4-18-11

Monday: today we went to the office and found that not one letter had
come for our whole zone. That was the first time it happened. We went
to use internet and write the family. Mama had written me an email,
noting that it sounded like I wasn`t feeling well. She`s always had a
fine-tuned "mother`s sense" that alerts her when the evil juju of the
universe decides it`s my turn in the batting cage. She said they`re
trying to sell our blazer to buy a Dodge pickup that won`t sling oil
all over the place. I also got a message from Grammy. she sent it from
her ipad, too! That made me want one really badly. In the evening, we
went by Hna. Marìa. We talked about the people/members who live in
Utah. Hna. Marìa is about 75 years old and she said that those people
are lame. She thinks it would be bad to be surrounded by members
because there wouldn`t be opposition. I tried to tell her that just
LIVING is a trial. No one escapes it. Then she went on about the Utah
missionarieis that left because their parents would disown them if
they didn`t. I`ve found that the reason for leaving doesn`t matter, as
long as you leave. God does the rest. At the FHE with the Soliz
family, I taught how to improve relationships with God, our family,
our fellowman, and ourselves.

Tuesday:As the last (zone) District meeting of the transfer, it was
seen fit by our Zone Leaders that we have a Zone breakfast. They
bought 90 eggs to made all the breakfast burritos. While we were
there, one of the other Elders gave me a letter from Alan! The things
he said to mejust connected with me on a level that no one else has
reached yet. When I talk with him, it is just so easy to trust him. I
feel like he`s my brother. I`m so grateful to have him for my best
friend. He pretty much PWN`d my heart in his letter today. We went to
lunch with Hna. Marìa. Elder Bernal had won the "rock, paper,
scissors" to decide what to have for lunch. We had mashed potatoes and
pork instead of completos, which is just as well, because it`s his
last week. The grandaughter of Hna. Marìa, Melissa, was there too.
Sheps really cool. but when Elder Bernal asked how she was, she said,
"fine" in a sad voice. When she asked him, he said, "I`m fine, but not
as fine as you." He was going for sassy sarcasm, but it came out
wrong. Later, I had a similar experience when I tried to explain that
men run around wearing little...barrier(forgot the right word in
english)...against the cold because they have girls to warm them up.
The translation they understood was "because they have girls to turn
them on." Woops. We went to the Esmeralda (means emerald) sector for
an interview. While there, I learned how to do a Rubik`s cube. I did
it 5 times before the interview finished. My brain felt bruised. Then
we jaywalked 2 freeways to get home. I imagined mom kiling me if she
saw me. But I lived. then we did contacts to finish.

Wednesday: We woke up this morning to a crisp autumn breeze and stormy
overcasts. We also had to go to the other side of the sector to lend
some service to a Sister in the ward. She had us chop off some
branches from a tree out back that had been blocking her sun. She
invited us in afterwards to have some sopaipillas and pebre salso with
a cup of ecco. While enjoying that piece of heaven, she told us about
her son, who`s serving in Peru. He says that there`s no nature. Just
cold grey concrete. How depressing it would be, to live in a place
like that! One of my favorite things of Chile is the land. There are
always rolling green hills and beautiful landscapes. We went to a
Pharmacy to buy medicine for Elder Fernandez, who is in Bernal`s
district. I measured my health while there. I`m the same height, but
I`ve gained 5 lbs. in the past two weeks. Yay! It said that only 1
pound was fat. LOet`s hear it for muscle (and a steady diet), people!
We had lunch with Hna. Rebecca Vasquez, and a member from Concepciòn
who rents a room there for college. We had a good time telling jokes.
But when we got back to the house, I got really dizzy...and clammy. I
tried to go out and work, but almost tipped over every time. I felt
awful. Our numbers are going to be awful. It`s getting so hard for me
to be happy. I`m not teaching anyone and no one wants to listen. Elder
Bernal told me not to be sad if my life isn`t a rose garden. I should
remember who wore the crown of thorns.

Thursday: Today wasn`t as wet as it was windy. Today both sucked and
blew. We got up to a particularly freezing chill and an ominous
overcast. It was a dramatically dark day (alliteration!). I did about
400 push ups through sets of 30 and I`m regretting it. But maybe some
good will come of it. When the time came for weekly planning for all
our investigators, I got depressed. We just don`t have any people. So
I helped Elder Bernal learn some hymns in English for a while. Elder
Gomez saw me being sad and said he had heard from a reliable source
that they might be closing the sector soon. I MIGHT get to leave
early. When walking in the whiplash wind (another alliteration!) we
wet our weather wear which we woefully wore (say that 10 x fast). The
wind blew against us at the beginning, but later in our journey it got
behind us and helped us. I likened it to our challenges. It can be
hard at first, but when we get our perspective right, it can really
help us. We went to Merta, but she was sick. Her granddaughter (also
Merta) let us teach her the 1st lesson. At the end, she understood
everything (I know `cause I quizzed her. Bwahahah!). She said she
doesn`t like to read, but said she really wanted to read the Book of
MOrmon. Then, we went by Marìa Poblete, the less-active that we`ve
been trying to visit EVERY SINGLE DAY since the first day and who
never answered us. After 6 weeks of hiding, she invited us in, all
smiles. She`s a bit crazy `cause she smokes and drinks tea and coffee,
but she`s nice. She really likes me. She says I`m funny. Thank you
Elder Montoya! Her daughter, Valentina, who`s not a member came in. We
were just inviting Marìa back to church. She asked her daughter if she
"wanted to go to the Mormon Church." Valentina was like, "yeah."
Sweet! She really likes us. Really. She tried to get our address so
she could watch movies with us. she`s 13. She also worships Justin
Bieber. Seriously. She knows the hour of his birth and how much he
weighed. Creepy.

