Monday: Today was a good day. It really was. We got up and went from our home in hualpen to concepciòn, so we could renew Elder Bernal`s VISA. It involved a LOT of walking. But we finished up soon enough, and went to the office. All of the mail was for just two elders. We met up with the Zone Leaders and went to the mall here. It was SO pretty! Too bad my camera was out of batteries again. I got to eat McDonlad`s for the first time since NOvember. I also got to show Elder Bernal the iPad, but he wasn`t impressed. His loss. When it was time to leave, I asked Elder Bernal which bus to take home. He didn`t know. But we guessed and got lucky. At internet, I got letters from Mom and Dad. I was so relieved to hear form Daddy! He DOESN`T have cancer. He has, however, been working a lot. I don`t think I would be strong enough to work as much as he has been. His letter was just what I needed. He said how proud of me he was and happy he will be for me to come home. We`ll eat at Fuddruckers. At the house, we discovered we didn`t have toilet paper. I told Elders Hickman and Gomez to be men and use their hands...so they did. Then, they played a prank on me. They had a carton of eggs that were all hard-boiled. Hickman even proved it by eating one first. He offered one to all of us, but we had to open it with our foreheads. I was down, and did it. Turns out that out of the whole dozen, they had left one uncooked. Three guesses who hit their face witha raw egg. Yours truly. We laughed so hard!
Tuesday: We woke up and hustled off to Talcahuano for the Distrizona. Let me tell you that that fishing town is FRESH! It has quite the potent odor. There, I received a letter from Jess. During lunch, I decided I am really excited to go to institute after the mission. We had veggie lasagna today. The dough had spinach in it and the beef wasw beggie burger. Not too bad, actually. The mission is so short. As I get closer to my year mark (not like I`m counting or anything), I just don`t feel like I`ve been here for very long. If that`s all I have left, then dang. And double-dang. It`s speeding right along. All of our appts. fell through again. This makes two weeks since I`ve taught. We make appts. and the people just ignore us. One of our contacts, a yount woman, told me I was hot. It doesn`t mean much here. If you`re white or have eyes of a color other than brown, you`re a model. We also taught a catholic pastor. I did badly. I taught WAY too much info. I wanted to answer all his questions. Bu tinstead of helping him, I think I condemned him. Triple dang. Tonight, Elder HIckmanand I wrestled. This man is built like a bear and, unlike me, can gain weight. 60 lbs. more than me. I couldn`t go offense but he couldn`t pin me like alan used to. I miss him.
Wednesday: Today we walked a lot. We got up and got ready for the day. For comp. study, I suggested we read in Preach My Gospel to learn how to better find people. We didn`t get through all of it before we had to go drop off our laundry at Hna. Nuboa`s house. So we did that and wandered around, talking with everyone and their mom (not leterally. Literally, we contacted everything that moved.). We found an inactive member from another ward. He doesn`t go because of a member that bothers him. I bore him testimony about how imprtant it is to take the Sacrament to renew our baptisimal covenenants and remember Jesus Christ. In my personal personal study, I also enjoyed reading Alma`s explanation about justice and the Plan of Salvation in chapter 42. We ate lunch with a family in Bio Bio, the sector next to ours. Elder Gomez is just a smiley little guy. I think of Elder Calhoun from "The Best Two Years" when I think of Elder Gomez. All of our appts. fell through again. Surprise. A real shocker there. We did a LOT more contacts and nobody opened the door until the last one. That last door opened and there were some really receptive people. We have an appt. with them tomorrow! We`ll see how that goes. I`m tired of hollow primises. But I`m not giving up. We had set up an appt. with Cecilia on Sunday to come by with a member at 8:30 in the gangster neighborhood. We risked all that, and she doesn`t even get off work until 10!
Thursday: We woke up this morning and my comp. had the flu. Or, at least, he threw up, but he felt better by noon. We finished reading the chapter on Finding People in Preach My Gospel. I read in Alma 43 about how Moroni PWN`d the Lamanites. It was pretty epic. It was a noticeable effort by the Lamanites in numbers, but the Nephites were better motivated, prepared, and had their armor. We planned out our week and the few new people we`ve found. But all of those news have been "too busy" to actually sit down and talk. During our planning, the Bio Bio Elders made brownies from scratch. Mmmm. In the afternoon, all of our appts. fell through. I mean GOOD GRIEF! We set up an appt. for today just yesterday! We pretty much just wandered around aimlessly for hours, talking to people. In the night, I called Fernanda to congradulate her on her Patriarchal Blessing. It was really good to talk to her. It brought a lot of nostalgia for the beginning of my mission. I just LOVE the Millahual family. Papà Joel is going to leave in May for five yars, because of his job in the Army. Kamila also is going to live with her mom, down in Coyaique, after 11 years here, with her aunt and uncle. I was so sad to hear that. I didn`t get to say goodbye. After I hung up, Fernanda called me back to talk with Kamila. She told me she`s actually staying! She said she loves the red hoodie I gifted her.
