THANK YOU!

Also, wanted to give all my followers a big thank you!! You are all so great! Couldn't have done it without my great family and friends. Thanks for all the letters and uplifting comments. You ROCK!

Just so y'all know, I will be reporting on the 14th of December (this Sunday) at 11:00am. I would love to see you all there. :)

Address

5212 W. Country Club Drive. 

Highland, UT 84003

And, Im thinking about making a new blog to start the next chapter of my life. So when its more official Ill let y'all know! But until then… Love you all! Chaooo 

Um, Hi. IM BACK!!

Well Everyone!

IM BACK!!

Just sitting at my home, next to the nice fire, and decided to write a little final blog post. Theres not much to say, because it was all said in my last post before I got home. But just wanted to share a few photos from the last few days in Argentina and my trip back home!

 Here is the shield of Argentina.. I thought it was cool so I took a picture of it! 

Me with Juli and Valentina! A couple investigators… just missing Marina their mom!! 

The sweetest member gave me a tree of life necklace!! The indians of Argentina (mapuche) have an old legend of the tree of life… so it has a lot of meaning. 

Saying goodbye to some great members! Sure miss them all! 

The missionaries and a couple members that came to say goodbye in the terminal as I left to Neuquen. 

Here on our morning run! 

The one and only GRIDOS!! Icecream.

Little Hermana Villalobos! Love her so much!! Cant believe its been so long since I trained her. It was great to spend my last 2 nights in her apartment. LOVE HER! 

Now here are a few pictures from the mission home the last couple days. 

Its been so long not using an iPad… We were stunned! 

And the flight!! 

Its great to be home, but sure do miss Argentina!! I have made memories that I will never forget! So happy to have dedicated my last 18 months to the Lord and to see all the growth that I have had personally. I love my Savior, and I love this work. So happy I was able to wear His name on my chest each and every day.. . and I look forward to serving Him more in the next chapter of my life. Heres to new beginnings.

Well, this is it..Goodbye Argentina!

Hello Family and friends,

This is it,

I believe that this will be the last email I will get to send to you as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Let me just start off by saying that I am so lucky and blessed to have been given this opportunity to preach His gospel and learn and grow in the mission Argentina Neuquen.  It's crazy to see it all come to an end....

This has been one of the greatest experiences of my life.  Truly, after being a missionary and serving the Lord, I could not imagine my life if I would have never done so.  I have learned so much!!  I've learned things of the world, but most importantly things that are not pertaining to the world..spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Wow!  I think my Heavenly Father knew I had a long ways to go...so He put me to work ;)

I would just like to share a few short examples of the things I have learned here on the mission...

Things I have learned:
-I have learned to write my q's and the number 1 differently...thanks to all these Argentines.
-I have learned to enjoy eating spaghetti each week...and sometimes 4 times a week (it always goes with white bread).
-I have learned that jello is a dessert and not a side dish.
-Also, an apple, banana and pear are all desserts.
-I have learned that sweeping is the new vacuum and it needs to be done 43 times each week. #zapaladirt
-I have learned that it's normal to water the dirt so it doesn't fly up in the wind.
-How to naturally kiss girls on the cheek and then remember that this is not normal in the states..
-How to pay bills not through the Internet

.....okay, okay, those were all little jokes, but so true.

These are the real things I have learned:
-How to receive answers to my prayers
-How to study and learn more about the life of our Savior Jesus Christ
- How to work even when it seems like there isn't work to be done.
-How to testify and teach of the truthfulness of the restored gospel.
-How to cry with those who need comfort.
-How to follow the promptings of the spirit simply by just acting.
-How to stand up for what I believe and defend it with power!
-How to recognize God's chosen
-How to apply the Atonement each and every day.
And lastly,
-How to be a true member of the Church of Jesus Christ.

This mission truly has taught me so much.  Now, looking back at these past 18 months, I realize I still have SO much more left to learn.  That is when the Atonement of Jesus Christ comes into action.  We cannot do it all.  I could not have learned and mastered everything here in the mission.  But, thanks to our loving Heavenly Father, He sent His son Jesus Christ to help us with everything that we cannot learn, or cannot master.  He is our difference!

I have loved my mission, just like every return missionary has said.  But, I never understood the love I had for the work until I finally see the end...but the work doesn't end.  That's the greatest relief :)  We keep working.  The mission truly has made me a better member.  For that reason, we all keep working, all on the same team :)

Just a quick, super cool story, that is totally worth sharing in the last email.