Friday: So it`s EArth Day, and I think it went pretty dang well. The
first awesome thing was waking up to our snazzy gas stove. I read in
the November Liahona that I had picked up last pday. I read all of teh
talks from the Priesthood session. My favorite was by Elder Patrick
Kearon. He spoke of the sting of sin and how EVERYONE can be healed
by putting their desires at the feet of our Spiritual Physician, the
Savio Jesus Christ. I`m so thankful for the miracle of forgiveness.
And I was pretty much psyched to go our and tell it to everyone else.
Unfortunately, for the catholics and evangelicals (aka the rest of the
world) it was the Holy Week and today was a Holiday. Which wasn`t so
groovy because they were all out preaching and mainly crowding our
space. FORTUNATELY, it provided us with a TON of people that didn`t
have a door to hide behind. Bwahahahaha! Which was a really good
answer to prayers. Due to Leadership duties and sickness and
miscellanneous activities involving chipmunks and birds of prey (don`t
ask) we had 20 of our weekly 140 contacts done. We did 87 today. PWN!
And, this is the best part, we found GREAT People! Susàn heard the
missionaries 2 or 3 years ago and LOVED them! She doesn`t want to
change religion but wants to come to our church along with her kids.
She was really excited to tell her daughter about the FHE activities.
Lucky for us, there`s one tomorrow night. I`m so grateful for the Lord
for GIVING us investigators right when I needed it. Like the children
of Israel going into the Red Sea up to their necks before it was
parted. Alma 26:22 says that our people are given to us, not earned.
I`m thankful for my personal blessings.

Saturday: I`m feeling so many things right now. This morning we got up
late-- all of us slept through our 5 alarms... I don`t know why one of
them has 2 alarms. We huddled up in our blankets in front of the
heater, and we just...talked. It was nice. Bio Bio was going to have a
baptism today, but she came to our door (we don`t know who told her
the address) and said she had to go out of town for her son. We went
and did contacts in the morning as well as picking up our clothes. Our
afternoon included a lot of walking around, trying to find people to
come to the WArd`s baptism of Thyàre. We didn`t find anyone. But we
found a few references that the members had brought. Pablo was one of
them. He`s about 25 and has a leg handicap on both of them. He uses
special crutches or a wheelchair. He`s so cool. He swims ( I don`t
know how) and plays paralympic basketball in wheelchairs. He said that
he has a whle team of wheelchairs and wants to play with us. Sweet! I
challenged him to baptism when he gained a testimony of the BOM. He
acepted. We watched a lot of church clips after the baptism. One was
of a boy whose father died. I hate how being away from home gives me a
an orphan`s pain. I feel a loss that makes me feel scared. We found
out the transfers. Elder Hickman`s training here and Elder Gomez is
going to another part of this zone. Elder Bernal`s going to Tirùa!
WOOT! I told him all about it. Maybe not all of it. I don`t want him
to arrive depressed. Just kidding! Montoya said that they have 5
people with baptisimal dates (3 that I taught), and 9 attending
church.I`m staying here (it`s not being closed. 3 days ago, I would`ve
been depressed by this. Now I`m happy!) and Elde rCaloway will come
here and I`m gonna be Senior Companion! DOUBLE WOOT! There will be
more responsibility but I`m ready.

Sunday: Today was a really good day. We got up and headed out to pick
up Marpia Poblete and Valentina. As we were on our way over there, I
was praying so hard that they would bereak from the Chilean mold and
be up on time. They answered on the second knock and were just
finishing getting ready. I could hardly believe it! All of our
previous "investigators" had always staye din bed late. We all walked
to church and even ran into some other members and introduced them to
Valentina. She already knew some of them! We explained things to her
during Sacrament Meeting. Pablo slept in, but we`re gonna swing by on
Tuesday. Valentina participated in Sunay School and everything. We had
lunch with Hna. Cabrera. After lunch, while we were sharing a
Scripture, she asked us for some advice for her family. She said she
gets angry easily. Most of the things I told her were given to me by
Alan. I`m so thankful for him! We taught the Restoration to Valentina
before Elder Bernal said goodbye. It went really really well! She
finished a few of my sentences, she understood it so well. She`ll read
and pray about the BOM and she acepted a baptisimal date for May 14th.
And her mom`s gonna give her permission. Marìa Poblete gave Elder
Bernal a mini cactus as a gift. Funny. Elde rBernal realized he`ll be
in Tirùa when he has to call his family, which is awful. Just awful. I
thanked Elder Montoya for all the things I learned from him. thanks to
him, I`m able to be a better teacher. P.S. I asked Valentina if she
wanted to hear a joke. She said yes. I said, "Justin Bieber." She
didn`t get it.