tooth is fixed no worries and i am on a strict no more hard candy phase of my life, my poor teeth cant take it anymore. oh and the dentist said that it looks like i am doing some intense tooth grinding.... if you can find a plastic night guard that would be great too.... sorry so many requests!!! but my tooth is good, just took a chunk off the side but she filled it in and i am doing good now. i paid for it and all so no you will not be sent a bill or anything haha. okay so we had a crazy intense week of tracting, or knocking houses in the rain. we were soaked to the bone every night we came in but the sun is a coming!!!! my companion was sick one day with stomache trouble and a few days later i was sick with a 24 hour flu type thing so we had to spend a few extra hours in the house this week getting better but we are both in great health now!!! my companion celebrated her one year mark on the mission on friday and we bought her a nice big chocolate postre and celebrated with our zone leaders.
we had some really funny experiences finding new people to teach this week and found some really amazing people that we are excited to share the gospel with. on i think tuesday when we were clapping houses we came to a two story house and when we clapped a man appeared at the top story window and motioned that he was coming down, as he came down and opened the door..... he was pantless.... no worries he was sportin his tidy whities but still.... awkward. he excused himself for a minute to put some pants on and just as we started walking away thinking he wasnt coming back he opened the door and yelled "pasan!" meaning come in, which is really rare in the first place, and secondly ya.... i dont know we were both really confused. but all in all we had an amazing lesson with him and are going back this week. he was really interested in knowing where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going after death and that is just what we are here for so wa-lah!!! perfect. Richard and Paula´s little family is doing amazing, they are really progressing and are working on implementing daily family prayer and scripture. they are set to be baptized as a family on the 25th and i cant tell you how excited i am for them and how amazing it has been to watch the gospel change their lives. i want to send you pictures of them soon!!! by the way did you get my pics last week???
okay my last story for the day. my companion and i were in a lesson yesterday with a family that is going through alot of hard times right now. the father is really struggling to raise his two children who are still living at home right now who are 11 and 9 and we were talking about the importance of prayer as a family and how powerful it is for children to see their parents have a relationship with Heavenly Father. I was able to share with their father the amazing effect having you mama in my life and how my faith with my Savior and Heavenly Father was able to develop through your great faith and example. I was able to share how amazing it has been at times throughout my life to pray with you and how much your example has made me want to gain my own testimony and relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.Thank you for your love and support and i hope you know that your emails keep me truckin along. I LOVE YOU MILLIONS AND ZILLIONS!!!!! -JESS
poppy so sorry i get going sometimes and dont explain lingo so you all just need to tell me if i use words you dont understand so i can get ya in the mormon lingo loop haha. but comp stands for companion or the girl that is with me all the time. right now my little red head friend hermana thompson. to answer your questions we dont really get to see the seashore, saw it today because we had to go to montevideo again... story to come.... but it is really beautiful when we do get to see it, we drove right along it today on the way there and it looks like my comp and i are going to try to go to punta del este on our next prep day... look up some pics online, it is supposably beautiful. here there really isnt much vegatation but on our drive to monte its always really beautiful and green with lots of trees, but overall its a mix of tropical and desert. haha i dont really know how to describe it, not much vegetation in maldonado. thats funny that you ask about the sea food because my comp and i were just talking about that today how we really havent had any seafood here. the most seafood i have had was in a dish the members served us that was mayonaise, rice, tuna, and canned peas.... yum.... haha not, thats the worst i have had and everything else is good. the food here is really bland though. we eat alot of what is called gizo, its a soup and its usually really good, but they just throw in a whole animal, cow, chicken, whatever, and you usually end up eating some interesting animal parts. but ya they feed us well.... well a ton, and they tend to just plow more food on your plate and think you dont like their cooking if you dont want more so its interesting, we leave lunch everyday feeling like we are going to puke but its all good haha.
so this was quite the week but i am so greatful for my companion, we can always find something to laugh about even when we want to cry. it rained all week night and day and was freezing cold but today was our first day of beautiful sun!!!! well first off last monday my companion and i were just chattin and i was eating a piece of what they call miel candy, its like a hard piece of honey. and i know you are going to say i told you so, but i bit down on the candy and broke my molar so ya.... we called the mission home and the presidents wife had us set up an appt with the dentist for today in montevideo so thats why we were there today. my tooth is fixed no worries and i am on a strict no more hard candy phase of my life, my poor teeth cant take it anymore. oh and the dentist said that it looks like i am doing some intense tooth grinding.... if you can find a plastic night guard that would be great too.... sorry so many requests!!! but my tooth is good, just took a chunk off the side but she filled it in and i am doing good now. i paid for it and all so no you will not be sent a bill or anything haha. okay so we had a crazy intense week of tracting, or knocking houses in the rain. we were soaked to the bone every night we came in but the sun is a coming!!!! my companion was sick one day with stomache trouble and a few days later i was sick with a 24 hour flu type thing so we had to spend a few extra hours in the house this week getting better but we are both in great health now!!! my companion celebrated her one year mark on the mission on friday and we bought her a nice big chocolate postre and celebrated with our zone leaders.
