5-23-11

Monday: I enjoyed my pday, today. We woke up and laid in bed for a
while, just to relax. Hey, that`s how I prepare for the week. Sleeping
for the time I couldn`t during the week. It was great. We went to
Concepciòn, and to the office. There hadn`t been any mail for me for
the third week in a row. It turn sout that Elder Calway and Kayla had
briefly lived in the same ward when he was in 6th grade. That is so
crazy that she moved all over the country, got hired at my work, and
now my companion is someone who had been one of her neighbors, and he
and I are in Chile. The world is appearing to be the size of a marble,
down here in Chile. We did contacts without much success. We had an
FHE with the Rojas family. We told jokes an dplayed games. Then Hno.
Rojas told a fabe from Bolivia. There once was a cripple. The kids in
the Elementary School called him "semicolon" because of his
footprints. They all copied him to mock him. One boy`s father called
him over, and said when he was little, they`d gone to a forest to cut
trees. ONe tree almost fell on the boy, but a man had saved him. That
cripple was the man that had saved they boy. Lesson to be learned? I
think so.

Tuesday: I was really down in the dumps today. We went to our
Distrizona meeting, and everything went really well there. As a zone,
we made a goal to bring 50 people to church. We had 56 in total! 6 of
them were ours, which was awesome. I got to teach a class on patience
to or District. When we got on our us home, I asked the driver if he
passed by a certain street. We got on, but he only passed BY the
street, instead of going on it. So we walked 3 miles to lunch.
Lamesauce. When we eventually got back to the house, we called Mirta.
She told us she and her Dad had fought, and that we couldn`t teach her
anymore...again. I was so...frustrated and depressed. I don`t know
why. So we went by at 7 to talk to him. He was already in bed. Mirta
tol dus that she had argued with her father, and that he ha actually
ht her. She broke down and started bawling outright. I felt so
helpless. I mean, as missionaries, we study almost constantly to
better help the people understand and resolve ther doubts. But then
Satan tok our choice away comletely and we can`t say ANYTHING because
we can`t even see them. I feel like a failure. But I think I`ve d one
everything I can. Mirta really has changed. Maybe she`l get baptized
when she`s older.

Wednesday: Today, we had our interviews as a Zone. It was a really
special experience for me. The Assisstants to the President gave us a
special training example to help us learn discipline. We had to hold
up our arm with 3 conditions: 1) We would never let it down 2) We
would not suppor tit with anything 3) And we would not speak unless
spoken to. My arm and shoulder were burning after a while. Then we had
to use our other arm to place our triple in that hand...then the
Bible...then ou rbackpack! This took pace over 20 min. I was convinced
I couldn`t do more, more than once. But I kept going. At the time,
people were moaning and jokng because they only remembered the first
rule. At the end, the Assisstants asked who had completed all three
rules. I was one of 3 who did. they said that these were the
disciplined ones. We earned a recording of Elder Holland`s talk in the
MTC (video). In my interview, I told Pres. I was having a hard time. I
tol dhim about Mirta. He told me (again) that God`s blessings are
GIVEN sometimes, instead of earned. He said that Alma and Amulek were
rewarded after they wanted to go home. But they repented and had faith
first. So I looked at what I could change. What I could repent of. I
know got will bless me. I feel a weight lift off my back. I will give
my heart to God.

Thursday: Today was kind of hard. We had our weekly planning and
everything, before going to our lunch with Bro. And Sis. DeAvendaños.
They`ve been active in the church for forever and they told us about
the recently sustained Seventy, David Fereira. They were his Primary
teachers in this very ward! Amazing! We hadn`t been by Hna. Marìa for
a long time, so we went back to visit. She was angry because we stayed
away for so long. She thought we`d stopped loving her. We read in the
Book of Mormon with her and she was so happy. Then we tried to tak to
Mirta`s dad. She came out with a pouty face. She said he wouldn`t ever
talk to us. She let silent tears fall and I just wanted to hug her and
tell her it would all be okay. and, by thunder, I did it! She just
needed someone to tell her all the badness would go away. That`s what
being a good missionary is about: giving hope. Her dad even peeked his
head out while we were talking, made eye contact with us and went back
inside. Coward. He lets his nephews and their friends, who are drug
addicts, into their house, but two servants of god are too much of an
unknown factor. Hmmm. Then we saw a guy get robbed of his bike and
money. We were TICKED. But we couldn`t risk the guy with the knife. I
talked my comp. down. I told him what a good missionary he was and how
much I love him. They we talked about our Dad`s. I miss mine. He
always let me know of his love, even when he was angry/disciplining. I
can`t wait to see him again.

