Monday: I remember a time, when I was with Elder Calaway, right after
we spoke with our families, when we wanted to know how much time we`d
have, when we spoke with them again. I calculated that I would have 19
1/2 months. Today I completed 19 months! That`s one of the numbers I
always thought was really high when I was new. Haha. Time just won`t
stop and let you sit. I didn`t really get a Pday today. At 7:30 I was
on a bus to Concepción with Elder Corliss and Arnett, on our way to a
Training session for District Leaders only. When we got there, I saw
Elder Lisonbee and we sat by each other, enjoying each others`
company. The first persons to train us surprised me. It turns out that
Pres. Martinez has Sister Assisstants! It was definitely a different
feeling to be taught by Missionaries without ties. Anyway, they helped
me realize a quality that I want in my wife: I want her to support and
encourage me in my callings. They were telling us things like, 2We
trust your decisions. You are men of God, and you are here for a
reason." It was an interesting spirit that accompanied them. We
learned that we have to give our Missionaries "The Vision of
Baptizing," in order for them to know where all this is going. The
Assisstants (Elders) taught us more about our responsibilities in
Exchanges and things. Pres. Martinez explained the importance of
having the HOly Ghost. Elder Richards, when he visited, explained that
the enthusiasm we have is recognizable as the Spirit, or was it the
other way around? If someone`s depressed, it`s because they lost the
Spirit. We had a long ride home, and then wrote the family. All is
well. Mom loves being a Temple Worker and is hearing a lot of cool
stories.
Tuesday: Today went pretty well. I got up to shower early, so my comp.
would get up on time and shower and we`d still have plenty of time
before the bus came. It kinda worked. This was the first Distrizona we
did, implementing the new "report sheets"--forms that included our
Weekly Planning and progress of news--and I got to put some of the
things I learned yesterday into practice. Up until now, I`ve ben too
casual with my District. I thought I was being happy and friendly with
them. But I found a balance where I can still be my happy self and
still be able to correct them. In my class, for instance, they tried
to joke and put off the class for as long as possible. Before, I
wouldn`t have known how to take command or, more importantly, WHY. But
that time I have, to teach and inspire them is so vital, so I took
command, had better posture, and kept them focused. It worked. They
started listening to me and behavin better. In the Afternoon, I went
with Elder Maldonado to visit an Investigator while our comps. went to
an INternet Café to do an emergency transfer of moeny. They said
they`d be 10 min. Alvaro, the Investigator I visited with Elder
Maldonado, is great. He`s gonna get baptized on the 24th. We taught
the Restoration and he felt the spirit and it was great. We did
contacts for a while after that.
Wednesday: So we worked pretty hard, today, doing our best to do what
we should...and we had some amazing experiences! We started out the
day a little differently. we traveled to Lebu to start my second
Carnet. I`m actually late, and I might be arrested. We got there, only
to find that the man who had to attend us wasn`t in today. I`ll be
busy for the rest of the week, so I have to wait for Monday. Lame. We
got back in time to pick up the clean clothes. Then, we went to have
lunch with Hna. Diaz. It was funny because we had tough meat with
bones and cartilag eand I had trouble cutting. She (or I?) made the
joke of meeting my future in-laws at a dinner with meat like that, and
the impression Id make. That`s why I`m going to order sammon, or
mashed potatoes, or some other more malleable substance. haha. We
didn`t have any appts. set up for the Afternoon, so we did contacts.
It actually went really well. The Lord must have known how hard this
was getting for me. I remember we`d been contacting for about 3 hours
before our first Spiritual Experience. We were too early for where we
wanted to go, so I chose to "explore" and take the scenic route. Well,
actually I took the route and then came up with the reason because I
wasn`t sure. I decided to knock a few doors on one random alley. We
got in the first hosue. We started talking about her son and eternal
families. Eventually, we found out her father died 3 weeks ago. We
wouldn`t have found her if we`d taken the "quick" route. Later, we
were walking and we passed a man in his doorway. we kept going before
I felt to turn around. He didn`t want to let us in. We spoke and I
pulled out a pass-along and he invited us in. We talked a lot before I
offered to say a prayer. He hadn`t paid attention well. When I
finished the prayer, he wasn`t reactive. He wouldn`t talk or blink or
move. I had a very strong impression to reach out and touch him on his
right shoulder. As I did, he jumped as if shocked. He explained he`d
felt as if something warm had fallen on him. I invited him to be
baptized and he said yes. Guided by the Spirit much? OH YEAH!!!
Thursday: Today was an alright day. During our weekly Planning, our
Zone Leaders came and joined us. the 6 of us went to lunch with the
Neira family. The Dad was ticked, `cause he thought we`d spread romors
that we got sick, last week, due to his cooking. we never did! elder
Arjona went to Cañete with Elder brady to work for the day. i stayed
here with Elder Hall. We were outside ALL DAY knocking doors. Usually,
when we do contacts, we get into a few houses. Not today. aBut I LOVED
eing Elder Hall`s comp. It was so great to not be working alone. He`s
such a dedicated guy. I planned out all of the people that gave us so
much as a "pass by some other day." We were banging on all cylinders!
But, for some reason, we weren`t able to find someone to let us in. We
met several people that said they don`t like the church, but couldn`t
give a reason why. one lady told us to come by another day. When we
asked which day, she told us, "NEVER!" I don`t know how people can
treat their Salvation like that. By the end of the night, I was
freezing and my legs hurt so bad it gave me tingles.
Friday: When I woke up today, after the 5 other times I woke up during
the night, I was completely stiff. Every movement created a creaking
of muscles. My night was so restless because my recently aquired
snburn kept overheating me. I was wearing SPF 80! Elder Hall and I
left aound 8:00, to Cañete, for Interviews. He wanted to change and
shower. Elder Arjone (bless his soul) offered to buy us breakfast. We
had a ham and cheese sandwich followed by a banana split...when I
think about it, that is like a Missionary Mom`s nightmare. Haha. It
was delicious. Our Interviews went really well. First, the Assisstants
gave us some really cool training. Last July, a new program came into
the Mission field. it includes 8 steps on how to help an Investigator
be really converted. First they asked us to put ANY concern we had on
the board. They said they would give an answer to each of them. And
they did...just not how I was expecting them to. they showed us that
any concern we have can be resolved with one of those 8 lessons. Then
the Sister Assisstants (still weird) got up and reviewed the 6 steps
of teaching by the Spirit: Observe, listen, discern, ask inspired
questions, teach pure doctrine, invite to act, repeat. We did a
practice that was different. We were to use those steps to find and
resolve a person`s doubts. But instead of Investigators, we taught the
Assisstant and Zone Leaders and themselve. I had my Interview with
Pres. where he gave me a pep talk and told me to have patience with my
comp. Then i returned an hopped into a practice, teaching Elder Arjona
with a new Misionary. Afterward, Elder Arjona said I really touched
his heart and helped him. I love him. The Assisstants bought everyone
completos. then, we came back. Right as we got hom,e a Policeman from
Lebu, where i`d started my paperwork for my Carnet, called me. He
saiid he`d finished mys tuff and was in Curanilahue. He handed it to
me and saved me $5 in travel. YES! My sunburn, and the sun, gave me a
pounding headache that forced me to retreat home. Elder Smith and
Elder Brady went to our appts.
Saturday: Today kind of sucked. On the bright side, my muscles stopped
hurting. I spent the morning writing my talk I have to give tomorrow.
The other Missionaries were doing their own thing and just tried so
hard to avoid getting distracted and staying focused. I had a really
great time exploring the topic of my talk. Little tip: If there`s
anything youre unsure of, or want to learn more about, just write a
talk about it. The revelation that accompanies the process is so
great! I wrote my talk about Family Home Evenings, as was assined to
me. I discovered something I hadn`t known before: An
advantage/blessing for the parents, thanks to FHE, the Father is
viewed as the authority in the house. How many broken families do we
have in this world, that wouldn`t exist if they just followed the
Prophet? Well, I guess if everyone did that, they`d end up getting
baptized. Haha. Before we went to lunch, I called Elder Lisonbee, to
wish him Happy "monthday". He turned 22 in the Mission! I love him.
Haha. W ehad fried fish and rice for lunch. i loved it! Afterwards, my
comp. told me he wasn`t feeling well. I told him to lie down. I took
his temperature later. 101.4 So I had him take a drink of water
throughout the day, as well as have him take some ibuprofen. We pretty
much just laid in our beds. I had a fever of 99.something. it was
relatively cool, but we were both sweating a lot. Gross, right? My
head still hurts and it`s late. I`m going to bed.
Sunday: We were blessed today. we worked so hard this week, when we
could, but before today we hadn`t found more than a few people. Before
Church started, we had our meeting with our grouchy Ward Leader. One
of the four of us has problems getting going in the mornings and we
didn`t make it out on time. Anyway, we arrived 5 min. late and Hno.
Neira accused us of sleeping in. It`s tough, paying the price for
someone else`s mistakes. We shared our stuff efore going to pick up
Miguel. He didn`t answer. But when we started the firt class, a member
walked in with a non-member friend. He totally lives in our sector!
His name is Manuel. He said he just came with his friend, this time
only. Elders Smith, Maldonado, and I had to give talks today. I went
first and talked about Family Home Evenings. Elder Smith spoke on the
power of prayer. Elder Maldonado spoke on why it is important to read
the scriptures. A Sister said my Spanih was like listening to a
General Authority. Boo yeah! I spoke with the non-member afterwards.
He said he anted to hear us out. His member friends invited him and us
to an FHE tomorrow. In te afternoon, I got the fever Elder Brady had.
My temp. kept rising, until it stopped at 102. As I was resting, I
thought of something. Everyone alays asks, "What would Jesus do?" I
didn`t know, before the mission. Now I know he`d do the will of the
Father. SO... We should ask, "What does Heavenly Father want me to
do?" For me, that makes it easier. When I was back in bed, Elder Smith
brought me medicine and Elder Brady brought me a hot water bottle. I
felt cold, taht`s why. They`re good guys.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
12-4-11
Monday: Today was a great day. We got to enjoy the morning in the
house, cleaning and relaxing. Then we went to get lunch. We had
completos. YES! We then wentto use Internet to write the family. Daddy
said they all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving. but he also said it
was kind of lame because it was just the four of them. They want me
home. I think they`re "trunkier" than I am. Haha. I got an email
from...Joe! He is currently in Orlando, Florida. What the heck?! I
hope he`s doing well. loved hearing form him. We did exchanges at
night. I went with Elder Maldonado. We tried to contact a member who`d
said she had a referral for us. But she wasn`t home. So we pretty much
just did contacts all night. But then I had the idea to share the "17
Miracles" movie with the Diaz family. They were totally down for it.
It really was a beautiful movie. We were all feeling the Spirit so
strongly. Then they gave us some refreshments. Yum.
Tuesday: Today was great. We actually got picked up on time, this
week, to go to our Distrizona in Cañete. The Zone Leaders are sking us
to get reports on all of our Districts investigators and their
activities. In our district Meting, I said something insensitive to
Elder Brady. As soon as I made the remark, he got quiet, closed his
eyes, and started shaking. I was just thinking, "Oh crap. I`m an
idiot." He turned around and went to the bakc of the room and refused
to participate. I went over and stood by him, and rubbed his back. He
was crying. He said he learns things by touch, and that doesn`t wrk
with languages. I`m such a jerk. He accepted my apologywe hugged and
cried and stuff. We did contacts in the afternoon. We got into 3
houses. One in particular, Estéfani, was really great. She`s young,
about 23 or 24, and has a 4 year-old daughter. I noticed how her eyes
shone when she spoke of her daughter. So we decided to teach about
Eternal families. She said we could come back tomorrow. We`ll see how
that goes. My whole run-down with Elder Brady has let me know just how
far I have togo before I can get marrand have kids and relationships
in general. Dang it! But I guess it`s normal to mak mistakes
sometimes. As for making upfor hose mistakes, I think I`m doing
alright.
Wednesday: Today was wonderful. It was kind of funny in the morning,
though. I was so excited to study. We ran, I showered, got dressed,
got all my books out, and then the other MIssionaries told us we had
to do service. We did that for a few hours before we got back. I was
just sitting down to study en the Branch res. called and asked us to
come by, to pick up the Permaneced list. We got back and I read
twoverses before my comp. reminded me of an appt. we had in 15 min.
DANG IT!!! We couldn`t even find the guy. We took out money beto
lunch. After lunch, we met with Camilo, the kid who went to church on
Sunday. We waited in the Chapel, and I was pleasantsed when he
arrived. We taught the Restoration. He`s been through a lot of
churches, looking for truth. he wants to do what`s right. When I told
of the First Vision I felt the Spirit so strongly. I was oing to
explain tHAuthority, but I lt impressed to ask how he felt. He said,
j"I feel a calmness I`ve never felt before." This message is so
powerful. "It doesn`t depend on the Message, but the messenger," as
Boyd K. Packer said. He wants to read and pray about the Book of
Mormon. He also said he wants to be baptized. WOOT! But he belongs to
the oher missionaries. We did contacts until night. Then, the Ward
Mission Leader invited us o his son`s b-ay party. It was great.
Thursday: So this is the last entry in my 398-page journal. WHAT?!
what the crazy sauce is that all about? ;) We got up and, after doing
the usual, we did our Weekly Planning session. The only problem: we
don`t have any investigators, after our week or so of being here in
Curanilahue. I now that we should be measuring our success by how e`re
doing with ourselves, rather than base it off of the decisions others
make. But not seeing any success...well, it gets discouraging
sometimes. We DID have a delicious BBQ fo lunch. It was smoked meat,
full of flavor and not cartilage. I ate as muchI could. All of our
appts. with "future Investigators" fell through. Another day full of
contacts. We fond a lady that wanted to listen to us, but just that.
She "has faith in her own church." When I asked her why, she said
"because it`s closest." She was so hard-hearted, and I just wanted to
help. I was very grateful for the respite from the sun, thanks to
cloud cover, as well as for the good night`s sleep ahead of me.
Friday: So we wer up all night, the four of us. Elder Smith, Elder
Maldonado, Elder Brady and I. It turns out that we all have food
poisoning and we spe the night vomiting together. It`s really weird.
All four ofus. Weird. Before the Mission, I`d never met what I like to
call a "vocal vomiter." I have now met a few. It`s someone that yells
at the top of their luns until they become reaquainted with their
previous meal. Let me tell you, it`s enough to turn anyone`s gut. We
cancelled our lunch today, because even though our mouths wanted food,
the rest of us couldn`t take it. I tried to study in the morning, but
I had an enormous headache that prevented me. Eventually, it went away
and since, out of the four of us, Elder Maldonado and I were feeling
the best, we wenti some people and get the laundry. The people weren`t
there, and the laundry wasn`t ready. We came home and slept. Later,
the two of us went to try and teach Camilo about baptism, but he never
arrived at the Chapel. ile we were there, Elder maldonado started
asking me what I thought of him. He said he`d been h aving a lot of
introspective doubts lately. He asked questions about my family and
what I missed most. He`s got one tmore than me. I can tell that he
misses his family a lot. I bet he`s looing forward to his Christmas
phone call. Camilo never showed up, so we headed back to thepartment.
As the evening has progressed, the others` symptoms have improved,
whmine have progressively worsened. My stomach is cramping, my head
aches, and I`m dizzy,creating nausea. Ooph! But it`s nice to be in
this together. It creates kind of a comraderie between us. it`s sweet.
Saturday: So today was part 2 of the "food poisoning doosies." but on
the bright side, even though I didn`t feel well enough to go too far
away from the toilet, I WAS able to study. I was finishing up Alma 42
and read some advice that Alma the Younger gives to his son. There`s a
part where he tells his son not to excuse his sin in the slightest
degree. He says this is so he can be humbled down, to the dust. I was
pondering on how that oculd work, and I realized that if we were
always making excuses for ourselves, we would never feel guilty. And
if we never felt guilty for our actions, we would never feel the need
to repent of those things we`re doing badly. heavenly Father really
can`t excuse us...at all. When I learned this, I realized just how
much I sometimes make bad chioices or mess up because I give myself
excuses, or crutches to go off of. But I`m not going to do that
anymore. I think it`ll help me in my endeavor with Alan, of getting to
be the best people we can be. We didn`t cancel lunch today, `cause we
just HAD to get out of the house. While we were waiting for lunch to
be ready, we shared stories of how we got our various scars. Or
rather, everyone else did. I didn`t have any cool ones. I`ve kind of
made it a point to avoid dangerou/stupid situations and, as a result,
have lived a relatively dulll life. Hah! We were also talking (in
English) about where we`d be calling our families for Christmas. Then,
the Brother walked in and invited us. Sweet! I spent the Afternoon
napping. I woke up several times with chills and sweating. I`m feeling
better, though. We`re gonna work our butts off tomorrow, to try and
make up for some of the stuff we haven`t haveen able to do. I`m tired
right now.
Sunday:Today was fast and Testimony meeting. It was really great. We
got to our Priesthood meeting and Hno. Neira asked why we hadn`t gone
to the Executive Comitee meeting, asking if we had slelpt in. I hate
how the people in this Branch assume the worst about the Missionaries
based on how the last ones behaved. First ofall, that meeting is
invitation-only, so they have to invite us, which they didn`t do. And
second ofall, I was totally up at 6:30, getting ready. Judging and
prejudice suck. We had a really great class about Brotherhood. The
teacher turned the word into a cool acronymthat doesn`t work in
English. Sunday School was about Exaltation. The testimonies were
great, as always. We had lunch with Hna. Nidia, who washes our clothes
for us. She toldus about what it was like, to be a mom of missionary
sons. She said that when both of them came back home they were
different...and she didn`t like the changes. What kind of jmother says
that about her own sons? What kind of changes deserve that reaction?
Almost all of my journal entries have been dedicated to self-analysis
and discovery. I`ve definitely come a long way in self-confidence. But
what will those changes be viewed as, by otheres? 2 years is a long
time. What will I think of THEM? It`ll certainly be interesting. I
couldn`t sleep most of last night. In the time I had to think I
thought of the time I have left to me as a Missionary. There`s so much
more I can do and learn. But it`s not very long until I get to see my
family again. I still remember my first shock as I realized that I was
leaving them. Scary and intimidating as heck. And soon, after all the
waiting and missing, I`ll be back with them again. What will that be
like?
house, cleaning and relaxing. Then we went to get lunch. We had
completos. YES! We then wentto use Internet to write the family. Daddy
said they all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving. but he also said it
was kind of lame because it was just the four of them. They want me
home. I think they`re "trunkier" than I am. Haha. I got an email
from...Joe! He is currently in Orlando, Florida. What the heck?! I
hope he`s doing well. loved hearing form him. We did exchanges at
night. I went with Elder Maldonado. We tried to contact a member who`d
said she had a referral for us. But she wasn`t home. So we pretty much
just did contacts all night. But then I had the idea to share the "17
Miracles" movie with the Diaz family. They were totally down for it.
It really was a beautiful movie. We were all feeling the Spirit so
strongly. Then they gave us some refreshments. Yum.
Tuesday: Today was great. We actually got picked up on time, this
week, to go to our Distrizona in Cañete. The Zone Leaders are sking us
to get reports on all of our Districts investigators and their
activities. In our district Meting, I said something insensitive to
Elder Brady. As soon as I made the remark, he got quiet, closed his
eyes, and started shaking. I was just thinking, "Oh crap. I`m an
idiot." He turned around and went to the bakc of the room and refused
to participate. I went over and stood by him, and rubbed his back. He
was crying. He said he learns things by touch, and that doesn`t wrk
with languages. I`m such a jerk. He accepted my apologywe hugged and
cried and stuff. We did contacts in the afternoon. We got into 3
houses. One in particular, Estéfani, was really great. She`s young,
about 23 or 24, and has a 4 year-old daughter. I noticed how her eyes
shone when she spoke of her daughter. So we decided to teach about
Eternal families. She said we could come back tomorrow. We`ll see how
that goes. My whole run-down with Elder Brady has let me know just how
far I have togo before I can get marrand have kids and relationships
in general. Dang it! But I guess it`s normal to mak mistakes
sometimes. As for making upfor hose mistakes, I think I`m doing
alright.