Friday: I feel like my time here is being wasted. Nothing happened today. All of our appts. Fell through, all the doors we contacted stayed closed, and all of the people in the streets were too busy, in a rush to go do whatever gobbledygook they were in the middle of. This morning, I came out of the shower, and a scoop of flour fell on my head--courtesy of Elder Hickman`s April Fool`s Day tomfoolery--and promptly turned around and reshowered. We walked all over our sector, trying to invite people to the coolest thing ever--conferenc3e. But no one listened at all. Which is bad. I`ve learned a lot of things in the mission that I wouldn`t have learned in my protected life in Utah. I`ve seen single mothers, 13 years old. I`ve seen bruises from a beating given by a drunken father or husband. I`ve seen corpses filled with bullets because the wife wasn`t faithful. I`ve seen alcohol turn calm proffesors into red-eyed fiends. Why would anyone willingly do this to themselves? It`s so sad. But I won`t be like that, and I know WHY. Love is true and eternal. Where it is, obedience follows and blessings will come. When we came home after another long day, we found various objects of ours taped to the ceiling with electric tape, including my journal. I took off the tape, and, with it, parts of my journal cover. So now it has splotches. I felt a bit upset, but when Elder Bomez found out what he did, he felt so bad I didn`t feel upset anymore. It wouldn`t help anything to blame. But now I can remember all the good pranks we had!
Saturday: Today was a really good conference. None of our investigators came, but I had a spiritual feast. I had a real one, too, consisting of flavored water, fruit snacks, homemade bread, brownies, and tostitos. I feel nautious, but in a good way. It`s because we just got home from the Priesthood session at 11:20 PM...at night. As we listened to the opening choir, I saw their beautiful smiling faces and heard their angelic voices and thought of mama singing. She`s always had a beautiful voice. I found the cure for sleepiness during conference: taking notes. It really made a difference for me. I loved listening to the stories that everyone told. Elder Eyering advised us to lend service. He commented of a time his Dad had volunteered for him to weed, and how happy it made him. I remember my Daddy volunterring me to weed at Grandfather`s. I made them so happy. President Monson spoke on how we men should act as holders of the Priesthood. He spoke a lot about marriage. He said that men have to stop waiting and get married. Good women are waiting. He said we need to "choose our love and love our choice." He gave us consejo of ways we con show our love and devotion for each other. I felt good as I mentally checked off the things on the list that I`d do. That I WILL do.
Sunday: So I felt bad last night. Really bad. I even dreamed that I was lying in bed, feeling nautious. Then I realized I wasn`t asleep yet. My stomach had been hurting me so much that I had gone dizzy with pain and lost track of time. I got up and threw up. But I didn`t feel better until I had done it four more times. Ugh. I realized that conference is just as much a family time as Christmas. We went to all our few investigators that we had. It was about 12:30 and they were all still in bed. Argh! I`m so tired of lazy Chileans! The whole country`s like that. When we got to the church, they wouldn`t let us listen to conference in English. They said, "You`re in Chile, you should learn Spanish." We had carried that TV 6 blocks yesterday from another chapel, specifically for us. The Secretary wanted to use it for the moms with kids to retreat to. I can understand Spanish, but not in the cultural hall with an echo. It would have been a waste of time for me. It was the first time that I was really angry/frustrated in a long time. I felt bad afterward. Thankfully, we had senior missionaries to whom the secretary listened. I found out how I feel the Holy Ghost. I feel chills on my back and arms. But no burning (or chills) on my chest. Why not? I really don`t know. Instead, I`m filed with a deep love and a feeling that seems too big for me. I have happy thoughts and want to do good. A lot of the talks had recurring themes. A big one was young men to stop waiting and get married. As I`ve said before. I`m different. This seems to be a big need in the world. I`m always part of the minority, it seems. What do I need? For me? I think it would be selfless service. I`m grateful that I have the mission to help me in this. It`s like my own personal counsel. Elder Scott spoke of his wife in such a wonderful way.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
3-27-11
Monday: We got up this morning to play soccer as a zone. About half showed up, but we still had about 10. Elder Hickman, one of the Elders with whom we`re living, was the best goalie out of everyone. Our Zone Leader, Elder Reeves, is a prideful little fella. He whined when he lost, and rubbed it in our faces when he won. But the worst was when he wo0uld take shots at a goal. Today, he hit Elder Hickman in the face twice, kicked his thumb, threw the ball incredibly hard at his face, and in the Nether regions. But after all that, Elder Hickman never complained. He`s a good man. We went to the mission office. It was my first time since my first day. It was a lot less scary. I tried to order new scriptures for a long time, but never found out how. In my email, I got letters from Mom, Dad, Kevin, and Alan. The family is planning a lot of vacations! Blessings of the mission! Kevin asked me how I can be so happy on the mission. I think it`s just attitude. When I wrote how hard it was at the beginning of my mission, he thanked me for speaking abou thow the mission "really is." He expects it to be bad. But Alan? Alan is having a blast. His trainer`s ill-mitivated and Alan just keeps pushing him along. He wrote a long letter, just for me. I sent my reply to his hand-written letter today.