we had some really funny experiences finding new people to teach this week and found some really amazing people that we are excited to share the gospel with. on i think tuesday when we were clapping houses we came to a two story house and when we clapped a man appeared at the top story window and motioned that he was coming down, as he came down and opened the door..... he was pantless.... no worries he was sportin his tidy whities but still.... awkward. he excused himself for a minute to put some pants on and just as we started walking away thinking he wasnt coming back he opened the door and yelled "pasan!" meaning come in, which is really rare in the first place, and secondly ya.... i dont know we were both really confused. but all in all we had an amazing lesson with him and are going back this week. he was really interested in knowing where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going after death and that is just what we are here for so wa-lah!!! perfect. Richard and Paula´s little family is doing amazing, they are really progressing and are working on implementing daily family prayer and scripture. they are set to be baptized as a family on the 25th and i cant tell you how excited i am for them and how amazing it has been to watch the gospel change their lives. i want to send you pictures of them soon!!! by the way did you get my pics last week???
okay my last story for the day. my companion and i were in a lesson yesterday with a family that is going through alot of hard times right now. the father is really struggling to raise his two children who are still living at home right now who are 11 and 9 and we were talking about the importance of prayer as a family and how powerful it is for children to see their parents have a relationship with Heavenly Father. I was able to share with their father the amazing effect having you mama in my life and how my faith with my Savior and Heavenly Father was able to develop through your great faith and example. I was able to share how amazing it has been at times throughout my life to pray with you and how much your example has made me want to gain my own testimony and relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.Thank you for your love and support and i hope you know that your emails keep me truckin along. I LOVE YOU MILLIONS AND ZILLIONS!!!!! -JESS
August 30, 2010
hey there fam fam!!
So this has been such a hard but such a wonderful week!!! my new companion is nothing short of amazing. i just love her to pieces. so like i said before her name is hermana thompson and she is from las vegas. she is a red headed bombshell and is seriously just on fire. she is diligent, obedient, hard working, spiritual, studious, christ like... well i could go on and on but we can just say i have been blown away. she is SUCH an amazing missionary and i am so so excited that i get to be with her. we have this amazing book that is called preach my gospel that we use to learn how to be missionaries and she is what i call a walking talking preach my gospel. amazing. haha well i guess i can stop raving about my companion now. just know i am in good hands and am really really happy!!
we have been workin our little bums off this week trying to get this area to take off and it has been quite the adventure taking over the area for me. i am just a baby missionary still so i guess the Lord knew I could do it even though it has been really tough. I was able to get my companion around and help her to get to know the area pretty well this week, in fact i think we have been able to hit up all the places that she needed to be acquainted with so now we are just plowin through. we have had some really funny adventures this week... well you may not think they are funny.... but we were laughing pretty hard. i was going to attach a picture of my war wounds from one of the adventures but i guess the email cant handle too many so i didn't. turns out the dogs here really hate my comp and i. we were clapping houses earlier this week when all of a sudden three huge dobermans come lunging towards an open gate and my companion has this immediate reaction to push me toward the dogs. anyway we both try to start running but since she pushed me i tried running and tripped over the sidewalk and biffed it hard face down, i just curled up in a ball expecting to get mauled and save my face. turns out the dogs were trained to stop at the gate so they had stopped and there were just a bunch of people that were playing soccer in the street that just stopped and were looking at me as i was laying on the ground in pain, greatful that i didnt get attacked. i got some nice road rash on my knees and some rocks in my hands but all was well. i was laughing so hard i had tears all the way home, but in a bit of shock that i was still alive haha. i know not funny to you but dont you worry i am well protected. all is well though so dont you fret. other than that dogs just hate us.... i am blaming my comp and her red hair haha, my other comp and i didnt have any problems with dogs but now for some reason every dog just wants to eat us.