Wednesday: Today was wonderful. It was kind of funny in the morning,
though. I was so excited to study. We ran, I showered, got dressed,
got all my books out, and then the other MIssionaries told us we had
to do service. We did that for a few hours before we got back. I was
just sitting down to study en the Branch res. called and asked us to
come by, to pick up the Permaneced list. We got back and I read
twoverses before my comp. reminded me of an appt. we had in 15 min.
DANG IT!!! We couldn`t even find the guy. We took out money beto
lunch. After lunch, we met with Camilo, the kid who went to church on
Sunday. We waited in the Chapel, and I was pleasantsed when he
arrived. We taught the Restoration. He`s been through a lot of
churches, looking for truth. he wants to do what`s right. When I told
of the First Vision I felt the Spirit so strongly. I was oing to
explain tHAuthority, but I lt impressed to ask how he felt. He said,
j"I feel a calmness I`ve never felt before." This message is so
powerful. "It doesn`t depend on the Message, but the messenger," as
Boyd K. Packer said. He wants to read and pray about the Book of
Mormon. He also said he wants to be baptized. WOOT! But he belongs to
the oher missionaries. We did contacts until night. Then, the Ward
Mission Leader invited us o his son`s b-ay party. It was great.
Thursday: So this is the last entry in my 398-page journal. WHAT?!
what the crazy sauce is that all about? ;) We got up and, after doing
the usual, we did our Weekly Planning session. The only problem: we
don`t have any investigators, after our week or so of being here in
Curanilahue. I now that we should be measuring our success by how e`re
doing with ourselves, rather than base it off of the decisions others
make. But not seeing any success...well, it gets discouraging
sometimes. We DID have a delicious BBQ fo lunch. It was smoked meat,
full of flavor and not cartilage. I ate as muchI could. All of our
appts. with "future Investigators" fell through. Another day full of
contacts. We fond a lady that wanted to listen to us, but just that.
She "has faith in her own church." When I asked her why, she said
"because it`s closest." She was so hard-hearted, and I just wanted to
help. I was very grateful for the respite from the sun, thanks to
cloud cover, as well as for the good night`s sleep ahead of me.
Friday: So we wer up all night, the four of us. Elder Smith, Elder
Maldonado, Elder Brady and I. It turns out that we all have food
poisoning and we spe the night vomiting together. It`s really weird.
All four ofus. Weird. Before the Mission, I`d never met what I like to
call a "vocal vomiter." I have now met a few. It`s someone that yells
at the top of their luns until they become reaquainted with their
previous meal. Let me tell you, it`s enough to turn anyone`s gut. We
cancelled our lunch today, because even though our mouths wanted food,
the rest of us couldn`t take it. I tried to study in the morning, but
I had an enormous headache that prevented me. Eventually, it went away
and since, out of the four of us, Elder Maldonado and I were feeling
the best, we wenti some people and get the laundry. The people weren`t
there, and the laundry wasn`t ready. We came home and slept. Later,
the two of us went to try and teach Camilo about baptism, but he never
arrived at the Chapel. ile we were there, Elder maldonado started
asking me what I thought of him. He said he`d been h aving a lot of
introspective doubts lately. He asked questions about my family and
what I missed most. He`s got one tmore than me. I can tell that he
misses his family a lot. I bet he`s looing forward to his Christmas
phone call. Camilo never showed up, so we headed back to thepartment.
As the evening has progressed, the others` symptoms have improved,
whmine have progressively worsened. My stomach is cramping, my head
aches, and I`m dizzy,creating nausea. Ooph! But it`s nice to be in
this together. It creates kind of a comraderie between us. it`s sweet.
Saturday: So today was part 2 of the "food poisoning doosies." but on
the bright side, even though I didn`t feel well enough to go too far
away from the toilet, I WAS able to study. I was finishing up Alma 42
and read some advice that Alma the Younger gives to his son. There`s a
part where he tells his son not to excuse his sin in the slightest
degree. He says this is so he can be humbled down, to the dust. I was
pondering on how that oculd work, and I realized that if we were
always making excuses for ourselves, we would never feel guilty. And
if we never felt guilty for our actions, we would never feel the need
to repent of those things we`re doing badly. heavenly Father really
can`t excuse us...at all. When I learned this, I realized just how
much I sometimes make bad chioices or mess up because I give myself
excuses, or crutches to go off of. But I`m not going to do that
anymore. I think it`ll help me in my endeavor with Alan, of getting to
be the best people we can be. We didn`t cancel lunch today, `cause we
just HAD to get out of the house. While we were waiting for lunch to
be ready, we shared stories of how we got our various scars. Or
rather, everyone else did. I didn`t have any cool ones. I`ve kind of
made it a point to avoid dangerou/stupid situations and, as a result,
have lived a relatively dulll life. Hah! We were also talking (in
English) about where we`d be calling our families for Christmas. Then,
the Brother walked in and invited us. Sweet! I spent the Afternoon
napping. I woke up several times with chills and sweating. I`m feeling
better, though. We`re gonna work our butts off tomorrow, to try and
make up for some of the stuff we haven`t haveen able to do. I`m tired
right now.
Sunday:Today was fast and Testimony meeting. It was really great. We
got to our Priesthood meeting and Hno. Neira asked why we hadn`t gone
to the Executive Comitee meeting, asking if we had slelpt in. I hate
how the people in this Branch assume the worst about the Missionaries
based on how the last ones behaved. First ofall, that meeting is
invitation-only, so they have to invite us, which they didn`t do. And
second ofall, I was totally up at 6:30, getting ready. Judging and
prejudice suck. We had a really great class about Brotherhood. The
teacher turned the word into a cool acronymthat doesn`t work in
English. Sunday School was about Exaltation. The testimonies were
great, as always. We had lunch with Hna. Nidia, who washes our clothes
for us. She toldus about what it was like, to be a mom of missionary
sons. She said that when both of them came back home they were
different...and she didn`t like the changes. What kind of jmother says
that about her own sons? What kind of changes deserve that reaction?
Almost all of my journal entries have been dedicated to self-analysis
and discovery. I`ve definitely come a long way in self-confidence. But
what will those changes be viewed as, by otheres? 2 years is a long
time. What will I think of THEM? It`ll certainly be interesting. I
couldn`t sleep most of last night. In the time I had to think I
thought of the time I have left to me as a Missionary. There`s so much
more I can do and learn. But it`s not very long until I get to see my
family again. I still remember my first shock as I realized that I was
leaving them. Scary and intimidating as heck. And soon, after all the
waiting and missing, I`ll be back with them again. What will that be
like?
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
11-20-11
Monday: Today was a great Pday. I slept in and enjoyed being able to
rest. Then we headed off to Laja Waterfall. This is my second time
going there and it was just so pretty. I went closer to the base, this
time, because there was less mist and got some really cool photos. We
came back to Los Angeles and went straight to lunch with Hna. Marita.
She made some yummy pork and rice. They showed me a picture of their
son, Mario, with my family...in MY HOUSE! It was bizarre. Then, Hna.
Marita brought out this awesome wafer cake. It was so good! When we
wrote the family, I had 16 emails! I was from more people wishing me
happy birthday. Lindsay`s in Nebraska now, and even though she wasn`t
unpacked all the way, she was able to have decorated for Halloween. We
visited Alejandro, a new investigator. He`s pretty receptive. He wants
to know our purpose for being here. We did contacts for a while,
finding a few people, before going to FHE with the Garcia family. Hna.
Garcia made completos! Mouricio Garcia, their son, is awesome. He
showed me iphone stuff, and I showed him a cool tie knot.
Tuesday: Today was a good day. We got up and went to our Distrizona
meeting. I gave a short lesson about how to find people more
efficiently. Then, I asked everyone to share what they`d learned from
their companions. Elder Gomez and Elder Barton were just chill, but
Hna. Clavero and Hna. Velasquez were crying as they wxpressed their
love for each other. They had passed through a hard time together, and
it bonded them. elder Zuñiga said I taught him what it means to be a
good teacher, and that he`d remember it for his whole life. When I
spoke of my hijo, remembering all that we`d beeen through and all I`ve
learned from him, I started to cry, too. That love just filled me
right up. In the afternoon it was hot. I fear for the sun. The air
isn`t too hot, but the sun is so strong it hurts. We were supposed to
meet up with a member at the church, but we waited in the shade across
from it, `cause there is none on THAT side. He didn`t show up so we
got ready to go. As we were leaving, we found him on the other side of
the truck we`d been sigging by. Hed been there the whole time,
avoiding the sun, like us! He`s so great. He has 5 kinds of cancer but
was the first to volunteer. He was very enthusiastic. Today was mostly
contacts and finding back-up plans. But I had a good time talking with
people. When we dropped off the laundry, we had a pillow fight with
Paula, Loreto, and Tuka--Hna. Pinar`s little girls.
Wednesday: Today was excellent. we got up and headed out kind of early
so that we could get to the other Stake`s Stake Center on time ofr our
Conference with Pres. Martinez. I got to talk with Elder Montalban for
a bit. He told me crazy Doctrine principles that blew my mind. The
Assisstants had an object lesson on the Church`s Soccer field. They
asked who didn`t like Soccer. I raised my hand and was promptly chosen
to play. The haters played the pros and lost, but it was a good
lesson. It had to do with training, and the importance of learning
from those who knew what they were doing. We learned about the Holy
Ghost from Pres. A lot of MIssionaries said farewell, because they
finish in a week. What will that be like? I had an interview with the
Pres. that I`d asked for. I wanted him to transfer me to a place with
less sun...but then I realized that was dumb and asked for a
recommendation of sunscreen because APF 50 ain`t cutting it. He
actually told me my transfer!He wants me to open a new Sector! Visit
people that haven`t heard the Gosoopel. it`s like "The Other Side of
Heaven." I`ll be with a challenging Missionary, one who doesn`t like
Spanish. Pres. thinks I can help him out. I`m kind of nervous because
they don`t have a house for us yet"they`ll get one, I hope). I don`t
know the streets, and we won`t have a phone for a while. But I`m
really excited, too! WOOT! Jorge cancelled his appt. and we did
contacts with Hno. Amstein. We visited an inactive that gave up 20
years ago. But he is having hard times and needs help. He said he`ll
try and come to church.
thursday: We got up this morning and got ready for the day. I`m
studying Alma the Younger`s letters to his son, Helaman. They`re so
wonderful. He explains a little bit about the Liahona and it`s
symbolism. the "director" represents the words of Christ that, if we
follow their guidance, will tell us what we should do. I have enjoyed
coming closer to christ through the application of what I learn in my
personal study. But I can always work on being more teachable. We had
our Weekly Planning before going to lunch. I LOVE the
tomato/onion/cilatro salads Hna. Ordenes makes. We studied Spanish for
a while, before going out to teach David, someone we`d found right
before General Conference. He asked us, first thing, about Tithing. We
resolved his doubts and, with the help of the Spirit, invited him to
be baptized. He siad he wanted to be prepared and we said we`d help.
we ran to the Centro to make photocopies and then went to pick up a
member to hlep us. We only did 1 contact because, it turned out he and
the Member had worked together, and they talked for a while. We met
with Hno. Garcia for comité. Then Hna. Roa gave me a 2nd b-day gift!
It`s a black t-shirt with "Chile" on it. The "i" in "chile" is shaped
like the country. It`s awesome. we talked for a while before we went
to our appt. She (Viviana) wasn`t there. Oh well. At least I didn`t
roast today. Cloud cover ROCKS!!!
Friday: Where did the day go? We got up and got ready. It`s been
cloudy for 3 days now, without reain or sun. It`s been awesome! It
turns out that, out of all South America, Chile receives the greatest
amount of Solar radiation, and Pres. said that, out of all of Chile,
our Mission is right under the biggest hole in the Ozone. Holy smokes!
In Alma 38:3 I found out how to have joy: Faithfulness to covenants,
diligence in Church callings/work, patience in trials, and
long-suffering with our neighbors. We passed by Marcela, a contact
from a while back, and found that she just works in our sector, and
actually lives in Villa Las Americas. So we wrote down her address and
passed it to the Elderws there. we had lunch with the Garcia family.
Their veggie lasagna was awesome. Right afterward, we had to go to
Santa Barbara for an Interview. It was different. Patricio, the
candidate, seemed to be having a hard time with the questions. He said
he sometimes thinks about other things. I eventually got him to tell
me his mom was diagnosed with stomach cancer and was acting strange.
Yesterday, she`d forbidden him from calling his big sister who`s
studying in another city. He was sad, so I read him some Scriptures.
We finished the Interview and we got back in time to visit Hno. Ruiz,
who my hijo has been telling for 3 weeks, we`d visit. I didn`t know
until today, so we went. Then the day ran out. I`m pooped.
Saturday: Today was great! We had a great companionship study,
learning about the Missionary purpose and how we are to help others
really come unto Christ. The more time I talk with people, or just see
things really, the I realize that the world is just in really bad
shape. for example, some drunk person was walking toward us, and then
he suddenly jsut threw his 1 1/2 liter glass bottle at us. But being
drunk didn`t help his aim. And in the night, we joined a search party,
looking for a rapist that had just finished the dirty deed. But I know
that, for all of that, that as a Missionary of God, I can really help
and serve p eople when they need it most. We had lunch with Hna. roa.
I love her. On the way back, Hno. Ordenes aske dus to help clean the
Church. So we did that. We did contacts on our own, and then with Hno.
Pinar as well. When we dropped him off, we noticed his family was
watching "The Lion King." That`s Alan`s favorite Disney movie! He`s so
awesome. We received our transfers! I`m NOT going to open a sector, it
seems. I`m going to Curanilahue1 with Elder Brady. It`s in the same
Zone as Tirua was. That`s great! Elder Zuñiga`s gonna stay here...and
TRAIN! WOOT! I`m gonna be a grandpa in the Mission! Elder Gomez is
going to be a Zone Leader, which is great! Elder Burch is still
Junior comp and is ticked `cause Pres. won`t make him a leader. I
don`t know how to help him.
Sunday: Today was a good day. I mean REALLY good. No day, in the
Mission, will you ever feel as loved as the day you say goodbye to
everyone. I was really surprised by how close I`d gotten to several
people. Hno. Mansicca, especially. He had threatened me on my first
day, to me sure I behaved. But today he said that I had done good
work, and helped the Ward, and thanked me for all my efforts. Same
with Mauricio Rodriguez. We had lunch with the Solar family in the
countryside, as wella s their relatives. I met someone named Lexly.
That`s a cool name. They put on Robin Hood (disney cartoon version)
while we waited. They took a really long time. Haha. We stopped by the
Hospital ato give a blessing to the wife of one of Santa Barbara`s
contacts. He`d said she was dying because of her pregnancy. It turns
out he was drunk. We got there saying, "Hey, we heard you were dying.
We`re here to save your life." (Okay, not EXACTLY like that) But she
was fine. Just chillin` with her meds. AWKWARD!!! We went by Hno.
Felix, the Muffin Man (he actually says it in English). He gave me 6
muffins as a gift. Finally, we said farewell to Scarlet. I gave her
the drawing I asked Alan to do for her. She loved it. I love her.
She`s going to do a lot of good in the Church. The Sisters in
Nacimiento (in my district) said I was their favorite district Leader,
and the Zone Leaders said I could "leave Avenida Alemania with my head
held high" for the work I`ve done. yup. It was a good day.
rest. Then we headed off to Laja Waterfall. This is my second time
going there and it was just so pretty. I went closer to the base, this
time, because there was less mist and got some really cool photos. We
came back to Los Angeles and went straight to lunch with Hna. Marita.
She made some yummy pork and rice. They showed me a picture of their
son, Mario, with my family...in MY HOUSE! It was bizarre. Then, Hna.
Marita brought out this awesome wafer cake. It was so good! When we
wrote the family, I had 16 emails! I was from more people wishing me
happy birthday. Lindsay`s in Nebraska now, and even though she wasn`t
unpacked all the way, she was able to have decorated for Halloween. We
visited Alejandro, a new investigator. He`s pretty receptive. He wants
to know our purpose for being here. We did contacts for a while,
finding a few people, before going to FHE with the Garcia family. Hna.
Garcia made completos! Mouricio Garcia, their son, is awesome. He
showed me iphone stuff, and I showed him a cool tie knot.
Tuesday: Today was a good day. We got up and went to our Distrizona
meeting. I gave a short lesson about how to find people more
efficiently. Then, I asked everyone to share what they`d learned from
their companions. Elder Gomez and Elder Barton were just chill, but
Hna. Clavero and Hna. Velasquez were crying as they wxpressed their
love for each other. They had passed through a hard time together, and
it bonded them. elder Zuñiga said I taught him what it means to be a
good teacher, and that he`d remember it for his whole life. When I
spoke of my hijo, remembering all that we`d beeen through and all I`ve
learned from him, I started to cry, too. That love just filled me
right up. In the afternoon it was hot. I fear for the sun. The air
isn`t too hot, but the sun is so strong it hurts. We were supposed to
meet up with a member at the church, but we waited in the shade across
from it, `cause there is none on THAT side. He didn`t show up so we
got ready to go. As we were leaving, we found him on the other side of
the truck we`d been sigging by. Hed been there the whole time,
avoiding the sun, like us! He`s so great. He has 5 kinds of cancer but
was the first to volunteer. He was very enthusiastic. Today was mostly
contacts and finding back-up plans. But I had a good time talking with
people. When we dropped off the laundry, we had a pillow fight with
Paula, Loreto, and Tuka--Hna. Pinar`s little girls.
Wednesday: Today was excellent. we got up and headed out kind of early
so that we could get to the other Stake`s Stake Center on time ofr our
Conference with Pres. Martinez. I got to talk with Elder Montalban for
a bit. He told me crazy Doctrine principles that blew my mind. The
Assisstants had an object lesson on the Church`s Soccer field. They
asked who didn`t like Soccer. I raised my hand and was promptly chosen
to play. The haters played the pros and lost, but it was a good
lesson. It had to do with training, and the importance of learning
from those who knew what they were doing. We learned about the Holy
Ghost from Pres. A lot of MIssionaries said farewell, because they
finish in a week. What will that be like? I had an interview with the
Pres. that I`d asked for. I wanted him to transfer me to a place with
less sun...but then I realized that was dumb and asked for a
recommendation of sunscreen because APF 50 ain`t cutting it. He
actually told me my transfer!He wants me to open a new Sector! Visit
people that haven`t heard the Gosoopel. it`s like "The Other Side of
Heaven." I`ll be with a challenging Missionary, one who doesn`t like
Spanish. Pres. thinks I can help him out. I`m kind of nervous because
they don`t have a house for us yet"they`ll get one, I hope). I don`t
know the streets, and we won`t have a phone for a while. But I`m
really excited, too! WOOT! Jorge cancelled his appt. and we did
contacts with Hno. Amstein. We visited an inactive that gave up 20
years ago. But he is having hard times and needs help. He said he`ll
try and come to church.
thursday: We got up this morning and got ready for the day. I`m
studying Alma the Younger`s letters to his son, Helaman. They`re so
wonderful. He explains a little bit about the Liahona and it`s
symbolism. the "director" represents the words of Christ that, if we
follow their guidance, will tell us what we should do. I have enjoyed
coming closer to christ through the application of what I learn in my
personal study. But I can always work on being more teachable. We had
our Weekly Planning before going to lunch. I LOVE the
tomato/onion/cilatro salads Hna. Ordenes makes. We studied Spanish for
a while, before going out to teach David, someone we`d found right
before General Conference. He asked us, first thing, about Tithing. We
resolved his doubts and, with the help of the Spirit, invited him to
be baptized. He siad he wanted to be prepared and we said we`d help.
we ran to the Centro to make photocopies and then went to pick up a
member to hlep us. We only did 1 contact because, it turned out he and
the Member had worked together, and they talked for a while. We met
with Hno. Garcia for comité. Then Hna. Roa gave me a 2nd b-day gift!