Friday: Today was a so-so day. We got up and I got to work on writing
a letter to Mirta`s dad, begging him to reconsider letting his
daughter come closer to Heavenly Father. I taught pure doctrine, and
testified as powerfully as I know how, and tried to let him know that
we love him and his daughter so much. We dropped it off to his mother
(Mirta`s Grandma). She said she`d give it to him. I`m gonna write one
more letter for Mirta, to give her hope and to let her know we ove
her. I`ll include a picture of us. We went by Vanessa for the first
time in a week. She`s still reading in the Book of Mormon. She said a
co-worker had asked about it, and she got to explain it. But she was
busy today. We`ll pass by tomorrow. We taught Elìas the Plan of
Salvation. He understood it all. He said, "It looks like I gotta get
baptized to go to the Celestial Kingdom." But he said that he has to
go to court i June to be tried for another assault. Another one from 2
years ago. We`ll see if he CAN be baptized. He has to get married
still. We had FHE with Hna. Marìa and her 2 granddaughters, Maca and
Melissa. It was really cool, teaching them and then playing a game. We
went to a reference fro Bio Bio. But the address was bogus. I shook a
drunk guys hand and he bent down to kiss him. I took my hand politely
back. haha. We found a rich-looking young woman who had talked with
missionaries before. ut even though she liked them a lot, she din`t
get baptized. She said we won`t convince her. My comp. says, "We`ll
see."

Saturday: Today passed by way too fast. I can`t remember much of waht
we did. We got up and did exercises. I introduced my comp to the
push-up pyramid. I`m reading in Helaman, and was just amazed by some
of the things that happened to the Nephites. It`s really clear to see
that all of these thigns happened to them because of their
disobedience and pride. When we don`t obey the commandments, we see
almost immediate ad negative results. I know that God gives
commandments to hs children to take care of them. It`s SO simple! We
did contacts in the morning, then went to lunch with Pamela She`s 18
years-old and is the only member in her family. An old lady answered
the door, then called Pamela. I asked, "Waas that your grandma?"
because she loked about 70 years od. She was like, "Who? Oh! My mom."
oops. We helped some guys cut a branch off of a tree. We asked why
they were doing it. They said they needed firewod. they wore viking
hats and carried sanwiches in their wool pockets. We taught Elìas the
Word of Wisdom. He seemed sad, but told us he was good. We`ve seen him
smoke and drink, but he told us he didn`t, but that he`ll keep the
Word of Wisdom. His son, to. He seemed like he was pretty out of it,
though. We had the monthly Ward FHE. It was a lot of fun. We`re doing
divisions with the Assisstants tomorrow. I`m really nervous because we
only have two investigators and I feel responsible for the lacking.
But it`ll be a great opportunity to learn.

Sunday: Today was pretty dang awesome, actually. We went to church
early so we could report to the Ward Council. But after that, we had
time to pick up Vanessa and Elìas. Vanessa didn`t answer and Elìas
bailed but promised he would go next Sunday. My comp. started walking
toward Mirta`s house. I reminded him that her Dad didn`t want us to go
by anymore. He just smiled and said he had a good feeling. I did too,
and we went. We knocked and waited abot 5 minutes, jus thoping and
begging Heavenly Father for help. And then Mirta came out, all ready
to go! I couldnt hardly believe it! Her father hadn`t read my letter
yet, but he had given her permission to go to church if we came by.
Good thing we did! Then we did divisions in th eafternoon. I went with
Elder Vincent. We did a bunch of contacts. It was so awesome to watch
and learn. He kept tellin gme to do things, but he`d take over anyway.
So I watched and learned how to be bolder, braver, and more efficient.
We entered into 6 houses and got return appointments for them. That`s
so ridiculous. Now I know that it`s been for my lack of ability that
we haven`t had investigators. But I can repent and change. When we got
home, Elders Hickman and Montalban were drinking...ROOT BEER!!! That`s
so legen--wait for it...and I hope you`re not lactose-intolerant
because the next word is--dary. haha. They shared a sip, and it was so
much better than coke or pepsi. AMAZING!!!