So, once upon a time, my companion and I were planning.  We thought, "Well, it would be super nice to have more investigators..."  So, we whipped out the area book and went through old investigators...again.  We decided to call them with the idea of inviting them to be baptized (so not awkward, but soooo awkward).  So, that's what we did.  We called a solid 3 people.  First result, we forgot to ask them to be baptized.  Oops, but we did get a date to see them.  Second result, we talked to a lady named "E".  She is 25 years old and .....ACCEPTED A BAPTISMAL DATE!!!  WHAT!!  As I was talking to her, I think I almost had a heart attack.  So, we don't know her but she has a date.  Awesome!  It was a great success, even though she was the only one who accepted, we did our part and Heavenly Father provided.

Love you all so much.  Thank you all for the support and words of encouragement the whole mission.  I truly have the greatest family and friends in the whole world!  So blessed to be a part of all of your lives. :)

Here's to a great airport scene..um..do we cry, laugh, dance, or what?  Well, here's to awkward beginnings ;)  hahahaha!

Love you all!

Hermana McChesney

Summer and SUNTANS

HELLO FAMILY!!  :)

So good to hear from you all.  And pretty sure dad mentioned 4 times that I'm coming home...haha!  So cute!!!

While you are all enjoying the cold weather..I'm here walking in the sun getting a nice farmer's tan.  HA!  It's super hot right now!

This week was great!  We had a lot going on.  We had a Conference with President which was incredible!  I have loved learning from him, his wife, and also his assistants that help us so much!  We learned a lot about how we can involve the members more in the work and how to get referrals from therm, too.  We did a couple practices and the spirit is always so strong.  One thing I love is listening to other missionaries teach me and my companion.

To be honest, in the past, I really didn't like practices at all... but really.  I always felt so uncomfortable and embarrassed to practice teach.  But then as the months have passed, I understand now how important teaching is.  The spirit is so strong and we as missionaries can understand now how important teaching is.  The spirit is so strong as we as missionaries can understand what we need to do better and what we should do and say in the lessons.  Entonces, for all those future missionaries out there, LEARN TO LOVE PRACTICE TEACHING EARLY IN THE MISSION.  (I'm not shouting, but just wanted it to be very readable and understandable so all can take the advice haha).

I was able to also give my farewell testimony.  That was weird.  I think that was the first time that it hit me that I was really going home.  Hermana Guerra, Hermana Hansen and I were all able to bear out testimonies.  While I was up there it was a feeling I have never felt before.  I think then is when I understood that I was going to miss the mission, and that I truly have been changed for the better here.  I know I still have so much more to learn, but what i have learned will help me to continue learning after.  It's a forever learning experience here, and it continues even after.  It was a very bitter sweet feeling...kind of like the sourpatch watermelon candy...but in a spiritual matter ;) ha!

Good news:
-"M" came to church!!!!!
-"R" gave a talk in church!  She's been active for only 5 weeks.  She did a great job!!
-"C" is giving a talk next week in church!!  We are going to help her and we are so excited!  She is excited, too!!!

We are going over to teach "C" today.  She has helped us in so many lessons!  She wants to be a missionary!  That just brings joyful tears to my eyes!

I love the mission.  I love all that is going on here.  I love the progression that we are seeing here. I know that there is so much to do, but my goal is to leave this area well off so my companion can have things to do.

Love you all so much!!

Thank you for all your support.  Couldn't be more blessed to call you my friends and family!

BESITOS!

Hermana McChesney

Service. Service. Service.

Heyyy!!  WOW!  Can you believe it's already Monday?  No.

Thanks to everyone who wrote me this week.  I love reading your emails and letters.  I never got to thank the mission prep class for writing me either, so thank you!  I enjoy reading your letters and I am so proud of all the hard work that you're doing out there in good ole Highland, Utah.

First, AUSTIN!!  I'm so proud of you.  New Zone Leader.  I knew you would be!  I had a feeling just this morning thinking, "I'm sure he will be zone leader soon."  You're going to love it!  It's a lot of work, but one of the greatest opportunities you will ever have.  But, don't get too stressed ;)

Secondly, want to say thank you to the boys for writing me and doing such great acts of service.  you boys are going to be the greatest missionaries in the whole world.  Thanks for preparing young!  you'll be so blessed.  Keep looking for more opportunities to serve!  I know God will put people in your life each day that you look to serve.

And last but not least.  Thank you mom for all the hard work that you put into my schedule!  BEST MOM AWARD.  I love you forever. HA!  Sorry I haven't been much of a help, but it's a little hard to focus on both the world and the mission.  Sorry.  Give me a couple weeks and I'll totally help you :)

This week was fantastic.  Let me tell you what I did.