It`s a black t-shirt with "Chile" on it. The "i" in "chile" is shaped
like the country. It`s awesome. we talked for a while before we went
to our appt. She (Viviana) wasn`t there. Oh well. At least I didn`t
roast today. Cloud cover ROCKS!!!
Friday: Where did the day go? We got up and got ready. It`s been
cloudy for 3 days now, without reain or sun. It`s been awesome! It
turns out that, out of all South America, Chile receives the greatest
amount of Solar radiation, and Pres. said that, out of all of Chile,
our Mission is right under the biggest hole in the Ozone. Holy smokes!
In Alma 38:3 I found out how to have joy: Faithfulness to covenants,
diligence in Church callings/work, patience in trials, and
long-suffering with our neighbors. We passed by Marcela, a contact
from a while back, and found that she just works in our sector, and
actually lives in Villa Las Americas. So we wrote down her address and
passed it to the Elderws there. we had lunch with the Garcia family.
Their veggie lasagna was awesome. Right afterward, we had to go to
Santa Barbara for an Interview. It was different. Patricio, the
candidate, seemed to be having a hard time with the questions. He said
he sometimes thinks about other things. I eventually got him to tell
me his mom was diagnosed with stomach cancer and was acting strange.
Yesterday, she`d forbidden him from calling his big sister who`s
studying in another city. He was sad, so I read him some Scriptures.
We finished the Interview and we got back in time to visit Hno. Ruiz,
who my hijo has been telling for 3 weeks, we`d visit. I didn`t know
until today, so we went. Then the day ran out. I`m pooped.
Saturday: Today was great! We had a great companionship study,
learning about the Missionary purpose and how we are to help others
really come unto Christ. The more time I talk with people, or just see
things really, the I realize that the world is just in really bad
shape. for example, some drunk person was walking toward us, and then
he suddenly jsut threw his 1 1/2 liter glass bottle at us. But being
drunk didn`t help his aim. And in the night, we joined a search party,
looking for a rapist that had just finished the dirty deed. But I know
that, for all of that, that as a Missionary of God, I can really help
and serve p eople when they need it most. We had lunch with Hna. roa.
I love her. On the way back, Hno. Ordenes aske dus to help clean the
Church. So we did that. We did contacts on our own, and then with Hno.
Pinar as well. When we dropped him off, we noticed his family was
watching "The Lion King." That`s Alan`s favorite Disney movie! He`s so
awesome. We received our transfers! I`m NOT going to open a sector, it
seems. I`m going to Curanilahue1 with Elder Brady. It`s in the same
Zone as Tirua was. That`s great! Elder Zuñiga`s gonna stay here...and
TRAIN! WOOT! I`m gonna be a grandpa in the Mission! Elder Gomez is
going to be a Zone Leader, which is great! Elder Burch is still
Junior comp and is ticked `cause Pres. won`t make him a leader. I
don`t know how to help him.
Sunday: Today was a good day. I mean REALLY good. No day, in the
Mission, will you ever feel as loved as the day you say goodbye to
everyone. I was really surprised by how close I`d gotten to several
people. Hno. Mansicca, especially. He had threatened me on my first
day, to me sure I behaved. But today he said that I had done good
work, and helped the Ward, and thanked me for all my efforts. Same
with Mauricio Rodriguez. We had lunch with the Solar family in the
countryside, as wella s their relatives. I met someone named Lexly.
That`s a cool name. They put on Robin Hood (disney cartoon version)
while we waited. They took a really long time. Haha. We stopped by the
Hospital ato give a blessing to the wife of one of Santa Barbara`s
contacts. He`d said she was dying because of her pregnancy. It turns
out he was drunk. We got there saying, "Hey, we heard you were dying.
We`re here to save your life." (Okay, not EXACTLY like that) But she
was fine. Just chillin` with her meds. AWKWARD!!! We went by Hno.
Felix, the Muffin Man (he actually says it in English). He gave me 6
muffins as a gift. Finally, we said farewell to Scarlet. I gave her
the drawing I asked Alan to do for her. She loved it. I love her.
She`s going to do a lot of good in the Church. The Sisters in
Nacimiento (in my district) said I was their favorite district Leader,
and the Zone Leaders said I could "leave Avenida Alemania with my head
held high" for the work I`ve done. yup. It was a good day.
11-13-11
Monday: Today was a great day. We got up bright (dark?) and early so
that we could make the ttrip to Temuco so that we could visit the
Millahual family. hey are my Chilean Family from my first sector,
Lican Ray, that pretty much adopted me. We wrote our family first,
through. Everyone wished me Happy Birthday for Tomorrow. I loved the
visit to the Millahual`s. They had made me a ake and they gave me a
great cream-colored tie. Starting tomorrow, we can`t return to
previous sectors. I was greateful I got this last chance to see them.
We planned the only lesson we had scheduled for the night, with
Ernesto. We wanted to hlep them go to church. But the first thing they
told us was, "Thanks for your help, but we feel like we`ve been doing
too much, too soon." They haven`t completed ONE commitment. We helped
them see that, to show their faith, they need to act, and the
blessings that come from obedience. they committed to praying,
reading, adn going to church. That lesson was 11% by the Spirit.
no--200% by the Spirit. (A 65 year-old man showed me his thigh and
said, "I`m whiter han a mormon!" I shoed him my arm and he said I got
him beat. It was so funny and random!)
Tuesday: The Zone Leaders gave me Skittles and the Sisters in my
District gave me a keychain, with yellow, metal socks,a nd a pen. we
had lunch with Hna. Pinar. We had home-made pizza. Made with love!
Mmmm. She gave me a pretty pink tie, so I won`t wear my "amoeba"
(paisely) tie. She thinks it`s ugly. Haha :) It rained, and I now have
holes in both shoes. But I just thought, "Who says wet feet is a bad
thing?" And I imagined I was walking in a pool. then I wanted them to
be MORE we! Haha. We did contacts most of the day. We ac tually met a
few nice people. We had a "lesson" with two law graduate students.
They jsut asked questions and it was out of control. But it`s okay.
We`ll do better. Hna. Roa came by, and dropped off some brazo de
Reina, a really yummy cake with manjar inside. She gave me a pretty
ble tie with white stribes. I love my mamitas!
Wednesday: today was a good day. I had a good time studying about Alma
and the Zoramites. It`s so impressive, to me, to see his attitude of
humility even when he knows that others are wrong. He just wants to
serve and help make everything beter for everyone. Wha a great
example! We ran into Hna. Gloria in the mornign. She`s still offended
because the Bishop asked if she`d ever participated in an abortion.
Absurd! We had an interesting contact right before lunch. He was
sitting on a riverside beach and waved us over. He told us he`d always
seen us preach, but never knew our message. But 5 min. into the
conversaaion he took control. turns out he`s studied the Bible for 30
years and knows greek, Hebrew, English (he`s from England) and he`d
already heard all the discussions. He didn`belong o any church, but
was convinced that the Sabbath day was Saturday because of
Isaiah66:something. At the beginning of my Mission, I might have been
shaken. But I just kept thinking about how I`ve received an answer
about Thomas S. Mosnon being a prophet. If he`s going to church on
Sunday, so am I. It was like Sheram in Jacob 7. We taught Jorge. We
watched "The Restoration" with him. He`ll pray about Joseph Smith. He
put his own baptismal date for next Saturday. That`ll be so great! We
did contacts and found some really great people that want to hear us.
we have some missionaries from Angol sleeping over here.
thursday: We had to get up at 4:00 AM so everyone could shower and
then make it to the Stak Center in time to leave. But as we left at
4:45 Gustavo was coming home from a nigh shift and cararied us. We
took a bus to Concepción. There, we heard from President Keith
McMullen, 2nd counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. He had a really
deep, resonant voice. He spoke of how we need to know our message,
down to our bones. He spoke of one of his sons who wasn`t sure if he
wanted to serve, because he was unsure of hings. Elder McMullen
thought, and said, "Do you know that it ISN`T true?" His point is that
we don`t need to worry about what we DON`T know. Through service,
sudy, and teaching, our testimony arrives. He asked, "Wheredo you
think you`re going to find it? BYU-I?" I thought of Joe, and how badly
I want him to have the peace that comes with a testimony. Jorge read
and prayed by hasn`t received hsi answer. It`ll come. We taught Hector
tonight. I was worried for what he`d said on Sunday, about not
bothering him. But his concern is that he wants Sunday to do all the
things he didn`t have time to do, during the week. Ah-hah! a clue. we
know that he doesn`t understand, still, that we should rest and
dedicate Sunday to the Lord. We`ll help him, too! We stopped by the
church to use the bahroom, but the Youth were there and hey asked for
English help and were offering brownies as payment. ugh.
Friday: Today was a great day. We got up and studied as usual. But
then he Zone Leaders came over during our session of weekly planning.
Elder Tanner and Elder Pliler are great Elders. they didn`t say too
much, but they said enough to let us know they care, and they had a
few good ideas about how to help our investigators progress. Elder
Pliler stayed with Elder Zuñiga in our secor, and I went to San Martín
with elder ÇTanner. We had a delicious veggie-lasagna for lunch. We
studied the language before heading out. Our first appt. fell through
so we went to teach the mom of a recent convert. She was a little
hard-hearted, saying she didn`t feel the need of knowing if the BOM
was rue. I asked her some quesions to help her out. We visited an
investigator, Pamela, who is super nice. She`s getting married soon,
so she can get baptized. She`s already glowing with the Light of
christ, I think. We found a young woman crying on the sidewalk. We
stopped and she said we should keep going. I almost did, bu the Spirit
told us not to. We sat down until we got a conversation going. She`d
had a hard time with tests in med. school. We had her laughing as we
got a return appt. We visited another investigator who`d received the
answer that she should get baptized Dec. 3rd. Golden. We found a
family of less-actives and are gonig to help them out. Zuñiga called
and said Jorge`s for sure going to church on Sunday. WOOT! It`s 11:11
PM on 11/11/11
Saturday: today was a good day: I had a good time talking with Elders
Tanner and Tavernier. I like being in apartments with four
missionaries. The first thing I did was call Elder Kemp and wish him
Happy birthday. He`s doing excellent! We had a great personal study,
followed by comp. study. Elder Tanner helped me focus on how to work
with members. Elder Zuñiga and Elder Pliler came by shortly after. I
found that Elder Pliler has "The Missionary`s Little Book of
Inspirational Stories." I read some really cool ones. We had lunch
with Natalia and Javiera Roa. Their mom was in Santiago. We got back
intime for our appt. with Natalia (a different one), a contact we did
last week. She`s really nice and very receptive. She knows how to
think and ask good questions. Unfortunately, she works every other
weekend. But she`s going to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.
All of our other appts. fell through. So we had the blessing of being
able to talk to people all day. I really do enjoy being able to
testify to people I don`t know. It`s a lot easier than giving a talk
in Sacrament Meeting, like I have to do tomorrow. Near the end of the
night, we were let into the house of one Raphael. He old us taht he is
100% Catholic, and he wasn`t going to change. I just though, "I want
to hear you saying that form the pulpit in a few months." We called
Jorge and encouraged him to go to church, tomorrow, just to be sure.
sunday: So we spent this week on Jorge. We called him or visited hime
very day, sharing scriptures, experiences, and encouraging him ot go
to church so he could get baptized this Saturday like he wanted. AND
HE DIDN`T GO!!! We were waiting all morning for him to show up, our
hopes rising and crashign with every open and close of the door. So
I`m frustrated. Hopefully, the next missionary to come will be able to
help these children of God more than I was able o. I was assigned a
talk about my favorite subject in the whole world: the Book of Mormon!
I testified why it`s important for us to study it. Hna. Marita came up
afterward, and said I made her cry with the experience I had when I
got my testimony. I apologized. I don`t want to make people cry! It
was odd. I testify all day in the street to strangers, but I was
nervous in front of members and friends. But it went well. Our lunch
bailed on us, but Hna. Pinar was just awesome and took us to her house
and gave us completos, bless her soul. We shared "17 miracles" with
her. It`s about the Pioneers and their trials. Abolutely amazing, what
they went through. We did contacts without much success until the end.
the last ones were a mom and her son. Her boy-friend had invited her
to mutual, y ears ago. Now she wants her son to go, this Thursday.
What a blessing!
that we could make the ttrip to Temuco so that we could visit the
Millahual family. hey are my Chilean Family from my first sector,
Lican Ray, that pretty much adopted me. We wrote our family first,
through. Everyone wished me Happy Birthday for Tomorrow. I loved the
visit to the Millahual`s. They had made me a ake and they gave me a
great cream-colored tie. Starting tomorrow, we can`t return to
previous sectors. I was greateful I got this last chance to see them.
We planned the only lesson we had scheduled for the night, with
Ernesto. We wanted to hlep them go to church. But the first thing they
told us was, "Thanks for your help, but we feel like we`ve been doing
too much, too soon." They haven`t completed ONE commitment. We helped
them see that, to show their faith, they need to act, and the
blessings that come from obedience. they committed to praying,
reading, adn going to church. That lesson was 11% by the Spirit.
no--200% by the Spirit. (A 65 year-old man showed me his thigh and
said, "I`m whiter han a mormon!" I shoed him my arm and he said I got
him beat. It was so funny and random!)
Tuesday: The Zone Leaders gave me Skittles and the Sisters in my
District gave me a keychain, with yellow, metal socks,a nd a pen. we
had lunch with Hna. Pinar. We had home-made pizza. Made with love!
Mmmm. She gave me a pretty pink tie, so I won`t wear my "amoeba"
(paisely) tie. She thinks it`s ugly. Haha :) It rained, and I now have
holes in both shoes. But I just thought, "Who says wet feet is a bad
thing?" And I imagined I was walking in a pool. then I wanted them to
be MORE we! Haha. We did contacts most of the day. We ac tually met a
few nice people. We had a "lesson" with two law graduate students.
They jsut asked questions and it was out of control. But it`s okay.
We`ll do better. Hna. Roa came by, and dropped off some brazo de
Reina, a really yummy cake with manjar inside. She gave me a pretty
ble tie with white stribes. I love my mamitas!
Wednesday: today was a good day. I had a good time studying about Alma
and the Zoramites. It`s so impressive, to me, to see his attitude of
humility even when he knows that others are wrong. He just wants to
serve and help make everything beter for everyone. Wha a great
example! We ran into Hna. Gloria in the mornign. She`s still offended
because the Bishop asked if she`d ever participated in an abortion.
Absurd! We had an interesting contact right before lunch. He was
sitting on a riverside beach and waved us over. He told us he`d always
seen us preach, but never knew our message. But 5 min. into the
conversaaion he took control. turns out he`s studied the Bible for 30
years and knows greek, Hebrew, English (he`s from England) and he`d
already heard all the discussions. He didn`belong o any church, but
was convinced that the Sabbath day was Saturday because of
Isaiah66:something. At the beginning of my Mission, I might have been
shaken. But I just kept thinking about how I`ve received an answer
about Thomas S. Mosnon being a prophet. If he`s going to church on
Sunday, so am I. It was like Sheram in Jacob 7. We taught Jorge. We
watched "The Restoration" with him. He`ll pray about Joseph Smith. He
put his own baptismal date for next Saturday. That`ll be so great! We
did contacts and found some really great people that want to hear us.
we have some missionaries from Angol sleeping over here.
thursday: We had to get up at 4:00 AM so everyone could shower and
then make it to the Stak Center in time to leave. But as we left at
4:45 Gustavo was coming home from a nigh shift and cararied us. We
took a bus to Concepción. There, we heard from President Keith
McMullen, 2nd counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. He had a really
deep, resonant voice. He spoke of how we need to know our message,
down to our bones. He spoke of one of his sons who wasn`t sure if he
wanted to serve, because he was unsure of hings. Elder McMullen
thought, and said, "Do you know that it ISN`T true?" His point is that
we don`t need to worry about what we DON`T know. Through service,
sudy, and teaching, our testimony arrives. He asked, "Wheredo you
think you`re going to find it? BYU-I?" I thought of Joe, and how badly
I want him to have the peace that comes with a testimony. Jorge read
and prayed by hasn`t received hsi answer. It`ll come. We taught Hector
tonight. I was worried for what he`d said on Sunday, about not
bothering him. But his concern is that he wants Sunday to do all the
things he didn`t have time to do, during the week. Ah-hah! a clue. we
know that he doesn`t understand, still, that we should rest and
dedicate Sunday to the Lord. We`ll help him, too! We stopped by the
church to use the bahroom, but the Youth were there and hey asked for
English help and were offering brownies as payment. ugh.
Friday: Today was a great day. We got up and studied as usual. But
then he Zone Leaders came over during our session of weekly planning.
Elder Tanner and Elder Pliler are great Elders. they didn`t say too
much, but they said enough to let us know they care, and they had a
few good ideas about how to help our investigators progress. Elder
Pliler stayed with Elder Zuñiga in our secor, and I went to San Martín
with elder ÇTanner. We had a delicious veggie-lasagna for lunch. We
studied the language before heading out. Our first appt. fell through
so we went to teach the mom of a recent convert. She was a little
hard-hearted, saying she didn`t feel the need of knowing if the BOM
was rue. I asked her some quesions to help her out. We visited an
investigator, Pamela, who is super nice. She`s getting married soon,
so she can get baptized. She`s already glowing with the Light of
christ, I think. We found a young woman crying on the sidewalk. We
stopped and she said we should keep going. I almost did, bu the Spirit
told us not to. We sat down until we got a conversation going. She`d
had a hard time with tests in med. school. We had her laughing as we
got a return appt. We visited another investigator who`d received the
answer that she should get baptized Dec. 3rd. Golden. We found a
family of less-actives and are gonig to help them out. Zuñiga called
and said Jorge`s for sure going to church on Sunday. WOOT! It`s 11:11
PM on 11/11/11
Saturday: today was a good day: I had a good time talking with Elders
Tanner and Tavernier. I like being in apartments with four
missionaries. The first thing I did was call Elder Kemp and wish him
Happy birthday. He`s doing excellent! We had a great personal study,
followed by comp. study. Elder Tanner helped me focus on how to work
with members. Elder Zuñiga and Elder Pliler came by shortly after. I
found that Elder Pliler has "The Missionary`s Little Book of
Inspirational Stories." I read some really cool ones. We had lunch
with Natalia and Javiera Roa. Their mom was in Santiago. We got back
intime for our appt. with Natalia (a different one), a contact we did
last week. She`s really nice and very receptive. She knows how to
think and ask good questions. Unfortunately, she works every other
weekend. But she`s going to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.
All of our other appts. fell through. So we had the blessing of being
able to talk to people all day. I really do enjoy being able to
testify to people I don`t know. It`s a lot easier than giving a talk
in Sacrament Meeting, like I have to do tomorrow. Near the end of the
night, we were let into the house of one Raphael. He old us taht he is
100% Catholic, and he wasn`t going to change. I just though, "I want
to hear you saying that form the pulpit in a few months." We called
Jorge and encouraged him to go to church, tomorrow, just to be sure.
sunday: So we spent this week on Jorge. We called him or visited hime
very day, sharing scriptures, experiences, and encouraging him ot go
to church so he could get baptized this Saturday like he wanted. AND
HE DIDN`T GO!!! We were waiting all morning for him to show up, our
hopes rising and crashign with every open and close of the door. So
I`m frustrated. Hopefully, the next missionary to come will be able to
help these children of God more than I was able o. I was assigned a
talk about my favorite subject in the whole world: the Book of Mormon!
I testified why it`s important for us to study it. Hna. Marita came up
afterward, and said I made her cry with the experience I had when I
got my testimony. I apologized. I don`t want to make people cry! It
was odd. I testify all day in the street to strangers, but I was
nervous in front of members and friends. But it went well. Our lunch
bailed on us, but Hna. Pinar was just awesome and took us to her house
and gave us completos, bless her soul. We shared "17 miracles" with
her. It`s about the Pioneers and their trials. Abolutely amazing, what
they went through. We did contacts without much success until the end.
the last ones were a mom and her son. Her boy-friend had invited her
to mutual, y ears ago. Now she wants her son to go, this Thursday.
What a blessing!