Tuesday: We had our distrizona in the city of Talcahuano. It smells like fish there. Elder Kemp is in my zone now, so I get to see him every week. While we were there, i read something, and I wasn`t sure if it was in English or Spanish, but I understood the meaning. Words are just meant to communicate ideas. I missed the temple. I miss going to the quiet, time-free place. Elder Mcconkie actually said that the temples are a direct connection between us and God, and that our spirits are strangers to the concept of time. I want to attened again. The mission and life are the same. We come in, knowing nothing (maybe a little preparation) and having a trainer, good ones and bad ones, to help us. We progress and learn up to a point as a student. But eventually we have to be the trainer and teacher. We start to learn things all over again. Then we come home to the open arms of our parents. But if we`re thinking of our family all the time, we get distracted or sad. I think we can find the solution to happiness in the mission by looking at the example of life that God made for us: the veil of forgetfulness. If we forget our life before, we can have joy in the mission. Also, Faith and love are the same. A drunk guy (one of six) told us he was saved because he had love for God in his heart. I asked how he showed that love. FAith without works is dead. So is love. We have to share that love by thoughts, words, and actions. That love for the lord takes us to repent, and that leads us to baptism, and the Holy Ghost. All 8 of our appts. fell through today. Pablo`s going to enter into the First communion in the Catholic church because he`s been too busy for us to teach him. Ugh!
Wednesday: Today, we had our Zone Conference with the President and all the Zones of the North. before we left, Elder Gomez complimented me on my cursive. I encoureaged him to start practicing and develop that talent of HIS. He committed to start writing in cursive from now on. And he has been! I was so proud of him. We had a really good confearence today. Our assisstants are really good. Elders Vincent and Rubilar. They have a really effective and entertaining way of teaching. Sister Swenson spoke of the Passover. She taught that it`s to remember when Jehova delivered the Children of Israel from Egypt. When they had to cross the red sea, they had to enter the sea a little. Past their knees, their chest, and when it got to the point when they were about to be submerged in the ocean, Moses was commanded to part the sea and allow passage. Sometimes, in life, we have to give everything we have, EVERYTHING, before we can receive the blessings. Whenever Moroni spoke with Joseph Smith, it was always about Elijah`s coming. When he was 17, he couldn`t have understood. Even when he was 23, when he translated 3 nephi 24:8-11, he couldn`t have understood, much less invent, this prophecy. But when Elijah came in Section 128, he explained work for the dead. Turning the Fathers and sons to each other, linking all humanity. Sealing is the whole point of EVERYTHING!!! THAT was Joseph Smith`s life work. He didn`t know that from the beginning. HE. WAS. A. PROPHET. OF. GOD.
Thursday: Today`s been a pretty depressing day. We worked all morning, planning out the next week after a really cool comp. study. We made a really good reference system to better find the ancient investigators from the Area book. During one of our contacts, an old Grandma came up behind us and yelled at the contact, "Don`t listen to them! They`re liars!" We were like, "Hey! What are you doing?!" She left, and during another dcontact, 20 min. later, she came back and started yelling again. I know that there are lots of cool missionary stories like that, but when you don`t have ANY investigators it`s really hard to face. Elder Bernal had to go to the other Elder`s sector to interview a convert and we went on divisions...for about 10 min. until Bernal called me back and said there was a change in plans. One really funny contact was an old Lady. We asked where she was off to in such a hurry. She told us she was going to church. We thought for a minute, then we were like, "Do you want to come to our church on Sunday?" haha. Another lady was like, "I can`t attend to you right now, I have surgery on my hands this monday." I thought, "What about today?" All 4 of our appointments fell, as well as our 12 backup plans! That`s how little we trust Chileans. 3 backup plans each. I heard, the other day, that Elder Mckonkie said that spirits are strangers to time. We always want things to come sooner or stay longer and vice versa. It makes sense to think that a way to make happiness eternal would need not only a body to last, but maybe take time away entirely. But how would progress work if all things were before us? Would everything be instant gratification because we`d have everything we`d ever get? strange.
Friday: Today was pretty hard for me. I`m not sure how I`m going to be able to stay in this sector for another 2 1/2 months. We got up on time and did all of our studies and planned out our day. We went out in the morning to find less-active members, and invite them to church. Out of the 8 addresses, we heard 8 people inside but not even one came out to answer us. We did find a possible new named Carolina, but she told us that she already had her religion. We had completos for lunch. I fit 3 into my stomach before the sister was satisfied. It rained while we went from appt. to appt. as each one either ignored us, didn`t have time, or wasn`t home. We did contacts for 6 hours, and only 20 people talked to us, but not one of them wanted to listen. Today was another bust. We don`t have any investigators that listen to us or have time to. My thoughts turned to home, where I don`t have to feel guilty if I`m shy. Where I don`t have to force myself into people`s lives. I read through my notes in one of my notebooks and found some of the literate photographs that Elder Barajas and I made that night in August where we couldn`t sleep. A wave of homesickness came over me so suddenly that I had to throw up. I don`t know what I can do better. After I threw up and Elder gomez came up to me and we talked. It was just nice to have a friend. I said a prayer of thanks to Heavenly Father and my emotional Roller-coaster came to a halt. I felt at peace. I hope that we can teach someone soon.
Saturday: Last night, I couldn`t sleep. I almost did, until Elder Gomez asked me what my favorite moment was, that didn`t involve girls. I said it was seeing my dad as I got down from the plane after being in Iowa for a month. I don`t know why, but I had a "vision" or image of Daddy having cancer and dying before I got home. I said a prayer, asking Heavenly Father not to take him. Anything but that. I couldn`t take it. I stayed awake with my nightmare until 3.30-ish. Then i dreamed about Daddy yelling at me. but I woke up feeling better. We planned and went out to do service to the Fuente-alba family. We painted their fence and garage door. Then we got some medicine for an Elder in Elder Bernal`s district. Pablo and Celinda, our last investigators, both told us they didn`t want anything more. Well, Pablo just ignored us for the umpteenth time. But I spoke directly to Celinda when she told us she didn`t like our teachings. I looked her in the eye and said, "You are mistaken." She never listens to our explanations, so this got her attention. I bore her a powerful testimony about baptism. She said that this wasn`t the best time for her. We were depressed for 5 sec. and I decided not to be. I told Elder Bernal we were gonna kick Satan`s butt. We had a lot of slammed doors, but I felt a fire growing inside. I taught with more power than I ever had before. We found a historian/racist/ atheist that insulted me a lot. After my testimony of Joseph Smith, he was speechless. We found 4 little kids that want to come to church, and they came to the ward FHE. We also found other new people to teach. Today, I was a missionary.
