3-13-11

Tuesday: We got up this morning and took guiltily long showers and I didn`t have time to shave before we left to the Distrizona meeting. We kind of lost our focus there ecause we were saying goodbye to everyone. I wrote a special letter to Elder Heiser to tell him how much I loved him. He had a really cool spiritual war with a convert. She wants to get baptized but her folks wouldn`t let her. So they fasted yesterday. They almost quit early, but Heiser wouldn`t until he knew it was resolved. At 2:00 he ended it. They went to his investigator`s house and found that her mom had signed the permission slip 20 min. before. Heiser`s mission ends Tuesday, but his parents are coming to pick him up and he`ll get to baptize whiel they`re here! I`m so happy for him. Tirùa was a little bit different today. We ad a lot of people we found. We got to teach lessons. We spoke with one girl who, once we explained baptism, was like, "I think I`d like to get baptized like that." But she lives with her boyfriend. Some kids asked me to lower a branch for them. I barely did when the big branch snapped and fell in the road! Woops! Montoya asked me to look at him. I did, and he inspected me closely. Then he said, "Yup, I want a latino comp." He insulted my incredibly dashing features, the fiend! Later, he poured sprite on my hot dog. aaaah! Gonzalo called to tell us he missed us. Dego too. Such good kids. I`m so proud of them. I`ll miss Elder Heiser.

Wednesday: Today our gas ran out. But it ran out during MY shower, going to prove that all showers hate me. In my personal study, came across something really cool. It`s alma, talking to his son, Helaman, saying he knows all the hard things he passed through in his mission. He said, "[He] was able to bear all things with patience because the Lord was with [him.]" I like to think that that`s why I`ve been able to be so patient with Montoya: because the lord is with me. I actually found out why he`s such a poop to me. I`m the first person to have found out his dirty little secret in the whole mission: he`s 25 years old! He`s always though he knew better than me. I guess he does, but he`s still a poop. An old one. He told me he thought the mission sucked because we have to reset our weekly numbers every week. dug! He thinks that baptisms don`t dount for anything. Yeah. I`m done venting. We got to help Luis puentes an dhis mom move things from one house to the other. We cleaned up the church because Hna. Swenson will be checking. Diego and Jassay both called me to tell me they missed me. I`m so happy to be in the mission and meet all the great people and friends! I`m glad I get to teach young men how to bless the Sacrament for the first time, and I`m grateful for th opportunity to grow. It`s hard at times, but always worth it. I mena, just being able to speak and understand is a blessing here.

Thursday: In my personal study, I found a cool experience in Jeremiah 29:12-14. It`ss talking about the Lord, and how we have to look for him, and when we do, we`ll find him. I thought of the hide and seek games I`d played with little kids and how I`d make it easier for me to be found. I wanted them to look, but I also wanted to be found, to make it easy for them. It`s the same with Heavenly Father! We just need to lok. I realized while we were doing contacts, I realized that there is only so much progress as junior comp. I need to move up in order to learn more things. We found a grandma and her granddaughter. They had a VERY hot house. But I think they have a great chance to be baptized next month. We left and the recent "heat" (really it was my sweat) made a stronger reaction to the cold wind outside. Then we found some 7th-day adventists who go to church on Saturday. We helped them understand the Sabbath day better. They`ll attend on Sunday. We reactivated a less-active member and ended by carrying a 100 lbs. gas tank 6 blocks (by myself) and eating completos (my payment for carrying the gas). In the house we had an 1 1/2 hour discussion about how we felt for each other. Turns out my comp doesn`t hate me. He just wants to help me learn. I knew that. That`s why I haven`t gotten angry with him. But i`m still happy I only have 5 more days in Tirùa.

Friday: Last night rained a LOT! It was so loud! The wind was about 50 mph. It shook the chapel all night. As we were about to leave out to work, the zone leaders called with some disturbing news. Apparently, there had been an 8.9 earthquake in Japan and all of Chile was on alert for a tsunami. I looked out the window grimly at the ocean, mere blocks away. We hastily packed up everything valuable we could find: two changes of clothes, and my journals, and all of my letters. We spent the morning passing by all the members, making sure they knew and spoke about their worries and concerns. We helped them feel better and basically ministered unto them in general. We dropped off our things at the Olivares` during lunch. They had invited us to spend the night at their home becuase they live higher up on the hill. We spent the afternoon passing by the investigators. That was good too. We fillled up water bottles and tied down the furniture. We had an FHE with the Olivares family, teaching Diego about the Priesthood. He is so good. Right now, I`m waiting for the Tusnami to come. It`s not too fun. Jassay and Diego are making me translate their favorite English songs so they can understand them. It`s 12:48. In 12 minutes, the news says the Tsunami will hit. We`ll have to see how it goes in the morning.

Saturday: So nothing dramatic happened to us during the night. We got up at 7. The country was still on alert. In northern chile the tsunami was pretty bad. It carried boats and even a few houses with the force of it. Here, the tide rose about 3 inches. At about 10 in the morning the alert went off for the whole country except for Tirùa, Quidico (little village 15 min. away), and lebu. The President of Chile flew overhead to view the scene from his helicopter. At about 3 in the afternoon, they shut off the alert for Tirùa and the rest. We had lunch with Jassay and Diego. I got to listen to them teach me chemistry elements in spanish. The climate today was about 20 degrees colder than usual. Brrrr. We taught Nikolas the Word of Wisdom and went to the Wilderness to pick blackberries. They live right on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the sea. It was the best view I`ve found in my whole time here. We found out our transfers tonight. I`m going to Talcahuano! It`s the Northernmost city in the mission. The assisstants say that it`s the best ward in the mission. Unfortuanately Everyone agrees the house is poop. The only thing good is the shower. That`s alright. Let`s pray this one doesn`t hate me. Oh! And my comp. will be Elder Bernal. They say he`s chill. He`s got 20 months.

Sunday: Today had it`s ups and downs. We walked all over town, reminding people in person that they had committed to go to church. But when church finally did start, almost noody came. It was funny when on eof the babies was offered the sacrament. She said, "no" in a matter-of-fact voice. She`s one year ole. So cute! Juan blessed the Sacrament this week, and didn`t stutter or anything. It was so cool. told him that stuttering wasn`t nearly as embarrassing as having your voice crack over a microphone. Ooph! I gave a talk on the Book of MOrmon and said farewell to the little branch of Tirùa. I taught my class on the eAtonement, and helped them understand why it was necessary. We had homemade mashed potatoes for lunch, on of my favorites! The ZL`s called to chew us out for lacking 40 contacts. What they failed to realize were all the lessons taught because of all the people we DID find. That`s what took up all the contact ttime. It was a good week. Elder Montoya still gave the Zone leaders and earfull--a small thing compared to my daily dose. I felt bad for them. I finally figured out Montoya today, or earned his trust. He said he really enjoyed our time together and that I was a good worker. He`s thankful for my patience and wants me to write him after the mission. We spent the evening saying goodbye to our new investigators we`d found. I also found out, thanks to a little puppy, that my ears are more ticklish than any other part of my body. So that`s the end of my 7th transfer. One more, and I`ll be completing my year mark. woot!