11-6-11
Monday: Today was crazy-awesome. We woke up and headed off to Renaico,
where we had the Mission-wide activity. Right when I got there, I got
to say hi to my friends. Among them was Elder Lisonbee. He missed me
almost as much as I missed him. Haha. We spent a lot of time together,
actually. Al of the Zones got in a circle and shared the war chants
and flags they`d created. Then we played some interesting games. The
first one was where we had to throw our shoes into a pile, then try
and find them afte rit was "shuffled." that got violent. I tried to
stay on the outside, but an Elder Steele picked me up' by the thighs
and threw me on people. He`s nuts. Then we played a caterpillar game
where the Zone made a tunnel with their bodies and then someone had to
crawl. the last one was "trees." Which is like Sharks and MInnows, but
the tagged people can`t mave their feet. It was good. I played
volleyball and frisbee. For lunch, we had cheeseburgers and there was
home-made root beer! It wasn`t made with dry ice, but oh well. I was
desperate. I got a letter from my convert, Mirta. She was such a
miracle. She says she misses me and prays for me. She also said she
has permission to go to mutual and even the Temple in December! what a
blessing! We wrote the family. Daddy`s healing. Mom is a Temple Worker
now. That`s so cool! Elders Burch and Tobias are sleeping over again.
Tuesday: So it turns out that my neck got REALLY sunburned yesterday.
The part that`s usually covered by my church-shirt collar is
particularly sensitive. OUCH! The Zone Leaders said that they wanted
tme to give a class on setting and completing goals as well as
planning efficiently.
I`ve found that talking with EVERYONE gives you a feeling that you`re
doing the right thing. We had lunch with Hna. Pinar. She enjoyed her
candy. :) We came home and planned like crazy, making a sweet
gameplan. We couldn`t visit any of our MAIN Investigators, so we did
contacts and tried to visit some future investigators. We didn`t find
any, but it never felt like I was just wandering, doing whatever. We
helped people, and we taught, and spoke. It was sweet. The Sisters
from Villa Esmeralda called with a favor. They had some non-members
from near Antuco that had an aunt with cancer. They were desperate and
one of the visiting relatives knew a member in Santiago who had spoken
about blessings for health. So we went 30 km (20 miles) out of Los
Angeles to give a blessing. My hijo gave it. She said she felt calmer.
I hope she stays that way. She has esophagus cancer, along with a case
of bronchitis. She could barely breathe.
Wednesday: Today was a great day. I`m finally learning how to focus,
take the lead (moreso), and show results for my work. We planned our
appts. for the day, thinking of ways to help Hector and Lilian keep
the Word of Wisdom better. We tried to find Jorge before lunch, but he
wasn`t home. We dropped off our clothes at Hna. Pinar`s. We did
contacts until we had lunch with Hna. Marita. She made me
cheeseburgers in honor of my birthday next week. YES! Lilian wasn`t
home when she`d told us sshe would be. DANG IT! She`s ending up just
like Jorge. It`s frustrating, knowing that they`re receptive, but are
never home. But I wasn`t that depressed. We did cantacts at doors and
in the street. We met some old people that said god will forgive him
even if he doesn`t repent, as his pastor had told. I almost asked him,
"And who is your Pastor, to act in God`s name?" But I refrained. We
visited Jaime, a young 16 year-old man who wants to get to know the
Church. we taught the Restoration. He said he`s bad at reading and
praying. We said he`d be fine. We met Aldo, a man that has a doubt
about Tithing. He would rather give his money to the poor, himself,
than the Church. A General Authority had a similar experience. He told
the member, "I`m sure the Lord appreciates your charitable
desires...but I don`t think he likes you spending hi smoney." Haha.
the Church is true. How else could the leaders speak so familiarly
about God?
Thursday: Today was pretty special. We got up early, to take a bus to
Concepción. elder Zuñiga couldn`t go, because it was a Conference that
was only for Leaders. So he and Elder Tavernier were comps. While I
was with Elder Ayala. We heard from Elder Kent F. Richards of the
Seventy. He`s also a counselr in our Area Presidency. He helped us
understand that, as Leaders, we have a responsibility to bring to pass
this marvelous work, and help the other Missionaries strengthen their
faith in the Lord and his work. He taught that as we teach and edify
each other, we will know how to conduct our lives, work, and families.
He taught that one of our main purposes is to seek the Holy Ghost, so
that we can taach , as well as receive the blessings it offers.
Something that really blew my mind was when he said ,"True words,
spoken without the Spirit, are not truth." :O After our meeting, I
went a few blocks away, to see Hna. Marìa and her family. they had a
greanddaughter kill her baby and then killed herself! :O It was good
to see them despite the sad news. Hna. Soledad is so great! We came
back, and I worked in Villa Las Amercas until we ended the exchange.
Elder Zuñiga found a great new investigator and they`d ddone some
contacts. I called the Millahual family. I love them so much. I love
loving!
Friday: Today was such a beautiful day! Spring is coming around in
full, now, and it`s gorgeous. We did contacts in a really nice part of
town and being able to see all of the flowers, and the green grass,
and the cloudless blue sky was such a wonderful blessing. We found
some really receptive people while we were there. This sector really
is great! We had lunch with Hna. Quiroga. She`s so happy, and I love
it! We tried going by Lilian`s house 3 times today, but she was never
home. Argh! Same with Jorge! And Ernesto and his family! It`s a little
frustrating because it`s not a lack of faith or a particular doubt--we
just can`t find them when they`re home. We DID teach Ingrid. She`s a
new. We asked her some questions to get to know her. She talked about
faith a lot. Wewere able to discover that she wants help gatting it.
We promised her that if she read and prayed about the Book of Mormon
she would get an answer, which goes beyond faith and becomes a
testimony. In the evening, we taught Hector the Plan of Salvation. He
has trouble with the purpose of life--coming to gain experience and
keep the commandments. We tried our best to explain it, then invited
him to pray about it. I`m so grateful for the fact that Heavenly
Father hears--and answers--prayers.
Saturday: So today I completed 18 months in the Mission. A
year-and-a-half since I saw my family. I only have 6 months left to
serve the Lord an dhelp as many people as possible. That was pretty
much all we did today. All of our appts. fell through. We did nothing
but contacts all day long, talking to all of the people we could. But
it was a hard day. We set out with the determination to find lots of
people to help. but we would find that the street we were contacting
was suddenly empty. So we went to others and found similar results.
When we knocked doors, nobody answered. 9 hours of looking for ANYONE
in the entire sector, and we spoke with 25 people. It was so hard for
me. We won`t be able to complete with our goal. We stopped by Lilian`s
house. She was there! But she said someone had told her dad that she
was seeing us. She`s using his house and he said he`d kick her and her
kids out if we kept visiting. She was going to get baptized at the end
of the month. Now, I don`t know when she`ll get those blessings. I`m
jsut so sad because of the ...wickedness of the people. And their
suffering. And their indifference. I`m being weighed down by the fact
that our Zone was counting on the baptisms we were planning to have.
Our investigators are avoiding us, and i`m somehow responsible for the
actions someone else decides to take. I`m going to be praying very
fervently tomorrow.
Sunday: Today was an okay day. But I`m super happy right now, anyway.
Hector promised us three times, this week, that he would ocme to
Church, including this morning. We called him right before the
Meetings, and he said he was still in bed, but would come. When he
didn`t show up to Sacrament Meeting, we called again. He told us he
changed his mind and that we should stop pressuring him. He wa sour
last hope for baptizing this month. But the good news came in the
afternoon. We found Jorge!!! he`s been working lately. He finally got
a job, which is great. He mentioned that in the time that he`s spent
away from the church, he`s felt unprotected and vulnerable. He said he
wants the "good feeling" again. I bore him my testimony of the Gift of
the Holy Ghost and of baptism. We reviewed the word of wisdom and he
committed to not drinking Alcohol. He made the comment, "Your watch
looks a little small, there. Here, have mine." And he gave me a very
handsome-looking watch. It even has his name engraved on the back! He
said that there are lots of folks in the world that don`t pay
attention to others when they express their love. He said that the way
we`ve shown our care for him has been going around in his head and
that he appreciates it. I really do care for him. I just know he`ll
make the right decision. He could get baptized before I leave, if he
wanted to.
Okay, so I`ve got an important announcement. One of the
ex-missionaries of this mission has a son that has cancer. He`s dying
and has months (inside of 3) to live. he had to come home from his
mission, because it was so bad. They said that they can do a
bone-marrow transplant that is very expensive, and can extend his life
by 10 years. they`re asking for help. they say that a dollar or even a
penny would help immensely. For those who are willing to help save
stephen, go to this link! www.Supportstephen.wordpress.com
Thanks for reading!
where we had the Mission-wide activity. Right when I got there, I got
to say hi to my friends. Among them was Elder Lisonbee. He missed me
almost as much as I missed him. Haha. We spent a lot of time together,
actually. Al of the Zones got in a circle and shared the war chants
and flags they`d created. Then we played some interesting games. The
first one was where we had to throw our shoes into a pile, then try
and find them afte rit was "shuffled." that got violent. I tried to
stay on the outside, but an Elder Steele picked me up' by the thighs
and threw me on people. He`s nuts. Then we played a caterpillar game
where the Zone made a tunnel with their bodies and then someone had to
crawl. the last one was "trees." Which is like Sharks and MInnows, but
the tagged people can`t mave their feet. It was good. I played
volleyball and frisbee. For lunch, we had cheeseburgers and there was
home-made root beer! It wasn`t made with dry ice, but oh well. I was
desperate. I got a letter from my convert, Mirta. She was such a
miracle. She says she misses me and prays for me. She also said she
has permission to go to mutual and even the Temple in December! what a
blessing! We wrote the family. Daddy`s healing. Mom is a Temple Worker
now. That`s so cool! Elders Burch and Tobias are sleeping over again.
Tuesday: So it turns out that my neck got REALLY sunburned yesterday.
The part that`s usually covered by my church-shirt collar is
particularly sensitive. OUCH! The Zone Leaders said that they wanted
tme to give a class on setting and completing goals as well as
planning efficiently.
I`ve found that talking with EVERYONE gives you a feeling that you`re
doing the right thing. We had lunch with Hna. Pinar. She enjoyed her
candy. :) We came home and planned like crazy, making a sweet
gameplan. We couldn`t visit any of our MAIN Investigators, so we did
contacts and tried to visit some future investigators. We didn`t find
any, but it never felt like I was just wandering, doing whatever. We
helped people, and we taught, and spoke. It was sweet. The Sisters
from Villa Esmeralda called with a favor. They had some non-members
from near Antuco that had an aunt with cancer. They were desperate and
one of the visiting relatives knew a member in Santiago who had spoken
about blessings for health. So we went 30 km (20 miles) out of Los
Angeles to give a blessing. My hijo gave it. She said she felt calmer.
I hope she stays that way. She has esophagus cancer, along with a case
of bronchitis. She could barely breathe.
Wednesday: Today was a great day. I`m finally learning how to focus,
take the lead (moreso), and show results for my work. We planned our
appts. for the day, thinking of ways to help Hector and Lilian keep
the Word of Wisdom better. We tried to find Jorge before lunch, but he
wasn`t home. We dropped off our clothes at Hna. Pinar`s. We did
contacts until we had lunch with Hna. Marita. She made me
cheeseburgers in honor of my birthday next week. YES! Lilian wasn`t
home when she`d told us sshe would be. DANG IT! She`s ending up just
like Jorge. It`s frustrating, knowing that they`re receptive, but are
never home. But I wasn`t that depressed. We did cantacts at doors and
in the street. We met some old people that said god will forgive him
even if he doesn`t repent, as his pastor had told. I almost asked him,
"And who is your Pastor, to act in God`s name?" But I refrained. We
visited Jaime, a young 16 year-old man who wants to get to know the
Church. we taught the Restoration. He said he`s bad at reading and
praying. We said he`d be fine. We met Aldo, a man that has a doubt
about Tithing. He would rather give his money to the poor, himself,
than the Church. A General Authority had a similar experience. He told
the member, "I`m sure the Lord appreciates your charitable
desires...but I don`t think he likes you spending hi smoney." Haha.
the Church is true. How else could the leaders speak so familiarly
about God?
Thursday: Today was pretty special. We got up early, to take a bus to
Concepción. elder Zuñiga couldn`t go, because it was a Conference that
was only for Leaders. So he and Elder Tavernier were comps. While I
was with Elder Ayala. We heard from Elder Kent F. Richards of the
Seventy. He`s also a counselr in our Area Presidency. He helped us
understand that, as Leaders, we have a responsibility to bring to pass
this marvelous work, and help the other Missionaries strengthen their
faith in the Lord and his work. He taught that as we teach and edify
each other, we will know how to conduct our lives, work, and families.
He taught that one of our main purposes is to seek the Holy Ghost, so
that we can taach , as well as receive the blessings it offers.
Something that really blew my mind was when he said ,"True words,
spoken without the Spirit, are not truth." :O After our meeting, I
went a few blocks away, to see Hna. Marìa and her family. they had a
greanddaughter kill her baby and then killed herself! :O It was good
to see them despite the sad news. Hna. Soledad is so great! We came
back, and I worked in Villa Las Amercas until we ended the exchange.
Elder Zuñiga found a great new investigator and they`d ddone some
contacts. I called the Millahual family. I love them so much. I love
loving!
Friday: Today was such a beautiful day! Spring is coming around in
full, now, and it`s gorgeous. We did contacts in a really nice part of
town and being able to see all of the flowers, and the green grass,
and the cloudless blue sky was such a wonderful blessing. We found
some really receptive people while we were there. This sector really
is great! We had lunch with Hna. Quiroga. She`s so happy, and I love
it! We tried going by Lilian`s house 3 times today, but she was never
home. Argh! Same with Jorge! And Ernesto and his family! It`s a little
frustrating because it`s not a lack of faith or a particular doubt--we
just can`t find them when they`re home. We DID teach Ingrid. She`s a
new. We asked her some questions to get to know her. She talked about
faith a lot. Wewere able to discover that she wants help gatting it.
We promised her that if she read and prayed about the Book of Mormon
she would get an answer, which goes beyond faith and becomes a
testimony. In the evening, we taught Hector the Plan of Salvation. He
has trouble with the purpose of life--coming to gain experience and
keep the commandments. We tried our best to explain it, then invited
him to pray about it. I`m so grateful for the fact that Heavenly
Father hears--and answers--prayers.
Saturday: So today I completed 18 months in the Mission. A
year-and-a-half since I saw my family. I only have 6 months left to
serve the Lord an dhelp as many people as possible. That was pretty
much all we did today. All of our appts. fell through. We did nothing
but contacts all day long, talking to all of the people we could. But
it was a hard day. We set out with the determination to find lots of
people to help. but we would find that the street we were contacting
was suddenly empty. So we went to others and found similar results.
When we knocked doors, nobody answered. 9 hours of looking for ANYONE
in the entire sector, and we spoke with 25 people. It was so hard for
me. We won`t be able to complete with our goal. We stopped by Lilian`s
house. She was there! But she said someone had told her dad that she
was seeing us. She`s using his house and he said he`d kick her and her
kids out if we kept visiting. She was going to get baptized at the end
of the month. Now, I don`t know when she`ll get those blessings. I`m
jsut so sad because of the ...wickedness of the people. And their
suffering. And their indifference. I`m being weighed down by the fact
that our Zone was counting on the baptisms we were planning to have.
Our investigators are avoiding us, and i`m somehow responsible for the
actions someone else decides to take. I`m going to be praying very
fervently tomorrow.
Sunday: Today was an okay day. But I`m super happy right now, anyway.
Hector promised us three times, this week, that he would ocme to
Church, including this morning. We called him right before the
Meetings, and he said he was still in bed, but would come. When he
didn`t show up to Sacrament Meeting, we called again. He told us he
changed his mind and that we should stop pressuring him. He wa sour
last hope for baptizing this month. But the good news came in the
afternoon. We found Jorge!!! he`s been working lately. He finally got
a job, which is great. He mentioned that in the time that he`s spent
away from the church, he`s felt unprotected and vulnerable. He said he
wants the "good feeling" again. I bore him my testimony of the Gift of
the Holy Ghost and of baptism. We reviewed the word of wisdom and he
committed to not drinking Alcohol. He made the comment, "Your watch
looks a little small, there. Here, have mine." And he gave me a very
handsome-looking watch. It even has his name engraved on the back! He
said that there are lots of folks in the world that don`t pay
attention to others when they express their love. He said that the way
we`ve shown our care for him has been going around in his head and
that he appreciates it. I really do care for him. I just know he`ll
make the right decision. He could get baptized before I leave, if he
wanted to.
Okay, so I`ve got an important announcement. One of the
ex-missionaries of this mission has a son that has cancer. He`s dying
and has months (inside of 3) to live. he had to come home from his
mission, because it was so bad. They said that they can do a
bone-marrow transplant that is very expensive, and can extend his life
by 10 years. they`re asking for help. they say that a dollar or even a
penny would help immensely. For those who are willing to help save
stephen, go to this link! www.Supportstephen.wordpress.
Thanks for reading!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
10-30-11
Mon: Today was a good Pday. Hna. Roa invited us over, to spend the day
at her house. We helped prepare breakfast and clean up a little bit.
We had an appt. with Jorge, but he cancelled 10 min. before. I don`t
know how to help him if he doesn`t let us. We visited a new
investigator, Irma, and her friend, Claudia. Claudia had had a fight
with some of those close to her. We tried to cheer them up with the
Gospel, then i told them to get some ice cream together. It makes
everything better.
Tuesday: Today was a good day. the Zone Leaders called me and said
what my clas was supposed to be. nothing really exciting happened at
the Distrizona meeting. We had lunch with Hna. Briones. She gives us
so much food! It was like a war between my will and the confines of my
stomach.For our language study, we had to doa grammar test online. I
got 100%! I know Spanish! Lilian couldn`t meet with us today. Her
cousin was killed on Saturday. That`s why she didn`t come on Sunday.
She hadn`t slept at all, last night and was almost too drowsy to think
straight. She`s still smoking, and we`re trying ot help her quit. On
our way to do contacts, we heard someone knocking their window. They
invited us in. It was the house of Sara, a little old lady that had a
picture of Elder Mcconnell in her house. She`s dead now. Her
granddaughter(member) had let us in, to give a blessing to her mom
(non-member). We did, and they both commented that they had been just
the words they`d needed. Later, I was showing a video to my comp. A
man came out and said he didn`t like us standing in front of houses. I
asked if he would prefer that I stood in the middle of the road,
`cause you can`t NOT stand in front of houses. He shut up and went
inside. I was ticked! But then I felt bad afterward and repented. We
visited Ernesto and Lily. We taught them about the Holy Ghost and
Enduring to the end. They were very receptive. We`ll see how it goes
when we teach them the word of wisdom.
Wednesday: This morning, I was looking through my journal, to see when
we had visited Sara, the recently-deceased lady. It was on july 28th.
She died on Aug1st, 3 days later! that`s so nuts! I hope we were able
to help her be prepared for the Spirit World. We didn`t have
companionship study, because our investigator, David, was only
available at 10:30. But after ourl ong walk over there, we found that
he wasn`t even home. But, fortunately, Hna. Pinar lived close by, and
needed some help. My Hijo knows, or at least, is studying, Electronic
Engineering. Hna. Pinar mentioned that she loves listening to the
radio, but only one speaker works. My hijo took the speaker apart, and
fiddled with the wires, and then it worked! he`s a stud. We had lunch
with Hno. Bravo. He doesn`t believe that completos count as lunch, but
we usually order them at the restaurant he takes us to anyway. Today
he said, "You`re not going to order completos today." So we complied.
I had pork! We went to Santa Barbara to interview a potential convert,
Margaret. She passed! Interviews are so special for me. i love hearing
the process of the candidates` personal Spiritual growth. In the
evening, we had scheduled to teach English to Hna. Quiroga`s daughter.
We called to confirm. She didn`t answer. we went to Hna. Pinar`s house
to ask if she had other numbers for Hna. Quiroga...and we found Hna.