Sunday: We got up this morning and went to the ward/mission correllation meeting. We had a stressful time thinking of who we could put as progressing investigators. It was a short list. We worked so hard this week, and it wasn`t our fault that the people wouldn`t even open up their doors to receive us! Nobody was in the Sacrament Meeting for the first half, but then Cecilia, a lady that attends every week (except last week), but has yet to be baptized. We put up an appt. with her and coordinated for a member to come with us. There`s hope! We went to our appointments and they all fell through. A hobo came up to us and asked us for money. He was hungry. We offered to buy his food. On the way to the store, we found a drunk guy that claimed we were trying to let the world see our good works. He talked about random things. He told us to cast out the demons from the starving guy. He suddenly put his hands on my comp`s head and pushed down, hard, yelling, "Get out of there, Demons!" It hurt my comp, but I was laughing. I didn`t feel bad about buying on sunday. I`m not gonna be like the Pharisees that got after Jesus for healing on a Sunday. So if a starving hobo wants some cheetos, I`ll get `em for him (he asked for cheetos, but we bought him a ham sandwich...much more healthy.). We visited Hna. Marìa and Hna. Soledad. They made pancakes and it smelled like Halloween with the air. Hna. Soledad told us about how good her kids are, in comparison with Catholic kids. How he holds up his hand and respects women. I felt her mother`s love for her son, and i felt like she was talking about me. I cried a lot as she bore her testimony. She and her mom gave me hugs. She reminds me of my mom and Aunt Becky mixed. I felt the love of my family tonight, and it doesn`t bother me that our investigators let us down as much as it had. I won`t let myself let THEM down.
Tuesday: We had our distrizona in the city of Talcahuano. It smells like fish there. Elder Kemp is in my zone now, so I get to see him every week. While we were there, i read something, and I wasn`t sure if it was in English or Spanish, but I understood the meaning. Words are just meant to communicate ideas. I missed the temple. I miss going to the quiet, time-free place. Elder Mcconkie actually said that the temples are a direct connection between us and God, and that our spirits are strangers to the concept of time. I want to attened again. The mission and life are the same. We come in, knowing nothing (maybe a little preparation) and having a trainer, good ones and bad ones, to help us. We progress and learn up to a point as a student. But eventually we have to be the trainer and teacher. We start to learn things all over again. Then we come home to the open arms of our parents. But if we`re thinking of our family all the time, we get distracted or sad. I think we can find the solution to happiness in the mission by looking at the example of life that God made for us: the veil of forgetfulness. If we forget our life before, we can have joy in the mission. Also, Faith and love are the same. A drunk guy (one of six) told us he was saved because he had love for God in his heart. I asked how he showed that love. FAith without works is dead. So is love. We have to share that love by thoughts, words, and actions. That love for the lord takes us to repent, and that leads us to baptism, and the Holy Ghost. All 8 of our appts. fell through today. Pablo`s going to enter into the First communion in the Catholic church because he`s been too busy for us to teach him. Ugh!
Wednesday: Today, we had our Zone Conference with the President and all the Zones of the North. before we left, Elder Gomez complimented me on my cursive. I encoureaged him to start practicing and develop that talent of HIS. He committed to start writing in cursive from now on. And he has been! I was so proud of him. We had a really good confearence today. Our assisstants are really good. Elders Vincent and Rubilar. They have a really effective and entertaining way of teaching. Sister Swenson spoke of the Passover. She taught that it`s to remember when Jehova delivered the Children of Israel from Egypt. When they had to cross the red sea, they had to enter the sea a little. Past their knees, their chest, and when it got to the point when they were about to be submerged in the ocean, Moses was commanded to part the sea and allow passage. Sometimes, in life, we have to give everything we have, EVERYTHING, before we can receive the blessings. Whenever Moroni spoke with Joseph Smith, it was always about Elijah`s coming. When he was 17, he couldn`t have understood. Even when he was 23, when he translated 3 nephi 24:8-11, he couldn`t have understood, much less invent, this prophecy. But when Elijah came in Section 128, he explained work for the dead. Turning the Fathers and sons to each other, linking all humanity. Sealing is the whole point of EVERYTHING!!! THAT was Joseph Smith`s life work. He didn`t know that from the beginning. HE. WAS. A. PROPHET. OF. GOD.
