Not Going Anywhere!

So this week was pretty much amazing.  We saw a lot of miracles this week.

We were blessed to have 12 lessons with members present.  This was a huge blessing, because the members are starting to help us a lot more.  We were also able to find 8 new investigators this week to teach.  We knocked on a lot of doors, and we were able to find new people.  

It was really funny, I had started to tell people that I was pretty sure that I was going to get changed because I have been in this sector for 5 and a half months!!! But then I got a call on Saturday from President asking me what I thought about my sector.  I told him that it was hard at first, but that it is getting better.  That's when he told me that's what he thought and that I have been in that sector for a good while, but still it wasn't too much time...  and so that's when I knew that I was going to be staying one more change!  I will be here 7 months at the end of this change...  but that's ok because we have a lot of people that are starting to progress, and we should see some baptisms this change!

But ya.  Sorry this letter is so short, I wasn't paying attention to the time, and now it's gone!  Haha, but more details next week ya!

Thanks for everything, I love you and miss you all tons!!!

Have You Been Sick For A Year?

Hello!  So this week was a pretty crazy week!

 

On Tuesday we had interchanges with our district leader, and this time I went to his sector to work with his companion.  It was really good, we had quite a bit of success and were able to find and teach some new people.  Also, since I have been here in Chile I have had problems with my stomach and they are pretty sure that I have gastritis.  So they have been trying to give me medications to help me feel better, but everthing I have taken has made me feel worse.  So I asked for a priesthood blessing to help me feel better.  When I got back to my sector I felt a different energy than before, and the pain that I had slowly went away.  That and I now know how to treat the problem and the things that I can and can't eat.  But of course right after I started feeling better, I got the stomach flu...  and after that went away, it just happened to be the coldest days here and now I´m pretty sure that I have a cold... I just can't win haha.  But yes, this week was amazing!

While I was gone in the other sector my companion went to visit a kid who we are teaching, Juaquin with his sister, (his sister was baptized a couple months ago) and the reason he couldn't be baptized is because his mom never gave him permission to be baptized.  But this time she came in while they were sharing and said, "if he wants to get baptized he can, it's his desicion."  Let's just say that I was very surprised!  So we went back on Thursday and we put him with a baptisimal date for the 11 of Agosto! And then we asked his sister if she would be willing to take him to church and he went to church!

After that we were also able to teach Pedro and Andrea, and pretty much we were pretty serious with her because she still has doubts about something in the church but has yet to tell us the problem, so we were able to talk about what was her doubt and it was really good, she ended up going to church with her husband and 2 daughters, but Pedrito had to stay home because he was sick...

After that we also were able to teach Claudia.  She understands everything that we teach her, so it's really easy, and she wants to get baptized!  So she also was able to go to church this Sunday.  We are still trying to teach her family, but it's a little bit hard to find them!  But she is progressing amazingly well.

 

So we are also trying to find new people to teach.  So we were knocking on doors in a street, and a man came out and started talking to us.  He told us that his wife died a month ago, and that he and his son were having a hard time getting over the feelings and things that they were passing through.  So we started testifying about the plan of salvation which helps us know that this life isn't the end.  At the end he told us to come back the next day and talk with his son.  We went back and he told us his son was still working, and that he didn't have time to listen to us, but asked us when we had reunions [meetings?].  We told him 10 in the chapel.  To our suprise he showed up! The bishop gave a talk about the Plan of Salvation, and it was perfect for this man.  After church the bishop went and talked to him and testified then and there how his wife was still alive and that he would be able to see her again.  We are going to pass by this week to teach him!

In the end we had 4 people in church this week!!!  This is the most that I have had while here for 5 months!  We were also blessed to find 5 new people to teach this week!  Miracles do exist!  Long suffering pays off, because now I am seeing the blessings!

But that's pretty much what has been happening with me!  Love you guys and miss you tons!

Rats Under the Floor?

Hello!  Esta semana fue pero super loco! pero fue super divertido a la vez!