Quiroga there! The Lord guided us! We had an unproductive time with
contacts. I finally found a way to listen to Grandpa`s funeral
service. I can hear mama talk and sing, and Daddy said the closing
prayer. It was a really long prayer :)
Thursday: This week has gotten really stressful as of late the
Mission President wants to baptize a lot this weekend, so we`ve had to
change things up. I`ve been working closely with my District, and
we`ve been making the most progress in the whole Mission! elder Gomez
is a really hard worker, and so are the Sisters in Nacimiento. We had
our Weekly Planning Session. Now that ALL of our Investigators have
dates planned out, we were able to plan more accurately. We hadl unch
with the Bello family. When we went by Lilian`s house, we found out
she was at the Cemetary. Dang it! We tried going by Jorge, trying so
hard to help him get baptized this weekend! He wasn`t there either. We
tried to visit a lot of inactive Members, but no one answered. We ran
into Hna. Roa and she talked to us for a LONG time. We wrote up our
Progress Report and went to Comité. Hno. Garcia´s so funny. He sounds
like the white, cartoon dog with the orange upff of hair. We helped
make Completos with the Young Men and Women.
Friday: Today was an exciting day. Yu, that`s a good word for it. We
got up early to walk to the Bus Terminal. On all of the other
occasions when we`ve had to travel, I`ve always bought my tickets a
day in advance. But this time, I forgot. Elder Gomez arrived first,
and said they were almost gone. So we ran there in our suits ( Elder
Gomez didn`t have money to buy tickets for us). The trip itself was
uneventful. I thought it would be more of a presentational meeting.
Nope. Pres. Martinez got up and told the new missionaries it was their
time to compliment and complain about their trainers. It was a report!
I was sweating bullets. Thankfully, my hijo didn`t have anything to
complain about. We`re doing all the things we shoudl be. Whew! I was
really happy to see Elder Arjona and Hna. Alanis. they`re some of my
really good friends. Oh, and Hnas. Bair and Miller, who both went to
Timpview. I picked up mail! I got a package from the family and
letters form Estee, Chanel (who`s been called to serve in Portland,
Oregon!), Bitsy, Muzna, and 2 from Cassie! One`s for my Bday! All of
those letters made me so happy! We had to ride home in the
Assisstant`s truck and van...all 18 of us. All the buses were sold
out. Most fit, but my hijo and I had to ride in the metal bed of the
truck for 3 hours. Ow. I opened my package and found a whole lot of
wonderful things.
Saturday: Today was a really good day. We got to go to Nacimiento
(which means Birth) first thing in the Morning. There, I had to do two
Interviews with some 11 year-old boys. The first one was really
distracted. I kid ou not, the kid was craning his neck all the way
back and looking all around the room except at me. But he answered the
questions correctly, I guess. The other kid, Jerson, was less-familiar
with the Gospel (less time), but he was focused and had a wonderful
testimony. We got back in time to have lunch with the weird family
with 9 cats. They had a nephew visiting them. I swear that kid`s sick.
During the prayer he was calling everyone morons and that we were
stupid. He`s like 6. His mom asked us to give him a blessing, and we
did. But he was constantly moving. We even had to start over once.
Nuts. We were the only ones that showed up, out of the Elder`s quorum,
to clean the Chapel. So we lost 2 1/2 hours of work. Lame. Paola is
busy the whole weekend, because a visit arrived. Ernesto and his
family are going to temuco, so they won`t come to church, either. We
passed by Lilian`s house, and found her in the street, locked out of
her hosue. We talked for a while, and I gave her a few of my American
sweets. :) We found an old couple that really wants to go to Church
next weekend. We taught Hector the Sabbath Day. He knew we had to rest
but didn`t know to Sanctify it and dedicate it to the Lord. He`ll come
to church--next week. He already has an appt. with relatives tomorrow.
Sunday: today was something of a discouraging day. Lilian promised us
that she`d go to church today. We passed by her house in the morning,
but she didn`t answer, and her neighbor said she had left to some
river. and Hector didn`t come. Neither did Ernesto and his family. I
was depressed. There was a young man, that was invited by a member,
and who was interested in the Church. Buyt we found out he belongs to
another sector. Then we found out that Paola, our really great
investigator, is also form another sector. *sigh*We visited Lilian
after lunch and found her outside...smoking with her friend. Because
she didn`t go to Church, her baptismal date changed to a time after
transfers. If I go, I won`t be able to see her get baptized. We did
contacts for the rest of the Afternoon. It was SO dang hot today.
after 10 min. my legs were dripping with sweat, my skin was burning,
and I was fidgety. Not a lot happened during contacts. We got back to
the house as elder Burch called us.We let him drop off his stuff. Then
I got some sweets out, and delivered them to Hna. Pinar because I love
her so very, very much. I wrote a start to my response to Cassie. I
was feeling down, but she made me happier through her words and
Testimony.
at her house. We helped prepare breakfast and clean up a little bit.
We had an appt. with Jorge, but he cancelled 10 min. before. I don`t
know how to help him if he doesn`t let us. We visited a new
investigator, Irma, and her friend, Claudia. Claudia had had a fight
with some of those close to her. We tried to cheer them up with the
Gospel, then i told them to get some ice cream together. It makes
everything better.
Tuesday: Today was a good day. the Zone Leaders called me and said
what my clas was supposed to be. nothing really exciting happened at
the Distrizona meeting. We had lunch with Hna. Briones. She gives us
so much food! It was like a war between my will and the confines of my
stomach.For our language study, we had to doa grammar test online. I
got 100%! I know Spanish! Lilian couldn`t meet with us today. Her
cousin was killed on Saturday. That`s why she didn`t come on Sunday.
She hadn`t slept at all, last night and was almost too drowsy to think
straight. She`s still smoking, and we`re trying ot help her quit. On
our way to do contacts, we heard someone knocking their window. They
invited us in. It was the house of Sara, a little old lady that had a
picture of Elder Mcconnell in her house. She`s dead now. Her
granddaughter(member) had let us in, to give a blessing to her mom
(non-member). We did, and they both commented that they had been just
the words they`d needed. Later, I was showing a video to my comp. A
man came out and said he didn`t like us standing in front of houses. I
asked if he would prefer that I stood in the middle of the road,
`cause you can`t NOT stand in front of houses. He shut up and went
inside. I was ticked! But then I felt bad afterward and repented. We
visited Ernesto and Lily. We taught them about the Holy Ghost and
Enduring to the end. They were very receptive. We`ll see how it goes
when we teach them the word of wisdom.
Wednesday: This morning, I was looking through my journal, to see when
we had visited Sara, the recently-deceased lady. It was on july 28th.
She died on Aug1st, 3 days later! that`s so nuts! I hope we were able
to help her be prepared for the Spirit World. We didn`t have
companionship study, because our investigator, David, was only
available at 10:30. But after ourl ong walk over there, we found that
he wasn`t even home. But, fortunately, Hna. Pinar lived close by, and
needed some help. My Hijo knows, or at least, is studying, Electronic
Engineering. Hna. Pinar mentioned that she loves listening to the
radio, but only one speaker works. My hijo took the speaker apart, and
fiddled with the wires, and then it worked! he`s a stud. We had lunch
with Hno. Bravo. He doesn`t believe that completos count as lunch, but
we usually order them at the restaurant he takes us to anyway. Today
he said, "You`re not going to order completos today." So we complied.
I had pork! We went to Santa Barbara to interview a potential convert,
Margaret. She passed! Interviews are so special for me. i love hearing
the process of the candidates` personal Spiritual growth. In the
evening, we had scheduled to teach English to Hna. Quiroga`s daughter.
We called to confirm. She didn`t answer. we went to Hna. Pinar`s house
to ask if she had other numbers for Hna. Quiroga...and we found Hna.
Quiroga there! The Lord guided us! We had an unproductive time with
contacts. I finally found a way to listen to Grandpa`s funeral
service. I can hear mama talk and sing, and Daddy said the closing
prayer. It was a really long prayer :)
Thursday: This week has gotten really stressful as of late the
Mission President wants to baptize a lot this weekend, so we`ve had to
change things up. I`ve been working closely with my District, and
we`ve been making the most progress in the whole Mission! elder Gomez
is a really hard worker, and so are the Sisters in Nacimiento. We had
our Weekly Planning Session. Now that ALL of our Investigators have
dates planned out, we were able to plan more accurately. We hadl unch
with the Bello family. When we went by Lilian`s house, we found out
she was at the Cemetary. Dang it! We tried going by Jorge, trying so
hard to help him get baptized this weekend! He wasn`t there either. We
tried to visit a lot of inactive Members, but no one answered. We ran
into Hna. Roa and she talked to us for a LONG time. We wrote up our
Progress Report and went to Comité. Hno. Garcia´s so funny. He sounds
like the white, cartoon dog with the orange upff of hair. We helped
make Completos with the Young Men and Women.
Friday: Today was an exciting day. Yu, that`s a good word for it. We
got up early to walk to the Bus Terminal. On all of the other
occasions when we`ve had to travel, I`ve always bought my tickets a
day in advance. But this time, I forgot. Elder Gomez arrived first,
and said they were almost gone. So we ran there in our suits ( Elder
Gomez didn`t have money to buy tickets for us). The trip itself was
uneventful. I thought it would be more of a presentational meeting.
Nope. Pres. Martinez got up and told the new missionaries it was their
time to compliment and complain about their trainers. It was a report!
I was sweating bullets. Thankfully, my hijo didn`t have anything to
complain about. We`re doing all the things we shoudl be. Whew! I was
really happy to see Elder Arjona and Hna. Alanis. they`re some of my
really good friends. Oh, and Hnas. Bair and Miller, who both went to
Timpview. I picked up mail! I got a package from the family and
letters form Estee, Chanel (who`s been called to serve in Portland,
Oregon!), Bitsy, Muzna, and 2 from Cassie! One`s for my Bday! All of
those letters made me so happy! We had to ride home in the
Assisstant`s truck and van...all 18 of us. All the buses were sold
out. Most fit, but my hijo and I had to ride in the metal bed of the
truck for 3 hours. Ow. I opened my package and found a whole lot of
wonderful things.
Saturday: Today was a really good day. We got to go to Nacimiento
(which means Birth) first thing in the Morning. There, I had to do two
Interviews with some 11 year-old boys. The first one was really
distracted. I kid ou not, the kid was craning his neck all the way
back and looking all around the room except at me. But he answered the
questions correctly, I guess. The other kid, Jerson, was less-familiar
with the Gospel (less time), but he was focused and had a wonderful
testimony. We got back in time to have lunch with the weird family
with 9 cats. They had a nephew visiting them. I swear that kid`s sick.
During the prayer he was calling everyone morons and that we were
stupid. He`s like 6. His mom asked us to give him a blessing, and we
did. But he was constantly moving. We even had to start over once.
Nuts. We were the only ones that showed up, out of the Elder`s quorum,
to clean the Chapel. So we lost 2 1/2 hours of work. Lame. Paola is
busy the whole weekend, because a visit arrived. Ernesto and his
family are going to temuco, so they won`t come to church, either. We
passed by Lilian`s house, and found her in the street, locked out of
her hosue. We talked for a while, and I gave her a few of my American
sweets. :) We found an old couple that really wants to go to Church
next weekend. We taught Hector the Sabbath Day. He knew we had to rest
but didn`t know to Sanctify it and dedicate it to the Lord. He`ll come
to church--next week. He already has an appt. with relatives tomorrow.
Sunday: today was something of a discouraging day. Lilian promised us
that she`d go to church today. We passed by her house in the morning,
but she didn`t answer, and her neighbor said she had left to some
river. and Hector didn`t come. Neither did Ernesto and his family. I
was depressed. There was a young man, that was invited by a member,
and who was interested in the Church. Buyt we found out he belongs to
another sector. Then we found out that Paola, our really great
investigator, is also form another sector. *sigh*We visited Lilian
after lunch and found her outside...smoking with her friend. Because
she didn`t go to Church, her baptismal date changed to a time after
transfers. If I go, I won`t be able to see her get baptized. We did
contacts for the rest of the Afternoon. It was SO dang hot today.
after 10 min. my legs were dripping with sweat, my skin was burning,
and I was fidgety. Not a lot happened during contacts. We got back to
the house as elder Burch called us.We let him drop off his stuff. Then
I got some sweets out, and delivered them to Hna. Pinar because I love
her so very, very much. I wrote a start to my response to Cassie. I
was feeling down, but she made me happier through her words and
Testimony.
10-17-11
Monday: Today was a good Pday. We didn`t get to sleep in as long as we
would have liked because the Zone Leaders wanted to play Soccer. But
even that was fun today. We went to their hosue, afterward, so they
could shower off. then we went all around town, looking at places
where they sell custom shirts. For the Mission-wide activity at the
end of the month, each Zone will need it`s own shirt, flag, batlle
cry, and song. Everybody wants me to write the song. It`s in spanish.
I`ll have to try really hard. We went to write the family. Mom said
she`s sent off my Birthday package. Other than that, I don`t know how
they`re doing. Supposedly, Daddy had surgery. But in this case, no
news is good news, right? Mom did mention that devin seems a little
bit lost. She noted that Cassie has Lindsay, and Devin needs me. Yeah,
life is going to be sweet when I get back. When I cried during the
Saturday devotional, Hna. Cecilia rubbed and squeezed my arm in that
way moms have. It`d been a long time and was so nice. I can`t wait to
see mama again. We gave yet another blessing in the Hospital today. It
was 8 year-old Juan. He`s not baptized because he`s waiting for the
right Elder. But when he was in the Hospital, he told his mom that
he`d realized WHO baptizes him isn`t as important as getting baptized.
We met with Scarlet and Gustavo and reviewed the "Book of Mormon"
Liahona. They`re so awesome!
Tuesday: Today was a really great day. We had our Distrizona in the
morning. In our class, Elder Gomez mentioned an email he`d gotten from
his friend who got to his Mission, in Africa, a week ago. He said he
has already baptized 3 people, and they have 20 more people lined up
for the 22nd! they don`t have a Christian background/false ideas, so
they`re receptive. We talked about "The Vision of Baptism." It was a
letter from the Area Presidency, describing how we shouldn`t focus on
Prophets, or the BOM, or Eternal families, because none of that
matters if they don`t have a remission of their sins. THAT should be
our focus. We had to make up a song and a battle cry, butr nobody
wanted to. I managed to get somethign for a battle cry, but I fear the
swong is beyond me. We taught Jorge in the Afternoon. We were finally
able to teach him about fasting. we taught him, and he got emotional,
and before we could even commit him to try a mini-fast, he said, "I`d
like to fast this weekend." Wow. He hasn`t talked to us in a month
becuase he was scared of fasting. I`m so grateful Heavenly Father can
soften hearts. We checked out a referral from Hno. Amstein. She has
been listening to the Zone Leaders from the other Zone (she has two
houses). So we taught her about baptism and everything. She`s so
prepared! She`d only received one lesson, but she already had a date
and hour planned for her baptism. The work of the Lord is so real. I
remember saying something to her and she said, "I was just thinking
about that. Thank you."gift of Discernment =real!
Wednesday: Today was so wonderful. I just feel like I`m going to
explode from happiness. We woke up and went jogging,making a
commitment to do it for the rest of the transfer. I discovered
something--jogging can be a near-traumatic experience if you`re a year
and a half out of practice. My lungs ached all morning. We
determinedly planned a lesson for Lily and Ernesto. they`ve been
wanting to take things slow. But we want them to have a remission of
their sins! Study, this morning, was a really inspired exerience. We
had lunch, then had afternoon study time. We passed by Daniel, a guy
who wants to speak English. But the first thing he said was, "I`m
Catholic, you won`t convince me." The Mission requires mental
toughness to face things like that on a daily basis. we met with
Angelica. She`s so proud. She asked if I think the Catholic Church was
false. I said yes and explained why. She was astonished and will come
to Church on Sunday. We took Hno. Pinar with us, to visit Lily and
Ernesto. They`ve come so far! They understood the examples we gave.
They recognize the Spirit, too. They say it feels different when we
visit, and when we watched "The First Vision" with them. We spoke of
repentance and the forgiveness that the remission of sins brings.
They`ll prepare to be baptized on Nov. 19th with their son, Vicente.
They`ll read chapters in the BOM to find answers to their "Questions
of the soul," and pray to know if it`s true. Hno. Pinar testified and
invited them to church. They said they`d let us pick them up. WOOT!
I`m Happy!
Thursday: Today was SO hot. I think it was only in the 80´s, but I was
sweating a ton. We`re only a month into Sprin! Dang it. Jogging was
easier today, if only because we did the "Grandpa Shuffle" style of
jogging. We had our weekly planning session today. It took longer than
normal, because we have a LOT more investigators that are progressing.
We paired each investigator with a Member, and planned out future
lessons. It was sweet! We HAD an appt. with Jorge, but he called us
right before lunch, to cancel. Argh! After lunch, we met up with the
Zone Leaders so that we could do divisions. I went with Elder Tanner.
We picked up Barbara, a member, so she could accompany us to our appt.
with Lilian. She`s so great! Almost all of my converts are results of
the Lord preparing people, rather than hard people I`ve had to
persuade. We taught Lilian the Word of Wisdom and the Law of chastity.
She`s good with the Law of Chastity, but she drinks tea, coffee, and
smokes. But right before we found her, she randomly wanted to start
stopping. But today she said she was sdone. And she said that nobody
else will drink coffee in her family anymore. She rules(literally)! We
met some new people during contacts. Lots of snaky girls. :O We had
our Comité with Hno. Garcia before playing soccer with the Young Men
and a few non-members. Savannah, the gringa, came to Mutual! I got her
to commit to go to church on Sunday! Hna. Roa gave us ice cream. I
love her so much. She and Hna. Pinar are "fighting" over who`s my
mamita. Both are!
Friday: I still can`t believe what has happened today and this past
week. We have been so blessed by tghe Lord! I have such a testimony
that the Lord is with us, and that by his power, the people can relaly
feel that we are his servants. We spent the morning planning out our
lessons. Our first appt. in the Afternoon was with Lilian. She used to
smoke 20 cigarettes a day. But in the 24 hours that she`s known about
the Word of Wisdom, she`s only smoked one, and has thrown out her
coffee. We taught her the Sabbath Day. She said, "I always go to the
Super Market on Sunday to buy lunches. But I understand I won`t be
able to do that anymore." What?! She said she is always happier after
we visit. He r husband`s even noticed. I gave her a blessing to help
her resist temptation. She told us she`d felt something warm on her
head that spread through her whole body. She`s so sensitive to the
Spirit! Wevisited with Hector. He`s always so hard-hearted and
doubting. He questions the Book of Mormon. But he told us today that
he`d been able to read a few verses. He`s nearly blind, so that`s
great. We taught him about repentance and Baptism. We invited him to
prepare to be baptized on Nov. 19th. He waited about 3 seconds before
saying, "Yes." At first, I thought he hadn`t understood the question.
But then he said that he`d been pondering a lot about Joseph Smith. He
said it makes sense. He also said he had less doubts since he`d
started reading. I know that that Book of Mormon is a Miracle of God,
given to us to be able to get closer to him. I`ve seen that promise
been completed over and over again. He also said that he feels
somethign differently when we come over. After that, we went to visit
Paola. She`s a referral that the Office gave us. We found out that she
is getting divorced. She`s 27. She looked so vulnerable. She said she
needs Spi8ritual Strength and hasn`t found it in the other Churches.
She has a co-worker that`s amember. She`s so smart. We taught her the
Restoration, and she underwstood everything. She wants to read the
Book of Mormon and receive an answer. She`ll come to church and even
accepted the invitation to prepare to be baptized on Nov. 19th. I mean
HOLY SMOKES!!! Wepve been blessed so much, to beable to help these
people. Paola said she, too, felt the Spirit. I`m really learning to
become a better and better instrument in the hands of the lord. I`m so
grateful for his mercy and his patience with me. Being worthy of his
love is one of my biggest dreams. I love this work. I love loving
people. I love helping them find Heavenly Father`s love. I`m so happy,
right now!