Thursday: Today`s been a pretty depressing day. We worked all morning, planning out the next week after a really cool comp. study. We made a really good reference system to better find the ancient investigators from the Area book. During one of our contacts, an old Grandma came up behind us and yelled at the contact, "Don`t listen to them! They`re liars!" We were like, "Hey! What are you doing?!" She left, and during another dcontact, 20 min. later, she came back and started yelling again. I know that there are lots of cool missionary stories like that, but when you don`t have ANY investigators it`s really hard to face. Elder Bernal had to go to the other Elder`s sector to interview a convert and we went on divisions...for about 10 min. until Bernal called me back and said there was a change in plans. One really funny contact was an old Lady. We asked where she was off to in such a hurry. She told us she was going to church. We thought for a minute, then we were like, "Do you want to come to our church on Sunday?" haha. Another lady was like, "I can`t attend to you right now, I have surgery on my hands this monday." I thought, "What about today?" All 4 of our appointments fell, as well as our 12 backup plans! That`s how little we trust Chileans. 3 backup plans each. I heard, the other day, that Elder Mckonkie said that spirits are strangers to time. We always want things to come sooner or stay longer and vice versa. It makes sense to think that a way to make happiness eternal would need not only a body to last, but maybe take time away entirely. But how would progress work if all things were before us? Would everything be instant gratification because we`d have everything we`d ever get? strange.
Friday: Today was pretty hard for me. I`m not sure how I`m going to be able to stay in this sector for another 2 1/2 months. We got up on time and did all of our studies and planned out our day. We went out in the morning to find less-active members, and invite them to church. Out of the 8 addresses, we heard 8 people inside but not even one came out to answer us. We did find a possible new named Carolina, but she told us that she already had her religion. We had completos for lunch. I fit 3 into my stomach before the sister was satisfied. It rained while we went from appt. to appt. as each one either ignored us, didn`t have time, or wasn`t home. We did contacts for 6 hours, and only 20 people talked to us, but not one of them wanted to listen. Today was another bust. We don`t have any investigators that listen to us or have time to. My thoughts turned to home, where I don`t have to feel guilty if I`m shy. Where I don`t have to force myself into people`s lives. I read through my notes in one of my notebooks and found some of the literate photographs that Elder Barajas and I made that night in August where we couldn`t sleep. A wave of homesickness came over me so suddenly that I had to throw up. I don`t know what I can do better. After I threw up and Elder gomez came up to me and we talked. It was just nice to have a friend. I said a prayer of thanks to Heavenly Father and my emotional Roller-coaster came to a halt. I felt at peace. I hope that we can teach someone soon.
Saturday: Last night, I couldn`t sleep. I almost did, until Elder Gomez asked me what my favorite moment was, that didn`t involve girls. I said it was seeing my dad as I got down from the plane after being in Iowa for a month. I don`t know why, but I had a "vision" or image of Daddy having cancer and dying before I got home. I said a prayer, asking Heavenly Father not to take him. Anything but that. I couldn`t take it. I stayed awake with my nightmare until 3.30-ish. Then i dreamed about Daddy yelling at me. but I woke up feeling better. We planned and went out to do service to the Fuente-alba family. We painted their fence and garage door. Then we got some medicine for an Elder in Elder Bernal`s district. Pablo and Celinda, our last investigators, both told us they didn`t want anything more. Well, Pablo just ignored us for the umpteenth time. But I spoke directly to Celinda when she told us she didn`t like our teachings. I looked her in the eye and said, "You are mistaken." She never listens to our explanations, so this got her attention. I bore her a powerful testimony about baptism. She said that this wasn`t the best time for her. We were depressed for 5 sec. and I decided not to be. I told Elder Bernal we were gonna kick Satan`s butt. We had a lot of slammed doors, but I felt a fire growing inside. I taught with more power than I ever had before. We found a historian/racist/ atheist that insulted me a lot. After my testimony of Joseph Smith, he was speechless. We found 4 little kids that want to come to church, and they came to the ward FHE. We also found other new people to teach. Today, I was a missionary.
Sunday: We got up this morning and went to the ward/mission correllation meeting. We had a stressful time thinking of who we could put as progressing investigators. It was a short list. We worked so hard this week, and it wasn`t our fault that the people wouldn`t even open up their doors to receive us! Nobody was in the Sacrament Meeting for the first half, but then Cecilia, a lady that attends every week (except last week), but has yet to be baptized. We put up an appt. with her and coordinated for a member to come with us. There`s hope! We went to our appointments and they all fell through. A hobo came up to us and asked us for money. He was hungry. We offered to buy his food. On the way to the store, we found a drunk guy that claimed we were trying to let the world see our good works. He talked about random things. He told us to cast out the demons from the starving guy. He suddenly put his hands on my comp`s head and pushed down, hard, yelling, "Get out of there, Demons!" It hurt my comp, but I was laughing. I didn`t feel bad about buying on sunday. I`m not gonna be like the Pharisees that got after Jesus for healing on a Sunday. So if a starving hobo wants some cheetos, I`ll get `em for him (he asked for cheetos, but we bought him a ham sandwich...much more healthy.). We visited Hna. Marìa and Hna. Soledad. They made pancakes and it smelled like Halloween with the air. Hna. Soledad told us about how good her kids are, in comparison with Catholic kids. How he holds up his hand and respects women. I felt her mother`s love for her son, and i felt like she was talking about me. I cried a lot as she bore her testimony. She and her mom gave me hugs. She reminds me of my mom and Aunt Becky mixed. I felt the love of my family tonight, and it doesn`t bother me that our investigators let us down as much as it had. I won`t let myself let THEM down.