I rode on a bus for 12 hours in total.
yeah.

Zapala---> Neuquen
Neuquen ---> Zapala
Zapala ---> Chos Malal
Chos Malal ---> Zapala

Yep.  That was my life this week.  It was great though.  Best part of the whole week is that...I SAW HERMANA VILLALOBOS.  Mi hijita, mi amiga, mi hermana, mi companera...ah!  Estaba re feliz!  She is in Neuquen and we stayed with her and her companion.  It's been almost a year, so it was a great reunion!

We had our leadership meeting and it was so incredible.  It was great to see everyone and have some good deep doctrinal chats with them.  This leadership meeting we talked a lot about the atonement, and helping investigators understand the importance to go to church.  It's something hard here to master.  But at the end of the meeting, President gave a strong testimony saying how grateful he was for each of us and the love that he has for us.  He got emotional, and I couldn't help but get a little teary eyed, too.  Thinking of how much love he has for us as missionaries and a mission, and then putting that in perspective of how much our Heavenly Father loves each of us was so powerful to me.  It really made me think and ponder.  Then I got sad to see that this same spirit that we feel as missionaries comes to an end. (I think I'm getting a little freaked out...but really).  So, it was a great experience to listen to president and just reflect on the love that our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father have for each and every one of us.  We are all children, and we are all his missionaries preaching the gospel.

We were able to do a couple zone meetings with those from Chos Malal and also from Zapala.  It was a great experience. :)

Hermana Hansen and I are getting along great.  We sing way too many church songs and you know you've been a missionary too long when you start making jokes quoting scriptures, and then making up your own lyrics to church songs.  It's great.  We love being missionary nerds.  It's great.  I'll send you a little voice clip we made for the finance elder for giving us travel money.

I have a testimony of service this week.
We weren't in our area very long..a total of 3 days.
But we were able to serve so many others.
And for that...We had miracles in our area.
I know that the Lord is willing to bless us as long as we are willing to help others.  I know that through service we can feel the love of God even stronger.  There are so many around us looking for help, let's find them, and serve them!

Thanks for all you examples!  Keep up the good work.  I would love to hear more stories of service ;)

BESOS!!

Hermana McChesney

Shoutouts:
Shout out to Mary and Savannah!  So happy to have a new little baby cousin!  She looks adorable! :)

                                     Me and Hermana Villalobos reunited after a year!

                                     Leadership council with some of my dearest friends.

                                               Zone meeting in Chos Malal

Be Humble and Be Happy!!

Hey, Happy Halloween!! (realized I totally forgot to say that last week....)

Hope you all got lots of candy and ate all the butterfingers for me! And all the twix. Yum.

So this week was a defintie success. So many great things happened this week. Including a lot of service opportunities! 

We went to do service for the bishops wife because she is pregnant and can't do much. So we got to do the typical house chores...iron and fold the clothes, wash the dishes, sweep the floor, clean the bathroom and the best part of it all was entertaining the 3 little boys! We got to play games and it was just the best thing in the world. It truly reminded me of the scripture found in Mosiah 2: 17. I know that when we are in the service of our fellow beings we truly are only in the service of our Heavenly Father. The feeling after doing service is truly one of the greatest feelings we can feel. I am fully convinced that as we serve each day we will become happier people! 

We actually did a lot of service this week. We had an investigator who has been sick. I don't know if I ever wrote about her before.. but her son had passed away about 6 months ago and she has been suffering depression ever since. Sadly, she overdosed and was found in the hospital. We were able to go and visit her twice. It was hard to see her how she was. But it was such a peace we felt when we were with her knowing that she was so close to the veil. Even though she couldn’t talk or see us, I know she knew we were there with her.  A couple days later she passed away. I know that she continues to receive the missionaries there in the Spirit World. Sad to see her go, but good to know that there is more and this is not the end. The Plan of Salvation is real. 

Also, we served a lot with the Wedding and Baptism of the Elders investigator. It was great to see someone change their life to follow Jesus Christ. And I am so blessed to have been able to see this change!

Overall, we served a whole lot this week, which was something we had been praying about and were hoping to do. 

I have been studying a lot about being humble. It's something that I think we all need to be better at. As reading a I came across a few verses that helped me understand the blessings I can receive if I am humble. Doctrine and Covenants 1:28

 28 And inasmuch as they were humble they might be made strong, and blessed from on high, and receive knowledge from time to time.

I loved how it had the blessing-- If we are humble we will be made strong and blessed on high. But not only that, but we will receive knowledge from the Lord. Also another scripture found is in Doctrine and Covenants 112: 10. 

 10 Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.