well i could tell a million funny stories this week but more importantly are the miracles we were able to see. unfortunately alot of the members in this area were not to fond of my old comp so we have been doing clean up work trying to gain the trust of the members with my new comp. she is amazing so it has been really successful so far. she is super organized and ready to work and they all seem to be really happy so far so we are looking forward to working with them and continuing to gain their trust. we have found some really amazing new people to teach this week and actually found two this morning. one is named ruben, he is divorced, had three children, 3,6,11 he has full custody of his children and is working as a painter. he is looking for a way to raise his children correctly with how hard the world is and has been touched by how the gospel can help him to raise a strong family. this morning we found carla and cecelia. carla is about to be a mama of her first child and is living with her boyfriend and they have a really rough relationship. she has a mountain of problems that i could not even imagine having to deal with but we know the gospel can help her. then there is cecelia and she is a little spiritual powerhouse, she said that many of the things we had taught her were things she already knew but had not been taught beforehand. we are beyond stoked for all three of them. there is one more that really has been amazing this week, her name is soledad. we ran into her while clapping doors one day, she was sitting on a cement wall with some of her friends outside of her house and we walked up and started talking to her and all of her friends started to mock and laugh at us. i was feeling really uncomfortable because i am still getting used to stuff like that, but my companion was able to really just talk to her regardless and soledad was really engaged in what my companion was teaching, we made an appt to go back and have visited her once since. once again when we went her friends were there laughing but everything just seemed to fade away. she is 18 and has a baby and really wants to be able to raise her baby correctly with how difficult her world is, we are really looking forward to teaching her and watching the gospel change her life.
paula, richard, dameon, jaque and juan are moving right along. paula and richard should be getting married within the next week or so. we went with them this week to post their marriage in the paper for appeals. its a really weird system here, they have to post their marriage for appeals before they are actually able to be married. but we are sure all will go well. they are amazing and i love them so so much. jaque is such a light in my days right now, i cant tell you how much i love being with this family and watching them grow in the gospel.
i want to leave you with a spiritual thought that i read this morning from the church magazine. it says ¨giving up is not an option. without delay, turn to the Lord. exercise all of the faith you have in Him. let him share your burden. allow his grace to lighten your load. we are promised that we will ¨suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ.¨ never let an earthly circumstace disable your spirituality¨ I love this quote and am so greatful for the truth that it speaks, we never have to face our challenges alone, and we can choose to let these challenges shape us into the people that our Heavenly Father intends for us to be. Our challenges make us strong and our Savior helps us to endure through them.
Jess
So this has been such a hard but such a wonderful week!!! my new companion is nothing short of amazing. i just love her to pieces. so like i said before her name is hermana thompson and she is from las vegas. she is a red headed bombshell and is seriously just on fire. she is diligent, obedient, hard working, spiritual, studious, christ like... well i could go on and on but we can just say i have been blown away. she is SUCH an amazing missionary and i am so so excited that i get to be with her. we have this amazing book that is called preach my gospel that we use to learn how to be missionaries and she is what i call a walking talking preach my gospel. amazing. haha well i guess i can stop raving about my companion now. just know i am in good hands and am really really happy!!
we have been workin our little bums off this week trying to get this area to take off and it has been quite the adventure taking over the area for me. i am just a baby missionary still so i guess the Lord knew I could do it even though it has been really tough. I was able to get my companion around and help her to get to know the area pretty well this week, in fact i think we have been able to hit up all the places that she needed to be acquainted with so now we are just plowin through. we have had some really funny adventures this week... well you may not think they are funny.... but we were laughing pretty hard. i was going to attach a picture of my war wounds from one of the adventures but i guess the email cant handle too many so i didn't. turns out the dogs here really hate my comp and i. we were clapping houses earlier this week when all of a sudden three huge dobermans come lunging towards an open gate and my companion has this immediate reaction to push me toward the dogs. anyway we both try to start running but since she pushed me i tried running and tripped over the sidewalk and biffed it hard face down, i just curled up in a ball expecting to get mauled and save my face. turns out the dogs were trained to stop at the gate so they had stopped and there were just a bunch of people that were playing soccer in the street that just stopped and were looking at me as i was laying on the ground in pain, greatful that i didnt get attacked. i got some nice road rash on my knees and some rocks in my hands but all was well. i was laughing so hard i had tears all the way home, but in a bit of shock that i was still alive haha. i know not funny to you but dont you worry i am well protected. all is well though so dont you fret. other than that dogs just hate us.... i am blaming my comp and her red hair haha, my other comp and i didnt have any problems with dogs but now for some reason every dog just wants to eat us.