3-20-11
Monday: I`m done with Tirùa! I got to baptize Diego and got to find some really good people this last week. We got up this morning and turned on the gas heater, and just laid in bed for a while. It made me realize that we should have done it more often while we had the church buying the gas. haha. It was wonderful, though. I got up and packed my bags. It was really hard. I swear my high score on Tetris would go up by at least 500, if I ever played it. Eventually, I got past the snaggled zippers and finding things I was sure were alrewady packed, and escaped to lunch. We had a really rich vegetable soup that warme dm up despite the rain. On the way back from lunch, a young man asked if it was true that we had a ping pong table and if he coul dplay. We said yes, thinking to give him a lesson after. He said, "Great! I`m just gonna get a beer and come back." We waited for an hour, but he never came back. Then we went to teach Javier, the adventist boy. Turns out that he doesn`t want to hear us anymore, but thinks that we`re still awesome. But his mom may be interested. We went to cañete to use internet and sleep. Fernanda Millahual had written me, asking if I was okay after the Tsunami on behalf of her family. Daddy wrote me, telling me a few stories of his mission. He sounded like a really good missionary. I found out Elder heiser took my letters to the CAssies with him when he went home!
Tuesday: We woke up at 6 because of our trip up to Concepciòn. It was raining and it was cold, and all of my coats and sweaters had already been packed up. We went up to the terminal, and I was just so happy to have left my sector. It had been really hard for me there, but I also learned a lot from my comps. and my personal trials too. Because of those, I`m growing to be a different person that I was. It`s exciting. We got to the terminal and I got to meet Elder Pemberton and Elder Glover. They`ve got less time than me, and it was really good to have some friends that respected me again. I met up with Elder Bernal. He has skinny arms and sinny legs, with a wide torso. He looked like a little brown spongebob. He`s super happy and likes to help others. I think I`ll get along with him well.. We did contacts for a while. It`s so cool to be in a big city again! There`s technology! Our sector is a little mall and everyone`s so tired of missionaries. But I`m excited to show them what I`ve got for them! We met a kid that asked us a lot of interesting questions, but it was just to fight. things like, "Shouldn`t women always wear skirts so they`re not just being saints on Sunday?" ¡Nada que ver! We don`t have hardly any investigators. The members are really great though. When we left the terminal, I realized I`d left my Spanish scriptures at the terminal. Nobody found it. Someone had taken it! And my english ones are in Cañete. I live with my comp. and two gringos. One was a friend of Elder Mcconnell, my first comp. before the mission. The house is poopy. It`s about 5 1/2 feet tall. boo! And the front of the toilet is 6 in. from the wall which makes for an...acrobatic time when nature calls.
Wednesday: I felt really good this morning as I got up and wasn`t the only one doing exercises. Elders Hickman, Gomez (gringo), and Bernal all were up and going. We had a great comp. study and left to go work. I felt like I was back in the mission again. Tirùa was so separated. But I realized that we kind of determine our own worthiness. When we sin, we fail in our own eyes and won`t have that confidence that we would have otherwise. But if we know our stuff and work to earn the company of the spirit, we can promise things, knowing that they`ll be true, because we`re authorized to make those declarations. elder Bernal and I talk in equal amounts and he tries to learn from me as I try to do from him. It`s really a pleasure to work with him. I met Hna. Marìa Cruz today. She`s the Sunday School teache rof the 12-13 year-olds. She`d been excommunicated for 10 yrs. before . She`d lost her job and her husband and her daughter was prenant. Some members offered her work. She`d work all day for 1/2 kg. of bread and a little sugar for her family .One day she was so tired she fell. But because she couldn`t provide for her daughter well enough, th eBishop exommunicated her. She started crying from the memory. I cried too and thought, "Heavenly Father`s so happy. I don`t think she should feel sad." Then I realized how strong the thought was. I told her my impression, as a rep. of Christ. Her grandson has cancer. He retured 20 months early from his mission. I found a rock (big) in a hole in my shoe. In order to remove it, I had to tear at the shoe a little, but got it out. It`s like repentance. It may hurt sometimes, but we always feel lighter afterward. A scrip. I read in my study was just what Hna. Marìa needed for comfort.
Thursday: Itps interesting to feel homesick and miss people but at the same time feel so happy and at peace with what I`m doing. I feel the power of the Holy Ghost helping me along. I`m feeling better in my new sector of Hualpencillo. the shower`s funky. If I turn on more than a little cold water it stops and I get burned--which burns me anyway. Still experimenting. We had weekly planning today. It`s the fun part of going to a new sector: having to memorize all the people, where they live, and all of the streets. Armed with my map, I`m locating addresses better than my comp. I`ve almost memorized it all. We had lunch with the Bishop`s wife. There was a lizard in the dining room. Someone picked it up by the tail and it detached! It was so cool! We looked through the area book for ancient investigators and went to the "Emergency" neighborhood (emergency is the name of the neighborhood). That`s where all the gangs and drug dealers are--more than in any other part in the mission. That`s why we went in the day. We actually set up a good amount of appts. for later. We`ll have two people in the church this Sunday. I hope they get baptized, for their sake. I just want to help them return to their Heavenly Father. President Swenson said if we taught the doctrine correctly, people would rush to be baptized. There`s always room to improve.