Saturday: It`s amazing how disappointing a normal day can seem after a
miraculous one. We had a special activity with Pres. martinez in the
morning. He spoke to the Youth of the stake about the iimportance of
Missionary Work. It was nice. there were refreshment afterward. I got
to know a new Sister Missionary, Hna. barbosa. She`s from Washington.
I pretty much just listened as she told me how her first two weeks
have gone for her. those were good times for me. Well, interesting
times at any reate. We had lunch, and then prepared for a lesson with
4 new investigators. They weren`t home when they said they would be.
They`re not even in the city. We did contacts in the hot sun, for a
while, until our next appt. who also wasn`t hom. We visited Hna.
Pinar. Anyway, all of our appts. fell through. We did contacts, and
helped clean the Chapel.
Sunday: Today was kind of a let-down. We worked all week, trying to
get people to commit to being baptized and progressing. And they were!
But not one of them showed up at Church. I felt so helpless. I had
felt like I had finally been doing things right. But nobody came to
church--not even Lilian. Mouricio Rodriguez taught about the Book of
Mormon, and how it`s meant to be a source of light, truth, and
revelation in times where sacred things are befuddled (okay, he didn`t
use that word EXACTLY) by the understanding and interpretation of man.
The Gringa, SAvannah, came to Church. we helped reactivate her, at
least. We had lunch with Hna. Roa. She`s so sweet. She loves to have
us over for lunch, and to spend time with ehr. She asked us for acvice
on how to help a daughter understand that she has to date within the
Church--or at least marry in the Temple. I found that as I pondered
the dilemma, my mind immediately started thinking of Scriptures and
questions to make them think and find the answer for themselves--just
like an investigator! I`m not sure how I feel about htat. We taught
Paola again. We`d planned to to explain baptism a little more, but she
asked why Christ had to die, or what happens to the Spirit between
death and the Resurrection, so we taught her the Plan of Salvation
instead. She was reather shocked that we actually had real answers. It
was great!
would have liked because the Zone Leaders wanted to play Soccer. But
even that was fun today. We went to their hosue, afterward, so they
could shower off. then we went all around town, looking at places
where they sell custom shirts. For the Mission-wide activity at the
end of the month, each Zone will need it`s own shirt, flag, batlle
cry, and song. Everybody wants me to write the song. It`s in spanish.
I`ll have to try really hard. We went to write the family. Mom said
she`s sent off my Birthday package. Other than that, I don`t know how
they`re doing. Supposedly, Daddy had surgery. But in this case, no
news is good news, right? Mom did mention that devin seems a little
bit lost. She noted that Cassie has Lindsay, and Devin needs me. Yeah,
life is going to be sweet when I get back. When I cried during the
Saturday devotional, Hna. Cecilia rubbed and squeezed my arm in that
way moms have. It`d been a long time and was so nice. I can`t wait to
see mama again. We gave yet another blessing in the Hospital today. It
was 8 year-old Juan. He`s not baptized because he`s waiting for the
right Elder. But when he was in the Hospital, he told his mom that
he`d realized WHO baptizes him isn`t as important as getting baptized.
We met with Scarlet and Gustavo and reviewed the "Book of Mormon"
Liahona. They`re so awesome!
Tuesday: Today was a really great day. We had our Distrizona in the
morning. In our class, Elder Gomez mentioned an email he`d gotten from
his friend who got to his Mission, in Africa, a week ago. He said he
has already baptized 3 people, and they have 20 more people lined up
for the 22nd! they don`t have a Christian background/false ideas, so
they`re receptive. We talked about "The Vision of Baptism." It was a
letter from the Area Presidency, describing how we shouldn`t focus on
Prophets, or the BOM, or Eternal families, because none of that
matters if they don`t have a remission of their sins. THAT should be
our focus. We had to make up a song and a battle cry, butr nobody
wanted to. I managed to get somethign for a battle cry, but I fear the
swong is beyond me. We taught Jorge in the Afternoon. We were finally
able to teach him about fasting. we taught him, and he got emotional,
and before we could even commit him to try a mini-fast, he said, "I`d
like to fast this weekend." Wow. He hasn`t talked to us in a month
becuase he was scared of fasting. I`m so grateful Heavenly Father can
soften hearts. We checked out a referral from Hno. Amstein. She has
been listening to the Zone Leaders from the other Zone (she has two
houses). So we taught her about baptism and everything. She`s so
prepared! She`d only received one lesson, but she already had a date
and hour planned for her baptism. The work of the Lord is so real. I
remember saying something to her and she said, "I was just thinking
about that. Thank you."gift of Discernment =real!
Wednesday: Today was so wonderful. I just feel like I`m going to
explode from happiness. We woke up and went jogging,making a
commitment to do it for the rest of the transfer. I discovered
something--jogging can be a near-traumatic experience if you`re a year
and a half out of practice. My lungs ached all morning. We
determinedly planned a lesson for Lily and Ernesto. they`ve been
wanting to take things slow. But we want them to have a remission of
their sins! Study, this morning, was a really inspired exerience. We
had lunch, then had afternoon study time. We passed by Daniel, a guy
who wants to speak English. But the first thing he said was, "I`m
Catholic, you won`t convince me." The Mission requires mental
toughness to face things like that on a daily basis. we met with
Angelica. She`s so proud. She asked if I think the Catholic Church was
false. I said yes and explained why. She was astonished and will come
to Church on Sunday. We took Hno. Pinar with us, to visit Lily and
Ernesto. They`ve come so far! They understood the examples we gave.
They recognize the Spirit, too. They say it feels different when we
visit, and when we watched "The First Vision" with them. We spoke of
repentance and the forgiveness that the remission of sins brings.
They`ll prepare to be baptized on Nov. 19th with their son, Vicente.
They`ll read chapters in the BOM to find answers to their "Questions
of the soul," and pray to know if it`s true. Hno. Pinar testified and
invited them to church. They said they`d let us pick them up. WOOT!
I`m Happy!
Thursday: Today was SO hot. I think it was only in the 80´s, but I was
sweating a ton. We`re only a month into Sprin! Dang it. Jogging was
easier today, if only because we did the "Grandpa Shuffle" style of
jogging. We had our weekly planning session today. It took longer than
normal, because we have a LOT more investigators that are progressing.
We paired each investigator with a Member, and planned out future
lessons. It was sweet! We HAD an appt. with Jorge, but he called us
right before lunch, to cancel. Argh! After lunch, we met up with the
Zone Leaders so that we could do divisions. I went with Elder Tanner.
We picked up Barbara, a member, so she could accompany us to our appt.
with Lilian. She`s so great! Almost all of my converts are results of
the Lord preparing people, rather than hard people I`ve had to
persuade. We taught Lilian the Word of Wisdom and the Law of chastity.
She`s good with the Law of Chastity, but she drinks tea, coffee, and
smokes. But right before we found her, she randomly wanted to start
stopping. But today she said she was sdone. And she said that nobody
else will drink coffee in her family anymore. She rules(literally)! We
met some new people during contacts. Lots of snaky girls. :O We had
our Comité with Hno. Garcia before playing soccer with the Young Men
and a few non-members. Savannah, the gringa, came to Mutual! I got her
to commit to go to church on Sunday! Hna. Roa gave us ice cream. I
love her so much. She and Hna. Pinar are "fighting" over who`s my
mamita. Both are!
Friday: I still can`t believe what has happened today and this past
week. We have been so blessed by tghe Lord! I have such a testimony
that the Lord is with us, and that by his power, the people can relaly
feel that we are his servants. We spent the morning planning out our
lessons. Our first appt. in the Afternoon was with Lilian. She used to
smoke 20 cigarettes a day. But in the 24 hours that she`s known about
the Word of Wisdom, she`s only smoked one, and has thrown out her
coffee. We taught her the Sabbath Day. She said, "I always go to the
Super Market on Sunday to buy lunches. But I understand I won`t be
able to do that anymore." What?! She said she is always happier after
we visit. He r husband`s even noticed. I gave her a blessing to help
her resist temptation. She told us she`d felt something warm on her
head that spread through her whole body. She`s so sensitive to the
Spirit! Wevisited with Hector. He`s always so hard-hearted and
doubting. He questions the Book of Mormon. But he told us today that
he`d been able to read a few verses. He`s nearly blind, so that`s
great. We taught him about repentance and Baptism. We invited him to
prepare to be baptized on Nov. 19th. He waited about 3 seconds before
saying, "Yes." At first, I thought he hadn`t understood the question.
But then he said that he`d been pondering a lot about Joseph Smith. He
said it makes sense. He also said he had less doubts since he`d
started reading. I know that that Book of Mormon is a Miracle of God,
given to us to be able to get closer to him. I`ve seen that promise
been completed over and over again. He also said that he feels
somethign differently when we come over. After that, we went to visit
Paola. She`s a referral that the Office gave us. We found out that she
is getting divorced. She`s 27. She looked so vulnerable. She said she
needs Spi8ritual Strength and hasn`t found it in the other Churches.
She has a co-worker that`s amember. She`s so smart. We taught her the
Restoration, and she underwstood everything. She wants to read the
Book of Mormon and receive an answer. She`ll come to church and even
accepted the invitation to prepare to be baptized on Nov. 19th. I mean
HOLY SMOKES!!! Wepve been blessed so much, to beable to help these
people. Paola said she, too, felt the Spirit. I`m really learning to
become a better and better instrument in the hands of the lord. I`m so
grateful for his mercy and his patience with me. Being worthy of his
love is one of my biggest dreams. I love this work. I love loving
people. I love helping them find Heavenly Father`s love. I`m so happy,
right now!
Saturday: It`s amazing how disappointing a normal day can seem after a
miraculous one. We had a special activity with Pres. martinez in the
morning. He spoke to the Youth of the stake about the iimportance of
Missionary Work. It was nice. there were refreshment afterward. I got
to know a new Sister Missionary, Hna. barbosa. She`s from Washington.
I pretty much just listened as she told me how her first two weeks
have gone for her. those were good times for me. Well, interesting
times at any reate. We had lunch, and then prepared for a lesson with
4 new investigators. They weren`t home when they said they would be.
They`re not even in the city. We did contacts in the hot sun, for a
while, until our next appt. who also wasn`t hom. We visited Hna.
Pinar. Anyway, all of our appts. fell through. We did contacts, and
helped clean the Chapel.
Sunday: Today was kind of a let-down. We worked all week, trying to
get people to commit to being baptized and progressing. And they were!
But not one of them showed up at Church. I felt so helpless. I had
felt like I had finally been doing things right. But nobody came to
church--not even Lilian. Mouricio Rodriguez taught about the Book of
Mormon, and how it`s meant to be a source of light, truth, and
revelation in times where sacred things are befuddled (okay, he didn`t
use that word EXACTLY) by the understanding and interpretation of man.
The Gringa, SAvannah, came to Church. we helped reactivate her, at
least. We had lunch with Hna. Roa. She`s so sweet. She loves to have
us over for lunch, and to spend time with ehr. She asked us for acvice
on how to help a daughter understand that she has to date within the
Church--or at least marry in the Temple. I found that as I pondered
the dilemma, my mind immediately started thinking of Scriptures and
questions to make them think and find the answer for themselves--just
like an investigator! I`m not sure how I feel about htat. We taught
Paola again. We`d planned to to explain baptism a little more, but she
asked why Christ had to die, or what happens to the Spirit between
death and the Resurrection, so we taught her the Plan of Salvation
instead. She was reather shocked that we actually had real answers. It
was great!
10-16-11
Monday: Today was a great Pday. We woke up, and I got to sleep in. I
had a crazy dream last night. We cleaned a little and then went to
write the family. We did contacts today, and had a lot more success
than yesterday. I liked one comment, from Conference, that I keep
going back to: a lot of people pray for patience, but they want it
RIGHT NOW. The Lord`s not going to make that change, instantly, for
us. It makes me pay more attention to HOW the Lord will be preparing
ways for me to endure well and be rewarded with that potential prize.
We visited Hna. Pinar and she said she loved the talk by Elder Holland
that I`d left her.
Tuesday: Today was a good day. We got up and went jogging. we actually
did a lot of jogging today, for various reasons. sHaha. For our comp.
study, we studied "Common doubts." If I ever have the time, I`d like
to share it with Alan and Kevin. I learned some more stuff today, for
sure. We did some contacts in the morning. We had lunch with Hna.
rodriguez. She made some heavenly lasagna. but the whole conversation
was about how much better her sons are than me. She said that all the
Utah missionaries are obligated/forced to go on a Mission. There was
so much I didn`t know before the Mission. I`m not sure why I came,
except out of love I felt for other people. I didn`t know the
doctrine, but I kenw how happy the Gospel made me. Hna. Rodriguez said
it was all a joke, AFTER she saw I`d been bothered. the Mission`s
frickin` hard! I don`t care if I haven`t been a Zone Leader since I
had 2 months in the Mission, like her son. I`m proud just for not
going home that first, rainy, confusing week. Okay, done venting. We
found Lilian. She`s way receptive. We taught her faith, repentance,
and prayer. She even said the closing prayer! There was an...aroused
dog gang, trying to get the girl dog. They started fighting with each
other, and we tried to get away from them. But their center of
attention, the girl dog, followed us. So we ran for 3 blocks, trying
to ditch the vicious, pursuing, horny dogs. If I had it on camera, and
sugsequently youtube, I`d be a star. It was so hilarious!
Wednesday: Today was a hard day. We had our Distrizona in the MOrning.
I was asked, by the Zone Leaders, to give a class on how to study and
prepare effectively. Then, for our practice, I had everybody prepare a
lesson for one of the investigators right there. It was a pretty good
class. We had lunch with Hna. Pinar. We had completos! It was so good.
Hno. Pinar wasn`t feeling so good. He was all bundled up, eating warm
soup, next to the fire. It was raining outside. It almost made ME want
to be sick. And be with my mom to take care of me. Almost. we did
contacts in the Afternoon. After 3 hours of knocking doors, we only
had 11 contacts. Everybody recognizes my red hair through their window
curtains and tells us to go away. there`s only one really good
neighborhood to find people/knock houses. The rest of the Sector`s
just businesses. But thanks to the "Month of Sanctification" we blew
through the neighborhood about 3 times each transfer. This is my 7th
time talking to the same people that told me not to come back. One
particularly rude lady had remembered my name, even, without looking
at my nametag, and used it to tell me to stop wasting her time. I`ve
just hit another rough spot, I guess. But I read my Patriarchal
Blessing a little while ago, and I felt a peace. that was the Spirit
telling me, "This is true. This is right." I wrote back to Alan`s
letter. That made me feel better, too. I`m gonna keep going.
Thursday: today was way better than yesterday. I think the rain had
been dampening my mood, is all. but today was sunny and warm and
awesome. We woke up and did some studying before we had to go to the
bus terminal to head off to santa barbara to start off our divisions.
I went with Elder Gomez, and both of our hijos went together. We had
lunch and then wen straight to an appt. Margaret wants to get
baptized, but her Grandpa won`t let her leave him alone on Sundays. We
challenged her to do everything possible to get to church. In our
Afternoon study time, I showed Elder Gomez a little bit about the
Sabbath day. we visited a less-active member before going to do the
Interview. Daniela was super cool! she had lots of doubts at first,
but through prayer she received her answer. At conference, too! She
told me she was pregnant, but it`d happened before she met the
Missionaries. I read 2 Nephi 9:25-26 telling her the marvelous
blessings of the Atonement. She passsed the Interview wonderfully. we
did a contact, and she said, "I don`t believe in happiness." But as we
talked more, she said she was looking for a Church for her daughter.
We talked more, and she said, "What if I wanted to get baptized in
your church?" haha. A miracle indeed. We taught Teresa about the Book
of Mormon. She likes what she`s seen, but is still doubtful. I bore
her the strongest testimony I`ve ever given and invited her to be
baptized when she received her answer. You could see/feel the Spirit
working in her before she said, "yes." It was very cool.
Friday: Today was a really great day. I accidentally slept in, and
Elder Gomez didn`t wake me up. Ugh! But I got up and studied for a
little bit before we had to run to catch the bus to Los Angeles. we
met up with our comps. and ended the division. I found that Hna. Roa
had stopped by, this morning, to give us rasberry pie. She loves me.
We were asked to go to the Hospital and give a blessing. It was an
inactive member form another city. He was a big tough guy. He told us
he had cancer, and it broke my heart when he started crying. But he
was smiling when we left. We also had to give a blessing to the
grandson of a lady (non-member) we ran into. Her daughter`s a member.
It`s a really cool feeling to give blessings in Hospitals. People look
to you for hope. We taught Lilian today (while I was in Santa Barbara,
my hijo put a baptisimal date with her). She said she couldn`t sleep
last night. She felt like she was being watched. So she read the Book
of Mormon, and felt at peace. She said she thought it was Satan,
trying to stop her. We taught the Restoration. She said she believes
Joseph Smith was a prophet. She`s so prepared. We visited Hector. He
started by telling us he didn`t believe in the Book of Mormon. We
"argued" for about 5 minutes before I suggested we read it. Afterward,
he quieted down a bit. He said he`d read daily from then on, even if
it`s one verse. His wife is going to help him. Our Ward left for the
Temple at 10:30 tonight. They`re all so excited.
Saturday: Some really cool things happened today. We spent our
companionship study discussing ways we can teach the Book of Mormon
better. Then we went to try and find Jorge. We always visited him in
the Afternoon. But his wife told us, on Thursday,k we can find him at
noon. and for the first time in a month, we found him! He`s had some
spinal problems. when we told him that he doesn`t have to be able to
fast right away, in order to get baptized. He smiled and said,
"Thgat`s good news." He`s gonna get baptized, I`m pretty sure. Our
other appts. fell through, but Hno. Ordenes called and said he needed
help cleaning the Chapel, because everyone else was gone. We finished
with just enought time to head to the "Missionary Work" Cultural
activity transmission from santiago. There were about 5,000 youth
participating. They did a really cool part with 2,000 stripling
warriors doing a battle dance to the Primary song "W`ll bring the
World his truth." An opera lady sng a solo, high up in the Stadium, of
"come, come, ye saints" while the "pioneers" marched below. But the
the whole stadium joined in. It was so moving. All of the
ex-missionaries that have ever served in Chile, that were able to
come, stood on a podium. It was cool. Then, the first two Missionaries
gav e a message. There was a play where a family sent their son on a
Mission. That made me cry. That first day was a hard one. Watching the
Mom saying goodbye to her son was hard.
Sunday: Today was a good day. we fasted this week, for Jorge and for
Daddy, so that his surgery went well. During sacrament Meeting, the
Bishop called a lot of people out. He said there are 68 Ward Members
with Temple Recommends and only 11 went. He said that Money, Work, and
"being busy" in general are all excuses of man, and that going to the
Temple should be our top priority. It was a pretty strong call to
action. We didn`t have any investigators in Church today. but we
should have several next week. Yeah! Our lunch was with Hna. Marta.
She is extremely strange. Our last lunch with her was squash soup in
their country house that is right next to a Satanic cult. So I waws
worried this morning. But when we got there, we found a
barbeque...with no cartilage! We had pork, chicken, and a really
flavorful sausage called langaniza. She told us all the other
Missionaries spent the whole afternoon at their house, and told us to
do the same--and RELAX. When she told us to relax, I felt like a
vulnerable Zoolander to her evil Will Farrell. So wse told her we
still had work to do, which was true. We went to give ANOTHER blessing
at the Hospital. We did contacts for the rest of the night. Nobody
opened up until the end. My hijo said, "hello ma´am." The contact, in
a rumbling bass, with a smile that we could see from 10 ft. away,
said, "hello." My hijo was like, "i`m so sorry." The guy was coo with
it, and said we could come back. He`ll cut his hair, too.
had a crazy dream last night. We cleaned a little and then went to
write the family. We did contacts today, and had a lot more success
than yesterday. I liked one comment, from Conference, that I keep
going back to: a lot of people pray for patience, but they want it
RIGHT NOW. The Lord`s not going to make that change, instantly, for
us. It makes me pay more attention to HOW the Lord will be preparing
ways for me to endure well and be rewarded with that potential prize.
