"If I died right now, I would be happy"

Okay this week was absolutely INSANE. First of all, we had to plan a wedding in literally 6 days. CRAZY, right? We got permission from the President to go shopping in Talca. So first Hna Egbert and I prayed that we would be able to find a dress that would work. We get to Talca and go to the first, second hand clothing store that we find and asked if they had any wedding dresses. MIRACLE...they had one and it fit me perfectly. NEVER in my wildest dreams did I think I would be trying on AND buying a wedding dress on my mission. It was pretty funny/ weird though. The dress was 12 mil which is like 30 dollars and it was pretty enough so we bought it. Stains and everything. No sleeves and it was too long. Luckily I have a companion who studied fashion in Italy for a year and a half and she knows how to alter dresses. So we were working like mad women on that dress. She didn't like it at first, at all, and we were kind of bummed but the more we altered it the more she liked it. I will send pics.

The Elders helped us SOOOOOOOOOO much, I don't think we could have done anything at all without them. Actually, I know we couldn't have done any of it without them because without them I dont know if Mauro would have proposed. Mauro really needed that interview with a guy to kind of talk things out and whatnot. Also, because we went to take the dress to get dry cleaned in Talca cause there isnt a place to do it here in Conti and it was 18 mil. More than the dress. But the Elders had to pick it up for us because we couldn't go all the way back there just to get the dress on the day of the wedding. Also, they have a menos activo lady that owns a bakery and they got her to make a wedding cake for us. So they traveled from Talca 2 hours on the bus with our wedding dress and the cake. Elder Irigoyen was SO stressed, when he got to the church he said he never wanted to get married. He bought a seat for the cake on the bus and he said people kept trying to sit there but he had to keep saying no because he paid for the seat! So funny. So yeah we worked hard this week on getting everything ready for the wedding and then all the baptisms on Sunday.

Anyways, we go to the church and literally the whole ward is there helping clean and decorate. This ward is amazing for that, everyone is SO willing to help out with everything--it really is like a big family. They brought all this food and a computer to play music for the party. SO great. I was in charge of Susana's hair and make up and she was late so I was freaking out but finally she got there but her hair was wet but I just did it anyways. Her daughter Maura is a little monster and would not leave her mom alone at all everytime we tried to take her away she would cry.

After we finished hair and make-up the Judge showed up for us to sign all the papers. Kind of funny because as a testigo I am supposed to know everything that he said but I could only catch on to a few words, but i understand enough to get the gist of everything. I so don't care though. Mauro and Susana wanted us to be witnesses and there was no way I was going to not be a testigo just because I can't speak Spanish! SO we all signed the papers and then the ceremony started. Everyone was sitting in chairs and it was Susana and Mauro, and Hna Egbert and I on either side of them. I wrote down on my hand what I had to say during the ceremony so I wouldn't forget. Pretty funny. We were all soooo nervous though, I think Hna Egbert and I were just as nervous as they were... the elders too. OHH it was an amazing experience, I will never ever ever forget it ever. Elder Irigoyen took a video of the whole service. Very cool. THEY ARE MARRIED NOW!!!!!!! All because they wanted to keep the commandments. Amazing, right?

This week Susana told us she wanted to serve a mission, and it just melted our hearts. We told her she totally can one day with her husband but like almost immediately he said no. haha One day maybe he will want to. Anyways, the Elders needed to interview them after the wedding so they could get baptized the next day and after the interviews Mauro said no and that he wasn't ready. Broke my heart. But we said nope, he's getting baptized Sunday. SOOO Sunday comes (the only thing we did was prayed) and he wanted to get baptized!!!!!!! I think the thing that changed his mind was his little 9 year-old son made the decision to get baptized, too. The Elders took another 2-hour bus ride here for the baptisms so they could baptize them. Their whole family got baptized and NATALIE!! My favorite. I love her so much I am ecstatic that she finally made the decision to get baptized! Her boyfriend has been coming to church and I gave him a Book of Mormon with our testimonies in the back of it, and last time we went to go teach them a lesson he had little markers in his scriptures--he said he was marking his favorite. OHH how tender is that? Natalie finished the Book of Mormon before she got baptized, and now Angelo is reading it from start to finish.

I had a really cool experience this week, though, with them because we were sooo busy with the wedding stuff we didn't get to visit Natalie veryy much which is BAD because Satan works hard on those people who are so close. So I left my companion Hna Egbert at home working on the dress and did mini-cambios with Hna Jarrett. We got there and it was Natalie, Angelo and then Natalie's brother and his girlfriend from Talca who Elder Irigoyen and his comp are teaching! We had an amazing lesson with them and I felt like it was a perfect opprotunity for Natalie and Helvia (their mom) to bear their testimonies. They did and it was amazing, and then I felt like I should ask Angelo to share how he has felt about sharing with us for the past couple weeks and he gave such a sweet testimony.

On Sunday, we had 4 baptisms and SO many people from the ward came to support, it was honestly amazing. All of us missionaries got up and did a special musical number. There was 6 of us on the stage singing. The whole baptismal service was amazing, kind of stressful for us because we are running back and forth helping everyone in and out of the water with clothes and stuff, but it was SO beautiful. Then after the baptismal service, the Elders really had to go home but I asked Elder Irigoyen if he could talk to Angelo because we feel like he is going to get baptized. He had an interview with him and he PASSED and is getting baptized this SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! So him and Natalie can get confirmed on the same day together. OH MY GOSH, if I died right now, I would be happy. Elder Irigoyen said it was an amazing interview and that they were going to get married in the temple!!! Seriously, I don't know how I will ever have as good of a week as this one ever again. I loved, loved it. MIRACLES happened, literally. We prayed so much and everything we needed to happen, happened. Anyways, this is SO long and I don't think it makes any sense, so I better go. I love you allll, byeee.

Hna McCombs