 

Where to begin... Ya so this week we had the opportunity to do some service for a less active family in the ward.  They had an old wood floor in a part of their house, and it was falling apart, so they wanted to take it out.  So we went to help.  Pretty much we ripped the entire floor out.  There were spiders and such everywhere, and the best part of it all there were skeletons under the wood! Complete skeletons of rats and mice that the spiders had eaten.  It was really fun, and destroying things is fun, and I'm good at it haha. But I'm glad we were able to help out.

 

Is that a rat?

 

Also something else that happened, we lost half of our investigators...  but I guess that's the mission right.  We are now spending even more time trying to find new people to teach, but it is more and more difficult every day.  We are knocking on more and more doors, and really the people don't want to answer the door.  I know why the church is starting to adapt its way of finding new people, and why they want the members to help out more.  We are lucky to be teaching the family Donoso, we were blessed to have Cloudia go to church this week, and we were able to put her son and brother with a baptisimal date, and she told us on Sunday that her other brother was now interested and wanted to know more. So we are seeing blessings!

 

On Thursday we had our conference with President Essig.  It was really good, and I learned a lot. I know why he is our mission president, he is ridiculously smart.  But it was good, and I enjoyed it a lot.

 

One thing I'm hoping for is that Fresia will come back before the changes so I can see her get baptized.  She is still with her daughter and the doctor says that he doesn't want her to go back to her house because she is going to see all of the stuff of her husband and feel bad, but if she never faces it, she will never get over it.  Pretty much when she comes she can get baptized right away.

Sunday...  what an interesting day it was.  So first off we were supposed to have executive committee meeting at 8 in the morning, so we got up early to go to that.  When I woke up I didn't feel good at all and was trying everything in my power not to throw up the entire morning.  When we got there at 8 it was us and the bishop, nobody else showed up...  at 9 I called our investigators that were going to come to church.  They didn't answer but the other family told me they were coming, and then at 9:30 we went to pick up Cloudia.  That's when she told us that she hadn't slept pretty much all night because her son got sick and they took him to the hospital. She got back to her house at 5:30 AM, and then she still came to church with us!  This is evidence to us that she is really converting and wanting to know more!  Usually people try and find the littlest excuses in the world to not go to church, for example the family that told me they were going to go, didn't show up because he couldn't find his wallet so he didn't have his license to drive to church...  so they didn't show up.  Next week right? And on top of it all, I had to talk!  I had to talk about missionary work in the ward, and I told them how it was... bad!  and that we needed their help.  I had looked up a few scriptures before that talked about the importance of missionary work, and the blessings that come from it, and that we aren't alone in the work.  We shouldn't be afraid to share what we know!  I ended up going over on my time, but that's ok.  After that the stake counselor that was there got up and talked even more about how the members need to step it up and help more.  Then the gospel doctrine class was about missionary work as well.  At the end it was a very good Sunday for us.  Now we are going to see if the members apply what they heard and help us out more.

 

But that's all for this week.  I love you all and miss you all tons! Stay safe!

Should We Go In?

¿Que pasa todos? Como están?  yo estoy pero muy bien.  esta semana fue tan loco ni sé donde empezar!

 

Ya, so this week was crazy!

We started out on Monday going bowling like I said last week.  It was too much fun going bowling.  I definitely am planning on doing it again don't even worry.

 

 

But ya.  Then on Tuesday we had an interchange, and the district leader came to work with me in my sector.  Wow what a day.  So we went and taught Dagoberto, and after that went to knock on some doors.  We decided to knock on doors close to Fresia´s house (our investigator who is waiting to get baptized) and while we were knocking one of her neighbors said that she was at the viewing of her husband.  I didn't quite understand her, and we kind of stood there in shock.  So we decided to knock the next house and ask them what happened.  When we knocked on the door a lady came out and instantly told us that he had died and that the viewing was in the Catholic church 2 blocks away.  So we went over there to see what happened, and as we got to the Catholic church, we didn't know if we could go in or not, but we went in and it was true, there was Fresia, and her husband Luis had passed away.  We talked with her for a little to comfort her.  He passed away Tuesday morning at 7, and she didn't even have the chance to tell anyone that he had passed away or that they were having the viewing.  It's sad that he passed away, but now Fresia can be baptized!