We visited Hna. Pinar and she said she loved the talk by Elder Holland
that I`d left her.
Tuesday: Today was a good day. We got up and went jogging. we actually
did a lot of jogging today, for various reasons. sHaha. For our comp.
study, we studied "Common doubts." If I ever have the time, I`d like
to share it with Alan and Kevin. I learned some more stuff today, for
sure. We did some contacts in the morning. We had lunch with Hna.
rodriguez. She made some heavenly lasagna. but the whole conversation
was about how much better her sons are than me. She said that all the
Utah missionaries are obligated/forced to go on a Mission. There was
so much I didn`t know before the Mission. I`m not sure why I came,
except out of love I felt for other people. I didn`t know the
doctrine, but I kenw how happy the Gospel made me. Hna. Rodriguez said
it was all a joke, AFTER she saw I`d been bothered. the Mission`s
frickin` hard! I don`t care if I haven`t been a Zone Leader since I
had 2 months in the Mission, like her son. I`m proud just for not
going home that first, rainy, confusing week. Okay, done venting. We
found Lilian. She`s way receptive. We taught her faith, repentance,
and prayer. She even said the closing prayer! There was an...aroused
dog gang, trying to get the girl dog. They started fighting with each
other, and we tried to get away from them. But their center of
attention, the girl dog, followed us. So we ran for 3 blocks, trying
to ditch the vicious, pursuing, horny dogs. If I had it on camera, and
sugsequently youtube, I`d be a star. It was so hilarious!
Wednesday: Today was a hard day. We had our Distrizona in the MOrning.
I was asked, by the Zone Leaders, to give a class on how to study and
prepare effectively. Then, for our practice, I had everybody prepare a
lesson for one of the investigators right there. It was a pretty good
class. We had lunch with Hna. Pinar. We had completos! It was so good.
Hno. Pinar wasn`t feeling so good. He was all bundled up, eating warm
soup, next to the fire. It was raining outside. It almost made ME want
to be sick. And be with my mom to take care of me. Almost. we did
contacts in the Afternoon. After 3 hours of knocking doors, we only
had 11 contacts. Everybody recognizes my red hair through their window
curtains and tells us to go away. there`s only one really good
neighborhood to find people/knock houses. The rest of the Sector`s
just businesses. But thanks to the "Month of Sanctification" we blew
through the neighborhood about 3 times each transfer. This is my 7th
time talking to the same people that told me not to come back. One
particularly rude lady had remembered my name, even, without looking
at my nametag, and used it to tell me to stop wasting her time. I`ve
just hit another rough spot, I guess. But I read my Patriarchal
Blessing a little while ago, and I felt a peace. that was the Spirit
telling me, "This is true. This is right." I wrote back to Alan`s
letter. That made me feel better, too. I`m gonna keep going.
Thursday: today was way better than yesterday. I think the rain had
been dampening my mood, is all. but today was sunny and warm and
awesome. We woke up and did some studying before we had to go to the
bus terminal to head off to santa barbara to start off our divisions.
I went with Elder Gomez, and both of our hijos went together. We had
lunch and then wen straight to an appt. Margaret wants to get
baptized, but her Grandpa won`t let her leave him alone on Sundays. We
challenged her to do everything possible to get to church. In our
Afternoon study time, I showed Elder Gomez a little bit about the
Sabbath day. we visited a less-active member before going to do the
Interview. Daniela was super cool! she had lots of doubts at first,
but through prayer she received her answer. At conference, too! She
told me she was pregnant, but it`d happened before she met the
Missionaries. I read 2 Nephi 9:25-26 telling her the marvelous
blessings of the Atonement. She passsed the Interview wonderfully. we
did a contact, and she said, "I don`t believe in happiness." But as we
talked more, she said she was looking for a Church for her daughter.
We talked more, and she said, "What if I wanted to get baptized in
your church?" haha. A miracle indeed. We taught Teresa about the Book
of Mormon. She likes what she`s seen, but is still doubtful. I bore
her the strongest testimony I`ve ever given and invited her to be
baptized when she received her answer. You could see/feel the Spirit
working in her before she said, "yes." It was very cool.
Friday: Today was a really great day. I accidentally slept in, and
Elder Gomez didn`t wake me up. Ugh! But I got up and studied for a
little bit before we had to run to catch the bus to Los Angeles. we
met up with our comps. and ended the division. I found that Hna. Roa
had stopped by, this morning, to give us rasberry pie. She loves me.
We were asked to go to the Hospital and give a blessing. It was an
inactive member form another city. He was a big tough guy. He told us
he had cancer, and it broke my heart when he started crying. But he
was smiling when we left. We also had to give a blessing to the
grandson of a lady (non-member) we ran into. Her daughter`s a member.
It`s a really cool feeling to give blessings in Hospitals. People look
to you for hope. We taught Lilian today (while I was in Santa Barbara,
my hijo put a baptisimal date with her). She said she couldn`t sleep
last night. She felt like she was being watched. So she read the Book
of Mormon, and felt at peace. She said she thought it was Satan,
trying to stop her. We taught the Restoration. She said she believes
Joseph Smith was a prophet. She`s so prepared. We visited Hector. He
started by telling us he didn`t believe in the Book of Mormon. We
"argued" for about 5 minutes before I suggested we read it. Afterward,
he quieted down a bit. He said he`d read daily from then on, even if
it`s one verse. His wife is going to help him. Our Ward left for the
Temple at 10:30 tonight. They`re all so excited.
Saturday: Some really cool things happened today. We spent our
companionship study discussing ways we can teach the Book of Mormon
better. Then we went to try and find Jorge. We always visited him in
the Afternoon. But his wife told us, on Thursday,k we can find him at
noon. and for the first time in a month, we found him! He`s had some
spinal problems. when we told him that he doesn`t have to be able to
fast right away, in order to get baptized. He smiled and said,
"Thgat`s good news." He`s gonna get baptized, I`m pretty sure. Our
other appts. fell through, but Hno. Ordenes called and said he needed
help cleaning the Chapel, because everyone else was gone. We finished
with just enought time to head to the "Missionary Work" Cultural
activity transmission from santiago. There were about 5,000 youth
participating. They did a really cool part with 2,000 stripling
warriors doing a battle dance to the Primary song "W`ll bring the
World his truth." An opera lady sng a solo, high up in the Stadium, of
"come, come, ye saints" while the "pioneers" marched below. But the
the whole stadium joined in. It was so moving. All of the
ex-missionaries that have ever served in Chile, that were able to
come, stood on a podium. It was cool. Then, the first two Missionaries
gav e a message. There was a play where a family sent their son on a
Mission. That made me cry. That first day was a hard one. Watching the
Mom saying goodbye to her son was hard.
Sunday: Today was a good day. we fasted this week, for Jorge and for
Daddy, so that his surgery went well. During sacrament Meeting, the
Bishop called a lot of people out. He said there are 68 Ward Members
with Temple Recommends and only 11 went. He said that Money, Work, and
"being busy" in general are all excuses of man, and that going to the
Temple should be our top priority. It was a pretty strong call to
action. We didn`t have any investigators in Church today. but we
should have several next week. Yeah! Our lunch was with Hna. Marta.
She is extremely strange. Our last lunch with her was squash soup in
their country house that is right next to a Satanic cult. So I waws
worried this morning. But when we got there, we found a
barbeque...with no cartilage! We had pork, chicken, and a really
flavorful sausage called langaniza. She told us all the other
Missionaries spent the whole afternoon at their house, and told us to
do the same--and RELAX. When she told us to relax, I felt like a
vulnerable Zoolander to her evil Will Farrell. So wse told her we
still had work to do, which was true. We went to give ANOTHER blessing
at the Hospital. We did contacts for the rest of the night. Nobody
opened up until the end. My hijo said, "hello ma´am." The contact, in
a rumbling bass, with a smile that we could see from 10 ft. away,
said, "hello." My hijo was like, "i`m so sorry." The guy was coo with
it, and said we could come back. He`ll cut his hair, too.
10-9-11
Monday: Today was a good day. Except when I woke up at 6-ish and was
immediately completely awake and couldn`t go back to sleep. Haha. It`s
ironic because it`s my only day to sleep in. We studied for a little
while before Hna. Roa came to pick us up to take us to her country
house. Her daughter, Javiera, bought a new Triple so she could use my
"Scripture Shortcut" system, and she needed some questions answered
and help in heneral. They gave us some breakfast, and then Hna. Roa`s
dad, who lives next door, came by with their doead dog in a
wheelbarrow. Everyone cried and I felt awkward. We wrote the family.
It looks like mama and Daddy are in pretty bad shape. I`m so worried
for them. We watched "Up" while we were with Hna. roa. It`s a really
good movie. We got home, and went to do some contacts. We found a few
people who are interested, and one woman even speaks English. Sweet!
We visited Gustavo and Scarlet. They`re so awesome! Scarlet said
Conference was exactly how she`d exècted it to be. She also thanked me
for the blessing I gave to her last week, for her back. She said she
was going to go to the Hospital the next day. But during the blessing,
she felt something she`d never felt before--a fire on her back, right
where it hurt, and then the pain was gone instantly. She hadn`t said
goodbye, that night, because she was speechless. Priesthood power is
real. Especially when used with love.
Tuesday: Today was a singularly unproductive day. Actually, from the
way this week`s starting to shape up, with all of our meetings and
various duties, it looks like the whole week`s gonna be the same way.
We had our Distrizona in the morning, and I gave a class about how to
recognize and follow the Sìrit. It turned out well, and then I had
everyone share what they learned from their companions. That was
reallly awesome. Elder Zunñiga said he`s learned how to be happier and
how to have a positive attitude when things get hard. That made me
ffeel so humbled. I`m still working to get it right. I still have so
many short-comings. Jus ta quick note on learning how to recognize the
Spirit: That was one of my biggest fears in the MTC. But most of my
class was from personal experience. It`s such a wonderful blessing to
have in my life. We had lunchy with Hna. Roa before going to teach
Sabrina. Then we went to drop off our clothes and buy bus tickets for
tomorrow. We have a conference, but it`ll be in Hualpen, where I was!
We had a Ward Council. All of chile is doing Permaneced, trying to
help inactive members come back, for the Celebration of 50 years since
MIssionary Warted here. Santa Barbara is sleeping over here for the
night
Wednesday: I completed 17 months in my Mission, Today! Woot! It
doesn`t feel any different from last month. haha. Today was a happy
day. we got up at 5:00 so we could walk to the Bus terminal and leave
to our conference in Hualpen. Oh, how I`d missed it. I remember the
stinky gas factory that used to bug me. But today I loved it, as
treasured memories were brought back. then, I got to see all of my
friends. I was especially happy to see Elder Calaway, Elder Montalbán,
and Elder Mcconnell. Elder Calaway is so funny, and we spent almost
the whole day together. I got to talk to Elder Mcconnell for the
second time since we left the MTC. He`s wearing glasses now. Haha. but
he`s doing well. I also got to see Elder Burch. He said he got me a
Bday present, but forgot it at home. But I was still happy to see him.
Pres. Martinez motivated everyone to be more obedient, using a lot of
Scriptures to explain how th eDevil works. It was kind of frightening
when you think in the detail he gave us. Satan constantly invites us
to do bad. But Heavenly Father constantly invites us to do good. Nephi
explains that it`s up to us to choose eternal life of eternal death.
Salvation depends on what we want. We took our long ride home, and
then immediately went to help Hna. Quiroga by helping her daughter
with her English. She`s really quite talented. We agreed to do it,
because her non-member husband was going to be there. He wasn`t. We
got home and I`m tired. Whew!
Thursday: Today felt pressured. when we added up our numbers thjat we
have so far, it was quite a shock to find out how busy we`ve been with
all of our meetings, traveling, and stuff. But during our weekly
planning we got to plan for all of the families we`re teaching, and
how to help them resolve their doubts. It was really exciting to feel
the Spirit of the Lord opening our minds to receive the answers we
needed. We had lunch and then came back to study. I startedreading a
bit of "The MIracle of Forgiveness" That my hijo has. It had some
pretty strong stuff, and I decided to wait `til I can read it in
English so it can be even stronger! Bwahaha!Cristian, one of the only
young men that works with us, came out to do contacts for the first
time in a while. While we were working, I got a call from the Mission
office. They had a referral for us1 She was up in Concepción, but she
lives here. She wants to get to know the Church. She has a testimony
of the Restoration and wants to get baptized! I haven`t even met her
yet. She`s done all that on her own! We set an appt. for when she
returns, next Friday. We went ot the appts. we`d planned with our
progressing investigators, but they all fell through. If they don`t
start going to church, they won`t be able to receive their answers!
Hna. Pinar called, and said she had a great referral, too. the Lord is
blessing us for all of our hard work!
Friday: Today was a pretty good day. Ever since they changed the way
to measure contacts, we`ve been finding it hard to complete with our
goal. But, we`ve been able to visit some of the awesome investigators
that we have. We had a great companionship study, learning together
about prayer. We practiced a few times, pretending to be one of our
investigators. It went really well. Practicing may feel uncomfortable
at times, or even unnecessary, but just by doing it, you`re showing
your diligence. And for that, Heavenly Father softens the hearts of
his children for you. That`s from personal experience. We had lunch
with Hna. Quiroga and then went out to work. We met with Angelica.
She`s pretty tough. We read the chapter we`d left her, together. But
she kept saying it`s true because it spoke of God. then she said it
was just as true as her church `cause they talk about God there, too.
She`s a real fan of the loud talkers. We invited her to pray, but she
said no. We were persistent for about 5 min. and I realized she`d
closed up. Our next appt. fell through, so we felt we should visit
Claudia, the wife of a guy who let us in last week. They`re always
busy, so this was a miracle. She`d read the intro. of the BoM we`d
left her husband! When we asked her to pray, and she said she wanted
to learn how to pray like us. the contrast between Claudia`s humility
and Angelica`s Stubborness was apparent. Right as we left, we found
Ernesto going home. We accomanied him and invited him to say a prayer.
Last time, he didn`t want to, but he said a wonderful prayer today. He
was the one we practiced for.
Saturday: We walked a lot today. But we also did a lot of good. We got
up and I ate some peaches that I had been craving. Yum! I`ve been
reading about Alma and the change that Abinadi had caused in him. I
thought to myself. "We are having an Abinadi week." Because of our
meetings and new system of counting things. I`ve been confused a
little bit, trying to organize and plan for what we`ve set goals for.
But we`re not having the success we want. But I guess it`s not about
what WE want, is it? That`s one of the things I`ve learned in my
Mission: be humble so the Lord can teach you, and through the hard
times he`ll bless you. It`s been true every time. We had the best
spagghetti of my life with Hna. Cecilia. So good! We did contacts for
a while, before coming across two women trying to stuff a sofa through
their door. THAT`s a good finding opportunity. They refused us at
first, but we persisted (Elder Holland, in the MTC, said Sister
Holland`s AVON lady was more persisitent than us), and they let us
help. We ended up taking out their window, metal support-beam and all,
to get it in. They asked lots of questions. I gave them a Book of
Mormon to answer. the rest of our appts. fell through, and so we ran
to every possible place, trying to find someone. Nothin`. Haha. We
found out our transfers...We`re both staying together! Woot! It`s
gonna be awesome!
Sunday: We got up, and my hijo reminded me that we had to go the Ward
Executive meeting two hours before church. So we hustled over there to
talk with everyone. we went over the Investigators we`ve been
teaching, and asked for their help in some areas. it went really well.
Today was fast and testimony meeting. I was nervous. We didn`t have
any of the new investigatorscome again, though. Ugh. we learned about
the Millenium in Gospel Principles and about the signs of the Second
Coming in PriesthoodThere was one investigator, Hugo, who was there.
He`s Catholic (hard-core) but has been coming to our church with his
wife for 20 years! The Missionaries have talked to him lots of times,
but nothing has come of it. Today, he asked if we could give him the
lessons :O SAY WHAT?!?!?! tHAT`S TOTALLY A MIRACLE. I called Elder
Burch, and he was more surprised than I was. We had lunch with the
Bishop. This whole week I`ve wanted a completo, but i`m saving my
money. Today, we had completos with the Bishop. I had 4! they were so
AWESOME! We did contacts for a while. We went through a whole street
without any doors opening. It was so lame. W evisited the Pinar family
and watched, "The District 2" with them. We were all crying. I can`t
wait to show it to my family. Hna. Roa dropped off calzones rotos
(broken underpants)--A chilean dessert. They`re scones with powdered
sugar. yum!
immediately completely awake and couldn`t go back to sleep. Haha. It`s
ironic because it`s my only day to sleep in. We studied for a little
while before Hna. Roa came to pick us up to take us to her country
house. Her daughter, Javiera, bought a new Triple so she could use my
"Scripture Shortcut" system, and she needed some questions answered
and help in heneral. They gave us some breakfast, and then Hna. Roa`s
dad, who lives next door, came by with their doead dog in a
wheelbarrow. Everyone cried and I felt awkward. We wrote the family.
It looks like mama and Daddy are in pretty bad shape. I`m so worried
for them. We watched "Up" while we were with Hna. roa. It`s a really
good movie. We got home, and went to do some contacts. We found a few
people who are interested, and one woman even speaks English. Sweet!
We visited Gustavo and Scarlet. They`re so awesome! Scarlet said
Conference was exactly how she`d exècted it to be. She also thanked me
for the blessing I gave to her last week, for her back. She said she
was going to go to the Hospital the next day. But during the blessing,
she felt something she`d never felt before--a fire on her back, right
where it hurt, and then the pain was gone instantly. She hadn`t said
goodbye, that night, because she was speechless. Priesthood power is
real. Especially when used with love.
Tuesday: Today was a singularly unproductive day. Actually, from the
way this week`s starting to shape up, with all of our meetings and
various duties, it looks like the whole week`s gonna be the same way.
We had our Distrizona in the morning, and I gave a class about how to
recognize and follow the Sìrit. It turned out well, and then I had
everyone share what they learned from their companions. That was
reallly awesome. Elder Zunñiga said he`s learned how to be happier and
how to have a positive attitude when things get hard. That made me
ffeel so humbled. I`m still working to get it right. I still have so
many short-comings. Jus ta quick note on learning how to recognize the
Spirit: That was one of my biggest fears in the MTC. But most of my
class was from personal experience. It`s such a wonderful blessing to
have in my life. We had lunchy with Hna. Roa before going to teach
Sabrina. Then we went to drop off our clothes and buy bus tickets for
tomorrow. We have a conference, but it`ll be in Hualpen, where I was!
We had a Ward Council. All of chile is doing Permaneced, trying to
help inactive members come back, for the Celebration of 50 years since
MIssionary Warted here. Santa Barbara is sleeping over here for the
night
Wednesday: I completed 17 months in my Mission, Today! Woot! It
doesn`t feel any different from last month. haha. Today was a happy
day. we got up at 5:00 so we could walk to the Bus terminal and leave
to our conference in Hualpen. Oh, how I`d missed it. I remember the
stinky gas factory that used to bug me. But today I loved it, as
treasured memories were brought back. then, I got to see all of my
friends. I was especially happy to see Elder Calaway, Elder Montalbán,
and Elder Mcconnell. Elder Calaway is so funny, and we spent almost
the whole day together. I got to talk to Elder Mcconnell for the
second time since we left the MTC. He`s wearing glasses now. Haha. but
he`s doing well. I also got to see Elder Burch. He said he got me a
Bday present, but forgot it at home. But I was still happy to see him.
Pres. Martinez motivated everyone to be more obedient, using a lot of
Scriptures to explain how th eDevil works. It was kind of frightening
when you think in the detail he gave us. Satan constantly invites us
to do bad. But Heavenly Father constantly invites us to do good. Nephi
explains that it`s up to us to choose eternal life of eternal death.
Salvation depends on what we want. We took our long ride home, and
then immediately went to help Hna. Quiroga by helping her daughter
with her English. She`s really quite talented. We agreed to do it,
because her non-member husband was going to be there. He wasn`t. We
got home and I`m tired. Whew!