well i could tell a million funny stories this week but more importantly are the miracles we were able to see. unfortunately alot of the members in this area were not to fond of my old comp so we have been doing clean up work trying to gain the trust of the members with my new comp. she is amazing so it has been really successful so far. she is super organized and ready to work and they all seem to be really happy so far so we are looking forward to working with them and continuing to gain their trust. we have found some really amazing new people to teach this week and actually found two this morning. one is named ruben, he is divorced, had three children, 3,6,11 he has full custody of his children and is working as a painter. he is looking for a way to raise his children correctly with how hard the world is and has been touched by how the gospel can help him to raise a strong family. this morning we found carla and cecelia. carla is about to be a mama of her first child and is living with her boyfriend and they have a really rough relationship. she has a mountain of problems that i could not even imagine having to deal with but we know the gospel can help her. then there is cecelia and she is a little spiritual powerhouse, she said that many of the things we had taught her were things she already knew but had not been taught beforehand. we are beyond stoked for all three of them. there is one more that really has been amazing this week, her name is soledad. we ran into her while clapping doors one day, she was sitting on a cement wall with some of her friends outside of her house and we walked up and started talking to her and all of her friends started to mock and laugh at us. i was feeling really uncomfortable because i am still getting used to stuff like that, but my companion was able to really just talk to her regardless and soledad was really engaged in what my companion was teaching, we made an appt to go back and have visited her once since. once again when we went her friends were there laughing but everything just seemed to fade away. she is 18 and has a baby and really wants to be able to raise her baby correctly with how difficult her world is, we are really looking forward to teaching her and watching the gospel change her life.
paula, richard, dameon, jaque and juan are moving right along. paula and richard should be getting married within the next week or so. we went with them this week to post their marriage in the paper for appeals. its a really weird system here, they have to post their marriage for appeals before they are actually able to be married. but we are sure all will go well. they are amazing and i love them so so much. jaque is such a light in my days right now, i cant tell you how much i love being with this family and watching them grow in the gospel.
i want to leave you with a spiritual thought that i read this morning from the church magazine. it says ¨giving up is not an option. without delay, turn to the Lord. exercise all of the faith you have in Him. let him share your burden. allow his grace to lighten your load. we are promised that we will ¨suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ.¨ never let an earthly circumstace disable your spirituality¨ I love this quote and am so greatful for the truth that it speaks, we never have to face our challenges alone, and we can choose to let these challenges shape us into the people that our Heavenly Father intends for us to be. Our challenges make us strong and our Savior helps us to endure through them.
Jess
August 24
well i am actually in Montevideo again right now because we are doing changes, which means i have a new companion!! I am staying in my area in Moldonado and my trainer is leaving to go to Florida. My new companions name is Hermana Thompson and she is from good old Las Vegas. I just barely met her, she is quite a bundle of energy so that will be great for me. I think i have learned a ton having a Latin companion but I am really excited as well to have someone that I can fully understand for a bit. It should be just great, i dont think there is a better training for the future than companions, its definitely meshing two totally different worlds 24 7, the only time alone that you have is in the bathroom haha.
Another thing that this means with my companion leaving is that I get to train my companion in the area.... scary!!! I am supposed to know everything, how to get everywhere, all the people we are teaching...... oh boy. its really hard in my area because none of the houses have numbers. when someone is describing to you where they live they tell you the name of the street and then tell you about where their house is and 98 percent of the time they say the house is white.... hahaha so its a bit complicated to find anything. but nonetheless i think i know enough to get us a good start. my companion had 6 months in the area so everyone knows her WAY well and was really sad to see her go, i hope that i am able to fill her spot here.
So this is actually the second time this week I have been in Montevideo when i think of it. we had a zone conference with Elder Anderson who is one of the seventy of the church, he is a leader in the church that oversees the work in the church in different areas of the world. it was really great, I was able to understand most as well which helps... the spanish is coming.... its coming slowly but surely hehe. so that was definitely the highlight of my week. I was able to see my cute mtc comp hermana grow which seriously always makes my day, i miss her SO much!!!
Jess
Another thing that this means with my companion leaving is that I get to train my companion in the area.... scary!!! I am supposed to know everything, how to get everywhere, all the people we are teaching...... oh boy. its really hard in my area because none of the houses have numbers. when someone is describing to you where they live they tell you the name of the street and then tell you about where their house is and 98 percent of the time they say the house is white.... hahaha so its a bit complicated to find anything. but nonetheless i think i know enough to get us a good start. my companion had 6 months in the area so everyone knows her WAY well and was really sad to see her go, i hope that i am able to fill her spot here.
So this is actually the second time this week I have been in Montevideo when i think of it. we had a zone conference with Elder Anderson who is one of the seventy of the church, he is a leader in the church that oversees the work in the church in different areas of the world. it was really great, I was able to understand most as well which helps... the spanish is coming.... its coming slowly but surely hehe. so that was definitely the highlight of my week. I was able to see my cute mtc comp hermana grow which seriously always makes my day, i miss her SO much!!!
Jess
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
New Address
SISTER JESSICA LIN KUBLY
MISION URUGUAY MONTEVIDEO
DAIMIRO COSTA 4635 BIS
C.T. 11400
MALVIN URUGUAY
MISION URUGUAY MONTEVIDEO
DAIMIRO COSTA 4635 BIS
C.T. 11400
MALVIN URUGUAY
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