Then on Wednesday we were blessed to have several lessons with members present, and we watched the DVD of the Restoration with an investigator and it left him very impressed, he then shared it with his sister and his mother-in-law.  Little by little we are finding more of his family to teach!  The Lord is preparing people to learn the gospel!

Then on Thursday we had 6 appointments, and all but one of them fell through.  So we ended up doing contacts!  and pretty much that's how the week ended.  Trying to find people to teach! But that's the fun part right!  And yesterday a dog tried to eat me it was fun!

But ya that was the fun stuff that happened! It's really cold and I can't feel my fingers. But Love you all and miss you tons!

 

 

Flooding in Santiago

 

Weird Sunday

¿Hola como están todos? yo estoy pero super bien gracias!  bueno vamos a empezar con mi semana ¿ya?

 

Haha so this week was crazy! On Monday we had a lesson with Max.  He is one of our new investigators, but it ended up that he wasn't there, but we found him a little later and set up an appointment for Tuesday.  After that we went and taught a lady named Felisa.  We taught her about the Restoration, and also we were able to set a baptisimal date for the 28 of July.  It is a little hard to find time to teach her because her husband works late and we can't enter the house unless he is there, but I think there is a trend with all of the little old ladies and dying there hair red.  No joke we are teaching 3 old ladies all with their hair dyed red.

So on Tuesday we went to share with Fresia, (different old lady with red hair) who has been waiting to be baptized for 7 years now.  The time is getting much closer to her baptism now.  She couldn't get baptized because she and her husband aren't married, and he was married to another woman more than 50 years ago, but they never got a divorce, so they have been trying hard to get the divorce but they can't find his old wife.  The husband of Fresia is ill, and has progressively been getting worse, and so now his kids are going to put him in an old person's home.  It's sad because he has to go, but it's also good because now Fresia can get baptized.  Fresia is one of the most faithful members of this ward, and she isn't even baptized!

After that we had our lesson with Max.  Now let me tell you.  I had my jaw dropped the entire lesson. Last week we taught him and his sister about the Restoration.  When we went to teach him on Tuesday he told us that he believed everything we had taught. We asked him if he prayed about what we had taught, and he told us that he didn't need to pray because he felt that it was true!  He then told us from the day that we had taught him he felt a joy and happiness that he hadn't felt before.  He told us that everything made sense and that as we started to explain baptism he told us, "Yes, I want to get baptized"  so he is preparing to get baptized on the 28 of July as well.  We then went on Wednesday to teach him about the plan of salvation, and at the end we asked what he understood or thought about it, and he then repeated to us the entire plan and said that he understood it perfectly.  The only thing we have to do now is get him to go to church.

 

We also taught Felipe this week, and we taught him about the Plan of Salvation as well.   This kid is really smart, but he believes that the things he has seen in movies about Christ's life is exactly how it is.  Haha it's really funny to teach  him.  The only thing is that we need to find the opportunity to find out how to share with his parents as well.

Ya, ok let me tell  you about Sunday.  Sunday morning we were running a little late, and got to the chapel 5 minutes before the meeting started.  As we were approching the gate, the secretary was walking out and told us that President was waiting.  I thought he was talking about the stake president...  boy was I wrong.  We walked in and started saying hi to people when I looked up at the stand and there was sitting the Mission President and his wife!  Suprise!  But no big deal things were normal, until about 10 minutes until sacrament meeting was going to end when someone entered the church.  As I looked at her through the window she calls me to come out.  So my companion and I have to get up and leave in the middle of a talk with our President watching.  The lady was sick and needed help with some stuff so we helped calm her down and told her that we were going to talk to the bishop after the meeting ended.  So we had to wait with her until the meeting ended and then instead of talk with the Mission President and his wife we had to try and figure out how to help this lady.   After church ended and we ate lunch, we were starting to go proselytizing and I said to my companion "This day has been so weird, and I have the feeling it's only going to stay weird."  I was right.  Not even 5 minutes later a member of the ward called me and told me that he needed me to call the bishop or someone from the bishopric and get them to his house immediately.  So I then had to start calling people to try and find the bishop.  It was a crazy day let me tell you! 

But today we had our district activity and we went bowling!  I won the first game, and then got second the second game!  It was really fun!

But that's all for this week.  Love you all and miss you  tons!