Thursday: Today felt pressured. when we added up our numbers thjat we
have so far, it was quite a shock to find out how busy we`ve been with
all of our meetings, traveling, and stuff. But during our weekly
planning we got to plan for all of the families we`re teaching, and
how to help them resolve their doubts. It was really exciting to feel
the Spirit of the Lord opening our minds to receive the answers we
needed. We had lunch and then came back to study. I startedreading a
bit of "The MIracle of Forgiveness" That my hijo has. It had some
pretty strong stuff, and I decided to wait `til I can read it in
English so it can be even stronger! Bwahaha!Cristian, one of the only
young men that works with us, came out to do contacts for the first
time in a while. While we were working, I got a call from the Mission
office. They had a referral for us1 She was up in Concepción, but she
lives here. She wants to get to know the Church. She has a testimony
of the Restoration and wants to get baptized! I haven`t even met her
yet. She`s done all that on her own! We set an appt. for when she
returns, next Friday. We went ot the appts. we`d planned with our
progressing investigators, but they all fell through. If they don`t
start going to church, they won`t be able to receive their answers!
Hna. Pinar called, and said she had a great referral, too. the Lord is
blessing us for all of our hard work!
Friday: Today was a pretty good day. Ever since they changed the way
to measure contacts, we`ve been finding it hard to complete with our
goal. But, we`ve been able to visit some of the awesome investigators
that we have. We had a great companionship study, learning together
about prayer. We practiced a few times, pretending to be one of our
investigators. It went really well. Practicing may feel uncomfortable
at times, or even unnecessary, but just by doing it, you`re showing
your diligence. And for that, Heavenly Father softens the hearts of
his children for you. That`s from personal experience. We had lunch
with Hna. Quiroga and then went out to work. We met with Angelica.
She`s pretty tough. We read the chapter we`d left her, together. But
she kept saying it`s true because it spoke of God. then she said it
was just as true as her church `cause they talk about God there, too.
She`s a real fan of the loud talkers. We invited her to pray, but she
said no. We were persistent for about 5 min. and I realized she`d
closed up. Our next appt. fell through, so we felt we should visit
Claudia, the wife of a guy who let us in last week. They`re always
busy, so this was a miracle. She`d read the intro. of the BoM we`d
left her husband! When we asked her to pray, and she said she wanted
to learn how to pray like us. the contrast between Claudia`s humility
and Angelica`s Stubborness was apparent. Right as we left, we found
Ernesto going home. We accomanied him and invited him to say a prayer.
Last time, he didn`t want to, but he said a wonderful prayer today. He
was the one we practiced for.
Saturday: We walked a lot today. But we also did a lot of good. We got
up and I ate some peaches that I had been craving. Yum! I`ve been
reading about Alma and the change that Abinadi had caused in him. I
thought to myself. "We are having an Abinadi week." Because of our
meetings and new system of counting things. I`ve been confused a
little bit, trying to organize and plan for what we`ve set goals for.
But we`re not having the success we want. But I guess it`s not about
what WE want, is it? That`s one of the things I`ve learned in my
Mission: be humble so the Lord can teach you, and through the hard
times he`ll bless you. It`s been true every time. We had the best
spagghetti of my life with Hna. Cecilia. So good! We did contacts for
a while, before coming across two women trying to stuff a sofa through
their door. THAT`s a good finding opportunity. They refused us at
first, but we persisted (Elder Holland, in the MTC, said Sister
Holland`s AVON lady was more persisitent than us), and they let us
help. We ended up taking out their window, metal support-beam and all,
to get it in. They asked lots of questions. I gave them a Book of
Mormon to answer. the rest of our appts. fell through, and so we ran
to every possible place, trying to find someone. Nothin`. Haha. We
found out our transfers...We`re both staying together! Woot! It`s
gonna be awesome!
Sunday: We got up, and my hijo reminded me that we had to go the Ward
Executive meeting two hours before church. So we hustled over there to
talk with everyone. we went over the Investigators we`ve been
teaching, and asked for their help in some areas. it went really well.
Today was fast and testimony meeting. I was nervous. We didn`t have
any of the new investigatorscome again, though. Ugh. we learned about
the Millenium in Gospel Principles and about the signs of the Second
Coming in PriesthoodThere was one investigator, Hugo, who was there.
He`s Catholic (hard-core) but has been coming to our church with his
wife for 20 years! The Missionaries have talked to him lots of times,
but nothing has come of it. Today, he asked if we could give him the
lessons :O SAY WHAT?!?!?! tHAT`S TOTALLY A MIRACLE. I called Elder
Burch, and he was more surprised than I was. We had lunch with the
Bishop. This whole week I`ve wanted a completo, but i`m saving my
money. Today, we had completos with the Bishop. I had 4! they were so
AWESOME! We did contacts for a while. We went through a whole street
without any doors opening. It was so lame. W evisited the Pinar family
and watched, "The District 2" with them. We were all crying. I can`t
wait to show it to my family. Hna. Roa dropped off calzones rotos
(broken underpants)--A chilean dessert. They`re scones with powdered
sugar. yum!
10-2-11
Monday: Today was alright. we got up and cleaned and relaxed after
having enjoyed sleeping in. Then, our Zone Leaders called and said
they wanted to play soccer at our chapel, because of it`s field. We
ran over to Hna. Pinar`s house to get her copy of the key. As we were
playing, I realized the sad truth that I just can`t play this game
gracefully. So I played to my strengths and played goofily, and that
worked out pretty well. We went to write the family after we got
cleaned up. Mama and Daddy wrote me wonderful things of home.
Apparently, they bought a giant flag pole. My house, and car, and
room, and everything is going to be so different when I get home. I
was thinking about it, and my first day home, I`d like to just walk
around Provo. That sounds like a good plan. Up until this point, my
day was awesome. But then I got a migraine. I ended up taking three
aspirins, and it still didn`t lessen the pain. we went out ot drop our
clothes off and return Hna. Pinar`s keys. At that point, the pain was
so bad that Elder Zuñiga had to give me a blessing. I felt a mementary
relief, but it went away and the pain came back. Hna. Pinar made
lemonade with real lemons, saying itwould help. It didn`t, but it was
delicious. I couldn`t think straight through the pain, so we just came
home. Now I am going to just go to bed.
Tuesday: Today was great. We went to the Distrizona and I taught my
class about helping Investigatators keep commitments. The Spirit was
there, and it went better than usual. I sent off my reply to Cassie
(friend). We did an online language study checklist today, and then
went to lunch. Hna. Soto told us Gloria had passed by, and is so happy
because of the help we`ve been giving her. that made me feel good.
Today, something changed in me. I don`t know what it was, but I`m sure
it has to do with the dedicated study I`ve recently been giving to the
Book of Mormon. This change was something that I felt. Afterwards, we
got into 4 houses.
Wednesday: Today was a pretty important day. We had our interviews
with the President, and got to meet as a Zone with the Assisstants.
They told us that we`d lower the quantity of required contacts to
improve the quality of contacts expected. That`s something that I`ve
had clear since Sister Tan taught me how to do good contacts before
the Mission. We taught the Restoration to Angelica in the afternoon.
She was receptive. We walked around with the Book of Mormon in hand
all day. We watched "the Testaments" with Gloria. she loved it1 she
said she doesn`t like FHE. but she shared snacks during the movie, and
she shared scripture. When we told her THAT was an FHE, she said,
"That wasn`t so hard." I feel so great, right now! WOOT!
Thursday: Today was so unbelievably awesome. Everything`s just coming
together and working perfectly. We`re teaching about 4 families with
about 3 people in each. They`re just starting out, but things look
promising. We learned about Weekly Planning from our "The District"
DVD`s. We had lunch with the bello family. Hno. Bello had questions
about his iPad 2 (hyperventilate) that I helped him out with. We tried
to teach Sabrina, but they`d gone to visit her sick grandma. We sent
chocolate with them. :) Some of our other appts. fell through, but
because of our more thorough contacts, we were able to have some
really motivating conversations. As we were standing outside a door, I
thought it`d be funny to send Elder Zuñiga a "toxic love note" if you
know what I mean. But it wasn`t as silent as I`d hoped it would be. It
was downright explosive! So we just ran away, red-faced and laughing.
We taught hector about Joseph Smith and the REstoration. He has some
doubts about Prophets and the Bible, but the thought of another
testament positively intrigued him. He said he`s not sure of lots of
things, but he wants to know. We invited him to read and pray, as well
as go to General Conference. We met with Scarlet and Gustavo for the
first time in 2 1/2 weeks. They`re doing so well. They hadn`t read the
BOM for a while, but Scarlet said she`d chewed him out yesterday
because of it (keep in mind that SHE`S the investigator. not him.).
She asked me to give her a blessing. I gave it from my heart as best I
could becuase I love her and gustavo and the progress they`re making.
As we ended, she was crying. She`s so special.
Friday: Today was so amazing! We`re seeing so many blessings of the
Lord here, in Avenida Alemania. Oh my goodness. Today was the last day
before General Conference, and we had all these new investigators that
hadn`t heard the Restoration yet. When this transfer started, I was
depressed because we didn`t have people to plan for, or visit. Well
you know that Scripture that says, "God will open the windows of
heaven and puor out blessings so we won`t have room enough to recei8ve
them?" I totally know what that feels like, now. We`ve got 6 families
we`re teaching and more than 10 investigators that are progressing. So
we were prtty much running all over the place. They`re all such
special children of God, and they WANT to progress. It was really
special to me, to be able to testify almost all day long to these
people who could understand the importance of what we were saying. All
of them got Books of Mormon, and want ot come to General Conference.
Lily and Ernesto were our last visit. We watched "The REstoration"
video with them. Ernesto had read the pamphlet and had some questions
ready. They believe God COULD call a prophet. they were shocked at
ournews and want to read the Book of Mormon and go to Conference,
Sunday. What a wonderful miracle. I`m so grateful for the Spirit and
it`s role in teaching.
Saturday: It was General Conference today! It was so full of inspired
messages that just said what I needed to hear. I`m so grateful for
repentance and the chance that we have, each day, to improve ourselves
and come closer to God. Elder Uchtdorf gave a wonderful talk on how
big the Universe is, and how man is nothing, but everything to God. It
was so powerful to when he said, "You. matter, to. him." Satan wants
us to feel invisible and unappreciated, but we "are the reason God
created the Universe." We need to remember 5 things 1) the Humble and
Meek are jof Heaven. 2) the Gospel will be preached by the weak. 3) No
matter your circumstance--you are not invisible to God. 4) What you
see and experience now is not necessarily what will be. You will not
be forsaken by him. 5) The most powerful being in the Universe is the
Father of your spirit. He wants you to know you matter to him. Elder
christofferson also gave 5 important things of repentance. 1) The
invitation to repent is an action of love. 2) Repentance means
striving to change. It is a holy process. 3) Not just abandoning sin,
but committing to obey God. You need baptism. 4) Repentance is a
seriousness of purpose and a determination to remain. Deep distress
leads us to cry to Christ. Suffering in repentance will be little
compared to eternal damnation. 5) Whatever the cost of repentance, it
is swallowed up in the joy of forgiveness. fIt was a very special talk
for me. Elder Holland gave a very frank talk, calling many to serve a
worthy Mission, and to stop sinning but saying you`re "on christ`s
team when temple attendance comes around." It was very straight
-forward. Elder Carl B. Cook related a story where the Prophet said,
"It`s better to look up." That`s just what I`ve been trying to do! :)
Sunday: Today was a bittersweet day. It was sweet because the messages
given that we needed our investigators to hear were all given in the
session that they said they would ocme to. It was bitter because not
one of them did what they said they were going to do. It`s so
frustrating and sad to see them missing the blessings they COULD be
having. I guess I`m getting a little taste of how Heavenly Father
feels when I don`t do what I know i should. There`s always something
to work on. We heard some really wonderful talks about the Divinity of
the Book of fMormon. It was explained so clearly and powerfully that
it just made SENSE! And during the whole while,I just had a feeling of
peace and rejuvination that made me feel more sure of the world and my
place in it. The powerful testimonies of how God knows what we`re
going through was especially emphasized. Through the Atonement, we can
have a hope for that which is to come, and how it will be a glorious
triumph. Elder Cook said it was like walking in on the middle of a
3-act play. You don`t know what`s happened or what will come. I
imagined a super hero who was found, by the audience, being beaten up
in an alley. In that BRIEF moment of weakness, you don`t know who he
is, or what miraculous powers he`s been endowed with, much less that
in a few moments he`s gonna beat the pants off of whatever`s gettin`
him down. (think about that analogy. it`s deep.) fIf we stay anchored
to the lord, he will see us through.
having enjoyed sleeping in. Then, our Zone Leaders called and said
they wanted to play soccer at our chapel, because of it`s field. We
ran over to Hna. Pinar`s house to get her copy of the key. As we were
playing, I realized the sad truth that I just can`t play this game
gracefully. So I played to my strengths and played goofily, and that
worked out pretty well. We went to write the family after we got
cleaned up. Mama and Daddy wrote me wonderful things of home.
Apparently, they bought a giant flag pole. My house, and car, and
room, and everything is going to be so different when I get home. I
was thinking about it, and my first day home, I`d like to just walk
around Provo. That sounds like a good plan. Up until this point, my
day was awesome. But then I got a migraine. I ended up taking three
aspirins, and it still didn`t lessen the pain. we went out ot drop our
clothes off and return Hna. Pinar`s keys. At that point, the pain was
so bad that Elder Zuñiga had to give me a blessing. I felt a mementary
relief, but it went away and the pain came back. Hna. Pinar made
lemonade with real lemons, saying itwould help. It didn`t, but it was
delicious. I couldn`t think straight through the pain, so we just came
home. Now I am going to just go to bed.
Tuesday: Today was great. We went to the Distrizona and I taught my
class about helping Investigatators keep commitments. The Spirit was
there, and it went better than usual. I sent off my reply to Cassie
(friend). We did an online language study checklist today, and then
went to lunch. Hna. Soto told us Gloria had passed by, and is so happy
because of the help we`ve been giving her. that made me feel good.
Today, something changed in me. I don`t know what it was, but I`m sure
it has to do with the dedicated study I`ve recently been giving to the
Book of Mormon. This change was something that I felt. Afterwards, we
got into 4 houses.
Wednesday: Today was a pretty important day. We had our interviews
with the President, and got to meet as a Zone with the Assisstants.
They told us that we`d lower the quantity of required contacts to
improve the quality of contacts expected. That`s something that I`ve
had clear since Sister Tan taught me how to do good contacts before
the Mission. We taught the Restoration to Angelica in the afternoon.
She was receptive. We walked around with the Book of Mormon in hand
all day. We watched "the Testaments" with Gloria. she loved it1 she
said she doesn`t like FHE. but she shared snacks during the movie, and
she shared scripture. When we told her THAT was an FHE, she said,
"That wasn`t so hard." I feel so great, right now! WOOT!
Thursday: Today was so unbelievably awesome. Everything`s just coming
together and working perfectly. We`re teaching about 4 families with
about 3 people in each. They`re just starting out, but things look
promising. We learned about Weekly Planning from our "The District"
DVD`s. We had lunch with the bello family. Hno. Bello had questions
about his iPad 2 (hyperventilate) that I helped him out with. We tried
to teach Sabrina, but they`d gone to visit her sick grandma. We sent
chocolate with them. :) Some of our other appts. fell through, but
because of our more thorough contacts, we were able to have some
really motivating conversations. As we were standing outside a door, I
thought it`d be funny to send Elder Zuñiga a "toxic love note" if you
know what I mean. But it wasn`t as silent as I`d hoped it would be. It
was downright explosive! So we just ran away, red-faced and laughing.
We taught hector about Joseph Smith and the REstoration. He has some
doubts about Prophets and the Bible, but the thought of another
testament positively intrigued him. He said he`s not sure of lots of
things, but he wants to know. We invited him to read and pray, as well
as go to General Conference. We met with Scarlet and Gustavo for the
first time in 2 1/2 weeks. They`re doing so well. They hadn`t read the
BOM for a while, but Scarlet said she`d chewed him out yesterday
because of it (keep in mind that SHE`S the investigator. not him.).
She asked me to give her a blessing. I gave it from my heart as best I
could becuase I love her and gustavo and the progress they`re making.
As we ended, she was crying. She`s so special.
Friday: Today was so amazing! We`re seeing so many blessings of the
Lord here, in Avenida Alemania. Oh my goodness. Today was the last day
before General Conference, and we had all these new investigators that
hadn`t heard the Restoration yet. When this transfer started, I was
depressed because we didn`t have people to plan for, or visit. Well
you know that Scripture that says, "God will open the windows of
heaven and puor out blessings so we won`t have room enough to recei8ve
them?" I totally know what that feels like, now. We`ve got 6 families
we`re teaching and more than 10 investigators that are progressing. So
we were prtty much running all over the place. They`re all such
special children of God, and they WANT to progress. It was really
special to me, to be able to testify almost all day long to these
people who could understand the importance of what we were saying. All
of them got Books of Mormon, and want ot come to General Conference.
Lily and Ernesto were our last visit. We watched "The REstoration"
video with them. Ernesto had read the pamphlet and had some questions
ready. They believe God COULD call a prophet. they were shocked at
ournews and want to read the Book of Mormon and go to Conference,
Sunday. What a wonderful miracle. I`m so grateful for the Spirit and
it`s role in teaching.
Saturday: It was General Conference today! It was so full of inspired
messages that just said what I needed to hear. I`m so grateful for
repentance and the chance that we have, each day, to improve ourselves
and come closer to God. Elder Uchtdorf gave a wonderful talk on how
big the Universe is, and how man is nothing, but everything to God. It
was so powerful to when he said, "You. matter, to. him." Satan wants
us to feel invisible and unappreciated, but we "are the reason God
created the Universe." We need to remember 5 things 1) the Humble and
Meek are jof Heaven. 2) the Gospel will be preached by the weak. 3) No
matter your circumstance--you are not invisible to God. 4) What you
see and experience now is not necessarily what will be. You will not
be forsaken by him. 5) The most powerful being in the Universe is the
Father of your spirit. He wants you to know you matter to him. Elder
christofferson also gave 5 important things of repentance. 1) The
invitation to repent is an action of love. 2) Repentance means
striving to change. It is a holy process. 3) Not just abandoning sin,
but committing to obey God. You need baptism. 4) Repentance is a
seriousness of purpose and a determination to remain. Deep distress
leads us to cry to Christ. Suffering in repentance will be little
compared to eternal damnation. 5) Whatever the cost of repentance, it
is swallowed up in the joy of forgiveness. fIt was a very special talk
for me. Elder Holland gave a very frank talk, calling many to serve a
worthy Mission, and to stop sinning but saying you`re "on christ`s
team when temple attendance comes around." It was very straight
-forward. Elder Carl B. Cook related a story where the Prophet said,
"It`s better to look up." That`s just what I`ve been trying to do! :)
Sunday: Today was a bittersweet day. It was sweet because the messages
given that we needed our investigators to hear were all given in the
session that they said they would ocme to. It was bitter because not
one of them did what they said they were going to do. It`s so
frustrating and sad to see them missing the blessings they COULD be
having. I guess I`m getting a little taste of how Heavenly Father
feels when I don`t do what I know i should. There`s always something
to work on. We heard some really wonderful talks about the Divinity of
the Book of fMormon. It was explained so clearly and powerfully that
it just made SENSE! And during the whole while,I just had a feeling of
peace and rejuvination that made me feel more sure of the world and my
place in it. The powerful testimonies of how God knows what we`re
going through was especially emphasized. Through the Atonement, we can
have a hope for that which is to come, and how it will be a glorious
triumph. Elder Cook said it was like walking in on the middle of a
3-act play. You don`t know what`s happened or what will come. I
imagined a super hero who was found, by the audience, being beaten up
in an alley. In that BRIEF moment of weakness, you don`t know who he
is, or what miraculous powers he`s been endowed with, much less that
in a few moments he`s gonna beat the pants off of whatever`s gettin`
him down. (think about that analogy. it`s deep.) fIf we stay anchored
to the lord, he will see us through.
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