If we want to receive knowledge (like it says in the first verse I sent) we need to ask in prayer. But one thing I love is that if we are asking in prayer for knowledge and we are not humble, our Heavenly Father will not respond. It is so important to be humble while praying so when He does answer we will be willing to act on the response. Heavenly Father has so many answers and blessings waiting for us, he only requires us to be humble. 

It’s been a great week learning about the humility. Sorry it’s a little quickly written and maybe my idea didn’t come across very well... but just know that my testimony of being humble has grown tremendously! And I encourage you all to humble yourselves so we can receive answers to our prayers. 

I love this gospel. 

I love the example of Jesus Christ and how each and every one of us can truly strive to become more like Him. Its not easy, and it is definitely going to take all of our lives. But if we start now it will all be worth it.

Love you all so much!

Hermana McChesney

Oh, and "M" changed her baptismal date. We will be looking also more towards the end of November! Thanks mom for putting her name in the temple! 

Shout outs:

COLBY!! happy birthday last week. 

And OLIVIA SMITH!! Hope you had the best 21st birthday ever!!

         A new hermana came straight from the MTC and had these with her.  Oh the love!

                                     It snowed again. That's like it snowing in May.  Crazy!

Fortify the Testimony!

Good morning!!

Just want to start out the email with a huge scream!!!  Thank you mom!! You are the greatest for finding an apartment for me and Hermana Malmrose!  Miracles really do happen and God will never cease to be a God of miracles.  I think that's one of my favorite scriptures in Mormon, because it's so true.  He will never ever cease to bless each and every one of us as long as we keep the commandments and follow His counsel.

This week was incredible!  It's always different to try and adapt to new companions and everything but we have been doing great things together.  We truly saw MIRACLES.  So, mom, thanks for sharing your miracles with me.  I will try to share all them with you, too!!!

This week we were able to put 2 new baptismal dates.  That was super happy :)  "C" for the 29th of November and "F" also for the same date!!  We'll see how everything goes!

This week we had a miracle.  We have been teaching "M" and we had been planning on teaching her the first vision and about Joseph Smith a little more in depth.  And so we got to her house, and then started with the lesson.  As we shared the first vision with her, we paused, and she asked, "Wow, can I ask you a question?  Are you those two angels?"  She's adorable. We then explained that it was Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father!  She loved it!  She just lit up and said, "So that's why we need a prophet, so we don't have to be lost in the world."  Wow.  She's just so great!  She then said to us, "It's weird.  I understand all of this, but not the school stuff, and this is a lot harder for most people to understand."

I know that each time somebody hears the gospel of Jesus Christ they will recognize the truth of it.  We have all heard it before, so when they hear it again the spirit will help them recognize that it is true, and it will become so familiar to them!

Last night we had a Family Night.  It was good, not the greatest, but it was good.  We were with a family that's less active, a member, and an investigator.  At the end of a lesson, the investigator said, "I just want to do something with you as normal people, not as missionaries.  You can change out of your skirt and just be a normal person and we can talk about life.".... I really didn't like that at all.  I don't want to be a normal person.  Right now I am a representative of Jesus Christ, and it is the happiest I've been.   If there are people who don't respect that, I get it.  But this is the time for us to really teach and be missionaries.  We don't have a lot of time.  And it's sad to see the time fly by.  But, I came to a conclusion that I don't want to ever stop being a missionary (there it goes..never thought I'd say it).  But the spirit and the experiences I have are amazing.

I love the Gospel with all my heart.

I know that the Church is true.

I know that we are striving each and every day to achieve the eternal life.

I know that the commandments are guides and not restrictions that show us the love that God has for us.

This is the best life EVER!!!!  We are sooooo LUCKY!

Well, family, I love you all.  Sorry no funny experiences this email.  Short on time!  Wait, there is a funny experience.  Today.....ahahahaha!

FUNNY:
So we deep cleaned the pension today.  But seriously, deep cleaned!!  Let's just say that me and Hermana Hansen aren't living in a musty, boys pension anymore.  We are living in an apartment almost as clean as the temple.  Okay, not so clean..but it's definitely sparkling!  :)  Pretty sure that the elders before us peed on the ground...but don't worry, we got that all worked out!!  SUPER MISSIONARIES!!

Love you all so much!

Best luck this week.  Read your scriptures.  I'm finishing the Book of Mormon again!  And once again, I know it's true!!

I invite you all to read the last chapter of the Book of Mormon...Moroni 10.  Follow his counsel.  Read, ponder, pray.  I know you will fortify your testimony.

Hermana McChesney

                                  Me with my new and last companion, Hermana Hansen