12-20-10

Tuesday: This morning we went to our Distrizona meeting, hopefully for my last time in Temuco. I`ve been here for a really long time and can`t focus very well. I am still working hard, but it`s becoming a deliberate effort. We had a lesson on how to start teaching the first lesson with someone. I p'lanned on teaching about Eternal families in the practice, but my "subject" was gay. I told him that he wasn`t doing it right. That`s when I learned my lesson about not going into a situation with a plan. You lose the Spirit. So I continued asking questions and getting to know the "subject" and got to find a different thing to teach them and help them. It was a valuable lesson. We ate lunch and went out to work. we had an appointment with a couple of drunks that I`ve been telling we`d pass by since July. We talked with them and I thought their doubt was about baptism, but I felt I should ask more questions. And not just the normal ones. I had the idea to focus on correct doctrine and getting them to understand. We did that, and we got a return visit. I made a picture frame for the millahuals with a photo of us.

Wednesday: I got up and set to work on preparing a study guide for a scripture list we got yesterday that we have to memorize by next Wednesday. There are 61 scriptures. It took 3 hours to write all of the ones on just the first page. Then we went to the Civil Registry to get my Chilean ID. The country is in a state of suspension to the public because of a protest 2until further notice." I leave (probably) next Tuesday, and my chance to pick up my Carnet expires January 26th. If I leave without it, I have to come back to THIS registry in Temuco. So let`s hope it opens this week! We went straight to work on the streets. We found a guy that studies the Bible a lot. He wass like, "I`ve read a little bit of the Bible." Then he started naming off scriptures like nobody`s business. He said people are to be baptized "in the name of Jesus Christ." We baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the HOly Ghost." He said those aren`t the actual names. He`ll get baptized if we can find how to baptize in the Bible. We`ll see. If it was there in the first place, we wouldn`t have so many churches, now would we? It was so HOT today. I got red, even through the SPF 30 sunblock. Elder Oversby doesn`t want me to go because he`s used to me. I`ve really learned how to love selflessly from him. I got all of the millahual family to write in my journal. I felt really sad to read the words as if I had already left. I can`t imagine how sad I`ll be next week. I`ll be devastated for Christmas.

Thursday: We helped the Bishop make a garage today. We got to dig the holes for the posts with bare hands because a shovel would make a hole too big. Then we put up the posts. I had to lift a post on top of another one. A certain height was required. I stood on a pile of loose dirt that I had made myself to try and reach that height. I tried as hard as I could, but wasn`t able to reach. Then my dirt pile fell and I almost dropped my load. But that was when the Bishop, who was on his ladder higher up, reached down and caught the post and raised it to the necessary height. This is a great analogy to the Atonement.! We try and meet the standard of the Lord, which is perfection. We may even raise our own amount of good (pile of dirt). Maybe some of us fall from that good work. but the Savior`s sacrifice helps all of us reach that standard if we keep reaching. I saw his pile of firewood and thought of our firewood rack we had back home. I thought of the stove at home, with Daddy reading at it`s side. I wanted to do it with him...maybe on an ipad. I just missed being home for the first time in a while. Then I somehow talked with Oversby four hours later about it. I felt sad for a lot of reasons. But then I felt really happy and excited for the adventures we`ll have when I get back.

Friday: We woke up to the sound of rain pouringdown outside. Thankfully, that was at about 6:30. So I eagerly burrowed into my warm heavy, wool blankets and snoozed for a while. Even though it`s almost summer, I still wake up shivering without the luxuries of a thermostat in the 40 F temperatures of the mornings. We eventually got ready and went to get my Chilean ID. I have to do it before Tuesday, or I leave and would have to come back to Temuco. We got there, only to find that the person who helped me start the process way back in October had failed to do it completely. So they finally did it right, and I have to wait until next Friday! But they assured me that I can request them to send my information to the offices that do, in fact, exist in other cities. So that`ll be okay. We visited some people to say some goodbyes to, and I realized something: I`m going to miss these people and be missed. We all laughed and enjoyed each other`s company, but it was accompanied by the subtle pressure that comes with the knowledge that something good is short-lived. It was another time that helped me appreciate the time I have in the present. Kamila, of the M illahual family, left to the South for Summer vacation tonight.

Saturday: Today started out with an ugly argument. Elder Oversby didn`t like the plastic chair he had gbeen using and borrowed Elder Rodriguez`s while he overslept. When Rodriguz came up, he got angry and they both denied and accused. Then Rodriguez stormed off and Oversby mumbed, "Tool" as he went. Rodriguez told him to say it to his face...so he did. Then a steady stream of bad words followed. Long story short--it was my turn to pray when we left the house. Oversby complained the whole way to our first appt.--just about how Rodriguez was wrong. It was then that I realized how far I`ve come with my own Christlike attributes. I really would have avoide3d all that, personally. I talked Oversby down, and helped him see from Rodriguez`s point of view, like I do when I`m angry. They still didn`t really clean up their friendship. We worked all the afternoon to finish all of our work today so I can say goodbye to people tomorrow. We also found out our next transfers--I finally get to leave. And the more I think about that, I`pm more scared. I`m going to a place called "Tirùa." It has 20 members and a population of 500. It`s the joke of the mission, it`s so small. There`s no house for the missionaries, so I`ll live in the Chapel for the next few months--3 blocks from the Ocean! There`s no internet or phones for myt 1 phone call. But I can travel to the next-closest city two hours away. I`m feeling more than a little nervous because there`s no grocery store within 120 miles, either.

Sunday: We woke up to a call from the Bishop to come to the chapel in 15 minutes. Well, we made a frantic dash and managed to arrive to the meeting to listen to the ward set goals for the new year for two hours. It was totally unnecessay. We had our people in the chapel and enjoyed the talks. Surprisingly, one of them was mine. The Bishop hadn`t bothered to let me know ahead of time: like during the two-hour of nothingness that morning. But I usually write something up on Saturday nights for just this instance. So I got up and said my goodbye talk. I spoke about finding out who we are. That I`ve had a wonderful time having that exact blessing in this ward, and that they can find out who they are too, through the Gospel. I managed not to cry. The Bishop went up after me and thanked the Sister Missionaries (who also had said goodbye) then turned to me and started crying on the pulpit. I had broken down completely at this point, and the Bishop thanked me for touching his heart and that he`d never forget me. A sister came up to me afterward, and asked me to come by her house tomorrow before I go. I have visited this Sister maybe 2 times, but I could tell by her tears that I had touched her, too. She`s Hna. Angelica, the one with cancer, that we gave a blessing to. We spent the afternoon with the Millahual`s and Robin & Bilha. I missed girls today, after rereading some of my letters. I had almost forgotten about life in the states and not as a missionary. Almost 8 months! I packed up today, and memorized all of the 61 scriptures. I`ll review them again on Tuesday, on my long bus ride.