Friday: Today we had a special conference with a seventy, Elder Corbridge. He gave a reallyl special talk about the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Spirit was so strong. He was like, "What was the only thing Joseph Smith had ever known or gotten in return for saying the things he said? He said it was persecution and affliction. Even the most optimistic man in the world woul ddoubt something of his own invention. Either Joseph Smith was crazy, or he was right. Because he always affirmed his certainty with an unconquerable confidence. He spoke about Chiasmas and other evidences of the Book of mormon. He spoke of the achievements and works of Joseph Smith. Any one of which would be impresssive in the life of anyone. He did hundreds. It was really special. I found out that Elder Heiser had left my letter sto the Cassies in the mission office and they`ll send them off for me. I got to know Bro. Cruz. He`s a really cool guy. we found a few of the ancient investigators. One of them had her husband die a year ago and she didn`t know wh at had happened to him. I bore her a powerful testimony of the Plan of Salvation and how it`s blessed my life. She just has to do what God has asked of her, and she`ll live FOREVER with her husband! It`s so easy! I kep texpecting Talcahuano to be really good and it feels just as hard as any other sector. I think that every place that we go to, it`s up to us to make it into what we want it to be. It`s up to us to help the people understand the Gospel. I got a letter from Alan. He said I`m still his best friend. I love him so much!
Saturday: So in the conference esterday, Elder Corbridge said that intelligence is related to our level of spirituality. So I`ll have to look at myself to see if I`m smart....or "special." But my whole life, things have always come easily to me. So that`s a good sign. We played soccer with our investigator, Pablo. While we were there, a rooster crowed. It was about 10:00, going to testify how "laid back" this country is. They`re so laid back that if they were on a bed, they`d be at 270 degrees. The daughter of another investigator said she`d pass on the invitation to attend church tomorrow. She said, "It shouldn`t be a problem. My dad wakes up early on Sundays." When we asked a what time, she said, "11." We had a reference from the Elders in Bio Bio. But when we found the house, it was actually in their sector. We taught her anyway. She was really, really, REALLY good. She`s gonna get baptized. We pretty much did a butt-load of contacts. We share a sector with the assisstants. When we were out giving pass-a-longs and lessons, a drunk guy was like, "Your compatriots just gave me this." And he pulled out a picture of christ. We looked to the left and saw the assisstants 40 feet away. Soccer totally killed my legs. I`m dead.
Sunday: I still really like having Elder Bernal as a comp. Hes such a little ball of energy. Whenever he talks, he bounces up anddown and doesn`t hold still. I found out today that he also is 25 years old. It`s amazing to see the difference between him and Elder Montoya. We went to the church. Our investigator, Pablo, didn`t come. He was still asleep. But I got to meet a lot of the members. They are so strong here. I`d forgotten what it was like to not have to beg the members to help. The class in priesthood wa son hometeaching. But they also said that they had a responsibility to bring investigators for us to teach and baptize. It was so neat to see. We had lunch with tthe family Nubolla. The son had every single one of the cool video games that have come out furing my mission. We spent the rest of the whole day doing contacts. We`ve spent the whole week of Sanctification tracking down ancient investigators and that took up a lot of time. We have 14 new investigators and the standard is 8! But we had 90 contacts this morning out of the 200 we needed. After being in little Tirùa for so long, my legs aren`t used to so much walking. I get home exhausted every night. It feels wonderful to know that I`m working for th eLord and my Heavenly Family.
Tuesday: We woke up at 6 because of our trip up to Concepciòn. It was raining and it was cold, and all of my coats and sweaters had already been packed up. We went up to the terminal, and I was just so happy to have left my sector. It had been really hard for me there, but I also learned a lot from my comps. and my personal trials too. Because of those, I`m growing to be a different person that I was. It`s exciting. We got to the terminal and I got to meet Elder Pemberton and Elder Glover. They`ve got less time than me, and it was really good to have some friends that respected me again. I met up with Elder Bernal. He has skinny arms and sinny legs, with a wide torso. He looked like a little brown spongebob. He`s super happy and likes to help others. I think I`ll get along with him well.. We did contacts for a while. It`s so cool to be in a big city again! There`s technology! Our sector is a little mall and everyone`s so tired of missionaries. But I`m excited to show them what I`ve got for them! We met a kid that asked us a lot of interesting questions, but it was just to fight. things like, "Shouldn`t women always wear skirts so they`re not just being saints on Sunday?" ¡Nada que ver! We don`t have hardly any investigators. The members are really great though. When we left the terminal, I realized I`d left my Spanish scriptures at the terminal. Nobody found it. Someone had taken it! And my english ones are in Cañete. I live with my comp. and two gringos. One was a friend of Elder Mcconnell, my first comp. before the mission. The house is poopy. It`s about 5 1/2 feet tall. boo! And the front of the toilet is 6 in. from the wall which makes for an...acrobatic time when nature calls.
Wednesday: I felt really good this morning as I got up and wasn`t the only one doing exercises. Elders Hickman, Gomez (gringo), and Bernal all were up and going. We had a great comp. study and left to go work. I felt like I was back in the mission again. Tirùa was so separated. But I realized that we kind of determine our own worthiness. When we sin, we fail in our own eyes and won`t have that confidence that we would have otherwise. But if we know our stuff and work to earn the company of the spirit, we can promise things, knowing that they`ll be true, because we`re authorized to make those declarations. elder Bernal and I talk in equal amounts and he tries to learn from me as I try to do from him. It`s really a pleasure to work with him. I met Hna. Marìa Cruz today. She`s the Sunday School teache rof the 12-13 year-olds. She`d been excommunicated for 10 yrs. before . She`d lost her job and her husband and her daughter was prenant. Some members offered her work. She`d work all day for 1/2 kg. of bread and a little sugar for her family .One day she was so tired she fell. But because she couldn`t provide for her daughter well enough, th eBishop exommunicated her. She started crying from the memory. I cried too and thought, "Heavenly Father`s so happy. I don`t think she should feel sad." Then I realized how strong the thought was. I told her my impression, as a rep. of Christ. Her grandson has cancer. He retured 20 months early from his mission. I found a rock (big) in a hole in my shoe. In order to remove it, I had to tear at the shoe a little, but got it out. It`s like repentance. It may hurt sometimes, but we always feel lighter afterward. A scrip. I read in my study was just what Hna. Marìa needed for comfort.
Thursday: Itps interesting to feel homesick and miss people but at the same time feel so happy and at peace with what I`m doing. I feel the power of the Holy Ghost helping me along. I`m feeling better in my new sector of Hualpencillo. the shower`s funky. If I turn on more than a little cold water it stops and I get burned--which burns me anyway. Still experimenting. We had weekly planning today. It`s the fun part of going to a new sector: having to memorize all the people, where they live, and all of the streets. Armed with my map, I`m locating addresses better than my comp. I`ve almost memorized it all. We had lunch with the Bishop`s wife. There was a lizard in the dining room. Someone picked it up by the tail and it detached! It was so cool! We looked through the area book for ancient investigators and went to the "Emergency" neighborhood (emergency is the name of the neighborhood). That`s where all the gangs and drug dealers are--more than in any other part in the mission. That`s why we went in the day. We actually set up a good amount of appts. for later. We`ll have two people in the church this Sunday. I hope they get baptized, for their sake. I just want to help them return to their Heavenly Father. President Swenson said if we taught the doctrine correctly, people would rush to be baptized. There`s always room to improve.
Friday: Today we had a special conference with a seventy, Elder Corbridge. He gave a reallyl special talk about the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Spirit was so strong. He was like, "What was the only thing Joseph Smith had ever known or gotten in return for saying the things he said? He said it was persecution and affliction. Even the most optimistic man in the world woul ddoubt something of his own invention. Either Joseph Smith was crazy, or he was right. Because he always affirmed his certainty with an unconquerable confidence. He spoke about Chiasmas and other evidences of the Book of mormon. He spoke of the achievements and works of Joseph Smith. Any one of which would be impresssive in the life of anyone. He did hundreds. It was really special. I found out that Elder Heiser had left my letter sto the Cassies in the mission office and they`ll send them off for me. I got to know Bro. Cruz. He`s a really cool guy. we found a few of the ancient investigators. One of them had her husband die a year ago and she didn`t know wh at had happened to him. I bore her a powerful testimony of the Plan of Salvation and how it`s blessed my life. She just has to do what God has asked of her, and she`ll live FOREVER with her husband! It`s so easy! I kep texpecting Talcahuano to be really good and it feels just as hard as any other sector. I think that every place that we go to, it`s up to us to make it into what we want it to be. It`s up to us to help the people understand the Gospel. I got a letter from Alan. He said I`m still his best friend. I love him so much!
Saturday: So in the conference esterday, Elder Corbridge said that intelligence is related to our level of spirituality. So I`ll have to look at myself to see if I`m smart....or "special." But my whole life, things have always come easily to me. So that`s a good sign. We played soccer with our investigator, Pablo. While we were there, a rooster crowed. It was about 10:00, going to testify how "laid back" this country is. They`re so laid back that if they were on a bed, they`d be at 270 degrees. The daughter of another investigator said she`d pass on the invitation to attend church tomorrow. She said, "It shouldn`t be a problem. My dad wakes up early on Sundays." When we asked a what time, she said, "11." We had a reference from the Elders in Bio Bio. But when we found the house, it was actually in their sector. We taught her anyway. She was really, really, REALLY good. She`s gonna get baptized. We pretty much did a butt-load of contacts. We share a sector with the assisstants. When we were out giving pass-a-longs and lessons, a drunk guy was like, "Your compatriots just gave me this." And he pulled out a picture of christ. We looked to the left and saw the assisstants 40 feet away. Soccer totally killed my legs. I`m dead.
Sunday: I still really like having Elder Bernal as a comp. Hes such a little ball of energy. Whenever he talks, he bounces up anddown and doesn`t hold still. I found out today that he also is 25 years old. It`s amazing to see the difference between him and Elder Montoya. We went to the church. Our investigator, Pablo, didn`t come. He was still asleep. But I got to meet a lot of the members. They are so strong here. I`d forgotten what it was like to not have to beg the members to help. The class in priesthood wa son hometeaching. But they also said that they had a responsibility to bring investigators for us to teach and baptize. It was so neat to see. We had lunch with tthe family Nubolla. The son had every single one of the cool video games that have come out furing my mission. We spent the rest of the whole day doing contacts. We`ve spent the whole week of Sanctification tracking down ancient investigators and that took up a lot of time. We have 14 new investigators and the standard is 8! But we had 90 contacts this morning out of the 200 we needed. After being in little Tirùa for so long, my legs aren`t used to so much walking. I get home exhausted every night. It feels wonderful to know that I`m working for th eLord and my Heavenly Family.
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